//------------------------------// // Devotion // Story: Mind Game 2 // by Dreamcloud1 //------------------------------// I lowered my purple head, deep in thought, Rainbow was still out there. Whether she was dead or alive I didn’t know, but I did know that she would do the same for me if I was in her position. I she needed me, and I needed her; I, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Promise, to find her, to the best of my ability. “Captain Sparkle” I heard the lieutenant say in a concerned voice “You seem a bit… distant…” “I’m fine” I told him spinning around “I need to have an urgent discussion with Luna.” “Yes ma’am” said the lieutenant saluting “Are you going to teleport, or should I call for a chariot.” “This is important, I’ll teleport.” I said before conjuring the spell. “Good luck Captain” He said before I disappeared. Teleporting was a complicated spell; it wasn't as simple as disappearing and reappearing in a different place. The spell simply flips you to a separate dimension most ponyosiphers call “Space 0”. It allows anypony in it to move extremely fast as space is distorted, therefore a step in this dimension could equal a hundred steps in Equestria, or it could mean you travel backwards a couple miles. It was up to the spell caster to decide how space is distorted; it took a lot of energy which is why most can only teleport a short distance. Yet with my magical ability and intellect I could teleport with ease, but it took a bit of walking to get halfway across Equestria. My mind began to wander on the topic of the past few weeks. -----Flashback---- - I had left for Canterlot and had gotten delayed more than ever thought possible. It seemed at every turn there was a new impassable object or un-slayable hoard. I at one point had to take refuge at another group’s camp for a couple days, in exchange for a magical jumpstart to their generator of course. I had managed to get to Canterlot slightly too late. As I finally close enough to see the magnificent city, I saw the missiles coming down, I saw the blast, I felt the blast knock me off my feet. I heard the deafening roar of the missiles finding their target. I heard the shrieks of both undead and living as their life essence was stolen from them, and for I don’t know how long I laid there and cried into the dirt. I felt the immense sadness of all the friends I've lost and loved. I was startled by a moan. I spun around to come face to face with a grueling mass of dead flesh; his yellow eyes staring lifelessly into mine. His broken teeth bloodstained and his wings hanging lifelessly at his side. I grasped the small sidearm I had brought but it was too late. The ghoul and grasped onto me and I was forced to drop the gun to grapple the beast. I was never strong; I was always the egghead and would have always been if not for the undead. Therefore my strength was nothing remarkable, and with the disease weighing heavily on the ghoul in front of me we were an even match. I had my hooves on its neck keeping the gnashing teeth away from my tender flesh. My legs were only slightly longer than his, so his hooves flailed inches from my chest. He groaned as he continued to try and bite me, if I didn't find a way to get the upper hand soon I would be finished. I saw the gun inches from my horn, the physical strain plus the magical might have been too much for me though. I quickly rolled over pinning the beast beneath my hooves and brought the gun around to its head. Its lifeless eyes ignored my weapon and continued to stare up at me, those eyes still creep me out today. I pulled the trigger and scattered its brains across the grass. With adrenaline fading I nearly collapsed right there, but I knew if that one had come, there were probably a couple more behind it. I stood up shakily. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream and grieve for the loss of my teacher and friend, but I couldn't. Whenever there was one ghoul, there was always a few others behind it. There were more than a few. A massive ring of undead was closing in around the remains of the city. The masses of undead could be smelled from here even though they were a couple miles away. The putrid stench of rotting matter stung my nostrils and I covered my snout with a hoof. Then the reality of the situation hit me, there was no way out of this ring. There was no escape; there was no possible way out of the massive wall that was slowly closing in. They would find me and kill me, savoring every living morsel of purple flesh. Suddenly I heard somepony yell at somepony else. “Hey Cloud! Ya see any survivors?” a dark grey earth pony with black hair yelled. “None here!” yelled a turquoise unicorn with dark blue hair “I don’t see how anyone could have survived the bomb Star.” “Over here!” I yelled as loudly as I could, happy to be saved. “Cloud! We've got one!” yelled the earth pony intercepting me. “Thank Celestia you’re here” I said on the verge of tears. “No sweat” said the Earth pony “We need every pair of hooves we can get to help the zombie menace.” “Star, stop flirting with the girl and let’s get a move on.” Yelled the unicorn called “If she survived there’s probably a couple others.” I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I had been outside of Canterlot, and that there was no possible way for there to be any survivors. We idly walked around for a while, saying nothing, and alert for anything that might happen. Eventually I decided to break the silence So what’s your guy’s name?” I asked. “I’m Bouncingstar” The earth pony said “You can just call me Star though. Mr. Serious-Pants over there is Cloudchaser.” “Hi…” I said giving a small wave to him; he didn’t even slightly acknowledge my presence “My name is…” “Twilight Sparkle” Said Cloud, still looking straight ahead. “How did you know that?” I asked. “We went to school together.” He said giving me a small glance “You blew me off at the dance.” “I don’t remember you ever asking me out…” I said feeling a bit guilty. “I know, you were reading a trashy romance novel at the time.” He said giving a sad smile, before allowing the silence to resume. We wandered like this for hours, picking amongst the rubble, listening for a cry for help. We smelled them before we heard them; the stench of rotting death, so massive that it caused our eyes to water and our throats to close. Next we heard them, their moaning, meaning that they’ve found their prey and were closing in. We drew our weapons and spun around to find a horde of about ten of them. As I raised my gun, Cloud held it down with his magic. “We can’t afford to attract more.” He said before taking a long and thick lead pipe from a pile of wreckage and handing it to me. “True that” said Star grasping his crowbar in his hooves. “You sure about this?” I asked gripping the weapon in my hand “I’ve never fought them with a melee weapon before… “ “Then stay behind us.” Said Star as he moved in to hack the head off of a green unicorn. “No” I said before whacking a yellow pegasus in the head “Better to learn now than when there’s nopony to hide behind. “Glad to have a useful survivor for once.” Said Cloud as he used his machete to hack off the head of a purple pegasus. We hacked at them being as silent as we could. Tearing through flesh and bone, in the middle of the battle though, I heard Cloud scream. I looked just in time to see a blue earth pony latch on and knock him off balance, the blade dropping from his magical grip. The zombie managed to knock the unicorn to the ground, knocking his head on a rock. I heard him cry in pain and saw blood ooze out of his horn. I swung the pipe and hit the zombie, knocking him off my friend. While it was then down, I brought the pipe up and smashed its head. I didn’t have time to check if Cloud was OK, I still had to finish the job. I spun around and stabbed the pipe into the face of another. It fell to the ground, wringing the grip of the pipe from my hands. I turned around just in time to see Star hit a ghoul in the back of the neck with the hook of his crowbar. “Cloud!” He yelled dropping his weapon and running up to his friend “You alright buddy?” Cloud looked at him and smiled. “I’m in horrible pain right now, and I’m not gonna be able to use magic until this gash heals, but I’ll live if that’s what you’re asking.” “I knew you’d be OK” Star said helping loud to his feet “I just can’t seem to get rid of you.” Suddenly, I heard something. It was meek and feeble, did I just hear somepony? There it was again, I looked and saw a magenta earth pony, her head was covered in grime, sweat and tears, and blood speckled her face, her blue eyes were red and puffy, she had been crying for a long time, her lower half was covered in a huge pile of rubble. “Help… me…” she mumbled weakly. I stared at her for a while, baffled by the fact that against all odds she survived. “Please…” she mumbled again fresh tears running down her face. She coughed and a small amount of blood splattered on the pavement in front of her. “Guys someone survived!” I yelled running over to the filly under the rubble. Suddenly, I heard it again, that dreadful moan; this time, larger and more collective. The filly heard it to and started to panic. “Please…. Get me… out of here.” She said before going into another bloody, coughing fit. “Guys, help me!” I yelled starting to tear away at the rubble. “Twilight, there’s no way we can get her free before they get here.” Said Cloud standing on shaky legs “You need to teleport us out of here.” “No, we can’t just leave her!” I yelled back “Help me Star…” Star stood by Cloud, shifting from hoof to hoof. “You have to get us out of here Twilight” Said Cloud with little emotion even as the moans and howls got louder and closer.” I looked at the filly, and saw her tear stained eyes looking up at me. “Please don’t go…” I heard her mumble. “Twilight…” Said Star his voice getting an edge of fear. “I… I can’t” I said hanging my head low. “You have to” Said Cloud in his monotonous voice “Or we’ll all die right here.” I took one last look at the scared filly “I’m sorry” I said before casting the spell. The string off obscenities that followed will stay with me forever, I left her for dead; she hated me for leaving her. She probably still hates me from wherever someone goes when they die. I saw her burst into tears just before I finished the spell teleporting the three of us into “Space 0” Where Cloud led us to their military base. When we got there, Luna was already there, barking orders, I went to her, not saying a word to my companions and we talked about the events that had taken place. She then gave me a small platoon and told me that I could go help my friends… The rest is history… -----Flashback----- I head back to my home dimension and saw myself back at the familiar base. I sighed and walked through it, heading straight for Luna’s tent. I parted the curtains and prepared my speech for Luna. “Princess,” I said bowing “My platoon had found the bodies of most of my friends, but I…” I looked up to find the black coat that I’d grown familiar with had lost its normal, magical sparkle. I stood up and found instead of my princess, a black pegasus with a black and gold striped mane. His golden eyes seemed friendly enough, but not friendly enough to ease my worry. “Er, I’m not princess Luna…” said the pegasus “My name is Colton, I’m the Command Sergeant Major of the army, and I…” “Where’s Luna?” I asked forcefully. “Ya’ know” He said “I consider myself a friendly colt, but I still have to keep a tough appearance in front of my army, so if you could just be a bit more…” “Tell me where she is.” I said louder stamping my hoof and flaring my nostrils. He sighed “Listen…” Suddenly the tent flap opened and a familiar turquoise unicorn with a bandaged horn came in. “Sorry sir” He said saluting “I just thought that I’d let you know that this is Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s student, making her inherit her title as queen of Equestria.” The colt gasped, before bowing “I’m sorry your highness, I didn’t recognize you, I’m awfully…” “Wait” I said holding up my hoof “Shouldn’t Princess Luna inherit the title… I mean, she is her sister and all…” Then Cloud gulped “Princess Luna is dead Twilight…” I just couldn’t take it anymore, everything weighed too heavily on my soul; I collapsed into the dirt and cried my eyes out, I bawling and screaming. I hated everypony, why did this have to happen to me, why does all of this have to happen to us! It made no sense; nopony deserved a fate like this, to writhe in the eternal suffering of losing a loved one. Suddenly, I felt somepony grab me, and embrace me in a deep hug. I didn’t care who it was, right now I needed a shoulder to cry on. I sobbed into his shoulder for what seemed like hours. Eventually, I regained my composure and managed to look up at who embraced me. I looked up to find a turquoise pony looking down at me. I gave Cloud a questioning look and he quickly let go and backed away. “I… I have to go…” He said awkwardly before hurrying out of the tent, blush on his face. I wiped the tears away and looked straight at Colton. “I need a squad of your best ponies, four of them. I expect them all lined up right here in front of me in the next hour. You will speak none of my… episode to anypony, is that understood?” I said with an air of authority. “Yes ma’am!” He said saluting before hastily exiting the tent. I left as well, hiding my face and washed in a stream near camp. The cold water brought me back to my senses and erased all evidence of my tears. I had no more left to cry, for I only had one care in the world. Rainbow Dash and I will never let that hope go.