From the ashes
By rivers ulmer

Applejack was eating lunch with twilight, they both had just finished carrying the last apples into the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. "Thanks again for helpin me out, those apples would 'a taken me all day to lug back." AJ told twilight.
"No problem. It's fun bucking apples." Twilight responded with a smile.
"You wouldnt be sayin that after harvesting all season." They both laughed and finish their hay sandwiches.
"I'll catch you tommorow applejack, it's almost 4, and i have to take a shower before spike takes one of his seven hour bubble baths."
"Alright partner, i gota go help out fluttershy with the bunny round up anyway." They both waved goodbye and walked in there seperate directions. After the fluttershy counted the baby bunnies, it was almost dark. AJ walked back to the farm, when she got there she yawned, tucked applebloom into bed, then went to sleep herself.

The next morning everything was darker than normal, but applejack didnt really notice. When she went down to the kitchen, nopony was down there, but maybe they were still asleep. She was about to make breakfast, but the pantry was empty, and when she walked outside, the town was empty. Something was seriously wrong.

Applebloom and Big Mac's beds were both empty and unmade, this was when applejack knew something was wrong, all three of them had been raised to make their beds first thing when they got up. Applejack knocked on twilights door, no answer. Fluttershy's door, no answer. When she got to rainbow dash's house, AJ kicked down the door and went in. She searched the house, nopony was home. She looked in every room for clues as to where everypony had gone. She got to dash's bedroom and saw the pictures on her nightstand, a picture of AJ and rainbow, both of them with shotguns fron when applejack tought her friend to shoot. There was another picture, there were six ponies, all in a group hug. It was applejack, rainbow dash, rarity, twilight, fluttershy, and pinkie pie on the day the defeated nightmare moon. Applejack grabbed the picture and walked outside.

There was a pony in the middle of the street, AJ was relieved to see somepony. She called out to the stallion. "Excuse me, do you know where everypony is, not a single soul is in town." The stallion turned around to face her. His mane was an ash gray, and his coat was lifeless and and bloody.
"Uuuugghhh." Said the stallion, walking twords applejack. 'What the?' AJ thought. Then all of the sudden, a bullet peirced his skull, blood went everywere.
"AHH!" Applejack screamed. She looked to the left to see another pony with an assault rifle.

"Are you crazy? Are you TRYING to get bitten?" The mare scowlding applejack had the same color coat and mane as rainbow dash, but a bit darker, she looked a few years older too.

"What in equestria are you talkin about?" Applejack responded.
"Wait, you mean, you dont have a clue what that thing was?" Her voice was just like Dash's too. The mare pointed a hoof at the dead pony.
"All i know is Ponyville is a ghost town, and you just murdered some random pony."
"Come with me."
"A random strager? I dont think so."
"Look, that pony was already dead, and i have a lot to explain." The older pony looked at applejack, she reminded her of an old friend, this new girl was the spitting image of her best friend, they were so alike it was offputing, but it was impossible, her best friend was killed a long time ago.

The darker and taller mare eventually convinced applejack to go meet her friends. They walked for about a mile to the edge of town, they arrived at small concrete shack with loosely boarded up windows. They went inside to find nine other survivors.
"Guys, i found a strageler. She doesnt have any idea about the outbreak." Said the mare that brought AJ to the hideout.

A mare in a wheelchair went up to applejack, she looked like twilight, but again a few years older. They all looked like applejak's friends that had aged a couple years. Spike, rarity, rainbow dash, pinkiepie, fluttershy, sweetie belle, and applebloom. All of them had blood stains on there coats, and guns strapped to their backs. But there was one pony that applejack didn't reconize, a stallion, about the same age as her, his coat was deep black, she had never seen anything that dark, it was as dark as his pupils. The pony had a blood red mane, again, she had never seen anything colored such a deep red. He had two pistols stapped to his hind legs, and a shotgun on his back. He was about the same age as applejack, possibly a little older, but not by more than a year.

"Hello? Anypony home?" The mare that looked like twilight asked.
"I sorry, what?" Applejack had been lost in thougt for a minute.
"You got a name?"
"Applejack."
The pony that resembled rainbow dash spoke up, "impossible."
"And how is that if i'm standin right here?"
"Because your dead."

"WHAT?!" Applejack was scared. "How am i dead, and why do yall look like my friends, where the hell am i?" She was hypervenelating.

Fluttershy's double approached the new-comer. "She's lying. This bitch is crazy."
"You might wana put a sock in it before you say something you regret girly." Applejack raised a hoof and was ready to fight.
"If you really are AJ, proove it." Applejack reached into the small bag attached to her hind leg and pulled out the picture of the six of them on the day they defeated nightmare moon. "No way, this is impossible, I watched you die."

Applejack explained how she woke up to an empty town, how she came from a Ponyville with no zombies, and they were all a few years younger. Then rainbow dash explained that in their world, the zombie outbreak happened three years ago, that their applejack died saving the others, and that if applejack wished to stay with the group she was more than welcome as long as she could shoot.

"If anypony can shoot, it's applejack. She tought me how a few years back." Rainbow told the others.

"And she knows how to survive outside of civilization. She kept the three of us alive in the mountains after somebody, cough, pinkie pie, cough, forgot the map." Rarity said
"Hey, it wasnt my job to bring the map." Pinkie argued.
"You said 'dont worry, i'll bring the map.' In what way was it not your job?"

"I appreciate the offer, but i dont have a gun, what can i do?" Twilight told rarity to get the weapons crate. When rarity brought it to applejack and opened it up, AJ's face lit up with a devious smile. "This i can do."

Applejack grabbed two M1911s, an uzi, a combat knife, an LS17 sniper rifle, a galil assault rilfe, and a belt full of grenades. She loaded her weapons and set them on a left over bunk right on top of the black stallion's.

"I dont believe we met, the name's applejack." AJ said extending a hoof to shake.
"Shadow fire." Said the pony without looking up.
"You alright shadow fire?"
"Uhhh, yea, it's just, i've had a long day." Shadow raised his hoff and shook applejack's. "Your sister is Applebloom, right?"
"You bet."
"Is she still younger?"
"I have about a year on her in this world, at home i was five years ahead."
"Cool, what do you guys do all day? Without zombies to kill, or having to be on you gaurd all the time."
"Well, i run the apple farm, i spend a lot of time there, it just helps me think straight. Twilight is usualy readin, pinkie pie is almost always walking 'round pissin people off." Both of them laughed. They talked until the others walked in. Applejack hopped off her bunk and down to the floor.

"What can i do ya for sis?" Said applejack when 'her sister' walked up to AJ.
"Applejack can i speak to you, in private." Said applebloom.
"Well sure." They used the ladder on the back wall to climb up.
"So, you're really back?"
"Well kinda, your sister and i are the same pony, i'm not your real sister but-" applebloom quickly flung her arms around applejack.
"I know we aren't really sisters, but, i never got a chance to tell you before she, er, you died." Applebloom stared at her big sister that she had not seen since 'her' death. "I love you." Bloom's grip was tight, she was not about to let anybody take her big sister again, not when she was given a second chance like this.

The next morning, applejack got her first taste of action. She brought her guns with her on the weekly food scavenging. They raided homes, killed the occasional zombie, brought back as much food, water, and medical supplies as the could. Applejack got her first kill when rainbow was over powered by a larger zombie that almost bot her, and would have bit her if applejack haddn't stuck her knife in the zombie's neck, the pulled the knife back, decapitating the undead mare. AJ killed a few zombies, and carried back almost a week's worth of supplise by herself.

"How did you find all of that food?" Asked pinkie.
"I just broke into a home, got eveything i could into a bag, same as yall."
"Yea but we only get a few days' rations, you enough for us to eat for a week and still have some to spare."
"I guess i just got to more homes than yall."

Pinkie was right, applejack's food was stretched for about 6 days, then the others' food was eaten, that only lasted four days. They went back out, applejack raided at least ten homes in twenty minutes. Like last time, and every time for the next month, applejack had more than everyone else.

After AJ's first month fighting the undead, she was part of the family of survivors, and she was happy. Applejack stayed awake every night wishing she could go home, she hoped that her "new" friends would be ok, and it seemed like they would be without applejack, they were fine without her for several years.

Shadow fire, rainbow dash, and fluttershy took applejack out on her first "cleansing" as they called it. It was basicly attracting as many zombies to yourself as you could, then mow them down with an automatic. Shadow fire got some gasoline and styrophome, dumped it all in the street, and made a gasoline trail that stretched about fifty meters away from the highly explosive puddle. "Would you like to do the honors applejack?" Asked shadow.
"With pleasure." She lit a match and dropped it on the end of the gas trail. The fire sped to the large puddle and ignited the chemicals of the mixed foam and gas. The explosion was so big, the zombies in canterlot must have heard it. The street lit up like a neon sign and almost knocked applejack back a few meters.

Zombies from all over Ponyville swarmed to the flaming road, and almost instantly took notice of the four who started the explosion. They each pulled out their weapon of choice, shadow fire with his M16, dash with a Remington 870, fluttershy with her dual MAC10s, and applejack and her uzi. They walked in a line towards the undead ponies, each fireing randomly into the hoard. After about five miutes the street littered with bodies and soaked in blood. The four were each covered in their own share of zombie blood and dirt. They went back to the bunker for a shower and something to eat. They used rainwater that the group had stored over the years to clean themselves up, and ate a full meal of freeze-dried food.

Applejack and shadow fire went to sweep the city for any zombies that may be left. SF taught applejack the rules of a city sweep, first you sweep every house, room, nook, and cranny of the town, then you sweep it again, and again, and when you are one hundred percent sure you have killed every last zombie, you sweep the town again.

They killed about four zombies all day before Ponyville was clear, but only for about a week, before zombies from other cities arrived to take over the town once again.

After seeing flocks of the undead return, applejack and shadow fire sat on the roof of the tallest building in ponyville, it was quite peacful if you could get over the moans and growls that cane from every direction at least ten times a minute. Applejack told shadow about her life before she became trapped in the zombie infested hellhole she was currently in.
"It isn't that bad, at least it's nice enough to live, not like canterlot, gas lines broke and radiation is everywhere, you'd be dead in minutes."
"Alright, i guess it ok, it's just a big switch up to be farm girl one day, a zompony killer the next."
"I know how hard it is to lose the world you came from, this place used to be beautful, almost as beautiful as you." Applejack blushed and looked at shadow fire. Her eyes were wide as she looked into shadow's eyes. Shadow put a hoof on applejacks cheek as they both leaned in until their lips met in the middle. They kissed until a flash of light knocked both of them away from the ledge. They landed on their backs on the hard concrete. They stood up abd looked over the edge of the building to lightning cracking over the horizen.

"No this isn't supposed to happen."
"What's hapenin shadow?" Applejacks question was answered by a grab of her hoof. Shadow fire pulled her to the other side of the roof and pushed her on to the next building, from their they sprinted down the fire escape. "What the hell?" Applejack refused to go any further without an explination.
"It's the night dwellers, i thought we killed them all, we havn't seem them in months."
"What exactly is a noght dweller?" Just then a pony at least two times the size of any pony she had seen charged them, his eyes red and mane black. It was faster than a normal zombie and had an expert sence of smell.
"That."

Applejack and shadow fire ran as fast as they could away from the night dweller chasing them. They were about a block away from the bunker, their scent would be masked once they were inside. The safe house was in sight, they were almost there, but the night dweller caught up the them and pounced on applejack.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" Shadow yelled as he turned to shoot their pursuer. It didnt have much of and effect other than giving applejack enough time to escape. They both busted in the door of the buncker and slammed it shut. AJ ran up to shadow and hugged him tight. Her eyes were watery as the black stallion stroked her mane.

"I see you met the night dwellers." Said twilight, approaching them in her wheelchair.

Shadow fire layed in bed with applejack that night. He had his hoofs around her stomach, and his legs under her's. Applejack peacfully slept in her boyfriend's arms, and knew that she was safe. Applejack's hat was on the corner of the bed, it still had the remider of her home, but truthfully, AJ didnt want to go home anymore, not without the others.

In the months following, the group made great progress in cure research, twilight used her magic to try and revive different test subjects. She only had books that the others retrieved on search missions, she had loads of spell books, but none of them had the spell she needed. Applejack suggested a mission to Celestia's palace to get the princess' spell book.

"That's crazy, if the zombies didn't kill us in two minutes the radiation would." Twilight said.
"What if we went in with hazmat suits, would we be safe?"
"Maybe, but even if i was sure, which i am not, there is no way you could get past all those zombies, the population is ten times as big as Ponyville's."
"Maybe we dont need to go past them."
"What are you suggesting?"
Applejack pointed at the cliff above canterlot. "We could go in over them."

The decision was made, they broke into the lab that was used to study the effects on different crystals when combine with magic before the outbreak. They got five hazmat suits and gas masks, then retreated back to the safe house. Applejack, shadow fire, rainbow dash, fluttershy, applebloom, and rarity made good time up the mountain. They hiked for a few hours to get the top before dark. It was too dangerous to go in at night, so the team waited for the sun to rise. In the morning they repelled in on ropes to the tip of the castle. They touched down next to a few zombies, rarity quickly took them out from her sniper position on top of the cliff, without a suit, she couldn't drop into the city. Applejack took point. She kicked in the door to the top floor of the palace. Applebloom killed the zombies inside. They split up to find the book, applebloom went with reinbow dash and fluttershy, while applejack went with shadow fire. The group of three searched the west wing of the castle, while AJ and shadow swept the east.

Fluttershy lead the large group to the main hall, there were books shelves everywhere, this was going to take a while. Fluttershy saw a couple zombies limping into the room. She ran up to them with her knife. She stuck the first zombie eight between the eyes, and cut open the next zombie's throat. The most timid pony in equestria had transformed into a total badass over the years if fighting zombie Fluttershy's hoofs had blood all over them, she wiped it off on the rug and searched the book cases.

Shadow fire found a room with a single book on a podium, the cover read "anciant spells of equestria"

"I guess this is what we're looking for." Applejack radioed rarity to send down the ropes.

"You got it AJ." Rarity pushed down the cables for the group to climb. When applejack was about halfway up, she saw the sun setting, and finally slip down into darkness. Lightning erupted over the horizen.

"Shit." Applejack said, looking at what was charging the palace. Four night dwellers jumped up to each floor on the outside of the castle until they reached the top. They pulled the ropes, harder and harder, until, SNAP! The rope broke and shadow and applejack plummeted down. At the last second, applejack grabbed her knife and stuck it into the cliff, and caught shadow fire's hoof, saving them both. The other three were already up the rope, watching in horror as the night dwellers continuesly swatted at the two ponies. The group up top couldnt do anything to help, their guns were ineffective, and they only had one rope long enough to reach their comrads.

Applejack was slipping and could only hold on for a short time. "Drop me." Shadow to AJ.
"No, were gona get out of this together."
"No, if you drop me, you can get up, im too heavy."
"I aint dropin ya, not now, not ever." Applejack was detirmened to either get them both too safty, or die together. She was not about to let go.

"Applejack, do you trust me?" AJ looked into shadow's eyed just like the night of their first kiss.
"I do." Shadow fire pushed away from the cliff, letting go of applejack. "SHADOW!" Shadow pulled out his own knife and prepared to land right on top of the night dwellers. He dropped into one of their mouths. Applejack used her knife to climb the cliff up to the top. She was greeted with a hug from her friends, but she was too sad to pay attention to them, she just looked back at the dwellers that killed her first love.

Blood spat out from one of the dweller's mouths, and shadow climbed out with his assault rifle, he shot the dweller's eyes out and dropped a grenade in its mouth, then slid down its back. The monster's head exploded.
"Rarity, shoot their noses and eyes, if we blind em, we can kill em." Applejack ordered.
"Got it."

Rarity sniped the dweller's faces while shadow fire threw grenades. One by one, they took down each night dweller. Shadow got two sythes from the palace armory, and used them to climb the cliff. When he got to the top, he was almost too tired to stand up. Applejack hugged him, but he couldnt hold her up, the fell on the ground, applejack on top of shadow fire.
"You scared the hell out 'a me." Applejack said.
"I promise, i wont ever leave your side again." They kissed for what seemed like an eternity.
"I love you shadow."
"I love you too applejack."

They brought the spell book back to twilight, she found the spell to cure all the ponies of all desises, it would even bring back the ones they killed over the years. All eleven of them watched as a brilliant lights shined over all of equestria, each and every zombie and corps regained its color and was brought back to life. The group cheered as their friends and family returned from the dead. Applejack and shadow kissed as the light entered the body of all the zombies. After a few minutes a light shined down on applejack. On one side of the light, she saw her home, her real home, but on the other side, she looked at shadow fire, and all the other warriors she fought beside. Applejack was being pulled home, she grabbed shadow and held on to him. Everything went blurry, and applejack blacked out.

She woke up in a hospital in ponyville, her ponyville. Applebloom was waiting beside her bed, and when she saw her big sister had woken up, she called to the others. Applejack looked at each of her friends, "what happened?"
"There was a fire at the barn, you blacked out and we found you in the rubble. You have been asleep for months, trying to get you to wake up." Applebloom told her sister.
"I had a dream, and, and-" she was stopped by a familiar voice at the door. A black stallion was standing in applejack's room.
"It wasn't a dream."