Rot
They were out there, you know. Out there right now. You could hear their hooves scraping and chipping away at the door, desperate. Hooves that long since chipped away to the very marrow. Chipped away and sometimes gone all together. They didn't care. They only cared about one thing.
Once upon a time ah knew them. Well, some of them. I knew them in the marketplace buying my family’s apples or perhaps from one of the ever common parties in Ponyville. What I wouldn’t give to attend just one more of Pinkie Pie’s infamously spontaneous parties right now. I could only imagine what she would call it under the circumstances. I chuckle a little. I don’t mean to and yet I do. It rattles in my dry throat, crying out louder than I thought. The hooves at the door become more frantic and the banging intensifies.
This is it, this is the end.
I see splinters form in the wood. A off color hoof, perhaps once it was the bright yellow of the sun, breaks through, searching aimlessly. This time I laugh with purpose. I’m far from the door. Until they break that door down they won’t get me. Won’t be long now, I suppose.
I reach to my left. Once upon a time- what a ridiculous phrase I must say, something truly meant for hopeful tales told to little fillies- I had a whole mountain of apples here. Now all that remained was the withered shadow of an apple that, heh, once upon a time, would’ve have gone straight to the trash. Now it looks like a feast to me. How long has it been since I last ate?
The sun, if it raise anymore, has been obstructed for so long by the Everfree's clouds… I truly don’t know how long it has been.
What a fitting last meal I think, an apple rotten to the core. Just like all of Equestria is now. I peer at it, I’ve passed through the worst of the hunger, as such the item in front of me truly does seem like a curiosity. Its shriveled and brown speckled hide is squishy in my hoof and feels like the inside has all the texture of apple sauce.
I sigh, thinking back for the last time how this all went so very wrong.
~ ~ ~
It had all started out on a normal enough day. There was certainly no forthcoming signs of the coming, as Twilight once would have said, apocalypse. There was a slight bit a rain, just a thin drizzle really, early in the morning but before long Celestia’s sun broke up the grey storm clouds and was soon shining just as bright as ever without a cloud to block the view. And for the family it was certainly a normal day. Granny set herself up out of the front porch, that rickety chair of her's squawking every time she would lean back. She had a pile of yarn on one side I remember, the vibrant red so similar to sweet Apple Bloom’s bow. Already a long river of the stuff was knitted on her other side. Big Mac looked after her that day, while I went down to the marketplace. We had just finished up the last of the fall harvest and had quite the cartful of apples to sell. Apple Bloom happily skipped along with me on the way. Oh, I took for granted back then how she was. Always scolding her for going on too far ahead. How could I have known what would happen though. No one saw it coming, not Twilight, not Pinkie Pie, not even the Princesses, as knowledgeable as they were.
How different this all would’ve been had somepony, anypony had any sort of foreknowledge. As it was...it was probably the worst day this could happen. The marketplace, when we got there that day, was packed to the brim. And I mean to the brim. I don’t remember the last time it was this crowded. And that is truly what doomed us all.
Apple Bloom didn’t stay long by my side, having plans of her own just as much as I did. She went off with Sweetie Belle and that orange pegasus Scootaloo. It didn’t seem important at the time, but I did notice that Sweetie Belle had a slight cough that rattle at the back of her throat. They were off before I could say a thing they were already racing off, just a cloud of dust in their wake. Who knows, maybe that cough was important. Maybe it had something to do with all of...this
The day seemed uneventful despite the unusual amount of business. It was not until the evening that I noticed something that struck me unusual. More unusual than the amount of business that is. There was a shift in the crowd though late in the evening. I was packing up at that point so at first I didn’t notice as it happened. I at first ignored the screams, after all they came forth from the local terror mongers; Lily, Roseluck and Daisy. They cry wolf too often to look up, ya know.
But the screams, they didn’t stop. Not as they should at least. The screams did die out, yes. But that was as the ponies themselves died as I later learned. But at the time I did not know that. It was like the waves by the ocean side. As one wave died down, five more replaced it. and the moaning...It was covered up by the screams for the most part but you could hear it each time a scream died out. I suppose come to think of it that the moaning was getting louder with every pony screamed their last.
But as it was I could only hear what was going on. The terror to come was yet hidden to my searching eyes. More to the point the pony I was searching for was not in sight. Apple Bloom. Hide nor hair of her yellow flank could not be seen and trust me I looked. Losing Apple Bloom that day was a pain that pangs me even days, neigh weeks later. I am ashamed that I didn't stay and look longer.
~ ~ ~
The hole in the door is wider now and through it squirms a form. Its clouded eyes watch me, judging me. But yet I am still safe.
~ ~ ~
Rainbow Dash pulled me away from it all. She meant well, I know she did. But a small part of me blames her for the loss of my Bloom. But that, I guess, doesn't have to do with what happened that day. After Dash grabbed my hoof things were a bit of a blur. But one thing stands out in my mind and though it is being cut off short it will stick in my mind for the rest of my life.
My first encounter with Them. The zombies.
I twisted backwards trying to get a look. Something grasped onto my hooves with hooves of their own. At first I think its just a pony, desperate for help. But something wasn't right. Ponies don't gnash their teeth, ponies don't moan that way, and the eyes...Frosted over like the lost lakes of the Crystal Empire. I don't know what came over me at the sight of those eyes but with my ungrasped hoof I kick out swiftly. The thing's skull...its like a watermelon under my hooves. It splits clean it half at my powerful kick.
I feel sick. I just killed a foal, one of Apple Bloom's classmates. Rainbow Dash is tugging at me now, I think she's yelling something too. I can't even remember the name of the filly I just killed.
Smack.
I look to Rainbow Dash, anger in my eyes, "Ya hit me!"
"We have to go! Now!" Dash is waving a hoof, pointing over my back, "There's more of those things coming, if we don't move now..."
Dash trails off. I know what she means though and I'm afraid of it being the truth. I give one last look at where the grey filly lays. I see her mane has fallen to one side revealing a horn and now I remember the small one's name. Dinky. She was the mail mare's daughter, I believe. I notice something odd. Well, odder that is. A normal body, they'd have a puddle of blood around them with that sorta wound. I'd probably be standing in it. But Dinky...the only blood I can see is dark and clumpy, massed against shrunken brain tissue. It looks like blood does after its been left out a while. What is going on here...
"Are we just gonna leave her? She deserves better, ya know. She's just a lil' fil-" Dash places a hoof over my mouth and for once Dash lets her eyes do the talking rather than her mouth doing the boasting.
We both turn.There is still the oncoming herd, stampeding through the once cheerful streets. But some of them have stopped now, forming odd clusters around stalls or next to houses. Something sickens inside of me as I noticed similarities between this deranged horde and the peaceful market place that once graced Equestria.
"What happened here..." I murmur.