Nation of the Damned

by Tyrannical T-Rex

Chapter one: Canterlot.

I awoke with a long yawn before moving a hoof to rub my eyes. I'm not sure how long we both slept in the safety of the royal library; though by the amount of times we were both woken up by the sounds of spells being used or the screeches of the creatures I doubt it was very much. Judging by the darkness that could be seen through the windows it was safe to say we had been locked away for a long while.

"Come on Spike, we need to get up…," I said as I gave the still sleeping dragon a few nudges, earning a groggy groan before he sat up to stretch.

"C'mon, let me sleep for a few more minutes…," he grumbled. He was calm for a moment having forgotten the horrors he had witnessed, but then his eyes grew wide as it all came rushing back to him.

"It’s alright Spike, don't panic… we’re safe." I said, trying to soothe the young dragon as I got up and levitated him onto my back. I unlocked and pushed the door to the library open, scrunching up my nose as a foul and rotten smell hit me, causing both me and Spike to give a few coughs.

The once clean walls had splatters of crimson on them while the still bodies of guards and servants were scattered around, each of them looking like they were mauled by a manticore.

"D-Don't look, Spike. Close your eyes and keep them closed until I say otherwise." I stated, carefully taking a few steps into the hallway, glancing around to make sure there were none of those things hanging around.

After I was satisfied I began to head to the main entrance of the castle, passing empty rooms and many more bodies on my way there. I didn’t dare head back to the courtyard; terrified of running into more of the vicious creatures that had caused this whole mess in the first place.

Soon enough we reached the main entrance. The two large doors were lying on the stone ground, scratch marks and blood smeared on their surfaces.

My heart stopped; those things managed to escape.

With a sigh I continued onwards, leaving the silent castle grounds before walking along the stone pathway that led to the city of Canterlot.

As I drew closer to the city I noticed smoke rising into the air, along with a mixture of a burning smell, and the rotten stench that haunted the castle’s halls.

"This could be bad; if they managed to get into Canterlot then who knows what kind of havoc they could do," I muttered, frowning as I sped up a little.

"Alright Spike, we’re going to go through the city and head to the train station and see if the train’s still there… hopefully it’s being used for evacuating other ponies." I said, giving a hopeful smile.

Once I was inside the city I slowed down, my eyes going wide as I looked around.

Homes were silent and seemingly empty—windows smashed and doors ajar—while shops looked like they were looted and picked clean.

As we ventured onwards past emptied shops and abandoned homes I became aware of something moving within one of the houses off to my left.

I spun to face it, horn glowing as I watched the dark doorway, fear taking my body as I waited for what might lurch out.

My fear quickly turned to terror as I saw what shambled out of the darkened doorway.

It was one of the creatures, tall and wiry, clothing hanging off its frame while blood stained its cracked lips.

The beast took a glance at me and gave a groan, stumbling forwards with its arms outstretched and hands grasping at thin air, its jaws snapping like a hungry dog as it stared at us.

I wasted no time in firing off a spell, a rather basic yet effective lightning spell that I'd learnt while studying defensive and offensive magic.

The lightning bolt struck the creature’s head with a loud clack, causing it to twitch and shiver before it fell to the ground with a thud, going still.

It was strange, watching the being lie still upon the ground… I had taken a life. I, Twilight Sparkle, the star student of Celestia had just killed another being. It took a while for the reality of what I’d done to sink in, but I was quickly brought back to my senses as I heard more groans and scuffling from nearby buildings; more creatures had begun leaving their hiding spots. But they weren't alone. The soft thud of hooves accompanied the appearance of battered stallions and mares who looked more like sick animals than ponies.

And they all had their sights on me and Spike.

I did the wise thing and bolted, not keen on fighting a horde of nightmares as I rushed through the city, avoiding more creatures and ponies who were wandering the streets.

Soon enough I had reached the train station, which unlike the rest of the now noisy town seemed deserted, save for a few dead bodies that were scattered around. I quickly rushed out onto the main platform, eager to leave the city of nightmares before I came to a stop, my eyes going wide.

The train was gone, the one hope of a quick escape was missing, and a horde of hungry, flesh eating monsters was slowly lurching after us.

"A-Alright Spike, hold on tight, looks like we’re hoofing it!" I yelled, jumping off the platform and onto the tracks before I began to run along them.

The creatures that were following us seemed to walk off the platform and fall onto the tracks in heaps. After a moment of struggling, and climbing over each other, they got up and began to give chase, snarling and moaning.

Luckily they were slow and clumsy, giving me the edge I needed to outrun the creatures as I barreled down the empty tracks, Spike holding onto me as I ran.

"D-Don't you worry Spike, we'll be home soon… we'll be safe…," I said, hearing him give a soft mumble in response.

I ran along the tracks that spiraled down the mountain, only stopping to catch my breath or rest, never staying still too long in fear that the monsters would catch up to us.

Soon we were at the bottom of the mountain, the sun having begun to set behind the horizon.

Wait! The sun was setting! That meant that Celestia had escaped the castle. That was good news, it meant my teacher was still alive, and that there was hope that we'd meet again, hopefully somewhere safe.

With a new sense of hope I continued to trot along the tracks towards the distant town of Ponyville, smiling; with luck my friends were alright, Tartarus, perhaps those monsters had not reached the town!

At least… I hoped they were alright.

Author's Note:

Hello! I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get out but I had some issues with my computer....but it's here now and I hope you all enjoy it!

Special thanks to: http://www.fimfiction.net/user/ersmiller for editing this chapter to make it readable!

Comments

[Pony Knight]

All aboard the Zombie train -starts laughing, notices no one laughing- ok it was a shit joke I get it