Hard Hit

Chapter 1: Infected

The hall was empty, save for the two ponies that now occupied its space. Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia were in the main hall of the elder princesses' castle. Celestia had requested Twilight's presence to discuss a matter of utmost urgency.

"I feel a great disturbance in the other dimension."

"What kind of disturbance?"

"I don't know, but the evil I feel is immense. I need you to investigate."

"Right."

"Be careful. This mission may be extremely dangerous."

"I will."

With no words left to say, Twilight strolled through the mirror.

When Twilight emerged from her own world, a dark, grey area awaited her. She had not expected to end up in a place so different from the one she knew.

"Where am I-"

Several loud noises disrupted her inquisitive train of thought. Her ears rang for a few seconds.

"What the hay!?"

Twilight spread her wings and flew into the sky. She went to investigate.

"I don't like this…"

When Twilight reached the origin of the sounds, she found several people. One of them was carrying a strange object and aiming it at the others.

"What are they doing?"

Several more loud sounds interrupted her thoughts again. This time, Twilight saw what was happening. The object was a type of weapon she had never seen before. It fired projectiles. She decided to keep her distance until the fighting was over. The ground was soaked in blood.

After the fighting ended, the person with the weapon went closer to the center of the village. What Twilight saw when she followed him horrified her. A body was spiked onto a funeral pyre. The flesh had been melted away, and the bone was all that remained. That's when she overheard a conversation between the remaining individual and someone else. He was now holding a different device.

"Hunnigan, I have some bad news. I've confirmed the body of an officer. Something's happened to the people here."

"Leon, you need to get out of there. Look for a tower and follow the trail near it."

"Got it."

At this point, Twilight could contain herself no longer. She called out to the man.

"Hey!"

The man quickly turned around and aimed his weapon, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Up here!"

He looked up and saw a flying purple figure. He began to question what he was seeing.

"What are you!?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle! I'm a pony from Equestria! I'm here on official royal business!"

"Royal business!?"

"Yes!"

The man realized that it wasn't a good idea to yell at this point in time.

"I need you to come down here!"

Twilight was reluctant.

"Can you put your weapon away!? It's making me uncomfortable!"

"Okay! Just come down!"

The man put his weapon back in its holster. Once he did so, Twilight descended.

"What are you supposed to be, exactly?"

"I'm an Alicorn from Equestria. I was sent to investigate a disturbance in this world's energy. Something strange happened when I entered the portal to this world. Normally, I would change into something like you, but I'm somehow still a pony."

"Listen, I'm having a hard time understanding all this right now, and I have a mission to finish. You should get out of here. It's not safe. The people here are hostile."

"Hostile?"

"They'll attack you without a second thought."

"Why would they do something like that?"

"I'm not sure. Something isn't right."

"I'm not leaving. Princess Celestia needs me to figure out what's going on."

"Fine, but I want answers when I ask you questions. We can talk as we go. Just be careful."

"Right."

The newly formed party began to move.

"Well, this isn't my usual day..."

"What's your name," Twilight asked.

"It's Leon."

"What are you doing here? You said it wasn't safe, right? So, why are you putting yourself in danger, exactly?"

"I'm on a rescue mission. The president's daughter has been kidnapped."

"President?"

"You've been here before, right?"

"Not to this place, but I've been to this world before."

"Do you remember where you ended up last time?"

"I think it was a place called the 'United States.'"

"Did you research its government?"

"A little. It's a democratic republic, isn't it?"

"Technically, it can be called a number of things. That's just one of them."

"Where are we anyway?"

"We're in Europe, one of the seven continents on Earth."

"I remember something about that. I went to school here for a while. I learned a little about this planet."

"You said you're here on a reconnaissance mission, didn't you?"

"Reconnaissance?"

"Gathering information."

"Oh. Yes, I am."

"Do you know about the Raccoon City incident?"

"No. What happened?"

"A virus broke out in a mountain community called Raccoon City six years ago. Most of the population was transformed into zombies."

"You mean zombies are real here!?"

"That's what the government classified them as."

"You said a virus was responsible?"

"Yeah. It was my first day as an officer in the Raccoon City Police Department."

"You mean you survived a zombie infestation of the entire city?"

"That's about the size of it. A few other people made it out too."

"Who were they?"

"Ada Wong, Claire Redfield, and Sherry Birkin."

"Did they have to fight?"

"Sherry didn't. She was only a kid at the time."

"Do you know where the virus came from?"

"There was a mansion in a forest on the outskirts of the city where experiments were being conducted. We think it came from there. Claire's brother Chris and his partner Jill Valentine exposed the truth, but nobody believed them."

"Do you think the people here are infected?"

"I don't know. There's something different about what's going on here. They're more intelligent than the zombies in Raccoon City."

"Is there any information in the note we picked up in the village?"

"No. It was an alert order. They know we're here. They're waiting for us."

"Hey, what's on the tree over there?"

Leon turned his attention to the tree just ahead of them. There was a blue medallion and a note.

"Come on. Let's check it out."

The pair quickly ran to the tree and read the note. They were about to discover how dire the situation truly was.