Canterlot West Side, 12:16 AM

Canterlot Market Square was an absolute disaster area.

Vendors stands were destroyed, while some sat enveloped in flames. The once pristine cobblestone was now splotched with small lakes of crimson blood. Chewed off limbs and discarded guards' pikes were strewn about, marking where Canterlot's elite had fallen.

"Ah hell..." Engineer muttered, his fingers scratching the back of his head as he stared at the destruction. "They didn't stand ah chance..." he added.

"Aye..." Demo agreed gravely, his one eye scanning the scene. "Where be a map o' this place?" he asked. Over to their right, Pyro was calling for their attention. Engineer and Demo looked at their teammate and saw he was in front of a small directory for the area, pointing to it.

"Nice work Pyro." Engineer said as he and Demo approached the small map. On it, there was a golden circle with 'You Are Here' over the area marked 'Canterlot Market Square'. To the north was housing, while to the east was more of the shopping district.

"Looks like we're at the very corner of this place." Engineer muttered as he looked the map over.

"Aye. An' if we be lookin' for a community center, we need to be lookin' in the housing." Demo said, pointing his finger to the northern housing.

"That makes sense..." Engineer said, his voice uneasy.

"I know that tone o' yours, lad. Somethin's wrong." Demo said glancing to Engineer.

"Just not used to tha' quiet, is all. More used to tha' sounds of war. Know what I mean" Engineer asked.

"Aye. The quiet is unsettlin'." Demo said, as he looked around their surroundings; as if he were waiting for an ambush. Pyro seemed to sense his teammates' unease and unslung his Degreaser, sparking the starter flame.

"Come on lads. Let's get goin'." Demo said, leading the way out of the market. Engineer fell in behind him with Pyro immediately after as the three mercs entered a smaller side-street.

As they left the market, dirty yellow eyes began to shine from within the darkened buildings, following the mercs.

* * *

Even though Canterlot was known as the Playground for the Rich, the government was gracious enough to offer housing to moderately-low income families. Though these houses were for families who weren't quite upper crust status, the architecture was as grand as the rest of the city.

"They sure know how to make some fancy houses." Engineer commented as they walked along the street. Demo and Pyro both gave small grunts of agreement. Ahead of them at the end of the street stood the East Side Community Center. It was a simple rectangular building with two additional halls connected to the main building. The faint smell of chlorine told that there was a pool at the center, most likely in the back of the complex. The windows were all dark, save for one on the main building, the signs of movement coming from within the building due to the fading then sudden brightening of the light.

"Alright, there's the center. Pyro, ye' take point. Engie, ye with me." Demo said. Pyro nodded and jogged forward as the Scotsman and Texan grouped up with the weapons drawn and ready. As they approached the building, distant roars pierced the air, drawing closer.

"Ah don' like that." Engineer said warily.

"Just keep walkin' laddie." Demo said as he stayed on track. Pyro could be seen running up to the main doors and setting himself up to kick down the door.

Again, the distant roars sounded, this time from right down the street behind the mercs. Engineer stopped and turned to look down the street as the roars died away.

"Engie? What are ye' doin'?" Demo asked as he stopped to look at Engineer. He watched as Engineer pulled out his building PDA and began scrolling through it.

"Ah'm gonna hold the area. Git inside with Pyro and find them folks." Engineer said as his PDA produced the toolbox for a Level III Dispenser. Once he set the toolbox and opened it, the inner mechanisms began working to unfold and build the machine.

"Are ye' sure? They'll tear ye' apart." Demo said, looking at his friend with a worried expression. Engineer gave a sharp chuckle and shook his head.

"They won't even get past mah sentry when I get it hooked up to my Wrangler." he said. The dispenser finished building itself to Level III and began to hum and produce some scrap metal for Engineer to use. Without hesitation, Engineer's PDA produced a Level III Sentry toolbox, allowing Engineer to immediately get that built. Once the sentry began beeping and sweeping the area, there was a third and final roar that filled the air. Down the street, a large black mass shifted on the horizon. Engineer gulped a bit as the shape and individual features of the ponies that made up the horde began to clear up.

Only it wasn't a horde.

It was a single mass of bodies.

"Ah hell..." Engineer said as he produced his Wrangler, the Sentry beeping as soon as the wireless connection was established. "Git inside Demo. Ah'll hold 'em." Engineer ordered. Demo nodded and signaled Pyro to enter the community center. Demo followed Pyro in, taking a moment to take a final look at Engineer.

"Good luck lad." he said as he closed the door behind him. Engineer nodded and looked back to the undead abomination. The creature gave a challenging roar as it began to pick up speed, charging at Engineer. The Texan began laying down a hail of machine gun fire and rockets as the creature charged, a snarl of determination on his face. Engineer continued to fire at the creature, blowing chunks of biomass off of its' frame as it charged. But, the sentry wasn't enough, and the creature rammed right through the turret. Engineer dove clear of the exploding sentry and pulled out his Frontier Justice, the shotgun glowing and crackling with a red glow. Slugs began to pepper the creatures' hide, blowing off heads and sections of the conjoined ponies within the mass. The creature swung a grotesquely large arm at Engineer, making him duck to avoid being flung across the street. Engineer continued to pour on the slugs blowing more off the creature, but only making it angrier. The abomination grabbed the dispenser and threw it at Engineer, striking him in the chest. Engineer gasped at the air was knocked out of him, accompanied by the sounds of breaking ribs. He flopped to ground, coughing up blood. The creature seemed to give a distorted laugh at his pain, the laugh made up from the warped and disfigured mouths within its' bulk. Engineer tossed aside his shotgun and produced his Lugermorph firing off shot. The smaller caliber shots bounced off the creatures' hide as it slowly approached Engineer, getting ready to kill him.

Engineers' Lugermorph clicked empty.

The creature lunged and pinned Engineer, pinning his arms to the ground with ten-tons of weight. The creatures' midsection loomed over Engineer and began to split down the middle, revealing rows upon rows of jagged teeth within its' gory core. Engineer cringed, waiting for the feeling of those teeth sinking into his flesh.

The sounds of something impacting the behemoth could be heard, then rapid beeping, followed by a massive explosion. The monster roared and reared back, freeing Engineer and allowing him to scramble away. Engineer looked up to see Demo throw aside his sticky grenade launcher and strap on his Chargin' Targe. The creature turned on Demo, the fires of hell burning behind its' eyes. Demo smirked and reached behind him, pulling his Eyelander free from its' sheath. Gripping it with both hands, Demo got into a charging stance and gave a war cry.

The creature reared back, the torso mouth giving a deep, guttural bellow.

Demo charged forward, his features blurring as he brought the longsword back to strike. The creature tried to squash Demo with a massive fist, but the Scotsman was too fast. He blurred by the behemoth, the Eyelander severing the lower arm, making the creature roar in pain as it staggered back, struggling to maintain its' balance. Demo came back around and ran up the creatures' back, ramming the Eyelander into the base of its' skull. The creature gave a mournful cry as it staggered forward and collapsed to the ground. Demo stepped on its' contorted face and turned to look at it.

"Burn in Hell ye' disgusting worm." he said as he rammed the spike of his Chargin' Targe into its' forehead, ending the creatures' miserable existence. Removing the shield, Demo looked for Engineer. The Texan was picking himself up from the ground, holding his arm across his chest. He gave a shaky thumbs-up to Demo and limped to the community center with the Scotsman.

"Good work." Engineer gasped as he patted Demos' shoulder.

"Thanks mate. Now, let's go meet up with Pryo." he said, leading Engineer inside the building.

* * *

The inside of the community center was clean.

No overturned furniture, no blood caking the walls, and no signs of struggle.

It was just clean, like the nighttime janitors had just come through and straightened up the place a bit. Pyro was preoccupying himself with a small wick of flame, tossing it back and forth between his hands. However, the flame went out when Pyro looked up to his teammates. He tilted his head to the side and raised a thumb, as if he was asking if things were alright.

"Engies' a bit banged up, but other than that, things are all quiet." Demo said. Pyro gave a shrug and stood up from the chair he was sitting in.

"Ye' look fer them ponies?" Demo asked Pyro. Pyro shook his head and said a series of muffled sounds, explaining that he just sat down as soon as Demo went to help Engineer. "Right then. Engie, git yer dispenser set up and heal yerself up. Pyro an' I will look fer the ponies." Demo said. Engineer nodded, wincing as he brought up his PDA and got started on the dispenser.

Once Engineer was all set, Pyro and Demo went into one of the center's wings to begin looking. Room after room, it was all clean and tidy, just like the main lobby.

"I don' like this. Not one wee little bit..." Demo muttered as he peeked into yet another clean room.

Pyro stopped in his tracks and began sniffing the air.

"Ye' got somethin'?" Demo asked. Pyro nodded and pointed at a closed set of meeting room doors. The bottom of the doors were a charred black, like they were being eaten away by flames. Reaching forward and grasping the door handle, Demo yelped in pain and immediately pulled his hand away. "Cripes! It's hot as hell!" he said, shaking his hand to rid the pain.

This time, Pyro reached forward and opened the door without any pain from gripping the handle.

As the doors opened together to reveal the room inside, Demo and Pyro gave horrified gasps at what was shown before them.

* * *

Demo and Pyro re-entered the main lobby, their shoulders slumped over as they looked down at the ground. Engineer looked up at his teammates, about to speak when Demo raised his hand, shaking his head in silence.

Engineer's jaw dropped.

"They committed a mass suicide. They cooked themselves with some magical flame to save themselves." Demo said, giving a brief explanation of their discovery. Engineers' head dipped down as he gave a heavy sigh.

"Well...guess that'll do...come on boys. Let's get up to tha castle an meet tha others..." he said solemnly as he stood up from the chair. After packing up the dispenser, the three mercs left the community center in pure silence. As they passed the dead behemoth's corpse, Demo gathered his Eyelander and returned it to the sheath on his back. Pyro simply gave the dead creature a kick and walked away with the others.

Above them, Canterlot Castle loomed over them, awaiting their arrival.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long to get out guys, but life is a bitch.
Between writer's block, college, and studying, it's gotten harder to do some writing.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!