By nine o’clock, it was getting dark. I slipped on my coat and walked outside. A light drizzle started, and a cooler breeze swept by. My legs shook, but I confidently waltzed forward. I live on the business end of town, near the hospital. It wasn't much different than the rest of Ponyville, you just won't see as much vegetation. It’s mainly roads and sidewalks with a small park in the middle and the occasional tree. I prefer the countryside, but you don't always get what you ask for.
*Knock, knock* I stood in front of the library, waiting. Any minute now... Oh wait, damn! I forgot my comic books. Now what am I going to show off? Maybe she won’t care about them- The door clicked open.
“Hey there!” she said.
“Oh.” I rubbed my head, embarrassed.
“Something wrong?”
“Nope!” I smiled brightly. “Everything's perfect.”
“Great!” She walked out the door. “I know exactly where we should go!”
“Where’s that?”
“The Winchester.”
“A bar?” I asked, confused.
“Yeah, couldn't get any better.”
We properly introduced ourselves on the way. Her name is Midnight Sky and she's the daughter of Twilight Sparkle, the famous element of Magic. She was a very deep purple and had even darker purple hair. Her horn was striped with two shades of violet. Her cutie mark was a star wrapped in a blue, magical ribbon. She must have the magical power directly from her mother, because I can feel the aura. Unicorns have this thing between each other.
“Do you know much magic?” she asked, trotting a bit faster than I.
“Well, I know the basics.” I grinned like a foal and picked up the pace.
“My mom always made me read and study magic.”
“So you’re like, what, super smart?” I chuckled.
“When it comes to magic, yes. What about you? Did you go to school for anything?” She gave me a wondering look.
“Yeah, a medical institute in New York.”
“You’re a doctor?” She asked.
“Well, I mastered in physiology and epidemiology.”
“Epic-derpology?” she sputtered.
“Epidemiology. I used to study and deal with infections and viruses. Kind of useless nowadays, with the CDC and all the drugs today.”
“Ah, we’re here! The Winchester!”
The large, old street-corner building before us was completely made wood and brick. The outside was decorated in elaborate carvings and different variations in color. It read “Winchester Tavern” in old iron letters on the front.
Off to the side, a buck was leaned against a phone booth with a mare, getting nasty. I turned away. Ugh, get a room.
We sat down inside and ordered a simple beer.
“I see you traveled light,” she said as the barkeep prepared our drinks.
I chuckled nervously. “Yeah, I forgot about the comics and remembered them when I was at your door.” I gave a convincing grin. The barkeep passed us a couple beers and I took a sip. It was sour and cold, just the way I like it. Ponyville being a big city, I couldn’t explore all of it. Bars are the one thing I like to check into now and then.
“Eh,” she shrugged, “that’s all right. Its not like it’s the end of the world.”
THUD
Midnight and I jumped and quickly turned towards the window.
“Heh, it was probably nothing.”
THUD
We jumped again. Something moaned in pain outside.
“Erm, what do you think it is?” Midnight whispered. I telekinetically moved the curtain aside and saw the dark silhouette of a hoof.
“You see? It’s nothing! Somepony is joking with us.” I leaned on the table and relaxed. Tonight was going to be interesting. Midnight and I talked about whatever caught our eye. The rifle behind the bar, the old pony with a wooden hoof, and all the different types of alcohol that could be mixed. It was around twelve when we left, drunk and dizzy.
We stumbled out the door and looked around. I couldn’t see much, but it was probably because of the excess of alcohol in my brain. Some ponies outside stumbled around as we did, making their way towards us. I ignored them, not looking for a fight. One of them already had, it seemed; his jaw looked broken, and from what I could tell he had several cuts along his face... and a scary looking bite mark. These ponies really fought tough. I got away before one of them could start the drunken trash talk. The same couple I seen before we came in was still there, except the mare was sitting on top of the buck, still doing the nasty. Wow, they’ve been there for hours!
Midnight could barely walk straight; I had to keep her up more than once. That Winchester really knew how to make a beer. We noticed several ponies running away from the direction we were walking, but I was too tired to pay attention long enough to worry. I hope I don’t regret getting drunk.
---
Ugh, blackness. I must have collapsed in the street. Where’s Midnight? She wouldn’t just leave me, would she? I have to find her.
In the distance, there was a pony. A mare. It looked like Midnight, but was completely grey and uncolored. Its eyes were white and its mane was dirty. It was covered in scratches. I began to move closer, but my legs weren’t responding. I looked down, and my legs were nothing but gore at this point. I began to panic, looking for a way out. The pony began to shuffle towards me, speeding up faster and faster. It was in a full gallop now.
Oh no, oh shit, what do I do?
WHAM!
---
“BAHH DON’T KILL ME!” I yelled, jumping out of bed with a pillow in my mouth.
All I could think of is, What just happened? Where was the street? That pony? “Oh wait,” I spat out the pillow, “it was just a dream...” I chuckled to myself. I thought I was a goner there.
I dressed myself and shuffled to the bathroom for a shower. My clock read ‘one p.m.’ Damn, last night seemed to last forever. I wonder what time I got home, couldn’t have been that late because we left The Winchester at, like... twelve. Whatever, today I should pull out my resumé and check out what medical institute is hiring. I’m guessing Ponyville Hospital is my best bet. Its not that popular, but I’ll be getting money either way.
I grabbed a bagel, my bag, and stepped out the door. It was sunny again, but there was an errie stillness, like everypony on the block was gone. I shrugged it off and moved on.
Downtown was as busy as ever. Powered wagons rushed by and important business-ponies raced to their next meeting. I felt very insignificant in the city of Ponyville.
The hospital was thick and short, only being three stories. The town isn’t big enough to need a full clinic, just an emergency center and doctors offices. I pulled my worksheets and records out of my bag and skimmed through them. All in order. This should be easy.
I trotted through the glass doors of Ponyville Hospital and scanned for an information desk. Doctors and nurses scuttled around crowded elevators, going here and there. No hospital I’ve ever seen has been this busy! A doctor was walking by me and I stepped in front of him.
“Free flu shots today or what?” I chucked. He got the joke and smiled.
“No,” he looked at his papers, “there is a lot of traffic today, and... stuff.” He had a bad poker face. That was a total lie and we both know it.
“Hm, okay. Could you point me to administration?”
“That way.” He pointed his snout down a hallway. I nodded and trotted along.
The hallways smelled like any other hospital hallway; disinfectant, hospital food, and the sweat of the working doctors. I followed signs on the wall and noticed “Administration Office”. Bingo. Behind the door, there was arguing.
“The hospitals is overcrowding! There are attacks in the streets, in public! You can’t keep this a secret for long, the rest of the city deserves to know what's really going on!” a stallion yelled, banging on a desk.
“This has nothing to do with you or the newspapers. Get out of my office or I’ll call the guards. Now!” another buck yelled.
I cracked open the door. and peeked in. The door was yanked open and a brown pony stomped out. He looked familiar
“The whole town is under attack and you're trying to hide it!” He slammed the door, and turned towards me.
“What are you looking at?” he said, frustrated.
“Oh, uh, I am looking to register here.” I shyly grinned.
“I wouldn't if I were you. There's something bad going on here and I’m going to find out what even if it kills me!” His rage grew with every word.
“I’m sorry, do I know you? I recognize you from somewhere.” I asked to ease the tension.
“What?” His rage was replaced with confusion. “Oh wait, yeah! We went to highschool together.”
“Clockwork, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I’m a reporter now.” He proudly boasted.
“Ah, after I got out of highschool I moved on to study medicine and- doctor stuff.”
“Maybe you can help me then!” He found an idea.
“With what?”
“Ponies are being attacked by other ponies all over town, and they all have returned here with bite marks or large gashes.”
“How do you know this?”
“I’ve been studying Ponyville’s medical institute for a small project I’m conducting. Unfortunately, the chief of staff wants nothing to do with the press. This is the only hospital in town.” He frowned. “Maybe you can get an insight for me? Old pal?”
“Clock, I don’t work here. I can’t go running around and spy on the patients, I could get arrested for that. Its an invasion of privacy.”
“Then do what you need to do to get apart of this! We could uncover something big!”
“Even if I was accepted today, it would take weeks of registration and other things required.”
“Well better start now!” He opened the door and pushed me in the office.
“But- wait!” I turned around to see a large, yellow buck staring at me. He wore a black suit with a red tie. His desk was full of unfinished papers.
“Oh- Hello sir, I’m a student from the New York medical studies college.” I levitated the paperwork out of my bag around my back and layed it on his desk. “Now I know I should mail this into the workers union, but I thought this would be better. Pony to pony interaction- you know?” I chucked. He said nothing while he read the papers.
“Masters degree in in physiology and epidemiology, nicely done.” His stated with a low tone.
“Thank you, sir. I moved to Ponyville just a few days ago. I thought this city could use some more doctors- heh.”
“Were in a crisis right now, son. You're the only doctor in the building that has studied this kind of stuff. Go speak to accounting,” he paused, “scratch that, go to the emergency clinic, second room on the left.”
“Seems a bit quick to accept me.” I grew suspicious.
“Your accepted, go! They’re gonna need you up there!” He yelled.
“Yes sir!” I bolted to the emergency clinic and stopped at the second door. I slowly opened the door and looked around. A doctor stood next to a patient, patching up his leg. The floor was covered in blood that continued to drop from the patient.
“I’m guessing you're the expert.” The doctor said, anxious. “Help me here.”
“Okay. I don’t really understand how this relates to epidemiology. What's the diagnosis- erm- other than the leg.” I said.
“Its a bite wound. He said his own mother attacked him before he passed out. He was just brought in, just like all of the others. It’s always reported a bite wound.” The doctor said.
“Let me take a look.” I walked over and examined the patient’s motor function and heart rate. No reflexes, and a low heart rate. Typical unconsciousness, yet it wasn’t from the blood loss. His pupils were turning white, and dilated. This was a late sign of... rabies. That can’t be true, if he was just attacked. There's no such thing as super rabies. It would have had to be chemically altered and injected into his bloodstream, or spread through saliva. Wait-
“Hes dead.” The doctor reported.
“But his vital signs still are reading brain activity.” I said, reading the monitors.
“What? Impossible.” He put his head on the patients chest.
Crunch!
The patient dug his teeth deep into the doctors throat and tore a chunk out. The stallion gasped in extreme pain. Oh shit, what just happened, I gotta get him off! I punched the pony and it fell over and tumbled off the medical bed. I picked up the doctor with my magic and moved him to the other side of the room. His throat was gushing blood, in seconds he’ll bleed out. I tried to grab the gauze across the room, but the attacker got back up. It tumbled over the medical bed and crawled towards me. I quickly escaped through the door, tripping over the doctors body. Quickly, I slammed the door shut with magic.
“Help! Somepony help me!” I got up and yelled, terrified. My hooves were covered in blood and my eyes blurred. Something grabbed me from behind. I shrieked.
“Relax! Its just me!” Clockwork said. “I followed you, we gotta get out of here! The whole hospital is under attack!”
“Are we gonna be able to get away?” I panicked.
"I've covered wars, you know." He stated boldly. "I know my way around. There's a helicopter waiting for me."
(Your vote will affect how the story plays out!)
A: Escape to the helicopter with Clockwork.
B: Escape downtown and find Midnight Sky.
C: Escape the hospital and run off alone.
D: Random.
(The deadline is when the next chapter comes out)