The Trotting Dead : Assemble Towards Fillydelphia

by Tyler-the-Brony

Part 2: Hit the Road

Vinyl groaned as she woke up, not at all getting used to unnaturally long sleeping due to head blows from ponies she didn’t really know. Attempting to sit up, Vinyl felt restraints tied around her hooves. Opening her eyes, she realized she was in a house she wasn’t familiar with, being watched over by 3 ponies.

“You’re up now. That’s good. Wasn’t sure how long you’d be out after that blow from Dinky.” Flitter spoke up and over her shoulders from a nearby desk.

“I’m really sorry miss… I thought you were dead.” Dinky told Vinyl, looking down at her hooves as she did.

“You though I was what?! And why am I tied up?” Vinyl demanded aloud, eliciting a scared glance up from Dinky.

“One question at a time. And I’ll start with the second one. You’re tied up because we didn’t know if you were bit.” Derpy spoke up from a sofa that sat right across from Vinyl, a baseball bat within hoof’s reach.

“Bit?” Vinyl questioned Derpy, her eyes flashing down to the baseball bat far too often.

“The bandages around your head. The blood we could see through them. We thought a Trotter might’ve got you there and you wrapped it up in old gauze to hide it.” Flitter told Vinyl, turning around and revealing a bandolier that currently held 2 knives and a hatchet.

Flitter trotted over to stand above Vinyl, then drew one of her knives out with her mouth. Derpy stood up and trotted over once Flitter had done this, picking up her baseball bat with one hoof and swinging it between her shoulders as she did.

“Like the look of that knife? Because it’s what’ll kill you if you are Bit or if you come at any of us. So, be nice and tell us. Why do you have your head bandaged?” Derpy narrowed her eyes as she awaited Vinyl’s response.

“I got my head split open by a bottle a while ago. I’m not sure how long ago. I’ve been in a coma in the hospital.” Vinyl told Derpy, terrified of what these ponies might do if her answers were in any way ‘wrong’.

Flitter looked at Derpy with fear in her eyes. Derpy nodded at her, leaned over, and took the knife in her own mouth so Flitter could talk instead now.

“You’ve been in a coma? Through… all this? The past 3 months?” Flitter terrifyingly asked, worry clear in her features.

“Yeah. I guess you mean for those things out there when you say ‘all this’. I saw some in the Hospital. What are those things out there anyway? They look like ponies, but they couldn’t be. Didn’t you call them… Trotters or something?” Vinyl asked Derpy and Flitter, only eliciting a terrified glance between the mares.

Derpy edged forward and cut the restraints around all 4 of Vinyl’s hooves. Vinyl massaged each of them in turn once all of them were free. Sitting up afterwards, she saw that Flitter had sheathed her knife and Derpy was leaning her bat up against the frame of the door while leading Dinky out of the room.

“It’s not an easy thing to tell. Come get something to eat. We’ll tell you what we know while you do.” Flitter smiled at Vinyl as she trotted around her bed and paused to lead the way.

Vinyl shakily got up, and followed Flitter’s lead. Vinyl looked around the house as she best she could. All of the windows were either covered by heavy fabric or boarded over. Nearly all the furniture was overturned or rifled through. Vinyl became truly terrified as she began to think of just what she could have missed.

Eventually, Flitter and Vinyl reached the kitchen, where Derpy had set up 3 plates that were partially filled with creamed corn and a couple pieces of wheat each.

“Dinky’s already eaten and I just put her to bed. It’ll make it easier to talk. Sorry it’s not much to eat either. We only have so much nowadays.” Derpy told Vinyl as she took a place at the table.

Vinyl settled down and took a few bites of the wheat, then dug into the corn. Flitter and Derpy did the same, though they kept stealing glances towards first the doors, then the windows, then upstairs, then to Vinyl herself. Once Vinyl had finished, she placed her plate aside, and folded her front hooves in wait.

Flitter and Derpy looked at each other, and then Flitter nodded to Derpy, who sighed and visibly relaxed her muscles.

“A couple months ago, stories started to pop up about missing ponies from all corners of Equestria, but who then showed up later on, only they looked far different. Visibly injured and unresponsive. Dangerous. Some thought Changelings. Others though brutal Foalnappers. None of them were right. It’s some kind of… disease, or plague maybe that brings back dead ponies.” Flitter paused, hoping Vinyl would understand.

Vinyl felt sweat begin to bead on her forehead as she heard this.

“Raise the dead? How? And how do you know they’re dead?” Vinyl asked Flitter, to which Derpy responded.

“We don’t know how it brings them back. Nopony left alive does. And they’re certainly dead. They keep coming at you even if you do something to them that would kill a living pony. You can gut them, cut their limbs off, or bleed them dry, but they’ll keep coming until you take out the brain. That’s the only thing that makes them stop.” Derpy explained, her eyes darkening as she did.

Vinyl looked down at her hooves, fearful for what Octavia, Neon, and Silver Spoon would’ve thought of this once they saw it themselves.

“If you get Bit, you die. Then you come back. That’s why we were worried about if you were Bit. We’ve already seen it take ponies away…then bring back a shell of them…” Derpy shuddered as she remembered, at which point Flitter flew over and held her.

When Vinyl opened her mouth to ask who, Flitter took the initiative.

“She lost her oldest daughter and her best friend. Amethyst Star and Carrot Top. I lost my sister. Cloudchaser… Out of them all the ponies most important to us, Dinky was the only one we could save…” Flitter closed her eyes and felt a few tears fall as she remembered her sister, and held Derpy as she cried too.

“I’m sorry to hear that…” Vinyl spoke up, horrified that this was all she could say.

Everypony sat in silence for a time while Derpy and Flitter cried. Once the crying stopped, Vinyl spoke up on her own.

“You’ve both lost very important ponies in your lives. I’m sorry to hear that. I can see now that you treasure each other and Dinky even more than you did before. I myself have to find my wife and my adopted daughter. They weren’t in town when this happened, and I know my friend went with them, and he’d have made sure they were safe no matter. If I find them, it means safety AND numbers. Alone, we’re all vulnerable. Together, we’re strong. Come with me to find them. I understand you lost ponies here, but this town belongs to the Trotters now. We can find the living elsewhere. I don’t want to leave you, but you must know that I also have to find them. Please, just think about it…” Vinyl begged Flitter and Derpy, who could only look at each other and cry a few more tears in response.

***

“Graaaagh…” The Trotter growled up at Vinyl while it started to raise its head as she sped towards it, igniting her horn in magic along the way.

Vinyl narrowed her eyes in anger and her horn flared even brighter as she got closer to the Trotter, who had now managed to raise his front hooves up too. Another few seconds and Vinyl loomed directly in front of the Trotter who had no back hooves.

Vinyl still felt pity for the creature, even if it was trying to kill her. This had once been a living pony, same as her, or Flitter, or Derpy. As the Trotter began to snap its jaws more frequently, Vinyl closed her eyes and loosed a concentrated bolt of magic right through the Trotter’s head. A loud boom resounded around, and then the Trotter fell silent, drooping back into posture appropriate for a corpse.

Vinyl quickly reopened her eyes and scanned the area afterwards, hoping there weren’t any sizeable numbers of other Trotters within earshot. A few moments passed with nothing seen stirring, and so Vinyl pivoted and trotted back the way she’d come, only a small amount of blood on her white coat as any indication of what she’d just done.

Flitter sat at the helm of an abandoned carriage a couple streets away, her hatchet clenched tightly in her muzzle as she swung her head from side to side, almost daring any Trotters to come out at her. Derpy trotted back and forth in front of Dinky on the roof of a nearby house, her baseball bat strapped across her shoulders with a piece of leather, and a knife clenched in her muzzle, bloodlust for any who would threaten her child clear in her eyes.

Vinyl trotted around the corner of the street ahead and down towards them, and both mares quickly directed themselves towards the movement, only to relax a moment later as they registered it was Vinyl and that she was alone.

“Only one Trotter. Had no back legs. I took care of him. Other than that, we’re clear straight through to the stalls and the Guard Post. No telling how long that’ll last though. We gotta go now, then try and get out of Dodge City before dark tonight.” Vinyl told Flitter and Derpy, carefully measuring the volume of her voice just so she wouldn’t attract any unnoticed guests closer.

Derpy took off from the roof, looped around and grabbed Dinky, then landed quickly and quietly next to Vinyl. Flitter launched herself off of the carriage and landed a little ahead of Vinyl and Derpy. Flitter sheathed her hatchet in her bandolier, then drew her other knife in her left front hoof.

“Let’s do this.” Flitter nodded as she said this, and set off trotting towards where they all knew the best stocked food stalls would be, and from there, to the Guard Post for Dodge City.

Derpy set off after Flitter, Dinky on her back for protection and vantage. Vinyl brought up the back of the formation, keeping her eyes trained to in front of her, but never leaving the streets behind them forgotten for long.

The 4 ponies made good time, only taking around twenty minutes to move as a unit to the last 3 standing food stalls in Dodge City 2 streets away from where they’d started. Some of the stock had rotted, and more of it had been sloppily looted, but there was enough for at least a few days food for everypony present left. Derpy went over all the stock, checking for bugs, bruises, and diseases like Carrot Top had taught her for their gardens long ago.

“It’s not enough to not worry about finding more before Fillydelphia, but this is enough to ration out well for a couple weeks on the road if we’re smart about it from the start. If we’re lucky, this will last us at least til Horseshoe Bay, and maybe even til Baltimare. There’s some seeds under the counters too, so once we settle down somewhere, we can get produce growing.” Derpy informed the others once she had shovelled what was left of the good and useable stock evenly into all their saddlebags.

“Great job Derpy. Now all that’s left is the Guard Post. If we’re lucky, they haven’t been looted at all. If not, then maybe there’s at least a spear or two and maybe a chest plate left. That would still be worth this.” Vinyl called out from her position further down the street, where she could clearly see the old Guard Post.

Flitter touched down next to Vinyl a moment later, and Derpy not but 10 seconds after Flitter, Dinky still safely on her back.

“I’ve seen Guards open up the locks to it before. It’s a really white flare of magic from their horns once they insert them into the seal. Not much use to us since Dinky can’t use magic yet and Derpy and I are both Pegasi, but you can probably open it Vinyl.” Flitter told Vinyl what she remembered from her Weather Patrols around Dodge City.

“I’m sorry I can’t help too….” Dinky lightly called out from Derpy’s back, hanging her head a bit afterwards.

“You help plenty Sweetie. You give us another reason to push, another reason to survive. And nowadays, that’s more valuable than any number of bits.” Derpy wiped away tears as she tried to help Dinky realize her role in the new world.

Vinyl weakly smiled at Derpy, truly hoping their journey to Fillydelphia could help her as much as it would help Vinyl herself. Flitter let her tears fall freely, not bothering to hide them from the others.

Everypony spread out and stopped their trot as they finally arrived in front of the Guard Post. It was protected by a barred door, with an odd seal worked into where there would usually be a key hole instead.

Flitter stood to the left side of the building, while Derpy and Dinky took the right. Vinyl trotted forward and inserted her horn where Flitter had told her to. Focusing immensely, Vinyl flooded a huge burst of white light out of her horn and into the seal. A moment later, the seal unlocked and the door swung inward.

Vinyl genuinely smiled for the first time in days, and her smile was mirrored on all the others. The quickly galloped forward into the Guard Post, with Derpy and Flitter quickly and quietly closing the gate behind them. Turning around, they saw Vinyl had frozen, and they could also see why.

There were 4 Trotters ahead of them, all wearing Guard Armor. One had a broken horn, and another had only one wing. One was missing a back leg, and one had blooded smeared on him from his muzzle to his flank. Once the gate was closed, all 4 took notice of the group and took one shaky step towards them.

Vinyl immediately flared her horn up and blew a hole clear through the face of the closest Trotter, splattering grey brain matter all across the far back wall. As the first Trotter fell, Flitter charged forward with her knife and rammed it into the temple of the farthest left Trotter, causing him to seize up and collapse immediately. Derpy quickly slid Dinky off her back and bucked her baseball bat off of her, taking the liberty of stopping the far right Trotter by bashing his muzzle out of existence, then rearranging his head to look more like an hourglass.

As the final Trotter shifted towards Derpy when she got up from stopping her Trotter, Flitter quickly grabbed her hatchet out of her bandolier and took off the top half of his head with a single swing. The corpse took one last step before falling over itself and loosing what was left of its black blood.

All the mares were heaving heavily, and all were covered in blood, guts, and brains. Each shook themselves and rearranged their manes to compose themselves. Dinky stood in the back corner, but she no longer shook with fear any more.

“We should’ve expected there’d be Trotters in here. Whether old Guards or careless Looters. Maybe even other Survivors that got Bit. Buck.” Vinyl clenched her teeth and hung her head as she realized how careless she’d been about entering a locked up building.

Flitter trotted over to Vinyl and put a hoof on her shoulder in comfort. Looking up at the contact, Vinyl saw Flitter smiling at her.

“We’ll learn. This isn’t exactly easy to get used to. Let’s take stock and get out of here. If there are other Trotters nearby, they’ll be coming to this building soon enough, and we’d best hit the road by then.” Flitter told Vinyl, giving her one last pat on the shoulder before heading off to the back room.

Derpy followed Flitter, and Dinky galloped after her mom. Vinyl shook her head a bit, and followed suite not a moment after.

***

The mare’s perseverance was rewarded. At the post, they found two chest plates and two helmets sized well for Derpy and Flitter. In the back closet on a mannequin, they found a smaller version of the Royal Guards Armor, strangely seeming to be sized for a colt of filly only a couple years older than Dinky. It was far from a tight fit on Dinky, but Derpy refused to leave her daughter unprotected while she wore armor, and none of them could rationalize leaving the armor behind.

They found a few leather sleeves as well, clearly designed to wear so any pony could carry a small weapon with them on their front hooves. Derpy, Vinyl, and Flitter each took one. Flitter placed her hatchet in hers, and Derpy and Vinyl kept theirs open in the hopes they could each find a knife or two to put in them.

They also found 5 spears. Derpy carried two, Vinyl and Flitter each carried one, and Dinky was allowed to hold one for personal protection when they were on the road or fighting Trotters. Vinyl came across a Captain’s Helmet her size, which Flitter and Derpy both insisted she take, as well as a bandolier of her own, which came loaded with 3 knives, 2 hatchets, and a pair of short swords that seemed to be from Saddle Arabia. Two of Vinyl’s new knives went into her own leather sleeve, while she gave the other to Derpy so that all three of the mares carried at least one knife at all times.

“Those swords are a good find, especially for a unicorn. You can slice and dice a Trotter easy now.” Derpy smiled at Vinyl as she strapped her new spears and her old bat over her chestplate while Vinyl spun them around in her magic.

“I’ll reserve them until I really need them. At least until I can practice with them. My magic and these knives will be good enough until Fillydelphia, especially if I have you and Flitter with me. Speaking of our new weapons, can you and Dinky take these hatchets? I’m bad with them, so they’re just extra weight on my bandolier otherwise.” Vinyl lifted the two hatchets out and offered them to Derpy, who narrowed her eyes at them.

“Derpy. We already let Dinky carry a spear when she needs to. A hatchet is a lot better if they ever managed to get too close, not that we’d ever let them get that close to her. And you could stand to carry a more close range weapon too. Vinyl gave you a knife from her bandolier too, but a hatchet’s blade is a lot wider and you can swing with it. Please. If not for yourself, carry it to help protect Dinky better. And to help give me a better piece of mind about us going on the road with only the 4 of us.” Flitter pleaded with Derpy, showing genuine concern and sadness in her eyes as she did.

Derpy sighed, and took the hatchets in her muzzle. She slid her hatchet in her leather sleeve next to her knife, then turned and called Dinky over to give her the other one, which she strapped to Dinky’s back herself with a spare piece of leather she’d grabbed from under the counter of one of the food stalls.

Vinyl surveyed Flitter, Dinky, and Derpy now that they had managed to equip all their new weapons and armor. Now they looked like a real survivor force, even to other survivors if they managed to meet anymore before Fillydelphia.

Vinyl took a deep breath in, and steeled herself.

“Let’s go. We’ve still got about 2 hours of daylight. Let’s get out of the borders of Dodge City at least. Come tomorrow, we’ll official be on the road to Fillydelphia.” Vinyl told Flitter, Derpy, and Dinky, all who steeled themselves, the same as she had at her words.

Everypony trotted after her as Vinyl headed back to the gate of the Guard Post, and from there, out to the new Equestria.