The Equestrian Outbreak

BY: DARTKITTEN

It Flooded the news. The virus, it had spread faster than STDs on Jersey Shore. Everypony was as paranoid as the next, Doors and windows were boarded down as chaos filled the city within hours of the outbreak. The "Quadruped" they called them. It started with mere contact, then the reddening of the eyes, until, eventually, the pony could no longer speak. Walking aimlessly, attempting to feed upon those in their healthy state. Most infections had been caused due to feeding, so most of these "things" were of a mutilated state, missing chunks of flesh and muscle, eyes scarlet red, missing limbs.

Equestria, being the everlongfully peaceful region it was, had nothing in the sort of defenceful artillery or weaponry. Some Ponies attempted to keep the creatures back by hoof, protecting their families, under this gesture putting their love and offspring through the grusifing imagery of their unexpected transformation. Other ponies used home-made weapons such as slingshots, shivs, pipes, planks of wood, construction tools and materials. If not repelling, Ponies were retreating to their boarded up abodes, curling up with who or what gave them comfort.

The sight of this destruction seemed to only be a blur, the least of concerns to Dart, a young Pegasus in the worst situation of his life, even though we was unaware of it. "TawwTahh *hic*" he fare-welled in a jolly intoxicated tone. He frolicked home without a single buck given. He had almost made contact with an infected bystander on his way home but, as the drunk pony almost ran into the other, he made a clumsy jump over, making the even less balanced creature fall down with a moan. "Exwiuze eh muh" He babbled. He made it into his 3rd floor apartment, room 27. his roommate, who had already contracted the virus, jumped on him at entry, making full, infecting contact. "Buhhkk ouff you uh..drunk!" he wailed as he brought himself up, going in his room with a slam of the door. When his roommate had fell on him, he had hit a table with a great force, his body being brittle and battered had caused his head to descend off of his shoulders. His roommate's head lie upon the entryway floor, eyes blood red and open, the rest of his body in a lifeless, rag-doll structure.

A splitting migraine. By Celestia, the worst he has ever had. Dart awakes, His gray coat, gray wings, and Cynober eyes gleaming in the dawn light. A constant whacking on the door breaks the silence. The young equine, in a drowsy state, yells for his roommate. "Drake! Somepony's at the door, it's probably the landlord. It's your turn to pay rent!". He heard an eerie moan coming from outside his room.  Assuming It is Drake, sharing his drowsiness, He staggers out of his bed, taking his necklace off of his nightstand and secures it loosely upon his neck. He drags himself to the front door, almost tripping on his companion's limp carcass on his way to such destination, assuming it being a pillow or trash. he opened the door and opened his eyes. He heard a Furious, moist sounding Screech coming from the desperate, indescribable creature. In shock and reflex, Dart Jumps back, falling over the eledged junk on the floor, landing plot down and stunned. The creature attempted to follow along, in a hungry attack. In current position, Dart kicks furiously at the carcass and rotting predator with rage and adrenaline. He feels a sting as teeth hit is left back hoof, drawing small blood but burning pain. he gives one last buck with what had drawn the last bit of energy from his equestrian body. The threat had its face flat, it's muzzle completely imploded within the front of it's head. He drew in shallow breaths and pushed the bodies out the door and down the stairwell, looting his roommates novelty monocle off of him that he commonly wore as a joke. The bodies fell with a smack as they hit the ground. The gray stallion drew back and closed the door as he re-entered his home, noticing the blood splatters on the door from the zombified pony hammering on it before. He made his way to the couch, hoping he had not actually just witnessed such events before him. He sit there, waiting for the nightmare to end, his face buried in his hoofs, oblivious of the agonizing pain in his left leg. His eyes slowly shut as he re-entered his slumber.

Several hours passed. It was now sun-high when the pony awoke. He had wished that this was his first awaking of today, but that hope had died when he saw the blood on the entryway and felt the swollen bite on his hoof. He had to get down to business, he scavenged what he could in supplies, food and mementos and decided that with the infected he had encountered, he realized that the whole place could be over-ran. After the gray colt had grabbed all his pouch could carry, he headed out, paying his respects for what he had just witnessed. Being careful not to hit anymore encounters, he decides that the best route would be to the roof. He looked up the stairwell and quickly shot back. there were atleast 8 of them rolling and stumbling about. He glanced at the elevator, through the glass outer panel he could see that it was the same problem. Struck with confusion and panic, Dart climbs over the stone half-wall and hangs onto the brass railing on the top surface. From here, he can land in the bushes, safe and sound. Without further thought, he let go of the railing and fell in a controlled manner. At the sound of this, 5 or more beasts had become alert and started to approach at a fast pace, desperate to eat what they could of this survivor. In the position being, The cyan eyed stallion attempts to untangle himself with panic and haste, Crawling and falling. The creatures are stumbling over the planter base when he finally frees himself. Scraped and tattered, he runs faster than he ever has before, tripping over himself and wounds burning.

After running two blocks or so of continuasly he comes to a panting stop at The community center. There have never really had any big events but had the supplies to do so, such as tables, chairs, large desks, and an open auditorium. He enters the building not expecting anyone at first. Then he hears Ruffling in the back room, he creeps through to the source and slowly opens the door, to his unfortunate surprise, the door opened with a loud "Creeeeck". His heart was racing, thinking that whatever had made the sound had not noticed him. As he calmed his senses he started to walk in. A large male Infected colt jumps at him, he backs up, starting to cringe then sees a Shining of metal and the Pony's infected body is beheaded. He looks up and draws back. He hears faint voices in the background having a soft argument " You see the bite on his hoof? He is probably changing as we speak", "No, Just... Let me get close, I could check for redness.", " Your Funeral man. but if you get infected, I will do worse than I did to the Admin here". "Hey, you, stop covering your face, unless you want to be killed out of suspicion!" Dart does as he is told. " he sees a Gray colt with a blue spikey mane tipped with red, wearing blue wireless earphones and a tombstone cutiemark, giving him a burning amber eyed glare. " What are you, bucking Medusa? Is he clean or not, Tomb?", The accompanying pony says impatiently. " Yeah, hes clean". the blue maned pony continued. "Well, now that that's over with, it'll be great to introduce ourselves." says the stallion with a faded brown coat, dark-brown mane with red highlights and sky blue eyes, his blue microphone and headset silhouette cutiemark. "I'm The Living Tombstone, Tomb short...", "And I'm-" "John Ca-"He was interrupted "Mic."The Microphone marked pony finished. "Now, who are you?". The Cyan eyed pony was stumped, completely shocked by even seeing another survivor, It had only been a day but it had felt like years since he has had a civil interaction with anypony. "I-I'm Dart...". He was too shocked to speak another word. There was a short silence, "We were clearing the building and heard a sound from the hallway, I see we were just in time-" Tomb was cutoff "Where'd you get that bite?" Mic asked. "I.... I-I got it from a neighbor this morning, it's pretty nasty...b-but isn't hurting too much.-" "Shh!" the blue-eyed pony said. "I heard something, T. Stay here, I'm going to go check it out" He lifted his shining Iron Rebar and walked out into the hallway. Tombstone sat there with him, half-alert and half-relaxing. Dart started humming September as he sat. "Wow, you actually listen to that?" the headphoned pony asked. "Well, uhm.. yeah, Its one of my favorite songs." He answered "Oh, cool.". They hear a loud crunching smack from down the hallway. A deathly silence fills the whole building, Dart could only hear his heart beating in his ears, he looks over to Tomb, who is wide-eyed, staring blankly ahead. "Got it!" they hear Mic's voice from down the hall. Both of the other ponies' muscles loosened, they sat there, discussing small matters and sharing comments about the brony community. Mic re-enters the Admin-room, cleaning the blood off of his weapon with an old rag. "The place is clear. T. Help him up, let's get to the auditorium and barricade this place with whatever we can find." "Ok, will do" he replied. Tomb helped the other gray pony up to his back hooves, supporting him under his shoulder. They all walked to the center of the building, Mic watching around cautiously around every corner, just incase his search hadn't been as thorough as he though.

They reached the doubledoors and moved inside, it was dark until Mic flicked the switch next to the door, the sound of their walking echoed in the large room, the floor creepily cold. Mic unfolded a seat and Tomb layed Dart against it, Mic ran and pulled 5 tables halfway out as The Living Tombstone Grabbed a first aid kit out of the same storage room. He bandaged the bite on Dart's Hind leg. "Stay here for now, We will secure all windows and doors. The gray-haired Pegasus could only watch as the two musicians started to pick up the chairs that were brought out, they went through the double doors and kicked the stand, so it would stay open, fitting the folded tables through. They patched up all windows and blocked all doors, the last one being the emergency exit. The winged pony grabbed a small bottle of pain killers out of the Medical Kit and swallowed 2 pills dry. The two other ponies inspected the barricades, checking if their effort was worth while. There was a small pause, "Go check for any food" Mic Ordered Tomb. "What are you going to do then?" He protested, "That is of my concern." Mic Replied. "Whatever..." Tomb said, rolling his eyes. As soon as Tomb had left the room on his scavenge, The Microphone marked Pony started hauling remaining tables and chairs, making a small "Fortress" as a small filly would. He grabbed a piece of cardboard and Crudely started writing. "Mic's Sexy fortress of sexiness -No Mares Allowed!-" it read. He placed it above the supposed "door" and squeezed inside, covering the entrance with a folded chair. Tombstone comes in, balancing a few old cans in his hoofs, struggling "I found an old closet back at the-" he cut off. " What the buck is that!?" He dropped the cans on an unfolded table and ran over to the crude structure. "Mic, what the buck man!?" he called to the pony inside. "No! Get away from my fort!" Came the muffled response."I'm not going to feed you, so your going to have to come out some time!" He finished. Dart had started to get up and Tomb slowly walked over, "Need help?" He asked, half concerned and half annoyed. "Nope, I think I can manage." He stood up on his haunches and balanced himself, then fell to all fours and walked over to the supposed "fort". "What's this cord" Dart pointed to a small cord leading from Mic's makeshift abode to the storage room where he pulled the tables from. Suddenly, they flinched at a loud sound coming from Mic's "Sexy Fortress" and at almost an instant Tomb and Dart Recognized "One Trick Pony" Blasting louder than either of them had remembered, the High Bass tones shaking the floor of the whole building. "Mic! Mic, Shut it off!" Tomb started to yell, while kicking at his shelter. The sound lowered drastically and Mic peeked his head out of what seemed to be a window made out of a sideways chair that almost looked like it opened when you unfolded the chair. "Too much for you?" the microphone pony said in a snub tone. "No! the problem is those THINGS that are all around town, you know, like the admin, when you cracked it's temple and found this one?" He said in a furious tone. "They're called zombies, and cool your shit, I will play your remix, so that way if they come barging in, you know that even they like it." He responded. "I'm serious!" Tomb protested. "Let's just all calm down and focus on survival." Dart finished. "Fine, Killjoy." Mic Muttered. "Are you going to be staying?" Asked Tombstone, "Yeah, why?" Dart Responded. "It's just, you havn't put down your pack at all, you have been holding it the whole time. You are welcome to stay." Tomb continued. "I have been ready to get up and leave. Wow, I guess I don't really have much of a choice anymore, do I?" He paused. "Ok, I'll stay, but frankly, I think that one might kill us all one of these days." "I have ears you know!" came Mic's voice, muffled from his minutature abode.

The night was horrifying just by thought. Clouds filled the sky as thunder crackled through them.The ambient sounds of the chaotic City filled the ears of Dart, the car alarms going off, the dogs barking , the distant moans, and the blowing of the picking up wind. There were no beds and for safety, they all stayed in the auditorium, mass carpets from the reliable storage room were foldedabout 2 to 3 times and slept on, to cushion the ground, though still cold. Mic had his own way of sleeping by hanging a hammok made up of drapes from the Front Office in his fort, keeping his re-bar by his side. Each of the ponies knew that eachother were scared. Scared of what would happen to eachother, scared of what will happen if they run out of food, water... Attempting to accept their new lives, one by one, the ponies eventually fell asleep, Dart of which, being the last.

Dart Awoke expecting to be in his bed, back in his apartment. But as soon as he opened his eyes, he recalled all of the events that had happened, the situation he is in, the outbreak that came upon this god forsaken city. He lie there, his eyes open but blinded by his overflowing thoughts. he is snapped out of his train of thought by a prodding on his back, he flips back and sees a small piece of silverware fall to the ground with a clang. he looks around and hears Mic giggling at his confusion. The Creasent-marked pony glares at him annoyed and notices his horn shine as he gets poked again, this time not turning. "I'm just screwing with you, you should know that." Mic calls to Dart. "I'll keep that in mind." He responds then grunts his way to all fours, . "Where's Tomb?" Dart asks in a large yawn. "He's back in the kitchen by the rec hall. He told me to wake you up." There was a small silence. "So, what you wanna do?" the gray pony asked. "Go on the roof and check the area?" Mic Suggested. "Sounds good." The other pony agreed. They both found thier way to a small staircase and ventured up onto the roof. Dart was quite astonished. He had lived in a third floor apartment and never seen such a sight. "When you get over all of the infected-" Mic started. "This town...Actually looks pretty well, pretty vibrant..." Dart gave him a confused look. "I mean, this town looks as dirty as it allways has been." He corrected himself. "Anyway... I remember a grocery store down J st."Dart says and points down a small street at the left of the ponies.