//------------------------------//
// Bittersweet Ch. 2 
// Story: When It All Falls Apart 
// by KErlend 
//------------------------------//


*Pinkie Pie Chapter*




I heard a loud bang noise, then nothing. I looked up. The creature should have been digging its teeth into my flesh. The thing was no longer on top of me. I looked down and realized I was covered in blood. Fear must have blocked out my sense of feeling. I looked to my left, to see it collapsed on the floor, a hole through its head. I then looked to my right. Pumpkin Cake was in the doorway. She was holding her pistol in her hoof, pointed to where the monster had been moments before. A small trail of smoke was coming out of the barrel. Pumpkin blew the smoke out, then put the gun back in the strap of her pack.

"Thanks kid."

She nodded. Then she dumped the contents of her pack onto the floor. Various painkillers and bandages spilled out. Two bottles of disinfectant, a roll of gauze and medical tape. Why in the world does Doctor Hooves keep this much medical supplies on hand? I gave her a nod of approval. She started gathering up the supplies strewn across the floor while I went off to see where that infected had come from. I inspected some of the barrels and crates. One of them had the lid ripped off. I hadn't checked the crates. Guess it was better that I didn't. I was safe. Now it was time to get to the safe zone.

"C'mon, Pumpkin." She had just finished packing all the supplies. "Let's go check on your brother." She nodded. We headed back up the stairs. Pound seemed to not have noticed what had transpired below. Probably best that way. "Hey kid. Catch." When he had turned towards me, I tossed the handgun to him. He almost dropped it, then caught. He looked it over, then gave me a nod of thanks. He slipped into the strap of his pack. I told both of them to sit down at the table.

I sat across from the both of them. I put my hooves together and looked down at them. "Heh. All I need is a cigarette and a bottle of whiskey and it'll be just like a movie." They both looked at each other confused. But I continued anyways. "At this point I think we have enough supplies to make it into the safe zone. It'd be nice if we had-" a sudden realization hit me: I hadn't looked for a radio. "Did you happen to see a radio down there Pumpkin?" She just shrugged. "You see one up here Pound?"

"No" was his response.

"Hmm. Well, let me go look for one. Stay here, keep the door closed." I headed back downstairs and dug through some of the equipment, and quickly found a radio. I took it back upstairs where the Baby Cakes still sat. I placed the radio on the table and switched it on. Static emitted from it. I slowly turned the dial until I got something intelligible:

"The final testing is ready to begin. We believe it will be a complete success and will be what will end this for good. They will have no chance of stopping us after this is done."

"Good. Begin the experiment now."

"Yes sir. Begin testing."

I heard the loud whir of a machine start up. It rapidly got louder and faster, eventually reaching a maximum. Then a pained shriek was heard, followed by a loud roar.

"Experiment successful sir. The Omega Experiment is successful."

"Good. Release it."

"Affirmative." Then the channel went silent.

I again started turning the dial, looking for Celestia's channel. After a while of static, I got a clear silent sound. "Hello?" I sent through.

"Yes? Who is this?" a familiar voice demanded.

"Princess Celestia. Good, I found you. It's Pinkie Pie. I'm here with the Cakes' twins. I'm going to need the location of the  hatch to the underground. I rounded up some supplies from Doctor Hooves' house. We're ready."

Silence for a few minutes. Then, "Alright. Along the path to Canterlot is a group of bushes. Under them is the hatch. But be careful. The Royal Guards have told me that the place is crawling with infected. Have you heard from Twilight or any of your other friends?"

"No" I said hastily. "Thank you for your help. Expect us to be there by tomorrow. Are any of the others there yet?"

"No."

"Thanks" I said abruptly, the switched off the radio and put it in my pack. While I was in it, I pulled out my notebook and made an entry for the creature that had attacked me earlier. "Alright, we need a plan. Depending on both how many there are and how grouped they are, I'm thinking that using my grenade is a good idea. As long as we can take out the majority of them with it. If not, a few sniper bullets should do well. But we need to try to use as few bullets as possible. Call it a feeling-" I grinned. "Call it a Pinkie Sense, but I think that at least I'll need 'em again, that I'll be going back up and out of that hatch. So use as little bullets as possible." I twirled my knife in my hoof. "A good knife'll last you a long time. But bullets are good for distance. Yes, I'll take a knife over a gun, but I think a gun will do better for what I'm going to be up against. My first priority right now is getting you kids down there safe. But after that, I'm not sure. That radio transmission sounded like it was the same ponies who started all this. So they're still alive. And what's more, they're trying to make this whole mess even worse. Somepony has to stop them. Maybe it'll be me. But I'm afraid I'm rambling on and getting ahead of myself. You two ready?" I got two quick nods. "Well then let's go." I had finished my entry on the new Infected. While I didn't have a name for it yet, I filled in what I could. Multiple tentacles protrude from it, used as weapons. Apparently smarter than most infected, as it was smart enough to hide and sneak up on me on my first encounter with one. That was it. I closed the notebook and put it back in my pack. "Let's move out guys."

I got up from my chair. The twins did the same. I peeked out the door, shotgun drawn and loaded. Nothing. Looked like we had cleared them out earlier. We moved down the street, me leading and Pound and Pumpkin watching the back. We moved through the deserted town of what used to be Ponyville. No Infected.

We trekked down the road out of Ponyville. Still nothing. Then we crested a hill. There were tens of them, at least 50. Luckily a good portion of them were in a tight group, fighting each other. And while I couldn't see what it was, I knew almost for a fact that it was a body of some kind. A few had strayed from the group. But only a few.

"Hold up guys" I whispered behind me. I reached into my pack and pulled out the grenade. I pulled the ring off the top with my teeth, then sent it soaring through the air directly into the middle of the group of Infected. "Be ready guys. As soon as that goes off, the stragglers will be after us." As if on cue, the grenade went off. The resulting blast left mere ashes where Infected once stood. The handful that had survived turned towards us. They immediately began cantering towards us. I surveyed them quickly. Luckily for us none of them were Lashers, Runners, or any of the ones I had encountered back at Doctor Hooves. One Bulk and four Norms. Easy. I drew my knife and smiled.

When they were within range, Pound and Pumpkin each gave a shot at them. "Wait guys. Like I said, save bullets. I think I got this. If they get too close to you, then shoot 'em. Stay here." I turned around, a plan already forming in my mind.

I quickly ran towards one of the Infected, one of the Norms. I leaped over it, then fell directly on top of it, knife aimed down at it's head. The knife dug deeply into it's intended target. I quickly ripped it out as the Infected went limp. I ran towards the next one, the other two closing in. This was gonna be close. As I came within inches of my next target, I ducked onto my back. I slid underneath it, my knife held up. It slid cleanly through the skin of it's underbelly. Blood poured out from the wound behind me. As soon as I was out from under it, I leaped back up onto my feet. It turned around, completely unaware of the massive amount of blood pouring from under it. Before it could even turn around all the way, it's eyes rolled back into it's head and it fell to the ground, dead. "So much for the easy part" I said to myself.

The Bulk and the remaining Norm were closing in on me quickly. Now this part had to be timed perfectly. I threw my knife at the bulk, hitting it in the chest. As I had hoped, it paused to look at its new wound. I ran up and ran under the Norm as I had the last one. But instead of running a knife through it, I kicked with all four hooves. The Norm flew up into the air, at least twenty feet high. As it continued it's ascend, I ran behind the Bulk. I dove under it in the same fashion as the two previous times. But this time I drew my shotgun before sliding. As my hind legs appeared under its head, it opened its mouth to take a lunge at me. But as it began to bring its mouth down, the barrel of my shotgun went into its mouth. I smiled at it, then pulled the trigger. It collapsed immediately, pieces of gore flying upwards out of its head. I quickly yanked my knife from its lifeless chest and put my gun in its holster. I looked up. The Norm was just now falling. Good. I walked over to where it would fall and held out my knife. Its head went straight through it. I wiped the blood off of my knife and hoof onto the grass. Then I walked back towards the twins.

"I thought you said no bullets" Cake called to me when I got close.

"You guys each got one, so did I." I grinned then beckoned them to follow me. I found the bush Celestia had told me about. A round black hatch was revealed from underneath it. I lifted it up with the twins' help- it was heavy- and motioned them into it. After they were in, I pulled the bushed around the hatch. I ducked down, pulling it closed under me.

Personally, I was expecting darkness. But instead the tunnel was lit by a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The twins were already moving ahead. I quickly caught up and took the lead. After about 200 feet of twists and turns, I saw two Royal Guards ahead. They were holding long lances, at least four feet. And sharp enough to tear through flesh with minimal effort.

They stood on alert at the sound of hoofsteps. But they obviously relaxed when they realized we were normal. "Name please" the one on the left asked.

"Pinkie Pie. I believe the Princess is expecting me."

"Ah, yes. Go right in." They opened the door and let us in without question. I walked in, the Cakes right behind me.

"Hey, guys, give me your weapons. You won't need them down here." They nodded, and handed over the pistol and handgun. I put them in my pack.




"So that's what happened." I had just explained what happened to me to Celestia.

"Hmm. So have you gotten any Pinkie Senses about your friends yet?"

"No. But I think that magic disruptor Twilight talked about is doing something to my Pinkie Senses. I just got the one because it was strong. But I think that's a good sign. Means nopony's dead- yet."

"Guards!" A guard ran into the room quickly. "Go find Leon. He hasn't left yet. Tell him I'm postponing his mission for now. He'll have some help in due time I think. Pinkie here grabbed some weapons. Hopefully her friends will be here soon."

"They will. I can feel it."