Twilight Chainsaw
Chapter 3
The walk to Sweet Apple Acre fields was quiet. A thin layer of fog blanketed the area as Twilight Sparkle was tracking down the source of the shot that saved her earlier. She looked down at the beaten path and judging by the number of hoof prints she saw, ponies had fled into the fields for safety. Unfortunately she also noticed some hoof prints seemed like they were dragging their hooves. Trails of dried blood led her to suspect that limbs were also dragged against the soil. She felt this unnerving sense of calm all around her walking down the path. As if nothing was nearby, living or otherwise. This sense of tranquility, given her current situation, didn't sit well with her.
She reached a hill top where she turned and gaze down at Ponyville. The once bright and lively place she had grown to love had become dark and twisted. Everywhere she looked, walking hoards of the dead were roaming the streets in search of food. She shut her eyes, turning away from the sight and continued onward.
Approaching the entrance to the apple tree fields, one word slipped out of her lips as she realized why she hadn't seen or heard anyone in awhile. "Whoa," Strewn out before her were dozens of zombified ponies around the start of the field.
They're all dead. Well dead again I guess.
She cautiously neared one of the corpses was about to lean close. "Let's take a—" She quickly stepped back. "Whoops! Almost forgot." The hum of her chainsaw rang through the trees as she plunged its spinning blades deep into the corpse's chest, churning through bones, muscles and organs that spew out and pelted Twilight's coat. The cadaver only shook violently from her weapon but did nothing more. "Okay, he's definitely dead for sure." she assured herself, pulling her weapon out of the bloody crater she'd left behind. She then knelt down to begin her investigation.
Face to face with the corpse Twilight spotted a suspicious hole in the middle of its forehead. "Hmmm?" Using her telekinesis, she yanked out what was inside with surgical precision and levitated a glistening blue crystal before her. "A gem?"
Moving to another body, taking the same precautionary steps as before, Twilight investigated a similar hole on the second body and found another crystal embedded in it skull. She went and investigated the other around her. Every single one had the same type of head injury with the same projectile.
More gemstones and they're all so gorgeously cut. There's only one pony I know who'd have so many perfectly cut jewels like this. But, she couldn't possibly have done all this. Could she? How? Slow down Twilight, you're probably just over thinking things. First I should find who did this. Then I'll get my answers. She turned her head towards the fog covered forest. "I just hope whoever they are that they're okay."
She stepped into the fields and resumed her quiet stroll, until she arrived at a dilapidated tree house. "Oh no…" headed closer to the wrecked structure and examined what remained of the clubhouse belonging to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
The roof was caved in, the window was shattered and the door was broken into. The once pink walls that were painted with care were now splattered with streaks of red and hoof prints on it. Twilight wanted to check inside, but the ramp leading up to the door had been destroyed. She was just about to use her magic to teleport in, but recalling her past experience with teleporting back near the stage, she decided it best not to. With a heavy sigh, she turned her back on the club house, praying to Celestia that what had befallen it had not also befallen the three fillies she had on her mind.
Getting away from the tragic site, she resumed her search for the pony that saved her deep within the tree fields. Suddenly she felt something approaching and noticed the leaves above her head rustled.
"Hehehehehe. Look girls, it's Twilight."
"Yeeeeeaaaaah, Twilight."
"Twiligh', you're just in time. We wanna play a little game wit' ya'."
Twilight tilted her head up towards the familiar set of voices. She smiled. "Girls! I'm so glad you're safe. Where are you?"
"Ooooover here!" Apple Bloom's voice called out as some leaves fell from a in the distance.
"Hurry," Sweetie Belle's voice spoke as more leaves fell a little further away.
Following the trail of falling greens through the fog, Twilight made it to s small opening where she heard the girls' laughter coming from all around her. She circled around the clearing, her eyes darting from one tree to the next, waiting for the girls to say something. "Girls, come on out already."
"Nooooo, we wanna play," Apple Bloom called out.
"Yeah! Yeah! I love our new game," Sweetie Belle chimed in.
"Let's play," Scootaloo suggested.
Twilight looked up to the rattling branches with one brow raised. "What game?"
Apple Bloom's voice rang out. "The rule's simple, it's sorta like tag really. Ceptin' there's a twist. Me, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo will be it."
"So I have to not get tagged right?" Twilight asked.
"Noooo," said Sweetie Belle in a playful tone. "You get to be base."
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Wait. So if I'm base, who are you three going to tag?"
"That's where thing are different." Scootaloo replied. "The ponies we have to tag are straight ahead, on the other end of the field. If you get to them before us you win. If we get to them first they lose."
Twilight shook her head, trying to ignore a troubling thought she had in the back of her mind. "Girls, this is no time to be playing games. It's really dangerous out here. Let's get out of here. I'll find you three a safe place to hide."
Apple Bloom spoke. "Sorry Twi, but we just want to play. Ready, go!"
"Wait!" Seeing the leaves above jostle violently, Twilight gave chase, catching up and then blowing past the frail of leaves. Making some distance, she noticed something moving up ahead of the path.
"Oh great, more zombies. Uuuugh. I don't have time for this!"
Galloping closer to the small group, Twilight heard a loud bang echoed through the trees. It was quickly preceded by more of the same. Ahead the zombies suddenly jerked their heads back violently and then dropped to the ground. With her path cleared, Twilight galloped through. More zombie ponies impeded her along the way, but each time the same noise went ripping through the air, pelting every undead pony in the head. Way behind Twilight, the filly trio running through the treetops watched as she ran through the fields unimpeded.
"No fair, she gettin' help from someone," said Apple Bloom.
"We've just gotta move faster!" Scootaloo ordered.
One big group stood along the trail and again the sounds of blasts echoed. One by one the walking roadblocks dropped, but it wasn't enough. There was still a few left standing as Twilight got close. Reaching with her mouth, she drew her weapon, did a short skipped into the air, landed on her knees, Twilight did a spinning power slide.
Her saw blade she held away from her mowed through the remaining ponies, chopping them from their ankles. More bang rang out that struck the chopped undead before they hit the ground. Still sliding through, Twilight jumped from her knees onto her hooves and continued galloping. Finally reaching the other edge of the field, she noticed something at the end.
Those must be the poor ponies that got pulled into this mess. At the final stretch, she lunged with her foreleg stretched. "Home free!" Twilight shouted, touching the tied up ponies and then looking back to see the rustling leaves stop right behind her.
"Awww. How'd we lose?" asked Apple Bloom.
"No fair!" Sweetie Belle whined.
"And we really wanted to play tag with you afterwards. Fine you win, come on girls," said Scootaloo as she and the other girls in the trees with her shook the leaves as they went back into the depths of the fields.
With the three of them gone, Twilight went to the bound ponies and used her magic to undo their restraints. Freed of their rope bindings of them, a light arctic blue pegasus with grayish gold hair immediately embraced her. Twilight feel a wet sensation on the back of her neck as the mare hugging her sniffed constantly.
"Thank you, thank you so much. I thought we were all done for. Just like all the others. Thank you!" the mare shouted. Twilight looked at the other two standing behind her, both of them with also giving her their gratitude with bows and giving their thanks as well.
Twilight broke out of the mare's tight squeeze and faced her. "What are you doing here?"
Wiping the tears from her eyes, the mare looked down to the dirt and breathed deeply. "I'm, I was. I was looking for my colt friend. I spotted a bunch of ponies run into the field when all this craziness started. I thought I'd find him here. But I was knocked out and found myself tied up by those three." She let go of Twilight and placed her hooves in front of her mouth. "Oh I just don't know what I'll do if something happened to my sweet little Caramel."
Twilight quickly snapped her head towards her. "Wait a second, Caramel? I ran into him earlier. He told me he's out there looking for you."
A tear suddenly rand down her freshly dried cheek, but this time it was accompanied with a smile. "Oh merciful Luna, thank you! I've have to go and find him. Thank you so much Twilight Sparkle." she said hugging her once more time as she and the two other pegasus took to the sky.
"You're welcome!" Twilight shouted. waving to the mares flying off. She then placed her hooves around her mouth and yelled. "Wait, what's your name?"
"It Wind Whistle, My name is Wind Whistler. If you happen to see my Caramel again, let him know I'm looking for him as well." Twilight stood alone now, watching the pegasi she just saved fly towards town but then turned back towards the forest, hearing the familiar sound of leaves rustling. The falling leaves stopped right in front of her.
"On second thought, we've decided we're still gonna play tag with you," Apple Bloom voice announced from the tree tops. The three fillies then leaped out of the collection of leaves, each with their mouths open wide and aimed straight for Twilight. Instinctively, Twilight reached her chainsaw, but hesitated when she thought about who she was about to use her weapon on.
Another bang rang out as the girls were now centimeters away from Twilight. In an instant the lunging trio was knocked away, back into the foggy shadows. Twilight, holding the handle of her chainsaw between her teeth, keep her eyes focused on the direction the three of them were flung. But then she head hoof steps coming up from behind. She quickly turned, chainsaw revving, to look down a long metal barrel aimed right between her eyes. Following the long chrome shaft and seeing through the fog, she found a light grey unicorn staring other end of it. The unicorn's eyes widened with a bright gleam in her blue eyes, recognizing the mare she was aiming her weapon at.
"Is this how we greet other nowadays Twilight dear?" asked the mare as she pointed her weapon away and placed it in a pouch she had strapped around her shoulder along with a saddle bag.
The vividly colored chainsaw fell to the ground with a thus as Twilight went to embrace the mare in front of her. "Oh Rarity! You don't know how happy to see you."
With her chin resting on the Twilight's shoulder, Rarity returned the hug. "Likewise darling. It is good to see nothing dreadful has befallen you either." Her attention was grabbed by the large metal object next to Twilight she tapped her hoof against. "I see you've armed yourself as well. Though I must say it's a rather surprising choice for a pony such as yourself."
Twilight patted her hoof on the weapon on her friend's back. "I could say the same about you. I mean where did you even find such a thing, and how do you know how to use it?"
Rarity pulled the rifle out from over her shoulder, laid it besides Twilight's chainsaw and sat across from her. "Well Twilight, as you know, My father never had a son. Being the sports maniac he is, he used to take me out to do all sorts of sporting activities. Hunting was something I happened to excel at. For sport of course. We used special cork guns. We never hurt what we hunt. Though I hurt his feelings when I eventually told him I was dedicating myself to pursuit of being a fashionista." She then looked down and patted her weapon. "When all this craziness started I pulled this thing out of my attic. It may have been an old cork gun, but after a little bit of the ole' Rarity touch It was exactly what I needed. It's just fortunate that after all those years I haven't lost my touch."
While the two of them carried on explaining their ordeals, the leaves in the trees next to them dropped. The two mares both looked over to the leafy ceiling and heard a set of voices call out to them.
"We still want to play," Scootaloo announced.
"Yeah, and now that you're here sis, I can show you my cutie mark!" said Sweetie Belle.
With a quick slash of her saw, Twilight brought the rattle tree to the ground and out popped the girls who had been giving her so much trouble. They were half exposed, with the back half still covered by the fallen trees leaves and fog. She and Rarity stared at the fillies, whose bodies were all scratched up and marred with various large nicks and gashes
"Girls please. You have to stop this." said Rarity.
You're sick. But I can find a way to get you back to normal. Please before you end up losing yourself like the others."
The three young mares slowly stepped forward. Twilight and Rarity both gasped as they got a full look at their bodies. "Oh really Twilight, can you fix this?" said Apple Bloom as she Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all knelt down, presenting the side of their rears at the two unicorns.
The spot on their flank, that special place where a pony's cutie mare would appear for the world to recognize what makes that pony special. The one thing that defines a pony. Gone. Replaced by a hideously grotesque bite mark on all three of them. "You see that?" Scootaloo asked in a stern tone.
"You two all always said we'd get our marks eventually," said Sweetie Belle.
"To wait patiently! Apple Bloom shouted. "Well now what are we do? Even if we ever do get our cutie marks now, we'll never be able to see what it is."
"So we decided that this will be our cutie mark." Scootaloo said.
Sweetie Belle hopped up and down. "Yeeeeaaaah, and since we've all got the same cutie mark at the same time, it means the three of us will be together forever!"
A wind blew through the area, gusting away the leaves and fog around the crusaders and causing the dried up skin flaps on their stale bodies to flail as Apple Bloom took a step forward. "So now we're gonna show ya'll what we can do."
The breeze sent a chilling sensation up Twilight's spine, brushing the two older unicorn's manes to the side while they took a step back. "Wait girls, please. Just stop this," Rarity pleaded.
"Sorry big sis, but this is just too much fun," Sweetie Belle replied. The look in her sister's dried out eyes, a least the portion of her eyes Rarity could recognize. A fleeting memory of the sap green eyes she one had. Now they lifelessly stared at her with dark intentions.
Rarity's vision became blurry. She quickly wiped her hooves over her eyes, hiding the sorrow welling in them under a determined expression. "Sweetie Belle, please... We're sisters. We're not supposed to fight. We learned to get along as sisters together. Remember?"
Rarity world quickly slowed to a crawl in the brief seconds in which her sister's eyelids shut. There was nothing she could do; watching the last shred of color in the unicorn filly's eyes vanished as she opened them again eyes again. All that was left were a pair of sickly white orbs with red cracks on its sides. In Rarity's eyes, the last of her sister get snuffed out in that instant. Only the husk of what looked and spoke like her sister remained, stomping her hoof on the ground. "Rarity, this is what me and my friends have become. This is our cutie mark now. And now were gonna live up to it."
Looking at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, Twilight noticed the other two fillies had deteriorated as Sweetie Belle had. Whatever ounce of ponydom that existed in their little frames had disappeared like the windswept leaves around them.
The filly trio leaped into the trees that thrashed from the wind that started to pick up. Twilight and Rarity quickly stood back to back against each other and kept their eyes peeled. The wind suddenly died down and then the two of them could hear Sweetie Belle.
"They all say that you will get your mark."
"When the time is really right."
Then Apple Bloom's voice rang out.
"And you know just what you're supposed to do.
Scootaloo's voice then came thundering in like a set of smashing plates.
"But that all ends with just one bite!"
Suddenly Apple Bloom and Scootaloo came rushing at them from the trees. Thankfully Twilight and Rarity managed to dodge the zombie fillies that charged past them and back up another set of trees. Twilight used her magic and swiped her chainsaw through the thick tree to knock it over. Nothing but leaves and apples dropped out as it hit the dirt. Rarity stood on her back legs, held her rifle with her forelegs, placed a hoof through the hoof sized trigger guard, and scanned the area. Sweetie Belle's captivating singing voice rang out again, only the song she sang was different from what the two mares below were expecting.
"Cutie mark seekers, that's what ponies called us. Why?
Cus we just wanted our marks.
Now we ne-ver will.
You say that you can save us.
But you two don't have a clue.
You girls are so damn naive!"
Rarity took aim and pulled the trigger, sending a red gem tearing into the trees. Scootaloo dropped from a tree behind her and charged. Twilight cleaved her revving weapon against Scootaloo, sending the speedy orange blur back to the shadows. Apple Bloom came down and charged in to avenge her friend but Rarity swung at her with her rifle, knocking the red headed undead to the trees tops.
With the fillies out of the way, Twilight turned to unicorn a few feet away. "We have to get out of here; we're sitting ducks in these fields." Rarity nodded and followed Twilight as she galloped out of the small clearing and down a pathway. All of a sudden Scootaloo could be heard singing from the forest depths.
"Swee-tie would have been a sing-er.
Now her talent just tor-ments her.
Signing while she takes aim.
Picking somepony to maim!"
A white streak jolted at the running duo but Rarity saw her. She held her rifle with her magic and fired, striking Sweetie Belle in the leg and causing her to roll. Twilight then readied her weapon and swung, connecting but it wasn't who she thought it was. Apple Bloom had quickly rushed in and shoved Sweetie Belle out of the way, getting her right back leg lopped off in the process, but that didn't slow her from taking her friend into the safety of the shadows.
Twilight and Rarity were on edge, the girls were fast, agile, organized, and could come flying at them from anywhere. One little mistake would mean disaster. All they could do was stick together, weaving through tree after tree, waiting for the girls to strike again. And then, they heard Apple Bloom's voice.
"Scoots is great when she's on skates.
She's sooo fast. Through you she'll just blow right past.
So go ahead and swing or shoot, you're just wasting your time.
She's just too sublime!"
Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom came running together. Rarity fired one round after another, striking the two in their chests but they kept going forward. Twilight then swept her chainsaw towards the two of them who quickly jumped to avoid it. Rarity quickly reloaded and unleashed another pair of gems into the girls while they flew overhead. The Scootaloo and Apple Bloom hit the dirt but quickly recovered, running away again. Twilight and Rarity had their eyes peeled, pounding their hooves on the earth as Sweetie Belle's alluring vocals plagued the tree fields once more once more
"Apple Bloom with tools is good.
Fixing things with ease for her is a breeze.
Too bad there is no need, when she only wants you to bleed.
A handymare? Oh please."
This time Twilight and Rarity spotted all three fillies charging at them together. They were rushing forward when Twilight tossed her chainsaw on the ground levitating it with magic. Rarity took careful aim and sent a gen slamming onto the tip of the floating power tool's blade, sending it into a wild spin. The cutie mark crusaders leaped over to avoid it but a few blasts from Rarity caused them to fall towards the spinning blade. Thinking fast, Scootaloo spread her little orange wings, gliding the three of them safely over the make shift blender and ran away. Twilight recovered her weapon and she and Rarity continued forward. Shortly afterwards all three of them broke out singing.
"Death weeeeeee've beeeeeeen spuuuuuuuuurned.
Forever cutie marks unearned!"
"Together we'll make this work somehow.
The ZMC will rule you'll see.
You two think we're wrong but really you don't have a clue.
Dream on you nosy fools!
The trio burst forth from the darkness in three separate spots. This time Twilight grabbed hold of Rarity with her magic and lifted her overhead. No longer troubled with the constant rattling from running, Rarity held her weapon in her hooves and took a deep breath. The sound of the trio got louder as their cracked and worn set of hooves carried their fetid decomposing bodies closer and closer. All they needed was to land a single bite. But the booming roar from the end of Rarity's rifle denied them that.
Rarity opened fire, quickly turning towards the next mare and doing the same. Three direct hits into crusaders' skulls only slowed them, they stilled moves towards them but the strike had taken its toll. The girls ran forward lifelessly. Their bodies moved on will alone, using what strength remained in them.
With a heavy heart, Twilight held her weapon before her and swung. Rarity dropped down to Twilight's side while the girls fell behind the two unicorns.
The field fell silent. Neither mare said a word. The wind itself ceased as if in recognition of the moment. They simply stood before the Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo lying on the ground before them. The two unicorns had gathered them up, both their lower and upper halves and placed them together so they seemed as they were sleeping. What seemed like an eternity passed before one of them spoke.
"Twilight," said Rarity, still looking down towards her sister and her friends. "Why did this have to happen?"
She was caught off guard. Twilight didn't have a clue how to reply. She bit her lower lip, trying desperately to think up something to say. She opened her mouth, praying the words would just come to her.
"I'm sorry dear. You don't have to answer that. It's just that I... I don't know what else I can do but question it." The brave face she had worn all this time dissolved from the wall of tears that had build up in her eyes. "I was her big sister. I was supposed to protect her. I came here to the fields to find her. But when I did... I couldn't do anything more but watch her. When you showed up Twilight, I decided I would confront Sweetie Belle then. But by that time she was already gone."
Twilight simply sat at her side, hanging her head down as she looked at the girls. Finally the only words she could come up with came out of her mouth. "Rarity, I'm sorry."
Rarity forced a smile at her friend, wiping her tears away. She then took deep breath and exhaled. "We should get going. I may be hurt, but we aren't in the right place for it. we should find a safe place to rest." Twilight reached a hoof out and placed it on her shoulders. The smile on Rarity's face twitched slightly, seeing the concerned look on Twilight's frowning face. But with one rough sniff she smiled and reassured her worried friend. "I'm alright darling, really."
The two of them moved on, leaving the Cutie Mark Crusaders to rest within the field of trees. The two of them finally reached the end of the field and found themselves facing the Sweet Apple Acre Farmhouse. They surveyed the area. Remarkably there wasn't a single zombie to be found and the lights appeared to be on.
"It doesn't look like Sweet Apple Farm has been affected yet. Maybe we can find Applejack and rest there," said Twilight, looking over to the spaced out unicorn standing beside her.
Rarity stared blankly at the farm and sighed. "Yeah."
The two of them silently marched forward. They may have made it through the field unscathed, but the way they walked said otherwise.