Problems of a Dead World

Chapters

Part 1: Welcome
The Grand Tour
A Change of Heart
Next in Line
Negotiations
Jailbreak
Knock-Knock
Acquire Hardware
Personal Touch
First... Second... Maybe Third Blood
Part 3: Creative Planning
Being Persuasive
Taking Things Further
Escape
On the Run
Follow Me Home
Part 4: Grief
Heeeeere's Jackson
Burn
Killed in Action
Voices
Laid to Rest
Peacekeeper
Part 2: Hit the Lights
Epilogue

Part 1: Welcome

Part One

Chapter 1: Welcome

A thought. A single thought was all it took to get Earl's mind racing. How was home? Were there any survivors? Have the zombies died out yet?

Day after day, the questions plagued Earl's mind, grasping tightly around his every thought or idea. He had to get back, he had to know for sure that he had done everything possible to help his home planet.

"E-Earl?" Twilight said, her voice tired and slightly choked.

The grey unicorn quickly spun away, the small flame from a nearby candle lighting his face and some of the main room of Twilight's library. He looked at her for a moment. She was the one, the one who had saved him from the fire's of the apocalypse. He had grown to appreciate her beauty, seeing as he was one of their species now. The former human swallowed nervously and sighed.

"Yeah... It's me." He said, slightly disgraced at his insomnia.

"It's late... w-what are you doing up?" She said, her voice softened by her tiredness.

Earl turned back to the candle and watched as the flame danced playfully atop the wick.

"Just... thinking, again." He said, his voice growing more shameful by the second.

He didn't know why these thoughts were controlling him, for the first four years in this land, he had been completely free of the thoughts of his home world. But over time, the questions came, along with insomnia, and slight depression. Twilight bowed her head as a ray of sadness came over her. She slowly made her way over to Earl and sat down on the floor next to him.

"Is it...?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

Earl nodded sharply and bowed his head. Twilight aimed her head to the floor. Although the routine of constantly consoling him was becoming more frequent, it still wore on her every time to see him in this state. See his sustained suffering of an infection that haunted them so long ago. But now it was back. The purple unicorn softly leaned into his shoulder, causing him to recoil slightly and glance towards her. A small, but genuine smile broke from Earl's lips, and he swung his foreleg over her shoulder, accepting her consolation as the two stared at the dancing flame.

"I know I shouldn't let it bother me..." Earl said, his eyes held shut tightly.

Twilight simply dug more into his chest, causing his heart to flutter as it always did when close to her.

"I just need to know," He said, unknowingly increasing his grip around the mare he loved. "Know what happened, if I could... help."

"I know... that's just who you are." Twilight said softly.

Her words caused Earl to show another smile and stifle a chuckle.

"I just... I feel like I failed." Earl replied, his tone as shameful as it could possibly be.

Twilight moved around in his grasp until her eyes met his.

"How so?" She asked, slightly confused by his statement.

Earl shook his head again.

"I left. I ran, like a coward."

"But when it followed, you fought-"

"At the loss of everyone's security."

Twilight bowed her head, knowing he was right. None of the townsfolk had ever fully recovered from the gruesome events that happened during the invasion. How one of the denizens of their town had been savagely killed by the beasts of another world.

"Would you ever go back with me?" Earl asked.

Twilight pulled away from his chest and her expression quickly turned to dumbfounded. Earl sighed at her reaction.

"I guess that means a no..." He said, bowing his head yet again.

Twilight frowned for a few moments, then rested her head against his shoulder.

"I'd go anywhere if you asked me." She replied, slightly weary of his response.

The grey unicorn smiled weakly and ran his hoof through Twilight's mane. After another few moments, he glanced down at Twilight, instantly lost in her deep purple eyes. Time and time again, just the sheer sight of her eyes filled Earl with comfort. Without another word, he leaned down and kissed her gently, the candlelight flickering across their faces as they met. After what seemed like an hour to both of them, they pulled away, staring into each others eyes deeply, yet again.

"Thanks..." He said, his voice cleared of shame.

Twilight simply nodded and dug into his chest yet again, nuzzling him deeply. Weariness finally began to wash over the former-human, eliminating the insomnia and leaving him light-headed. His hold on Twilight was the only thing keeping the room from spinning at this point. With a contented sigh, he rested his head a top Twilight's. The mare replied with a barely audible yawn, and wrapped her hooves the rest of the way around him.

"I love you, Twi." He said, his voice slightly choked by the appearance of drowsiness.

"I love you too, Earl." She said, her voice choked as well.

The two slowly drifted off to sleep, the candlelight dancing around the room gracefully.

Problems of a Dead World

Earl opened his eyes as his memory ended, and sighed as he snapped back to reality. He flexed his hands, balling them into fists and then fully extending them for a moment, before repeating the motion. His levitation worked by using said hands, so he had never forgot the feeling of having them. A slight bump in the road brought Earl's thoughts to a stop. After shifting unsteadily, he glanced around the back of the truck. First to Twilight, who was sitting next to him, her facial expression displaying sheer terror. It just then dawned on him how much they resembled their equine forms. The spell had worked better than expected. Her hair almost exactly resembled that of her mane, and shared the same colors as well. Her build was slightly skinny as well, which he had expected. Next to her, was Applejack. She had a similar build, but slightly taller than Twilight, the classic stetson still resting atop her head like always. He then glanced to Big Macintosh and Shining Armor, his brothers in battle, his best friends. Their resemblance was incredibly close as well, their hair closely matched to their manes, and their physique matching also. Mac was tall and burly, yet again causing Earl to be intimidated, like when they had first met. Shining's was average, and his height was slightly shorter than Earl. The soldier guarding them in the back of military truck snarled as he glanced to the driver's window.

"Fucker can't even drive..." The man said under his breath.

Earl frowned and shook his head as thoughts began to swirl through his mine. Quickly shooing them away, he glanced to Twilight once more and noticed her expression had not changed in the slightest. He slowly raised his arm up and rested it on her shoulder, causing her to gasp slightly, and causing the soldier on the other side of the truck to tighten the grip on his rifle. After looking the situation over, the soldier snarled yet again and mumbled another obscenity under his breath. As the guard calmed, Earl scooted closer to Twilight and pulled her in, her head resting on her shoulder.

"Do you know where they're taking us?" She asked, her voice slightly drowned in fear.

"I-I don't know." He replied softly. "But we're all together."

He felt Twilight's head brush against his chest, signalling that she had nodded. The human bowed his head and planted a small peck on her forehead, calming her slightly. Tears nearly welled in his eyes as he felt Twilight's body trembling against his. He shook his head and used everything he could to keep the tears from falling. Morale needed to be kept, and crying was the thing that would break it the easiest.

After a few moments of successfully consoling himself, he glanced over to Shining and Mac, giving them a simple nod as the back of the truck remained quiet. Earl looked around at his surroundings for a moment, taking careful note of the roads that they had been traveling on since leaving his home. He then cringed in fear at the truck following behind them, packed to the brim with soldiers. Armed troops brandishing automatic weapons and camouflaged clothing. He knew there was something off about them, that they had all lost it. It was exactly what he feared when he first thought of the plan to help his home world, a group of savages who had lost all sense of reason and wanted nothing more than to take advantage of other survivors. This wasn't the army anymore, it was a group of lunatics.

* * *

Earl's heart instantly dropped as the complex came into view. A large fenced-off brick building, with sandbags covering most of the grounds, most likely for defense. A sign hanging above the entrance to the complex had drooped slightly, and the words were illegible at this point, giving Earl no information about what this place was. He knew it was official though. The site itself looked like it could defend against an army, and the dried blood and gore splattered across the fields showed that it already had. The truck came to a halt just in front of the gate, and the driver hopped out to open the fence. As the rattling of the fence rang in her ears, Twilight whimpered slightly and tightened her hold around Earl. The human glanced around at his formerly-equine friends, taking in their worried expressions as well. After the gate had been opened, the driver crawled back into his seat and the truck took off once more, slowly approaching the entrance of the complex.

"Alright, c'mon." The soldier said, getting up from his seat in the truck.

The survivors stared at him with blank expressions.

"Well don't all move at once!" He continued, his tone growing angrier.

Earl's expression quickly reflected the growing anger inside of him.

"Oh what's the matter? Don't like when I yell at you?! Get the fuck up, you're makin' me sick!"

Earl scowled and patted Twilight on the shoulder and helped her off of the bench, signalling for his friends to do the same. Shining and Mac replied with a nod and rose from their seats, but Applejack crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance.

"I don't appreciate you speakin' tah me like that." Applejack said, an annoyed tone shining brightly in her voice.

The soldier's eyebrows immediately went down and he raised his rifle into his shoulder, aiming it at her. Twilight's jaw fell slightly as the words exited the soldier's mouth, and Applejack quickly stumbled backwards in her seat.

"Well maybe I don't care what you think, bitch!" He shouted angrily.

The air escaped Earl's lungs as Mac reached his hand to the shoulder of the man and spun him around quickly, balling his fist and showing it to the man.

"Dontchu' ever talk to my sister like that, You hear me?!" Macintosh shouted angrily.

The soldier replied by briskly shoving the end of his gun into Mac's stomach, causing him to stumble and fall out of the truck, and on to the hard pavement below.

"Woah hey, what is this?!" The colonel said, exiting the truck he had been riding in.

The soldier lowered his weapon and jumped out of the truck as Big Mac rolled over, moaning in pain at the growing bruise in his midsection.

"Sorry sir, the prisoners were getting rowdy, I had to calm them down." The soldier said, giving a quick salute.

Colonel Jackson scowled.

"Prisoners? These people are our guests! How dare you cause them any harm whatsoever!" Jackson replied harshly, pulling a pistol from the holster on his leg and keeping it low and at his side.

"But sir, you told us-"

The soldier was swiftly cut off by the gun in Jackson's hand, which fired and sent a bullet right into the oblivious soldier's skull.

Earl, Twilight, AJ, and Shining all jumped back at once, immediately taken back as the soldier fell to the ground, dead. Twilight dug her head into Earl's shoulder and instantly began sobbing hysterically as the rest of the groups held their mouths open in disbelief.

"Oh come now, you can't tell me you honestly enjoyed his company..." The colonel said with a chuckle, pulling out a white rag and wiping his pistol before re-sheathing it.

"Did you really just kill him?!" Shining asked, his voice shrouded in fear.

The colonel looked down at the corpse as a small pool of blood formed around it's head.

"Well I sure didn't commend his actions, did I?" The colonel said, kicking at the midsection of the dead soldier.

"You're fucked up..." Earl said, his voice trembling.

"Ouch... I can honestly say I'm offended Earl, I was trying to help you." Jackson replied, a frown washing over his face. "Lucky for you, I'm forgiving."

The colonel motioned for them to exit the truck with his hand.

"Come now, wouldn't want to wind up like our friend here." He said with a laugh.

Earl shook his head and gently pushed Twilight forward, inching her to the back of the truck. The colonel extended his hand with a warm smile, but Twilight instantly recoiled and cowered against Earl.

"Oh come now, I'm not going to kill such a beautiful lady." He said, a frown coming over his face yet again.

Twilight glanced up to Earl, who sighed quietly and gave a simple nod. Without another word, Twilight worriedly took Jackson's hand, and he guided her off of the truck.

"See, I don't bite..." The colonel said with a sinister smile.

Twilight ignored him and rushed over to Mac as Earl stepped down from the truck. With a quick heave, she helped him off of the ground and back onto his newly acquired feet.

"Thanks Twah'." He said, groaning in pain and wrapping an arm around his stomach.

Shining jumped down next and walked over to his friends. He tapped Twilight on the shoulder gently.

"You OK Twilly?" He asked, trying to make his tone as cheerful as possible.

"I'll be fine..." She said, forcing a smile to him.

"What the hell are we even doin' here?" Mac asked as he glanced to Earl, his voice hushed.

Earl leaned in close to his friends and glanced around them wildly.

"I don't know, but these guys are dangerous, alright? Let's just go with thing's right now, and I'll try to get us out, alright?" He said quietly.

Shining and Twilight nodded, but Mac rolled his eyes.

"You don't think we can take em'?" Macintosh asked.

"You saw what The Colonel did to that guy, just think of what he'll do to us if we try anything." Earl replied.

Shining glanced to Twilight, who was still cowering.

"Let's not think about that." Shining said, motioning in her direction.

Earl glanced to Twilight and nodded, a slight frown coming over his face. Mac glanced to the truck as Applejack neared the end of the platform, the colonel's hand extended to help her. Macintosh shuddered angrily.

"Fine... But if anyone tries something with her, I won't be held responsible for what I'm going to do." Mac said.

After Applejack had nervously taken Jackson's hand and joined the group, Colonel Jackson neared the main entrance of the complex. The man turned around and gracefully threw his hands in the air.

"Welcome, to your new home!" The colonel said with a smile.

The Grand Tour

Chapter 2: The Grand Tour

"You know we're going to have get through her right?" Earl said, pointing to Sweet Apple Acres.

Shining stopped dead in his tracks.

"You didn't tell me we were going to have to convince her." The white unicorn said sharply.

"Well of course we have to deal with her, it's his sister!"

"You know how she is when it comes to her brother..."

Earl simply shook his head and continued down the road.

* * *

"No!" Applejack shouted, positioning herself in front of Macintosh.

The red stallion simply sighed as he knew what would happen next.

"AJ, come on, you do this every time!" Earl said stomping his hoof to the ground.

Applejack scowled and stomped her hoof to the ground as well.

"Ah do not!"

"Shining's birthday?"

"Well ah-"

"Flame Dancer's pool party?"

"That was-"

"That one time we went to Canterlo-"

"This is different!"

Earl raised an eyebrow.

"How so?" He asked.

"You're takin' mah brother to another dimension!" AJ shouted.

Mac rolled his eyes and stepped between the two.

"Both of yah', just shut up!" He said, his voice booming throughout the house.

Applejack and Earl's mouths shut simultaneously.

Macintosh let out a sigh and turned to his sister.

"If Celestia said it's OK, then wah' would there be any danger?" Mac asked.

Applejack thought for a moment before aiming her head to the floor.

"There wouldn't be..." She said quietly.

"Exactly," Mac said, placing a hoof under her chin and bringing her head back up. "Now I appreciate your concern, but I'm a grown stallion. Hay, I'm older than you."

Applejack chuckled slightly.

"That being said, I can take care of myself, alright?"

Applejack nodded and smiled.

"Ah suppose..." She said.

Mac nodded and turned to Earl and Shining.

"So you're on-board?" Earl asked.

The red earth-pony simply nodded.

"Nice we can leave-"

"Fellas'?" Applejack said, cutting off.

The three stallions quickly looked to the orange earth-pony, who held a determined expression.

"How 'bout I come with ya?"

* * *

As the Colonel sustained his wicked smile, with his arms outstretched for effect, the words sunk into Earl's mind. His new home. They were planning on keeping them there. After a few more moments of awkward silence, the Colonel dropped his arms to his sides and sighed. He swiftly motioned to the soldiers pouring out of the second truck and nodded towards the dead soldier lying on the ground. Without question, two of the soldiers rushed over to the corpse and began dragging it away, out into the fields. The colonel clapped his hands together.

"Well, then, shall I show you around?" He said, in a psychotically-happy tone.

Earl grimaced at the thought of entering the facility and glanced to his friends, who held the same worried expressions. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and nodded.

"Great," Colonel Jackson said, his tone only growing happier. "After that we can get down to real business."

As the Colonel spun around and threw open the front doors, the air instantly escaped Earl's lungs, causing a slight gasp.

Real business? He thought.

Another glance to his companions showed that they too feared his statement. With a nervous gulp, Earl wearily followed the menacing Colonel into the facility.

Upon entering, Earl was surprised to find that the room was spotless. It was a typical lobby for a complex such as this, but everything looked untouched by the infection. The Colonel was definitely keeping things tight. Maybe too tight. As Earl glanced around at a few directional signs on the walls and the decor of the front desk, the Colonel turned around and eyed his "Guests".

"Well, c'mon now. We don't have all day." He said, a hint of anger creeping into his voice.

Earl flinched slightly and wrapped his arm around Twilight as he continued down the halls, motioning for Applejack, Shining, and Macintosh to do the same, which they obliged to. There was somewhat of a silent understanding between the group and the situation they were in. As they moved deeper into the building, all knew how important it was to keep this man calm. If he were to kill a companion with no second-thought, he definitely wouldn't have a problem killing them.

The footsteps echoed through the silent walls as the Colonel led them through the base, pointing out random rooms and explaining the history of the place. Nobody was able to pay attention however, the thoughts of the terrifying situation were eating at them, anxiety growing with each passing footstep. The Colonel stopped at the end of yet another lengthy hallway and aimed his hand to a nearby door.

".. and here we have the kitchen." Jackson said, bringing his hand to the metal swinging door and shoving it open.

As expected, the group was led into a kitchen. It's walls were lined with various shelving and cooking appliances, but something quickly caught Earl's attention; the knife rack.

"Here is where we, well," The colonel chuckled cheesily. "Cook, of course."

Earl forced a nervous chuckle and waved his hand to his friends, motioning for them to do the same. Within seconds, the room was filled with a dull nervous laughter.

"A savior and a comedian." The colonel said with a contented sigh.

Twilight glanced up to Earl nervously and noticed his eyes fixated on something across the room. She nudged him lightly, causing his view to snap to her.

What are you looking at? She mouthed nervously.

Earl glanced up to the Colonel quickly, who's back was turned to them.

"The knife rack..." Earl whispered quietly, nodding in the direction of it.

She looked across the kitchen for a moment and soon found the object of his interest. She knew exactly what he was planning, and with a nod, broke away from his arm.

"Excuse me, Jackson was it?" She said, nervously approaching the Colonel.

Colonel Jackson glanced over his shoulder and smiled warmly.

"Well yes, it is. What can I do for you miss..." The Colonel replied.

"Twilight Sparkle." She replied, the nervousness fading from her voice slightly.

Jackson quickly raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Twilight Sparkle, huh? Sounds like some kinda... hippie name..."

With the Colonel successfully distracted, Earl inched his way across the room, hugging the metal counter-top behind him. After a few seconds, Shining took notice and raised an eyebrow in Earl's direction.

What are you doing?! Shining mouthed nervously.

Earl replied by pressing his index finger against his lips and pointing with his opposite hand to the knife rack. After a moment, Shining realized Earl's intention and turned to the Colonel as well.

"So... you've got quite the establishment here..." Shining said nervously.

The Colonel broke his view on Twilight and glanced to Shining.

"Well, I appreciate that, son. Might I ask your name?" The Colonel said with a smile.

"Shining Armor..." he replied.

Colonel Jackson let out an other chuckle.

"Do you all have hippie names?"

Finally reaching his objective, Earl made a desperate reach for the knife rack, barely swiping his fingers across one of the handles. He cursed quietly under his breath and glanced back to the Colonel, who was still, to Earl's advantage, distracted. With a deep breath, he made another reach for the knife rack. This time, his hand grasped one of the knives' handles, but brought the whole rack tumbling down onto the metal counter below, creating a massive crash.

Well... shit.

A Change of Heart

Chapter 3: A Change of Heart

The Colonel slowly turned around as the knives finished their extensive clattering, to find Earl. His expression was completely terrified as he glanced between the menacing colonel and the knives that had just given away his intentions. Jackson cleared his throat and blinked a few times before looking Earl in the eye.

"What do you think you're doing, Earl?" Colonel Jackson asked, his tone slightly choked.

Earl continued glancing between the knives and him, and backed away slowly.

"I was just... checking out..." Earl said, trailing off.

"Earl..." Jackson replied, cutting off Earl's babbling. "What do you think you're doing?"

Twilight looked between the two men, terrified. She backed away slowly and into her brother, who held the same terrified expression. Macintosh simply stayed in front of his sister, ready to defend them if anything were to happen. As Twilight backed away however, Jackson swiftly drew his pistol out of it's holster on his leg and aimed it directly at Twilight, causing her to back away even farther and scream.

"Wha-?! Jackson, NO!" Earl shouted.

"What, Earl? You think you can just waltz in here and not tell me what the hell you're doing?" Jackson replied.

He used his thumb to quickly cock the pistol, readying the bullet for whoever was in it's path.

"Earl, now would be a great time to tell him what you were doing!" Shining shouted, clutching his sister as the gun was pointed to her head.

"Well, Earl?" Jackson said with a sinister smile.

"I-I was just checking out the knives... that's it." Earl said shakily.

Jackson chuckled and moved closer to Twilight, the gun still staring her down.

"Please! You think I'm that simple?!" The Colonel said.

"Colonel please, just put the gun down!" Earl pleaded, taking a few steps towards the Colonel.

"Ah Ah Ah...." Jackson said, now placing the barrel against Twilight's head, causing her to scream again.

"God's sake man, don't kill her!" Earl screamed angrily.

Jackson paused for a moment and let out another sinister laugh as he tapped the gun against Twilight's head and whispered the word bam before pulling it away and pointing it at Earl. The human quickly jumped backwards at the gun's change in direction and put his hands up.

"Over here. Now." Jackson said, waving the gun to his group of friends.

Earl obliged and quickly side-stepped to his friends, placing one arm around Twilight's shoulder, calming her slightly. The Colonel rolled his eyes and kept the gun fixated on Earl.

"Now. I thought we were going to be able to handle this in a civilized manor. But, because some people would like to be savages, we have to do things the hard way." Jackson said, approaching Earl.

The Colonel harshly shoved Twilight and Shining away, and grabbed Earl by the collar of his light-grey shirt.

"You're going to tell us." Jackson said, shoving the barrel of his shining pistol under Earl's chin.

Earl shivered for a moment as the cold steel of the gun connected with his skin.

"T-Tell you what?!" Earl asked, frantically and shakily.

Jackson narrowed his eyebrows.

"The light." He said in a low tone.

Earl's expression quickly changed to confused.

"What light?!" He asked, his voice growing even more terrified.

Colonel Jackson scowled and threw Earl to the floor, causing his head to collide harshly with one of the metal cabinets in the kitchen. The air instantly escaped Twilight's lungs as Jackson advanced forward and swung the pistol at Earl's face. It hit him square in the jaw, causing his head to fly sideways, along with a string of blood that painted the checkered floor of the kitchen.

"The light! There was a light in your home!" Jackson shouted angrily.

Earl winced in pain as he crawled into a seated position against the metallic cabinet.

"L... Light....?" He asked, glancing to his group of friends.

It only took him a few seconds to realize what Jackson was speaking of.

The portal.

Earl hesitated for a moment and shook his head.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about..." He said shakily.

Jackson scowled and harshly ripped Earl from his seated position and back to his feet.

"We'll find out... you lying, sniveling, ungrateful bastard..." The Colonel said in a grim tone.

He shoved Earl into his friends once more and waved the gun towards the door.

"Move. Now."

* * *

The metallic door to the jail cell briskly shut, sending a sharp clank! throughout the room. Earl scowled and rubbed his hand against his jaw as he glared at Jackson.

"I'm sorry kid. I really am." Jackson said, spinning his pistol around his index finger.

He quickly slid it into the holster on his leg and turned to leave the room which contained the cell.

"Just remember, this was your fault." Jackson said, turning back for a moment. "I'll be back very soon."

With that, the colonel slammed the door shut, leaving only the glow from outside to light the dreary cell that Applejack, Shining, Macintosh, Earl, and Twilight were now trapped in. Earl sighed and ran his hands through his short, black hair as he approached a small cot on the opposite side of the cell where Twilight was sitting. Big Mac was sitting against the far wall, his arm around his cowering sister, while Shining Armor paced around the middle of the cell.

Without a word, Earl set himself down on the cot and pulled Twilight close as she sobbed lightly. Shining continued pacing, his steps growing angrier and angrier as Twilight's sobs echoed throughout the room.

"I....I-I'm not letting him hurt you...alright?" Earl said quietly, and in his most comforting voice.

Shining rolled his eyes and stomped over to the cot.

"And how do you expect to do that, Earl?!" The blue-haired human asked, his voice carrying a tone of anger.

"Shines... c'mon man." Earl replied, motioning to Twilight.

"No! You just had to go back... you just had to have your moment of glory, saving your insane species!" Shining said, his expression now showing the anger that was apparent in his voice.

Earl scowled and pulled his arm away from Twilight, lifting himself off of the cot so that he was only inches from Shining's face. The former-unicorn was slightly intimidated in the difference between their height's and body-structure, and backed away slightly.

"Not all humans are like this Shines!" Earl said angrily. " Am I insane?!"

Shining hesitated for a moment.

"Not yet I'm not..." Earl said under his breath, setting himself down onto the cot.

The blue-haired human shook his head and turned away.

"Shines..." Earl said.

Shining Armor simply shook his head again.

With a sigh, Earl lifted himself from the bed once more and put his hand on Shining's shoulder.

"If we're going to make it out of this, I can't have my friends turning my back on me." He said.

Shining sighed and continued shaking his head.

"I just want to take Twi, and go home..." He said, desperation entering his tone.

"And I'm getting you home. I'm getting Twi home. I'm getting everyone home, even if it kills me." Earl replied, his voice now filled with confidence.

Shining gave a quick nod and continued pacing around the room as Earl walked back to the cot.

"I just... I want to go home... I forgot how much I hate this world..." Twilight sobbed.

"I know... I know. I hate it here too." Earl said, stroking her hair lightly.

"Y-You told me... it used to be OK here. Before all of the..."

"It was. I promise it was. But... it can also change people..."

Twilight continued cowering and glanced up to Earl.

"You're not... you're not going to let them...?"

Earl quickly shook his head.

"Any finger they lay on you, or anyone, is a finger they better be prepared to lose." He said.

Twilight sniffled and rested her head against his chest as she shifted her body to lay on the cot, the sunlight from outside quickly fading into night.

"Nothing's gonna touch you..." Earl whispered.

* * *

"No! No! Don'chu touch him!" Applejack screamed.

Earl's head quickly shot up as he was interrupted from his sleep. He quickly glanced to the direction of AJ's scream and found a group of soldiers in the cell, one of which, was dragging Mac out.

"Hey, what's going on?!" Earl shouted, heaving himself of of the bed and near one of the soldiers.

The man quickly shoved him back and aimed his rifle in Earl's direction.

"Colonel's orders. Stay back!" The soldier replied.

Earl threw his hands in the air and backed away.

"Earl!" Applejack shouted, looking to him. "Do something!"

Mac flailed around wildly in the soldier's grasp as he was pulled out of the cell.

"You let me go, right now!" Mac shouted angrily as his legs dragged against the dusty cement floor.

After the soldiers had left, they slammed the cell door shut. Almost instantly, Applejack leaned against the bars and reached an arm out to her brother.

"Mac!" She screamed desperately.

It was no use, the soldiers simply continued dragging him out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them.

"Mac..."

Next in Line

Chapter 4: Next in Line

"He's going to be alright... He's Mac, y'know?" Earl said an hour later, trying to calm Applejack.

The blonde-haired girl shook her head and jumped to her feet. She moved towards the bars and pressed herself up against them, fighting back the welling tears in her eyes as the thoughts of what might be happening to her brother swirled in her mind.

"T-Their gonna kill him... aren't they?" Applejack asked, her voice faltering and quiet.

Twilight rested her head in her knees and sighed as Earl jumped to his feet as well and put a comforting hand on Applejack's shoulder.

"They're not going to kill him, OK? I wouldn't let that happen." Earl said, his voice showing the small amount of confidence that still remained.

Applejack continued staring blankly out of the cold metal bars, as if her older brother would appear out of thin-air and be safe again. In Equestria, that could have at least been possible. But now, she was on some lawless, dead rock, a thousand light-years from home.

"You said nothin' would happen..." Applejack said, a single tear falling from her deep-green eyes.

Earl looked to the floor, a guilty fire sparking in his heart. He had told them nothing would happen, that they would be safe and just had to rescue a few humans. But that wasn't the case. Instead, they were held against their will, at the clutches of a madman, trying to "rebuild" society.

Earl cursed under his breath and shook his head.

"I know... AJ. I know, and I'm as sorry as I can be-" He said, solemnly.

"Well you should be." Applejack whispered, her voice resembling her broken spirit.

Earl was fighting back tears at this point. Taking so many daggers to the heart was breaking his spirit as well. His group was slowly breaking apart, and he could feel it.

Seconds later, the door burst open, followed by two of their captors carrying a familiar man by his arms. An audible scratch rang through the walls of the room as his shins scraped against the rough concrete, and his long, blondish hair was clinging to his face due to the large amount of sweat dripping from it. Applejack instantly noticed her brother and her expression changed to a mixture of relief and sadness.

"Mac!" She said, her voice slightly more hopeful than before.

"Stand back!" One of the guards shouted angrily as they neared the cell.

Applejack complied without question, but Earl stood his ground. The guard ignored the man's insubordination and continued in the cell. With one swift throw of both their arms, the guards tossed Macintosh into the room. He instantly groaned in pain from the harsh impact, causing the two soldiers to chuckle. Applejack quickly rushed to her brother's side and fell to her knees, immediately sweeping the hair from his face.

"Mac! Are you OK?! What did they-"

She was quickly cut-off as the ghastly condition of her brother's face came into view. Both eyes were a dark shade of purple, as well as other spots on his forehead and cheeks. The area around his mouth was painted with dried blood and more dark-purple spots, as well as several teeth missing from the row of white that occupied his mouth.

Applejack remained speechless for a moment, her eyes looking frantically across his face at the horrifying wounds spread across it.

"W-what did they do to you?!" She asked, mortified by the sight of her battered brother.

Mac shook his head weakly and pulled his sister down to him, embracing her in a warming hug.

"Shh... I'm... I'm..." Mac said, coughing and groaning in pain. "I'm alright... I'm here..."

He continued quieting his sister, and running his hand across the back of her hair in attempt to calm her. He knew exactly how bad his condition was, but wasn't in a mood to further distress his sister. After Applejack had calmed to a quiet sobbing in her injured brother's chest, Macintosh looked up to Earl. He immediately cringed at the sight of his battered face, causing the guilty fire in his heart to burn even stronger.

"Mac..." Earl said weakly.

Macintosh shook his head.

"Don't chu... Worry a bit... Ah didn't tell em' nothin..." He said, still coughing.

"I... I don't care about that man... Look at you." Earl said, motioning to Mac's face.

Mac chuckled weakly, more blood dripping from his battered lip.

"Ah'll be fine... Just need to rest-"

"Shut up. Both of you." One of the guards said, waving his gun in front of them.

Both obliged quickly.

The soldier then took one hand off of the rifle and put it around a small black device on his chest, a small burst of Static rang through the device and echoed off of the cement walls of the jail cell.

"I'm bringing in the next one." The soldier said quietly into the small back device attached to his military jacket.

An illegible sound emitted from the device and the soldier advance forwards in Earl's direction.

"What, me?" Earl asked angrily.

"Just come easy, and we won't make you look like your buddy over there." The guard said with a chuckle.

Mac simply shook his head and continued trying to calm his little sister. Earl scowled, the guilt in his heart now turning to anger, and proceeded towards the open mouth of the cell. Twilight snapped her head up as Earl trudged to the opening in the cell, and jumped off of the cot.

"Earl?!" She said, surprised.

Earl turned around, a slight frown coming over his lips.

"I'll... be fine. Just gonna be gone for a sec." He said trying to force a smile.

Twilight frowned and sprinted over to him, throwing her arms over his shoulders.

"Please... don't go." She said softly, her spirit broken as well.

Earl frowned, the tears once welling in his eyes falling now.

"I... I have to..." He said, stroking her hair gently.

Twilight shook her head.

"Please..."

"Go to Shining... I'll just be a second."

Shining Armor took that as his cue and crawled up onto his feet from his sitting position at the corner of the cell.

"Twilly..." Shining said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Twilight frowned and slowly let go of Earl, turning to face her brother. He responded with a nod and gently pulled her away from him. Shining then looked Earl in the eyes.

"I got her... I'm sorry for the outburst." He said, slight shame entering his voice.

"It's fine... we're all under stress." Earl said.

Shining nodded.

"You... do your business. I'll take care of Twilly." He said.

"Thanks..." Earl replied with a smile.

"C'mon, do I look like I got all fuckin' day?!" The soldier asked, annoyance shining in his voice like a floodlight.

Earl gritted his teeth and scowled once more as he turned away from Shining Armor and exited the cell. The soldiers then took him out of the room and down a narrow hallway he hadn't seen yet. One of the guards chuckled and glanced to the guard on Earl's left.

"Can't wait 'til Colonels' done with these assholes... I wanna get with that purple-haired hippie bitch." The soldier said with a chuckle.

The opposite guard nodded with a smirk.

"I got my eyes on the country girl." He said with a chuckle.

Earl gritted his teeth even harder this time, causing his mouth to tremble as the rage built in his heart. He twitched angrily as he walked down the narrow hallway. Things were slowly beginning to blur and distort, and it felt as though time itself was stopping and starting again as the hallway continued. Right and wrong didn't seem apparent anymore. As they continued down the distorting hallway, he clenched his fists as hard as he could, until he was drawing blood from the palms of his hands with his fingernails. He was ready to kill anything and everything if it meant getting him and his friends home...

Earl was losing it.

One thought crossed his mind as he looked between the two soldiers on either side of him. An evil smirk grew across his lips, followed by a sinister look in his eyes.

I'm going to enjoy killing you...

Negotiations

Chapter 5: Negotiations

As the Earl and the two guards reached the end of the now distorting hallway, they veered left, and into a small room. Earl grimaced as he examined the room. It was entirely cement, with disgusting stains painting the walls. A single light hung above a small wooden chair, both in the middle of the room. The light cast a menacing glow on the Colonel's evil smile as Earl and the two guards entered. One of the guards pulled the large steel door shut, creating a sharp slam that put a further damper on Earl's nerves.

After a moment of contemplating his next move, the Colonel extended his arm and pointed in the direction of the chair. Almost immediately, the two soldiers shoved Earl forwards, causing him to land harshly on the chair. He groaned as a seething pain entered his now bruised midsection, as the seat of the chair had dug into his ribs. One of the guards scowled and scraped him off of the ground roughly, and shoved him into the seat of the chair.

"How's your buddy Macintosh holdin' up?" Jackson asked as he walked closer to the chair, the sinister smile on his face still shining brightly.

Earl gritted his teeth once more and began twitching as the anger continued growing inside of him. He gave no response.

Colonel Jackson waited a moment for Earl's response, but chuckled a few moments later after he received nothing.

"Stubborn prick that one. Took us a bit of... persuasion just to get his name." Jackson continued with a grim chuckle.

The Colonel chuckled once more and motioned to one of his soldiers, who nodded and reached into one of the various pouches attached to his uniform. Seconds later, he pulled out a thick roll of duct tape and threw it to the Colonel.

"Might as well just, strap you in here, don't want'chu gettin' away now, do we?" The Colonel said, unrolling a large amount of the shining silver tape with one, brisk pull.

Before Earl could react, Jackson began rolling the extended tape around his right arm, pinning his limb to the chipped wooden arm on the chair. Colonel Jackson continued, ripping the tape from the rest of the roll and moving to the opposite arm.

He did the same thing with Earl's other arm, pinning practically his entire torso. The Colonel gave a small whistle and tossed the roll to one of the other guards, who caught it and knelt down to begin securing Earl's legs.

After he had been successfully subdued, Jackson walked in front of him, blocking out the light and turning the Colonel into a menacing silhouette. Without any form of warning, The Colonel cocked his arm back and threw a harsh fist into Earl's face, causing the trapped human's head to fly sideways as a sickening crack echoed throughout the cement walls of the enclosed room.

"Heh, you have NO Idea how long I've been wanting to do that!" The Colonel said with a taunting laugh.

Earl simply shivered as the sharp pain entered his face, and turned his head back to face the attacker. A slow trickle of blood began to fall from Earl's nose as the Colonel's punch began to seep in, staining his already tattered shirt.

"Now. I know you're not going to willingly tell us about that flash, so how 'bout you tell me how many punches it's gonna take to get it out of you, and I'll deliver." The Colonel said, his wicked smile still holding strong.

Earl shook his head and struggled in the seat, trying to find any way he could escape the chair he was unwillingly attached to. It was no avail, duct tape was the strongest element known to mankind.

"I'm... I'm not telling... you... shit." Earl said, his breathing slightly off as he winced in pain.

The Colonel sighed and cocked his arm back for another punch, this attack colliding with his midsection. Earl's eyes went wide as a gust of air escaped his mouth, tossing the blood that had fallen from his nose across the room. He groaned in pain and shifted awkwardly in his seat, holding back tears.

"Two. Remember that private. You're keeping score." The Colonel said, pointing in the direction of one of his soldiers.

The guard gave a salute and repeated the number back to him.

Jackson knelled down slightly until he was at eye level with the bleeding man, and smiled even wider than before.

"Your buddy Mac made it through 97 before we eventually gave up. But I'm willing to go the extra mile for you." He said, madness ringing in his voice like a blaring church-bell.

* * *

"162 sir!" The private said with a salute.

Jackson's eyes went wide as he continued breathing heavily, obviously exhausted by the number of hits he had delivered to Earl. The captive human was sitting in the chair, his face bruised and bloody, and the front of his shirt stained almost entirely with his own blood. By now, Earl had completely given up on holding back tears, and was weeping as blood continued to flow from the various wounds littering his face.

"One... hundred... and sixty-two?!" The colonel asked, still trying to capture his breath.

He looked to Earl, surprised.

"What's it gonna take, son?!" He asked, anger now joining together with the madness in his voice.

Earl shook his head fiercely, causing blood to further stain his shirt and the floor around him.

"I'm not telling you SHIT!" Earl said angrily, his voice accented by the shining red blood seeping out of his mouth.

"And why is that?! Huh?! We're trying to help you son! That's all we-"

"Then why are you b-beating us to shit?!"

"To get it out of you!"

"And... and why do you want to know.... huh?!"

The Colonel scowled and reached into another holster on the leg opposite to the one that held his pistol, and pulled out a combat knife. Earl shivered in further fear as the light glistened off of the shining metal of the knife. The Colonel moved closer and brushed the knife under Earl's chin.

"Flash means power, which we are very low on. If we're going to help-" The Colonel said.

"You're not... helping... anypony...." Earl said, breathing heavily as the cold steel of the knife sent chills down his spine.

"Any... pony?" The Colonel asked quizzically.

"Anybody! You're not helping anybody!" Earl replied, silently scolding himself for using the pony terms he had so frequently used in his new home.

"We're trying to help! But we can't help if we don't have the tools to do so!"

"And what the hell are some flashes of light going to do?!"

Colonel Jackson scowled and pressed the knife under Earl's chin slightly harder. After a moment, he paused and pulled the knife away. A wicked smile broke across his lips.

"I know what will get you to talk, you sniveling little prick..." The Colonel said.

Jackson pointed to one of the soldiers and motioned to the door. The guard quickly obeyed his request and opened the heavy steel door for his commanding officer.

"Private, you stay here and watch over our friend. Me and this man are going to retrieve Ms. Twilight." The Colonel said, wicked happiness standing strong in his voice.

Earl's eyes quickly went wide as the guilty fire started in his stomach again.

"No...." He said weakly.

Colonel Jackson simply snickered and continued out of the room, one of the guards following close behind.

"No! You... You don't touch her!" Earl shouted.

No response.

"You miserable sick fuck! You don't lay a finger on her, do you hear me?!" Earl screamed as loud as his lungs would let him.

The guilty fire in his heart was beginning to turn to rage, adding to his further decreasing sanity. He began frantically struggling in the chair.

"You stay the fuck away from her! You-"

Earl was cut off quickly by the sound of the chair cracking. He looked down, still breathing heavily from his anger and the numbing pain in his face and midsection. The chair was breaking.

Earl slowly looked to the single soldier who was still standing on the other side of the room. An idea quickly entered his mind.

"Hey... bitch." Earl called, blood still falling from his lips.

The guard looked sharply to Earl and scowled.

"The fuck do you want?" The guard asked.

"You're a stupid prick... you know that?" Earl continued.

"Watch what you say to me kid-"

"Kid? Please your a scrawny little spit-fuck compared to me."

"Shut your mouth!"

"How about you make me, skeletor..."

The guard was steaming with anger at this point, and stomped over to the chair. In one swift movement, the soldier cocked his arm back and threw a punch into Earl's midsection, causing the chair to crack further. Earl groaned in pain, but couldn't help but laugh as his plan continued to work.

"T-That's... all you've got?" Earl continued.

The soldier shouted in rage and threw another fist into Earl's midsection, causing the chair to crack even further. One more blow, and something was bound to give way.

"H-how... many friends... did you lose, shitstain?" Earl said still chuckling.

The soldier twitched angrily and threw one final punch into Earl's stomach.

Snap

Before the soldier could react to the harsh snapping of wood, Earl swung his arm up with as much force as he could muster. To Earl's advantage, the wood on the arm of the chair was still attached to his limb, and created a sharp crack against the soldier's skull. The guard stumbled backwards and fell up against the filthy cement wall of the room, before sliding down it breathing heavily. Earl took this chance and toppled the chair over onto it's side in the direction of the fallen soldier. With his free arm, he weakly pulled himself and the chair over to him and reached for the front of the guard's vest, where a knife was sitting soundly in it's holster. After several moments of straining, Earl finally pulled the knife from it's holster and brought it to his other trapped limbs.

After he had successfully freed his arm, the soldier began to stir, causing Earl to stop completely. He was waking up. Earl frantically began work on his legs, freeing them from the chair. Within a matter of seconds, the soldier was slowly creaking his eyes open as Earl finished freeing his final limb. The soldier's eyes almost immediately shot open as he saw the silhouette of Earl standing in front of him. Before the soldier could react, Earl gave one quick thrust of the knife and implanted it in the top of the guard's skull. On contact, the skull buckled, giving way to the knife and allowing the cold steel to drive straight into his brain. The soldier twitched wildly for a moment and fell sideways onto the ground.

Earl examined his attack for a few seconds and leaned down to retrieve the knife from the dead guard's skull, causing a small spray of blood to litter the floor. He also scavenged a small pistol from one of the soldier's many pockets on his vest. It was a small six-shot revolver made of chipped and faded metal. Earl checked the clip, 3 bullets. After a short sigh, he flicked his wrist, and the cartridge made it's way back into the pistol. When the soldier had nothing more to offer, Earl returned to his feet and payed no mind to the crippling pain in his midsection and face, but simply smiled.

Earl had finally lost it.

Jailbreak

Chapter 6: Jailbreak

Twitching with sheer rage, Earl left the grimey room where he had received his vicious beating. The blood continued flowing from the extensive amount of open wounds on his face and further reddened his previously grey shirt. He kept the knife low at his side and the pistol uncocked in his pocket. Creating noise via gunshot was the last thing he wanted to do. Staying low, he traveled silently through the seemingly endless corridors of the facility. His vague memory of the complex was fading even faster due to the complete loss of his sanity.

The corridors seemed to blend together. Just endless brick walls painted a dull gray, occasionally bearing a yellow or blue-colored stripe. Earl had vaguely remembered Jackson explaining their use of color-coating in the facility, but his thoughts were too lost to contemplate the meaning. The anxious human continued silently through the hallways, gripping the leather handle of his bloody knife and preparing himself for an encounter. To his advantage however, no one showed up. After several minutes of fruitless searching, the walls became familiar in Earl's further distorting vision. He planted himself against the wall, heart racing, and peeked around the corner. Instantly, Earl recognized the tattered door that lead to the room bearing his friends prisoner. A grin shot across his face as he inched out from behind the wall, and down the hallway.

Earl paused for a moment after reaching his hand for the door. Colonel Jackson could be just on the other side with any number of his maniac crew. He glanced around the hallway and along the door frame, trying to find any alternative to another "Leeroy Jenkins" incident such as the one during the invasion. He cursed quietly under his breath after finding no solution. With a grimace to his thoughts, he tightened his grip on the combat knife, causing his knuckles to go white and his hand to tremble slightly. He took one quick breath and slowly pushed the door open. Almost instantly, Twilight recognized him through the bars of the cell, causing her face to brighten slightly, and then fall back to a frown as she noticed his battered condition. Part of Earl's sanity slowly began to come back as he saw his girl, perfectly safe. He was determined to keep it that way.

Scanning the room quickly, Earl noticed only one guard, standing watch just in front of the bars. The soldier's back was turned, causing him to be completely oblivious to any possible threat.

Perfect... Earl thought as a sinister smile returned to his face.

Shining was the next to notice Earl's arrival. However, knowing the circumstances, the blue-haired human acted natural. Earl swiftly brought a finger to his lips, signalling for them to remain silent for further confirmation.

Slowly, Earl began inching closer to the guard, heart beating harder than the hooves of a stampede. Beads of sweat began to litter his bloody forehead, and the salty liquid soon made it into his scars. For the first time since his beating, Earl felt a sharp, burning pain. The human stopped dead in his tracks and twitched in pain as the sweat continued pouring into his wounds.

Twilight needs me... Shining needs me... They all need me. Earl thought, trying to overcome the pain that was becoming more apparent by the second.

Once again, the pain began to turn to anger as Earl glanced up to the still oblivious soldier. He was now inches from the man, just waiting for his moment to strike and unleash the burning anger in his heart.

Without further delay, Earl came up from his standing position and gave a quick whistle through his bloody teeth. The soldier was instantly startled by the high-pitched noise and spun around, grasping frantically for the rifle slung around his chest. Before the Soldier could brandish his automatic weapon, Earl dashed forward and swung his right arm around the soldier's shoulder, jabbing the knife in his left hand into the man's midsection. A small, barely audible gasp escaped the guard's mouth as pain from the harsh stab set in. Not letting up, Earl gave the soldier's body a brisk pull, planting the knife further into his midsection. He quickly pulled the knife from the soldier's bleeding stomach and moved to the side, tossing him to the ground with intense force. The guard's face hit the ground, giving a sharp crack as flesh connected with pavement.

By now, Earl was seeing complete red. His first real kill was almost completed. Without any second thought of taking the soldier's life, Earl shifted his position next to the man on the ground and readied his leg to deliver the killing blow. He thought of his friends, his home, his captor. Anything he could to further amplify the power going into his kick. With a burst of power, he swung his leg forward and connected with the soldier's jaw. Sending a massive spray of crimson, red blood across the room, followed by several teeth and an extremely audible crack that echoed throughout the walls of the room. Shining and Twilight both paused, realizing the look in Earl's eyes and the act he had just completed. At that moment, a small fear for the enraged human standing before them was created.

Macintosh and Applejack quickly snapped their heads upwards as the crack echoed throughout the room, finally noticing Earl breathing heavily as his foot returned to the ground.

"Earl!" Applejack said, a relieved tone entering her voice.

The human continued catching his breath and reached down to search the recently deceased soldier. After a few seconds, he pulled a key from one of the various pockets that lined the dead man's vest. Without hesitation, he spun around and began working with the lock. It sprung open without any problem, and Earl inched open the cell door weakly. The four recently humanized equines stared at Earl as he kept his head held low. After a few slightly awkward moments, he slowly outstretched his arms and looked to Twilight.

Despite the fear that had just manifested itself for her, the purple-haired girl inched forward, weary of the blood staining the front of Earl's shirt. After a moment of hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his midsection, followed by him embracing her tightly. The members of the group remained silent for a moment as the two shared their embrace, knowing it's importance. After what seemed like hours, the two broke away from eachother, Twilight's shirt now stained slightly. Earl looked between the members of his group. He glanced to Big Mac, and his scarred face. He looked to Applejack and saw beyond her tough exterior, straight through to the mortified mare underneath. He saw Shining trying to remain resilient as well, but broken to the core. Lastly, he saw Twilight, the love of his life since she had pulled him from the fires of the infection. He had done this, he had taken them all here, and affected them in such a way beyond all relief. He may not have caused his home world to turn to shit, but he definitely brought them there. The human cleared his throat roughly.

"We're leaving." He said in a stern, yet caring tone.

* * *

The five humans slowly inched along the corridors of the facility, frantically searching for an exit amidst the dull-grey walls and constant threats of being discovered. Twilight had explained to Earl about Jackson's plan to "get more friends" for his interrogation. Taking the opportunity, Earl simply gathered his group and left.

Keeping the knife at his side, he continued inching down the corridors, sweating profusely and constantly checking corners to avoid anyone discovering them. After several lengthy hallways, Earl stopped and turned to face his group, still in a stealthy crouched position.

"Does anypony know where the exit is?" He asked, his voice lacking confidence.

In unison, the members of his group shook their heads.

"Shit... If we keep wandering around the halls, we're bound to get caught." Earl continued.

Twilight's face quickly lit up in a wide smile.

"Hang on, I can use a spell that-" She said.

After a brief moment, her smile fell to a frown at the realization of her recent transformation. Earl's expression turned to a frown as well. He hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder.

"I-It's fine. We'll... we'll find the way." He said, trying to comfort her.

"Hey! Wha- what the fuck?! A voice sounded from the hallway.

Earl's heart dropped and a chill ran down his spine at the sound of the voice. He briskly fell to the ground and pulled Twilight with him, motioning for the members of his group to do the same.

"Hey! I think I got em' over here, Sector 2, Bravo hallway!" The voice shouted, followed by a burst of static.

Earl stayed low, camouflaged by the darkness of the hallway. To his advantage, it was one of the many hallways that wasn't being powered anymore. The next voice heard was very familiar, and drenched in the sound of static.

"You shoot to kill, you hear me?!" Jackson shouted over the soldier's radio.

Before Earl could react, multiple shots boomed through the hallway, creating a blinding flash and a deafening boom.

"Go! Go!" Earl shouted, stumbling to his feet and helping Twilight.

Macintosh, Shining and Applejack quickly obliged, mortified by the gunshot. As the five continued down the hallway, the soldier fired more shots at their silhouettes, missing them by mere inches.

When they finally rounded the corner after dodging shots, Earl pulled the six-shooter from his pocket and cocked it. Without hesitation, he peered around the corner and fired the two shots down the hallway, hoping to frighten his attacker.

"Shots fired! I repeat, shots fired, they are armed! Send backup!" The voice screamed worriedly from down the hallway.

"Shit, backup!" Earl said angrily, returning behind the wall.

"Backup?!" Twilight asked worriedly.

"Jackson is going to bring everyone..." Shining said, his eyes going wide.

Earl searched their surroundings frantically before spotting a large metal door across the corridor. His nerves were further dampened as he heard the sound of footsteps roaring down the hallway they had just escaped from.

"Go! In there!" He shouted, pointing in the direction of the metal door.

Without question, the four sprinted across the hallway, Earl following close behind.

The footsteps were blaring down the hallway now, inching closer to them. Within seconds, the soldier had reached the hallway and raised his rifle. Yet another shot ran past Earl's head as they continued down the hallway, just feet from the large metal door. Upon reaching it, Shining threw the door open with as much force as he could, revealing a pitch-black room. Shots continued echoing throughout the hall as the rest of the group made their way inside. After making sure everyone was inside, Shining slammed the door shut again with just as much force. This time, however, a loud melodic beep sounded from a panel beside the door, followed by a green flash that read "secured".

The soldier stopped dead in his tracks and slowly lowered his rifle as he examined the room they had just entered. He shakily reached his hand up to the radio attached to his vest and swallowed nervously.

"Sir?" He said, his voice faltering.

"What?!" Jackson replied.

"They... l-locked themselves..."

"Speak up soldier!"

"T-T-T-They..."

"ENGLISH MOTHERFUCKER!"

The soldier swallowed nervously again, his hands still shaking.

"They locked themselves in the armory."

End of Part One

Knock-Knock

Chapter 8: Knock-Knock

"What in the hay was that?!" Applejack screamed as the lengthy barrage of bullets from outside ended.

Earl paused for a moment, turning his attention to the door. He knew exactly what the sound had been, but not why it had gone off. A massive number of reasons ran through his head, but none seemed logical. He shook his head for a moment, trying to clear his mind, and stood up from the cold cement floor of the armory. Cautiously, the human began to approach the panel. He was quickly relieved to find that it was still reading "secured" and breathed a sigh of relief.

At least they haven't made an attempt on the door... He thought.

Almost instantly after the thought echoed in Earl's mind, a massive pound was heard against the large metal door of the room. The human instantly jumped backwards and fell onto his back, slowly crawling away from the door. Seconds after the initial impact, another boom was heard against the door, causing Earl to stumble backwards further. Twilight glanced frantically between Earl and the door.

"What are they doing?!" She asked, terrified.

Each of her friends held the same terrified expression as Earl returned to his feet and stared imploringly at the door. Almost in rhythm with the other furious pounds against the cold steel of the door, another boom echoed throughout the walls.

"I... I don't know." Earl said in a distant, confused tone.

"Heave!"

Macintosh paused for a moment .

"Did y'all hear that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Heave!"

"Y-Yeah, I reckon I did..." Applejack said after nodding to her brother.

Earl continued staring at the door as a rhythmic pounding against it continued echoing throughout the walls of the armory.

"Heave!"

As he held his position, staring at the door before him, realization hit harder than the soldiers pounding the door on the other side.

"Oh shit..." Earl said under his breath.

"What?!" Shining asked, glancing frantically between the door and him.

The rhythmic thumping on the door grew louder.

Earl backed a few steps away from the door to the armory, his eyes going wide. He swallowed nervously, his mouth dry from the terror that was entering his heart.

"S-Shining.... Mac..." He said, his voice more choked than ever.

"What?" Mac and Shining said in near unison.

"G-get the girls... and Get them behind something..." He said in an almost inaudible tone, nodding his head.

The two of them glanced between each other for a moment, processing Earl's request.

"NOW!" Earl shouted, his tone contrasting greatly from the almost inaudible commands previously said.

Macintosh feared Earl not, but the tone in his voice showed how serious the situation was. Without any further question, Macintosh nudged Applejack and pointed to a crate a few feet behind them, next to a shelf. Applejack nodded in return and briskly walked back to the faded-green crate, followed by her blonde-haired brother. Shining did the same with Twilight, taking her behind a stack of boxes on the other side of the isle.

Earl swallowed in terror yet again as he continued backing away from the door, the rhythmic pounding growing even louder. The deep, pounding, booms were now rocking his whole body, along with the fear racing through his mind. With a quick glance to his left, he noticed a few small firearms hanging on one of the many gun-racks lining the halls of the room. Quickly, he reached for the small gun which he could best describe as an Uzi. Pulling away from the gun-rack, he propped the small metallic device into his shoulder and readied himself. With one sharp breath, he pulled the trigger of the weapon, only to be met with a sharp click.

"What the..." He whispered under his breath.

The human pulled the gun from his shoulder and examined it. Almost instantly, he realized the absence of a clip in the weapon and quickly facepalmed before turning back to the gun-rack.

"So stupid..." He continued.

For a moment, he sorted through various clips scattered across the bottom shelf of the gun-rack. He cursed under his breath as he found only empty metal cartridges, and threw the empty clips on the floor. After a few moments however, he found a clip lined to the brim with small bullets, just waiting to be fired. With a quiet cheer of victory, he returned to his normal stance and shoved the clip into the bottom of the Uzi. From what he could remember, the weapon needed to be cocked before it was ready. Examining the gun for a moment, he found a familiar sliding piece of metal atop the device. With little confidence, he pulled the small, protruding metal backwards until it gave a click, signifying that the gun was ready to kill.

As the thumping continued, Earl gave one final examination of the weapon. Making sure the safety was off and that the clip was secured in the handle. With a sigh, he placed it back into his shoulder and dropped down to one knee. The harsh pounding continued, growing more audible by the second, until it was shaking the walls of the room. Earl's nerves were shot at this point, and sweat was pouring down his face and into his wounds yet again. He quickly wiped the beads away with the backside of his right hand.

"I love you Twilight." He said over his shoulder, looking down the sights of the weapon.

"I love you too...?" Twilight said in a confused tone.

Earl had fully readied his weapon, his finger just barely brushing across the finger.

"Heave!"

Thump!

Earl gave a sharp inhale, steadying the sights of his weapon. Too much more force and the door was coming down.

"Heave!"

Thump!

The gun quickly fell from Earl's shoulder as he exhaled nervously. He shook his arms for a moment, trying to regain his composure.

C'mon... It's only like, 20 guys... He thought.

"Heave!"

THUMP!

Earl quickly shook his head, dispelling any thoughts of backing down, and raised the gun into his shoulder again.

"Heave!"

The human behind the weapon raised an eyebrow. It had been several seconds and there was no thumping on the door.

"You're tired?! We don't fucking get tired! Keep going!"

Earl lowered the weapon from the shoulder as the voices outside continued.

"Fine! We'll do it later. GAH!"

A small, almost inaudible thump sounded at the door, followed by a pained scream.

"Sir! are you alright, sir?!"

One, single gunshot sounded from the other side of the door, followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor.

"You've got one hour, then we're at it again!"

Earl paused for a moment, his eyes dancing wildly across the door. The thumps had stopped, and if he had heard the voices on the other side correctly, he had some time. With a loud sigh of relief, the gun fell completely to his side, and he returned to his feet.

"Guys." He said, a relieved tone in his voice.

The four recently humanized ponies came out from behind their cover cautiously. Each of them instantly glanced towards the large metal door keeping them safe and noticed the large amount of lumps protruding inwards. Earl walked to gun-rack and placed the Uzi gently on one of the shelves, a slightly discouraged expression across his face.

"What's wrong?" Shining asked, becoming discouraged as well.

Earl sighed and spun to face his friends.

"I've got about an hour to learn, and teach you guys, how to use some of the most complicated weaponry you've ever seen." He replied.

Acquire Hardware

Chapter 9: Acquire Hardware

Macintosh and Shining were rummaging through a crate full of firearms, debating which ones might do more damage and testing the weight of each weapon. Despite the fact that neither had any previous knowledge of the weapons they were holding. As the two continued searching through the box, Applejack began scanning the shelves, looking for something suitable. Earl had told the three to look for a weapon that suited their physical capabilities, causing Applejack to search through various racks of pistols lined across the walls on an opposite isle. A shimmer from the metal on one of the firearms caught her eye, and directed her attention to a shining revolver hanging just above a few smaller guns. Something about this weapon was calling to her. The sleek, shining metallic finish, the shape, the wooden handle. Applejack approached the shelf and took the revolver in her hand, grasping it tightly. She had definitely found her weapon.

On the opposite side of the isle, Earl stood beside Twilight, both of them scanning the shelves. The purple-haired human was nervous around all of the weapons. The previous knowledge of Earl's firearms from five years ago still rolled around her mind. The ghastly, ear shattering sounds each weapon produced, the deadly result of firing upon someone. The thought of her actually using one of these deadly tools sent of shiver down the former-unicorn's spine.

"So... which one do you think I should choose?" She asked, hiding her apparent nervousness.

Earl rested his hand under his chin for a moment, still eying the rack.

"Something relatively small..." He replied, reaching for a pistol that was hanging just inside of his reach.

The small firearm was painted a matte black, carrying a stark look of death as the human examined it. He held the gun firmly in both hands and aimed it away from Twilight, looking down the sights. With a nod, he turned back to Twilight and took the barrel in his opposite hand, presenting the handle of the weapon to her. She halfheartedly reached her hand towards the tool of death, but Earl pulled it away, a frown washing across his face.

"Did I mention how sorry I am?" He asked.

Twilight shook her head and looked to the floor. With a sigh, Earl placed his hand under her chin and pulled her head gently upwards.

"Words cannot even express how much I regret taking you here... I-I'm sorry." He said, his voice faltering slightly.

"There was no way you could've known..." Twilight replied softly.

"I know... but, still. I should've just given up on this place..."

"It's not easy to give up on your home. You've spent most of your life here..." Twilight replied, confidence growing in her voice slightly.

Earl simply nodded and shifted his eyes to the floor. Twilight sighed and took the pistol from his hand, and placed it gently on the table. The purple-haired girl slowly moved closer to him, and rested her head against his chest, the blood on his shirt now dried. Tears began inching their way into Earl's eyes as he felt Twilight's hair brush against the underside of his chin. He hesitantly placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her closer, embracing her as the tears rolled down his cheeks.

"I still love you... even if we make it out of here or not-" Twilight said softly.

"You're making it out of here, that is a promise. Whether I'm with you or not, you're going home." He said, cutting off the rest of her sentence.

Twilight winced slightly and pressed her head harder into Earl's chest, gently wrapping her arms around him.

"Please... don't talk like that..." She said softly.

Earl nodded and stroked the back of her hair as light as his shivering hands would let him. After a few minutes however, Applejack approached the two, spinning the chamber of her revolver back and forth, not noticing the two in each others embrace.

"Earl, ah think I found-" She said, looking up.

She quickly noticed the two and took a step back.

"Ah uhh... hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Earl glanced up and saw Applejack standing a few feet away, an awkward expression showing on her face. He ran his hand across Twilight's back once more before taking a step away from her.

"No, you're fine." He said, his voice faltering as he wiped his tears away.

Applejack nodded and raised the pistol to Earl.

"Ah think I found the one ah want." Applejack said, unknowingly aiming the barrel of the revolver to him.

Earl froze in place and threw his hands in the air, his heart racing.

"AJ..." He said worriedly.

"Yes?" She replied, raising an eyebrow.

Earl pointed one of his hands towards the pistol. Applejack held a puzzled expression for a moment before aiming the gun to the floor.

"Ohh... sorry." She replied.

With a sigh of relief, Earl turned back to the shelf behind him and Twilight. He grabbed the small black pistol and handed it to Twilight, his other hand caressing her shoulder, trying to calm her. The purple-haired girl gave a forced smile as he turned back to Applejack.

"It's fine. Where are the guys?" He asked.

Within a mater of seconds, Macintosh and Shining Armor came out from one of the other isles spread across the room. Macintosh holding a large M4 rifle in his hands, similar to the ones held by most of the guards in the base. Shining was holding the Uzi Earl had wielded earlier.

"We're ready." Macintosh said, Shining confirming as well with a nod.

* * *

After Earl had made sure they were equipped with an extensive amount of ammunition, he led the group to the isle across from the large metal door keeping them inside. First, he walked in front of Shining and motioned to the gun in his hands.

"Check the side, make sure the safety reads 'off'." He said.

Shining tilted the weapon to the side and examined it for a moment before flipping a small switch on the side and giving a nod.

"Alright, make sure it's cocked." Earl said, mentally going over his list of steps to preparing a weapon.

The blue-haired human grasped the slide in his hand just as Earl had done before and pulled it back until the weapon clicked. Yet again, Shining nodded and glanced towards Earl.

"Let me see it." Earl said extending his arm.

Shining handed the weapon to the black-haired human, who quickly turned to the side and stuffed the weapon into his shoulder, keeping his finger free of the trigger.

"It's going to jump back, a lot. Keep your shoulder as steady as you can." He said.

Earl took in a long breath and paused.

"Breath in when you fire."

He exhaled.

"And out when you're finished. Fire in bursts, and don't shoot your teammates."

They rage-quit... Earl thought.

Shining nodded and Earl handed the Uzi back to Shining, who propped it into his shoulder.

Earl nodded as well and continued down the line, where Macintosh was waiting.

"You're gun should be similar. Safety, slide, shoulder. Remember that." He said.

Macintosh gave a nod and looked to the side of the weapon. As expected by Earl, he flicked a small switch, signalling that the gun was off of safety. Next, Macintosh looked for a slide on top of the rifle.

"Check the side." Earl said, pointing to the weapon.

Sure enough, a small slide was waiting on the side of the weapon. Macintosh wrapped his fingers around it and glanced up to Earl for confirmation. As soon as the black-haired human nodded, Macintosh slid the small protruding metal slide backwards, causing two clicks to echo throughout the room. Mac propped the gun into his shoulder and waited for Earl's next command.

"Now. If you pull the trigger, and you hear a click, it means your clip is gone. There should be a button on the side of your weapon that will expel the clip and let you put a new one in. Make sure you pull the slide back and cock it each time you reload, or it won't fire." Earl said, relying on his previous video-Game knowledge.

At that moment, Shining found the small button on the side of his Uzi and pressed his thumb against it, causing the clip to fall from the bottom of his Uzi and litter the floor with shining metallic bullets. Earl let out a sigh as Shining scrambled around, retrieving the clip and the various bullets scattered across the ground.

"Kind of like that." Earl said, nodding his head in the direction of Shining.

As the blue-haired human continued recollecting his ammunition, Earl moved down the line, where Twilight was waiting. She was awkwardly trying to prop the small firearm into her shoulder.

"No, not like that." He said, walking behind her.

He gently took her arms from behind and placed them in front of her. One hand holding the gun outward, and the other placed under the handle for extra support. She shivered slightly at his touch, but gave no resistance as he showed her the correct position.

"Hold both arms steady. You don't want this thing to come back and hit you." He said quietly, a few inches from her ear.

As Twilight readied both arms and held them firmly in position, Earl looked to Applejack, who was next down the line.

"Give it a shot, AJ." He said. "Well not... like... really shoot it... but-"

"Ah've got it." She said, taking the same stance Twilight had entered.

Earl gave a nod and backed away from the purple-haired human. He examined everyone's stance for a moment, making sure each of them had the right posture and hand-position. Satisfied with the result, he took a few more steps back.

"These weapons will jump back at you if you're not holding them tight enough. Remember what I said; Inhale, exhale."

"What are we supposed to be shooting at?" Macintosh asked, his weapon ready.

"The door." Earl replied.

Shining let the Uzi fall from his shoulder.

"The door...?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. You guys get some practice, and it sends a message to those fuckers on the other side. Kill two birds with one stone."

"Wait, we're killin' birds, too?" Applejack asked, letting her weapon fall to her side as well.

Earl facepalmed.

"No... it's an... expre- Just shoot the door!" Earl replied.

Applejack shrugged and readied her weapon once more. Within seconds, each of the recently-humanized ponies unleashed a lengthy barrage of shots at the metallic door. Hitting it, and other various points on the nearby wall. Practically painting the steel and walls with various bullet holes of different sizes. Earl gave yet another nod as he examined their reactions to the weapons in their hands. Most of them understood the massive amount of power, leading to a small number of mishaps. The black-haired human turned around and approached another isle of the armory, this isle lined with various shotguns.

"Time for my hardware..." He said quietly to himself as the sound of gunfire roared throughout the room.

Personal Touch

Chapter 10: Personal Touch

Earl's eyes went wide as he scanned the large supply of shotguns in front of him. The firearms were spread across a massive range of size, material, and attachments. A few of the weapons bore grips on the bottom of the barrel, while others had modified sights or clips. It was hard for the human to decide at first, but he eventually thought it right to choose something simple. After a few moments, he reached for the closest shotgun to him without any modifications. It was a noticeably larger size than his previous shotgun, but he assumed there would be no difference. However, His arms nearly fell limp as the full weight of the weapon dawned on him, and fell to his waist.

"Fuuuuuck that..." He said in a strained voice as he lugged the weapon back up onto the shelf.

The firearm landed harshly on the metal after Earl had hoisted it up and dropped it on the shelf, and began scanning the rack once again. Nearby, shots were still echoing throughout the room as the humanized survivors continued their "target practice". Earl payed little mind however, trying to focus on the task at hand.

Alright. Power, and something that doesn't break my goddamn arms... He thought, rubbing his hands together anxiously.

After several seconds of contemplating his choice again, he reached for another shotgun, a few spaces above the one he had previously tried. Almost instantly, he noticed the considerable amount of weight that was absent compared to his other choice and shoved the thick stock into his shoulder firmly. The weapon was a stark, matte black. Similar to the color of the pistol he had supplied for Twilight.

Matching guns... He thought with a light chuckle.

Earl ran his hand across the top of the barrel for a moment and sat down up against the gun-rack behind him, brushing a considerable amount of dust off of the cold metal. A shiver quickly ran down his spine as the memories of the stand-off in his home entered his mind. The way the infected had just charged towards him with no remorse, the fear he felt when seeing their battered but still-living corpses. Lowering the weapon, he held on to the thought for a moment. The zeds struck infinite amounts of fear into his heart, because of the way they attacked...

With a nod of his head and a sinister smile, he ran across their battle-plan. Come with something fierce, attack fast, and be relentless. Strike fear into the hearts of those who have pushed them to this. Get mad.

"Fuckers won't know what hit em'..." Earl thought with a chuckle.

Since then, his sanity had almost been fully regained, knowing his friends were safe. But something was still itching at the back of his mind. A biting, nagging sensation that almost left him twitching. He was ready to kill, and he knew it.

Looking down to the weapon in his hands, he noticed something off about it. He tilted the shotgun to the side and let his eyes run down the length of the firearm , and back up it, examining every square-inch of the deadly piece of metal in his hands. Something was definitely missing. The human shifted the gun into his right hand and shoved the butt-end of it into the ground. Using the weapon as a support, he returned to his feet. The gunshots were still blaring throughout the room, only stopping for a few seconds as the four reloaded their weapons.

Earl looked around the isle for something, anything that might add the final touch to the weapon he was wielding. A personal touch. Nothing came into view at first, but after a few moments of scanning, a shining roll of black electrical tape quickly caught his eye. As he took in the sight of the all-powerful electrical tape, a thought wormed it's way into his mind. He anxiously reached his hand into one of the pockets on his pants and fished around for a moment. When he retracted his hand from the pocket, a familiar looking knife glistened in the lights from above. Earl glanced between the knife and electrical tape wildly, a wicked grin growing on his face.

Without any further thought, Earl took a step towards the shelf just below the gun-rack and set the shotgun down. He then took the knife in his opposite hand and placed it against the barrel. The length of the knife reached from the tip of the barrel to the tip of the forestock, mounted just below the barrel. The wicked grin on Earl's face only grew wider as he reached for the electrical tape. Using his thumb to secure the knife in place, he unrolled part of the tape and placed it on the handle of the knife. Within seconds, he was wildly spinning the roll of tape around the barrel, securing the knife to it. Roll after roll, Earl's wicked smile grew. Sure, it wasn't the sturdiest make-shift bayonet, but everything could be solved with more tape. The human simply continued rolling the black tape around the barrel of the weapon until it ran out, about a half-inch thick wall of tape connecting the metal of the shotgun to the handle on the knife.

"Perfect..." He whispered to himself, pulling the weapon off of the table.

The knife stayed in position as Earl gave the shotgun a few thrusts and swings. Satisfied with his modification, he looked back to the gun-rack. Just below the shelf where he had completed his work, was another shelf, lined with boxes bearing a picture of shotgun shells on the front. With another smile, Earl reached for one of the small cardboard boxes and popped it open. Waiting inside, was a small army of shotgun shells, just waiting to be loaded. The human placed the box on the shelf just above and began loading the bright-red shells into his newly-modified weapon. After making sure the weapon was fully loaded, he shoved the box with the remainder of shells into his pocket, then reached below to grab one more box. Making sure he had filled his pockets with ammo, he turned around and smiled.

Click-Click

"Celestia, it feels good to do that again..."

First... Second... Maybe Third Blood

Chapter 11: First... Second... Maybe Third Blood

"You put... a knife... on the end of your gun?" Shining asked, lowering his still-smoking Uzi.

Earl nodded and raised his forearm upwards, resting the top of the gun against his shoulder, looking like a complete badass.

"Damn. I want that now..." Macintosh replied, looking down to his M4.

Earl shrugged and walked forwards, examining the steel door in front of him. Painted on the wall in bullet-holes, was a crude looking Smiley Face. The human chuckled slightly and looked over his shoulder to Shining.

"Hey, don't look at me." The blue-haired man said with a smirk.

Earl paused and looked over his other shoulder, where Twilight was waving with a sheepish smile.

"Impressive..." He said, letting the weapon fall from his shoulder and taking it in both hands.

The shotgun wielding human took a deep breath and eyed the door to the armory.

"You guys ready?" He asked.

Shining, Macintosh, and Applejack nodded, readying their weapons. Twilight however, shook her head and raised an eyebrow at Earl.

"We can't just charge out there." Twilight said.

Earl paused for a moment. She was honestly right, a dozen gunmen versus their five was obviously a losing battle. He lowered the shotgun to his side and thought for a moment.

"You're right..." He whispered, looking around the room for a moment.

"Can we get a distraction?" Mac asked, lowering his rifle.

Earl turned around and scanned the shelves once more, before finding yet another thing that sparked his interest. He took a few steps in the direction of a small, bright-orange box hanging on a nearby wall, Shining following behind him. As Earl neared the small box, he handed his shotgun to Shining, who took it with his eyebrow raised.

"What do you see?" Shining asked, now juggling two guns.

Earl payed no attention to Shining and simply threw the box open, revealing a large amount of supplies labeled "emergency". With a determined expression, the human began fumbling through the box for a moment.

"One sec..." Earl said, searching.

After several moments, the human gave a silent cheer and pulled out a small orange tube with a handle on the bottom.

"What the hell is that?" Shining asked, his interest peaked.

"It's a distraction." Earl said, grabbing a few red pellets form the emergency kit as well.

"That little thing?" The blue-haired human continued.

"Trust me," Earl replied, retrieving his shotgun from Shining. "I've seen this in a video game."

As he came close to his friends once more, Earl pressed a small button on the handle of the device in his hands, and the orange tube flopped open. With a steady hand, he slowly placed a pellet inside of the tube and flipped it upwards, securing it in the handle. He gave a small nod at Twilight and took a few more steps towards the door.

"Now... are we ready?" Earl asked quietly.

The four humanized-ponies nodded, readying their weapons.

"I can't hear you..."

"We're ready, Earl." Shining said, the M4 placed firmly in his shoulder.

"I can't fucking hear you."

"He said we're ready." Shining replied, slightly louder than Mac.

Earl sighed.

"Get mad." He continued.

"Why...?" Shining asked, raising an eyebrow.

Earl paused and turned around slowly to face Shining.

"Because. These shit biscuits want to kill us." He said grimly.

"Did you just say shit biscuits?" Mac asked with a slight chuckle, lowering his M4.

Earl scowled.

"Mac. Would you like to hear what they said about your sister?" He asked.

Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"What?" The blonde-haired man asked.

Earl cleared his throat.

"'I can't wait to get my hands on that country bitch.'" Earl stated.

Macintosh's eyebrows quickly narrowed.

"Does that make you mad?" Earl asked.

Big Mac simply nodded, his weapon slowly making his way into his shoulder again.

"And Shining, I don't even have the heart to tell you what they said about Twilight." Earl said, looking to Shining Armor.

The blue-haired man gritted his teeth and raised his weapon to his shoulder as well.

"Girls. I'm assuming you'd like to shut those pigs up?" Earl said, looking between Applejack and Twilight.

Both gave no reply, their weapons already in position.

"Well," Earl said, turning back around and taking a few steps to the panel beside the door. "now that we're good and angry..."

The human reached for the panel as his four companions fell in line behind him as well. Shining's expression carrying a look of pure determination, while Applejack and Macintosh both wore scowls. Twilight was the only one who seemed remotely worried, but kept her gun steady nonetheless.

"Stay close." Earl said, flipping a switch on the panel under the light that read "secured".

A small beep sounded from the panel, causing a small amount of shuffling and shouting to be heard from the other side. Earl closed his eyes and pressed a small button under the switch that read "open". Instantly, a small latch sounded from inside the large metallic door. Very slowly, the large piece of metal began to part from the door frame, causing voices to sound on the other side. Shouting things like "get the fuck over here!" and "they're coming out!". A nervous fire sparked in Earl's stomach as the door began it's agonizingly slow process of opening. Each of the humanized-ponies tightened their grips on the deadly weapons in their hands, readying themselves for the fight that was lying ahead.

On the outside of the slow-opening door, more footsteps were heard, along with voices shouting the same things. Earl could tell that they were building up outside of the door, readying their weapons, and finding cover. The barrage of gunfire from inside the armory must have scared most of them, because the shouting was desperate and shaky.

The door slowly reached it's halfway point of opening, the survivors in the armory still out of the view of the doorway. It continued, inch by inch until it finally reached the wall revealing the inside of the armory. For a moment, everything remained quiet, the tension building between both the two enemies. Earl's breathing was heavy, and nervous as he tried to process the amount of destruction he and his group were about to cause. He had killed massive amounts of zombies... but humans? They can think, feel, shoot back...

With one final deep breath, Earl emerged from behind the wall and raised the orange tube, extending his arm and revealing himself to the crowd on the other side, which consisted of roughly eight armed soldiers. Before any of them could react, Earl pulled the trigger of the small device in his hands. Instantly, a high-pitched whine screeched throughout the walls of the narrow hallway in front of the armory, followed by a bright, nearly blinding red light. The light quickly made it's way through the air and planted itself in the stomach of one of the soldiers. Needless to say, the flare caught the attention of every soldier in the hallway, allowing Earl to ready his shotgun.

"GIVE EM' HELL!" Earl shouted, sending his first shotgun blast into a nearby soldier.

The soldier's flesh instantly gave way to the shell and his flesh tore, sending a ghastly scream from his throat and a considerable amount of blood to the floor.

Macintosh and Shining came out from behind the wall next and began their barrage of fire. Despite their previous practice, neither were a very impressive shot, and only ended up hitting two of the soldiers, sending them to the floor. As his comrades fell, the soldier hit with the flare gun screamed in searing pain as the flare burnt away at his stomach, causing his flesh to bubble and give way to the intense heat.

"Bursts!" Earl shouted, re-chambering his shotgun and preparing for the next shot.

A nearby soldier had readied his rifle and was ready to open fire, but Earl quickly beat him to it, sending another shell flying towards the guard. A splatter of blood appeared on the wall behind the soldier as he fell backwards and onto the floor without a sound. Macintosh quickly snapped his arms upwards, allowing himself to look down the sights of the weapon. Another soldier was crouching over the screaming man, the flare still burning away at his flesh. Mac wasted no time in dispatching the soldier, and unleashed a barrage of bullets that collided with his torso. With a pained groan, the soldier fell to the ground, bleeding profusely.

Macintosh, Earl, and Shining glanced around the hallway frantically, searching for the soldiers that remained. Footsteps were heard making their way down the hallway rapidly, signalling that some had retreated. Before victory could be claimed however, one of the guards reached his head out from behind a small piece of cover and shot a small burst at the three. The three were spared a gunshot, but Macintosh and Shining were shocked immensely. As his two companions froze in fear, Earl rechambered his shotgun once more and charged forwards. Before the soldier could make any movement, Earl reached his weapon over the small cover and stabbed the make-shift bayonet into his stomach with as much force as he could muster. Instantly, the flesh gave way to the cold steel of the knife as it dug inside the soldier's midsection, eliciting a cry of pain and terror from the soldier. Not letting up, Earl fired his shotgun, the barrel dug halfway into the screaming guards stomach. Causing blood to explode out of both his front and back, painting Earl's shirt in another fresh coat of blood.

Earl quickly pulled the end of his now bloodied shotgun out of the dead soldier and shoved his body to the ground, then turned and examined the damage of the situation. Blood was pooling around each of the dead soldiers and the ghastly screams form the burning man still continued. With a scowl, Earl walked over to the screaming soldier and examined the wound in his stomach. Slowly, he inched the end of his shotgun closer to the wound and pressed the cold knife against the burning flesh, causing the soldier to scream even louder. With one thrust of his arm, he dug the bayonet into the soldier's stomach as far as he could, and gave it a sharp twist. Seconds later, the man dropped his arms and let his head fall to the side.

"Clear..." Earl said, breathing heavily.

Macintosh and Shining looked up and around at the carnage. Shining gagged slightly at the exposed flesh and bits of human littering the floor, but was able to hold it down. He looked back to the armory and swallowed nervously.

"T-Twilight... you can come out... just... close your eyes..." Shining said shakily.

As Twilight and Applejack exited the armory, their eyes shut tightly, Earl examined the solider he had just killed. After a moment, he reached down and felt around the soldier's chest for a moment. Within a matter of seconds, he found exactly what he was looking for, and with one brisk pull, broke a chain that was resting on the fallen man's neck. Waiting in Earl's hand was a small piece of metal, imprinted with various information. He raised the tag up to his eyes and examined the name imprinted on it.

"Valka... Weird name..." He said.

The human simply shrugged and stuffed the small piece of metal in his pocket, then turned to his waiting friends.

Click-Click

"Let's go..."

End of Part 2

Part 3: Creative Planning

Part 3

Chapter 12: Creative Planning

Earl's arms continually shook as he inched along the extensive hallways of the complex, his hands wrapped around the shotgun nervously. His strides were slow and confident, like those of a lion stalking it's prey. He kept his head low and allowed his eyes to scan each hallway freely as his companions followed close-by. Shining and Macintosh remained silent as they followed the twitching human in front of them, their sisters close behind, clutching their weapons nervously. Earl's eyes continued darting around the hallways as they walked, his mind trying to piece together a plan. They had the weapons, and the portal was probably still open, it was just a matter of getting there, and out of this oppressive hell-hole.

It only took a few minutes for the human's thoughts to come together into a plan, and a small grin appeared on his face as he stopped dead in his tracks, extending his hand to signal his companions to stop as well.

"You got somethin'?" Macintosh asked, lowering the rifle in his hands.

Shining lowered his weapon as well and waited for the human's next words.

Earl paused for a moment, passing the shotgun to his opposite hand and letting it fall to his shoulder. His mouth was hanging open, but the words weren't ready to escape yet.

"We need... to find one of them..." Earl said halfheartedly, still trying to piece together the rest of his sentence.

Shining Armor paused and raised an eyebrow.

"We need to find one of the humans trying to kill us?" He asked, his voice hushed.

Earl nodded.

"We need to find a car. They'd know where one is." He replied.

Instantly, all of the recently-humanized equines raised an eyebrow, causing Earl to sigh.

"It's like... a car... four wheels. Goes places? Y'know? Vroom vroom?" He said.

His companions replied with blank stares. Earl sighed quietly and allowed his face to fall into his palm.

"It will help us get back faster, so we don't have to walk." He said after a few moments.

"Well, ah reckon if it'll get us back, might as well give it a shot. What do you need us to do?" Macintosh asked, propping the M4 back into his shoulder.

Earl paused for a moment. He had thought out the result of a plan, but not the plan itself. After sifting through the possibilities in his head for several seconds, he looked to Twilight, who was nervously gripping her matte-black pistol.

"Hey, babe?" he asked quietly.

Twilight snapped her head up, slightly startled by his calling.

"Can I see that for a second?" He asked gently.

The purple-haired girl nodded and extended her arms, presenting the weapon to him. After gratefully taking it, he gave her a warm smile and glanced to his left, where a hallway was branching off. He pointed his finger in the direction of the wall.

"I need you guys behind there, quick." He said.

Shining nodded and cautiously made his way across the corridor to the branching hallway, and crouched beside the wall, Macintosh and Applejack following close behind. Twilight stayed however, and gave Earl a quizzical look.

"What are you doing?" She asked, looking at the pistol in his hands.

"Trust me." He replied softly.

Trust. Again it had been brought up in their relationship. Everything they had was based on it, and Twilight had grown to trust the human's actions more and more over the five years they've been together. She gave a firm nod and hurriedly made her way over to her brother, who was crouched beside the wall.

After making sure his companions were safely behind cover, he closed his eyes and aimed the weapon upwards.

Please work... Just for once, one of my plans not fuck everything up. He thought, wincing at the thought of other plans from the past.

Without any further thought, he fired the weapon twice. The shots echoed through the halls for a moment before returning to silence. Earl held his eyes shut tightly as he waited for what would come next. As planned however, voices rang down the hallway within seconds.

"Over here!" One sounded.

"Think we should call it in?" Another said, slightly further away.

"Fuck that. I want the glory of killing this asshole."

"Whatever man, you're dead if you let him slip."

The sound of a gun cocking quickly echoed throughout the hallways as well.

"I never let em' slip." The voice said.

Earl twitched in anger once more and quickly sprinted over to the wall his friends were lined up against. Shining and Mac readied their weapons as Earl passed the pistol back to Twilight. He put his hand atop Shining's gun and lowered it gently however. The blue-haired man shot him a quizzical look, but Earl replied by placing an index finger to his own lips, signalling silence. Before Shining could say another word, Earl stood up from his crouched position and brought his shotgun upwards, his hands wrapped around the barrel and the stock facing upwards.

He tightened his grip on the shotgun in his hands as footsteps began quietly making their way down the corridor, readying it for an attack, just as two soldiers began making their way past the corner.

"You think he's got those two bitches with him-?" One of the soldiers began.

The man was briskly cut off by Earl's shotgun stock meeting his face at high velocity. Instantly, a flow of blood escaped the guard's lips as his body was sent to the floor, his sentence cut short. His companion was surprised and caught off guard by Earl's attack and quickly fumbled with the weapon slung around his shoulder, trying to ready it. Before it could be done however, Earl sent a swift kick to his midsection, throwing him against the wall.

At first, the soldier was dazed, but came back to his senses just as Earl approached him. The recently-dazed soldier quickly charged towards Earl, who swung the shotgun once more. It met with the soldier's jaw, instantly shattering it and sending his head flying sideways at a sickening speed.

Shining and Mac exchanged nervous glances at the sounds of fighting just down the hallway, but their questions were soon answered as Earl dragged the two unconscious bodies down the hallway and in front of them, his shotgun resting on the chest of the soldier with the shattered jaw. Earl let out a lengthy sigh and panted for a moment, trying to catch his breath after the battle. After successfully regaining his breath, he retrieved his shotgun from the soldier's chest and continued dragging that body into a nearby room, leaving the other one in front of Macintosh and Shining as they stared at in disbelief.

"Just... watch him... I'll deal with this one..." Earl said in an exhausted tone as he dragged the unconscious soldier with a shattered jaw.

"Uhh... Right." Shining replied awkwardly, not breaking eye-contact with the soldier lying in front of him.

* * *

"Hey. Bud? Wake up, man." Earl said as he tapped the makeshift bayonet of his shotgun against the unconscious shoulder's face.

After a few seconds, the soldier groggily opened his eyes. They instantly went wide as the shining blade in front of him brushed across his throat.

"There wasn't two bitches with me..." Earl said, growing a smirk. "But there is now."

The soldier scowled and opened his jaw to speak, but instantly screamed in pain on his attempt.

"Well don't do that, dumbass. Your jaw is probably in a million fucking pieces." Earl said, taunting the soldier as blood rolled from his lips.

"Fuck you man!" The soldier said, his voice accented by the blood and broken bones.

Earl simply shook his head and chuckled.

"Annnnnd you keep talking...I'll never understand my own species." He said, pressing the knife against the soldier's throat harder.

"Tell me where you keep the vehicles and I'll make this painless." Earl continued.

The soldier gave no response, but simply spit at Earl, causing a spray of blood to paint his shirt, adding to the massive amount of the red substance already splattered across it.

"So... you're not going to tell me." He replied, narrowing his eyebrows.

"Piss off..." The soldier replied.

Earl sighed and drew his shotgun back.

"I was really hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, man." Earl said, withdrawing the bright orange flare gun from his pocket.

The soldier let out a pained chuckle.

"W-What are you gonna do? Signal m-me to death?" He said.

Earl scowled and leaned down, holding the weapon firmly in his left hand. He wrapped his right hand around the soldier's jaw and ripped his mouth open, causing the man to howl in agonizing pain as his bones were further shattered. Before the cry of pain could end however, Earl shoved the end of the flare gun in his bloodied mouth.

"No. I'm setting an example for your fuck-wit friend." He replied.

Then pulled the trigger.

Being Persuasive

Chapter 13: Being Persuasive

Twilight and Applejack both jumped in fear as the high-pitched whine of the flare gun sounded, followed by a ghastly scream from the soldier. The blood-drenched screech of sheer terror sounded throughout the hallway for a moment and shook the two former-equines to the core, while their brothers simply sighed. Shining shook his head and stood up from his seat against the wall, causing Mac to raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure if I can keep letting him do this..." Shining said quietly as the scream continued, followed by the distinct sound of crackling flesh.

"Do what?" Macintosh replied, silent as well.

"That!" Shining said, pointing a finger at the doorway. "He's torturing them!"

Macintosh paused for a moment, searching his thoughts, his expression slightly angered.

"You think the shit they did ta' me wasn't torture? Ah thought they were gonna beat me til' there wasn't a chunk big enough to hit..." Mac replied pointing to his still-battered face.

It was Shining's turn to pause as he collected his thoughts, trying to make a retort as the screams from the other room died down.

"Well I mean... just look what he's doing to Twilly and AJ... You think they're OK with seeing this?!" He replied after a few moments.

Mac shook his head.

"Of course not, but this is what we gotta' do to survive... I just want to get home, and if this is what it takes, so be it. But I will be makin' sure mah sis' get's home, and that should be your motive as well, not what Earl is doing to the fucked up humans in this here buildin'." He replied.

Shining shook his head and slid back down the wall, taking his seat yet again. The blue-haired human let his head fall into his hands with a sigh. Before any more words could be exchanged between the two, Earl stepped out of the room, a scowl plastered across his bruised face. Without a word, he walked straight to the other fallen soldier and began dragging him into the other room.

"Twilight, cover your ears." He said quietly, and with a dark tone in his voice.

The purple-haired girl nodded and bowed her head, firmly placing her hands over her ears and motioning for Applejack to do the same. Earl then looked to Shining and Macintosh, on the opposite side of the door frame.

"Can you guys watch the hallway?" He asked in the same grim tone.

Macintosh nodded, but Shining stood up and looked Earl in the eye confidently.

"Earl, c'mon, do you really need to do this?" The former-pony asked.

"Yes." He replied frankly.

"I don't think you need to..."

"They're insane. The only thing they know is violence, so I'm going to give it to them."

Shining paused and swallowed nervously.

"What if they're not the insane one?" He said, almost inaudibly.

Earl twitched in anger slightly and craned his neck towards Shining.

"With all due respect Shines," He said growing into a smirk. "I haven't been sane in 5 years."

Before another word could be said, Earl looked down to the soldier in his grasp and continued dragging him into the room. Shining simply looked to the floor and sighed, returning to his seat yet again.

"He's right you know..." Macintosh said quietly.

"About what?" Shining asked, arching an eyebrow.

The blonde-haired man let out an exasperated sigh.

"I haven't been the same in 5 years either..." He replied.

Shining shook his head and kept his eyes fixated on the floor.

"None of us have..."

* * *

Wasting no time, Earl cocked his arm inward, and threw it forward, the back of his hand meeting the face of the soldier. The man instantly jolted awake at the force of the smack and groaned as the pain set in. He fell to the side, his eyes still shut tight.

"Gah.... wh-what the... f-f-fuck man?!" The soldier asked in an angry, exhausted tone.

Earl simply remained silent as the man writhed in pain. After a few seconds of silence, the man slowly opened his eyes, and took in the sight across the room. Sitting propped up against the wall, was the corpse of his fellow soldier. The head and face of the body was charred completely black, an expression of intense pain burned onto it. It's stomach had also been cut open, allowing it's contents to show freely. The man sat, choked by fear and complete disgust as he stared at his dead friend. After a few seconds of processing the butchered corpse before him, he choked and gagged for a moment, and eventually ended up heaving the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

"He didn't want to help me." Earl said quietly as the soldier continued vomiting.

"Y-You're... sick..." The soldier replied, still choking.

"Hells yeah I am." Earl replied with a smirk.

The soldier shook his head and quickly jumped to his feet, his fists in the air.

"C'mon mother fu-!" The soldier said, assuming his fighting position.

Almost instantly, Earl pulled the flare gun from his pocket and pushed it against the soldier's head, cutting him off and rendering him completely silent.

"Listen here you fucking parasite," Earl said, pressing the flare gun harder against the front of his skull. "The keys to your little 'kingdom' are jingling in the hands of the opressed, and they're not happy about being fucked with."

"P-Please.... just..." The soldier tried to say.

Before he could finish however, Earl pulled the gun away and swiftly swung it forward, causing the barrel to collide with the soldier's face and send him flying back to the ground again. The soldier coughed and groaned in pain as he collided with the cement floor. Before he could recover, Earl grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and dragged him across the floor, coming face to face with the burnt corpse. The soldier instantly began tearing up as his face litterally collided with the dead corpse of his friend. The furious human reached downwards and placed one hand under the soldier's jaw and one atop his head, and brought him face to face with the charred corpse.

"Do you see this?!" Earl shouted angrily.

"Yes!" The soldier replied, terrified.

"DO YOU SEE THIS?!"

"YES!"

"YOU'RE LOOKING IN A FUCKING MIRROR IF YOU DON'T DO EXACTLY WHAT I SAY!"

At this point, the soldier couldn't take anymore, and burst into frantic sobbing.

"Anything! Anything you want!"

"YOUR VEHICLES. WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"They're in the East Wi-"

Before the soldier could finish, Earl threw him onto his back, pulled the flare gun from his pocket once more, and aimed it at the whimpering soldier.

"Don't tell me, SHOW ME! Or I'm turning your ass into a COOKED STEAK!" He shouted, his voice echoing through the cement room.

"OK! Just please don't fucking kill me!" The soldier pleaded.

Earl scowled and shoved the flare gun back into his pocket. He then reached down and pulled the soldier up by his collar.

"You don't look at anypony in my group, you don't talk to anypony in my group, you don't even think about anypony in my group. You just lead us there, and act as a fucking meat shield. Do you understand me?" Earl said quietly, and with a sinister tone.

The soldier nodded furisously for a moment.

"Good." Earl replied, dropping the soldier.

The whimpering man fell to the ground with a harsh thud against the concrete flooring.

"Crying little bitches first." Earl said, motioning to the door.

The soldier nervously scrambled to his feet and sprinted out of the door as Earl retrieved his shotgun from the floor. As the guard exited the room, Mac and Shining instantly stood up, alarmed. They relaxed slightly however as Earl exited the room next, pointing his shotgun at the crying soldier.

"Earl?" Mac asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's alright... this kid is gonna' show us to the vehicles... aren't you?" Earl said in a sinister tone.

The soldier nodded furiously and looked away from the group, careful not to make eye-contact with any other the humanized-ponies.

Taking Things Further

Chapter 14: Taking Things Further

Footsteps rang throughout the hallways of the military facility at an intense pace. The scuffling of boots only accented by the heavy breathing coming from the mouth of their owner. A soldier sprinted down one of the various hallways of the facility. After witnessing the gruesome events outside of the armory, he decided it might be a good idea to inform their superior officer. As he neared the colonel's quarters, he stopped, caught his breath, and began pounding furiously on the door.

"Name and rank!" A voice sounded on the other side of the door.

"Private Tio Holtzman, sir!" The soldier shouted, his breathing more calm.

"Enter." The voice replied.

With a nod, the soldier threw the door open and stepped in.

"State your business, soldier." The Colonel said, his voice faltering slightly.

The soldier could easily tell Jackson was worried. He was sitting across the room tapping a foot on the ground as he sat in a slumped position. Various beads of sweat lined his forehead, and he appeared to be shivering slightly, along with a worn and wrinkled cigarette hanging loosely from his fingers. The soldier swallowed nervously and continued.

"We lost... Six... sir." The soldier said hesitantly.

Jackson sighed and stood up, taking another drag from his cigarette.

"I know..." He said as the small stick left his lips.

The Colonel reached down and pushed the cigarette against a small glass tray resting on his cluttered desk. After making sure it was out, he threw himself back down into the chair and rested his hand against his head, staring at the floor.

"Sergeant Percy radioed in a few minutes ago... Two more just went off the grid." Jackson said, a grim tone in his voice.

The soldier shifted nervously and frowned. Hearing his comrades were gone was discerning to say the least, but the colonel's tone made it all the more depressing. Suddenly, Jackson slammed his opposite hand down onto his desk, causing the various items on top to jump in the air for a brief second as the boom echoed throughout the small office. The soldier flinched slightly but remained standing in front of the colonel's desk.

"I'm done fucking around here, Private..." Colonel Jackson said, his voice growing even darker.

"What do you suggest, sir?" The private asked nervously.

With another sigh, the colonel stood up from his seat slowly and eyed the soldier in front of him.

"Get the toxin." He said, almost inaudibly.

The soldier was taken back for a moment and blinked in disbelief.

"Sir... Isn't that a bit... Extreme?" He asked hesitantly.

The colonel shifted his head and stared at the soldier, a mad look in his eyes.

"Yes. It is." He replied.

A shiver ran down the soldier's spine as the colonel inched away from his desk and closer to him.

"The best damn scientists in the world developed that toxin..." Jackson continued.

The soldier leaned back slightly to avoid contact with the colonel, but it was no use, Jackson reached forward and grabbed the shivering soldier by the shoulders and pulled him closer.

"That toxin..." The colonel said, pausing for a moment as a mad chuckle left his throat. "... Can infect anything on this planet."

"With all due respect sir... We've just finished dealing with the current infection, shouldn't we... take precaution?" The soldier asked in response.

The colonel chuckled again and pulled the nervous soldier under his arm.

"Think about it," He said, motioning his hand to the mental image he was seeing. "We get to watch those bastards... Eat eachother... and then we kill what comes afterwards.... It's... It's brilliant...."

The soldier pulled away from the colonel slightly and looked him in his insane eyes.

"Sir... I don't think this is the best course of action..."

The man stopped immediately however, when something began digging into his stomach. He looked downward and instantly snapped his head back up as he caught the sight of Jackson's handgun dug into his ribs, his finger on the trigger. The colonel leaned closer and began whispering in his ear.

"Get the toxin... Stick one of them... Shoot them." Jackson said quietly, an insane chuckle developing each time he paused.

The soldier instantly nodded, causing the weapon to withdraw from his stomach, allowing him to sigh in relief.

"Now go." The colonel said, pointing the metallic handgun to the door.

Without a second thought, the soldier hurriedly walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. Then continued down the nearest corridor, a sign reading "Laboratory" directing his path.

* * *

"Open it." Earl said quietly, the blade on his shotgun poking into the back of the soldier in front of him.

The soldier shivered in response but quickly complied, throwing open the double doors to a room labeled "Garage A". The light from various windows lined across the top of the walls in the room blinded the six humans for a moment, but all quickly recovered in a matter of seconds. Each of them began scanning the room, which was filled with various military vehicles. Most were in terrible condition, from Humvees to Jeeps and other assorted transport vehicles. Earl looked to their captive soldier and nudged him with the shotgun.

"Which one works?" He asked in a commanding tone as the worried soldier turned to face him.

The man pointed a finger to a nearby white van. Earl raised an eyebrow.

"A van? Really?" He asked.

Earl sighed and shook his head, then raised the shotgun into his shoulder and aimed it at the soldier.

"You're useless. Maybe we should just-"

"No! Please! We tested all of the vehicles and they... They fell apart!" The soldier replied frantically.

Earl scowled and lowered the shotgun from his shoulder.

"The only ones that still work are that van, and the two trucks you guys came in on... Honest." He continued.

After a moment of contemplation, the shotgun-wielding human nodded in the direction of the van.

"Keys?" He asked.

"Y-Yeah. They should be over... There!" The soldier said after searching for a moment.

He pointed to a large rack across the room, almost hundreds of keys lining it. Earl sighed and dropped his head for a moment.

"Nothings ever simple, is it?" He asked sarcastically.

"I... I don't know..." The soldier replied.

"That was rethoric- Just.... Shut up."

Earl turned back to the members of his group, who were eying the cars frantically, taking in the new technology.

"Guys. Let's get looking." The black-haired human said, nodding his head to the keys across the room.

The humanized-ponies nodded in return and carefully made their way across the room, avoiding the various piles of scrap and puddles of dried oil on the ground.

"What are we looking for?" Earl asked upon reaching the rack.

"I-It's a Kia... The only one here." The soldier replied, frantically searching the rack.

"Look for the letters K.I.A, everypony." Earl said, searching the keys as well.

After several minutes of finding nothing, Earl sighed and slowly aimed his shotgun again.

"They're not here..." He said, an annoyed tone creeping into his voice.

"N-No! There's another side!" The soldier said, pointing the other side of the rack.

He began to turn around and approach the other side of the rack, but was quickly stopped by Earl.

"HEY," He said, causing the soldier to stop instantly. "Shines. Check it out."

"On it." Shining replied, walking behind the row of shelves the rack was placed on.

After several minutes of searching in silence, the soldier began to eye Earl nervously.

"S-So... Where are you guys going?" The soldier asked.

Earl raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? I would tell you where we're going? I should rip out that stupid-ass brain of yours right now."

"N-No! I was just-"

"Shut up!"

Before another would could be said, a scream of pain was heard from the opposite side of the rack, followed by a gunshot that caused the humans on the other side to jump. Earl quickly raised the shotgun into his shoulder and motioned to Mac, who did the same.

"Shines?!" Earl shouted, terrified.

"Shining Armor?!" Twilight called out frantically.

There was no response.

"Stay here... Keep an eye on this one." Earl said, motioning to Macintosh once again.

The tall, blonde-haired man remained silent, but turned to the captive soldier and fixed the sights of his rifle on the man's head.

Earl cautiously made his way around the rack, shotgun at the ready.

"Shines!" He called out again.

No response. Again.

The nervous fire began in his stomach again as silence continued, save for Twilight, who was still calling his name as well. As Earl rounded the corner, he cringed and nearly fainted at the sight before him. Shining was laying on the ground, the key in his hand, blood pooling around him, a gunshot wound in his stomach, and...

A syringe in his neck.

Escape

Chapter 16: Escape

Earl remained silent, only staring in horror at the sight before him. A small pool of crimson-red blood had pooled around Shining Armor as he twitched and writhed in pain, his chest bouncing up and down repeatedly as he gasped for air. By now, the nervous blaze in Earl's stomach was burning into his throat and tugging on his vocal chords. The human raised a shaky hand to his injured friend and tried to take a step forward. He ended up stumbling sideways as his balance left him, still staring at the mortifying sight that lie before him. The man caught himself on the key rack, causing all of the keys to move and create an audible jingle as it shook.

"Earl?!" Twilight called out from the other side of the key-rack. "What do you see?!"

Her voice was frantic and terrified, as if she already knew what had happened to her older brother.

"I... He..." Earl replied, his voice dry and choked.

"What?!" Twilight asked, her voice at it's peak.

"Ah... Applejack... K-Keep Twilight over there..." He replied, trying to simplify his words.

"Tell me! NOW!" Twilight shouted, her tone growing angrier.

"I don't... I-"

"Sugar cube... Just stay calm, stay calm-" Applejack said in the most motherly tone she could provide.

"NO! Let me go!" Twilight shouted in reply.

After a few pained groans and grunts from the other side of the rack, Twilight appeared on the opposite side, looking to Earl anxiously like a loved one waiting to hear the news of a life-threatening procedure. The black-haired human simply continued staring in disbelief as Shining twitched in agonizing pain. After a moment of no reply from Earl, she looked past the mortified man and paused.

Instantly, Twilight fell to her knees, still keeping her eyes fixated on her dying brother as they twitched back and forth in disbelief. Her jaw had fallen open, and an almost inaudible sound was erupting from her dried throat.

"S-Sh... Shining?" She asked, a slight squeak accenting her words because of the dryness in her throat.

Shining Armor couldn't reply, only groan as the pain of his bullet wound continued to shock his veins. Twilight continued staring in disbelief for several moments before rising to her feet again and breaking into a full-sprint in the direction of her fallen brother. Earl watched as the two siblings met, brother and sister, both changed from their original forms, one gunned down violently. Twilight paused upon reaching her bleeding sibling and scanned his body with a terrified expression. After a few seconds of contemplation, she knelled down and took him in her arms, causing a slight groan to sound from his throat.

"Shining?!" She asked frantically.

He looked up at her with drowsy eyes.

"Tw.... Twilly?" He said weakly in return.

"Yes! Yes, it's Twilly, It's Twilly..." She replied, a worried smile coming to her face as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

The blue-haired former-equine looked down to his wound and twitched again, grimacing at the bloody gash in his midsection. He looked back to her again.

"It... It hurts Twilly..." Shining said absentmindedly.

Twilight nodded and reached down, grabbing his hand in hers and holding it firmly against her chest.

"I... Know... It... It-" Twilight said, trying to search for her next words.

After a moment of pondering what she would say next, the purple-haired girl settled for resting her head against her bleeding brother's chest as the tears fell with more swiftness.

Watching this caused Earl's eyes to well up as well. The guilty fire had finally burned it's way into his eyes, and now the sprinklers were turning on to douse the flame of emotion coming over him. Tears rolled down slowly at first, but then began to flow freely from the human's eyes. Shining groaned softly in pain and rested his chin on Twilight's head as she sobbed vigorously into his chest.

"This is... Like... When you got that thorn in y-your... H-Hoof... Remember?" Shining said weakly.

Twilight nodded in response, still crying into him.

"I... I love you Twilly..."

"I-I love you too big brother!"

Earl shook his head and slammed his fist against the rack of keys, causing the almost taunting jingle to ring throughout the room again.

"Task completed! They're in the motor-pool Colonel! Send everything we've got!" A voice shouted from behind a nearby pile of scrap.

Everything immediately stopped for the sobbing man. He slowly turned around, loosely gripping his shotgun as the tears halted their assault. A soldier quickly sprinted out from behind the pile of scrap, a small pistol in his hand. Things continued slowing down and blurring for Earl. One second, the soldier was miles away. The next, right in front of him. A ringing sounded in his ears as he looked down to the vicious looking weapon in his hands. The guilty fire slowly began burning with more intensity, turning from guilt to anger in a short amount of time. With a scowl on his face, Earl raised the shotgun and elicited a bloodthirsty cry of anger and grief that shook the walls, and the hearts of Applejack and Macintosh who were waiting on the other side of the rack.

As the ringing in Earl's ears reached it's peak, he pulled the trigger on the shotgun in his hands. The shell left the weapon with a large flash of light and traveled slowly to it's target, Earl's mind still lost in the moment. After it's lengthy adventure, the bullet flew through the sprinting guard's right leg, completely severing it from the rest of his body in a bloody mess of flesh. The soldier instantly fell to the ground as his appendage went in the opposite direction, screaming on contact with the cold cement floor.

Applejack and Macintosh quickly spun around to see the soldier screaming in pain as blood spurted out of his dismembered limb. The blonde-haired humans quickly raised their weapons and began to fire, but Earl had beaten them to it. As the ringing continued in his head, Earl continued walking towards the screaming soldier and shot at him again, missing completely. The soldier still flinched greatly however as the shell went flying past him, his attacker still approaching. After a moment, the soldier struggled into a sitting position and reached for his dismembered leg, still screaming in pain as blood flowed freely from his exposed wound. Within seconds, Earl was next to the man, and swiftly rammed the end of his shotgun at the guard's skull.

It connected hard, sending the soldier back to a lying position with another scream of pain. Earl continued his relentless attack by stabbing the end of his shotgun into the man's stomach, immediately tearing the skin and digging into the contents beneath as the soldier continued screaming in agonizing pain. After carving away for a few moments, Earl ripped the bayonet out and stared at the soldier.

Macintosh quickly grabbed his sister and pulled her away, causing her to look in the opposite direction.

"I don't think you should watch this, sis'." He said, shaking his head.

Applejack complied, and continued looking away from Earl and the soldier.

After several seconds of staring into the soldier's eyes as he screamed, Earl raised his shotgun, holding both hands along the barrel with the point of the knife aiming directly at the man's throat. The soldier tried to protest, but was quickly cut off by another war-cry from Earl as he plunged the shotgun downwards. The soldier's flesh was no match for the cold steel of Earl's bayonet, and the flesh on his neck instantly gave way to the weapon. Blood sprayed in every direction from the man's neck as the knife continued plunging into him, a pained gurgle sounding from his mouth.

After successfully cutting the throat of Shining's attacker, he pulled the bayonet out, screaming in grief again as it left the soldier's flesh. He quickly raised the shotgun back into his shoulder and fired a shot into the dead man's chest, and then another, and then another. A seemingly endless string of shots left Earl's weapon as he continued his firing, an angry shout leaving his throat after each shot.

"YOU...

MOTHER...

FUCKER!" He shouted.

After a moment, the gun began to click, signaling that he had dispersed all of his shots.

But Earl wanted more. He turned the weapon upside-down and wrapped his hands around the barrel. With one last cry of anger, he slammed the stock of his shotgun onto the head of the fallen soldier. It immediately split, sending blood flying in multiple directions. He then dropped his gun on the ground, and growled in anger as he stepped away from the corpse. Twilight was still cradling her brother in her arms behind the key-rack as Earl approached. He eyed the two, and then eyed Shining's gunshot wound, then the key resting in his hand.

With confidence and a slight amount of anger in his step, he walked to them and crouched down, retrieving the key from Shining's hand. The blue-haired human twitched in surprise, but calmed as Earl came into view. Earl looked up to Twilight and extended his hand, presenting the key to her.

"There's going to be a hole on the side of the door, Put this key inside of it, Turn it, Pull the handle, Wait for me there." He said sternly.

Twilight looked at him slightly shocked and dumbfounded.

"Just trust me! I'm going to get him home, I promise you babe. Just please trust me." He said, his tone growing slightly angry.

After a moment, she gently released her brother and took the key from Earl's palm with a shaking hand. He nodded in response as she returned to her feet, and placed his arm under Shining Armor.

"I'm getting you out of here, man. Just stay with me, alright?" Earl said.

Without a second thought, he reached over the bleeding brother and picked the syringe out of his neck, and tossed it to the side.

"Ah... Alright..." Shining replied with a nod, not noticing that something had just left his neck.

Earl placed his other arm under Shining's legs and quickly hoisted him off of the ground with a pained grunt. Clumsily, he began making his way across the room as Twilight sprinted across the garage and began unlocking the car door. After a few times, she successfully opened it and waited for Earl. He quickly motioned to Applejack and Mac with his head. They began following behind him, remaining silent as they took in the sight of their fallen friend.

As Earl reached the van, he balanced Shining and quickly threw open the side door. To his advantage, the first row of seats had been ripped out, and he was able to place the bleeding man on the floor softly.

"Get in," Earl said, making his way into the front seat. "We need to move, now."

The rest of his friends obliged and made their way into the vehicle. Twilight sitting in the passenger's side, and Applejack and Macintosh sitting in the seat behind Shining.

After a few turns of the key, the engine revved to life and echoed throughout the walls of the enclosed garage. Earl looked around for a moment, hesitant to place his hands anywhere.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked impatiently.

"I never got my fucking permit!" Earl replied.

Twilight gave him a look of confusion, but he shrugged it off. With a sigh, he went from his best memory and put the car in gear.

Right pedal is go, left pedal is stop. Easy enough. He thought, sweat forming on his forehead.

With a quick breath, Earl looked forward and saw the garage door in front of him. An almost sinister grin crossed his face as an idea entered his mind. Without a second thought, he slammed his foot down on the right-pedal, causing the vehicle to jump forwards and slam into the garage door. It buckled on contact, allowing the survivors passage out of the garage.

At that moment, Jackson and his soldiers had charged into the garage, weapons at the ready. The Colonel quickly noticed the massive hole in the garage door and pointed his weapon to it.

"Go! Now!" He shouted angrily.

The soldiers complied and sprinted towards the door of the garage, readying their weapons as the van strolled across the road, nearing the chain link fence. Without question, the soldiers opened fire on the van, Missing every shot, but causing Earl to shift the wheel left and right nervously.

"Luna's Dick! What the fuck are they doing?!" He shouted as the van shifted and turned awkwardly on the road.

Twilight paused and looked at him quizzically.

"What?!" She asked, dumbfounded by his word-choice.

"Did he... Just say... L-Luna's-?"

"Eyup... Just... Save your energy Shines." Mac said.

The Colonel threw his pistol to the ground in anger as the van continued rolling across the road and through the chain link fence. After a moment of heavy breathing and cease-fire, he pointed a finger back towards the base.

"Get the trucks." He said quietly, his head aimed to the ground.

The soldiers nodded in response and began making their way back to the base as Jackson pulled another cigarette from his shirt pocket. With a flick of a lighter, the small stick of tobacco caught flame and allowed the man to take a lengthy drag.

"You fuckers want a chase?" He asked rhetorically.

The Colonel let out a lengthy exhale.

"I'll give you a chase."

On the Run

Chapter 15: On the Run

The wheels of the van rolled across the cracked concrete of the country-side as Earl and the group made their escape. The black-haired human behind the wheel scanned the sides of the road intently, searching for something that would help direct them home. After a few seconds, his face brightened up into a smile and he jolted the car to the left.

"There's the train tracks!" He said, excited.

"Train tracks?" Mac asked from the back seat.

"Yeah, when we were being driven in, I tried to find something that would get us back." Earl replied, looking over his shoulder to the blonde-haired man.

Earl looked back to the road and tightened his grip on the wheel, slightly nervous that he hadn't driven in over 7 years.

"We follow these tracks, we'll be home in no time." He said, staring at the metal and wood lining the side of the road.

Out of pure habit, he shifted his eyes up to the rear-view mirror and instantly went cold. Just barely in the distance, far behind them on the long country road, he could make out what looked to be a truck. A green truck. Jackson's truck.

"Shit..." Earl said under his breath, shifting his view between the mirror and the road nervously.

"What?" Twilight asked, nervousness slipping into her tone as well.

The black-haired man continued looking frantically between the two points of view before looking to his marefriend.

"I need you to take the wheel." He said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Twilight froze in place and stared at him, a confused look on her face.

"W-What?! I've never-!"

"Turn the wheel left," Earl said, shifting the wheel left to demonstrate, causing the car to shift awkwardly. "to go left."

He shifted the wheel right to demonstrate again.

"Right, to go right. There's a pedal under the right foot to make us go, and the the left stops us."

Twilight simply stared in disbelief at the human as he stared back with an expectant expression on his face. He nervously glanced into the mirror once more. The truck was gaining on them.

"Twilight, please! Just take the wheel and give me your gun!" He shouted, trying to break the purple-haired human out of her trance.

She paused for a moment before reaching for her gun on the floor of the van and handed it to him.

"OK, ready?" He asked, preparing to leave the driver's seat.

"Why are we even doing this?!" She asked.

Earl narrowed his eyebrows and took one hand off the wheel to point behind them. Twilight raised an eyebrow in response and looked back, only to freeze yet again.

"Are those-?"

"We don't have time, switch!" Earl said, cutting her off.

Before Twilight could respond, Earl struggled out of the driver's seat and landed on the floor of the vehicle next to Shining as Twilight jumped into the seat, and grabbed the wheel firmly in both hands.

"What's... Going.... On...?" Shining asked, struggling to breath.

"Nothing... Nothing, man. We're getting you home." Earl said, trying to get to his feet.

"I can't.... I can't feel my legs..." Shining continued, his chest heaving painfully.

Earl paused for a moment and looked down to the bleeding man.

"What?" He asked.

"My legs... I... I can't feel them anymore..." Shining replied.

The black-haired man scanned Shining for a moment, nearly twitching in the anger coming over him.

"Twilight! Stomp on that pedal! We need to move!" Earl said, shooting to his feet and to the back of the moving van.

"What's going on?!" Mac asked as Earl neared the back window.

"Assholes on our back!" Earl replied. "Help me!"

As he struggled with putting down the seats in the back row, Macintosh shakily made his way over and began following Earl's instructions on putting the seat down to access the back door.

"Applejack, take care of Shining! Make sure nothing happens to him!" Earl shouted as the seat folded down into the floor of the vehicle.

Applejack nodded in response, but Twilight turned around, frantically shaking the wheel in both hands.

"Where do I go?!" She shouted.

"Follow the tracks!" Earl replied, reaching for the handle on the back door.

Twilight nodded nervously and turned around to face the road, whimpering slightly out of fear.

"Mac?" Earl asked, readying Twilight's pistol in his hand.

"Yeah?" Big Mac replied, readying his weapon as well.

"Are you ready for this?" Earl continued, the truck barreling towards them.

Mac narrowed his eyebrows and smiled.
"I was born ready." The man replied in a sinister tone.

Earl smiled in response and threw open the back door of the van as hard as his body would let him.

"Go, Give them everything we've got!" Earl shouted, aiming Twilight's pistol towards the advancing truck.

Instantly, shots began flying out of the back door of the van as it turned and shifted frantically on the country road. The large green truck swerved slightly and starting driving off to the side of the road, but quickly recovered and sped up.

"Open fire!" Jackson's voice sounded from the truck, followed by an extensive amount of gun fire from the bed of it.

Twilight shifted the wheel in her hands again as the van began taking fire. Her eyes widened in sheer terror as the wheel pulled her from side to side.

"What's going on back there?!" She asked, terrified.

"They're shooting at us!" Earl replied, still firing the pistol frantically at the large truck, painting the side of it in bullet-holes.

"Shoot back!"

"We're trying!"

Macintosh continued shooting, but flinched and shifted his position as bullets hit the bumper just in front of him.

"Gah! Shit! They're gettin' close!" The blonde-haired man said reloading his weapon.

Earl cursed under his breath as the weapon in his hand clicked, and retreated into the vehicle further with Mac. He searched frantically for ammo, but quickly discarded the thought as his shotgun came into view. The weapon was lying next to Shining as Applejack hovered over his nearly unconscious body.

"Applejack! Hand me that!" Earl shouted, pointing to his weapon.

The blonde-haired girl looked in the direction of his point and took the weapon in her hands before tossing it to him. As Earl caught it, he fished around in his pocket and was relieved to find several shells still burrowed within.

Click-Click!

"Aim for them this time, not the truck!" Earl shouted over the roar of gunfire as the bullets hit the road just behind them.

Macintosh nodded as the truck began moving closer to the van, almost close enough to collide with it. After a quick silent confirmation between the two, Earl and Macintosh moved to the back of the van once more and frantically opened fire. Within moments, a few of the soldiers lining the bed of the truck fell from it and collided harshly with the cement below, their bodies becoming a mangled mess of blood and bone as they flailed helplessly across the road.

"Keep pouring it on!" Earl said, pausing momentarily to shove more shells into the bottom of his weapon.

As the two vehicles continued barreling down the road, more soldiers fell from the back of the large truck. Small shards of broken glass flew across the floor of the van as gunshots hit the windows, shattering them completely.

"There's a turn coming up!" Twilight shouted nervously.

"Just like I said, babe! Turn the wheel and hit the left pedal!" Earl replied, stopping his fire for a moment.

As the turn in the road came closer, Twilight held her breath and closed her eyes. The purple-haired girl stomped on the pedal beneath her, sending the car sliding across the pavement with an ear-shattering screech. She panicked at the sound and frantically threw the wheel to her left, sending the car drifting sideways and into the grass next to the road as she screamed in terror. The truck continued down the road however, not able to make the abrupt turn that Twilight had attempted. Naturally, Earl and Macintosh rolled backwards and slammed against the side door of the van.

"I... I did it!" Twilight shouted happily as she opened her eyes.

Earl shook his head, slightly dazed by the rough turn, and looked out of the window nearest to him. The truck pursuing them had just stopped down the road and was beginning to turn around.

"Awesome! Great job babe! Now go! We're almost there!" He shouted, readying his weapon again.

Twilight nodded and took a deep breath before stomping on the pedal beneath her right foot. Instantly, the car darted forwards and back onto the road, train tracks closely following the side of it. Macintosh and Earl watched as the truck began shrinking as they pulled away. After a few moments however, it became a constant. Not growing larger, not getting smaller, but following them at the same speed.

"They're still coming..." Macintosh said, gazing at the green vehicle on the road far behind them.

"It's alright, we're almost there." Earl said reassuringly.

After several more minutes of travel, the truck stayed far behind them on the road as they neared Earl's old neighborhood. The human breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the familiar houses from long ago came into view.

"We'll be long gone by the time they reach the house." Earl said, reaching out to shut the back door of the van, which was littered with bullet holes.

He quickly noticed however, they weren't slowing down.

"Twilight?" He asked nervously as they continued flying through his neighborhood at intense speeds.

"Yes?" She asked, staring intently at the road.

"Twilight... Slow down, we're going to miss the turn." He said.

"What?" Twilight asked, still going at her top speed.

Earl looked forward to the windshield and saw the turn to his street rapidly approaching. He cursed under his breath and quickly jumped to his feet, and began making his way to the driver's seat, careful to avoid Shining Armor.

"Twilight, you're going to miss the turn!" Earl shouted, pointing to the road. "We miss it, they'll catch up!"

Twilight's eyes went wide as Earl pointed to the road frantically. Without a thought, she threw the wheel to the right without hitting the brakes, causing it to slide across the road again. As the car turned onto the street, Twilight fought the wheel to bring it straight, but ended up jolting it to the left instead, then back to the right. Soon enough, the car was rocking back and forth, teetering on two wheels each time. Earl could sense the inevitable, and quickly grabbed Twilight from her seat.

"Brace yourselves!" He shouted, holding Twilight tightly.

Within seconds, the van flipped onto it's side and began sliding across the pavement with an ear-shattering screech. After a few feet, the car flipped once more and broke into a series of barrel rolls before colliding with the house at the end of the street.

Earl's house.

The wood of the worn-down house immediately gave way to the fast-moving steel, and the car flew into the living room, sending pieces of wood, glass, and other various debris across the room. A few short seconds later, the debris fell to the floor, and the car stopped rolling, placed roughly upside down and covered in a layer of debris.

Followed by silence.

Follow Me Home

Chapter 17: Follow Me Home

Slowly, Earl's eyes creaked open, revealing two bloodshot irises. The pain was intense, and pulsated across his entire body. From head to toe, pain surged through every vessel like an army leading a charge. His vision was distorted at first, but after a few blinks, the debris of the crash came into view. As he Frantically jolted himself upwards, he slammed directly into the floor of the overturned car and came crashing back down to the roof. After a groan of pain he groggily brought himself upwards until his forearms were giving him firm support.

"Guys?" He asked weakly.

Almost immediately, Macintosh raised his hand, almost barely noticeable from the amount of dust and debris the impact had caused. Next to appear was Applejack, who groggily lifted herself up as well, crouched to avoid hitting her head on the roof hanging above them. Earl nodded in response, and looked to his left. Thankfully, Twilight was laying at his side, almost untouched by the carnage of their accident, and Shining laying next to her, a thick layer of dust on his face and clothes as he breathed heavily and groaned slightly. He immediately smiled and reached down to slide a lock of hair out of her face, revealing her eyes fully.

"We're all OK..." Earl said, letting out a relived chuckle. "We're all alright..."

It quickly dawned on the human that they weren't alone, and reminded himself that the vehicle pursuing them wasn't too far behind. He shifted his view to all sides around him. Most of the windows had been shattered by the crash, allowing the dust and debris from the destroyed walls to float freely into the vehicle. While most of the windows were shattered, none of them provided an easy escape. Several were too small, and the only one that might let them through was littered with razor-sharp shards of glass. Earl then looked to the final window with a sigh. The only window that they could escape through was perfectly fine.

"Get your weapons, we need to get out of here!" Earl shouted, crawling over to the window and positioning himself for a kick.

"Oh shit! The truck!" Mac shouted, his eyes going wide.

Earl nodded in response and inhaled sharply, then delivered the first kick to the window. He let out an exhausted sigh as the glass didn't even buckle an inch.

"Get Shining out, and get the girls upstairs. The portal should be there. I'll try and cover you." He said, preparing himself for another kick.

Macintosh raised an eyebrow and paused his search for the weapons.

"You're gonna' cover me, from 10, maybe more, of those freakalopes?" He asked.

Earl delivered another swift kick to the window, sending a large web of cracks shooting through the glass.

"Trust me. I said I'd get you guys home, I'm going to do it." He replied, wiping a large bead of sweat from his forehead as he readied for another kick.

"And you?" Twilight asked.

"You matter more than I do." Earl said, bracing himself for another kick.

"Earl... We all matter the same." She replied, trying to make her tone as soft as possible.

The human simply shook his head and cocked his legs back for another attack. He stopped abruptly however, and tilted his heads upwards.

"Earl?" Twilight asked.

He put one finger up in an attempt to silence her.

"Earl... Please answer-"

"Shhh..." Earl said quietly.

It took Twilight a few seconds to know what Earl was listening to, but soon enough, the faint sound of an engine could be heard just barely in the distance. Instantly, Earl began frantically kicking at the window before him, desperately trying to break it open.

"Mac. Gun!" He shouted, still stomping on the seemingly-impenetrable glass

The engine was getting closer.

"Mac! Now!" He shouted, the desperation now showing in his voice.

Twilight tensed up nervously and looked around their metal prison. The sound of the engine was becoming more apparent as the seconds went on. After a moment of searching, Macintosh slid Earl's shotgun over to him.

"Cover your ears." Earl said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Applejack instantly obliged, followed by Big Mac. Twilight quickly leaned over and helped Shining secure his hands over his ears, then covered her own. After receiving a nod of confirmation from the four, Earl nodded in response and sent two shells flying through each sides of the door. He then placed the weapon at his side and delivered one final, pulse-pounding kick to the weakened door, and sent it flying across the room. A large crash sounded throughout the house as the door slammed into the dining room table, a few feet from the crashed vehicle.

Earl was the first to exit, then turned back and helped Twilight and Applejack out of the vehicle. As he took Applejack's hand however, he glanced upwards through the gaping hole in the home and saw the truck just barely on the long stretch of road.

"Shit... Go! Now!" He shouted, helping Applejack the rest of the way out of the vehicle.

After the girl was successfully freed from the vehicle, Macintosh emerged, Shining Armor draped over his shoulder limply.

"OK. I guess you've got that covered."

Macintosh replied with a nod and proceeded to the stairs just beyond the living room.

Earl quickly noticed that the blonde-man had left his rifle behind and began signaling to him.

"Hey! Dude, you forgot... Your..." He said, slowly trailing off.

The man then looked to the road where the truck was advancing, then to the rifle laying on a pile of debris, then back to the truck. A sinister grin made it's way across his face as he crouched down and reached for the weapon. With a deep breath, he placed the weapon on top of the vehicle, his sights aimed directly at the advancing truck.

In through the nose, out through the mouth, nice and slow.

The words echoed through his mind momentarily as he repeated the action.

"Thanks, dad." He said quietly with a chuckle.

As the truck barreled down the road, Earl took a sharp inhale through his nose, keeping the stock of the weapon securely in his shoulder, and his hands gripping it with an extensive amount of force. He expected that Jackson couldn't see him from his current position inside the house. A well timed barrage of shots would send even the most experienced driver off-course because of shock. He had to time it just right.

Soon enough, the truck came closer. Close enough for Earl to just read the license plate that hung from the massive front end of the vehicle. It was time to strike. With one final inhale, Earl pulled the trigger. Instantly the room was filled with an almost blinding light as a deafening barrage of shots flew from the house and at the front of the large vehicle. As expected, the vehicle swerved slightly to the left, the bed of it tilting awkwardly.

Earl paused momentarily to reposition his sights for a new target. He was attempting to hit the tires of the vehicle. With a sharp inhale, he let out a small burst, but only hit the metal of the front grill. One more breath and a short barrage of shots. Closer, but still not at it's target. As the truck barreled closer, swerving back and forth, Earl gripped the gun even tighter.

"Come on, God dammit!" He shouted angrily, sweat falling from his brow and into the wounds on his face.

Ignoring the pain, inhaled deeply through his nose and held his breath.

In through the nose...

Earl pulled the trigger of the weapon, allowing a small burst to fly in the direction of the vehicle. One by one, the bullets hit their mark and slowly dug into the rubber of the tire. After several shots, the tire burst, causing the vehicle to violentely swerve to the left.

...out through the mouth

The human smiled and allowed a lengthy exhale to escape his mouth as he released his grip on the weapon. Eventually, the violently swerving truck toppled onto the side and began a series of barrel rolls, just as the van had done. Soldiers flailed helplessly as the vehicle rolled again and again, some getting caught in the undertow of the massive rolling vehicle. Needless to say, they were turned to a piles of nothing more than flesh on impact.

Earl's eyes went wide as the crashing vehicle neared the house, it's horizontal rolls not losing any momentum. He frantically ran to his left, into the living room and dived onto the closest couch as the truck made it's final roll into the house, crushing the van almost completely. The vehicle did substantially more damage than the previous one, knocking down the first tier of stairs and several more walls, and landing on it's left side.

After the wreckage had settled, Earl nervously made his way off of the couch from his huddled position. His hands were shaking extensively, along with his legs and clattering of his nervous teeth. He slowly made his way over to the vehicle and waited a moment. It seemed silent, like every one from the crew had been killed in the crash. Thinking back on it, it did seem pretty gruesome in Earl's mind. He'd seen more than a handful of them crushed under it's massive weight, and the bloodstains lining the sides of the bed were only proof. Wearily, he made his way closer to the vehicle. He quickly noticed the destroyed stairs and reached his shaky arm upwards to grasp the side of the sideways vehicle.

With an exhausted moan, he pulled himself up onto the truck and rose to his feet, careful not to fall through and land in the pile of bodies just below him. Most of the soldiers were lying dead in the bed of the truck. Crushed in between the walls of the home and the steel of the truck bed. Earl grimaced at the sight and continued making his way past the carnage.

"Guys!" He said, a small cough leaving his throat due to the debris. "I dealt with the truck! I'm coming up!"

Just as Earl had crossed the passenger-side door however, it sprang open. An arm reached from the darkness inside the front-seat of the vehicle and frantically grasped Earl's leg, causing him to scream in fear.

"G-Gotcha, prick!" A familiar voice shouted from inside the vehicle.

Earl fell to the ground as the arm pulled, and clawed helplessly at the carpet on the stairs. As the arm pulled, Jackson made his way out of the darkness and onto the side of the truck as well.

"Fuck you!" Earl said, kicking his free leg frantically at the Colonel.

After several kicks, the Colonel grabbed his second leg with near-perfect precision, and pulled him closer.

"I'm not lettin' you get away that easy you little shit-stain!" The Colonel said.

As Jackson pulled him closer, Earl prepared his fist, ready to attack at the perfect spot. As soon as Earl was close enough, The Colonel dropped his legs and prepared to grab him by the shoulders. However, The Colonel was cut off when a stabbing pain shot between his legs and up into his stomach.

Earl had landed the world's most perfect nut-shot.

The Colonel fell to his knees just in front of Earl, positioning himself perfectly for a kick from the man. Earl cocked his legs back quickly and delivered a two-foot kick to The Colonel's stomach as he clutched the recently-afflicted area. After the Colonel had fallen backwards, his hands between his legs as he groaned in pain, Earl shot up to his feet and sprinted up the stairs. He cleared the hallway with ease and met up with the members of his group just outside of a large glowing portal. A smile crossed his face as they all came into view. He had successfully gotten them all here, and it was time to go home.

"Ready?" He asked, running through the door to his old room.

Twilight nodded and glanced towards the portal, then back to Earl.

"I'll go first and ready the transformation spell. Should only take a few seconds." She replied.

"That's my mare. Best fuckin' unicorn in Equestria." He said with a smile.

The purple-haired girl blushed slightly in response and threw herself through the glowing portal, a large flash carrying her through. Earl turned to the bed, where Macintosh had set Shining.

"How do you think he's doing?" Earl asked, walking over to the bed.

"I aint' no doctor... But his breathing is get more, how'dju sayit'? Shallow?" Mac replied.

Earl paused for a moment, then reached down and lightly slapped Shining's face.

"Hey, bud? You there?" He asked, trying his best to make his tone soft.

He was failing at it.

Shining groggily opened his eyes and looked up to Earl. The blue-haired man was extremely pale, and beads of cold sweat were lining his forehead.

"Y-Yeah... I'm... I'm here..." He said shakily, a shiver coming to his voice.

"Just hold in there, alright? We're gonna' get you to Redheart, she's going to fix you up, alright? Can you do that?" Earl replied.

"I'm.... realllllly cold, man... Really cold." Shining replied, the shiver becoming more apparent.

"Hey. You're going to be fine. Just keep breathing." Earl said.

The black-haired man then motioned to Applejack.

"She should be ready, go ahead AJ." He said.

The blonde-haired girl tipped her hat to him and threw herself into the portal next, a bright flash enveloping the room once again. Earl then motioned to Big Mac.

"You're up, brother. I'll take care of Shines, get him through. You go ahead." He said.

Macintosh smiled slightly and nodded as he approached the portal.

"Been one hell of a ride, eh' Earl?" Macintosh asked over his shoulder.

"One I'm sure we'd all like to forget." Earl replied with a chuckle.

With that, the large blonde-man made his way into the portal, yet another bright flash enveloping the room.

"Shines... We're up... You ready to go home?" Earl asked, shaking the pale man slightly.

Shining nodded his head weakly as Earl hoisted him over his shoulder and approached the portal.

"Goodbye Earth..." Earl said with a chuckle. "... And good fucking riddance..."

* * *

As Earl made his way through the portal, he was instantly shot by a purple beam of light. The human closed his eyes tightly, expecting what was to come next. When he opened them again, he was back in his unicorn state, a wide smile across his lips. He then noticed Shining was levitating in his grasp, and gently set him onto the floor. Shining had returned to his equine form as well, but his color was of a sicker white. A yellow-ish white that just held the essence of something sickly. As Earl scanned the room, he noticed that everyone had been turned back to their pony forms. Applejack and Macintosh sat in the corner of the room, embracing each other happily, while Twilight held a worried expression.

"Earl..." Shining called out weakly.

"Hang on a sec, man... Twilight?" Earl asked, looking in the purple unicorn's direction.

Twilight remained speechless, and simply pointed a hoof through the portal. On the other side, just faintly, Jackson could be seen crawling down the long narrow hallway that led to Earl's old room.

"E-Earl..." Shining called out once more.

"Shut it Twi." Earl said, a nervous fire creeping into his throat.

"I-I can't!" Twilight replied.

"What do you mean you can't?!"

"That was a portal strong enough to carry five entities to a completely new dimension, I can't just shut it on my own!"

Jackson continued crawling down the hallway, slowly making his way to his feet, a scowl plastered on his face.

"Do... Something! Put a force field around it!" Earl shouted as The Colonel moved closer.

Twilight nodded quickly and aimed her horn at the glowing portal. Instantly, the area around it was engulfed in a large, violet-colored sphere. A magic hum resonated from the shield, signalling it was active.

Seconds later, Jackson reached the portal and slowly poked his arm into it. Earl gently pushed Twilight behind him and readied his horn.

"What the fuck...?" Jackson said, immediately drawing his arm back.

"Stay behind me..." Earl said quietly.

Jackson raised an eyebrow on the other side of the portal.

"Earl...? Was that you, you little fucker?! Is this that light you been hiding from me?!" Jackson shouted.

Without further thought, The Colonel threw himself through the portal, only to be met by the purple forcefield. Earl tensed up slightly as the human entered their world. After a groan and a curse under his breath, Jackson opened his eyes, which instantly went wide.

"W-What.... What the... WHAT THE FUCK?!" Jackson said, his voice growing progressively louder.

Twilight whimpered slightly behind Earl, her horn still glowing.

"What the fuck are you things?!" Jackson shouted.

"Go, Jackson! Just leave us the fuck alone!" Earl shouted in response.

Jackson narrowed his eyebrows quizzically.

"Earl...?" He asked, extremely confused.

The light-grey unicorn nodded in response.

"Now leave. It's over, we're home, you're home. Leave us alone!" Earl said.

Jackson shook his head.

"Wait... So... You cocksuckers.... You're aliens?! Holy shit! You're aliens!" Jackson said, his expression terrified. "You're little horse-looking alien things..."

Jackson's face quickly turned to a scowl again.

"Little horse-looking alien things that killed my men..."

Earl shook his head frantically.

"You gave us no choice!"

"Save it, little pony shithead... Your alien technology may be keeping me from you right now... But I'll be back you little shit... And then? I'm going to gut you, and your little pony girlfriend like a fucking FISH!" Jackson shouted angrily.

Earl stood his ground, his chest heaving as furious breaths left his snout. Jackson smiled and turned back into the portal, allowing the light-grey unicorn to retreat from his stance slightly.

"E-E.... Earl...?" Shining called out for the third time.

The unicorn quickly broke his stare on the portal and looked to the sickly-white unicorn. Shining Armor was shivering on the ground, his chest barely moving as exhausted breaths left his muzzle.

"Oh... Shit! Shines!" Earl replied, trotting quickly to the unicorn.

He fell to his knees just in front of Shining and looked over him as Twilight turned and took in the view of her ill brother. Her jaw immediately dropped and tears slowly began welling in her eyes.

"Shining...?" She said weakly.

"What's wrong?! I don't see a gunshot, you should be fine!" Earl said, scanning him frantically.

"My... C-Coat... It's fine.... B-But.... I can feel... The damage.... is still... still inside..." Shining said, his eyes slowly closing.

"Hey! Stay awake brother, we're going to get you help!" Earl shouted, motioning to Mac. "Mac! I need-"

"Earl..." Shining said, cutting him off.

Earl snapped his view down to the unicorn, Twilight still approaching slowly.

"Earl... I... I'm not going to.... to make it to a hospital..." Shining continued weakly.

"No! We're gonna get you help! Mac-!"

"Earl... Please... Just listen to me..." Shining said, cutting him off again.

The sickly-white unicorn then motioned to his teary eyed sister, asking her to come over.

"T-Twilly..." He said, coughing slightly.

The guilty fire slowly began to spark in Earl's stomach once more.

Twilight hesitated slightly before sprinting over to her brother and falling to his side.

"I... I don't think... I'm gonna'.... Make it, kiddo..." He said, tears slowly sliding into his own eyes.

Twilight shook her head weakly.

"N-No..." She replied, choked by fear.

"You tell..." Shining said, choking slightly as tears began falling from his eyes. "You tell mom... A-And dad... And.... And C-Candence...And... Stars... You tell them... I-I... I love them... Alright?"

"N-No! You're... You're not going to die! Earl... Y-You can save him, right?! Somehow?!" Twilight pleaded.

As if pouring gasoline on his fire of guilt, Twilight looked up to him, her tears now flowing freely.

"Twilight... Please.... Just... Don't blame him... He's.... He's a good... P-Pony...." Shining said as he shook his head, shivering and crying freely.

"D-Don't... Don't die... I... I can't lose you..." Twilight said, sobbing hysterically.

"Twilly... You're not losing me..." Shining said weakly.

The dying unicorn placed a hoof to her chest.

"I'll always be your... Big Brother... B-Best Friend Forever..." He continued, poking her chest "R-Right here..."

Twilight scanned his form frantically before gently resting her head against his chest and squeezing her forelegs around him in a tight embrace.

"I love you... T-Twilly..." He said, slowly fading from consciousness.

"I love you too big brother..." Twilight said weakly, tears leaking onto Shining's coat.

Earl could only watch as Shining's eyes slowly dimmed, and shut for the final time. His breathing ceased, and his head fell gently to the side as Twilight continued sobbing into his chest.

"B...B...B...F...F..."

End of Part 3

Author's Note

Longest chapter ever posted. Merry Christmas.

Part 4: Grief

Part 4

Chapter 18: Grief

Twilight continued sobbing for several moments as her brother's body lay limp. Her chest heaved violently, breath after breath, as tears flowed from her eyes like a waterfall. Earl scanned the two of them, trying to process the fact that Shining Armor was now deceased. As small tears rolled down his own cheeks, he inched away silently, shaking his head in disbelief. Macintosh slowly lifted his chin from the top of his sister's head, a quizzical expression on his face. The red earth pony quickly realized the source of grief, and instantly his jaw fell open.

"Did Shines just...?" He asked, his voice choked and worried.

Earl continued staring at the lifeless unicorn and nodded slowly.

"No..." Macintosh said, gently pushing his sister aside and approaching the three unicorns.

The light-grey pony continued nodded, tears freely streaming down his cheeks.

"He's not dead... He's just... Not." Macintosh said, his tone slightly angrier.

The blonde-maned pony approached Shining's corpse and nudged at one of his back hooves.

"Come on, bug guy. Wake up." Mac continued.

"He's dead." Earl said quietly under his breath.

Big Mac simply continued prodding at Shining's hoof, trying desperately to wake him.

"Come on! Wake up, Shines!"

Twilight tightened the grasp on her deceased older brother, sobs still echoing throughout the treehouse. Macintosh's face soon melted into a frown as his prodding proved unsuccessful.

"Shines!" Mac shouted.

"He's dead, Mac." Earl said, his eyes shut as tight as the lids would let them.

The red earthpony made no movement, but only blinked, slowly coming to the realization. Earl sighed heavily and fell back to his haunches as Mac backed away just as he had done.

"No... No no no... NO! There's.... There's no way, Shining Armor can't be dead... It's just... Not possible!" Macintosh said frantically, trying to push the thought from his mind.

As Mac continued coming to terms, Earl slowly paced back to the dead corpse of his friend, the purple unicorn still clinging to his coat as she stained it with her shower of tears. Gently, he placed a hoof on his marefriend's shoulder in an attempt to calm her.

"I... I can't even explain how sorry-" He began.

"Don't." She said coldly, cutting him off.

Earl was taken back for a momentarily, and pulled his hoof away.

"Just don't..." Twilight said with a sniffle.

"I'm just trying to say-"

"You're sorry? You're sorry. You're sorry that you just had to go back... You just HAD to have the glory of saving your world, huh?" Twilight said, her voice shrill and angered.

The purple unicorn slowly arose from her brother's corpse, the coat under her eyes stained by tears and her mane frazzled and out of place.

"I..." Earl said, still taken back.

"Well look what you got!" Twilight shouted, causing even Macintosh to flinch.

"Babe... I'm sorry-"

"SORRY WON'T BRING HIM BACK!"

Earl shut his mouth and tensed up in fear and guilt.

"You're nothing but trouble... For me... For my friends... For Equestria."

The grey unicorn opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. She had just told him what he had been thinking ever since the truck had taken them away.

"Twi... It wasn't exactly his fault, I mean-" Macintosh started.

Twilight put a hoof in the air, silencing him immediately. Earl swallowed nervously and watched the hoof slowly come down, then directed his attention to Twilight's eyes. He watched as they twitched in fear, anger, grief, and sadness. After a moment of the purple irises starring a hole right through him, the purple unicorn started towards the door, the room silent save for the quiet clop of hoofsteps.

"Get as far away from me as you can... And don't come back." Twilight said in a cold, low tone.

As Twilight exited the room and slammed the door, Earl's mouth stayed agape, his view glued to the floor as tears continued falling from his eyes. Macintosh and Applejack exchanged nervous glances, before the orange mare stood up and trotted hurriedly to the door calling Twilight's name. After the door had shut again. Macintosh inched closer to the sobbing unicorn.

"She's just upset..." Macintosh said, trying his best to sound comforting.

"No! Fuck it... Fuck it all. She's right. It's my fault Zecora is dead," Earl said, throwing his hoof to the floor. "It's my fault the Shining is dead, and It's my fault that bastard is coming back..."

Macintosh's eyes quickly went wide.

"What?!" He asked in fear.

Earl looked up through his tears, a confused expression on his face.

"Y-Yeah... Didn't you hear Jackson?" He said, pointing towards the faintly glowing portal.

Macintosh looked to the portal, then quickly back to Earl.

"Twilight.... Couldn't stop it, so that fucker came through... She put up a force field, and he said... he was coming back. But now that forcefield is down, and Twilight hates me so-"

"When the hell was this?!"

"When you were over there with AJ.... You didn't notice?"

"When is he coming back?!"

"I... I don't know! He just said he was coming back!"

Macintosh looked to the portal once more, then back to Earl.

"OK... We.... We can deal with Twilight and... Shining later... But if he's coming back, we need to be ready for the worst." Macintosh said, trying to grasp Earl's attention as the grey unicorn continued staring at the floor.

"But Shines-" Earl said absentmindedly.

"I'll deal with that! We just need to... Get ready..." Macintosh said, glancing around the room.

"Shit..." The red earthpony said under his breath. "Get up, go downstairs, I'll be there in just a minute."

Earl nodded after a few moments of silence and wearily made his way back onto all fours, then clumsily proceeded to the door, thoughts of Twilight's outburst still gnawing at his mind. After Earl had left the room. Macintosh walked over to Shining's body. With a grimace, he heaved the dead unicorn over his back and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, brother..." Mac said, making his way out of the room.

As Macintosh exited the room and made his way down the stairs, Earl passed by Applejack, who was waiting outside of one of the various rooms of Twilight's home. The orange mare quickly caught him in her sight and stepped in front of him. Without a thought, she placed a hoof on his shoulder and smiled weakly.

"She's just upset... Hay, we all are... Shining was one of us..." She said in a motherly tone. "But'chu need to know, this wasn't your fault."

Earl shook his head and moved back in an attempt to free himself from Applejack's hoof.

"No. It is my fault. It's my fault we went back!" He said shaking his head frantically.

"It's your fault we went back, but it was an attempt in good faith." Applejack continued.

Earl continued shaking his head.

"Now come on. How in Celestia's name were you supposed to know that those humans would do that? It was their wrong doing, not yours Earl."

"But-"

"You didn't kill him. Some crazy... Thing from another world did."

"I... I know..."

"You obviously don't if you're beatin' yourself up about it."

"How can I not after what Twi just said?!" Earl said, closing his eyes tightly.

Applejack frowned and looked back to the door.

"She's just upset, sugarcube. ah'll talk to her, and when she comes back to her senses, she'll know it wasn't you." The orange earthpony continued.

Earl paused for a moment but nodded hesitantly. After a few seconds of silence, Macintosh wearily trotted towards the two, an expression of disgust and grief apparent on the red stallion's face.

"Hey... Just," Mac said, pointing to a room behind them. "Don't go in there..."

"Thanks..." Earl said weakly.

"What should we do next? Y'know, preparations and all..." Macintosh asked?

"Preparations for what?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

Earl looked to her quizzically for a moment, but sighed and looked to the floor.

"Jackson... He's coming here." He said quietly.

"Ja- How?!" Applejack asked, terrified.

"The portal is too strong to close with magic, it's got to close on it's own." Earl continued.

Applejack looked to the floor for a moment, and then allowed her eyes to dart nervously around the room.

"Well we can't just sit here and wait for him to come and kill us, We need to get everypony to safety!" Applejack said after a few moments of silence.

"You need to get to safety. I'm staying." Earl replied.

"So he can kill-?!"

"If he kills me, so be it. But he killed Shining, and he's ready to kill again. Somepony needs to stop him." Earl said briskly, cutting her off.

Applejack paused momentarily, examining the grey unicorn. He was the only pony present with a look of determination and anger. After a few seconds, she nodded.

"Let me tell Twilight... We'll get the girls together and get everypony out of the town." She said.

Earl nodded and turned towards the stairs, Macintosh following behind. The grey unicorn's ears perked up after hearing the hoofsteps, and he stopped abruptly.

"Aren't you going to get to safety?" He asked, Big Macintosh stopping as well.

Mac chuckled for a moment before looking to Earl once more.

"I ain't going anywhere."

Heeeeere's Jackson

Chapter 19: Heeeeere's Jackson

Earl's heart stomped around in his chest as he began walking up the stairs. Twilight's words continued ringing in his ears, along with twisted visions of Jackson slaughtering Equestria's residents. It caused him to shudder slightly as his hooves climbed the wooden steps of Twilight's staircase. Macintosh quickly noticed and nudged Earl slightly, causing him to jump to the side and stare at the large earthpony.

"Everything alright?" Mac asked.

"Just... On edge. I want to kill this bastard, and go live in exile like I should." Earl replied, a pathetic sadness strong in his voice.

Macintosh shook his head and put his foreleg in Earl's path.

"Look, AJ already told you, it's grief. Twi didn't mean a word of that." Mac said, trying his best to sound caring.

Earl simply shook his head and continued up the stairs, shoving Mac's foreleg away. The large red earthpony scowled and wrapped a foreleg around the grey unicorn's chest, quickly pulling him back into his view.

"O'er the last five years, I've seen you two be closer than any other ponies I've ever seen in all my life. You really think she would throw it away? Lose two stallions in her life? Fucked up as it may sound... She needs somepony to blame right now... Somepony who ain't an alien hellbent on killing everything in it's sight." Mac continued.

The earthpony put his hoof on Earl's shoulder for a fuller effect.

"She loves yah', and that's not going to change. We're all just a little... Confused, for lack of a better word."

Earl nodded, and slowly raised his foreleg to move Mac's from his shoulder.

"OK... OK, It's just not every day you hear the love of your life tell you that she wants you gone forever. But... You're making sense." He replied.

"Don't I always?" Macintosh said with a chuckle.

Earl chuckled as well and shook his head, then continued up the stairs, his mind partially cleared.

"Thanks." He said over his shoulder, nearing the top of the stairs.

"Don't mention it." mac replied, nearing the stair's end as well.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Earl asked, eyeing the door to the room nervously.

"We're gonna' show that bastard what we think'a him, what else?" Mac replied.

Earl shook his head and pointed a hoof to the door.

"We can't just beat him to shit, he's gonna have guns for sure." He said.

"Then we disarm him, you forgettin' we have guns of our own?" Mac replied, quickly tapping a hoof to Earl's horn.

The grey unicorn cringed slightly on contact and moved his head away. After a moment he shook his head and pushed open the door to the room.

"I'm just saying, maybe we should make a plan-" Earl said.

He was quickly cut off by the sound of gunfire and bullets whizzing past him.

"JESUS H. FUCK!" He screamed in fear, slamming the door shut.

"Aww I missed. C'mon little alien ponies, get in here and I'll make it quick!" Jackson shouted from the other side of the room.

Mac looked to Earl, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"He's here already?!" Mac asked.

Before Earl could respond, another burst of gunfire roared from inside of the room, followed immediately by several bullet holes in the door and the wall next to Macintosh. The large earthpony instantly covered his head with his hooves as small bits of wood and dust were thrown into the air.

"Shit! Downstairs!" Earl shouted, pointing his hoof frantically down the steps.

"You go! I have an idea!" Mac shouted in return.

Earl nodded and proceeded down the steps as Macintosh positioned his back legs in front of the door, then waited for his moment. After several seconds, the handle on the door began to turn, signaling Mac for attack. With as much force as he could muster, the red stallion bucked the door, causing it to fly off of the hinges and collide with the human on the other side. Jackson stumbled backwards in response and dropped the items in his hands with a pained shout. Having successfully subdued Jackson for a moment, Macintosh trotted down the stairs hurriedly.

As Big Macintosh neared the end of the steps, Earl threw open the door to the room that Applejack and Twilight were in, causing both mares to scream worriedly.

"He's here, we've got to move, NOW!" Earl said waving his hoof out of the room.

"Already?!" Applejack asked, terrified.

"Yes! Now come on!" Earl shouted.

Applejack nodded and put a foreleg around Twilight, gently herding her in the direction of the door as she continued to sob. After leaving the room, the two mares frantically made their way to the front door. Twilight trotted out immediately, but Applejack stopped just before the exit.

"I'll rally up the girls like I said and get everypony out of town!" The orange earthpony said.

"Contact the guard, too." Earl said.

Applejack nodded in return and left Twilight's home hurriedly.

"Where's Jackson?" The grey unicorn asked, looking to Macintosh.

"Upstairs, hit him with the door, we have a second." Mac replied.

Earl nodded in response and looked around the main room of the library worriedly, searching for a plan.

"We should hide. Take up a spot, then catch him by surprise when he gets down here." Earl said.

Mac nodded and searched the room for a moment.

"Alright, blow out the candles, I'll wait in the tunnel that leads to the basement, you get low by the base of the stairs." The earthpony said after several seconds.

"Right." Earl said in response.

The grey unicorn narrowed his eyes and aimed his horn to the first group of candles lighting the room, then discharged a bolt of blue energy, killing the light on contact. He continued blasting away at the candles, while Mac took up his previously stated position. When the final light had been blasted, a thick blanket of darkness enveloped the main room of the tree house. Satisfied with the state of the room, Earl trotted over to the base of the stairs, and fell to his knees against the side of the steps.

"Get down here you crazy motherfucker..." Earl said in a savage tone under his breath.

* * *

Jackson shook his head and let out an exhausted groan as he lifted himself from the floor of the library. He cursed under his breath and placed a hand against his cheek, where a steady stream of blood was flowing from an open wound.

"Big Red Bitch... You die first..." He said quietly to himself.

The colonel continued cursing to himself as he retrieved the two items he had dropped from his hands as he fell. A blood-stained assault rifle, fresh from the hands of one of his fallen soldiers, and a red, plastic container, filled to the brim with gasoline he had recovered from the totaled truck. After retrieving the two items, he slung the rifle over his shoulder and began unscrewing the cap of the red can.

"Smokin' em' out..." He said quietly.

After the can had successfully been opened, Jackson began pouring it's contents in various places across Twilight's room, a wicked smile across his face.

"Worked in Nam'..."

He continued painting the room in the liquid, careful not to get any on himself. After he had coated most of the room, he placed the gas can next to the door and began fishing around in the pocket on his pants. He smiled upon feeling the tool he was searching for, and pulled out a small metallic square.

"It'll work here."

Jackson flicked open the small device, opened the top, and flicked it, igniting a small flame atop the lighter. With a vicious smile on his face, he tossed the lighter into the room causing the gasoline to ignite and swallow it in an intensely bright fire. The colonel began laughing maniacally and retrieved the now half-empty gas can from beside the door.

"Hope you fellas like barbecue!" He shouted with a wicked laugh.

Burn

Chapter 20: Burn

Jackson's shouted words echoed in Earl's mind for a moment as he tried to figure out the meaning.

Barbecue? What the fuck...? He thought, his eyes looking up to the ceiling, then darting around the room.

His question was quickly answered as the smell of smoke began to sting his nostrils. He immediately arose from his kneeling position and reached his neck upwards to catch a glimpse of the stairs. There stood Jackson, the assault rifle against his shoulder as he held it upwards, and the gas can waiting in his other hand, a wicked grin plastered across his face. A bright, flickering light reflected off of the wall next to the insane colonel, confirming Earl's suspicion.

"Oh, hello." Jackson said in a psychotically happy tone.

Without hesitation, the colonel brought the rifle downwards and pulled the trigger, causing a spray of bullets to fly in Earl's direction.The grey unicorn briskly pulled his neck back and propped himself against the side of the stairs, more smoke beginning to fill the room.

"Mac!" He shouted, coughing slightly at the appearance of smoke.

"Yeah?!" The earthpony replied from the tunnel.

"Jackson's burning the fucking tree house!" Earl shouted.

Within seconds, Mac sprinted up the stairs and out of the tunnel, looking at Earl with an extremely confused expression.

"What?! How?!" He asked frantically.

Before Earl could open his mouth to speak, the arsonist of the hour came into Macintosh's view as he stepped down the stairs, whistling the tune to "Disco Inferno". Mac could see the same reflection of flickering light Earl had seen when he looked upstairs, and his mouth fell agape. Earl's ears perked upwards as the sound of creaking steps echoed throughout the room, along with the crackling fire from upstairs. The unicorn looked up to see his enemy just above him, still making his way down the steps. He swallowed hard and assumed a crouched position again, readying his body for an attack.

"Mac, get downstairs!" He shouted as he hurled himself up the side of the stairs and into Jackson.

The large red stallion watched as Earl collided with the colonel and shoved him harshly against the wall. On contact, Jackson dropped the gas can and groaned in pain. Continuing his attack, Earl threw his hoof with as much force as his body would let him straight into the jaw of his target. The colonel's jaw cracked under the intense force, and his body swayed sideways. As he began falling down the stairs however, he wrapped one of his arms around Earl, causing them both to plummet down the remainder of the stairs.

"Earl!" Macintosh shouted, watching the two fall against each step.

After several harsh thumps, the two finally hit the ground floor, both writhing in pain as the soreness from the fall began to swell in their bodies. Jackson was the first to rise from the fall, his body groggily lifted itself up and into the layer of smoke now filling the tree house.

By now, the fire had begun to spread to the stairs, painting the room in an intense flickering light as the wood beneath the flames faded away. Macintosh looked between Jackson and the growing light worriedly before turning and sprinting down the stairs. Upon reaching the basement, the earthpony began frantically searching for some way to stop the fire.

"C'mon! Fuck sakes, no water, no nothin'?!" He shouted in frustration.

Jackson slung the weapon in his hands over his shoulder once more as he approached Earl, a scowl on his face. The colonel brought his hands together and cracked both sets of knuckles before reaching the fallen unicorn. Upon reaching him, he placed both hands on either side of Earl's chest, and with a grunt of exhaustion, heaved the pony off of the ground and tossed him into a nearby bookshelf, causing books and crushed wood to fly in multiple directions. A low groan escaped the grey stallion's throat as he collided harshly with the bookshelf, and then with the ground. Jackson continued his assault by striding over to the groaning unicorn, and delivering a swift kick to Earl's midsection. The wind instantly escaped Earl's throat as the colonel's boot dug into his stomach, and he heaved violently after it had left.

"Fuckin' little pony bastard!" Jackson shouted, walking backwards away from the twitching unicorn.

Through Earl's blurred vision, he could just barely make out the shape of Jackson, walking away as smoke continued pouring into the main room of the library. With a deep breath he discharged his horn towards the boasting colonel, causing a bright-colored bolt to fly from his head, and dig into the skin on Jackson's left leg. The colonel instantly screamed in pain as the flesh was torn from his limb, and fell to the ground. The assault rifle fell to the floor just beside Jackson, as the fire began crawling down the stairs. A small pool of blood began forming just beside the twitching colonel, giving Earl a small sliver of confidence. As Jackson screamed in pain, Earl slowly lifted himself onto all fours, pain pulsating in his midsection with every heartbeat. He clumsily made his way over to the screaming colonel, and prepared his foreleg to attack. Just in time to see the strike, Jackson turned his head towards Earl and was instantly met by another hoof to the jaw, causing his head to fly the other direction.

"Gah! You little shit!" Jackson shouted, the blood in his mouth accenting his voice.

Earl shook his head, and chuckled weakly as Jackson searched the room frantically for his rifle. When he finally found it, the pain-stricken human reached for it, savagely flailing his arms in the direction of the weapon. Earl noticed the human trying to retrieve the weapon, and let a low growl escape his throat. The unicorn stepped closer to Jackson, and roughly pulled his hands away from the gun. The colonel watched fearfully as Earl wrapped both hooves around his throat, and raised his head upwards. Without hesitation, Earl brought his head down with as much force as the muscles in his neck would let him, his horn glistening in the light of the spreading fire. The tip of the magical appendage atop Earl's head met with the soft flesh of Jackson's eye. The eye gave way to the sharp horn, allowing it to dig deep into Jackson's cornea. Blood instantly flew from the colonel, along with a savage, high-pitched squeal of pain from Jackson.

The intense pain caused Jackson to flail mindlessly. Eventually, a fist collided with Earl and sent him flying sideways. The horn was still deep in the colonel's eye however, and was ripped from it's socket with the savage sound of tearing flesh as Jackson's scream intensified. Earl landed on his back several feet away from the colonel, but used the force of his momentum to roll back onto his hooves in one swift motion. Pain had almost completely left Earl's body, replaced with pure adrenaline from what he had just done. The unicorn looked to his blood-stained horn, to find Jackson's eye hanging limply from it. He reached a hoof up to the small organ and nonchalantly tossed the eye to the side.

"Have fun sightseeing you pathetic bastard?!" Earl shouted with a menacing chuckle.

Jackson growled angrily, and looked around with his only functioning eye, trying to search for any way to make it out of the situation alive, or at least do as much damage to Earl as humanly possible. His eyes finally came to rest on the gas can that he had dropped by the stairs on the opposite side of him, just inside of his reach. The colonel threw his arm toward the can, wrapped his fingers around the handle, and flung it over him in the direction of Earl. The unicorn stopped dead and cringed, awaiting contact from the unknown object flying towards him. Instinctively, his horn shot a bright bolt of energy in the direction of the can. Time seemed to slow for the cringing unicorn as the bolt left his horn. He lifted his head from his foreleg and watched as the bolt from his horn flew in the direction of the object. Just before it hit however, Earl recognized the object flying in his direction, and his mouth fell agape.

On contact, the can erupted in an extremely bright, purple-colored explosion that flashed across the burning walls of the tree house. Earl was instantly thrown back against the bookshelf Jackson had hurled him into before, as contents of the exploded gas can spilled onto the floor of the tree house and instantly ignited. By now, most of the main room of the library was engulfed in flames.

"Earl?! What the hell was that?!" Macintosh shouted from the basement.

The grey unicorn opened his mouth to speak, but only screamed in fear as several branches from the burning tree house fell, knocked free by the magical explosion. He attempted to cover his face with his forelegs as the debris fell, but a large, burning branch landed just above him on the second floor. It quickly rolled in Earl's direction, and within seconds, fell onto the unicorn's midsection.

"Gah, fuck!" He shouted as the branch collided with him.

"What happened?!" Mac shouted from the basement once more, his voice muffled by the raging flames and the walls between them.

"Branch... Help!" Earl managed to say as pain began to swell in his midsection once more.

Within seconds, Mac came sprinting up from the tunnel leading into the basement. His eyes went wide in fear as the sight of the purple flames entered them. The large earthpony began searching frantically for Earl, who raised a hoof and cried out weakly as the branch began to dig farther into his stomach.

"Here..." Earl said, his voice choked.

Macintosh nodded and trotted hurriedly to the unicorn. The stallion stopped momentarily to asses the situation, and try and find a way to help. He began trying to lift the large branch off of Earl, but to no avail. The branch was mostly stuck.

"Dont'chu worry. I'ma getchu out of there, brother. We'll be home before supper, you hear?" Mac said, trying to comfort him.

Earl nodded in response, trying to calm himself. His heart quickly began racing however, as Jackson just barely came into view. The unicorn's heart nearly stopped as the colonel limped groggily towards them. Fire surrounding both sides of his path, and a wicked scowl on his face. He watched as Jackson slowly lifted a shining metallic pistol upwards, his finger on the trigger.

"MAC!" Earl shouted as loud as his smoke filled lungs would let him.

Big Macintosh flinched and turned in the direction Earl had screamed, only to be met by the ear-shattering sound of Jackson firing the pistol in his hand. Mac's body shook violently as a bullet entered his midsection, and sent him backwards onto the floor.

"NO!" Earl screamed frantically.

Jackson smiled wickedly as he continued approaching the two, Earl still trapped, and Macintosh groaning quietly in pain on the ground. The colonel lowered the pistol to his side as he limped over to the two ponies.

"You stay the FUCK away!" Earl shouted, frantically trying to escape the branch's grasp.

The colonel simply continued limping over to them with a smile on his face. As he neared them, he looked to the twitching stallion on the ground, then to Earl, his grin growing wider.

"Would you like to watch?" Jackson asked, his smile still holding strong.

Earl's mouth fell open as he looked between Jackson and Macintosh. He began shaking his head desperately.

"No.... Please, anything but... NO! STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!" Earl screamed.

Jackson tilted his head to the side and prodded at Macintosh's twitching body.

"Hey buddy, y'alright?" Jackson said in a wicked-happy tone, blood freely dripping from his exposed eye-socket.

Mac gave no response, only coughed weakly as he lay on the floor.

"Maybe we should help him out. What do you say Earl?" The colonel said, looking to Earl.

"He doesn't have anything to do with this you sick fuck! This is between you and me!" Earl shouted in response.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jackson replied, wrapping his hands around Mac's two back legs.

Slowly, he began limping backwards, dragging the fallen stallion in front of him.

"Jackson STOP!" Earl screamed.

The colonel continued dragging Mac, not paying mind to the trapped unicorn. After several agonizing seconds of slow travel across the room, Jackson finally stopped at one of the many spots in the room where the fire was most intense. It was then that Earl realized Jackson's intentions.

"No! YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH! TAKE ME! TAKE ME INSTEAD!" He shouted desperately.

Jackson's smile only grew wider as he leaned down and wrapped both arms around the stallion's midsection. With all of his strength, he heaved Macintosh off of the ground, causing the stallion to groan in intense pain.

"KILL ME INSTEAD YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Earl shouted, trying to escape his wooden prison.

With a satisfied sigh, Jackson tossed Macintosh forward, into the raging flames. Instantly, the flames engulfed the coat of the earthpony. A scream erupted from the flames Jackson had thrown Macintosh into, slowly growing into a high-pitched, savage scream of indescribable pain from the burning stallion. Jackson began laughing maniacally.

"No! M-MAC!" Earl shouted, tears falling from his smoke-scratched eyes.

"Haaaa! BURN YOU BIG RED SON OF A BITCH, BURN!" Jackson screamed, watching as Macintosh literally burned alive.

The screams continued echoing throughout the room for several more moments before dying down. The room now layed silent, save for the crackling of fire, and mindless groaning from Earl.

"Mac..." He said quietly to himself. "FUCKING MAC..."

With another content sigh, Jackson turned around and began limping back to Earl, who was still trapped under the burning branch. Slowly, the insane colonel raised his pistol to the trapped unicorn, still giggling with glee.

"Well, that's two of your little alien buddies." The colonel said, aiming the metallic pistol at Earl.

Earl snorted angrily, rage boiling within his veins.

"I'd say I gut that little girlfriend of yours like I said, and we're about even."

The unicorn began twitching as his anger reached it's peak.

"Any last words you son of a-" Jackson tried to say.

He was quickly cut off however, as the weapon and his hand were surrounded by an orange glow. The weapon turned towards him and jabbed savagely into his stomach. Jackson looked to the weapon against his midsection as it discharged, sending a bullet clean through his stomach and blood across the burning floor. The colonel instantly fell to his knees and screamed in pain as the orange glow dissipated.

"What the... F-Fuck was that?! Some of... Your... alien shit?!" He asked, breathlessly.

The colonel shook his head and swiftly brought the point of the gun to Earl again. Just as before, it was surrounded in an orange glow, and this time, was brought to Jackson's shoulder. The colonel opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as the gun fired again, sending a bullet through his shoulder, and sending him crashing to the floor on his back.

As Jackson writhed in pain, Earl pushed against the branch in front of him with the combined strength of anger, grief, and willpower. Slowly, the branch began to give way, cracking viciously under the pressure of Earl's hooves. With one last grunt of anger and push of his hooves, the branch finally broke free, and the enraged unicorn tossed it across the room.

Earl began slowly limping in the direction of Jackson, who was now trying to crawl away desperately. The grey unicorn's horn began to glow orange, along with the colonel's hand and the weapon that rested in it. Jackson turned to look, but was met with by the gun colliding with his face.

"Can't run away from your own arm, dumbass." Earl said in a grim tone.

Earl continued approaching the colonel, flames still dancing around the room, flickering off of his bright coat. Jackson whimpered slightly and put both hands up, signalling retreat.

"Y-You win kid!" He said in a pathetic tone.

The colonel stopped dead as the gun in his hand was lifted up and pointed against his head, his hand still firmly around the handle.

"Every thing you've done to me." Earl said.

The gun pressed harder against Jackson's skull.

"To my friends."

The gun pressed even harder, causing a small pool of blood to form around the tip of the barrel.

"To this WORLD."

If the weapon was pressing any harder, Jackson's skull would've buckled.

"Has lead to your death..." Earl said, flames dancing wildly around the room. "It's only fair that you get to pull the trigger."

Jackson's heart nearly stopped at the thought of taking his own life. He looked to the gun and his hand, both surrounded in an orange glow.

"Kid... Please... Don't send me out like that.... Just... Fucking kill me... Don't do that..." Jackson pleaded quietly.

"It's a coward's death..." Earl replied.

"Please..."

"WHICH IS WHAT YOU ARE!"

"NO!"

Earl closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he used his magic to make Jackson pull the trigger. The weapon shook in the colonel's hand as the bullet flew from it, directly into his own skull. A spray of blood and brain matter painted the floor under him as his head flew backwards and collided with the floor. His eye stared lifelessly to the ceiling as bits of flesh landed on the floor next to him, coating the floor in a red paste. Both hands fell to the ground, causing the pistol to slide across the floor as it fell, just a few feet away from Jackson's corpse.

The grey unicorn backed away from the body slowly, his eyes still shut tight. He fell to his haunches seconds later and swallowed deeply.

"Equestrian Royal Guard! We're coming in!" A stallion's voice said, muffled by the sound of burning wood and the walls.

Earl simply sat still, tears rolling out from under his tightly shut eyelids. A harsh banging could be heard at the front door as several guards began pounding against it in an attempt to get in.

He's dead...

The pounding became more intense, followed by another shout.

They're dead...

Killed in Action

Chapter 21: Killed in Action

Several Days Later

Earl waited in the entrance room to Canterlot Castle, his eyes glued to the floor. The fancy decor and beautiful paintings that had given him great comfort on his first journey here, posed no difference to his mood now. He stayed completely still, like a rock, untouched by anything around him. He replayed the image over and over again. Shining dying. Mac dying. Then himself, killing Jackson. The human's body was immediately taken away and disposed of, by means of which Earl had no knowledge. What remained of Big Macintosh's body was sent to Sweet Apple Acres, after confirmation by Applejack. The scream of that orange earthpony would no doubt haunt Earl's dreams for the rest of his days. The way she fell to her knees weakly. How she screamed her brother's name, Earl standing just next to her and watching it all. It was a small funeral service. Close members of the Apple Family attended, even Braeburn was able to take the train up from Appleosa to attend. He was buried under the first tree he'd ever bucked, one that had grown to great size in the years of Mac's life.

He cringed at the thought of Apple Bloom. Granny Smith had tried her best to keep her away from the funeral, in an attempt to keep sorrow out of the young filly's heart. But sure enough, she had snuck back onto the farm with her two friends, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo. She didn't understand at first, she simply asked Earl why, why her brother was dead, what happened to him. The barrage of questions came just after the grey unicorn had watched his friend be sent to his final resting place. Even now, Earl was holding back tears as he thought of the young earthpony's questions.

The unicorn was thankful however, that the family understood the circumstances. They'd known of Earl's intentions, and of who murdered their beloved family member. No blame was put to him, but he still felt guilt. Extreme guilt that would scar his very being for the rest of his days.

"Mister Earl." a Royal Guard member called from one of the various hallways of the castle.

Earl snapped his head upwards to the armor-wearing pegasus who had broken him from thought. He nodded a few seconds later and groggily made his way to his hooves, then proceeded to follow the guard to the next appointed location.

Twilight hadn't said a word to him since. He still contemplated if it was just grief she was feeling, or if she actually, truly, hated him. The Princess had allowed him to stay in one of the many guest houses on the grounds, while Twilight stayed holed-up in her private quarters from when she was still a student at the castle. He had heard that she had spoken to nopony but the princess, which didn't calm his nerves whatsoever, more made them worse.

As the two ponies rounded one final corner of the large corridors of the castle, Earl was passed on to another Royal Guard member waiting just outside of a room at the end of the hallway.

"Treat this one delicately, he did the... 'thing'." Earl heard the guard whisper to other guard just outside of the door.

The pegasus nodded and pushed open the door, motioning for Earl to enter.

"If you would, Mister Earl." the guard said.

"Thanks." Earl replied almost inaudibly.

The guard nodded as the grey unicorn made his way into the room, then followed and shut the door behind them. The room was just as well furnished as the rest of the castle, but Earl knew what kind of room it was. Small and confined, with only a few dim-lit candles for light. He was here for debriefing, or an interrogation.

"Please take a seat, Mister Earl." the guard said, motioning to two chairs and a table in the middle of the room.

Earl nodded and walked slowly to the center of the small room, then pulled the chair out and sat down, his eyes still glued to the floor. The guard did the same, eyeing Earl quizzically while he did so.

"Why don't we... Get the hardest stuff out of the way first?" the guard asked.

Earl replied with a nod.

"Shining Armor..." the Royal Guard member said.

The name sent a shiver down Earl's spine.

"... His body was found among the remains of Twilight Sparkle's home."

"Yes." Earl replied quietly.

"What happened... On the mission?"

The grey unicorn took a deep breath and cleared his throat, his eyes shut tight.

"He was killed, by a human."

"One of your kind?"

"Not my kind anymore..."

The guard nodded hesitantly and noted something on a pad of paper lying on the table.

"There were no external wounds found on the body, only damage on his internal organs." the guard continued.

"When we... Changed back..." Earl said, pausing for a moment and looking up to the pegasus.

"I know about the transformation, please continue." the guard said lightly

"When we changed back, he looked the same... But the damage to his... Insides must have stayed... He was coughing up blood." Earl said his voice growing weaker as the sentence went on.

"You had nothing to do with his death?"

"No..."

The guard nodded in response, still writing several notes on the paper.

"We've got other reports to back that up, thank you." the guard said.

Earl replied with a nod.

"Big Macintosh..." the guard said.

The grey unicorn gritted his teeth and tried desperately to hold back tears.

"Killed by a human." He said in an exhausted tone between tightly closed teeth.

The guard nodded and hesitantly wrote "Killed in Action" next to both names and pictures of the two.

"We were able to recover both bodies after the fire was quelled, as you know with Macintosh." the pegasus continued.

A view of Mac's grave flashed into Earl's mind, causing him to shudder. He nodded several moments later.

"A service will be held for The Captain tomorrow afternoon, if you wish to attend."

Earl nodded silently again.

The guard wrote a few more notes before looking back up to the shuddering unicorn.

"Now... I need you to describe what happened..."

The unicorn sighed and looked to the guard with tired eyes.

"It started with Jackson..."

* * *

The guard's mouth continued to stay agape as Earl finished his story, several pages of notes lined the table the two ponies sat at. The whole story, Earl's eyes had been mostly shut.

"I... Forced him to pull the trigger... Then the guards showed up, stopped the fire, took me here..." Earl said quietly.

The guard nodded slowly as he shut his mouth and swallowed deeply, examining the pages he had written on the table.

"I... Well... I'd say we're..." the guard said, swallowing again. "We're done here."

"Yeah..." Earl replied quietly.

"Thank you for your time, Mister Earl." the guard said, raising his hoof to Earl's.

The grey unicorn shook the guards hoof weakly and rose back up on to his hooves. As both ponies exited the room, they were met by another guard.

"My report is prepared, I'l be giving it to the acting captain within the hour." the guard next to Earl said.

The other guard nodded.

"Good." he said with a salute.

As the guard who questioned Earl left down the hallway, the other guard looked to the grey unicorn.

"Miss Sparkle has requested your presence right away, sir." the pegasus said.

Earl's heart dropped in his chest, along with his jaw. He shuddered slightly and cringed at the thought of getting another verbal attack from the purple unicorn.

"She... Has?" Earl asked, absentmindedly.

The guard nodded.

"OK... I'll... Be there soon..." the grey unicorn replied.

"I'm afraid she needs your immediate presence, sir." the guard said.

Earl paused for a moment, but hung his head and sighed a few seconds later before making his way down the hall.

As Earl made his journey through the extensive hallways of the castle, he thought about what Twilight would say. It would probably just be another barrage of mental assault. Several things meant to make him feel guilty and push him to exile. He shook his head and cleared his throat as he neared the final hallway to Twilight's room. As the entrance to her quarters came into view, his heart began to beat with more intensity. A slight flutter in his chest was only accented by the worried heartbeat surging through it. He reached the door and reluctantly raised a hoof, as he hung his head.

Before he could knock however, the door opened briskly, revealing a familiar purple unicorn behind it. Earl's heart nearly stopped in fear, and he looked up worriedly. He then saw Twilight Sparkle in the worst condition possible. Her mane was frazzled to a point in which her horn wasn't even visible. Stains of several days worth of tears lined the area under her eyes, along with bags signalling a lack of sleep. She looked at him through bloodshot eyes, examining his every detail.

Both unicorns stood in place for what seemed like hours, both contemplating what they would say to one another. Earl was the first to open his mouth to speak.

"Twi... I-" Earl began.

He was instantly cut off by the purple unicorn throwing her forelegs around him and burying her tear-stained face in his shoulder. The mare began sobbing vigorously, leaking an extensive amount of tears onto his coat as she groaned in sadness.

The grey unicorn was stunned. He had expected to be met with a barrage off criticizing comments, not affection. The sound of her sobbing and his recent interrogation caused him to slowly lay his head on her shoulder as well. He began to embrace her harder as tears welled up in his own eyes, all the while Twilight continued a steady stream of violent sobbing into his own shoulder. He embraced her as tight as he could, letting his sobbing reach it's peak. The built up emotion of their journey was finally released as both cried into each other for what seemed like days.

As the sound sobs of their sighing died down, Earl shifted his neck, placing his head closer to Twilight's ear.

"I... Love you..." He said, sniffling lightly.

"I love you too..." Twilight said.

The grey unicorn pulled away from her shoulder slightly and brought his forehead to rest against hers, their horns rubbing against each other affectionately.

"I'm sorry... I didn't-" Twilight said weakly.

Earl shook his head slightly and brought a hoof up to her lips.

"Shh... I know..." he said quietly.

Twilight pulled her head away from his and looked into his eyes, sensing the same pain she had been feeling since watching her brother die. Without hesitation, she shoved her head forwards, causing their lips to meet. Earl didn't think twice as to mimic the action, and soon the two were sharing a passionate kiss. Neither unicorn cared about the previous events, or what would happen to them in the future. The two only focused on each other, and the love felt in that moment.

The purple unicorn began pulling him backwards into the room, in perfect sync with him pushing forward. When he was finally inside of the room, the grey unicorn nudged the door with his back hoof, causing it to shut.

The hallways quickly went silent.

Voices

Chapter 22: Voices

Kill her...

Maim her...

Kill the mare...

Kill her.

They want to... KILL her...

They're going to drink her blood... GRIND her bones...

KILL TWILIGHT SPARKLE.

Earl's eyes quickly snapped open and darted around the room nervously, his breathing heavy and exhausted. He quickly noticed the decor of the castle, specifically the decor of Twilight's room. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot, and a weight was pressing down onto his chest. His view continued shifting throughout the room, searching for the voices he had just been hearing. After finding nothing, the grey unicorn took a final uneasy breath and used the back of his hoof to wipe a cold bead of sweat from his forehead. The weight still clung to his chest like a bag of bricks, causing him to glance down worriedly.

He was instantly relieved to find a familiar purple mare clinging to his chest tightly, along with the soft sensation of a blanket wrapped around the two. His chest was the only relatively warm part of his body due to the unicorn next to him, the rest was as cold as a stone in the night. Tears of sadness and relief filled his eyes as he leaned down and rubbed his face against the sleeping mare's forehead affectionately.

"I'll never let them get you... They'll never kill you..." he said quietly, shaking as the words left his lips.

Twilight shuffled under him slightly, eventually revealing two comforting irises and glancing to him behind the tired eyes.

"W-What...?" she asked absentmindedly, her voice cracking slightly.

Earl's bottom lipped quivered in fear of the voices he had just heard. He raised a shaky hoof to her cheek and ran it across the purple fur gently.

"N-Nothing... Go back to bed, sweetheart..." he said quietly.

Twilight nodded slightly and yawned, opening her mouth as wide as it could go, before burying her face in his chest again. He continued to stroke her mane lightly until she drifted off into sleep again, then wormed his way out of the bed without waking her up.

He groggily made his way to one of the windows on the opposite side of the room, his head hung low. A faint throbbing ran through the unicorn's brain with each heartbeat and hoof step.

Kill her...

THEY WANT TO KILL HER.

Earl...

They're going to kill her...

The grey unicorn shook his head savagely, trying to expel the voices from his mind as they raged on. The searing pain in his skull only worsened at the sharp movements of his neck, along with the voices. They continued screaming at him. Telling him over and over again of Twilight's demise. His breathing became quick and shallow again, worried thoughts creeping into his mind at the mention of Twilight's name.

All of his thoughts stopped however, as there was a gentle knock at the door of Twilight's room. Earl flinched drastically and stumbled a few steps backward, eyeing the door as terrified heartbeats continued rocking his chest. Another light knock sounded at the door, causing Earl to stumble again. After a deep breath, the grey unicorn slowly made his way to the door.

Kill her... They'll kill her...

He opened the door cautiously, revealing a suited unicorn on the other side, his coat a light brown, and his mane a darker shade than his coat. He was carrying a small box on his back.

"Ah, hello, terribly sorry if I woke you." the brown unicorn said in a fancy, high-class tone of voice.

Earl shook his head hesitantly, eyeing the unicorn closely and worriedly.

"N-No... You're fine..." Earl replied in a nervous tone.

"Right... Well I have Ms. Sparkle's requested clothing for the day's events." the unicorn said, levitating the box from behind his back, and in front of Earl.

The grey unicorn nodded slowly and took the box in his own grasp of levitation.

"Shall I bring another assortment for you, sir?" the suited unicorn asked.

"Yeah... That would be great..." Earl replied, still staring worriedly at the suited unicorn.

The unicorn nodded and trotted off down the hallway.

Earl eyed the box in his grasp for a few moments, then peeked out of the door in both directions, unsure of what he was searching for. His breathing still remained heavy, as well as his heart beating savagely. After shutting the door, he slowly trotted back into the room, eyeing the box with two terrified pupils. Continuing into the room fully, he set the box down on the bed next to the sleeping Twilight, then walked to the opposite side of the room.

The nervous pony continued eyeing the box for the next hour, examining it's every detail. It was a small wooden box, seemingly big enough to have what was said inside. But Earl didn't trust it.

Earl...

The unicorn's breathing stopped.

They want to kill her...

Earl couldn't take it anymore. He swiftly made his way over to the bed, careful not to make any noise and wake the sleeping mare across the room. Upon reaching the box, he grabbed it and retreated back to his previous spot. With a deep breath, he lifted the lid off of the box and tossed it to the floor. Sure enough, inside of the box was a black dress, which looked to be made of silk. Earl blinked in disbelief. There was nothing life threatening, nothing dangerous, it was just a dress.

Something more...

The grey unicorn nodded and narrowed his eyebrows.

"Something more..." he whispered to himself.

Without hesitation, Earl reached inside of the wooden box and pulled out the dress. Still, it was just a dress. Nothing special about it. Just a hoof-stitched, silk, black dress.

Earl looked between the dress and the box wildly for a moment before a confused expression came across his face. He then lowered his hooves and let the dress rest on the ground gently, bringing one hoof to his temple and rubbing circles on it.

"What the fuck is going on...?"

* * *

After another hour, Twilight slowly opened her eyes. Morning tiredness clung to the awaking unicorn for several moments, which blurred her vision and caused her to yawn loudly. When her vision finally cleared, she noticed a long, black, silk dress waiting for her on the other side of the bed. Slightly confused, she looked to the other side of the room, where Earl was staring out of the window.

"Good morning..." she said quietly, her voice choked slightly.

Earl flinched again and instantly turned to her, a terrified expression on his face. He calmed however, when he saw Twilight smiling weakly at him.

"M-Morning..." he mumbled, almost inaudibly.

Twilight ran her hoof along the silky fabric of the dress beside her.

"Thank you, for getting this for me." she said.

Earl smiled and made his way over to the bed, and sat down next to the dress.

"It was the guy... He came to the door and..." Earl said quietly, trailing off.

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Are you OK?" she asked worriedly.

Earl snapped his head upwards and looked to her. his eyes wide.

"Huh?" he asked absentmindedly.

"I asked if you were alright..."

His expression was quickly replaced by a comforting smile.

"Yeah. Just fine, how'd you sleep?" he said, almost too fast for Twilight to comprehend.

Luckily, hanging out with Pinkie had taught her to understand even the fastest of speaking. She nodded and shrugged.

"I slept well... Just... Today is going to be rough." she said, aiming her head to the floor.

Earl frowned and raised a hoof to her shoulder, and rubbed her coat gently.

"I'll be there with you every step of the way." he said softly.

Twilight smiled slightly, her eyes still glued to the floor.

"I still can't believe I said all of those things to you..." she said quietly, her voice choked.

The grey unicorn shook his head and tightened his grip on her shoulder slightly.

"Don't be. You were upset. It's fine." he said.

The purple unicorn nodded.

"I'm going to... Get ready." she said, looking back up and to him.

Earl nodded and retracted his hoof as Twilight got up from the bed, retrieved her dress, and left into one of the various rooms connected to her private quarters. The grey unicorn watched her walk off, a smile on his face. But It quickly turned to a frown after she left his view.

They'll Kill her...

Maim her...

Laid to Rest

Chapter 23:Laid to Rest

Earl waited quietly at the corner of Twilight's room, his view glued to the floor. He hadn't fully accepted Shining's death at this point, nor had he prepared himself for the funeral. A single tear left his eye as the images of their friendship flashed into his mind, and landed with a tiny splash on the black fabric of his suit. The first time he'd ever seen him, their near-death experience in the now-lost Everfree forest. The times him, Shining, and Twilight spent time together, without a worry of death or danger. He shook his head ever so slightly and wiped a small wetness from his eye as Twilight quietly entered the room.

The sobbing grey unicorn looked up from his hoof and to Twilight. Her appearance was less ragged than earlier, now wearing a black, silky dress for the days events, along with a straightened mane and clean face. After clearing his throat, Earl slowly stepped towards her.

"Are you ready?" he asked almost inaudibly.

Twilight hesitated for a moment, but nodded slightly.

With a sigh, Earl wrapped a foreleg around the back of Twilight's neck and gently pulled her closer.

"I'll be there with you every step of the way." he said, keeping the same amount of volume.

The purple mare returned the embrace for a few seconds, then gently pushed him away and forced a slight smile.

"Thank you." she said.

As the two approached the door to exit Twilight's Quarters, small voices echoed in Earl's ears again.

They want to kill her...

He shook his head quickly to dispel the thought as Twilight opened the door to leave, and followed her out.

* * *

The two unicorns walked wordlessly through the hallways of Canterlot Castle, eventually reaching the royal ball room, where the memorial service was being held. As Earl entered the room, he noticed nearly a hundred ponies lining the walls and the main floor of the massive room, all dressed in black and chatting quietly. He followed close beside Twilight as the two made their way through various groups of ponies, most of them being other friends or acquaintances of Shining Armor. Twilight hardly knew her brother's friends, but she had spotted two particular ponies on the other side of the room. Earl was cut off in his examination of the room by Twilight's hoof pressing against his chest. The grey unicorn stopped immediately and looked down to the purple unicorn.

"I'm going to go talk to my parents." she said quietly, pointing to a white unicorn and a blue unicorn halfway across the room.

Earl nodded in response.

"I'll be here." he said.

The purple mare nodded and walked off in the direction of the two unicorns, leaving Earl alone in the middle of the ballroom. Awkward nerves quickly gnawed at the grey unicorn for a moment as he was left by himself. The nerves were quickly silenced as Earl scanned the room and found a familiar pink alicorn, just a few feet away. Without hesitation, he made his way to her, only stopping momentarily to excuse himself for walking through a group of ponies. Princess Cadence smiled as he came into her view.

"Earl, it's good to see you." she said.

The grey unicorn smiled and extended his forelegs to hug the princess. The pink alicorn returned the embrace for a few seconds before pulling away.

"Thank you for coming, it means a lot." she said solemnly.

"I wouldn't miss it, Cadence." Earl replied.

Princess Cadence nodded in response and turned to greet two other ponies as they approached her. As she turned, Earl noticed a small colt standing just beside her. His coat was a bright white, just like Shining's, and his mane reflected the colors of both Shining Armor's and Princess Cadence's. A two-toned blue ran through his hair, split down the middle by a yellow strand, and a small white horn. Earl smiled brightly upon seeing the colt.

"Stars?" he said, causing the small unicorn to snap it's head upwards.

The colt smiled and threw himself forward at Earl.

"Uncle Earl!" he said, his voice squeaking slightly.

The grey unicorn stumbled backwards slightly and threw a hoof around the white unicorn.

"How 'ya been, kid?" Earl said with a smile.

The white colt pulled away and looked to the floor slightly, giving no response.

"Hey." Earl said simply, placing a hoof under the colt's chin.

Stars obliged and moved his head upwards, as Earl fell to his knees, eye-level with the colt in front of him.

"He's not gone... Alright? They're never gone." he said in a caring tone.

The colt continued to frown.

"He'll always be right here." Earl continued, lightly prodding Stars's chest with his hoof.

Stars smiled slightly and nodded.

"Stay strong. Just like he always said."

The colt nodded once more.

"Thanks..." he said quietly.

Earl took the hoof from under the small unicorn's chin and rustled Stars's hair slightly, causing the unicorn to chuckle lightly and pull his head away.

"No problem... You ever need anything, you let me know, alright?"

The colt nodded once more and used a hoof to straighten his mane.

"If everypony could please listen up," Cadence said over the dull roar of the ponies in the room.

The room quickly fell silent as Earl looked up to the princess, along with Stars.

"We're about to start the final ceremony, out in the garden." she continued, the slightest hint of sadness fluttering in her voice.

As ponies began filing out of the ball room, Earl looked to Stars and cocked his head in the direction of the garden. Him, Cadence, and Stars began making their way out of the quickly-emptying ballroom, eventually meeting up with Twilight and her parents. The purple mare moved closer to Earl and leaned in next to his ear.

"Have you seen Spike?" she asked quietly.

Earl shook his head.

"I haven't seen him in a while, did he say he was coming?" he replied.

Twilight nodded quietly as she looked to the ballroom floor.

"Yeah... He did." she said.

The grey unicorn sighed as the group of ponies made their way into the garden, still trotting closely to his mare.

"He'll be here... Little guy wouldn't miss this." Earl said, shifting his direction to avoid a patch of flowers.

Twilight gave no response, just closed her eyes and inhaled the cool air from outside. The sky was a grey overcast, almost perfectly fitting the dreary mood of the day. Adding to the situation, the absence of sunlight had caused the appearance of the once colorful garden to seem grey and depressing.

As Earl and the group made their way to the middle of the garden, a group of guards followed slowly behind, each one poised underneath the four corners a large, fine-wooden casket. Twilight cringed quietly as the grave that had been created for Shining Armor came into view, and continued to the side of it with Earl, her eyes held shut. The grey unicorn shifted his view over the unicorn's back and noticed her parents. Twilight's father was holding her mother tightly against his chest as she sobbed vigorously, the casket nearing it's grave. As preparations for the final ceremony began, Celestia made her way through the crowd around the grave and took her place just in front of a headstone reading Shining's name. The regal princess cleared her throat and looked to the guards carrying Shining's casket. With a nod from Princess Celestia, the four guards slowly levitated the casket into the air and awaited further instructions.

"Today... We send an honorable, dependable, and charitable stallion to his final resting place..." Princess Celestia said, her voice regal, but still carrying a hint of sadness.

Earl closed his eyes and exhaled quietly as the words rang in his ears.

Honorable

Dependable

Charitable

"He was not only the greatest guard the city of Canterlot could have asked for... But he was also a cherished son... Loving father... And an caring brother..." Celestia continued.

Cherished son

Loving father

Caring brother

Earl opened his eyes momentarily as the familiar feeling of tears swelled in his eyes. He quickly noticed Twilight, a grimace present on her face as tears rolled gently down her cheeks.

"Let us mourn his passing, but also cherish the fact that he lived, and served the city of Canterlot with honor and dependability."

Slowly, the casket began to descend into the grave, surrounded by a golden glow. Cadence swallowed hard as she watched the fine-wooden casket fall into it's grave, and placed her hoof around Shining Stars's shoulder. The colt sobbed quietly and brought his own hoof upwards to meet his mother's, who took and squeezed it firmly.

"Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard...." Celestia said, lifting her chin slightly as the casket entered it's grave.

Twilight's eyes danced under her lids as she struggled to keep from bursting into a fit of sobbing. She wanted nothing more to stay strong for Shining. The casket finally reached the bottom of the deep grave, in sync with a shower of dirt covering the surface.

"Thank you for your service... Everything you've done for your family, for Canterlot... For me... May you rest in eternal peace." Celestia said, as soil continued pouring over the edges of the grave and onto Shining Armor's casket.

Twilight quietly exhaled and hung her head as her mother and father quickly placed a hoof on both of her shoulders and brought her close. Earl watched silently as the rest of the dirt filled in the cracks, and eventually reached a level point with the lawn of the garden.

"Shine on... You crazy diamond..." Earl said quietly.

* * *

Peacekeeper

Chapter 24: Peacekeeper

As the ponies attending the ceremony left, Earl stayed. He stared Shining Armor's grave, hoping it was all just a wicked dream he would eventually wake up from. But no such luxury was awarded. The pony simply sat, waiting for everything to end like the end of a movie. He wanted the roll of the credits, and he wanted it bad. The overcast skies didn't help the mood at all, and left Earl's heart bleeding even more as he stared at the grave of his friend. A heavy sigh left Earl's throat as he closed his eyes and inhaled the cool autumn air.

"Hey." a voice sounded from behind the grey stallion.

Earl knew the voice well, he'd listened to it grow over the years, become more mature. It had deepened substantially since he'd last heard it, but he could still recognize it easily.

"You missed the ceremony, Spike." Earl replied, his eyes still shut tight.

The voice gave no response, only the sound of claw-steps could be heard by the unicorn. A purple-scaled dragon stomped groggily by on all fours, his ears down, and his body shivering. He approached the grave of Shining Armor slowly, and ran one of his claws across the tombstone.

"I wanted to... Pay respects in my own time." Spike said, sadness taking over his usual cheery tone.

Earl sighed and stood up from his seat on the lawn of the royal garden, and approached the dragon. The grey unicorn quickly noticed the change in height since he had last talked to Spike. He was now the height of an average pony, if not taller. Without hesitation, the grey unicorn placed a hoof on the dragon's scaly back.

"I understand..." he said quietly.

Spike shook his head and turned away from the grave.

"It just doesn't feel real." the purple-scaled dragon said. "When I got the letter, I just... I don't know, I thought it was a joke."

Earl simply shook his head, and gave no audible response.

"I mean... Everything we went through... At the Empire... And then the invasion..."

Spike's eyes began welling with tears, ready to burst and shower the ground beneath him in a week's worth of sadness, and grief. Earl shook his head and gritted his, and patted the dragons back.

"If you've got to cry... Cry, man. No sense keeping it in." Earl said.

The dragon inhaled deeply as a stream of liquid began falling down his cheek under both eyes. The soft, but steady stream of plops on the ground below continued as Spike began his round of sobbing. Earl continued his consolation, like he'd done with Twilight.

After less than a minute, Spike cleared his throat roughly and shook his head.

"I'm fine... Thank you." he said, wiping his nose.

Earl nodded and took a step away from him.

"I heard about the Tree-House... And Mac." Spike said.

"Yeah... Something on the mission went wrong." Earl replied.

Spike shook his head once more and threw one of his hooves into the ground.

"How many deaths are we going to take?!" the dragon shouted. "I mean... There was no death here. None. Now it's just everywhere..."

Earl opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off as a purple unicorn approached the two. The grey pony had noticed Twilight, but Spike's view was glued the the grass.

"Spike...?" Twilight asked, nearing the two.

The dragon's head immediately snapped upwards upon hearing the mare's voice. He backed away slightly and took a defensive stance.

"Twilight?! I-I'm sorry I didn't come... I just... I couldn't handle all of the ponies, and-and the whole ceremony-" Spike began.

The purple mare cut him off with a simple hoof.

"I understand..." she said quietly.

Spike nodded, and a few moments later, rushed forward to hug his life-long friend. Twilight returned the embrace as tight as she could, relieved to finally see her assistant again.

"How's my number one assistant been?" she asked quietly.

The corners of Spike's mouth quickly grew into a smile upon hearing his old title. It had been a few years since the dragon had practically grown-up, and left Twilight's library.

"I've been good..." he said, tightening his grip on her.

To him, it felt like being in the claws of the mother he never knew. He missed the feeling. The feeling of always seeing his best friend, Twilight.

The purple unicorn rested her head atop Spike's for a moment, and ran her hoof up-and-down on his back before pulling away.

"Love you, Spike." she said, smiling at the dragon.

"Love you too, Twi." he replied.

Twilight then looked to Earl, who was watching wordlessly.

"I talked to Fluttershy a little bit ago... She offered to have us stay in the cottage until we can find some place new." She said.

Earl nodded solemnly.

"So we're taking the train back, I'm assuming?" he replied.

"Already got our seats." Twilight said.

After a moment of silence, Twilight looked to her old assistant once more.

"Do you want to ride with us back to Ponyville? I'm sure Rarity would be more than happy to see you." the purple mare said.

Spike's face quickly brightened at the idea of seeing Rarity, and nodded.

"Yeah... I'd like that." he said, flashing the mare a smile.

Twilight nodded and tilted her head towards the exit to the garden.

"Can you two go get the ticket? I just... Want a few seconds." Twilight said.

Earl nodded and motioned for Spike to follow him as he left the garden. The dragon complied, leaving Twilight alone in front of her brother's grave. She slowly approached it, ready to deliver her final words.

* * *

As the train made it's way to Ponyville, Earl kept close to Twilight, his foreleg being around her for most of the trip. Spike stayed somewhat distant, a whole two seats away from the two unicorns. Neither knew the reason for his seclusion, but decided not to question it.

The ride felt like hours to the grey unicorn holding his marefriend. He was caught in between an emotional state of happiness and depression. Happiness because of the mare in his forelegs. Depression for the ones lost. After the seemingly-endless ride stopped, the three made their way off of the train silently, until they reached the outside of the station. Spike and Twilight shared a hug for several moments, saying their "goodbyes", specifically agreeing to meet up more.

Eventually, Earl and Twilight were making their way to Fluttershy's cottage, Spike going the opposite direction to Carousel Boutique. As the two ponies walked, they remained silent. Especially when they passed the burnt wreckage of Twilight's Library. Seeing it put a hole in the hearts of both unicorns. After the walk through town, the two reached Fluttershy's cottage.

Finally, Earl felt a familiar happiness that he hadn't experienced in several weeks. Birds flew freely around Fluttershy's yard. Along with several small animals scurrying around, and a calming stream running under the entryway. The warming colors that had recently had no effect on Earl, finally made him feel safe again. They brightened his day, his mood, his everything. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad. The two made their way to the door, examining the calming scenery of Fluttershy's home.

"Fluttershy? It's Twilight and Earl." Twilight said, knocking lightly on the door.

Several seconds later, the timid pegasus slowly creaked the door open, and smiled brightly. Without hesitation, she reached her forelegs forward and brought the two unicorns into a hug.

"It's so great to see you." she said, pulling away.

"It's great to see you, too Fluttershy." Twilight replied with a smile. "I still can't thank you enough for letting us stay here."

Fluttershy shook her head gently, a smile on her face.

"Oh, it's nothing. My home is your home, especially in times like this." Fluttershy said. "Please, come inside."

The two unicorns nodded and entered the home, Earl offering entrance to Twilight first.

Twilight and Fluttershy sat down on the couch as soon as the purple mare entered, and began discussing the recent events, particularly Shining and Mac's deaths. Fluttershy couldn't help but be saddened by her previous coltfriend's death.

As the two talked, Earl watched from the other side of the room. He specifically watched Fluttershy, her every move, every word she said, every breath she took, every movement of her hair. He studied it all, like a predator studying it's prey.

Kill her...

Earl's eyes went wide as the voices slowly wormed their way back into his skull.

Fluttershy.

Yes.

She wants to kill her.

She wants to kill your Twilight.

The grey unicorn's mouth slowly fell open as the voices continued. He slowly shook his head.

"No... She... She wouldn't."

Yes.

Yes she would.

She wants to kill her.

DO SOMETHING.

"It's honestly no trouble. I talked to Static last night, and he had no problem with it-" Fluttershy said.

"HEY!" Earl shouted, cutting the pegasus off mid-sentence.

Fluttershy jumped backwards in fear of the outburst. She looked to Earl quizzically.

"Wh-What?" she asked worriedly.

Earl stood up, a scowl on his face and his eyes twitching.

"What are you doing...?" he asked in a savage, angry tone.

"I... I'm talking with Twi-"

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"Earl?! What is wrong with you?!" Twilight asked, dumbfounded by the grey unicorn's angry shouting.

"This is for your own good, Twilight." Earl said, keeping eye-contact with the scared pegasus. "Now... What the fuck are you doing, Fluttershy?"

"I... I told you... I'm just talking to Twilight, that's all!" Fluttershy said frantically.

Earl stomped closer to the forest-green couch in her living room, causing the mare to sink into it's fabric worriedly.

"Are you trying to kill her, you little bitch?!" Earl said angrily.

Fluttershy's jaw fell open as tears welled in her eyes.

"Earl! That's enough!" Twilight shouted.

"Twilight. Please shut the fuck up. I'm trying to protect you." Earl snapped back.

"Protect me from what?!" Twilight asked, furious.

Earl snapped his view to Twilight and pointed a hoof in Fluttershy's face, causing her to sink further.

"From her! She wants to kill you, Twi!" he said desperately.

"Fluttershy?! Fluttershy does not want to kill me! What the hell has gotten in to you?!" Twilight shouted.

"They told me she was going to kill you!" Earl screamed in response.

He returned his view to the mortified pegasus on the couch, and pointed a hoof in her face.

"You don't touch Twilight, ALRIGHT?!" he shouted. "You don't look at her... you don't talk to her... YOU DON'T EVEN FUCKING THINK ABOUT HER!"

Fluttershy closed her eyes and began screaming as she tried to dig herself further into the couch.

"SO HELP ME CELESTIA I WILL END YOUR-!" Earl continued.

The grey unicorn was quickly cut off as a hoof collided with his neck, and jolted him vigorously on impact. After a few seconds of hold on Earl's neck, the hoof released his unconscious body on the floor. A dark-blue, black-maned pegasus stood behind the unconscious pony, starring angrily at Earl through two glowing red irises. The blue pegasus shifted his view to Fluttershy, then to Twilight. Pointing his hoof at the pony on the ground, he gritted his teeth together before speaking.

"Who the fuck is this... And what the fuck are they doing in my home?" the dark-blue pegasus asked through a thick accent.

End of Part 4

Part 2: Hit the Lights

Part 2

Chapter 7: Hit the Lights

"I-Is everypony OK?" Applejack asked as the room fell into complete silence.

The blonde haired human glanced around the pitch-black room wildly, trying to spot any sign of her friends. She felt an arm briskly reach out for her shoulder and screamed unexpectedly on contact.

"Who's there?!" She asked, terrified.

"It's me. Calm down, sis'." Macintosh said, his voice echoing throughout the dark room.

Applejack calmed slightly and darted her eyes around the room nervously, an embarrassed blush on her cheeks.

"Ah... uhh... Ah don't need ta calm down... Ah'm fine." She said, trying to keep her strong willed demeanor.

Nearby, Earl shuffled around in the darkness, trying to find a wall or some sort of support to keep him on his feet as he wandered around. Seconds later, he stumbled into a metal shelf and screamed in pain as the metal dug into his already stinging face wounds.

"Son of a BITCH!" He shouted angrily, immediately clapping a hand over his face to try and numb the pain.

"Earl?" Twilight called out, her voice faltering only in the slightest.

"Twilly?" Shining called in return.

Earl sighed and moved away from the metal bar, still shrouded completely in darkness.

"Goddammit... Mac?" Earl said.

"Over here." Mac said, waving his arm in the air despite the fact that it couldn't be seen.

"Shines?"

"Earl?" Shining replied.

Earl sighed yet again.

"Twilight?" He continued.

"Yes?" She called back.

"AJ?"

"Present."

"Good, we're all here... just can't see shit." Earl said, annoyed by the blanket of darkness enveloping the room.

"Are there any candles or anything?" Shining asked.

"I... I don't know. Check for a light-switch." Earl replied, following the spot where Shining's voice came from.

"A light-switch?" AJ asked, raising an eyebrow.

Earl sighed yet again.

"Fuck it. I'll find one." He replied.

The black-haired human glanced around in the darkness for a second before spotting a panel close to the door that was flashing green. Curiously he inched over to the barely noticeable light and crouched down to get a better look. It took a second for his eyes to adjust, but after a moment he could make out the word "Secured" just under the constantly flashing green light.

Secured? He thought.

He knew they were safe for the moment if this panel was telling the truth and simply shrugged, feeling the walls around the panel for a light switch.

"Find anything?" Shining asked, sticking his arms out and feeling through the darkness.

"Nothing." Earl said with an exhausted sigh as he continued feeling the walls.

The seething pain in his face and midsection stayed constant as he continued searching, and caused him to stifle multiple pained groans as he continued. Seconds later, the groans turned to a sigh of relief as he found a large switch, roughly two feet above the panel. He placed his hand at the bottom of it and pulled the slider up, showering the room in a bright light.

"Gah!" Twilight screamed, shielding her eyes from the massive blast of light that killed the dreary darkness on contact.

The others did the same and let out their own pained groans as the light burned their eyes.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK." Earl shouted, covering his eyes and falling to his knees.

As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, the battered human inched them open to a squint and saw his four friends doing the same. With a relieved sigh, he fell back from his knees and let out a pained chuckle.

"Well... we're alive." He said hesitantly.

"E-Eyup..." Mac said, his voice faltering slightly as well.

"Earl." Shining said, his voice emotionless.

The human in question shuffled on the ground for a moment and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, Shines?" He replied.

"You... might want to take a look at this."

The pained human groaned for a moment before heaving himself up into a sitting position. He quickly saw Twilight, Applejack, and Shining staring into the other side of the room.

"What are you guys... Holy... fuck buckets..." Earl said, awestruck by the sight before him.

There, lining the walls and littering the shelves throughout the room, was a massive amount of firearms. Ranging from small pistols to over-sized rifles, and everything in between.

"These are the... the things they were using..." Shining said, eying the massive amount of weapons before him.

"Y-Yeah... they are." Earl said, his heart racing.

They're sure as hell gonna want to get back in here... He thought worriedly, slowly scanning the racks upon racks of guns, just waiting for them.

A thought quickly flashed in his mind. Going Rambo and taking out the whole base surely would satisfy his thirst for blood from their oppressors, but it would be risky at best. None of the recently-transformed humans even knew what a gun was, let alone know how to work it. The thoughts of their next moved swirled in Earl's mind like a raging hurricane of different possibilities. Earl turned around and blinked in disbelief.

"Mac." He said, his voice dry.

Macintosh, who was lying on his back, glanced up at Earl and raised an eyebrow before noticing the massive amount of weapons surrounding him.

"Aint' these the-?" He asked.

"Yeah." Earl replied, going back to scanning the guns worriedly.

"What do you reckon we do next?" Mac asked.

"I.... I honestly have no idea." Earl said weakly.

* * *

On the outside of the door, the soldier who fired upon them was waiting worriedly. His arms were shaking in fear as he glanced quickly to the right and noticed Jackson, followed by a dozen soldiers, stomping down the hallway. The guard's fear only intensified as the sound of boots against the floor echoed throughout the long narrow hallway. He was as good as dead.

Jackson's facial expression was as sour as humanly possible, and his body-language showcased his anger quite accurately as well. As he neared the soldier, he drew his pistol and placed it right against the soldier's head, and began backing him into a wall across the corridor. The guard instantly whimpered in fear and backed away, dropping his rifle and throwing his hands in the air.

"Private, please tell me again where our guests manage to get themselves in to." The Colonel said, anger shining in his voice as well.

"Oh god, please no, sir, please!" The soldier cried in response.

Jackson scowled and pressed the pistol harder against the whimpering guard's skull.

"English. Motherfucker. Speak it. Now." Jackson said in a stern, venomous tone.

"T-The armory." The soldier replied shakily.

Jackson arched his forearm upwards, aiming the gun at the ceiling, and laughed as he turned back to the dozen guards behind him.

"You hear that boys? Fuck-o McGee over here let those sorry sunsa' bitches get your guns." The Colonel said, taking a few steps away from the cowering soldier.

The soldiers shuffled slightly and tightened the grip on their weapons.

"Does that make you mad?" Jackson said in a feigned caring tone.

"Yes sir!" The soldiers responded in sync.

"Does that make you angry?"

"Yes sir!"

The guard against the walls' mouth slowly fall open as the dozen soldiers readied their firearms.

"Does that make you want to hurt something?!

"No! PLEASE!" The soldier pleaded, terrified.

"Yes sir!"

"THEN LET HIM HAVE IT!"

Before the soldier could cry out in protest, the sound of a dozen high-powered firearms ripped through the halls as everything was enveloped in a massive flash. Almost instantly, the soldier's body buckled as it was filled with bullets. His skin burst open on contact with the lead, spilling a massive amount of blood onto the floor along with bone fragments and other assorted pieces. Soon after the onslaught of ammunition was over, the soldier fell to the ground, twitching weakly as his blood poured onto the floor. The guards lowered their rifles and looked to their commanding officer.

"Commendable work, gentlemen. Now," He said, growing a sinister smile. "Let's get your weapons back."

Epilogue

"You really think it could be something bad?" an brown, armor-plated pony asked, nervously making his way into the castle gardens of Canterlot.

"No... Probably just some critters getting into things again..." a white, armor-plated pony replied, nonchalantly making his way in as well.

The brown pony shrugged and continued down the dirt path leading in to the central garden. A slight fog was hanging over the dead of night as the two guard-ponies made their way around the grounds, searching for anything suspicious. Cold chills ran down the spine of the brown stallion causing him to stop dead and scan his surroundings nervously.

"I... Uhh... Don't know about this..." he said, nerves beginning to take hold.

The white stallion sighed and hung his head.

"You want me to go in by myself? Because I'm fully intent on doing that so you'll stop whining." he said in an obviously agitated tone of voice.

"Well no... I just-"

"Then shut up, and let's get the patrol over with. The old mare is makin' dinner right now." the white stallion replied, turning back to the path.

The brown pony gave one more nervous glance to his surroundings before hurriedly trotting towards his companion.

"Wait up!" he said frantically.

The white, armored guard pony ahead of him gave no response. Only scoffed as his fellow soldier attempted to catch up with him.

"Some day you're going to need to learn how to take care of yourself kid..."

The stallion smirked and waited for a response from his meek companion, but raised an eyebrow as he heard nothing, only the common rustling of bushes around the garden, which was typical for all of the creatures who inhabited it. He sighed and turned around slowly, preparing his apology to the nervous brown pony.

"Alright... Silent treatment... I'm sor-" he began.

The white stallion stopped himself however, when he realized his companion had disappeared completely. He raised an eyebrow and took a few steps forward, trying to scan the path for the pony a midst the dark of night, and the thin layer of fog that covered the ground.

"Hey! You there, kid?" he called out.

There was no response.

Shivering in a sudden stroke of fear, the pony scanned his surroundings. A tree and several flowers to his right, just in front of a gate, and a large row of bushes to his left.

"This aint' funny... Come on out, I just want to get the hell out of here..." the pony continued his voice faltering slightly as fear begin to tug at his vocal chords.

A very faint scream sounded from the other side of the garden, causing the white stallion to jump back and gasp in fear. He steadied his stance, looked around once more, and called again.

"Kid! Come on! I'm not laughing!" he shouted, anger and fear present in his shaky voice.

The scream continued for a few more seconds, eerily echoing throughout the garden. The sound was one straight out of a nightmare, ghastly, and begging for a stop to the horrible pain it was feeling. With no other options in sight, the white pony shifted his weight, and took off in a sprint towards the entrance of the garden, desperately trying to reach the barracks, and get a group of reinforcements.

Something was in the garden, that was very apparent, but what could have caused such an awful scream? The guard pony thought about it briefly as he sprinted across the dirt path he had entered on, panting heavily as his muscles ached from the intense speed of his sprint. He could feel it. A presence near him. Something that had no doubt made mince-meat out of his companion.

Primal fear was the only thing keeping the pony on his hooves, his muscles screaming at him to stop, but his mind pleading him to continue. His vision started to blur as the collective sweat on his brow seeped down into his eyes, and caused him to raise a hoof and attempt to wipe them. As he made the motion however, he lost his balance at high-speed, and came crashing down to the dirt path. The pain in his muscles instantly doubled as the cold, hard earth met his coat, and his momentum caused him to roll several feet before coming to a stop.

A loud groan of pain exited the white stallions throat as he twitched on the ground, trying to recover from the spill. He had momentarily forgotten about the other creature in the gardens as pain began to swell in his bones, but was quickly reminded of the terrifying presence as a twig snapped near him. He spun his head in the direction of the sound, near the row of bushes that lined the side of the dirt path.

"H-Hello?!" he called out, his voice choked by nervous fear and great pain.

There was no response, only the sound of rustling bushes.

"S-Stay back! I'm Royal Guard!" the guard shouted, frantically pointing to the crest on his chestplate.

His view was slightly obstructed by the seething pain, dark of night, and exhaustion, but a small blob of white could be perceived from his tired eyes, emerging from the bushes.

The guard tilted his head to try and regain his vision as the white blob moved closer at an agonizingly slow pace. It worked, allowing him to make out the blob in front of him as another pony, although it's features remained blurry.

"Who is that?!" he screamed in a high-pitched squeal of fear.

Sporadic, spastic, and unnatural movements spurred the blurred pony towards the white guard, as a low groan escaped his throat. Terrified beyond any of his known senses, the guard shook his head violently, frantically trying to regain his vision. Again, it worked, allowing him to see more of the approaching pony's features.

Two blank, white irises stared into the eyes of the guard pony as it approached him, the remains of a two-toned blue mane present on the top of his head surrounding his horn. A quick glance towards his flank revealed the identity of the slow, spastic pony to the guard, causing his jaw to slowly fall open.

"Sh-Shining Armor... Is that you...?" the guard called out weakly in disbelief.

As the sound hit the ears of the approaching pony, it's faced turned to a scowl, and the low groan turned into a vicious shout of rage. It's sporadic movements stopped momentarily, and were quickly replaced with a full-on charge towards the guard pony. The armored, white stallion screamed in fear as the white unicorn approached him at an alarming rate.

Within seconds, the pony had reached the guard, and tackled him back onto the ground. The guard struggled frantically as the entire weight of the seemingly-senseless creature was dropped onto him, all the while being savagely being pinned to the ground by the attacker's forelegs, his armor being ripped from his chest. After the armor had been successfully removed, the unicorn sank his teeth into the guard pony's neck, and viciously ripped away a large amount of flesh, leaving an open wound of substantial size, all the way down to his chest.

The guard belted a blood-wrenching scream of agonizing pain as his flesh was pulled away. He locked eyes with the savage attacker for a moment, who had stopped to examine his prey.

"Wh-What the hell are you?!" the guard screamed, almost illegible, given the pony's critical condition.

The attacker gave no response, and simply sunk his teeth into the open wound, ripping up the fleshy intestines that lie inside, ready to make a meal out of the guard.

* * *

After the spastic creature had finished devouring his prey, he stumbled off of the ravaged corpse and onto the dirt path, bloated and sluggish. He aimlessly walked down the path that led out of the garden, his mouth hanging dumbly open, and a low groan escaping his throat once more. Blood painted the entirety of his coat, along with torn flesh littering his teeth and gums.

Something suddenly caused the creature to stop completely as his head jerked upwards. A faint light in the distance caught the pony's eye and caused him to tilt his head curiously. It was a well-lit structure, just beyond the garden.

It was Canterlot Castle.

The pony hurriedly made his way down the path, trying to escape the garden and make his way to the lit castle in the distance.

Eat.... Hungry again... Must eat... Eat anything... the blood-drenched creature thought.

Eat... Everypony...

End of Days Again...