Dead Rising: Case Equestria

Case 2-1: Engaged

Objective: Find and rescue Derpy from her foalnapper.

Date: Sept. 25th, 1:15 P.M.

TIME BEFORE ROYAL GUARD Arrives: 63:45:00

Spike, Big Macintosh, and Caramel made their way across the Silver Strip, taking care to grab a couple of weapons for Caramel on the way since his sledgehammer had previously broken. So they ended up having the stallion carry a soccer ball, a 2x4 plank, and an electric guitar. Spike still had a couple of his combo weapons left, including one spiked bat, the blambow, and a fire extinguisher that he'd picked up along the way. Big Macintosh stuck to his good old hooves and managed to find a magazine that made him more knowledgeable about hoof-to-hoof combat, and he brought that with him.

"So where is this crazy captor again?" Caramel asked after dodging a zombie's bite and countering with a buck.

"Well the note said in the Uranus Zone, which according to the map should be through that tunnel over there!" Spike said pointing to a tunnel that was decorated with the head of a creature remembered as something called an "alien." Going into the tunnel they prepared themselves for whatever lay beyond the door, just in case of a trap, and they proceeded with caution. Going into the zone they saw that it was a giant amusement park themed around the concept of space travel. Many arcade games and carnival activities lay around, and they even noticed a VIP cider bar over to the left.

"Man, I wouldn't mind coming here if it weren't for the whole outbreak deal!" Caramel said whistling in amazement as he scouted the area.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac said as he calmly looked around, but was just as equally impressed.

"Alright guys, I know this place can be astounding, but we gotta' be on the lookout! That criminal who kidnapped Derpy could be anywhere!" Spike said in warning as his companions nodded in agreement.

"Criminal is a bit harsh don't you think?" A voice said, startling the trio into a state of aggression. The voice seemed to notice their change in demeanor and chided them, "now now what's with the hostility? Don't you want to see that precious mare of yours?"

"Let Derpy go you fiend!" Caramel cried out to the voice, frantically looking to find its source as the voice simply chuckled and spoke again.

"My my, a bit feisty, normally I wouldn't really deal with rude stallions such as yourself, but today I'll make an exception!"

"We don't really make deals with foalnappers!" Spike said as he narrowed his eyebrows.

"Well it's either that or I leave you wondering where Ms. Derpy is, and who's to say a group of zomponies won't get her before you do if that happens?" The voice said, clearly having a smug look from its tone of voice. Spike and Caramel gritted their teeth as the voice asked once more, "so, will you cooperate with me?"

"Eeyup." Big Mac answered, stunning the other two partners of his.

"Big Mac, are you sure? We don't know if we can even trust this pony!" Caramel asked, clearly not liking the decision that was made.

"Ah know Caramel, but it's the only lead we have on where she could be!" Big Mac responded calmly, and his two friends sighed as they nodded in understanding, now willing to go with the plan.

"Ah, a lot smarter than he looks that one!" The voice said with a chuckle, "now who's to say brains and brawn can't come in one package? Oh well! Now if you want Ms. Derpy she will be in one of the bathrooms around this area, but hurry up, you only have minutes to do so! After that...I get rather...impatient..." The voice finished its statement with a dark laugh. After it went silent for a while, the trio sighed and began to think.

"What are we going to do guys?" Caramel asked with a defeated tone, "we can't all possibly check the three bathrooms in time, and we can probably only get to one in five minutes as it is!"

"Wait...I've got an idea..." Spike said, eyeing a nearby stand. He then went over to it and grabbed a firework set from the stand.

"Spike ah know that this is an amusement park but this ain't no time for celebratin' the fourth a' July!" The red stallion told him in confusion.

"No no! You see, what if we split up and check one bathroom each? That way we can't be wrong!" The other two looked at each other, seeing that it was a good plan, but with one problem.

"What if it's a trap though, and the one with Derpy in it has us get caught or something?" Caramel asked worriedly.

"That's why we each take something that we know can make a loud noise, that way if one of us is in trouble we can give a signal!" Spike explained as he gestured to the fireworks.

"Ohhhh..." The stallions mouthed as they agreed with his plan. After that, they each took a noise maker, and went off in their separate directions. Spike went into the first bathroom cautiously, making sure not to make a sound so as to gain the element of surprise. However, as he looked around he found that nopony was in there save for him.

"Rats..." He said in frustration he then sighed, "well as long as I'm here..." he then went over to a stall to relieve himself, not having done so in quite a while. With Big Macintosh, he found that the lights were flickering on and off, making it hard to see in the room. However, he saw a silhouette in the corner and galloped over.

"Don't you worry Ms!" Big Mac reassured the figure as he got to its position, "I've come to rescue you Ms-" his eyes widened as he saw what he was rescuing, "cardboard cutout..." he finished lamely as he saw that tied up was a big cardboard picture of a mare sitting down. "Well that was anticlimactic..." he muttered as he went to leave the room.

"Hello! Ms. Derpy? You in here?" Caramel asked tentatively as he went inside. He saw a figure in the corner that came into his view, making his eyes widen. "Ms. Rainbow Dash? What are you doing her-" he was cut off as the mare swiftly turned around and punched him in the face, knocking him down. "Wait Ms. Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?" He asked holding his jaw in pain as his attacker simply smirked at him. The mare then pushed open a nearby door that revealed the presence of Derpy, who was bruised and battered by this point and was having a hard time breathing. Caramel knew what he had to do, he pulled out a whistle he had found in one of the vending stalls and blew as hard as he could.

A high pitched whine rang out across the amusement park as Spike and Big Mac whirled in the direction that the sound came from. In both of their minds they were thinking the same thing: "Don't worry Caramel I'm coming!" Back with Caramel, the mare kicked away the whistle from the stallion's grip. The tan pony then glared at the alleged Rainbow Dash as he heard Spike and Big Mac come into the room as he gave a sigh of relief now that he had backup. The mare didn't seem fazed by this though, and merely smiled.

"Well well," she said, revealing herself to be the voice from before, "I wanted to take you out one at a time, but it seems now that you're all here I'll just have thrice the fun killing you all!" The mare smirked after she said this and pulled out Derpy by her mane.

"Ms. Rainbow Dash why are you doing this?" Caramel asked with anger and confusion, knowing that though the mare would get annoyed with Derpy's clumsiness at times, she'd never resort to these acts.

"That's not Rainbow Dash!" Spike interjected angrily as the two stallions turned toward him in confusion. "That's an imposter, she's the real pony responsible for the outbreak!" He declared as he pointed a claw at the Rainbow Dash impersonator. The pony in question simply laughed at this.

"Well well, looks like the jig is up then!" The pony said with a smirk as a cloud a smoke enveloped her, and as it disappeared, the true form of the pony was revealed, making the trio's eyes widen in surprise.

"I-is that a..." Caramel asked, not believing what he'd just seen.

"It is..." Big Mac confirmed, his eyes narrowing.

"...A changeling." Spike finished, "of course, why didn't I see that before?"

"B-but I thought they were all gone after Shining Armor's force field took care of them?" Caramel said still in shock at seeing one of the black buglike equines. This made the Changeling chuckle.

"You ponies are so naive!" She said grinning darkly, "just because the changeling army in Canterlot was taken out, doesn't mean that they were the only changelings! No, we're everywhere! In places you might not even suspect." The changling mare then changed the subject, "but back to business, I believe we are here for the survival of this mare here no?" She said as she held Derpy by her mane, grabbing a shard of glass from one of the broken mirrors in the room and holding it near Derpy's throat.

"You wouldn't dare!" Caramel growled at her.

"Oh wouldn't I?" The changeling returned with a smug smirk.

"Caramel, the soccer ball..." Spike whispered to the tan stallion as the male pony nodded lightly and let the soccer ball drop out.

"Oh what are we here to play a couple rounds of soccer?" The mare laughed evilly at the sight of Spike with the soccer ball. The dragon smirked at her statement, making her stop laughing as the trio didn't retort.

"We sure are!" Spike said in agreement, "in fact you could probably say that this is the direction that this is headed!" he then emphasized his pun by kicking the ball with precise aim at the changeling's head. However, the black shelled pony saw this and simply ducked, watching in satisfaction as the soccer ball sailed past her and went into one of the stalls in the back.

"Was that really you only plan?" The mare asked with a slight laugh, but was surprised as she suddenly found Big Macintosh directly in front of her.

"Eenope." He answered simply as he punched her in the face, sending her sprawling to the ground as he picked Derpy from her grasp, the wall-eyed mare still unconscious.

"Alright Big Mac!" Caramel cheered as the red stallion smiled in satisfaction at his handiwork. The changeling however, simply picked herself up from the ground and cracked her neck a couple of times. The trio gasped in disbelief at the nonchalance the mare displayed towards taking a hit of that magnitude.

"B-but most stallions would have been hospitalized from a hit like that!" Spike said in shock. He then turned to the stallions. "Big Mac, get Derpy back to the safe room, we'll handle things here!" The eldest Apple sibling nodded as he left the bathroom in haste. With the threat of Derpy's safety taken care of, the tan stallion and the purple drake turned back to their current foe who was currently growing angrier at the situation, which was slowly slipping out of her hooves.

(Chrono Cross: Boss Battle Theme plays)

"You two..." she said glaring at them intensely, "will not be leaving here ALIVE!" She cried out as she leaped towards her two enemies, who sidestepped and got out their weapons of choice: the Spiked bat and a 2x4 plank. The mare then gave them a sadistic smile and transformed, taking the form of a zompony as she leaped into one of the stall doors. Spike went to open the stall door she went into, but found it empty.

"But where did she-"

"Spike behind you!" Caramel cried out as Spike ducked just in time to see the changeling land right in front of him. Spike then chose this time to counter and swung his spiked bat at the fake zompony, who dodged, but still got grazed on her side, giving her a few cuts.

"You'll pay for that!" The shape-shifter said angrily as she went into another bathroom stall. This time however, Caramel and Spike stood back to back, making sure to watch every stall door, and as they expected, a zompony eventually came out from the far side of the room. Spike and Caramel rushed it and beat it to a pulp, but were disappointed as they saw that it was a real zompony instead of the changeling they were looking for.

"So she sends out real ones as well? ...Clever girl..." Caramel said, almost impressed by the cunning of his enemy.

"Don't worry I got an idea!" Spike said with a smirk. He then waited for another stall door to open, and once it did he sprayed the zompony that came out in the eyes. Much to Caramel's surprise the zompony gave a yell of pain and rubbed its eyes furiously. The duo then began attacked the revealed changeling as much as they could, leaving her with many gashes and cuts all over. The mare then roared in fury as she pulled Caramel into a stall, who gave a yelp of surprise, dropping his 2x4 plank in the process. Spike then gave a look of astonishment as not one but two Caramels came out of the stalls and faced him. The Caramel on the left gave a look to the one on the right a look of disdain.

"Ok I know that I'm pretty handsome but copying my looks is just despicable!" The stallion said looking at his double, who answered back in the same voice just as annoyed.

"Me? Copying you?" The other Caramel said in offense, "yeah right! If anything you're the one copying me out of jealousy!"

"Oh that's it!" Left Caramel cried out as he prepared to beat the tar out of other Caramel, who returned an equally angry look.

"Ok both of you stand still now or you both get it!" Spike yelled at the twins, making them stop instantly as they returned to their former positions, still casting looks of disgust at each other. The confused dragon rubbed his chin in thought at how he could possibly reveal which one was the real Caramel. Suddenly, an idea hit him as he grinned before addressing the two Caramels. "Hey Caramel, you dropped your grass seeds!"

"I did? Wh- hey! That's a low blow man!" The one on the left said in distaste at the joke that was thrown at him. The one on the right however gave a look of confusion. This was all Spike needed as he threw the 2x4 at the Caramel on the right, knocking him out and revealing the changeling's unconscious form.

(Music stops)

"And that's a wrap!" Spike said happily as Caramel walked over to him.

"Hey good job and all with that, but did you really have to bring that up again?" The tan stallion whined in annoyance.

"Oh come on man, cheer up! We got Derpy back safe and sound and now we can head back!" The dragon reassured his friend as he took a picture of the mare's unconscious form.

"What's with the picture Spike?" Caramel asked confused.

"Just taking a little photo, for evidence. I think whatever is going on here, just got a lot bigger if the changelings are getting involved..."

"Yeah no kidding..." Caramel said as they left the bathroom, giving the body of the mare one last look before they exited the bathroom...

TIME BEFORE ROYAL GUARD Arrives: 62:23:04