My Little Fortress: Night of the Living Dead

"CHARGE!!"

In a blur of motion, Scout ripped the door opened, allowing Heavy, Demoman, and Sniper to charge out, each of them letting out a war cry. Heavy's minigun revved up and began laying a wall of lead down on the zombies as they turned and began to charge the new prey, unholy roars tearing out of their bloody throats. Demoman's Loch-N-Load spat out two grenades, blowing massive holes in the rapidly developing horde. The Scotsman laughed maniacally as he ran, firing and reloading with the speed of an ordinance expert. Heavy fired bursts and long periods of fire, occasionally bashing a charging zombie with the barrel of Sasha. Sniper was a blur of movement as he dodged and jumped over the zombies, his Tribalman's Shiv slicing into the undead flesh like butter. Scout ran along the rooftops, firing his Baby Face's Blaster into the horde as he jumped from building to building. Rainbow Dash and Applejack turned into a tag-team of Equestrian fury, their hooves bashing into rotting skulls and torn bodies.

A second bugle call rang out.

The Rear Team stormed out of the library with the ponies in tow. Soldier jumped from his balcony, landing and sprinting after the Advanced Team, firing his Direct Hit and reloading after each shot. He soon joined the Advanced Team as they entered the inner town limits, blasting the undead to chunks.

"Keep up with us!" Engineer called to the ponies as he ran. The group of ponies ran for their life, the younger ones being carried by their guardians as to not have them fall behind. As they two teams entered the town itself, the smell started to become unbearable; the stench of a hundred fresh and rotting corpses combining into one nose killing smell.

Even Pyro was choking on the air as it passed through his masks' oxygen filter.

"That is the most foulest thing I have ever smelled! And I thought Sweetie Belle's cooking was awful!" Rarity called out. Sweetie Belle let out a small sound of resentment, but immediately went quiet when a zombie earth pony tried lunging for her. Luckily, Spy's revolver blasted a hoof sized hole into the zombies' head, dropping it.

"Yo guys, we're halfway through." Rainbow Dash said, her features bloodied and caked in blood.

"Goodness Rainbow! Are you alright?" Rarity asked, shocked at her appearance.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm gonna need a wash right after this though." she replied with a small chuckle, looking at her blood caked hooves. She swooped away, returning to the others as they blasted the undead away.

"Keep up. We're passing town square now." Spy said to the group. That seemed to put a little more adrenaline into all their bodies as they remembered the possibility of a horde rising from the town center party. Up ahead, the Advanced Team was being held up by a small horde.

But the horde was facing away from them.

Flying from the very center of the horde was the decapitated head of a earth pony mare, landing with a sickening plop.

"What in tarnation is going on?" Engineer asked, running up to the Advanced Team.

"No clue. We turn the corner 'o there and see this pony goin' absolutely mad!" Demoman says, pointing to the horde. "Next thing we know, 'e's takin' on thirty 'o them by 'imself!"

From the horde came the maddening cackle of a stallion as he tore through the ranks of undead. When the last zombie fell, the stallion was finally revealed. He was normal sized, nothing outrageous like Buff Biceps. His fur was a toffee colored, with a head of chocolate and caramel for a mane and tail. He wore black framed glasses and wore a khaki vest. His cutie mark was a silver toaster with an hourglass in the middle of it. But the most interesting feature of this pony was what adorned his back.

Stretched out and dripping with blood were a pair of mechanized wings. The 'feathers' matched the bucks' fur color, while the metal was a polished silver, streaked with the crimson of blood as it ran off him. His chocolate eyes turned and spotted the nine humans and ten ponies.

"Oh! Hi there! Guess you saw that, huh?" he asked with a slight grin.

"Uh...yeah...who are ya'? Never seen you around before." Applejack said.

"Oh, the name's Timeless Toaster. I just moved into town not too long ago. I'm uh...actually on an assignment by orders of Princess Celestia." Timeless said, giving a meek smile and a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof.

"Princess Celestia? You've had contact with her?" Twilight asked.

"Not since yesterday. I tried getting a letter to her when things went down, but my dragon hasn't returned." Timeless said, looking to the skies above for a moment.

"You have a dragon also?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"Yup. His name's Tulvir. Speedy little bucker." Timeless said. As if on cue, there was a harmonious call in the night sky above. One of the gray clouds above was punctured, dissipating it. "Well I'll be damned. Here he comes now." Timeless said with a smile. With a whoosh of speed, a white blur sped by the group, turning up and banking to the left. It completed the turn and shot right for Timeless. "Tulvir. Heel." Timeless said. The white blur slowed, revealing a Chinese style dragon with scales white as frost. It's wings were equal to a Pegasus wingspan. Long twin whiskers hung from its' snout, while its' eyes were emerald green. The dragon chirped a bit and landed on Timeless' back, wrapping its' body around his torso. Fluttershy gave a gasp of amazement and wonder as she stared at Tulvir.

"This is Tulvir. Nice of you to join us." Timeless says, reaching into one of his khaki vest pockets and producing a small amethyst. Tulvir looked at gem and took it into his mouth, chewing on it happily.

"Not to be rude, but we do need to continue on our way. I'm surprised the undead haven't attacked during this little meeting." Spy said. "If you'd like, you can come with us. We're heading to the train station and going our way to Canterlot." he offered.

"Sure, why not. Lemme just go tell the others." Timeless said, starting to turn away.

"Others?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah, I ran into miss Cheerilee and her students. They were held up in Sugar Cube Corner with the Cakes." Timeless said.

"The Cakes!? Oh please tell me the babies are all right!" Pinkie Pie said in a worried tone.

"Yeah, they're all okay. I'll be right back." Timeless said, trotting away.

"Well, set up a perimeter. Engineer, a Sentry will be of great help." Spy said. Engineer nodded and opened his PDA, starting on constructing the sentry. As the other mercs fanned out and secured the area, the ponies all remained in a small cluster, keeping an eye out on the areas the mercs missed. About five minutes later, Timeless came trotting back with Cheerilee, the students, and the Cakes in tow. Pinkie Pie immediately rushed to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, embracing them and the kids in a crushing hug. Cheerilee and the students were all dressed up for Nightmare Night, but some of the costumes were torn up or dirtied. There were only about six students with Cheerilee, all of them with wide eyes from past trauma.

"Great, more to watch for..." Scout muttered. Heavy once again smacked the back of Scout's head with a large hand.

"Alright, let's roll." Timeless said with a smile.

"Alright then. Advance Team, continue on. Everyone else, and new comers, we will explain who we are once we're on the train." Spy said. Everyone nodded, some looking at the mercs with fright and worry on their faces. Immediately, the Advance Team took off, hunting for more zombies to eliminate. The rear team took a couple of minutes to count the new arrivals and get them listed on Medic's list, then took off after the advance team.

* * *

After another twenty minutes of running and slaying zombies, the large group soon came up to the train station. The Advance Team stormed into the station, followed by the sounds of gunfire and minor explosions. Afterward, Scout poked out from the station's entrance and waved the second team forward. The mercs and ponies all filed into the station, sitting down in chairs or on the floor.

"Well, that went well." Demoman said with a small chuckle.

"Now we just wait for the train." Twilight said, as she stood up and trotted to the platform, looking down the line.

"Everyone get your rest. We may be here a bit." Engineer said, setting up a Dispenser. The machine self built and started to hum as it began giving bottled waters and packages of peanuts. A line started to form as Engineer gave out peanuts and water to the ponies and mercs.

"Here, allow me to take attendance..." Medic said, looking to his clipboard. "Hmm...Cheerilee?" he called. Cheerilee raised a hoof in response. As Medic took roll, Spy approached Twilight and stood on the platform with her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, lighting a cigarette. Twilight nodded and gave a heavy sigh.

"I'm just terrified by what's been going on. I hope that Canterlot is okay and that the Princesses have an answer as to what is going on." she said, looking up to Spy. "Thank you for getting us here."

"Think nothing of it. We do our best." he said with a smile. The smile dropped as the sounds of something rumbling along the lines could be heard.

"Oh, that's the train!" Twilight said with a smile as she leaned forward to look down the line. Smoke could be seen behind a hill, growing closer as the train approached the hill. Spy sniffed the air.

"Do you smell something burning...?" he asked. Twilight sniffed the air too and raised an eyebrow.

"I...yeah...what's it coming from?" she asked. Suddenly, the train crested the hill.

On fire.

As it came down the hill, the train burned brightly, racing towards the station. Twilight gasped at the sight, but was yanked back by Spy as the train surged past the station. The train cars were bright lanterns of fire, the sight of burning corpses hanging out of the windows at various intervals. As quickly as it came, the train vanished from sight, leaving the smell of burning flesh and wood in its wake.

"Well shit." said Timeless simply. Spy and Twilight looked to him as he stood on the platform with a face of 'Well shit'.

"Now what...?" Fluttershy asked, her voice starting to crack as tears threatened to fall down her cheeks. Rainbow Dash went to her and hugged her, trying to keep the shy pegasus calm.

"Well, if I know Equestrian railways, which I don't, there should be a second engine around here. Probably in a shed or something." Timeless said, rubbing his chin with a hoof as Tulvir chirped.

"Well, there is the Ponyville Railway Museum nearby. Miss Cheerilee took us there for a field trip one day." Snips said with a small smile. "I remember there being a big train there still on the rails. The rails led out to a connector down the way a bit."

"Very good Snips!" Cheerilee praised. Snips's smile grew a bit more.

"Are there passenger cars we can use?" Sniper asked.

"Yeah! There's these fancy ones that the big train used to hook up too." Snail said with a lazy smile.

"Well, looks like the field trip was useful after all..." Cheerilee said with a small smile.

"Alright then. Looks like we're goin' to tha' museum." Applejack said.

"Aucun. Heavy and Engineer will go to the station and retrieve the train. We will stay here and wait." Spy said, gesturing to Heavy and Engineer. The two nodded in response.

"Heavy used to shovel coal into camp trains. Keep them warm and ready to go." Heavy said, hefting his minigun as he and Engineer left the station.

"In the mean time, we shall set up a defense in the event of more zombies. Gentlemen, go find somewhere to be. Medic and I will stay here with the ponies." Spy continued. Demo, Pyro, Sniper, Soldier and Scout all nodded and split up to various points around and inside the station.

* * *

Two and a half hours passed since Heavy's and Engineer's departure. Outside, there was the occasional roar of undead through the night air nearby, but a shot from Sniper would silence the culprit. Suddenly, there was a heavy chugging on the train line.

"Train incoming!" Sniper called from the roof. The ponies and mercs all stood up and gathered at the train station, watching as the black behemoth of a train lumbered into the station with a single train car hooked up to it.

"Choo choo babies! All aboard Heavy Express!" Heavy called from the driver's cabin, a train engineer's cap adorning his head. Engineer stood on the exterior entrance to the train car, wearing a conductor's hat.

"Step on, if ya' would. One at ah time, please. Pick ah seat an' we'll be under way shortly. Hey, stop ya'lls bickerin' over there Crusada's. Ah don' care if they started it, Ah'm endin' it." Engineer said warily. The Crusaders had gotten into an argument with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon over which seats they were going to take. Cheerilee giggled and smiled at Engineer.

"Thank you sir, but I can take care of them."

"Not ta' intrude ma'am. Just can't be havin' the youngin's arguin' over tha' smallest thing." Engineer said with a chuckle. Cheerilee nodded in agreement and went to sit with her students. Once the ponies and mercs were all seated in the plush seats, Engineer rang a small bell to signal that they were ready.

"Choo choo! We go now!" Heavy yelled happily as the train leapt forward, the wheels spinning to catch the rails. Once the wheels caught some traction, the train began to pull away from the station, carrying the survivors to Canterlot.