Chapter 15: A Change of Heart
Chapter 15: A Change of Heart
Perspective: Jonathon Burley
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 26, 2025
Smoke rose from the steel barrel of the Vepr, the metal cylinder heated from the intense heat of the many rounds it fired. To anyone unfamiliar with the weapon (Sword), it appeared as though the weapon breathed fire every time it roared, as if it were alive, finally settling into a pronounced silence after all its enemies were vanquished. The turret had stopped firing. The window was shut and latched. Compared to the hell storm of noise just moments ago, the distant pops and shouts around the house were practically silent. Sword decided to break that silence.
“Wow…Remind me not to get on any human’s bad side,” she said.
“Oh hush you,” I replied. “We don’t just kill things willy-nilly.” Grabbing my radio, I decided to call in for a status update. I was feeling rather confident that things were going smoothly, despite an explosive that went off recently. ‘That Edgar, he really should warn people before setting those things off. Gonna get someone killed one day.’ Regardless, if Sword and I were having this little trouble dispatching Infected, the others must be bored stiff.
“Everyone, South Side of Home Base is clear. Repeat, all clear,” I called in.
“What the Hell!?” the voice blared from the other side. I couldn’t pick out which of the guys it was; the constant gunfire on their end drowning out any distinguishing details. “How did you-never mind. Listen, we need help bad up here! There a huge number of these things!” My smile was quickly fading.
“Um, weren’t there only, like, 80 of them?” I croaked out nervously.
“Hah! If by 80 you mean quadruple that amount, then yes, we have ‘like 80’ of them. Now hurry!”
Aaaaaannd there goes my good mood.
“Fuck!” I yelled, snapping the radio into place. I was already in motion as I grabbed my Vepr. Heavy wooden thumps behind me assured me that Sword was right behind me, even without looking back to check. We were heading for the front of the house, as that was where most of the gunfire was coming from. We never really made it there.
Out of nowhere, an Infected appeared in front of us. An Infected inside the house. Panic rose rapidly as I realized this was where Luna was supposed to be guarding. What happened to Luna? What of her guards? I didn't even hear the barrier bre-
Three points of metal punched through the skin of the Infected’s neck. Near its shoulder, a black-furred hand, complete with a similar three-claw weapon, came into view and grabbed the Infected’s shoulder. Hand and claw moved quickly in opposite directions, ripping the Infected’s head off with a sickening crunch and a heaping dosage of blood everywhere. The hand holding the shoulder dropped, letting the bloody remains of the corpse drop unceremoniously to the ground. The corpse fell to reveal a mare standing behind it. Dark, leathery wings. Yellow slit eye. Fangs. Yep, this was one of Luna’s personal guards. A Bat Pony.
“The window broke,” she said plainly, matter-of-fact-ly, like it was no big deal.
“W-what? How!?” I asked, flabbergasted by her lack of alarm at the fact that her only defenses was broken.
“We let it break. You should watch yourselves.” And just like that she jumped back, giving her wings a single flap to switch her direction to the right in mid-air. She disappeared behind the wall, where sounds of Infected and clashing swords could be heard. Sword and I looked at each other. Then to the wall on the right. Than back again.
“You…want to go help them?” Sword asked uncertainly.
“I…I suppose we should…probably,” I replied, rubbing the back of my head. We each checked our respective weapons; Sword giving her crossbow a once-over and loading it afterwards, while I checked to make sure I had enough shells in the gun, and on my person. Our eyes met as we each looked up at the same time to check on each other. Both nodding once, we rounded the corner.
The scene that unfolded before us was one of what could only be described as controlled chaos. There were Infected everywhere, having obviously poured in from the hole in the wall where the window plate used to be. The crazy part was that each of the three ponies currently fighting were nimble enough to dodge hits from multiple directions, only to turn around and slash or strike an Infected down. They were inside the eye of the shitstorm!
Luna in particular was interesting to watch; her large size compared to the rest seemingly contradicting her quick movements. Her hidden brute strength allowed her to swing a huge six foot claymore around like it was made of paper! And she was quite devastating on the battlefield. As I watched her, Luna swung in a wide arc, slashing four Infected in front of her and clearing a small path for her. She quickly jumped forward, avoiding a strike from behind. As she came down, she angled her sword downward and drove it right through another Infected’s face, bringing it down with her. Spinning around, she offed her attacker’s head so quickly, she was already striking down another victim by the time it fell to the ground. Her night guards moved with similar speed, not quite as fast but close. They however, were only using these three-blade claws, a testament to Luna’s real strength.
“Wow,” I said, staring unashamed at the spectacle before me. “Remind me not to get on any pony’s bad side.”
Perspective: Edgar Worthington
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 26, 2025
5 Minutes Earlier
“What the hell!? It’s like every time we kill one, two more take its place!” I yelled more to myself than anyone else. This was getting ridiculous; the Infected surged in number after the Calvary left. We were fine at first, but I’m running out of ammo, Celestia’s considerably drained, and 5 Infected are trying to rip out the center window plate. Said plate’s supports are now cracked, and getting worse. I shoot them, but more come to fill the vacancy!
Even as I shoot, I noticed Celestia’s dropped to one knee. ‘Oh shit. Don’t crap out on me now Celestia, I really need your help!’ “Celestia, you ok?” I asked, rushing to her side. She hasn’t keeled over yet, but her heavy breathing clearly showed her fatigue. Her head was hung slightly, eyes closed but brow furrowed in concentration.
“Stand back from the window Edgar,” she said, calmly but firmly. Immediately, her horn lit up, shining a brilliant yellow that only grew brighter.
“Whoa whoa whoa Celestia! What are you doing?”
“I’m going to hurl almost all my remaining magic at them when the plate breaks, and detonate it. It should get most of them.”
‘Wait, did she say detonate?’ The fact that I loaded the walls of the house with black powder was suddenly at the very forefront of my mind. “Delay the detonation!" I screamed. "Push them back, then blow it up!"
"I'll-" She didn't even get to finish her response. Five Infected, giving a final hard tug, ripped the plate right out of the wall. They did it with so much power in fact, that the mass of bodies staggered back considerably. The power behind their efforts also ripped out the remainder of the wall, the pieces loosely attached to the plate section by electrical cables and the detonation cord for all the black powder in those sections. 'They're taking the explosives with them. Bad Idea.' As I watched the scene unfold, a beam of yellow, so bright it could easily be mistaken for white, shot right past me, barreling towards where the plate once stood. The Infected never even had a chance to slow down their backpedal before a force they would never see rammed violently into the plate of dented metal they were carrying. They were hurled further backwards, now completely at the mercy of the plate.
Then it blew up.
I think Celestia was expecting a large explosion; after all, it was a pretty sizable ball of pure magic. I don't think she knew about the black powder though, nor expected the explosion to rattle the very earth the house sat on. The shockwave blew apart the plate, and the Infected behind it. It flung debris right at the horde of Infected, before flinging them around as well. The explosion must have been at least 100 feet out from the side of the house, but when the shockwave arrived, it threw me off my feet. The last thing I remembered was kissing the cold wooden floor. Hard.
I awoke, and rolled over to find Mike standing above me. I accepted his outstretched hand, and climbed unsteadily back to my feet. Looking past Mike, I got my first look at the devastation Celestia's attack had caused. There was now a gaping hole where the wall used to be. Not sure how the house survived that, but I'm not going to complain. Beyond the broken wall, bodies were flung everywhere. There wasn't very much blood for the amount of bodies out there; I guess most of them succumbed to blunt-force-trauma. Some though, had been peppered with loose debris, their broken bodies rendered forever motionless after the ordeal.
Unfortunately, not all the bodies were well and truly dead. About 20 of them began to stir, twitching and writhing on the ground as their injuries began to heal. “You’ve gotta be kidding me with this shit,” I said while picking up my rifle and dusting it off. “It’s like we’re in Hell or something!”
“No Edgar, we’re not in Hell, we’re home. Welcome back,” Mike responded. I gave him a flat stare, though it only lasted a moment before I chuckled while shaking my head.
"Yea," I said, leveling my gun at the Infected. Mike did the same. "Welcome back."
Gunfire erupted once more from the quiet room, Mike and I having no trouble dispatching the remaining Infected. Most didn't even get to stand up before they were put down for good. The ones that did were in too bad a shape and/or too far to come remotely close enough to hurt us. They were quickly mowed down as well. At one point though, my gun clicked empty, and I reached for another magazine that wasn't there. Mike had to finish off the last two.
"Shit," I muttered, slinging my now-useless rifle over my shoulder. “I’m out. Guess this’ll have to get me through.” I withdrew my pistol and checked the magazine in it, as well as the mags on my person. 5 magazines, 10 rounds each, 50 rounds total. Not very much left at all…
I was going to ask Mike what we should do now, but someone beat me to the punch before I could even open my mouth. “H-hello? Can anypo-one hear me?” a familiar female voice came in through the Walkie-Talkie. ‘Is that Twilight? How did she get a radio?’ Mike picked up my radio, which I only now realized wasn’t on me, and answered.
“We read you, what’s up?” he replied.
“There’s a lot of Infected up north, please help!” Mike and I glanced at each other for only a second.
“We’ll be right up,” Mike finished, and tossed me my radio back. After clipping it securely to my belt, I jerked a thumb in Celestia’s direction.
“Ok, so she’s out of juice,” I started. My thumb then turned to point at me. “And I’m almost out of ammo. What now?”
“You stay here and protect the princess,” Mike answered, checking his vest as he did so. “I’ve still got some ammo left, so I’ll go assist Twilight. If you stay here and don’t make too much noise, the Infected should leave you alone. Though you should still have enough ammo to pick off the occasional straggler or two if needed. Radio for help if you need it, ok?”
“Will do Mike. Take care up there, and good luck.”
“You too buddy.” With that, he turned and left the room, running quickly down the hall towards the stairs. When he was gone, I helped Celestia to a wall, and she gratefully slumped down against it, exhausted. I picked a spot next to her, and slumped down myself. The room was relatively quiet, the booming of shots echoing distantly in the background. A long silence stretched on for a while. Eventually, I decided it needed to be broken with something, anything, even small-talk.
“So...quite the day we’re having, am I right?”
Perspective: Eddy Culivin
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 26, 2025
It like they all came this way. I can't tell you how many of them there are, the bodies are pressed up against the walls of the house and blocking off the view. I can't tell you how many times I called for help, but no one has showed up yet. I'm not sure anyone is even covering us upstairs anymore, but if they are, they're not putting much of a dent in their numbers. What I can tell you is that we seem to be fighting a losing battle; I'm running out of bullets, Morning Star (the solar guard) next to me is starting to show signs of fatigue, and the Infected just won't stop coming our way.
I guess that's what happens when you decide to guard the front of anything.
"God Damn everything!" I screamed in frustration. When? When would the help I asked for multiple times get here? Because we could really use a lot of it right now!
It seems some divine entity was absolutely determined to make this day as terrible as possible for the both of us, because suddenly the very familiar snapping and screeching sound of metal breaking and getting torn away was heard between the booming of gunfire. I didn't want to look, I really didn't, but I did anyway. To my surprise, the sight that greeted me wasn't a hole torn in the wall, but rather a jagged wound in it. They didn't tear the plate off, they just pulled it out some. The hole was created though, and with a path of entry, the Infected started to enter, pushing and shoving to get inside. Though only five actually made it inside before an office desk, surrounded in a yellow glow, came flying into view. It raced towards the opening, impacting with such force that it rammed several bodies clear out of the opening and sent them flying before sealing the hole up.
Looking over, I smiled at the panting unicorn. "Nice save," I complimented. He looked up, a smug but exhausted smile adorning his face.
"Thank-look out!" His face went from smug to terrified in a split second. I whirled around to see the five Infected barreling straight for me. 'Shit, I completely forgot about these guys!' I raised my rifle a fired. I got one. Then another. And another and another. But I didn't quite get the fifth one.
It's almost like watching its companions die smartened it up, for when I pulled the trigger on the last remaining Infected, it ducked. It evaded the shot! Not only did it duck, but it never stopped charging as it did so. I couldn't readjust my aim in time, and the Infected rose up and swatted the rifle right out of my hands. It clattered against the floor moments later. With no time to draw my secondary, I did the only thing I could think to do; I geared back and slammed my fist right into the Infected’s face. I almost immediately regretted my decision. While it did reel back from the blow, pain exploded from my knuckles, radiating throughout my entire hand. It wasn't broken, but fucking damn did it hurt! The Infected came after me again, and this time there was nothing I could do in time. 'Not this shit again!'
My vision went white. I didn't feel the Infected bite down, couldn't hear my screams, couldn't even see anything. But something was wrong. Gold mixed in with the white, and I started getting the feeling that my vision, and for that matter my other senses, were working just fine. I focused closely on what I was seeing, and realized that I wasn't seeing a sheet of white, but a bunch of brilliant white short hairs. A coat?
As the moments passed the white disappeared to my left and I found myself staring at the wall once more, though this time there was no Infected in front of me. An angry cry sounded off to my left, followed by the sound of something unsheathing. Snapping my head left, I found Morning Star on top of a now-still Infected corpse, blood trailing down from a chest wound in the corpse.
I couldn't believe it. The guard, a pony, saved me? I-I just...it was so unexpected. I didn't know what to think of it, couldn't figure it out at all. I didn't have time to think much about it though, for I heard a splintering sound to my right. The desk was starting to break.
I rushed over to Morning, offering him my hand without thinking. "Th...thanks for the save," I mumbled awkwardly. "I owe you one. You ok?"
He groaned in pain, eventually accepting my hand. His horn was glowing faintly still; a healing spell perhaps? "Yes, I'm alright," he replied. He then turned his attention towards the desk, which was getting weaker and weaker with each shove. "We aren't going to last much longer at this rate. Are your friends coming to assist us anytime soon?"
"I called in several times, none answered yet," I muttered. "I don't know, maybe their hands are all tied up with defending their side."
"Still, either they assist us soon, or we come up with a way to kill all those angry Infected by ourselves. Any brilliant ideas?" 'Of course I would have to think of something! Bright ideas; I'll show him a bright idea...Hold on...' Mind racing at a million miles an hour, a plan started to take shape. A fucking crazy plan, but it might just work.
"How much magic you got left?" I asked the unicorn.
"I'm low, but not entirely out yet," he replied. "Why?"
"Think you could magic in a bright light? Bright enough to be uncomfortable for us, but not completely blinding."
"Now why in Celestia's good name would I do that!?"
"Infected are hyper-sensitive to light. *SNAP!* Shit, here they come! Get ready for my signal!" The remains of the desk were quickly shoved aside as Infected began pouring in from the wall's wound. I wanted to flare them so bad right where they stood, but I fought down that initial instinct. We had to wait, wait until almost all of them, if not all, were inside before activating the light. They continued pouring in, getting closer and closer. Every pore on my body leaked sweat, adrenaline ran rampant throughout my body, and I found it harder and harder to resist giving the signal early.
"Now!?" Morning asked, just as twitchy and nervous as I was, from his tone.
"Not yet," I replied. "Almost!"
Then I saw it. The last Infected walk through, and there was a stop in the influx of bodies. "NOW!" Bright white light suddenly exploded from the unicorn’s horn. The light filled the room without exception; no nook or cranny could escape illumination.
The room was also filled with screaming.
The Infected, having received an unwelcome burst of light to their sensitive eyes, screeched in agony as they recoiled from the source. They were stumbling, staggering, vulnerable. I raised my rifle. Bodies dropped so fast five were dead before the first one even hit the ground. They all came at us in a line, meaning I aimed in one direction and pulled the trigger as fast as I could, and no more problems, just like that. The Infected didn’t even try to get us anymore, they just wanted out as fast as possible. So I gave them an ‘out’.
Zero. No Infected remained anymore. No growling, no screeching; hell, there wasn’t even the sound of distant intense gunfire anymore, just the occasional pop here and there. I turned to Morning. “Alright, that’s enough,” I told him. “They’re dead.” The light vanished as quickly as it had come, revealing my macabre work in all its splendor. A line of bodies trailed all the way back to the broken plate, and said leaking bodies deposited puddles of blood on the floor, puddles that joined together to give the illusion of a river of red. Off to my left, a ruffling sound was followed by a thump and a vibration in the floor. Morning Star was on one knee.
I leapt over the line of bodies and was on him in an instant. Something wasn’t right; he was breathing very heavily, each breath sounding hard and labored. His horn was still glowing, albeit faintly, and his entire body was trembling. Concern, which I once thought was impossible for me to feel towards a pony, was invading every thought.
“Morning, are you ok?” I asked, kneeling down to get a better look at the pony. “You look like shit.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he replied. “Magic just becomes physically exhausting when we near our limits, like a warning to stop casting soon or else.” I looked at his horn, then back. What he was saying and what he was doing were contradicting themselves.
“Then stop casting,” I said, growing more worried the longer his horn stayed lit. He didn’t say anything, just stared at the ground. “Morning, stop casting your magic, the fight’s over,” I said a bit more urgently. The unicorn started wavering. “Morning!”
I caught him with an arm around his back before he hit the floor. “Gah, I can’t do this anymore,” he gasped, his horn finally fizzling out. His face was contorted in a mixture of pain and exhaustion, but try as I might, I couldn’t see what was wrong with him. As I searched for the illusive injury, I became aware of a warm sensation wrapping around the arm I was using to hold him up. Curious, I pulled him a little further forward and took a look…
…and saw crimson. Coming from nasty claw and bite marks his back.
“How…How long?” I asked, barely above a whisper. Morning wasn’t the only one trembling anymore.
“I…*sigh*when I tackled the Infected,” he admitted, defeated. “He got me, but I figured that if you had found out, you might have been too distracted to concentrate and save us…well, one of us. So I cast a simple masking spell, and held it.”
I could barely breathe. ‘He didn’t save me back there, he…he sacrificed himself for me!’ The emotional toll felt like I was brought to my knees and kicked in the back, my face smashing into the hard unforgiving floor of reality. He was injured by an Infected, and fought on regardless. He’s so tired now that he’s in danger of passing out, and if that happens, then shortly after…No, No, NO! I wasn’t going to think about that now. I need to find a way to get him out of here and somewhere they could treat him.
‘The Cavalry! Some of their cars were retrofitted as basic ambulances. They could keep him alive!’ “Stay with me, I’m going to save you,” I told Morning as I frantically fished for my radio.
“Eddy, there’s nothing-”
“No shut up! You’re not dying on me!” I clicked the talk button. “Home Base to Cavalry, we need a medic car here for immediate evac.”
“No can do Home Base. We need all available cars on this end, and sending a car there now would be a terrible mistake.”
“I got a man dying over here God Damnit! What the hell do you mean by ‘terrible mistake’!?”
“Our forces are swamped right now! If we sent a car out, a group of Infected is sure to follow. If they see someone coming out of that house, they’re gonna want in. Let me ask you this: are you equipped to handle another attack?”
I was about to just answer affirmatively so they would send a car out, but I stopped. I really considered it. Whoever was upstairs has been firing non-stop for most of the attack; they can’t have much ammo left. Upstairs is probably out of this fight. Our plate is broken, and my companion is down. I used to have mags coming out the wazoo; now I have two left, plus the partial one in the rifle, plus whatever I have for my secondary. Front side is definitely out. I heard the auto-turret click empty, and I called for Jonathon’s assistance but got no answer. Rear is out. There was a fucking huge explosion to my left. No radio chatter from Edgar, and minimal gunfire from that side. Left side is probably out.
The only ones I could call for assistance would be Luna and her team, and I don’t even know if they’re alive, ok, and not currently fighting and unable to assist. Home Base was still standing, but barely. We were in pretty bad shape.
“…No sir,” I muttered through grit teeth. “We can’t repel another attack in our current state.”
“Then I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do now. Tell your friend to sit tight, the main team is arriving in six minutes.”
I said nothing in reply. There was nothing to say. They didn’t know it, none of them did, but I knew, and Morning Star knew as well.
He wasn’t going to last six minutes.
“Eddy,” he croaked out with a sad smile, his voice starting to sound weaker. “There isn’t anything you can do for me now.”
“Why’d you do it God Damnit!?” I screamed, shaking. “I don’t deserve your kindness. I don’t deserve any of it! You were all so nice and-and I just spat in your faces. I dragged you to your fucking death! Why? Why did you save me? I should be the one dying, not you! How could I have possibly been worth your life!?” Tears began to spill as I broke down; the situation was just too much. “It wasn’t even your war to fight,” I whimpered, voice cracking. Unwanted memories started flooding in, memories that reminded me of just how terrible I’ve been to the race I now owed my life to.
“Just when I had finally started relaxing about the fact that we were interacting with aliens, we’re visiting a whole damn town full of them! This can’t end well…”
“So you’ll excuse me if I’m a little more than untrusting of fucking strangers, especially aliens!!”
“What the hell was that?” Edgar whispered harshly. “You could’ve killed her!” “That was the point.”
The hospital. The party. Nightmare Night. Time and time again I’m reminded of how these ponies only wanted to welcome us in with open arms, and learn about us. Befriend us. Help us. And time and time again, I realized just how harshly I rejected them, refused them. I went as far as to almost kill one of them, for throwing us a party!
I was low. Lower than low, I was scum of the Earth low at best. “Why’d you do it?” I whispered, unable to even look him in the eye.
Morning Star wasn’t angry. He wasn’t even upset in the slightest, neither by my outburst nor the fact that he was dying. He didn’t curse me out, he didn’t cry, he just smiled a weak smile and gazed upon me.
“I saw a strength in you,” he started. My gaze immediately snapped to his. “You’re a stubborn, blind idiot sometimes, but you’re also quick-thinking, and clever. You’re more useful in this situation than I would be. Even if I survive, it would take more than a week for my magic to recover. But you humans don’t need magic. You can still fight-”
I held him as he devolved into a coughing fit. As he pulled his hand back, specks of red decorated it. There wasn’t much time left at all. “Promise me,” he continued after a pause, raising a trembling, weak hand to grab my shirt collar. “Promise me you’ll protect them, all of them. Things will seem hopeless at times but never give up. Keep them safe, please.”
“I promise!” I cried. “I’ll do whatever it takes.” His lips curled into a smile as his breathing grew faint and shallow.
“Eddy,” he whispered. “If I die, I’ll turn into one of them, right?” I shakily nodded, not liking where this was heading at all. He turned his head and looked at me; well, his eyes faced mine, but they were unfocused. “I want to die as a pony.”
“No…No, I don’t…I-I can’t do it Star, I can’t.”
“Eddy, don’t make a proud stallion beg. Please, end my life.” I didn’t want to accept it, he wasn’t going to die, he wasn’t! But it wasn’t what actually happened. He really is dying, and who the fuck was I to deny this dying stallion his last wish? I withdrew my pistol with the hand I wasn’t holding him with, and placed it on his forehead, hand trembling violently.
“Goodbye Morning Star; your sacrifice won’t be in vain,” I sobbed. I was openly crying now, and I didn’t care.
“Goodbye Eddy Culivin. All my hope rests with you now.”
A single gunshot rang in the quiet room. The sound seemed to echo for a long time, as there was no thumping sound of a body hitting the floor. It was just a bang. The unicorn’s body jerked a bit, but fell limp shortly after. It didn’t move after that, nor would it ever move again. I pressed myself into his body, hugging it tightly, neither feeling nor caring about the blood that was soaking my shirt.
I just silently cried as I held my fallen savior.
Perspective: Mike Britowski
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 26, 2025
The house was quiet. No Infected, but it wasn’t clear how many of our friends survived. I turned to Twilight. “Come on, we need to see the damage,” I said. She nodded hesitantly, and I was quite certain she didn’t actually want to go down there and see what happened.
“Did…is Celestia alright?” Twilight asked, presumably fearful of finding Celestia’s body as ‘damage’. At least I could give her some truthful good news.
“She’s worn out, but otherwise alright,” I replied. “Edgar watching over her as we speak; she’s in good hands.” This induced a small grin in the purple mare. Seemingly satisfied with that answer, we headed downstairs. Twilight kept her weapon at the ready, just in case, but when we hit the bottom of the stairs, it was apparent she wouldn’t need it.
Luna was standing triumphantly in the middle of a pile, dead Infected surrounding her on all sides. Jonathon was off to the left with…hey, isn’t that Sword? Well. Anyways, coming out of the hallway was Edgar, with a pistol in one hand and Celestia in the other. She was leaning on him heavily, and was taking slow deliberate steps, but she was moving. Twilight and Luna immediately came to Celestia’s aid, thanking Edgar as they relieved him of the tired alicorn.
“Everyone alright?” I asked the gathered group, who all responded affirmatively. Most of the ponies were winded, and all the humans were low on ammunition, but it seemed that otherwise everyone really was ok-
*BANG!*
Everyone immediately looked at one another. What the Hell was that? Were there more Infected? “I-It sounded like it came from that room,” said Twilight, pointing to the office. ‘Wasn’t that where Eddy was supposed to be?’
“I’m going to check it out,” I stated, and walked to the front. Curious it seemed, everyone else followed as well. Nervous glances were exchanged. What would we find in there?
Quiet sobbing emanated from the office. When I rounded the corner, I found it belonged to the last person I would expect to be crying: Eddy. Making the scene even more surreal, Eddy was holding the body of the guard that went with him in his arms. It was obvious from the amount of blood that the guard was either severely wounded, or already dead.
My gut feeling was, unfortunately, the latter.
“Jesus man,” I breathed out, stunned by what I was seeing. “What…what did you do?”
Eddy tried composing himself, but couldn’t quite pick all of himself up. His reply was still shaky. “I-he was hurt and…I didn’t…I had to put a bullet in his head, or he’d end up like th-them.” He gestured to the line of bodies that littered the floor as he finished speaking. It was painful to watch, to see one of my closest friends so broken and utterly devastated. What came next only added insult to injury.
“Oh yea!” blared the speaker in all our radios. “Cavalry to Home Base, we’re back in the game! We heard you needed a medic car?” Eddy didn’t move at first. It was as if he hadn’t even heard the transmission. I began unclipping my radio to respond. But Eddy beat me to it with a quick snatch of his own radio.
“No. We don’t need a car. Not anymore.” There was a long drawn out silence that followed.
“I…I can’t believe it. Who…who was it?”
“Just do your fucking job.”
“But I…never mind. Is Home Base still in this? No other Infected are paying attention to you guys right now. They’re all heading to town.” For the first time since we got here, Eddy looked up at us, his bloodshot eyes staring at each and every one of us. He stared long and unblinking, before raising his radio.
“No. No, we’re done.”
“I see. We’ll pick off the rest then, should be able to get them before they enter town. Good job out there, and thanks for the help.”
“Yea.” He dropped the radio to the floor shortly afterwards. As he did so, Celestia ventured forth. She got close, but Eddy didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, gave no indication of knowing. Or caring.
“He didn’t suffer too much, right?” she asked the broken human.
“Right to the end,” was Eddy’s curt reply. Celestia had been looking at the body, but at the mention of his suffering, had turned away.
“That is unfortunate. I’m sorry.”
“Tell me,” said Eddy, slowly. “Did you know him? What was his name?”
“I’m afraid he wasn’t assigned to my personal guard, and I don’t know very much about him,” replied Celestia. Eddy turned to the other guards and proposed the same question.
“Private Morning Star,” one said without hesitation, the other two nodding.
“Funny,” Eddy continued, gently laying Morning Star’s body down before standing. “They seemed to know him. He was very passionate about protecting the ones he cared about, and he cared a lot about you.” His voice grew a bit louder, and took on a slight accusatory edge. “But I guess that didn’t matter. Tell me Celestia, do you care about what your fellow guards have to say?”
“Of course I do!” Celestia narrowed her eyes. “What are you trying to say?”
“Oh I’ll tell you, right after this final question. Did you ask him?”
“What?”
Eddy’s voice grew louder still, slightly over normal conversing volume now. It kept getting louder as he went on. “Did you ask him? Did you ask if he was ok coming to this world, coming to fight here?”
“Well, I mean-”
“NO YOU FUCKING DIDN’T!!” Eddy exploded. It was plain for all to see, even the ponies. He had finally snapped. “The only person you asked was your sister, and when you agreed to come to this shithole, you dragged all of them along as your brain-dead pawns! You learned what Earth was really like, yet you didn’t ask them. You didn’t ask ANY of them if they wanted to come; you just assumed they’d all just throw away their lives for you. You didn’t even give them a chance to back out, to choose if they wanted to die!
“I warned you. I warned you about what would happen if you came. I told you someone would die. Now look what happened. LOOK WHAT FUCKING HAPPENED!!” Everyone, including me, was blown away by his outburst. I don’t think I’ve seen Eddy this pissed off since…well, ever! He glared right into Celestia’s eyes. He wasn’t screaming, but he was far from over.
“There’s doing your job as a guard and protecting the princess, and then there’s a gross abuse of that ‘responsibility’ by said princess. If you wanted to jump into the fray with this little suicide mission of yours, they should’ve at least been given a choice before you dragged them along with you, because THIS *waves arms everywhere* this wasn’t in the job description. But you dragged him here anyways, and now the blood’s on your hands. Congratulations, I hope it was worth it.” With that, he turned, gingerly picked up the body once more, and made his way to a broken window. Carefully, he dodged the twisted pieces of metal and stepped out through the opening, heading off to God-knows-where.
I wanted to say something, anything, to comfort the princesses. To tell them it wasn’t their fault; that Eddy was just being an ass (again). But this time, this time I held my tongue. All the humans present did. Eddy may have been harsh, but his points rang true. Never mind the fact that one of their fellow ponies are dead, the things they were forced to do today to survive likely caused some form of psychological trauma that will haunt them for the rest of their days. To be taken from a mostly perfect world, and forced to slaughter once-living beings by the dozen will probably give them all nightmares for a very long time.
All I can say is I hope Luna is good at her job.
To try and justify their actions now would be to condone what they had done, and Celestia and Luna had really fucked up this time. So I said nothing. I did nothing. Even as I saw the tears stream down Celestia’s face, I just shook my head slightly, and walked out of the room.
7:00p.m.
Dry barren land stretched out for miles in any direction of the one structure in the desert. No valleys, no hills, almost nothing at all existed on that surface of land that was of any interest.
Save one thing.
To the left of the structure, not more than 20 feet from it, was a mound of dirt. Someone had pulled out the dirt in this mound, only to fill the hole again once the digging was complete. Atop this unremarkable pile of dirt, a jagged piece of stainless steel jutted out. Directly behind this marker stood a human and a pony. They continued to stand there, even after all the others had left long ago, leaving their final farewells as they did so.
Eddy and Twilight leaned up against each other, presumably drawing comfort from the mere touch. They would occasionally glance down at the metal, only to hang their heads low and hug each other tighter. Perhaps they were even crying together.
One wouldn’t be able to tell at a distance, but if you got close enough to the scrap of metal, you would find that there are actually words scratched upon its reflective surface.
Here lies Morning Star,
Who fought and died for those he cared for,
And for the belief that no matter how dark the night,
The sun will rise again on a new day.
For those two still out there, the tears didn’t stop that night, nor would they completely for a while. And when the crying did cease, the emotional scar they acquired would hurt for a long time after.
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I saw this featured, desided to investigate further based on the title, saw the description, thought that it had potential, then saw the word count...
Then saw that it was anthro...
Really?
I got to say that chapter was heavily action-based and highly emotive. It's my favorite chapter yet.
.......................damn.............
.........just.........damn.
4967540
Thank you for checking out the story, I apologize that it's not to your taste. If I may: What's wrong with anthro?
4968232 I just don't find the idea of anthro ponies appealing...
If this were not anthro I would read it, but as it is... I just can't bring myself to even read the beginning... don't blame yourself for something you can't control, I just don't like anthro ponies... (I mean, they're already aliens! Why do they have to be humanoid?!? Four legs give more stability than two!)
What about me? I'm humanoid?
You're part dragon, that's different...
Other people like anthro-ponies, that's fine. I don't have a problem with that.
Edit2: Part of me just hates the idea of anthro-ponies, I'm not quite sure why, it just does. Maybe it has something to do with that they're already cartoon ponies, and then they get even farther away from probability(ish). I don't know, I'm just rambling now...
4968258
Thanks for sharing your opinion though! I like hearing what others have to say, even if it's not all good
. Thanks for stopping by!
good to see this update again
easily one of the best human zambie stories that still updates(or at least, the only one i have fave'd that updates 
)
poor Morning Star
he must have been young, to only be a Private, his heroic sacrifice will not be forgotten 
Oh...
Oh.
Oh my fucking fudge fun bags.
That was sad. :(
The last line or so are more than a little redundant. Just let the events speak for themselves.
4968258 I generally agree. This story is decent despite the odd choice of anthro, not because of it; I can scarcely imagine any way in which it could be hampered by the substitution of ordinary equiniform ponies (although certainly a few things would be slightly different).
Actually I'm not sure why the site even has an anthro tag. I've read like two stories with it (including this one) and neither really depended on it for plot. Contrast, say, Human or Adventure or even the ill-defined Tragedy, which all have some intended function that I can deduce. Anthro, though? Kind of seems like a tag that says "All Mane/Coat Colors Reversed". Sure, you'd notice, but what real difference does it make?
But hey. Not gonna complain about it; it's just puzzling.
Im giving this story a try, mainly because of boredom. I normally stay away from anthro stories, mainly because i just don't like the concept. Whats the point in making them humanoid, why not just go all the way and make them human or leave them as actual ponies. But,lets see how this goes.
Lol the fuck is up with that pussy shit at the end?
Sorry for late replies; been busy with school.
4970412
Thanks for pointing that out, I'll keep it in mind and attempt to refrain from being redundant in the future. Reading it again, I can see why you would say that.
4981601
Thanks for trying this story out regardless! Please feel free to point out any mistakes/opportunities for improvement/opinions/etc.
4994071
I tried to make it a little emotional, but I guess I failed
. Any suggestions for future reference?
4998380
What do you mean?
5012132 Nothing more of substance to say here, just wanted to mention that after a day of nasty replies it's nice to see one that's perfectly friendly, even after a bit of critique.
Missing a quotation mark at the beginning of the second line.
5890703
Aaaaaaannd...wait for it...FIXED! Thanks again for pointing my don-goofs out.