Dead Pony Rising: Off the Record

Chapters

Prologue - Off the Record
1 - Back in the Game
2 - PURE Innocence
3 - Firewater
4 - Dissonance Returns
5 - Heist of Discord
6 - Equestrian Series of Poker
7 - Royal Guardianship - 3
8 - Not the Best Ponies
9 - His Name's Flank!

Prologue - Off the Record

Prologue

Off the Record

Six Months Later

Date: April 3, 2012 11:58 a.m.

Flank West, infamous earth pony photojournalist, uncovered a conspiracy in which the Equestrian Royal Government was working on experiments that went unchecked and destroyed the Western town of Appleloosa with a zombie virus. In anger, Braeburn, notorious earth pony that caused the Fillydelphia outbreak, unleashed the zombie virus in said city and killed thousands of pony lives. The government tried to cover-up both occurrences, but failed when Flank exposed the truth. However, over the years, his fame, and good name, became a thing of the past.

Buck Greene, famous ex-Motoclops champion and survivor of the Las Pegasus outbreak, was in the adult pony playground of Celestial Sisters, Manehatten, when another zombie virus broke out. He was framed for the crime and went on to prove that Discord, the Master of Chaos, caused the outbreak and was paid by Phenotrots to do it. Phenotrots, maker of a virus-inhibiting drug, were mass producing zombies so they could mass produce the miracle drug. Buck Greene came close to proving them as the real reason behind both the Las Pegasus and Celestial Sisters outbreak. He couldn’t when Discord trapped him in Celestial Sisters for nearly half a day.

Thankfully, Flank West arrived just in time to save the helpless earth pony and together they teamed up to gather evidence proving Phenotrot’s responsibility behind both Pegasus and C.S. They gathered the needed evidence, but found out the horrible truth that Princess Celestia knew about, and started, everything. Evidence pointing to the monarch was destroyed in an explosion and the blame was placed on Applejack, cousin to Braeburn. Her current whereabouts are unknown and she is presumed dead.

Buck Greene was waiting patiently behind a giant red curtain and Flank West was adjusting his camera like usual. They were called in to help with the Re-establishment Ceremony of Fillydelphia. Princess Celestia ordered in many millions of bits to help rebuild the destroyed city and she requested that Flank and Buck be there to help cut the red ribbon and help give the country some big morale boosters.

“What’re we doing here, Flank?” Buck asked; his light olive mane moving slightly in the small breeze. He was wearing a solid-black tuxedo and horseshoes to match.

“What do you mean?” Flank asked; he was also dressed in a nice suit. “We’re here to help re-establish Fillydelphia.”

“I know that,” Buck said as he stood up. “But we know that Celestia started this whole thing in the first place. Granted the exclusion of Fillydelphia, but she called in the mass slaughter and went on to try to cover it up. I don’t like being in the same area with her and I sure as hell know you don’t either.”

“You’re right…I don’t like it one iota.” The old stallion turned to face his young friend. “But we said we’d do this and we’re honoring our words.” That’s when the almighty alicorn princess trotted up behind them. Her usual white coat glistening under even the lowest of light and the bite mark on her neck covered under layers of make-up and combed over fur.

“Mr. West…Mr. Greene.” She said. Buck just sneered at her and looked forward towards the red curtain. “I’m glad you two could come out and help me with this little matter. It should really help boost the morale of my subjects.”

“We wouldn’t need to if you didn’t try killing ponies.” Buck said bitterly through his teeth. “One of these days… you’re going to pay heavily for what you’ve done.”

“Oh, Buck, can’t we put the past behind us?” Celestia asked. “I won and you lost…just deal with it. You’re not in jail, your daughter is still alive, and you’re working on your new life…”

“I wouldn’t have been at risk for imprisonment if you didn’t start this.” Buck said. “My daughter wouldn’t be infected… my home wouldn’t be destroyed… and my wife would still be alive.”

“Then try looking on the bright side.” Celestia said. “Count the blessings you do have over the ones you don’t.”

“That’s not enough, though… you need to be hanged for what you’ve done.” Buck said as he turned around to face her. “And I’d gladly do it myself if I had the opportunity.”

“That kind of talking can get you executed.” Celestia said. “Just remember that.” She said with a piercing death glare of epic proportions that would put the Stare to shame. The princess trotted up to the stage and stood patiently for the ceremony to begin.

That’s when General Prance trotted into the area with some of his guards and in front of Buck and Flank.

“Evening, Mr. West. Mr. Greene.” He said before standing at attention.

“General.” Flank said.

“General.” Buck said. That’s when another pony trotted past them all and up to the princess. They shook hooves just before trotting through the red curtain; in an instant, the crowd outside started cheering and hollering in excitement.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts,” the new mayor of the city said into a magically crafted microphone, “I present to you our glorious ruler, Princess Celestia.” The crowd started cheering even louder than before as she proceeded to trot up the stage and start up the event. As she gave her speech, Buck turned over to Flank and started talking with him.

“I don’t know why, but this just popped in my head for some odd reason.” He said.

“What did?” Flank asked.

“If you were at Celestial Sisters at the time of the outbreak… what would you have done?” Buck asks.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, if you were in my horseshoes, what would’ve gone down?” Buck asked.

“Well,” Flank said, “I guess it would start after my show got cancelled and I was desperate enough to make bits to survive.”

“Like you aren’t already?” Buck asked sarcastically.

“Oh, shut up.” Flank said jokingly before slugging Buck in the shoulder. The two started laughing lightly before Flank continued.

“But, in all seriousness, I’m sure it’d be like…”

1 - Back in the Game

Chapter One

Back in the Game

A pony stands alone in near total darkness, hundreds upon hundreds of glowing, red eyes staring back at him. This pony was fortunately protected by a barrier of fences and cages that prevented the hungry beasts from attacking and devouring him. As he stood, quietly waiting, blood started dripping onto his right shoulder… coming from the ceiling above. He groaned and wiped it off with his left front hoof. He had a scruffy black mane and a puffy tail to match.

“Excuse me, sir?” Somepony behind him asked. He was a young unicorn casually floating a clipboard in front of him.

“What is it kid?” The pony asked. “I signed your waiver…you’ve got my next of kin…are the vultures circling already?”

“Yeah, sorry sir,” the unicorn said, “it’s just paperwork. They want it from everypony…would you mind if I got your autograph?” The earth pony breathed out heavily and turned around to face the unicorn; a light shining in his face showing an aged expression.

“Sure,” he said as he trotted over to the unicorn, “sorry about that…it’s just…it’s been awhile.” He started signing the 8x10 glossy of himself.

“You’ve always been a big hero of mine, Mr. West.” The unicorn said. “I was really bummed when your show went off the air.” West handed the clipboard and pen back to the unicorn and turned back to face the hungry zombies.

“Wow, thanks.” The unicorn said. “So, I guess this would worth something if anything happened to you out there tonight.” He said as he looked at the photo.

“Yeah…I guess so.” West said as he looked at the zombies.

“Good luck out there.” The unicorn said as he trotted away, leaving West to stand and think to himself openly.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.” West said. The roof above West started opening up revealing the center of a massive arena. Crowds of cheering ponies could be heard all around and it started to give the aging earth pony a headache.

“CK has a very special surprise for you.” Said a voice over the loudspeaker. “He is the original zombie kill himself.” The floor beneath West started lifting up as he was hauled towards the arena center.

“The one!” The voice shouted. Flank closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“The only!” The voice continued. The elevator came to a stop and West found himself staring at four Clydesdale zombies in classic wrestling uniforms.

“FLAAAAAAANK WEEEEEST!” The voice shouted. Everypony in the arena started screaming even louder when they heard Flank’s name announced over the P.A. system.

“So, Celestial Sisters…” Flank looked over and saw the host of the game show he was on: Chaotic King. He was dressed in a purple vest with a white dress shirt underneath. Black slacks to match and a faux fur purple-ish blue trench coat on top. He was standing on his hind legs and was talking into a small microphone in the palm of his talon; Flank assumed it was just a gryphon.

“Now we’re in for a show.” He said. “The rematch of all rematches! Now, Flank has to kill zombies so he can earn bits. The bigger the death…the bigger the payoff…especially if he uses those corner grinders at the corners of the ring. I do enjoy a good grinding.” He said with a wave of cheers from the fillies and mares in the audience.

“But first, CK has got a personal message just for you, Flank West.” CK said. “You’ve got to be willing to risk it all…if you’re ever. Really. Gonna’.” He aimed his microphone at the crowd and everypony, in unison, shouted.

“WIN. BIG!” Flank braced himself and got ready for the fight of his life. The three zombie ponies slowly trotted their way over to him. The ring that CK was talking about had giant fences surrounding Flank and at the corners, were massive grinders that are typically used to chip bark and wood away. Flank tilted his head down and charged at one of the zombies. His head made contact and the zombie flew back into one of the grinders.

Blood shot in all directions and coated Flank in blood from head to hoof. Once the grinder stopped spewing out blood, one of the fences closed down and more zombies started pouring in. Flank figured it out: every time the grinder gets a zombie, one of the gates goes down, letting in more zombies. The more zombies he got in the grinders, the more points he’ll win, that, in turn, gives him more bits for Zombrex.

Without missing a beat, Flank charged another zombie pony and sent it flying into another corner grinder; another fence slowly closed. For three, long minutes, Flank charged and bucked many zombies into the corner grinders. So much blood had built up on his fur, that anypony could think it was his natural color.

“10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…” The horn blared through the entire arena as the event came to a close and the fences sealed themselves, preventing anymore zombies from coming into the ring.

“All right, let’s wipe him off and hose him down!” CK shouted, referring to Flank’s newly dyed fur. “Let me here it, Equestria!”

“I love you, CK.” A mare in the audience shouted.

“CK loves you too, filly.” CK said as he walked closer to the edge of the stage. “Though, I did expect a little bit more from our celebrity zombie killer.” The audience then came out with loud booing and angered moans. “But, we’re just getting started, ponies! The carnage has just begun! So, right now, let me hear you MAKE SOME NOOOOOOOIIIIIIIISE!” Everypony in the audience started cheering loudly as more fireworks were blasted into the air.

*** *** ***

“Veterinarians are looking into the problem and are examining the diets on different farms.” An anchorpony on the T.V. in the locker room said. Flank had just finished cleaning himself up and was just sitting in the locker room; waiting patiently for the right time to leave. “This seems to have only compounded the problems,” the anchorpony continued, “which have been linked to the milk shortages in local areas.

“The zombie rights group P.U.R.E. is in the news again.” Flank turned his head to the T.V. to get a scoop on the story. “The protest group has shown up in the adult pony playground of Celestial Sisters, which was chosen as the site of the latest season of the pay-per-view game show Terror Is Reality. The protest just compounds the problems of the game show, which has been plagued recently by tumbling ratings and controversy.

“PURE was on the site of the show to display their opposition, to what they call the unethical treatment of zombie ponies. Rainbow Dash, a close friend of the leader of PURE, had this to say…” The screen then cuts to footage of Rainbow Dash in front of the Celestial Sisters arena from earlier in the day.

“Let Celestia know that we will not stand for her systematic neglect of the infected!” She shouted angrily into the camera. “We must take drastic action now!”

“Public opinion is mixed on the groups views,” the anchorpony continued, “which are sometimes seen as radical.” The camera cuts to video of two average pony citizens.

“This is a joke right?” The stallion said. “Why would anypony want to save those…things?” The report then cut back to the anchorpony.

“Stay tuned,” he said, “coming up right after the break, we’ve got weather and sports.” The report ended and a new commercial for the Phenotrots drug, Zombrex, started playing. At the same time, another stallion, this one wearing a dark blue, faux leather suit trotted in and sat down next to Flank.

“I can’t believe I just did that…” he said. “I feel like such a sellout.” Flank nodded his head in agreement, slightly regretting coming onto the show in the first place. After a few more silent seconds, Flank pulled himself up from the bench and closed his locker; his wrestling uniform still bathed in blood from the event from tonight. He turned to a unicorn pony, who was applying deodorant to his under-foreleg, and asked him a question.

“Do you know a way out of here?” Flank asked.

“Sure, just go straight down the hallway, take the elevator, and go up a floor. That’ll take you to the main entrance.”

“Thanks.” Flank said as he trotted away and down the hall. Hooves hurt as he took each step; pain from punching and throwing so many zombies into the grinders. As he trotted down the hallway, he saw many posters of him in his wrestling outfit fighting off hordes of unseen zombies. That helped him get through the pain, knowing that he was, remotely, successful with tonight’s game.

While he was walking down the hallway, he saw a rusty-orange earth pony, with olive hair, trot onto the elevator. He was wearing a yellow and black faux leather jacket with the word Tsuaf written along the back. He turned and saw Flank and the two shared a brief smile.

As Flank was passing by some giant metal double doors, he started hearing the voices of CK and some other pony. Their conversation peaked Flank’s interest and he entered the double doors to find out what the hay they were talking about.

“Keep it down, stallion.” CK said as Flank approached at catwalk overlooking a massive storage room. “This is no time to lose your nerve.”

“Uh…you’re sure this is going to help, right?” The nervous unicorn pony talking to CK asked. He was wearing a light and dark green striped sweater and had a greasy, dreadlocked mane.

“Seriously, you worry way too much.” CK said. “It’s bad for your health. You have to keep this under your hat, stallion. You just have to chill out a bit, okay?”

“Oh, sure, Mr. King.” The pony said. “This is cool though. I never thought I’d get to do something so important…it’s really kind of awesome.” Flank adjusted his camera to get a better look at the two.

“What the hay are you up to, CK?” Flank asked under his breath. The old pony watched as CK handed the greasy pony a metal case full to the brim of bits and a strange metal device jutting with red and blue wires. The two figures started moving over to the other side of the storage room and Flank just followed them on the catwalk.

The two just kept talking about something ‘big’ and ‘important’. Flank just took picture after picture of the two as they approached the other exit leading into another part of the arena.

“And, remember,” CK said as he grabbed the handle, “not a word of this to anypony.” All of a sudden, a beeper on Flank’s watch went off and filled the whole room with two seconds of noise. Flank quickly turned it off and ducked away from the catwalk handrail. CK and the greasy pony looked around, but couldn’t find the source of the noise.

Ignoring it, CK turned back to the other pony, “Okay, you stay cool, alright? I need to get back to my show.” CK said as he led the pony out of the storage room.

Flank stood up and started trotting back to the hallway he trotted through before he heard CK’s voice. He looked through some of the photos on his camera as he left the storage room. But, whilst distracted, Flank ran into Silver Tail, one of CK’s own personal entourages for the show. She had a stern, yet sensual, look on her face.

“I think you’ve overstayed your welcome a bit, Flank.” She said. She had a dark black mane that covered half of her face and a silver sequenced dress that matched perfectly with her name. Flank scanned her body up and down and just started trotting to the elevator doors.

“Call me if you’re up for a photo shoot.” He said sarcastically. As he approached the doors, they swung open to reveal Golden Tail, Silver Tail’s twin sister. She had a blonde mane that covered up half of her face and a gold sequenced dress that, like her sister, matched her namesake. She stepped off the elevator and got right into Flank’s face, the smell of apple perfume filled his sinuses and almost made him sneeze all over the sensual mare.

“Your performance was a little limp tonight, Flank.” She said as she ran a hoof down his chest. “You must have to take pills for that at your age.” She said mockingly. Flank grunted and trotted onto the elevator, as he pushed the button, he watched Golden Tail trot up to behind her sister and embrace her as if they were stallion and fillyfriend. Flank just smirked.

“Goodnight, fillies.” He said as the doors closed. Light muzak filled the small compartment and the beeping of the elevator was very light on Flank’s old ears. A poster for the Phenotrots drug Zombrex hung right next to the doors. Flank just rolled his eyes. “Bloodsuckers.” He said.

The price of Zombrex was just unbelievable. For merely one syringe, without medical insurance, could set any pony back about $300. For Flank, this was a major problem because…

BOOM!

The elevator came to a sudden halt and threw Flank to the floor. His head slammed hard to the ground and nearly knocked him unconscious. He pulled himself up and galloped over to the broken doors. With all of his strength, Flank pulled the doors apart and saw ponies running away from an unknown assailant.

That’s when a Pegasus pony galloped into view with blood falling from his face. His wing was broken and he was staggering majorly.

“Oh, Celestia,” he said with pain in his voice, “dear, sweet Celestia…she got me…she…got me.” He came to a sudden stop and started growling like a rabid and hungry dog. He spun around and Flank saw that he was a new zombie, a giant bite mark across his face revealed how it happened to him.

“Oh, no…” Flank said, more annoyed than frightened and started to pull himself out from the elevator. The zombified Pegasus saw Flank and started shambling over to him. Flank knew that if he didn’t hurry, the zombie would be on top of him in an instant. But, the Fates were on his side.

Before the Pegasus got too close, a unicorn galloped around the corner and slammed head first into the zombie, killing it with her horn. She slowly pulled the horn out and looked over at Flank.

“Are you okay, sir?” She asked.

“Yes, I’m fine…thank you.” He said as he held out his hoof. “The name’s Flank West.”

“Twilight Sparkle.” The unicorn said. “And these are my friends Rarity and Fluttershy.”

“Pleasure to meet all of you.” Flank said. “Let’s just get out of here and get somewhere safer.”

*** *** ***

Flank and the other ponies were standing patiently inside the first compartment of the Celestial Sisters Outbreak Bunker. Ever since Fillydelphia, most cities and towns were required to build these bunkers for anticipation of any form of zombie outbreak. Most ponies were slowly pacing back and forth, trying to get a hold of the situation at hoof.

That’s when the second set of metal doors opened showing the rest of the main bunker. Waiting at the control panel was a tall Clydesdale with a name patch on his faux leather jacket that read: Ray. Everypony in the room filed out and started getting themselves situated in the safety of the bunker. Flank was about to enter the bunker…when Ray stopped him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, “don’t I know you?” He asked. Flank turned his attention to the aging unicorn.

“You could.” Flank said. “The name’s Flank…Flank West.” He held out his hoof to Ray as a sign of welcoming.

“Oh, you’re the big shot from Fillydelphia.” Ray said. “Yeah, yeah…I seen you on T.V. Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but ain’t you infected?” He asked as his magic created a field around the pistol near his right flank.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Flank said pulling out a box of Zombrex, “it’s all under control.”

“Oh, yeah?” Ray asked. “Well, you better have three days worth, pal. Because you seem real nice…and I’d hate to have to put a bullet in your head.” The magical field died down as Ray started trotting over to the control panel.

“Uh…thanks.” Flank said hesitantly.

“We ain’t got any Zombrex here.” Ray said. “The Royal Guardians will have to quarantine first. They’ll enter the city at first light three days from now to get all of us. That’s the standard procedure.” Flank stood there for a moment.

“So…we’re stuck here?” He asked. Ray nodded his head slowly.

“Better to be stuck in here and not out there, don’tcha’ think?” Ray asked. Flank listened on as the zombies outside started pounding their hooves against the doors. He had no choice but to accept his situation and he proceeded away from Ray. The elder unicorn used his horn to shut the doors and seal the rotting corpses outside.

Flank trotted into a room labeled ‘Security’. All around him were working camera monitors that got footage of the entire city from the Zebra Zavana all the way to the Wonderbolts’ Wonderland. Flank threw the empty carton of Zombrex he showed Ray and started to look through the many drawers and filing cabinets along the walls of the room.

“If I were a box of Zombrex,” he said, “where would I be?” Every time he would check a drawer…he’d come up short. Maybe Ray was telling the truth about there not being any Zombrex. His heart rate started to increase and adrenaline was starting to flow rapidly through his veins.

But, unbeknownst to him, another pony trotted into the room while he was in panic mode.

“I know where you can get some.” She said. Flank spun around to find a cyan-blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and matching rainbow tail. She bore a cutie mark that looked like a rainbow lightning bolt.

“What are you talking about?” Flank asked, feigning ignorance.

“Really?” The Pegasus just sighed. “Zombrex. And don’t worry, I won’t say anything.” She slowly started trotting up to Flank. “I know who you are.” She said. “I figured you were infected…though, I don’t remember you saying anything about that in your book.” She came to a slow stop between Flank and some of the camera monitors.

“Well,” Flank said, “it’s not exactly something I go around advertising.” The Pegasus stood there for a moment.

“There’s a pharmacy in the Royal Sun Mall.” She said. “I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way.” She said as she held out her hoof. Flank reached out to her hoof.

“I’m Flank.” He said. “Flank…”

“Flank West.” Rainbow interrupted. “Plenty of ponies know you.” She brought her hoof back and turned around to face the camera monitors again.

“Do you know a way out of here?” Flank asked. Rainbow sat down and started thinking.

“No.” She finally said. “But if you find one, I suggest you take this.” She said handing him a small headset that she found on one of the desks. Flank took it a carefully placed it on his ear…a feat very difficult for any earth pony. “That way you and I can keep in touch.” Flank nodded.

“There’s closed circuit cameras all over the city.” Rainbow said. “These monitors seem to be playback only, but I will keep an eye on them.” Flank looked down at the desk holding the monitors and found a small pamphlet/map of Celestial Sisters. Without thinking, he grabbed it and placed it in his front jacket pocket.

“And Flank?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah?” Flank asked.

“If you find anypony alive out there…” She started to say. Flank just smiled.

“Sure,” he said, “I’ve got…ugh…a little experience rounding up survivors.” And with that, Flank proceeded out of the security room and into the main hallway of the Celestial Sisters bunker.

How do I get out of here? He thought to himself. The main entrance was closed with two massive sets of metal doors; those, in turn, are surrounded by Celestia knows how many zombies. Thinking long and hard, Flank came to a conclusion…something he remembered Brad did back in Fillydelphia over a year earlier.

While Ray was in the cafeteria getting a carrot to munch on, Flank carefully trotted down a stairwell leading into an area that had a massive ventilation system leading back into the main mall of Celestial Sisters. There was a closed hatch just waiting to be opened; and Flank grabbed it with his teeth. With one good yank, the hatch door swung open and threw Flank back a few feet. Aside from some pain in his front teeth, Flank was just fine.

“You can’t keep Flank West bottled up.” He said as he pulled himself up from the cold, concrete floor.

2 - PURE Innocence

Chapter Two

PURE Innocence

Flank swung the hatch door wide open and found himself in a giant room filled with generators; possibly providing power to the mall…maybe even the whole city. He climbed out from the air duct and started trotting through the room, going past many giant machines that hummed lightly. He soon found himself at the base of a small metal stairwell leading up to open double doors. He could hear the sound of mall music and the scent of fresh hot coffee that’ll never be drunk. He slowly trotted up the stairs and into a long, brightly-lit hallway.

“Flank?” Said a voice through the transceiver. “Come in, Flank.” Flank took the small device out of his back pocket and answered.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash, what is it?” He asks.

“Oh, good, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” She says. “I was able to locate you on the monitors…you should be coming up to the maintenance entrance to the Royal Sun Mall.”

“’Kay, thanks.” Flank says as he starts to pull out the map.

“Redheart’s Pharmacy should be on the other end, so, you’ll have quite a ways to go.” Flank put the map back into his pocket and continued trotting down the hallway.

“Thanks again, Rainbow.” He puts away the transceiver and swings the second set of double doors open. There were hardly any zombies in the mall, a sign that the outbreak was a bit slow going. He just shrugs it off and goes into a gallop to get to the pharmacy faster.

Along the way, he found abandoned kiosks and empty stores that looked like a riot had broken out just before the zombies got loose. He also took some time to check out posters for events that were going to take place after Terror Is Reality left Celestial Sisters. There was one promoting a live manticore that was in a small habitat at the Zebra Zavara Casino at the end of the Celestia Strip.

There was one poster proclaiming the best rock band to grace Equestria, Metallicolt, was to perform a benefit show on the Celestia Strip to help raise awareness of the Cutie Pox.

There was another poster about two unicorn brothers who proclaimed they had the best apple cider in all of Equestria. Flank remembered reading an article about how the two brothers lost business after everypony found out that they were willing to sacrifice quality for quantity.

Without even realizing it, Flank passed the pharmacy. He stopped and started trotting to the entrance. There were two sets of doors from what Flank could see; and the first set was locked. He sighed angrily and galloped to the other set and opened them. Inside, there were four masked ponies grabbing medications and medical supplies from the shelves and shoving them into saddlebags. It didn’t take Flank long to find out they were looting the mall.

“Fantastic.” He said quietly. Flank quickly and quietly started trotted over to a backroom. One of the looting ponies got angry and stormed over to the front counter; a frightened nurse pony cowering in fear.

“Hey!” He shouted. “I know you’re holdin’ out on us. Where are the bits?!” He slammed his hoof on the counter in anger. “Where’s the safe?!” He used his magic to lift up the frightened pony by her shirt collar. “Come on! Don’t lie to me!”

“We don’t have a safe!” The mare shouted in a scared tone.

“Don’t…lie to…” The unicorn looter said.

“Hey!” Flank shouted. “Don’t you ponies have something better to do?” The unicorn looked around and saw Flank trotting out from behind the shelf he had hidden behind.

“Why don’t you mind your own business, old stallion?” He said angrily.

“Just looking for some meds,” Flank says, “no need for things to get ugly.”

“Well, you’re definitely gonna’ need some painkillers when I’m through with you.”

“Well, talking to you is giving me a headache.” Flank says.

“Oh yeah,” the unicorn says, “what say you give me a few bits and I’ll go get some for ya’?”

“Yeah, give us some bits, grandpa.” Another pony looter says. “We’ll help you out.”

“How about it, Grandpa?” A third looter asks. “You got any bits?” Flank stood there for a moment.

“Yeah, I got bits you can have.” He says. “But you’ll only get them when you pry them from my cold, dead hooves.” The first looter drops the mare and slowly trots over to Flank with his crowbar.

“That could be arranged.” He said. The looter then swung his crowbar at Flank’s face, but Flank slammed his hoof into the looter’s stomach and pushed him to the ground; the looter dropping his crowbar. Flank quickly picked up the weapon and swung violently at the three other looters that galloped up to him. He knocked each one down with one hit and trotted over to their downed leader.

“I’ve met some pretty nasty ponies in my life,” Flank says, “but you take the taco, pal.” Flank then punches the leader one last time before jumping over the counter to the scared mare.

“Are you okay?” He asks. “They didn’t do anything too severe?”

“No, they just tried to scare me into giving them bits.” She said. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Do you have any Zombrex?” Flank asks. The mare thinks for a second.

“I’ve only got one box left.” She says. “Most of the supply was stolen by those creeps.” Flank growls angrily.

“Well, could I get that box?” He asks.

“Absolutely, it’s the least I can do for you.” She says as she trots over to a door leading into the pharmacy’s backroom. She reaches inside one of the many drawers on her desk and pulls out a fresh box of Zombrex.

“Oh, thank Celestia.” Flank says as he takes the box and puts it in his jacket pocket.

“When were you bitten?” The mare asks.

“What’s weird is that I never was bitten…it just…sort of happened.” Flank explained, remembering the moment Braeburn told him he was infected.

“That’s really strange.” The mare said. Flank turned around to face the doorway and was about to leave, when he turned back to face the mare.

“Look, we may need your help.” Flank said.

“We?” The mare asked confused. “There are more of you?”

“Yeah, there’s a bunker full of survivors. If you follow me, I can take you there safely.”

“Absolutely, I would just love to be anywhere but here.” The mare said.

*** *** ***

Flank and the mare climbed out of the air duct and into the safehouse. The old stallion that Flank met earlier was standing outside; waiting patiently. He looked on as the pharmacy mare trotted up the stairs and into the bathroom.
“Where in Equestria did you find her?” The old stallion asks. “Never mind, I don’t wanna’ know.” The old stallion then starts trotting to the stairs.

“Well, I wasn’t just going to leave her there.” Flank says. The stallion comes to a stop and slowly looks at Flank.

“We can’t afford to have any infected in here.” He says as he trots up the stairs. “One is bad enough.” Ray leads the pharmaceutical mare into the small hospital room situated in the bunker; Flank trots upstairs and into the cafeteria, a waiting Rainbow Dash inside. Flank pulled out the syringe and jammed the needle hard into the side of his neck. He grunted slightly as the unnaturally cold fluid was plunged into his veins.

“Glad to see you found some.” Rainbow Dash said as she was flipping through the channels on the T.V. set in the cafeteria.

“Yeah, me too.” Flank said. He slowly made his way over to the coffee machine and started pouring himself a cup. Rainbow Dash landed on the Channel 6 News station and sat back down in a chair to watch the current news report.

“I have been told that we have received a broadcast from our field reporter Rebucka Hayes, who is inside Celestial Sisters.” The anchorstallion said during his report. Flank finished pouring his cup of coffee and turned to the T.V. set after hearing Rebucka’s name. The T.V. cut to a young mare with a short black mane in a white dress giving her report; a posh hotel in the background.

“It is clear that the outbreak started in the Celestial Sisters arena, during last night’s ‘Terror Is Reality’ show. Information received from a behind the scenes source reveals that this outbreaks was not an accident, but rather an act of terrorism.”

“Oh, Rebucka,” Flank said, “look at you. Not the weather filly anymore.” He started taking a sip from his cup of Joe.

“…at the site of the Terror Is Reality gameshow.” Rebucka continued her report. “This shocking footage was obtained from a source inside the Celestial Sisters arena, it may be upsetting to some viewers.” The report cut to security camera footage of a scraggly-looking stallion placing an electronic device on a gate containing zombies.

Flank realized something; it was the same pony he saw talking to CK many hours earlier. He watched as the pony galloped off screen as the electronic device, now a bomb, went off, releasing the zombies into Celestial Sisters. The screen then cut back to Rebucka Hayes.

“Initial reports suggest that the man in the video is a member of the protest group PURE.” She said. Flank’s eyes widened after he heard what she said.

“PURE?” He asked.

“Authorities speculate that PURE was attempting to discredit Terror Is Reality,” Rebucka continued, “or to shock Equestrians out of what PURE sees as their complacency. No statement of responsibility has yet been received. This horrible act of terror appears to be an escalation of violence for the protest group.” Flank slowly looked over at Rainbow Dash.

“This is Rebucka Hayes, reporting live from the Celestial Sisters Hotel, in the heart of Celestial Sisters.” Flank trotted over and shut off the T.V.

“You?” Flank asked as he slowly turned to face the cyan Pegasus. “What the hay? That was your picture on that screen!”

“Where did that even come from?” Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes showing signs of fear of Flank.

“It came from the security camera, filly.” Flank said. “What the hay were you thinking? Your friend’s group has a reputation, but come on!”

“PURE had nothing to do with this.” Rainbow Dash argued.

“It’s pretty easy to say that, isn’t it?” Flank asked. “But you’re gonna’ need more than that. You better start talking…right now.” He said as he slammed his hooves into the table.

“I’m telling you, we’re being set up.” Rainbow Dash said. “My friend’s group has been accused of things before, but we don’t believe in violence! We’re just somepony’s convenient excuse.”

“Oh, really?” Flank asked.

“It’s not the first time members of PURE have been falsely accused of being involved with an outbreak. I’ve got to find whoever leaked that tape. That stupid CK and his horrible show.”

“I’m not saying I believe you,” Flank said, “but something’s not right here, that’s for sure. I needed something to get back in the game. I investigate this, maybe I can get back to doing what I do best. That reporter…where is she?”

“I think she said she was in the hotel.” Rainbow Dash said as she slowly flew over to the cafeteria door. “I know this could end up being a big chance for your career, but don’t forget, this could mean mine and my friends’ lives.” Rainbow Dash slowly flew out of the room; Flank quickly behind her.

*** *** ***

Flank slowly trotted into the main lobby of the Celestial Sisters Hotel. All around him was strewn luggage and baggage from pony families coming here for a vacation…unfortunately having it brutally cancelled. As he looked around the area, he noticed a small I.D. badge lying in a small pool of blood. Flank slowly knelt down to study it further; realizing that it had a picture of Rebucka Hayes on the front.

“Amateur.” Flank sighed. “Looks like you’re zombie chow, now.” That’s when the body of a mare started pulling itself up. She had a black mane and was wearing a blood-stained white dress. Flank noticed her getting up and was starting to back away slowly, when a gunshot rang out through the lobby.

The zombie’s body fell down to the floor; another mare standing in the back with a smoking gun in her mouth. She slid the gun back into its holster and looked over at Flank.

“You need to pay attention out here, buddy.” She said as she started trotting up to him.

“Uhm…thanks.” Flank said.

“Rebucka Hayes.” The mare said. “Channel 6 Action News.” Flank held out his hoof.

“Flank West.” He said. Rebucka took a step back, avoiding shaking Flank’s hoof.

“Oh, I know you.” She said in a slight mocking tone. “You used to be a kind of a hero of mine…before you got washed up.” Flank’s smile slowly faded after hearing her make that statement. “You homesick for zombies? What are you doing here?”

“Hey, I came to help with your story.” Flank argued. “I think PURE’s being set up.” Rebucka slowly started trotting in circles around Flank.

“My exclusive tape says otherwise.” The young mare said. “And…I don’t exactly need your help.”

“It doesn’t have to be a contest, filly.” Flank said. “I help you…you help me…simple as that. With that being said, where’d you get the tape?”

“Reporters don’t reveal their sources, Flank.” Rebucka said. “Not real ones, anyway.” Flank twinged a bit from that stinging insult.

“I wouldn’t underestimate Flank West, sweetheart.” He said. “I’ve got some pictures you might be interested in.”

“Okay, let’s see what you’ve got.” She moved forward to get Flank’s camera. Flank stepped back away holding his camera.

“Not so fast.” He said. “You’re got to throw this old dog a bone before he does any tricks.” Rebucka thought about it for a moment.

“Okay,” she finally said, “maybe I’ll let you tag along for a while.”

“That’s more like it.” Flank said. Rebucka started to slowly trot in circles around Flank again.

“I can’t tell you my source.” She said. “But there is a central security room, in the arena. There’ll be footage of everything that happened there. I can take you there.”

“Well, you show me yours and I’ll show you mine.” Flank said. “Where’s your crew?” Rebucka sighed bitterly and started trotting to the entrance of the, unfinished, NightMare Mall.

“They galloped off.” She said. “With all the equipment. I guess they just didn’t want it bad enough.” She continued into the darkness of the unfinished mall; Flank quickly on her tail.

*** *** ***

Flank and Rebucka slowly made their way to the entrance leading into the Celestial Sisters arena. As they approached the doors, Flank noticed that a gate was still down. This was, unfortunately, blocking their way into the arena.

“Great.” Flank said as he pounded his forehoof against the gate. Rebucka slowly turned her gaze over to the old stallion.

“I have no idea how you would survive out here on your own.” She said mockingly. Flank slowly looked over to the condescending mare.

“Just push the button, filly.” He said. Rebucka lifted up her hoof and pressed a big red button, located on a control panel next to the downed gate.

“I sure hope I don’t have to do everything for you.” She said as the gate started lifting up. She turned over to Flank and just stood there for a moment, waiting patiently for him. “Well? What’re you waiting for?” That’s when Rebucka ducked down and trotted over to the main door leading into the arena.

“Just admiring your…” Flank was saying, noticing her haunches wiggling in the air for a moment. “…skills.” As they entered the main area, Flank realized they were in trouble. Thousands upon thousands of zombies were crowded inside the main entrance. It didn’t take them long enough to notice Flank and Rebucka standing around like two stupid dogs.

“Flank…what do we do?” Rebucka asked. Flank thought really quick; remembering his time in Fillydelphia. There was a brief moment during that week where Flank thought about something really stupid, but a possible plan.

His dumb idea was to trot around and act like a zombie in hopes of getting through giant crowds of the undead rotting things. He breathed in heavily and told Rebucka his plan.

“Are you crazy?” Rebucka asked. “That’s gotta’ be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard anypony say in the history of Equestria!”

“Well, what do you suggest?” Flank asked. “We’re up to our necks in zombies and I’ve got nothing better to think of.” Rebucka stood there for a moment, thinking over what Flank had said.

“Fine.” She said. “But when we die, I’m going to bother you in the afterlife.” Flank breathed heavily and started moaning in the same manner. His jaw drooped open and he started drooling. Rebucka was starting to get repulsed, but she too followed suit.

The zombies kept getting closer and closer to the duo. Flank and Rebucka were starting to get nervous, fearing that maybe what they were doing wasn’t working for them at all. One zombie to Rebucka’s left started pressing its muzzle into her mane, sniffing like a dog meeting a new neighbor.

Then it trotted away.

The plan had worked. With that, Flank and Rebucka slowly made their way through the main hall of the arena and approached the entrance to the main Celestial Sisters security room. Flank grasped the handle with his mouth and started to turn it. But it wouldn’t budge. Using all of his strength, Flank started shaking the handle like a nutjob. Rebucka placed a hoof on Flank’s shoulder and pushed him back away.

“I’m gonna’ have to break it down.” Flank said.

“Here…” Rebucka said. “Let me try.” She reached into her skirt and pulled out a screwdriver and a bobby pin and started working on the locked door. Her haunches started wiggling in the air again and Flank couldn’t help but watch with a grin on his face.

“They didn’t teach me that in journalism school.” He said, still staring at Rebucka’s backside. Rebucka paused for a moment and turned around to face Flank.

“You went to journalism school?” She asked. “Could’ve fooled me.” And with that, Rebucka swung the door open and motioned for Flank to go in. He did so and Rebucka followed him in. As soon as Flank trotted in, he realized something big was wrong.

Everything in the room was destroyed. Computer towers and monitors were crushed on the floor, the television monitors had cracks and were playing nothing but static or the rainbow colored test bars, and two dead security ponies in their chairs.

“What a mess.” Flank said. “Well, this just gets better and better.”

“Wow, looks like somepony didn’t like the show much.” Rebucka said.

“You should get this on video.” Flank said as he trotted over to some of the destroyed computers strewn all over the floor. Rebucka carefully pulled out her video camera from a front pocket on her dress.

“They didn’t want us to see what really went down.” Flank said as he looked at the destroyed motherboards.

“Flank,” Rebucka called from the other side of the room, “check this out.” Flank started trotting over to Rebucka to see what she was talking about. When he got there, he saw what she was talking about. The two security ponies were not attacked by zombies, but were shot in the forehead by a gun. The obvious sign being the massive bullet wounds between their eyes.

“Zombies don’t use guns.” Flank said. Rebucka put her camera away and looked over at Flank.

“I’m not so sure PURE’s not involved,” she said, “but it definitely prove somepony’s covering up what really happened.”

“Not a bad lead, kiddo.” Flank said.

“Now it’s time to show me those pictures, Flank.” Rebucka said. Flank was about to give Rebucka his camera, when the transceiver Rainbow Dash gave him started going off.

“Flank…you need to get back to the bunker now.” She said in a scared tone.

“What is it Rainbow?” Flank asked.

“It’s Ray…he saw the report.” She said. Flank could hear her friends arguing with Ray in the background. “Can you get back here? He’s threatening to kick me and my friends out.”

“I’m on my way.” Flank said before he put the transceiver back into his pocket and took off back for the bunker.

“Wait.” Rebucka said before Flank left the room. “Who was that?”

“Just a friend.” Flank said as he pushed the door open. Rebucka thought for a moment.

“Rainbow…Rainbow Dash?” She asked. “The friend of the leader of PURE?”

“Gotta’ go.” Flank said as he left the security room. Rebucka just sighed and continued filming the destruction of the security room.

“He can’t ditch me forever.” She said under her breath.

3 - Firewater

Chapter Three

Firewater

Flank slowly trotted out of the arena, to find dozens of dead zombie bodies lying in pools of blood. Curious, Flank galloped down the stairs and towards the many dead bodies. Upon further inspection, Flank found out that they were cut in half and their skulls crushed inwards, as if a tire ran across their faces.

“This is weird.” Flank said. He just ignored it and continued down the Luna Strip. As he was clopping along, more and more of the strange corpses started appearing in larger numbers. Blood was everywhere; on every bush and every building. Flank was starting to get nervous, fearing there might be a psychopath nearby.

As he was trotting past the Equestriana Casino, he saw a Zombrex poster covered in blood. But the blood was written, a message, stating I’M NO CHUMP! Flank cringed at the idea of who wrote that.

“…*cough*…Hey, pal,” a trying voice shouted to Flank, “over here!” Flank spun around to Pinkie’s Imaginarium, a small shop located on the Luna Strip, and saw a stallion with a long, slick, black mane lying in a pool of his own blood.

He was wearing a full-body, green, Terror Is Reality jumpsuit. Most of his fur was caked and matted with blood, sweat, and, possibly, tears. He was crying and coughing at the same time; a cough that was heavily filled with the liquid sense of blood.

“Are you okay?” Flank asked, not caring about the ridiculousness of his question.

“No, that chump finally did me in.” He said between coughs. “He’s nuts…you need to…watch out for…him…” His eyes started to flutter closed.

“Where is he?” Flank asked angrily.

The stallion didn’t respond. The life force drained from his mangled body and he slumped forward. Flank looked around frantically for whoever did this; not finding anything. The only clue that he could gather was that the pony in question was drinking. An empty bottle of Flim-Flam Hard Alcoholic Cider lied next to the dead stallion who warned Flank.

Flim-Flam Hard Alcoholic Cider was created by the infamous Flim-Flam Brothers after their huge scandal in Ponyville awhile back. They needed something new to put them above the Apple family and the cider they created was the answer to all of their problems. The cider in question became well-known after ponies discovered it was filled with a foreign and exotic chemical found only in the Gryphon Kingdom.

Alcohol, a chemical that can make any pony, zebra, gryphon, and, possibly, dragon very happy, was added to their already loved cider. The addition gave the new drink a harsh, bitter, yet satisfying taste. After awhile, it gained a nickname…firewater; cider that burns the mouth and throat in a most pleasurable way.

But alcohol had a nasty side-effect; too much can make a pony, or other living being, act crazy. Flank had feared that whoever was getting drunk off of firewater must’ve been a very angry pony when they drink; angry enough to kill thousands of zombies and an innocent stallion trying to survive.

Flank started treading carefully as he continued investigating the unknown psycho drunk off of Flim-Flam Firewater. The tension was starting to get the best of Flank as his entire body started to shake uncontrollably. Not even realizing it, Flank found himself in the center of the Celestial Sisters Park; a small park located near the entrance of the adult pony playground. There were even more piled up zombie bodies that all had been cut in half and run over.

“This place just gets weirder and scarier each passing second.” Flank said as he looked at the bloody carnage. He looked up at the setting sun, the day had gone by way too quickly. Flank looked from the horizon to the Hotel, then to the entrance of Celestial Sisters, and finally the entrance of the Wonderbolt Wonderland.

That’s when he spotted it.

A yellow motorbike with chainsaws attached to the front was sitting in front of the entrance to the Pegasus-themed Park. The bike itself was coated in blood with only a few patches of yellow clearly visible from underneath the many layers of filth and grime.

Flank thought carefully and started to slowly approach the abandoned bike. Each step seemed to take longer than the last. His nerves were continuing to get the best of him. After what felt like an eternity, Flank arrived at the yellow chainsaw motorbike and started inspecting it.

The saws themselves were once a nice metallic grey, but not anymore. The massive collection of zombie blood could fool anypony into believing that red was its natural color. And on top of the right saw was a near-full bottle of Flim-Flam Cider. Flank gulped heavily, realizing he found the nutjob.

“Hey!” Somepony behind Flank shouted. “You get the hay away from my bike!” Flank spun around and saw an angry-looking stallion staring at him with red, puffy eyes. Flank wasn’t too sure, but he suspected the stallion’s eyes were like that because of either too much cider, or he had been crying heavily.

The stallion was wearing faded, blue jeans, and a yellow-black, faux leather jacket with the word Tsuaf stitched across the front. His mane was rather long, and very unkempt, and he was getting five o’clock shadow near the bottom of his muzzle. Flank also noticed that the stallion had, somehow, duct taped a little filly toy to his back. It was a baby filly, the kind that mares buy their young fillies to let them feel like mommy.

“Whoa, chill, ok?” Flank said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was yours.” Flank turned around to give another look over the bike; the stallion trotting up to him in an angry fashion. “It’s a nice bike though.”

Flank spun around and was instantly greeted by the stallion’s face. The smell of the alcoholic cider was emanating heavily from the pony’s mouth. The red, puffiness of his eyes was revealed to be a mixture of crying and too much cider. The stallion started looking over Flank, as if he was a computer scanning an important document. The gruff look on his face started to lighten up and he placed a hoof on Flank’s shoulder.

“Hey, sorry, buddy,” he said, “I thought you were one of those crazies.” Flank had to hold back from vomiting; the stallion reeked badly of alcohol. “You just…can’t trust ponies anymore. I’ve been dealing with nutbars all day long.” The stallion said as he turned away from Flank to look at the zombie corpses, and a few stragglers.

“These zombies,” he said, “they’re annoying, sure, but they’re easy to kill.” One zombie noticed the odd stallion and started shambling over to him. In a quick motion, the stallion grabbed the zombie by the head and brought it closer to the ground, like a move in a good dance.

“You know,” he continued, “kinda’…kinda’ fun even.” He looked deep into the cloudy eyes of the undead, walking corpse. “The real threat is the ponies…the zebras…everybody. An outbreak like this does things to stallions and mares…the violence we experience…the deaths we witness.” Flank just kept watching the stallion with interested eyes.

“Seeing your own loved ones die…horrible, and irreversible…change…” He got a tighter grip around the zombie’s head. “It makes ponies snap!” The stallion twisted and broke the neck of the zombie when he finished his last word in the sentence. “Just like that.” The stallion ripped the head off of the zombie’s body and continued looking at it. Flank started to shake from nervousness again.

“Ponies just like you and me.” The stallion said as he shook his head left and right. “Just when all of our countries should be coming together…we turn on each other instead. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have an Equestria ending fallout.” He threw the head down and turned his attention back towards Flank. Flank shifted uncomfortably next to the bike as the stallion slowly approached him.

“You’re…Buck Greene.” Flank said. “What happened to you? Why are you doing this?” Buck smirked.

“I’ve got a daughter to protect, that’s why.” He said as he got closer to Flank. “And I won’t let anything…or anypony…get in my way.” Flank started looking around the area.

“Your daughter?” He asked. “Well, listen, I can take you both back to the Safe House.” Buck slowly got closer and put both his forehooves on Flank’s shoulders. Once again, Flank had to hold back his lunch.

“Katey needs her Zombrex every twenty-four hours.” He said in a delusional tone. “Right baby?” Buck dropped his hooves and turned to face the doll taped to his back. That’s when Flank realized something…Buck had a daughter and lost her in the outbreak.

“Oh,” Flank said, “your daughter.” Buck pushed Flank to the side, grabbed the bottle of cider, and took a huge swig. After a moment, or two, he sat the bottle back down. He started to tear up…but still trying his best to hold back the depression.

“Do you know what would happen if she didn’t get her Zombrex every day?” Buck asked.

“Yes, unfortunately.” Flank said. Buck couldn’t hear what he had said as he took another big gulp of cider.

“But I would never let that happen.” Buck said. “We still have some time, Katey. I’ll find some if it kills me.” Buck spun back around and started trotting back over to his bike. Flank looked over at him and tried to get him to stop.

“Look,” he said, “let’s get you and your…daughter…” Flank grabbed the lifeless doll with his mouth and stopped Buck in his tracks. “…back to the Safe House so that…” Flank realized his mistake.

Buck quickly turned around and glared an evil, menacing glare at the scared, old stallion. He shoved Flank hard in the shoulder, sending him back away.

“Get the hay away from her.” Buck said.

“Oh, no…” Flank said as he started backing up. Buck threw the bottle at Flank and then started swinging his hooves back and forth, trying to land a good blow against Flank’s skull.

“You’re just one of those nutbars!” Buck shouted. “You just want to hurt her! Keep her from getting her Zombrex!” Buck spun around and kicked Flank in the chin, hurdling him backwards and onto the cold, hard ground. Buck quickly turned tail and galloped back to his bike.

Flank slowly pulled himself up from the ground and watched as Buck got himself attached into the bike. The engine roared to life and the chainsaws started spinning; spraying blood in all directions. Flank got into a fighting stance and prepared for his, possibly last, fight. The motorbike spun around 180 degrees until Buck was face-to-face with Flank.

“Nopony messes with my little pony.” Buck said. Buck flew forward at Flank at terrifying speeds. Flank fell down onto his belly to avoid getting hit by the saws as they passed over him. Buck spun around and got ready for another attack. Flank pulled himself up and galloped away from the psychotic pony.

“You’re dead, nutbar!” Buck shouted as he revved the engine and roared towards Flank again. Flank jumped up and over a small fence that surrounded a garden. There were three of them set up near the entrance to Celestial Sisters. Buck couldn’t control his bike and smashed into the blue, metal fence.

The front of his bike got stuck between two of the metal bars and Buck couldn’t pull the bike out. Flank looked around and saw a wooden baseball bat over to his left. He grabbed it with his mouth and swung hard against Buck’s skull.

Flank missed his target and ended up hitting Buck in the shoulder. The sudden hit caused Buck to jump off of his bike and start to manually remove the wheel from the fence. Flank took this opportunity to pull himself up from the green grass he had been laying on and trotted over to Buck.

“Get away from me!” Buck shouted at Flank. “And get away from Katey!” Buck grabbed a full bottle of cider from his bike, a rag, and a lighter. Flank was about to strike Buck again, but the drunk stallion kicked Flank back to the ground. While Flank was down, Buck stuffed the rag into the bottle and lit it on fire.

Flank realized the danger he was in and got up again. Buck chucked the bottle high in the air and it landed against the grass with a loud shatter. Flank just barely got out of the area; the end of his tail getting lit on fire. While Flank was putting out the small flame on his tail, Buck continued to get his bike unstuck. After a few seconds, Buck got his bike free and hopped back onto the dangerous contraption.

Flank finished batting out the flame and got ready for another barrage of Buck Greene. The drunken stallion revved his engine again and tore after Flank. Flank grabbed his bat again and stood his ground.

In one quick motion, Flank jumped over Buck just as the psycho was driving towards him. While in the air for a few brief seconds, Flank smashed the baseball bat against the side of Buck’s face; the sound of breaking bones was clearly heard over the roar of the engine. When Flank hit the ground, he turned around to see Buck losing control of his motorbike.

He swerved left and then right and then the front wheel buckled in from the first head-on collision. Buck went soaring through the air and smashed hard into the concrete ground. His ‘daughter’ fell into pieces all around Buck and Buck laid there for the longest moment. Flank was worried he may have killed the ex-Motoclops champion. But then there was movement.

Buck lifted up his head and started looking frantically for the small doll.

“Katey?” He asked. He spotted the doll’s head just a couple feet in front of him. “Katey…” he said with relief. His body was moving slowly closer to the doll; inch by inch. “Katey?” Buck asked. “Are you alright?” He was a few inches away from the doll head. He grabbed the head with his hooves and rolled over onto his back, staring at the lifeless blue eyes.

“Katey, you’re okay.” He said. “You’re safe now…that’s all that matters…that’s…all that matters.” He clutched the head closer to his chest, tears streaming down his face. “I can’t imagine what I would do…if…anything ever happened…to you.” Buck then closed his eyes one final time, dying from a broken heart…and excessive bleeding. Flank just stood there staring at the poor stallion.

“That pony,” he said, “was a few screws short of a workbench.” He turned his back on the dead pony and started trotting back to the Royal Sun Mall. As he was clopping along, he stepped on a set of keys with a yellow Tsuaf keychain. He spun around to face Buck…but Buck’s body and ‘Katey’ were gone.

Where his body should’ve been, Flank only found drops of blood.

“Okay,” he said to himself, “this place is nuts.”

*** *** ***

Flank slowly made his way through the halls of the bunker. He could hear two other ponies having an argument just inside the security room. Ray and Rainbow Dash were butting heads, big time.

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” Ray shouted at the Pegasus. “You’re nothing but a common criminal!” He stepped closer to Rainbow. “You’ve caused nothing but trouble.”

“PURE is innocent!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “It’s a setup!”

“I saw your buddies on T.V., filly.” Ray said. “I saw your picture.” Flank swung the door open to calm everypony’s nerves.

“Hey!” He shouted. Ray looked over to the old stallion.

“And a stallion like you, a real Equestrian, helping out adorable trash like this.” He said. “You don’t need that kind of publicity, pal.” Flank trotted casually into the room and stood next to Rainbow Dash.

“Ray, I think PURE’s being set up.” He said.

“I saw it on the T.V.!” Ray shouted. “With my own two eyes. Explain how that little trick works.”

“There’s something else going on here, Ray.” Flank said. “I found some evidence at the arena of a cover-up. I’ve got a feeling CK, the host of that game show, is involved somehow. I saw him backstage, at his show, swapping a briefcase full of bits with the colt they showed on T.V. starting this outbreak.” That’s when a young mare stepped into the room: Rebucka Hayes.

“Ahem,” she said to get everypony’s attention, “you could have told me that the front door was locked.” She motioned towards the massive, orange, metal doors that held the zombies outside of the main bunker.

“Hey, you’re that T.V. filly.” Ray said. “Here, I’ll make you a deal, Flank. You two can do your little investigation; see if you can help out this little troublemaker. But ain’t nopony gonna’ cover her flank when the Royal Guardians arrive. And, she ain’t allowed off the premises. I’ll be guarding the door. And don’t think I won’t do what I have to do.” He said as he left the security room.

“What was that all about?” Rebucka asked.

“He just takes his job too seriously.” Flank said. Rainbow Dash sat down at the computer monitors and looked over at the two reporters.

“Please, tell me you found something.” She said.

“Well,” Flank said, “we checked out central security. Somepony’s definitely trying to hide something. Everything was smashed to pieces; computers, televisions, everything.” Flank raised a hoof and placed it on Rebucka’s shoulder.

“And this is…uh…my new friend.” Rebucka looked over at the cyan Pegasus and gave a warm smile.

“Rainbow Dash,” she said happily, “I’m Rebucka Hayes. Channel 6 Action News; I’m here to help.” Rainbow Dash grunted bitterly.

“Oh,” she said, “you’ll forgive me if I don’t think it’s very helpful that you accused my friend’s organization of a crime she didn’t commit.”

“Look,” Rebucka said, “I don’t know what’s going on here, but clearly things are not as they seem. I put out the information I had at the time.” The two were starting to glare at each other angrily.

“Hey,” Flank said to break the tension, “I love a good catfight…but we’re not getting anywhere unless we work together, fillies.”

“Works for me.” Rebucka said. “Whether you’re innocent…or guilty…I just want the truth.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Rainbow said. “But, okay, we’ll work together. I’ll keep an eye on these monitors.”

“And I’ll go back out there to see what I can find out.” Rebucka said.

“I’ll let you know if I see anything.” Rainbow said as Rebucka left the room.

4 - Dissonance Returns

Chapter Four

Dissonance Returns

Flank was sitting in the cafeteria eating a carrot. Most of the evening had gone by without any major breakthroughs in progress. And most of what was on T.V. that night was slim pickings of anything remotely decent. As Flank was about to take another bite, Rainbow Dash flew into the cafeteria and hovered in front of Flank.

“Yes?” Flank asked.

“I found something.” She said. “But I don’t think you’re gonna’ like it.”

“Why?” Flank asked.

“Just follow me and I’ll show you.” She flew out of the cafeteria in a rainbow trail and Flank slowly followed her back to the security room. As he entered, Rainbow Dash was fiddling with the controls, rewinding the video back to just before what she saw.

“Okay, what’s goin’ on?” Flank asked as he stood next to Dash.

“I’m pretty sure I saw somepony dragging a mare into the washroom over here.” She said. Flank knelt down closer to get a better few of the monitor.

“Oh, yeah?” Flank asked. “Well, maybe if we watch these monitors for a…” Suddenly, a unicorn, wearing a green-striped sweater, came into focus dragging a helpless mare with his magic. “What the hay?!” He looked even closer at the monitor.

“Wait a minute,” he said, “that’s the pony I saw taking money from CK.” He watched as the crazed unicorn stopped dragging the mare and then kicked her hard in the side for an unknown reason.

“Oh, no, not him!” Rainbow Dash blurted. “He’s part of PURE!” Flank slowly turned his attention to the cyan Pegasus.

“He’s part of PURE?” He asked. “I thought you said you were being set up.”

“Flank, that pony was a new recruit.” Rainbow said. “I never saw him before this protest.” She got up and flew over to a small coffee pot that was never used.

“Yeah, that’s a good one.” Flank said.

“Of course,” Dash said. “CK must have planted this colt in our group. To do his dirty work for him.” She turned back and floated over to Flank.

“Oh yeah?” Flank asked. “Well, I’m gonna’ find out what he knows about this.” He started making his way towards the door when Rainbow Dash stopped him from leaving.

“Flank…” she said. “Be careful…it looks like he’s gone off the deep end.” He just stared at her for a moment.

“I’ve covered wars…you know.” Flank said just before leaving the security room and back into the main hall of the bunker.

*** *** ***

The unicorn Flank saw in the video was dragging the mare through a bathroom located in the back of the Wonderbolt Wonderland. Flank finally got the chance to check out the Pegasus-themed Park. There were rides based around the Wonderbolts team of acrobatic Pegasi.

There was one ride near the very entrance simply called Soarin’. It was a massive ship designed to look like the said Wonderbolt flier. Another one near the back was called the Sonic Rainboom Experience; designed to give a close sensation to what it’s like to be in the middle of a Sonic Rainboom itself.

And off to the side of the entrance was the Spitfire Lounge. It was a bar/lounge for adults to relax in while their kids played all the carnival games and rides. And, above the bathroom, was the unfinished roller coaster called The Fleetfoot Echo. Flank took some pictures of the amusement park just before stepping into the entrance of the massive bathroom.

He went over to the right side to find the unfinished filly restroom and found it abandoned and devoid of life. Flank left the room and proceeded over to the gentlecolt’s restroom. He could hear a strange voice emanating from inside as well as the crying of a scared mare. Flank stepped inside and saw the unicorn standing over the mare; floating a bloody piece of broken glass in the air in front of her.

“…the movement is growing…” Said the psychotic unicorn. “Soon, we will all be part of the change…” Flank cautiously stepped closer to the unicorn.

“Hey,” he said, “You…uh…you okay?” The unicorn spun around to face Flank. His face was coated in blood, same as his hooves and most of his clothing.

“It wasn’t supposed to go down like that…” he said. “But now…I see how radical it is. Now, my life has meaning again…its perfect this way.” Blood was slowly dripping down from his muzzle; his lips torn to shreds. “So, I’m on board now. It’s the only way, stallion of mine.”

“What about CK?” Flank asked.

“I’m a soldier for the cause, friend.” The unicorn said, twitching slightly on every other syllable.

“So it was you that started the outbreak.” Flank said.

“Yes." The unicorn said with a proud sound, as if he was to be awarded for the effort. "First it was horrible…” The unicorn continued. “The zombies…the zombies we’ve been trying to save…killing ponies…eating ponies…but then…I saw how brilliant the plan is…it’s the best way to end the oppression. It’s so radical…so beautiful, friend!” Flank looked behind the deranged unicorn to see the mare on the floor with her hooves tied together. She looked up at Flank, crying heavily.

“Please…help me…” She said. The unicorn carefully made his way over to one of the stalls on the left wall.

“So I’m helping now.” He continued as he placed a forehoof on the stall door. “I’m a soldier for the cause, friend.” He swung the door wide open to reveal a zombie standing in wait. The creature looked up and saw the helpless mare tied up on the floor.

It started growling and shambling out of the stall. Flank quickly saw what was going on and jumped into action. He shoved the zombie back into the stall and slammed the door shut.

“No!” Flank shouted as he turned his attention to the unicorn. “This is not the way to help anypony!” The unicorn tilted his head, much the same a dog does when trying to understand English.

“Oh,” he finally said, “I see. You’re losing the courage to do what needs to be done.” The piece of glass started hovering closer to the mare’s throat. “Well, I have the guts, and I’m taking this thing all the way!” The glass quickly ran over the mare’s throat; a blast of blood shot everywhere as the unicorn hit the jugular vein. The earth pony mare gurgled for a few moments before she went limp and her body hit the floor with a sickening thump.

“You monster!” Flank grabbed the unicorn and threw him against the stalls. Unfortunately, he hit the one with the zombie still inside. The unicorn went through the door and was instantly bitten by the zombie. He screamed in agony and ripped himself away from the undead beast. Blood was gushing from the bite mark on the side of his face. He lifted his hoof to his face to get a good feel of the damage.

The unicorn started trotting away from Flank and the zombie; continuing to touch his bite.

“No…” He said solemnly. Realizing his fate, the unicorn lifted up the broken piece of glass and ran it across his own throat, ending his horrid life once and for all. As his body fell to the ground, Flank smashed his hoof against the skull of the zombie that was getting closer to him.

“Rainbow has a lot of explaining to do.” Flank said as he trotted out of the restroom and back into the Wonderland.

*** *** ***

Flank stormed into the security room to the waiting Rainbow Dash.

“All right,” he said, “you and I need to talk. That pony? He was part of your friend’s group. He pretty much admitted it to my face and I saw him take money from CK.”

“That pony,” Rainbow said, “he was new to PURE. We wouldn’t do this.” She looked away from Flank. “But that cutthroat CK might. You have to believe me.” She looked back up at the aged stallion.

“I’ll tell you what I believe.” Flank said. “CK paid him to destroy his own show…but why?” His gaze went over the monitors for just a brief second as he thought…but he caught something in his peripheral vision.

“Hey,” he said, “what was that?” Rainbow Dash spun around to look at the monitors as Flank leaned in closer. The monitor was showing two unicorn ponies, floating guns in the air, standing near an entrance to the underground tunnel system of Celestial Sisters.

“I don’t know,” Dash said, “it looks like something’s going at the entrance to this maintenance tunnel. I can’t quite tell for sure, but it looks like somepony is moving equipment or something…looks pretty organized…” Flank kept looking at the monitor, taking in the events that were unraveling in front of him.

“Could be survivors.” He said. “Could be a lead…I’ll go check it out.” He spun around and started trotting out of the security room, but Rainbow Dash quickly stopped him.

“Listen…Flank…” She began to say.

“What?” Flank asked bitterly.

Rainbow Dash paused for a brief moment, thinking of how she was going to say what it is she was going to say. “Nothing,” she finally said, “just…I know this is a great opportunity for you…get back in the spotlight…but…there’s a lot more at stake…” Flank nodded his head, understanding what the Pegasus was getting at.

*** *** ***

Celestial Sisters wasn’t like any other playground, obviously, but one of the biggest stand-outs of this place is the fact that, for an odd reason, there’s a small system of tunnels just underneath everypony’s hooves. And there was an entrance in every major building, one through the Royal Sun Mall, the Zebra Zavana Casino, and the NightMare Mall.

From the video Flank saw, the unicorns were gathered at the entrance underneath the Canterlot Plaza Mall of Celestial Sisters. Flank had arrived at nearly two in the morning. His muscles were starting to feel the effects of fatigue after not sleeping for over thirty-six hours. He made a promise to himself that when he got the evidence he needed, he’d take a long hard nap.

Anyway, Flank was hiding behind a massive metal shelf full of wooden containers, watching the two unicorn guards wait patiently for somepony. In front of the two unicorns was a parked train. The train itself had wooden containers covered in blue tarps stacked and packed neatly on the different cars.

“Uh huh…” One guard said into a small walkie-talkie on his orange jumpsuit. “Yes sir.” He turned to his fellow unicorn companions. “He’s almost here. Move it!” Flank watched, in utter horror of the scene that befell him.

CK, the host of the gameshow Terror Is Reality, was standing on his hind legs as he walked over to the unicorn guards. However, he was not a pony; he was a mixture of many different type of animals. Flank was able to figure out that he was part dragon, snake, goat, gryphon, and other unknown creatures.

He was Discord. The Master of Chaos. The Spirit of Disharmony. What was he doing in Celestial Sisters? Flank adjusted his camera and looked at the crazed Draconequus as he walked up to one of the unicorn guards, obviously the leader of the team.

“Discord…” Flank said under his breath. “What are you up to?”

“Sergeant,” Discord said, “Make sure that you get all of this handled correctly and properly. We don’t need any damage; otherwise my boss will be rather displeased.” He pointed a talon at a small crate next to the train. “And take care of this stuff over here, because we’re leaving in a few minutes.”

Flank continued viewing through his camera as three guards trotted over and started lifting up crates with their magic and loading them into the train. Flank couldn’t get a good enough shot, so he started to carefully trot over to the group of ponies.

Flank did his best to remain hidden, but it didn’t work. A guard turned around and spotted Flank taking pictures of their operation. He floated out his gun and started firing rounds at the old pony. Flank ducked and rolled over to behind a concrete support beam. Discord looked over at the commotion to see Flank’s tail lightly wagging from behind the beam.

“Unbelievable,” he said, “it’s that fat chump photographer Flank West, messing everything up for me.” He motioned the guards to follow him to the train. “Let’s just get out of here and leave that paparazzo behind.” The unicorns continued firing at the support beam as they boarded the train. They stopped to get the train started and moving.

Flank thought hard for a moment and watched as the train started to take off and pick up speed. The old pony galloped out from behind the support beam and after the train that was quickly getting away.

“HEY! I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!” Flank shouted as he jumped through the air and slammed hard onto the caboose of the train. The sudden hit dazed Flank a bit as he tried to pull himself up. “Ugh,” he said when he was back on all fours, “I’m getting too old for these horseapples!”

Flank composed himself and started trotting carefully to the front of the train. There were, literally, no other guards on the back cars and caboose. This was fortunate for Flank, made it easier for him to get from the back to the front. The rumble of the rails was starting to give Flank a serious migraine.

But, after what felt like many minutes, Flank arrived at the penultimate car. He swung the door open and got ready to hop onto the lead car, when Discord grabbed Flank by the back of his neck, picked up the old stallion, and turned his gaze to the sarcastic chaos bringer.

“What in Equestria are you up to, Discord?” Flank asked over the roar of the train.

“Just enjoying the land of opportunity, Flank.” Discord said.

“You paid PURE to start the outbreak, didn’t you?” Flank asked.

“Oh, there’s really no need to dwell on the details when everypony comes out ahead.”

“Come out ahead? What are you talking about?” Flank asked. “Thousands of ponies are dead and you’re not going to get away with it.” Discord just shook his head.

“Oh, come off it, Flank.” He said. “I brought you back in the public eye…don’t I at least get a ‘thank you’?” Discord slowly carried Flank over to the side of the train car, dangling the unfortunate stallion over the edge.

“What…what’re you doing, Discord?” Flank asked in an extremely scared tone.

“This is your stop, Flank.” He said. “I can’t have anypony interfering with my orders.”

“Who’s ordering you? What is all this stuff?” Flank asked, referencing the many crates.

“You’ll find out soon enough…goodnight.” In an instant, Discord dropped Flank to the rumbling ground beneath. Flank hit hard and started rolling over and over himself again and again. The train blasted away from him as Flank started to come to a stop. Dirt and debris was embedded deep into Flank’s fur that his grey coat became a near pitch-black.

“Again, I’m getting too old for this.” He said to himself as he climbed back up on his hooves. As he was regaining his balance, Rainbow Dash came in on the small transceiver she had given to Flank.

“Flank, its Rainbow,” she said, “are you okay? I saw everything on the monitors.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Flank replied as he sat on his haunches on the ground, stretching his legs and cracking his joints.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes, but I have been better.” There was a brief pause.

“So, what was going on? Why’d you fall off the train?” She asked.

“I didn’t fall.” Flank said. “Discord…he…he tried to kill me.”

“What? Discord…the Discord?” Rainbow asked in a scared tone.

“Yep…he’s returned and he unfortunately survived the outbreak.” He pulled some bark out of his mane. “And it looks like he’s up to something. This isn’t over yet…not by a long shot.”

“Flank, you need to stop and let Celestia deal with him. Discord is way too powerful…he turned me against my own friends and Ponyville.” Rainbow said.

“No,” Flank said bluntly, “I’m taking this Draconequus down myself. He killed thousands of ponies and is trying to pin it on you and your friends. He’s not getting away this easily.”

“Flank…you can’t…” Flank turned off the transceiver and started trotting back to the security room. A good nap…yeah…that sounds really good right about now.

*** *** ***

Flank was having a peaceful dream as he slept on the couch in the security room. Ever since Fillydelphia, Flank has had nothing but nightmares…mostly the same one every single time he slept. It had gotten so bad to the point Flank knew what would happen even before he fell asleep.

He would be galloping through a field of multi-colored roses with a young, beautiful light blue unicorn mare with a flowing blonde mane that reached down to just above her shoulder. They would laugh and play in the fields like they’ve never felt joy before.

Flank would tackle the mare to the ground and stare lovingly into her soft, light-blue eyes. A quick smooch on her cheek would lead to the longest kissing session ever witnessed in Equestria’s history.

“Jessie McColtney…” Flank would say. “I love you so much right now…I want us to be together forever…and I do mean forever.” Another quick smooch on the muzzle.

“And I want to be with you, Flank West.” Flank would slowly get closer to Jessie for another kiss…when the blue sky slowly faded into a sickening blood red…the bright sun blotted out by pitch black clouds that shot lightning like bullets from a loaded gun.

In a panic, Flank would face Jessie to watch her fur fall out and her skin go from a natural pink-ish color to a sickening green. Her eyes would lose their beauty and would instead be replaced by pure white that filled the entire eye itself. The now zombified Jessie would roll Flank over onto his back and try to bite him hard on the throat…and Flank would do his best to push her off of his body.

While this was occurring, thousands of zombies would start gathering around the two figures…Flank screaming into the sky as Jessie successfully bit down hard on the right side of his neck…right where the shoulder meets the neck.

*** *** ***

Flank woke up screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs…scaring everypony in the whole bunker. Rainbow Dash turned to him and saw him shaking like crazy and sweating profusely.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

“Yeah…just…really bad…dream…” Flank said, still shivering from the events.

5 - Heist of Discord

Chapter Five

Heist of Discord

“Wait…start over…I’m not really sure I follow.” Rebucka said. It was early in the afternoon and Rebucka had gotten back to the bunker. She didn’t get any evidence but Flank had just explained the situation to Rebucka.

“Okay,” Flank said, “Discord has returned to Equestria, paid that PURE member to start the outbreak, and is working on some sort of experiment using the underground tunnel network. I don’t know what he’s up to…but he’s the one behind all of this.”

“That all makes since…but Discord? Are you sure?” Rebucka asked, Rainbow Dash floating timidly next to the young reporter.

“Yeah,” Flank said, “he paid that poor unicorn sap to do it for him.”

“But, that doesn’t make since…why would he let his own zombie supply loose?” Rebucka asked as she trotted over next to Flank. “Why would he sabotage his own show?”

“I’m sure he’s got his reasons.” Flank said.

“So you say.” Rebucka said. Flank turned to face the mare, curious about her sudden attitude change.

“Wait a minute…is he the one who fed you that tape?” Flank asked.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Flank.” Rebucka said. As she turned away from the old stallion, a massive explosion rocked the entire bunker. A couple ponies in the hallway lost their footing and fell to the floor from the sudden shock; almost as if somepony dropped a tactical rainnuke just outside the bunker doors.

“Oh, not again.” Flank said.

“It sounded like it came from outside.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over to the monitors.

“Really? Ya’ think so?” Flank asked sarcastically.

“Don’t give me lip, Flank. Something’s going on…somepony is messing with the casino vaults. But…I can’t tell who it is though.” Rebucka smirked lightly.

“Then I guess I’d better get out there and find out for myself.” She said as she grabbed camera and trotted out of the security room. Flank just sighed.

“Now who’s ditching who?” He asked.

“I don’t know if she’s really brave…or just really stupid…” Rainbow Dash said. As Flank left the security room, Rainbow Dash turned back to continue watch on the monitors.

*** *** ***

Queen wasps are what give the zombies in this story reason for existence. Here’s a quick geographical, scientific, and historical story for any avid reader: in the early days before the first outbreak in Appleloosa, pony scientists, in the middle of the Mild West Desert, discovered a new breed of wasp that seemed oddly attracted to pony flesh.

Upon further study, these scientists found out that it could create zombie ponies with just one sting from its stinger. Princess Celestia was given full reports and studies on the strange new insect and found out that its larvae could be used to help reduce the cost of breeding apple trees by giving new apples a much longer shelf life.

Applejack’s cousin, Braeburn, was hired to continue research, along with other residents of Appleloosa. A platoon of Royal Guardians, led by their leader Prince Blueblood, was stationed at the Western Appleloosa Pomaceous Research Facility. The research was going very well and Dr. Barnapple, head of the facility, gave annual reports to the princess.

At the same time, Braeburn started having second doubts about the research and found out that the wasp could be lethal if handled improperly. This was when he started his own private research for a cure against the virus should it be let loose amongst a heavily populated city and/or area.

His fears were soon realized when a few wasps escaped containment and attacked the innocent civilians of Appleloosa. Braeburn and Applejack watched, in horror, as their beloved city was obliterated by Prince Blueblood’s soldiers, in an effort to contain the virus.

Braeburn took all of his research notes and escaped with his cousin to enact his revenge for what occurred to his hometown. It was later found out that Celestia herself ordered the eradication and containment of the zombie virus. In the process of containment, the princess herself was attacked and bitten by a zombie. Using remaining notes on Braeburn’s laptop, she was able to produce the first few vials of Zombrex and, not much later, a cure for the wasp’s deadliness.

Going back to the wasps, the creatures themselves are rather unique. One head wasp, a.k.a. the Queen, embeds itself into the cerebellum of the brain and controls all motor functions of the pony in question. At the same time, the Queen releases microscopic eggs into the pony’s bloodstream and saliva. This helps ensure a continuing trend of zombie ponies.

The eggs, when transported from one pony to another, hatch and form larvae that will soon follow in the footsteps of their mother; however, if the Queen is destroyed, it sends out a chemical signal that causes the larvae in other zombie ponies to rupture and explode, destroying the pony head in the process. This is a quick method to destroy any massive group of zombies.

Flank knew of this and prayed to whatever deities there may be that what he was about to do next still worked. While making his way to the Royal Sun Mall, Flank came across a small group of zombies and one, very hungry looking, Queen wasp. He swatted it to the floor and was getting ready to crush the small thing into the ground beneath his hoof.

“Sure hope this still works…” He said as he slammed his hoof down on the parasite.

And, sure enough, it still worked. In a matter of seconds, every single zombie that was around Flank started seizure-ing and convulsing as, one-by-one, their heads ruptured and exploded all over the walls and floor. Flank couldn’t help but smile.

*** *** ***

Flank soon realized that the ponies that were breaking into the vaults were the same ones that attacked him when he was photographing Discord the night before. Flank slowly entered the Equestriana Casino to find it packed with zombies and a few of the pony guards from the night before. He slowly made his way through the path of flashing and loud slot machines, avoiding zombies and guards as best he could. But as he came up to the main room that housed the Equestriana Casino vault, a guard spotted Flank and started to open fire.

Flank quickly ducked down behind a Luna-themed slot machine, the Nightmare Moon’s Wrath, as it was oddly called. The gunfire suddenly stopped and Flank peaked out to find the guard’s gun had jammed. Flank took the chance to gallop out from behind the slot machine and lunged at the guard. The guard had zero time to react and was thrown to the ground loudly and heavily. The gun skidded off to the side, out of both their reach.

“What’re you doing here?” Flank asked. “Why is Discord doing this?”

“I’ll never talk…you’ll have to kill me first.” Flank got angry and headbutted the criminal into silence. He grabs the gun and starts fiddling around with it. After a few quick seconds, Flank found the problem and quickly resolved it. He slowly trotted over to the door and swung it wide open to find two unarmed pony guards using a drill to break through a giant steel vault door.

Flank carefully took aim and shot the two ponies dead. As their limp bodies fell to the floor, Flank galloped over to the drill and quickly turned it off. He looked around, hoping to find any evidence of why Discord had ordered his guards to drill through the vaults. He unfortunately came up short and slowly trotted back to the door into the casino main floor. His transceiver started ringing and he quickly answered it.

“Yes?” He asked.

“Flank, get back here immediately!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “You need to just ignore those other ponies and focus on the big picture…”

“I am focusing on the big picture, Dash.” Flank said calmly. “If I don’t get the needed evidence, you and your friends might go to prison for the rest of your lives.” He turned the transceiver off and placed it back into his pocket.

*** *** ***

Celestial Sisters had a very interesting design: there were three main parts. The Celestial Sisters Park that stood in the middle and the Luna Strip and Celestia Strip that pivoted from the center at about a 150-degree angle. The Luna Strip had the Equestriana Casino, the Pinkie’s Imaginarium foal toy store, a small casino called Send Me to the Moon, and ended with the Celestial Sisters Arena.

The Celestial Sisters Park, smack dab in the middle, had the entrances to the Wonderbolts Wonderland, the Celestial Sisters Hotel, the Kingdom de Gryphon Casino, the Royal Sun Mall, and was the first place ponies visit when entering the adult pony playground.

And, lastly, the Celestia Strip contained the more adult attractions. Such as the Apple Acres Casino, the Forever, I Do Wedding Chapel, the Naughty Pony Sex Shop and Naughty Pony Peepshow, a stage for bands to perform live, the Drunken Stallion bar, the Feelin’ Lucky mini-casino, the Zebra Brew Bar, and it ends with the Zebra Zavana Casino.

Flank had just exited the Zebra Zavana and was carefully making his way to the Kingdom de Gryphon Casino to finish these scumbags’ plan. Flank lifted a hoof and started scratching at his right ear. He could swear that he was hearing loud, heavy metal music blaring in the distance. The old pony just shrugged it off and continued trotting down the Celestia Strip.

There it is again, the music itself seemed to be getting louder and louder with each step Flank took. Who in Equestria would be playing music, let alone, having a concert during a zombie outbreak?

Metallicolt.

Just…simply…Metallicolt.

The heavy metal band in question, dubbed the best band in Equestria thirty years running, was scheduled to play in Celestial Sisters today, but they either didn’t notice or didn’t get the message that every fan in the playground was either dead or undead.

“DISCORD! DISCORD!” The band shouted in unison to a crowd of zombies.

“The Master of Chaos, he’s pulling your strings!” Shouted Shredder Clopfield. “Twisting your minds and smashing your dreams!

“Blinded by him, you won’t see a thing! Laughing at you when you want to scream!”

“DISCORD! DISCORD!”

“Laughing at you when you wanna’ scream!”

As the band went into their next verse, Flank jumped up on stage and tried talking to the, already distracted, band.

“HEY!” Flank shouted. “TURN IT DOWN! I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!”

“GET OFF THE STAGE, OLD STALLION!” Shredder shouted back. “WE CAME TO PLAY FOR OUR FANS, AND YOU’RE NOT GOING TO STOP US!” Flank grabbed Shredder’s head and forced him to look at the audience of zombies.

“DO THOSE LOOK LIKE RABID FANS?!” Flank asked. “THOSE ARE MORE LIKE RABID ZOMBIES!” Shredder stopped playing and started signaling the rest of the band to follow suit and quit playing their song Master of Chaos.

“Thank you.” Flank said as soon as the last guitar strump ended. “Now, you need to get out of here and get to safety. There are zombies everywhere and a group of highly-trained, and very deadly, ponies are looting the city.

“And, not to mention, Discord has returned…again.” Flank finished. The four band members started shifting uncomfortably.

“Are you sure?” The drummer, Ego Stick, said.

“Yes.” Flank said bluntly. “There’s a bunker full of survivors next to the Equestriana Casino. When I finish up with these ponies, I’ll take you four there.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Shredder said. “Let’s get somewhere safer, everypony.” And with that, the four unicorns trotted off the stage and galloped over to the Feelin’ Lucky mini-Casino. Flank galloped at his fastest speed to the end of the Celestia Strip to see what he was up against.

Six unicorns…all wielding guns…surround, and protecting, a massive, black, metal chariot…filled with huge sacks of bits. Flank nearly lost control of his bladder when seeing this. He hid behind the side of the Kingdom de Gryphon Casino and started thinking of a plan…nothing came to him.

He sat on his haunches and started to give up hope…when he spotted an advertisement for a high luxury-class chariot that could be won at the Feelin’ Lucky mini-Casino. After a few seconds, he had a plan. With the assistance of Metallicolt, Flank could use the chariot to charge into battle and crush all of the guard ponies. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

*** *** ***

Discord was standing on the overhead to the entrance of the Kingdom de Gryphon Casino. He temper was flaring and his eyes were lightly glowing.

“DAMMIT!” He shouted into his transceiver. “What do I pay you pathetic ponies for?” He threw the transceiver down hard on the concrete and commanded some gryphons by his side to follow him. “We’re staying a bit longer than planned, fellas.” He said solemnly.

All the guard ponies lied dead on the ground, some crushed underneath the massive wheels of the red chariot, now redder, Flank West just smiling as he started investigating the massive, black chariot. Rebucka arrived moments earlier to film the carnage that unfurled.

Flank galloped over to the Feelin’ Lucky mini-Casino and talked the members of Metallicolt into using their magic to charge Flank into battle. The destruction itself was made of awe itself. The guards unleashed their guns upon Flank, but Ego had set up a shield around the chariot to protect Flank. Any guard unfortunate enough to fall to the ground was run over multiple times by the heavy and massive wheels of the chariot. Flank was also able to use the destructive force of the chariot to disable the other chariot full of bits.

Rebucka just continued filming the entire area; taking in the destruction with a smile on her young face. “Fan-tastic!” She said excitedly. Flank just smiled and looked over to the black chariot. It was a good thing he did, because the moment his eyes landed on the chariot, Flank spotted a living guard holding a grenade with a pulled pin.

“GET DOWN!” Flank shouted as he galloped and tackled Rebucka to the ground. The moment the two hit the ground, the chariot burst into flames, sending hot coins and shrapnel in all directions. As the smoke cleared, Flank found Rebucka lying on top of him, clutching his body as tightly as a young filly on a scary theme park ride.

“You really need to watch yourself there, kiddo.” Flank said with a smirk as Rebucka started pulling herself up. “I hope I don’t have to do everything for you.” Rebucka gently rubbed Flank’s shoulder as she leaned up over Flank’s torso…a most…erotic…position.

“Touché, Flank.” Rebucka said. “You need me to stick around and stay…on top…of the story?” She continued as she helped Flank back up onto his hooves.

“You do come in handy.” Flank said. “Look, they’re robbing the entire playground. That’s why Discord started this whole thing; just so he could get his slimy claws on more bits.” Rebucka trotted away from the burning wreckage and towards her camera lying on the ground.

“We’ve sure got our story now.” Flank said.

“Our story?” Rebucka asked.

“I just saved your life, Hayes.” Flank mentioned. “I feel that we can share this story and split whatever profits we may make.”

“Hmmm…” Rebucka said. “Good point…fine, I’ve got a meeting with my source tonight. I think maybe it’s time you met.”

“Good, guess I’m not such a burden anymore.” He said with a smile.

“I think this is a special case, Flank.” Rebucka continued. “I’ll meet you tonight, at midnight, at the Benny Jacke Hangout in the Equestriana Casino.” Rebucka said as she started trotting away.

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Flank said just before she was out of ear shot.

*** *** ***

It was nearing midnight, Flank had arrived at the Benny Jacke Hangout moments ago. The hangout was a two-floor restaurant that served nothing but vegetarian meals and desserts; the perfect diet for any pony in Equestria!

Anyway, Flank was trotting around the second floor, waiting patiently for Rebucka to show up. He had half-expected her to be there already with her source whomever it may be. While he waited for what felt like hours, Flank took the time to kill any zombies that had gathered on the second floor. There were only a few, and one had a Royal Guardianship-grade sniper rifle with him.

Flank was bored and took the time he had to pick off the zombies on the main casino floor. He wasn’t the best marksstallion, but he was adequate enough to get a couple headshots. He even got one that had a Queen in its brain and caused a massive group of zombies to convulse and die…again.

“Oh, Rebucka, where are you?” Flank asked as he fired the last bullet. He threw the gun down to the main floor and just sat there with his head in his hooves. Checking his watch, he saw that the time was nearing one in the morning.

“Oh, Flank!” Came a familiar voice through a walkie-talkie on the floor. “Please, save me!” The maniacal Draconequus laughed hysterically. “All right, Flank West. You’ve been messing things up for me big time. I believe it’s time for a little payback.”

Flank grabbed the transceiver and pressed the talk button. “Discord, where the hay is she?”

“I can tell you where she’s not…safe.” Discord laughed again.

“DISCORD!” Flank shouted.

“Okay, enough fooling around, you’re going to go get me that money you cost me with your little games, Flank.”

“How much?” Flank asked.

“Oh, you’re a willing contestant, well, I’ve always known that…anyway, you’re going to get me one million bits…by seven o’clock tonight.”

“And how am I going to do that?” Flank asked.

“It’s Celestial Sisters, Flank.” Discord said. “The only place, currently, in Equestria where gambling is legal and permitted. Get creative…you are in a casino after all. Oh, by the way, bring it to the Everfree Nightclub in the Zebra Zavana Casino and we might just let you see your little fillyfriend again.”

“Don’t you lay a talon on her…” Flank said, gritting his teeth to the point they could break.

“Oh, I’m afraid it’s too late for that threat, Flank.” Discord said happily. “See you tonight, Mr. West.” The transceiver went dead and Flank dropped to his haunches in utter sadness and depression. But, something floated down next to him, knocked loose from the vibration of him hitting the ground. Flank bent forward and saw that it was a copy of a magazine.

The Gambler it read on the cover.

Flank scooped it up and started to read it, maybe a little knowledge will go a long way.

6 - Equestrian Series of Poker

Chapter Six

Equestrian Series of Poker

“20,025… 20,030… 20,035…” Twilight said as she was going through the massive sack of bits that Flank had collected at the many casinos he had gathered the bits from. “20,045… and 20,050 Bits.” Twilight finished.

“That’s it?” Flank asked. “I was breaking down slot machines left and right all day today.”

“I’m sorry, Flank,” Twilight said, “But my mathematics are rarely wrong. And, besides, you’ve got to remember that those slot machines only carry so many bits. Most of casinos money is located in the vaults Discord was stealing from.” Flank fell onto his haunches.

“Great.” He said. “I’ve got four hours to make 980,000 Bits. How am I going to get all of that in such little time?” Rainbow Dash was still floating near the computer monitors; waiting patiently for something to happen. The flapping of her wings was carrying a gentle and cool breeze over to the distressed earth pony.

“Maybe I could fire up those drills again and try to break into the vaults myself.” Flank said. “That just seems like the most logical course of action.”

“Yeah, but then you’ll become the thing you’ve been trying to stop.” Twilight mentioned. Flank just grunted and placed his head in his hooves.

“Whoa…I’ve got something.” Rainbow Dash said, peaking Flank’s interest. The old stallion pulled himself up off the floor and trotted over to what Rainbow Dash was talking about.

“What’d you see?” Flank asked.

“About five gryphons just made their way into this gambling room inside the Kingdom de Gryphon Casino. Looks like they’re about to have some kind of poker game…this could be your chance Flank.” Rainbow Dash said.

“What do you mean that this is my chance?” Flank asked.

“I recognized those gryphons.” The Pegasus explained. “Gilda used to talk about them quite a bit. They’re a team of poker playing gryphons that travel across the country playing games of poker with ponies, zebras, and other creatures. They have a T.V. show that gets very high ratings. I’m pretty sure that if you beat them, they’ll give you a huge pot of bits. Are you gonna’ try?” Flank thought about it for a moment.

The possibility of getting hundreds, maybe even thousands, of bits made him think about attempting this mission. Every little bit counts when it comes to a ransom.

“I’ll do it.” Flank said. “Twilight, help me get these bits into a wagon, I’m gonna’ need some collateral.”

*** *** ***

“And, welcome back once again Equestria to a special edition of Equestrian Series of Poker, here on the gaming network. I’m your host Gerald and we’re on our way to getting started.” Said a slightly overweight gryphon into a camera on one side of the room.

That’s about the time Flank burst through the door and quickly slammed them behind him. Breathing heavily, covered in blood, he looked an absolutely terrible sight. Three of the gryphons drew out automatic weapons and aimed at the defenseless pony.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” One asked.

“My name’s Flank West…and I’m here to challenge you four to a game of Blackjack.” He said, spitting some of his own blood to the floor. The five gryphons stared at him.

“Really?” One in the front said. “You’re here to challenge the Gilded Gryphons?”

“Yes, and I’ve got twenty-thousand bits as collateral if you accept my offer.” Flank said as he trotted the wagon over to the stunned gryphons. “I had a unicorn count through, twice, and she came up with exactly twenty-thousand and fifty bits.”

“Boss,” One gryphon said, “we should take the offer.”

“Why?” His boss asked.

“One, we’re filming a special edition episode in zombie infested casino and, two, a challenger approached with thousands of bits. Think of the ratings.” The boss gryphon placed a talon against his chin and started thinking over what was just handed to him. After a few moments of careful consideration, the gryphon turned to Flank.

“Okay, you’re in.” He said with a slight grin. “Take your bits over to those wagons near the back.” He said as he pointed a talon to two massive black wagons near the back of the room. Flank just smiled as he trotted over and placed his wagon next to the other two. His heart fluttered when he noticed the size of the wagons themselves in comparison to his. Oh yeah, there were a lot of bits in there.

“So,” he said as he trotted to the center of the room, “how much are we playing for? Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand?”

“Try one million bits.” One gryphon said as he took his seat. “Winner takes all.” Flank’s heart nearly skipped a beat as he took his seat at the table. This just seemed too good to be true… and a little too convenient at the same time.

“Alright,” the dealer said, “simple game. The game is Royal Blackjack 21. Celestia and Luna are high; aces are low.” The dealer then started dealing two cards from a deck in his claws to the three players. Flank was upset after viewing his cards; Celestia and a two. The first gryphon tapped his claw against the table and the dealer threw him another card.

“Aw, horseapples!” He shouted as he threw his cards to the table; a ten, a five, and a seven. The second gryphon said and did nothing. Flank took the moment to tap his hoof against the table and was dealt an ace of spades. Flank tapped his hoof again and, once again, was dealt an ace of clubs. His brow started to furl and sweat leaked down his forehead. He tapped his hoof against the green table and was dealt…

A six. 21.

“All in.” He said as he pushed all of his chips in front of him. The other gryphon who said nothing turned to face Flank.

“Sure you wanna’ do that, kid?” He asked. Kid? The gryphon pushed all of his chips forward. “All in.” He said as well. “Luna’s Nine Hearts.” He laid out his two cards; Luna and a nine of hearts.

“Joke’s on you, pal.” Flank said. “Read ‘em and weep.” He presented Celestia, two ones, and a six. Every creature in the room gasped at what they just saw.

“Nopony has ever gotten a higher card combination than me.” The gryphon said. “The last one who did was an earth pony by the name of Ace Spade, back in Las Pegasus…and that was over a year ago.” Flank just smiled. If he could out card the best…he had hopes of winning the million bits and saving Rebucka.

*** *** ***

The game had quickly changed drastically. Flank won, literally, every single game that he played. It had gotten to the point where the dealer and the other gryphon left the table and let Flank deal with the ‘Gryphon That Never Lost’. The game had gone from professional… to straight up personal. The knowledge gained from the gambling magazine proved to be quite useful.

“Royal Family!” The gryphon shouted as he laid down Celestia and Luna cards.

“Sun Twins.” Flank casually said as he placed two Celestia cards down. The gryphon’s temper was flaring big time. His feathers were starting to glow red and his entire body was shaking in pure anger.

“That’s it! I quit!” He threw his cards down and walked away from the table. Flank just smiled as he gathered up the remaining cards and trotted over to the three wagons of bits.

“Well…this is really going to get ratings up.” Said one of the gryphons. “Zombies, challenges, and rookies overtaking masters.” Flank checked his watch and realized it was nearing six thirty at night. In a rush, he galloped over to the gryphons and asked them if they needed somewhere safe to go.

“No, not really.” The boss said. “We’ve got a nice little hideout in the Celestial Sisters Hotel. Just take your bits and leave…before Guy over there gets too angry and tries to kill and eat you.” They all looked over at the fuming gryphon as he slammed his head repeatedly against the wall in pure, unadulterated rage.

Flank nodded in understanding and trotted out of the gambling room and onto the main floor of the Kingdom de Gryphon Casino. Next stop: the Everfree Nightclub.

*** *** ***

The massive faux leather doors leading into the nightclub were locked from the inside and Flank had no way of getting in. His watch struck seven o’clock and Flank rapped his hoof against the door; trying to get anypony’s attention.

The door swung open and a Pegasus pony stuck his head out to see who it was.

“He’s here.” He said to a unicorn floating up a gun at Flank’s face.

“Hooves up.” The unicorn said as the gun cocked itself. Flank instinctly lifted his hooves up as the unicorn kept the gun pointing at him. “Check the wagons…make sure it’s all there.”

“Got it, Bullet.” Said the Pegasus. The winged pony made his way over to the wagons and start sifting through the many sacks of bits. Each one was labeled with “50,000” in big, bold letters across the front. The Pegasus wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed since it took him five minutes to add up all the sacks together.

“Yep,” he finally said as he hooked himself up to one of the wagons. “It’s all here.”

“Discord thanks you for your contribution.” The unicorn said.

“Where is she?” Flank asked.

“Your…fillyfriend’s…in there.” The unicorn said with a sadistic smirk. “Have fun.” He finished as he hooked himself up to the other wagon and the two ponies started galloping away from the nightclub and into the Zebra Zavana Casino. Flank sighed angrily and made his way into the obnoxious nightclub.

He slowly trotted over to one of the many couches and sat down to wait patiently for Rebucka.

As he was trying to relax, a mysterious mare slowly trotted up to the door and locked the hatch. Flank reached over to a half-drunk glass of mysterious alcohol. Another mare rushed over to another side of the room with another pony tied up by her front hooves and a gag in her mouth. Flank finished off the drink and threw the glass across the room to see if it would break. It didn’t shatter.

Instead, one of the mysterious mares had caught it.

“Hmm…enjoy that drink, Flank?” She asked. Flank pulled himself up from the couch…recognizing the voice of the pony. She slowly trotted into Flank’s POV…carrying a polished katana sword with her unicorn magic. “Nice work Flank, for once.”

“Where’s Rebucka?” Flank asked. It was one of the pony twins he encountered just before the outbreak started; the one wearing a gold sequenced dress.

“Discord doesn’t really appreciate all of your interference, Flank.” She said while lifting up the sword higher. “You really need to learn to mind your own business.”

“You set PURE up.” Flank said. “You talked that idiot protestor into doing your dirty work.” The other pony twin galloping behind him…Rebucka tied up and gagged. The pony in silver sequence slowly slid her hoof up Rebucka’s neck slowly and sensually.

“Too bad she couldn’t just take our tape and leave it at that.” She said. The silver pony pulled down Rebucka’s gag and then slid her tongue down Rebucka’s throat and the two started kissing. Flank stood there, gawking at what he was looking at. The silver pony threw Rebucka to the ground and lifted up her own sword into the air. “Never look a gift horse in the…mouth.” She continued adding a very sensual emphasis on the word ‘mouth’.

“You’re letting her go…right now!” Flank said angrily.

“I’m getting tired of hearing you talk, Flank.” The gold pony said. “I always saw you more as the strong, silent type.”

“The very, very silent type.” The silver pony said. Flank looked over at the gold pony and noticed she was aiming the sword for Flank’s chest. He looked over and saw the silver pony aiming for his head.

“On the count of three, sis’.” The silver pony said. “One.”

“Two.” The gold pony said.

“Three.” They both said. The swords flew through the air; flying at Flank. Flank ducked down onto his stomach as the katana swords flew over his head. The silver pony dodged her sister’s sword…but the gold pony wasn’t as quick. The sword’s trajectory was off course and landed square in her throat. She fell to the floor as blood started gushing from the newly opened wound.

“Gold Tail!” The silver pony said as she galloped over to her downed sister. She kneeled down and carefully placed her hoof in her sister’s hoof. She looked up and over at Flank with an evil glare in her eyes.

“What have you done?” She asked as Flank pulled himself up. “She was my…other half. But you’ll pay.” Flank grunted after she said that. “You will never get out of here alive, Flank. We promise that…all of us.” She pulled the katana out of her sister’s throat and placed it a few inches above her underbelly.

“I’ll never be complete, again…never.” She said as she started trembling.

“No, don’t..!” Flank started to say. But the silver pony jammed the katana into her gut and started twisting, insuring she would not survive. She fell to her side and was face-to-face with her dead sister. For her last few moments on Earth, she slowly stroked her sister’s mane. Flank looked on with tears welling up in his eyes. He brushed his face with his hoof and trotted over to Rebucka, who was still tied up. He kneeled down and started untying the ropes around her hooves.

“Come on, Rebucka,” Flank said, trying to lighten the mood, “we’ve got a story to cover. Are you just gonna’ lay here all night?”

“It’s about time.” She said. “You’d almost think you liked me being tied up.”

“That’s not the thing that I liked the most.” Rebucka jumped up on her hooves buried her nose in Flank’s face.

“If you say anything, to anypony, anywhere, I will kill you myself so Celestia’s guards don’t have to.” He stared at her for a moment and then trotted over to the dead pony bodies.

“They were your source, seriously?” Flank said.

“I know…I’m sorry.” Rebucka said massaging her hoof. “But they had the tape…it spoke for itself. Maybe this will make it up to you: I heard them talking earlier, Discord’s got another chariot coming, this one driven by Pegasi. He’s getting out of the city as we speak…we need to catch him.” Rebucka said as she started picking the lock to the Everfree Nightclub.

“A chariot? We can’t let that parasprite get away.” Flank said.

“Not without an interview.” Rebucka said as she swung the door open. “That chariot is landing on the roof of the hotel.”

“Well, let’s get our flanks in gear.” Flank said as he galloped out of the nightclub.

*** *** ***

Flank galloped up to the elevators that led up to the rooftop. He had gotten to the hotel in a matter of minutes, his passion for ending the whole debacle fueling his legs. He was about to push the button, when Rebucka galloped in and stood next to him.

“Not without me, Flank.” She said. “You won’t scoop me this time.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it.” Flank said. “So, how should we approach this? Professionally or O.K. Corral style?”

“Whatever you want, Mr. Stallion-of-the-Hour Flank West.” Rebucka said. “This is your mess to clean up.” The little monitor on the elevator slowly kept ticking up number by number. The tension in the small cramped room just kept getting bigger and bigger as they counted down the numbers in their heads.

The bell rang and the doors swung open. Flank pushed Rebucka behind him and told her to stay put. He galloped out onto the rooftop and saw Discord using his magic to levitate the bags of bits into the chariot. One Pegasus was placing them in the appropriate order and accidentally dropped one, the dumb one that Flank saw at the nightclub awhile earlier.

“Hey, careful with the bits, foal.” Discord said. “We don’t have much left over after yesterday.” The Pegasus carefully sat down the last sack and noticed Flank standing on the other side of the chariot landing pad.

“Hey, look boss.” He said pointing a hoof at Flank. Discord turned around and started grimacing.

“Not possible.” He said. “Not going to happen. We’re taking off, now!” Discord then jumped into the back of the chariot and ordered the Pegasi to hook up and take off.

“You’re not going anywhere, Discord!” Flank shouted. He looked around and only found a massive, metal crane sitting boringly on the roof of the hotel. “I hope you’re getting this on tape, Rebucka!” Flank shouted.

Flank looked on as the Pegasi started flapping their wings and the giant mass started lifting off the roof. In a panic, Flank rushed over to the small service crane, leftover from construction, and grabbed the swinging hook with his mouth.

He galloped as fast as he could, leaped up high in the air, and attached the hook to the back of the chariot. He fell to the ground and rolled to the side. The Pegasi then flew forward into one direction and the hook and rope pulled tight against the back of the chariot.

The sudden jolt broke the chariot from the harnesses and the mass of gold started falling back to the hard earth. The Pegasi continued to fly, from fear of dealing with a pony that brought down an entire chariot without using his hooves. Discord jumped out from the chariot and tried to fly after them, but the chariot clipped his wing and he fell to the ground. He fell hard on his head and was knocked unconscious.

Flank slowly trotted up to him as the chariot hit the roof and toppled over the side of the building. A few bits flew up and started hitting the ground with force. One hit the roof and flew up, almost hitting Flank in the face…but he caught it with his teeth. He spat it into his hoof and stared at the golden piece of currency.

“Well,” Rebucka said, walking up with her camera, “that was one hay of a show.” She stopped next to Flank and stared at the knocked out Draconequus.

“I guess ratings must’ve been down.” He said, still holding the bit.

“Is he alive?” Rebucka asked.

“He sure is.” Flank said. “Don’t worry; you’ll get your interview sooner or later.” Flank then threw the bit and the small piece of gold smacked Discord in the face with it. He sighed, “This jerk better not be heavy.”

7 - Royal Guardianship - 3

Chapter Seven

Royal Guardianship - 3

Discord’s limp body hit the hospital bed with a sudden thud. Everypony in the bunker had gathered around the viewing window to bear witness to the one creature that gave Equestria hell many millennia ago. Fortunately for them, but unfortunately for Flank, he was still unconscious from the chariot crash. Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Rebucka, and Flank were all gathered around the bed as Ray slowly made his way into the room.

“What’s he doing here?” Ray asked. “Isn’t he that Discord fella?”

“Yeah,” Flank answered as Ray approached the bed and stood next to Flank. “Discord here paid some pathetic protestor to start this whole thing. Mostly because ratings were down on his show and he needed the cash.”

“We’ve got enough information to run with the story, Flank.” Rebucka said, filming Discord with her camera.

“Oh really?” Ray asked as started trotting over to other side of the bed. “Well, I’m still going to keep an eye on your friend until the Royal Guardians come in…just to make sure.”

“This story is going to be big.” Rebucka said excitedly. “Huge even…its award-winning material.”

“Oh, yeah,” Flank agreed, “We are going to be huge.”

“Is he out cold?” Ray asked when Flank finished talking.

“Cold as ice.” Flank said as he took a quick picture of the disgusting Draconequus.

“We oughta’ make sure he stays that way…” Ray said as he slowly made his way to the side of Discord’s bed.

“Don’t hit him too hard, Ray.” Flank said as he pushed the unicorn back a couple inches.

“Why?” Ray asked in objection. “Capital punishment was made for a creature like this.”

“We need him so he can tell Equestria what he had done.” Flank said. “Don’t give this slimeball an easy way out by killing him or damaging his brain.” Ray slowly trotted over to the side of Discord’s bed, a frown growing quickly on his face.

“Fine.” He finally said, using his magic to bring up his set of hoof cuffs. “We’ll do it your way.” The cuffs floated over and Flank grabbed them with his teeth. “I’ll stand watch first,” Ray continued as Flank placed the cuffs on Discord’s talon, “he’s not going anywhere for a while.”

“Great,” Flank said. “Well, listen, I’ll be back for the rescue.”

“Where are you going?” Rainbow Dash asked, casually floating next to the old stallion.

“I’m going to see if I can find a high vantage point,” Flank said, “get some pictures of the Royal Guardians rolling in.” Flank said before he trotted out of the room. Rebucka was close behind.

*** *** ***

Flank was on the rooftop of the Royal Sun Mall, Rebucka was standing on the top of the Naughty Pony Sex Shop. Her camera was gently floating in the air and Flank was adjusting his view finder, ready to get shots of the Royal Guardians. While looking through his camera, Flank spotted the golden chariot coming in, pulled by some of the strongest Clydesdales in all of Equestria.

He turned his attention to Rebucka, and noticed that she was still learning the ropes of freelance photojournalism.

“Hey, rookie!” He shouted, getting the young mare’s attention. “You’re shooting into the sun! And, besides, from my spot, I can already see the Guardians!” He turned his camera back to the Guardians, just as they came over the bridge leading from Manehatten. Rebucka just shrugged off Flank and continued filming with her camera.

Meanwhile, in the convoy, a lead unicorn guard sat patiently for the chariots to slow down. He picked up a professional walkie-talkie and talked to another pony on the line.

“We’ve reached the first checkpoint.” He said. “We will arrive at the Celestia Strip in a matter of seconds, General Prance.”

“Excellent,” said the general, “report back to me once clean-up is over.”

“Yes, sir.” The unicorn said. “Alright, stallions, you heard the orders. Make sure this city is completely clear for evac.”

“Sir yes, sir!” All the guardians shouted in unison. The gates to Celestial Sisters started rising up as the convoy of unicorns poured inside. Zombies that were in the way of the mass of unicorns were crushed underhoof and left to bleed out onto the cement ground. The lead chariot, holding the commander, came to a screeching halt on the Celestia Strip.

Once the other two chariots came to a stop, the unicorns grabbed their weapons and poured into the strip. The commander slowly trotted out of the chariot and stood in front of his troops.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” One unicorn shouted to some other unicorns.

“Ready to kick some flank, fillies?” The commander asked his troops. “You all know the drill: first we mop up and then we grab the survivors. Start with the North End of the Celestia Strip and work your way down to the arena.”

“Sir yes, sir!” The unicorns shouted. One of them prepared his weapon and was about to fire the first shot, but the commander stopped him.

“Whoa, whoa,” he said, “hold your fire. First kill belongs to Daddy, sweethearts.” He said as he grabbed the gun and aimed it at a shambling zombie. He pulled the trigger and three bullets riddled the unfortunate zombie’s skull.

“Nice shot, sir.” Said one of the guardians. The commander tossed the gun back to the other guardian.

“Have at it, colts.” He said as he trotted back to the chariot to supervise their progress. The Royal Guardians started aiming their guns and firing at the zombies that were packed all around the Celestia Strip. Rebucka continued filming the Guardians as they riddled the unfortunate zombies with bullets and Flank took picture after picture.

One Guardian casually stood on top of a metal grate, raining bullets into more zombies; the bullet casings fell out of the gun and into the dark underbelly of Celestial Sisters. That same Guard spun around and aimed his gun at another zombie, it was missing its’ hind legs.

“Hey,” he shouted to his fellow troops, “look at this waste of ammo.”

That’s when everything went downhill.

The once clear air around them started getting filled up with a green fog that choked some of the unicorns and made it difficult to see the zombies. One of the guardians stepped onto another metal grate, one that was pouring the green fog, started coughing and spluttering uncontrollably.

“What in Equestria?” Flank asked as he tilted his camera away from his face.

A zombie shambled up to the Guardian and stopped as soon as he came up to the fog. The zombie itself started having body spasms and went into a small seizure. Giant boils started forming all over his body and blood gushed from his mouth at a much faster rate. His eyes were glowing a sinister bright red and his wheezy breathes became evil growls and howls.

“What the hay?” One of the guardians asked. He started firing more rounds into the new ‘gas zombie’, but it wouldn’t go down. “C’mon, drop you son of a gryphon! C’mon!” The zombie started galloping after him and puked red, hot blood into his face. “My face! Oh, Celestia, it burns! Help me, it burns!”

He fell to the ground and some more gas zombies piled on top of him.

“Hold still, private, I’ll shoot ‘em off.” Said one guardian before another gas zombie galloped up and attacked him. His magic faltered and the gun went off, firing in all different directions. Rebucka stopped filming after the fog became too intense for her to handle. She slowly trotted backwards and out of sight from the gas zombies.

“I can’t see anything in this fog.” A Guardian said, hearing one of his soldiers being tackled to the ground and screaming bloody murder. The commander couldn’t believe what he was witnessing, all of his troops were being attacked and brought down by newer, more powerful zombies.

“Medic!” One Guardian shouted. “I need a medic over here!”

“They’re all around us!” Another shouted. “I think they’re all around us!” One Guardian spun around and shot the pony shouting dead. As the pony’s body hit the ground, a small grenade fell out of the magic aura that was keeping it afloat.

It rolled and rolled until it stopped underneath a chariot that was trying to get away. The explosion sent the Guardians in the chariot in different directions. The sound of buckling metal and murderous screams filled the air. The commander could smell the faint scent of burning hair and flesh. Even through the fog, the commander was, unfortunately, able to see some of the carnage around him.

One Guardian was dead and being eaten by some of the gas zombies. Another was taken down and devoured alive, his screams piercing the commander’s own ears. Another pony came out of the fog and grabbed the commander.

“Sarge! Sarge!” He shouted. “You’ve gotta’ get us outta’ here!” A zombie grabbed the unfortunate unicorn and was pulled into the green fog, screaming louder than the others. The commander watched in horror as the new private was attacked viciously. The commander took mercy and killed both the zombie and the private.

He aimed his gun into the fog, but realized quickly that it was a moot plan. Placing his gun aside, he grabbed the hoof of a down Guardian and started pulling him towards one of the remaining chariots…but the hoof came off in the commander’s hoof.

He stared at it for many moments, the sounds of gunfire ceasing and explosions increasing. The commander threw the hoof down and galloped at full speed to the remaining chariot. He hooked himself up using his magic and started galloping north towards the Zavros Zavana Casino.

Rebucka was slowly making her way across the Celestia Strip as the commander sped pass her into the thick, green fog. Flank was watching her carefully and realized what she was about to do.

“Rebucka, what are you doing?” He asked himself quietly. “Don’t do what I think you’re planning to do.” Rebucka looked behind her and saw dozens of gas zombies start to chase after her. She had no choice but to chase after the chariot that made its way to the end of the strip.

“You’re going to get yourself killed.” Flank said as he stood up and galloped over to the ladder leading back down to the Celestia Strip.

*** *** ***

The unicorn commander had snapped and was firing at the zombies shambling towards him. He made it to the underground entrance of Celestial Sisters; the gas was at its most concentrated in this area of the entire city. His dead Guardians were lying around; but the commander acted as if they were still alive and fighting the good fight. Flank was hiding behind a support beam and taking pictures of the event that was unfolding before his eyes.

Bullets whizzed through the air and riddled the zombies and walls around Flank. Sweat was glistening on his forehead and he was shaking madly in his hooves.

“Suck on this, you dead creeps!” The commander shouted as more zombies hit the ground.

Flank had tried talking to the commander, but said pony thought anything that moved was a walking, moaning pony corpse. Flank noticed that Rebucka was unconscious and lying on the ground behind the crazed unicorn.

“8-Ball!” He shouted to his left. “They’re comin’ in from the left flank!” He poured more rounds into the zombies. He stopped and took a moment to reload his gun. While doing so, the unicorn commander galloped over to the dead body of 8-Ball and plopped himself next to the dead pony.

“Atta’ boy, 8-Ball!” The commander said happily. “Keep that flank covered!” He looked to his right at another dead Guardian. “Switchblade, I need ammo!” He shouted as he rolled across the ground to the dead body of Switchblade.

“Hang on, stallions!” The commander shouted. “We’ll have evac here in a minute! You’re not dying at the hooves of Sergeant Steel Flame!” He grabbed ammo from the corpse and reloaded his gun. Flank poked his head out again and was about to try to talk with Steel Flame again…

“LEFT FLANK!” Steel Flame shouted noticing Flank trotting out from behind the support beam. Rebucka started to regain consciousness and noticed the old stallion trying to rescue her.

“Flank…” She said. Steel Flame turned his attention to Rebucka and slammed the butt of his gun hard into her head, chipping off a bit of the tip of her horn. Her unconscious body hit the floor again and Steel Flame took the moment to lift her body up and into the chariot he had tried to escape in.

The crazed commander turned around to look at Flank again. Steel Flame picked up his gun and noticed he had run out of ammunition again.

“I’m out!” He shouted. “Curtis! Gimme your weapon!” He shouted as he galloped over to another dead Guardian to his left. A bright orange aura enveloped the weapon and it aimed directly over at Flank.

“You want some of this?” He asked deranged. “Come get some!” The trigger was pulled and bullets rained in the direction of Flank. The old stallion jumped out of the line of fire and behind some wooden crates.

“Rebucka! Why would you put your life in jeopardy like this?!” Flank frantically looked around, hoping to find some kind of weapon. All he could find was an M-16, a couple full clips of ammo, and a roll of duct tape.

Most weapons of the Royal Guardians weren’t designed in mind for earth pony combat. Flank found this out in Fillydelphia, and again, the hard way, in Celestial Sisters. Flank, with some difficulty, was able to duct tape the massive gun do his jacket, in hopes of being somewhat able to use it.

Having some knowledge of Royal Guardian weaponry, Flank was able to modify the trigger by applying duct tape to the actual trigger and having the tape run down to his main hoof. All he had to do was flex and the weapon would fire. He aimed the gun at Steel Flame and flexed his hoof.

Bullets poured out of the gun and into the rib cage of Steel Flame. The commander was dead before he even hit the ground. Flank ripped the M-16 off his jacket and galloped over to Rebucka, who was still unconscious.

“Thank Celestia you’re alive.” Flank said. He hooked himself up to the chariot and started to slowly pull the massive, gold plated vehicle out of the underground.

*** *** ***

Flank, Rebucka, and a few other ponies were in the medical ward, waiting patiently for news about the rescue. Flank was lightly applying an ice pack to Rebucka’s back left hoof. Rainbow Dash casually floated in the room.

“What happened to the zombies out there?” She asked as she landed on the floor. “They went…berserk.”

“There was some sort of gas…” Rebucka said, twinging from the cold pack. “As soon as the zombies came in contact with it…they…changed.”

“Sounds like some good stuff.” A recognizable voice towards the back said. “I’ll have to try some of it myself.” Everypony turned to see Discord awake from his temporary coma. Ray took a step forward and stared hard at the Draconequus.

“And what’re you looking at?” Discord asked. Ray’s temper started to flare and started trotting over towards the maniac. But Flank held out a hoof and stopped Ray dead in his tracks.

“We need him alive, Ray.” Flank said.

“That’s a real shame.” Ray replied. Flank started trotting over to Discord.

“What’s going on, Discord?” He asked. “Where’d you get that gas?”

“I’m not saying anything.” Discord said.

“Why pay that PURE member to do your dirty work?” Flank asked, still trying to get Discord to fess up to the whole crime.

“I don’t bucking know!” Discord yelled at the old stallion. “He was just the name she gave me.”

“She?” Flank asked in curiosity. “What are you talking about?”

“Somepony had to take the fall.” Discord said. “And aren’t you cute, trying to figure it all out? Big-shot Flank West…world famous has-been. One last try to make it back into the limelight. Guess again, Flank…you’ve already been forgotten.” Discord just started laughing at Flank. The last words are what made the old stallion get extremely angry. He lifted up his hoof and was about to hit Discord square across the jaw, but Rainbow Dash stopped him.

“It’s not worth it.” She said. “He’s not going anywhere.”

Rebucka carefully climbed down from her hospital bed and slowly trotted over to the group, having some trouble getting back on her hooves. He helped her get rebalanced and trotted angrily out of the room, Ray was quickly close behind him. He used his magic to stop Flank in his tracks and spin him around until the two were face-to-face.

“Flank,” he said, “I don’t want to alarm the mares…but…standard operating procedure means there’ll be another rescue operation in 24 hours.”

“Why would that worry anypony?” Flank asked confused.

“If the operation to save survivors fails again…” He started to falter.

“What?” Flank asks. “What happens?” Ray sighed solemnly.

“Firebombing…just like in Las Pegasus.” He said. “Only was to get rid of ‘em for good.” Flank sighed and started trotting back to the security room, hoping he could possibly take a nap.

*** *** ***

The Next Day

Flank had gotten his wish and had slept for almost twenty hours. It was the best sleep he had ever gotten since the events that took place in Fillydelphia. Rebucka, Flank, and Rainbow Dash were gathered together in the security room, still trying to piece the whole thing together. Flank had a cup of coffee and was casually sipping it was Rebucka was talking to Rainbow Dash.

“Discord knows more…” She said. “A lot more than he’s letting on.” There’s just no way he made that gas by himself…he just doesn’t have the resources.”

“Well, we don’t know that yet.” Flank said. “We’re talking about a dictator who ruled Equestria for centuries…you’re telling me that he doesn’t have the resource to pull this off? This is all just so weird…” Flank’s sentence was cut short as alarms in the bunker started blaring.

Curious, everypony galloped over to the window to see what was going on. After a few tense seconds, a zombie pounded itself against the window, scaring all the ponies inside. Hundreds upon hundreds of zombies were pouring in through the giant bunker doors leading into Celestial Sisters.

“The door, it’s been breached!” Flank shouted. He looked over at the control panel and noticed that it was shooting sparks in different directions.

“It’s been sabotaged!” Rebucka exclaimed.

“I’ve gotta’ hotwire that panel.” Flank said. “Stay here…barricade the door.” He said as he galloped out of the safety of the security room and into the danger of the zombie filled bunker. Rainbow Dash and Rebucka then started pushing items in front of the door to prevent any zombies from coming in.

Flank galloped through the crowds of massing zombies and started working on the control panel. Somepony had smashed most of the controls to bits and left hardly anything for him to work with. He thought carefully and started re-routing some of the wires to place the destroyed ones.

After many frantic seconds, Flank finally started to close the doors, but it was a long and heated process. He couldn’t help but watch as some of the survivors that were able to make it got eaten alive and attacked by zombies. His heart raced as the doors seemed to slow down in their already slow speed and stopped moving altogether.

He bashed his hoof into the control panel and the doors gave one final push…closing the remaining zombies outside. But the sudden slam caused many zombies to get crushed…needless to say; blood went in all different directions. Flank was doused in the disgustingly cold and sticky, rusted, and foul smelling goo. He wiped his hoof across his face and took care of the last remaining zombies that were still standing around the bunker. Once the last one hit the floor, Flank started trotting to the medical wing to make sure Ray and Discord were okay.

Meanwhile, Discord slowly made his way out of the medical room and was walking through the halls to find a way out of the retched building. He looked all around to make sure nopony was watching or trying to follow and stop him. As he rounded a corner, a zombie straggler came around a corner and pounced Discord.

The two hit the ground and Discord, in a panic, tried to shove the zombie off of him. But it quickly sank its teeth into his neck and blood poured all over his and her fur. Flank noticed what was happening and reached for a fire extinguisher on the wall. He grabbed it and slammed it against the back of the zombie’s head, killing it and knocking it to the ground.

Discord reached for his bite and looked at Flank with a scared look in his face. Flank stood there, staring at the doomed Draconequus.

“Welcome to the club.” He said casually as he helped Discord up from the floor.

*** *** ***

“Last thing I knew…” Ray said. “I was sitting by the door…like usual.” He clutched his head a bit harder. “Next thing…I was coming to…looking at you.” He said pointing a hoof at Flank.

Flank had helped Discord get back into his temporary prison in the medical wing. Ray was clutching his head, being knocked out by the said Draconequus.

“He must’ve gotten loose somehow.” Ray continued. “I can’t believe he got the better of me.” Discord just kept his attention on Flank. “But, I can tell you right now that it isn’t going to happen again.” Ray said as he stood up and trotted over to the two.

“You need to get me Zombrex, Flank.” Discord said pleadingly. “And you must move quickly!”

“We oughta’ toss him out there with his own kind.” Ray said bitterly. “Let them tear each other to pieces.”

“Looks like you got yourself bit pretty bad there, Discord.” Flank said with a smirk on his face.

“He’s not turning yet…why?” Rebucka asked as she trotted slowly into the room.

“Some ponies…well, creatures…are just more resistant to the infection than others.” Discord grabbed Flank jacket with his cuffed talon and turned the old stallion’s attention back to him.

“I’m your story, stallion.” Discord said. “You’ve got to help me.” Flank ripped himself away from Discord.

“So,” Rebucka said, ignoring Discord, “how long has he got, Flank?”

“We won’t know until he turns.” Flank answered. “But, I’m sure I can spare some Zombrex to save his sorry hide from becoming one of those zombies.” Flank took out a box from his back pocket and took out the pre-filled syringe.

“And, Discord,” Flank said, “the only reason I’m keeping you alive is because death is way too easy for you.” He pushed back some of the fur on Discord’s arm.

“Oh, you just want that interview.” Discord said. “It’s plain and simple as that…something in it for you too, baby…” Flank slammed the syringe hard into Discord’s arm, drawing a bit off blood in the process.

“You better get used to this, Discord.” Flank said as he pulled the needle out.

“And you better get used to being a foal.” Flank threw the syringe away and was about to leave the room. “By the way,” Discord said, “thanks for the medicine, sucker.” Flank bucked Discord hard in the face and started trotting out of the room, going to wait for the Royal Guardians to arrive.

“Don’t mess with the face, Flank!” Discord shouted before Flank slammed the door behind him.

8 - Not the Best Ponies

Chapter Eight

Not the Best Ponies

Everypony had regrouped and gathered in the small cafeteria of the bunker. Rebucka was sitting in a chair, relaxing her twisted hoof, Rainbow Dash was floating in the air as usual, and Ray was towards the sink, watching the news story that was unfolding. Flank entered the cafeteria as the anchorstallion was coming to another part in his story.

“Government sources have confirmed that there has indeed been a dangerous mutation of the zombie contagion within the city.” The reporter said. “Early indications of survivors at the official emergency shelter were proven false when a Royal Guardianship rescue team entered the shelter, only to find it completely overrun and everypony inside, already dead.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened and she brought her hoof up to her mouth, stifling a gasp.

“Contact with the rescue team,” the reporter continued, “was abruptly lost as they attempted to exit the city. They are now presumed to have also perished in the outbreak.”

Ray started shifting uncomfortably, knowing what was coming next.

“In light of this new information, Princess Celestia has ordered the immediate eradication of everything within the quarantine zone. Wonderbolts Bombers are preparing to execute these orders at precisely 7 o’clock in the morning. Our thoughts go out to the families of all those have lost loved ones in Celestial Sisters.” Rainbow Dash spun around to face everypony else in the cafeteria.

“Do you think I’m still paranoid?” She asked.

“They just got the wrong information.” Ray said to calm her down. “Now, calm down and try to relax.”

“Calm down?!” Rainbow Dash asked angrily, flying right up to Ray’s old face. “The government is going to bomb us!”

“Now ease up there, missy.” Ray said angrily. “Our government is simply not going to kill a bunch of unarmed civilians.”

“That would be un-Equestrian.” Rainbow Dash said bitterly.

“We simply need to go out there and take control.” Ray said, looking at the other ponies in the room.

“Go out there? Are you out of your mind?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Hey!” Flank shouted, calming the two angry ponies down several notches. “Fighting will not get us anywhere. We need to try to stay calm.”

“I did not work this hard just to get blasted off this rock.” Rebucka said. “I need to get in touch with my station. They’ll come get me…hay, they’ll come get everypony! This is the story of the century.”

“Don’t you get it?” Rainbow Dash asked, landing lightly back to the floor. “There is no way out.”

“Discord planned to rob the city…but that doesn’t explain the rest of it.” Flank said, changing the subject.

“We know Discord framed PURE and started the outbreak.” Rebucka said, going along with Flank. “But…there’s no way he could access the media with that lie that we’re all dead.”

“And he couldn’t order a Wonderbolt firebombing.” Rainbow Dash added in.

“This is bigger than Discord…way bigger.” Rebucka said. Ray trotted over from the sink and stood next to the group of conversing ponies.

“Look, I know we’ve all been through a lot in the past few days,” Ray said, “but don’t go making it worse and start making things up.”

“But, where’d that gas come from?” Flank asked he turned his attention over to Rebucka. “Let me see your camera.” Rebucka used her magic to lift up the camera and start to play the video she had filmed.

“I didn’t notice it at the time,” Rebucka said, while reviewing the footage, “everything was happening so fast.” They looked closely at the small monitor and noticed it pouring out from the vents in the ground. “The gas…it looks like it’s coming from underground.”

“Okay,” Flank said, “that’s where I’ll go next.” He spun around and was about to leave the cafeteria, when Ray put up a hoof and stopped Flank dead in his tracks.

“Whoa, buddy.” Ray said. “Those tunnels are gonna’ be crawling with thousands of those… gas zombies, or whatever they are. Going down there is just plain suicide.”

“No,” Flank said, “suicide is staying right here.”

“We’ve all got choices, colt.” Ray said.

“Flank, wait…” Rebucka said as she stood up, but the pain in her hoof caused her to lose her balance and fall forward into Flank. He helped her sit back down in the chair and looked deep into her eyes. “It’s too dangerous…the story…” Rebucka said.

“It’s not about the story anymore, Rebucka.” Flank said. “We need to find out the truth…for all of us. For Equestria.” Rebucka placed her hoof on Flank’s face.

“Please…just be careful…for me..?” Rebucka said. They shared a quick nuzzle before Flank got up and left the cafeteria.

*** *** ***

The dark underground was filled with even more of the green fog than above ground. There was a huge mix of gas zombie ponies with regular, non-gassy zombie ponies. But what was most interesting to Flank, as he slowly trotted through the tunnels, was that they weren’t attacking him and were all shambling to the same area. Flank even took a chance to poke one in the eye…it didn’t even react.

Flank went along with their migration for many, many yards, until they all came upon a giant set of huge metal doors; eerily similar to the ones that were sabotaged in the bunker. Again, the zombies around him weren’t making any advances to his open and exposed body. This was all very strange to Flank as he made his way to a security panel that was blinking red with the word OPEN. He pressed the flashing red button and the giant metal doors started to open up.

“This is gonna’ be good.” Flank said as he got his camera set up and ready.

Once they were fully open, the zombies started shambling down a long passageway. Flank mixed in with the crowd, curious as to what in Equestria was going on down here. Again, Flank started messing with the distracted zombies…poking their eyes and pushing them down to the ground. The small passageway seemed to go on forever…

And then he saw it.

A giant room that had huge amounts of the green fog emanating everywhere; guards were stationed all over the place with odd looking guns that didn’t seem to take bullets whatsoever. But the weirdest thing about the room was the chandelier…at least, it looked like a chandelier. That is if others had five rotating sections, rotating at different speeds, with one giant hole in the center that went to Celestia-Knows-Where.

“Quite the setup they’ve got here.” Flank said, taking in everything that he was witnessing.

Flank ducked behind some giant, red containers and watched as the zombies seemed to be transfixed to the spinning device. He just kept looking at the strange device…until a, very high-pitched, ringing started filling his head.

He grabbed his head in agony from the pain; trying his hardest not to scream. As he was dealing with that, the zombies around him start convulsing and having spasms. Much like when Flank killed the Queen wasp, all of their heads exploded. Any Queens that had managed to burrow inside the heads of the zombies were now flying up to the rotating device…strangely attracted to the annoying sound.

After a few seconds, or a millennium on the moon for Flank, the painful ringing stopped and guards started trotting in to clean up the dead bodies. Flank looked around and took this opportunity to photograph the mess regarding what he just saw happen.

“Okay,” one guard said on the top rafter, “let’s get this bunch done. We’re almost to capacity and we’ve got to get these bees ready for shipping out. Oh, and don’t forget to get the stragglers.” He said before trotting away to the bathroom area.
The other guard fired the strange weapon and a pulse of blue energy fired out the barrel and into the body of a zombie on the ground. The energy pulse caused the zombie’s head to explode and the body fell to the ground.

As the guards were distracted, Flank made his way to a main office overlooking the whole room. Fortunately, nopony was in the room when he arrived. Everything inside was mostly files and file folders. But there was one thing that caught Flank’s eye: a laptop computer. Amidst all of the low-tech equipment, this was the one piece of technology that stood out from the rest.

Flank made his way over and found out that it was Royal Government Property, which made Flank curious. After a bit of fiddling, Flank found information that made his rage overflow.

The laptop had information that was under the sole custody of Phenotrots pharmaceuticals. And it had information that was related to everything that happened in Celestial Sisters…as well as information proving PURE’s innocence.

“Phenotrots.” Flank said to himself. “Saw that coming a mile away.” He closed the laptop and picked it up with his mouth. But before he left the room, he noticed a key card controlling the elevators and a weird looking device that had numbers all over it going from zero to nine. He grabbed those items too and proceeded to trot back to the bunker.

But before he left the room, he found a massive switch embedded into the wall next to the office entrance with a label that read ‘Gas Release’. It was in the Release position and Flank took a moment to set it into the Off position.

*** *** ***

Flank came in and sat the laptop down on the table closest to Rebucka…that was everypony in the room could see. He flipped the top open and turned to look at the other confused ponies.

“Phenotrots,” He said, “They orchestrated this whole thing.”

“Phenotrots?” Rainbow Dash asked. “But they make Zombrex.” That’s when Ray made his way into the security room.

“You two just calm down a minute here.” Ray said. “This one’s been feeding up claptrap since you all got here.” He continued; pointing an accusing hoof at Rainbow Dash. “Now look, we’re all under a lot of stress,” Ray continued, “seeing things out of the corners of our eyes…imaginary stuff.” Rebucka was quickly working through the data on the laptop.

“There’s nothing imaginary about this.” She said bringing up a few files. Flank and Rainbow Dash got closer to get a better look and saw things on the screen. Double-helix DNA strands that spun around in three-dimensional animations; small packets talking about the green gas and how it’s affecting the zombie’s genetic make-up.

“I don’t understand,” Rainbow Dash said, “why would they..?”

“I’ll tell you why.” Rebucka said, almost figuring out everything within half a second. “It’s been a couple of months since the last major outbreak. Ponies aren’t buying Zombrex the way they used to. But now, zombies are back and even the Royal Guardians can’t stop them. There are probably line-ups at every pharmacy…just for Zombrex. They’re making a killing off this.”

Flank slowly trotted away from the computer; breathing heavily and angrily.

“This is worse than Fillydelphia.” he said. “They just want to drive up their stock.”

“Unbelievable.” Ray said.

“We’re taking these parasprites down.” Flank said. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the numbered device, which he realized later was a portable phone, and handed it to Rebucka. “I found this down there, too.”

“I’ll call my station,” Rebucka said, “they’ll send help.” She spun around in her chair as she dialed the number.

A gunshot rang out.

Rebucka’s body fell to the floor; a bullet hole in her abdomen.

Twilight Sparkle was floating a gun in the air. Rarity and Rainbow Dash standing by her sides, ready for anything to happen.
Ray reached for his gun, but realized that the gun Twilight was using was his. Ray sighed bitterly.

“I knew I didn’t like you three.” Ray said. The gun floated over and Ray took a bullet in the shoulder. He fell sideways, clutching hard onto the wound.

“Thanks for taking care of the idiot protestor and that backstabber Discord for us.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over and grabbed the laptop with her hooves. Rarity used her magic to bring up the cell phone and place it in her saddlebag.

“Releasing that tape wasn’t part of the deal.” Twilight said. “It’s much easier not having to kill them ourselves. But, you’re little comeback proved to be very useful. Now allow me to show our appreciation.” Twilight was about to shoot Flank, when Ray bucked her hard across the face.

The gun fell out of the magical aura, but Rarity quickly caught it with hers. She fired one round into Ray’s, already wounded, shoulder and one last into his back before he hit the ground for good. Flank took the opportunity to dive for the gun.

Another round was fired and it missed its target: Twilight Sparkle. Twilight and Rarity got away but Flank had clamped down hard on Dash’s mane, trying to get her to stop. But her mane seemed to come undone and she flew out of the room to catch up to her friends. Rarity smacked hard into the wall and her saddlebag fell off. She just ignored it and kept galloping for the exit.

Upon closer inspection, Flank found out that Rainbow Dash was wearing a wig. He threw it to the ground and trotted over to Ray.

“I’m gonna’ get you some help.” Flank said.

“No,” Ray said, “it’s too late for me. You…you gotta’ take care of this…for all of us.” He gave one final breath and died in front of Flank.

“Thanks for saving my life, Ray.” He said. “You were a good stallion.” Flank pulled himself up and looked over at the monitors. He noticed that massive black chariots were flying into Celestial Sisters and landing in the main park entrance.

“Looks like there’s a party going on in Celestial Park.” He said just before heading out of the security room and galloping at full speed to catch up to the betraying ponies.

*** *** ***

As Flank made his way into Celestial Park, he got a better glimpse of the chariot themselves. Each one was about the size of Celestia’s own Royal Chariot, but they had specially designed drop-down hatches that were carefully bringing down massive devices similar to the rotating device Flank found in the Celestial Sisters underground.

A couple guards flew down and got their weapons ready for zombie combat. They had the same weapons Flank saw in the underground, the blast frequency guns as he came to call them. Using the viewfinder on his camera, Flank saw Phenotrots logos on all of the guards, equipment, and chariots.

“I’m locked in!” One guard shouted to another.

“Move in!” Another shouted.

One guard pressed a button on one of the devices and they started creating a, much lighter, ring that Flank had heard in the underground.

“Weapons free!” Another guard shouted. That’s when the guards started using their weapons to kill zombies and round up Queens.

“Equestria has got to see this.” He galloped towards the guards and got ready for the fight of his life.

*** *** ***

Flank West was known through Equestria as ‘the pony who revealed the truth’. Most ponies believe that he was a simple old pony that knew only of photography. While some of this is true, what ponies don’t realized is that Flank is very fluent in his own brand of fighting.

He used the tactics he learned over the years to disarm and kill any guards that tried to kill him. He used their guns to take them out and he shut down every single device that was hoarding in Queens. After the last one was shut down, Flank started making a plan to hunt down Rainbow Dash and her friends and make them pay for what they were doing here.

“Come in.” Said a familiar voice. “I repeat, come in.” Flank looked around and found a transceiver on the corpse of one of the guards he had taken out. “I need an update on the harvesting progress immediately.” Flank reached down and pushed the talk button.

“Oh,” Flank said, “well, here’s your update. It’s going just fine, Twilight. I just destroyed your last harvester. And now, I’m coming for you and your friends.”

“Come and get me you interfering earth pony.” Twilight said. “I’ll be in the Wonderbolts theme park. You can come play on Rainbow Dash’s ride.”

*** *** ***

Flank slowly made his way through the back area of the theme park; looking around for the deceiving ponies that tried to kill him. All around him were massive metal crates and other equipment that was to be used for building a new ride.

“About time you showed up for the after party.” Twilight shouted from above Flank. She, along with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, were sitting patiently for Flank on top of a metal arm. Flank looked up at the three ponies that were just smirking at him.

“And I am ready to party, you crazy bitch.” Flank said.

“You’ve nearly ruined the harvest, Flank.” Twilight shouted from above. “Do you have any idea how many lives you’ve destroyed?”

“What?” Flank asked angrily. “You and PURE are killing all those ponies. You’re harvesting ponies, but I’m destroying lives. Good. Good one.” Flank said as he sat on his haunches.

“After everything that’s happened,” Twilight said, “you still haven’t figured it out, have you, Flank? What kind of reporter are you? I’m a Phenotrots plant. And Fluttershy’s group has been a very convenient little tool for us. They keep starting outbreaks, haven’t you noticed? Eager little activists.”

“You work for Phenotrots.” Flank said. “So…this is all for what? For money?”

“You’re even more of an idiot that I thought, Flank.” Twilight said. “This is about saving lives.”

“Saving lives.” Flank repeated back. “You created a panic to drive up demand.”

“You’re missing the point, Flank.” Twilight said. “We can’t make your precious Zombrex without Queens. A necessary sacrifice for our country.”

“And…uh…Discord looting the city. I suppose that was for our country, too?” Flank asked.

“Oh, please,” Twilight said, “Discord was well paid for giving us access to the cages. His show was going down the tubes anyways; which was obvious since you were on it. Then he decided to get PURE on T.V. and rob the city; made it harder for us to finish the job.”

“So…what?” Flank asked. “He dragged you into this? So why didn’t he give you up?”

“Do you really think I’m stupid enough to deal with a flankhole like him myself?” Twilight asked. “But enough talk Flank.” Twilight said as she started trotting across the arm of the ride towards what looked like a massive pony head.

“We had a feeling you’d show up.” Rainbow Dash said. “So I prepared a little toy for you.” Suddenly, a blue aura of magic surrounded one of the arms.

It lifted up a massive metal crate and started coming down on Flank. Flank jumped and rolled out of the way before the crate could smash him into a bloody pulp.

“There’s a price for everything, Flank.” Dash shouted as the arm came back into its position. “And you’re about to pay it.”

9 - His Name's Flank!

Chapter Nine

His Name's Flank!

The Wonderbolts Wonderland had many rides as previously explained, the Sonic Rainboom Experience, Soarin’, and the Fleetfoot Echo. But, there was another ride that was going to be added. It was going to be called the Tactical Rainnuke. It was a ride built to look like a giant Rainbow Dash, but it had arms that ponies would sit in and it would twirl them around in different directions to create the speed and sensation of being up close to a tactical rainnuke.

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were set up in the main control panel room of the ride. Rarity was controlling the right arm with her magic, Twilight was controlling the left, and Rainbow was giving directions on where to strike.

The fight had been going on for many hours, it was nearing twelve in the morning when Flank was curled up behind a destroyed metal crate. He was breathing heavily and blood was pouring down from a gash on his right shoulder.

“This is so unfair.” Flank said. “How am I going to get out of this one?” He turned his head around a corner and saw that Rarity’s arm was lying on the ground; her magic had burned out and was starting to give herself a rest. Flank thought carefully about what he had planned to do.

His basic plan was to gallop up the side of the arm and into the control panel, defeat the fillies inside and figure out a way to get out of Celestial Sisters before the firebombing could commence. Obviously, this plan was much easier said than done.

But, inside the massive Rainbow Dash head…

“It’s okay, Rarity.” Dash said. “Give your horn a rest… we’ve been going at this for hours now.”

“But… we can’t…” Rarity said between breaths, “We can’t let him… get away…”

“Don’t worry.” Twilight said after ceasing her flow of magic. “That gash you gave him… he’ll bleed to death in a matter of minutes.”

Flank just lied there, bleeding heavily onto the cemented ground beneath him. His breaths were starting to grow painful. But, he decided that if he was going to go out, he would at least try to go out in style. So, Flank pulled himself up from the ground and slowly trotted out from his hiding place to find that the arms were still lying motionless on the ground.

“Well… better late than never.” Flank said just before taking off at a full gallop to the right arm. Rainbow Dash looked down and saw that Flank had climbed on top of the downed arm. She turned to Rarity and ordered her to slam his sorry hide into the ground.

Doing as she was told, the arm became surrounded in a light blue aura and started lifting back up from the ground, Flank still riding on top.

“This’ll be interesting.” Flank said. The massive arm came down and almost crushed Flank into pony pulp. The arm just lied on the ground for a moment or two, giving Flank the chance to jump on try to disarm the device. But as he was slamming his back hooves into the small control panel, Twilight started lifting up her arm.

The left arm went up and slammed against the other arm with such force, that it sent Flank flying in one direction and completely tearing the other arm in half. Flank pulled himself up and saw the carnage that lay before him. Metal was lying everywhere and small sparks were shooting from the remnants of the right arm. There was a sharp pain in his back left hoof and he peered down to investigate.

His hoof was twisted horribly and he knew that it was badly broken. But with the adrenaline pumping through his veins, Flank only felt a small pinch over agonizing pain.

“Twilight, you egghead!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Sorry, I was told this ride was made of pure titanium.” Twilight said. “Apparently that was a lie.”

“Obviously.” Dash said. “It doesn’t matter; we can still take this piece of trash out.” Twilight lifted her arm up again and got ready to strike directly at Flank. The said earth pony was wobbling on his three tired legs and one severely damaged leg; trying to map out his next course of action.

He had virtually no time to react as the remaining arm shot forward and slammed hard into the concrete earth in front of Flank. Twilight’s aim was off by at least two inches. Dirt and debris shot up and smacked Flank in the face, breaking his sunglasses. He quickly shook them off and galloped at full sprint up the arm.

He had a new plan.

“What in the wide, wide world of Equestria is this pony doing?” Twilight asked, watching Flank gallop up the arm.

“I don’t know.” Rarity said. “But he is rather persistent.” Flank stopped just at the shoulder and looked through the window that the other three ponies were peering through. He reached into his back pocket and withdrew a pistol.

“Oh, no!” Rainbow shouted. Flank fired two rounds into the window; causing the whole viewport to collapse and allowing Flank the chance to get inside and deal with the three betraying ponies.

“Oh, what do we do?” Rarity asked in desperation. “WHAT DO WE DO?!” Rainbow Dash slapped her hoof across Rarity’s face, making her go silent.

“First, you need to calm down.” She said. “Second, we kill that son of a…” Flank fired two more rounds into the room, chipping off the tip of Twilight’s horn and shattering Rarity’s horn. The two unicorns fell to the ground in total and complete agony. Rainbow Dash slowly and carefully trotted over their writhing figures and made her way up to Flank.

“You just don’t quit, do you?” She asked.

“Nope, never had…never will.” Flank said. “You three are going to pay for your crimes against Equestria and your fellow ponies, zebras, gryphons, dragons, and whatever else creatures there may be that roam our fair country.”

“Oh, but there’s just so much you don’t understand.” Rainbow said as she flapped her wings and started hovering in the air above Flank. “So much, in fact, that if you or anypony were to find out, it would mean sour news to Equestria.”

“What’re you talking about?” Flank asked. “You used fear to drive the masses into falling for your faux pas. The one thing, or I should say pony, you didn’t count on was me. I uncovered the truth about what happened in Appleloosa and Fillydelphia. The whole country is going to know about this in a matter of hours. It’ll be in your best interest to just give up now and submit to me.”

“But,” said a mysterious fourth voice, “it’ll be in our country’s best interest for you to die.” Flank spun around to face the unknown, yet familiar, voice. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened in total fear.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were floating in the air in front of the window that Flank had shot out with his gun moments earlier.

“Celestia… what’re you doing here?” Flank asked.

“I’m here to pick up my most favorite student and her best friends.” She said. “I can’t have them die at your hooves.”

“Wait a minute…” Flank said.

“That’s right, Mr. West.” Celestia said. “I am the one that started the Celestial Sisters outbreak. I also started the one in Las Pegasus. I ordered the eradication of all living things in Appleloosa and Fillydelpha. I own Phenotrots and PURE. And I will see to it that nopony finds out what happens.” A yellow aura of magic surrounded the massive Rainbow Dash ride and started shaking violently; Celestia was planning on loosening the screws and causing the head to fall off.

Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed Twilight and Rarity and flew through the broken viewport to a waiting chariot on the ground. The yellow aura disappeared and Celestia flew down to the waiting chariot as well.

“Luna! Get your haunches down here immediately!” Celestia yelled to her sister. Luna looked Flank in the face, a tear streaming down her face.

“I’m so sorry it had to end like this.” She said. Flank was about to call her out… but realized that she legitimately meant what she had said.

“It’s okay… I don’t blame you…” Flank said before Luna flew back down to the waiting chariot. The two Pegasi controlling the chariot started making a galloping start towards the right side of the ride and their wings began to flap hard.

The head groaned loudly just before it tilted forward and started falling to the earth. Flank closed his eyes and embraced for the release of death… but nothing happened. He expected to hear the sound of crumpling metal, breaking glass, and ripping flesh.

All he heard was a magical wisp and lots of heavy breathing.

He opened his eyes just a tad and saw the Princess of the Night sprawled on the floor; panting like a dog on a hot summer day. Flank looked down and realized he was in the Celestial Sisters bunker.

“Luna…” He began. “What did you do?”

“I… I teleported… both of… of us back to… safety…” She said between breaths.

“But… why?” Flank asked.

“My sister… she… she needed to… be… stopped…” Luna explained. “Just before the… head fell… I teleported us… back here…”

“And your sister?” Flank asked as he lifted himself off the floor.

“Hopefully… under two tons of… heavy metal… and broken glass…” She tried lifting herself up, but the sudden strain of magic had caused her to burnout and nearly pass out.

“Whoa, just lay down for a minute, okay?” Flank said. “Just rest right now, we’ll get out of here in no time whatsoever.” Flank said as he trotted away from the tired alicorn and towards the security room. Everypony around him were amazed, and a bit terrified, to see Luna in the flesh.

“Is Rebucka okay?” He asked a couple ponies.

“We assumed that she was okay when you left,” one pony said to Flank, “but that nurse had a look over her…”

“Is she..?” Flank asked.

“No… not yet at least.” The pony said. “But… she probably doesn’t have much time left.” Flank was scared of hearing those words. He didn’t know Rebucka that long… but he was starting to have strong feelings for her. He hadn’t had true feelings like that since he met Jessie back in Fillydelphia.

With that, Flank galloped at his fastest speed to the door of the security room. The nurse was slowly trotting out of the room; a couple unicorns carefully moving Ray’s body to the helipad for proper delivery to said unicorn’s family were behind her.

“Nurse,” Flank said, “is she going to be okay?”

“I’m afraid not, Flank.” The nurse pony said. “The wounds she suffered from the gunshot quickly got infected and went septic some couple hours later… I’d give her only a few minutes left until she passes.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do?” Flank asked in desperation.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “We send out a team of five ponies to get antibiotics from my pharmacy. Powerful stuff, too, that could bring down her fever… only one made it back.”

“So, I need to go get her those antibiotics to ensure she lives?” Flank asked for clarification.

“I’m afraid I’ve already given them to her.” The nurse pony said. “It didn’t help one iota.” Flank just stood there in silence; taking in the news that a new friend was dying. “She’s awake right now.” The nurse said. “Go in there if you need to.” The nurse slowly trotted away towards the cafeteria.

Flank turned the handle to the door and trotted inside to find Rebucka lying on the couch; a blood-soaked blanket lying carefully on top of her. She turned her head over and gave a small smile to Flank.

“Hey there.” She said lightly. So light to the point Flank could just barely hear her.

“Oh, Rebucka,” Flank said as he trotted over to the couch, “I’m so sorry this had to happen to you. Don’t worry though, Rainbow and her friends are dead.”

“I’m not too worried about that, Flank.” Rebucka said. “I just want to know one thing: why?” Flank hesitated. These were her last moments on Earth and Flank didn’t want her to find out the truth that Celestia was behind everything from Las Pegasus to now. So, he lied… and it tore him up every second he did it.

“Applejack’s company, Phenotrots made the gas to mutate the zombies and grow Queens at a faster rate.” Flank said. “Rainbow Dash used Fluttershy’s group as a tool to ensure a consistent supply for Zombrex.” Rebucka smiled lightly after hearing the truth… what she believed to be the truth.

“At least… we know.” Rebucka said. “I’ll die peacefully knowing that.” She took at deep breath and stared at Flank for a bit longer; taking in all of his features before closing her eyes for the last time.

“Rebucka… there’s something I want to tell you…” Flank said. “I’ve been getting a crush…” A white hoof shut Flank’s mouth; Rebucka smiling happily, getting what he was about to say. He just smiled, closed his eyes, and nuzzled Rebucka’s hoof. The two stayed in the position for the longest time, it seemed to go on for an eternity in Flank’s mind. After awhile, Flank opened his eyes and saw that Rebucka’s were closed shut.

Flank gently placed Rebucka’s hoof against her chest and pulled the blanket up and over her head. Tears were streaming down his face as he cried his hardest since he escaped Fillydelphia. The past few days have been even tougher for him since he arrived at that horrid mall. He spun himself around and started trotting out of the security room. But, before he left, he saw the saddlebag Rarity dropped when she escaped with Twilight and Dash.

He dug through it and pulled out the cell phone Rebucka was going to use to call her news station. The phone number was still in the main memory databank and Flank just pressed the call button. After a few seconds of ringing, a stallion came on to greet Flank.

“Channel Six Action News?” Flank asked. There was a brief pause.

“This is Flank West.” He said. “Somepony lied to you.” Everypony in the bunker slowly made their way over to Flank, Luna included.

“There’s a bunker… full of survivors in Celesital Sisters.” Flank continued. “I’m gonna’ need rescue chariots… and I need them right now… before the firebombing begins.” He threw the phone down and started trotting to the rooftop of the bunker.

*** *** ***

The first of a few chariots landed on the main landing pad of the bunker rooftop. A unicorn galloped over to Flank to greet him. He had a very light pink coat and a blood red mane. His eyes also had a strange yellow-ness to it.

“Okay, we’ve got thirty minutes before the Wonderbolts get here.” The unicorn said. “How many ponies are we loading up?”

“We’ve got about fifteen.” Flank said. “Including two dead ponies, Princess Luna, as well as Discord.” The unicorn stopped dead in his track after hearing the last name.

“Discord?” He asked. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Flank bluntly replied. “Do you think you can pull it off without a hitch?”

“I’m sure I can.” The unicorn said. “All right, get a move on, we need to get these ponies out of here, and we need to get them out of here now!” He shouted to a couple other unicorns in the chariot.

Everything started working and going smoothly. It seemed like no time had passed at all by the time they got down to only two ponies. But Flank was quickly caught off guard as a talon and a lion paw grabbed Flank by his shoulders and threw him in the opposite direction of the landing pad.

Flank smashed hard against the metal doors of the elevator. In a woozy haze Flank looked up to see Discord standing in front of him; breathing heavily and his nostrils flaring.

“You’re so dead!” He shouted. “I’m going to make sure you never see the light of day again.” Discord ran over to Flank, grabbed the old stallion by his neck, and pinned him hard against the elevator doors.

“Discord…” Flank said. “How did you escape?”

“Hello! I’m just as magical, if not more magical than, an alicorn!” He said. “I can teleport to whatever location I desire!”

“How come you didn’t do that when you first got captured?” Flank pointed out.

“When I play games,” Discord explained, “I enjoy messing with a pony’s psyche. You forget that I’m more powerful than Celestia. I use that advantage to make you feel real important… then I crush it down like a condemned building. But, that doesn’t matter anymore. You’re going to pay for killing Celestia.”

“Why do you care about Celestia?” Flank asked. “You two have been at each others’ throats for thousands of years.”

“I’ve always loved that alicorn.” Discord confessed. “We were set to marry and rebuild Equestria.”

“What’re you talking about?” Flank asked.

“Your economy is dipping with each passing day, Flank.” Discord said. “You’d think a journalist would be up-to-date with current events… but you just proved me wrong. Anyway, Celestia has been working on ways to bring in more profit. She instated the Westerns Appleloosan Pomaceous Research Facility to study new ways of producing apples to help down on breeding costs.

“It led to the zombie outbreak of Appleloosa. From there, she was able to produce a temporary cure. With the help of Applejack and her friends, Celestia helped found Phenotrots and started mass-producing Zombrex. Bits starts flowing in like water down a river; we had profit and ponies felt safer at night.

“But, she needed a little extra help. She resurrected me to help start both the Las Pegasus and Celestial Sisters outbreaks. She soon realized my true feelings for her and we decided the best course of action to take with Equestria is to re-instate a true monarchy; where I would be king and she would be queen.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Flank asked.

“Because, it’s all you really wanted to know.” Discord said. “And, now that you do, you must die.” With that, Discord chucked Flank through the air towards the waiting chariot. He hit the chariot with such force that it knocked him out cold.

*** *** ***

Flank woke up from his temporary sleep to find himself lying in a flying chariot heading the direction of Manehatten. He looked behind himself and saw Wonderbolts dropping large crates into the fiery remains of Celestial Sisters. He turned to face the rest of the chariot and found he was sitting in the same chariot with Princess Luna and the unicorn he first met when the chariots came in.

“What happened?” Flank asked.

“Well, looked who decided to wake up.” The unicorn said. “Discord tried to kill you, but I was able to take him down before he had the chance. We escaped before the Wonderbolts arrived and we’re heading towards the nearest hospital to have a look at your injuries.”

“Thank you…” Flank said. “Can I ask for your name?”

“Certainly,” he said, “I’m the general of the unicorn division of the Royal Guardianship. My name is General Prance.”