An Undead Test of Friendship

by Muffinlover4

Confusion

As Twilight awoke, she ran a hand through her hair. She felt something that wasn't quite hair and realized that someone had bandaged her head. “Oh, right. I passed out. Must have hit my head.” She sighed. Looking around, she saw no sign of any of her friends. She became worried. Her anxiety only grew when she noticed that she was in a completely unrecognizable area. Oh great, Twilight. Not only are you a klutz, but you're getting yourself lost now too! She thought to herself. Being the analytical seeker of knowledge she is, a study of her surroundings was in order. Casting a glance to her right, she viewed a doorway that stood against a wall plastered with a light bluish wallpaper. To her left sat a baby's crib which had a sloppy interior. Old toys and a mussed up blanket its only contents. She hoisted herself up from the floor and ventured out into the rest of the house. As she turned a corner towards a descending staircase, she accidentally kicked a picture frame that had been left on the floor.

“Twilight? Is that you?” A voice called from downstairs.

Cautiously, Twilight answered, “... Yes. Who's down there?” A blur of yellow streaked towards Twilight and she found herself in an embrace with a sobbing Fluttershy.

“Oh my goodness, I was so worried Twilight! I woke up in this house, and I didn't know where I was, and I saw you on the floor with a gash on your head! I found a first aid kit and did the best I could, and I would've moved you to a bed, but I'm not that strong. I don't mean that you're heavy, but I, uhm... I'm sorry Twilight. I didn't mean to say-”

“Fluttershy! It's alright.” Twilight interrupted her spooked friend. Remembering the picture frame, Twilight bent down to pick it up, and examined the image it held. The ocean occupied the back drop of the picture, while an excited family occupied the foreground. The mother and father held a goofy parental pose as most do in vacation photos. The oldest son looked to be 18 or so, and was putting the younger in a playful headlock. Smiling, the youngest brother was pretending to release himself from the vice. He looked to be around 14 years old. At the bottom right hand corner of the photo, a child no older than 1 year old sat in a baby chair fit for the beach. She looked content with her sand shovel in one hand, and a beautiful opal-colored seashell in the other. Twilight smiled. She was reminded of a more innocent and happy time, one before the outbreak.

“Instead of looking through the family photo album, how about we figure out why we're in this place?” Spike said, walking up the stairs. He feigned annoyance, but Twilight could tell that he was relieved she wasn't banged up too badly. “Looks like it's just us three here. I can't find any of the others. I worried something happened to them.” Twilight became uneasy upon hearing this bit of news. She rattled her brain to try to remember what had happened to them. Everything was jumbled, but certain events were clear enough to think back to. She remembered finishing her letter to the princess, eating at Pinkie's party, losing her medicine, finding Rarity in the bathroom, driving to L.A., and then seeing a bomb fall out of the sky. She snapped back to reality and nervously darted her eyes between Spike and Fluttershy.

“The bomb.”The others looked at her. “Do you remember a bomb dropping on the city?!” Twilight yelped.

“...Yeah. Fluttershy said she did too, but we just thought it was a nightmare or something. But if you saw it too, then something really must've happened.” Spike uttered. Concern consuming his face. Should I tell her about that eerie purple glow? Spike debated in his head. Probably not. We should find a way out of here and discus that later. It would only make things harder in this situation.

“Well, guys. It looks like something happened and we need to figure out what that is. We also need to find our friends... They can't be too far from us.” Twilight said, trying to latch onto whatever confidence she had left. This wasn't exactly the kind of situation she was accustomed to. Sure, being on the lookout for any stray infected was one thing when you had six other people to back you up. But now she was left with less than half of the team. “Let's look around for anything we could use to arm ourselves with.” Twilight said, leading them down the stairs. They entered the living room of the house. Intricate patterns tattered on tapestries, a fireplace strewn with ash and burnt logs, and a corroding chandelier thrown about the floor. Twilight caught of whiff of something familiar, yet she couldn't quite put a finger on it. . . Blood. That's what she smelled. Whatever happened here wasn't a civilized argument.

Whimpering as she descended the stairs, Fluttershy noted her surroundings. “It looks like someone had a nasty brawl down here. I hope nobody was hurt.” She knew better, but she was doing her best to keep her nerves at bay. She wanted to be strong for the group, but that was never something she was particularly gifted at. Her gentle and kind nature had, for a while now, been trying it's hardest to adjust to how cold and dark the world had become since the infection. She felt pity for those afflicted. She wouldn't be able to take one out, they were still human after all.

Spike broke her concentration, “Jeez, everything around here is wrecked. Whatever happened here, the winners didn't stay too long.” Spike started towards the kitchen while the girls headed to the basement to check for any life or lack thereof. A visible layer of dust clung to the appliances in the rummaged kitchen. Spike took a peek in the fridge, only to be disappointed by a single carton of solidified milk and two rotten apples. He turned to check the rest of the area for anything of use. Along the inside of the cupboards, he found a few slices of bread and a couple granola bars. He nabbed them and threw them into his backpack that he had always carried. He enjoyed being prepared for situations, especially unplanned ones.

Down in the basement, Twilight and Fluttershy were investigating. “Twilight... Do we really have to go into the dark, scary basement? I mean, we could just stay upstairs and clean up the mess or something.” Fluttershy sheepishly remarked.

“I know you're scared, but we have to check down here to get a clue of how we ended up in this place.” Twilight responded. In truth, she was uneasy about basements because of the large amount of horror movies she had seen when she was younger. However, Twilight wouldn't let Texas Chainsaw Massacre stop he from guiding everyone to safety. They cautiously ventured down the staircase. Lowering themselves into the unknown. Twilight fumbled along a wall in the darkness until her hand bumped the side of a light switch. CLICK.

“Okay, that's better.” Twilight sighed as the lower level was illuminated. Looking around, she spotted a gurney to her right pushed against the wall. Dirty medical tools were piled on top of a table located right beside it. Shuddering, she wondered what exactly happened in this house. To her left she saw a plethora of vials, test tubes, beakers, syringes, and other medical implements. What is with all this stuff? What was all of this used for? Experimentation? Torture?! Twilight thought to herself.

“Umm... Needless to say Twilight, I think it would be best if we left right now. This whole place is creeping me out.” Fluttershy said, latching onto Twilight's arm. Twilight moved towards the scalpel she spotted on the operating table.

“I know. This place is. . . off. I just want to see if there is anything that we can use.” Twilight moved closer towards the heap of discarded tools and something caught her eye. Almost hidden in the folds of a bloody cloth, an eerily familiar glow caught her eye. Reaching for the source of the glow, Twilight began to grow nervous for some reason unbeknownst to her. Seconds before she could expose the illustrious beams, a loud cry emanated from upstairs.

“TWILIGHT! Get up here, NOW!” A startled Spike boomed. Being wretched back to the situation at hand, Twilight grasped Fluttershy's wrist and sped up the stairs.

“Spike! Is everything alri-” Her sentence was cut short along with her breath. As she stood in the basement's doorway, she stared upon a scenario that she hoped she would never live to see . Among many food wrappers stood a petrified Spike. The door to the kitchen had been flung open, and his gaze was fixated on a dark figure that now occupied the doorway. Laden with oozing boils, an array of lesions and cuts, and accompanied with a heavy wheezing stood a male about forty years old. As he stared at the group he wore a look of confusion, which quickly turned to rage. Twilight knew that he was in about stage four of the infection; five stages total. She'd been studying the symptoms of the infection to make sure she knew how serious encounters would be.

At stage four, all of the subject's physical lesions and disruptions were present. At this stage, the disease finds its way into the central nervous system. It then attacks the limbic system and amygdala, responsible for emotional control. Finally, it creates an intense burning sensation over every part of the body and persists until the host dies. No treatment is available for anyone in this stage, and the only way to prevent further contamination is to terminate the carrier. Twilight had to think more quickly than she had in her life. Without a weapon, she would have to flee. After quickly surveying the area, she made note of a hallway to her right, leading out of the house. With the fact in mind that one slip up could turn disastrous, Twilight took a deep breath. A split second of silence...

You could almost hear the muscles in Twilight's legs tense as she sprinted towards Spike. She pulled him out of the kitchen, tossed him towards Fluttershy, and screamed to them. “RUN!” The group sped down the hall and could hear the rabid man coming at them from behind. Chasing after a meal like a lion does a zebra. The door rapidly grew closer and the group pressed on, the possibility of safety keeping them going.

“Dammit!” a voice cried.

Twilight spun herself around and saw that Spike had fallen. The man sped up at the sight of an easy meal. Without hesitation, Twilight grabbed Spike's shirt collar, flinging him towards Fluttershy. Twilight spun back around and assumed an offensive stance. Using what moves she'd learned from Daring Do novels, she reared back and swung her leg towards the midsection of the pursuer. Connecting with the force of this devastating move, the man was sent into the wall and toppling over onto the ground.

“GO! NOW!” She screamed to the others. The trio made it out the door and ran to the left down an available alley that led to the middle of a miscellaneous street. As the sprinted into the open, the witnessed something of a very confusing nature. A house in front of them. Blank white, perfectly kept lawn, a dainty flowerbed lay at the front and was complimented by a two foot angle statue directly adjacent from it.

The house by its side matched the first in almost every way. As did the next house, and the next, and the next. All but the one they had just been inside. Theirs was old and riddled with dirt.

“What is going on here? Why do all these houses look the same, Twilight?” Spike asked. He had no clue why this was the way it was, and Twilight couldn't help but feel mutually. As they scanned the area, a dark fog rolled down the street and moved towards the group.

“What in the world?” Fluttershy asked. She looked past the fog as much as she could, and saw another darkened figure. This one, female, middle aged. Fluttershy gasped, wondering who it was and if they were infected or not. Suddenly she became light headed. She fell into Twilight's weak arms. Fluttershy noticed that Spike was already unconscious and Twilight was fading as well.

Oh, my... This can't be good. She thought. The world faded to black.

Comments

[Rainbow87dash]

Hmmm that reminds me of a game
Ever heard of Metro 2033? it's a game about post-nuclear apocalypse in Moscow
There's these mutants that throw you into a kind of like dream state and they make you vision things from pre-Apocalyptic Moscow to some wierd dream demention it's freaking strange