Among the Unturned

by Natkomet

Welcome to PEI

Chapter 2

A cool, gentle breeze whistled softly around the lighthouse at Cape Rock while crickets and other night creatures began their serenade.

The last vestiges of pink, evening light had just sunk beneath the horizon as night spread its tranquil blanket across Prince Edward Island.

A pale, full moon rose from the sea, its soft light shining down on abandoned roadways and through the gaping windows of empty houses of Stratford.

On a night like this, one would think there’d be people out and about for a night on the town, or in their yards having cookouts after watching the sunset.

But the grills were cold, and the streets where silent

Aside from nature’s melody, none of the sounds that often accompanied humanity could be heard.

There were no car horns, or the sound of feet on the pavement, or dogs barking.

But most unusual of all, was the total lack of human voices.

Well, there were “voices”.

Low growls and moans occasionally drifted up from the dark streets and buildings.

To anyone accustomed to the hustle and bustle of humanity, the total lack of suburban ambiance would come as an eerie silence.

A silence that was about to be shattered.

Two things happened one after another.

First, if you were to stand at the top of the Cape Rock lighthouse and look south across bay, you would see brief flash of light followed by a staccato crack that rolled across the bay like distant thunder.

Before it could finish rumbling across the bay, the thunder was joined by dozens of smaller, sharp pops and staccato chatters, each accompanied by their own brief flashes of light.

Second, If you were still at the top of the lighthouse, you would be blinded by a tremendous flash of red and white light and deafened by a terrific thunderclap accompanied by a shrieking gale.

Like a spiral shaped tear in the very fabric of reality, a whirlpool of hellish light had opened in the air beside the lighthouse, spewing strange, otherworldly energies into the world below.

Then just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.

If you were to look out across the bay again, you would notice the cracks, pops, and flashes had ceased.

Even the crickets had stopped their serenade.

But it wasn’t silent.

The soft, cool breeze remained, and being carried along with the breeze as it swept through Stratford, around the lighthouse, and out to sea, was a truly haunting chorus.

An unholy melody of lifeless moans and growls that rose into the night above the shuffling of rotting limbs.

-

It was the breeze that woke her

Moondancer slowly opened her eyes as it ruffled her mane and tugged at her coat.

For a moment she was totally lost, unsure of whether she was awake or in a dream.

Then it all came crashing back:

Twilight's invitation,

Her trip the the library,

Using Haycart's method to to transport herself and her friends inside that strange little book,

and the hellish whirlpool of light that had swallowed them.

"My friends"! Moondancer's mind began to race as panic and guilt began to bubble in her chest, "Oh what have I done"!?

Scrambling to her hooves, Moondancer barely manged a step before she collapsed face first into the loose sand with a muffled "whumph"!

"Wait, sand"? Moondancer thought as she spat out some of the offending grains.

As she dusted the remaining grit from her muzzle and favorite sweater, Moondancer became aware of the sound of waves lapping against the shore.

"OK" She thought, "Sand everywhere, the sound of waves and water, therefore I must be at a beach".

"Huh, I've never been to a beach before, today is just full of firsts isn't it"? Moondancer followed up bitterly as her eyes began to tear up.

"Though first time letting down my friends and possibly getting them hurt or worse definitely takes the cake".

Readjusting her glasses and wiping away the tears on the sleeve of her sweater, she took in the scenery around her with a heavy heart.

She was indeed sitting on a steep, rock-strewn beach about halfway up the shore from the water.

Above her, a tall, candle-like structure was framed against a star strewn night sky with a full moon rising in the east like a silver bit.

To her right was open ocean as the beach curved back towards the tall structure, and to her left was a similar story except for a spit of land in the distance across the water.

From the moment she face-planted in the sand, a small part of Moondancer's research oriented mind had been crunching the numbers and now that she was getting a good look at her surroundings, The million dollar question or rather, questions, came racing to the forefront.

"Why am I on a beach"?

"Where are my friends"?

"If that book had a portal spell of some kind on it, am I still in Equestria"?

"If it was a portal then shouldn't my friends have arrived with me"?

"What's that weird moaning sound"?

Moondancer would have gone on like this for some time, her mind analyzing and adding to an ever growing list of questions to answer when a movement on the shoreline above caught her eye.

A stooped, bipedal figure was silhouetted against the faint starlight next to the tall building.

While it vaguely resembled a minotaur with its bipedal stance, the similarities ended there.

Its' overall stature too small, being only about a head and a half taller than herself and it had no horns.

The creature's overall shape was oddly geometric and it was draped in tattered clothes.

But what really got to Moondancer was it's eyes.

The two glowing dots of primal red light that seemed to to stare into her very soul as the creature began to amble down the beach towards her.

Something deep in Moondancer's gut twinged uneasily as the creature closed the distance.

The way it's horrible, glowing eyes stayed locked on hers as it stumbled through the sand with it's arms raised and clawing the air.

Or the harsh, predatory, growls it made as it drew ever closer.

Then the smell hit her.

A wave of nausea swelled in Moondancer's stomach as she staggered backwards to the water's edge, the sickly aroma of rotten, diseased flesh assaulting her nostrils.

Any doubt she had about the horrid creature's intentions vanished as her ears flattened, pupils dilated, and gut instinct took over.

Moondancer bolted.

Sand flew as she galloped full tilt around the creature and up the hill towards the tall structure.

The creature turned in pursuit, letting out another angry snarl as Moondancer hurdled a fence at the top of the beach and made it to a doorway in the base of what she vaguely recognized to be a lighthouse.

"This must all be a really bad dream, " Moondancer thought, her mind grasping at straws while as she frantically searched the lighthouse's small interior for a place to hide. "Come on girl, time to wake up"!

There was a bed on the right, a small desk on the left, and a ladder on the far wall that stretched up into the darkness above.

"I just fell asleep while reading again and I'll wake up in the library any second now"!

Strewn across the bed was a tattered looking assortment of clothes and sitting in the corner of the desk was an old roll of tape.

A menacing growl from outside sent chills down her spine a Moondancer realized there was nowhere to hide and nowhere to go except up the ladder and into the darkness above.

But just as she put her hoof on the first rung of the ladder, a dull gleam caught her eye from beneath.

Lying at the foot of the ladder and partially covered by a layer of dust and dirt was a machete.

Moondancer glanced frantically between the blade and the ladder, her mind a sea of indecision.

The ladder meant safety from the terrible creature outside, but if it could climb, said safety would be short-lived and she would be trapped at the top of the lighthouse with nowhere to go.

On the other hoof, the machete was the tool of adventurers, slashing their way though the jungle like Daring Do.

Moondancer had spent her entire life in Canterlot and hadn't wielded anything more threatening than a hoof-ball bat.

"I was terrible at hoof-ball" Moondancer thought, with a small, sad chuckle. "But my friends didn't give up on me, even when I shut them out".

Another growl from outside galvanized her into action.

"My friends never gave up on me". Moondancer pushed her glasses up before gripping the machete's handle in her light pink magical aura and turned to face the doorway with a determined light in her eyes.

"And by Celestia's name, I'm not giving up on them either"!

Moondancer charged from the lighthouse, yelling at the top of her lungs with machete held before her like a lance as she turned to face the beast from Tartarus.

"Stay back, I'm not afraid of you"! Moondancer shouted at the monster at it shuffled towards her, terrible eyes aglow.

The creature snarled in response, and swiped at her with the flat, prism-like appendages at the end of it's arms.

Suddenly, there was another sharp growl from behind.

Moondancer screamed as searing pain shot up her right hind leg.

Another creature had crawled up from behind and bitten Moondancer just above the hoof.

Acting out of pure, adrenaline driven reflex, she swung the machete around and buried it in the creature's back before stumbling away.

A spray of gore flew up from the blade's impact with the creature and splattered across Moondancer as she hobbled towards the boundary fence above the beach, a trail of blood, slick and black in moonlight marking her progress.

Each step sent a terrible spike of agony driving up her leg, but the growls from behind drove her onwards.

Then she was at the fence.

"I tried"! Moondancer sobbed, "Oh Celestia I tried to be brave"!

Unable to climb the fence with her wound, and with the two ghouls closing in, Moondancer turned to face what would surely be her doom.

Suddenly, the lead ghoul pitched forward as something came whistling faintly out of the gloom to embed itself in the foul creature's square skull.

"THUNK"

Moondancer could only stare in shock as the hellish light in it's eyes died and the monster fell face-first into the grass with a sickening splat, an arrow protruding from the back of its head.

Then two sharp cracks echoed though the air and the second ghoul, which she realized to her horror still had the machete lodged in it's back, was knocked sideways as it's head exploded.

blood and bits of brain matter was splattered across the lighthouse lawn as a third figure appeared.

"Are you ok"? It called out.

As the shock of her sudden rescue wore of, Moondancer felt her last bit of remaining resolve melt at the sound of a friendly stallion's voice.

"Oh thank Celestia"! Moondancer called back, "These two terrible creature's attacked me and"...

The figure jogging towards her wasn't a pony.

It's body was shaped like the ghoul's, a collection of rectangular prisms for a body and a cube shaped head. The only difference was a single, bright, unblinking eye set in it's forehead instead of two glowing red ones.

"I guess you came to investigate the flash as well huh"? The creature said as it closed the distance between them.

"But it's the full moon, what where we thinking"!? It continued. "And that big thunderclap that went with the flash, it's drawing every zombie in Stratford up to the lighthouse. "Let me get you patched up and then we need to vamoose"!

With a protesting squelch, Moondancer yanked the machete from the monster's corpse and leveled it at the newcomer.

"What are you"! She demanded, trying hard to to keep her voice from shaking. She could now see that the bright eye on the creature's forehead was actually some kind of headlamp.

"Hey relax"! the newcomer exclaimed upon seeing the leveled weapon. "I just saved your skin, you could at least be a little"...

The rest of his rebuttal died in his throat as he got a proper look at Moondancer and the apparently hovering machete.

"What the heck are you"?

"The feeling is mutual, but I asked first". Moondancer retorted defensively.

"I'm a human, a man." The creature stated, though more to himself than to her as he rubbed his forehead with a block-y appendage.

"Whelp, I'm hallucinating", the human mumbled.

"jade berries must have an extra delayed effect when crushed because I could swear that you look like some kind of talking horse wielding a floating machete".

Moondancer was taken aback, both by the human's response as well as the fact that she had never heard of a human before, even with all her years of research.

This, coupled with the unfamiliar surroundings and recent traumatic events was the final nail in the coffin for her hope of still being somewhere in Equestria.

Realizing that the human was still staring at her. Moondancer quickly formulated a reply. "No you're not hallucinating, though I'm actually a unicorn".

"And I'm holding the machete with my magic, I mean, how else would I hold it, with my mouth"?

The human stared at her dumbfounded for a moment before replying.

"Alright"

"Wait what"? Now it was Moondancer's turn to be dumbfounded.

Tightening her magical grip on the machete, Moondancer voiced her concern.

"You think that I'm some kind of bad fruit induced hallucination and you're totally ok with that"?

The human was quiet for a moment longer before sighing heavily and giving a broken chuckle.

"When the dead won't stay dead, when your fellow man wont think twice about killing you over the last can of cola or the helmet on your head, and when you finally think you've found a reason to go on living only for it to get torn away from you, when that's the kind of life you live, a talking unicorn who can levitate objects with magic doesn't sound all that crazy now does it"?

"Who am I kidding, it sounds ridiculous"! He murmured under his breath. "But speaking of the dead"...

Moondancer was still trying to process his response when five more red eyed monsters, "zombies" the human had called them, crested the hill and began ambling towards them with savage snarls and groans. Two of them where faster than the rest, crawling forward on all fours like demented spiders with the sole intent of tearing man and pony to pieces.

"I'm probably going to regret this later when I get back home, turn to talk to you, realize I just wasted a perfectly good bandage on a hallucination". The creature stated as he turned back to face Moondancer. "But you said you where hurt, so let's get you patched up and outa here". "By the way, my name's Andrew, what's yours Ms. Unicorn Hallucination"?

In the bright light of the human's headlamp, Moondancer's wound looked even worse than it felt. The blood had yet to fully clot and gleamed dark red as it oozed down into the grass while staining her tan coat a rust color as it dried. "It's Moondancer" she replied with a grimace at the sight of the bite. To which the human snorted with amusement. "I'm hallucinating about a unicorn and her name is Moondancer, seems legit."

While she was reluctant to let Andrew touch her, the five approaching ghouls overrode Moondancer's conservative nature as the human seemingly produced a bandage from thin air and kneeled down to begin warping it around the bite on her leg.

However, the spider-like zombies had outpaced their fellows and where closing rapidly.

"Can you finish wrapping the bandage with your magic or something"? Andrew asked hurriedly and without waiting for a response, stood and turned on his heel at the same time while drawing a strange r shaped object from his waist.

As Moondancer fixed the end of the bandage in place, she watched the human take aim at the lead spider zombie with the device.

Suddenly there was a brief flash and a sharp crack, the same noise that had accompanied the timely demise of her second assailant.

The zombie crumpled, performing a somersault, it's block-y limbs flailing comically before lying still with a hole through it's skull.

Readjusting his aim, Andrew repeated the process and the second spider zombie met a similar fate.

One by one, he dropped the others like sacks of grain, all but the last.

When he took aim at the last remaining zombie there was only a small click from the device in his hands.

Cursing under his breath, Andrew turned back to Moondancer, tucking the device back into his belt. "Time to go, can you walk, or should I say trot"?

Moondancer slowly eased her weight back onto her injured hind-leg and found that the pain had been reduced to a dull throb with a slight burning sensation.

"i think I'll manage". She replied.

"Good" Andrew replied as he puled the arrow from the first zombie's head. "Don't worry about any burning or tingling you feel", I've got a vaccine back home that'll take care of the infection.

"But first we gotta get there".

A thousand and one questions buzzed around Moondancer's head, as Andrew led her down the hill from the lighthouse towards the northern shore where the beach leveled out. But before she could voice even one, the whole lot of them stuck in her throat as she beheld a scene from a nightmare.

Behind them was a river of glowing red eyes, each pair like some terrible jack-o-lantern floating in night. Stretching from the lighthouse on the hill to the town that was just barely visible behind a screen of trees at the bottom. Carried on the breeze was their hellish melody as they ambled towards the lighthouse, searching aimlessly for their prey.

Wrenching her eyes away from the sight, Moondancer broke into an awkward gallop despite her injury, desperate to regain the safety of the beam of cast by Andrew's headlamp.

Then human and pony where splashing into the surf, the headlamp illuminating a small, black watercraft that seemed to Moondancer like a cross between a bulky rowboat and a scooter bobbing gently on the waves.

Andrew pulled a red container from again; seemingly nowhere and opened a small hatch in the back of the vessel and emptying the container's contents into the hatch before straddling the vehicle and offering Moondancer a hand.

Once she was aboard, Andrew straddled the vehicle and it roared to life beneath them.

"The waves aren't to high, but I still want you to hold on tight" Andrew instructed. "Wouldn't want you falling in with your wound".

Andrew's headlamp illuminated the water ahead as he kept lookout for rocks and sandbars while Moondancer sat behind him with her hooves clasped awkwardly around his rectangular waist.

Despite the beehive of questions that Moondancer was desperate to unleash and the jolting ride across the waves, the shock of what had happened finally began to catch up with her and she could feel her eyelids drooping.

Just before she dozed off though. One of the more pressing questions bubbled its way to the surface.

"Where are we"!? Moondancer had to practically shout over the roar of the watercraft while gesturing to the land that was sliding by on on her left."What is this place called"!?

Andrew glanced back over his shoulder at the mare and grinned.

"Shouldn't you know already, i mean if you're my hallucination and everything"?

"Well what if I'm real and you're the hallucination"? Moondancer shot back.

Andrew laughed then. A brittle bark that was almost lost to the sound of the engine as he gestured to the land and surrounding water.

"Well then Moondancer, Welcome to Prince Edward Island, or as the locals used to call it, PEI".

Where the difference between what is real and what isn't becomes clear real quick.

Author's Note:

Edit 4/18/16
Thanks SomeBloke for the great suggestion!

Comments

[The Commandant]

Ah, I remember the first time I encountered a full moon horde... It was terrifying, and still kind of is.

[Natkomet]

7084989
I couldn't agree more, especially when you're busy looting a town or something and your so focused on your your inventory that you don't notice the little moon icon till it's too late!

[halospartan]

I dont like the maga zombies they Scarry

[halospartan]

I don't like the mega zombies dey scary

[Natkomet]

7148856 They where scary enough before the most recent update, now they throw boulders at you!