Fading Harmony

by TheOriginalThundersky

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Adventure, Gore, Dark, Sad, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5344

The story of 12 OC characters attempting to survive an airborne disease, it's just... they have different ways of dealing with it.

It all started with the leak in the research factory, ponies started dropping like flies and nothing was stopping it. The disease took over all of equestria. Well, most of it. Three groups of ponies try to survive the apocalypse, some successfully others not as much. Follow them on the quest for survival in the first establishment of the Harmony trilogy.

All OC's in this story were used by request of the creator. I do not own any of the OC's (Except for Thundersky)
Sneak peeks and info will be posted on my facebook page: Trollestia.

(Cover art: Pedro Hander)

Published 2014-12-14 02:30:05 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-28 22:55:18 UTC

The Outbreak

The shrill sound of an alarm was heard across Equestria Laboratories, piercing the calm and quiet of the underground medical research facility. Had this been a normal day, scientists would be filling the halls in seconds, checking their screens for further instruction. However, the halls remained eerily empty. Then, out of nowhere, hurried hoofsteps could be heard across the marble floor. The shadow of a pony burst out of the antidote room, holding a bag filled with syringes. Crumpling to the ground with a moan of pain, the pony took a syringe out of the bag. For a second, not a sound was heard, even the alarm had ceased. Suddenly, a single scream shred throughout the lab, endlessly echoing off the walls.

--- --- ---

"It's a wonderful day, isn't it?" The sky blue pegasus said, walking side by side with a slightly darker unicorn.

The school day had just ended and Blue Mint was walking back home with her best friend, Alpha. The autumn breeze was just picking up, sending Blue Mint's black and blue mane surfing the occasional drafts.

Alpha's responded with his usual "Mhmm", avoiding further conversation. He was looking down at his latest copy of The Trotting Dead. Ever since he was a child, Alpha had always loved apocalyptic stories. When he stumbled upon this one, social interaction became a distraction. However, Blue Mint was used to it. Alpha was always the quiet one, but a good friend nevertheless. They walked in silence for a few more minutes, enjoying the smells of the season. Suddenly an idea popped into Blue Mint's head.

"Hey, have you heard of that new game coming out?" she asked "Calf Life Three?"

This time, Alpha closed his book. Blue Mint grinned to herself, if there was one thing Alpha liked more than books, it was video games.

"Since when do you play video games?" He inquired, running his hoof across his black mane. "Don't you usually study for culinary class until you head off to bed?"

"Usually yes, but ever since Bonbon got me Mint Farm Simulator 2015 I've been doing nothing but playing different video games." Blue Mint answered, smiling as she saw Alpha straighten up. She knew that her hours of playing video games had payed off when Alpha turned to her and asked:

"Well, since you play video games, I was wondering if you'd like to spend the weekend at my place? We could play the whole Halo 4 campaign." He brought his hoof up to his mane once again.

"I'd be glad to!" Blue Mint responded, congratulating herself on finally getting Alpha to spend a weekend with her. She had tried many years to hang out with him outside of school, but he would always come up with excuses. Alpha was difficult to understand, but that's what Blue Mint really liked about about him. She was looking forward to the weekend.

The rest of the week was a breeze. On her free time, Blue Mint would go to the candy shop and help Bonbon with the many customers that came through. Alpha spent the week studying to become a physicist. When Friday rolled along and Blue Mint's final bell rang, the butterflies started materializing in her stomach. She had an hour and a half to kill before the end of Alpha's advanced sciences class, so she did the only logical thing, she called her DJ Friend, Ambient Beat.

"Hello?" A quiet voice asked on the other side of the line.

"Hey Ambient! It's Minty." She said as she started walking towards the nearest Burger Princess.

"Oh hey Mints, hows it going?" Ambient asked, his voice immediately changing tone as he realized it was just a friend. Ambient was very quiet he was with strangers, but with friends, he was a bit more... outgoing.

"It's going good! Great actually, I'm going to spend the weekend with Alpha." She told him before moving on to her question. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to go get a drink?" It was her usual activity when hanging out with him.

"No actually." Ambient said. "Gear's on vacation, so he's fixing my turntable." Blue Mint heard some shuffling before flinching as Ambient yelled to Gear! "Hey Gear!! It's Mint! She's staying with Alpha this weekend!" Blue Mint facehoofed before bracing herself.

"Heyyyy! Do you want some condoms for the weekend?" Gear said in a singsong voice as he picked up the phone. Blue Mint cursed, Gear was the only one who knew that she liked Alpha, so naturally, all he did was tease her about it. "Here, I'll put you on speaker while we work on this."

As Blue Mint talked to Gear and Ambient, her eyes wandered to the nearby TV in the burger joint.

"And now, more news on the Equestria Laboratory alarm. The facility has been cleared out. Princess Celestia says that there will not be an outbreak and that all workers have been magically swept for signs of any disease." The announcer said.

Blue Mint looked away from the TV, losing interest. She talked with Gear and Ambient a little while longer before hanging up and sitting back on her chair.

This is going to be an awesome weekend! She thought as she closed her eyes and listened to the bustle in the restaurant.

--- --- ---

Alpha was bored. For the third time this week, the advanced sciences test was taking up the whole period. He sighed, looking down at the strategies that he had laid out for the gaming weekend. He had finished his exam last class, so he had all the time in the world to work on Halo 4 maps and strategies. He was glad Blue Mint had finally gotten into gaming, Gear lived out of town and Ambient hated video games, so the only people Alpha played with were foals that raged the second he started winning. Looking at the clock, Alpha noted that he still had a good forty minutes left of class. So he returned to his maps, deciding to point out all the most common camping spots.

When the bell finally rang, forty minutes later, he had prepared the entire weekend. Alpha stood up and headed out the door, biding his teacher and classmates farewell. He stepped out into the daylight, his eyes adjusting to the sudden change in the brightness. Alpha looked around and spotted Blue Mint cheerily trotting towards him, her bi-colored mane reflecting the sun.

"Hey Alph!" Blue Mint brightly exclaimed. "How was class?"

"Well, it was the last period of testing, so I managed to finish a whole bunch of Cattle Field Four and Halo Four maps. I also developed a bunch of strategies for multiplayer." Alpha replied, pulling out the maps and laying them on a bench.

Blue Mint quickly looked over them, pointing out some places Alpha had missed. Then, without warning, Blue Mint pulled out a map of her own. Alpha was taken aback by her planning; not only had she corrected his maps, but she had made some of her own, almost as in-depth as his were.

"Well, we should get going!" Alpha said, picking up the maps and carefully putting them back in his bag. "We can look at maps when we get home."

"Agreed!" Blue Mint smiled and started heading to her house. Alpha followed closely, giddy with anticipation at the thought of playing video games with his best friend.

Blue Mint opened the door to her house, ran in and grabbed a large bag laying by the door. She called out to her parents, telling them she'd be gone for the weekend, and running back out, almost crashing into Alpha.

"You ready to go?" Alpha asked, smiling at Blue Mints' antics.

"Yupsies!" She responded, straightening the bag on her back and following Alpha down the street.

Alpha lived on his own, his parents had given him the house when they moved out to Phillydelphia. It was quite a walk away, but none of them minded, it was a nice day anyways. The two walked side by side, discussing what games they play for the next three days. Abruptly, Alpha spoke up:

"Why is your bag so huge? It's only a weekend."

Blue Mint laughed "I'm too lazy to individually pack a bag for every weekend, so this is my "Survival Bag", that way all I need to do after a trip is throw the bag into the laundry! Problem solved."

"Ohhh" Alpha said, understandingly. A smile creeping up on his lips "I also have a survival bag, but it's only for emergencies."

The two kept walking in silence, enjoying the breeze. After ten minutes, they finally arrived at Alpha's place. Alpha pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, inviting Blue Mint inside. She did so, wiping her hooves on the mat before looking up. Blue Mint gasped, she had never been at Alpha's place before. She had imagined a normal house, with a little square for gaming or something of the sort. However, all she saw as she looked around the hallway were swords. Alpha had lined his walls with different weapons and artifacts he would find in antique stores.

"Woah! What's with all the blades?" Blue Mint asked, getting a better look at a dagger to her left.

"I collect them, but watch out. Most of them are very sharp." Alpha responded, walking over to a door in the back of hallway and stepped into the room. "Come on, this is the gaming room."

Blue Mint followed him in, only to be stopped dead in her tracks once again. The gaming room was just as impressive as the hallway. The huge projector screen was taking up a whole wall, across from it, Alpha had installed a mini-bar, from where he pulled out a bag of chips. There was a large couch in front of the screen, and the only thing separating the two items was a large mahogany table.

"Make yourself at home!" Alpha called out to Blue Mint before filling a bowl with chips and plopping down on the couch.

Blue Mint followed his example, almost jumping onto the couch next to Alpha. She grabbed a chip and pulled the maps out of Alpha's bag, laying them out on the table.

"Ready?" Alpha asked, grabbing his custom TitanFoal remote.

"Ready!" Blue Mint responded, carefully pulling out her controller. Alpha smiled at Blue Mints remote. It was a light green color, with blue veins that matched her mane.

Alpha levitated Halo Four over to the the console and inserted it. "Then let's get this party started!" He exclaimed, selecting the multiplayer option.

Several hours, multiple chip bags and countless kills later, Alpha and Blue Mint decided to call it a night. Falling back onto the couch, Alpha turned on the TV and passed the remote to Blue Mint.

"Here, look for something interesting, I'll get you a mattress." Alpha said, getting up and exiting the room.

Blue Mint laid down on the couch, looking at the screen she started looking through the hundreds of channels. She came upon Canterlot Live News, where they were talking about the Equestria Laboratories incident.

The announcer was talking into the microphone in a quick and monotone manner. "-ere live at the entrance of Equestria Laboratories where the workers abandoning the facility will be released back to their families. The laboratory has been marked for destruction due to a disease currently named PD47 having come into contact with the air. Very little is known of this synthetic disease. The princesses will not tell us the whereabouts of the creator and why this error occurred. However, security measures have been set in place so as the virus is confined in the laboratory and will be destroyed along with the facility"

"Hey Alph." Blue Mint called out suddenly interested "Come look at this, they're about to blow the medical facility."

"Which one?" Alpha asked from the bedroom "There's no planned destruction anytime soon."

"It's Equestria Laboratories, something about a disease leaking into the air." Blue Mint called back.

Alpha rushed into the room, a worried expression on his face. Without a word, he sat by the TV, staring intently at the screen, his eyes taking in every detail. He started mumbling under his breath.

"There's no timer set, so there must be a detonation chamber rigghhttt, there. Everyone is there, so why are they blowing the facility if it's confined? Why not magic sweep it. Unless it's immune to magic, if it is... It must be highly infectious, otherwise they wouldn't blow up the facility"

Blue Mint just listened to the announcer with interest.

"The head of the facility is now calling out the ten second mark, Equestria is watching with anticipation as the seconds tick down."

Without warning Alpha jumped. "Buck!" A worker had just passed out.

"Chill, he's probably just exhausted" Blue Mint said softly, trying to calm the sky blue unicorn.

"Oh Buck, not him Minty, look at the detonation official." Alpha said, stressing out.

The announcer suddenly noticed the change. "It seems that one of the scientists has fallen, the medics are rushing to him. It seems that the detonation has been held off due to... complications in the chamber." Suddenly three more scientists fall to the floor "It seems the first researcher has been confirmed dead, the medical team is doing all they can to save the others, but more and more of the staff are-"

The channel abruptly cut off and a red screen with letters came up. An electronic voice announced:

"This is the Equestria emergency podcast, under order of the princesses, you are to inside, this is to ensure that the current situation d-" Alpha shut off the TV.

"Change of plans." He announced. "I've got a radio up in the attic, follow me!"

"What's happening?" Blue Mint asked, a bump forming in the back of her throat. "Why were they... dying?" she swallowed, fighting back tears.

"The country is currently in an state of emergency, the disease... PD47, probably managed to grip on a few hosts. From what we know, it is resistant to magic, otherwise it wouldn't have left the facility. It's airborne and travelling, which means it will spread very quickly. Do you understand?" Alpha stated, getting off the couch.

Blue Mint just nodded, following Alpha's instructions.

"Ok, we're going to go upstairs. It's airtight, has food for two weeks, and is also where I keep my multi-channel radio, which will let us listen to what's really happening." He said, taking her hooves in his. "Now go grab your bag and head upstairs. Oh, and don't listen to what they say officially. It'll get you killed." He added. "Any questions?"

Blue Mint took a deep breath. "What about Gear and Ambient? Will they be alright?" She asked, picking up her bag.

"They know what to do." He told her, leading her towards the stairs.

"I hope" He thought to himself as he helped Blue Mint into the attic and crawled in with her, shutting the trapdoor tightly.

Author's Note

There it is! The first chapter of a long journey. I'd love to hear you thoughts and constructive criticism down in the comments.

Thanks to all of the people out there that volunteered their OC's to this story, if yours isn't in the first chapter, then expect him/her in chapter 2 or 3.

I'd also like to thank TheUndiscoveredPony for proof reading this chapter!

Look forward to chapter two in a few months (Jan-Feb)

Taking Flight

Author's Note

So yeah! This is finally out. It took a while to write, due to me being me and life. <-- That made sense.

Anyways, I'd like to thank you all for reading this chapter, if you find any errors, please point them out!

All OC's were use by permission of their creators! For all you unicorn fans out there, be ready. This next chapter is for you!

~TheOriginalThundersky

Taking Flight

Crimson Ember, MJ and Melody were at the entrance of Equestria Laboratories where a huge crowd had gathered to watch the destruction of the facility. However the three pegasi were just there to get their friend Test Tube back home to Cloudsdale.

"Ugh, how long does it take to blow up a facility and free the workers?" MJ asked, laying back on the cloud the three ponies were watching from.

"Too long!" Melody sighed, her blue and green eyes looking down at her coltfriend standing in a line with the other scientists.

Crimson Ember remained quiet, eagerly awaiting the explosion. Her black mane was much curlier than usual, meaning a large fire was imminent. It was one of her gifts, she could sense fire, and she loved it. She started playing around with a tuft of cloud as the last of the families were sat down at the bleachers. She started rubbing her hooves against the soft cloud faster and faster until the friction created a small flame. Another of her gifts was lighting things on fire. If she wanted to, she could light practically anything. As the last embers on the cloud died out, Crimsons hair flattened out.

"Something's not right" Crimson said, realizing that there would be no fire. She readied her wings. "We need to go!"

"What?!" Melody exclaimed, looking at Crimson with a bewildered expression. "We need to get Test back first."

"It's already too late for Test" Crimson said harshly, spreading her wings and taking Melody's hoof.

MJ Looked down and realized what was happening. The black flag was going up, indicating a high danger disease had been released into the open world. Quickly jumping into action, he grabbed Melody's other hoof and braced himself to restrain her. Crimson and MJ slowly started flying upwards, holding back Melody, who was now crying.

In the blink of an eye, Melody twitched, her pupils dilated and her eyes turned the color of blood. She started yelling in an uncontrollable voice.

"LET ME GO! HE'S GOING TO DIE DOWN THERE! I NEED TO SAVE HIM!" Melody pushed back against the two ponies. Melody was usually the weak one, but her struggling was now giving both Crimson Ember and MJ a run for their money.

"No... can... do girl" MJ said, groaning against the superequine force. "We wont... let you die... with him."

Suddenly, Melody let out a scream that would have scared away even the bravest of warriors. her eyes rolled back and her head slumped down as she drifted into unconsciousness.

-_-_-_-

Melody's head was ringing as she slowly came to her senses, all she could remember was the black flag rising over the campus and the sadness she felt as her friends dragged her away from Test Tube... He was gone now, and there was nothing she could do about it. She lifted her head to get an idea of her surroundings before realizing that her friends were still by her, however, they were holding her down. Realizing her eyes were closed, she opened them to give her friends a questioning look. The first thing she saw was MJ's spiky black mane. The pegasus backed off and looked at Crimson, giving her the all clear. Crimson immediately released Melody and apologized.

"Sorry bout that, you kinda went into "Crazy Red Eyed Demon" mode" Crimson said, taking a step back to give Melody some air.

"What do you mean?" Melody asked, finally sitting up. She took a good look around the room and almost started crying. "and why did you bring me to Test's house?"

"You're really heavy." MJ responded bluntly.

Crimson shot him a death stare before saying "and his place was the closest." She held out her hoof to help Melody get up. "Do you want something to drink?"

"I just want to go home." She announced, taking Crimson's hoof and slowly getting up.

"Umm yeahhh... about that." MJ said awkwardly, clearing his throat. "We're stuck here, if we go outside and get caught, we get killed on sight." He added. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"WHAT?!" Melody almost chocked. "Why?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's the murderous disease travelling across equestria!" MJ responded, taking off his shades and depositing them on the table.

"How does the disease even get up here though?" Melody asked, moving towards the kitchen, the soft clouds muffling her heavy footsteps.

"The guards said something about hosts." Crimson said, turning on the stove with ease. "The virus takes on a host and spreads from there." She reached for a plastic bag of turnips and dumped them into a pan.

"Ok, so how did you get the food?" Melody inquired.

"You ask more questions than those TV hosts!" MJ sighed, tossing Crimson some season before responding. "They bring it in boxes, weekly."

"So we're just expected to live it out in this apartment for the rest of our lives." Crimson said coldly. Melody noticed that Crimson had been keeping quiet for a while. That was never a good sign.

"That would be awesome!!" MJ exclaimed, Melody knew that he loved being inside, unlike Crimson, who was now angrily looking at him.

"No it would not!" Crimson spat back at him. Melody tensed up, but luckily, the two pegasi dropped the subject before anypony was injured.

"Anyways" Melody said, turning on the TV "We're stuck here so I say we do what the government says. They've probably planned for this years ago, they'll know what to do." She looked at the others, challenging them to reject her decision.

Melody had gotten control of herself, on the inside she was breaking apart due to her loss, but she knew that she had to pull herself together and be the halfway point between her two friends. So she tucked her pain and sadness away inside of her and replaced it with a cold and calculating mask, forever trying to make the right decision because if she wouldn't do it, no one would.

Crimson suddenly spoke. "There is a flaw with your plan though, the government probably planned on doing research on a disease if one ever broke out. However, all of the scientists are dead or dying, which means no research and no cure."

"Yeah, but how are we going to leave this place to do something about it? I'd be down to do it, but we'd risk getting infected by the disease or killed by the guards." Melody stated grimly.

"Oh we can leave protected without a problem" MJ said, his ears perking up at the idea of doing something dangerous. "I know for sure that Testy has hazmat suits in his mini-lab downstairs, and the neighbor is a big weapons enthusiast, he must have tons of fun weapons we can use."

Melody though for a second before answering. "So we get in the suits and make our way to the neighbors' house, grab the weapons and intimidate the guards." The more she spoke the higher her hopes got of actually pulling this off.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT!!" MJ interrupted, holding up his hoof. "Are you guys actually planning on forcefully taking control of Cloudsdale?"

"Yup!" Melody and Crimson responded in unison, grinning at each other.

MJ shrugged. "Ok, I'll go make some cloud grenades"

"Why do you know how to make those?" Melody asked "And what do you need?"

"Ping Pong balls and a knife" MJ responded, making his way to the game room. "And it was shown to me by one of my Canterlot DJ friends right before one of my sets. He said it was great for confusing crowds and making a swift escape." Melody let slip a smile. It was always MJ coming up with the weirdest things at the most useful times.

"Fine, and by the way, Test leaves his Ping Pong ball collection under the TV." Melody said before turning to Crimson. "We'll work on creating a foolproof plan and executing it. If everything goes well, in a weeks time, we run Cloudsdale."

"We're going to have to prioritize a quarantine, so that the disease doesn't get into town." Crimson suggested, pulling out a map of Cloudsdale. "I say we use the old city walls as borders and keep a quarantine building for incoming pegasi."

"Woah there!" MJ said, coming out of the kitchen with a knife. "Getting a bit ahead of yourself. We should worry about taking out the guards first."

"For once he's right." Melody told Crimson. "Let's get everything ready before we start planning how to run the city."

"Fine, since MJ is so eager to go take out the guards, I say we send him to the neighbors house to get the weapons. He knows how to handle them and can probably carry more than we can." Crimson said, grinning up at MJ.

"I'm not going alone." MJ responded bluntly. "I'm going to need backup and a brain."

Crimson's grin faltered as she realized that she would have to go with him. "Fine, Melody will stay here and take inventory, I'm going to grab some weapons with this goofball." Crimson then turned to MJ before formulating a plan in her head. "I'll go check the interval at which the guards patrol, MJ, please go get the suits from the basement without blowing up the house."

"Hey!" MJ exclaimed insulted before breaking down into laughter and heading down to the basement.

Crimson rolled her eyes and moved to the window. Starting a mental timer, she looked out at the guards who were now coming for a food run. The only good news she had at that moment were that the guards had skipped the neighbors home; meaning the weapons were in there unguarded.

After a good half an hour, MJ and Crimson were climbing into their suits, equipping themselves with a few cloud grenades and talking over how they would proceed. However, there was a big problem.

"The guards have already made their shift, and they did it here, which means they will always be there, no sneaking past them." Crimson whispered to MJ, hoping that Melody wasn't listening.

MJ looked up from the town map and frowned at Crimson, mouthing the words "Plan B". Crimson stole a quick look at Melody before nodding grimly.

"Alright Melody, get into a suit." MJ said, tossing her a cloud grenade. "We're changing plans a bit."

"Wait what?" Melody asked, dropping the map onto the floor.

"Just go with the flow girl." MJ spoke quickly. "Take everything of importance and put it in a backpack, then join me in the hallway closet."

"Is this some kind of joke MJ?" Melody asked again, very confused.

"Just do it." Crimson interrupted. She wore a stern expression. "And don't worry about me, just wait for the guards to walk past you and count to ten. Then run out of the closet, grab your stuff and head over to the neighbors place."

"What are you planning Crimson?" Melody asked, fear and confusion seeping into her voice.

"No time to explain, just go get a suit from the basement, MJ and I will pack up here." Crimson said before turning to the mess of pencils and supplies lying around the house.

Melody hesitated for an instant before giving in and heading down the stairs to the basement. MJ approached Crimson and tapped her shoulder.

"So, what exactly is our plan B?" He asked, leaning down and shoving the map into a backpack.

"We need to eliminate the guards" Crimson said, tucking in loose fabric on her suit.

"Haha, very funny" MJ responded, not realizing how serious Crimson was about her plan. "What are we actually doing."

"Eliminate, as in kill, quietly if possible..." Crimson said, her gaze slipping into space. "I'm going to create a distraction at the beginning of the next guard shift, get them in here so you guys can slip out safely."

"Woah, ok" MJ said quietly, surprised by the risky move Crimson was planning to pull. "So I guess you plan on bringing the guards in here and... dispose of them?" he asked, speaking the last three words with care.

"Exactly, now stop talking about it before I consider how dumb my plan really is." Crimson said turning to him with a blank face. "And tell Melody NOTHING."

"I get it..." MJ said understandingly.

They sat together in silence for a couple of minutes until they hears hoofsteps coming from the basement and Melody stepped out in her suit.

"Ok, I'm ready. Now will someone tell me what is happening?" Melody asked, looking at the two pegasi in front of her.

"The guards aren't moving, so i'm just going to distract them so you two can slip by them" Crimson said, forcing a smile. "Now get to the closet with MJ and don't leave until the guards pass by."

"Ok, sound simple!" Melody said, not really pondering how Crimson would escape.

Minutes later, they were ready. Melody and MJ in the closed and Crimson in the kitchen. Crimson had linked the two kitchen doors, making it so that if one was closed and locked, the other would mirror it's action. She started spreading gasoline around the kitchen, thinking about her plan. She was going to start yelling for help, attracting the guards into the kitchen, then she would light the gasoline and lock the doors. She put the can of gasoline back under the sink and lay in the back of the kitchen by the back door. Picking up some matches, she took a deep breath and yelled.

"HEEELLLLPPPPP!!!" Hoping the guards would her her, she yelled it louder and louder. Sure enough, twenty seconds passed by and two guards could be heard breaking open the front door. Crimson allowed herself a quick smile before dropping the matches onto the trails of gasoline. her plan was working perfectly.

The two guards burst through the front kitchen door, finding a seemingly helpless mare surrounded in flames. They approached her, telling her that they were here to help her. She looked up at them through the flames with sadness in her eyes before bounding out the door and locking it, sealing off the room.

Crimson leaned her head against the kitchen door. "I'm so so sorry." She whispered before turning around and walking away. The screams of the guards filled the air as the fire ate at their flesh, pulling the life from their bodies. Steeling herself, Crimson walked out the front door and towards the neighbors house, were Melody and MJ were setting up weapons.

"We have twenty minutes until the next shift gets here!" Crimson exclaimed, walking into the house. "What's our equipment?"

"We've got: two crossbows, three bows, seventy nine arrows, two swords, a spear, and a dart pipe with a good fifty darts. The darts can be loaded with some sort of sleeping liquid." Melody said, pointing at the different weapons and vials as she listed them off.

"How do you know it's sleeping liquid and not poison?" Crimson asked. Melody just pointed to MJ, who was passed out on the couch, drooling.

"Whatever works, I guess." Crimson said, suppressing a laugh. "Wake him up though, we need to leave when the second shift gets here." She grabbed a bow and passed the other to Melody.

After a lot of shaking and water, MJ finally opened his eyes. he was immediately handed a sword and a crossbow, which did not help his stability as he almost fell back onto the couch.

"I just have one question." Melody asked, helping MJ with his things before heading over to the weapons table and grabbing the spear and the dart pipe. "What happened to those two guards?"

Crimson tensed and picked up a sword as well as a backpack. "We're going" She stated coldly, ignoring Melody's question and shoving MJ out the door. She grabbed the last crossbow on her way out and slung it over her right shoulder, looking back at Melody she uttered what everyone was thinking. "There's no going back now."