False Euphoria

The flight didn’t last long. While Fluttershy and I progressed toward Ponyville we began noticing irregular weather patterns; though no Pegasi were in sight. From there it didn’t take long for all hell to break loose; those massive worm-like creatures from the mist back at Cloudsdale began to squeeze out of the air before us. The black mist began to seep into the atmosphere from their entries. The creatures were in close detail now, a dark blue with gray metallic scales that reminded him of the scales the behemoth had. They were massive; and I bet they had hundreds of razor-sharp teeth and could shoot fire but I didn’t want to stay and find out. The mist began to surround me, and I needed to get Fluttershy and myself away from here. Though in the shroud I couldn’t seem to find her. Hundreds of smaller creatures began to pour from the openings in the air, they began flying towards Ponyville. Before I could react, one of them grabbed me and decked me across the head. While still holding on to me, it repeatedly struck hard blows to my temple and ribs; causing me to begin losing consciousness. Once it figured I had taken enough it spun in a 360 and used the momentum to throw me down to the ground. I hit the dirt a few seconds later hard, nearly putting me out. Struggling to stay conscious, I tried to crawl into the bushes; but to no avail. The creature landed in front of me. It looked like a bat, but it was bipedal; two strong legs and arms. It was also covered in the scales and it’s face was similar to the monsters that attacked Cloudsdale. It walked towards me with absolutely no expression and ejected a spear of some sort from its hand.

Well, at least I tried.

It paused for a second and I could’ve sworn if it had a mouth it would be grinning. Thoughts suddenly began swimming through my head. I didn’t want to die, and I couldn’t sit around and watch these fuckers do this to Equestria. I grabbed one of the test tubes from my belt and threw it on the creature’s chest. It stepped back making no noise though grabbed it’s chest plate as it began to disintegrate. I still had trouble getting up on my hooves, a few ribs were definitely broken and my energy was drained. The creature ran towards me with the spear and tried to stab me. Which would’ve worked if the weapon didn’t fly out of it’s hand and impaled it. I watched as black liquid spewed from the wound and the creature collapsed to the ground. It seemed the acid created an opening for…whatever just happened.

Um… That was convenient

“Get up man, more are coming” Said a voice from behind me, though moving hurt too much so I just continued laying there. Suddenly I began to feel myself being rejuvenated, as well as broken bones moving back in place. Which hurt like a bitch.

“Augh! Dammit! That’s painful… and strangely relaxing…” I began before becoming tired from the healing process. But before I could sleep a bright red hoof kicked me awake and I saw a pony before me. It was a solid black unicorn with a red curly mane and red hooves. His eyes were closed in a strange way, and he didn’t have a tail.

“C’mon man! I just healed you like a pro and you decide to sleep? Get up, theres more coming.” He said as a golden glow enveloped his horn. I stood up, stretched my wings and shook off the pain. I counted three tubes of acid left.

I looked at the pony that saved me, “So, um… maybe I should introduce myself. I’m uh, Spectrum. Thanks for saving me and… stuff.” I figured he would take notice to my terrible social skills but he seemed friendlier than I thought.

“Sup, Spectrum. You can call me Deadlock, the Unicorn who resides on the border of life and death!” He smiled, probably proud of the statement. But what he said made me think.

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” I asked, nearly sure of the answer.

“I’m dead. Except I’m also alive. So I guess I’m undead, except I don’t want to eat anypony’s brains.” He chuckled and continued using his magic on something. Though I wasn’t sure what.

“Well, so you’re a zombie. That’s pretty freakin’ cool, I must say.” I started, and began to feel vibrations in the earth around me. “So, what are you doing exactly?”

Deadlock looked at me, at least I think he did, “Calling in some friends of mine. You see, I can manipulate the dead. So I can bring the corpses back from the grave and use them to do as I please.”

“Like puppets? So they aren’t actually alive?” I asked.

“Correct, I can’t bring anypony back from the dead eternally, yet. I’ve just been gathering some soldiers for an ambush I’ve been setting up here. At least I was planning on doing that.” Deadlock smiled again, and then added, “Well, everything is set. I hope you know how to fight.”

Before I could tell him exactly where I rank on the pathetic meter more of those bat monsters landed around us. The mist was overhead, making the sky look as dark as the night. Deadlock released his spell, sending gold bolts to various points in the ground around them. The ground vibrated as dozens of rotting corpses rose from the earth. There were only Earth Ponies and Unicorns, some were mostly bone. They had the monsters surrounded.

I’m fighting alongside zombies. That’s alpha as fuck.

The zombies all had a faint golden aura around them, most likely from Deadlock’s magic. They all began attacking the bats, using their rotting teeth to rip their flesh of using broken bones to pierce under the scales. It seems Deadlock was not controlling them, they were probably on auto-pilot. While I was watching the battle one of the bats sneaked up behind me. Deadlock shot him with an ordinary magical bolt and nodded at me. Taking the hint I grabbed the bat and flew straight up as fast as I could. Once I decided I was high enough, which was hard to decipher in the mist, I began an even faster descent spiraling towards the ground. Before I reached the ground I let the momentum take the bat face-first into the earth, causing a loud crash and a wave of dirt and dust.

“Hey, I liked that move.” Said Deadlock, grinning as his zombies tore apart the bat creatures. They couldn’t kill his reanimated minions, so they just kept getting up and attacking. Even when they were beheaded or dismembered, they continued to fight. Eventually the bats gave up and flew away into the mist. Deadlock took the opportunity to fix up his undead soldiers, reattaching limbs and heads.

I sighed in relief and laid down against a tree. “So, Deadlock, how did you know they were going to show up here?” I asked, panting.

Deadlock continued fixing the corpses but answered, “I’ve been studying the mist. They seem to alter weather patterns. Also, they seem to spawn near towns or cities; very rarely do they decide to show up randomly in an open field or forest. What about you? Why were you flying around here?”

“I was taking Fluttershy to get the rest of the Mane Six, Oh shit, I lost Fluttershy!” I facehoofed and shook my head. “I can’t believe lost her. Dammit. That’s two gone.”

Deadlock was interested, “Wait, that makes sense. These creatures are capturing the Mane Six, probably to stop them from using the Elements. Who was taken besides Fluttershy?”

It took me a second to respond, “Rainbow Dash.”

“Alrighty then. So we need to get them back. I’m sure the others caught the drift and are in hiding, or whatever.” Deadlock finished fixing up the zombies, “Ok Spectrum, me and you are going to fuck up these guys’ plans. You in?”

I got up and nodded, “Of course, but what are you planning on doing?”

Deadlock let out a chuckle, “We are going to release Discord.”

It took me a few seconds to process his statement, “What!? How is releasing the God of Chaos going to help?”

Deadlock seemed determined, “Think about it, this world is already in chaos; Discord’s magic is probably the strongest in Equestria. With his help we can turn this war around! If not, at least he will mess these guys up enough for us.”

His point made sense, “We have stopped Discord before, and he does belong to this world anyway. These things are from another realm, right?”

Deadlock nodded, “Yeah I’m sure these monsters are not from here, but, they can die so that’s all that matters. So come on, I know where Discord’s statue is.” We departed with about two dozen undead ponies and made our way towards Discord.

Its not like things could get that much worse.