//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Crescendo of the Undead (Fan continuation) // by Blackdust //------------------------------// The trickster Johnathan Blackdust was a skilled illusionist unicorn. But the trade off for him was that he could not do any other type of magic. It was both hard and easy for him. He could relate to the Earth ponies that came by, but the other unicorns in his village had a hard time trusting him because of how powerful his illusions were. His ability to fool every sense, up and down, left and right, forward and back, touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight, made him a fairly skilled thief if he had wanted to pursue that direction of his capabilities. But he didn't. Instead he focused on what he could do instead of what he couldn't, or rather, wouldn't. He was able to make fairly decent potions, work on farms with the Earth ponies, and even direct the pegasi on occasion if they needed a hoof on the ground to help them know just how much adjustment needed to be made to the weather to get it accurate again. But despite all that, he always had a sense of- "Get on with it! You're rambling!" Oh. Right. Sorry. *SMACK* And that's for the wall. Today, however, the sense of foreboding was every where. And everypony could feel it. It wasn't until one pony approached him with a gaping hole in their front left shoulder, that he understood why. The poor ponys cutiemark was grayed out. And their eyes were distant and blood shot. They also had blood coming out of their mouth. "Hey, are you ok?" Blackdust asked, slowly approaching them despite the feeling getting worse the closer he got. After he was close enough to see that the wound had fly larvae in it, he realized it was too late to run. Even as the thought crossed his mind, the pony jumped at him causing Blackdust to fall over and almost avoid getting bit. Almost. Instead of biting him on the throat like the pony- no. The ZOMBIE had planned, it bit him on the inside of his left thigh. Too close for comfort to his stallionhood. After he kicked it's head in and carefully getting back to his house on the outskirts of town, not that far from where he was, but once you throw zombies in the mix... Once he secured the door, he went to the back of his small laboratory and pulled out a regeneration potion from one of the bandoleers he had mounted on the shelves and chugged it, watching his bite mark fade before his very eyes. He sighed as the pain faded but his breath caught a he saw a very distinct scar in the shape of a bite on the inside of his left thigh. He considered using another potion, but thought better of it. Sometimes, if a potion won't fix it the first time, it definitely wouldn't help the second time around. But that was sometimes. On occasion, a potion can reheal if a wound was reopened when drank rather than caused. But what he couldn't understand was why he had a scar. He started to reach for a book, but stopped when he heard a pounding on his door. Three bangs and then silence. He snuck over to the door and put his ear close to it. Three more pounds and silence. "He's either gone or dead. Let's go Alfred," came a voice from the other side of the door. It sounded like one of the mares that visited him a few months back. "I doubt either of those options. Look, his door is shut so tight it's bulging out of its frame a little. And even if it wasn't, when does he ever lock it?" came another voice. A stallion unicorn regular that went by the name of Alfred Bloomheart. "I'm here!" Blackdust shouted, hoping to keep them from turning and leaving. To confirm that he was here, he unlocked and relocked the door three times. "There. I told you neither of those were possible," Alfred said to the mare. "Can we come in, or are we gonna be eaten before you open this damn door, Blackdust?" The mare snapped from the other side of the door. "Silverflight?" Blackdust whispered, unlocking and opening the door for his visitors to enter. And sure enough, the unicorn master of the bow, Aurana Silverflight was with Alfred... Who seemed to have some kind of a crystal halberd on his back... "Hey, you gonna let us in or just sit there with the door open so that the three of us can die together?" Alfred said, snapping Blackdust back to reality. "Yeah, sorry," he said, stepping to the side so that they could come in. He closed and locked the door behind them. "So. You got bit. How long ago," Aurana "Damn... I hoped you wouldn't see it that well. But it wasn't that long ago. And I drank a regeneration potion to heal it. Was that wrong?" Blackdust asked, taking note of the looks of fear in the twos eyes. "Because no matter what we've done, those that are bit, turn. No exceptions found yet," Aurana said without missing a beat, and stepping back and drawing her bow and notching an arrow. Alfred on the other hoof, stepped closer and whispered in his ear. When he stepped back, he stepped away from a stunned Blackdust. "And now you know. But don't tell." Blackdust simply nodded. He was a Resolute. One of the few that were resistant or immune to the disease of the zombies. "What did you tell him?" Aurana asked, pulling the arrow back a little. "Just something from the previous village that was attacked," Alfred replied. "Something he needed to know." "And that would be...?" Alfred turned to her and said one word. "Resolute." Aurana gasped and stared at Blackdust saying, "There's no way he's a Resolute! He's never been exposed to the infection like us!" "But I just was... And are you a Resolute? You never did tell me the story behind that mark on your left forehoof," Blackdust said as he slowly came to terms with what he was hearing. As she was going to answer there came a moaning bang at the door causing all three of them to jump, startled by the sudden sound. They then all looked at one another and nodded to each other. Blackdust moved to the side of the door that would put it between him and the zombie. Alfred drew his halberd and positioned himself behind the door with the tip of it pointed at the door. Aurana drew the arrow back fully and set herself with the bow pointing at the door in case there was more than one behind it. Once they were all in position Blackdust opened the door and in came three zombies. Alfred was immediately overwhelmed, Aurana released the arrow too early and it buried itself in the door in front of the first zombie, and Blackdust thought he was screwed. 'Damn straight I did.' How the flying fuck did you get on this side of the screen!?! 'Simple. The wall still had a hole.' GODS DAMMIT! GET BACK TO YOUR SIDE OF THAT DAMN WALL! 'Ok fine. I can see when I'm no linger wanted...' Now that that's solved... As Alfred was stabbing furiously to try and hold the line, he failed to see the third one slip by and start moving towards Aurana. Aurana, on the other hand was completely stunned by the flashbacks of this same situation happening in their old town that they abandoned after they had Celestia completely obliterate it by focusing a beam of pure solar energy on the town, burning and destroying everything in the blast radius. Blackdust, upon seeing this cried out to her hoping to snap her out of her fear induced hallucinations. Alfred was soon suffering from the same fears. The same PTSD. But as he stabbed one of the zombie ponies in the head, he pulled it back and stabbed again, he accidentally let go and threw it to land at Blackdusts' hooves. He was quickly dragged out by his hind hooves, screaming all the while, to be eaten alive as more zombies filled the house. Aurana fell next as she ran out of arrows and started flailing her bow around. Doing the only thing he thought possible, he grabbed the halberd and started swinging, beheading the zombies one after the other. After clearing his house of the walking corpses, he decided to leave the village to the destruction of the solar pillar of death he saw gathering above his head. He prayed that it would get all of the infection this time around. After all, he didn't want to be caught up in another situation like this in the new princess' town, Ponyville...