The Apocalypse Ponies: Origins

by PlagenShiki

Act 1: Chapter 3 - Death Awakens

I awoke around the same time as always, I guess even in its current state my body’s internal clock still functioned. My head was pounding and my mouth seemed filled with cotton. I walked to the kitchen and searched among the destruction for something to drink and found a jug of apple juice. I drink it down and attempt to rid my mouth of this feeling. I once again sit at the table and try to calm my head’s pounding. I sit there for a good while, slowly drinking the apple juice, and waiting for my body to regain normality.

After about an hour or two my mouth feels normal once again, but my head is still slightly pounding. It is less than before and I can begin to think clearly once more. Last night’s discovery comes back to me and my expression becomes a scowl. “DAMN!” I shout aloud. No one is around to hear me but my own voice causes my head some pain, causing me to flinch slightly. So the count was a liar…looking back it seems almost obvious to me now. He never walked around outside much before The Plague and after it began he never stepped hoof outside. We were abandoned by him long ago; I don’t know why I didn’t see that before. While I am deep in thought about this subject the Mourner’s bell began to ring throughout the city.

*ring* *ring* *ring* *ring* “Good morning citizens of Crescentville! I hope that most of you have made it through the night, but I fear that we all cannot be so lucky. Do what must be done, citizens! Bring out your dead! It is your duty to assist in dealing with The Plague. It is only through your cooperation we can ever hope to be rid of this terrible disease!” Bla, bla, bla…the same old speech telling people to bring out the dead and attempting to inspire hope that The Plague will end. He talks all about assisting to deal with The Plague and yet he lends not a single hoof. I’m getting angry just thinking about it.

“Our town has suffered deeply, and we are but a small group now compared to our once thriving city! Know that I feel your pain when I see the cart full of bodies wheel by, and it fills me with grief. It is truly a tragedy!” And now he says our town…like he is part of it or something. He has never been part of it and doesn’t show any signs of wanting to be part of it. He seems content to live a life of luxury in the count’s castle. Bastard.

“And it is not me alone who feels your pain and sorrow, but Count Crescent as well. Remember the he too, not long ago, lost a loved one. His own daughter, Waning, was taken from him by The Plague. He grieves over her each day and every night the count visits the graves and pyres of his people. He knows of your sorrow and mourns along with you!” What? Are you serious? He visits the graves and pyres each night? I know for a fact that is not true. “LIES!” I shout at the echoing voice of the Mourner. He cannot hear me, but he will. I get up from the table and fetch my cloak from my room. It is a black cloak with a hood and a silver clasp to hold it around my neck. I recently bought it to fight against the cold of the mornings.

I storm out of my house and head straight for the center of town. As I walk, the Mourner continues his speech, and continues to spout out lies. Every step I take, I become more and more angry. I begin to shout at the Mourner who can still not hear me, but others in the town can. Some poke their heads out of their houses to see what is going on, and some even ask me what’s wrong, but I ignore them. I pick up speed and push forward, rapidly filling with hatred for both the Mourner and Count Crescent. They must pay for their lies.

I am about two blocks away and have gone into a full gallop. I spot a tool standing against a house in front of me, the house of our only remaining farmer, I think. I put a magical field around the tool and float it along with me. I spare a glance at it, it is a scythe used to cut down wheat. In a few more seconds I am yards away from the Mourner.

“You bastard, stop your lies!” I yell at him as I continue to approach. He sees the scythe I am floating with me and drops his voice augmentation spell, cutting him off in mid-sentence. “W-what do you mean lies?” He asks as he faces me, “I tell nothing but the truth and spread hope to the citizens of Crescentville.” I stare at him, slowly inching my way towards him. Every step I take, he takes back in response. “You know what lies. YOU KNOW.” I spit at him, “You are not a part of this town. You do NOT feel our pain. You lend NOT a hoof to help any of us. But you know what, if those were all the lies you were guilty of, I could forgive you.” By this time a crowd had gathered in the town square, curious onlookers drawn in by my yelling and the abrupt ending to the Mourner’s speech.

“W-why you…I’ll have you know I do everything I can to protect this town. It is you who is lying.” If he wasn’t wearing a mask, I was sure his response wouldn’t be convincing at all. “The count does NOT visit the pyres and graves nightly. I know that for a fact, there have been nights I have stayed there from sunset to sunrise, and I have never seen the count there once. But that is not all. His daughter, Waning, he isn’t mourning her.” The crowd looked to each other and the Mourner stopped backing up. In fact, he took a step towards me. “That is preposterous! What father wouldn’t mourn the death is his daughter? Are you really that cruel?” The crowd looked at me, some appalled, others curious. I smiled at the Mourner, “He cannot mourn his daughter’s death, when his daughter isn’t dead. I saw hear, very much alive, just last night.” Murmurs broke out in the crowd and the Mourner took a step back. “Y-You’re lying. Surely you are seeing things. Perhaps the death of your entire family has caused you to imagine things.” I stopped, looking at him questioningly, as if I were considering this. “Even if that were the case, you have lied to us too much. You are still guilty of that much.”

I charged straight at the Mourner and swung back the scythe, seconds later I brought it back swiftly. “DIE!” I cleaved through the Mourner’s cloak, through his flesh, and through his spike. In one swing I cut straight through his neck, severing his head. It flew through the air as his body fell limp, spilling blood from his neck. The onlookers screamed in shock and many fled the square and ran home, but a few were paralyzed with fear and couldn’t move. The Mourner’s head hit the ground and rolled a bit before the mask’s beak stopped it. I turned to the remaining crowd and said softly, “Return to your homes.”

I wasn’t done yet, I still had anger to burn and the count was just as guilty as the Mourner. I float the Mourner’s head along with me as I walk towards the count’s castle. As I near the gate, unsurprisingly, the two guards try to stop me,”You there! Halt!” I throw the severed head at one of them as I attack the other, slicing through his two front hooves. I then turn on the other guard and drive the blade of the scythe into his chest, killing him. I yank the scythe out once more and float up the head. The first guard tried to talk, but before he could utter more than a few words I swing the scythe and cut off his head, and then proceed to enter the castle.

My murders hadn’t gone unnoticed and soon the castle was a buzz of activity with guards swarming everywhere. I had originally planned on charging in killing the count and charging out, but now my tactic had changed to sneaking around the guards. It wasn’t that I did not want to kill them, they were just as guilty as the count was, but I knew I couldn’t take them all. I stuck to the shadows and peaked around corners, often having to backtrack and choose a different approach. My current path took me into the dining hall, a huge room with an equally long table and dozens of chairs around it, with one which stood out from the others. Luxurious tapestries and paintings hung from the walls and the table was set with two plates made of silver, one for the count and one for his daughter. The count’s wife had long since died from giving birth to Waning. I kind of hoped that at least she would have been appalled at what was going on after her death.

I stuck to the walls and moved my way towards a door at the opposite end of the room. It wasn’t like I knew where I was going or anything, I was in fact lost. I figured I would eventually find the count, be forced to fight my way out, or would be overwhelmed and killed by the guards. I reached the door and entered the next room, a spiral staircase leading upwards. “Well, at least I’m getting closer,” I mutter under my breath. The count was probably on the second floor, where the throne room was and, I suspected, his bedchamber as well.

Climbing the spiral stairs, I began to think about my current situation. I had gone off in a blind rage and killed a Mourner, a member of the organization which reports directly to the king himself. I had also killed two guards and broken into the count’s castle with the intent to kill him. In the right state of mind, I wasn’t sure I would do this again. But I completely agree with my maddened self, the Mourner and the count deserved to die. There is a saying, noblesse oblige, which means “nobility obliges”. It basically means that those of nobility should conduct themselves nobly and not neglect their duties. Both the Mourner and count could care less about their people and cared only for themselves. They don’t deserve to be nobles. I reached the door at the top of the stairs. “And so I will end them all,” I whispered as a smile crept across my face and I pushed open the door.

Behind the door lies another hallway. I swear if all castles have as many hallways as this one does, the architects must be drunk while planning them. Another reason I am lost, thanks architects, everything looks the same! I enter another room and it appears to be servants’ quarters, due to the low quality bedding, clothing, and furniture in the room. I quickly exit the room through another door in the back and end up face to face with two guards. My entrance is so abrupt we just look at each other for a few seconds before anypony moves. I float the Mourner’s head down to the ground as I prepare myself for the coming fight.

The guard on my left adjusts the spear in his mouth and strikes out at me. I quickly jump forward, but his spear grazes my chest leaving a small cut across it. I roll and recover from my dodge, turning to face the two guards, both now posed to strike me down. I swing my scythe towards the closest one, but he moves his spear in the way and blocks it. While this guard and I struggle against each other the second guard stabs his spear towards my head. I quickly duck and turn on my hooves, raising my back legs and sending a strong buck directly in his chest. He exhales heavily and fumbles backwards giving me a chance to focus my attention on the other guard. I pull my scythe away from his spear and pull it behind my back and then I swing it towards him again. He tries to block it like before, but this time it is too much and his spear is cut in two and my scythe’s tip imbeds itself in his neck. The life slowly drains from his eyes and he goes limp.

I yank out the scythe as the other guard recovers. “Shit…my ribs…*cough*…You bastard, you’ll pay for that.” He picks up his spear again and stands up, then charges at me again. I dodge to the right while I swing the scythe at his neck, but he adjusts as well jerking his head forward and towards me, causing my scythe to go behind his head and his spear ends up in my shoulder. He smirks as I gasp in pain, almost losing the focus on the scythe. I regain focus and a smile plays across my face, a look of confusion hits his face. “Gottcha,” I spit at him as I pull the scythe that is behind his neck towards me with all my magical might and wedges itself halfway through his neck. His look of confusion turns quickly to a look of horrified pain as he falls to the ground, leaving his spear sticking out of my shoulder.

I release the scythe from my magic as I take the spear in my shoulder into my mouth and pull it out. Well, that could have gone much worse, I think to myself. I slump down on my haunches as I catch my breath and tear some cloth from the two guards’ cloaks. I use the torn cloth to mend the wounds on my shoulder and chest. It is a good thing I am a doctor or this would be pretty bad. However even with my wounds mended, due to the wound on my shoulder my front right leg now hurts when I put too much pressure on it and I won’t be able to dodge as easily now. With my wounds mended I wrap the scythe in my magic again and attempt to pull it free, but it seems stuck fast. I decide to float up the tip of the broken spear and completely sever the guard’s head to free the scythe.

Getting to my hooves, I float up the scythe, the Mourner’s head, and I decide to carry the unbroken spear along with me. Due to my wounded shoulder my already slow progress got even slower, I was focusing on avoiding any more unnecessary combat and resorted to listening carefully before opening a door. Five doors and three hallways (again why so many hallways!?) later I found myself peeking through a door which leads to the area outside of the throne room. I remember this area because of how long I sat waiting for the count last time I was here. It looks the same but with four guards in it, one on each side of the door and two standing with their flanks against the hallway. They seemed antsy and alert, I suspect some more guards had found the two I had slain minutes ago and spread the word.

I step back from the door, throw it open and hid myself against the wall of the room I was in. I heard the hooves of the guards against the wall begin walking towards me. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” one of them called out. I waited for a couple more seconds and then magically tossed the Mourner’s head through the door and sent it rolling past them. “What the hell!?” another guard called out, and I heard them turning to watch the head. Using this distraction, I pushed off of the wall and charged through the door. The two near the throne room door saw me and readied their weapons; however the two standing in the middle of the room had their flanks to me as they were looking at the head.

“Look out!” the guard on the left of the door called out, but I simultaneously threw the spear at one of the guards in front of me and charge for the other. Within seconds the spear lodged itself in its target’s back and I get to the other guard as he begins turning towards me. I lower myself near the ground and sweep the scythe at his legs, severing both of his left legs. He falls and I swing my scythe into his chest to finish him off. Without missing a beat, I wrap the spears of the two slain guards in my magic and send them at the guards near the door. I pull out my scythe and charge towards the two guards, as I close the gap one of the spears hits the guard on my right, who was using a halberd, in the chest. The other guard, who wields a sword, manages to dodge the spear.

I wind back the scythe and swing it at him, but he blocks it with his sword and sends it into the floor. Before I can pull the scythe out, he goes on the offensive and swings his sword towards me. I pull backwards but the tip of his sword leaves a slight cut across my neck. I back up and attempt to regain my footing, but he continues his assault and stabs his sword towards me. I manage to barely dodge it, falling back onto my haunches, and his sword strikes between my legs. Before I can get back up he stabs at me again, but this time I don’t have time to fully dodge and can only scoot backwards. His sword plunges into my chest, I can tell it isn’t too deep, but if I don’t end this quickly I will bleed to death soon. He pulls his sword out and goes to swing at me again, but I painfully roll out of the way.

As the guard moves towards me again I wrap the other guard’s halberd in my magic and swing it at him, but he ducks and I only get a few hairs from his mane. “Damn!” I mutter under my breath as I scan the room. I focus on the three spears scattered around the room and send each at the guard. He gets a few steps closer before they impact him, causing his body to rock one way and then another, but he remains on his hooves with the three spears protruding from his sides. He takes another step towards me, then another, and another. I back against the wall, “Why won’t you just die!?” I yell at him. He keeps coming closer and closer and blood is starting to come from his mouth. Inches away from me, he raises his sword to strike me down. As he swings his sword downward he misses me by mere inches as his sword drops from his mouth and clatters to the floor before he himself falls over dead. “T-that was close.”

I tear apart the guards’ clothing and armor to make bandages for my wounds. The wound in my chest is bleeding badly. I decide to take a few minutes to rest and keep an eye on this wound before I move on. I change bandages multiple times, and eventually the amount of bleeding subsides enough to be considered non-life threatening. I rest for a few more minutes to regain my composure and to pull my scythe from the floor.

After a while I get to my hooves and approach the door to the throne room. I am about to open it, but I decide against it. I turn around and look over the room. Four dead guards, one with three spears sticking out of him. I decide to gather up their weapons and lay their bodies next to each other, attempting to give them at least some semblance of honor. I float up all the weapons and the Mourner’s head and look around me at the floating armory. I have my scythe, three spears, a sword, and a halberd. I kick open the throne room door and step inside.

Count Crescent sits upon his throne, with Waning sitting next to him. He looks straight at me and smiles, “Ah, so you are the commoner who is causing trouble in my castle. I hope you enjoyed you fun, because it is about to end. Guards!” At the count’s word, six guards charge out from behind his throne and form a half circle around me. “Now, commoner, go quietly to the dungeon and be locked away forever. You are an annoyance, no…a plague on this land. Just like The Plague you have gone and taken the lives of several ponies.” I stared at him as I opened my muzzle to talk, “You call ME a plague? Me, the pony who now fights against The Plague alone, without any help, am a plague? Don’t make me laugh. You are the plague here, count, you and the Mourner.” At this moment I float forward the Mourner’s head and show it clearly to everypony in the room. Some of the guards gasp, Waning looks away, and Count Crescent narrows his eyes. “You two have done nothing to help in the fight against The Plague. All you two did was sit safely behind the castle’s door, hidden away from The Plague and spout lies to your people.” I scowl at him.

“Enough of this, guards! Kill him!” the count spits. “Oh,” I reply, “somepony will die, but it won’t be me. Not today.” I toss the Mourner’s head into the air, distracting a few of the guards. I use this opportunity to send out the spears, impaling three guards. I then charge at the guard to my right and slam the halberd down upon his back, slicing him in two. Turning, I throw the sword at the pony across from me, hitting him in the face. I then charge at the remaining guard, and using the dead guards’ blood I slide across the floor and use my scythe to sever all of the guard’s legs. He falls to a thud as I get on my hooves and face the count.

The count’s face changes into an expression of terror as he looks at me. “S-stay back y-you commoner!” I shake my head at him. “You never learn, do you count? Even when facing death you cling to your superiority and look down on others. You earned the death I will grant you, so accept it properly.” I slowly walk towards him and when I near his throne, he stumbles off it and starts crawling away. I catch up to him and stomp down on his trailing cloak, preventing him from crawling further away. He continues to wiggle in an attempt to get away from me, but I wrap my scythe around his throat. “W-wait! I can give you anything you want! Money, land, mares, anything you want!” He tries to barter for his life. “It is too late for that.” I reply to him. “Y-You can marry my daughter! Just le-“ I cut him off, literally, severing his head from his shoulders. I then turn back to the two thrones in the room.

Waning is still sitting in her throne shaking in fear and I slowly approach her. “N-no! Stay away from me!” she screams at me. I set down the scythe I had been floating with me, “No need to fear, Waning. I do not plan to kill you. Besides, your father already killed you off with his lies.” She is still shaking, but seems to become less hysterical. “W-what do you mean he killed me off?” she asks me. “You mean you didn’t know? Well, that is even worse. He had the Mourner tell the town that you died to The Plague so he seemed sympathetic with them,” I tell her. “He did? I…I don’t believe it,” she said in disbelief. “If you don’t believe me, just walk amongst the town. I’m sure they will be surprised to see you alive. Anyhow, do you know why I spared your life?” She shook her head. “It is because you aren’t guilty like them. You don’t know any better, given your raising. But given the chance, you could become a truly great countess. I am giving you that opportunity.”

She looked at me with a confused expression. “What do you mean?” she asked. “It is simple, your father and the Mourner took advantage of their noble title and neglected the ponies they ruled. Due to this, our once busy city has all but died. If you use your abilities properly, you can help a lot of ponies, perhaps even save the town. But you must rule for your subjects, not for yourself.”

After some more discussion and explanation, Waning agreed to take over ruling the town as the new Countess. At one point we were interrupted by more guards, but Waning quickly calmed them down and dismissed me of my crimes. I helped to clean up the mess I made of the castle and gave all the bodies a proper burial. It was deep into the night before I made it home.

A few weeks passed by and I watched over the town. Waning was true to her word and often walked amongst the ponies of the town. She organized projects such as renovating the ruined houses in the center of town using materials from the furthest outside. Ponies were moved inward and everyone was helping each other. New water well was being dug and the old one would be closed off once the new one was complete. Despite her young age, she was doing wondrously.

Waning even sent for a new Mourner, this one was actually helpful and assisted me in my work; the new well was his idea. He said the old one could be tainted, causing the high amount of deaths. Many of the ponies in town now refused to let me treat them. Word had spread from those who witnessed my slaying of the previous Mourner, and most of the town now feared me. When I approached they would look away, hide, or flee. It was all I could do to get the supplies I needed, like food. With the Mourner helping, I really didn’t have a purpose in the town anymore.

I asked for an audience with Waning and the Mourner one afternoon. It was swiftly granted, as Waning encouraged the citizens of Crescentville to come to her with anything they needed. I told them of my plans, of how the citizens now understandably feared and avoided me, and that I would be leaving the town. The amount of dead each day was now into the single digits and growing smaller. Our town was shaking loose of The Plague, but news from other towns was bleak at best. I decided I would wonder the kingdom and help everypony I could, and while doing so, seek for a cure to The Plague. They both assured me they could handle things in my absence and should I return, I would be welcomed. I thanked them both and wished them the best of luck.

I swiftly returned home and packed what little I had, including some food and drink to last me a while and some medical supplies. It was when I stepped out of my family’s house for the last time that I became nervous. I had no idea where I should go; I had never left the town before. This could even be the last time I would see my home. I decided I would pay a quick visit to the graveyard before leaving completely.

When I got to the graveyard, I stood near the pyre. “Father, mother, Lyric…I just wanted to say goodbye to you before I left. I am going to fulfill my promise to you all. I’ll do great things…I’ll cure The Plague. I miss you all, and even though I don’t believe in the Stars, I kind of hope they are real, so that you can all be watching over me, together. I don’t know when I’ll be back here, but I’ll never forget about you all. I love you.” Having said my final words to the last resting place of my family, I left Crescentville behind in hopes of helping other ponies and someday finding a cure for The Plague.

For the next year I traveled the kingdom helping ponies in need and seeking a cure to The Plague. In doing so I learned a great many things and helped a great deal of ponies. From the day I left Crescentville I began keeping a journal of my travels and activities, so that if ever I needed to remember something I had only to look through my writings. I also kept notes of what I learned of The Plague. The diary is as follows, though most is omitted due to it being tedious and boring.

Day 1-

As I sit in front of the fire I built for the night, I wonder where my journey would take me. I haven’t a map of the kingdom, so I have no destination and no clue if I am heading to a town or not. I just followed the paths in the hope of finding one. But I decided I would start a journal of my travels, so here I am. Since today was nothing but walking, I will note what I know about The Plague thus far.

The Plague is a horrible disease spreading throughout the world. It is rumored to have started from infected rodents and then made the jump to ponies. Since then, it has wreaked havoc on all species equally. It spread through the air, water, and bodily fluids. To prevent the spread, sanitation is a high priority and all corpses must be cleansed through burning. In addition, many trade routes have closed and countries have sealed themselves off from one another in an attempt to save themselves. The only thing that can prevent the contagion is a mixture of herbs which compose the filter of Mourner Masks, which are in short supply. And even those herbs only block the disease, they do not cure it.

The symptoms of The Plague start with a simple cough with no other symptoms. When you next sleep you will awake to your body having been paralyzed. From the moment you awake your death in inevitable, and in a few hours you will bleed mildly from your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, females will also bleed from their genitals. It won’t be enough to kill you, though. In about another hour your throat will start to swell and close up, causing your breathing to get tougher and sometimes resulting in suffocation. However, at the same time this is occurring, your internal organs will begin to fail and eventually rupture, turning black and some bleeding into your body cavity. At that point you will die from blood loss or organ failure. The process will be painful, but a good doctor can alleviate that pain and make it bearable, if not remove it completely.

As of this moment, that is all the information I have about The Plague. While I continue my journey I will seek out more information, but until then this is all for today’s entry.

Day 5-

I passed a town today, I say passed because staying in it would have been pointless. There wasn’t a pony alive in the town and some of the houses had been burned to the ground. I do not know if the entire town died or if the last remaining members all left, but that town no longer exists. From signs on the outside of the town I learned its name, Moonshire. Perhaps things are worse than I thought; I hope not all towns are like this.

I have nothing else for today’s entry.

Day 47-

Today yielded a breakthrough! In the small town of Lunar Cliff, a quaint little town settled atop a cliff as the name implies, I have been working with the doctor here for about a month. We have done much the same work as I myself did, however we also worked with an herbalist named Daffodil who would venture into the wilderness, collect herbs and plants, and mix together medicines she hoped would cure The Plague.

Over the course of the month things were normal and nothing happened, however. She discovered some herbs that when mixed created toxic poisons and herbs which would make wounds heal faster, to name a few. But one day she discovered an herb called Mantiglove the herb by itself causes paralysis, but when mixed with a plant named Poison Joke it cures the paralysis Mantiglove would normally cause. We applied this mixture to a Plague victim suffering from paralysis, and after a few minutes they were on their hooves and moving around.

However, we kept them under watch and unfortunately the next stage of The Plague occurred regardless. The scene was a horrible one, as instead of being unable to move, the victim flailed around howling in pain and destroyed half of his house. Daffodil had the idea of use Mantiglove on him, thankfully, and he became paralyzed again. We also administered some pain killers to him. He died like all the others.

But through his death we gain some knowledge to help us combat The Plague. This herbal mixture was only part of the calculation, however. We still have a ways to go.

Cure Notes:
Mantiglove and Poison Joke cures paralysis.

Day 51-

Daffodil has died of The Plague. Without her we are ignorant of herbal mixtures, even though I had her teach me a bit about it. I can now make the anti-paralysis medicine she created. However no further breakthroughs have been made and so we are a few steps forward, but slipping on ice and cannot move on.

I have decided that if I ever perfected the cure, I would name it after her since she gave me a place to start. I would call it Daffodil’s Nectar. I think I will leave Lunar Cliff soon. I should spread the recipe for this medicine around and see if I can learn anything new.

Day 103-

I have been in the town of Starlight for about a week now. The death toll here is similar to that of my own town, and much of the city lies empty. I barely have time to seek a cure, let alone sleep. Some days are easier than others, and I can look into things. This town will be my home for a while; if I were to leave they would be overwhelmed. The two doctors and Mourner have been a huge help, but this city is nearly twice the size of my town and that means a lot more work. They recruited the help of the local blacksmith named Horseshoe and he pulls a cart around town to collect the bodies, he is a strong and able-bodied buck.

Today Horseshoe took an interest in the medical work and decided to watch us. I informed him of the work-in-process cure I had and we began talking about various things regarding improving and perfecting it. He had some decent ideas, for a blacksmith, and I will try them in the coming days, should I be able to find the time.

Day 123-

Over the past week I tried out Houseshoe’s suggestions and not one yielded a result. Well, a promising result, there was a case where a subject couldn’t stop laughing due to one of the mixtures. Today I went to hourseshoe’s smithy to discuss any other ideas he might have.

He said that he was sorry, but he didn’t have any more ideas. While we talked he was working on making some horseshoes for some of the ponies in town. He became distracted by our conversation, and when swinging his hammer to strike the heated iron he missed and struck his foreleg. It was hard enough to draw some blood and horseshoe quickly went over to a workbench of his and rubbed something on his wound.

When I asked him what it was, he told me it was iron dust and that it helped to close the wound faster. It was a long shot, but I asked him for some of the dust and he gave it to me. I quickly went back to my temporary home and ground the already fine dust into an even finer powder. I then made up a dose of Daffodil’s Nectar and mixed in the iron powder. I thought since the iron helped close Horseshoe’s wound it might combat The Plague.

I found a victim who was a late sleeper and would awake shortly after I arrived. Once he awoke, I gave him the medicine and like the others he was cured of the paralysis. After a few more hours, nothing happened, not a single drop of blood. However after another hour he said his breathing was becoming strained, and in a few more minutes he began screaming and a bit longer he dropped dead. The nectar was still incomplete.

The good news, however, is that we are able to make the deaths cleaner. This should help to decrease the spread of The Plague, if nothing else.

Cure Notes:
Mantiglove, Poison Joke, and Iron Powder cure paralysis and prevent the bleeding stage.

Day 147-

I am leaving Starlight tomorrow in search of more ways to cure The Plague. The deaths have subsided so I don’t have to worry about them becoming overwhelmed. My time here was long, but I did a lot of good. I hope other towns are like this, although hopefully involve less death.

Day 153-

I have been traveling from Starlight for about a week now and today I passed the second ghost town in a row. This one was still burning and corpses were in the streets. It was as though I had arrived the day after the last pony died. Before I left that town I burned all the bodies I could find, 13 in total. Tonight I am camped on the outskirts of that town, and I can still see the fires burning the town.

Day 237-

Everypony in Whole Moon is now dead. When I arrived there were only 100 left and they had no doctor or Mourner. I stayed here to help, but they slowly died before my eyes. This is the first time I have witnessed the complete death of a town. I have seen a town dying, and a town dead, but I have never witnessed the last pony in a town die.

Today I did, and I hope I never have to again.

Day 253-

Damn it! I have contracted a cold. A cold mind you, not The Plague. I feel like shit and I am in no position to help anypony today and by my diagnosis for a week I will be confined to my bed. Disgusting.

Day 293-

I passed through the town of Night Light today. I say passed because the Mourner there refused to let me stay, he actually prevented me from entering and I had to walk around the town. He told me that they were quarantining themselves from the outside world. It wasn’t that they were horribly infected; they simply wanted to avoid any further contaminants from entering the town.

I said I could help, but he would not allow me to do so. Instead I offered him knowledge of Daffodil’s Nectar, which he accepted and I went on my way.

Day 349-

Outside of Moonhaven I found a plant I had never seen before and I picked a bunch of it to run tests on. I returned to my dwelling in Moonhaven and began testing the plant. It had strange properties to say the least. The previous day I found a rabbit with a broken leg and began treating it using standard medical supplies. I decided to grind up the plant and apply it to the rabbit’s broken leg.

Something very interesting happened. Within a few minutes the broken leg was healed and the rabbit was bouncing around perfectly fine. The plant seemed to be able to rapidly heal serious injuries. At this point in time I would mix any plants I found with Daffodil’s Nectar in an attempt to find a possible cure, and this new plant was no exception.

I mixed the plant into Daffodil’s Nectar, the nectar with iron powder in it, and applied it to a Plague victim. Time passed by, a lot of time. Not just the normal three to four hours, but a good 12 hours. The Plague victim didn’t die. There was no cough, no paralysis, no bleeding, and no swelling of the throat and death.

I asked around the town about this plant, but no one knows the name of it. Until I learn that it has a different name, I will name it after my sister, the Lyric Blossom.

Did I create the cure? A complete cure? I cannot be certain just yet. I will have to monitor this subject for a while to make sure she doesn’t die.

Day 356-

The Plague victim, Lilith, who I first administered Daffodil’s Nectar to, is still alive. So are the other victims I administered the Nectar to. As of today, no one in the town is showing signs of The Plague. I think I have found the cure! There is no time to waste; I gave the recipe to the Mourner and the doctor here. I told them I was heading to Moon City, the capital of the Moon Kingdom. I will inform King LeMoon of my discovery and using his power he can get the word of the cure out.

I am packing my things tonight and will leave in the morning.

Cure Notes:
Mantiglove, Poison Joke, Iron Powder, and Lyric Blossom combined cure The Plague

Day 363-

I have almost reached Moon City, it is on the horizon and I can see it clearly. Tomorrow I will reach it and seek an audience with the king. I have galloped as fast as I could to make it here, and with every second I delay, another pony could die from The Plague, but now we have a way to fight back.

Tomorrow is the day everything changes; our world will no longer be shrouded in death!

I arrived at the gates of Moon City at noon; it was a huge city, much larger than it appeared from a distance. From what I have heard it is seven times larger than my town, giving it a population of around 175,000 ponies before The Plague. A large outer wall surrounded the entire city, with some houses outside the wall used for farming. Inside the wall the houses and shops were clustered densely together and in the center there was another wall. This wall encompassed the castle, military barracks, and the Mourner academy.

I spared no time with sightseeing, and made my way straight to the castle. Some guards stopped me before I could enter the castle, but once I told them of what I discovered and asked for an audience with the king, one of them guided me to the throne room. The king was waiting for us there.

The king looked me over as he said, “What is this about?” The guard stepped forward and saluted the king before informing him, “This citizen claims to have found a cure to The Plague and asked for an audience with you, my liege.” The king seemed to consider this before stating, “Many have claimed the same, hoping to fool us into granting them wealth and power. But all proved to be lying and now reside in our dungeons. I will hear what you have to say, but know the dungeon awaits you should you waste my time.” I nodded to him as I bowed and proclaimed, “Yes, my liege.” The king nodded to the guard, whom then turned to stand at the door.

I told the king everything. My life, how The Plague affected me, and the journey I underwent; I left out the parts that involved killing, however. Then I told him about the cure, Daffodil’s Nectar. I told him how to make it, where to find the ingredients, and I showed him what each looked like. When I had finished, King LeMoon had a Mourner come in, “Take a dose of this “cure” and administer it to a victim. If what this buck says is true, they should be cured. Return to me once you know.” The Mourner nodded, took a dose of Daffodil’s Nectar from me and left. The king and I spent the next few hours going over the finer parts of my journey. Each and every village I passed through and told of the cure.

The Mourner returned and informed the king that, of course, the cure worked. I gave the Mourner most of my herbs and told him to make as much as he could, and cure who he was able. He left us again as the king had more to discuss with me.

“So, it seems you did find the cure, good work citizen. What is your name?” He asked me. “I am Grell, your majesty.” He smiled, “Well Grell, once again, good work. You have done something nopony else could. Now, guard. If you would…Take him to the dungeon and dispose of him.” The guard moved in on me. “What!? What do you mean? Why? I told you the truth! I found the cure, the Mourner proved that!” I screamed at him. The king looked bored with the conversation, “Yes, you did find the cure, the Mourner did prove it. However, with you gone my Mourners can take credit for the cure and we can sell it to everypony and my coffers will swell.” I burst into rage. Another corrupt noble! “You can’t do this! Ponies will know, I have told people! You won’t get away with this!” The king simply laughed, “You think some diseased commoners can stop me? I will have each town you visited wiped out and burned to the ground. No trace of you will exist in this kingdom anymore. Now guard, get him out of my sight.”

The guard escorted me down into the dungeon and threw me in a cell telling me, “Don’t get too comfortable, the king wants to dead by sunset.” I yelled, pleaded with him, “You can’t do this! You can’t let him get away with this! Please!” He didn’t say anything to me as he walked away and left me in darkness.

In the past few hours I screamed myself hoarse and quickly lost hope that I would live throughout the night. I had killed Count Crescent for being corrupt, but I never expected the king to be corrupt as well. And if the king could be corrupt, anypony could be. I was depressed and my only comfort was that there was now a cure, but even that was a double edged sword. I planned to distribute it freely, but the king is greedy and plans to make his subjects pay. Many will not be available to afford it, and many will still die. My thoughts were interrupted by my cell door being thrown open. “Get out.” A guard commanded.

I got to my hooves and stepped outside the cell. Three guards were standing there and two flanked me and guided me to a strange contraption in the dungeon, the king was standing near it. “Ah, good, the entertainment has arrived.” The contraption consisted of a large vat of whitish bubbling liquid. A pole was positioned next to it and a pole coming out of that one was positioned over the vat. At the end of that pole was a pulley system with one end of a rope attached to a crank and the other end had a harness on it.

The guards walked me to the harness and strapped me in it. Two of the guards continued to watch me while the third moved to the crank and looked to the king. “Proceed.” The king commanded and the guard began to turn it. I slowly rose into the air and moved above the vat. The guard once again looked at the king who nodded, and then the guard proceeded to slowly lower me towards the vat.

It felt like it took an eternity to descent the few inches to the top of the liquid, and then my hooves broke the surface. Sudden intensive pain spread through my body and I screamed out in pain. “How do you like our acid bath, Grell? Really cleanses the body, doesn’t it?” The king laughs. The guard keeps lowering me slowly into the vat and every second more and more of my body is exposed to the acid.

As the seconds tick by, my strength slowly leaves me and by the time I am in the vat up to my knees, it is all I can do to keep my head from dropping into it. I cannot scream anymore and only inaudible rasps come from my throat. Once I am in up to my thighs, I can no longer keep my head up and it slowly drops into the vat. The acid starts to eat away at my nose and mouth and as I am lowered into it, it eats away my muzzle. I can no longer feel, no longer think straight, and feel myself slowly slipping away. I cast one last hate-filled glance at King LeMoon before I slip into darkness.

Darkness. Everything is darkness. There is nothing around me; I can’t even tell if I am there. My body feels weird, like I have some new appendage I never had before. I try to look at myself, but I cannot see in this complete darkness. Instead I feel my back and when I do, two new limbs are there. They are almost like...wings?!

Suddenly a beam of light strikes down in front of me. In a few seconds a Mourner materializes in the beam of light. “Grell, do you know where you are?” he asks me. “N-no. Last thing I knew, I was being submerged into acid and then…A-am I dead? Why do I have wings?” I ask him. “In a way, yes, you are dead. You are in the space outside of time.” He informs me. “W-why am I here?” I am confused. What was going on? “A good question,” he replies, “Your life has been filed with misfortune and death. You know death better than anyone from your time. You have been chosen, you are to become Death. We watched you as your life progressed. We know everything you have done, everything you will do.” This confused me, what did he mean “we”?

I asked him. “We are time, we are forever and always. However, we have no physical interaction with the worlds we watch over. And you have been chosen to perform a duty. You will guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife.” I was informed. “So I am going to be killing ponies? And what afterlife? The Stars exist?” I asked him, very much confused. “No. You are not allowed or able to kill ponies except under specific conditions. You simply guide the souls of the dead. You are the guide to every afterlife, not just one. The Stars are but one of the afterlives, there are many different ones. You can also not exist before now, to prevent you from interfering with your own past.” I just stared at him for a minute and then asked him, “So when everypony dies, I guide their souls to their afterlives? Thousands die each day, how can I possibly manage to collect all their souls?” He gestured around him, “We are outside of time. When here, you can look at any moment past, present, or future and go there instantly. Years can become mere seconds to you, and seconds become years. You will always be able to attend each death and collect the soul.” I took a few minutes to take all of this in.

Time went by and I spoke more with the Mourner and learned about the role I would play as Death. I grew wings and am now an Alicorn, giving me the ability to fly and also giving me more magical power than I had before. I am now able to move through time as one would move through a door. I am immortal and cannot die, however my body remains the same as it was the time of my death. The bones of my legs are now exposed up to my thighs, and my face is bone from my snout to half way up my muzzle. I am able to use my magic, so I can use an illusionary spell to prevent others from seeing this. Others can see me and I can interact with them, however I cannot tell them of their deaths or kill them prematurely. I also no longer need to eat or drink. So many new things filled my mind as the Mourner told me what I could now do, what I now had to do.

He told me of an important duty I must complete, more important that guiding souls. I needed to find three other ponies like me, each with their own kind of misfortune, and make them join me. When we united together, our mission was to protect this world, to make sure it would not die, no matter the cost. If the world should be threatened, that is the one time we are allowed to kill ponies, any creature, before their time. I didn’t know how I felt about this new task facing me, but I had no choice and accepted it.

“Oh, and before I forget, take this.” The Mourner holds out a hoof and an exquisite looking scythe appears. He hands it to me. “We modeled this after the weapon you used against Count Crescent. Sometime, souls won’t go willingly and you will have to use force. This will aid you. You can summon it whenever you like. Good luck in your work, Death.”

And thus began my story as the Apocalypse Pony of Death. But that tale is for another time. My story ends here, for now. It is another’s turn to tell his story.