The Spread

by Radioactive Cheese

Chapter 1: Survivors (Rainbow Dash)

3 months have passed since that whole Sweetie Belle ordeal. It’s been terrible these past few months. We’ve lost many close friends and family. When I say we, I mean our small group of survivors. For these past few months, we’ve been hiding in Mayor Mare’s bomb shelter. Speaking of the mayor, she’s gone. She was bitten when trying to get us here. Our group consists of me, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Applejack, Big Mac, Octavia, Time Turner, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Rarity is pretty much the leader of the group. She told us that we should keep a journal on everything that goes on. While she’s the leader, she doesn’t do much leading. She’s always working on the same piece of clothing every day for hours. I don’t know what it is she’s working on, but she says that it will help us survive if she can get it right. I don’t know how a piece of clothing is going to help us. Anyways, I’m pretty much second in command. If Rarity can’t perform her duties, I become temporary leader.

“So what are you working on there, Rarity?” I asked her.

“I’ve told you plenty of times, Rainbow Dash. It’s a secret. All I can tell you is-“

“-Yeah, yeah” I interrupted her. “You keep telling me that it will help us survive, but what is it? You’ve been working on that thing for 3 months. There’s no way that it’ just a piece of clothing. There’s something you’re not telling us. What is it?” Rarity didn’t bother to look up. Instead, she just kept looking at her work. It was silent for a moment until we heard the door open. The big piece of titanium opened up to reveal Applejack and Big Mac entering. Big Mac closed the door and made sure it was locked. “Well?” I asked, “Did you guys get the food?” Applejack placed her saddle bag onto the floor and sat down next to it. She then opened its flap and started digging through it. As she did this, the rest of the group started walking towards her. Applejack took out a few cans, 3 bottles of water, and a loaf of bread.

“This is all we could get.” She said.

“That’s all? Are you joking? That isn’t enough to last us 2 days!” said Scootaloo. I’ve got to admit, my sister has a point. This isn’t enough to last us long.

“I’m sorry sugarcube, but this is all we could get. Just be glad we made it back without being infected.” replied Applejack.

“Speaking of infected, how’s it looking out there?” Rarity asked, finally stopping from her and work and showing concern for us.

“Not too good.” Applejack responded. “Big Mac and I were lucky that we made it. It’s like there’s more of them every day. I don’t know how much longer we can survive? Ponyville isn’t that big to begin with, and having to get food for 3 months pretty much has cleared out just about every house. What’s left of them at least.”

Rarity walked up to her and put her hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll be leaving soon. I’ve come up with a plan, but it won’t be easy since all the train stations are down.” I knew exactly what plan she was talking about.

Every day is practically the same. Whenever we run out of food, we send someone into town to get some from abandoned homes. While retrieving the food, we have to be sure not to run into any zombies. Alert one and you alert them all. Since we’ve lost so many loved ones, we were able to calculate how long it takes somepony to turn after getting bitten. It takes, approximately, 5 hours. We can thank Rarity for this calculation. I really hope scientists find a cure soon. Because the princesses can’t perform their duties, I’ve completely lost track of time. The only time I can keep track of is the infection’s incubation period. Every day, it’s always the sun going down and the moon coming up.

When it’s time for us to sleep, we take shifts. While the rest of us are sleeping, 2 of us will have to keep watch to make sure nothing breaks in. The only exceptions for this are Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Most nights, if you can call it night, Scootaloo will come up to me and try sleeping with me. She says that she keeps having nightmares about all of us dying. I keep telling her that it’s just a dream and that we’re gonna make it out safe and sound. But tonight, I made a mistake. This time, I promised her that we will make it out alive. This is the only promise I won’t be able to keep.

After my little nap, it became my turn to keep an eye out for any zombies. My partner is usually Rarity, but this time I’ve been paired up with Time Turner. I have never talked to him before, to be honest. All I know is his name and that he lives inside a small, blue box. For a homeless pony, he’s pretty smart from what I’ve heard him talk about to Octavia.

As we kept watch, I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to properly introduce myself. I turned to him and saw that he didn’t have a gun. Instead, he had some sort of metal bar with a blue tip. I looked up at him and started my introduction. “Hi,” I started, “I’m Rainbow Dash. I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. Your name's Time Turner, right?” He looked back at me and started staring at my body. He then looked back at the door. I looked back too. “Was it something I said?” I thought to myself.

“Doctor.” I heard a voice coming from Time Turner’s direction. “Sorry, did you say something?” I asked.

He then turned to me and replied, “I said ‘Doctor.’ You wanted to know my name, and now I’m telling you.”

I was puzzled, but this guy seemed interesting that I decided to continue asking him questions, starting with, “Doctor who?”

“Nothing,” he responded, “Just the Doctor.”

I looked back at the strange object in his hooves and decided to ask him another question. “So, uh, two questions. One, where’s your gun and two, what is that in your hooves?”

He stared at me for a few seconds, then answered, “I don’t use guns, I’m a pacifist. As for this,” he held the object up in front of my face, “this is a sonic screwdriver. It doesn’t maim, it doesn’t kill, but it is good with doors and electronics.”

I quickly burst out with, “If it doesn’t harm, then what’s the point of using it to guard the door against zombies? If you don’t like guns, fine. But use a knife or something!” The Doctor just looked at me and gave a small smirk along with a chuckle.

“You have a lot to learn about me, Miss Dash. I may not use weapons, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how. I only use them in extreme circumstances. Compared to other things I’ve faced, a simple zombie apocalypse is nothing.” He said to me. I had no idea what he was getting at, but I wasn’t about to ask. “Did you lose anyone close to you when this whole zombie thing started?” The Doctor then asked me.

I looked down, scared to remember. I’ve been trying my best to forget about her, but it’s just too hard. I then replied, “Yeah, I did. She was my oldest and closest friend. Her name was Fluttershy. One day, I decided to visit her to see if she was doing fine. When I knocked on the door, the only response I got was a low groan. I then burst the door open. When I saw her, I knew that she had been turned for some time now. About 2 days. There were dead animals all over her cottage.” It was silent for a bit. I then looked back at the Doctor and asked, “What about you? Did you lose anypony?”

His response was fast, yet hesitant. “Her name was Derpy. She was the only friend I ever had on this world, and now she’s gone, along with my home.”

Comments

[That One Hunter]

What happened to the rest of the mane 6 ?