It was cold, he felt himself being stuck but not dead just......asleep.
This feeling was broken due to a mechanical sound. He opened his eyes and saw a mare looking at him. Her skin was dark blue, her eyes blue, her mane was grey with a little bit of blue and her cutie mark was two thunderbolts clashing.
Flash noticed that he was laying down inside of some weird machine, he then looked at the mare and said with an unsure tone.

"Who....are....you?"

The mare however released a sigh of relief and later said.

"Oh i am so glad you are ok, i thought you were going to die like the others."

She then laughed a little.

"Yes i am fine.....wait what did you say about the others?"

"Nothing to worry about friend, the thing that matters is that you are ok, now come on we have a lot to do."

"I....do not understand...."

"Oh come now everything will be explained. Now step out of the machine and follow me."

Flash slowly got out of the machine carefuly and inspected the room. It was a big dark room in which there were more of the same machines that Flash was in. As they kept moving towards the exit, Flash was looking at the machines and saw through the glasses ponies. All of them in the same state as he was before. Some of them even dead, rotting in their steel coffins.

"So.....what's your name?" The mare asked.

"Flash Sentry, Royal Guard of the Crystal Empire."

"Cool, oh and by the way my name is Thunderstorm, nice to meet you."

She shaked his hoof with a smile.

"Um.....yeah nice to meet you too, Thunderstorm...."

She then giggled a little.

When they reached the door, Thunderstorm placed her hoof on a small machine.

"Access Granted." It sounded from the machine and the door opened.

"Ok what was that?" Flash asked full of curiosity.

"It's called technology or tech for sorts i will explain later."

When the door opened they were greeted with more machinery, ponies in doctor uniforms and beutiful lights. Flash looking left and right trying to figure out what was happening when one of the doctors approached them. It was a middle aged stallion with grey skin, white mane and tail, a small pointy beard, yellow eyes and his cutie mark was an injector with green liquid in it.

"Thunderstorm i see you came back with a guest." The stallion said.

"Sure i did and he is in a perfect shape as well."

Thunderstorm then started touching Flash's face and she kept saying.

"See? No scars or injuries or anything."

The stallion laughed a little and said.

"Ok ok you have done well Thunderstorm, now take your hooves away from our guest i am sure that he doesn't like to be touched all the time."

"Oh....sure!"

Thunderstorm then let go of Flash's face with an awkward yet cute smile.

"Haha sorry"

"And....what would your name be newcomer?" The stallion asked with an almost serious tone.

"Name's Flash Sentry, Royal Guard of the Crystal Empire."

"Hmmm, arlight."

After than another doctor came in and said.

"Doctor Needles, your assistance is required." Said the doctor.

"Very well, i will be there in a second."

He then faced Thunderstorm and said.

"Since i have things to do i want you Thunderstorm to take our guest to a tour around the city, show him around till i am done with my work, ok?"

Thunderstorm then saluted with a smile and said.

"Sure thing boss! Come on Flashy we have things to do."

She then grabbed him from his hoof and strated dragging him to the exit of the building.

Once they got out of the building Flash looked at the city with his jaw down. It was a big, beautiful city with a lot of machinary and trees all around. Thunderstorm and Flash were hanging out in the city, visiting almost everything.

Time had passed and Flash was indead impressed by all this. But he was more worried about that doctor from before, it was like if he had an aura of darkness around him and Flash wanted to know more.

"So....Thunderstorm. Who was that doctor again?"

"Oh you mean Needles?"

"Yes.....him."

"Well he is the lead Scientist on mostly everything that has to do with care and health."

"Is that so?"

"Of course silly!" She said with a smile.

"But....what about the others who were in the same room as i was?"

Thunderstorm stoped from a second, took a deep breath and said.

"Listen i know this might be hard for you to hear but.....you and all these ponies back there were survivors and that includes you!"

"Survivors? What were they trying to survive exactly?" He asked.

"The infection."

"What? But i do not understand what infection?"

"Let's go to my home we will talk about it there, were nopony will hear us."

Flash followed Thunderstorm to her house. After a minute they had reached the house and Thunderstorm opened the door. They sat on the kitchen table and they started talking.

"Long ago, before the rise of technology more wars occurred in between the nations of the world. One of these nations managed to raise the dead and control them!

Flash was intrigued but also surprised!

"Raise the daed? How is that possible?"

"Well, during some excavations and search for long lost legends. The found the so called Sagarmatha relic. This relic allowed the weilder to rise the dead and control them! However during the end of the war this HEAVILY backfired and.....you can guess what happened....."

"So......what happened to the relic?"

"Nopony knows....the relic was gone but not the infection! You see, the powers that the Sagarmatha relic possed started spreading and they....changed. From a simple spell it became an infection that all those that had risen from the dead had it running through their veins!"

"And what about the others with me in that chamber? What was the deal with them?"

"Some of them were infected and some of them were simply poor souls that needed rescue. We are trying our best every day to save as many as we can, but it's not enough...."

"I....understand."

After that Thunderstorm returned to her cheerful state and said.

"Oh well, look at the time, we have to go to sleep it's night time soon."

"Ok but where will i stay?"

"Don't worry about it, you can stay here with me, after all you need some rest! And tommorow who knows what the daylight will bring!"

She then dragged him again to a door. She opened it and she threw him into the bed that was inside.

"Sleep well Flashy!"

She said with a smile and was about to close the door.

"Wait" Said Flash.

"What is it?"

"Isn't this your bed? Where will you sleep?"

She then rolled her eyes with a smile and said.

"Dont worry about it! I am going to the couch"

"But...."

"I SAID DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!"

Flash then quickly got out of the blankets and tried to hide his expresion of fear. Thunderstorm then simply laughed and said.

"Good night!"

She then closed the door and soon after that Flash fell asleep.

However this whole new world and it's people kept Flash thinking. What was going on in this world? Is this a part of Nocturne's game? If so then, how will he escape and reunite with the rest of his squad mates and friends? All these questions needed to be answered!

Flash woke up the next day due to some snorting that he kept hearing.

"What time is it?"

He said with whatever strength he had as he turned to the right only to face Thunderstorm facing him with her eyes half opened.

"Seven and thirty!"

She said with a snort. Flash quickly backed away and fell from the bed.

"OUCH!"

"Oh my gods! Flash are you ok?"

"Uhhh....i am fine but....how did you? when? did we do anything?!"

She just laughed and said.

"Of course not silly! You can't be that lucky to go with me! Ha! Now get up! I am sure Needles will have some work for you!"

And she left the room with her usual smile carved on her face.

Flash rubbed his eyes and took deep breaths. He got up and made his way to the bathroom. After he was done, he went to the kitchen to receive breakfast. And to his surprise Thunderstorm was already at it. She had already prepared pancakes with chocolate and two glasses of milk next to them.

"Here you go!"

Said Thunderstorm as she lunched a dish with a pancake on it. The dish however simply slided across the table and right in front of Flash, soon later followed the glass of milk.

"Wow! that was amazing! For a moment there i thought it was all over!"

"I know right! I thought that i almost hit you and killed you with that dish!"

She said with a laugh.

Flash then quickly finished his breakfast and him and Thunderstorm made their way to the lab from yesterday.

"Ok, listen i have to go back to doing my job and keeping an eye out on the subjects! I suggest you find Needles, he will probably have a job for you!"

"Ok then i suppose i have to work in order to fit it, right?"

"But of course! Anyway see ya later!"

She said while walking away and waving.

Flash then made his way to Needles's office. When he reached the door he noticed that it was slightly opened and that he could see through.

"So you are telling me that you found the entrance to the hidden chambers and you left?!"

He saw Needles shouting at what appeared to be a heavily armed stallion with two other ponies to his side.

"Sir we couldn't go any further to retrive your artifact, the undead crawled out of every corner and i have lost five of my soldiers already!"

Needles then reached for his desk and pulled out of the drawer a weird shaped object and started slowly moving over to the armored stallion. He then placed his hoof over the stallions shoulder and said while looking at the object.

"You know what's the worst part, Captain?"

"Um....what?"

He said with an uncomfortable and scared tone. Needles then looked at him with a grin and said.

"You return here......UNHARMED!"

Once he shouted he started beating the stallion's face with the iron object. The two other ponies backed away with a gasp as Needles continued beating the stallion's face till he was dead. After that Needles threw the object on top of his desk and said.

"LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU! IF YOU FAIL ME AGAIN YOU WILL SHARE THE SAME FATE WITH HIM! OR EVEN BETTER I WILL FEED YOU TO THE UNDEAD MYSELF!"

The ponies then quickly left the room in panic. Flash quickly got out of their way and then got inside of the room to talk to Needles.

"Oh...Flash Sentry! Oh i am SO glad you are here!"

Once Flash gazed into Needles face with anger, he could see it filled with blood along with that object on his desk.

"What's the matter Flashy?"

He said with a grin.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! How can you kill somepony like that in cold blood!"

"And why do you care? They failled to do their job and they paid the price. After all this is how i run things here! This is how the Furrier runs things here! But now that i think about it, how about you go and retrieve that artifact for me? After all the captain did fail me, so how about you, Flashy!?"

Flash felt his blood boiling! He wanted so much to punch Needles in the face and make him pay for what he did! This isn't how a leader treats his troops! And Flash knew that very well.

"I will help you in the recovery of that artifact of yours! But know this, i am not doing this for you! I am doing it for the people and the hope that whatever you seek will help you in your battle against the undead!"

Needles then laughed.

"Good, good.....now get going and gather the remaining troops. Make your way to the chambers. And. Get. Me. That. Artifact!"

Flash then left the room and made his way out of the facility. Once he was outisde he saw Thunderstorm waving at him.

"Hey Flash, what happened? Did Needles gave you a job?"

"Oh he did alright!"

"Flash, why are you like that?"

"Needles! He.....he has done something terrible!"

"He....did? What did he do?"

When I entered the room I saw him talking with some others ponies. He was shouting at them, then the captain said to him that they failed to retrieve some artifact and Needles got mad! He then grabbed the captain and beat him to death with some iron object of some kind!"

"But....i don't understand!"

She said in shock.

"He has been so good to us! It's because of him that we have survived."

"I don't know Thunderstorm. But he did gave me a mission....he said to gather with the rest of the scouts and head out of the city in search for this artifact."

"Hmm...intresting......Wait, does that mean that..........have they found the Sagarmatha relic?"

She said with a gasp.

"I don't know....."

He then remembered the scene back into Needles's office when he was carrying that iron object.

"Thunderstorm do you know how the Sagarmatha relic looks like?"

"Well....i have heard that the relic is actualy three seperate stones and once they get close to each other they will glue together and only then the relic will be complete.....but why do you ask?"

Flash took note on her words and came to a conclusion.

"Alright then."

He said.

"I will take the scouts and i will go to this mission and i will return with that relic."

"Oh....ok, well be carefull! The undead are dangerous."

Flash then left and met up with the other two ponies that were left aside from their....former captain.

"Alright you two, my name is Flash Sentry and i will be your new Captain till we find that relic, if you two don't have anything else to say then pack your things and lead me back to the hidden chamber we have no time to waste!"

The two ponies didn't react, they just simply stared at him. Flash knew that the sooner his mission was done the faster he would escape from this reality. Deep within him he knew! Nocturne told him so!

-Flash's Mind-

"Where am i?"

Flash found himself in a place surrounded by only darkness and the only source of light was a small lamp above him.

"Hi there"

Flash didn't recognize that demonic voice but he knew it had to be Nocturne, he then turned around and faced him with a punch. But Nocturne grabbed his punch in mid air with his formed claw and said.

"Feeling like killing me already?"

"Oh i will and i will stop you from hurting others!"

He then was about to punch him with his other hoof but Nocturne grabbed it too.

"Oh you will get....well you WILL try to kill me, but first! I want to play a game!"

"Screw you and your games!"

And he spat in his face only to get headbutted by him.

"LISTEN YOU USELESS SACK OF FLESH! IF YOU WIN MY GAME YOU CAN GO! BUT WITH THAT ATTITUDE I MIGHT AS WELL KILL YOU ALL RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!"

He said as he pinned Flash down with his shadow claw.

"Now.....that i am calm.....LISTEN!"

He said as he squeezed a little more Flash's neck.

"You will complete your given objectives and your job will be done! But if you, or any of your squad mates fail theirs! You will face.....pain beyonded your wildest imaginations! Am i clear?"

But Flash only tried to struggle and escape Nocturne's grasp. Nocture then rolled his eyes and said.

"Such a naive little soldier you are! Oh well at least make this intresting for me!"

He then punched him in the face and Flash passed out.

-Back into reality-

"I SAID GET YOUR THINGS READY AND LET'S GO! DON'T MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF!"

The ponies scared quickly got ready with their things and were ready to go out. Even if Flash hated himself for shouting, he had no other choice, cause if he is to get out of this "reality" he had to do things quick and efficient.

The three of them then left the city and made their way to the hidden chambers. The outside of the city was nothing like it, the plants, the building even the air that they breathed was different. Soon night had fallen and the fog started getting stronger and stronger. It was then however that while they were moving through some destroyed buildings. Flash saw them through the window. The Undead.

With just a simple look he could see the same ponies, but upon closer inspection....he came to realise as to how nightmaris these creatures looked like. Torn appart flesh, some missing limbs, souless yellow glowing eyes. Three of the undead ponies were all gathered up around a corpse and they began devouring it. A sight that made Flash sick and to turn his gaze away from the horrors.

"How far away are we from the place?" He asked the stallion soldier.

"Not....to far away....."

He said with his weak and scared voice.

The group then moved on passing through the undead. They then reached a small church just outisde of the town, they then moved through the graveyard slowly, but little did they know that something was about to happen, something that will cost them their lives.

They opened the doors to the church and got inside, it wasnt any different from what they had seen outisde, the place was in ruin and broken furniture.

"This way!" Said the stallion.

He then moved on to a golden table with a red lever next to it. The stallion pulled it and the golden table rose up revealing some stairs.

"Is this were the relic is?" Flash asked.

"Yes, yes it is. We tried getting it but the undead rose up and attacked us, we barely got away!"

"Well this time we are gonna take what we came for and no undead are gonna stop us!"

As he finished talking however they heard a demonic laugh in the air.

"Um...guys!" Said the mare that was with them.

"Look outside!"

Once the group got outisde they saw a skeleton stallion floating in the air above the graves with his hooves extended and he was looking straight at them with his green glowing eyes.

"What in the!" Flash said.

"Oh no no no no no!" The mare said as she backed away in fear.

"Tremble before me mortals! Either you join us in death! Or you die!"

Then with a grunt he lifted up his front hooves and the undead rose from their graves and they started advancing to the church. The group quickly got inside and sealed the doors with whatever they could find.

"DAMM IT!" Shouted Flash!

He then looked over to his right and saw an undead stallion trying to pull him out of the church from a window. He struggled but he was no match for the unholy creature and was almost pulled out until the zombie was shot in the head by an arrow and fell down dead.

"Captain are you ok?" Said the stallion.

"I am fine! Listen hold them here i am going to make a run for it!"

"What! No, captain you won't make it down there!"

"I HAVE TO MAKE IT! MY FRIENDS DEPEND ON ME!"

He shouted. Then the stallion reached for his backpack and pulled a weird looking weapon.

"Take this!"

He said as he threw it at him.

"What is this?"

"Use it well captain! It will fry the undead! No go we will cover you!"

Flash then smiled and made his way down the stairs.

"COME ON YOU UNDEAD FREAKS! WE ARE NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT!"

A moment of clarity in the eye of the storm! He was focused and he was ready to fight the undead to his last breath!