//------------------------------//
// The Dash 
// Story: Generation Z: The Chronicles 
// by Another Army Brony 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 10: The Dash






"...And so it was, that the noble Pacific Penguin had slain the seemingly immortal Grammar-zilla, burying the fallen colossus beside his nefarious kin, the mighty Spell-a-saurus. In time, the deeds of our hero would be immortalized in the songs of bards, sung far and wide. A yearly tradition had sprung up to commemorate the trials that had been overcome, the obstacles surmounted. The tradition was called "The Offering" , and is celebrated as such: From all the lands, the farmers send a portion of their butter throughout the year to be stored in a cold cellar far below ground. On the night before the Summer Solstice, the butter would be carted up from the cellar and sculpted by skilled artisans into an homage to the hero, bearing his noble visage. By nightfall the monument would be no more, dissolved by the rays of the sun; signifying Pacific Penguin's surmounting of the great obstacles that befell him. The day is concluded with much ale; a tremendous celebration indeed.



With her mission firmly in her mind, Dash set off for Fluttershy’s cottage by the edge of the Everfree Forest.  She flew high above the trees, skirting the undersides of the clouds in order to keep as much distance between the infected Ponyville and herself as possible. After all, it would be easier to follow her friends’ directions if there wasn’t the temptation of helping a pony in need. Dipping below the clouds, she checked her progress. As fast as she was flying, she would arrive any minute.  Sure enough, after only a few more flaps of her wings Rainbow spotted the clearing in which her canary friend resides, marked as it was by a litter of woodland creatures. 





Fluttershy’s Cottage, 0630





Pulling into a steep dive and tucking her wings in, Dash rocketed towards the ground at an irresponsible speed. She took a moment to revel in the sheer thrill of a high speed maneuver, but was forced to flare her wings and pull up to avoid becoming a mangled cyan and crimson crater in the ground. As her powerful wings bled off her momentum, the wind they created was not dissimilar to a hurricane, and sent most of the smaller animals tumbling.  As she touched down, she began to look around for Fluttershy.  That’s odd…thought Dash. Usually her timid friend was out and about this time of day, tending to the needs of the assortment of fauna that congregated near her home. 

Before she had a chance to really ponder where her friend had gone, a bit of pink poking out from a bush drew her attention.  As she cantered over to investigate, the situation was revealed in its comical entirety. As Dash had bled off the momentum of her dive, Fluttershy had been outside, tending to one of her animals or another, and had been caught unaware by the sudden gust of wind. This resulted in her being sent careening through the air, into the bush where she landed and was stuck. If not for the look of embarrassment on her poor friend's face, Dash might have fallen to the ground laughing. As it was, she apologized and helped poor Fluttershy out of the shrubbery.  

As soon as the fragile mare stopped shaking, Rainbow Dash began to try and explain what exactly it was that she needed from her. Despite the fact that Dash was putting on her best game face possible and trying to act like her usual, confident self, it was painfully obvious that the fastest flyer in Equestria was barely holding it together. Fluttershy tried to pick a bit of revelation from the cyan pegasus, but to no avail. And when Rainbow Dash asked for a dozen small animals, Fluttershy stared in confusion for a moment. It was all Dash could do to convince Fluttershy that the animals would come to no harm, and that it was some crazy scheme of Twilight’s. 

After a quick back and forth, Fluttershy quickly dispersed to round up a few of the animals. After only a few minutes, she returned carrying a basket that was emitting none-too-pleasant sounds, and a gaggle of rabbits perched upon her back. Dash couldn’t figure out what in the heck would make a noise like was coming from the basket, so she inquired as to its contents.

“Fluttershy…What is in the basket?”

“Badgers.”

“Badgers?”

“Badgers.”

“Shy, why badgers?”

“Badgers are strong, brave animals with a strong sense of loyalty. I had to put them in the basket because their sharp claws would not have made flying easy.”

At this, Dash just shrugged. It seemed like a pretty good reason to her. As they were preparing to leave, she had a thought that stuck her as incredibly funny and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hehehe. Badger Basket.”

And thus, the pegasus who tried not to let her stress show, and the one who could see it anyway, set off for Sweet Apple Acres.

As they cleared the edge of the everfree, Fluttershy took in a sharp gasp and called out to Rainbow.

“Ohmygosh! Dash, we have to go to Ponyville! Somepony could be in trouble down there.”

“Shy, we can’t go down there. Twi told me to get you and come straight back.”

“Dash, are you even hearing yourself? Are you really saying that you would abandon the city in its time of need? That doesn’t sound like the element of Loyalty I know."

"Fluttershy, please. Don’t do this to me. Twilight specifically told me not to go to Ponyville. All I really know is that something terrible has happened, and that we are needed far more at AJ’s place than in town. “

Taken aback by Dash’s begging, Fluttershy relented. Something very bad must have happened to cause the confident, assertive pegasus to resort to begging. This just added to the questions that Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she wanted answers to as they continued to Sweet Apple Acres.





At Sweet Apple Acres, approximately 0715





Fluttershy and Dash returned to the outpost far later than Dash would have liked, taking half again as long as it took Dash to get there, a fact she was quite content to keep bringing up. Despite the fact that Rainbow had taken the basket and lifted a significant burden from Fluttershy, the meek pegasus was still struggling to keep up with her. With a great sense of relief, albeit for different reasons, the two set down near the barn at the Outpost. While Fluttershy sat down to try to catch her breath, Dash went to find Scootaloo and Twilight to let them know she had returned. The former came careening out of the doorway as Dash tried to enter, sending them both sprawling onto the porch, rubbing their assorted new bruises. Even as they nursed their new injuries, they attempted to embrace each other, earning more than a few exclamations of discomfort from the both of them. 

Soon enough, a suitable embrace had been accomplished, and the smaller pegasus took her now customary place on the back of the larger one. Thus situated, they began their search for Twilight, a search that ended about as abruptly as the first when the lavender unicorn walked out of the doorway to see what was causing such a racket. Seemingly at ease, Dash gave Twilight a quick update on what had happened during her trip. Upon learning that Fluttershy had brought six badgers, Twi’s eyes gleamed for a moment as she was lost in thought. When Dash asked what the look was for, Twi simply replied that things were going better than expected with a dismissive wave of her hoof. Dash gave a shrug of her wings, nearly dislodging Scootaloo from her tenuous position. 

As Dash finished her "After Action Review", Twilight gestured over at Fluttershy, still sitting in the clearing in which they landed, and inquired as to how much she knew about what had actually happened. Dash considered it for a moment before responding.

“Not much, other than something really bad happened in Ponyville, and she is needed far more here than in town. I nearly had to drag her, but she finally decided that she would follow me once I told her that this was all part of your plan. You do have a plan, right?”

At this, Twilight at first nodded in assent, but when Dash questioned whether or not she had a plan, Twi looked downright hurt. To question whether or not she (who had a plan and a backup plan for her backup plan when she so much as brushed her mane) had a backup plan for what might well be the end of civilization and ponykind as we know it, was almost blasphemous. After a moment in indulging her wounded ego, Twilight realized that it was a symptom of something much darker, and potentially fatal; her friends were starting to doubt her. Resolving to eliminate any doubts by nipping the whole situation in the bud, Twilight instructed Dash to round up the rest of the group to meet in the living room again at 0800.

Dash looked up at the sun, now entirely above the horizon, and decided that she had plenty of time to grab a snack for Scootaloo and herself before rounding everypony up. As she turned to go into the kitchen, she saw Twilight also break contact and head into the meadow to talk to Fluttershy. ‘This can’t end well’ thought Dash. Deciding that Fluttershy was in good hooves, Dash’s hunger overruled her desire to overhear the conversation between the two.

Twilight approached the delicate pegasus with much trepidation. She truly felt sorry for what she was going to have to put the sweet mare through, but there was simply no way to avoid it. If everypony was to stand a chance at survival, they all needed to be familiar with what they were facing. Even as she approached, she was contemplating the easiest way to break the news to Fluttershy. The distance between them ran out all too soon, leaving Twilight with only a vague idea of what she was going to say.  As Twi drew upon her, Fluttershy looked up with a start, relaxing when she saw the face of her good friend. Her relaxed look was nearly immediately replaced by one of concern as she saw the distress Twilight was in, as she addressed the haggard looking unicorn.

“Oh dear, Twilight. You look awful. Oh, I didn’t mean it like that…you are very pretty...I only meant to say that you look like you have a lot on your mind…not that you don’t always, but…um…I…are you okay?”

As she spoke, the pitiful mare grew steadily more flustered, trying to disappear behind her mane with a bit of success. Hoping to ease the tension even a little bit, Twi sat down next to Fluttershy and put an arm around her. Fluttershy initially recoiled out of habit, but soon leaned into the embrace, taking comfort from the proximity of a trusted friend. Twi hated that they couldn’t just freeze time right at that moment. It was just her and this innocent canary mare, as yet unaware of the horror that had befallen Ponyville and two of their friends.  While Rainbow had been gone to gather up Fluttershy, Twilight had gathered the rest of the group in the living room and distributed a list of tasks that each was responsible for accomplishing as soon as possible. Even now, she could see them all hard at work...Big Mac was felling trees that had already been harvested as AJ and the Crusaders minus one were furiously bucking Apples and putting them into baskets respectively. Steeling herself for the pain she was going to cause, Twilight took a deep breath before speaking to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy? I’m sure you saw the smoke in Ponyville on the way over here. Do you know what it was from?”

At the mention of her name the pegasus stiffened momentarily, before relaxing and sagging her shoulders lower than before. Looking at the ground as if she was trying to see the grass growing before her eyes, she slowly shook her head. Negative. Twilight continued.

“Something very bad has happened in Ponyville. A lot of ponies have died, and many more will. There is nothing we can do to change that.”

Fluttershy stopped tracing patterns in the grass and froze in place. She let her hoof fall to the turf, the first tear tracing its way down her face. The only thing that betrayed the grief behind her mane was the soft patter of tears on the ground. Twilight would give anything to spare her timid friend from this grief; she was so sweet, she didn’t deserve the pain that this knowledge would bring. Sadly, there was no way around it. Feeling her own composure flagging, Twilight pushed on.

“There is nothing we can do. A lot of ponies are going to die. I hate it, but what has taken hold cannot be stopped. All we can do is save who we can while there are still ponies to save.”

From behind her pink wall of mane, Fluttershy’s voice was barely a whisper as she spoke up. Her voice cracked with grief Fluttershy did not even try to disguise.

“Why, Twilight? Why do they have to die? Why can’t we save them?”

“Fluttershy, we cannot save them. We don’t have the power or the technology. There is a disease running loose in Ponyville that is killing them, and it has already begun to spread. There is nothing we can do but save who we can.”

“Can’t we cure them? Diseases can be cured…can we vaccinate them? How does the disease spread? Can we stop the spread?”

“Shy, there is no cure. Not that we know of, at least. Same goes for vaccination. As for how it spreads, it is only from contact with the infected. Not airborne, waterborne, or food borne. Again, as far as we know, that is how it spreads.”

“How…How do they die?”

At this, Twilight balked. How much should she tell her? Where was the line between “Enough information to make her fully aware of the threat” and “so much information that she became a nervous wreck”? Even as she thought about it, there was a good chance that the latter had already happened. Picking her words carefully, she tried to explain as best she could.

“Well…they suffer from high fever and faintness near the end. Then they become unconscious. This is followed by coma and death. “

“That…that’s not so bad. At least it is peaceful. When they die, can you still be infected by them? If everypony locked themselves inside and waited it out, then all they would have to do is clean up the ones who didn’t make it, right? There is no reason for a lot of ponies to die.”

“Well…that isn’t quite right. They can still infect when they die. Without going into too much detail, they are most dangerous when they die. And waiting them out is no good. Because they do not stay down.”

At this, it was Fluttershy’s turn to balk. She turned to face Twi, hoping for a better explanation, a beseeching look in her bloodshot eyes.

“Fluttershy…I don’t know how else to say this. The disease…it is a virus. It takes over the host body. This is the cause of the symptoms, as the body tries to fight off the invader. The virus always wins, though. Once it hits the brain, it takes over and shuts everything down. This is when they go into a coma and die.  They cease to live as we know it. But this is not the end. Once the virus shuts everything down, it takes total control. It…it pilots them. It moves their arms and legs and jaws, seeks out new ponies to infect. This is how it spreads. By taking over a pony and using them like a puppet.”

Fluttershy stared in a daze. She was so far gone that even the tears stopped flowing. Her eyes glazed over and her mouth hung limp as everything began to set in. Slowly, her mouth began moving as though she was speaking, though no sound emerged. This kept up for a minute or so before the tears started anew with greater force than before. Fluttershy’s breathing became ragged, interspersed with choking sounds as if she was trying to swallow a mouth full of crackers. Her mouth, which had hitherto hung agape, snapped shut with frightening speed and emitted a loud clack. At this, Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin. As her heart decided it was safe to beat again and tried to make up for lost time, Fluttershy broke down and wept. 

These were not the quiet tears that had escaped earlier. Nor were they the great, howling sobs of hormones and a sense of injustice. These were quiet, desperate sobs, punctuated only by a pitiful mewling sound, the sound of which is tragic in itself. The sight of Kindness in such a pitiful state was too much for Twilight to bear. Nopony deserved to be in this kind of emotional distress, least of all such a sweet, loving creature as this. The injustice of it all coupled with the heart wrenching, tortured sounds coming from the pegasus of shattered innocence drove Twilight to weep despite her efforts to stay strong for her friend. Twilight circled her other arm around her broken friend, a gesture that was gratefully returned, and the two held each other and wept until there were no more tears. 

Twilight was the first to calm down, already having become a bit deadened to the pain of loss in the last 12 hours. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Twilight reached a hoof down and slowly lifted Fluttershy’s chin, so they were eye to eye. Their muzzles were only a hoof or so apart, and each could feel the breath of the other on their muzzles as they stared into their counterparts’ eyes.  Twilight noticed Fluttershy’s cheeks beginning to turn an adorable shade of pink, most likely due to her embarrassment at breaking down like that in front of her friend.  To break the tension, Twilight spoke up first.

“Don’t worry about it, Shy. Everypony does it now and again. You’ll be fine; it’s our little secret. I promise not to tell anypony if you don’t” Twi said with her winning-est smile.

Far from relieving Fluttershy’s embarrassment about her breakdown, it somehow seemed to make things worse, as the butter colored mares’ cheeks went a much deeper shade of red and her eyes darted around furiously, flitting around like a butterfly. Her eyes would lock on Twilights for a moment before quickly going elsewhere.

As she tried to figure out the reason for the strange reaction she was receiving, everything clicked into place. She was holding the pegasus quite close; one arm around her shoulders, the other propping her chin up so she could look Shy in the eyes. Their muzzles were only a short distance apart; they were both breathing heavily, and they were both emotionally vulnerable right now…everything fell into place in her mind at the same time, and Twi figured out what was causing the strange reaction she was receiving; Fluttershy thought Twi was going to kiss her.  In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like…Blinking furiously, she snapped out of it as her eyes re-focused. The mare she was holding was regarding her with a mix of trepidation and interest, a look she was pretty sure was mirrored on her own face.

Lowering her hoof, Twi’s mind reeled at the implications. Fluttershy thought she was going to kiss her, and she didn’t look thrilled. On the other hand, she didn’t look appalled either. Twi couldn’t believe she was entertaining the notion, but something about the thought of those silky wings embracing her made her feel…funny inside. She would have to do some heavy thinking about this later. For the moment though, she needed to explain what had happened without embarrassing herself or the pegasus. After all, she didn’t want to potentially ruin a chance to feel what those glorious wings would feel like wrapped around her body, as- ‘BACK ON TRACK, TWI’ she mentally berated herself, feeling a blush growing on her own cheeks. She scrambled to explain the situation.

“Fluttershy…I didn’t mean it like that…I mean, I have no problem with it and I don’t want to rule anything out, but now isn’t a good time, and I really like you and I don’t want to lose what we have, so please don’t be upset with me, I didn’t mean *GASP* to make you uncomfortable, and I really should stop talking now, this is getting out of hand, but I can’t –mmph!”

Fluttershy interrupted what was likely the single longest sentence she had ever heard (from anypony other than Pinkie Pie) with a gentle hoof to the mouth of a certain lavender unicorn.

“Twi, you don’t have to explain. I see what you were trying to say, and I agree. The time isn’t right to try. But someday, it might be.”

With a muffled sigh, Twilight let all of her pent up excuses flow out of her, immensely relieved that the whole situation hadn’t gotten any more awkward. If it was this bad just from the implication that they might have kissed, Twi couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if they actually did…groaning and rolling her eyes, she vowed to push the topic from her mind until she had time to properly contemplate the ramifications of it. She became aware of a hurt pegasus regarding her as if she had been slapped.

“Well, if you don’t want to, that’s fine too, I guess…I was just hoping that we…we could still be friends?”

Facehoofing so hard it hurt, Twi tried desperately to explain.

“NO! No, that’s not it at all Fluttershy. I think we should maybe give it a shot when things aren’t so…” 

As she said this last part, Twi gesticulated wildly, both hooves flailing in a frenzied manner. At first, Shy looked confused, but then nodded in understanding as the meaning sunk in. Twilight continued. 

“I really like you, Shy. I don’t want anything to come between our friendship. But if at some point something more develops, I have no objections if you don’t. Until then, friends?”

Twilight held out her hoof, which Fluttershy quickly accepted.

“Friends.”

As the awkward situation passed into memory, raising a score of new questions and answering others that had never been asked, it took with it a distraction that had averted the minds of the mares from the situation at hand. The momentary joy that had come from their shared revelation faded abruptly as reality crashed back down. Ponyville was full of the infected, and ponies were dying every minute. Preparations needed to be implemented at once. 

Twilight glanced up at the sun, realizing with a start that it was well on its way to the peak of the sky, indicating that it was almost 1000! She was late for the meeting by a long shot. She took off galloping, calling back for the startled mare to gather her animals and for them to meet her in the living room ASAP.  As Twi slid to a halt, a dozen eyes stared at her with a range of emotion from concern to indignation. The grumbling had been cut off as quickly as it started when Twi explained she had been with Fluttershy. As if on cue, Fluttershy walked in, her mane still a mess, and the tracks of tears still visible in her coat. All argument ceased.

Once she had everypony situated, Twilight began her lecture.

“If we are to survive and help those who are still out there fighting for their lives, we need a plan. This plan needs three things for it to work; food, water, and shelter for every single survivor.  The food is pretty much taken care of; we have enough supplies on this farm to plant an entire orchard somewhere else and enough preserves in the cellar to feed a hundred ponies for three years if managed right. Water and shelter are a bit more difficult, but luckily that problem was solved for us many, many years ago.  What very few ponies know is that there is a college campus tucked away in a remote area of the Equestrian Mountains. I say remote because when it was built, the designer wanted to be as far away from civilization as feasible, for a number of reasons. Since then, however, Equestria has expanded greatly, and there is now a town a mere day's trot from it. That town is Ponyville, and the college is Starswirl’s Academy of Astronomy."

A gallery of blank stares greeted Twilight. She had expected as much, and pressed on.

“I have devoted hours upon hours of research into a place that Ponyville could relocate should something devastate the city. I was searching for places that had natural resources enough to support the entire population of Ponyville with minimal supplementation. There was no place that met such a requirement, though I had anticipated that there probably wouldn’t be. I did, however find a few that came close. I chose the Academy to become our Haven for a number of reasons, though primarily its location. The Academy is located in a valley with steep mountains on three sides. The other side, and the only entrance to the Academy, is a narrow pass between the ridges, and a single rope bridge over a crevasse with a river at the bottom. So there you have the basic layout: a bowl shaped depression ringed on all sides by sheer cliffs, and a single entry point that can be easily modified to control access." 

“The second reason this site was chosen was for its natural resources. There is a large freshwater lake towards the north of the clearing, which contains more than enough water to supply the entirety of Canterlot, let alone Ponyville. It is fed by streams of melting snow from the mountains, and it will not run dry under normal usage. Another resource is the forest that rings the mountains; they can provide wood for construction purposes, as well as a variety of nuts and berries for food, as they are indigenous to the area. Finally, the large meadow itself is a resource, providing plenty of space to grow crops and do training exercises."

The mention of training exercises raised a few eyebrows, though none spoke up.

“And the final reason I decided on this location was the infrastructure. As I said before, there was an Academy built here many years ago. Though it has doubtlessly suffered to some extent from the long period of dereliction, with a bit of work it should be up and running again in no time. After studying the blueprints of the building combined with a slew of sketches and paintings done of the building in its prime, I can assess with high confidence that the dormitory can easily handle 150 ponies, and with a bit of retrofit, we can push it up to about 230 without modifying the structure. Any more than that, and we will have to build new facilities. Based on the evidence so far, this seems unnecessary."

“In order for this Haven to be a success and ensure the survival of Ponykind, We will have to work diligently and quickly to prepare for the first wave of survivors. The Haven, as I have christened the Academy, will be our main outpost and headquarters. It will house everypony and be a staging area for missions out into the rest of Equestria. Sweet Apple Acres will be our first priority to fortify, and will become our Forward Operating Base, or FOB. Any questions so far?”

After a brief hesitation, Applebloom raised her hoof.

“What do ya mean ‘trainin exercises’?”

“An excellent question, but one whose answer is a bit complicated. Suffice it to say, once we get to the Haven, some things will necessarily be different. Anything else?”

No more hooves went into the air.

“Alright, moving right along. Earlier, I mentioned bringing in survivors; this is how I plan to do it. While the rest of us are back here working our flanks off, Rainbow is going to be tasked with a critical mission.”

Turning to address Dash directly, Twilight continued.

“I need you to perform a recon mission of Ponyville; I need to know what areas seem to be the most heavily affected, and try to learn as much about the infected as possible. Try to stay out of sight. If you are spotted, then before returning to the FOB, I need you to take a slow, meandering path towards the Everfree to draw them away from our position. Once you have lost them, break contact and fly high; the higher the better. Take an indirect route back just in case. While you are performing recon, be on the lookout for survivors or signs of them. If you can do so safely, and let me emphasize SAFELY, engage the survivors. Do not land or get within 10 shoulders of the ground under any circumstance. We cannot afford to lose you, Rainbow. Both as your friends and as a part of your team, we need you. Once you engage the survivors, direct them back to the meadow where we have our pet play date. Once they are informed, break contact and resume recon. Continue this mission until the sun begins to set; at which time, break contact like I said earlier and Return To Base, or RTB. Any questions, Dash?”

The cyan mare seemed like her head was spinning as it tried to comprehend the information it just received. Reaching up to scratch her mane, Dash nodded.

“Twi? What’s up with all the fancy phrases and letters and stuff?”

“You mean the acronyms and abbreviations?”

Dash nodded to the affirmative.

“I read a lot about military communications, and the way they use the abbreviations to transmit large messages or meanings with the fewest syllables possible. I know it sounds like a bunch of alphabet soup, but I thought it would be very useful for us. I’ve also studied various other aspects of the military and combined it with common sense to come up with the best way to survive. Anything else?”

“When do I start?”

“Right now. Set down Scootaloo, and head out to begin your recon.”

After a few parting words and reassurances to Scootaloo, Dash snapped a sharp salute to the lavender unicorn and trotted out the door. Her exit was signaled by the flap of wings, and then silence. Turning back to the rest of the group, Twi addressed them.

“Well, the rest of us have a lot of work ahead of us. It should be about 1100 right now, and we have much to accomplish by nightfall. AJ? I need you to buck as many apples as you can. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo? I need you to collect the apples that AJ bucks and put them in baskets. Granny Smith will supervise. Big Mac? I need you to come with me to the meadow; we have a lot to do there. That just leaves Fluttershy.”

Each pony gathered around nodded in acknowledgement when they received their task, save for the last one. As AJ and the CMC dispersed to begin the harvest, the rest stayed put. Twilight levitated out a map from who-knows-where, and unfurled it. Using her hoof to trace a path and giving a series of land marks, Twilight outlined the route to the Haven and instructed Fluttershy to head out and establish a home for the animals near the observatory. Fluttershy uttered a meek phrase that might have been an affirmation before she turned around and went to collect her critters. With a look towards Big Mac and a short nod, the two set off towards the field that separates Sweet Apple Acres from Ponyville. 

On either side of the meadow, there flowed a stream, swollen as it was by the melting snow farther up the mountains. This was the first line of defense for the FOB; the swollen streams would carry away anypony unlucky enough to be caught in them, whisking them far away before they could even hope to escape.  As Twilight and Big Mac drew upon the meadow, Twilight instructed him to begin bucking down the trees near the far side of the meadow, closer to the FOB. A quick nod, and he set off; his progress announced by a rhythmic thump and punctuated with the crash of a tree. 

Satisfied that the large stallion would meet the requirements, Twi turned her attention to the task at hand. Presently, she wrapped her magic around the bridge over the stream, probing with her purple aura. She quickly found its weak points and with a loud rumble, tore it from its foundation and set it down on the near side of the Meadow. Expertly exploiting her magic, she systematically disassembled the bridge into neat stacks of bricks, planks, and nails. 

Pleased with her handy work, she ventured to the other side of the meadow to see how far Mac had gotten. She very nearly tripped when she saw what he had accomplished in the few minutes he had been working. Nearly half an acre had been cleared of trees, which lay like so many twigs about the ground on which he stood.  As she closed the distance, she told him that he could stop, they had quite enough already. Giving a satisfied smile and a nod, he sat on his haunches as she wrapped about a dozen logs in her purple aura.  In a flash, they had been milled down to standard lumber dimensions, the remainder falling away in a shower of sawdust. Levitating the planks behind her, she struck out towards the pile of supplies. 

Based on her observation of the infected earlier that day, Twilight had discovered a serious vulnerability of theirs; a lacking self-preservation instinct. One of the infected had walked headlong into a fire, oblivious to the concept of pain. It demonstrated that they apparently did not possess even rudimentary reasoning power, as the alley had been only partially blocked by the fire. Any marginally intelligent creature would have simply gone around the flames, so therefore the infected lacked reasoning power entirely. This was the basis for Twilight’s first line of defense: a zigzag bridge. Ponies would zig and zag, navigating the bridge with little difficulty. The infected however, would attempt to walk straight, and would fall into the stream and be carried away. Simple, yet effective.  

Soon Twilight had the bridge fully fabricated, with enough zigzags to throw off the infected without endangering the survivors with excessive twists. Nodding, Twilight headed back to Macintosh.  She rigged up a crude scale using a tree trunk and a stump, and asked Mac to stand on one side of it. Confused yet compliant, he did as she asked. She then began to pile on trees until she had a rough approximation of his weight as indicated by the crude scale. Nodding, she levitated the bundle of logs over the second river, followed by the rest of the felled trees. Once there, she began to convert the bridge to the FOB into a counterweighted drawbridge, using Mac as the counterweight required to lower the bridge. This process went on for a while, requiring much trial and error to get it just right. By the time they had finished, the sun had started to descend towards the horizon. Satisfied with her work, Twilight gathered Mac and headed back to the FOB.



~*~*~*~*~*~




Ponyville Pavilion, 0600 that morning





Day finally breaks, bringing with it a slight sense of relief to those inside the pavilion. The relief of the siege breaking was tempered by the realization that their shelter was woefully inadequate, and would not have survived the onslaught had it been pressed much longer. Once the initial shock had worn off, several ponies began to reconstruct the barriers as best they could; their fervor springing from the terror of last night and inducing a cold logic into the construction of the barriers that were not present before. By daybreak, the barriers had all been retrofitted into a more stable configuration. The light of day also revealed the enemy from the night before, still milling about aimlessly and seemingly unaware of the ponies in the pavilion. Unaware that is, until one of the ponies inside the pavilion tripped over her own hooves and went sprawling into one of the barricades. The resulting clamor of falling debris and shouts of confusion sent up a roar from the infected outside. And just like that, the moans returned in force, along with the renewed thunder of hooves against the barricades.  

The state inside the pavilion quickly descended into pandemonium as a mob of angry ponies descended on the poor mare that had tripped and fallen. Her supplications were lost to the roar of the crowd, their frustration and fear finally being given a target to latch onto. Hope buried her head in her hooves as the shouts of the mob were periodically pierced by screams of pain from the mare, as the mob extracted its bloody vengeance.  The sound of stomping hooves and cursing far outlasted the screams of the mare. At the edge of all the sounds, Hope swore she could hear a wet, smushing sound. She fought the urge to be sick. The uproar only lasted for a minute or so, but the sound of the mare's pleading seemed like it would haunt Hope until her final breath.  

The energy of the mob seemed to drain away, its shouts fading away to nothing. The silence within was absolute save for the moaning and pounding of the infected outside. A voice sounded from above Hope, and she looked up from where she was laying to see that her dad had positioned himself over her at some time during the riot, where he now addressed the mob.

“You are all monsters. MONSTERS! You are no better than those demons outside! This innocent mare tripped, she fucking TRIPPED, and you killed her for it. You murdered her. And now you have to live with that till the day you die, live with the knowledge that by your hooves an innocent life was ended.  And thanks to the racket you all caused in your little murder-spree, that might not be very much longer anyways.”

Artie’s speech was met with silence, as most tried to deny what they did. A few regarded their hooves and the red matter that covered them with a look of unabated horror. After this, the group dispersed to the corners, trying not to look at each other and occasionally stealing glances at the broken form on the floor. 

Whatever color this mare had once been, it was now indistinguishable. Dawn came back with a table cloth from a supply closet and draped it over the broken form. The white cloth turned red at the point contact, and the red slowly spread. In the wake of what happened, nopony really spoke or moved; they just huddled in clusters around the floor, trying to stay as far from the body and from the barricades as possible. By 0900, the horde outside had swelled. 

The moans had long since ceased to be individual sounds, but had blended together into a continuous roar. The pounding also had grown in intensity, the last windows shattering and the barriers creaking in protest. In an alcove under the stairs, Artie, Dawn, and Hope cuddled together, drawing strength from the company of each other. From their alcove hidey-hole, the family had an unfortunately good view of what was to come next. As the pounding intensified by the minute, the barriers began to fail. The first barrier to relent was the one composed of benches that had been wedged in front of the main doors. With an abnormally loud thump, something crashed into the door, splintering the bench. The weakened barricade gave way by degrees, each new push creating a wider and wider gap. First, a hoof and fetlock pushed through, followed by a nightmarish approximation of a head.

The creature that pushed what used to be a head and neck through the door was something out of a bad horror movie. It was just simply too over the top to be real. Its throat had been torn out from the jaw to the collarbone, ragged bits of flesh hanging off in strips. The abomination's esophagus hung out of the hole, having been severed near the head, as it flopped back and forth like a gristly parody of a neck tie. The flesh along the bottom of the jaw had also been stripped, allowing the tongue to dangle in much the same fashion as the esophagus.  From the depths of hell, this creature produced a bloodcurdling gurgle, as if somepony had submerged a filly and dismembered it. The imagery that the sound conjured in the mind was nearly as bad as the sight of the creature that made it.

This sound broke several ponies from their stupor. A trio of stallions rushed the door, slamming their bodies into it. As they impact it, a grotesque crunch rings out, followed by a wet plop. Looking down, the trio see that the top of the creatures head remained inside, a pile of black ichors, bone, and pelt.  A single ear protrudes from the pile, in remarkably pristine condition, almost mocking those who look upon it. Despite the best efforts of the stallions holding the door, there is no stopping it. The wall of infected on the other side push on relentlessly; mindless of exhaustion and exertion. Soon enough, the trio of guardians attempting to hold the line succumb to fatigue and overexertion, falling prey to the relentless horde as they gain entrance to the stronghold. 

As the defense crumbles, so too does the last vestige of sanity in the pavilion. At once, everypony ceases to be a member of a team, a part of the community. Instead, each reverts to a primal fight or flight state of mind, listlessly forcing their way up the stairs to higher ground. Artie, Dawn, and Hope bring up the rear of the tangle of ponies as they fight their way up the stairs. The stairwell becomes a clogged mass of equinity, each shoving forward with all they have in a mad drive to gain the high ground. Artie tosses Hope in his back and pushes forward, driven by terror. 

Even as he hits the first of the steps, he realizes the futility of the situation. There is no way to make it. Without a word, he lifts Hope onto Dawn’s back. Realizing his intent, Dawn breaks down, crying and pleading with her husband.  He puts on a sad smile and gently shakes his head. He knows what he must do to give them a chance at survival.  His last words echo throughout the pavilion as he charges the horde swarming through the doors.

“I love you!”

Artie pivots and lands a buck square in the face of one of the infected, sending it flying through the air with a crunch. Dawn turns and hurries up the stairs, weeping openly. She cannot bear to watch as the stallion she loves throws himself into a meat grinder to buy them time to escape. Hope, however, cannot look away. Being thrown onto her mother's back facing rearward, she can’t bring herself to avert her eyes as her dad bucks the infected one after another. Her eyes are wide with horror as her dad misjudges a kick, allowing one of the infected to grab it. He is pulled off of his feet as the zombies close in around him, forming a wall of undead around him. Though the wall of undead blocks out the sight of him, it does nothing to muffle his screams or the sight of his blood as it spurts into the air, his scream transformed to a gurgle and then silenced.

The cluster of ponies was just clearing the top of the stairs as the zombies started up after them. Dawn looked back, panic rising by the second as the infected closed the distance between them. Despite pushing with all her might, Dawn is helpless to get out of harm’s way.  Hope watches numbly, all emotion seeming to have died with her father’s final scream. Slowly, mechanically, the zombies close the distance, assured destruction getting closer by the second. Some of their muzzles still dripped with what was left of Artie. Not even this macabre sight could stir the faintest emotion within Hope. 

Dawn, on the other hand, saw the impending doom as just that; impending doom. In the face of certain death, Dawn’s maternal instincts kicked in. She reached back and grabbed Hope’s tail in her mouth, and with a swift yank and a flick of the neck sent the cerulean pony spinning through the air like a Frisbee. By some horrible twist of fate, Hope landed a bit dazed and quite dizzy, facing her mother at the head of the stairs. Hope could see her mom, as she was visible through the legs of the ponies between them. 

As they locked eyes, Dawn’s went wide; and just like that, she disappeared down the stairs.  Hope cries out in pain, partly from witnessing the demise of both her parents in less than a minute, partly from the fact that she is being trampled to death under the mob of ponies. Dimly, Hope wonders why she should get up. Why shouldn’t she just lay here and die? She has lost everything; her family, her friends, her home…what was left for her? Hope’s own voice echoed throughout her mind as she had some sort of mental break and her subconscious took over, shouting at her.

‘NO! Get up, you. They died so you could live. They gave their LIVES for you, are you just going to throw their sacrifice away like this? You are pathetic. You have not even gotten your cutie mark yet, and here you are ready to throw your life away. Get up, Hope. You are not allowed to die.’

With this, a spring of resolve she didn’t know she possessed blossomed inside of Hope’s chest. The crowd had thinned somewhat as the zombies drew near, allowing Hope to get her hooves under herself. She knew she had to get away from them or she would be trapped with them. Once she was back on all fours, she had to duck, dodge, dip, dive, and dodge to get free of the tangle of legs around her. She extricated herself from the mass of equinity just in time to come face to face with half a dozen infected at the top of the stairs. Hope had the advantage of youth and adrenaline, and managed to abscond from right under the noses of the zombies. Again using her small size to her benefit, she proceeded to maneuver herself on top of the seething mass of ponies, hopping from one to another as they packed themselves tighter into the space they occupied. From the corner of her eye, Hope caught sight of a grate covering an air duct. Without a second thought, she gamboled across the backs of the other ponies, bucked the grate with all her might and scampered inside.

The grate clanged off the end of the vent before rattling down the air shaft to the first floor. The sound of its decent was magnified and echoed by the confines of the vent shaft, echoing throughout the pavilion. If there had been any hope that her antics had gone unnoticed, they had been dashed to pieces by the grate. The horizontal shaft she was in was not very deep, only going a short way before running into a vertical air shaft. Hope backed as far into the vent as she could, her rear hooves perched precariously on the cusp of the shaft.  She could retreat no farther, nor could she go back the way she came; the zombies had just reached her position in pursuit of the rest of the ponies. She was trying to decide what to do next when the screaming began.

In their haste to get to higher ground, the frightened herd had backed itself into a corner isolating itself from any escape route. As the zombies approach, the hapless ponies were funneled into a dead end, as sheep to the slaughter. And a slaughter it was, in every sense of the word. The nearly three dozen ponies in the corner turned to face nearly thrice their number of undead, who began to mechanically tear through every single pony. One by one, the screams were silenced and replaced by wet, ripping sounds punctuated by the pop of joints dislocating and tendons tearing.  The screaming ended less than a minute after it began, as the infected added to their numbers as they went. 

The same cruel trick of acoustics that had reverberated the entire pavilion with the sound of the falling grate also served to amplify and focus every sound within the pavilion. These sounds converged on the air vent in which Hope sheltered, affording her horrendously clear audio. Every pitter-patter of blood, every snap of a tendon, every clack of jaws echoed like an explosion in the vent. Though the massacre itself lasted less than a minute, the echoes of the carnage reverberated in her mind as hope tried to block them out. The screams seemed to go on forever…

A loud clang at her hooves brought her back to the present in an instant. Her mind instantly registered that a zombie was attempting to crawl into the vent after her. Its jaws snapped feverishly just short of her fetlock, spraying the inside of the vent with saliva. Its hoof scraped around the inside of the vent, seeking purchase; the slick metal foiled its attempts at gaining any leverage. Slowly, the infected pony worked its way deeper into the vent, drawing nearer the filly perched so very precariously on the edge. With a violent lunge and a swipe of its hoof, the zombie managed to catch Hope’s front hoof. While it was not enough for the creature to get a grip, it was enough to dislodge the filly from her perch. She tumbled backwards into the shaft, spreading her limbs reflexively. She slid down for a moment before her hooves gained a hold on the slick surface, halting her descent. Taking a moment to thank Celestia she was still alive, she took a moment to assess her situation. She was hopelessly trapped in an air shaft in a building overrun by zombies, in the middle of a town also overrun by zombies. Things were not looking so great for the little blue filly. Even as she was contemplating her own defeat, the voice in her head from earlier decided to speak up again. 

‘Look up.’

And look up she did, noticing for the first time that the top of the vent was quite bright.

‘That’s because it leads outside, dummy.’

Before Hope could begin to argue with herself about how she was not a dummy, her slipping hooves brought her back to the task at hand: climbing up the air shaft…somehow. Determined not to fail, she began to shimmy up the vent with a good deal of effort. Aiding her ascent were the joints of the shaft, spaced at regular intervals and providing her with a solid grip. Before long, she even had a system down, allowing her to climb faster. Despite this, as she neared the top of the shaft, her legs felt like jello and it was all she could do to keep moving. Despite this, whenever she felt like she could go no farther and would just fall if she tried to move, a surge of energy welled up within her, allowing her to continue. As she went on though, the cumulative effects of the exertion were beginning to set in. Even the extra boost wasn’t doing as much as it was before, only giving her a little boost now. As she reached the final few feet, she had nothing left. The boosts had been the only thing allowing her to move, and those had finally run out. She sat there, wedged in the airshaft wondering what would happen next. A single moan rose from below, calling forth a chorus of the damned in its wake. The images of everything she had seen in the last hour flooded her memory, but from somewhere a voice rang out.

‘Assuming direct control.' 

At this point everything seemed like a dream, and Hope felt as if she was watching someone else at the reigns of her body. She was too beaten to care as she watched herself crawl the last few feet and collapse over the edge. Everything became real again as she began to tumble down the steep roof, her uncooperative limbs flailing about uselessly. As the slope leveled out, she came to rest on her back. She had lost all sense of time in the vent. The only thing she could be sure of was that the sun was very bright and seemed to be directly overhead. Her eyes swam as she passed out, blessed oblivion wrapping her in a tender embrace. 

When she awoke, the sun had only shifted a bit in the sky, presumably headed towards the horizon. Hope’s mind is black; only a dull throb in her chest reminds her that she is alive. She wants to weep, but cannot make her body comply. This makes her want to weep more, starting the cycle anew. The cycle is finally broken by a single, wretched cry of despair which was immediately met by dozens of answering calls. 

She wanted to look over the edge of the roof, to get a better look at the creatures that had stolen so much from her in the last few hours. As Hope tried to make her arms bend to her will and carry her to the edge, she saw a flash of color from the corner of her eye. Turning her head to focus on the source proved to be futile, as whatever the source of the color was seemed to have disappeared. 

Hope’s eyes unfocused slightly as they tried to see into forever. As they unfocused, they detected something they had not seen before; there were several small clouds in the sky. She had seen this earlier, but what she had missed was that one of them was moving against the wind, in the opposite direction of the rest of the clouds. And, sure enough, there was a small sliver of color flapping in the breeze behind the cloud. Once again her body surprised her as it sprang to its hooves of its own volition and began to shout and gesticulate wildly, even rearing onto its hind legs to wave both arms over its head. That proved to be a mistake, and with a single misstep Hope was once again in control of her body as it careened off the edge of the roof. 

Time slowed to a crawl as she slid off the roof; as she fell, her outstretched limb caught the edge of the roof. It was not enough to stop her descent, and all she managed to do was send herself into a gentle pirouette on her way towards the ground. As she tumbled, her gaze slowly panned across the Ponyville skyline. She saw the roof receding in perfect clarity, just beyond her reach. Into the interminable eons she fell; time passing at a crawl and permitting her to take in every detail. 

She saw the thin wisps of smoke as they curled into the sky. She could clearly distinguish the dozens of broken windows throughout Ponyville, a sure sign of the struggle that had ensued previously. It was perfectly easy to make out the spiders' webs in the eve of one of the buildings, and she could practically count the drops of blood on the sidewalk. 

The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes were the soulless eyes and gaping maws of no less than sixty zombies milling about below her.  One in particular locked eyes with her, and with the eye contact established, every last bit of fight seemed to evaporate from Hope. As she fell, her father reared up on his hind legs, as if to catch her. If it wasn’t for the ragged hole in his throat and the way his jaws snapped in anticipation, she could almost believe that he was still alive. She closed her eyes, close enough now to smell the drying blood and dirt from the street below. As the pressed her eyes closed, her father’s face remained in her mind’s eye, as it had been the day before at the picnic in the park. As the distance between her and the ground rapidly closed, Hope whispered to her father, knowing full well that this thing was not her father. She could care less.

“Catch me, Daddy. I miss you.”

With that, strong arms closed around her and held her in a tight embrace as everything exploded into light. Hope could feel herself rising, light as a feather. There was no pain, no sorrow, no remorse; the smell of blood and dirt had been replaced by the scent of rain falling in a meadow. And still, she rose into the light.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~



Hope had no idea how long this was supposed to take seeing as she had never died before, but she still felt like it should be quicker than this. Even as she formed the thought, the bubble of nothingness around her popped; a rhythmic crack punctuated her thoughts with a steady tempo.  She became aware of the feeling of wind on her backside, which was quite confusing and disconcerting at the same time.  She cracked her eyes open and stared for a moment, not quite understanding what she was seeing. The ground seemed to be very, very far away and moving very quickly. It almost seemed like…yes, she was moving, not the ground. Though why she was going backwards, or why her rump was over her head could not be met with a simple answer.  As she looked around, the first thing to catch her attention were the bright colors waving about just over her head. Reaching up to give it an experimental tug, she found herself very nearly dropped as whatever was carrying her jumped in mid-air. This feat in and of itself was quite impressive. Next thing she knew she was flipping through the air before coming face-to-face with a pair of magenta eyes regarding her with a look of indignation.

“What’s the big idea, pulling on my tail like that?”

“I’m sorry, miss. I didn’t mean to hurt you…I just looked up and I saw it, and it was so pretty…I’m really sorry…”

The pegasus regarded Hope with a curious look for a moment before her gaze softened. Hope had deduced that it was a pegasus that had caught her…the wings were a dead giveaway. The pegasus spoke up again.

“Eh, it’s okay kid. No harm, no foul; just don’t do it again. By the way, I’m Rainbow Dash. Who are you?”

“My name is Hope. Thank you for saving me, Miss Rainbow.”

“Just call me Dash; all my friends do.”

“Okay. Thank you, Miss Dash.”

“Not Miss; just Dash.”

“Oh…alright. Thank you, Dash.”

“No problem. I’m going to throw you onto my back now, you're kinda heavy.”

“I’m not heavy, I’m Hope!”

Any further retort was cut off by a flip style maneuver in which Dash situated the filly on her back in one swift, fluid movement.  The filly gripped Dash’s neck for dear life, before relaxing a bit. All in all, it was quite peaceful in the sky. For the first time since the day before, Hope felt safe. She wasn’t sure why she trusted this Pegasus she just met aside from the fact that she had rescued Hope, but she was sure that she did. And that was good enough for Hope. Soon, her mental and emotional exhaustion caught up with her; Hope soon drifted to the edge of sleep. As she finally relaxed for the first time in almost 24 hours, her mind had time to process everything that had happened. The screams of the ponies as they were torn apart. Watching her parents die one by one. And finally, the look on her father’s face as she plummeted towards him. It all became too much for the filly to take. As the events washed over her like a tsunami, so too did the tears. Exhausted, she wept, as only one who has lost everything dear to them can weep.