Twilight Sparkle and her four other friends trotted towards the hospital’s exterior, while experiencing, unanimously, a feeling that something was wrong. The hospital’s façade was splattered with a green liquid that slowly spread and seeped into cracks on the side of the building or pooling on the ground. Several gurneys sat outside of the building, emerald-stained white sheets covering the figures lying on the carts.
“What happened?” Asked Fluttershy, finally voicing the question that had been weaving through their minds all day.
“I’m not sure what happened, but I can guess who’s responsible.” Twilight said, stepping forward and reaching out to push the door open before jolting back, started. A viscous green ooze was steadily dripping off the handle. “Oookay ..we might want to find another way to get in…” Just as they were about to look for another entrance, a nurse donning a medical coat and a surgical mask came up and pulled the door open with her gloved hooves.
“I don’t know what you’re here for, but you might want to clear out, this facility is about to go under lockdown.” The friends stared at each other in surprise before Rarity stepped forward.
“A friend of ours is in there…is there any chance you could let us in?” She pulled out the letter and presented it to the masked pony, who gave it a once-over before looking back up to them, her expression unreadable.
“The doctor that sent that to you is dead as of this morning; he came in contact with an infected patient and caught the same thing that’s been floating around since this morning.” A grim look was passed between the companions; they’d witnessed Pinkie’s doctor touching the mark on her forehead.
“Either way, is there any way at all we can visit our friend?” Twilight asked, folding up the letter with her magic and passing it to Rarity.
“What ward is she in?”
“Emergency ward, she wasn’t looking too good last time we saw her and-“ The nurse shook her head and fixed them with a stony look.
“The emergency ward was ground zero. A biological explosive was set off there last night, by morning, every patient was vomiting and coughing, some of the doctors that couldn’t clear out fast enough got infected too.”
“Look, we need to see her, is there any way at all we can get in there?” Twilight asked, struggling to maintain her calm demeanour.
A low voice from aside responded, “Yes, go through a level four decontamination and get into a full biohazard getup.” A pony wearing a black suit with a tinted window briskly trotted over and stood next to the nurse. The suit had the letters ECDC embroidered on the breast in large, blocky white letters.
“The ECDC handle their job very seriously, they’re not about to let a group of fillies risk all of Equestria for a moment with their friend.” Having said their two cents worth, the stallion turned and walked back into the building with the nurse, who threw them an apologetic look over her shoulder before the doors swung shut.
-----
“What’s up with that guy?” Asked Rainbow Dash as the disappointed and concerned friends trotted over to a bench outside the hospital and sat down.
“The Equestrian Center for Disease Control.” Twilight responded staring down at the ground in discomfort.
“Well, ah say we go in anyways! We snuck inta the airship; we should have no problem gettin’ past them too.” Applejack suggested intently watching a few more CDC personnel fly, drag or levitate a couple rows of yellow tape around the building.
“That’s the last thing we want to do. That pony in front was right; we can’t risk an outbreak of this magnitude. It could be catastrophic!” Twilight stole a glance over to the covered bodies on the carts, she noticed Fluttershy was also nervously staring at the morbid scene.
“And either way, we shouldn’t be running around trying to get sick, even if this doesn’t spread naturally, we’ve still got-“ She was interrupted by a nudging sensation on her front-left hoof and glanced down to see yet another maggot poking her repeatedly. After a few more nudges, once it realized it had been noticed, it stopped and stared up at her. This one had a smiling glare on it; two dots, a frown, and a large open D for the grinning mouth.
“Oh my, those... things certainly seem to like you.” Rarity said as she recoiled from the grub.
“I can’t imagine why.” Twilight sincerely responded, continuing to stare at the maggot, which had now honed in on Rainbow Dash and was watching her as she flew around. It’s little head bobbing back in forth with her flight path.
“I think they’re sort of cute.” Fluttershy announced, scooping it up. “What’s your name little guy?” The maggot simply continued to mock her with its drawn-on face. After a few moments of the stalemate, it started to crawl up the yellow pegasus’s arm, inching along until it squirmed onto her back.
“I swear Fluttershy, if you drop it on me…” Rarity announced, as she was right in the splash zone underneath her friend. The maggot constantly dripped a clear, oozing substance, which Rarity was trying very hard to avoid as the creature trucked across the flying pony’s back.
“I’m not sure why he’s not speaking to me; normally I can get any creature to open up…” The maggot had crawled into her hair and was moving around in circles, pushing strands around and getting its sticky fluid all over her head.
“I think it’s one of his pets.” Twilight suggested, watching the grub writhe and squirm around on her friend’s mane.
“What makes ya say that?” Applejack asked.
“Well, first off his name is Pestilence; secondly, I’ve only seen them wherever he’s been. Where have you ever seen maggots with faces drawn on them?”
“Hey, speaking of which, what happened with your friends last night?” Rainbow Dash asked, hovering over Twilight.
“Oh, not much, we just went over the case.” Twilight ran over a few thoughts in her head before settling on what to say. “I’d like to check on Spike sometime today, he’s probably fine since he wasn’t in the emergency room, but he’ll be in the same building as Pinkie.”
“I guess it’s decided then. We’ll head over to the new hospital as soon as we’re allowed to.” They all nodded in agreement and made plans to meet up at the new address in an hour.
Fluttershy scooped up the maggot and announced that she was taking him to a vet, much to the chagrin of the others; medical licenses probably didn’t extend to giant grubs. Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were all going to lunch, but Twilight decided to head back to her hotel room to do what she did best: research.
-----
Once she got back to her room, Twilight Sparkle took out a directory and a map of the town; she looked along the listings until she found what she was looking for, a library. She checked the map for the avenues that went with the listing, then threw on an empty saddlebag and trotted out the door.
Twilight wanted to spend her time thinking as she walked over to the library, but Manehattan seemed to demand all her attention, the large glowing billboards and constantly roving crowds drowning out any of her thoughts before they could even start to form. The city was nowhere near as elegant or refined as Canterlot, but it held its own magic in sheer bustling energy.
There were a more than a few disturbances on her way to the library, however. Her train of thought had been interrupted by the coughing that erupted every now and then a good many times, and more than a few mentions of the word “green” along with some synonyms of the word “sick”. At one point, one of the video billboards filled with static which was quickly replaced by a grotesque black mask that Twilight only caught a glimpse of before seeing the screen fade into static once more.
She quickened her pace slightly, whatever illness Pinkie had, it was spreading quickly. Twilight finally reached the library as she sped down to a calm walk. Immediately after entering she recognized the familiar calming sensation of the nearly-silent and familiar atmosphere of the building.
Feeling the soft carpet on her hooves, the unicorn trotted over to the wood aisles brimming with books. Twilight ambled down a few aisles before stopping at the classification section; after a bit of browsing, she scooped up a copy of Magical Mongrels and Monsters of Equestria along with Residents of Tartarus: Ancient Evils Locked Away. She’d always regarded the second book dubiously. Since no records of the prison had been recorded previously, she’d always suspected this book of speculation and maybe a little falsehood. Which were fine for a fiction book, but absolutely unacceptable for research. The first title had caught her eye due to its alliteration; the young student had always had a soft spot for the little rhymes.
Twilight left the aisle and walked over to a small grouping of chairs in the middle of the library, the first book was barely helpful at all. It listed some very standard-issue threats, hydras, harpies, wyverns, nothing too exotic. Before opening the second book, Twilight walked over to the history aisle and looked for anything that might help.
Suddenly a restricted section in the back of the library caught her eye, apparently some of the most famous and ominous books of the Canterlot archives had been shipped over for renovations. The locked-off section was probably Twilight’s best bet, but she didn’t like the idea of some of those books. Celestia never let her even look at some of them for her own safety. This used to irk Twilight, what with her fanatic devotion to reading, but when she found a history book on forbidden spellcasting, she found out why some things were better left unread.
Ever since she had read that book, the Canterlot archives were treated by her as a time bomb. She had even taken extra precautions to sneak into the Starswirl the Bearded wing, which she was perfectly allowed to go in, to retrieve a time scroll. Those spells were only to be used by experienced, advanced unicorns due to the potentially universe-shattering consequences that could stem from them. But she had been surprised to find out that both the princess and the guards trusted her enough to use them responsibly, even after the incident of her almost knocking over the central hourglass of the wing in her foalhood.
After quite a bit of hesitation, Twilight walked over to the central desk and showed the librarian her student’s pass. The pony, assuming that Celestia’s student AND an element of harmony could probably handle the books, gladly opened the gate. The bookshelf from the archives sat at the far end, illuminated by a single, dim spotlight. The rows of books that were originally in the restricted section flanked the small shelf at the end, all cloaked by the shadows in the room. Twilight swallowed nervously and walked across the pitch black hallway, feeling a sense of foreboding as she approached the one illuminated spot in the section…
“You know, we have lights.” Said her escort, dully flicking on a switch in the corner and bathing the hallway in brightness. Twilight threw a sheepish look behind her shoulder at the librarian before continuing on her way.
“Alright…I need something to help me with this…hmm, diseases, sickness, Pestilence, green…” She scanned the titles before finding a manila envelope in the corner. She figured it would help her a bit more than anything else and grabbed it in her mouth. Once she had reached a table, Twilight spilled the contents onto it and flipped through the different sheets carefully.
“Ooookay…Document SCP-173, an entire page filled with binary, List of Rare Equestrian Cookie Recipes- heh, maybe when Pinkie recovers...” She continued to leaf through the useless papers until she came across a sheet with four seals adorning the top. Grey and faded, she could only just make out the biohazard symbol, the bone, the sword and the scythe. She looked over the page, which seemed like it had just fluttered through Tartarus; scorch marks, water damage, faded text and old age all adorned the sheet in many areas. She read what she could, straightening out the page and leaning forward to get a better look.
“The four ho----pocalypse, Pe-lence, Fa----,---- --- -----, are --------- se-- -y --cord’s r--” The very few letters she could make out were no help whatsoever, so she consulted the bottom of the page.
“Excerpt from ‘R----tio-s:A--ra de Ap--alipsi’”
After a bit more searching, Twilight finally pulled out one single tome with the same markings that adorned the page, albeit quite a bit more ornate. At the bottom, one more seal stood out in the center. It was shaded over by age, yet the rest of the book was eerily well-preserved. She settled the book on the table and matched up the title of the book to the fragmented recommendation on the sheet.
“Revelations: Aurora de Apocalipsi” The unicorn then turned her attention to the front cover, which she tried to lift, to little avail. After a few more attempts, she called over the librarian, who tried to assist, but also failed. One short scanning spell later, it was revealed that the book had a lock; the librarian expressed empathy and disappointment, but reasoned that it was probably for the best, as the book might contain something dangerous.
Twilight wanted to agree, but found it hard considering everything that was happening outside. The other book on Tartarus classification was full of speculation and incomplete information, of course, any reliable book written on the prison would be sitting in the archives of Canterlot, not in some library sitting in the middle of Manehattan. Twilight thanked the librarian once more and exited the building, heading for the new hospital that was currently housing Pinkie and Spike.
-----
Green. That was the best word to describe her surroundings. Honestly, she had nothing against the color, but after this, she’d probably have a hard time looking at anything even remotely vegetal for a while. Soon enough, the others started to flow into the hospital room in bursts. Everything had gone well for them (Although, as Twilight pointed out, it’s a little hard to mess up eating lunch). Fluttershy mentioned the maggot she had found had been checked out of the vet’s office by its owner, whose face was covered by a mask. He addressed the maggot by the name of “Fitzgerald” and had it gladly handed back to him, as the grub was scaring and slobbering on all the other pets.
The new ward wasn’t as large as the other one, but that might’ve been due to the influx of patients, several beds had just been placed around the waiting room, and every now and then a pile of medical equipment would just be lying there with a patient in a bed taking its place.
Twilight walked in to see a welcome sight; the doctor was patting Pinkie’s shoulder with a comforting smile on his face as she weakly attempted to grin back. As soon as he noticed them come in, he said something in a soft voice to Pinkie and started towards them.
“Hello Dr...?” Twilight trailed off, but the medic waved her greeting off.
“Not right now, come with me outside for a moment, I need to speak to you.” He led them out of the room and into the hall, his smile disappearing as he addressed them. “I’m very sorry to be delivering this message…unfortunately I’ve been doing it quite a lot today.” He gave a heavy sigh before straightening up and locking eyes with them.
“Your friend is dying, we did everything we could, but you came just in time. We called your hotel rooms but there was no response.” A stunned, depressed silence was exchanged throughout the group before Applejack recovered first and stepped forward.
.
“How much time does she have?” The stenson-clad pony asked, the doctor simply shook his head.
“I don’t think you understand. She doesn’t have any time left at all. You’re lucky you’re able to see her at all…” He trailed off when he saw the looks on their faces and bowed his head. “I’m sorry.” He then pushed the door to the ward open and stepped in, followed by six distraught mares.
“Hey guys!” Pinkie croaked, sitting up before coughing once and lying back. “What’s up with the sad faces, you know that Pinkie Pie only gets better with smiles!” Another grim look was exchanged before Twilight Sparkle put on a painfully fake grin and stepped forward. The others managed to squeak out grins too, but Pinkie’s eyes just narrowed.
“What’s wrong? What did the doctor say?” She asked, scrutinizing all of them.
“Oh, nothing sweetie…” Rarity lied before quickly averting her eyes, playing with her mane.
“I’m dying aren’t I?” Pinkie let out a long sigh and closed for a moment before letting out a small grin. “I know. No need to hide it from me! Besides, you guys were always terrible liars.”
“I-I’m so-o sorry!” Fluttershy said, tears filling her eyes as she drooped in mid-air above the sick pony.
Pinkie silently outstretched her arms with a weak smile, affection from her friends never seemed to fail in making the pony smile. She grabbed all of her friends, holding them in a tight embrace.
“I don’t mind, really, it’s been a great time.” She looked around and let out another sigh, this one smaller. “I mean sure, I sort of wished that Inkie and Blinkie were here…or my parents…but this is nice too.” By now, silent tears were flowing around several members of the group, some of the more stoic ones attempting to stay straight-faced. A silence set in until a dry-throated Rainbow Dash spoke up.
“Hey Pinks, remember that time we replaced Twilight’s ink with the disappearing stuff?” The pink pony giggled softly and nodded.
“I do. She wrote like, five essays before she even noticed. She thought she was going crazy.”
“Or, what about that time when we tried to make cupcakes together.” Applejack chimed in.
“We almost made the entire town sick, that didn’t go very well.”
“What about the dress you wanted to wear to the Gala? You insisted that I buy an entire bag of candy to put on it.”
“In hindsight, an edible dress sounds like the best idea ever. Try it sometime.”
“Umm, remember the dragon’s cave? When you dressed up in flippers and snorkels to try to make him laugh?”
“I always will...”
Twilight was wordless. her mind flooded with memories of her friend, the time that she had to choose the real Pinkie Pie from the fakes. The time that they broke into the Canterlot archives after she asked the pony for help. When she tried to disprove the Pinkie sense’s existence and ended up being almost killed and subsequently saved by it. Then she remembered; the first pony she met when she came into Ponyville was Pinkie. Sure, no words were exchanged between them, but all the same, that meant so much to her. And seeing that same pony here, lying in bed, surrounded by her friends in her final moments…
“We won’t forget you, ever.” Twilight said, squeezing her friend tighter.
“Oh yeah, guys?” The all nodded to indicate they were listening. “Pestilence has been through a lot, and I know you need to stop him, but…just for me, don’t hate him for what he did.” They all seemed confused by her words, but then she said something else. “He knew Celestia, they used to be friends.” A stony silence passed between the six as they processed this new information. That meant that Celestia had a hoof in all this somehow…
“Guys?” Pinkie asked; they all nodded again, indicating their attention. “Can I have a last laugh? Just for old time’s sake?” The mood level somehow dropped even lower with that last request. But to their surprise, Fluttershy cleared her throat.
“Why did the pony visit the doctor?” Pinkie Pie’s eyes had closed, and she looked fainter than before.
“Why?”
“Because-because she was a little horse.” Fluttershy finished, barely speaking through the coat of tears in her eyes. After a short pause as she processed it, Pinkie started to burst into laughter, which diminished into weak coughs before fading back into a joyful giggle.
“I’ve never heard…that one before.” The others all drearily laughed at the irony as her form seemed to deflate slightly, a small smile sitting on her muzzle.
Twilight moved forward and struggled to say the words that seemed appropriate, but she just couldn’t find them. Instead all she managed to utter through tears was a simple, “Goodbye Pinkie...”
-----
A bright flash appeared behind the five friends after a few seconds of silence. The voice of Princess Celestia came soon afterwards.
“I came as soon as Spike sent me the letter.” The small dragon peeked sheepishly out from behind her legs. “Is she alright? What’s happening?”
“You’re too late.” Twilight said, closing her eyes and stepping away from the bed that held their friend. Celestia bowed her head and spoke up softly.
“May I offer my condolences?” Twilight stopped without turning.
“I don’t care about your condolences princess, Pinkie’s gone.” The other four walked over to her and accompanied her over to the door. Fluttershy turned around and faced the sullen princess.
“I’m sorry your majesty, Twilight’s upset, we all are.”
“Of course I’m upset! It’s because of that THING that Pinkie’s gone! And you had something to do with it…” Twilight spun around and stalked over to the Celestia angrily.
“What are you talking about Twilight? I thought Pinkie Pie was ill?”
“She was, but only because that monster touched her.”
“What monster?” The princess asked concernedly.
“I don’t know…he called himself ‘Pestilence’.” Celestia simply frowned in thought as she reflected on the name. Suddenly, her face took on a very worried look and her eyes darkened.
“Pestilence? They’ve returned?” She walked over to Twilight, who was still glaring at her, and put a motherly hoof on her shoulder. “You must believe me; I am no longer involved in Pestilence’s affairs.”
“But you used to be, right?” Celestia gave a downcast look to the ground.
“Yes.” The others either gasped or nodded sadly, but Twilight remained unchanged to the news. “I think it’s time you learned all about a dark time in Equestria’s past, a time that we tried to erase from history lest it repeat itself again. Come with me, I need to show you something.”
“How do we know you’re not working with Pestilence?” Twilight asked, eying the princess wearily.
“Just come along, I’ll explain a little as we ride.” They left the hospital and the princess summoned a carriage. “The Aquafence hotel please.” She said to the driver, who seemed to be positively flustered at the concept of bringing Princess Celestia anywhere. Celestia turned to the others, who continued to stare at her. Her magic encased the glass slide and pulled it shut before she looked back at the girls.
“Pestilence and his brothers are one of Equestria’s best kept secrets. As you well know, there are stained glass windows for almost every event in Equestrian history on those windows...this includes the darker parts of history as well, such as Discord’s rule. There are several closed off wings behind the castle containing more windows, one of which I’m about to take you to now.
“However, this still needs to remain secret for the time being, and as such, we need an efficient way of getting into the wing. That’s when the Transcendence spell comes in. This spell-”
“-lets you leave your conscious mind and wander the world in the secrecy of your dream or a shared one. You had me study these sort of spells while ago.”
“Correct Twilight, leave the spellcasting up to me, all you’re required to do is listen in and follow instructions.” Once they were in the hotel, the princess brought them up to a large, comfortable-looking room and instructed them all to get comfortable.
Celestia nodded to each of the girls as they lay down on the floor of the hotel. Normally this spell required an average amount of comfort, letting the ponies drift into a deep sleep much more easily, but as six beds were not readily available to them they had to make due.
Twilight still cast slightly disgruntled, unsure looks in her direction, as did the rest of her friends when they thought the sun goddess wasn't looking. Celestia knew how hard it was to lose somepony and didn't blame them, though she did feel more than a hint of sadness from this absence of faith.
As soon as everypony was settled in, Celestia prepared the spell, first she cast the long-term sleeping spell on herself and her company. After that came the hard part, casting the Transcendence spell while she was completely asleep. She had done it a few times before, but it never seemed to get easier. As it's nearly impossible to cast a complex, focused spell of your choice in your sub-conscious, she found a much more creative method to go about it.
She channeled magic through her horn, trying to stay on task as she drifted off was difficult, but not impossible. She concentrated her magic and finally released a ball of energy into the air. She took one last look at it before she started to feel sleep creep up on her, along with the others, with one final look at the orb. The sphere of light hovered there sturdily, letting out a very faint magical pulse every now and then, unseen by the comfortably sleeping occupants of the room.
-----
Princess Celestia of Equestria was having a tea party inside her own head. Perhaps there had been a trigger that caused this sort of dream, but she wasn't having too much trouble resisting the urge to dwell on the situation. This was likely due to the amazingly engaging conversation she was having with a stuffed rabbit.
"Alright, how about you? Do you have any stories to tell?" Celestia asked, she had just finished telling a tale involving an underwater camera, a spoon and several beluga whales, the tale had been rewarded with rapturous laughter on her stuffed companion's part. Curiously, all the other stuffed companions of the table didn't even acknowledge their existence, but Celestia paid it no mind. As he struggled to stifle his chuckling, the rabbit shook his head.
"I'm afraid not Celestia, I don't have many stories to tell. Do spells count? There is a fantastic one I happen to know." He paused to take a sip of tea before continuing, having perfectly captured the alicorn's attention. "It's a handy sort of thing, I don't use it often, of course my brother is much better with it-"
"You have a brother?" Celestia asked, incredulous that he hadn't been mentioned previously.
"Er, yes, his name is..." He rifled through several fake names in his head before finding it too difficult and simply waving her off. "Never mind that now." The rabbit said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat for a moment; he had never really been good at lying. "Anyways, this spell allows me to hop along in other people's dreams, quite literally considering my Lapine genus." Celestia had a brief giggle at that, "So I can use it, at the same time since it's a dream I can easily take any form I want and have a nice friendly conversation with anyone I want, isn't that fantastic?"
"That is quite nice. My student, Twilight Sparkle, is very good at magic." Celestia said, sipping her tea in turn.
"Is that so? She’d probably like this spell. Interesting thing is, I can even manipulate what happens along with the dreamer, they don't realize it. Of course, self-awareness isn't exactly the strongest in one's dreams. And even if they do become aware that there's a spoilsport in their imagination, lucidity is no danger. The worst they can do is kill you, and even that just boots you straight out of their head." Celestia stared at the table pensively, the rabbit, thinking he had said too much, abruptly decided to slightly change the subject.
"Speaking of dreaming spells, I heard you can cast a certain one that makes ponies aware that they're dreaming." Celestia nodded, putting down her cup.
"The would be correct, it takes the form of an energy orb the floats in midair, every now and then it monitors heart rate and mental activity to see if the pony's dreaming, if he or she is in a deep enough sleep, it sends out a magical pulse, not enough to wake them up, but enough to make them know they're dreaming." The princess paused and looked ahead at her guest before leaning against her chair in tedium.
"I don’t want to talk about magic anymore, it's boring..." She complained, the rabbit trying very hard not to laugh at the elegant princess whining that she was bored.
"Well then, tell me more about your student, Twilight Sparkle." He said offhandedly, letting go of his teacup and spinning in the air with all of it's contents intact. Princess Celestia paused to gather her thoughts and looked down at her tea.
"Would you like some cake?" The rabbit asked, when she looked up, she noticed that there was indeed a cake, she could have sworn that there was none a second ago, but she must have not noticed it because she was busy speaking to her stuffed animal accomplice.
"Naturally!" The princess responded happily. Her companion picked up a knife from his table setting and scooted the cake closer to cut it. Celestia stared at the knife, it had an ebony handle and a similarly black colored blade, the darker coloring faded into silver with curling wisps around the tip. "That's a nice knife." She commented politely, the rabbit beamed in her direction as he cut the cake.
"Thank you, I did the design myself, it was quite difficult to paint." He took a slice of cake and put it on a plate, levitating it to the princess's side of the table. "You were telling me about your student?" He said, not bothering the other stuffed animals, instead wanting to keep the conversation on track.
"Yes," Celestia said, magically picking up the fork and starting to eat the cake, "Twilight is a wonderful student, she's magically talented and gifted at all forms of education. She can be more than a bit antisocial though, if she didn't have Spike around to push her out of the house, I'd wager she'd stay in there all day."
"That's an awful shame. She seems like a very nice pony." The Rabbit stated, Princess Celestia nodded vigorously through a mouthful of cake.
"She really is! I love speaking to her!" She remarked. "She's almost more talented than me when it comes to magic. Well, that figures, it is her element!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, the Rabbit froze and looked at her quizzically. "You mean you don't wield the elements anymore?"
"Nope, nope, nope! Ever since Lulu left and came back it's been six other ponies." She shook her head to punctuate each nope, the sugar in the cake wasn't doing any good for her listening skills.
"That's...convenient." The Rabbit said, fading into silence for a moment and considering the implications to the sound of very happy dessert-eating from the opposite of the table.
"Speaking of which, has she used the elements recently?" He asked, poking the cake with a fork in distaste. After a few moments of dissecting the cake with his utensil, he noticed Celestia had not answered and looked up. She had been fixedly trying her hardest to eat her cake as quickly as equinely possible and was now turning her full effort trying to feed a slice to the crocodile, mashing the slice against his muzzle, getting cake all over it. Her more sentient table-mate sighed and leaned on his fist, unceremoniously shoving the pile of frosting and mangled cake away. "I never thought I'd be comparing the princess of the sun to an uncooperative six-year old." He said to no one in particular.
By this point, Celestia had apparently figured out that force-feeding cake to a stuffed animal was more than a little fruitless and instead levitated the cake over to her position. When she tried to bring over the exotic blade however, her magic refused to catch and she resorted to pouting and staring at the Rabbit until he conjured another knife and passed it over to her.
"I'm starting to miss the pink one...at least she listened." He said, burying his face in his hands frustratedly.
"Who, Pinkie Pie? I know her! She's one of my student's friends!" Celestia yelled across the table. The Rabbit's ear twitched and he froze, face still plastered to his palms, before very slowly looking up at the princess, who seemed very proud of herself for having remembered who the mare in question was.
"What element is she?" Asked the Rabbit, trying to seem indifferent. The princess was focused on serving cake to the rest of the attendants of the party. Which included a widely-grinning tan crocodile, now smothered in cake, an angry-looking red bear covered in stitches and leaking stuffing. A black raven with thick threading arranged in an X pattern for each of it's eyes, and a dove wearing a blindfold and bearing a trio of stitches on it's chest.
"Who, Pinkie Pie? Laughter." Celestia responded, not even noticing a smile spreading across the rabbit's felt face. Unseen by the pondering Rabbit, a fork on the crow's table-setting was covered in a black aura, then levitated and brought some cake to the bird's beak, which opened and consumed it. Celestia watched this and squealed with delight, clapping her hooves together in amusement and completely tuning out her green companion.
"That means with her gone, I've officially put Equestria's most powerful weapon out of commission..." He said, growing happier by the second and not even paying attention to the most powerful alicorn in Equestria, who was currently trying her best to feed cake to a dove with a fork. A large concentration of magic from somewhere completely nonexistent took the Rabbit by surprise and forced him to tear his attention away from his thoughts and over to the unseen force. He found it and stood up, clearing his throat and making Celestia turn her head.
"I'm sorry Celestia, but I really do have to leave, places to go, people to infect." He pulled a pocket-watch from nowhere and looked at it. "Above all that, I seem to be late for a certain oh-so very important date!" He sighed dramatically and spun his hand, making the watch vanish. "Never a day of rest in the life of a celebrity."
He turned and started to walk away before he abruptly stopped and turned to the disappointed alicorn behind him. "By the way, I had fun, if you ever want to do something like this again, don't hesitate to ask." A large blue wave materialized in the sky behind the Rabbit and made it's way across the landscape at an alarming rate. Just as she was about to warn him about it, the wave stuck him, immediately blowing him back into his chair and settling him back into lifelessness. Disturbed by this, she could only sit and watch as the barrier washed over the rest of the table...
-----
Celestia was very quickly snapped back to reality and reminded of the absurdity her surroundings when the pulse hit. As she looked around, she noticed she was having a rather subdued tea party with several stuffed animals.
The play things had undoubtedly seen better days, a couple having both eyes missing and a few of the others with stuffing pouring out of holes and a ragtag of stitches. She blinked and looked around in embarrassment, wondering what any of her subjects would think if they knew their ruler dreamt of tea parties with rather rugged dolls. They were all completely inanimate, although she could swear that one green rabbit winked heartily at her then fell back into inaction. Now, more than slightly unsettled, she concentrated on casting the Transcendence spell.
Once she released the buildup, she drew in the five other subconscious minds in the room then let the spell envelope herself, feeling a vacuuming sensation as she was dragged into a controlled area of the dreamscape.
The first acute sensation was the headache, partly from spell exertion, and partly because being dragged around in a dream befuddles the brain and makes it panic more than a bit. She finally opened her eyes and saw five other ponies looking exactly like she felt, rubbing their heads or horns and looking around confusedly.
It was certainly one of the stranger things Twilight Sparkle had experienced, she materialized about three feet away from...well herself. Another Twilight Sparkle was gently and happily snoozing next to her, as she looked around the room she saw five other figures, her friends and the princess, all similarly asleep. After a bit of not-so clever deduction, she noticed they were still in the same room they fell asleep in, albeit with much more fog, there was a thick haze of it just about everywhere. Her logic was still a bit fuzzy, as was her perception on everything around her, and the arguing didn't help either.
"Aww cabbage-patch ponies, ah was havin' a good dream too."
"About what? Apples?"
"For your information yes."
"You've really got to get a wider mindset, AJ."
Her thoughts shattered by Rainbow Dash and Applejack's squabbling, she tried to focus on the dull throbbing that continued somewhere from behind her horn.
"I'd like to ask all of you to please leave your bodies alone, if you touch them you run the risk of waking yourselves up, and that would pose a problem as we have quite a bit of ground to cover." Princess Celestia said to the others, making a bashful Rarity withdraw her hoof, as it was hovering a few inches away from her unconscious form.
"If you don't mind my asking, where are we going?" Twilight Sparkle asked, not bothering with too many formalities, as she was still more than a little peeved at the princess.
"Canterlot, we have something to see there." Came her answer, just as Twilight opened her mouth to answer, a white flash illuminated her vision and she heard a loud crack. When the student’s vision cleared, the white-wash room was replaced with the ornate decoration of Canterlot Castle. She noticed the fog was still there, and the normally occupied halls were completely empty. Twilight's headache was fading, and she associated the acrid smell and cracking noise as teleportation. Putting two and two together, she then deduced she must have been wrong, not a very common occurrence by her standards.
"Princess, did you bring us here? B-but that's way too far to teleport, even with an advanced spell!" She asked aloud, recovering first, with the rest of her friends still in a bit of a daze from their situation. The purple unicorn looked beside her and noticed the princess's absence but after a bit more investigation, saw the alicorn walking ahead into the mist.
"Try to keep up everypony, this spell is a bit of a chore and can be easily disturbed." Twilight picked up her pace until she was right beside her mentor and restated her concern. "I did use a very advanced long-range teleportation spell, but subconscious minds are much easier to transport and manipulate magically, which is also the reason hypnotic suggestion is done while the subject is asleep."
She then smiled at her student and looked down kindly, "But I'm sure you already knew that." Twilight looked away, trying to ignore the flattery. As they reached the end of the hall, another figure became apparent in the fog, Twilight faltered and gasped, as did the rest of their entourage, but the princess only marched on.
"That'll be Alexander, he should really stop sleeping while on duty." A note of amusement was apparent in her voice as she walked over to the unicorn, who was, quite literally, asleep standing. He was leaning heavily against his spear, eyes closed and looking completely dead to the world.
"What? Other sleeping ponies are here too?" Rainbow Dash asked, hovering near the comatose guard.
"Well, a bit, look very closely." Celestia said, stopping near her employee to let the others take their time. When they looked more closely, they did indeed notice something. When they entered the Transcendence realm, their current forms and their physical bodies were completely separate. This guard, however, had a slight holographic shimmer to the edge of his body, unlike theirs.
"That's interesting... I'm assuming everypony that falls asleep has a form present here too?" Rarity suggested quizzically, circling the sleeping pony inquisitively.
"Yes, but unless someone is actually using the realm it makes no difference whatsoever."
"Hey Pinkie! Let's wake ‘em up!" Dash said, giggling and hovering over the sentry and leering down at him. "Pinki-" She was about to call for her friend again when she noticed everyone was staring at her, looking like they were teetering on the edge of reminding her something.
Once she remembered of the empty space in their group, her enthusiasm completely disappeared. Her flight pattern faltered, wings going slightly flaccid as she dropped down a few feet from her previous target who remained blissfully unaware of the disturbance.
The group continued along the tunnel, further into the castle than any of them had gone (save Twilight) before coming to a dead stop on front of a solid wall. The princess lowered her head and placed her horn into a sheath on the wall, which glowed for a second before vanishing, the wall along with it. Instead of the elegant furnishings of Canterlot Castle, there was a tunnel made of earth and rock, craggy walls surrounded them with no noticeable decoration or sign that it had been opened for a very long time.
“Where are we?” Twilight asked, taking a step into the tunnel, the click of her hoof on stone echoed through the tunnel and dust rained down from the ceiling, she instinctively recoiled. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Perfectly. At least I’d hope so, this tunnel is hundreds of thousands of years old. It was an extra historical wing for the castle. We placed a great number of stained glass windows in these tunnels, all of them dictating Equestria’s rich history, but we had to close it down...” Celestia walked further into the tunnels, the other five following her.
“Currently, we are deep within the mountain, we thought that that would be the best place to conceal the tunnel until it was ready to be opened to the public, but we had a change of plans and now the tunnel sits, collecting dust.”
“And spiders...” Rainbow Dash noticed, poking a sleeping arachnid on the tunnel wall.
“It’s always amazing to see the things nature adapts to.” Celestia said, smiling gently and scanning the cavern interestedly. “If you sink a ship it becomes a coral reef, if you close down a tunnel...”
“It becomes a hive full a’ critters, yeah.” Applejack finished, speeding up to avoid a bat dozing off on the ceiling. The princess stopped walking suddenly, lit up her horn and cast a spell somewhere unseen. A bright light abruptly erupted next to them, illuminating a sheet of spiders. The spiders jumped slightly before vanishing into a small puff of smoke. Fluttershy rushed forward and gasped lightly before Celestia spoke softly.
“These creatures simply awoke in the real world, nothing is wrong.” As Fluttershy started to relax she spotted a horrendous stain glass image and gasped from the minor the shock. Leering at them from the left was a headless figure sitting in a chariot being pulled along by a pony.
The pony itself was black, with milky white eyes while it’s rider was a pasty pale color. although it was wearing a thick black cloak, they could tell it’s color by the head it was carrying beneath it’s arm. The mouth was pulled back in a ghoulish grin that stretched from one end to the other, the eyes were magically enchanted, so that they darted around constantly, even locking onto some of it’s viewers. The chariot was made of macabre accessories, with spokes made of thigh bones and two skulls with candles on them lighting the way. In his other hand, the creature clutched a whip made of spinal vertebrae with sharpened edges.
“This is the Dullahan, a magical creature we had in out employment for quite a while. He acted as a messenger between cities and was very loyal. One of the quirks of Dullahan however, is their unwillingness to be seen. They’ll often intimidate the viewer-” Another window slowly illuminated, showing the body holding out it’s head, which was vomiting blood onto a pony. “-and might even go so far as to maim them.” Another window lit up, the Dullahan’s spinal-whip dragging across a pony’s eyes, a trail of blood following it.
“Eventually we had to arrest him for his crimes, but he resisted violently...” The next image showed the head floating into the air, spewing blood, while the body swung around the spinal whip, it’s pony reared up. The Dullahan was surrounded by royal guards, who were looking as stoic as ever. “We finally used the creature’s weakness, gold, to subdue him long enough to bring him to Tartarus, the pony from his chariot escaped, but not before we beheaded it, giving way to the legend of-”
“The headless horse!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, looking mortified that she had told a true story about a runaway monster to the fillies. Celestia nodded and turned away, the next window blacked out.
“We never finished exhibit, we were going to show the creature’s cell in Tartarus, but...” She continued along the trail without answering, leaving them all wondering what happened down in the prisons that would shake even Celestia herself.
“Here we are...” The princess said, lowering her head and illuminating a mural ahead of them
An image flickered to life, this time interrupting a few bats, who awoke and fluttered off of the barrier a short way before vanishing. The picture shown was an odd one to be sure—bipedal creatures not unlike pestilence were separated into four panes on the image. One pale figure kneeling in a graveyard, one darker-skinned creature in a dead wheat field, the third in a hospital and the final one in a flaming battlefield.
“These are the four horsemen of the apocalypse, one you’ve already met, Pestilence.” She tilted her head towards the fair-skinned one in the hospital. “They were projections, personifications of the suffering that Discord caused all the ponies of Equestria before we took rule. I’m not sure what has become of the other three, but once we’ve managed to re-contain Pestilence I will make certain that they are still detained.”
“What happened to Pestilence to make him all deformed and sick? He looks fine in this picture.” Twilight noted, squinting at the window.
“All in due time, my faithful student.” The second mural lit up, showing a portrait of all four horsemen in the throne room, speaking to Princess Luna. “I was asleep at the time of their arrival, since they came by night. Even though Luna was younger, they were brought to her.” Princess Luna seemed distraught and confused, two of the figures in front of her wore neutral expressions while the other two were laughing and looking irritated in turn. “There was a little bit of conflict, but in the end we solved the important issues.”
The next mural showed the four of them engaging in different activities, Pestilence was examining a brain in a jar, one of the others was wearing a chef’s hat and a happy smile, another was saluting to a line of royal guards, and the final one was reading a spellbook, his extended finger glowing. “They all settled in nicely, we decided to try to get them to earn their cutie marks, as they didn’t appear to have any, but their skills became clear rather quickly. Pestilence had a wonderful talent in biology and medicine, and his brothers had their own specialties…there was a problem though.”
The next picture held nothing good; the darker skinned one was grinning, his mouth and fingers covered in blood. Pestilence was wielding a gore-soaked scalpel and forceps with a glowing syringe clenched in his teeth and a sadistic expression plastered on his face. The third had a sword in his hands, fire floating above his other outstretched palm and a dark scowl on his face, and the final one was standing in the middle of a circle of skeletons and undead ponies.
“It didn’t take long for their powers to corrupt them; we thought that we would be able to control their inherent talent for destruction that they inherited from Discord, but we were wrong…after a while they became too hard to control and ended up only harming themselves.” The next picture showed them terrorizing cities and towns, Pestilence throwing canisters of liquid, his knife following closely. The others swinging a scythe with a legion of the undead, a sword with a trail of smoke and fire behind them or claws with a dried up and dead world to control. “They turned against Equestria and ravaged towns, there were many deaths…”
“How did you finally stop them?” Fluttershy asked, hovering further back from the pictures.
“Follow me, the rest of the windows are ahead.” She walked forward, the tunnel suddenly ending in a large room, half of it was made of the same rock and dirt as the cave before them, but the rest was made of dark grey steel, with a catwalk high above and a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
“The pictures are on the side of the chandelier, give the magic a moment to do it’s work… it has been too long since anyone has visited his area of the castle.” Celestia turned around to face the group in front of her. “Do you have any questions?”
“Yes actually.” Rarity stepped forward. “Who were the other three horsemen, and what exactly did they do?”
“Also, why didn’t you just use the elements of harmony against them?” Rainbow Dash piped in.
“Famine,” Came a voice from somewhere above them, echoing throughout the chamber. “War, and Death. I should think it was obvious what they did…” A small metallic clanging followed the phrase, the catwalk above them was suddenly intruded as Pestilence stepped into the dim light that stretched across the room.
---
“Princess Celestia…it’s been a while, a few thousand years if my memory serves me correctly.” His smile turned into a bitter grimace. “And, if I am indeed remembering correctly, our farewell was not pleasant.”
“I did what I had to do Pestilence, nothing more…” The princess returned his glare as they shared a hateful silence for the next few seconds.
“Oh well, I’m willing to let bygones be bygones, you?” The section of the catwalk he was standing in detached and flew down towards them, hovering right in front of the princess. He extended a slick, sticky green hand forward, Celestia reached her hoof for it before taking a beat to think and withdrawing it, remembering the angel’s contagion. Pestilence threw his head back and chuckled, coughing in between fits of laughter.
“Almost got you there didn’t I?” The catwalk hovered slightly upwards, Pestilence peering over the edge at the crowd below. “Aaah, and here we have the elements, or at least what’s left of them; all of Pinkie Pie’s dear friends. Let’s see here, honesty, loyalty-no wait, kindness, magic for Twilight Sparkle, and-uhh, whatever the others are.” The walkway floated upward back to its proper position. “
So…you’ve rallied the troops, it’s probably for the better. Telling them all the wonderful story of all the good times we had, like how you cut me open, and cursed me, and threw me into a pit…”
“I needed to stop you, it was the best solution we had...you forced our hoof when you assaulted Canterlot.”
“Interesting philosophy princess, for someone who promotes friendship and fair treatment, mutilation and near murder has little effect on you.”
“Don’t be a fool, you know just as well as I do that you were guilty of the slaughter and destruction of hundreds of citizens.” Celestia said in undertone, staring lividly at the angel.
“Princess Celestia…the very symbol of purity and goodness, a veritable goddess among the people, locking up and torturing everyone you deem a criminal, you can’t even protect Equestria’s fair citizens…you’re a failure of a ruler.” He said with an evil grin.
Celestia gritted her teeth and screwed her eyes shut. When she opened them, they shone white, glowing for only a moment before fading back into their regular forms.
“Aww, and here I thought I could get you mad...oh well, I suppose I’m not as good as Famine when it comes to breaking ponies.” He took a beat to think, “Although I suppose the less like Famine you are, the better person you turn out to be.”
“I’m not going to respond to your petty taunts Pestilence. You’ve become a psychopath; a hollow shell of the pony you once were.” The princess stood her ground, glaring up at him.
“Oh, but I’m not a pony, am I?” Pestilence’s expression grew maliceful. “Just a reflection of the evils once inflicted upon Equestria. And you knew it well, so did everyone else. We could never be accepted as citizens of Canterlot because we were never eligible. You stowed us away in the castle, you hated us for the things we did, no one in that damned city ever gave me a second thought.” The malice turned to anger as he leaned over the railing, his face only about a foot from Celestia’s.
“That’s not true...she liked you.” The princess answered. The angel’s expression immediately shifted to one of intense emotional confusion, a storm cloud of feeling playing across his face. “She listened to you, when she wasn’t busy learning from you. You two would talk the day away, careless and happy. She gave you the kindest friendship she had to offer, and how did you repay her?”
“How dare you bring her into this petty feud, she has nothing to do with this.” Pestilence muttered darkly, his catwalk had now reached the top of the chandelier and re-attached itself to the rest of the platform. “Besides, what regrets do I have? I heard you telling everypony here about us, the well-kept secret of ancient history. Well guess what princess, we’re not old news anymore, I’ve heard history repeats itself...I’m sure that’ll be true for our case now, won’t it? Picture this, tomorrow’s headline: “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, just like they used to call us after that little coup War pulled.”
“That’s quite enough Pestilence, leave the dreamscape, I only hope you’ll surrender quietly and peacefully.” Celestia said, her horn glowing brightly.
“I liked it better when you were acting like a five-year old...” The angel chuckled, leaning against the banister, ”Not a chance I’m turning myself in, not after what you did to me... why would I anyways? With laughter out of the equation, the elements of harmony are null. You five are useless without your little toys aren’t you? I’m free to take over Equestria, and this time, my rule WON’T end.” Pestilence jumped down from the catwalk, two large, green, feathery wings extending and slowing him down, letting him land softly on the steel floor. The five mares gasped; that explained how he got on the airship.
The angel hummed to himself softly as he landed before starting to sing.
“‘Bye, bye miss Equestrian pie’...quite a relevant song considering your recent loss is it not?” He glanced over, seeing the horrified and angry expressions directed at him. “Oops, too soon?”
“That’s it...you’re gonna pay for what you did to Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash shouted, going with her ever-consistent plan of charging at the nearest threat. With a flick of Pestilence’s wrist, she pulled a dead stop, her momentum slamming into her as he brought her closer.
“Ah, let’s see... considering how brash you are, I’d guess you’re the ex-element of loyalty. And your name is?”
“My name’s not important, no matter what it is, I’m still gonna kick your flank!” She tugged at the magical barrier, struggling to get free.
“I see...well with that sort of attitude, I don’t see you getting too far in my favor.” He flung his hand over his shoulder casually, tossing Rainbow Dash backward, stumbling her for only a moment before she recovered and flew forward, grazing Pestilence and knocking him off of his balance. “Damn fool!” He shouted, propping himself up on one elbow, “I’m only trying to talk! Besides, trying to kill me in here won’t do you much good.”
“Calm down Rainbow Dash, let’s hear what Pestilence has to say.” Twilight said, nodding at her friend.
“I’m done with talking. After what he did to Pinkie!? No way.” The blue pegasus drew back, ready to charge her adversary once more.
“I agree!” Came a soft voice, Fluttershy flew up next to the other mare and glared at the angel. “We need to stop him...we can’t just speak to him this time, we need to settle Pinkie’s debt.” Rarity and Applejack stepped forward too, and Twilight finally frowned and nodded, crouching down and preparing herself.
“Very well, if it’s a fight you want,” Pestilence cracked his knuckles and extended his wings once more. “Then I’ll be happy to oblige.”
“Girls...calm down, we’re still under the effects of the Transcendence spell, you can’t hurt him.” Celestia called out, standing her ground.
Twilight was torn, seeing Celestia look over firmly but calmly, then seeing the pain her friends were going through from the loss of their bubbly companion. “Princess, I’ve listened to you for a long time, but I can’t let you defend this monster.” Twilight’s horn glowed, “Stay out of this Celestia, now it’s personal.”
“Twilight please...Pestilence has something planned, it’s never that simple!” Celestia shouted, but her student only ignored her. The angel laughed and grinned widely.
“That’s it Twilight Sparkle, why listen to Tia? Where has that ever gotten you? Don’t you want to avenge Pinkie Pie? Or shall her death be in vain?” The taunting finally got to Twilight, who cast a bolt of magic at Pestilence. He deflected it easily against his palm, opening him up to an attack by Rainbow Dash on the side, knocking him off his feet.
“Take that, featherhead!” Rainbow Dash came around for another pass as Pestilence pulled himself up slowly, groaning, only to receive a hoof in the face from Applejack, throwing him backwards.
Rarity grabbed him in midair and held him still, her horn glowing and summoning a dozen sharp crystal shards, which flew into Pestilence, embedding themselves into his gut. He groaned in pain as green blood poured from the wounds. Earning Rarity a surprised look from the other ponies.
“A little trick from our visit to the crystal empire darlings, I thought it would be useful.” she said, quite proud of herself. Twilight then summoned several purple, holographic spikes, which also embedded themselves into Pestilence, neatly impaling him and forcing him to let out a roar of pain. Celestia flinched in fear of what her student and her friends were doing.
“Please Twilight, you must calm down!” She shouted, her horn grabbing Twilight and pulling her away just as Fluttershy tackled Pestilence to the ground, planting a hoof on his shoulder and pinning him down.
“You monster!” The pegasus shouted, tensing up nervously in her unwillingness to hurt the angel, who gave her sour, bored grin.
“I think that’s quite enough.” Pestilence said, reaching up and placing his hands around Fluttershy’s neck, the others turned away as an audible crack was heard. When they turned back, the pony was gone and the horseman was wiping the blood off of his person, his wounds closing rapidly.
“That was fun! I had the feeling that my stage combat was a little rusty, but I think my reactions were spot-on, don’t you?” The others all stood there, shocked, except for Celestia, who simply looked deflated. “Ahh, stunned by my performance naturally!” A blue blur suddenly shot of nowhere and slammed into Pestilence once more, blowing him back as a magical glow surrounded him and his face met Rarity’s hoof.
“How DARE you do that to poor, poor Fluttershy!” She yelled, slamming the angel against the rock wall.
“You and the rainbow one are both reeeeally starting to grate on my nerves...” Pestilence raised his hand and sent a blast of magic out, blowing Rarity backwards into the soil. “I find it adorable that you’re all trying so hard, really I do, but I need to find something more worthy of my time, like...oh?” He looked over at the large steel door resting at the far side of the room. “That seems interesting enough.” Celestia froze up, her facade breaking for a moment.
“Pestilence, stop.” She commanded, the angel turned around and sneered at the princess.
“Or what? You’ll lecture me to death?” He placed his hand against the door, a green glow surrounding the fingers as he closed his eyes. Suddenly, he was being lifted off of his feet and tugged backwards on the ground. Finding himself looking up at the goddess of the sun, her eyes glowing brightly.
“DON’T FORGET WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO.” Celestia said, her voice magnified and echoing across the chamber, it was the first time the other five had heard her break out the royal Canterlot dialect. “WE ARE THE PRINCESS OF THE SUN, ARE YOU VERY SURE YOU’D LIKE TO TEST US!?” Pestilence faltered, cowering slightly and shuddering before he managed to compose himself, grinning up at the princess.
“Celly...you haven’t changed a bit...all bark and no bite, though I’ll admit, that’s one hell of a bark.” The angel lifted his hand and sent a pulse of magic straight up, a normal pony would have been blasted off of their feet, but the princess stood her ground, a magical aura rooting her to the floor.
“Huh. Well. I suppose you do learn some things in over a thousand years...” Pestilence said, looking baffled that his spell had failed. Celestia, glaring down at him, whisked him out from underneath her and brought him to eye level, a rotten-toothed nervous smile reflecting her frown.
“I’m not here to question your skill, leave this place and come quietly, this is your last chance.” She said, the golden aura gripping the horseman even tighter.
“I don’t think you quite understand your position here.” Pestilence said, his nervousness slowly fading into suave confidence. “I’ll have Equestra in the palm of my hand. Illness and rot everywhere, just like it was always meant to be...”
“And how do you think you can defeat me!? The elements may be gone, but I still stand in your way!” Celestia said, the hateful look refusing to leave her face.
“A princess isn’t much without a kingdom, a kingdom that I’ll take only days to tear out of your grasp...and besides, you’re forgetting that I’m more skilled than you, I’m stronger than you...” Pestilence shot open his mouth, a ball of explosive liquid chemicals flying out toward Celestia’s face, detonating when it hit its mark.
The princess vanished in a green plume of smoke just like Fluttershy, sending the angel plummeting to the ground. He stood up and brushed himself off, grinning widely at the spot where Celestia stood.
“And I’m smarter than you.” The four ponies remaining in the chamber stood shocked until Pestilence finally looked over at them.
“Quite a spectacle wasn’t it? Wonderful acting on my part...I do love the theater, I used to go all the time with Famine; his appreciation for the arts was one of the only things we agreed on in between all the bickering..” The stunned looks continued until Pestilence held up his hand in mock humility. “No, no, hold your applause, the show isn’t over just yet.”
“Girls, get ready!” Twilight lowered herself down, horn at the ready as the other three did the same, all primed to fight. Pestilence sighed and frowned at them, tisking as he shook his head slowly.
“You can’t be serious...it’s over! Wake up my little ponies, the world is mine! If Celestia can’t stand in my way, then what makes you think you can?”
“We may not have the elements, but you sure as buck aren’t invincible!” Twilight’s and Rarity’s horns glowed, Rainbow Dash’s wings stretched out and Applejack crouched menacingly, all of them glowering at the angel.
“Fine. Do your worst, but this time, I’ll put a little heart into it...” Pestilence cracked his knuckles and neck before shaking his hands out.
Applejack charged forward, lower legs extended towards Pestilence’s face before an emerald green glow surrounded them, slamming her against the ground before flinging her towards the wall. “I have a certain affinity for telekinesis, you know, levitation and the like-” Applejack vanished with a loud crack as soon as she hit the wall, prompting Rarity to dash forward.
“-I remember that bet we made with Death back in the day.” Pestilence raised his hand, a large, sharp bar from the scaffolding detached itself and flew down, the sharpened edge piercing through Rarity mid-sprint. She too vanished with the sickening sound of metal tearing through flesh.
“He lost and promised to teach all of us any single magical skill we requested.” Rainbow Dash flew up and over the scaffolding, barely dodging a green explosion that tore apart a section of the metal. As Pestilence was wiping his mouth off, eyes following the rainbow blur, a bolt of energy hit him from behind, knocking him over.
“I chose levitation, since I was best at it. Magic never was a strong suit of mine...” Pestilence gave a deep exhale as he shakily stood up, lobbing another ball of explosive vomit at Twilight, who ran straight towards it before teleporting, reappearing behind him. Pestilence looked around for a moment before he locked eye with her, seeing her spin around, rear legs pulled back.
“Why you clever-” The pair of hooves slammed into the angel, sending him sprawling backwards as Rainbow Dash swooped down, scooping him up and pinning him against the wall high off of the ground.
“What now you feathering murderer?” The pegasus asked, hooves still planted firmly against him. The horseman groaned and locked a disgusted look on the pony holding him.
“Now, I drag you to the ground and pull off each and every one of your blood-feathers veeery slowly before gutting you and dissecting your pretty little-” He was cut off by a blue hoof to the mouth as Rainbow Dash kicked off of him, letting him fall to the floor below.
“That’s enough out of-” Two large green wings shot out of the angel’s back and let him pull up, skimming the ground as he looped around the catwalk brought himself up to Rainbow Dash’s height. “Oh...forgot about that.”
“Oopsie...” Pestilence cooed before grabbing the tip of her tail as she tried to speed away and telekinetically dragging her over, wrapping an arm around her neck.
Twilight turned away as another crack echoed through the room. When she turned back, only Pestilence was still floating above the catwalk, leering down at her.
“So, I suppose it comes down to this.” Pestilence said, still giving her his jaded grin. Twilight, without responding, raised her horn, which glowed a deep purple before the unicorn vanished into thin air.
The green figure simply glanced around at the darkened rock and steel of the room as he hovered high above it, the smile never leaving his face. “To be perfectly honest, I’m enjoying myself…like an architect with building blocks placed in front of him, or the doctor mending a simple broken leg-“ He spun around and wrapped a hand around Twilight’s throat as soon as she reappeared. “Sometimes one needs a bit of child’s play.” The world around both figures faded into brightness as both the unicorn and the horseman disappeared together.
-----
A slow beeping echoed across the room as Twilight’s eyes opened, the light above her was immediate and blinding . She became slowly aware of an odd, empty feeling around her midsection, a sort of discomfort that she couldn’t quite put her hoof on. She tried to remember what happened before she woke up… there was...
Her thoughts were interrupted as a large black mask suddenly blocked out the light above her. Two shiny portholes stared down at her as a dark trunk trailed at the height of her vision. “Aaah…so my patient is awake…” The voice echoed slightly, seeming to change tones as it reverberated through her head. The soft hissing of oxygen and a slight murmuring from somewhere she couldn’t see were also grating on her ears.
“I wanted to speak to you more, but I needed to keep you away from Celestia’s prying hooves.” A single sad-faced maggot crawled onto Twilight’s hoof, slowly squirming into the light and looking up at her dolefully. Besides the bright light shining above her, the room was empty. There was a bit of tile on the ground, but the moment the light ended and the darkness began, she could see nothing.
“W-where am I? What’s going on?” Twilight breathed out, feeling cold and scared.
“You’re in my world, little patient…my tiny world of rot and disgust.” He held his hand out for the maggot, which climbed up it into his palm and curled up. “Isn’t it quality work? I can’t even escape in my dreams…” The angel whispered sadly. He looked down at the tiny grub, cuddling his fingers and purring before his expression twisted into one of disgust and he closed his hand, smashing it against the table as slime poured out from between his fingers.
Twilight looked at the masked figure, then downwards at herself. The nagging sensation that had been bothering her so much became very clear as what she saw shocked her beyond belief. She would have thrown up, but a tube lodged in her throat prevented her from accomplishing that. The purple mare’s belly was cut wide open, her organs fully exposed, some
missing and some mutilated, inflated and grotesque.
“I keep wishing that a good memory will find its way here…maybe she would come, maybe Celly would come operate with me.” He raised a syringe and slid out the plunger, picking up a bottle and reading the label as he nonchalantly wiped slime off of his hand on Twilight’s coat.
“Do you have a color preference?” He asked, pulling open a container and pulling out two vials, one green, one purple. When Twilight failed to answer, Pestilence shrugged and poured a small amount of purple liquid into the chamber.
“Either way, this is very serious business indeed.” He stuck the plunger back in and slid his hand into the opening in the pony lying on the operating table. Twilight started whimpering fearfully, trying to lean up and see what he was doing, but Pestilence shushed her and placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her back down onto the table.
“Don’t worry. I’m a doctor.” She could hear the grin in his voice as he placed a reassuring hand on her hoof and pushed down on the plunger. Twilight felt a cold, thick liquid filling up her lungs, the odd, sloshing sensation and interruption of breathing making her panic. She coughed and a few drops flew out of her mouth, smattering her muzzle. Pestilence wiped them off before pulling the empty syringe out and sitting on a chair next to her.
“Twilight Sparkle…element of magic, student of Celestia…you’re going to do great things someday.” He sighed and placed the needle back onto a small tray. “I’d ask you to consider helping us, but you’re far too loyal to Celly to even consider doing that. Not to mention the whole fiasco with your friend.
“For that matter, I don’t know why you’re still loyal to Celestia, she’s failed you both as a mentor and as a ruler. She’s done everypony you know more harm than good, she’ll let this city fall, and when Equestria follows she’ll be powerless. But when that fateful day comes, do you know what her one regret will be?
“She’ll be standing in the ashes of the world she once ruled, and instead of wishing she’d saved it all, or in place of any thought of reconstruction, she’ll stand alone and lonely, wishing that she had only spent more time with the one pony that was ever really her friend and student...” He stopped moving for a moment and simply stared out into the darkness. “I can guarantee that.”
“That makes you so sure she’ll fail us?” Twilight asked still maintaining an adamant view even as she considered the idea that there might have been a shred of truth of Pestilence’s statement.
“Oh, but my dear, dear Twilight. She already has!” Pestilence then went back to moving equipment around, singing “You Make me Feel so Young” under his breath.
“What do you want me for? Why am I here?” Twilight asked, trying to prevent herself from coughing again. Pestilence sighed and looked down at her.
“Leave Manehattan Twilight...take your friends with you. I’m giving you all one chance.” He snapped on a pair of gloves, making the pony lying on the surgical table wonder if he was elbow-deep in her organs bare-handed while she was knocked out.
“I don’t want to have to kill you or your friends, but if you stay...” He lifted his hand and the knife flipped up from the table, the eye-like swirl of black at the end of the blade focusing on Twilight.
“We both know I can’t do that.” Twilight said, sounding more confident than she felt. She didn’t know where she was, she obviously should be dead, considering she was currently staring at her intestines; but if she were in a dream-state that would mean she had woken up…
Pestilence sighed once more, leaning against the operation table. “Very well, the choice is yours to make for yourself; though I must I’m not sure if the ‘all-powerful magic of friendship’ will last very long under the pressure of illness and death.”
“What makes you think you can infect everypony in the city?” Twilight shouted over, Pestilence stood up and walked over.
“There sure are a lot of ponies here aren’t there? Cities are havens for plagues. Ponies travel and bring viruses with them, they’ll infect friends or maybe family. It happens all the time, but mostly with something akin to a flu or the common cold. Something like this on the other hoof...here’s a little piece of trivia. The one thing most viruses need to spread efficiently?” He grinned back at her. “A little bit of time.
“Within a week, I can estimate that everyone in this city will be sick or dead, and believe me when I say this Twilight…” He leaned in close to her, his breath heavy on the unicorn’s face. “Today I’ll take Manehattan. Tomorrow, Equestria follows.” He then went back to his work, silently tooling around the mare’s body as she too sat silently.
“Are we in your head?” Twilight asked, a line of purple liquid oozing out of the corner of her mouth, Pestilence nodded, not looking up from his work. “But...I’m dead right now, shouldn’t I be awake?” The angel looked up at her with an expression of mock surprise, picking a pair of dissection scissors up from the table with deliberate slowness.
“Dead? My dear Twilight...” She watched his surprise turn to malice as he lowered the scissors into her cavity. “I wouldn’t let my little patient die on me.” thoughts raced through Twilight’s head as his hand stopped. Pestilence reached over and adjusted a dial and suddenly those thoughts weren't important anymore, it was as if they were problems that she could deal with later.
“By the way Twilight Sparkle, you really should follow Celestia’s advice and get out more...” The purple pony heard and felt a snip, but it sounded far away and unimportant. “Get out. breathe some fresh air.” Her vision started blurring up, Pestilence only a green silhouette above her. “But be careful not to breathe too much.” His voice echoed in her head as she saw the green head give her a wide grin. “We wouldn’t want you to catch something.”
----
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, awakening with a jolt. The room was in a frenzy, her friends were scrambling all over the place, speaking to each other and peering out of the window. Celestia was conspicuously absent from the room, only her four friends remaining.
“What’s going on!?” Twilight called over the din, the room immediately fell silent as Fluttershy went over and quickly hugged the purple mare.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re all right!” She said, pulling away from Twilight. “You wouldn’t wake up and we were all so worried! Well, between that and what’s happening outside...” The other three trotted over and expressed their relief too, but the purple pony had eyes for something else.
“Outside? What’s happening outside?” Twilight asked, giving them a surprised look that contrasted their own grim expressions. The unicorn then trotted over to the wall and pulled the curtains aside magically.
The sky above was a dull gray, a canvas of oppressive clouds covering it. the city below wasn’t in better states. The streets were practically empty, green, viscous stains visible on almost every surface. Carriages were sitting, completely abandoned or tipped over and thin plumes of smoke rose up from different parts in the city. Twilight closed her eyes, listening to the noise of the ambulance and firetruck sirens before stepping back from the windows, Pestilence’s messages all making sense.
“He tricked us, all that in the castle was just a game to keep us from stopping this...where’s the princess?” She asked her friends calmly and evenly without turning around.
“She went away to speak to Spike.” Rarity said, eyeing Twilight worriedly.
“Ah’d recon it’s important enough considerin’ what’s goin’ on outside.”Applejack added, giving the lilac mare a look that mirrored Rarity’s.
“I’ll be right back girls, stay here and stay safe. I’ll alert the ECDC to get us some biohazard equipment.” Twilight said, turning tail and trotting out of the room.
“Twilight, why were you asleep for so long?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight passed her by.
“I was being warned...” She answered, stepping off into the wards further back. Once she found the hall containing strip of beds that she knew Spike was in, Twilight bursted in without hesitation.
She spotted the princess almost immediately. Celestia was hovering over Spike, speaking to him in quiet tones as the unicorn stepped closer.
“I’m only saying it’s a possibility. I can’t allow-” Twilight’s hooves made a hard tap on the tiles and the princess turned around to face her.
“Oh, Twilight, I’m so glad you’re awake.” She said, smiling and walking over to her student. Twilight simply frowned up at her.
“I saw what’s going on outside.” Twilight responded in a dark, calm tone. Celestia bowed her head, not saying anything. Normally Twilight would have apologized sincerely and asked how they could help, but with the elements gone, and the princess powerless to stand up to Pestilence things had changed.
“Please Twilight, I didn’t know what he was doing! if I had I could have prevented-”
“But you didn’t, did you? Pestilence’s distraction worked, the city is slowly tearing itself to shreds. And now, what are you going to do?” Celestia bit her lip slightly, which would have made Twilight laugh at the fact that the princess looked like she was nervous at being scolded by the unicorn if their situation had any laughter left to give. “You heard me, Manehattan is turning to ashes, ponies are dying out there, your kingdom is in danger, and you’re sitting here. Doing absolutely nothing.
“Princess, I’ll ask you once more. what. are. you. going. to. do?” Twilight was practically shouting as she stepped closer, glaring at her mentor.
“Twilight, don’t concern yourself with this, these are political matters.” Celestia said, dignifying herself and turning away. “As you know, I’ve called the Equestrian Center for Disease Control, they’ll be putting the city under lockdown until-”
“WHAT!? That’s the worst possible thing you could be doing! They can’t keep in Pestilence, and you’ll be trapping any healthy ponies inside to get sick and die, or even worse, get hunted down by that...thing!” Celestia turned, irritation visible on her face.
“There are riots all across the city, everypony’s afraid the world is going to end. The Canterlot officials are all pressuring me to take action and Pestilence is still at large. I’ve arranged special exits for you all to get out of the city. You have no part in telling me what to do, my student.”
“I’m not leaving the city! I can’t let you trap innocent ponies here.” Twilight said, standing tall as both mares glared at each other.
“And you think you have the jurisdiction to make that decision?”
“Sometimes I wonder if I should...” Twilight said through gritted teeth.
“Don’t be foolish Twilight Sparkle, you can’t stay here. If you and you friends don’t get ill, Pestilence will kill you all. I’ve seen what he’s capable of, what they’re all capable of.” The stalemate continued, with only icy looks being traded before Twilight lowered her gaze, frowning at the floor.
“Pestilence was right. You can’t rule Equestria, can you?” She looked back up at her teacher, defiance shining in her eyes. “You run away with your favorites, leaving everyone else to rot and die! you’re weak, selfish-” Twilight was interrupted as a golden glow surrounded her and tossed her across the room, past the rows of empty beds and into a pile of equipment with a loud crash. When Celesta spoke, the room shook with her voice, which was magically magnified to several times it’s normal volume.
“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO US WITH SUCH INSOLENCE!” The princess’s eyes were glowing brightly and the force constantly blowing her mane intensified, making it flutter behind her wildly in a rainbow of colors. She stared down at Twilight’s form, unable to think straight through the explosion of stress and anger coursing through her. Suddenly, Spike came running across the room, his face filled with tears and threw himself at the alicorn, grabbing onto her leg.
“Princess please! Calm down, stop fighting!” He said through sobs. Twilight shakily stood up from the pile of equipment she was thrown into, a trickle of blood running down her coat. Immediately Celestia’s eyes regained focus and took on a horrified look.
“Twilight- I-I didn’t mean to...” The princess stuttered as the unicorn fixed a pained frown on her.
“-and corrupt.” She turned and started limping slightly as she walked across the room, passing right by Celestia without even looking at her. “Get Spike out of the city.”
“Twilight...” Spike said, looking after the purple mare while she walked towards the exit.
“Good-bye Spike. You be good, all right?” She said over her shoulder as she reached the door. Before she had time to leave though, she felt a pair of small claws wrap around her hind leg and looked back to see the baby dragon looking longingly up at her, fresh tears forming in his eyes.
A purple glow surrounded Spike and lifted him up, brushing away his tears as Twilight drew him close and planted a quick kiss on his forehead. “Let me stay here, with you guys! I can take care of myself...” He said, hugging her neck tightly.
“You know I can’t do that, but just remember that I’ll always have a place for my little assistant.” The purple pony said, smiling down at him as she levitated the dragon once more, giving him a final kiss before placing him on Celestia’s back and walking out of the ward.
As soon as she closed the door behind her, Twilight felt the dam break. Tears started streaming freely down her face and her breath shuddered as she walked down the empty halls of the hospital. When she knew she was getting close to the room her friends were in, she tried composing herself, wiping away her tears and breathing deeply. As the level-headed leader, she had an obligation to stay strong, for Pinkie, and for all of them.
She reached forward and pushed on the door, noticing a fifth azure pony standing alongside her friends and speaking to them happily.
“Trixie!?” Twilight said, staring at the magician as she turned around. Trixie’s face surreptitiously cycled through a few emotions before settling on a happy smile.
“Hello Twilight Sparkle! The great and-- I mean, I’m very glad to see you again!”
-----
Princess Celestia sat in her chariot as it flew over Manehattan, smoke and dreariness still floating out of the city. The small dragon next to her watched it too, and the princess knew what he was thinking, right now, a group of ponies braver and kinder than the both of them were getting ready to do what Celestia herself couldn’t.
The princess knew that if the other horsemen had escaped, she would be a high priority target. And if something happened to her, she had to apologize...she had to repent for her actions, or at the very least, try to.
“Spike?” The purple dragon lifted his head from the side of the chariot to look over at her. “Please take a letter.”