Equestria; UNDEAD

by runningtoastgirl77

Chapter Twenty Four: It Was Alive

"SHIT!"

The sound of the Chalk Diamond yelling greeted me the fallowing morning. "What happened?" I said, getting up off of the bedroll left behind by the previous residence.

"What happened? WHAT HAPPENED?! The cart is gone!" She ran outside, revealing the great autumn-stricken outdoors... and no cart. "They must've grabbed it last night?"

"Who?" Jacks said with a yawn. "What's it?"

"Here, take a look yourself!" Chalk Diamond stepped aside, letting him take a better look.

"Dang!" he yelled, glaring.

We all eventually went outside, lamenting our stolen cart. It enraged me, but not because this now meant we HAD to walk, though that most certainly didn't help, but because that meant we had to wait all the longer to get to Ponyville. "So, I'm guessing none of us have a map?"

"We won't need a map, we have a road." Tea Rose said. "Roads are for fallowing. WE'll get somewhere if we fallow it."

"You crazy?" I said, going wide eyed. "The fastest way to the nearest city is..."

"Through the Everfree, right? What's the problem?" Tea Rose tilted her head.

I waved my hooves wildly. "Do you know how crazy that place is?!"

"Eh, I'm willing to risk it. Who knows, there might be some village in there we could stay in for a while." She smirked. "Come on, let's get our stuff and be on our... huh? Pepper? What was with that face."

Pepper jumped back. "Er... there should be a place not to far from here..." she glanced away.

"Oh, you know the way?"

"Yes... but!"

"Well, that's our best bet then, you lead the way..."

Pepper Belle sunk. "If you say so."

Half curious about Pepper, I decided to set it aside and go back inside to get my bag and stick.

"Are you sure there is a town this way?" Morning had skittered into near midday, and the 'town'. Leaves of colorful, crisp hues crunched beneath my hooves, and I glared at the trees upon trees circling above. and beyond the path. Pepper lead our group this time through the wilderness, who glared behind her to Tea Rose's consistent complaining. She stopped, and told us to stay where we were while she flew up to check the treetops.

I was near the vary back of the group, and cautiously glanced among the trees. Suddenly, I heard a very quiet crunch in the bush in front of me. I jumped back, yet no one else seemed to notice, bickering just ahead of me. I got my branch ready in my mouth. 'hit them in the head...' I thought, repeating the mantra in my mind. A rotting hoof reached out of the bushes.

Once the pony's head stuck out, I felt like vomiting, it's soft rotting flesh struggling to cling to the long- dead pony. It looked like a unicorn, but with a chipped, broken horn, bits of mane thinning out. to just a few long hairs. Behind them was half of what was a body, dragging the pony's intestines and other organs out behind it. I guess it was true: they were alive through magic. Surprisingly, though, it still had a jaw and tongue, though barely hanging on and dried, it groaned, as if to say something.

I found myself hesitate as I prepared to swing the stick at it. It was alive, right? Could it... feel pain? I backed up more. "He..." said the zombie, in a barely audible gargle. "Hel...p... m..." I jumped in surprise and instinctively smashed the heave branch down into the zombie's soft skull, needless to say despite my poor skills, it never moved again.

I dropped my stick, mouth open, staring at the creature before me.

"Oh my goodness, Autumn!" Tea Rose Trotted over to me, somepony finally noticing my absence. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"Wow, nice hit, girl!" Chalk Diamond actually smiled at me, giving a coy look. "Nice!"

I stared at it in silence. "I..."

"I didn't think you had it in you!" Jacks smiled. "Sure, not the best work I'd say, but in time..."

"I... I just killed this pony..." I frowned in horror as realization truly soaked in.

Rose frowned, and put her hoof on my shoulder. "Hey, you needed to, it could have..."

"It could barely move, I didn't need to kill them!" I yelled, backing out of her reach.

"You did that zombie a favor, looked like it crawled strait outa' tartarus!" Jacks said, trying to offer some sympathy. "Sides', not like they can think, they're just monsters now!"

"It spoke to me! It was in pain!" I yelled back.

"Autumn..." Rose frowned.

"Must've just sounded like it, their just grumbles. Nothing more." Diamond assured, trying to make me feel a little better. She wasn't helping.

"It..." I felt tears roll down my face, and I slid onto the ground. "It was... alive..."

Tea Rose sat next to me. "Even if they are... even if they are in pain, that's even more reason to put them out of it." I caught her look at the dead zombie in front of us. "I know how hard it is, we all do. But... this is just the way it is now."

I fallowed her gaze at the corpse. 'Just the way it is now,' I thought.

Pepper flew down, smiling, obviously not observing the current scene. "Hey, Guess what I fou-" She stopped when she saw me crying and the corpse in front of us. "Well... let's go..."

Comments

[NewKerbalEmpire]

... Ooookay, that happened.

[runningtoastgirl77]

7317136 ye mean in a good way or a bad way 0-0

[NewKerbalEmpire]

7317197 If I had to say, I would say in an unexpected way.