.:+:.

Destruction.

Rubble, destroyed buildings, corpses, dust. That's what was waiting for me on the other side of the double doors, past a short hallway that had lead outside. There was nothing left, everything was crumbling, everything was….. was dead.

A warm wind blew dust and ash into my face, as I swept my gaze around the half-standing buildings spread out around me. The building I had come out of, was fairly intact, it alone stood tall and strong among the crumbling others. They stood as jagged skeletons against a dismally grey sky, completely covered by a thick sheet of clouds for every visible inch, stretching out for what seemed like forever. I tilted my head at the sight, wondering why in Equestria the sky would be blocked off like it was, part of me wanted to fly up and start kicking the clouds to smithereens. The grey seemed unnatural, the lack of light seemed off….. isn’t it supposed to be blue and sunny?

I refrained from giving in to the urge to fly up past the cover of cloud, at least for now, and instead walked forward slowly. My PipBuck automatically added ‘Beatz Concert House’ to the map, and explained to me, I was standing in the center of a town named, 'Arabino'.

Though, my PipBuck also made a footnote to tell me that this was also the 'Zone 4 Base Entrance'

I tilted my head at the map, before slowly placing my hoof back down and walking forward slowly, continually checking my E.F.S. for any sign of danger. I walked along a cracked and destroyed street lined with shops and buildings that were torn up, and falling apart. I couldn't make out what most of them were, but part of me really wanted to go in and explore them. There were no enemies around from what my PipBuck was telling me, and it didn't seem right to pass them by without a peek.

You'd want to look inside them too, wouldn't you? I mean come on... there could be some interesting stuff in these buildings, a look couldn't hurt anypony, as long as I didn't run into any danger that is. Besides, I might find something that would help explain to me what, and where exactly Arabino was, and what it had been before falling into this super destroyed and crumbling state it was in now. I couldn't say I didn't want some more information, and hey, I had plenty of room for it in my completely barren mind.

Making up my mind, looking wasn't going to kill me, I turned sharply toward a small building, the roof caved in and destroyed, but the walls were mostly standing. When I tried to push the door open, it wouldn't budge and I sighed, something must be blocking it on the inside. Glancing toward the top of the wall where the roof should have been, I smiled slightly and spread my wings out.

So what if the door wouldn't budge? It wasn't a problem when I could just drop in from the top. Wings were definitely cooler than a horn- unicorns couldn't magic their way over walls, now could they?

With a kick, I jumped into the air, easily reaching the top in one powerful stroke, and arching over the edge of the concrete, into the building below, to search out whatever items it may hold.

.:+:.

Tipping my head back, I drank from the deliciously lukewarm Sparkle-Cola deeply, savoring every last drop of the carroty taste. I didn't care that it was flat, or looked to be centuries old, up until this point, I had been unaware of just how thirsty I was. The bottle was empty in one swig, and I dropped my head back down, setting the glass down on the cracked pavement under my hooves. I popped the cap off another, and emptied that one as well.

I was currently resting with my back up against the wall of a small cafe, next to a Sparkle-Cola vending machine. Despite the obvious damage Arabino sustained, the machine was still running, and I was deeply glad for it. My recently procured saddlebags rest against the wall beside me, with the shotgun up against the wall beside it. I let out a breath and let my eyes fall closed for a moment, I had spent the past few hours going around the wreckage of Arabino, taking whatever I thought would be useful. This had left me with some food, a few random items of data from the sparse terminals I had found that were unlocked, medical supplies, and of course, the Sparkle-Cola Machine I know sat beside, dutifully dispensing the drink when I gave it the money I had found during my exploring.

My PipBuck had also caught on to a few Radio Signals as soon as I had stepped outside of Beatz, though I had yet to try and listen to any of them. I was gladly enjoying the silence of the dead and deserted town after hours listening to the alarms within Zone 4.

But I was a little disappointed, to say the least. I had hoped to find more interesting things within these ruins. It had become increasingly clear, that outside the underground facility of Zone 4 under Beatz Concert House, that all Arabino was, was a small town with the standard buildings and a few houses. I had found no evidence of the other Zones, and looking to the localized Map on my PipBuck, I was made aware that the other Zones were not located in Arabino at all. What a pain, huh? More walking.... Well, no, more flying, you have wings, remember Flash? Cool wings.

Tapping a hoof to my PipBuck now, I turned to a more world-wide map. It was mostly blank, and I blinked to find that the only marks on the Map, were five other towns, none of which I had any recollection of. Well that's not going to help, now is it? I thought sourly with a small scowl. Was it too much to ask to just remember something else? Something more useful?

I sighed, running a hoof through my mane, and pulling out a box of preserved apple fritters. They were a little stale and flaky, but I honestly couldn't care. My stomach let out a groan again, and I decided whatever food I could get would be just fine.

Fortunately enough, I had not run into many more enemies, only the scarce appearance of one of the same creatures I had encountered underneath Beatz. They were easy enough to shoot, or just sneak by. The bugs were easy enough to stomp on and that was that. One of the highlights had been coming across a small clinic, where I had managed to grab some medical supplies such as healing potions, bandages, RadAway and other miscellanies items of interest.

There were skeletons everywhere though, and it somewhat pained me to see so many. Most were what was left of the ponies who had been living and working here in Arabino. All of it must have happened in an instant, when the 'BaleFire Bomb' hit Arabino (or rather, nearly hit), the ponies here may not have had any warning... I silently hoped that they hadn't suffered as Yancy had. Several were just blackened bones, others were piles of ash, and even some of them had had their hooves melted into the ground, bones and bodies warped from the immensity of the BaleFire Bomb and its destruction. Several appeared to have been running from the town, others toward their homes.

This BaleFire Bomb as Yancy had put it, hadn’t touched down in Arabino from the looks of it- but a good distance from the edge of the town. It was powerful enough to have destroyed everything around it, but far enough away not to bother me with the clicking of my PipBuck’s radiation meter- I could see the crater now, if I looked for it. However, even if I stayed away from the source, my PipBuck was continually clicking softly, just to remind me I was getting hit with a good amount of radiation even away from the crater, nothing a RadAway hadn't fixed for me earlier, when I had been near enough to it and that I was starting to feel a little sick.

My attention had been caught by a few more recent corpses, that had been shredded to pieces. They were clearly not the extremely old, blackened skeletons of the citizens of Arabino. They were new, they still had flesh, their blood was still sticky and visible in some places. But they were completely torn to shreds, their skin, bones, organs were spread around the areas they had been killed like mince meat, decorating the outskirts of town with deep scarlet paint and colorful organ trails.

No No!! Don't compare it to decorations! What is wrong with me? I shook my head furiously, ashamed of myself for thinking in that way.

At any rate, I didn't know what had happened to them, and I only hoped I wouldn't run into whoever, or whatever had taken their lives. I was fairly certain I had no chance winning against anything that could do that to ponies. Make them into strips of drying leather, and strings of innards, stretching between one pony toward another like some kind of long, continuous rope-

Stop it! I tapped a hoof against my head hard, trying to think of something else.

Ok...... on another note, I had found plenty of ammo stored away under the counter of what used to be a restaurant. Something I found odd, because again my voice had opened the safe it was in, much like several of the safe's in town had done. A result of the odd importance I had to this town it would seem, I wondered who decided to give me such power here? Didn't make any sense, why me..? I had to imagine other ponies had tried to come here and open those safes before..

Maybe they were turned into mince-meat decorations, being hung out over the rubble and building at the edge of town like banners- GAH!! Fuck! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

'You have a wonderful imagination, Flashy.' The Little Me, that voice inside my head, said dryly. I told her to shut the hell up, I had a feeling she wasn’t much better!

My eyes shift up to look to the sky, I couldn't see the sun through the thick covering of the clouds above, and again I felt the urge to begin bucking them. Why would anypony shut up the sky like that? I felt like I was staring at a boring gray ceiling every time I looked up, and even when I searched the horizon for some sort of end to the curtain, I couldn't see any. No breaks, no sun, no light, no telling the time that way, though my PipBuck was easy enough to glance at if I really wanted to know what time it was.

My eyelids dropped a little, and I stifled a yawn. I was tired, exhaustion pulling at my body the longer I sat there, my stomach full and thirst quenched. All my mind wanted to do was fall asleep, give into the black waves.... I hadn't known just how tired I was, until after all that running and exploring.

But sleep, I knew I wanted to sleep, I felt like I was going to fall asleep right there. But why do I want to sleep? I felt as if I had been asleep for a very long time, the idea of sleep should appall me, should bore me, it should be something I should never want to do again. But, I was too tired, I needed to sleep.... Replacing my saddle-bags on my back, I tightened the strap again and pulled the strap of the shotgun over my head, so it could rest on my back in between my wings.

I needed to find a place to rest, so far Arabino was relatively safe, the only real threat being the rare presence of the creatures from before..... and whatever had turned those ponies I had found to mincemeat, though I had yet to come across anything like that... Red paint and innards streamers...... FUCK! Stop it Flash! Stop it!

…….I was going to find a small place, one I could lock up and stay safe in for the night. An actual bed would be nice too, but I wasn't going to be picky.

'Bed please, I don't care if I'm picky..' The Little Me mumbled, you’re so difficult to work with, you know that? I told her half-heartedly.

With heavy limbs and a hanging head, I walked back into the center of the town, I didn't plan on going back to Beatz Concert House. Odd, considering that was probably one of the safest places here in Arabino, with the turrets seemingly willing to shoot anything but me. I didn't trust the machines though, and I really didn't like the idea of sleeping in a hall filled with the scent of fried green, gooey monsters. My stomach flipped at the thought, and I swallowed hard to keep my food from rising up my throat.

Funny, organ streamers and mince-meat ponies didn't make me queasy, but fried, blasted green goo-bugs did? There really was something wrong with me... I'm sooooo bad, damn it!!

I turned toward the part of town where most of the shops stood. The market of Arabino had fared considerably well compared to the homes of the ponies who had lived here. While most of the city was still ruin and rubble, the homes and apartments were all but non-existent, just piles of decaying wood and destroyed stone. I had spent a good hour earlier trying to pick through the piles and find something, before deciding it was better to leave it alone.

The market side of town was home to all the shops and small grocery stores. It stood along the outside of town, not very far from Beatz. Having been so far away from the edge of the town where the Bomb fell, it was spared from as much damage as the homes hadn’t been. Some of the more tall and bigger buildings had caved in on themselves, several of the smaller shops were the same way.

My attention turned toward a small coffee shop set in between two general stores. 'Rose's Coffee House' the faded sign hung above the door on an angle, the once silver and gold lettering peeling away. I had scavenged this shop before, and found no enemies. The shop's roof was considerably lower than the two larger buildings flanking it, it would seem that the two general stores on either side had helped to spare the small building from most of the damage. Its roof was still fairly intact, it only sagged slightly near the back. The walls were cracked and worn, but still held up and guarded the interior from the elements. The windows were shattered, the broken glass littering on the sidewalk just outside the front doors. I had cleared a small path through the glass to the door earlier, and I followed the same path again. This was by far, one of the most preserved buildings within Arabino I had seen. (Besides Beatz, which in all honestly, had been unnaturally spared from too much damage, now that I thought about it.)

I nudged the rickety old door open with my nose, it moaned on its rusted hinges loudly. For the second time that day, a wave of dust rose up in front of me, causing me to sneeze and shake my fur out. It wasn't as bad the second time around, but it only reminded me just how ancient this town seemed to be. I gently kicked the door closed behind me as I stepped in, and headed toward a door in the back. It was set behind the grimy counter in the center, ripped and torn armchairs were pushed off to one side and set around some coffee tables. Old burned magazines littered the floor there, and rest atop the tables. They were shriveled and blackened, I wouldn't be able to read them even if I tried. The counter had a rusted register sitting atop of it, but it wouldn't open (I had tried, and failed earlier to get it open) leaving whatever may be inside untouched. Built in to the end of the counter, a small display case with shelves inside were littered with the remains of rotting and burned food. Cakes and cookies from what I would have guessed, though the name cards and food alike were too destroyed to make out. Too bad, I could imagine how good the desserts might have looked before the BaleFire bomb went off, I could picture fillies and colts pushing their noses against the glass while waiting for their parents to get their coffee.

From the lack of corpses or skeletons in the building, I assumed it must have been closed the day the BaleFire Bomb was set off. A bonus for me, I wasn't keen on the idea of sleeping anywhere where I was sharing the building with a long-dead pony. 'Ripped apart and dismantled ponies are ok though, right?' The Little Me chirped, and I scowled at her, saying nothing in return.

There were several different coffee machines set up behind the counters, all rusted over and non-operational at this point. There were some large bags of rotting coffee beans tucked away under the counter, filling the air with a sharp and sour scent.

I had left the door behind the counter ajar, and stepping inside it revealed to me a small room I guessed was once used by the shop owner, somewhere where he/she (I was going to assume she, based on the name 'Rose' of the sign outside) could rest or spend the night should they need to. The bed that had been tucked away into the corner had fallen to the floor, the mattress was still in good shape, but the sheets and comforter that had been with it were burned to a crisp. I brushed away the burned, blackened and rotting pieces of wood that had once served as the bed’s frame, so the mattress could lay flat on the cracked tile floor beneath it. I also pulled the destroyed linens away from the mattress, wrinkling my nose at the burned stench, and deposited them in a corner of the room where a few boxes full of destroyed things too broken to make out what they were supposed to be, sat. My earlier exploration of the room had left me to find nothing of value, only scraps of things I didn't need, or even want, so I didn't even cast a second glance at the boxes.

I pushed the door closed and cast a small glance toward the window, it was getting darker outside- to the point I could barely make out the looming figures of the buildings within the town now. There were no lights in the room, and the shadows from outside were easily engulfing everything around me.

Shrugging my saddlebags and shotgun off beside the mattress, I climbed on and lay down, letting out a heavy sigh of relief as I fell into the slightly firm, but comfortable embrace of the bed. I hadn't even realized it, but my back had become significantly stiff and sore from being positioned as oddly as I was inside of the Holding Chamber back in Zone 4 just underneath my hooves. It felt nice to actually lay down in a more comfortable position. My eyelids dropped immediately, and I let my head lower onto the mattress with my legs tucked under me, wings hanging limply on either side of my body. I was exhausted, truly and utterly exhausted…. With all the running I had done in Zone 4, both running from the goo-monsters, and the climbing of all those damn stairs, and my exploration of the town all day..... I was surprised my body hadn't given out on me before now.

But, I had needed to get away from the goo-monsters, I had known stopping, falling, passing out, that would have meant death and I wouldn't stand for that. It was funny, running..... all of it had been instinct since I had woken up. I was being driven by the pure instinct to live, to survive. No matter who you were, or what you were, everything had a fear of dying. They had the instinct to live, to run, to fight, the only things on their mind would be; Survive.

Survive.... the ultimate rule........ I lost all train of thought as sleep overtook my mind, all sense of reason.

I knew I should have checked my E.F.S before I fell asleep.

.:+:.

Screaming echoed all around me, flashes of multicolored light. Ponies were crying out in pain, anger, and fear. Everything was dark, everything was blurry. The colors kept flashing across my sight continually, blinding me with each bright hue and color. I held my head in my hooves, shutting my eyes tight so I didn't have to see the lights. I covered my ears as best I could, but the screaming didn't die down. If anything, it only got louder, like hundreds of ponies were standing right next to me and screaming in my ears directly.

I yelled for it to stop, but no sound came out of my mouth.

Even with my eyes closed, it seemed like the lights were streaming through my mind. I could still see them, and I felt hot sticky liquid begin to drip down onto my body. The scent of blood hit my nose and I gagged at it.

A streak of yellow electricity flashed across my mind, and the scarlet color of blood splattered against everything, floors, roof, walls, me.

I was starting to be drowned in blood, I didn't know where it was coming from, it was pulling at my coat, my wings, starting to pull me down. I was choking, the blood making its way into my mouth and filling my lungs, my head was plunged under the surface of the scarlet pool, and my mind went completely dark...

.:+:.

I jumped to my hooves, sweat making my coat stick to my body, the bed drenched with the salty liquid. I was breathing in ragged, short gasps, my body shaking slightly and heart pounding. It was still dark within the room, but I could see fairly well despite the gloom, my eyes adjusting to the darkness slowly.

It was not the dream that had taken me from sleep.

My head snapped over to the door, the sound of scraping catching my attention. The door was being shredded to smithereens by something outside of it, which, was too dumb to just open the door, I hadn't locked it after all. I could see its long, razor sharp claws tearing through the wood, glowing with a green light that reminded me faintly of Yancy's terminal. Its claws were irradiated, at least I assumed so since my PipBuck's radiation meter was ticking relentlessly. I could hear throaty growls and snarls coming from whatever it was- more so now that it could hear me moving around, though I couldn't quite see it through the door.

I wasn't willing to wait to see what it actually was, my E.F.S. was flashing me a warning that whatever it was, was an enemy. Red, better run, kill it, or I was dead...... It was an enemy who was making short work of the door, half of it was already gone.

Snatching up my saddle bags and my shotgun, I threw them on my back and turned my attention to the window. Spinning around, I bucked at the cracked glass and with a very loud shattering noise, the glass blew out into the alley behind the shop. I winced slightly at the noise, it feeling like a gunshot had gone off, I was fairly sure that whatever was getting through the door (Which it had clawed to pieces now), it was probably not the only one around. Leaping through the window into the night, I felt the claws of the creature take an inch or two off my tail as it swung out behind me, barely missing my hind legs. Thank you Luna! Thank you Celestia! I do need my legs!

The glass crunched under my hooves, a piece of it jabbing into my hoof. I winced slightly at the sharp pain, and flared my wings out to take to the sky, I smirked inwardly, no wings, no following, getting away was going to be easy! Jumping to the air I beat down to climb toward the tops of the buildings.

Several other red blips had appeared on my E.F.S., the other creatures I guessed. I was going to assume they only came out at night, considering I had been walking around Arabino all day and never once ran into one of them. Lucky huh?

My mind flashed back to the shredded ponies I had come across, and I frowned. I had figured out what had killed those ponies, and I really didn't want to let one of those things touch me. I wasn't really ok with the idea of being used as bloody decorations, to have my organs pulled out and hung... FUCK!! STOP IT FLASH!!! THEY WERE NOT DECORATIONS!!!!!

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO!

My head began to throb terribly, a booming, high pitched howl piercing the night air. My vision grew fuzzy at the noise, I felt off balance and tilted dangerously in flight, tears filling my eyes. I slammed my hooves over my ears in an attempt to block out the noise, but it did nothing to help. I could feel the noise vibrating through my body madly, my head was screaming for it to stop, and I dropped a foot or two when I forgot to keep flying. Pain seared through my head, and I let out a scream. Where was that noise coming from?! What in the hell was it?!

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOO!!

More howls cut through the air to join the first one, an orchestra of horrible, ear-splitting vocals. I felt like my head was about to split open, and I let out a louder scream of pure pain. I was losing altitude fast, I couldn't focus on keeping myself afloat with all the noise. My vision was turning red, the pain increasing as even more of those damn things began to howl. I started kicking my hind legs out wildly, as if I could buck whatever was making such a noise. I dropped another couple of feet before I caught myself.

The sound reverberated through my core giving me the sense of being off balance, and I moaned when I felt my stomach give an unpleasant lurch, the contents of my stomach spilling out as the sick traveled up my throat and out my mouth. My body convulsed as I vomited, and I dropped through the air again, wings straining to keep me going. Alright, I was convinced that the goddesses were getting back at me for thinking shredded ponies could serve as decorations of any kind. I'm sorry ok?!

All at once, the howls were cut off. My hooves fell away from my ears as the red haze over my vision faded, and the throbbing in my head died down. I could feel tears of blood dripping from the corners of my eyes, but I ignored it for now. Maybe the Goddesses really could hear me? If so, thank you- FUCK!

I hadn't anytime to react to the dark form of a creature jumping at me from the edge of the coffee shop's roof, claws glowing with hellish green light. Its long muzzle opened wide to reveal rows upon rows of sharp yellow teeth, the front two canines abnormally long and stretching out down past its bottom lip, faintly glowing with green and sickly purple light from somewhere deep in its stomach. Its ears long and sharp, eyes a dark black-yellow color with slitted pupils, glowing faintly in the gloom. It's huge, thick front legs swung out at me, paws splayed and claws spread out, finely toned and bulging muscles rippled under its long mottled grey and brown fur, dotted sparsely by dusty brown and black scales.

The glowing claws sunk deep into the back of my shoulders, searing pain shooting through my body as the dagger like nails curled under my skin. I screamed out, my PipBuck began to click rapidly.

The creature was easily bigger than three full grown ponies put together, its weight crashing into me caused us to smash through the crumbling wreckage of a music store (Classical Imports! All your favorite classical music, featuring the famous Octavia!) set across the alley behind the coffee shop, breaking through the walls to hit the floor on the ground. The creature sunk its huge teeth down into the back of my neck as it stood atop me among the rubble, I screamed in utter agony, my voice echoing out across the now all too silent town. My body began to burn like fire when I was bitten, My PipBuck started flashing all sorts of medical warnings at me....

TICK!TICK!TICK!!

The creature, (Which looked a whole hell of a lot like some sort of huge, scaley dog to me) tore its claws out of my shoulders, taking lumps of my skin with it, blood spraying out to bathe it, and drench my coat and wings. Its front paws landed down on either side of my body, the glowing claws that were now covered in bits of flesh and muscle, not to mention blood (a lot of it!), scraping deep cuts into the floor. I screamed louder when it lifted my body up from its hold still in the back of my neck, my vision growing darker, and body becoming weaker from the loss of blood from the wounds on my shoulders. I had only been out of my prison... a few hours? And already I was facing death....? A wave of indignation and anger rose up inside me despite the fiery pain blazing through my body, it being worst where the creature still had its jaws around the back of my neck.

How was that fair?! I had escaped the bloated goo-monsters underneath Zone 4, the turrets had thankfully shot them and not me. Doors, safes, and security mainframes had more than willingly allowed me to control them.... I had been lucky so far, and Luck had decided to fail me now?! "That's bullshit!" I spat out, eyes scrunched closed against the onslaught of pain.

For a moment, the creature simply held me in its jaws. I hadn't any strength to try to squirm my way away, even now I could feel my body going numb. It could easily snap my spine, just kill me- but it didn't, it stood there, at least for the first few brief moments. Several red blips appeared across my compass, indicating more enemies. I could make out the shadow of many of them prowling through the rubble of the store, and their silhouettes outside in the street. They were..... talking?

Throaty, gurgling growls and barks were being called out all around the building, all throughout the town I had to guess. These were not words, but I was distinctly sure that they were communicating among themselves, in a language, or maybe form I couldn't understand. Were they really that smart?

The creature threw me to the ground, its teeth sliding from my neck. I yelped at the action, and hit the floor, turning my head slightly so I could see the things coming after me. Its back was arched, powerful thick limbs, all four paws huge and adorning the same faintly glowing claws. It had two (Yes! Two!) long tails, nearly two ponies in length, flicking over the rubble behind it, both adorned by jet black stripes cutting through the grey and brown fur, and the scales. There were a few scars over its body, and my eyes caught sight of the necklace of pony bones rattling around its neck.

It let out a low, throaty noise that sounded only like growls to me, was it talking to me? Did it know I couldn't understand it? What was it saying? 'Dogs don't talk Flash! Get a hold of yourself!' The Little Me snapped inside my head. She was right... dogs, or whatever these things were, they couldn't talk... surely..? .... I still think it was trying to tell me something.

Maybe telling me how it's going to kill me? Rip me apart? Use my organs for streamers? Take my skull and attach it to the necklace hanging around its neck?

With a snarl it reared up on its hind legs, claws outstretched, ready to strike down at me, I couldn't move, nor did I have time to if I could. I was lying among a pile of broken records, the shards of black being drowned in my blood as it continued to pour from the wounds on my body. I could only remain splayed out among the rubble, limp, waiting for my death.

But I didn't want to die damn it!

'Waiting like this, that's one hell of a way to die! What are you? A newborn filly!?' The Little Me screamed, I bit down on my tongue, hating her for even speaking. She was right! I hated her for being right! I hated that I couldn't move!!! Instinct again, the natural urge to survive, the fear of death, even though I didn't feel entirely afraid..... instinct damn it!

"What the fuck do you want me to do?!" I yelled in response to the Little Me, there was no need to speak the words aloud of course, she was in my head after all. I pinned my ears against my head, knowing the creature had pulled itself up to full height, I knew I was good as dead.

Barks and growls cut through the air all around us, the other creatures seemingly cheering their comrade on. Kill me, shred me, eat me, skin me, mangle me.... with horrible, shredding, ripping blows...

"Enemies Detected, Turrets offline, Security Protocol Override Needed. Voice recognition required." What...?!

My heart leapt upon hearing the mechanical voice rise up from somewhere behind the sales counter, where I could see the sickly green light of a terminal hiding behind. "Flash!" I shouted, I needed help here, anything! Something to save me would be nice! “Begin Security Protocols! Security Override! Name: Flash!! Do something!!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, come on!!!

The creature paused just as it was about to strike down at me, ears perked and eyes switching to where it too had heard the mechanical voice go off, its eyes filled with some level of cognition I hadn't expected. Cognition? Maybe these things... maybe they understood..?

"Voice Override Accepted. Beginning Emergency Security Measures now."

Three different spots among the rubble suddenly shifted, and three heavy duty turrets sprung up from the hiding places in the ground of the store, two more dropping down from the roof. They were spotless, functional, and loaded with bullets! Ah, sweet, sweet bullets! Perfect for killing mutant dog things trying to kill poor Flash!

All turrets turned their sights on the creature. "Hostiles Detected." I smiled, Oh fuck yeah! Thank you weird pony who made my voice the override! And thank you Goddesses for letting the system still be working! I owe you guys one!

The inside of the Music shop erupted with the light of the turrets sending scores of bullets into the body of the creature.

Fruuuptht! Fruuuptht! Fruuuptht!

The creature let out a pained screech as it fell, bleeding and body shredded from the hits. The Music Store was painted with the dark black liquid that served as the creature's blood, bits of fur, scales, and flesh raining down on me, the Turrets were way too over-kill, but I honestly couldn't care. The dog-thing had managed to destroy one of the turrets, one of its tails actually drilling through the core of the gun as if it were paper.

I smiled in triumph, forcing myself to twist around and shakily pull a healing potion out of my saddlebags, my PipBuck's inventory sorter placing the medical supplies near the top. I pulled the cap off and downed it, feeling the skin around my shoulders beginning to knit back together. Taking another healing potion, the wound on my neck began to close up, until it was nearly closed, but the wound was too severe to heal completely with only two healing potions, and I wasn't willing to empty another. I got to my hooves, wincing again at the stab of pain from the glass in one of them, and turned my sights toward the shadows outside the shop. The turrets had turned their sights on the other creatures prowling around the outside of the store, the dog-things now fully aware that there were machines gunning for them. Good, let them stay-

With a snarl, one of the creatures burst through the shattered window, claws outstretched toward one of the turrets, this one I noted, being the same mottled brown and gray as before, but with a bone helmet on.

Fruuuptht! Fruuuptht!

The second creature sliced through one of the turrets with its claws easily before it too was gunned down by the other three. I scowled, something, or somepony just liked to prove me wrong, didn't they? I silently suspected the goddesses....... oh no no! The goddesses are kind, merciful! They wouldn't want me dead, right? Hehe... no need to strike me down for thinking such bad things right? Celestia..? Luna..?

My eyes turned toward the opening in which I had fallen through before, the silhouette of a creature standing on the edge of the crumbling wall, growling at the turrets lowly. One turret turned toward it and opened fire, sending it back outside with a yelp. A series of barks and snarls were sent out among those remaining, orders being sent out or something I would guess, still couldn’t speak monster….scale-dog…..thing.

I didn't have a choice, going out the front doors was a death sentence, and staying put wasn't an option, the only other way out was the way I had come in, which was now wide open. Crouching low, I kicked off with more force than necessary and down-stroked, sending dust and air up around me as I shot off the ground. Heading straight for the hole, I pulled my wings to my body, diving through the opening and twisting to barely avoid the snapping jaws of the creature on the other side. With two more down-strokes, I lifted up in the air, flapping my wings as fast as I could to put some distance between myself and Arabino.

I groaned in pain from the ache of the wounds in my shoulders and neck, which flared with more pump in every pump of my wings (maybe I was still a little lucky, those claws barely missed my wings after all…), my body was tingling and still feeling numb. Every move made my entire being burn with pain, every twitch of my hoof, every flap of my wings. A fiery, blazing pain that I had to force myself to keep going, I couldn't stop now, I had to go, get out of here, it was instinct... it was natural, a will, a push.....

Survive!

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of another creature jump to the roof of the nearest building, and launch itself out toward me, claws glowing in the dim. I barrel-rolled to avoid being hit, straightened out, and gained as much altitude as I could, as fast as I could.

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Damn it!! My head began to pound again as the creatures let out their cacophony of high-pitched, reverberating howls again, my vision going fuzzy and started to be tinted red, bloody tears spilling from my eyes. I tilted again, feeling off balance and queasy.

Survive!

Shaking my head at the sound, I beat my wings down, hard.

With a sudden burst of immense speed I didn't think possible with one wing stroke, I shot up higher into the air, and streamed through the night, drawing farther and farther away from Arabino. My mane was blown backward as I continued to gain speed, red tears streaming from my eyes, air stream-lining on the tips of my wings. I had to get far away from Arabino. I wouldn't stop until I was sure I was safe, or I just couldn't go on anymore.

The further I drew away from Arabino and the dog-creatures, their howls faded, and the pounding in my head stopped as soon as I was out of range from the effects of the howls. I spared one last glance at the skeletal outline of Arabino, sections of the city lit up from the glow of the creature's claws, along with the green glow coming from the irradiated crater at the edge of town.

POW!

One last, single shot tore through the air from one of the activated turrets, before it was silenced, not sounding again.

I looked forward, flying on in the dark of the night around me, passing over an Equestria I knew nothing of… and Equestria I couldn’t remember.

.:+:.

Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Arabino VIP-
Somepony or something has labeled you as a very important pony here in Arabino! Your chances of finding valuable loot in Arabino has increased by 10%. Your chances of hacking into a terminal, safe, or security mainframe in Arabino has increased by 75%.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 3 to come on June 10, 2016