Moore slammed his rifle into the face of a Chaos Pony and shoved it to the ground, firing a single round into it's head. Panting, he rises to his feet and throws his arms forward.
"Come on! We need to keep going!" He shouts. He kicks open a door and places his back to the wall as Adams and Hans rush through, checking the area. Another Chaos Pony leaps out, but Barns head butts it and shoots it. Leave it to Barns to risk dying to save others. Moore rushes the ponies out, not wanting to risk them dying. Firing at another Chaos Pony, he orders Daniels to lead the Guards outside along with the civies while he and Barns keep him covered.
"Hostiles incoming!" Barns shouts as he opens fire. Moore turns and pulls his trigger. The guns illuminate the room with their muzzle flash as the insane cackling of the Chaos Ponies ring in Moore's ears. A clicking sounds, and Moore tries desperately to fire off another shot.
"Stupid piece of... I'm out! I need to reload!" He shouts as he drops the empty clip. Just as he slams in the fresh one, he hears another clicking.
"Aw great! I'm out!" Barns shouts as he flips the top off of his LMG and reaches for a new belt. Moore fires and backs up.
"Get out the door! We can't stay here. Barns nods and throws a grenade, afterwards rushing out the door. Moore turns and slams the door behind him, and shoves his body against it. An explosion sounds, and several screeches. Moore still holds the door for a moment, trying to be sure nothing else was coming. He sighs and walks away from the door.
"Too bad you made it out of there Moore, now you face the entire horde." Mercuito says from nowhere. Moore looks around aiming his rifle into the darkness as Barns continues to reload.
"Any idea of how many of these things there are?" He asks as he slams down the top of his weapon. A civilian says that there were once over 2000, but the chances were that number had grown since the Chaos Ponies had probably found dead bodies to inhabit. Moore thinks for a moment, these things behaved a lot like zombies would in a human world, so how was the infection spread?
"How does someone become a Chaos Pony? Do they become one if they're bitten?"
"No, the pony has to be dead for a Chaos Bringer to inhabit it's body. But bites do cause extreme pain, and they make your body a lot weaker, making you an easy target." Moore nods and looks around. All out of nowhere comes static.
"Sta... Sta..." Some thing shouts. Moore hits the side of his radio and waits a few seconds.
"JOHN! Can you... me? This is Connors!" He hears Connors shout. For a moment he's relieved, but he hears more insane cackling.
"JOHN! IF YOU'RE ALIVE PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!"
"I'm here Sergeant! What's going on?"
200 Yards to the East...
Looking through his scope, Connors watched as the strange creatures feasted on a pony, ripping it's legs from it's body and sticking their snouts into the holes created. Back to the right, several crawl out of windows in the buildings, with jack o lantern like smiles on their faces.
"Something's coming at you! I can see em' from the ridge! They're coming for you, dozens of them! You gotta get out of there!" He shouts as he fires a shot. The pony drops dead and evaporates into thin air. Connors adjusts his sights, finding his squad along with what looks like civilians.
"Yeah tell me something I don't know! Can you link us through to the Princess?" He hears Moore shout back. Connors lets out a breath as he fires another shot, another direct hit. He quickly brings his hand to his ear to respond to his CO.
"Sorry sir! No can do! Communications are too badly screwed up! I can reach you but the Princess is too far away!" He shouts. That's when he spots something in the air. Although he can't see it with the scope, he caught it with his peripheral vision. He lifts his head for a second, and freezes.
"You have got to be kidding me..." Connors thinks. Instantly, he warns the Staff Sergeant, and fires another shot as the team begins to run toward him, and the horde...
10 Minutes Later... Now 40 Yards from Connors' position ...
Moore runs further and further away from the house as he fires three rounds into another monster. He slips and falls to the ground. Adams instantly rushes over and helps him up.
"SIR! Look... e skies!" He hears Connors shout. Almost afraid too, Moore looks up and points his rifle, and instantly fires.
"PEGASI!" He shouts. A guard is attacked from behind and pulled into the darkness, screaming as he goes. Moore tries to reach for him, but he's interrupted when he sees a civilian get attacked. He instantly leaps to it's defense and shoots the creatures. The unicorn backs away in fear, and is bitten in the neck by another Chaos Pony. It screams in pain as it's blood squirts out of it's neck, and is dragged away into the darkness. A guard becomes overwhelmed and is piled on by the creatures. Moore kills them, but the guard is already dead. A Chaos Pony tries to attack Adams, but he manages to dodge and stab it with his knife, all while protecting a young child.
"Fall back! We can't win this fight! Men! Get the civilians out of here! Lead them to Connors! We have to get out of here now!" The soldiers nod and signal for the guards to follow them, who instruct the ponies to follow them. Moore begins to run as another guard is carried away by Chaos Ponies. He wants to help, but he has to keep going. He briefly turns and fires, picking off a few infected, giving them a little more time. Moore quickly turns back and runs. The Chaos Ponies have picked off thirty-five guards and ten innocents. They were too close behind them, this called for desperate measures.
"Connors! Tell the Princess to lower the shield!"
"What? You're still in..."
"I KNOW! I'LL GET OUT IN TIME! JUST DO IT!" Moore shouts. Within a few seconds, a pink dome begins to form from the top of the city. Moore begins to sprint. Just then, Daniels is ambushed. Three Chaos Ponies leap out and bite at him, and the Private screams in pain...
...
Daniels tries to hold off tears as the pain burns through his skull. He hears gunshots, followed by the ponies vanishing. He drops his head against the ground, gritting his teeth as blood falls from his sides and midsection. He is losing blood fast. His vision begins to blur as he sees Moore run over to him.
"Hang in there Hank! I'm gonna get you out of here!" He shouts as he begins to drag him away. Daniels feels around for his SMG, but he has dropped it. Moore is too busy trying to drag him to the outside. Knowing it's their only hope, Daniels fumbles with his hands as he searches for his pistol. When he finally reaches it, his hands shake violently. His vision blurs as he tries to aim down the sights. The sights shake and tremble, and it looks like he's holding two guns. Holding his breath, he fires into the darkness, and his arm is blown far back by the recoil of his weakened state. Six bites... That's how many he counted... So weak... He tries to aim again as an infected rushes toward him. He fires again, hitting it right in it's head. His arm is blown back again, and this time, he is almost unable to lift the gun. With his remaining strength mixed with adrenaline, he watches as his the pistol flies from his hand with his third shot. He then has no choice but to let the blood flow from his wound. The trail is thick, and he knows that he is doomed.
"Almost there! We're gonna make it!" Moore shouts as he lifts him to his shoulders. Daniels sees the shield begin to fall, almost cutting them off. He lets out a groan of pain, and tries to hold his wound, but he accidentally causes another cut. Which causes him to shout in agony. Moore sprints and dives, just barely making it out of the shield in time...
45 Seconds Later ...
"Get more pressure on the wound!" Moore shouts as he press down on the young Private's midsection. Barns is grasping his hand and trying to push down on his side, where Adams presses both palms on his gut. Connors is using a rag to clean up the blood, trying to pinpoint where the injury is most severe, Hans does the same.
"I'm gonna die I'm gonna die..." Daniels says as tears fall from his eyes.
"You are not gonna die!" Moore shouts as he tries to reach into his back pocket for a rag. Connors takes his places and shoves both hands onto his midsection while Moore wipes away blood. Around them, young ponies and their families watch in horror at the sight before them. Moore looks at his rag and sees it stained with blood, and tries to leave to get a fresh one, but Hank's hand stops him. Moore looks back to the young private, who has pain and sorrow in his eyes.
"Please... Don't leave..." He says. Moore nods and tries to hold his wound. Adams frantically looks around, but there's nothing there.
"Stop... We can't save him..." Moore says with a tremble in his voice. His men look at him in shock, excluding Daniels. It wasn't like him to give up, and he knew it. Moore sighs and looks back down. The Private is broken, and letting out tears with pain filled cried.
"What can we do for you?" He asks. Daniels lets out gasp and looks around the circle of soldiers.
"Stay... Don't let me die alone..." He says through his tears. Moore nods as his own tears fall. Hank closes his eyes and lets out forced pants. Around him, his allies share the same emotion he does; pity. Anger. Sorrow. Disappointment. Not in Daniels, but themselves, for letting him get hurt. Daniels grows quiet for a moment, then says;
"Mama? Is that you?" Moore sighs and shakes his head. This was it.
"I wanna go home... I wanna go home..." The Private says. Pain, sadness, and tears define his face, and his chest rises and falls dramatically.
"Mama, Mama, Mama... Maaaamaaa..." Daniels chokes out. With one final exhale, Daniels stops moving all together. Moore takes his fingers and checks his neck. Nothing. Anger, sadness, and guilt wash over him as he takes the red ruby from his shoulder, and walks away. Someone asks if he's alright, but he doesn't answer. He feels his hand begin to tremble, but he deoesn't care. He had just let a kid die... It was his fault... Because of him... Private Hank Daniels...
Was dead...