“What in Celestia’s name are those things?!”
“I know what they are, but I don’t know how they came to be. They’re—”
“Don’t even say it!”
“They are zombies? Correct?”
“Gah! He went and said it!”
“Although I’m reluctant to come to that conclusion…yes, they’re zombies.”
“This is crazy, you’re both crazy, I’m out of here!”
The red earth pony separated himself from the other two and made his way towards the lobby door only to be blocked by the fourth member of their group. The brown alicorn stallion stood in front of the earth pony, the earth pony’s head barely coming up to the alicorn’s chest.
“Excuse me, sir, I’m leaving,” the earth pony said, trying to force his way past. The alicorn did not budge and only stared with cold, cyan eyes. After a tense moment, the red stallion gave up and returned to the others.
“Why so uneasy, comrade?” The white pegasus stallion asked, putting extra emphasis on the word comrade.
“I’m trapped here with you three while, Celestia-knows-what, is happening to the economy. The stock market is probably already belly-up!”
“How can you think of money at a time like this?” The pink unicorn mare asked, pushing her thick framed glasses up the bridge of her nose. “We should really focus on what’s going on here.”
For the first time since arriving at the Canterlot Hotel, the four survivors looked at their surroundings. The windows to the streets were already boarded up with thick wooden planks that none recalled putting up. Sandbags and more boards blocked access to the two hallways leading to the rest of the first floor. The stairwell was filled with smoldering debris preventing passage to the higher floors. And with the elevator useless without power, the only way out was through the front door.
“Anypony remember drawing these?” The white pegasus asked, indicating to a chalk drawing on the wall behind the reception desk and another next to the elevator. They were clearly meant to be firearms, the likes of which most of Equestria had never seen.
The alicorn turned away from the window he’d been looking through and ran towards one of the chalk drawings. He ran his hoof over it and from within the wall a shotgun emerged.
“Wha-how?” the red earth pony asked in disbelief, not sure of what his eyes just saw.
“Check your saddle bags,” the alicorn instructed as he ran back to the window, levitating the shotgun with his cyan magic aura. He aimed down the sight and pulled the trigger, sending buckshot into the skull of an approaching zombie.
The moaning of the undead grew louder as several more appeared, clawing away at the barricades of the room. The three confused ponies reached into the saddlebags they didn’t recall having prior to entering the hotel and withdrew handguns.
“Did I have this before?”
“What is this thing?”
“Awesome…”
The red pony clutched the pistol in his hooves and aimed at a zombie destroying the barricade closest him. When it ripped the last board away and clumsily climbed in he fired two rounds into its head. The orange light in its eyes faded and its lifeless corpse fell to the ground.
“Shoot ‘em five times then buck them,” the alicorn instructed.
“What? That’s a waste of ammo! Didn’t you see me put that one down in two shots?”
“Trust me.”
The pink mare ran to the broken window and used her magic to repair the barricades while the pegasus continued rummaging through his bag. From within he found two identical rocks with rings hanging from them.
Using his teeth, the pegasus pulled the ring out of one of the rocks and waited for something to happen. He raised it to his ear and heard a faint ticking noise. Sudden realization came over him and he threw the grenade out the window nearest him. An explosion soon followed and bits of zombie plastered the walls of the hallway.
Silence followed the explosion and only the distant moan of an unseen zombie could be heard. The four looked around uneasily and eventually turned to each other. The alicorn holstered the shotgun to his back and reached into his saddlebag, removing his own pistol and an odd gold coin.
“Who has a thousand points?” he asked, looking at the coin.
“Excuse me? Points? Are you crazy? Were we supposed to be keeping score?” the red stallion asked in bewilderment.
“The coin in your saddlebag does that for you,” the alicorn said, levitating his coin for the others to see. “950” was engraved into the face of gold coin.
“This defies all logic,” the unicorn mare exclaimed as she withdrew her own coin; “550” engraved in its surface. “How do you know about all this? Who are you?” The alicorn said nothing, his ears twitching as the moaning of the unseen zombie grew louder. “And what happened to your wing?”
“I wasn’t bitten, if that’s what you’re asking,” the alicorn replied, looking to his bandaged wing. “Again I will ask; who has one thousand points?”
“How about you tell us your name first?” the pegasus asked, his (pony name for Italy) accent becoming more noticeable with his agitation. When the alicorn again refused to answer his inquiry the pegasus stated, “My name is Crescendo.”
“Crescendo? As in, THE Crescendo, lead singer of Dragonify?!” the pink unicorn mare asked excitedly. The pegasus nodded and the mare let out a fan girl scream. “I should have known! The white fur, the green and red mane, the beautiful green eyes and that sexy accent; of course it’s you!
“I’m Gemini, your number one fan,” she said, brushing a lock of her pink and white mane out of her face. “Astrologer, all around genius and (quietly—just to Crescendo) freak in the sheets.”
Crescendo smiled awkwardly as Gemini gave him bedroom eyes. He swallowed and turned quickly to the red stallion. “And what about you, comrade?
“You’ve probably all heard of me, but I’m Ruble Rouser,” the red pony spoke with snobbish pride. He was met with blank stares and he cleared his throat. “Millionaire? Owner of RR Industries? Rags to riches story of the century—come on! You can’t say you’ve never heard of me!” The others shook their heads and Ruble just sighed.
“Come on, your turn, what is your name?” Crescendo asked the alicorn. A zombie that had been crippled by Crescendo’s grenade had hoisted itself up to the barricade and began tearing away at the boards.
“Tank. That’s all you’re getting from me,” the alicorn said finally. Crescendo nodded and turned to the barricade. A single shot from his pistol put the zombie out of its misery and it slumped to the floor.
“That all of them?” Ruble asked, looking around. The silence was broken by an eerie melody and the cries of the undead.
“Round two,” Tank said, readying his pistol.