We stand united 1x1 Maple Bat

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Moonshadow looked at him "So... Why isn't she here. I'm assuming she shared Maple's fate. Or maybe she got spared and died from a bullet... Maybe even the best one she's not dead and I'm just assuming things from between the lines." The changeling waited on him to say something, he wanted to know his daughter's fate.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"She..." Caerson paused a bit on his words.

"She was was 5 years old, it was during the time when there was an evacuation, my family was among the group as around 10.000 civilians were trying to escape from an enemy invasion that was besieging one of our planets. Eventually, i met up with them, I was so relieved, but my daughter started acting violently at first, screaming and shouting occasionally, but before I knew it, my 5-year-old daughter had turned into an infected, she had been bitten long before we were even aware. Before i could do anything she had already infected my wife and my other daughter. One simple mistake costed my entire family in that row. Knowing that they could no longer return to the way to where, i... Made sure they no longer suffered. But even before this happenend i was a soldier, and my kids where always happy when i returned from duty, those days where golden, so many memories." Caerson said as he looked into the sky.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Mickey Adaptus

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Shining looked at him "That answers what happened but... are they gone? Apparently, my idea was a rather good one. Maybe we can... You know..." He stopped and had a worried look but shook away the feeling "Flurry can handle herself." He reassured himself "It's gonna be alright..."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"yes.. They are gone, forever... Once the virus has progressed too far, it starts to destroy the organs, and eventually reaches the brain. For them, the situation was grave, they had been bitten in area's that could not be removed, which means they were going to turn eventually. And with no longer making them suffer... I meant I had to kill them, my wife is begging me to do it because she didn't our other daughter to turn into one of those... Things... So I made it quick for the 3 of them after I had to restrain my already turned daughter. After that, i couldn't bear to seem like this, burying them with those still infected bodies felt like one of the worst things i could possibly do to them, so i cremated them, that way they could rest in peace without having to be reminded to everything that has been going. Call me a monster, but i did what i had to do, there was no such thing as magic, healing, transferring souls, once the virus got into the body, it was over. That is what it means to be a Terran, you fight to protect everything you hold dear, but once that is gone, all you can do is fight and fight, hoping that you would get killed at some point to see your family once again. Some may call it radical, but those who think that do not know what suffering truly means." Caerson said as he closed his eyes.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"I just... It's horrendous that this was all started by one person with a lust for power..." Shining looked at him with sorrow, "Well... Yea... I hope we can get that cure so no one has to meet the same fate."

The army eventually did arive to the town without a problem... Well once they got there...

Moonshadow sniffed "Ugh it reeks..."

Shining also smelled it. "This isn't normally how it smells around here... but I'm not familiar with the scent."

It was only when they got there did they see it.

Twilight was speechless for a moment. There was no town... Those around were dead. The other civilians either ran away or worse.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Maple Bat

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Caerson looked up from the ground and stared at the town, he quickly went from his sad memories straight to the situation at hand.

"Something is not right, I smell this too, but take a good look at those bodies, they have burned all over them. It smells like they had been bathed with some form of oil and then those victims had been set in flames, only some of the bodies have these burns." Caerson noted.

"Stay on guard, there might still be enemies nearby." Caerson said as he drew his axe.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Shining drew his blade quickly, and Moonshadow set his weapon in the ground with a loud *crack* of the ground spliting"Just a question..." Moonshadow said once his weapon was drawn. "You said Zecora could've been here right?"

"Y... Yea" Twilight replied to him "Why?"

Moonshadow changed into a pegasus and flew into the air "Hmm..." Moonshadow didn't see any movement except a hooded figured. "Hey!" he yelled going after them.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"Rainbow, Applejack, go after that hooded person and try to restrain it!" Caerson called out.

He then turned to a group of 5 armed griffons with crossbows.

"You 5, take the air and try to cut off that hooded person so it won't escape!" Caerson said.

He then started activating some of the drones.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Rainbow flew after as well "Hey! I bet you did this."

"Chances are pretty likely." Applejack agreed "Seeing as they are ok. In all this carnage no one is just ok..."

The hooded pony saw Applejack and Rainbow "Around you two..." Zecora took the hood off "I have nothing to seclude."

"Zecora. We figured you'd be here but... well ya look fine at least." AppleJack said. "How's the progress."

"Few knew I was working on a cure." Zecora replied, "Who told you and are they pure?" Zecora looks at Caerson not recognizing them

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"I could consider myself pure, but my previous sins would not be washed away by deeds. My name is Caerson and I have been aiding the inhabitants of Equestria for a while now.

You must be Zecora, Twilight had told me about you developing a cure for the virus, I am wondering how much luck you had so far, my own research has only been effective to an extent." Caerson said.

"We have been travelling towards Hollow Shades and we found it completely abandoned, dead bodies still being there. Do you know what happened here?" He asked her.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"When I arrived and saw what was arrived at this location..." Zecora started "All I saw... was a many ponies heading for damnation."

Twilight flinched "Whoa harsh language there."

Rainbow shrugged "Doesn't matter. I feel less watched anyways."

Edited October 19, 2017 by Maple Bat

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"Hmmm, we should investigate that town thoroughly, those burn marks combined with the oil scent was an indicator that they attacked not just by infected or conversion soldiers, it was done by sentient beings." Caerson stated.

"We sh-" Suddenly a cloaked infected jumped straight at Caerson from behind, but in a split of a second, Caerson made a violent 180-degree spin with his axe that cleaved straight through the head of the cloaked enemy.

"Things are getting dangerous, if there is one around, there will be alot more around us." Caerson said as he cleaned the blood of his axe by using the fur of the enemy he had just killed.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Twilight nodded "Yea I noticed that tendancy too." Twilight pressed a button and a drone flew out of her bag and started scanning the bodies for infection."

Shining looked at the drone. "Wow..."

Moonshadow had a similar reaction "So are you a good teacher... or is she a fast learner?"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"I think both, I had taught others before but she puts my previous students to shame with what she is capable of. Also perhaps my first student where I get this big feeling of pride, which is pretty rare for me." Caerson said with a smile.

He then looked at Shining Armour.

"We really need to step up our game with defences, if I hadn't defended myself I would have been killed by getting caught off guard. For all we know there might be a sniper aiming at us in this very moment, waiting to make a move and shot one of us through the head. Our soldiers need to on guard at all times, perhaps take defensive positions, but they really need to take action, at first we thought Zecora was someone else, perhaps an enemy, and if it weren't for Moonshadow, Rainbow Dash and Applejack then she would have gotten away, We can't make that mistake again, it will only take one mistake and we could be ambushed from all sides, and meet our deaths head on." Caerson reminded Shining Armour, knowing they where incredibly exposed as of now,

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Right." Shining nodded. Waving the others over here. "Zecora how is the progress on the cure."

At that moment Zecora coughed a lot. "Sorry... Things have been bad... I can't seem to find any time to be glad..."

Twilight looked at her "It's been hard on all of us... Zecora... Let's get moving shall we."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"We might first want to investigate that town, I am still wondering who or what caused this attack, it seems a bit unlikely for infected to have done this." Caerson said as he walked through the town.

As he was searching, he suddenly heard some sort of howling, it was from afar, but he recognized this sign.

"I have heard sounds, as well as very slight movement, there are some nearby without a doubt." Caerson called out as he was further investigating.

When the drones of Twilight's scan had completed, it showed no sign's of infection, but something else, something unknown.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Huh, that's weird..." Twilight said examining what the drone scanned. "This doesn't make a lot of sense... You where right as in they're not infected but... Well I don't know. Seems odd." Twilight showed it Caerson "See..."

Shining kep on guard waiting on anything to jump at the group.

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Caerson looked closely.

"I see... That would indicate that they were murdered by something beyond infected or conversion soldiers, normally I would say it could have been anything, but those burn marks with that scent tell me otherwise. Whatever it was, it was indicating those burns for some sort of special I presume, because they look specifically placed certain points of the body," Caerson said.

But it wasn't long until enemies came, as 2 camouflaged jumped straight at Moonshadow in front him, while one was charging towards Shining Armour from behind.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Moonshadow reacted quickly and lept into the air drew his sword again flipped in mid-air and the sword came crashing down on the infected, the heavy blade cutting through it quickly. When he flipped he also saw the one heading at shining and threw his sword at it nailing them in the chest

Shining had ducked the blade when he saw it coming at him and saw it hit the infected behind him. "Thanks."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Caerson saw the battle happening and quickly drew his revolver when he saw the one who was still left, trying to jump up in the air to reach Moonshadow.

And then he fired a bullet from his revolver that went straight through the camouflaged enemy, killing it.

"Twilight, could you please take blood samples from those bodies who had the burns on them? We are going to need those if we wish to find out more, especially with that weird thing in their blood." Caerson said as he gave her some sort of device that was used to extract blood, similar to a syringe.

He then walked up the 2.

"We had best send out a few soldiers to search for any survivors, I think I should be able to find out more about what happened here, but it will take time." Caerson informed.

Suddenly from almost all directions came bullets from the enemies flying towards them, it was raining enemy fire upon the army and the others, but the enemies were almost impossible to spot as they were up higher and behind trees. There was a mass panic going on among the Equestrian army from the sudden ambush.

"Take cover!" Caerson shouted as he dived to the ground.

Caerson started crawling across the ground slowly, but was pinned by all the enemy fire and thus couldn't go anywhere.

The ambush seemed to work perfectly as the enemy was holding the Equestrian both suppressed and in check with their ranged attacks, trying to engage in melee was impossible from the sheer distance, and then there was the case of getting mowed apart when even trying to stay in the open for more than a few seconds.

 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Moonshadow couldn't see much cover near him, he covered his body by picking up his weapon and holding it over him. He stood there and couched down and drove his blade into the ground resting for a second. The army soldiers had also used shields to protect themselves but it wouldn't last long should they aim differently than they were now.

Twilight pressed a button on the drone and it flew up into the air. "There's a good amount of baddies out there... Sure we can take them?"

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

Caerson was crawling behind a building where Twilight was at.

"Can't say for sure, we are in a very tight situation and they know it, we need to wait for them to get closer. trying to run away will get us killed." Caerson said as he got an idea or at least something that could improve their odds of survival.

As he was moved a bit outside he started calling out.

"Any squad leaders available with a squad? If there is, call out and come over here ASAP!" Caerson called out.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

A dragon, Shining and another changeling moved over to him. "Sir!" They said in unison.

Moonshadow was angered by the ambush, killing all those ponies and then waiting on them. He stayed put... until he got shot in the shoulder. Then he picked up his blade "For Her!" He said moving to cover closer to them and shifted the blade into a spear aimed it carefully and tossed it at a soldier theheavy blad killing him on impact. "Now... I just need a chance to get close..."

[MickeyAdaptus 2,211]

"you 3 gather some of your men and meet me inside that building there, while the rest of the army will fortify the town. We can never reach the enemies on the hill without getting to much losses on our side, our best bet is to fortify this place and defend it until the moment they are forced to attack us from closer. We don't have time to waste." Caerson said as he looked around the battlefield.

He then spotted Moonshadow from where he had attacked that enemy soldier.

'Don't do anything reckless Moonshadow, for all our sakes, we need you alive.' Caerson thought to himself.

It was then that some of that a couple of soldiers had spotted their fallen comrade, the 5 of them went into position and stood ready, diving into them alone would prove very deadly.

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Moonshadow growled seeing that they were ready for a pony to charge in recklessly. "Backing up seems like the only option... Best tell the guard what we need to do..." Moonshadow changed into Maple "Everyone gets to a defendable position we can't win an uphill battle like this. This way!" 'She' told the army as 'she' ran deeper into the town.

The other commander where about to give similar orders and the Dragon and Changeling did but the Equestrians were already on the move so he didn't need to.