It was windy. Flecks of dirt and sand stung Piper’s eyes as he trotted along the path towards his family’s cottage. He grumbled unhappily and rubbed his face with a hoof. He lifted his head and saw a small, purple filly approaching him.
Though she was his sister, she didn’t look like it in the slightest. While she had a lavender coat and a deep violet mane, he possessed a coat the color of sand and a mane the color of mud. She was a bright and cheerful splotch in the world, and he only blended into the background.
Meadow bounded up to him eagerly. “Hey, Pipes!” she exclaimed, prancing alongside him back up to the cottage. “You sure took a long time in town. What were ya doin’?”
Piper hesitated before answering. “Sunshine Radiance’s mother passed away yesterday.”
“Oh…” the filly said quietly. “It’s so nice of you to be there for your marefriend.”
He nearly tripped over a rock in the path. A light blush appeared on his tan cheeks. “What are you talking about?”
“So you’re not official yet?” Meadow pouted. “That’s too bad.”
“It’s none of your business,” he snapped. “How’s father?”
It was her turn to hesitate. “Ya know…he’s father.” She smiled helplessly.
They climbed up the stone stairs to the front door. Piper stood outside for a moment before opening it and trotting inside. He closed the door behind him and set down the basket he had been carrying on his back.
“Father?” he called. “I’m home.”
There was no answer, but Piper hadn’t expected one. He grabbed the basket in his mouth and brought it into the kitchen, setting it down on the table. “Meadow, could you get me a bowl please?”
“Of course!” she answered immediately. She trotted over to stand underneath the tall cabinet and closed her eyes to concentrate. Her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth. He waited patiently as the little unicorn’s horn sparked uselessly.
Piper ruffled his sister’s mane. “Maybe tomorrow, kid.”
Meadow’s ear folded back and she sat down at the kitchen table, resting her chin on the tabletop. She stared glumly at the basket.
Piper leaned over and nuzzled her mane before taking a fresh peach from the basket and bringing it over to the counter. He stood on his hind legs and reached up to take a bowl from the cabinet, then dropped back down onto four hooves. A knife and cutting board were already waiting on the counter. He set the peach on the cutting board and sliced it into eight neat slices.
“He hasn’t moved from the window today,” Meadow said quietly.
Piper sighed and trotted down the hall to his father’s room. “Hello, father,” he greeted gently. “It’s Piper.”
The large stallion turned from the window and stared straight through his son. “Sandpiper…” he murmured thoughtfully. He said nothing more and looked back to the window.
“I brought you your favorite from the marketplace today, father.” Piper placed the bowl of peach slices on the window sill.
His father glanced once at the bowl, then back out the window.
“Anything interesting?” Piper laughed nervously.
“It’s windy.”
He sighed and turned to trot out of the room. “It’s nice to see you out of bed, father,” he murmured and closed the door.
Meadow stood in the hall, looking sad. “I told you.”
Their father had always been distant and quiet, but it didn’t become this bad until the outbreak. He had lost his job, due to most of the employees cpntracting the sickness and dying. Then, the town was quarantined. His father loved to travel, and now he couldn’t even leave his hometown.
But the real blow came when their mother died. It was the disease, like it always was. She had caught it from her friend. Both were taken away in an attempt to halt the spread of the sickness. They never saw her again, but a week later a package arrived on their doorstep. Inside was a jar of ashes. Now it sat on their father’s nightstand, beside the bed he slept in alone.
“Let’s go, Meadow,” Piper said to his sister, trotting down the hall and out the front door.
She bounced along after him, trying to levitate random twigs and leaves as they trotted down the path towards the lake.
It was the only spot where the two felt safe anymore. The entire town was a breeding ground for the sickness. Every day brought the death of a loved one. Piper woke up every morning expecting to see the bruises covering his legs.
He trotted down to the lake shore and sat down, his front hooves in the water. “It’s a good thing he never leaves the house, I suppose. He can’t catch the sickness from anypony if he never sees anypony. Right?”
Meadow sat down beside him and laid her head on his shoulder. She said nothing. She didn’t have to. He already knew that she felt as hopeless as she did.
“Why don’t we go visit Misty River? You like playing with her, don’t you?”
His sister shook her head. “She moved away. Her whole family got sick, so she was sent to a foal’s home in Vanhoover.”
He poked at the water. “I see. Wanna go swimming?”
Meadow looked up at him, confused.
Piper jumped to his hooves and splashed into the lake, showering her with water droplets. “Ahh, this water’s freezing!” he exclaimed.
She smiled brightly and hopped into the lake after him. “Piper, you’re so silly,” she giggled, paddling towards him.
The two played together in the water for a few hours. Piper was just happy to see his sister smiling. It had been a while since he had seen a smile that wasn’t forced. They would have played a lot longer.
If they didn’t hear the shouting coming from the cottage.
Meadow and Piper shared a panicked look, then swam out of the lake and galloped back up to the house as fast at they could.
Two ponies in lab coats stood outside, waiting for something. A covered wagon was parked beside them. They looked up curiously at Piper and his sister as they galloped towards them.
“We were not aware of there being children,” one of the scientists said quietly to the other.
“Who are you?” the second demanded.
“Who are we?” Piper repeated in disbelief. “We live here! Who in Equestria are you?”
A shout came from inside the cottage.
“Father!” Meadow shrieked, galloping inside.
Piper didn’t waste a moment before following her.
Two broad-shouldered earth ponies pushed them out of their way, carrying a thrashing, screaming mess after them. It was their father. He let out an ugly stream of curse words that made Piper want to reach over and cover Meadow’s ears.
“You bastards!” he flailed his legs. “Put me down! You can’t take me away! I’m not sick! I’m not sick! Put me down!”
“We know you’re not sick, Mister Basket-Weave,” one of the scientists said sternly as the big earth earth ponies shoved him in the back of the covered wagon. “That’s precisely why we’ve been directed to take you to the Facility.”
“What’s going on?” Piper demanded, stomping up to the scientist ponies. “Where are you taking my father? He’s not sick.”
The other scientist wrinkled her muzzle at him, as if she was disgusted to be talking to him. “Your father will be kept safe and well cared for. As for you two, we weren’t told there were going to be children here. I will inform the Princess when we get back to the Facility. I suspect we’ll meet again. Goodbye.” She climbed into the covered wagon.
“Wait!” Piper shouted. “You can’t take him! What princess gave you your orders? What ‘Facility’ are you talking about? What’s happening? You can’t take our father!”
“Give him back!” Meadow squeaked beside him.
The earth ponies harnessed themselves to the front of the wagon and turned it around, starting a quick trot back down the path.
Piper galloped after. “Wait! Father!”
“Sandpiper!” he heard his father scream. “Meadowlark!” He continued to scream their names over and over again.
Piper didn’t stop following the wagon until it reached the edge of town. While the wagon was permitted to leave through the town gate, the guards held him back from following. The gate swung closed as the wagon continued to be pulled out of sight.
He shrugged off the guards’ hooves and stormed angrily back towards his cottage.
“Sandpiper!” a voice called.
Piper looked up to see a mare trotting towards him. He couldn’t remember her name, but he did know that she was Sunshine Radiance’s best friend. He waited for her to catch up to him.
She was out of breath. “Sand…piper,” she gasped. “I’ve been...looking for you…”
“What is it?” he wondered. Why wasn’t Sunshine with her?
“Sunshine got sick.”
He stepped back in shock. “No, that’s ridiculous. I just saw her this morning and she was fine.”
“It happened so fast! I was there! One minute, we were laughing and talking, and the next, she was screaming. There were bruises all over her that weren’t there a moment ago. I called a medic and they took her away. Sh-she’s gone.”
Piper couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His father was just ponynapped and taken to some sort of facility by some strange scientists. And now, the mare that he had one day hoped would love him back was…gone. Taken by the disease. “This isn’t happening,” he whispered to himself.
The mare was crying. “I-I’m so sorry, Sandpiper. I think...I think she liked you.”
He shook his head. “You’re lying! She’s not gone!” He galloped away from her, back down the street, back towards his home.
Meadow was waiting for him in the garden, her little face streaked with tears. “Where are they taking him?” she whispered.
Piper shook his head hopelessly and sat down in the grass, hanging his head. “I don’t know, Meadow. I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Why is this happening? Why is this whole disease happening?”
His sister trotted down the path away from him.
“Where are you going?” he called after her.
“To get father back,” she replied, looking over her shoulder at him. “Aren’t you coming?”