My Little Fortress: Night of the Living Dead

To say that going through the portal was painless, is a major understatement. All the mercs went through the feeling of being pulled, shrunk, de-atomized, re-atomized, twisted, bloated, and constipated.

All at the same time.

On the opposite end of the portal, the mercs fell through and landed in a pile on a wooden floor. All of them groaned and curled up in pain and uncomfort as their senses slowly came back to them.

"Ugh...my head..." Scout muttered as he rubbed his temples.

"Oi! Where's me scrumpy!?" Demoman said, sitting up immediately and looking for his lost drink. "It was in me hand when I stepped in!"

"Stop whinin' about yer' drink, Demo! I got it right 'ere..." Engineer mumbled angrily as he readjusted his goggles and helmet,

"Vhere did ve end up?"" Medic asked as he shook his head clear of the disorientation.

"Uh, mates..." Sniper said, sitting on his knees, looking at their surroundings. "We have some company..." he added quietly. The others all slowly looked up with Sniper. The walls were adorned with a multitude of books, the shelves having been carved into the walls. The floor was solid wood; no paneling what so ever, with an age spiral twisting through the oak. A door and windows were present, showing that it was nighttime outside. A set of carved stairs curved up to a second level sat off to the side of the room.

However, despite the fact that the room was very homely, that didn't change the fact that the company sitting with the Reds, weren't exactly what they were expecting.

Sitting on the floor in a small group were ten ponies, all of various coloring. Some had horns on their head, while others had wings. Some lacked those two features all together, save for one. Their eyes were wide with fear and slight curiosity as they stared at the Reds. By the way they were shaking, it was obvious that they had been through an ordeal of sorts recently.

"Uhm...we're looking for the one named Twilight Sparkle." Spy said, standing up and brushing off the dust from his suit. The ponies all looked at Spy, taking in his height in features. Slowly one of the ponies, a lavender colored one with horns and wings, stepped forward.

"I-I'm Twilight S-Sparkle...are you Spy...?" she asked nervously.

"Oui. I am Spy, and these are my teammates." Spy said, gesturing to the slowly standing mercs. "Gentlemen, introduce yourself."

"Soldier!" said Soldier, giving a crisp salute.

"Scout. What's up?" "said Scout with a nod of his head.

"You may call me Medic." said Medic with a small curtsey.

"Tavish DeGroot. But I go by Demoman also. Want some?" Demoman asked, offering his drink with a smirk.

Pyro simply waved his hand, giving a giggle.

"I am Heavy Weapons Guy." said Heavy in a low tone.

"Dell Conagher; but y'all can call me Engineer." said Engineer with a tip of his hardhat.

"Mr. Mundy. But I'm known as Sniper." said Sniper.

"And together, we are Red Team." Spy said, finishing up the introductions. Twilight and the others behind her stared with amazement now, no longer scared of the new arrivals, although some still had a look of unease on their features. "What is it you need help with?" Spy asked.

"To put it simply? We got zombies running around outside." said a cyan pegasus. Twilight looked to the pegasus.

"Uhm, before we let them in, shouldn't we introduce ourselves?" she asked. "They went through the trouble of introducing themselves to us." she added. The pegasus rolled her crimson eyes and groaned.

"Fiiine. The name's Rainbow Dash. The uptight unicorn over there is Rarity-"

"I am not!" retorted Rarity with a scoff and scowl.

"The scarecrow is Applejack and the crow next to her is her sister Apple Bloom. The two next to Apple Bloom are Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle; her friends. The one cowering behind her mane is Fluttershy, and the passed out one is Pinkie Pie, and the mare with the crazy hairdo is Vinyl Scratch. And the baby dragon next to Pinkie is Spike. There, now you know us, can we please move on to more important things?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently. Twilight scowled at Rainbow Dash.

"She's right though...as she said earlier, we have zombies running around the town. They...they tore apart the party at town hall..." Twilight said, her voice trailing off as images of the massacre flashed through her mind. "I found Pinkie Pie and Vinyl in the town hall, but Pinkie had passed out and so Vinyl and I carried her here. That was when I called for help." Twilight summarized.

"Short, quick, and to the point." Scout said with a nod. "Just how I like it." he added. Rainbow Dash gave a small smirk of approval at his statement.

"Do ya'll have any form of communication?" Engineer asked.

"I've had Spike send some letters to the Princesses, but they haven't responded back." Twilight said.

"How can he send letters when it's too dangerous out?" Sniper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"W-Well...as a dragon...I can use my flame to magically send letters." Spike said, letting out a small spout of his green flame.

"Interesting...a natural flame that can instantly send messages..." Medic said, kneeling down to Spike and scrutinizing him. Spike looked at him with fright and slowly began to back away.

"Easy Kraut, no experimenting on the locals!" Soldier said, pulling Medic away from Spike.

"So what do you want us to do?" Heavy asked, his voice low and rumbling.

"Well, if I'm not able to get in contact with the Princesses, we need to get to the train station and travel to Canterlot." Twilight said, going over the plan in her mind.

"How far is the station from here?" asked Engineer.

"It's across town." Applejack pipped up. "Right next to tha' town clock. But Celestia knows how many of them rotters are wonderin' around." she continued.

"We also don't know who else has survived." Twilight added in. "This kind of situation can make anypony snap and attack us." she continued.

"So we 'ave zombies an' insane ponies to watch out for while we trek across the town to get on board a train to go see some princesses." Demoman said. "Anyone else think this is too easy?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Bah, we've had worse. This'll be like a cakewalk."" Scout said confidentially. Over in the corner, Pinkie groaned as she stirred.

"Meh...who said cake...?" she asked, slowly opening her eyes. Her mane was somewhat flattened and a darker pink. "Oh...hi...welcome to Ponyville...I'll plan a party right away..." she said with a weak smile to the new arrivals. Medic went over to her and sat her up.

"Post-traumatic stress und fatigue. Ve're going to have to stay here for a vhile until she is able to move under her own power." Medic said, finishing his diagnosis of Pinkie Pie. Pinkie giggled a bit.

"You talk funny..." she said weakly. Her gaze shifted to Vinyl, who was muttering to herself and wringing her hooves. "Hey Vinyl...you okay...?" Pinkie asked, stretching out a hoof to the DJ.

"Huh!? Oh, yeah, perfectly fine! Nothin' to worry about here!" Vinyl replied with a nervous smile. "Can we please leave soon? I wanna check my apartment..." she added quietly.

"Once Pinkie is back in order, we'll leave Vinyl. Ah'm sure Octavia is fine." Applejack said with a encouraging smile. Vinyl smiled weakly and gave a shaky sigh.

"Alright. Scout, you go up to tha' roof with Sniper an' Soldier to recon tha' area; try an' find a clear path to tha' station. Heavy and Demoman, y'all two take the rear entrance. Twilight, if you'd be kind enough to take them there?" Engineer asked, looking to Twilight. Twilight nodded and gestured for Heavy and Demo to follow her into the kitchen. "Right then. Me an' the others will set up here in tha' main room with y'all and watch tha' windows." Engineer continued. "Medic, attend to tha' ponies; make sure they're all right." he finished.

"Jaowhl." Medic said with a nod, returning to Pinkie. "Herr Spike, if you could please go und grab some vater for miss Pinkie." Medic asked. Spike nodded and jogged off into the kitchen. He came back a minute later with a glass and full pitcher or water. "Danke." Medic said, taking the glass and letting Spike fill it. "Drink up." Medic said, passing Pinkie the glass. Twilight returned, watching the mercs split up to their assignments. She approached Spy and tapped his leg.

"Yes?" Spy asked.

"How long until we can go?" she asked.

"Once Scout and the others find a safe path to the station and your friends are well enough to go, we will disembark" Spy said. "Plenty of time to try and contact your princesses."

"Okay, I'll get started right away." Twilight said, trotting over to her desk, her horn flaring up and taking a quill as she began to write on a piece of parchment. Spy gave a sigh of satisfacation as he approached a window, taking a peak outside. The streets were occupied by a couple of shambling zombies, wandering as they looked for their next kill.

"Gonna be a long fight, ain't it?" Engineer asked. Spy nodded as he left the window.

"That it is." he said simply as he readied a new cigarette. He pulled out his lighter, ignited the cigarette and took a ling drag. With a long exhale, smoke left his nostrils and floated away.

"That it is."