Reviews:
buttershoes: Yep. And, as a minor plot spoiler towards the characters, there's going to be two more 'main' OCs popping up from WW2, and only one of them will be able to understand you.
iTsTealblast: Honestly, I can't fucking spell it either. Like I said, once all the pieces have fallen into place, this story's going to be put on hold and I'm branching off into a new one, where there's definitely going to be war.
LexiconHuka: Bitch please, I have Hit The Deck too. Pop in some Slasher and you're fucked up, if you can even see me due to my Stealth Boy hoard!
Time Doctor: You're thinking of the Army. Seriously, I went and looked it up; the USMC does not have a five star general when we go to war.
Dragon'z Wrath: Well when I'm so fucking introverted you can't even tell whether I'm a diehard Twilight fan or I just haven't gotten out in the sun for over a month, I tend to not know these things!
Author's Note: This chapter just popped into my head and wouldn't go away. I blame lazyness for the first paragraph. And it's a fucking long ass chapter, the longest I've ever typed, I think. A brickton of words.
For a few months, nothing unusual happened. Just because it was something important, I got the job at the Spa as a masseuse, and started making 200 bits a year. Add that to the 800 I make as being a general, and I'm one of the richer people in Ponyville. Of course, I'm only going to keep about 200, because Granny Smith still needs a new hip. And a whole slew of other shit about the farm. Pinkie said something about breaking the 4th wall, and a changeling popped out of her mirror. Guy's name is Jakob, and apparently, he was a human when Pinks dragged him through.
Then, came Nightmare Night, and I was just finishing up my costume.
"Alrighty then! uniform's on, make-up's in the right place... All I need is the eyes to do their shit and I'll look exactly like one!" I said, looking at myself in the mirror. I looked almost exactly like a zombie from Call of Duty: World At War and I must say I looked batshit scary. Dawn, Luna, and I have gotten together a few weeks ago and decided to make a game out of this Nightmare Night, having a real life zombie attack. We all had roles in it, told the Mayor beforehand, and it was going to be perfect.
"You look perfect for the role, Mark." Dawn said from his spot on the couch as I came downstairs. "At eight, you're going to be 'killing and eating' someone. After that, you can pretty much spread the 'infection' around the town, as it's safe as fuck. We've prepped all of the bullets beforehand, so they'll still impact you, but instead of actually killing you, they'll just do what'll happen if they hit a real zombie."
"Headshots or serious brain trauma. Decapitation merely makes us immobile." I said, stretching my back.
"Right. There's no cure, as there shouldn't be. No safe places, and Fluttershy's cottage is out-of-bounds for the zombies, because we don't want to give her a bloody heart attack. Whoever tries leaving the town itself instantly dies, as I bet most military on Earth would do. Ends at dawn when Luna pops into town, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to snuff it before then." Dawn said.
"Zombies can be sneaky when they want to be." I said, and walked out with him. Applebloom was dressed up as Applejack, oddly enough, and squeaked when she saw me.
"You look scary, Mark!" She said, shivering a little. I smiled warmly at her, trusting her judgement.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Blooms!" I said, rubbing her mane with a hand while scooping up some dirt with my other, getting it all over me.
'Rarity's going to kill me when she sees the state I've put my costume into.' I thought with a grin.
"You know what I'll hate going up against in the forest?" Dawn rambled on, looking over at the Everfree forest. Don't know why the ponies fear that place; after all, a zebra lives there.
"Land Bear Sharks?" I asked, looking at him.
"Land Bear Sharks." Dawn nodded once, and grinned creepily. The fact that he was wearing a hood and cloak that made his naturally silver eyes glow red didn't help.
"Sadly, I would rather be a Hunter from Left 4 Dead, but I have to make due." I commented as we walked towards Ponyville.
"Left 4 Dead?" Applebloom asked. "That sounds something mean an' cruel to do to somepony!"
"It's actually the name of a video game, Applebloom. Wait, do you guys even have video games?" I said, before looking at Dawn in confusion. He was my outlet for these ponies and their tech.
"Pac-Man and the like. Don't have TVs, so home consoles are out. Same for computers. It isn't called 'Pac-Man', either." He replied. "Now, you've practiced your limp?" I nodded, and started dragging my right leg behind me, while Dawn made it look like I took a bullet to the knee, because fuck arrows. Bullets are manlier. Just for effects at the moment, I rose my arms up and let out a moan from the back of my throat, making sure that it sounded slightly detached and gravelly.
"Son of a bitch!" Doc said, coming up to me and poking around. In character, I snapped at his fingers like a zombie, but didn't actually try to eat him... just yet. Both him and Fluttershy knew about the plan for tonight, us having unanimously decided that Fluttershy wasn't going to be participating.
"Yup. Bite'll take about ten minutes, right?" I said, before looking at Dawn.
"Exactly. Every bite after the first one shaves a minute off, until there's only one minute to conversion." Dawn confirmed. I smiled with a mouth full of bloodied teeth, causing Doc to shudder some more.
"Fucking creepy, man... I take it 'modern zombies' aren't green and moan about eating brains?" Doc commented as Fluttershy hid behind him, whimpering a little.
"Nope. They had a few zombie movies produced where the zombies ran instead of... shuffled. There was a book published called The Zombie Survival Guide, and it pretty much blamed zombies on a virus that infects the brain of humans, and ONLY humans. Everything else just died, but for tonight we're altering the rules a little. Make it more like Resident Evil than Survival Guide." I explained. Fluttershy started shivering harder, and I pretty much decided to bring the conversation about zombies to a halt.
"So, who all else is in this?" Doc asked, being careful to avoid spooking Fluttershy even more.
"All of the unicorns, humans, and some pegasi. Callum's going to snuff it through you, Thompson. He'll get Ditzy, but stay away from Dinky, because we really don't want to risk angering her mother." Dawn explained, before jumping up and almost poking me in the eye with his horn.
"...The fuck was that for?!" I exclaimed, holding my eyebrow in mild annoyance.
"Had to cast the spell. The countdown's begun. You have three hours left to live." Dawn morbidly said, grinning like a madman.
I just shook my head and 'shuffled' onward.
[In Ponyville, three hours later]
Dash thought my costume was awesome, Duffy was wearing his ghillie suit, Duran dressed up in his combat stuff, Callum managed to get into my EOD suit (and was complaining about the heat, although he wasn't wearing the helmet), and I didn't see the others at the moment. It was pretty cool, until I felt something run through my body and sent me to the ground, smelling a little like burnt flesh while there was ringing in my ears and I was half blind. (Author's Note: Dash electrocuted him with a lightning cloud)
"Ohmygosh!" Dash shouted from above me, and Doc knelt next to me, checking my pulse.
"He's fine, just a little singed and winded." Doc said, getting me to my feet.
"How're ya feeling?" Duran asked, looking at me with concern. I started feeling sick, and threw up a bunch of blood all over the ground, getting a bit on Doc.
"Aw, jeez! I just washed these boots!" Doc exclaimed in disgust.
[Third Person, centering around the humans]
All of a sudden, Mark snapped his head up and growled at Thompson.
"What the-" Was all the medic got out before he was grabbed roughly by Mark, and had his throat ripped out by his teeth! Everyone immediately screamed. Duran, Duffy, and Callum brought up their M1911/M9s, and shot Mark three times in the chest each, sending him to the ground with Thompson's throat still in his jaws.
"FUCK! Get the Humvee!" Callum shouted, trying his best to get the blood to stop flowing, all in vain. Duffy ran off somewhere, not holstering his weapon.
"F-F-Fuck..." Thompson gurgled, before dying in Callum's arms. As he closed Thompson's eyes in respect, the medic reanimated and bit down hard on his hand, breaking the bones and getting a scream of pain for his efforts.
"GET HIM OFF!" Callum shouted, and a shot rang out, sending Thompson's brain matter across the cobblestone behind him. The effect was instantaneous, as the 'zombie' crumpled to the ground, not moving anymore.
"Shit..." Duran breathed, sliding his hands through his hair. "He was a fucking zombie, man. A zombie!" As he looked to where Mark was, he gulped audibly.
"What is it?" Callum half whimpered, clutching his bitten and broken hand while the Humvee stopped next to him.
"...Where the fuck did Mark go?" Duran asked, as the only sign that the EOD personnel was ever there was a few drops of blood. Down an alley, Twilight Sparkle screamed for a split second before getting cut off answered him.
"Well... Shit." Was all Duffy said before he and Duran piled into the Humvee, while Callum drew his 1911 and ran off to find Ditzy and Dinky Doo before they could become infected.
[Deeper in Ponyville]
Blake was having a good time, until the screaming started. Several sick looking unicorns, dressed up as zombies, stumbled into a crowd and proceeded to eat the others. Everyone in the crowd scattered, while he knew what was going on and drew his revolver, firing off a couple shots and getting several unicorns in the head, downing them.
"Son of a bitch..." He muttered, opening the trunk of the Humvee as Duran and Duffy stopped next to him.
"It's zombies, alright. Got Doc already, and Mark's somewhere out there." Duran said, checking an M16 before slapping a magazine into it.
"Anyone else get bitten?" Blake asked. "The bites are how they turn."
"...Callum got his hand crushed by Doc's... Aw FUCK!" Duran said, before shedding the EOD suit for the most part and bolting off with his rifle's safety flicked off.
"Well, if we see Callum, shoot him in the head." Blake muttered to Duffy, who nodded and went back to the driver's seat of the Humvee.
[Over to Duran]
Panting, I slowed to a light jog, keeping my eye out for Callum or Mark. Frowning, I noticed a distinct lack of ponies and humans. In fact, the street I was going down was deserted for the most part. All of a sudden, I had a pink hoof wrapped around my mouth and I was dragged into Sugarcube Corner. I knew that Pinkie wasn't a zombie, because I would have been gnawed on by now.
"Don't do that to the survivors! They might have a panic attack and lash out at you!" I hissed as I kicked the door shut and crouched against the wall, peeking through the window.
"Sorry!" Pinkie exclaimed, keeping her voice down.
"What's the situation?" I asked, turning to look inside the bakery. There were about fifteen ponies in there altogether. I saw Dinky Doo, but Ditzy wasn't anywhere in sight, causing me to sigh in defeat.
'Just when I thought I could get to her before Callum...' I thought, frowning. Bon Bon, oddly enough, was tending to the unicorn filly, whispering stuff and doing her best to calm her down.
"Everypony's scared, Rick... I've been trying-" Pinkie started, but instantly froze when there was some pounding echoing from the kitchen. Sounded like hands, and the being was hitting a door hard, but slowly. Everyone started whimpering in fear.
"Shhh." I hissed and crept into the kitchen, putting the butt of my M16 to my shoulder. The pounding was coming from what looked like the cellar, and Pinkie had followed me.
"Was there anyone in there before all this happened?" I quietly asked, looking at the mare. She shook her head, and I decided to take a quick look around the kitchen. There were blood smears everywhere, and a lot of it led to the door.
'Think I found Callum. Too much blood to be Mark.' I grimly thought, stood up, and lightly kicked the door to test its thickness.
"Sorry about this, Pinks." I said as I placed my rifle on a counter, drew my M1911, backed up, and drop kicked the door, sending it flying off its hinges and into whatever was behind the door. There was a growl from the bottom of the stairs, and I shined my flashlight down, illuminating several zombies. They were Callum, Ditzy, and I think Twilight. Three bullets later, I was collecting my rifle and ushering the survivors outside.
"Why do we have to move?" A colt asked, fear lacing his voice.
"The gunfire's going to attract more of them." I said, keeping an eye out as we bolted down the street and into the Library. Most of the lights were off, and there was nobody, alive or dead, in there when I entered first.
[Somewhere above Ponyville]
"How're they doing?" Thompson asked, crouching down next to Dawn. The Alicorn looked around the town from above for a few seconds.
"Duran's with a group of survivors and they're barricading the Library. Duffy and Blake are driving around the town, picking up who they can. Mark's still down there somewhere." He said, as a death guard pegasus popped up next to him.
"I got run over, sir." Evasive said, giving Dawn a small salute.
"Eh. You lasted two hours out there and got a kill count of seven. You did pretty good." Dawn commented as he glanced at a scoreboard, which only counted the zombie's kills. Mark was clearly in the lead, with twenty kills already. Elusive nodded and looked at a certain pegasus.
"Yea, Dawn decided to 'kill' her early on, in case someone says something about it later." Callum said from his seat next to Ditzy. Thompson thought for a moment, and noticed something.
"Hey, did you remember to tell Jakob that this was just a game?" He asked Dawn, who promptly facehoofed.
"I knew I fucking forgot something!" He groaned.
[Back to the town, with Jakob]
"Son of a bitch..." I wheezed, glad that I can turn back to my normal form for a few hours at a time, while clutching an M1911. I barely managed to escape a few zombie ponies, and things weren't looking good at all.
'Alright, quick recap. Was trying to enjoy myself, as most of the town stayed away from me because I'm a changeling. Then the screaming started, and I found myself carried off for a while before I managed to get away. Met up with Blake and Duffy, acquired a pistol and several magazines for it. Been hunting zombies since, but fuck, these fuckers are everywhere.' I thought as I hid in the local bar, not even thinking of getting a drink at the moment. 'And fuck, Molotovs aren't going to be useful, as the zombies will just become mobile torches.' I thought after looking at various boozes.
"Alright, gotta stay quiet..." I muttered, before creeping deeper into the shop, and ended up brushing against something cold, and moving. "...Fuck." Was all that I was able to get out before I was bitten on the shoulder. I managed to keep a scream of pain from escaping my mouth, and shot the zombie in the face with my pistol. The body hit the ground, while I was released and ended up on my side, checking the remaining bullets in the magazine.
"One bullet left... Figures.." I chuckled, and put the barrel of the gun into my mouth, muttering a silent, last prayer before squeezing the trigger.
"What in the fuck?" I yelled, looking around. Mark was grinning at me from a seat on a cloud, while Dawn walked up to me.
"I forgot to tell you this earlier, Jakob." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. At my stare, he decided to go on. "The zombie attack was a game Mark, Luna, and I made up a few weeks ago. I meant to tell you, but it slipped from my mind and I was turned before I could remember."
"So I killed myself for nothing?" I asked, noticing that I was back in my 'natural' body.
"Pretty much, yea." Mark grinned, patting my chitin covered head. "Good job, though. Didn't think I was going to get killed at all."
"Wait, you're the one who bit me?" I metaphorically rose an eyebrow.
"Yea. Got roughly thirty ponies and Doc infected before I got a bullet to the brain bucket." He said. "You're dead dead, so sit back and enjoy watching the town mostly disintegrate from the chaos."
"Who's left of the humans and Elements?" I asked Dawn, sitting next to him and looking through a cloud that was showing the perimeter of the Library.
"Duffy, Blake, and Duran are the remaining humans. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie are also still alive. Rarity is down there somewhere. Twilight was shot in the face by Duran, she's over there somewhere talking to Lyra." He replied, waving a hoof in a seemingly random direction. "This cloud's pretty big, and I can't see over the rolls."
[Because I don't want a larger brick than I've already shat, er, typed. Dawn]
The sunrise would have been beautiful as always, if I wasn't keeping my ass from being bitten. As an Alicorn, which took me a second to recognize as Luna, popped into town square with WIlliams, a fog horn sounded off from somewhere, confusing the fuck out of everyone.
"What was that?!" A mare whispered as I cracked my back, grinning.
"Sound off! Who's still alive?" I called out, before saying the same thing into the radio on my shoulder.
"Lost Duffy a few hours ago, and his blood's all over the hood now." Blake answered.
"Congratulations, mate. We're the only human survivors." I whispered, before turning to Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
"What in the hay was that, anyhow?" Applejack asked, confused as fuck.
"That was the signal that it's safe to leave the Library." I said, opening the door and revealing a grinning Mark.
"Who all lived?" He asked, looking around the Library and probably counting heads.
"Me and Blake." I replied, shrugging. Applejack finally noticed that Mark was alive (probably because she hasn't had a wink of sleep all day yesterday and last night), and promptly sailed into his arms.
"Congradulations, everypony!" Dawn said as he trotted his red and black ass into the door, grinning. "You all've won the first Zombie Run in over a thousand years!"
"But those weren't zombies!" A redshirt yelled from a couch. Yea, I've watched Star Trek. Sue me.
"Oh, but they were. They're human zombies." Dawn replied, getting him to shut up. At this point, Luna came in and announced the winners on the zombies side. Mark, for most kills. Ditzy, for longest 'life'. The survivors only had one winner, who was Blake, for most kills.
Thus was the first Nightmare Night that the humans participated in.
Author's Note: Holy shit. And I shat, no, wrote this in two days!