My name is Sand Castle and I was the masked vigilante known as Mistress Mare-Velous.
However, I haven’t been going by that name in a very long time. Not since that terrible day.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let me start at the beginning.
Let me tell you how our world ended.
ZOMBIE POWER PONIES
It all started one summer day in the large city of Maretropolis. The sky was cleared, the sun was shining and a bunch of criminals just robbed a bank.
The three robbers were about to make a clean getaway, but unfortunately for them we happen to be in the area. Zapp and I were on patrol together when we heard the alarm. We chased the robbers down and apprehended them.
We stayed with the robbers for a while, until the police arrive and collect them. After taking them away, one of the police officer came up to the two of us and informed us about the situation at a museum.
Apparently, Mane-iac and her League of Villainy are hold up at the National History Museum. They have locked the place down and have taken the staff hostage.
Once the officer was finished, we both immediately headed straight for the museum.
When we got there the whole building was surrounded by cops. One of them, a sergeant, approached us and explained the current situation. It’s been nearly an hour and so far the villains inside had not made any demands aside from a warming about harming the hostages. In fact he pointed out how silent they went since it all started.
As strange as it was, it still doesn’t change the fact that there were hostages in there and we needed to save them.
Luckily for us, the police sergeant informed us about the old underground passage underneath the museum. Zapp and I both agreed that this was good idea and went with it.
Thinking back we should’ve called and waited for backup, but we were overconfident back then. I mean like, we defeated these villains a dozen times now. We thought we could handle it.
At that moment I couldn’t have been more wrong.
We used the underground tunnel and found our way into the museum’s basement. Once inside we trotted up the stairs and quietly entered the museum. Our main objective was to find and rescue the hostages. After that we’ll deal with the villains.
As we trotted through the national history museum, we notice how eerily silent and empty it was. We expected to encounter somepony on patrol, but so far we encountered none.
I remembered Zapp commenting about it and suggest that maybe they all escaped somewhere after they shut the place down. I considered it, but I reminded her that we can’t be sure until we search the whole building.
Sometime later we eventually found a room with a very disturbing scene.
It was like something out of a horror movie. There was blood everywhere, on the floors, walls and even on some of items in the room. There were also dozens of pieces of bones scattered across the scene, adding more creepiness to the already disturbing scene before us.
It only got worse from there when we quickly found remnants of the museum staff among the mess, concluding that they were all brutally killed.
Now we knew that the villains were bad ponies, but they were never killers, especially not at this kind of level. The very thought of them actually committing this horrible act worried us greatly.
It was also at this time when we found another disturbing piece. A severed rotted head that had its face stomped in. We found it in front of an antique mirror and aside from how disgusting it was there was also something strange about the head.
The head was not a pony, nor was it any other species we recognized. This rotting head was something entirely different, something alien.
I was so deep into thought about this subject that I failed to hear the sound of somepony’s hoofsteps approaching. Luckily, Zapp heard notice it and quickly alerted me of it. We both went into our combat stances and waited for the pony to reveal themselves.
Emerging out of the darkness the pony was revealed to be our arch-nemesis, Mane-Iac.
However, there was something wrong with her. There was blood over her mouth and in her mane as well. Her eyes were blank white, devoid of her usual green and red eyes.
Upon a closer look she had one nasty looking bite mark on her snout.
The Mane-Iac creepily smiled at us and told us how happy she was that we came. Said that she and her friends ran out of ponies to eat, but now that we were here they can continue their feast.
Suddenly emerging out from the darkness behind her, several other ponies appeared. They were the rest of the League of Villainy and just like Mane-Iac, they too look horrible.
There was blood all over them and their eyes were a complete white blank.
Then without warning they all attacked.
Zapp and I managed to hold out on our own against these guys, but no matter how hard we knocked them down they won’t simply stay down.
Then I heard scream coming from behind. I quickly turned around and saw Zapp being bitten by Pharaoh Phetlock. The stallion sunk his bloodied teeth deep into her right arm.
Zapp punched the stallion, but in that second High Heel snuck up from behind and took a bite on her shoulder.
Soon all the villains converge on her, surrounding her and sinking their rotting, disgusting teeth into her.
I tried to go save her, but I was then grabbed my Mane-Iac and was force to watch my friend being eaten alive.
Mane-Iac was just about to bite me, until a sword came swinging down and severing her head from her neck.
Realizing that I was rescued, I looked up to see who my rescuer was. To my surprise, it was the infamous thief, Shadowmane.
She then proceeds to pull me away from the area, much to my protest. I told her that I needed to save my friend, but she coldly informs me that my friend is already dead.
Once we were safe and away from them, Shadowmane then explained to me what transpired here before we arrived.
Turns out Mane-Iac had come up with another evil scheme to destroy Power Ponies and it involved going to the National History Museum. The item they’re looking for is some kind of pre-equestrian artifact, a mirror. The same mirror Zapp and I came across earlier.
Apparently this wasn’t any ordinary mirror; it was actually a gateway to other worlds.
Mane-Iac believed that she could find something that can defeat us in one these other worlds, so she convince everypony and they all head of to the museum.
After they locked the building down and tied up all the staff, the League of Villainy stood before the ancient mirror and waited for Mane-Iac to activate the artifact.
Mane-Iac then said some magical words and the gems embedded on the mirror started to glow.
Shadowmane was the closes to the mirror when it shot out a small, weak blast wave that strucked her. At that moment her head was flooded with images and knowledge of this other world. What she saw in this world horrified her.
The world she saw was full of these strange, tall, bipedal beings. Aside from how weird they looked their world was similar to ours. Just like our world, they too have their own sets of heroes and villains.
However, this all changed when their world was invaded.
Their world ended by the arrival of a single being, a being with great power that is only rivaled by his greater hunger for flesh.
When the invader crashed landed in one of their cities, the local heroes were on scene to investigate the disturbance. They were then easily overpowered by the invader, getting infected in the process.
After dealing with the heroes the invader then turn his attention towards the local population and began his feeding frenzy. He was soon joined by the now turned heroes and are now joining with him on the feast.
At first the heroes and villains in that world tried to work together and contain this outbreak. However, this did not last long as one by one they became infected and joined their ranks.
In less than a year they have completely devoured all life on their world.
Once Shadowmane collected herself she noticed all the attentions were drawn to something in front of the mirror. Laying there before them all was a severed, rotted head wearing a red mask.
While disturbing as it was, it shocked everypony when it suddenly started talking. The head spoke, commenting about where he was and why there was a bunch of colorful ponies staring at him. He continued talking, introducing himself as the Merc with only a mouth.
While the rest of the villains stood there and listening to the talking head, Mane-Iac finally had enough. She interrupted the head, telling him that he was quite the disappointment. She was seeking a weapon that could defeat the heroes of this world and all she got was this useless piece of rotting garbage.
Instead of being offended, the talking head smiled. He then told her that he knows of a way she can defeat the heroes, but he’ll only whisper it to her so she’ll need to come in closer.
Shadowmane and the rest of the villains protest against this, but Mane-Iac ignored them and got closer to the rotting head.
She demanded to know what this head knows and in response he bit her on the nose.
Mane-Iac reeled back from the pain and instinctively stomp the head, crushing it in the process.
High Heel asked if she was alright, but Mane-Iac didn’t respond and continue to nurse the wound on her nose. Suddenly she turns her head towards where the hostages were and trotted up to one of them. Using her mane she picked a stallion up and before anypony could ask what she was doing; she took one big bite on the his neck and tore it out.
Everypony in the room was shocked at what they all just saw. They all just stood there and watched as Mane-Iac began devouring that pony. Once the shock wore off all the villains then rushed in, attempting to restrain her. All except for Shadowmane, who turned around and galloped away.
She knew what was coming and knew that it was too late to stop it.
It was hard for me to believe that story at first, but after what I just saw earlier I would’ve been crazy not to believe it.
We then talked about what to do next and this was when we separated. I wanted to gather the rest of the Power Ponies and contain this thing before it spreads. Shadowmane, however told me that plan will only end in failure as the heroes from another world did the same thing and failed.
Now Shadowmane plan was something entirely different. Apparently she got her hooves on some blueprints for a freaking time machine. Her plan was for us to use this machine and go back in time and stop Mane-Iac from activating that mirror, therefor changing history.
I remember calling her whole plan crazy and ridiculous, but Shadowmane was really serious about it.
Since neither of us agreed with each other’s plan that was when we went split. She left to find materials for the time machine and I left to gather up the Power Ponies and contain this thing before it gets out hooves.
That was over a year ago and I stand in the ruin city that was Maretropolis.
At first we were able to contain them. With the combine forces of the Power Ponies and the police force, we were able to prevent the infected villains from spreading out into the city.
But then something terrible happened.
The youngest member in our team, Fili-Second, got herself bitten. Now I have no idea how the fastest mare alive got bitten by those creeps, but because now she was infected, all hopes of containing this flew out the window.
With her power she galloped all around the city, devouring and infecting any poor ponies that crossed her path.
It only got worse from there. One by one we fell, turning into ravenous flesh eaters and joining their ranks.
Soon I was the only Power Ponies left, but by that point I’ve given up the fight. The ponies we have sworn to protect have all been devoured and I was powerless to stop it. Once they picked the city clean, they all left the city and spread across the world, finding new victims to feast on.
I stayed within the ruined city of Maretropolis, scavenging for whatever supplies are left. I had no idea what was going on in the world as I’ve cut all ties to the world. But, from what I last heard things were not going well.
I continued this life for a few years or so and when suddenly all out of nowhere Shadowmane appeared before me. Like me she too also long abandoned her colorful costume, since there was no point in hiding our identities in a dead world.
We talked for a while, telling each other what we did over the past few years. I told her about our downfall and me giving up the fight after suffering so many losses.
Meanwhile, Shadowmane told me her real name: Shroud Song, and inform me that she was successful in locating the things she needed for a time machine. She now only needs one more piece to finish the machine and she needs my help to obtain it.
At first I refused, saying I’ve given up long ago. However, Shroud was rather persistent and managed to convince me otherwise. In her own words she said even if the chances of the time machine actually working is small, it’s still a much better option then just sitting around all day and moping over my past failures.
So that pretty much sums up what happened. Something came from another world, infected some ponies and devoured the rest.
Shroud and I are about to head out and retrieve the last piece for her time machine. If this works then everything will return back to the way it was and I would have not written this message.
However, if you are reading this right now, then I could only assume that we have failed. If that is the case then there is only thing I can say.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry we couldn’t do any better.
Sand Castle dropped the pencil on the ground and picked up the pieces of papers she written on. The mare then placed the papers on her bed, alongside some food and water.
“You’re ready to go now, Castle?” Shroud Song asked, standing by the entrance of makeshift shack house.
Taking a deep breath, Sand Castle put on her saddlebags. “Yeah let’s go.”
Once she was done both mares left the shack and headed out into the ruined city of Maretropolis.
It was silent in the ruin city of Maretropolis. This was something Sand Castle was thinking in her head as both she and Shroud Song trot along the empty city streets. The dead eerie silence really bother the mare, mostly because without anything to distract her, she was left alone with her thoughts and these thoughts tend to make her feel uneasy.
Her thoughts led her to reminisce about the past. A better time before all this happened.
She remembered the streets filled with ponies trotting around and going to places. She remembered the friendly hello and praises they would say about her and her teammates. She even remembered the groups of ponies that would come up to her, asking for autographs or interviews with her or her team.
Those were good times.
However, her happy trip down memory lane came to end when she trot past many skeleton remains of ponies that died long ago.
She wasn’t there to witness their end, but she can imagine the utter look of shock and fear as the same heroes they once praised was now eating them alive.
Her thoughts then started wander off and her mind began picturing scenes of ponies being devoured by the villains and heroes.
She quickly shook those horrible thoughts out of her head and look to her companion, hoping she could distract her from her own thoughts.
“Hey Shroud Song, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“When you were going around the world looking for pieces for the time machine, how come you didn’t collect the piece here when you were starting off your quest?”
Instead of answering right away, Shroud Song turns her head away, looking embarrassed. “Yeah about that, you see what happened was when I was first starting off my epic quest, I didn’t read the entire list.” She sheepishly said. “Instead I just read the first item on the list and didn’t bother reading the rest. Then after finding the piece I just kept going down the list until I came to the last piece, which just happens to be here in Maretropolis.”
When she finished, Sand Castle couldn’t help but snicker at her. “Wow, you really screwed up there, didn’t you.”
“Ah shut up, Sand.” Shroud chuckled back.
As Sand continue snicker to herself, she was reminded of how humour was alien to her. She was never really the type to crack jokes or banter with other ponies. This was something her teammates would’ve done, especially Fili-Second. She was more of a serious and no nonsense kind of hero.
While strange as it was to her, Sand Castle welcomed it. It really helps lighten the mood against the current state the world is in right now.
Then suddenly the two heard a sonic boom in the distance, breaking the silence. Both mares reacted quickly to the sudden loud noise.
Sand looked around, trying to find where the sound came from. Shroud however, knew what that sound was and they needed to get off the streets fast.
“Quick, into that store now before she arrive!” Shroud shouted as she gallops towards the toy store.
Sand had no idea what was going on, but she instinctively follow her to the toy store just as she kicked the door open.
Once the two were inside, Shroud slam the door shut and told Sand to get down and stay away from the windows.
Sand Castle and Shroud Song then drop to the ground and stayed like that for a while. When nothing happened, curiosity got the best of her and Sand slowly got up crawled towards the window. Behind her Shroud was silently telling her to stop what she was doing. But, because she didn’t want to make any sounds it was hard trying to get her companion’s attention.
Just as Sand looked out through the window a quick blur shot across the streets. Immediately upon seeing it she quickly backed away from the window and stayed motionless and silent.
A few minutes passed by and Shroud gave her the clear to get up and leave the store.
“Was that who I think it was?” Sand asked, despite knowing the answer to her question.
“Yes Sand that was indeed your old friend, Fili-Second.” Shroud answered. “After she and rest of them devour almost everybody in the entire world, she gallops across the world to find pockets of survivors so that she can feast upon them.”
“Damn Rapid Dash, what have you become.” Sand silently commented to herself.
“Come on Sand, let’s go. We’re not too far away from our destination.”
Shroud then turn around and continue on with the quest. Sand join her shortly after and both mares were heading deeper into the deserted city.
Eventually the two came across a tall, rusted building.
“So is this place?” Sand questioned.
“Yeah, I recognize this building anywhere. This really is Solar Labs.” Shroud answered.
The Solar Labs was name after its late founder, Professor Solar. It was create for the sole purpose of developing new technology for the benefit of ponykind. Recently they also started receiving some of the confiscated villain’s gadgets and device so that they can reverse engineered it.
The two mares enter the old building from the front door. Inside, they only found empty hallways and room. Each one littered with miscellaneous items and bones of ponies that died long ago.
They found the stairs and headed upwards to the fifth floor, where the research and development are located. This was also where the final piece of the time machine was.
Sand Castle didn’t exactly know what they were looking for. All Shroud Song explained was that this last piece was a medium size object, which emits a high amount of energy.
Inside the laboratory the two found nothing but old machineries and projects that was left unfinished years ago. Sand was really impressed with some of this stuff, despite not knowing what any of them actually do.
‘Shame, it’s quite sad that none of these contraptions will ever be completed.’ Sand thought to herself. ‘I bet those eggheads would’ve made the world a lot better if they could finish their inventions.
“Hey Sand, I think found it.” Shroud informed her companion.
Sand look to where Shroud was and saw facing a large machine attached to the wall.
“This is what we’re looking for? You told me it wasn’t going to be too big.” Sand then points her hoof at the large machine. “There’s no way we can take that with us.”
“It’s not the machine itself Sand, but rather what’s inside of it.” Shroud corrected.
She then trot closer to the large, black machine. Her eyes looked upon the small, circular hatch that was in front of it. Taking out her crowbar, she pries the hatch open and reveals the content inside.
A blue light shine brightly out of the hole, fully illuminating up the entire room. Shroud, stuck her hoof into the hole and grab something. She then pulls it out, revealing a black rectangular object with a handle on top and a bright blue light shining from the center.
“This is it Sand, the final piece we need for the time machine, the power cell.”
As Shroud held the item up proudly, one thing came to mind for other mare.
“Kinda looks like a lantern.”
“What?”
“A lantern.” Sand repeated. “Its shape like a lantern, shine light like a lantern and you’re even holding it like a lantern.”
“Huh, it does look like a lantern.” Shroud said. “Guess the guy who designs it must’ve been thinking about the lantern the whole time.”
Shroud Song then wrap the item with a couple of cloths which barely hide the light it was emitting. “Alright we got the last piece, let’s not waste any more time and get out of here.”
The two mares were about to head out the door, but stopped when they notice some strange black slime on the floor. This was rather odd since this stuff was not there before.
Suddenly something click inside Sand’s head as she begins to remember a certain villain that is made entirely of black slime, Smudge.
The black slime then starts moving, quickly molding and shaping itself into a large stallion.
“Fresh meat!” Smudge yelled, as he threw himself at them.
Then instinctively Sand quickly pulled out a small pellet and chucks it at the charging black slime. The pellet hit its target and instantly froze Smudge in his place.
With him frozen, both Sand and Shroud made a break for the door.
“That was some quick thinking there, Sand.” Shroud complimented.
“Yeah well don’t expect that to happen again.” Sand stated. “That was my last ice pellet.”
“Well if we hurry we might get out of here before he- oh crap.” Shroud cussed after she and Sand burst through the front door and saw who awaiting them outside.
Awaiting them just outside the lab was a familiar group of zombies.
It was both the League of Villany and the Power Ponies minus Zapp.
“Well isn’t this a surprising find.” Mane-iac said. Ever since her decapitation, the undead mare now travels around as just a head, using her tentacle like mane as legs to move around.
“When Radiance said she found two lifeforms with her scanner, I would’ve never thought in a million years that it would be Shadowmane and Mistress Mare-Velous.”
“No kidding, where the devil have you been this whole time?” Masked Matterhorn questioned. “I could’ve sworn we devoured you two.”
“Nah, Matterhorn, you’re probably thinking about somepony else.” Fili-Second corrected.
“Yeah you’re right, it’s really hard keep track of all of ponies we eaten.” Matterhorn chuckled.
Sand Castle was disgust at what she was hearing. These ponies were no longer the same ponies she once knew. The ones she knew were heroic, courageous and selfless. She had fought alongside them for many years and saved the day many times as well. They were her friends once, but now they became these horrid beasts. To her, they already died long ago.
“If you’re going to eat us, then just get it over with it.” Sand said to the group of zombies.
Saddle Rager was the first to react. She jumped at the idea of devouring the both of them, but was quickly stopped by Radiance. The undead unicorn used her gems to restrain the giant beast until she calmed down.
“Easy there Rager, remembered what we talked about.” Radiance said to her monstrous friend.
“Oh don’t tempt us Mistress Mare-Velous.” Matterhorn said. “As appealing as it sound for us to simply gorge ourselves on your nice, tender flesh, we have other things in mind for you two.”
“Matterhorn is correct.” Mane-Iac said, smiling wickedly with her rotted teeth. “After we have devoured almost every living thing on the planet, food was getting really scarce. We would literally search every buildings, rooms and streets, in the off chance that we might come across a group of survivors. “
Mane-Iac then turns her head to Masked Matterhorn. “It was during one these searches that Matterhorn realized that with food getting harder to find we needed to make the ones we have last longer. That was when she came up with the most devious idea.”
“We’re going to keep you guys alive and cut off small pieces of you every day. That way we’ll never go hungry again and you’ll last us for many years to come.” Matterhorn explained.
At this point Sand heard enough and look toward her Shroud. Nodding their heads to each other, she quickly pulled out a small cylinder shape device out of her pocket and tosses it into the air.
Sand and Shroud closed their eyes just in the nick of time as the device exploded in a bright light that blinded all the undead ponies. They remain blinded for a few seconds and when their visions return, both mares are now gone.
“Dammit, they escape!” Mane-Iac angrily shouted.
“Fili-Second, quickly run around and look for them!” Matterhorn ordered.
“Yeah, no can do Matterhorn.”
Matterhorn was about to ask why she couldn’t do it, but stopped herself when she saw Fili-Second on the ground with both of her front legs cut off.
“What happened to you?”
“I don’t know!” Fili-Second answered. “I was blinded for one second, then next thing I know I’m falling down on my face.”
“That bitch, Shadowmane, must’ve cut your legs off during that distraction.” Mane-iac bitterly said, remembering the time that mare cut her head off.
“But, why did they pick me?” Fili-Second questioned.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Matterhorn responded. “You were the fastest among us; they chose you because you would’ve caught up with them in seconds if they tried to escape.”
“Smart move, but unfortunately for them we have another way of tracking them.” Matterhorn then turns towards Radiance. “Radiance, fly up and use your scanner to find them.”
“You got it, Matterhorn.” The yellow mare then emits a pink glow and flew herself up in the air. Once she was high enough she project a pink ray that scans across the city. After a couple of seconds she found their target.
“They are heading south, towards the downtown part of Maretropolis!” She informed everypony down below.
“You heard her everypony, after those two!” Mane-iac shouted out and everypony around gallop towards the south, except for Fili-second who was being carried by Radiance.
Up ahead, both Sand and Shroud kept on running. They know full well that they didn’t lose them that easily, as they can hear the echoing roars of Saddle Rager from afar.
“Come on, we need to get to your time machine before those guys catch up with us.”
“No we can’t Sand.” Shroud replied. “We can’t risk the time machine being discovered by them.”
“Well we can’t lose them either, they’re hot on our tail.”
Shroud quickly tried to come up with plan, but nothing came up.
As she was doing this, Sand spotted a tall skyscraper in the distance. This building was barely holding it together as years of no maintenance left the building in poor conditions. The pillars holding the building were starting to break and perhaps in a year or two, the whole skyscraper will collapse.
“Hey Shroud, follow me, I think I got a plan.” Sand said as she led her companion towards the skyscraper.
Sometime later, Radiance tracked the two to the skyscraper.
“You sure they’re in there, Radiance?”
“Positive, Matterhorn. My scanner never failed me before.”
“Then let’s not waste any time and get in there already!” Mane-Iac yelled as she, High Heel, Pharaoh Phetlock and Long-Face rushes in. They were soon followed by Saddle Rager, Radiance and Fili-Second who chase after them.
Masked Matterhorn, meanwhile gave the building one last look before entering and joining the rest inside.
The undead heroes and villains scour the building for their prey, but so far they found neither of them. Not even Radiance scanner can help in the search, as it only can tell her that both Mare-Velous and Shadowmane are in the building, not specifying where in the building exactly.
They all kept on looking, searching through every room in the entire building. Suddenly their search was interrupted when High Heel inform everypony that she spotted Shadowmane heading down into the basement.
They all entered the basement, but just like before they found no trace of her. By this point tension was getting high among the group.
“High Heel, are you positive that you saw Shadowmane come down here?”
“I’m sure, Phetlock. I’ve seen her come down here with my own eyes.”
“Then I guess there’s something wrong with your eyes then.”
“Hey go screw yourself, Radiance!” High Heel angrily glares at the yellow mare. “You’re stupid scanner said that Shadowmane and Mare-Velous are here, but so far we found no one!”
“Yeah, maybe the only thing wrong here is you, Radiance!” Mane-iac said as she pointed at Radiance.”
“Oh is this the thanks I get for finding all those hidden survivors for you guys.” Radiance responded, clearly offended by their remarks. “I could’ve kept all of them for myself, but unlike you I share my food.”
“Yeah, but only because they were either heavily armed or were hiding inside underground impenetrable bunker. Mane-iac rebutted. “You needed our help getting to them, because you’re too incompetence to deal with it yourself!”
“Bah, Saddle Rager is sick of hearing you guys bitching and whining all the damn time!” Rager shouted as she slams her two massive hooves to the ground. “It just never stops!”
Matterhorn watched as the everypony argued with one another. The mare frowns at the scene playing out before her. This has been happening a lot recently. Ever since survivors were getting scarcer to find, they had been at each others throats constantly.
They tried rationing their food by keeping their preys alive and cutting off small pieces of them off to devour. However, the portions were never enough and they always ended up eating the rest of the pony.
As she was deep in her own thoughts, she suddenly heard something near the column behind her. She was the only one to hear it as the rest of the group were too bust fighting among each other to notice the sound.
It sounded like a machine being activated and when she investigated the source of the noise, she discovered a small black mechanical device with wires hanging out attached to the building’s column.
Her eyes instantly widen as she recognizes the device and knew what was going to happen next.
Meanwhile, just outside the building, both Sand Castle and Shroud Song were galloping quickly away from the skyscraper as possible.
Sand held the detonator in her mouth and was all set to use it, but knew that they needed to a get a good distance away from the building. However, in her mind she worried that they might the explosive charges and are attempting to escape right now.
It was a tough decision, but she made up her mind and pressed the detonator.
From the within the skyscraper they heard the sounds of multiple explosion occurring. Each of the devices was strategically placed on all columns in the lower levels. With nothing to hold up that huge amount of weight, the entire building began collapsing on itself.
As the two mares continue to run, Shroud spot an open store.
“Quickly in there!” Shroud pointed to an old, abandon restaurant.
Sand heard her and followed her towards the store.
They both got into the restaurant and quickly shut the door. Just in time too, as the resulting collapsing skyscraper is creating huge dust of clouds that spread across the surrounding areas.
Looking outside the windows, Sand and Shroud can see the dust clouds filling the streets. The dust was so thick that they couldn’t see anything at all outside.
Both mares took the moment to relax and sigh in relief, glad they were safe and sound.
Once everything is settle outside, they left the safety of their shelter and looked around. Their focus was then drawn towards the large pile in the distance, of the skyscraper that used to stand there.
“Well, that worked better then I though.”
“Yeah.” Sand replied as she looked at the spot where her former friends and foes were buried.
Their plan was simple, but effective. Bait the zombies into the old skyscraper, plant explosives on all the lower level support columns and lure them down to the basement.
Once their targets were down in the basement, they quickly left and distancing themselves as far as away from the building as possible and pressed the detonator.
They hoped that the collapse building would either kill the zombies or at least buried them deep underneath huge pile of debris.
“I can’t believe that it’s over.” Sand happily said, finally glad that the nightmare is over.
“C’mon Sand, we’re not done yet.” Shroud pointed out. “We still got a time machine to turn on.”
So then both Sand Castle and Shroud Song left the scene and headed for Shroud’s secret base.
They travel for an hour until the two finally reached their destination. Shroud’s secret base was apparently located outside Maretropolis and was hidden under an old General Store. She explained that this is one of her safe houses, a place where she can escape to and hide.
Now this place serves to hide and protect the one thing that can fix everything.
“So how long will this take exactly?” Sand questioned as she stared at the fully assembled time machine.
The time machine itself was like something out of science fiction. It was big piece of machinery with a bunch of buttons, switches and wires. The one thing that stood out for her was the big metal pod with a small glass window on it.
“Shouldn’t take too long, just need to attach this power cell to the time machine and wait for a couple of minutes for it to fully power it up.” Shroud answered.
Shroud then proceed to connect a long cable to the power cell and once she did she went to the computer console, pressed a few buttons and the time machine came to life. All the little lights begins to turn on and the time machine started making noise.
Both Sand and Shroud smiled happily at the time machine. In their minds both mares realize that they can finally return things back to the way it was.
Their celebratory victory was quickly silenced when they heard a loud crashing sound from above.
Sand and Shroud looked up to the ceiling with shock expression.
“Oh no.” Shroud said with terror in her voice.
Then all of sudden the ceiling burst open and debris came falling down. However, something else came falling down as well, the Power Ponies.
Upon landing on the ground the Power Ponies wasted no time and rush both Sand and Shroud. Saddle Rager, in her monstrous form pinned Shroud to the ground with her massive hoof. Matterhorn shot a concussive beam at Sand, knocking her towards the wall and before she could even get up, Radiance project a pink chains that tied around her.
“So this is where you two have been hiding.” Matterhorn said with a devious grin as she looked around the hideout.
The Power Ponies looked worse for wear. Each one bearing some form horrid mutilation from having an entire building collapsing on top of them.
Matterhorn had the left side of her body torn open, exposing her rotten organs and bones.
The left side of Radiance’s face was ripped off, which gave the mare a very gruesome appearance.
The top part of Saddle Rager’s head looked like it has been scalped off, revealing exposed skull.
Fili-Second on the other hoof looked none worse than her buddies, aside from her two missing front legs.
“That was real clever of you two to lure us into that skyscraper so that you can collapse the entire building on us. You almost had us there guys.” Matterhorn spoke. “But, unfortunately we were able to react quickly and saved ourselves.”
Matterhorn then went on and explained what transpired. When the building started to collapse, she ordered all the Power Ponies to gather around her. She then told Saddle Rager to stretch her hooves up and block the incoming debris from burying them alive. This plan worked as this left a small space inside the pile of debris that surrounds them.
Once things settle down, Radiance then uses her power and drilled their way out and back onto the surface. From there she used her scanner again and traces the two mares to their little hideout.
“OK, so where the hell are the rest of your friends?” Sand asked, curious to know what happened to the villains.
“Oh well, unfortunately they didn’t survive the collapse of the building.” Matterhorn answered. “This is really fortunate for us since now we don’t have to divide up the food more with them anymore.”
Matterhorn then notices the strange machine in the room and trot towards it.
“What is this?”
“None of your damn business.” Shroud angrily responded.
“None of my business, huh.” Matterhorn then trots toward a nearby table and read all the papers that were laid out on it.
“So you two were making a time machine.” She paused to look at the two before continuing. “And from the look of it, you’ve just finished the machine.”
A smile then appeared on her face. “This is fantastic! With this time machine we can go back to the world where it was still full of life and restart eating everyone all over again.”
“Not if we can do anything about it!” Sand suddenly yelled out. Then using her psychic link to her lasso, she pull it out and wrap it around Radiance’s neck.
Sand then proceeds to pull the lasso on both ends, causing the rope around Radiance’s neck to tighten up. She pulled on it so hard that not only did it crush her neck it also squeeze her to the point that her head pop off, decapitating her.
“Radiance!” Matterhorn shouted as she just witnesses her friend’s head coming off.
Taking advantage of the moment distraction, Shroud grabs hold of her sword and hack it into Saddle’s arm. The blade didn’t slice all the way through, but it did slice off enough muscles to loosen up the control to her arm.
Shroud then pulled herself out of Saddle’s arm and swung her sword upward slicing the lower bottom of Saddle’s jaw.
Fili-second tried to charge at Sand, but she reacted quickly and tied her lasso around the speedster and swung her at the Matterhorn, knocking them both to the wall.
Shroud meanwhile swung her sword at Saddle’s damage arm again and this time she succeeded in cutting the grey mare’s arm off. She then thrust her sword into Saddle’s face, hoping to kill her. It didn’t, but it did disoriented her long enough for Shroud to rush over to the control panel.
“Quickly Sand! Get into the pod.” Shroud shouted.
Sand heard her and rushes over to the pod. She got into pod and door seals tightly. From the small window she could see Shroud hastily inputting all the buttons to activate the time machine.
From the small window she can also see Matterhorn and Fili-Second getting up and galloping at Shroud. She knew what was going to happening next and closes her eyes for it. She didn’t need to see another friend of her get eaten alive again. Luckily for her the pod was sound proof, so she wouldn’t have to hear her dying scream.
The pod begins to stir and she felt magical energy surging throughout her body.
Outside Fili-Second, Matterhorn, Saddle Rager and Radiance were feasting on the carcass of Shroud Song. They were so focus on eating her that they didn’t pay any attention to Sand Castle who in the metal pod.
Suddenly the door to the pod open and Sand step out.
Matterhorn was the only to notice and smiled. “Well look whose back, guess your time machine didn’t work after all.”
“Look again Matterhorn.”
Matterhorn didn’t understand what she meant, but when she looked at her companions she saw that they were fading away.
“What is going on?” She questioned as she soon notice herself and everything around was also starting to fade away.
“Time is being rewritten.” Sand answered as she was fading away. “And the resulting effect will erase this timeline.”
As both Matterhorn and Sand Castle disappeared, the last thing that went in Sand’s mind was of the conversation she had with Shroud regarding the time machine.
Hours ago
“So wait, what do you mean time traveling is impossible?”
“It what I said, Sand.” Shroud said. “It’s because of the time paradox.”
“What’s that?”
“Basically you can’t go back to the past to change something because it is that thing that made you go back in the first place.” Shroud explained. “Here is an example: a stallion travels back in time and stopped his father from meeting his mother. This results in the two ponies not getting together and effectively preventing his birth. However, this is where the problem starts. Since he was never born, that means he couldn’t go back in time to prevent his own birth.”
“OK, then so what the hell is the point of this time machine if time traveling is impossible?”
“Oh we’re still going to time travel, but in totally different way.” Shroud answered. “Instead of physically sending yourself to the past, we’re going to send our memories.”
“Memories?”
“Yeah, some egghead theorized that they can send their memories to their past selves, thereby bypassing the whole time paradox thing.”
“Will that actually work?”
“Well hey Sand, you ever wonder why someponies have premonitions of the future?”
4 Years ago
In the city of Maretropolis both Mistress Mare-Velous and Zapp had just apprehended a group of stallions that recently robbed a bank.
As they were hoofcuffing them, Mare-Velous’s mind was suddenly struck with a huge load of information. The mare dropped to her knees and clutches her head in pain.
Zapp saw this and quickly flew to her friend. “Mistress Mare-Velous, what’s wrong?”
The surge of information finally dies down and Mare-Velous was now able to piece them all together.
“We need to get to the National History Museum, now!”
The two superheroines hurried their way towards the National History Museum. Along the way Mistress Mare-Velous explained to Zapp, in a vague way, about an upcoming disaster caused by the League of Villainy.
She didn’t bother telling her about the whole zombie incident as she wanted to spare her the gory details of what they did to her.
They finally reach the National History Museum where it was surrounded by police. Instead of talking to the sergeant, Mare-Velous
approach the sergeant and told him to call in the rest of the Power Ponies and tell them to drop what they’re doing head straight to their location.
Afterwards, Mare-Velous led Zapp to the entrance of an underground tunnel that will lead them straight under the museum.
Zapp asked her how she knew about this tunnel, but Mare-Velous told her there was no time and that they need to get in and stop the villains.
They entered the basement floor of the museum and headed up the stairs to the first floor. Once inside Mare-Velous wasted no time and head straight for the place she knew the villains were.
The two mares spotted the group of villains with the hostages nearby. Normally they would make up a plan on how to handle the situation, but when Mare-Velous saw Mane-Iac standing in front of the mirror, she knew she needed to act quickly.
“Attack!” Mare-Velous shouted, surprising all the ponies in earshot, especially Zapp.
Mare-Velous swung three of her hoofarangs at the villains. It struck the three nearest to the mirror, Mane-Iac, High Heel and Shadowmane.
She didn’t stop there and used her lasso to grab Pharaoh Phetlocke and swing him towards Long Face.
Zapp snapped out of her stupor and joined her friend in the battle.
The two held their own against the villains, despite being outnumbered. They didn’t need to defeat to villains, rather hold out long enough for the Calvary to arrive.
Suddenly the ceiling above burst open and the rest of the Power Ponies came down. Their cavalry is here. All together now the Power Ponies easily defeated the League of Villainy and rescued the hostages.
“You saved us!”
“Thank goodness you came.”
“Your truly heroes!”
All the freed hostages gather around the Power Ponies, saying their thanks and gratitude.
“Well girls, looks like another day is saved.” Matterhorn stated.
“Heck yeah we did!” Fili-Second enthusiastically yelled. “Let’s go back to HQ and celebrate!”
They were all about to leave, until Matterhorn notice Mare-Velous standing in front of the antique mirror.
“Mistress Mare-Velous, didn’t you hear Fili-Second? Let’s head back.” She said as she reaches out for her with her hoof.
But, before she even touch her, Mistress Mare-Velous violently react and smack that hoof before it touch her.
“Hey! Mistress Mare-Velous, what was that for?”
Realizing what she just did, Mare-Velous looked away. “Sorry Matterhorn, just a little on the edge, that’s all.” She then trots in the other direction. “You go on ahead, I’ll come back later.”
Mare-Velous hastily left the museum. Not because she wanted to leave the place, but rather to get away from the rest of the Power Ponies.
Those things that popped in her head were more than just visions; they were her memories from her future self. The future Mistress Mare-Velous that witnessed all the carnage and brutality and how it utterly broke her.
Not only that, but it was a world in which her teammates were responsible. She saw her former friends turning into monsters and devouring all the innocent victims that were unfortunate enough to encounter them.
Now because of this Mare-Velous can’t even look at her friends the same way ever again. Sure they were turned into monster, but from what she saw they didn’t even bother trying to resist and instead embraced it.
She was lost for words. She didn’t know whether to tell somepony about this or keep quiet about, fearing that this will only complicate things and ruin the team.
In the end Mistress Mare-Velous, decide to keep this to herself and rationalize that the memories were just from an alternate timeline that was prevented by the actions of her future self and Shadowmane.
This help ease her worried mind a little bit, but deep down the things he seen cannot be unseen as those memories will haunt her for the rest of her life.
THE END
Author's Note
Well here the conclusion of the Zombie Power Ponies
