Safe House, Fortune City. 65 Hours until the Military Arrives

Frank and Dash met up with Chuck, who had already gotten several survivors back to the Safe House, in the Americana Casino. The group took the remaining survivors back to the Safe House and Frank told about his encounter with Rebecca and of the covered up footage. Their conversation was cut short, however, when Sullivan was heard shouting in the Security Room.

"I should have known you two were in cahoots in the first place!" He said. "You've caused nothing but trouble." Chuck furrowed his brow, while he and Frank entered the room.

"C.U.R.E is innocent!" Stacey said. "This is a setup!"

"After you put this whole bunker at risk, you expect me to believe that." Frank and Chuck entered the room, but Rainbow Dash was still curious on what was going on, so she pressed an ear to the window and overheard the entire conversation.

"Hey!" Chuck shouted.

"Lay off her." Frank added.

"Oh, lookie here. If it isn't the Man of the Hour, Chuck Greene, and his paparazzi!" Sullivan sarcastically replied.

"The paparazzi wished they had my skills." Frank snorted.

"I should've listened to my gut and kicked you both outta here!" Sullivan said, his hand against the holster of his gun.

"Sullivan, I have nothing to do with this!"

"I saw it on the TV! Saw you, buddy. Explain how that little trick works!"

"It wasn't him on the tape," Frank said. "It was a guy in his suit! I showed you those photos."

"I don't care whether you believe me or not," Chuck shouted. "But I've got three days until the military gets here to prove I'm innocent. I'll hand myself over if we haven't got any proof by then."

"We have proof!" Frank said. "Does anyone pay attention to the camera guy?" Dash was paying attention to every word, but realized she was being watched.

"You've got an eye for trouble, don't you?" Rebecca said, standing near the door. Dash's expression went to one of hidden nervousness, accompanied by a chuckle. Rebecca rolled her eyes and opened the door. "You could have told me the front door was locked." Frank palmed his forehead, and Chuck let out a sigh.

"You're that TV lady!" Sullivan said, pointing to Rebecca. He turned to Frank and Chuck, giving them a look of distrust. "Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. You keep rounding up folks, you can keep coming and going. You die out there, we'll leave it to the devil to sort you out."

The who? Dash thought.

"But ain't no one gonna cover your ass when the military arrives." Sullivan barked. "You pull anything- ANYTHING -and I'll do what I have to do." Sullivan then stormed out of the room, taking his guard place by the vents.

"What was that about?" Rebecca asked.

"He watches too much TV." Chuck said.

"Frank, tell me you found something." Stacey asked.

"Well, Dash and I...." Frank started, but Stacey interrupted.

"Hold up, who's Dash?" Stacey asked.

"The rainbow hair girl peeping behind the window." Frank said. Everyone looked out, and sure enough, Dash was still there. "Yes, I know you've been there the entire time."

"Come in if you have to," Rebecca said. "After all, you were there." Dash shrugged her shoulders and walked in, and the conversation continued.

"Anyway, Dash and I met with Rebecca and went to Central Security," Frank continued. "But somebody got there before us."

"Stuff was trashed all over the place, the monitors were wiped clean of memory, and there were two dead guards not killed by zombies, but by somepo- somebody else." Dash said. Chuck gave Rebecca an upset glance as he saw her recording the room with her camera.

"Hey, no footage of my daughter." Chuck said. Dash had forgotten Chuck had a daughter, a little girl named Katey who was also infected, but Chuck was going what he could to prevent it. Katey was sitting on a bench in the hall, playing away on her gamepad. Rebecca closed her camera and turned towards Stacey.

"Stacey, I'm Rebecca Chang. Channel Six Action News." Rebecca said. "I'm here to help."

"Oh. You'll forgive me if I don't think it's very helpful that you accused my organization of a crime we didn't commit." Stacey said.

"Look, I don't know what's going on here," Rebecca said. "But clearly things are not as they seem. I put out the information I had at the time."

"From an unreliable source, I might add." Frank joked.

"Remember, you can have all the exclusives you want," Chuck said. "If you help us figure out what's going on here."

"Works for me." Rebecca said. "Whether you're innocent, or guilty, I just want the truth."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Stacey sarcastically added. "But okay, we'll work together." Stacey took her seat in front of the monitors and continued what she was doing earlier.

"I'm going back out there to see what I can find out." Rebecca said, slamming the door behind her.

"Chuck, Frank, I'll let you know if I see anything." The two zombie hunters nodded and exited. Dash was about to leave too, but Stacey stopped her on the way out. "And as for you, Dash."

"It's Rainbow Dash, lady." Dash replied.

"Whatever, kid. I'm Stacey, Frank and Chuck's eyes in the sky and also the leader of C.U.R.E. I know you're going out there again with those two again, so I'm just warning you to be careful. And take this too." She reached into a drawer in the desk and pulled out a small earpiece, similar to the one Frank was using back at central security.

"Thanks, I'll talk to you later." Dash ran out the door to join Frank and Chuck by the vents. "So what now?"

"Well, it's probably going to be a while until we get some more information," Frank said. "So let's go and save some survivors."

"And I'll have to show you a way to make special weapons, kid." Chuck said. "Just like I did with Frank."

"Awesome." Dash said, pumping her fist into the air. "And Stacey gave me an earpiece to talk to her, just like you guys. So if anything comes up, and you guys are to busy doing whatever it is you do, I'll give you a heads up.

"Alright, with that settled," Frank said, opening the vents. "The vent people need me." He climbed into the vents with a grin on his face. Chuck simply rolled his eyes and followed through, and lastly, so did Dash. It was going to be a long day....

Canterlot Royal Palace, Canterlot, Equestria.

The beauty of Canterlot was stunning, especially in comparison to the destruction of the day Nightmare Moon was born a thousand years ago. The black alicorn, Guardian, felt relaxed at the time. He felt it necessary to be in a peaceful setting, especially after where he was recently. Visiting the ghostly kingdom of Ascalon will do that to most people. Although other things were on his mind, Guardian knew he still had to inform the Princesses about the whereabouts of the Mane Six. Luckily, thanks to his gift of foresight, he knew nothing would befall Equestria for a while, so there would be no repercussions to him ripping six ponies out of their homes and sending them to other worlds to do the work he was unable to do in the meantime.

Flying on his blackened wings, Guardian flew to the entrance to Canterlot Royal Palace, where he was stopped by two white unicorn guards.

"State your business, sir." One of the guards said.

"I come bearing an important message to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about the Elements of Harmony." Guardian said. "I'm also an old friend of theirs." The guards looked at each other, and then opened the door for the visitor to walk through. The elegant halls shone bright in the sunlight, gleaming off the walls and ceiling. It almost made the black alicorn look like an odd black spot compared to the rest of the castle. Guardian wandered the halls for a moment, before coming across the throne room, accompanied by two thrones. One throne was slightly smaller than the one to the center, colored by both light and dark shades of blue, like the moonlight upon a lake. The larger throne was white and yellow, glowing like the early sunlight. Sitting on the thrones were the Royal Pony Sisters, Celestia and Luna. Guardian took off his hat, and bowed to the Princesses.

"Another alicorn?" Luna asked. "Hadn't Twilight Sparkle been crowned princess a few months ago?"

"Forgive me if you don't remember me, Luna." Guardian said. He raised his head and put his hat back on. "It has been one thousand years."  Celestia's eyes widened, occurring with great realization and remembrance.

"Could it be?" Celestia said. "You've returned?" Guardian nodded and smiled.

"The Guardian of Worlds has returned to Equestria." Celestia felt her eyes watering. She remembered the powerful alicorn who warned Celestia about Luna's fall, but still treated the two of them like family, and cared for them. She walked from her throne, and nuzzled Guardian on the shoulder, in which Luna soon followed. Guardian replied by gently hugging the two of them, like family reunited.

"I never thought I'd see the day you'd return." Celestia said, between tears.

"Well, things have been busy at the office lately." Guardian said. "What with the fact that I hold the fate of almost every single universe and all." Luna backed away, remembering something.

"Wait, in the stories you've told of your adventures," Luna said. "You always arrive in times of crisis." Celestia stood back as well.

"Is that true?" She asked. "Is there a universal threat ready to attack our world?" Guardian stood back, waving his hooves frantically.

"No! Not at all! I'm here on a visit...." Guardian rubbed the back of his head nervously. "And to run an errand. You see, there are five different problems in five different universes, and granted how busy I am at the moment, I couldn't handle them all. So I came here because I knew of... six solutions."

"You sent the Elements of Harmony into alternate universes?!" Celestia said, her voice toned with shock. "What if Equestria is attacked while they are gone?"

"Don't forget. I CAN SEE THE FUTURE!" Guardian said, in a simpletons voice. "Nothing's going to happen to this world. And don't worry, they're in safe... hooves? Your race's vocabulary confuses me." Celestia and Luna gave each other nervous glances. They'd known Guardian for at least five hundred years, and knew to never doubt his judgement

"Alright, we understand." Celestia said. "If you have no more reason to be here, you can be on your way."

"Who's to say I can't wait a few hours longer?" Guardian said. "It has been a thousand years since we last spoke. That and I need to recharge my magic in order to summon another Gate. Last time I tried passing a Gate without using my own magic, that little jerk Truth made like the Kracken and almost took my leg!" Guardian turned to the regal sisters again and put on an embarrassed grin. "And there I go rambling again."

"Just like old times," Celestia sighed. "You remind me so much of the old groundskeeper."

"Hey, I'm old enough to be your great-grandfather's grandfather." Celestia and Guardian walked down the halls, talking and laughing, but Luna remained behind and began contemplating.

He may still be the same as he was one thousand years ago on the outside, Luna thought. But I can feel that there is something dark hiding within his heart. Maybe within time, I'll visit his dreams and see what he has seen. Next Chapter: Chapter Four: Psychotic Episode Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 16 Minutes