//------------------------------// // Prologue - The Panic // Story: 2986 Steps // by Verlax //------------------------------// 2986 Steps Written by Verlax In tribute to Andrzej Pilipiuk and his glorious work. The marvelous view that stretched just outside the window was nothing if not enchanting. The raging winter storm that sent down a myriad of snowflakes to cover up her home town, Flankfurt, was a sight to look upon, the white flakes dancing in the wind as they descended from the heavens. Ponies with poetically inclined minds would surely compare the cold beauty of this sight to something equally poetic. Those outside… well, they would most probably be damning the accursed Windigos right now, using a variety of colorful insults. As for Primrose however, she could think of only one thing right now. Ugh… This is so dull. Primrose ran her pale yellow hoof along the surface of the frosted window. Oh, how she longed to be somewhere, anywhere but here! It almost felt as if she was a bird in a cage, a golden one to be sure, but a cage nonetheless. So restricted, so entrapped. So bored. She was supposed to be at school right about now. Be with her best friends, Royal Blue and Long Shot; get into trouble for dozing off on miss Harvest’s lectures; play in the snow in the school courtyard. Of course, that wasn’t the case here. She had to stay back home today, only because some kind of doctor wanted to check up on her and her parents. Why did he even want to do that in the first place? And come to think about it, why did her Mom and Dad look so spooked while they were telling her that yesterday? Primrose sighed again, tracing a lone snowflake’s descent in the tumult of the raging storm. Oh, what would she give for her brother to be here with her. She missed him dearly, him and the games they played together. He was always there for her, playing with her and keeping her company even when her mom or dad couldn’t. Sharp Arrow was like the best big brother in the world in her opinion. It was such a shame he had to go this year to Stalliongrad to that school thing. What was it? The Stalliongrad Military Academy? Mom said that he was going to be a strong, valiant guard, maybe even work at the Royal Palace one day. Be it as it may, she missed him terribly and wished he didn’t go there. A soft knocking sound coming from her door shook Primrose from her musings. Turning away from the sight outside the window she looked at the door, blowing away a stray lock of her light-and-dark blue mane. “Come in!” She said to the pony outside the door. Moments later the door creaked open and one of her parent’s maids, Feather Duster, looked inside. “Miss?” She said, looking at Primrose. The filly nodded, indicating she was listening. “Master Quicksilver requires your presence in his study.” “Thank you Miss Feather.” Primrose said, smiling at the staff member brightly. “Tell Dad I’ll be there shortly.” “As you wish, Miss.” Feather bowed and backed out of the room, leaving the filly alone. Primrose didn’t however dawdle too long in her room and moments later she was in one of the many hallways of her home. Now, Primrose wasn’t what most would call a common earth pony. Quite frankly, she was the exact opposite of it. Her father, Quicksilver, was one of the more prominent members of Flankfurt’s nobility, having his fear share of deals with the local branch of the Equestrian Shipping Department. Blooming Myrtle, her mother, also came from a noble house and she was a member of the Flankfurt Traders Guild. It was only natural that she also was considered a noble pony, the image only reinforced by the manor overlooking the city that she called her home, though it all brought more annoyance to the young filly than it held benefits. After all, not all of the other kids at school wanted to play with somepony whose parents were more or less ruling the town. Primrose didn’t even notice when her hooves brought her in front of her father’s study. She approached the heavy oaken doors and knocked on them softly, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. For some reason, every time she had to go to her father’s study, she felt like if she was about to get scolded for something. After a moment she heard a muffled ‘enter’ from the other side and she pushed the door open, letting herself in. Her father’s study was a grand affair, richly decorated with both sculptures and paintings. There was a small but well equipped bookcase standing under one of the walls, a carved desk and a number of matching chairs, all made out of mahogany, and a small fireplace with a fire crackling merrily inside of it. On one of the walls there was an old, curved sword-like thing hanging in display, clearly polished not too long ago. Her dad called it something funny... a ‘sabre’, whatever that was, and was really fond of it. It looked quite menacing if she had to be honest, only reinforcing the the feeling of inadequateness she was always experiencing while in here. Primrose looked around in search for her father, and sure enough she found him easily. Sitting behind his desk, Quicksilver was looking at her with his green eyes. His daughter noticed right away that something wasn’t right with him; his normally well-kept silvery mane was in disarray, and he had bags under his eyes. In a chair not too far from him sat her mother, who looked as tired as her husband. The bags under her eyes were probably even more visible on her face than it was on Quicksilver’s due to the poor attempts at hiding it with makeup, and her normally pristine white coat seemed to be somewhat matted. “Primrose.” Her father inclined his head. There was something strange in his voice Primrose noticed, like if he was worried about something. “Please, take a seat.” Primrose did as she was told and plopped on one of the free chairs. She looked at her parents, a curious glint in her eyes. Quicksilver sighed and looked at his daughter, trying to look as stern as he possibly could. “I assume you are wondering why I summoned you, yes?” It was more of a statement than a question, but Primrose nodded nonetheless. “As you are aware, we will be having a certain… guest… visiting us today. I want you to be at your best behavior around him. We do not need for you to bring shame to our name by embarrassing yourself in front of a pony of his reputation.” Primrose was about to nod when her mother interjected, looking at her husband a bit crossed. “Honey, is this really necessary? You’re scaring Primrose for no reason. She’s a clever filly, she knows how to act amongst other ponies.” “Yes, I realize that dear.” Was his response as he massaged his temples with his hooves. “It’s… It’s just this whole bloody situation that’s getting to me is all.” That got Primrose really worried. Her father, as stern and scary as he could be almost never cursed. The worried look in both her parents’ eyes was only reinforcing the strange feeling of unease building up in her heart. Primrose was about to ask her parents what gotten them so worried, but the sound of somepony knocking on the door prevented her from doing that. After Quicksilver allowed entrance to whoever was behind it, the door opened and in stepped their majordomo, a unicorn stallion by the name of Sound Advice. He bowed seeing his employers and addressed them in a manner most valets were thought to. “Sir, Madam, I am to inform you that doctor Hansen has arrived. I allowed him to utilize the guest room for his examinations.” Hearing those words made the two grown ponies pale a bit, but they nonetheless nodded in thanks to their majordomo. Sound Advice backed out of the study hastily, and after a deep, calming breath Quicksilver followed in his hoofsteps, his family not too long behind him. They got to the manor’s guest room in a few minutes. Primrose, who was still worried about the strange behavior of her parents almost didn’t notice they were there until she almost ran into her mother’s flank. Stopping herself and casting a look at her mother, the filly mouthed a silent apology, receiving a soft if somewhat forced smile in response. Something was definitely not right here. Quicksilver knocked at the door, receiving an almost immediate response for the occupant of the room. Steeling himself visibly for what was to come, the stallion pressed the handle and pushed the door open and entered the guest room, followed closely by the rest of his family. Primrose noticed the doctor right away –he was sticking out like a sore hoof after all. Where her parents and she herself had either white or muted coats and manes in rather cold colors, he had a light blue coat and a dark red mane. He also didn’t look like any other doctor Primrose had ever seen. He wasn’t wearing the normal, fancy apparel other doctors had either, though he was wearing a pair of glasses, a certain trinket that she learned to associate with physicians. And he was a unicorn, that meant something too, right? The doctor looked at her and her parents, nodding at them without a word and pointing them to a few chairs. Normally, her dad would have had a fit about somepony ordering him about in his own home, but he was too out of it to care much about it. Without a word they all took a seat and looked as the unicorn was finishing his preparations, heating a number of needles over a flame from a spirit stove, holding them still with his magic. Once he finished he turned to them, looking at them for a moment from behind his glasses. “I would like to start with our examinations now.” He said with little emotion, casting a long look at the family. He frowned slightly seeing the three of them. “I was informed that there was one pony more in your family. Why isn't he here?” “My son is in Stalliongrad.” Answered Quicksilver hastily. “He’s there for over half a year now. He doesn’t have anything to do with this mess.” The doctor leveled him with his gaze, just as if trying to discern if Quicksilver was lying to him or not. After a moment however he nodded in understanding. “I see. Well, I would appreciate it if one of you stayed here while the rest waits outside in that case, so I may begin with my examinations…” “That won’t be necessary doctor Hansen.” Myrtle interrupted. Primrose looked at her mother and saw a forced smile on her lips, quivering in what the filly assumed was fear. “We’re family, I think we can be allowed to be examined together.” The doctor looked at her, surprised by the request, but after a moment he nodded in agreement, allowing for them to stay together. Primrose was very thankful for that, both to her mother for coming up with the idea and to the doctor, for allowing this. She was getting more and more nervous by the minute, her parents’ own fear not helping her any, but this little show of familial support was enough to quell her own fears at least a little bit. The doctor asked her dad to be his first patient. Quicksilver shakily got from his seat and approached the unicorn, standing in front of him and letting himself be examined. It took a few moment for the physician to conclude his examination, and he deemed the stallion as ‘not ill’ as he put it, eliciting a sigh of relief from Quicksilver. Next was Primrose’s mom. Doctor Hansen took a bit longer examining Blooming Myrtle, taking careful note of the number of small freckles on her face, usually masked by her makeup. After a moment however he decided that there was nothing odd about it and finished up with her too, stating she was perfectly healthy. Myrtle let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and went back to her chair, giving room for her daughter. Primrose wasn’t sure what to think now. Her parents seemed to become more relaxed after the doctor checked on them, though it seemed like if he was the reason they were scared in the first place. But why was that? Did they think that the doctor would say they were ill? Well, if that’s the case than it was stupid. She too caught a cold from time to time and she wasn’t nearly as terrified about it. Then again, when other doctors examined her, they weren’t looking at her coat and skin, but into her mouth and her throat, so maybe this wasn’t a cold they were examined for. “Sweetie, it’s your turn.” Her musing were interrupted by the voice of her mother. Primrose noticed, that the doctor was patiently waiting for her in the middle of the room, and that her mother was coaxing her towards him. Blushing embarrassed, she approached the blue stallion and smiled shyly at him. “Um… hello.” She greeted meekly, suddenly self-conscious about her lack of a Cutie Mark. Doctor Hansen answered her with a reassuring smile, a first show of actual emotion, and went straight to work. The doctor began from her face, scrupulously checking every square inch of her skin. His eyes, magnified by the glasses he wore scanned her quickly, and after a moment he deemed her face free of anything abnormal. After he was done with that he moved to the rest of her body. Her back, her front legs, hooves, he checked them all, making sure he didn’t miss anything. Finally, after the most embarrassing part for her, which was the examination of her hind legs the doctor moved on to her hind hooves. “So far so good” she thought, she was going to be ok. The doctor will finish his check-up and will deem her healthy, just like with her parents. She just had to wait a little bit longer. The doctor didn’t say anything. Primrose swallowed hard, turning her head around to look at the doctor. He was currently holding her hind left hoof with his own front ones and was looking at something, his face becoming more and more grim by the second. His silence must have alerted her parents, because she saw them shift uneasy in their seats, but she hardly noticed that. Right now the only thing that mattered was what the doctor was about to do. Dr. Hansen looked at her hoof for a while longer, making Primrose wonder what was actually happening. She almost didn’t notice his horn lighting up with his magic, but when she finally did, a lump formed in her throat. He levitated towards himself one of the needles he was heating earlier. “Now… Primrose was it?” The doctor turned to meet her face. She nodded shakily, noting the strange look she was giving her. “I want you to close your eyes and not open them until I tell you that it’s alright. Can you do that for me?” Not trusting her voice at the moment, Primrose nodded in response and did as she was told. She waited for something to happen, half expecting to feel a needle being jabbed into her skin, but nothing came. Or at least she didn’t feel anything. It was even more nerve-wracking than when her parents were acting so scared not a few moments ago. Finally, Primrose decided she had enough. She opened her eyes and turned her head to look at the doctor. She was about to ask what was going on when her eyes fell on the lower part of her hind leg, where her hoof started. If her heart wasn’t in her right now, she would have surely screamed at what she saw. Her hind hoof was a slightly darker shade of yellow, having a sickly hue to it. It seemed to be swelled and covered in small tumors and blisters, almost unnoticeable if not looked directly upon them. Her hoof also seemed to slowly lose its coat, a few patches of discolored naked skin visible through the gaps. All that, as sickening as it was wasn’t what terrified Primrose. It was something completely different. One of the blisters on her hoof was pierced by dr. Hansen’s needle, sticking out of her hoof like a metal sting of an angry bee. It was jabbed really deep into her flesh, just like if the doctor wanted to penetrate her limb through, yet for some odd reason Primrose didn’t feel the needle there. She didn’t feel anything from that hoof to be honest. But why? How? “I told you not to open your eyes… ehh… “ Hansen sighed once he noticed Primrose looking at the needle. She shook his head a bit and looked at her once again, this time inquisitively. “Do you feel any pain?” Primrose didn’t answer right away. Her eyes were drawn towards the needle in her hoof like magnets, having an almost hallucinating effect on her. This was so bizarre and scary… she didn’t know whether to scream or to cry. After a moment however she managed to tear her eyes away from the needle and looked at the doctor. “N-No. I-I don’t feel… anything.” Primrose answered softly, unable to force her voice to speak any louder. “I-Is that o-ok?” The doctor looked her in the eyes for a moment, his expression blank. However, Primrose could see it all in his eyes –this was definitely not ok. Needles just didn’t go inside ponies’ hooves without causing any pain, this wasn’t normal at all. Hansen tried however to smile at her, to assure her that everything was going to be alright. That wasn’t about to happen. “What in Celestia’s name is that?! What did you do to my daughter?!” Blooming Myrtle’s furious voice echoed in the room as she got to her hooves and stormed in the direction of the unicorn doctor. Her eyes were stuck on her daughter’s hoof, the one pierced with the needle, and she looked about ready to tear the stallion who did this to shreds. There was a bit of a scuffle between the doctor and Blooming Myrtle, the enraged mother wanting nothing more than to give him a piece of her mind with her hooves. Hansen tried to calm her down to the best of his abilities, but it seemed to be an effort in vain –the mare was not thinking clearly at the moment. During this commotion Primrose was accidentally shoved to the side, landing on her side with a dull thud. The sudden movement was enough however to bring out the needle stuck in her hoof. She didn’t feel any pain when the needle left her limb, but she noticed something, that made her swallow hard. From the hole in the blister a strange, thick and smelly liquid mixed with blood was slowly dripping out, trickling down her hoof and onto the floor. The mixture of pus and blood formed a miniscule puddle on the ground, staining the planks red-and-yellow. Primrose stared at it in silent horror, though she wasn’t the only one looking at it. Once Primrose fell to the ground the fight between Hansen and Myrtle subsided. The adults looked at the filly in concern, and once they noticed what was trickling down her limb they fell silent, Hansen in worry and Myrtle in fear. Quicksilver joined them not too long after, looking at the puddle of his daughter’s lifeblood with poorly concealed dread and disgust. He visibly paled, his eyes shrinking to pinpricks as he stared at his daughter, only adding to her own terror. Finally he broke the silence, his voice shaky and full of fright. “Take… it… away from us.” He ordered, looking Hansen deep in the eyes. “Take that Celestia damned thing away from us!” Primrose didn’t even notice when she ended up in the middle of the raging snowstorm. It was like if one moment she was in the warmth of her own room, looking out the window upon Flankfurt, only to now find herself on the icy streets of said city in the next. She didn’t know how, she didn’t know why, but she ended up here, marching through the snow, accompanied only by the silent, distant doctor. No… No, that wasn’t right. Not at all. She knew exactly why she was here, she just didn’t want to accept it. She couldn’t accept it. Something like this should have never happened, not to her and not to anypony else. She refused to accept it. It just couldn’t be true. Unfortunately for her, it was. Her father… how could her own daddy do something like that? It was so unlike him, so out of character… He always was stern, true, and he demanded perfection from everypony, himself included. But this? This was as if something in him snapped, broke like a string that was stretched too much and made him play a false, off-key tune. Who she saw back then… it wasn’t her dad. It was some kind of cruel monster. Her mother tried to stop him from doing it, but she couldn’t. He didn’t let her. When she tried to reason with him, he ordered her to be silent. When she protested, he claimed he was doing this for their own good. When she started pleading, he finally had enough of her. He told her, that she was free to go, but she would find the doors locked behind her. He left a simple message for her –either you do as I say, or you may leave and never come back. Reluctantly, and not without a hefty dose of internal struggle she came to a decision. Primrose was trotting beside Hansen, and nopony else. Dr. Hansen wasn’t too pleased about what happened, not one bit. It was actually frightening when he made his displeasure known. He hardly showed any emotions earlier, but when it came down to what her father had done… It was as if this was a completely different pony. He argued with him fiercely, trying to explain to him that what he was doing was wrong, but he didn’t listen. All he managed to accomplish was to provide her with some warm clothes for the road, when her dad… no, father. Her father wanted to throw her out in the snow without any protection. Sigh… Now at least she wasn’t freezing to death, though she felt like if she was already frozen on the inside. Primrose shook her head violently, blinking as the drops of snow assaulted her eyes. She should probably try not to dwell too much on what happened. As hard as it was, it would be for the better. Thinking about something to do, she began looking around, trying to avoid looking straight in the direction the wind was coming from as not to get blinded by snow. They were passing by rows upon rows of wooden houses, trotting along one of Flankfurt’s many streets. The buildings were mostly painted white and bright-green, colors that normally sang of the approaching spring. Yet in the furious storm of ice and snow they seemed to accomplish the exact opposite; they seemed so depressing and uninviting now. Many a house they were passing by had their doors and windows boarded up, wooden planks nailed to every entrance. Abandoned and empty, many of them for years now, they’ve seemed to be frozen in time, the icy chill of the far north conserving them with great effect. Primrose noticed, that most of the streets were empty. It wasn’t that surprising, really –it was the middle of a snow storm right now, and most reasonable ponies stayed at home, those who needed to be outside huddled into small groups to keep warm. The setting sun was also a factor in this she reasoned; after all, most did not dare wander the streets in the dead of night, especially if the nights could last up to fifteen hours around here. Normally she liked that –she was odd like that, liking the night more than the day sometimes. Now however… now the city seemed empty and uninviting, just like a cemetery. They passed a few groups of ponies who had to brave the snowy streets after all, but not everything with them was normal. They seemed to give them a wide berth, some of them going as far as to enter alleyways, others ducking into their houses, just so that they didn’t have to come near them. At first it greatly confused her, but after a few moments she began remembering something she learned from her friends. Long Shot and Royal Blue told her about what was going on around the town lately. They said that there were strange ponies around, ponies that looked like if they were really sick. They claimed they were covered in tumors and blisters, some of them even looking like if they were rotting alive. And then there were doctors roaming the streets. They were generally finding those ill ponies and taking them to a… she forgot what it was called, but it was like a hospital or something. In any case, not a lot of ponies liked the doctors. It was like if they could take you with them even if you were healthy, or they could infect you with whatever those rotting ponies had. So everypony tried to stay clear, both of the doctors, and the ill. Was that why all other ponies tried to avoid them? Did they try to avoid doctor Hansen and her out of fear? Did they think she had whatever those ill ponies from the stories had? Did she actually had it? Primrose shook her head once more, this time to try and clear her thoughts. She didn’t need to think about such scary things right now; she already had something to be terrified of, no need for more. This however left her without anything to do. Dr. Hansen was still silent and it didn’t seem like if he was going to change anytime soon. So, to do something, anything, she began counting her steps, one after another, slowly and steadily. They moved in silence for quite a ways away, Primrose not keeping attention to where they were going, concentrating on her counting. She lost herself in the ever growing numbers, almost completely cutting herself from the world. She was barely aware of where the doctor was, and she almost ran into him at several occasions. The numbers provided her with an escape from the harsh reality, an escape so perfect, that she almost wished it never stopped. They were walking like that for some time now when something quite unexpectedly caught Primrose’s attention. A slight movement to her right, so minuscule that it appeared that she was the only one to see it draw her attention, making her pause in her steps and look in the direction it came from. At first she didn’t see anything, just a bunch of abandoned houses framing the street from that side. She was about to ignore it and continue on her way when what she first assumed was only a shadow cast by the building moved unnaturally. Her eyes darted to the place she saw it, both dreading what she would find there and drawn to it. She looked into the shadows, searching for anything that could have hid in them. And then she saw it –a pair of eyes looking directly at her, full of hate and malice, but also superiority and smugness. She could vaguely make out the silhouette of a pony, what she assumed the owner of those scary eyes, and that he was wearing some kind of clothes, though she couldn’t see any details if them. But the eyes were the worst part; they were looking at her, unblinking, so full of hate… Primrose shuddered and took a step back on instinct. As quickly as those eyes appeared they vanished again, their departure almost instantaneous. It took less than a blink of an eye for them to completely disappear, using the cover of a furious swirl of snow. Primrose stared at the spot for a few moment longer, as if expecting it to come back any second now, and attack her if she so much as moved a muscle. She couldn’t however stay that way forever, and dr. Hansen quite quickly noticed that she was lagging behind. “Is everything alright Primrose?” He asked once he joined her where she stood, something akin to concern sounding in his voice. Primrose didn’t answer right away. She still didn’t know what she saw or if she saw anything at all to begin with. She began coming up with excuses for what happened there, trying to chalk it up upon some sort of hallucination. Yes, it definitely must have been her mind playing tricks on her. Finally, after a longer-than-normal pause she answered the doctor’s question. “It’s nothing. I just thought I saw something.” “Ok, just stick closer to me, alright?” Hansen half-asked half-ordered, and after Primrose nodded he continued on leading her towards where they were headed. She lagged a bit behind him however, casting one final glance at the narrow alley where she saw those hateful eyes. It didn’t take them long to finally get to their destination. They were approaching the gates that led to that hospital-thing she couldn’t remember the name of. The gates themselves, made out of heavy wood and bound with wrought iron looked quite intimidating to the young filly, making her gulp audibly at their site. Primrose, in an attempt to not think about them concentrated on counting her steps again, even though it was clear that she wouldn’t be doing that much longer. “Well… we’re here my dear.” Hansen announced once they stopped in front of the gate. “I will have to run some tests on you once we enter, make sure you really are ill. There still is the possibility that those changes to your hoof is not connected to the disease.” He added, trying to sound hopeful and failing miserably. Primrose however seemed not to notice any of his words, preoccupied with something else. “Two thousand nine hundred eighty-six steps…” She whispered softly to herself. Hearing her say that Hansen whipped his head in her direction, looking at her with surprise. “What did you just say?” “I was counting steps, and it’s two thousand nine hundred eighty-six of them.” Primrose backed away from the doctor, startled by his sudden outburst. “Is there something wrong?” Hansen turned away from her immediately and concentrated his magic on the gates, slowly opening them. “No.” He replied after a moment. “There is nothing wrong. Now come, I must run some tests on you and make sure you really have it.” “Have what?” Primrose asked, though she feared she knew the answer to that. It had to do with those strange, numb spots on her hoof, she was sure of it. The reason why her father tossed her out of the house and why all the ponies on the streets were avoiding her. Hansen took a couple of steps and turned around, facing the filly. For the first time his face showed something else than that indifferent mask of his or anger –it was sympathy, maybe even pity. “Lepra, my dear.” He finally said, his voice hardly above a whisper. “Lepra.”