Eli was slowly waking up, he felt the soft mattress under him, but something felt off, he opened his eyes, and where a yellow pegasus should have been was gone, he looked to the side and saw a note.

"Sorry I had to leave, I was enjoying our cuddles, but the show will start soon and I need to be there ahead of time, will be back this evening, and for two weeks of snuggles.

Sincerely yours, Spitfire."

"Aw, glad she left the note." He sat up and saw that he was in her room, "Guess I'm living here now." He slid off the bed and saw he was still wearing underwear, and that they didn't do it last night, just cuddling.

Eli walked out of the room and into the shower. It was a nice warm shower, perfect to shake off a giant battle. Once he was done there he got dressed and headed downstairs, he entered the kitchen and prepared himself a couple eggs.

He looked to the eating area and saw that his bag was there, so he rummage through it and found the tiny, unknown box. He held it, it was tiny, about the size of his palm. It was wood with a kind of magical lock on it. "What the fuck is it?" He kept looking at the box, until he remember he had eggs cooking, "Oh shit!"

He ran over to the stove and got the eggs off, luckily they weren't burnt, just a bit crispy. Eli slid them onto a plate and sat down, he started eating as he stared at the box, wondering what was inside it.

He didn't get any answers, just more questions, he shouted, "What are you?!"

He heard an almost quiet moan say, "When you need it, the box will reveal it's purpose."

"What the fucking fuck does that god damn mean?!" He got no reply, he sat back and said, "Well played, alright I'll wait for fuck's sake." He shoved the box back into his bag and finished his eggs. He cleaned his plate and walked over to the couch. He sat down and closed his eyes. Meditating, just letting go of everything and being one with yourself.

That lasted for a good minute, until he saw a scroll pop in front of him, "Of fucking course."

He unrolled it, "Eli, there's nothing wrong, so no work for today, but Luna wants to ask you some questions, she'll be there in a little bit,
hope that isn't too soon. Fyi she's been relentless with me sending this letter, so whatever it is, let me know.

Celestia."

Eli heard the doorbell and got up, he opened the door and saw Luna standing there, she said.

"Hey Eli, can I come in?"

"Sure, Spitfire's at a show and I was getting bored, so what's up?" He closed the door, Luna took a seat on the couch and Eli took the right chair.

"Well, after the first time I saw your dream I couldn't help but worry. And I've been peaking in on you a couple nights, and it's always the same dream, you holding what I assumed to be Theo in your arms, it was tragic. Then I saw how you fought, head on with fists. And without fear of death. I'm worried about you, you seem like the dreams are getting worse and worse. What's going on?"

He lowered his face and wiped his face with his hands, "Losing one's child can be.... Tough to say the least. And with me dating Spitfire, I can't help but feel happy, but with the happiness I can't help but punish myself. I lost my child, I shouldn't be happy, and I'm not.

Well, I am happy, but I feel guilty, it's getting harder and harder, the only way I sleep is usually with an alcohol induced blackout. I can't help but wonder, what kind of life would I live where the outbreak happened, then Theo would be alive. I miss him so much, and no matter what you do, I can't be cured of this.

Please put me on a blacklist, let me loath in peace. I'll be okay, I no longer savor the taste of the gun against my throat."

She got up, "I'm sorry I brought it up, I just wanna help you, and I'm not sure how, most ponies don't lose their foals, hardly anypony dies here, well in terms of combat anyway."

"Luna, with something like this, you can't help me, you can just let me do what I'll do. Please, just thinking about it is making me cry." She saw tears falling from his cheek.

She walked over to him and wrapped her wing around him, "Luna, I wish you will never feel this pain, the pain of losing a child, your child. No one deserves it, and it's harder than you'd ever think. But with the pain I feel, I vowed to never let a zombie take a child from it's parents. And I've never broke a promise."

"Very well, but if you need to talk, my door's open, farewell Eli." She was about to leave, but she turned to him and said, "Oh ya, I almost forgot. Celestia's raising your paycheck to fifteen thousand bits instead of ten."

"Holy crap, that's nice, thanks." She nodded and left the house. Eli wiped away the tears and said, "You know what, fuck this, I'm getting a drink."

He went into the kitchen and got out a bottle of scotch, he bought it secretly, just in case something happens. He sat down on the couch and proceeded to drink.

He drunk about half the bottle before he decided to take a break, he had a decent buzz going on, he thought. "What should I do today?

Work out? Nah, go see Rue, maybe later. Jerk off? Nah, save it for tonight." He was stumped on what to do, he looked at the clock and saw that it was a little after noon. "I hope Celestia needs me to do something."

A scroll popped right in front of him, "Thank god." He quickly unrolled it.

"Dear Eli, I need you to come to Canterlot, now, something we need to discuss. I'm sending the chariot, hurry, but leave the armor, no combat for now.

Celestia."

"Alright, something to fucking do." Eli sprung up and grabbed his bottle of scotch, he ran out the door and saw the chariot, he hopped in and said.

"Let's go." They took off in a flash.

There wasn't much in terms of conversations in the chariot, but once Eli landed Luna was right in front of the castle, "Eli, this's something you need to hear."

Eli followed her in, past many, many hallways they got to the throne room, Luna opened the door and there was Celestia on her throne.

"Welcome back Eli, now to business, we investigated the portals for magical residue, and there was a lot. These portals aren't natural, they were made by somepony."

"Oh fuck, that's pretty big. But who?" Asked Eli.

"Can't say yet, but the magic wasn't it, the locations. Cloudsdale, home of our weather. Canterlot, where we live, Manehattan, a massive population. And even the crystal mines, next to the empire and new home to the humans.

Those are key locations for an invasion. But we still don't know who, nor where that pony is."

Eli thought for a moment, "Where's the last place you'd think to look?"

"Ponyville... The Crystal empire... I don't know. There's many locations."

"Fair enough, look, with things like these if you give it time, whatever's doing this will come out for a victory lap and a monologue that lasts forever. It's a classic system. So for now, keep sending me to fight, and soon, it'll come out to play."

"Very good words Eli, fair enough, for now, you keep protecting our lands, I'll keep my eye out for suspisious places."

"Done." Said Eli. "Alright, who wants a drink?"

"Sorry, but I got a meeting in a couple minutes." Said Celestia, Luna replied.

"I need to go back to bed, the night shift is very yawn long." She walked out and to her bedroom.

"Alright, see ya." Eli walked out and over to the small bar by the barracks. He walked in and saw that like usual, there was no pony there.

The bartender looked at him, the bartender was a purple stallion with a red and blue mane, and black eyes. He asked in a stern voice, "What can I getcha?"

"Hard cider." Eli sat at the bar and placed the three bits on the counter. The bartender brought him a decent size mug, he took out his wallet and just looked at the picture, the talk with Luna really messed him up.

The bartender asked, "What's troubling you sir?"

"Heh, sir's too formal for me, call me Eli."

The bartender shook his hand with his hoof and replied, "Brutus."

"Nice to meet you Brutus, well, I had a talk with Luna that kinda messed me up." He turned his wallet to Brutus.

"Who's that?" He pointed to the man holding Theo, he had long, long golden brown hair, a slight neck beard, and a big smile.

"That's me, and the kid's my son, Theo."

"Cute kid, needed a day from the family?"

A tear fell from his cheek, "Theo... died with the rest of his people."

Brutus looked at Eli for a second before replying, "Ouch, sorry. That's just downright horrible, if I lost my son... I probably wouldn't be around."

"The only thing that drove me was killing the fuckers that infected him. The zombies you hear about on the paper."

"Oh ya, I heard about Manehattan and Cloudsdale."

Eli finished off his cup, "And the crystal mines, probably tomorrow's paper."

"Damn, you're a hero." Brutus floated another mug to Eli, "On the house."

"Thanks." Brutus nodded, he went to the back for inventory.

Eli took a large gulp of his cider and just looked at the picture. He wiped off his tears and a smile grew on his face, he turned around and just looked at the empty bar, there was no pony on the seats, nothing was going on, just soft jazz music in the background.

Brutus came back with a couple bottles of wine, held by his magic. Brutus set the bottles under the bar and used his magic to grab a bar towel and he started to wipe down the bar.

"So, besides that dark memory, how do you like Equestria so far?"

Eli replied, "Can't complain, everything seems perfect, or at least a lot better than my planet, our politics were a mess, everyone just wanted to be rich and used that power to abuse the people, and even schools to get a little money. The first thing you need to know is that humans are greedy, some more than most others, I man I don't care to be rich, I just want enough to live.

But I guess most of the pain comes from my happiness."

Brutus asked, "How can you be sad about being happy?"

"Well, I'm turning my life around, protecting the land as a hero, a super hot marefriend, friends. But I feel guilty for loving that stuff, and yet, I don't have Theo there to enjoy it with me, and I feel horrible about it."

"Ouch man, I don't know what to say besides don't beat yourself up, say how much have you had to drink?"

"Half a bottle of scotch and two of these. I have a buzz, but no, I'm not drunk." He took a swig from the glass, "Yet."

Brutus levitated two shot glasses onto the table and filled them with Equestrian tequila, Eli placed the five bits for his drink, Brutus and Eli held their drinks.

"To your new life." They clinked glasses and gulped the shots, they shivered a bit, "Hope that helps, and hey, the pain goes down."

"How do you know?" Asked Eli.

"I've had a..... Complicated life, no need to talk about it."

"I hear ya Brutus."

"So, who's your marefriend?"

"Spitfire, of the Wonderbolts."

He looked at Eli for a second, "How did you get her?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Ya, I'm not a tattletale."

"I saved her life from being digested by a giant bird, and saved her during our first encounter." His eyes were wide, and his mouth was wide open, "Let me get that." Eli closed Brutus's mouth.

"Damn, now that's impressive. Wish I could be human."

"No, no you don't."

"Why not?"

Eli replied in an almost to calm voice, "Because humanity pretty much died, seven and a half billion humans, now blood thirsty zombies with no soul, just husks."

"That... That's a good point actually. But what about the human colony I heard about?"

"Those people? Ha! You don't wanna be one of them. Take my friend Rue, she lost her whole family, her life, her home, all she had left is hope, and her wife. And the rest of them, they're just on the ride, all of them want to die, but the only thing keeping them going is the hope that we can recreate humanity.

But in reality, after generations of people we'll be right back to where we were, fighting one another, to the point we making something that destroys humanity again. So honestly, you don't wanna be human. History repeats itself, I don't have hope, I just wanna live my life until I die, that's it. That and drink a lot of beer."

"Wow man, that's deep, but honestly, if you know history, then you can keep it from happening again. Your future kids will probably learn from your mistakes and grow on that. That's something to live for. Right?" Asked Brutus.

"I guess, but right now, I honestly don't care if humanity survives, I just wanna kill everything I can and keep you ponies safe, I see you all and wonder, what's your secret to friendship? Whatever it is, we humans don't have it, but ya. Maybe we will grow back, stronger than we were before."

Brutus poured another glass, "That's how you think man." Eli drank the shot and replied.

"You know what? I might have to be a regular here."

"I hope you do, half a bottle of scotch, two shots of tequila, and two ciders and you're only buzzed."

"Ya, I'm not sure if that's a good thing for me, but good for business I'm sure." Brutus laughed.

They talked for about an hour, just bullshitting, though Brutus knew he would have to go home so he gave Eli regular cider, which Eli drank happily.

Eli left with a very nice buzz, and a better look on life. He took a chariot home, when he got there he knew Spitfire wouldn't be home for at least another few hours.

He looked at the kitchen and smirked, he ran in and he rummaged through his bag, until he found a small notebook with the title, 'Interesting things I found'. He flipped though until he got to a page with a recipe for a double chocolate cake, "Perfect."

For those two hours he ran to the store and got what he would need and started on the cake. Then he proceeded to whip up some spicy flat noodle soup. And no, not from the tasty treat, just couldn't think of anything else.

That took about an hour and a half, the food was ready, but the cake still needed some time, Eli looked in the shelves and found some apple cider, without alcohol. And found some with alcohol. "Perfect, I bet she'll need a drink."

He set the bottles on the table and got out two mugs, he set them across from one another, Eli said, "Good enough for three something hours." He looked at the clock and she should be there any minute.

Eli sat down and waited, and waited, and waited. He waited for over thirty minutes, wondering what happened, "Well, the food's cold, perfect."

A scroll popped in front of him, "Oh please don't let it be her, please god almighty, I beg of you."

He unrolled it. "Eli, something kind of.... Happened. There was another portal, and this one's in Canterlot, in the exact stadium the Wonderbolts were flying in, don't worry, no pony's hurt thankfully. And we contained the stadium, but it's not how many came out, it's what came out, some kind of acid spitting zombie, we can't get close and if we try to use magic they somehow reflects it. The chariot's waiting. Time to earn your paycheck.

Luna."

"I just wanted a slow two weeks of comfort, is that too much to ask for?!" The answer... Yes, yes it is.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, I thought I pushed publish on Saturday, but here it is, let me know how it is, still trying to write the final chapter, isn't easy, out of ideas.