Nightfall woke up. He heard the screams of the outside world. Ponies, running away from something while the Royal Guard of Las Pegasus fired their weapons. His vision was all blurry, his body ached. What happened?
"This goes out to all units, retreat to the Las Pegasus Strip! I say again, retrea-" The voice from the radio cut off. Nightfall rubbed his head with his right hoof. His vision became more clear. He noticed a navy blue colt next to him, lying unconscious.
"Spark." Nightfall said in a raspy voice. Nightfall checked his pulse and heartbeat. He was still alive! "C'mon Spark, I'ma get you out of here." Nightfall grabbed the little green colt. His parents didn't make it. When they got out of the crashed helicopter, they saw the Royal Guard trying to make a stand. Soldiers and helicopters lit the unknown enemy up. Civilians kept running for their safety. Nightfall ran along with them to the L.P Strip. CH-47s flew to that location. The Royal Guard of L.P have now given up hope for containing this thing, whatever it was.
"Containment is a fail, I say again, Containment is a fail!"
•••
A few hours earlier...
Location: Monte Trotlo Hotel, Las Pegasus
Time: 8:32 AM
The sun shines brightly in the sky, the morning birds chirped and flapped through the sky
"So why was school canceled again?" Spark asked as he finished his orange juice. His mom turned the stove off after making the last batch of hay bacon.
"Actually, school is suspended until further notice. It didn't give a reason why." She said as she brought the plate to the table. Spark immediately grabbed a couple more hay bacon.
rrriinng!-rrriiinng!
The phone near the wall ranged. Spark's mom immediately picked it up.
"Hello?" She said. The voice on the phone was recognizable. It was Spark's dad.
"You're coming home early? Why?" After a minute and a few seconds, Spark's mom got off the phone and sat down.
"That's weird."
"What happened?"
"Your father is coming home early, and your classes are suspended till further notice. What's going on?" Spark's mom said in a confused tone. This was really something that was strange.
"Well I don't know about you, but I'm gonna enjoy my unexpected break. Can I go to Lemom Ade's house?" Spark asked his mother.
Spark's mother thought for a second. "Sure, but come back at around 9:45!" Spark immediately got up and trotted towards the door. "Ok then, bye!"
"Bye honey!" Spark closed the door.
"Well, might as well make this last!" He told himself. But he had no idea of what was about to come.
•••
Location: Las Pegasus Outskirts
"Well folks, welcome to Las Pegasus, the city where you can become rich, or become poor trying."
"Dude, did you just try making a quote?"
"Yup, and it was a pretty shitty one too." The two stallions laughed, but one didn't.
"Celestia damnit guys, I was just trying to make a point." He replied in embarrassment.
"Well, you sorta failed at!"
"Alright every pony, this is your captain speaking, we will be arriving at Lima Papa at an ETA of 15 minutes." The helicopter pilot said through the radio. One of the stallions yawned.
"What are we doing in Las Pegasus?"
"We are here to set up outposts. That's all they told me. The rest will be told after that." The leader of the unit said. A stallion by the name of Nightfall looked down at the road bellow him.
"Hey there goes Pine Cone's convoy, into the city." Nightfall said. The Black Hawk was flying pretty low, so the soldiers looked up. They waved as the chopper flew by. As the helicopter flew closer into the city, a CH-47 was carrying an M2 Bradley. The ponies in the helicopter took notice of this.
"What the hell?" One of them said.
"Why are we bringing IFVs into something like this?"
"I think they didn't tell us something they should've said." All the ponies looked at each other.
''I've also heard that a huge portion of the Defense Forces getting withdrawn from the Middle East. The remaining Defs either got stationed at special places that are essential.'' There was a silence in the helicopters. There was more helicopters in the sky, ranging from CH-47s to AH-6s. Nightfall looked down again to see what was going down. The civilians looked up at the sky to see the swarm of helicopters, flying into the city.
"The civvies looked scared to shit." One of the soldiers said. Nightfall's Black Hawk flew past the hospital, which was surrounded by Las Pegasus riot teams. Whatever was going on, it looked pretty bad.
"Every unit selected to go to Las Pegasus, this is Colonel Iron Hoof, callsign 'Horseshoe'. I will be giving you guys orders, stand by for further instructions." A voice from the radio came. The ponies waited for a few seconds. After those few seconds, new orders were received.
"Alright everypony listen up! We'll set up a couple outposts in and around the city. We will be shutting the airport down. That is all. Further orders will be given after setting up the outposts, 'Horseshoe' out."
All the ponies looked at each other in confusion.
"In case you're all wondering which outpost we're going, you guys are going to be deployed at the city hall. Luckily it's all been set up, so now worries." Said the pilot, "We're arriving at an ETA of 5 minutes, get ready."
"Alright, get your ammo and weapons ready!" Yelled a stallion. The ponies got their M4s and M16s. The M4s had Holosights with grips, while the M16s came with Acog scopes instead. After a few minutes, the helicopter came to a stop.
"This is it guys! Deploy the ropes!" The pilot yelled. The ponies did what they were told. The ropes went down and touched the ground. One by one the ponies roped down. It was Nightfall's turn. He gripped the rope.
"This is it!" He said as he put on his goggles. He slid down. He felt the warm air around him as he roped down. When he finally touched the ground, he took a look around. The park land around the city hall was fenced and well organized. Makeshift buildings and a few trailers were set up, there was even room for two helicopters to land. An AH-64 already took one spot, so Nightfall guessed that the remaining spot was for the Black Hawk.
"Well," He said, "I guess I'll just wait for further orders."
•••
Location: Somewhere Near the Las Pegasus Hospital
Time: 9:33 AM
Spark walked through the busy streets with his friend, Lemon. They just experienced the most awesomest thing in there lives - watching helicopters fly in the sky. Things like fighter jets flying around the city was a normal things for them. But helicopters however, was very rare. Something else was also pretty strange. The precence of cops around the city was a bit more active.
"Are you starting to wonder why they cancelled school?" Lemon asked. Spark took a minute to think.
"Meh, I don't know. If there was a police drill right now, we'd probably still be at school, but doing a lockdown drill." Spark said.
"Huh, I guess your right." As the pair of kids walked around, they walked by the hospital and noticed something about the amount of cops in the area. They were in riot armor. Police cars and even a riot van was parked nearby. But that didn't surprise them much. The thing that surprised them was the few military soldiers. What is going on?
"Dude, something's not right!" Said Lemon. There was a large group of ponies around the hospital. An AH-6 flew by, along with an MH-6 carrying four soldiers into the checkpoint.
"I think we better start going back home," Spark said, "This looks like it could turn into a disaster."
"Your right." Lemon responded. They both then ran back to their homes, not knowing the dangers of what was about to unleash.
•••
Location: City Hall Outpost, Las Pegasus
Time: 10:00 Am
Nightfall woke up from the small nap he took. As he woke up, one of his friends came into his tent with two MREs.
"Got your favorite one," He said, "Rice n' Beans." Nightfall stretched and slowly got up. He scratched his back and grabbed the MRE.
"Gee thanks dude." He said. He prepared the meal, and ate it. As he ate, his bud went and grabbed his helmet.
"New orders from 'Horseshoe'." He said. He spoke again after chewing a part of his daisy sandwich. "Told us to stand our ground, any suspicious looking ponies to be shot after two warnings."
"Dude, that's pretty harsh!"
"I know! But I guess there is nothing we can do." He said as he ate the last part of his sandwich. After they finished their meals, the pair them went into the planing room, or huge tent. Inside the tent was 'Horseshoe'. He was in the back, having a little talk with his advisors. Behind them was a satellite image of Las Pegasus. Places that were circled were the locations of other outposts. The room was noisy as stallions and mares chatted. After a few minutes, 'Horseshoe' ringed his bell constantly. The room got quiet within a matter of seconds.
"Alright everypony! Most of you are confused on why we are here in Las Pegasus. It's because of a weird thing they've found, a disease. This disease can make a pony go crazy and become violent. Now this disease has been given the name 'Z-106', but we'll be calling them Zs. You can use the term 'Zed' but each either one of them will do. Be aware by your surroundings, and stay safe out there. Any questions?" One pony raised their hoof. "Yes?"
"So technically these things are zombies?" Everypony in the room laughed.
"Dude, gimme that neck!" A stallion yelled in the back. Everyone laughed.
