Left 4 Friendship: Magic is Dead

by UnweptSchlipps

Day 2: I Hate Forests

After a good half-day of walking along Candescent Trail, the survivors found themselves standing at the entrance of the Equestria National Forest. They had long since abandoned the railroad tracks, seeing as through the track swerved twenty miles around the foliage. The group decided it would be faster to cut through the dense forest and find the railroad on the other side. This forest was much more inviting than the eerie void of the Everfree, and since it was around noon, the sun was able to shed some light.

“I’m guessing we don’t have a Plan B,” Rainbow uttered.

“Eeeenope,” Pinkie replied, imitating Big Mac’s drawl.

“Ugh. I hate forests.”

“Sorry Rainbow, but the trees are too thick for you to fly through,” Twilight said. “Jeez, this place is denser than your head.”

“Yeah…wait, what?”

With a snicker and a smirk, Twilight led the group into the tree line. Candescent Trail cut through the dense foliage, giving the ponies a path to follow. Taking note of the direction of Canterlot, they began their dangerous trek into the forest.

Although the sun was able to provide some illumination, the trees still provided cover for some of the infected. Commons would occasionally pop out from behind a tree trunk and assault the group. But every time they would be met with a swift attack from one of the survivors. Sometimes they would come out in groups of five or ten. But the outcome was still the same. Sure, every now and then the zombies would land a punch or a scrape on the ponies, but it was nothing they couldn’t handle.

Another zombie rushed at the group, but it was met by the baseball bat of Rainbow Dash. When they saw the disembodied head flying into the bushes however, they looked away in disgust. Fluttershy gave a squeal of shock, and Twilight said, “Just keep going girls. Don’t look at it.”

For another hour, they moved deeper into the forest. Despite the leaves and random bodies strewn along the ground, the path was still visible. Barely trodden, but still visible. For the moment, the path seemed devoid of any zombies. And to the tired survivors, every minute of no infected was a stroke of luck.

As she placed her crowbar into her pack, Pinkie Pie said, “Remember that tongue-thingy back at the mall?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Dash replied.

“Oh nothing. I just couldn’t help but think about it. I mean, have you ever seen something like that? I thought my tongue was long. But that thing was ginormous! ”

The pegasus raised her eyebrows and said, “I can’t believe that thing almost had me. Good thing Twilight’s a pretty good shot.”

The purple unicorn replied, “From now on nopony wanders off alone, okay? These zombies aren’t anything we’ve ever seen before, and we don’t want anypony to be strangled by another one of those…things.” The friends immediately murmured their agreement. After all, the incident at the mall was enough of a warning.

After thirty minutes of trees, trees, and more trees, the ponies began to faintly make out the shape of a secluded house. Because she was growing tired of Pinkie asking, “Are we there yet?” Twilight let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps there was some luck still on their side.

As they trotted towards the cabin, Rainbow noticed a few picnic tables nearby. Some still had paper plates and mugs set up, waiting for a party that was never going to come. “You’re telling me people camp out here for fun?”

“Of course Dashie! Haven’t you ever been camping before?” the pink earth pony asked, noticing the party decorations as well.

The house itself was quite dismal. The front door was blocked from the inside, and most of the windows were boarded shut. A message painted hastily on the wall said a single word, “HELP”.

“Do you think we should check inside?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

But Pinkie and Rainbow were already on it, prying the windows open with a crowbar. With a resounding crack, the pieces of boards flew out while Rainbow Dash flew in. After scouting the nearby rooms for any sign of the undead, the pegasus stuck her head out and gave the all clear.

With some help from Twilight’s magic, they moved the bookcase that was blocking the door and let Fluttershy and Pinkie inside. Due to the fact that the windows were mostly covered, the abandoned cabin was dim and dreary. Blood stains dotted the floor, trailing out through the back door. Frantic writing was scrawled across the kitchen, showing messages of survivors long gone.

“Headed to the train station. Kids are okay. Hope you get there safe. Love, Lyra,” read Fluttershy. “Do you think that’s where we should go?”

Investigating the other messages, Twilight said, “That’s where everypony seems to be going. I don’t see why not.”

“But first things first,” interrupted Rainbow. “We gotta check this place for anything handy.”

So the quartet got to work, searching the place for supplies. The group started with the first floor, looking for anything that might assist them on their journey. Not surprisingly, there wasn’t much left. A few pain pills here and there, a bag of chips or two. But other than that, nothing.

After searching the bathrooms without yielding any results, Dash was ready to tell her friends that there was no more to be found. But then the cyan pony’s ears began to pick up on something. It was a faint sound at first, and she been so intent on her search that she hadn’t noticed. It was muffled and deep, certainly something out of the ordinary.

“Do you guys hear that?”

“What?” Twilight replied.

“It’s kinda like…like a gurgling sound,” Dash said.

Pinkie answered, “Sorry Dashie, that’s probably me. I haven’t had my scheduled cupcake break yet.”

“No, this is different. It sounds like it’s coming from upstairs. Somepony come up with me and check it out.”

Rainbow waited for one of her friends to volunteer. But instead, they just stood there looking at her awkwardly, not wanting to investigate. Fluttershy gave a small cough, slowly sneaking back into the kitchen. Finally, after a moment of glancing at the other, Pinkie pushed Twilight forward before running back into the kitchen. Before Twilight could berate her pink friend, Dash pulled her away while grumbling, “Glad to see you guys have my back.”

The duo climbed upstairs, both holding their weapons ready. The noise was now louder and clearer. The sound was practically a mix of groaning and gurgling, and the combination made Twilight feel a little nauseous. Dash, however, was primed and ready for whatever was making the dreadful noise.

They realized the sound was coming from behind one of the upstairs bedroom’s door. Motioning the quiet signal to Twilight, Dash slowly snuck up to the closed door. Holding the bat over her head and giving an unnecessary yell, she swung the door open.

That was when she came to face with possibly the most hideous thing she had ever seen. It was a zombie, but this one was vastly different from the common infected that strolled outside. This one’s entire body was severely bloated and fat, with grotesque boil-like lumps pulsing from its skin. Even its face had the sickening growths protruding like little round mountains. And the worst part was the continuous gurgling sound it emitted from its fat mouth.

The cyan pegasus didn’t get to stare at it for long, however. She swung her baseball bat, smacking one of the pulsating blobs attached to its head. Dash thought that would be the end of it. She thought the ugly thing would fall down and die like a regular zombie. But instead, the zombie went out with a boom. Literally.

The moment the Boomer was hit, it exploded into a mess of innards and green goo. Dash and Twilight were blasted back into the hallway, dazed and disoriented. At first, they were in awe at what just happened. They couldn’t believe a zombie had just spontaneously exploded right before them. And now they were covered in a smelly, disgusting, green goo. Wiping her face clean of the vile substance, Dash groaned, “Aww man! That thing slimed us!”

But being drenched in the bile was the least of their worries. From outside, the screeching of an incoming horde arose from the surrounding forest. Realizing this, Dash quickly scrambled to her feet, yelling, “Twilight, get up!”

But the unicorn hit her head hard, and struggled to get to her feet.

Sighing, Dash left her friend in the safety of the second floor and went down to Fluttershy and Pinkie. Fluttershy was pushing a bookcase into the back door as Pinkie stood by a window, watching the horde assemble. “What happened?” cried the party pony. Sniffing, she added, “And why do you smell so bad?”

Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to them that they had left front door wide open. With a clear passage, the mob of monsters streamed in. And every single one of them had their sights trained on Rainbow Dash. She was not expecting the sudden surge of zombies coming directly at her, so she began to wildly swing her weapon. Pinkie saw this too, and tried her best to protect her friend. Meanwhile, Fluttershy squealed as the zombies outside pounded against her blockade. The mob was screaming and growling, fired up by the smell of fresh Boomer bile. They were squeezing through whatever opening they could find, craving Dash’s flesh.

Lucky for the trio, the front door created a bottleneck for the zombies to cram through. A few were able to get through and land a punch or scratch on Rainbow, but most were able to be pushed away and whacked. Soon the crowd began to thin, until the horde finally stopped streaming in. It seemed as though the bile had lost its potency, and any remaining zombies lost interest. An exhausted Pinkie and Rainbow slumped down to the floor. “Note to self: Never whack those fat things ever again,” Rainbow remarked, looking at the dried bile on her vest.

Then Twilight came stumbling down the stairs, recovering from a nasty bump on her head. Seeing her friends gathered on the floor covered in blood and bile, she asked warily, “What’d I miss?”

---

There. I decided to put two chapters in today so that we can get all the zombies introduced. The whole thing is set up, and there's still much more to come! So keep reading guys.

Comments

[Princess Echo]

I really don't know why a lot of people don't read this. It's good enough, nobody's perfect. I hope to see more of what will happen next i'm gonna try to advertise about you so that you can get more comments/reveiws. Still, good luck to ya.

This story is so good!!