Manehatten Island, New Colt City
Year: 25 A.L.R. (After Lunar Return)
63rd Day of Infection

The paved streets of Manehatten had long since fallen into disrepair. Carcasses of personal and commercial vehicles were scattered as far as the equine eye could see. The sky grazing buildings that had stood as a testament to modern pony engineering, helped along here and there by a dash of unicorn magic, were now decaying ruins. Their twisted steel skeletons reached towards the red tinted sky, and the occasional wind that blew through their husks made the blackened metal twist and groan, as if they were screaming in agony.

A group of four earth ponies were slowly making their way down a wide street. A limp street sign that read Canal St. was hanging from a collapsed lamp post. The crystal that had glowed with a soft yellow light, giving the lamp its luminosity, had long since lost its unicorn magic, and now lay upon the fractured ground. The ponies themselves were dressed in black combat armor, imposing gas masks fastened upon their faces. Strapped across their torsos were various pockets of ammunition and grenades, doubtless for the weapons that were fixated to the armored saddles they sported.

“All clear,” a static-filled voice echoed from the lead pony. The group sighed but continued to stay alert, warily casting their heads from side to side, searching for any dangers. The red targeting lasers emanating from their weapons danced in front of them, almost completely blending into the red hue that permeated the air.

“This place is a damned disaster,” one of the members commented, shrugging his shoulders. “And this damned saddle is beginning to wear me down.”

“Would you quit bitching already?” another pony grumbled as a burst of static went through his comlink, marking a sigh. “You’ve been fucking complaining for this entire fucking mission. I’m really fucking tired of it all.”

“You need to clean up your damned mouths,” the lead pony lectured the two irritating ponies. “Would you kiss your mother like that?”

“I wouldn’t KISS your mother,” the fourth member of the group nudged the leading pony. “But I sure as hay would do something with her!”

The entire group dissolved into laughter with the exception of the lead pony, who turned and smacked the offending pony with his hoof. “Shape up, private! And watch your tongue, unless you want me to tear it out of your head!”

A scream rent the air as a terrified-looking light green unicorn hurtled down the street. “H-help me!” she cried, stumbling over various debris. “Th-they’re right behind me!” Her white mane was matted with crimson blood, and various cuts and bruises riddled her body.

“Ready up, boys,” the leader ordered calmly. The four ponies shifted their weight and readied their weapons. Unicorn magic embedded in their battle saddles enabled their operators to designate targets and fire with ease.

As the wounded unicorn stumbled across the street, grotesque figures began to stream out from the dark alley ways by the dozens. They were probably ponies at one point or another, but something sinister had twisted and altered them. A savage light gleamed in their eyes as they each let loose a feral howl and began to chase after the unicorn.

The green pony finally managed to fling herself behind the four battle-ready ponies. She lay there in a quivering heap, whimpering and covering her head with her hooves.

“Open fire!” Bullets began to pour from the armed ponies’ weapons, tearing hoof sized holes in the screaming abominations bearing down on the group. The green unicorn screamed as searing hot shell cases landed on her flank, and she scooted away from her protectors.

As the crowd of abominations began to thin, three of the four armed ponies stopped firing. There were only three hostiles left, and the leader simply trained his red laser target on the remaining enemy foreheads.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

One by one, the twisted mockeries fell. One of them twitched when it hit the ground, and was swiftly responded to with another bullet the head. The shell casing hit the ground with an audible click, and the unicorn uncovered her head.

“All clear,” the leader of the group pointed forward. In the light of the gunshots, the unicorn had noticed that the leader was wearing armor that was accented in white, and instead of two glowing blue vision slots in his gas mask, he had three yellow ones, arranged in a triangle. “Move up and sweep the area. Make sure there aren’t any more of those fucking things.”

“Roger that,” two of the ponies nodded in affirmative and set down the designated alley, sweeping their targeting lasers across the dead bodies. The two remaining trotted up to the still-cowering unicorn.

“Sir, what about her?”

The lead pony fixed the unicorn with a hard stare for a second or two as he determined the best course of action.

“Her too.”

Pop.

The unicorn’s lifeless body slumped to the ground, her blood running over the garbage that littered the street. As it fell, the two armed ponies caught a flash of bright crimson.

There, with a destroyed vehicle as a backdrop, stood a pony with a mane as crimson as the blood that now flowed in the street. His eyes matched his mane, and they were narrowed with annoyance as he gazed at the armored ponies before him. His coat was a grey color that was flecked with black.

“It’s him!” the leader yelled through his radio. The sound of hooves echoed from the alley as the two ponies that were detached came galloping back. “Take him dow-“

The armed pony never got the chance to finish his order. The grey pony’s front two hooves began to writhe as black and red Technicolor strands of material began to sprout. A sickening sound pervaded the air as his hooves morphed into long, sharp talons. Rearing up on his back hooves, the grey pony sprang through the air and deftly cut the lead pony in half. Blood sprayed across the grey pony’s coat, adding flecks of crimson to his already-speckled appearance.

Before the two halves of the murdered soldier pony even hit the ground, the grey pony whirled around and launched himself at the other pony. With a panicked yell, the targeted soldier opened fire upon his aggressor. The bullets simply fell to the ground as they hit the grey pony, who snarled and impaled the soldier on his front talon-arm. With a grunt, the morphing pony flung the soldier into the side of a building. The soldier pony hit the building and fell to the ground, and didn’t get up again.

The remaining two soldier ponies quickly switched from their conventional assault rifles to heavier weapons. The pony that was armed with a grenade launcher was the first to target in on the grey pony, and he launched an explosive projectile.

The grey pony sighed. As he did, red and black matter erupted from his body, forming a protective wall. The grenade exploded against the impromptu shield harmlessly, and the grey pony jumped at the offender, clearing the distance with one leap. He landed on the soldier pony, burying his talons into his target’s back, severing his spine and killing him.

Extracting his talons from the soldier’s corpse, the grey pony turned and glared at the rocket launcher-wielding soldier pony.

“Where is your commanding officer?” the grey pony hissed. His voice wasn’t any far cry from normal, but it was lower than the frenzied response.

“I’d rather die than tell you!”

“Good.”

The grey pony swiftly clutched the soldier’s skull with his front left talon-hoof. Try as he might, the soldier could not wrest free.

“You’ll tell me what I need to know anyway.”

Tendrils of the dark red matter extended out of the leg clutching the hapless soldier. They snaked towards the soldier, burying themselves in his back, his neck, his head, and his torso. The soldier let out a scream as he slowly dissolved into a bloody mess of the dark red matter, which quickly began merging itself with the grey pony.

The talons on the grey pony’s front hooves vanished as he dropped to his knees, shaking all over and pressing his hooves to his head, as if he had a massive headache. He remained like that for about a minute, frozen in that pose, before he slowly got back to his hooves. His breathing was labored, but a satisfied light burned in his eyes.

Breaking into a gallop faster than anypony had a right to, the grey pony took off down the street, his hooves moving in a blur.

My name is… well, was… Chase Kione. I’m the reason for all this killing, all this violence, all this chaos.

I’ve been called a murderer, a monster, a terrorist. Well, I’m all of these things. I’ve killed more than my share of ponies, and I’m not even close to finished.

This all started three weeks ago, when somepony at Hoof Station released a virus. I woke up in a morgue with no memory, no identity, no name. Now I hunt, I kill, I consume, and I become.

I’m going to find the pony that did this to me. I’m going to hunt them down without mercy, and I’m gonna make them pay.