Chapter 18: Purgatory
Blau Streifen and Katja awoke with a gasp and panted heavily, unable to remember anything. “What happened?” The colt wondered.
“I don’t know. Is this…home?” Katja wondered as she looked around, noticing they were in a living room, looking very familiar to their house.
But the room was partially damaged, exposing them to the sky as the moon shined in. It was dark. Too dark for normal circumstances. Also, there was green fog everywhere.
Taking a look out of the window, they were confused and horrified.
Bodies of ponies and strangely, humans were littered outside, other buildings of Sunny Town were on fire and collapsed.
They both had no idea what had caused this, wincing as the scream of a female echoed in the distance.
Then a terrible groan greeted their ears and they saw in horror how all bodies on the street rose. The humans, they were all German soldiers, their flesh was rotten, their eyes glowed yellow, skin pale grey.
The ponies had all eyes completely red, coats black and grey, some bones were visible.
Both children started to remember the tombs in Africa, realizing what those humans and ponies were. “Zombies!” They exclaimed in shock but silenced themselves to avoid getting spotted by them.
Yet, it was scary and horrified to see undead ponies.
Blood Hooves.
A Mare's tale meant to scare young ones who wouldn’t behave, saying they were an evil pack of Ponies who did nothing but pray of the unfortunate ponies that happened to come across their path.
When they had found a victim they would kill, and eat their bodies down to the bone. After they were done, they would take their soul, twist it with evilness, and reconstruct their body into a new and undead one. When all was said and done, the victim would become a new Blood Hoof and would be doomed to wander the forest forever being cursed. No one knew exactly where the curse came from or why it even happened.
Set seeing them here proved they were real.
Some of the human Zombies wore gasmasks, others wore helmets, and some wore caps, while some Zombies had no headgear at all, but a knife in their head.
As weapons, they had meat hooks, flashlights, wrenches, and many other things.
Some of them even used Luger pistols and MP40s. However, the Zombies couldn’t use them effectively. They tended to wave them around and randomly pulled the trigger indiscriminately.
Then they, together with the undead ponies, started to feed on a body. The siblings couldn’t watch this and turned around, Blau gasped.
“Mommy!” He exclaimed as he saw a skeleton of a pony in the fireplace, his sister looked at it in shock.
“No…It can’t be…” she mumbled sad. They couldn’t tell why, but somehow, they knew it was their mother.
None of the two could imagine what had happened to her, who would do something like this?
Suddenly, a terrible groan came from it and they saw how the skeleton stood up with cracking bones, turning towards them.
“Mama…please…” Katja backed up with Blau as the Skeleton slowly stumbled towards them until they were trapped in a corner.
They hugged each other, knowing their life was about to end.
Slam! Crack!
“So sorry, Ruby. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.” A familiar voice said with sadness and they slowly opened their eyes.
“N-Nana?” Blau asked, seeing she had kicked the door open, the skeleton was a pile of bones.
The mare breathed heavily, looking at her grandchildren. “Are you hurt?”
“We-we're fine…” Katja stuttered.
“Good. Please…save yourself…” She said with regret in her voice.
“W-what?” Blau asked before Mitta vomited blood, grunting in pain.
She looked at them and her eyes slowly turned red, her coat decaying, slowly looking like one of the Blood Hooves. “Run!”
The siblings nodded and ran out of the door, ducking to avoid the strikes from the now alerted undead.
In their panic, they tripped over a root, yelping in pain as they hit the ground and crawled backward as the zombies closed in.
Then loud shots greeted their ears and they saw blood splattering from all zombie heads, falling to the ground.
Breathing heavily, they heard a voice asked, “Are you okay?”
Looking up, they saw it belonged to Fletcher, behind him were Escher, Hill and Christopher. The American was wearing forearm guards and shoulder pads, the German had a bloody bandage around his right leg, Hill one around his left arm.
“We-we’re fine…Where’s Dinky?” Blau asked, not seeing her anywhere.
“I’m afraid we have to still look for her,” Fletcher told with regret.
“What is happening?” Katja asked him confused.
“We don’t know exactly. The Nazis somehow found a way to invade and Equestria and we, together with the allies defended our land and as it looked grim, this all happened. We just made our way out of Canterlot and search for Dinky, as I located her not far from here.”
“We’ll keep you safe,” Konrad assured and they slowly nodded before another groan greeted their ears.
Mitta stumbled out of the house, now a full Blood Hoof too. Fletcher sighed and aimed for the head with his rifle and fired. Blood splattered and the mare fell dead to the ground, put out of her misery.
“Let’s move out, there’s nothing much we can do here.” Fletcher took the lead.
Katja and Blau looked briefly at her now dead grandmother, then followed the group. Their mother was also dead. They could only hope and pray Dinky, as well as their father, were still alive and not part of the undead.
A Thunderstorm ruled the sky as the group moved through the forest. Only now, the siblings noticed how Konrad and Christopher were also carrying scopes on their rifles, Hill carried a scoped Lee-Enfield, his Sten on his back.
A group of undead humans and ponies was in the distance, which the four soldiers took care of with clean headshots. The children took notice that the bodies disintegrated after a few seconds, and the way led to a large building, its name was on the roof, holes in some of the walls.
Glanders Gate Asylum.
Dinky awoke with a gasp at the sound of a drilling sound and screamed.
Looking around panting heavily, she was restrained on a dentist chair, blood on the ground and walls, she was in a room which looked like a Physician's office. The windows were barricaded.
Where am I?
She wondered and saw another bloody chair next to her. Again, the drilling sound came, echoing through the room, followed by a scream of a filly and Dinky’s eyes went small in horror as she recognized it. “T-To-Tootsie? No…”
“Seems clear.” A new voice entered her ears and she saw how Fletcher, Hill, Christopher and Escher walked in, followed by the siblings. “Dinky... You're okay. Thank Goodness.” Fletcher said relieved as freed her and she hugged him for comfort.
“What’s going on?” The little unicorn asked before a horrible groan greeted them.
Down the hallway came ponies in straitjackets, eyes completely red, coats black and grey, some bones were visible.
Behind them were German soldiers, their flesh was rotten, their eyes glowed yellow, skin pale grey.
Dinky could just stare, she hadn’t seen anything like this ever before.
Without hesitation, Fletcher and his three friends opened fire, taking them out before they could get close. “Move, stay behind us, children!”
They hadn’t to be told twice, following the stallion and men, seeing how they fought wave and wave of those strange humans and ponies before reaching a Power Room. Fletcher saw the switch, held by a cut off hoof and he switched it.
A large horde of ponies and humans approached but they got all zapped by bolts of lightning, and a door leading outside opened.
Dinky let out a sigh. “It’s over.”
“No. It ain’t over. This is just the beginning.” Fletcher replied as they went outside and explained everything.
The filly just blinked at all the information. The Undead? Blood Hooves? She had only heard the latter was a tale to scare naughty foals. It scared her to see them real, but also hoped her parents and friends were okay.
Just outside was a small house, a smile drawn on it and they all entered. It contained ammo, a safe house the kids realized.
Dinky froze as she saw a dead pony in a chair next to a table, covered in blood. “Daddy! NO!” She yelled and started to cry, not able to believe he was dead.
Again, Fletcher gave her a hug, together with the siblings. “I’m sorry, Dinky. We need to get you out of here...It's what he would have wanted.” He said before the radio buzzed.
“I won’t give up! I’m going to get help for you, Doctor! There’s an antenna on the hill which we can use to send a signal for assistance. I promise you I’ll be back. I love you, Doctor.” It was Derpy’s voice.
The filly took a deep breath, realizing Fletcher was right. “R-Right…” She stuttered and looked the body of her father again.
It looked like he had committed suicide. Was it because he couldn’t prevent this? Or because he allowed Derpy to go, instead of himself? She would never know.
The other door led to the back of graveyard and Fletcher saw the glint of a scope in the distance. “Watch out!” He yelled and pushed Dinky out of the way as a sniper shot was fired, hearing an echoing angry grunt of disappointment.
Looking through the scope, the stallion saw a Sniper that wore a gas mask with green goggles and a lighter colored jacket. Fletcher pulled the trigger, scoring a shot right through the scope.
A clattering sound greeted everyone’s ears and they saw how a Tiger tank crashed through the wall of the church on the other side and came to a stop with a broken track, the turret pointing downwards.
William let out a cry of pain as a bullet grazed him and laughter echoed in the distance, Fletcher looked into its origin and saw another sniper. This one jumped from vantage point to vantage point but left a green trail, making it easy for Fletcher to track it and took aim again.
He saw through his cope that this sniper was a female unicorn Blood Hoof and he recognized her from the body build, weighty.
Blue Murder. A loving and caring mother, having gone on the wrong side to protect her son. A part of him had respect for her. Exhaling, he fired and his bullet went right through her left eye, killing her for good. He could only hope the mare had found peace and that her son was still alive.
The group then moved into the half intact church and got upstairs for a better view before a loud groan echoed through the graveyard and they saw ponies and humans rising from the graves.
The four snipers opened fire, with the kids watching in horror as they fought off wave after wave from entering, and a loud scream greeted their ears. “Tötet Sie!”
Dinky’s, Katja’s and Blau’s eyes went small as they noticed a screaming Zombie running from the back of the others towards the church. He was glowing red, wore a headband and was holding a grenade in his right hand, in addition to dynamite on his belt.
A Suicide Bomber.
Konrad seemed to notice this and shot this undead right through the chest with his rifle. The Zombie fell to the ground and exploded in the middle of other undead moments later. Some of the undead lost their heads, stumbling around before falling dead to the ground, the same happened with some who had lost their limbs in the explosion.
It also cleared most of the horde, the stragglers were finished off with clear headshots and the Eternal knight pointed to a trench system on the other side.
At the end of it was the next safe house. “I’ve made it this far. There’s no going back now. I can’t imagine how much pain Doctor must be in At least he’s safe back there. We will make it through this. In my heart I know this. Doctor is strong. And his faith gives me strength.” Derpy’s voice sounded through a radio as the soldiers stocked up on ammo.
Yet, it pained Dinky that her mother didn’t know that her husband was dead before they moved on.
As they got to the next line of trenches, they all saw Skeletons fused into the walls, before they let out terrible groans and cracking noises, they got lose.
Dinky saw that their hearts were glowing and Fletcher fired a shot from the distance at it. The moment it was it, the skeleton fell into a pile of bones. “Aim for their hearts! It seems to be their weak spot!” The filly exclaimed and shot a spell at another Skeleton in the distance, having the same result.
Despite this, two of them managed to get close to the siblings, Katja kicked one, her brother did a standard buck attack instead, it had the same result as a shot to the heart. This pleased the children, knowing they help against the undead that way.
The trenches led to a closed gate, a group of both kinds of undead banged against it in an attempt to open it, succeeding but Konrad was quick on the draw.
“Grenade!” He yelled as he threw one into the middle of the groups. The explosion took both out nicely, only a few headless remained, dying after a few seconds.
They came to a train cart, converted into a safe house. “I don’t think I’m going to make it…” Derpy could be heard gasping through the radio. “I’m losing a lot of blood. I don’t want to die alone out here…” She coughed, “Doctor…I should have never left him…” She coughed again. “I must…” Another gasp, “push on to the antenna…” A second cough. “…For Doctor!”
Dinky looked to the ground. By the sounds, it was very likely her mother would die before making it. She wanted to sob, but knew she had to stay strong, she couldn’t have left her mother’s attempt in vain.
Walking outside, they came to a railway station near a river, a pier was connected to it. The radio was just at the end of the pier, but no sign of Derpy.
“Stay inside the house, I got a bad feeling about this,” Fletcher said to his young friends and they nodded. Inside, they saw how the four snipers walked to the pier and activated the radio, followed by a loud, echoing groan.
Zombies rose out of the water and the soldiers held their ground, firing at every single one. Again, it was wave after wave.
Then the eyes of the kids went wide as they spotted a tall Zombie among the others. His eyes were glowing red and he carried an MG42, as well as multiple belts of ammunition across his chest. He also wore a helmet and a swastika arm band on its left arm.
Unlike the other, he could take a lot of headshots, screaming in pain when he was hit. After a few hits, the helmet flew off and the zombie shook his head it pain, before Fletcher finished it off with another headshot. The head fell off and the Zombie fell on its knees and disintegrated.
“Okay…A…Elite Zombie, that’s new…” Ford let out a breath of relief as they gathered at a radio in the house.
“Intel reports the princes possesses something called the Sagarmatha Relic.” A British voice explained on the radio. “It seems to be the key in controlling the zombie menace. We think we have its location. Awfully sorry chaps, but we need you to get back into the Lion’s Den.”
“What…What does he mean?” Blau asked confused.
“We have to go back to Canterlot,” Fletcher told with unease. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe.”
The kids just nodded and they all got into a truck.
It was only a short ride until they arrived, a horrible sight. Like with Sunny Town, most buildings were on fire and damaged, destroyed trucks and tanks littered the streets.
Dinky and her two friends stayed back as the soldiers cleared the ruins of the undead then moved through it as it was clear.
As they moved through the ruins, they all noticed a symbol on the ground, drawn with blood. It looked like a star. Suddenly, it glowed in a firing yellow and Skeletons summoned from it.
The group quickly kicked them and moved on, coming to a barricaded road.
Heavy footsteps sounded and the soldiers took aim, the kids went to cover, knowing an Elite was close by. The wall of a house on the other side of the street was blown open and said undead came out, together with normal Zombies, walking close to some explosives. Fletcher fired at it and the explosion took out every single one of them.
It was a welcome sight that the safe house was just at the end of the street. A small library was in it, together with a radio on a table.
Fletcher turned it on, hoping to get some information, it crackled if is it tried to get a frequency.
“This damned device continues to baffle me. I've detected signs of necromantic properties, sorcery that may raise and control the bodies of the dead. That alone was cause for concern.” A voice with a Trottingham accent said on the frequency. The ponies recognized it, it was Purple Patch.
“Equestria has known more than several prominent necromancers over their long history, some of which have posed a nearly nation-wide threat. I've consulted the Eternal Knights about the ones they've seen. Midnight Blade himself saw the end of the dreaded Pale King of Arbator far to the untamed west, White Wolf's kin banished the Necromancer of Mor-Fenn-Dunn in the Everfree, better known among the deer as the Gulgurthan, and the Armbrust family saw off Zumiel Der Shwarzerjager, Herald of the Wild Hunt, from both Stirrope and Equestria.” He paused for a moment.
“I've examined and referenced the magics and procedures involved when these three terrors gripped the land in undeath but none of them match the device. It's not just new to this world, its downright anomalous. The magic, if it is indeed magic, resonating from it is unlike anything ever recorded or even seen in this world. I need to find out more. I dread to imagine what this could do if it falls into the wrong hooves. I barely feel safe while its in mine.” The stallion said before before he gasped.
“This is insanity! This is exactly as the Tanese texts predicted! I never suspected they were to be interpreted literally. The Sagarmatha Relic is of crucial importance now! I must return to the museum to retrieve it.”
“Well, now we know where to search first. I hope Patch can spare us the time though.” Fletcher commented as they got out.
Barely outside, a huge wave of flames lighted up at the end of the street and Zombies stumbled out. The four snipers manned some mounted MG42 and mowed them down, the kids covered their ears of the loud gunfire.
Also, some burning Zombies stumbled out of the fire but evaporated after just one hit.
Then they saw a large undead human walking out of the fire. He was badly burned, shrugging off any bullets. The undead raised it’ arms and summoned some burning normal zombies before bending slightly forward, arms lose in the air, apparently exhausted as the flames died down.
This was used by the soldier to concentrate fire and the large zombie fell over and exploded, taking all other undead with it.
“Okay, let’s go!” Fletcher took the lead through the ruins, going through a half-destroyed building. They look looked in awe as their way led through a room that was upside down, furniture floating.
“How’s that even…” Hill wondered.
“I don’t know and I don’t wanna know,” Konrad replied
Coming out of it, green fog was at the end of the road and a loud groan came out of it.
Waves of Zombies came out of the fog with Skeletons. The children took care of the latter, avoiding strikes from the normal undead deal by their adult friends. A few Suicide Bombers ran out of the fog but Fletcher reacted quickly and shot them with his rifle before they came far, exploding in the midst of their common brethren.
After the threats were neutralized the fog cleared, opening the way to the next safe room.
“I understand now why the Wolfsong Expedition was so well founded. If the Princess is still in procession of the other Relic pieces, then perhaps we still have a chance to reverse this nightmare.” Patch sounded on the radio, the others shared his hope.
Leaving the room, Blau yelped as a bullet hit the ground next to him and Konrad spotted a sniper on a building in the distance, killing him with a shot through the right eye.
Right at the end of the road, they could all see the museum, but the bridge was destroyed, only a small wooden plank let over it. Yet, as they approached a suicide Bomber appeared on it and blew it up, with common undead climbing up from the destroyed bridge.
Again, the kids focused on the Skeletons while the others took care of the normal undead and suicide bombers until it was clear. “How are we supposed to get over now?” Katja wondered.
“Through the plank.” William pointed out as it was still intact and they moved over it and through a staircase to the next safe room.
“If we had only known the true nature of the Sagarmatha Relic…We should have never allowed the pieces to be separated. The texts warned what would happen but we assumed it was an allegorical superstition. I wish it were.” Patch sounded rather worried in the radio before the group moved on.
Outside, the ground level of the museum was littered with corpses and fires but none of them looked like the purple Earth pony, making them hope he was still alive.
“Hey, it appears the relic is just ahead!” Blau pointed to a small room with a small book like object on a table. But as they got closer, the door closed and a loud roar echoed through the building.
“Fire demon!” Dinky exclaimed as she saw him walking around the corner, a horde of burning zombies behind it.
Fletcher and Konrad focused their fire on the large undead while the two Allied soldiers fired their SMGs on the other undead, keeping them at bay, until the demon died in a fiery explosion and the door opened.
Fetcher then took the relic, and they all looked at a painting.
It was a mural in the Northern Renaissance style, akin to something like Bosch or Ruben. It depicted the artefact in the centre of some bizarre ancient gathering, held aloft between three small rocky monoliths. But whatever had happened to it had unleashed something terrible. A crowd of people, strapping, bearded folk with robes of red, black and grey, were screaming and recoiling in terror as the relic emitted a sickly yellow light from which monstrous, skull-faced spectres with powerful arms and snake-like waists were flying out of, swarming the helpless crowd as something awoke that was never meant to wake.
Konrad then switched on a radio and William was checking a map.
“I have it! Now I must unite with the others in The Noonfort. I hope I-“ Konrad startled as Patch started to scream in the recording, becoming distorted as he was apparently being eaten by a zombie before it cut off.
“Okay, the bunker of the princess is not far from here,” William said and Fletcher nodded.
“Alright, let’s make sure Patch’s attempt was not in vain.”
The rest of the group nodded in agreement, and they used a boat to gets to the docks, deeper in Canterlot. The kids stayed on the ship as some Zombies came out of the water as the adults went off board but were quickly dealt with and they moved through the streets, shooting more undead until they came in front of a shopping center for clothes, seeing a undead German officer standing on the roof. Noticeable was his entire head was bandaged.
He raised his hands and yelled, "Arise!" It summoned a pack of zombies and the officer clutched its head in pain. Fletcher put a bullet through his head and Ford threw a grenade to deal with the pack efficiently.
Then they got inside the shopping mall, as the first safe house was located there.
“This is the end.” The voice of Wagensroll sounded on the radio there. “I’ve been summoned to The Noonfort but I’m not stupid. Prinzessin Luna will have us die with her before she surrenders. I’d sooner die fighting out here. I will not give up!” He said determined.
“I hope Wagensroll will survive this…” Fletcher mumbled with fear as they got out, exiting the mall and walking among a long street.
The kids looked up as they saw a plane flying overheard before it got shot down by a nearby AA gun and suddenly, four of those Zombie officers appeared on the wall.
In the moment they tried to summon other zombies, the four snipers shot them all with their quick reactions and moved on, with Fletcher sniping to more undead snipers as the way led to the crash site of the plane, past the AA gun that had it shot down. At the crash sites, a loud groan greeted their ears and Blau pointed at another one of those large flaming Zombies at the other end of the backward. “Flame guy!”
Fletcher, Konrad, Hill and Ford fired on it and just managed to take it out as it had summoned flaming zombies. To deal with those, they used their pistols, then checked the wreck but the pilots laid dead in their seats.
Sighing, Fray then led the group through a building into the next safe house, turning the radio on.
“What’s happening? The dead rise from the earth! This is Sorcery! Am I in Tartarus? Have I already died? Is this my punishment for defying the princess? I must return to The Noonfort!” Wagensroll decided on the radio before the group moved on again.
Their route led them to a field hospital, littered with dead Royal Guards.
With groans, they all stood up, red eyes and red skin, just like the Blood Hooves, forcing the four soldiers to take them down.
One guard game close to the kids, they ducked the former guard’s strike and kicked him, throwing him back before Konrad shot it into the head with his pistol and the stallion led them all to the next safe house in a building behind the field hospital, again turning the radio on.
“…Must return to the…” Wagensroll let out a guttural moan, “I must…” He snarled, “…The Noonfort!” His voice sounded distorted before groaning, “…To the Noonfort!” A groan was heard before it ended.
Fletcher listened to it with unease. His relative was most likely becoming a Blood Hoof, so he hoped he and his friends had taken him earlier out. If not, they could only give the Earth pony a quick death.
Outside, they spotted a hole in one of the towers, green fog covered it and a horde of Blood Hooves came out. The soldiers opened fire, thinning them out before they came close as a Suicide Bomber ran out of the fog too. This time, Christopher managed to score a hit, the explosion cleared the way and they could enter through the hole into the fort.
Inside, blood was splattered on the walls, dead guards everywhere and the kids startled as an echoing scream ringed through the Bunker.
“Equestria will not fall!!” The Royal Voice gone wrong, tearing its way through the corridors and making every hair on those who heard it stand on end.
It had a very scaring atmosphere as they moved on, coming to a corridor as it sounded again.
“Execute Plan Z!”
At first, none of the kids wanted it to be true, but they had to realize that Luna and caused all this in an attempt to prevent to let Equestria fall to the enemy, unaware of the consequences as Patch’s messages hinted. Still, it didn’t made sense. Why would she even allow something as this?
The corridor led to some stairs and a few Skeletons came up, the kids kicked them to free the way, hearing Luna again. “This was supposed to protect us!”
“Oh, Luna, what did you do?” Fletcher wondered and her voice ringed again.
“You…tell…me…this…now?!”
Suddenly the heard screams at the next room, but what they saw was beyond their imagination.
Fletcher saw, a green unicorn stallion hanged up by changes, screaming and withering in pain. Three humans were around him, impaled, wrench themselves free, in vain.
The stallion was none them himself, the humans his three friends. “Wh-what? What is this? How’s that…possible?”
“I have no idea…” Hill said puzzled.
Not even the kids could imagine this horror as they looked at it.
With a loud bang, the wall next to them got destroyed and they saw one of those MG gunner Zombies walking out. “Please…don’t!” Katja cried out as she crawled backward with her brother and friend, getting up as the four snipers fired at the zombie.
They had to back up to keep the distance from the MG fire, Konrad threw a grenade at the Blood Hoofs behind it and Ford managed to take the tall undead out with a clear headshot.
After he was down, they walked into the bunker, seeing another relic on a table, but no sign of Luna. Yet, the body of a bat pony with a bloodied head was lying on the ground, Fletcher recognized him. Supernova, Midnight’s relative.
Dinky and her friends looked away as Hill studied another map and Fray examined the relics, holding them close together. To his surprise, they attracted each other like magnets and became one. Two yellow bar glowed on it.
“Got it! The last relic appears to be outside of Canterlot in a fortress!” The Brit pointed at it on the map.
“Okay. We get best get there by rail. Let’s go to the Train Terminal.” Fletcher suggested and they moved through an underground tunnel, which served as evacuation route for the Noonfort. The ceiling rumbled, creating dusk.
They came past a radio that Fletcher turned on. “We’ve carpet-bombed the local area to thin out the threat. This should give you a slightly better chance of making it to the train Terminal. From there, you may be able to find transportation to the location of the final piece of the Relic. Good luck!” A British officer informed them.
Once they made it up a ramp, a wasteland of debris greeted them, showing that the bombing had reduced most to rubble before an explosion happened in the rubble. The smoke cleared and another of those large flaming Zombies came out.
Fletcher and his friends focused fire on it, managing to bring it down before it could summon any other Zombies and moved on to the first safe house. An undead sniper guarded the entrance from a window above but Fray shot first and took him out.
An armchair and a lamp were in the house, with a radio, which the stallion turned on. “This area is a wasteland No way any vehicles can get through.” A male voice said and the pones recognized it as Shining Armor. “I’m going to try it to the Terminal – it’s the only way out. The buildings are crumbling –this is worse than the bombings. What is happening here?”
Dinky and the siblings waited at the exist as the four soldiers cleared out the ruined building with their SMGs, then followed after into the street, seeing a crashing bomber, a still intact bomb stuck in the ground near a collapsed tunnel.
“If we trigger this bomb, we should be able to blast our way into the tunnels,” Fletcher suggested and activated it, the timer started to count down.
Just as he had done this, green fog appeared from both sides followed by a groan. “Quick, get back!” The stallion said to the kids and they nodded.
Dinky, Katja and Blau watched out of their hiding spot with worry how their friends fought off waves of undead ponies and humans, among a few Suicide Bombers before the bomb exploded, opening the way.
The tunnel led to the outside of the train Terminal, a few Skeletons blocked the way, but Dinky shot a few with her spells, the siblings kicked the others and all got inside after it as clear.
“I hope the rail tracks are clear between here and the outer Fortress. I don’t know why they built one so far from the Capital. It must be protecting something important to Equestria…But what?” The Captain of the Guard wondered.
Going outside, they had to see that the access gate was closed so they went into a tower with the switch to open it. An Alarm went off and another groan sounded in the distance, so Konrad manned a mounted MG42 and fire in the incoming horde, assisted by the other soldiers. “Watch out! Suicide Bomber on the right!” Katja warned and the German mowed it down, the explosion took a few more with it.
“Fire guy, dead ahead!” the grey colt warned and the soldiers focused fire, taking it down quickly.
Then they moved through the maintenance shed, dealing with a few snipers through it. Everywhere were wagons but no engine to use.
An MG gunner waited at the safe house, the kids went behind a crate for cover to avoid its bullets as their protectors took the large undead down and got into the safe room.
“I’m not going out there again. I’m going to wait here, where it’s safe, and wait for rescue. The princess must have a plan. She wouldn’t abandon us to this Tartarus. Hail Luna!” Shining Armor said determined on the radio, Fletcher had pity for him, knowing he wouldn’t probably survive that way.
Outside, the soldiers took care of few undead, then got with the kids into a small underground part and it rumbled before Skeletons summoned from the ground. Dinky and the siblings showed no fear as they attacked the Skeletons, with the adults fired at two snipers in the distance, scoring headshots.
The way then led to a bridge, going over a wagon, leading to a still intact engine. Suddenly, suicide Bombers appeared on both ramps and exploded, blocking the with large fires and a large horde of undead moved in.
Fletcher, Ford, Escher and Hill manned some mounted MG42 and fired on the horde, Dinky, Katja and Blau covered their ears from the loud gunfire, seeing how their friends fought of more Bombers and even an MG Zombie, which fell quickly to its own weapon before it was clear and they could use the Engine.
After a short ride, they could see the fortress in the distance, being a large tower. A great hulk of silver and black with jagged crystal spires emitting an eerie blue light, small floating tower-tops circling around it. Quite a sight to behold, being an artillery system harnessing light energy from the moon to launch hails of explosive ice at the enemy from staggering distances, as far as Fletcher knew.
They moved through a fuel dump, taking out any undead they came across until the way was blocked by a parked truck, a fuel canister next to it. Fray blew it up with a well-aimed shot and a scream came out of the flames, seeing another one of those flaming Zombies. He managed to summon a horde of flaming normal zombies before succumbing to the sniper fire, his lower brethren were quickly killed by the pistols of the snipers.
Coming to a long bridge, the soldiers shot an MG Zombie at the other end and entered the first safe house, located in a watchtower, also noticing a plane passing by.
“Hello down there! Amazed you’re still alive! Jolly good show! Don’t fancy your chances, mind. I’m looking for a place to land. Keep moving and I’ll be in touch!” The pilot of the plane informed them over the radio.
“Good, we have a ride out of here once this is over,” Konrad commented with relief.
Outside, He and his comrades fought a large horde of undead coming out of the mist, using grenades to thin out the horde and eliminated 2 snipers firing from guard towers.
Once it was clear, they moved on, seeing the next safe house just art the other end.
Or so they thought.
As Dinky got close, the wall exploded, throwing her over and she saw a horde led by an MG undead coming out. She crawled backward as demonic laughter echoed, managing to get up and get behind her friends as they fired at the undead.
After the horde was defeated, she noticed the smile was now an evil wicky face, but the real safe house was just behind the wall and the pilot reported again.
“I don’t know how it looks down there but it’s not looking pretty from up here! Command have kicked off Operation Red Harvest. That’s wiping out the entire region with atomic bombs to you and me. I’ll stay in the area as long as I can but you really need to get a move on!”
“Do…Do you think we’ll make it in time?” Blau asked scared, shivering at the thought of dying here but Christopher put a hand on his shoulder.
“We will make it. We have not made it this far to die now.” He said with a smile and the boy nodded.
And true to his words, they came closer and closer to the fortress, entering a trench system with to MG bunkers as green fog was around it, an echoing scream came out of it. Fletcher and Konrad got into one bunker with Dinky, the Sergeant manned the MG 42, the siblings followed into the other bunker, Ford manned the MG here.
They fought a horde of Skeletons coming out of the fog, wearing armor, but the MG tore through it like it was nothing.
Upon the area being clear, they moved into a third bunker at the end of the trenches, being the next safe house.
“Hello? I’ve found a spot where I can touch down but it’s crawling with zombies! And this place will be blasted into an atomic wasteland any minute now…I’ll circle a couple more times but then I’m going to have to bail. Awfully sorry chaps but unless you pull a miracle, you’re gonna be on your own!” The pilot warned, yet they weren’t ready to give up now, being so close to their goal.
Leaving the bunker they found themselves right at the entrance of the fortress, the doors opened and a demonic voice said, “Welcome.” And a large undead horde came out.
The four snipers quickly manned some mounted MG42s and fired on the horde, thinking it out before they got too close.
Then they moved into the fortress blood was splattered on the walls, with corpses on the ground.
Walking up the stairs, they came past a closed room, hearing a voice from the other side. “Shadowplay, help me get this door open, we must get out of here!”
Fletcher recognized the voice, it belonged to Tybalt, a friend of Blue Murder, being the only one left with Shadowplay. “Shadowplay?” Tybalt asked before they heard a terrifying groan, followed by Tybalt screaming, seeing flashes of gunfire through the door slot and blood poured out.
The green pony winced as this, not even somepony as Tybalt had deserved such a fate, all his friends looked also with shock at this before they walked up the stairs to the roof.
On it, they heard grunts of pain and could only stare at what they saw.
Grey Hoof was held into the by four undead officers, a green glow all around them. “Help me please…I can’t hold on! No!” He yelled with a distorted voice before there was an explosion, throwing the undead officers away.
As the dust cleared, they started in shock at where the stallion had been. There was now a transparent spirit, his head was a skull flaming eyes, floating in the air. “Join us!” He said in an echoing demonic voice as he summoned Zombies.
Despite being shocked at the sight, the kids took notice of three floating skulls orbiting him. “Shoot those Skulls!” Katja yelled and their friends took aim, avoiding the zombies and hit them.
The moment the last Skull was destroyed, a white light engulfed Grey Hoof.
As it vanished, they all saw him in his full body. He looked around for a brief moment, then raised his hooves as if he tried to charge up something.
Fletcher quickly took aim shot him into the head. The stallion let out an echoing scream in pain and became transparent again.
Yet it became hectic, so Dinky with her young friends went down the stairs to stay out of harm. Then they saw two undead ponies climbing over the wall.
One of them was an Earth Pony stallion, wearing a Stetson hat, his ribcage was visible among the black and grey coat, holding a pistol in his hoof. The other one was a batpony stallion. Noticeable was he had only one eye, the other one was gone, with the other half of the face horribly scarred, they could swear they saw parts of his skull.
The Earth Pony aimed his pistol at them and fired, but the bullets spread all over the place. In response the Batpony roared and lunged at them at a horrifying speed, a knife held over his head, they barely dove out of the way.
Recovering, they saw how, a bullet hit the Earth pony stallion from behind into the head, and he fell over, the hat falling off, and the batpony turned towards the shooter.
It was Fletcher, he could barely react before the undead bat pony lunged at him in the same manner, knocking him down. Using his left hoof, Flecher held the knife back and drew his pistol with his other hoof, shooting the undead stallion several times into the side of the head and threw the body off him as the red eye ceased to glow.
He then aimed at Grey Hoof and shot him into the head again as the other had taken out the Skulls and Grey Hoof screaming in pain again, falling to the ground.
“No! Curse you!” The all heard him yelling as a green light engulfed him and all other undead fell lifeless to the ground.
The light vanished as they saw the stallion lying next to the last piece of the Relic. “Is he…” Blau asked with fear as the Knight checked him.
“No, just unconscious.” He replied and checked the relic, holding the other pieces close to it. They connected and a bright yellow light blinded them all.
“I see you. Hold tight I’m coming to get you!” They heard the pilot and wasted no time to get it as he landed, taking Grey Hoof with them. “Welcome aboard! Hold on to your hats!”
Just moments later, an atomic explosion went off in the distance and they were all glad they had made it. Fletcher eyed the Relic as it ceased to glow yellow and smiled, relieved it had worked.
Then loud demonic laughter echoed.