Hello, everyone! Wanted to bring this chapter a bit earlier than planned. Finally, some more survivors, or should I say "survivor", are going to be introduced. What does that mean, and how will the two different groups survive this apocalypse? Find out now!
Notes: The fourth wall references will now be reference as "the Barrier" to avoid confusion. I will post the names of MANY songs in the story to "play" from the Walkman (I do not own ANY of these songs) since they fit so perfectly in a zombie apocalypse. Lastly, notice anything about the titles of the chapters starting with Chapter 2? Tell me if you get the reference. Without further ado, here it is!
Outside the entrance of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy was outside feeding her chickens. She was happy, as usual, singing and humming the MLP theme song. "Oh, aren't you just the cutest things? You wouldn't mind sharing your food with our new friends as well, would you?" she asked them. The chickens continued eating, unaware of the question.
She giggled, and went back inside for more chickenfeed, and came back out. Instead of going to the chicken coops, however, she went to the shed she had near the forest entrance. She had posted a sign near the shed, reading: Stay outta my shed.
She went inside, and called out. "Ponies! You're meal for the afternoon," she said calmly. The shed was dark, ominous, and eerily quiet. From the shadows emerged three ponies, all shambling towards Fluttershy. They dragged themselves closer and closer to her, and suddenly stopped just a yard in front of her. They were chained to the wall, and so could not reach her. They moaned in hunger, and stared at Fluttershy with expected looks. She dumped the bag of chickenfeed inside a feeding tray, and the ponies ate ravenously and noisily.
"You're just hungry, that's all. You can't think without eating, right Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked. One of the ponies eating turned towards her, and replied slowly.
"Yeah… Fluttershy… I just love… eating!" it replied slowly but excitedly. It was Pinkie Pie, but something was very wrong with her. She had a bite mark on her hind leg, and had no doubt succumbed to infection. But she didn't attack Fluttershy, mainly because she was chained, fed, and filled with chickenfeed. She spoke in a raspy voice, and was calm and collected. Fluttershy had found out that when they weren't hungry, they could think and speak to some extent, and they retained much of their memories.
"I… find this meal… a bit dry…" one of them complained. It was Rarity, who was also bitten. She had succumbed to the infection as well, one of the first ponies to do so. She continued eating the food, and received a bowl of water from Fluttershy. "Thank you… dear…" she said in a raspy voice.
The third pony continued eating, and when he had finished, said, "Eeyup…" It was Big Macintosh, Applejack's brother, who went missing near the beginning of the outbreak and turned up outside of Fluttershy's cottage, eating a hen. She was saddened by the death of her hen, but Fluttershy had taken in him to the shed and locked him inside.
"My, you haven't eaten nearly as much as you did the night before," Fluttershy commented.
"We weren't as hungry as we were yesterday, cause you take us food a lot!" Pinkie said with excitement.
"True… but you shouldn't eat other ponies. That's very unfriendly, and I'm sure they wouldn't like it one bit." By the way Fluttershy spoke, other ponies would think she lost it. She then left the shed with a farewell, and received one back.
"I should probably tell the others where they're at… but I'm sure they wouldn't mind me taking care of them!" she reassured herself.
She left back inside her cottage happily, and enjoyed the bright sunny day.
…
Alan and the others were now relaxing in Applejack's cellar, listening to the Walkman Alan had found on the streets. Rainbow Dash especially enjoyed one song that had played on it. "This song is totally awesome! What's it called?" she asked. It was a heavy metal beat. Alan picked up the Walkman to check.
"Um… it's called 'Partytime'. It does sound pretty kickass," Alan commented. "I remember this from an old movie, but I can't remember the movie's name… where did I hear this from?" he asked himself.
"Well, I just think it's pretty fucked up that you guys can have fun while death roams the streets outside," Draco said irritated.
The two Pegasi then turned away in shame, and went back to listening to music.
"We got to do something, like scavenge for parts or supplies. Either that, or we leave town and head back to Clover Ranch. It may be safer over there than here. What do you guys think?" Draco suggested.
"Two problems with that: one, Clover Ranch is about thirty minutes away by flying alone. By walking, that's probably two days. The second is that if this pandemonium has spread, we'd just be walking into another death trap. We just stay here until the Royal Guard does something," Rainbow Dash said.
When Alan first heard this, he thought of Cloud Runner, who had reformed Caelum Lux's military to that much more ferocious than the Royal Guard; the Arcanes. "You're right! The Royal Guard, or even the Arcanes should hear about this, send in some troops, and take care of this problem before it spreads."
"So... you ponies have seen these things already… what are they like?" asked Rainbow.
Alan remembered how horrible the Shamblers looked, and how equine the Runners looked, but how ravenous they were. "Well, we separated them by two types: the Shambler and the Runner. The Shamblers are slow moving, undead, and they're rotten skin gives them away from far. The Runner is much more dangerous. It's not actually dead, but rather bitten by the dead ones and infected. They look very pony-like, but they still got that ravenous hunger for… what was it, Draco?" Alan asked.
"Brains… that's the only thing those things want and say. Bunch of fucked up monsters…" Draco muttered angrily.
"So how did the shotgun work for ya, Alan?" Applejack asked.
"It worked wonders! That gun just dominated them!" Alan exclaimed happily.
"Yeah… they don't make 'em anymore, since there's relatively no violence in Equestria. These things are old relics from when humans existed…" she was then interrupted by Alan.
"Humans do exist…" he said, looking at the Barrier. "Am I right or am I right?"
"Anyways, we had found and restored this one here, and made it work again. It's been passed down from generation to generation, and stopped at mine… and Applebloom's." She stopped, as she shed a tear from her eye, wondering where Big Macintosh was. "It hasn't been used since Granny Smith first moved here. That's why I wondered if it worked or not. Glad to hear it did," she finished.
"I wonder how every pony else is doing… Mom… Uncle Orion…" Alan said distantly. Chloe was in Caelum Lux, where she ruled alone since Leon's death. She was very kind, very compassionate towards the citizens, and they celebrated her rule. Orion was down in Rapture, moving back to his old hometown after Leon's death.
Eric also started to worry about his parents. I wonder where they are… I haven't seen them in a long time…
Applejack wanted to comfort them. "There, there, we should consider ourselves lucky we're still alive," Applejack said.
"Lucky? You must not know what's really going on outside, then. We'll be living in hell until the Royal Guard comes. What food will we eat, huh? And don't say apples, cause I swear to God I will fucking get mad if you do," Draco commented.
"You know what, Draco? You remind me of Twilight's dragon, Spike. He was sometimes obnoxious, like you. Only he was friendly and nice enough to be cool," Rainbow said.
"That pussy of a dragon? The purple one?" Draco asked, and soon afterwards was laughing hysterically. "No, don't… don't say that, because I'll die of laughter. I have freedom to do what I like when I like, unlike him."
"What do you mean by that?" Rainbow asked irritably.
"He's a pack mule! Twilight had him busting his ass everyday, and he just took it. Hell, I remember them moving into this town, and she had him doing all of her chores for her," Draco explained.
"He did it because he could, Draco," Rainbow argued. "Not because he was ordered by Twilight everyday."
"Did you ever see me having to be Leon's slave when he lived here, Rainbow? I was born under the same circumstances Spike was, yet Leon treated me like a brother, not a pet. He should have stood up for himself," Draco said.
"Oh, and you can stand up for yourself?" Rainbow replied smugly.
"You're goddamn right I can!" Draco yelled.
"Draco, let's not get hostile. We're still alive, and that means we can still make it out of this," Alan said.
"True… sorry for snapping, Rainbow," Draco said shamefully. He didn't know why, but he had a soft spot for Rainbow Dash, and he never wanted to get on her bad side.
"It's fine... we should just focus on staying alive than on fighting," Rainbow said.
"So... about how long will it take for the Royal Guard to get here?" Draco asked.
"Who knows? Maybe twenty-eight days, twenty-eight weeks…" Alan stopped.
Draco stared at him, and looked disappointed. "What's with the twenty-eights?"
"I gotta make as many references as I can…" Alan said, looking to the Barrier again.
Draco groaned in annoyance. "Just… just… fuck this fourth wall shit…" he said.
WOW! Fluttershy has a dark secret already, tensions are increasing in the cellar, and their seems to be increasingly intelligent zombie types... is that a good thing or bad thing? Will the survivors in the cellar live among themselves peacefully and scavenge for supplies? Will Fluttershy survive this apocalypse alone? Will anymore references to zombie films be made? And, will the return of an old character mark the end of any other survivors in the desolate town? Find out next week!