Codex of the Chaotic Heroes

by The P Co

Deaths, Darknesses, Deviants, Dances, Dimensions, Deals, and Discoveries

Trevor howled and whooped as the crystal ponies burned like coals in a bonfire.

“RUN, BITCHES! RUUUUUUUUUN!” he shouted to them as they fled his maniacal onslaught and attempted to find a way to extinguish themselves.

He stopped waving his gun around for a few seconds to reload.

During those few seconds, he heard something running towards him, and turned around to see what it was.

---

Lee dropped down in front of the group as they approached the city limits.

“Hey, I’m pretty sure that that,” Lee pointed his thumb to the burning castle, “...Is either Trevor’s doing, or we have some unknown competition.”

“I doubt it matters if it is the former or the latter, if it is the latter, then we can just… gangbang them. Whoever they are, they won’t stand a chance against six sets of attack power. If it is the former, then we should join him. By the way, there is something that I need to inform all of you of.” Michael noted, firing a Necrotic Magic Missile at a nearby building.

The building shook slightly, and the crystal ponies hiding inside fled from their safe haven under the impression that it wasn’t safe anymore.

Stryker’s soldier instincts kicked in, and he aimed his M9, delivering four headshots and two legshots to the five fleeing ponies.

“That was what I wanted to inform you of, the Crystal Kingdom is populated by beings known as the ‘crystal ponies’,

David shook his head, and simply kicked the last of the running ponies down, knocking it unconscious.

“Sure, why not?”

“Hehe, is like eighth wedding, only with more fire.” Nikolai said as he took out his favorite weapon, an H115 Oscillator, a weapon that used to be a relatively normal, if heavy-bolted HK21 MG, which was simply a bulked up G3 assault rifle, but was now a highly ornate, and powerful weapon. He aimed drunkenly and fired from the massive 150-round magazine, missing most shots, but hitting about eleven ponies regardless.

“Eighth?”

“Is really bad wedding Stryker, really bad, like the war. Which is one that Germans have person who had... bad relations with... Stalin... I think? I do not know, I am drunk.”

“I’m sure your drunkenness is a trend, Niko.” Lee chimed, pouncing on a fleeing pony and cracking its throat open.

“Well, I was fighting zombies, do not blame Nikolai. Also, many marriages were... not good to say...”

“I almost got killed by zombies, man, and my one marriage went to shit, and that was right before the apocalypse struck.”

“Oh, we have lot in common, I am liking you already.”

“One thing though, Stalin was in power in the 1940’s, or around that time, and I’m from 2004.” Lee informed.

“2014.” David added onto his profile.

“It was 2004 when I checked.” Lee retorted, not realizing that David meant the year for himself.

“1945, but time travel and waffle guns... *BRAP!!!*” Nikolai said, firing without care.

“Day 923, but I know that Terrarian days are far different from Earth days.” Michael added his own date to the mix.

“I’m pretty sure it was 2013 when I faced demons in Chicago.” Stryker mentioned.

“Great, different timelines.” David said, butting the head of a random pony with the pommel of his sword and slapping another with the flat of the blade.

“I’m sure we can sort this out later, gentlemen.” Michael informed, casting several Golden Flames at the scrambling ponies.

“GAH!” They heard in the distance, and saw Trevor being repeatedly prodded with a large, non-crystal unicorn’s horn.

--

“STOP THAT!” Trevor shouted, Shining’s horn wasn’t sharp enough to pierce his skin, but the constant poking was really annoying.

“Maybe if it was in the ass, then he would enjoy it, maybe.” David snarked at Trevor.

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND SHOOT THIS DAMN THING!” The meth-head screamed at the one normal man of the group, punching Shining in his jaw to knock him away for a few seconds.

David gulped a breath of air, and took out his AN-94, and aimed, setting the gun in 2-round burst mode, and fired into the unicorn’s leg.

*CRA-CRACK*

“GRAAH!!!” Shining didn’t so much scream, as he sort of… complained, that big pieces of his hind right leg had been blown off.

He'd dealt with pain before, so this didn't really affect him all that much, plus the nerve endings had been ripped apart, so only a few 'pain' signals reached his brain.

“Oh god...” David moaned silently. He was half-sure that he may have hit the bone, maybe a blood vessel.

“Doesn’t look like a lethal shot, kid, I’ll check.” Lee jumped over to the struggle and tackled Shining Armor.

That was the point. I don’t plan on killing anyone. David thought to himself.

Normally, Shining could have braced himself for impact, but in his shocked stated, he toppled like a house of cards.

Lee examined the wound, and found that the two shots were perfectly aligned to the sides of the bone. 'Luckily for this horse, there aren’t any arteries in equine legs.' he thought

“Kill me if you dare, I’d die as a hero anyway, and you'd live as a villain.” Shining said defiantly through gritted teeth.

“Wait… what? No… no no no nononono, I’m too... I just… I can’t just kill something that talks back.” Lee wasn’t a bandit, he wasn’t a (intentional) murderer, he wasn’t an asshole, he wasn’t even technically one of the walkers.

“Tell that to the others you just slaughtered!” Shining snapped back.

Lee stood up in horror and looked around at the corpses. He realized something that had been obvious since the start of their assault, but he hadn’t picked up on yet.

The crystal ponies were screaming.

Not neighing, not whinnying, not snorting, screaming.

Animals and non-sentient beings don’t scream.

So therefore, they had been attacking sentient creatures.

Creatures capable of thought, creatures capable of speech, creatures capable of reason.

And he and his group were killing them, mindlessly.

“STOP! STOP ATTACKING!” He shouted to his companions.

Trevor merely shook his head and brought out his rifle.

“Fuck that, I wanna fight some more!" The drug-addled hick argued, punctuating his statement with a headshot to a fleeing pony.

“You don’t understand man, these things… they’re… they’re...” Lee had to be careful about what he said here.

Sentient?

Alive?

Not just animals?

-> Stay silent <-

“They’re what, alive? Not anymore.” The rifle-wielding man countered, punctuating his statement with another headshot to another fleeing pony.

“Trevor, they’re sentient!!!” David loudly rebuked, aiming his AN-94 at the methhead.

“What, are you some sort of pussy bitc- oh... oh... you’re just like… you’re just like that fucker who stabbed me in the back, up in North Yankton, all those years ago!!!” Trevor aimed his gun at David, snarling.

“Trevor, if you shoot him, I will be forced to open fire at you on the grounds of the call of duty as part of SWAT.” Stryker aimed his M9 for a perfect headshot.

“Nyet, whether duty calls or not, you American capitalists do not realize just what you’ve all been doing to your country, and I do not want any part of it. Trevor truly knows the faults of your system, and if you kill him, I kill you.” Nikolai aimed his Ray Gun at the SWAT officer.

“What the hell are you talking about, Vodka Drunkinski? I just like to murder things.” The hick said, aiming his rifle at David, “AND I’M NOT GONNA BE STOPPED BY A FEW BULLETS!”

Lee just stood there, breathless. David and Trevor noticed, and David threw one of his revolvers to the man while Trevor tossed over a spare Combat Pistol.

“You’ve got a choice Lee, the side of lawfulness, or the side of lawlessness!” David asked the hard question, the one that he felt would force Lee to pick a side.

“What about me? I’m a player too here!” Michael cried out in complaint, readying several Demon Scythes in case the lit-fuse situation blew up.

“Yes, but you’re a smartass!” Trevor insulted Michael.

“HEY!!!” David aimed at Trevor again.

Lee inhaled, thinking hard, Michael saw this and used his very-limited knowledge-transferal abilities to inform Lee of the repercussions.

He looked at Trevor and Nikolai, the latter of which held out a bottle of vodka, willing to share (a very small amount) to buy some friendship.

He looked at David and Stryker, the latter of which held out a crumpled pack of cigarettes, offering the only one left to buy some friendship.

He looked at Michael, who still had his left hand to his temple and his right hand pointing at Lee, as well as the empty street behind him.

Pick Trevor (Trevor, Nikolai and David will remember this.)

Pick David (Trevor, David, and Stryker will remember this.)

Leave (Everyone will remember this.)

-> Rage out (If you don’t pick another option, you’ll default to this one, and everyone will remember it.) <-

Lee exhaled, he couldn’t pick a side, so he did what humans do best.

Rage out.

“ARE YOU ALL OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING MINDS!?” Lee screamed, making everyone else jump back in surprise, Lee had been a mostly quiet and pleasant (if sometimes snarky) man, so this sudden explosion was unexpected.

"That's offensive to mothers." Trevor called out, immediately getting Lee to turn towards him with his blazing-hot glare of reprimanding.

He breathed in again “SHUT THE HELL UP TREVOR! I CAN’T BELIEVE Y'ALL ARE REALLY ARGUING OVER THIS! THIS IS MADNESS! I CAN’T JUST… I CAN’T JUST!....” he stopped for a second, feeling a wet pain all over his body and crying freely, “I CAN’T SIDE WITH EITHER OF YOU! ON ONE END, I HAVE FREEDOM, BUT I HAVE THE TWO SANE GUYS WITH MORALS HATING ME! ON THE OTHER END, I HAVE A GOOD MORAL STANDING, BUT I HAVE TWO PSYCHOPATHS WITH NO MORALS HATING ME! I CAN’T…*sob* I just can’t be forced to do this, man. I used to have a life, and while it was pretty boring and all, it was a good life compared to what I went through after those zombies showed up." he looked at each of them in turn, his face twisted in an expression of half-depression half-mania, "Ever since then, it’s just been hard time after hard time after stuck between a rock and a hard place after situation after conflict and I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I’M NOT DOING THIS! I SAID IT ONCE AND I’LL SAY IT AGAIN! THIS IS MADNESS, NOT BLASPHEMY, NOT SPARTA, THIS IS JUST… JUST… it’s just madness!" he watched Michael put a finger to his temple, sending Lee information on each of the other five's backstories, "Michael told me what happened with all of you. If we let go of our humanity, either now, or ever, then we’re no better than the zombies you fought, Nikolai. No better than the earthquake that destroyed your city, David. No better than the demons that invaded your planet, Stryker. No better than the giant, deadly creatures of power that wanted nothing more than to destroy you and all you love, Michael. No better than all of the assholes I had to deal with, the bandits, the liars, the traitors, the son of a bitch who slept with my wife. IF YOU DON’T STOP FIGHTING, IT WILL END IN YOUR MUTUAL DESTRUCTIONS!” Lee half-screamed, half-sobbed.

He huffed and puffed, having been ranting for about five minutes.

He called upon the last bit of his mental energy left, and screamed an incoherent sound of adjudication, beration, castigation, desperation, exasperation, foregone forbearance, and hatred of all this garrulousness, feeling like his arms were ready to fall off from how much he had been flailing and pointing them.

David, Nikolai, Stryker, and Trevor just stood there... speechless.

David was speechless because Lee chose to call out the insanity they were dishing out. He was right, there shouldn’t be all of this fighting. If they’d stuck together from the start, the kingdom would have already been saved by now. It was like the never-going-to-happen perfect scenario in Day Z.

Nikolai was silent because he empathized with the black man, he was too forced into a world of violence and death. He’d lost love and built friendships, only to have those friendships ripped away. He’d lived relatively normally (at least compared to after the apocalypse), and had lost a lot when the zombies came.

Stryker just stood there, realizing that Lee had decided to take a different route from the clear-cut choices. He had the qualities of a leader in him, and it actually was somewhat frightening to think that way about some stranger he just met, especially since this one apparently had superpowers.

Trevor on the other hand was actually thinking, and he thought and thought.

Maybe he has a point. Trevor thought.

Lee screeched in pain as the feeling in his arms boiled over, he looked in horror as each of his fingernails simultaneously shot out to about six inches in length, every one of them looking like some sort of bloody knife made of bone.

Information played through his head.

You’ve chosen the path of the crier, you have proven your moral standing is one high enough to be above the infighting, but in doing so, you have elicited the powers of loneliness.

You gained: the Witch’s Claws, you can stab your foes to kill them in a second, if you so wish.

Staring at his new attachments in self-induced terror, Lee fell to his knees from weakness.

He was losing blood, fast, as it seemed that most of the skin on his arms below his elbows seemed to have peeled off in the presence of this new addition.

His spine went limp and he began to fall forwards “Ooooohhh shit.” He moaned, right before his head hit the ground and he was knocked out cold.

Michael ran to Lee’s side, adjusting his body so that he would be in the most stable condition possible.

“I need a bottle of water and a mushroom, FAST!” He demanded as forcefully as he could.

“Before we do that, did he just grow Wolverine Claws?” David asked.

“Who cares, get the water from that well over there, I’ll get the mushroom, one of the type we need should be in the fields.” Stryker yelled out, running to the outskirts of the city. David looked at the nearby well, ran to it, and threw the bucket down. Nikolai came up to David, and spoke.

“You have good moral standing comrade, but you are reckless.”

“Yeah, I’m the reckless one, while the drunk teams up with some methhead from God-knows-where.”

“Nikolai understands your concerns, here… bottle, no vodka in it anyway, not anymore.” Nikolai handed over an empty vodka bottle, the inside was bone-dry and didn’t even have the smell of alcohol left over.

David took it and looked at it. While it may have been empty, it still had some uses, so he might as well keep it.

“Thanks.” David began to pull up the bucket with difficulty.

“Nyet, is nothing, nothing to me, at least.” Nikolai said as he walked away, letting David hoist the bucket on his own.

When David was done, he untied the knot the best way he could, and hefted the bucket over to Lee, who Michael was still watching over.

“Alright, good, but I need a bottle of water, not just water itself.”

David coughed, and handed the bottle over after filling it up with water from the bucket..

“Right, all we need is that mushroom, and then I can make the health potion.” Michael said, standing the bottle up on the ground a few feet away.

“Where’s Stryker anyway?” David asked, he’d been at the well for a few minutes, so the SWAT officer should have been back by now.

“The edge of town is much further away than that well, he may be a while, assuming nothing decides to catch him.” Michael informed, feeling a slight sense of possible dread.

---

Stryker looked around, not sure what the mushroom he was looking for actually looked like.

“Great, I have no idea what the mushroom looks like, and I’m a couple miles away from Michael, I guess I’ll have to walk back then,” he said dejectedly.

He turned back towards the kingdom and started walking.

Not ten seconds later, he heard an automobile engine roaring as it came towards him.

“Hey, get in.” Trevor said, almost sounding forgiving, as he pulled up in his truck.

Stryker glared at the man, but got in anyway. Trevor put on Channel X, a Hardcore Punk Radio Station that he adored back in San Andreas.

“So, y’got the mushroom?” Trevor asked.

“No, I... I can't seem to find the one we're looking for.” Stryker felt really stupid, how could he have been able to help stave off an invasion of Earth, but not find one stinkin' mushroom?!

“What if I told you, you just need a mushroom.” The balding man informed, seemingly stating the obvious with his ‘here’s the issue’ hand gesture.

Stryker looked at Trevor, and sighed.

“If it’s one of those 'magic' mushrooms, I doubt it’ll work.”

“No, I mean, were you looking for a specific mushroom? Mikey said we need ‘a mushroom’.” Trevor got out and picked a couple of mushrooms from the ground, then got back in and showed them to the officer, “See, that easy.”

Stryker opened his mouth, but found himself silent.

“That... how could I overlook the obvious?”

“That’s what ya get fer goin’ to college.”

Stryker then realized something, Trevor may have been a violent sociopath, but he was actually more intelligent than most people would give credit for.

“I ken read too, and thanks fer the compliment.”

“What? What did you...”

“Oh, sorry, I’m on my 'special mix', when I take it, I can read thoughts.” Trevor pulled out a baggie of sort sort of crystalline powder.

Stryker just sighed, thinking it was a lot like when he faced Ermac. Best not to think about it really.

“So… want some?”

“I have been sober most all my life, and never high, so I will decline your offer and we can leave it at that.”

“Fine, pussy out, you pussy. Real men smoke meth, so remember that!”

“Unless we come to a test or question of manhood, I doubt your ramblings will be useful.” Stryker knew that he might have been tempting fate, but he couldn’t bring himself to care at this point.

--

The two soon parked near the other four men and got out.

“Got the mushrooms.” Trevor handed the bundle over to Michael.

“Alright, thank you… I… give me those too.” Michael pointed to a baggie of dried up shrooms.

“Uh… alright, didn’t take ya fer a shrooms guy.” Trevor handed over the ‘magic’ mushrooms.

In Michael’s hands, the magic mushrooms glowed with a soft blue light, and he set them down, put the normal mushrooms into the bottle, turning the water red.

“Oh, and before Michael says something, no, he just grew long fingernail claws.” David added on.

“Oh right, that reminds me.” Stryker punched David in the gut. The hardy man had dealt with pain before, and took it with only a little difficulty.

“Alright, if it was something I said or did, I’m sorry.” David said, barely affected by the pain.

Michael added the ‘magic’ mushrooms to the Lesser Healing Potion, turning it into a standard Healing Potion, complete with a slightly adorned bottle and a richer red color.

“Okay, with just a bit of this, we can heal both of them.” Michael said, lifting Lee’s head and pouring a good amount of the rich-red liquid into his mouth.

After swallowing it, the half-zombie’s arms stopped bleeding, leaving him with just some stains that Michael wiped away with Lee’s shirt.

Walking over to Shining Armor, Michael administered the potion to him as well.

“Man, Sombra’s gonna kill us.” Stryker said.

“Sombra? SOMBRA? You mean THE Sombra? King Sombra, Unicorn of Darkness?” Shining asked incredulously, standing up again, surprised to not feel any pain from his leg.

“Um… yes?” Lee said in a phlegmy tone, coughing up a wad of bile and standing up again.

“That asshole just came up to me, threatened me, and after I demanded guns for protection, plopped me in the middle of the Arctic there!” David yelled out.

“He was actually once a good, upstanding leader, but the powers of darkness corrupted him into what he is today. Such is the fate of those who attempt to seek power that would give them time eternal.” Michael informed, recalling the history that he automatically learned.

“Heh, greed kills, suka.” Nikolai took a drink of vodka. “Is why communism is best system.”

“Says the drunk who knows that 1991 happens.” David muttered.

“Fuck you.”

“Guys, no fighting, I don’t think I can handle my toenails changing or something.” Lee said, calming the rising conflict.

“Just relax, relax and...” Stryker's next words were drowned out by a sudden shout.

“Stay where you are!”

The humans turned to see six mares, all of whom were likely not happy with what they just did.

“You will come with us, now!” The purple unicorn yelled out.

“Yeah, you big meanies!” The pink pony said.

Trevor made a move towards them, but David stopped him, not wanting to do anything drastic.

“Oh I'll show you mean-… meth. I'll show you meth.” Trevor tossed over a small, clear baggie of the stuff, watching it land perfectly on top of Pinkie’s curly mane.

Rarity grabbed the baggie with her magic, and looked at it.

“Whatever do you use this for? It looks like bath salts.” The posh mare asked, examining the contents with her sharp eyes.

“No, bath salts are different.” Trevor corrected, using his extensive knowledge of all things drug-related.

“Don’t snort it, or smoke it, it causes aggression.” David said, not wanting to corrupt these ponies.

“Meth, not even once.” Lee joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Enough talk, come with us, or you will be forcefully apprehended.” Twilight commanded, lighting her horn.

“So, you’re cops, right?“ Trevor asked.

“Hey, Stryker, you’re SWAT, deal with them.” Lee whispered over to the soldier.

“Alright... I... guess...” Stryker whispered back before slowly walking towards the group of mares, seeing the rainbow-maned pegasus make an intimidating movement towards him. Stryker just thought about how stupid that was.

“I’ve faced much bigger and tougher monsters than you, pride parade. I was alone and I lived to tell the tale. They weren’t willing to listen, I suggest you don’t make the same mistake. Just keep calm, and let us explain.”

“I can vouch for him, I have learned everything about his world.” Michael informed, supporting his companion in an act of bravery.

I bet he knows about Kabal. Stryker thought.

“Listen, this is my team now, and I was disciplined to never abandon my team. While you may try to use the law against me, it won’t work, because I'm in cahoots with the law, so listen up,” Stryker turned to the other five humans, pointing to each of them in succession “Lee, David, Michael, Nikolai, Trevor, and I am Stryker, we were sent here by King Sombra to disrupt the city affairs and give him an opportunity to take over.” The officer explained.

“We were tricked though.” David blurted out quickly, eliciting an elbow by Nikolai.

“Da, stupid-looking black-and-red pony didn’t give Nikolai his vodka, or his friend.” Nikolai added.

“He threatened me into doing it, basically.” David said with a hint of shame.

“All of us were forced here, Twilight.” Michael summed up all the explanations.

Trevor and Lee knew better however, but decided to go along with their explanations.

“How did you know my name?” The lavender unicorn queried, narrowing her eyes at the gray-shirted man.

“I know everything, it’s my job, as dictated by the Elder Gods.”

“I can vouch for him there, Elder Gods do that stuff.” Stryker kept a straight face, but turned to Michael and looked at him in confusion “Elder gods?” he whisper-asked.

“So, basically, pretty ponies, we’re gonna go against his wishes now... even though he’s everything that could kill us, in a second. Oh God, we’re screwed...” David fell backwards, still conscious, but nervous.

“I’ve gotten through stuff like this, just remember, qqqqqqqqqqqq E, my dad taught me that, and it’s given me strength in tough situations ever since.” Lee assured, giving David a pat on the shoulder.

“And I thought my advice had some weird pants.” Trevor said.

“I think you mean parts.” Twilight corrected.

“I know what I said!” Trevor yelled out, making the mares back up slightly.

“Applejack darling, are these… things… telling the truth?” Rarity turned to her friend, knowing that the orange farmer was like a walking lie-detector.

“Eeyup, I ken see it, they’re all a bit scared, but it’s the kinda scared that goes with desperate-ness, not fear.” Applejack had her head half-lowered, hiding her neck. A blank stare was plastered across her face as she scrutinized each of the six other-worlders.

“And we would be fearful if we were lying, not desperate, desperation is felt when telling the truth, and is directed towards those to whom you tell the truth to, as a hope that they will accept the truth as true.” Michael philosophized.

“Philosophy!” David yelled out, summing up Michael’s statement in one word.

“You gonna do that a lot, gray shirt guy?” Applejack asked.

“It is a habit of mine, to go on at length about a subject despite having already sufficiently having explained my standpoint on it.” the gray-shirted man explained.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes I will’, sugarcube.” the orange mare concluded.

*BOOM*

“TREVOR!” Lee reprimanded.

“I swear to Jesus and all them others runnin’ things, that one wasn’t me.” Trevor put his hands up in surrender, but really prepared to turn his armament wheel to his rifle, just in case.

*BOOM*

David readied up his sword, not wanting to draw that much attention. “That wasn’t good.”

“I think it was… that.” Twilight worriedly pointed to the surface of the barrier.

It rippled and made loud *BOOM* sounds, something was battering it.

Then a hole tore open, revealing the orange-skied wasteland of ice and snow, with Sombra at it’s forefront

“CRYSSSSSTALS!” The huge cloud hissed, breaking open a hole big enough to enter through, then backing up to charge through.

“OHHHHHHH SHIT, MOTHAFUCKA!!! He’s here!” David yelled out.

“Don’t say that word, it’s insulting to mothers!” Trevor chastised the only normal man of the group.

“We really going into that again, and right now, T?” Lee said, readying himself for an attack.

“And don’t call me T, either. Only my homies call me that!”

“I think we might get along a bit better, but this still isn’t the time, T...revor.” Lee said, curling up for a leap.

“We can focus on sentiments after the enemy is neutralized.” Stryker said, aiming his M9.

“Da, is good, barrier good.” Nikolai didn’t bother preparing anything, and rather did something important; like take a swig of vodka.

Exactly as Nikolai had said, the barrier raised up right before Sombra could charge through it.

“Wow, you were right Nikolai.” David said in shock.

“Da, Nikolai is always right, except when wrong.” Nikolai said, showing a good bit of ventriloquism skill by talking while drinking.

Lee uncurled, looking around and locking eyes with Shining, who hadn’t spoken on the matter yet.

“Alright, I will make sure that you will be provided with materials and supplies for your troubles, as long as you are on our side.” Shining said finally, gesturing for everyone to follow him.

“That would be most excellent, Sir Shining.” Michael accepted politely.

“I didn’t introduce myself.” The white stallion noted, looking at Michael strangely.

“I know everything, it’s my job as dictated by the Elder Gods, I know we went over this already.” The guide informed,

David walked up to Shining, and began to speak.

“Yeah, sorry about your leg, Shining.” David said, scratching the back of his neck.

“I understand that you were just acting out of panic, and I got healed anyways, so I can forgive you.” Shining was what some people or ponies would call a ‘total bro’, and he had experienced panicking people before.

“OH, THANK GOD!”

“By the way, I overheard your comment earlier.”

“Oh, r-really?”

“Yeah, and I should have you know, I have a wife.”

“O-OH!!! So... you’re straight?”

“Oh no, of course not," the knight proclaimed sarcastically, "I have a wife just for show- OF COURSE I'M STRAIGHT.” Shining whiplashed the mood of his statement, exclaiming the second part matter-of-factly.

“Oh, cool story bro.” David replied in a neutral tone.

“Anyways, here we are.” The white stallion gestured to the massive throne room as they entered.

“Woah.” Stryker said, otherwise speechless upon seeing the glimmering and glistening room.

“CADANCE!” Twilight cheered happily, hopping over to the tired princess.

“Twilight!” Cadance greeted, tired, but excited.

♩Sunshine sunshine
Ladybugs awake

Clap your hooves
And do a little shake♩

“What an awfully almost perverted performance.” Michael said flatly upon seeing how close the two mares were to some sort of weird sex position.

“Whatever, it’s not me.” Trevor grumbled.

“I’m not so sure about what I just saw.” Lee cringed, half-tempted to watch, half-tempted to look away.

“I think it was a dance, by Twilight and Cadance... oh... OH!” David chuckled.

Cadance smiled and the two mares hugged.

“It’s so good to see you again!” Twilight cheered, still ecstatic to see her sister-in-law.

“Sister-in-law?” Trevor was still on his ‘special mix’.

“Oh, he can break it too.” David muttered.

“Wait what?” The mix had decided to run out just then.

Don’t worry about it.

Twilight looked back at Trevor.

“Wait, how did you know that?” The lavender unicorn asked, confused.

“Don’t bother... it’s like... crazy stuff from a crazy drug-addict... And by that logic, and judging from the fact that you’re the only non-crystal ponies in this place...” David suddenly shut up, looking towards Shining.

“Eh... yes, that mare over there’s my wife, and the other one’s my sister.” Shining said, pointing to the two.

“So, your sister is some pink princess-looking pony, and you married some lavender wizard-looking pony?” Lee wondered aloud.

“What, NO!!!” Twilight protested, blushing at the suggestion.

“Other way around.” Cadance corrected, waving her hooves in a ‘please stop’ gesture.

“...We… we almost suggested incest.” David facepalmed.

“Eh, not that different from Sandy Shores.” Trevor shrugged.

“We did not know, David comrade, it is good... Had arranged marriage with cousin though... *URP!!!*”

“WHAT?” David and Lee shouted in unison.

“Is part of reason first marriage was shit. Also, I had lights off during entire wedding, is complicated, don’t think about it.”

“I’m going to go with ‘power outage’ and leave it at that, and I’m going to assume that you meant ‘it’s fine, you didn’t mean any harm, because you didn’t know’, and I’m just going to forget all about that bit with the cousin.” Twilight said as she looked at the bottle Nikolai held.

“What cousin?” Nikolai asked through a stream of vodka going from the bottle into his mouth.

“It’s not important, soldier, what is important: the threat is still that, a threat, and- why is her horn glowing?” Stryker noticed Cadance’s horn was lit.

“I’ve been keeping a shield around the kingdom since yesterday, I’m really tired.” Cadance yawned and nearly dozed, off, but a small, quick shake from Shining shook her out of it.

“My God, no wonder you look so weak.” Stryker said.

“It’s unfortunate, I know, but I have to do it because I’m not really much of a military leader, and while Shiny is better at making really powerful shields, barriers, and forcefields, if he’s busy doing that, then that means I’d have to lead the troops.” The not-so-pretty-right-now pink princess explained.

“Or do you?” David stroked his chin as if he had a beard.

“What do you mean?" Cadance asked, yawning.

“Ma’am, I was in the special forces, I can lead these troops if you let me.” Stryker told Cadance.

“I’m good with animals, I guess.” Lee offered, trying to be useful.

“I was supposed to be in the Air Force.” Trevor said, with a hint of anger at was.

“Nikolai was in Red Army, fighting off Nazi invasion.”

“I know everything, and I’m sure that military leadership and tactics falls into that category.”

“And... I have a good K/D ratio on MAG.” David said awkwardly, hoping that gaming would help in being a good fighter.

“Well, I thank you for your willingness to help, but all the military we have might be useless against Sombra’s onslaughts without the Crystal Heart. If we can’t find the Crystal Heart, then we’re doomed.” Cadance lamented, looking at the sun for a moment.

“Um, I don’t understand any of this.” Pinkie raised her hoof like a student asking the teacher for help.

“Cadance, darling, what is the Crystal Heart?” Rarity asked, it sounded both important and fabulous.

“Michael, you’re the smart one, explain.” Stryker said.

“The Crystal Heart is a relic once held by Cadance’s father, King Shaded Sapphire, long ago, maybe a bit less than a thousand years ago, Sombra rose up and took the heart from its place. It is the source of power for the eternal fair-weather of the Crystal Kingdom, as well as keeping the wild beasts of the arctic at bay.” The guide regaled.

“Well, in that case, where should we look for it?” Lee asked.

“Sombra put it in a very high place, it is dangerous to get there, as it reaches up into the…” Michael paused to calculate the height.

Trevor began to think.

“You got a helicopter?”

Michael shook his head, and shut that idea down immediately.

“No Trevor, the tower it is held in reaches up about 37,000 feet, which is about two miles into the Stratosphere, much too high for a unpressurized helicopter to fly up to.”

“Points for trying though.” David said.

“Wait, 37,000 feet?” Trevor needed to make sure he heard that right.

“Yes, give or take a few hundred, that bit of information is still processing.”

“We’ll need a commercial airliner.” The drug-addled man knew that that was the average flying height of such a plane.

“And how do we fly that in a snow-stormed tundra, in a big plane?” David asked.

“And I do not like flying... oh...” Nikolai added, getting a bit nauseous from the thought alone.

“It should be fine, the storm shouldn’t extend that high.” The balding man assured as he pulled out his cellphone.

“We have a small airport in the town, but air-travel is still a relatively new technology.” Cadance said.

“I thought he said that this place has been gone for almost a millennium?” Stryker noticed the continuity error.

“The crystal ponies built it around the time that it came about, the shroud of darkness occasionally flickered and faltered, allowing packets of information to come in.” Cadance remembered all of those times when it did, when she felt hope for her kingdom, only to have that hope crushed immediately after.

“Oh, is there a nightclub then?” David asked, smiling.

“Maybe, there’s a map of the city in the conference room, I’ll show you the way.” Shining gestured for David to follow him and walked down another hallway.

“So, here is plan, we fly to high place, and get heart? Alright, but Nikolai stays on ground, I hate flying.”

“The structure of the top point of the castle’ tower is similar in style to a gazebo, for some reason.” Michael added, internally questioning the logic behind the structure.

“Alright, we parachute down.” Trevor replied. A gazebo would make landing tricky.

“You’re crazy, you know that?” Stryker said.

“Glad to see you noticed.” Trevor replied, quickly following David and Shining down the hall, as he still needed to know the actual location of the airport.

--

“Trevor, coming to find out where the airport is?” David said, sounding a bit more cheery than a minute before.

“Yes, actually, and this would be a good time to have a few words with you.”

“Oh, right, that!” David snarked.

“Listen, alright, I can deal with not killing some stuff for a little while, but I’ll find it hard to forgive you after that move you pulled.”

“Trevor, let’s be honest, we were killing innocent creatures, and you didn’t seem to care.”

“Because I do that all the time,so it’s not a big deal for me. I do anything that gets me more paper.” Trevor said, trying to defend himself despite knowing that David definitely had the higher moral standing.

David glared at Trevor, and sighed.

“But I’m willing to put that off to help you guys, because it would just be fun to fly again.” The balding man added, holding up his hands in surrender.

“Flying? You like that?”

“Hell yeah, it’s amazing, shame the Air Force’s gotta be so strict with their goddamn rules.” Trevor actually growled for a second.

“Oh, psychotics people aren’t allowed, gotcha.”

“I just can't believe that stupid, fat, BITCH!!!” Trevor yelled out, hating that woman who'd grounded him, permanently.

David and Shining took a few steps away from Trevor.

“Oh, sorry, not you David, you’re not a bitch.” Trevor hadn’t said anything about ‘stupid’ or ‘fat’, though.

“Oh, okay...” David didn’t notice the stealthy insult.

“But if you try and fucking cross me, I’ll rip your guts out and knit a sweater from your entrails. I’ve already been betrayed once, and I don’t want anymore betrayals, don’t make me nickname you Judas, fatty.”

“Hey!” David replied. “I’m not fat, I’m husky!”

“Tell that to my buddy Michael, and no, not the one here. Plus, I woulda said ‘large framed’, cuz husky ain’t much better than fat” Trevor laughed an ashy, grating laugh that seemed to grind away at Shining’s eardrums.

“We’re here.” The knight was thankful when he saw the special-carved door of the conference room.

David and Trevor looked at the symbols on the doors, and opened them.

“By the way, what did you think about Lee’s outburst, before he got those claws?”

“I think he at least had a point, and the claws bit, that was weird.” Trevor looked at his own fingernails, which were jagged, filthy, and uncut.

“Personally, I thought Lee had guts for at least opposing a choice. But the guy can’t stay neutral for long. I’m not giving him another gun, that’s for sure.” David said, looking at his one Python remaining.

“Aw cool, never seen one’a those before.” Trevor had only seen pistol models in his time, never a revolver.

“Colt Python, 60’s, .38 special or .357 magnum. Six rounds.” David explained in an abridged matter.

“Oh, I have this Colt, and it does a lot more... stuff.” Trevor pulled out his Heavy Pistol, which looked remarkably like a variation of the Colt M1911.

David nodded, looking at the map.

David felt it odd that he was the one who wanted to find a nightclub, of all things, and goof off, and Trevor wanted to find the airport and actually accomplish something.

After about a minute of scanning the huge map, David found it: The Diamond Bottle, a club not too far from the castle.

Trevor found the airport easily, as it had a rather clear name: Sapphire Skies Airport

To their surprise, the two locations were within walking distance of each other.

“I guess if one've us of has a problem, we can just holler and the other’ll know.” Trevor suggested, walking over to a nearby window.

“Sounds good to me.”

“I can see the ‘port from here, grab my hand.” The meth-head held out his hand as he secured his parachute to his body.

“Alright, try not to suffocate in the stratosphere.” David joked.

“I won’t, and plus, we’re just glidin’ off to our desired locations right now.” Trevor still held out his hand, waiting for David to grab it.

David looked at the hand, and winced, clearly knowing what would happen.

“Gotta learn to be less crazy.” David scolded himself, grabbing the hand with both of his own and holding on tight.

“S'not mah best subject to learn, an' I’m not gonna drop ya, an’ if I do, you have my permission to kick me in the ass when you get out of the hospital.” Trevor jumped out of the window, deploying his parachute after ten feet of falling.

David’s face was frozen, not in fear, but in sheer G-forces compressing his chest. He exhaled and inhaled deeply.

“Scared?”

“Nah, G-forces froze my lungs, it’s uncomfortable.”

“Well these chutes ain’t designed to give ya a soft landing, just a non-lethal one.” Trevor himself wasn’t particularly keen on how fast he went forward when on a chute.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” David hoped that he hadn’t heard that right.

“Hold on, we’re almost there.” Trevor used David’s weight to swing himself up and into a standing position as they landed, tucking and rolling to avoid damage.

David on the other hand was not so lucky, getting a few scrapes and bruises from landing on the not-very-smooth crystal street.

“You alright?”

“Grah... I’ve been through worse.” David said through gritted teeth, trying to get up, successfully.

“You’ll live, come on, I think I can see that bottle place from here, and the airport’s at the end of the road.” Trevor pointed and began running.

David was a bit shocked at how well Trevor could sprint, having taken him for more of a gunner than a runner.

However, after only a few minutes, Trevor was more out of breath than David was.

Luckily for both of them, the distance they’d glided, and then distance they’d ran, had put David right next to The Diamond Bottle and Trevor about a block from Sapphire Skies Airport.

“Alright, let’s get to our... stuff... You alright?” David asked Trevor.

“Yeah, *huff* just… *huff* not really much of a runner *huff* I’m fine.” Trevor had at least recovered to the point of normal breathing by this point.

“Yeah, by the way, what happened in North Yankton?”

Trevor glared at David, and stepped up to be almost chest-to-chest with him.

“None'a your fucking business, that's what.”

David stepped back, coughed from the smell, nodded, and walked towards the nightclub, while Trevor proceeded to look for the plane he had ordered.

---

Stryker and Michael climbed the bookshelves, Stryker with his acrobatic skills, Michael using crystal platforms he’d made out of the picked up remains of a condemned building.

Twilight and the others were all looking for the same book the two men were, a history book for the Crystal Kingdom.

“So, you just already know the whole story, right?" Stryker asked, whispering because he was in a library.

“Of course, it is my job to know.” Michael whispered back.

“Then why don’t you explain the story to them?” The officer suggested.

“Because even with my vast knowledge, I will not be everywhere at once, so it’s good to have a reference to the actual source, just in case.” Michael replied.

“Ah, I see, a back-up of sorts, right, do we even know what the book is called?”

“History of the Crystal Kingdom, simple.”

“By who?”

“Alexandrite All-collector, a mare whose public and private personalities were quite... distinct from each other.” Michael cringed and pulled another book from the shelf.

“Well we should look in the A section then.” Stryker turned to find said section.

“Why? The book is called ‘History of the Crystal Kingdom’, it is obvious this library is sorted by the Neodigit system.” Michael recalled that being true, at least at some point in the library’s history.

“No, it’s organized by the Dewey Decimal system, author’s name, not book title.” Stryker was a more modern man, and knew how libraries worked.

“Then you check the A section and I’ll check the H section and we’ll see who finds it.” Michael suggested, almost in a challenging way.

“If you wish, I do make mistakes myself on occasion.” Stryker was about to walk over to the A section, but stopped when someone, or rather somepony, shouted.

“I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!” Pinkie called out, completely ignoring the rules of a library.

“Miss Pie, firstly, this is a library, so be quiet, and secondly, where was it? Stryker and I were having a small debate over that detail.” Michael asked, wishing to know what this changing information truly was.

“It was in the ‘history’ section.” Pinkie revealed, bouncing off towards her friends.

“Of course, why wouldn’t it be?” Michael facepalmed, super-dynamic-information was the only kind of information beyond his gains.

Stryker smirked and chuckled.

“Guess you’re right.” Stryker told Michael.

“This library is sorted according to genre, not by either the Neodigit or Dewey Decimal system. Therefore, we are, in fact, both wrong.” Michael slid his palm down his face and resting it at his side.

“No, about you making mistakes.”

“Actually you were the one who said that, but it’s still true; infinite knowledge does not garner infinite wisdom nor infinite capability to use that knowledge. Even the Elder Gods obey rules, and thus I cannot know things that are so fickle unless I learn them manually.”

“By the way, Elder Gods?”

“Yes, the Elder Gods, there are many, Midway the Fallen, Treyarch, Bethesda, Nintendo, Sega, and Blizzard, to name a few, and there are countless lesser ones who create things on their own. A recently famed one, in the last thousand days, is Mojang. My point is, the one who made me, Redigit, gathered the resources to make me an all-knowing entity, at the cost of personal freedom, freedom that I recently received.”

“Free at last, free at last, thank god almighty you are free at last.” Stryker recited, scratching his chin where a bit of stubble had grown.

“Yes, I know that speech. It is amazing to know that all of your worlds all followed the same line of events up until a certain point, a point that, at longest, AKA Nikolai and David, is almost 70 years apart, and at shortest, you and David, is only 1 year apart.”

“Yeah, that part’s kinda confusing, but I fought… well you know what I fought.” Stryker knew that Michael knew his fighting history.

“Yes, and there is one thing that seems to stand out in your story, one called Kabal.” Michael had noted that that memory seemed noticeably more highlighted than most others.

“Uh, yeah. He was my partner.”

“During the invasion by Shao Khan’s forces after the second Tournament. It was after fighting the Saurian named Reptile...”

“Wait, it’s name really is Reptile?” Stryker asked incredulously. It’s like naming a dog mammal.

“Indeed. Very redundant.”

“Wow.”

“And after fighting Mileena, Kintaro used his fire breath to severely injure Kabal, right?”

“Yeah. How’d he survive?”

“Like it or not, Kabal was not always the law-abiding citizen you fought alongside.”

“What?”

“Kabal was a part of a group called the Black Dragon, a mercenary group that armed the invaders in the first place.”

“What! I don’t believe you.”

“I expected as much, but Kabal was indeed reformed. He was saved by a former companion, Kano.”

“Sonya told me about him, she never liked him apparently.”

“By the way, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage are alive, as is Raiden.”

“Oh... good.” Stryker gave a breath of relief.

“The others are still slaves to Quan Chi, except Liu Kang.”

“Wait, that Chinese man died?”

“It is better that you do not know the circumstances, morale is important.” Michael’s words were spoken with a grave tone, and Stryker nodded in agreement. He had been in situations where morale was everything they had to keep them going.

“And how’d he do?” The officer asked.

“Kabal?” Michael queried.

“Yeah.”

“He escaped Outworld, and the rest is shared history when he saved Sub-Zero, or rather, what he became.”

Stryker nodded.

“So, any more questions, Officer Stryker?”

“No, I think I got it all.”

“Good, I think the others have already prepared something whilst we chatted about the past.”

“Is that music I’m hearing?”

“Indeed it is, come on, let’s go listen to some tunes.”

“That sentence, the way you said it sounded so forced.”

“I’m still new to this, Stry, cut me some slack here.”

“I understand, it’s like training a new recruit into an elite soldier, it takes time, creativity, and patience.”

“I know, it’s just… I know that something bad is going to happen, I can’t see into the future, but I know that something bad should have happened already, and the longer that fate waits to tip the bucket, the more water will come out.”

“Nice analogy, bud.” Stryker replied, pushing open the front doors of the library.

Stepping out into the bright sunlight, the two were greeted by a cheery festival with lots of music, games, and happy crystal ponies.

“Wow, it’s like they completely forgot about our attack.” Stryker was amazed that the magnitude of the overall change of mood.

“I’m sure that many of them didn’t notice it when it happened. And it seems that the bodies were cleared away before the fair began.” Michael was already on the move, making his way to someplace where one of the six non-crystal mares or one of the four other men were.

---

Lee and Nikolai, after a castle staff-wide agreement that they both looked like shit and smelled like death, and a combination of a brief moment of sobriety and encouragement from Lee, they both agreed to bathe.

They were now in some sort of foggy locker-room type shower chamber, where luckily the steam was so thick that they couldn’t see each other from across the room. However, they could still hear each other clearly.

“So… do knife-nails hurt comrade’s hands?” Nikolai asked as he protected his chilled vodka from the hot water of the shower head, not wanting to lose the crisp coldness.

“Naw, they hurt when I got them, but now they’re just fine, even if I can barely feel anything from them.” Lee winced when his claws accidentally scraped his scalp as he shampooed his hair.

“Nikolai admits, they look like some crazy zombie shit.”

“Well, I was bitten, it was pretty crazy, I cleaned up, climbed to the top of a hospital, and then Sombra got to me.”

“Comrade was bitten?” Lee couldn’t see it, but Nikolai still had his hand on a gun, and this was not his flesh one.

“Yeah, crazy thing, let me explain it in a bit more detail, I was with this little girl, Clementine, because she was missing, so I went out looking for her. Within a few minutes, I got surprised by this walker hiding under a piece of cardboard and got bitten, right on my left wrist. Several minutes of travel later, I had a chance to cut it off to save myself, but I knew that that would have been useless, because it no-doubt had already travelled further than my arm. I climbed up to the top of the hospital I was in via the elevator shaft, and on the roof, Sombra approached me and gave me this weird power so that the virus didn’t turn me into a full zombie. Afterwards, I saved Clementine, got her to the edge of the city, and then I was sent here.”

“I see, black comrade is infected.” Nikolai may have liked Lee, but not nearly enough to not shoot him for being a zombie.

“Why ya gotta bring race into it, man? I didn’t mention that you're a Russian."

"In all honesty, Nikolai cannot remember where exactly he from. All I know is that I was fighting with three others, Takeo, who is annoying fuck, Richtofen, who sucked up to Nikolai for drink, and Tank Dempsey, one of few American comrades I can trust.

"This Dempsey as good as you say?"

"Hell yes, he is. I admire his abilities, but not his sobriety."

“Well, I guess that’s as good an answer as I can ask for. Thanks for not killing me for being infected.”

“Da, Nikolai is infected too, but strong Russian blood resists zombie virus, so Nikolai not affected.” Technically true. What Nikolai didn't know was that in his case, he was actually a test subject, with Element 115, the very thing that created the zombies in his world as the super serum, along with Takeo and Dempsey.

“Do you always refer to yourself in third person?”

“I don’t always, Lee.”

“Nik.” Lee replied, hoping to start up a little bit of friendly word-based fun.

“Lee.” Nikolai took the bait, but would he hold onto it?

“Niiik.”

“Leeeee.”

“Niiiiik.”

“Leeeeeeeee.”

“Niiiiiiiiiiik.”

“Bruce Leeeeeeeeeeee.” Nikolai didn’t know who that was, but it sounded like a good name to call him.

“Mah Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikka.” Lee said, smiling and laughing.

“Hehe, so is okay for you to say word, but not me?” Nikolai queried between his own scratchy chuckles.

“It’s complicated, and I don’t often say it, if ever. I would say it’s best not to mention it, but you kinda remind me of Kenny. He was a good man, and I can tell that, despite your faults, you’re a good man too.”

“So, is okay if Nikolai say it?”

“Um… yes, but I think the rule is: you have to say it all ghetto-like, or else it’s offensive.”

“Is that with A, or ER?”

“With A, ahhh... I starting to speak like you… comrade.”

“Throw off capitalist chains and join me in free communist Mother Russia speak, comrade.”

“Alright… maybe, comrade.” Lee mused as he stroked his chin with the backs of his claws.

“Think about it, my nigga.” Nikolai suggested as he scrubbed the muck out of his hair.

The two bathed in silence for about a minute, then Lee broke it again.

“So, what about you, got any stories from your zombie apocalypse?”

“Da, is plenty of good stories, so, let me start from beginning.” Nikolai took in a breath and spoke the tale of CoD: Zombies.

-A few hours later-

“Damn, man, that was an intense story that I’d hate to have not heard. So you had a little girl that you protected too?”

“Da, is why we have so much in common. Aside from me being on moon, which is not cheese, we both protect children, even though Nikolai cannot remember her name, we both are minorities...”

“Aren’t we all minorities here?”

“Ponies do not matter right now, you and I are minorities in group, along with Michael. Because David, Stryker, and Trevor are all American dogs, so-

“I’m American too, man.”

“Oh right, Georgia not just home of Stalin, is also American region.”

“Technically, they’re states, but continue.”

“Well you and I are still minorities, and Michael is from Terraria place, don’t know if that is some country or not.”

“It’s not.”

“Then he is alien.”

“Technically we all are.”

“Technically shut up, Nikolai is talking about our group, comrade, Michael is alien in our group.”

“You have a point, and that talk about ‘Elder Gods’ was pretty weird, but I guess weirder things have happened.” The Georgian shuddered as he remembered the St. John Dairy.

“So, we good now?” The Russian asked, hoping to not have hard feelings between him and this friendly man.

“Yeah Nikolai, but I have to say one thing.”

“What?”

“You still smell like piss.”

Nikolai scoffed, but accepted it, sniffing himself.

“Is better though.”

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

“But, I will be serious Lee, earlier, about the decision you made...”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“If you had no other choice, who would you choose, David, or Trevor?”

Lee widened his eyes, and felt his gut clench up, it was a hard question, a very hard one indeed.

Nikolai will remember this. He might also tell someone else, so be wary.

-> I’d’ve chosen David. <-

I’d’ve chosen Trevor.

I’d’ve walked away.

Stay silent (this decision is highly unwise and may make you a pariah)

Lee knew that Trevor was in the wrong, but he had to be careful in how he explained it.

Explain the situation diplomatically

Turn on Trevor and support David fully

Lesser of the two evils

-> Turn Nikolai to your side <-

“I’d’ve chosen David. Now before you go off on a tangent of ‘minorities should stick together’, the argument they were having, it wasn’t over capitalism versus communism, it was about the morality of killing innocent, sentient beings without any further reason than being told to. Look at it like this, imagine being the zombie in the apocalypse, you’d be killing and eating innocent people just because the virus wants you to, can you honestly say that that’s morally right?”

“I see, is not morally right at all, but Trevor is fragile man.”

“He didn’t seem so fragile when he took two SMG magazines to the chest after a bash on the head and a punch across the jaw.”

“Not physically, comrade, emotionally. He cannot handle betrayal, at all, ever.”

“Really? All I could tell that he had a short temper, and was good at flying.”

“Nikolai knows look in eye of one who faced betrayal, he has it in droves.”

“Damn... well, I’m done with my cleaning, so I’m gonna head out now, you take care, and don’t slip.”

“Nikolai does not slip-WHOA!”

*CRASH*

“Nik? I told you so. Are you okay?”

“No, not at all.”

“That didn’t sound like flesh on tile, what fell?” Lee was concerned with what exactly had made that noise, and backed away from the doorway to the locker-room type shower in fear.

“MY VODKA!!!” Nikolai began to sob in almost a girlish tone. “My vodkaaaaaaaaa… *BRAP*”

“It’s okay, it’s okay, we’ll get you some more.” Lee assured.

“YAAAAAAAAAAY!” Nikolai cheered in almost a childish tone.

Lee sighed, and it was clear that Nikolai was a bit of a soft-minded addict himself.

Putting on his (thankfully cleaned) jeans and t-shirt, but leaving his blue overshirt behind because of the warm, fair weather, the Georgian made his way back down to the streets below, stopping for a bit to get some medical attention when he noticed his wrist leaking blood, smiling a bit at the sound of cheerful music and good times.

“*sigh* Just like Mardi Gras, or something.”

“Yep.”

Lee turned to see Stryker walk up to him.

“Stryker, what’s up?”

“Nothing, just enjoying this place.”

“Yeah, it’s nice, and hey, check it out, I don’t look like shit anymore.

“Yep, but you do have a bit of a smell though, not as strong now though.”

“That’s probably just the smell of fresh blood.”

“...Did you kill something on the way?” Stryker's hands immediately went to his taser and gun.

“No, I mean my blood, look.” Lee showed Stryker the stark-white bandage now adorning his left wrist, a noticeably sized blackish-green stain already formed on it.

“How’d that get there?” Stryker asked, worried.

“I got the wound from a walker bite, that’s what infected me and gave me these claws and my jumping powers, and I got the bandages from the medical ward because I don’t want something else getting in me. I was in luck because it’s pretty typical for most government buildings to have at least a small medical ward.”

“If you say so kid, maybe we should try and find David, he might have the right idea considering this situation.” Stryker smirked.

“I’m thirty seven, man, not a kid, but yeah, a bit of fun before the storm sounds nice.”

---

“Geez, this place just has generic dance pop, I mean, who the hell’s Sapphire Shores?”

“I’m not too sure kid, by the way, hi. The name’s Quartz Cutter, you?”

“David J. Vulakh, human.” David said as he drank his soda, being underaged.

“Nice name, I might make a drink based on the ‘Vulak’, it sounds like a drink, whaddya like?” the cheery white stallion asked, continuing his glass-cleaning.

“Ehh, I dunno, the alcohol I’ve experienced drinking is just spiked lemonade, and cheap champagne, and the latter was terrible.” David replied.

“Well I got this stuff, take a swig.” the bartender pulled down a shimmering bottle of a dark-amber colored liquid.

“Okay...” David took the bottle, poured himself a glass, and took a slow drink.

Despite tasting quite strong, it went down smoothly and left a pleasantly sweet aftertaste.

“Hmm, sweet.” David replied, pleasantly surprised.

“That’s my special brew, aurora nectar and Yak Dannel’s. Y’know, aurora nectar is produced by pearl lilies, which only grow in the waters of the Crystal Kingdom, ‘cuz it's the only place where plants can grow in range of auroras.”

“Oh, exotic...” David found himself trying to suppress his laughter, finding Yak Dannel’s similar to Jack Daniel’s. It was rather amusing to him to find these small coincidences, “It’s good.”

“Nice, so… what’s yer favorite kinda music?” The middle-aged stallion leaned in, wanting to know more for his future drink-making.

David smirked, and turned towards the bartender.

“I like most genres, but I really enjoy EDM.”

“EDM?”

“Electronic Dance Music.”

“Oh, sounds fancy, can ya play me some? Got any of it on hoof?”

“You got bluetooth?”

“Nope, all my teeth are white.” The bartender smiled wide, pointing to his stark-white teeth.

“I meant wireless connections.”

“Nope, that stuff sounds a mite bit impossible.”

David blew air, and looked in his pockets, finding that Sombra gave him a charger, one that could plug into a USB port.

“...USB, I’d like to play for the club here, make it a real party.”

“There’s only a few ponies here anyways.” Quartz looked out at the almost barren dance floor, and a few crystal ponies sitting in the booths lining the walls, some of them had been staying in the club, some of that group had been staying in the same spots they were currently in for the past several weeks.

David nodded and walked onto the stage to the DJ booth, finding it to be fully automated. David flicked a switch that read Manual Mode, and readied to plug in his iPod.

Conveniently, there was a port for it to plug into, and a small screen showed his nigh-infinite playlist.

He grabbed a nearby mic, and began to narrow his choices.

Start off with high energy.

“Alright, this is no party, and I want it to be one, so how about we make it one?”

The Crystal Ponies just looked towards the strange creature, staring at him with confusion.

“Alright, not much response, but let’s start the music, shall we?” He pushed the button to start up the chosen song.

Immediately the music had an effect on the dancers, and they moved in time with the beat, bobbing their heads.

And then the drop came.

Many of the ponies outside noticed that the music inside had changed to something much more energetic and enticing, and came inside to check it out.

David may have been a intermediate DJ at best thanks to lessons, but he knew how songs like these goes, and set up the next song. He then dropped it near the end of the chorus.

Just as the first song died down, the next one picked up the slack and kept the flow going.

Oh crap, I forgot my DJ name... what should I... ah screw it I’ll just steal one.

“I am... DAVID, THE MAU5!!!”

Stryker and Lee overheard David outburst and saw David, who looked to be actually controlling the club.

“This is… certainly new to me.” Lee said, reaching the far right side of the stage in a single leap.

“Yeah, I don’t go to nightclubs often.” Stryker informed, using the acrobatic skills he’d gained from being a kombatant to get to the stage over the course of several seconds.

Already, there seemed to be a crowd gathered in the club.

However, it seemed that David made a mistake, letting the song end.

“I don’t think he’s got it.” Stryker noted.

David knew better, and as soon as the song ended, he brought on another one.

“Well, never heard any of this before.” Stryker asked.

“This is a new genre to me.” Lee noted, walking up to the booth and trying to find out the name of the song.

“Well, it’s seems like... Daft Punk to me.”

“I heard of them, but I never listened to them.”

“Oh, well you’ve missed out on a lot of cool stuff, I think… maybe, HEY DAVID, PLAY ‘GET LUCKY’!” Stryker called out from the side.

“Sure thing!” The brown-haired man called back, readying the track.

David set the song to play near the start of the second verse, but as soon as he dropped it...

*WHAP!* *THUD*

“What the?” Stryker soon found that Lee wasn’t standing next to him anymore, and raised an eyebrow.

His heart started racing when he saw Lee lying unconscious on the floor, a patch of mashed hair denoting that he'd been bashed on the head with a blunt, baseball bat-shaped object.

As a first instinct when a situation suddenly got very out of hand, he pulled up his radio and began shouting his request.

“HQ, THIS IS OFFICER KURTIS STRYKER, WE NEED BACK UP, NOW, MY LOCATION IS THE CRYSTAL KINGDO-*WHAP*” *THUD* Stryker hit the floor with his radio crackling slightly.

“Officer Kurtis Stryker? Shit, we all thought you were KIA, we’ll send a backup agent as soon as possible, but we’re really undermanned here, it might take a little while.” The HQ radio manager replied, right before the radio was crushed under a heavy boot.

David wasn’t aware, but he and the others weren’t the only humans in this world right now. A fully armored man fired at him from the side with an assault rifle, damaging the console, and making the man panic.

“OH FUCK!!!” David soon ran off, as the ponies ran away.

David looped around and found Lee and Stryker, out cold, as he took his other Python from Lee’s downed form, the mysterious man came up to him.

“What the...”

The assassin fired his weapon at David, and beginning to enter a state of panic, David fired both of his Pythons at the would-be killer.

It was too late to notice that the man had heavy-duty ceramic-scale armor on.

“Oh come on!” David ran off, scared out of his mind.

Unfortunately, he would have been able to fight, but had left his bastard sword and rifle back in the conference room.

Or did he have them?

Wait, were they laying out on the street?

Shit! What if some crystal pony found them? he thought, bolting off towards the door.

He ran out into the broad daylight of the crystal street, and soon spotted them in the distance.

David didn’t have time to react, he was tackled by the man.

“Got you now.”

David simply kicked the man off, and ran over, diving and grabbing his rifle, turning and firing a few two-round bursts.

*CRA-CRACK CRA-CRACK CRA-CRACK CRA-CRACK*

The assassin's brittle armor stood no chance against the much more powerful rifle cartridges, and he fell down after receiving heavy body damage.

David, wasting no time, ran up to him. He was alive, but bleeding out.

The man coughed, and writhed.

“Oh God...” David lamented as he took a step away from the dying man.

The would-be assassin took something from his belt and handed it to David.

“Pontice calumnia caelum libertatem.” He took one last sigh, and bled out.

David looked at the item he’d been handed.

A medallion, made of a brown substance that he smelled to identify as chocolate, with a circle of 12 arrows pointing outwards on it.

“The hell...”

He looked back at the man, and found that he was gone, leaving only a slightly torn cloak behind.

“Okay, alternate dimensions hate me, because they sent a DAMN ASSASSIN AFTER ME!!!”

Rarity, who’d been nearby and heard the gunfire, heard the shouting as well.

“David was it? Darling, are you alright? Unless you're hurt, please don’t spout profanities, there could be foals around.”

David sighed, and sat down.

“I need to relax.”

“Oh my Celestia, darling, what happened to that lovely cloak?”

“Some guy tried to kill me, publicly too.”

“And the brute was wearing that?”

“And modern ceramic armor from my world, and it was human, go figure, the multiverse hates me.”

“Oh my… this is quite a rare material too, I can fix it up, however, and maybe you can have it for yourself?”

“What’s it made of anyway?”

“You may or may not know what it is, but it’s called ‘carbon nanofiber weave’, it’s expensive and rare because it’s hard to make.”

“Oh, it’s machine-made back in my home, mostly for military uses.”

“I’d say that a blade strike or any sharp attack would deflected with little effort, at least, that’s how some of the stories about it go.”

David found himself actually thinking about taking it, but then he thought that, since he'd survived without it, one of the others might need it more.

Trevor had no armor, but didn’t seem to need it.

Lee had his weird powers.

Stryker had his SWAT armor.

Michael might know how to make his own armor, what with all his knowledge.

And Nikolai barely needed it... until now... considering...

“Rarity, how about you make it and give it to Nikolai, from us to him.” David suggested.

“Wonderful, I could make him a new jacket, his old one seems so… worn.” The fashionista said, trying to sound nice when referring to the disgusting article of clothing.

The white unicorn took the cloak and trotted off, “Thank you, David.” She said at the last second, turning back one last time.

“Such beautiful eyes.” David muttered to himself absentmindedly.

“Don’t go weird on me, bruh. Oh yeah, I heard that gunfire and came runnin', y'alright?” Trevor said, prodding David in the back with the butt of his Heavy Sniper.

“Oh, Trevor... What’s with the Barrett M82?”

“It’s called a ‘Heavy Sniper’, look at the tag.” Trevor pointed to a barely noticeable tag attached to the rifle, reading ‘Heavy Sniper’.

“Yes, but Barrett M82 is its official military designation. Where’d you get this?”

“At my local Ammu-Nation.”

“You got military-grade hardware at a street-corner store?”

“Hey now, not all of them are on corners, it’s not just some punk store.”

“Really?”

“Some of them are in strip malls, and some are in the middle of highways.”

“I’m surprised that that town didn’t kill itself.”

“Oh trust me, me and Mikey and Frank did plenty of that.”

“Mikey, Frank?”

“Ah yes, Mikey, Michael, the fat guy I mentioned. Movie buff kinda guy, a bit of a wuss for not embracing the crime scene, has a family, did some scores with him... and Franklin, some ghetto-ass gangsta from Strawberry who is all like ‘homie, you whack’ and is in love with the Benjamins.”

“The Benjamins?”

“Benjamin Franklin, hundred dollar bills.”

“AHHH... $100s, the almighty dollar.”

“Yep, lovin’ the mighty American dollar, it’s the one philosophy I follow, that, and meth.”

“Really, alright.” David didn't really care.

“There’s also his homie, Lamar. Let me tell you, he’s kinda crazy, but I like him!”

“I wonder whyyyy?” David responded, his voice laced with enough sarcasm to turn a snake into a tiger.

“Hey, let me tell you something, so far, you’ve only been straight with me besides that one time, and during that time... you decided to pussy out... You’re not a man until you make your first kill.”

“Well then, I guess I’m a man now, because some guy just tried to kill me and I killed him back, and all I got was a case of guilt, and a weird medallion thing he gave me.” David slumped over, exhausted.

“This medallion here?” Trevor picked up the slowly-melting chocolate disk.

“Yeah, I don’t get one thing; why is it choco... You know what, I just give up.”

“Don’t know ‘bout the chocolate, but I know this symbol, I learned it in… chemistry class,” of course, by ‘chemistry class’,” he really meant ‘cultist fighting,’ simply because of those Altruist fucks who tried to kill him. “It’s the symbol for ‘chaos’, pretty sweet, never woulda thought of a medallion for it.” Trevor, deciding not to waste the perfectly good chocolate, prepared to eat it.

However, he had a thought, should he bury the hatchet with a simple, but meaningful gesture, or should he just eat the damn medallion?

If he just ate the damn medallion, he’d be like a backstabber, and that was worse that being a motherfucker.

Breaking it in half, the balding man handed one half to the still-sitting Californian.

“I need to talk to Michael.” David said as he stood up, needing answers.

“Take it, it’s a peace offerin’, I’m not a backstabber.”

“No thanks, you can keep it, I don’t like chocolate anyway.” David replied, walking to the library.

“Well then… shit, I thought that would work.” The hick muttered, chomping up the two halves after sprinkling some cocaine on them.

---

Nikolai sighed, not sure what to think about this situation. It was a mix of chaos, and more devastatingly, sobriety.

“Ehh... Is a tiring time to Nikolai, Dempsey is stuck in crystal, Dark Pony wants to kill Nikolai now, and I am low on vodka.”

“Well darling, maybe a bit of a wardrobe change might brighten your day.” Rarity said, trotting up to the sitting man and showing him the jacket she’d made from the cloak, already finished with the cutting, stitching, and trimming.

“OH, thank you pretty pony, it looks awesome!” Nikolai took the jacket, and replaced his old jacket with the cloak-made one, finding it to be silky-smooth and much lighter.

“Oh, comfy.”

He stood up as a cold breeze blew by, and noticed that it was also much more insulating than his old one too.

“Is wonderful gift, makes Nikolai want to do Hopak.”

“Glad you enjoy it darling. It was David’s idea to make it for you.”

“Really, I must thank him soon enough. Where is he?”

“I do not know, maybe you can ask Michael, he seems to know everything.”

“Da, is his job, according to ‘Elder Gods’, or whatever, I find him, again, thank you pretty pony.”

“My name is Rarity, Nikolai.”

“And I’m Nikolai, Nikolai Belinski.”

“I knew that already.”

“Don’t be smartass, Rarity.” Nikolai said as he walked away.

Rarity scoffed at Nikolai’s crudeness, but sighed.

“Don’t blow up Rarity, he’s simply... drunk, yes that’s it, drunk, speaking of drunk, I could use a drink.” Secretly, Rarity was actually a pretty terrible alcoholic, due to the stresses of what her daily life gives her to deal with. She looked around and found a mostly empty bottle filled with an alcoholic-smelling drink.

“I suppose this will do.” she said, levitating it closer, wiping off the mouth, and pouring some into her mouth.

---

“Nikolai thinks someone touching his vodka bottle, but can’t quite tell who.” Luckily for Rarity, she wasn’t physically touching the bottle.

---

Michael decided to look in the library further, and was joined quickly by Twilight herself.

“So, you’re obviously the most intelligent of your group.”

“And the least powerful, at least David possesses an AN-94, all I have is this shortsword and my wits. I suppose my spells are quite powerful though, when used correctly.”

“Speaking of powerful... what’s an AN-94?”

“It is an automatic, burst, and semi-automatic rifle designed by Gennadiy Nikonov, it is an advanced piece of hardware and fires the 5.45 x 39mm Soviet rifle cartridge at a cyclic rate of fire of 600 round per minute, with a unique mechanism to allow for the first two rounds to fire at three times the regular rate, as well as reduce the recoil from Newton’s third law.”

“Huh?”

“For every force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force.”

“Ah, Newpon's Laws of Motion.”

Michael chuckled at the ponified name, “Yes, indeed. The use of advanced propellant powders, more powerful materials, and more precise machining techniques allows a bullet to do immense damage with only a small mass. Almost every bullet designed in his world travels faster than the speed of sound.”

“Faster than the speed of sound? That’s nearly impossible without magic.”

“Not for bullets. And I know that your friend Rainbow Dash can break the sound barrier by flying.”

“Well yes, the Sonic Rainboom, but pegasi can fly at such great speeds because of how their bodies react to the Arcanosphere.”

“Ah yes, the Arcanosphere. Well in his world, and all of the others' worlds- except mine -as well, not only is there not an Arcanosphere, there are also jets that can go several times the speed of sound too.”

“That’s… what’s a jet?”

“A jet is similar to a plane mixed with a rocket, it utilizes rocket thrusters on aircraft.”

“Oh, I see, aircraft is still a new technology in Equestria, it was made only a century ago.”

“In a century on Earth, they went from not being able to fly at all, to flying into space.”

“Space? My goodness...”

“Nikolai’s world was the fastest to even go to the moon, albeit by use of teleporters powered by an alien substance, and by complete accident. What worries me is that in his world, this man, Edward Richtofen, now controls his version of the zombies.”

“Zombies are just myths, like spirits and ghosts.”

“In your world, yes, but in Lee’s and Nikolai’s world, they are very real, and very dangerous. Although, their origins are quite different.”

“Oh right, the alternative universes, how’d they come about then?”

“For Lee, it is safe to assume that it is bacterial in origin, seeing as when you die in that world, you become one, regardless if you were bitten or not, and in Nikolai’s world, it is caused by a radioactive element known as element 115.”

“Element 115? You mean Ununpentium?”

“In Nikolai’s world, it is also called Divinium, but it is, indeed, radioactive. I just received another packet of information, which means that that Lee is nearby, his zombies came from a mutation of a bacteria that combined with a type of cancer, and thus it maintains life in the form of the curse of being undead, a cruel and twisted form of immortality.”

“Dear Celestia, that’s horrible. How did any of you manage to stay... relatively sane?” Twilight recalled Trevor's erratic and violent behavior.

“I had a player keeping me safe, now I’m my own player. That, and I can respawn within a day’s time.” Michael pulled out his voodoo doll, “And this helps if I’m ever immolated.”

“Why do you have a plushie of yourself? I know some ponies like plushies, and I’m not judging you personally, but carrying around a plushie of yourself seems… kinda weird.”

“If I am ever burned to death, then this doll will summon a terrible beast from the depths, and it will devour my attackers.”

“That’s… I thought you were normal, Michael.”

“If you wanted normal, you should have looked for David.”

“Speak of the devil and he’ll come a’runnin’, hey you two.” David greeted in mock version of Trevor’s accent as he crossed paths with the two.

“David... I have just received information regarding something happening at The Diamond Bottle, care to...”

“Alternate dimensional assassin, tried to kill me, recited some Latin-sounding phrase, and l got a chocolate medallion with twelve arrows pointing outwards.”

“The symbol of chaos.”

“Chaos? Like with Discord?” Twilight queried.

“Hmm... do you have it?”

“It’s in Trevor’s stomach now.”

“Oh yes, chocolate, right. Well, I can analyze the origins of the assassin if I were to have some sort of material or clothing from it, maybe some blood or hair?”

“I asked Rarity to make the guy’s carbon fiber weave cloak into a jacket and give it to Nikolai.”

“Carbon fiber weave? Isn’t that really rare and hard to make?”

“Not in David’s world. Many materials in his world are no longer rare due to more advanced and precise techniques and machines used to make them. Some basic components, like gold, however, are not so easily found, or replicated.”

“Gold? Gold is one of the top five most common elements in Equestria, but then again, the alternative universes… hmmmm.” Twilight hummed with thought.

“Indeed.” Michael agreed, knowing what Twilight wanted to say.

“So, we find Nikolai, if we don’t find Rarity first.” David explained.

“Yes, but something tells me that the threat of Sombra has not rested in the time we have been distracted from it.”

“What makes you say that?” David’s statement was immediately followed by a loud...

*BOOM*

The library shook from the force of the shockwave.

*BOOM*

“That was not Trevor, nor a bomb.” Michael nerd-poled his way up to the nearest skylight, looking out at the barrier.

It shook and shivered, showing signs of strain, both from being attacked and losing its own strength.

“Cadance is faltering, and Sombra will soon enter, we must make haste and secure the crystal heart.” Michael warned, jumping down from the fifty-foot drop without any damage.

“Alright, Twilight, you go get to the airport and find Trevor, and find someone else to join you, like Lee, and the rest of us will stay on the ground and make sure we’re all safe.” Michael instructed.

“Okay, and David, you should help keep the shield up, it’s the single, thin, baby-blue line between safety and destruction.” Twilight told David.

“How?”

“Ice water? I don’t know.” Twilight said as she galloped out of the library.

“Ah, screw it, I’ll go out to the face of destruction and fire my gun at anything that tries to hurt me.” David took out his rifle and checked it, setting it to full auto.

The magazine didn’t seem to have any bullets in it, only a solid surface of brass color covering the top.

“What the hell?” He pulled the trigger to test it.

*BA-BANG BANG BANG* it still fired just fine.

Too fine, as the crystal walls reverberated the sound back to each of their ears.

“Okay, in retrospect, not a good idea!”

“Yes, not a good idea, my ears are ringing!” Twilight complained, she was just about to leave when that noise rang out throughout the library.

“And you could’ve hurt someone.” Michael chastised the Californian.

“Sorry! To be frank, I should’ve known better myself. So, see you.” David was about to leave, but was stopped by Michael.

“Let me see that magazine.” Michael took the magazine out of the rifle, looked at the brass surface for two seconds, then put it back in “You are in luck, it seems that the Elder Gods have blessed you with an Unlimaged.”

“Unlimaged?”

“The proper term is actually ‘Unlimited Mag’, but ‘Unlimaged’ is the shorter, more widely-used colloquial term. A rare artifact usually only held by Admins, Moderators, and Hackers, it has an infinite number of bullets inside.”

“Then why do I have my colts?” David asked as he took out his guns.

“Back-up, like Stryker called for back at the club, and they’re smaller, easier to carry, and can be wielded in confined spaces.”

“Good job for explaining, but I got limited ammo still, and in six rounds each package.”

“Then you should have asked for something a bit more tactical.”

“I’ve got to go, I can’t hear you over the sound of FUCK OFF!” David shouted back as he ran towards the edge of the town.

“He seems angry.”

“Yes, he was almost killed and forced to be here. I hope he can adapt quickly, and find a way back to his home soon, I can tell that his family is worried for him.”

“I’d be worried too if I lost somepony close to me for seemingly no rhyme or reason.”

“Don’t we all? For some strange reason though, he seems quite fond of Rarity.”

“Well, she has that effect on some males.”

“Not that way, let us not delay further, the end is nigh and we must be ready.”

“Alright, let’s go find Trevor, and quickly.”

“And let us hope that no other opposition faces us.” Poor Michael.

He just had to tempt fate.

And fate is a short-tempered bitch.

---

Nikolai had been wandering about the area, seemingly aimlessly.

He had soon found himself entering a cave.

“Ugh, is dark, smelly, and not pleasant, like graveyard.” Nikolai muttered to himself, soon finding a bluish glow within. He cautiously came to the cave, and looked in shock at what was at this location.

“Boize Moi, I need to tell the others!” Nikolai said to himself as he ran out of the cave.

Author's Note:

during the writing of this chapter, I realized how much similarity there is between Sombra and a bad OC.

so, with Lee's first choice, I thought hard about what would happen with each choice. You all saw what Rage Out did.

Unlimaged, pronouncing Un-li-ma-ged, not Un-li-mage-d, not Un-li-mag-ed

so, what do you all think? Sorry for not working a whole lot on my own stuff, but I have so much to do IRL, it's crazy

And what is this elaborate sub-story with crazy trans-dimensional beings and things with assassins and technology and blue glows WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!

Does this have anything to do with Hexed Lives? More than you might think

Comments

[Inaktiv]

Vodka. That is all.