//------------------------------// // Loud Angry Witch // Story: Live and Let Die // by Dihinner //------------------------------// “You.” She was literally seeing red. Her rage burned inside of he like the fires of hell, just waiting to be unleashed. Her eyes were locked on its target, a small purple horse like thing. “You did this to me.” Her claws curled slightly, then outstretched to their full twelve inches. Her breathing was heavy, as one’s would be if they were put under a painful transformation from a Pegasus to a winged humanoid. Her teeth were bared, which caused her purple target to cringe slightly at the rotted and sharpened teeth. With one final hate filled glare, Witch screamed and charged at Twilight in fury, causing her to panic and teleport away. Now, Witch usually only went after one target, so long as she could catch it. If she couldn’t get to said target, Witch did the one thing every other infected (besides Tank) did. She ran away, shoving everything aside and went towards the forest on the outskirts of town. ************************************************************************************* Tank’s jaw hung open. He stared at where Witch had gone for a few moments before he finally spoke. “Where is she?” The other seven infected looked at Tank worriedly, this was the first time since he got his new jaw (the old one was crushed) where he was speaking clearly. Another thing they noticed was that it was flat and monotone. Absolutely no emotion was showing on the giant infected’s face. “Uh, I think Witch ran towards that forest,” said Screamer as he flew over to Tank and began hovering beside him. “I know where Witch went,” Tank snapped. “I want to know where she went.” “Uh, Tank?” said Hunter, “If it’s not Witch, who is the ‘she’ you’re talking about?” Tank turned to Hunter, “Hunter, who is missing besides Witch?” Hunter sniffed the air and let out a high pitch shrieking sound. He then turned to Tank, “Of us? No one is missing besides Witch.” Tank shook his head, a completely useless gesture to use on Hunter, “No, which one of them are missing?” “Them?” asked Hunter. He thought about who ‘them’ might be before he realised he was talking about Rainbow dash and the other ponies they met a few days ago. “Oh, them? Well, none of them were hear but Rainbow dash and Twili-. Oh.” Hunter sighed, “Don’t hurt her too bad, alright?” “Hurt who?” asked Rainbow dash, now recovered from when Witch was chasing her. Hunter sighed, “If you want to know anything about Tank, it’s that do not, under any circumstances, do anything to Witch. At all. If you do, like Twilight, do anything, there is a good chance Tank will rip you limb from limb. And that’s if he’s in a good mood.” Rainbow dash stared at Hunter, then at Tank, “If you thing if you can hurt Twilight, then you’re going to have to go through me.” Tank raised his eyebrow at Rainbow dash and laughed, “Little rainbow pony, if you think you can fight me, then I will personally show you why my name is Tank.” The two glared at each other, Rainbow dash’s magenta eyes bore into Tank’s yellow eyes and vice versa. They stared at each other before Smoker decided that was enough and separated them. Tank argued that Rainbow dash had challenged him in a fight, and must be settled by the traditional means. “Tank,” said Smoker, “You know as well as I do that it won’t be a fight. It will be you slaughtering her. End of story.” Rainbow dash spoke up in protest, “Hey, I can take him on!” Smoker chuckled, “You’re joking, right?” he stared at Rainbow dash for moment and started to laugh when he saw she was serious, “If you knew even a quarter of what I’ve seen Tank do, you’d have nightmares for the rest of your life.” Rainbow dash rolled her eyes, “Phhf, yeah right.” Smoker raised an eyebrow, “Really? Well, since you don’t believe me, I guess we have to ask another witness. Hey, Boomer, remember that time back in Riverside?” Boomer shrugged, “Yeah, what about it?” “What exactly did Tank do there?” Boomer sighed, “Smoker, we don’t have time for this.” “Hey, Rainbow here thinks she can fight Tank. If I’m doing anything, I’m saving her life by asking you.” Rainbow dash glared at Smoker, who looked at Boomer for an answer. He sighed again, “What about Witch?” Smoker shrugged, “Witch will be fine. When hasn’t she been?” Tank growled at Smoker, who ignored at as Boomer sighed a third time in defeat. “Fine. I’ll tell the damn story,” he looked around at the other infected and Wheatley, “Gather those other ponies, I’m only telling this once.” Boomer paused, “After we get Witch.” Smoker rolled his eyes as Boomer watched the other infected and Wheatley leave to gather Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie pie and possibly Twilight, he sighed. “As if today wasn’t dark enough, now I have to tell them of a one man slaughter.” ************************************************************************************* Some sounds are truly disgusting to hear. One of these sounds could be heard through the forest as Witch tore a manticore in half with her claws. The beast’s eyes rolled back into its skull as she tore away a chunk of flesh from its chest and began eating it. After she had eaten, her wings snapped out and Witch began to take flight. It was… odd for her to fly in this humanoid body and not in her previous Pegasus one. Still, she was much more mobile on two feet than on four hooves. Her head was still pounding from this morning and Witch held back a pained cry as the wind whipped against her face. She scouted the forest in search for a cave or alcove to hide in until her migraine faded. Finally, she discovered a decent sized cave made from what looked like a gigantic, abandoned bee hive. She flew towards an opening in the hive and dropped inside of it. The interior of the hive was littered with bits of what looked like the shed skin of a snake, but entirely black. Witch called out into the abandoned hive, making sure she was alone, and then Witch sat down where she was standing and closed her eyes, waiting for the pain in her head to pass, oblivious to the pair of ice blue eyes staring at her. ************************************************************************************* “…is it really that bad?” Hunter stood at the edge of the Everfree forest with a look of confusion on his face. The five ponies that were helping him and the other seven infected were frozen at the edge of the forest, unwilling or incredibly reluctant to go into the forest. The eight infected however, didn’t share their concern for the forest. They had told them the apparent unnatural nature of the forest, which included clouds moving by themselves, animals able to live on their own and so on. “It’s just like back home,” Boomer muttered to himself, “Except with mythical monsters and Witch with wings.” “So… you’re not going to help us find a mentally unstable psychopath that is fully capable to tear you in half?” Smoker asked the ponies. The five ponies shared uneasy looks, with Fluttershy being downright terrified and Rainbow dash showing the least concern. “I guess that’s a no then,” said Smoker. He turned to the other infected, “You guys remember the camouflage tactic we picked up in that swamp?” The infected nodded, around the final days of being on earth they camped in a swamp. Spitter had been one of the people who lived in the swamp village before becoming infected, so naturally she was better at staying hidden than the rest of the infected. “Alright,” said Smoker, “Hunter, can you pick up her scent?” Hunter nodded and was still for a moment, occasionally moving his ears and sniffing the air, “…Got it, she’s northeast of here.” Without another word, the infected walked into the forest with Hunter at the lead as the five ponies watched them seemingly vanish into thin air. The ponies waited until they couldn’t hear the snapping of twigs or the occasional chirps from Spitter before speaking. “Did they just walk into the Everfree forest without knowing anything about it?” asked Rainbow dash. “Yep,” replied Applejack. There was another pause, then a distant roar in the distance and what sounded like the cracking of bones. All five ponies shuddered at the sound, they all knew that the roar belonged to Tank, it was the same sound he made at the disastrous party two days ago. “So… are we just going to wait here until they get back?” asked Pinkie pie. “I’m sure they can handle themselves,” said Rarity, “After all, they seemed to have an idea what they were up against.” There was another roar, then a loud shriek and finally a near deafening scream. The five ponies glanced at each other, it sounded like the infected were in trouble, or at least needed help of some sort. Reluctantly, the five ponies journeyed into the forest in the direction the infected went. ************************************************************************************* The crushed remains of a manticore and bits of what appeared to be wooden wolves lay strewn about around a small area in between trees. Slowly, Smoker picked himself off the ground and stared at the carnage around him. “Jesus, Screamer,” muttered Smoker, “Is that your solution to everything?” Screamer gave Smoker a hateful glare and continued hovering. Smoker saw the other infected slowly get up off the ground, except for Hunter. Hunter was flat on the ground, hooves covering his ears and Smoker could swear that there were tears stained on the dulled out bandage across his eye sockets. Slowly, Smoker walked over to him. “Hey Hunter,” asked Smoker, “You going to be alright?” Smoker didn’t get a response from Hunter, only a very pained whimper. Smoker sighed angrily and turned to Screamer. “Great job, you broke him.” Screamer rolled his eyes, “Well, next time he should cover his ears faster. It’s not my fault he didn’t see me about to yell.” “He’s blind you idiot,” Smoker snapped. Screamer shrugged, “If he’s blind, why do you let him tag along with us? He’s only slowing us down and all he’s good for is tracking stuff. If it were me, I’d have left him where I found him.” Smoker’s eye twitched slightly as he snapped. In one swift motion, Smoker launched out his tongue at Screamer’s neck and pulled him towards the ground where he landed with a thud. Before Screamer could realise what just happened, Smoker slammed his right forehoof into his chest, knocking the wind out of him and pinning him to the ground. “Listen to me you crazy armless lunatic,” Smoker growled, “If you ever insult the kid like that again, I will kill you. Got it?” Screamer gulped, he’d heard from Boomer that a little while before they found himself and Jockey, Hunter was nearly killed by some non-infected. Smoker, being the one who seemed to actually give a damn about Hunter, lost it and slaughtered all of them with his tongue and his own bare hands. To make a long story short, as Boomer explained, hurting Hunter was like if you hurt Witch. Either one you will get the unrestrained rage of an infected upon you and there is not a force on the planet that can stop them. Screamer stared fire at Smoker, which met his icy glare. The two glared at each other for a moment before Smoker kicked Screamer in the gut and walked back to Hunter. Smoker then managed to move Hunter onto his back with his tongue. There was tension in the air for a moment before Smoker walked off in the direction they were headed earlier. The infected stared at him for a moment before Spitter spoke. “Damn, Screamer, I’ve never seen him that pissed off.” Screamer rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah.” Spitter shook her head, “No I mean I’ve never seen him that pissed off. You’d better watch what you say around him for a while.” Screamer grunted as her and the other infected started to follow Smoker. After a few moments, Screamer hesitantly followed them. ************************************************************************************ Hunter awoke with a dull ringing sound in his ears. He lifted his head slightly and tried to take in his surroundings. After a moment Hunter frowned, he couldn’t ‘see’ anything with his echolocation. He tried sniffing the air, maybe one of the infected was close by. The main thing Hunter could smell was smoke, which made him relax somewhat. That meant Smoker was nearby; he just had to figure out where. “Smoker?” Hunter called out. There was silence besides the ringing, which made Hunter start to worry. He called out again, this time to the other infected. The response was the same: nothing. Hunter sighed, and then he suddenly jerked downwards and fell. Hunter landed on the ground with a thud, which caused him to shriek on instance to try and gather his surroundings. Unfortunately, that was useless in his deafened state. Hunter crouched to the ground; hopefully trying to scare whatever knocked him off of… whatever it was he was on before e fell. Suddenly, he felt what seemed to be a long rope of damp rubber wrap around his chest and pulled him into the air. Hunter tried to struggle against it but suddenly was relieved from its grip and landed on something with a thud. Hunter sniffed the air again, and got a nose full of smoke for his effort. Then he got the feeling of motion, whatever he was on top of was moving under him. Hunter frowned for a moment before the realisation hit him. “I’m on Smoker’s back, aren’t I?” he called out. He was answered with a more peaceful silence, this time without the ringing. Then he smelt a strange chemical that burned his nose slightly. “Spitter?” Hunter called out again, “Is that you?” Again, more silence. Hunter sighed, “If it is you, I can’t hear anything. I’m just going to assume that everyone else is somewhere close by.” With that in mind, Hunter sighed again and began to wait until his hearing returned. ************************************************************************************* Tank’s yellow eyes were focused in front of him. More specifically, on the trail of blood that littered the ground. The drops of blood most likely belonged to the torn up corpse of what was a manticore, according to Boomer. They had been traveling through the forest for a few hours now, much slower than anticipated since Hunter’s hopefully temporary deafness. Still, it wasn’t exactly hard to track Witch. Just follow the cries and blood. Tank sighed, most of the rage he felt earlier when Witch ran off was all but gone. He and the other infected knew that his rage was what fueled him to do what he does. In fact, if he didn’t have the rage he possesses, he and the other infected could have died multiple times in the past. His rage gave him strength. And ever since he and the other infected were struck by the life changing bomb, that rage had been slowly dissipating. More and more Tank felt more forgiving and his strength leaving him. The first thing that came into his mind when he realised this was that he was slowly dying. If that was the case, then he would be the one lying in the pool of blood in the pictures. But, if that was the case, then it wouldn’t happen for a while. A saddened cry echoed throughout the forest that snapped Tank back to the task at hand and he suddenly turned to face the direction where it came from. There, in the near distance there was a gigantic light beige structure made from what looked like sticks, mud and a faded green substance. ‘That’s where Witch must be,’ Tank thought to himself as he started to walk towards it. The other infected noticed Tank’s change in direction and followed. The eight walked through the maze of plant life and demolished everything that stood in their way. Finally, they arrived at the large beige structure. They stared at it in awe at the sheer size of the hive like structure. Screamer let out an impressed whistle. “So, anyone got an idea on how to get in?” Tank turned to him and grinned. Then, he raised his massive right forehoof and slammed it into the wall, causing a loud crunching sound as small cracks were formed in the place where Tank struck. Getting the message, Charger and Spitter began punching or spitting at the wall with Tank. The other infected watched them, unable to provide significant help in any way, until the structure groaned slightly and part of the wall caved open. A loud wail echoed throughout the newly created hole in the wall that proved that Witch was inside. “Come, we are close now,” said Tank, “I can feel it.” Hole suddenly split into four different pathways, each going in a different direction. Smoker decided it would be best if they split off into smaller groups of two to cover ground faster. Unfortunately, because of Hunter’s currently incapacitated state, Tank had gone through his tunnel alone and Spitter went with Smoker. Spitter looked at the walls of the strange hallway in awe. From the looks of it, some sort of insect pony race had lived here many years ago, judging from multiple hieroglyphs on the wall. “This is amazing,” Spitter said under her breath. Smoker nodded, “Just when we thought we had figured out Ponyland, a species of bee people come in.” Hunter shifted on Smoker’s back. He raised his head for a moment to smell his surroundings. He picked up the scent of decayed bodies and some strange smells unfamiliar to him. “What died?” Spitter laughed slightly, “An entire race of bee people.” Hunter scratched his ear, “Sorry, repeat that?” Smoker chuckled slightly, “I think he’s starting to hear again.” “What about beer?” Spitter sighed, “Well, at least he’s not deaf.” Nodding in agreement, Smoker continued to walk down the darkened hallway deeper into the abandoned hive with Spitter walking beside him and Hunter grumbling in confusion on his back. ************************************************************************************* “Heeeeellllllloooooooo?” Screamer’s voice echoed down the hallway to Boomer’s mild annoyance. “Anyone still alive in here?” Boomer sighed, “Screamer, this structure must have been abandoned years ago. The only things in here are us and possibly Witch.” Screamer rolled his eyes, “Define ‘alive’.” Boomer sighed again, “You know as well as I do that we aren’t like the Commons anymore. Heck, we were never like them in the first place. We always were stronger, smarter and had a basic train of thought.” “Yeah, we also were mutated freaks, cannibals and now liars,” said Screamer. “You know why we have to lie,” replied Boomer, “The town seems to panic easily, remember what happened when we had to drag Hunter to the doctor? The town nearly went into a panic and we got attacked by that rainbow mare.” “You mean the Rainbow Pride Pegasus?” Boomer slapped Screamer across the back of his head with a frown on his face. Screamer glared at Boomer for a moment before he continued, “As I was saying, the town is easily excitable and the residents seem to be rash at times. Imagine if word got out that nine zombies with a bio-hazardous disease were living there?” “Bad stuff,” grumbled Screamer. As much as he hated to admit it, even with the combined strength of all nine of them, they had no chance of taking down an entire town with no help from Commons.” After that comment the two continued walking in silence. Very faintly in the distance, they heard the telltale cry of Witch and slowly started to move faster. The little adventure was slowly coming to a close and all Screamer wanted to do is get something to eat and sleep for a week. ************************************************************************************ “Hyeeh, hyeeh, hyeeh,” cackled Jockey as he and Charger made their way through the hive hallways searching for Witch. Not too long ago they heard what sounded like her crying. “Shush,” muttered Charger, “Witch is around here somewhere and I need you to be quiet so I can hear her.” “’s not my fault,” muttered Jockey in Hunter’s voice, “I don’t control my laughter.” Charger sighed, “I know you can’t, but can you please try to keep it to a minimum? This is probably the most serious thing we’ve done since we got here.” “I thought stealing from that street market four days ago was the most important thing we’ve done here,” replied Jockey, still with Hunter’s voice. “That was a matter of getting food. This is a matter of making sure Witch is safe,” said Charger. “Yeah, Tank would flip is anything happened to his girlfriend,” muttered Jockey in Smoker’s raspy voice. Charger glared at Jockey as he gave her his signature ‘Jockey grin’ and the two continued to walk down the hallway. Both could now defiantly hear Witch crying now. “We’re getting close to her,” said Charger. Jockey nodded and said nothing. Despite being youngest of the nine, he was arguably one of the most mature. Those three weeks had been pure hell for the infected, even more so with Jockey and Hunter, as they were they youngest with Jockey around fifteen and Hunter around eighteen. The infected didn’t particularly care about their age, hell; they couldn’t even remember what their birthdays were. The infection deteriorated their minds for three weeks straight and their memory before that was shaky at best. None of them could remember their original names, but instead adopted the names the non-infected had given them. Jockey sighed, what he would give to remember before he was the cackling maniac he was now. Of course, being in the state he was in now did have its advantages. For instance, he could jump the highest out of any of the infected (flying doesn’t count) and his senses were much sharper that pre-infection, abet not as powerful as Hunter’s near telepathic knowledge of who and what is around him at nearly all times. Jockey’s train of thought was broken as an angry shriek boomed down the hallway from ahead. It didn’t take a genius like Boomer to know that it belonged to Witch. He and Charger bolted off towards it in hope of trying to prevent Witch from hurting herself or others that may be with her. ************************************************************************************* “Well I’ll be darned…” Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow dash stared in amazement at the structure they were staring at. They had followed the pathway of destruction and debris (along with the odd body) that the infected had made that led them to the giant hive structure. They were all standing in front of a gigantic hole in the wall with huge dent and scorch marks around it. “You think they’re in there?” asked Rainbow dash. A faint shriek blew through the huge opening in the structure, indicating that something was indeed inside. “I believe that is a yes,” said Rarity. The ponies stared nervously into the gaping hole in front of them, none of them wanting to take the first step inside. After a moment, a deep roar was heard from inside, indicating that Tank might be fighting something. “…I’m going to help them.” Everypony stared at Fluttershy like she was insane. She returned the look and said, “I think they’re in trouble and could use all the help they can get.” With that, Fluttershy walked inside of the hive, disappearing into the darkness. “I’m going too,” exclaimed Pinkie pie as she hopped inside, “Hey Fluttershy, wait up!” Applejack and Rarity soon followed and left Rainbow dash standing at the hole to the hive. She sighed, “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” and with that, Rainbow dash ran into the hive in hopes of catching up with her friends. ************************************************************************************ It wasn’t hard to tell that Tank was fighting a losing battle. Tried as he might, he couldn’t avoid the blindingly fast slashes that Witch was giving him. Tank had found Witch alone in a large circular chamber at the end of the hallway with three other openings nearby, presumably connecting with the other hallways that the other infected went through. Tank grunted in a rare moment of pain as Witch slashed at the large scar on the right side of his chest. Tank retaliated and counterattacked with a punch, which hit Witch dead on. Most would be amazed that Tank did that to Witch, considering how much he cared for her wellbeing, but as he and the other infected knew, Witch was just as durable as Tank. They were literally total opposites, Tank being large and muscular, Witch being small and thin. Tank usually had his emotions in check while Witch could easily become an emotional wreck at any given moment. And ever since becoming ponies, Tank was an herbivore and Witch was a carnivore. Yet, despite all the differences, they did have some things in common. Being able to fly into an uncontrollable rage was one of them. Witch slashed Tank’s left forearm, causing it to leave five long red gashes on his arm. Amazingly, blood did not pool out of his arm, instead, it became a dark red as what little blood remained in Tank’s body desperately tried to stay inside. Tank threw another punch at Witch as Smoker, Spitter and an incapacitated Hunter arrived in the room to see Tank fighting his fellow infected. Spitter and Smoker both saw the familiar madness in Witch’s eyes as she clawed at Tank. “It’s just like back home,” whispered Spitter. Smoker nodded, “Yeah, but one is a mutant horse and the other has wings.” Witch screamed at Tank as she swung at him a final time, this time in his lower chest, and gave him a gash that would make most creatures’ intestines fall onto the floor. Instead, what seemed to be a second rib cage protected Tank’s intestines from ending up on the floor saved him as he fell to the ground, defeated. Spitter and Smoker’s eyes shrunk as Witch turned to them and stared at them in hatred. “Oh shit!” muttered Smoker as he used his tongue to move Hunter across the room in hopes of keeping him away from Witch. “What do we do?” asked Spitter, eyes locked on Witch. “We stall her and try to tire her out so when they get here she’ll be easier to take down,” said Smoker, straitening himself out and releasing large cloud of smoke from the tip of his horn, which he was unconsciously making glow a smoky grey. “Well,” said Spitter, her throat bulging slightly as she began to prepare her acidic spit, “It’s been nice knowing you.” Smoker chuckled, despite the situation, “What do you think the odds are that we’re going to get out of here alive?” “Hundred to one.” “Sounds about right,” said Smoker as Witch screamed and charged. ************************************************************************************ Charger and Jockey ran into the room as the same time as Boomer and Screamer. Already they could see Spitter lying unconscious on the floor and Smoker trying to get Witch away from her. Already knowing what the situation called for, Charger and Jockey leapt into the fight and began helping Smoker. Boomer and Screamer, instead of fight Witch, tried to wake up Spitter and Tank. They both noticed Hunter on the other end of the room, his fur bristling, he smelt the fight. “Come on, wake up,” said Screamer franticly as he tried to shake Spitter awake in vain. She was covered in bruises and seemed to have a broken leg. Boomer ran over to Tank and tried to do the same, Witch however, noticed him and back handed him into the wall. He looked up for a moment before his head slumped down. Screamer saw this and flew as fast as he could towards Hunter. Smoker, Charger and Jockey were fighting Witch with all their might, but, before they realised, Jockey was down and Smoker was narrowly avoiding Witch’s claws on three legs. She screamed again as Charger dived towards Smoker and got out of her path. “We can’t keep this up for much long,” panted Charger. “Just a little longer,” grunted Smoker, firing out his tongue again towards Witch’s neck, only for it to get cut in half, “If we can get her down we can fix her.” Witch screamed and ran again, but his time Charger noticed that she was moving slower than before, she quickly turned to Smoker. “Smoker! I think she is tire-!” Charger tried to form words, but all that came out was a dry cough and a little bit of blood. She looked to her chest and saw a huge claw slash mark on her chest, quickly turning red and a little bit of blood oozing out. “Ghlk,” was the only sound she could make before she too fell to the ground. Smoker franticly looked around for someone to help him. To his dismay, he noticed Hunter and Screamer missing, the only two that were mostly uninjured. “Oh, God help me,” he whispered just as Witch slashed at him again, which managed to make him fly into the wall. He crashed into the wall which made a sickening crack. With the last bit of strength he had, Smoker raised his head only to see a large blurry mess in front of him. From what he saw, a purple blotch appeared out of nowhere with other coloured blotches and started to do something to the big white and red line in front of him. Smoker saw a huge rainbow seemingly shine of a hole in the roof and hit the line before everything faded to black.