March of the dead

The land laid scared as remnants of combat could be seen across the entire savanna with villages burned to ash and machines of war laid gutted in trenches. Once this part had hundreds of villages and around a million creatures living in them but now only a hoof full of the smallest ones remind. The only real place of safety and kindness left in these thorned land was the large red hoof camp.

Ever since the beginning of the Zebra civil war that broke families apart whit both politics and religion the red hoof and several other relief organizations. Has done their best to help war refugees caught in the middle of the conflict while politics was hampering Equestria's ability to act. So hundreds volunteered to aid by building safe haven where the injured could be heald and the hungry fed.

It was against this backdrop of kindness and generosity that Fluttershy the living embodiment of kindes joined up with the Red Hoof and now serving as a doctor. When she first had arrived at the camp she had been heartbroken by just how many war refugees there were. So trowing herself hoof first into work she had used the limited resources the camp had to help any creature injured or sick. Using her previous experience with animals and the knowledge she had learned about herbs and rots from Zecora. She drastically decreased the number of creatures injured or sick in the camp decreasing the pressure on the camp supplies.

But all this had started to take its tolls on Fluttershy which she saw all to clear when she was washing her hoofs after an operation on a gazel who had stepped on a land mine and gotten severely injured. Just a few weeks ago the face that was staring back in the mirror would be crying her eyes out but the face that Fluttershy saw where harden by misery and she had long ago run out of tears.

"Hi Fluttershy, you alright," a voice said making Fluttershy jump slightly in shock.

"Oh hi, Scalpel," Fluttershy said slightly embarrassed as Scalpel a fellow nurse at the camp help her up.

"I see that the shell shocked nurse still hasn't gotten used to the battlefield" Scalpelsaid making Flutershys beam red with embarrassment. It all started as a joke due to Fluttershy jumping at the smallest sound and after a while, it had become somewhat of a nickname for her.

"I wich everypony would stop calling me that, it's embarrassing," Fluttershy said meekly while hiding her face in her hoofs as Scapel was giggling under her breath.

"Ah come on it cute and accurate just like you, and," she said and loudly clapped her hoofs earning a shy squeaking noise from Fluttershy "It's the perfect way to know where you are" now laughing at Fluttershy who was getting redder and redder from embarrassment.

"But seriously Fluttershy, you don't need to be a mind reader to know that something is off with you, so what is it," Scalpel said once done laughing. Fluttershy still embraced but now back to her normal color and tinking back to her face that stared back at her from the mirror smiled and said.

"It's noting has just been working a lot lately and having some trouble sleeping" hoping that not lite but not the truth would be god for Scalpel, and to her luck, it was with Scalpel saying.

"Well that's an understatement, I think I haven´t seen you sleeping more than a few minutes the entire time we been here and you are putting in so much overtime that if we were being paid you would be ricer that the princess by this point" with that Scapel left the room on her way to another creature in need.

Fluttershy steadying herself on the sink looking into the mirror at the hardened face of herself that she never in her wildest dream could have imagined having. Also, she thought back to her white lie which she had been telling everyone including herself. It was true that she had been sleeping less and less but not because of not being tired, going true most days almost too tired to walk. But staying awake fueled by the knowledge that while she slept others had to do her work and injuries she could treat was going untreated.

Splashing her face with cold water she walked out of the washing room and made her way true the halls of the improvised hospital that had been built to handle the injured. It was technically not fully complete with earth pony construction crews working day and night to complete it. But for the time being, it was complete enough so that they could treat patients and house everything needed to do so.

Entering into the main office of the hospital Fluttershy made her way to her desk where a usual pile of paperwork had piled up during the day. Most of it was medical journals needing updating or requisition forms for supplies that were on the brink of running out. Sitting down Fluttershy began the grueling work of decreasing the size of the pile while other doctors and volunteer personal added to the pile. Fluttershy having taken on the responsibility to handle most of the paperwork mostly because she volunteered for it and that somehow when she requisitioned resources it almost ended up arriving.

As time passed and more and more workers got some more free time they trickled into the main office swarming around the coffee table and listening to a radio playing tuned to a popular equestrian radio station PON-3 radio. The music giving a semblance of home in the scared land they all fond themself. Fluttershy found herself humming quietly along with the music as she worked somewhat on autopilot. Which made her jerk when the music suddenly turned off and the presenter began talking.

"This is an emergency message to the entirety of Equestria, Canterlot castle is currently under siege by Caribou raiders and princess Celestia is asking for every pony to find safety, we here att PON-3 will continue to deliver updates on the defense until the end" and with that, the calmness of before was shattered. Everyone was in shock just standing there in disbelief standing frozen in the action they were in.

Fluttershy was completely petrified, too scared to even breathe stuck in her motion like a clock with its spring blown, then after a while first slowly then rapidly. Every pony began running towards the communication room hoping to contact their families and loved ones. But the communication equipment wasn't the best and quickly broke down from the sudden increase of usage leaving the entire camp both blind and deff to the larger world.

With the only information coming from the radio and PON-3´s and its constant updates about the fighting which was tuning worse and worse with every update. It didn't take long after news that manehattan had been occupied that many of the volunteers mostly pegasuses began returning back home to Equestria. With most of the rest joining shortly after leaving the refugees to fend for themself.

But there was a small group who just couldn't leave the refugees to fend for themself, mostly the ones that had formed a deep connection with them, and among them was Fluttershy. Now working 24 hours straight she used whatever was left after the other had left taking most of the supplies with them.

We must think about ourselves Fluttershy remembering the words of Scalpel as she and the other who left emptied the storehouses of mostly everything that they would need for their trip back. Fluttershy had been furious and had done everything she could to make them leave something for the refugees, but her efforts fell on deaf ears.

One week later the camp was empty with the only ones remaining were the ones too injured to move. With the rest of the refugees after the remaining food had been used up, moved on taking whatever they could with now only Fluttershy and a hoof full of non-pony volunteers being the last one caring for the injured. All of this laid heavily on Fluttershy who had taken on the role of leader when the previous one left with the main group of volunteers and as she laid sleepless she cursed herself for not going with them.

With the volunteers having taken the radio she could no longer hear what was happening in Equestria and she dammed herself for possibly leaving her friends and family to die. But as a mental image of a crippled orphaned zebra kid filed her mind she also knew she couldn't leave them to their fate.

"What should I do, I'm just one pony," she said to herself as tears tripped down her face wanting to give everything she could but finding that it isn't enough. Crawling under her blanket she just wanted somepony to come and help them hoping that her message that she sent out a few days ago would bring some kind of help. But for the time being Fluttershy knew that she must do everything in her power to save as many as possible.

Getting out of bead she intended to get an early start on the day and to start making preparation for the injured to be moved hoping that would have arrived when they were done. But as she was about to put on her nurse closing she began smelling the faint smell of smoke, then she heard the screams.

The screams were unearthly, sounding like something that could only be found in a madhouse and then the smell of smoke and fire became clearer and clearer. Running out of her room and out of the hospital she was horrified by the scene in front of her. Most of the camp was in flame and the remaining refugees were being cut down by masked zebras who were screaming in a language, not from this world.

Fluttershy knew instantly who these masked zebras were, they were the Amak´holwa, and they were the ones that have split the former Zebra empire. Following some unknown deities they called the benevolent, they had raised cites to the ground and killed whole zebra tribes. Seemingly to always grow no matter how many of them are killed their teachings seeming able to be found everywhere and influence all species on all levels of their society.

"Fluttershy run!!!" one of the remaining personnel said just before one of the cultist soldiers showed a spear rue the stallion's neck killing him. Seeing this Fluttershy was petrified unable to move and as one of the cultist soldiers charged towards her screaming his head off she was unable to escape her fate. But then just before the soldiers would have killed her one of the gazel she had saved knocked the cultist soldier away and before the gazel was killed she screamed.

"RUN!!!" and with that something just flipped in FLutershy and she flew away as fast as she could as burning arrows and spears were shot at her. She didn't dare to lock back at the devastation but she could hear every scream of her patients the ones that had tried to save something.

For hours Fluttershy flew with streams of tears running down her face still hearing the sounds of innocents dying and the maddening screams of the cultist. It wasn't until a thunderstorm rolled in and the rain and wind forced Fluttershy to take shelter in a cave. Curling into a ball from fear and go keep warm Fluttershy didn't know what to do, she had no clue where she was and how to get home, and because of her. Now everyone where dead and it all because she could not abandon them. All she wished, for now, was that she had died and that would have let to that everyone else she cared for would be alive once again.

"Helo anyone there," a male voice said cutting true Flutershys thought and her first impulse was to run but the voice said quickly.

"Wait, don't leave" and then much quiet "please don't leave me alone" with desperation dripping from his words. Following the voice, Fluttershy took a few timid steps into the cave looking for the source of the voice. As she walked the voice asked several more times if somepony was there but Fluttershy was too scared to respond fearing it was more of the cultist and this was some kind of a trick.

But in the deeps of the cave, she found out where the voice was coming and it wasn't what she had expected, they're hanging from a sharp crystal was an alicorn amulet. But Fluttershy didn't know why she knew it was an alicorn amulet because it didn't look like the one that Trixie used to take control over Ponyville. This one was golden and resembling a twin-headed pegasus with black feathers wings with a shield over its chest with a metallic pony skull on it and behind the pegasus, there was a pair of crossed swords with the edge upwards making it lock like unicorn horns.

"Hello," Fluttershy said timidly before hiding behind a large stone and waited for a response

"Hello," the voice said more energetic as it finally got a response, but Fluttershy to scared didn't respond.

"It's alright I'm not dangerous, I just want someone to talk to," the voice said and once again there was something in his voice that told Fluttershy that he was not a threat. It was hearing a vailing puppy after having to spend a long day alone while its owner was away. Tinking of the voice as if it belonged to some sort of animal semed to dar on something inside Fluttershy that overruled her fear and she stepped out from her hiding spot.

"Hi I´m Fluttershy," she said and after a moment the amulet asked.

"Are you real?" which surprised Fluttershy who could only nod, which made the voice break out in desperate laughter, Thinking that this really was a cult trap Fluttershy was about to run away when the voice said.

"Wait I'm sorry for that but it´s been so long before I have seen anyone and I first didn't think you were real, a yellow winged pony is just was my mind would cock-up".

"Why would that be weird?" Fluttershy said not getting why it would be weird to see a pony.

"Well from where I´m from pony´s arent yellow winged or can talk unless you are on some heavy drugs. I'm guessing the rumors were true" the voice said and instead of answering Flutershys questions it just raised more. Whoever the voice was, clearly saw this and said.

"I'm guessing that I have some explaining to do" getting a nod from Flutrshy who sat down in front of the amulet to her explain how it ended up here.

"Well to begin with my name is Jacob Wilhelm but just call me Krieg and I come from another world called earth and there I wasn't an amulet but a human but that all changed when I went to a convention" he began as Fluttershy grew more and more intrigued the more he spoke.