Dead Space: Contactby MegapwnyChaptersChapter 1: The ArtifactChapter 2: Within Two WeeksChapter 3: InfectionChapter 4: Left to RotChapter 5: Imminent ThreatChapter 1: The ArtifactIron Ore Mine near Ponyville, Equestria. 12:34 AM. April 21, 2341... The pickaxe came down with tremendous force, and the earth pony behind it grunted due to the excess amount of strength that he had put into his swing. Another pony gave him a concerned glance. "You okay there Mac?" He said. "I'm fine." Mac said, hefting the pick for another swing. He brought the obsolete mining tool down again, and the pickaxe went through the rock about an inch, and was stopped by something. Mac pulled the pick back, and hit the rock again, even harder this time. But the pick just wouldn't go through. "There must be something buried here..." He said under his breath. "What's that?" Blu, a light blue stallion with bright orange hair and matching eyes asked. "I think there's something buried here in the rock." Mac said. Mac was about average height for a pony, with a stocky build and strong legs that could smash through your skull before you could blink. He was light brown, with dark brown hair and light green eyes. His cutie mark was a set of dumbbells, earned when he discovered how strong he really was. "You think so?" said Blu. "Yeah. Help me un-bury it would you?" Mac said, taking another swing and tearing a big chunk of rock away. Underneath was... something. Deep black with glowing red symbols all over it. It's surface was smooth, and it appeared to have quite a reflective sheen. It also wasn't fully uncovered, only a small section of it about ten inches wide was uncovered. The rest still lay buried under the rock. "We should call this in." Blu suggested. "Yeah, we should." Mac agreed. Ponyville, Equestria. 7:45 AM... Applejack awoke to the sound of an alarm clock. She groaned and reached her hoof over to turn it off. Her hoof connected with plastic, and she pressed down on the button, shutting up the alarm. She slowly opened her eyes in the dim morning light. She felt the warmth of her lover, who was still asleep next to her. She looked at the sky blue mare, whose left wing was missing, blown off in a mining accident many years ago. She looked lovingly at the multicoloured mane of the mare. "Mornin' Rainbow." she said, wrapping her forelegs around her and placing her chin in the crook of her neck, planting a light kiss on Rainbow's cheek. Rainbow had her back turned to Applejack, but returned the embrace as best as she could, turning her head and connecting her lips with Applejack's. Slowly breaking apart, Rainbow said; "Morning AJ." and turned around in Applejack's arms to face her. The two shared an even more passionate kiss, their tongues dancing around each other's mouths. Rainbow slid her left hoof down to AJ's crotch, and started to lightly massage her slit. Applejack let out a soft moan into Rainbow's mouth, and Rainbow the redoubled her efforts, rubbing Applejack's clit even harder. Applejack moaned even louder, and moved her own hoof to return the favor. Rubbing Rainbow Dash's slit and slipping her tongue into her mouth, caressing Rainbow's and pulling her even closer. Twilight's Libraby. Ponyville, Equestria. 9:30 AM... Twilight Sparkle trotted about her library home, storing all of the ancient paper books on the even older wooden shelves. Technology may have taken a huge turn for the better in the last few hundred years, but when Twilight saw this old library which still housed paper books, she knew that she had to maintain it. Her love of classical Woden architecture just wouldn't allow her to do otherwise. She placed the last book in its place on the shelf, and her horn stopped glowing. She looked around the library, beaming with pride. She had kept the several-hundred-year-old tree alive with her magic, and a little help from Fluttershy. Speaking of Fluttershy, the yellow mare trotted through the door, the health meter on the back of her RIG glowing bright blue. Twilight's own RIG was hanging in her closet, as she wasn't expecting visitors nor was she planning on going anywhere today. "Hello Fluttershy." Twilight greeted in a friendly manner. "Hi Twilight." Fluttershy said. "What brings you here?" Twi asked. "The miners found... Something. They're not exactly sure what it is, but it's old. They think you might have a book or something that may shed some light on it." Fluttershy said. Twilight was head of the mining company in Ponyville, she still maintained the library because she still was when the mining company was started. Since most of the mining may uncover some scientific anomalies, she was put in charge of it. All discoveries that weren't what they were mining for had to be reported to Twilight. "What did they find?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically. "This." Fluttershy said, and a holographic image of the artifact appeared between the two, projected from Fluttershy's RIG. The artifact was big. It looked like two horns which intertwined in a spiral pattern, ending in two sharp points at the top. It was a deep black, darker than Night Rain's coat, and was covered in strange, glowing, red symbols. Twilight stared at the alien artifact with intense curiosity. "Any idea what it is?" Fluttershy asked, snapping Twilight back to reality. "No." Twilight said. "There might be something in here though." She gestured to the shelves of books around them. "I'll see what I can find." "Thank you." Was all Fluttershy said. Twilight trotted from shelf to shelf, looking for her books on ancient artifacts. Once she pin done, she pored through it until she had read every single page, but not one of the books had anything on this type of artifact. She lace the tenth book down, and turned to Fluttershy, who had stood there patiently as Twilight rooted through her books. She had offered to help after the second, but Twilight brushed her off, saying that she wouldn't take long. That was over an hour ago. Defeated, Twilight walked over to Fluttershy. "I'm sorry Fluttershy, there's nothing in my books about anything like this." She said. "It's okay Twilight, you did what you could. I think that you might like to actually see the artifact, so you can study it." Fluttershy suggested. Twilight nodded, "Yeah, I would actually." Author's Note So... Yeah... Here it is... If any of you are complaining that I didn't take it farther with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, I WASNT GOING TO WRITE A FULL ON SEX SCENE!!! I'm saving that for The Storm... Anyway, hope this was somewhat interesting, but if you were reading this for the outbreak you'll have to wait a little while... Also, you can probably already guess, but Night Rain will be making an appearance in this. She is pretty much my universal OC... is that a problem? I think not... ~Devastation Chapter 2: Within Two WeeksTwilight's Library. Ponyville, Equestria. May 5th, 2341. 12:55 AM... "What is it Fluttershy?" Twilight said, staring grumpily at the projection of the yellow mare in front of her. Fluttershy had called her in the middle of the night, saying it was urgent. Twilight didn't want to hear it, but Fluttershy had insisted that it was too important to brush off now. "I'm sorry about the wake up call, but you need to know what's been going on." Fluttershy said. "Well, hurry up and spit it out. I don't have all night." Twilight said. "Right, sorry." Fluttershy said, clearing her throat. "There has been a severe spike in violent incidents over the last two weeks." That caught Twi's attention, and she listened a little more closely. "Most of the miners who were present at the artifact's discovery have either gone insane from hallucinations of dead loved ones, or ended up killing several people. A prime example would be an earth stallion named Mac. Before he uncovered the first piece of the artifact, he was healthy and completely mentally stable. But two days after his discovery, he killed two members of his dig crew, before taking his own life by slitting his throat with a lazer pick." "Dear Celestia. What about the other miners?" Twilight asked. "Similar cases have been reported amongst most of the other miners. In fact, some of the other dig crews who have never even seen the artifact have had many similar things happening to them." Fluttershy said. "What the fuck's going on around here?" Twilight said absentmindedly. "I don't know. But some of our researchers who have been studying the artifact believe that it may be responsible." Fluttershy said. Twilight sighed, not sure what to do, and placed a hoof on her forehead. "Are there any miners who haven't gone completely insane?" She said. "Yes. I have a list. Night Rain, Sharp Shooter, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Basil Crowcross, Wither, Scrapper... and several others." Fluttershy responded. "Good. Have any of them seen the artifact?" Twilight asked. "Sharp is guarding it, and most of the others have seen it." Fluttershy said. "Such as...?" Sugarcube Corner. Ponyville, Equestria. May 5th, 2341. 8:00 AM... Pinkie Pie walked around the sweet shop, bored out of her wits. Normally she'd have found something to occupy herself with, but today was especially boring. Sunday, never a big day for customers. Then again, it was still only eight o'clock... Ring! The suddenness of the door opening and the front bell ringing startled Pinkie out of her bored stupor, and she put on a smile. She turned around, and her smile faded slightly. Standing just inside the door, was Twilight. Her old boss. Pinkie used to work in the mines near Ponyville, but once that artifact was discovered and the suicides and homicides broke out, she quit. She had seen that... thing and wanted no part in the madness that it caused. "Hi Twilight. What are you doing here?" Pinkie said in a friendly manner. "Hello Pinkie Pie. I'm here to talk about the artifact that the mining team discovered two weeks ago." Twilight said. "No. I don't want anything to do with that thing! I quit my job and started working here again just to get away from all the crazy shit it caused!" Pinkie said, starting to panic at the memory of seeing those horribly mutilated corpses. "Pinkie Pie, I'm not asking you to come back. I'm asking you to tell me what you know." Twilight said. Before Pinkie could answer, something outside smashed into the door, the wood splintering a bit. The two looked at the door in surprise, and backed away instinctively. Whatever was outside hit the door again, causing the wood to bend inward further. The third time the door was hit, it flew inward, broken in two. Small pieces of the wood landed all over the floor, and the thing that was smashing the door became very visible. It looked like someone took a regular pony, and played with its anatomy. Two big appendages with large, scythe like blades made of bone sprouted from it's back, and the skin around its stomach was gone, revealing a hollow abdomen. It's lower jaw was missing, a large bloodstain took it's place, and it's lifeless eyes were full of anger and hatred. Twilight and Pinkie stared in horror at the monstrosity at their doorstep, and it charged at them, swinging it's bladed arms wildly. Somewhere in Ponyville, Equestria. May 5th 2341. 7:30 AM... Applejack watched as Rainbow Dash put on her RIG, the health meter on the back coming to life and glowing a bright blue. Her right wing slid through the hole nicely, and her left primary, which was the only remaining bone from that wing, slid through the other. AJ got up and grabbed Rainbow's synthetic left wing, and waited for Dash to stay still before sliding it onto the primary. It connected with the RIG and several small clamps connected to it, locking it in place. Dash flexed the robotic appendage, and stood up. She slowly walked to the door, but stopped when she reached it. She turned around and faced Applejack. "Come here." She said, waving her hoof to indicate for Applejack to do so. AJ did as told and stood up. Walking slowly over to Rainbow Dash, she saw that the top few buttons of Dash's suit weren't done up. As she reached her marefriend, she did up the buttons, then wrapped her forelegs around Dash, and pulled her in for a long kiss. Rainbow broke the kiss after several seconds, and looked AJ in the eyes. "I love you." She said. "I love you too." Applejack replied. The two kissed again, and Rainbow left. Applejack stood there for several seconds, and then decided to get her own suit and RIG on. Author's Note I love AppleDash too much... I just have to throw it into this story, to spice it up a bit more. Night Rain and Sharp should appear within the next few chapters. But now, I have to write the outbreak... LET THE SLAUGHTER BEGIN!!!!!! Chapter 3: InfectionSugarcube Corner. Ponyville, Equestria. May 5th, 2341. 8:15 AM... The monster charged at Pinkie Pie, who shrieked in horror and tried to get out of the way. Twilight's horn started to glow, at first dimly, and then it grew brighter as she charged the spell. She pointed her horn at the creature, and released the spell, which hit the monster, and vaporized it. Leaving only a small pile of black dust. "What..." Pinkie said, catching her breath. "What was that thing?" "I don't know. But I think we should find the others in case there are more of them." Twilight replied. "Good idea." Pinkie agreed. "Let's go." Marker Research Area. Near Ponyville, Equestria. 9:45 AM... Sharp Shooter walked along the perimeter of the research area, where a bunch of egg-heads were busy studying the artifact which was dug up two weeks ago. The scientists had decided to call the thing "The Marker", since they had no idea what else to call it. He sighed inside his helmet, which was built into his standard issue security suit. The job was boring, but it paid well enough. Not that many security jobs out there for pegasi, but ever since the Marker was dug up, there were a lot more job openings. He had seen the result of some of the incidents. Blood everywhere, strange symbols on the wall written in blood, heavily mutilated corpses, it was disgusting no doubt. But Sharp had seen worse. At least, that's what he told himself. And the ponies who had killed their colleagues, they were completely crazy, rambling on about how "they want our bodies" or "we must all be made whole" or some other shit like that. He sighed again, and the small metal arms that were both under his health meter as inside the holoprojector on his chest came out of their homes, attatched themselves to either side of his helmet. His helmet then split apart, the front and back halves folding down to a smaller size, and retreating to their containers in his health meter and holoprojector. From his now exposed head, it could be seen that his coat is bright red, his mane dirty blond and his eyes are very blue. He sat down, and stretched his wings, which were cramping up due to lack of use. He thrned his head to see his longtime friend and colleague, Rainbow Dash, approaching him. "Hey Dash." He said as Rainbow sat down next to him. "Hey Sharp." She replied. "How are things?" "Good." "AJ doing ok?" "She's fine. What about Night Rain?" "She's... Not so good." "What's wrong?" "One of her buddies, he started going nuts. It was around the same time as the Marker was dug up, he just started rambling on, and started killing everyone he could see." "Shit..." "Yeah, he was heading right for her, and that's when I stepped in. Pinned the fucker down in about two seconds." "Is she alright?" "Yeah, Night's fine. Just a bit shaken up. But she keeps waking up, screaming from nightmares about that day." "Man... I hope she can get over them." "Me too. It's not right, seeing her like this." "I know what you mean." A light blue mare walked up to them. She was an earth pony with bright purple eyes and a black and purple mane which was somewhat in disarray, but in a way that helped to bring out her eyes. Rainbow and Sharp new her, and greeted her warmly. "Hey Blade." Rainbow Dash said. "Sup." Blade replied. Her full name was Blade Cutter, but she preferred Blade. "This is it." Sharp said dully. Blade looked at Rainbow. "What's wrong with him?" She asked. "Night isn't doing so well, he's... taking it kinda hard." Rainbow said. "That's awful. Is she alright?" Blade asked. "She was almost killed by one of her co-workers and has been having nightmares about it ever since." Sharp explained, his voice monotonous. "Who?" Blade asked. "I don't know, wasn't really concerned with 'who' at the time. Only that he was trying to hurt Night Rain, and that was enough for me." Sharp said, his voice grim. "Oh... Okay." Blade said. "Well, I hope she gets back to normal soon." "Me too." Sharp said. He stood up, and his helmet reassembled itself over his head. "Well. Best get back to..." "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The scream caught them all off guard, and they turned simultaneously to investigate it. About twenty meters away, a light pink earth mare was running from... something. It looked like a pony, or what was left of one. It's hind legs were missing, and all that remained below the waist was a long, flexible tail that looked like it was made out of the pony's entrails, muscles and bones, with a long, curved lade at the end of it. It's mouth now had four long teeth protruding from the upper and lower haws, and the skin where it's cheeks were had split open, allowing it to open it's mouth wider. The creature leaped at the mare, bringing her down and landing on top of her. it opened it's jaws wide, and wrapped them around the helpless mare's head. She kept screaming for somepony, anypony to help her, but Sharp, Rainbow and Blade were too dumbstruck to do anything but watch in horror. The creature locked it's mouth around the mare's head, and pulled. It pulled and pulled on her head, stretching her neck until. Pop! Her head broke right off of her neck, blood spurting from the stump of her neck where her head had once been. Blade was the first to react. Pulling out her plasma cutter, a small, mouth held tool that could cut through rock like a knife through butter, and turned it on. She aimed the three lasers used for precision cutting at the creature's neck, since it was howling into the sky, and pulled the trigger. The bolt of plasma connected with it's intended target, and tore through the creature's neck, sending it's head a few feet away. The rest of the monster, however, was still alive, and turned to "face" in the direction of the trio. "What the fuck?" Blade said in disbelief. The creature started running at Blade, who aimed the plasma cutter at one of it's legs. She shot the limb once, twice, three times, and finally separated it from it's owner. The creature, however, kept coming. Using it's other leg, it dragged itself in Blade's direction. She aimed for the other leg, switcing the plasma cutter to it's vertical firing mode, and shot it once, twice, three more times, finally stopping the monster in it's tracks. She stared at the now immobile body of the necropony, waiting for it to continue it's assault, but it didn't. "What the hell was that thing?" Sharp said. "I don't know." Rainbow said. "I need to find AJ, in case there are more of them." "Yeah, I need to get Night, I don't want her to be alone if there are more of... whatever the fuck that was." Sharp said. "I'll go find the others." Blade said. "We'll meet up at Sugarcube corner in one hour, tops." "Agreed." Sharp and Rainbow said together. Sugarcube Corner. Ponyville, Equestria. 11:00 AM... "We need to find out what is causing this." Twilight Sparkle said to the eight other ponies in the room. "Whatever it is, it's making any dead ponies come back to life as mutated monsters that seem to attack anything they see on sight." "And they don't go down easy." Blade Cutter added. "That too." Twilight said. "So... what's the plan Twi?" Applejack asked. "Well, even though this doesn't exactly seem like his style, I think that Discord might have some idea of what's going on here." Twilight said. "Hmm..." Rainbow said. "It would make sense, seeing as this is pretty chaotic." "It's settled then. We summon Discord, and demand an explanation for what is going on." Twilight said with an air of finality. "Now, let's go get the Elements of Harmony." Author's Note So, yeah. My OC Blade Cutter makes a comeback after her grizzly death in "The Dead of Night: The Final Showdown" (which, if you haven't read, fucking do so, as it is the third in my original trilogy of stories). I hope you can see why I added her in this, as with her talent, it should be obvious. Also, if anyone is complaing that they're still using the Elements of Harmony in the future; they're still a key element (lol) to the story, and will be used anyway. Hope you don't mind this taking so long, I was just busy with other stuff. -Devastation P.S. The necrompony that Blade killed was a Leaper, and the one that Twilight killed was a Slasher. Although with the descriptions I gave, it shouldn't be too hard to have already determined that. Chapter 4: Left to RotThe group ran eastward towards Twilight's library, where the Elements of Harmony were being safely kept by she who lived there. There were necromorphs everywhere, but most of them seemed to be distracted by other citizens of Ponyville who couldn't get away as quickly. They were running in two single-file lines, Rainbow Dash and Applejack led the rows, then Night and Sharp, Pinkie and Twilight, Rarity and Blade, with Fluttershy and Ace, who they managed to pick up on the way, taking the rear. Fluttershy, as usual, was terrified beyond belief. Applejack was trying to keep her cool, as was Rainbow Dash. Sharp couldn't help but keep looking at Night, unsure if she'd be able to keep up the pace at which they were running due to her weakened and sleep-deprived state. Twilight was keeping an eye on the group, making sure nopony got left behind. The others were just worried about whether or not they would get through this alive. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshomygosh! We're not gonna make it! We're not gonna make it!!" Rainbow panicked as several Necromorph ponies converged on the group, some of them were the two legged ones that had attacked Twilight and Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner, others were like the one that Blade had managed to kill, and others were completely new altogether. One of the smaller ones began to sprint right at them, and then leapt through the air, landing right on top of Fluttershy. The force of the leaper's impact knocked Fluttershy to the ground, and the Leaper pinned her down using it's legs while it began to snap at her head. Fluttershy pushed back with all her might, trying to keep the necromorph's massive jaw from encompassing her head. "Somepony! Help!" Fluttershy screamed, trying her best to keep the necromorph's massive teeth from wrapping around her skull. Blade pulled out her plasma cutter and took aim at the Leaper's neck. "Hold still you little bastard..." She whispered, and pulled the trigger. The bolt of plasma hit it's mark, and the Leaper's head came flying off, spurting blood in Fluttershy's face. The Leaper itself, however, was still alive. It brought it's tail up like a scorpion, and brought it down like a javelin at Fluttershy's head. Missing by a mere two inches as she moved her head out of it's path. The Leaper brought it's tail up again, but Blade shot several plasma bolts at it, tearing through the bone and muscle and severing the tail. The Leaper finally got off of Fluttershy, and started for Blade, who simply took aim at one of it's arms and fired. She shot it once, twice, three times before the arm finally came off and the Leaper stopped moving. She walked up to it and kicked it for good measure, making sure that it was dead. She held out a hoof to Fluttershy, who took it and shakily got to her hooves. "You alright?" Blade asked. "I think so." Fluttershy said, her voice shaky but strong. "You sure?" Blade asked, her concern overriding any other impulses. Such as the one to look behind you. The necromorph came out of nowhere, stabbing Blade several times right through her torso, splattering blood everywhere. She struggled against it, but the Necromorph was stronger. It picked her up and smashed her to the ground before pouncing on her and unleashing a maelstrom of slashing blades that tore through her flesh like a hot knife through butter. She screamed, but it was too late. She was already losin so much blood that she was guaranteed to meet with the Grim Reaper face to face. Fluttershy simply watched in horror as her friend was butchered right in front of her, too terrified to do anything. She couldn't even scream for help. Luckily for her, however, the rest of the group had manage to finish off the Necromorphs attacking them, only sustaining minor injuries. Sharp ran right at the slasher attacking Blade and tackled it, knocking it off of her. He activated his plasma saw, which they had managed to find several of in a storage room, and started hacking away at the slasher's arms. Severing them one by one until the only thing left was a twitching torso. After he dispatched the slasher, Sharp turned around to see Blade laying there, bleeding out. He knelt down next to her and took her hoof in his own. Her breaths were rapid and shallow, she didn't have much time left. She coughed up a mouthful of blood and looked at Sharp, fear and sorrow in her eyes. "It's okay." He soothed. "They're gone, you're among friends." He tried to keep his voice steady. "Nopony's gonna hurt you." Slowly, Blade reached for her plasma cutter, and pushed it into Sharp's free hoof. She looked into his eyes, and smiled slightly. Then, her hoof fell from his grasp and her head fell limp. Sharp could hear her RIG flat-lining, and he knew that she was dead. He reached up to her head and closed her eyes, which stared lifelessly up at the sky. He stood up and slowly walked away, Blade's plasma cutter attached to his belt, and met up with the rest of the group, who had simply watched their friend die in his arms. Night walked up and hugged Sharp, followed by Rainbow Dash and Applejack. The others couldn't be bothered to say anything, for they were too caught up in their own sorrow. *** The nine remaining ponies ran into the library and locked the door behind them. "That won't be enough," Twilight said, "Rainbow, AJ, barricade the door." "You got it." Rainbow Dash said, and they went to work finding anything they could to block the door. Five minutes and a lot of rearranging later, the door was barricaded with a couch, a table and a bookshelf. "That should hold 'em." Applejack said, hoping she was right. "And if not, nothing's getting past me." Rainbow proudly said, puffing her chest out. "Rainbow, I don't think now's the time for your ego to take hold of you. People are dying out there and we need to stop whatever's the cause of this outbreak." Twilight said calmly. "Twilight's right, Rainbow." Applejack agreed. "There's a time and a place, and Ah don't think right here right now is it." "Fine. But even still they'll have to go through me if they want to get at any of you." Rainbow said defiantly. "Nopony messes with my friends." "Alright, does everyone have their own element?" Twilight asked the five mares around her. Each wore her own Element of Harmony around her neck, and Twilight wore the Tiara. "Okay, let's do this." The element crystals in the necklaces and Tiara started to glow, and then a multicoloured ribbon of light spread from one Element stone to the next, and a huge rainbow tornado formed in the center of them. The tornado then vanished, revealing the God of Chaos himself, Discord, standing there. "So..." He began. "Having problems, are we?" "That's a bit of an understatement, Discord." Twilight said. "Oh? And how, may I ask, is that?" Discord asked, somewhat intrigued. "We found... something... buried deep beneath the surface. Soon after that, these things, monsters started attacking out of the blue. We don't know what they are or why they're attacking us, but I think that it's related to the artifact." She explained. "What kind of 'artifact'?" Discord asked, a change of tone in his voice. "This." Twilight said as she projected an image of the Marker in front of her. Discord's jaw practically fell off, and he stared at the projection in horror. "You fools! What have you done?!" He stammered. "Do you know what that thing is?" Rainbow Dash prodded, getting eye to eye with him. "Yes. But I thought it was destroyed! It shouldn't have been found and now you've doomed us all!" "Care to explain what you mean?" Twilight asked him, getting impatient. "People are dying out there, and if you have any information on how we can put a stop to it, you better bucking tell us." "Nopony knows where it came from, just that it isn't from here." Discord said. "What do you mean 'from here'?" Rainbow Dash asked him. "I mean, not of this world." He said. "It definitely isn't Equine and there's nopony on the planet who can determine it's origin. All I know is that it's alien and that it cannot be destroyed." "We have the Elements of Harmony." Twilight said. "Can't they stop it?" "Celestia and Luna tried that when it was first discovered thousands of years ago. It didn't work so they buried it where they assumed nopony would be able to find it." "So basically..." Rainbow started. "You're hopeless." Discord finished her sentence for her. "Great. So what can we do?" Applejack asked. "I don't think there's anything you can do except try to survive." Discord said. He then snapped his fingers and vanished. Chapter 5: Imminent ThreatThe group stared at the empty space that only moments ago was occupied by Discord. They tried to process what he had told them, but all that sank in was the fact that there was no way to stop this massacre from happening. "We're screwed..." It was Night's voice, smooth as ever despite the fear that controlled her. "No," Twilight said. "No we're not." "How?" Rainbow spoke up. "You heard Discord! The Elements won't work! What are we gonna do?" "I hate to say it," Rarity said. "But she's right, Twilight. We don't have anything we can stop then with. Our best bet is to hide in here and starve to death or go out there and take as many of them with us as we can." Twilight looked at her friend questioningly. She hadn't expected something like that to come from her, but with the current situation she couldn't really blame her. She looked to the rest of the group; Applejack and Rainbow Dash holding each other, as with Night and Sharp, Ace was keeping an eye out the door, his plasma saw at the ready, Rarity had a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, trying to calm the poor girl down, and Pinkie Pie was being unusually quiet, just staring at the floor blankly. "Do you all feel this way?" She had to ask. Everyone looked at her then, mostly with faces of either fear or sorrow. All but Fluttershy nodded, knowing that those were their only two options. "We could leave," Fluttershy spoke up, earning questioning glances from everypony in the room. "The planet I mean." "How?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I can't fly that high, not sure anypony can." "Well, don't we have a ship or something?" Fluttershy asked. Everyone in the room was silent. Not knowing what to say. She looked around the room to see that everyone else was looking down at the ground again. Twilight spoke up again. "Well, we coul--" Bang! It was the door, or something behind it. The group looked at the hastily built barricade and saw that a small section of it was pushed inward. Another bang against the door brought another indent to the barricade, a few splinters of wood ejecting themselves onto the floor. Another smash against the door brought the whole barricade down, revealing the large, clearly armoured creature on the other side. It raised up on its hind legs and let out a sound like an elephant's trumpet before charging through the smashed doorway. "Holy shit..." Came Rainbow Dash's voice. "What the hell is that?" Twilight stammered out. The large creature charged right at Twilight, but she was knocked out of its way by Rainbow Dash. The necromorph then crashed into the wall where Twilight was standing, splintering the wood and sending shards of it everywhere. "Outside! Quick!" Sharp shouted, firing a few bolts of plasma at the creature's back. The rest of the group filed outside while the large necromorph freed itself from the hole it made in the wall. Sharp stood at the doorway while the others ran into the street, finding more necromorphs all around them. Rainbow Dash was the last to exit the library, almost being crushed by the large monster that had nearly killed Twilight. The creature itself finally managed to free itself from the wall, leaving a large indent of broken wood and crushed books where it used to be. It reared back again and charged for the door, right towards Sharp. He quickly got out of the way and the monster crashed through the already destroyed door, creating an even bigger hole in the wall and sending even more splinters of wood in all directions. They watched as it stopped in it's tracks, finally able to get a good look at it. It was built somewhat similar to a gorilla, and had a pair of tendrils near the pony skull that made up its face. It looked at them, all standing close together, and charged again. The group then split up at the last second. The creature's momentum kept it going, and it skidded to a halt several meters away. "How the hell are we supposed to kill it?" Raonbow shouted. "Try and get behind it. Its armour's too thick on the front but I think I saw a weak spot on its back," Sharp replied, hovering between the creature and Night Rain. The monster charged at Applejack, who was trying her best to evade it, adrenaline coursing through her. She dodged to the right, and it crashed into Sugarcube Corner. Sharp seized the opportunity and shot the back of its shoulder, sending blood and bits of flesh flying from the joint. After several bolts of plasma, the arm came flying from its joint, blood spraying from the stump and sending the creature into berzerk. "I think you're just pissing it off!" Rainbow Dash warned. "You got a better idea?" He called back, watching as the creature freed itself and charged again, this time at Rarity and Fluttershy; the latter of whom took flight, carrying the other with her. The brute howled in anger and charged for Twilight, who had been distracted trying to study its behaviour. She yelped and teleported behind it, Sharp finally having a clear shot. He aimed the plasma cutter for its leg, which bent back like a chicken, and put several bolts into it, eventually causing the limb to fly off. The brute roared yet again, hardly able to keep its balance but still alive. Sharp shot its second shoulder, eventually severing the arm and causing the monster to fall flat on its face. It twitched a few times, and finally went still on the ground, blood oozing from its severed limbs. Sharp landed and heaved a deep sigh, catching his breath. "What... the hell... was that?" Applejack panted, limping over to meet up with the rest of the group, who were all forming up close to the wrecked library. "I'm not sure," Rainbow said, noticing Applejack's limp. "Woah, AJ, you're bleeding!" She looked at Applejack's leg, and saw the large splinter of wood that had gone right through it, blood oozing around it. "It's nothin', hun," Applejack tried to comfort her, but the pain in her voice made it obvious that she was lying. "Applejack," Twilight started, "that's not nothing." Rainbow looked at her worriedly, to which Applejack just smiled and said; "It's okay, sug', just a flesh wound." "At least..." Twilight said. "If that did enough damage to your arteries you could bleed out in minutes if we took it out. "That's fine, we just won't take it out," Applejack said. "I can walk just fine." She tried to take a few steps, but the pain caused her to falter and trip. "AJ!" Rainbow shouted, helping the injured mare to her hooves. Sharp's ears perked up, and then went down as he realized that no one had been watching the perimeter. Author's Note I had planned to have someone killed by the brute, actually... Oh well. Hope y'all enjoyed! -Devs
Chapter 1: The ArtifactIron Ore Mine near Ponyville, Equestria. 12:34 AM. April 21, 2341... The pickaxe came down with tremendous force, and the earth pony behind it grunted due to the excess amount of strength that he had put into his swing. Another pony gave him a concerned glance. "You okay there Mac?" He said. "I'm fine." Mac said, hefting the pick for another swing. He brought the obsolete mining tool down again, and the pickaxe went through the rock about an inch, and was stopped by something. Mac pulled the pick back, and hit the rock again, even harder this time. But the pick just wouldn't go through. "There must be something buried here..." He said under his breath. "What's that?" Blu, a light blue stallion with bright orange hair and matching eyes asked. "I think there's something buried here in the rock." Mac said. Mac was about average height for a pony, with a stocky build and strong legs that could smash through your skull before you could blink. He was light brown, with dark brown hair and light green eyes. His cutie mark was a set of dumbbells, earned when he discovered how strong he really was. "You think so?" said Blu. "Yeah. Help me un-bury it would you?" Mac said, taking another swing and tearing a big chunk of rock away. Underneath was... something. Deep black with glowing red symbols all over it. It's surface was smooth, and it appeared to have quite a reflective sheen. It also wasn't fully uncovered, only a small section of it about ten inches wide was uncovered. The rest still lay buried under the rock. "We should call this in." Blu suggested. "Yeah, we should." Mac agreed. Ponyville, Equestria. 7:45 AM... Applejack awoke to the sound of an alarm clock. She groaned and reached her hoof over to turn it off. Her hoof connected with plastic, and she pressed down on the button, shutting up the alarm. She slowly opened her eyes in the dim morning light. She felt the warmth of her lover, who was still asleep next to her. She looked at the sky blue mare, whose left wing was missing, blown off in a mining accident many years ago. She looked lovingly at the multicoloured mane of the mare. "Mornin' Rainbow." she said, wrapping her forelegs around her and placing her chin in the crook of her neck, planting a light kiss on Rainbow's cheek. Rainbow had her back turned to Applejack, but returned the embrace as best as she could, turning her head and connecting her lips with Applejack's. Slowly breaking apart, Rainbow said; "Morning AJ." and turned around in Applejack's arms to face her. The two shared an even more passionate kiss, their tongues dancing around each other's mouths. Rainbow slid her left hoof down to AJ's crotch, and started to lightly massage her slit. Applejack let out a soft moan into Rainbow's mouth, and Rainbow the redoubled her efforts, rubbing Applejack's clit even harder. Applejack moaned even louder, and moved her own hoof to return the favor. Rubbing Rainbow Dash's slit and slipping her tongue into her mouth, caressing Rainbow's and pulling her even closer. Twilight's Libraby. Ponyville, Equestria. 9:30 AM... Twilight Sparkle trotted about her library home, storing all of the ancient paper books on the even older wooden shelves. Technology may have taken a huge turn for the better in the last few hundred years, but when Twilight saw this old library which still housed paper books, she knew that she had to maintain it. Her love of classical Woden architecture just wouldn't allow her to do otherwise. She placed the last book in its place on the shelf, and her horn stopped glowing. She looked around the library, beaming with pride. She had kept the several-hundred-year-old tree alive with her magic, and a little help from Fluttershy. Speaking of Fluttershy, the yellow mare trotted through the door, the health meter on the back of her RIG glowing bright blue. Twilight's own RIG was hanging in her closet, as she wasn't expecting visitors nor was she planning on going anywhere today. "Hello Fluttershy." Twilight greeted in a friendly manner. "Hi Twilight." Fluttershy said. "What brings you here?" Twi asked. "The miners found... Something. They're not exactly sure what it is, but it's old. They think you might have a book or something that may shed some light on it." Fluttershy said. Twilight was head of the mining company in Ponyville, she still maintained the library because she still was when the mining company was started. Since most of the mining may uncover some scientific anomalies, she was put in charge of it. All discoveries that weren't what they were mining for had to be reported to Twilight. "What did they find?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically. "This." Fluttershy said, and a holographic image of the artifact appeared between the two, projected from Fluttershy's RIG. The artifact was big. It looked like two horns which intertwined in a spiral pattern, ending in two sharp points at the top. It was a deep black, darker than Night Rain's coat, and was covered in strange, glowing, red symbols. Twilight stared at the alien artifact with intense curiosity. "Any idea what it is?" Fluttershy asked, snapping Twilight back to reality. "No." Twilight said. "There might be something in here though." She gestured to the shelves of books around them. "I'll see what I can find." "Thank you." Was all Fluttershy said. Twilight trotted from shelf to shelf, looking for her books on ancient artifacts. Once she pin done, she pored through it until she had read every single page, but not one of the books had anything on this type of artifact. She lace the tenth book down, and turned to Fluttershy, who had stood there patiently as Twilight rooted through her books. She had offered to help after the second, but Twilight brushed her off, saying that she wouldn't take long. That was over an hour ago. Defeated, Twilight walked over to Fluttershy. "I'm sorry Fluttershy, there's nothing in my books about anything like this." She said. "It's okay Twilight, you did what you could. I think that you might like to actually see the artifact, so you can study it." Fluttershy suggested. Twilight nodded, "Yeah, I would actually." Author's Note So... Yeah... Here it is... If any of you are complaining that I didn't take it farther with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, I WASNT GOING TO WRITE A FULL ON SEX SCENE!!! I'm saving that for The Storm... Anyway, hope this was somewhat interesting, but if you were reading this for the outbreak you'll have to wait a little while... Also, you can probably already guess, but Night Rain will be making an appearance in this. She is pretty much my universal OC... is that a problem? I think not... ~Devastation
Chapter 2: Within Two WeeksTwilight's Library. Ponyville, Equestria. May 5th, 2341. 12:55 AM... "What is it Fluttershy?" Twilight said, staring grumpily at the projection of the yellow mare in front of her. Fluttershy had called her in the middle of the night, saying it was urgent. Twilight didn't want to hear it, but Fluttershy had insisted that it was too important to brush off now. "I'm sorry about the wake up call, but you need to know what's been going on." Fluttershy said. "Well, hurry up and spit it out. I don't have all night." Twilight said. "Right, sorry." Fluttershy said, clearing her throat. "There has been a severe spike in violent incidents over the last two weeks." That caught Twi's attention, and she listened a little more closely. "Most of the miners who were present at the artifact's discovery have either gone insane from hallucinations of dead loved ones, or ended up killing several people. A prime example would be an earth stallion named Mac. Before he uncovered the first piece of the artifact, he was healthy and completely mentally stable. But two days after his discovery, he killed two members of his dig crew, before taking his own life by slitting his throat with a lazer pick." "Dear Celestia. What about the other miners?" Twilight asked. "Similar cases have been reported amongst most of the other miners. In fact, some of the other dig crews who have never even seen the artifact have had many similar things happening to them." Fluttershy said. "What the fuck's going on around here?" Twilight said absentmindedly. "I don't know. But some of our researchers who have been studying the artifact believe that it may be responsible." Fluttershy said. Twilight sighed, not sure what to do, and placed a hoof on her forehead. "Are there any miners who haven't gone completely insane?" She said. "Yes. I have a list. Night Rain, Sharp Shooter, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Basil Crowcross, Wither, Scrapper... and several others." Fluttershy responded. "Good. Have any of them seen the artifact?" Twilight asked. "Sharp is guarding it, and most of the others have seen it." Fluttershy said. "Such as...?" Sugarcube Corner. Ponyville, Equestria. May 5th, 2341. 8:00 AM... Pinkie Pie walked around the sweet shop, bored out of her wits. Normally she'd have found something to occupy herself with, but today was especially boring. Sunday, never a big day for customers. Then again, it was still only eight o'clock... Ring! The suddenness of the door opening and the front bell ringing startled Pinkie out of her bored stupor, and she put on a smile. She turned around, and her smile faded slightly. Standing just inside the door, was Twilight. Her old boss. Pinkie used to work in the mines near Ponyville, but once that artifact was discovered and the suicides and homicides broke out, she quit. She had seen that... thing and wanted no part in the madness that it caused. "Hi Twilight. What are you doing here?" Pinkie said in a friendly manner. "Hello Pinkie Pie. I'm here to talk about the artifact that the mining team discovered two weeks ago." Twilight said. "No. I don't want anything to do with that thing! I quit my job and started working here again just to get away from all the crazy shit it caused!" Pinkie said, starting to panic at the memory of seeing those horribly mutilated corpses. "Pinkie Pie, I'm not asking you to come back. I'm asking you to tell me what you know." Twilight said. Before Pinkie could answer, something outside smashed into the door, the wood splintering a bit. The two looked at the door in surprise, and backed away instinctively. Whatever was outside hit the door again, causing the wood to bend inward further. The third time the door was hit, it flew inward, broken in two. Small pieces of the wood landed all over the floor, and the thing that was smashing the door became very visible. It looked like someone took a regular pony, and played with its anatomy. Two big appendages with large, scythe like blades made of bone sprouted from it's back, and the skin around its stomach was gone, revealing a hollow abdomen. It's lower jaw was missing, a large bloodstain took it's place, and it's lifeless eyes were full of anger and hatred. Twilight and Pinkie stared in horror at the monstrosity at their doorstep, and it charged at them, swinging it's bladed arms wildly. Somewhere in Ponyville, Equestria. May 5th 2341. 7:30 AM... Applejack watched as Rainbow Dash put on her RIG, the health meter on the back coming to life and glowing a bright blue. Her right wing slid through the hole nicely, and her left primary, which was the only remaining bone from that wing, slid through the other. AJ got up and grabbed Rainbow's synthetic left wing, and waited for Dash to stay still before sliding it onto the primary. It connected with the RIG and several small clamps connected to it, locking it in place. Dash flexed the robotic appendage, and stood up. She slowly walked to the door, but stopped when she reached it. She turned around and faced Applejack. "Come here." She said, waving her hoof to indicate for Applejack to do so. AJ did as told and stood up. Walking slowly over to Rainbow Dash, she saw that the top few buttons of Dash's suit weren't done up. As she reached her marefriend, she did up the buttons, then wrapped her forelegs around Dash, and pulled her in for a long kiss. Rainbow broke the kiss after several seconds, and looked AJ in the eyes. "I love you." She said. "I love you too." Applejack replied. The two kissed again, and Rainbow left. Applejack stood there for several seconds, and then decided to get her own suit and RIG on. Author's Note I love AppleDash too much... I just have to throw it into this story, to spice it up a bit more. Night Rain and Sharp should appear within the next few chapters. But now, I have to write the outbreak... LET THE SLAUGHTER BEGIN!!!!!!
Chapter 3: InfectionSugarcube Corner. Ponyville, Equestria. May 5th, 2341. 8:15 AM... The monster charged at Pinkie Pie, who shrieked in horror and tried to get out of the way. Twilight's horn started to glow, at first dimly, and then it grew brighter as she charged the spell. She pointed her horn at the creature, and released the spell, which hit the monster, and vaporized it. Leaving only a small pile of black dust. "What..." Pinkie said, catching her breath. "What was that thing?" "I don't know. But I think we should find the others in case there are more of them." Twilight replied. "Good idea." Pinkie agreed. "Let's go." Marker Research Area. Near Ponyville, Equestria. 9:45 AM... Sharp Shooter walked along the perimeter of the research area, where a bunch of egg-heads were busy studying the artifact which was dug up two weeks ago. The scientists had decided to call the thing "The Marker", since they had no idea what else to call it. He sighed inside his helmet, which was built into his standard issue security suit. The job was boring, but it paid well enough. Not that many security jobs out there for pegasi, but ever since the Marker was dug up, there were a lot more job openings. He had seen the result of some of the incidents. Blood everywhere, strange symbols on the wall written in blood, heavily mutilated corpses, it was disgusting no doubt. But Sharp had seen worse. At least, that's what he told himself. And the ponies who had killed their colleagues, they were completely crazy, rambling on about how "they want our bodies" or "we must all be made whole" or some other shit like that. He sighed again, and the small metal arms that were both under his health meter as inside the holoprojector on his chest came out of their homes, attatched themselves to either side of his helmet. His helmet then split apart, the front and back halves folding down to a smaller size, and retreating to their containers in his health meter and holoprojector. From his now exposed head, it could be seen that his coat is bright red, his mane dirty blond and his eyes are very blue. He sat down, and stretched his wings, which were cramping up due to lack of use. He thrned his head to see his longtime friend and colleague, Rainbow Dash, approaching him. "Hey Dash." He said as Rainbow sat down next to him. "Hey Sharp." She replied. "How are things?" "Good." "AJ doing ok?" "She's fine. What about Night Rain?" "She's... Not so good." "What's wrong?" "One of her buddies, he started going nuts. It was around the same time as the Marker was dug up, he just started rambling on, and started killing everyone he could see." "Shit..." "Yeah, he was heading right for her, and that's when I stepped in. Pinned the fucker down in about two seconds." "Is she alright?" "Yeah, Night's fine. Just a bit shaken up. But she keeps waking up, screaming from nightmares about that day." "Man... I hope she can get over them." "Me too. It's not right, seeing her like this." "I know what you mean." A light blue mare walked up to them. She was an earth pony with bright purple eyes and a black and purple mane which was somewhat in disarray, but in a way that helped to bring out her eyes. Rainbow and Sharp new her, and greeted her warmly. "Hey Blade." Rainbow Dash said. "Sup." Blade replied. Her full name was Blade Cutter, but she preferred Blade. "This is it." Sharp said dully. Blade looked at Rainbow. "What's wrong with him?" She asked. "Night isn't doing so well, he's... taking it kinda hard." Rainbow said. "That's awful. Is she alright?" Blade asked. "She was almost killed by one of her co-workers and has been having nightmares about it ever since." Sharp explained, his voice monotonous. "Who?" Blade asked. "I don't know, wasn't really concerned with 'who' at the time. Only that he was trying to hurt Night Rain, and that was enough for me." Sharp said, his voice grim. "Oh... Okay." Blade said. "Well, I hope she gets back to normal soon." "Me too." Sharp said. He stood up, and his helmet reassembled itself over his head. "Well. Best get back to..." "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The scream caught them all off guard, and they turned simultaneously to investigate it. About twenty meters away, a light pink earth mare was running from... something. It looked like a pony, or what was left of one. It's hind legs were missing, and all that remained below the waist was a long, flexible tail that looked like it was made out of the pony's entrails, muscles and bones, with a long, curved lade at the end of it. It's mouth now had four long teeth protruding from the upper and lower haws, and the skin where it's cheeks were had split open, allowing it to open it's mouth wider. The creature leaped at the mare, bringing her down and landing on top of her. it opened it's jaws wide, and wrapped them around the helpless mare's head. She kept screaming for somepony, anypony to help her, but Sharp, Rainbow and Blade were too dumbstruck to do anything but watch in horror. The creature locked it's mouth around the mare's head, and pulled. It pulled and pulled on her head, stretching her neck until. Pop! Her head broke right off of her neck, blood spurting from the stump of her neck where her head had once been. Blade was the first to react. Pulling out her plasma cutter, a small, mouth held tool that could cut through rock like a knife through butter, and turned it on. She aimed the three lasers used for precision cutting at the creature's neck, since it was howling into the sky, and pulled the trigger. The bolt of plasma connected with it's intended target, and tore through the creature's neck, sending it's head a few feet away. The rest of the monster, however, was still alive, and turned to "face" in the direction of the trio. "What the fuck?" Blade said in disbelief. The creature started running at Blade, who aimed the plasma cutter at one of it's legs. She shot the limb once, twice, three times, and finally separated it from it's owner. The creature, however, kept coming. Using it's other leg, it dragged itself in Blade's direction. She aimed for the other leg, switcing the plasma cutter to it's vertical firing mode, and shot it once, twice, three more times, finally stopping the monster in it's tracks. She stared at the now immobile body of the necropony, waiting for it to continue it's assault, but it didn't. "What the hell was that thing?" Sharp said. "I don't know." Rainbow said. "I need to find AJ, in case there are more of them." "Yeah, I need to get Night, I don't want her to be alone if there are more of... whatever the fuck that was." Sharp said. "I'll go find the others." Blade said. "We'll meet up at Sugarcube corner in one hour, tops." "Agreed." Sharp and Rainbow said together. Sugarcube Corner. Ponyville, Equestria. 11:00 AM... "We need to find out what is causing this." Twilight Sparkle said to the eight other ponies in the room. "Whatever it is, it's making any dead ponies come back to life as mutated monsters that seem to attack anything they see on sight." "And they don't go down easy." Blade Cutter added. "That too." Twilight said. "So... what's the plan Twi?" Applejack asked. "Well, even though this doesn't exactly seem like his style, I think that Discord might have some idea of what's going on here." Twilight said. "Hmm..." Rainbow said. "It would make sense, seeing as this is pretty chaotic." "It's settled then. We summon Discord, and demand an explanation for what is going on." Twilight said with an air of finality. "Now, let's go get the Elements of Harmony." Author's Note So, yeah. My OC Blade Cutter makes a comeback after her grizzly death in "The Dead of Night: The Final Showdown" (which, if you haven't read, fucking do so, as it is the third in my original trilogy of stories). I hope you can see why I added her in this, as with her talent, it should be obvious. Also, if anyone is complaing that they're still using the Elements of Harmony in the future; they're still a key element (lol) to the story, and will be used anyway. Hope you don't mind this taking so long, I was just busy with other stuff. -Devastation P.S. The necrompony that Blade killed was a Leaper, and the one that Twilight killed was a Slasher. Although with the descriptions I gave, it shouldn't be too hard to have already determined that.
Chapter 4: Left to RotThe group ran eastward towards Twilight's library, where the Elements of Harmony were being safely kept by she who lived there. There were necromorphs everywhere, but most of them seemed to be distracted by other citizens of Ponyville who couldn't get away as quickly. They were running in two single-file lines, Rainbow Dash and Applejack led the rows, then Night and Sharp, Pinkie and Twilight, Rarity and Blade, with Fluttershy and Ace, who they managed to pick up on the way, taking the rear. Fluttershy, as usual, was terrified beyond belief. Applejack was trying to keep her cool, as was Rainbow Dash. Sharp couldn't help but keep looking at Night, unsure if she'd be able to keep up the pace at which they were running due to her weakened and sleep-deprived state. Twilight was keeping an eye on the group, making sure nopony got left behind. The others were just worried about whether or not they would get through this alive. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshomygosh! We're not gonna make it! We're not gonna make it!!" Rainbow panicked as several Necromorph ponies converged on the group, some of them were the two legged ones that had attacked Twilight and Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner, others were like the one that Blade had managed to kill, and others were completely new altogether. One of the smaller ones began to sprint right at them, and then leapt through the air, landing right on top of Fluttershy. The force of the leaper's impact knocked Fluttershy to the ground, and the Leaper pinned her down using it's legs while it began to snap at her head. Fluttershy pushed back with all her might, trying to keep the necromorph's massive jaw from encompassing her head. "Somepony! Help!" Fluttershy screamed, trying her best to keep the necromorph's massive teeth from wrapping around her skull. Blade pulled out her plasma cutter and took aim at the Leaper's neck. "Hold still you little bastard..." She whispered, and pulled the trigger. The bolt of plasma hit it's mark, and the Leaper's head came flying off, spurting blood in Fluttershy's face. The Leaper itself, however, was still alive. It brought it's tail up like a scorpion, and brought it down like a javelin at Fluttershy's head. Missing by a mere two inches as she moved her head out of it's path. The Leaper brought it's tail up again, but Blade shot several plasma bolts at it, tearing through the bone and muscle and severing the tail. The Leaper finally got off of Fluttershy, and started for Blade, who simply took aim at one of it's arms and fired. She shot it once, twice, three times before the arm finally came off and the Leaper stopped moving. She walked up to it and kicked it for good measure, making sure that it was dead. She held out a hoof to Fluttershy, who took it and shakily got to her hooves. "You alright?" Blade asked. "I think so." Fluttershy said, her voice shaky but strong. "You sure?" Blade asked, her concern overriding any other impulses. Such as the one to look behind you. The necromorph came out of nowhere, stabbing Blade several times right through her torso, splattering blood everywhere. She struggled against it, but the Necromorph was stronger. It picked her up and smashed her to the ground before pouncing on her and unleashing a maelstrom of slashing blades that tore through her flesh like a hot knife through butter. She screamed, but it was too late. She was already losin so much blood that she was guaranteed to meet with the Grim Reaper face to face. Fluttershy simply watched in horror as her friend was butchered right in front of her, too terrified to do anything. She couldn't even scream for help. Luckily for her, however, the rest of the group had manage to finish off the Necromorphs attacking them, only sustaining minor injuries. Sharp ran right at the slasher attacking Blade and tackled it, knocking it off of her. He activated his plasma saw, which they had managed to find several of in a storage room, and started hacking away at the slasher's arms. Severing them one by one until the only thing left was a twitching torso. After he dispatched the slasher, Sharp turned around to see Blade laying there, bleeding out. He knelt down next to her and took her hoof in his own. Her breaths were rapid and shallow, she didn't have much time left. She coughed up a mouthful of blood and looked at Sharp, fear and sorrow in her eyes. "It's okay." He soothed. "They're gone, you're among friends." He tried to keep his voice steady. "Nopony's gonna hurt you." Slowly, Blade reached for her plasma cutter, and pushed it into Sharp's free hoof. She looked into his eyes, and smiled slightly. Then, her hoof fell from his grasp and her head fell limp. Sharp could hear her RIG flat-lining, and he knew that she was dead. He reached up to her head and closed her eyes, which stared lifelessly up at the sky. He stood up and slowly walked away, Blade's plasma cutter attached to his belt, and met up with the rest of the group, who had simply watched their friend die in his arms. Night walked up and hugged Sharp, followed by Rainbow Dash and Applejack. The others couldn't be bothered to say anything, for they were too caught up in their own sorrow. *** The nine remaining ponies ran into the library and locked the door behind them. "That won't be enough," Twilight said, "Rainbow, AJ, barricade the door." "You got it." Rainbow Dash said, and they went to work finding anything they could to block the door. Five minutes and a lot of rearranging later, the door was barricaded with a couch, a table and a bookshelf. "That should hold 'em." Applejack said, hoping she was right. "And if not, nothing's getting past me." Rainbow proudly said, puffing her chest out. "Rainbow, I don't think now's the time for your ego to take hold of you. People are dying out there and we need to stop whatever's the cause of this outbreak." Twilight said calmly. "Twilight's right, Rainbow." Applejack agreed. "There's a time and a place, and Ah don't think right here right now is it." "Fine. But even still they'll have to go through me if they want to get at any of you." Rainbow said defiantly. "Nopony messes with my friends." "Alright, does everyone have their own element?" Twilight asked the five mares around her. Each wore her own Element of Harmony around her neck, and Twilight wore the Tiara. "Okay, let's do this." The element crystals in the necklaces and Tiara started to glow, and then a multicoloured ribbon of light spread from one Element stone to the next, and a huge rainbow tornado formed in the center of them. The tornado then vanished, revealing the God of Chaos himself, Discord, standing there. "So..." He began. "Having problems, are we?" "That's a bit of an understatement, Discord." Twilight said. "Oh? And how, may I ask, is that?" Discord asked, somewhat intrigued. "We found... something... buried deep beneath the surface. Soon after that, these things, monsters started attacking out of the blue. We don't know what they are or why they're attacking us, but I think that it's related to the artifact." She explained. "What kind of 'artifact'?" Discord asked, a change of tone in his voice. "This." Twilight said as she projected an image of the Marker in front of her. Discord's jaw practically fell off, and he stared at the projection in horror. "You fools! What have you done?!" He stammered. "Do you know what that thing is?" Rainbow Dash prodded, getting eye to eye with him. "Yes. But I thought it was destroyed! It shouldn't have been found and now you've doomed us all!" "Care to explain what you mean?" Twilight asked him, getting impatient. "People are dying out there, and if you have any information on how we can put a stop to it, you better bucking tell us." "Nopony knows where it came from, just that it isn't from here." Discord said. "What do you mean 'from here'?" Rainbow Dash asked him. "I mean, not of this world." He said. "It definitely isn't Equine and there's nopony on the planet who can determine it's origin. All I know is that it's alien and that it cannot be destroyed." "We have the Elements of Harmony." Twilight said. "Can't they stop it?" "Celestia and Luna tried that when it was first discovered thousands of years ago. It didn't work so they buried it where they assumed nopony would be able to find it." "So basically..." Rainbow started. "You're hopeless." Discord finished her sentence for her. "Great. So what can we do?" Applejack asked. "I don't think there's anything you can do except try to survive." Discord said. He then snapped his fingers and vanished.
Chapter 5: Imminent ThreatThe group stared at the empty space that only moments ago was occupied by Discord. They tried to process what he had told them, but all that sank in was the fact that there was no way to stop this massacre from happening. "We're screwed..." It was Night's voice, smooth as ever despite the fear that controlled her. "No," Twilight said. "No we're not." "How?" Rainbow spoke up. "You heard Discord! The Elements won't work! What are we gonna do?" "I hate to say it," Rarity said. "But she's right, Twilight. We don't have anything we can stop then with. Our best bet is to hide in here and starve to death or go out there and take as many of them with us as we can." Twilight looked at her friend questioningly. She hadn't expected something like that to come from her, but with the current situation she couldn't really blame her. She looked to the rest of the group; Applejack and Rainbow Dash holding each other, as with Night and Sharp, Ace was keeping an eye out the door, his plasma saw at the ready, Rarity had a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, trying to calm the poor girl down, and Pinkie Pie was being unusually quiet, just staring at the floor blankly. "Do you all feel this way?" She had to ask. Everyone looked at her then, mostly with faces of either fear or sorrow. All but Fluttershy nodded, knowing that those were their only two options. "We could leave," Fluttershy spoke up, earning questioning glances from everypony in the room. "The planet I mean." "How?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I can't fly that high, not sure anypony can." "Well, don't we have a ship or something?" Fluttershy asked. Everyone in the room was silent. Not knowing what to say. She looked around the room to see that everyone else was looking down at the ground again. Twilight spoke up again. "Well, we coul--" Bang! It was the door, or something behind it. The group looked at the hastily built barricade and saw that a small section of it was pushed inward. Another bang against the door brought another indent to the barricade, a few splinters of wood ejecting themselves onto the floor. Another smash against the door brought the whole barricade down, revealing the large, clearly armoured creature on the other side. It raised up on its hind legs and let out a sound like an elephant's trumpet before charging through the smashed doorway. "Holy shit..." Came Rainbow Dash's voice. "What the hell is that?" Twilight stammered out. The large creature charged right at Twilight, but she was knocked out of its way by Rainbow Dash. The necromorph then crashed into the wall where Twilight was standing, splintering the wood and sending shards of it everywhere. "Outside! Quick!" Sharp shouted, firing a few bolts of plasma at the creature's back. The rest of the group filed outside while the large necromorph freed itself from the hole it made in the wall. Sharp stood at the doorway while the others ran into the street, finding more necromorphs all around them. Rainbow Dash was the last to exit the library, almost being crushed by the large monster that had nearly killed Twilight. The creature itself finally managed to free itself from the wall, leaving a large indent of broken wood and crushed books where it used to be. It reared back again and charged for the door, right towards Sharp. He quickly got out of the way and the monster crashed through the already destroyed door, creating an even bigger hole in the wall and sending even more splinters of wood in all directions. They watched as it stopped in it's tracks, finally able to get a good look at it. It was built somewhat similar to a gorilla, and had a pair of tendrils near the pony skull that made up its face. It looked at them, all standing close together, and charged again. The group then split up at the last second. The creature's momentum kept it going, and it skidded to a halt several meters away. "How the hell are we supposed to kill it?" Raonbow shouted. "Try and get behind it. Its armour's too thick on the front but I think I saw a weak spot on its back," Sharp replied, hovering between the creature and Night Rain. The monster charged at Applejack, who was trying her best to evade it, adrenaline coursing through her. She dodged to the right, and it crashed into Sugarcube Corner. Sharp seized the opportunity and shot the back of its shoulder, sending blood and bits of flesh flying from the joint. After several bolts of plasma, the arm came flying from its joint, blood spraying from the stump and sending the creature into berzerk. "I think you're just pissing it off!" Rainbow Dash warned. "You got a better idea?" He called back, watching as the creature freed itself and charged again, this time at Rarity and Fluttershy; the latter of whom took flight, carrying the other with her. The brute howled in anger and charged for Twilight, who had been distracted trying to study its behaviour. She yelped and teleported behind it, Sharp finally having a clear shot. He aimed the plasma cutter for its leg, which bent back like a chicken, and put several bolts into it, eventually causing the limb to fly off. The brute roared yet again, hardly able to keep its balance but still alive. Sharp shot its second shoulder, eventually severing the arm and causing the monster to fall flat on its face. It twitched a few times, and finally went still on the ground, blood oozing from its severed limbs. Sharp landed and heaved a deep sigh, catching his breath. "What... the hell... was that?" Applejack panted, limping over to meet up with the rest of the group, who were all forming up close to the wrecked library. "I'm not sure," Rainbow said, noticing Applejack's limp. "Woah, AJ, you're bleeding!" She looked at Applejack's leg, and saw the large splinter of wood that had gone right through it, blood oozing around it. "It's nothin', hun," Applejack tried to comfort her, but the pain in her voice made it obvious that she was lying. "Applejack," Twilight started, "that's not nothing." Rainbow looked at her worriedly, to which Applejack just smiled and said; "It's okay, sug', just a flesh wound." "At least..." Twilight said. "If that did enough damage to your arteries you could bleed out in minutes if we took it out. "That's fine, we just won't take it out," Applejack said. "I can walk just fine." She tried to take a few steps, but the pain caused her to falter and trip. "AJ!" Rainbow shouted, helping the injured mare to her hooves. Sharp's ears perked up, and then went down as he realized that no one had been watching the perimeter. Author's Note I had planned to have someone killed by the brute, actually... Oh well. Hope y'all enjoyed! -Devs
