Chapters Death Unbound: Days Gone By
"Ponies afflicted with the parasite named N3 show the following symptoms: Aggression, bloodshot eyes, and impaired movement. If you see anypony showing these symptoms stay away.”
“The parasite has currently been reported in every major city in Equestria, currently the only uninfected city is Canterlot. Once more, stay away from ponies who show aggression, bloodshot eyes, and impaired movement.”
“The number of victims is suspected to be anywhere between 1,000 and 5,000 in the past week.”
“Other countries have also reported the disease, Saddle Arabia has currently started working on a cure
“There are currently quarantine zones being set up to care for the infected. If you currently have a high fever, extreme pain in your chest and are vomiting blood, please relocate yourself to said quarantine zones.”
“The parasite has been reported worldwide, a pandemic alert has been issued.”
“The Royal Guard has been released to try and combat the infected! We advise everypony to stay inside, if you must leave your home, bring protection.”
“Martial Law has been declared Equestria-wide, please cooperate with the Equestrian Guard to assure your safety.
“There are current riots being reported in Manehatten, Las Pegasus, and Baltimare.”
"Cities all across Equestria are currently being bombed! We suspect that the bombing is a contingency plan to reduce the spread of the infection!”
“Canterlot has collapsed from the damage caused by the explosions, there are no survivors reported.”
“There has been no word from any of the Princesses since the bombings, we are unaware if they are alive.”
“Since the discovery of the parasite we estimate more than half of Equestria’s population has been killed by the infection.”
“Due to the extremity of the infection, all regular government functions have been suspended indefinitely.”
Twilight awoke with a loud gasp, with fear in her eyes she quickly looked around, looking and listening intently for any unwelcomed visitors. After a few seconds she started to calm. That dream again.. She thought. Ever since anything resembling civilization crumbled she's been having that recurring dream almost every night. The one thing that stuck with her were the news reports, it made everything seem to go much faster than it really did. After Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Big Mac and Applebloom escaped Ponyville, the explosions started. They could only watch as the bombs rained down on Ponyville, as the explosions erased what was left of the town.
Afterwards, they managed to find a still functioning town. They survived there for a month before particles started gathering there too.
“You alright Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked from somewhere in the darkness. Her voice echoed throughout the cave.
“Yeah, I'm alright sweetie, just go back to sleep. Alright?” Twilight asked as sweetly as she could.
“Okay Twi-” Applebloom whispered as she slowly drifted back to sleep.
Twilight waited until Applebloom’s breathing slowed, signaling she was asleep, to get up. She illuminated her horn and grabbed her spear. She looked over at Rainbow Dash and then at Apple Bloom making sure they were asleep, and then walked out.
Twilight slide down the rocks leading up to the cave. The moonlight reflected off her eyes as she made her way down. When she finally hit ground she was met with the now empty woods.
She illuminated her horn, making sure not to step onto any branches that would alert the infected. Twilight’s eyes glistened with tears as she walked through the empty forest. All signs of life except of her were gone, either fled or eaten by the infected. The only animals left were the birds.
Twilight headed towards a small village. As she entered she took note of the various craters. The bombs that Celestia and Luna shot traveled all across Equestria. It was one of the last defenses against the growing number of infected. It had succeeded in killing some of the infected, but nearly the same number of living fell as well.
She entered one of the houses and illuminated her horn. She quickly put her hoof up to her mouth to hold back a sob. All across the walls was blood. Smeared, as if a body was being dragged, it became more and more splattered the more she followed. It finally reached its climax in the corner of what used to be a living room. It was a filly. Her left side was completely gone, ribs exposed, with meat hanging off of them. Her left face was completely ripped apart, chunks of flesh missing. Her skull was exposed, bite marks visible on her jaw. She scanned the rest of her head and found a small crack on her head.
‘That explains why she didn't turn…’ She thought, a small tear formed in her left eye. She watched as more blood and ichor gently flowed from the filly’s devoured body. ‘It was recent too.’
As she fought back tears she heard a loud snap! She quickly swung her head around as she charged her horn, ready to fight any of the infected she encountered.
“Hey Twilight it's me!” Applebloom's voice whispered from around the corner.
“Applebloom!” Twilight growled. “Why the hell did you follow me!”
Applebloom turned the corner “I was wondering where you were going.. I'm sorry! Please don't be-” Applebloom's smile dropped as her eyes locked on the mangled filly behind Twilight. “Mad…..”
“You see Applebloom?! This was recently too! This poor filly was devoured by those things! She either wandered off or she was LIVING HERE and was killed! YOU could've been killed Applebloom!” Twilight unloaded her anger out on the now crying filly. Her voice was reaching screaming levels as Applebloom looked down in shame and shock.
“Well I- well I-” Applebloom cried, her vocal cords strained from her various sobs.
A bolt of lightning zoomed past both of their heads and crashed into wall behind Applebloom, leaving behind a large burn mark. Their heads zipped towards where the bolt came from, they were met by four unicorns with horns charged to kill.
Twilight dropped her spear and jumped to a now screaming Applebloom. As she did one of the unicorns shot a bolt at Applebloom. Twilight wrapped her hooves and wings around Applebloom and took the full force of the blast. She was flung forward and dropped Applebloom. Mid air she turned herself around and shot her own blast at one of the unicorn. They shot a bolt at the same time and they collided with a sparkle of electricity and flame. Twilight dodged another one of their bolts and hid behind the corner with Applebloom, who still was screaming. She glanced around the bloodied room for anything she could use to defend herself, she didn't feel comfortable taking on three at once with just magic. Her eyes fastened on a knife.
“Applebloom!” She whispered “Get that knife for me, i'll cover you!”
Before Applebloom could move there was a loud crash followed by a sickening crunch. Wood and furniture flew everywhere as they turned the corner to find Rainbow Dash glaring at the three standing unicorns. Rainbow’s front hoof covered in blood and viscera. Underneath it was the fourth unicorn’s head, it was completely crushed.
Twilight could only stare at her marefriend as she slowly moved towards the unicorns.
The other unicorns could only gasp as Rainbow slowly picked up Twilight’s forgotten spear. Rainbow looked at them, relaying her options, before thrusting the spear into the unicorn in the middle’s neck. As he choked on his own blood they both charged their horns.
Twilight snapped out of her gaze and quickly shot a bolt, hoping to block one of the incoming bolts. As she hoped she managed to block one of them, while Rainbow dodged the other, Twilight rushed the one on the left and dug her horn into his leg. As he fell to the ground Twilight grasped him in his magic and pinned him against the wall. All the while Rainbow slowly backed up the remaining unicorn into the corner with the devoured filly. In a flash Rainbow broke the jaw of the unicorn with a punch as fast as lightning. She then dug her hoof into his nose. He dropped to the ground and Rainbow delivered punch after punch into his throat. As she punched she heard the sickening cracks of his throat rupturing and him slowly choking on his blood and closed windpipe. She only stopped once the gurgling stopped.
Rainbow turned to the last living unicorn, her eyes cutting into his soul.
“Rainbow! Stop! He doesn't need to die!” Twilight tried plead with her friend.
“They were attacking you! If I didn't come who knows what would've happened! I can't lose you guys!” Rainbow said with a firey glance, then soon after keeping her gaze at the captive pony.
“*sigh* Listen, there are barely any ponies left! Do you really think that killing is going to help Equestria?!”
“Dammit Twi, Equestria is gone! There's no hope for us to come back! At most there's a few thousand of us left, we can't just come back from that!” Rainbow’s voice hinted a bit of malice as she slowly walked towards the magic entrapped unicorn.
“Alright I know it seems grim for us but that doesn't mean we give up and start taking every life we can! We're some of the last ponies left… We shouldn't make that number any less! How about we take him captive, and if he tries anything, THEN we kill him!”
Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between Twilight and the unicorn, pondering her options, “Fine.. But if he tries to escape at ALL I'll kill him. At least make sure he can't move easily.”
“Here Rainbow put it in your saddlebag,” Applebloom whispered, holding back more tears. She handed Rainbow Dash the same knife she was going to give Twilight.
“Thanks kiddo,” Rainbow gave her a smile before driving the knife into the unicorn’s last three legs.
Before he could scream Twilight cauterized his wounds with a burst of fire from her horn, this caused him to let out a blood curdling sound before passing out.
Twilight raised the unicorn into the air and started walking out the door with the others. As she walked into the street her eyes widened as she saw in the distance, a large cloud of green particles overtaking the town.
Author's Note
Hey there, and thank you for reading my story!
I am extremely happy to have worked on this story, as in my opinion, it's one of my best!
I really tried to go for a specific meaning in the titles of my chapters and also inside the chapters as well. I hope you can find out the meaning behind the story!
Updates will be made every few days!
Death Unbound: Days Gone By
What's Really Most Important?
Rainbow and Applebloom walked out of the building. Applebloom was the first to see the cloud, and she simply froze in fear. Rainbow used her colorful vocabulary to express her own fear, however they all had the same reaction.
“RUN” they screamed as they bolted the opposite direction from the cloud of death.
“Hurry! Get to the cave, let's get our stuff and get out of here!” Twilight screamed as they reached the forest separating them from the cave they had called home.
As they reached the cave the cloud of particles over took the small town. Scrambling to pick up as much as they could fly with, they were forced to leave much of their supplies.
“Here sweetie, I gotcha,” Rainbow said as she picked Applebloom up in her arms. “You ready Twi?”
“Yeah, you comfortable Applebloom?”
“I-I guess” Applebloom whimpered as she saw the particles reaching the forest.
Twilight and Rainbow zoomed away, leaving the prisoner they took, to be infected. As they flew they left a trail of their mane colors behind. They flew above the height the expanding cloud of infected larvae and took off in the opposite direction. Twilight looked back at the cave, especially thinking of their prisoner. They had just left him to die, to be infected with a fate worse than death.
“Dammit! I'm going back for him!” Twilight said before zooming back to the cave.
“No! Twilight leave him, he'll only slow us down!” Rainbow screamed at Twilight, who was too far away to hear her.
Twilight flew back into the cave and lifted the still unconscious unicorn on her back, before fastening him with magic created ropes. She then realized how close the particles were. She took off, having to turn sideways to avoid breathing in the deadly clouds. She flew as fast as she could with him on her back and back to Rainbow and Applebloom.
“What are you doing! You should've let him turn! You could've died Twi!” Rainbow, whose anger was now through the roof, screamed at her friend
“I couldn't just leave him to turn! Besides, you KNOW what breathing in that stuff does! Also, we said we would keep him alive until he tries something.. So until he does, he stays alive!” Twilight’s eyes narrowed and gazed into Rainbow Dash’s soul.
Rainbow opened her mouth as if going to argue, but quickly realized this was an argument she was going to lose, “Alright, let's go. I want to get away as far away as possible from that cloud, alright honey?”
The fire crackled as numerous bits of paper and wood logs were thrown in. The three ponies around it cuddled around it, trying to take in as much warmth as they could, all the while, snow rained from the sky above, and gently gathering on the ground they lay on.
The captive unicorn woke up with scream, trying to escape from the magic ropes that held him, “Where the hell am I!”
The three friends eyes widened as they all simultaneously swung their heads around. The feeling of dread passed over them as they heard the grunts and moans in the distance. Twilight quickly covered Applebloom with her wing while Rainbow stood up
“Shut the hell up!” Rainbow hissed as loud as she dared at the unicorn. She quickly looked back up and around, she couldn't see anything coming after them. Sighing a breath of relief, “You could've gotten us killed,” Rainbow whispered as she collapsed back onto the ground with the two other ponies.
“*Sigh* I'm sorry.. Where the hell am I though?” The unicorn asked as his heart slowed down, the adrenaline rush he had slowing down, “and how long have I been out?”
“We're right behind Foal Mountains, look,” Twilight pointed to the snow capped mountain behind her, “Also, it's been a few days. What's your name?”
“Blue Field, you?”
“Well.. I'm Twilight Sparkle”
Blue Field’s eyes widened as he realized who she was, “You're the princess of friendship!” A million thoughts raced through his mind as he realized that him and his friends almost killed her, “Ah shit.” He whispered under his breath
“Yes, I am. For the record I don't appreciate nearly getting my head nearly blown off…” She waited a few moments, trying to conceal her anger, before continuing, “That,” she pointed to Rainbow, “Is Rainbow Dash, I'm sure you remember her.”
“Just a warning, if you try anything at all I will personally rip your throat out and shove it up your ass!” Rainbow glared at Blue Field as she said it. Her glare quickly returned to a smile as she turned to Twilight, “Continue Twi.”
“and this little one, is Applebloom” She looked down at Applebloom, who was nestled into Twilight’s chest, trying to keep as far as possible from the unicorn who nearly took her life. “Now, why did you attack us?”
“Well… We heard you and the kid and we thought we could just rob you for supplies. But when we saw you weren't paying attention we'd thought it'd be easier to just take one shot and kill you both at once, save us the trouble. Although, I missed and it just went to hell right afterwards,” he looked down in apparent shame, still trembling from knowing how bad of a situation he was in.
“Why did you resort to killing us so fast? How can you bring yourselves to take a life, it wasn't even for protection! You tried because you thought it'd be easier!” Twilight said, avoiding the eyes of her captive.
“We do it because we have to! I'm surprised you've survived this long if you still believe you can make it without hurting somepony. Since this began I've killed 12 ponies, all of which had a direct improvement on our lives after they died! Tell me, disregarding people who were bit, how many ponies have you killed?”
Twilight just stared at him, she hadn't killed a single pony, at least directly. She couldn't answer him, however Rainbow could, “Seven ponies have died to our group. The difference though, is that they would have killed us if we hadn't. You can't compare us to you, the difference is that we still have humanity in us!”
“Ha! Humanity? That all ended once the dead started to come back and eat us! Most of Equestria is dead, society has collapsed, and there is NO chance of coming back! You have to be able to do what it takes to survive, if you can't you WILL die!”
The words hit Twilight like a cart. The entire time she's avoided kill others, she's avoided causing possible harm to herself, but to what cost? Big Macintosh and Fluttershy both were killed in an attempt to save the group. Her eyes started to produce tears as she realized that the deaths that have happened were her fault, that her friends have died in vain.
“Uh, Twilight you alright?” Rainbow gently nuzzled her marefriend, “Sweetie, answer me,” She booped Twilight.
Twilight snapped out of her trance and automatically bursted into tears. Rainbow and Applebloom automatically ran to Twilight and attempted to comfort her.
“Twiligh’ what's wrong?” Applebloom asked, who herself was starting to tear up.
“It was my fault, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh. They knew what they had to do, and I just hoped and prayed that we would make it out alive. It's my fault for never going back for them. My fault they died..” Twilight continued to sob as her world slowly fell apart more than it already was. She was a princess, it was her job to protect her subjects, and she's failed more than once.
Rainbow couldn't say anything to comfort Twilight, out of everyone Rainbow was the most unstable of the group. The constant loss of life around her had made her loss nearly all drive. The only thing keeping her going was the survival of her marefriend and her best friends sister. Twilight had kept a steady grip on reality but was starting slip. Applebloom was by far the strongest of the group. The world hasn't affected her as much as it did Twilight and Rainbow.
As Rainbow looked back on the conversation they had just had her mind stuck on one that Blue spoke. Rainbow loosened her grasp on Twilight, however still holding her, and looked at Blue Field, “What do you mean by “us”. You sounded like you were implying that there is more of you,” Rainbow asked accusingly.
Blue’s eyes widened as he realized the mistake he made, “What, no it was just the four of us! It's just me now.”
“It better be!” Rainbow snapped at him. She then affectionately nipped Twilight’s cheek, “We should get to bed, I'll keep watch on him.”
Twilight composed herself as much as she could be before answering with a simple, “Okay,” and laid down before drifting off to sleep.
Death Unbound: Days Gone By
“TWILIGHT WAKE UP!” Rainbow screamed at Twilight.
Twilight instinctively sprung up and ignited her horn, “What What!”
“Applebloom's gone! So is Blue Field! He must've ran off during the night!” Rainbow paced back and forth.
“But I thought you were on watch!”
“I must've fell asleep at some point! I'm so sorry Twilight! Let's go get her back!”
“No! It should just be one of us! One of us has to watch our stuff, and also she might come back, we don't know!”
“Fine, I'll g-”
“No..” The words that Blue Field spoke replayed through her head, over and over. She wouldn't let another fall because of her choices, especially not Applebloom, she swore that as long as she was alive, she would keep Applebloom safe, “I'll go..
“What? No!”
“Don't question this Rainbow! I need to do this,” Twilight shook her head, trying to wake herself up fully, “Are there any tracks?”
Rainbow paused, was this really Twilight? Overnight she was basically a different pony. She closed her eyes and gave off a sigh, “The tracks lead west,” She said before pointing towards the still dark area of the sky.
Twilight nodded to Rainbow, their eyes met each other once more before Twilight simply said, “I'll be back,” her voice turned much colder on that last word.
Twilight turned towards the darkened sky and started walking.
The sky grew ever more bright as she walked, however still dark enough to hide her from whatever lived inside the presumed homemade base which surrounded a small corner store. As she approached the small town she could see the lights, they illuminated the dark sky. Twilight knew they were in there now, she knew Applebloom was there. She galloped up beside one of the walls and pressed against it, trying to keep herself as flat as possible to avoid being seen from any guards. She made her way around the back side, looking for any possible entrances when suddenly she heard a scream. Out of everything she's heard and seen that scream was the single most horrifying she's heard. What made it worse, was that it sounded like a filly.
She galloped as fast as she could towards the front gates, as she turned a corner into one of the sides, she ran head first into a guard. They both fell down, the guard managed to stop himself from hitting the ground, while Twilight dropped.
“What the hell?!” The guard growled as he caught himself.
As she tried to stand herself up she felt the guard grabbing her wing and giving it a hard tug. She grunted as the pony swung her around into the wall before driving his hoof into her face. The guard landed blow after blow, and then screamed for his group members. He picked Twilight up by her wing and punched her several times in the stomach and then dropped her. Before he could deliver another punch she drove her horn into his chest.
As he started to scream, he suddenly stopped as his chest illuminated. Twilight concentrated as much as she could, trying to expel as much energy out of her horn as possible. With a gunshot like bang, the guard’s chest and back blew open, leaving a large hole between the two parts of his body.
Blood splattered everywhere, including Twilight’s face. As she felt the hot liquid splash onto her face she jumped back, faster than the now dead guard was able to fall.
She collapsed in exhaustion, her face hurt like hell and she felt like vomiting. She took deep breathes, trying to calm herself down.
As her heart slowed down, and her mind cleared, she started to shake, “Oh C-celestia what have I done?” She managed to sputter out, wiping off as much blood as she could, “I-I-I killed him!”
Tears formed in her eyes as what she had just done finally clicked in mind. She had just killed somepony.
As she cried she was interrupted by the sound of hooves, making their way to her side of the wall. She had no time to plan, no time to fight whoever came, they might kill Applebloom.
She turned to the blood soaked wall and charged her horn. There was no sparks, no flashes, just the boom of an explosion, even though there was none. The wall strength seemed pitiful as it exploded into splinters and rocks. The wall of the corner store cracked from the force of the blast as well.
She ran inside the base and turned her head side to side. As she turned her head to the right she was greeted by four ponies rushing her, knives and spears in hand. Twilight sent out a shockwave, pushing the assailants back. She quickly blew another hole through the corner store. As the light shined against her face she was just barely able to see Applebloom, tied against a table, and Pegasus, knife raised in hoof.
Anger rose through Twilight like a volcano as she sent a beam of energy through the neck of the Pegasus who dared threaten Applebloom. The Pegasus died instantly, however this didn't bother Twilight, as her only concern was Applebloom. As she galloped she heard the hoof steps reach the hole in the barrier. Before they could make it across she sent out another barrier, blocking their way. She turned back to Applebloom, and tears once more started flowing.
Applebloom's chest was covered in multiple cuts and lacerations. Her legs fared no better, as blood seemed to be coming from multiple places. It was enough send Twilight over the edge.
She disabled the two barriers she created, and waited. She counted 17 guards all rushing her. As they started to enter the torture room, Twilight’s eyes turned black as night, and a dark red aura encompassed her body as she floated into the air. Her horn’s aura changed into a blood red as she gave a deadly stare at them.
The guards could only cower in fear as they saw Twilight’s explosion of anger. Her eyes getting ever so darker as a flash of red light filled the room, making everypony in the room unseeable. Twilight had finally snapped.
Death Unbound: Days Gone By
An eerie silence filled the red engulfed room. The dark eyes of Twilight sparkle slowly turned back to their original color, as they did the red started to fade so slowly and Twilight started to descend to the ground. As her hooves landed, she was greeted with a liquid touching them. Twilight still couldn't see, the room was still a vibrant red. It kept on fading, timed perfectly with Twilight’s eyes returning to their original shade. The redness faded entirely, it seemed to disappear suddenly as Twilight’s vision returned to normal.
All she saw was large chunks of red, aligning the floor, the walls, and the roof. She shook her head violently, trying to get her vision to focus. She stopped suddenly, not bothering to slow down as she realized what that red was. She looked up at the red clumps of what she now knows was meat. She inspected the pulps of gore and viscera, there was multiple holes through each of the massacred pulps of flesh.
“Oh Celestia…” She whimpered as she stared at what use to be ponies. Why wasn't she more upset? For whatever reason she couldn't understand why and she was afraid because so, but then another form of fear entered her mind, “APPLEBLOOM!” She screamed as she turned and ran to the tied down filly. She untied her as gently as she could, trying to avoid touching the various cuts on her body.
She picked Applebloom up in her arms and gently placed her on her back. As she walked out of the battle damaged base, stepping carefully to avoid the still fresh bodies, she couldn't help but feel something else was wrong. All the ponies inside the base were dead, she found and rescued Applebloom, but what else could it be?
“Blue Field..” She whispered under her breath, she hadn't seen him there! Suddenly, somepony else entered her mind, “RAINBOW!” She screamed as she jetted in the direction of their makeshift camp. She tried to believe it wasn't true, she didn't want to believe it, but she knew that ponies such as these wouldn't just accept the deaths of their members. What made matters worse was that she had left her there, all she wanted to do was keep everypony alive, but by doing so she had caused more danger.
As she approached the camp she could hear muffled yells and screams, and finally, one long, high pitched and squeaky yell. Her eyes went wide with horror,’Oh no, please don't let her be dead,’ she thought to herself as she finally made it to the camp.
She was met by a group of ten ponies, half of which were holding Rainbow Dash down and holding various weapons against her. The others were staring at Twilight, one of whom was Blue Field.
“So you've arrived! I'm surprised you had the guts to go after her, with your whole “no killing” mindset,” Blue Field taunted her, his face homed a smile, one only somepony insane could match.
Twilight stared at him, the hatred growing inside of her, she knew that there was blood to be spilt, “Funny, because it turns out that your friends at the base do too!” Twilight said with a scowl, all the while she growled that last word.
“Well aren't you a little tough now? I take it my words got through to you then!” He slowly walked towards Twilight and Applebloom, who was just barely conscious, “Now, while you might be royalty, I'm not too far behind. I'm one of the co leaders of the Pythons. You've fucked with the wrong ponies,” he said flatly, “Give the kid up. Give her up or your friend here dies!” He pointed to Rainbow Dash, one of the Python members slid his knife along Rainbow’s neck, but not hard enough to draw blood.
“Don't you dare hurt her!” Twilight yelled, secretly charging her horn up for a large blast.
“Nothing happens if you give up the kid! She has a lot more worth than you think. Now, I'm gonna ask one more time, give her up, or else we'll slit your friends throat!”
Applebloom stirred, “Just do it Twilight. I don't want Rainbow to get hurt,” Applebloom whimpered, she slowly tried to descend off of Twilight’s back but fell, hitting the ground with a yelp.
Twilight tried to reason with her, but to no avail Applebloom still was waddling over.
“Well, it looks like the kid has more sense than both of you do!” Blue Field said as he levitated Applebloom over to him, “Well, it's a shame we didn't get to talk more..” He started to turn away, “Kill them both!” He commanded
Twilight, who reacted without thinking, used the charge she had and shot a large beam at the ones holding Rainbow Dash down. In a panicked frenzy, most of them dropped their weapons as they scrambled to get away from the blast coming at them. All but one pony was quick enough to avoid the blast that disintegrated him.
Rainbow grabbed the closest weapon to her, a knife, and shoved it into the nearest ponies neck. All at once there was magical blasts and blood flying as the members split up and attacked the separated couple, all the while Blue Field walked away, with Applebloom in a magic bubble, who was now screaming to let her go back, to go help her caretakers.
Twilight flew up into the air and nose dived the ponies attacking her. A unicorn shot a beam at her, Twilight just barely dodged it, and swung her hoof at the unicorns horn. It made contact and with a sickening crack, the unicorn's horn flew off. A reactionary discharge issued from the hole where the mares horn use to be, this sent all the ponies around, including Twilight flying.
Rainbow Dash struggled with the onslaught of attacks that they threw at her, she tried to avoid magic blasts, hooves, and bucks, however she wasn't invincible as moments after she dodged a punch a blast hit her in the face. She screamed, and her knees buckled. One of the earth ponies took note of this and landed a good, and hard buck to Rainbow Dash’s face, knocking her out.
Twilight, who was still recovering from the discharge, took notice of Rainbow’s fall and also noticed that three of the Pegasus attacking Rainbow Dash were now flying her way. She sent a beam at one, killing them, and dodged another. She wasn't even allowed time to move afterwards, as a hoof collided with her jaw, and everything went black.
Death Unbound: Days Gone By
Rainbow Dash woke up to the sounds of metal clanging on metal. She swung her head around, but couldn't see anything but walls all around her.
“Up here dumbass!” A voice from above her spoke.
Rainbow looked up, getting bits of dog food thrown in her face, “What is this? And where am I, where are my friends?”
“That is your food for the day, and your friends are far from here. I suggest you get comfy, you're going to be here for a long time,” The green Pegasus spoke as she turned away from Rainbow Dash.
“Wait! Dammit come back!” Rainbow screamed after her, but she didn't come back. After accepting defeat she looked down at the dog food on the floor. She groaned in disgust, she wasn't gonna eat this, she wasn't just going to give in. She had to break out. She looked up at the iron bars above her. One solid punch, or kick would do it, she knew she was strong enough to do so.
‘I'm coming guys!’ She thought as she lifted up and bolted at the bars. As her hoof collided with the metal bars a loud clang echoed through her makeshift prison, however the bars didn't break, not so much as bend. All that was left was Rainbow’s hurt hoof, “Ow.. “
Unable to admit defeat she reared up again, prepared to strike again at the bars that held her. She launched up again and again, and again, but to no avail. Throughout the base, the clanging could be heard, as well as Rainbow Dash, “I AM AN ELEMENT OF HARMONY! *clang* I HAVE SAVED EQUESTRIA ALONG WITH MY FRIENDS COUNTLESS TIMES *clang* THESE BARS WILL NOT STOP ME!”
After numerous more failed attempts, Rainbow finally gave up. For the first time since all of this began, Rainbow finally broke down. Tears streamed down her face as the harsh reality of the world hit her. For the first time since the world fell apart, she was alone. It suddenly hit her how empty she felt inside, the dark realization that she might never see Twilight or Applebloom again was enough to make Rainbow sob, and cry out in pain, but not from her hoof.
She slumped down in defeat, letting the floor catch her as she sobbed. It was hard enough seeing the death of her other friends, but at least she knew what happened to them. She'd doubt even Celestia knows what is happening to them, if Celestia is alive. They could be alive, they could be dead, or worse.
The hope slipped from Rainbow’s mind as she considered the options, her pride and endurance started to die from her as she realized she's no better than a dog who's about to be put down, and how worthless she's become, even more so than when she failed to save Scootaloo.
She couldn't believe it's been over five months since Ponyville fell. Out of all the deaths their Scootaloo’s was the one that stuck with her the most. The poor kid trusted her life with Rainbow Dash, and she had let her down.
She continued to sob for hours, but this time quietly. It wasn't until her exhaustion from the day’s events caught up to her that she stopped. She had cried herself to sleep.
The next day the same green pony from before dropped the dog food into Dash’s cell and left. Rainbow just stared at it. Her eyes were hurting from the crying she did the night before, and she couldn't bring herself to move. The pony that was Rainbow Dash was destroyed, replaced by a shell of her former self.
The green pony was staring at Rainbow Dash, she almost felt bad for her. How had a pony who required five others to stop her from killing somepony, be reduced to something so pathetic.
This went on for a few days, Rainbow wallowed in self pity, while food was dumped in her cell on a regular basis.
“Hey! Wake up! You're being moved!” A light blue earth pony yelled while he beat on the metal bars with a pipe.
Rainbow Dash very slowly rose up. Not saying anything she backed up against the wall. The cell doors opened and the green Pegasus from earlier flew down, handcuffs in hoof.
She placed them onto her arms and flew up, “Follow me,” she ordered.
Rainbow flew up, and out of the manhole they kept her in. She followed the green pony down a long hallway, and into a dark, interrogation like room.
“Sit down.”
Rainbow Dash complied, sitting down on the only chair in the room, “What? What do you want?” She asked, her voice was no more than a whisper.
“Well, how does a pony like you get reduced to that? You're weak, but you were strong before, I just barely survived fighting you before. So what happened, I know I'm not exactly supposed to talk to you, but it's killing me not to know.”
Rainbow Dash looked down, she was ashamed. That mare was right, she WAS weak. As much as she wanted to rise up, she just couldn't will herself to, “I-I just can't.”
“But why?” She growled
“Because I don't have any reason left to try… Damn near everypony I love is dead. I don't even know what happened to most of them, I just know they didn't make it. The only reason I'm even trying is for them… Twilight and Applebloom, and now even they're gone,” Rainbow sobbed. Her spirit had long since died, and she was forced to relive it.
The mare interrogating frowned. She legitimately bad for Rainbow. Everypony has lost something, but she knew who Rainbow Dash was, she was an element of harmony. Much more importantly, the element of loyalty, ‘She probably believes their deaths was her fault’
In a way she wanted to help, she wanted to get her back to her friends, but she knew if she was caught she'd be killed. She didn't survive up till now to get killed.
“Fine…” She waited a few moments before continuing, “Well you're suppose to be working for us, you're being sent down to clean our weapons. Do you think you can manage that?”
“Sure..”
The sounds of squeaking could be heard as Rainbow Dash cleaned a large butcher knife. The urge to use it died down every time the spears being held against her poked her.
The two spearman shifted ever so closer, each giving each other an agreeing nod. Rainbow picked up on this and saw their spears being pulled back. As they thrusted them forward, Rainbow Dash dodged and flapped against the wall. They both rushed her and used their spears to hold her against the wall. One of them grabbed one of the knives Rainbow cleaned and pushed it into her stomach.
Rainbow slowly slipped down, this was it, this was her time.
“After you, it's your friends! If they're not dead already.”
“What?” Her energy returned, what did they mean, next it was her friends?
“We were given an order to execute you, and the other bases were given the same one. Your friends are all going to d-”
Rainbow swung her head forward, and snapped down hard on his neck. In one fluid movement she tore out his jugular. He slowly started to lower and suddenly dropped. Rainbow took advantage of the other guard’s shock, and ducked under the spear holding her. She grabbed the knife that was used to stab her, and swung her arm. The tip of the knife entered through his temple, and out through the other side.
She pressed against her wound, trying to stop the blood flow, picked up one of their spears, and proceeded to walk out of the weapons room. She opened the door and ran down the hallway she walked through previously. As she ran her eyes locked onto multiple ponies, at least ten she counted, surrounded her on both sides.
Rainbow felt something growing inside her, it was not fear, it was pure rage. She quickly turned around and threw the spear into the closest pony, as she did she flew and grabbed the spear, pushing it further through her original victim, and through another. With a flap of her wings she went back words, the spear came out and she took a wild swing. The tip of the spear slashed over a mare’s eye, as she screamed, Rainbow took the chance to fly through the middle of the group, knocking many of them over, and to the end of the hallway. As she was going to hit the wall she quickly spun around and placed her back hooves against the wall. She mustered every bit of her slowly draining strength that she had, and kicked off the wall. She flew as fast as she could. She had a plan, she needed to take them all out at once, usually she would have to flying down to achieve this, but she couldn't, she had to do this now. With one last powerful flap of her wingspan she could feel the the air entrapping her, she could feel it closing around her as she approached the ponies. She pushed one last time. She could feel the barrier breaking, and as she was back at the place she began, it broke. She rocketed forward, a rainbow wave spread throughout the hallway, crushing her previous assailants, and plastering them onto the wall as a permanent ornament.
Rainbow approached the opposite wall in less than a second after achieving a rainboom, she didn't even have the time to slow down, much less do anything. She crashed through the wall, but was still going. Room from room she crashed into, however her physical body never touched them, as they simply withered away before she hit them, the intense energy from the rainboom in such a small place had started to disintegrate the base. From room to room, it seemed that she passed slower and slower, however she knew that wasn't the case, she still could feel the rush and speed, and something else. She could see little beams of light, and in the distance a little fuzzy orb. This experience was short lived however as she finally she “hit” the last wall and a wave of fresh air hit her for the first time in days.
She pushed herself up and tried to slow down. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was a few seconds, she finally came to a stop.
She spun around, and in the distance she saw a much larger base in the distance. She looked back down on the half melted base, and she saw that same green mare from earlier. A long ominous smile came across her face as a plan formed in head.
Death Unbound: Days Gone By
Sins and Sinners are Quite the Same
Twilight’s eyes opened slowly. She pushed herself up, but a rush of pain was felt through her jaw and head. For a second she couldn't figure out why, that was until her eyes focused on what was around her, or more importantly, what was in front of her.
A large grey earth pony, wearing Royal Guard armor and spear in hoof was in front of her.
“Good morning,” He slipped a plate of eggs, over medium, fork on the side, under the cell doors, and over to Twilight’ “You've been out for over a day, you should eat, I've noticed your ribs are showing.”
She had just woken up and already she had no idea what the hell was going on, “I'm sorry, but what are you saying?” She asked
“Well, you were knocked out by one of our own. You woke up, and I'm here offering you food. It's the least we can do. Also, it was ordered by headquarters to make you feel comfortable,” He said with a light blush before giving a light chuckle.
“Oh.. Well, thank you,” she said with a smile as she tried to levitate the fork with her magic, but for some reason it wouldn't lift, “Why isn't this working?” She snapped
“We put a magic inhibitor on you. I mean, it's for our own safety, we saw what happened at the base you raided.”
“Oh..that,” she said quietly, picking up her fork and cutting into her eggs.
“You know, for a princess you've gotten yourself into a pretty shitty situation. I mean, no offense, but I'm surprised you're even alive right now. Everypony thought you died down in Ponyville. But here you are, killing our men and pissing everypony off,” He laughed.
“Believe me, if I could've gotten out of there without anypony dying, I would've gladly went along with that. Just, one thing led to another, and then I saw Applebloom all cut up, and I snapped… I never wanted anypony to die,” A small, single tear went down her face but was quickly wiped.
“Yeah, believe me, nopony wanted this. Listen, I'll be back to check on you in a bit, until then just wait around, alright?”
Twilight simply nodded, forking a piece of egg and eating it.
He left, and Twilight was left alone.
Just as he promised, the pony had returned, this time with a full on hayburger with fries.
Well, pretty early on, we raided a bunch of shops and grocery stores in the area. Pretty much every base we have is stocked with enough food for 30 ponies, for a year, on the exception of headquarters, which has more. We wouldn't just use our resources on prisoners if we didn't have the luxury to,” he said as he slid the plate to Twilight.
Just like she missed the hayburger, within a few seconds of her first bite it was gone.
“You sure are a messy eater!” He laughed heartedly at Twilight, who's face was covered in ketchup and crumbs.
Twilight blushed and nonchalantly used a pile of fries to wipe the mess from her mouth, “*giggle* I'm sorry. Hell, even back then I was this messy! If you could believe that,” She laughed. It had been a long time since she'd met somepony this friendly. It had only been five months, but it felt like a lifetime.
“Well, once you're done, I can show you around the base if you're feeling up to it. Although, you have to promise not to try anything.”
“I don't even think I would if given the chance, in these last few hours you've been kinder than anyone I've met out there combined.”
“And this is the kitchen, we have very talented ponies in there who make sure we don't starve, being the incapable dumbasses we are.”
“You will, don't worry. Just, don't expect it to be soon. You've killed a lot of our men, more than we're comfortable with.”
Grayson nodded and walked her back. As he turned away from her a sigh left his mouth, ‘Who knew I could fall for a Princess?’
The next day Twilight woke up to Grayson sliding a salad under the bars.
Twilight’s eyes glimmered, she was delighted to hear the news, “Really?!” She ran up to hug him, but realized they were separated by the bars.
“Yep,I just got the message from headquarters! Also, I was given permission to take you on a little trip to our cafeteria!,” Grayson exclaimed, showing a bit of immaturity as he bounced slightly.
“Holy shit, not only are you messy, but you're a big eater too!,” Grayson gasped in pure amazement and awe as he watched Twilight go at nearly ten hayburgers.
“Oh shut up, I haven't eaten anything near this amount in months! I'm starving!” She took an entire burger and downed it in one bite, “So, when tomorrow am I supposed to to see her? And also, why not Applebloom?” Her eyes narrowed, “If any of them hur-”
“Relax, nopony has hurt her. She's a lot more important than you think.”
“How so?”
“She just is, you'll find out soon, he just wants some time to access the situation.”
“He?”
Grayson’s eyes widened as he realized his mistake, “I'm not allowed to say, you'll find out soon enough.
“If you say so.. Why are you even keeping me alive? You said yourself that we've killed a lot more of you guys than you're comfortable with! This is just a dead end, don't you think?”
“No, like I said, you'll soon find out why you're alive. Just relax and eat your hayburger.”
Twilight woke up once more, but this time on her own accord. Grayson wasn't there, and the weird thing was that the cell door was open.
She curiously walked out, and saw a sign, with an arrow pointing to another, leading to another, and another. She once more, followed. Unsure of what would happen she placed herself on guard as she walked into an empty room.
‘Why would-’
“Hey Twi!”
Twilight jumped, she turned around and was met with Grayson, “oh, you scared me. Why did the signs bring me here?”
“Well, you know how you're suppose to meet your friend today? I want to run over it with you, rules and stuff.”
“Oh.. Alright”
“Well, you're only allowed within five feet of each other.”
“Listen! It's for safety measures, one of you might pull something and we don't want that happening.”
Twilight let out a groan, she could deal with that. As she turned her attention back to Grayson she heard two ponies outside the room speaking. She couldn't understand what they were saying, however she did pick up one word. Prisoner.“Did you get the order from Mac?” “Yea, so, how do you want to do it?” I don't know… I've never straight up executed a pony before.”
“There's also something else I wanted to ask you.. Maybe sometime we can-”
“Is that what you met by reunited?” Twilight’s voice rose. Her eyes gazed at Grayson.
“Wh-”
“DON'T YOU WHAT ME! I heard them, they said something about executing me!?” Her voice turned from a yell into a dangerous and serpent like strike.
“What? Twilight I didn't know, they just told me th-”
“I trusted you! All this time you were just bullshitting me!” The inhibitor on Twilight’s horn began to shake, “I'm done with you!”
“NO TWILIGHT DON'T” Grayson screamed as Twilight’s inhibitor broke, and a beam of energy went through his chest, and through his heart.
The door flew off its hinges, crushing the two ponies outside. The others took note of this and tried to attack her. Twilight sent a large blast, comparable to the level of the one against Tirek, down both sides of the hallway. Killing everypony in it.
All that was left were two mares, a unicorn and a Pegasus. The Pegasus rushed Twilight, she dodged and jumped at the unicorn. With the metal bar she smashed it into the unicorns face. Doing a 180°, she struck her horn out at the approaching Pegasus. It dug itself into her lungs, Twilight didn't even care as she slowly choked to death while still stabbing her.
In the distance she heard a loud boom. It was Rainbow Dash, it had to be. She just had one job left now.
Twilight turned to the unicorn, who was just barely recovered from the pipe to the face, and hit her leg, breaking it.
She raised the pipe once more, “Where is Applebloom?”
Death Unbound: Days Gone By
Applebloom glared at the guard watching her with a burning hatred. It had only been her and that guard after Blue Field had left her. He had said that somepony was going to meet her, but it's been 20 minutes, and yet nothing.
“So how'd ya survive? We all thought you died running blocking them from getting in.” Applebloom asked, still not believing what she saw
“Wow,” Applebloom said, mesmerized by her brother’s story, “Wait, then how did you end up with these guys? They're killers..” Her voice drifted off as she said that last word.
Applebloom sat quietly, taking bites out of her apple.
The next two mornings Applebloom woke up in a warm bed, a luxury she hadn't experienced since the outbreak began. As much as she hated the fact that Big Mac associated herself with ponies like the Pythons she couldn't stay very mad, it was her brother. She hadn't seen him in months, she wasn't gonna let a few ponies ruin that for her. As she ran out of her room to greet her brother she overheard him speaking with a few of his men from inside a room.“Listen, I don't think Twilight and Rainbow would take lightly to me being a member, much less the leader, make sure they're “reunited” alright?” ‘ What did he mean by reunited?’ She thought. She simply passed it off, it was her brother, nothing was gonna happen to Rainbow and Twilight.
Applebloom was overjoyed, however something inside her head told her otherwise. She couldn't shake that pit in her stomach, something was wrong, but she didn't know what, “That'd be nice..”
Death Unbound: Days Gone By
Twilight arrived at the headquarters, it reminded her very much of a castle, but not the luxurious and crystal ones that the princesses use to reside in, this one reminded Twilight of the darkness that surrounded the world. She could feel the blood that stuck to her coat slowly dry as she approached a group of fast approaching pegasi.
Twilight quickly turned around and ignited her horn at the mare in front of her. Her neck swung back and let out a sickening crunch as it snapped. She turned to the last two. The were frozen in fear, they were visibly shaking as Twilight stared.
Rainbow Dash skidded across the room she had crashed through. As she came to a stop she looked at the bloody green Pegasus she had thrown through the window. Rainbow walked up to her and grabbed her wing. Rainbow dragged her to the door and ordered her to stand. She reluctantly complied, and shakily stood up. Rainbow opened the door, the green pony shakily walked through the door, Rainbow followed shortly after. Rainbow and her prisoner walked down the hallway, to Rainbow’s surprise she hasn't encountered any guards.
They couldn't believe it. The last time they saw him he was saving them from a group of infected, they thought he died.
Applebloom heard yelling in the distance, ‘'What's goin on?’ she thought. She was told to wait for Big Mac, but something was wrong. Just a few minutes ago there was fighting underneath her, and then now there was nothing.
“So you're telling me that you don't know where she is?” Big Mac asked, his voice echoing the anger he felt.
Big Mac, who was gained consciousness once more, stood up. His vision was blurred, his previous blood loss stacking up on top of the new one from his nearly torn off leg, bits of bone and muscle just barely keeping it on. He turned to Rainbow Dash, who was guarding Applebloom. His mind didn't register anything for the safety of his, and all he could think to do was to kill Rainbow. His anger and insanity blocked the pain from his leg as he launched himself at Rainbow.
