Dying Night

by KinkeyPanCake

First published

Inside the once luxury of Equestria's elites, now lay ruines filled with death and blood of the Dead Zone. The question is, will our heroes make it enough for survival?

Night Dawn, an easy-going and ignorant Lunar Guardsman, is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. After an unknown virus-exmpirement gone wrong, a plague outbreak that reanimate the dead back to life with the craving for flesh. Dawn is trying to stop anything from getting any worse, but one thing lead to another, and he found himself inside the Dead Zone, Dawn is doing everything to keep himself together.

But will it be enough?

Disclaimers -
1)Sexual themes are present
2)MLP/Video Game crossover.
3)Not updated frequently.
4)Nose bleed will occur.

You have been warned.

The parody is between the show My Little Pony- Friendship Is Magic. The FPS, Free Running [Parkour] game Dying Light. And the free to play game series of ConArtist's The Last Stand [The games Union City and Dead Zone]

The Dead Zone

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Infected. That's the name the royal family gave them.

Biters, Walkers, Chewers, Roamers... The list goes on and on.

Today is the Four thousand 'anniversary' day since the outbreak. To contain the outbreak they sealed off Ponyville's borders, a 'Dead Zone'. From Sweet Apple Acres all the way to the Everfree Forest, from there to Union City that we suspect the outbreak originated from, all the way to Union Bridge and Union island, the water area. No one dared to get close to that place, Heavy P.E.R.C activity isn't something you want to bump flanks with. With no way of getting off the area, Union Island is where the boats will be. If there are any. Plus, they casted a shield spell that won't let the infection spread outwards.

Four thousand days, thirteen hours and six minutes...

That's the time I'm stuck inside this shithole. The icing ontop was that the royal family built a real solid wall behined the magical shield itself, so when the magical shield barricade will shut down, we still need to climb on fifty meters of solid concreate, dig under the underground minefield or punch through the 15 meters thick magical-reinforced wall...

I gave my entire life to them. I served under the princess of the night, Princess Luna herself. I fought in the one of the many Changeling Invasions, I even confronted Discord for fuck's sake! I was injured dozens of times, I got a nice amount of kills even before the Dead Zone. But the second I became a little sloppy... They just threw me aside like a used piece of paper.

Inside the Dead Zone are barely a thousand and so living survivors. Other than that, there are ten times the amount of regular infected. Then there are the infected animals, mainly dogs. The Riot Guards, wearing their fancy Solar golden plated armor, along with their golden riot shields. Then there are the P.E.R.C, or Ponykind's Equestrian Risk Control, scientists and soldiers. Equipped with their 'new' kind of weapon: Guns. It took only a month for them to implement a devistating projectile-shooting weapon that wasn't a bow and arrow. From pistols to shotguns and even to heavy machineguns. Though pretty rare now in the Dead Zone.

Combine all of this with the idea that I'm already bitten, but yet to 'turn'. Ponyville was evolving quite alot before the outbreak. Since it was the home of Princess Twilight Sprakle, she took control over the city and built towering sky scrapers, mass transit fuel-based vehicles and even flying vehicles such as helicopters and airplanes. A real testement really.

The life inside the Dead Zone isn't as bad as one will think it is, yes there are the infected, the Volatiles, Rioters, Infected animals and bandits. But other than that? Mainly blood, guts, horrors, more blood, massacres, killing, traumas... Did I mentioned blood?

Anyways, it's not as bad as you might expect, we have some traders here who are kind enough to sell their weaponry rather than shoot us in the balls and take our hard-earned supplies.

But at least there's a silver lining: Every few weeks there is a supply drop from P.E.R.C, it's used for the P.E.R.C personnal, but fuck them, we need supplies too. The whole area is dry-clean from supplies for three years now. And the number of infected is growing every single day. The terrifying part is, we don't know if they succeded sealing the outbreak inside the dead zone. But if they didn't, they won't send the drops, but use them themselves.

There is only two questions on every survivor's mind right now:

How, but mainly:

Why?

Episode One - Day #3982

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Chapter one? I guess...

"Come the fuck on, Dawn! You won't live forever!" Armor Plate screamed at me.

"For fuck's sake! There are more!" Golden Hoof called out from his vantage point.

I ran through the barricades we set days ago to repel the infected. Seeing ponies lining up their guns and unloading it on the charging horde. Hearing the wicked screams of the infected, the uneasing screams of dying soldiers around me, getting torn apart and eaten alive. The cries of Shell-Shocked soldiers, or P.T.S.D victims in a more medical manner. But the worst of all, the screams of civllians whenever they get into our line of sight.

We have our orders: Every single pony that's in the Zone needs to be terminated on the spot. Do not touch ponies that were potenitally exposed to the infection, do not spare them, do not talk to them. Just shoot them and move on with your fucking life.

The proclamation speakers that we set up to intimidate civllians to stay home, of course they didn't, made a weak static sound before we heard our C.C's voice. "We're pulling back in thirty! Hold 'em a little bit longer!"

I took a quick peak at my hoof-watch.

19:30

I gave a frown at the watch and ran toward my shooting post. Moving my head higher to find my relocation Command reposted me to. My squad was at the other side of the temporary base setup.

"Night Dawn?!" A large earthpony screamed out, looking around and spotting me making my way toward him. "You're fucking late! Take this sector's MG post and hold the infected off until we mark LZ!"

I saluted, "Roger that sir!" walking up to the Machinegun post and cocking it, peering through the iron sight and focusing my mind on the trigger, my horn glew slightly and the MG lit up, blasting heads and limbs of charging infected.

Round after round was emptyed into the infected charging, it was so pathetic to see pony-like creatures just running to the line of fire, like they wanted us to blast them. Like I could blame them for wanting to end their suffering.

After a few more mags of MG rounds I stood back and blinked a few times to clear my vision from the MG's smoke, I went cross-eyed for a split second to check the time.

19:48

Twelve minutes until pull out. Twelve minutes until night. Twelve minutes...

I stepped aside and let another soldier take my post, I took an offered canteen that one of the fellow soldiers was giving out to anyone he could. I took it with my magic and levitated it above my head, looking upwards and opening my mouth before flipping the canteen over, pouring the water all over my sweaty body.

I felt a pat on my back, and saw it was Armor Plate, smiling at me with his signature revolver floating next to him.

"Gave 'em hell, didn't ya?" He smiled.

I nodded. "Better them than me." I replied casually, downing the rest of the canteen into my throat. Letting my body cool off from both the exertion and automatic fire's smoke.

"I'll never know what they teached you in the Lunar Guard." He remarked with a sarcastic smile, pushing down the extractor on his gun's cylinder and watching the high-caliber empty shells fall to the ground and scatter. I knew that those six useless shells took down at least one infected each.

I shot him a half-glaring frown. "When I enlisted, I didn't knew killing the undead was a part of my contract." I snorted, "showing you the Solar guards how to play? Maybe. But killing mutants?" I rested the canteen over my opened muzzle, trying to gulp down the last of drops. "If I were you? I'd change my resume if I had something left in there" I smiled, tapping the side of his head.

He punched my shoulder. "Suck a cock..." He muttered with a malcontent frown, taking out a full speedloader of .44's and slid it into his gun's cylinder, throwing away the speedloader and smacking the cylinder home.

"Hopefully not yours!" I retorted, giving him a teasing wink.

Armor plate was a close friend, not the best, but I wish there were more soldiers like him. He was a totally black unicorn from head to hoof, his two-tone green and brown mane was his most impressive feature. A pair of two, staring, magenta orbs were in the middle of his face, and his left ear had a small rapture-turned-scar that he managed to get via taking a bullet to his ear, he nearly lost his hearing in that ear.

Behind him I saw Golden Hoof and Saddlebag moving up to us. Golden Hoof was our commanding officer, he was in the Solar Guard way before the infection. He had a golden-orange hide, pair of gazing brown eyes and a deep beet red mane and an impressive horn. And no, I'm not talking about the one on his head...

Saddlebag was a dark-tan pegasus, his black mane was matching his hide somehow, but his two bright pink eyes were a weird feature to see on such a brutal soldier. He once killed a Volatile with his wings only, ripping the undead apart using his appendages to slice him into two parts. Ponies call him 'Mentally Unstable", I call him "Totally Badass".

"Dawn, Armor. Our LZ is here in five. Let's move it." Golden Hoof ordered.

I nodded and gathered my stuff, those 'stuff' were only my personal shotgun and my helmet, before following the trio to the marked LZ. As we walked together toward the only exit leading to an opened space, which used to be a small park near Ponyville's Library, I glanced at ponies moving crates of ammunition and weapons to the farthest point from the city. We have no clue why, but the Infected are extremely resilience and aggressive inside urban enviroment.

"A quick side-brief: LZ is out of Zone, so we're going to make a run for it. No bullshittin' around, 'Nderstood?" Golden Hoof continued.

"Yesir!" We all called out in unison. Walking slowly toward the exit. In the distance I could make out the foggy red flare of our LZ. The improvised door was quite enough to hold regular infected out. But the case wasn't the same with Volatiles.

At night, some Infected are mutating for a reason we're yet to know since the labs just feed shit down our throats about their analysis of the virus. "We have a breakthrough!" On one moment, "We're far from anything useful." an hour later. Anyways, the infected become more agile, more powerful, quicker, stronger. Bottom line: More lethal than regular infected. They can climb walls, pounce extra high, survive more shots, hard to track... But they hate light. So we use it against them. If it isn't a horde of Volatiles, just blind the fuck outta them.

"You're ready?" Armor Plate asked me, he cocked his assault rifle and shook the crawling feeling that went up his spine visibly.

"Fuckin' ready." I replied, punching his shoulder weakly and taking out my shotgun, loading a few more slug rounds into it while I can. Better be ready.

"Yeah... We're marking Zone Delta as a potential Dead Zone. I repeat, Zone Delta is now qualified as a Dead Zone, all units are ordered to evacuate immediately, we're sealing the Dead Zone in five minutes. Don't die out there..."

"Well, that's some horseapples." Saddlebag muttered.

"Quiet. We're out of here in no-time." Golden Hoof barked. We all nodded and waited for the gate to open up. After a few sounds of rustling chains the gate opened, revealing us to the dusk of another night. And if we're going to fuck-up. It's going to be our last.

"Now! Go! Go!" Golden Hoof screamed and charged forwards. The AC-130 EVAC Cargo plane was now on LZ. A few soldiers were boarding up supplies and themselves onboard. A few were guarding the EVAC to prevent any infected contact.

I heard a beeping sound from below me, my hoof-watch.

20:00

It's night.

"Volatiles sighted!" A pony screamed. Before I got to register what he just said, I was pounced on by a gray, rotting and filled with cuts, infected pony. A Volatile.

His mouth opened to the sides instead of a regular downwards of a pony's jaw. The weird infected guts and blood mixture dripped from his mutated mouth as he screeched at me threatingly. Out of instinct, I held him away from me, his jaw snapping at me and trying to gnaw my face off.

Frantically looking to both sides, I spotted my shotgun lying a few feet to my left. I took a quick inhale and let out a loud cry, using all the force I could muster to kick the Volatile off of me. Shoving the creature away just enough for me to roll back and levitate the firearm to bearing. As I lined my iron sights I felt as the world slowed down, I could see Armor Plate and Golden Hoof in the corner of my vision blasting away charging infecteds that tried to get close to the EVAC crew, from the other side I could see Saddlebag breaking a Volatile's neck with his wings and hooves, ripping the infected's noggin off of its shoulders.

My heart beat faster than I've ever recalled. I felt as if I was flying as I exhaled and closed my eyes, squeezing back the trigger. The recoil from the twelve Gauge shell being hit by the shotgun's hammer kicking back on my shoulder. The roar of the slug shooting out of the barrel and the fireball of gas and gunpowder flowering out of the muzzle were followed.

In seconds the Volatile's head was shredded by a giant bullet straight into his cranium, followed by another, and another, and another. By the third there was no way he'd come back, but I emptied shell after shell after shell into the lifeless corpse. Guts and internal organs spilled everywhere. Infected blood covered my face and chest.

Something small and cold nudged my hoof, and when I looked down a small metalic apple greeted me. The world around me melted into nothingness as I could hear distant cries and gunshots. I collapsed on my rump fifteen yards away from the blast, the shotgun rattling on the ground next to me as I felt something oozing down my hindleg.

"Dawn! Get the fuck over here!" Golden Hoof screamed from inside the AC-130, sprinting down to me and throwing my hoof around his shoulder. Armor Plate did the same with my other hoof as they both dragged me to the EVAC. Life slowly fleeted away from me as I looked down at me leg, a bite mark.

I'm Infected.

I was thrown into the AC-130 while my squad mates covered the advance of a few other remnant soldiers running for their lives. Armor Plate held me up and held my hoof, and I saw I was shredded with shrapnel.

"Jab 'im with painkillers, hook 'im to some IV's. Just for Celestia's sake keep him alive!" Saddlebag barked at the medical crew, who just stared back at the pegasus in shock. He was covered with more grime and guts than I was, and after seeing how he killed the Volatiles, the medics were probably in need of a psychologist.

As I was injected with and stabbed by half of the needles on the EVAC by the medics. Armor Plate patched up my hooves. But when he examined my left hindleg, his face turned so pale he was a bright shade of gray. When I groaned and moved my head enough to look what he was looking at, he reacted slow enough before he covered up the bite.

I just smiled weakly at him, my left eye was so badly injured I was using only my right one. "Dude..." He mouthed. Taking another glimpse and trying to clean the blood away, hoping to see it was just imagination, but the wound just kept on bleeding. "No... Dawn..." He looked into my eyes.

Golden Hoof pushed Armor Plate aside, I tried to hide my wound with a hoof, but he held my hoof high, taking a look at my wound and frowning.

"Dawn." He said, not moving his gaze from the wound.

I felt my guts tied in a knot. I gulped and shook my head slightly to clear my thoughts. "Yes... Yes sir?" I barely said, more out of fear than out of strain.

He released his vice grip on my hoof, taking a step backwards and looking into my eyes. "When?" He asked simply.

"When what?" My knees were now barely anything harder than jello, I knew what will happen if he'll just say so.

He stomped in anger on the metalic floor of the AC-130. "When have you gotten bitten?!" He screamed.

"Just a... Just a second ago..." I stammered.

Saddlebag walked up to me, examining the wound. "It's fresh. Approximatly five minutes since the bite. Not longer." He told Golden Hoof.

"So what now? We can't just kill 'em!" Armor tried to reason with Golden Hoof. It wouldn't be the first time he'd order us to 'help' an infected soldier.

Golden Hoof thought of something, nodding in the slightest and moving to and fro around the AC-130.

"Sir?" Saddlebag asked. "We're not killin' 'em, are we?"

He raised a hoof to signal us he was about to speak, looking into my eyes and sighing. "Are you feeling alright?" He asked.

I nodded. "Except for the gaping hole on my fuckin' leg, I'm alright" I replied coldly.

"Yap, he ain't turnin' jus' yet." Saddlebag said incidentally.

"Just yet" Golden Hoof echoed him, looking into Saddlebag's eyes and making him freeze in intimidation.

"What're we gonna do? Just watch 'em turn?" Armor asked. His voice tembling in worry. He isn't my best friend, but we care for each other. We had each other's lives in the other's hooves for quite some time now, losing one of our squad members is going to be just a bit more than a bitch.

"We don't got much choice in that regard." Golden Hoof muttered under his breath.

"What?! With all due respect, sir. He ain't dyin' on me while Ah jus' watch 'em. Ah saw civis turn, 't ain't a walk in th' park" Saddlebag retorted, his soldierish behavior fading away as he watched Golden Hoof's expressions. Something in Saddlebag can gaze into your soul, he can know what you're thinking even if you're the best at hiding it. He can read thoughts. "Ya wouldn't dare ta do 't, Golden..."

"You got a brilliant idea, soldier? I say we just drop 'em." Golden Hoof said. That's the good thing operating under his command, he'd rather ask if we're alright with his commands before he excute them. But something's telling me he ain't going to really listen to us this time.

"Ah say we jus' shove a grenade up yer friggin' tailhole!" Saddlebag snapped, Armor held him from pouncing on Golden Hoof.

"Soldier! Do you want him to chew on your balls while you just watch?!" Golden Hoof screamed.

"Ah prefer that, yes!" Saddlebag replied, shaking Armor Plate off him and moving toward Golden Hoof.

For a few seconds, they were muzzle to muzzle, almost touching. If there was less tension in the AC right now, I'd just push them together and watch things heating up, but their expressions were of pure rage, even hatred on Saddlebag.

Without any warning, Saddlebag raised his hoof and punched Golden Hoof's face, making him look on the ground and spit blood out of his mouth.

Saddlebag looked at the haunched unicorn infront of him. With that, he raised his other hoof's elbow and was about to hit him on the neck, but Golden Hoof dashed aside and kicked the dark-tan pegasus on his side, emptying his lungs from air before pouncing ontop of him and holding his two hooves behind his back with one hoof, almost breaking them.

"Arrghh! Get off of me!" Saddlebag grunted, wiggling around and thrashing his back legs to try and get Golden Hoof off of him.

Golden Hoof didn't replied, and just when it looked like he was about to let him go, Saddlebag's wings were trapped under his grasp, and with one swift motion, a loud crunch was sounded, followed with Saddlebag half-crying half-screaming in pain, buckling his hinds against the metalic floor.

"Stop it! Stop!" He screamed, spit dripping down his chin, mixed with tears.

This was when we realized something was wrong.

Armor Plate charged Golden Hoof, tackling him and getting him off the crippled pegasus below him, but not before he held his other wing and crushed his other appendage too.

The crying pegasus on the floor was weeping as his two broken wings were bleeding from the joints, and Armor Plate and Golden Hoof were wrestling on the other side of the AC-130, trying to beat the shit out of each other.

I was so stunned from the turn of events that I was just froze in place. But something else caught my attention, a beeping sound from the cockpit.

The sound of Armor Plate's body hitting the side of the AC-130 snapped me back to the action infront of me, Golden Hoof walked closer to the disabled and weeping pegasus in the middle of the plane. Targeting his broken wings and holding them with his hooves, with one snap, he teared them off his back. Making Saddlebag to weep silently, all of his power went blank as his eyes were rolling slowly to the back of his head.

Just before I thought Golden Hoof will kill Saddlebag, a loud explosion made me hold the bars next to me for purchase, closing my eyes and feeling us losing altitude.

"Dawn!"


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"Dawn?" Daisy Soil asked me.

I opened my eyes. Looking around, seeing the yellow mare looking down at me, her fire-orange mane flowing perfectly down her shoulders and neck. She gave me a worried look.

I cocked up on the bed, realizing where I am.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine" I replied, almost annoyed.

"Another flashback?" She asked, sitting next to me and hoofing me a water bottle.

I nodded, downing half of the bottle in two chugs. Making the plastic bottle to contract audibly.

"Woah, whoa, whoa. Save some for me, 'War veteran'," Daisy chuckled, trying to make me smile with another poorly-made joke from her endless arsenal of bad jokes.

I looked around the room, we've been here for a while, we should move out before someone or something finds us. It's an abandoned apartment, all crumbled and decayed, broken down and mossy wooden furniture, grayed out wallpapers and long-ruined belongings of somepony who probably died years ago. Marvelous how ten years can make the once elite of Equestria into nothing more than rubble and decay, from everything a pony could want, into less than enough for a pony to even stay for more than a couple of days.

I heard the slow breathing of other two ponies, a sleeping earthpony, Metal Tail, curled into a ball. His mane and tail are silver-metal, like his name suggests. His dark purple-lavender hide, just a bit darker than her majesty, or may I say once-been-majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Right now, she ain't nothing to me, when she'd rescue our tails out of here, maybe I'd choose to call her something of resmblence of a pony, until then, she's the reason I'm here.

The other was a dark-tan stallion, sleeping with his armor still on him, hiding his 'shame' of losing his wings. Since then, he calls every unicorn a traitor for his loss of wings. Except for me, since I was there to help him out. But he still hates me for being a unicorn, I can't blame him. If a pegasus will break my horn, I would be angry on pegasi too, but not on all of them. Only the ones that remind me the son of a bitch that did it to me.

I quickly found out something, more accurate, something was missing. More accurately than that, someone.

"Where's Bark?" I asked.

Daisy looked at me sternly before her expressions went softer. Waving her hoof in dismission. "Don't worry 'bout him. Sniffing around" She smiled.

Oh well, if that dog won't return, I won't be too dissapointed. That jerk is stealing my food for too long now, and I can't tell Daisy that a two feet tall puppy is stealing from me food without her laughing on me until one of us is getting a bullet in the nogging.

"I'll stay put, get some eye-shut" I ordered Daisy.

"I'm fine... I'm..." She stopped for a long yawn. "..I'm totally fine"

"Sure you are. Trust me, I won't lock Bark outside if he returns" I told her with a smile.

She shot me a glare. "Sure you won't do it, again. For the Nth time" She rolled her eyes.

"Get some sleep you mule" I joked, nudging her with my hoof.

The yellow unicorn walked lazily for her sleeping bag, crashing on it and instantly falling asleep in a snoring fit.

A smile forced itself on my muzzle, I snatched my gaze away from her and looked aside. Taking out my shotgun and unloading slowly the slugs one after another, taking out a cleaning kit I've scavenged years ago, that now consist of only a cleaning rod, some cleaning powder and a piece of cloth that's more grease and dirt than cloth.

I began working on the barrel, doing my best to keep the gun at best condition. I really don't care about the gun I'm using, as long as it goes bang and keeps me safe. And can make the living fear me, I'd take everything. Bonus points if it gets the job done without too much ammo. Hence the shotgun, at point-blank to five meters, one to the head and watch it drop dead. Five meters and beyond... I'll let my luck play it's role. If those two won't do the work, I got here a few ponies that can snipe a flying bit from a kilometer and hit it dead-middle.

A few barks from outside made me jump up and aim my gun at the door before the Equestrian Shepherd puppy opened the door with his snout and peaked inside, growling at me and moving his head behind the corner before dragging a filled to the brim backpack into the room.

I lowered my barrel and watched the canine puppy having troubles with moving the backpack into the room. I placed the gun aside and snatched it from his grasp, but he just barked threatingly at me before jumping and holding the backpack in his clenched maw, hanging from it while giving me a challenging look.

I sighed and chuckled at the same time, levitating the backpack above Daisy and shaking the dog from the backpack, making him fall on Daisy as she woke up and looked at the brown and black puppy that began licking her face.

"Hey, Bark!" She cooed, looking at the levitated backpack above her. "Where'd you?..."

I pointed at Bark, smiling. "Your little scavenger isn't completly useless"

She began playing around with the Equestrian Shepherd, petting his belly and rolling him around. "Who's a good Barky-Bark?" She began praising him.

Before I got to even open the backpack, Saddlebag and Metal Tail woke up from the hyperactive canine. Groaning and complaining.

I rolled my eyes and took the backpack in my hooves, opening it up and saying aloud everything I took out.

"Barky... Let me sleep five more minutes..." Metal Tail whispered, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Trying to get the canine off him.

Saddlebag just looked at the backpack and shot me a questioning glare.

"Alright, we got here..." I said, opening the backpack and taking out the first item I touched. "A mystery box..." I muttered, taking out a small container. Throwing it on Metal Tail and making him snap back to reality.

"Alright! Alright! I'm up!" He whined.

I chuckled and took another item out of the backpack. A rustling green metalic box with various numbers, ammunation box. It still contained something inside. "Millitary issued ammunation box" I smiled, placing it on the bed behind me. "Mine" I exclaimed.

Saddlebag just rolled his eyes and lied back down with a deep sigh.

I took a few more assault rifle mags, throwing it at Daisy.

"Thanks, really" She said, "I'd take it, but Metal Tail's using this kind of caliber. Gimme 5.56, Dawn. Not 7.62"

I ignored her egghead talking. "Sure, sure. Want a vibrator with it?" I mocked her.

She huffed at me, "Suck me"

"Not interested"

I returned to the backpack, taking out a few buckshot and slug boxes, keeping it for myself before continuing. Taking out a few cans of food, mainly canned fruits and vegetables.

"Urrgghh... Where's the fuckin' meat?" I complained.

"Cannibal..." Metal whispered.

I chose to ignore it, this time.

"Fuckin' useless. Nothing exciting" I commented. Getting more and more irritated with each item. "Junk. Junk. Junk. Junk... Ju-Hello!" I said. Taking out a hoofcanon. A litteral one. It looked like it uses a big caliber. And I like big guns.

Saddlebag looked over his shoulder and at the hoofcanon. Sighing and looking at the ground with an annoyed expression. ".50 Cal, 'Hoof-Cruncher' Revolver, six rounds each reload and..."

"Yeah yeah yeah" I stopped him, raising a hoof. "Get to the point"

He sighed again. Getting up and snatching the gun from my hoof, examining it closely. He didn't looked so impressed at first. "Yeah, I saw better sticks". Tilting it around and peering through the iron sights, dusting it and trying it around. But something made him freeze in his place.

Saddlebag.exe Stopped working?

"Ummm. Saddle?" I asked.

He gave me a glare. "One, don't call me that" He said flatly and a touch angry, waving the barrel my way. "Second, where'd you find this?" He asked.

I looked at Daisy and then at Bark. Pointing at the attention-whoring canine.

"We need to get out of here" He said, placing the gun inside his armor and taking his own backpack from the side, attaching it to his armor and folding his sleeping bag.

"What happened?" Daisy asked, worried. Getting up and holding Bark in her hooves. "What's wrong?"

Saddlebag didn't replied, just glared at her with his 'Fucking unicorns' face and went back to gathering his stuff.

"Saddlebag, what can I do so you'd trust me?" Daisy asked.

"I dunno, stop being a unicorn?" He growled.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, pointing at me. "What about Dawn? He's a unicorn!"

"He is, but he is an exception" He retorted. "It's not against you personally, but unicorns are not to be trusted. Not inside the Dead Zone"

Her expression went from annoyed to angry. She stomped to get his attention, not getting a reaction from the tan once-pegasus. She stomped closer to him and bucked his hindleg, making him fall on his belly as she held his hoof behind his back, like Golden Hoof did to him ten years ago, at the AC.

His eyes widened as his pupils shrinked, he began thrashing and wiggling around uncontrollably. "Get off me! Get the fuck off me!" He screamed.

She jumped off of him, looking at me as I gave her a dissapproving shake of my head.

"I'm sorry Saddlebag, are you alright?" She gasped, trying to help him up. He just swatted her hooves away from him and began mumbling incomprehensibly.

"Fuck. Off. Traitor!" He managed to say between mumbles. Shaking and foaming.

"What?... I just..." Daisy stuttered.

I took my gun and holstered it, taking the extra backpack and hanging it on my own backpack. Making sure I didn't left anything behind.


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Five minutes later we were on our way. It was early morning. Metal Tail and Daisy were chatting about what happened today with Bark half-inside Daisy's backpack, his tongue lolled from the side of his mouth, enjoying his ride.

I walked closer to Saddlebag, seeing the expression on his face. The same one from that day...

I reached to my vest's pocket and took out a map of Union City, we are planning for a few weeks now to get over there, if there's anything that isn't looted to the bone, it's there. From food to guns to ammo, I guess Bark visited there if he got that amount of supplies. But how? It might be someone's.

We finally got out of the main street, we are in what used to be a small forest for camping, now the perfect place to walk unnoticed from place to place, or to set the perfect ambush. But unless Bark is going to whip out a speaker and start beat boxing, we're good.

We walked between trees and bushes. On the lookout for everything that isn't us.

Ever had that feeling that you're being watched? Well, multiply it by a few hundred times, plus you're in the middle of an abandoned forest, inside a Dead Zone, filled with undead and bandits. I had worst days. Like when my marefriend dumped me for that stupid unicorn, just because he could do a better horn-job doesn't mean I don't have personall--

"Stop!" Saddlebag told us quietly,

We all froze in place, I took out my shotgun as Saddlebag took out his own Hunting rifle.

I nudged his flank, fighting the temptation to pounce on his delicious and round rump that I'd--

A bulky earthpony, dressed like a Royal Guard, charged us from the bushes with a giant machete. He can have my machete any time soon.

I quickly dashed aside, moving my hoof under him and making him stumble and fall down on his face, I emptied two slugs into him, one into his cranium, one into his nontheless tasty flank.

In the meantime, Saddlebag didn't even used his rifle, he just went full you only live once on them, ripping them apart like only he could. Panting and covered with blood, he just sat on a pile of three dead Guards, most missing just a little bit than all of their limbs.

Metal Tail and Daisy Soil downed three more Guards from our right. Once we all were sure that's all for now, we began looting.

I rummaged through the bulky Guard, the rule is that: Loot what you kill. So I'd make do with this fellow, too bad I'll be called necrophile if I'd show that fine flank a move or two. Yeah, I'm a bit crazy when it comes to flanks.

He had some AR bullets, guess I can trade some with Metal Tail for a few of his slugs. Some beef jerky bags, guess I'll be eating like a royal today! Some meds, lame.

And.... A condom? Oh Daaiiisssyyy

I didn't even realized the smile I wore at that second. Because Daisy sure did.

"Hey, you'll need more than that to get this flank" Daisy taunted. Smiling and flicking her eyes from my face to down my... "Oh gawd, fuck me!" I crossed my hinds and blushed so hard I almost passed out, in hindsight actually, I would've prefered passing out there and then to avoid the embarresment. Throwing the condom aside and walking behind a bush.

"Just... Need a piss, that's all" I replied awkwardly.

Daisy chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Sure you do, big boy"

Great, now I lost not just my self esteem and the chance to get laid with a proper mare, but the condom too!

Calming myself down and actually pissing for once, and not just lying to... Errm... Help myself... I enjoyed it more than I would like, grunting too loud, but I was just caught with my pants down, litteraly, so they can think whatever they want about me.

When my bladder was empty enough, I vaulted over the bush and saw that I was alone. Maybe they didn't realized I was still pissing? Maybe they're just hiding?

A branch that broke behind me was all I needed to duck from the buttstock of a rifle, I got up and avoided a stabbing motion from the barrel-end of the rifle. I closed my eyes and shot my attacker, which I was yet to even see properly at that pony. Smiling smugly. "Ha! Missed me you fuc..."

Ouch.

I fell on the ground and fell my nose bleeding, my whole face was burning in pain as my eyes closed on thier own accord.

"Let's go"


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