In Guts and Glory

Chapters

Beautiful afternoon
It begins
Locked in
New exit
Escape
He's back
Final act
Hospitals

Beautiful afternoon

It was a beautiful summer afternoon in Canterlot, the air was fresh, the sky was clear and the sun was still high in the sky. The time was about 2:30pm, ponies walked the street, high school students from the Canterlot Secondary school departed, teachers left for home, only few remained at the school. Among those were the high school cheerleading squad members and football players, ‘The Royals’ were the team name and their mascots were alicorns, in respect for the princesses. Inside the gymnasium the cheerleaders were practising for their upcoming tournament against ‘Aero-Cats’ from Fillydelphia. “Okay girls let’s try and get this right for once” Diamond Tiara scoffed, irritated at the performance level of the team, despite the team performing exceptionally well she wanted them to be perfect. “But we are doin it right” Applebloom piped up, Diamond Tiara shot her a cold glare, “did you just argue with me? Ten push ups” Diamond ordered Applebloom who obliged reluctantly.

“Now if any-pony wants to argue with me they might as well get down and do ten push ups as well” Diamond yelled at the group “NOW LET’S GET THIS RIGHT”. Multiple cheerleaders looked at each other then back to Tiara and started doing their exercises and practising. The Pegasus cheerleaders started doing aerial acrobatics while the rest of the cheerleaders did regular acrobatics and started their chant. “Go, go, go team go” the team chanted but Tiara once again interjected “STOP, JUST STOP” Tiara yelled and the team just froze, “can we please just get this right for once” she screeched. “But what exactly are we doing wrong?” Sweetie bell asked, Diamond Tiara shot her a cold glare just like she had Applebloom “push ups, now” Tiara ordered, Sweetie Bell sighed in irritation and Tiara took notice “30 push ups” she ordered. Silver Spoon snickered at her friends mean punishments to the team.

Outside the football team was practising for their upcoming Championship game against their long-time rival the ‘Rodeo Dogs’ from Manehatten. “Blue 65, Blue 65, down… set HUT” Thunder Shot yelled, as his name would imply Thunder Shot had a terrific throw and was one of the best quarterbacks in the league. The offensive and defensive lineman clashed together, many groans of pain were emitted as linemen tried to conquer the other. Rumble, despite Pegasus’ mainly being receivers was on the offensive line and was truly a dominant lineman. Thunder Shot passed it forward to Molasses Sauce who caught the ball perfectly and flew for another 20 yards before being air tackled by Heckler.

“Yeah buddy that’s what I’m talking about” Thunder Shot yelled out. Masterson, the defensive captain let out an angered roar “DEFENCE STOP THEM WERE THEY STAND” he yelled out and they got back into formation, ready for another play. Thunder Shot told the offensive team the play and they all got in their positions. “Blue 65, Blue 65, Down… set HUT” Thunder Shot ordered. The linemen once again clashed into one another. Pipsqueak, who now had outgrown his name, ran forward and Thunder Shot passed him the football as he passed. Pipsqueak charged for an opening, despite having outgrown his name he was still by far the smallest team member, and slipped through a gap in the line.

Rumble and Hammerhead, both left side linemen exchanged glances and left their defensive lineman to further cover Pipsqueak. Rumble and Hammerhead both had tremendous physique and charged past the line of scrimmage and past Pipsqueak, a linebacker tried to launch himself to tackle Pipsqueak but Hammerhead slammed his body into the linebacker and the linebacker was knocked to the ground. “Yo Pip this way” Rumble yelled and cleared a fine path through the remaining opposition, which Pipsqueak took advantage of and followed Rumble in quick pursuit.

Hammerhead quickly raced up beside Rumble and created a small wall in front of Pipsqueak, all that was left was the safety. Sugar Cane, the defensive safety, gulped in fear at the two hulking lineman and Rumble slammed his body through Sugar Cane and both Rumble and Hammerhead split off and let Pipsqueak through and he ran the ball in for a touchdown.

Masterson let out an angered roar, “hey chill M” Thunder Shot said calmly “not a lot of schools have an awesome line like us, besides Hammerhead and Rumble are 2 mean sons a bitches, catch my drift”. Masterson let out a sigh of irritation “I just wish the D would step it up” Masterson sighed, “hey man don’t worry, in the game they’ll do fine” Thunder Lane assured Masterson. Hours passed and both teams continued their practise.

Now late in the evening, about 6:00pm, the football team rapped up practise. All the doors except the back door had been locked, and the coaches had given the team the key, so long as they left it on his desk for him to get in the morning. “Man to bad coach couldn’t make it” Rumble told the team, “yeah but man, he had that meeting to go to” Hammerhead replied, “yeah I know it’s just shit ain’t the same without the coach you know?” Rumble asked rhetorically. The football team entered the school with their cleats still on, despite the janitors constantly scolding them for it. Thunder Shot locked the door behind him and went to the coach’s office and tossed the keys onto the desk.

The cheerleading team was still practising, on account of Diamond Tiara making threats to the team that any-pony who left early would be suspended during the tournament. “Okay, I’m not sure how many time we’ll do this but I’m willing to stay here all night until we get it perfect” Tiara scolded the team, multiple groans could be heard as the team got back into formation.

Back in the change room multiple football members conversed about the after game party, supposed to be held by Pinkie Pie herself. “Man I don’t give 2 shits yo, I’m getting absolutely wasted man” Molasses Sauce boasted, “hey man save it for after we win” Heckler chuckled. Molasses shot him a comical look “oh yeah and who’s gonna beat us? The puppy dog saints” Molasses laughed and the whole team burst into laughter. Thunder Shot raced into the change room “hey boys you won’t believe it” Thunder exclaimed. They all went quiet then Roller broke the silence “Pipsqueak’s gay?” he asked jokingly and the team burst into laughter once again, “hey” Hammerhead yelled out defending his small friend. “Hammer it’s okay it’s just a joke” Pipsqueak told Hammerhead, “yeah Hammerhead slow the fuck down” Roller laughed, “ain’t what your mom said last night” Hammerhead joked, the whole team looked to Roller and laughed “Ooo” the team taunted. Roller simply had a hearty laugh and chuckled “man that ain’t right”.

The attention was turned back to Thunder Shot, “guys listen… the cheerleaders are still practising” Thunder Lane informed the team and they all shot up and raced out of the change room towards the gymnasium bleachers

It begins

The football team sat on the bleachers in full attention, like they had just found life’s true meaning. “Girls, looks like we have an audience” Diamond Tiara informed the cheerleading team “let’s give them a show”. The simple order resulted in cheers from the entire football team “do it, do it, do it” the football team chanted. The cheerleading team started their ‘show’ for the football team, all were in perfect attention. “That’s my mare” Thunder Lane called out to Diamond Tiara, who blushed at the comment.

The cheerleading team was doing amazing acrobatics and the like, all just a big show to impress the football team. Rumble leaned over to Hammerhead “yo see Scootaloo?” Rumble as Hammerhead, Hammerhead looked through the cheerleading team “who?” he asked. Rumble rolled his eyes “the cute Pegasus, see her?” Rumble chuckled. “Man I see a lot of cute mare’s be more depictive” Hammerhead sighed, Rumble scoffed “the REALLY cute one”, Hammerhead once again scanned the cheerleaders for the one Rumble was referring to.

“Nope” Hammerhead told Rumble, “oh forget it, anyway I’m thinking of asking her to the prom… think she’ll go for it?” Rumble asked his friend, “well I’ll be honest with you” Hammerhead began and Rumble nodded in attention “if she’s as pretty as you say she is” Hammerhead continued and Rumble was in close attention. Hammerhead thought for a moment and took a quick glance at the cheerleaders “which one was she again” Hammerhead asked jokingly “oh FUCK OFF” Rumble laughed out loud and Scootaloo, who was at the bottom of the cheerleader made pyramid, lost her concentration at the outburst. She wobbled and the entire pyramid collapsed.

There was an eerie silence that filled the gymnasium, the football team sat in total silence, and the cheerleading team sat in silent agony, their attempt to show off to the football team ruined. Hammerhead smirked “is that your mare?” he whispered to Rumble, who buried his face in his hooves in embarrassment. Hammerhead chuckled “you two have a lot in common”, Hammerhead rose from his seat and started cheering “that was awesome, wooooh yah” Hammerhead cheered, the rest of the team looked at Hammerhead and shrugged and followed his lead. The gymnasium was filled with cheers from the football team and the cheerleaders looked at each other in shear astonishment that despite their utter failure the team was cheering for them.

Hammerhead left the bleachers and headed back to the change room, eventually the rest of the team returned to the change room. The cheerleading team, scolded by Diamond Tiara for their failure, also returned to the female change room. “Scootaloo get over here” Tiara scolded and Scootaloo made her way over to Tiara shamefully. “What the hell was that? Stage freight?” Tiara scolded, “I’m sorry, I just lost concentration is all” she told Tiara rather sheepishly. Tiara fluffed her hair out of her face “if you can’t perform properly tomorrow I’ll have you benched for the tournament” Tiara threatened. Scootaloo gasped but Tiara was already leaving the gymnasium, Scootaloo dropped her head in shame and sighed as she made her way to the female change room.

“Hammerhead, why the hell’s yah cheer?” Masterson laughed, Hammerhead looked up and raised an eyebrow “is that a rhetorical question?” Hammerhead asked in curiosity. “Whoa, no offence man just asking” Masterson exclaimed, Hammerhead rolled his eyes and sighed “I cheered because that was the best damn performance I have ever seen” Hammerhead told Masterson. “Seriously” Masterson exclaimed, “yeah well it was also my only performance I’ve ever seen, well in person anyway” Hammerhead informed Masterson and the team burst into laughter.

“Man, Hammer, that was a botched performance” Thunder Shot laughed, “so what made it so ‘botched’” Hammerhead asked curiously. The team went quiet, they looked at each other than back to Hammerhead if he was actually serious about wanting to know what went wrong with the performance. Minty Jack, a defensive lineman, laughed “man didn’t you see that one mare screw up and make the entire pyramid topple it was priceless” Minty Jack laughed. Hammerhead gave him a cold expression “what’s so funny about that?” he asked seriously, Minty Jack went silent. Hammerhead rose from his seat, no fully changed and ready to head home for supper.

Thunder Shot laughed “man H, if you and I weren’t buds I’d think that you were insane or something… or liked that mare that toppled the pyramid” Thunder Shot laughed. Hammerhead looked at Thunder Shot with a plain expression “meh, mares cost too much money and besides they never shut up about going shopping for stuff at the malls” Hammerhead laughed. Thunder Shot let out a sigh “shut up, you know that Diamond Tiara loves shopping” Thunder Shot chuckled. Hammerhead passed Thunder Shot and hit himself in the forehead like he had just realized something so simple “ah durr” Hammerhead laughed and left the change room.

Hammerhead looked both ways in the hallway, either way he went was the same distance to his locker, “right way” Hammerhead chuckled and decided to turn right. Hammerhead slowly walked with a sway in his pace and eventually made it to his locker. Purposely fumbling with his locker he dropped the lock to the ground and let his locker sway open, he was sore from practice but then again it felt kind of good to be in a bit of pain, made him know he was alive. Grabbing his old cow-pony duster coat he muttered to himself “we may not have to dress, but this thing is comfy”. He slid the coat on and looked around the dimly lit floor for his lock he had purposely dropped.

“Where the fuck’d that thing go?” he cursed to himself. He spotted the lock and bent down just a little and grabbed the lock “bloody harder than finding a needle in a hay stack” he muttered as he stood back up. He turned to his locker but there was a dark figure now in front of him.

“HOLY FUCK” Hammerhead yelled as he threw his lock up in the air and hopped back in shock. “Oh sorry” Scootaloo apologized as she stepped into the light of the hallway, “shit you could give some-pony a heart attack like that” Hammerhead muttered as he bent over and grabbed his lock. As went back to fumbling with his lock Scootaloo stepped forward “uhm listen I uh wanted to tell you something” Scootaloo said sheepishly, “huh, what’s that?” Hammerhead said leaning back so he could see Scootaloo. Scootaloo blushed, she had never really talked this close to Hammerhead and his very presence near her made her feel… strange. “I uhh well uhm you see” she stuttered, Hammerhead closed his locker and tossed his bag over his shoulder “listen uhm… Scootaloo right?” Hammerhead asked to which Scootaloo blushed and stepped back sheepishly.

Hammerhead looked down the hallway to see Rumble fidgeting with his own locker “one sec Scoot” Hammerhead told her and jogged brisk fully down the hallway. Scootaloo looked at herself ‘did he just call me… Scoot?’ she thought to herself and blushed. She looked down the hallway and saw Hammerhead and Rumble having a friendly argument about something, Hammerhead smacked Rumble upside the head and pointed to Scootaloo, Hammerhead looked to Scootaloo then said something else. They continued arguing then Hammerhead stood on his hindlegs and threw his forelegs into the air with frustration “fine I’ll do it then” Hammerhead scowled and made his way back to Scootaloo.

“Uhm listen I just wanted to uhm thank you for cheering for us back there… even if we kind of screwed up” Scootaloo told Hammerhead rather sheepishly, “huh?” Hammerhead replied a little confused. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and stepped shyly forward “even though we messed up you cheered, and after you cheered the rest of the football team cheered” Scootaloo thanked Hammerhead. “Eh don’t mention it” Hammerhead replied bluntly, “no really thank you, you might have saved my flank” Scootaloo laughed softly, Hammerhead leaned sideways and peeked at her flank “bah it looks fine to me” Hammerhead chuckled and Scootaloo blushed furiously.

“Anyway, listen uh Scoot, this may sound weird coming from me but I need to ask you something very important, uh do you have a date for the prom?” Hammerhead asked curiously, and rather bashfully. Scootaloo blushed again ‘was he asking me to prom’ Scootaloo thought to herself “uhm no why do you ask?” Scootaloo asked, “oh well I was just wondering if” Hammerhead began but Scootaloo interrupted him before he could finish “I’d love to” she exclaimed. Hammerhead brushed the top of his forehead in relief “thank Celestia I thought you might say no” Hammerhead sighed and let out a deep breath. “Why would I ever say no to a football player” Scootaloo said in excitement, Hammerhead pointed to Rumble “ha told yah so, you’re set man” Hammerhead yelled to Rumble. Scootaloo looked back and forth from Rumble to Hammerhead as Rumble approached, “wait what” Scootaloo gasped.

Hammerhead kissed Scootaloo on the cheek but her expression never changed ‘what exactly is going on here?’ she thought to herself. “Yo thanks H” Rumble called out to Hammerhead as he walked away “what friends are for right?” Hammerhead asked rhetorically. Rumble placed his right foreleg around Scootaloo’s neck and nuzzled his muzzle into her neck “I’m so happy you said yes” he whispered but Scootaloo’s expression still hadn’t changed from that blunt clueless expression of ‘what just happened’.

“Man what the fuck is this shit” Honey Lick yelled as he tried to slam through the front door. “Man this is some bullshit prank I’m telling you” Blitz said as he tried to open the door civilly, “why can’t we leave” Diamond Tiara scoffed with Thunder Shot’s foreleg wrapped around her neck. “Yo T? What’s this shit all about?” One of the defensive linebackers asked. “How should I know” Thunder Shot replied as her approached the group that had accumulated at the front doors, which coincidentally happened to be locked. Thunder Shot took his foreleg off Diamond Tiara and tried to open it, when it wouldn’t budge he tried giving it an aggressive nudge.

He stood back and Hammerhead rounded a corner from another hallway, “what’s the hold up, it isn’t raining is it?” Hammerhead laughed but they all shot him pissed off looks. “Whoa, something I said?” Hammerhead asked as he approached the group of every-pony on both the cheerleading team and football team, minus Rumble and Scootaloo who were still upstairs. “Some mother fucker locked us in the school” Molasses sauce said irritated, “whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa… how do we get locked inside?” Hammerhead asked curiously, “doesn’t matter, what matters is that were locked in here” Diamond Tiara scoffed.

Hammerhead sighed and walked up to the door and tried to open it, the door wouldn’t budge. “We already tried genius” Tiara taunted. Hammerhead stepped back “sorry Celestia, desperate times call for desperate measures” Hammerhead muttered as he punched the glass window of the door. The glass broke but was held together by wires that helped prevent break-ins. “Oww fuck” Hammerhead cursed as he withdrew his hoof, it wasn’t hurt bad minus a badly bruised knuckle. “Like I said genius” Tiara once again taunted, Hammerhead gave her an irritated look “if I wanted shit from you I would’ve taken a job as you’re toilet” Hammerhead laughed, Thunder Shot chuckled at the insult.

Tiara looked to her colt-friend, “you think that’s funny?” she asked, irritated by his chuckling. “A little” he laughed, Tiara swung her head away “fine no sex for a month” she threatened, every-pony gave them an astonished look and the football team all chanted ‘Ooo’, Thunder Shot got an embarrassed look to his face. “Hey Thunder, didn’t coach give you a key for the outside doors?” Hammerhead asked, taking the attention away from Thunder Shot’s relationship with Diamond Tiara, “huh… oh yeah he did they’re on the coach’s desk” Thunder Shot stuttered and Hammerhead rolled his eyes “sometimes yah need a genius” he laughed and both Hammerhead and Thunder Shot ran for the Coach’s office

Locked in

Thunder Shot and Hammerhead raced through the hallways towards the coach’s office. “Thanks for saving my ass back there man” Thunder Shot laughed as they rounded the corner for the Phys. Ed hallway, “bah don’t mention it” Hammerhead remarked as they stopped in front of the coach’s office, Hammerhead opened the door and let Thunder Shot through the door, Thunder Shot nodded in appreciation. “Ladies first” Hammerhead joked as Thunder Shot entered the coach’s office, “hey” he scowled back then chuckled as he searched for the keys.

Hammerhead peaked into the hallway and the lights were very dim, ‘something to save energy’ he assumed then looked back to Thunder Shot. “Shit, I left them right here” Thunder Shot yelled as he tossed papers away trying to find the keys. Hammerhead rolled his eyes “figures” Hammerhead muttered as they left the coach’s office.

Back at the entrance some of the group started to panic, “man… I saw this in the movies man… we all fuckin get abducted” Davidson said as he began to panic. Rumble, who was accompanied by the Pegasus Scootaloo, yelled at him “shut the fuck up man, it’s just a fluke… one of the janitors probably locked the door and forgot that we were still in the school” Rumble yelled. “From the inside man?” Davidson shrieked as he became frantic, “Dave, chill the fuck out man” Rumble ordered but Davidson continued to become more and more frantic.

“We’re all gonna disappear man” Davidson screamed, his outbreak had some of the cheerleaders beginning to lose it as well. Rumble took his foreleg away from Scootaloo and approached the panicking Davidson, “shut the fuck up man you’re scarring ponies” Rumble ordered but Davidson was too far into fear to listen. “We’re goners man, fucking goners… game over man” he shrieked but Rumble slammed a hard punch into his face and knocked Davidson out cold. “Sorry buddy but we had to” Rumble said to his now unconscious friend.

The lights began to flicker and several cheerleaders screamed, one of the football wide receivers yelled “what the fuck is this shit man”, another football player began to say something “man this is complete” he began but was cut off and let out a cry of pain. Several screams erupted as blood splattered against ponies close to the football player. “What the fuck” another football player began but was cut off as he too fell to the shadow assailant. Several more screams erupted until a beam of light pieced the darkness.

“TIARA” Thunder Shot roared and another light pierced the darkness “what the hell is going on” Hammerhead yelled as they raced to the group. The lights to the school flickered back on and they were greeted with the sight of a massacre, over half of the group was dead and hacked to pieces.

“Holy fuck” Thunder Shot gasped and raced to the group, several ponies were covered in blood from another pony. “What the fuck is this shit” Masterson roared, “man it looks like a fuckin slaughter” Hammerhead gasped as he put his flashlight in his coat’s pocket. “Were the fuck’d you get flashlights?” Molasses Sauce asked, “my locker I have 4 flashlights and when the power went out I grabbed Thunder Shot a flashlight” Hammerhead informed them.

“Well let’s just get the fuck outta here and call the police” Renaldo pleaded, Thunder Shot and Hammerhead both looked at each other and back to the group with a look of defeat, “we uhm well uh” Thunder Shot stuttered. “What?” Cherry Gloss, one of the cheerleaders, asked frantically, “uhm well the keys aren’t there” Hammerhead replied. Davidson was just regaining consciousness and shrieked at the sight of all the blood.

“Oh man we’re really fucked now man” Blain said depressingly, “no we aren’t” Hammerhead assured him, “hey man what the fuck do you mean… that thing that attacked us, it’s gonna come back man… and when it does it’s gonna come back and it’s gonna fuckin kill us man” Blain screamed. “Listen all we have to do is wait for the teachers to open up the school and we out” Thunder Shot said positively. “Hey when do the teachers come around” Applebloom asked. Thunder Shot let out a depressed sigh “uhm 6am so about 12 hours from now” he said bluntly.

Davidson got up “12 hours… man sorry to rain on your parade but we aren’t gonna last 12 minutes man” Davidson shrieked, resulting in the panicking of many other ponies. Hammerhead slammed a punch into Davidson’s face, but with much more force than Rumble had. Masterson looked to Hammerhead “thanks” Masterson thanked Hammerhead, and he simply shrugged “some-pony was going to do it so I figured might as well be me” Hammerhead replied.

“Listen we can’t wait around for 12 hours… or more ponies will die” Tiara ordered, “what do you suggest we do?” Dandy Lion, another cheerleader, asked. Tiara looked around “well we should probably find a good place to hide” she began but Rose pedal cut her off “that’s stupid, that thing will find us and when it does it’ll kill us” she shrieked and another team member pitched in to the argument.

Soon the entire group was arguing, “HEY EVERY-PONY SHUT UP” Thunder Shot yelled and was about to say something else until he saw Hammerhead looking away from the group. “Yo Hammerhead… you okay?” Thunder Shot asked and Hammerhead nodded silently. “What do you see man?” Rumble asked, Hammerhead turned to the group “a way out” he replied and the entire groups jaws opened wide. “Oh my Celestia we’re saved” Sweetie Bell cheered, “so what do we do?” Thunder Shot asked. Hammerhead looked at the window of the door and pointed to the door “see that window?” he asked and Thunder Shot took a quick glance at the door “yeah what about it?” he asked. Hammerhead took a few steps forward “I could’ve broken it with my bare hooves but those stupid wires inside the glass keep us from escaping” Hammerhead informed the group “so we need to grab a baseball bat and some wire cutters and we can all break out of the school” he informed the group.

He looked to the group “don’t suppose any of you have a bat?” he asked and they all looked around for some-pony to say they had a bat. “Okay, we go to the Auto-mechanic shop and take a pair of wire cutters and maybe a monkey wrench to break the window” Hammerhead said as he turned to head down the hallway. “Hey Auto room is that way” Masterson called out to Hammerhead, “I need something from my locker” he called back and tossed them his flashlight, Masterson caught it and they watched as Hammerhead fearlessly walked down the dimly lit hallway.

“He’s dead” Davidson gasped as he got up, Rumble turned around “don’t make me knock you out again” Rumble threatened but Davidson simply flinched and surrendered. “Okay… you heard Hammerhead, to the auto room” Thunder Shot ordered and the group ran the opposite direction Hammerhead had went, and proceeded towards the auto room.

The group raced to the auto room and one of the cheerleaders tried furiously to open the door, it was locked. One of the defensive linemen set her aside and tried to barge through the door but it wouldn’t budge, “genius” Tiara scoffed and Masterson looked to her “you have a better idea princess?” he asked irritated by her attitude. The lights started to flicker and shut off once again, several team members from both the football and cheerleading teams started screaming, Masterson and Thunder Shot quickly flicked on the flashlights from Hammerhead, only to see a figure in a dark cloak with a sickly looking scythe approach. “FUCK” Davidson screamed and literally the entire remaining group screamed in horror.

“RUN” Thunder Shot ordered and the group quickly scattered but the cloaked figure was very quick and deadly, swinging the scythe with deadly accuracy and proficiency and cutting down several ponies into pieces. “This way… run and don’t look back” Masterson yelled as he stayed behind the group to make sure no-pony fell behind. After recently falling Davidson raced up and passed the cloaked figure, who missed him by mere inches, Davidson raced passed the group and accidently bumped into Masterson. Masterson lost his balance and tripped to the ground, his flashlight smashed as it hit the group and darkness encased him.

A lone scream could be heard down the hallways and the group raced on, not really knowing what had just happened. The reaming group members rushed into the cafeteria, light from the moon shawn through windows from the walls and the cafeteria was somewhat lit. Thunder Shot turned off the flashlight and ordered every-pony to get down.

The cafeteria was deathly silent as the group hid in the cafeteria in fear of the cloaked assailant. A lone figure opened the window and Scootaloo peeped in fear, Rumble wrapped his foreleg around her mouth to silence her, “shut her up, she’s going to get us all killed” Tiara hissed. The figure turned towards the group and two beams of light from flashlights tore through the darkness “hey, you guys get the cutters?” Hammerhead asked, the group let out a sigh and Tiara began to accuse him “and where were you, probably taking off a bloody cloak no doubt” she accused him. “Uh… why the hell would I have a bloody cloak, and besides I got us more flashlights” he replied subtly and approached the group and tossed them an extra flashlight.

“Where’s the others?” he asked and one of the cheerleaders began to cry, “oh fuck” Hammerhead sighed. Now there was only Thunder Shot, Davidson, Pipsqueak, Rumble, Molasses Sauce, Reggie, Diamond Tiara, Dandy Lion, Rose Pedal, Silver Spoon, Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and Hammerhead. “Small group… we’ll be harder to find now” Hammerhead began but Dandy Lion screamed and Hammerhead turned and jumped back just in time to miss a swing from the deadly scythe that was being wielded by the cloaked figure.

Hammerhead tripped and his flashlight broke, “fucking run” Hammerhead yelled out and the group ran off, leaving Hammerhead behind. Dandy Lion slammed on the elevator button several times, hopping that her effort would make the elevator go faster. The cloaked figure entered the hallway just as the elevator doors opened, Dandy Lion, Rose Pedal and Silver Spoon hopped into the elevator and Rose Pedal quickly pressed the button to close the doors. “Don’t leave me you” Tiara ordered but the doors closed just as Tiara made it to the elevator. “You bitches I hope you die a painful death” Tiara screamed as the cloaked figure approached her.

Tiara fell to her knees “please don’t kill me” she sobbed “I’m too young to die”, but as the cloaked figure swung the scythe Scootaloo flew through the air and grabbed her, effectively bringing her out of harm’s way. Tiara took her hooves away from her face to see her saviour, it was the mare she had picked on throughout their school years together “Scootaloo?” she asked confused “why would you save me?” she asked curiously. “Figure it’s irony” Scootaloo chuckled to herself and as she landed dropped Tiara on her back. The rest of the group caught up to them, “were to now?” Sweetie Bell asked frantically, “I don’t know… Hammerhead always had the plans” Thunder Shot said frantically but as they looked back they saw that the cloaked figure was no longer behind them. “Yer the football captain and yah don’t know what tah do?” Applebloom asked, “uhh let’s go upstairs into the construction class, maybe we can get tools to break out” Thunder Shot suggested and the group followed him up the nearby staircase.

Inside the elevator the group who had left Tiara behind slumped down in exhaustion, “I feel kind of bad about leaving Tiara behind” Silver Spoon said remorsefully, “why she was always such a bitch” Dandy Lion replied heartlessly. Silver Spoon shrugged “yes but we were very close friends” Silver Spoon informed them. Rose Pedal hit herself in the forehead “well no duh, she always made every-pony else but you and her do the workouts” Rose Pedal replied. The elevator shook and the lights flickered, “oh my Celestia… this can’t be happening” Silver Spoon screamed and the elevator’s lights flickered off. Rose Pedal and Dandy Lion both shrieked in utter fear and Silver Spoon tried frantically to get the door open. A panel could be heard shifting from the roof of the elevator and a lone figure entered the dark elevator, screams could be heard as the trio was killed in cold blood inside the darkened elevator.

The lone assailant hopped back out of the elevator and closed the room panel, the lights inside the elevator flickered back on and there was only blood and gore inside the once clean elevator

New exit

The group approached the construction room door and luckily the left door to the classroom had been left unlocked. Thunder Shot locked the door behind them and the hid inside the room, out of sight from the hallway windows. “What now” Reggie asked, “uh I guess we wait” Thunder Head suggested. “No way, that’s stupid” Pipsqueak argued, “why’s it stupid” Tiara scolded, Pipsqueak rolled his eyes “because no matter where we go that… thing is always just moments behind us” Pipsqueak countered.

The group looked at one another and fear began to set in “FUCK THIS I’M” Davidson began but Rumble once again knocked him out with another punch. “Thank you” Thunder Shot whispered, Rumble nodded “don’t mention it” Rumble whispered back. Suddenly a figure fell in front of the group and Scootaloo screamed, the figure jumped on Scootaloo.

The group lept back, Rumble attempted to charge the figure but it let out a swipe kick and knocked him on his flank. Scootaloo began to scream again but the figure put his hoof in her mouth “shh don’t… make… a single sound” the figure whispered slowly. The group gasped as they realized who the figure was. “Hammerhead?” Thunder Shot asked quietly, Hammerhead looked to the group “the one and only” he chuckled and got off from over top of Scootaloo and helped her up. The group resettled and Hammerhead looked to Davidson “lost it again?” Hammerhead asked and Thunder Shot nodded, “figures” Hammerhead muttered as Molasses Sauce and Reggie went looking through the assortment of tools.

Reggie rushed over to the group with a long bundle of rope, “what is this? We need a blunt object and wire cutters” Hammerhead whispered. “It’s rope” Reggie informed Hammerhead who in turn hit himself in the head “duh, I know what rope is, my question is why do you have it?” Hammerhead asked. Reggie sat down and Molasses Sauce joined him “listen me and Molasses have mountain climbing equipment, we go up to the library since it doesn’t have windows and break the window, we then repel down and viola” Reggie said making it sound simple.

“Problem is the library is on the sixth floor and we don’t know how to mountain climb” Hammerhead interjected, “okay so you all stay here while we get help” Reggie told them. Hammerhead and Thunder Shot both said at the same time “No”. Reggie let out a sigh “it’s the best chance we have” Reggie countered, “no we stick together” Thunder Shot argued. “Fine whatever but we’re going, Rumble you don’t need gear you’re a Pegasus, you can come to if you want” Reggie offered.

Rumble looked to his wings then to Scootaloo “no I have a Marefriend to take care of” he informed them and Scootaloo gave him a surprised look, lately friends had been abandoning one another but even though she hadn’t even been dating him for more than 2 hours he was willing to risk his life for her. She looked to Hammerhead, whom she still had a crush on, then back to Rumble and thought if she should tell him that she didn’t feel a love interest in him.

“How are you alive?” Thunder Shot asked curiously and Hammerhead shrugged “all those rolling drills the coach has us do really comes in handy when you’re rolling on the ground trying to dodge a scythe” Hammerhead informed him. “Uh if yah don’t mind me askin, how did yah get in here?” Applebloom asked curiously, Hammerhead pointed up at the air ventilation “heard Davidson screaming so I snuck through the air ventilation” he informed the group.

“Sorry about that” Davidson muttered and the group turned to him, without having a mental breakdown and screaming one wouldn’t even know he was there. “Well that being said… that whatever it is will be coming for us so we better get out of here” Thunder Shot suggested and Hammerhead nodded, “one moment, Reggie, Molasses before you go” Hammerhead said as he raced to the teacher’s desk and busted open one of the drawers. “What?” Reggie asked and Hammerhead tossed him a Glock17 pistol which Reggie caught.

“Dude… what the hell… that makes absolutely no sense” Reggie argued as he looked at the Glock and checked the magazine for ammo, it was fully loaded. “Reggie… this is Canterlot, anything’s possible and besides I knew that the construction teacher carried this pistol ‘just in case’” Hammerhead informed Reggie. Reggie and Molasses Sauce nodded and began to leave, “hopefully we both make it” Hammerhead called out to them as the left.

Hammerhead looked back to the group, “what now?” he asked and Thunder Shot gave him a dire look “uhm I’ve been following your plans… I was hoping you had one” Thunder Shot told Hammerhead who simply shrugged and pulled out a Desert Eagle from the teacher’s desk. “Let me guess… in case of an Ursa Major?” Thunder Shot asked as Hammerhead placed a holster around his hip and holstered the pistol and grabbed two spare magazines “nah this one’s from the confiscation bin” Hammerhead laughed and Pipsqueak got up “I have a plan”.

Meanwhile Reggie and Molasses raced to the elevator door and pressed the elevator button. “Come on… come on… come on” Reggie whispered and finally the doors opened. Molasses Sauce puked at the sudden sight of the bloodied elevator and Reggie grabbed his friend and pressed the button for the top floor. “Goddess who would do this?” Molasses wept as the elevator continued upwards. The elevator dinged and the doors opened, Reggie pointed the Glock out the door and cautiously made his way out the elevator door. “All clear” Reggie whispered and Molasses followed him into the hallway.

“Come on our lockers are this way” Reggie ordered Molasses and they both dashed down the dimly lit hallways towards their lockers. They reached their lockers and both fumbled to get the lock off, “come on hurry up” Reggie told himself as he fumbled with his lock. He finally released the lock and grabbed his gear, Molasses did the same and they turned to leave when they spotted a cloaked figure in the hallway with a bloody scythe. “Fuck you bitch” Reggie yelled as he drew the Glock. BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM, Reggie fired the Glock in rapid concession and the cloaked assailant staggered behind a corner, “that’s right bitch” Reggie yelled and nudged Molasses “to the library… and hurry”

* * *

As the remainder of the group hurried towards the science lab, at Pipsqueaks request, they heard gunfire erupt in the school. “Sounds like they’re having a party” Hammerhead muttered as they continued on. They reached the science lab doors but the doors were locked, “Stand back” Hammerhead ordered and turned around, kicking hard with his hindlegs he snapped the door handles off. He turned back around and fiddled with the doors innards and the door swung open “voila, master key” Hammerhead quoted and they all quietly made their way into the science lab.

“Okay Pipsqueak what’s the plan?” Thunder Shot asked curiously, Pipsqueak started rummaging through cupboards and shelves. “Pipsqueak what are you looking for exactly?” Hammerhead asked and Pipsqueak turned to him “Thermite” he replied bluntly, “Thermite? What’s Thermite?” Applebloom asked curiously, “a chemical agent that can burn through stuff” Pipsqueak replied. “I didn’t know you knew much about science Pip” Thunder Shot said, “well I am an academic student” Pipsqueak replied. Hammerhead looked around and saw a cabinet with a danger sign on it. The door was locked but he yanked on the door and busted the doors off. Among other various chemicals was a barrel labeled ‘Thermite’. Grabbing the Thermite Hammerhead muttered to himself “only in Canterlot”.

Meanwhile, Reggie and Molasses entered the library cautiously. “Where the fuck is that bitch… now that we got a gun it doesn’t want to show itself” Reggie hissed. They reached the lobby of the enormous library, there was dozens upon dozens of bookshelves. “No time to read” Reggie muttered and they both raced to the window. It was a terribly long way down.

Reggie threw an elbow into the window and it cracked, Molasses then struck the window again the glass pane shattered down to the ground below. Molasses tied himself up and Reggie hooked the other end of the rope to a bookshelf, figuring that would support his weight. “Okay Molasses you first, when you get down, turn and run… don’t stop I’ll be right behind you” Reggie ordered him and Molasses hopped out the window and began to repel downwards. The bookshelf shifted and Molasses lost his concentration “whoa, what’s going on up there?” he shouted, Reggie turned to see the bookshelf still holding “keep going” he yelled back and raced to the window to see his friend depart.

He was past the 4th story level when suddenly a window smashed, “SHIT” Reggie screamed, Molasses looked up just in time to see a scythe extend from the window and swing at his rope and slice the rope. “MOLASSES” Reggie screamed as his friend fell violently to the unforgiving ground below. Molasses body landed with a THUD and a bit of blood splattered as he hit the concrete below. “FUCK” Reggie screamed as he turned, that was the only rope they had brought, and like hell he was going to rappel down with that thing cutting rope.

He charged out into the hallways violently and raced towards the stair case. He started leaping down entire flights of stairs until he reached the fourth floor. He kicked the hallway door open and held the Glock in front of him, his foreleg completely extended. “Come on you bitch… come on… what are you FUCKIN PUSSY” Reggie screamed in anger. As he passed a soda machine a scythe cut down from the other side of the machine and cut off Reggie’s foreleg, his limb fell to the ground along with the Glock pistol and the cloaked figure came out from the shadows, Reggie let out a final scream.

* * *

“Uhm Rumble this may not be the best time but I need to tell you something” Scootaloo told Rumble who was busy grabbing igniting agent. Rumble turned to Scootaloo “yes” he said half-heartedly, “listen I know that you may like me and everything” Scootaloo began and Rumble nodded with a smile “go on” he said positively, “Well it’s just that well I don’t think this is what I really wanted” Scootaloo replied and Rumble’s face sank, “wait… hold on Scootaloo please I can change… just give me another chance” Rumble pleaded. “No Rumble it’s not you… it’s me, my heart belongs to another” Scootaloo said as she looked to Hammerhead.

Rumble looked to his friend, “Hammerhead” Rumble yelled as he lept at Hammerhead. Hammerhead turned but was a fraction of a second too late, Rumble tackled Hammerhead to the ground and Rumble began throwing punches at Hammerhead. Hammerhead blocked his punches easily and simply bucked his body and Rumble fell off, Hammerhead rolled his body overtop of Rumble “what the fuck’s the matter with you?” Hammerhead hissed, “you” Rumble scowled. Hammerhead pointed at himself “me? What the fuck did I do?” Hammerhead exclaimed and Rumble tried to throw more punches at Hammerhead who simply leaned back and dodged them effortlessly. “You dick, you knew I loved Scootaloo yet you fucking made her fall for you” Rumble yelled and Hammerhead looked at him with a shocked expression. “Whoa hold your horses, I would never do something like that… besides we all know I don’t want any sort of relationship” Hammerhead chuckled. “Then why did Scootaloo just say she loved you, she just dumped me” Rumble cried and Hammerhead got off of his tear ridden friend.

“Uhm Rumble I have this weird sort of feeling that it wasn’t my fault” Hammerhead informed Rumble who stood up and buried his face into Hammerheads shoulder and began to cry. Hammerhead looked to the group, who had all their attention fixed on the duo. “This doesn’t make me gay” Hammerhead said as he stroked Rumble’s mane and cooed him “hey buddy… man listen mares are weird in the fact that they can play with a stallions heart like they do” Hammerhead whispered to his heart broken friend. Scootaloo approached “I’m so sorry I had no idea that he felt this much for” he began but Hammerhead motioned for her to be quiet. “Rumble buddy… listen I would never fuck with you like that man… that’s just cold” Hammerhead whispered.

Hammerhead broke the bro hug and looked into his friends teary eyes “buddy… you’re gonna be okay” Hammerhead whispered to his friend and motioned for Scootaloo to come over. “Rumble I’m so sorry… I never knew you felt so deeply for me it’s just that… well uhm… I’ve kind of had a crush on Hammerhead since I was in grade 2” she whispered softly and blushed as Hammerhead looked at her with a shocked look. Rumble put his forelegs around her and gave her a tight hug “I’m so sorry” Rumble sniffled.

Hammerhead tossed the igniting agent to Thunder Shot just as they heard the echoing scream, Rumble and Scootaloo broke from the hug. The scream had come from the same floor as them and very close. Hammerhead loaded the can of Thermite onto his back and they were about to leave just as a janitor with a shotgun appeared through the doorway. Hammerhead drew the Desert Eagle out of his holster and pointed it at the Janitor. “Whoa… never expected to get held at gunpoint by burglars stealing… what are you stealing anyway?” the janitor asked curiously, “we aren’t burglars we’re… we actually we’re the remainder of the football and cheerleading team and we’re trapped in the school” Pipsqueak informed the janitor.

The janitor nodded “don’t worry. I have the keys… come along we’ll get you home” The janitor told the remaining group members. “What’s your name?” Thunder Shot asked curiously, “I’m Scruffy… the janitor” Scruffy replied. “Wait… we have a janitor named Scruffy?” Diamond Tiara asked curiously, Scruffy simply shrugged “I do night shifts… not as many bratty kids running around… no offence” he informed the group. “Well Scruffy should we go?” Hammerhead asked and Scruffy nodded.

Scruffy smelt heavily of alcohol and was most likely drunk, He turned around and hopped back quickly, “whoa nelly… that’s a cool little outfit you got there sweetie but I don’t have any candy… sorry” Scruffy said to the cloaked figure. “Scruffy get back” Hammerhead hollered but he was too late, the cloaked assassin swung the scythe and cut Scruffy in half and his two body halves fell to the ground and blood started to pool around his body. “Oh shit… I think… I think” Scruffy coughed and blood came up his throat as he began to pass away “that’s a pretty cool… trick”

Escape

“Fucking RUN” Thunder Shot yelled as they scattered, the cloaked figure turned to them and began to give chase to Pipsqueak, Davidson finally came to odds with himself and charged into the assailant and knocked it off balance. Pipsqueak looked back to Davidson who squared off with the cloaked assassin. “You want a piece of me? Fine come get me you maggoty piece of shit” Davidson yelled as the assassin charged at him, Davidson was very fast and slid to the ground and tripped the assailant who crashed into a chemistry set. Thunder Shot, Rumble and Pipsqueak led the mares away as Hammerhead grabbed the final can of Thermite.

“Leave it we have enough” Thunder Shot called out. Davidson looked to the group and began to run but the cloaked figure reached out and grabbed him, sticking a syringe full of chemical poisons into his neck and injecting him with it. Davidson let out a gasp as his throat tensed up and he couldn’t breathe, he collapsed to the ground and was dead before he hit the ground. Hammerhead slid the can of Thermite across the room to the group waiting at the door, “go now” Hammerhead called out just as the cloaked figure slammed into Hammerhead.

Thunder Shot grabbed the extra can of Thermite and the group began to run, “we can’t leave him behind” Applebloom argued, “he’ll be fine besides he had that handgun” Thunder Shot countered. They reached the stairs when they heard an anguished scream echo through the hallways, they turned back to see the cloaked figure exit the science lab. “Fuck, RUN” Thunder Shot yelled and they all raced down the flight of stairs. Scootaloo looked to Rumble, he had gotten over his emotions, either that or he was too terrified to care.

They reached the bottom of the stare case and began to run down the hallways of the ground floor. They passed the cooking room when a foul stench filled their noses. “Ech what is that wretched smell” Sweetie Bell gasped as she held her nose, “detour?” Pipsqueak suggested, “no thanks” Applebloom replied, “no I meant around the smell” Pipsqueak replied pointing down another hallway. “It’ll take a lot longer” Thunder Shot replied but they all looked to each other and agreed that it might be longer but it wouldn’t smell so bad.

They ran down the other hallway but the figure returned into the hallway, “shit maybe we should’ve taken the smelly route” Sweetie Bell yelled as they broke through a random classroom door, the hallway was filled with doorways, the cloaked figure followed them into the classroom and then began a comical cartoon chase (like the ones in Scooby-Doo, where the villain chases them through one door but they come out another door on the opposite side of the hallway then somehow eventually the villain is on the run).

They group ran through the doorways comically and finally lost the cloaked figure, “jinkies, that was strange” Sweetie Bell exclaimed, “what?” Thunder Shot asked curiously. Sweetie Bell scrunched her nose “I’m not sure why I just said that” she replied and the group continued to run down the hallway.

The group rounded the corner and ran down another hallway, “okay take a left up here and we can get to the entrance” Thunder Shot informed the group and they continued to run. They rounded the next corned and raced towards the final corner that led to the Atrium of the school and coincidentally the entrance.

They reached the entrance with no problem and Thunder Shot tossed the cans towards the front doors which now had bars welded over the windows, “this is some fucked up shit man” Thunder Shot gasped, “okay Pip, how does this shit work?” Thunder Shot asked as Pipsqueak started to pour the Thermite onto the floor around the door. He emptied the cans of Thermite and pulled out the igniting agent, “stand back this shit will burn right through you” Pipsqueak ordered as he ignited the Thermite and it started blazing away at the door and melting through it.

“How long will it take?” Thunder Shot asked frantically, “not long… 3 minutes maybe” Pipsqueak guess, “we don’t have 3 minutes” Thunder Shot yelled as he pointed to the hallway they had just come from and pointed out the cloaked figure, “fuck, run we’ll come back in 4 minutes and we should be able to get out” Pipsqueak.

The all started running and the cloaked figure chased them down, they all ran into the back stage of the stage area for plays. The group hid amongst the curtains and waited silently, suddenly a scythe cut through a curtain by Scootaloo and Rumble launched himself forward and knocked her out of the way. Scootaloo looked up at Rumble, even though she had recently broke his heart he still tried to save her, she looked off passed him and saw the scythe coming down towards them.
She wrapped her hindleg around his and rolled both their bodies out of the way. Rumble gave her a strange look and they both blushed. “You idiots stop eyeing each other and run” Sweetie Bell screamed and Rumble took notice, using the same technique Scootaloo had he rolled their bodies out of the way, but this time he held her tight and took off, flying away from the murderer. A gunshot was set off and a bullet tore through Rumble’s wing and he fell in pain as his wing refused to continue on.

“Okay no-pony fuckin move” the cloaked figure yelled out, Thunder Shot gasped. “Masterson?” Thunder Shot gasped and the cloaked figure tossed back his hood revealing himself to indeed be Masterson. “Wait, Masterson… what the fuck man. Why the fuck would you do this?” Thunder Shot yelled and Masterson simply laughed and turned his gun towards Thunder Shot.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Masterson chuckled, Thunder Shot shook his head “not really” he replied, to which Masterson imply sighed in irritation. “Fine before you die I shall enlighten you” Masterson chuckled “for the last 4 years you’ve always been team captain, always got the spotlight… the mares loved you, and me? I was just the second, the defensive captain, the one that commands the defence” Masterson explained “I was sick of it, so I decided that if you were always going to best me than I’d just have to take you out of the picture” Masterson explained and leveled his gun at Thunder Shot’s chest.

“Then why the cheerleaders” Diamond Tiara asked, “why? Why? I couldn’t really have eye witnesses could I?” Masterson laughed hysterically, “then why not just kill me, single hit, one shot, one death” Thunder Shot said valiantly. “Well then I got to thinking what if some-pony bested me, like say Hammerhead or Rumble, maybe even one of my own defensive players so I realized I had to kill everyone” Masterson explained. “This is insanity” Thunder Shot yelled out and Masterson once again leveled his pistol at Thunder Shot, “no. You see Thunder this is simply payback” Masterson said, “this is madness” Thunder Shot yelled out, “this is life” Masterson laughed as he went to pull the trigger on his Berretta M9 but suddenly another gunshot rang out and Masterson’s pistol was knocked out of his hand by another bullet.

The group looked to the other side of the theatre and saw a lone figure armed with a pistol. The figure stood up from his seat and walked towards the group, walking on his hind legs, his right foreleg was missing and he was holding a pistol with his left hoof. As he got within 15 yards of the group he stopped and raised his pistol “I’m back”

He's back

“Reggie?” Thunder Shot gasped and Reggie took a wobbly bow, “at your service captain” he said with a smug grin. As he got back up they looked at his missing foreleg, “oh my Celestia what happened to your foreleg?” Sweetie Bell gasped and Reggie raised his foreleg and pointed it at Masterson, “old buddy o mine is really good at amputation with his fucking scythe” Reggie announced and they looked to Masterson, now unarmed, well he did have a scythe slung around his back but if he even tried to grab it Reggie would simply shoot him dead.

“How did you survive?” Rumble asked curiously, Reggie gave a sigh “can’t I tell you later, I’m trying to hero. You know?” Reggie asked rhetorically and Masterson laughed “well in that case you’ll have to arrest me, if you truly are a hero” Masterson laughed maniacally, Reggie pointed his gun at Masterson’s head “like fuck, after what you’ve done you’d be lucky to receive a quick death, which is actually what I’m going to do” Reggie informed Masterson.

“Fine but before you do please enlighten our guests about how you survived” Masterson suggested. “Fine” Reggie sighed “so there I was, Molasses had just been killed…

* * *

Reggie’s limb fell to the ground along with the Glock, he let out a final scream. The scream seemed to echo down the hallways. The cloaked assassin laughed as Reggie tried to backpedal but lost his balance due to his missing limb and fell to the ground. The cloaked figure stood in front of him and rolled back his hood, “Masterson” Reggie yelled, “of course” Masterson laughed as he brought up the scythe to slice Reggie to death.

As Masterson brought the scythe downwards on Reggie, Reggie rolled sideways and effectively dodged the deathly scythe. He kicked his hindleg and tripped Masterson to the ground, leaping up he jumped onto Masterson and started punching with his left hoof, Masterson simply laughed at he attempt and Reggie punched him with his stump of a limb. Pain seared through Reggie’s body and he rolled off of Masterson, gripping his pained limb.

Masterson laughed as he arose and picked up his scythe and once again went for the kill, he kicked away Reggie’s pistol and laughed. As he once again brought the scythe down upon Reggie he rolled sideways and dodged the deadly swing of the scythe. He kicked his hindleg and hit Masterson right in the groin. Masterson let out a pained howl as he fell to his knees in agony. Reggie got up and ran past Masterson and grabbed his pistol as he turned to shoot Masterson he staggered a little and Masterson took advantage of this and gave a painful charge into Reggie, pushing him back into the stairwell.

Masterson Knocked the Glock out of Reggie’s hoof and the gun fell down the stairwell to the floors below, clattering all the way but never once going off. “Let’s see how much of a badass you are without your gun” Masterson taunted and Reggie looked back to him “let’s see how much of a badass you are without your balls” he quoted and kicked Masterson, again, in the groin.

Masterson once again howled in pain and fell to his knees, Reggie gave him a spin kick to the head and Masterson doubled over. Reggie looked down the stairwell and spotted the pistol Hammerhead had given him. He ran down the flight of stairs, a constant trail of blood trailing him.

He lept down stairs until he reached the bottom floor and picked up his pistol, he looked upwards and started to feel a little woozy ‘probably from blood loss’ he thought to himself and looked down the hallway of the ground floor. He knew he needed to cauterize this wound, and fast.

He barreled through the door and raced towards the cooking class. As he reached the cooking class he heard screaming coming from another room and things crashing but it was so distant he couldn’t depict what it was. He quickly turned the stove element on and let it heat up, in less than a minute the element was glowing red hot.

Reggie looked around and started one of the sinks running with cold water and grabbed a towel along with a large wooden spoon and placed it in his mouth. He bit down hard on the spoon as he pressed the stump of his limb against the element. He let out a pained howl but it was muffled by the spoon he was biting on. He held his stumped limb on the burner for 15 seconds before the pain became unbearable and pulled his limb away from the burner, burned flesh stuck to the burner and as he pulled away some of his flesh stayed stuck to the burner and stretched out, still attached to his limb.

He again howled in pain as he pulled away and the sticking flesh ripped off and he ran to the sink and place his limb under the cold running water, it was equally as painful but not a sever to his flesh, the wound was now cauterized. He spit the spoon out into the sink and gasped in pain as he looked and spotted a medical kit.

He ran over and opened it up, he placed sterilizer packs, which stung but were mild compared to the pain he just endured. After he wrapped his limb with medical non-adhesive bandages he wrapped it with gauze and taped the gauze together. Letting out a sigh he grabbed the Glock and sat against the one shelf and let out a relieved sigh, although he still felt pain, the worst was over.

As he sat there he wondered if he’d die from perhaps and infection, but quickly subdued the fact figuring he’d probably be killed by Masterson first. As he sat there he heard screaming from the hallway and he readied his pistol but no-pony came. As he sat there, ever vigilant, Reggie decided to make amends with himself, finally he decided that instead of running away from the problem, it was time to face the problem head on even if head on meant shooting some-pony with a pistol.

Reggie stepped into the hallway and looked both direction but heard more screaming and then he heard a gunshot come from the theatre. Reggie raced towards the theatre and saw Masterson holding up the remainder of the group with a pistol of his own, Reggie took aim and shot the pistol, even though he was aiming for Masterson’s body.

* * *

“And so that brings us to our grand finale” Reggie explained as he kept his pistol trained on Masterson, “not quite there’s still one last thing that’s been bugging me” Thunder Shot announced and Reggie gave Thunder Shot an irritated look “well what a way to ruin my awesomeness” Reggie scoffed.

Thunder Shot rolled his eyes, “Masterson explain to me, who was the other assailant?” Thunder Shot asked, Masterson laughed “what other assailant” he laughed. “Well when this all began you were with us when every-pony started dying so explain to me how that works” Thunder Shot asked. “Ah the mastermind behind the entire thing… of course, but you see I am but a henchman to the master, smart one you are” Masterson laughed out, rather loudly. “Get to the point” Reggie snarled, “why so hastily?” Masterson asked calmly. “So I know who to kill afterwards” Reggie snarled, Masterson chuckled “well I’m sorry Reggie but you won’t get to see the boss unless you put down your gun” Masterson laughed.

“Fuck you” Reggie said “I’m not falling for that one”, “what one?” Masterson asked playfully, “you damn well know which one” Reggie snarled. “Last chance to put down your gun” Masterson offered, “fuck you” Reggie snarled. Masterson let out a sigh “fine if you want to be that way” Masterson began “REAVEAL YOURSELF” Masterson yelled out and a thunderous BOOM sounded and Reggie’s head was literally taken off his shoulders.

“What the fuck” Thunder Shot yelled as he ran up to Reggie’s corpse. “Stand back” a voice echoed and the entire group looked to a lone pony as she approached the group, armed with a Smith and Wesson .500 magnum. The pony was no other than Ms. Cheerilee

Final act

“Ms. Cheerilee?” Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and Applebloom all gasped. “Sorry girls but this is what has to happen” Ms. Cheerilee muttered as she stood beside Masterson with a cold smile. “But why?” the trio asked and she chuckled, “well it was brought to my attention that once again our cheerleading team was performing terribly and I couldn’t suffer another defeat against the Aero-Cats, and after Masterson and I stayed late one evening, both on our own accord we realized we had something in common so we conducted a plan to solve our problems” Ms. Cheerilee explained, the entire group sat there in awe. “But Ms. Cheerilee” the trio gasped again, “but Ms. Cheerilee” Masterson taunted, Cheerilee shot him a cold glare.

“Masterson, I may not share the same blood lust as you do so don’t for a minute think I won’t kill you as well” she threatened insanely. Masterson took a cautious step back and surrendered to her demands, “sorry girls but this was the only way” Ms. Cheerilee apologized, she was apologizing for killing them kind of creepy. “But how does this even work” Thunder Shot asked, Ms. Cheerilee gave an irritated sigh, “simple all I had to do was make it look like Masterson died, then he did the rest of the killing while I provided him with technical support, your locations, shutting down the lights etc.” She announced, “like the elevator I simply cut the power from the fuse box and when Masterson was done I turned the power back on, or like when I told Masterson your locations so he could easily ambush you” she laughed taking great pride in her work.

“You won’t be able to get this past the police” Thunder Shot argued, Ms. Cheerilee took out a rag and picked up Reggie’s pistol as she holstered her own, “of course I can, you see Reggie here was the culprit and he hanged all of you on those nooses over there” Ms. Cheerilee said pointing to the noose ropes, “speaking of which would you all be dears and put yourselves in them it’s not easy for me to lift you ponies anymore, you’ve all grown up” she asked politely like it was some simple task.

“FUCK YOU” Thunder Shot yelled as he charged towards Cheerilee but she was quick to shoot Thunder Shot right through the chest, he fell over instantly, Tiara screamed and knelt beside her colt-friend. “No please be dears and get in the nooses, the police will be here any moment” Ms. Cheerilee ordered a little more assertively. The rest of the group obeyed reluctantly, Rumble brushed up beside Scootaloo “Scoot I’m sorry this is how it ends” Rumble apologized, Scootaloo looked Rumble in the eyes and brought her face close to his and the both kissed each other passionately.

“Enough of the love scene hurry up” Masterson ordered, Scootaloo and Rumble broke away from their passionate kiss as tears rolled from each other’s eyes, “Rumble, I love you” Scootaloo cried, Masterson got agitated and pushed them both towards the nooses.

Reluctant to put their heads in the nooses Masterson tightened each noose. “Well now for the final act” Ms. Cheerilee began as she handed Masterson the Glock pistol, still wrapped in cloth as they walked over to Reggie’s dead body. “You see Reggie had a sick mind and hanged all of you, but after I heard commotion from the stage I hurried to see what was going on but was too late to save any of you” Ms. Cheerilee began, “as I drew my revolver Reggie got a shot off at me” she laughed and Masterson, without any sort of hesitation, shot Cheerilee in her side and she fell in pain, “but you see Reggie wasn’t very good with a gun since he had lost so much blood from having to amputate his limb earlier while trying to kill Masterson, now very disoriented I was able to fire off one very accurate round, a bullet which stopped his massacre. And with both the football and cheerleading teams dead we will have to drop out, but not a forfeit and ponies will forever remember that as the year that Canterlot could have won the championship but didn’t because of a truly devastating disaster” Ms. Cheerilee explained as she kicked the chairs out from underneath the remaining group members.

The hung there for only moments before loud thunderous gunshots went off. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM, the thunderous gunshots were deafening and with each consecutive shot one of the noose ropes were torn apart by a .50 Cal. AE bullet. The remaining group members fell to the ground and began gagging and gasping for air, Scootaloo and Rumble embraced each other in a hug.

“What the fuck is happening” Cheerilee shouted, “I don’t know” Masterson yelled out but was cut short as a .50 Cal. bullet slammed into his skull, his skull was shattered into multiple pieces as the bullet tore through his brain like warm butter. His face was torn apart and only a little of his neck was left when his body hit the ground, the remainder of his head was splattered all over the curtain behind him.

A magazine hit the floor with a ‘clink’ and a new magazine could be heard being loaded into a handgun along with a ‘click’ from the slide locking shut and loading a new round. A lone figure, walking on his hindlegs, wearing a duster coat and holding a Desert Eagle .50 cal. pistol in his right hoof approached. “That was a beautiful monologue but I think your story has come to an end” the figure chuckled.

“What… how did you… Masterson disposed of you” Cheerilee hissed, “yeah he disposed of me alright, I’ve spent the last hour stuck in a fucking trash dumpster and the bottom of a garbage chute” the figure replied. He tilted his desperado hat upwards relieving his face.

* * *

The group left the science lab and that left only Hammerhead and the cloaked figure. The figure laughed insanely and rolled back his hood, revealing himself to be Masterson. Hammerhead gasped and hesitated but that was all Masterson needed, he swung his scythe at Hammerhead but Hammerhead was easily faster and simply grabbed the scythe by its handle stick and swung Masterson around and released him, he flew into another chemistry set.

He stood up and charged Hammerhead but rather than try and hit him head on he shifted his body a little to the left just as Hammerhead moved to the left to try and dodge him, Masterson slammed Hammerhead against a door and the door broke down. They rolled on the floor and fought for dominancy. Hammerhead easily beat Masterson and rolled on top of Masterson and began to punch him in the face relentlessly, Masterson swung his lower body upwards and Hammerhead lost his balance and fell into the garbage chute, letting out an anguished yell as he fell downwards. “Cheerilee” Masterson called Cheerilee on his headset, “report” Cheerilee ordered, “Hammerhead has been… disposed of” Masterson quoted.

* * *

“So I’ve spent the last hour in a fucking trash dumpster, it was smelly, dirty and I just want to go home and drink some fucking apple cider” Hammerhead yelled. Cheerilee dove for the Glock pistol, still in Masterson’s grip, Hammerhead attempted to get a shot off but didn’t expect her to dive backwards, Cheerilee grabbed the pistol in both hooves and shot Hammerhead 3 times in the chest in rapid succession. Hammerhead staggered back and fell off the stage.

Cheerilee got up and swayed her hair out of her face, “well now that that’s taken care of” she began but another thunderous BOOM rang out and Cheerilee was struck in the shoulder by .50 cal. slug and she spun and hit the ground. Her shoulder completely annihilated she scampered to the back stage area. Hammerhead got back onto stage and shot again, striking Cheerilee in the back ankle and tearing off her hind hoof. She fell in agony with a shriek of pain but suddenly a stage prop slid down and obstructed Hammerhead’s shot.

“Shit” he muttered as he barreled through the castle prop, but Cheerilee was waiting for him and shot him 3 more time in the chest, already off balance from standing on his hind legs, Hammerhead fell back just in time to miss another trio of rounds shot by Ms. Cheerilee. Cheerilee approached Hammerhead but Hammerhead pointed his pistol at the ceiling and shot a support rope and a stage prop of another castle fell between them.

Cheerilee let out a scream of irritation and Hammerhead one again stood back up on his hind legs and slid around the corner of the prop, “I will have my championship” Cheerilee screamed as she fired off the remainder of the guns ammunition towards Hammerhead, 2 more rounds struck him in the chest but Hammerhead had slide past the majority of the bullets. “No championship for you” Hammerhead quoted and fire off a single .50 cal. round, the bullet slammed into Cheerilee’s chest and sent her tumbling across the floor as the sheer force from the bullet knocked her body across the stage.

Hammerhead staggered up and approached the group, “we’re gonna get in sooo much shit for this” Hammerhead said as he picked up the body of his football captain, his good friend Thunder Shot, and tossed him over his shoulder. “The Thermite should be burned through by now” Pipsqueak announced and the group walked up to him, “are yah alright?” Applebloom asked worriedly, “I’ve been shot, of course I’m fine, football practise is more brutal than this” Hammerhead joked but he knew that his wounds were probably sever and would need immediate medical attention.

Holstering his Desert Eagle, Hammerhead along with the group left the theatre and made their way to the front entrance were the Thermite had indeed burned through the doors. They all crawled out but were met by spinning sirens and police officers. “Lay down your weapons and surrender” a police officer ordered. They obeyed the orders, minus Hammerhead who kept his Desert Eagle holstered, and they got on their knees to show that they surrendered.

Police officers approached with guns drawn but immediately recognized Thunder Shot, Rumble, Pipsqueak and Hammerhead from the local newspaper. “Get a fucking paramedic in here now” the police officer screamed and immediately paramedics with stretchers approached, they placed Hammerhead on a stretcher and Thunder Shot on another as they checked for a pulse on Thunder Shot. They immediately rushed him to the ambulance waiting and got a respirator on him, meanwhile Rumble and Scootaloo sat in each other’s comfort knowing that they were finally safe, and sharing another passionate kiss.

As the paramedics wheeled Hammerhead passed the group, Hammerhead held out his hoof “hey promise me something” Hammerhead groaned, they all looked to him intently, “anything” Tiara offered. Hammerhead let out a pained groan as the stretcher bounced on a bump, “are yah going tah be okay” Applebloom asked worriedly. “Yeah I’ve been through worse but listen could you all do me a favour?” Hammerhead asked again, they all replied in perfect chorus “anything”. Hammerhead looked at them with a slight smile rising up on the edges of his lips and told them his request “can you come visit me in the hospital, that place is lonely”

Hospitals

Hammerhead lay there in bed and bounced a ball against the wall and caught it when it bounced back, he had been doing this for literally 2 hours. “Goddess why does waiting have to be so boring” he yelled out. “Hey now” said a southerner voice from the bed beside him. Hammerhead looked over to see a mare that was a little older than him, by about probably 12 years actually, but she still looked almost as young as he was.

“Uh sorry, I didn’t think people cared about me complaining” Hammerhead chuckled, “now ah meant ah know yah, well sorta” the southern pony informed Hammerhead. “Yeah, well” Hammerhead groaned as he got out of bed, bandages covered most of his chest from gunshot wounds, and he slowly walked over to the southern pony and extended his hoof to greet her “name’s Hammerhead” Hammerhead introduced himself, “ah knew it, yer the fella that saved those ponies last week” the southern pony exclaimed.

“Shh keep it down, last time a pony in here found out she was jumpy around the place saying how she had just met a celebrity and asked for an autograph” Hammerhead hushed the southerner, “well mister, ah’m Applejack pleasure tah finally meet the stallion who saved muh sister” she announced and shook his hoof. Hammerhead went back to his hospital bed and laid back down and let out a small grunt of pain. “You alright?” Apple asked curiously, “don’t worry about me, nothing a few patches can’t fix right?” Hammerhead asked jokingly. He looked over to Thunder Shot, he was sleeping at the moment but the doctors said he’d make a full recovery.

“What are you in for” Hammerhead asked Applejack and she pulled off some of her bed sheets revealing a small chest cast “apple buckin an a darn tree fell on me” she chuckled “but that ain’t nothin tah what happened tah yah so ah’m grateful that my injuries aren’t that bad” she said and Hammerhead nodded. Thunder Shot rolled over, and mumbled to Hammerhead “H? could you get me a glass of water?” he asked weakly and Hammerhead quickly got his friend a glass of cold water and helped Thunder Shot drink it, due to his currently weakened state.

“Hammerhead… thanks, we may not be related but you’re like my brother” Thunder Lane whispered. Suddenly the doors opened and Rumble, Pipsqueak, Diamond Tiara, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell entered the room. Rumble had his foreleg wrapped around Scootaloo and they looked cute together. Tiara immediately went over to sit beside Thunder Shot but the other went first to Thunder Shot to say hello then to Hammerhead and Applebloom handed him his duster coat along with his holster and a finely made bandolier. “Sorry we couldn’t get yer guns in, the doctors won’t let us bring yah them but yah’ll get them back as soon as yah leave” Applebloom informed Hammerhead who nodded.

“Wow this thing is more beautiful than I remember it” Hammerhead said, there was beautiful quality stitching fixing the bullet holes and now there was a beautiful apple tree along with some other cool pictures crafted into the coat. A little note fell onto Hammerhead’s chest and he placed the duster coat on his lap while he looked at the note, it was written ‘will you be my special some-pony for prom AB’ Hammerhead looked at the note them placed it gently beside him on the night stand. “Sure why not” Hammerhead replied with a wink, Applebloom was overjoyed and literally lept onto Hammerhead who let out a groan of pain “please… my wounds aren’t healed up yet” he groaned. Applebloom quickly rolled off of him “oops sorry ah didn’t know” she apologized, Hammerhead nodded “it’s okay, I’ve been through worse” he chuckled.

* * *

Hammerhead was doing up the buttons on his suit for prom night, he had considered wearing his duster coat but Applejack said it would be more appealing for him to wear a suit.

After a quick check Hammerhead drove his motorize carriage out to the Apple family farm. Hammerhead presented himself nicely and knocked on the door. Applebloom answered the door and was dressed in a beautiful dress. “Applebloom you’re… you look absolutely stunning” Hammerhead stuttered and Applebloom gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “I’ll bring her back home right after prom” Hammerhead promised but Applejack grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him back around. “No funny business yah hear?” Applejack ordered and Hammerhead nodded like a child being told what to do, “back before midnight” Applejack continued to order and Hammerhead continued to nod. “She may be a full grown mare but she has the mind of a young filly so if yah do get down tah business don’t force it on her” she ordered and Hammerhead nodded “I wouldn’t dare think of it” he replied. “Like a true gentle-colt” Applejack replied as she straightened his tie.

“Give me your gun” she ordered and Hammerhead rolled his eyes and handed her his Desert Eagle, the same one he had used to save the group. “Both of them” Applejack ordered and Hammerhead pulled out another handgun, this one was a M1911 with beautiful apple engravings in the grips, made especially by Rarity for Hammerhead. “Are you ready” Applejack asked with a bout of confidence, Hammerhead shrugged “she’s just a mare how hard could it be?” he asked, Applejack laughed “maybe you better take the gun”