Dead Pony Rising: Off the Record

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.