Chapters "Who knew that such a normal day could have turned out so badly? Nothing was out of the ordinary that day. I had risen the sun the same way I always do. But I suppose the beginning of it all actually occurred a few days before. I didn't know it at the time- nopony did- but that would set in motion events that would cause the hell we're in today.
It was a sunny day in Ponyville. I went into town to see something Twilight had written to me about. She had gone into the Everfree forest to research the wildlife, and stumbled upon a, as she described it in her letter, 'strange piece of what appears to be some sort of machine.' So I went to Ponyville the day after I got her letter. I magically altered myself to look more... normal so I wouldn't stand out so much. I didn't want anyone asking questions about why I had suddenly dropped into Ponyville. They always wanted to know why the Princess was in a little town like Ponyville. So I made my appearance a little more inconspicuous. I kept my white mane but changed my mane to a bright yellow, got rid of my wings, and changed my cutie mark to a less intricate sun. So I walked into Ponyville undetected, thank goodness. I made my way to Ponyville's only library and Twilight's home at the time. I knocked on the door, and of course Spike answered. I asked him if Twilight was home. He told me that she was, but that she was expecting someone. I temporarily lifted my disguise for Spike to see who I really was. His mouth, quite literally, hit the floor. I put my disguise back on and let out a small chuckle. Spike took a minute to recover from the initial shock, then let me into the library. He told me Twilight was downstairs waiting for me, and he went about his business. I headed down the stairs off to the side of the library.
Now I knew my pupil had made this her home. The entire basement floor was filled with scientific devices of varying uses. Books on everything scientific in nature lined the walls. And in the middle of the room was Twilight pacing back and forth. I removed my disguise before reaching the bottom of the stairs to avoid confusion on Twilight's part. She didn't notice me, she was so worried about something. I cleared my throat and she looked up. Her face lit up a bit upon seeing me. "Princess Celestia, thank you for coming on such short notice." She bowed, then rose again.
"Well, your letter seemed urgent" I responded.
"Yes, well, I don't want to keep you too long. But this device I found is bothering me. I've never seen anything like it. I checked all my books and couldn't find anything even close to this. I tried testing on it, but it began acting... weird so I stopped. I figured you might know something about it. I'll get it." She walked over to a cabinet along the wall. She opened it, revealing a brown box. She levitated it down with her magic and placed it on a table against the wall. She popped the lid open, revealing a slightly rusted machine. It had a box shape, with a small pole jutting from the top of it. A few buttons lined one side, their labels faded with age. I levitated it out and spun it around slowly, examining every angle of it. I knew I had seen something like this before, but where I just could not place. I rotated it. Maybe, if I had been paying more attention, I would have noticed that the tip of the pole was glowing more than the rest of the machine. But I didn't. And that was my fatal mistake.
I examined it for a while. Eventually I realized it would be better to examine it with some scientific equipment. I glanced around at Twilight's assortment of machines. What I was looking for was, unfortunately, not there. There's another thing caused this. Anyways, I levitated it for another quick look, then put it on my back.
"Twilight, do you mind if I take this back to Canterlot for closer examination?" I asked, turning towards her.
"Well, of course Princess" was the immediate response.
"Thank you. Well, I believe I must be going before anyone wonders where I've gone. Plus, I'll have to lower the sun soon. Good day to you Twilight."
She bowed, then went about cleaning up the room. A golden glow encompassed my horn, then me and the machine. In a flash I was gone from Twilight's library. In a matter of seconds, I felt ground beneath my hooves again. I opened my eyes and saw I was in my bedroom. From the looks of it, nopony had even noticed I was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I turned around to get the machine and take it to the castle lab for examination. But when I turned my and looked at my back, it was gone. I was only mildly surprised. I had known of this kind of thing happening before:
You see, when unicorn's use their magic to teleport it does more than what most people know. The matter that is being teleported bounces out of this reality, bounces off of a sort of relay reality, then to the desired location all in a matter of milliseconds. This was discovered by a unicorn that lost his leg in the middle of the process. This led to research into the concept. And that's how we learned of this. My scientists had found a way to counteract this, assure this wouldn't ever happen again. At the time, I thought there was something wrong with the fail-safe they had placed. I know now that it was because of the machine itself. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
After I realize it must have been a small hole in the fail-safe, I calmed down. When something doesn't come all the way through usually appears in the intended location a few hours or days later. I wasn't particularly worried. It would appear in my room. So I poured the next few days into finding out where I had seen that machine before. I went through every scientific paper ever written. Nothing. Then I moved to the royal library and dug up every book on machinery. It had been four days since I had gotten back when I found it. A record of the machine, not the machine itself. It was in some bizarre scientific log that had no label or name in it. It only had a picture of the machine paper clipped to a page that read:
'The machine is complete in its entirety. It is perfected and ready for use. But we are hesitant to use it. Will it do what we plan? Will it be worth it? We aren't sure. But we do know it will work."
The next page read:
"The boss has decided to have it put in isolation. He told us it would make it affect a wider scale. More would become infected. The world would fall faster. He plans on going out for it in a year or so. We have placed it in the forest outside of that small village. The wild creatures that call the place home would ward anyone off. So now, we wait."
Only one more page remained after that:
"The boss is dead. So are most of the staff. I am one of the few left. Someone went into the forest to retrieve the machine, but the last footage from him wasn't very... pleasant. He's dead. No one knows where the machine is. We can only hope that it will be used in the future for the purpose we chose. The rest of the staff that are alive have entrusted various ponies with similar devices. They are to activate them when the first goes off. Magic is what activates some of them, including the main one. Any exposure to magic will begin their activation. I myself cannot activate those. But someone eventually will. The others are activated by enough force or a simple button press. Each, fortunately, has a countdown.
~So-"
The rest of the name was unreadable. I have no idea who it could be, who would head this. Whoever they are, they're dead. Hopefully we can find someone who had worked on this and find if there's a cure. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Apparently, life has a sense of irony. Just as I finished reading that last sentence, it happened. It detonated at the top of Canterlot Castle. Luckily me, my sister, and most of the people in the castle were near the lower levels. Most people had no idea what it was. Frankly, I hardly had a clue myself. I told everyone to evacuate the castle, Luna included. I made my way up slowly. Nothing was on fire, so it obviously wasn't a normal bomb. As I made my way up, I heard screaming. But not normal screaming. It was hollow, and high-pitched. I worked my way slowly around a corner, and stopped in shock and fear. In front of me were three of the royal guards, one unicorn and two pegasi. But something had happened to them. Their skin was twisted, bloodied, and had holes in some parts of it. There was no light in their eyes. One of the pegasi's jaws was ripped. When they saw me, they immediately started walking towards me. The wings of the pegasi were twitching and one had a tear through it. As they moved, I saw they had attacked another guard. He was laying in a pool of blood. Multiple gashes could be seen on his body, as well as bite marks. His head turned towards me, and I saw the light fade from his eyes as he mouthed the word 'run'. Then a group of tentacles burst from his stomach and lifted him up, upside down. It began to run towards me as well.
I ran. My mind failed to remember that I had wings. But I escaped. Somehow. As soon as I stepped outside, I ordered the royal guards to get everyone in Canterlot underground. I had these underground tunnels made centuries ago, during Discord's reign. They flew off, getting as many ponies safely underground as possible. I was directing ponies into the passageway when I heard the second one go off. It was here in Canterlot, near the outskirts. Everypony still outside looked around, worried and confused. I told them to hurry. They began down again. Almost everypony was in when I saw them coming. More of those monsters. Except these were different. All these ones had their snouts split into four with a long tongue-turned-tentacle coming out of the hole. The royal guards immediately ran in front of the few ponies that were left, ready to defend if necessary. One of the monsters that were further out's tongue lashed out and grabbed on of the royal guards. He screamed in fear, and was pulled back towards the creature. Luckily, the last pony had walked into the passageway. When the guard was pulled close to the monster, it began sinking his teeth into him. The others closed in and began ripping him up. The last thing I heard was his screams of pain.
Everything was set up, everypony underground was safe. Through hacking radio signals being used, we learned that at least one of those machines had been detonated in every city in Equestria. Manehattan, Cloudsdale, Fillydelphia, Appleoosa, Baltimare, Stalliongrad, Seaddle. Even Ponyville. Each bomb contained a virus that took over the host body. It had a need to spread. There were many different variations of the virus that had different affects on the resulting monsters. They had been detonated by members of a gang simply known as The End.
Twilight and her friends were thankfully unharmed during the detonation. Ponyville had not been hit as hard as other places. I lost contact with Twilight two days ago. When I did, she had been separated from all of her friends. Rainbow Dash had been sent by the others off towards the underground tunnels with all their pets: Twilight's owl, Rarity's cat, Applejack's dog, Pinkie's alligator, Fluttershy's bunny, and her own turtle. Pinkie Pie got separated when she went to save the Cakes. A teleportation accident had gotten Applejack and Fluttershy separated from the group. Rarity and Spike got separated the next day due to the same circumstances. Apparently The End also had some sort of teleportation disruptor up and running. Twilight was by herself when I lost communications, looking for her friends and the disruptor tower. I've been waiting for her to contact me again ever since."
"And so that's why we're here." The speaker was sitting in a chair against the wall opposite Celestia. He had a short dark brown mane that fell to his eyes and a beige coat. He had just finished loading a handful of bullets into a handgun. His eyes were a blood-red. A comm mic was strapped on his head.
"Yes. The reason I hired you was originally to protect me. I have someone protecting Luna as well. But your job is now more than that. I need someone to go out there and see how things are. If there are any survivors left, if you can find any weapons. Destroy the disruptor if you find it. And-" my eyes filled with hate, I could tell, "- find some of the members of The End. Bring them back alive if you can- for questioning- but if not, plant a bullet through their skulls."
He sat there for a moment. "Consider it done." He cocked the handgun. "When do I start?"
"Gather some supplies, then head out as soon as you're ready. Take as many bullets as you can find. We don't really need them down here. I've already notified the guards protecting the entrance that you'll be leaving. Good luck."
He got up out of his chair and placed his handgun in a holster on his side. As he was about to leave the room, I quickly said "I don't believe I caught your name."
He turned around and simply said "Leon." Then he walked out.
*A Pinkie Pie Chapter*
I walked slowly- or bounced, rather- through the alleyway. The sound of slow wing beats and a soft pair of footsteps could be heard behind me. But I knew what produced them. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake slowly followed behind me. They were still young, about three, but they knew more than their age showed. Pound Cake could fly as well as Rainbow and Pumpkin's magic wasn't much short of Twilight's abilities. Twilight had been training Pumpkin ever since she had begun using magic. The Cakes hadn't minded. They didn't know much about unicorn magic. And Pound was good at flying from the start.
Two days ago I had left my friends- or who was left in the group- to try and save the Cakes. By the time I got to Sugarcube Corner, I thought I was too late. I ran inside through a hole that had been ripped in the wall. I saw Mr. Cake trying to fend off one of those monsters. Except this one had two giant spikes instead of front legs, causing it to be taller in front than back. Mrs. Cake had the twins in her arms against the wall. I should have attacked the beast. But I didn't. When Mrs. Cake noticed me standing there, she told the twins to follow me. They ran, the monster still attacking Mr. Cake. I turned and ran, making sure Pound and Pumpkin were ahead of me. I turned back as I ran out. What I saw was the creature stab Mr. Cake through the leg and Mrs. Cake rushing up to him.
I shook that terrible memory from my head. I had to get Pound and Pumpkin to the safe zone. That was all that mattered anymore. I peeked around the corner of the alleyway. I put a hoof up to signal the twins to stop. At the end of the road was one of those creatures. This one was small than most. I recognized it. A Runner, I called it. It may be small, but it could run faster than Rainbow Dash could fly. I pulled out a small notebook. Twilight had made one for each of us before we all got separated. It had a detailed profile of each of the monster variations. Weaknesses, strengths, abilities. So far mine had five different types. Normals were first. Normal monsters with no special abilities. Easy to defeat or escape from, as long as there were only a few. Next were the Runners. Fast, best to attack from a distance or just avoid altogether. Then Bulks. Huge. Slow, but could take quite a few hits. Lashers. Had a long tentacle-like tongue that it used to attack from a distance that could be cut off. And the last entry I added. Spears. Had long spikes instead of limbs. Like what had attacked the Cakes.
I reviewed the notes I had taken on the Runners. I pulled a knife out from my pack. The blade glistened in the dusk light- it had been stuck like this since this whole thing had started; nopony was here to raise and lower the sun and moon after all. I glanced back around the corner. The Runner was facing the other way, walking slowly. The pony it had once been had a blue coat and black mane, which was hardly distinguishable from the deformed skin and blood covering it. I made a quick calculation in my head, then threw the knife with a quick throw. It flew through the air, a clean throw. After flying several feet, it embedded itself in its target: the head of the Runner. The monster turned around and looked at me. It began running towards me before falling over, all movement ceasing. I walked up to it, leaving the twins in the alleyway to spare them the disturbing image of me pulling my knife from where it had dug into the monster's skull. I wiped the blood on the ground quickly, before it dried. Sure, a gun was good to defend yourself from these things, but I preferred a knife. It was more efficient, had better accuracy and sometimes range, and it didn't run out of bullets. If I found one I wouldn't hesitate to take it, but that didn't mean I'd use it.
I went back to where the twins were. Currently we were somewhere near the outskirts of what used to be Ponyville. The safe zone Celestia had told us about over Twilight's radio was somewhere along the path to Canterlot. But that was open, filled with infected, and provided no cover or places to run. So I was looking for either an alternate root, or at least some more weapons. If only Dashie was here, she'd be able to Sonic Rainnuke the place to clear it out. But she had flown off to save Gummy and the other's pets. I had been ravaging every building that was clear, looking for weapons. Nothing so far. But this street I had yet to check. I tried to think of anypony in Ponyville that might have any weapons at their house. The only person that came to mind was Doctor Hooves. He had gone off on a trip to Canterlot a few days before the explosions. He was safe underground with the Princess. He was the one that had set up her radio communications and interceptor. Maybe he had a gun or some explosives stored away in that secluded house of his.
I took off at a slow trot, Pound and Pumpkin close behind me. I had my knife drawn, ever alert. No infected were anywhere along the way, but some kind of shrieking could be heard. But it was at least 300 feet away. I made my way slowly towards Doctor Hooves home, surveying the area one last time. Then I quickly ran through the door, the twins right behind me.
The room was dark. "Pumpkin" I said quietly, barely above a whisper, "try and use a spell to detect if anyone- or anything- is in the house." She gave me a nod, and her horn began to glow a light blue color, somewhat illuminating the room. In the brief time the room was lit, I saw two doorways. One led into a sort of kitchen area, the other down some stairs. After the light emitting from Pumpkin's horn died down, she gave me a quick nod, telling me that nothing was in the house. "Pound, you go see if any provisions are in the kitchen. Pumpkin, you and me are gonna explore the downstairs area for weapons, explosives, anything useful." They both nodded. Pound headed off to the kitchen. I led the way downstairs.
Three doors led off the hallway. One was open and was a bathroom. The other two were closed. I held my knife up as I opened the first door. You can never be too careful. No infected occupied the room. A few machines lined the walls with some strange objects mounted on the wall. I ignored everything that didn't look helpful. But I dove straight into his boxes of equipment. When me and Pumpkin had scoured every corner of the room, we came out with a shotgun, a pistol, and two sticks of TNT, plus quite a few bullets for both guns. I thought it was pretty good findings. I hooked the shotgun into the strap of the holster I had found. I gave the pistol to Pumpkin, telling her only to use it in an emergency and to be careful. I kept the TNT hooked to the strap of the holster, and the bullets casings hung across my chest. Both guns were fully loaded. Hopefully they'd stay that way. But I wanted to check that other room.
Me and Pumpkin walked back out into the hall, closing the door behind us. "Hey Pound" I said, only loud enough for him to hear.
"Yeah?" I heard him call back.
"You fine?"
"Yeah. I'm packing up what provisions we can use in a pack I found."
"Good. Just stay up there, me and Pumpkin have another room to check."
"M'kay."
Now that I thought about it, some meds might be in the bathroom. I told Pumpkin to go search for any. She just nodded. I headed down to that other room. I opened the door wielding my knife still. Nothing moved, so I moved inside. It looked like an old storeroom. A few dusty barrels lined the walls. A small door could be seen along the left wall. I checked the barrels. Most were empty, but my patience was rewarded: one of them had a grenade in it, alongside a handgun. It was bigger than the pistol, but smaller than my shotgun. I slipped it in my holster, to give to Pound for defense. But the grenade I put in my pack. Some of the barrels contained interesting things. Two contained gunpowder. One held some kind of liquid. The others were empty. But I passed them on. That storeroom kept nagging at my thoughts. As I was about to walk out of the room, my curiosity got the best of me. I edged towards the door, knife drawn for the third time. I grabbed the knob, and turned it slowly. Then I yanked the door open quickly and raised my knife. Nothing moved.
A sniper rifle was leaning against the wall with about ten bullets. I pulled off the clip. It could hold 5 bullets, and was currently full. It wouldn't be much help to me, but I tucked it into my pack, the end sticking out slightly. At this point in time, any weapon that could be used was not to be turned down. I turned around to leave. What stared me down when I turned was an Infected. This one was a new breed. It had three tentacles coming out of its back. Before I could grab my knife or shotgun, it slammed me onto the floor with its tentacles. On the floor I was able to take in what it looked like. Its coat was previously dark yellow with a sky blue mane and tail. The tentacles that restrained me were a black color with blood here and there. "Pound! Pumpkin! Help!" I screamed. Before I knew what happened the beast was above me, about to dig its teeth into my flesh. I turned my head to the side, waiting for the pain to come.
But it never came.
*Pinkie Pie Chapter*
I heard a loud bang noise, then nothing. I looked up. The creature should have been digging its teeth into my flesh. The thing was no longer on top of me. I looked down and realized I was covered in blood. Fear must have blocked out my sense of feeling. I looked to my left, to see it collapsed on the floor, a hole through its head. I then looked to my right. Pumpkin Cake was in the doorway. She was holding her pistol in her hoof, pointed to where the monster had been moments before. A small trail of smoke was coming out of the barrel. Pumpkin blew the smoke out, then put the gun back in the strap of her pack.
"Thanks kid."
She nodded. Then she dumped the contents of her pack onto the floor. Various painkillers and bandages spilled out. Two bottles of disinfectant, a roll of gauze and medical tape. Why in the world does Doctor Hooves keep this much medical supplies on hand? I gave her a nod of approval. She started gathering up the supplies strewn across the floor while I went off to see where that infected had come from. I inspected some of the barrels and crates. One of them had the lid ripped off. I hadn't checked the crates. Guess it was better that I didn't. I was safe. Now it was time to get to the safe zone.
"C'mon, Pumpkin." She had just finished packing all the supplies. "Let's go check on your brother." She nodded. We headed back up the stairs. Pound seemed to not have noticed what had transpired below. Probably best that way. "Hey kid. Catch." When he had turned towards me, I tossed the handgun to him. He almost dropped it, then caught. He looked it over, then gave me a nod of thanks. He slipped into the strap of his pack. I told both of them to sit down at the table.
I sat across from the both of them. I put my hooves together and looked down at them. "Heh. All I need is a cigarette and a bottle of whiskey and it'll be just like a movie." They both looked at each other confused. But I continued anyways. "At this point I think we have enough supplies to make it into the safe zone. It'd be nice if we had-" a sudden realization hit me: I hadn't looked for a radio. "Did you happen to see a radio down there Pumpkin?" She just shrugged. "You see one up here Pound?"
"No" was his response.
"Hmm. Well, let me go look for one. Stay here, keep the door closed." I headed back downstairs and dug through some of the equipment, and quickly found a radio. I took it back upstairs where the Baby Cakes still sat. I placed the radio on the table and switched it on. Static emitted from it. I slowly turned the dial until I got something intelligible:
"The final testing is ready to begin. We believe it will be a complete success and will be what will end this for good. They will have no chance of stopping us after this is done."
"Good. Begin the experiment now."
"Yes sir. Begin testing."
I heard the loud whir of a machine start up. It rapidly got louder and faster, eventually reaching a maximum. Then a pained shriek was heard, followed by a loud roar.
"Experiment successful sir. The Omega Experiment is successful."
"Good. Release it."
"Affirmative." Then the channel went silent.
I again started turning the dial, looking for Celestia's channel. After a while of static, I got a clear silent sound. "Hello?" I sent through.
"Yes? Who is this?" a familiar voice demanded.
"Princess Celestia. Good, I found you. It's Pinkie Pie. I'm here with the Cakes' twins. I'm going to need the location of the hatch to the underground. I rounded up some supplies from Doctor Hooves' house. We're ready."
Silence for a few minutes. Then, "Alright. Along the path to Canterlot is a group of bushes. Under them is the hatch. But be careful. The Royal Guards have told me that the place is crawling with infected. Have you heard from Twilight or any of your other friends?"
"No" I said hastily. "Thank you for your help. Expect us to be there by tomorrow. Are any of the others there yet?"
"No."
"Thanks" I said abruptly, the switched off the radio and put it in my pack. While I was in it, I pulled out my notebook and made an entry for the creature that had attacked me earlier. "Alright, we need a plan. Depending on both how many there are and how grouped they are, I'm thinking that using my grenade is a good idea. As long as we can take out the majority of them with it. If not, a few sniper bullets should do well. But we need to try to use as few bullets as possible. Call it a feeling-" I grinned. "Call it a Pinkie Sense, but I think that at least I'll need 'em again, that I'll be going back up and out of that hatch. So use as little bullets as possible." I twirled my knife in my hoof. "A good knife'll last you a long time. But bullets are good for distance. Yes, I'll take a knife over a gun, but I think a gun will do better for what I'm going to be up against. My first priority right now is getting you kids down there safe. But after that, I'm not sure. That radio transmission sounded like it was the same ponies who started all this. So they're still alive. And what's more, they're trying to make this whole mess even worse. Somepony has to stop them. Maybe it'll be me. But I'm afraid I'm rambling on and getting ahead of myself. You two ready?" I got two quick nods. "Well then let's go." I had finished my entry on the new Infected. While I didn't have a name for it yet, I filled in what I could. Multiple tentacles protrude from it, used as weapons. Apparently smarter than most infected, as it was smart enough to hide and sneak up on me on my first encounter with one. That was it. I closed the notebook and put it back in my pack. "Let's move out guys."
I got up from my chair. The twins did the same. I peeked out the door, shotgun drawn and loaded. Nothing. Looked like we had cleared them out earlier. We moved down the street, me leading and Pound and Pumpkin watching the back. We moved through the deserted town of what used to be Ponyville. No Infected.
We trekked down the road out of Ponyville. Still nothing. Then we crested a hill. There were tens of them, at least 50. Luckily a good portion of them were in a tight group, fighting each other. And while I couldn't see what it was, I knew almost for a fact that it was a body of some kind. A few had strayed from the group. But only a few.
"Hold up guys" I whispered behind me. I reached into my pack and pulled out the grenade. I pulled the ring off the top with my teeth, then sent it soaring through the air directly into the middle of the group of Infected. "Be ready guys. As soon as that goes off, the stragglers will be after us." As if on cue, the grenade went off. The resulting blast left mere ashes where Infected once stood. The handful that had survived turned towards us. They immediately began cantering towards us. I surveyed them quickly. Luckily for us none of them were Lashers, Runners, or any of the ones I had encountered back at Doctor Hooves. One Bulk and four Norms. Easy. I drew my knife and smiled.
When they were within range, Pound and Pumpkin each gave a shot at them. "Wait guys. Like I said, save bullets. I think I got this. If they get too close to you, then shoot 'em. Stay here." I turned around, a plan already forming in my mind.
I quickly ran towards one of the Infected, one of the Norms. I leaped over it, then fell directly on top of it, knife aimed down at it's head. The knife dug deeply into it's intended target. I quickly ripped it out as the Infected went limp. I ran towards the next one, the other two closing in. This was gonna be close. As I came within inches of my next target, I ducked onto my back. I slid underneath it, my knife held up. It slid cleanly through the skin of it's underbelly. Blood poured out from the wound behind me. As soon as I was out from under it, I leaped back up onto my feet. It turned around, completely unaware of the massive amount of blood pouring from under it. Before it could even turn around all the way, it's eyes rolled back into it's head and it fell to the ground, dead. "So much for the easy part" I said to myself.
The Bulk and the remaining Norm were closing in on me quickly. Now this part had to be timed perfectly. I threw my knife at the bulk, hitting it in the chest. As I had hoped, it paused to look at its new wound. I ran up and ran under the Norm as I had the last one. But instead of running a knife through it, I kicked with all four hooves. The Norm flew up into the air, at least twenty feet high. As it continued it's ascend, I ran behind the Bulk. I dove under it in the same fashion as the two previous times. But this time I drew my shotgun before sliding. As my hind legs appeared under its head, it opened its mouth to take a lunge at me. But as it began to bring its mouth down, the barrel of my shotgun went into its mouth. I smiled at it, then pulled the trigger. It collapsed immediately, pieces of gore flying upwards out of its head. I quickly yanked my knife from its lifeless chest and put my gun in its holster. I looked up. The Norm was just now falling. Good. I walked over to where it would fall and held out my knife. Its head went straight through it. I wiped the blood off of my knife and hoof onto the grass. Then I walked back towards the twins.
"I thought you said no bullets" Cake called to me when I got close.
"You guys each got one, so did I." I grinned then beckoned them to follow me. I found the bush Celestia had told me about. A round black hatch was revealed from underneath it. I lifted it up with the twins' help- it was heavy- and motioned them into it. After they were in, I pulled the bushed around the hatch. I ducked down, pulling it closed under me.
Personally, I was expecting darkness. But instead the tunnel was lit by a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The twins were already moving ahead. I quickly caught up and took the lead. After about 200 feet of twists and turns, I saw two Royal Guards ahead. They were holding long lances, at least four feet. And sharp enough to tear through flesh with minimal effort.
They stood on alert at the sound of hoofsteps. But they obviously relaxed when they realized we were normal. "Name please" the one on the left asked.
"Pinkie Pie. I believe the Princess is expecting me."
"Ah, yes. Go right in." They opened the door and let us in without question. I walked in, the Cakes right behind me.
"Hey, guys, give me your weapons. You won't need them down here." They nodded, and handed over the pistol and handgun. I put them in my pack.
"So that's what happened." I had just explained what happened to me to Celestia.
"Hmm. So have you gotten any Pinkie Senses about your friends yet?"
"No. But I think that magic disruptor Twilight talked about is doing something to my Pinkie Senses. I just got the one because it was strong. But I think that's a good sign. Means nopony's dead- yet."
"Guards!" A guard ran into the room quickly. "Go find Leon. He hasn't left yet. Tell him I'm postponing his mission for now. He'll have some help in due time I think. Pinkie here grabbed some weapons. Hopefully her friends will be here soon."
"They will. I can feel it."
*Rainbow Dash Chapter*
The wind blew through my mane, my tail flapping in the wind, my wings creating a slow beating. A small weight pulled at my middle area. A basket hung below me, swaying in the wind. In it, Opal, Winona, and Angel all lay in it, in various states of consciousness. Gummy had his jaw clamped firmly on the end of my tail. Tank and Owloysius were flying on either side of me, Philomeena behind me. They were kind of slowing me down. But I shouldn't complain. I had it easiest out of anyone of our group, easily. The Infected couldn't really fly, considering their wings were torn up. So I didn't have to deal with them. I hadn't made it to the tunnels yet because I got a little side tracked, thanks to Owloysius.
He had flown off yesterday. Unfortunately I hadn't realized until about maybe an hour later. Then Tank had done his best to explain it to me. So I had to backtrack. But I won't complain. It may have been for the better that Owloysius had flown off. Where she had flown off to might prove useful in the future.
I flew back to find her, grumbling, mostly to myself, about all the lost time. I surveyed the ground below, half for signs of Owloysius and half just to see the damage. Infected littered the ground. As far as I could see there weren't any survivors, at least not here. I tried to think of where I was. It seemed to be a path. After I thought about it for a minute, I realized it must've been between Ponyville and Manehatten. How'd I get so blown off course? Yesterday I was following the path from Ponyville to Canterlot. That's where the only tunnel hatch I know of is. Great, I'm really gonna have to backtrack. That's at least an extra day's flying. My mind was snapped back into focus by a loud shriek from below. A handful of infected were wandering around the area. I ignored them and kept flying.
Eventually I spotted Owloysius. He was circling a building. "Owloysius, why the buck did you fly off? You're lucky Tank was watching out for you, or we'd all be in the tunnels without you."
"Who" was the response I got. He then flew lower towards the building. About halfway through his descent he turned around, like I was supposed to be following. So I did a quick dive to the entrance to the building. When I got there Owloysuis looked towards the door. I gave a sigh and opened the door. It gave a loud creak, like it hadn't been used in a while. I looked in to see pure darkness. I reached my hoof into the darkness and off to the side looking for a light switch. When I finally found one, I flipped it up. What I saw astounded me.
A series of conveyor belts and machinery filled a wide open room. Moving down the conveyor belts were metal boxes. What were in them is anypony's guess. But what really got me startled was that Philomeena was trapped in a sort of glass dome. Every 30 seconds or so, she would flare up. The edges of the dome would absorb the energy from her. I guess it was for the machines. I didn't care. I immediately ran up to the dome. I blindly bucked it with my rear legs. The glass shattered slightly, cracks spreading on it. As I reared up for another shot, Philomeena flared up again. I broke the glass with a second buck, shards flying everywhere. The energy shot out of the dome in small bolts in every direction. Philomeena was somehow unharmed. She spread her wings out and shot up into the air. She flew out the open door. I followed, flanked by Tank and Owloysius. As I flew out, the machines stopped. Guess I was right about her powering the machines.
I shook the memory from my head and focused on the skies ahead. A few clouds were floating lazily in the breeze. Other than that, nothing. I began to whistle a random tune. I observed the landscape below and the sky around me. I figured I was about halfway between Ponyville and Canterlot. The hatch I was looking for was near the city limits of Canterlot. I calculated it was about an hour of flight time, two hours tops. So I continued my flight lazily along, making sure my companions could keep up. I looked down to make sure all three of the pets were still in the basket. Thankfully, they were. Opal and Winona were asleep, Angel just kind of sitting there. I looked back to see Gummy still firmly clamped onto my tail, the same blank look in his eyes as always. I gave a small sigh of relief.
After about an hour of flight, I was within half an hour of the city limits. I decided to pick out a random cloud and cherish some relaxation. It could be the last time I get to nap on a cloud... I flew over to one of the larger clouds and laid down on my back. I just stared into the blue sky, the basket still hanging from me. Tank, Owloysius, and Philomeena had taken a nearby cloud and were stretching out, obviously grateful for a break. I just closed my eyes until the blissful embrace of sleep overcame me.
***
I dreamed of the old times.
First was the Best Young Fliers Competition. It was just like last time. Me breaking down from fear of losing. Rarity's wings were even more extravagant than last time, like real pegasus wings. Only more like the Princesses' wings. Everything else was the same. Rarity's wings disintegrating, the Wonderbolts failed attempt at saving her, and my successful Sonic Rainboom. Celestia declaring me winner, and flying off to spend the day with the Wonderbolts
Then it was the Running of the Leaves. Me and AJ's simple competition. Then how it became a huge deal. Finally the Running of the Leaves. Me and AJ cheating back and forth. Twilight winning (or coming in fifth technically). The Princess coming, then me and AJ figuring it out and going back through the forest.
The Gala came next. But this is where things got a little weird. Instead of all the guests that should have been there, there weren't any. Only me, Twi, Pinkie, Fluttershy, AJ, Rarity and Princess Celestia. And instead of the Wonderbolts, it was the Shadowbolts.
That whole ordeal with finding a pet. They were all bloody, except for Tank. They almost looked Infected. But they flew the same.
Then Discord and NIghtmare Moon. Same as when it happened. It was still blank between the hedge maze and Ponyville during the whole Discord incident. These two flashback-dreams were in more detail than the rest.
And the final- and strangest- of them: my time in the hospital. Instead of other hospital patients, they were Infected. And when I read the book that was supposed to be Daring Do, it recollected the past few days for me.
***
I woke with a start. A loud scream echoed through the valley-type area I was in. I shook my head to clear my mind. Was that scream just my imagination? I listened for a couple minutes and heard nothing. I checked on my fellow travelers. They were all sleeping quietly. I laid my head back down on the soft cushioning of the cloud. I stared back up at the sky. We should leave soon. I sat up and gave my arms and wings a stretch. Then I jumped off the cloud and flew towards Tank, Owloysius, and Philomeena's cloud at a slightly lethargic pace. I shook them awake. "C'mon guys." I yawned. "Let's get moving. We're really close. Half an hour, hour tops." I flew away slowly. I soon heard three more wingbeats join the sound of mine.
We moved through the quiet landscape. There were strangely no Infected below us. I thought I saw some once, but there were only a few and they weren't moving. Dead, I guess. A few feet after that there was a small crater in the ground, colored black. But I just shrugged and flew on.
Flying was nice. A slight breeze had picked up. It gave this place a sense of serenity. Sure, this place was no where close to it. But this moment made me feel safe. It took all my worries away. I had no care in the world. If I could freeze any moment in time and stay there, that'd be it. I did a small spin. Then a loop. I laughed. I hadn't felt this good in days. I felt like I could do anything. I did a few tricks, not worrying about my destination. Only this point right here. Feeling good as long as possible was my current goal. Tank, Owloysius, and Philomeena flapped in a stationary position mid-air. They watched me with a curious look. And then I heard another scream. This one was more high-pitched, more unearthly. I stopped my tricks and looked at my airborne companions. They obviously had heard it as well, I could tell by their worried glances. I looked around for the source of the scream.
There! I saw a speck of blue on the otherwise green landscape. I did a quick dip and moved in to get a better look at what was down there. As I approached, I realized it was two ponies. I couldn't tell who they were or whether or not they were infected yet. I moved in at a quickening speed. I soon saw a torn Wonderbolts uniform on one of the figures. I doubled my speed. Soon I saw that the other figure was an Infected, a new breed, at least to me. It had one long tentacle protruding from where a unicorn's horn would normally be. It had the Wonderbolt lashed to the ground. I did a quick run through in my head of what I was gonna do. Then I put it into action.
"Gummy, into the basket now!" I swung my tail towards it. He let go and landed in the middle of it. Then I grabbed the rope attached to the basket. I lifted it over my head and threw it in one quick motion. "Tank, Owloysius, catch!" Tank grabbed the rope with his mouth, Owloysius with his talons. "Philomeena, follow me!" The phoenix quickly sped next to me. "When I say, slice through the tentacle that's holding down the Wonderbolt." She gave a small nod. I sped ahead of her purposely. I flew straight in front of the Infected, blocking its view of the Wonderbolt. Once I knew it had seen me, I flew off. As expected, it turned its head to follow my movements. "Now!"
A blinding light burst through the tentacle. The Infected screamed in pain, the same scream from before. I quickly flew at it. I grabbed it and ascended with it. It was still screaming in pain, trying its best to kick me. I braved through until I was about 200 feet up. I made sure nothing was in my vicinity on the ground. Just as it opened its mouth to bite me, I released it. It quickly plummeted. After watching it fall about halfway towards the ground, I began my descent. I put both hooves forward. My mouth flapped in the wind. The cone formed around me, and I broke it just before hitting the ground. At the same time the Infected hit the ground. When I made contact with earth, a bright flash of the six colors of rainbows blinded me. Red smoke was all around me when my vision cleared. I waited for it to clear.
I stood in a small crater. Nothing was left of the Infected except an indent in the ground. A little overkill, I suppose. But whatever. I looked over to where the assault had started. The Wonderbolt had stood up and was walking over towards me slowly. I could tell by the way he walked that he was in pain. I got my bearings, making sure my legs worked right. Last time I had performed a Sonic Rainnuke on Applejack's barn, it took me a few minutes to be able to move correctly. I tested a leg, then the others. I seemed alright. I walked towards the Wonderbolt. I could now tell it was none other than Soarin, one of the only two Wonderbolts who actually talked to me and the Gala a few years back. His uniform was torn in various places, worst of all were his wings. One of them was bent at an unnatural angle. Both were bleeding.
"Well I've never seen anything like that before." He cringed and stopped walking. He looked at me and looked me over. "I know you! You're that mare that not only won the Best Young Fliers Competition, but saved me there as well. Now I guess you've saved me twice. Never did catch your name."
"Rainbow Dash. What happened to your wing?"
"Eh, I got attacked two days ago. Haven't been able to fly ever since. I escaped that attack. Didn't have any But then got attacked again, as you saw. I have no idea where to go."
I perked up at this opportunity. "You can come with me. I know the location of one of the hatches into the underground tunnels, the safe zone."
He looked me over, mulling my offer over in his head. "Okay. How long till we're there?"
I began walking towards where I was flying. Philomeena was flying above us, Tank and Owloysius carrying the basket above us. "Depends. You know how far off Canterlot is from here?"
"About five minutes or so. Why?"
"Because that's how far off we are from the hatch." I smiled at him, and continued walking.
It actually took us ten minutes, on account of Soarin's injuries. But I found the hatch. I opened it, and let Soarin in first. I helped lower him down, then lowered the pets in. I jumped down, pulling the lid closed behind me. The corridor below was lit by lights along the walls.
We made our way down some twists, me leading with Soarin behind me. Eventually we found a door guarded by two royal guards. Ironically the same ones that had accompanied the Princess on her last trip that I made laugh. But they let us in without any problems.
Soon I was telling the Princess what I knew. Another pony listened as well. He wrote down something on a notepad when I recounted the part about the factory. After the Princess dismissed me, I thought of going to meet Pinkie. According to the Princess, she was the only one down here besides myself. But I decided to investigate that pony who had been listening in.
I found him tacking a piece if note paper to a board. He looked at me as I walked in. "What do you want?"
"Answers." I responded. "Why were you taking notes on what I was saying?"
"I've been hired by the Princess to go out and track down the group that caused this, The End. I would already be gone if it wasn't for your friend. She's a little hyper isn't she? Anyways, I'm compiling everything we have so far. All I've got is a radio broadcast your friend overheard and your factory. Hopefully I'll be able to narrow my search."
"Ah. Ask me if you need help." He nodded, so I left.
I went and checked on Soarin. He was getting patched up. The doctor said he'd be able to fly in a few days if he stayed off of it. I told him to come see me so we could talk later. He gave me a smile. I returned it, then left him to rest.
Next was Pinkie. I grabbed Gummy, and went off to where she was at. When I found her, she was talking to a royal guard in the usual Pinkie manner. When I said something, she immediately ran up and hugged me. The guard looked relieved to have some silence. I grinned, and then me and Pinkie caught up.
*A DJ Pon3 Chapter*
A neon sign flickered on and off above a bar in Manehatten. Inside was where I sat. I sat at the bar in a stool, sipping a bottle of whiskey. I took a huge gulp of the stuff. I slammed the half-full bottle back on the counter. An Infected appeared directly beside me. I lifted my gun and shot it in the head. Straight through the eye. It fell to the floor, lifeless. I took another sip from the bottle.
I'd been in Manehatten when this all started. Haven't seen much of a point in leaving. Been here three days now. Been trying to hunt down some records before I do anything else at all. Only thing that kept me going, finding music. I'm sure as hell not gonna let music die because of this mess. So I'm looking for anything. A radio, records, cassettes, anything. I'd been a heavy drinker even before this started. It help clear my mind, get rid of my worries. I never let myself go too far. Here, that'd be suicide. Luckily, I did seem to be immune to the virus that caused Infections. I was actually in the building where one of the bombs had gone off when this had all started. Everyone in the building became Infected. Except me. So maybe I'm some kid of savior. I laugh every time I think of that.
I placed a cork back on the bottle and stowed it in my pack. I went behind the bar to see if there was anything else worth taking. I snagged a few bottles of liquor, placed 'em in my pack, and headed out of the bar. I wasn't worried about being spotted by any Infected. I had enough bullets to clean out the entire city. But what would be the fun in that? I pulled out a map I'd found in an old tourist stand. It showed all of Manehatten. Most of the buildings weren't labeled, but it showed the entire city. I pulled out a quill with my magic and put an X over the bar I had just come out of. A few other buildings nearby it were crossed off. But I had only searched those for supplies. Time to get onto my original mission. A good place to start would be the old broadcast station. I circled it on the map. But I looked over the map again. Another good place would be the nearby electronics store. A radio might be in there. Some records, recording equipment, who knew? I circled it. It was about a block from where I was. I rolled up the map and put it back in my pack along with the quill. Then I pulled out my gun, just in case. Sure, I couldn't be Infected. But I could still die. I moved along the deserted streets towards my destination, glancing behind me every minute or so. Nothing.
I stood in front of the electronics store. It seemed empty, at least from what I could see through the store windows. The window displays were smashed and scattered. But I kind of expected this. I pushed the front door open slowly. The little bell over the door rang. I waited for an Infected that had heard it to come. None did. I pushed the door the rest of the way open. The store was ransacked. Almost like somepony- or something- had been looking for something. The contents of the shelves were strewn across the floor nearby. I scanned the contents of the floor. No records, mics, anything of the sort. I ground my teeth slightly in frustration. But then a thought popped into my head. I should check the storeroom. I looked around for another door. I saw it, behind the counter. The cash register was oddly untouched. Then what were they looking for? I hopped on top of it and then down onto the other side. I pushed the door open and stepped into a back door.
The back room was in much better condition than the front of the store. It was mostly empty. A few boxes were dotted around the room. Some were opened, others not. But none had been touched by Infected. The opened ones had been opened with a letter opener. I looked in the opened ones first. Mainly they contained cameras, film, stuff like that. I hunted for a letter opener. When I had found it, I tore cleanly through the tape sealing the closed boxes. After going through almost every box, I finally found something. A small radio. It had two dials on the front, one for power and the other for frequency. I switched it on, then began to slowly turn the frequency knob. Static was what greeted me. I turned it until I could make out voices:
"The Omega Project has been released near the last known location of Subject X. It should have no trouble taking her out. Once she is gone, everything will be set. Nopony will be left to stop us."
"Excellent. Stay put until I give the signal. Then we will move onto the next phase of our plan."
"Yes sir! Out."
The channel gave way to complete silence. It was obviously still in use, just inactive at the moment. I was curious about what I'd just heard, but I started turning the dial again. I found another channel, this one broadcasting music. It was playing a song that came out about two weeks prior to the bombs going off. I nodded my head to the music for a minute, then it dawned on me. If this was broadcasting, there had to be a record playing from wherever they were broadcasting! I switched the radio off and put it in my pack. Then I dashed out of the back room.
Just as I stepped out of the back room, the building shook and I heard a deafening roar. I shook me head to get rid of the ringing in my ears. I looked around, trying to figure out where that had come from. I heard a loud crashing from behind me. Some dust flew from under the door. I jumped over the counter, heading for the exit. What the buck was that? I turned back to look. Glad I did. Through the wall burst a giant Infected, a type I'd never seen. This one was obviously not an accident. A large scar went across its chest. Its right front arm was made of some kind of machine. Only one of its eyes were visible. A sort of metal was attached to its body, running around his side. It was about twice the size of a normal pony. It saw me, and let out an unearthly roar. It lifted up the counter with mere force and tossed it aside. I quickly ran. It was obviously after me.
I dashed out into the natural light and looked for somewhere to run to. I decided on running down the street to look for somewhere else. The creature burst through the building and looked around wildly for me. When it saw me running and looking back at it, it ran towards me. I outran it long enough to duck into an alley. It couldn't fit, so I looked straight ahead and kept running. I stop near the end of the alley to catch my breath. I pulled out the map and checked off the electronics store with my quill. Then I circled the broadcast station a couple of times. I scanned the map for any other possible places where that signal could be coming from. A small radio station would need to be looked into. I circled it with the quill. But it was further off. So I planned my path to the broadcast tower, then rolled up my map and put it away. I pulled out my opened bottle of whiskey. I popped the cork and took a long swig. About a quarter of the bottle remained. I put the cork back on, and returned the bottle to my pack.
I peeked out of the alleyway, surveying the area for an Infected or that behemoth of one that had attacked me. I drew my gun anyways, just in case. The street may be clear now. Didn't mean it'd stay that way. I made my way out of the alley.
I trekked the three blocks toward the broadcast station without having to use a bullet. Wasn't this place filled with Infected just yesterday? The broadcast tower loomed over me. I looked up in awe at the tower. It had to be at least 50 feet in air before it ended. I tried the door, only to find it stuck. I kicked it a few times with my hind legs to get it open. When it did, I looked back at the street for any Infected. Still nothing, strangely enough.
I worked my way up the building's staircase until I was at the third floor. This was where the DJ booth was at. I'd know. I'd been here quite a few times when I was in town before. I opened the glass soundproof door with my free hoof. Nothing in the room moved. A single record spun on the turntable, which was hooked up to machine that was broadcasting the song. I stopped the machine, ceasing the spinning of the record. I took the record in my hooves, coveting it. I placed it carefully in my pack, making sure it was in its own compartment. I scanned the room looking for any others. None. But they didn't always keep all the records in this room. I walked out of the broadcasting booth. I looked up and down the hallway for another door. There were none. I made my way down a level. A few doors were in this hallway.
I picked one randomly and found a janitor's closet. Nothing useful here. I slammed the door. I checked the other rooms, finding nothing of use. I pulled out my radio again. I turned the dial like last time and picked up that station I'd heard before.
"Sir, Subject X seems to have evaded the Omega. We are searching for her now."
"Well then find her, dammit! We cannot let her escape. I don't care if she's alive or dead. Find her!"
"We're working on it sir." Another voice came on now, a mare's voice. "I believe I've found something. The music that has been broadcasting from the radio tower since we set off the bombs just went silent. She may be there."
The one who seemed to be in charge came back on. "It's the best we have. Unleash the Omega on the tower now."
"Understood."
The channel went silent again. I went over what had just been said in my head. Then it finally dawned on me:
I was Subject X.
