Left 4 Friendship: Magic is Dead

by UnweptSchlipps

Day 6: Swamp Fever

When Rainbow Dash came to, she found herself buried underneath some twisted sheets of metal. At first, her mind struggled to piece together the events that had just occurred moments before. She faintly remembered holding on to dear life as her hind legs dangled outside of an out-of-control vehicle plummeting right out of the sky while she shouted, “WE ARE SO DEAD!” But other than that, it was mostly a blur. But the smell of burning fire brought her back to her senses, and pegasus sprang to action. Well, more like crawled into action.

Rainbow pushed the sheet of metal out of her way and slowly crawled out the helicopter’s wreckage. The vehicle had left a scar in the earth, leaving a trail of mangled metal in its wake. The pegasus stood atop the cockpit where the pilot’s corpse remained, clutching her side. “Well that can’t be good for my wing,” she whispered. Luckily for her, the injuries she sustained were limited to a few cuts and bruises.

Hoping the case was the same for her friends, Rainbow Dash called out, “Girls? Are you alright?”

There was no answer, so she tried again. “Girls! Please say you’re alright!”

This time she heard a weak mumble coming from a figure laying a few feet away from the scar. The pegasus hopped down, only to find herself sink a few inches into mud. Ignoring this, the flier plopped her way over to the pony, who had begun to stand up. Despite the layer of mud covering her body, Dash could make out the pink jacket of Fluttershy.

""Shy!" she cried, hopping over the wreckage to her recovering friend. Helping her to her hooves, Dash asked, “Do you know where the others are?”

“Over here!” cried a voice over by the cockpit. Then Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie stumbled from behind the wreckage, towards the two pegasi. Twilight commented, “Well, that’s one way to land a chopper…”

With the quartet reunited and nopony miraculously sustaining any major injuries, Rainbow looked around and said, “Where…where are we?” Besides the helicopter wreckage, she noticed an abandoned warehouse and a few decoupled train cars, as well as a dirt road winding behind them.

Twilight replied, “Judging by the mud and the…flies, it looks like we’re in a swamp.”

Trying her best not to sink into the mud, Pinkie said, “This place is icky. So much for getting us to Fillydelphia.”

“Yeah, way to shoot the pilot, Pinkie,” Dash answered snidely, making Pinkie’s ears droop.

“He was a zombie, Dash. He must have gotten bitten before he picked us up,” Twilight replied, defending her pink friend.

“Okay sure, whatever. But he still left us stranded in the middle of a swamp. Just when we thought we were going to be rescued too."

“How are we even going to find our way out of here?” Fluttershy chimed.

“This place looks like a dump! And not the good kind either!” Pinkie added.

Trying to ease their tension, Twilight told them, “Come on girls, it’s not like this hasn’t happened to us before.”

“We haven’t crashed in a helicopter before, Twilight. In case you forgot,” Rainbow interrupted.

“My point is, if we just search the area, I’m sure we’ll find something useful like before. We’ll find a way to Fillydelphia.”

Rainbow tried her best to not be skeptical (she could have tried harder), but in spite of this, the group heeded the unicorn’s advice. But first they had to salvage the wreckage for their weapons and bags. Unfortunately, a few supplies were lost during the spiral. Rainbow’s melee weapons had been flung somewhere far away and Pinkie’s submachine gun was smashed to pieces, leaving her with two pistols. Most of the food from Fluttershy’s pack was lost to the mud, and Rainbow’s bag was burnt completely, much to her dismay. The pegasus searched the remnants of her supplies, pulled out a burnt pill bottle, frowned, and threw the whole pack into the mud.

As she pried her shotgun out of the wreckage, she took one last glance at the pilot and said, “Pilot’s licence…REVOKED! Dunn-dunnn-dunnnnnn!” After a few soft giggles from Fluttershy and Pinkie, the quartet ventured away from the burning vehicle, following the dirt road into the shanty town.

They didn’t have to go far to find that the abandoned town was…well…abandoned. Not to mention the fact that the swamps, just like the cities, weren’t spared from the infection. The morning sun cast a glow through the dense trees growing out of the bog, and random bubbles seeped out of the sludge. To one side, there was a row of abandoned houses and shacks. To their left; the swamp, laden with moss and planks to walk on.

The quartet decided to scavenge the shacks and houses for anything useful. “Looks like no one got out of this place alive,” Twilight observed. Most of the swamp peoples’ possessions seemed intact and left behind. Of course, that didn’t leave much to begin with anyway.

Dash found herself a burlap sack she could sling over her back, as well a jagged piece of pipe. The pegasus’s keen eye still searched fervently for something, however. “Hey girls,” she said, aware of some pain creeping back into her side. “If you see any pills, do you mind giving them to me?”

“Ummm…of course Rainbow,” Fluttershy reluctantly replied, her suspicions still aroused. Then, when her cyan friend wasn’t looking, the shy pegasus dumped the contents of a small white bottle, burying them in the mud to be lost forever.

Once the houses had been exhausted of what little supplies it had, the survivors meandered into the swamp, staying on the planks for walkways. Zombies sloshed out of the muck towards the quartet, only to be mowed down by a hail of bullets. However, the creatures still kicked up mud and water, splashing the goop all over the survivors’ already dirty clothes.

After getting a particularly large splash all over her vest, Dash uttered, “It’s a good thing Rarity’s not here. She’d probably go crazy.”

Pinkie Pie took a suspicious glance at the surrounding swamp and muttered, “We should be on the lookout for blood farmers.”

“Blood farmers?” Fluttershy whispered fearfully.

“You know. They’re like regular farmers like Applejack. But instead of growing apples, they grow…PONIES! To eat!” the pink pony whispered evilly.

Pinkie Pie had said the statement with such ferocity that Fluttershy’s eyes widened in terror. Seeing this, Rainbow Dash comforted her, saying, “Don’t worry ‘Shy. None of that’s true. Pinkie’s just trying to scare you. Right Pinkie?”

“What?”

“You’re just joking, right?”

“Joking about what?”

“The blood farmers.”

Pinkie Pie gave a carefree giggle and replied, “Blood farmers? That sounds silly.”

The two pegasi exchanged nervous glances at one another as their party friend bounced away.

Xxx

Turns out, blood farmers remained pretty low on the list of things to watch out for. And at the top of that list: Mudponies. They were zombies that seemed to rise out of the mud, splashing the putrid sludge all around. When they attacked, they sent a splash of swamp muck towards the survivors, leaving them temporarily blinded. Not to mention they smelled. Really, really bad.

“This is starting to get annoying!” Rainbow Dash said, wiping some mud out of her eyes. “These guys are mucking up my vest! Brains you can get out of vests. Swamp water, not so much!”

“I’m not even going to ask you how you know that!” Twilight replied, shooting down an incoming mudpony.

After some time of splashing though the water with half of their bodies submerged, the survivors came up upon a small wooded area. In the middle was a run-down, rotten structure surrounded by trees and bushes too dense to pass through. Perhaps, years ago, the place might have made a cozy little home. But now the place was flooded, and the wood cracked, weakened, and perpetually soaked. However, that didn’t stop the mudponies from making their home there.

Realizing that the prickly bushes were too dense to get through, Twilight led the group up a makeshift ramp and into the structure. The place creaked after every step the quartet made, and ponies were forced to tread lightly. They didn’t move forward for long however, because they ran into a raised plank blocking the way. Twilight noticed a small yellow lever attached near the base of the plank, and it became clear that the plank was actually a make-shift bridge. And this bridge was the only way to get through the crowded brush.

Twilight was about to pull the lever when Dash interrupted, “Whoa, hold on a sec’. We don’t know what’s gonna happen if we pull that. What if this whole place just cracks or something?”

“Pfft, come on Rainbow. Now who’s the one being paranoid?” the unicorn said.

Turns out, Twilight was right. The whole place didn’t crumble. However, she had failed to notice the plank’s gears that had been rusted and practically frozen in place from disuse. When she pulled the lever, the gears were suddenly awoken from their slumber and immediately began to creak. The bridge slowly began to lower, but not without alerting every zombie in the surrounding swamp.

The four reeled back into the poor excuse for a shack, watching as the horde began to scramble up the scaffolding. The zombie crawled their way up, clawing away the rotted boards. The four tried their best to hold off the incoming beasts, trying to buy time for the plank to lower. But when it was only a quarter of a way down, the bridge jammed, the gears stopped by some unwitting zombie’s leg.

“Fluttershy, help me with this!” Twilight commanded. The duo began to push against the bridge, trying to get it moving while Dash and Pinkie held off the horde.

After unsuccessfully ramming against the board, the unicorn tried to get Dash and Pinkie’s attention, leaving Fluttershy to push the bridge by herself. But at moment, a Boomer suddenly wandered into Dash’s line of fire. With a huge explosion, Rainbow, Pinkie and Twilight Sparkle became drenched in the Boomer’s toxic sludge, while Fluttershy remained completely dry.

“Fluttershy, get back!” Twilight shouted, trying to blindly stave off her attackers.

But seeing her friends’ vulnerable state, Fluttershy realized she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. Mustering up all the courage she could, the pegasus said, “No Twilight, I can still see! I can help!”

The unicorn didn’t respond for a moment, shooting back at the zombies while her eyes were covered with bile. Finally, she said reluctantly, “Okay. Try to go down and get those gears unstuck. We’ll try to keep the zombies going after us. But as soon as the bridge starts moving, you fly right back up here, understand?”

Fluttershy gave a small nod, which Twilight couldn’t even see. Which was good, since Fluttershy didn’t want her friends to see the fear printed plainly on her face. “On my mark, Shy,” Rainbow Dash called, blasting wildly into the crowd, still reeking of the Boomer’s vomit.

“NOW!” she yelled, blasting a hole straight through the zombie horde. Seeing this opening, Fluttershy lowered her head and charged through, holding her revolver tightly in her mouth.

She sloshed down into the muck, her sights set on the gears only a few feet away. But considering the horde surrounding the shack, it might as well have been miles. Fluttershy saw the demented faces of the undead rising out of the mud. Part of her wanted to run as far away from there as possible; pretend that this was all just some kind of dream. But after all that they’ve been through, she finally realized that there was no other choice. It had taken her a few days to realize it, but Fluttershy knew it was either fight or die. And by Celestia’s mane, if her friends could do it, so could she!

Fluttershy steeled herself for only a quick second before running through the horde, dodging swipes and scratches. I’ve got to be brave, I’ve got to, she thought, jumping past a lunging mudpony with a shriek.

The gears were almost in her reach, and soon she and her friends would be free. But then the pegasus noticed a dark figure crouched behind some brush. A dark hood was pulled over its face, but Fluttershy had seen more than enough of these to know what was in store.

The Hunter pounced towards the pegasus, her revolver clasped tightly in her mouth. The zombie flew through the air, its teeth bared, ready to sink into her neck. Closer and closer, for an eternity it flew…

Brave!

Just as the Hunter was about to connect, Fluttershy whipped herself around. With precise timing, the pegasus shot her hindlegs out, bucking the creature right in the snout. Then, in one fluid motion, she turned around once again, firing the revolver she held in her mouth.

The Hunter was still in the air when the bullet pierced its skull. The bullet traveled straight through until it struck the gears with a Crack!. the mechanisms flew off from the impact, and the wooden bridge quickly thudded down over the mud and brush.

Fluttershy stood there dazed, trying to take in the blur of events that just happened. but as her head began to stop spinning, a voice called out, “’Shy! Grab my hoof!”

A cyan leg dangling from above came into focus. Fluttershy looked up to see her childhood friend saying, “You are just saving our butts left and right, aren’t you?”

The yellow pegasus grabbed Dash’s hooves, and with some help from the others, she was pulled up from the dwindling horde. With the four united once again, Twilight shouted, “Let’s get out of here before any more show up!”

Nopony complained, and the quartet jetted across the bridge, leaving behind a horde of hobbling zombies, crippled from the rain of bullets that had just occurred.

As they ran, Dash remarked, “Man Flutters. I can’t believe you saved our flanks again!”

“That was incredible Fluttershy. Really, it was,” Twilight said.

The yellow pegasus began to blush, muttered, “I don’t know…I was so scared…”

But the unicorn just shook her head and replied, “Just because you were scared doesn’t mean you weren’t brave. And believe me, what you just did, and what you did with Iron Will back at the motel; that took courage. And don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.”

Fluttershy scanned the faces of the others, who were vigorously nodding in agreement. And so the timid pegasus nodded her head too, the barest hint of a smile beginning to show on her face.

Soon, the ponies found themselves at the bank of a murky river which moved too swiftly to swim across. Going by Twilight’s logic that “all rivers lead to civilization”, the group followed along the bank, hoping that for once, everything would go according to plan.

---

So...what is up people? I guess I ought to apologize for completely neglecting this story, huh? There was a period when I wasn't sure if I should continue this or not. I've got this other story that I really like, so...yeah. But after, like, three months of pondering, I've decided I'll give this another shot. Hope it's not too terrible. So once again, sorry for the long wait. I'm still trying to figure out what should happen next...

Comments

[UnweptSchlipps]

If any of you guys are in the mood for an adventure story NOT pertaining to zombies, howzabout you come check out THIS STORY! Seriously, it's totally awesome and proven to make you 21% cooler! And it's got bagels!!!! YAAAAAY!!!
Shameless plugs since 2011...

[Frostbytten]

It's alive! IT'S ALIVE! mwahahahahahahaha!

[Deathcoredashie]

Well I'm certainly not complaining. I read it yesterday, so the new chapter wasnt a wait for me.

[Frenchie]

Nice to see this is continued. Also, don't be afraid to send it to me to have a look at. I can look at more than just Elements of Love.

Fluttershy saw the demented faces of the undead rising out of the mud. Part of her wanted to run as far away from there as possible; pretend that this was all just some kind of dream.

Technically, they're not the undead. They're normal, average ponies/humans that have a rabies-like virus. It diminishes their brain cells, leaving primal and primitive instincts to remain.

This infection is in Left 4 Dead though. I suspect these zombies could be undead due to magic.

When in doubt, magic.

The yellow pegasus began to blush, muttered, “I don’t know…it was so scared…”

This is grammatically correct, but it does not make sense. Twilight speaks afterwards, saying, "It doesn't matter if you were scared..." or something akin to that. It would make more sense if Flutters said, "I was so scared..."

[LtMajorDude]

Is this story still alive?

[Pluma the Fluffy Dragon]

They should find more survivors at the airport

[PhantomChaser]

1529414
Love that profile pic.

[anommalcolm]

WOO HOO! LOVE IT!

[midnight rose]

updates please

[Marston241]

Are you ever gonna update this story? I was really enjoying it......

[Subject Zero]

938593
(Left 4 Speed 2)
Nick: And look, Ellis, it's Kiddie Land.
Ellis: Do I look like some sorta queer to you?
Nick: