Unloved

As we arrived back to the serial killers house where once we were contained, something moved in the main hall.

Once was a large brick wall was now a narrow hallway, with it emitting a low frequency that rattled your skull. This hallway would drive a sane being into a enraged animal, if you stood in the frequency for long enough. At the other end of the hallway was a bloodied wooden door. I volenteered to dash though the frequency and to check the door.

As I ran though, a sudden disturbance came crashing from upstairs. The girls and I looked to the ceiling, only to hear a morbid scene occuring right above our heads. The crashing of a large blunt object...as a man screamed in terror. The sounds of bones cracking to every strike this poor man recieved. The mans screams were surpressed by the following of gurgling his own blood as he crashed to the floor.....Then it was dead silent.

All three girls were shaking violently from the disturbance, looking back at me to hurry up. I tried the door to see it was locked and sprinted back to them. The footsteps echoed thoughout the main as a body was being dragged. It was time to investigate the last lower area of the hall, to the far right. We jogged though a narrow corridor into a family room. The room was complete with images of the mummies we encountered earlier, more pinned faces on the wall, a rotted sofa, some indistinguishable flesh on the floor, and another note laying on a desk. The note read:

And I Wlil csuae them to eat the fsleh
Of thier sons and the felsh of tehir dheugrats,
And tehy slhal eat eervy one the flseh of his freind...
--Jieaemrh 19:9

“I have...no idea where that’s from." Twilight said while examining the note.

Rarity and Fluttershy looked to each other, not knowing what to say.I covered my mouth in horror and knuew exactly where the note was from.

“What’s wrong Ryan?” Twilight said looking up at me with a puzzled expression on her face.

“That’s a quote from the Bible...Twilght. Scholars can’t figure out...and countlessly argued why that verse in the Bible exists. It was interpreted that God made his own people eat the flesh of one another. Some say it was an act of vengence from him...while others claim it was famine that plagued his people during the time. I sometimes dont understand my own religion...or God at times...Twilight...but in the end, I will turn away from evil...and chose to fight for whats morally pure and true. You girls represent just that.” Well, that was a hell of a speech in such short notice.

That little speech made the girls smile and restored some sense of hope within our group. A skull switch was located in a corner near the bookself in the family room. The bookself slid to the left and revealed a stairway descending downwards, with metallic candles leading the way. A pillar of skulls lid up the bottom floor, revealing a small puddle of stagnent water. To the right of the puddle was an after image of a wodden door transcending towards us. To the right of the door was a medkit, which had an arm strap. Twilight strapped the medkit around her neck as we progressed toward the door.

Before I could reach the doorknob, I blinked, and were outside of the serial killers house. A great feeling of melancholy and loneliness overswept us as we looked around, but we were glad we didn’t have to breathe the smell of rotting flesh anymore. A formal human with a brown humanoid’s body laid near a small burning trash barrel, in front of a rusted fence.

We descended out into a stone street, and overhead streetlights that covered the side of the road that flickered dimly. An unexplainable weather pattern was occuring in the skyline, as dark clouds and mist hastily moved in one direction. It looked like...as if it was dusk outside, and the sun’s rays never touched this forgotten city.

We looked below the rusted fence to see a river flowing in a strait path. We could also see more large buildings and skyscrapers on the horizon. We continued onto the street as my boots and the girls hooves clackled with every step.

We looked up to a streetlight to see a partially alive male body dangling from the lamp, trying to break free from a meat hook impailed from in his back. His blood covered the glass of the lamp which flickered a red tint onto the street. I would have spared the poor soul by squeezing a round into his head, but I couldnt risk attention being drawn to the group, so we continued onward.

About a few yards to the right of the dangling poor soul was a single story burnt house. Sll of its doors and windows were missing. I lead the group into the house, sweeping every room to check for supplies that we could use. More metallic candles laid on the floor dimly lighting our surroundings within this place. A brown skeleton roared behind us and launched one of its rockets at me. I darted below a empty window frame as the rocket exploded on the outside of the house. I exposed myself to the brown skeleton with my Ar-15 aimed right at it’s skull, squeezing off 4 rounds before it dropped to the ground.

We started to sweep the rooms, right to left, working our way around the abandoned house. A formal human's corpse laid on a bed with a shotgun nearby, which alerted a shadow figure that launched a fireball at me. The fireball fizzed my hair above my head, as I spun around and emptied three rounds into its chest. I looked back to the formal humans corpse to see it clutching a mossberg 500 pistol grip shotgun. I Inspected the chamber and worked the action, seeing it was in good use. The girls jumped a little in surprise to the intimidating sound of the slide being worked.

I took my Glock 19 back from Rarity traded her the Ar-15, in which she used her magic to levitate the rifle right beside her. The short length of the Mossberg was better for room clearing in this case. The next room was completely empty with only a 100 round box of buckshot sitting in a corner. Twilight grabbed the box and dumped the shells into her Medkit, which had plenty of open room.

We made our way to the last room, passing a kitchen counter with rotten food complete with maggots and flies buzzing around. The last room had an old kevlar vest with two shadow figures readied in their attack position. One shell fire from the mossberg was used for each of the figures. I wore the kevlar vest undeneath my combat vest. We made our way back onto the street and moved forwards. We passed a mutilated hanging corpse to the left of us, recessed from a metal arc. An overhead bridge complete with open viewports was in front of us. Another corpse was hanging from a streetlight by its left foot.

How the hell was this serial killer taking the time and effort to hang these bodies all though this city? Wouldn’t authorities have shot this psychopath on sight, doing such a treacherous act? Some things didn’t add up in my mind as we continued on into the bridge, guided by more metallic candles.

As we exited out of the bridge, we could hear the low growl from a pink demon to the right of us. I aimed my rifle toward the growl, as it got louder when it progressed forward. We could hear the pink demon, but we couldnt see it anywhere in plain sight. Out of thin air, a pink demon appeared and attempted to take a chunk out of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy, Rarity, and I unloaded our firearms into the pink beast, as it collapsed onto the street. Fluttershy’s eyes were wide as she ran over to me, trembling from the incident.

“Great...now we have to deal with...invisble monsters now?” Twilight said in disbelief.

I had to make a small statement regarding what just happened.“Girls, if any one of you hears any close growling or roaring from within this city, shoot only one round within the direction of the noise. We cannot risk any one of you...becomming mortally wounded. Twilights medical supplies cannot heal us all.”

I reloaded four new shells into the Mossberg, as Rarity and Fluttershy asked for a fresh mag from me. We made our way to the right of the bridge toward a tall building, which had a small staircase leading to a walkway. The walkway surrounded the perimeter of the building. We followed the metallic candle path as we made our way to the main entrance of the tall building, where a shadow figure guarded the entrance. One shotgun blast ruined its day as we drew near the entrance.

Rarity pressed a pressure switch located to the left of the entrance, in which the main entrance doors swung open. A small room containing a creepy fucking portrait of a grotesque human sat on the wall. To the left of it was a round metallic lever, which Rarity pulled. A small elevator descended from the left of us where we all scrunched onto.The girls were forced to stand on their lower hooves from the lack of space as the elevator ascended upwards.

Two ammo boxes of 5.56 hollow point greeted us at the top of the elevator, sitting on two pedestals. We took whatever ammo we could carry from the boxes, and moved into the next room. The room contained a large skyview of the ceiling, a large metal container, a few metal shipping containers, some boxes with rotting flesh that peered out, and a large rusted metal cage dead center in the room.

The cage contained the last three girls we were looking for, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack! Applejack and Rainbow Dash huddled together for warmth within the cage. Pinkie Pie was curled up into the fetal position, laying on her side wimpering to herself.

“Girls!” Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight shouted instinctively with wide eyes. The three girls within the cage got up in confusion.

That was a bad move, as three of the shadow figures withdrew out of the dark corners of the room and launched their fireballs at us.

“Girls, get back to the elevator!” I shouted to them.

A three second hesistation fell over the girls in joy of seeing their remaining friends alive and well, as I grabbed and dragged them away from the cage, and took cover inside the elevator. I had another plan up my sleeve.

“Look, theres no possible way we’re breaking into that cage, but we can use the shadow figures to our advantage.The fireballs they cast, can melt metal. I've noticed it when I retrieved my MSAR rifle. So I’d figure, if we could take out two of the monsters and leave one alive, we can get your remaining friends. Fluttershy and I will take two of them out, while I’ll need you two to pin down the last monster with your magic. Got that?”

All three of them nodded, as Fluttershy and I prepared ourselves to re-enter the room. We leaned near the pedestals of the entryway, as I gave the signal to Fluttershy to flank the left as I would advance to the right. Fluttershy engaged the monster to the left of the cage as I squeezed rounds into the monster to the right.

“Alright girls, go now!” I yelled back to them.

Rarity and Twilight Sparkle galloped to the last remaining monster, that stood in a dark corner in its attack position. The girls used their telekinesis magic to slam the monster onto the floor. The monster struggled to break free from the girls magic, but to no avail. The girls within the cage watched in curiousity.

“What in tarnation are y’all doing to that critter?” Applejack remarked with a raising eyebrow.

“Stand to the side of the cage, girls. We’re going to get you out.” I called back to them.

“Oh, thank Celestia.” Rainbow Dash said in relief.

“Yay! A rescue!” Pinkie exclaimed while bouncing up from the ground.

I squatted near the monsters right claw while the girls held the squirming fiend down with their magic. I took the wrist of the monster and pointed the palm to the middle of the cage. The skin texture of this thing was cold and lifeless, as the fiend launched a fireball from its right hand to the cage.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie all held their backs leaned up against the inner walls of the cage while this occured. The shadow figure launched another ball from its hand toward the cage.

”Keep doing that sugarcube, we’re almost out.”Applejack said in hope.

Finally the third fireball melted the reinforced bars, leaving a small gap for the girls to fit though. Afterwards, I pointed the muzzle of the Ar-15 to the shadow figures head, and squeezed off a round.

All three of the girls that were imprisoned were now out of the cell, and gave each other all a group hug. Rainbow Dash was talking to Fluttershy, Twilight was discussing something to Applejack, and Pinkie was giggling with Rarity.

Fluttershy trotted to Applejack and reached into her backpack, and revealed her hat.

”This is...for you.”She said while handing her the hat.

“Aw shucks, thanks sugarcube. I can’t stand being alone without mah hat”. They both hugged.

“Ok, now l see that all of you girls are in good health. I think we all can’t wait to leave this forsaken place.” I said to the group.

“How the heck are we going to do that tall guy? We’re still not sure how we ended up here in the first place.” Rainbow Dash purposed with her hooves on her hips. Her nickname for me was 'tall guy' back in Equestria. I went along with it.

”Twilight found some books with arcane magic back in her holding area, perhaps if she gained insight from one of the books, of somehow if she could open a portal to back home, we might just have a chance.” I said to the group.

I walked around the cage to reveal a switch with a demonic skull embedded. I pressed it while the dark openings of the switch glowed a golden light, as something slightly moved from a distance. We all managed to scruch together on elevator with barely any breathing room as we descended downwards. We were back to the outside of the perimeter of the tall building. As we looked over the concrete railing, a group of brown humanoids ripped out a roar that filled the air. “

Wait! Use this, silly!” Pinkie pie handed me a high fragmentation grenade to use on the advancing group.

“Where on Earth did you get that?” I said to her while we all took cover behind the brick masonry.

”Ohhh...I found it on one of the good guys trying to look for us. He was killed by one of those mean monsters. So...I found this on his body!” Pinkie grinned widely at me.

God, nothing ever seems to phase her personality, even in life or death situations. I gotta hand it down to her for that. I pulled the pin of the grenade while the safety mechanism disengaged, throwing it over the wall. I covered my ears while the girls did the same. A large shockwave filled the air and rattled the masonry bricks. I stood up and took out with a single blast, a crawling brown humanoid with its legs completely blown apart. The rest of the brown humanoids where bursted into gibblets all over the ground.

We made our way down the staircase to a building that we completely forgot to check to the right of us, near the entrance of the overhead bridge. Thank god we did. The building was a small gunstore, with tons of army surplus supplies inside. The window was made out of bullet resistant plexiglass, as it had a garage off to the right. The store displayed a rifle under a light, that I would never think I would ever see in my lifetime. The title of the store was called Miguel’s Guns and Surplus. I tried the door....locked. Applejack tried bucking the plexiglass but with no luck.

“Ryan...remember that blue colored key?” Fluttershy asked with a sharp memory.

“Yeah...but what are the chances that blue key will work on here?” It did, as this firearm store prolonged our survival within this city. This place was packed A to Z varieties of weapons. Many different types of firearms were on the gun racks displayed on the back. A clear glass display case showed off various types of semi automatic handguns and revolvers. Different types of MOLLE gear, tactical vests, bandoleers, body armor, gas masks, medical supplies, and backpacks served as surplus to the store. Knives and machetes were in a bin near another gunrack. Magazines, weapon sights, lights, and gun cleaning kits were in the accessories bin. Plenty of ammo calibers were stacked neatly to last here until doomsday.

It also seemed like the girls were also enjoying themselves, as this was like a candystore to them. I walked over to two boxes that read “MRE case A” and “MRE case B”. Awesome, finally a good food source.

Before I opened the contents of the boxed MRE’S, I went over to the girls and helped them chose out their gear.

Rarity came up to me in question. “Darling, do you think I’ll look better in is combat vest with this color or this Molle vest with this color?” Rarity asked me while holding up two vests on a hanger. Was this some kind of fashion store to her? I had to think up something clever to say to her.

I stated ”Rarity, you would look absolutely gorgeous with any vest that you could find in here, sweetheart.”

God, that was fucking cheesy. Her eyes lid up after that statement, as she ran over to my side and gave me a great hug.

“Ohhh...thank you darling.” She ran back to the mirror with Twilight as she couldn’t make up her own mind.
Fluttershy snickered as she knew back in Equestria, how Rarity would take a guy’s comment so seriously.

“Um...Ryan? Could you help me put on this vest....and this belt around my waist?” She balanced herself on her rear hooves as she looked in front of the mirror, waiting over for me.

“Yeah... sure.” I walked over to her, as she chose her most confortable vest. I held the vest in place as she slipped her front hooves though the arm holes of the vest. I squatted down to my knees around her tail and helped her adjust her belt.

”I...wanted to make sure the other girls are not looking...when I do this...”

That question threw me off. “What? Well...why?"

I asked while I looked behind me toward her friends that were too preoccupied with the store. Fluttershy turned my head back to her direction and kissed me on the lips.

“I...want to thank you...for doing this all for me. As..you..can see...I wouldn’t know what to do with myself...without the company of my friends.” I stroked the side of her mane out of the way to reveal her face.

“Flutters...it’s the least I could do for you...and your friends. I’m not asking for any kind of special reward. The most rewarding thing we can do right now, is to focus our energies on getting back home.” Oh Fluttershy....

“...Okay sweetie.” Fluttershy whispered in my ear as she went over to join Applejack. Damn...that was unexpected.

“Ryan! What should I grab from here? I want something fast that can pack a punch!” Rainbow Dash called over to me.

There I saw her with her two front hooves pressed up on the glass display case full of pistols.

“Hmmm, how about this .357 revolver?” I suggested to her.

“What do I look like to you, a redneck?” she said while looking pissed at me.

“Ah heard that sugarcube!”

Hmmm...my eyes traveled the semi auto handguns down their assembly line. Sigs, Hk’s, FN’s, Glocks, Berettas, Colts.....My eyes trailed back the HK pistols. The Hk USP .45 seemed like a great choice for her.

“I want two for my thigh holsters.” she said demandingly. The brand new USP’s came with 4 magazines each, which she preloaded into her vest.

“I make these HK pistols about 20 percent cooler then what they are.” There she goes boasting again.

“I think you make them look 200 perecent coolee..if you ask me.” I said expecting a reaction from her.

She gave me a playful punch to my shoulder as she led me to the rifles on display. We countinued on to the rifle wall. “What can give me alot of firepower without having to reload for awhile?” She asked me while looking at the rifles.

My eyes scrolled down the line of rifles. Let’s see, Ar-15’s, Ak-74’s, 47’s, galil’s, bolt actions....Aha! The FN FSP90! What a great match for her. With 50 round clear double stacked magazines, the ability to carry alot of rounds, a built in optical sight with backups on top, a three point sling already mounted, and a round that has a punch of a rifle. Yep, this is the gun for her.

Her pointed hoove can reach the trigger with relative ease, since it was a bullpup trigger. “Ah thanks man!” She aimed at a mirror with her newly aquired weapon. Ok, she’s out of the way.

Pinkie Pie was next in line.

“Give me something big and LOUD!” She said with her face pressed up against the glass plane. This is too obvious, the IMI Desert Eagle in .50 AE. She threw a few preloaded mags in her mag pack.

”Ooo! Ooo! I want something that will scare the baddies away! I dont care if it kicks like a mule!” She exclaimed while bouncing down the rifle aisle.

Hmmm....Fn Fal, G3, M14’s....Ah, the Kel-Tec RFB! I would orginally chose the FN FAL for her, but the length would have been an issue for her size. Hey, she’s Pinkie Pie, she’s bold. After all, she’s a party chick. “Oh goodie!”

Ok, next was Applejack. “Ah want somethin’ simple that can work like ah workhorse.”

Well, the .44 colt python seemed like a great choice for her. “Ah gotta pick up one of t’ese for mah big brother, thanks sugarcube.” She holstered the shiny revolver with moonclips in her cowboy styled holster. She placed the remaining loose rounds in her leather belt.

“Hey! What’s that over there?” She pointed to the shotgun rack.

Her eye caught a lever action 1887 12 gauge reproduction copy. She worked the action with her hoof, as it was a customized breech bolt. She wore two shotgun bandoleers crossing her chest. “Thanks sugarcube.”

Fluttershy was next. ”Um....nothing too intimidating...but something that will stop the bay guys.”

Hmm....oh perfect. A Ruger LCP in 9mm with pink grips. “Oh...it’s nice” Fluttershy said while tampering with the slide.

We continued together to the rifle aisle. “Nothing with alot of recoil... something like the MSAR...if you dont mind.”

“Not at all” I said in response to her which made her glee.

I found an IMI civilian UZI in the rifle section, as I presented the piece to her. I showed her how to work the action and release. “That will do...thanks Ryan.” That’s one thing I really liked about Fluttershy, she was never picky about simple things.

Twilight was next. “I could...go for something intricate.”

I though of the FN FS2000 for her. Large bullpup with alot of parts.

“Hey...I like it.” She said while looking up to me, as I showed her a manual for the rifle.

She skimmed the rifle manual on operation and maintenance. “Now for a side arm that goes along.”

I showed her the Beretta 92FS. She seemed like she was more into the manuals then the actual guns themselves, as she read every little detail down to the springs and pins.

Last but not the very least, Rarity. “Darling, what would an elegant lady like myself should choose as her personal defense weapon?”

Hmmm...elegant... but something that works as well. Ah...the nickle plated colt 1911 with laser engravings and a pearl grip. “It...is...fabulous!” Rarity claimed while staring at the masterpiece in her hooves.

Rarity posed in front of the mirror as she grabbed some magazines for the 1911.

“Hm...What would you propose next?” she asked me since she had limited experience with firearms.

I looked over to the rifle that was on display under the light beam that I first saw in the plexiglass. It was an extremely rare Century Arms FAMAS, a real ‘rarity’ for the most hardcore firearm enthusiast or gun collector. I went over to look at the price tag of the thing, it read “NIB $25,000” $25,000! Dear god! I walked her over to the expensive rifle.

“Ok Rarity, feast your eyes on this bad boy. This is called a FAMAS, only 200 or so were imported in the United States. They were overpriced at the time and profits couldnt be made by the company, so they stopped importing them. This thing is worth more that some of the rarest diamonds found on earth. I think no one in the world is more deserving of this rifle than you, sweetheart.”

“Ohhh....thank you! thank you! thank you! But....how does it work darling?” She said after her little moment of joy.

I showed her the manual of the rifle and all of its functions.

As she reached for the rifle, a door opened in the back of the shop. Bars slammed over the entrance of the shop trapping us in. A formal human peered from the back, aiming a outdated WW2 panzerfaust directly at us. Miguel must have did something illegal to obtain something like this from the back of the shop area.

Rainbow dash was the first to respond to the scene, as she unload four rounds into the chest of this monster. The monster fell over as he almost landed on the trigger of the panzerfaust, as I ran over to it to make sure it wouldn’t go off. There was a pressure switch where the room from the monster emerged from, as Applejack pushed it gently.

This opened the garage where a grey fat slob emerged from, as this one was unique to all the other fat slobs we encountered. I grabbed the panzerfaust from the dead formal humans hands and launched a rocket right behind it. The sharpnel did some major damage, but it still attemped to lift its fireball cannons at us. We all fired at the grizzly thing as it collapsed at the floor.

All of the girls now had a good feel for their weapons from this encounter, as the monster fell to the floor in a pool of its own blood. More medical supplies were found as well as body armor in a boxed container, where the girls decided to slip the armor under their vests.We were all starving by this point....but we had to move on.

“Well come back to the MRE’s once I know this city is cleared from the monsters. If we eat now, we will let our guard down.” I told the group while a garage door opened on it's own.

They all looked at each other, but silently agreed. We made our way to the right of the garage. We followed the path among the streets and took a right turn, which lead us strait into a fence blocking the road. To the left of the fence was a bunch of bricks knocked down revealing a open pathway to cross the fence. We heard a snarling from thin air, as a brown humanoid appeared from nowhere and launched a fireball at Rarity. Rarity dolphin dived to the ground, and shot the humanoid in the chest.

“First it’s those pink demons...and now the brown humanoids?” I said aloud in disbelief.

The invisible brown humanoids were more of a threat then the pink demons to us. They were more stealthy and quiet. The only time you could see one is when it launched a fireball at you, or tried to swing its claws at you in close quarters. We made our way to the right of the otherside of the fence, toward a metallic candle next to a grave marker.

We contined to the back of a house shed only to behold a gory scene. A bloodied gigantic saw blade spun in the back of this shed, while another one of our search party members laid dead on a table. Human gibblets littered the floor. There was nothing else to see here as we moved on to the right of the shed and back into the streets.

We tried the 1st building to the right as it appeared to be a tavern. An invisible formal human with a shotgun clumisly aimed right aboved our heads and fired off a shell. Twilight was first to respond, and sqeezed off two rounds into its chest. Another search party member laid dead on the floor of the tavern, with a empty gap from a shotgun blast from the formal human we just terminated. We made our right to the bar of the tavern as it lead us to a narrow hallway, where a shadow figure readied itself in a attack stance. Flutttershy took this one down. We made our way though the bartenders door as I saw a pressure switch on the other side. I had a feeling this was going to be another one of those traps, as we wern’t having much luck with these things lately.

A bunch of brown invisible humanoids hissed and alerted others to our presence behind the bar. The five of us fired blindly at the hissing while Applejack readied her 1887 at the bar’s door. A brown humanoid opened the bar door as Applejack pulled the trigger of her 1887, sending the humanoid flying backwards. We made our way to the newly opened right door which revealed another demonic stone switch. I pressed it and we moved back to the taverns main door. Twelve or so formal humans awaited outside and fired their shotguns at us, where I immediately slammed the tavern door shut. Pellets from the shotgun blast became lodged inside the door while the girls stood to the left of me, away from the doors entrance. The door was thankfully thick enough to take the blast from a distance, as i heard more infighting comming from the outside. When the firefight cleared itself from the outside, only two formal humans remained standing. Pinkie Pie and I took them out.

We made our way down the streets to the left of the tavern, as we passed a graveyard before the street turned left yet again. We stopped at a three way intersection as I noticed another alive poor soul dangling to break free from another street light. We decided to go left this time around instead of going strait on the streets. Four shadow figures launched their fireballs in our direction while all of us unloaded in their direction, forcing us all to reload. We sprinted forward on the street to a building with a caved in wall, revealing a large entryway. Another mutilated corpse hung from a streetlight while another poor alive soul hung from an metal arc.

I swung my body over the brick rubble into the opening of the building, where a normal fat slob arouse from the ground. The girls ducked on the outside of the entryway while I ran to my right inside. The flat slob was after me, while it sluggishly shifted it’s fat feet and rose its flame cannons in my direction. The mane 6 rose and pointed their weapons to the side of the fat slob and opened fired. The fat slob tumbled sideways as bullet holes filled its entire right side.

We continued onward to a door in the open room. Four brown humanoids awaited us as we advanced forwards open firing with our weapons. Raritys FAMAS experienced a jam, and handed the rifle to me in confusion.

“What happened, darling?” She levitated the rifle to me. A shell casing doublefed in the chamber, as I removed the magazine and pulled the charging handle. The shell casing dropped downward as I inserted the mag back in the gun.

“Doublefeed Rarity.Hey, shit happens”. I told her in response.

We continued up the stairs and opened the wooden door to the second floor. A nice vantage point casted outward from a large gap in the wall, giving us a clear view of the city from the second floor. An old electrical throw switch stood before the second story viewport. An old dusty bookshelf was located to the left of the throw switch. Rainbow Dash threw the switch down, as it opened up to a room to the right of us.

We saw the same alien looking tall demon back from the asylum labyrinth move toward us. It casted a firey magic spell from its body, targeting me, as a harmless yellow flame took me ablaze. The girls without hesitation fired opon the alien looking demon as it collapsed to the floor. Fluttershy looked over at me while my heart pounded in my chest.

“Are you alright Ryan? It looks like you were lit on fire.” Fluttershy asked in worry and concern for my well being.

“I...didn’t feel anything. Huh, weird.”I told her after I was set on fire by the alien demon.

The final demonic skull switch rested on top of a bare metal floor from where the alien demon emerged from. I pressed it while something moved in the graveyard. We looked outside of the second floor as we heard a hiss comming from a brown humanoid. Applejack lead the way downstairs as she readied her 1887 shotgun. An invisible brown humanoid waited for us as she opened the door, revealing its tragic flaw as it hissed loudly. Applejack squeezed off a buckshot round almost severing the humanoid from the waist. Another invisble humanoid hissed loudly as Applejack aimed her 1887 from the hip and fired off into the direction, knocking it backwards. Several other brown humanoids launched their fireballs at us from a distance, as Pinkie pie and I rested our rifles on some masonry bricks and fired blindly at the direction of the fireballs.

After the humanoid assault was over, we decided to investigate the movement in the graveyard. A dozen or so gravemarkers with headstones filled the graveyard. Some of the headstones were filled top to bottom with hieroglyphics. In the far mid section of the graveyard flashed a yellow key, that sat on a pillar with four human head impailed on poles at all four corners. I thought for a minute. This was definitely a trap, as Twilight reached with her hoove toward the yellow key. I placed my hand on her hoof and moved it away in time before she could grab the key. Twilight has to knock off this uncontrollable habit of doing things without thinking.

“Hold on girls...this looks like a perfect set up to me. Dash, Flutters, Stay here. I have an idea. I want the rest of you girls to make your way to the view point to the second floor and to wait for us up there. You got it?” I told the girls while standing in front of the yellow key.

“Right, sugarcube.” Applejack lead the way back to the second story of the building. The four of them awaited for us, peeking their heads in our direction.

“Ok, this what were going to do. I want you girls to prepare your wings for flight. Flutters, make sure you have enough strength to support my weight. Dash, I want you to grab the key. We’re going to fly our way back though the viewpoint on the second floor, and hold off any monsters from up there. We have the advantage of height in this case.” I told the girls.

“Um...what about our vests?” Fluttershy asked. Damn it, I forgot. They can't use their wings though their vests. I though of a solution.

“Oh...right.” I took out the swiss army knife and cut slits on the back of Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s vest. Their wings spread out as they gave them a good test.

“Hold this for me please.” Fluttershy handed me her Uzi.She prepared her wings for flight though the wing slots of the vest.

She grappled me under my arms and took off from the ground with little resistance. Damn, These pegasi were strong as hell to support my weight with almost no trouble.

“Ok, get ready...on my word.....NOW!”

Dash grabbed the key while 20 or so invisble brown humanoid hisses rattled the air around us. Both girls sprung off the ground and flapped their wings with speed. Fireballs flew around us as I ascended off the ground aiming both my MSAR and Fluttershy’s Uzi toward the hissing sound. I fired while in mid air while Fluttershy focused on the direction of flight of Rainbow dash. A heat seeking missle launched from a brown skeleton trailed right behind us. Dash dived into the narrow slot of the viewport while Flutters shifted sideways as we made our entry. The homing missle hit a streetlight, knocking it over and taking out a few invisible brown humanoids.

“Ok, Pinkie and Applejack, I want you to aim your weapons down the flight of stairs. Make sure your prone so that you make a small target to them.” I told the two.

“Gotcha sugarcube.”They ran out the doorway and proned themselves on top of the landing, with their muzzles pointing down the stairs.

“The four of us are going to blindfire into the crowd. Point your rifles over the masonry blocks and squeeze the trigger as fast as you can until you are dry. Reload and repeat until you can't hear anymore of those monsters down there. Got it?” They all nodded and leaned their rifles over the edge of the blocks.

We all fired in synchronization, creating a hail of lead trailing into the monsters. More infighting occured as three rockets landed into the backs of the 8 foot tall goat things, pissing them off and clawing at the brown skeletons. The skeletons hopelessly punched the goats while one of the goats fell, the remaining skeletons where all ripped apart by the strong beasts. Three fat slobs aimed their fireball cannons at the viewport, hitting some invisible brown humanoids in the process. Five humanoids surrounded a fat slob and clawed it to death. Others were incinerated by it's flame cannons. We heard gunshots comming from the landing outside the door, as Pinkie Pie and Applejack had company.

Pinkie Pie wailed as it sounded like a fireball exploded from upstairs. “Shit! Twilight, go to Pinkie ASAP.”

Twilight ran to open the door without responding and dragged Pinkie in the room with us. Twilight opened the medkit and tore off the burnt kevlar vest she was wearing. The armor took most of the impact from a exploding fireball, but she suffered 2nd degree burns from the side of her left arm and waist area. As Twilight worked on Pinkie, the infighting started to quiet from the outside. A few snarls as Applejack unloaded her 1887 from the other room while we finnished off our 4th magazines. Minutes later, the atmosphere became dead quiet.

Smoke from the infighting trailed up to the sky, as the snarling of some brown humanoids sounded off in the distance. Only four monsters remained a threat to us in the open city. They were finnished off by me as we made our way back to Miguel’s store. We were all exhausted from the intense running and fighting.

“My hooves are getting positively pruney from all this fighting, and my tummy grumbles for attention.” Rarity complained.

“I'm getting pretty hungry myself from this workout.” Rainbow Dash stated.

“I...can go for something to eat.” Fluttershy quietly said to me.

“I could go for some sleep after I get something in my system.” Twilight said.

“Ah sure can use a nice golden delicious right ‘bout now”. Applejack told us in a strong accent.

“My tummy needs attention! ” Pinkie said quickly.

It was clear that all of the girls were worn out from so much fighting, and It was finally time to settle down and eat. The monsters thoughout the city were slaughtered by us, as I though about settling down. I made a small speech to the girls.

“Ok girls, you all performed above average in your combat skills, and I agree it’s time to finally settle down. We will make this place our place of rest, since it’s safe from the lower ground. A final task for you girls before we all can get something to eat and some rest. Twilight and Pinkie, I want you both to go back to the tavern and grab six pairs of empty beer bottles and glass mugs. Ill explain why later. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, your going to travel with me back to Miguels for the cases of MRE’s. Rarity and Fluttershy, go to the burnt house and grab as many pillows and blankets as possible. If you can, try to bring the mattress as well....Ok, let’s go.”

We made a pile of our weapons and dropped off our backpacks near the bookself. We carried our sidearms with us in case something happens. I walked with Applejack and Dash back to Miguels. I grabbed a water filter for all of us and some military paracord for myself. Applejack and Rainbow Dash talked to one another, wondering what possible meals that they were going to have, as none of the girls ever had MRE’s before. I told them to wait until everyone was regrouped to open up the cases of MRE’s.

Rarity and Fluttershy piled up as many sheets, blankets, and pillows they could find and hauled them back into the second floor. Twilight and Pinkie Pie grabbed two cardboard boxes, and loaded up as many beer bottles and glass pitchers as they possibly could. They carried them away to the second floor.

I walked back alone to a recessed mutilated corpse hanging from a metal arc, and sawed the rope down from which the corpse was hanging with. I undid the ropes around the corpses hands as the body hit the hard earth. I ravaled the bloodied rope around my arms while...familiar whispering entered the air around me. I experienced a cold sweat as it got louder. The mutilated corpse grabbed my ankles while the whispers turned into demonic laughter. I shook my head and glanced back at corpse, realizing it was just a hallucination. The corpse remained the same as it was on the ground.

I walked down the street to the same flaming barrel we first saw, with now only small flames inside. I tied a lasso knot that I’ve learned from Applejack from Apple Acre farms, and lasso’ed the barrel. I dragged it back on the street while it made a loud screeching sound. All of the girls looked outward from the second story, waiting for me impatiently as they thought about their meals.

I threw the rope over the second story and told the girls to haul the flaming barrel upwards toward them, While I asked for the glass pitchers. Twilight levitated the glass pitchers downwards to me. I jogged to a nearby water pump outside of the tavern and filled them all with water. I carried the water pitchers back up to them.

In the second story of the building, we now had a flamming barrel for warmth, a large queen sized mattrice complete with bedding, two cases of MRE’s that contained 24 meals together, empty beer bottles and water filled pitchers used for drinking, and the paracord I would use after we were done eating.

The girls hustled around the MRE cases as I made my way toward them. “Ok girls, moment of truth.” We carried the two cases of MRE’s and dropped them near the burning barrel. I took out my swiss army knife and opened both cases while the girls looked over my sholder. They were in luck, mostly vegetarian MRE’s and a few MRE’s with meat content for myself. I distributed a Vegetable lasagna MRE, Spicy Penne Pasta MRE, Cheese Toutellini MRE, Ratatouille MRE, Veggie burger MRE, Vegetable Chili MRE. I kept one Chili Mac MRE for myself.

The girls traded for their favorite meals with one another. They tore open the MRE packages while they dumped the contents in front of them. I showed them how to use the flameless ration heaters with their main meals, and told them they could eat the side dishes in the meantime. They sure loved those MRE’s, as they never knew how a meal could taste so good after going on for so long to eat.

Pinkie pie tore open a packet of cookies and hastily munched on all of them. Applejack opened a packet of cranberry applesauce and spooned it in her mouth. Fluttershy opened a packet of vegetable crackers with jelly on top and quietly smiled to me while she ate. Rarity opened a wet pack of fruit and delicately ate it while savoring the flavor. Rainbow dash was a sucker for the wheat snack bread with cheese. Twilight munched on a chocolate flavored toaster pastry. I loved the wheat snack bread with jelly, as I could tell the girls were all enjoying the food with every bite.

I grabbed 7 books from the bookshelf and handed them to all the girls, to prop up the heaters on an angle (or something). They followed the instructions with the flameless ration heater. They mixed the filtered water with their mixing drink packets and drank it down. We sat in a circle around the flame barrel as we ate our side dishes. We exchanged stories and laughed at each others jokes, while we waited for the heaters to warm up our main meals. Rainbow Dash wanted to know about my arrival in Equestria after we all settled down.

"So Ryan, tell us, how did you end up in Equestria after all?” Rainbow dashed asked while the girls attention diverted to me.

“Well ladies, it all started with that one faithful day. A portal to your world that opened in my closet. I was stunned by the sudden vortex to your land. Curiousity got the best of me, as I reached out to a few groups of humans on the internet that could keep this secret. If I were to tell the whole world about the portal, things would have gotten out of hand in Equestria. Goverments would have attempted to invade Equestria, and would probably tried to take control over everything in your land. I requested that Celestia would make a test to sort out the humans, for only the pure hearted souls to live within Equestria. My Earth had too much corruption and demented human beings. The sad thing was...how many people were too afraid, or were either too conformed with their short lives to make their world a better place to live in. It was a stuggle for survival everyday just to bring back a paycheck back home. I...couldn’t take it anymore. I moved most of my belongings to Equestria, with only a few of my family members comming along to escape from the stress of everday life. I really...didnt’t have any close or true friends to begin with...I chose to leave them behind on Earth. As the final human made it though the portal, I brought a few cans of gasoline and dowsed my house. I threw a match in my gasoline dowsed house, so that the house could burn to the ground. I made sure no one else could go though that portal. I never hated human kind or the Earth. The earth and mother nature was a beautiful place, but the self destruction of humanity was too easily forseen by me, as I knew I had to escape it. I can’t tell you how many times in recorded human history how humans had to start from strach over and over again. That’s why a few thousand or so lucky human souls exist in Equestria as we speak, so we promised ourselves that we would never make the same mistakes ever again on Earth. Trust me when I say this girls, your so called villans like Discord or Queen Chrysalis, that co-exist in Equestria are extremely minor to the problems that humanity faced day to day. I moved to here for a new way of life, and I don’t regret anything....” My story was interrupted abruptly by Pinkie Pie.

“The meals should be done right about now.” Pinkie pie told the group, as she had an internal clock going on in her mind from all the baking experience she had.

The girls and I tore open the main meal packages while we used our spoons to dish out the food. Rainbow dash tore open a bun package for her veggie burger. We all sat in a circle savoring our meals, since the lack of nutrients was growing on us. It never felt so good to have a hot meal in your stomach. After we were done devoring our MRE’s and were done drinking, I grabbed the glass bottles and the paracord to the outer landing of the second story. I pulled my swiss army knife out to cut small sections of the paracord to the width of the staircase.

Rarity and Applejack where dusting out the blankets from the viewport while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash fluffed out the pillows. Twilight Sparkle came out to observe what I was doing on the landing.

“What are ya doing here?” Twilight Sparkle asked while looking down at the components I had.

“Im making an improvised security system for all of us, so that we can sleep well tonight.”I told her while I measured the width of the stairs.

“How do you propose to do that?” She asked again.

“Well...I’m going to tie this paracord to the necks of the beer bottles, parallel from each other. They will sit on the opposite sides from the stairs. This is a very primitive but effective security alarm system. When the beer bottles are dragged or dropped, they make alot of noise.” I explained to her. She though about my contraption for a minute.

“Ohhh I see, so when someone trips over the paracord...they drag the beer bottles with them making attracting noise.” She figured out on her own.

“Exactly, that noise should wake us up in time and give us a chance to prepare for whatever is comming our way.” I said in response.

“Hmmm...tricky.” Twilight stated as she tested one of my improvised alarm systems with one of her hooves.

After all of the beer bottle traps were in place, we finally started to wind down in bed. We moved the queen sized mattrice into the room with the demonic skull switch that illuminated the room. I broke open another glowstick package and gave it a good shook, while the other girls stared in awe. I hung the glowstick over a brick from within the room, so that we could have another night light.

I made the bed with Rarity, while the girls waited impatiently to dive in. Since my chest was wide while being the largest one, I took up space in the middle of the bed. Rarity snuck in to the left of me, while Fluttershy crawled in at the right. Twilight was to the left to Rarity laying on her side. Pinkie was to the right of Fluttershy, sleeping with her face buried into her pillow. Applejack and Rainbow Dash laid on the edge of the bed, with Applejacks hat covering her eyes while Dash laid with her arms tucked outward behind her head.

Rarity snuggled to the left of my chest with her muzzle, while placing her hoof over my front waist. This threw me off as I looked over to her.

“Darling, you are most absolutely a great source of warmth....” She said to me with her semi closed eyes.

“Why...thanks...” I told her, really not knowing what to say.

I turned my head to the right over to Fluttershy, who was hogging up the right side of my body with hers. Her hoof was over my chest, hugging me closer than Rarity to her direction. Under the covers, she crossed her legs with my right. I...really enjoyed this moment in time, and wished it never ended.

”Your very...warm...and cozy.” She said softly while she rested her head on my right shoulder, as she contently peered into my eyes. She completely trusted me while I wrapped my right arm around her waist, underneathe the covers. She shitfted herself closer to my body.

“Good night...honey” she said while moving to the direction of my lips. I was prepared a little bit more this time around for this kiss. “Good night...Fluttershy.” I whispered softly back to her. The low bass of my voice was soothing her as she got more confortable.

The heaviness of my eyes overcame me, as I entered the land of dreams. In my dreams, we were all located just outside of the second story of this faded city. Twilight reached something in her pack that looked like three skulls, that were placed inside the sockets of a wall. I went over to the right of the sockets to touch something that looked like an elongated hieroglyphic. It blazed a firey red while I placed my hand over it, seperating me with bars from the group of girls. The ground ,as I looked back to them while they desperately tried to get me out, started to shift below my feet.

The ground started to lower as Fluttershy reached her hoof toward me, as I attempted to grab it to no avail. I was lowered deep within the earth, to a maze of rusted metallic rooms. A tall figure awaited for me that was sharpening something. The figure had a bloostained brown apron, leather boots, and a large upper figure. The heads of some of Celestia’s royal guards with the heads of the squad members hung from their tendons from this figures belt, with horrorifying expressions on their faces before they were gruesomely murdered. The figure slowly spun around when....

“Ryan...oh...Ryan....could you get up with me?....I want to take a walk....and maybe find a bathroom." ” Fluttershy gently whispered into my right ear. Her voice woke me up back into reality, from that dreadful nightmare.I lifted my head upwards and responded to her.

“Alright...Let’s leave under the bed the covers so we don’t disturb the girls.”

The rest of the girls were in a deep sleep, and it wouldn’t be right to wake them up. Fluttershy and I crawled our way out from the end of the bed, as well as carefully placing our footsteps to not knock over any of the traps. I took a fresh breathe of air as I looked up, with the odd dark weather patterns remained unchanged as previously before. We walked in the street, located in front of the second story viewport. I glanced to the left to the same building that had three skull slots. Fluttershy went behind an alleyway and returned back to me, patiently waiting for her. She ran back over to me, with a question. I guess she though it was appropriate for the time being. We walked onward.

“Ryan....do you...love me?” She asked in uncertainty. She stood on her back hooves facing me.

I was thrown off by her sudden question. I sighed to myself....It was about time I revealed my feelings toward her.

“Fluttershy, from what I have observed from all the ponies in Equestria, you and I share the strongest bond together. You have unique inner beauty...with a touch of innocence. Your heart is deemed with kindness with a warm personality, that is unmatched with anyone elses that I’ve ever found in my life time....Yes, Fluttershy, I do love you...”

She was deeply moved from what I said to her, as her female drive took over herself. She trotted on her hind legs and grabbed me close for an agressive kiss. She grabbed me with open arms as I supported my hands around her body. My hands were placed behind her head and back side, as I deeply kissed her under a flickering streetlight. I rubbed my hands all over her soft body as I ran my hand down to her cutie mark. This excited her as she hugged me tighter, while our lips connected deeper. Our tounges connected to each other. For being a shy girl, she sure did know how to express true love. You know what they say about the shy ones.....

Our lips were drawn away after a good solid 5 minutes, as she drew her head onto my right shoulder as we walked back. For after all of these long years....I felt...so isolated...so...unloved...back on Earth...I finally found the innocence I sought after in my life. This changed everything from within myself. I found....inner peace.

She hugged me tightly as we made our way back to the girls on the second story.....