The two or so thousand ponies that lived in the town of Desert Sage were going around their everyday business. It was what many would consider a beautiful day, but beautiful days were quite uncommon, so the townsponies were making what they could of it. Without the usual clouds and almost-constant winds across the flattened landscape, things were looking pretty great. Wagons rattled in the streets and foals played out in their front yards while parents sat back, enjoying the weekend for what it was worth. A small group of pegasi ponies flew overhead, lazily pushing the nearest cloud away from the sun.
It was just like any other town.
An orange, black-maned pegasus glanced up from the bench he was sitting at and sighed inwardly, pushing to his hooves. With a shake of his mane, he set off at a light trot along the road. Wagons bounced back and forth between buildings on the hard-packed earth as he walked, the ponies pulling them greeting one another cheerfully, maybe even a little too cheerfully.
After a while of wandering without much thought, the orange pegasus came to a small crossroads and stood to wait beside a yellow stallion, his black mane quite similar to Sunny’s.
“Morning, Sunny,” the stallion mumbled as the pegasus walked up to wait beside him.
“Morning, Notebook.” Sunny smiled halfheartedly at him. “How’re things?” A quick glance over the pony said a lot, and one of those things was that Sunny probably shouldn’t have been standing beside him for fear of catching something.
Notebook dropped his head and sighed. “Not so good; I feel like somepony just hit me with a shovel.”
Sunny silently agreed, quirking a brow; the pony didn’t look too good at all—his eyes were sunken and bloodshot and his coat was ruffled up and sticky-looking. “What’d you do, rub your coat in petroleum jelly?
Notebook ignored the quip on his appearance. “I haven’t been able to eat for a day... it all just comes back up. I picked this crap up from Canterlot, I know,” he grumbled. “Ponies are always sick there. The place was a big petri dish by the time I left. Feel bad for leaving my mother back in that horrid place.”
The traffic ceased and the two stallions set across the street. “Well I’m sorry to hear that,” Sunny said genuinely. “What were you doing in Canterlot? That’s halfway across Equestria.”
“Mother,” he mumbled, shoulders drooping. “Well... see you later Sunny.” With a shake of his head, he set off towards the park without a backwards glance.
“Will do?” Sunny watched the stallion go with a little frown and a cocked head. He’d known Notebook for... years. Notebook was being very... not Notebook.
Throwing the stallion and his odd attitude out of his mind, Sunny wracked his brain for something that could prove even mildly entertaining. It never made any sense to him; he would work all week for a few a shiny stack of bits with expectations of the weekend, only to reach the end of the workweek and find that the weekends themselves were just as dull, the only difference was he wasn’t making money. Sitting back and being bored was what being a cashier at a local choke n’ puke for.
A thought struck him, a rather primal one. ‘Muffins!’ That’s what he needed, a nice big case of delicious blueberry muffins. By far, the blueberries made the muffin, and considering there was nothing better to do today other than gorge on snack food, it was the most perfect idea Sunny had had all day.
The walk to the store didn’t prove to be a long one; small towns had their benefits. And in no time at all, he was pushing through the storefront door to the airlock room of the grocer. The air conditioning ruffled his mane as he left the tiled room and entered the actual store, the cool air soothing on his coat after the midday heat. The store was packed with ponies trotting around on their daily business: old ponies, mothers with foals, ponies on lunch break, and just about everything else. Of course the store was packed—after all, it was a Saturday afternoon.
Two young colts galloped by, laughing with delight as one chased the other. The two flew right by Sunny and crashed into an old earth pony, almost knocking him over and causing him to drop his basket.
“Hey you kids!” the earth pony snapped, fire in his eyes. “You watch where you’re going!”
“S-sorry mister,” stammered one of the colts before hastily sprinting down another aisle.
“Hey! wait for me!” called the other, following his friend out of sight.
“Kids,” the stallion muttered to himself, picking up his basket and heading off towards the checkout line. “Beat ‘em, every one of ‘em.”
Sunny’s attention was drawn away from the old stallion by a pink mare carrying a box of ‘Granny’s Homemade Muffins.’ He knew exactly where they were—aisle four, section three, middle shelf. He rounded the corner to aisle four and nearly galloped to section three in a foalish delight that would have proved rather embarrassing had there been anypony around to see. Silently, he pleaded for at least one box to be left; they always sold fast. To his immense pleasure, there proved to be one remaining box. Sighing happily, Sunny allowed his pace to slow. The box was there; everything was going to be alright.
Looking back down the aisle, it was quite a surprise to see another pony. Sunny shared a look with the blue mare directly across from him, his green eyes darting to the last remaining box, then back to her.
She looked at the only box on the shelf, then to Sunny. He looked at her, then the box, then back to her. Worst of all, she was smiling.
Without warning, the mare reared up and set off at a gallop down the aisle. Sunny took this as an immediate threat. Obviously, she was after the box, and he had gotten in grocery store fights with ponies on the Sunday bash before—it was always easiest if you grabbed the box and ran before they could catch you. Nonetheless, old mares knew how to swing a cane harder than one would think.
Sunny jerked forward, hooves fighting for grip on the linoleum tile. She may have started first, but he was closer. Hooves thundering, he scooped the box up by the handle as he passed and turned a triumphant look on the mare... who was still running right at him. At full gallop, the two collided in a tangle of limbs. Crying out in surprise, Sunny lost his grip on the box as the two of them crashed to the floor. Desperate to break contact with the mare, he scrambled away, flesh itching unpleasantly from the contact.
He picked his head up from the ground and gazed at the mare lying next to him. Her blue eyes stared back at him, dark brown mane obscuring half her face. She cracked a little smile and tried to clamber to her hooves, but Sunny was already on top of it. He pushed himself upright and beat his wings, propelling himself to his hooves and forward. With a leap, he dived for the box. His hooves were only an inch away when the loot was enveloped in a blue haze. Sunny made a desperate grab for the handle as the box shot right under him, though the effort only threw off his balance. Missing his target completely, he went sprawling on his face.
Head throbbing, Sunny rolled to his hooves, irritation prickling up and down his spine. “Hey! No fair!” he pouted, flipping around to face the mare. She stood there, the box levitating beside her, a cheeky smile adorning her face.
This wasn’t going to end well.
She must have caught the look in his eye, because the mare turned tail and hoofed it for the other end of the aisle. Sunny took off after her, hoping that he once again had speed on his side.
The mare made a hard left where the aisles merged and skidded around the corner, hooves skittering for traction on the polished floor. A second later, Sunny reached the corner, and instead of sliding to slow himself down, he jumped into it. Leaning hard, he unfurled his wings and gave them one hard flap, smoothly shooting the corner and propelling himself forward. He beat his wings a second time and lifted himself up into the air, gaining some ground on her. A slight pain in his spine told him he was pushing his abilities, but one more flap got him above the fleeing unicorn. With one swift movement, he drew his wings to his side and dropped clean onto the blue mare’s back, ignoring the uncomfortable burning sensation in that surged through his body as their coats touched; sometimes, muffins were more important than phobias.
Not expecting the sudden weight, the mare staggered and tripped, sending them both rolling into a pyramid of stacked cans.
Ponies dodged with indignant yells and surprised cries as asparagus landslide bore down on them, tossing a stray can or two every which way. Sunny pinched his eyes shut as the metallic rocks rained down onto him. Dazed, he opened his eyes to see a happy asparagus smiling at him from a can label.
After a moment, he pushed himself up out of the sea of cans with a clatter and looked around. Ponies stood in a circle around him, scowling and muttering to each other. The box of muffins lay on its side a ways away against a vegetable stand, thankfully un-crushed.
There was another clatter and a blue head pushed itself out of the pile beside his own. The unicorn looked around for a second before digging herself out, scattering more cans across the tile.
“Truce?” she panted, laughing a little as she looked at Sunny. “Didn’t... didn’t expect you to... fight for it.”
“Truce,” Sunny gasped, rubbing his brow where a can had struck him.
The mare looked around and let out a small chuckle, which quickly turned to racking laughter. Sunny couldn’t help but join in, not even knowing why he was supposed to be laughing—she was laughing, so it must have been funny.
“Dang it!” A tan earth pony stomped his way across the store towards the asparagus catastrophe, straightening his red vest with the greatest authority he could muster. “I just stacked all them cans!”
The blue mare quelled her laughter and brought her muzzle to Sunny’s ear. “Run.”
The two ponies scrambled out of the pile and galloped away towards the front of the story. Sunny skidded to a halt, stepping on a can and nearly falling. Remembering the muffins, he ran over to the shelf they had fallen against and scooped them up. Putting on an extra burst of speed, he went to catch up with the blue mare before the store employee blundering along behind them could catch him and stack of an asparagus jail to keep him in. The stallion stopped at the pile of scattered cans and let out an angry bellow at Sunny’s fleeing form, though didn’t pursue any further.
Sunny and the mare cut in front of a shopping couple who’d been waiting to buy a whole cartload of groceries. The blue mare smiled her best smile at that, and that seemed to work for reasons unknown to Sunny.
Sunny tossed the box up onto the counter and produced four bits. “I have money.”
“No, I insist,” the blue mare protested.
“Too late,” he said bluntly as the pony at the register took his bits with a bored expression and pushed the box back across the counter. Sunny took the case of muffins by the handle and headed for the door. The mare followed him. Sunny knew what she wanted; maybe if he ignored her she wouldn’t ask.
The two left the store and many prying eyes behind. Now with a box of perfectly delicious muffins, Sunny chose to head for the park. There was no better place to eat muffins but in the park, and every reasonable pony knew this.
His fellow grocery store escapee trotted along beside him. “Normally, a stallion tells a mare his name before he tackles her into a pile of cans,” she chided, driving a knee into his side just behind his front leg.
Right in the most sensitive spot. He winced and shied away.
“Fhummy,” he mumbled around the handle in his mouth. She rolled her eyes and levitated the box away from him. “Sunny,” he repeated for her. “Sunny Skies.”
“Well it’s nice to meet you, Sunny Skies.” She smiled and levitated the box down onto her back. “I’m Blue Moon, but the ‘Blue’ part is sort of redundant so just call me Moon.”
“Mother much of a Luna fan was she?”
The mare drove her knee into the same spot on his side. “Shut up. I swear, if I hear one more pony say I’m trying to copy Luna...” Shaking her head, she chuckled. “Call me Moon, please.”
Sunny was rather taken aback by her friendliness. He normally never talked to ponies outside of work, mares even less. He had spoken to a psychologist once: the bifocaled pony’s diagnosis had been ‘socially awkward’. Apparently, since his parents had been so protective of him, somehow they had managed to twist a screw loose in his brain, and it just so happened to be that that particular screw held together his ability to interact with ponies in a normal manner. Or at least... that’s what the psychologist had said.
“So are you new in town?” he asked; it was the best he could think of.
“Sort of.” She looked over at him, a little grin still on her face. “Moved here from Fillydelphia about a month or so ago—nice little town.”
“Little?” He shot the mare a look.
“Okay fine, city... big city.” She blew air out her nose. “I’d had enough. I was tired of stepping outside and having to walk across pony’s backs just to get to the store.”
“Yeah well, this is a nice little town... mostly” Sunny remained quiet, not daring to throw glances at Moon for fear she would see him throwing glances and imply something. Yet, despite his dismissive attitude, she continued to walk confidently beside him as if they were good friends on their daily walk.
“So are all of these muffins for me?” she teased, levitating to box in front of her again.
“Hey! I bought it,” he protested, realizing with sudden horror that she had the box in her possession.
“I might let you have one,” she teased. “Now stop whining and let’s find a place to sit.” She pranced ahead and towards the metal arch to the park.
Sunny eyed her curiously as he followed. She was a pony... she was a mare, and she was purposefully going out of her way to get to know him.
He shrugged. “Every day is a new day.”
And she had his muffins...
* * *
Sunny popped another muffin into his mouth as he lay on his back in the shade of an oak tree. He loved watching the clouds as they drifted across the sky.
“Sunsets are always so beautiful here, aren’t they Sunny?” The blue mare lay next to him gazing up as well. A half-eaten muffin rested beside her.
“Mhmf,” came Sunny’s muffled reply around a mouthful of muffin. Quickly, he finished chewing and swallowed. “Yeah.” His gaze drifted to the golden clouds on the horizon. “I guess I always just took them for granted.” The two lay quiet for a minute. Sunny reached for the box to take another muffin.
“Hey Sunny?” Moon murmured.
“Yeah?” The clouds had now turned a pink golden color.
“What’s it like up there?” Moon was gazing up at the clouds as well, a little smile on her face.
“Up where?”
Moon laughed and nudged him with a hoof. “You know.” She raised a hoof towards the sky and closed one eye. “Up there, in the sky. What’s it like to fly up there in the clouds? You know, without a skywagon or a balloon something? I’ve never actually asked a pegasus before.”
“I couldn’t really tell you.” He rolled over onto his side to look at her.
“What?” She turned her head to him, looking puzzled. “But you’re a pegasus. How can you not know?”
Sunny sighed. “It’s kind of a long story.”
“Well, go on,” she pressed. “I’m not in any hurry.”
She had asked the question. He hated answering the question. It was usually something he only told ponies he knew well once in a blue moon, not random mares. Nonetheless, he found himself thinking of how to put it best.
“Okay then...” Sunny tried to smile as Moon rolled towards him to listen. “When I was a foal, I couldn’t fly like all the other fillies and colts my age. Well, actually I couldn’t fly at all, and for a pegasus that can’t fly at all, living in the clouds seemed just a bit dangerous.”
Moon pulled another muffin from the box as he spoke.
“So when I was still young, my parents moved from their home on the outskirts of Cloudsdale to here. They always wanted to do what was best for me. They hauled me around to every doctor and specialist they could afford, but all of them said the same thing and turned me down. Said there was some sort of abnormality or disease in the muscles that supported my wings, a sort of birth defect, or some sciencey thing like that. Something to do with tendons too... But for some reason, only my wings. Most of them said I was lucky I could even walk. After a while I got used to the condition. It wasn’t that bad. After some work I was able to learn to fly short distances, but no more than a couple hundred yards at a time, and that’s pushing it.”
He let out a long sigh and gazed up at the sky. Sunny turned and look back at Moon. Her eyes shone sadly back at him.
“I’m so sorry, Sunny. I’m sorry I asked. That subject must be hard.”
“It’s fine,” he said flatly
Moon looked away and gazed back up at the sky. “It must be so hard for you though.”
Sunny sighed again. Pity... she was showing him pity, the worst of all emotions to be felt in anyone’s general direction. “No, not really.” She didn’t realize just how teasing her sympathy was. “You see, I was never actually able to fly, so I don’t really know how it feels, which means I don’t miss flying because I never have... If that makes any sense.”
Moon only smiled at him. “You’re a nice stallion, Sunny.”
A little taken aback by the compliment, he hastily reached over and popped a muffin into his mouth to avoid having to reply. He was not expecting Moon to shift and lay her head down in the crook of his belly. Sunny’s eyes shot open and he nearly gagged on the muffin. Moon sighed, closing her eyes against the sun.
He tensed and Moon lifted her head. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he muttered hastily, blushing. “It’s just that I don’t like ponies touching me... not really... at all. And you’re the first mare to... you know...” He rubbed the tip of his hoof against his face, going beet red.
“Really?” She cocked an eyebrow.
“No joke.” Sunny didn’t think it was possible to feel more awkward. His face burned as he scooted a little bit away from her. “It’s uh... it’s haphephobia, they said.”
“Wow.” Moon looked thoughtful for a second, then gave a little shrug and nuzzled her head back into his belly, driving another shudder up his spine. She closed her eyes again. “It’s so nice and quiet here; I like small towns.”
Sunny lay there, fighting the urge to push the mare away, instead watching the golden sun sink behind the horizon. A half eaten box of muffins sat next to the two. He could feel the warmth of the mare pressed against his flank. Sunny closed his eyes with a gentle sigh, somehow managing to overcome burning irritation of the mare touching his flank. He wasn’t quite sure what this day had amounted to, but it was certainly something different. Soon, despite the uncomfortableness of the mare resting against him, he drifted off.
* * *
Sunny opened his eyes to darkness and it took him a minute to remember where he was. Although, he was aware of the unicorn mare curled up in the crook of his body, sheltered from the cool night air. Sunny closed his eyes against the night, trying to remember what had woken him.
A low moan emanated from somewhere in the darkness and Sunny’s ears shot straight up. Chances were it had been that.
Slowly, he rolled over and pulled himself free from Moon’s grasp. She let out a little groan and curled herself into a ball, shivering slightly. Sunny could hear breathing, not just his own and Moon’s, but another, third source from somewhere out in the darkness... a raspy, sickly breathing.
“Hello?” he called softly, eyes straining to see in the feeble moonlight.
There was no response. “Hello?” he called a little louder. Sunny cautiously crested a small hill twenty or so feet away from the tree in the direction of the sound. A shadowy lump rolled over as Sunny neared The pegasus frowned at the other pony. Either he was drunk or baeten... or both. More cautiously, he paced a little closer to the dark shape, recognition dawning on his face.
“Notebook?” he asked in shocked confusion upon seeing the pony’s face. The stallion lifted its head and laid a sickly gaze on Sunny. “Are you okay?” Sunny asked worriedly.
“No,” he groaned, wincing.
“Moon!” Sunny called back behind him. Notebook’s condition seemed to have escalated tenfold since earlier today. Sunny was no doctor, but he was pretty sure eyes shouldn’t bleed.
The mare appeared beside him, seeming to almost blend out of the darkness. “What is it?” She looked down at the sickly stallion. “Oh my.”
“Go get help.”
“I don’t know, this looks really bad. His coat’s damp and... no,” she said in a foreboding tone.
“What?” Sunny was feeling nervous now.
“His eyes are bleeding.” She gestured a hoof to the pony, who was now hacking on something from in his throat, small streams of foam bubbling from his muzzle.
“Well we need to go get help,” Sunny stated. “I’ll stay with him. Go find somepony to help.”
“It’s the middle of the night!”
“So go bang on somepony’s door or something. He isn’t looking good.”
Moon nodded and blended off into the darkness, making for a distant street lamp.
Sunny had to confirm his suspicions by throwing another glance at Notebook. The stallion looked really bad. He was losing small patches of hair that shed off in the long grass and the flesh beneath his coat was veiny and pale.
“Just hang in there, buddy,” Sunny murmured, patting Notebook’s side with a forehoof. That had been a mistake. Notebook’s flank was soaking with perspiration, hot and sticky. Gasping, Sunny yanked his hoof away and dragged it across the grass a few times. Okay, no touching.
“Notebook, what happened?”
The pony’s throat rattled as he spoke. “Don’t know... just got really sick.”
“You’re a little more than sick, my friend,” Sunny half-chuckled.
“You think!?” A series of short spasms wracked his body. Slowly, they subsided, leaving the two sit in silence. The only sound to be heard was the heavy breathing of Notebook. Sunny guessed that, by the time he was able to hear the approaching ponies, about ten minutes had passed. He pricked his ears as the sound of voices and hoofsteps drew closer.
“Over here!” he called to the darkness. A moment later, four ponies appeared through the black screen. There were two ponies in medical barding and another wearing a utility harness who was brandishing a flashlight. Moon was a little ways behind them, quite content with glaring at the back of a white unicorn mare’s head. The mare in question levitated a doctor’s bag next to her. Her scarlet mane was tied back and hung over her left flank.
She set the bag down next to Notebook and immediately went to work, seemingly oblivious to Moon’s unapproving glare.
“Well, what does it sound like to you?” Moon insisted.
“I don’t know yet!” the white mare snapped back. “Let me look at him first!”
The mare nodded towards the large stallion with the flashlight “Brick, light.” The stallion obeyed, turning the amber beam on Notebook.
Sunny caught a glimpse of the buck’s face and backpedaled, nearly tripping on his own tail. Blood ran from his tear ducts and his eyes shone like empty windows; the pupils had grown so large that they threatened to consume the entire iris. The whites were deep pink and bloodshot, and a thin trickle of white foam ran from his mouth.
The mare gave a quick flick of her tail and flashlight pony set down his light and pulled a collapsible stretcher from his back. In two quick movements, he had it unfolded and on the ground next to Notebook. The three ponies approached the sick buck and gently rolled him onto the stretcher.
The stallion earth pony wearing medical barding reared back in disgust after they had finished pushing the stallion onto the vinyl frame. “Did you feel his coat?” he gasped, examining his forehooves.
Sunny and Moon sat back and watched as the ponies prepared to lift Notebook. They were about ready when the stallion rolled off the stretcher and jerked into series of violent spasms.
“Hold him down,” the white mare groaned, throwing her hooves up in the air as she glared at the writhing pony. The other two sprang into action, attempting to get a hold on the slippery stallion as the mare levitated a syringe from her bag. With a roll of her eyes, she jabbed it into Notebook’s neck and took a step back. The stallion let out a strangled scream and reared his head back, biting into the foreleg of the stallion in medical barding.
“Gah!” The buck reared back and fell on his rump, attempting to pull his forehoof free from the stallion’s gnashing teeth. He swung his free forehoof at notebook, but the white mare’s magic intervened and held it still as another bit of focused mana yanked Notebook’s jaw open.
“Sweet Celestia he bit me!” The stallion held his hoof firmly in the other as he glared at Notebook, who was now starting to go limp. “What in the name of Luna is wrong with ponies!?”
The brown earth pony ran back around the stretcher to retrieve his flashlight.and shone it at the stallion’s foreleg. There was a good sized mark where the skin had torn, blood oozing from the many little teeth marks.
“Better get that taken care of,” the white mare scoffed, flicking her tail.
“What am I supposed to take care of it with!?” he snapped. “A stick and a piece of string!? Most of the equipment is back at the wagon...” He trailed off, examining the wound. “Have you ever seen a pony do that before?” he muttered, rubbing his leg and turning to look at the pony next to him. Flashlight pony shook his head. “I hope whatever he has isn’t contagious.”
The hospital mare glared at the two ponies. “Hurry up and find a way to clean that so you can help me carry this thing.” With some effort, she levitated Notebook back onto the stretcher as the bitten stallion turned and started rummaging in his bags.
“I’ll help,” Sunny offered on a whim. Notebook was his friend, afterall. The mare looked at him and nodded. Flashlight pony took one end and Sunny took the other; the mare walked beside the stretcher to help balance it. Bitten pony hobbled behind the trio as Moon led the way, levitating the flashlight beside her.
The wounded pony hobbled up beside them. “Celestia damn it, I hope I don’t catch whatever that stallion had. I know he had something. I know it. Celestia damn me if its rabies or something.”
Moon glanced behind her. “Well whatever he had, chances are it’s already in your blood.”
“I know!” He swore at the ground. “I passed medical school, you know. The most I can do now is peroxide.”
After a short while, they neared the road. A covered wagon sat off to one side of the street, a red cross painted upon the canopy. When they reached it, Sunny and flashlight pony slid the stretcher into the back of the wagon. Flashlight pony snatched his flashlight back and crossed around to the front of the wagon to slide into the harness as the other two climbed up in the back.
“Hey, thanks for the help!” called the mare as the wagon pulled away
“Don’t mention it!” Sunny called back. “...Take care of him, please.”
Both he and Moon sat on the roadside, watching as the wagon drew further away, until it rounded a bend out of sight. “Well that was a little strange,” Sunny finally muttered, breaking the silence.
“You’re telling me,” Moon replied. “I haven’t ever seen anything like that happen to a pony before.”
Sunny frowned. “So what were you and that mare arguing about when you walked up?”
She shot him a puzzled look, then her eyes widened. “Oh that. We we’re arguing over symptoms and causes. You see, I worked in a clinic ever since I was a little more than a foal; my parents specialized in medical treatment.”
“So you’re a doctor?” Sunny asked.
“Well close... Pediatrician,” The mare folder her ears back and blushed. “Hardly even that.”
Sunny caught the movement. “Hey now. What’s so embarrassing about being a pediatrician?”
“Well... I was never really good at it.”
“Oh.” Sunny cocked his head to the side. “Well that’s too bad... I guess?”
Moon only shrugged. “Want to walk me home Sunny?” She didn’t smile when she asked, but just cocked her head and gave him a curious look.
The sudden change of topic threw him off guard, but he recovered quickly enough, covering the mental stumble with a small cough. “Sure.” Sunny gave a little beat of his wings and tried not to act too excited. There was a certain tone in her voice that he was pretty sure he had caught.
“Come on.” She chuckled, and started off down the walkway. The two walked for a little while in silence. Sunny shivered as the cool night breeze cut through his coat.
“Hey Sunny?” Moon asked, breaking the silence after a moment or two and turning her head to look at him. She pushed her long brown mane away from her face with a forehoof, blue eyes clouded with worry.
“Yeah?” Sunny turned to her and realized he had never really seen her cutie mark. Sure he had known it was there or skimmed over it, but he had never really looked at it. Her cutie mark was of a crescent moon. The thick sliver of white was surrounded by little stars here and there and a big poofy cloud covered one tip of the crescent.
“Do you think that stallion is going to be okay?” she asked.
He sighed. “If you mean Notebook, then I’m not sure. I met him a few times before and he seemed like a nice pony. I just find it hard to imagine anything like that happening to him, or anypony really.”
“What I don’t get, though, is what exactly was wrong with him. None of those symptoms made any sense. Ponies’ eyes shouldn’t bleed—that normally only happens in cases of blunt head trauma.”
“Yeah,” Sunny muttered, eyes fixed on his hooves as they walked on in silence once again.
A few more minutes passed before Moon stopped. “This is it.”
In front of them was a small house, no more than a two bedroom.
She turned and walked up the narrow pathway to the front door and Sunny followed a little ways behind, unsure of exactly how far ‘walking her home’ exceeded. Lucky, his question was answered as she stopped at the door and turned to face him. “Today was really fun.” She smiled to him. “You know, besides the whole Notebook thing.”
“Yeah.” Sunny returned the smile. “First time falling asleep in the park under an oak tree with a mare I’ve only just met.” A sudden thought struck his mind and he gasped.
“What is it?” Moon tensed.
“I left my muffins in the park!” Sunny mentally hit himself—he had forgotten the muffins of all things.
“Oh you!” she laughed, waving a hoof at him.
“I’m serious! I have to go get them!”
Moon just smiled at him and rolled her eyes. “Tell you what. I have something I need to do tomorrow morning, but stop by after lunch and we can go see if they’re still there.”
Sunny thought about it for a second. “But they then they will probably be…” He trailed off when Moon began to snicker. “Hey, what!?”
She laughed and brought her hoof to her face. “You are hilarious.”
“What?” It was times like this he often wished he had some sort f... mare decrypter thingy. Nonetheless, the meaning of her words slapped him across the face like a wet towel after a little bit of thought. “Oh!” He blushed. “Oh! Sure!” He gave a little flap of his wings.
“Okay then.” She grinned “See you tomorrow?”
“Definitely!”
Moon opened the door and stepped inside. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
Sunny almost squealed when the door closed, and he pranced in a little circle. He walked back down the path to the street and started off towards his apartment at a trot. This was something new.
His belly was a churning pit of worry and tension, but he was excited nonetheless. The idea that he had a chance to get to know a nice pony, a mare even, was a rather pleasant one.
* * *
Sunny walked beside Moon as they left the park. The whole day had gone perfectly. He had met with her an hour or so after lunch, both of them heading off to the park. Sunny made sure to check and see if his muffins were there. (They weren’t.) He had even run around the tree a few times to see if somepony had hidden the box. Moon had laughed at him and said he was crazy, again. The two had spent the rest of the afternoon lying around and sharing stories, little things—all those random things like childhood memories or embarrassing things they had done in the past.
Overall, the day had been something entirely new to Sunny. Conversations to him usually related to work and work alone. He’d never really stopped before to talk about himself.
“So what do you want to do now?” Moon nudged him and they set off away from the park. Ponies bustled by in the street as the two walked through town.
Sunny frowned “I don’t know... there really isn’t much to do in a small town.”
Moon glanced around at the few shops and stores. “Well there has to be something,” she pouted.
Sunny didn’t catch the last part. His eyes were trained on two ponies on the other side of the street. A white unicorn mare with a scarlet mane was setting a swift trot and a large, brown earth pony stallion followed close behind. Sunny stopped and Moon shot him a look. He raised a hoof and pointed it at the two ponies across the street.
Moon’s eyes widened. “Is that them?”
“Yep.” He recognized them as their friends from last night. Moon gave Sunny a little glance before dashing off across the street. “Hey! Wait up!” Sunny took off after her, meeting her on the other side to intercept the two hospital ponies. The hospital ponies pushed through a throng of mares crowded around a store front and nearly crashed into Sunny.
“What’s going on?” Moon demanded barring their way. “Both of you look like something bad has happened. I can see it in your eyes.”
The hospital mare glared at Moon and opened her mouth for a sharp retort, but she stopped when she realized who it was. The mare dropped her head and drew back her ears before glancing back at the mares they had pushed through, all of which were glaring irritably. “Not here,” she whispered, gesturing behind her. “Follow me.” The white mare took off again, leaving Sunny and Moon no choice but to gallop after her and the stallion.
“What do you think this is all about?” Sunny asked Moon as they trotted after the hospital ponies, dodging between shoppers and ponies out on afternoon walks. The two ahead of them rounded a corner into a small alley between two stores. Sunny and Moon followed a moment later and they finally stopped in the back of the alley, bathed in semi-darkness.
“Now, will you tell us just what the hay is going on?” Sunny stomped a hoof, more or less taking Moon’s approach.
The white unicorn mare glanced around to make sure they were alone. “We lost Notebook.”
“You what!?” Sunny could understand why Notebook would have died, but he never expected it to really happen. “How did you lose him?”
The white mare folded her ears. “Keep it down we can’t let this get out.” She sighed and looked up at the two. Non-flashlight pony stood behind her looking impartial. “We don’t know how we lost him.”
Moon broke in. “How do you just not know how a pony dies if he’s still alive when you get him?”
The hospital mare looked put out. “No, you don’t understand. We lost him, about an hour ago. He’s gone. He literally isn't there anymore.”
“Oh well that can’t be all bad,” Sunny tried to add, but hastily shut up when both mares glared at him. He shot a look to the mare’s assistant, who just shrugged.
Moon looked nervous. “This is bad, isn’t it?”
The mare nodded solemnly. “About two hours after the encounter, Sugar Apple got extremely sick, even after cleaning the wound. Nothing we gave him worked. The infection fought whatever we tried and absorbed magic like nothing I’ve ever seen before. At about eight hours, he started showing all the same symptoms as Notebook. Bleeding from the eyes, pupil dilation, minor hair loss, a dangerous increase in temperature, and an extreme case of aggression.” The mare hesitated. “About an hour after that, he tore free of his bindings and bit me.” She nodded to the brown stallion beside her. He leaned over and pulled back her staff barding to reveal a small mark on her back where a strip of flesh had been torn away. The skin around it had since turned black, almost as if the mare had tried to cauterize it.
Moon gasped and Sunny stepped forward. “So uh…” he tried to layer on casually “So when Notebook bit Sugar Apple, he ended up like Notebook. So…
Moon cut in. “How long ago did this happen?”
The white mare gave the stallion a flick of her tail and he went back to his normal stance. “About seven hours ago.”
“Wait? Then why aren’t you showing?” Moon cocked her head to the side.
“Yeah about that.” The white mare gave a little smile. “I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen to me. As soon as I could, I washed the entire wound in an iodine concentrate. After that, I directly injected the wound with three times the highest prescribed dosage of penicillin, not recommended… and about twenty milliliters of formalin.”
“What?” Moon balked. “You injected yourself with formalin? How are you not dead!?”
The mare stomped “I don’t know! It should have killed me! But it was better than ending up like Sugar Apple! I watched as the infection spread from the wound! The flesh appeared to rot at a rapid rate around the infected area. I think that’s part of how the virus spreads. I figured if I found a way to stop the rot it might stop the infection. So far it appears to have worked. This may be a breakthrough. I doubt it works after long time exposure, but if it can be applied immediately, it slows, maybe even stops the virus before it can spread.”
Sunny’s head spun as the two mares argued. Moon stared into the white mares eyes. “But what if it doesn’t?”
The white mare turned towards her brown assistant and nodded. Slowly the stallion reached his head around and pulled a pistol from his saddlebag by the bit before he dropped it back in again.
Moon gave a tiny nod.
“I need to call in ponies who are more suited for this. Maybe from Canterlot.” The white mare hung her head. “This is way out of my hooves.” Perking up, she held out a hoof to Moon. “I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Willow.”
“Blue Moon,” she replied, taking Willow’s hoof
“And this is Brick.” Willow gestured to the stallion beside her, whom Sunny had recently known as flashlight pony.
Moon raised her hoof to Brick. “Nice to meet you.” Brick met her hoof with his and nodded.
Sunny felt left out of the whole introduction thing. “Um, Hi. I’m Sunny.”
“Nice to meet you too Sunny.” Willow bowed her head. Brick nodded again.
“So,” Moon but in. “You can call in those Canterlot ponies, and they can pull in and experiment with Sugar Apple. Right?”
Willow seemed to shrink. “We don’t have Sugar Apple… He um… escaped... Both of them escaped.”
Sunny was surprised Moon didn’t stomp on Willow right then. “What!?”
“They may be crazy but they can still run really fast.” Willow was crumbling under Moon’s angry glare.
“We have to find them!” Moon turned and set off, back towards the street, leaving Willow to silently regain her composure.
“Moon,” Sunny said quietly, trotting off after her. “Is this really our business. I mean... this is sketchy.”
“How they hay did I get roped into this?” Willow moaned. “I’m just a medical pony.” She put on a fake smile and the four walked to the end of the alley, looking out at the street. “Okay. This isn’t going to be that hard.” She chuckled. “All we have to do is find two crazy violent ponies carrying an unknown highly contagious disease, in a town of about two thousand ponies before they end up hurting or infecting anypony else, assuming that they would react the same way to exposure as both me Sugar Apple did and lose any form of reason or sanity they may possess in a period of eight hours or less.” Willows stopped to breathe. “If this gets out it’s going to spread like wildfire.”
Sunny pushed past Moon and Willow to the sidewalk. He looked at Moon, who seemed determined no matter what. “It’s really that bad?”
* * *
It was the afternoon of the next day. So far, nothing at all had gone wrong. The four ponies had searched all day and night, but hadn’t found anything. No slobbering crazy ponies as Willow had described Sugar Apple, nothing. It almost felt like the whole incident was just going to blow over... almost.
The four ponies were sitting around a table, more or less enjoying a meal in what was considered the town square by the locals. Ponies bustled to and fro around on daily business, a fountain bubbled in the center of the square, and a little to the left of that was an open well, powered by a hoofpump. Willow had Written Sunny’s work telling them to excuse him for the day. The pegasus had been diagnosed with a ‘strange sickness’, apparently. Willow had gotten a kick out of that.
“Things have been too quiet,” Sunny murmured, taking another bite of his apple. “I’m just waiting for somepony to start screaming.”
Willow sighed inwardly. “I’m really worried. I can’t get anything but nearby settlements on the line. It’s like something is blocking the Canterlot signal.”
“So no specialists?” Moon was picking at a salad.
“Nope.” Willow glared at her plate. “Whatever this is, until I can get a hold of somepony in charge, we are on our own.”
“Great,” muttered Sunny, finishing off his apple. A large open wagon pulled by two earth ponies rolled into the square. One of them was a lime green stallion, the other a yellow mare.
“I don’t get it,” Willow huffed. She reached over and stole an olive from Brick’s salad. The brown pony glared at her for minute before going back to his food. “How can you just lose communication with Canterlot?” Sunny thought that if Willow glared any harder at her food it was going to get up and run away. She dropped her head to the table and let out a moan.
“Are you okay?” Moon, who was sitting next to Willow, set a hoof on her back, a worried expression on her face.
Willow lifted her head and, much to Sunny’s horror, was bleeding from her tear ducts. “I was feeling a little tipsy...” she trailed off, staring at the table. “I’m not feeling so good.”
She dropped her head back to the table. Moon grasped Willow’s head with her hooves to look into her eyes. “Willow, your treatment didn’t work. Your body is reacting to the sickness!”
The mare wiped a foreleg across her face and her eyes widened at the blood smearing her hoof. “Oh... this is bad,” she moaned and seemed to deflate.
“Willow!” Sunny banged a hoof on the table
“Wha?” She jerked her head and gave it a shake, spreading small droplets of blood across the tabletop. “Right, okay... let’s see.” Willow’s bag sat next to her on the ground. She levitated it up beside her but her horn flickered and died and the bag plopped back into the dirt. The unicorn sat stunned for a second before she bent her head and heaved the bag up, spilling its contents onto the table. Brick sat and stared, wide eyed as the mare hoofed through a pile of medical supplies.
“Um guys,” Sunny murmured. Ponies were starting to look at them.
“Here!” Willow threw a bag of syringes at Moon. “Get out a hypodermic needle. One of the big ones.” Moon complied magically opening the bag and and levitating out a needle about the length of a pony’s hoof. “Take this,” Willow snapped, passing an unmarked bottle of electric blue liquid over to the blue unicorn. “I need you to measure exactly twenty milliliters. No more, no less.”
“What is this stuff?” Moon carefully filled the syringe to the twenty mark, examining the blue liquid as it was extracted.
Willow moaned grasping her stomach. “I don’t really know. We got a whole shipment of it by mistake about a week ago. It’s something foreign. According to the paper that came with it, it’s some sort of antibiotic. Targets the cells that the body doesn’t need and wipes them out. You should read the list of side effects.” She gave a little chuckle.
Moon looked skeptical. “Is it safe?”
The white mare glared back at her. “It’s an experimental drug that’s designed to eliminate every cell in the body except the ones that are essential to remain alive that was shipped to us by accident. Of course it isn’t safe! Now jab me with that needle before I get any worse!”
Sunny watched as the green stallion pulled out of the wagon harness and set off towards them. He wished the mares would stop speaking so loudly. They were really starting to draw a lot of attention.
“Right!” Moon jumped. She levitated the needle up, and with practiced precision, injected the blue liquid into the mare’s neck. The second Moon withdrew the needle, Willow let out an agonized scream and rolled off the bench to fall into a twitching heap in the dust.
“What did you do to her!?” a Stallion called from the crowd of ponies that was now gathering around the four of them.
Sunny watched as ponies ran across the square to see what was going on. “We have to get out of here!” Sunny caught Brick’s eye. The Stallion nodded and scooped up the twitching Willow. He threw her over his back while Moon magically gathered up the contents of Willow’s bag. With Moon trailing them, the two Stallions tried to push their way through the gathering crowd.
“Hey, stop!” called the green earth pony who had trotted over from the wagon. Sunny ignored him, still trying to push through the nosy crowd of ponies. “Stop them!” the wagon pony yelled. The crowd barred their way as if they were just waiting for an excuse to stop the four peculiar ponies.
“What are you doing!?” Sunny yelled back at the stallion. He could barely hear himself over the sound of chatter
“That mare is dangerous!” he yelled back, trotting up to the surrounded group. “She’s infected!”
Brick and Moon turned back to look at the green stallion as well. The crowd fell silent. “What?” Moon gave him a look that seemed to say, ‘Play along.’
“That mare is infected.” Sunny winced. This stallion was going to cause a riot.
Moon leveled her gaze dangerously with his, but couldn’t hide the surprise that showed in her face. “How do you know that?”
“I came from Canterlot, mare.” The mare who had been pulling the wagon with the green stallion pushed her way through the ring of townsponies to stand next to him.
Sunny saw no good end to any of this. It’s not like these ponies surrounding them would just let them walk away after the scene they had just shown. “What’s that supposed to mean? What does being from Canterlot have anything to do with this?”
The green pony’s eyes widened. “Wow, you folks haven’t heard?” He sighed, rubbing his brown mane. “I hate to be the pony to tell you this folks, but Canterlot is up in smoke.” There were gasps from the crowd and several ponies started muttering to each other. “Nopony knows what really happened; all anypony knows is that there was this disease that got spread around. Ponies went crazy and started eating each other. Me and my wife here...” The stallion wrapped a leg around the yellow mare and drew her closer to him. “...we got out before things got really bad, heard everypony talking and yelling over the radios. After a while we got out of range but the last transmission we heard, they were talking about trying to evacuate the city. Radios died after that. The Royal Army still can’t get that new technology stuff working.”
Sunny couldn’t believe what this pony was saying. He glanced back at Willow, who was still on Brick’s back. She had stopped twitching, but remained unconscious. Looking back at the green stallion, Sunny didn’t think it was possible for a pony’s eyes to open that wide. The stallion was staring around at the crowd, he gave a nervous gulp and continued looking around. He caught Sunny’s eye and slinked over to him, suddenly looking very scared. The crowd was starting to panic now. The group trapped in the circle was momentarily forgotten as the townsponies fought amongst themselves.
Moon and Brick gathered around Sunny and the couple from Canterlot. The green stallion dropped his head and folded his ears. “Look at them,” he whispered. His eyes darted around so fast that Sunny wondered how he wasn’t getting dizzy. “Look at their eyes.”
Sunny looked around at the crowd of ponies, who were still paying them no attention. Now that he thought about it they did look a little strange... The thought struck him. About half the ponies in the crowd looked like Notebook when Sunny talked to him two days ago. Most of them looked sick while others, seemed fine.
“What?” Moon asked, looking around nervously. “What’s wrong with them?”
Sunny explained to her. The green stallion jumped up and trotted towards a sickly looking pink mare. “Have you been scratched or bitten by anything?” he questioned as he trotted around her in a circle, examining her flanks.
“What’s wrong with you?” The mare turned tail and stalked away.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” The stallion was back at Sunny’s side now; his hooves jittered as he looked around at the wall of conjured ponies. “They don’t have any bites. Why are they sick?”
A brown pegasus hovered over the crowd and pointed at the momentarily forgotten ponies with an accusing hoof. A few feathers pulled free of his wings and rained down on the crowd below. “Hey! Them ponies is whisperin’ about somethin’!”
All eyes went back to the ponies trapped in the center.
The green stallion looked around desperately. He had meant to tell them about Willow, but had ended up trapping himself and his wife. Confused and scared ponies pushed in on them from all sides, yelling questions and making assumptions. The crowd mentality was in a dangerous place.
“This is bad Sunny,” Moon whispered, pressing up against the orange pegasus.
A loud scream echoed across the square and the questioning eyes of the group turned to a purple pegasus mare cowering on the ground next to the well. Sunny took off first, taking the first chance at escape. He jumped and unfurled his wings to glide the short distance over the crowd of ponies and landed next to the mare.
“What happened?” he asked as other ponies began to crowd around. Sure he was a subtle pony but all these obsessively snoopy townsponies were starting to drive him crazy. “Get back!” He flipped around rearing at the approaching mob. “For the love of Celestia give the mare some space!” To Sunny’s surprise, the crowd backed off a little. He turned back to the mare as Moon and Brick pushed up beside him. Willow still lay unmoving. “What happened?”
The mare looked up and raised a shaking hoof to the pump. Mr. and Mrs. wagon pony appeared on the other side of the mare. The purple pony whimpered. “The water,” she cried.
Cautiously, Sunny approached the pump and worked the handle. It took a little bit of effort, but after a few pumps he got the water moving. Small clumps of fur and pinkish water splattered to the ground at his hooves. Feeling his stomach turn over, Sunny took a step back. “Sweet Celestia.”
Moon cringed, then turned to Brick and levitated his flashlight from his saddlepack, much to the brown pony’s disapproval. The other ponies watched as she trotted up to the well and shone the beam down the narrow shaft. “S-Sunny you need to look at this!”
Nopony spoke as Sunny peeked down into the well. He could see two shapes; one was a white pony he didn’t recognize, but the other was a yellow buck. Notebook? Sunny shook his head, peering closer through the darkness. It was impossible. There was no way Notebook could have gotten in the well. Actually... there was. Chances were the white pony had been getting water or something and Notebook had ran at him him or her and...
The green Stallion peeked down beside Sunny and gasped. “Were those ponies… infected?”
Sunny nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat. “One of them.”
The green pony looked over at Sunny, eyes filled with worry. “You know what this means, right?”
Sunny’s mouth went dry at the thought. “I’m... I’m no doctor or anything... but, the sickness would spread through water, right?”
“Yep,” Moon muttered apathetically, pulling back the flashlight. She turned to the crowd. “How many of you ponies has had a drink from this well in the past eight hours?”
“Moon,” Sunny hissed in the mare’s ear. “This well doesn’t just feed to the pump. It has piping to all the buildings within four blocks of here. I know because I helped run one of the pipes last summer!”
Moon paled.
A dozen or so ponies raised their hooves to the air, some of them looking skeptical. Brick pulled his flashlight back from Moon and dropped it back into his bag. Sunny and Moon exchanged a worried look. The four of them were once again surrounded by the confused and prying townsponies. Sunny looked around frantically for a way to escape the unsettled crowd that was slowly becoming a mob, but any plan that he could think of required Willow being awake and mobile. Sunny threw a glance at the unicorn; that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
“What’s down there!?” a green mare called from the crowd, evoking another wave of jeers from the half-mob.
“Is there a pony in there?” A stallion pushed out of line and ran up to peer down the well.
They were pushed up against the stone ring of the well as the crowd surged forward, all trying to see at once.
“Look at their faces!” the same brown pegasus as before yelled. “They look guilty. They all know something and ain’t tellin’ us!”
Try as he might, Sunny could not think of a plan to get them out of this mess, and judging by the mood of the crowd, things weren’t going to end up very well if they kept up the way they did.
Why hadn’t they seen the blood in the water right away? Maybe... When Sunny had seen him in that well, he didn’t look like Notebook anymore. The pony’s body had bloated, his coat stretched tight over the swollen frame. It must have just... popped... or something, otherwise ponies would have noticed it earlier.
“Okay!” the green stallion next to him was glaring around wildly. “If you all back off, I will tell you!” Apparently, Sunny wasn’t the only one getting flustered.
Willow moaned and lifted her head from Brick’s flank. The earth pony brought his head around and gave the mare a soft nuzzle. “Insides burn like crazy.” Willow tried to lift her head further but it flopped back against the pony’s flank.
Green pony folded back his ears. “Look... there is a pony in the well.” There was a whole chain of gasps from the crowd. “One of those sick ponies from Canterlot.”
“What are you doing!?” Sunny hissed quietly. “Don’t tell them; you’ll start a riot!”
The green pony sighed and raised his head to the on looking ponies, ignoring Sunny. “Anypony who drank that water recently is going to go crazy... and most likely die... and that’s putting it nicely,” he added under his breath.
A deadly silence hung over the crowd. “Well I didn’t drink any,” muttered a sickly looking stallion near the front row.
“Yes you did!” a mare called from somewhere behind him. “I saw you raise your hoof when that mare asked!”
The stallion glared her daggers. “No I didn’t, that wasn’t me!”Many of the ponies had started to turn towards him. “I... I didn’t, I swear.”
The brown pegasus who had been hovering over the crowd to get a better view hit the ground like a sack of flour and the silence spell was broken. Several ponies turned to his limp body, horror etched in their faces. All at once the group broke apart; ponies ran to and fro accusing one another of drinking the water or just plain yelling to hear themselves make noise.
A brown unicorn ran a short ways away from what Sunny could now call the mob and turned to face them. “Forget this I’m getting down to the hospital to have those ponies fix me!” He turned tail and ran; several ponies stopped whatever they were doing and followed.
“No.” rasped Willow from next to Sunny. “They can’t get there. Safe. Others don’t know.”
Sunny gasped, he realized just why those ponies couldn’t reach the hospital. In the state the mob was in, all they would end up doing was burning the place down. If Sunny remembered correctly, the hospital had once been a Royal Equestrian Army medical facility. It was half the reason the town was here in the first place. He’d heard once that when the building had been converted to a public hospital, many of the old defenses had remained. “Come on!” he called to the group still pressed up against the well. “We have to beat them there!”
Sunny turned to run but the green stallion held out a hoof. “Wait.” He pointed towards his wagon, which was still parked near the table they had been previously eating at. Sunny turned to Brick, who gestured to the mare on his back and nodded.
“Okay let’s go!” The group galloped to the wagon and Brick laid Willow down in the back. He ran around to the front and slid into the harness next to green wagon pony. All around the square, ponies ran like frenzied ants. Sunny didn’t know how ponies could act like this. If something like this turned a bunch of normal townsponies into a crazy mob then Sunny was afraid to see what would happen when ponies actually started to turn like Willow said they would. Moon climbed up into the wagon to sit next to Willow and Sunny clambered up to sit on a stack of crates near the front. The two pulling ponies set off and the wagon started slowly. The yellow mare that the green stallion had called his wife climbed up and lay down in the back, almost casually.
Sunny felt exposed sitting in the front of an uncovered wagon, especially above the railing level, while a bunch of half-crazy ponies ran around doing whatever half-crazy ponies do. The wagon was moving about the speed of a trot when a gray earth pony jumped up onto the open back of the wagon.
Sunny jumped up. “Get off!”
“I’m not sick!” the stallion protested.
Sunny stared into the stallion’s eyes. From what he had learned, the eyes were the first to show signs of the sickness. The pupils were the normal size and no blood ran from the tear ducts. After a moment, he let his guard down. “Okay... fine”
They were picking up some speed now, but were still moving quite slow. Willow was now well enough to lean up against Moon; the two sat watching the frenzied ponies as they gained distance.
“Thanks,” the gray stallion gasped staring out the back of the wagon with the rest of the ponies. “What they hay is going on?”
“Hey look!” a mare called form the square, pointing a hoof towards the wagon. “That mare works at the hospital; they’re taking ponies there to help them!”
Sunny hung his head, silently cursing Willow for wearing her hospital apparel. The ponies still rampaging in the square all stopped as one and watched the wagon slowly gaining distance on them. Then one pony started forward, then another, and another. They followed, picking up speed. Some of them looked pleading, some angry, others were absolutely batshit insane and looked right on the verge of going Notebook.
Sunny looked down at the ponies pulling the wagon. “You two might want to pick up the pace a little.”
The green stallion grunted and Brick strained in the harness. What the hay was in this wagon? From the work the they were putting into it, it must weigh a ton. The two ponies were giving all they had, and yet the heavy cart was hardly noticing their effort.
Without really thinking, Sunny jumped down from his perch on the boxes and off of the cart. He braced his head against the heavy cart and started pushing.
“Sunny what are you doing?” Moon asked urgently.
“Helping,” he grunted, feeling the wagon gain some speed. The gray earth pony jumped down beside him and did the same. And with the two ponies in front and two in back the wagon really started to move, after a minute Sunny dared to look back just in time to watch the brown pegasus from before land square on his back. He barely had time to cry out as they tumbled to the dirt.
“Sunny!” He heard Moon call.
“Don’t stop!” he screamed. If they stopped now they would be swarmed.
The brown pegasus had Sunny pinned on his back. Hooves tramped the ground all around them in the ponies’ desperate dash for the hospital. “Get off me!” Sunny squirmed under the pony but his hooves remained planted on Sunny’s underbelly. Sunny screamed and kicked, his coat burning like fire wherever the stallion touched him.
“Just what are you plannin’?” Slobber and blood ran from the pony’s muzzle as he glared at Sunny from above, an animalistic glint in his eyes. He was already gone.
Sunny shrank back, shaking with fear. This pony was sick. “Please, let me go.” Oh Celestia, if this pony bit him.
“Just what did you and your friends do!?” The pegasus bellowed, spraying Sunny with blood and saliva.
“Please!” Sunny cowered in his grasp. “Get away from me. You’re sick!”
“Sick?” the pony cried, laughing maniacally. His pupils grew to the size of a bit. “I’ll show you sick!”
“No!” Sunny cried hysterically, on the verge of tears. The pegasus lunged for his face but Sunny threw up a forehoof. The crazed pony was plenty happy to bite into his foreleg and Sunny screamed as he felt skin tear. “Get off! Get off! Get off!” he cried, kicking feebly at the underbelly of the crazed pegasus.
Sunny mustered all the strength he could and, with a heave, managed to throw the biting pony off. The crazed pony landed in the dirt and Sunny scrambled to his hooves. Balancing on three hooves, trying to keep any weight off the hurt limb, he glanced around. The commotion was drawing more ponies now, coming to watch the scene from windows or storefronts.
The crazy picked himself up and made another lunge for Sunny. Sunny hobbled a few feet backwards and braced himself.
A shot rang out and a hole sprouted from the stallion’s chest. The brown pegasus seemed to fall in slow motion and landed in the dusty road with a poof.
A light blue pegasus landed next to Sunny and spat his revolver back into the holster on his leg. “You okay buddy?”
It took Sunny a moment to regain himself. “No, I need to get to the hospital.”
The blue pegasus gave an unsettled shake of his light brown mane. “What the hay was that pony doin’?”
Sunny could feel his leg burning, but didn’t dare look at it. “He was sick, a whole bunch are.”
“What are you talking about buddy?” He was looking skeptical now, probably wondering if he had shot the right pony. “Look, ah just shot a pony for you... an’ ah’ve never done that before... so you’d better not be crazy.”
“Don’t worry.” Ponies had started to realize what had happened and the area was quickly clearing. They must have been anxious to get away from the pegasus with the gun. “I’m not crazy. Please, just help me get to the hospital.”
He stood there for a minute more, contemplating Sunny. “Okay, then let’s get goin’. C’mon, ah’ll fly with you.” The pegasus spread his wings but all Sunny could do was hang his head.
“I can’t fly.” He really hated having to explain this to ponies.
The light blue pony frowned. “It’s your leg that’s gored not your wings. You can still fly just fine can’t ya’?”
Sunny didn’t think he could feel any more embarrassed. “I can’t fly; I’ve never been able to.”
The blue pegasus’ bravado deflated like a balloon. “...Well that sucks. Ah’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Sunny didn’t want to make a big deal of it. Ponies brave enough were starting to approach, staring at the brown pony’s form.
“Shouldn’t we do something about the pony ah just shot?”
Sunny shook his head. “No time.”
The light blue pegasus seemed skeptical, but nodded. “Let’s get going then.” The pegasus gave a flap of his wings and jumped nimbly into the air. He came down above Sunny and wrapped his legs around him. With a grunt from the blue pegasus, the two were off in the air, leaving the dead pony and questioning eyes behind.
Sunny fought the urge to buck and kick as the pegasus that held him tightly. It took all of his willpower to remind himself that this pony was saving his life. Nonetheless, the touch still burned. “Thanks!” Sunny called to the pony above him as they skimmed low over the rooftops. “What’s your name?”
“Dusty,” he called back. “Look ah don’t know what the hay happened back there but if helpin’ you gets me in a mess, ah’m gonna’ make you hurt.”
“U-understood.”
“Was that pony actually biting you?” Dusty sounded shaken and Sunny could understand why. Since when did ponies bite each other?
Sunny glanced down at his leg and cringed; the skin around the cut was torn. The flesh beneath was exposed and the wound burned in the wind. “Pretty sure.”
The hospital could be seen ahead, its silhouette rising up above higher than any of the surrounding buildings. Almost there. He wondered how the others were faring on the wagon. Speaking of which, where was the wagon?
Sunny scanned the streets below, and after a moment or two he spotted it. They were really moving now, flying down a narrow side street. Brick and the green stallion were giving it all they had and a group of ponies were giving chase. They took a corner out of the side street and onto the main that would lead them to the hospital. The wagon took the corner but lost traction and slid. A pony who was unfortunate enough to be in the way was hit and tossed away like a ragdoll as the heavy cart made the corner. Sunny cringed. That had probably just been some normal pony on their way home from work.
Sunny and Dusty were flying almost directly over the wagon now as they made a straight shot for the hospital. It was maybe two blocks ahead and nearing. The two flying ponies’ shadow was cast upon the wagon by the late afternoon sun; Moon looked up from the back and noticed the two flying above.
Her attention was drawn away when a green unicorn hopped up onto the wagon deck. The yellow mare reared up and kicked the pony off, but he was immediately replaced by two others. One of the ponies attacking the wagon didn’t even look sick. Some of them weren’t even infected, and here they were attacking ponies for a reason Sunny couldn’t understand.
Both the gray earth pony who had climbed onto the wagon seeking escape and the yellow mare tussled with the two new arrivals as Willow tried to roll away from their stomping hooves. One of the crazy ponies was sent flying by a well aimed buck from the gray pony. The yellow mare managed to tumble off the other with the help of Moon.
“What the hay is wrong with those ponies?” Dusty wondered aloud, now he looking down as well.
“The ones on the wagon are with me.” Sunny wasn’t sure how this was going to turn out. The wagon was almost at the hospital now but there were thirty or so mob ponies on their tail, running and jeering. Sunny couldn’t tell from here many of them were sick, but there was no doubting the infection was amongst them as a periwinkle tackled the stallion beside her an they both fell back.
“Uh, shouldn’t they be slowing down?” Sunny couldn’t see Dusty’s face but he assumed that the blue pegasus must have looked worried.
“Yes.” The speeding wagon was only a couple hundred feet from the front steps of the building now. Up a row of three steps there was a ten foot slab of concrete that led to glass-fronted walk-in. Moon jumped up on the crates in the front of the wagon and, with her magic, unhooked the two stallions from their harnesses.
“No way!” Dusty awed. “They’re crazy!”
Sunny couldn’t believe what they were doing himself. “Get us down there!” he called. Dusty didn’t question, and immediately started his descent. Sunny watched as Brick and the Green pony jumped out from in front of the wagon and let it overtake them.
The wagon barreled into the concrete steps at full speed and the front wheels exploded, sending shards of metal and splintered wood flying like shrapnel. The whole front end of the cart rose up into the air and sailed across the slab of concrete before the front entrance. With four ponies still huddled in the back, the wagon ripped through the front of the hospital and disappeared into the lobby with an almighty crash.
Dusty flew down through the opening made by the wagon and set Sunny down next to the mangled wreck. The wagon had come to a halt right in front of the check in desk. Brick and green wagon pony galloped in behind them gasping for breath. Hospital guests stood gaping as the party looked around the trashed entry hall. The receptionist sat behind her desk, acting as if nothing had happened.
Sunny looked back at the wagon-sized hole in the entryway; the sliding glass doors were lying off to the sides, their metal frames mangled. Worse still, the mob of half crazed ponies was nearing the steps.
He’d momentarily forgotten about them.
Willow staggered to her hooves in the back of the wreck and picked up her bag. She went to step off the back but instead landed on her face, spilling the contents of her bag across the polished tile. The unicorn scrambled forward and hooked a set of keys from the mess. “Here!” She flung the key ring at Sunny’s feet. “There’s a red box behind the checkout desk—use the key with the red button.”
Without a word, Sunny scooped up the keys in his mouth and half hobbled, half flew to the polished oak desk. With a flap of his wings, he soared over the counter to land on the other side. Quickly, he looked around for a box. It took a moment, but he spotted it on the right of the chair where only the greeter could have seen it. The old mare protested as he jammed the key into the lock and turned it. He ignored her, instead reading the warning label on the inside of the lid located above the big red button.
‘QUARANTINE’
There was a smaller label below the big yellow letters.
‘This security feature is to only be used in the case of a biological threat detection on or within the premises. Unauthorized use of this feature will result in termination of REA employment and a pending trial of terrorism and/or treason.’
The threat was outside the premises—that counted right?
Sunny pressed the button and a red light blared to life on the ceiling.
A recording of a mare’s voice blared lazily from the intercoms. “Please remain calm, a threat has been reported on the premises and we are going into a temporary lockdown. For your own safety, we ask that you remain where you are until the lockdown has been lifted. REA personnel are on site to ensure your safety.” After a moment, the message repeated. “Please remain calm, a threat has been reported on the...”
Metal barriers began to roll down out of the roof, clinking in the tracks set for them, obstructing every possible entrance to the building. A heavy metal barrier began to slowly grind out of the ceiling above the main entrance; this gate was big, meant to cover the whole area around the glass walk in.
The mob of ponies was almost to the entrance now and the barrier was moving far too slowly to drop in time. He’d taken too long...
Willow picked herself up and bellowed, trying to make herself heard over the commotion. “If they have red eyes shoot them! Nopony gets in!” Brick complied, pulling the pistol from his saddlebag and taking stance in the demolished doorway.
Dusty filled in beside him. “Stay back!” he called pulling out his own revolver. The ponies running at them slid to a stop, but a few decided to keep going. Brick fired a shot into the leg of one, sending the stallion into a tumble. The rest who had decided not to listen hurriedly turned back.
“You shot me!” howled the pony from the ground. He was pushing himself backwards, away from the brown earth pony.
Sunny looked out at the scared and angry crowd. Some of them weren’t even infected. He couldn’t just sit here and watch them be locked out there with those crazies. Jumping back over the desk, Sunny hobbled up to the two ponies guarding the entrance and pushed between them.
“Sunny, are you crazy!?” Moon screamed from somewhere behind him; he didn’t listen.
He was too busy looking at the eyes of the ponies in the crowd. “You,” he instructed, pointing a hoof at a pink mare. “You too.” The mare and a stallion Sunny had picked ran towards the entrance. The two guards parted to let them pass. Sunny sorted about ten more ponies before he heard Moon calling him. He spared a backward glance and was stuck by a jolt of terror; the barrier had almost closed.
The distance that remained between the top of the lowering gate and the ground was about the same height as Sunny was. Hurriedly, Sunny pointed to one more pony, who ran ahead of him before he turned to flee back to the building. The pony ahead ducked under the barrier and Sunny followed. He was halfway through when something tugged his tail. His hooves, still trying to pull him forward slipped and he fell to his belly. Another tug sent him sliding backwards.
Sunny threw his head back and caught the bloodshot eye of a gray pegasus dragging him back. The eye was pulped as Dusty fired a shot into the pony’s head, blowing out the back of his skull. Sunny scrambled forward, trying not to vomit as he attempted to clear the gate.
Hooves struggled for grip on polished marble and Sunny cried out desperately as the wall of steel continued to drop. It was going to cut him in two!
Brick dropped his gun and fastened his teeth in Sunny’s mane. Almost as easy as a pony would handle a sack of laundry, Brick hauled him away from the closing gate.
The barrier slammed down behind him and the links clattered as the ponies from outside immediately threw themselves against it. “Let us in!” cried a mare holding a sobbing filly by her side.
A mare who worked at the hospital stared wide eyed at all the ponies pressing up against the gate. “Why can’t we let them in?”
“They’re sick,” Willow rasped. “They’ll turn soon.” Finally the red lights on the ceiling died and the mare’s voice stopped drawling over the intercoms.
“What’s going on?” another pony in the greeting hall questioned. His face shone with confusion and misunderstanding as he glared around, first to the crashed wagon and then the new arrivals.
Willow let out a low scream and—with some effort—staggered over to the front desk. “Attention everypony!” her voice boomed over the intercom broadcasting all throughout the building. “There has been some sort of an outbreak.” The room fell to a hush, even the ponies beating at the gate stopped to listen. “Whatever this... thing is, it makes ponies go crazy. From what I have observed early symptoms include, but are not limited to, bloodshot eyes, bleeding from the mouth nose and tear ducts, confusion, general craziness, and dilated pupils. If anypony you know is showing these signs they are a danger to the entire building and need to be taken care of. Do not in any way come into physical contact with a pony showing these signs. As far as I can tell the virus is not airborne and only spreads through the means of physical interaction. Do not attempt to leave the hospital. As long as everypony complies we should be safe here. This hospital used to be an army facility facility used for medical studies. It is secure. We just have to stay here until the REA arrives. The alarm should have alerted them; I think the old systems are still tied to their broadcast relay.”
The crowd remained quiet as Willow flipped off the intercoms. She stepped away from the desk and immediately the ponies at the gate started their fruitless efforts of begging for entry.
“Sweet Celestia,” Dusty murmured, staring at his hooves. “Ah killed two ponies.”
“Sunny!” Moon called and galloped over to wrap him in a hug. “I was so worried about you!” The two separated. Moon’s eyes shone with happiness as she looked over the orange pegasus. “How did you...” She trailed off, eyes widening at the sight of his leg. The joy faded from her face to be replaced with horror. “Oh no.”
“That was one heck of a ride.” Willow half trotted, half stumbled over. She cast a curious glance at the blue mare. “What the hay is wrong with you?” Moon didn’t even give her a glance. Willow tracked Moon’s stare to Sunny’s leg and her face immediately darkened. “Dang,” she muttered dropping her head. “You know what this means right?” she asked him. Sunny gave her a solemn nod.
“What does what mean?” Moon’s eyes told the truth. She knew the answer but just didn’t want to believe it.
“Look at him,” Willow scoffed. “You know what caused that wound.”
Moon’s eyes had a strange look to them. “You can give him some of that stuff we injected you with right?”
“Look, Moon... that medicine only worked on me because I killed the infection before it could spread to my body. A little bit of it still found its way in though; that’s why I collapsed in the square. That chemical will only work in very early stages of exposure, and judging from his wound, it happened a while ago.” Willow couldn’t meet her gaze. Sunny could do nothing but sit and watch as the two mares argued over his life.
“Well, try it anyways!” Moon had lost all sense of reason; the sorrow in her eyes grew unbearable and Sunny was forced to look away. Why did she even care so much? She’d only known him for little more than a day.
Willow looked as if Moon had struck her. “Absolutely not! We have a very limited supply of this stuff; we weren’t even supposed to get it. Now I’m not going to waste any of it jabbing needles into a pony who is most likely already dead!”
Sunny couldn’t help but feel a hurt. That was a pretty heavy blow. “Ouch.”
“But what if he isn’t sick?” Moon shot back. Apparently, she wasn’t going to give up easily “Can’t we wait and see?”
Willow sighed and shot the mare a defeated look. “We’ll put him in confinement, but if he starts to go, we’re going to have to take care of it. I’m sorry Moon. It’s the best I can do.”
“Do I get a say in this?” Sunny asked.
The two mares turned to him. “No!”
“Come on Sunny,” Willow sighed, trotting over to the waiting elevator. “It’s not safe to have you standing around here.”
Sunny had no choice but to follow the white mare into the elevator. As the doors slid shut he caught one last glimpse of Moon. She gazed sadly back at him, tears in her blue eyes.