Please Stand By

"I'm not crazy, I'm sane... everyone else is insane."

Ponyville

The storm over Equestria continued unhindered, sporadic lightning strikes surged across the skies despite the best efforts of the pegasi that flew into the skies. Not even the Wonderbolts could do anything to break up the clouds, it was as if the had a mind of their own. The pegasi groups, they could sense something was wrong in the air currents that passed over them, and they weren't the only ones. Unicorns and their abundant magical prowess could feel it in their horns, there was dark magic at play.

Some unicorns of a higher level, such as one Lyra Heartstrings for example, felt the magic the second it started to manifest itself across the land. She could sense the magic and immediately could tell it was a dark magic, darker than any she had felt before. Her horn tingled and sparked on top of her head as she sat in her basement, watching the storm from the small window above. Lyra made notes of the storm, writing down notes and patterns in her notebooks in front of her.

The ground shook from the storm, and Lyra found herself surprised at that. This storm is powerful. She noted further, still writing.

She was so deep into her writing, she didn't notice the littler sliver of light at the back of her basement that had begun to form into a tiny vortex... but we're not focusing on that now are we?

Everfree Forest - Castle of the Two Sisters

In the Everfree Forest, there lies a castle, an old castle that was said to be the home the two royal sisters, Celestia and Luna. Now however, it has been abandoned to the elements, left to rot and decay. Some ventured to this castle every now and then, to peruse the books that sit within the library, or to inspect the old architecture. Banners of the sisters still hung within the castle, after thousands of years they still remained, barely tattered from the elements.

Inside of this castle... lie a sleeping giant. Tiny, in all of his glory had been teleported to the castle somehow, rubble lay on top of his back, his equipment and weapons all gone or destroyed, lying in smoking heaps next to him. The giant was knocked out, having hit his head when he fell from above. It would have killed a normal being, possibly mutilated them.

But Tiny wasn't normal in the slightest.

The storm above kept going strong, striking the pillars of the castle and sending more rocks tumbling down on top of Tiny. Dust and rocks crumbled away, eventually burying the sleeping giant. Nothing remained except a large green hand that stuck out of the rubble.

Tiny was probably going to sleep for a bit... maybe.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Okay maybe not.

"Why did we come here?!" A small orange pegasus screamed as she ran alongside her friends, running from a deadly looking creature, with four legs, two arms and a mouth full of sharp teeth. It screeched as it hopped over debris, crawling along the walls and trying to catch up to them. Despite having four legs, it seemed the beasty was quite slow.

Next to the orange pegasus ran an earth pony, "It was Sweetie's bright idea!" She yelled at the pegasus.

"Me?!" Sweetie, the grayish filly squeaked in fear as she trailed behind the two other ponies. All three, were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Three of Ponyville's most outgoing and - somewhat - dangerous ponies. They were known for causing a ton of mayhem trying to get their cutie marks, from sanding down wood to blowing up dams even, however, all of it proved fruitless...

Until that fateful day, but we're not focusing on that just yet.

"How is it my fault?!" Sweetie asked as the beast behind them followed still, roaring a challenge.

"You're the one who wanted ta come here and find that consarned book on How to get a colt!!" Apple Bloom barked back at her in fright, ducking as a rock was thrown her way. "Yipe!"

"Well I didn't think there would be a monster living in here!"

"NEXT TIME USE YER HEAD! Yer the smart one!"

Scootaloo shot them both looks. "Hey! I'm smart!"

"Blowing up half the school in the lab does not make you smart!"

The three continued to bicker back and forth, not even noticing the creature jumping onto the ceiling and scaling across it, beady black eyes locked on the three like they were lunch... they probably were, considering. They kept moving down the halls, screams and yells dissolving into panicked gasps and breathes. The walls looked the same, blackened stone and rusted sets of armor long forgotten inside of the darkened labyrinth.

Above them, tattered cloth was billowing from the storm like winds outside. Rocks and pieces of debris fell from above, hitting the ground with a smash startling the three as they arrived in the main room where a conspicuous pile of rubble was lying, along with the smoking remains of burned weaponry. They stopped in the room, casting a look behind them to see if the creature had followed, they did not see him, and let loose a sigh of relief.

"What was that thing!?" Scootaloo gasped as she struggled to breath in air, the musty old air of the castle was not doing her lungs so good. But for now, it would suffice.

"I don't know!" Sweetie chirped, her horn lighting up the area they were in, pieces of the ceiling were falling still, crashing behind them and making her nervous. "Bloom, do you know?"

A scoff, then a cough before the apple pony replied with a snarky, "Heck no Ah don't!"

*Thump*

The three froze, their breathing stopping as they each turned to heads to look behind them... and they saw the creature growling menacingly. Drool dripping from its mouth as its beady black eyes locked on their small forms. The three had encountered many strange and terrifying things in their life, but this thing was extremely disgusting and horrible looking. And terrifying, of course.

All three sucked in a huge breath, and as one, screamed as loud as they could. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP USSSSSSSSSSSS!"

The creature seemed amused as it stalked forward, walking past the giant pile of rubble. A long serpinetine tongue shot out, and it lunged forward as the CMC fell back, and it looked like they were done for...

That is, if a giant green hand hadn't blasted out of the rubble and basicially bitch slapped the thing away into a wall.

Apple Bloom gasped as she pushed her friends back, away from the rubble when it began to fall away. Slowly but surely, a large beast, easily five times bigger than the creature that had almost eaten them a few seconds ago. It saw up, rocks and rubble falling from its body and onto the floor. Apple Bloom could see hugh bulging muscles covering just about every part of its body, and it was a yellowish green coloration. She gulped as the beast started to get up, rocks and debris falling from it and smashing to the floor.

"Holy..." Apple Bloom started, eyeing the massive with a fearful gaze.

"... Buck..." Surpisingly enough, Sweetie Belle finished Apple Bloom's sentence.

However, with the beast.

Tiny stood in the massive stone structure, extremely confuzzled as to why he wasn't smashing metalmen to pieces. The place did not look familiar to him at all, that is to say, what memories he had, told him this place was foreign. An inquisitive grunt escaped him as he looked around, spotting colorful banners hanging over what looked like a pair of smashed chairs, looking up, he saw a stormy sky, sparks dancing across the clouds like fireflies.

He didn't remember there being a storm like this before.

As he reached down to his belt to grab his smashy thing, he realized with horror...

It was gone.

Looking down at his belt, he saw his club was indeed gone... among other things, reaching behind his back, he couldn't feel the makeshift backpack he had built out of scrap there anymore, it too, was gone. As was everything within...

This was not optimal.

Baring his teeth in anger, he looked around the rest of the place, and noted - briefly - that his teammates were nowhere in sight. Sniffing the air, he smelled many things, his own FEV tainted hide, a faint smell he couldn't pinpoint that smelled like old rotted wood and dirt mixed together, and animals...

A growling noise snapped him out of his brief thought process.

Turning his head to the left, he saw a small fleshy creature picking itself up. One of its front arms dangling uselessly from its torso, it reminded him of his brother's Centaurs, although, it was far more... tame looking compared to the abominations created by Super Mutant Population. Blood ran down from its eye, upon closer inspection, it had been popped out and lay on the ground, smushed.

The creature snarled and hissed, locking eyes with him, and he knew a challange when he saw one. Turning his hulking body towards the smaller creature, it was almost laughable that the pint sized centaur wanted to fight him.

He could laugh!

If he had the brain capacity to do so, that is.

Without waiting, the mutant Centaur charged forward, screeching as it readied itself to take on the hulking behemoth of a monster. It charged, wanting nothing more then to kill it and then feast upon its body!

Tiny however, just waited until it was close enough, then brought up his foot before smashing it down on the centaur, crushing it. A sickening splat sounded throughout the place, followed by bones crunching, and a pitiful whining noise before all was silent. Tiny lifted his foot, and then kicked the body away, sending it flying into one of the stone pillars with another crunch. A huff of victory left his mouth, and he pounded his chest twice before holding out his hand, and slowly letting it fall back to his side.

"Holy crap."

Curious, he heard a voice, and pondered if the voices he heard at times returned once more. However, hearing a sort of clopping noise (giggity) coming from behind him, he turned to look, and saw something that made his already confuzzled mind even more frazzled.

Three tiny technicolor ponies, of course he didn't know what a pony was, but eh.

"D-do you think he'll do t-that to us?" Sweetie asked, fear lacing her every word as she stared up at the behemoth, who in turn looked down at them. Wide eyes and teeth bared in a snarl, though he made no noise other then then his moderately heavy breathing.

"Ah don't know, Sweets." Bloom honestly had no idea what this thing was, or if it'd hurt them. It had saved them, though that may have been unintentional, considering the beast was under the rubble at the time. "Ah hope not."

Tiny, if he wasn't confused now, he was infinately more confused... they could talk, and a small small part of him pondered if they were FEV mutants. But then he suddenly realized, he didn't exactly care that much, he wanted his Smashy Smashy back. Eyeing the banners nearby, he got an idea. He walked over to them, his lumbering form frightening the CMC even more, but as long as they weren't attacking him, he didn't care that much.

Tiny grabbed onto the darker colored banner, tattered as it was, and took it down before ripping the cloth off and holding the golden rod in his hand. It was a bit heavy, but not as heavy as his club was. It'd do, for now that is. Taking the cloth, he began to wrap it around his wait, adding onto his crude armor, the banner tied around his waist now hung down to his knees, and he liked it.

"Apple Bloom, what are you doing!"

Turning once more, Tiny saw the yellowish filly approaching him timidly, and he wondered if he had to squish her too... but then remembered something his master taught him.

Remember Tiny... do not squish anyone who's nice to you, unless they're tricking you, than you can go nuts!

Tiny stared at the filly, watching as she stopped a good five feet away from him.

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she looked up. "Uhh... can you understand me?" She asked him, shivering as her two friends stared wide eyed at their friend, who they've gone and assumed she'd gone insane.

Tiny held the length of golden rod downward, away from the filly, as the clouds outside rumbled. Tiny looked over next to the rubble, and saw his backpack that he had made lying in a burned and destroyed heap, he growled.

He worked hard on that.

"Uuuh, Bloom, maybe we should leave?" Sweetie Squeaked in fear, hiding behind the pegasus, Scootaloo, who was likewise as scared as her younger friend.

The FEV Behemoth had no idea what they wanted, or why the smaller one talked to him. But he figured they were not to be squished, so he decided not too... for now, after all, they weren't trying to attack him just yet. Could they? Would they? They were small, impossibly tiny compared to his hulking frame, all he had to do was breath on them and they would probably run away in terror.

But why weren't they running now? Most humans ran when they saw him, hence why Atlas had so few friends.

Then again, these aren't humans.

"Um... thanks for, savin' us an' all!" Apple Bloom tried and smiled, only her legs started shaking and she was forced to retreat to her friends. And one by one, the three bolted out of the castle's front entrence, leaving behind a cartoony smoke trail that baffled the giant more than anything in his entire life.

But he had other things to do first, one of which was to sate his hunger.

Looking over at the battled mutant he had crushed, his stomach bellowed a war cry of hungering pain. He made his way over, it'd do...

For now, anyway.

Vass Desert

Kane... Kane was not happy in the slightest. The power armored ghoul was standing in a vast desert, for miles around he saw nothing but sand, sand and more sand amisdt several mountains, dead trees and various desert flora scattered about. And he was hot, and his Arc Caster was damaged, and he had no idea where he was...

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" He cursed as loud as his two century old lungs would allow. He growled, he hated deserts with a passion, ever since the Mojave... The ghoul shook his head, glaring at his Caster before holstering it on his back with the energy pack he carried. And reaching down to his belt, he produced a large looking desert eagle, and after doing a quick brass check, flipped the safety on before beginning to trudge forward through the sandy highlands.

The entire land around him felt... odd, there was something in the air that tasted and smelled strange to him... But he didn't exactly give two fucks at the moments, he was too busy wondering where the fuck he was, and what exactly happened back at the military installation they were trying to raid. All he could remember was Atlas acting like an idiot, and shooting a panal before something... whatever it was, happeend.

"Fucking Atlas." He grumbled, cursing his leader for his idiocy before almost tripping over a rock. The insane ghoul kept his trudge through the desert, hearing birds flying overhead, squawking and singing their calls. He cursed again, where was he? He didn't recognize any landmarks around him, nothing, not a damn thing and he's been wandering the wastes for years until Atlas came along and swept him up into his little band of misfits. He'd never forget that day.

"Hey Louie! I found somethin'!" He heard, followed by an excited squawking noise. Kane's bloodshot eyes widened, and he slowly grinned.

Maybe he could kill them!

Or something, like get information, whichever came first.

The ghoul stalked to where he heard the voices, he would have grinned more, but his lips had been ripped away when he was turned into a ghoul. Giving him a permenant almost demonic grin, that no matter what, remained. The ghoul didn't mind however, instead choosing to blast things with his Caster, but seeing how it was damaged he would have to resort to other weapons.

Ahead of him he saw some rocks, and crept up to them, his power armor making dull clunking noises through the ankle deep sand. The rusty appearence of the armor gave him the almost perfect camouflage in the sandy wastelands around him. Holding up his pistol, he halted near the rocks, and listened in.

"What'd ya find Louie?" The other asked.

"I found a... thing..." Louie said, to which the other voice scoffed loudly.

"Well what's th' thing Louie?"

"This thing!" Louie then proceeded to lift something up out of the sand, and Kane snuck a look past the rock, beady bloodshot eyes stared wide... er? At what looked like, two cat... bird... things, the one, who he guessed was Louie, was holding up something that Kane recognized. It was a fusion core, unused just lying in the sand.

Fusion Core. Kane thought... before he grinned. This'll be fun~ Hehehehe. Kane then stepped out into the open, and confronted them both. "Hello boys~"

The two cat bird things looked over at Kane, and Louie looked ready to say something... before their eyes went wide, beaks dropped wide open. "A zombie!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" The other cried, and they both started to fly away, Louie dropping the fusion core as they quickly flapped their wings.

"You assholes! I am not a zombie!" He yelled, fuming as his no-eyebrow twitched. Looking down at the ground, he grabbed a rock before tossing it up and down in his hand, once he was satisfied with howheavy it no doubt was, he pulled back his arm before chucking it with a yell, "Eat this bitch! HAHAHAHA!"

However, as his rock was nearing Louie's head, it stopped in midair, making Kane raise an no-eyebrow. Before he could ask, it was flung back at him, much faster then it should have been going, and he almost hesitated, before raising his desert eagle and firing, the massive .50AE round blasting the rock into pieces which rained down on him and made him wince ever so slightly. He looked around him, looking for any other creatures, and he saw something that made him raise a no-eyebrow.

The creature standing nearby was... a horse, or a pony if you were to be technically correct. An orange unicorn, with green eyes and a silver mane, and wearing some sort of coat. Her eyes stared at Kane, as the two catbirds landed behind her, looking terrified. "Interesting..." She hummed, looking to be in thought.

Kane frowned at her, or at least tried to anyway. "Who the fuck are you? In fact, what are you? Some kind of fucking horse thing?" He asked, gun hand twitching as he felt something wear off. Fuck!

"Appears to be an ape of some sort," She spoke, mostly to herself and making Kane wish he had a rusty kitchen knife to gut her with. "Looks like a corpse, rotted skin... burned maybe? Bipedal... interesting."

"Um, bitch I can hear you just fine!" Kane bellowed, eye twitching.

"Uhh, doc, shouldn't we like, run?" Louie questioned, looking terrified.

The pony shook her head, "No, I am... intrigued..." She told them, before looking Kane in the eyes and asking, "Tell me... who are you? I am Doctor Air Heart."

Kane just glared at her, and it was no doubt terrifying with his appearence. The ghoul was nearly six feet in height, and that was without his power armor, he looked to be eight or nine feet, in heavy looking rusted armor that was more than capable of crushing these three if he so desired.