Chapters Chapter 1: Undead, The Freeze, and A Voice
KA-BOOM! My ears rang from the massive explosion from something outside. That was the third time this month something outside had exploded so loudly. I don't like how loud they are, but it's the only interesting thing that goes on outside that I can hear, as the room I'm in is soundproofed. I've been here almost my whole life, going through an everyday routine: I wake up, have ponies in suits that keep their faces and bodies covered give me a few tests, eat, play with my long-withered toys, read the same books over again, then those ponies come back, inject something into me, and take a blood sample a few moments later. At least they only take a small tubes worth each time, barely the size of my smallest feathers. At first the injections hurt, but it stopped hurting after my first week in here. My front legs are dotted under my pink coat due to years of needles being injected into my body. I’ve completely lost feeling in those areas. I'm sick of needles, but every time I complain, they say, "It's to save Equestria." What's left of Equestria to save if they've been doing this for years?
I get off of my bed, stretch my legs and wings, and walk over to the door. It's magically locked, but there’s a small window near the top that I can look out of if I stand on my hind legs. I rise up on two legs, and look out the window. I see the usual two guards on both sides, dressed in heavy-looking black suits with masks that have strange tubes where their muzzles are, and a blank wall in front of the window, nothing else. I wish somepony would paint it; it looks so bland. Sometimes, one of the guards notices me and gives a small smile (I think… It’s hard to tell with those masks on) and a waves. I usually smile back and give a wave.
My life has been like this for so long that I don’t think I could do anything else even if I wanted. Except, for one whole day a month, my parents visit me, and it's the day I look forward to the most. We talk, eat cake and tea, and mommy and I fly around the room playing tag. It’s thankfully big enough for that. Daddy would play too, but he doesn't have wings so it isn't fair to him. That one special day a month is what I look forward to the most. And it's tomorrow!
I just hope that, maybe, mommy and daddy will let me walk around the castle this time, even for a little while. Tomorrow is my birthday after all, so it might happen. To fly around the wide open sky, smell fresh air, maybe even walk on a cloud. Mommy says that anypony worth their wings enjoys playing with clouds. I want to be worth my wings, to be more than a lab rat. At least for a day.
KA-BOOOOOOOOOM! I awoke in pain. I wasn't in bed anymore and the room was full of dust. As my vision cleared, I found myself under my bed. It was thrown to the other side of the room and was upside down. What was that!? I thought, very afraid. What's going on? Where are the guard ponies? I peeked out from under the bed and I nearly pissed myself. A large hole was above the corner where my bed was. I saw black clouds and lots of smoke. I looked over to the door and it was gone. It must of blasted off somehow. The crystal shards covered the floor like confetti. Razor-sharp confetti.
I began pondering. Do I stay here and hope that the guards or daddy find me, or do I leave? If I leave, whatever's going on outside might hurt me, plus, I haven’t been outside this room since I was a foal, but something is telling me not to stay here… Slowly, I creep out from under my thrown bed and eventually crawl out completely. I sneak to the doorway, carefully stepping over the broken shards of crystal on the floor. I look outside and the blank wall that always sat outside my window now has a splash of red as if somepony spit red paint at the wall.
I look to the sides and the guards are nowhere to be seen, save for one of the tubes that is usually on their masks. I don't think that red's paint then. The realization that what now colors the wall might be blood causes my feathers to stand up on end. As I walk through the doorway, total terror takes over as I look at the hall. I haven't stepped hoof outside that room in... ever. KA-BOOOM!!! Another massive explosion goes off and, in a panic, I take off running down one of the ways the hall goes. After what felt like hours, but was actually a few minutes running in fear, I see a door. Above it is labeled "Guard Lockers." "Maybe there's somepony in here that can help me." I say to myself.
When I go inside, I don't see anypony in here, but almost all of the lockers are open. Dirty towels litter the floor and a faint odor fills the air. I took a look inside the lockers and I found helmets, weapons, mainly daggers, and other extra items that the guards who own these lockers left behind. In one of the lockers I found a small black metal thing. It's got a bite grip and some kinda small lever next to it. There were two thin metal strips next to it and they were filled with some kinda smaller metal beans. I took all three just in case. I wasn’t sure why, but something was telling me to keep them. I also took a helmet, even though it’s too big on me. Even with the chin strap tightened all the way, it still feels loose on my head. Well, it was made for a stallion.
I left the locker rooms and continued walking. I heard some banging, like small explosions, up ahead and felt a need to be cautious. When the banging stopped it was quickly replaced with loud trotting and yelling. Guards! Feeling the spread of relief, I began trotting towards them.
"Hurry men! We need to meet up with the prince and..." The one who was yelling stopped in his tracks when he saw me. “You? How'd you get out, princess?!"
"There was an explosion! Part of the wall and the door was missing. I just had the feeling I shouldn't have stayed there." I reply.
"Hop Dart, you're with me. We’re taking Princess Flurry Heart to Princess Cadence. The rest of you meet up with the prince and inform him on this development. GO!" With that, the other guards ran to meet up with daddy. I noticed that some of them had weird looking metal things like the one I took, but some were larger are looked scarier. I followed the guard, Key Type, apparently, and Hop Dart to my parents bedroom, where my mother was.
It has been years since I've run down these halls. I just wish I wasn't running for my life, so this could actually be enjoyable. I guess I got my wish, sorta.
Eventually, we came to a room that was fortified with barricades and magic walls. Two guards let me through and my mother and I made eye contact. She was shocked, yet happy. "F-Flurry?!" My mother said.
"Mommy!" I yelled, throwing myself at her. I was met with a tight hug. "What's going on?" I asked as I took in her hug. I was happy to have found her.
"I'm so glad you're safe, but what are you doing here? How'd you get out of the Isolation Chamber?"
"There was an explosion and when I woke up, I hurt all over, a hole was in the wall, and the door was gone. I didn't feel safe there so I left."
"You were brave to do so. Those creatures have finally entered the castle perimeter. They're flooding in like ants to sugar. With all of them coming in so fast we couldn’t fix the wall." My mother said, letting go of me and looking through a large saddle bag.
Invasion Protection protocols. Said a voice. From where though?
"What?"
"What is is sweetie?" My mother asked, looking up from her bag.
"I... I thought I heard something."
"You must be traumatized." Mommy replied.
KA-BOOM!! Another loud explosion happened. This time, I felt the castle shake. "Sweetie, stay here. I need to find your father and help get the remaining citizens to safety. Be brave." My mother gave me a kiss on my forehead. Her horn lit up in a blue aura of magic and then she vanished in a flash of light.
Activate the Empire's defenses.
"What?" I say out loud. Okay, I know I heard somepony that time!
You won't find me and you won't live long unless you turn the Empire's defenses on.
"Who is that?" I say in a worried panic.
In time, just head to the throne room. Now!
I was scared now, more so than ever in my life. How do I get there? I think furiously. There are guards everywhere outside! And I’m hearing voices!
Go to the bed and use your magic to pull the crystal out of the torch decoration on the wall, the one on the right side of the bed.
I walked over my parents’ bed, now beginning to think myself insane for following the orders of the voice in my head. I levitate the crystal out of the torch decoration. I had one of these in the chamber that was my whole world until a few moments ago. It looked no different, glowing a bright fiery orange. “Now what?” I call out to the voice.
Break it.
Using my magic, I threw the crystal at the ground. Why I’m still listening to this voice is lost to me. But then, there was suddenly a bright flash of light that blinded my my eyes. I rubbed my eyes and once I could see I saw that I was in the throne room. Blood was spread out on the floor in pools. One puddle touched my hoof and I jumped back in terror. It was still warm. Then I heard what sounded like slurping and crunching. I looked at the corner of the throne room and I saw a pony feasting on the corpse of another pony. Blood stained his once sunflower yellow coat, his teeth, despite being normal pony teeth, tore a large chunk out of the dead pony he was devouring and he swallowed it whole. I gagged, spitting up a small bit of my dinner from last night (I didn't get the chance to eat breakfast yet). The pony eating the corpse looked over at me. His eyes were completely white. I flinched in terror, expecting him to jump at me. However, his ears twitched a bit, like he was trying to hear me and after giving a faint growling moan for a few minutes, he returned to his meal as if nothing had happened.
Quickly! Take the gun you took from the locker room and point it at its head. The voice said, sounding concerned.
“The what?” I said.
That black metal thing!
“You're a voice in my head.” I tell the voice. “How do you know what it's called?”
Let's just say that I have more free-roaming abilities at night and I learned a thing or two. Now point it at its head and pull that small trigger under between the grip and barrel.
“But, it's a pony! I can't-”
Do ponies devour one another?
“No! But…”
The reason you were in that room is because you are immune to becoming * that*. Those injections they gave you is the thing that makes ponies into those... Undead. Once your body subdued it, they took out some blood to try to make a cure from it.
"I know that!" I put my hoof up to my mouth. The pony eating the corpse, or Undead, as the voice called it, looked directly at me, growled, then charged. I took to the air. It circled the ground where I was, as if, it didn’t see me fly up. Is it blind?
Yes, they can't feel either, they rely on hearing to navigate, their growling is like a bat's echolocation. Only less effective, you were just far enough away. Until you yelled. Your wings give you an advantage, at least, against those that can't fly.
"These things can fly!?" I looked down, remembering what the voice said, and the Undead was now directly under me, jumping and biting at the air. I was too high up for it.
Some used to be Pegasus, now all of what these things once were, who they were, is just a shell.
"Who are you? What are you?"
If I told you that you might not trust me.
"And saying that will?"
Either shoot it or I will.
"How can you shoot it? You're just a voice."
I am much more than that. My horn lit up, but it felt wrong. It hurt, like somepony else's horn was shoved into my horn. I looked at the aura and it was a shade of blue rather than its usual pink. The gun levitated up from my pocket and pointed down at the Undead below me. I am a weapon. A loud bang went off, and one of the small metal beans came out of the side of the gun. The Undead below me fell to the ground almost instantaneously and landed in a puddle of blood. It twitched for a minute, but soon went limp. It was dead.
I didn’t actually think that would work!
"What are you!?"
Ponies knew me as- My body was suddenly enveloped in the blue aura as I was thrown onto my mother's throne. Sombra. The aura still around me, my hooves were moved like puppet arms to tap the armrests of the throne twice, then four times, then they slammed on them, shattering the crystal that was once their. It didn't even hurt, it actually reminded me of a bubble bath with how it felt. Where the arm rests once were, two buttons now sat. Still being used like a puppet, the aura made me press both buttons and the crystals in the throne room glowed a bright red and started flashing.
"Sombra, what did you do!? Wait... the Sombra!?"
Your parents never did tell you what became of me. Then again they didn't know about this "connection" you and I have. The whole castle shook, the sound of slamming could be heard from every window and doorway. And I'm sorry in advance. I didn't have a chance to reply, the sound of wind, faster than a tornado or any winter storm blew outside. It felt like the castle was going to fly away, or tip over. Then, as fast as it started, it stopped.
"What did you do?" I ask, frightened. I have Sombra in my head, he puppet mastered me! And caused something bad sounding to happen! Maybe THIS is the real reason I was locked up.
Last resort. Anypony outside the throne room has been frozen in magical ice. I designed it myself to take advantage of the magical weather outside the empire's border.
"My Parents!!" I started running towards the castle entrance. I made a splash through the blood of the Undead Sombra used me to kill, but I barely realized it at the time, I only knew because I felt the blood splash into my coat and sink onto my skin.
I'm sorry.
I was relying solely on memory to guide me to the front entrance; Sombra went silent. When I finally reached the door, it was covered in frost. I pushed against the door, but it didn't budge. I used my magic to help push it. After what felt like hours of pushing it finally budged, and I was met with the coldest chill I've ever known possible. I kept at it, until the door was open enough that I could squeeze through. Outside was much colder than the small breeze that was coming through the open door. My eyes widened as I was met with a literal frozen hell surrounding me.
Thousands of those Undead, frozen. Solders, frozen. One soldier was frozen with an Undead ready to bite at his neck, the creature's teeth less than an inch from his flesh. He had tears frozen down his face as he knew his fate was sealed. The further I wandered the more sick I felt, as most soldiers weren't as lucky as that one solder. Many of them were frozen as they died. Undeads were frozen with their teeth ripping into many of the guards flesh. Even the blood splatter was frozen in midair. Everything was like a twisted sculpture garden. "Are they all..."
No, the freeze doesn't kill them, it actually uses the cold from outside the Empire, amplifies it, then runs a special spell that freezes time around them. Nothing here will rot, or die. And don't worry about accidentally shattering somepony. The ice is so hard and cold that not even the sun at point-blank range could melt it.
"Then how do we get them out? My parents were out here!"
Only one pony can undo this, but she's... no longer among us. Sombra's voice sounded sad. Was she someone he cared about? She was my only friend, part of why I am the way I am now.
"Tell me everything." I say while looking through frozen battle, trying to find my parents. I wanted so bad to run back into the castle, but I had to find my parents.
Long before you were born, Events happened at this empire that made me realize I can choose my destiny, my friend, Hope, made me realize that. I knew repairing the damage I'd done would lead to my death, and I embraced it without any regrets.
While Sombra told his story, I moved between frozen soldiers and Undead. Some of the Undeads limbs were missing. I looked around and dug into the deeper patches of snow around me and found a severed hoof. I almost did run back into the castle. I forced myself to swallow my fear and move on.
Hope saved me yet again and I was... cured, in a sense. We went looking for pieces of the princess before your mother. Before the empire was banished. We were making good progress, until something wrong started happening with Hope and I. Death's a bitch.
"What's that mean?" I ask, walking over what I'm guessing were Undead killed before the freeze. The frozen pools of blood and holes in the heads give that away.
We both escaped death in different ways. I was banished with the empire, and she was in the prison of the Umbrums. Somehow, being in that prison kept her from aging. After some time once the Umbrums were imprisoned again, we noticed the changes. Hairs turned grey, walking distances took longer. Time was catching up to us. We returned to the empire, our first home. Then, we were called to the castle, well, Hope was. I just tagged along like I used to when we were foals.
I flew upwards since searching on the ground was going nowhere. From a sky perspective, everything looked like a foals messy toys, if the toys could bleed, cry, and die.
Cadence was pregnant. I nearly dropped out of the sky when Sombra said that. Something was wrong with how the baby, you, were being handled in the womb. She barely had any strength left in her, but Hope was a stubborn mare. Despite aging to dust right in front of us, she used the last of her strength and magic to heal you and Cadence. So you could be born healthy. Heh, maybe she showed off when she did that, you being an alicorn and all. I rolled my eyes. Now is not the time for jokes. I was going to follow her soon. Before sundown that day, time caught up with me and I turned to ash. What I didn't expect was to hear crying. Not for me, but it felt like it was coming from me, only it was off. Younger. I froze in mid flight.
"What? Are you saying you're me?"
Yes and no. I died before you were born, six months away til you were supposed to pop out. In a sense, I'm your past life and you're my reincarnation. Guess Tartarus thought I was too good, but the Stars didn't think I was good enough.
"So if you're my... soul. How can I hear you? How are you even able to talk to me?"
My guess is that, even though Hope brought me back as a pony, I was still an Umbrum where it mattered, spiritually anyway. I've seen every part of your life up to the day, felt everything you felt, including your fear. Still being an Umbrum meant that I was still connected to fear. Your fear gave me strength, and I hate that. I can talk to you fine now because of it though, and when it's dark I can actually leave you and explore around wherever there is darkness. That's how I learned what you don't. I was even able to use MY magic through you, earlier.
"So... me being afraid let you do those things? Control me?"
Yes, regrettably. Consider my your body guard that, if needed, will fight through your body. I think we can both agree that we shouldn't let it come to that.
"Agreed. You're a lot nicer then the legends spoke of." I caught a good breeze under my wings which put me back at a good gliding speed to keep looking.
History seems to favor me a villain. I don't mind much, just wish they would tell the rest of my story. Guess that doesn't matter now anyway.
"Wait, if you feel everything I feel then that means..."
Yes. I felt every time you did that. It's definitely different than how stallions do it.
I wanted to drop to the ground and die. Hide somewhere, only that's a stupid idea since you can't hide from your own soul. I started feeling dirty, but not guilty... Oh STARS I'm not into that am I?!
Just promise me next time you feel an urge, do it in a dark room so I can leave. I could feel Sombra’s shiver if discomfort as he most likely recalled one of the many times I scratched my itches.
"Agreed. No more night lights." I looked down below and spotted something out of the ordinary. It looked like a dome of Undead... Could it be? I flew down towards it and my fears were realized when, between the piled Undead, I saw my mom and dad, holding each other. Frozen tears were on their faces as Undead both above and around them were frozen in a charge at them. "No."
Shining Armor must have been using his shield spell for this to happen, from how the Undead above them look it was failing when the freeze started.
"How do we get them out? I'm not leaving them there!" I tried to squeeze between the gaps of Undead, but the creatures were too close together for me to get anything more than a hoof through the spaces between them.
It's too big to levitate up, we could dig under, but I don't think we'd be able to drag them out. Maybe if your powers weren't locked up from that quack unicorn Sunburst's spell.
Right! Sunburst made a spell to keep my powers under wraps until I could control them! "Maybe he survived the freeze! We can get them out!” I say, a small amount of hope sparking to life within me.
Doubt it, but he should have the notes to the spell that your parents used on you. With some practice you should be able to undo it, even unfreeze the ponies here.
"Then I have to find his notes. Too much rides on me getting my stupidly OP alicorn powers back."
Agreed, but not without proper equipment.
"But the Undead are all frozen, right?"
Look around. Not all of the Undead around here were Crystal Ponies, some here are regular ponies, must have turned then walked here from Equestria. Relentless beasts.
"So more might come from outside the freeze spell's area of effect."
Or are already here. Lucky for you the armory here is still packed. Let's go, we have a lot to do before night falls.
"What's so bad at night?"
Other than not seeing the Undead in front of you, some change at night. Not sure how or why. Then, they hide during the day. Word of advice, don't go into the sewers.
“They hide in there?”
Yes, mostly, and you think the ones out here are bad, the ones down there range from basic intelligence to demonically horrifying.
“You’ve seen them?”
I can only leave your body at night, I’d see most of them in the streets.
I could feels Sombra's fear in his voice. It gave me a chill down my spine, worse than the cold already out here. "What kind of disease is this?"
Chapter 2: Guns, Armor, and The Empire
The armory is one of the many places I don’t know where they are in the castle. Even though I’m older, this place is still so big. Thankfully, Sombra seems to know this place like the back of his hoof, or is it our hoof since we’re technically the same pony? Reincarnation is confusing when your soul can actually talk to you but isn’t you.
Take a left down this hall. Sombra said.
“This is the fourth left turn we’ve taken! We just made a square!” Keyword earlier was seems.
I spent most of my years both as the dictator of this place, and during my banishment with the empire customizing this castle to what was my liking was back then, and kinda still is. I know where I’m going!
“We still made a square.”
The point of the confusing pathway was to keep invading forces from discovering the armory! If they found it they could either use our own weapons against us or destroy them.
“Wouldn’t a big lock or better yet, an illusion spell to hide it have been more effective?” Sombra did not reply. “Seriously?”
Like you even know how to cast an illusion spell that powerful.
“Full potential is locked away, remember?”
Excuses.
“You did not just say that! I was locked in an isolation chamber all of my life, you know this!”
And it never occurred to you to ask for books on basic magic because?
“... Shut up.”
Look, we are literally stuck with each other, closer than most would like to be. We can’t start arguing like this. I promise you just one more turn and the armory is right there.
“Fine. But since you brought it up do you think you can teach me some magic other than just levitation?”
Easy as pie.
At the mention of food my stomach growled. “Guess I still haven’t eaten yet.” I say sheepishly.
We’ll get food after we get some proper armor and weapons for you. I promise the kitchen is much easier to find than the armory.
Sombra was true to his word. One last left turn (which made no architectural sense) and a large metal door greeted me. It was rusted, and as far as I could tell, one of the few things in this castle not made of crystal. It wasn’t even locked as I used my magic to open the door, and was met with darkness.
Light switch is on the left. Feeling the wall and once I found the, surprisingly small, light switch and with a flash of light, I saw just how enormous the armory was.
Guns, swords, armor, something labeled C4, all boxed up with only a few crates open. That was just what I saw loose and out of the boxes. Thousands of crates, wood and metal, sat on large metal racks that just went on… Forever!
“How big is this room?”
I wanted the Empire well equipped for worst case scenario, this is only the first floor, second should have ammunition stacked all the way to the ceiling, and the third floor should have the good stuff.
“Numbers please.” I beg. My brain isn’t fully comprehending the size of this one room, let alone three. I took after aunt Twilight in that numbers and logic help me deal with a situation.
This floor is eight kilometres by six kilometres and is twelve meters high. Floor two is six kilometres by four kilometres and is twenty meters high. The third floor ten kilometres by ten kilometres and is a full kilometre high.
“How are rooms this big in the castle!?” Those numbers did not help!
Magic. Duh. Sombra deadpanned.
“Now I got to learn some of these spells!”
Later, for now ignore this floor and go right to the third.
“How am I gonna navigate my way around a room that big?”
Do you remember the library, Shining and Cadence would read to you there a lot back before the chamber.
“Sorta.” I say. Fuzzy memories of book shelves with hundreds of books lined up in rows faintly reappear.
The third floor is organized like that, only difference is instead books it’s creates full of ammo, armor, and weapons. Among other things.
“What other things?”
Best you see for yourself. Sombra’s tone of voice was something close to a foal in a candy store. I smiled at that and made my way through the first armory.
Luckily there was an elevator I could take. Sombra said there used to be stairs but my mom and dad installed this after they got sick of all the stairs. “What is with you and stairs anyway?”
I invented psychological warfare. As an orphan, we often did community service when we got older. I hated cleaning all the stairs in the palace, so ontop of building long, seemingly endless stairs, I made spells that exhaust the climber with each step. In modern day equestria, before the outbreak, ponies were very lazy.
“Fair enough.” I press the third button and the elevator began moving. It was quiet, I always figured elevators were kinda loud. After a few minutes the doors opened. And I fell flat on my flank.
The third floor room was the definition of stupidly huge. Armor stands with many suits of armor, some I recognized, others were unknown to me. Display cases held massive guns, are they even guns? Most of these cases have the ammo to go with the gun and it’s bigger than my hoof!
Most of these firearms were built by either the Griffons or Minotaurs. They don’t have magic, but they were blessed by the Stars with amazing engineering abilities. That talent probably didn’t save them from the Undead, but it at least gave them an edge in the world.
“I take it these huge beans are from the Minotaur kingdoms.” I say, trying to comprehend the need for such a weapon.
They’re called bullets, and yes. Minotaurs are twice to three times the size of a pony, so these bullets were made for the toughest of their military.
“No pony could hold this unless their a unicorn. Right?”
Yes, and they would need a strong levitation field to keep from it breaking free after firing. Guns have a recoil, the bigger the bullet, the harder the recoil.
“So no guns bigger than my hoof.”
What I figure you’d want is a little further ahead.
Walking further ahead, we eventually came across a armor stand that had a thin pink and black metal suit that has straps and pockets that looked like they were meant to hold bean- Bullets, and three guns. Standing near it I could feel powerful spells and magic radiating from it. Sleeves were on the back meant for wings to slide in, they were designed to look like a huge pair of bat wings with blades on them. Is that to cut while flying? Next to the stand with the armor was a display case with three guns that looked to perfectly fit the straps and pockets the suit had.
One gun was as long as the display case, painted white and blue pattern with what looked like a small telescope mounted onto it. It also had what looked like a lever on the side just behind the scope on the right side. The second gun was less than half of the first one and was painted a pink, yellow and purple pattern with a smaller foggy white glass scope on it. The last gun was only slightly bigger than the one I had, what surprised me was that it had my coat and mane colors. My colors… I looked back at the first two guns and realized they had my parents colors on them. “Sombra, who was this for?”
You. Your parents knew that one day a cure would be found. But not everypony could be saved when that happened. Your father thought it best that once the cure was developed, he would train you and once you were ready, give you this as a birthday gift. You’d lead the survivors of this and slay every Undead that was unsavable.
“This is… for me?” I felt hurt, sad, and happy. And I didn’t know why. “Happy birthday to me then. Guess it’s true what they say, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’”
Your parents and aunt Twilight spend six years on this suit and those guns. Blood, sweat, tears, and powerful magic went into them all to keep you safe once the day came. This suit will let you fly faster, hit harder, and run for double what you normally would before needing a break. Despite how it looks it does weigh only a few pounds, rather than the thirty it did when it was just standard issue combat armor. That huge gun, that rifle, can pierce through tanks by itself, when Shining Armor was done with it, it could pierce through ten in one shot. That second gun, the assault rifle, your mother actually worked on that one. The gun and that scope are connected. She took a standard issue thermal scope and made able to see through ten inch steel, it can only hurt the Undead since it was discovered the Undead have "slow" heartbeats. That last gun, it’s called a pistol, Twilight worked on that one. She enchanted it so it would never need cleaning, could fire underwater if needed, and each bullet fired, no matter what type, sends a good two hundred volts of magical electricity through whatever it hits.
“I… They built these for me? For when this was all over?”
You may not have been able to see them as often as you’d have liked, but they loved you Flurry. Every night once you fell asleep and I was able to roam free, I’d see them working to build these for you, crying for a chance to hug you. Shining even made a list a kilometre long of things you were all gonna do as a family once this was over.
I broke. Tears came flooding out as I sat in front of this suit and weapons. For a brief moment it felt like I could feel them here. With me, and not outside frozen like statues. Time was nonexistent to me at this moment. It felt like every lonely night in that Isolation chamber was pouring out of me, my muzzle was stuffed with snot and my eyes burned from all the tears, yet I didn’t stop. Sombra had gone quiet, this must be hard on him, being able to feel my emotions and all. It wasn’t until I was finally able to open my eyes that I saw the puddle of tears I had created. What I saw in the reflection however shocked me.
Sombra was there, and he was hugging me. His coat was grey and his mane was dark black. His horn wasn’t red and curved like the stories said it was, but his eyes, his eyes had tears pouring out like mine. He’s been crying this whole time? “Sorry if I’m making you cry.” I finally said, breaking the ice.
I’ve seen your whole life Flurry, I’m probably the only pony who knows how much you needed that, and how much I needed it.
“What?” I say, looking at him in the reflection.
Orphen, remember. Being reborn as you, I got to have the parents I never had. Even though it was all for you I felt their love for you. And even though you’re a filly and an alicorn, and before all this Undead business started, I laughed. What isn’t different between you and I Sombra? Those few years before this all started were the foalhood years I never had.
“You thought of them as parents then?”
Honestly? ...Yes.
We sat there, or I sat there, whatever or however I should say it. We were there in silence for some time. I kept looking between the suits and the guns. My family spend years on these, carefully crafting them so I could be safe. “Help me get this stuff on Sombra. I wanna make sure my parents and us get to cross everything off that list.”
Us?
“You’re stuck with me so you’re a part of this family.”
Sombra chuckled. Thank you.
At first, the suit fit kinda loose, but once the last strap was tightened on it, it shrunk to my exact size. If aunt Twilight is alive I need to thank her for this. The sleeves for my wings felt odd, but I guess I’ll have to get used to it. I’m probably only gonna take this off when I’m in the castle. The rifle fit into on a strap that went across my back. Sombra told me that I could move it so it goes on my side instead and that’s what I did. It won’t be easy to walk or fly with this thing but that’s just another thing I’m gonna have to get used to. The assault rifle went on the other side, fitting perfectly into the holster, as Sombra told me it was called. The pistol actually went in a holster just below my neck but not under my barrel. The metal strips, or magazines, as they were apparently called, were placed onto a built in saddlebag the suit had.
I had ten pistol mags, seven assault rifle mags, and five rifle mags. All full of bullets. I took a moment to count how many bullets the magazines could hold. The pistol held eight, since there are ten mags I have eighty shots. The assault rifle mags held twentyfour bullets, seven times twenty four gives me over a hundred and sixty shots with this one gun. The big rifle mags only held seven bullets, but they were the size of the large needles those ponies would draw blood from me with. Thirtyfive shots, shouldn't waste them needlessly.
Armed to the teeth and sporting what is the physical embodiment of my family’s love and care, I headed out. Passed the main entrance and the frozen war that now sits still in time. I eventually find my way outside the castle perimeter, and in the city. It was worse than the castle. Ponies and Undead stood still in place, frozen, some already dead, some running away, most being devoured.
I saw a baby carriage, a frozen blood pool sat where the foal would be rested. I felt sick, my late breakfast I had before leaving the castle threatening to shoot itself out. “Which way Sombra? I don’t know how long I can stand around here.” I say as another gag comes out as I spot a mare dead, belly torn open and shredded with her intestines being slerped out by several Undead, the scene frozen like an image from a horror movie.
Sunburst lives a few kilometres ahead, if you fly we can make it there in just a few minutes.
I open my wings, which feels weird with the suits weaponized sleeves they’re in, and fly up. Surprisingly, flying still feels normal, I can actually feel the wind on my feathers. Fabric must be there then. “What’s his house look like?”
The roof looks like an orange wizard's hat, it’s impossible not to spot.
Sombra was right, I spotted the roof within several seconds. It was very different than how all the other houses looked. It was smaller, goofy even. I opened the door and, “AAAAHHHHH!” I screamed. I saw an orange unicorn that I’m assuming is Sunburst, his frozen, fear filled stare met me as I entered. He was frozen mid gallop, a saddle bag full of books and papers was on him. On the floor was a pistol, I assumed. I didn’t recognise the design. It had a fat tube in the middle between the chamber and grip. Thank you Sombra for the quick lessons.
That’s a revolver, Sombra said. The design is old, but still reliable and unlike your guns you can have the bullets loose to reload it. Have to put them in one at a time though if you don’t have the proper tools.
“You think he was trying to get to the castle when the Undead finally entered the city?”
Possibly, from what I know he was researching them. Finally got a chance to put that brain of his to use. I think his research is in his saddle bags, but look around for the notes on the spell he put on you, it should be in a journal or something.
As I walked around Sunburst’s house I came to the conclusion that this stallion was a bigger social outcast than I am, and I was locked up in an Isolation Chamber. Many of the books and scrolls here seemed to be about magic, some were fiction, others were travel, there was a lot here about magic anomalies and body modification. His kitchen was surprisingly full, boxes of canned foods and bags of something called “MRE” scattered around. “What’s MRE mean?”
Meal ready to eat. I had some back when I was alive. Not that bad but some, or most of them actually, tasted so bad they earned the name “Meal rejected by enemy.”
I chuckled. “That bad?”
If you’re gonna eat one stick to the Peas and Apple Cabbage Soup, and the Three Cheese Mac and Cheese. Those were the best tasting in my opinion.
“Noted.” I reply, grabbing a MRE labeled Peas and Apple Cabbage Soup. “Honestly anything will taste better than that gloop they fed me in the chamber. That WAS a meal rejected by enemy.”
The only other room in the whole house was Sunburst’s bedroom. It was small, two other doors were here, one let to a closet filled with, not surprisingly, more books and scrolls. The other led the the bathroom. There were no bed side tables. No desk either. How did he work without something similar to an office? His bedsheets were a mess, and nothing was under his pillows.
Try under his mattress. Sombra offered.
Lifting the heavy thing with my magic I found a small, semi squashed box. Bingo! Taking it out and dropping the mattress I threw the lid off and what I saw inside, confused me. It was a purple, rubbery tube with some kinda hole that was filled with a weird material. It felt almost like skin, only crazy soft and squishy. It had the name Starlight Glimmer, written in marker on it.
DROP THAT RIGHT NOW! Sombra’s sudden yell shocked me, making me drop the odd item. His yell also gave me a small headache.
“What was that for!?” I say while rubbing my temples.
Just… Pretend you never saw that. He said, sounding flustered.
“Why? What is it?”
When you’re older, Shining would bring me back to life just to kill me for this.
“What?” Now I’m really confused.
Never speak of this again and I promise to teach you any spell you want to know. Sombra pleaded.
“Okay, fine. But only if you teach me how to create and manipulate crystals like you could.”
Deal.
I gave a look under the bed, and there was another box. Hopefully whatever’s in here doesn't make Sombra scream. Pulling it out and opening it, I saw pictures, lots of pictures. Some old, some new. Most had were of Sunburst, and almost all of those had him with some light purple unicorn. Is this Starlight Glimmer? At the bottom of the box I found an old notebook, the cover was worn and had a large gash through it. I took it out and opened it.
March 26, 2016
The Prince and Princess have finally announced their child to the kingdom, but they won't tell anything else other than that it’s a filly. I hope nothing’s wrong with the new Princess.
Rumor also has it that Shining Armor is gonna meet up with his sister, Princess Twilight, at the train station so she can see the newborn foal. I guess they want to show family and friends before anypony else, I can understand that, just wish they didn’t keep it all so secret. I may not be a very social pony but I still keep up with the news and get mad, angry, and sad like anypony else. It’s not everyday a new member of the royal family is born.
I couldn’t help but laugh at this. I remember mommy and daddy telling me the story of my Crystalling. And how much of a magical menace I was before I had my powers suppressed.
I flipped ahead and found something interesting. It was about the spell!
March 26, 2016: Entry ten.
This has been the best day of my whole freaking life! I’ve made up with my old foalhood friend Starlight, I helped save the Empire, the Prince and Princess appointed me head of royal research and development, and I figured out a spell to suppress the powers of an alicorn! A motherbucking alicorn! I may not be good at using magic, but I can make a pretty damn good spell, pardon my Prench.
I’ve managed to link Flurry Heart’s powers to both the Crystal Heart and the Crystal Empire coronation ceremony. Once Flurry Heart has been crowned a Princess before the Crystal Heart by another royal, her powers will unlock. Shining Armor and Cadence will probably wait til she’s a mature adult before that happens though. Still, Today marks the rest of my new life! Not so bad for a magic school dropout.
I put the journal down, and began to feel nervous. A Royal has to coordinate me for my powers to return. “Do you think the spell means any royal or royal like my parents or my aunts?”
Even in my time a royal was anyone with a title of Knight or higher, or their family members by extension or blood. Even those Canterlot snobs would count as royal.
“Can’t you do it?”
A dictator is not the same as royalty. Quite the opposite infact.
“So we have to somehow find a royal and get them to coronate me. I thought the Crystalling was a coronation of sorts?”
The Crystalling signifies that you are a born royal and a citizen of the Crystal Empire, it’s not a coronation.
“How are we gonna find a royal then? Everypony here is frozen!”
I could here Sombra hum in thought. Maybe we can try and communicate to survivors with long wave Radios. If the Empire’s military stockpiled well, which they did, we should be able to find a long range radio, but that’s only if the ones already installed aren’t working. Between the battle with the Undead and the Freeze… We should get back to the castle, we have work to do.
“Fair enough.” I say, closing Starburst’s journal and placing it in my saddle bags. I went back to Starburst himself, still frozen, I’ll make sure to change this. I looked through his saddle bags and grabbed a few books and loose notes. Might come in handy. I stepped outside, feeling a cold rush of wind as the sun hung low in the sky… wait, it’s nearly mid-day. Why does the sun look like it’s setting? “Sombra?”
I’m as confused as you are. The only thing I can think of is that something happened to Celestia and Luna. We need to get back to the castle now!
Don’t need to tell me twice. I few up, catching a fast gust of wind taking me straight to the castle. It was steady flying. Then, I couldn’t see. “What the!?” I yell in shock. Darkness all around me. “No! It can’t be night alre-”
ROOOAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My heart dropped to my stomach at that ear bleeding screech. My mind went blank. Total fear crept over me and I haven’t even seen what made that yell.
Look out! Sombra yelled. I snapped out of my trance and flew up quick. I heard a swoosh, like something just flew passed me. Assault Rifle! The scope! I stuttered as I picked up the Assault Rifle with my magic. I looked through the scope. Everything was a shade of blueish purple. One thing however was a faint orange. It was a silhouette in the scope, but I almost dropped my gun when I saw it.
It was easily twice my size, Some kinda curved claws were at the end of each leg, and at the tips of its six wings! Its body was muscular, and I couldn’t see its head. “S… Sombra?”
My horn hurt. I saw the faint glow of my magic turn blue and suddenly, then, I saw it.
In that first bang/flash the gun made in the dark when Sombra was firing it, I saw what it looked like. Its head was horribly shrunken, its eyes literally dangling from their sockets. Its skin was a sickly grey and misshapen, as if it was forcibly expanded and stretched. As for its claws, they were the bones of what once were pony legs, curved and sharpened, riddled with teeth marks. It bit its own legs into weapons!?
Click.Click. SHIT! Flurry, Fly! I flew. I flew straight for the castle while I heard more gunfire behind me.
ROOAAAGGGGHHH!!!! The monster screamed again. “Are those bullets even doing anything to it!?” I say without turning around.
Nothing that I can see, this is the second clip too! Sombra replies I feel the largest rifle slip out of its strap, a faint glow of a blue aura illuminating behind me. Is Sombra gonna use that!? Bite this!
Bang.
“GAAGGH!” I yell as something hits my back hard, knocking all the wind out of me. My vision blurred as I lost sight of what was happening. Everything just keeps spinning. I felt a strong wind hitting my face, but I barely understood what was happening. I suddenly felt very light as I saw a blue light cover me, then, I was on the ground. I immediately began coughing. My body trying to regain its lost air. “Are we alive?”
So far. Sombra replies. Shining really went overboard on that rifle, that recoil is far stronger than it should be from my understanding. Damn thing broke out of my field and hit you in the back.
I look up and around, luckily we’re just outside the castle. “What *cough* about the Undead?”
I know I hit it but- THUD. A loud crash sounded directly behind me, followed by a sudden wet feeling, like having water dumped on you. I felt the mystery liquid flow down my neck, onto my body, and make contact with the skin below my coat. There it is.
I turn around, and the Undead is nothing more than a pile of muscle and blood, a large splatter of blood paints the floor, with the exception of where I’m standing. “Eee…. eeee…. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!” I scream as the realization that I’m soaked in blood sinks in. I can feel it under my armor, in areas that it shouldn’t be. “GROSEGROSEGROSEGROSEGROSEGROSEGROSE-”
You might want to- Plop. Sheek. Nevermind.
I feel something warm and squishy land around my neck while something else lands on my horn and slowly slips down to my face. I was soon met with an eyeball. That Undead’s head is kabobed on my horn! My eyes quickly look down to my neck and I see a long, slimy, bloody, grey strip of flesh wrapped around my neck. “Sombra?”
Yes? Sombra replies, sounding worried.
“Is this an intestine around my neck and a head kabobed on my horn?”
...Yes…
Everything went black.
Ouch… My head hurts. I open my eyes, and it’s dark, but I can tell I’m not outside. Even though it’s dark I can tell I’m in the bathroom in the Chamber. Was that all a dream. Nightmare?
Knock. Knock. Knock. ”Flurry, you up?”
Not a nightmare. “Sombra? Wait, how?” I start to ask, but before I could finish talking, the door opens and the lights turn on. My eyes widen in surprise when I see one of the armor stand mannequins standing at the doorway. “Sombra?”
”Neat, huh? I can’t move too far away from you but this will allow us each privacy when needed.”
“How are you doing that?” I ask while trying to get up, only for Sombra to place a hoof, or false hoof, on me.
”Don’t try and get up. You’re really sore still, felt it before I left your body and even though I’m not in you anymore I can still feel how sore you are.” Sombra was right. I hurt everywhere, specifically, my back and wing joints. ”The rifle's recoil was largely absorbed by your armor, only real damage was that your left wing got dislocated. You were lucky to have been out cold for that.”
“I fainted?”
”Yeah, after the Undead fell several hundred feet, soaking you in blood then it’s head and guts became your new outfit when they fell down.”
Memories of that event came back. I shivered in place, remembering that dangling eye millimeters from my own. “I’m pathetic.” I admit, covering my face with my hooves.
”Flurry, you are a fifteen year old filly who’s never set hoof outside this room till just a few hours ago, and has been thrown into a world of death and kill or be killed, encountered an Undead that looked like it crawled out of Tartarus, and got showered in gore. I think fainting was the best outcome for that situation.”
I look up at Sombra. His voice sounded genuine but the faceless mannequin makes it hard to tell. “You really think that?”
”Yes. Not everypony adjusts to these scenarios at once, everypony takes their own time adjusting. It was a good thing we landed just outside the castle, between the rifle being fired and you're screaming, I saw a bunch of other nasty Undead coming by and four more of those flying ones coming down when you fainted.”
“You took control of my body?”
”Yes, like I said, lucky we landed outside the castle. Once the defence was activated, anything that wasn’t in the castle or out of the Freezes area of effect, would be blocked by a forcefield. The only way for anything alive to enter the castle is if you invite them.”
“Like those old vampire legends?”
”Exactly. All you or I need to say is “Welcome to the Empire” and the barrier around the castle will let them in.”
“So on top of the world's biggest armory at our disposal the castle is the only safe place in the Empire?”
”With all the food one pony could eat, I don’t count since I’m a soul.”
“Thank you mommy, thank you daddy.” I say. I feel tired. “Sombra, how far away can you go from me?”
”If I’m just a shadow I can go as far at the Empire’s border, and that’s a good thousand kilometres. With this body, I felt weak being fifty meters from you. Possessing this thing must take a massive toll on our connection. I can’t use magic in this thing either but I have an idea on how to correct that.”
“Alright. This is gonna be a good thing. Now I won’t feel alone when, and we will, go outside again.”
”I got your back Flurry Heart.”
“Just try not to let that rifle hit it again.”
”Promise. Oh, the sun came back an hour ago.”
“What the heck happened earlier? Wait, an hour? How long have I been out?”
”You've been out for about three. As for what happened… I've never seen anything like that. The only thing I could think of is that something bad happened to Princess Celestia or Luna. If that's the case then day and night will be unpredictable from now on”
“As of the world wasn't tough enough. I hope the rest of my family is okay.”
”If i know anything about them it's that Twilight is too clever too die, and that Dragon Spike is too lucky to die. Plus I doubt any normal Undead could bite through his scales.”
“Thank you, Sombra.”
Chapter 3: Radio, Oddballs, and Survivors
With the sun and moon no longer a reliable source of time, Sombra had us both wear watches so we could tell what time it was. Night and day now have the most random schedule I’ve ever seen… well it’s the only schedule I’ve ever seen, but still. According to our watches it’s five p.m. Since we no longer can rely on the daylight, Sombra and I decide to just get work done as fast as we can.
Right now I’m flying around a huge metal dish on top of the castle. Sombra is back inside me so he can properly look at the wiring. “Where did you learn this?” I ask, amazed at Sombra’s seemingly endless knowledge.
When one no longer needs sleep, one begins to pick up hobbies. While you slept and I was able to roam free, I would watch and learn from the ponies up at the late hours. Even in my shadow form I can use little magic. Mainly levitation, so I would read. The castle library and public library had more than enough books for me to catch up on everything.
“Neat… So how are the wires?”
We’ll need to replace the main power supply cable and get three new circuit regulators before we can get this thing working. Those should all be in storage.
“How big is it?”
Three floors, each a kilometer long but about sixty meters wide. Used to be the dungeon, but after your mother took over she had it converted into a storage to keep extra supplies. Can’t really argue since it did come in handy. I haven’t been down their much though so I don’t know where they are.
“Joy.” I say while rolling my eyes. The sun suddenly began to set very fast. “Damn it, again!? That’s the fourth sunset today.”
This is going to be very annoying. I wonder how this will affect crops?
“Can’t ponies just use greenhouses with those sunlight spells?”
Yes, * Ponies** can. Minotaurs and Griffons rely on sunlight. I doubt you could grow crops under a light bulb.*
“Fair enough. Let’s go find the stuff then.” I fly down, and enter the castle through the hole that was blasted into the castle. It lead to the Isolation Chamber, which has never felt more unsafe than it does now. My wings and back are still sore from earlier, but the pain is manageable when flying. Thankfully, Sombra got me out of my suit and ran water on me so I wouldn’t be messy, and even popped my wing joint back into place while I was out. “When time comes for us to sleep, where should we sleep?”
Well, I don’t need sleep. You, however, may want to rest up in your parents bedroom. It’s one of the safest places in the castle.
“Might actually help me sleep after today. Something of theirs to keep the nightmares away.”
Sound’s like a good idea.
Turns out that the entrance to storage is through a small door outside the castle, yet still in the protective field. With the sun down and the moon up, lots of those… Undead, were out and about. I don’t want to go into detail about them, but one of them caught my attention. It was an Undead with the body of a unicorn mare, and had an assault rifle, different from mine, strapped across her back. Lots of the Undead had guns on them from when they were ponies, but this one levitated it out when she spotted me. “Is that one of the smart ones?” I ask Sombra.
Most likely. Better hurry; they can’t come in, but bullets can. Let’s not let the smart ones learn that.
I quickly make my way to the door leading to storage. It was large, crystal, with a small window way above any ponies reach, even on hind legs. When I opened it, I was met by a large, downward staircase. “Really, Sombra?”
Don’t blame me, these were here when I was alive!
“How far down is it?”
Not far. The stairs are spiraled, so it seems like a long hike, but it’s only about six meters. This is the main way to enter; a secondary entrance was made when your parents turned this into storage, but that’s outside the castle’s barrier.
“Why a secondary entrance?”
For larger things that can’t be carried or fit through the stairway.
Walking down, I noticed there was very little light. No light bulbs or sunstones anywhere. It eventually became so dark that I bumped into the door, muzzle first. “Ouch.”
Hope the power here is working . If not, we may need to use your pistol’s flashlight attachment.
I lifted up my pistol, my magic giving a small amount of light for me to at least see the gun. I noticed that a part of the gun had a switch on it. I moved it and a surprisingly bright light shined from the relatively small gun. “These things come with built-in flashlights?”
It’s an attachment. They come on and off, and you can turn it on or off at any time.
“Cool.” I say as I hold the gun so the light shines in front of me. Boxes emerge from the darkness as my pistol shines light on them. Many are crates, but most are large cardboard boxes. Luckily, they all seemed to be labeled. “This may be easier than I thought.”
I looked at the wall next to the door and, oddly, there was no light switch. Looking at the walls, I saw that the torch decorations that used to hold sunstones were all empty for as far as my flashlight attachment shone. “That’s weird... Where did the sunstones go?”
I’m as lost as you are right now. I haven’t been down here much so I can only guess that they moved it to use elsewhere.
As I passed through the aisles of boxes and crates, I noticed that almost all of them were construction related. There were large red metal boxes filled with tools, big and small, stacks of wood planks that reach the ceiling, and bags of cement mix. “This must just be for repair purposes, right?”
Looks that way. I’d guess that if a building was to be damaged, they’d want the proper tools to fix it in close reach.
I shined the light all around and, way in the back, almost out of the light’s reach, a door was removed from the darkness. Walking over and opening it showed another stairway, but this was just aligned next to the wall going down. At the bottom, a single, dull, light bulb kept the darkness at bay. I turned the flashlight attachment off and placed the gun back into its holster. The second floor had light, albeit most were burned out and the others were on the verge of death.
“This is… creepy.”
The surface is currently dying, covered in the corpses of the fallen, Undead and dead. You’ve seen all of * that** and more , and you’re creeped out by bad lighting? *
“Oh, shut up. It just makes everything have an eerie feeling. All it needs are a few Undead to complete the scene.”
Walking around, the boxes were more randomly labeled. Kitchen equipment, door hinges, water filters, and blank paper, to name a few, labeled the crates. What seemed odd was that most of the boxes that were medical related were opened. Guess that does make sense though; lots of fighting, lots of injuries to fix. “You think the smart Undead can feel?” I ask, remembering the smart Undead we saw earlier.
Hard to tell. From what I’ve seen, they’re smart enough to run away from gunfire. Maybe?
Close to the door that lead to the third floor, several boxed labeled “Electronics” were stacked against the far corner. The first one we opened had large green metal plates with smaller metal bumps on them.
Those are circuit boards and computer chips. Think of them like organs for a computer.
“Anything we need in here?”
The circuit regulators should be in here, and the new wires might be in here. The regulators look like very small green plates with a few light bulbs and small silver boxes on them. We need five.
“What exactly do these regulators do anyway? And I thought you said we needed three?” I ask while sorting through the box of computer guts.
They keep the electricity flowing properly in the event of a power surge, and five because it’s safer if we replace them all. Unfortunately, the Freeze caused the entire empire's power to go out. It was a power surg that big was too much for them to handle. That surge also burnt out the power cable.
“If the power is gone then how is the radio going to work? Wait, how’s the castle running?
Currently the castle is running on a rather ingenious backup generator that runs on magic. Twilight really knows how to make miracles happen.
“So it doesn’t need any fuel?”
It needs fuel, but not your typical gasoline. It needs pure magic from a unicorn. I’ve seen it before; it has this helmet that covers your horn. All you need to do is channel magic into it for an hour and the generator will last a day. That’s just an hour of charging, though. Twilight designed and charged them, so a full charge, an entire day and night of charging, will last a month.
“Daddy did always said that Aunt Twilight could build anything once inspiration struck her.”
I eventually saw the brown bottom of the box, yet not one of these green chips looked like what Sombra described. I pushed it over, searching through the next one. More green chips, smaller than the last box, cluttered the box. “Why is everything loose in here?” I say as I move the chips around.
Actually, they shouldn’t be loose. Electronics are usually kept in bubble wrap inside of custom sized boxes. What idiot did this?
Creek. The door that lead to the next floor slowly began to open. Hide!
I did as Sombra said, quietly running behind some large boxes. Soon, the sound of hoof steps entered the room. I slowly peaked out from my hiding place, and felt my heart drop to my stomach. It was an Undead, mare, earth pony, half rotted leaf green coat and mane. Her… it’s cutie mark was a question mark. What scared me was the fact she… it, was holding a gun in it’s mouth. A pistol, much smaller than mine, but she… IT, was holding it like it knew how to use it. It’s a smart one!
Keep down, stars only know if that thing has any aim.
Staying hidden, I watched it as it began looking through the boxes I was just looking through. It searched for a while until It dropped the gun and smiled. It actually smiled! It wasn’t scary or even disturbing, it looked like a normal happy pony smile. It reached into the box and pulled out, a small green chip, four small light bulbs stuck out on it from all corners, and a silver box placed in the center. Is that the part we need? I ask Sombra mentally.
Yes, what an Undead, smart or not, would want with one is beyond me. Why haven’t we just shot it already?
The Undead grabbed the gun with a hoof and began to walk back to the door, until another Undead, a normal looking one, came out. It hisses, sniffed the smart one, then walked away. The smart one looked annoyed and poked the normal one. It growled, turned over at the smart one, then walked away.
“Ba, bak.” The smart one spoke.
So they can talk, to an extent. Sombra said, suprise clear in his tone of voice.
The normal Undead hissed and walked around, ignoring the smart one. It hit it. “Bak!” It repeated, louder this time. The normal one growled and, surprisingly, it went through the door, down to the third floor. The smart one followed, closing the door behind it.
“The hell was that?” I finally managed to speak after some time.
I think that smart one commanded that other Undead. I’ve only ever seen them fight, I didn’t think they could do something like that.
I ran over to the box the smart Undead was searching through. I quickly looked through it, but I couldn’t find any other regulators in here. It dawned on me that, with that happy expression she had finding the one in this box, did she have others. “We may have a problem.”
Why would it take the regulator? Sombra replied, understanding my tone of voice.
“Who knows, but if she has that one, she might have the others. I just hope it doesn’t actually know how to shoot.” I slowly opened the door that lead to the third floor, the hallway walls were covered in sunstones, all glued to the wall. “The heck?” Was all I could get out.
So this is where they all went. Does this Undead have a thing against the dark or an affinity for shiny things?
I walked down to the third floor's door and upon opening it, was nearly blinded by all the light. Sunstones, light bulbs, and all manor of light producing devices were everywhere! The floor was even covered in tin foil, making the room even brighter. “Shiny things, VERY shiny things.” I say as my eyes desperately try and adjust to the light.
“Bud?” The Undead's voice echo’s from somewhere further ahead. I immediately hide. Flying up and landing on some high stacked boxes. The smart Undead soon makes it’s way over to where I was, it was looking around. “Bud? Bud!” A loud growl sounded, and the normal Undead soon came out from a large box. “Silly Bud.” The smart one said. It pulled the normal Undead up and was leading it back towards wherever it came from.
“That’s weird, the smart one treats the normal one almost like a pet.”
It didn’t have the regulator with it. Follow it, stay air born.
I took flight, careful not to alert the Undeads below me. Eventually, they came to a very large metal box that had open double doors. Lots of metal items, even a few guns, were littered all over the place. The large metal box had a few shiny things in it, but what surprised me was that there was a messy sleeping bag in there. The smart Undead curled up onto it and fell asleep, I think? These smart ones act almost exactly like any normal pony. The normal one just dropped on the floor outside the metal box, and just layed there. “The smart ones sleep?” I whispered.
Maybe, doubt it’s an act. No way it saw us. Now, since it’s asleep can we shoot it already?
But she acts so much like a pony! I reply mentally.
We’ve been over this already, she’s not a pony! No matter how smart they are or how much like a pony they seem to be! They’re monsters!
“I bet Hope never saw you that way.” I muttered. Sombra fell deathly silent, I could feel how much that remark hurt him. Minutes passed with me just flying mid air and Sombra not talking. Eventually I spoke up, not to Sombra, but to the smart Undead. “Hello?” The normal Undead got up immediately, hissing and searching for me, thank stars it was an earth pony.
The smart one soon walked out of the box and looked up, her eyes widened when she saw me. “You.. Live?” She asked me.
“Yes, I am alive. And I’ve been watching you for a while, you’re not like the others I’ve seen.”
“Last live pony try hurt Bud and me.”
“I promise I won’t hurt you or Bud, Although not to offend you, but I think Bud thinks I’m a meal.” I looked down and the normal Undead, named Bud apparently, was under me, biting at the air.
The smart one noticed this. “Bud! She nice! No for food!” She yelled. The normal one, Bud, suddenly stopped stopped biting at the air, walked over to her, and sat down. “Sorry. Bud no smart. Listen to me, but only if yell.”
“Oh.” I say as I fly down, landing on the ground a meter away from them. “So… I’m Flurry Heart, what’s your name?”
“K...Kits...Kitty. That only thing I member, that and Bud.”
“Oh, you remember things from when you were a pony?”
“Little. Part of name, Mostly member Bud. Think we kin, maybe?”
I looked at Bud and Kitty, the coat colors were both the same, But Bud’s mane was yellow. “I can see that.” I reply. “So, Bud eats ponies?”
“Bud eat not Bud’s. Dummies like him, but only when they dead.”
“You have to order him to eat huh.”
Kitty scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, don’t like yelling, but he no listen if don’t yell.”
“So… what do you eat?”
“Live pony food.” At that moment, Kitty walked back into the metal box and came out with an MRE bag. “Taste better than pony.”
“Wait, you don’t need to eat flesh?”
“No, only eat meat once, feel sick later, ate this, feel good.”
That’s weird. She really is more pony than Undead.
Seems that way. Sombra finally spoke, replying to my thought.
Well somepony is finally talking… Sorry about what I said, I didn’t think-
You were right though. I did so much wrong, and despite my sins, she never thought I was a monster. I forget that, even monsters spit out oddballs every now and then. I’m one, I guess Discord counts, so I guess… Kitty can be one too.
Thank you, Sombra. “So, Kitty. Are there any others like you. Smart I mean?”
Kitty rubbed her chin. “One other. She mean though, kill dummies and angries often when they no listen. Learn shoot from her, she carry gun like yous.” Kitty was pointing at my assault rifle. I remembered that smart Undead looking at me from outside the barrier. So she’s not going to be friendly.
“Angries?” I asked.
“Odd looking ones, like big fly chase you earlier.”
The near petrifying memory of being chased by that massive flying Undead caused my heartbeat to increase. “Oh, well. That makes sense. What’s with all this light though?”
“Keep angries away. Keep her away. Like angeries, she no like light. Keeps them out. Dummies come, but easy to kill.”
“They can come in here?”
“Yes. Can’t go through door to outside though. Can’t see wall.”
So she’s been keeping under the castle Undead free? We had a guard and never knew it. Sombra said in a shocked tone.
“But, then how come you aren’t affected by the light?”
Kitty shrugged. “Maybe, not angry like them. Just… wonder.”
“Wonder?”
I think she means curious. Would explain why her cutie mark is a question mark.
“Kitty,” I say, getting her attention. “When I was watching you on the second floor you pulled something out of a box. I need that, and a few others. Would you mind if I take them?”
Kitty looked confused for a second, then beamed with joy. She ran off to the a small cardboard box in the corner. She dragged it over, and it was full of regulators. “You can have. I just take cause look funny.”
I giggled. “Thank you! We need these to find other ponies. Not picky but we are looking for a specific type of pony.”
Kitty’s ears went down. “Others might hurt.”
I looked at Kitty. She was scared. Scared like I was, scared of dying. “I promise I won’t let that happen.”
I might have an Idea.
* * *
We all went up top, save for Bud. Kitty actually tied rope around him like a harness and leashed him to the metal crate that is her bedroom. I told Kitty “Welcome To The Empire.” and her whole body flashed white for a second. She walked up to the door, and was now in the castle courtyard. She looked like a happy foal, just walking around and looking at everything. The sun was rising now, lots of the special Undead were already gone. Save for, in the shadow of a building, that smart Undead with an assault rifle. The one Kitty mentioned. I saw her cutie mark, it was a chess board with the all the pieces laid out.
Kitty saw her and immediately hid behind me. That made the Undead smirk as she turned around and walked down a shadowy alley and out of sight.
“Not nice. She mean. She evil.” Kitty said, shaking and almost crying.
I gave her a hug. “Does she have a name?”
“... Call self, Chess.” Kitty said, almost shuddering as she spoke that name. What did Chess do to you Kitty?
After a few moments of comforting Kitty, Sombra came by, possessing his mannequin body and carrying full saddle bags. ”If survivors are coming here I don’t think they’ll take kindly to an Undead and a mannequin walking around. Kitty can talk, not very well but we can think of something, all we need to worry about is appearance.” Sombra dropped his saddle bags and tossed a full body suit over to Kitty. It was blue, with some kinda black material around the barrel, legs, and neck sleeve. There was no tail hole. Sombra also tossed one of those masks the ponies that used to guard the Isolation Chamber wore. We wear these and nopony will know that this body isn’t alive or that Kitty is an Undead.”
“You are a clever pony.” I said. I’m pretty sure Sombra smiled at that.
“And you’re a silly pony, you and Kitty.”
Kitty managed to put the suit on by herself, but I had to help with the mask. Sombra was the same. His mask was for a unicorn and he said he still had an Idea for that.
“Don’t see good.” Kitty said. Her voice slightly muffled by the mask.
”They won’t even be attracted to you Kitty, so I don’t think it will matter.”
“Who’s you?” Kitty asked.
Shit! How are we gonna explain this? “Uh, Kitty, this is Sombra. He’s my…”
”I am Princess Flurry Heart’s bodyguard.”
I gave Sombra an “I can’t believe you just said that” glare. Kitty seemed to had bought it as she just nodded. “He nice?” Kitty asked me.
“He can be hard headed at times but he’s good at heart.” I reply, not taking my eyes off Sombra. “You have a look around inside Kitty, Sombra and I will catch up.”
Kitty trotted inside and I walked up to Sombra. ”What pissed you off?”
“Did you have to call me princess? It’s the apocalypse for stars sake!”
”Hope and I went to Canterlot some time after I was healed. Those pricks only respect social standing. Like it or not we are going to have to throw your title as princess around to catch any attention. Especially from a noble.”
“Crap.”
”The one thing all of your family has in common is that you hate it when ponies address you as royalty. Twilight your mother, Celestia and Luna, they all hate it.”
“What about daddy?”
”Especially him. Once, after a meeting with nobles, a guard accidentally called him prince instead of captain and he had that guard cleaning the locker room for a month. Called it a ‘schedule error’.”
I snickered. “Least he wasn’t fired. Let’s catch up with Kitty and get those regulators installed, you did grab the power cable, right?”
”I just need my wings” Sombra said while patting my head.
“Oh shut up.”
After a few hours of work, and three more sunsets, the parts were finally installed and the equipment in the Radio Room, as I call it, hummed to life with buzzing computers and a faint static noise coming from a speaker next to the broadcast mic. Sombra decided that I should send out the broadcast since ponies would trust my voice more than his.
I sat in front of the mic and spoke. “This is Princess Flurry Heart broadcasting on all frequencies. To any and all survivors that can make the trek, please come to the Crystal Empire. We have safety, food, shelter, and ammunition to spare. The Prince and Princess, my parents, as well as the entire Empire’s citizens and soldiers are currently frozen in magical ice. It was a drastic measure that I greatly regret but there were no other options as the Undead overrun the kingdom. The castle is currently the only safe place within the Empire, nopony living or dead can enter without my invitation. Please, if you can hear this, come. And be safe.”
I backed away from the mic and let go of a breath I thought I let go in that speech. “Now what?” I ask Sombra.
”We wait, might be a whi-”
”Hello? Hello! This is survivors contacting Princess! Please respond!” A voice boomed from the speaker. It sounded like a young stallion.
”Never mind.”
I jumped back on the mic. “This is Flurry Heart, I hear you loud and clear!”
”Thank stars! We’ve received your message and we’ve actually been on our way up the the Empire. What happened? What do you mean by magical ice?”
“Long story short, it was either freeze everypony then find a solution later, or let them die. Least this way they are alive.”
”That explains why communications just stopped. How’d you escape being frozen?”
“Was in the throne room. It was the only place that wouldn’t be affected.”
”Alright then Princess the gang and I will be up there as soon as possible. We’re currently camped out on the train tracks near the Galloping Gorge. ETA is four to six days.
“How many in your team?”
”Myself included, four.
“Alright then survivors, rest up and be ready to travel. Keep your ammo for when you get here if you can, lots of those unique Undead around here, keep in contact.”
"Will do Princess. Survivors out."
As I was getting down from the console another voice came up on the radio. ”This is Reaper calling from Manehattan. You seriously alone up there and offering shelter?” it was another stallion, but he sounded much older.
“I have a few… guards, but yes there are only three of us here.”
”Got guts kid, I’m currently escorting a group out of the city. Tomorrow we’re taking the Friendship Express out of here. Thing’s still parked in the station and loaded with coal. I’ll contact you once we’re on the rails and/or if we experience any difficulties.”
“How many in your group?”
”Twenty, eleven of which are children. We’ll be there ASAP. Reaper out.”
After some minutes of no other answers I finally got off the mic. “That was surprising.”
”If that Reaper guy manages to take that train they’ll be here within a few days, much sooner than the ones by Galloping Gorge.”
“We have work to do then.” I looked at my watch. Nine PM and the sun is just rising. “It’s late, tomorrow we should make some repairs, and whatever else needs to be done here.”
”I’ll make a list. Kitty, you should go back to bed or… something.” As I was walking out Sombra spoke again. ”And Flurry,” I turned and looked at him, he did look like a pony in armor and not just a mannequin with that stuff on. ”Way to act like a Princess and a leader.”
I felt myself blush. “Shut up and good night.”
Dark, everything was dark!
ROOOAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That thing is chasing me! I can’t see!
ROOOAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHACK! “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!” A burst of pain spiked through the right side of my body. It burned like skin on hot metal and I felt something tug on my body.
BANG. The sound of gunfire echoed in the darkness and the room lite up like a fire had started burning down the world. That huge, hook legged, Undead was in front of me. One of it’s hooks had blood on it. I looked at my side, and the entire right side was cut clean to my ribcage. I could see all of my blood flowing out, my veins hanging out. My right wing cut in half… dangling by my slowly ripping skin! “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I screamed.
I tried to move, only for my fatal wound to begin spewing blood out like a shaken can of soda. I collapsed. I didn’t feel faint, I just hurt! Pain was all I could feel, making almost all my other senses numb. I looked up, and that one Undead, Chess, was standing above me. She grabbed my cut wing in her magic, and finished ripping it off.
“AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHH!” I yelled. I was already falling off, but my wound was aching, that that made it worse! “WHY!?” I yelled.
She just smiled at me. Chess grabbed my horn in her fetlock, she gripped it tight and was pushing it down into my skull. “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I screamed as the pressure on my head built up. The pain was tormenting, I could feel the cracks in my skull forming. I could HEAR them! “Please!” She just smiled as the large Undead came up and walked out of my line of sight.
Snap! “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” I screamed as I felt my horn snap off at the base of my skull, blood pouring out of the wound and into my eyes. I could no longer speak. The pain had paralyzed me. Chess was holding my still bleeding horn in her magic, using it like a toothpick. When she finished that she looked at me and smiled, almost giggling, and shanked me in my spin, with my own horn. I reacted, but no sounds other than escaping air came out. I felt limp. I could no longer feel my body. All I could do was look at Chess as she smiled at me.
“So this is it?” Chess spoke. She’s... talking? “You’re the world's only hope? The mare immune to the epidemic creating my kind and you can’t even beat me in your own nightmare?!” Chess laughed. “You are pathetic!”
“W.. .what?” I managed to say.
“Well, you can still talk after that. Impressive. Still, I went through great lengths to learn this spell and I was honestly hoping for a little more out of you. Maybe a fight even. Yet you can’t do anything without that shadow hovering over you, yeah, I know about that freak Sombra. Then again who am I to call someone a freak, I’m half dead!”
“Half…?”
“So much to learn, so little you know. You really are a child. Maybe school yourself a little before we meet again. If you’re my opponent in this game then at least try and show effort, otherwise I win and the Undead will rule Equestria, I may want that but we both know you don’t. Now, wake up!”
* * *
I woke up stiff, cold sweat ran down my face. I wanted to scream, but I was too confused. Was that actually Chess? Do the smart Undead really know magic? And half? Chess said she was half dead. If that’s true, then what does that have to do with anything?
I got up and checked my watch. Ten-forty one AM. It was ten PM when I went to sleep. Can I even call that sleep? I honestly don’t wanna think about it. I caught my saddle bags in the corner of my eye. I set them on the nightstand next to my parents bed. I grabbed it in my magic and pulled out Sunburst’s research. Most of it looked like some kinda math, only with letters. Why would math have letters? I skimmed through most of it till I finally found notes in READABLE writing.
I just don’t get it. This… THING, It’s like no disease or virus in any medical textbook, magic or not. It shares no genetic kin to anything on Equestria or overseas, it’s not made from magic, and it only has half a strand of DNA. HALF A FREAKING HELIX! From what I can tell it follows a simple pattern though, attach to a host cell, multiply, then… it just takes over the host! Forces their most primal urges to take over, no intelligence can be found in any infected patient.
Not just that, once total host takeover has been established, it mutates the host. I’ve linked this to it’s ability to bring out the primal urges, it changes the host's digestive tract, making naturally herbivore type species turn carnivorous, cannibalistic is more like it though. It also kills off any and all nerve responses, they won’t even know to avoid danger because they won’t even know they’re in danger! Their heart beats are slowed to an average of two beats a minute. No living creature can live like that! And with how fast they move… It just makes no sense! How does half a helix of DNA do this!?
I don’t know much about DNA, but I know half of DNA should not be possible.
I’ve made a small breakthrough. This half a helix seems to bond itself with the host DNA, like it’s completing itself, once that’s done it just multiplies from there. We managed to isolate an unmerged helix half and I honestly had no idea what I was looking at. It looked almost like an ink blob, but it moved, like it was looking for something. I’d go as far as to say it was alive and conscious because we put a small, uninfected blood sample with it and it jumped onto it. I saw the helix change before my eyes. How can this thing not be magic? Every test to see if it was magic failed. We repeated the experiment with an infected blood sample and got a rather interesting result The infected blood and the helix just… rotated around each other, typically a virus that enters an already infected host will merge with the majority, yet they left each other alone. When we put uninfected blood in the helix went for it and the infected sample didn’t do anything. Like it was letting the helix have it!
This thing is not possible, nature or magic. It just makes no sense. It’s not a cancer, that’s typically associated with fucked up DNA, but it’s not. I think we need to get in closer, try and see if we can find out anything about the helix itself.
I flipped passed more crazy math filled pages and X’d out ones.
Two things happened today. One, this thing might ACTUALLY BE ALIVE! It reacted to direct sunlight badly, like it straight up hated it. We looked at it with a new microscope Princess Twilight made and it seems to be some form of living DNA, but not a complete helix. All I can say to add to the fact it might be alive is that it had something close to a brain connected to the center of the helix. What ever this thing it, it’s alive, can attach itself to DNA like a virus, multiplies like one, then claims the host body for its own.
The other thing was that… some of the test subjects, infected that the Empire’s government managed to “Acquire”... It just… changed. It fell to the floor, screaming, like it was in danger. After a few minutes it’s body… oh stars I am never going to unsee that. When it was done it became rather thin, all it’s hair fell off, it’s eyes grew a third set of eyelids! And when the guards went to grab it to put it in solitary, it ran at near Rainboom speeds! Didn’t seem interested in the guard after it rammed them and broke his leg, when the guard went down it ran to the other side of the room and just stood there till the guard got out. It took ten ponies and broke nearly all of their legs, but we managed to get a blood sample. The DNA was completely different from a normal infected. It seemed as if specific genetic traits were suddenly… enhanced.
We ran a few more tests and this new type of infected just seems to avoid eating all together. When ever anything that moves gets too close to it, it always aims for the legs, Infected or not. It is extremely territorial. If we ever acquire one like it we’ll have to see how it reacts with something like it.
The rest of the book was test results, more crazy math, and other stuff I had no idea how to read. I looked through the rest of the Sunburst’s notes and they were all the same letters-in-math weirdness I couldn’t read. I did find a folder labeled “Project Salvation”.
Project Salvation
An unimaginable incident has happened, Princess Flurry Heart has been bitten by an infected during a visit to the local orphanage with her parents. She was playing with the orphan children when one of them turned and bit her on the front left leg.
This, however, led to a miracle. It seems Princess Flurry Heart is immune the the Helix Virus, The following is a quote from head researcher Sunburst.
“It would seem that upon entering Flurry’s bloodstream, the virus simply dies. Her blood type is A positive, a common type, and her antibodies seem to play no part in the killing of the virus. It just dies on contact. We tested this with the Cancer Helix strain of the virus as well and the same thing happened. She is immune to both the standard and advanced forms of the virus. Unfortunately, with her immunity unexplainable much like the virus itself, it will take much time and research to develop anything useful. The Helix Virus, we’ve been studying it every day for the past three years and we still only have theories. I only hope Equestria can hold out.”
As of this program's initiation, Princess Flurry Heart is to be placed in an isolation chamber where she can be monitored and safely kept until a cure or vaccine is made. Orders from Princess Celestia herself. Agreed upon by three of the four princesses.
I put the document down. So that’s how I ended up in there. I grabbed my left front leg. I don’t remember the bite, or any of that, but I know it happened. The bite mark is still on my skin, under my fur. A scar forever part of my body.
I looked through the notes again. The document said there was two strains of this virus, but none of the notes I read said anything like that. Those must be back at Sunburst’s house, or in the royal laboratory. Getting out of my parents bed, I noticed something both cute and odd. I’m not sure how I didn’t notice it before, but Kitty was on the floor next to the bed, curled up into a ball, fast asleep.
She looks so cute! I carefully slipped out of bed, taking advantage of my wings, which I checked before taking off. They were both fine. I was too in shock to check when I first woke up. Once I was at the door, I lifted Kitty up in my magic and gently placed her on the bed. With that done I silently left and went for the kitchen. Upon entering I saw Sombra in his mannequin body, now fully clothed, with mask, cooking.
“I didn’t know you could cook?” I spoke, catching his attention.
“I grew up in an orphanage remember? When we’re old enough they teach us these things, we usually ended up making everypony lunch or dinner.”
“So you have experience.” I say, tapping his shoulder. “So anything happen while I was out?”
“Those survivors over by Galloping Gorge managed to luck out and found a hoof powered rail cart. They should be here sooner than expected. That Reaper fellow also called in an hour ago, apparently the train run was a success, but they lost two fighters.” I cringed. That’s two less ponies in Equestria all together. “Speaking of when you were out I sensed you were afraid, did you have a nightmare?”
I took a deep breath. “Maybe…”
”What happened?”
“I honestly don’t know. Everything started off as dark, then I heard that large Undead’s scream, then I felt a deep, sharp, pain. Then gunfire sounded and there was light. But the scariest part was that Chess was there.”
”That Undead Kitty is afraid of?”
“Yeah, she tortured me, then started talking. Called me some stuff and said if I was gonna be a challenge I should ready myself or Equestria is as good as Undead World.”
”Sounds almost like a dream walker spell, but-”
“She said she was practicing a spell in my nightmare!”
If Sombra could, his jaw would have dropped. ”These motherfuckers can use spells!?”
Sombra ranted on for a while, he even spoke in a language I didn’t recognize, but it felt… natural. “What was that? That language you yelled in?”
”It’s the language of the Umbrum. Older than Equestria and darker than any necromancy. From what I was told, cruising someone in this language brings them misfortune. Hope that’s true, I want Chess to get VERY unlucky right now.”
“So that was her?”
”Yes, and a dream walker spell requires something of the pony whose dream you with to visit. Thankfully it destroys it after the spell has run it’s course.”
“So she’s not only smart, she can use magic. Well fuck.”
"Strong magic at that. Not many unicorns can use a spell like that.”
“What do we do?”
”Let’s give her what she wants.”
“Say what?”
”She said it herself. She wants a challenge. If Kitty is any indication of how these smart Undead are, then the need for a challenge was a part of Chess before she turned and still is. She wants to play war, let’s show her we can play better.”
“Does that mean?” I ask, hopeful.
”Get to the guards combat room, after breakfast, today I train you to be the Alicorn of War.” The Alicorn of War… It it wrong I so love how that sounds! ”Who knows, might even get your cutie mark.” Sombra added, making me blush.
I never really gave my cutie mark any real thought. I shouldn’t even care, but a cutie mark about war might just give me the confidence I need to see this through. “Then from now on, we are officially at war with the Undead. Leave only those like Kitty alive!”
”Just try not to go too far, last thing I want after this is all over is your mother and father screaming at me for turning you into the old me.”
“That’s what you’re for. You’ll keep me from making the same mistakes you made.”
Sombra nodded. ”Now that that’s out of the way I have one question for you. Eggs, over easy, or scrambled?”
“Both! The only thing’s I’ve eaten in my life have been laboratory slop and an MRE, I wanna try all the food you can cook.”
”Careful, if you eat like that you’ll be inheriting your aunt Celestia’s plot.”
My face blushed a blood red. I don’t remember aunt Celestia much, but nopony can unsee that… rear end of hers. “Sh...shut up!”
Chapter 5: Primary School
“Eggs, eggs. The tasty treat that I love~.” I was waiting for Sombra in the guards combat room, singing tunelessly at my newly discovered love of eggs. I took off my armor since Sombra said we were just going to focus on magic and physical workouts for today. I’m so excited, this is the closest to a school activity I’ve ever done!
The sound of opening doors rang and I saw Sombra walk in, only something was off. His sleeve in his mask for a horn looked like a horn was in it. “What did you do?”
“I made an artificial horn for this body. Now I can properly spellcast. I just can’t do too much at once. The magic in the stone I made the horn out of needs to recharge every so often, too much stress and it will break. Now then, what do you want to learn first, magic or how far your body can be pushed?”
“Magic!”
Sombra chuckled. ”Figured. You take after your aunt Twilight. Now, what I’m going to teach you is first how magic works. Now how much do you know about magic? Don’t look at me like that, of course I know, but just play along.”
I rolled my eyes. “From what mom and dad told me, magic is controlled through a unicorn's horn and mental throught. We channel magic through our minds and into reality with our horns. A unicorn body naturally attracts mana like a magnet from the environment, we then use that magic to cast spells. When casting, the spell determines the amount of mental focus needed. Simple spells like levitation can be used without thinking much or at all and are second nature to every modern unicorn. More advanced spells require more focus, but with regular use, and practice, even advanced spells can become second nature with little effort.”
”Yes, but to properly use your magic, even if it is mostly sealed away, you need practice. You should still be able to use basic combat and defence spells. Defence spells should be really easy for you given your father.” I smiled proudly. ”Still, with your true capability locked away, I’m not sure how strong your spells are going to be. To test this, you’ll make a shield appear around yourself, and to test how long you can hold it, and how much damage it can take, I will be trying to break it with a basic combat spell, fire. Now, to forge a shield spell, you need to expel the mana within you outwards, then will it to stay in a solid form. It’s strength depends on both how much magic is expelled, and how well you hold it together. To expel mana from yourself, you have to force it out by literally using your telekinesis to rip it out of your body. Yes it will hurt, but only for the first few times."
“Question.” I said.
”What is it?”
“What’s telekinesis?”
Sombra face hoofed hard enough to make a small echo in the room. “It’s the same thing as what you use to levitate an object. Telekinesis is the most simple spell a unicorn can use, but it is also the bases for every spell. Without a unicorns advanced, inborn, telekinesis it would be very difficult to perform magic and spells.”
“Oh. But how does being able to lift things with magic help cast other spells?”
”Magic isn’t pulling something out of thin air, you need a resource like anything else. You use Molecules, atoms, the small building blocks of the universe. Unicorn telekinesis doesn’t actually grab or lift an object, it manipulates atoms and molecules within the object. To cast spells, you reshape or forge these building blocks into what you need. Mana is what we call the resource of life, it flows through everything. Good and evil, dead or alive. By itself, it doesn’t do much, but it is an endless, powerful resource that let's use use telekinesis. No pony knows how unicorns became able to absorb vast amounts of mana or how we learned how manipulate it to rework existence. To put it short, we know little about how magic actually works, and using it just takes a strong will, and to know what you want it to do.”
I was awe struck. Sombra knows so much, and he just summarized all I really need to know in just a simple sentence. I closed my eyes to help concentrate. Alright, to make a shield I rip the mana out of me, then hold it in place.
”Excellent Flurry!”
“Say what?” I opened my eyes and I was inside a pink bubble. “Wait, I did this? I didn’t even feel anything.”
”Looks like you take after your father. Now, just hold that while I throw fire spells at you.”
Through the pink color filtering of the shield, I saw Sombra’s make-shift horn glow and then balls of fire appeared next to him. One flew right at me. I flinched a little, but stood my ground as it made contact with my shield and the fireball blew up in smoke. I was surprised it held honestly. Several more fireballs were thrown and they all exploded into smoke upon impact. “This is holding up very well.”
”Yes, this is good. Despite your true abilities locked away, you still can call upon large amounts of mana. I’m going to use a stronger attack Flurry, are you ready?”
“I guess.” I heard a loud wind suddenly start screeching. It grew louder and louder. I looked up, and fell flat on my flank. Sombra had a tornado spinning on top of my shield. And it’s on fire! “The fuck is that!?”
”A master level pyro spell. It burns anything it touches, including mana. Yet your shield still holds. Flurry, not even your father's shields can hold against this spell. You surpassed him without even trying AND you have a magic handicap.”
I looked at my shield, the flaming tornado of death that was slowly turning to smoke, and my horn. HOW MUCH POWER DO I ACTUALLY HAVE!? When the tornado was gone, I dropped my shield. “That. Was. AMAZING!”
”I figured it would hold. The second your shield came up I felt a spike of magic I’ve only felt a few times before. Well done.”
“I wonder if I can out magic aunt Twilight?”
”If we find her we should find out. Come on, that’s all the magic for today. Now we’re going to see how far your body can push.”
Sombra walked me outside the courtyard, just behind the barrier of the castle. The sun was rising, for the fourth time this morning. “What are we doing here.”
”So far you have yet to kill an Undead. You need to learn how to deal with the ones that try to hurt you. You said it yourself, “kill all Undead not like Kitty.” Meaning kill all… ‘angeries’ as she puts it.”
“Oh… right. I mean. I read Sunburst’s notes. I get that they aren’t ponies any more. I just can’t get passed how they look.”
”... You know. Back when I had a body, when Hope and I were searching for princess Amore’s fragments. We came across a wanderer, very young yet oldy wise for his age. He helped us deal with some rather nasty monsters that had attacked. Turned out, a mad unicorn was controlling them. He nearly killed Hope and I, then that wanderer used his magic and snapped the unicorn's neck.”
“Oh stars!”
”Hope said the same thing. The wanderer was burning that unicorns body when Hope asked him if he was alright. He said, “I’m fine. Not the first monster I’ve killed.” Hope realized that he meant that the unicorn wasn’t the first pony he killed. She was shaken, but asked why he referred the unicorn as a monster, instead of a pony. He told her, “Ponies don’t kill ponies. Monsters kill ponies and ponies kill monsters.” I knew all too well what he meant.”
“What did he mean?”
“A pony, or any intelligent being, that takes the life of something with no justifiable reason, or no reason whatsoever, they are no different than the monsters in Tartarus. He was able to live with the blood on his hooves because he doesn’t see those that do great evil as pony. And it’s true in a sense, they throw away that right the second they commit such acts. These Undead are no different, their monsters in a pony's skin. If there is anything left of the pony they once were in them, it must be a hell for them.”
“So killing them is a mercy?”
”It’s a better alternative than letting them run around like this.”
I looked at the barrier. An Undead was bumping into it, It doesn’t get that it can’t come in. It was a stallion, dirty blue mane and tail with bright yellow coat, partly stained in dry blood. It’s cutie mark is a doorknob. Was he a locksmith before? “Alright. You’re right. I need to learn to fight on my own, I can’t always rely on you.” I levitated the pistol aunt Twilight made for me out of my saddle bags. I haven’t shot it yet. I haven’t shot any of the weapons my family made for me, yet, Sombra’s shot two of them, the ones my mother and father made for me. I aimed the pistol between the Undead’s eyes, it’s white, empty eyes. I stood there with my pistol to its head for what felt like eternity. “Rest in peace.” I pulled the trigger. To my shock the Undead’s body twitched unnaturally after the bullet went through it’s head. It did that for bit before finally falling over. Dead. “I feel weird.”
”I think you were born for this.” Sombra said.
“What makes you say that?” I ask, looking at him. He pointed at my flank and when I looked my jaw hit the floor. It was a cutie mark… my cutie mark. A tombstone, shaped like a shield, with a sword and a pistol crossed. “I really am the alicorn of war, aren’t I?”
”That doesn’t make you bad.”
“I know. I just kinda wish my parents could see this. The Princess of Love gave birth to the Alicorn of War, oh the irony in that.”
”Hmmm. You know, that cutie mark doesn’t look like the one of somepony who’s destiny is war. The tombstone is shaped like a shield, and a gun and a sword are crossed. Maybe the Alicorn of Death? Or something like that?”
“Is there a difference between the two?”
”Well. Death fights and kills alone. War fights with an army. They work well together though. In war, Death spares few, and War brings death.”
“That literally did not help at all.”
”Wasn’t supposed too. Come on, this is gonna count as physical exercise.” Sombra walked out of the safety of the barrier.
“Wait, what!?”
”I know you took a look at Sunburst’s notes, we’re gonna go back and get whatever else we can. Your saddle bags are empty, right?”
“They just got an MRE and some mags for my pistol, but-”
”Perfect, a survival/gym lesson. Come on Flurry, odds are we are going to have to leave the castles safety more than we’d like, so it’s best I give you the rundown of scavenging for supplies… while we run from Undead.” Sombra headed a little further out and I quickly caught up. ”Glad you followed.”
“Well… you said we can’t get too far from each other when you’re in that body, and I guess I do need to learn this.”
”Great, first order of business, try not to use your pistol while we’re out here.”
“What! Why?”
”The Undead rely on hearing, remember? Few things are louder than gunshot so they’ll come like moths to a flame. First order of business, we need to find you a silent weapon, something that will cut their heads off or bash them in.”
“You’re going to enjoy this, aren’t you?”
”A little.”
“Can’t I at least go get my armor, I’m defenceless.”
”You're immune. Besides, most ponies surviving this are probably lucky to find a gun, armor is out of the question for them.”
“Alright. But why do you get to wear armor?”
”Would it matter if I didn’t? This body isn’t alive, it’s cheap, lightweight plastic with movable joints for effect.”
“You have a counter for everything, don’t you?”
”Yes I do. Now then, where should we go first?”
“You don’t know where we should go?”
”You don’t learn anything from following. Trial and error are the best teachers. Just have a look around, think about possible reward vs. possible negatives.”
“Alright?”
Sombra had walked us out quite a distance from the castle. Flying back won’t be a problem though. Now then, where to go. I think we’re in the shopping district. I mean, why else would every building here be a store? Now then, which would be best?
Three stores I see on the left, “Crystal Greens” A grocery store maybe? The second, “Quills and Sofas, Crystal Empire Location” what kinda store only sells two things? The third was “Diagon Alley Spellbook Store” So spellbooks, could be useful.
On the right side were four stores. “D.J Records Store” music most likely. The next was “The Soda Bar”, what’s a bar? What’s soda? The third was “Techmo’s Gadgets” so technology… could also be useful. The last was “Sports Center” a place full of sports equipment?
Alright then, Quills and Sofas, D.J Record Store and Diagon Alley Spellbook Store are out right off the bat. The freeze probably froze all the food in Crystal Greens. I don’t think a T.V. is useful at the moment, so Techmo’s Gadgets are out. I’d really like to know what a bar is, and what soda is, but it’s got no windows, Angries might be in there.
Sports Center s the only place that seems alright, mostly glass building, stuff I could use. Dad always told me that sporting stores sold things called ‘energy bars’ and other quick pick-me-ups. He even said some sell guns. Probably none like what is stored in the castle, but still.
“That last store on the right, Sports Center.”
”And why there?”
“It will have pick-me-up food and possible weapons. Plus, it’s mostly glass, so no ‘Angeries’ should be in there.”
”Good choice, Safe, has fast acting snack food, and likely to have weapons. Good thinking Flurry.”
“Thanks. Come on, let's go.” Thankfully the sun was still holding up, so the whole store was lit up. Walking in, there were a few frozen ponies and two frozen Undead. One pony, an employee I think, had a baseball bat in his mouth, frozen in mid swing at an Undead’s head. Up front I spotted the snack foods Sombra mentioned. Bags of chips, energy drinks, jerky… what’s jerky? “Sombra, what’s jerky?”
Sombra ran over and took the bag I was looking at in his magic. ”These aren’t typically sold in Equestria. It’s meat that’s been cooked by heating it till all the water is evaporated out.”
“Ewww. What’s it doing here?”
”The infection hit the griffon kingdom hard, many died and many seeked safety. The Crystal Empire offered and many came with whatever they could bring. They were all relocated to the Dragon Kingdom ten years ago since, well, meat and ponies doesn't mix well.”
“Guess they were just trying to get rid of it, ten bags for five bits.” I read off the bag.
I tossed it back onto the shelf and kept looking around. I saw some cool looking one pony camping tents. And one, two pony camping tent that made me blush red and made Sombra laugh. The royal lovers camping tent, recommended by the Princess of Love herself… Just why mom? Why?
I eventually found where they kept sports equipment… and guns! Ammos and guns filled sealed glass display cases for three isles. Sharp sword looking weapons hung in sheaths on the fourth. “Should we take any?”
”Yes, part of the rewards of scavenging is taking what you want, but we don’t have a key, and gunshot will attract Angeries when the moon comes up. Grab one of the machetes over there, the swords looking things, I wanna try and break the lock off.”
I lifted one of the, machetes, as Sombra called them, in magic and he took it in his. He unsheathed it, revealing a curved blade. Dad always told me about swords and spears, even showed me a few, but this was way different than any sword.. It was smaller, for one, and thin.
Whack. Whack. Whack. Clink. Three hits and Sombra broke the lock off of one of the display cases, one of the ones filled with rifle looking guns. “Cool.”
Grabbing a rifle, Sombra actually took it from me with his magic. ’This is a shotgun. A VERY deadly gun. Even ponies in armor fear what it can do. Unlike a rifle, you can’t shoot a target from far away, they have to be up close for best damage. Like any gun, ammunition types are plenty, best way to use a shotgun is to use what are called ‘slug’ rounds. It fires a thick, solid chunk of lead that can blow a hole through this body I’m using, so think about what that can do to a pony.”
I took the shotgun and looked at it. “Is the recoil bad?”
”Shotguns are well known for their recoil, This one however is a 20 gage, very common, and the recoil is not too strong as far as shotguns go. You can shoot this with ease.”
I smiled as Sombra helped me attach a strap onto it that keep it on the side of my body, barrel pointed forward. I could just shoot it without worrying about getting hurt with how out forward the barrel was. I also picked up a machete for myself, since Sombra said no guns. We also took a bunch of snack foods and energy bars. We began to leave when the sun started going down.
”So, where are we going to spend the “night” Flurry?” Sombra asked, catching me off guard.
“Uhhh, there was this building called “Soda Bar.” It doesn’t have windows and the door looks fortifiable.”
”True, alright, but there might be… Angeries… in there. We really need to think of a new name for them. Also we can use guns, but only once we’re inside. I’ve been in there when I was alive and the place is completely soundproof.”
Cool! Two good spots in one day, I get to test out my new shotgun, and I get to learn what a bar and soda is! Sombra quietly walked up to the door, slowly opening it and I followed. Surprisingly, it was lit up with Sunstones. “Think it’s clear?” I asked.
”One way to find out for sure.” Sombra lifted out the revolver I took from Sunbursts house, I didn’t know he had that, and fired.
BANG!
“What the-!” A voice sounded, not like Kitty’s, it was a pony's voice! “Friendly fire! Friendly fire!” It yelled from behind and under the large table that was mounted on the floor near the wall, and surrounded by bottles and faucets.
”Wait, I know that voice. Thorax?! Is that you!?”
“Sombra? That’s impossible! You can’t leave Flurry Heart in daylight! Sun’s still going down, not night yet! I knew it, I’ve lost my mind.” Up from behind the table, a… I can only describe it as looking like a large bug pony, appeared. “Oh crap I can see… wait who’s the mare?”
”Thorax, this is Flurry Heart, you remember her.”
Upon hearing my name, the bug pony flew up to me. His wings making a buzz noise the whole time. “Holy hell! Flurry, wait!” The bug pony looked at Sombra. “How?”
”Long story. Here’s the short version. I can feed on Flurry’s fear like you feed on love, that makes me stronger, which I rather don’t like. I can now possess objects to use as bodies, but Flurry and I can’t get too far from each other.
“So… that body isn’t alive?”
”Nope.”
“Oh.”
“Uh, excuse me.” I say, getting Sombra and, Thorax’s attention. “Mind explaining some things to me. Like how do you two know about each other, and how this… Thorax, know’s about Sombra and I’s… connection?”
”Flurry, Thorax is a Changeling. A… rather looked down upon race. They can transform into anything and anyone. Rather than food they feed on love, and Thorax is the only one that has ever come up and proved a Changeling can be nice.”
“I was an outcast among my own kind anyway. I met Sombra cause one night I felt an odd surge of mixed love when the bar was closed. It was love for one's homeland, and love of a lost lover. No pony was in the bar so it was strange I felt that. Changelings aren’t good at magic, but Twilight did manage to teach me a fun thermal vision spell since I went out to the frozen planes often. It was incase a pony was missing and it really came in handy when this whole Undead business started. I nearly shit myself when the thermal image spell showed me a ghost.”
”I guess when I’m free roaming I count as a ghost.” Sombra commented.
“Anyway, Sombra noticed my freak out and got surprised. Flew through the radio and he was able to talk through it.”
Sombra pulled off his mask, showing me a small speaker glued where a mouth would be on his mannequin body. ”Pulled it out of a broken walkie talkie. I supply sound and power.” He covered his ‘face’ back up.
“We just sorta talked after that and I did some research on the subject and helped him learn how to do simple things in ghost form. Had some sleepless nights, not from research, from fear. Probably should have stuck to books rather than adding horror movies to my research…”
I gave a chuckle. “Well it’s nice to meet you Thorax. How did you survive The Freeze?”
“Oh, I wasn’t in the Empire at the time, I was returning home, the changeling hive I was born in. I came back because it was empty when I got there. Was really creepy, like everyone just up and left. Dropped what they were doing and vanished. There was one thing though!” Thorax ran back behind the table and came back levitating a weird looking rock. Wait… that’s not a rock. “One egg was left behind. It’s still alive, so I’ve been carrying it with me this whole time. When I got back to the Empire, everything was covered in frost and everyone, Undead included, were frozen over.”
”Yeah, that’s my bad. They’re still alive though! We just need a way to get Flurry Heart here crowned a royal so her powers will unlock and she can hopefully unfreeze everyone.”
“Oh, that makes sense… I think? Anyway, is that why I couldn't’ get into the castle when I came here?”
“Yes actually. Can I say it here?” I ask Sombra.
”Yes it will work as long as you are within the Empire's borders.”
“Thorax, Welcome to the Empire.”
“Phrase based lock/entrance barrier?” Thorax questioned.
”Yes. Rather effective in my opinion. Only Flurry Heart can say that phrase and have it work.” Sombra replied.
“I have one question though?” I asked. Getting Sombra and Thorax’s attention. “What’s a bar and what’s soda?”
Sombra and Thorax laughed loudly. “A bar is just a place that sells foodstuffs that require a licence to hold, sell, and make, if needed. And soda is a beverage that is the best thing you’ll ever taste. Fizzy water mixed well with a special flavored syrup, of which there are many flavors, create the best tasting drink ever! It’s not alcoholic, but the ingredients fails Equestria’s public health requirements for mass production, so private companies make it and bars, like mine, sell it for ponies to enjoy.”
“Can I have some?”
“Sure, it’s just sitting here and it only lasts so long. I’ll get you a mug.”
Thorax flew behind the counter while I took a seat on one of the stools. I looked back over to the door and Sombra hadn't moved. “Sombra?”
In your body. I haven’t had soda since before I died, since I taste what you taste I’m gonna take advantage of this.
I laughed, earning an odd look from Thorax, who also noticed Sombra’s body standing by the doorway still. “He… back in you?”
“Yup, he feels and tastes whatever I do so her want’s to taste the soda.”
Thorax chuckled at that as he put a large cup under a faucet. “Yeah, he told me. Before I took over the bar, after he died, he held the record for the loudest burp, lasted up until about two years ago. Tiny little mare, your size, walks in, asks for a grape soda. Chugged it down in seconds. Next thing I knew the bar practically shook as an earthquake burp came out of her tiny body. Her pictures over there.”
I looked over to where Thorax pointed, only to almost fall off of my seat. It was Kitty! “That’s kitty!”
“Hu?” Thorax said confused. “Wait, she’s alive!?”
“Uhhh.” I replied. How to explain this? “Well, no. She’s an Undead. One of the smart ones. But she’s nice! She eats regular pony food, not meat! She was actually keeping those crazy Undead out of the storage rooms under the castle.”
“Wow. And here I thought all Ringmasters were evil. The fact that Sombra or you haven’t killed her is good enough for me.”
“Ringmasters?”
“Yeah, met some survivors coming back here. Disguised myself as a pony since they would have shot me otherwise. Said they managed to escape three Ringmasters, those smart ones. They call them that since they can command and order the not-so-smart ones like a ringmaster does a lion or manticore at a circus.” Thorax slid the large cup full of a fizzy, dark liquid. I took a sip and was in bliss. The flavor was rich and sweet, the fiz tickled my mouth as I drank. When I swallowed, it was like swallowing fireworks.
Manna from heaven. Sombra said, enjoying the soda as much as I was.
“Mind if I ask Sombra a question?” Thorax asked. “You can answer for him if he doesn’t want to come out yet.”
Tell him sure.
“Sombra say’s yes”
“Is it okay if I strap some soda kegs to his body? I just want to take some to the castle. I’ll come back for the rest, but only after I find a motor carriage. I’ll be able to bring all of it over in one trip if I’m lucky.”
Sure, I can help with the motor chariot actually.
“Sombra says sure, and that he can help with the motor carriage. Whatever that is.”
“Great! And a motor carriage Flurry, is a vehicle that moves using special batteries charged with unicorn magic to power an engine that moved the vehicle. A pony has to operate controls to move it in a certain direction and they can go pretty fast. Most don’t even look like a carriage with how big they can be, but the really large ones are used for long distance cargo delivery.”
“Oh.” I say, drinking more soda. Note to self, get Thorax that motor carriage cause I want this soda.
Agreed. Sombra added. Actually, we’ll need one for passengers. Reaper said they’d be arriving some time tomorrow with luck. We’ll need a passenger carriage to make sure everypony will be safe.
Where can we find one? I ask mentally, not wanting to talk out loud, mostly because I’ll look crazy.
Shining armor had motor carriages of all kinds prepared in case the worst happened. They’re stored in a warehouse near the west border of the Empire.
Think we can get there in time?
If you and Thorax fly, yes. Will have to leave my body but we can return for that later. Can even pick up all his stock while we’re at it.
Slurp. My cup was empty. “Good news thorax.” He looked up from a book he must have pulled out when I wasn’t looking. “We might be able to bring your whole stock her today. Sombra and I have a plan we can hit two birds with one stone with.”
“Great. Let’s hear it.”
Chapter 6: IT'S A TRAIN! er, TRAP!
Messy… The parts and engines of motor chariots were messy! The ones that were out in the open anyway. They were covered in a black sticky slime that had long been dried up, yet was still sticky. This will take forever to wash off.
Motor engines need special oil to keep the parts working and moving. They get too dry they stop, break, and even catch fire.
Yikes. Nothing’s perfect, right?
Exactly.
“Flurry, over here!” Thorax yelled. I ran over and stood in front of a massive blue and grey metal cariot. “Damn, these chariots are mostly used in Equestria, long distance travel other than trains. Not as fast, but cheaper. They call them a bus, this one looks like it can hold seventy ponies!” Thorax lifted one of the panels on the bottom sides of the bus and opened it, revealing a large empty space. “The cargo hold should be able to hold least a thousand pounds of stuff. This will be perfect for our needs, once those other survivors get here, we can get the rest of them.”
“Sounds like a plan… you know how to drive them?”
“Yeah, had to. Since I couldn’t afford my soda to be delivered I would borrow a friend’s cargo truck to pick up my stock.”
“Alright. So how do you turn it on?”
“This” Thorax held a small key in his magic. “Was taped to the door. Open the large door over there and I’ll start driving.”
I looked over at the end of the warehouse and spotted the door Thorax mentioned. It was easy four meters high, and pulled open by a chain on the wall next to it. I flew over and began pulling. The sun was coming up again, and sunlight brightened up the warehouse. Once the door was completely open I took a quick look outside and froze. Chess was there. Standing under a large dark black umbrella in the middle of the road.
“Finally, a face to face talk.” She said. She talks, she actually does talk, not just in my dreams… “Sorry about that nightmare I gave you, but what can I say? It’s my fetish.”
“Y… What are you doing here?” I managed to say. I could feel Sombra getting ready to take over my horn if needed.
“Just a talk. Felt a strong surge of magic earlier. Guessing that’s you.” I didn’t reply. “I’ll just take that as a yes. Seems you might not be as useless as I thought. Tell me, did you learn anything about us?”
“... You’re made from some kinda half DNA.”
“Something is better than nothing I supose. Yes, on the outside it looks like we’re born from a virus, of sorts, but that’s only half of it my sweet. What makes us what we are is a parasite.”
“A parasite?”
“Yes. Pretty sure there’s notes on that. That Sunburst pony might have had a chance at figuring out what we truly are.”
“Yeah, read something like that in his notes. Wait, you just said-”
“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell darling. If I told you everything then what fun would I have in watching you struggle. We may not be what we once were, but we are what we are now. Lot’s of us didn’t come out right… I believe Kitty called them ‘Dummies.’”
“What are and/or were you?”
“Spoilers sweetheart.” Chess started walking away, then stopped before turning a corner. “I will tell you this, we were never born, but we see everything die.”
With that, Chess turned the corner, out of sight and I fell to the floor, my legs gave out and I didn’t even know they got weak. “That… was… scary.”
Should have killed her there.
“If she can use a Dream Walker spell then she should easy be able to make a bullet proof shield.”
Fair enough. What should we do?
“... I don’t know. I honestly just want to go home right now.” I just felt tired. Really tired…
* * *
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY HEAD!
”You’re finally up. Sombra’s voice came from next to me.
“I feel like my skull broke… Did I…” I say as I start to open my eyes. We’re back in Throax’s bar.
”The stress of meeting Chess in person after your nightmare with her was too much for your mind to handle so you fainted.”
“You look scary as all hell when Sombra has control of you kid.” I looked over and saw Thorax pulling large crates on wheels outside. “Your eyes were as black as my chitten, and your skin turned ash grey. Your wings looked see through and on fire! I don’t know what kinda power you got locked up kid, but it reacts when Sombra takes control.”
I looked over to Sombra. “Did I really?”
“Yes. I didn’t tell you about it the first time because you already went through so much.”
“Ugh. My stomach feels like a water balloon.”
”Heh, heh. That’s my bad.” I looked up and saw dozens of empty mugs. I gave Sombra a plain look. ”You would have done the same and you know it.” He said, turning away and crossing his front legs.
I just dropped my head onto the table and then, Burped. ”BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!” I quickly covered my muzzle with my hooves and my head with my wings. “That was soo embarrassing!”
“I’d give it a two outa five stars.” Thorax said.
“Shut up!”
* * *
The drive back to the castle was rather quiet. Kitty met us at the barrier, and Thorax went up to her, she was hesitant at first until he gave her the picture of her from the soda bar. She looked at it, then him. Then hugged him. “You know me!”
“Yeah,” He replied, stuck in Kitty’s hug. “You held the record for best burp in my bar. Your full name Is Kitty Curiosity - *Sqeek*” Kitty looked like she was gonna rip Thorax in half with that hug.
Kitty Curiosity. I like that name. And now Kitty has her full name back. “Easy Kitty, Thorax may have a natural armor but he can still be hurt.” I said, making Kitty let go of him. She looked rather sheepish… before quickly kissing him on the nose and then running off. “Well… That happened.”
”Somepony’s got lover~” Sombra teased.
“I-wa-she… I’m just gonna unpack my shit, then think… till I pass out.”
”Isn’t it drink till you pass out?”
“That too.” With that, Thorax went to unpack his things. A look of plain confusion across his face.
Walking inside, Kitty stopped me to talk. “Got messages. Push button like Sombra tell me how.” She said, wearing a happy smile the whole time.
I looked over at Sombra. ”I told Kitty incase we were out that she can record the messages survivors give out. Just needs to push the record button.”
“Well let’s go listen to them.”
We walked upstairs to the radio controle room and Sombra played to first message. It was Reaper’s voice.
”Hey there Princess, if you can hear this then we’re closer than we expected. Myself and a few others here pulled overtime so we could arrive sooner. Our ETA is nineteen hundred.” The message clicked, signifying it’s ending.
“Nineteen hundred?”
”Means seven’a’clock. It’s how military typically relay time.”
“Oh, well what’s the next one?”
”Flurry, this is the Survivors. Due to a swarm near the railroads the team had to work like hell to get away. We lucked out since no Pony Flies were there and we managed to make enough distance. This downed our ETA time to today, around five or later. If you get this we’ll meet you at the train station, east side, Pound Cake out.”
“Pony Flies? Do they mean those hulking flying ones?”
”Possibly. Oh crap!” Sombra’s sudden profanity caught me off guard, until I looked where he was. It was four-thirtyfive.
“Shit! How long will it take to get there?”
”Twenty minutes if you fly fast. No time for me to run under you, I’ll just leave my body here. Kitty, you put your suit and mask on and tell Thorax to get the bus ready and not to mention you’re an Undead to anypony. Got that?”
Kitty gave a quick nod and ran out the room. “Ready Sombra?”
Already in you… Gods that sounds wrong.
Ignoring Sombra’s dirty mind, I flew out the nearest window. Where to?
Turn left and fly straight.
The Sun was still high up in the sky, I just hope it stays there for long enough.
I spotted the train station with ten minutes to spare. Thankfully signs were everywhere to I found the east station with ease. Now all that’s left to do is wait. I did keep my shotgun in my magic, there were no Undead here, which made me nervous since new Undead were coming from outside the empire and we were at the border of the empire. You think the Undead are coming from another direction?
They shouldn’t. This station should actually be relatively full of Undead. Where are they?
“Chess?”
Perhaps, might me leading them elsewhere. For what only the Stars know.
I heard a faint yell. I looked down the rails and spotted what looked like a metal platform on wheels. Some.. thing, it clearly wasn’t a pony, was moving up and down repeatedly. When they got closer I saw that the thing moving up and down was a dragon, pulling up and down on some weird lever. Including the dragon there were four others. Three ponies and a dragon. Huh.
When they reached the station and the dragon's scale colors looked familiar. They were purple and green. He was tall, about a head taller than me. He had this massive gun strapped across his back and a rather weird looking dagger tied to a string across his waist. “Been a long time Flurry.” He said. His voice was oddly high pitch for a dragon his size.
“You look familiar. I just can’t-”
“I’m Twilight’s assistant.”
I just stared at the dragon in front of me. My magic faded and my shotgun hit the floor. “S… Spike!?”
“In the flesh- Uph!” I tackled Spike down into the strongest hug I could make. I was crying. Mom and dad always talked about aunt Twilight like she was… I had assumed Spike was gone too. “Hey, good to see you too.”
“I thought you were…”
“Where’d you get that idea?”
“Mom and dad always talked about aunt Twilight like she was gone.”
Spike sighed. “That’s a… long story. I’ll tell you when it’s safe, but Twilight is alive and well.” I got off of Spike and looked at the others. I still have family out there...
“So, who was the one who radio’d me?”
“That be me.” A vanilla pegasus with a brown mane and tail walked up. “I’m Pound Cake. This is my sister, Pumpkin Cake.”
A light orange unicorn with an orange mane and tail stood next to Pound Cake. “Nice to meet you.”
Suddenly, an earth pony mare wrapped one of her front legs around me. She was a dark orange with a wild hot red mane and tail. “Name’s Babs. Glad to meet ya.”
“Good to see you’re all okay… how come only Spike has a weapon?”
“Lost ours escaping that horde we ran into.”
“Oh, well when we get back to the castle you can all have your pick from the armory.” There’s another group coming today. At seven by train. A friend of mine will be coming by with a bus to carry everypony in. Doubt he’ll bring weapons but I think I saw a sporting store when I was flying over here. It’s just a couple kilometers away.”
“Sound’s good. You and I can fly out and grab what we can then come back. It’s five so we have an hour.” Pound Cake said.
“Sound’s good. You three will be okay?”
“We’ll be fine. Spike’s got a gun and I know more than my fair share of combat spells.” Pumpkin said.
With a nod, Pound Cake and I flew off. When we were high enough we spotted the sporting store and B-lined it. Luckily it was also a glass building, no Angeries. We flew right through the front door.
“Shit.” Pound Cake said, noticing several frozen Undead and ponies. “You weren't kidding about ponies and Undead being frozen.” He tapped a frozen Undead.
“Yeah, it was scary for me when it happened. It hasn’t been long at all, day and a half.”
“Wait, so when we called?”
“Was a couple hours before you called. It honestly feels like it’s been MUCH longer than just a day.” We walked towards the back. The guns, like before, were all lined up in glass display cases that were locked.
“Your strong Flurry. It took months before my sister and I got over first seeing a pony die. Longer when it was our parents.” Pound Cake said as he browsed the pistols.
“I’ve just been so preoccupied. I haven’t had much time to feel sorry. If it wasn’t for a good friend of mine I’d probably be curled up in a ball in my parents room.” I pulled out my machete and began hacking at the lock.
“Who is he?” WHACK.
“A, uhh. Guard. Been looking over me my whole life.” I could hear Sombra chuckle. WHACK.
“How come he wasn’t with you?”
“He… is a firm believer in experience is the best tutor. But I’m sure he’s close by.” CLANK! With a heavy drop the lock fell off, giving us access to the rifles, shotguns, and ammo.
Pumpkin immediately grabbed a small rifle that had a wood frame and rather small, yet rather plentiful when I looked around, ammo magazines. “Man I wish I had a horn like you Flurry.”
“Huh?”
“Well, I shoot with my wings. They take all the recoil, anything larger than a .32 round and my wings might pop outa place… Wait a minute.” Pumpkin took a look at my shotgun, mainly, it’s strap. “Where did you find a combat strap?”
“Oh, it was in a sporting store near the castle. Magic can only hold back so much recoil.” And yet I can apparently make a shield spell that’s stronger than anything my dad has ever made. How does that makes sense?
“Can you help me find one then? I’ve been looking for one since we left Ponyville.”
They have plenty in the castle.
“There’s some in the castle, we can get you one there.”
“Thanks. Let’s get this stuff and the ammo to the gu-”
Pound was cut short by a sudden loud whistle in the distance. “Shit the trains early!”
Pound Cake and I rushed to gather weapons and ammo of all types, just incase Reaper’s group had different types of weapons. We flew fast and managed to catch the train as it stopped. The first off the train was a pony dressed in a trench coat with metal patched onto it. He also wore the same type of mask the ponies outside the isolation chamber wore.
Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you, they’re called a gas mask. They filter out harmful pathogens in the air.
Thanks for that.
“You must be princess Flurry Heart.” The stallion said.
“Yes, are you Reaper?”
“In the flesh.” He replied. “Glad to finally meet you in person.”
“Same”
“Now then, I hope that we won't have to walk to the castle. The sun’s going down an-” Reaper just froze, I turned around and saw he was looking at Babs. “Um, Reaper?”
“B, Babs.”
“Do I know you?” She asked. Reaper immediately took off his mask. He was a light gold stallion with a light pistachio mane. Babs looked like she was in shock. “D, Dad.”
“Yes honey, it- Oumph!” Reaper was suddenly being squeezed by Babs, who was howling in tears.
“Daddy!” Babs howled once again. I felt touched. And sad. Will I ever get to be in her horseshoes?
We will reverse this Flurry. I promise you.
Thanks you, Sombra.
BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEP! The loud honk made me jump. I saw Thorax through the windshield. He came to a screeching halt near the train station. “All aboard, next stop the Crystal Castle, none stop!”
“It’s a changeling!” One of the ponies from Reapers group yelled in a worried tone.
“Hey!” I replied, gaining their attention. “He is the Crystal Empire’s resident changeling, has been for years. So you can trust him. And if not then trust me cause I trust him, understood?”
“Yes Princess.” Every adult pony said in unison. Great, they called me princess. That’s gonna get old quick.
“Thorax!” Spike said, running up to the bus.
“Spike!” Thorax replied. The two giving a quick hug. “Long time no see! You haven’t been falling into frozen underground ravines have you?”
“It was only twice.”
“Still.” The two shared a laugh.
ROOOAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everypony froze at that unholy scream. “Pony Flies!” Pound Cake screamed, pointing towards the sky. There were, those hulking flying nightmare fuellers, ten of them at least.
“Knee Capers!” Reaper yelled, pointing out towards the train tracks. Seven or so hairless, super thin Undead running at impossible speed. Those were in Sunburst’s notes.Looks like they get along with each other.
“Creepers!” I turned around to see what those were… Pigs… Undead pigs…
I’ve seen those, they explode when killed. Splash acid everywhere.
You gotta be shitting me. “Everypony to the buss! Foals first!”I joined Pound Cake in the sky, trying to take on the Pony Flies. Oddly enough, my pistol was doing more damage to them that I was able to notice. Thank you aunt Twilight and your magical abilities. Looking around the buss, I spotted something atop the roof of a nearby building.
It was Chess. Overlooking what was going on. This was a trap!? She noticed me, I saw her look at me, then levitated up a sign. “Test number 2.” Number two? When was the first one!? “Flurry, Everypony is accounted for!” I heard Thorax yell from the buss.
“WELCOME TO THE EMPIRE! NOW DRIVE!” I yeleld, but not a typical yell. It was so loud, Most of the Undead jumped, Chess included, and echoed for kelometres. What was that?
Royal Canterlot voice. I’ll explain later, for now, FLY!
“Fly and shoot Pound!” The buss drove at high speed below us. Pound Cake was flying next to me, taking aimed shots at the Pony Flies. More precisely, he was trying to aim at the head. I took shots with my assault rifle. Killing those knee Cappers when they got too close too the buss. Suddenly, a chunk of the busses roof was ripped of from the inside and Spike came out, and started unleashing his large gun on some of the Pony Flies.
I thought it was a sniper rifle, I was wrong. It was fully automatic, and the size of my rifle. It tore chunks off of the Pony Flies with each hit, sending them down to earth with an explosion of blood.
I saw the castle ahead of us, so close. We’re almost ther- Pain I twitched and spasmed in pain. I was falling. This again? I thought as I fell.
“Flurry!” I heard somepony yell, my head can’t quite make it out.
I suddenly felt very light. Seeing a sickly green filter my vision, followed by Chess’s face, her horn was lit up. “Test two is another failure.”
“They’re safe.” I said.
“Was never after them.” My vision went black and something hit my head, causing me to go into the void of unconsciousness.
It was cold. My body struggled to respond. What happened to me? Sombra? I… I can't feel you. Where are you? “S...om...br...a.”
“Somepony finally woke up from there nap.” Chess's voice rang like a foghorn. My head hurt just to hear it.
My head…? “You… hit me?” I said, trying to open my eyes. I had little feeling from my body. It was just cold… and sore.
“Like you would have just followed me here sweetheart.” I finally got my eyes open and she was right in front of me. We were in what looked like a subway, the old abandoned kind you see in movies. “I needed you here for a little… party~”
“... Where's Sombra?”
“Oh, that poor excuse of a soul. I gave him something I felt he’d need.” Chess whistled and the sound of chains falling echoed until the body of a grey stallion with a jet black mane and tail stopped slightly above the ground a few meters in front of us. He was completely wrapped in those chains and his horn had a strange ring around it.
“Flurry!” Sombra’s voice came from the stallion.
“S… Sombra!? How?! You have your own body!”
“I don't know. All I remember was trying to take control of your body, then I woke up in this one. Thought I was dreaming at first.”
“That's impossible!”
“Oh you silly mortals and your lack of imagination.” Chess said, almost laughing. “Impossible is but a wall you all made long ago to keep yourselves from straying too far into the unknown.” With another whistle the chains pulled Sombra back up to wherever they were keeping him. “Now then, honored guest, we must be going. You have a party to attend.”
Chess used her magic to pull me. I finally looked and noticed I was chained to a hospital bed. My magic wasn't working for some reason, does the ring Sombra have… does it block magic? I must have one on too then. “What are you Chess?”
Chess kept walking but turned to look at me. “Still haven't figured that one out yet? Guess I shouldn't be surprised.” She gave a smile, blinked, and her eyes glowed white and a bright light practically filled the room. It lasted a minute then her eyes returned to normal. “We’re Angels love. Well, most of us. Others like Pony Flies are demons, and there are lesser spirits but I'm not gonna list them off.”
I tried to find words, anything to say back to her. After a few minutes I finally came out of my shock and spoke. “I thought Angels were good.”
“You try being a bad kid when your creators wipe you from existence for misbehaving. All but a few dozen of the ones like me survived, but it was worth it to hold the lifeless head of my makers.”
“You… Killed your own parents!?”
Chess stopped walking. She stood there for a while just in silence before finally turning to look at me. “They loved you mortals more than us. We were made first, but you were all they cared for and they forced us to help you weaklings whenever they told us too. They put the ones like me and you out of a job, especially after they made those bitches Celestia and Luna.”
“Like us?”
“What?”
“You said, “Angels like us”. I'm not one of you… right?”
Chess looked like she didn't want to respond. “... Four… there are four of us first born angles. My real name is Pestilence. Then there's War, Famine, and you… the oldest of the oldest… Death.”
“Y… You're… You're not lying, are you?”
“An angel can't posses a living body like a demon or spirit can. We need to either get permission from our host, or use a dead or dying body. But even then we need permission from them. But animals or bugs… those are free use.”
“So when you said you were a parasite-”
“My finest work ever. Takes control of the mind within seconds after death and despite how hollow or broken the body is it will keep going so long as an entity is possessing my little sweets. Only if the bug is destroyed will the body finally die.”
“But of that's true then wouldn't Sombra be Death, not me?”
“My sister is inside the parasite within your body, right in the split of your brain. Since you have an immunity to the venom my little bugs pump into the body, my only option now is to kill you the old fashioned way.”
I felt my heart sink. “Then, then why not do it when I was out cold?”
“Cause I want to hear you scream love.”
I remained silent as i kept trying to see if the chains would wiggle free. Nothing. I focused all the magic I could into my horn. Nothing. Chess, or PestIlence, kept pulling me towards somewhere. I have to get out of here, maybe the others… no, I doubt she would have let them see where she took me.
Pestilence eventually pulled me into a large empty room, the only thing of notice was a small rusty set of scales. “These are yours sister. The power to determine the worth an individual has at the time of death. If it tips to the right, then they will live on, tip to the left, they will die.”
“I am not your sister you bitch!”
“Wow, strong words from a helpless little filly. You can't even fight without that Umbrum there to help.” Pestilence suddenly twitched unnaturally. Her back arched like it was going to explode. Then, it ripped open, tentacles far too long and large slithered like snakes out of her back. She raised herself up with two and two more picked me up.
The sound of bones snapping echoed as what I could only assume was her spine was pulled out by one of the tentacles. It moved and changed itself until it looked like a bow. A slime oozed down one end to the other, making it really look like a bow now. “Like it. Had this bow my entire life. Doesn't look as it should, like us our weapons need a host. The mare that used to own this body was quite brave, figured i'd put that spine of hers to use.”
I was panicking now. I need to get outa here! “Some one help me!”
“Checkmate love.” Using her own hooves, Pestilence pulled the bow’s string back as an arrow appeared magically. She let it go and it flew, cutting through the chains and into my heart.
I didn't even scream, what came out was more like a cough. I felt my blood pour out as the arrow slowly vanished. I felt cold. I felt scared. I felt… tired.
“Are you ready, sister.”
I felt my head move, but I wasn't doing it. I found myself looking Pestilence right in the eyes. ”Sister?” A voice that wasn't mine spoke.
“Yes Death, it's me. Pestilence.”
”My scales. Where-”
“Right here sister.” Pestilence lifted the scales up with her magic and took of the ring on my horn. What is she-?
Silence child. You will be safe. Trust me. If I could, I would have dropped my jaw.
Death took the scales in her magic, a similar sickly green as Pestilence. She kept her eye contact with Pestilence and tipped the scales down left.
Blood poured from Pestilence’s mouth. Her expression was one of pain. She looked so betrayed. “Why sister?”
Pestilence dropped and my body fell as well. Death didn't move much, she broke the chains with her magic.
”Finally.”
You… killed her?
”The sisterhood between my kin and I was severed long ago. She just kept trying to tend to a dead fire. My sins are irreversible. I played a part in my parents murder. Yet I can't die, so please say yes.”
Yes to-?
”Thank you” Death tipped her scales left again, and I fell into blissful unconsciousness.
“Uhhhhg.” I felt like the flu caught itself. My breathing was hard, and my body refused to move. I felt warm though, pretty comfortable actually. I opened my eyes and found myself back in my parents bedroom. Was that all a dream?
I struggled to move, but managed to use my magic to help when needed. I walked over to the bathroom and when the lights turned on I caught a good look at myself. I was dirty. My usual pink coat was very dark, almost black. My mane and tail was almost dirt brown with only little patches of it’s usual purple and blue. I made a B-line for the shower. As the water hit me it felt like a jolt of energy brought me up to speed, my breathing was easier, my body didn’t hurt so bad, and I became fully aware of what was around me.
Drying myself off, I took another look in the mirror after wiping the fog off. I was me again, though, I did notice something off. I felt, slightly taller and my eyes… my eyes look dark red now. How?
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in.” I replied.
The doors practically flew open as Sombra entered. His body was flesh and he wasn’t in that mannequin. So that wasn’t a dream. “You’re finally awake.”
“I was out long?”
“Two days. What happened, if you can recall?”
“Well, It would be hard to believe if I didn’t see it for myself.”
“I was your soul up until just a few days ago, now I’m back from the dead body and soul. Surprise me.”
“Do you know an angel named Pestilence?”
“One for the four bringers of the Apocalypse?”
“Yeah, Chess was her.”
Sombra’s jaw dropped. “How? All the texts I’ve read on angels say they need permission to possess a body, even a dead one.”
“Yeah, she told me that. But she did say insects, and lesser animals are fair game.”
“Then, that, how?”
“Remember Sunburst’s notes? He thought the virus might be a living creature. It’s a parasite she made to take over a body once it dyes. Then, they posses the parasite and the body with it.”
“I’d be impressed if I wasn’t so confused. So this really is the end of the world?”
“No, actually she told me the world wasn’t supposed to end, the angels rebelled against the makers. Killed them.”
“The makers are dead?!”
“Yes. And the Undead are various spirits, demons and angels possessing bugs possessing the bodies of the dead.”
“... Well… That uh, that is something else… so what did Chess-er, Pestilence want with you?”
“I have a Parasite in me, we all do, the angel in mine was her sister, Death. Since I’m immune to some sorta venom she said they produce, so she killed me.”
“But you aren’t dead?”
“It was weird. Death took over my body, then used some old looking scales and killed Pestilence with them, asked me to say ‘yes’ to something. I said yes while trying to ask her a question and she said ‘thank you’ and used the scales again. Next thing I knew I woke up here.”
“So the after life came here. This is gonna be- wait, scales?” Sombra walked over to the closet next to the bed and opened it up, revealing the rusty scales. “You were hugging these things like a baby when I finally got free and found you. So these are Death’s scales. They don’t look like much.”
“I know but they work. Seen it for myself. Hey Sombra?”
“Hm?”
“Let’s not tell everyone what I just said alright? It would freak them out more than it would answer anything really. We also need to talk to Kitty, she’s an angel so she might know something more to this.”
‘Yeah, but can we still trust her?”
“Death said she regretted what happened so with how Kitty is she definitely regrets what happened.”
“Alright Flurry, you just take it easy okay? You scared the heck out of me.”
“I’ll try. Wow, it’s gonna take some getting used to seeing you like this. With a body I mean.”
“Yeah. I wonder why she gave me this, or how she even made it? Well, least there’s one good thing about this.”
“Being?”
“I get to eat and drink what I want without you gaining the weight.”
“Oh you are so- Get outta here!”
Sombra ran out of the bedroom laughing. That, that’s the first time I’ve heard him laugh actually… but he is right, how or why did they give him his own body… and who now that I think about it?
View Online
Chapter 9: Land of The Giants (Short Chapter)
Gunfire. We all offloaded everything we had at this ONE Titan and yet it barely managed to kill it. I was wishing I did bring my ‘huge ass rifle’ as Babs put it, but too late now to worry about that.
“We wasted a ton of ammo on that thing, how are we gonna get through the city to the others?” Sombra asked as he reloaded his own large rifle.
“Sewers or the Underground Monorails.” Orange replied.
“What’s a Monorail?” I asked. This is why I needed to get out of the empire, I still know nothing.
“It’s like a train but is powers and moved by magic and moved WAY faster.” Babs explained. “Some smart ponies made it so when ponies ride it, their magic, whether earth, pegasus, or unicorn, it’s absorbs and powers it. Just one pony can make it run as fast as that bus we rode to the castle in.”
“Then how come coal powered trains are still used if that exists?”
“Profit princess.” Orange replied. “Coal importers and mining companies paid thousands of bits to keep that technology from mass production so they can keep making money. Lot a good it’s doing them now.” He stated with a tone of disgust.
As we walked I found it odd how Mr. Orange seemed to give emphasis on how he disliked big companies. I remember he told me he used to own a massive orange plantation and made a fortune from it, but something felt off.
After an hour or so more of walking we managed to find a ponyhole cover and slowly made our way into the sewers. Upon entering, I felt uneasy. “Do the Undead find a way in here?” I asked.
“All the time.” Orange replied. “Pretty sure they either come from the large pipes near the harbor or the sewage plant.”
“Smells like rotten meat.” Pound Cake said. Orange only replied by turning on the flashlight near the end of his shotgun and shined it on several Undead that were either missing their heads, or had large holes in them. “That explains that.”
“Keep your light’s on. Power in the city has been gone for nearly a year so everything everywhere is dark.” We all turned on our light’s on whatever gun we had out and began walking. Thankfully somepony spray painted directions on the walls of the sewers.
“Don’t those unique Undead take shelter in here when the sun is up?” Sombra asked.
“Used to, but when the sun and moon decided day and night would only last several minutes at a time they all just sorta left and been hiding in the stone buildings. Here’s a tip, you see a brick building with most of the windows blocked, don’t go in.”
“You said sun and moon, not Celestia and Luna? Why?” I asked.
“Never met the princesses personally but I doubt even in days like this they’d let the sun and moon be even a second late. I just hope they aren’t dead or turned. We’d really be legg deep in shit then.”
“No arguments about that.” Sombra replied. “Best we can hope for is that they’re just injured.”
“How bad is Canterlot?” I asked.
“Last I heard was that it was the first place this plague struck. Rumor has it though that anypony unlucky enough to find themselves in that city can reach safety somewhere near the castle.”
“The princesses?”
“Don’t think so. One wack job came onto the radio some year or so ago talking about how when he was in Canterlot he was saved by some religious group going by “The New Testament” or something like that.”
“Testament?”
“Not like in a court or anything. Think it refers to old religion from before Celestia and Luna first took power. Dark stuff honestly. Knew a scholar from my college years that read part of an original volume dated over two hundred thousand years old. He said it spoke about the first born angels of the creators and some other mythological mumbo jumbo.”
Oh how I wish it was mumbo jumbo. “Was that here in Manehattan?”
“No, Canterlot keeps all that important stuff. Though there is a stone tablet in the Museum of Magical History said to be written in the the angels language. Seen it myself, looks like gibberish, but who knows.”
The sewers proved surprisingly safe all in all, we only ran into three Undead and they were all regular ones. Eventually we made our way out and with only a few blocks away from the hospital. That’s when an issue came up. The roads near the hospital were swarmed with hordes, thousands of Undead wandering aimlessly in the streets.
“Well what now?” I asked.
“Rooftops.” Sombra said. “We get in one on the building’s here and we can travel across the rooftops. If a jump is too far Flurry and I could levitate Babs and Orange over.”
“What about you?”
“I can self levitate well enough.”
We ran into the nearest building and to our surprise there weren’t any Undead on any of the floors. We reached the roof, and everypony froze at what they saw. It was a colt, four or five, brown made and a yellow coat. He didn’t even have his cutie mark. He was missing an ear, most of his skin, and there was a large hole on his right side that showed his ribs.
Everypony looked hesitant to kill it.
Bang.
I fired off a round from my pistol and the Undead dropped. Everypony looked at me like I just sinned. “What? None of you were doing anything.”
I sat in my parents bedroom, Eating some MRE’s I kept in here. So little has happened in such a short amount of time. I kept looking at the area where Pestilence shot me, there wasn’t even a scar. It didn’t make sense, I SHOULD be dead, but here I am breathing, eating! Did death do something to me? She tipped the scales to the left, so doing that kills somepony, probably everything since they are DEATH’S scales, but I wonder what happens when you tip them to the right. Maybe the library will know? There has to be something.
The door opened, Sombra entered, closely followed by Kitty. “Flur!” She said, her usual excited self. My expression was plain, so she looked at me confused when I didn’t look happy.
“Um, Kitty. What’s your name?” I asked. I REALLY didn’t want to do this.
“I Kitty, Kitty Curiosity!” She proclaimed with a happy smile.
“Kitty, no. Che-.... Pestilence told me everything.”
Kitty’s happy expression was quickly replaced by one of pure, unfiltered horror. She looked like she wanted to throw up, but then started shaking, and fell over.
“Shit, Kitty!” Sombra yelled. We ran to her, and she just kept shaking until… her eyes went white, just like Pestilence and then, it stopped. A few seconds passed until she got up, but her eyes were… different.
“So that bitch told you everything?” Kitty spoke, but her voice was completely different.
“... Kitty?”
“No, she IS the owner of this body, when the parasite took over as she was dying I managed to bring her soul with me into it. I only come out when needed, as you can see it looks rather painful, but it doesn’t harm her or me. Names Eae. It means “Thwarts Demons.””
“Your name means ‘thwarts Demons’?” Sombra asked.
“Yes, it’s why I was created, and up until that forsaken day, it was the only reason I needed to exist. That day, it was the first time in my two centillion long life that I ever had to strike down one of my kin. I Was made to kill demons, but at that moment, I finally understood what it felt like, what that mortal word truly meant. Murder.”
“So you are an angel.” I said.
“Yes. I fought against the rebellion, and as you can see, lost. War was on there side, so it was inevitable we’d lose.” Eae said, regret in her tone of voice. “Kitty was a fairly new soul, so innocent. Like a child. When I managed to get her to control her body again, she didn’t remember a thing. I gained all her memories when I got shoved into this obamanation Pestilence made, so while she slept I drip fed her what I could. She probably doesn’t even know I am… here…”
“And that infected she looks after, Bud?”
“Her brother, once. The body is just a shell, possessed by a lesser spirit that doesn't even have a name.”
“What about souls? What’s happening to them?”
“Like the story goes, good go to heaven, bad go to hell. Beyond that I’m not sure what’s going on in the afterworlds nowadays.”
“Then we’re really in the dark here. Why does Death have scales?”
“The first bornes aren’t like… other angels, that much is obvious, but it goes further than just that. They, ARE gods themselves; power, knowledge, and above all… the ability to create. Death’s scales are said to be able to erase someone from creation when tilted left, not sure when they’re tilted right since that’s never happened.”
“Wait, what?” Sombra spat confused. “Aren’t they meant to bring the end of the world?”
“What they do with there power and what they are capable of are two different things. I was just an angel made to hunt stray demons, but I always felt those four were meant for more than what they were doing… but I’d bet my wings this wasn’t it.”
“... Eae, we’ll talk again later. I think I need to sort some stuff out, think a little. Bring Kitty back and Sombra, I’ll catch up. Go and drink some soda and eat an MRE.” I smiled, but something was off… this whole time… hearing Eae speak… I just felt… off.
“Alright Flurry,” Before Sombra could speak further, Eae fell over in a seizure like state, and then she stood up again, this time yawning. “Kitty?”
“Think I fall asleep. What we talk about?” Kitty was back. So she really didn’t remember what just happened?
“Nothing Kitty, just wanted to see my favorite goofball.” I replied.
She smiled and walked out the door next to Sombra. Once the door was closes I flew myself to the bed and just layed there. Something is wrong with me… I can just feel it. My eyes… they look different, although, seems not even Sombra noticed. Why do I have this… lack of energy? No, more like an unwilling to do anything. I wasn’t like this before… did Pestilence do something to me… OTHER than try and kill me… speaking of that, I should be dead, I took an arrow to the heart for Star-
… My heart…
I ran back to the bathroom, mom always told me about her newfound study of medicine last year in the chamber, there’s gotta be a stethoscope somewhere here.
I searched the cabinet under the sink and there is where I found a rather large medical bag. I pulled it out and opened it up, finding my prize. I put the odd feeling rubber ends in my ears and the cold metal round end to my chest above my heart… nothing. I moved it over… nothing. I went as far as putting it over my stomach and still nothing!
“Where the hell is my heartbeat?” More importantly, I thought, why can’t I feel worry? Concern? I didn’t even react beyond going near Kitty when Eae was taking over. I… I… I don’t think I can feel…
It’s been two whole days… since I realized I can’t feel my emotions anymore. My interactions with Reaper’s group only further confirmed that. He told me about how it was when this first started going on, how Babs mother died, and how he and Babs got separated… I wanted to feel glad that they were back together again. In my head, I know I am… but… it’s not the same as… feeling it.
Funny… My name is Flurry Heart… now I feel heartless.
Today Sombra, Reaper, Babs, Pound Cake and I were going to leave the safety of the empire, and board the same train Reaper’s group took to get here to get to Equestria. He explained that Babs cousin Applebloom was keeping a group of survivors in the Manehatten City hospital. Most doctors and other staff just left patients there to die, but she and relatives of patients stayed and managed to fortify the place, keeping those ponies safe and alive. Even in my heartless state I’m not gonna leave them there to die… if only to try and prove to myself that even though I can’t feel, I can still do good.
The train is gonna take a day or so, but we are only pulling three passenger carts along with the fuel. There are a lot of ponies there and Reaper assures me if needed we can just grab another passenger or cargo cart from the other trains… Will do some good in the long run. With Sombra and myself we should be able to levitate the damn things if needed.
I spent a fair amount of the hours checking my guns. Loading in a full magazine, putting a bullet into the chamber, then taking out the mag, and the bullet in the chamber just to put it back into the mag and repeat. Think some smart pony once said something about circles and madness… honestly I’ve been losing interest in lots of things recently. It takes effort for me now to go out and do something… Oddly enough I felt relieved to be leaving the empire for a bit… despite I still didn’t leave the city ever until just now.
Everypony was surprised to hear that, and when somepony tried talking me into staying I might of, kind of, sorta screamed in that voice aunt Luna loves using so much. Least that’s what mom told me about her. And Sombra. “We there yet?” I asked.
“Should be within the hour now. You get some sleep Flurry?” Pound asked.
“Not much, you?”
“No, I’m worried. We might run into a… Titan…”
“Titan?” I asked, now curious.
“Huge Undead. The size of a three story building, but some survivor rumors said that there’s one somewhere in Manehatten that’s as big as The Knight Tower, over 65 stories.” Babs said. She gave a whistle at that.
“An Undead can mutate… But it can't grow that big… can it?”
“The Titans are real princess.” Reaper, er Orange spoke, coming into the car. “And they don't go down easy. Regular bullets don't cut it, shooting them, just lets them know where you are. The small and regular ones need a dozen shells to the head from a twelve gauge to go down, or a mag of an anti-material rifle.”
“Bet that huge ass rifle of Flurry's can one shot them.” Babs spoke.
“Language missy, it's the apocalypse but I am still your father and you are still seventeen. Walking dead or not you're still my responsibility til you turn eighteen.”
Babs just stuck her tongue out and laughed. I felt guilty… Seeing that would have normally made me feel sad… I didn't even smile at that…
The train whistle blew. Looking out the window I saw the skyscrapers in the distance. The train slowing to a stop. “Titans don't walk too far away from the city limits. We walk from here.” Orange said.
We all got off and started walking… to my surprise there weren't any Undead walking around outside the city… and the further we went the more the emptiness made me feel… on edge.
Thud
“What was that?” I asked. We just barely reached the city limits.
Thud. THUD.
“I’d say the welcome waggin.” Orange spoke.
The thuds grew louder, then I saw it. A ten meter tall pony, completely hairless and looking like the majority of rotten Undead I’ve seen in the empire. “Well damn.”
