Chapter Four

“We don't like you an' yer 'out of town' type here, mister.”

        Big MacIntosh trod along attached to the carriage, musing about his life after death so far. For him, in the same way as it was for many, much of the afterlife had been uneventful. Most of it had been spent with the spirits of his family, with trips through the Glen to see other people he had knew while he was still alive. Every so often, like most spirits, he would make a checkup on the mortal world, to see what was happening. It was on one such expedition that MacIntosh's afterlife suddenly became much more eventful. He had had a run-in with a cloaked unicorn sneaking around near where Sweet Apple Acres had once stood. When he had walked closer to see what was going on, he had not expected the unicorn to turn and look at him with glowing eyes, something shocking enough to make even the impassive Big MacIntosh balk – ghosts were invisible to those to whom they had decided not to appear to, and Big MacIntosh had certainly not decided to appear to this oddly-dressed equine.

        After he had seen him, though, Dark Heart had made it his mission to summon the gargantuan earth pony, spending weeks gathering the necessary materials. For most of it Big MacIntosh simply watched on in curiosity; at the time he didn't know what was going on. On the day that the necromancer had turned to him and asked for something personal of his, the large earth pony had thought nothing of leading him to the statuette his sister had given him. It wasn't like he needed it anymore, and his momma had always said to be generous no matter what.

        Big MacIntosh was still trying to figure out if that decision was a good one or not as he assessed the current situation. He was pulling a carriage down a long, abandoned road with Dark Heart and his new companion, the necromancer trotting along a few meters ahead of both the two earth ponies. His new companion was, just like Big MacIntosh, very quiet when dealing with the unicorn. Both he and Ammo Surplus, as far as he could tell, were currently zombies. But there was something about Ammo Surplus that made him feel different to MacIntosh. He couldn't put his hoof on it – hay, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to – but it was there, bright as daylight before the megaspells.

        Even while deep in his thoughts, Big MacIntosh's military training from before his death had made him aware of the raider party coming up quickly beside the three travelers. From what he could gather, there were five bandits sneaking quietly towards them, all but one wielding guns. The only one not using a firearm was a unicorn almost as large as Big MacIntosh, with large horseshoes on his forehooves. He looked to them discreetly, gauging the distance between himself and the raiders. He stomped his hoof and snorted, trying to get the attention of at least one of his travelling companions. Ammo Surplus, noticing his sudden movements, looked over to him.

        Big MacIntosh motioned over to where the bandits were as they slowly pulled ever closer to the three travellers, and Ammo Surplus trotted up to where Dark Heart was walking slightly ahead of the group. He stopped beside the necromancer and grabbed his tail, yanking him back just as one of the raiders shot at where he had been standing. Shots started raining down on them as they ran towards the carriage, most missing but some catching themselves in Ammo Surplus' barding as he shielded his armourless companion, none making it past the protective layer the leather barding provided.

        He threw the unicorn onto the unattacked side of the carriage and out of the gunfight, then drew his gun to return fire. Big MacIntosh was quickly unhitching himself from the carriage, thankful of the other earth pony’s rush to pull the attention of the bandits to himself. Even though he was currently undead, he could still feel bullets, and they still hurt just as much as before. As soon as he was free, he reached into the carriage, pulling out a hunting rifle loaded with five shots.

        He pulled up the gun and shot at the large unicorn, allowing himself a satisfied smile when he caught the unicorn in the side, causing him to stumble but not fall. Thinking about it, he realised that he didn’t feel bad at all for shooting a pony. After taking another shot, and downing the unicorn brawler as it landed in his neck, he found out why - while he had spent his time in the military fighting zebras, his problem wasn’t with zebras as a race. his problem was with bad people of any species; he just happened to have been enlisted to fight bad zebras. Three shots, he reminded himself as he spun to target another attacker, only to have his chosen enemy drop in a mess of blood and gore where his head had once been. Turning to the source of the shot, he seen Ammo Surplus turn to target another raider, trying to dispatch as many of the enemies as he could while still not wasting all his ammo as he normally did.

        Big MacIntosh pulled his head back into the fight, shooting the unicorn with oversized horseshoes in the leg to stop him and shooting his last two shots into a crazed-looking mare who had gotten frighteningly close to the wagon. Big MacIntosh heard a sickening splorch, and looked over to where the last armed bandit had been standing. He seen no pony, a red puddle oozing out from where he had been. Looking back at the wagon, he caught the sight of Dark Heart ducking his head back around the side, a crimson aura still hanging lightly around his horn. Choosing to speak to the unicorn later over his excessive methods at a later time, the oversized earth pony walked out to where the downed unicorn still lay, trying fultilely to get to his hooves with a limb nearly blown off. Big MacIntosh stopped in front of him as Ammo Surplus made his way over, looting the fallen bodies along the way. As the slightly smaller earth pony trotted up to the pair, an aura flowed around the unicorn's horn and hooves, and he kicked forwards at Ammo Surplus with his forehooves.

        Before they could make contact, however, the unicorn found his limb dissolving into limp flesh and pockmarked bone. He pulled his bloody stump back, howling in pain at the newest, horrendous development of his failed ambush. Big MacIntosh and Ammo Surplus both recoiled from the sight in horror as Dark Heart walked up calmly to the newly-amputated unicorn.

        “Well then,” he said as he came to a stop directly by the downed pony's head. “Now that you know exactly why you don't attack ponies wandering through the wasteland, I have a few questions for you. One: are there more of you around here somewhere? Two: even if there aren't more of you, where'd you come from? And three: really? You would attack a group of ponies with horseshoes? Your allies all had the common sense to pick up something that goes 'BAM,' why couldn't you?” The necromancer shook his head in confusion, then stepped back to allow the stumped raider to answer.

        “W-we were coming f-from over the – over the hill, t-theres an old f-factory we were livin' in. T-there's still a few of us i-in there, so- so please, just... just don't do whatever you did to me again!” The horshoed pony was cowering in fear, trying his best to get away from Dark Heart with one hoof down from the average pony and lying in a pool of his own vital liquids.

        “Well,” he answered, grinning. “I won't do that to you again. Big Mac, Ammo, please go and get the cart; I know we were supposed to be heading straight to the Oasis, but I'm afraid that we now have a raider nest to clear out.” Still trying to take in the fact that the unicorn who was so unprepared for everyday life in the wasteland that he could barely use a firearm had just dissolved a pony's forearm, the two earth ponies simply nodded and walked quickly back to the cart to rehook Big MacIntosh, as Dark Heart continued his conversation with the fallen raider.

        As soon as the two had Big MacIntosh hooked into the wagon once again, they quickly made their way over to Dark Heart to collect him and be back on the right track to the Oasis. Walking towards the unicorn, both stallions tried their hardest to ignore the fact that the one person in their party who they had thought was the least deadly apparently had the power to bloodily remove the limbs of a pony. As the two trotted up to the unicorns, Dark Heart turned to look at them, smiling widely.

        “Good news, everypony!” He exclaimed happily. “After talking to mister raider here, I found out that there is a small settlement near his encampment! So, after we clear it out the factory, I think it best that we make our way to this town and sell whatever valuables we can find while working our way through.” With that said he turned back to the prone unicorn, smiling as his horn lit with it’s usual crimson glow. “Now, mister unicorn,” he started, lowering his horn to the prone pony. “While I said I would not do that-” he gestured to the bloody stump of an arm “to you again, I did not say that I would not harm you again. And I simply cannot allow you to go free in good conscience. So, this is goodbye, and curtains for you.” With that, Dark Heart lowered his horn to the unicorn's side, and his crimson aura flowed into the pony. In a flash of light that Ammo Surplus had seen once before, the raider who had been lying on the ground was no more, reduced to a pile of ash and whatever he had been wearing.

        Dark Heart lifted his head and trotted on in the direction of the factory, humming a tune to himself. After allowing themselves to collect their thoughts, the two earth ponies hurried to catch up to their necromancer companion, making sure to not step in the pile of what was once a pony.

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        The factory, like most of Equestria, was a dilapidated wreck. There was no glass in any of the windows; instead, boards filled the window frames, and occasional silhouettes passed by behind them. From their vantage point on a hill roughly a hundred meters from the factory, Ammo Surplus kept watch for bandits leaving the building. Dark Heart and Big MacIntosh sat nearby, discussing the best way to take the building.

        “I'm telling you, the best way to take the building is to wait until dark!” the unicorn exclaimed. “We wait until then, then we sneak in! If we wait until night, they won't be able to see us, and they won't be ready!” He stomped his front hoof into the ground to emphasise his point.

        Big MacIntosh, for his part, simply stared at the unicorn and shook his head in disagreement. “No,” he responded in his deep voice. “The best way t'take the building'd be by stormin' it now. They're not ready fer us either way, an' if we do it mah way we'll be able to make good time t'the Oasis.” Turning his head to Ammo Surplus, he asked, “What d'you think, Ammo? S'it a good idea t'take th'factory now, or t'wait until nightfall?”

        Ammo Surplus thought about it as the two behind him continued to argue back and forth. On one hand, they had the guaranteed advantage of darkness to allow for surprise, though they would need to wait hours before they could put their plan into action, loosing precious time in the process. On the other hand, though, they could be through with the whole thing much sooner at the cost of surprise. He continued watching the factory as he thought about the options, and almost missed the trader's caravan on the way up the road to the building. It was still some distance off, though the pony leading the cart looked as though he travelled this road often. “Both of you, calm down,” he called. “I think I just got a much better plan than either of yours.” Turning around, he quickly told his two companions his idea, and they set off towards the trader to put the wheels in motion.

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A trader walked up towards the main door of the Sparkle-Cola head factory, preparing to sell his wares to the bandits inside once a month. He knocked on the battered old door, and waited for the watchpony on the other side to open it. After a quick look at him, the grizzled old earth pony who was on shift nodded his head and opened the door, allowing the merchant and his cart in.

        As soon as the merchant was inside he made his way towards the commons of the factory. It was where he customarily set up his supplies, and it was where most of the bandits spent their time when they weren't pillaging and murdering. As soon as he entered the room (a large affair with a bar along one wall and several tables set up with chairs throughout the room), bandits flocked to him to examine his wares. Many of them rushed up to look at the items in his cart as he backed away quickly, trying to get away from the throng of ponies and griffons. As soon as he was out of the veritable mosh of bodies, he began to count down from ten, bracing himself for what was to come.

        He was not disappointed. As he reached zero, the side of the cart exploded outwards, knocking many of the bandits flying and impaling several on shrapnel. As the others around the cart were milling about in confused terror the door through which the merchant entered was blown off its hinges by a giant of an earth pony wearing barding and carrying nothing but an old hunting rifle. The behemoth pony rushed into the building gun blazing, and was followed shortly by another earth pony armed with a submachine gun and a unicorn in a cloak, who was smiling madly as he cast spells into the crowd. It didn't take them long to deal with the bulk of the bandits, and those that were left fled further into the building, seeking shelter and reinforcements.

        “Alright! That was absolutely amazing, don't you guys think? I think it was.” The unicorn said as his horn lit up and much of the gore around him began shoving itself back. “I mean, wow! Ammo, you were right. They didn't see that coming at all!” Looking to the merchant, who was definitely not cowering in the corner, it was a stealthy crouch thank you very much, the unicorn smiled. “Well, we definitely couldn't have done it without you, now could we? As promised, here are those caps,” he said, levitating a small pouch towards the merchant, who snatched it out of the air gratefully. “I suggest you grab whatever's left of your cart and get out of here fast, though. It's only gonna get hotter in here.” As he said this, the two earth ponies began walking towards the exits the surviving bandits had fled through.

        The merchant bent to begin collecting what he could from his destroyed cart, as the necromancer began walking after his companions. Then, as if he thought better of it, the hooded pony turned back around, looking towards the beaten bodies of the bandits. As the merchant looked on, the unicorn closed his eyes in concentration, as motes of energy began to appear in the air and flow towards his horn. Suddenly his eyes shot open, revealing them to have changed drastically. Instead of their normal colouring, his eyes were pure crimson. There was no longer a pupil or iris, only a deep, all-encompassing blood red. The magicks gathered around his horn shot toward the swathe of corpses lying in the room. As the magic made contact with the bodies on the floor, some of them began to glow with a crimson not unlike the colour of the necromancer's eyes. These newly glowing ponies got to their hooves, and began walking towards the unicorn who, for his part, simply smiled wider and ran after the rest of his allies, the reanimated corpses shambling along after him.

        The merchant, in his defense, did not faint. He had seen quite a lot in his life, and corpses getting up and walking away after being mowed down by three insane ponies didn't bother him (much). After he had sufficiently collected his belongings with only slighty shaking hooves, he made his way quickly towards the exit of the building, determined to leave and never think of today again.

As he walked out the door, the merchant heard something that made him pause. Shuffle shuffle shuffle. He closed his eyes, willing himself not to turn and look to what was producing the wet shuffling. Shuffle shuffle shuffle rip crunch. Shaking now, he steeled his nerves and turned to see what was making such awful sounds.

        To give credit, he managed to bleat out some words before succumbing to his unconscious and fainting at the sight of one of the reanimated ponies gnawing on the face of one of the bandits who hadn't been affected by the necromancer's spells.

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        Deep inside the factory, Big MacIntosh and Ammo Surplus were clearing a small room that looked as though it was a bunkroom of some sort. Presently there were three bandits piled near the door; one would think that they would stop coming, but apparently one forgot to mention that to the bandits as another leaped over the pile to be mowed down by the sheer firepower Big MacIntosh's new toy. “Ah think that's all of 'em,” he rumbled, allowing the anti-machine battle saddle to cool down. “Where'd that durn Heart git off to? Ah havn't seen 'im since we got past that main room.”

        Ammo Surplus walked forwards calmly and began searching the room for any ammo or armour he or Mac could use. “I don't rightly know,” he replied as he opened a footlocker at the base of one of the bunks. The sound of many hooves thundering by the door, followed by a familiar insane laugh, gave both of the earth ponies an idea as to where their companion had disappeared to. Finishing up quickly with the room they were in, they ran into the hallway and after the cacophony that had passed them by minutes before.