Spiel der Untoten

by Final Draft

Chapters

Wave One-The Game of the Undead
Wave Two-Follow The Tank
Wave Three-Locked and Loaded
Wave Four-Pop Goes the Ruble
Waves Five and Six- Big City Nights
Waves Seven and Eight- Perk-a-Colas and Ponies
Wave Nine- You're On Your Own

Wave One-The Game of the Undead

“What in Celestia’s name are those things?!”

“I know what they are, but I don’t know how they came to be. They’re—”

“Don’t even say it!”

“They are zombies? Correct?”

“Gah! He went and said it!”

“Although I’m reluctant to come to that conclusion…yes, they’re zombies.”

“This is crazy, you’re both crazy, I’m out of here!”

The red earth pony separated himself from the other two and made his way towards the lobby door only to be blocked by the fourth member of their group. The brown alicorn stallion stood in front of the earth pony, the earth pony’s head barely coming up to the alicorn’s chest.

“Excuse me, sir, I’m leaving,” the earth pony said, trying to force his way past. The alicorn did not budge and only stared with cold, cyan eyes. After a tense moment, the red stallion gave up and returned to the others.

“Why so uneasy, comrade?” The white pegasus stallion asked, putting extra emphasis on the word comrade.

“I’m trapped here with you three while, Celestia-knows-what, is happening to the economy. The stock market is probably already belly-up!”

“How can you think of money at a time like this?” The pink unicorn mare asked, pushing her thick framed glasses up the bridge of her nose. “We should really focus on what’s going on here.”

For the first time since arriving at the Canterlot Hotel, the four survivors looked at their surroundings. The windows to the streets were already boarded up with thick wooden planks that none recalled putting up. Sandbags and more boards blocked access to the two hallways leading to the rest of the first floor. The stairwell was filled with smoldering debris preventing passage to the higher floors. And with the elevator useless without power, the only way out was through the front door.

“Anypony remember drawing these?” The white pegasus asked, indicating to a chalk drawing on the wall behind the reception desk and another next to the elevator. They were clearly meant to be firearms, the likes of which most of Equestria had never seen.

The alicorn turned away from the window he’d been looking through and ran towards one of the chalk drawings. He ran his hoof over it and from within the wall a shotgun emerged.

“Wha-how?” the red earth pony asked in disbelief, not sure of what his eyes just saw.

“Check your saddle bags,” the alicorn instructed as he ran back to the window, levitating the shotgun with his cyan magic aura. He aimed down the sight and pulled the trigger, sending buckshot into the skull of an approaching zombie.

The moaning of the undead grew louder as several more appeared, clawing away at the barricades of the room. The three confused ponies reached into the saddlebags they didn’t recall having prior to entering the hotel and withdrew handguns.

“Did I have this before?”

“What is this thing?”

“Awesome…”

The red pony clutched the pistol in his hooves and aimed at a zombie destroying the barricade closest him. When it ripped the last board away and clumsily climbed in he fired two rounds into its head. The orange light in its eyes faded and its lifeless corpse fell to the ground.

“Shoot ‘em five times then buck them,” the alicorn instructed.

“What? That’s a waste of ammo! Didn’t you see me put that one down in two shots?”

“Trust me.”

The pink mare ran to the broken window and used her magic to repair the barricades while the pegasus continued rummaging through his bag. From within he found two identical rocks with rings hanging from them.

Using his teeth, the pegasus pulled the ring out of one of the rocks and waited for something to happen. He raised it to his ear and heard a faint ticking noise. Sudden realization came over him and he threw the grenade out the window nearest him. An explosion soon followed and bits of zombie plastered the walls of the hallway.

Silence followed the explosion and only the distant moan of an unseen zombie could be heard. The four looked around uneasily and eventually turned to each other. The alicorn holstered the shotgun to his back and reached into his saddlebag, removing his own pistol and an odd gold coin.

“Who has a thousand points?” he asked, looking at the coin.

“Excuse me? Points? Are you crazy? Were we supposed to be keeping score?” the red stallion asked in bewilderment.

“The coin in your saddlebag does that for you,” the alicorn said, levitating his coin for the others to see. “950” was engraved into the face of gold coin.

“This defies all logic,” the unicorn mare exclaimed as she withdrew her own coin; “550” engraved in its surface. “How do you know about all this? Who are you?” The alicorn said nothing, his ears twitching as the moaning of the unseen zombie grew louder. “And what happened to your wing?”

“I wasn’t bitten, if that’s what you’re asking,” the alicorn replied, looking to his bandaged wing. “Again I will ask; who has one thousand points?”

“How about you tell us your name first?” the pegasus asked, his (pony name for Italy) accent becoming more noticeable with his agitation. When the alicorn again refused to answer his inquiry the pegasus stated, “My name is Crescendo.”

“Crescendo? As in, THE Crescendo, lead singer of Dragonify?!” the pink unicorn mare asked excitedly. The pegasus nodded and the mare let out a fan girl scream. “I should have known! The white fur, the green and red mane, the beautiful green eyes and that sexy accent; of course it’s you!

“I’m Gemini, your number one fan,” she said, brushing a lock of her pink and white mane out of her face. “Astrologer, all around genius and (quietly—just to Crescendo) freak in the sheets.”

Crescendo smiled awkwardly as Gemini gave him bedroom eyes. He swallowed and turned quickly to the red stallion. “And what about you, comrade?

“You’ve probably all heard of me, but I’m Ruble Rouser,” the red pony spoke with snobbish pride. He was met with blank stares and he cleared his throat. “Millionaire? Owner of RR Industries? Rags to riches story of the century—come on! You can’t say you’ve never heard of me!” The others shook their heads and Ruble just sighed.

“Come on, your turn, what is your name?” Crescendo asked the alicorn. A zombie that had been crippled by Crescendo’s grenade had hoisted itself up to the barricade and began tearing away at the boards.

“Tank. That’s all you’re getting from me,” the alicorn said finally. Crescendo nodded and turned to the barricade. A single shot from his pistol put the zombie out of its misery and it slumped to the floor.

“That all of them?” Ruble asked, looking around. The silence was broken by an eerie melody and the cries of the undead.

“Round two,” Tank said, readying his pistol.

Wave Two-Follow The Tank

“So these things come in waves?” Ruble Rouser asked as more zombies began approaching their location.

“Yes, and they’re only going to get stronger,” Tank said, allowing the zombies nearest him to rip a few boards off the window. He put five rounds into one’s torso then reared and bucked its head off.

Ruble and Crescendo followed the alicorn’s lead and killed what zombies they could in the same manner. Gemini levitated her pistol in front of her, closing her eyes as she fired. Her shots splintered the boards and missed the zombie beyond.

“That’s enough, we have to move!” Tank shouted. He removed the coin from his saddlebag and held it next to the front door. The sound of a cash register completing a sale emanated from the door as it swung outward and the hinges locked in place.

“Where are we going?” Gemini asked as Crescendo grabbed her by the hoof and dragged her away from the window. The zombie she had failed to kill moaned angrily and clawed at the air.

Ruble reloaded his pistol and scanned the street for threats. “How long were we in there?” he asked, looking around at the horrific scene before him. Bodies lay scattered in the streets, buildings had been reduced to smoldering rubble and the air was thick with smoke. In the distance, against the charcoal sky, stood the Canterlot Castle; a single light shining from the tallest tower.

“The door! It does not want to shut!” Crescendo shouted, straining against the unearthly weight of the hotel’s door. Several zombies were now wandering around inside the hotel lobby, making their way towards Crescendo.

“Once you open ‘em you can’t shut ‘em, don’t ask me why,” Tank said, switching back to his shotgun. “Gemini, kill those three,” he said, signaling to the pink mare. “You’re going to need more points; 950 exactly.”

“Um,” the timid unicorn began, levitating her pistol, “Okay…” She emptied her magazine blindly into the hotel, only grazing a single zombie.

*click* *click* *click*

“It’s not working! Is it broken?! Gemini shouted, continuing to pull the trigger of the empty gun.

“Reload! Reload, damn it!” Tank shouted in frustration. In a lapse of judgment, the alicorn failed to take note of the broken barricade of the pastry shop behind him. From within the pastry shop, two zombies galloped at him and swung their hooves madly. Two blows from their powerful arms brought the alicorn down onto his back. The shotgun disappeared from his aura and was replaced by a pistol.

“Tank’s down!” Ruble shouted. He emptied the remainder of his ammo into the zombies that downed the alicorn and bucked them into the wall. “What do I do? What do I do?” the earth pony asked frantically. Blood was pouring out of a wound on Tank’s side and his pupils were slowly dilating.

“In your saddlebag…syringe…” the alicorn struggled. Ruble reached into his saddlebag and found a needle filled with a strange white substance. “I’ll watch your back…just hurry.”

“Where do I inject it? The wound? Your vein?” Ruble asked, deciding eventually on the vein. As he was lining up the injection a single zombie approached from behind. Tank emptied his magazine into the zombie before it could get too close and it fell to the ground. A glowing ammo box hovered above the zombie’s corpse.

“What is this?” Crescendo asked, approaching the strange item.

“Don’t you dare grab that until I’m up!” Tank shouted as Ruble proceeded with the injection. Crescendo had already put his hoof up to the ammo box and it disappeared in a flash of light.

“Max ammo,” a demonic feminine voice whispered excitedly.

“Are you kidding me?!” Tank asked, jumping up to his hooves with new life. The wound was completely gone from his side and the shotgun had returned to his aura.

“You all heard that voice, right?” Ruble asked, looking around. Tank angrily pushed past the earth pony and approached the pegasus.

“I am so sorry! I am so sorry!” Crescendo tried apologizing to the upset alicorn.

*BLAP* *BLAP* *BLAP*

Gemini finally managed to put three successful shots into a zombie and squealed with joy when it dropped to the ground. “I got one!” she shouted to the others. Another strange ammo box floated over her kill and she clumsily reloaded. “Mr. Tank? Am I allowed to get this?”

The alicorn looked from Crescendo to the ammo box and back. “You’re lucky that we’re lucky,” he said coldly. “Everyone reload and check your six, this isn’t over yet!” He ran forward and swiped at the floating anomaly.

Again a voice echoed around them. “Max ammo,” the unseen mare whispered.

“What gives? I didn’t get any more!” Ruble said angrily, finding he still only had four spare magazines for his pistol. “What kind of bogus magic is this?”

“It’s what little help they’ll be giving us, don’t complain,” Tank said, scanning the street for threats. Two zombies in the distance moaned as they dragged their hooves clumsily along the cobblestone.

“Who was that? Who is this ‘they’ of which you speak?” Crescendo asked. His questions went unanswered as the alicorn turned his attention to Gemini.

“This isn’t going to get easier from here on out. Have you built up 950 points yet?” Tank asked. The pink mare levitated the coin from her saddlebag and looked at it with dismay.

“850,” she said, looking at the number now engraved into the coin.

“I need you to carefully kill one of those zombies; five shots to the leg, then buck. Can you handle that?”

She nodded and focused her pistol on the closest zombie. Five of the eight shots she fired sank into the rotten flesh of her target. When it was close enough for her to smell its putrid odor, she reared back and disconnected its head from its spinal column. The cries of the other zombie became amplified after losing its ally.

“1030,” Gemini read from her gold coin, smiling.

“Okay, save this one for now,” Tank said.

“But I want more points,” Ruble said, taking aim on the zombie. Tank stepped in front of his line of fire as he went to pull the trigger. “Whoa!” Ruble shouted. As if it sensed a friendly fire incident was about to occur, the firearm locked up and refused to fire. “Are you mad? I could have shot you!”

“No, you couldn’t.”

Ruble looked at him in confusion and again raised his pistol. No matter how hard he pulled the trigger he couldn’t get the gun to shoot. “What in the hay?”

Tank turned away from the other three and walked up to the zombie. It lazily lunged at him, falling on its face without the support of its front legs. After staggering back up it followed him as he led it back towards the hotel lobby.

“They aren’t very intelligent creatures,” Gemini observed.

“I’ll keep this one busy, you three get to the end of the street,” Tank said as he kept backpedaling from the zombie. Though they did not yet fully trust the alicorn, he clearly had experience with this type of situation before.

Past the pastry shop and the hotel were several more boarded up buildings, leading to a dead end. The city wall stood as an impassible obstacle, towering high above the street. Tank sprinted towards the three after leaving the zombie trapped in the hotel lobby.

“What now?” Gemini asked.

Tank looked up to the sky and spun around in a circle slowly, looking for something he couldn’t quite see. He jumped in place, flapping his one good wing rapidly in an attempt to get higher. “Ah! Box is somewhere to the left,” he said at last.

“Box? Come again?” Ruble asked.

“The aurora in the sky will show us the box’s location,” Tank said, walking up to a pile of debris blocking an alleyway. The other three arched their heads to the sky and saw a column of purplish light descending from the heavens. “You, pegasus, clear this debris,” Tank ordered. “It’s 1000 points.”

“Hold on a one second,” Crescendo said angrily. “You tell us, right now, what you know about all this; this, ah, game. You speak with knowledge, yes? Why?”

“Look, I’ve dealt with this sort of thing before, okay?” Tank snapped.

“There have been no reported zombie outbreaks in Equestria since Celestia took reign,” Gemini stated.

“Not in Equestria, no,” Tank replied. “Look, I’ll say what I can, later, for now we have to move,” Tank replied. The zombie emerged from the hotel and its glowing orange eyes fixed on the survivors.

Crescendo reluctantly took the coin from his saddlebag and held it up to the pile of boxes and barrels. His total went down to 1000 as the “sale” completed and the barrels disappeared with a flash of white light.

The alley was dark and narrow and the only light came from a single glowing chalk outline on the castle wall.

“Oh boy, more magic chalk,” Ruble said, approaching the outline.

“Those are Galvahooves, insta-kill until wave 14,” Tank said, walking to the end of the alley. A chain link fence blocked their path, beyond it sat a wooden box which emanated a strange yellow glow.

“How much for these Galva-thingies?” Ruble asked, scratching his chin.

“6000 points.”

“In this economy? Outrageous!” Ruble shouted. He fished through his saddlebag for his coin and looked at the total in contemplation. “However if I start saving now…”

“No, we need you to open this gate, the box is right there and we need better weapons,” Tank said, bumping his coin against the gate repeatedly. One side of the coin showing the 1250 it required to open the gate, the other, his sad total of 750.

“The box, it gives weapons?” Crescendo asked skeptically.

“Amongst other things.”

The lone zombie finally reached the alleyway and Ruble readied his pistol. “I’ll open the gate in a sec, just let me get a nice, even 2500 points first,” Ruble said. He held the coin in one hoof and the pistol in the other. Before anyone could stop him he began firing at the zombie. *BLAP* “2470.” *BLAP* “2480” *BLAP* “2490” *BLAP* “2540?”

The zombie crumpled to the ground after having one of its legs ripped off and the light faded from its eyes. “Quit screwing around and open the gate!” Tank shouted. Once again a haunting melody played all around them and the unified cry of the undead rang through the streets.

Wave Three-Locked and Loaded

“Whoops,” Ruble said as the third wave of zombies began ripping away at the barricades of the alley.

“The red one, he is not so…bright,” Crescendo muttered to Gemini.

“Hey, I heard that!” Ruble shouted.

“Just open the gate!” Tank shouted.

“You know what? I don’t think I will,” Ruble said, turning his back to the other three. “I’m going to stay right here and buy these Galvahooves. You three can go to that box thingy if you want, but it won’t be on my money.”

Gemini let out a scream as a zombie began clawing itself out of the ground next to her. It moaned and hissed and she began kicking it in the face. Ruble wasn’t concerned and watched as the zombies nearest him broke through the barricade. Instead of slowly stumbling, these zombies trotted over to him. He counted as he put five bullets into the first one and bucked. The zombie was not pleased and swung back at him.

“I told you they get stronger,” Tank said. Before the zombie could swing again and bring an embarrassing end to Ruble, Tank put a single bullet into its head. The light vanished from its eyes and it fell to the ground. Gemini kicked her zombie for a third time and it too died.

An overwhelming amount of trotting zombies began pouring into the alley and converging on the survivors. “Uh…Yeah. It’s time to go,” Ruble said, running and opening the gate. It swung open with a *cha ching* and all but Tank filed through.

“Hit the box, I’ll hold em.” The alicorn emptied the remainder of his shotgun ammo into the hoard and began bucking the zombies as they approached; stepping forward to avoid being hit from the ones that did not die.

“I opened the gate, I’ll buy from this stupid thing first,” Ruble said, edging Gemini out of the way. He looked at the box skeptically but tapped his hoof on it and watched 950 points drain away from his total. The lid shot open and an assortment of guns and weapons cycled past his eyes. The question marks stenciled on the box glowed brightly and the sound of a roulette wheel emanated from within.

“I want that one,” Ruble said, reaching his hoof into the cycling weapons as a large machine gun appeared. His hoof phased through it and another gun took its place. “Hey, what gives? I deserve a choice in this, it is my money!” Soon enough that gun too disappeared and a knife now floated from the open box. “…That’s not a gun.”

“Just take it, I want my turn!” Gemini shouted.

“No! I want a refund!” Ruble shouted, slamming his coin against the side of the box.

“Gonna need some help here!” Tank shouted. The zombie hoard was becoming more than he could handle and the barricades behind the box were being compromised. Ruble moaned and grabbed the knife out of the box with his teeth.

“Mares first,” Crescendo said, offering Gemini the next purchase of the mystery box.

“Never took you for much a gentlecolt,” Gemini said, swishing her tail in Crescendo’s face as she strode past him.

Ruble joined Tank and began slashing at the zombies with the knife he held in his teeth, dropping them with a single slash. Once he was sure Ruble had the situation covered, Tank retreated to the mystery box to rebuild the barricades before the undead could break through. Gemini and Crescendo watched the mystery box as it searched for a suitable weapon for the unicorn; ultimately deciding on the Ray Gun.

“Ooh, what’s this?” Gemini asked, levitating the “bubbly” red and green blaster towards her.

“It’s a Ray Gun…Mark One,” Tank said after a quick glance. “Suits you,” he added.

“Oh come on, she gets an alien death pistol and I get this stupid thing?” Ruble asked, holding out the odd knife he’d been using.

“It shoots knives, you know.” Tank remained focused on keeping the zombie in the window; putting up a board every time it tore one down.

Ruble looked over the ballistic knife until he found a small button. He turned to the few remaining shambling zombies and lined up his shot. With a click, the blade was propelled from the handle and sank into the skull of the earth pony zombie. It moaned and dropped to the ground with the blade still buried in its head.

“You see that? You saw that, right? Heh, heh,” Ruble chuckled, “It’s a unicorn now…because the blade…is a horn.” He fished another blade out of his pouch and pushed it into the handle with a click. A pegasus with its entrails dragging beneath it approached and Ruble got another head shot with the blade. “Alicorn, ha, ha.”

As the “alicorn” zombie dropped, the one Tank was keeping at bay in the window became more furious and much louder. “So no more will spawn if this one does not die?” Crescendo asked.

“Typically…” Tank replied cryptically.

“You should hit the box if that’s the case,” Gemini said, splaying herself out on the mystery box seductively.

"Better idea, comrade,” Ruble said, stepping forward, “Why don’t you fly to the castle and see if Celestia knows exactly what the hell is going on down here.” Crescendo’s wings, which had just been fully flared, snapped back against his body. “Something wrong, comrade?”

“Now we’re flying, we’re free! We’re free before the thunderstorm! On towards the wilderness our quest carries on!” Gemini sang, jumping off the mystery box and putting her hooves around Crescendo’s neck.

“I’d actually like to see if that would work,” Tank said, turning to face the others while his magic continued repairing the barricade.

“I…um…am not really in the flying mood!” Crescendo said, shaking Gemini from him. He stepped forward and put his coin against the mystery box, causing it to open up and display its contents.

“What kinda pegasus isn’t in the flying mood?” Ruble scoffed. Crescendo ignored him and waited for the box to award him a weapon. “You can fly, right?” Ruble asked. Crescendo swallowed and sweat began pouring from his forehead.

“Of course he can!” Gemini shouted to defend her favorite singer. “He’s flown with dragons, and eagles, and been to the moon, and writes all sorts of songs about it!”

“To the moon, huh? I can only think of one pony that’s been there and it was Celestia that put her there,” Ruble once again commented. Tank laughed and the others looked at him.

“Huh? Oh sorry. It’s just that—well the moon—you see—I—and we—and the zombies—you know what, never mind.” Tank babbled. “Oh nice, you got the LSAT.”

Crescendo turned around to see a heavy machine gun waiting for him to take but Ruble stepped in his way. “I’ll reimburse you,” Ruble said, reaching for the gun. As if swatted by a large invisible hoof, Ruble flew through the air and smashed against the wall. A sinister laugh echoed through the alley and the LSAT landed at Crescendo’s hooves.

“Yeah, they won’t let you take anything that you didn’t pay for,” Tank said, looking down at the shell-shocked earth pony.

“Who’s ‘they’?” Gemini asked.

“Crescendo! Are you going to fly or not?” Tank shouted, ignoring Gemini’s question. The pegasus put the gun’s strap around his neck and hoisted it off the ground.

“It is too heavy, I hate to disappoint you,” he said, flapping his wings weakly.

“You’re not even trying,” Ruble said, standing back up. “Just admit you can’t fly so we can get moving.” Crescendo turned red and put his head down in shame.

“It isn’t true…is it?” Gemini asked, looking at Crescendo with disappointment. “All those songs…and the music videos…”

“Writers and special effects.”

“All right, now that I’m done drilling into the useless pegasus, on to you horned freaks,” Ruble said happily. “Why don’t you use your magic to teleport us to Celestia? Mr. Alicorn, care to explain?”

“Buddy, I haven’t been an alicorn very long,” Tank said to everyone’s amazement. “I can levitate stuff, that’s the extent of my power.”

“Alright…that answers one question and raises a whole lot of others…uhh…Pink Pony! Teleport us! Chop chop!”

Gemini briefly forgot her disappointment with Crescendo and angrily looked at Ruble Rouser. “I never poured any of my studies into teleportation; messy business that is—too many variables—I’d like to keep my insides on the inside, thank-you-very-much.”

“Alright,” Ruble sighed, rubbing his temple with the edge of his hoof. “Where to from here?”

The alley was bordered by the great Canterlot wall and backs of several brick buildings. The buildings' doors were bolt locked and not even the magic of the coin would open them. Past the mystery box and several dumpsters was a fire escape ladder that led to a single purchasable door. Gemini was the one to climb the ladder while Ruble and Crescendo watched from below.

“It’s two thousand points!” Gemini shouted after checking her coin.

“Can you see anything inside?” Tank shouted over the moaning of the zombie. The *cha-ching* of replacing boards had long since stopped and both Tank and the zombie were growing impatient.

Gemini strained her eyes to see into the dark building and could only make out a few odd shapes. “I see…balloons…and…a soda machine…and…something shiny.”

“Please tell me the soda machine is lit up!”

“Nope!”

“Damn…Ruble! Watch this zombie for me!”

“Going somewhere?” Ruble asked, stepping over to the barricade.

“Yeah, after I hit the mystery box,” Tank replied. He put his coin up to the box and his total went down by 950. Ruble watched as the guns came and went until an assault rifle remained.

“You all suck,” Ruble pouted. Tank grabbed the Galil out of the box and turned to see the zombie ripping away the last board of the window. He didn’t have to say anything—the look on his face was all it took to inform Ruble of the mistake he’d made. The zombie crawled through the window and Ruble slashed its neck, sending a spray of rust colored blood everywhere.

“Wave four everypony! Look alive!”

Author's Note

I'm not the only one who feels the first three rounds can really drag if you're trying to get as much done as possible, right?

Wave Four-Pop Goes the Ruble

“It was…a financial decision to let that zombie in…Yeah! We can’t get more points without zombies!” Ruble stated after Tank began glaring at him. “Funds were running low! I had to make the tough decision!”

“You don’t get to make the decisions from here on out,” Tank growled, “I do.” The infected began trotting towards their location and the four survivors stood back to back. “Controlled fire, everypony,” Tank said, burst firing into the hoard.

“Aaaaah!” Gemini screamed as she pulled the trigger of her ray gun furiously. Glowing green rings of energy radiated out of the strange weapon, vaporizing the zombies on contact.

Crescendo tried to mimic the alicorn’s firing pattern but failed to down the zombies as fast, emptying far too many bullets into their torsos.

Ruble continued firing his ballistic knife lazily. “Unicorn.” *Click* “Unicorn.” *Click* “Alicorn.” The last zombie he downed dropped a large glowing warhead that rotated slowly over its corpse. “Dibs!” the earth pony shouted as he ran through a few shamblers for the power-up. Before Tank could shout an interjection, an explosion rocked the city.

“Ka-boooom!” a mare’s voice shouted with glee through the blinding white light. The survivors watched as the infected inexplicably burst into flames and crumpled to the ground.

“How many points do I get?” Ruble asked, looking at his coin excitedly. “+400” appeared and his total went up to roughly three thousand.

“We all get four hundred but there were several thousand points worth of zombies, idiot” Tank said, whacking the back of his hoof across Ruble’s head.

“Ow!” Ruble shouted, rubbing his head. “I’m sure some survived! And besides, 1600 points isn’t bad!” A loud moan confirmed Ruble’s assumption and a lone zombie began ripping away at an unseen window; the sound of wood boards being pried apart exceptionally loud in the vacant city. “See, I didn’t end the round for once.”

“Bravissimo, comrade,” Crescendo applauded sarcastically.

“Hey, would you quit calling me that, Prenchy!”

“He’s not Prench!” Gemini shouted.

“And I ain’t from the Union!”

“Do not be ashamed of your heritage. You should bear their colours proudly. Not bring disgrace and dishonour as you are currently.” Crescendo said softly.

“That’s it. I’m done.” Tank said, striding away from the arguing group. “Try not to die too much, it’ll hurt my score.” The three ponies stopped their bickering and looked at the alicorn who was climbing up the fire ladder. Crescendo and Gemini followed but Ruble remained next to the mystery box.

“Bah, I don’t need them, all I need is you, box,” Ruble said to the mystery box. It offered no response but he wasn’t expecting one. He looked at his coin contemplatively and decided he could spare 950 points. With a tap of his hoof, the box opened and began showing him its wares. Many guns went past his eyes and the box offered him a .50 cal sniper rifle. As he took it, the ballistic knife disappeared from his hoof. He began shouting at the box for stealing what was rightfully his.

“You can only hold two weapons at a time!” Tank shouted down from the balcony.

“Why?! It wasn’t a weapon! It was a knife! And I paid for it! This is robbery! This is thievery!” Ruble shouted, emptying his saddle bag in search of his ballistic knife; only finding his starting pistol and some grenades. He looked at his coin angrily and then to the mystery box. Reluctantly, he tapped on the box once more and waited for it to award him something—anything!

What appeared was not a weapon; it was a blood stained and tattered doll; similar to the one his sister had as a filly. “Is that a Smarty-Pants doll?” Ruble asked. The unseen mare laughed maniacally and the box began to hover upward; the Smarty-Pants doll suspended within. “No!” Ruble shouted angrily, shooting his sniper at the box as it slowly rose off its platform. In a fit of rage, Ruble reached into his saddlebag and took out a grenade. “Keep the change!” he shouted as he pulled the pin and lobbed the explosive into the open box.

The box closed and continued rising higher into the air until it disappeared in a flash of light. Something fell from the sky and landed at Ruble’s hooves with a metallic *TINK*. He looked down in horror to see his grenade had been returned to him. Before he could take a single step, the grenade’s internal fuse hit the detonation point and an explosion shook the alley.

Ruble was nothing more than a bloody mess; three of his legs little more than bloody stumps and his remaining one clutching onto his pistol. His body was charred and shrapnel had embedded deep into his torso and abdomen. He lay screaming in a puddle of his own blood, firing his pistol into the air as an involuntary reflex.

“Oh, Celestia,” Gemini whispered, burying her face into Crescendo’s chest. Even the pegasus couldn’t bring himself to look at the remnants of their former ally. Tank seemed only slightly concerned and sighed in mild annoyance.

“Either of you want to go get him?” he asked, looking at the two. They looked at him with a mixture of disgust and confusion. After a pause he said, “Yeah. Me neither.” Ruble’s pistol clicked empty and he began dragging himself around with his remaining leg; trailing entrails as he went.

“Help me! Please! Help me!” Ruble gurgled. Tank reluctantly climbed down to the alley and stood over the wounded pony. The zombie that had been unseen up to this point wandered into the alley and slowly approached its easy meal.

“If I get you up, you promise you’ll listen to my every word?” Tank said, reaching into his saddlebag for the hypodermic needle.

“I promise! Just please! Stop the pain!” Ruble coughed, blood trailing from his mouth. Tank accepted the earth pony’s promise and injected the strange medicine into his neck. When the last drop entered his vein, Ruble jumped up on his newly formed hooves and sprinted away from the approaching zombie. He breathed heavily and looked himself over, finding no trace he’d been involved in anything more severe than a pillow fight.

“Can we carry on?” Tank asked, leading the zombie in a small circle.

“That was—there was—I was—” Ruble stammered, holding his hooves in front of his eyes to make sure they really were there.

“Just climb the ladder—and don’t fall or we’ll have to go through this again,” Tank said with annoyance. Ruble finally came to grips with his brush with death and obeyed the orders set out by the alicorn.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Ruble said as he joined Gemini and Crescendo on the balcony. Fortunately for him, neither did they. Just as Tank prepared to climb the ladder, the zombie he was leading around dropped to the ground; the light extinguished from its eyes.

“Uh, is this the end of the round?” Gemini asked. Tank stood still, looking around and listening. His ears perked up and he looked at the other three survivors with panic. A zombie tumbled off the roof and landed between Gemini, Ruble, and Crescendo. In a fit of panic, they all bucked the zombie until it ceased to move.

“Open the door! Quick!” Tank shouted, climbing up the ladder. A blanket of fog began rolling out across the city and a chill went through the air.

“Fetch me their souls!”

Author's Note

Every game has to have a Ruble. Seriously. Scrub.

Anyway, Wasn't sure what the pony world version of France of French was but I believe Fleur de Lis is a "Prench" model. Still haven't gotten anything for Italy yet though, sorry. Also, writing an Italian accent is difficult. It keeps coming out French.

Also...Gore...I don't like writing it, I'm sorry if you don't like reading it.

Waves Five and Six- Big City Nights

“What’s going on?” Gemini asked, looking around nervously. Though the round had clearly begun, no zombies had appeared. An eerie silence had replaced the usual moans and groans of the undead and even Tank seemed to be on edge.

“One of you, just open the door!” the alicorn shouted as he made his way to the ladder. A ball of electricity formed where the mystery box had formerly stood and it crackled and popped; arching to the surrounding metal objects—the ladder included. As soon as Tank touched the first rung he reeled back in pain.

“Come on! Do what he said!” Ruble shouted, shaking Crescendo. The pegasus was the only member of the group with enough points to the open the door but he was fixated on the electrical phenomenon. A large flaming figure appeared within the electricity and Tank took aim at it.

“Lignicanis lupus,” Gemini whispered.

“Come again?” Ruble asked.

“Timberwolf.”

The electricity disappeared and a timberwolf engulfed in fire charged at Tank. He fired several bullets into its head and it fell to the ground, releasing a blood curdling howl before collapsing into a pile of ash. He climbed the ladder as fast as he could and joined the other three. In the alley below, several more timberwolves began spawning in from electrical anomalies.

Tank pushed Crescendo forcefully into the door and it made a *cha-ching* noise as it flew open. The building was dark but Tank lead the group past unseen obstacles to a corner. “Ruble, watch the doorway, Gemini—the windows, Crescendo—everywhere else,” Tank barked out.

For a moment, they sat in silence, the distant growl of the timberwolves growing closer. “Can they actually climb up here?” Ruble whispered.

“No, but sure as Hell they can jump up,” Tank said through gritted teeth. An orange glow appeared in the doorway and the first timberwolf began making its way in. Ruble fired a high powered round into the beast and it burst into ashes.

“See that? One bullet,” Ruble said proudly. The others didn’t respond; too busy watching and waiting for incoming threats. Undeterred, Ruble aimed down his scope and waited for his next target. A burst of electricity inside the room startled the earth pony and he looked up to see a fiery timberwolf preying down on them. He and the other three all fired their weapons at the approaching creature. It turned to ashes inches from them before another teleported in to take its place.

“The door, Ruble!” Tank shouted. Two wolves had run into the room and were inches from the survivors. Ruble hip fired and managed to kill the first one, but it was using his last bullet.

“Reloading! Help! I’m reloading!” Ruble shouted as he fumbled blindly for his spare magazines. The other three were too busy taking out the wolves teleporting directly into the room to help. The timberwolf clawed at Ruble with its thorny paws and he screamed out in pain. Green rings of energy splashed against the timberwolf and it crumbled to the floor.

Ruble was covered in deep lacerations but somehow managed to stay on his hooves. He finished reloading his rifle and gave a quick glance over at Gemini. She paid him little mind as she loaded a new energy core into her ray gun.

“Alright, the last one is going to drop a max ammo, so make sure we’re all reloaded before grabbing it,” Tank instructed. Everyone turned to look at Ruble with their “that means you” look.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Ruble grumbled. “Think I’m stupid or something?” he muttered under his breath. He shifted his vision back to the door and listened as the growling of the timberwolf grew louder.

“Throw grenades, we’ll get more,” Tank said, pulling the pin and tossing a grenade out the open door. Crescendo and Gemini lobbed their explosives as well while Ruble watched.

“You’re going to take the whole building down! What are you thinking?” Ruble protested. He flinched as the explosives detonated one by one and the room filled with dust. When the dust cleared the building was scorched but fully intact. The timbewolf had escaped the majority of the blast and slowly wandered into the room. When it spotted the survivors it bolted towards them, only to be struck down by a flurry of lead.

The glowing ammo box rose from the wolf’s ashes and illuminated the room. Calm swept across the city and the fog dissipated. All was silent with the exception of the ponies reloading their weapons. “So can I grab it now?” Ruble asked impatiently.

“Wait till it flashes,” Tank said, "For now, look around.” The alicorn stepped around the power up and out onto the balcony.

“I believe I have-a found something,” Crescendo said through the darkness. Something was protruding from the wall that certainly didn’t feel like it belonged there. He pushed down on it and the whirring of turbines filled the room. One by one the lights clicked on revealing a previously shadowed horror.

In the center of the room was a long table covered with maggot ridden confections. Corpses with party hats sat slouched over in their chairs, balloons tied around their hooves. At the head of the table was a life size pink pony doll with a gold necklace and a frown embroidered upon its face. “Smile Smile Smile” was written in blood all across the walls and windows of the room. In one corner of the room sat a red and white soda machine; its compressor humming to life to keep the drinks cool.

“Mr. Tank! Come look at this!” Gemini shouted. The alicorn ran back into the room and immediately his eyes went for the soda machine.

“Power switch and Juggernog? How convenient.” He stepped over to the soda machine and it began playing a jingle through a built in speaker.

“When you need to feel big and strong, reach for Juggernog tonight!”

“Catchy,” Ruble said. “Hey, this thing is flashing, can I grab it now?” His hoof hovered near enough to touch the max ammo as he waited on the alicorn’s command.

“Max Ammo!”

“Sorry! Sorry!” Ruble shouted after his hoof bumped the power up before Tank could reply.

“It’s fine…” Tank said, walking up to the pink pony doll. He squinted at the necklace and it glinted against the light.

“It is night time already?” Crescendo asked, looking out over the balcony. The groans of the infected sounded loudly from below and blue embers shone through the darkness.

“Why would Luna raise the moon?” Gemini questioned. “Surely she and Celestia know of the situation, right?”

“We’ve got incoming!” Tank shouted as several zombies leapt from the alley straight up to the balcony. Their eyes were now glowing blue and they seemed more ferocious. Tank took the head off the first to enter the room with a well placed head shot. It trotted up to him and swung its hooves before dropping to the floor. An orb of blue light escaped its corpse and was absorbed by the pink pony doll which let out a giddy laugh.

“That thing just laughed, that thing just laughed!” Ruble shouted, pointing his rifle at the pony doll.

“Focus!” Tank shouted. The room began filling with the undead and the four survivors stood pinned in a corner. A hole in the ceiling that had gone relatively unnoticed became another entry point for the infected. They dropped down and advanced with amazing agility.

Crescendo sprayed madly with his LMG in an attempt to repel the hoard. The digital counter on the side of his weapon hit zero and he began the lengthy reload process. One of the zombies he had completely filled with lead quickly approached and swung at him. Miraculously, it fell to the ground when he bucked it back; a glowing power up appeared then disappeared in a flash of light.

“THE POINTS HAVE BEEN DOUBLED!”

“Wait, who was that? Was that the same voice as before?” Ruble asked, looking around for the source of the new mare’s voice. His question went unanswered so he resumed picking off the zombies one at a time. Every time he or Tank got a kill the zombie’s spirit would get absorbed into the strange doll and it would release a laugh.

“I don’t understand? What are you doing differently than me?” Gemini asked as she shot down another zombie with her ray gun.

“I think it has something to do with headshots,” Tank said, replacing his empty magazine with a full one.

“Explains why Crescendo’s zombies don’t do anything,” Ruble snickered.

“I would like-a to see you try firing this thing!” Crescendo shot back, fighting recoil as he pulled the trigger of his weapon.

“But look! I am getting headshots!” Gemini argued as she fired a ring of energy that vaporized the skull of the nearest zombie. It dropped unceremoniously to the floor and the doll remained quiet.

“I don’t know, that looked like you hit its neck,” Ruble teased. “See, this—” Ruble pulled the trigger of his rifle and his bullet went through the skulls of three zombies, “—is a headshot.” The corpses collapsed and the doll absorbed their souls before releasing a truly obnoxious laugh. Tank continued fighting off the undead, though their souls now simply extinguished from their eyes.

“Whatever all that was, we’re done now,” Ruble said, looking at the doll. Its frown had been replaced by a cheerful smile and the necklace around its neck was glowing; the balloon-shaped gem radiating blue light.

“REUGH! REUGH! REUGH!” The zombie’s eyes shone through the dark as it approached the survivor’s location.

“Alright, last zombie, every-pony, grab Jugg and let’s get out of here,” Tank commanded. He deposited his coin into the soda machine and a glass bottle of red liquid fell into the open compartment. He grabbed it up, drank the contents in three gulps then smashed the bottle on the floor. His coin fell into the till and 2500 points had been subtracted from his total.

Ruble approached the machine and looked at it skeptically. “Yeah, how’s a soda going to help us?” He saw the 10 bit price sticker on the machine and put his coin in without hesitation. The bottle dropped down and Ruble twisted off the cap. The red liquid smelled of spiced berries and the earth pony wrinkled his nose.

“It makes you stronger, trust me,” Tank said, leading the zombie around the table, allowing it to strike him occasionally. As severe as his wounds were, they healed up almost instantly. Ruble pinched his nose and downed the beverage as quickly as he could. He let out a long belch and smashed the bottle on the floor.

“Whatever, for ten points, I’ll try it,” he said, taking his coin out of the till. Gemini walked up to the machine and deposited her coin only to have it drop directly into the till. The machine made a clunk noise and refused to dispense her beverage.

“What? My coin says it's twenty-five-hundred,” the unicorn said, perplexed.

“It is,” Tank said, bracing for an outburst from Ruble.

The red earth pony looked at his coin and saw his total was 2490 points LESS than he was expecting. “WhaaaaAAAAAT?! No! It says clearly, ten bits! Right there! Here!” Ruble got right up to the machine and pounded his hoof against the price sticker. “That is false advertisement!”

On Tank’s tenth lap around the table, for some reason, the zombie decided Gemini was a much more appealing meal. Before Tank realized he no longer had the zombie’s attention, it descended on the pink unicorn and brought her down with two rapid swings of its hooves.

“No!” Crescendo shouted dramatically. The zombie turned its attention to him but was vaporized by Gemini before it could take a step. The pegasus searched through his bag for the syringe while Tank and Ruble stood watch.

“As soon as she’s up, you two need Jugg,” Tank said as the first zombies of wave seven began clawing their way out of the ground. “And then we gotta go.”

Author's Note

What is the strange necklace?
Who is this new announcer?
Why are the zombie's eyes blue?
You all know the answers!

Waves Seven and Eight- Perk-a-Colas and Ponies

“You…You saved me,” Gemini said as she regained her ability to stand. She planted a kiss on Crescendo’s cheek and his wings flared out.

“It was nothing really,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It really wasn’t,” Ruble commented as he shot the first zombie to enter the door. “So are we staying here or what?”

Tank went to grab the necklace off the pony doll and it magically clasped around his neck. “What the hell?” He struggled to pry it off but it had no give.

“Wait, what? There’s something that surprised YOU? That ain’t good,” Ruble shouted over the sound of his gun fire. Gemini began blasting the incoming zombies as Ruble reloaded. Crescendo checked his coin quickly before depositing it into the Juggernog machine.

Tank regained his composure and helped to eliminate the threats. “I’m sure we’ll need this thing at some point anyway. I just wish I knew what it did.” Tank got a surprise when the first zombie he killed burst into confetti after his bullet entered its brain.

“Did…did that—”

“Yep.” Tank answered Ruble’s question before he could finish. A few zombies went to run through the confetti and stopped momentarily. Despite lacking basic intelligence, they seemed fascinated by the falling streams of colored paper.

“Look! They’re stopping!” Gemini shouted. The confetti disappeared and the zombie’s attention once again turned to the survivors. Gemini blasted them and then looked to her coin. “2500, right?” she asked. Tank nodded and Gemini ran to the vending machine.

Crescendo was still at the machine killing the zombies that dropped from the ceiling. “I will watch your back!” he shouted, spraying into the hoard. A giant gold pony skull dropped from one of the infected and hovered over its corpse. “What does the skull do?”

“That’s an insta-kill, grab it quick!” Tank replied, switching to his shotgun. He and Ruble were having a difficult time keeping the zombies outside the room.

Crescendo ran forward and was stopped inches from the power up by two immovable zombies. They swung at him, tearing his flesh with their rusted horseshoes. “Move! Move!” he shouted, trying to squeeze between them. He was shoved to the ground and evacuated the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

Next, the zombies galloped towards Gemini. She tried to drink the rest of her Juggernog and bring her weapon up but was unable to pry her lips from the bottle. The zombies violently brought her down and she coughed up the beverage.

“Tank! Situation!” Ruble shouted as he realized Gemini and Crescendo were no longer on their hooves. The red earth pony struggled to reload his sniper rifle in time to deal with the zombies that had downed his teammates. Gemini clutched her ray gun and shot in the general direction of the zombies. Her blasts splashed against the walls and ceiling, completely missing her targets.

“We’ve gotta get that insta-kill!” Tank shouted. The power-up began flashing and the room began filling with the undead. Crescendo dragged himself across the floor with the last of his strength to reach the skull.

“INSTA-KILL!” the mare shouted after Crescendo was able to brush his hoof against the power-up.

Tank began head-butting the zombies one by one, sending blood spattering all over him. Their heads exploded from the force of his skull crashing into theirs and their legs crumbled out from under them.

“Watch my back, I’ll get them!” Ruble shouted, kicking his way towards his fallen allies. He got Crescendo up with no time to spare and went to get Gemini.

“You’re both gonna have to get 2500 points again for Jugg,” Tank said, leading a train of zombies around the confined room. Gemini and Crescendo began firing their weapons at Tank’s train and the zombies collapsed instantly. “No! Melee them! It’s worth more points!” Tank shouted as more of the infected rushed to replace their fallen.

“How long does this insta-kill thing last?” Ruble asked, smashing his rifle against an infected pegasus.

“Not long enough,” Tank replied, continuing to corral the zombies for Gemini and Crescendo to kill. “Just so long as none of them drop a nuke, we should be fine.”

As if on cue, Gemini bucked a zombie and a flash of light lit up the city.

“KABOOOM! HAHAHAHA!”

“Please tell me that put you both over 2500,” Tank said, rubbing his eyes. Gemini and Crescendo looked at their coins and grimaced.

“Oh wait!” Gemini shouted as +400 appeared next to her total. “2630! Yay!”

“Buy Jugg, stay up, and let’s go.”

Wave eight was yet to begin and the four survivors left the party room down the fire escape. At last, all four of them had Juggernog and they seemed pretty optimistic. The city was still veiled in night and they trotted at a steady pace back towards the Canterlot Hotel.

“Okay, so how are we going to survive this?” Ruble asked. “Do they just stop coming eventually?”

“Well logically there’s only so many ponies living in Canterlot, and even with tourists it IS possible for us to eradicate them all over a lengthy period of time,” Gemini stated.

“But if we have killed so many already, why is there no evidence of this?” Crescendo asked. “The bodies of the fallen…they are gone. Do they get back up?”

“Oh PLEASE don’t tell me that,” Ruble said, thinking about zombie zombies.

“They don’t stop coming,” Tank said flatly. “They ALWAYS know where you are and they ALWAYS get stronger with each round.”

“Well…you’ve survived something like this before right? How?” Gemini questioned. Tank didn’t respond. His mind seemed to go somewhere else.

“Tank?” Ruble asked, prodding the alicorn. Tank shook from his trance and raised his shotgun towards the hotel lobby.

“The infected are breaking in, watch the windows and I’ll see if that elevator is working now.” They ran into the lobby which was now well lit and prepared to stand their ground. Tank ran up and smashed on the call button for the elevator and turned to the front door. The first zombies of wave eight ran in and he unloaded both chambers of his shotgun at them.

The pellets embedded into the zombies and they continued their advance. Tank switched to his Galil and attempted to get a hold on the situation. He knew he was down to his last magazine and headshots weren’t doing nearly enough damage. Confetti exploded out of his nearest target and the four behind it stopped to marvel at it.

Ruble resorted to his pistol when his rifle ran dry and struggled to keep his window repaired as five zombies all tore away at the boards. Neither Gemini nor Crescendo were fairing well either. Their weapons were near empty and the infected were seconds from flooding the room.

The elevator finally hit the ground floor and the doors opened with a ding. “Let’s go!” Tank shouted, running through the open doors. The other three allowed their windows to be compromised and joined the alicorn. Ruble barely got his tail in before the doors slammed shut and the elevator made its lazy ascent to the top floor.

All was quiet in the elevator except for an alien like noise that faded in and out. “You all hear that, right?” Ruble asked, rubbing his hoof against his ear.

“Yeah, it’s this thing.” Tank pointed to a Smarty-Pants doll in the corner of the cabin. Ruble got closer and perked his ears.

“Is it radioactive or something?” Gemini questioned, wishing she had her Geiger counter on her.

“Wait a second, that’s the same one from the box, see it’s missing its right eye and everything,” Ruble said. He prodded the doll and it made a different alien noise. “Whoa, what did I do?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Just, if you find the other two, please don’t touch them,” Tank replied. They rode in silence and watched the digital floor display slowly climb.

“Um, Mister Tank,” Crescendo started, pointing to the alicorn’s bandaged wing. “If you do not mind me asking, but how did—”

Tank glared at Crescendo and the pegasus tapered off, folding his ears back.

“How did you get your cutie mark?” Gemini asked, trying to save Crescendo. “That’s all he wanted to know.”

“This?” Tank asked with moderate pride. He lifted his wing to fully show off his cutie mark—a black pawn toppling a white king. “I’ve always been good at games, heck; it’s kinda how I got into this whole mess.”

“You’re going to get us out of this mess too, right?” Ruble asked. “You do have a plan, right?”

“Plan so far is get to the castle,” Tank replied. The elevator began to slow and the digital counter approached 50. “Let’s take it one wave at a time.” The doors opened and the four filed out into an open hallway. A chalk outline of an assault rifle was drawn on the wall by a door labeled “roof access” and Tank didn’t hesitate to purchase it. The AN94 materialized from the outline and replaced the alicorn’s shotgun.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Ruble said happily, purchasing an AN94 off the wall as well. His rifle disappeared and he put his hoof against his face. “Right, two weapons at a time, stupid rules!”

The infected began ripping down the barricades built up in front of the hotel room doors. “Wait, were they just up here waiting for us?” Gemini asked. She ran up to a barricade and blasted the two zombies tearing away at it. Two more ran to take their place. “This is impossible! The room was empty, where did these two come from—is it possible they teleported?”

“You’ll hurt yourself trying to figure some of this stuff out, sweetie,” Tank mocked. “Let’s just get up to the rooftop.”

“Hmph. Don’t call me sweetie,” Gemini said angrily.

“Hold on, I hear music down that hall,” Ruble said, running forward without the group. There was a green soda machine in one of the open hotel rooms and Ruble ran up to it.

“Speed Cola speeds up your life,” the machine sang out. Ruble looked over it and noticed the ten bit price sticker and went to drop his coin in. As it entered the machine and dispensed his drink the other three ran into the room.

“3000 points,” Tank said as Ruble took a big gulp of the fizzy green liquid. The red earth pony fought back tears as he chugged the contents down. He smashed the bottle to the floor and bucked the machine angrily.

“I’m gonna find this Perk-A-Cola corporation,” Ruble said angrily as he read the manufacturers info off the machine, “and sue their flanks off!” He took his coin out of the till and looked at the 100 point remainder in disgust. Wooden boards had been set up in a large hole that linked the room with another and a zombie began tearing them down. “Shut up!” Ruble shouted, firing his AN94 at the zombie. It collapsed after having its head turned to pulp. In the blink of an eye, Ruble had swapped his magazine out for a new one.

“It’s worth the 3000,” Tank said with a grin. Ruble just looked at his hooves in amazement.

“I could be a magician. Just like I always wanted to be…until my father beat my hopes and dreams out of me and—” Ruble trailed off and the other three left him to his repressed memories. “Hey! Wait up! Where are you going?”

“Rooftop!” Crescendo shouted back. The pegasus stopped to allow his earth pony ally to catch up. “You should never give up on your dreams, comrade.”

“And you should learn how to fly,” Ruble shot back, completely breaking the moment. He went on ahead of Crescendo and shot every zombie he saw, reloading between each kill. Tank and Gemini were waiting at the roof access door killing the infected that approached. A giant gold hammer floated above the freshest kill and Ruble ran forward for it.

“CARPENTER!” The voice shouted and all the windows and doors in the hotel got boarded up simultaneously.

“Here’s our, break,” tank said, kicking open the door with a *cha-ching*. A small staircase led to the roof and another door blocked their path. Tank went to kick it open but it stood against his attack.

“I don’t have enough! Gemini, can you open it?” Tank asked. Gemini tried simply opening the door by turning the knob but the lock held tight. “Oh come on! How many points does it take? Ruble! You try!”

“Ha ha ha…no.” Ruble laughed, guarding his few points.

“Really? Well, how much does it take?” Tank asked, holding his coin up to the door. It displayed no total and the alicorn looked at in confusion. “We turned on the power, what else could it need?”

“Oh, I know!” Gemini shouted. “A key!”

“Like-a this one?” Crescendo asked, pushing his way towards the door. The others didn’t even see him enter the stairwell. He took a key from his saddlebag and the door magically opened.

“Where did you find that?” Tank asked, looking at the strange skeleton key.

“It was in the hallway. Had comrade Ruble not delayed me, I likely would never have-a found it.” Crescendo replied, patting Ruble on the shoulder.

“Oh, really? Well, good, let’s go,” Tank said, running up the stairs. Ruble was last to go through the door and began cooking one of his fragmentation grenades. He lobbed it down the stairs and waited for the explosion. He heard the sound of another grenade being lobbed and looked down at his hooves to see one roll past.

“What? NO!” Ruble shouted, trying to run from the grenade. It exploded and he became shrouded in a cloud of smoke. His grenade down the stairs went off a second later. When the smoke cleared, he was sitting there with his hooves over his eyes.

Crescendo let out a laugh and tossed another grenade at the petrified earth pony. “Like this?” he shouted over his shoulder to Tank.

“A little further,” the alicorn replied with a grin, “you want to get them down the staircase.”

“Not funny! NOT FUNNY!” Ruble shouted as he dodged the second explosion. “There is nothing friendly about friendly fire!”

Crescendo’s final grenade sailed over Ruble’s head and bounced down the stairs. It detonated moments later, taking several zombies with it. A sinister wind swept across the rooftop and thunder crashed in the distance.

“Enough fooling around,” Tank said with seriousness. “Let’s get to the teleporter.”

Wave Nine- You're On Your Own

“A teleporter?” Gemini asked, walking up to the mechanical marvel that had been constructed on the rooftop. Wires and cables ran from the steel capsule to a giant antenna of sorts that coursed with electricity. The capsule itself was covered in light bulbs that flickered from time to time.

“Hell yeah, we’re getting out of here!” Ruble said joyously, rushing forward. He jumped into the teleporter without caution and looked around for an initiation switch. A large red button protruded from a panel in the back, and he smashed his hoof down upon it.

“Round is starting, everypony in!” Tank shouted. He pushed Gemini and Crescendo into the telporter before hopping inside as well. The machine crackled with energy and shook violently as it prepared to tear through space and time.

“Why aren’t we going anywhere?!” Gemini shouted over the noise of the machine. She looked out in horror as the first zombies of wave nine began trotting towards them. The three stallions that accompanied her began firing on the enemy.

The zombies fell, but many more replaced them. Ruble was responsible for the majority of the kills; only needing a second to reload his weapon. He popped a new magazine into his AN94 and gunned down a bloated pegasus zombie that had just jumped one of the roof’s barricades. It fell and a Max Ammo Power Up hovered above its body.

“I’m going for it!” Ruble shouted, jumping out of the teleporter.

“Get back here!” Tank shouted from the teleporter. “This thing could leave any—”
With a bright burst of light, the teleporter disappeared from the rooftop, leaving only a smoking scorch-mark in its place.

“—second!” Tank shouted before being flung backwards into the teleporter’s control panel. Gemini screamed as she was pressed against the wall, held in place by the force of motion. Crescendo was pinned upside down right next to her and clamped his eyes shut, hoping not to vomit.

The three disoriented ponies fell to the ground as the teleporter finally came to a stop. Tank was the first to recover and stood up to survey their new surroundings. From the books that lay on the floor, it was apparent they had been transported to a library.

“MAX AMMO!”

The voice echoed around the library and the ponies felt their saddlebags suddenly get heavier. “It sounds like Ruble is not dead yet,” Crescendo commented. Tank grunted and drew his weapon, walking through the dimly lit library. Torches flickered from the walls and something shiny hung from a chandelier.

“I have established that shiny is important,” Gemini said, adjusting her glasses as she looked up. “What do you surmise that is?”

Tank and Crescendo looked up at the object and squinted. It was too far away to make out any real detail, so tank raised his weapon. “Let’s find out,” he said. Before Gemini could object, Tank fired a couple rounds at the chandelier. Glass shattered and several pieces fell to the floor, but the chandelier remained intact. The object in question still hung from its perch.

“That’s your best problem solving capabilities?” Gemini asked angrily. “Shoot at it?!”

Tank, a pony with iron nerves, suddenly found himself a bit nervous as the unicorn mare approached. “Uh, it usually works,” he said, trying to defend his actions.

“Really?” She asked with sarcasm. Tank looked around nervously so he could avoid Gemini’s piercing glare, and he noticed a few zombified ponies trudging their way from the shadows.

Crescendo had also noticed, and began firing at the zombies. His gunfire drew the attention of Gemini, and she readied her ray gun. More zombies swarmed their location as unseen barriers were broken down. Gemini’s hooves shook as she fired her weapon into the hoard.

As the blast of energy hit the zombie, the light in its eyes turned from blue to a blinding white. The zombie fell and the light from its eyes streaked toward the overhanging chandelier. The shiny object above absorbed the light and began to glow slightly.

Only Gemini had witnessed the phenomenon and began to draw her own hypothesis. The object on the chandelier must be similar to the one on Tank’s neck. It needs energy that can only be drawn from the zombies. But the zombies have to be killed in a particular way, it would seem. What am I doing differently from Crescendo and Tank? She broke from her thoughts and fired her weapon again.

This time, Tank bore witness to the strange occurrence, and he turned to watch as Gemini gunned down even more zombies. No matter where she struck them, they all released their light, and it flew toward the chandelier. After a moment, Tank asked, “How are you doing that?”

“I have some theories!” Gemini shouted, trying to reload her weapon. A zombie galloped through the hoard of slower ones and snapped its teeth at Gemini.

“INSTA-KILL!” the unseen mare shouted. Gemini turned and bucked the zombie, snapping its neck as her rear hooves collided with its chin. The light in its eyes simply extinguished.

“I now have two less theories. It is NOT because I’m a mare, and it is NOT because I’m a unicorn!”

Tank watched as she finished reloading and shot down the zombies approaching her. Every last one had the light sucked from its eyes as it fell to the ground. “It’s your weapon,” Tank said. “It’s because it’s a wonder weapon.”

“Oh. Neat,” Gemini responded. “Hey, which of you grabbed the insta-kill?”

Both Tank and Crescendo looked to each other and back at Gemini. “It must have been Ruble. It would appear he has not yet blown himself up in our absence,” Crescendo laughed. Even Tank cracked a smile.

“What will happen to him if he dies?” Gemini asked. She received no response, because at that moment, all the chandeliers in the library lit up. The light from the last zombie she’d killed had apparently sated the object’s hunger for energy. Slowly, the central chandelier was lowered by its chain to the floor. A golden tiara with a six point star hung from it, and sparkled ever-so-slightly.

“Take it and let’s go,” Tank said. Gemini approached the tiara and as she brought her hoof up, the tiara teleported onto her head. Just like with the necklace Tank wore around his neck, the object could not be removed by force. But unlike Tank, Gemini actually liked the accessory.

The three ponies trotted through the library, looking for an exit. A marble pillar had come down and taken out the staircase to the upper levels, and nearly every hallway was blocked by piles of burning books. Eventually, they reached a closed door that could be bought open with points. Tank removed his coin and grinned at his total. The loss of 1500 points didn’t even faze him as the door opened.

The library’s lobby was on the other side, and one of the strange perk machines was set against a wall. It hummed to life, as if it had been expecting them, and a piano began playing.

When they need some help,
They reach for the root beer shelf.
YA THIRSTY PARTNER?

“Thank Celestia; it’s Double Tap,” Tank said, trotting to the machine. He dropped in his coin and it vended a bottle of what was clearly root beer.

Crescendo and Gemini walked over and watched as the alicorn chugged the contents of the bottle. “What does this one do?” Gemini asked curiously.

“You’re gonna fire faster, and every time you pull the trigger, you’re gonna fire two bullets at once,” Tank replied, smashing the empty bottle on the floor. Crescendo deposited his coin into the machine, but Gemini stood there perplexed.

“But how does a beverage effect the fire rate of our weapons?” the unicorn demanded. “And won’t we consume ammo faster? This beverage is scientifically unsound!”

“How it works is none of my concern,” Tank said, reloading his weapon. “What it does is make us twice as effective against the zombies. You NEED it after round ten.”

Gemini stepped over the broken glass of Crescendo’s bottle and reluctantly inserted her coin into the machine. A bottle vended and her coin was returned to her with 2000 less points. “Does it at least taste better then that Jug stuff?” she asked, sniffing the contents of the bottle.

“No,” Tank and Crescendo replied in unison. Gemini frowned and drank the root beer. Like the others, she smashed the bottle to the floor.

“Why? Why do we do that?” Gemini asked, looking down at the broken glass at her hooves. “That could have been recycled, but, I couldn’t help myself.”

Several zombies poured into the lobby from the doorway and the three ponies turned to fight. Tank burst fired into the crowd, sending two bullets into the zombie’s heads with a single pull of the trigger. Confetti rained down and slowed the ones still standing. Tank indicated to his kills and asked, “See? Twice as effective.”

Gemini fired her ray gun at the zombies but only one energy shot came out. “Wait, that was only one!” she shouted angrily.

“I failed to mention it doesn’t work for the ray gun, the ballistic knife, orrrr grenade launchers,” Tank replied. Gemini angrily fired the ray gun into the zombies. Both the weapon and her tiara glowed occasionally through her rampage. In total, she fired twenty-seven shots before needing to reload. The glow occurred exactly seven times.

“Wait, that thing only holds twenty shots, and that was definitely more than twenty,” Tank said, angry at being surprised yet again. He was the master of this game, but it seemed the rules had changed.

“Yeah, it’s like I magically didn’t use ammo every time it glowed,” Gemini commented, looking at the ray gun. She went back to firing and cleared out the lobby by herself. The tiara glowed several times, awarding Gemini six extra shots this time. No more zombies entered, and the room went quiet after the last zombie fell.

While Gemini and Crescendo boarded up the windows, Tank sat in thought. Magically didn’t use ammo? Is that what the tiara does? And mine? It sends out confetti…and laughter…why the laughter? How many more of these things are there, and what are they for?

“THE POINTS HAVE BEEN DOUBLED!”

The three ponies looked up in surprise at hearing the voice. “Ruble must still have some zombies on him,” Gemini stated. She and Crescendo continued boarding up windows, taking advantage of the additional points.

Magic…Laughter…Damn! I know there’s a connection! Tank tried to focus on his own thoughts as the other two began singing one of Crescendo’s songs. After a moment, Gemini and Crescendo’s harmony—Harmony! That’s it! Magic and laughter were two of the six Elements of Harmony!

Tank stood up triumphantly, a big smile on his face from his epiphany. It did not last long however, as a dense fog rolled out over the lobby. Gemini and Crescendo quickly flocked to Tank, getting as close to him as they could.

“FETCH US THEIR SOULS!

Author's Note

It feels good to work on this again! Let me know if I should continue!