The Xenolith Artifice: Sanguine Winter

"Holy shit!" He cursed as he fell to his death. There he noticed a vine protruding from the cliff. With a strong grip, he grabbed the vine and used it to slow his descent. He swung to the nearest ledge and climbed up. He then was knocked to the ground by a gray mare.

"Hey, there's still one here!" The mare shouted, alerting four other ponies to him.

"Ah, fuck." He pushed the mare away from him, and launched her away. He hastily stood up and brushed the grime and dust off his coat. He grabbed his Scorpion and aimed at the five ponies infront of him. Two were unicorns, and the rest were pegasi. "Stay back!" He said as he pointed the Scorpion at each of them, erratically switching targets. The ponies looked at eachother and nodded. They faced Granite and went nearer, all while putting a smile on their face. "Ah fuck!" He pressed the trigger, killing two pegasi and wounding one unicorn.

They all simultaneously jumped at Granite. He ducked, making them miss by an inch. He then turned around, and aimed the Scorpion at them after he had chambered another shell. He pulled the trigger, firing the shotgun again. Unfortunately, no one got hit. He pumped the shotgun once more, and fired at the lone pegasi's direction, missing once more again as she flew in extreme speed. "Hold still, you jittery hyperactive piece of shit!" He shouted again, before pumping the shotgun one more time. He aimed at the pegasus. "I've got you no- Agh!" He yelped as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He looked down to see that the coat had a black scorched spot, created by the recent attack the unicorn had made. "Fucking dicks!" He slung the Scorpion and took his SL-12 Silencer. He aimed at the pair of unicorns and pulled the trigger. The high fire rate of the weapon aided in hitting the two unicorns before they could teleport away. The Silencer filled the unicorns with bullets, some even passing through their bodies. He was halfway through the magazine when he was knocked down by the same pegasus. "Damn it!" He cursed as he dropped his Silencer.

"I brought some friends!" The pegasus said and pointed at the huge crowd of ponies that were looking at me.

"Oh, shit." He swiftly grabbed his knife and swung it at the pegasus' face, creating a huge gash. She yelped and recoiled from the sudden assault while Granite stood up and headed for his Silencer. He grabbed it from the ground, and removed the magazine, checking it's ammunition. He placed the magazine back and chambered a round. "How the hell am I going to do this?" They all charged while emitting battlecries. Granite took a crouched stance and aimed at the incoming horde. He took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The gun's barrel lit up as bullets came flying out of the gun, headed towards the crowd. He slung back his Silencer and took two of his Shadows. The ground shook, and he looked up. A dropship was giving air support as it bombarded the landscape with howitzer rounds and machine-gun fire. He looked closer and he saw a black object headed for the Castle. 'Is that another fucking HOST-' His thoughts were interrupted as a bottle of the purple liquid flew infront of him, barely missing him by an inch. He looked at the crowd of ponies to see they each had test tubes filled with the liquid. "Where the hell do they get these things?!" Was the only thing Granite said before the pegasus leading them threw hers. Granite ducked, avoiding the fluid in the nick of time. He looked at the crowd to see them raising their bottles into the air. "Ah, fuck."

A comedic chase followed. Quite literally if you ask me. Granite ran to every hole, hid in every corner, and tried to avoid the onslaught on what seems to be the universe's cutest invaders. "Get the hell away from me!" He shouted, before he tripped on a rock and fell. He then felt the ground shook once more. "Is there a fucking earthquake around here?!" He shouted, before seeing a man standing up wearing a literally smoking, red-hot armor. Granite looked back at the ponies and he saw a unicorn levitating his test tube.

"Drink up!" He said as he forcefully opened my mouth. He flailed his arms, making the ponies loose grip on him. He grabbed his Quantum and held it.

"No way, dad!" He shouted as he pressed the button, making everything around him warp and distort. The images twisted into a spiral form infront of him, where he was moving towards. He suddenly felt very sick, and he felt like his strength was being sapped the more he was stuck inside there. He felt nauseous, tired and weak. It was like the inside of a kaleidoscope.

Fortunately for him, he arrived in his destination seconds later, bringing about six other ponies with him. They all felt disorientated and dizzy, while Granite used their condition as an advantage. He stumbled towards them, and he then took one Shadow. He aimed it at the ponies and fired, one by one the five ponies fell. As Granite aimed at the last pegasus, she begged for mercy. "Please, stop!" She shouted. Granite looked upwards, to act like he was thinking about it.

"Nah!" He said before firing at the last pegasus. He reloaded the Shadow and holstered it back, and looked at the red landscape he saw before him. The sky was a faint shade of red, the ground was brown, and the sun was pure black. Clouds were distorted and warped, and the leaves and grass were wilted and dead. "Hah, did Discord get to this planet?"

"Even I couldn't think of this, but hey, it is beautiful!" Discord appeared right next to him, leaning on a chair and holding a fresh squeezed glass of lemonade. Literally, he squeezed a lemon and the entire glass fell out.

"Oh, hey Discord." Granite said, before asking. "What did all this?"

"Nope, couldn't tell you of course, that would ruin the entire story!" Discord looked and winked towards me. Wait, what? "Don't tell him yet!" He whispered to me.

"Don't tell me what exactly? And who the hell are you talking to?" Granite asked Discord while looking around him. "There's no one, or no pony around here for the next 50 miles."

"That would ruin the surprise!" Discord said before disappearing into thin air. Granite just sighed and looked around.

"Now, where do I go to next?" Granite asked before heading to a random direction. There he saw train track. "Yes!" He then walked and followed the tracks.

Forty minutes into the walk, and he still found no signs of civilization. "Having trouble there, friend?" Discord asked, while flowing in mid-air.

"Could I have a glass of water, please?" Granite asked.

"Since you asked nicely, here." Discord snapped his fingers and a plastic bottle filled to the brim with water appeared.

"Thanks." Granite said before removing his gas mask and drinking it all up with four massive gulps. "Ah, that's better. Thanks Discord!" Discord smiled and bowed, before disappearing once more. He wore is gas mask back and continued his way.

He looked at the other side of the tracks to see a faint outline of houses. "Yes!" He shouted, and ran towards the small town. But as he got closer, the town became more and more visible, and it became clear to Granite that the town was destroyed. Everything was broken, and blood littered the ground. "But no bodies." Granite muttered under his own breath, wondering what sick mind would do this. He entered the town, looking at the broken buildings and signs. Finally, he found a sign that told him where he was. "Welcome to -Ponyville- TARTARUS."

"Ah, Ponyville." He said before thinking to himself again. He then heard loud foot steps behind him. "Wait, what?" He looked around him, and saw no body. "I must be hearing things."

Thump, thump.

He looked around once more, then ignored the sound while forming a suspicious look.

Thump, thump.

He ignored the sound again.

Thump. Thump. Clip. Clop.

The thumping sound turned into a series of hoofsteps. Granite still ignored the sound and waited. He then felt someone breath at his neck. His eyes widened, and he swung an elbow behind him, hitting the pony and knocking it back. "Who the hell are yo-" Granite shouted before getting pushed at the back. He tripped and fell to the ground. "Fuck!" He cursed beneath his gas mask.

"I have never seen you before." One of the ponies said. Granite looked at the ponies, they each had crimson eyes and had long canines. Vampires? "I wonder what his blood would taste in my mouth." The stallion said before getting pushed by a mare.

"Back off, I found it first!" The mare yelled at the at the stallion.

"Move aside, Bon-Bon!" The stallion pushed the mare away. She growled and jumped at the stallion.

Granite took a Shadow and gripped it tightly. He looked at the fighting couple and tried to crawl away, but was stopped by two more ponies infront of him. "Ah, damn." He waited for a bit, then he took a deep breath. He grabbed the head of one of the ponies above him and pulled it down, he then headbutted the pony, knocking him out. His partner recoiled from the sudden attack. Granite used the opening to grab his two front hooves and threw him to the duo. "Go back to watching Twilight, you sons of butches!" He then fired the Shadows at the ponies, crippling the mare and the other pony, and killing the stallion. He stood up, and ran away.

"Holy shit, what was that about?!" Granite thought out loud. Suddenly Discord appeared right next to him.

"Oh, and I completely forgot. Most of the ponies here are a liiittle bit... feral." Granite almost stumbled as he tripped on a rock.

"What?!" He asked.

"You heard me right. Feral." Discord answered. "Six years ago, a bright flash of light appeared on the sky, and I felt a surge of power so immense, it weakened me and the princesses. While the ponies ignored the flash, me and the most powerful creatures had a meeting. We have agreed that the flash was a message, a harbinger of misfortune."

"The End of the World."

"The End of the World?" Granite asked. Discord slightly nodded and continued with his speech.

"We were prepared for any possible contingencies. Floods. Earthquakes. Storms. Diseases." Discord thought for a minute before speaking again. "But what we never expected what happened next."

Granite impatiently urged Discord to continue. "What happened next? Wha-" A loud thud could be heard as Granite ran face first to a wall. "Ow." Discord was laughing his socks off. Quite literally, I mean... It's Discord.

"That was one of the best things I have ever seen for the last five years!"

"Fuck you." Was Granite's only reply as he held his aching red nose.

"What's the matter, Rudolph?" Discord snapped his fingers and reindeer antlers appeared on my head. "Cat got your tongue?"

Granite stood there, unamused. "Yeah, having a hard time processing this. Especially about you not telling me stuff." He removed the antlers from his head and threw it to the ground, before it disappeared in thin air. "Not even going to ask." Granite looked around. "Where are we anyway?" He asked. "Nothing but apple trees here."

"Isn't it obvious? We're in the orchard!" Discord took an apple and took a bite. "Needs more salt." He threw the apple away.

"The orchard?" Granite took an apple and bit it. He instantly gagged. "What the hell?" He looked inside the apple and saw it had plenty of worms. He threw the apple away and threw up. He looked back at the apple to see that the worms were coming out. He felt something tap on his back. Another worm crawled to his shoulder. Another on fell infront of him. He looked up and the apples all had numerous worms, and they were trying to escape. "Fuck!" He ran towards a nearby building, which he hoped that there was no pony there. Worms were dropping from everywhere, he covered his head with a cloth he always brought on his pocket. As he got to the lone building, he removed the cloth from his head and looked inside.

Let's just say that there were hundreds of tiny slimy worms. He threw the cloth away, and the worms scrambled and went to their own ways. Granite stared at the worms for a minute before shaking his head. He turned around to see a huge building. He went to the front of the building at he saw a broken sign. It had been worn off by age and mistreat, but the text was still readable. Apparently, Granite now found himself infront of a- "School." Yes, that.

Granite let himself in, and looked at the still standing schoolhouse. A gust of wind blew inside the school house, and took a piece of paper and guided it towards Granite's face. The paper smacked in his face, before Granite took it. It was an envelope. He turned the envelope around and looked at the address.

"To: Mom." Granite laughed. Who would recognize a person by just writing 'Mom'? "From: Steep Slopes." And who the hell names their son Steep Slopes?

He opened the envelope and found a letter with a metal object, formed like a heart and painted with gold with a red outline. "Must be his mother's butt mark." Granite snickered. "Ahem." He cleared his throat and started to read the letter.

...

"I can't read this." Granite exclaimed and looked at the paper at numerous angles. He pressed a button on his mask and a voice sounded.

"Automatic Translation Enabled." The voice said before stopping abruptly.

"Alright." He read the paper.

"Mom, the red things are outside. Help me mom. I'm scared."

He went to the second paragraph.

"Mom, while I am writing this, the red things have gone inside. I am currently hiding behind the teacher's table and-"

Multiple scribbles.

"They got Teacher Cheerilee."

Granite looked at the paper with confusion. Who the hell is Cheerilee? He stopped to think for a while before reading the next paragraph.

"I just got out, mom. There were no more noises. Wa-"

The sentence stopped abruptly.

"Teacher Cheerilee just moved! She's still alive! As I am writing this, she is currently standing and looking at me and... Growling? I thought dogs only grow- she's got fan-"

Blood splatters were printed on the piece of paper after the sentence. A second writing was found on the bottom, written with red ink.

"I'm sorry, class will be dismissed early today, due to a number of creatures (such as me) raging on Ponyville. I am currently issuing your son to go home right now, for his own 'safety'. - Cheerilee."

Granite looked at the paper and looked around. A faint clop of hoofsteps could be heard behind him.

"Well, well, well. A new student has arrived."