Not Dead Yet

by Nebula Star

Chapter 2: BOOM BOOM BABY!

Not Dead Yet
By Nebula Star

Chapter 2: BOOM BOOM BABY!
***

“So why did Rarity know an invisibility spell anyway?” Scootaloo asked idly while Apple Bloom went over the wagon and bomb dispenser one last time, pausing ever so often to tighten a bolt or screw. The three crusaders were on the roof of a twelve story building only a few blocks from their target. The building next to there's had collapsed forming a rough ramp of rubble up to their vantage point, so they had a clear view of the mall from their position.

Having escorted them in – using the invisibility spell in question – Rarity had already headed back to help with the ambush and the crusaders were on their own until they took out their target, at which time Rainbow Dash would come for extraction.

“She used it to sneak colts into her room when she still lived with our parents.” Sweetie Belle answered dully. She was busy checking the timing for the charges on her fetlock computer.

Scootaloo looked at her, surprised. “Wha... Really?”

“Yep.” Sweetie Belle said tapping one last button then standing up and stretching.

“You mean she...”

“Is not so prim and proper as she makes everypony believe? Pretty much, yeah.” She turned to Apple Bloom. “The timers are all set; once you're done Scoot can get to planting.”

“That makes me sound like a gardener...” Scootaloo whined.

“Exactly, and you're excellent at growing mushrooms of the cloud variety.” Sweetie Belle replied.

Scootaloo grinned. “I try.”

“Well get to it then. The wagon's all set,” Apple Bloom told them as she retracted the tools on her fetlock mounted toolkit.

Sweetie clapped her hooves together. “Oh, finally we can get to the fun part!” She cheered as Scootaloo hopped onto her scooter. “Now remember once I cast the invisibility and sound dampening spells, you'll have a half hour to place all the charges and get back here.”

Scootaloo grinned and waved her hoof dismissively. “Piece of cake. You just watch, I'll be back here with time to spare!”

“Alright then, good luck!” Sweetie said then cast the spells.

Scootaloo seemed to fade out of existence as the invisibility spell wrapped around her. There was a slight ripple in the air around her that gave it away, but Scootaloo would be moving too quickly for any of the zombies to take notice before she was long gone.

“That's it, you're set!”

With that there was a faint buzz, and a blast of wind, and Scootaloo was gone, using the rubble of the collapsed building to get down.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom watched the trail of dust make it's way down the twelve stories worth of debris.

“So... ya'll wanna play cards?” Apple Bloom asked after a few moments.

“Eh, why not. But we're not playing strip poker again,” Sweetie Belle told her.

“Aww...”

“I don't get why you like strip poker so much! It's not like we wear much anyway!”

Apple Bloom gave her puppy dog eyes. “Please?”

Sweetie Belle sighed, she couldn't resist those amber eyes. “Fine.”

~~~

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked as she entered the general's quarters.

“I'm in here, Twilight,” Fluttershy called back from the kitchen of the apartment that made up her quarters, though her voice was barely audible.

She wasn't alone. Discord was sitting in a chair at the table, staring blankly ahead while Fluttershy carefully fed him a thin soup.

“Still not responsive?”

Fluttershy shook her head sadly.

Twilight sighed. “It really is too bad; he could have been a lot of help.”

Fluttershy sniffed. “Is that all you care about?” She asked accusingly.

“Of course not! Twilight objected. “I... I do miss him too, it's just...”

“I know... You're a princess; you have to look at the big picture.”

Twilight sighed. “He never did quite know when to quit... He just went one joke too far.”

Fluttershy broke down then. Throwing her hooves around Discord's unresponsive form, she began crying into his shoulder. “Why did you have to leave your brain out on a plate in front of the zombies!? Why!? It wasn't fu-fu-u-nny!”

Awkwardly Twilight tried to offer Fluttershy what comfort she could while trying not to laugh at the memory of Discord's shocked expression as one of the zombies bit into his brain before he could react.

“I'm sorry Twilight... I know... I know we need to focus,” Fluttershy said finally, having regained control of her emotions.

Twilight pat her back reassuringly. “It's alright Fluttershy. You've done so much these past few years and have endured more than your share of hardships...”

“Yes, but it's almost over, I can handle just a little more...” She said resolutely, taking a deep breath as if to steel herself for what lay ahead. “Is your team heading out?”

Twilight nodded. “The crusaders should be starting their distraction in about a half hour, so we need to be ready to hit the lab as soon as it starts. You should make sure the ambush is ready.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Okay, you be safe. We'll kill a few zombies for you on this end. Oh, that reminds me, I mustn't forget Mr. Thunk...” She fluttered into the bedroom. A moment later she trotted out with a mace slung across her back. A mace with a flanged head nearly as large as her body.

Twilight's eye twitched. It should not be physically possible for Fluttershy to swing such a weapon, but Twilight had seen it too often to deny that the former fashion model could, and to devastating effect...

“Right... going now.” Twilight left before her friend's blatant disregard for physics chipped away any more of her sanity. As if she didn't get enough of that already from Pinkie Pie.

~~~

Holding her cards close, Sweetie Belle watched Apple Bloom's eyes, searching for something, some clue to what the earth pony's hand held. But there was nothing. Finally Sweetie decided to call it.

“Two pair! Aces and queens!” She said grinning as she slapped her cards on the ground in front of her.

Apple Bloom's mask fell away into a victorious smirk. “Full house!” She said laying her cards down in front of her.

“Ah, dang it!” Sweetie sighed and took off her hoof band computer and set it with the rest of her gear on the ground next to her. “Guess I lose... again,” she sighed. Apple Bloom just kept grinning at Sweetie. She still had all but one piece of her own gear on.

Just then they heard a muffled buzzing and clanging of a metal wagon speeding up the rubble toward them. Looking, Sweetie spotted the dust trail just as it reached the base of a large slab of cement and used it to ramp up onto the rooftop where they waited.

“Oh yeah! Made it with five minutes to spare!” Scootaloo's voice seemingly came out of thin air, muffled to barely more than a whisper. Horn glowing, Sweetie dispelled the invisibility and muffling spells revealing the pegasus filly standing proudly leaning on her scooter. The bomb wagon behind her was now nearly empty. She raised a brow though when she saw them. “Sweetie, why'd you take all your gear off?”

“Because I suck at strip poker,” She growled.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Why do you keep letting Apple Bloom talk you into playing it then?”

“She did the puppy dog eyes...”

She snorted at that. “You'd think that, with how good you are at doing them yourself, you'd be immune to puppy dog eyes.”

Sweetie Belle pouted. “Well I'm not.”

“Why do you always want to play strip poker anyway?” Scootaloo asked Apple Bloom. “I get wanting to play poker because your good at it, but why strip poker?”

She shrugged. “Well it's no fun just playin' without somethin' on the line, and why bother bettin' stuff when we share everything anyway?”

“I guess you've got a point,” she said with a shrug. “But you'd better get your gear back on, Sweetie. We're supposed to be starting soon and we'll need to be ready to run when we do.”

“Alright! It's showtime!” Sweetie said with a grin, as she jumped to her hooves. Her horn lit up and in moments all of her gear was back on.

“...dang...” Apple Bloom muttered so quietly that Scootaloo wasn't even sure if she heard it at all.

Looking at the time, Sweetie Belle saw that it was just after thirteen hundred hours, and their orders were to start at thirteen hundred hours or as soon as possible if they got delayed. Sweetie smirked. Not that they'd ever been delayed. Moving to the edge of the rooftop overlooking the tower, she raised her hoof and tapped out a few commands on her fetlock computer. “Here goes, starting the countdown! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, thee...” She trailed off, sitting down and raising her forehooves in the air. Right when she would have reached zero, she brought them down like a maestro conducting an orchestra even as the first explosion went off in the mall. Each charge a different yield, producing a different tone, each timed with precision, and placed for effect. Apple Bloom bobbed her head in time with the beat as Sweetie Belle's music was played through destruction. She recognized the song; they all did. Sweetie Belle had gone with something contemporary this time.

Sweetie continued to conduct as blast after blast tore through the mall sections of it collapsing at random. For nearly three minutes, the mall was consumed by a masterpiece of musical chaos.

~~~

Twilight couldn't help tapping her forehoof to the beat of the explosions that could be heard throughout the city.

“Wahoo! Sweetie Belle took them to the factory!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed bouncing nearby.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, that's our signal, time to move out!” She told them turning to lead the way.

“Ah just hope Rainbow gets them out safely.” Applejack sighed.

“Oh don't worry Jackie! You know the Crusaders, they always have plenty of surprises for any zombies that give them trouble,” Pinkie told her cheerfully. “They like surprising zombies as much as I like surprising ponies.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Only their surprises usually end with body parts all over the place...”

~~~

Sweetie made one final flourish as the sound of the last detonation reached them. Then, with just the distant sounds of a collapsing building remaining, she turned and gave a bow.

“Thank you, thank you!”

“Excellent work, Sweetie! As always!” Apple Bloom said, patting her on the back.

Scootaloo wasn't as enthusiastic. “Yeah... it was great and all, but... did you have to do Rainbow Factory?”

Sweetie smirked. “What, just because the song gave you nightmares...”

“It did not!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

She snorted. “Yeah, sure it didn't. Hey Bloom, remember when Rainbow offered to take her on a tour of the real rainbow factory.”

“How could Ah forget!” Apple Bloom grinned and did a passable impersonation of Scootaloo cowering in fear. “'No! I don't want to be drained of my colors! I'll be a better flier, I swear!'”

“I did not say that!” Scootaloo shouted, her face red.

“Yes you did, and Ah'm an Apple, so you know Ah ain't lyin'”

“The song did not give me nightmares!” Scootaloo shouted once more.

“My, my, my. What have we here? Three deliciously cute little fillies! Mmm... they'll make an excellent addition to my harem!”

The crusaders froze at the sound of that voice. Once so welcome and familiar, now so wrong and twisted. They were almost afraid to look as they turned toward the source. There standing just on the edge of the roof, blocking the quickest way down, was an, once pink, alicorn; her mane ragged and greasy, her coat pale and her body, slightly decaying in a few spots, but otherwise in surprisingly good condition. They all knew who stood before them.

“It's Cadaver Cadenza!”

Comments

[Ahs]

this is good