//------------------------------// // Unlovable, Intolerable // Story: Greene Fields under Red Lights // by Europa //------------------------------// DAY 2 OF INFECTION: 9% OF EQUESTRIA INFECTED Greene She didn't fully understand her situation, but she didn't like it. They... they hated her. Celestia and Luna hated her. They hated her and she couldn't understand why. Why did they hate her? Why did they fear her Blessing? Where had it all gone so horribly wrong? It wasn't often that Elizabeth Greene paced, but this was definitely definitely definitely a situation that called for pacing. She walked back and forth in the corridor of the house she was in, her hands linked behind her and her head bowed contemplatively. She thought back to the things the alicorn sisters had said before she'd ran, barely escaping with her life. The thing that had horrified them the most - she'd horrified them... - was how her children didn't need to make choices for themselves anymore. They thought it was a... good thing to have to do that? Why why why? She idly kicked a piece of rubble she'd brought in with her. It sailed to the wall on the end of the corridor and punched a hole. She should've tried to explain to them, but would that have worked? They were so angry with her, and they were alicorns. They moved the sun and the moon and the stars with their minds. If she had stayed around, what would they have done to her in their fury? No, it was a good thing she'd ran when she had. She could wait for them to calm down. An idea niggled at her that they weren't as powerful as she thought, but she ignored it. Better safe. She'd wait. She smiled at that. Yes yes yes, she'd wait. She could give the alicorn sisters some space, some time to think things over. After all, none of them got old, so they had plenty of time. Once they calmed down, she'd explain and make them see. Suddenly she frowned. But in the meantime they hated her for the painful transition, hated her for fixing them, called her a monster and it was so unfair because they'd trusted her and in their eyes she'd broken that trust! She hadn't betrayed them! She didn't betray people! It made her so angry that they'd thought that, so angry! With a cry she tensed an organ at the base of her spine. Energy flowed up her back and into her right arm where she shaped it into an equine-sized orb of crackling emerald lightning. She spun around and lobbed it at the nearest wall with a shout where it exploded in a light pop, shattering the wall and exposing the street through a screen of dust. She panted angrily as the dust wafted inside. What could she do? Celestia and Luna hated her. Two gods hated her. She still had to spread her Blessing, that much was certain, but she had to dodge them. How? She was strong, but was she stronger than their magic? She was fast, but was she faster than teleportation? What could she do against them? No no no, this wasn't the time for worrying about that. They hated her but they weren't vengeful. They'd try and foolishly ward off her Blessing from the equines they ruled and that... that was something she could work around, something she'd worked around in the past. She took a deep, calming breath and opened her sensing, turning giddy in an instant. Children, oh she had her darling children again, to take care of now and forever so that nothing would ever hurt them ever again! She could see through their eyes and listen through their ears, tens of hundreds of thousands of children within Canterlot, pulsing in her mind like a heartbeat. They were so dear to her, and she radiated her love to them over their link. The dust cleared from the hole she had blasted, letting her see the children outside and smile smile smile. Just for that moment, everything was perfect. She'd forgotten what it had been like over the long-short time she'd been Cursed, forgot what it was like to be able to see and hear and feel through others. This reminded her of how wonderful it was, to be more than herself alone. For a moment she selfishly wanted to spread her Blessing for that reason, just so she could see more and hear more and more and more! She shook her head and suppressed the feeling. No. As good as it may feel, that wasn't why she did what she did. It was for them, and any delight she got directly out of it was secondary. She had to keep focused on her goal. And that goal was completing itself even now. Half a million of her children within Canterlot, and even more further out. When she had Blessed the equines but still held back, they left to other cities and towns, mostly cities, and now her Blessing spread there as well. She didn't feel anyone within Ponyville despite how close close close it was, but she saw other landmarks and signs through her children; Manehattan, Baltimare, Cloudsdale, Appleoosa. Those places had started. Of course, she'd go and spread her Blessing herself, but for the moment she was content to bask in the warmth of her children, to look at them and feel them as they nibbled on her love, as they drank in her adoration. She wasn't sure where that had come from; her children on the Similar world couldn't do that. All the same, it solved the issue of food very very very handily. 'Mother is here,' she cooed to them. 'Mother will keep you safe...' They responded immediately, showering her with great depths of affection and belonging and she was reinforced in her belief that this was her purpose, her Reason for everything she did. She sighed and smiled, sitting down next to the wall and leaning into it. She tilted her head back and smiled. She could worry about angry gods later. Perhaps things weren't going exactly as she'd hoped, but it was still around what she'd expected from the equines. Fear, then understanding and acceptance as they learned. She'd just hoped the alicorn sisters would skip the fear and hatred. "Hmm?" she heard an equine ask from elsewhere in the house she was in. She smiled. That was Fluttershy! She was awake now! And it was only... what time was it? She looked through one of her children's eyes and asked them to look in the general direction of the sun, but not directly at it. They did so. She thanked her, and asked her to look back where she had been and she did because she was such a good daughter... ... it was still morning. She zipped upstairs to find the pegasus still under her covers. "Hello," she rasped, rousing Fluttershy. "O-Oh!" she stammered, poking her head out of the bed. "Hello, Elizabeth." The pegasus smiled. "You look really happy today." Of course she was happy! There was so much to be happy about even though Celestia and Luna, the first people she had ever trusted, hated her guts. She walked over and stroked Fluttershy's head. "Am happy." She could feel trace amounts of her Blessing within Fluttershy, but effortlessly kept it subdued. After all, Fluttershy had promised to help her raise her family. She couldn't do that from within. When the time came, she could truly Bless Fluttershy, but until then she needed her best friend's help. "Where are we?" Fluttershy stammered. "I'm sorry, I don't remember - " "Canterlot. Came to you last night. Asked for help. Carried here," she explained. "And the h-house?" She pulled the covers further up her face, which just made Greene smile. "Owner let us in," she said. It was true. She had, with the sleepy Fluttershy still beside her, asked if he would let them in. The equine-now-her-son had, subconsciously sensing her as his Mother even as her Blessing worked on him, agreed and gave Fluttershy the bed. She suddenly panicked and sent out a general message to her children in Canterlot. 'Go through every building and turn off all ovens and such.' With that message, Greene was satisfied that Canterlot would not have an outbreak of fires like the island city had. "Oh, alright." Fluttershy got out of the bed and stretched her wings and legs. There was a slight gurgle in the air and the equine immediately hid behind her mane. "O-Oh..." "Come," Elizabeth said. She lead Fluttershy from the bedroom to the dining room, where she had already prepared a meal for her; a bowl of oats with a glass of wet wet wet milk. She'd been in a very good mood when she'd prepared that; Luna and Celestia had yet to confront her then. As such, she was willing to handle even the milk. Fluttershy ate the breakfast without noise, and Elizabeth watched through the eyes of all her children, giddy. The ones outside Canterlot were mostly in hospitals, being treated for the tumors. That made her frown. She understood that the tumors the equines were used to caused pain and death, but these were benign. Couldn't they see that? Oh well. Those children of hers Blessed the doctors they were with, and soon enough the doctors would understand as well. To say nothing of those they had spread her Blessing to before the changes had finished. "So um, Elizabeth, you said that today you'd show me your children?" Fluttershy asked once her meal was done. "Yes yes yes!" she said ecstatically. She zipped away and found the crater she'd left in the nearest wall. Fluttershy followed after her and Greene lead her into the streets. Fluttershy gasped when she saw her children - her children, after so long! - in the streets and pressed herself against the nearest building. "E-Elizabeth, what happened to everypony?" "Blessed them," she said. "My children now, my children." "But they're... they're... oh my," she said, growing quieter by the word. Elizabeth was suddenly worried. It was unthinkable, but what if Fluttershy reacted the same way Celestia and Luna did? "They're ponies," she said at last. Elizabeth nodded, "Yes. Blessed them, made my children. Happy now now now, listen to me good children happy," she said, beaming with pride. "Oh dear," Fluttershy whispered. Hesitantly, slowly over a long span of time, she approached one of her daughters and waved a hoof in front of her. "Can you hear me?" she asked. After a pause she looked back at her, "Elizabeth, can they hear me?" "Can hear, but don't care. Don't need to think, don't force them to think. Just happy." "C-Can't think?" she asked in horror. Elizabeth frowned again. "Yes, but happy," she stressed. "Only Canterlot now. Fix Equestria, then... somewhere else. Maybe Crystal Empire." She sighed in delight as another wave of love washed over her from her children. "You want me to..." Fluttershy gulped, looking at her. "You want me to help you Bless everypony ... um, everyone in the world?" "Yes yes yes, tried and failed before on Similar world." Bowing her head, she fidgeted with the strap and buckle around her waist. "Afraid afraid afraid, can't do it alone, couldn't do it alone in first Home and couldn't with my children's help in second Home." She looked up at Fluttershy. "Need help, outside family, help." "You want me to help you make everypony do whatever you say?" Fluttershy shook her head and bit her lip. After a tense minute, she said, "I'm so sorry Elizabeth, but... oooh I promised, but I can't!" Greene's mouth opened slightly. "Elizabeth, this isn't a good thing that you're doing!" "But - " "Elizabeth, can you change them back?" Fluttershy asked, looking into Greene's eyes. "Can you make them... make them normal again?" She shook her head. "Can't take away Blessing. Can't can't can't, only give and stop." She frowned. "Even if I could, already changed." She sighed. "Fluttershy, have to do this. Cruel not to. Is a good thing." "But - " "Can hear thoughts of my children, no but. Is a good thing." Fluttershy looked down. "Okay. So, um, what were you planning to do?" "Go to other towns, Bless. Blessing spreads itself in cities." "Oh, I'm not sure that's a good idea," Fluttershy said with a guarded expression. "I mean, this is a really big change. If you push it o-on everypony, then they'll try and, um, stop you." Elizabeth sucked in a panicked breath. "But! But, if you just, um, stop for a while, then they'll see how happy your..." Fluttershy looked around at Greene's sons and daughters. "... family is, they'll join you on their own. This way, nopony panics." "Hmm," she said. Of course! She'd have never thought of something like that. It made made made sense. Things were always less scary if you had a choice and it wasn't coming towards you, even if it was a good thing. "Yes yes, do that." She reached out to the ones already Blessing their hosts and made sure they wouldn't Bless any others. Not yet at least. 'Don't spread, stay inside. only change the one you are in.' She knelt next to Fluttershy and wrapped her arms around her neck. "Thank you," she rasped. She let go and stood up. "Find house for you?" "Huh? But, what's wrong with this one?" she asked, waving a forehoof to the wall she'd blasted a hole through. "And won't anypony be angry if we just walk into their homes?" "Children will let you in, good children. Can choose best house." If she wasn't going to Bless Fluttershy yet, she was certainly going to make sure she was comfortable. What kind of friend would she be otherwise? Not not not a very good one. "Come, come." She lead Fluttershy to Upper Canterlot, and after a moment of thought, to the castle. The gates were closed, so she opened them with a flick of a finger and lead Fluttershy in. "Many rooms," she rasped. "Pick one?" she asked, looking at the pegasus. "M-Me?" she stammered. "But I don't, um, I don't feel like I deserve a room at the castle. Especially without, um, paying rent. I didn't bring any money," she said lowly. Greene scowled. "Deserve more," she insisted. "Don't need money. Children don't need the rooms. Wasted otherwise." "Oh. Alright. Could we go to the r-room you lived in when you first came here?" Suddenly Elizabeth was made well aware of a flaw in her plan. She didn't know the inside of the castle. She smiled sheepishly at Fluttershy. "... try to find," she said nervously. She looked around. "... try to find," she repeated. She found a wall and placed a hand on it, leaving behind a single thread of her warmth as she began to trace the walls. Fluttershy trotted beside her as she navigated the halls. She stuck to her memory as best she could, but she hadn't spent much time memorizing the inside of Canterlot Castle. Why would she have? She always had so much more important things to do. They passed the kitchens, the throne room a second time, a paperwork room, and then finally reached the guest rooms. Elizabeth sent out a call to a few of her children, and ushered Fluttershy in, making sure to leave the door open. It was the same room she had been in, with a large window overlooking her city of children that let in soothing warmth from the blinding sun, a large bed, walls patterned gold and violet and decorated with various small little things that she could care less for; a bookshelf, desk, mirror, doorway leading to what she knew was a 'bathroom'. "Good?" she asked Fluttershy as she trotted over and rested on the bed. Fluttershy nodded. "Thank you, Elizabeth." She eyed the bookshelf, then Elizabeth, then the books again. "You, um, don't mind if I read some of the books, do you?" She shook her head. "Don't mind, don't mind." The two children she had called earlier were almost there, flying through the castle. "Will be alright if I leave? Things to do?" "O-Oh, it's perfectly alright! I wouldn't want to keep you," she said, trailing off. Elizabeth smiled, just as two of her pegasus children arrived next to her, one by each side. Fluttershy's eyes widened as she saw them and she whispered, "Oh my." She patted the pegasus to her right's head and scratched her left's neck tumor. Both of her children leaned into the gestures of affection and she smiled warmly at them. "Can see what children see," she explained to Fluttershy as she saw the doctors in Trottingham shivering and sneezing from trying to 'treat' one of her children. "Hear what children hear. Whenever you're with one of my children, you're with me." Another mental command and her two children went outside, facing outward like the guards she had seen Celestia and Luna do. Thinking of that, she told all her children to sit down, rest. They didn't have to stand all the time. They sat down, and she pulled her hands away from her two children. "Need anything, say around my children. Food, drink, will hear, will help," she promised Fluttershy. Then she turned around and left, following the thin strand of flesh she'd left behind until she entered the throne room. She leaped out of Canterlot Castle and sprinted back into the city. She stood next to a fountain, no longer running with water good thing it wasn't and thought. She wasn't a fool. She understood Fluttershy's logic and agreed with it, but she didn't believe the equines would just leave her children be in the mean time. Her own experience in Cloudsdale was proof of that. She would not be caught by surprise. In her mind's eye she took the equine-Blessing and made two copies, then tossed the old one into the depths of her being. She brought forth the Blessing that created her Strong Children back on the Similar world; it was a variation that she gave her children to cause the changes to make them able to protect. She took one of the copies of her equine-Blessing and, using her Strong-Children-Blessing as a templa... tempra... copy-thing she created one that would change equines into her Strong Children. She smiled and filed them away, turning to the next copy of her Blessing. This one, she manipulated with the intention of self-sufficiency. She didn't want to have to always hunt and eat whenever she created new children to protect her family. With a few minutes of tweaking, it was done and she returned to the real world. She called five of her children to her at random; two pegasi, two earth ponies, and a unicorn. In a few minutes they arrived and sat before her, staring off into space. On either side of the unicorn sat a pegasus and an earth pony. She stepped towards the two to her left and urged them to put some space between them and everyone else. They spread out and she touched a hand to each one's forehead, starting the changes. With her hands still on their foreheads she pushed down, her thoughts urging them to lay down. Once they had, she pulled her warmth to her palms and pushed it out, wrapping the two of her children in thick mounds of red flesh, growing and growing until she judged they were of correct size, after which she secured them to the ground with her red and white tendrils. She stepped towards the unicorn and remaining pegasus and repeated the process; spread out, start the changes, lay them down, and place them in large cocoons for them to grow in. The earth pony she, like before, spread out from the four cocoons so that she had room for her own cocoon. Greene laid her down, but placed a small amount of her new Blessing into her. The little amount reacted with what was already there and the changes began, different from the ones the other four were going through. That done, Elizabeth surrounded her in flesh and tendrils and stepped back, admiring the five warm, gently pulsating cocoons. 'Feed,' she bade them. 'Eat deep from my love and grow.' She could sense them doing just that, gorging themselves for the changes to come. With that done, she leaped to a nearby building and gazed out at the Equestrian countryside. All she had to do was wait now. She was terribly hungry from creating the cocoons and it bothered her to again hold off on spreading her Blessing, but she'd do it. For her family, she would do anything. She eyed one of Canterlot's towers. She didn't know which one would be the right ones, but there was another danger she had to check on. ***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-*** Twilight Sparkle "Twilight, why are we going to Quills and Sofas?" Spike asked from beside her. "We're out of quills," she said simply. It was a warm sunny day, an oddity in the fall months leading up to winter. The weather team must've felt generous. Everypony chatted and greeted each other as they passed, happily going about their business. It was a normal day in Ponyville. Well, relatively speaking; Fluttershy had left a note in her house saying she was going to Canterlot with Elizabeth Greene, leaving the entire town to wonder what those two were up to. It was also quite strange that no train had come from Canterlot yet when it was supposed to... ...which warranted a letter to the train company... ... which warranted a quill... ... the lack of which warranted a trip to Quills and Sofas. "But Twilight, what about Backup Quill Stockpile Thirteen?" he asked innocently. Twilight stopped in place, nearly bumping into Berry Punch in the process. "W-Wha?" she stammered. "Backup Quill Stockpile Thirteen," he repeated. "In case of letter-to-company emergencies," he explained. Twilight's right ear flopped. Her left eye twitched once, twice, and then she took deep breath, cleansing breaths like Cadance had taught her. "... it's a beautiful day to be outside regardless," she said in a level voice. He shrugged. "If you say so." They kept walking. "So, why are we still going to Quills and Sofas?" "We can use some extra quills okay?!" she snapped. Immediately, she frowned at his hurt look. "I'm sorry, Spike. I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's no big deal." The moment she uttered those words, a big deal fell from the skies and landed before her, followed by a second, younger big deal next to them. "GWAH!" she shouted, backpedaling and bowing hastily. "Princess Celestia, Princess Lu - " "Twilight!" Suddenly, there was a white alicorn hugging her fiercely. After a moment squished against Celestia's chest, she put her down. "Oh please tell me I'm not too late. Twilight, how are you feeling?" "Too late for wha - " "How are you feeling?" Celestia demanded desperately. "I'm fine!" she belted. "I feel alright, Princess. Spike, how about you?" she asked, looking at the stunned dragon. "Um, I feel great!" Princess Celestia breathed out, visibly relieved. "Oh thank heavens, I'm not too late. Twilight, listen to me very carefully. Something very, very bad has happened in Canterlot. I need you to gather your friends in your home and wait for us. No matter what, nopony is to enter Canterlot. Meanwhile my sister and I will speak to the mayor." "A-About what?" she asked fearfully. The ponies in the street were split between gawking and bowing to the two alicorns. "Evacuating Ponyville," Princess Luna said. "The calamity that hath struck Canterlot may easily come to Ponyville. We must ensure the citizens get to safety as soon as possible." "R-Right," Twilight said. "I'll get my friends and we'll head over to my place. Err, how long do you think you'll be?" she asked. "Not that long," Princess Luna elaborated. "Our sister will come with thee once we art finished with this town's mayor, whilst we shalt help oversee the evacuation. Now go! Time is of the essence!" "Going!" she and Spike said at once, turning a full one-eighty degrees and heading for Rarity's boutique. Over the next twenty five minutes, she gathered up Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie, and before long they were standing in her library's lobby, Spike turning the sign outside to 'Closed', all thoughts of Quills and Sofas banished from her mind. "So Twi," Applejack asked. "Why'd ya call us here so urgently? Somethin' about an emergency?" "Yeah Twilight! I mean, you were all 'Come quick!' and I was all 'Why?' and you were all 'It's an emergency I'll tell you there come on!' and then I was all - " "Pinkie!" Twilight shouted. "I don't know what's going on! All the princesses said was that we needed to get here because something terrible happened in Canterlot. They asked us to wait here so they can explain it to us." "Wait a second," Rainbow said, her magenta eyes widening. "Canterlot?" "Um, yes," she said. "That's where Greene and 'Shy are! I gotta go help them!" Before Dash could zip away, Twilight gripped her tightly in her magic. "No! Princess Celestia said that under no circumstances is anypony to go to Canterlot. Whatever happened there, it must be really bad." "But... but Fluttershy!" she protested. "No, Rainbow. We don't even know what happened, you'll be flying in blind." "But - !" "My faithful student is right," Princess Celestia said, letting herself in. "Canterlot is a death trap. It's a small miracle my sister and I are unaffected." The alicorn was visibly relieved to see none of them bowing, but it didn't stop Twilight from feeling like she'd committed a major faux pas. "My sister and the good mayor are in the process of evacuating Ponyville to the closest cities. Come, we must go to the Crystal Empire. T-The further we go the better." Twilight's jaw dropped. It was a very, very rare thing to hear Princess Celestia stutter. Whatever had happened in Canterlot, it was bad. Like, Discord-getting-free bad. "What about the Elements of Harmony? Those are in Canterlot, aren't they?" "Indeed they are, Twilight," she said. "But before we can hope to fix the problem, we must contain the damage, and at present that involves getting you all far away from here. Your brother and sister-in-law are already preparing a teleportation pad for us; Luna sent them a magical letter on the flight over. Now, prepare yourselves my little ponies. Long distance teleportation like this can leave you feeling squeamish." Celestia lit her horn up, and Twilight braced herself fo - Suddenly she was jerked. She gasped as the world around her stretched into a funnel, and then she was being crushed. There was no air in her lungs, it was all forced out. Her blood couldn't flow, her lungs couldn't expand, she was a flat, two dimensional pony. Then the crushing got worse and she was nothing more than a line, then a dot, and then - - she was whole again. Even with all her teleportation practices, long distance like that never got any easier. However while she just stumbled once as the teleport faded, replaced by the tingle of the Crystal Heart working its magic on her coat, everypony else flopped. Even Pinkie Pie. "Twily!" she heard a concerned voice. She turned around and was immediately met with a pair of pink hooves around her withers. "Oh I was so worried! All Luna's letter said was that everypony was in a lot of danger and that you were coming here. I thought something had happened to you!" Cadance pulled away and Twilight smiled. "We're fine," she said with a tense smile. "Princess Celestia got to us before the... whatever it is did." "Ugh, speaking of which," Rarity said, holding a hoof to her stomach as she pulled herself up, looking around the throne room they'd arrived in. "Your Majesty, I don't suppose you could explain to us why it was so important we leave so urgently? We didn't even get to pack!" Princess Celestia frowned and looked down. "Everypony, we have been betrayed. Elizabeth Greene has shown her true colors." All the blood drained from Twilight's face. Everypony gasped. Oh no. This could not be happening. Elizabeth Greene, who simply walked into Everfree, was against them? Nonononono. "She has used her natural abilities to engineer a virus unlike anything I've ever seen in my life. It's extremely contagious and even faster acting. It causes debilitating symptoms over a twenty four hour period, and once that is done it shackles the victim to Elizabeth's will. Greene is attempting to enslave all of Equus, and Canterlot has already fallen." It was Pinkie Pie who spoke first. "... what?" she whispered, uncharacteristically silent. "Aunt Celestia," Cadance said. "You can't be serious. I met Greene! Sure, she's creepy with her voice and everything, but she doesn't strike me as a bad person." "She openly admitted her intentions when Luna and I confronted her earlier today," Princess Celestia said solemnly. "She arrived in Canterlot three days ago. At noon, she gave me another sample of blood, and again to Luna at midnight. The day after we saw not hide nor hair of her, and the day after was spent watching everypony in Canterlot fall victim. As of today, everypony in Canterlot is a mindless... I'm sorry, there's really no better word. They're all zombies that only listen to her." "Whoa whoa whoa," Rainbow said, holding up her hooves. "Zombies? Like, zombies zombies? They didn't bite you, did they?" Celestia shook her head. "No, they didn't. They just... stood there, staring off into space. They didn't react to anything, but Greene implied that she can control them. I believe her exact words were, 'Make choices for them, only need to listen to me.'" The white alicorn took a breath. "And she's not stopping with Canterlot. She won't stop until every last consciousness save for her own is eradicated." "That's... that's horrible!" Twilight blurted. "I can't believe she'd do something like this! I can't believe it!" And she couldn't. She simply could not wrap her mind around that. Elizabeth, enemy of all free will. Greene, bane of Canterlot. Elizabeth Greene, who never swore, who forgave Cadance and Rainbow Dash, who gave the world a cure for wing cancer and who-knew what else with the following two samples of her blood, who protected Fluttershy against anything that might even remotely hurt her... that Elizabeth Greene had caused the zombie apocalypse. Protected Fluttershy... Her eyes widened, but it seemed Applejack beat her to the realization. "Oh no. Yer Majesty, Fluttershy went to Canterlot last night. Are you saying she's... she's..." Princess Celestia's mouth opened slightly and her eyes darted over them quickly. "Two, five, six... but... oh no, counted Spike..." She gulped. "I - I'm afraid... it seems likely." "No... no! No way!" Rainbow shouted. "No, Fluttershy's fine, alright!? Elizabeth would never do that to her! I won't believe it!" "Rainbow Dash," Celestia began calmingly even as Rainbow started backing up, looking left and right like a cornered animal. "No! No, you're lying! Nothing's happened to Fluttershy! It's impossible! I don't believe you! I'll prove it!" Rainbow bolted for the nearest corridor, gone before almost anypony could react. Almost anypony. "Dashie!" Pinkie shouted, zipping off to find her. Twilight could only breathe out in awe at her speed. She really hoped Pinkie would be able to calm Dash down. Celestia folded her legs under her and looked down. "Oh, poor Fluttershy," she whispered under her breath. She swallowed and looked back at Twilight. "We must hold out hope. Elizabeth appears to have kept her plague subdued until she infected everypony in Canterlot, she may yet do so to Fluttershy." It was a vain hope, but Twilight clutched the Princess's explanation like a lifeline. In her heart of hearts, though... No, no. Don't think about that. Whatever you do, do not think about that. "So," she said, licking her dry lips and trying to swallow the lump in her throat. "What are we going to do about Elizabeth? The Elements of Harmony..." She trailed off, not willing to complete that train of thought. "And what about curing this disease? Would that work?" "It may, but from what Luna tells me, this disease is nigh on impossible to cure, if not completely incurable. Right now, we have to find ways of containing the infection in Canterlot. I've already sent the proper messages, the cities and towns across Equestria will be routinely sending me reports as to the current situation throughout the country. We must figure out how to stop this before it becomes too much to handle. The first step will be to raise public awareness." "Ever so sorry to interrupt, Highness," Rarity said. "But why didn't you simply stop Elizabeth when you confronted her?" She sighed, lowering her head. "We tried, but she escaped before either Luna or I could lay a hoof on her, and she is nowhere to be found." At that moment, a side door opened and her BBBFF trotted in, wearing full uniform and a stern expression on his face. "Caddy, I've got the guards posted at every position along the barrier. Everypony's on a full lookout for anything suspicious. Mind filling me in on what exactly is going on?" Cadance nodded and walked over to Shiny, pecking him on the cheek. "Of course." While her ex-foalsitter brought her husband up to speed, Twilight kept thinking. What did she know? Elizabeth Greene had spread a mind controlling, zombie-creating pathogen upon Canterlot and intended to continue spreading it to the entire world. The Elements of Harmony may or may not have been compromised. Elizabeth was in hiding, and was good enough to elude two alicorns. The disease in question was highly contagious, worked fast, and impossible to cure. Everypony in Canterlot was already part of Greene's zombie army. ... everypony in Canterlot. She gasped, her pupils shrinking in horror. "No," she breathed. Shining noticed her gasp and trotted next to her. "Twily, what's wrong?" She snapped her head and locked eyes with him. "Shining Armor," she said, emphasizing on her use of his full name because this was serious. "Where are our parents vacationing? Baltimare? The Gryphon Empire? The Zebran Plains? Manehattan?" she asked, her voice rising higher and higher. Why was her vision getting blurry? She was fine! "Twily, our parents weren't - " He cut himself off, turning pale even under his white coat. "No," he whispered. "No, no no." She ignored how everypony else was looking at them in either confusion, not yet understanding, or in horror and compassion. "No, they were on vacation! Right?! They had to have been! They had to! They... they had to." Would her lip stop quivering? And why wouldn't her ears stop splaying back? Everything was absolutely perfect! T-That certainly wasn't water dripping onto the floor! She was fine damn it! Her brother moved to embrace her, and didn't let go. She buried her snout into his chest, silently shaking. She tightened her eyes and made herself one promise. Elizabeth Greene would pay.