Undead Equestria

by Sorren

Chapter 10 Zombies and Locomotives

Undead Equestria

by: Sorren

Chapter 10 - Zombies and Locomotives

“Do you all remember the plan?”

Moon leveled her gaze with Dusty and the two, formal REA pegasi, which she now knew as Copper and Streak. The red one sporting a dirty, golden-brown mane and tail was Copper; the purple one with the white mane was Streak. Mind drifting off on a distant track, Moon wondered if that was even the purple pegasus’ real name. She was a wagon puller after all—Streak wasn’t all too original.

“Sure do,” Dusty responded cheerfully. He rubbed his chin. “If ah recall correctly, we fly to the train yard, take the train, an’ don’t die an’ shoot zombies.”

Moon felt the beginnings of a smile and fought to keep a straight face. She suddenly remembered something she had been meaning to ask. “So why are you taking Snowglobe again?”

Dusty grinned. “Because that mare can fix anything with nothing more’n a wrench and her own wits. She might not like guns all too much, but she’s one smart pony.”

“Oh, why thanks, Dusty,” came the cheeky voice of Snowglobe as she descended the stairs to the center room, taking the pegasus by surprise.

Dusty turned towards her, blushing slightly. “There you are,” he declared.

“Here I am,” she returned, reaching the group of four ponies and shrugging off her saddlebags, which hit the floor with the jingling of metal.

“Tools?” Moon motioned towards the bags.

“Yep,” said Snowglobe, sitting down and casting a casual eye around the room.

“Easy on the weight now,” Dusty warned the unicorn. “ Ah’m the one that has to fly you to the trainyard. From what ah was told, it may be some distance to the west.”

Snowglobe examined herself skeptically. “Weight,” she mused.

“No, no,” Dusty added hurriedly. “Ah mean, weight in the bags. Your body’s fine...” He hesitated, cocking his head to one side. “In fact, ah think you might be a little bit underweight.”

Moon whistled at the two, unable to help herself. Dusty jumped, and turned an even brighter shade of red, while Snowglobe just shot a glare. Copper snorted and turned away.

“You think your funny!” Snowglobe said heatedly, but keeping a joking tone in her voice.

Moon shrugged. “Sort of. I think it’s funny to be able to turn Dusty red whenever I want to.” She turned to her pegasus friend. “Like the time you saved me from myself back at the hospital.”

Dusty was now inventing whole new colors to blush. “Now don’t you ever bring that up again!”

Feeling rather cheerful—and a bit cocky despite the urgent situation—Moon turned to Snowglobe with a teasing grin. “Face it girl, I got all the game.”

The gray mare stood up. “Oh ho!”

Moon smiled evilly. “Oh, don’t worry. You have plenty of game... it all just goes the other way.”

Snowglobe wasn’t smiling anymore. She pushed herself forward and sprang at Moon. Although her face read angry, her eyes sparkled with laughter. Moon reared up to meet the mare and the two of them crashed to the floor. She struggled as Snowglobe tried to wrap her hooves around her neck. With a push, Moon rolled them over, putting her on top.

Dusty had been right; Snowglobe really didn’t weigh very much. The gray mare was much lighter than Moon was herself. The strange thing was, Snowglobe didn’t appear scrawny or small; she was just light.

Moon was sure she had the mare pinned. What she did not expect was the feeling of Snowglobe’s hooves on her belly, near her hind legs. With a heave, the gray mare launched Moon two feet into the air. She flailed her hooves for a moment before crashing back to the wood floor. In a second, Snowglobe was on her. Moon tried to fight back, but soon found herself pinned on her back, Snowglobe looking down at her triumphantly.

Snowglobe rested on Moon’s belly, forelegs braced at the blue mare’s sides and her front hooves on her belly. She leaned in close to Moon and smiled. “What was that you were saying?”

Moon laughed once, breathing heavily. “I’m not sure... something about you managing to pin me down despite how light you are?”

Snowglobe shrugged, tightening her grip as Moon tried to pull away. “I grew up with three older brothers.”

Moon rolled her eyes. “Well that explains a lot.” She turned to look sideways at the three pegasi who were still in the room. All three watched with mixed emotions of laughter and amusement. When they spotted her eyes on them, all three ponies turned away, suddenly becoming much more interested with something just out of sight. Looking back to Snowglobe, Moon leered back, noting the mare’s face suddenly much closer to her own.

“What are you doing?”

Snowglobe rolled her eyes to the left, then right. “Doing what?”

Moon squirmed uncomfortably. “You’re a little close.”

Snowglobe loosened her grip and lifted her head. “Sorry,” she apologised.

Both mares stared at one another, neither speaking.

“That headband works really well for you,” Snowglobe said after a moment, breaking the silence.

Moon chuckled awkwardly, raising a hoof to run it across the strip of fabric. “Yeah...”

She heard the sound of approaching hoofsteps a moment before Brick trotted casually into the room. The large stallion froze, eyes probing the two mares on the floor. He seemed to hit the rewind button on himself and reversed direction, leaving the way he had come.

Moon looked up at Snowglobe. “You can probably get off me now.”

Snowglobe, who was still eyeing the spot Brick had disappeared, jumped. “Right! Sorry.” She released her grasp and sprang nimbly to her hooves.

Moon climbed to her hooves, trying to act as casual. She had seen something in Snowglobe’s eyes and she didn't know whether to feel unsettled or just giggle. Making for the corner of the room, she retrieved her saddlebags and shotgun.

She didn’t really even know why she carried saddlebags. She hardly ever carried anything other than ammo in them, and her shotgun even had a spot to store shells on the left side. More or less, she just used the strap on the left bag to hold her shotgun. What she needed to find herself was some sort of holster.

The three pegasus ponies who had watched the ordeal left out the front door, trying to hold down smiles. Taking their lead, Snowglobe retrieved her bags and did the same.

With work to be done, Moon followed them, falling in stride beside the gray mare as they left the house and emerged out into the hot desert sun.

Outside, the street was crowded with ponies. To Moon, it appeared the entire town was out here, which would only make her job all the easier.

Moon trotted up to the three pegasi, who waited right outside the door, and addressed Dusty. “You can leave after I tell them all what you’re doing.”

Looking about, Moon realized the townsponies had noticed their emergence, and were muttering anxiously to one another. Making head, she started forward, offering a friendly greeting to a group of foals as she passed. Reaching the wagon where she had been so previously given her unwanted leadership, she leapt up to the elevated surface and took stance.

There was no need to call; the townsponies had already gathered around, every eye looking up at her expectantly. Sage and Jade sat by one another a ways off, saved from the blaring sun by a storefront awning.

“Okay!” she called, quelling any chatter that still remained. “Here’s the plan. I’ve been doing some research, and from what I have learned, there is a trainyard a ways to the west of here; this is our escape. Now my friend here, Dusy,” she motioned towards the light-blue pegasus who floated above the crowd, “happens to be an experienced trainpony. A small team of pegasi are going to fly to the railyard, and drive us back a train. That’s how we’re going to get out of here, everypony. Even zombies can’t stop a train.”

“Even if we do get out of here on a train,” said an older mare at the front. “Then what?”

Moon shook her head. “I don’t know. I have absolutely no idea what we’re going to do once we get out of here. All I know, is that we die if we stay here.”

“Hey Moon!” Dusty called suddenly. “Ah’ll let you keep talkin’, but we’re takin’ off!”

Moon waved her hoof at him. "Well don't let me keep you waiting. Go get us a train!"

Dusty dropped back to the ground next to Snowglobe. They exchanged a glance and Dusty motioned for Copper and Streak. With a single flap of his wings, Dusty lifted himself into the air and over Snowglobe. Fastening all four hooves around the mare, he lifted her from the ground, and they were off.

Moon focussed back on the ponies awaiting her word. “I don’t know when they’ll be getting back; it could be four hours, it could be a day, but we need to get ready for when they return. I want everything to go fast and smooth when they pull in. If there is anything you need to bring, leave it on the platform by the tracks.” Moon wracked her brain for what else she had already decided. “Food!” she declared. “I want as many apples as you can get from those trees. I also want as much water as we can take. Any container you can find—fill it with water. It’s no use to leave supplies behind; we don’t know what’s ahead... Does everypony understand!?”

An assortment of jeers and shouts greeted her ears as the ponies yelled their understanding. A moment later, the group began to break apart.

Moon spotted Brick lurking around the side of a building and motioned him towards her. Hopping down from the wagon, she met him halfway. “How are things going?” she greeted cheerfully.

He shrugged.

Ever since Willow had left, so to speak, the brown stallion had mostly kept out of sight. In fact, today was the first time she had seen him in quite a while.

She sighed. “I know it’s hard. I can tell how much you miss Willow. “ He nodded slowly as she spoke, eyes studying the ground.

Moon changed topics. “I need you to do something for me.” Brick’s ears perked. “I want you to go back to the house and pack everything up. You need to take it and put it on the platform, but keep it separated from the other stuff. Make sure you get what’s left of the guns, and what food we have left from the hospital—I think we still have a few dozen cans, but don’t let the townsponies see it; there isn’t enough to go around and they’d probably start a riot over it. Ponies can only eat apples for so long. Also, you really need to keep those cases with Willow’s antidote thing safe. I want them to be the first thing on the train. ”

Brick nodded firmly and turned to follow up her orders.

“One more thing,” she added. “You should probably put that gun back on. You’re going to get a lot of looks walking around, but I’d feel a whole lot safer knowing we have some firepower.”

Brick looked back at her, nodded for a second time, then set off down the street.

Moon watched him go with a soft chuckle. It used to be only Willow that the stallion would listen to. Maybe some of Willow had rubbed off on her, enough for Brick to listen to her. She had also been spontaneously put in charge of a settlement surrounded by zombies... Maybe he was just trying to give her a break.

Now that Brick was no longer in sight, she felt lonely. All of the ponies she knew weren’t here—Willow, Sunny, Dusty, Snowglobe... they were all gone. Brick was here, but he never really spoke to her, anypony actually. She was surrounded by ponies she didn’t know, who would all heed her words without a third thought of it.

Spotting Jade and Sage near the front gate, Moon unconsciously decided to head in their direction.

Moon was glad to see ponies bustling to and fro busily, collecting things that would prove useful. One mare was trying to take a whole china cabinet, but was quickly discouraged from doing so by her very tolerant husband.

Sage raised a hoof in greeting when Moon neared. “How’s it going?” she asked.

Moon glared. “Fine, apart from the fact that I’m leader of about sixty ponies and still can’t understand why.”

Sage shrugged. “You seem to be doing okay... better than me.”

Jade cleared her throat loudly, drawing both mares’ attention. “I like the whole train idea, but do you think it’ll work?”

“I’m not quite sure.” Moon ran her hoof unconsciously across the dark-red headband, remembering how it used to look on Sage. “It was Dusty’s plan. He said they always keep spare engines in railyards for shunting, or just for storage.” She cast a look at Sage. “What’s down the line from here anyways?”

The turquoise mare rolled her eyes to the upper-left, thinking. “I asked up on it once, talked to an old local. Next down the line is Dodge junction, then there are a few different directions from there.”

“I was thinking we could try and make it to Baltimare,” Moon confided. “Candy said that it was still standing.”

Sage frowned. “I think that—”

There was a loud bang as the front gate shook in its housing, sending little splinters of wood flittering to the ground.

“What was that?” Sage squeaked, shrinking back.

Jade unfurled her wings and sprang into the air to land on the walkway above. The gate shook again as something charged the other side, causing the pegasus to stumble.

Moon galloped to the staircase and scaled it four steps at a time, Sage right on her tail. She skidded to a stop at the railing and looked down. The sight below chilled her blood.

Below, a buffalo hammered itself against the gate. It stuck out, a big brown lump in the sea of rainbow shapes pressed against the barrier.

Sage groaned from beside Moon. “I’ve never seen one do this before.”

Moon levitated her shotgun from her side. “Well, it better stop.” She winced as the beast lunged forward again, ramming the gate with its head and shaking the planks below her hooves.

Jade flew out over the monster and pulled a low-caliber pistol from her leg holster. She fined down at the buffalo, striking it multiple times in the back and head. To the pegasus’ disdain, It didn’t even seem to notice it was being shot.

Taking aim with her own weapon, Moon fired a buckshot into the top of the beast’s head. For better or worse, she caught its attention. With a bellow of rage, it ceased its assault on the gate to glare up at her.

To her surprise, and absolute horror, the buffalo sprang into the air with about half the agility of a cat, its front hooves smashing the railing out of the way and crashing to the walkway.

Moon cried out, backpedaling frantically as the behemoth growled and snapped at her, hanging from the wall by its front hooves. “I didn’t know they could jump!”

“Me neither!” Sage yelled back, eyes as wide as saucers.

Ejecting the old shell, Moon fired another shot, shredding the left half of the beast’s face. Despite the two strong blows, it continued to try and haul itself up, glaring at her with its one remaining eye.

Jade landed behind Moon and gave a low shudder. “That thing jumped like it was on a pogo-stick.”

Trying to slow her breathing, Moon levitated a box of shotgun slugs from her saddlebag and swapped them with the buckshot. She aimed and fired, the recoil nearly knocking the weapon from her magical grasp. Bracing herself, she fired again, and again, and again.

Finally, the monster stopped growling and its front hooves stopped churning. It dangled for a second, bleeding onto the walkway, before its hooves slipped and the mangled beast fell from the barrier, flattening some fellow zombies below its bulk.

Townsponies had gathered around below, summoned by the gunshots. Moon looked down at them—her front spattered with blood—and smiled reassuringly. “No worries, it was just a buffalo; it’s dead now.”

Moon turned away from them and looked back to the desert beyond. More infected were still on the way. Already, they had a ten foot ring of zombies around the town, and it definitely was not going away. Somehow, Appleoosa had turned into some sort of a zombie beacon, and now they were swarming like moths to a light.

“Look out!” Sage yelled suddenly, causing Moon to jump and look frantically around for the cause of the warning. Suddenly, a turquoise shape bear-tackled her and the two mares sailed off the back of the barrier to land painfully in the street.

Moon shoved Sage of from atop of her and scrambled to her hooves, wincing at the pain in her back. “What was that for?” she asked angrily, glaring at Sage as she picked herself up.

Her question was answered when four gunshots echoed from above. A moment later, Jade blasted by with three scraggly pegasi on tail. The dark pegasus swerved to and fro, beating her wings frantically, trying to keep the zombies behind her from gaining.

Sage ran forward, following Jade from the ground. “No!” she hollered to the fleeing mare. “Come back this way!”

With surprising agility, Jade corkscrewed herself and turned one-hundred-eighty degrees, back towards Moon and Sage. The sudden movement threw off her pursuers and the three pegasi fought to reverse direction, managing to do so, but not quite as smooth as Jade.

Now that the mare was heading back towards them, Moon could see how panicked she really was. Her eyes popped, and a pistol remained clamped in her jaws, the slide locked and clip empty.

Suddenly, one of her pursuers lunged forwards and fastened its teeth in her tail. Jade cried out as she was yanked back. “Help!” she screamed, battling the three pegasi in the air, trying to avoid their deadly bite.

Moon dashed forward and took aim with the shotgun. She tried to focus on one target, but they were all moving too fast for her to chose. Taking a wild guess, she aimed and fired. The sickening thwack of the slug striking flesh signified she had hit something. One of the pegasi, a blue one, dropped from the sky. Unfortunately, it had not been the one she had intended to hit.

The zombie that didn’t have its teeth fastened in Jade’s tail broke off and dived at Moon from the side, intentions clear.

With something similar to a battle cry, Sage bolted forward, and with a spectacular leap, tackled the infected pony right out of the air.

Taking careful aim this time, Moon blasted the pegasi attacking Jade. It relinquished its grip and spiraled to the ground, its neck decimated by the slug. Without missing a beat, she swung the twelve-gauge around to the last zombie, which Sage had somehow managed to pin, and sent its head across the dirt.

Sage jumped back, startled. She swung her head left and right, mouth agape. “I-I just...”she looked down at her hooves. “I just fought a zombie with my hooves... Am I insane!?” she screamed rhetorically.

Jade landed near Sage and examined the teeth marks in her tail with contempt.

Moon glared around at the townsponies who had begun to crowd around in worry, having just missed the action. “Somepony watch the zombies!” she called, expressing the churning in her belly as anger.

A younger, cherry colored mare broke away from the group and galloped towards the front gate, pulling out a small revolver as she did so.

Moon swept her eyes over the twenty or so ponies that still remained in the street. “How many of you have weapons?”

She sighed when only ten hooves shot into the air. With a roll of her eyes, Moon turned to Sage. “Go find Brick and tell him never mind on packing the guns, we need to distribute them to these ponies. I think we have like... four rifles and maybe ten mouth-held weapons.”

Sage nodded and turned to leave, motioning for Jade to follow.

“We got a problem!” yelled the red mare from the barrier. “You know how buffalo usually travel in herds!?”

* * *

“I think I see it!” Snowglobe called, peering down at the jumbles of shapes in the distance.

“Ah hope so!” Dusty replied from above. “We only been flyin’ for six hours!”

The pegasus shifted his grip on Snowglobe and she tensed. “Don't try and drop me again,” she warned meekly.

“It’s not like ah tried to drop you,” he responded. “Besides, ah caught you before you hit the ground.”

“Barely,” she sulked.

Snowglobe had learned something new today; she really didn’t enjoy flying. Now she had two things to avoid, flying and guns.

Copper swooped down to fly alongside Dusty. “So what’s the plan once we get down there?”

Dusty began his descent as she shapes ahead grew in size. “Way ah see it, we find a train, make it work, an’ take it down the tracks to Appleoosa.”

The red pegasus rolled his eyes. “Good plan.”

Snowglobe scanned the railyard below, searching for anything that could prove useful. A quick examination proved the yard wasn’t much. Few buildings stood, apart from an old wooden station near the tracks, and some covered sheds beyond that. Several switches led away from the main line and tracks stretched out behind the station. Parked in a far siding was a row of boxcars, and on an adjacent track, four passenger carriages sat discarded.

“Switching station,” Dusty said to himself.

“Depends. Sometimes yards like this get left full of stock waitin’ for the next locomotive, or sometimes they got a yard full of engines waitin’ for the next train. Let’s just hope we can find ourselves a working engine down there.”

“I don’t see any trains down there,” said Streak, causing Dusty to wince at the word ‘trains.’

“That’s because they keep all the engines in covered sheds.” Much to Snowglobe’s horror, Dusty spared a hoof around her belly to point to a row of four large sheds at the edge of the yard. “Ah’m hopin’ there’ll be a locomotive in one of those.”

Snowglobe squeaked and hugged Dusty’s other hoof. “Dusty!” she cried.

“Oh, shoot!” Dusty hurriedly clasped his leg back to her flank. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly.

A short descent brought the three pegasi over the building near the tracks. Snowglobe braced herself for the landing, but found her action unorthodox as Dusty set her lightly down on the tar-and-gravel roof. She hugged the ground for a moment, savoring the solid surface.

Dusty grinned at her. “Come on now. Flyin’ ain’t that bad.”

She gave him a glare. “Yeah, and I don’t have wings.” She gave the surrounding rooftop a quick glance over. “What building is this”

Dusty sauntered to a hatch on the roof and yanked it open. The hinges squealed with protest as the conjured rust was separated. “Rail offices. If there’s an engine here, there should be records of it. Best to check here before we go runnin’ around the trainyard dodgin’ zombies.”

Snowglobe looked to the low-caliber pistol strapped to her right foreleg and hoped she wouldn’t have to use it.

Dusy flicked his tail in a motion for Copper and Streak before plunging through the hatch. With a shrug, Copper followed with Streak right behind.

Snowglobe edged herself around the hole in the roof, looking down at the three pegasi who peered back up at her. “I don’t have wings,” she reminded them for the second time today.

“Oh yeah,” said Dusty. He reared up on his rear hooves. “Well jump; ah’ll catch you.”

She pondered the length of the drop: about seven feet. “Okay, you’d better catch me.” Trusting the pegasus fully, she stepped over the edge. Her belly churned at the small drop and she turned over in the air, looking at a square patch of sunlight as she dropped away. There was a sudden deceleration before she found herself looking into Dusty’s face as he held her in his forelegs.

“Wow, you really are light,” he commented.

She gave him a roll of her eyes and dropped out of his grasp to land neatly on her hooves. “Thanks.” Rolling back on her haunches, she brushed down the hair on her belly that had been ruffled during her flight.

She glanced around the room, disliking how dark it appeared. Cheap plastic blinds were drawn over every window and the late-afternoon sun shone brightly through the tiny slits in the plastic sheets. Desks sat haphazardly around the interior of the building, portraying no real order.

A snicker drew her away from her examines of the room and over to Copper, who hurriedly wiped a smile from his face. “What’s so funny?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Copper flicked his ears in minor irritation of having been caught. “Nothing...” He snickered again. “I was just thinking about how fluffy your belly is.”

Still reared up, Snowglobe looked down at her belly and frowned. “Well... it’s nice to know you were thinking about that?” she worded the statement as a question.

Streak jabbed Copper in the side with her knee. “I always knew you had a thing for bellies, Copper.”

He turned angrily to her. “You aren’t—” He broke off, springing back and out of the way as a blue mare sailed at them over a desk. Her eyes bled and almost every one of her teeth had been broken. Copper reared up and deflected the zombie, sending it soaring backwards to crash to a desktop, splitting the wooden surface and scattering papers like party confetti.

In a second, Copper had his pistol out and trained, but Dusty flashed a hoof in front of his muzzle. “No,” he warned. “Ah think the things are attracted to loud noises.”

The red pegasus spat the weapon back to its holster. “Then what the hay are we supposed to do? Ask it to go away?”

The zombie mare picked herself up and gave her head a violent shake, spattering blood across the surrounding walls and floor. With a screech, she rocketed forward again to be knocked away by Copper a second time, who hopped backwards fearfully as the mare snapped at his foreleg.

“Well ah don’t know!” Dusty snapped back. “But ah don’t want more of em’ here!”

“Well then step up and do something!” returned Copper.

“Guys,” Snowglobe said quietly as the zombie stumbled back to its hooves. “It’s getting up.”

Dusty turned angrily to Copper. “Ah’m tryin’ to think!”

The blue mare crept forward, eyes glaring daggers of hate and hunger directly at Copper, who continued to glare back at Dusty. “Hard to think of a way to kill a zombie without a gun, huh?”

The zombie lunged and Snowglobe panicked. She snatched the nearest item from a nearby desk—which happened to be a carved steel-and-wood nameplate inscribed with the name, ‘A. Sherbert.’—and magically hurled it at the charging mare. With a sickening crunch, A. Sherbert buried itself in the mare’s left eye, reducing it to pulp. The zombie ragdolled and crashed to the floor between the two arguing pegasi.

Copper looked at the pony on the floor, then up to Snowglobe, mouth half-agape. “Damn, mare.”

Snowglobe eeped and backed herself in A. Sherbet's desk. She had always known she possessed a higher magical strength than the average pony, but she never thought she'd be able to do... that.

Dusty examined the dead pony with a whistle. “You just killed a zombie with a nametag, Snowglobe. I gotta’ give you credit for that.”

Snowglobe tried not to look at the sheen of blood drifting across the hardwood floor. “Let’s... let’s just go find a train.” Strafing the body on the floor, she began trotting around the vintage office for... “Hey, Dusty? What are we looking for again?”

Without answering, Dusty made his way over to a file cabinet and pulled open the top drawer. “Yard records,” he murmured, rifling through a row of manila folders. Copper and Streak just stood where he had left them, looking around in mild confusion.

Dusty slammed the drawer shut after a moment. “Ponyfeathers! There aren’t any engines here! We got plenty of old cars, but there’s no engines.”

Snowglobe kicked a chair angrily. So much for that whole plan. “So I take it we’re screwed?” With a burst of rage, she aimed her magic at a desk labelled, ‘Foremare’ and flipped it upside down, scattering papers and quills about. One of the many papers flittered through the air and floated towards Snowglobe. She snatched it, intent on shredding it, but stopped at the sight of an untidy scrawl on the front. Curiously, she turned the paper upright to read it. The letters were large and loopy, and appeared to have been written in a hurry.

‘Make sure this letter gets to the Foremare. The locomotive left in shed number three had been assigned to me. I am forced to leave it here for now and do not have time to fill out the proper documentation. A radio transmission came in from canterlot requesting all experienced engineers or ponies with experience in locomotion. There must be something very serious going on in Canterlot because an REA wagon flagged me down from the railside. They requested I ditch the locomotive, on the main line of all places, and accompany them on a flight to Canterlot to aid with an evacuation. The locomotive left in your shed was en-route to a scrapyard in Dodge where it would be decommissioned. If for whatever reason I do not return to retrieve the engine, you can send it down the line to Dodge, where it has been permitted to arrive.

~Gene Bramble

“Dusty!” Snowglobe called excitedly. “We have a train!”

The blue pegasus lolloped over to her and snatched the paper, eyes skimming it eagerly.

“Shed number three,” she stated as he read.

Dusty frowned at the paper. “It doesn’t say what make the engine is...” He shrugged. “Guess we’ll just have to find shed number three and see what it is.”

“Doesn’t he seem a little too excited to you?” Streak asked Copper quietly.

The red pegasus shrugged and responded quietly. “I guess he really likes trains.”

Streak nodded. “Of course he likes trains; he’s only got part of one as his cutie mark.”

Dusty led them out of the gloomy office and out into a sunlit trainyard. Rails ran all about, some rusted, some new, and abandoned cars sat, left in the occasional siding. Snowglobe cantered forward to catch Dusty, who was beginning to draw ahead. He looked over as she fell in stride beside him. “Hey,” he said. “You ever really worked in an engine?”

Snowglobe carefully stepped over a pair of rails, trying to avoid the grease-soaked ties. “No. Everything I know about trains and steam locomotion is one-hundred percent theoretical.”

He gave her a shrug. “Ah’ll show you a thing or two once we’re off.” He paused, cocking his head. “So ah’ve been thinkin’; we’re gonna’ have to hook up some cars to this engine before we take off.” He pointed off to a siding. “Ah’d say those four carriages in the far siding, and maybe some boxcars too. We could throw in some of those flatbeds for good measure.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She cast a glance to the two pegasi in their wake. “Things just might be looking up for once.”

Dusty unfurled his wings and fluttered them excitedly as they approached the shed with a big number three painted on the swinging doors in white, block lettering. “Oh, ah hope it’s a Buckwin.” He reached up and placed his hooves on the doors. Eyes closed, he gave them a push, whispering under his breath. “Please please please please.”

The heavy doors parted and Dusty paced forward, eyes still closed. Snowglobe trotted behind him, eyes adjusting to the gloom, Streak and Copper on her tail.

With a suspenseful breath, the light blue pegasus opened his eyes. He stared for a second, eyes momentarily glazing over. “Oh, Sweet Celestia...”

Snowglobe cocked her head, looking up at the engine. “So how are we... going...” She trailed off. The locomotive in front of her was... big. really big. The monstrous mass of gray, rusted steel stood twelve feet tall and sixty feet long, minus the coal tender. It stretched an average of seven feet wide from buffer to buffer and had definitely seen some better days. The boiler was dented and scratched and the buffers worn. Everything about the engine screamed old. “Whoa,” was all she was able to croak.

Dusty took a step forward and placed his hoof on one of the driving wheels, which was about the same size as him. “This...” He looked up, craning his neck to see to the top of the engine. “That is not a passenger train.”

“Well then what the hay is it?” Streak asked, sounding intrigued.

Dusty began to pace the length of the engine. “This here’s a Big Buck steam locomotive.” He paused to balk. “Built to haul large amounts of freight up the Canterlot hill without the need of doubleheading at a sustained speed of fifty miles an’ hour.” Copper and Streak just looked blankly at one another as he continued. “Weighing in at one million pounds in combination with the loaded tender it was the single largest articulated steam locomotive ever built for commercial use in Equestria...”

Snowglobe didn’t know if Dusty was horrified, or if he was just so excited he had forgotten to smile. “You okay?” she asked skeptically.

Dusty shook his head. “These were deemed obsolete years ago by smaller fleets of lightweight engines... They’ve been scrapping them for metal... Ah don’t think there are many of these left.”

Snowglobe rapped the side of one of the wheels and winced at the pain in her leg. “Well, can you drive it?”

Dusty looked at her and blinked. “Well, yeah... Ah think.” He looked over to the cab. “This thing is twice as old as me.”

Copper trotted to Dusty’s side, a curious look on his face. “I thought Equestrian Railroads put little hearts and things like that on all their engines?”

Dusty snickered. “They used to a long time ago. Then they just started doing it to passenger trains. This engine wasn’t made to look pretty—it was meant to take three-thousand short tons of freight from point A to point B.” He chuckled and trotted up to the entrance to the cab, which was about a pony and half just to the bottom deck. A steel staircase ran steeply up either side of the coal tender to allow a semi-easy ascent to the cab.

With a suppressed squeal, Dusty climbed the narrow stairs to the cab and Snowglobe figured it was in his best interests for her to follow.

Once inside, Dusty darted about the cab, inspecting every detail. He reached the boiler wall and froze, staring at the tangle of knobs, pipes, and gauges. The pegasus hissed under his breath, glaring at one the many gauges just as the other two pegasi entered the cab. “We only have seven thousand gallons of water; that won't do at all.”

Streak’s eyes widened. “Seven thousand gallons? And that’s not enough?”

Dusty shook his head, oblivious to her skepticism. “Naw, this thing has a twenty-thousand gallon tank.”

Copper just gave the pegasus mare a nudge. “I think he has it handled on his own.”

After a moment more, Dusty turned to face them. “Ah think we’re good. As far as ah can tell, everythin’ checks out. Ah just need some time to fire her up, then we can go pick up the cars and stop at the water tower before we set off.” He threw a gesture to the monstrous coal tender. “We have enough coal to get us plenty far. Besides, there isn’t any coal here.” Looking to Snowglobe next. “Think you could do a quick external check of the engine while ah get the fire goin’?”

She blinked. “I really don’t know much about—”

“Nonsense,” he interrupted. “Problems don’t really hide on these things; if you see one you’ll know.”

“Fine.” Climbing back down from the cab, she started her examines of the machine.

Once again, she was awestruck by the sheer size of the locomotive. This took big and made it bigger. She imagined it in comparison to the little pink engines used to haul small passenger trains from Canterlot. This engine alone was as long as four of those in a row; if you added the coal tender then another three would be required to span the full length.

It took her a good fifteen minutes to run a full circle of the engine, checking every wheel and axle for signs of wear or fracture. To her keen eye for detail, everything checked out. The engine had acquired its fair share of rust, but other than that, nothing looked wrong.

As she climbed back into the cab, Copper passed her with a shovel of coal and threw it into the roaring firebox. Dusty sat in the hotseat mounted at the right side of the cab, fiddling with levers and gauges. He would occasionally mutter to himself, then tap a gauge and give it a nod. A light hiss came from the boiler, echoing eerily around the brick shed.

Dusty sat back and smiled. “We’ve got pressure.” He rubbed his hooves together with glee. “Let’s go get those cars hooked up.” He turned a few knobs and cranked a horizontal lever around with a series of metallic clicks, then grabbed a larger lever protruding from the floor and yanked it back. A sound only describable as a thug roared through the shed and the engine lurched forward. The driving rods clanked and the pistons hissed. Torrents of black smoke surged from the stack like an upside-down waterfall. Dusty jeered and stomped the floor as five-hundred tons of ancient steel crept forward. Another thug roared through the shed, amplified by the blastpipe. Slowly, the engine crept out into the sunlight; the front of the mighty beast shining bright in the afternoon sun. Gigantic billows of thick, black smoke shot fifty feet into the air to be swept off to the right by a light breeze. The monster engine crept into the yard, rivaling everything around in size.

Copper wiped a line of sweat from his brow and added another shovel of coal to the firebox. Snowglobe just watched in silent amazement as Dusty brought the locomotive past a switch and cranked the same lever on the floor forward, slowing them.

Dusty looked to Streak, who so far had done nothing but observe. “Could you go throw the switch to the siding back there?” he asked.

She gave him a fast nod and flared her wings. Springing out of the cab, the mare floated to the ground and set a swift trot to the rear of the tender. She reached the switch for the tracks and pushed her weight on it. With a grinding noise, the tracks switched to the siding containing four worn-out passenger cars.

With the swift operation of about six different levers and knobs, Dusty locked the engine into reverse and brought it creeping back. He kept throwing glances out the side of the cab, adjusting the steam as he neared the carriages. At about twenty feet, he cut of steam and eased the break. The engine drifted to a near stop before connecting to the cars with a slight jolt.

Snowglobe gave Dusty a smile. “Smooth.”

He returned the grin, looking like a foal at their surprise birthday party. “Thanks.” He set the brake and waited for Streak to set the couplings. The mare disappeared between the tender and the cars and popped out a moment later, waving her hoof in the air. Dusty waved back and set the engine forward, now pulling the four carriages behind. He sat back and looked over at Snowglobe and Copper. “Would you two mind goin’ over those cars an’ makin’ sure that none of the manual brakes are set?” He chuckled. “I doubt it would make much of a difference if they were; this thing would just pull them ‘till the wheels busted off then pull them further, but we don’t want to do that.”

Snowglobe hopped up immediately, eager at a chance to help. “Sure.” She practically bounced to the back of the cab and tugged Copper after her with her tail. Together, the two climbed the coal tender and scurried their way across the top with the help of a small walkway. Snowglobe hopped down on the steel deck of the carriage and examined the spinning wheel against the railing; the brakes were off for this car. Four more to check.

She pushed her way into the old car and assured herself that she had seen better things at a junkyard. This car had a small hallway on her left and several, smaller private rooms to the right. Whole strips of the once-cherry wall paneling were missing or hanging off at odd angles and a few boards were torn up from the floor. Two of the windows were broken and one of the private rooms didn’t even have a door.

“Nice place,” said Copper, falling in beside her.

Snowglobe rolled her eyes and trotted further into the car, carefully stepping around the holes in the floor. She could hear the wheels clicking over the track joints below her hooves.

By the time they had finished checking the fourth car, Dusty had backed them up to a row of four boxcars. As they emerged out onto the small deck outside the car, Streak was just finishing setting the hitch. “Hey you two,” she said teasingly before spreading her wings and taking off, back towards the engine.

Copper watched her go with a frown before trotting forward and mounting the ladder to the reddish-pink boxcar. Snowglobe followed and they once again began the task of checking all the brake wheels.

Although the brakes on two of the five boxcars had been set, they had still been pulled by the engine before Snowglobe had disengaged them. Dusty hadn’t been kidding; that locomotive would pull anything, wheels or not. She and Copper sat atop the last boxcar, watching as they drifted towards two flatcars.

Snowglobe tilted her head to one side. “Why is he picking up two flatcars?”

Copper just shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he figured we’d need some.” There was another jolt as the boxcars coupled with the flatcars and both ponies peered down as Slipstream poked around the corner.

“Last one,” she breathed, finishing the latch, then looking up at the two ponies on the boxcar. “We’re good.” She gave Copper a smile. “Let’s get out of here.” There was a tinkling of metal below the closest axle of the flatcar and Slipstream knitted her brows. “What the...” She stooped down to peer under the car.

Snowglobe jumped, and nearly fell when a pony screeched from below. Streak fell back and a red unicorn mare followed, it’s jaws fastened in the purple mare’s throat. Streak fell onto her back and the unicorn released before diving on top and once again fixing its teeth in her neck. Streak delivered a heavy buck to the infected pony’s belly and managed to roll it off her. She sprang up and—drawing her pistol—emptied the entire clip into the zombie. The red unicorn stumbled forward a few more steps and fell dead in the gravel. Streak dropped the pistol and turned to look at Copper and Snowglobe, who had sat atop the boxcar dumbfounded. The whole ordeal had only lasted a couple seconds, but that’s all it had taken. Streak stumbled, blood pouring from the massive tear in her neck. She swayed left, then right, before flopping into the gravel.

Snowglobe readied herself to spring down to help the mare but Copper grabbed her tail and pulled her back. “No!” he said as she tried to pull away. “L-Leave her; she’s dead.”

Snowglobe tried to fight back tears of shock. Just like that... just like that she was dead. One second Streak was alive... the next...

Snowglobe scanned the yard to see exactly what she had been loathing to see—movement by a stack of old wheels across the yard. She pointed and Copper tracked her hoof. “Shit,” he whispered. He turned and sprinted back along the length of the boxcars, flapping his wings for more propulsion. “Dusty!” he cried, voice cracking. “Get us moving! Go, go! Forward!”

The engine started and the cars lurched forward. The sudden movement below her hooves took Snowglobe by surprise and she stumbled, moving her hoof for balance. It was only a second too late did she realize that she had stepped right over the edge, off the back of the boxcar. She screamed, losing her balance completely and falling from the roof. She crashed headfirst into the flatcar below and flopped onto her side. Hurriedly, she scrambled to her hooves but the edges of her vision immediately went black and she collapsed back to the car, blacking out completely.

She opened her eyes and groaned. There was a rhythmic clicking from the tracks below. Cautiously, she lifted her head and looked around, feeling like she was about to vomit. The car she was on was now moving along at a swift trot and Copper was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, she stood, her head spinning madly. “Copper!” she croaked. She examined the boxcar but there was no ladder on this side. There was no way she could climb it either; it was about nine feet tall. “Copper, come back!”

A drawn out rasp turned her attention to a zombie hurling towards her flatcar. No, check that—the three zombies hurling towards her flatcar, and far across the yard even more. her eyes drifted to the pistol on her inner foreleg. “No,” she told herself. No, I don’t want— I can't.” The three zombies hopped aboard the second flatcar. “Okay, fine.”

Magically drawing the pistol, she took careful aim and fired... and missed. A bolt of searing pain filled her head at the discharge and she almost dropped the gun. Apparently she had hit her head harder than she had thought. The front creature howled and lunged forward, putting on an extra burst of speed. Snowglobe cringed back, cowering. Suddenly, the zombie tripped and fell between the two flatcars and under the wheels in a spray of blood. She blinked, then laughed once at her amazing luck. The other two skidded to a stop and hopped from the car to land in a tumble.

“Yeah!” Snowglobe jeered as they fell back, being overtaken by the train. “I have a train! Beat that shit!”

There was a squeal from the engine ahead as the brakes were applied and the flatcar slammed against the boxcar in the couplings. “No!” she cried, voice little more than a squeak. “Nononono! Don’t stop! Please pleasepleaseplease no!” She hung her head, letting out a long sigh. “Crap...” She only had one option now—run.

“Damn you Copper!” she hollered, tentatively approaching the edge of the car. The zombies behind had realized that the train had slowed, and were once again running for her. She braced herself for the jump and prayed with all of her might to stick the landing. With a small hop, she left the flatcar and hit the ground running in a fairly smooth transition. She set a gallop for the engine, gradually overtaking the slowing boxcars and not daring to look back.

By the time she reached the carriages the train had completely stopped. From here, she could see Copper atop the locomotive, which was parked under a large water spout. The red pegasus grasped a rubberized hose in his mouth and pulled open a small hatch on top of the boiler.

Snowglobe hacked up a ball of mucus and spat it on the ground as she ran. Every breath was starting to hurt now, every hoofstep a jab in the side. She had never been much for endurance. “Dusty...” she panted to herself. “Why in Celestia’s name... why did you stop the train? Forget the water... we’re going to die.”

To her disdain, three more zombies burst out of the yard office and charged at her from ahead, forcing her to sling left to the third passenger car. She mounted the steps and barged through the door into the car. Slamming the door behind her, she reared up and placed her weight against the door. Three hard impacts to the other side nearly knocked her over and sent a splintering crack up the center of the wooden door, breaking the small window near the top.

“Damn.” Her legs burned like fire; running had never been her thing. Drawing the pistol again, Snowglobe hopped away and unloaded six shots into the door. At this range, it was near impossible to miss. She splattered the red one’s brain across the car behind and sent the green mare falling away in a tumble. Two more took their fallen comrades’ places and Snowglobe dropped them too. The last one charged the door and speared the thin wood on its horn, forcing the whole door into the room with it.

Snowglobe backpedaled as the door-on-a-horn barreled towards her between the rows of seats. She worked the trigger of the pistol but the mechanism gave a teasing click and jammed. Cursing the inferior weapon, she hurled it at the zombie, only to have it bounce off the door. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say the zombie had purposefully armoured itself. “I’ve had about enough of this!” she suddenly screamed, overtaken by a surge of anger. She charged forward and planted both forehooves on the door. She bucked and she kicked, and the zombie pushed and snarled. Somehow, she prevailed, and with an almighty heave, pushed the zombie backwards. Shoving both the zombie and the mangled door back out of the carriage, she gave one final kick that sent it tumbling to the gravel.

“And don’t come back!” Somewhere deep inside her, a filly squealed with delight. She had always wanted to use that line. Giggling like a schoolfilly, she trotted back into the car and made her way for the engine. A moment later, she had passed through the first car and scaled the coal tender. Dusty sat in the hotseat, checking the water gauge as it gradually rose.

The pegasus turned and gave her a smile. “Ah was gettin’ worried. Ah thought you got into some trouble when ah heard the gunshots.”

A bolt of anger rushed through her and a hoof lashed out, smacking the pegasus across his smug face. “You nearly killed me!” She stomped back and forth across the cab, venting. “I had to kill four zombies, with a gun!”

Dusty rubbed his face. “Ow... Look, we had to get water; speakin’ of which.” He peered at the gauge. “We’re good Copper!” he yelled. “Close up the tank and get back in here.”

Snowglobe remembered something rather important, the cursed herself for not having it at the front of her mind. “We have to go! There’s like, a hundred zombies out there!”

Dusty snickered. “You’re funny girl.” He hung his head out the side of the glassless window, looking back. “There’s no way there’s a hundred zombies out...” He trailed off, jaw dropping open. “Oh shoot!” he bellowed, withdrawing from the window. “There’s like a hundred zombies out there!” He reached over and disengage the brake. With lightning speed, he worked two knobs on either side of the boiler then jammed the throttle forward. A hiss escaped the boiler and the pistons heaved. Slowly, the engine crept forward.

Copper landed on the coal tender and rushed into the cab. “Dusty, you gotta’ get this thing going faster! They’re gonna’ catch us!”

Dusty gave him a hard glare. “You can get out an’ push if you want.” He gave his head a shake. “This thing’s as big as a buildin’; it takes a while to get moving.” He peered at one of the many gauges. “Say, where’s Streak?”

Copper just gave Dusty a shake of his head. “Dang,” Dusty whispered. “I was just startin’ to like that mare.”

The horde reached the engine in a multicolored wave of screams and grunts. They tried to hop at the ponies in the cab, but failed to reach. One decided it wanted to start a fight with one of the wheels and lost its head in the driving rod. Dusty drew Valediction on a pink mare scaling the steps and sent her back down in a trail of blood.

“Get off my train,” Dusty growled low in his throat before blasting another. No others tried to climb into the cab and soon enough the engine was moving faster than they could run. They fell back, snarling and snapping and giving dirty zombie looks.

“Yeehaw!” Dusty jeered, reaching up and sounding the whistle long and loud. The deep, ghostly chime of the whistle filled the early twilight air. Dusty blinked. “That is the scariest whistle ah have ever heard.”

Snowglobe had to agree as Dusty drew the cord again. The whistle was composed of six different chimes, all ranging from low and deep to high and piched. The six together created something Snowglobe could only describe as creepy. Dusty sounded the whistle again and her hair stood up on end.

“So, how long ‘till we reach Appleoosa at this rate?” asked Snowglobe. She stood still, admiring the power beneath her hooves and the rhythm of the locomotive.

Dusty frowned. “Well, the track curves around, so ah’d say about five hours.”

Snowglobe hung from the cab to watch the rails ahead. “Appleoosa here we come!”

* * *

“Where is that train!” yelled a frantic pony from the night.

“It should be coming,” cried another.

Moon peered through the darkness, eyes trying to find purchase on the moonless night. The sky above had a claustrophobic feel, acquired from clouds that seemed of unnatural origin. Small lanterns had been lit along the length of the road up to the front gate, but the feeble circles of yellow light reached no more than a few yards. The warm night air was filled with the raucous screams and calls of zombies.

Something was different with the zombies; they seemed faster, more violent than before. It was as if they could sense something, smell the fear of living ponies in the air. Worst of all, the only way she could distinguish one from her comrades was the color of their eyes. If you saw yellow, you shot it.

A drawn out scream from one of her own echoed through the night, followed by a dozen gunshots. “East wall!” a pony called.

Moon eyed Brick as he emerged onto the porch of the house they had used for their stay. He had mounted two high-beam lights to either side of his body and the white cones cast by them lit up wherever he turned. “Brick!” she yelled. The two lights turned on her and she looked away before she could lose the night vision she had obtained. “East wall, let’s go!” He raced to her side and she motioned him beside her with her tail, then they were off.

Moon had to admire the stallion's innovation as she ran by his side. He had the chaingun mounted to the right of his back, and the ammo container on the left. The feed belt ran over his back to the weapon. This combined with the two high-beam flashlights that shone his path proved for some very unlucky zombies.

They veered left and shot between two buildings. Brick’s lights lit the sight ahead as she charged the wall. Six townsponies stood upon the barricade ahead, dodging and bucking and shooting anything that moved. But even as the six worked as one, they were being overwhelmed. More zombies were hurling themselves over the barrier than they could knock back.

A green earth pony burst out of a building and fell in beside Moon. “They’re scaling the walls!” she cried, firing her battle saddle without even slowing to aim. “Things are getting really nasty out here!’

Moon screeched a battle cry and charged right into the heat of the mess. She raised her shotgun and sent the intestines of a red zombie across the ground like confetti from a party popper. Charging for the stairs, she scaled to the top of the barrier and blasted two more trying to creep over, away from the fighting six further down. “Push them back!” she hollered.

Brick’s weapon lit up the night from the ground and everything caught in the beams of his flashlights was chopped down like sandcastles in the stream of a firehose.

Moon ran to a white stallion’s aid a little further down. He had since run out of ammo and was now using the rifle as a blunt instrument. He levitated it in front of him, swinging and smashing anything to come near. A zombie pulling itself over the railing got a snout-crushing applebuck to the face and went sailing back down to land in the sea of multicolored shapes below. Blood stained his white coat and a long gash adorned his left flank. A zombie ran at him from behind, but Moon tracked it with the shotgun and blew its front legs off; another shot finished it.

The stallion turned to her, eyes wild. “Thanks,” he said in a gasp. Together, the both of them managed to hold their small section while Brick and the green mare helped the other six ponies further down.

Then, by some sort of anomaly, everything stopped. The zombies stopped growling, ponies stopped shooting, and the night went a near-perfect quiet. An eerie whistle filled the night, echoing off the ridge far away to return an even ghostlier sound than before. The sound cut the thick air like a hot knife through butter.

Moon looked to the sound. There in the distance, shone a single, amber lamp. The whistle sounded again, long and mournful. The silence spell broke and the night once again filled with sounds of chaos. “Yes!” Moon jeered. “That’s the train!” A different thought struck her; they had to somehow get to the tracks and hold from there. It would have to be a fast stop. She raised her head to the sky and screamed. “Everypony get to the platform!”

Moon cursed; she had warn the ponies watching the front gate. Determination set, she sprinted off. “Get to the platform!” she yelled to the ponies along the barrier as she passed, shotgun aloft, destroying anything in the way. The white stallion ran beside her, wincing in pain at every bound. Moon gave him a sideways look. “What are you doing?”

He shook his head at her. “I don’t have much time left. I’m going to help who I can before I die.”

Moon remembered the cut on the pony’s flank; he was infected. She swallowed a lump in her throat and pushed on, trying to focus on running. “I’m sorry... Thanks for the help.” Panic was starting to set in. The entire perimeter was disintegrating. Zombies climbed the railing behind her and gave chase. She fired blindly backwards, not even knowing if she were hitting anything. Any time spent not shooting was used to load more shells into the weapon.

Twelve ponies were still holding the front gate, but they weren’t going to last much longer; Jade and Sage were among them. Their only light were two lanterns atop the wooden gate, and as Moon watched one was kicked over by a zombie and burst open, lighting the whole top of the gate aflame.

Moon leapt from the wall and landed on all fours. “The train’s here!” she yelled, charging up to the group. “Retreat! Get to the platform!”

The slide on Sage’s pistol locked back and she spit it angrily back into the holster. “I’m out!” she called.

From here, Moon could see Brick and a large group of ponies already waiting on the platform. Suddenly, the tracks seemed a lot further away than they had been earlier. They were literally on the other side of town. “Fall back!” she repeated, managing to get the adrenaline fueled ponies’ attention.

Back at the tracks, the monster locomotive ploughed a trough through the surrounding horde of zombies, reducing them to no more than rancid fertilizer. The steamer smashed through the outer barrier in an explosion of wood and squealed into the town, undercarriage alight with sparks from the wheels grinding on the tracks below. Ponies began to load the locomotive before it had even fully stopped.

Moon took a second to balk. She had never seen an engine of its size before. It was massive! The whistle sang long and slow as the train came to a complete stop.

There was an almighty crash from the front gate as it burst open. A buffalo charged straight through, into the town, surrounded by at least a fifty normal infected. Townsponies scattered, falling back, but it was too late; they were in major trouble.

The white stallion whom had stuck with Moon to the front gate lunged forward instead of back. “Run!” he yelled, voice shaking. “All of you, get the hay out of here!” He levitated a bundle of dynamite from his saddlebag and lit the fuse with his horn. He waited for the surrounding ponies run free, then charged with a battle cry devoid of fear. He flung himself headlong into the wave of death, butting the first out of the way and bucking the second. Then he was gone, trapped beneath a mass of writhing bodies.

Moon ran, ran for her life, using the moment of time the unnamed stallion had leant them all. There was a ground-shaking explosion behind her that momentarily lit up the night and a moment later it began to rain ponies. Moon found herself running in the middle of the pack. Jade and Sage were on her right along with a few others.

A pegasus dropped from the sky and tacked a blue mare to the ground; nopony slowed to help as she was overwhelmed by the horde giving chase. Moon fired backwards, not knowing what she was hitting but knowing that she was hitting something. She grasped one of the kerosene lamps in the street as she passed and hurled it backwards. The pot shattered and lit the ground and zombies by the dozen aflame.

They were only a ways past halfway when the whistle of the engine sounded and the pistons began to hiss. “Come on!” Dusty called from the cab. “Ah can’t sit here any longer!”

Moon watched as the stallion she remembered by the name of Stacks cried out in horror. A buffalo in chase leered forward and fastened its jaws around his whole middle. The green stallion howled in pure agony as he was lifted into the air in the powerful jaws. The buffalo bit down and his whole middle collapsed with a crunch. Blood poured from the young stallion’s mouth and his eyes popped. Moon looked away with tears in her eyes. Her stomach churned and she lost what little food she had on the ground.

Just ahead, Brick took stance from the platform in front of the creeping train, braced for accuracy and weapon primed. “Move!” Moon ordered with a motion to Brick. The remaining ponies took her word and yielded to the left or right. One tripped and was gone the next second. The roar of the chaingun filled the air as Brick let loose, strafing the near-solid wall of zombies. Moon skidded to a stop beside the brown stallion while the others surged past, boarding the moving train.

Wherever Brick shone his lights, dozens of yellow eyes glared back. Moon fired out into the crowd and felt a deep satisfaction as two zombies were cut down. A buffalo with a single, green hoof hanging from the side of its mouth charged, but dropped under both Moon, and Brick’s fire. They held ground against seemingly impossible odds, hacking through zombies like they were weeds in a field.

“Come on,” she said urgently, motioning towards the cars behind, which were now scooting along at a fast trot. Brick ignored her. “Brick!” Frantically, she butted her head against his flank in an effort to get him to move, but he held, chaingun screaming away.

Brick took a step back, but now, the only thing keeping them from death was his rain of fire. Moon’s shotgun clicked on empty and she reached for more shells she didn’t have. Brick stepped back further and the circle closed even more. There couldn't be much more ammo in the weapon, he had been firing non-stop. The barrel glowed orange in the night and acrid smoke rose from the weapon’s every joint. Moon found herself pressed as close to the moving carriages as possible without touching them, while trying to avoid the zombies that were bieng hacked down no more than five feet in front of her.

With every flash from his weapon, Bick’s eyes lit up, wide and alive with fear. The gun clicked as the ammunition belt reached its end and Moon knew they were in trouble. In one Swift movement, Brick turned and fastened his teeth in her mane. He jumped back, dragging her with him like a ragdoll. The pony swung his head and tossed Moon onto the deck of the final car like a sack of laundry. He lunged after her and managed to land his front half on the car. His rear hooves churned air as he tried desperately to pull himself up. Moon shot forward and offered a hoof, and with her help, he managed to pull himself onto the car. The zombies growled and leapt, but none made the jump to the lower step.

“Celestia!” Moon gasped, flopping over on her side. “Don’t... do that!” She looked over to Brick, who had lain down beside her. Much to her surprise, he was grinning. He chuckled once, a soft sound, smooth as silk. She stood up and gave him a push, but only managed in knocking her exhausted self back over again; it was like trying to push a wall.

Brick didn’t show it as easily, but he was exhausted as well. The muscles under his coat were taut and strained, still working off the adrenaline rush. He breathed a sigh and rolled onto his back, the machine gun grinding against the metal deck below.

Snowglobe burst out of the car and looked down in horror at the two of them. Moon hurriedly sat up and gave a smile. “Don’t worry, we're fine.”

Snowglobe exhaled deeply and leaned up against the car, clutching her chest. “Celestia.... I thought you two were dead.”

Brick stood up and Moon leaned heavily on him for support. Her heart still beat in her head and every breath was a stab to the chest. “Think you guys could've cut it any closer?” she asked with relieved annoyance. “One more minute and we all may have been dead... What took you so long?”

“The track curved around on the way here; it took a little longer than we expected.”

“Sure.” There was an almighty crash from ahead as the engine smashed through the other side of the barricade. Zombies began to flow by like water around a boat and Brick backed Moon away from the edge with a protective forehoof. “Did you get all the supplies? she asked, looking back to Snowglobe.

She smiled. “Yep... ish... Most of them.”

Moon blinked in surprise. “I was expecting a whole lot less than most. You ponies moved fast.”

“Adrenaline seems to do that to ponies.”

Moon tilted her head back, sighing as the breeze ruffled her mane. The only sounds in the night were those of the engine ahead and the rhythmic click of the wheels on the rail joints below. “How many ponies did we lose?”

“I counted five,” Snowglobe replied. “I wasn’t really watching, so there could have been more.”

Moon just shook her head. “One more minute... One more minute and we’d all be dead.”

“Yeah, Dusty gave us full steam when he saw your muzzle flashes in the distance.” Snowglobe giggled. “Did you know this thing can go sixty miles an hour?”

Moon tapped her hoof on the floor ponderingly. “Think you could have gotten a bigger train?”

Snowglobe deadpanned. “Okay, for one, it’s not a train, it’s a locomotive. But, back when Equestria was having that real big industrial boom—when I was just a foal—these things were used to haul freight.” She smiled sheepishly. “Dusty told me all about it... Come on, let’s go.” She motioned them towards the carriage and opened the door. “Dusty will be glad to see you made it.”

Lanterns had been lit in the carriages so that they cast their light around the trashed interior. “Nice job, Moon!” a stallion jeered as she passed.

“Yeah!” a pink mare added. “The plan worked. I thought you were crazy, but it totally worked!”

She nodded self-consciously. “I did what I thought was best.”

A pony pounded her hooves on the floor of the car in applause, and after a moment, a few more joined in. Moon walked with her head aloft, silently wishing they'd stop their cheering as she paced through the car, Snowglobe and Brick in her wake.

Sage met her on the opposite end with a wide smile. “I knew that headband was lucky.”

Moon reached up and ran her hoof over the fabric strip on her head. “If you want it back then too bad; I like it.”

Sage shook her head with a light laugh. “No, you deserve it.”

“Besides,” Jade added from Sage’s side with a little smile and a twitch of her eyebrows. “It makes you look sexy.”

Blushing and mildly irritated, Moon pushed out of the car and into the next. She made her way through the other three cars, receiving about the same praise she had been given in the fourth. After what seemed like an eternity, she closed the final door behind her and crossed over to the coal car.

“Jeez,” she muttered. Snowglobe snorted at the indignant look on her face. Moon rolled her eyes. “What? It’s not like I want to be a celebrity or something.”

Snowglobe gave her a hearty nudge. “Don’t worry. They’re just excited. Give them a few hours and they’ll calm down.” She made her way over the covered tender with the help of a small ladder and walkway.

Dusty sat in the cab, hoof poised over a lever while a Copper fed a constant stream of coal to the firebox. “Hey Dusty,” Moon called, hopping down into the cab.

Dusty’s head shot around and he took on a relieved smile. “You’re alive!” he declared. “There were so many zombies ah couldn’t see where you’d gone... Girl, you sure as hay did shoot a lot of those things.”

She motioned towards Brick, who sat back casually, examining the cab, ears perked. “It was Brick who did all the shooting, him and that gun.”

Dusty wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. “Ah bet it was beautiful.”

“Actually, it was really scary. Wasn’t it Brick?” Brick nodded once at her question and flicked his ears. “He used the whole ammo case.”

Dusty adjusted a knob on the boiler, keeping one eye on the gauges. “Good thing we have more of them.”

He smiled and shook his head. “No. It took me forever just to name my gun. Ah’ll let you decide on a name.”

Snowglobe nickered and rubbed her chin. “Well then, I’ll have to think about it.”

Moon made to return to the carriages. “I probably should check on everypony and make sure things are going alright.” Brick and Snowglobe followed as she left the cab.

“Hey, Snowglobe,” Dusty called back. “Want to learn how to work this thing?”

Snowglobe’s eyes lit up like fireflies and she did a little prance on the tips of her hooves. “Yes!” She turned and darted back into the cab beside Dusty.

Dusty gave Copper a sideways look. “Me an’ Snowglobe can handle this for a while. You can go an’ take a break.”

“Okay,” the red pegasus replied impartially. He dropped the shovel and pranced quickly out of the cab to disappear over the coal tender. Obviously he didn’t feel as impartial as he acted.

Moon left with Brick, but once she had reached the first carriage, a thought struck her. “Shoot, I forgot to ask Snowglobe what we’re going to do about arrangements.” She looked to Brick. “I’ll be right back.” He nodded and continued on.

She turned back and climbed back over the coal car. A moment later she dropped lightly to the steel deck and started for the cab, but stopped short. Snowglobe and Dusty stood quietly in the cab, eyes trained on one another. Not wanting to be caught intruding, Moon backpedaled and dived behind a mound of coal. She shifted her weight uncomfortably as to not be jabbed by the sharp blocks. Slowly, she poked her head up to see that they had not moved. She knew that she was eavesdropping, but curiosity was getting the better of her.

“Go on,” Snowglobe said after a moment. “You started to say something, now finish it.”

Dusty rubbed the back of his neck, eyes darting about the cabin. “Well uh, so...” He paused, going little red.

Even over the sound of the engine, Moon could hear the two clear as day.

“Come on,” Snowglobe urged with a half-smile. “Spit it out.”

The pegasus cleared his throat loudly and ruffled his wings. “Well, ah was just thinkin’. Ah’ve known you for a while now, an’ ah just... Ah think you’re a nice mare.” Dusty stumbled over his next words and swore under his breath. “Look,” he declared, irritated at himself. “Ah really like you.”

Moon poked her head up a little further, feeling guilty.

Snowglobe blinked, taken aback. “Dusty... you do know that I’m...” She paused, searching for words. “Different?”

The pegasus cocked his head. “Well, how’s that?”

She blushed and brought a hoof up to rub her face. “I’m not much for... stallions, Dusty.”

“Oh.” His eyes went wide. “Oh! Well that's... too bad.” Hanging his head. “Well that’s embarasin’. Ah just tried to ask out a fillyfooler.”

“Dusty,” Snowglobe scolded. “That’s a terrible label.”

He gave her a look. “Well then what the hay else am I supposed to use?”

She began to stutter something but trailed off. “Well, I don’t know. Just, don’t use that.”

“Okay.” Dusty looked down at his hooves, then back up to her. He looked hesitant. “Well then... would you be willin’ make an exception?”

Snowglobe gave a loud snort of laughter. “You’re something, Dusty.”

“You aren’t supposed to laugh at me,” he stressed. “This was really hard for me to do.”

“Sorry, Dusty.” She cast a look around and Moon ducked down a little. She leaned in close to Dusty. “Don’t tell anypony I told you this. But, I’ve kind of had my eye on Moon.”

Moon wanted to die of embarrassment right there. She could have been perfectly happy to just die.

Dusty laughed, but it was forced. “Well that’s kinda’ funny because... You know, I was, you know, also, going after Moon.”

That’s it. If Moon were anywhere else she would have curled up into a ball and screamed and cried. Knowing stallions liked her was one thing. Knowing mares liked her was mildly embarassing, but still bearable. Knowing that both of her friends liked her was too much. Probably the only pony in their little group that wouldn’t love to get with her was Sunny. Even Brick would sometimes give her that look of his that would make most mares melt like hot butter. What the hay was so attractive about her? Some mare’s liked the attention, but she hated it. Good looks attracted every stallion not worth their weight in muscle and every one in a while, a pony she could bear. Looks were a curse. You shouldn’t like a pony for how they look; you should like them for who they are. A good looking partner was just a bonus.

Snowglobe closed her mouth, which had fallen open. “Well, that’s a coincidence. “

Dusty waved a hoof dismissively. “But ah stopped tryin’ a while ago. She’s got this thing for Sunny an’ ah don’t think she’s gonna’ break it. Ah don’t know what she’s goin’ to do if he doesn’t come back.”

“Yeah,” Snowglobe added glumly. “I miss them. It just isn’t the same without Willow and Sunny here.”

“Yeah...” Dusty perked his ears, switching topics. “So, just to be clear, your answer’s no, right?”

Snowglobe pondered the question with a light smile. “I wouldn’t say that.”

He tensed. “But ah thought... you said—”

“I’m a mare, Dusty, most of us can choose.”

Dusty shook his head confusedly. “Oh, well they always said that—”

Snowglobe cut him off. “Nah, that’s only for stallions. Most mares totally chose.”

Okay, Moon had to agree with Snowglobe there.

“So... is that a yes?” Dusty asked hopefully.

Snowglobe grinned and took a step closer to the pegasus. “Possibly.” She closed her eyes slowly in an obvious gesture. Moon was unable to tear her eyes away as the two locked in a kiss. She began to count the seconds in her head, taking every new number and using it as means of telling herself she was a terrible pony for watching. Moon found it hard to push down the uneasy churning her belly. She imagined herself and Sunny in that position, then hit herself on the side of the head to clear such thoughts. The two broke apart at sixteen and Dusty stumbled back, trying to fold his wings back to his sides. He beat them once, shook a couple feathers lose, and managed to furl them again.

“Yes,” she said. “But don’t expect any dedication. If I meet a nice mare I’m going for it.” Moon ducked down and made herself as flat as possible as Snowglobe turned away from Dusty. She sashayed across the cab and made her way over the coal tender.

All the while, Dusty watched her go, jaw slightly agape. “Dang,” he whispered. “Do all mares like her kiss as good as she does?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Did I mention I like trains?

Thanks for reading, comments are greatly appreciated and they fill me with a joy you could not imagine, so please, leave them.

~Sorren

Comments

[ShadowKick]

UPDATED!

Must read later. Must plan own story now.

Reading your update is now my reward for making progress on planning.

[RainbowBob]

And it's finally here!
Drop everything and read!!!!!!!

[Lucario247]

Hhhhhhjhheohrjsoaoskjeown... I'm torn...

Read undead Equestria, read I found love, or work on own story...

...or finish German homework

[Zap Transfer]

Oh my, relationships be developin', and ponies be survivin'! Things are lookin' up to the group! Now... Back to Willow & Sunny...

[Sorren]

1104419 say what?

[Strawberry Cupcakes]

Dang Dusty you be getting well with dem mares

[Sorren]

1119787 thank Riley for those wonderful lines.

P.S. I love Nicholas Cage

P.S.S I am so glad that you're actually reading through this.

[PonyLIghtningTwister]

I like trains :P. Last time on UDE Our heroes escape the town of Appaloosa with a old train that can pull tons of crates,Ponies,Etc and our heroes seam to have escaped death once again Come back in 2000 years for part 11

[Sorren]

1138022 Oh you, shoosh. I do my best with the ammount of work I do.

[Lucario247]

Please excuse me as I tab out and find two or three gifs that are relevant to the topic of locomotives...

Edit:
Dmanit... Can't find any that work... #sadface

I did catch the amber lamps reference.

I also totally called that Snowglobe is lesbian.

I also mentally bro hoofed dusty when he acknowledged the thing with sunny and moon.

And I orgasmed when I read bricks laugh. Guuuuuuuuh!

And a manly tear was shed wen stacks dieded

And I'm obviously in that stage when ur so tired you act high.

Overall, this chapter was errection inducing. And not in a homosexual way. Well... Maybe a little.

I'd comment more but it's 2 am and I has school 2morrow. I'll probably just sleep through class. Lol

Edit 2:
Oh! I almost forgot: I LIKE TRAINS LIKE I LIKE TITS, AND I LIKE TITSSSSS. ALOT.
Anyways, can't wait for more, and (literally) can't wait until sunny and moon get a romance scene. Like my life will simultaneously implode, digitize, melt, and... Space.

[FireStorm2247]

Awesome story so far! I look forward to the next chapter.

4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZW9eusR-CSs/ToGg5cDMr-I/AAAAAAAAChc/GnTCPMxpfUU/s1600/i_like_trains.png

[Sorren]

1141230 Well thank you for your wonderful drug induced comment...

I love you too, don't do drugs.

[Lucario247]

1142797
I was at that state where you're so tired you act high. It's actually quite fun when your friends play along.

...

I just repeated my self.

...

[Desert Storm]

Streak: I like flying!
Snow globe: I like fixing!
Dusty: I like trains...
*suddenly a train roars into frame and smashes into all of them*

[LunarSeraph]

I get that I'm a little late to the party but...I couldn't tell if "Get off my train," was a reference to this or not.

[Tik-Tok-deerpony]

this story is good so far. But im starting to think that half of all the surviving mares are lesbians.

[Sparrow9612]

4163805 - Quite certain it was a reference to Harrison Ford's line in 'Air Force One.' In that he says 'get off my plane' before sending the bad guy on his merry little way to hell.

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

Willow is best pony, WHERE IS SHE!!! Also, I also like trains!!!

[verypeeved]

i... don't think that's how it works.