Dead Pony Rising: Off the Record

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.”