The Last Heroes of Equestria

by ZeroStar

Chapter 25

War Heart and his family moved back into their old home, which was filled with dust and some mice. They cleaned up their cabin without much trouble, sleeping in their old home the same day.

Almost a week past, War Heart was in the shield hall of the cabin, still decorated with the shields his friends painted themselves so long ago. He was sitting at the head of the table with Arcana next to him. He sharpened a new axe he made while Arcana was reading one of her books. The silence in the room was disturbed as there was a knock at the door. Arcana only looked for a moment before going back to her book.

War Heart stood up from the table, walking over to the door with an axe in hand. He opened the door to reveal one of the bestial men from the woods, “What do you want…?”, he asked.

The man bowed before speaking, “Our leader wishes to speak with you.”, he snarled, then ran away before War Heart could answer.

War Heart looked to the sky, squinting as the sun peaked out from behind the dense clouds for only a moment before becoming shrouded again. He sighed and turned to Arcana, “Tell your mother I’ll be right back, she just left to pick up your sister from school.”

Arcana heard him, waving to him before he left, not taking her eyes off the pages of her book, “Farewell, Father…”

War Heart stepped outside and closed the door. He leaned his axe against the door frame and took flight towards Ponyville. He soared overhead, he did not feel the cold of the weather, his Caneighdian heritage making sure of that. He landed in front of the city hall, opening the door and stepping inside. He closed the door behind him before walking towards the Hermit.

Hermit was looking over some maps, they seemed to be marked with red all over some areas. He had a troubled look on his face as he studied the map.

War Heart walked up to Hermit’s desk, “What do you want, Hermit?”

Hermit looked up to him, not having good news in store for War Heart. He sighed before speaking, “War Heart… Things are going pretty badly for Equestria… You told us that there were walking corpses attacking people in Canterlot?”, he mentioned, hoping War Heart would remember.

War Heart nodded, “Yeah, they can be destroyed… I did so personally… What of it?”

Hermit looked up at War Heart, “You see these red marks on the map? These are places that things just like the creatures you described were spotted by my agents…”, he pointed to the map that half of Equestria was covered with red.

War Heart scratched his chin for a moment, “There may be survivors out there… Or even better: the ones who started all this…”

Hermit nodded, “I can’t send my Claw out there, they have to stay here and make sure that nobody enters the area and tries to spread this… Whatever it is… I’m asking you to lead the team that is going out there to find survivors and bring them here. The civil war is over now that we have a common crisis to handle.”

War Heart crossed his arms, thinking whether or not he should accept, “I don’t know if Dash could handle this… I don’t want to worry her… But I can’t leave Equestria in this state when I know I can help it in some way…”, he looked at Hermit, “I’ll do it… Give me a while to tell Dash.”, War Heart said as he turned to the door and left.

Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle came out of the back room of the City Hall, approaching Hermit from behind. Scootaloo stood next to Hermit, looking towards the door, “I’m surprised he actually decided to go…”, she commented.

Hermit looked to the door as well, “What can I say? That man is a hero. Making defending the land his own personal responsibility. Selfless and powerful force to be reckoned with. He is a good man that we can all learn something from.”

War Heart landed in front of his cabin, noticing his axe was not leaning against the door frame anymore. He opened the door to see Dash, Sweet Heart, Pinkie Pie, Air Heart, and Arcana all sitting at the table, all suddenly shouting in unison, “Surprise!”, War Heart stopped and raised his eyebrow, “What is going on?”, he asked.

They all looked at each other for a moment in confusion. Dash scratched her head, “Oh right… I forgot that you wouldn’t remember it was your birthday today…”, she said aloud.

War Heart shrugged then walked over to his spot at the table. He sat down with them and sighed, feeling terrible for having to spoil the moment. He inhaled deeply, “I’m afraid I have some bad news…”, he announced.

Everyone in the room turned to him, Dash showing some sadness in her expression, “What do you mean…?”, she asked.

War Heart sighed, “There are creatures that attacked Canterlot. Hermit showed me where they have been spotted… They have taken over half of Equestria…”, War Heart explained then turned to Dash, “I’ve been asked to go out there with a team and find survivors to bring back here to safety.”, War Heart looked down to the table, not able to face Dash.

Dash put her hand under his chin and turned his head towards her, “Do you really want to do this?”, she asked.

War Heart nodded, “I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do what I could…”

Dash closed her eyes for a second before looking at War Heart again, “Just be careful when you’re out there, okay?”, she said with a smile.

War Heart smiled back at her, “I’ll try not to disappear and/or die this time.”, he said with a chuckle.

Pinkie left the room quickly and came back in with a cake, she started singing “Happy Birthday” while the others joined in. She placed the cake on the table in front of War Heart. Chocolate covered the top of the cake, white frosting wrote his name in cursive letters, the candles spelled out the words “Twenty something”.

War Heart looked around at them, “How old am I?”, he asked.

Sweet Heart shrugged, “I don’t know, I just know I’m older than you, we never really celebrated birthdays…”, she said as she looked to the ceiling in thought.

War Heart looked at his cake for a moment before blowing out the candles, everyone at the table clapped as Pinkie took out a knife and started cutting the cake. Everyone had their pieces and started eating.

War Heart was about to take a taste of his piece, stopping for a moment because the scent of it troubled him. He took a bite and began chewing. He swallowed the chocolate treat, soon regretting doing so due to his immediate nausea afterwards. He slowly pushed the cake away from him.

Dash noticed this and looked at him with concern, “Something wrong?”

War Heart shook his head lightly, “No, just not very hungry…”, he told her, putting on a light smile to put her worry at ease.

Dash smiled back at him, “Okay.”

It was hours later when Pinkie and Sweet Heart left for their place. Arcana and Air Heart were asleep in their beds. War Heart stared at the cake Pinkie brought over, wondering why it made him feel sick.

Dash called from the other room, “War Heart.”

War Heart turned to where the sound came from. He got up from his chair and walked into the room where Dash was.

Dash laid there on their bed, her head resting on one arm while she beckoned him towards her with the other. The lustful look in her eyes made it obvious what she wanted. She slowly licked her lips as War Heart entered the room.

War Heart stepped in, closing the door behind him and locking it. He turned off the lights and walked over to his bed where Dash awaited him.

War Heart slept soundly that night, waking up to having Dash in his arms, still sleeping. He laid his head back and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and sighed, being pleased with waking up with no nightmares or anything haunting him. He gently rolled Dash off of him, hoping not to wake her. He failed to move her and ended up with a pair of bright pink eyes staring up at him. Looking down at Dash, he smiled, “Good morning, Beautiful.”, he whispered to her before kissing the top of her head.

Dash yawned and nuzzled her face against him, “Good Morning.”, she replied in a whisper. She then looked at him with eyes half open, “Did you like your birthday present?”

War Heart smiled and rolled his eyes, “What do you think?”

Dash laid down beside him, “I think that I enjoyed it as much as you did.”, she said winking at him. She got out of bed and started to put on her clothes, preparing for the day ahead.

War Heart got out of bed and put on his pants and shirt. He walked out the bedroom door and closed it behind him to let Dash finish getting dressed. He walked over to the table to see Arcana reading her book. He looked over to the corner of the room to see the axe he was sharpening yesterday. He went and picked it up, checking how sharp it was before setting it down again.

Dash walked out of the bedroom, her hair in a mess of bed head. She stretched as she entered the shield hall. She went over by Arcana and kissed the top of her head, “Which one is that?”, she asked Arcana, regarding the Daring Do book she was reading.

Arcana did not look at her mother as she responded, “The newest one… Apparently it is the worst one yet…”

Dash looked away, not wanting to spoil the book before reading it, “Well don’t tell me what happens, I haven’t finished them yet.”, she told Arcana before walking away towards War Heart and hugging him again, “So I guess you’re leaving soon?”, she asked.

War Heart nodded, “Yes, I’ll be meeting the team and leaving.”, he replied as he nodded. He returned Dash’s hug.

Air Heart walked out of her room still half asleep. She sat down at the table and put her head down.

Dash turned around to her kids, “Hey, guys, your dad is about to leave, you should say ‘bye’ before he goes.”

Arcana folded the corner of the page she was reading, marking the place she reached. She closed the book and placed it on the table. She got up from her chair and walked over to War Heart, who knelt down as she approached. She wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace, “Goodbye, Father, I’ll miss you…”, her words were sincere. She released him as he stood up and walked over to Air Heart, who was still asleep with her head on the table.

War Heart leaned over to Air Heart, “Hey, I’ll be going for a while, kid. Be good to your mother, okay?”, he whispered to her, not quite sure if she was asleep or not.

Air Heart was barely conscious, her being quite tired with her flight practices lately. She managed to hear War Heart, “You got it, Dad…”, she said in the middle of a yawn.

War Heart smiled and pet her head before turning away and walking over to Dash again, giving her a kiss, “I’ll be back, I promise…”, he said with a smile. He picked his axe and walked out the door, Dash and Arcana following to wave goodbye as he flew off to Ponyville. He landed in front of City Hall, walking inside with his axe slung over his shoulder.

He saw five people in the room: Hermit standing behind his desk; Scootaloo, wielding a couple knives, flipping them along her fingers; Apple Bloom sat on a table along the side of the room, taking a nap apparently; Sweetie Belle stood there next to Hermit, totally motionless, her eyes seeming to glow in some strange way; and Cura, who was equipped with a bag of medical supplies.

War Heart walked forward towards his new team, examining them as he moved towards Hermit. He looked at Hermit, “They’re kids…”, he outright stated in front of them.

Scootaloo seemed rather insulted at this, “Hey, We have just as much reason for going as you do!”, she shouted at him.

War Heart looked down at her, “Is that so? Then tell me, what makes you think you can accomplish this?”

Scootaloo hesitated before speaking, “I don’t know… But we’re going to do it or die trying…”, she spoke with determination in her eyes.

War Heart smirked, “All right…”, he turned to Cura, “Looks like you’ll be patching us up then?”

Cura nodded, “Somebody has to make sure you don’t just go off and get yourself killed over something like internal bleeding.”, she replied with a wink.

War Heart nodded and turned to Hermit, “Where are we headed?”

Hermit pointed to the map, “You are to head to all the major cities… Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Las Pegasus…”, he pointed to the places on the map, “Cloudsdale is safe since it is in the sky, so we have to get to the ground cities and secure any survivors. Got it?”, Hermit asked to have War Heart confirm that he understood.

War Heart nodded, “Got it, save anyone that still has a pulse.”, he said as he walked towards the door, signalling the rest of the group to follow, “Follow me!”, he commanded.

Scootaloo walked after him, “Alright, let’s do this.”

Apple Bloom got off the desk and stretched upwards, yawning and walking towards the exit, “Ah wonder how many of those things we’ll see over in Manehattan.”

Sweetie Belle twitched her head to the side before speaking, “Engaging extended travel mode.”, she stated in her digital tone before following the group.

Cura took a breath before saying anything, “See you later, Hermit.”, she waved as she left the building.

Hermit waved back to her, “So long, little one.”, he whispered as he sat down at his desk.

The five of them marched out the front gates and onto the dirt road that would lead them to Manehattan, their first destination. It would be a while before they reach there.

They walked for hours, until the sun was beginning to set.

“Are we there yet?”, Apple Bloom whined at the fact they had been walking all day.

Cura was the one to reply, “Manehattan is at least three days away from Ponyville.”, her voice had a tone of irritation. She thought back to when she was younger and complained in much the same way to War Heart, except without the southern accent.

Scootaloo looked up to the sky, seeing the snow still falling, “I heard Manehattan is supposed to be music capital of Equestria…”

Apple Bloom looked around at the trees, “Probably gonna be the dead capital of Equestria now…”

War Heart ignored their conversations, concentrating on the road before him.

Sweetie Belle said nothing, she constantly scanned over the surrounding area, being alert of danger if it would make itself present.

They soon stopped to camp under a tree, War Heart gathering wood and making a campfire for the rest of his companions. It was a smaller fire, which forced them to stay close to keep warm.

War Heart sat against a tree, the cold not bothering him at all. He had his eyes closed, ready to sleep. His axe was laid out across his lap, he held it tightly in case he needed to defend himself.

The others crowded around the fire, all eating some dried up trail mix. Scootaloo looked over to War Heart, she got up and walked over to him, “Hey…”

War Heart opened an eye and looked up at her, “What?”

“You hungry?”, she asked as she offered some trail mix.

War Heart shook his head, already feeling nauseous at the mere sight of food.

Scootaloo crouched down, “Who are you…? You’re familiar but I can’t put my finger on it…”

War Heart looked at her with an unenthused expression, “War Heart… I don’t remember much, so I’m probably not the best one to ask…”

Scootaloo stood up again and walked away, wondering what he meant by not remembering much. She sat down with the rest of the group again.

Over the next few minutes they all fell asleep, War Heart keeping an eye on them as they slept. He sat there for hours, totally silent and motionless. He stared in one direction non-stop, eyeing DeadBeast, who just stood there staring at him. The white face-paint and the piercing on his bare scalp gave him an unnatural look. War Heart could feel himself become angered, though not knowing why. DeadBeast walked over to War Heart, still just staring at him. War Heart just kept glaring back, “What do you want…?”, he asked in an aggressive tone. DeadBeast vanished as War Heart heard another voice call out to him. He turned to the Campfire to see Cura sitting up.

Cura looked over at War Heart, wondering what he was looking at, “War Heart? Is something wrong?”, she asked.

War Heart shook his head, looking at the ground afterwards.

Cura walked over to him, “What were you looking at?”

War Heart sighed, “I keep seeing… Somebody… I don’t know who he is.”

Cura looked around quickly, “Is somebody following us?”

War Heart shook his head, “I think only I can see him… I’ve noticed that when I saw him, that nobody else seemed to notice he was there…”

Cura rubbed her chin in thought, “I guess you must be hallucinating… I suggest you ignore whoever it is, it will only become more frequent if you interact with it.”

War Heart nodded, “Alright…”, he sighed wondering what would be in store for him at Manehattan.

Cura looked at him curiously, “When did you eat last?”

War Heart thought about it for a moment, trying to remember, “Well other than a bite of cake that made me feel like I was going to puke, I don’t remember… When the kid offered me food I felt sick just by looking at it.”

Cura looked at him strangely, “You’re saying that you haven’t actually eaten since you came back?”

War Heart nodded, “I just never thought about it… “

Cura sighed, feeling annoyed that she had so many questions that War Heart couldn’t answer for her, “Well, I think you should get some sleep, I’m going to go back to sleep myself.”

War Heart shook his head, “I’m not tired…”

Cura looked back at him with an irritated expression, “Well try to get at least some sleep, I’m not going to drag you to Manehattan.”, she said as she laid down in her sleeping bag.

Their journey continued through the forests of Equestria. They soon found themselves at the city limits of Manehattan. They walked out of the tree line towards Manehattan.

“Looks like we’re here…”, Cura declared as the city came into view.

“It’s about time, Ah don’t think I coulda stood that forest much longer!”, Apple Bloom stated.

“I am detecting no life signs nearby, we had better proceed with caution…”, Sweetie Belle warned the party in her digital tone.

Scootaloo looked at the streets that were littered with trash, “It’s only been days… How did it get this bad?”, she asked aloud.

They proceeded down one of the larger streets, not seeing anyone anywhere.

“What exactly are these things that the Mayor was talking about?”, Scootaloo asked the rest of the group.

“They are dead people, but they move around and attack anyone that isn’t dead.”, War Heart explained while walking.

Apple Bloom was taken aback by this description, “So yer sayin’ that we have a bunch a dead people are going to try killing us? You gotta be pullin’ mah leg on this one…”

Scootaloo interrupted their conversation with a stray thought of hers, “I wonder if we’ll see any famous people here…”

As they reached another street corner, War Heart turned to see almost a dozen of the creatures mulling around an intersection.

They looked like people except that they were grey. Their skin was cracked and dried out. Their stare looked as if it had life replaced with unending hunger. Their nails were extended into claws and their bodies were unnaturally slim. Their bodies lacked any source of hair, which only made them look stranger. Some of them had their mouths hang open, revealing their yellowed, pointed, and bloodstained teeth. Their lips and their cheeks were torn, torn from how far their mouths opened when they screamed or bit into their victims.

War Heart motioned for all of the party to move back as they hid behind the corner. He peaked around the corner to see they didn’t notice them. He sighed in relief, then motioned for Apple Bloom to come up, pointing at the creatures.

Apple Bloom went wide-eyed, “I guess ya weren’t kiddin’…”

The creatures all of a sudden turned towards something, almost all immediately running towards what they were looking at.

“They’re movin’?”, Apple Bloom announced to the party.

War Heart quickly popped his head around the corner to see them running, “That must mean they see someone, let’s go!”, he quickly took flight over the buildings while the others ran, he looked down to see two people running away from the creatures. War Heart dove down to the survivors, landing behind them in between them and the creatures.

The creatures all became hesitant as they stood before War Heart, almost confused at what to do. He glared at them as he spoke to the survivors who also stopped running, “You two okay?”, he asked.

A female voice called out, “Yeah, We’re cool.”, she said panting.

War Heart readied his axe, he pointed it to the creatures who stared at him.

Some of them hissed at War Heart waiting for something to happen, for someone to make the first move.

War Heart suddenly charged forward, which caused the creatures to charge as well. He swung his axe through one of them, cutting it down with a sickening crack of bones and rending of flesh. They all swarmed him, engulfing him as they all surrounded him and attacked him.

The rest of his party saw him get overtaken, they picked up their pace and sprinted towards the battle. Scootaloo pulled out her knives, able to move faster than the others by using her wings to propel herself forward. She charged into one of the creatures, tackling it to the ground. She drove a knife into its skull, it twitched for a moment before going still. She yanked out the knife and was jumped by another creature, it pounced on top of her trying to claw at her and gnashing its jaws. She struggled to keep it away, its strength proving to be nearly equal to her own.

The others quickly arrived at the battle, Apple Bloom quickly sprinting over to Scootaloo. She kicked out the hidden knife in her boot and punted the creature in the head, killing it and forcing it off Scootaloo. She picked Scootaloo off the ground, then equipped her brass knuckles.

One of the creatures stopped trying to get at War Heart, seeing there was new prey for it to go after. It’s first sight was Sweetie Belle, who stared at it with no fear, approaching it while walking, completely unarmed. The creature ran at her hissing with claws ready.

Sweetie Belle examined it as it ran, “Initiate Attack Protocol Twenty-Three”, she declared before sprinting at the creature. She slid on her side, kicking out its legs then quickly stood up and held it above her head, bending it in half above her. It howled in pain as she broke its spine. She tossed it to the side, broken and squirming. She walked towards the bunch of them.

War Heart was busy trying to get off the ground as the whole bunch of them dog piled on top of him. He struggled with the body weight of six people on top of him, all trying to claw at him.

Scootaloo charged at one of the creatures, wrapping her arm around its neck and stabbing it in the kidney. Black ooze poured out of it onto the ground. Scootaloo took her knife and jabbed it into the back of the creatures skull, it stopped struggling afterwards.

Apple Bloom took out her other blade hidden in her other boot. She walked up to one of the creatures and pulled it away from the gathering of them. It stumbled back and screamed at her, she screamed back as they both charged at each other. Apple Bloom swung her Brass knuckled fist into its jaw, making a cracking sound as it followed through. It swung its claw toward her, being blocked by Apple Bloom’s other arm. She wound her head back and swung it forward into its skull, disorienting it before she kicked it in the gut, knocking it to the ground. She jumped on top of it, her feet pinning down its arms as she began to swing her fists into its face, spurting more black fluid out of its face with each blow.

Sweetie Belle approached another one of the creatures, “Initiate Attack Protocol Fifteen…”, she declared as she went up behind it and grabbed hold of both of its arms, she then forced her foot onto its back and pulled on the arms while pressing forward with her leg, tearing off its arms. Torrents of black fluid went to the ground, both from the disembodied arms and the torso of the creature, who now was facing Sweetie Belle. Sweetie kicked at its knee, snapping it backwards and forcing it to the ground. As it squirmed on the ground she stomped down on its head, a crunch sounding off as its skull caved under the pressure of her boots.

War Heart felt a lot of the pressure on him being lifted off. He pushed back and forced them off of him. He stood up quickly to be jumped by one immediately. He grabbed it by the throat and threw it to the ground, stomping on its head to finish it off. Another jumped on his back, tearing through his shirt and flesh alike. It grabbed him by the head, its claws digging into his face, making it bleed. He screamed in anger as he fell backwards on to it, nearly crushing it under his weight alone. He grabbed his axe, quickly chopping into its head while it was disoriented on the ground, killing it.

Scootaloo was face to face with the last creature, staring it down while they both moved in a circle. “Come on… Try it…”, she taunted as she spun her knives in her hands. The Creature hissed at her before pouncing. Scootaloo jumped back out of the way, using her wings to speed her escape from the attack. Upon landing she charged forward with knives at the ready. She thrust the knife at its torso, only to hit nothing but air. It dodged to the side and then pounced on her, pinning her to the ground again. She wrestled with it, holding back its claws just barely.

“Initiate Attack Protocol Thirty-One”, Sweetie Belle said as she punted the creature off Scootaloo. She ran over towards it as it stood up, swinging her arm into its neck. It fell to the ground, its head whip lashing onto the pavement. Sweetie Belle stood over it, crouching down and grabbing it by the face and squeezing. The creature let out muffled screams of pain as the bones in its face were crushed and broken. When her hand closed into a fist she pushed it inwards, black liquid spewing out of the creatures ears. She withdrew her hand from its face which was now unrecognizable. She looked over the area, “No Hostile Targets Detected, Combat Sequences Disengage.”

Cura walked over to War Heart, seeing he took a nasty injury to his face. She was a bit freaked out about the younger ones being so violent.

War Heart looked down at the creatures noticing the same green glow in their eyes as the ones in Canterlot. He knelt down and saw the glowing green essence float into him. It felt strange to him, he wasn’t sure whether to like it or not. The other creatures’ green glow flowed out of them and into him. He noticed that everybody was either ignoring this or they couldn’t see it, he kept quiet about it, at least for now. His cuts on his back and face healed quickly, leaving no scars or anything. He turned to the survivors he had helped, “Are you two okay?”, he asked, picking up his axe that was embedded in the skull of one of those creatures.

One of the survivors was a woman with white skin and wore a dark blue hoodie with jeans with black canvas shoes; Her hair was blue with Cyan streaks; She also wore a pair of purple sunglasses. She walked up to War Heart, “Thanks for the help, who are you?”, she asked him.

War Heart looked down at her, “I’m War Heart, my team is here looking for other survivors. Looks like you two got lucky.”

The woman with sunglasses nodded, “Sounds like it… Oh right, I’m Vinyl, and that’s my friend, Octavia.”, she pointed to the other survivor.

Octavia wore a white dress shirt; her dark grey hair was long, reaching her hips; she wore a long grey skirt and black dress shoes. She approached War Heart and bowed her head slightly, “Much obliged for assisting us.”

Cura walked over and forced War Heart to turn to her, noticing his face wasn’t cut anymore, just bloody. She squinted at him wondering what happened but then turned to the survivors, who were eyeing her oddly. She let go of War Heart and greeted them, “Hello, I’m Cura, the team’s doctor.”

Vinyl nodded, “Cool.”, she turned back to War Heart, “We know where there are some more survivors. We were on our way there when we got jumped by those.”, she pointed to the pile of bodies behind War Heart.

“Can you lead us there?”, War Heart asked.

“Sure can, they aren’t too far away, just another sixteen blocks.”, Vinyl explained.

Cura looked at her oddly, “Not too far away?”, she mocked.

Octavia interjected, “She runs around the city a lot in her spare time, which happens to amount to a lot of time somehow.”

“Maybe if you went with me to the free running club, I wouldn’t have to slow down for you all the time.”, Vinyl teased with a smirk.

Octavia rolled her eyes at Vinyl, “Shall we get moving?”

War Heart and Cura nodded.

Vinyl turned around and started walking.

War Heart looked back to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, motioning them to follow. They did so with haste, running over to the rest of the group.

As the group walked along, Vinyl decided to break the quiet moment with some conversation, “So, where you guys from?”, she asked collectively.

The crusaders all answered in unison, “Ponyville.”

Cura answered next, “Canterlot.”

War Heart kept quiet.

Vinyl kept walking backwards, “Well, how bout you?”

War Heart looked at her, still walking, “I don’t remember…”, he said in a half-whisper.

Vinyl looked at him quizzically, “Whats that supposed to mean?”

Cura interjected on War Heart’s behalf, “He recently lost his memories, he doesn’t remember who he was. He’s still trying to piece everything together.”

Vinyl looked at Cura with an eyebrow raised, “Weird.”, she turned around and kept walking on.

War Heart spoke up, “So who are these other survivors?”

Vinyl turned around again, “My buddy Riff, his sister Lullaby, Poltergeist, and Spectre.”

Cura thought for a moment, “Wait… If they’re so far away, how do you know they’re alive.”

Vinyl chuckled, “Riff, such a cool guy, he has this thing he can do that he can read your mind. He can also project his thoughts if he really wants to. I heard him tell me he’s at his place.”

Cura was surprised, she had not heard of such a powerful Glow, nor heard of anybody with that kind of power.

They walked for a while, avoiding any groups of the creatures on the way. They eventually reached a large red brick building that seemed to be an apartment building.

Vinyl walked up to the door unlocked it with a key she took out of her pocket. She motioned for the others to come in as she held the door open.

They all filed inside into the bottom floor of the building that was a large open room. It had stairs that went up to the next floor that were made of white painted wood.

Vinyl closed the door behind them, “Alright, now we have to get up to the fourth floor.”, she led the way towards the stairs. She placed her foot on the first step, about to move to the second. The step creaked and echoed up the winding stairs, she froze for a moment, as did everyone else. They all stared at her wide-eyed as she smiled nervously at them, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

Screams, hisses and snarls could be heard from the rest of the building. Vinyl looked up to see a whole bunch of the creatures running down the stairs. She sprinted away from the stairs to the rest of the group, hiding behind War Heart since he was the biggest. The crusaders set up in their own personal fighting stances, Sweetie Belle saying something about activating battle protocols. Cura stayed with Octavia and Vinyl, behind the four of their party that was going to be fighting. They heard the thunderous trampling of the creatures, hearing a lot of crashes and smashing. Soon the first of the creatures showed up, they were almost all falling down the stairs, and dying on their way down.

Apple Bloom watched them show up dead from falling down stairs, “That’s so sad, I dunno whether to laugh or cry…”

After about half a minute of creatures falling to their death, some live ones erupted from the mess of inanimate corpses, being taken down swiftly by War Heart and the Crusaders. They cut down six of them before they stopped showing up, almost all of them being trampled on the stairs.

Scootaloo shook her head, “That was just… I don’t even know…”, she said as she started to move up the stairs, stepping on the bodies that littered it on the way up. The others followed her up to the fourth floor, where they saw the walls were sprayed with blood in some places and claw marks on others.

Vinyl lead the way down the hall, stopping at the sixth door. She knocked loudly, “Hey Riff, you in there.”, she proceeded to make a face as if she heard something weird, then rolled her eyes. She grabbed the door handle and turned it, opening the door. She walked inside.

The others only heard a woman shouting, “Are you kidding me, Riff, You didn’t even lock the door!?”

Octavia whispered to the party, “That was Spectre… She has a certain attitude that seems frightening at first but she is harmless…”

A guitar flew out the door and broke against the door across the hall.

“For the most part, at least…”, Octavia commented before walking inside.

War Heart walked inside to see what the commotion was about. He saw a man sitting on a couch being yelled at by a woman with long red hair.

The man sat there with a look like he hadn’t a care in the world and that he just woke up from a nap. His hair was long and poofed out in a large mass of pale dark blue; his eyes were yellow and he wore a light grey sweater and jeans; he also had some black wristbands made of cotton. He sat there as the woman continued to scream at him about how he was lazy and irresponsible.

The woman was almost as red in the face as she was in her hair which was a deep crimson, and long enough to go halfway down her back; her skin was white and her frame was rather average. She wore bellbottom jeans and a red tank top.

Vinyl was just leaning against the wall, watching the show. She shook her head at War Heart, signalling him not to interfere.

The man pointed at War Heart, the woman immediately stopping and turning around, “And who the heck are you!?”, she shouted at War Heart.

Vinyl cleared her throat, “This is War Heart, he and his team saved me and Octavia. They’re looking for survivors and we came for you guys. By the way, War Heart, that is Spectre…”, she said pointing at the woman and then pointed to the man on the couch, “That’s Riff.”

Riff had a carefree look on his face, “Hey, man… come to chill with us…?”, he said this in a strange way that seemed a tad too mellow to be natural.

War Heart shook his head, “No we have to get you all out of town…”

Riff squinted as he spoke, “Ffffffffffffffffff- what…?”

Vinyl sat next to him, “We’re leaving, Riff.”

Riff looked at Vinyl, “We going on tour?”, he asked.

Vinyl rolled her eyes, “Sure, Riff, you don’t even have to bring your drums.”

“Sweet, do I like, have roadies?”, he asked her.

“Yeah, but you have to walk there yourself.”, Vinyl replied.

“Bummer.”, he commented with his usual spacey tone.

A tall man with blue, slicked back hair; and pale skin entered from the other room. He wore black dress pants and shoes, a black T-shirt, black circular sunglasses, and a bright grey long trench coat with blue flames adorning the bottom of it. He looked at the stranger in the room, and spoke with a German accent, “Who is zis?”, he asked openly.

Vinyl looked over to the tall man, “Oh, hey Poltergeist.”

Riff looked over to him too, “Tempo, we’re going on tour!”

Poltergeist sighed, “Don’t call me zat…”, he looked at Vinyl, unsure whether they were going on tour, she shook her head at him, “I guess I’ll go and get Lullaby…”, he said as he went into another room.

Riff looked to War Heart, “Don’t worry, he’s just embarrassed of his name. I thought Tempo Finish was a pretty rad name.”

Poltergeist re-entered the room, “I do not like my family, nor the name that came with it.”

War Heart sighed, “Shall we leave before we encounter more of those creatures?”

Vinyl got off the couch, “Yeah, just bring Lullaby with you when you’re ready to leave. We’ll be in the lobby.” she said as she walked out of the room.

Riff stared at Vinyl as she left, biting his lower lip as he watched. Once she was out of the room he only stopped making the face to say two words, “Dat ass…”, he then chuckled to himself.

Spectre covered her face with her hand, embarrassed at Riff’s behaviour.

War Heart left the room and went out into the hall to see the rest of the group already going down stairs.

Riff was still on the couch, he looked to Spectre, “He looked nice… Who was he again?”

“Screw off, Riff…”, Spectre grumbled as she walked out of the room and towards the lobby.

“Ouch…”, Riff whispered to himself before getting off the couch, revealing the apparently permanent indent of his body on the couch. He reached down to the side table next to the couch and grabbed a pair of drumsticks, putting them in his pocket. He walked out of the room, humming some random tune as he walked.

Poltergeist waited for a moment before another woman entered the room from behind. He turned around to see a woman with short pink hair and teal eyes; wearing jeans and a tight-fitting cream-coloured hoodie. Poltergeist motioned to the door, “They already left to the lobby, let’s go…”

Lullaby nodded and walked out of the room towards the stairs and then down into the lobby.

Once they all gathered in the lobby, Vinyl opened the door to go outside, allowing their already giant party to exit.

They walked down the empty street, some of them talking amongst themselves.

Vinyl walked beside War Heart with Octavia, “So, War Heart, what exactly do you do? Other than, you know, whatever this whole mission of yours is?”

War Heart kept walking as he spoke to Vinyl, “I have a family back home, a Partner and two daughters…”

“No shit? How old are you?”, she asked.

“Twenty-something…”, he replied.

“Twenty six… seven?”, she pressed further.

“I don’t know… Apparently, where I’m from, we didn’t celebrate birthdays, or keep track of our age.”

“Huh… Cool.”, Vinyl nodded.

Cura was walking beside Riff and Poltergeist, watching Riff pretend to play drums with his eyes closed and sticks in his hands as he walked, “Does he know what he is doing?”, she asked Poltergeist.

Poltergeist looked down at her a moment before answering, “I’m not sure… But I do know he has strange abilities… He can’t remember too much at a time, but when it comes to music, he can remember any rhythm or beat he has listened, whether it be he heard it with his ears or heard it from someone’s mind.”

Cura looked at Riff curiously, “So he reads minds to hear the music one has on their mind?”

Poltergeist nodded, “He has the talent that can realise dreams…”

Cura nodded slowly, “There would be many who would abuse the power to read minds… It’s nice to see someone with power who doesn’t abuse it…”

“He has no ambition, no drive, or competitive edge. He does not strive to be anything better or different than what he is now. It is something many try to become…”, Poltergeist explained.

Cura looked at him quizzically, “And what do people try to become?”

“I don’t know… and if you can somehow get him to tell you, I’d be surprised you got him to pay attention for more than five seconds without talking about nacho chips…”, Poltergeist replied, adjusting his sunglasses.

War Heart looked up at the sky, noticing the clouds were getting darker, “It’s going to be dark soon…”, he thought out loud.

Vinyl tapped War Heart’s arm, “We could take cover in the convenience store over there.”, she pointed to a store with metal bars lining the windows.

War Heart nodded and walked over to the store’s door, trying to open it to find out it was locked. He stood there for a second in thought.

Octavia leaned over towards Vinyl, “What do you suppose he is thinking?”, she whispered.

Vinyl shrugged, “Maybe he doesn’t realise that we may need to use the back-”, she stopped as she saw War Heart wind back for a swing of his axe, “Uh oh…”, she whispered right before War Heart shattered the glass door, setting off the burglar alarm.

War Heart reached for the other side of the door where the lock was, unlocking it without needing a key. He pushed open the door and motioned for everyone to get inside.

Everyone started running into the store, hearing the screams and howls of the creatures coming from nearby. Sweetie, Scoot, and Apple Bloom stood at the door, readying themselves for a fight. War Heart looked to everyone in the store, “Stay in here, barricade the door…”, he ordered as he walked outside, closing the door behind him. He stood with the crusaders with axe in hand.

The creature’s howls and screams grew louder as they drew near. They crawled out from nearby buildings and eyed the four fighters before them. They all seemed to take particular notice of War Heart, most of them just stopping and staring at him as they got only yards away. They all stopped, remaining totally silent as they surrounded the four of them.

Vinyl was inside looking at the alarm system for the store, she opened it up to reveal the keypad. She felt a rush of panic, “Um… How do you turn this thing off…?”, she asked herself, staring at the keypad. The alarm suddenly went silent. She looked up and smiled, “Good enough for me.”, she turned around and took a step, noticing a pool of blood she just stepped in. She raised an eyebrow as she followed the trail of blood with her eyes, leading into a back room.

The standoff outside was suddenly broken as War Heart charged towards a group of the grey monsters, chopping into one of their heads with his axe. Its head split open then fell to the ground limp. One of them jumped at War Heart, aiming high to try and knock him down. War Heart ducked down quickly, then uppercut another one of them next to him.

Apple Bloom kicked the ground with each of her boots, revealing the blades hidden in the front of them. She put on her brass knuckles and jabbed at the air a few times. She then dashed over to a group of them, jumping at one of them and punting one of them in the face, which left a big gash in its head. Upon landing she crouched and swept her leg along the ground, tripping one of the creatures. She uppercut one as it tried to grab her, its jaw breaking as she made forceful contact with her brass knuckled fist. She stomped on the head of the one she knocked down, the weight of her boot and the power of her leg causing its head to cave in.

Sweetie Belle simply walked towards a group of the creatures, “Initiating Attack Protocol Thirty-one”, she declared before reaching one of the creatures. As she got close, the creature attempted to grab at her only to have a sudden shock to its system. It looked down to see Sweetie Belle’s arm forced through its gut. A crunching could be heard before Sweetie Belle yanked back her arm, several vertebrae of a spine in her hand. The creature fell in half, lifeless and inanimate. She opened her hand and allowed the piece of spine to fall to the ground. She looked at the other two creatures as they pounced at her. Time seemed to slow down for her as she spoke in digital tone once more, “Defence Protocol Twelve.”, she grabbed the arm of one of the creatures and swung it in a circle, using the momentum of its pounce to slam it into its comrade. The two were disoriented in a heap on the ground. Sweetie stood over them, “Initiate Attack Protocol Four”, she knelt down and extended her index fingers and pinkies, she quickly shoved them into the eyes of the disoriented creatures. They squirmed for a few seconds before becoming lifeless. Sweetie stood up and turned back to her comrades.

Scootaloo crouched down and leaped into the air, gaining twelve feet of altitude using her wings to propel herself upward. She took out her daggers as she descended onto two of the creatures, forcing her blades into their skulls as she landed. She tore the knives out as she stood up to take a swing at another one of them, slicing open its neck with one knife and driving the other knife up through the soft tissue of its lower jaw. She twisted the knife and ripped it from the grey thing’s jaw, driving the knife into another one’s temple.

The grey creatures were no match for their combined might and skill. They all looked to one another and smiled. Their victory was short-lived as they heard a scream from inside the store.

Vinyl stepped towards the back room of the store, everyone else watching the fight that was happening outside. She moved slowly, cautiously, hoping to get the jump on whatever might be in there. She slowly reached for the doorknob.