My Little Pony: Friendship is Survival

[Wardaddy 470]

(My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the intellectual property of Hasbro, Inc and Lauren Faust. I make no claims of ownership. This is a not-for-profit fan fiction.)

 

 

Chapter 1-Coming to terms

 

(For added effect, play this video while you read the fanfic)

 

It was a dark, murky day in Ponyville, with barely a soul out on the streets, or rather a living soul. The town was currently in the aftermath stage of a panic attack; every street was tarnished with debris, corpses and blood. Some few houses were still smouldering. Smoke slowly billowed into the sky from what remained of a few buildings in the town. Most of Ponyville's most notable locations had been heavily boarded up and fortified. These included Town Hall, in which Mayor Mare, Bon-Bon, Lyra and a few other ponies were hiding, Sugarcube Corner, in which the Cakes, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had holed up in, Sweet Apple Acres, which housed Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom, as well as the majority of ponies who had managed to escape Ponyville and the Ponyville Library, which Twilight, Spike and Owlowiscious had hidden in. Fluttershy had also boarded up her home nearby the Everfree Forest, despite being the most at risk of the Mane 6. Rainbow Dash was in Cloudsdale at the time. Just like the rest of the pegasi, she was aware of the infection below. As was typical of Rainbow, she wanted to help the ponies below, however all of Cloudsdale had received strict orders from Princess Celestia not to go down to the surface unless survivors had been detected. Speaking of which, it wouldn't be long before that happened.

 

In the Ponyville Library, Twilight was going about her rounds (which she had put in place due to recent events). With the aid of Spike and Owlowiscious, she had gone through how much provisions she had remaining, as well as the condition of the boards she had nailed to her windows. At the present moment, she was going through her water supply. "Ok, waters looking good so far. Tick water off Spike, and that's today's checkup complete". "Consider it done Twilight!" Spike replied happily, checking off the water supply on Twilight's checklist. "Ok Spike, I'll be heading upstairs. There's some more books I need to study. Remember now, don't look out the windows, ok?" Understanding the firm words intertwining with Twilight's firm tone of voice, Spike nodded. And so, Twilight headed upstairs.

 

Once Twilight reached the upper floor, she used her magic to levitate a book named "Diseases and Infections-An analysis by Prophetic Bastion", before proceeding to her balcony, which had been boarded up, to read it. She went to the contents page first, looking through the "Viruses" index until she came across the pandemic that had taken Equestria by storm, "Rage". At once, she flipped through the pages until she came across the page dedicated to the Rage virus, and proceeded to read it. "The Rage virus is a deadly virus that is contained within an exclusive plant found only in the Everfree Forest, and can gain access to an individual's bloodstream and saliva if exposed. Upon infection, the victim turns wild with feral fury and murderous anger. Symptoms of infection include dehydrated gasping, flailing of arms, stamping of feet, blood visible in the eyes and the sufferer will continue to advance upon his target until it is cornered or until he gets a grip on the victim, before wrestling it to the ground and proceeding to brutally kick, stamp and bite the victim in several places on its body until it either dies or ends up ingesting the blood from the sufferer, infecting it as well. Occasionally, the sufferer will also vomit blood, as if parts of the brain's cognitive functions are still alive and are working to eject the virus from the sufferer's body. If ever one should witness an individual being infected, they will have between ten to twenty seconds to put them down. It does not matter who becomes infected; a loved one, a close friend or even a family member, upon infection the victim must be killed. If the infected is not put down, then the whole of ponydom is at stake. Whoever is reading this, take that last bit of advice into great heed. If ever this virus should break out, the situation may come where you become the last of your species.............still alive". Those last words shook Twilight to her very core. And yet, she could've stopped it right there at Canterlot, if only she did not panic and flee the scene on a dime. Oh yes, she remembers that scene very well, very well indeed.................

Edited May 7, 2013 by Firebolt Blitz

[Wardaddy 470]

Chapter 2-Outbreak

 

It was a normal day for both Equestria and Twilight Sparkle, whom was up on her balcony, looking at one of her many books, when who should come up but Spike, carrying a scroll from Princess Celestia he had recently burped up earlier. "Here Twilight, its from the princess". "The princess?" Asked Twilight curiously. "She wouldn't normally write to me in advance. What do you think Spike?" "Beats me Twilight" Answered Spike, bemused. "If the princess wrote in advance, it must be important". Twilight looked thoughtfully upon the scroll, before opening it to read Princess Celestia's latest message. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, this message is an urgent invitation to Canterlot. There is a matter at hand which I need you to see. Get here as soon as you can, and do not delay. This is very important. Signed, Princess Celestia". Twilight looked up from the letter, surprised. It seemed true enough that this was such an important matter as it got the princess to write to her first. Anyway, Twilight didn't ponder for long. She had received an urgent invitation from Celestia, and therefore she had to get moving immediately. "Spike! I have to go to Canterlot. The princess has invited me there on important business. Can I trust you to watch the library while I'm gone?" "Sure thing Twilight! I'll keep an eye on both the library and Owlowiscious if needs be!". Rolling her eyes not in exasperation, but in finding humour in Spike's enthusiasm, Twilight passed the same message to her pet owl, who responded with a simple "hoo"; Owlowiscious understood his orders perfectly: watch over the library and keep Spike out of trouble. With that, Twilight made haste for the train to Canterlot.

 

Moments later, Twilight arrived at Canterlot, one sight making her produce a smile, the other puzzling and worrying her at the same time. Under Celestia's glorious sun that bathed Canterlot in a warm, bright blanket of natural light, the station was under close guard by mixed elements of Celestia's and Luna's royal guard. Twilight could really sense it now; something not right had gripped Canterlot, to the unawareness of the general public. As Twilight made her way to the castle, she took a moment to observe her surroundings. Among the crowds of upper-class ponies native to Canterlot, patrols comprised of royal guards from both princesses marched left to right, scouring the city for signs of danger. Also among the populace of the city were solar and lunar officers, sharing words and information with each other among the general banter and the odd laugh. Suddenly, there was the sharp "[racism 3]" sound of swords being drawn as a pair of bright white wings cut across the lavender unicorn, stopping her dead in her tracks. In front of Twilight stood two of Celestia's royal guards, one of them piercing Twilight's surprised (and mildly frightened) eyes with his own sharp stare. "Ms Twilight Sparkle?" Asked the guard on the left. "Um, yes, that's me!". Replied Twilight hastily. "Follow us please. The princess has you in her list of Equestria's best minds. Therefore, there is something important that she wants you to see". Twilight was quick to enquire. "Did she specify what it was that she wanted me to see?". "Sorry ma'am". Replied the guard on the right. "That specific information cannot be shared out in public. Follow us and you'll see". Twilight drew back her head and proceeded, following the guards to the castle.

 

 

 

 

Moments later, having just made their way through the long hallways and spiralling staircases of Canterlot Castle, the guards and Twilight eventually arrived in the dungeon, where a whole crowd of ponies ranging from unicorns to Earth ponies and pegasi had gathered, the odd griffon and a number of other sapient species interspersed among them; the finest minds of Equestria had gathered in the dungeon to witness whatever Celestia had instore for them. Twilight could only wonder what was so urgent that the princess wanted her and all of Equestria's finest minds to see, thankfully she didn't have to wait long as a loud voice boomed across the room. "Make way! We are releasing the prisoners! Form a perimeter across the crowd!". Groups of heavily armed and armoured royal guards entered the dungeon, joined by the regular guards who began separating the group in two halves. The heavily armoured guards opened three cells; from within them Twilight could make out snarling, growling and rasping, but then there was the clang of something hard and iron against skin and bone. Having subdued the infected prisoners, the guards had them shackled and slowly marched them out, intent on bringing them to the research labs deep within the castle while avoiding any casualties. However, despite being subdued to the point where they could not snap their jaws at the group (yet), the infected were still snarling and growling, whipping their heads in every direction as they worked to regain strength. Suddenly, then came the beginning of Armageddon; in a surprise attack one of the infected latched onto the spread wing of a regular royal guard, whom in his steadfastness left himself no time to react. In his shock, the guard remained paralysed in fear as a pony cried out "Oh my Celestia! He's been bitten!" Shocked and alarmed, the guards turned to face the bitten guard who was now on the ground, screaming and writhing in agony. Twilight couldn't see much, however she was riveted to the ground with fear as the sounds were clear as day to her ears. Just as the guards reached their comrade in pain, everything suddenly stopped. Almost in the blink of an eye, the newly infected guard snapped his head to one side, and viciously lunged at one of the ponies, wrestling her to the ground before viciously biting and mauling her to death. Pandemonium broke out as the multitude of ponies and griffons in the dungeon scrambled to escape, Twilight among them. In the chaos, a number of mis-hits from the guard's weapons broke the chains holding down the other three infected, setting them loose upon the group. As Twilight was escaping, she saw one infected pony, a male burgundy Earth pony with stones and a mallet for his cutie mark, stalk down a griffon, before latching onto it and wrestling it to the ground. Despite the griffon's screams of "No!" and "Please!", the infected paid no heed to them, carrying on his malicious deed by viciously digging his teeth into the creature's neck, causing it to scream in horrific, merciless pain. Twilight next heard the crunching of bones as the pony proceeded to stamp and kick the griffon every where it could, all the while it tore its head into her abdomen. Finally, a gut wrenching, loud crunch signified that the pony had stamped on the griffon's side, using the strength in its hoof to tear right through her midsection into her spine, killing her instantly. Gripped with fear, the thought to escape pinged in Twilight's mind as for a brief moment, she was riveted to the ground in disgust at the infected pony's actions. Twilight began galloping for her life as the royal guards pushed through the crowds in a desperate attempt to contain the infected. For Twilight, only one thing mattered now, and that was to get the hay out of Canterlot. 

 

Meanwhile, Shining Armor was quite aware of the fact that the Rage virus had broken out of containment, and immediately ordered all royal guards to block off Celestia's and Luna's bedchambers until the infected had entirely filtered out of the castle. However this meant evacuating the populace of Canterlot out of the city while locking down the other provinces and towns, protecting whoever manages to beat the infected to them, providing rabbits for the infected to chase. In the meantime, the guards had to cordon off the upper floors of the castle using any means necessary, even themselves as the situation saw fit. Before Shining quarantined the rest of Equestria, he sent runners to alert the princesses of the situation, pleading to them to alert the population of Equestria in advance. Eventually, the first runner reached Celestia's bedchamber. He knocked, and entered. "Your Highness, the Rage virus has broken loose. Therefore we beg to you to invoke the message protocol on the advice of Captain Armor". "Is this true? The virus is loose in Equestria?" Asked Celestia, in need of assurance. "Yes your Highness. We are currently initiating lockdown procedures in the castle, but we need you and Luna to alert Equestria immediately". Celestia took a moment to process her thoughts, the expression on her face showed dire concern; she had invited Twilight to the castle to partake in the research of the infected and now she was caught up in this mess........as bad as things could get for the princess, she had to take command of the situation before it was lost forever. "Very well, it will be done. And runner, please alert Captain Armor that his sister, Twilight Sparkle, is in the castle and needs to be evacuated immediately". "Yes your Highness". Responded the runner quickly. At once, he left to join the other runner on the way back to Shining Armor's command quarters.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Twilight had managed to escape the castle amidst a horde of screaming, fleeing ponies. Little did she, or even they realize that among the group that managed to get out were four infected ponies, lunging at the others or even vomiting on them, infecting them as well. Twilight didn't care; she just ran for dear life, until suddenly an infected caught her rear left hoof, hauling her down in a heap. Twilight quickly rolled onto her back, her eyes meeting with the scarlet, bloody red of the infected pegasus's own eyes. It was a female vermilion Pegasus with a grey cloud spewing dark purple lightning as her cutie mark, and the very thing about it that made Twilight tremble was that she was staring at a pony that was no longer a pony.....it was now a maniacal, enraged, murderous monster hell-bent on making Twilight feel the worst pain imaginable. Twilight attempted to blast the Pegasus off using her magic, however the pony showed some form of awareness, and jabbed a hoof into the corner of Twilight's head with some impact, leaving a small bleeding gash below her right ear. Almost instantly, the Pegasus's breathing intensified; it was about to give Twilight the mauling of her life. Twilight instantly closed her eyes, knowing what was coming. Just as the pony raised a hoof adorned with muscular power beyond belief, suddenly Twilight opened her eyes as her ears were met with a grappling of hooves, and a sudden shriek from the infected Pegasus. It was Shining Armor, and he had his hooves firmly gripped on the Pegasus's wings. Immediately, he pulled with all his strength, chucking the Pegasus into the castle moat. "Shining Armor? Oh Celestia am I glad to see you!". Cried Twilight in delight. "No time for talking Twiley, we gotta go now!" Ordered Shining, who helped Twilight back onto her hooves and galloped with her towards Ponyville. Suddenly, Shining heard snarling behind him, and turned his head to see three infected ponies, two earth ponies coloured green and gold and a lunar royal guard unicorn chasing after them. Shining was quick to use his magic to take out the royal guard unicorn and golden earth pony, however he was having trouble hitting the green pony, and so he drew his sword from its sheath, before quickly turning around to attack the pony. In a single fell swoop, Shining chopped off one of the pony's front hooves. He then slashed at the pony's flank (which bore several bite marks) and used the handle to whack the pony in its forehead, temporarily incapacitating it. Finally, he beheaded the poor thing, putting it out of its misery. Shining then turned to Twilight: "Go Twilight! I'll catch up!". "What about you Shining?!" Cried out Twilight, worried. "Don't worry about me!!!!! Just get to Ponyville!!!! I'll be there as soon as I can!" Ordered Shining, who quickly engaged a solar royal guard, killing him with three strokes of his sword through the armoured midsection. Twilight still showed a solid expression of concern, still she had her orders, and made fast towards Ponyville. Meanwhile, despite Shining's best efforts to hold them back, significant numbers of infected broke past him and pursued Twilight. When and where she was going and how long she'd be running for was of no concern to them; they were only interested in her blood. With a cacophony of screaming, pained wails, roaring, growling and snarling behind her, Twilight galloped with all her might, the eternal city of Canterlot burning to the ground in her wake.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Firebolt Blitz

[Wardaddy 470]

Chapter 3-The Rage spreads

 

It felt like hours since Twilight had escaped from Canterlot. Night had fallen, and thankfully enough the lavender unicorn had managed to escape the horde of infected ponies that were hot on her tail. However, Twilight now faced a new problem. She didn't know how far Ponyville was from her location, and deep down inside she was terrified that the infection was now spreading across the entire length and breadth of land that made up Equestria. She knew what this meant: further study in the Diseases and Infections book revealed that those who had been infected would gain a boost to their endurance and mobility, enabling them to move quickly across long distances. If they had to chase a target, they would not stop until it was cornered or had lost the ability to continue running. Knowing this, Twilight was afraid the infected could be anywhere. They could've been coming at her from behind at this very moment, they could've been hiding in the foliage surrounding her and she never even realized it.  Or they could've even reached the outskirts of Ponyville by now.........the last thought forced a shiver throughout Twilight's body as she now realized that all of Ponyville, including her friends who lived there, were in terrible danger. Knowing that she had to warn them, Twilight galloped towards Ponyville, using up every last ounce of strength in her legs.

 

Meanwhile, Canterlot was in ruins. Having been cornered by the masses of infected ponies, Shining Armor and the remainder of his royal guard now faced a fight to the death. "Watch yourselves boys! Show these devils no mercy!" Ordered Shining, who quickly slew two unicorns who attempted to catch him off guard. Almost instantly, the closest infected to the guards began lashing out at them, trying to get a grip on a spear or hoof. No such luck however; the guard's were quick to obey their instincts and dodged every lunge. However, there was chaos when one guard tried poking back an infected with his spear, however the multitude latched onto the spear, and pulled him in with superpony strength, devouring him the moment they pulled him into the crowd. Almost as if triggered by assurance of victory, the infected began lashing out at Shining Armor and the other guards, killing all but the former. Shining managed to kill off four more infected, but it did no good. As the group began reaching out to latch their hooves onto Shining, he bellowed out his last words "You may have beaten me, but you will never infect the rest of Equestria.............!" At those last dying words, Shining met his doom as the horde proceeded to bite, kick and stamp him all over. With every thud of a kick, or every crunch of a bone, slowly but surely Shining went from being a brave hero to a bleeding, broken wreck, before finally becoming a desecrated corpse. As the horde began running for the hills, Shining began to slowly rise to his hooves, his body covered in blood, bite marks and disjointed in certain places. The stallion that was once Twilight's brother and Captain of the Guard was no more, as only a scarlet, bloodstained glare of anger poisoned his eyes. With a few quiet grunts and snarls, and finally a hoarse screech into the sky, the unicorn that was Shining Armor took off in the direction of Dodge City. Of course, this would not be the end of the inevitable rampage of the Rage virus. The destruction of Equestria had only just begun.

[Wardaddy 470]

Chapter 4-Unending Nightmare

 

The events that followed the virus outbreak became hell for all of Equestria, even the princesses themselves. Each time Celestia and Luna slept, they were presented with horrible visions of the infected overwhelming every province across the land. Their every nightmare contained visions of individual or numerous ponies among other species in every province being overrun by the endless hordes of infected. One of the visions even showed the infected Shining Armor ruthlessly stamping on a blue unicorn's head. Even the crunching of the bone could be heard, which made the sleeping Princess Luna cringe with every crunch. The vision then cut to the point of view of the victim's eye, which was bleeding and looking up to Shining, who was staring down with his teeth clenched, his head covered in blood and his eyes producing a bloody stare of pure, relentless rage down at the unicorn. Then suddenly, Shining reared up, his front hooves kicking out like mad, before stopping dead and coming straight down on the unicorn, which made Luna wake up. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!" screamed Luna in terror. Her adrenaline had her looking rapidly left to right, and breathing super hard. Eventually, she calmed down just as a pair of lunar royal guard burst into the room. "Freeze!" Roared out one guard, as his partner rapidly moved across to the bed to protect Luna from the intruder. "Calm down sir guard!" Shouted Luna. "There's no one here! I was having a nightmare!". "Oh! Sorry your Highness". Replied the first guard. "Is there anything we can do?". "Yes, there is something." Answered Luna. "I wish to see my sister". "Very well your highness". Replied the guard, who motioned to his partner to accompany him to summon Princess Celestia. The door closed, leaving Luna to ponder her thoughts. "This is awful, truly awful." Thought Luna to herself. "How quickly all this happened...it's almost surreal.". After a few moments of waiting, there was a knock on the door, and Luna recomposed herself. "Luna? It's me." Said Celestia from behind the door. "Yes sister, do come in" Answered Luna, relieved to hear the voice of her sister. At once, Celestia entered, the bright cream colour of her coat and her general presence bringing warmth and radiance to the bedchamber, helping Luna to settle down even more. "Is something troubling you little sister?" Asked Celestia. "Yes sister. It's these visions that come to me in my every sleep. Night by night they grow worse and worse as I see more and more ponies suffer and die....it's tearing me apart sister. All our subjects are now in the most dreadful kind of danger to have ever befallen Equestria, and that includes the six ponies we know and love". Luna began to break down into tears. It was clear to Celestia that this disaster was affecting Luna deeply, and in all honesty it was horrifying her as well. She extended a wing over Luna, bringing them close together in an attempt to console her. "I know Luna, I know. It's affecting me as well". Celestia snuggled herself as close as she could to her sister, holding her close as the two of them were now being forced to weather a storm that would surely kill them all.

 

Meanwhile, all was still dark. Twilight had been galloping for hours on end, and at this point her stamina had been severely worn down. Breathing heavily, the lavender unicorn began slowing down, before finally collapsing to the ground, the strength to even stand up drained from her hooves. As her vision and hearing slowly became little more than a blur, Twilight began to fade into unconsciousness just as a group of shadows gathered in front of her, their voices barely audible as they reached out to her. "This is it". Twilight thought to herself before blacking out. "I'm done for. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, everypony.......I'm sorry......."

Edited June 2, 2013 by Firebolt Blitz

[Wardaddy 470]

(Author's notice: I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read my ponyfic, however criticism has been little to none, and although that would seem like good news I'm not going to cave in so soon. If you have anything to say about my ponyfic, feel free to PM me)

 

Chapter 5-Shock and Horror

The world was black. Not as black as Luna's night, but seemingly blacker than the latter at the same time. Then, Twilight's eyes fluttered open, the bright natural light stinging her eyes for a short period. As Twilight got accustomed to the light, she was quick to notice that there was nopony at her bedside. In fact, the place was a mess. Slowly but surely, Twilight clambered out of bed. Carefully and quietly she crept up to the door of her room, before slowly opening it until the smallest gap of space between the arch and the door opened up. Twilight took a moment to peek through the gap, checking for any signs of life. All she got was the same mess that her eyes were met with in her room. However, the only visible difference was that there was blood and gore spattered on the floor and the walls, lots of it as well. "Hello! Is anypony there?!" Called out Twilight. Nopony responded, leading her to make her way out of the hospital. As she entered the first hall, she used her magic to levitate a shard of broken wall tile as a weapon, before continuing on to the exit.

 

As Twilight made her way past the Accident and Emergency wards, there was a sudden shuffling of hooves from a source Twilight could not immediately pinpoint. The lavender unicorn froze in her tracks, poising herself to take out whatever had moved. "Is somepony there?!". Again, nopony answered, leaving Twilight to take the only obvious course of action: investigate the room the sound seemed to have come from. Cautiously, Twilight approached the room, her magic still levitating the broken shard of wall tile, ready to strike at any hostile. With a gentle push of her hoof, the door opened, and Twilight carefully peeked her head in the door. Nopony appeared to be inside, despite the fact the room was a mess, there was a large hole in the wall and the room next door could barely be looked at, due to the light flickering like mad. Slowly, Twilight entered the room, passing the blood spattered bedside curtain, which made Twilight grimace in disgust. She peeked her head past the curtain to meet perhaps the lest prettiest sight she had ever witnessed: the mutilated corpse of a brown coloured pegasus. It seemed whatever had killed him must have been wild and strong enough to tear apart flesh and bone, a trait similar to the infected. That's when it hit Twilight; she was now horrified to realise that while she was blacked out, the infected had overrun Ponyville. And all before she could even warn them. As Twilight languished in her shock and horror, the sudden clatter of medical tools snapped her back into consciousness. Frightened out of her mind, Twilight turned to face the room with the flickering light. Barely anything could be seen clearly in there, until a shadow suddenly flashed across the room. Twilight jumped and gasped in surprise: whatever was in there was giving her the fright of her life and it wouldn't be long before she found out who it was. "Hello?!" Twilight called out into the darkness and after a brief moment's dead silence, the light flickered on again to reveal a white earth pony, wearing a hat with a red cross on it. Before Twilight could make out who it was, the pony lunged at Twilight, slamming her to the floor. Her head took most of the impact and as a result her magic dissipated, leaving the tile shard to drop to the floor with a clatter. As her face was being rapidly breathed on, Twilight looked upwards to face her attacker. It was indeed a white earth pony, covered in blood, bearing bite marks on her neck, bones sticking out through the skin of her flank and midsection and the all too familiar red cross cap on her head. It was Nurse Redheart, and she too showed the bloodstained, red eyes that signified her infection. Twilight gasped, but was quick to recollect herself and levitated the shard into the air, throwing it directly at Redheart's forehead. The shard impaled the nurse pony directly between the eyes, forcing her off Twilight and driving her to throw herself around wildly, bucking in all directions, trying to get the shard out. Twilight then levitated a curtain stand (without its curtain) and sharpened the upper curls that decorated it; she was going to use the stand as a spear against Redheart, intending to kill her by impaling the stand through her midsection, cutting through whatever vital organs she could. Fortunately, she didn't have to, as Redheart slammed into a wall headfirst, driving the shard deeper into her head, cutting into her brain, which killed her instantly. Unfortunately, the impact drove the shard into the wall as well, which resulted in Redheart dying standing up. Twilight decided to do the honourable thing, and lay the dead nurse pony on her side, while trying to avoid ingesting her blood. Carefully, she used her improvised weapon as a crowbar to work the shard free, leaving the body to collapse to its knees before falling sideways to the floor. Keeping the curtain stand levitated, Twilight left the room and continued to find her way to the exit.

 

 

Meanwhile, the infected Shining Armor and his horde had finished feasting on the inhabitants of Dodge City. They were now moving rapidly westwards toward Appleloosa. Of course, the town had been alerted to the outbreak of the Rage virus, but now it was a matter of whether the ponies native to the town could survive the rampage of infected that was heading their way. Shining was now in worse shape than he was before he arrived at Dodge City. Despite having bitten 17 victims, those who tried to kill him had left him with several broken bones, open gashes (which were still bleeding quite freely) and a badly bruised and bloodied face. Still, the attacks did not faze him and he joined the other infected in the purging of Dodge City, before taking off for Appleloosa. However, this time Shining and the other infected would be in for a rougher ride than Dodge City, which they had caught largely unawares. Now that the citizens of Appleloosa were notified, they were more than ready to put up a steadfast resistance before meeting their doom.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Firebolt Blitz

[Wardaddy 470]

Chapter 6-It Followed Me Home

 

After a rough hour and a half of shoving, pushing and fighting her way through the mess that plagued the hospital, Twilight finally found the entrance and reception, which was in worse shape than the rest of the hospital. Things looked like a last stand had taken place here, as there were blockades fashioned from hospital beds strewn around, and all around them the place was littered with blood, gore, debris and the bodies of dead ponies from all species, including the bodies of the hospital security guards, which were slumped over the reception desk. Horrified, Twilight exited the building to take her first steps into the desolate remains of Ponyville. It looked like hell out there. There were corpses, blood and everything lying around, the obvious signs that the Rage virus had eaten Ponyville alive. "Hello?!" Cried out Twilight, asking for survivors. "Is anypony there?!" Twilight's question was answered with a sudden, but loud sound of hooves thundering towards her, crashing through everything in their path. Twilight looked to the source of the sound, and her eyes widened. A group of infected were hurtling towards her, prompting the lavender unicorn to gallop for her life. As she ran, Twilight remembered that Spike and Owlowiscious were still in the library, and so resolved to go there in the hopes he was still alive and well. However, the wolfpack of infected were still hot on her tail and so far, they couldn't be shaken. As Twilight passed Sugarcube Corner, there was a sudden bang, followed by the familiar sound of a party horn. Twilight looked behind her to see the infected caught up in a mesh of streamers. Suddenly, a voice rang out "Hurry Twilight! Get to the library!" With no time to think about who that voice belonged to, Twilight turned to gallop away again, until out of nowhere two infected pegasi lunged at her from both sides. Thinking quickly, Twilight teleported out, leaving the pegasi to collide with each other head-on. Both were initially dazed after the collision, however they managed to regroup, and with two hoarse screeches, they proceeded to tear into the cake shop. Again, the party cannon took aim, and fired, only this time it did not fire streamers. Instead, it fired a crudely made, but effective ammunition which could tear through an infected in one shot. With one blast, the infected pegasi were no more.

 

Meanwhile, Appleloosa was in flames. Ponies who had opted to flee were galloping for their lives, while those who chose to stay were fighting the infected, many of them dying in the process. Among them was Braeburn. He had just killed 3 of the infected, and was unfortunately forced to kill a female cowpony who had been bitten. All around him, buildings were burning to the ground, and the heat was growing unbearable. Still, things could get worse, and they did when Shining Armor stopped right in front of Braeburn. The latter recognized Shining as the Captain of the Solar Royal Guard, but what he failed to realize was who Shining was related to. Still, that was of little importance now as Shining charged at Braeburn, giving him the opportunity to side-step Shining, leaving the stallion to ram at thin air, before turning around and trying again. However, this time Braeburn would not take a chance, and drove a swinging kick with his hooves into Shining's skull. Suddenly, there was a crack, followed by a tearing of flesh as Braeburn's attack did not meet the expected result. Instead, Shining had taken Braeburn's hooves directly into his mouth, and started biting down hard. Braeburn groaned in pain, before trying to shake off the infected stallion. He succeeded, however he fell to the ground before he could recover. Almost instantly, 5 other infected ponies joined Shining to feast on Braeburn. This time, resistance was useless. Braeburn was a dead pony breathing, and he knew it. Solemnly, he resolved to accept his fate, allowing Shining and the other ponies to tear him apart. After a moment's wait, the slaughter began. Braeburn screamed as the infected bit, kicked and stamped him into oblivion. And then, it ended. With hoarse screeching and ravenous, blood-soaked gurgles, the horde moved off of Braeburn, turning to attack Appleloosa once again. As for Braeburn, his infected body began slowly but surely standing up, bones protruding in his front left hoof and through his midsection. Bite marks were visible along his body, his neck and on all four of his hooves. Like those before him, his scarlet, bloody eyes piercing the sky, Braeburn let out a hoarse screech, before moving to attack whoever had stayed behind.

 

Meanwhile, Twilight was just inches from the library. Three infected ponies were still hot on her trail, but fortunately enough she managed to think up a quick plan. Quickly, she managed to get inside, and slammed the door. The infected charged into it, damaging the door severely as well as knocking out the first infected. The second one, however, managed to break through, however Twilight floored him with her laser spell. The third infected lunged at Twilight, taking her down back-first. Again, Twilight found herself in the position where she would meet her doom. Staring deep into the infected earth pony's bloodstained, glowing eyes, the latter prepared to kill Twilight. Closing her eyes, Twilight braced herself, resolving to accept her fate, until a sudden stabbing sound filled the air. Twilight re-opened her eyes, the infected earth pony had frozen solid, before dropping to the ground. As the corpse fell away, Twilight was shocked to see Spike standing in front of her, holding a sharp, unidentified object in his hand. Twilight could see it on Spike's face; he was as distraught as she was, if not more. "Is this what the world has come to?" Said Spike solemnly, throwing down the object. Eventually, it became too much for the baby dragon, and he ran off, bawling. Twilight understood Spike's pain: this was the way the world would end.