//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: An Angel and her Soldier // by Midnight Words //------------------------------// Chapter 2 ------------------------------ "That was your only warning shot!" A loud male voice called out from everywhere. "Identify yourselves!" And here I thought we could have a nice nap without being threaten. Roland sighed. "We mean you no harm, Friend." Angel said as her voice echoed off the walls. "We only wanted to stay the night." There was silence and then a loud sound of a door opening. "It's not safe out there. You're more likely to be robbed and then held for ransom." The voice said. "How do we know we can trust you?" Roland voiced out. "I've been led into traps more often than I like." "You don't have to trust me, but let me tell you, friend. If the beast in Equistria won't get you, the locals probably would. You can take shelter or not, your pick." A dark silhouette came down from the ceiling holding what looked like a crossbow and a few dynamite sticks. "Me? I'm going inside shelter before the Crawlers start their raid." It, or was it he? Was equinoid in structure and had large, black feathered wings with a few missing feathers. There was a mark on his flank that resembles a scope from a sniper rifle aiming at a skull of another equinoid. He went down the stairs that were hidden not long ago. "Do you think we can trust him?" Angel asked, concern filling her voice as he saw something move in the shadows. "I don't know but since those things are stalking us I'd say he was saying the truth." A low growl came from above Roland and Angel. The pony came back up the stairs, carrying a bag of sugar. "They hate sugar, like a snail hates salt." The pony said and dropped the bag in front of the two humans. "I won't force you to come with me but those things are starting to get restless and I doubt you could take on the whole force." The pony went back down the stairs, littering it with sugar. Angel took the bag of sugar. "I say we rest for the night and trust the strange pony." Roland didn't want to trust a stranger but against a horde of who-knows-what he would rather take his chances with the pony. "Alright, but only for tonight." They went down the stairs and through a large door which locked after they entered. "Welcome, to the crap-hole I call home." The pony said and was standing on a low cloud. Wall lined with books and experimental weapon designs and explosive formulas. "Make yourselves at home." A small workbench occupied a wall in the far corner and a small kitchen in another room. Roland didn't trust this flying horse thing. "Why'd you help us?" Roland asked, coldly. "Two reason; one, you killed those two idiots in the armory and B, you two are smart enough not to die." The pony said and tossed a small red ball in the air. "Hope you don't mind me asking but... Are you a Pegasus?" Angel asked with a lot of interest. "Born and breed but my mom was a unicorn." He said and threw the ball at Roland who caught it with ease. "Nice reflexes." He said to Roland. "But pegasi are mythical creatures along with unicorns!" Angel exclaimed. "That's impossible!" "Where have you two been? Underground? 'Cause Pegasi and Unicorns are pretty common in Equistria." Roland took notice to a few of the blueprints. Most of them looked like sniper rifles that used arrows and other objects. "Nice designs but those will never work." Roland said and picked up a small scope on the table. "This thing won't last." "Who are you? An expert in weapons?" The pegasus said. "I worked on them my whole life. I think I would know if it wouldn't-" "The barrel is too short to do anything at range and the arrows won't fire unless you use some sort of external force and don't get me started on reloading and fire rate." Roland said and made a few modification to the gun. "The scope could easily be broken and in certain conditions could melt or freeze over." As the two boys started talking shop, Angel took one of the books off the shelves and found out these were all history books. It said the entire history of Equistria and the planet itself. One word was scrawled on the last page of Discord's release. "ANARKY" It said in bold letters and it was also written in blood. "Who's Anarchy?" Angel asked and the pony sprang up and covered her mouth with his hoof. "Never say his name out loud." The pony said and removed his hoof. "He is Discord's brother but unlike his brother, he was more on hell bent destruction instead of controlled chaos, like Discord." Angel read the book and if this book was telling the truth, then Discord was an all-powerful god and his brother equally powerful. "I never got your name." "Headshot, but who are you two? You sure as hell ain't a Minotaur or an ape." Headshot said and returned the book to the bookshelf. "At least non that I know." "We're humans. My name is Angel." Angel said and flipped her hair to the side to better reveal her face. "And I'm Roland, leader of the Crimson raiders or was." Roland said and moved towards one of the cushions on the floor. "Crimson raiders? Never heard of 'em. Sounds like a name of a bunch of psychos, no offense." Headshot said. "And by the way I saw the bodies back in the armory, you two ain't no strangers to fighting." "Yeah. We're just trying to get home, we we're fighting a war when we disappeared." Roland said. "Welcome to the club, pal. The entire world was at war with each other." Headshot said and picked up a small folder and gave them to Roland. "These are the pictures of those who tried to give peace a chance and the other one is a picture of those that chose to fight." Both pictures had very grusome sights, dead bodies, fires but one thing was in the center of it. A large... thing, it had a body of a lion but had claws that looked like they were torn from other animals and sowed back together. "What the hell is that thing?" Roland's eyes went wide when he saw another picture with that thing carrying a large flaming boulder with one finger. "Discord's brother. I ain't saying his name." Headshot took back the photos and placed them on the table. "You can find out how to get home in the morning. I can't, in good conscience make you leave in the middle of the night." "Thanks." Angel said and lied down on the ground. "Can you guys stand on clouds? ‘Cause these things are more comfortable." Headshot pulled a part of his cloud and gave them to Roland and Angel. Angel could feel her hand on the cloud and force it down to make a make-shift bed. Roland on the other hand couldn't touch the cloud or feel it what so ever. "Looks like I'm sleeping on the ground." Roland said and lied down on the ground. ------------------------------ A radio clicked open with a loud stutter. Roland's echo buzzed alive at the same time. "Hey, this is Anarchy and just saying that I'm bored and I chose Ponyville to be ransacked by zombies today at noon. Just a heads up. Anarchy signing off, ciao." The radio and Roland's echo buzzed off. Roland stretched his arms in the air. "What the hell was that about?" Roland said. "Good morning to you too. Dizzy's bro gonna destroy a town with zombies. Sure you can try and fight it but the citizens in Ponyville are... 'inadequate' when it comes to fighting." Headshot went over to a map on the wall with "X" on some of the cities. "That makes four towns in the Everfree region." The radio turned on by it's self, like Roland's echo. "Hey me again, so I was thinking, 'Whats the fun in having a town full of zombies?' Nothing that’s what. So I'm here to say that there are three children in the center of town and will be the first ones to be, as those old comics go, 'Eaten alive.' And anypony, griffon, minotaur, or whatever the hell you are, are welcome to try and save the town and get a cash reward. Bye, fo' reals this time, daugs." "Poor kids, I wish that there was some sort of alien warrior, or two, from an alien planet with military combat skill that would help. Wink Wink Hint Hint." Headshot hinted at Roland and Angel. Angel had an angry scowl on her face. "You didn't need to ask." She said with venom in her voice. Headshot beamed a wide grin at them. "Yeah, putting kids in danger. I don't think even Jack would do that." Roland said and took out his knife. Headshot's grin grew even bigger. "Take anything from my arsenal..." Headshot said and pressed a stone that was slightly out of place. A large hidden door opened and left the two humans with wide eyes. Swords, bows, old guns, ammo, arrows, cannons, cannon balls and dynamite were scattered inside the room. "Take what you need. Though, I don't think I have ammo for those guns I saw you use. Never seen anything like 'em but you can grab one of these old rifles on the wall." The guns reminded Roland and Angel of "Jacobs guns" back on Pandora. The rifles in question were bolt-action rifles that were designed to fire by pressing a button on the side. "I modified those to work for ponies but I can modify them to work for you if you want." Headshot offered. "That would be nice. Thanks." Roland said and gave the two rifles to Headshot. The clock rang ten. "I'll finish this as soon as I can." The radio came on again. "This is an automated update. The 'Zombie' attack on 'Ponyville' will change its 'time of destruction' from 'twelve noon' to 'eleven A.M' Have a horrible day." The radio then cut off. The two humans got an ample amount of ammo and several sticks of dynamite. Headshot got to work and disassembled the two rifles simultaneously and replaced parts and added a trigger. He inserted a bullet inside the gun and gave it to Roland. "No time to test it out. To get to Ponyville on hoof, or foot, it would take an hour at least and we only got forty-five minutes left." Roland thought for a moment. "How long would it take if you flew there." "Twenty minutes, minimum." "Fly there and save those kids. Me and Angel will back you up when we get there." Roland ordered. Headshot flew up the stairs. "Head west. Just keep heading west and you'll get to Ponyville." Headshot yelled and soared through the air. "You heard him. Let's go!" Roland and Angel ran up the stairs and through the large doors and pass the bridge. Roland saw a timer on his HUD pop up saying they only had thirty nine minutes left. They made it to a stream. The rapids were going too fast for them to cross and there were no bridges in sight. Just then Roland got a crazy idea. "Hope these damn shields work." Roland took out a stick of dynamite and placed it on the ground. He then lit it with a lighter and waited for the explosion. "Roland?" Angel said. Roland placed himself in front of the dynamite. The fuse ended and Roland jumped, sending him across the river and to the other side with a large thud. Angel blinked and then did the same thing. Their shields began to recharge as they made their way towards Ponyville. After a few minutes of walking, they made it to a large Cliff-face that was too steep to climb. "What the hell do we do now?" Roland asked. Angel took out a small piece of eriduim she hid from Jack. "Angel! Don't! You already died from that stuff once!" "I don't see any other choice." Angel absorbed the eriduim and felt her power and energy rising. She began to glow and bright blue wing were glowing on her back. The timer hit the ten minutes marker and began to glow red. Angel picked up Roland by the arm and heaved him up the clift without even showing any signs of struggle, but as soon as she touched down she fell to her knees and coughed up some blood. "I'm fine... Let's go." She said and got up sprinting with Roland. They made it to the outskirts with two minutes to spare but saw the town was overrun with undead ponies, griffons and other species even some animals. They saw Headshot perched on a lighting cloud with his explosive crossbow, taking shots at groups of zombies and kicking the cloud sending lighting bolts at anything that got to close. Roland and Angel began to fire their weapons and attract the zombies. Roland took out a stick of dynamite and threw it to a group of zombies eating a bloody Pegasus. The dynamite exploded, sending blood and guts everywhere. The objective on their HUDs changed to "Defend town hall". "YEAHHHHHHHHHHH" Something screamed at the distance. "I'M GETTING THAT PRIZE AND NOTHING IS GONNA GET IN MY WAY!" A large Minotaur yelled and threw a cart at Headshot, sending the sniper plummeting to the ground. He crashed and the bits and pieces of the cart came crashing down on him. Angel came to his side. "Are you alright?" She asked. "My wing!" Headshot yelled and saw his wing bent in a strange angle. He had large wounds and several cuts all across his body, blood oozed through his wounds, attracting zombies towards him. Roland took out his assault rifle with a half empty clip and sprayed to the oncoming horde. "I'm out!" He yelled and took out his bolt-action rifle again. "I gathered all I could and led them to town hall." Headshot wheezed. "Forget about me and head over there." The minotaur from earlier was smashing zombies left and right. "The bastard who threw the cart is called Big Horn and he doesn't care about the ponies in the town hall just the money." Something flashed through Roland and Angel's HUD. The durability on the door on the town hall was going down. Roland shot the zombies that were attacking town hall. "Angel! I need some help!" Roland yelled and threw another stick of dynamite at another group of zombies. "The doors won't hold. I'm going down there and try to draw their attention." Roland took out his knife and sliced himself on his hand. "Sweet juicy flesh, come and get it!" Roland waved his arm around drawing the zombie's attention. "YOU WANT THE PRIZE TOO? YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GET THROUGH ME!" Big Horn yelled and charged at Roland, knocking away the zombies that were closing in on him. "Aw crap." Roland yelled as he was sent flying through the plaza. Five years ago, on Pandora. Brick and Roland had a little duel over a orange-rarity shotgun they found. As soon as the match started, Brick punched through Roland's shield and made him stagger back. Big Horn's charge broke through his shields and fractured some ribs. It was three times more powerful than Brick's uppercut. Roland got up to his feet and saw the zombies were following him. The zombies aren't attacking town hall, good. Roland though and dodged a zombie who tried to tackle him. Roland reloaded his rifle and shot Big Horn in the head. "LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!" Big Horn yelled in anger and charged Roland. Roland dodged it easily and used his knife to slash Big Horn's arm, sending blood out. Zombies began to circle them from all sides. A zombie jumped on Big Horn and bit repeatedly. He pulverized the zombie and the others close enough. Roland took out two sticks of dynamite and forced them into a zombie's eyes and lit it. He then pushed the zombie back into the crowd and exploded, taking out the other zombies. For a man with broken ribs and internal bleeding, I'm doing pretty good. Roland though and shoved a few zombies at Big Horn. "RAHGHGHGHHG!" Big Horn half-yelled and half-laughed at the carnage. Roland broke away from the zombies and saw Headshot's crossbow and a few dynamite bolts. Roland took the crossbow and aimed at Big Horn. "Hey! Dumbass!" Roland yelled. And, like a dumbass, Big horn turned to the direction of Roland's voice and met with an arrow to the... "HEAD!" Big Horn yelled and as the fuse burned he saw Roland's smug face and a middle finger for him. "Upping the kill count." Meanwhile Angel carried Headshot to an alley with only one entryway, forcing all the zombies right into her line of fire, but with only a bolt-action rifle and a half-empty SMG the zombies were closing in on her. She had an even stupider idea than Roland did. She ran through the hordes of zombies and when she was in the center of the horde, she activated her Phase Shift ability and, much to her delight, instead of disorienting them, the zombie's heads exploded, painting the entire area red with blood. A distant howl came from the Everfree. The ground rumbled and a giant, wooden paw came crashing down on an unsuspecting zombie. It was the giant Bark Wolf or Timberwolf as she read in one of the books. The zombies were the least of her worries. The Timberwolf growled and lunged at Angel but she dodged and took out her SMG. She conserved her shots and only aimed at the head, but the bullets didn't seem to have any effect on it. The wolf swiped at Angel, taking out a few zombies along with her. Angel hit the opposite wall across the street and coughed up some blood. Angel saw the wolf closing in but she figured that bullets didn't affect its tough hide. She only had five dynamites left. Angel did some stupid. The wolf gave low growl and opened its mouth, Angel jumped in and lit the dynamite and threw it down to the stomach. Angel held on to the wooded tongue and the wolf coughed Angel out and exploded into a several pieces of wood. Angel got up from the ground and smile. "That was fun." Meanwhile somewhere above the clouds Anarchy smiled and someone died. "Celly, I want a background check on those two... hairless ape thingies." Anarchy ordered through a PA system. "Yes, Master Anarchy." "Please, Celestia, we knew each other for so long, just call me Anarchy or Nark for short." "Yes... Master Nark." "Cut the Master thing, it was fun for the few first centuries but now it's... formal and you know how much I hate formalities." "Yes... Nark." Anarchy looked down on the two humans. "This is going to get interesting."