Left 4 Friendship: Magic is Dead

by UnweptSchlipps

Day 1-2: In Case of Emergency, Do Not Break Glass

The group finally garnered enough confidence to head through the mall to the food court on the other side. The automatic doors were jammed shut, and the only way to get through was to break through the glass. At the time, it seemed like a fine idea. And they were so scared and desperate to find some food for the long journey ahead that they didn’t stop to analyze their plan. The top priority was survival, and the quartet couldn’t let their fear keep them from that goal.

“Ready?” Dash asked the others.

“Ready,” they all replied simultaneously. The blue pegasus gave a small affirming nod, and she took out her fire axe. With a mighty heave, Dash swung the weapon into the windows, shattering it to pieces. At first, it was quite satisfying to take out her frustration on that glass window.

But she had just stepped out into the atrium when, suddenly, the sound of ringing bells filled the mall. And not like the regular old celebration bells, but the screeching fire alarm bells that dig into your ears like drill bits screwing into your skull. And after that came a loud cacophonous screech, just as terrible as the alarms. The survivors recognized it from back when the zombies first broke out, and their hearts immediately began to race.

“This cannot be good,” Rainbow Dash uttered. That was when they spied a horde of zombies scrambling up the escalators, and even more dropping down from the floor above them.

“What do we do, Twilight?!” Pinkie Pie said frantically, readying herself of the incoming onslaught.

“Somepony turn off the alarm!” was the reply.

Already up in the air, Rainbow called out, “I’m on it!” Before anypony could object, the pegasus hastily flew out into the middle of the atrium, heading for the upper floors. The rest of the group began to battle through the crowd, heading to the stairs.

But from the upper-most floor, a different kind of zombie watched the aerial pony. It was taller than the rest of the horde, and small jets of green smoke seemed to leak from its pores. But the most noticeable characteristic was a long tongue-like appendage, drooping off the ledge.

It seemed to wait there like a predator at work, letting Rainbow get closer and closer, waiting for the perfect shot. Then, once Rainbow was within range, the monster shot its tongue out like a rocket. Its accuracy was pin-point, and the appendage wrapped itself around the confident flyer’s body. She only had the chance to say, “What the-?” before the tongue was pulled tight.

The sudden pull of the Smoker’s tongue caused her to drop her axe into the scrambling horde below. And with her wings bound to her body by the slimy appendage, Dash began to drop like a rock.
Somehow the Smoker was strong enough to stay balanced while the pegasus swung from side to side, narrowly missing the ledges. Soon she was left dangling upside down over the hungry crowd, struggling to take in a breath. And try as she might, the Smoker would not release her from her bind.

Unfortunately, Dash was separated from her friends by a massive crowd of zombies, still riled up by the screeching alarm. Twilight saw her rainbow-maned friend become ensnared, and she tried to cut her way through the horde and find a good shot. Her time was limited, as Dash was slowly getting the life squeezed out of her.

Luckily for the pegasus, Twilight was proficient at magic. More specifically, telekinesis. She was aligned with the smoking zombie and was ready to launch her metal pipe right into his face. Unfortunately, she was already using her magic to force most of the zombies away from them. In the split-second she would use to direct her magic towards the Smoker, the monsters could rush in and attack.

“Make it quick, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie called out, keeping watch for the few zombies that permeated Twilight’s magic barrier. Fluttershy also gave a nod. Although she was still reluctant to kill the beasts, the timid pegasus attempted to kick the monsters away (to some avail).

The unicorn heeded her pink friend’s words. She stepped to the ledge and began to focus her magic on the weapon in her hand. The metal pipe began to quiver as force began to build up. Twilight put all of her concentration into the spell, knowing that she only had one shot. As the mob began to swallow the trio up, Twilight launched the metal pipe forward at the speed of a bullet.

Dash watched the steel projectile soar across the atrium at high velocity. Finally, with a sickening squelch, the pipe embedded itself into the Smoker’s head. The zombie fell back, releasing a plume of smoke. The tongue fell limp immediately, giving the rainbow pegasus room to breathe. She began to fall into the swarming crowd below. But before she could become food for the zombies below, Dash furiously flapped her wings, halting her descent. Although the smoke was thick enough to make her hack and cough, she was able to gain her breath and see through the cloud.

Not wanting to stay in the open for another attack, Dash flew back up into the walkways. The alarm was still ringing after all, and her friends were still battling for their lives. So the pegasus zoomed through the mass of zombies, making her way to the control room. She first shut the door so that nopony could sneak up on her. Then she pulled the lever labeled “Fire Alarm”. A breath of relief escaped the pegasus as the alarm quickly died down, its relentless screeching finally vanquished. There were still a few zombies left from the horde, so Rainbow went outside to finish them off, wielding a fire extinguisher. But the container wasn’t for suppressing the fires that raged on the other side of the mall. For the prideful pegasus, it was time for a little payback.

Meanwhile on the lower floors, the trio stood against the railing, relieved that the alarm was off. Twilight began to head towards the escalator, saying, “I’m glad that’s over with.”

But from above, in the same perch the Smoker was, another pony watched. A hooded one, with strange claws. Unbenownst to Twilight, the Hunter had her right in its sights. With a mighty leap and a terrifying screech, the Hunter began to shoot towards the unicorn. Twilight only saw the Hunter for a split-second when…

Clank!

The Hunter’s flight was intercepted by a fire extinguisher impacting against its skull. The zombie gave a tiny yelp before falling down towards its doom. The trio looked out into the atrium to find the hooded monster replaced by the grin of a rainbow-maned pegasus, swinging the weapon playfully.

“So,” Rainbow began. “Can we get somethin’ to eat now?”

Xxx

“You’re kidding me,” was her response when they stepped into the Burger Tank kitchen. “This is all that’s left? This isn’t going to last us the afternoon!”

The group searched the kitchen to find four veggie patties, a hoof-ful of fries, and a ketchup bottle. The rest of the restaurants were just as unsuccessful. Pretty soon, the ponies had searched every nook and cranny of the food court and looted every last bit of food they could find.

A very frustrated Rainbow Dash remarked angrily, “We fought an entire army of zombies for this?”

“Everypony must’ve looted the mall before us,” Fluttershy said calmly.

“Well that’s just great. I was looking forward to having one of those juicy, scrumptious, delectable, undeniably, unquestionably, unbelievably-.”

“Okay Rainbow, we get it,” Twilight said. “We’ll just have to make do with what we have. Everypony’s looking for food, so it’s going be very hard to come by.” She turned around to see Rainbow Dash biting into one of the few apples they had found. Before Dash could take another bite, Twilight levitated the apple out of her hooves and placed into Dash’s pack.

The unicorn said crossly, “Rainbow, we have to save what we’ve got! We don’t know how long it’ll be until we find another food place!”

“Yeah, come on Dashie! You should listen to Twilight, she’s waaaay smart!” Pinkie said. However, this was said through mouthfuls of cake. After a stern look from her friends, Pinkie smiled guiltily and put the dessert away.

“Soooo, anyway, where should we go next?” she inquired.

Twilight took some time to ponder the question. Now that they had at least some food in their satchels, she figured there was only one thing to do at the moment. “Well, let’s get out of this mall. Guess there’s nothing else we can really do.”
So they picked up their supplies and made their way towards the exit. Most of the doors were blocked off or surrounded by zombies. But after some searching, the quartet came across a steel red door with bars over the windows. Above the doorway, the words “Safe Room” were spray painted.

The door opened into a small alcove with boards covering the windows. Some melee weapons were scattered along the floor, much to Rainbow’s delight. And on the other side of the room was another steel door leading outside. The group must have been inside longer than they had thought, for the tell-tale orange streaks of light outside told them that it was dawn.

“Let’s get outta here,” Rainbow said, exchanging her extinguisher for a baseball bat and a wrench. “I hate malls.”

The group traversed along Candescent Trail, following the railroad tracks. Along the way they passed the darkened, abandoned remains of Sweet Apple Acres. Most of the trees were stripped of their fruit, leaving no sign of the Apple family’s hard labor. In fact, there was no sign of the Apple family anywhere.

Rainbow Dash was hovering above, trying to survey the farm for any signs of life. But aside from a few rambling zombies stumbling out of the barn, there was none. The pegasus gave shook her head sadly towards her friends and returned to the ground.

The quartet was deeply saddened by the last-ditch effort to find their missing friends. Fluttershy feebly said, “Maybe they’re holed up inside.” But even she didn’t believe what she was saying.

“C’mon girls. I’m sure Applejack and Rarity’s okay. We just have to keep moving,” Pinkie consoled.

Without another word, the quartet continued along the railroad tracks with the dark outline of Canterlot looming above the landscape.

---

It has occured to me that most of these first few chapters are mostly action. I can assure you that there's a whole lot more to a zombie apocalypse than killing masses of the undead without prejudice.The first few chapters are for setting the scene. Then perhaps the real trouble shall begin...

Comments

[Frostbytten]

Ok, so far it seems like Pinkie: Lewis/Ellis?
Rainbow: Francis/Coach
Twilight: Bill
Fluttershy: Zoey