//------------------------------// // 1.2: The Beginning // Story: PROJECT: PONY UNDEAD // by Flying Fantasy Horse //------------------------------// Twilight never took her eyes off of the text from her book. It was quite an interesting story. It was a sci-fi story about an army general travelling to a different dimension. The story was indeed humorous, and it has been a while since Twilight has read a good, funny story. Twilight gazed from her book. The Golden Oaks Library was tidy and organized, thanks to the added help from her faithful assistant, who was currently eating a muffin across from the table that Twilight was sitting in. It was nice to finally take a break from all the studying that she had to do. Princess Celestia always mentioned to take breaks from studying once in a while, as too much knowledge at once could induce headaches. Suddenly, something broke the silence. It sounded like a knock from the front door. Twilight pulled herself from her seat and trotted to the door. She opened the door to reveal Rarity at the front door. She appeared very worried about something. Her her eyes darted everywhere, and her mane was a little out of place. Sweat was rolling down her forehead as she looked around frantically. Twilight frowned. She didn't like to see Rarity worried, as she usually gets hysterical about a typical situation. She was probably missing a button for one of her dresses or something, Twilight thought. "Hey, Rarity. What appears to be the problem?" Twilight asked. Rarity's eyes finally focused on Twilight, and started talking quickly. "Twilight! I need your assistance! Sweetie..Belle... She's, she's..." Rarity attempted to say, but her words trailed off as she started a series of new sentences. Twilight put a hoof onto Rarity's shoulder. "Rarity, what is it? What's wrong with Sweetie Belle? Start over from the beginning." Rarity sighed and started telling her story. "Sweetie Belle has gone missing. She was sick for a little while, then she just suddenly disappeared. You must aid me in finding her. I am ever so worried!" Twilight thought for a moment. The last time Twilight saw Sweetie Belle was when she was sick the other day. Twilight never knew she was still ill. The fact that Sweetie Belle disappeared was also questionable. Where could she have gone, and how? "Calm down, Rarity. We'll find her together. Now you must answer this question; How could she have disappeared? Was there any signs she was foalnapped?" Rarity put a hoof to her chin and shook her head. "There couldn't be any reason why she was foalnapped. Her room was practically untouched. There was absolutely no sign of anything about her disappearance! But it's not like she walked out in the middle of the night. She would be too sick. This is a such confusing matter that I can't put my hoof on!" Twilight thought hard. Rarity was right; Sweetie Belle couldn't have gone anywhere. She was too sick to do so. So the fact that the filly was missing was very confusing. If this was a foalnapping, the culprit must have been a very good escape artist. Rarity sighed and dropped her head a little. Twilight felt sad for her; A valuable piece from her life was taken from her, and she has no idea on how to get it back. Twilight patted her on the back. "Don't worry, Rarity. It'll be fine. Have you told anyone else about this?" Twilight thought about recruiting her friends to aid her in her search for the filly. Rarity looked up, a little more optimistic. "No, I haven't. Your the first one to know about this." The very thought that out of any of Rarity's friends, Twilight was the one that was chosen to tell her first, made Twilight feel good inside. Twilight felt scales brush against her legs, as Spike entered the conversation. "Don't worry, Rarity! Where ever your sister is, I'll be able to find her!" Twilight looked at Spike for a moment. Spike blushed. "Er, I mean, we will find her." The rest of noon was spent alerting ponies about the missing filly. Many were willing to help, and guards from Canterlot even agreed to assist in the search. Rainbow Dash assisted by getting a birds eye view from the sky, but no such luck. By dusk, no sign of the foal was found. By night, nopony was able to spot even a trace where the foal went. Rarity was getting less and less optimistic, with the help of words and Spike's obvious affection having no effect on the glum fashionable pony. By the end of the night, the guard called off the search until morning. Twilight thought that everypony would benefit from sleep, and will be full of energy in the morning. It was 3:00 AM in the morning when Twilight first heard a soft bang. At first, Twilight just perked her ears up, and lowered them down as the thought of the house making noises entered her mind. She laid back down on her bed and pulled the soft covers more up to her head. The next bang, louder and more sudden, woke her up with a startle. She rised her body and pulled down the covers. She looked outside her window and grimaced at the sight that was clearly visible from beside her bed out the window. Ponies were running from other ponies that appeared to have foam exiting their mouths. A couple of the foaming ponies were biting other ponies, tearing off the flesh of their regular comrades. They screamed at the top of their lungs as they were being devoured. Fillies were hiding in alleyways, hiding in boxes and barrels, curled up into balls wondering what in the world these ponies have gotten into themselves. Fire was evident from a few buildings, blazing and enjoying the fact that there was no firefighters to put it out. A mare jumped off from her balcony attempting to escape from the crazed ponies, and splatted to the ground, in which the foaming ponies ate the remains. Twilight hurled a wave of brown liquids from her stomach at the sight that she was currently witnessing. She continued to vomit until she could feel no more in her stomach. Her mind was racing at the speed of light. What in all of Equestria has gotten into these ponies? Do they have rabies? A banging from her door snapped the thoughts out of her mind. A loud moan came crashing through Twilight's ears and awoken Spike from his sleep. "Twilight? W-what's going on?" Usually, Twilight would have an answer to many of the baby dragon's questions, but at that moment, Twilight did not have any clue as to what was presently going on. The banging from the door grew increasingly louder, and the moans from outside were screeching at a high decibel. Twilight ran to the door and peeped through the tiny hole. Rarity was there, her mane very messy. Twilight quickly opened the door, to which Rarity rushed in and closed the door behind her. As Rarity entered, Twilight studied Rarity's physical features. Rarity was sweating all over, and her mane was in shambles. Her eyes were red with sleep deprivation and darted around the room, not looking at the same thing for even half a second. Spike, who was now aware of the noises, looked at Rarity with confusion. Rarity trotted back and forth worriedly, glancing out the window once or twice, then resume pacing back and forth. Twilight blocked Rarity's repetitive path and asked in great worry. "Rarity! Do you have any idea what's going on?" "I haven't a clue! Ponies are eating each other, Twilight! It is not safe to be out there, or here too! We have to get out of here, from this town!" Twilight thought for a moment, then got an idea. She rushed to one of the bookshelves and took down book from book, attempting to find an answer to the situation. As she searched for an explanation, the screeching and moaning of the ponies grew increasingly louder. Spike poked at Twilight. "Um, Twilight? I think you should ditch the books and get out of here! You heard Rarity! Zombies are eating ponies!" Twilight rolled her eyes. "Zombies? That is a stupid term. We don't even know if this is rabies!" "Look, these things are eating each other and moaning. Does it even matter what they're called? We need to get outta here!" Spike tugged at Twilight worriedly, trying furiously to get Twilight to stray from the text. Twilight didn't budge a bit; She still checked for references in her books. Spike sighed. "Look, if you're not coming, then I'll go myself!" With that, Spike rushed to the door and closed the door behind him before Twilight could even react to the sudden outburst. Rarity also reacted, left in shock. Twilight finally ripped away from her books and ran to the door, calling Spike while grabbing Rarity. "Come on! We have to get Spike before he's eaten by those...Those...Things!" Twilight yelled, frustration audible in her tone. The two unicorns trotted quickly out the door and into the fire. Ponyville was in utter chaos. Bodies of once living ponies had their flesh ripped out, with the insides spilling around the ground. Some bodies grouped together in piles, while others were spread out from each other. Blood and guts were evident on the buildings. Ponies were still running around, majorly confused as to what was going on. Nopony knew what to do, what was going, nor why it was happening. Twilight and Rarity entered the market square, only to see one of the most horrifying scenes of the night. A group of foaming ponies were devouring a filly, no more than eight years old. Her face was stuck in a position of horror, while the ponies reached into a hole that was ripped through the filly, grabbing the guts and blood and sticking it into their hungry mouths. At first, Twilight didn't even realize it was a filly. Rarity was the first to squelch the brown liquids from her mouth, unable to keep the lunch she had that day in her stomach. Twilight soon joined in. After the ordeal, the two ponies made their way to the Carousel Boutique. Rarity spotted a flash of purple scales entering her house. The two made their way into the boutique. Twilight crashed open the door and frantically looked around the building, calling Spike's name. "Spike! Spike! Come on, we have to get out of here! This place is not safe! We have to go!" Twilight pounded a hoof to the ground, frustrated. Rarity also helped with the search. She walked past a small framed picture of Sweetie Belle, then turned back to examine it. Rarity stared at the picture, her eyes full of remorse and despair. She closed her eyes as a single tear rolled down her face. Twilight frowned. Twilight couldn't bear to see one of her friends glum, but with a situation like this, it was hard to see a light through the tunnel. Suddenly, Twilight and Rarity could hear weeping coming from the second floor. Rarity didn't realize the sound at first. The word "Rarity" with a sweet tone brought Rarity to tears. She quickly rushed up to the stairs and opened the door. The room was tidy, and a small filly crying curled into a ball sat in the corner. Rarity, almost instinctively, rushed to the filly, and hugged her the most she has ever squeezed in her life. Twilight, after all the things that happened today, finally smiled. Rarity stared at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle stared at Rarity, with tired and pink eyes. The young filly sniffed a couple times, then continued to hug. Twilight gazed away from the beautiful scene to study the room. Spike was last seen entering the boutique, but he was no where to be seen inside. Where in the world can that dragon hide?, Twilight thought to herself. Suddenly, the moans of creatures outside filled the room. The ponies were inside the house. We forgot to close the door! Twilight's heart started to beat faster. Ideas and solutions were arriving slowly in Twilight's brain, and she needed something now. Her eyes darted around the room and spotted a window. She trotted over to the window and opened it. A haystack was at the bottom, and it appeared that they could jump down. A lightpost was close to the haystack and sharp, so they had to be careful not to land on that. "Okay, guys! We have to jump off the building!" Twilight ordered. Rarity's eyes widened. She stopped holding her frail sister and glared at Twilight. "Are you mad? That is too steep a drop! We won't survive!" "There is a haystack at the bottom. If we're careful, we can get a safe landing and get out of the city before you could say poof!" Rarity still glared at Twilight, until Sweetie Belle poked at Rarity. Rarity looked down at the filly, whose eyes were big and wide with despair. "I don't want to die, Rarity," Sweetie Belle said quietly. Rarity gulped down, and nodded. She stared at Twilight, and again nodded. Twilight walked to the window and stared down at the ground. Normally, Twilight couldn't stand heights. But at the time, it didn't really matter if simple fears got in the way. It was a matter of survival, and Twilight wasn't going to get eaten by a couple of creatures. "Okay, i'll jump first. Sweetie Belle, you'll jump second, then Rarity. Okay?" The two sisters nodded at Twilight. Twilight climbed out the window, and with one breath, she jumped. The air was cool and blistery as she descended to the ground. Twilight made contact with the straw. It felt nice as she tumbled into it. She poked her head up from the straw and held out her hooves. "Okay, Sweetie Belle. Jump now!" Sweetie Belle climbed to the window. She hesitated first, then didn't go at all. "I don't know if I can do it, Twilight," said Sweetie Belle. Twilight sighed, then tried again. "Don't worry. I'll catch you. You can trust me." Sweetie Belle looked at Rarity. Rarity nodded at Sweetie Belle, telling her to go. Sweetie Belle took in a deep breath, and jumped. Twilight positioned herself as the filly flew from the ground. Twilight nabbed her as she was about to fall to the straw. Sweetie Belle curled with Twilight. Twilight felt, nice. Twilight yelled at Rarity, who was staring at the ground nervously. "Rarity, it's your turn!" Rarity bit her lower lip, then looked back. Rarity could hear the coming creatures advancing up the stairs. She looked down again, and sighed. "I can't do it, Twilight! It's impossible!" Twilight rolled her eyes and attempted to comfort Rarity. "Rarity, by the time you actually decide to jump, you'll be eaten by those things! Now jump!" "Oh, that sounds comforting! I just can't do it!" Twilight looked down at Sweetie Belle. She was on the verge of tears at the sight of her sister. Twilight looked up at Rarity and called her. "Rarity, think of Sweetie Belle. She wouldn't want her older sister to die a horrible death, right?" Rarity stared at Sweetie Belle. She was staring up at Rarity with the biggest tear-stricken eyes she has ever seen. Rarity sighed, then started to jump. A group of foaming ponies crashed through the door and rushed over to Rarity. She stopped mid-jump, and froze. Rarity looked down at the ground, then the creatures. She finally jumped, not before the filthy mouth of the creature bumped her behind and set her slightly to the left. Right where the lamppost was. "Rarity, no!!!", Twilight yelled. Rarity flailed her arms around and screamed. The screaming and flailing ended as the tip of the lamppost striked right through Rarity's body, instantly spraying blood to the ground. The blood ended up on Twilight and Sweetie Belle's face. Rarity's face was stuck in a pose of horror, and her eyes were still open, until they slowly closed, ending her life. Twilight stared at the corpse of what used to be her friend. She shivered and kept her mouth wide open at the very sight. Twilight slowly looked down. Sweetie Belle was trying to hold back tears, but failed miserably at the sight. She wimpered and quietly cried. She repeated the same word, over and over again. "S-s-sis-sister? Sis-sister? S-s-s-sister?" Twilight pulled a photograph of Rarity from her knapsack as she trailed through the flower field. It was a group photo with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Twilight closed her eyes and cursed at herself. One of the lives she could have saved, and she didn't. No. Couldn't. Twilight took care of Sweetie Belle for the night, before she realized that she had a bite wound, and was turned into one of them. Twilight had no choice, but take a nearby knife, and stab her until she couldn't move. It felt horrible. Princess Celestia would never forgive Twilight if she cut up a young filly. Never.