//------------------------------// // Episode 1: Heads Up Part 3 // Story: TCB: Yellowstone: The Series // by Anonsi //------------------------------// Yellowstone: The Series By: Anonsi(Kids like decapitations right?) Episode 1: Heads Up! Part 3 The first sound from the crowd was a scream, which seemed to awaken every man, woman, child, colt, filly, and foal from their stupor. Davey had to elbow a kid in the face in order to get into his bus, but he was too panicked to care. He took the driver’s position and locked the door before anyone ever realized he started the engine. The Horseman drew closer, an ethereal voice cackling madly as the phantom figure drew a long sword from its side. Half of the crowd simply ran into the inn or in any direction away from the Horseman. Pegasi took flight immediately, mothers grabbed their children and looked for someplace to hide, some humans and ponies beat on the side of the bus with their hands, or hooves, pleading to be let in. In the confusion, Dimitri had lost track of his two pony escorts and worked frantically to maneuver through the crowd towards the church. Managing to draw his walkie-talkie he pressed red button, screaming into the receiver, “MAYDAY MAYDAY! BARNES, VE HAVE PROBLEM!” The voice of Captain Barnes crackled through the device, “I hear it Dimitri, sending help now.” Dimitri had broken free of the crowd, allowing him to pull out his shotgun. From what he saw before facing the oncoming horror, three people had reached the church courtyard: a green colt and a pink mare, as well as a man in a plaid button up shirt. Dimitri cocked the shotgun and took aim. But it was too late, the Horseman had moved behind the bus and into the crowd. *** Pinkie had nearly been trampled by the mass of frightened people but was able to crawl under the bus before she got hurt. Looking out from her hiding spot at all the panicked feet and hooves dashing madly about, all she could think to do was shut her eyes and remember what her granny had told her so long ago. ‘I don’t think any amount of laughter is going to help here.’ *** When Fluttershy had seen the Horseman appear atop his Hell Horse, her body locked down from fear and paralyzed her. She saw death approaching her and she couldn’t even whimper. In the mass of panic and screams, she hardly noticed as she felt arms encircle her. A woman had picked her up and ran into the open inn. Once she lost sight of the Horseman, Fluttershy snapped out of her trance and took the opportunity to start crying hysterically. The woman carrying her dove behind a dusty old bar, holding the pegasus close while also putting a hand over Fluttershy’s mouth. *** The Horseman had reached the stragglers of the crowd, a collection of humans and ponies that had either fallen behind or tried to gain entry into the bus. The Hell Horse collided with a light pink mare and trampled over her, as the Horseman slid the edge of his sword across the side of the bus at neck level. The sound of metal on metal caused Pinkie to cover her ears, but she was unable to shut her eyes. As the pair of legs in front of her gave out and a decapitated body dropped to the ground, the victim’s head hit the earth in front of the pink pony’s nose. The man’s face was frozen in horror and staring right at Pinkie. She put a hoof over her mouth and quickly looked away, trying very hard not to scream. ‘As long as I stay under the bus it can’t get me, as long as I stay under the bus I’m safe.’ Pinkie looked out into the street and counted two more headless bodies, one human and one pegasus. The light pink mare from before wasn’t moving either. ‘But what about them? They need help! They aren’t safe!’ Pinkie summoned courage from parts unknown and began to crawl out from under the bus, avoiding the severed head. When she was halfway out from under the bus’s wheels began to roll towards her. With physically impossible amounts of dexterity, she scrunched up her spine like an inchworm resulting in her being completely removed from under the bus. As the vehicle’s wheels passed by her, she reset herself back to her previous length and took in the carnage before her. Amidst all the screaming and shouting, there was the Horseman’s wicked laughter that seemed to come from the air itself. Honks from the bus’s horn blared out as Pinkie saw a gray stallion get hit by the fleeing bus and his body disappeared underneath of it. The Horseman continued down the street after the many fleeing people, his malicious laughter echoing off the dark buildings. “YOU THERE!” a voice came out from above. The voice came from an orange pegasus with a curly mane, who landed next to Pinkie and helped her to stand up. “What are you doing?! We need to get out of here!” Pinkie was still in a mild stage of shock, and gazed at the orange Pegasus with a confused look. He shook her with his two front hooves, “Come on, you need to get inside the inn where it’s safe!” Pinkie snapped back to reality, “No!” she said, “Not the inn! We need to get to the church. We need to get everypony to the church! That was the plan and we’re sticking to it!” She ran off after those the Horseman wasn’t pursuing, screaming “TO THE CHURCH EVERYPONY!” The orange pegasus gave a concerned look as she ran off, but it passed quickly as he took off into the air to help spread the word. He had to do something after all. *** The Horseman had so far beheaded four humans and two ponies in his rampage, and had trampled over three more unfortunate souls. The crowd was making it hard to get a clear shot, so Dimitri had opted to run to the middle of the street instead of continue to the church. The Horseman began to circle back as he reached the edge of the town, obviously not wanting to bother with long chases when easy prey was hiding so close by. Dimitri would not be easy prey, and leveled the barrel of his shotgun at the oncoming monster. “This is how ve say hello in Russia.” There was a loud "BOOM!" as Dimitri pulled down on the trigger. The Hell Horse’s left front leg exploded sending both horse and rider hurtling to the ground in a heap. “Hello.” The Horseman extracted himself from the ruins of his mount and stood, green fire seeping from cuts along his form. The Horseman’s grip on his sword tightened and he began to approach Dimitri, the cuts and gashes vanishing with every step. Dimitri unloaded a shell directly into the Horseman’s chest which blew out the other side of the undead horror with a large gout of green flame. The resulting hole looked like a furnace, and left the Horseman momentarily stunned. “How do you like a stomach full of pure salt comrade?” Dimitri said. Despite the gruesome scene he couldn’t help but smile. A smile that quickly faded as the hole in the Horseman’s chest closed completely, leaving no sign that it was ever there in the first place. “Oh трахнитесь.” Dimitri noticed the Hell Horse was also standing up on all four of its legs. The Horseman resumed advancing on Dimitri, the ethereal laughter echoing louder than ever. But behind the ghastly pair was a pink pony leading a group of five or so survivors into the church. And behind them was an oncoming car driven by Barnes with a rainbow colored pegasus riding shotgun. “And this is how ve say goodbye in Russia.” Dimitri bolted for the church. “HEY BRAINLESS!” shouted Dash from the front seat. The Horseman and his steed turned to look at the approaching vehicle and were rewarded by being struck with the front of Mr. Keller’s jeep. Both horse and rider were sent flying through the air and hit the ground hard, several limbs turning at odd angles as they rolled to a stop. “HELL YEAH! THAT WAS SO AWESOME!” Dash exclaimed, pumping a hoof in the air. Barnes wasted no time in rolling the car onto the Horseman’s still reforming body. Once she was sure the Horseman was stuck, she got out and drew her pistol. The Hell Horse had finished repairing itself and reared onto its hind legs, ready to defend its master. Barnes put a round of cold iron into its skull, dropping it for the time being. “Wooow…” said Dash from her seat. Barnes turned to Dash, “Church. Now.” “But…” Dash was about to argue, but Barnes’ tone and subsequent stare did much to stifle the thought. “Yes ma’am.” Barnes ran to the inn, and inside found five more survivors all huddling together behind the bar. “Time to move. Run to the church as fast as you can. Move now.” Fluttershy and the woman she was clinging to this entire time finally released each other and ran out the door with the others. Outside, the Hell Horse was up again and was bucking the side of the jeep in order to knock it off of its master. Barnes gave it another round to the head, causing the fell steed to crumple to the ground. Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut and repeated, “Oh my goodness!” as she ran full speed to the churchyard. Dimitri was waiting by the door to the building and motioned for the fleeing survivors to hurry up. One by one they all entered through the church doors, with Barnes bringing up the rear. The wayward pegasi, lead by an orange one, descended from the sky to the church door and landed inside, many of them exhaling in relief. Together, Barnes and Dimitri slammed the door shut and took positions at the windows that faced out into the street. There were eleven survivors, not counting Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Nine were ponies: four mares, two fillies, and three colts. The last two were a woman with blue hair that was busy giving the orange pegasus a hug, and an older man with an old flight jacket. All of them stood huddled together in the center of the room, some nuzzling closer together than others. “So much fer a hundred percent safe,” said the old man. His comment gained him a roomful of disgusted looks. The blue haired woman gave him a dryer look than the others, “Maybe you should ask tall dark and headless out there for a refund.” A blue and yellow colored mare, who was nuzzling close to a purple and gold filly, stomped her hoof and looked at them both with large tear filled eyes. “Ponies and humans are dead out there and you’re making jokes?! I heard humans were monsters but I never believed tha-” A loud crash came from outside, as the Hell Horse took up removing the jeep from atop its master again. Dash hovered behind Barnes, “So it can’t get us in here, right?” Barnes remained silent and continued looking intently outside. “Right?” repeated Dash, looking a bit worried. The jeep finally gave way and was bucked off of the Horseman’s back. He stood up, and seeing no living victims within reach, he took a sack off of his horse and walked into the carnage of his previous rampage. Pinkie trotted next to Dimitri and squeezed her head next to his. “What’s it doing now? Is it leaving?” Dimtri gently pushed her away from his face and then turned to face her. His voice was shaky as he spoke, “He is collecting the heads.” One by one, the Horseman went to each of the corpses that littered the streets and placed the victim’s severed head into his sack, regardless of whether it was pony or human. After removing the heads from those that were trampled, or hit by the tour bus, the Horseman mounted his ghostly steed. The Hell Horse reared up and released a painfully loud whinny, then galloped off down the road leaving the survivors with the last echoes of the Horseman’s vile laughter. *** “So he’s coming here now?” asked Rarity, who was finding it difficult to get comfortable. Tree branches made awful seats. “Yep,” replied Applejack. Rarity kept fidgeting, “So why are we still here? Shouldn’t we leave?” Megan gave Rarity a look, “We need to stay to see if the traps work and alert Hawk if they don’t. As for you safety,” Megan looked down at the ground from her perch in the tree, noting it was a good fifty feet down, “We should be far enough away from the road so he won’t care about us, and if not...well let’s just hope he can’t climb trees.” Megan gave a smile to the unicorn, who merely looked more uneasy. “An’ stop moving around like that Rarity,” added Applejack, “You’re likely to fall if’n you keep up with all that shiftin’ around and what not.” Rarity gave a dainty little sigh, finally finding a nice little nook for her rump to sit in. “Oh that’s easy for you to say AJ, you and Megan live life like rough and tumble cowponies. You don’t even care if your tail or coats get all…” Rarity shuddered, “…sappy.” Applejack and Megan rolled their eyes to one another. Rarity just gave a small harrumph in response. All at once the three of them began to snicker and laugh. It was short lived though, as the sound of hoof falls and strange echoing laughter came closer by the second. There was an explosion and a whinny somewhere up the road as the laughter stopped momentarily. “Sounds like he’s hit the mines,” said Megan as she lifted a pair of binoculars to her eyes. “Ah hell, that didn’t work.” Rarity started shaking and rubbing her neck with one of her hooves. Applejack just looked a bit more worried than previously. Another explosion sounded out, this one quieter than the previous one, but undeniably closer. “So much for the salt traps,” said Megan, her face growing serious, “Get ready you two. Here he comes.” Applejack and Rarity reflexively hugged each other. The Horseman rode by quickly on his Hell Horse, a large and bulky sack raised above its nonexistent head. Even from their vantage point the trio could see the burning eyes of the Horseman’s steed and shudder as the temperature suddenly grew extremely cold. Within moments the ghostly horror was gone, but the echoes of vile laughter and chilled air remained. “N-n-now what?” asked Applejack. “Well,” replied Megan, who was shaking like a leaf as she reached for her walkie-talkie, “Let’s start by getting out of this tree.” “Agreed,” said Rarity rather quickly, and after a quick look towards the road she added, “If you want Miss Megan, you may go first.” Applejack rolled her eyes, “How generous.” *** Twilight really wished she was back in Equestria right now. In Equestria, life was simple: do good, be nice to others, don’t go into the Everfree forest, and generally things would turn out great. But no, here in the human lands, one could end up in the middle of a haunted field with a headless phantom riding a horse made from the nightmares of young fillies with only two, probably insane, humans as company. The dark and empty field she was in could fit Ponyville inside of itself and all it had for decorations were several dead trees scattered around, mounds of dark earth, and a thin layer of fog that didn’t hide anything. It certainly completed the ambiance though. Twilight herself was quivering in terror behind a fallen log with Hawk and Zorro doing final checks on their weaponry. “You alright Sprinkles?” asked Hawk with a tone of concern. “No,” she replied, “No I am not, and I don’t know why you’re so calm about this!” Hawk’s face grew stern, “Believe me, I’m terrified right now. We are about to fight something that should not exist, and we have so far been unsuccessful in even slowing it down.” Zorro let out a heavy breath, “Very reassuring amigo. I feel much better about our chances.” The sound of horse hooves entered the field as the Horseman made his appearance. He rode to the top of a nearby hill and dismounted, tying his horse to the crooked tree that was there. “That must be where his grave is supposed to be,” said Zorro. “What makes you say that?” asked Hawk. Zorro shrugged, “It’s where he’s ended his ride?” Hawk gave a sigh, “Sounds like good science to me.” The Horseman took the sack he was carrying and placed it on the ground and opened it. The Horseman extracted the first head from the sack, a red colt’s head with brown mane, and placed it on his neck. Twilight covered her face with her front legs. She still had yet to get used to such gruesome scenes. The head tumbled off of the stump and landed with a thud on the ground, giving Twilight the urge to wretch. Thankfully she held it in. “Hawk,” she whispered, hooves still obscuring her face, “what are we going to do?” Thud. Hawk looked at Twilight, and then to Zorro, and took a calming breath. “Okay, so if popular myth is to believed, if we dig up his bones, salt them, and then light them on fire, his spirit should be destroyed.” Thud. “You got that from watching TV,” said Zorro. Hawk gave him a look, “You have any ideas?” Thud. Zorro looked at the Horseman, and then back to Hawk and Twilight. “Okay amigos, here’s the plan: Hawk, you and me are going to distract him while Twilight digs up the body and does all of what you just said.” Zorro pulled out a box of rock salt and handed it to Twilight, who picked it up with her mouth. “Hmm hmmm hm hmm,” she said nodding. Thud. Hawk drew his revolver while Zorro drew his sword, and they both stalked away from Twilight into the night. They reminded her of wolves, but at least they were wolves on her side. The Horseman was currently placing the head of an aged man onto his neck stump, but was interrupted by a cold iron bullet entering his back. Turning around quickly, sending the severed head rolling off his shoulders in the process, the Horseman saw two new heads. “Hola!” said Zorro confidently, taking the time to do a flourish with his sword and giving a small bow. “Howdy,” added Hawk. The Horseman walked to his horse and unsheathed his sword from its scabbard, and began advancing on the pair. Twilight took this as the signal and burst from her spot behind the log and galloped at full speed towards where the Horseman used to be standing. The exact spot was easy enough to find. The small pile of severed heads made a pretty good marker. ‘Oh Celestia…’ thought Twilight as she grew closer and seeing the faces of the Horseman’s victims up close. ‘Focus Twilight, you can do this!’ Looking away from the pile of heads she focused instead on the ground beneath her hooves. Summoning the spell to move earth, her horn glowed with a brilliant purple energy. The dirt and grass shifted and parted beneath her until the headless skeleton of the Horseman was revealed. The Hell Horse gave a ear piercingly loud whinny and drew the attention of the Horseman. He pointed his sword in Twilight’s direction, and the young unicorn felt a wave of unease wash over the hill side. Then he quickly pointed the sword at Hawk and Zorro. Much to Twilight’s surprise and unquestionable disgust, the eyes of the severed heads that were lying on the ground next to her began to glow with eerie green light. Then the heads lifted off the ground and flew towards her friends, screaming all the way with faces contorted with angry snarls. As nine floating and screaming heads flew towards them, Hawk took aim and fired his revolver, hitting one right between its glowing green orbs. The glow faded from its eyes and it dropped to the ground, silent once more. Zorro raised his sword and smiled, “Well at least we know we can kill these!” “Yeah,” replied Hawk eyeing Twilight, “but it’s not them I’m worried about.” The Horseman advanced on Twilight, who was shaking uncontrollably. Her life was flashing before her eyes and she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even scream because of the box of salt in her mouth. ‘Wait…box of salt?’ Her eyes widened at the memory of her task. Jumping into the shallow grave of the Horseman, she shook her head violently, spilling grains of salt all over the ancient bones. The Horseman quickened his pace. Hawk was having some difficulty hitting the floating heads as they swirled around him and Zorro. He took another shot from his revolver at the head of a gray colt. He missed and the colt’s head flew at his left arm and bit down hard. Letting go a grunt of pain as blood began to flow, Hawk pressed the barrel of his revolver against the colt’s head and fired. The severed head released its bite and fell to the ground with a thud. Zorro was doing much better in comparison. Every time a head got close he slashed at it with his sword. A pink mare’s head opened its mouth and let go a hellish scream as it flew for his throat. Zorro thrust at it and his sword pierced deep into one of its large glowing eyes. After burying deeper onto the blade, the head ceased to scream and its eyes dimmed while the face went limp. This genuinely disturbed Zorro, and he promised to make sure he would say a prayer for these victims later. Spying the head of an elderly woman going for Hawk’s throat, Zorro slung the pink mare’s head from his sword at the one going for his friend. The two heads collided, and with a loud cracking sound, they both fell to the ground. “Zorro!” yelled Hawk over the screaming heads, taking another shot and this time dropping the head of a green and yellow unicorn. Zorro slashed at a head going for his ankles, “Que passa?” “I’m going to go help Twilight! Cover me!” Zorro took the time to give Hawk a joking look, “Hoping for another kiss amigo?” Hawk returned the look completely straight faced, “Only a little bit.” Hawk shot another head that was coming at him creating an opening, and without hesitation he charged through it towards the Headless Horseman. The ghoul loomed above Twilight with his sword raised and was poised to claim another head for his collection. Twilight let the box fall out of her mouth as her mind raced for any spells that could help, but her thoughts had gone blank. The Horseman gave another one of his wicked ethereal laughs and swung down at Twilight. She clamped her eyes shut, thinking of her friends and family, anticipating the feel of the blade. Mid-swing, Hawk tackled the Horseman into the shallow grave from behind, the two of them barely missing Twilight as they tumbled into the pit. Twilight opened her eyes and looked at the grappling figures. “Hawk?!” she yelled with genuine surprise. “Who else?!” he said while rolling onto his back and trying to keep the Horseman’s hands away from his throat. “Now light up this grave already!” “But…” “Just do it!” Twilight scrambled out of the grave while making sure to avoid the Hell Horse, which was struggling to break free of its bonds so it could aid its master. “Okay! Here I go!” cried Twilight, giving Hawk at least some warning about what was to come. She concentrated, her mind filling with the image of the headless skeleton lighting on fire and burning to ashes. The more she concentrated on the image, the more her horn glowed, until an orb of fire burst forth from the tip of her horn and landed onto the Horseman’s back and set him ablaze. Hawk placed his foot on the Horseman’s chest and kicked off, sending the now flaming phantom away from him. The streams of fire falling off the Horseman as he flew through the air ignited the ground within the grave. Hawk lept out of the pit and rolled next to Twilight. As the bones burned, the ethereal laughter of the Horseman turned to screams. The floating heads that were assaulting Zorro fell to the ground lifeless. The fires around the Horseman began to burn blue and seemed to eat away at his form, until he was finally consumed by the fire leaving nothing left but dust. The Hell Horse shrieked out as it suffered a similar fate to its dark master, and burned away in blue fire that seemed to come from within. Twilight and Hawk stared at where the Horseman once stood with eyes wide in disbelief. “I can’t believe that worked,” said Hawk, falling backwards onto the ground. “Tell me about it,” said Twilight as she gave a sigh of relief and sprawled out on her back, really hoping to never fight the undead ever again. The voice in the back of her mind kept reminding her that it would be a good idea to curl up next to Hawk for warmth and comfort, but she stifled it. She was just too tired. *** It had been a long flight back to the Bureau, and Twilight was ready to take the rest of the day off. She and her friends had just come face to…no-face with something that only existed in the nightmares and legends of humans, and all of them had survived. Pinkie and Fluttershy were both extremely distant on the helicopter ride back, which wasn’t too unusual for the yellow pegasus, but was cause for alarm if Pinkie was involved. When Twilight tried to ask her bubbly pink friend about it, she had just given her a forced smile and said, “I’m okay Twilight, really. I just need a day or so to get over it and then I’ll be feeling Pinkie keen again. Promise.” Twilight just sighed and hoped that was true. Her attention snapped back to reality as the helicopter landed in a vacant section of the parking lot, jostling the unicorn from her dream like state. As they disembarked from the vehicle, the front doors of the Bureau opened and Princess Celestia stood waiting for them. With a voice as sweet as spring, the divine princess greeted the returning group, “Welcome back everyone, I’m happy that you are all safe.” Stepping out from behind the princess was an old man in a fine suit. His face was wrinkled and his age certainly showed in his steps, but his presence demanded respect nonetheless. With a slight chuckle he said, “What she said.” Hawk and the other humans snapped a salute and replied, “SIR,” in unison. Twilight trotted over to the Princess quickly and gave a fast bow before beaming up at her teacher. Celestia returned the smile in spades, giving her prized student a tender nuzzle. “Come on everyone,” she said, “Let’s go inside. There’s something we need to discuss.” The humans looked at each other, obviously expecting bad news. The old man raised a hand and smiled, “Don’t worry Hawk, it’s nothing to lose your head over.” That last line will be explained in episode 2! Or will it!? It all depends if we’re not all replaced by Purple Prose! Next episode might be next week! (Probably won’t though)