I was in bed, dreaming about what will happen the next day. As you may already be able to tell, I'm always focused on my work, even when I'm off. My wife was happily sleeping next to me. My kids were fast asleep. It was a great night. Nothing could ruin it. That is until a knock came to the door. It was Derpy Hooves, one of the delivery ponies.
"What is it, Derpy? It's almost 3 in the morning."
"Hey, Silver. Got some letters for ya."
Derpy handed me a hoof full of letters which were, unsurprisingly, not for me. Derpy dropped the bag full of mail on accident, resulting in all the mail and letters falling out of the bag.
"Oops, sorry."
"It's fine, Derpy. Can you just leave? I want to get some sleep."
"Sure thing. Bye."
Just as Derpy leaves, I realized that she forgot to pick up a file. It said classified on it. Why was Derpy in possession of a classified file? It was still labeled to me. I went back to bed and opened it. There was a letter in it.
Dear Captain Silver Spirit,
I am sure Derpy Hooves has delivered this file to you. There is a very serious problem occurring all over Equestria. We have had a huge increase in sick ponies. This one is not a common disease. From what we could decipher, the subject of the disease seems to react aggressively to any situation, always experience extreme pain, and seem to have a craving for other ponies. Even though it pains me to order this, all patients of the disease have been locked inside the Ponyville Hospital for safety purposes. Please come to the castle. I would like to see you.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Next to the letter was a photo. It was a picture of the interior of the hospital. Patients crowded the halls. Some even had to lay on the floor. I was not sure if it was just the quality photo, but I swear that the patients' eyes were glowing.
I immediately grabbed my guard armor using my magic and put it on. I also grabbed 10 bits, the amount of bits for a train ticket, wrote a note for my family telling them that I would be gone on duty for a few days possibly, kissed my wife's forehead, and dashed outside. I tripped over the door archway.
The Friendship Express Train Station
I teleported to the train station to take a train, but I noticed that some guards seem to be locking down the station. But I had see the princess. I walked up to one of the guards, who stopped me.
"Halt! This area is now blocked off from the public! The last train is not taking anymore passengers! I'm going to have to ask you turn around and leave!"
"Do I look like a civilian to you?"
"Oh! Captain! I'm sorry sir! Please enter! The princess is expecting you."
"I know, rookie."
The train came shortly after. I entered and saw how many ponies took the train as well. All the booths were full. Some ponies were even laying in the luggage holders above the seats. After walking over a few carts, I finally found a open seat. I took my seat next to a few others. They were talking about the disease.
"Wow. This disease really spooked everypony."
"Yeah, I know. I almost couldn't get my parents into the hospital."
"I heard the Princess Celestia locked all the patients in the hospital."
"Woah, really? That's uncalled for."
"I couldn't agree with you more, but there's nothing we can do. The disease seems to be pretty contagious. They say the only safe place left is Canterlot. Yeah, like a magical barrier can protect us from a disease."
"At least there will be other ponies there. It's been so lonely by ourselves for the past week."
"Uh huh. The problem never really seemed to affect us that much until recently."
"Hey look, we're almost there."
The Royal Castle, Princess Celestia's Chambers
"Princess Celestia, Captain Silver Spirit is here."
"Ah, good. Let him in."
"Yes, your highness."
A guard opened the door for me.
"Your highness.", I said as I bowed in respect.
"Thank you for coming, captain."
"I refuse to let you down, ma'am."
*chuckle* "You sound like my pupil, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight Sparkle was one of my friends during my fillyhood. I haven't heard from her since last week. I was actually surprised that she is not here.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"This disease is spreading into Canterlot. We already have reports of three of my subjects biting each other. This is madness."
"Yes, ma'am."
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know, your highness. But judging from how the infected act, we may need weapons to protect ourselves."
Then, suddenly, a banging came from the door. I could hear a muffled voice from the other end of the door. I opened the door. A unicorn guard barges through the door. It was the same guard who tried to make me turn around earlier at the train station. He was tired out and breathing heavily.
*pant* "Your *pant* highness. We have a *pant* problem."
"What is it, soldier?"
He limped on over to the balcony outside. He then pointed towards the courtyard.
"Take a *pant* look."
The courtyard was filled with guards, all of them seem to be stabbing and slicing civilians. Celestia's eyes were filled with fear and anger.
"What are they doing!? Why are they attacking my subjects!?"
I then saw the reason why.
"Princess. You may want to take a closer look at your 'subjects'."
A guard stabbed a pony through the neck with his spear. Another pony walked behind him and bit him in the shoulder. Blood gushed out. You could hear him scream from the balcony.
"Oh my..."
Another slam came from the door. I grabbed my sword and got ready. A guard walked into the room. He stared blankly at nothing. It was a truly horrifying scene. His eyes were so far in his sockets that they were almost not visible. Blood was leaking from his eye sockets. Skin and muscle was missing everywhere. Blood was leaking out of his mouth as well. Then I noticed that a bit of his neck was missing as well. The ponies somehow bit through solid steel armor! The guard fell to the ground. Dead. The guard got back up a few seconds later. Suddenly, he dashed for the princess. I jumped at the guard, and swung my sword down.
I sliced the pony's head clean off. Blood splattered all over the walls in a dark red color. Some landed on the princess, but a majority of it landed on myself. Some may have even gotten in my mouth. Disgusting. The pony's body was still standing up! But it was sloppily walking and it eventually fell over. I finished off the body by stabbing it through the waste. It continued to move for a few seconds then it stopped, his eyes still open. I realized that Canterlot was lost and that the princess wasn't safe.
"Your highness, we must take you to safety!"
"But what about all my subjects?"
"They're probably all dead now. We have to move now! Soldier! Come with me! And grab some weapons!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
Screams were heard throughout the castle. Bodies lied across the castle floor. Blood painted the walls in liquid red. But I couldn't focus on that. I had to focus on getting the princess to safety. But the only place I could think of was the dungeon. But if there are those "things" are down there, they have the element of surprise. The dungeon is supposedly the darkest place in all of Equestria. Near the hall to the dungeon, the torches were not lit and it was extremely dark. So I used my magic to create a bright glow. It filled the area with a brilliant light. However, I became tired before I could make it to the dungeon and I couldn't create light anymore. The princess noticed what I was trying to do.
"Please, captain. Allow me."
She used her magic to create another source of light. The light was almost blinding. This time, we all reached the dungeon. Two torches were on either side of the entrance. Those two were lit. I grabbed one of the torches and locked the door when everypony got inside. There were torches inside the dungeon as well, but they looked as if they were already used. Most of it was burned away and unusable. The most it could hold the fire was about 3 hours.
"Soldier, light the torches. I'll go see if there's anypony in here."
"I'll get right on it, sir."
I began to walk deeper into the dungeon. Every step I took seemed to get louder and louder. Echos bounced off the walls and through my head. I could hear rattling chains coming from behind me, then a low growling sound. I turned around and saw a zombie chained on the wall. It was hanging by its front hooves. They were chained to the wall. It desperately tried to reach me, but the chains made that impossible. I brought out my still wet sword and stabbed it through its head. I then pulled out the sword by pulling it up. The zombie's head split in two. It stopped moving instantly. After a few more hours, I returned to the rookie and the princess, who was accompanied by two more guards that I haven't noticed before.
"Who are you two?"
The two guards turn around, their eyes grew wide, then they stood in line at attention, saluting me.
"Sir! Pvt. Metal Gear, sir! My friends call me Iron Heart, sir!"
"Sir! Cpl. Thunderlane, sir!"
"At ease. How did you two get in here?"
"I was already in here before you and the princess got in here." said the private. "The princess let Thunderlane in right before she boarded up the door. We had a few more ponies try to get in, but the zombies got to them before we could unlock that rusty old door."
Thunderlane notices the rookie. "Who is that, sir? I've never seen him around before."
I thought for a second. I actually din't know anything about the rookie. I couldn't even seem to recall seeing him in the enlistment files. I was just about to call over the rookie when a huge force clammed against the door. It sent the princess flying backwards. The rookie nearly lost his balance, but he managed to keep himself up.
"Incredible... He held his ground against a force not even Celestia could hold... Who is this pony?"
I checked on the princess, who was on the ground. She broke her wing on the impact! I quickly took off the bandana I always wrapped around my forehead and wrapped it around her wing. Surprisingly, it was just big enough to wrap around the wing twice.
"Thank you, captain..."
"Of course, my lady."
It was quiet in the dungeon. Too quiet.
"Hey, captain. Check it out."
"What is it?"
"The zombies stopped banging on the door."
"Why?"
"Not sure, sir."
I took that moment of silence as an opportunity on discussing on how I and the others were going to survive.
"We can't survive in here forever, captain. We need supplies."
"Don't forget weapons."
"We need a new place as well. This dungeon will not provide us with the survival elements we need. We need a new stronghold."
"I agree with the princess. But how are we going get outside? The castle is probably swarming with zombies. Not to mention the rest of the kingdom. None of us will survive 10 minutes on our own with these dull weapons. We need sharp, new ones. Not even the princess will survive very long on her own. No offense, your highness."
"None taken, soldier. You are right. But who will leave safety for the good of all of us?"
It was silent. No pony wanted to go. They were all too frightened. But not me.
"I'll do it."
Everypony turned their attention to me.
"What?"
"Captain. That's suicide!"
"I understand. But for the good of everypony here, and Equestria, I volunteer to go."
"Very well, captain. You always were a stubborn pony."
"Yes, ma'am."
"If your mind cannot be changed, the very least I can do is give you this."
Celestia lifted her undamaged wing to reveal a sword and scabbard. The handle of the sword was pure gold and had swirly designs engraved into it. In the middle of the handle was a red-orange gem shaped like a galaxy with four ponies circling around it. It was the royal family insignia. The four ponies were all the different race of ponies. One was a earth pony. One was a unicorn. One was a pegasus. And the last was a alicorn. It was a truly beautiful sight to see. She pulled out the sword from its scabbard using her magic. The light from the torches shined off the blade. The blade was made of genomite crystal, the hardest and sharpest mineral in the world, and was as sharp as the tooth of a dragon.
"It is from my personal armory. It was my fathers."
I recalled seeing her father as a little filly. I never knew what a huge honor it was to meet him until that very moment, when I remembered the event. I took the sword. I was overcome by the mere sight of holding it.
"Thank you, princess."
"Be careful, captain. I'd hate to break in a new bodyguard."
"Don't worry, princess. I'll be back."
