//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 Running // Story: Undead Equestria // by Sorren //------------------------------// Undead Equestria By: Sorren Chapter 5: Running See anything?” Sunny asked the blue pegasus poised in the doorway. Dusty didn’t reply. Instead, he took a step forward and motioned for them to follow with his tail. After the gloomy light of both the house, and the hospital, the early morning sunlight was almost blinding. The rest of them followed Dusty out of the dwelling. This was the first time any of them had been outside since the infection broke out. Sunny blinked, his eyes finally adjusting to the new change of atmosphere. They had emerged out onto a small front lawn. Houses ran away on both sides of the street. He looked around nervously. As far as he could see, there weren’t any zombie ponies. Brick surveyed the street as well, Willow by his side. Snowglobe seemed to be more interested in the ground while Blossom and Dusty maintained vigilance. Moon stood nervously behind Sunny. The uneasiness of stepping outside seemed to have gotten to them all. “Horseapples,” Dusty muttered. Willow cast a concerned glance at the light blue pegasus. “What is it?” She looked around again to make sure Dusty hadn’t seen anything she had missed. Dusty looked both ways down the street, then hung his head. “Ah know where we are. This is Jade Street. We’re almost smack dab in the middle of town.” “What sort of an REA egghead would build an escape route right to the middle of town?” Snowglobe scoffed. Blossom sighed inwardly. “So, now what?” She glanced at them all expectantly, her gaze coming to rest on Dusty. “Well, ah could fly up an’ see the fastest way out of town.” The pegasus mused, glancing up at the sky. Sunny looked up and immediately wished he could find something to hide under. “I wouldn’t recommend that.” Celestia, they could fly. He could see a few of them drifting by overhead. Well, one couldn’t really call it drifting. The zombie pegasi were flying, but just barely. They gained and dropped altitude rapidly with no clear flight pattern or purpose. “Well that’s not fair.” Dusty stomped a hoof. “They can fly too?” Willow nudged him and pointed a hoof down the street. “Well if Apleoosa is northwest, it wouldn’t hurt to start that way.” The white mare looked around at the rest of them expectantly. “I guess it’s a start,” Sunny agreed halfheartedly. Jeez, he thought. They hadn’t even made it more than a few steps out the front door and they were already running into problems. Dusty started cautiously forward. “Better than standing here waiting for the zombie ponies to find us.” Sunny could see how naturally Dusty was falling into the position of leader. Technically, nopony was in charge. But the blue pegasus seemed of the strong determined type that everypony was more than willing to follow. “This is creepy,” Snowglobe said as they walked down the sidewalk. “I don’t see a thing.” Sunny gasped as they crossed an intersection. In the distance, he could see the hospital. They hadn’t traveled nearly as far as he thought they had. “I think that’s where they all are.” He murmured, staring absently at the large building that rose up above all of the surrounding structures. Zombies crowded around it on all sides; a couple pegasus ponies circled the hospital from above. “Sweet Celestia,” Willow awed. “They’re swarming the place like moths to a light” They all looked on in horror as a green shape emerged onto the roof. The shape continued on until it reached the edge. Sunny couldn’t tell whether it was a mare or a stallion from this distance. He found himself hoping his brain was lying to him when several other shapes became visible on the roof as well, moving rapidly towards the green one. Right before the multicolored mass reached the green pony, it turned and plummeted from the rooftop. The others followed right behind, willingly throwing themselves after the green pony without even slowing. Sunny was saved the sight of them reaching the ground by building between them and the hospital. “What is this?” Snowglobe whimpered. “This can’t be happening.” “Come on,” Willow nudged the unsettled mare forward. The seven of them continued across the intersection. They were still in a neighborhood, this particular street sported rows of identical houses, all lined up within close proximity of one another. Sunny couldn’t get his mind off of the scene he had just witnessed. Everypony they had left behind at the hospital was dead. They had left almost fifty ponies in a sealed building that was rapidly filling with zombie ponies. “I wonder why we haven’t run into any yet,” Blossom wondered aloud. Willow shrugged. “I dunno. You’re supposed to be the zombie expert, not me.” Blossom deadpanned. “Just because I was there when it all hit the fan doesn’t mean I know any more than you do.” “Just be glad we haven’t seen any,” Dusty said from the front of the group. Moon fell into stride beside Sunny as the continued down the deserted street. Sunny noticed she kept throwing glances at the shotgun strapped to her saddlebags. He was reminded of his own gun and took the bit in his mouth. The idea of having a gun still felt strange. But it was a small comfort knowing that, if he really had to, all he would have to do was bite down and the rifle on his back would fire. But aiming was a whole different story. Aiming with nothing but his body seemed a little difficult. Dusty stopped; causing the rest of them to stop as well. “Problems?” Snowglobe asked. Sunny looked ahead of the blue pegasus and realized just why he had stopped. Two zombies staggered down the street ahead, one blue, one brown. “I recommend we get off the street.” Willow said. “It’s too open out here.” Dusty nodded. Without a word, he led them off the main street to one of the many houses. They sneaked through a garden gate into a backyard. Sunny looked around at the fenced in yard. “Now what?” he asked to the group as a whole. “Hop fences?” Dusty cocked his head. “Well, I don’t see any other way.” “Sure, it’s easy for you,” Willow jabbed. “You and Sunny are pegasi. It might not be as easy for us earth ponies and unicorns.” She looked up at her horn. “And horn headed earth ponies,” she muttered broodingly. Snowglobe trotted over to the fence and planted her forehooves on it. “It’s better than taking the street,” she mused. The fence was about as tall as she was when she stood on her hind legs. With a grunt and a heave she pulled herself atop the wooden fence and dropped down on the other side. With a shrug, Blossom followed. Sunny unfurled his wings and launched himself over the fence, Dusty right on his tail. This was one case where he was thankful for his half-working wings. He looked back in time to see Willow flop to the ground on her back. “Lose your balance there?” Snowglobe teased. “No,” the white mare moaned and picked herself up from the flowerbed she had landed in, flattened daisies in her wake. “I just thought it would be more stylish to try it a different way.” Brick dropped down neatly beside her, Moon came over last. As they crossed the yard, Sunny found it hard to believe they were in the middle of some sort of an apocalypse. Everything seemed so peaceful. The early morning sun shone down on the well kempt backyard, washing everything in its golden haze. Dew shone brightly on every blade of grass and colorful flowers lined the fence. A few fluffy white clouds dotted the early summer sky. He could even hear some birds chirping somewhere in another yard. If this really was an apocalypse, as Blossom had put it, then why was everything so peaceful? The entire town seemed almost bathed in tranquility as thick as the sunlight that shone down upon it. Even when he had watched the ponies fall form the hospital roof, there had been a sort of peaceful silence to the whole scene. “Should we like, check houses or something?” Snowglobe asked. The gray unicorn trotted over to the sliding glass backdoor belonging to the house’s yard they had invaded. Sunny followed her. “Probably not the best idea, we need to get out of town as fast as we can.” He and Snowglobe peered through the glass door into the dark dwelling. “What are you two doing?” Willow called. Sunny threw her a backwards glance. “Just looking,” he replied. He turned back in time to see a strawberry colored mare throw herself against the glass with a resounding thunk. Snowglobe backpedaled with a little squeal of terror. But Sunny couldn’t move. He could only watch as the mare stumbled backwards, only to throw herself at the glass again. The mare struck with the same sound as last time, spreading little ripples in Sunny’s reflection. The mare shook her head; blood spattered the window from a violent nosebleed. “Sunny, get away from there!” Snowglobe choked, still gasping for breath. The strawberry mare collided with the glass again, this time leaving a crimson smear in her wake. Slowly, he backed away, never taking his eyes from the insistant creature. “Look,” Blossom pointed out. “There’s a gate to the back alley. No more fence hopping. Sunny, looking for a good thing to distract him from the sight of strawberry mare, followed Blossom’s gaze to a gate in the corner of the yard. As quickly as they could, the group left the yard through the gate, which did indeed lead to an alley. After everything he had seen so far. That recent encounter had scared him the most. Seeing a pony reduced to such primal instincts that they acted like the common fly trapped behind a window. What could do this? Worse still, what could drive a pony to eat meat? Ponies were herbivores for Celestia’s sake. And yet, they ate ponies like they were a rare delicacy to be gobbled up. Sure, ponies still enjoyed things like eggs. But that was different. Sunny continued on with the others, lost in thought. There was one thing he didn’t understand though. If the zombie ponies ate ponies, then why were there so many of them? If they tore ponies apart and ate them, then how did they survive to turn into one? Sunny discarded the unanswered questions. There were definitely plenty of zombie ponies. He guessed it was just another mystery of this whole mess. He jumped, train of thought broken, as a trash barrel ahead toppled over. The lid rolled away and swirled to the ground. Everypony froze. “What was that?” Snowglobe tensed. Willow rolled her eyes. “What do you think? Something that’s going to try and eat us.” “Keep your voices down,” Dusty whispered. He took a cautious step forward and drew Valediction. A white filly staggered out from behind a trashcan and fixed its sickly gaze on them. “It’s just a filly,” Sunny murmured. Nopony moved. “Maybe it doesn’t see us,” Moon whispered hopefully.” The little filly opened its mouth wide and let out a rasping squeal. It launched itself at them with terrifying speed. “It sees us!” Sunny heard Willow’s jaded response. Dusty took stance and fired. The little zombie stumbled and fell, only to roll to its hooves almost immediately and resume its charge. The creature threw itself at Dusty, who dodged. It flew past him, almost taking a chunk of the blue pony’s ear with it. Snowglobe squealed and almost comically danced away as the filly collided with a trio of trashcans. Brick pulled out his pistol and fired three shots at the little pony trying to clamber back to its hooves. This time it didn’t get up. “That was a filly!” Moon balked. Dusty holstered his weapon. “That is, by far, the most disturbing thing… ah have ever seen.” The blue pegasus gazed down at the dead filly; saddening acceptance shone in his eyes. “I-is it dead?” Snowglobe asked tentatively. “It had better be,” Willow growled. “They shot it four times.” Sunny had to turn away. For the love of Celestia, they had just killed a filly! This wasn’t fair! They couldn’t fight fillies. It was the same as walking around stepping on cute forest animals. There are just some things that you can’t do. Killing fillies, zombie or not, was wrong. He gazed back the way they had come. Fences stretched away on either side, with the occasional backyard gate. A multicolored group of ponies pouring into the alley from the street caught his eye. “Y-you guys,” he stammered, taking a startled step backwards. Moon turned her attention to him. She looked on the verge of tears. “What is it?” She followed his gaze. Her mouth fell open, horror reflecting in her eyes. Enough zombie ponies ran at them that Sunny couldn’t count them all. “Run!” Sunny bellowed. He started walking backwards, never taking his eyes off the incoming herd. He wanted to run; but something inside wouldn’t let him. Dusty looked up to be greeted with the terrifying sight. Without much else to do, Sunny took the bit of the battle saddle in his mouth and flipped the safety catch with his tongue. He took careful aim and bit down. The rifle on his back discharged; the sound rang in his ears. An orange pony at the front dropped, only to be replaced by another. Sunny fired again, but missed, pitting a hole in the ground. “Stop standin’ around!” Dusty bellowed. He fastened his teeth in Sunny’s mane and tugged the orange pegasus around. “Run!” he commanded. The two sprinted down the alley. Sunny could see the others a little ways ahead, having gained distance with a head start. Sunny spared a glance backwards. Only to see the wall of rainbow colored death gaining on them. “I think we’re in trouble!” he yelled to Dusty and put on an extra burst of speed. “Just a run in the park!” Dusty replied. “Was that supposed to be a joke!?” Sunny gasped. He jumped over a toppled trashcan and nearly lost his balance. He righted himself with a flap of his wings. If he went down now, it was all over. “What? You didn’t like it?” Dusty chuckled as they ran. Sunny looked at the pegasus who ran at his side. “We’re about to die! You aren’t supposed to be making jokes!” The group ahead of them slid to a stop; he and Dusty nearly barreled into them. Sunny wanted to cry out in terror. Ahead of them, in the alley, was a whole new horde of them. “Now what?” Snowglobe gasped. She spun in a quick circle, looking for any means of escape. Willow responded by charging off to the left, directly at the wooden fence. She struck it head first and charged a hole straight through. Splinters of wood flew as the white mare disappeared. “Willow’s got the right idea,” Dusty said. He jumped forward and ducked through Willow’s improvised gate. The rest followed, Sunny at the back. He looked around. They were in yet, another back yard. Willow teetered on her hooves and gave her head a violent shake. “Are you okay?” Moon asked, nudging the shell-shocked mare forward. As quickly as the group could, they all crossed the lawn to the back door of a red house. Willow chuckled as they reached the porch. “I guess I am hard headed.” Sunny ran to the back door. “Please be unlocked,” he pleaded under his breath. To his relief, it was. “Everypony inside!” he yelled. They all charged into the house as he held the door open. Brick pushed Willow in last, leaving only Sunny outside. Zombie ponies were now pouring through the escape route Willow had provided. Three tried to pile through at once and jammed in small space. With a splintering sound the fence came apart and dozens of them poured out onto the lawn. Sunny backed into the doorway and took aim at one. He fired at the pink zombie closest to him and she dropped. Hey, he was getting pretty good at this. Dusty was right; you do get used to it really fast. He backed into the house in time for Dusty to slam the door. The entire wall shook as the ponies outside collided with the door. “Celestia, there must be like thirty of them out there,” Moon panted. The door shook again; this time a small crack appeared in the center. “Where do we go?” Sunny asked worriedly as he looked around the well kempt house. “We can’t go out the front door. There’s bound to be more of them in the street.” He panicked, seeing no clear way out. The door bowed inward from another blow and they all shied away. “Anywhere but near this door,” Willow replied, fear reflecting in her voice. Dusty made a motion for them to follow, and they trailed the pegasus down a hall. They emerged into what looked like the front room of the house. Sunny ran over to one of the windows by the front door and peeked out. Sure enough, there were a good deal more of them milling around in the street. The sound of splintering wood from the back of the house warned that the door wasn’t going to hold much longer. “We need to get upstairs,” Blossom insisted. “How will that help us?” Moon asked in a flustered tone. “Just trust me!” The yellow mare turned and started up the staircase at the far end of the room. Sunny blinked; he hadn’t even noticed the staircase. With no other options, the six of them followed Blossom up the carpeted stairs. Sunny was starting to feel quite winded. Running down an alley had drained him pretty well. And now, his worst enemy, stairs. What’s this idea?” Willow rasped as they peaked the stairs. “Roof,” the yellow mare replied without looking back. They ran down a short hall and into a bedroom. Sunny slammed the door after everypony was inside. Blossom crossed the room to the nearest window and threw open the shudders. There was a resounding crash downstairs. “I think they’re inside,” Sunny pressed. “Come on!” Blossom called. She climbed out the window and on to the narrow, sloped ledge of the roof. Sunny went after her, not keen to remain in the house. The others climbed out behind them. It wasn’t easy walking on the slanted roof. The wood and hay shingling was loose underhoof. A single misstep could send a pony tumbling down the harshly angled rooftop. They climbed up to the point where the roof arched and everypony stopped to rest. Willow sat down hard. “Great,” she said in between breaths. “Now we’re trapped on a roof.” The white mare laid down. Sunny could hear the zombie ponies stampeding around in the building below. “It’s a little better than down there. Wouldn’t you agree?” Blossom panted. She lowered herself down and laid back against the slope of the roof. The zombie ponies down on the street spotted them and ran at the house, doing their scream gurgle thing. Willow groaned and adjusted her position. The section of roof where the mare had been only moments before burst open and a snarling head crammed its way halfway out. The blue head shoved its way out further, stretching the skin on its face tight. Willow screamed and scrambled to her hooves. She almost overbalanced but Brick held out a steadying hoof. Willow stood gaping at the shape; her breathing was short and irregular. The eyes in the sickly blue head swiveled to look at her. The white mare shrieked again and brought her hooves down on top of the zombie pony. “Leave me alone!” She bellowed. She brought her hooves down a second time; this time the head disappeared back into the hole. “What!?” The white mare choked. She looked around at all of them, eyes lost in disbelief. “The roof just tried to eat me!” she bellowed at them. Sunny looked over at Dusty, who was no longer sitting on the roof. Instead, he was hovering a few feet above. “We need to get off this roof,” the blue pegasus implied. “Easy for you to say,” Moon muttered dejectedly. Sunny looked over at the next house. It wasn’t too far, six or seven feet at most. “Think you all can make the jump?” he asked them all in general. He knew he could make it; but the others, he wasn’t quite so sure about them. “We could try,” Willow mused. She walked over to the edge of the roof, sizing up the jump. Before Sunny could even realize what she was doing, the mare braced her hind legs and sprung across the gap. She landed with feet to spare. Sunny was surprised at how fast the mare could change her mood. One second she had been freaking out after a pony tried to bite her through the roof. Then she was jumping roofs like nothing had happened. That mare was hard to understand. “Are you crazy?” Sunny gaped at Willow, who was now on the next house over. The mare looked quite pleased with herself. “Maybe,” she chuckled. “Either way, it’s not that hard, come on.” She motioned with her hoof for the rest of them to proceed. Moon walked tentatively up to the ledge. Sunny watched nervously as she sprung and landed cleanly on the other side. Dusty had no trouble crossing due to the fact that he could fly. This gap was plenty small enough for Sunny to soar over. He landed on the other side to turn and watch the others cross. “One roof down,” Moon sighed. She gazed out over the stretching rows of houses. “About fifty to go.” * * * “We gotta take a break,” Snowglobe panted. “I can’t jump any more roofs.” The afternoon sun beat down on them from above. Most of the zombie ponies that had been following them had disbanded. Sunny didn’t quite know how many houses they had crossed, but it was definitely a lot. Dusty touched down on the roof beside the orange pegasus. “Everythin’ looks safe up there, might as well take a quick break.” He folded his wings. The light blue pony had been watching the skies. Somehow, they had managed to momentarily forget about the zombie pegasi until one had dive-bombed them. From that point on, Dusty had been watching the skies to make sure they didn’t receive any more surprises. Sunny was grateful for the lack of pegasi zombies. He had spotted a few on the ground, wings too crippled to fly. From what he could tell, pegasi zombies were rare. Maybe for every twenty zombies they would run into one flying one. “Are we near the edge of the city?” Willow asked hopefully? Dusty frowned. “Ah’d say a little over half,” he replied. Willow chuckled and rolled onto her back. “I didn’t think my legs could ever hurt so bad.” Dusty looked down at the mare balanced precariously on the roof arch. “Only there’s a little problem,” he added. Willow pricked her ears along with everypony else. “There’s an intersection two houses down, then the park. No more buildins’ to hop. The only way ah see we could go from there would be through the park, then after that, a row of apartment buildins.’ But there’s a lot of them between here an’ there.” “Think we’ll just have to make a run for it?” Blossom mused. “I don’t see any other way,” Sunny replied. He looked in the direction Dusty had indicated, shielding the sun from his eyes with a forehoof. It looked like a long ways. Snowglobe stood up and balanced her way over to Sunny. “After you fired those shots, you never reloaded,” the gray mare stated. She levitated one of the ammo boxes out of his saddlebag and set to reloading the fired shots. “Thanks,” he said absently. His mind was reeling from the craziness of the day. And it wasn’t even over yet. He doubted it was barely even lunch time. Moon stood up. “Okay, time to go,” she insisted, cutting everypony’s rest short. Nopony was eager to get going but they readied to move on nonetheless. They set off again, slightly rested. Two more roof jumps later the seven of them found themselves looking down on a large crossroad. This was where the neighborhood road connected to a larger one with a T shape. The park’s wrought iron fence loomed directly across the street, the metal gates ajar. “Anypony got a plan?” Dusty asked them all. Sunny went over the options in his head. A good ten or so zombie ponies staggered aimlessly around in the street. A discarded wagon sat on the curb a ways away from the park gates. A thought struck him. “I have an idea.” Everypony turned to look at the orange pegasus expectantly. “It doesn’t look like there are any of them in the park. If we can somehow make it across the street, then we could close those gates. I’m guessing those fences are about five feet tall. And I don’t think zombies know how to climb.” Dusty tilted his head. The pegasus looked somewhat impressed. He shot a look at the wrought iron fence surrounding the park, then to the two large swinging gates under the metal archway. “I like that idea,” he said. “We’ll need to plan a little better though,” Blossom added. Dusty nodded. “Well, here’s what I think we should do. We need to find a way into this house.” He tapped a hoof on the roof they were standing on. “And decide something over a bite to eat.” * * * “I wonder what’s taking them so long,” Moon wondered aloud. She peeked out the cracked front door. From this angle she could see the wrought iron fence of the park, and the numerous zombie ponies in the street. “Just wait for the signal,” Willow murmured. Sunny and Dusty were up on the roof. The plan was in motion; they were just waiting for the signal. Moon unstrapped the shotgun from her flank and checked the load. She jumped at the sound of a pony jeering. Blossom started forward. “That’s the signal.” “Wait for Sunny,” Moon held out a hoof to halt the advancing mare. She nuzzled the door open a little further, waiting for the familiar orange shape. Something caught the attention of the ponies in the street. One of them turned and snarled before sprinting off to the left. The others followed right behind. That’s when she spotted Sunny soaring down from the building above, towards the park. Well, she wouldn’t exactly call it soaring, more of a gracious fall. “Let’s go!” She kicked open the door and galloped out into the street. The others followed right on her tail. She looked up in time to see Sunny clear the fence to land ungraciously in the grass. “Let’s make this quick!” Willow called Moon looked around to see Dusty a little ways away, down the street. The pegasus hovered about eight feet above the ground. Zombie ponies crowded below, jumping and snapping at the tasty pony above. “They’re like hungry fish!” Dusty chuckled in awe. He looked down at the mindless creatures repulsively. Moon slid to a stop in front of the gate and turned to face the street. Brick, Willow, Snowglobe, and Blossom all charged by. “Get those gates closed!” Moon commanded them. She took stance just outside the gates. A zombie pony abandoned the fruitless effort of jumping for Dusty and instead decided to try for the ponies at the gate. Moon leveled her shotgun with the charging pony and let loose with both barrels. The creature’s head flew in six different directions, fanning the air with a red mist. Its body hit the ground rolling. She snapped open the shotgun and ejected the two spent shells. She loaded two more and closed the breach; it gave its normal satisfying metallic click that Moon had come to like. The mare was completely at peace in her mind. Shooting these things was like therapy to her. They weren’t ponies anymore. They were monsters. Whatever they had been was now long gone, to be replaced by these mindless biting creatures. Putting them down was like mercy killing. “Moon, come on!” Sunny called. She backed through the gateway as quickly as she could. The shotgun never lowered, her eyes still poised for more possible threats. Sunny and Snowglobe slammed the gates closed when she was through. They gray mare levitated a heavy chain through the two gates. A large lock clasped down on the two ends, ensuring that the gates would not be opening easily. “We’re good!” Snowglobe called. A moment later Dusty landed next to them. “Well ah think that worked out pretty good,” he said cheerfully. Zombie ponies piled up against the gates, snarling and screeching at the ponies just out of reach. Moon looked around at everypony; they all sported some sort of a triumphant smile. Except for Brick, he was just making his… Brick face. Sunny walked up to Moon and gave her a light nudge. “I’m still never going to get used to you shooting a gun.” “Hey now.” She shot him a smile. “You can’t complain about me shooting them now that you’ve done it too.” The orange pegasus flushed. “I still don’t think I’m ever going to get used to me shooting a gun.” “Come on, you’re pretty good at shooting a gun,” she teased. Moon threw a glance at the gate and took a self-conscious step away from the hungry ponies. “No time for celebration yet.” Dusty’s comment drew everypony’s attention. “Ah have a feelin’ this next part ain’t gonna be any walk in the park.” The pegasus chuckled silently. Willow brought her hoof up to meet her face. “Dusty, that was by far, the worst joke I have heard since I was a filly.” Dusty just smiled and set off down the dirt path through the park. Like normal, the rest of them followed. As they walked, Moon looked around at the luscious environment. The green grass shone in the afternoon sun. Trees flanked the path on either side, their leafy green branches partially blocking the sunlight and casting pockmarks of jagged light on the winding trail. It almost felt like an ordinary day. That is, if you forgot about the zombie ponies. Moon sighed and glanced at her six companions. If they did manage to make it out of this town alive, how would they make it all the way to Appleoosa? And even if they did make it that far, what would they do if Appleoosa wasn’t even there anymore? They were basing their survival on a hunch. But it wasn’t all bad. Her old life had been boring and repetitive, but this, this was okay. Moon mentally scolded herself. She almost liked this better than her old life. What was wrong with her? Things were terrible. She wasn’t supposed to like it. She looked over at Sunny; who was fiddling with the bit on his battle saddle. “Now don’t go shooting anypony,” she teased. Sunny looked at her. “Don’t worry, safety’s on.” Moon chuckled silently to herself. The battle saddle did match his mane. The black material blended almost perfectly with his mane and tail. The darker colors brought his orange coat into better contrast. The rifle was mounted on the right side of his back. It gleamed in the sunlight. The silver painted barrel protruded slightly past his neck. Moon found it hard not to laugh out loud. It sounded like a funny thing to think, but Sunny looked cool. And knowing the orange pegasi’s personality, cool was not a word one would use to describe him. And here she was, thinking he looked cool. “So I take it you like that shotgun?” Sunny made an awkward poke at conversation. Moon nodded and looked down at the shotgun, which was once again strapped to her left flank. The stained oak finish gleamed dully in the sunlight, the many dents and scratches rippling the sun’s reflection. “Yeah,” she replied. “It makes me feel safe. If that makes sense.” Sunny nodded in agreement. “It makes you feel bigger…” He flushed. “Stronger,” the orange pegasus added sheepishly. Moon looked around at the group once more. The moment of cheerfulness had passed to be replaced by a kind of sad realization, so basically, back to normal. “Do you think there’s anypony else out there?” she asked, only loud enough for Sunny to hear. It took the pegasus a while to respond. Moon patiently awaited his answer, instead focusing on the trees as they walked. “There has to be,” he finally replied. The two exchanged a glance. “Right?” Obviously Sunny was just as worried as she was. “I just don’t know,” she sighed. “We were in that that hospital for a month. I can’t imagine what’s happened while we were locked up. Look at what happened to the town in a single day. As far as we know, all of Equestria might be gone.” “It’s just something we’re going to have to find out in time.” Tentatively, Sunny laid a comforting wing across the blue mare’s back. She couldn’t help but to smile. She knew he wasn’t comfortable with touching other ponies. Yet here he was, overcoming his uneasiness to try and make her feel better. Sunny was the nicest pony she knew. Actually, he was the only pony she had known before everything happened. The only one who was still alive at least. Moon tuned in on a conversation Dusty and Snowglobe were having. “So let me get this straight,” Snowglobe said, sounding mildly surprised. “Before all of this, you drove trains?” Dusty nodded. “That’s right.” “So tell me,” Snowglobe chided. “What is the safe pressure rating for a standard issue Steambuck articulated?” Dusty frowned. “Was that before or after they rebuilt the wrappers and rapid release valves?” Snowglobe grinned evilly. “Before.” The blue pegasus replied without missing a beat. “Regulations say three hundred psi, but ah found that you can push it to four. That way, once you get up to speed you can run off momentum and save coal. Not only that, but you have pressure built for hills. But much higher and you’ll blow out the pressure release.” Snowglobe’s mouth fell open. Dusty seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. “Ah can also tell you the short ton rating if you’d like, or how much of a difference on torque you would get just by decreasing the size of the driving wheels by a half inch and shortening the couplers.” “No, that’s okay.” Snowglobe cut across hurriedly before the pegasus could continue. “I think I get the point.” The gray mare was going red in the face. Dusty chucked and flicked his tail. “I still know more about generators than you do,” she huffed under her breath. Moon turned her attention to Willow, who appeared to be trying to coax brick to speak. From the look of frustration the mare wore, she was not succeeding. Moon could see the fence at the other end of the park. Pretty soon they would be back to walking down zombie infected streets. Sunny squinted ahead. “I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be easy,” he spoke glumly. “Why’s that?” Blossom asked. “Because so far, it’s been too easy.” Dusty rolled his eyes at the orange pegasus. “Well if you say that then a’ course somethin’ bad’s gonna happen.” “Just a little hard to think anything positive right now,” Sunny replied. “You gotta’ look at the positive side, like...” The blue pegasus trailed off. “You just gotta look at the good part,” he finished awkwardly. They walked on. “How many zombies do you think are going to be out there?” Snowglobe wondered aloud as they neared the gates. Willow rolled her eyes. “Why do we keep calling them zombie ponies?” she said with heavy exasperation. “What do you mean?” Sunny asked. Willow cleared her throat. “Well, zombies are mythical creatures. Just things from old ponytales, story time monsters designed to scare foals. Zombies are creatures that pop up out of the ground, literally the undead.” “I think I may see your point,” Snowglobe said. Willow shot the mare an annoyed look. “The things we are dealing with aren’t dead. It’s not like they’re crawling up out of the ground. These are just normal ponies with some kind of a virus. They still bleed and die like any other pony. They aren’t any different than us, other than the fact that they eat meat and don’t seem to have any remaining intelligence. This is a virus, these aren’t zombies.” Moon nodded. It did make sense. “Well, they act a lot like the story zombies. I think that’s why we started calling them that.” Willow chuckled. “That’s just been on my mind for a while now. It was starting to bother me.” She sighed and cast a look around. “Hey Brick,” she muttered. “Could you dig me out a pain potion?” The stallion nodded and rummaged in her bags as they walked. He pulled out a little orange potion that he then gave to willow. The mare downed it dropped the empty vial back in her saddlebags. “Trouble,” Sunny said hastily. He pointed a hoof towards the gate, where four zombie ponies were doing their… zombie things, which included stumbling around blankly. Moon immediately brought forth her shotgun. “We’re going to have to go through them,” she said. Dusty nodded in agreement and drew his revolver. They walked forward until the mindless ponies were only about a hundred feet away. “Hold it,” Willow warned. “We don’t want to get much closer; picking them off at a distance would be easier.” Dusty holstered his weapon to speak. “Well let’s get em’ to run at us then.” He looked at Sunny. “Do some target practice. Try and hit one Sunny.” The orange pegasus nodded, a little nervously. He took the bit for the battle saddle in his mouth and stood still. Dusty drew his weapon again. Sunny took a deep breath and the rifle on his back fired. Moon watched as one of the four ponies near the gate stumbled. It turned its sickly gaze to them and squealed. “I think you hit it.” Snowglobe murmured. She shrank back behind the larger shape of Brick. The four ponies near the gate ran at them. The things may not have been the most coordinated; but they could still run really fast. “I hate these things,” Willow muttered. She took a few steps backwards until she was standing behind the small defensive line they had set up. Sunny, Moon, Brick, and Dusty all stood at the front, waiting for the zombie ponies to come into range. The one Sunny had hit lumbered towards them at the front. Brick fired and it fell flat on its face. Sunny fired but he missed whatever he was aiming for. Brick dropped one and Dusty fired two more shots into one of the remaining two. The last was now no more than ten feet away. Moon aimed her shotgun and sent a round of buckshot into its flank. It tumbled to the ground leaving a trail of blood in its wake. Brick quickly dispatched it with a single shot. “Well that wasn’t too hard.” Moon chuckled. She froze, slowly turning her head to look back. The others did as well. Screams and grunts reached her ears from the foliage beyond and several ponies appeared around a bend in the trail. “You just had to say it,” Dusty muttered. Willow, Snowglobe and Blossom all hurried to get to the other side of their line of gunners. “This is gonna get bad.” Dusty sighed and began loading new bullet casings into Valediction. Moon did the same, reloading her one spent shell. Three more of them ran at the group from inside the park. Moon figured they had learned how to climb the fence. As they neared, the four dispatched the incoming zombies easily. But Moon could still hear the sounds of zombie ponies. From around the corner ran more of them than she had ever seen together, too many to count. The multicolored wave of ponies was still a fair distance away, rapidly gaining. Sunny took a step back. “Run or shoot?” he asked nervously. Nopony replied. “Run or shoot!?” Dusty was staring at the incoming horde in unmasked worry. He dropped out of his daze and shook his head. “Both!” he yelled. The pegasus backed up, rapidly firing Valediction at the incoming ponies. Sunny, Moon, and Brick all did the same. Moon was starting to panic. They were coming too fast. Plus there were way too many of them to kill. She cast a look to Dusty, who nodded. “Check that!” he yelled. “Just run!” As one, the four ponies turned and ran. The sudden movement took the three ponies behind them by surprise. “Run like you did something to make Willow mad!” Dusty hollered. And so, once again, they were running. Moon cast a look back to see the zombie ponies gaining on them. They left the park through a set of metal gates similar to the ones on the other side. Blossom slid to a stop. “What are you doing?” Moon yelled. The mare didn’t respond. Instead she ran back towards the gate. The yellow mare closed one of the double gates. Moon stood watching in horror. The others had stopped as well. Dusty was taking the time to reload his weapon again. But as the mare went to close the second gate, a zombie pony reached it and bowled her over. Moon aimed the shotgun and blasted the snarling pony backwards. Blossom scrambled to her hooves and finished pulling the gate closed. She set the latch and took a hurried step back. “Let’s go!” she called. “That gate isn’t going to hold them for very long. “Nice work,” Sunny complimented. “Thanks.” The mare took a step forward and winced. Nopony else but Moon seemed to notice. They set off down the street at a fast trot. They were no longer trying to use stealth. Anything that appeared in front of them in the street was blasted. Moon fell in stride beside Blossom. “Are you okay?” she asked. Blossom shook her head. “No,” she croaked. “It bit me.” Tears ran heavy in her eyes. “It fucking bit me.” Moon gasped. She looked around at her fellow companions, but none of them were paying the two mares at the back any attention. Both her and Blossom knew what came next. “Willow says the shortest it takes a pony to turn is about half a day. Blossom shook her head again, looking at the ground. “It doesn’t matter. I’m dead. It’s over.” Moon felt sorrow building up inside her. She hadn’t known the mare for very long. But she was like a member of their group. I can’t believe this, she thought. I’m thinking as if she’s already dead. “If we get Willow now then maybe she can—” “More ahead!” Sunny bellowed. Moon heard the sound of more gunshots and turned to see a good dozen run out of an alley between two apartment buildings. Dusty and Sunny both unleashed fire on the incoming ponies. Sunny fired twice but on the third time his rifle clicked. “Snowglobe!” he yelled. “Reload.” The gray mare ran over to the pegasi’s side and levitated one of the boxes of ammo from his saddlebags. “You got one box left,” she said. Sunny nodded, never taking his eyes off the incoming horde. Moon looked back to see another horde pouring out of a nearby apartment building. “We got more coming in from behind!” she warned. Dusty looked back. Moon thought the light blue pegasus looked both annoyed and flustered at the same time. “Time to get off the street!” Dusty yelled. He motioned for them to follow and sprinted for an apartment building. Moon fired backwards as they ran, not really aiming for anything in particular. Dusty pulled open the door to an apartment and the seven of them ran inside. Once they were in, Dusty slammed the door and ran over to another just inside the main room. They were in some sort of a combination lobby hallway. “These rooms have windows,” he said, motioning for them to enter through another door he had pulled open. Moon trotted into the room and looked back. The door to the outside shook as it was bombarded by zombie ponies. Blossom was standing just outside. Sunny looked questioningly at the yellow mare. “What are you doing?” He made a hoof motion for her to get in the room. “get in here!” She trotted to the door but stopped right before entering. “Make sure you guys make it out of here,” she said. The mare slammed the door, leaving them in the dark room. * * * She propped a chair up against the door to ensure that the rest of them didn’t get out. She took a deep breath. It was now or never. Blossom turned towards the failing front door. Already it was only hanging on by a single hinge. She looked down at the bite on her upper right foreleg. She had been inches from closing the gate when the thing had hit her. Somehow it had gotten her. She chuckled meekly to herself. This was it. She was going to die. “But not without a fight,” she growled. The door collapsed inwards and zombie ponies started pouring into the small room. She turned tail and ran for the stairs. They were right behind her. She imagined she could feel their breath on her tail. Without slowing, she took a hard left and started up the stairs. Blossom pushed as much out of her body as she could. The others had to make it out. She at least owed them that. She shrugged off her barding to lessen the weight. “Horseapples!” she swore. She had left with half their food supply. It was too late now. Four flights of stairs later she found herself panting for breath. Celestia, don’t these things ever get tired? Her body was screaming for her to stop. But she couldn’t, not now. She burst through a door at the top of the next flight. She was now on the roof of the building. Quickly, she slammed it behind her. She stood on her hindlegs and put her back against the door as the monsters threw themselves against it from the inside. She breathed heavily, the moments break allowing her to regain her breath. The door groaned and she leaned more of her weight against it. Blossom looked around at the tar and gravel roof. There were buildings like this all over the place now. She preferred the older ones better. Once she had been to Ponyville. The roofs of all the houses there had been hay. They didn’t have any apartment buildings or anything like these new towns and cities. It was all urban now. She wondered to herself why she was thinking about houses at a time like this. The door shook again and one of the hinges snapped. “Breaks over,” she gasped, still short on air. She left the door and ran over to the buildings edge. The next apartment was a ways away. She stood contemplating the jump. “I can make that,” she said to herself. It was only about ten or so feet. She looked back to see the top half of the door bulging outwards, the bottom half still connected. Zombie ponies tried to cram whatever part of their body they could through the rapidly widening space. Tentatively, Blossom backed away from the ledge until she had a good twenty foot running distance. “Celestia save me,” She murmured. With a hard push she rocketed forward, putting on as much speed as she could muster. At the edge she pushed off hard. The world seemed to slow down. Blossom looked down as she flew. A dirty alley stretched by below. A few zombie ponies that had been milling around gazed hungrily up at her. On the street below, she heard a gunshot. They had made it out. Blossom felt relief wash through every limb in her body. She touched down on the other side. Her weak leg gave out and she tumbled across the gravel roof. Slowly, the mare pushed herself back to her hooves. “Yeah!” she yelled. “Make that one!” The door on the roof she had just left burst open and zombie ponies poured out of the building like a bloody rainbow river. Blossom stood watching triumphantly as the horde dispersed from the staircase to spread out on the roof. The first four that ran at her fell short and Blossom jeered. The next that jumped however, landed half on half off the roof. It scrabbled at her, snapping wildly before it slid off the rooftop. Blossom took a nervous step back. “Disregard what I said earlier,” she chuckled nervously. Great, now she was talking to them. A few more jumped at her but fell short. One almost made it, but struck it’s head on the roof and slid off. Then, they stopped jumping. More of them were still filing onto the roof. But they weren’t jumping anymore. Blossom took another step back. Something bad was about to happen. She could feel it. Then slowly, a blue one started taking backwards steps. It fixed its sickly gaze on her and growled low in its throat. “No,” Blossom gawked. “No! You can’t do that!” she cried. “That’s not fair! You aren’t supposed to be smart!” The creature backed up until it was almost on the other end of the roof. Its fellow companions, or whatever they were, stumbled idly around in confusion. “Don’t you do it!” Blossom yelled, backing away further still. She reached for her saddlebags for something to defend herself with before she realized she had ditched them on the stairs. “Great,” she chuckled. “I’m screwed.” She looked down at her leg. “Well, I was screwed anyways. But now I’m really screwed.” The zombie pony launched itself forward, unsteadily gaining speed, as it lumbered towards the end of its roof. It flung itself off the ledge and landed in a heap on her building. The others took hint and began to do the same. “Out of all of you fuckers I had to get the smart one!” she bellowed. “Why me!?” Blossom backed up until she had no further to go. This was the last building in its row. There were no others to jump to, not even a way down. The zombie pony that had made it across the gap rose to its hooves and charged at her. She dodged and it when soaring off the edge of the building. But the others were now running at her, too many to avoid. Blossom looked back at the street below. “Please Celestia,” she pleaded. “It’s now or never.” She turned towards the street, and jumped. Her mind went into a frenzy of thoughts and memories. Family, friends, places, sights, sounds, everything she had once held dear. Nothing was comprehendible but the wind in her mane. She was filled with the most painful sensation she had ever felt. She heard her body crunch as it struck the pavement. A green zombie pony landed next to her, its neck broke on impact. She had splayed on her side when she had landed. Blossom chuckled. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth. Blossom looked down at her legs, now mangled and broken. A bone stuck out of one at the knee joint. The sound of more of the monsters hitting the pavement filled her ears, somehow making itself heard over the ringing in her ears. Her breath caught in her throat and she coughed blood onto the pavement. It hurt to breathe. Slowly, her vision began to fade around the edges. “Didn’t catch me,” she gurgled. She rolled over onto her back, sending searing waves of pain across her body. Celestia’s sun hovered at its midpoint in the sky. Blood pooled in her mouth and nose and she was forced to turn her head to spit it out. She looked back at the sun, which was now slowly becoming darker. Blossom closed her eyes. “I’ll be with you.” * * * “Where’d they all go?” Sunny wondered aloud as they walked down the deserted street. Moon sniffed. “Blossom must have lured them.” “Why would she do that?” Willow looked down at her hooves. Moon realized they didn’t know. “Because,” she answered. “At the gate, she got bit.” Dusty looked over at her, slightly shocked. “Well, she saved all of us,” he added awkwardly. “Ah give condolences. But if she got bit, then she’s dead. An’ she knows it too.” Snowglobe sniffed. “She’s gone,” Dusty finished levelly. Moon let her mind wander as they walked down the once again deserted street. They had broken out of the room Blossom had locked them in. There hadn’t been a pony in sight. For a while they had heard jeers and screams, but they had stopped a few minutes ago. “Look over there,” Dusty broke the silence. “City limits are just up ahead.” “Finally we can get out of here,” Snowglobe said somewhat cheerily. “I’m sick and tired of this town.” “Aw horseapples!” Dusty stomped his hoof. “What is it?” Sunny asked worriedly. “That mare had half our food supply with her,” Dusty looked around in frustration. Snowglobe drew in air, letting it whistle through her teeth. “That is a problem.” “Don’t worry,” Sunny added. “There are a few houses on the outskirts of town that I’m sure we can check.” “What we really need is some more guns,” Dusty huffed. “And ammo. I have a whole eight shots left for my gun. “Three here,” Moon added. Sunny couldn’t believe the luck they had. They had made it out of the town with mere bullets to spare. So much could have gone wrong it was scary. But the real loss was blossom. She was part of their group. Sure she had only been with them for a few days, but she had still been a part of them, one of the very few survivors. And now their numbers were down to six. Moon levitated the shotgun from her side and looked it over. “You know,” she mused. “I kind of like this thing. It’s pretty good at zombie killing.” Sunny still couldn’t believe Moon was very keen to guns at all. She just didn’t seem like the mare who would want to be near something like that. Well, a lot of ponies didn’t like guns. That’s why there were some towns where guns weren’t allowed. He had never been to places like them before. But in some towns guns weren’t needed. Everypony was nice to each other, and nothing bad ever really happened. He had heard somepony mention Ponyville being a place like that once. Sunny remembered, that when he was a foal, things like guns didn’t even exist. It was only a while ago that some engineer pony had come up with the idea. And from there it had spread to all of what it was now. Some ponies still refused to acknowledge the things existed. Towns like Ponyville avoided them altogether. Sometimes, Sunny could agree with them. Guns were meant to do nothing more than kill ponies. But in this current situation, that was just what they needed. “I have a great idea,” Willow said. Everypony turned their attention to her. “Once we get out of town, we find one of those houses out there. See if we can find some food and ammo. Then we sleep. I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m tired. After running from zombie ponies all day, I need a rest.” They all murmured their agreement. Dusty unfurled his wings and flew around above them as they walked. “More unpredictable random stuff, here we come!” < a thanks to doppelganger for ideas. < I no longer have an editor; so bear with me if there are a few errors. < If you are unclear of weapon design, please refer to my text wall previously posted. < I'm not quite sure about the lines between teen and mature. If you think I am veering further into the mature section, please tell me. I'd rather be told by a reader than have my ass reported. < Also, comedy tag? Some parts are funny, but I wouldn't really clasify it as comedy. What do you ponies think?