The Ruins of Pandemonia

Fluttershy had only one reason to venture into the dark, anarchic mass of wood known as the Everfree Forest. And even then, she sought to find an alternative that could keep her away for as long as possible. But there were some plants that could only be acquired from Zecora, the only sane resident of the chaotic woods. Only the rhythmic shaman could procure the healing herb of Kingsfoil in a usable condition, a plant used in a lot of her poultices  and unguents and always in great demand.

This was the only reason why Ponyville’s animal specialist would even think about walking through the dirt roads, letting malicious eyes leer at her all the way. It was hard to keep a calm expression on her face as her nostrils were filled with the stench of decaying meat. Her morale soon crumbled, letting her legs break into a run. With each vicious roar her steps quickened, up to the point where she had to think hard so as to not trip over her green skirt.

“Why did I  have to do this alone?” she asked herself, knowing the answer perfectly. It was because everyone else was too busy to help her. If only she had waited for a day she would have been able to ask Rainbow Dash to keep her company. But that was not the case. Right now she probably had a conga line of chimeras, cockatrices, timber wolves and other carnivorous beasties lining up to tear her apart.

Her senses were oversaturated with panic the second a large explosion roared in the distance, shaking her off her feet. “What was that?” she asked herself. “Was it a geyser? No, it can’t be. There are no geysers here.” And then she heard a sound she had hoped never to hear so close to her, unless it was coming from a screen: gunfire. The roars sounded far too close for her liking and if her ears were working correctly, getting closer by the second.

Fueled by fear, Fluttershy broke into a run without care for whatever could be hiding in the shadows. She was forced to stop the second a large mass of green fell down and blocked her path. She froze in place, her senses starting to collapse due to the oversaturation of panic in her system. Standing in front of her was the charred corpse of an ogre. The next thing she remembered was her own scream. It wasn’t voluntary, not by a long shot, but it was loud enough that it sent birds out of their nests.

She clasped her hands over her mouth almost immediately, but she knew it was too late. Where there was one ogre there were dozens nearby, specially if it was killed in a fight. And in response to her fears, a pair of bulky ogres crashed through the trees. Their glowing yellow eyes began staring at her, growling like a pair of rabid timberwolves. They raised their rusted axes, taking a lumbering step each as they tried to approach her.

“Oi!” one of them asked. “Wai’s dis ‘umie no’ fightin’? Fink hee’s no’ a killa?” this achieved a swift pommeling from his teammate’s axe.

“You’z a zoggin’ git you iz.” it retorted. “Oll ‘umies is made fer fightin’!” it turned its eyes back to her, nearly burrowing its eyes inside its massive brow. “I’z gonna rip yer teef an’ get a shoota!” Then it charged. Fluttershy had barely a second to dodge the axe swung downward. She jumped back, letting the next attack pass harmlessly in front of her.  She began dancing around the attacks, changing her footing every few seconds to avoid getting axed. “Stay still ya runt!” the ogre protested. “I’z wanna kill ya  roit kwik!”

Fluttershy stared, legs now frozen in place as the green mass of muscle raised its weapon to end her. She curled down into a ball and squeezed her eyes shut. The next thing she heard was a sound like the crackle of thunder, then the quacking tremor as something heavy fell. She opened her eyes and widened them at the sight. Both ogres were dead, their necks were now charred stumps of an oversized body. And from behind the corpses stood a human, clad from head to toe in violet-red plated armor and a black leather duster.

“Are you alright ma’am?“ the soldier asked, his male voice a bit garbled by the speaker on his mask. He asked again, this time shaking her violently. “Ma’am! I need you to respond!” But the shock was still too great for her. This forced the soldier to slap her face, which turned out to be the fastest cure. “Equestria to Traveller!” he screamed. “Are you alright?”

“Uh… Yes, I’m fine.” she replied, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I was just.. I…”

“Ma’am, are you aware that you’re in the middle of a war zone?” she shook her head. “Well then, let me be the first to welcome you to hell. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’d like to guide you out of here.” he said with a welcoming hand. She gladly took it. “Good.” he pulled out a small necklace from a small pouch on his belt. “Put this on and hope we don’t run into more than a dozen ogre.”

Their run through the forest was calmer than she’d expect, and it wasn’t until they arrived at a large clearing that they saw the green brutes again. The ogres lumbered forward, cutting off their escape route. Out of the dozen monsters, two carried metal objects glued together with duct tape and sheer ignorance of physics that resembled guns, the rest carried a variety of melee weapons.

“Would you jackasses mind getting out of the way? Twelve isn’t really worth my time.”

“Oi! Iz dat Two Sluggas?” one of the ogres asked, raising an inquiring eyebrow. “Eh, ‘oo cares. Kill ‘im!” it roared, hefting its slug-throwing weapon to bear.

“Hit the deck!” the soldier said, shoving Fluttershy to the floor, just before her ears were filled by the deafening roar of the two guns. The world around her slowed down to a crawl. She saw hundreds of bullets rip past her, some striking against the soldier. She could see as the bolts of iron bent and contracted as it chipped away the paint. The soldier toppled over, letting the sheer power of the bullets slam him to the ground, pulling out a pair of pistols from under his cape and unleashing a storm of blue magical bullets.

Fluttershy could do little but listen to the ogre’s wails as chunks of muscle disintegrated from the green masses. A gunner lost its head, splattering blood and gore to the trees behind him, two ogres lost limbs, crying in anger as they prepared to charge. “Fine! Let’s see if you babies can handle the real Two Sluggas!” The soldier roared as he set his arms in a fighting stance. The brutes finally began struking their blows, each impact of their weapons causing the ground to shake.

Yet for all of their strength, they could not hit their purple target. He dodged and weaved through their blows and his movements were so fast that they gave the impression that he was teleporting. As an axe cleaved through the dirt, the trooper somersaulted over the ogre and fired  several shots at its head. The body promptly toppled to the floor, releasing an unnatural quake. As he rolled away, the soldier fired his pistols, each shot drawing the monsters’ attention back to him.

With three casualties, the ogres seemed to be growing even more restless. Their attacks became even stronger, as seen when they managed to turn a tree into splinters when they bludgeoned them. Each time they missed a strike, the soldier planted them more bullets until they fell down. He later followed it with a shot to the head.  It was going well, at least according to Fluttershy’s naive mind.

Her opinion swiftly changed as soon as the biggest ogre in the lot fell. The second the body hit the floor, a violent earthquake shook the clearing. The earthquake did not stop, as large chunks of the floor began disappearing into an unforeseen abyss. Soon Fluttershy found herself falling down, as the soft earth gave way. The last thing she saw before entering the void was the purple soldier, jumping toward her.