Dead Rising: Case Equestria

TIME BEFORE ROYAL GUARD Arrives: 62:20:34

[In the Underground Tunnels]

(Dead Rising 2: Off the Record Pause Menu Music 8 plays)

"So...that foalish little mare has failed me has she?" Prince Blueblood said calmly, doing his best to hide his frustration at the news that had been delivered by one of his spies throughout the mall.

"Yes my lord, she failed to stop the dragon and his companions that were with him." The mare responded quite casually, as opposed to everypony else, who usually cowered or was very uptight around the royal unicorn because they knew that at a moment's notice that he could give the order to end their lives if he so chose. However, this mare in particular knew that she would be spared any wrath the prince would have, because she was one of his greatest allies...for now.

"Hm...give Captain Spearhead the order to have her taken care of, immediately!" Blueblood ordered coldly, "I do not want any loose ends being left strewn about this operation!"

"Yes my lord!" The mare saluted the prince as she turned to leave, but was stopped by one last question from her superior.

"Oh and Sugar Song, or whatever it is you call yourself?"

"Yes my liege?"

"Have those pitiful commoners from Ponyville suspected anything about you during your time with them?"

"No my lord."

"Good, we would hate to have another failure to add to the...body count now wouldn't we?" The prince asked with menace hidden in his voice.

"No sir, we wouldn't." The mare responded, unfazed by the threat thrown at her. She then saluted the native of Canterlot once more and left the room to go fulfill her orders. "However Blueblood," she smirked as she thought one last thing, "I think you might have to be more careful in order to ensure that *you** don't end up in that count...*"

(Music Stops)

[In the Safe Room]

"Twilight we're back!" Spike called out as he, Big Mac, and Caramel walked in with Derpy, who was now conscious again.

"Momma!" Dinky cried out happily as she galloped over and jumped into her mother, giving the mare a firm embrace. "You're okay!"

"Of course I am Dinky! Thanks to these three over here!" The mare smiled warmly at her child and gave her light nuzzle. Dinky then turned to her mothers rescuers. "Thank you for saving my momma!"

"Hey anytime Dinky!" Spike replied grinning, the stallions nodding and sharing an equally large grin on their faces. However, Spike suddenly remembered that he had to tell everyone what he had found out, and gathered everyone in the main room.

"So Spike what have you found out?" Twilight asked as the dragon looked around the room, taking a quick pause to see how everyone was doing. He was hit with a pang of sadness when he saw that Rainbow Dash was awake, but refused to look at him.

"She probably feels a little guilty about what happened...I'll have to speak to her later..." he silently vowed as he opened his mouth to begin speaking. "Well everypony, I've just found something that changes this case completely." He spoke with a serious look on his face, "after Caramel, Big Mac, and I went to rescue Derpy, we found out that her captor was the one impersonating Rainbow Dash!" Everypony gasped at this bit of news, not expecting this piece of news to come forth so soon.

"Alright! So you finally stopped that no good copycat for good right?" Scootaloo asked with excitement, which dwindled a little when Spike's expression didn't change.

"Well yes I believe we did stop the culprit for good, but something came up that was pretty worrying..." He said, pausing to take out his camera and setting it to let the others view the pictures he'd gotten. Once he'd found the pictures he'd taken in the bathroom, he turned the camera and put it on the table so that they could see. As the group studied the pictures their eyes widened in shock.

"It can't be..." Twilight said first, breaking the silence.

"...I thought we got rid of them varmints back at the royal wedding?" Applejack asked Spike with equal surprise.

"That's what I thought too, but what was even worse was that the changeling said that there are probably more throughout Equestria still, and I quote 'where you least expect it.'" He replied frustrated, slamming his fist down on the table. "Darn it! Even though I know I have to find out the truth I still have no idea where to go for answers!" He then sighed and slumped down in a chair while laying his head down on the table, mind working furiously on where to proceed.

"Um...if you don't mind me asking Spike..." Fluttershy said quietly, making the dragon lift his head up, "couldn't you have just asked the changeling what's going on?"

"I thought of that..." he answered just as quietly as she did, "but then I figured that she wouldn't be the type to give out answers...people like that never do in my experience..."

"Oh..." Fluttershy trailed off as this led everypony into another silence filled with deep thought. However, after a few minutes the noiseless space was suddenly filled with the sound of Pinkie's surprised reactions.

"Woah! Ah! Hey!" The pink-mare squeaked as the others looked at her, knowing that her Pinkie Sense was reacting to something.

"Pinkie what is it?" Twilight asked curiously.

"I just took a look at the map again and my Pinkie sense was showing a doozy in one of the underground tunnels under this spot right here!" The mare pointed at the location on the map.

"Hey...that's the place I came from before!" Derpy said as she saw where Pinkie was pointing.

"The Palisades mall eh?" Spike asked, finally spurred back into action with this new piece of evidence. "Guess we finally got a new lead!" He said with a smile.

"Looks like it!" Twilight said as she nodded in agreement.

"Alright then, I'll head out for the underground tunnels!" Spike declared, but then paused, "but first...Rainbow Dash, can I speak to you outside for a sec?" He asked pleadingly as he motioned to the pegasus to come outside with him.

"...Fine..." The cyan mare reluctantly agreed and slowly followed him outside. Once they got out there, Spike turned to face her, and sighed as he noticed that she still refused to look at him.

"Rainbow Dash..." He said, scratching the back of his head guiltily, "please...look at me." There was a moment of stillness between them, before Rainbow finally did look at him, albeit with a huge look of sadness etched on her face.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered out, Spike barely managing to hear it, "I'm so sorry Spike!" She repeated, this time with in a much louder voice as she began to tear up. Spike, seeing his friend almost about to cry, wrapped her in a comforting embrace while he tried to console her.

"Rainbow Dash it's ok, it's not your fault!" He whispered to the mare.

"Yes it was...I shouldn't have believed all those horrible lies about you..." The mare sobbed into his shoulder, "so much for being the element of loyalty eh?" She asked sadly.

"Rainbow Dash stop blaming yourself!" Spike ordered, making the mare look up at him curiously, "Blueblood rearranged your memories so you saw things differently. You were only doing what you thought was right!" He proclaimed loudly, but dropped his voice to a quieter tone as he continued, "your loyalty was never forgotten, because you stayed loyal to those you cared about, and some messed up memory doesn't change that! So please...forget about it...let's move on." He said, extending his claws out to the mare in order to seal the deal.

"...Thanks Spike...I needed that." The mare said, finally mustering up a small smile on her face as she took his claw into a firm shake. "Though if it's all the same to you I'll sit this one out since I'm not feeling one hundred percent yet."

"Hey it's no problem! Just be ready to kick some butt the next time I come back here alright?" The dragon told her with a grin that she returned.

"Hey come on! Remember who you're talking to?" She asked jokingly as they shared a small chuckle.

"Alright, well I should probably go then, catch you later Dashie!" He said, adding the nickname with a smirk, the mare rolling her eyes at his actions. As Spike went to the vents to leave Twilight walked up to him and stopped him.

"Hey Spike I was just wondering..." The mare said, rubbing her hoof nervously, "if maybe you'd let me...tag along with you this time around?" This question seemed to take the dragon by surprise as his eyes widened a bit.

"Well uh...sure Twilight!" He responded after recovering from his initial surprise. "Though if you don't mind me asking, why the sudden desire?"

"Because! I'm tired of sitting behind the side lines and just worrying if you'll be okay or not!" The unicorn said loudly, making  Spike flinch a little at the force behind her voice. "If I'm going to worry about you, I at least want to know what you're up against first hand if only for this one time!"

"Well...I suppose that's fine, but be careful, one bite from these guys and you're pretty much done unless we find some Ponybrex!" Spike warned as they began to head into the vents. After emerging from the other side Spike and Twilight headed towards the other side of the complex, and after wading through hordes of zomponies finally themselves at the entrance of the underground tunnels that Pinkie had specified.

"Well this is it!" Spike said, looking down into the dimly lit staircase that led down. "Let's go!" He declared, and with that the duo went downstairs, and found that the tunnel was mostly empty except...

"Spike look over there!" Twilight whispered to her former assistant, pointing a hoof in front of them. As the dragon looked in the direction she pointed he couldn't believe his luck! It was Blueblood and a couple of his lackeys moving a couple of suspicious looking packages. Spike knew what he had to do.

"Twilight, stay hidden, I'm going to check this out!" He ordered as the mare nodded and went behind a shelf that was well out of the way of Spike's targets.

(Dead Rising 2: Off the Record Pause Menu Music 2 plays)

"Now careful with those packages you foals!" Blueblood hissed, "these packages are vital to our plans! Now hurry up! Time is of the essence!"

"Yes sir!" The three unicorns saluted him as they went and picked up the packages using their magic.

"Whatever this is...I'm gonna need some evidence!" Spike said to himself, taking a spot behind some boxes that were relatively close to the unicorns. He took one picture of a unicorn lifting up a package, managing to get a clear view of what the containers looked like, which appeared to be sturdy grey cases meant for holding components of machine parts of some sort. "Blueblood what do we have here?" He muttered as he took the shot, getting 432 PP in the "special" and "drama" categories.

"Careful dummy!" One of the work ponies chastised another that had dropped one of the cases. "Didn't you hear the boss! This stuff is important!"

"Alright alright already I get it!" The other unicorn said waving off the verbal punishment, "it won't happen again!" Spike then had to move a bit closer as they moved further and further away towards a train that was stationed behind Blueblood. After settling in once again, this time behind a shelf, Spike took another shot of a pony struggling to lift up a couple of particularly heavy packages and almost dropped them in the process.

"Hey man, you got it?" One of his fellow workers asked him with concern.

"Well, if you could take one of these I think I've got it!" The stressed pony replied.

"Hey no problem, I got this one!"

"Thanks." Spike then took a picture just as they were trading over possession of the package and managed to get spectacular shot, rating 1523 PP in the "special" category. "Fantastic!" He said to himself with pride at his accomplishment. However, his joy soon faded as he saw the workers getting further and further away, and with no real cover left in sight, Spike had to depend on his luck to try and make it behind one of the pillars that lay only a short distance away. After waiting a bit, he leaped out from behind the box and sprinted towards his destination. Unfortunately, just as he was about to make it one of the unicorns caught a glimpse of him and began firing a couple of magic bolts, thus ending Spike's chance to take any more photos.

"Unbelievable!" Blueblood sighed in annoyance, "it's that little washed up photographer Spike! It looks like the little cretin is trying to hinder our operation! Well unfortunately for you Mr. Spike, we have a schedule to keep and we cannot stop to take any photo ops at the moment." The prince then motioned to his underlings. "Come along boys, let us leave this amateur paparazzi behind!" The workers then followed their boss onto the train as the front end of the locomotive let out a whistle, and began to roll down the track.

"I'm not done with you Blueblood!" Spike shouted as he ran towards the train, and jumped just as the platform he was on had ended. It seemed that luck was on his side as he managed to successfully make the jump in time and found himself landing on the caboose of the train.

He then began to make his way towards the front of the train, picking up a regular bat, a sledgehammer, and a traffic cone on his way. As he made it to the next car he saw that a couple of unicorns were blocking his way. Spike knew that charging at him would only end up in getting hit by magic blasts, he chose to lead them back to the first car, and hid behind a spare slot machine stashed on the car. As soon as he saw their shadows nearing his position he sprung up from behind the slot machine and put the traffic cone onto the first unicorns head, blocking his vision and effectively preventing him from magic use. Taking advantage of the other unicorn's surprise, Spike then proceeded to deliver a somersault kick to the blind unicorn, knocking them into one another and rendering them unconscious.

Without much trouble Spike advanced up the cars and eventually came to the walkway that lead to the conductor's car. Much to the dragon's surprise, Blueblood calmly trotted out and stomped his hooves in mock admiration. "I say, that was quite the show you put on over there Mr. Spike, I am indeed impressed by that performance."

"What the hay are you up to Blueblood?" Spike shouted harshly as he glared intensely at the royal unicorn.

"Oh me?" The prince looked around casually, as if he were a student that had just gotten called on by the teacher during class, "why, I'm just enjoying the fruits of my labor dear dragon!"

"You payed that changeling to frame Rainbow Dash didn't you!"

"Now now sir Spike there is no need to dwell on the details...especially when everyone involved comes out ahead?" The prince said giving an innocent smile, only serving to intensify Spike's look of anger.

"Come out ahead?!? *What the hay?" Spike spat in a disgusted tone of voice, "thousands* of ponies are dead, and you're not going to get away with it!"

"Oh do calm down little dragon, you're giving me a migraine just listening to your whining voice!" The unicorn said as he feigned a headache, "and besides, wasn't it this outbreak that gave you another chance at the fame you so desired? Where is the thanks for that hm?" The prince chided as he pushed down a lever in the car, which disconnected the car that Spike was currently on from his car. "Goodbye, Spike!" The nephew of Celestia bid the dragon as he charged up a single bolt of magic, making the dragon dive for cover as a huge bolt of magic whizzed overhead.

Without the conductor's car, which held the engine of the train, the rest began to come to a halt, and as the car's speed slowed down, Spike occupied himself with a bit of thought. "Well I guess I did get some good shots of the packages he had, but I just wish I knew what he planned to do with them..." Finally, he rose from the sitting position he had taken, hopped back onto the ground. Moments later, Twilight poofed in, making Spike yell out in shock.

"Sorry about that Spike!" Twilight said in an apologetic tone, "I didn't mean to scare you like that!"

"Hey no worries." Spike said, taking a couple of deep breaths to get his heart rate back down, "just warn me the next time you do that. I swear you almost gave me a heart attack!" The dragon joked, giving the mare a light punch as she giggled.

"So what did you find out?" The mare asked as they began to walk back towards one of the train platforms.

"Well, I do know that Blueblood plans to do something soon, so we'd better keep an eye out..."

"Spike, you just have to take that charlatan down! He not only started the outbreak on purpose, but he also tried to pin it on one of our closest friends as well!"

"No worries Twilight!" Spike declared, "There's no way that guy is coming out of this unscathed!" This seemed to satisfy Twilight, as they continued walking. Spike however, made a silent promise to himself. "That's right Twi, I'll do whatever it takes to bring him to justice! The ponies that were here deserve that much at least...so Blueblood, get ready! The next time you show your muzzle, we're coming for you..."

TIME BEFORE ROYAL GUARD Arrives: 60:53:23