//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: My Little Hellsing // by Lunafan1k //------------------------------// Chapter 5 Luna led Twilight and her friends into a large office, dominated by a massive round wooden table. Nearest the door sat Princess Celestia herself, and to her left and right sitting evenly around the table were the various mayors and leaders from all over Equestria. Princess Celestia had just finished her report on vampires, their recent activity, and the strange magics at work when she motioned toward Twilight and her friends. "These ponies, fillies and gentle colts," She announced, "Represent the new Hellsing Organization, and will be the spearhead of our offensive forces against the monsters that plague our lands." The ponies sitting around the table began to stop their hooves in applause, earning bright smiles in acceptance from Twilight and her friends. The entire castle shook as a huge explosion rocked the foundation, the candles flickered and went out, the windows smashed, statues crumbled as the Prince Beetle scurried for cover. Guards ran about as total chaos ensued. “What is going on out there?!” Demanded Princess Celestia, using her magic to broadcast her voice to all the guards on duty. “We’re under attack, it’s an unknown enemy!” Came the reply from one of the battle mages. “We are currently holding them off at the front entrance!” “Hold the line! Buy as much time as you can!” Princess Celestia turned to the Elements of Harmony, “Rainbow Dash, you are the fastest, try to find the Element of Laughter and bring her here,” Rainbow Dash gave a sharp salute then sped out the doorway, a rainbow afterimage hung in the air in her wake. “Twilight, you and the rest will remain here with myself and Luna. Captain!” She yelled, turning to the approaching guard, “Evacuate our guests, get them to the chariots at once!” Another explosion ripped through the castle, followed by the screams of mutilated ponies. “What was that?” Princess Celestia called out. A guard burst through the door, “Your Highness! The chariots have all been destroyed, explosives have collapsed the exits, we’re trapped in the castle!” “What?! Who is it?! Who are we fighting?!” Celestia called over her guards again. “Ghouls! The enemy are ghouls!” Came the reply, Everypony in the room gasped in horror, none had foreseen this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rainbow Dash blazed through the halls of the castle, desperately searching for her pink friend. She followed the sound of battle, and as she rounded the corner she stopped dead in her tracks. The guards were punching and kicking with spiked horseshoes, the pegasai using bladed wings to strike down their enemy, and the unicorns were using their most powerful offensive spells. For all the guard fought with, nothing seemed to slow down the ghoul ponies. One pegasus managed to decapitate a ghoul, where upon he cheered in victory. He was quickly silenced by the decapitated ghoul, a hoof smashing through the guard’s head. The guards were quickly overrun and ripped to bits by the hundreds of ghoul ponies. As one, the ghouls split off down different halls, ordered by a young female gryphon. Rainbow Dash flew out from behind the corner, if she could take out the leader the ghouls would have nobody to command them. The gryphon turned to the sound of wings, and when she saw the pegasus, she smiled and said, “Hello Dash.” Rainbow stopped in a heartbeat, “Gilda?” “Yea, sup bitch.” Gilda said as she approached the old friend. “Long time no see. I knew you’d come running back.” “Gilda? What are you talking about? Why are you with the ghouls?” Asked Dash, ears laid back as she backed away from the approaching gryphon. “Well, I was going to offer you a place in our ranks during my visit to Ponyville, but you went and fucked that up yourself. My orders are to kill everyone, and that includes you. But seeing as you are an old acquaintance, you’ve got a five second head start.” “Gilda, why?” “One...” “Gilda, please!” “Two...” “You don’t have to do this!” “Three, time is short Dash.” Tears streaming down her eyes from the betrayal, she flew as fast as she could back to her friends, hoping Pinkie was clear of any danger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The elder brother casually strolled through the majestic halls, stopping here and there to admire the decor. His sister was currently in charge of all the ghouls, but his target was in the lower depths. He could sense it, a presence like none other, luring him in. An ancient painting caught his eye, it was of the Princess Celestia, sitting upon her throne. It was simple, but the artistry was simply superb. It’s a true talent to take something so plain, and turn it into such a masterpiece The brother leaped back, vampiric reflexes allowing him to dodge the spears shooting out from the wall behind the painting and burying themselves in the opposite wall. Several guards cautiously stepped out from around the far corner and quickly surrounded the spears stuck in the wall. A feeling of dread washed over them as they saw their trap held no bounty, a feeling quickly rewarded as each guard was ripped in half, blood and entrails staining the walls. The gryphon smiled coldly, then continued on his way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rainbow Dash burst back into the conference room, panting heavily, eyes red and bloodshot from crying. She stood in the doorway, heaving as the tears refused to stop. “Rainbow!” Applejack said, running to her friend. “What’s wrong?! Ya have ta tell us!” “It’s Gilda!” She wailed, “Gilda is killing everypony!” “Gilda? That big mean grumpy mean meanie pants?” “Yea.” Sniffed Dash, then her head shot up. “Pinkie?! Your okay! Where did you go, I thought you were caught in the fighting!” She exclaimed, embracing her pink friend in a big hug, burying her face in Pinkie’s mane. “Oh silly, I was with Alucard but he was bor-ing. All he wanted to do was sit in the dark and ‘wait for someone worthy’ whatever that means. I mean really, he wouldn’t let me put up a banner to welcome his guest or anything!” Luna smiled, “So, this entire time, he felt something was coming. This is just like him.” Princess Celestia turned to Twilight and Applebloom, “Do not let the leave the grounds alive. Luna, I’m sorry, but you know what must be done.” Luna smiled a cold, knowing smile, an aura of power radiated from her, blowing over Twilight and her friends. “Heh. Put the veteran and the rookie together, and we might as well have one decent soldier. I, Selenic, the embodiment of Mǣnōn, walk this world once again.” A strange, new power flowed from the feathers of her wings, surrounding her in nearly invisible threads of magic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The elder gryphon stood before a massive door at the bottom of an incredibly long staircase. With a wicked grin and a swipe of claw, he reduced the door to splinters. He sauntered into the darkness, his target was here. “I know your in here,” he called, “Even when your hiding I can feel your presence.” “Why in Equestria would I hide?” Said Alucard through the darkness, sitting on a plush cushion, a glass of wine on the table to his left. “Don’t dare mistake my patience for cowardice. Honestly, I was beginning to get board waiting for you.” The gryphon’s eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden darkness, revealing a single large room with bare stone walls. The only source of light were several small candles around the room. The gryphon grinned as he approached the other vampire, stopping mere feet from where he sat. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Alucard.” Said the gryphon with a slight bow, “My name is Luke Valentine, I’m a really big fan of your work. Our mission was to kill the ponies at the meeting, I had no idea you had come along. Just as well, I get to kill you as a bonus.” Luke cackled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Little Princess chick-ie...” Gilda called as she climbed the stairs leading to the throne room. “We’re coming to find you! Come out and play little Princess!” She called, passing the first pair of doors on the landing, “You’re welcome to come out and join us with the Princess too, Dashie! I promise it’s going to be a lot of fun! We just want to torture you, kill you, maybe skull fuck your corpse a couple of times, make you into cupcakes, burn the castle down then go home and get laid, okay?” A door near the center of the hall slowly opened with a creek, out from the doorway stepped Luna. She looked at Gilda with an icy stare, sending shivers down the vampire’s spine. With a slight twitch of one of the feathers on her left wing, a near invisible strand of ancient magic sailed through the hall with blinding speed and dexterity, slicing several feathers from Gilda’s head, and shredding several ghouls behind her to shreds. “Oh my, did I miss?” Luna said coolly, slowly approaching Gilda like a manticore would approach a grounded bird, preying on the weak and helpless. More strands of magic filled the width of the hall, the reflection of the candlelight making them visible for just a moment. “Seems I’m not as spry as I used to be, a millennium on the moon can have that effect.” Gilda started backing away in horror, she had no idea the princess had such power. “My name is Princess Luna, the living god of Mǣnōn, one of the moon. Former leader of the Hellsing Organization, and former master vampire hunter!” She yelled as she charged towards the vampire Gilda and her ghouls. “Kill her!” Gilda ordered, the ghouls charging ahead to rip and tear the princess to nothing but a pile of flesh. Luna, however, with her speed and agility was able to run clean through the hoard of ghouls and position herself behind Gilda. “Bit on the low side aren’t they? After all, a ghoul is just a ghoul.” She said, spreading her wings to pull the magic strands taunt. “In theory, threatening, and certainly tenacious. But honestly they're quite a distance from indestructible or invincible.” With a flap of her wings, Luna killed over half of the remaining ghouls. “I suggest pissing yourself, followed by begging for the pitiful existence you call a life.” “Now that’s fucking great!” Gilda laughed, “Because I gotta tell you, plowing through your sorry ass guards was really starting to bore the fuck out of me!” She snapped her talons, and more ghouls came from seemingly nowhere to replace the fallen. They formed up around Gilda as she ordered them to advance on the alicorn. “Oh my.” Said Luna in mockery, stepping to the side while calling behind her, “Applebloom, if you would do the honors.” Down at the far end of the hall, standing before the giant doors leading to the throne room, was a little yellow filly. Her stance was wide, her blood red eyes squeezed shut in concentration. A bright yellow aura enveloped her body, then moved to float in front of her forehead, the energy condensing and compacting itself until it appeared almost solid. With a final effort, the filly released it upon its path of destruction. There was a massive shock wave as it hurled through the hall. Paintings tore from their frames, statues shuddered and turned to rubble, the many windows that were still whole finally shattered. The ball of light pierced through the entire army of ghouls, the shock wave alone reducing the middle rank was nothing more than bloody stains on the wall. The filly’s mouth nearly hit the floor at the damage that single attack had done. “Fire an incendiary version through the center ranks again!” Luna ordered, “Fire kills large groups like this more effectively!” Applebloom nodded and began to gather energy again, this time a green aura of fel energy surrounding her. “Oh fuck you!” Cried Gilda, too late as the green ball of condensed magic surged toward her. She quickly opened her wings and took flight, narrowly avoiding the fel ball of death. The ghouls, however, were quickly washed over with green fel fire, turning them to ash and melting the bone, but leaving the castle unharmed as though the fire was alive in a way. As her legion was being destroyed by the little runt, Gilda charged after Luna, who had taken cover in a side room. Gilda clawed through the door, then reached out for Luna, who swiftly dodged out into the hall, now clear of ghouls. “You like that? You fuck!” Gilda sneered, turning around to attack again before stopping short. A single strand of magic was attached to her right eyelid. Luna slowly moved back her wing, ripping the eyelid off Gilda’s skull. “OWW!!! DIE!!!” She screeched, blood flowing down the side of her head as she madly rushed the younger princess. Her progress was quickly halted as a rope bound her legs mid leap, planting her beak into the floor. Applejack quickly bound and held the gryphon in place, while a furious Rainbow Dash and her friends walked out to the gryphon. “Ah got er, Princess, you ohkay?” Called Applejack. “I think I’m a bit out of practice.” Luna said as she approached the gryphon. “That’s an impressive knot you did. Where did you learn that?” “Use it ahll the time to help haul apples everywhere, also keeps a certain pegasus from cheat’n.” “Let me fucking go, you fucking apple whore! Is this the best Canterlot’s got? No wonder you all went down like a bunch of pussies!” Gilda laughed. “I’ll be asking the questions.” Said Luna, standing over the gryphon. “Whats the objective of this attack? Who are you taking orders from?” “Who, me?” Said Gilda, “I’m just a tourist, I was passing by totally minding my own business and thought I’d have a look, so we cool, dude?” Rainbow stepped around Luna, and planted a hoof on Gilda’s talon, breaking some of the bones. Dash stared coldly into her old friends eyes, rage at her betrayal, not only to her, but to Equestria and the Princesses themselves, burned inside her. No punishment great enough existed to make Gilda suffer for her act of treason. “Gilda, the left one is next.” Said Dash. “We were following orders, alright?” Gilda grunted as Dash ground her broken talon under her hoof. “We were told to attack the castle and kill everyone we found inside, we’re supposed to confirm the deaths of the officials in the meeting, the Princesses, and your pet vampire.” “Hold on, you’re not the only one in charge here.” Said Twilight, looking up from the notes she was taking, “Who else?” Gilda smiled and laughed. “Wow, you’re quick! Right now, big brother Luke is downstairs beating Alucard into a carpet stain!” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Your name gets thrown around quite a lot, Alucard. The things people say... In my homeland, they tell stories that were passed down from generation to generation. Stories about your amazing strength, how you glided through oceans of blood. They called you Night Walker, beyond pony kind. A monster who’s powers radiate with a darkness that casts a shadow on darkness itself. Finally, I get to know once and for all if the stories have any truth to them. “When I was a mere mortal I feared you, the stories anyway. And when I gave up my mortality, when I became this, I began to admire you. You, the first great pioneer of immortality. No matter what the rest of us do, really we’re all just chasing your shadow.” “That’s ridiculous. You foal, there’s no such thing as an immortal.” Said Alucard, black shadows from his body lifting the wineglass to his mouth. “Yes, I know. Once I have your head on a stick, everyone else will know it too.” Luke grinned. “So now I get to kill you, and make my wildest dreams come true.” Faster than can be seen, Luke lunged forward, sharp talon shredding Alucard’s neck just as Alucard shot a blast of magic through Luke’s head. They both fell to the floor, blood flowing freely as they both grinned and laughed deeply. Luke was back on all four legs in an instant, clawing and biting Alucard as he lay there grinning. Alucard, head twisted at an odd angle, raised a single hoof, shadows of darkness and evil surrounding his leg. Luke leaped back and began to dodge the blasts of magic, seeming to disappear and reappear at random, getting close enough to slash or claw Alucard before retreating back again. “You’ve never seen anything like me before,” Luke said, moving in a zig-zag pattern, “I was designed to surpass you in every way.” Alucard was accurate, but the at a distance Luke had just enough time to dodge to the side, taking little to no damage, a feather here, a tuff of fur there. “I was born to be your death!” Luke called as he lunged at the opening, his victory close at hand. He grasped Alucard’s head, “Check!” he said, as though they were playing a simple game of chess. But before he could rip off Alucard’s head, a glowing hoof was pressed to his chest. Luke jumped off just in time to avoid a blast to his heart. Luke was back to helplessly dodging the seemingly endless barrage to magic aimed at him. He sidestepped another blast, and an explosion sounded behind him. Taking the risk, he quickly looked back to see the bottom of the stairs had been reduced to rubble. “That little bit of magic did that? Fuck...” Luck said, astonished. “Your reflexes are amazing!” Said Alucard, standing for the first time to face Luke. “I told you I’m completely different from any creature you’ve ever faced before!” Luke said as he prepared to fight once again, sharp wings at the ready. “I have the sum total of your vampiric power at my disposal, all of it, and more!” Alucard let out a whistle of mock impression. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Me and my brother, when we were turned, we were designed for the sole intention of killing you fucks! Your all so fucking dead and you don’t even know it!” Rainbow smashed her hoof down on Gilda’s broken talon to shut her up. “Your in no position to make threats.” Dash said coldly, earning a bark of laughter from Gilda. From behind them a low growling rose up the stairs, the distraction was enough for Gilda to slam her head against Rainbow’s, and her vampiric strength was more than enough to snap the rope. As the ponies recovered, they turned to see Gilda standing before another hoard of ghouls, these dressed in completely different attire. “And now,” Gila announced to her audience, “For my next trick, check out door number three!” She said as she motioned to the stairs as the ghouls stepping into the hall. Everypony’s eyes widened in horror, the Royal Guard have become ghouls themselves, and were advancing in their direction. “What have you done?!” Demanded Luna, anger and hate burning inside her. Applebloom stood stock still as the newly formed ghouls came towards her. “Heh. Time to get this party started!” Gilda said with a flap of her wings, flying over the ponies’ heads, making for the throne room. Twilight and her friends gave chase as Luna used her magic to halt her progress, but only succeeded in ripping off Gilda’s wings, who laughed off the pain as she charged through the door to the throne room. She was greeted by a very angry Princess Celestia, wings spread wide and eyes glowing brightly with magic. “You made it,” Celestia said, her voice deep and overcome with divine powers, rattling the castle with each word, “Congratulations.” “Oh fuck me!" Gilda screamed as Celestia released her magic, spears of light, hot as the sun itself, burst from the floor stabbing Gilda through every part of her body, leaving the heart intact. Just as quickly the spears disappeared and let the body fall to the ground, allowing the Princess to see the chaos in the hall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ‘He’s not even trying to dodge my attacks, does he think he’s indestructible?’ Luke thought as he continued to dance around Alucard, viciously slicing him with wing and talon. ‘Everything has a breaking point, he may act like he’s not injured, but he’s taking far more damage than I am.’ Luke saw Alucard stumble slightly, ‘I can beat him!’ Luke thought, preparing to re-double his efforts. “Yes... Excellent..!” Alucard laughed devilishly. “I haven’t had this much fun in ages! What did you say your name was?” He looked up into Luke’s eyes, gazing into his soul, measuring its worth. “It’s Luke... Luke Valentine.” He said, sweat glistening off his feathers, not that he was tired, but of fear. Fear of the look in Alucard’s eyes. “Luke Valentine... It’s obvious that your powers are beyond the highest category of vampire.” The room’s temperature suddenly dropped to freezing temperatures as a dark cloud surrounded Alucard. His cutie mark began to glow with a hellish red as he balanced on his hind legs, holding his hooves out in front of him in an odd manner. “Releasing control art restriction systems three, two, one. Approval of situation A recognized, commencing the Cromwell Invocation, ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the enemy has been rendered silent.” Alucard moved his hooves to the sides of his right eye as his body disappeared into the darkness engulfing him, leaving just the eye suspended in the cloud. Luke could only watch in horror as eye after blood red eye opened from within the darkness, staring into his very being as they spread out along the walls, surrounding Luke from all sides. There was a wet sloppy sound, and Luke saw that Alucard’s pony body was ripped limb from limb and lay motionless on the floor. “Now, Luke Valentine,” Alucard said from everywhere and nowhere, “It’s time to educate you on how a real vampire does battle!” The mist formed giant heads, wolfish in shape, with sharp, gnashing teeth that lunged out toward Luke. Luke cried out in terror as he jumped back from the many jaws of death. With a final terrified scream of terror he turned and fled toward the staircase. He made it as far as the doorway before a magic shot cleared him of the burden of having a right hind leg. When Luke stumbled from the loss of an appendage, a pair of jaws found their home on his back, ripping off his wings as they quickly devoured them. Luke continued in desperation towards the staircase as another burst of magic severed the remaining hind leg as he reached the rubble that used to be the first few stairs. Luke looked up the long staircase in desperation, a tiny point of light that marked the top, impossibly too far away for him to escape to. With a quiet whimper Luke turned to face his death, dragging his body along the ground. “What are you? What in the hell are you?!” Luke demanded, screaming at the quickly approaching darkness. “Come on! Get up! Attack me!” The darkness said, its amoebic form shifting and turning as it spoke, “You’ve only suffered the loss of your legs and wings!” It said, floating said limbs in the air in front of Luke as a form of mockery. “Summon up your familiars, transform you body, heal your severed limbs and stand! The evening is still so young, come on! Hurry, hurry, HURRY!” It said, squeezing the wings and legs with such strength they were reduced to mush. “Pull yourself together!” The head and front legs of Alucard’s pony shape appeared in the mist, mouth impossibly huge compared to his head, mane floating around in the air, his glowing blood red eyes staring into Luke. “The fun has just begun! Come on, HURRY!!” “MONSTER!!!” Luke screamed at Alucard. Alucard’s bloodthirsty grin was quickly replaced with a disappointed scowl. “So...” Alucard said, the darkness pooling around his hooves on the floor. “I see you for what you really are. You’re pathetic! Nothing but a useless sniveling lump of meat!” “Shut up!” Luke said, “Your nothing but the Hellsing Organization’s toy! A dog for Luna not even fit to call himself a vampire, a pa-” “SILENCE!” Roared Alucard. “I’m a dog?” The darkness reformed, dozens of eyes opened as a large toothy grin appeared. “Then you’re dog food.” Alucard disappeared once more into the darkness as it surged toward Luke, who screamed his last scream as he was completely devoured. “Was that really all you had?” Said Alucard, once more in his normal pony state as he stood in a large pool of blood. “Such a shame, I overestimated you. As a vampire you were just a pathetic piece of shit, now your nothing but dog shit.” The pool of blood was absorbed into Alucard’s body through his hooves, leaving not a single drop behind. “The one upstairs didn’t seem like much, but they’re having more trouble with her than I would have expected.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Applebloom was able to snap herself out of her state of shock, only to be surrounded by the ghouls, the former Royal Guard. “My guards...” Celestia said, horrified as she helplessly watched them surround Applebloom. “They turned all my guards to ghouls.” Applebloom was beginning to panic, her friends wanting to jump in to help her, but they were held back by Luna. Overcome with fear, something inside Applebloom woke up and seized control of her body, the vampiric need for self preservation fueling her as she punched and bucked the ghouls around her, tearing apart each one with absolute ease. All the ponies were shocked at the spectacle as blood and pony parts flew through the air. “Applebloom!” Applejack called out to her sister, who was grinning at the amount of blood and carnage strewn about by her hooves. Applejack raced out to her sister, who was going about and smashing all the larger body parts to smaller pieces. AJ grabbed Applebloom and embraced her in a tight hug. “You can stop this, Applebloom, you got them all!” AJ said, crying into her sister’s mane. “Please, stop!” At this, Applebloom became in control once again, and was shocked at the amount of blood she was covered in, as well as the remains of the guard she had destroyed. Gilda, still barely alive, was thrown against the wall by Twilight’s magic, and Rainbow Dash began interrogations. “It’s all over.” She said. “Nice. Come on and kill me then, bitch!” “I’m not going to kill you, Gilda, that would be far too kind of me.” Rainbow Dash said, fury in her voice once more. “You’re going to tell me who told you to do this, and why you accepted, then im going to have Celestia banish you to the center of the sun for all eternity.” “You serious? You fucking bitch.” Rainbow Dash stepped aside as Twilight blasted Gilda with a bolt of lightning. “Owww....” Said a now smoldering Gilda. “I’m sick of your harassment Gilda, I’m pissed off.” Said Rainbow. “Who sent you? What did you hope to accomplish? Why did you attack my friends? Start talking!” Gilda laughed, “Come on bitch, you know. The one’s that weaved this spell into my body, turning me into a vampire. It’s sending them information, letting them know we fucked up. They can hear us talking! Every last fucking word! If they know I’m laying here all fucked up and dieing about to tell you everything, you think they’re going to let me fucking live?” Blue flames engulfed Gilda’s body, slowly turning her to ash. “See?! I so fucking told you!” She laughed as everypony backed up a step. “Well, since I’m fucked, why don’t I piss a little wisdom on you dipshits!” She laughed again, “You can take this clue, and shove it up your ass bitch! Beware... The... Millennium...” She forced out as the flames consumed her entirely, leaving a pile of smoldering ash on the floor. All was silent for a few moments, the mayors and various leaders, as well as the maids and butlers, coming out from hiding to see the gore quickly went back inside, trying not to vomit. “Come, Luna,” Celestia said to her sister, “Let us gather the dead. Twilight? You and your friends go out to the garden and prepare a massive fire. That will be the funeral, as well as the form of curing the ghouls, we don’t need anypony to get infected. We will discuss this change of events in the morning.” With that, everypony silently went about their tasks. Celestia and Luna hovered the body parts onto a large makeshift wagon, Alucard was soon to join them, consuming the blood left behind. Twilight and her friends made their way to the garden, Twilight used her magic to dig a giant pit in the ground, using the dirt for form a protective wall to keep the fire from spreading. She was about to summon fire at the bottom of the pit when she was stopped by Applebloom. “No, let me Twi. Mah fire can destroy anything, an that’s whut we need right now.” Twilight silently stepped aside as Applebloom closed her eyes in concentration once again. She compressed the green aura into a ball then lowered it gently into the center of the pit. Green fel fire spread out from the center and up the sides, making a bowl of flame. They sat there and watched the fire burn coldly, leaving the ground unharmed. After some time, they were joined by the Princesses, as well as an overloaded chariot and wagon. The chariot contained the immediate family members of the guards, while the wagon was stacked high with the bodies. The families formed around the bowl of fire, saying nothing, the looks on their faces all but woe. Celestia cleared her throat. “We gather here tonight, to honor the passing of many great ponies. Each one gave their lives in defense of us, in defense of their families, in defense of Equestria. These acts will not go unnoticed, and a memorial will be created on this spot, to commemorate their courage and self sacrifice throughout time.” With that, Luna levitated several bits of a pony off the wagon, most of the body having been consumed by innumerable ghouls. The crowd gasped and cried out in pain at the sight as Celestia read out the name and rank from memory of the remains of each guard as Luna ceremoniously lowered the remains into the pit of fel fire.