Continuing back off with the dragons and R.D., they make their way back to the cottage. Can they make it back all right? Will they arrive to find that their journey was a waste of time? Find out now!
Note: This chapter happens at the same time as the last one, to avoid confusion.
Draco, Spike, and Rainbow made their way back to Ponyville on foot and hoof. They were on constant alert, and Spike had begun a conversation. "So, how's everything been in Ponyville? I mean, before it went to hell."
Before he answered, Draco pulled out a cigar, lit it with his fire, and placed it in his mouth. "Well, it was same old same old. Every pony was happy, it was always bright, etcetera. Do you know how the outbreak started?" Draco asked.
"Actually, I thought you would. It started in Ponyville, and doesn't seem to have gone anywhere else yet, so Ponyville is technically considered Ground Zero. It's unusual, but it happened," Spike said.
"I thought Alan might know. He went to the cemetery just before the outbreak, and came back all right," Rainbow said.
"Well, we'll have to look more into that." Spike stopped them. "Wait… listen." Silence, then a crunching noise in the city outskirts came. Spike and Draco aimed their weapons, and continued travelling silently. They were on high alert, and they made their way through to town square. "Rainbow Dash, head up to see if you spot anything," Spike issued.
She flew up into the air, and looked around. She aimed her Flameshot somewhere, and fired a single fireball. She flew back down quickly, and reported. "Nothing anymore. Hit one of them with a shot, and they fell over burning," she said.
They continued through the town, and passed by the library. Spike laughed a bit. "Heh heh… yep, those were the good old days," he said. Draco was still smoking his cigar, and nodded. He remembered him and Twilight moving into Ponyville, and how out of place they seemed at first.
They heard a rumbling noise coming from inside, and aimed their weapons. They entered the library, and found a group of Shamblers inside, feasting off of some corpses. They turned around, and Spike and Draco fired their weapons.
Since they were suppressed, the weapons barely made an audible sound, but the two dragons fired heavily on the group. The Shamblers were downed in no time at all. The dragons reloaded their weapons, and they all walked up to the bodies, and noticed that they've been feasting on some of the other Shamblers Draco and Alan killed in the night.
"What the fuck? These were the same Shamblers we killed the night before… and these new ones were eating them… so they're double cannibals?" Draco commented. "Hell, Spike, you and I can go for at the most a week without food after a good meal of gems. These guys act as if eating is everything in the world."
Spike was a bit disgusted. "That's not good. If these ponies can eat each other when nothing else is available, they may survive for a lot longer. I gotta contact Doc," he said. He took out a radio from one of his chest holsters, and turned it on. "Doc, come in!" he said.
"Yes, Spike?" Doc answered.
"We got trouble… they seem to be feasting off of each other. They're trying to improvise for the amount of food shortages they have. I'll look more into it," Spike said.
"You do that. By the way, where is Leon?" Doc asked.
"Where is he at, Draco?" Spike asked.
"Fluttershy's cottage," Draco responded.
"He's in Fluttershy's cottage," Spike said into the radio.
For a moment, there was no reply. "Fluttershy? Spike, get there as quickly as possible… please," Doc said.
"I will. Signing off," Spike said, and he shut off the radio. "Come on, let's get a move on." He was interrupted by a sudden burst in the wall. They all turned to look, and saw something extremely dangerous was now undead.
"Oh, shit! Manticore!" Draco yelled.
The two dragons fired their weapons at it, but it moved incredibly fast for something dead. Rainbow Dash flew up, turned on the Walkman, and began to play "Blow Me Away." She aimed the Flameshot, but couldn't get a shot off the Manticore. The Manticore charged towards the dragons, roaring. They both dodged the Manticore, and returned fire again. They got a couple of shots into the Manticore, but all they did was made it angrier.
The Manticore swiped at Draco, and knocked the G36c out of his hands. He jumped out of the way before the Manticore swiped again. He pulled out the pistol in his holster, and fired it quickly at the Manticore. He got off a couple of shots on the Manticore, but ran out of ammo for it. Spike then fired his SCAR-L at the Manticore to distract it.
The Manticore then charged towards Spike, who had run out of ammo for the SCAR-L. "Fuck me…" he said as the Manticore charged towards him and swiped its claws at the gun. Draco had already recovered his weapon, and fired the remaining bullets at the Manticore. Enraged by how much wounds it had, the Manticore roared loudly, attracting a horde of Shamblers and three Runners. The Runners charged toward each living being as the Manticore waited back.
Spike pulled out his pistol, and fired repeatedly at the Runner sprinting towards him. It fell down to the ground dead. Draco had reloaded his pistol, but holstered it to draw out the combat knife on the other holster. He stood in a ready stance, and waited for the Runner to sprint at him. The Runner got close enough for Draco to stab it, bring it towards him, and use it as a shield while he pulled out his pistol and fired shots into the horde of Shamblers. Rainbow Dash landed, and waited for the remaining Runner to charge at her. She used her wings to fly over it, land behind it, and throw it over her shoulders towards the horde. She then quickly fired her Flameshot to the flying Runner, and it caught on fire before landing amongst the horde.
Draco then discarded his shield by blowing its brains out with the pistol. He reloaded the G36c, and noticed it was his last mag. "Better make it count," he said as he aimed towards the Manticore. Spike picked up the SCAR-L, and reloaded it, also noticing he had one more mag remaining. He turned towards Draco.
"Draco! Use your rounds on the Manticore! I'll deal with the rest of the horde!" he yelled out. He then aimed towards the burning fire, where Shamblers were walking out covered in flames. Spike fired his weapon in short bursts, taking out the Shamblers one by one. He counted his bullets carefully, and knew he had seventeen rounds left. He eliminated the Shamblers, and the Manticore was now left. Using its scorpion tail now, the Manticore repeatedly attempted to pierce the militia, but to no avail. The Manticore was now stuck when it jabbed its tail into an old marble statue, and could not remove it.
The militia took advantage of this, and fired repeatedly into the Manticore's head. The Manticore was roaring very loudly, but it had finally succumbed to its wounds, and fell over on the ground, just as the song on the Walkman ended. Both dragons looked at their weapons, and discarded them since they were out of rifle ammo. They still had rounds left for the pistols, so they held onto them. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Draco shouted. He raised his hand into the air, and both Spike and Rainbow Dash slapped the hand.
"Man, that was the most combat experience I've had… literally!" Spike commented.
They all walked out of the library to find a group of about ten undead waiting outside. The militia and the Runners stared each other down, no pony or dragon making a move.
"Right… let's do this," Rainbow Dash said.
She readied her Flameshot, but Spike stopped her. "Wait… they may not see us yet…" Spike looked back at the fire in the library, and noticed something. Maybe they see things with heat… Not really, as the Runners had all sprinted towards them. Draco and Spike pulled out their pistols. Spike fired into the charging crowd, but Draco had not reloaded the pistol. He realized this, and quickly reloaded. A Runner caught up with him, and grabbed him. Draco struggled to get free, until he pulled out the knife and pierced the Runner through its eye. The Runner fell back on the ground dead, but another one rushed up to Draco.
"These guys just don't stop coming!" he yelled out. Draco pulled out the pistol, and saw it was his last clip. He fired a shot into the Runner's forehead, and used him as a shield. He fired the last of the pistol rounds into the horde, until he ran out. Angry, he threw it into the crowd, and thought of an alternative weapon. Spike continued firing his pistol until it too ran out of ammo. He placed it back into the holster, and turned to Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash, fly up now! When we signal, set the Runners on fire!" Spike yelled. He pulled out his knife, and turned to Draco. "Draco, use the meat shield to bag and tag the bastards!" he ordered.
Draco, understanding what Spike meant, pulled the only grenade he had on his holster, pulled the pin, attached it to the corpse he used as a shield, and kicked it away from him towards the group of Runners. They received the corpse, and a moment later incinerated in a fiery explosion, sending body parts flying everywhere and evaporating blood into red mist. Smoke filled the air as the fire rose up and disappeared into the wind.
Draco and Spike could not see into the smoke as it surrounded both of them. Spike was at the ready, and a Runner came out of the smoke at him. He pierced its skull as it came at him, and kicked the corpse back. Draco attempted to see through the smoke, but could not. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and quickly turned around. He stood face to face with a Runner, and before he could strike, it grabbed onto him and bit him on the neck, releasing a fine spray of green dragon blood from Draco.
"AH! YOU FUCKING PRICK!" he yelled as he pulled out the knife and stabbed it into the Runner's ear, killing it. As he did, he grasped onto his neck, and noticed the smoke clearing. He found that all of the Runners had been eliminated and been doused in blood, and turned towards Spike, still clutching his wound. Spike and Rainbow Dash both approached him, and wanted to help him. He backed away slowly, terrified.
"No… don't get closer… I'm… bitten." He looked down at the ground, and knelt down. "I'm gonna become one of them… fuck." He let go of his wound, and looked at his gloved hand. It was stained with his green blood, and he lowered his trembling hand slowly. He laughed a bit, and then sighed. "Funny… I kind of knew this was gonna get me somehow. I'm sorry, you guys." He looked up at them one last time, with pleading eyes. "Take care of Alan for me…" He then collapsed to the ground, breathing his last words before he died.
Spike and Rainbow Dash rushed over to him. Spike checked his pulse, and lowered his head down in sadness. He looked up to Rainbow, and slowly shook his head. Rainbow Dash could not help but burst out in tears, and she rushed over to him. "NO! YOU DON'T GIVE UP ON US, DRACO! NOT NOW!" she yelled as she tried to revive him. Spike pulled out some hoof-cuffs from his holster, and attached them to Draco's arms. He pulled out the ones in Draco's armor as well and hoof-cuffed his legs. Spike then lifted Draco's corpse onto his back, but Rainbow Dash stopped him.
"Where are you taking him!? You leave him alone!" she yelled.
"We need to put him somewhere safe, so that they don't devour him…" He sighed as he said this. "Man… this turned out much worse than I thought it would." Spike took his corpse and headed towards Fluttershy's cottage, where he saw the cottage in the distance. He walked towards the cottage, and turned towards Rainbow. "So… who's at the cottage?" Spike asked.
She hesitated slowly before answering. "Applejack, Derpy, Dinky, Alan, Leon, Fluttershy, Eric, and Scootaloo. All of them are safe and sound… for now," Rainbow said.
They stood in front of the cottage, and heard a commotion inside the shed. "What is that?" Spike asked. He ignored it when he saw Applejack enter, and knocked on the door to the cottage. Fluttershy opened the door, but rushed out quickly. Spike entered, and waited to see how the situation was here.
Draco's now dead... and the infected now seem to be doing anything to survive. The survivors now need to take Leon back to Canterlot, but with Applejack's rage, will they now have no hope of curing the disease? Will her actions get them all killed? And what is Wesker planning? Find out next chapter!