Only a few more steps, that’s all I need. Just a few more steps. Come on…

Rounds snapped and hissed over his head like angry wasps hellbent on taking a part of the armoured soldier with them. Despite the heavy load, his legs didn’t protest to the exertion; the fact that they weren’t flesh and blood made sure of that. He dropped down into cover, his body armour clacking and scraping as it ground against the broken concrete and exposed rebar. Readjusting his heavy pack so the exoskeleton he wore could manage the load better, he glanced up to check to see if the coast was clear. The dead city crawled today. Corvellan infantry were swarming north across his tactical map to attack his ‘brothers and sisters in arms’. The mere idea of the saying made him snort quietly. His thoughts wandered from betrayal, and back to the deadly cargo he had strapped to his armoured chest. He shook the thoughts off, and focused his mind on simply crossing the street. Not all of the enemy soldiers were going north.

There. Move behind the overturned MRAP, shoot that asshole in the neck and chest, and proceed ten metres south east. Dive into the drainage ditch, and crawl to the sewer grate, where I’ll be able to move unhindered towards-

A stray round ricocheted off the environment and struck him high in the chest, inadvertently causing him to let out an unmanly yelp of terror as he was knocked over. The soldier looked down, assessing the damage once he was out of the firing line.

No penetration, and the package is fine, otherwise I’d be an atomic stain in a glass crater right now.

Shaking off the lingering feeling of death waiting over his shoulder, he wrapped his armoured arm around his chest in a feeble attempt to protect his deadly cargo.

Only a few more steps. We’re almost there.

"Reckoner Four, confirm position, over." His headset crackled as his handler tried to get a better read on his location, as GPS was sketchy.

His carbine snapped savagely at an enemy soldier, the rounds cauterizing deep holes into the Avian-esque humanoid slugs throat and head. The Corvellan trooper crumpled without so much as a whimper as his soft 'head' turned to superheated steam and spatter. "I'm busy here, Oracle!" He mouthed a curse, before continuing. "Getting interdiction efforts from the Slugs. Four hundred mikes and closing. Over." The soldier wiped his visor clean, and shook his head bitterly. Chomping down on his channel bit, he swapped off of the primary channel into an empty one.

“It’s up to you, Jack. Nobody else can do it, Jack. You’re our only demolitions expert, Jack. This is my new husband, Jack! Fuck you, Elissa! I swear, If I get out of this alive, somehow, as a ghoul or a zombie or a ghost, I will beat your skinny ass so bad, you’ll wish you’d delivered this shit yourself!” Jack cursed colourfully as he huddled behind the overturned armoured six wheeler, trading fire with the alien soldiers who had spotted him across the way. Beyond them, he could see what had to be the communications aerial of the enemy command center just over the next rise.

Too bad going over that rise was an excellent way to have his gray matter exposed to the open air, along with most of his vital organs and fluids.

"Reckoner Four, pull back! Enemy is massing for a counter-attack near your vector."

“Motherfucking goddamn shit!” Jack ejected the spent magazine from his carbine, and slammed another one in angrily. “Nothing can go wrong with this plan, Jack. They won’t even know you’re there, so you don’t need any kit except the package!" He cursed and nearly spat in his helmet as he marked the targets on his HUD, and loosed off a micro Hive Rocket. The rocket streaked off his shoulder, and flowered mid-flight. The sub rockets split off; corkscrewing and diving down on to their individual targets without remorse. A rapid cacophony of explosions sounded off, and the lights on his HUD winked out without protest. Shifting his weight again, Jacks exoskeleton compensated for the seventy kilos of gear and equipment with relative ease.

“I'm moving towards the target, Oracle.” He growled angrily as the launcher folded up against his shoulder. Bringing his laser carbine to bear again, he stalked quickly towards his destination.

"I said to pull back, Reckoner Four! We can't afford for this to go wrong! Follow your orders!"

"Why don't you come down here and make me, Oracle?" Jack chomped down twice, silencing his comms. The silence was almost pleasant. Jack moved his arm to wipe his visor clear again, but found he couldn’t. Water had condensed on the inside from the humidity of the dead city. He shook his head, and stepped off towards the dugout that would lead to his final objective. He let out a quiet sigh. “Ninety five percent humidity…. Can’t believe she sent me to die like this, in this fucking hell hole with the Slugs…”

Before he could take another step towards the dugout, the ground beneath his metallic feet shuddered and trembled. His head shot up in time to see the mammoth bulk of a heavy tank lumbering over the rise. The tank dropped over the rise, and was followed by another, and another, and another. Then a whole platoon of Corvellan veteran heavies followed along side with their weapons glowed menacingly; their armour was a thick laminate alien alloy that stood as an imposing bulwark against most of Jack’s arsenal

Pursing his lips together in a flat line. Jack bolted for the ditch. A loud call was warbled in the aliens natural dialect and the ground around his feet ripped upwards. Dirt and rock spat up at him as the ever present wasps stirred it all up in a very effective attempt to kill him. At speeds that a lot of people couldn’t reach in running shoes and shorts, Jack bolted across the open terrain as fast as his legs could carry him and his gear.

There it is, jump! I can still make it!

The artificial cables acting as his tendons flexed, and hydraulics propelled him towards the saving grace of a sewage ditch. Only, he didn’t stop.

The feeling of falling over took Jack Kessle, and before he could so much as scream or curse, his world went black, and he continued to fall.

__________________________________________________________________________

Without any warning or presumptions, all the air was driven from Jack’s lungs. His eyes snapped open and he gasped violently for air. He only managed to suck in half a lungful of the sweet, fresh air through his armour's filters before his lunch came up to greet him. He ripped off his ceramisteel helmet just in time. Jack retched violently for several seconds before coughing. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he wheezed and coughed some more.

“-!” The attempt to curse sent him into another coughing fit; the feeling as if something had ripped his throat out pervaded his mind, and he instinctively rubbed it to check. His armoured hand didn’t come back bloody, but his sweat shone bright on the ceramic tips of his fingers. He coughed again, and shook his head.

What the fuck happened?

Looking up for the first time, Jack’s eyes went wide. He was staring at a very pristine forest, complete with a lot of non-dead trees, actual green grass, and very clear air. He nervously scanned around, but the HUD in his helmet told him jackshit. His GPS was down, Satcom was down; even Crosscom was down.

Did I die? I must have. This isn’t earth. At least, not any Earth I know. Too much green, and it doesn’t even glow.

Jack looked down at his chest, and patted the armoured rig that had- no, that still contained the package. An uneasy frown spread across his features. Moving upwards so he was now on his knees, Jack continued to scan around. Without a second thought, his carbine was nestled comfortably against his shoulder, its muzzle scanning in tandem with his eyes. There’s…. Nothing here. Just a fuckton of trees. Lots of trees. Trees Trees Trees Trees Trees. So many goddamn trees. Forcing himself onto his feet, Jack turned a full circle, and found that he was in fact, surrounded by trees.

On the bright side, he wasn’t being shot at.

With a shrug to signal his surrender to the surreal, Jack unbuckled his bag, and placed it on the ground. He started pulling everything out to check its condition and to make an additional checklist of all his surviving belongings.

“--!” His second attempt to curse in disbelief was met again by failure and more coughing. After taking a moment to compose himself, He glared angrily down at the broken UAV that had been chief amongst his belongings. Given time he could probably fix it, but the fact he couldn’t use it at that moment in time made his blood boil just a bit more.

Shaking his head in disgust, he laid out his ammunition, his weapons, his explosives, his food, his batteries; just about every other thing he had to his name save for himself. He set down his helmet next to the carefully organised pile, and started counting in his head. It didn't take him very long to figure out that not a single thing had been misplaced. A quiet, slightly pleased hum escaped from his lips as he started to repack everything, save for a small baggie. Once everything was packed and stowed away once again, Jack plopped down on his rump and tore the bright red packaging open. As he continued to look around, he poured some of the brightly coloured candies into his open palm. As Jack munched on them idly, he pulled up some of the grass with his free hand to examine it.

Grass feels real, Air is tasty. Trees look healthy, and I can't see any smoke on the horizon... Maybe I'm- He cut his own train of thought off where it was by shaking his head. No point trying to figure it out while I haven't the faintest clue. Maybe a patrol will turn something up.

The thought made Jack crack a toothy smile, and he soon resumed his work packing his belongings. Once he was done, he’d start marching in whatever direction suited him. When he finished snacking, he did just that.

His trek to find the end to the forest went exactly as expected. While his direction had seemed the absolute best at the time, he was starting to doubt whether he’d actually gone in the right direction. Whatever the 'right' direction really was. Jack casually glanced around to gauge his surroundings.

More damn trees. Woooonderful. He glanced down at his map display, finding it still blank. An earlier check had shown every radio channel to be dead static, and his voice hadn't returned for any calls out. Letting out another disgruntled sigh, Jack pulled off his full face helmet and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The thought of trying to speak again crossed his mind, for the fourteenth time during his trek-

“-!”

-And was again met with failure and coughing.

Swearing to keep at it until his voice cooperated, Jack set off once again after thumping his helmet back down over his head; his trek led him further into the woods in search of an exit. As enchanted as he’d been upon first discovering beautiful greenery, it was growing old, and fast.

Jack tromped through the woods, making good time in no real discernible direction. The air was warm, the sky was clear, and nothing was trying to kill him. Jack smiled to himself as he turned on his music. His steps took a jaunty turn, and he continued forward unabated as he clacked his armoured fingers to the tune. His attempt to casually bastardize the lyrics were met with coughing failure, but did little to dampen his mood.

-And be a jukebox hero, got stars in his eyes! Hes a jukebox hero! He took one guitar, jukebox hero, stars in his eyes! Jukebox hero, he’ll come alive tonight!

Pumping his hands for an air guitar solo, Jack continued his wanderings in a very nondescript direction.

Several kilometers off, and up; someone was having a very bad day.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I’m telling you Flitter, he’s not into you.”

“A-are you sure?” Flitter stared at her sister with her trademark sad eyes.

Her sister Cloud Chaser groaned. “Yes, Flitter. He’s using you to get to me. He’s a di-” Cloud Chaser cut herself off for a moment. “A huge jerk.” She batted at a tiny cloud, sending it careening off.

The younger of the two frowned and slouched on the cloud they had occupied above Whitetail Lake. “That’s a really mean thing to do.”

Cloud Chaser rolled over onto her back and rested casually. “Yup. But it happens, you’ll just have to get over it.”

Flitter sighed sadly, and let her forelegs hang off the edge of the cloud. Down below a trio of fillies played in the lake as a couple other ponies lounged about. She recognized the trio as the ‘Crusaders’. They seemed so happy, and for that, Flitter envied them more than anyone else in the world. She’d learned long ago that life was nothing like in books. There was no greater destiny, no Prince Charming to save her, no grand journey to embark upon. Just the slow crush of onset depression, no income, and a colt-friend who probably didn’t care about her in the slightest.

I wish something would happen. Something that would make all these ponies see that I’m not worthless!

Flitter scrunched up her face in an attempt to fight and keep her hot, angry tears from surfacing. She didn’t want to be seen like that. Especially not by her older sister, who would only make things worse.

I’m not just some stepping stone… I’m a pony… I’m worth something…

“Listen, Flits, I gotta go see Dash. Try and cheer up, alright?” Cloud Chaser stared at her sister, waiting for an answer. She eventually gave up when Flitter gave her nothing in return, and took off into the clouds above without so much as a word to or from her younger sister. Said younger sister glared angrily at nothing in particular, her thoughts darkening by the second.

I WILL show them what I’m made of! Flitter is a brave, worthwhile pony! Nopony will hurt me if I show them that!

Flitter rolled over on the cloud and stared up at the sky. Now that she was alone, the tears refused to stay hidden. They started flowing freely, and were soon followed by sorrow filled sobs. The mare curled up, and allowed herself to let go. She knew she wasn’t brave. She wasn’t courageous. Ponies would keep hurting her, and they would always love her sister more. Flitter closed her eyes as she sobbed and raged against her lot in life. She would give anything to have a life like the heroes in her books, for something to come along and change her life.

Please, Celestia, Creators, send me an angel.

The mare curled up, and fell deep into her pit of self pity. She stayed like that for a long while, until something violently jarred her from her thoughts. Down below her cloud, somepony screamed.

Flitter bolted upwards at the scream. She stuck her head over the edge of the cloud, and looked down to the clearing. She could see ponies scattering in every direction, away from… Something. Flitter squinted, before rubbing her eyes and squinting again. What she saw made her breath catch in her throat.

Infected humans.

The mere thought of the grotesque, corrupted creatures, with their terribly abused human shells forced a shiver of terror down her spine. Everypony knew about the foul fungus that would kill humans in mere minutes upon contact; warping their bodies into mindless, murderous monsters. Flitters fur crawled as she remembered the first time she’d ever seen one. It made her want to bolt away and hide in her cozy cloud home, where those literal, very real monsters could never get her. The mare shrank behind her cloud cover, before letting out a quiet sigh of satisfaction. It looked like everypony had gotten away.

Oh no….

She was wrong. There was a tiny white filly in the lake, frozen with terror. If nopony came along and saved her, the infected would surely see her, and… they would kill her. Flitter swallowed and closed her eyes, not wanting to witness what she knew would come. But... It was just one little foal. She could just, swoop down and pick her up. Simple, easy, she could do that! She could do that! Flitter jumped up, and took to the skies before she could come up with a compelling reason not to. Her belly flipped and protested along with half her brain, but she’d made her choice, not matter how terrifying and life threatening.

As she neared the ground, Flitter watched with rapidly diminishing bravado that there was not one, but three fillies in the lake. The other two had just come up, and they were screaming. The Crusaders had not abandoned each other, but that was a moot point. There was no way she could lift all three of them to safety… Without much time to pull up and away, Flitter landed between the infected and the fillies. Flitter shuddered in horror as she looked from the little white filly behind her to the pack of infected humans closing in on her.

She couldn’t just take off and leave these fillies here to die…. Flitter stood her ground, despite how badly her legs were shaking. She called for the fillies to run, but they were frozen with fear. Despite her act of bravery, the infected showed no signs of being cowed into submission, or even slowing down. Flitter whimpered quietly to herself.

She was dead.

Flitter closed her eyes; her wings locked in terror. She was dead. Pure and simple, she was dead. Those fillies were dead. This was her fault. Oh Celestia, It was HER FAULT!

VRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The shrill whistle pierced the quiet acceptance of Flitters failure, causing her, the fillies, and the infected humans to look at the origin.

It was another human. Or at least, It looked vaguely human shaped. But it was unlike any other human she’d ever seen, even in comic books and in her mind’s eye while reading. She couldn’t see its face, and it seemed to be covered in a massive metal suit of some sort. Its strange appearance had no effect on the infected however. It had a long length of metal in its arms, which was pointed at the infected.

The infected immediately moved to chase down their favored prey; their howls of hunger echoed in the clearing and shook Flitter to her very core. Tearing her eyes away from the mystery human and it’s imminent death, She ushered the fillies out. She urged them to run as fast as they could, away from this terrible place while they still had the chance thanks to the human’s distraction. As the trio galloped away, Flitter failed to see the trailing infected before it plowed into her side and bowled her over. She pressed both hooves against its throat as it snapped and snarled at her in an attempt to keep it’s disgusting rotted teeth from tearing off her muzzle. She was dead. Again.

______________________________________________________________________

THIS HAS GOT TO BE, THE CRAZIEST SHIT EVER! WERE THOSE SKITTLES LACED WITH LSD!? SHITFIRE!

Jack brought his carbine to bear, its superheated beams lancing through the necrotic flesh as if it were dry tissue paper. What wasn’t cauterized or sloughed off, was immediately set ablaze. Two of the charging group dropped, and were followed by a third, it’s skull turned inside out via superior firepower and human ingenuity. His armours emergency alarm had done its job all too well, as he now had the ghouls undivided attention. The ghoul things closed, and Jack let his carbine drop onto its sling. His right fist snapped out, catching one of them in the throat with a well planned right hook. His augmented fist pistoned forward, bludgeoning necrotic flesh with enough pressure to buckle sheet steel. The thing’s spine snapped from the sheer pneumatic force, sending it to the ground in a hissing, spitting heap. Jack popped the straps of his pack, letting it fall to the ground as he secured his rifle. Finding himself unlimbered and clear for combat, he fell into a comfortable niche of bloody violence that he knew all too well.

Throwing a high kick at the leading ghoul’s chest, Jack caught it smack-dab in the sternum. He could feel the ribs shatter and cave in as he powered his armoured leg into it. The infected simply got up, and came at him again. Four more joined it, turning the situation into a slightly dangerous one.

Jack backed off and snapped off several shots at center mass with his carbine as the creatures continued to attack him, unabated by their wounds. His strikes and blows meant nothing to their morale, like they felt no pain. His eyes flicked up and about to observe the situation in an instant; he caught sight of the single horse creature that had stayed behind for the smaller foals. It was being attacked by a straggler ghoul, and it was painfully obvious that the pastel coloured horse thing was losing the fight for its life.

Oh boy, here I go killing again!! Shitting Christ on a bike, don’t lock your arm-hoove-things! Dammit!
__________________________________________________________________

The infected human snapped and snarled at Flitter; who had both hooves lodged up against its jaw. Her forehooves were shaking violently as she pushed them well beyond their physical limits. She cried out, and closed her eyes, waiting for death to claim her. Only it didn’t. All the weight on top of her practically disappeared, and when she opened her eyes in surprise, she found the massive metal human standing above her. It grabbed Flitter by the scruff of the neck and pulled her up. Despite its strength, she didn’t feel any serious pain, only the sudden surprise of being hefted like a sack of apples. Before she could question her good fortune, the human delivered a swift kick to her hind quarters, causing Flitter to turn bright red and bolt off towards the safety of the clouds.

BRAAK-PAAK

The foreign hissing whipcrack sound caught her ears, and against her better judgement, Flitter stopped to hover. She turned, and watched with morbid fascination as the uninfected human literally murdered it’s infected kin. It fought as if consumed by a savage madness and possessed strength. Magic lanced out from its length of metal, and struck the infected down before Flitter's eyes. One infected who had been hit by the brilliant red beams had had its chest cavity blown apart violently, spraying blazing innards in several directions. It was almost beautiful in it’s own disturbing way, and Flitter knew that she would never not see the events unfolding before her every time she closed her eyes from now on.

__________________________________________________________

Again, the ghouls closed with Jack, and again, he made them pay for not simply letting him put them down with ease. His rifle butt snapped out, pulverizing a ghouls jaw and snapping its spine; It fell to the ground in a heap of dead meat without pause.

He was getting angry.

“-!” His attempt to curse was again met with intense pain and coughing, but he kept his composure. His anger however, only increased. Reaching down, Jack gripped one of the ghouls legs and brought it up high, only to shove it roughly in the chest and swept its remaining leg out from under it. The ghoul hit the ground hard, and its killer capitalized on the opportunity. Jack leveled his right leg with its groin, and pushed off; taking its bloody leg with him with the sucking sound of someone pulling a boot from deep mud. He brought the oozing limb around like a bat, and committed a home-run slam into an infected's chest. The ghoul was lifted off the ground; the flesh on Jack’s impromptu weapon was sloughed off from the force. He discarded it without a second thought, and went back to his tried and true form of raw physical violence.

Driving his scientifically enhanced limbs down onto the warped humans brought a savage smile to his face. The adrenaline rush, combined with the empowerment of his augments drove him beyond acceptable brutality. Jack snarled and howled at his opponents, and they answered in kind. His exoskeleton gave him strength beyond excellence, allowing him to crush bones and pulp limbs with contemptuous ease. All the ghouls had were necrotic limbs and hungry fury. All pretense and fancy maneuvers were tossed out the window in favour of raw brutality and animal instinct. A dangerous toothy grin spread across Jacks features as he fought and killed without pause or remorse.

As the minutes wore on, he whittled the humanoids down to one. One half crippled, damn-near dead human, who flailed weakly on the ground. It’s spine had been shattered by Jacks titanium leg in a snap kick earlier in the slaughter. Grinning to himself, Jack mounted the dying human. Grabbing both sides of the things head, he started pressing his hands together with all his pneumatic might. The thing squirmed and howled its hatred at him, just before its skull gave way, and its head was turned to a bloody pulp of bone, flesh, and black blooded gray matter.

Pumping his armoured fist into the air, Jack let out a whoop of victory, followed by a chortle of happiness.

That felt good! Now if only Elissa and Paul had been among these sorry sacks, I might have turned my day around.
__________________________________________________________________

Flitter alighted near the blood covered human as it celebrated its victory over its dead brethren. She had watched the entire fight, if it could even be called that. Despite everything that she’d learned in school, and learned in her life, had been ingrained into her very being, she couldn’t bring herself to look away from the bloody spectacle. She had been entranced by the metal human’s first strike.

Then it laughed.

The human laughed.

Flitter swallowed the lump in her throat and approached the human as it collected its things. As she drew closer, she realized how huge the creature was. It was armoured, and definitely humanoid. But it was as if it was taller than Celestia herself! This was no ordinary human; it may have even been a griffon made golem. Despite everything her brain was demanding she do, Flitter found she couldn’t run from this creature/construct. It had drawn her in like nothing she’d ever seen before. The mare approached quietly, just as the human/golem surveyed its brutal handiwork. It wiped its hand across its metal mask, before planting its hands on its hips. Flitter swallowed nervously as she came to a stop near the human as it slung a huge canvas bag over its broad metal back. “Um.. H-hello?”

____________________________________________________________

Jack’s thoughts froze in their tracks, the faint, feminine voice barely registering in his helmets audio pickups. He slowly turned, only to find the winged horse thing. He blinked, and stared at it through his tinted visor. The thing rubbed its furry little leg, before looking up at him. Jack leaned back, taking in the creature. After a moment's deliberation, he leaned forward a bit and poked it, just to check and see if it was real. The horse squeaked a bit, and went red in the face.

SWEET BABY JESUS

It rubbed its dainty little forehoof, and looked down. “Th-thank you for saving me.”

And that, was when Jack tactically lost his shit.

_________________________________________________________________

Flitters wings flared in surprise as the human screamed, flung its arms in the air, and bolted into the forest; crushing everything in its path. Flitter stared in horror and confusion as the human ran away like Tartarus itself was after it. It was screaming.

The mare blinked slowly as the absurdity of the situation caught up in her brain. As she processed what she had just seen, a group of armed guards crashed into the clearing. They all stopped dead at the sight of a blood covered Flitter, and nine dead infected humans littering the grounds. Some of the infected had been seemingly blown to pieces and set ablaze, or dismembered violently. The head of the ponyville guard approached the mare cautiously. “Ma’am, are you alright?”

The blood covered mare blinked, and turned to the stallion. “I-... I….”

The guard shook his head and sighed. “What happened here, did you do this?” He asked with incredulity.

Flitter shook her head. “The human-”

“The human what?” The guard stared at Flitter intently.

“He was afraid of me….”

The guard captain grinned lightly and patted her shoulder. “I would be too if I watched this happen. Listen, just head home and get washed up. We’ll come back around and ask you some questions when you’re in a better state of mind. We may even have to reward you.” With that, the guard nodded to Flitter, and broke off to start ordering his troops in the disposal of the infected corpses.

They all eventually stopped paying attention to the shellshocked Flitter, who still continued to stare at the space where the human had ran away screaming from her. If this was some kind of divine act from Celestia, it certainly was above par on the ‘weird’ scale. Flitter started slowly trotting back to Ponyville, her hooves guiding her where her brain could not. One thought pervaded her mind, over and over and over again. everything was connected to it, and everything hinged on it.

Why?

Author's Notes:

Chapter has been edited as of 23/12/2015
Chapter has been fully edited and cleaned 09/05/2016