Anomaly
Nightmare Night is an Equestrian holiday taking place on October 31st dedicated to Princess Luna, formerly known as 'Nightmare Moon'. In which ponies dress up in various costumes and go door to door asking for candy. It happens to coincide right with the earth holiday, ' Halloween'. The two are similar, yet different at the same time. Now, how is this information applicable? Simple. Ponyville is home to a very... Eccentric human by the name of William. Who just happens to enjoy both holidays. In spite of the fact that some claimed that he was getting too old for it. Well, Princess Celestia and Luna still went trick or treating. And they're thousands of years older than him. He had decided to turn in early. He headed back to his house on the southwestern side of town, ate a light dinner, got cleaned up, and collapsed on his bed like an empty artillery casing. He crawled up his bed and pulled the sheets over himself. He took one last look out his second story bedroom window. A flock of bat's flew past his house and into the dark, moonlit October sky. William rolled over and fell asleep.
"Agh!!!" William's eyes snapped open as he rolled over in agony. His back was aching again. He glanced over at his alarm clock. It's dim red lighting spelled out. '8:39'. It was still a mystery to him as to how when he needed time, time seemed to go by faster. And when he needed time to go faster, it seemed to slow to a stand still. Before dropping back out of consciousness. He usually didn't feel like this in the afternoon.
He hadn't even pushed himself that much over the day. If anything, it had been one of his easy days no running and gunning, no angry ponies getting in his way no excessive attention, no running toward monsters while others ran from them. " Damnit, this should be easy!" He breathed out through his nose.
There was something nagging him in his head. But he couldn't quite remember what it was. All of a sudden, he vision began to blur. And all of a sudden, he blacked out. The thing is, normally. William was self aware in a situation like this. In most of his dreams, and even nightmares. He had complete control over his actions. Due, in part, to Luna's 'dream walking'.
This, this was something different entirely. He was barely able to form coherent thoughts.
After a few moments of what felt like falling. He began to feel something beneath him. It was cold, and crumbled as he tried to move. Whatever it was, it wasn't his bed. He could hear wind whistling, but... oddly enough. No trees rustling. He opened his eyes and looked straight up. Rather than seeing the ceiling of his bedroom. He was greeted with an grey overcast sky. "Weather's nice at least." His eyes veered leftwards. He appeared to be lying in a field of dirt. He rubbed his eyes and staggered to his feet. His back pain was still there. Though it wasn't as bad as it had been before. William brought his hands out and looked around. He spotted Ponyville in the distance, it was just north of him. Though something was wrong with it and-
"Holy shit." He mouthed out, Mount Canterhorn. Or what was left of it, had just entered his field of view. Even from this distance. He could the enormous towers of Canterlot were crumbling and torn to shreds. An ominous pink fog seemed to hang over the city. Around him, he began to notice that the wasteland was dotted with tree stags. All of a sudden, he began to feel a sinking feeling of concern in his stomach. It was already apparent that he wasn't in his house. William snapped his hands, and a Giger counter appeared in his left palm. To fit it, he donned a set of boot's, gloves, a cowl, a vest, a helmet, and some sturdier clothing. It was far from a whole NBC. (Nuclear. Biological. Chemical) Protective suit, but it was far better than the MARPAT pajamas and socks he had on prior to that. He switched the counter on and held it out. Twiddling with the hammer of his sidearm as he waited for a reading.
He paused for a few moments, and just let the counter click away. This wasn't entirely a new thing for him, he grandpa had taken him to the Chernobyl in Ukraine a few years ago. He got a crash course there. Plus, he had played the STALKER games before. Not really applicable. But still worthy of mention. "Ah, barely 10 microsieverts! Well, it's not ideal. But at least I know I'm not gonna start glowing. Now, I need to think of a plan-"
"Hold on... This is all still a dream, right? There was no answer. Just the continuous howling of the irradiated winds." This is not very Cheeky Breeki- Goodness gracious what am I saying!? I don't know a single darn person that uses that phrase. Or pony. Or... Really anything. Well... The wind feels real, as does the dirt. Oh, it could just be a lucid dream? But then again, they all are for me since I moved to Equestria! Oh well." His eyes drifted from the counter back up to the dilapidated landscape around him. He realized that he'd have to come up with a 'plan' of some kind. This wasn't the Equestria he was used to. It had been a long, long time since he had read Fallout: Equestria.
William didn't remember much. But he did remember that firearms, along with other pieces of, 'modern' technology' were prevalent in this world. He'd have to be much more cautious than he had been in the other Equestria. He wasn't sure whether this was a dream or not.
He pulled the lever on his retention holster and drew his sidearm. A left-hand oriented Colt M45A1 with a burnt bronze paintjob, upgraded iron sights, and a flashlight. He grinned, and holstered it. His primary weapon of choice for the time being would be an MP 7 with closed emitter red dot and a forward mounted light. Mainly because he just couldn't think of anything else to use for the time being. He could swap to something else with the flick of a mental switch anyway.
Food, water, and... "Faculties." That was his main concern now, though he wasn't quite sure where he'd get it. He thought back to Ponyville. It appeared to be only a quarter mile away. And surely it would have something more interesting than the desolate field he had found himself in.
"Snipers." William though to himself. He looked eastward. The closest thing resembling cover was... A rusted out car? Huh. He wasn't going to question it for the time being. It looked a good 140 yards away. So he set out towards the vehicle.
Half a minute later, he was crouched behind it. He looked around, he was standing atop... Crumbled asphalt? "Well go figure, cars mean roads." He got up from his knees and walked over to the driver's side the car. His face was filled with an expression of joking concern. Lying sprawled out across the front seat of the vehicle was... The corpse of a unicorn. It's skin was a sickly green and it's mane had fallen out. His eyes widened. " Oh, oh well. God knows how long you've been here." He spun around and began to walk away.
"Graugh!" William paused for a moment and raised a gloved finger. " Lemme guess-"
He turned around to the sight of the unicorn- well, what was left of it. Crawling out of the dilapidated vehicle and scrambling to all threes. It's fourth leg was too damaged to walk on. But it didn't seem to care. It's eye's glowed bright green. And the rest of its body was a raggedy mess. The sight was slightly unnerving even to him. Seeing that he didn't want to get attacked by the horrid creature in front of him, he promptly raised his PDW and opened fire. Letting loose a four round burst into it's head. He winced at the sound of the gunfire, recalling that he had forgotten hearing protection. And hopping that it wouldn't draw any unwanted attention to him. The creature stumbled for a moment, and then collapsed a good 20 feet from him. He watched as the glow faded from it's eyes. He let out a sigh of relief.
" Well... It wasn't technically a pony." He laughed, and walked back over to the car. William broke open the door lock with a halligan. And got a better look. He was silently hoping that it might still be operational. But no, it was just a rusted out hunk of metal on the side of the road. He groaned, and set off towards the ruins of Ponyville. As he walked away, he swapped to a fresh magazine on his sub-gun.William broke out into a humming of " When Johnny Come's Marching Home." As he went on down the road, he kept one eye on his Giger counter, and one on his surroundings. He estimated that he'd be in town limits within 10 minutes.
It was not 10 minutes away. This may have been Equestria, and the town he now had in view may have once been Ponyville. But the topography around it was completely different. It ended up taking just under a half hour to make it into town. And by the time he got there, William was completely exhausted. So he stepped to the side of the road and reclined back on a pile of sandbags.
"Wait, sandbags?" He thought to himself. He ran his gloved hand over the construct. They felt new.
"Hey, dirtbag!" a voice called out from behind the fortification. He cursed silently. " Yes, who is this?"
"Oi!!! We got us a live one!" William couldn't make out much of the conversation that ensued behind him. But one thing was certain to him. The universal noise of a rifle bolt cycling. Without bothering to think who, or what might have been behind the sandbags, he popped back up and began spraying away with his gun until the magazine ran dry. He let it fall to his chest as he drew his sidearm and moved in to get a better look at who he had just shot up. It was... A griffon. With what looked suspiciously like an improvised Mosin Nagant.
"That would have been very painful. " He joked, he looked back up over at Ponyville. And spotted the group of about two dozen rather unpleasant looking ponies which the griffon had most likely been conversing with before William had doused him with 4.6 x30 Millimeter rounds. Most were wearing improvised armor, and all were armed. They carried a mixture of firearms and edged weapons. All of them looked to be in varying states of disrepair.
"Damn, it's Fallujah all over again! Heh... You know, I've never actually been there before." He was now talking out loud. " Y'all should know, I hear it's real nice this time of year. Lot's of IED's and extremists with AKM's!"
"You sound like a real funny guy, whatever you are." One of the ponies responded. It was an earth pony stallion with red fur and a scar on his neck. There was something off with his eyes. " Hehe, ya know... My fur wasn't always like this. It used to be bright gleemin' white!!!" He reached into a saddle bag at his side and pulled out a half rusted shovel head. Which he threw at William. It sailed over his head. " Get 'em! I want that fancy looking gun of his!" The ponies began slowly advancing on him. It was just then when he realized that these weren't... Normal ponies. They were Raiders.
And they appeared to value his stuff more than his life. He had lost the patience to negotiate. He slung his PDW over his shoulder, and materialized a MK 18 Carbine with a 40 round pro mag loaded with M855A1 steel core ammunition. Alongside a closed emitter red dot, a suppressor, and a foregrip to top it all off.
"Back off!!! Drop your weapons and sprawl out on the ground!!!" They didn't stop. He raised his weapon and took it off safe. When an idea came to his mind. He reached into one of the pouches on his vest and pulled out a single R- GD5 hand grenade. As soon as he drew it. The entire gang halted before him. He waved at them, pointing at the grenade as he did.
"Hey, hey!" They watched it with utter bewilderment. "Fetch!" He pulled the pin, and threw it as far as he could in the direction of them, it rolled into a ditch behind them. He began to hear gunfire. Without waiting a moment more, he took the opportunity for a retreat tactical withdrawal in which he calmly dead sprinted a quarter mile as the survivors of his...'joke' pursued him. Eventually though, he outran them. And arrived at Sweet Apple Acres full of adrenaline.
Correction, what was left of Sweet Apple Acres. The trees had been reduced to burnt twigs, the infrastructure was just in a similar shape of disrepair to the rest of Ponyville. And... Was that something glowing? William took up a slightly slower jogging pace and continued up the road until he found himself at the front door's of Applejack's former house. He didn't bother try to imagine what had happened to her and her family. In fact, William already knew. He found the source of the glow.
"Apples?" There were a few trees out in front of the barn which were still bearing fruit. All of which his Giger counter firmly told him not to approach. They glowed a sickly green. They same tone and color of that mutant's eyes which had tried to attack him outside of Ponyville. He paced back and forth for a few moments, trying to decide what to do next.
A giant mantis decided for him. "How many creatures have you eaten?" He asked it sarcastically. He swiftly dispatched of the bug with a single shot from his rifle. It may have been a bit overkill. But it was still, at least in his opinion. "Damn satisfying." He thought back to other Equestria as he swapped magazines. He checked his watch, it read 10: 35. It had been a full two hours since he had arrived. The thing is, it was still light outside. Well... Overcast. But it was still pretty obvious that the sun was out above the clouds.
William kicked up some irradiated dust. "Alright, where too next?" He clapped his hands. And instantly regretted doing so as he began to hear wing flaps over head. He turned around to hear something land with a heavy, 'thud' right where he had been. He noticed that his counter had begun to beep slightly faster than it had before. He began to raise his gun again when he heard a voice which sounded strangely familiar.
"Hello there, are you lost?" A smile crept over William's face.
"Ah, is that who I think it is?" He asked with a chuckle. " Huh?" The voice replied, "who's that?" It sure sounded like her, and so William whipped around to greet her, and instead came face to face with... Something that resembled Derpy Hooves the pegasus.
"Hello there. Are you new around here?" The creature asked him. " You don't look like you're from around here." He nervously scratched the back of his neck. " Yeah." It looked like Derpy Hooves, but there was something wrong with her, parts of her body appeared to have been burnt, or rotted off. Other parts were shriveled. And her eyes had the same green glow as the apples and mutant from before. Just slightly less so.
"What happened to you?"
"Oh, I got hit by a megaspell. But instead of dying, I turned into this! I know I might look scary, but I don't bite!" It was definitely still her. " No, no. I think you look just fine." This made her clap her hooves together with joy. She reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a canteen. She took a step closer to him with it in her right hoof. " You look thirsty!" as she approached, his Giger counter began to beep slightly faster. He backed up in turn.
" Heh, no thanks. I'd rather not get cancer, or radiation poisoning. " He pulled an M17A2 gas mask over his head. Derpy raised an eyebrow. "Ummm... What are you talking about?"
"Just toss me the water." She threw it to him. William caught it and juggled it in both hands until he had verified that it was safe to drink.
"Hm. This tastes, and feels an awful lot like actual water for a dream. Thank you very much Derpy." He went to hand the canteen back to her, but she insisted that he keep it. William was about to pull the additional NBC gear off and continue on, but the irradiated cross eyed mare had one last surprise for him. She bounded towards him and attempted to give him a hug. He winced slightly once more as he heard the counter clicking away on his side.
"Yes, yes. Thank you for helping me out." She backed up and grinned William assisted in slightly pushing her away. " No problem!" He waved as she walked away. Wondering how the hell she was still alive.
About 20 minutes later...
" Balefire, huh? That's a funny name." William muttered to himself. He wasn't quite sure where he was headed to, anywhere was better than the ruins of Ponyville. He was just about ready resume his humming of," When Johnny Come's Marching Home." He stopped paying attention to the ground beneath him for just a few seconds. But it was enough for him to catch his boot on something, and come crashing to the ground.
"Agh! What the Buck!?" An angry voice cried from beneath him. He felt something crawl out from beneath him. At least this time around they where nice enough to greet him face to face. It was a grey unicorn mare. With a Stable Tech jumpsuit and a... Pip Buck?
"Little Pip!?" He facepalmed his helmet. "Yeah? Who the hell are you!? And what are you?" He raised an eyebrow and fixed his belt. "William. I'm a human, I'm not from around here. "
"How do you know my name?" She pressed, William noticed a glow beginning to from around her revolver. " You're quite well known. But I wasn't actively looking for you... Hell, I wasn't doing much of anything. Free advice, walk where you're going. Trust me, It's saved me many, many times. "
"Oh, and don't bother with your gun." He slowly raised his carbine up to low ready. " Seriously. I'm not joking." She smirked at him. " I never said you were joking." The two lowered their guns at the same time. "So... Where are your friends?"
"How do I know I can trust you... William?" She surveyed him from head to toe.
"I didn't shoot you when you tried to draw your gun on me?" He responded, shifting from side to side. His tailbone was hurting, and he wasn't sure why. The expression on her face didn't change. " Plenty of ponies have decided not to shoot me on sight, only to betray me later. "
"But I'm not a pony." She thought about for a little bit. William's argument was blunt, and a bit sarcastic. But it was good enough for her. He didn't seem like the type of creature to shoot someone else in the back. Which he reaffirmed by saying exactly that a second later.
"Alright, you can go with me." He gave her an awkward smile and pointed on ahead. "C'mon, let's go." Little Pip led William over a slope and down towards what looked like a dilapidated Equestrian gas station. Everything appeared as it should have been, with the exception of the 3 sets of hoof tracks leading into it. It was so strange seeing a gas station in Equestria. Normally, it would have been out of place. But given the circumstances, he was alright with it. But he was curious about one thing in particular which he just couldn't quite let go of it.
" Are Equestrian gas station bathrooms as terrible as the one's where I'm from?" Little Pip looked over at him. " I don't know, I've never been in one before. We're just stopping to rest here for a while. I was out doing reconnaissance when I stumbled- Or rather, you stumbled onto me." She laughed.
"Well, I've never been in one. But you can check for yourself if you want." He walked over to the side of the station and broke the lock with the butt of his rifle. Only to slam the door shut again a moment later. " Blood stains, bullet holes, and broken glass. Looks like San Francisco." He calmly muttered. He walked back around to the front, briefly stopping to look around to make sure that there were no creatures waiting to kill him. There where none, only Little Pip, with an impatient expression on her face. William tapped his foot. " I think you should go inside first."
"Ok. Well, follow in after me." She tapped on the front door a few times with her hoof. A few seconds later it slung open. And a brown pegasus stallion trotted on out and turned his guns on William. Who immediately found himself laughing profusely.
"Hah!" He gestured to the stallion's rifles which appeared have been rigged up in such a way so as to allow the pony in question to operate it with their mouth. It was a clever solution. And wait, where they still called sidearms here? William didn't care. " Hold it Calamity, this is William, he's a..."
"A what?" The stallion asked blankly.
"A friend." William thought about it for a moment, then looked off into the distance, and nodded to himself. He was ok with that.
" Is that so?" William grinned and pulled off his gas mask, stuffing it into one of his pockets. "Hi there. How are you doing?"
"Alright, considering where we live." The stallion replied, raising up his hoof. William gladly went and shook it. " My name's Calamity. " William shrugged and glanced inside. " Who's in there?"
"Oh, that's Velvet Remedy. She's making something for us to eat. " William headed inside with them as the sky began to darken, signaling night time.
"Why hello there!" A pony waved to him as he entered into the gas station. It was quite pleasant compared to the outside. A warm fire casted shadows across the rusted and dilapidated walls of the compound. Atop the fire sat a pot filled with what appeared to be a stew of some kind. He got a better look at her as he got closer. She was a unicorn with dark grey fur, and a white mane with streaks of red and yellow. A yellow box sat at her side in place of a regular saddle bag It bore a cross, the universal symbol for medical aid. And her 'cutie' mark was that of a singing bird. He waived back, before sitting down by the fire. He breathed a sigh of relief, and removed his helmet.
"Sweet Celestia, what happened to you?" He heard the mare cry out in surprise. He looked over at her, and went to readjust his vest. But as he felt the back plate of his armor, he noticed something wrong, where there had once been intact MOLIE webbing, there was now a hole, leading into a dent in his armor. It suddenly occurred to him that he had been shot in the back. And that his body armor had caught the round before it could enter his body. But it still left him with a little bruise.
"For goodness sake's Velvet." Little Pip muttered. " Stop worrying about everyone. He's clearly fine." The two argued with one another while William thought about where it could of occurred. He came to the conclusion that the Raiders in Ponyville were just terrible shots. This was something he was fine with.
"Thanks' for worrying ma'am. But I've had far worse than this. Never been shot before, but I have had much worse. C'mon, let me tell you my story. Then you can tell yours." William took in a breath of dust filled air, and began.
About three hours later...
...And that's when I saw the ruins of Canterlot city-" Little Pip stopped him. " Have you had any Rad-X recently? I think you've been out in the wasteland for too long." William facepalmed.
"Damnit! How is it this hard for you to believe me? I'm from an alternate universe, I traveled to another alternate universe, I can manifest any piece of military hardware I so desire. And I'm friends with Celestia and Luna. As well as Twilight and her friends. They aren't called the 'Ministry Mares' in my universe. " Calamity sighed. " Well... William, your story is just a tad bit... Outlandish. "
"Oh, I'll tell ya what's outlandish. Talking multi colored ponies with nukes and guns and chemical weapons!!!" He slammed his gloved fist down on the concrete floor. " Kindly shut up and eat up. The stew's gettin' cold!" Velvet Remedy complained.
William's relations with them had spiraled downhill very, very fast. It was at this time that Calamity began to hear noises coming from outside. Followed by a pale blue glow. "Huh, reminds me of a friend. Probably not him though." William unslung his rifle and brought it up to his shoulder at a canted high ready.
"Calamity- actually, scratch that, Lil' Pip. Open the door with your magic. Stay away from it, Calamity, Lil' Pip, Velvet, get your weapons ready and stay back. If nothing come's in at first I'll go left, Calamity 'll go right, And Pip 'll clear center-" Calamity was muttering to himself. "What is it?" William questioned.
"Oh, nothing, I just haven't heard orders like that since I left the Enclave." William made another mental note to ask about that later.
"Who's there?" Little Pip asked. Before anyone could answer, the door was torn off by a bolt of magic. William had been wise to warn them about standing off to the side. An all blue female alicorn entered into the room. But rather than bothering to attack them, it simply picked Little Pip up with her magic. William had a feeling he knew exactly what was going on. The alicorn was trying to teleport away. Without thinking anything else. William grabbed on to Little Pip's tail, whilst simultaneously proceeding to mag dump the with the Mark 18 carbine in his other hand. He slung himself around and jumped up onto the alicorn's back, but still it didn't give a response. It didn't even bother to try to shake him off.
He looked over at the other two ponies in the room, but they just nervously backed away. "Would y'all mind helpin' me here!? I can't use HE ordinance indoors!" They didn't respond. He didn't have time to think about them, he ejected the spent magazine on the ground and manifested another one, slamming the forward assist so fast he was afraid that the weapon would shatter. Finally, just as the alicorn began to notice Calamity and Velvet Remedy, he slammed the butt of his rifle into it's horn. This finally resulted in a response.
Just not the one he wanted.
The blue alicorn's horn ignited. And not just with magic, the thing literally burst into flame. As the alicorn, Little Pip, the content's of the room, Calamity, Velvet, and William where all thrown into an out of control teleportation vortex. There where much more pressing matter's to worry about at the time. But all William could think about was;
"Damn, I could really go for a pizza right about now. "
It was less than ideal thought. But he still wasn't really worried. After all, this was all just a dream of his. Right?
The first thing William saw coming out of the vortex was actually, to his delight. Clear, albeit dark skies. "Ok, this isn't so bad." He thought to himself. Then he felt the wind whistling past his armor clad body. And two things hit him.
First, he was above the clouds, above Canterlot. Second, the alicorn was now aware of his presence, and was actively trying to rid herself of his presence. Which he normally would have had been fine with. It's just that they where several thousand feet above the ground, she had wings. William... Did not. The alicorn went into a nose dive towards the city. William noticed that Little Pip was still in her magical grasp. William was not going to bother trying to free her. In fact, an idea had just struck him.
That, and the cloud layer hit him in the face. Well... It was abnormally dense for a cloud though. " Guess I don't have any better options. He raised his arms, manifested a wingsuit, and jumped from the alicorn's back with his arms spread wide like an overgrown militant flying squirrel. 15 good seconds later and he was flying almost parallel to the city skyline. He was utterly speechless. William had been to Tartarus before. In his opinion, it was relatively underwhelming.
If there was ever an Equestrian 'hell', it was this place. It was a distant memory of the Canterlot he knew. Aside from a few monuments, it was nearly unrecognizable. Everything was destroyed and mangled, more concerningly, a faint pink mist hung over the city. He banked slightly leftward and landed on a rooftop somewhere in the western side of the city. He looked up just in time to see the faint glow of the alicorn disappear up near the castle. As soon as his boot's had struck the roof tiles his Giger counter had begun to go off on a level which he had never before heard. The faint beeping and clicking was almost defining. He had been smart enough to swap from MOPP level 3 to full level 5.
Nomex and protective polymers covered him from head toe. Alongside a mixture of titanium and Kevlar platers. His suit had a self contained breathing apparatus alongside a rebreather. As well as an internal climate control system and a set of electronic hearing protection. It was everything he needed, and more. He stopped for a moment and looked down at his hands. watching himself as he experimentally clenched his fists, " A bit stiff, but that shouldn't be a problem".
His suit was green and black. Not ideal for Canterlot, but it was considering the circumstances, it would do fine. He had made sure to add in an additional tungsten and bismuth lining. So the radiation wouldn't be a problem. Fixed atop his helmet was a PVS-14 night vision monocular. He tested it out, and found it was compatible with his NBC visor. Though he settled for a simple 1200 Lumen helmet mounted light for convenience sake.
And, speaking of his visor. He had insured that it would be tough enough to stop a 30.06 round if need be. He decided to swap from his Mark 18, which had almost gotten away from him during the fall. To a fully kitted M250 LMG. A suppressor, visible lasers, an additional light, and a EXPS3 holographic red dot sight. In addition to all of this, he slung an M 32 rotary grenade launcher over his shoulder, and stuffed a Glock 18 with a 50 round drum magazine into a separate holster on his right hip. He still had his M45A1 on his left hip.
This his brought his total weight up to about 45 pounds. Which he was fine with, he had dealt with more weight before.
That had been on flat ground. It took him a few seconds to regain his footing. He began to search around for a way down to the ground level. Until he found a ladder. It wasn't in the best shape, but then again, neither was this city. Halfway down, he heard it begin to collapse. So, with no better idea, he jumped the remaining 12 feet of distance between his position and the ground. He landed on all fours. Quickly scrabbling to all fours an raising his gun. Stopping to briefly look around. He activated his headlamp. Though he didn't exactly need it. The pink mist around him glowed a faintly. Which was enough to dimly light up the city. Though it would slightly limit his sight lines. Given his equipment, that wasn't that big of a deal. He had dressed well for the occasion. He had decided to take the most direct route up to the castle. Which, by complete chance, was out of the way of the most concentrated amounts of radiation. It wasn't that bad, though the counter was starting to cheese him off.
It was then when he came face to face with the first signs of life in this place. It was a ghoul. It looked just like the other feral 'ghoul' which he had encountered outside of Ponyville. With the addition of a pinkish glow. He raised his gun and fired off 2 shoots in quick succession, it screeched and collapsed on it's side. William watched as it flailed around on the ground, then got back to it's hooves and once again attempted to try and get to him.
He had expected this in the back of his head, though oddly enough, none of this was unnerving for him. "Tough one, ain't ya?" He remarked. William once more raised his rifle and opened fire, putting a 3 round burst into it's head with tore massive chunks of the abominations head off. It's corpse collapsed on the ground. William didn't have time to admire his work. He kept on going. His pace increased to a slight jog. This drew more unwanted attention. In the from of about 30 more ghouls.
"For goodness sakes! And my own!" Lagging behind him was... What he assumed to be every ghoul in Canterlot. He unslung his M32 and began firing on the horde, blowing holes in the the wall of creatures pursuing him. Whilst quickening his pace to a sprint. Operating the launcher like a revolver, he slung the cylinder off to the side and dropped the six empty grenade casings. Swiftly, William cambered six new shells and locked the cylinder back into place. To by him some time, he began to randomly toss fragmentation grenades behind him until he was within the castle walls. By then, the mutant beings had stopped chasing him. He was now faced with a new threat. That being, a cyborg dragon. With glowing eyes.
Absolutely terrifying stunning. William truly couldn't be happier.
This, is what is known as 'sarcasm'.
But, it wasn't his first time fighting a dragon. He opened up on it with his LMG. Which resulted in a reaction similar to what would happen if you took a pellet gun and shot a grizzly bear in the ear. It stormed around, furiously searching for him. He drew an RPG 7 and took aim at it's right wing. Tearing the putrid appendage off. It growled and sent a gust of greenish fire at him. Which he avoided by taking cover behind a surprisingly study rusted bench. He watched as two more creatures emerged from the distant castle and advanced on him. It appeared to be a a sort of Frankenstein of ghouls which had been fused with their armor and weapons. Oddly enough, he was fine with this. He quickly thought of a plan and lured the rest of the dragon-thing towards the mutants. At last, he took aim at what he judged to be it's center of mass and fired off another rocket. The being stumbled over, and collapsed on the two others.
"This'll be... What? My 3rd time 'liberating' Canterlot... Fourth maybe? Damnit, I've lost track!" He threw his hands up in annoyance. As William began to walk past the enormous pile of corpses which he had created out in front of Canterlot Castle. He noticed that the dragon was still trying to get up.
"You know what!? I've mostly abstained from profanity today, so let it be known that I at least tried!" He turned a 75 millimeter recoil rifle on what was left of the being.
"FUCK YOU!!!" He pulled the trigger and sent a single armor piercing high explosive shell into the dragons head. It exploded, sending irradiated scales across the burnt royal gardens. Which appeared to be teeming with mutated plants which William assumed would make poison oak and rose thorns look and feel like cotton. He wasn't going to test that theory either. He just dead sprinted through the castle hallways until he had found the blue alicorn from before. As well as Little Pip.
"You!?" William growled, training his Glock 18 on the mare. " What are you doing, and how are you and Little Pip not dead? With all this radiation and whatever the hell that pink mist is, I reckoned that you two would have melted into the pavement by now!" He let out a chuckle. The creature stared at him with a blank expression. Little Pip noticed him outside of the magical floating ball of energy which she was incased in. She gave him a nervous smile and gestured to the alicorn with her eyes. William nodded in understanding. But as he went to raise his gun, something odd began to happen to the environment around him.
"Pumpkins? Jack-o-lanterns? Ok, you lost me ma'am. I don't understand what's going on." He scratched his helmet in confusion. He began to hear demonic screeching coming from the next room over. What ever was over there, it was trying to break through the wall. There was a flash of light, and 2 more alicorns appeared. An all green one and an all purple one.
"Wow, this is great. Truly-" William let off another shot from his recoiless rifle, dazing the 3 alicorns for a short time. But, it was just enough for William to get to Little Pip. Unfortunately, when the smoke cleared, he was still left with a trio of angry alicorns looking over him. Probably debating what they were going to do with him.
"Would it help my odds if I told you that I'm actually good friends with a few alicorns? And that I know the royal sister's personally?" The blue alicorn picked him up with a levitation field, and tossed him across the room, right out of one of the skylights. At least he had been able to snatch Little Pip up and get her away from the alicorns. However, a slight problem now presented itself in the fact that he and the unicorn were now hurtling towards the ground about a mile below. Just as he went to deploy his wingsuit however, the sky above him began to clear. Revealing a full moon. From it emerged a figure.
One which he was very, very familiar with. Nightmare Moon. Princess Luna's destructive alter ego. The being caught William and Littlepip in a levitation field, bringing them back up to the castle. A short while after being thrown off the edge. Little Pip had slipped into unconsciousness. And was just now beginning to wake up. The first thing she saw was the confused face of Nightmare Moon.
"Goddess?" She drowsily murmured. William facepalmed. " No, it's just Nightmare Moon. Wake up!" The lunar alicorn let out a chuckle.
"Though, I would like to be called that. You see, little one, whilst Princess Luna may have perished in the Great War. I, did not. Even though it may or may not have been my fault that the Zebra Empire entered into hostilities with Equestria in the first place. Oh well, what's done is done. I can't really do anything about it now." She shrugged. Whilst William struggled to hold back a laugh, Little Pip was silent with confusion. " Oh yes, and, I know this may not mean much. But... Uh, happy nightmare night!" A pair of Snickers bars appeared in front of Little Pip and William. He facepalmed and took the candy in his left hand. Tapping it against his visor.
"Seriously?" He wrapped the candy bar, but as soon as he had done so. The mist began to dissolve it. Leaving a handful of toxic sludge in his hand, which he quickly rid himself of. Thank goodness Nightmare Moon had case a protective spell on Little Pip. Otherwise she would have turned out just like the candy.
" By the way." William asked Nightmare, " Do you by any chance happen to know what became of Little Pip's Friends?" She pointed upwards at a hole in the ceiling. William took a peak through it with a rifle scope. And sure enough, there was Calamity and Velvet Remedy. Huddled around one of the tallest towers in Canterlot. Just above the pink fog. " You might wanna get them before the end up like the original residents of this forsaken city. Just a thought." Nightmare Moon cheerfully mentioned. William looked at the other candy bar in his right hand. And then at the three alicorns on the far side of the room. Who watched Nightmare Moon with mild curiosity. Finally, one of the alicorns spoke. It was the green one.
"The Goddess would like to speak with you." She pointed at Nightmare Moon.
"Damnit! Who is this now?" William stomped his foot. " Why, our great Goddess Trixie!" William stared dead eyed at the trio.
"I- What?" Three alicorns disappeared. Nightmare Moon looked over at Little Pip. Then at William. And disappeared along with the others. "What just happened?" Little Pip asked him.
"I haven't the slightest."
"Alright, and what's with all the pumpkins?" William looked around. "I don't know either, it's supposed to be Nightmare Night back in my version of Equestria. So..." He handed the Snickers bar to Little Pip. Who stared at it as though it were a piece of solid gold. " Err... Happy Nightmare Night. Again, I really have no idea what's going on." Little Pip laughed.
"I'm not sure either. So... William, what now?" William took a knee. " You know-" All of a sudden his vision was filled with a bright light. Which blinded Little Pip, when it disappeared, William was gone. All that remained was a satirical echo of:
"Gooooddddd lucckkkkkk...."
"Bagh!!!"
William rubbed his eyes, and looked around. He was lying in bed. Back in his BDU's. His weapons and armor were gone. He rolled over and glanced at his alarm clock. It read; " 8:40 AM, Nov. 1st." He looked over at his window, and saw the autumn sunlight shining in through the windows.
"So... It was a dream after all?" William jumped out of bed. And realized that his back still hurt. In the exact same spot.
"Huh? Oh well. I prefer the Fourth of July anyway. " He looked over at the painting of his equine counterpart on the far side of the room. He laughed and went downstairs for a cup of coffee.
"Oh what a night."