Chapter 3
"S, can you light up the room? My magic feels drained," Rainbow Jewel groaned. They were in an underground bunker, dimly lit by torches in the distance. RJ and I had just fought off a wave of Zomponies in the streets of Ponyville with our chaos magic, leaving us exhausted and our magic weakened for the time being.
"Sure," said S, who had remained inside due to her kind heart. Selene Star, my other sister, was too soft to fight, battle and kill Zomponies who were once gentle citizens of Equestria. She could let out some chaos magic if needed, but she preferred to tend to the wounded and attempt to cure to the disease that started up the Zompony Apocalypse.
Hours went by, then days. It seemed like each day were the same, blended into one giant mass of horror and hiding. The Zompony Uprising was a mysterious yet sudden disaster that struck Equestria all at once. Before the rotten-fleshed ponies made the majority of Equestria's population, wide-eyed ponies whispered about another royal princess, Princess Sugarcube's disappearance. She had been staying at the castle in Canterlot. Since Canterlot had been infected, no royals, servants or commoners have contacted the outside world of Equestria.
"Do you think we'll live?" I asked. S looked downward and dug her hoof into the dirt.
RJ didn't do the same thing. "Of course we'll live, Cyclone! You've got hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms…you name it. S can heal anything, and, even without strong chaos magic, can take a DRAGON head-on!" RJ looked confident, jutting her nose upward and standing tall. "Plus, you two've got me, the awesomest pony around, not to mention top fighter of Equestria!" Rainbow Jewel shouted triumphantly.
I blushed, then, seeing as I had become vulnerable, I steeled myself, having a straight, level poker face. Then, remembering these were my sisters and friends, I became loose. Just a little.
"But can you be sure?" I replied. "I mean, I don't doubt for a second what you said, RJ. But, can you be sure the Zomponies don't eat us in our sleep? Or that we just can't beat the whole race of them? I'm scared, RJ. I can't be the tough girl around you guys all the time."
RJ now, too, glared at the ground, pawing the Earth. Now S spoke. "I find logic in hoping for the best. Seeing only the negative aspects of any situation can cause you to miss opportunities, neglect problems that need to be solved, and-"
"OK, OK, we get it. I should be more optimistic, although it's kind of hard to do that with flesh-eating Zomponies walking above us, sniffing out survivors," I said sarcastically. S gave me a stare she had picked up from Fluttershy. "OK, I'm serious," I added. "I'll be more optimistic from now on."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" a muffled voice shouted from above ground. My sisters and I looked upwards, startled by the blood-curdling scream from above.
"We have to help that lady!" S said. She whipped out a magic book she had stolen from a Zompony infested house last week. No one questioned S being up there with RJ and I. She could handle herself.
It wasn't rejection, but RJ laid out something serious. "What if this pony already got eaten? We go up there to save her, she's already one of them, and just joins her new kind to kill us? We'd have to rely on pure luck to pull this off, even with regular magic, chaos magic, alicorn magic, AND flying."
She was right. But if we played along stealthily, we may be able to bring this mare back down under to our bunker without fighting off too many Zomponies. And then maybe S could heal her from any scratches or wounds. I shared my idea.
"It's just crazy enough to actually work!" exclaimed S.
S flew open the cap on the long tube that led upward. It was designed so that only trained pegasi (and alicorns) could get back up after falling down. S and I had designed it that way, so that if we ever had to flee our bunker from Zomponies being in there, we could leave the earth ponies and unicorn Zomponies in there, then close the cap so that not even pegasi could come out. We were kinda sorta GENIUSES!
We all flew up scanning the area. No Zomponies. We all found this dangerously strange. Where had they all gone? Then, the scream went through the area again. It sounded familiar. We followed the sound trail, and soon found all of the Zomponies. And Pinkie Pie.