28 Neighs Later
Please note: This fan fiction does not follow the same lore as “28 Days /weeks later” the name was simply the most fitting thing I could think of. I also apologise for the length of it.
The smoke rose from the large, fiery mess of what was once ponyville, I watched as rage engulfed my body, my legs trembling, struggling to support my own weight. Twilight sparkle placed a hoof on my side, I shrugged her off, she had never known me personally what right was it of hers to touch me? I looked over my shoulder towards “big” Macintosh; he was a well built pony, carrying a saddle armed with two shotguns, I was impressed needless to say when I first saw him put it on I thought he was going to break his back. Twilight joined the rest of her friends in the mine – yeah that’s right we’re living in a mine – you’re probably wondering what caused this event right? I thought so; two days ago my team and I were deployed to ponyville to prevent a certain event from happening. Unfortunately while we were away somepony attacked canterlot the aftermath of it was something we all passed off as impossible: zombie ponies, Princess Luna and Celestia both helped evacuate the people of canterlot to Cloudsdale, luckily zombie ponies – even zombified pegisi – cannot reach Cloudsdale, the team and I decided to take it upon ourselves to protect and evacuate any of the remaining ponies in Ponyville, to our surprise we found a small group of survivors, we all knew one which was Twilight, Celestia’s “number one Student” neither of us saw any combat potential in her unless she knew a spell that could crush a pony skull. You’re probably sick of hearing me refer to the team as, well, just that “the team” let’s start off with the rookie: Mudclap he specialises in setting up places of preparation, he made the mine we are currently living in, well, habitable. Next up is Sharp Mark, he’s large and he knows how to map out a plan, so we gave him a name that didn’t require allot of brain power to make.
The final member of the team is me – my name isn’t important nor is my rank or positioning, but my squad mates call me Long Shot mainly because my saddle of choice is and always shall be, a rifle, preferably scoped. We all have our obvious differences physically – our cutie marks – are all different, Mudclap’s is a wired fence, Mark’s is a map and feather it’s probably a quill and mine is a rifle saddle. Mudclap is the shortest of the team, while Sharp Mark was obviously the tallest. I stand with a long, shaggy mane, I never took care of it and never saw the point in it to be honest, nobody knew me apart from my squad mates and nobody cared about me until recently. Now, where was I? Oh yes, Twilight went back into the mine to check up on her friends, they were all worried about a yellow pegisi, by Celestia’s beard if they hadn’t asked me to go and look for her she would be shambling amongst the masses of dead ponies.
I pulled on the string attached to my rifle quickly as a loud chic noise erupted from the contraption, it slowly reloaded as I tilted my head to the side to look down the scope, hold my breath and steady my hooves then fire, just how it always went. Macintosh and Mudclap circled the make-shift walls, popping off any zomponies that came too close to the perimeter, I wasn’t willing to take any chances and neither were they. Every time a gun went off you could hear the faint whimper of the pegisi who is apparently called “Fluttershy” emit from inside the mine, I don’t understand why she and the rainbow one don’t just head to Cloudsdale like all the other pegisi have done. Looking around I noticed there was a larger amount of zed’s than what we normally have to kill off, whether the sounds of our guns going off were what was attracting them, or if it was when we had the rainbow pegisi scout out the area that was attracting them I don’t know. Mark says we should only have her scout once every two days I on the other hoof want to find other survivors ASAP. Looking over my shoulder to Big Macintosh and Mudclap I couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong, very wrong. After our daily patrols we headed inside at sunset, lighting a small torch above the entrance to the mine before Big Macintosh pulled the large boulder in front of the entrance to hide the brighter lights inside the mine, unlike the others I found the mine’s confined space and small caverns that we all used as sleeping quarters to be unusually comforting, that night I lay down at the bottom of the mine, next to an underwater stream watching the reflection of the water against the rocks, I never slept, not since I was a recruit – which some time ago – but enough of that and back to current events: I watched the reflection against the top of the mine, something about the textures mixing with the reflection helped me feel at home , there was a slight cough that caused me to quickly jump up and pull my saddle’s reloading mechanism, only to put it back down again at the sight of Twilight
“S-sorry did I disturb you?” she stammered, I simply replied with a grunt, Twilight sighed quietly and put on a smile “I’d like to thank you for finding our friend Fluttershy and, well, putting up with her.. Shyness” she said, I didn’t want to talk to this filly, I didn’t even want to be here. I looked her in the eyes as I dropped the saddle onto the floor “Look, I didn’t save her because she’s your friend, I saved her because she’s another survivor and my mission is to evac all survivors, pony or otherwise.” I snapped at her, I knew it was wrong of me to snap at her like that but I didn’t care, I never have. Twilight stepped back a little bit, whether it was just to give me a feel of dominance or she was genuinely stepping down I couldn’t tell but either way I was wrong – she looked up at me and smiled lightly, I didn’t understand at all, I had just put her in a smaller position of place within the conversation and she was just smiling? I hated that; she stood there smiling as if everything was alright in the world and could she not see the anarchy outside the perimeter? I coughed into my hoof and waited for her to respond, which she did.
“Look, mister..?”
“Long shot”
“Mister longsho-”
“Only my squad mates call me that, you can call me sir”
“Okay, sir I think you need to try and understand just what Fluttershy means to me and my friends, you stopped her from becoming one of them ponie-“
“Them thing’s aren’t ponies, they’re long from ponies, I’ve seen the dark side of ponykind and I know for a fact, that despite all I have seen, this is by far the worst.”
“well, sir, I can’t say I can relate entirely to the horrible things you have seen, but please try to understand that what’s going on isn’t your fault” Twilight said. I froze at the sentence and lowered my head, I was angry, enraged, when did I ever say this was my fault? I turned around and picked up my saddle, jumping over the gap between us I started heading up to the entrance of the mine and slowly opened it – just enough to let me out – I slid a silencer on my rifle and lay down, getting into the usual position as I started picking off any straggling zomponies nearby. The next day came quickly, I looked over at the entrance as Big Macintosh forced the boulder aside, carrying the heavy weaponised saddle on his back, accompanied with Sharp Mark and Mudclap, I watched them start the daily patrol only to be confronted by Twilight Sparkle again.
Twilight sat next to me without a sound and that’s how it stayed, for three whole hours. I coughed into my hoof and peered down the scope of my saddle, pulling the leaver again as I felt the kick back, reaching for the reload straddle I widened my eyes slightly at the sight of the ammo cartridges being replaced by Twilight’s magic. I frowned and looked back down the scope, picking off more zomponies as I did so. We continued this collaborated onslaught for an hour or two, I occasionally let slip the rare “Thanks” or “Reload” Twilight seemed to be quiet at the moment, as if waiting for the right time to speak. From my experience this only meant one thing: she wanted – or needed – something I sighed and looked at her “What is it you want?” I asked as politely as I could, if we were going to be stuck with each other for a few weeks (if not months) I may as well try and get along with her, Twilight smiled lightly and coughed into her hoof as if she was trying to keep some form of elegance in this fucked up world. I waited for her response, which came a little sooner than expected
“I need you to go to the library in the middle of town for me” she explained
“Now why would I want to go and do that?”
“Because if you do you’ll be able to stop by Sweet apple acres and pick up some food for the stock, we are running out you know.” She said, I sighed as I knew it to be far more than true, the rations were getting smaller and smaller by the day. I sighed and stood up, looking down at her “alright, I’ll do it, but if I find any survivors the food will have to wait.” I muttered, picking up my spare cartridges of ammunition and slipped them into my saddle, I headed towards Big Macintosh & Mark to explain the situation, they both looked at each other quietly but then nodded and headed towards the gate’s control panel to wait on me; I turned around and headed into the mine, slipping my saddle off my back and tucked it into what was supposed to be my sleeping quarters, coming back out with a bronze saddle attached to a bronze helmet, quickly I slipped it on and listened for the metallic click, smiling as it went off seconds later I bit down on the mouth piece of the helmet, small drills came out of the side of the saddle started to melt as it took tight hold of my body, hardening into thick bronze plates at my knees, torso, neck, head and flank, where wings would have been if I were a pegisi two large bladed wing-like contraptions quickly formed; With the process complete I headed out of the mine, passing Twilight and her friends as I did I was stopped by an orange land pony, I sighed and looked her in the eyes “What is it you want?” I asked, trying not to show any arrogance or ignorance.. Applejack frowned at the gray land ponies response and shook her head in dismay “Ah know y’all are busy and me ahn’ ma friends are gratefull fer all yer help, but mah sister is out there and ah’m really concerned fer’ah, would ya’ll mind lookin’ for ‘er when yer out there?” she asked as kindly as she could. I simply blinked; I had no fucking clue what she just said, but I just nodded and agreed to help her, she said something about sister, so I imagine I’m probably looking for an orange foal or somethin’. I stepped out into the light and walked down the path to the gates, nodding to Mark & Macintosh to open the gates. The blades on my side shifted a bit as I took a few steps back so I could get a running start. The minute the gates open I sprinted as fast as I could through them, the swords ripping through the necks, heads and various other body parts of the undead, my hooves hitting the ground hard as I galloped through the hordes.
It was a matter of minutes before I arrived in town, I knew where the library was, but I wanted to scout out the other buildings too however. The blades started to morph again as they changed shape and position into two large automatic rifles, smiling I placed my hoof against the door and forced it open, there was nothing of interest here, just broken glass a half-eaten pony who was clearly dead, however their bottom half wasn’t there so I couldn’t identify her by her cutie mark, deciding there was no point in continuing searching this house I turned around and closed the door behind me, my helmet forming a knife-like blade I carved the words “R.I.P” into the door’s wooden body. After an hour of searching houses and some shops I had narrowed the list down to three places: The library, a bakery and a stylists, deciding the bakery would be a good place to hit in case of food I quietly walked over, sneaking past any zed’s nearby like I had done for the past hour, no need to alert a horde over a search and recover mission. I pushed the door open and snuck in, quickly closing it behind me. I turned around to be met with a metallic click and the barrel of what seemed like a well-crafted –yet clearly the work of an amateur – barrel of a gun. I smiled underneath the armour plating and pushed the saddle’s barrel aside, surprised to be met with three young fillies, one white, one orange and the other yellow. I blinked and watched as the white one slowly pulled the gun back and slid it under the counter, the other two looked at me, I could tell I was being sized up, so I did what any other soldier would do in the presence of an unsure V.I.P – I saluted.
Me and the three fillies started to barricade the door, they had told me their names and their relations, I felt somewhat relieved when I found out the yellow one was that Applejay’ or Jack, or Jill or something’s younger sibling. I nodded quietly as they slowly explained how they forged such a complex weapon as unequipped as they were – then they showed me their marks – all three had different parts of a weapon on their flanks, the white one, Sweetiebell was it? I think it was; hers was a trigger strap, obvious to tell what strap it was due to the Ruby on it. Scootaloo’s was a cylinder. Not that kind of cylinder, the cylinder they have on miniguns and similar automated heavy weapons, the final one was Applebloom, hers was an explosive ammo cartridge, it soon came to me that their marks were to show their bonds with each other – and their tendency to disobey what their elders said. I stood up and looked around the bakery; they had done pretty well setting up defences, barricaded windows and doors, with a large rifle mounted in front of the entrance, needless to say: these fillies were definitely going to be helpful, I looked down at them and smiled politely “Girls, I happen to know where your sisters are, but the way back is rather dangerous.” I explained. The sudden twinkling in their eyes struck a worry in me; these fillies liked danger, thank god. I didn’t want to carry three terrified fillies back to the mine, later that day we packed everything up and headed out, something had attracted the zed’s because there wasn’t any ponies or zed’s there. The walk ‘Home’ wasn’t a long one as the girls were pretty fast on their hooves.
Three days later
.
I watched, fascinated as the weapons on the walls ripped the zed’s apart, them fillies knew what they had in mind and what would give us an upper hand. I looked back at Twilight who was going about something that I didn’t particularly care about, but over the past four days I’ve grown to like her a little bit, I even let her call me shot, however ‘Long Shot’ was far from her current status in my books. I just watched her talk and nodded a few times, listening carefully for anything that would mean I would have to go out and risk it, after a while she mentioned something that caught my ears “She’s a zebra, but she isn’t like the others at all, so we could do with some of her medicine for Rainbow Dash” I nodded slowly, but wearily, oh yeah, did I forget to mention that the Rainbow one’s sick? Yeah. Sorry, anyway back to the point: I stood up and headed into the mine, putting on the usual bronze equipment, letting it form and this time instead of blades, two revolver barrels formed through the plating on my shoulders, I looked up and walked up the make-shift pathway, nodding at the occasional pony I passed, sighing quietly as there was a loud clicking noise on my shoulders. I walked down the path to the gates and waited for Pinkie to open them, I nodded quietly as she saluted in a somewhat comical manner with her left hind hoof, how she did that I’ll never know, I looked down at the pathway that was carved from real-dead bodies, I called this the walk of passed times, I served in the celestian weaponised military for three-to four years before I was promoted to my current rank, during my serving times I had seen pony after pony fall victim to either the opposition or the psychological side-effects. I had been one of the few to come out unharmed, except from one wound, one which nobody knows about. I walked down the path, looking at tall the dead zeds, not even wondering how there could be so many in such a small town. I stopped at the end of the trail of dead bodies and looked back, flashbacks of when I served on the front line, mercilessly slaughtering anything that was seen as a threat to the Celestial Empire. I started to gallop slowly, keeping my wits about me in case there were any zeds nearby, but luckily there were none. Until I got to town.
I stopped, shocked at the still growing masses of the undead, gathering and bumping into each other as they searched for new prey. Smiling at the challenge ahead of me I pulled my front hooves up into the air and slammed them back into the ground, the revolvers slowly starting to fire as a chain suddenly rips out of the revolvers, forcing them to fire even faster as more and more zeds became aware of what was happening. I felt at home doing this, finishing off the undead, it felt like war. Now, I never was a one to enjoy other ponies’ pain, but these things aren’t ponies now are they? I slowly stepped back as the ever growing hoard started to limp towards me, the revolvers slid down my shoulder to the side of my body rigging themselves into automatic rifles, I laughed as more and more of them fell to the floor, I was enjoying this a little too much I knew it, but there will most likely never be a war this easy to win, so I took my slice of cake and ate it, just like any other pony would do, after a long and somewhat enjoyable onslaught the rifles clicked and transformed into two-lance-like blades, so I charged head-first into the remaining horde, forcing the tip of the lance’s into their heads as I ran through them, I quickly turned, throwing the now limp and obviously dead zed’s off of my lances, I turned and started to run towards the forest, both weapons melted back into the bronze armour. I stopped, panting heavily outside a small cottage, the design was familiar – as it should be – you see, when I signed up there was a war between the Celestian Empire and, whatever the Zebra’s Empire is called, I served as a frontline rook, my entire service that year was finding zebra colonies and towns, then burning them down and leaving no survivors. I don’t talk about it much, for obvious reasons, I had been forced to pull the strap on mere kids and children, I shook my head at the recollection and knocked on the door with my hoof, smiling politely “who is it?” a hoarse female voice asked from behind
“I’m one of Twilight’s.. Acquaintances, would you mind letting me in?” I responded, choosing my fifth word carefully. There was a loud chinking noise as the female Zebra; I think Twilight said her name was Zecora? I can’t remember, opened the door and let me inside, I sat down next to the door and looked at her “Thank you, as I’m sure you are already aware there is a... ‘plague’ of sorts, infesting itself within Ponyville” I explained, Zecora raised a hoof and looked at me “I know too well of the ‘Plague ‘you are referring to and tell twilight there is no cure.” She raised her voice; I stepped back slowly and tilted my head “You alright miss?” I asked as a revolver slowly formed behind my neck Zecora frowned and placed her hooves inside a the cauldron in the middle of her house, scowling as she stepped out, the blue liquid slowly spread across the floor, ripping up the floor boards as it did so, revealing dead foals, fillies, mares. I stepped back in shock as different years were carved into their skulls, then looked back up at her “What in Celestia’s beard is all this?!” I yelled, the revolver quickly split in two and positioned themselves at the shoulders again, stepping back and placing my back two hooves against the door I forced it shut as more of the blue substance enveloped her body and the bodies of the skeletons, I scowled at this hostile action and dug my hooves into the ground, waiting for the Zebra to make the first strike, I didn’t know why she was attacking me like this, then I remembered: during my first year of service a rare occurrence happened – I took pity on a Zebra female after I killed her parents before her eyes – Zecora may have been the girl. I gulped quietly, I was too familiar with what anger and a lust for revenge could do. Zecora opened her mouth as slowly hooves reached up from the ground and pulled the rest of their bodies up, I opened fire, giving them all I had, their limbs ripped off easier than a Zed’s – then it hit me, the sound of the guns would be attracting zed’s – I grinned and allowed the suit to morph into a large cannon, I fired it at the max power, loud bangs erupted from it as the mossy-like creatures exploded from the collision of the cannon balls, I proceeded carefully as Zecora walked towards me, extending her hoof to the skies she said something in a foreign tongue – something I had never heard before and never want to hear again – the moss shot her up into the air, making her taller and all the more demonic-looking as her yellow eyes turned white, speaking in strange tongues as she attempted to whack me away with her new insanely long and now spiked hooves, I rolled back and fired again and again, I could hear the moans of zed’s now, this was getting serious and I had no idea why. Quickly, Zecora caught me off guard as I turned around to take care of a Zed, forcing me up in the air she brought her head forward and head butted me into a patch of nearby tree’s, I stood up and growled under my breathe “Bitch!” I yelled, galloping as fast as I could, my entire torso forming into what seems like a spiked head, Zecora stamped out some of the zeds – literally – while chanting prayers, suddenly there was a large stabbing pain in her rear hoof, quickly the moss and blood mixture jumped out of her wound as the pain got even worse, she looked down and howled in even more pain as the land pony ripped a vein straight out of place, digging into her new bones, she swopped a hoof down and forced him out of the way, paying attention to the zomponies she started to crush them again, laughing loudly as her eyes shifted colour again and again. I grunted as I hit the tree with a loud crack, my hind leg had been twisted out of place and broken, coughing I stood up as the bronze armour made a metallic cast around my broken leg, allowing me to limp back to that pyschobitch Zecora, the torso of my armour turned to normal as my legs were now starting to develop casts around them. I limped back to Zecora and kept behind the tree line.
Sweetiebell looked down the scope of the trio’s newest invention, grimacing at their huge success with night vision, the three fillies tapped each other’s hooves together, then jumped from fright as a series of loud ‘Bangs’ suddenly erupted out of the quietness. Twilight, AppleJack and Big Macintosh all rushed out of the mine, staring in shock & awe at the sight of a colossal Zebra-looking creature being hit with explosions, Twilight recognised the location instantly, as did AppleJack. Then, it hit them, the sudden realisation: a Soldier pony and a Shaman-like Zebra, long-term enemies, left in solitude in a forest, without warning a large chunk of Zecora’s familiar-like body was ripped off by an explosion, forcing her to fall to the ground in loud and clear agony. Twilight watched in horror and started running towards the gates, forcing them open with sheer force as she did so, running across the town and past the zed’s, Applejack followed her soon after, as did Big Macintosh with AJ. Mudclap woke up and rushed to the entrance, standing behind the three ponies and then turned his attention to a loud coughing sound, the rainbow Pegisi started having a coughing fit, Mudclap quickly held her down and pressed his hooves against her chest, pushing downward to try and help her breathe. I looked up and laughed as the Zebra fell to the floor with a victorious crack; the moon highlighted the blood in the grass, against the house and on the tree’s, I took a step towards her and spat on the ground next to her “you should’ve stayed in the desert” I hissed as a revolver formed on my shoulder “You were stronger than your parent’s, I’ll give you that” I muttered quietly, just as the revolver was about to go off, I was forced over onto my side and rolled into the house, standing up to see Twilight panting as a zed came up behind her, I quickly pulled the trigger, the bullet deflected off of another bullet’s scatter, Big Macintosh came behind twilight, followed by AppleJack, I looked at them with confusion as Twilight approached Zecora, placing a hoof against her head and whispered something into her ear, to my disgust the Zebra opened her mouth in response. Twilight looked up at me with confusion as she helped Zecora up, who immediately pointed a limp hoof at me “You” she growled through grunts of pain
“You killed my mother and father, then didn’t even have the decency to kill me too?!” she yelled, I stepped forward and frowned at the response she gave me
“You do realise I could have been killed for letting you live?!” I yelled back, furiously
“I wish you were!” was her response; Twilight’s horn glowed as I felt something smack me and Zecora simultaneously. I looked back and sighed heavily “look, how about we all just head inside and we talk this out?” I suggested quietly as the moans of a zed could be heard nearby.
A week later.
I woke up, yeah, that’s right, I actually woke up Twilight had done something or other to me and I fell asleep two days ago, as an apology I gave up my sleeping – or storing – quarters so Zecora could rest her leg there, Twilight had insisted I slept in hers but I refused, which is when she did that glowing horn magic thingy, I don’t know, I’ve never understood the whole thing about unicorns and magic all I’ve understood is that when I shoot a hostile down that it’s one less threat to the celestian empire and one less pony trying to kill me. I slowly got to my hooves, limping up to the entrance to the mine to take a look at the perimeter; everything was as I had last seen it. I sighed and turned around to go to my usual spot in the mine only to my surprise when I got there I saw Twilight sitting by the edge looking into the water
“Miss Sparkle” I muttered as I slowly and weakly hopped from one side of the spring and looked back at her, her eyes looked empty – something didn’t seem right about her, so I coughed into my hoof “erh, Miss Sparkle?” I said with a louder tone, she still didn’t respond, deciding to make use of my military experience I sat up and put my hoof against my head “ATTENTION!” I yelled as I saluted quickly, Twilight jumped back a bit “Oh, my apologise, I was just..uhm..” she responded, she quickly looked up at me and blushed – I had a bad feeling about this. Twilight sat down and started mumbling to Long Shot, Sharp Mark watched from a safe distance as the lavender pony talked to his ‘superior’ turning around Mark frowned ‘She’s going to ruin his career’ he thought while he stepped outside of the mine, stopping when Mudclap looked over at him, it was clear they were thinking the same thing. Mudclap and Mark quickly took off towards the gates, closing them quietly as they climbed over the mountain of bodies, walking off in the opposite direction of ponyville. Rainbow dash watched the pair quietly, raising her eye brow she muttered “Now where are you two going?” To herself, spreading her wings she took off into the air, following the pair cautiously Rainbow Dash kept above the tree line, she quickly dove down into the tree’s as a set of jet black pegisi launched around the forest, turning back in Rainbow Dash’s direction and stopped as all three of them slowly broke apart to search the area “Did, you guys just see a unauthorised pegisi?” one of them asked, the other two shook their heads as they continued search the skies around the forest, carefully RD started crawling through the tree leaves and branches, jumping between tree’s, she stopped as her mouth fell open at the sight of what looked like a small army of ponies lined up against the wall, she watched, completely horrified as the foals were brought out and executed, then the younglings and eventually the teenagers and adults, Rainbow Dash fell out of the tree and quickly struggled back onto her hooves and took off as fast as she could, loud metallic clicks could be heard as multiple bullets missed her by inches, turning her head around Rainbow groaned quietly as the three jet black pegisi followed her, slowly gaining on her, Rainbow Dash quickly picked up the pace, wincing as three bullets ripped through her wings, causing her to violently tip to the right, she hoisted herself up again as tears built up in her eyes as every bullet that ripped into her wings caused her to lose more and more control, Rainbow Dash plummeted to the ground, falling unconscious as she landed violently in a small hidden grove
I looked up at Twilight, slowly shifting uncomfortably I got up and limped out of the mine, looking around at the surrounding area, to my surprise I could hear loud cracks, as if somebody was firing a saddle at high speeds. I limped to the gates and looked down at the ground in front of them – hoof prints – I arched an eyebrow curiously and took a closer look; they were definitely Mark’s hoof prints. I cautiously looked up at the gates and pushed them open gently; I stepped out and closed the gates again, it was a stupid move to leave the base without a weapon, but something told me it wouldn’t matter, following the tracks cautiously for a few minutes it took me a while to realise that there wasn’t a single zed yet. I stopped suddenly at the feeling of something under my hoof, I lifted it and stared at the droplets of blood from a puddle, I looked up in the general direction of the few puddles of blood. I couldn’t tell where they came from, suddenly there was a quick shot, not close enough to hit me – but close enough to be considered a warning shot. I turned around and the aggressor suddenly stood up and gave me a salute, I responded in normal military fashion, I recognised his uniform instantly – Martial Law Uniforms? I hadn’t heard anything about Ponyville being put under martial law. Curiously I lowered my hoof and approached my fellow soldier “What were the orders from the Princess?” I asked, the soldier coughed nervously and gave me a curious look “She didn’t give these orders did she?” I asked, the soldier nodded and started reporting the details, my mind blanked as the sudden realisation that I could get Twilight and her friends to safety entered my head, then I could get a nice big bottle of fresh apple cider. I smiled at the thought but then something else entered my mind, the blood. I looked back at the puddle and back to the young soldier “Who’s blood is over there soldier?” I asked, the soldier looked past me and then back at me “We found a civilian in the perimeter, we have a suspension she was attempting to leak information” he reported, I rose my eyebrow “was she taken in for interrogation?”
“Yes sir”
“Has she been interrogated yet?”
“No sir”
“Is it possible for me to interrogate the prisoner?”
He nodded and turned around “Right this way sir” he said, I followed him, my stomach was filled with nerves as well as curiosity, he led me through the gates and camp, my eyes were instantly drawn to the sight of a large body pit being burned, I instantly stopped and looked at the soldier “What’s this?” I asked, he stopped and turned to face me and then at the object in question “it’s the bodies we are disposing of, to make sure nopony hears of the events that happened within the next two weeks outside of equestrian territory, sir!” he chanted, I nodded slowly “carry on” I muttered cautiously, still following him, going through guard barracks and even special unit centres, how long has this facility been here? I was never aware of it.. What if they intended to kill Twilight and her friends in order to keep this secret? I must be going crazy; Celestia would never kill her star pupil or her friends, right? Shaking my head to dismiss the strange thoughts I approached the interrogation chamber and looked over at the soldier who merely nodded and unlocked the door, I stepped in and almost recoiled at the sight, forced into what looked like the most uncomfortable position possible, was Fluttershy, her wings were pulled back and looked as if they were about to snap, large needles were injected into the soft point between her legs and hooves on all four limbs, a large muzzle like contraption was digging blades in between her teeth, I couldn’t stand the look of this, I had heard military interrogation devices were painful, but I couldn’t stand to look at this yet alone think of what it was like inside of it, I looked up at her, phasing back into a normal state of mind, my throat choked up as she started whimpering “It’s okay, it’s me” I said as soft as I could, it sounded more like a growl.
I moved closer to her, the first thing I noticed was that she had been crying. I whimpered in response, which triggered her to start crying, back up a bit I watched as she screamed, the devices digging into her, forcing large amounts of blood to pour from her mouth, a sickening ripping sound as her wings were pulled back even more and her hooves were cracked, I shook my head, trying to erase the scene before me, the sound of cracking and tears, her whimpers and loud ripping were all forcing their way into my head. I threw my front hooves up in the air as I brought my hooves down on the ground, running at the machine and ripping it apart bit by bit, my entire body filled with a rage that was new to me, I had never raised my hoof towards my own side, I smashed the machine, ripping it to bits as I did, grabbing Fluttershy and took off, running as hard as my hooves could carry me with the injured Fluttershy on my back, I dropped her quickly as I saw what looked like a pony in a executive officer’s uniform, I rammed my head against his side as hard as I could, catching him off guard, clenching my jaws around his neck I turned around and threw him against the wall, bringing a hoof up and then directly down onto his knee’s, erupting loud crack within the room, I repeated this again and again until all four of his legs were broken. I turned around as I heard Fluttershy cry even louder, I picked her up and laid her across my back, I ran out as alarms started going off, pushing anypony in my way aside, I continued running until I reached the gates of the mine, forcing them open I dropped flutter shy and fell down, exhausted I panted heavily, barely managing to kick the gates closed, I collapsed due to exhaustion.
Three months later
I looked down into my glass, I knew I would have to look at myself in the mirror on my way to the kitchen, I started crying quietly as the images of the past months events unfolded in my head, finding Fluttershy in the torture device, finding the love of my life only to have her ripped away from me by the one person I used to serve and protect, blowing up the military facility and worst yet: Turning the barrel of my gun on my squad ponies: Mudclap and Mark.. You see, I previously mentioned a wound I had taken while fighting in the zebra nation: my foreleg had been ripped off by the join, so I got one of our field medics to make an aesthetic one. I looked down at it and then up at the T.V on the wall, it was a broadcast from the princess herself, saying that they were working hard on destroying the undead menace and finding its origins. I knew this to be a lie. They already knew the origins of the epidemic, they created it after all, tried to use it to kill off the rest of the zebra “menace” I looked up at the bottle of cider on the kitchen table, I didn’t have to get up as a pony came through into the kitchen, picked it up and poured me another drink, you sat down and looked at me.
“So what happened?” you ask, I took off the aesthetic hoof and lay to the side “Where was I?”
“You were asking the three fillies about a bomb?” You responded, I nodded quietly and took another drink.
Two months before
It had taken an entire month for the girls to develop a bomb strong enough to blow the base up. I had decided to go it alone, the base had been set up and my name was on a list of on-duty soldiers without me knowing it. I looked down at the fillies that were busy strapping it onto my back “you’re sure this thing won’t blow up on me?” I asked cautiously the three of them looked up at me uncertain “well, we aren’t entirely sure, but if it does you’ll have a painless death!” sweetiebell stated, trying to make the situation seem lighter. Nodding quietly I waited for them to confirm that it was strapped on properly and then looked at Twilight, she was looking concerned and it was showing. Pinkie patted her on the back and said something random, I don’t know I never paid attention to her – hell I don’t even know when she arrived – Twilight smiled a little bit and looked at me, tapping her hoof in front of her other one, I pretended to rub my nose in conformation. We had come up with these signals a few weeks ago so we could meet around the mine without anybody knowing that we wanted to talk to each other. I turned gently picked up my rifle saddle and poised it over the top of the bomb, strapping it onto my back as tight as I could. Twilight waited around the back of the mine; she sighed heavily and looked at Applejack “what if he doesn’t come back?”
“Trust me shugah, have you seen how that pony walks on his front hoof? He’s seen allot more action and been thra allot more pain than’e’s lettin’ aun.”
“I guess your right Applejack.. but I just don’t know what I’d do if he didn’t come back”
“shugah, I hope you aint forgettin’ the princess won’ let you two see each other when y’all get t’cloudsdale have yah?”
I walked around the corner, spotting Twilight and Applejack talking; I waited for her to leave and coughed into my hoof as Twilight turned to me “Look, Long Shot, I don’t think you should do this”
“Look, Miss Sparkl-“
“Twilight. No more ‘Miss Sparkle’ okay?”
I nodded quietly and continued with what I was saying “Twilight, I’ll be back before you know it, I just have to shut that facility down. These sons of bitches are torturing innocent bystanders – ponies that I should be evacuating. They’re not going to get away with this, I promise.” I muttered Twilight kissed me quietly; something about this kiss was different. I couldn’t place my hoof on it, although if I knew why it was different. I probably wouldn’t have bothered. I smiled lightly and rubbed my natural front hoof against hers. I bloody loved that pony. I turned my back on her and started walking towards the gates, pushing them open I set off.
A twenty minute walk that felt like two hours, I had never felt that since the first time I was on patrol, knowing I could die at any second or any given moment. When I arrived at the base I pulled the strap on my saddle, lay on my stomach and pulled the trigger, the first guard two guards dropped like flies, I had no problem getting in until I reached the security check, I bucked the security guard and then forced myself up against him, pushing him against the wall I pulled his mane away from him, while forcing his body back, it didn’t take long to get his head in front of my weapons barrel. That was when I pulled the trigger. That was when all hell broke loose. Within seconds the courtyard was flooded with Guards, all firing on sight, I ducked behind a wall and readied my rifle, running out from behind cover I started firing back, the battle lasted hours and needless to say I was running out of ammunition, I needed to improvise. Taking a long deep breath I ripped my saddle off and activated the bomb, running into the courtyard “No pony shoot!” I heard one call out, they all backed up a bit, I didn’t understand what was happening – I had just taken myself out of cover with a bomb on my back and they wouldn’t kill me? I took my chance and ran up to the closes guard, bucking him then grabbing his saddle, pulling it down, forcing it to fire at another guard, it caught him in the throat, he backed up, coughing up blood as it poured out of his mouth and throat, I brought my aesthetic hoof down on the guard I had forced to commit friendly fire, Crushing his skull under the metal. The bullets started firing again, I could hear the ticking from the device on my back and I knew I had a short amount of time, I grabbed the saddle in my mouth, draping it over the dead pony I started firing at my assailants, refusing to lay down and die like they – no – we were trained to do. They fought well, but none of them had the experience I had and very few of them had a pony worth fighting for. Sweating I got up and approached the last three guards; they undid their saddles and started towards me. I had to give it to them – they were brave to do such a thing, probably thinking about the pathetic little medal they would have been given if they had survived. I grunted as the first one head butted me, causing me to recoil instinctively, the second one bucked my head and given the third one his chance, he rammed me against a large metal door, his powerful jaws came down on my windpipe, choking me; My eyes widened as I suddenly noticed something – there was moaning from behind these doors – I had once chance at this and I wasn’t going to blow it, pushing myself towards my opponent I pushed him down onto the ground, I could feel my head becoming lighter as I fought the urge to black out, we struggled as the other two guards picked up their saddles again and strapped them on, I look up and quickly rolled over, the guards shot their fellow soldier instead of me. They reloaded at the same time as I got up, they fired again, I rolled over and grimaced at the loud chinging noise it made, the pad lock on the large doors opened as the captured Zed’s poured out, I took my chance and got up, running as fast as I could to the entrance of the base, alarms started blaring as black pegisi took flight from the roof, diving downwards to help with the escaping undead. The base seemed lighter than when I was first here – probably because it was day – I approached the end of the hall wearily, the bomb on my back still ticking away, I gently tapped it against the wall, momentarily shutting it down.
I looked up the stairs, it was too quiet for my liking, there had been no guards or security ponies patrolling the halls, it was as if whoever was in charge of the camp was wanting me to get through, I heard gunshots and the sound of moans – they had gotten in, I ran up the stairs, slamming the door behind me and closed the bolt-lock, I looked around for something to block it with and smiled to myself as I grabbed the edge of a chair, pulling at it quickly, I pressed it up against the door. The gunshots and moans got louder as the handle on the door turned; there was a panicked soldier on the other end of this door “open up, pony! Come on! Open up!” They yelled – those impatient yells soon turned to screams of pain and terror as the gunshots slowly ceased, within minutes there were just moans, alarms and the occasional gunshot.
I started pacing around the room, planning my next move, I stopped pacing at the sight of something odd – a piece of paper sticking out of the draw and I yanked it out and opened it up. A map, I grimaced and couldn’t help but laugh loudly, I was in the Armoury, looking up I examined the room, there were no weapons here, just closets and drawers that weren’t supposed to be in an armoury. I looked up at the door ahead of me; it led upstairs to the generator, taking that out would cause this entire place to either blow up with the bomb – or go dark and shut it off. Deciding that was the best method I headed straight for it, pushing it open was hard – as if somebody had known what I was doing and was trying to prevent me from doing it, with a hard shove, I ripped it off its hinges. I proceeded upstairs, my mind shifting to Twilight, I wanted to make sure she was safe – whether it killed me or cost me my other hooves, I didn’t care, I just wanted to see her safe and sound. The door at the top of the stairs was already open; I looked out cautiously and noticed the two ponies standing at the solar panel converting generator. Mark and Mudclap, that’s when it hit me – they had hardly been at the mine and looked perfectly healthy.
I roared and charged at them, they did the same; I bucked mark causing him to stagger sideward’s as I brought my head around and uppercut Mudclap, twirling around I then bucked him and brought my aesthetic hoof around, causing a loud, sickening cracking sound to erupt from the impact. I grunted as my back hoof was caught from under me and I was forced along the floor, I got up steadily only to be met with two bucks at the same time, the pain searing through my jaw, when I landed back on all four hooves the pair were ready to attack me again, I looked down on the floor, I was bleeding from the nose and four of my teeth were on my ground, I slowly lifted my head to look at them, they laughed and Mark attempted to head butt me again, I turned around and pushed my hooves back, they met the top of his head and just like with Mudclap, I brought my head to the side of his, knocking him over, he was still breathing, but unconscious, as I turned to face Mudclap I was kicked again, I was sent sprawling near the edge of the building, the loud moans of the Zed’s from below indicated they could see me, I slowly got up and grunted as a sharp stabbing pain suddenly ruptured inside my stomach, I looked down at my side, somepony had shot me, it felt like it happened in slow motion, I slipped side wards and grabbed the edge of the roof, coughing as blood came up from my throat, I spat it out and took hold of the roof, somepony grabbed my hoof and pulled me up. I looked at them, it was Twilight. Or at least that’s who I saw. I blinked as she let go and then kicked my face that was all it took to send me to the groaning crowds of Zombies below me, all I could think was that it was the end. I was never going to see Twilight again, nor was I going to see my rank stripped off of me for treachery. I landed hard as a loud stirring sound occurred. Then it all went white. Yes, I said white, not black.
That’s when I awoke, I was on a hospital bed, hooked up to a life support machine, by the bed was Twilight and Fluttershy, both looked as if they had been crying, I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn’t find the energy, I lay my head back down against the pillow and closed my eyes and when I re-opened them? The very bitch that started all this in the first place, Princess Celestia. I looked over at Twilight and then Celestia, who smiled lightly at me “Sergeant, you have done a good job in serving your duties; however your wounds are too severe for you to stay in the military force. I looked down at my hoof, but it wasn’t just one that was missing, my front right hoof and my back left hoof was missing as well. I closed my eyes and shook my head, this wasn’t happening, it can’t be happening, not now, I was at the peak of my career, I had killed and protected thousands of ponies in Celestia’s name. I coughed painfully as tears fell from my eyes, trailing down my cheek, Twilight brushed them away and Fluttershy stepped up, she looked like she was in a terrible state, there were large red gashes and scars down her wings and face, she looked at me quietly before speaking “ohm.. S-sir, I, I want to thank you for rescuing m-me from that place.. I-I was only trying to find my rabbit angel and before I knew it, somepony had bound and gagged me.. s-so please, d-don’t cry.” She muttered, her own voice breaking herself as she broke down and walked out, crying quietly. I looked at Twilight who looked at me, I nodded – I knew she wanted to go comfort her friend. Celestia coughed lightly and I turned to look at her, there was something different about her – no longer friendly, loving princess but more of a Tyrannical warlord; She placed a hoof on my chest and smiled maliciously “If I ever see you near my Twilight or her friends again, I’ll have you publicly executed” she whispered quietly I stared at her, completely shocked by what she had just said – publicly executed? I gulped quietly and nodded. Celestia smiled and looked at the nurse “Take him to the royal medical rooms, I want this ‘hero’ to receive a luxurious treatment” she said, I couldn’t tell if this was to monitor me or as a way to reward me for doing what I did.
You look over at the now empty bottle of apple cider, you weren’t sure whether or not to get up and get a new one for the depressed pony on the opposite end of the table to you. After deciding it would be best to, when you get up the pony looks at you with his large, baggy, teary eyes, you knew what he wanted to do and you understood completely. He had lost his job, lost his limbs and lost the love of his life. You sigh heavily “please” he pleaded, tears now streaming down his cheeks, sighing you looked him in the eyes “what’s your name?” you ask while you slowly grab the weaponised muzzle under the table “Tim” he replied, you nodded quietly “I’ll make sure the world knows what you went through Tim.”
“Thank you” he croaks, you pull your jaw down on the trigger and the muzzle recoils, the bullet ripped through Tim’s head and forced a large pool of blood to hit the wall, you place your hoof on the recorder and turn it off. You turned to look at the TV and smile, you had just scored the news of the century.