Corben gave a loud laugh as the fire turned into a decent blaze. "Ha! We're Survivormaning the shit out of this forest!"

     "Survivorman doesn't use matches and explosives." Dustin pointed out as he forced the lid off the chili can.

     "I don't give a fuck!" Corben said. "Hey Kendrick, ch... THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Corben screamed, pointing towards Tyler and Kendrick.

     The girls all gasped. "A manticore!" Scootaloo screamed.

     The players by the fire slowly started to reassemble their guns, trying to make the *pssssst* of air from the gun’s tanks when screwed on as silent and quick as possible.

     "Are we shooting it?" Dustin asked in a whisper, as Kendrick and Tyler danced their blades in the air, keeping the beast's head on a motion path.

     "Not yet." Shawn said, pulling his gun's safety off.

     "Maybe he ha-" Sweetie Belle started.

     "Kid, be quiet." Corben said, his hand running over the laser.

     The laser!

     Corben looked to Kendrick and Tyler. "I'll get it closer, and you shank it." He whispered.

     "How do you plan on doing that?" Kendrick asked all the while sweat formed on his brow.

     "It's a cat, and I have a laser pointer. That is a pretty damn good plan." Corben said, as he turned his laser on, pointing it at the ground just inches from the manticore.

     Receiving an instant result.

     The manticore got down in a stance that resembled a playful kitten. Its tail twitched back and forth, wings tight at its side. Corben swung the laser even closer, causing the beast to slam its paw into the dirt where the laser was. Corben quickly moved the laser closer towards the group, but only a little.

     Kendrick looked to Tyler. "What do we do about the stinger?"

     The manticore pounced onto the laser, two yards away from Kendrick. Causing him to slightly tremble. "You know... just..."

     "I need an answer, man!"

     Kendrick looked at the giant stinger swinging back and forth on the ground, the thought of the poison shooting through his veins sent shivers down his body. "Just..."

     Dustin started shifting back and forth. "We are so boned..."

     The manticore again pounced on the laser, just a foot away from Kendrick. It saw his foot, and slowly looked up, a rumble coming from deep inside its stomach. A growing roar, that would lead to death.

     Kendrick closed his eyes, preparing for the blow. "I don't know..."

     The beast was about to let out a roar, when it's ears twitched to the left. A snapping twig. It turned in curiosity, to yet another human. A human with a long metal tube pointed straight at its forehead.

     "Nighty night, kitty cat."

_______________

     DJ's finger inched towards the trigger, ready to blow the brains of the monster across the forest floor. The bead lined up right between the eyes. Right before he could pull the trigger though, a butter yellow pegasus flew in front of his gun.

     "You can't hurt him!" She shouted.

     "Bullshit, if I don't kill this bastard, then poor Ken-dick is dead."

      "Then I'll talk to him." Fluttershy said. Turning towards the beast. "Hey there, little guy."

     "Little my ass." DJ said, sights still trained on its head.

     The beast glared at Fluttershy, before its eyes widened. It picked up the pegasus, and gave a warm smile. Starting to purr, it gave a large lick to her head.

     "You've got to be shitting me." Kendrick said, dropping his knife back in its place.

     "Is that the one that had the thorn in its paw?" Twilight asked, moving a little closer.

     "Uh-huh, and he was just a little hungry."

     "Nope," Corben said, standing up. "I'm not about to be dinner."

     The beast gave a low growl. Fluttershy nodded, turning to Dustin. "He wants whatever is in the can..."

     Dustin looked down at the chili, a tear almost forcing in his eye. "But..."

     DJ gave a small cough. "Umm, Dustin. I don't know if you noticed, but this thing could pretty quickly kill and eat you, and the chili. Just give up the chili."

     Dustin looked down once again, before holding it out. Twilight then used her magic to grab the can, and hand it to the manticore, which licked its chomps and left the camp with the chili in tow.

     DJ rubbed his fingers through his hair, then looked to Tyler. "Now, tell me... how the fuck did you get here?!”

     Shelby stood up, stretching out his back. "Well, some bitch with a dildo strapped to her head said something about killing a princess."

     All the ponies let out a loud gasp. "You're going to kill Princess Celestia?!" Twilight screamed.

     "I guess, that's what she said." Shelby said with a shrug.

     "Shelby?" Trevor looked behind him.

     "Yeah?"

     "When are you going to learn to keep your mouth shut?"

     "He asked!" He cried out, pointing at DJ. "I don't even know who this guy is!"

     DJ frowned. "Good point, Kendrick, who the hell is that?"

     "His name is Shelby. Moved here... well... to Noble, about a month ago." He glanced to Tyler. “Supposedly the strongest lifter in Lawton.”

     DJ smiled. "Is this like Dobby's story? Second string the whole year, come in championship game for game winning touchdown?"

     The forest erupted in laughter. "Hey, remember! 'Gotta keep going! Gotta keep going!'"

     Rarity gasped when she saw Sweetie in the bag. "Sweetie! Have these ruffians hurt you?" She said, as she and the rest of the six ran to the bag.

     "Yes, we ate their livers." Colton said, rolling his eyes.

     Rainbow frowned. "I really didn't like one of them, now there's twelve."

     Kendrick sighed and looked at his watch. "Well, doesn't matter if you like us or not, fact of the matter is, it's getting dark. And there is no way we are finding Zecora's or getting out of the forest tonight."

     "So, looks like we're off to sleep soon!" Corben said. "DJ, you got the gun, you got guard duty."

     "Horse shit! Make the newbie!" He said, pointing at Shelby.

     "I don't know who you think you are," Shelby started, moving towards DJ. "but you're not just going to push me around like dirt."

     DJ just smiled. "Go on." He gave a nod to Corben, mouthing 'get 'em'

     "You're not just gonna bully me around! Okay?!"

     "Okay."

     "So! Yeah! Umm... well..." Shelby rubbed the back of his head. "I wasn't expecting it to be that easy."

     DJ set his gun on the ground. "It isn't."

     "Huh?"

     DJ held up his hand, catching a pair of black boxing gloves. "You're new here. Assuming I'm the first one you've mouthed off to like that, I get to find out where you rank."

     Tyler and Kendrick smiled. "Oh, hey! I forgot about this! Been years since we got a new guy!"

     "Where I rank?" Shelby repeated as Corben slipped the gloves on his hands.

     "Oh yeah. You see, in our FASST program, we have the strength index, and speed index. But, that doesn't really give a power and quickness index." DJ raised his fists up. "So, we came up with something to help do that; we box."

     "Box?" Shelby asked, noticing a circle of men forming around them.

     "Yup. Oh, I almost forgot..." DJ smiled. "Ding ding, bitch." DJ immediately landed a right hook on Shelby's jaw, sending him to the ground.

     "What's going on?!" Twilight screamed, just peeking through as DJ's padded fist made contact.

     Colton sighed. "Still trying to wake up, or sober up." He smiled and looked at Twilight. "Fifty bucks says you're really a squirrel."

     Twilight frowned, then stepped into the circle. "DJ! Why did you do that?"

     "Sparkly, move. This is our turf." DJ said, waiting for Shelby to stand back up. "What's wrong? Right now you're pretty low on the totem pole."

     Shelby stood up. "Oh yeah? What about now!" Shelby swung his left arm, trying to land a hit on DJ's temple. DJ moved back a step, letting Shelby lose his balance, then landed two more shots in his gut, knocking the breath out of him.

     "You know, you can stop if you want?" DJ asked.

     "Yeah... alright..." Shelby said, taking off the gloves. "I got guard duty..."

     DJ nodded. "Good, I knew you'd see it my way."

     As DJ removed his gloves, and looked down to Twilight, who had a bewildered look on her face. "Your harmony bullshit doesn't work with us."

__________________

     Lust watched the final blows, and cringed. Her guards walked up beside her. "What are we doing here?" One asked.

     "Watching. Remember, the reason they wanted to attack Ponyville was for the student. There she is. Let's see how they act now."

     "What are we watching for?"

     "Compassion. If they give any to the student, we will know the demons tried to deceive us."

     "And what will we do?"

     "We put them to sleep, and bring them back to the castle. All of them." Lust said, looking back to the camp, just as the one with the skull mask started talking to Twilight.

     "Is that what we're looking for?"

     "Exactly what we are looking for." Lust said, giving a frown.

     "Just put them to sleep?"

     Lust shook her head. "No. Make them dream. But not just dream, connect their dreams. One large dreamscape. And make it a nightmare. The worst place any of them has ever been. It doesn't matter which mind it comes from, just be sure it is the worst scenario possible."

     The guards saluted. "Yes Ma'am!" They said, before their horns ignited. A green mist eventually emitting from the tips, and flowing towards the camp. There was no struggle, the bodies just went limp, falling over in deep sleep. Then a blue mist came from the horns, connecting the dreams. Then a red.

     Finding the nightmare.

     Lust looked to the guards. "And? Where is the nightmare set?"

     "Some group of islands, called 'Taviana."

     Lust smiled. "Sweet nightmares."

______________________

     DJ heard a pounding on his door. "DJ! Dude, get up!"

     DJ pulled the pillow over his head. "Fuck off!"

     "We have a problem! A big fucking problem!"

     "What?" DJ asked, sitting straight up in his bed. "What is so fu..cking....... important......." DJ looked around the small room, recognizing the pictures and padlock on the door. "What the hell?" He stood up, and towards the padlock. He pressed the '1' button four times, and slowly opened the door. He looked around. "Ah shit..."

     "DJ! What the fuck are we doing in Taviana?"

     "How the fuck should I know?" DJ rocked back on his heels, sticking his hands in his pockets. He felt a small piece of paper. He frowned, and pulled it out. "Huh, my map."

     "Yeah, from what I can tell, this is our server? All our cars are here. The Huey, Praga, Limos, Urals, all that shit."

     DJ opened the map. His eyes getting wide. "Wake everyone else up!"

     "Why?"

     DJ put the map back in his pocket, and opened his bag, fishing out his SA-58V ACOG. "I just looked, and I can see who is on the island. It's us four, Shelby, Colton, Trevor, Dustin, Kenny, Jose, and every one of the girls."

     Kendrick's eyes got big. "Even the kids?"

     DJ nodded. "Even the kids. We can figure out what happened later, how we got here, and you in Equestria. But right now, I don't know what will happen if they die. I don't think they'll respawn."

     Kendrick nodded. "We need to move."

     "You get Tyler, I'll get Corben." DJ said, chambering a round. "Be sure we all have flares, blood, morphine, and bandages. And carry at least six mags, if we run into Patient Zero, I want him dead."

     "Got it."

     DJ grabbed his radio from the limo. "Alright, I'm low on fuel, I'm going to head straight to Branibor, and just pass Mitro. Tyler, take the Praga to Mitro, Corben and Kendrick, get the East and SouthEast part of the island. Assume the server just restarted, so watch for the AI Huey."

     DJ recieved a chorus of "Gotcha!" And vehicles firing up. DJ gripped the wheel tight. "How the hell..." He said to himself. "Did we end up in DayZ?"

     "There isn't a chance they are in Sector B, is there?" Tyler asked.

     "Shouldn't be. Hey, you guys all have food right?"

     "Fuck..." Corben said, hopping out of the blue 'shit' Ural. "Almost forgot."

     DJ sighed, taking the keys out of the ignition. "Okay, let's check all of our stuff again. This isn't our first search and rescue, I don't know how you're forgetting all the simple stuff." He let out a sigh, looking at his watch. "Guys, we have two hours to blindly find all of them!" DJ pushed the keys back into the ignition. "We'll meet back here, coordinates zero-six-five, two-five-three."

     "Look for fresh spawns, we are all hero level two, except Corben, who is a bandit level three." Tyler said.

     "I don't think anyone else is going to be with us. But that's a good point, try and talk first." DJ said, as his limo bounded over the bumpy terrain, trying to reach the small road near Vedich. Next Chapter: Variety of the damned Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes