Six weeks later
One evening in Wipers, one of the City Watch stations was about to close after an uneventful day, save the return of Jack Linford. However, one of the employees, Daryl Kirkpatrick, a pegasus, stumbled in, obviously desperate for their attention.
"Set off the alarms."
"Whatever for?" asked one of his superiors, Lieutenant Pearson.
"Zombies."
Pearson nodded to one of the others present, and a breathalyser was fetched, and Daryl was tested for alcohol. This resulted in demonstrating that Daryl was completely sober. His saliva was tested as well, for traces of drugs, but this yielded similar results: Daryl was clean.
"Are you absolutely certain that there are zombies?" asked Pearson.
"Put my life on it." replied Daryl.
Pearson considered for a moment, and raised the alarm. As the deep blast was repeated by klaxon s across the city, taken up by other stations across Wipers, the communications officer was sending around the message "Biohazard level 5. Commence evac.". Watch ponies across the city armed themselves from the City Watch armouries, as well as equipping face and hoof protection, before they started escorting civilians to predesignated safe zones. Groups from these safe zones were then escorted by the City Watch through the Underground, or, if their social rank permitted it, through Metro 2. The City Watch gave Fell Hire Corner a wide berth, as the already trigger-happy Mafia had been made nervous by the klaxons, and would be able to defend themselves against the zombies.
The nearby Wipers Garrison, about half a mile outside of Wipers, mobilised, and set up a defensive perimeter around the city, and they were reinforced by the Tsar's Private Army, who were still "testing" an exoskeleton that Research and Development had given to them the previous year. After half an hour of banter between the Garrison and the kangaroos, as well as the non-arrival of zombies, the soldiers began to get restless. After a few more minutes, a few straggling zombies were spotted, and dispatched quickly.
However, the noise attracted the rest of the horde, who started shuffling towards the defenders. After the first wave, which was mainly composed of zombies but also had a few skeletons and wraiths, the kangaroos were advised to get Orpheus and Sholmes out of Wipers by the Garrison. They leave their defensive positions, and hopped to Orpheus' house. However, they found that Orpheus has fallen into one of his legendary deep reveries, and it is impossible for the kangaroos to move or wake Orpheus.
"How much does he weigh?" asked one of the junior officers.
"Too much." replied the captain.
"I think he said three and a half tons." answered one of the engineer medics.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, sir."
At this point, Sholmes volunteered to teleport them, although he was uncertain how well this would work, considering that he was unused to teleporting, especially considering that he had enormous amounts of magic at his disposal. The captain told Sholmes to do so anyway, as it would probably end up better for both Orpheus and Sholmes if the latter teleported himself and the Tsar away. Sholmes did so, and the two Herculeans disappeared.
The captain then sent a detachment to the Lepton pass in an attempt to prevent the living dead through the pass and into Equestria. They left, and the remaining kangaroos returned to reinforce the Garrison once more.
Along the way, Giovanni and a bunch of his best men, all heavily armed and lethal, joined the Tsar's Private Army.
"What are you doing?" asked the kangaroo captain.
"We heard about the zombies. We're here to help." replied Giovanni.
"I know how you lot operate. You going to ask a favour of us?"
"This affects the us as much as everypony else in Wipers. There will be no requests for favours."
The following morning found Wipers eerily quiet, or at least, much quieter than it usually was at that time of day. The industrial sector of the city was operating at thirty percent of its daily output, as dictated in law for overnight production, although other sounds were absent. No workers going to the factories or offices. No foals going to school. In fact, no sounds could be heard from the Garrison or the kangaroos defending the city.
A thick, early morning mist hung over the city, almost silencing the factories themselves, along with the stench of rotting flesh and spent munitions, clear reminders of the previous night. The smell was not just the only reminder. The sound of the guns from the night were still present in the minds of the civilians who had yet to leave Wipers. The remaining civilians and the City Watch guarding them had no idea what happened over the course of the night, and were exceptionally nervous, tensions running high.
At the cricket park, a soldier from the Garrison approached the cricket park, and was spotted by a Watchpony. The soldier tottered around a bit, understandable considering what he must have been through, and called out that they had won, beating back the zombies, as well as other abominations, like the skeletons and wraiths, but also ghouls and monsters that had vaguely reminded Jack of his time in Daemarrel.
The remaining civilians in Wipers continued to be evacuated, and then the city began to be cleaned up. The bodies of the zombies were burnt in a huge pyre, and the Wipers Garrison, City Watch, Fell Hire Corner, and the Tsar's Private Army began to decontaminated themselves, before moving to decontaminate the areas where the zombies had been.
This happened over several days, and, on the last day, the detachment from the Tsar's Private Army, sent to block the Lepton Pass, returned. On the way, they had dispatched several zombies, as well as a necromancer.
"A necromancer?" asked Lieutenant Pearson.
"Yeah. He was the one who'd summoned the zombies and…those other things." replied the corporal.
The next issue of the Ypres Times came up with an imaginative and comedic article about the zombies, glorifying the defenders. The article also claimed that the Necromancer came from Daemarrel, which Jack agreed with wholeheartedly. In the People We Take Our Hats Off To column, the Ypres Times honoured those who had died in their defence of the city.
The final tally of fatalities was 43 soldiers from the Garrison, 17 kangaroos, and one Watchpony, who'd stepped on the live rail in the Underground. Fell Hire Corner suffered no casualties.
Jack was talking to Frere, after everything had finally settled down. The communications officer, at the other end of the corridor in his office, could be faintly heard playing music through his bank of 20 floppy drives.
"Personally, I think that dream you mentioned to me, about the assailants, Wipers being heavily damaged, and Orpheus destroying the planet, was what would have happened if Princess Twilight had died under your jurisdiction." stated Frere
"Could be. That necromancer could have been disturbed when we went into Daemarrel. Why does every decision have to have lives attached to it?" grumbled Jack.
"Each option comes with a penalty. You can only choose what you think best."
Orpheus stood alone at the peak of one of the mountains in the Lepton Mountain Range, watching the sun rise. His health had taken a bad turn recently, and he was going to talk to Josephine about it. Of course, he only thought he was alone. Several hunters, assassins and poachers, holding him personally responsible for the zombie attack on Wipers, were waiting for him. When Orpheus heard a snapping sound come from behind, he turned. He received a poisoned switch-blade to his face for the trouble.
Orpheus stumbled slightly, poison already entering his system, and he flared up to remove the knife from his face, which was painful, considering the jagged edge of the blade. Wilfully slowing down his two heartbeats, Orpheus flared up his magic, ready to spontaneously combust any of his assailants who showed themselves. None did. Getting increasingly angry, and weaker by the second, Orpheus attempted to pulverise the surrounding area. All he got was a shotgun shell to his horn, which caused his magic to start going out of control. It started performing the spell that would destroy the planet.
At this point, the assailants started opening fire, using hunting rifles and shotguns, fearing for their lives if the spell was completed. After about thirty seconds of concentrated fire, Orpheus fell. His spell, partially completed, was released, wiping out all sentient life on the surface of the planet in a blood-red wave, moving at a speed slow enough that all it killed knew that their end had come. Some panicked, others remained calm. The communications officer of the Tsar's Private Army, before he died, started playing Near, My God, To Thee through his floppy drives.
The crew of the Melpomene were stalking a ship that belonged to Beliebers. They were almost about to fire torpedoes when the submerged submarine lurched forward, the radar stopped working, and the depth measuring equipment went back to zero metres under water.
"What on earth was that?" asked the captain, Caine Blakemore.
The helmspony, Aldrich Duke pulled down the periscope, and looked outside. This got a worried expression from him.
"What is it, Duke?" questioned Blakemore.
"We're in space, sir." replied Duke.
"Where'd our planet go?"
"Don't know, sir."
At this point, the Melpomene returned to the sea, bobbing around on the surface. The Beliebers' ship had stopped, promptly getting torpedoed by the Melpomene, and the submarine returned to Menin. At the docks, the crew of the Melpomene found that Menin was devoid of life, almost completely disintegrated corpses littering buildings and the streets. Blakemore swore at this. Josephine limped into sight, bleeding heavily, wings, horn, and front left leg broken, and generally looking very badly beaten and on the verge of death.
"What happened?" asked Blakemore.
"Orpheus...died...everypony is dead." replied Josephine, collapsing onto the ground.
"Really?"
"Everypony is dead, captain. Everypony. Is. Dead. Captain."
Josephine breathed her last.
"We're screwed." summarised Duke.
"Not quite, Gold Teeth. The buildings have very little structural damage, if they have any at all, and the factories are still hammering away like nothing has happened. And judging by the fact that plant life seems to be unaffected, our food supply should be fine." retorted the chief engineer, Hampden Rumlar.
"And I think it is time for me, as the highest ranking here, to put a five year plan into action." claimed Blakemore, before falling silent, contemplating the fact that he was now a world leader, or indeed, the most powerful pony on the planet. This was a completely and totally unexpected career choice for him, especially so considering the circumstances.
A/N And this is where this story ends. I am considering writing a sequel to this, about how the crew of the Melpomene adapt to their new lives on the planet, being the only ponies left alive. Please review.