Several hours later, Officer Valor managed to reach Ponyville. Along the way, he had encountered several ponies like those back the hospital. All had been mangled with milky eyes, and all had attempted to attack him. Valor had decided against confrontation and run away from them before they could get close. He no longer felt like vomiting when he encountering one of those… monsters. He shrugged it off; he must be getting used to the wretched smell of blood and death that surrounded him.

The sky above him was beginning to purple on the horizon as the sun began its daily travel downward. A fresh breeze ruffled his mane and for a minute Officer Valor forgot what was happening and smiled. A sigh escaped his mouth gently. “Keep this feeling close,” he said aloud to himself while crossing a bridge toward the town. A small stream ran beneath the bridge, only adding to the ambient beauty. “Lose the little things, and you lose yourself.”

No sooner had he said that, than the smile fell from his face. The town he had known so well was in shambles. Buildings were burned to the ground, dead ponies littered the streets, but ponies were also walking around. No, Officer Valor realized, not ponies… just bodies. Shells of their former selves. The collective of maimed and disfigured ponies lurched around randomly with no apparent destination in mind. Some without legs were dragging themselves along with their remaining hooves, while others were too mangled even to do that. They lay on the ground in a pile of bones and muscle, a surviving amount of flesh making up their muzzles and necks… if they were lucky enough.

Officer Valor looked toward the town with fear rising in his body. Many doors had hastily-written signs reading “DEAD INSIDE.” Some of those doors were wide open, allowing the ponies to freely and aimlessly stumble in and out. Valor spotted a few ponies of various colours lying on the ground with deep wounds to their heads. A small, bloodied hatchet was abandoned near the bodies. Valor glanced around him and galloped quickly toward the discarded weapon.

With the hatchet gripped in his teeth, Valor felt that at least he wasn’t entirely defenseless. One unicorn nearby noticed the movement from its one remaining eye and slowly began to come toward Valor. Her lavender coat was torn, ribs stabbing outward on her right side; her violet mane was matted with blood. Valor had recognized her and stopped in his tracks.

“Amethyst Star?” He uttered in disbelief. “It’s me! It’s Valor!” He placed the hatchet on the ground and tried to talk with his mangled friend. She moaned in reply, slowly walking forward toward him. “Amethyst! Celestia dammit, it’s me!” Officer Valor was getting hysterical now, tears forming in his eyes.

“What the fuck is happening here?!” He yelled out. He was shaking now, a sickening feeling growing in his stomach and tears flowing down his face. Valor grabbed his friend and pulled her close to him, looking into her milky eye. A small stain of its original purple remained. “What happened to you…”

A few groans arose from behind him now. His head whipped around to see that the scene had attracted ten or so of the wandering ponies. He started to back away, but instead walked into Amethyst Star, who had moved forward, her mouth open wide. Valor screamed and fell to the ground. He fumbled with the hatchet and swung it at Amethyst Star, hitting her flank with a sickening sound. Valor looked on in horror as the unicorn advanced, showing no expression of pain on her mangled face. The hatchet stuck deep into her body, a small trickle of blood falling from the wound it created.

“Oh shit.” He said while pulling himself away from her. His back hit a wall from a building. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” He scrambled onto his hooves and looked at the ponies approaching en masse. The outcome was bleak at best. A quick glance showed no way around the murderous group.

SHUNK!

Amethyst Star fell to the ground, a large shard of glass encased in a purple aura jutting from the side of her head. Blood began to flow out of the wound onto the crumpled pony. Valor looked past the dead mare and saw another, living mare give a quick wave. Officer Valor sprinted through the opening in the group and ran toward the building, leaving the other ponies behind.

“Are you crazy?” The mare said to him. “You could have died out there!” Valor watched the lavender coated mare pace back and forth in front of him as he sat down to catch his breath. Her violet mane had a pink streak down it, and at one time she would have looked beautiful. But now she looked beaten and tired. He noticed her horn and knew instantly that it had been her who saved him from the other ponies.

“I mean, what could possibly make you wander out there like that?” She continued pacing, growing steadily nervous. The group that had surrounded Valor before was now already by the pharmacy she had been hiding in. Officer Valor was now standing. He saw them at the door and windows. His savior quickly used her magic to barricade the door with a set of shelves. The ponies outside were pushing against the door and windows with their hooves. It wouldn’t last forever, but they were safe for now.

“Excuse me, uh miss…” Valor began, hoping for a name. The unicorn finally stopped pacing and looked at him worriedly. “Oh, uh Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”

“Officer Valor of Ponyville PD. Maybe you can tell me what the fuck is going on out there.” Valor motioned toward the ponies attempting to break through the barricade. A confused look crept on her face. “What? Are you kidding? Where have you been the past few weeks?” Valor looked at her calmly. “Oh my. You’re serious aren’t you…”

Twilight pulled over two chairs with her magic, the purple aura disappearing as the two sat down. “Well, about four weeks ago, news started coming into town about a disease spreading across Equestria. Most of us just shrugged it off as another Pony Flu or something, but after a few days our hospital were filling up with sick ponies from Manehattan and Fillydelphia. Something about their hospitals being too full.” She shrugged.

“That’s when everything started going wrong. The ponies being brought into the hospital weren’t being treated, they were being quarantined. Soon one of them managed to infect a doctor or nurse. Anyway, he turned into one of them and it started to spread into the town. I tried to read up on the subject as much as possible, but there aren’t too many books in my library dealing with… well, this.” She waved her hoof in the air, encompassing the whole town in her motions.

Valor looked at her with a confused look. “So what you’re saying is that these ponies are just sick?”

“Sick? Oh no, no, no. Valor, those ponies are dead.”

CRASH!

The two ponies pulled away from their conversation and looked to the source of the noise. One of the unicorns outside had used its horn to push through the glass of the window. His muzzle progressively pushed through the small hole, cracking the glass around it. Skin and hair began peeling off of him, torn by the jagged glass edges, as he shoved his head through the growing hole. More and more of the unicorn’s skull was bared as bits of blood-soaked flesh dropping to the floor. Twilight grimaced at the skeletal muzzle and walked toward it. She used her magic to pick up a large shard of the glass and stabbed the unicorn in the eye.

The unicorn dropped down, its head still lodged in the hole. Blood came pouring from where its eye used to be. “It won’t be long until the others start breaking through here as well.” She said, walking back toward Valor. His face was blank and confused. “Those things out there are dead?”

Twilight went into the back of the back of the pharmacy and started looking around through the bottles of pills. “Yeah. A good hit on the head will do them in. I just figure that something sharp… I don’t know. Maybe it’s less painful. Do it quickly, you know?” She was holding two bottles, staring closely at both of them. “Ah! Exactly what I need!” She magicked one of the bottles to her saddlebag and then walked back to Valor.

“I guess you can call them zombies, but I don’t know… It just sounds so strange. I’ve taken to calling them Trotters, on account of their slow movement.” Twilight put the saddlebag on and looked at the door. The barricade was holding, but many more Trotters were gathering around. “I know it’s a lot to take in, especially in such a short time. Come with me back to the Library. It’s safe there.” The two walked to the back door and stepped outside. The surrounding area was packed with Trotters, all of which were now turning toward the two dumbstruck ponies.

Twilight slammed the door behind them while Valor began to push over a set of shelves. “Ok, where do we go now?” he asked the purple mare. “Uh, I don’t know!” she responded, clearly beginning to panic. The Trotters at the front were beginning to move the barricade. A few more unicorns were awkwardly hitting against the glass, causing more and more cracks to appear.

Twilight and Valor put all their weight against the door, but the force from the ponies outside was too great. Slowly the door gave way, creeping open slowly. “Shit! Twilight, is there any way out of here?” Valor screamed. Twilight scanned the surroundings. Her eyes set upon a window behind the counter. “There!”

After one final shove on the back door, they galloped at full speed and dove over the counter. The shelves were blocking the door, but they began to give under the unstoppable force of the dead ponies. Twilight attempted to open the window, but to no avail. Valor quickly kicked at the glass, shattering the window into tiny pieces. At the same time the glass covering the front of the store caved in under the force of the ponies. They all slowly tumbled inside and shambled toward the escaping ponies.

Twilight climbed up to the window and tried to go through headfirst, her flank sticking back into the store a bit. Valor couldn’t help but look at the purple mare wriggling through the window. She really was a good looking pony. Maybe if the circumstances were different…

Twilight looked back to find Valor staring at her body. “Hey, a little help here?” She said to him, a disapproving look on her face. Valor shook his head and popped back into reality. “Oh, yeah sure.” She rolled her eyes as he moved to help her through the window. “I already have a stallion, thanks.” She said to him as she fell onto the ground. Valor looked down at her and smiled as Twilight blushed a bit.

Oh the little things…

Valor jumped through the window and landed next to Twilight. They could see the library in the distance, but a sea of Trotters blocked their way. Valor pointed to Amethyst Star who lay on the ground with a pool of blood forming around her. Twilight brought over the hatchet and dropped at Valor’s feet who picked it up.

“Ok, we make a run for it. One…” Valor and Twilight hunkered down and braced themselves. “Two…” Valor gripped the hatchet in his mouth tightly. He felt splinters beginning to break off and stab into his mouth. “Three!”

They darted straight to the library. Valor swung wildly at the Trotters that came close to him. He felt the weapon sink into the ponies’ flesh and watched as blood spurted out from the wounds he had just made. Twilight frantically magicked various items on the ground at the Trotters. She had no clue whether she killed any or not; all she knew was that she was holding them back enough for her to pass by.

The two charging ponies knocked Trotters aside in different directions as they continued galloping to the safe house. One mangled pony stood directly in front of Valor, moaning loudly. Valor dug his hatchet into the pony’s neck. Its head fell to the side, hanging by a few shreds of flesh, still attempting to bite at the pair.

Blood spattered onto Twilight’s and Valor’s manes as they fought through the horde separating them from the library. The hatchet’s handle began to splinter in Valor’s mouth, leaving a metallic taste of blood in his mouth. Twilight looked forward and saw they were closing in on the Library. “Valor! We’re gonna make it!” She cried out to him as she continued magically tossing items on the road at Trotters.

SNAP!

The hatchet finally broke, leaving the head lodged in a unicorn’s skull. Valor realized he was defenseless, but the two continued running, leaving the weapon behind. In a desperate move, Twilight used her magic to grab onto the hatched head and slice it wildly in front of them. Flesh and limbs fell to the ground, showering blood everywhere as Twilight continued to maniacally wield the dulling blade.

Finally there stood one pony between them and the door. Its lower jaw was missing, the tongue of the pony half chewed off and dangling freely. An odd moan escaped its mouth as it lurched forward toward Valor. He swung his head still expecting to find his hatchet but instead pelted the Trotter with a piece of splintered wood. Twilight saw and struck the pony square between its milky eyes, splitting the top of its skull. With a sickening sound, the pony dropped to the ground and stopped moving.

Twilight and Valor slammed the door behind them, breathing heavily. The library was dark except for a few candles scattered about that dimly lit the main room. Twilight placed a wooden barricade against the door to prevent any Trotters from entering and dropped her saddlebags, letting out a long sigh. Valor trotted after her. “You know I never got a chance to thank you for saving me earlier. If you hadn’t seen me, Celestia knows what would have happened.”

Twilight smiled at him kindly and shrugged. ”I couldn’t let another pony get attacked like that. We’ve lost too many ponies as it is. Besides, you seemed like you might be very helpful.” She walked to the back of the room and climbed up to the loft. “What do you mean helpful?” Valor asked, taking in the surroundings. “While I don’t exactly know what’s going on here, I feel that it’d be a safe idea to get the Elements of Harmony together and see if we can fix this.”

Valor heard a moan coming from up in the loft. It didn’t sound like Twilight. But it definitely wasn’t a Trotter either. He climbed up to where she was and saw a white unicorn with a perfectly styled purple mane. She was lying on a bed, her leg wrapped up in bandages. “Miss, are you ok?” Valor asked as he approached the mare.

“Ah! Stay back! I look positively hideous!” She cried back at him, burying her face in the pillow. Valor gave Twilight a confused look. “This is my friend Rarity. She broke her leg a few days ago and I needed to get her some medicine.” “Well that explains the pharmacy then, I guess.”

Rarity removed her head from the pillow and was now looking Valor over. “Oh my dear! What happened to you? You look horrid!” Valor glanced down at the diva pony. “Hmm. Well. I was in a coma, walked all the way to Ponyville and had to fight off an undead pony horde. What’s your excuse?” Rarity stared back at him, a smile slowly appearing on her face.

“Well that simply does not excuse your style! Or lack thereof. Your mane is positively bedraggled and your coat is, is, well, diabolical! You simply must get yourself cleaned up immediately! I may be down and out, but it doesn’t mean I should have to put up with… well, with that!” She waved her hoof at Valor.

He stood dumbstruck at the unicorn that just a moment ago hid in her pillow, and was now passing fashion judgments on him. His eyes met hers and she suddenly burst out in laughter that seemed to negate all the horrors going on right outside. Twilight joined in, clutching her sides, and fell to the floor. Valor looked at the two ponies and then looked down at himself. He felt a smile creep onto his face, and then started laughing along with them.

The little things, Valor.He thought to himself as he laughed to the point of tears. Always take the time to enjoy the little things.

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Hey everyone, hope you all liked this chapter. It's starting to now fully separate from The Walking Dead, which is good. I've got plenty of ideas coming up that I'm sure you'll all love. Sorry about the wait, but I'm a busy college guy. Between ponies and pretending to do homework, I'm usually booked up. The next one should be up in another week or so, I hope. But in the meantime, I was wondering if anyone would like to be a pre-reader. I'd love to get some input before I post the story. So yeah, PM me if you're interested .
That's about it for now, so until next time, enjoy!

ps- For Twilight's face at the window part, consult the "NO." meme face and the "gentlemen" rage face. Somewhere between those two, you should be able to pick up on how she looked. Sexy, eh?