Chapter 3: Sobs, Spit, and Smashing

The door swung open and Rarity followed Twilight into the dark shopping mall. She blew the head off of a woman that was trying to eat her brains and continued trotting along the path. She was walking up the broken escalator when she saw it, her inspiration. She ran up to it and squealed.

"Red stilettos! How do humans manage these? I must have them!" she ranted.

She was about to enter the store when Applejack stopped her.

"Cmon sugarcube, we need to head out."

"But I must have those shoes!"

"The shoes are probably the least important thing here, now let's go."

Rarity swore to herself that if-no not if-when she got back to Ponyville, she'd make those stilettos for ponies.

They continued on with only one outburst of opposition. There was a hallway that had a door that has fallen over. Rarity went through first. She had made it a few feet in her group when there was a shriek. A green glob flew and landed in the center of the group. It exploded and a green bubbling liquid spread beneath them. It burned. Pinkie Pie was at the back and stepped off of the acid. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew up. Twilight teleported out of the way as Applejack did a tremendous back flip and landed next to Pinkie.

Rarity was stuck. The cramped hallway limited her means of escape. She screamed as the bottoms of her hooves seared with pain. She tried lifting her hooves off of the ground, but lost her balance and fell into the goop, causing worse pain on her side. She was silently awaiting unconsciousness or death or something but was interrupted by a magical pop and a loud bang.

Rarity opened her tear streaked eyes and saw a body lying in another puddle of spit. Apparently Rainbow had shot it while Twilight teleported her.

"Are you alright Rarity?" asked a meek Pegasus, "Do you want me to heal you?"

"No no dear. I'm quite fine." she replied as she shakily got up. Although she wasn't fine, the pain was definitely ebbing away.

They continued through the maze of hallways. Her friends tried to cheer her up by showing her the random mannequins around the place, but Rarity brushed them off. She just wanted to leave this place.

They were approaching a room when they heard quiet sobs. They entered the room. It was a daycare center with big windows on the other side of the room. The crying was emanating from a lone girl on the ground. She was wearing very little clothing and had long hair. She had a strange red aura around her, but Rarity passed it off as light from an EXIT sign.

Applejack slowly approached the girl.

"Hey there. Y'all right?"

The girl began growling in response. Applejack began backing away and the growling slowly ebbed. But suddenly Pinkie Pie was there in the face of the girl.

"Are you alright? Are you not sick? Wanna have a party? What do you think is better: vanilla or choc-"

She was interrupted when the girl screamed and revealed the long razor sharp fingers, stained with blood. The girl charged Pinkie, who was frozen in shock. The girl slashed at Pinkie, but Applejack pushed her out of the way, taking the swipe. The workhorse slammed into the ground as the girl continued slashing her. Rarity heard a swish behind her and felt a gun being ripped from her magical grip. Fluttershy was inbetween the girl and Applejack with the shotgun against the girls head. The trigger was pulled and the girls face was no more, the crown of her head completely missing. There was a horrible shriek as the body of the girl fell to the ground. Applejack was wincing on the ground. Pinkie ran to her side.

"Omigosh! Are you alright AJ?" said the pink party pony, tears filling her eyes.

"Ah'm fine..." she said as she tried to get up. She grunted and fell to the ground. The gashes were staining her fur a deep crimson red.

Fluttershy approached and expertly bandaged Applejack's side. With much grunting, wincing, and cursing under her breath, Applejack was completely bandaged.

"Ah dunno how it's possible, but ah feel perfectly fine now!" said the workhorse.

"That doesn't matter now." said Twilight, "What does matter is getting out of here."

There was no other way out of the room except for the giant windows.

"Looks like we have to go around and find another way." said Rarity, who was secretly hoping they would pass the stilettos again.

Before anypony could suggest anything else, the glass shattered and a gutsy Pegasus hovered on the other side, motioning for the others to follow.

They stepped over the broken glass still in the pane when the alarm started and the roar sounded out. Everypony ran towards the walkway. Pinkie kicked a glass railing, which shattered, and hurled a bile bomb over the edge. They continued galloping towards the stairwell when the first few infected went after the delicious pukey sludge. of course that wouldn't last long.

They ran for a few more seconds when they began hearing them behind them. Apparently the bile had worn off. Others began to swarm in front of them. The weapons made to easy to clear the way. They reached a room that had the alarm controls in it. Rainbow Dash pulled the lever and the wailing stopped. However, hordes of zombies ere still following them.

The six ponies ran down the hallway and ended up in another escalator area. Behind them were sounds of mindless monsters, running over each other in their desperate attempt to taste pony flesh. Rainbow Dash flew up high and began to snipe. Everypony else clambered up the escalator. The safe room was just on the other side.

Rarity ran with all her energy towards the welcomingly open door. She entered and motioned for everyone else to enter. 1,2,3,4...Where's Rainbow Dash?

Rarity ran outside the room and caught sight of the cyan Pegasus. She was still sniping the zombies. The wave of infected people was on the escalators now.

"Rainbow Dash! Get in here!" shouted Rarity

"Hang on just a sec! Just need two more headshots!" she replied.

They were running along the balcony now.

"NOW!"

She flew towards the door. She flew so fast she left a childish rainbow in her wake. It didn't seem fitting for the situation. The zombies were 20 feet from the door now. Rainbow was almost there. 15. She was through the door, so fast she slammed into a shelf on the wall. 10. Rarity began pulling the heavy door shut with her magic. 5. Rarity took a quick peek. They were inches away, their fingers were outstretched, waiting to clasp onto her.

She slammed the door shut. She heard an entourage of thumps as zombies slammed into the now closed door.

Rarity let out a sigh as she turned around to reprimand Rainbow Dash.