Fun Bugby HJSDGCEChaptersAmnesiaCannibalsMemoriesStartAmnesia“Hello? Is anypony there? Hello?” The sound of somepony talking woke him up. “Huh? Where am I? Uhh, why does my head hurt?” As he touched his forehead, he noticed that it’s bleeding. Dizziness covered his mind as he thinks on where he is. He gets up from the floor, weakly, and walks around the room, searching for the other pony. “Hello? Is anypony there? Please reply.” As he hears the pony’s voice, he follows it, slowly, until he found the voice was coming from under the drawer. He looks down as sees a small radio. A walkie talkie to be exact. The pony reaches for it and grabs its antenna. He then takes the radio and sits down on the floor, pressing the button and replying; “Hello? Is that you? Who are you? Where am I? What is this place?” He waits for a reply when suddenly… “You’re awake! That's great! I thought you were dead.” said the pony in the radio. “I wish we could talk more but I’m gonna need you to listen to me. Right now, you’re at the basement. And the building is mostly empty, which is good by the way.I need you to follow my instructions and try to survive as long as you can. First off, you’re gonna need a weapon. There’s a gun in the cabinet. I need you to take the gun and use it to protect yourself. If you’re wondering how I know this, it’s because that gun was mine until I left it.” The pony just nodded and listened to his instructions. He went to the cabinet and opened the second-top drawer. There, he found a gun. It was a glock to be exact. He checked it to see how much ammo was left. “There’s still some ammo. Not much, but good enough.” said the pony. Then, the radio buzzed and said; “Did you find the gun? If you did, you’ll probably notice that there’s some ammo left. Now I need you to go outside from the basement into the lobby. Do it as quiet as possible. We don’t want to attract attention.” “Then, just go up the stairs and keep on going up till you reach the roof. I meet you up there. Also, try to survive.” said the pony in the radio. The pony then pressed the button and replied; “Ok, got it. By the way, who are you and how did you know I'm here anyway?” “Let’s just say I’m a friend. I also saw you from the clouds.” "What?" "Nothing! I wasn't stalking you because I'm at the edge of insanity or anything! Hahaha! Why would you think that?" "I didn't." "Ohh..." Then the radio went silent. The pony walked through the room and saw a mirror. He saw a reflection of himself. He was an earth pony, had a dark blue body, his mane was brown and was messy and unkept . He was quite a normal pony. No different than any other. Colorful and unique. But he felt different. He was scared. As he climbed the stairs to the lobby, he felt a shiver up his spine. He opened the door and the door gave a loud and annoying creak. creeeeaaaak That sound would have scared anypony who has no idea where he was. He walked through the door and slowly examined the room. It was a medium-sized room, the main entrances blocked off with rubble, furniture all torn up and thrown aside, and a dead stallion, lying at the side of wall. He walked slowly to the body and examined it further. His cutie mark is beyond recognition and his face looks like it was ripped off by animal teeth. In his hoof was a small, dull pocket knife. From the looks of it, he was trying to protect himself but was surrounded. But whatever did this to the stallion, he should try to avoid. “Wow, this is brutal. I better keep on moving though. Those things might still be here. Whatever they are…” He walked forward and searched for the stairs. When he found it, the door was closed with a wooden plank as a latch. He took off the latch and opened the door. As he entered the stairs, he looked straight up till he saw the last floor. “Well, this is going to be a long climb…” And so he climbed. As he climbed, he counted the floors he passed and also listed the things he found while climbing. He only did that to avoid being bored. He found a poster of ‘Vinyl Scratch Equestrian Tour’ on Floor 5, a bag filled with fuel and probably butter on Floor 7, a bottle of pee on Floor 13, and a banana with a picture of Princess Celestia taped on it on Floor 22. When he reached Floor 23, he felt exhausted, like he just went through a triathlon. “Huh, huh, I really need to work out some more.” He looked up and saw that the stairs above him were destroyed. “Oh darn it! Now how am I suppose to get to the rooftop?!” raged the pony. As he tried to climb the rubble and avoid going through any floors, he nearly fell and thought to himself that the chances of him falling is quite high. He was also an earth pony, so flying wasn’t an option. Guessing that he didn’t have any other choice, he had to use the second set of stairs at the other side of the floor. And the very thought of it gave him goose bumps. “Well, better get going then…” said to himself as he opened the door. He slowly walked through the room and looked around. It was just a hallway filled with rooms. Some of the doors were broken and it was dark as well. He saw the exit sign at the other side of the hallway, knowing that the stairs are right behind that iron door. With his gun in his hoof, he passed the rooms until he stopped as he heard a sudden voice. It was faint, but e heard it as if it was growling the word 'Fun'. He walked slowly, following the voice and stopped at one room. He leaned to the wall and peeked into the room. “Oh my Celestia… What in the world is that?...” In the room, he saw a carcass or a body of a dead mare. But that didn’t surprise him. What surprised him was what was on her. It was a pink mare, her hair poofy and pink as well, but her entire body was stained with blood. She was biting and chewing the body, eating the remains of the dead mare. And due to his carelessness, he accidently shoved a vase, which broke upon impact onto the ground. “Oops…” She looked behind, and he ducked quickly and tried to hide himself from the mare’s view. The pink mare walked slowly, searching for the source of the sound. And from her voice, he heard her chanting; “Funfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfun…” He cocked his gun and readied his stance. He waited for the right moment to shoot until… He accidently showed himself. He is not very good at hiding. “Oh shit, she saw me!” The pink mare looked at him in the eye. He saw her blood red eyes, the eyes of a hungry animal. She then lunged towards him at full speed, growling and chanting “Fun!” at the same time. He tried to shoot her but she was to fast and agile. She jumped from wall to wall, avoiding bullets. When he was down to his last bullet, the pink mare already jumped on him. “AHHH! GET OFF OF ME!” screamed the pony. He repeatedly punched the pink mare as she tried to bite him with her sharp, blood-wrapped teeth. When he managed to stun her, he cocked his gun one last time and… “Take this, you pink bastard!” said himself to the pink mare. BAM! He shot the pink mare in the face at point blank. She went silent and fell on her knees, her eyes looking up and froze. She was dead, and that’s just how he liked it. “Celestia, that was the most horrifying thing that ever happened to me… Oww… My head…” He touched his head and noticed it was still bleeding. He forgot to patch it up. But even if he remembered, he thought to himself, where could he find any medical supplies anyway? He then kept on walking until he reached the stairs. “Just a few more floors.” he thought to himself. He climbed the stairs slowly from exhaustion, watching his surrounding, believing that more of those ‘things’ would come out of nowhere. He then reached the rooftop without any problems, other than the usual rodents that scared him. Opening the rooftop door gave him the feeling of excitement, relief and fear, all at the same time. “Finally, made it. And no monsters coming out of nowhere to kill me either.” He walked to the edge of the rooftop, seeing the wondrous view it had installed for him. Or that’s what he thought until he actually saw it. “Oh my Celestia…” What he saw probably scarred him for life. He was at Manehattan, but it didn’t look anything like it. The buildings were burning, some were collapsing , and some stood still, but damaged beyond repair. The streets were full of blood, bodies and other things he didn’t want to know. Vehicles trashed all over the place, some still had their engines on. The clouds were dark, gloomy and thundering. But it wasn’t going to rain. The sun was about to set, but the color wasn’t orange or yellow. It was reddish brown, like blood. It was complete chaos. “What happened? What’s going on?!” Then, his radio clicked and buzzed; “I see you’re still alive. Good. I expect you didn’t have much trouble. But now is not the time for chit-chatting. We don’t have much time. I need you to stay at where you are right now for 10 minutes. I’m coming to pick you up. But I need you alive for this. Just kill anything that passes through that door till I get there.” “How can I trust you? What if you’re just trying to trick me on waiting here till I die? And how did you know I was up here anyway?!” said the pony. “If I was lying to you, I wouldn’t have tricked you to climb up, would I?” “What do you mean?” wondered the pony. “I mean, look down from the edge.” The pony then carefully climbed the borders of the building and looked down from it. There was a large mass of pink ponies, some were earth ponies and some were unicorns. There were pink stallions and pink mares surrounding the building. They broke down the main entrance and entered the building. “Oh shit! I can barely handle one! But this many?! I’ll be torn apart!” “Just stay there and try to survive! I’m coming as fast as I can!” said the pony from the radio. “But I don’t have any more bullets! What am I suppose to-“ Then the radio went silent. “Why does this guy keep hanging up on me?!” shouted the pony. He panicked for a minute and then calmed himself down. He went around the rooftop, searching for anything he can use to protect himself from the pink monsters. He dug through some rubble and found himself a some useful objects he could use. He found a wooden plank, some nails and a broken brick. He then nailed some of the nails on the wooden plank using the brick. “Je je je jeng!” shouted the pony in happiness. He built himself a weapon. “Now I’m ready! Bring it on, you pink freaks of nature!” said himself with full of confidence. He waited… and waited… and waited some more… He heard noises but nopony went through that door. He kept on waiting and wondered; “Maybe they won’t reach the rooftop in time. It is 25 floors after all. It took me a pretty long time to climb.” He sat down in relief. As he let his guard down, that’s when it happened. “Woowooah!” screamed the pony in fear. He was in midair. Flying, soaring across the city. Generally afraid of heights, he screamed and panicked. And he did it quite loudly as well. “PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!” shouted the pony while wiggling his body as an attempt to escape. “Woah there, dude! It’s just me!” said the pegasus. “You! You’re the pony from the radio! Oh my Celestia! I’m being kidnapped by you! I knew I should have listened to my parents! Never talk to strangers! But instead, I had to listen to YOU! And now you’re gonna drop me from the clouds! It’s the perfect murder! MOMMY!” “Dude, will you shut up for a second?! It’s kinda hard to carry wiggling ponies, you know. I, accidently, MIGHT drop you.” said the pegasus, intimidating him. The pony kept quiet and just nodded. Then, off they flew through the city. After a few minutes of flying, the pegasus landed them on the rooftop of a tall skyscraper. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” said the pegasus. The pony just grumbled in disapproval. He then examined the pegasus. The pegasus had a dark blue body, his mane color was grey with a blue stripe, the style was straight forward, and wasn’t that messy. He had razor-sharp blades mounted at the front of his wings. His eyes were gold in color. His cutie mark looks like a musical note, so the pony assumed that he was a musician. He walked around the rooftop, looking at the view and understanding his surroundings. He was on top of the Celestial State Building, with its fences covering the edges of the rooftop. There were binoculars mounted at every corner, but had no use since they require a gold bit. Like any other building, there was rubble in some parts. The elevator was also out of order, as it was seen with warning tapes around it. He then thought that the only way to get down is with the help of the pegasus. “You know, you haven’t introduced yourself yet. Or was it I suppose to introduce first?” the pegasus thought. “My name is Indigo. A fast flyer of Manehattan. What’s your name?” asked the pegasus. He kept quiet, not saying a word. His eyes rolling, thinking of his own name. “You don’t have a name? Too bad… I’ll just call you Saddy. Cause it’s sad you don’t have a name.” said Indigo. “Wait, why call me Saddy? I don’t get-“ Indigo then hushed at Saddy, his eyes completely focused on Saddy. “That’s some wound you got there. Wait here, I got just the thing for ya” said Indigo. Indigo flew to a different building, just two blocks from here. He took something from the building and came back. It was a medical case. It had scissors, bandages, anesthetic and some long pieces of cloth. He then took out the cloth and wrapped it around Saddy’s forehead. He tied the cloth in place and used the scissors to cut the remaining, unused piece of cloth. “There! All better! The wound should heal in a day or two.” said Indigo. “Wow, thanks, I guess.” said Saddy. Saddy then looked at the sun as it was about to set. “Is this where you live? On a rooftop of Equestria’s tallest building?” asked Saddy. “Yeah, this is where I live. Not really a dream home, huh?” said Indigo proudly. He then laughed. Saddy laughed with him. In the evening, hey sat in front of barrel of fire as the wind from the cold night blows through their home. “So you can’t remember anything from your past?” asked Indigo. “Yeah, I can’t. I don’t know why though. I can’t even remember my name. But I can seem to remember Equestria’s history and geography. But I don’t remember what happened here.” said Saddy. “You probably had amnesia. In that case, let me tell you a story…” said Indigo. “Once upon a time, there existed 2 princesses that ruled over Equestria. One lifted the Sun and the other lifted the Moon. Under them, were 6 different ponies. Each of them were special, and each of them held one of the six ancient relics, known as the Elements of Harmony.” “I know that! I just wanted to know what happened here!” said Saddy. “I was just about to get to that part.” said Indigo. “One day, scientists made a very special, untested drug to cure ponies from an unnamed disease. But due to budget cuts, they decided to use the legendary Mirror Pool to make more of it. But they didn’t know that the pool was cursed.” “A few days earlier, a purple unicorn used a powerful spell to send the fake pink ponies back to the pool. But she also sealed the pink pony’s DNA in it. And when they tried to clone the untested medicine, it was mixed with the DNA. And that made the Fun Bug virus. Except that they didn’t know it was a virus yet. And hilariously, they first figured that out when 20,000 ponies already took it.” laughed Indigo. “The virus, which had the pink pony’s DNA, started to evolve inside the body of the infected. They first attacked the cerebrum of the brain, then motor controls, then slowly taking their personality and turning their fur into pink. Their hair turns poofy and then become these monsters that I like to call Pinkies.” Indigo told to Saddy. “Wow… that’s harsh. What happened to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony?” asked Saddy. “I actually have no idea. But I don’t expect on finding out. Also, we better wake up early tomorrow. We’re going on a road trip.” “To where?” asked Saddy in surprise. “To Appleloosa. Where the Resistance is.” said Indigo. Before Saddy could ask anymore, Indigo went straight to sleep in his bed roll. Author's Note Alright! This is the first time I had ever made a fanfic so I respect any professional critism. Also, the characters here are based on the Derpibooru's own "A Sad Pony" and "Indigo"! I'll update the story as fast as I could but no promises though. Small edits have been made. But you will probably not notice it anyway. CannibalsIt was one hour before sunrise. Indigo and Saddy were just finishing packing up their supplies for the long journey to Appleloose. Saddy took off his bandages and replaced it with new ones. Indigo, on the other hoof, sharpened his wing blades while waiting for Saddy to finish up. Once they were finished, off the both set on their long journey through dangerous lands to reach the Resistance. Indigo carried Saddy for half an hour till they reach far enough from the city. They landed on a piece of land just a few miles from the edge of Manehattan. Once they took a little rest, they started on walking to Appleloosa. Indigo and Saddy had a little makeover just before they left. Saddy wore an ammo vest, with a black T-shirt under it. He carried a pink schoolbag with him to put all the necessary supplies. Inside, there were some medical supplies, some ammo and loose bullets, food and other materials in case they needed to use it. He still had a bandage wrapped around his forehead though. Indigo instead, wore a leather jacket with an undershirt. He carries a sling bag, filled with bottled water, some matches, a grind stone for his wing blades, and a picture with a frame, though the picture isn’t clearly seen. “You know, this is probably going to be a long walk for us, huh?” said Saddy. “Yeah, it is. But just imagine what we will be doing when we get there! We get to fight for the Resistance! A group of survivors waging war against the Pinkies! We get to shoot some pink beasts! And this time, we ain’t gonna be alone! We might actually SURVIVE!” shouted Indigo, proudly. “Yeah, but still…” Saddy paused. “What if they don’t take us? What if they decline our request to join?” “They’ll take us.” said Indigo. “They have too. The Resistance is the last hope for Equestria. They’re the only ones fighting to reclaim our home. They need all the help they can get.” “But what if we never get there? Never get to Appleloosa? That place is pretty far away… And were just walking there! We’ll probably reach there by two weeks! And the chances of us to survive out here for two weeks is really slim. With the Pinkies out there, the chances are even slimmer! We even only have food and water to last for 5 days!” panicked Saddy. “We’ll find food and water on the way. Besides, there are worst things than the Pinkies…” Indigo explained. “What could be worst than getting killed by Pinkies or dying of thirst and hunger?” asked Saddy. “Well, there are the cannibals…” Saddy looked at Indigo, his face filled with fear and sweat. Indigo looked at Saddy, seeing that his friend is extremely terrified. “But, we MIGHT not meet any cannibals at all!” said Indigo to Saddy, trying to calm his friend. They continued walking along, through the hazardous land, avoiding anything that moves, and shooting anything that is found hostile. At night, they would stop at somewhere that has shelter. Trees, broken buildings, even dig sites. As long as there is a roof above their heads, and no Pinkies or cannibals in sight, that’s where they would rest for the night. It has been 3 days since they left Manehattan. They got enough food and water to last them for 4 more days ever since they found that hidden storage under the broken house. They’re also lucky since they didn’t stumble upon any Pinkies or cannibals on their journey. But their luck started to change when… “Hey, look at that! There’s a garage over there! Let’s check it out!” suggested Indigo. “Woah! Wait! We can’t just go there like a bunch of filly scouts! What if there are…” Saddy paused, gulped and continued “Cannibals?!” said Saddy with a tiny eeep afterwards. “There isn’t going to be any cannibals.” said Indigo, reassuring his friend. “Besides, if there is going to be any, we’ll just shoot them.” “Yeah, like that will work.” Indigo had to drag Saddy to the garage since Saddy didn’t want to even be near there. When they reached the garage, Saddy was so terrified that he could have peed in his pants. If he had any pants, though. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” said Indigo, giving out a smile. Suddenly, a rattling sound came from inside the garage, scaring both Saddy and Indigo. Indigo leaped in fear into Saddy’s hooves, weeping in fear. “Speak for yourself.” Saddy teased. They slowly walked into the garage through the back door. Saddy cocked his gun, ready for firing and Indigo opened his wings, ready for slicing. They looked around, examining the room, trying to spot any hostiles. They then walked out of the garage through the front door, opening it and quiet as possible. They looked outside, moving their heads left to right. “Maybe they left?” suggested Saddy. “Nah, they wouldn’t leave just like that. They have to be around here somewhere.” Then, the rattling sound came again. This time, they knew exactly where it was. It was at the other side of the wall in front of them. They searched for an entrance, making a plan and when they were ready… “Shaka maka buey!” screamed Indigo out loud as he broke down the door, leaped through the air, ready for battle. Though, his scream made the strategy fail as a mysterious pony punched him right in the face, throwing Indigo across the room, breaking the wall he crashed into. Indigo fell out cold and Saddy rushed to his best friend’s side. The mysterious pony stood there, his face hidden with a cowl, his body blanketed with a cape, and his right hoof covered with leather straps. “Dude! You broke my friend’s face! You probably gave him brain damage as well!” said Saddy. “Well, he shouldn’t have tried to kill me while screaming a ridiculous war cry.” said the mysterious pony. “Besides, what are you wannabes doing out here in the middle of nowhere?” “We were on our way to Appleloosa. Why did you ask?” wondered Saddy. “Huh, I guess it’s your lucky day. I’m going to Appleloosa myself.” said the mysterious pony. “Wait, really?!” asked Saddy in surprise. “That means you can come with us! Awesome!” proclaimed Saddy. “Sorry, can’t do that.” said the mysterious pony. He then points at something with his left hoof. Saddy followed him to check on what he was pointing at. As Saddy looked closely, he saw something very familiar. “A jeep! I think it's a jeep. It might just be a modified car though.” Saddy went back into his mind while examining it. The mysterious pony nodded in agreement. It was a simple jeep. Like the ones they use in survival shows or going through thick forests. But this one was fortified. The body was covered with pieces of scrap metal, nailed and welded in place. The hood of the jeep was open, and for a good reason too. There was no engine in it, but there were advance technology and contraptions inside. At the back of the jeep, there was a mounted turret. It had three barrels, an ammo case, a small motor and other requirements of a shooting weapon. “Nice, isn’t it?” said the mysterious pony. “Yeah, I built it myself. The jeep was just the frame but everything else was built from scratch. Right now, it won’t move cause I don’t have the last part that I need to make it work.” “Well, what do you need then?” asked Saddy. “I need a very rare, energy core that can only be found at the Crystal Empire. But since the Fun Bug started, I suspect that it’s not there anymore. It was actually used to power sentry bots and cybernetic ponies built by the Crystal Laboratories.” “Oh! I know what it is! It’s a Crystallion Dynamo Core! Or CDC for short.” said Saddy out loud. The mysterious pony, now surprised, just nodded. “Good, then you know what I’m looking for. If you could find one for me, I’ll give you and your brain-damaged friend a free ride to Appleloosa.” said the mysterious pony. They both then shake hooves and Saddy went to Indigo, who is still unconscious, to tell him of his new plan. “WHAT?!” said Indigo furiously. “Yep, that’s what happened.” “DUDE! YOU CAN’T JUST MAKE DEALS WITH PONIES YOU BARELY KNOW! HOW CAN YOU EVEN TRUST HIM?!” “Well, I made a deal with you. And I didn’t trust you.” said Saddy. “That’s different! Besides, where are we even going to find this ‘core’ anyway? He said it himself! It’s pretty rare!” said Indigo. “We’ll find one. Besides, they’re usually found in sentry bots or cybernetic ponies. Those things can’t be that hard to find!” “They probably are! I mean, we live in a post-apocalyptic world! Where are we even going to find one of those?!” asked Indigo in distress. Saddy then pointed his hoof towards a tree. Indigo focused his eyes on it and saw something .They both went closer and examined the object. “Found one!” said Saddy happily. It was a broken sentry bot, stranded on the tree, hanging by its vines. Its hull torn apart and the wires inside, seen. The propeller was bented and the lens were still usable, but they didn’t need it. All the need was the CDC, which was linked on top of the sentry bot. Saddy gave Indigo his schoolbag and slowly climbed the tree with a small pocket knife in his teeth. He reached the top with ease and found himself a good spot to balance himself on the tree. “You know, I could have just flied up there!” shouted Indigo, making sure that Saddy heard him. Saddy just ignored him and crawled carefully, making sure he didn’t step on the wrong branch, and reached the sentry bot. He took his pocket knife and, with his left hoof, tried to slip it into an opening under the propeller. With his right hoof, he pulled the propeller upwards and, slowly opening the top cover of the sentry bot. “There it is…” said Saddy, proudly. It was the CDC, a cylinder-shaped power core, its casing made from reinforced fiberglass and titanium frame, inside having multiple metal wires made of copper and zinc, all going straight to the middle, a small but rather destructive energy crystal, packed into shaped by extremely large amounts of pressure that could break every centimeter of a femur from an earth pony’s legs. “What a beauty…” said Saddy. “What?! Did you say something?!” shouted Indigo. Saddy, again ignored Indigo, took the CDC from the sentry bot. He then drops his pocket knife, that nearly fell on Indigo, and slowly climbed down from the tree, his right hoof holding the CDC. He jumped from 4 feet and landed safely on the ground, with the CDC safe. “Tada!” said Saddy, as he showed the CDC to Indigo. “That’s what we’ve been looking for? A cylinder-thing? Well, that was a waste of time.” said Indigo, his face in disappointment. “Dude! This cylinder-thing has enough energy to power a 2-story building for 25 days! It’s really powerful!” said Saddy. “Not to mention unstable. This stuff was actually banned from 15 cities. And so was the sentry bots. They had to remodel the whole thing. What a waste of money…” “Well, good. I don’t want some flying cake with eyes following me around and is about to explode.” said Indigo. “Now lets get out of here before we run into more trouble.” “What trouble?” asked Saddy. “Well, like I said before, there are cannibals. And that guy you made friends with is probably a cannibal himself.” said Indigo. “Yeah, I don’t think he is. Besides, if he was, he would have eaten you when you were in a comma.” teased Saddy. “What’s this? A sudden bravery against cannibals? Wow! I’m quite surprised!” said Indigo, sarcastically. “Oh, shut up.” said Saddy with a frownish smug. The duo had a short laugh, then carried on to the garage, with the CDC in Saddy’s schoolbag. Then silence broke in. They looked from afar and saw a young mare, in crutches, lying on the hot, burning land. “Hey, we should help her.” said Saddy. “Dude! What is with you and helping strangers in the middle of nowhere during a post-apocalypse event?!” Saddy ignored, again, and went to help the mare. He ran straight to the mare, ignoring everything around him. He then grabbed the mare and lifted her, and went on walking while only using two legs. The mare was asleep, or out cold. But he wouldn’t care. He kept on walking, while carrying her and the CDC. HE walked passed Indigo, his face expressionless. “You know, you look just like one of those heroes in the movies.” Indigo complimented. Saddy, with the mare and CDC, and Indigo, then walked back. As they walked back, the lens of the sentry bot started to move. It zoomed in towards Saddy and Indigo, focusing on them. Meanwhile, in Canterlot’s Castle Dungeons… “Huh, it seems that even thieves have hearts. Except that they have no brains. Stupid enough to not know that was a trap. Ha! I guess my kind is doomed after all. Oh well! At least it’s not my fault! HAHAHAHAHA!...” Back at the garage… “Finally! We made it back here! And not a scratch at all! Dude, we’re the luckiest ponies ever.” claimed Indigo. “Yeah yeah, whatever. Hey Indigo, could you find me anything that’s soft around here? I need to put here someplace.” asked Saddy. Indigo went into the garage and searched through the boxes and containers. He then found a few soft objects that can be used as a bed; a blanket, a half-torn pillow and a whoopee cushion. He went back to Saddy with the objects and dropped them on the ground. “Will these do?” asked Indigo. Saddy nodded and they both carried it to a better and more spacious area, where Saddy then placed the soft object carefully on the ground, except for the whoopee cushion which he just throws away, despite arguing with Indigo. Saddy placed the mare on the soft object and laid rest on the concrete floor. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” said Saddy, giving a small smile. “Well, she still might be a cannibal. I say, we shoot her head in her sleep.” suggested Indigo. “What?! No! NOO! JUST NO! DEAR CELESTIA, NO!” shouted Saddy. “We are not murderers. We are sane stallions. And killing one makes us lose our sanity.” “Where did you get that theory? Nopony loses their sanity by killing ponies.” said Indigo in disapproval. Saddy looked at the sleeping mare, ignoring Indigo again. He carefully examined her. She had a long, brown mane with a yellow body color. Her cutie mark looked like a dissected frog, so Saddy could have guessed she’s good with anatomy. Her right hind leg was broken, which would be the reason the crutches were there. On her right eye was a scar, more like a burn mark, covered her eye, having no hair there at all. She slept soundly for a while until she woke up, her face scared. “Woo!” screamed Indigo. “She’s awake! Hurray! That’s good right?” “Yeah, it’s good I guess.” said Saddy. “Could you go find that mysterious pony? We already have the CDC for his jeep.” Indigo gave a salute and left, searching for the mysterious pony that punched him in the face across the room till the wall broke. Saddy stayed with the scared mare and tried to calm her down. “Its OK… I’m a friend… I can help you…” whispered Saddy. But before he could say anymore, the mare got up, despite her injuries, and grabbed a nearby kitchen knife from the shelf. She swings the knife at Saddy but misses, as Saddy was fast enough to see that. She swings again but this time, Saddy caught her hoof and held it tight. “Im not going to hurt… You can trust me…” She desperately tried to escape, mocking Saddy in a language he had never heard of before, but failed to free herself. She gave up, fell on her hind legs with Saddy holding her hoof. He let go of her hoof, but took the knife from her. “See, that wasn’t so bad…” said Saddy. Just after that, a window broke and a dart was hit on Saddy’s neck. “What the heck?!” said Saddy, as he pulls out the dart. “What’s going on?...” Saddy walked slowly to the mare, his vision blurring and fell down to the ground. He desperately tries to stand up, but to no avail. He sees his friend entering the room, screaming something, but was then also shot by a dart. Saddy fainted on the cold, hard ground, with the yellow mare as the last thing he saw. Saddy woke up, not knowing where he is, and not knowing the sounds he’s hearing. He looked around and saw ponies with masks dancing around him. He saw his pink schoolbag at the side with Indigo’s sling bag. At the back, he saw an old gray pegasus, his mane green in color, sitting on a throne which seems to be made of white twigs, drinking some soup. Or that’s what he thought at first. “Oh no… Cannibals…” said Saddy. Saddy tried to move but he couldn’t. He was tied to a wooden pole, with his friend Indigo, still fainted from the dart poison. Under the pole was a bonfire, as he would have known that they would cook them first. Around the bonfire were canisters, probably filled with oil, as it seems that the bonfire was strong enough to reach them. Indigo then woke up, still not knowing what’s going on. “Huh… Where am I?” said Indigo, still half asleep. “What’s that smell? Hmm… It smells so good…” “It’s us, dude. We’re being cooked alive.” said Saddy. “Huh? What?” said Indigo in confusion. “Wait, what?! We’re being cooked alive?!” Indigo went on screaming like a little filly, begging for mercy and praying for Princess Celestia to save him. The cannibals all laughed at him, teasing the princess, and saying that he will be cooked to perfection. Both Saddy and Indigo tried to escape, but the ropes were too tight, and Indigo’s wing blades seem to have been taken off and now being used as a large kitchen knife. “Why are you doing this?” asked Saddy. The cannibals then laughed but was shunned to silence by the old gray pegasus, who lifted his hoof as everypony obeyed. He then slowly walked to Saddy and Indigo, with the help of another pony holding him up. He then sat down on the cold sand and spoke; “We're cannibals.” "You don't say?" All the cannibals cheered at him, their spears held up high. “But you don’t have to do this. We’re all ponies. And ponies eat vegetables, such as carrots, long beans, tomatoes and broccoli.” said Saddy. “Especially broccoli.” replied Indigo. The cannibals went around, their faces filled with disgust, booing them and throw rocks. “Look around you, the world we all use to know is gone. Everything is gone. Some must die for others. As for you, you will die for our kind to live longer. It is a sacrifice we must take.” said the old pegasus. “But no worries, we won’t start with you. We will start with her” He pointed his hoof to the young mare that Saddy saved. The cannibals then dragged the mare into a small shack, her face filled with fear and her body trying to escape. The door then closed, the mare and the cannibals inside. Afterwards, a short scream could be heard, and then it was silence. “Oh Celestia…” said Indigo, now his face filled with fear. The cannibals continued dancing around the bonfire, the old pegasus got up and walked, with the aid of the pony, to the throne which was actually made of bones, and Saddy and Indigo kept on trying to escape, even though the chance of them to escape is from one to nil. “You know, it’s nice knowing ya.” said Indigo, as tears go pouring down his face. “It’s nice knowing you too, bud.” said Saddy, trying to smile even though he cried. One of the cannibals then picked up a canister filled with oil, ran towards Saddy and Indigo, who closed their eyes, not wanting to see it, and threw it into the bonfire. But then, suddenly… BAM! BAM! Two gunshots were heard and the bonfire didn’t even grow. Saddy opened his eyes and couldn’t believe what he saw. The canister was shot before it reached the bonfire, and the cannibal was also shot as well, straight through the eye. The others gasped in fear, wondering who would have done this. They looked around, searching for the shooter. Saddy also looked around, examining everything. Then suddenly, somepony had landed on the throne’s backside. It was the mysterious pony! “Missed me, colts?” said the pony, still wearing a cowl to hide his face. He jumped off the throne and landed near the bonfire with only using his two hind legs. He then lifted his right hoof, which was still covered with leather straps, ready for battle. “Bring it on, you meat-eating piece of meat.” taunted the pony. All the cannibals then lunged at him with their spears and swords made from what was left of their dinner, attacking the pony. “You might want to close your eyes, little colt” said the pony. Saddy followed what he said and closed his eyes. He tried to ignore the screams and shouts from outside, but he couldn’t cover his ears. The battle went on for a few minutes until it all went silent. “Is it over yet? Are we burnt alive yet? Cause I still don’t smell delicious.” said Indigo. Saddy and Indigo then opened their eyes and was shocked to see what was left around them. There were bodies everywhere, some ripped apart, some even sliced and some looked like they were crushed. Saddy then noticed the mysterious pony, holding the cannibal’s spear, now standing in front of the old, grey pegasus. “Your time has ended, old one. Your teachings will die and the world will be brought to peace. There will be no more cannibalism, not on my watch.” said the mysterious pony. “You might think so, but I am not the only one who follows this path. There are other, stronger than me, younger than me. My death will only slow down the inevitable. Till we meet again, Iron Hoof.” The mysterious pony then stabbed the old pegasus through, piercing his heart, and letting the blood flow out. The leader of the cannibals was dead. He then came to Saddy and Indigo, cutting down the rope, letting them go. Saddy and Indigo fell down into the bonfire, which was now left ashes, and cleaned themselves up with some cloth they found lying around. They went to the mysterious pony, who was searching Saddy’s schoolbag for the CDC, and thanked him. “Thanks for the help.” thanked Indigo. “Yeah, we couldn’t have done it without you!” thanked Indigo. “No problem. Besides, you got me what I wanted, now I’ll return the favor.” said the mysterious pony. “Let’s head back to the garage. I’ll give you both a ride to Appleloosa.” “Sounds good to me!” said Indigo. “By the way, what’s your name?” asked Saddy to the mysterious pony. “My name? Well, it’s Haven. Judge Haven to be exact. But my friends call me Haven.” “Well then, nice to make an acquaintance with you, Haven.” said Saddy. Saddy, Indigo and their new friend, Haven, walked to the garage, getting ready for their long trip to Appleloosa. Author's Note Well, this took longer than expected. I had a few problems ~~since I was lazy~~ but it all ended quite well. Judge Haven is actually based on me, since I was also part of the thread. And the "Iron Hoof" thing? Well, you'll have to keep reading to find out! (P.S. I might post the next one a bit late but I'll keep on doing it!) Small edits again. MemoriesOn the deserts of Equestria… Saddy, Indigo and Haven, or the Trio for short, was on their way to Appleloosa. After driving for several hours in the hot, burning desert, Indigo decided to take a little nap, bored of watching dead trees and animal carcasses. The driver, Haven, was bored as well but kept his eyes on the road, driving carefully and avoiding traps and rocks. Saddy, who was looking forward on arriving to Appleloosa, wasn’t bored at all. Instead, he was humming a small tune, quite loudly, which was annoying to Indigo but was a boredom-killer for Haven. Saddy examined Haven, since he has all day to do so. Haven was a pegasus. He had a muscular build, his mane was red in colour and his body was silverish-grey. His right hoof was covered with leather straps, and only one of his wings was shown. As they were driving, Saddy’s curiosity started to reach its peak. He wondered, all day, on why Haven’s right hoof was covered with leather straps. But what made him curious the most was what that grey pegasus said; “You might think so, but I am not the only one who follows this path. There are other, stronger than me, younger than me. My death will only slow down the inevitable. Till we meet again, Iron Hoof.” The last two sentences made him wonder. “Did that old pegasus called him ‘Iron Hoof’?” Saddy thought. He was so curious that he didn’t even noticed Haven calling him. But after a few minutes, Haven managed to pull him out of his trance. “Hey, you OK? You’ve been like this for a few hours already.” asked Haven. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just been wondering.” replied Saddy. “Wondering about what?” Haven asked. “About that grey pegasus you killed.” Saddy paused. “He said something about ‘Iron Hoof’. What does it mean? Who are you?” “Hmmm… ‘Iron Hoof’. That’s a name for sore ears. No one has called me that for a while now. Well, ‘Iron Hoof’ was a title, given to me by the Princess of The Night herself. You see, I used to be a royal guard. A night guard to be exact. I was there when everything happened. Well, I wasn’t there to see everything. I was one of the hoof-full of ponies that managed to escape Canterlot. I was lucky to be alive.” “Wow, that means you must’ve seen a lot of blood, huh?” said Saddy. “Yeah, and it’s kinda shameful too. For a night guard, we’re suppose to protect the lives of others. Not the lives of ourselves. I had a hard time getting some sleep after that, knowing of all the ponies I let down.” “But at least you’re alive to tell the tale, right?” Saddy proclaimed. “Yeah, but the point of being a night guard is to NOT tell the tale. We’re suppose to be secretive.” “Well, that didn’t work out, huh?” Saddy said, as he laughed afterwards. “Oh yeah, I always wondered. Why do you cover your right hoof with leather straps?” “Well, this is why…” Haven stopped driving, and slowly took off the leather straps covering his right hoof. As he took it off, small pieces of his hoof can be seen. If, that was his hoof. “It’s a cybernetic hoof! Awesome!” Saddy said, his face full of amazement. “Yep, it’s a cybernetic hoof. Made from a special material known as crystametal, a rare mineral-based steel said to be harder than titanium. Usually weapons and armour are made from this element. ” “Cool… But how did you get it?” asked Saddy. “Now that’s a long story. Keep your ears open, cause this story might last us till Appleloosa.” said Haven, covering his hoof with leather straps again and continued driving. “Aww colts. I hate stories!” Indigo protested. In the depths of Canterlot’s Castle Dungeon… The sounds of screaming and pain can be heard from every corner. Prisoners, some alive and some barely, all in their cells, shaking and weeping, scared of what was to happen next. One of them was a griffin, eating dead remains of ponies, insanity at its peak. A few metres ahead, there were multiple interrogation rooms, used during the Great Equestrian War, all more than 1,000 years old. Each we’re made specifically to ‘interrogate’ the enemies captured. In reality, they we’re torture rooms. Each room had a viewing panel, for the audience to watch, and inside the room was a strap table, a long desk, on top had a number of numerous tools and contraptions. Some rooms had moss stuck on the walls and some had blood stains instead. Haven was there, wearing his night guard armour and being dragged by two muscular Pinkies, each wearing full-body armor plating. His face, bleeding, and his body was almost lifeless. But he knew he was alive, for now, or else how would he known to be in the dungeons? But that didn’t matter to him. What mattered most was what was waiting for him in one of those interrogation rooms. As they dragged him into one of the rooms, he looked in the surroundings, seeing that there was fresh blood everywhere and a chipped tooth just at the corner. The Pinkies left him on a table, while other Pinkies, wearing face masks and medical white coats, started to strap him onto the table tightly as another one was at the long desk, sharpening a scalpel. Suddenly, the door opened and a Pinkie with a face mask came in. But it wasn’t an ordinary Pinkie. This one was different in some ways. It had a nice, well-kept mane, not poofy at all. The cutie mark, like all Pinkies, was disfigured beyond recognition, but that wasn’t the weird part. The weird part of this Pinkie is that it had two large scythes, sheathed at its back. The left scythe had the word ‘FUN’ printed on it, while the right one had the word ‘BUG’ instead. Afterwards, that pony came close to Haven and gave him a shot of adrenaline. “Helllllllooooo theeeeerrreeee.” said the Pinkie. Haven didn't reply. He breathed heavily, looking at the Pinkie, wondering why he was different. “Oh me! I forgot to introduce myself! HA! Silly me!” The Pinkie took of its mask and combed its mane. “My name is Ra Pon. Or, that was who I used to be. Oh well! I am a full-grown stallion such as yourself. But, what’s different from you and me is that I’m happy and you’re sad. Too bad. HAHAHAHAHA!”said the mystery pony. A small cough was heard from him afterwards. “Where was I? Oh yes! I almost forgot! Where you are at! Well, you’re at the dungeons! I expected you to know that. And what makes me different? Hmm… Let me think… Oh I know! I’m actually normal! That’s right!” He didn't reply. Haven lied there on the table, still strapped on it. “Oooo! A grumpy one! I always liked a challenge!” said Ra Pon, his hoof open, asking for something. “Get. Me. The. Book.” said Ra Pon. A Pinkie then goes out through the door and grabs a book. It was actually just a bunch of paper stapled together. Ra Pon takes the book and pushed the other Pinkies aside. “Behold! Fan fiction!” said Ra Pon, shoving his ‘book’ in Haven’s face. Again, Haven didn't reply. He just glared. Ra Pon started flipping to the first page. He suddenly shrieks loudly which somehow made all the other Pinkies scream in pain. “The main character is a triple-alicorn zebra with a rainbow mane named Timmy McShekelStealer. She likes money! She likes it so much that he hates ponies that spend it! She’s also married to Sephiroth Mary-Sue Van Helsing! He can change gender and everybody loves and envies him! He also has magical powers and has sex with everything!” "That... Was... Idiotic..." Haven said, spitting out some blood onto Ra Pon's leg. Ra Pon, still smiling but is obviously angry, opened his hoof, asking for something. But Haven knew, this time, it wasn’t a shitty fanfic. “SCALPEL! I NEED A SCALPEL! But a hammer will also work.” Ra Pon called out. A Pinkie then came and gave him both a scalpel and a hammer. Ra Pon then went to Haven, the tools in his hooves and his face giving a sadistic look. Ra Pon hammered Haven’s left wing, hitting it multiple times, shattering the bones like glass. He then took the scalpel, and slowly ‘remodeled’ Haven’s wing. Haven wanted to scream in pain, but he refused and kept his mouth shut. Tears slowly came out of his eyes, the excruciating pain was too much to bear. Haven’s mind was failing as he slowly closed his eyes… “So, you died?” asked Saddy. “If I was dead, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” “Oh yeah… My bad. Carry on.” CLANK! Haven slowly woke up from his hell as the sound of the metal door closed and locked up tight. He was dizzy and his head hurt, but that didn’t stop him from standing up again. He stood up, his legs weak, trying to walk to the door. Then, he felt a sudden pain on his back. “Augh! What is that?!” screamed Haven in pain. He looked at his back and saw the most horrifying thing he had ever laid eyes on. It was his left wing, but it had been ‘reshaped’ and ‘remodeled’ until it couldn’t be used for flying anymore. It was like the Pinkies left his wing upside-down and inside-out. The wing kept bleeding, but it was already bandaged. He also noticed a scar that was left on where his cutie mark was. It looked a lot like the Pinkies’ cutie mark, which was 3 balloons, but this one was a burn mark. He was still wearing his armour. Guess they were too lazy to take it off. Haven looked around, searching for a way to escape. He saw a small window with metal bars in it, but he couldn’t fly anymore. He examined the metal door, but it was locked up so tight, that it would take a thief an entire hour just to open it. So, he knew he couldn’t escape. Unless there was a chance of it. Haven sat at the corner of his prison, feeling lost and hopeless. His mind, delusional and insane, but kept on trying to stay as who he is. Everyday, he ate food from what he believed is trash, with only 2 meals per day. Everyday, he sat at that same corner, letting his mind linger in the darkness of who he is. Or who he was. After 2 weeks of staying in that prison, everything was the same as usual. Depressing, and that’s usual to him. But on that very day, a chance of escaping was given to him. BOOM! A powerful explosion was heard from outside, but Haven couldn’t see it. Then, more of the same explosions was heard as well. Suddenly, a Pinkie guard crashed at his door, but didn’t even give the door a scratch. But the Pinkie’s hoof was sticking out, so Haven grabbed the hoof and lifted the Pinkie from the far side of the door. He lifted it high enough, and grabbed a key from its pocket. He was about to open the door, until the wall right next to him broke apart, which made a slightly larger exit. “Huh, talk about having too much miracles.” Haven went through the broken wall and escaped his own prison. But he still had to escape the dungeon. Haven knew the hallways of the dungeon like the back of his hoof. He walked quietly but quickly, and went straight to the exit door. As he was about to reach there, Ra Pon broke out from the ceiling, blocking his escape. “Where are you going, grumpy one? Are you leaving?” asked Ra Pon. Haven looked at Ra Pon, his face filled with anger and rage. "You..." "That's right! ME! Wait, who am I? Hmm... Oh yes! I'm Ra Pon! I'm the one who ruined your wing! FOREVER!" He then pointed at Haven burn mark, stating that; “You can’t leave. That mark means you we’re captured by us! Anypony not infected will know that! You’ll be shunned by your own kind! And best of all? You’ll be hunted down! By us! BY ME! BY THE ENTIRE PINKIE EMPIRE!” “Really huh? In that case, you don’t know so much about me after all.” stated Haven, bravely. Inside, he knew that was a terrible idea. As Ra Pon was about to unsheathe his scythes, a blast was heard from outside. It shook the entire dungeon, making the ceilings crumble and large amounts of stone fell between Haven and Ra Pon, separating them. The wall next to Haven crumbles as well, giving him a way out. Just before he left, he looked at Ra Pon while the other did the same. “We’ll meet again one day, grumpy.” “Yeah, we might. If you’re lucky and I’m not.” Haven went straight through the hole in the wall, escaping the terrible dungeon and the home he thought he had left, many months ago. “So, you escaped? From a Pinkie that was different than others? A Pinkie that was special?” asked Saddy. “Eeyup. That’s how it happened. But that didn’t stop him. Even though I escaped that time, Ra Pon kept on chasing me across Equestria. He was persistent, and insane.” “Wow… When you left Canterlot, where did you go then?” asked Saddy. “Well, I had to find a place to go. A place to sleep. A place to be safe. So, I went to the only place I could think of. A place that I believed that no Pinkie, not even Ra Pon, would follow. Ho boy, how wrong was I.” In the Everfree Forest… Haven ran, and ran. He kept on running, no stopping for any cause. He ran into the deep, dark of the Everfree Forest. He avoided any beasts lurking the forests, and trees that might eat him, and ran. As he was running, he found an old shack, built from the trunk of a large tree. It had a few windows, but only one door. There were strings of weird charms, hanging by the front. A sign written ‘Zecora’ was nailed at the door. He looked around the shack, peeping through windows, searching for any hostiles. When he knew he was safe, he went inside, and took a little nap. In short words, he fainted from exhaustion. Just as Haven woke up, his stomach made a rumbling sound that could wake up a dragon. “Huh, I guess you’re hungry, my abused stomach. Eating that trash in the dungeon made me remember how terrible off-Equestrian missions are.” Have stood up and started searching for any food. He checked the shelves, the drawers, even the trash. But all he found was some weird spices and remedies. He decided to make his own food from these items. He made 3 different dishes, which two of them was a complete failure while the other one was just less satisfying. Though, his will to survive urged him to eat it anyway. He didn’t feel well, but he didn’t felt the hunger anymore, and he was quite happy of that. While Haven searched for anything else he can scavenge, a Pinkie on patrol found his wherebouts. “Sir, we found him. Full grown, average-sized stallion, red mane and tail, silverish-grey body and a broken wing.” said the Pinkie, using a radio. “Good… We’ll attack him at night. For now, keep watch of him. He might leave before we get there. If he does, kill him.” said another Pinkie through the radio. The Pinkie followed the orders given and keep watch of Haven from afar. As he watched Haven searching and sleeping, the day slowly ended and the night emerged. Suddenly, eyes were seen in the dark. It was the Pinkies, and they had surrounded the shack. A familiar face was then seen, known as Ra Pon, standing with his two scythes in his hooves. Slowly, Ra Pon raised his hoof and said; “Get in… And kill him… But don’t kill him! Because I want to have the honours on doing that.” said Ra Pon. The Pinkies then ran towards the shack, breaking the door and windows, hitting everything inside, including each other. Ra Pon entered the shack, and was shocked. “He… isn’t… HERE?!” shouted Ra Pon angrily. Ra Pon went back outside and met with the Pinkie that keep watch of him. Ra Pon grabbed the Pinkie’s neck, breaking its spine. He dropped the dead Pinkie and threw it in the forest, for the Timber Wolves to eat. He looked back at the shack, and shouted; “Find him! FIND HIM NOW!” The Pinkies obeyed his command and searched the entire building, twig by twig. But then, they all stopped suddenly. “Hey, umm… Does any Pinkie else smell that?” asked one of the Pinkies. Ra Pon entered the shack once more, scolding the Pinkies inside for stopping. “Why did you stop? Did I tell you to stop? I told you all to find him! And I mean FIND HIM!” scolded Ra Pon. “But sir, there’s a peculiar smell. We don’t know what it is.” said another Pinkie. “So, there’s a smell. Boo hoo! This shack smells funny! I don’t like this smell! SO WHAT?! I SENT YOU ALL TO FIND HIM! AND IF WE DON’T FIND HIM! WHAT’S THE POINT OF BEING HE-“ Ra Pon suddenly stopped. Ra Pon looked from afar, towards to stove. He noticed that the stove was on, and that something is inside. He went to the stove and looked closely to what’s inside. He saw mixes of spices and remedies, all in one metal pot. “Oh darn.” said Ra Pon. Ra Pon ran out of the shack, followed by an explosion from the stove. He was thrown to a nearby bush, while all the Pinkies inside burned to death. Ra Pon looked into the fire, watching the other Pinkies cry, scream and burn. “That sneaky, grumpy bastard…” Ra Pon said. Meanwhile in the northern regions of Equestria… The land was covered with snow, blizzards roam and Death waits for any unlucky survivor. A trap door suddenly opened from under the snow, with Haven exiting the hole. “Phew, good thing I found that secret tunnel. Who knew that shack was built under a mine shaft. And good thing that there was a mine cart, ready just for me.” said Haven. Haven, now wearing a thick, wool jacket and a scarf but still wearing his armour, slowly made his way through the cold, unforgiving blizzard. Each step, harder than the last, but at least he was making progress. He walked until he reached a crystal house, which was owned by Crystal Ponies. He knew he was in the Crystal Empire, but not the one like during the days before the Fun Bug. The Crystal Empire, now a frozen wasteland, was left as a ghost town. The buildings stood tall, but with no ponies in sight. But he wasn’t surprised. He knew that the Crystal Ponies, with the help of Princess Luna, fled to the moon during the outbreak. The princess of the night herself, on the other hoof, was a complete mystery to him. Haven wasn’t quite fond with the surroundings of the Crystal Empire. He only went there twice when he was a night guard, and even then he only had to stay in the Crystal Tower. He then looks into one of the crystals and saw his burn mark. “That’s right. That Pinkie said that I would be hunted down. Which means, he would be searching for me right now. In this weather and that Pinkie’s platoon, I’ll be killed before I even knew it.” said Haven, as he entered the Crystal Tower. “Better make the odds against him, then.” Haven walked into a small room inside the tower. There, he pulled a small lever, hidden from view, and opened a secret passageway. He followed the passageway and went inside a city under a city known as Veteris Crystal Imperii, meaning ‘The Old Crystal Empire’. The underground city was half of the Crystal Empire before it disappeared under King Sombra’s rule. When the Crystal Empire and its residents disappeared, the underground city was left untouched for 1,000 years. The city was then forgotten, even by the Crystal Ponies themselves. This ancient city, now filled with rats and moss, was said to be the most modern city in the world. It even has its own security system. Some say, that the security systems in this forgotten world still works, protecting what was left from their masters. “This could work…” Haven thought. Haven knew the surroundings of the ancient city better than the one on top. He sometimes explored these dangerous buildings when he was a night guard. He knew that he could use the city against his enemies if he improvised. And so, he made hidden traps, tripwires and other triggers around the center of the city.Then, he hid himself behind a deactivated, crystallion, made of crystametal. He waited patiently there for two hours until he heard some hoof steps. “And so here they come…” said Haven, wearing heavy-plated horseshoes made from the same metal that made the robotic guard pony. He was armed, ready for battle. There were two teams, each consisting of 11 Pinkies, Ra Pon wasn’t seen. Haven watched as the Pinkies walk through the hallways. As they we’re walking, one of them accidently stepped on a tripwire. Suddenly, a pile of rocks came crashing down, crushing 4 of the Pinkies in the first team. On the second team, one of them leaned on the wall and pressed a hidden button. The wall then turned into a piston-like trap, grinning 3 into the wall in front. 15 we’re left, and even Haven knew that. He threw a small pebble onto a twig that was holding a piece of wood, creating a chain reaction of small traps. A dart trap was triggered and killed 3, a simple battering ram and killed 2, falling spike that killed 4, and 6 was left. He jumped out from the shadows and went on hoof-to-hoof battle against the remaining Pinkies. He leaped behind one and broke its neck. Then, a Pinkie saw him and tried to attack him, but failed as Haven quickly punched it in the face to a spiked wall. The 4 Pinkies chased him down as Haven ran away. They chased him relentlessly, ignoring anything around them. One of them set off a trap got itself killed by a mechanical claw coming out from the ground, piercing its torso. The three left kept on chasing Haven but he was smarter than them. He jumped across an abyss and stood on the other side. The Pinkies failed to notice the abyss and 2 of them fell to their deaths. Only one still standing, and yet Ra Pon was never seen. Haven ran to the central square of the forgotten city and noticed the last Pinkie waiting there. He stood there, his eyes on the last one. “So, you’re left, huh? Too bad. I was actually having fun killing you creeps.” said Haven, daringly. “Don’t get your hopes up! I’m still standing! And I’ll be the one to kill you! And earn my prize!” said the last Pinkie. “Prize? So, that’s why Ra Pon isn’t here. He sent his goons to kill me and even put a prize on my head. What a couch potato.” said Haven. The Pinkie didn’t even take a minute to think. It lunged towards Haven in full speed, leaving its logic and reasoning behind. But Haven was ready. He saw the Pinkie took out a long blade and tried to slice Haven. But every attempt it did, missed. Haven avoided all of its attacks calmly, not rushing and just going with it. The Pinkie used its blade and went on to stab Haven. But he then grabbed the Pinkie’s blade with his left hoof and broke the Pinkie’s hoof with the other. He grabbed the blade as it was thrown in the air and stabbed the Pinkie in the chest, through the heart. He left the blade there, in the Pinkie’s heart, and went on without a single word, leaving the dying Pinkie to bleed. Haven went back to the entrance of the ancient city, feeling relieved that it was over. But he knew it wasn’t. Not until his or Ra Pon’s life is taken. But he was still relieved. “Finally, it’s over! For now at least. But it’s still OK! I’m not dead, not scarred, not blown apart, not sliced in half… Well, you get the idea.” Haven said with his voice, filled with happiness. “I hope I don’t meet with that lunatic... Or be a lunatic...”. Upon reaching the entrance, he walked calmly with a smile on his face. But that smile quickly broke as he sees… “Speak of the devil himself…” said Haven, his face now gasping in fear. “Nice to meet you again as well, grumpy!” said Ra Pon. It was Ra Pon. The ‘Ra Pon’ he thought he would never have to meet again. The ‘Ra Pon’ that took away his ability to fly. The ‘Ra Pon’ that writes terrible fanfic. That ‘Ra Pon’. “I never thought that you would have survived. In fact, I never thought you would have killed them so easily! HAHAHAHA! And that trap at the old shack in the Everfree Forest?! That was priceless! You nearly got me there! But at least you got 27.5 of everypony else!” said Ra Pon. “Thanks for that compliment. Indeed, it was made for you. And did you say ‘27.5 of everypony else’?” “Oh! One of them was already dead! So, it only counts as half of it! HAHAHAHA!” Ra Pon took out his scythes from his back, still giggling and with a smile in his face. “Now where we? Oh yes! I was going to kill you! That’s it!” said Ra Pon. Ra Pon, with his scythes, went on slicing Haven’s head off, but missed as Haven quickly leaned backwards, avoiding the fatal blow. Ra Pon kicked Haven in the chest and threw back and to the ground. Haven looked up and saw Ra Pon lunging towards him with one scythe going to his heart. Haven rolled to the side and again, avoided the fatal blow. He recovered quickly and blocked Ra Pon’s scythe with his horseshoes. But the force was too strong and pushed him back to a wall. Ra Pon lunged his scythe towards Haven, missed by an inch, and dragged his scythe across the wall, scarring it with a mark, and missed Haven again as he ducked for cover. Ra Pon did a bicycle kick which hits at Haven’s face and broke the wall behind him, throwing him across the room. Haven crashed at a pile of wooden boxes, bringing injuries with it. “Is this all you can offer me? No fighting back? This is pathetic! It nearly costs me my life, hunting you down! And now, this is how you repay me? BY NOT BEING A WORTHY OPPONENT?!” said Ra Pon, his anger reaching its peak, yet still smiling. “Well, you didn’t give me a chance to hit you. How can I win if I don’t have a chance?” said Haven, wiping blood off of his chin. “Hmm… You’re right! If you don’t have a chance, then you’re not a worthy opponent! To make you worthy, I have to give you a chance! Well then, hit me in the face! I dare you!” said Ra Pon, wanting his face to be punched by Haven. Haven didn’t took ‘No’ as an answer and went straight to Ra Pon, punching him in the face with all of his strength. Ra Pon was thrown back outside, spinning uncontrollably and yet, he landed on his hind hooves. “Nice punch! You took out a tooth! I’m proud of you! Now, we can fight and kill each other!” praised Ra Pon, spitting out a broken tooth. Both Ra Pon and Haven lunged towards each other, each attacking with full of might, and their weapons clashed. And yet, the winner was… “Me! It’s me! I’m the winner! WAHOO!” Ra Pon cheered to himself. Haven was nailed on the floor, One of Ra Pon’s scythe being the nail and his shoulder was the wood. The scythe went through Haven’s right shoulder, dealing heavy damage and bleeding. Haven screamed in pain, fear and terror. “Oops! I almost forgot about you!” said Ra Pon, giggling afterwards. Ra Pon slowly walked to the dying Haven, his smile now larger than ever. He went to Haven and took hold of his scythe, but not removing it. “Killing you will be so much fun! I’ll probably get a promotion! Yes, a promotion! A promotion from the boss!” said Ra Pon. “The boss?! You mean, you’re not the top?! You’re not the leader?!” asked Haven, still in pain. “That’s right! I’m not the top! The top is somepony else! The top is the Inspector! He knows things! He sees things! And best of all, he’s the strongest of them all!” said Ra Pon. Ra Pon moved his scythe a bit, which made Haven scream in pain. “Now you’ll see why I’m superior and you’re not! Why I’m the best and you’re the worst! Why I will win and you will lose! You think I’m gonna kill you like that?! NO! I’ll let you feel pain first! Cause you have no idea what pain is…” Ra Pon slowly pulled his scythe to the side, forcing it to move while Haven screams in pain.“STOP IT! DON’T DO IT! YOU’LL RIP IT OFF!” shrieked Haven. “That’s what I’m planning to do.” Ra Pon then did a last pull, and ripped Haven’s right hoof off, leaving Haven with only one hoof. Haven looked at his amputated hoof, his face fear of death. Knowing that he couldn’t survive anymore, Haven did one last trick. “Got any last words before I take your head as a trophy?” asked Ra Pon. “Yeah, I got one.” said Haven before he pressed a pressure plate. Suddenly, a pair of spinning blades came out of the ground and went straight to Haven and Ra Pon. Before Ra Pon could react, the spinning blades we’re already to close and… SWISH! The spinning blades sliced Ra Pon into two pieces, the upper torso and the legs. Haven lay down quickly, dodging the spinning blades. The spinning blades then reaches the end of its tracks, going back down into the ground and resetting. Haven lifted his head and saw the body of his rival. Ra Pon, currently dead, his body now in two pieces, lifeless and cold. “It’s finally over…” said Haven in relief. Haven walked, dragging his body, across the road back to the entrance. He walked with his two hind legs only, his left hoof holding the bleeding shoulder that once held his right one. He left his amputated right hoof back with what was left of Ra Pon. He was bleeding heavily and was dying need of new blood. Haven managed to reach the entrance but as he did, he fainted behind a broken stone pillar. He was scared to die, scared to be alone, and scared of the dark. His vision blurred and before he knew it, he was lost, and he was dying. “So, you did die after all!” said Saddy. “Umm… Dude, he is not dead. He’s driving the jeep.” Indigo replied. “That’s right. I’m not dead. When I woke up, all I knew is that I was alive and the bodies of the Pinkies and Ra Pon was gone. I also found out that I had a new hoof. And it was this cybernetic one.” said Haven, flexing his robotic hoof while driving. “So wait, you have no idea where that hoof came from? It just came to you and stuck itself into place?” Saddy asked. “Yeah, I guess so. I still have no idea but I don’t want to go back to Veteris Crystal Imperii. That place scares me now. I think I might have achluophobia.” said Haven. “What’s achluophobia?” asked Indigo. “It means extreme fear of darkness. I guess going through the most horrible time of your life in a dark place gives you that.” replied Saddy. “Yeah, I guess it does.” said Haven. They kept on driving for more than an hour until the jeep went to a complete stop. Indigo, who was lying on the back seat, tumbled down under the seats of the front. Saddy, who was sleeping with his eyes barely closed, was woken up in a startling way. “Dude! What the heck?! I fell down under the seats! It was hard to get out, you know.” said Indigo in an angry manner. “Um what?! Huh?! Who am I?!... Oh wait, I’m still me. That was a good nap. Also, why did you stop suddenly like that?” asked Saddy. Haven stepped out of the jeep and looked down from the steep cliff in front of them. His glare was emotionless but then, he smiled a little. “We’re here. Welcome to Appleloosa.” said Haven, pointing at a town below. Author's Note Finally it is done! Wow! This took longer than expected. ~~Even though the summary I wrote was small page long.~~ I'm not quite happy with this work, though. I kinda rushed a bit at the end, but at least it all worked out! I'm gonna tell you this truthfully. I'll won't be able to update this fanfic for a month (or less). I'll be going on vacation to England and Paris for 2 weeks so, don't expect any updates! Also, I'd like to introduce you to Haven's backstory! With a new character, Ra Pon! The psychotic maniac! Based on Derpibooru's Ponyra (who in the thread actually did chase me). And yes, Haven has a rcybernetic hoof. Just imagine Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist but instead, more cybernetic and shiny. So, hope this gets your hopes up cause I am not dead! Just busy! Edited again!! StartThere was silence in the air. The trio AKA Saddy, Indigo and Haven, drove their reinforced jeep towards the broken town, which is now a refugee camp, known as Appleloosa, through the hot and sandy desert. The engine, which is a CDC, shines brightly like daylight and emitted laser-like sounds. Closer they drove, Indigo and Saddy started to get cautious, sweat poured through their faces, gulping down their saliva, wondering what we’re to happen next. The driver, Haven, drove to the gate of Appleloosa calmly, like he wasn’t worried of what we’re to happen. His face though, was not showing happiness, but instead, he was unsure but wasn’t scared, just unsure, like he knew what was to happen. He drove at a steady 30 km/h, going straight to the gate. As the trio reached Appleloosa’s entrance, they stopped. The we’re blocked by a large metal gate, made of barbed wire and some parts we’re covered by wooden planks and metal plates. The gate was connected with a link of fences, which is then connected to a wall made of old cars and trucks, welded and nailed together. A guard showed up from the other side of the gate, a unicorn, holding a StG 44, his face covered by a gas mask and wearing torn pieces of clothing. He pointed his gun at Saddy, the laser sight going straight between his eyes. Saddy, unsure what was happening, lifted his hooves up high, screaming to stop. “Stop! Stop! STOP! I’m not a bad guy! Please don’t shoot me!” The guard went forward to the trio, still staying behind gate as his only line of defense. “Identify yourself.” “Umm…” Saddy couldn’t answer. He was too deep in shock that he forgot his own name. More guards came by, still behind the gate. Some wore gas masks, while others wore bandanas around their faces or a party mask, made of simple paper. “I said, identify yourself!” The guards all pointed their guns at the trio, some having semi-automatic rifles with laser sights while others just a simple pistol, like a glock or a Desert Eagle. Indigo leaped onto Saddy’s hooves, both shaking like a pair of wet cats, coming out of a cold bath. They even had tears around their eyes, believing they might actually die before they even started a life as a somepony. Haven stood up from his seat, lifted his hoof in front of Saddy and Indigo. “Stand down, soldier. In case you know what’s good for ya.” The soldiers looked at Haven, examining his face. They then leaned back in shock, surprised to see a face they believed to have been forgotten. “Oh my… Open the gate! NOW!” the guard ordered. The others obeyed their commanding officer with no second thoughts, rushing up through a set of stairs and pulled a rusty, old metal pipe which was transformed into a lever. The gate slowly rises, gears cranked and chains moved. “Sit down, both of you. I think we’re going to have a warm welcome.” Saddy and Indigo didn’t have to be told twice for that. Haven drove the jeep slowly, not wanting to rush as they moved straight through the road, which on each side has a giant wall, about 20-feet tall. There, ponies, of all different colours and species, watched over them from the top of the walls, blinking and surprised. Saddy, thinking about fainting from all of this attention, started weeping and hugging Indigo tightly, who was choking from Saddy’s incredible hugging muscles. The jeep kept on moving slowly, not going faster or slower, as Haven drove it with one hoof out the window. He didn’t care about the ponies watching. He just kept on driving like it was nopony’s business. Finally, they reached the end of the road into the town centre. Haven parked the jeep just under a flagpole, holding the last known Equestria National Flag. The flag, blowing in the wind of the desert, being the last beacon of hope for the citizens of Equestria. Still though, the ponies kept on looking at them, each with a different expression. “I don’t like how they look at us… I’m not used to this much attention…” Saddy, who was still choking Indigo by his hug power, moved his head left and right, looking at all of the ponies watching them. Indigo managed to break free by moving his hoof under Saddy’s hug muscles and screamed as he exploded in strength, much to Haven’s delight. Saddy was knocked to the jeep’s door, his head bleeding again, but that didn’t stop Indigo slapping the living soul out of Saddy for hugging him to near death. “You idiot! You nearly killed me with those hug muscles of yours! Seriously, who hugs like that?! You don’t hug ponies in fear till they choke to death, you little son of a homosexual griffon!” Suddenly, a pony started to clap their hooves, and more started to do the same, followed by cheers and a pony fainting with white bubbles coming out of his mouth. Haven walked out of the jeep, dragging both the bleeding Saddy and the not-choking-for-air Indigo out of the worked-up vehicle. “See, nothing to worry about-“ A pony came from the sky (which is actually, just the top of the walls), falling in style, but crash landed at a fruit stall. A couple of silent minutes went by… “What the heck just happened?” Saddy said, still confused of the pony who just jumped off a 20-feet tall wall onto a fruit stall, currently still there, not moving. Suddenly, the pony jumped out of the broken piles of wood and fruit, which still failed to land properly, but recovered 3 seconds afterwards with a smirk in his face. But that smirk quickly disappeared, his eyes we’re locked to the trio and now, his face has a frown instead. Saddy looked at him back, examining his bleeding face (probably from the fall), his tattered clothes, his bottle of not-so-expensive alcohol, and the long mane he has that hides his eyes. “You shouldn’t have come back, Haven. You should’ve stayed dead.” “Umm… Haven… What is he talking about?” Saddy gave Haven a suspicious look. “Don’t worry… I’ll handle it.” Haven walked towards the drunk stallion, his face emotionless while the drunk one’s face was filled with anger. As they reached close to each other, Haven started a conversation. “Nice to see you again, Cotto-“ BAM! Haven was punched right in the face, throwing him right to Saddy and Indigo. They both caught Haven as he fell, but was thrown back a little as well. Haven stood back up, walking calmly towards the drunk pony. The pony punched him again, but this time, he wasn’t thrown back like before. Again, and again and again, the drunkard gave Haven a barrage of punches. Haven kept on standing still, keeping his ground. “Dude! Fight back! You’re getting pummeled out there!” Saddy ran towards the drunk pony, but was stopped by Haven. “No! This is not your fight!” Saddy stood there, unable to help his friend, who was being beaten countless times. Bruises started to show on Haven’s face, bloody nose and hoof marks as well. But Haven didn’t fight back. The drunkard gave Haven the strong punch, which easily threw Haven onto the ground, his back leaned on the dirt floor. Haven breathed heavily, exhausted and hurt from all those punches. He had a black eye, hoof marks on his cheeks and forehead, a bloody nose , even bruises but not just on his face, on his body as well. Saddy and Indigo quickly ran towards the beaten Haven, but the drunkard reached him first. The drunkard, who was a unicorn, used his horn and made a barrier around him and Haven, blocking Saddy and Indigo from reaching their friend. The drunkard then kept on punching him nonstop, gritting his teeth in anger. “Oh man! This is bad! If the drunkard keeps on punching him like this, he might die from internal bleeding and brain damage!” The punches went on until… Suddenly, orange spikes came out of the ground, shattering the shield like glass and making a border between Haven and the drunkard. The spikes then surrounded the drunkard, creating an orange, indestructible jail. The drunkard tried his best to break the spikes, but to no avail. “LET ME OUT! LET ME KILL THAT BASTARD OF A PONY!” “Stop it, commander. You’re not getting anywhere by beating him to death.” a feminine voice answered. Saddy heard exactly what the voice said, and asked himself. “Wait, commander? Did she said commander?” The drunkard kept on struggling to get free, but eventually, he gave up. The spikes slowly entered the ground once more, but the border between him and Haven was still intact. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” It was the feminine voice again. But this time, she showed herself from the shadows, the last of the spikes disappeared in her presence. The drunkard made a “Hmph!” sound and left the scene. Haven was then taken by some ponies wearing medical masks into the town. While that happened, Saddy was surprised to see her, while Indigo was drooling instead. “I’m sorry for that. My name is Carrot Top. Usually, ponies around here call me General Carrot Top. Welcome to the Resistance.” The mare, Carrot Top, was a regular Earth pony. She had an orange mane with a coat of a lighter orange colour. Her mane had a large curl at the front, while having smaller curls at the back. She wore a yellow sweater with a pink butterfly mark on its shoulder, probably taken from some other dead pony, and a pair of tight black pants, covering her cutie mark. As Saddy was still examining her, Indigo slapped him at the back of his head, snapping him out of his focus. “Dude, stop looking at her like that! That’s like, wrong!” Carrot Top gave a small giggle. Indigo trotted towards Carrot Top, his chest up high, wings folded and tried walking like a noble would. “Nice to meet you, General Carrot Top. My name is Indigo and I work out 7 hours a day, like romantic and comedy movies, loves eating spaghetti with a mate under the moonlight with a romantic Italian song and is willing to do anything for my mate. Also, my wings are blades.” Indigo said, giving a seductive-like face afterwards. “I’m sorry, Indigo is it? But I’m not looking for a relationship right now. We are at war, and I don’t want to fail my role as the leading commander of this army.” her face unamused by Indigo’s introduction. “Anyway… what’s your name? And please don’t give a flirting introduction like he did.” “Umm… My name is Saddy, and I’m supposedly his best friend.” “Nice to meet you, Saddy. I see that you we’re well acquainted with one of my top commanders of my army. You know, Haven?” “Wait, did you say Haven is one of your top commanders? Just like that drunkard who beaten the crap of him?!” “Yeah, just like that…” Carrot Top was embarrassed of what her two commanders had just did. Indeed, that wasn’t the kind of image she wanted to give to any new recruits. “Anyway… My army need some new recruits. Do want to work for what’s left of Equestria? We need some potential youngsters like you.” “Work for an army? Well, I never knew th-“ “We’ll do it! With 100% commitment as well! Free of charge!” Indigo interrupted Saddy, making the decision without his contribution. “Good! One of my commanders will see you tomorrow, so get ready by 7:00 a.m., sharp! One of my men will call you at your rooms. So, I’ll be seeing you later.” Carrot Top then left the town centre in a hurry, guards following her from the back (after all, she is the leading commander), and the crowd dispersed, going back to their regular lives. A pony came towards the duo, introducing himself with a big smile, which scared Indigo. “Hello! My name is Rothiel Hynames! But ponies usually call me Rothy! You must be new here! Cause I’ve never seen you here before! Did you see that fight?! It was awesome, wasn’t it?! But it wasn’t fair since Commander Judge Haven didn’t fight back! So it was boring! I hate watching boring fights! It’s like baking a cake without eggs! And ponies eat eggs! I wonder why ponies eat eggs?! I mean, it’s so weird! And I like eggs as well! But we don’t have eggs here though! Cause we don’t have chickens! I wish we had chickens! Then we can have eggs! And eggs are really good! You can make omelets, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, eggs and hay bacon strips, eggs in a cup, egg tarts, egg sandwiches, eggnog, frittatas, egg burgers, boiled eggs, half-boiled eggs, raw eggs, French toast (obviously made of eggs), egg muffins, egg salad, egg casserole, egg burritos, egg spaghetti, quiches, egg pizzas, egg tacos, meatloaf with eggs, and much, much more! Isn’t eggs great?! I wish we had eggs! But if we had one, we would let it hatch! And make chickens! And chickens make eggs! Or is it eggs that make chickens?! Which came first, the chicken or the egg?!” Rothy took a quick breath. “Also, do you like pie?” “Ok… Umm… I don’t even remember what pie tastes like. Also, did you say meatloaf? What’s meatloaf?” “Oops! I said too much! Never mind! Sorry! Let me show you around!” They followed Rothy around the refugee camp, but he prefers to call it a town, even though half of it is destroyed. They met with many residents there, from the lowest of class to the highest of ranks. In short, they met a lot of ponies. They learned that the ponies here aren’t all soldiers or refugees, there are also the natives and those from outside of Equestria itself, including dragons and griffons. Appleloosa was a town. A home. A loving home with a community. The residents here work together to survive the harsh and cold world. And they’re willing to give up their lives to protect what was left of their homes. Rothy showed them around their new home, introducing them to all of the ponies that they needed to know. Even the ones that are just there for drinks. After they met with all of the residents that are important, Rothy showed them to their rooms and gave them a small test, to see if they remembered all of the ones he introduced. “OK! Question 1, who takes care of all of the weapons and ammo?” “Night Fossil. The crazy archeologist who is obsessed with Princess Twilight.” “Good! Next question, who takes care of the food rations?” “Jack Lantern. He’s a stallion, but looks like a mare. And I should not have wet dreams about him.” “And?...” “Oh! Watermelon Rat! He that guy with buck teeth and wears that worn-out watermelon costume. I still think he’s gay.” “Well, he’s not. He’s just a bit cookoo in the noggin. Third question, who is the top commander?” “Carro- I mean, General Carrot Top.” “A very hot and sexy general too…” “Dude, you got problems.” “Ok, that was weird. Now, who are the commanders under her?” “It’s the three commanders, Judge Haven, Roboshi and Cotton Tales.” “Fourth question. If you get shot or bitten, who do you meet first?” “Brother Hurt, and she is a mare, not a colt. Her name is so confusing.” “How many sections are there in Appleloosa?” “Five! There is the Sky Section, where the commanding officers live, the Mountain Section, where the others live, the Farm Section, where the farming and marketing takes place, the Desert Section, where the soldiers live, and finally the Jungle Section, where the griffons and dragons live.” Rothy did a slow clap, hugging them afterwards. He even let out some happy tears, which felt awkward to Saddy and Indigo. “I’m so proud of you guys! I never had apprentices before! And you did quite well too!” “Umm… Dude, we not your apprentices, and all you did was introduce us to some other ponies as weird as you.” “I know! Isn’t it beautiful?!” Rothy, still crying and proud, let go of them and happily gave them a salute. He smiled at them, which they smiled back. He turned around and just before he left, he gave them this advice. “Remember, if you need to know anything about anything, just find me at the library. I check on everything around here, and the library is full of quills and paper for me to use. Good luck tomorrow, soldiers.” Rothy left afterwards. “Wow, that guy was weird, wasn’t he?” “Well, according to him, a lot of ponies here are weird. Not to mention the asylum they have at the other side of town.” Saddy and Indigo looked at their new room. They we’re roommates after all. It was a small room, with two metal-framed beds, one close to the door while ther other at the right corner, each having only a worn-out pillow, what’s left of a blanket, and a bouncy mattress that looks like the springs can break free at any moment. There we’re no windows, just one door to get out. There we’re two cupboards and a drawer, all three we’re still in good condition. There was a table lamp on the left cupboard, where the closer bed is, and a wall fan on the left corner. The wallpaper in the room was torn and scratched, the ceiling lamp was blinking continuously, and the room right next to theirs has a very loud radio. But they didn’t mind. They we’re just happy to get here alive and have a place to call home. “Dibs on the corner bed!” Indigo leaped onto his new, yet old, bed while bouncing on it a little. Saddy sat on his bed, which was closer to the door, adjusting himself to find a comfortable spot. He fluffed his pillow, grabbed his blanket and went straight to sleep. Indigo, on the other hoof, just lied on his bed, smiling with his mouth open. “Good night, Indigo. Have a pleasant sleep.” “Good night, Saddy. Make sure you kill those Pinkies in your nightmares.” The duo went to sleep, with smiles on their faces, happy of their new home. They couldn’t wait for tomorrow, where they will start their lives as soldiers, working for the Resistance. It was a very exciting day for them, and they we’re ready for the next. They slept without a sound to be heard. Well, that lasted for only a few seconds. “Saddy… Hey, Saddy… Wake up… I need to pee…” Even though that was just a whisper, it woke Saddy up anyway. “Go outside of our room, turn left and keep going straight. You can’t miss it.” Indigo hurried to the toilet, which was farther than he expected. It was a new day at Appleloosa. The birds were chirping, the chickens, which were brought back by the scouting team last night, coukoo’d at the top of their lungs, waking up almost half of the residents there. Saddy and Indigo we’re one of them. Saddy was woken up in surprise, falling of his bed, straggled by his own blanket, breaking free afterwards. Indigo was a lot worst. He was frighten out of his mind that his coat turned white and he jumped to the ceiling, clinging on it. Indigo even made hissing sounds. When they were fully awake (and Indigo was off the ceiling), they rushed to the bath house, went back to their room since they forgot to bring their clothes with them, rushed back to the bath house, and went on scrubbing each other’s back. After they were done, they went back to their room and grabbed their necessary stuff. Saddy took his glock and some extra ammo, while Indigo took his wing blades, sharpening it afterwards. They left the barracks and ran as fast as they could to the training centre. While on their way there, they took their food rations from Jack Lantern on the go, said hi to few other ponies and rested on a bench halfway. As they reached the training centre, the leaped through the door, only to be hit by something hard on the back of their heads, pummeling them onto the ceramic floor. Their heads were now planted into the ground. “You’re late, newbies. And that was just a little punishment for newbies who came late on their first day. Once you’re used to it, the punishment is different.” Saddy and Indigo lifted their heads, spitted out the soil they were ‘forced’ to eat, and wiped the dirt from their faces. They looked at their attacker, their faces un amused. It was the drunk unicorn from yesterday, who ruthlessly beat Haven in a duel (well, half of a duel since Haven didn’t fight back). And according to General Carrot Top and tour guide Rothy, he was one of the three commanders who take care of Appleloosa. That means, no one, but General Starly and the other two commanders, has the right to argue with him. Which also means, Saddy and Indigo had to keep their mouths shut. Though, today, he wasn’t drunk anymore. In fact, he looks a lot better than before. He was a pegasus, had a yellow coat and a blue mane. He styled his mane into a short afro, his tail is puffy like a bunny’s tail, and he’s wearing decent clothing for once. It was just a simple black biker’s jacket, but at least he’s not naked (even though ponies don’t usually wear clothes). He had a mean glare that seemed to have looked into their souls, which scared both of them a lot. He doesn’t have a cutie mark, which Saddy found odd for a stallion of his age not having a cutie mark. “Are you two just going to lie there all day or are you here for training? I don’t usually train newbies but since I got a recommendation letter from Starly, I suppose that you’re under my responsibility.” Saddy and Indigo stood up quickly, cleaned themselves and followed him to the training centre. There, they saw other ponies, not just them, standing in line. They stood straight, scared and quite frightened. Indigo leaned to Saddy, whispering his opinion. “I don’t like this guy… Those ponies look scared and I don’t see the problem of us being scared.” “Chill out, dude. It probably won’t be so bad.” “Says the pony who was afraid of a garage.” “I thought there we’re cannibals in it.” “Well, there weren’t. Just a commander who punched me out cold.” Saddy and Indigo stood in line with the other ponies, their chests up high and their spines straight like a pole. The commander walked across the line of ponies, in front of them and inspected everyone in the line. He looked carefully at each one, his face angry-like, and stopped at one of them. He sniffed at the mare, looking closely at her, and licked her chest (which gave Indigo a wing boner), making the mare blush. “You we’re eating while I was at the door, weren’t you?...” He looked at the mare in the eyes, a drop of sweat fell from her face, until… “OK! I DID EAT! I’M SO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!” The mare was on her knees, crying and sobbing, tears flowed through her face like a river in a storm. She rolled around the floor, still crying, like her mind just broke from stress. The others wanted to comfort her, but they were too afraid of the commander. He stopped the inspection there, and introduced himself afterwards. “My name is Cotton Tales. But you may only and I mean ONLY call me Commander Cotton Tales. I am your trainer for today and any other day I am not busy to train you to survive what’s left of your stupid and pitiful lives. You’ll be listening to me from now on, since you’re all worthless and they give worthless ponies like you to me so I can make you LESS WORTHLESS. Even though I doubt that half of you won’t survive, I’ll still visit your grave afterwards. And for today’s exercise on making you less worthless, I’ll be gi- WHAT IS THAT CRUNCHING SOUND?!” He looked at the farthest in the row, which was where Saddy and Indigo were at. He walked in a firm stance, and as he reached there, he looked at Indigo, who was looking the other way and eating some potato chips from a bag. He kept on glaring at Indigo, who didn’t notice him, his face getting redder by the minute. Saddy whispered at Indigo, trying to avoid getting attention from the annoyed commander. “Pss… Hey dude… Pss… He’s right behind you.” “Whro’ze whright behrind mhe?” Indigo kept on eating his chips. “The commander…” Indigo was silent. He took his last bite, frightened by Saddy’s words. He slowly looked behind himself and saw the commander, glaring into his soul. Indigo dropped his bag of potato chips, his face more scared than ever. He lifted his hoof in respond, but fainted afterwards. “Urgh… I can’t believe he’s on my trainee list.” Cotton made a facehoof. Cotton Tales then looked at the pony beside Indigo, which expectedly, was Saddy. “You! You’re in charge of him until he wakes up. We’re going to do the training anyway, and you’ll be doing it TWICE to fill his role.” “WHAT?!” “Don’t argue with me! It’s his fault for eating during my speech! And for the punishment, you’ll also be doing his punishment as well. Or until he wakes up.” Cotton Tales moved to a different room, followed by a line of other ponies and the crying mare was still sobbing on the floor. Indigo, still out cold, was shook by Saddy, who was desperately trying to wake him up. “WAKE UP DUDE! WAKE UP! I DON’T WANT TO DO ALL YOUR TRAINING! THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Saddy ran towards the mind-broken mare, and asked her for something. “Can I borrow some of your tears?” Afterwards, he went back to Indigo, still out cold, with a bucket of tears from the mare, who was still crying and rolling. He looked at the fainted Indigo, who now looks like he was sleeping. Saddy poured the bucket of tears and the bucket itself of Indigo’s face, which managed to wake up Indigo. “Huh?! What?! Slendermane! Wait, what?” “You were out cold. Now let’s go! They probably already started the training without us!” The duo ran as fast as they could to the other room, leaving the sobbing mare behind. As they entered the other room, they kept on running that they ran into a deep abyss, in which Indigo had to save Saddy. Saddy, even though was already saved, screamed is fear. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” “Don’t worry, dude! I got you! Stop moving a lot!” Indigo landed Saddy back at the entrance of the room, while he sat next to Saddy. Saddy, breathing rapidly, tried to calm himself down. He grasped on as much as air as possible, only to scream again after seeing Cotton Tales. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” “Dude, what’s wrong?! Is it about the comman- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” “What? Is there something on my face?” “YOU’RE A CHANGELING!” “Huh, I guess I am.” Commander Cotton Tales was actually a changeling. As he reverted back to his changeling form, he had a different look. His coat was dark and black, his eyes were blue, his entire body was full of holes, his skin was hard as chitin, and he has fangs that look like it can punch a hole in any piece of metal. He also had red lines from his eyes to his chin, which wasn’t something usual from a changeling. Awkwardly, it seems that clothing isn’t part of the transformation process, since he still has his biker jacket. He looked at the frightened duo, waving his hoof in front of them. “I didn’t break your brains, did I? Cause if I did, that’s a lot of paperwork to fill.” “How come you didn’t tell us that you’re a changeling?!” “It was kinda obvious. Remember yesterday? Now compare it with today.” “Oh… I guess that explains why you were a unicorn yesterday and today, you’re a pegasus.” “Exactly. Now welcome to Hell, ladies.” Cotton Tales pointed at the training grounds the centre had. 'Hell' was a long labyrinth, stretching like a maze. Monsters and unspeakable horrors lie in the labyrinth, ready to kill anyone and anything that dare cross their paths. According to Rothy, the labyrinth is filled with beasts from cockatrices, manticores, meat-eating plants and much more. It's like a mini Everfree, but ten times more dangerous. “Ok, since I already explained the rules, I don’t have to explain it again. Remember, this is NOT a race. You have about an hour to finish it, and I don’t care who finishes it first. Since this is your first day, I expect that you’ll fail anyway. Before we start, who wants to take the punishment instead of the test?” Four ponies raised their hooves. Saddy wanted to raise his hoof as well, but was stopped by Indigo. “Urgh… Why are there always sissies like you? Get out of here!” The four ponies left the room to the other one, where a very strict instructor punishes them for giving up too easily. Meanwhile, the other ten were ready for their test. Some of them stretched, like Indigo did, while others breathed heavily, panicking and sweating furiously, like Saddy. Cotton Tales left the abyss and instead, watched the trainees from outside. With him, watching from there, was General Carrot Top, some other ponies who were just walking by, the medical team who were always ready, and a bandaged Haven, standing there with the help of a pair of underarm crutches. There, he held a rusty revolver with him, using it as a starter gun. He raised his starter gun up high, pointing it to the sky. “READY! GET SET! GO TO HELL!” That last sentence made Saddy to think twice about this obstacle course, but it was too late for him anyway. The trigger was pulled and the bullet had left the barrel of the revolver, breaking the sound barrier. Unfortunately, since there were no blank bullets, Cotton Tales had to use real bullets, which then shot a flying raven, looking for food. The raven plummeted to its death, landing exactly on Haven’s injured head, knocking him unconscious. Medical ponies came to his side, lifting his body back to the emergency room, due to the raven made his bandaged head bleed again. “Damn, that never happened before. Oh well!” Cotton Tales smirked. And then, they were off. Each of them left the starting line at incredible speeds at the same time (except for Indigo, who was still stretching), conquering the first few obstacles and choosing the right paths. The crowd was surprised to the new recruits going through the obstacle course with confidence and skill. Even the commander and the general were impressed by the trainees’ skill and confidence. “You know, the ponies that came with Haven are quite unique. One of them has no memory of his past, while the other is a very skilled pegasus.” “So what? You like them now? I still think Haven was a traitor.” “You used the word ‘was’. That means that one day, you’ll be able to trust him again.” Cotton Tales stood silent for a few minutes, before replying General Carrot Top’s statement. “Yeah, I guess I might. Anyway, how did you know that one of them has amnesia?” “I have my sources. Besides, it’s kinda his job to tell me everything that happens around here.” Cotton Tales nodded as Carrot Top ended their conversation. Meanwhile, the crowd kept on cheering wildly, since watching recruits go through ‘Hell’, or so that’s what they call it, was a rare occasion. Usually, the course was only given for the Special Forces, which the members were handpicked by the commanders and general only. The cheers kept on non-stop. It was so loud, the citizens outside could hear it. But that only last for 7 and a half minutes, until they were all defeated by the impossible course. Saddy, Indigo and the other seven had fallen. They were all on the floor, unconscious and breathing heavily. All of them either had bloody bruises or broken bones, some even had both. The medical team, who was waiting at the top of the course, got in and pulled multiple stretchers, lifting each of the contestants onto it. They brought the injured contestants to the hospital as quickly as possible, wanting to avoid wasting time. Each of them was put in different surgery rooms, with specialists ready for work. Saddy was on the operation table. The bleeding on his head had become worse, he had several broken ribs, wounds covered his entire body, and the lightning shock from the 7th obstacle didn’t do him any good. The specialists went straight to work, doing their best to save the recruits’ life. Meanwhile, the crowd had surrounded the front entrance of the hospital, praying and wishing for the safety of the recruits who just went through ‘Hell’, and luckily will live through the day. “Do you think any of them will survive?” Carrot Top asked the commander. “I think they’ll do fine… Besides, I’ve had worst and that wasn’t even training.” “You both did. Haven and you.” “…” A few hours had passed, and all the contestants are doing quite well. Most of have woken up from their coma, and are happy. Saddy, who was the last to wake up, felt disoriented but relieved. He woke up on a hospital bed, his left side next to a window, while on his right was Indigo trying desperately to chew some icky, green junk which the hospital calls ‘food’. Saddy rubbed his forehead, still dizzy, and noticed that the wound on his head had disappeared. A door opened and entered, Haven. Unlike last time, he didn’t need crutches to aid him and the bandages around his torso had been taken off. Indigo didn’t notice Haven entering the room, even though Haven stole his piece of toast. He was too busy eating junk. Haven walked towards Saddy, took a chair and sat down next to him. He pulled the curtains, closing Saddy and Haven from the rest of the room. “How… How long was I out?” “About 12 hours or so.” Haven chewed his piece of toast. “So… I nearly died?” “Yeah, something like that. But we have specialists! So, going through a near-death experience is quite normal here.” “Really?..” Saddy said in a sarcastic tone. “Well, kinda.” It was silent for a minute or two. “Umm… Haven?” “Yeah?” “I don’t think I’m cutout for this line of work. And the only reason I’m here is because the general saw me with you. And from Rothy, I learned that anypony that was ‘suggested’ by a commander is part of the Special Forces.” Saddy gave out a small breath before continuing. “I wasn’t born to fight for an army. In fact, I don’t even know what I was born for!” Saddy looked down at his own two hooves. He wondered for some time already, and he is unsure of anything that’s happening. He just wished to live a happy life. Haven, who looked worried earlier, started to smile. He gave a small laugh before patting Saddy at the back. Saddy became confused on why Haven was happy. “Why are you laughing?” “I’m laughing at your depression! It fits your nickname perfectly!” “That’s the only reason you’re laughing? About my depression?!” Saddy used a harsh tone. He lifted his fist, wanting to punch Haven. But Haven replied before he could. “Of course not! Why would I do that? Why would anypony do that?” Saddy, more confused than before, lowered his fist, and calmed down. “I don’t get it. Then, why were you laughing?” Haven stopped laughing but kept smiling. He stared at Saddy, thinking of the right words before restarting the conversation. “Because you’re unsure. You don’t know why you were born for. Even if the answer is right in front of us.” Haven stood up, clutching his hooves together. “You, me, all of us, were born to exist. Our existence is then used to shape the very fate of the world, depending on which choice we make in our everyday lives. We learn from the experience we’ve had, and we do better than we did before. We grow into the world, become part of it, and leave it once more. But once we leave this world, all of our experiences, our skills, and our history, are left behind for other to use. We were born to learn from our mistakes, so that others won’t do the same. To exist, is to know why we are here. And from the looks of it, you’re fated to be part of this place, to be part of its history, to learn from its mistakes, so that it won’t be repeated. Now tell me, Saddy. Why are you here?” Saddy went quiet, his mouth partially opened. He never had thought of it that way, and never knew that Haven was that optimistic and far sighted. “Don’t worry, dude! I’m always there for you!” shouted Indigo for the other side of the curtain. “Wait, you heard everything? About what I said? About not knowing why I exist?” “Of course! Dude, I’m not deaf. And these curtains aren’t designed to be soundproof. But the point is that, we’re best buds! We look out for each other’s back! Heck, if I never met you, I’d probably went mad of loneliness, that I’d never reach Appleloosa!” Saddy blushed a little. “See… Indigo needed you that time. And you were there for him, even if you never knew him in the first place! Fate is a weird being. He tricks you on doing things wrongly, only for you to learn from it and hit Fate right in the face!” From Haven’s snicker, he continued. “My point is, even though you don’t know why you exist, other ponies know why you’re here. You’re here to help them, and that’s all that matters.” Haven ended his speech with a dramatic pause, and left the room. Indigo went back to chewing his dinner while Saddy sat in his bed, thinking of what Haven said. Curiosity had always been his ally but now, he felt like it’s now his enemy. He didn’t know what to think, but he knew what Haven meant. Fate is a bitch, aint it? Aferwards, his dinner came. It was just red beans and hay, with toast and the green stuff on the side. But he didn’t care anyway. Saddy went on, happily munching his food before going back to bed. Author's Note I hope you all were very patient. Cause here it is! With so many new characters, it's just hard to list them. Though, most of them are just background and supporting characters. I also changed my writing style ~~after receiving so many harsh criticism from other people out of Fimfiction~~, so it should be a lot better than the ones before. Also, Haven is a commander! And there are three others! And Carrot Top here is from Derpibooru btw. Not the MLP:FiM version, but the Derpibooru version. CRITICISM REQUIRED! P.s. The fic is currently on hiatus due to me being stopped by writer's block. So in the mean time, I'll be writing a short 1-chapter only fanfic here. ~~And it's gonna be silly~~ Updated it! Decided not to make really long descriptions on the course. Yes, it's called 'Hell'. So uncreative, huh?
Amnesia“Hello? Is anypony there? Hello?” The sound of somepony talking woke him up. “Huh? Where am I? Uhh, why does my head hurt?” As he touched his forehead, he noticed that it’s bleeding. Dizziness covered his mind as he thinks on where he is. He gets up from the floor, weakly, and walks around the room, searching for the other pony. “Hello? Is anypony there? Please reply.” As he hears the pony’s voice, he follows it, slowly, until he found the voice was coming from under the drawer. He looks down as sees a small radio. A walkie talkie to be exact. The pony reaches for it and grabs its antenna. He then takes the radio and sits down on the floor, pressing the button and replying; “Hello? Is that you? Who are you? Where am I? What is this place?” He waits for a reply when suddenly… “You’re awake! That's great! I thought you were dead.” said the pony in the radio. “I wish we could talk more but I’m gonna need you to listen to me. Right now, you’re at the basement. And the building is mostly empty, which is good by the way.I need you to follow my instructions and try to survive as long as you can. First off, you’re gonna need a weapon. There’s a gun in the cabinet. I need you to take the gun and use it to protect yourself. If you’re wondering how I know this, it’s because that gun was mine until I left it.” The pony just nodded and listened to his instructions. He went to the cabinet and opened the second-top drawer. There, he found a gun. It was a glock to be exact. He checked it to see how much ammo was left. “There’s still some ammo. Not much, but good enough.” said the pony. Then, the radio buzzed and said; “Did you find the gun? If you did, you’ll probably notice that there’s some ammo left. Now I need you to go outside from the basement into the lobby. Do it as quiet as possible. We don’t want to attract attention.” “Then, just go up the stairs and keep on going up till you reach the roof. I meet you up there. Also, try to survive.” said the pony in the radio. The pony then pressed the button and replied; “Ok, got it. By the way, who are you and how did you know I'm here anyway?” “Let’s just say I’m a friend. I also saw you from the clouds.” "What?" "Nothing! I wasn't stalking you because I'm at the edge of insanity or anything! Hahaha! Why would you think that?" "I didn't." "Ohh..." Then the radio went silent. The pony walked through the room and saw a mirror. He saw a reflection of himself. He was an earth pony, had a dark blue body, his mane was brown and was messy and unkept . He was quite a normal pony. No different than any other. Colorful and unique. But he felt different. He was scared. As he climbed the stairs to the lobby, he felt a shiver up his spine. He opened the door and the door gave a loud and annoying creak. creeeeaaaak That sound would have scared anypony who has no idea where he was. He walked through the door and slowly examined the room. It was a medium-sized room, the main entrances blocked off with rubble, furniture all torn up and thrown aside, and a dead stallion, lying at the side of wall. He walked slowly to the body and examined it further. His cutie mark is beyond recognition and his face looks like it was ripped off by animal teeth. In his hoof was a small, dull pocket knife. From the looks of it, he was trying to protect himself but was surrounded. But whatever did this to the stallion, he should try to avoid. “Wow, this is brutal. I better keep on moving though. Those things might still be here. Whatever they are…” He walked forward and searched for the stairs. When he found it, the door was closed with a wooden plank as a latch. He took off the latch and opened the door. As he entered the stairs, he looked straight up till he saw the last floor. “Well, this is going to be a long climb…” And so he climbed. As he climbed, he counted the floors he passed and also listed the things he found while climbing. He only did that to avoid being bored. He found a poster of ‘Vinyl Scratch Equestrian Tour’ on Floor 5, a bag filled with fuel and probably butter on Floor 7, a bottle of pee on Floor 13, and a banana with a picture of Princess Celestia taped on it on Floor 22. When he reached Floor 23, he felt exhausted, like he just went through a triathlon. “Huh, huh, I really need to work out some more.” He looked up and saw that the stairs above him were destroyed. “Oh darn it! Now how am I suppose to get to the rooftop?!” raged the pony. As he tried to climb the rubble and avoid going through any floors, he nearly fell and thought to himself that the chances of him falling is quite high. He was also an earth pony, so flying wasn’t an option. Guessing that he didn’t have any other choice, he had to use the second set of stairs at the other side of the floor. And the very thought of it gave him goose bumps. “Well, better get going then…” said to himself as he opened the door. He slowly walked through the room and looked around. It was just a hallway filled with rooms. Some of the doors were broken and it was dark as well. He saw the exit sign at the other side of the hallway, knowing that the stairs are right behind that iron door. With his gun in his hoof, he passed the rooms until he stopped as he heard a sudden voice. It was faint, but e heard it as if it was growling the word 'Fun'. He walked slowly, following the voice and stopped at one room. He leaned to the wall and peeked into the room. “Oh my Celestia… What in the world is that?...” In the room, he saw a carcass or a body of a dead mare. But that didn’t surprise him. What surprised him was what was on her. It was a pink mare, her hair poofy and pink as well, but her entire body was stained with blood. She was biting and chewing the body, eating the remains of the dead mare. And due to his carelessness, he accidently shoved a vase, which broke upon impact onto the ground. “Oops…” She looked behind, and he ducked quickly and tried to hide himself from the mare’s view. The pink mare walked slowly, searching for the source of the sound. And from her voice, he heard her chanting; “Funfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfunfun…” He cocked his gun and readied his stance. He waited for the right moment to shoot until… He accidently showed himself. He is not very good at hiding. “Oh shit, she saw me!” The pink mare looked at him in the eye. He saw her blood red eyes, the eyes of a hungry animal. She then lunged towards him at full speed, growling and chanting “Fun!” at the same time. He tried to shoot her but she was to fast and agile. She jumped from wall to wall, avoiding bullets. When he was down to his last bullet, the pink mare already jumped on him. “AHHH! GET OFF OF ME!” screamed the pony. He repeatedly punched the pink mare as she tried to bite him with her sharp, blood-wrapped teeth. When he managed to stun her, he cocked his gun one last time and… “Take this, you pink bastard!” said himself to the pink mare. BAM! He shot the pink mare in the face at point blank. She went silent and fell on her knees, her eyes looking up and froze. She was dead, and that’s just how he liked it. “Celestia, that was the most horrifying thing that ever happened to me… Oww… My head…” He touched his head and noticed it was still bleeding. He forgot to patch it up. But even if he remembered, he thought to himself, where could he find any medical supplies anyway? He then kept on walking until he reached the stairs. “Just a few more floors.” he thought to himself. He climbed the stairs slowly from exhaustion, watching his surrounding, believing that more of those ‘things’ would come out of nowhere. He then reached the rooftop without any problems, other than the usual rodents that scared him. Opening the rooftop door gave him the feeling of excitement, relief and fear, all at the same time. “Finally, made it. And no monsters coming out of nowhere to kill me either.” He walked to the edge of the rooftop, seeing the wondrous view it had installed for him. Or that’s what he thought until he actually saw it. “Oh my Celestia…” What he saw probably scarred him for life. He was at Manehattan, but it didn’t look anything like it. The buildings were burning, some were collapsing , and some stood still, but damaged beyond repair. The streets were full of blood, bodies and other things he didn’t want to know. Vehicles trashed all over the place, some still had their engines on. The clouds were dark, gloomy and thundering. But it wasn’t going to rain. The sun was about to set, but the color wasn’t orange or yellow. It was reddish brown, like blood. It was complete chaos. “What happened? What’s going on?!” Then, his radio clicked and buzzed; “I see you’re still alive. Good. I expect you didn’t have much trouble. But now is not the time for chit-chatting. We don’t have much time. I need you to stay at where you are right now for 10 minutes. I’m coming to pick you up. But I need you alive for this. Just kill anything that passes through that door till I get there.” “How can I trust you? What if you’re just trying to trick me on waiting here till I die? And how did you know I was up here anyway?!” said the pony. “If I was lying to you, I wouldn’t have tricked you to climb up, would I?” “What do you mean?” wondered the pony. “I mean, look down from the edge.” The pony then carefully climbed the borders of the building and looked down from it. There was a large mass of pink ponies, some were earth ponies and some were unicorns. There were pink stallions and pink mares surrounding the building. They broke down the main entrance and entered the building. “Oh shit! I can barely handle one! But this many?! I’ll be torn apart!” “Just stay there and try to survive! I’m coming as fast as I can!” said the pony from the radio. “But I don’t have any more bullets! What am I suppose to-“ Then the radio went silent. “Why does this guy keep hanging up on me?!” shouted the pony. He panicked for a minute and then calmed himself down. He went around the rooftop, searching for anything he can use to protect himself from the pink monsters. He dug through some rubble and found himself a some useful objects he could use. He found a wooden plank, some nails and a broken brick. He then nailed some of the nails on the wooden plank using the brick. “Je je je jeng!” shouted the pony in happiness. He built himself a weapon. “Now I’m ready! Bring it on, you pink freaks of nature!” said himself with full of confidence. He waited… and waited… and waited some more… He heard noises but nopony went through that door. He kept on waiting and wondered; “Maybe they won’t reach the rooftop in time. It is 25 floors after all. It took me a pretty long time to climb.” He sat down in relief. As he let his guard down, that’s when it happened. “Woowooah!” screamed the pony in fear. He was in midair. Flying, soaring across the city. Generally afraid of heights, he screamed and panicked. And he did it quite loudly as well. “PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!” shouted the pony while wiggling his body as an attempt to escape. “Woah there, dude! It’s just me!” said the pegasus. “You! You’re the pony from the radio! Oh my Celestia! I’m being kidnapped by you! I knew I should have listened to my parents! Never talk to strangers! But instead, I had to listen to YOU! And now you’re gonna drop me from the clouds! It’s the perfect murder! MOMMY!” “Dude, will you shut up for a second?! It’s kinda hard to carry wiggling ponies, you know. I, accidently, MIGHT drop you.” said the pegasus, intimidating him. The pony kept quiet and just nodded. Then, off they flew through the city. After a few minutes of flying, the pegasus landed them on the rooftop of a tall skyscraper. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” said the pegasus. The pony just grumbled in disapproval. He then examined the pegasus. The pegasus had a dark blue body, his mane color was grey with a blue stripe, the style was straight forward, and wasn’t that messy. He had razor-sharp blades mounted at the front of his wings. His eyes were gold in color. His cutie mark looks like a musical note, so the pony assumed that he was a musician. He walked around the rooftop, looking at the view and understanding his surroundings. He was on top of the Celestial State Building, with its fences covering the edges of the rooftop. There were binoculars mounted at every corner, but had no use since they require a gold bit. Like any other building, there was rubble in some parts. The elevator was also out of order, as it was seen with warning tapes around it. He then thought that the only way to get down is with the help of the pegasus. “You know, you haven’t introduced yourself yet. Or was it I suppose to introduce first?” the pegasus thought. “My name is Indigo. A fast flyer of Manehattan. What’s your name?” asked the pegasus. He kept quiet, not saying a word. His eyes rolling, thinking of his own name. “You don’t have a name? Too bad… I’ll just call you Saddy. Cause it’s sad you don’t have a name.” said Indigo. “Wait, why call me Saddy? I don’t get-“ Indigo then hushed at Saddy, his eyes completely focused on Saddy. “That’s some wound you got there. Wait here, I got just the thing for ya” said Indigo. Indigo flew to a different building, just two blocks from here. He took something from the building and came back. It was a medical case. It had scissors, bandages, anesthetic and some long pieces of cloth. He then took out the cloth and wrapped it around Saddy’s forehead. He tied the cloth in place and used the scissors to cut the remaining, unused piece of cloth. “There! All better! The wound should heal in a day or two.” said Indigo. “Wow, thanks, I guess.” said Saddy. Saddy then looked at the sun as it was about to set. “Is this where you live? On a rooftop of Equestria’s tallest building?” asked Saddy. “Yeah, this is where I live. Not really a dream home, huh?” said Indigo proudly. He then laughed. Saddy laughed with him. In the evening, hey sat in front of barrel of fire as the wind from the cold night blows through their home. “So you can’t remember anything from your past?” asked Indigo. “Yeah, I can’t. I don’t know why though. I can’t even remember my name. But I can seem to remember Equestria’s history and geography. But I don’t remember what happened here.” said Saddy. “You probably had amnesia. In that case, let me tell you a story…” said Indigo. “Once upon a time, there existed 2 princesses that ruled over Equestria. One lifted the Sun and the other lifted the Moon. Under them, were 6 different ponies. Each of them were special, and each of them held one of the six ancient relics, known as the Elements of Harmony.” “I know that! I just wanted to know what happened here!” said Saddy. “I was just about to get to that part.” said Indigo. “One day, scientists made a very special, untested drug to cure ponies from an unnamed disease. But due to budget cuts, they decided to use the legendary Mirror Pool to make more of it. But they didn’t know that the pool was cursed.” “A few days earlier, a purple unicorn used a powerful spell to send the fake pink ponies back to the pool. But she also sealed the pink pony’s DNA in it. And when they tried to clone the untested medicine, it was mixed with the DNA. And that made the Fun Bug virus. Except that they didn’t know it was a virus yet. And hilariously, they first figured that out when 20,000 ponies already took it.” laughed Indigo. “The virus, which had the pink pony’s DNA, started to evolve inside the body of the infected. They first attacked the cerebrum of the brain, then motor controls, then slowly taking their personality and turning their fur into pink. Their hair turns poofy and then become these monsters that I like to call Pinkies.” Indigo told to Saddy. “Wow… that’s harsh. What happened to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony?” asked Saddy. “I actually have no idea. But I don’t expect on finding out. Also, we better wake up early tomorrow. We’re going on a road trip.” “To where?” asked Saddy in surprise. “To Appleloosa. Where the Resistance is.” said Indigo. Before Saddy could ask anymore, Indigo went straight to sleep in his bed roll. Author's Note Alright! This is the first time I had ever made a fanfic so I respect any professional critism. Also, the characters here are based on the Derpibooru's own "A Sad Pony" and "Indigo"! I'll update the story as fast as I could but no promises though. Small edits have been made. But you will probably not notice it anyway.
CannibalsIt was one hour before sunrise. Indigo and Saddy were just finishing packing up their supplies for the long journey to Appleloose. Saddy took off his bandages and replaced it with new ones. Indigo, on the other hoof, sharpened his wing blades while waiting for Saddy to finish up. Once they were finished, off the both set on their long journey through dangerous lands to reach the Resistance. Indigo carried Saddy for half an hour till they reach far enough from the city. They landed on a piece of land just a few miles from the edge of Manehattan. Once they took a little rest, they started on walking to Appleloosa. Indigo and Saddy had a little makeover just before they left. Saddy wore an ammo vest, with a black T-shirt under it. He carried a pink schoolbag with him to put all the necessary supplies. Inside, there were some medical supplies, some ammo and loose bullets, food and other materials in case they needed to use it. He still had a bandage wrapped around his forehead though. Indigo instead, wore a leather jacket with an undershirt. He carries a sling bag, filled with bottled water, some matches, a grind stone for his wing blades, and a picture with a frame, though the picture isn’t clearly seen. “You know, this is probably going to be a long walk for us, huh?” said Saddy. “Yeah, it is. But just imagine what we will be doing when we get there! We get to fight for the Resistance! A group of survivors waging war against the Pinkies! We get to shoot some pink beasts! And this time, we ain’t gonna be alone! We might actually SURVIVE!” shouted Indigo, proudly. “Yeah, but still…” Saddy paused. “What if they don’t take us? What if they decline our request to join?” “They’ll take us.” said Indigo. “They have too. The Resistance is the last hope for Equestria. They’re the only ones fighting to reclaim our home. They need all the help they can get.” “But what if we never get there? Never get to Appleloosa? That place is pretty far away… And were just walking there! We’ll probably reach there by two weeks! And the chances of us to survive out here for two weeks is really slim. With the Pinkies out there, the chances are even slimmer! We even only have food and water to last for 5 days!” panicked Saddy. “We’ll find food and water on the way. Besides, there are worst things than the Pinkies…” Indigo explained. “What could be worst than getting killed by Pinkies or dying of thirst and hunger?” asked Saddy. “Well, there are the cannibals…” Saddy looked at Indigo, his face filled with fear and sweat. Indigo looked at Saddy, seeing that his friend is extremely terrified. “But, we MIGHT not meet any cannibals at all!” said Indigo to Saddy, trying to calm his friend. They continued walking along, through the hazardous land, avoiding anything that moves, and shooting anything that is found hostile. At night, they would stop at somewhere that has shelter. Trees, broken buildings, even dig sites. As long as there is a roof above their heads, and no Pinkies or cannibals in sight, that’s where they would rest for the night. It has been 3 days since they left Manehattan. They got enough food and water to last them for 4 more days ever since they found that hidden storage under the broken house. They’re also lucky since they didn’t stumble upon any Pinkies or cannibals on their journey. But their luck started to change when… “Hey, look at that! There’s a garage over there! Let’s check it out!” suggested Indigo. “Woah! Wait! We can’t just go there like a bunch of filly scouts! What if there are…” Saddy paused, gulped and continued “Cannibals?!” said Saddy with a tiny eeep afterwards. “There isn’t going to be any cannibals.” said Indigo, reassuring his friend. “Besides, if there is going to be any, we’ll just shoot them.” “Yeah, like that will work.” Indigo had to drag Saddy to the garage since Saddy didn’t want to even be near there. When they reached the garage, Saddy was so terrified that he could have peed in his pants. If he had any pants, though. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” said Indigo, giving out a smile. Suddenly, a rattling sound came from inside the garage, scaring both Saddy and Indigo. Indigo leaped in fear into Saddy’s hooves, weeping in fear. “Speak for yourself.” Saddy teased. They slowly walked into the garage through the back door. Saddy cocked his gun, ready for firing and Indigo opened his wings, ready for slicing. They looked around, examining the room, trying to spot any hostiles. They then walked out of the garage through the front door, opening it and quiet as possible. They looked outside, moving their heads left to right. “Maybe they left?” suggested Saddy. “Nah, they wouldn’t leave just like that. They have to be around here somewhere.” Then, the rattling sound came again. This time, they knew exactly where it was. It was at the other side of the wall in front of them. They searched for an entrance, making a plan and when they were ready… “Shaka maka buey!” screamed Indigo out loud as he broke down the door, leaped through the air, ready for battle. Though, his scream made the strategy fail as a mysterious pony punched him right in the face, throwing Indigo across the room, breaking the wall he crashed into. Indigo fell out cold and Saddy rushed to his best friend’s side. The mysterious pony stood there, his face hidden with a cowl, his body blanketed with a cape, and his right hoof covered with leather straps. “Dude! You broke my friend’s face! You probably gave him brain damage as well!” said Saddy. “Well, he shouldn’t have tried to kill me while screaming a ridiculous war cry.” said the mysterious pony. “Besides, what are you wannabes doing out here in the middle of nowhere?” “We were on our way to Appleloosa. Why did you ask?” wondered Saddy. “Huh, I guess it’s your lucky day. I’m going to Appleloosa myself.” said the mysterious pony. “Wait, really?!” asked Saddy in surprise. “That means you can come with us! Awesome!” proclaimed Saddy. “Sorry, can’t do that.” said the mysterious pony. He then points at something with his left hoof. Saddy followed him to check on what he was pointing at. As Saddy looked closely, he saw something very familiar. “A jeep! I think it's a jeep. It might just be a modified car though.” Saddy went back into his mind while examining it. The mysterious pony nodded in agreement. It was a simple jeep. Like the ones they use in survival shows or going through thick forests. But this one was fortified. The body was covered with pieces of scrap metal, nailed and welded in place. The hood of the jeep was open, and for a good reason too. There was no engine in it, but there were advance technology and contraptions inside. At the back of the jeep, there was a mounted turret. It had three barrels, an ammo case, a small motor and other requirements of a shooting weapon. “Nice, isn’t it?” said the mysterious pony. “Yeah, I built it myself. The jeep was just the frame but everything else was built from scratch. Right now, it won’t move cause I don’t have the last part that I need to make it work.” “Well, what do you need then?” asked Saddy. “I need a very rare, energy core that can only be found at the Crystal Empire. But since the Fun Bug started, I suspect that it’s not there anymore. It was actually used to power sentry bots and cybernetic ponies built by the Crystal Laboratories.” “Oh! I know what it is! It’s a Crystallion Dynamo Core! Or CDC for short.” said Saddy out loud. The mysterious pony, now surprised, just nodded. “Good, then you know what I’m looking for. If you could find one for me, I’ll give you and your brain-damaged friend a free ride to Appleloosa.” said the mysterious pony. They both then shake hooves and Saddy went to Indigo, who is still unconscious, to tell him of his new plan. “WHAT?!” said Indigo furiously. “Yep, that’s what happened.” “DUDE! YOU CAN’T JUST MAKE DEALS WITH PONIES YOU BARELY KNOW! HOW CAN YOU EVEN TRUST HIM?!” “Well, I made a deal with you. And I didn’t trust you.” said Saddy. “That’s different! Besides, where are we even going to find this ‘core’ anyway? He said it himself! It’s pretty rare!” said Indigo. “We’ll find one. Besides, they’re usually found in sentry bots or cybernetic ponies. Those things can’t be that hard to find!” “They probably are! I mean, we live in a post-apocalyptic world! Where are we even going to find one of those?!” asked Indigo in distress. Saddy then pointed his hoof towards a tree. Indigo focused his eyes on it and saw something .They both went closer and examined the object. “Found one!” said Saddy happily. It was a broken sentry bot, stranded on the tree, hanging by its vines. Its hull torn apart and the wires inside, seen. The propeller was bented and the lens were still usable, but they didn’t need it. All the need was the CDC, which was linked on top of the sentry bot. Saddy gave Indigo his schoolbag and slowly climbed the tree with a small pocket knife in his teeth. He reached the top with ease and found himself a good spot to balance himself on the tree. “You know, I could have just flied up there!” shouted Indigo, making sure that Saddy heard him. Saddy just ignored him and crawled carefully, making sure he didn’t step on the wrong branch, and reached the sentry bot. He took his pocket knife and, with his left hoof, tried to slip it into an opening under the propeller. With his right hoof, he pulled the propeller upwards and, slowly opening the top cover of the sentry bot. “There it is…” said Saddy, proudly. It was the CDC, a cylinder-shaped power core, its casing made from reinforced fiberglass and titanium frame, inside having multiple metal wires made of copper and zinc, all going straight to the middle, a small but rather destructive energy crystal, packed into shaped by extremely large amounts of pressure that could break every centimeter of a femur from an earth pony’s legs. “What a beauty…” said Saddy. “What?! Did you say something?!” shouted Indigo. Saddy, again ignored Indigo, took the CDC from the sentry bot. He then drops his pocket knife, that nearly fell on Indigo, and slowly climbed down from the tree, his right hoof holding the CDC. He jumped from 4 feet and landed safely on the ground, with the CDC safe. “Tada!” said Saddy, as he showed the CDC to Indigo. “That’s what we’ve been looking for? A cylinder-thing? Well, that was a waste of time.” said Indigo, his face in disappointment. “Dude! This cylinder-thing has enough energy to power a 2-story building for 25 days! It’s really powerful!” said Saddy. “Not to mention unstable. This stuff was actually banned from 15 cities. And so was the sentry bots. They had to remodel the whole thing. What a waste of money…” “Well, good. I don’t want some flying cake with eyes following me around and is about to explode.” said Indigo. “Now lets get out of here before we run into more trouble.” “What trouble?” asked Saddy. “Well, like I said before, there are cannibals. And that guy you made friends with is probably a cannibal himself.” said Indigo. “Yeah, I don’t think he is. Besides, if he was, he would have eaten you when you were in a comma.” teased Saddy. “What’s this? A sudden bravery against cannibals? Wow! I’m quite surprised!” said Indigo, sarcastically. “Oh, shut up.” said Saddy with a frownish smug. The duo had a short laugh, then carried on to the garage, with the CDC in Saddy’s schoolbag. Then silence broke in. They looked from afar and saw a young mare, in crutches, lying on the hot, burning land. “Hey, we should help her.” said Saddy. “Dude! What is with you and helping strangers in the middle of nowhere during a post-apocalypse event?!” Saddy ignored, again, and went to help the mare. He ran straight to the mare, ignoring everything around him. He then grabbed the mare and lifted her, and went on walking while only using two legs. The mare was asleep, or out cold. But he wouldn’t care. He kept on walking, while carrying her and the CDC. HE walked passed Indigo, his face expressionless. “You know, you look just like one of those heroes in the movies.” Indigo complimented. Saddy, with the mare and CDC, and Indigo, then walked back. As they walked back, the lens of the sentry bot started to move. It zoomed in towards Saddy and Indigo, focusing on them. Meanwhile, in Canterlot’s Castle Dungeons… “Huh, it seems that even thieves have hearts. Except that they have no brains. Stupid enough to not know that was a trap. Ha! I guess my kind is doomed after all. Oh well! At least it’s not my fault! HAHAHAHAHA!...” Back at the garage… “Finally! We made it back here! And not a scratch at all! Dude, we’re the luckiest ponies ever.” claimed Indigo. “Yeah yeah, whatever. Hey Indigo, could you find me anything that’s soft around here? I need to put here someplace.” asked Saddy. Indigo went into the garage and searched through the boxes and containers. He then found a few soft objects that can be used as a bed; a blanket, a half-torn pillow and a whoopee cushion. He went back to Saddy with the objects and dropped them on the ground. “Will these do?” asked Indigo. Saddy nodded and they both carried it to a better and more spacious area, where Saddy then placed the soft object carefully on the ground, except for the whoopee cushion which he just throws away, despite arguing with Indigo. Saddy placed the mare on the soft object and laid rest on the concrete floor. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” said Saddy, giving a small smile. “Well, she still might be a cannibal. I say, we shoot her head in her sleep.” suggested Indigo. “What?! No! NOO! JUST NO! DEAR CELESTIA, NO!” shouted Saddy. “We are not murderers. We are sane stallions. And killing one makes us lose our sanity.” “Where did you get that theory? Nopony loses their sanity by killing ponies.” said Indigo in disapproval. Saddy looked at the sleeping mare, ignoring Indigo again. He carefully examined her. She had a long, brown mane with a yellow body color. Her cutie mark looked like a dissected frog, so Saddy could have guessed she’s good with anatomy. Her right hind leg was broken, which would be the reason the crutches were there. On her right eye was a scar, more like a burn mark, covered her eye, having no hair there at all. She slept soundly for a while until she woke up, her face scared. “Woo!” screamed Indigo. “She’s awake! Hurray! That’s good right?” “Yeah, it’s good I guess.” said Saddy. “Could you go find that mysterious pony? We already have the CDC for his jeep.” Indigo gave a salute and left, searching for the mysterious pony that punched him in the face across the room till the wall broke. Saddy stayed with the scared mare and tried to calm her down. “Its OK… I’m a friend… I can help you…” whispered Saddy. But before he could say anymore, the mare got up, despite her injuries, and grabbed a nearby kitchen knife from the shelf. She swings the knife at Saddy but misses, as Saddy was fast enough to see that. She swings again but this time, Saddy caught her hoof and held it tight. “Im not going to hurt… You can trust me…” She desperately tried to escape, mocking Saddy in a language he had never heard of before, but failed to free herself. She gave up, fell on her hind legs with Saddy holding her hoof. He let go of her hoof, but took the knife from her. “See, that wasn’t so bad…” said Saddy. Just after that, a window broke and a dart was hit on Saddy’s neck. “What the heck?!” said Saddy, as he pulls out the dart. “What’s going on?...” Saddy walked slowly to the mare, his vision blurring and fell down to the ground. He desperately tries to stand up, but to no avail. He sees his friend entering the room, screaming something, but was then also shot by a dart. Saddy fainted on the cold, hard ground, with the yellow mare as the last thing he saw. Saddy woke up, not knowing where he is, and not knowing the sounds he’s hearing. He looked around and saw ponies with masks dancing around him. He saw his pink schoolbag at the side with Indigo’s sling bag. At the back, he saw an old gray pegasus, his mane green in color, sitting on a throne which seems to be made of white twigs, drinking some soup. Or that’s what he thought at first. “Oh no… Cannibals…” said Saddy. Saddy tried to move but he couldn’t. He was tied to a wooden pole, with his friend Indigo, still fainted from the dart poison. Under the pole was a bonfire, as he would have known that they would cook them first. Around the bonfire were canisters, probably filled with oil, as it seems that the bonfire was strong enough to reach them. Indigo then woke up, still not knowing what’s going on. “Huh… Where am I?” said Indigo, still half asleep. “What’s that smell? Hmm… It smells so good…” “It’s us, dude. We’re being cooked alive.” said Saddy. “Huh? What?” said Indigo in confusion. “Wait, what?! We’re being cooked alive?!” Indigo went on screaming like a little filly, begging for mercy and praying for Princess Celestia to save him. The cannibals all laughed at him, teasing the princess, and saying that he will be cooked to perfection. Both Saddy and Indigo tried to escape, but the ropes were too tight, and Indigo’s wing blades seem to have been taken off and now being used as a large kitchen knife. “Why are you doing this?” asked Saddy. The cannibals then laughed but was shunned to silence by the old gray pegasus, who lifted his hoof as everypony obeyed. He then slowly walked to Saddy and Indigo, with the help of another pony holding him up. He then sat down on the cold sand and spoke; “We're cannibals.” "You don't say?" All the cannibals cheered at him, their spears held up high. “But you don’t have to do this. We’re all ponies. And ponies eat vegetables, such as carrots, long beans, tomatoes and broccoli.” said Saddy. “Especially broccoli.” replied Indigo. The cannibals went around, their faces filled with disgust, booing them and throw rocks. “Look around you, the world we all use to know is gone. Everything is gone. Some must die for others. As for you, you will die for our kind to live longer. It is a sacrifice we must take.” said the old pegasus. “But no worries, we won’t start with you. We will start with her” He pointed his hoof to the young mare that Saddy saved. The cannibals then dragged the mare into a small shack, her face filled with fear and her body trying to escape. The door then closed, the mare and the cannibals inside. Afterwards, a short scream could be heard, and then it was silence. “Oh Celestia…” said Indigo, now his face filled with fear. The cannibals continued dancing around the bonfire, the old pegasus got up and walked, with the aid of the pony, to the throne which was actually made of bones, and Saddy and Indigo kept on trying to escape, even though the chance of them to escape is from one to nil. “You know, it’s nice knowing ya.” said Indigo, as tears go pouring down his face. “It’s nice knowing you too, bud.” said Saddy, trying to smile even though he cried. One of the cannibals then picked up a canister filled with oil, ran towards Saddy and Indigo, who closed their eyes, not wanting to see it, and threw it into the bonfire. But then, suddenly… BAM! BAM! Two gunshots were heard and the bonfire didn’t even grow. Saddy opened his eyes and couldn’t believe what he saw. The canister was shot before it reached the bonfire, and the cannibal was also shot as well, straight through the eye. The others gasped in fear, wondering who would have done this. They looked around, searching for the shooter. Saddy also looked around, examining everything. Then suddenly, somepony had landed on the throne’s backside. It was the mysterious pony! “Missed me, colts?” said the pony, still wearing a cowl to hide his face. He jumped off the throne and landed near the bonfire with only using his two hind legs. He then lifted his right hoof, which was still covered with leather straps, ready for battle. “Bring it on, you meat-eating piece of meat.” taunted the pony. All the cannibals then lunged at him with their spears and swords made from what was left of their dinner, attacking the pony. “You might want to close your eyes, little colt” said the pony. Saddy followed what he said and closed his eyes. He tried to ignore the screams and shouts from outside, but he couldn’t cover his ears. The battle went on for a few minutes until it all went silent. “Is it over yet? Are we burnt alive yet? Cause I still don’t smell delicious.” said Indigo. Saddy and Indigo then opened their eyes and was shocked to see what was left around them. There were bodies everywhere, some ripped apart, some even sliced and some looked like they were crushed. Saddy then noticed the mysterious pony, holding the cannibal’s spear, now standing in front of the old, grey pegasus. “Your time has ended, old one. Your teachings will die and the world will be brought to peace. There will be no more cannibalism, not on my watch.” said the mysterious pony. “You might think so, but I am not the only one who follows this path. There are other, stronger than me, younger than me. My death will only slow down the inevitable. Till we meet again, Iron Hoof.” The mysterious pony then stabbed the old pegasus through, piercing his heart, and letting the blood flow out. The leader of the cannibals was dead. He then came to Saddy and Indigo, cutting down the rope, letting them go. Saddy and Indigo fell down into the bonfire, which was now left ashes, and cleaned themselves up with some cloth they found lying around. They went to the mysterious pony, who was searching Saddy’s schoolbag for the CDC, and thanked him. “Thanks for the help.” thanked Indigo. “Yeah, we couldn’t have done it without you!” thanked Indigo. “No problem. Besides, you got me what I wanted, now I’ll return the favor.” said the mysterious pony. “Let’s head back to the garage. I’ll give you both a ride to Appleloosa.” “Sounds good to me!” said Indigo. “By the way, what’s your name?” asked Saddy to the mysterious pony. “My name? Well, it’s Haven. Judge Haven to be exact. But my friends call me Haven.” “Well then, nice to make an acquaintance with you, Haven.” said Saddy. Saddy, Indigo and their new friend, Haven, walked to the garage, getting ready for their long trip to Appleloosa. Author's Note Well, this took longer than expected. I had a few problems ~~since I was lazy~~ but it all ended quite well. Judge Haven is actually based on me, since I was also part of the thread. And the "Iron Hoof" thing? Well, you'll have to keep reading to find out! (P.S. I might post the next one a bit late but I'll keep on doing it!) Small edits again.
MemoriesOn the deserts of Equestria… Saddy, Indigo and Haven, or the Trio for short, was on their way to Appleloosa. After driving for several hours in the hot, burning desert, Indigo decided to take a little nap, bored of watching dead trees and animal carcasses. The driver, Haven, was bored as well but kept his eyes on the road, driving carefully and avoiding traps and rocks. Saddy, who was looking forward on arriving to Appleloosa, wasn’t bored at all. Instead, he was humming a small tune, quite loudly, which was annoying to Indigo but was a boredom-killer for Haven. Saddy examined Haven, since he has all day to do so. Haven was a pegasus. He had a muscular build, his mane was red in colour and his body was silverish-grey. His right hoof was covered with leather straps, and only one of his wings was shown. As they were driving, Saddy’s curiosity started to reach its peak. He wondered, all day, on why Haven’s right hoof was covered with leather straps. But what made him curious the most was what that grey pegasus said; “You might think so, but I am not the only one who follows this path. There are other, stronger than me, younger than me. My death will only slow down the inevitable. Till we meet again, Iron Hoof.” The last two sentences made him wonder. “Did that old pegasus called him ‘Iron Hoof’?” Saddy thought. He was so curious that he didn’t even noticed Haven calling him. But after a few minutes, Haven managed to pull him out of his trance. “Hey, you OK? You’ve been like this for a few hours already.” asked Haven. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just been wondering.” replied Saddy. “Wondering about what?” Haven asked. “About that grey pegasus you killed.” Saddy paused. “He said something about ‘Iron Hoof’. What does it mean? Who are you?” “Hmmm… ‘Iron Hoof’. That’s a name for sore ears. No one has called me that for a while now. Well, ‘Iron Hoof’ was a title, given to me by the Princess of The Night herself. You see, I used to be a royal guard. A night guard to be exact. I was there when everything happened. Well, I wasn’t there to see everything. I was one of the hoof-full of ponies that managed to escape Canterlot. I was lucky to be alive.” “Wow, that means you must’ve seen a lot of blood, huh?” said Saddy. “Yeah, and it’s kinda shameful too. For a night guard, we’re suppose to protect the lives of others. Not the lives of ourselves. I had a hard time getting some sleep after that, knowing of all the ponies I let down.” “But at least you’re alive to tell the tale, right?” Saddy proclaimed. “Yeah, but the point of being a night guard is to NOT tell the tale. We’re suppose to be secretive.” “Well, that didn’t work out, huh?” Saddy said, as he laughed afterwards. “Oh yeah, I always wondered. Why do you cover your right hoof with leather straps?” “Well, this is why…” Haven stopped driving, and slowly took off the leather straps covering his right hoof. As he took it off, small pieces of his hoof can be seen. If, that was his hoof. “It’s a cybernetic hoof! Awesome!” Saddy said, his face full of amazement. “Yep, it’s a cybernetic hoof. Made from a special material known as crystametal, a rare mineral-based steel said to be harder than titanium. Usually weapons and armour are made from this element. ” “Cool… But how did you get it?” asked Saddy. “Now that’s a long story. Keep your ears open, cause this story might last us till Appleloosa.” said Haven, covering his hoof with leather straps again and continued driving. “Aww colts. I hate stories!” Indigo protested. In the depths of Canterlot’s Castle Dungeon… The sounds of screaming and pain can be heard from every corner. Prisoners, some alive and some barely, all in their cells, shaking and weeping, scared of what was to happen next. One of them was a griffin, eating dead remains of ponies, insanity at its peak. A few metres ahead, there were multiple interrogation rooms, used during the Great Equestrian War, all more than 1,000 years old. Each we’re made specifically to ‘interrogate’ the enemies captured. In reality, they we’re torture rooms. Each room had a viewing panel, for the audience to watch, and inside the room was a strap table, a long desk, on top had a number of numerous tools and contraptions. Some rooms had moss stuck on the walls and some had blood stains instead. Haven was there, wearing his night guard armour and being dragged by two muscular Pinkies, each wearing full-body armor plating. His face, bleeding, and his body was almost lifeless. But he knew he was alive, for now, or else how would he known to be in the dungeons? But that didn’t matter to him. What mattered most was what was waiting for him in one of those interrogation rooms. As they dragged him into one of the rooms, he looked in the surroundings, seeing that there was fresh blood everywhere and a chipped tooth just at the corner. The Pinkies left him on a table, while other Pinkies, wearing face masks and medical white coats, started to strap him onto the table tightly as another one was at the long desk, sharpening a scalpel. Suddenly, the door opened and a Pinkie with a face mask came in. But it wasn’t an ordinary Pinkie. This one was different in some ways. It had a nice, well-kept mane, not poofy at all. The cutie mark, like all Pinkies, was disfigured beyond recognition, but that wasn’t the weird part. The weird part of this Pinkie is that it had two large scythes, sheathed at its back. The left scythe had the word ‘FUN’ printed on it, while the right one had the word ‘BUG’ instead. Afterwards, that pony came close to Haven and gave him a shot of adrenaline. “Helllllllooooo theeeeerrreeee.” said the Pinkie. Haven didn't reply. He breathed heavily, looking at the Pinkie, wondering why he was different. “Oh me! I forgot to introduce myself! HA! Silly me!” The Pinkie took of its mask and combed its mane. “My name is Ra Pon. Or, that was who I used to be. Oh well! I am a full-grown stallion such as yourself. But, what’s different from you and me is that I’m happy and you’re sad. Too bad. HAHAHAHAHA!”said the mystery pony. A small cough was heard from him afterwards. “Where was I? Oh yes! I almost forgot! Where you are at! Well, you’re at the dungeons! I expected you to know that. And what makes me different? Hmm… Let me think… Oh I know! I’m actually normal! That’s right!” He didn't reply. Haven lied there on the table, still strapped on it. “Oooo! A grumpy one! I always liked a challenge!” said Ra Pon, his hoof open, asking for something. “Get. Me. The. Book.” said Ra Pon. A Pinkie then goes out through the door and grabs a book. It was actually just a bunch of paper stapled together. Ra Pon takes the book and pushed the other Pinkies aside. “Behold! Fan fiction!” said Ra Pon, shoving his ‘book’ in Haven’s face. Again, Haven didn't reply. He just glared. Ra Pon started flipping to the first page. He suddenly shrieks loudly which somehow made all the other Pinkies scream in pain. “The main character is a triple-alicorn zebra with a rainbow mane named Timmy McShekelStealer. She likes money! She likes it so much that he hates ponies that spend it! She’s also married to Sephiroth Mary-Sue Van Helsing! He can change gender and everybody loves and envies him! He also has magical powers and has sex with everything!” "That... Was... Idiotic..." Haven said, spitting out some blood onto Ra Pon's leg. Ra Pon, still smiling but is obviously angry, opened his hoof, asking for something. But Haven knew, this time, it wasn’t a shitty fanfic. “SCALPEL! I NEED A SCALPEL! But a hammer will also work.” Ra Pon called out. A Pinkie then came and gave him both a scalpel and a hammer. Ra Pon then went to Haven, the tools in his hooves and his face giving a sadistic look. Ra Pon hammered Haven’s left wing, hitting it multiple times, shattering the bones like glass. He then took the scalpel, and slowly ‘remodeled’ Haven’s wing. Haven wanted to scream in pain, but he refused and kept his mouth shut. Tears slowly came out of his eyes, the excruciating pain was too much to bear. Haven’s mind was failing as he slowly closed his eyes… “So, you died?” asked Saddy. “If I was dead, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” “Oh yeah… My bad. Carry on.” CLANK! Haven slowly woke up from his hell as the sound of the metal door closed and locked up tight. He was dizzy and his head hurt, but that didn’t stop him from standing up again. He stood up, his legs weak, trying to walk to the door. Then, he felt a sudden pain on his back. “Augh! What is that?!” screamed Haven in pain. He looked at his back and saw the most horrifying thing he had ever laid eyes on. It was his left wing, but it had been ‘reshaped’ and ‘remodeled’ until it couldn’t be used for flying anymore. It was like the Pinkies left his wing upside-down and inside-out. The wing kept bleeding, but it was already bandaged. He also noticed a scar that was left on where his cutie mark was. It looked a lot like the Pinkies’ cutie mark, which was 3 balloons, but this one was a burn mark. He was still wearing his armour. Guess they were too lazy to take it off. Haven looked around, searching for a way to escape. He saw a small window with metal bars in it, but he couldn’t fly anymore. He examined the metal door, but it was locked up so tight, that it would take a thief an entire hour just to open it. So, he knew he couldn’t escape. Unless there was a chance of it. Haven sat at the corner of his prison, feeling lost and hopeless. His mind, delusional and insane, but kept on trying to stay as who he is. Everyday, he ate food from what he believed is trash, with only 2 meals per day. Everyday, he sat at that same corner, letting his mind linger in the darkness of who he is. Or who he was. After 2 weeks of staying in that prison, everything was the same as usual. Depressing, and that’s usual to him. But on that very day, a chance of escaping was given to him. BOOM! A powerful explosion was heard from outside, but Haven couldn’t see it. Then, more of the same explosions was heard as well. Suddenly, a Pinkie guard crashed at his door, but didn’t even give the door a scratch. But the Pinkie’s hoof was sticking out, so Haven grabbed the hoof and lifted the Pinkie from the far side of the door. He lifted it high enough, and grabbed a key from its pocket. He was about to open the door, until the wall right next to him broke apart, which made a slightly larger exit. “Huh, talk about having too much miracles.” Haven went through the broken wall and escaped his own prison. But he still had to escape the dungeon. Haven knew the hallways of the dungeon like the back of his hoof. He walked quietly but quickly, and went straight to the exit door. As he was about to reach there, Ra Pon broke out from the ceiling, blocking his escape. “Where are you going, grumpy one? Are you leaving?” asked Ra Pon. Haven looked at Ra Pon, his face filled with anger and rage. "You..." "That's right! ME! Wait, who am I? Hmm... Oh yes! I'm Ra Pon! I'm the one who ruined your wing! FOREVER!" He then pointed at Haven burn mark, stating that; “You can’t leave. That mark means you we’re captured by us! Anypony not infected will know that! You’ll be shunned by your own kind! And best of all? You’ll be hunted down! By us! BY ME! BY THE ENTIRE PINKIE EMPIRE!” “Really huh? In that case, you don’t know so much about me after all.” stated Haven, bravely. Inside, he knew that was a terrible idea. As Ra Pon was about to unsheathe his scythes, a blast was heard from outside. It shook the entire dungeon, making the ceilings crumble and large amounts of stone fell between Haven and Ra Pon, separating them. The wall next to Haven crumbles as well, giving him a way out. Just before he left, he looked at Ra Pon while the other did the same. “We’ll meet again one day, grumpy.” “Yeah, we might. If you’re lucky and I’m not.” Haven went straight through the hole in the wall, escaping the terrible dungeon and the home he thought he had left, many months ago. “So, you escaped? From a Pinkie that was different than others? A Pinkie that was special?” asked Saddy. “Eeyup. That’s how it happened. But that didn’t stop him. Even though I escaped that time, Ra Pon kept on chasing me across Equestria. He was persistent, and insane.” “Wow… When you left Canterlot, where did you go then?” asked Saddy. “Well, I had to find a place to go. A place to sleep. A place to be safe. So, I went to the only place I could think of. A place that I believed that no Pinkie, not even Ra Pon, would follow. Ho boy, how wrong was I.” In the Everfree Forest… Haven ran, and ran. He kept on running, no stopping for any cause. He ran into the deep, dark of the Everfree Forest. He avoided any beasts lurking the forests, and trees that might eat him, and ran. As he was running, he found an old shack, built from the trunk of a large tree. It had a few windows, but only one door. There were strings of weird charms, hanging by the front. A sign written ‘Zecora’ was nailed at the door. He looked around the shack, peeping through windows, searching for any hostiles. When he knew he was safe, he went inside, and took a little nap. In short words, he fainted from exhaustion. Just as Haven woke up, his stomach made a rumbling sound that could wake up a dragon. “Huh, I guess you’re hungry, my abused stomach. Eating that trash in the dungeon made me remember how terrible off-Equestrian missions are.” Have stood up and started searching for any food. He checked the shelves, the drawers, even the trash. But all he found was some weird spices and remedies. He decided to make his own food from these items. He made 3 different dishes, which two of them was a complete failure while the other one was just less satisfying. Though, his will to survive urged him to eat it anyway. He didn’t feel well, but he didn’t felt the hunger anymore, and he was quite happy of that. While Haven searched for anything else he can scavenge, a Pinkie on patrol found his wherebouts. “Sir, we found him. Full grown, average-sized stallion, red mane and tail, silverish-grey body and a broken wing.” said the Pinkie, using a radio. “Good… We’ll attack him at night. For now, keep watch of him. He might leave before we get there. If he does, kill him.” said another Pinkie through the radio. The Pinkie followed the orders given and keep watch of Haven from afar. As he watched Haven searching and sleeping, the day slowly ended and the night emerged. Suddenly, eyes were seen in the dark. It was the Pinkies, and they had surrounded the shack. A familiar face was then seen, known as Ra Pon, standing with his two scythes in his hooves. Slowly, Ra Pon raised his hoof and said; “Get in… And kill him… But don’t kill him! Because I want to have the honours on doing that.” said Ra Pon. The Pinkies then ran towards the shack, breaking the door and windows, hitting everything inside, including each other. Ra Pon entered the shack, and was shocked. “He… isn’t… HERE?!” shouted Ra Pon angrily. Ra Pon went back outside and met with the Pinkie that keep watch of him. Ra Pon grabbed the Pinkie’s neck, breaking its spine. He dropped the dead Pinkie and threw it in the forest, for the Timber Wolves to eat. He looked back at the shack, and shouted; “Find him! FIND HIM NOW!” The Pinkies obeyed his command and searched the entire building, twig by twig. But then, they all stopped suddenly. “Hey, umm… Does any Pinkie else smell that?” asked one of the Pinkies. Ra Pon entered the shack once more, scolding the Pinkies inside for stopping. “Why did you stop? Did I tell you to stop? I told you all to find him! And I mean FIND HIM!” scolded Ra Pon. “But sir, there’s a peculiar smell. We don’t know what it is.” said another Pinkie. “So, there’s a smell. Boo hoo! This shack smells funny! I don’t like this smell! SO WHAT?! I SENT YOU ALL TO FIND HIM! AND IF WE DON’T FIND HIM! WHAT’S THE POINT OF BEING HE-“ Ra Pon suddenly stopped. Ra Pon looked from afar, towards to stove. He noticed that the stove was on, and that something is inside. He went to the stove and looked closely to what’s inside. He saw mixes of spices and remedies, all in one metal pot. “Oh darn.” said Ra Pon. Ra Pon ran out of the shack, followed by an explosion from the stove. He was thrown to a nearby bush, while all the Pinkies inside burned to death. Ra Pon looked into the fire, watching the other Pinkies cry, scream and burn. “That sneaky, grumpy bastard…” Ra Pon said. Meanwhile in the northern regions of Equestria… The land was covered with snow, blizzards roam and Death waits for any unlucky survivor. A trap door suddenly opened from under the snow, with Haven exiting the hole. “Phew, good thing I found that secret tunnel. Who knew that shack was built under a mine shaft. And good thing that there was a mine cart, ready just for me.” said Haven. Haven, now wearing a thick, wool jacket and a scarf but still wearing his armour, slowly made his way through the cold, unforgiving blizzard. Each step, harder than the last, but at least he was making progress. He walked until he reached a crystal house, which was owned by Crystal Ponies. He knew he was in the Crystal Empire, but not the one like during the days before the Fun Bug. The Crystal Empire, now a frozen wasteland, was left as a ghost town. The buildings stood tall, but with no ponies in sight. But he wasn’t surprised. He knew that the Crystal Ponies, with the help of Princess Luna, fled to the moon during the outbreak. The princess of the night herself, on the other hoof, was a complete mystery to him. Haven wasn’t quite fond with the surroundings of the Crystal Empire. He only went there twice when he was a night guard, and even then he only had to stay in the Crystal Tower. He then looks into one of the crystals and saw his burn mark. “That’s right. That Pinkie said that I would be hunted down. Which means, he would be searching for me right now. In this weather and that Pinkie’s platoon, I’ll be killed before I even knew it.” said Haven, as he entered the Crystal Tower. “Better make the odds against him, then.” Haven walked into a small room inside the tower. There, he pulled a small lever, hidden from view, and opened a secret passageway. He followed the passageway and went inside a city under a city known as Veteris Crystal Imperii, meaning ‘The Old Crystal Empire’. The underground city was half of the Crystal Empire before it disappeared under King Sombra’s rule. When the Crystal Empire and its residents disappeared, the underground city was left untouched for 1,000 years. The city was then forgotten, even by the Crystal Ponies themselves. This ancient city, now filled with rats and moss, was said to be the most modern city in the world. It even has its own security system. Some say, that the security systems in this forgotten world still works, protecting what was left from their masters. “This could work…” Haven thought. Haven knew the surroundings of the ancient city better than the one on top. He sometimes explored these dangerous buildings when he was a night guard. He knew that he could use the city against his enemies if he improvised. And so, he made hidden traps, tripwires and other triggers around the center of the city.Then, he hid himself behind a deactivated, crystallion, made of crystametal. He waited patiently there for two hours until he heard some hoof steps. “And so here they come…” said Haven, wearing heavy-plated horseshoes made from the same metal that made the robotic guard pony. He was armed, ready for battle. There were two teams, each consisting of 11 Pinkies, Ra Pon wasn’t seen. Haven watched as the Pinkies walk through the hallways. As they we’re walking, one of them accidently stepped on a tripwire. Suddenly, a pile of rocks came crashing down, crushing 4 of the Pinkies in the first team. On the second team, one of them leaned on the wall and pressed a hidden button. The wall then turned into a piston-like trap, grinning 3 into the wall in front. 15 we’re left, and even Haven knew that. He threw a small pebble onto a twig that was holding a piece of wood, creating a chain reaction of small traps. A dart trap was triggered and killed 3, a simple battering ram and killed 2, falling spike that killed 4, and 6 was left. He jumped out from the shadows and went on hoof-to-hoof battle against the remaining Pinkies. He leaped behind one and broke its neck. Then, a Pinkie saw him and tried to attack him, but failed as Haven quickly punched it in the face to a spiked wall. The 4 Pinkies chased him down as Haven ran away. They chased him relentlessly, ignoring anything around them. One of them set off a trap got itself killed by a mechanical claw coming out from the ground, piercing its torso. The three left kept on chasing Haven but he was smarter than them. He jumped across an abyss and stood on the other side. The Pinkies failed to notice the abyss and 2 of them fell to their deaths. Only one still standing, and yet Ra Pon was never seen. Haven ran to the central square of the forgotten city and noticed the last Pinkie waiting there. He stood there, his eyes on the last one. “So, you’re left, huh? Too bad. I was actually having fun killing you creeps.” said Haven, daringly. “Don’t get your hopes up! I’m still standing! And I’ll be the one to kill you! And earn my prize!” said the last Pinkie. “Prize? So, that’s why Ra Pon isn’t here. He sent his goons to kill me and even put a prize on my head. What a couch potato.” said Haven. The Pinkie didn’t even take a minute to think. It lunged towards Haven in full speed, leaving its logic and reasoning behind. But Haven was ready. He saw the Pinkie took out a long blade and tried to slice Haven. But every attempt it did, missed. Haven avoided all of its attacks calmly, not rushing and just going with it. The Pinkie used its blade and went on to stab Haven. But he then grabbed the Pinkie’s blade with his left hoof and broke the Pinkie’s hoof with the other. He grabbed the blade as it was thrown in the air and stabbed the Pinkie in the chest, through the heart. He left the blade there, in the Pinkie’s heart, and went on without a single word, leaving the dying Pinkie to bleed. Haven went back to the entrance of the ancient city, feeling relieved that it was over. But he knew it wasn’t. Not until his or Ra Pon’s life is taken. But he was still relieved. “Finally, it’s over! For now at least. But it’s still OK! I’m not dead, not scarred, not blown apart, not sliced in half… Well, you get the idea.” Haven said with his voice, filled with happiness. “I hope I don’t meet with that lunatic... Or be a lunatic...”. Upon reaching the entrance, he walked calmly with a smile on his face. But that smile quickly broke as he sees… “Speak of the devil himself…” said Haven, his face now gasping in fear. “Nice to meet you again as well, grumpy!” said Ra Pon. It was Ra Pon. The ‘Ra Pon’ he thought he would never have to meet again. The ‘Ra Pon’ that took away his ability to fly. The ‘Ra Pon’ that writes terrible fanfic. That ‘Ra Pon’. “I never thought that you would have survived. In fact, I never thought you would have killed them so easily! HAHAHAHA! And that trap at the old shack in the Everfree Forest?! That was priceless! You nearly got me there! But at least you got 27.5 of everypony else!” said Ra Pon. “Thanks for that compliment. Indeed, it was made for you. And did you say ‘27.5 of everypony else’?” “Oh! One of them was already dead! So, it only counts as half of it! HAHAHAHA!” Ra Pon took out his scythes from his back, still giggling and with a smile in his face. “Now where we? Oh yes! I was going to kill you! That’s it!” said Ra Pon. Ra Pon, with his scythes, went on slicing Haven’s head off, but missed as Haven quickly leaned backwards, avoiding the fatal blow. Ra Pon kicked Haven in the chest and threw back and to the ground. Haven looked up and saw Ra Pon lunging towards him with one scythe going to his heart. Haven rolled to the side and again, avoided the fatal blow. He recovered quickly and blocked Ra Pon’s scythe with his horseshoes. But the force was too strong and pushed him back to a wall. Ra Pon lunged his scythe towards Haven, missed by an inch, and dragged his scythe across the wall, scarring it with a mark, and missed Haven again as he ducked for cover. Ra Pon did a bicycle kick which hits at Haven’s face and broke the wall behind him, throwing him across the room. Haven crashed at a pile of wooden boxes, bringing injuries with it. “Is this all you can offer me? No fighting back? This is pathetic! It nearly costs me my life, hunting you down! And now, this is how you repay me? BY NOT BEING A WORTHY OPPONENT?!” said Ra Pon, his anger reaching its peak, yet still smiling. “Well, you didn’t give me a chance to hit you. How can I win if I don’t have a chance?” said Haven, wiping blood off of his chin. “Hmm… You’re right! If you don’t have a chance, then you’re not a worthy opponent! To make you worthy, I have to give you a chance! Well then, hit me in the face! I dare you!” said Ra Pon, wanting his face to be punched by Haven. Haven didn’t took ‘No’ as an answer and went straight to Ra Pon, punching him in the face with all of his strength. Ra Pon was thrown back outside, spinning uncontrollably and yet, he landed on his hind hooves. “Nice punch! You took out a tooth! I’m proud of you! Now, we can fight and kill each other!” praised Ra Pon, spitting out a broken tooth. Both Ra Pon and Haven lunged towards each other, each attacking with full of might, and their weapons clashed. And yet, the winner was… “Me! It’s me! I’m the winner! WAHOO!” Ra Pon cheered to himself. Haven was nailed on the floor, One of Ra Pon’s scythe being the nail and his shoulder was the wood. The scythe went through Haven’s right shoulder, dealing heavy damage and bleeding. Haven screamed in pain, fear and terror. “Oops! I almost forgot about you!” said Ra Pon, giggling afterwards. Ra Pon slowly walked to the dying Haven, his smile now larger than ever. He went to Haven and took hold of his scythe, but not removing it. “Killing you will be so much fun! I’ll probably get a promotion! Yes, a promotion! A promotion from the boss!” said Ra Pon. “The boss?! You mean, you’re not the top?! You’re not the leader?!” asked Haven, still in pain. “That’s right! I’m not the top! The top is somepony else! The top is the Inspector! He knows things! He sees things! And best of all, he’s the strongest of them all!” said Ra Pon. Ra Pon moved his scythe a bit, which made Haven scream in pain. “Now you’ll see why I’m superior and you’re not! Why I’m the best and you’re the worst! Why I will win and you will lose! You think I’m gonna kill you like that?! NO! I’ll let you feel pain first! Cause you have no idea what pain is…” Ra Pon slowly pulled his scythe to the side, forcing it to move while Haven screams in pain.“STOP IT! DON’T DO IT! YOU’LL RIP IT OFF!” shrieked Haven. “That’s what I’m planning to do.” Ra Pon then did a last pull, and ripped Haven’s right hoof off, leaving Haven with only one hoof. Haven looked at his amputated hoof, his face fear of death. Knowing that he couldn’t survive anymore, Haven did one last trick. “Got any last words before I take your head as a trophy?” asked Ra Pon. “Yeah, I got one.” said Haven before he pressed a pressure plate. Suddenly, a pair of spinning blades came out of the ground and went straight to Haven and Ra Pon. Before Ra Pon could react, the spinning blades we’re already to close and… SWISH! The spinning blades sliced Ra Pon into two pieces, the upper torso and the legs. Haven lay down quickly, dodging the spinning blades. The spinning blades then reaches the end of its tracks, going back down into the ground and resetting. Haven lifted his head and saw the body of his rival. Ra Pon, currently dead, his body now in two pieces, lifeless and cold. “It’s finally over…” said Haven in relief. Haven walked, dragging his body, across the road back to the entrance. He walked with his two hind legs only, his left hoof holding the bleeding shoulder that once held his right one. He left his amputated right hoof back with what was left of Ra Pon. He was bleeding heavily and was dying need of new blood. Haven managed to reach the entrance but as he did, he fainted behind a broken stone pillar. He was scared to die, scared to be alone, and scared of the dark. His vision blurred and before he knew it, he was lost, and he was dying. “So, you did die after all!” said Saddy. “Umm… Dude, he is not dead. He’s driving the jeep.” Indigo replied. “That’s right. I’m not dead. When I woke up, all I knew is that I was alive and the bodies of the Pinkies and Ra Pon was gone. I also found out that I had a new hoof. And it was this cybernetic one.” said Haven, flexing his robotic hoof while driving. “So wait, you have no idea where that hoof came from? It just came to you and stuck itself into place?” Saddy asked. “Yeah, I guess so. I still have no idea but I don’t want to go back to Veteris Crystal Imperii. That place scares me now. I think I might have achluophobia.” said Haven. “What’s achluophobia?” asked Indigo. “It means extreme fear of darkness. I guess going through the most horrible time of your life in a dark place gives you that.” replied Saddy. “Yeah, I guess it does.” said Haven. They kept on driving for more than an hour until the jeep went to a complete stop. Indigo, who was lying on the back seat, tumbled down under the seats of the front. Saddy, who was sleeping with his eyes barely closed, was woken up in a startling way. “Dude! What the heck?! I fell down under the seats! It was hard to get out, you know.” said Indigo in an angry manner. “Um what?! Huh?! Who am I?!... Oh wait, I’m still me. That was a good nap. Also, why did you stop suddenly like that?” asked Saddy. Haven stepped out of the jeep and looked down from the steep cliff in front of them. His glare was emotionless but then, he smiled a little. “We’re here. Welcome to Appleloosa.” said Haven, pointing at a town below. Author's Note Finally it is done! Wow! This took longer than expected. ~~Even though the summary I wrote was small page long.~~ I'm not quite happy with this work, though. I kinda rushed a bit at the end, but at least it all worked out! I'm gonna tell you this truthfully. I'll won't be able to update this fanfic for a month (or less). I'll be going on vacation to England and Paris for 2 weeks so, don't expect any updates! Also, I'd like to introduce you to Haven's backstory! With a new character, Ra Pon! The psychotic maniac! Based on Derpibooru's Ponyra (who in the thread actually did chase me). And yes, Haven has a rcybernetic hoof. Just imagine Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist but instead, more cybernetic and shiny. So, hope this gets your hopes up cause I am not dead! Just busy! Edited again!!
StartThere was silence in the air. The trio AKA Saddy, Indigo and Haven, drove their reinforced jeep towards the broken town, which is now a refugee camp, known as Appleloosa, through the hot and sandy desert. The engine, which is a CDC, shines brightly like daylight and emitted laser-like sounds. Closer they drove, Indigo and Saddy started to get cautious, sweat poured through their faces, gulping down their saliva, wondering what we’re to happen next. The driver, Haven, drove to the gate of Appleloosa calmly, like he wasn’t worried of what we’re to happen. His face though, was not showing happiness, but instead, he was unsure but wasn’t scared, just unsure, like he knew what was to happen. He drove at a steady 30 km/h, going straight to the gate. As the trio reached Appleloosa’s entrance, they stopped. The we’re blocked by a large metal gate, made of barbed wire and some parts we’re covered by wooden planks and metal plates. The gate was connected with a link of fences, which is then connected to a wall made of old cars and trucks, welded and nailed together. A guard showed up from the other side of the gate, a unicorn, holding a StG 44, his face covered by a gas mask and wearing torn pieces of clothing. He pointed his gun at Saddy, the laser sight going straight between his eyes. Saddy, unsure what was happening, lifted his hooves up high, screaming to stop. “Stop! Stop! STOP! I’m not a bad guy! Please don’t shoot me!” The guard went forward to the trio, still staying behind gate as his only line of defense. “Identify yourself.” “Umm…” Saddy couldn’t answer. He was too deep in shock that he forgot his own name. More guards came by, still behind the gate. Some wore gas masks, while others wore bandanas around their faces or a party mask, made of simple paper. “I said, identify yourself!” The guards all pointed their guns at the trio, some having semi-automatic rifles with laser sights while others just a simple pistol, like a glock or a Desert Eagle. Indigo leaped onto Saddy’s hooves, both shaking like a pair of wet cats, coming out of a cold bath. They even had tears around their eyes, believing they might actually die before they even started a life as a somepony. Haven stood up from his seat, lifted his hoof in front of Saddy and Indigo. “Stand down, soldier. In case you know what’s good for ya.” The soldiers looked at Haven, examining his face. They then leaned back in shock, surprised to see a face they believed to have been forgotten. “Oh my… Open the gate! NOW!” the guard ordered. The others obeyed their commanding officer with no second thoughts, rushing up through a set of stairs and pulled a rusty, old metal pipe which was transformed into a lever. The gate slowly rises, gears cranked and chains moved. “Sit down, both of you. I think we’re going to have a warm welcome.” Saddy and Indigo didn’t have to be told twice for that. Haven drove the jeep slowly, not wanting to rush as they moved straight through the road, which on each side has a giant wall, about 20-feet tall. There, ponies, of all different colours and species, watched over them from the top of the walls, blinking and surprised. Saddy, thinking about fainting from all of this attention, started weeping and hugging Indigo tightly, who was choking from Saddy’s incredible hugging muscles. The jeep kept on moving slowly, not going faster or slower, as Haven drove it with one hoof out the window. He didn’t care about the ponies watching. He just kept on driving like it was nopony’s business. Finally, they reached the end of the road into the town centre. Haven parked the jeep just under a flagpole, holding the last known Equestria National Flag. The flag, blowing in the wind of the desert, being the last beacon of hope for the citizens of Equestria. Still though, the ponies kept on looking at them, each with a different expression. “I don’t like how they look at us… I’m not used to this much attention…” Saddy, who was still choking Indigo by his hug power, moved his head left and right, looking at all of the ponies watching them. Indigo managed to break free by moving his hoof under Saddy’s hug muscles and screamed as he exploded in strength, much to Haven’s delight. Saddy was knocked to the jeep’s door, his head bleeding again, but that didn’t stop Indigo slapping the living soul out of Saddy for hugging him to near death. “You idiot! You nearly killed me with those hug muscles of yours! Seriously, who hugs like that?! You don’t hug ponies in fear till they choke to death, you little son of a homosexual griffon!” Suddenly, a pony started to clap their hooves, and more started to do the same, followed by cheers and a pony fainting with white bubbles coming out of his mouth. Haven walked out of the jeep, dragging both the bleeding Saddy and the not-choking-for-air Indigo out of the worked-up vehicle. “See, nothing to worry about-“ A pony came from the sky (which is actually, just the top of the walls), falling in style, but crash landed at a fruit stall. A couple of silent minutes went by… “What the heck just happened?” Saddy said, still confused of the pony who just jumped off a 20-feet tall wall onto a fruit stall, currently still there, not moving. Suddenly, the pony jumped out of the broken piles of wood and fruit, which still failed to land properly, but recovered 3 seconds afterwards with a smirk in his face. But that smirk quickly disappeared, his eyes we’re locked to the trio and now, his face has a frown instead. Saddy looked at him back, examining his bleeding face (probably from the fall), his tattered clothes, his bottle of not-so-expensive alcohol, and the long mane he has that hides his eyes. “You shouldn’t have come back, Haven. You should’ve stayed dead.” “Umm… Haven… What is he talking about?” Saddy gave Haven a suspicious look. “Don’t worry… I’ll handle it.” Haven walked towards the drunk stallion, his face emotionless while the drunk one’s face was filled with anger. As they reached close to each other, Haven started a conversation. “Nice to see you again, Cotto-“ BAM! Haven was punched right in the face, throwing him right to Saddy and Indigo. They both caught Haven as he fell, but was thrown back a little as well. Haven stood back up, walking calmly towards the drunk pony. The pony punched him again, but this time, he wasn’t thrown back like before. Again, and again and again, the drunkard gave Haven a barrage of punches. Haven kept on standing still, keeping his ground. “Dude! Fight back! You’re getting pummeled out there!” Saddy ran towards the drunk pony, but was stopped by Haven. “No! This is not your fight!” Saddy stood there, unable to help his friend, who was being beaten countless times. Bruises started to show on Haven’s face, bloody nose and hoof marks as well. But Haven didn’t fight back. The drunkard gave Haven the strong punch, which easily threw Haven onto the ground, his back leaned on the dirt floor. Haven breathed heavily, exhausted and hurt from all those punches. He had a black eye, hoof marks on his cheeks and forehead, a bloody nose , even bruises but not just on his face, on his body as well. Saddy and Indigo quickly ran towards the beaten Haven, but the drunkard reached him first. The drunkard, who was a unicorn, used his horn and made a barrier around him and Haven, blocking Saddy and Indigo from reaching their friend. The drunkard then kept on punching him nonstop, gritting his teeth in anger. “Oh man! This is bad! If the drunkard keeps on punching him like this, he might die from internal bleeding and brain damage!” The punches went on until… Suddenly, orange spikes came out of the ground, shattering the shield like glass and making a border between Haven and the drunkard. The spikes then surrounded the drunkard, creating an orange, indestructible jail. The drunkard tried his best to break the spikes, but to no avail. “LET ME OUT! LET ME KILL THAT BASTARD OF A PONY!” “Stop it, commander. You’re not getting anywhere by beating him to death.” a feminine voice answered. Saddy heard exactly what the voice said, and asked himself. “Wait, commander? Did she said commander?” The drunkard kept on struggling to get free, but eventually, he gave up. The spikes slowly entered the ground once more, but the border between him and Haven was still intact. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” It was the feminine voice again. But this time, she showed herself from the shadows, the last of the spikes disappeared in her presence. The drunkard made a “Hmph!” sound and left the scene. Haven was then taken by some ponies wearing medical masks into the town. While that happened, Saddy was surprised to see her, while Indigo was drooling instead. “I’m sorry for that. My name is Carrot Top. Usually, ponies around here call me General Carrot Top. Welcome to the Resistance.” The mare, Carrot Top, was a regular Earth pony. She had an orange mane with a coat of a lighter orange colour. Her mane had a large curl at the front, while having smaller curls at the back. She wore a yellow sweater with a pink butterfly mark on its shoulder, probably taken from some other dead pony, and a pair of tight black pants, covering her cutie mark. As Saddy was still examining her, Indigo slapped him at the back of his head, snapping him out of his focus. “Dude, stop looking at her like that! That’s like, wrong!” Carrot Top gave a small giggle. Indigo trotted towards Carrot Top, his chest up high, wings folded and tried walking like a noble would. “Nice to meet you, General Carrot Top. My name is Indigo and I work out 7 hours a day, like romantic and comedy movies, loves eating spaghetti with a mate under the moonlight with a romantic Italian song and is willing to do anything for my mate. Also, my wings are blades.” Indigo said, giving a seductive-like face afterwards. “I’m sorry, Indigo is it? But I’m not looking for a relationship right now. We are at war, and I don’t want to fail my role as the leading commander of this army.” her face unamused by Indigo’s introduction. “Anyway… what’s your name? And please don’t give a flirting introduction like he did.” “Umm… My name is Saddy, and I’m supposedly his best friend.” “Nice to meet you, Saddy. I see that you we’re well acquainted with one of my top commanders of my army. You know, Haven?” “Wait, did you say Haven is one of your top commanders? Just like that drunkard who beaten the crap of him?!” “Yeah, just like that…” Carrot Top was embarrassed of what her two commanders had just did. Indeed, that wasn’t the kind of image she wanted to give to any new recruits. “Anyway… My army need some new recruits. Do want to work for what’s left of Equestria? We need some potential youngsters like you.” “Work for an army? Well, I never knew th-“ “We’ll do it! With 100% commitment as well! Free of charge!” Indigo interrupted Saddy, making the decision without his contribution. “Good! One of my commanders will see you tomorrow, so get ready by 7:00 a.m., sharp! One of my men will call you at your rooms. So, I’ll be seeing you later.” Carrot Top then left the town centre in a hurry, guards following her from the back (after all, she is the leading commander), and the crowd dispersed, going back to their regular lives. A pony came towards the duo, introducing himself with a big smile, which scared Indigo. “Hello! My name is Rothiel Hynames! But ponies usually call me Rothy! You must be new here! Cause I’ve never seen you here before! Did you see that fight?! It was awesome, wasn’t it?! But it wasn’t fair since Commander Judge Haven didn’t fight back! So it was boring! I hate watching boring fights! It’s like baking a cake without eggs! And ponies eat eggs! I wonder why ponies eat eggs?! I mean, it’s so weird! And I like eggs as well! But we don’t have eggs here though! Cause we don’t have chickens! I wish we had chickens! Then we can have eggs! And eggs are really good! You can make omelets, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, eggs and hay bacon strips, eggs in a cup, egg tarts, egg sandwiches, eggnog, frittatas, egg burgers, boiled eggs, half-boiled eggs, raw eggs, French toast (obviously made of eggs), egg muffins, egg salad, egg casserole, egg burritos, egg spaghetti, quiches, egg pizzas, egg tacos, meatloaf with eggs, and much, much more! Isn’t eggs great?! I wish we had eggs! But if we had one, we would let it hatch! And make chickens! And chickens make eggs! Or is it eggs that make chickens?! Which came first, the chicken or the egg?!” Rothy took a quick breath. “Also, do you like pie?” “Ok… Umm… I don’t even remember what pie tastes like. Also, did you say meatloaf? What’s meatloaf?” “Oops! I said too much! Never mind! Sorry! Let me show you around!” They followed Rothy around the refugee camp, but he prefers to call it a town, even though half of it is destroyed. They met with many residents there, from the lowest of class to the highest of ranks. In short, they met a lot of ponies. They learned that the ponies here aren’t all soldiers or refugees, there are also the natives and those from outside of Equestria itself, including dragons and griffons. Appleloosa was a town. A home. A loving home with a community. The residents here work together to survive the harsh and cold world. And they’re willing to give up their lives to protect what was left of their homes. Rothy showed them around their new home, introducing them to all of the ponies that they needed to know. Even the ones that are just there for drinks. After they met with all of the residents that are important, Rothy showed them to their rooms and gave them a small test, to see if they remembered all of the ones he introduced. “OK! Question 1, who takes care of all of the weapons and ammo?” “Night Fossil. The crazy archeologist who is obsessed with Princess Twilight.” “Good! Next question, who takes care of the food rations?” “Jack Lantern. He’s a stallion, but looks like a mare. And I should not have wet dreams about him.” “And?...” “Oh! Watermelon Rat! He that guy with buck teeth and wears that worn-out watermelon costume. I still think he’s gay.” “Well, he’s not. He’s just a bit cookoo in the noggin. Third question, who is the top commander?” “Carro- I mean, General Carrot Top.” “A very hot and sexy general too…” “Dude, you got problems.” “Ok, that was weird. Now, who are the commanders under her?” “It’s the three commanders, Judge Haven, Roboshi and Cotton Tales.” “Fourth question. If you get shot or bitten, who do you meet first?” “Brother Hurt, and she is a mare, not a colt. Her name is so confusing.” “How many sections are there in Appleloosa?” “Five! There is the Sky Section, where the commanding officers live, the Mountain Section, where the others live, the Farm Section, where the farming and marketing takes place, the Desert Section, where the soldiers live, and finally the Jungle Section, where the griffons and dragons live.” Rothy did a slow clap, hugging them afterwards. He even let out some happy tears, which felt awkward to Saddy and Indigo. “I’m so proud of you guys! I never had apprentices before! And you did quite well too!” “Umm… Dude, we not your apprentices, and all you did was introduce us to some other ponies as weird as you.” “I know! Isn’t it beautiful?!” Rothy, still crying and proud, let go of them and happily gave them a salute. He smiled at them, which they smiled back. He turned around and just before he left, he gave them this advice. “Remember, if you need to know anything about anything, just find me at the library. I check on everything around here, and the library is full of quills and paper for me to use. Good luck tomorrow, soldiers.” Rothy left afterwards. “Wow, that guy was weird, wasn’t he?” “Well, according to him, a lot of ponies here are weird. Not to mention the asylum they have at the other side of town.” Saddy and Indigo looked at their new room. They we’re roommates after all. It was a small room, with two metal-framed beds, one close to the door while ther other at the right corner, each having only a worn-out pillow, what’s left of a blanket, and a bouncy mattress that looks like the springs can break free at any moment. There we’re no windows, just one door to get out. There we’re two cupboards and a drawer, all three we’re still in good condition. There was a table lamp on the left cupboard, where the closer bed is, and a wall fan on the left corner. The wallpaper in the room was torn and scratched, the ceiling lamp was blinking continuously, and the room right next to theirs has a very loud radio. But they didn’t mind. They we’re just happy to get here alive and have a place to call home. “Dibs on the corner bed!” Indigo leaped onto his new, yet old, bed while bouncing on it a little. Saddy sat on his bed, which was closer to the door, adjusting himself to find a comfortable spot. He fluffed his pillow, grabbed his blanket and went straight to sleep. Indigo, on the other hoof, just lied on his bed, smiling with his mouth open. “Good night, Indigo. Have a pleasant sleep.” “Good night, Saddy. Make sure you kill those Pinkies in your nightmares.” The duo went to sleep, with smiles on their faces, happy of their new home. They couldn’t wait for tomorrow, where they will start their lives as soldiers, working for the Resistance. It was a very exciting day for them, and they we’re ready for the next. They slept without a sound to be heard. Well, that lasted for only a few seconds. “Saddy… Hey, Saddy… Wake up… I need to pee…” Even though that was just a whisper, it woke Saddy up anyway. “Go outside of our room, turn left and keep going straight. You can’t miss it.” Indigo hurried to the toilet, which was farther than he expected. It was a new day at Appleloosa. The birds were chirping, the chickens, which were brought back by the scouting team last night, coukoo’d at the top of their lungs, waking up almost half of the residents there. Saddy and Indigo we’re one of them. Saddy was woken up in surprise, falling of his bed, straggled by his own blanket, breaking free afterwards. Indigo was a lot worst. He was frighten out of his mind that his coat turned white and he jumped to the ceiling, clinging on it. Indigo even made hissing sounds. When they were fully awake (and Indigo was off the ceiling), they rushed to the bath house, went back to their room since they forgot to bring their clothes with them, rushed back to the bath house, and went on scrubbing each other’s back. After they were done, they went back to their room and grabbed their necessary stuff. Saddy took his glock and some extra ammo, while Indigo took his wing blades, sharpening it afterwards. They left the barracks and ran as fast as they could to the training centre. While on their way there, they took their food rations from Jack Lantern on the go, said hi to few other ponies and rested on a bench halfway. As they reached the training centre, the leaped through the door, only to be hit by something hard on the back of their heads, pummeling them onto the ceramic floor. Their heads were now planted into the ground. “You’re late, newbies. And that was just a little punishment for newbies who came late on their first day. Once you’re used to it, the punishment is different.” Saddy and Indigo lifted their heads, spitted out the soil they were ‘forced’ to eat, and wiped the dirt from their faces. They looked at their attacker, their faces un amused. It was the drunk unicorn from yesterday, who ruthlessly beat Haven in a duel (well, half of a duel since Haven didn’t fight back). And according to General Carrot Top and tour guide Rothy, he was one of the three commanders who take care of Appleloosa. That means, no one, but General Starly and the other two commanders, has the right to argue with him. Which also means, Saddy and Indigo had to keep their mouths shut. Though, today, he wasn’t drunk anymore. In fact, he looks a lot better than before. He was a pegasus, had a yellow coat and a blue mane. He styled his mane into a short afro, his tail is puffy like a bunny’s tail, and he’s wearing decent clothing for once. It was just a simple black biker’s jacket, but at least he’s not naked (even though ponies don’t usually wear clothes). He had a mean glare that seemed to have looked into their souls, which scared both of them a lot. He doesn’t have a cutie mark, which Saddy found odd for a stallion of his age not having a cutie mark. “Are you two just going to lie there all day or are you here for training? I don’t usually train newbies but since I got a recommendation letter from Starly, I suppose that you’re under my responsibility.” Saddy and Indigo stood up quickly, cleaned themselves and followed him to the training centre. There, they saw other ponies, not just them, standing in line. They stood straight, scared and quite frightened. Indigo leaned to Saddy, whispering his opinion. “I don’t like this guy… Those ponies look scared and I don’t see the problem of us being scared.” “Chill out, dude. It probably won’t be so bad.” “Says the pony who was afraid of a garage.” “I thought there we’re cannibals in it.” “Well, there weren’t. Just a commander who punched me out cold.” Saddy and Indigo stood in line with the other ponies, their chests up high and their spines straight like a pole. The commander walked across the line of ponies, in front of them and inspected everyone in the line. He looked carefully at each one, his face angry-like, and stopped at one of them. He sniffed at the mare, looking closely at her, and licked her chest (which gave Indigo a wing boner), making the mare blush. “You we’re eating while I was at the door, weren’t you?...” He looked at the mare in the eyes, a drop of sweat fell from her face, until… “OK! I DID EAT! I’M SO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!” The mare was on her knees, crying and sobbing, tears flowed through her face like a river in a storm. She rolled around the floor, still crying, like her mind just broke from stress. The others wanted to comfort her, but they were too afraid of the commander. He stopped the inspection there, and introduced himself afterwards. “My name is Cotton Tales. But you may only and I mean ONLY call me Commander Cotton Tales. I am your trainer for today and any other day I am not busy to train you to survive what’s left of your stupid and pitiful lives. You’ll be listening to me from now on, since you’re all worthless and they give worthless ponies like you to me so I can make you LESS WORTHLESS. Even though I doubt that half of you won’t survive, I’ll still visit your grave afterwards. And for today’s exercise on making you less worthless, I’ll be gi- WHAT IS THAT CRUNCHING SOUND?!” He looked at the farthest in the row, which was where Saddy and Indigo were at. He walked in a firm stance, and as he reached there, he looked at Indigo, who was looking the other way and eating some potato chips from a bag. He kept on glaring at Indigo, who didn’t notice him, his face getting redder by the minute. Saddy whispered at Indigo, trying to avoid getting attention from the annoyed commander. “Pss… Hey dude… Pss… He’s right behind you.” “Whro’ze whright behrind mhe?” Indigo kept on eating his chips. “The commander…” Indigo was silent. He took his last bite, frightened by Saddy’s words. He slowly looked behind himself and saw the commander, glaring into his soul. Indigo dropped his bag of potato chips, his face more scared than ever. He lifted his hoof in respond, but fainted afterwards. “Urgh… I can’t believe he’s on my trainee list.” Cotton made a facehoof. Cotton Tales then looked at the pony beside Indigo, which expectedly, was Saddy. “You! You’re in charge of him until he wakes up. We’re going to do the training anyway, and you’ll be doing it TWICE to fill his role.” “WHAT?!” “Don’t argue with me! It’s his fault for eating during my speech! And for the punishment, you’ll also be doing his punishment as well. Or until he wakes up.” Cotton Tales moved to a different room, followed by a line of other ponies and the crying mare was still sobbing on the floor. Indigo, still out cold, was shook by Saddy, who was desperately trying to wake him up. “WAKE UP DUDE! WAKE UP! I DON’T WANT TO DO ALL YOUR TRAINING! THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Saddy ran towards the mind-broken mare, and asked her for something. “Can I borrow some of your tears?” Afterwards, he went back to Indigo, still out cold, with a bucket of tears from the mare, who was still crying and rolling. He looked at the fainted Indigo, who now looks like he was sleeping. Saddy poured the bucket of tears and the bucket itself of Indigo’s face, which managed to wake up Indigo. “Huh?! What?! Slendermane! Wait, what?” “You were out cold. Now let’s go! They probably already started the training without us!” The duo ran as fast as they could to the other room, leaving the sobbing mare behind. As they entered the other room, they kept on running that they ran into a deep abyss, in which Indigo had to save Saddy. Saddy, even though was already saved, screamed is fear. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” “Don’t worry, dude! I got you! Stop moving a lot!” Indigo landed Saddy back at the entrance of the room, while he sat next to Saddy. Saddy, breathing rapidly, tried to calm himself down. He grasped on as much as air as possible, only to scream again after seeing Cotton Tales. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” “Dude, what’s wrong?! Is it about the comman- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” “What? Is there something on my face?” “YOU’RE A CHANGELING!” “Huh, I guess I am.” Commander Cotton Tales was actually a changeling. As he reverted back to his changeling form, he had a different look. His coat was dark and black, his eyes were blue, his entire body was full of holes, his skin was hard as chitin, and he has fangs that look like it can punch a hole in any piece of metal. He also had red lines from his eyes to his chin, which wasn’t something usual from a changeling. Awkwardly, it seems that clothing isn’t part of the transformation process, since he still has his biker jacket. He looked at the frightened duo, waving his hoof in front of them. “I didn’t break your brains, did I? Cause if I did, that’s a lot of paperwork to fill.” “How come you didn’t tell us that you’re a changeling?!” “It was kinda obvious. Remember yesterday? Now compare it with today.” “Oh… I guess that explains why you were a unicorn yesterday and today, you’re a pegasus.” “Exactly. Now welcome to Hell, ladies.” Cotton Tales pointed at the training grounds the centre had. 'Hell' was a long labyrinth, stretching like a maze. Monsters and unspeakable horrors lie in the labyrinth, ready to kill anyone and anything that dare cross their paths. According to Rothy, the labyrinth is filled with beasts from cockatrices, manticores, meat-eating plants and much more. It's like a mini Everfree, but ten times more dangerous. “Ok, since I already explained the rules, I don’t have to explain it again. Remember, this is NOT a race. You have about an hour to finish it, and I don’t care who finishes it first. Since this is your first day, I expect that you’ll fail anyway. Before we start, who wants to take the punishment instead of the test?” Four ponies raised their hooves. Saddy wanted to raise his hoof as well, but was stopped by Indigo. “Urgh… Why are there always sissies like you? Get out of here!” The four ponies left the room to the other one, where a very strict instructor punishes them for giving up too easily. Meanwhile, the other ten were ready for their test. Some of them stretched, like Indigo did, while others breathed heavily, panicking and sweating furiously, like Saddy. Cotton Tales left the abyss and instead, watched the trainees from outside. With him, watching from there, was General Carrot Top, some other ponies who were just walking by, the medical team who were always ready, and a bandaged Haven, standing there with the help of a pair of underarm crutches. There, he held a rusty revolver with him, using it as a starter gun. He raised his starter gun up high, pointing it to the sky. “READY! GET SET! GO TO HELL!” That last sentence made Saddy to think twice about this obstacle course, but it was too late for him anyway. The trigger was pulled and the bullet had left the barrel of the revolver, breaking the sound barrier. Unfortunately, since there were no blank bullets, Cotton Tales had to use real bullets, which then shot a flying raven, looking for food. The raven plummeted to its death, landing exactly on Haven’s injured head, knocking him unconscious. Medical ponies came to his side, lifting his body back to the emergency room, due to the raven made his bandaged head bleed again. “Damn, that never happened before. Oh well!” Cotton Tales smirked. And then, they were off. Each of them left the starting line at incredible speeds at the same time (except for Indigo, who was still stretching), conquering the first few obstacles and choosing the right paths. The crowd was surprised to the new recruits going through the obstacle course with confidence and skill. Even the commander and the general were impressed by the trainees’ skill and confidence. “You know, the ponies that came with Haven are quite unique. One of them has no memory of his past, while the other is a very skilled pegasus.” “So what? You like them now? I still think Haven was a traitor.” “You used the word ‘was’. That means that one day, you’ll be able to trust him again.” Cotton Tales stood silent for a few minutes, before replying General Carrot Top’s statement. “Yeah, I guess I might. Anyway, how did you know that one of them has amnesia?” “I have my sources. Besides, it’s kinda his job to tell me everything that happens around here.” Cotton Tales nodded as Carrot Top ended their conversation. Meanwhile, the crowd kept on cheering wildly, since watching recruits go through ‘Hell’, or so that’s what they call it, was a rare occasion. Usually, the course was only given for the Special Forces, which the members were handpicked by the commanders and general only. The cheers kept on non-stop. It was so loud, the citizens outside could hear it. But that only last for 7 and a half minutes, until they were all defeated by the impossible course. Saddy, Indigo and the other seven had fallen. They were all on the floor, unconscious and breathing heavily. All of them either had bloody bruises or broken bones, some even had both. The medical team, who was waiting at the top of the course, got in and pulled multiple stretchers, lifting each of the contestants onto it. They brought the injured contestants to the hospital as quickly as possible, wanting to avoid wasting time. Each of them was put in different surgery rooms, with specialists ready for work. Saddy was on the operation table. The bleeding on his head had become worse, he had several broken ribs, wounds covered his entire body, and the lightning shock from the 7th obstacle didn’t do him any good. The specialists went straight to work, doing their best to save the recruits’ life. Meanwhile, the crowd had surrounded the front entrance of the hospital, praying and wishing for the safety of the recruits who just went through ‘Hell’, and luckily will live through the day. “Do you think any of them will survive?” Carrot Top asked the commander. “I think they’ll do fine… Besides, I’ve had worst and that wasn’t even training.” “You both did. Haven and you.” “…” A few hours had passed, and all the contestants are doing quite well. Most of have woken up from their coma, and are happy. Saddy, who was the last to wake up, felt disoriented but relieved. He woke up on a hospital bed, his left side next to a window, while on his right was Indigo trying desperately to chew some icky, green junk which the hospital calls ‘food’. Saddy rubbed his forehead, still dizzy, and noticed that the wound on his head had disappeared. A door opened and entered, Haven. Unlike last time, he didn’t need crutches to aid him and the bandages around his torso had been taken off. Indigo didn’t notice Haven entering the room, even though Haven stole his piece of toast. He was too busy eating junk. Haven walked towards Saddy, took a chair and sat down next to him. He pulled the curtains, closing Saddy and Haven from the rest of the room. “How… How long was I out?” “About 12 hours or so.” Haven chewed his piece of toast. “So… I nearly died?” “Yeah, something like that. But we have specialists! So, going through a near-death experience is quite normal here.” “Really?..” Saddy said in a sarcastic tone. “Well, kinda.” It was silent for a minute or two. “Umm… Haven?” “Yeah?” “I don’t think I’m cutout for this line of work. And the only reason I’m here is because the general saw me with you. And from Rothy, I learned that anypony that was ‘suggested’ by a commander is part of the Special Forces.” Saddy gave out a small breath before continuing. “I wasn’t born to fight for an army. In fact, I don’t even know what I was born for!” Saddy looked down at his own two hooves. He wondered for some time already, and he is unsure of anything that’s happening. He just wished to live a happy life. Haven, who looked worried earlier, started to smile. He gave a small laugh before patting Saddy at the back. Saddy became confused on why Haven was happy. “Why are you laughing?” “I’m laughing at your depression! It fits your nickname perfectly!” “That’s the only reason you’re laughing? About my depression?!” Saddy used a harsh tone. He lifted his fist, wanting to punch Haven. But Haven replied before he could. “Of course not! Why would I do that? Why would anypony do that?” Saddy, more confused than before, lowered his fist, and calmed down. “I don’t get it. Then, why were you laughing?” Haven stopped laughing but kept smiling. He stared at Saddy, thinking of the right words before restarting the conversation. “Because you’re unsure. You don’t know why you were born for. Even if the answer is right in front of us.” Haven stood up, clutching his hooves together. “You, me, all of us, were born to exist. Our existence is then used to shape the very fate of the world, depending on which choice we make in our everyday lives. We learn from the experience we’ve had, and we do better than we did before. We grow into the world, become part of it, and leave it once more. But once we leave this world, all of our experiences, our skills, and our history, are left behind for other to use. We were born to learn from our mistakes, so that others won’t do the same. To exist, is to know why we are here. And from the looks of it, you’re fated to be part of this place, to be part of its history, to learn from its mistakes, so that it won’t be repeated. Now tell me, Saddy. Why are you here?” Saddy went quiet, his mouth partially opened. He never had thought of it that way, and never knew that Haven was that optimistic and far sighted. “Don’t worry, dude! I’m always there for you!” shouted Indigo for the other side of the curtain. “Wait, you heard everything? About what I said? About not knowing why I exist?” “Of course! Dude, I’m not deaf. And these curtains aren’t designed to be soundproof. But the point is that, we’re best buds! We look out for each other’s back! Heck, if I never met you, I’d probably went mad of loneliness, that I’d never reach Appleloosa!” Saddy blushed a little. “See… Indigo needed you that time. And you were there for him, even if you never knew him in the first place! Fate is a weird being. He tricks you on doing things wrongly, only for you to learn from it and hit Fate right in the face!” From Haven’s snicker, he continued. “My point is, even though you don’t know why you exist, other ponies know why you’re here. You’re here to help them, and that’s all that matters.” Haven ended his speech with a dramatic pause, and left the room. Indigo went back to chewing his dinner while Saddy sat in his bed, thinking of what Haven said. Curiosity had always been his ally but now, he felt like it’s now his enemy. He didn’t know what to think, but he knew what Haven meant. Fate is a bitch, aint it? Aferwards, his dinner came. It was just red beans and hay, with toast and the green stuff on the side. But he didn’t care anyway. Saddy went on, happily munching his food before going back to bed. Author's Note I hope you all were very patient. Cause here it is! With so many new characters, it's just hard to list them. Though, most of them are just background and supporting characters. I also changed my writing style ~~after receiving so many harsh criticism from other people out of Fimfiction~~, so it should be a lot better than the ones before. Also, Haven is a commander! And there are three others! And Carrot Top here is from Derpibooru btw. Not the MLP:FiM version, but the Derpibooru version. CRITICISM REQUIRED! P.s. The fic is currently on hiatus due to me being stopped by writer's block. So in the mean time, I'll be writing a short 1-chapter only fanfic here. ~~And it's gonna be silly~~ Updated it! Decided not to make really long descriptions on the course. Yes, it's called 'Hell'. So uncreative, huh?
