The infected and dead rising again were thought to be a prank when it showed up in newspapers across Equestria. It was March 31st. Bad timing.

Twilight gathered her friends in her new kingdom anyways to discuss the facts about these infected ponies.

"Alright. Princess Celestia has hired many very intelligent and well-respected scientists to research on this infection. The results are...disturbing." Twilight shuffled the papers, cleared her throat, and began to read.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

We've come to a conclusion.

The dead are rising again. After being infected, a pony will contract a fever that will kill them. After dying, the pony will come back to life. Their eyes are gray and their cutie mark fades away, which has led to two possible conclusions.

These ponies are either an attack from Tirek, as these symptoms were seen in the ponies who's magic was taken away.

Or, this is a curse set by the highest god herself to punish us.

These ponies crave magical beings, and also non-magical beings. They want to feast. We've lost a scientist or two to accidental unlocked doors, where a subject came in and devoured them. Then, they turned into one of them too.

The infected have a good nose, and respond to noise and light. Any loud noises or bright lights will attract them. They move at a very slow pace, so one of our head scientists has affectionately  dubbed them 'trotters', which sounds fitting if you ask me. The longer a trotter subject goes without food, the slower and malnourished they become. They do not starve to death. Just...suffer. They seem to naturally form herds to wander the world and find food. The only successful way to kill one is shooting them in the head and breaking through the brain stem.

We learned that the hard way.

They eat lead like its for dinner unless you hit them in the brain. Many simple ponies will not realize these trotters are a threat, thinking they are sick ponies wandering the streets. A national crisis announcement should fix that, if you can, Princess. For now, arm yourself and prepare troops to mow them down.

Also, most importantly, you don't-"

Twilight stopped reading, as the writing ended there and the parchment was stained with blood.

"Don't what?" Applejack asked.

"We don't know. The lab was found overrun by these...trotters."

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to say something sarcastic when an ear splitting shriek sounded from outside. Twilight rushed to the window, met with a scene of horror. Ponies were running from slow-moving, grotesque ponies, with gray eyes, mouths stained with blood, and no cutie marks. They flooded the streets, cornering some ponies and devouring them. Other ponies were fighting back with sticks and rocks, anything they could find on the ground. Two blocks away a house was on fire, attracting the trotters towards it.

"Oh, no..." Twilight could only say, watching Ponyville crumble before her eyes. Next Chapter: Month One, Day Twenty Estimated time remaining: 25 Minutes