Pastel Meltdown

Final standoff

The zombies came at endless waves. They refused to let up and the survivors had to fall back into the city. Shining armor had arrived as they managed to clear another wave of undead, their weapons nearly diminished at the endless horde.

Shining had a rather sizeable armed militia and royal guardsmen with him, all with mixed emotional states due to the enemy. Word was Celestia was evacuating the citizens, but she needed time, something she may not have the leisure to afford.

“You must be the infamous Shining Armor. Did I hit the nail on the head?” Louis said as he reloaded his pistols. “Damn, only two clips left. How about the rest of you?”

“One clip.” Bill said as he reloaded his m16.

“Just what’s left in these two.” Zoey said.

“Maybe a good 6 shells if we’re lucky.” Francis said.

“Fuck, we’re so screwed.” Louis said. The faint sounds of another wave of rotting undead was heard in the distance.

“Weapons at the ready!” Bill said as he aimed down his sights.

They waited, ready for anything. The ground ahead of them erupted and a large force of undead started to flood out of it.

The survivors shot into the crowd of flesh eating monsters, the guards providing support with spears and magic.

The front few started to fall like grass to a wildfire and some of the ones following close behind stumbled over and fell onto the ground. Some even dying from the impact of it.

It did little but temporarily halt their movement for but a moment. Bill was the first to hear the unsatisfactory click of his gun. He tossed it away and turned to Shining.

“Spear.”

Shining tossed him a spear that seemed a bit sharper than the others. Bill stood back and waited for the undead to get close as the rest of the survivors heard the similar resounding click that created dissatisfaction among them.

Francis was the second one to end up in this situational moment. Instead of tossing his gun away, he turned it around and held it like he would a bat, getting ready to charge the motherfuckers that would dare make him waste his last shell. Soon Zoey and Louis followed with their empty weapons and they got spears as well, tossing away the useless metal.

This wave was nearly done with, only a handful of zombies left standing. The next wave could already be heard in the distance and Bill made a note to finish these ones off quickly.

**********

Most of the flying carriage’s were now filled with the citizens, and even the princesses, as they readied for departure.

Celestia told one of the pegasi to leave and inform the group to fall back for a final evacuation with the last remaining carriages. Slowly, the filled carriages finally took off, gaining great altitude at a decent pace. The citizens watched in horror as they finally got a good look at the city of Canterlot, or what was left of it.

The city had smoke erupting from a good amount of housing districts. The citizens were less shocked at that as they were at the sight of what seemed like a giant green wave crashing in towards one single point.

**********

Things were heating up. Zombies started coming in left and right and it wasn’t just wave after wave now, it was one huge horde coming in all at once.

The number of able bodied ponies started to rapidly decrease with the increase of undead. One of them even tried to turn and run, only to get trapped against a wall and ten zombies.

One zombie started to come from above. It jumped like a hunter from rooftop to rooftop as it watched the survivor’s, waiting for a moment to strike. The only problem was that it wasn’t a hunter, it looked like a mad scientist took a hunter, a witch, and a regular infected, and just started mashing them together until something came out that resembled another being.

It licked its lips as it saw Zoey separate a bit from the group to take down a singled out zombie. The agile zombie took the opportunity and jumped down at Zoey, knocking her to the ground. Her weapon was thrown away from her and she screamed out for help as the undead started to claw at her arms.

A spear went flying off and hit the thing in its arm. It cried in pain, jumping back to its perch above. The thing took the spear with it in its arm, jerking and twitching with muscle contractions.

Zoey got back up to her feet, her arms scraped and bled, but not mortally so. She got her spear and jabbed it into an oncoming undead.

The group had fallen back and was only half the number it started with. What started as a group of at least fifty guards was now a group of twenty at best. The group kept a good and stable fight pattern to keep from losing any more, and it was effective for the most part.

One pegasi came flying in as Bill killed two zombies. He seemed slightly distressed and spoke really fast and loud to make sure everypony heard him.

“Get to the castle! That’s your escape. Everypony’s gotten out and you’re the only one’s left. You have an hour before we are ordered to leave you all behind. See you all there.” And like that, the pegasi flew back the way he came.

“You heard ‘em boys! We get to the castle or we get to killing the dead!” Shining announced as he started for the direction of the castle. Things seemed easy...Too easy.

********** five minutes later

Undead were crowding in from all sides. The survivors and the few guards were backed against a corner, fighting for their lives.

“Dammit! You had to make us take the left road! I told you it was right Bill, not left.” Shining griped as he jabbed his spear into another zombie.

“Just focus on making a path through ‘em! We need to make this fast if we want to make any leeway.” Bill grunted as he kicked two away from him.

They spent minute after minute gaining little ground as the endless undead refused to break formation. Some more dead that looked much like the ones Zoey got attacked from started to come in as well. Bouncing off the walls after their prey.

One of them pounced off of a low hanging pole onto one of the guards and tore at his throat before he could even react. The undead jumped away before a spear could pivot the center of the undead’s head. Instead, the spear aimed for the agile undead’s head reached past into two zombies that were practically in tow with one another.

Shining and a few of the unicorns took it upon themselves to try and take down the more agile undead while the rest guarded them and pushed the wall of zombies back. They easily dropped like flies as the magical blasts pierced cleanly through their skins with precision. The agile zombie’s fell back and ran while the wall of ‘dead-meat’ dwindled and thinned out as well. The dead had slowly come to a halt in numbers as the survivors and guards made short work of them.

The last one fell with a distinct ‘crack’ from the force of a spell that pushed it into a solid wall. They made a mad dash out of the corner they had recently been forced to and back to the turnoff point. The streets were so empty now that it made the survivors uneasy. It couldn’t have been the last undead, there were so many it was hard to believe that was it. Something wasn’t right and that new talking zombie was getting to Bill.

‘How the hell did that thing speak?! And what could that thing be planning? Shit, I don’t know anything other than it want’s us dead.’ Bill hoped to the heavens they could get away alive, he knew they needed to get to the castle soon or it would be too late for them to live.

Minutes passed with the group on edge. The zombies had just stopped coming and they were both relieved and fearful. A leader of zombies couldn’t be good; Zoey started to fall behind the rest of the group as fatigue took over her. The group made it to a rather low hanging bridge when a loud roar seemed to split the city in two. A large chunk of rock from the street came flying and hit the ceiling to the bridge. Louis and Zoey were caught on the outside of it while the others were caught on the inside, a few unlucky guards getting caught and flattened in the middle amongst the rubble.

Francis bellowed in fear and anger. “No! Goddamnit no, we need to get back.” Francis started to breathe faster and the others were not looking at him. Bill put his hand on Francis for comfort.

Louis’ voice was barely audible from the other side of the rubble, “Hey!........Don’t......ait!....eet us at the castle!”

Francis ignored Louis’ almost inaudible words as he tried to move the rocks out of the way. Bill didn’t try to stop him.

Francis did stop when he heard Zoey’s voice on the other side. “We’ll be fine Francis! Just go. We’ll......you there!”

Francis did nothing but stand there. He turned back to the others, his face was stone cold and less playful than it had been when they usually faced the zombie hordes. “Let’s get this over with,” and like that, he started back the way ahead of them.

********** Zoey & Louis

The others had left, Zoey could tell. She turned back and watched as Louis stabbed another zombie in the face. They knew they wouldn’t be making any leeway anytime soon. The sound of an angry tank was heard in the distance behind the mass of undead just starting to form up and they both knew it was fruitless to try and take one on without their guns, or at least a molotov cocktail.

They wanted to make sure the others would have hope, since that’s all they could give them now.

“Well, if we’re going down, lets take some of these fuckers with us!” Zoey said as she grabbed her spear and aimed it at a zombie that was particularly fatter than the rest. “C’mon you fat bastard, you’re going to have to work for this meal!” And she ran at it.

********** Francis & Bill

The deserted alleyways and streets only added to Francis’ and Bill’s worries as they moved closer to the castle. They couldn’t help but hope the other two had beat them there, but that hope was shattered as they got in sight of the castle gates. The front doors were shattered and pegasi guards were laying dead left and right.

One in specific was still barely alive, he was leaned against a wall and Bill noticed it was the same one that gave them the information earlier.

The pegasus coughed up some blood onto the ground and looked at the group with a waned and sad, yet accepting smile. “H-hey, heh. You made it. *cough* Sorry we couldn’t.....*cough* *hack* couldn’t roll out the welcome carpet for you. The dead came with some weird one with a scary voice leading ‘em. *cough*” The guard slowly started to lose it and hallucinate from the lack of blood. “Hey, heheh, three of *cough*......There’s three of you sir Shining.” The pegasus muttered something inaudible as his final breath left him. He slumped down onto the ground, dead.

Bill looked through the shattered doorway and saw that there was only a handful of zombies shuffling about. He held his spear tight and readied to charge them, but found it unnecessary. Francis had already rushed past him with his shotgun ready to whack the undead into submission. It took but a minute, maybe two tops.

Francis got a good swing in and sent the first in circles where it landed in a sitting position against the wall. The rest of them were now alert to his presence and turned to attack him. Francis swung his shotgun in an upwards motion and sent the second zombie reeling backwards, it crashed and stumbled on the third one. Before the two undead could go back and attack the zombies, the biker swung his weapon in an arc where it connected with both of their heads, slamming them into the ground. The fourth one got a bite into francis’ left arm, erecting a cry of pain from him. Bill had stepped in and caught up with the survivor and speared the zombie in the face, causing it to relinquish its hold on Francis’ arm.

Francis muttered “Thanks” before going off ahead. The smell of death and voided bowels now wafted through the air.

The rest of the corridors were filled with the same, small-ish packs of idle zombies. That or ones that were focused on the flesh of their hard earned meal of pegasi meat. They repeated the pattern, mixing different tactics to what the undead were focused on at that moment in time. After at least ten grueling minutes passed, they finally made it to the gardens where the carriages were supposedly at. Bill whispered to Shining as they entered the garden courtyard. “You sure your unicorn soldiers can use a spell to get us out of here on those things?” Bill didn’t question the guard captain but he was still worried it wouldn’t work.

“Of course we can! Just clear the area and we can get out of here.” Shining whispered back.

They got to the open area the carriages would be at.......

......To find them completely destroyed, shards and bodies strewn about like someone just spilled a box of crayons on the ground, broke them in half, then kept breaking them. A large amount of the horde of undead were in the area or wandering away from it, but near the center of the wreckage was a whole other story. The strange and bony (rather ancient like) zombie was there laughing eerily in a haunting manner.

But then good news began to shine through; a single flicker of hope. There was but one carriage left. One left untouched by the wandering rotting monsters that stumbled in random formations.

The zombie with the eerie and echoed voice yelled out. “Cooooorrrruppppt oonnnnneees! Yoooooouuuu arrrrrreeeee nnnneeeaaaar! I can smeeeeeeeeellllll the hoooooopppppe iiiiinnnn yourrrrrrrrrrr ssssooooooouuuuuuullllllssss!!!”

Francis clenched his fist on his empty shotgun so hard the handle started to crack. He saw two lumps that were mostly untouched near the undead’s feet. Two unforgettable lumps that made him burn with a hate hell could not conceive.........

...........The bodies of Louis and Zoey.

Bill didn’t recognize, at first, the two broken and tattered lumps near the zombies feet. But after a minute or two, he finally realized. “My god...”

The two dead bodies were chewed at and ripped in certain areas. Zoey had a missing arm, blood still pooling fresh as the wound is. Her soulless eyes stare at the infinite expanse above. Her left leg was ripped up and large chunks of it were missing in different intervals. Her right ankle was torn off and the bone jutted out, stabbing into the earth. Her tendons were clearly splayed out on the grass below her which had long since stained crimson.

Louis............ was much worse.

Louis had half of his head smashed in, sizeable chunks of cinder sticking out from it. His left arm was broken and hung by the few tendons that had not been bitten through. His other arm seemed more intact with only a few bite marks in them. His clothes were nearly completely torn to shreds with claw marks and such like it. His stomach was devoid of any organs whatsoever as it now looked like a hollowed out red, wet cave. His lower half was completely devoid of any form of skin or muscle as it was just pure bone. Bits of saliva and red drips of blood were all that remained on them. His eye sockets were devoid of the soulless eyeballs that would have been looking straight at the one zombie that seemed to control the rest.

Francis nearly jumped up and ran after the hellspawn that stood there in glee. Bill and a few of the guards held him back though, keeping him quiet so as to not alert them to where they were exactly......yet.

Francis struggled in their grasp, fueled by the endless fire of anger that filled him. He fought and fought in defiance, hoping to end the zombie’s unlife. Francis managed to utter a bit just under his breath. “Just let me go, goddammit... Let me go and smash his fuckin’ skull in, I swear it won’t even be as difficult as you think.”

Bill spoke up in a slightly quieter way. “No. We need to think this through before we get ourselves killed. It’s too late for them and we can take him maybe, but we need a fucking plan if we’re going to have revenge.”

Francis stopped fighting and the force of all those that were holding him back caused him to fall onto his ass, a few tears dropping from his eyes as his breathing became rapid.

“Don’t you think I want the bastard to pay too? We can’t just go in weapons blazing at it or we’ll die before it does.”

“Then what do you plan on doing? Because I ain’t got horseshit other than make the fucker pay.” Francis said. He stood up and wiped a few tears from his eyes as he looked at Bill with a scowl so deep, it ingrained itself into Bill’s brain. They both knew there was no way in hell everyone would be able to get out alive, especially with only one carriage. With any luck, Shining and his men could get out of here, but there wasn’t room for all those that were present and accounted for.

Bill turned to Shining with a solemn and slightly dejected expression. “We’ll hold ‘em off. Just get out of here and don’t worry about us.”

“That’s suicide!” Shining accidentally blurted out a bit too loudly, he covered his muzzle with a hoof. After a second he took it away and spoke in a more quieter tone. “We can’t just leave you! You’ll both certainly die. There’s gotta be another way.”

Shining’s men looked at him with a sad smile. Bill looked at him with a more determined smile while Francis looked at him with a grim and displeased look. It seemed everyone and everypony knew what had to be done and made their pick. Sighing, he picked his spear up with his magic and whispered. “Alright.”

The undead started to spread out and head off in different directions to find the survivors. The lead zombie still stood there by the carriages, watching the shadows for any hint of them. Bill had started to sweat as he gripped his weapon tightly.

“I’ll distract them. You wait for an opening and take it. Understand Francis?”

Francis just gripped his weapon tighter as he stared daggers at the undead he could just barely see. “Yeah....”

Bill snuck through the shadows, trying to make his existence as unnoticeable as possible. It worked for a short while as he made his way around to the other side of the garden and other side of the control-zombie that stood centerfold. It failed when he accidently stepped upon a branch that made a loud snap.

The lead control-zombie turned and faced it with a rotted smile as he willed the undead towards it. Bill stood out of the shadows with his spear in hand. As soon as he did, the undead quickened their pace towards him.

He ran and ducked under a zombie that swung its arms in an arced motion. Bill jabbed his spear upwards and connected it with the undead’s head. It cut cleanly through, almost like Bill was just stabbing into butter.

Two more got into range and Bill stabbed into one while the other one bit into his arm. He cried out and pulled his spear out of the first one, knocking into the other’s head. It stumbled backwards, releasing its grip of his arm and Bill took the opportunity to stab the undead in the head.

More zombies surrounded Bill, obscuring any sight of him by anything outside the circle of undead. Francis, in the meantime, took the opportunity to sneak around the control-zombie and came in close.

Its back was towards Francis so he hoped he had the upper hand in the matter. He was wrong, however, as the undead turned around, two zombies coming up behind Francis.

Francis let his anger overturn his thoughts now that he was seen. The undead laughed in a hollow tone as Francis came charging at him. Francis cocked his weapon back and got ready to swing; Predicting this, the undead brought his hands to guard himself..........

........To receive a spear through his head from behind. Shining armor and his guardsmen snuck up behind the thing while it was distracted by Francis. Unfortunately, the thing was still moving and pulled itself off the spear. In a fury it swung its arms at Francis, whom had reached arm length by now. Francis gained a clean slash into his chest, it was fairly deep and blood dropped out like a cup that was tilted on its side.

He fell to the ground. A few seconds later, the undead control-zombie did as well, twitching. Shining did another stab into the undead’s head to make it stop twitching.

The zombies started to disperse from where Bill was surrounded at. He was fighting pretty much tooth and nail as he killed zombies left and right. Bite marks and missing chunks of skin were on his arms as he held his weapon to the best of his ability. The world around Bill was enclosing with black spots as the blood from his wounds circled him on the ground below. Four more zombies were still focused on him with mindless hunger. Bill made a quick stab at one of the undead’s head’s and got bit on the arm again in the process. The other two bit into his sides and the one to his left pulled away with a rather sizeable chunk of flesh. Shining’s men managed to get to Bill and took down the other three fairly quickly but it was too late. Bill’s blood caked the ground with a crimson shine. Too much was lost and he fell to the ground into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.

The undead were now less orderly and stumbled into one another as Shining and his men got Francis and Bill into the carriage. With a glow of his horn, Shining got the carriage moving and they flew off towards the direction of the nearest village...........

.............................The end?

A/N: One more chapter to wrap it up and that's it. I hope everyone's enjoyed reading this story as much as I have writing it.