//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 Living 
// Story: Undead Equestria 
// by Sorren 
//------------------------------//

	“Can I come out yet?”

“No Sunny.” Willow spoke in same same, firm tone she had used to reply the ten-dozen times before. “You can not come out yet.”

“Come on it’s been two days. I’m fine!”

Willow heaved a sigh as she stared down at the pegasus through a solid layer of plexiglass. “Sunny, I’m not going to risk letting you out just because you’re bored, now you’re going to have to wait until I can find out exactly what is going on inside you.”

Sunny seemed to battle for wards for a second before ultimately giving up, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned against the wall. “Okay... I just don’t like this small room.”

Willow couldn’t help but to smile as the pegasus hung his head; he was just so cute. “It’s going to be okay, Sunny. Just give me some more time to go over your blood samples.”

The pegasus folded his ears and smiled sheepishly. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have any muffins would you?” His eyes shone pleadingly at her through the glass.

“I’m sorry, Sunny.” Willow tried not to snicker, unsure if he was joking or not. “Muffins weren’t included in the building's food stock.” Sunny sat down hard and glared up at the ceiling. Willow didn’t think she could stick around much longer. She didn’t have the heart to sadden this pony anymore. He had those puppy eyes that just made you feel like you had done something wrong.

With one last look at him, she turned away from the window and set off towards the labs. She could make it up to him by getting the results finished as fast as she could.

A moan escaped her lips as she paced down the narrow hallway. Her insides burned; if she didn’t know better she would have guessed somepony had replaced her blood with acid. That medicine may have killed the virus inside her, but it had also killed a lot of things it shouldn’t have.

Willow had run tests on herself as soon as she had the time. The print-off the machine gave her had been terrifying. Her immune system had been almost totally destroyed along with many of her body’s small functions. Eventually her body would return to the way it had been. But in the meantime, she was just going to have to suffer. Whatever it was she had stabbed into herself, it was obviously deeply experimental. Nopony could have ever authorized it for use on ponies. As far as Willow was concerned, the dose she’d taken should have killed her.

“Hey Willow!” The white mare froze. Nopony else was supposed to be up here.

Coming to a complete stop, she glanced back to see Moon trotting up to her.

Willow rolled her eyes. “Moon, how did you get up here? This level is restricted.” Nopony ever listened to her. Even when she was in charge. Maybe it just came with being a short redhead.

Moon just smiled and batted her eyes. “Oh please mister guard pony, I’m a good friend of Willow’s and I really need to speak with her.”

Willow had to compliment the mare’s craftiness, even if it was done for poor reasons. “Fine. What do you want?” She would be having a little talk with her hospital staff, one stallion in particular.

“I want to know how Sunny is doing.”

Moon’s worried obsessions with Sunny seemed to be getting worse by the hour. Honestly, Willow didn’t know what the mare’s deal was. “I already told you yesterday. It appears that, miraculously, he holds some sort of immunity to the infection. But until I can be sure he isn’t somehow carrying the virus I can’t let him out until I run some more tests. I just can’t be certain yet.” Honestly this mare just would not take a hint.

“I’m just worried about him.” Moon didn’t really seem to be paying attention to her; her eyes looked to a spot somewhere next to Willow’s head.

Willow snorted. “I can tell.”

“Hey!” Moon glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You do know he doesn’t know?” Willow accused. It probably wasn’t the wisest idea to get into a scrap with Moon at this very moment, but Willow found her tongue to be stronger than her control.

“Know what?” Moon looked genuinely puzzled.

Willow deadpanned. “That you have been chasing after his tail like a kitten after a ball of yarn.”

“What? No I’m not!” Moon’s eyes hardened, digging into Willow’s, but the angry glare still wasn’t enough to hide her slight blush.

Willow wasn’t going to let this mare play that trick again; it had worked once in the alley. But this time Willow was hurting, tired, and pissed off. It wasn’t going to happen. “Look Moon, I wasn’t kidding when I said you can’t be up here. You need to get back to the first four levels where the rest of the ponies are. Five and six are off limits, even if you are good at batting your eyes.”

“...Fine.” Grudgingly, Moon turned and stomped off towards the stairwell and Willow let out the breath she’d been holding. Now was not the time to start an argument with an obsessive mare.

Willow set off again and rounded a corner down another hallway. More rooms crawled by as she fought on. Celestia everything hurt! Every time she took a breath it felt like somepony was poking needles into her chest. Every urge in her body was telling her to stop, but she couldn’t. She had vowed that no matter what, she would help ponies and that’s what she was going to do. Besides, there was no way she could sleep when there was work to be done. Ever since she had gotten her cutie mark she had known that this was what she was meant to be doing. And she wasn’t about to stop now just because she wasn’t feeling good.

Willow thought back to the day she had gotten her cutie mark. Even now, so many years later she remembered it like it was just a few days ago.

It had been a long day and she was walking home from school. She had still been a young filly when she earned her mark and had come across a stallion in the alley behind her house. He was lying on the ground twitching, his face contorted in pain.

“Are you okay, Mister?” she had asked.

“Help,” he gasped.

“How?” She’d known there was something wrong with the stallion form the way he was acting. Ponies didn’t normally lie on the ground when it was dirty.

“In my saddlebag... there’s a needle in it... inside a little bag,” he gasped. His hooves scraping narrow troughs in the dirt as he attempted to reach for it himself, falling just short.

“Okay, Mister.” The little filly dug through the bag and pulled out a smaller baggie. “This one, mister?”

“Yes.” His breathing was sharp and ragged, and when the stallion did open his eyes they glinted with something Willow would later comic to recognize as panic. “Now here’s what you need to do.” The stallion could barely speak. His voice rasped and caught in his throat. “Take the little cap off the needle, and if you look closely, there should be a vein, er, an artery in my neck that you can see. A big one, you might have to feel around for it a little. You need to make sure you poke the needle into that vein, okay?”

She’d screwed up her face and glared at him. This stallion had to be crazy; who would let a filly poke a needle into them?

Nonetheless, Willow nodded, “Uh huh, but Mister what if I mess up, why can’t you do it yourself?”

Despite the pain the stallion had managed a smile. “Because sweetie, I’m sick and I need my medicine.”

“Can I go find some other pony to do it?” She may have been an explorative filly, but poking needles into strange stallions’ necks was beyond her comfort zone.

“There isn’t anypony else here. If I don’t get help soon I’m going to be in trouble.”

She wondered what kind of trouble. Maybe he would have to do some extra work or something. Or he wasn’t supposed to be lying down right now. The worry niggled away at her, but she knew she had to do it. Something was wrong with this pony and he needed help.

“Okay... here I go.” The little filly levitated the needle up to the stallion’s neck, and after a little searching, found what she was pretty sure to be the vein he was talking about. Willow took a deep breath and poked the little needle into the spot. Almost immediately the stallion’s twitching ceased, and all at once, he went limp.

“Sweet Celestia I killed him!” Willow cried, backpedaling as her face lit up in horror.

After a minute, Willow built up the courage to creep back over to the stallion and give him a poke. She nearly screamed as he lifted his head and caught the little filly’s eye. “Thank you kid; you just saved my life.”

She still didn’t know exactly what it was that had been wrong with him, maybe some sort of allergic reaction. She had never seen him again. But at that moment Willow had felt so very proud she thought she’d burst with happiness. And from that moment on she had known what she wanted to do. She wanted to help ponies.

It seemed rather silly and cliché in hindsight, but it had worked out in the end.

When Willow had gotten home she had noticed her cutie mark and let out a squeal of joy. She felt so proud of her mark, a hypodermic needle crossed with a scalpel. She didn’t quite know what the scalpel part was for, but that would come in later.

As Willow continued down the hallway her thoughts wandered to the orange pegasus she was holding in confinement. If there was any possibility of study, this pony was probably the key to something bigger. She had seen it herself; the wound itself had held traces of the infection but from what she could tell it was just clinging to the flesh. In a way Sunny’s body seemed to repel whatever this thing was. She couldn’t be sure though; she had heard stories from other medical ponies of a sickness lying dormant in a host’s body for up to a month before revealing itself. Willow had never seen it for herself, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Hopefully Sunny would show full immunity. If he didn’t that would mean she would have to deal with Moon. That, and there was no way Willow could put the orange pegasus down. He had a rare personality, he was nice, reasonable, funny... cute.

Willow snarled and shook her head. No distractions. Now was not the time to let emotions distract her from work. Butterflies hung in her stomach and she couldn’t tell if the feeling was from the drug she had taken or something else.

Willow’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of movement behind her. She twisted to look back. “Moon I thought I told you to...”

Sugar Apple stared back at her from the far end of the hallway, only it wasn’t really Sugar Apple. His light red coat was matted and patched, spots of bare skin showing through where the hair had fallen away. His eyes were empty... hungry.

“...What?” Willow rubbed her eyes to make sure that it wasn’t some side effect of the medication.

His eyes stared blankly back at hers, bloodshot and red. His pupils had grown so large that they almost consumed the entire iris and a strand of drool dangled from his muzzle as he staggered forward.

“S-Sugar Apple?” How could she have forgotten about him? He had escaped them a while ago but she had never even considered that he may still be in the hospital.

The stallion let out a noise that could have passed for something between a shriek and a gurgle and started jerkily forward. Willow turned and galloped in the opposite direction, hearing the hoofbeats of the pony behind her grow faster. He had already bitten her once and she wasn’t about to let him do it again. She reached the door at the end of the hall and pulled frantically on the handle, it was locked. Of course it was locked! Everything on this level stayed locked! you were the one who locked it!

Willow tried to levitate her keys from the ring on her utility strap but her magic died and the keys snapped back to her side. Damned retractable cable; she still recalled the slogan on the box. ‘Guaranteed to NEVER lose your keys AGAIN!!!’ 

She still didn’t know what that virus had done to her, but one thing was for sure. It doused her magic like water on a campfire. She was beginning to fear that her magic would never recover.

“Damn it.” Willow twisted around and snapped the keys from the side of her flank and sorted through them until she found a small brass one. The key fit in the lock much to Willow's relief. Yanking open the door and letting go of the keys, she barged into the room, but something tugged at her side. Her body stopped but her hooves flew out from under her and she flopped over onto her side.

Sugar Apple was close now; she could hear his hoofbeats right behind her. Willow scrambled to her hooves and a wave of drowsiness hit her as dark spots clouded her vision. Her body couldn’t handle this. It was still recovering from the medical drain cleaner she had sent through her system.

She flipped around; he was no less than ten feet from her now. He galloped unsteadily down the hallway as if he were going to fall at any moment, if only through Celestia’s grace. It was then that Willow spotted what had caught her. She had left her keys in the lock and the retractable cable had reached its end.

‘Guaranteed to NEVER lose your keys AGAIN!!!’

Willow gave a desperate tug and the key snappped off in the lock. The whole ring of keys flew back at her on its retractable cable and struck a spot just above her eye.

She staggered shook her head, little stars sparkling in her vision as she backed further into the room. Sugar Apple reached the door, but Willow finally seemed to get a stroke of luck when the door started to swing closed so that it struck the slobbering pony. He lost his balance and crashed into a desk to the right of the door. Willow turned to run; this whole room was full of desks! She dodged and weaved among them as Sugar Apple resumed his chase. She made to spring over one, but, in her weakened state, didn’t quite clear it. Her hooves struck a desktop and she somersaulted forward right into another desk.

Honestly, Willow was starting to feel sorry for herself.

This was where the REA had kept files on most of their chemical experimentation. They had cleared out years ago but most of the supplies were still here, beakers, lab equipment. No chemicals though, sadly.

Willow rolled onto her back and scrambled up against a desk, the dark patches in her vision swelling and threatening to consume her irises. Growling, Willow fought away the weariness. If she went down now, that would be it.

Sugar Apple sprung off a desk and flew right at her, and without even a second though, Willow reached over with her teeth and yanked the drawer from the desk behind her. She brought her head around, scattering papers and a multicolored arrangement of pens as she swung the drawer. It struck the snarling pony’s head with a reverberating bong and a lot more force than Willow had intended.

The zombie let out a half snarl, half screech as its head snapped back and it crashed to the ground a few feet short.

In an instant, Willow was on her hooves. Adrenaline pumped through her aching body, channeling every bit of energy left in her system to her muscles. She galloped over to the momentarily-stunned pony and brought the drawer down on his head. He tried to scramble to his hooves but was knocked back to the floor by another blow. Willow didn’t let him get up this time. She swung again and cringed as the drawer bwonged off his head. This wasn’t Sugar Apple anymore. Any traits the stallion may have possessed were gone—replaced by what lay inside this crazy snarling creature. She swung again, and again, and again. On the fifth strike she felt something below her give and Sugar Apple let out a strangled scream.

Willow hesitated, maybe it was still him. Maybe his personality was fighting its way through the sickness. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she looked down at the stallion. He looked back up at her, face bloody, eyes filled with an rage no pony should have been capable of. No! There was no way he could come back.

She swung. She swung until blood spattered the floor and streamed from the end of the drawer as she pulled back for the next. She swung until she couldn’t anymore. Finally, Willow gasped and dropped the hunk of bloody metal. She could barely focus on her own hoof, the edges of her vision going black.

“Not this time.” She turned to walk away but stumbled and fell to her knees, her mind shutting down as the pain inside her became almost overwhelming. She had overworked her body, and it was punishing her for it. A needle of pain seemed to drive itself into her skull, forcing her to the floor. Willow stopped fighting and let herself lose consciousness.

Just a little nap.

Her vision went dark as unnatural sleep overtook her.


*              *              *


Twenty-five. This was the thirty-fifth time Sunny had counted. There were exactly twenty-five tiles that made up the ceiling. The room was rectangular, and as far as Sunny could tell the grid was four-by-six. So why in the name of Celestia’s saggy plot was there an extra tile!?

He was on the verge of killing those tiles.

He had lost track of time; there was no way to tell in here and the ponies who’d built the room hadn’t been nice enough to have put in a clock. Sunny didn’t know what the big deal was. He felt fine, and Willow herself had told him that he was probably immune. But she was doing her best to sort him out. After she had brought him here she had cleaned out the wound and cut out some small samples with a few protests from Sunny. Then she had given him a healing potion.

Healing potions were something else. A pony had to be rich on top of rich to afford one of them, and even then they were pricy. The only reason he assumed Willow was using it on him was because of the current situation. Drinking the deep purple liquid came with one of the strangest sensations he could imagine. There really wasn’t a good way to explain it. Sunny had watched in awe as the torn skin and flesh magically regrew and stitched itself back together.

Although healing potions worked well for quick fixes like cuts or fractured bones, they didn’t cure infection and were primarily designed to be used in emergencies when medical care wasn’t available.

“Whatever you do,” she had told him, “do not take a healing potion to mend a broken bone. If you don’t set the bone before you drink a healing potion it will grow back together in whatever position it’s in, and if that happens, you’re in a whole world of trouble.”

In the very short time that he’d known Willow, Sunny found himself respecting her a bit more with every passing minute. She may have been a little grumpy at times but that pony knew her stuff, and she used her expertise to help every pony she could.

“Hey, Sunny.” The pegasus jumped at the sound of a mare’s voice over the intercom. He jerked upwards in bed, eyes dancing over the perfectly white walls until they came to rest on the single window embedded in the wall across from the bed.

“Hi, Moon.” Sunny threw a casual wave at the mare in the window. “Did Willow let you come and see me?”

Moon’s eyes gleamed mischievously. “Well, let’s just say she didn’t invite me.”

Sunny couldn’t help but chuckle. “Don’t let her catch you up here or she’ll throw a fit.”

“So how are you doing Sunny?” Moon may have been smiling but her eyes showed the real worry.

“I’m doing fine.”

Moon rolled her eyes at him. “I mean how are you feeling, Sunny?”

“Honestly I’m fine; I don’t feel sick at all. I’m pretty sure Willow already told you that she thinks I’m immune.” He tried to avoid eye contact, looking instead to the crumbled bedspread and trying to straighten out a few wrinkles.

“I just don’t see why she can’t let you out,” Moon half-pouted. “It’s been two days.”

Sunny gave the mare a shrug. “She says that even though the sickness doesn’t affect me it may still be in my body.”

Moon looked back at him, heaving a sigh that crackled over the intercom. “Sunny, I’m just worried about you; I only met you a few days ago and haven’t even had a chance to get to know you.”

“Exactly,” he muttered under his breath before looking back up to her. “We’ll just have to wait and see, okay?”

Moon nodded, reaching a hoof up and brushing her mane from her eyes.

“Now you should probably get out of here before Willow comes back and kills us both.” Despite how bored he was, the last thing he wanted to do right now was cause more trouble for Willow. The mare was already feeling bad enough without having to deal with Moon. Sunny didn’t think Willow would do something too drastic, but she was cranky and he didn’t want to see what would happen if she found Moon here.

“Okay, Sunny.” She managed a smile. “I’ll see you when Willow decides to let you out, okay?”

“Sounds good.” He waved her off, flopping back down on his back with sigh. She liked him. Why did she like him? it was going to drive him absolutely crazy.

“Bye, Sunny.” With one last glance Moon turned away from the window and disappeared from view.

A slight buzz still hung in the air hung in the air. Sunny sat up, eyes widening in horror. “Wait! Moon you forgot to turn off the intercom!”

She didn’t come back.

Damn. If he didn’t die of boredom first, that sound was going to drive him crazy.


*              *              *


Moon rode the elevator back down to the main level, the classical music playing over the cheap speakers seeming rather off-mood for the occasion. Sweet Celestia she was bored. Bored was better than dead, but still.

The doors slid open and she stepped out into the entrance hall. The lobby was empty, minus a few ponies milling about without much purpose. Moon passed each one of them, their eyes meeting but neither party willing to speak. The wagon that they’d crashed through the front doors hadn’t moved from where it sat awkwardly to the side of the check-in desk. Reaching the main desk, Moon cocked her head at the same old mare sitting behind it. She was gazing out into space, her eyes unfocused. The setting sun shone through the glass entryway illuminated her beige coat and practically lit her eyes up as stared, rarely blinking.

Moon approached and sat herself down beside the mare, choosing to stare at the gate guarding the entrance alongside the pony beside her. “So... hi.”

“I wonder how the rest of them are doing out there,” the mare murmured back.

“Why are you still watching the door?” Moon asked. “No way anypony’s getting through that gate.

The mare didn’t even spare Moon a glance. “Oh, just in case.”

With a shrug Moon left the mare at the desk and trotted over to the gate to look out over the town below. The day was so peaceful it was unnerving. Ponies were dead; it wasn’t supposed to be peaceful. Buildings burned off in the distance the occasional scream or gunshot sliced through the air, but the bustle of town was dead. Further away she could see a few staggering shapes walking around buildings. One house near the very end of the town-length street was completely surrounded by the monsters, all pushing and battering at the walls and boarded windows.

It just didn’t seem right. She was sitting all safe and sound in here and ponies were dying out there.

The sound of rapid hoofsteps pricked her ears, and a second later a green stallion went galloping across the street directly in front of the hospital. His weary eyes were clouded with worry and fear as he threw rapid glances over his shoulder.

Halfway he past the hospital his gaze fell on Moon and the stallion almost stumbled. He slid to a stop, his eyes lighting up as he turned and limped towards her. He levitated a double barrel shotgun by his side. “Thank Celestia!” he half cheered, shaking his head as he neared.

Moon raised her forehooves and placed them on the steel links that made up the quarantine gate. “A-are you okay!?”

“Let me in,” the stallion choked as he reached the barrier. He cracked open the shotgun and checked the load. Apparently satisfied he closed it again, then looked over his shoulder. “Hurry. Those bastards can smell blood.” His eyes darted to a seeping wound on his hind leg. “They don’t give up.”

“I-I can’t.” Moon rattled the steel links with her forehooves.

The stallion’s ears folded against his head as his eyes filled with desperation. “Why not?” His voice cracked and he threw a nervous glance behind him.

Moon gulped. “The whole building is locked down. I don’t know how to raise the barriers.”

His voice shook as he tried to keep his voice level. “Look... if you don’t open this gate, I’m going to die. They’re everywhere out here!” He threw his forehooves against the gate and gave it a shake and a pull, gritting his teeth as if he could simply push it back up into the roof. “I can’t run anymore. You’ve got to help me!”

Moon swung around to point her hoof at the mare behind the counter. “Open the gate!” A few ponies who had been milling around in the lobby looked up at the exclamation, a couple of them trotting closer.

“Sorry hun.” The receptionist shrugged. “If I could I would but this button down here just closes it. Override’s somewhere upstairs.”

Moon balked. Did she not care?

The mare went back to staring into space, not caring that there was a stallion pleading for his life at the barrier.

Moon turned back to the stallion. His head was hung in bitter defeat. She could already hear the sound of rapid hoofsteps, and apparently the stallion could too. His head shot up and he turned away from the barrier.

“Celestia help me through this,” he muttered, raising the shotgun and taking deep, steadying breaths.

“I’m sorry,” Moon whispered.

“You tried... sort of.” He didn’t turn to look at her; his gaze remained locked forward, waiting for what they both knew was coming. In running to the hospital entrance, he’d manage to corner himself with a wall on either side. A sense of finality layered his voice as the pony tensed. “Figured I’d be dead by now anyways.”

The hoofbeats grew louder, and a moment later five infected ponies rounded the corner at full gallop. Moon had never seen them this far gone before; it was terrifying. Their eyes were deep red and bloodshot, swollen black pupils obscuring most of the inner eye. Patches of their skin had been torn away and hung in flaps from the crazed ponies’ coats. These things weren’t ponies anymore. Nothing shone in their dull eyes; they didn’t have any sense of reason or rational thought. They didn’t even appear feel pain.

“Somepony help!” Moon called to the ponies behind her. What was wrong with them? Why wouldn’t they do anything?

“You want some of this?” The stallion growled drawing back the hammers on the shotgun. “Well come and get it you fuckers!” The muzzle flashed and a well-placed buckshot blew apart the left side of one of the crazed pony's heads. It tumbled to the ground, blood streaking the concrete, but the others didn’t even slow at the death of a comrade. The stallion fired again and planted his other shell in the chest of a blue mare. The pony stumbled but stayed on its hooves somehow.

“Damn they’re fast.” The stallion cracked open his shotgun and levitated out two smoking shells.

Moon looked back to the lobby where ponies were watching in wide-eyed intrigue, their faces varying anywhere from worry to pure disgust. Only one of them showed any feeling of urgency in the situation; he was a blue pegasus with a sandy brown mane, and although he was galloping towards the gate, he probably wouldn’t make it in time.

She turned back in time to see the green stallion level his gun with another of the infected ponies. He fired and a yellow stallion dropped. He lined up his last shot, but the leader of the pack reached him before he could fire it off and tackled him up against the gate. The stallion screamed as the pony bit into his neck; his shotgun lying by his side. In less than a second the other two were on him and Moon could do nothing but watch in horror as they bit and tore at the green pony with unmasked savagery. Not only were the infected brutal about it, they almost seemed mad at the green stallion as they grabbed and ripped.

The blue pegasus slid to a stop beside Moon with his revolver ready. He fired three steady shots, one after the other, each one striking one of the beasts in the head until they all fell away.

The green stallion scrambled to his hooves on adrenaline, gazing around frantically as he picked up his shotgun. They’d gotten him good. The side of his neck was bleeding heavily, an almost steady drizzle of blood falling to the pile below his hooves. All over the rest of his body, patches of his green coat had been torn with the flesh below bitton or ripped free in dangling ribbons.

He looked down at himself and chuckled, “Well I’m a little screwed up.” the finality in his voice was terrifying on its own. He cracked the breach on the shotgun and levitated out the spent shell. “Should have gotten something faster,” he muttered. Sighing, he glanced over the weapon, then passed it stalk-first through a gap in the gate.

“What are you doing?” Moon asked.

The stallion turned his eyes to her. “I reckon I’m not going to need this anymore.” He started levitating shells to them; one after another they dropped to the ground on the safe side of the barrier. The green stallion looked at the pegasus, who hadn’t moved. “Thanks for trying, friend... what’s your name?”

The pegasus swallowed heavily as a shudder ran the course of his body. “Name’s Dusty.”

the unicorn nodded. “Dusty... Good name. I know you just saved me and all, but now you’ve got to finish it.” He grit his teeth. “I can already feel the damned poison.” As if his words had brought it upon him, the stallion’s horn flickered and sparked out.

Moon shook her head, looking between the green stallion. “W-what?” She shook her head a little faster. “No, we can’t shoot you!”

“Look at me!” he yelled at her, stomping his forehoof. Already his face was starting to pale, most likely from blood loss. “They tore me to pieces! I’ve seen what happens when they bite ponies! Do you think I want to end up like that?” The stallion sat down hard and heaved a sigh; tears pooled in his eyes. “But hey, I had a good run, right? The others didn’t make it, but I did. I lasted the longest!”

Moon looked at Dusty; the light blue pegasus still hadn’t moved.

“Please.” The green stallion lowered his head. “Help me out here.”

Moon hung her head, staring down at the decorative floor.

Moon squealed and scrambled backwards as a pistol barked right next to her ear. She had expected Dusty to protest, not just… shoot.

The pegasus stood still for a moment longer before returning the revolver to its leg holster “Two,” he muttered turning away from the barrier. “I’ve shot two ponies.”


*              *              *


Willow came to in darkness.Opening her eyes was a lot harder than it should have been her eyelashes stuck together with snot and heavy from exhaustion. Pushing herself up to a sitting position was even harder. It felt like she was glued to the ground as Willow forced her sore body off the floor.

She was aware of two things: One, every muscle in her body burned like fire. And two, her coat felt sticky.

She managed to get hind legs under her and rise. The room was completely dark; any light that had shone in from the windows before now was gone with the arrival of night.

There was a light switch around here somewhere. She needed Brick and his flashlight.

Willow started forward slowly, and no less than three seconds later, she slammed into a desk and nearly fell over onto her side. “...Ouch.” She made her way to one of the walls, managing to smack against that as well. Working her way along the wall in the darkness for a moment or two, she eventually came upon the light switch. Flipping it with her muzzle, Willow looked down at herself, and with a disdainful sigh realized just why she felt so stricky.

Willow looked examined coat in disgust. Her normal, smooth, white coat was stained red with blood. Had she been anypony else, she probably would have heaved. Luckily enough, Willow was somewhat used to being stained with blood. She looked over to where she had been lying. A pony-shaped patch of tile remained white in the otherwise red pool of blood that had spread across the floor from Sugar Apple’s crushed skull; she’d passed out right in it.

She groaned. “That’s the last time I perform brain surgery with a desk drawer.” Her entire right side was matted crimson and her scarlet mane was... well still scarlet, just sticky. Willow chuckled. Gingerly, she raised a forehoof to wipe the coagulating blood off her coat. “Ugh, this is grody.”

She needed a shower, now.

Willow left the room the way she had come in, minus the desk-jumping and gave Sugar Apple's beaten form one last look. She locked the door from the inside and closed it. Nopony was going to accidentally stumble across this scene and find a way to get themselves infected.

Why did everything hurt? Willow struggled back down the hallway to the elevator. She hit the call button and waited. Standing here was agony, every muscle in her body burned like fire.

After an eternity, the doors slid open and Willow stepped in. She hit the button that would take her to the fourth floor and the machine hummed to life. Floors five and six had tape over the buttons that somepony had drawn frowny faces on; it was maintenance's temporary fix until they could get into the elevator panel to disable the two buttons.

Willow thought back on that. This building hadn’t always been a community hospital. It used to be an REA experimental medical center. The fourth floor had been the living quarters for the staff. Levels one through three had all been basic medical. Floor five was mostly offices and six was communications. But when the REA had pulled out all the communication equipment had gone with them. Floor six was just an empty shell now.

The doors slid open on level four and Willow stepped out into a long hallway. A few ponies milled around outside their rooms, talking with one another and just burning time. Willow didn’t know exactly how many ponies had been in the building when it had been sealed. But her guess was somewhere around fifty or sixty.

A yellow mare squealed under her breath as Willow passed and covered her face with a forehoof.

“What?” Willow joked. “Is there something on my face?” The mare just stared. Willow tried her best not to laugh as the pony stammered. It wasn’t funny, but for some reason it was.

“Um, you kind of... blood. A-are you okay?” The yellow mare shied away as Willow smiled at her.

“I’m fine. Took a nap in a pool of blood.” This was too much, this was so funny that Willow was about to cry. The mare’s jaw just fell open and she gaped at the two-toned pony. Willow shrugged. “It’s a long story. You wouldn’t happen to know what time it is, would you?”

“Um, about ten, I think.” The mare backed up even further until her rump hit the wall.

“Thanks.” Willow trotted past the mare and continued down the hall towards her room. A few other ponies shot her startled glances as the passed but didn’t say anything. She reached the room her and Brick had been sharing and pushed open the door. Willow could hear the sound of running water in the bathroom. She groaned, stripping off her ruined barding.

“Brick! I don’t care whether or not you’re in the middle of a shower it’s my turn!” She barged into the bathroom and crossed to the shower curtain. With a yank she pulled it back to reveal nopony else but Brick holding his head under the jet of water. It had been a while since she had seen his cutie mark. It was usually covered by his barding. The brown stallion's mark was a spotlight. Like one of those big mouth-held ones that tunnel ponies used. He turned and gave her a curious look.

“I don’t care if you’re in the middle of a shower. Get out.”

Brick gazed coolly back at her.

Willow growled. “Look. I hurt, I’m covered in blood, and I’m tired. Now if you don’t get out I will climb in there with you.”

The stallion arched a brow and stepped to the side, nodding towards the space he had just opened up.

 “Okay, let me rephrase that.” Willow glared daggers into the larger stallion. “If you don’t get out I will get in there with you and make you lick me clean.”

Brick tilted his head to one side as if he were going over his options.

Willow stomped her hoof. “Damn it Brick! Get out of my shower! Besides this is Sugar Apple's blood. If you did then I’d have to kill you.”

Brick looked back at the stream of water and rolled his eyes. He stepped out and Willow immediately moved around him and took his place.

She sighed as the warm water washed over her back, soothing her aching body. It took a while to wash all the blood from her mane so that it finally returned to its normal non-sticky crimson, the light blue streaks no longer hidden. The water felt amazing on her coat. She sighed again holding her head under the stream. How nice for the hospital’s electrical systems and waterworks to work even during an apocalypse.

If only.

The bathroom went dark, only to be replaced by the soft orange glow of the emergency system a second later. Willow nickered. Of all times this could happen, it had to happen now. Of course, she’d been expecting it eventually. It was a miracle that the power grid had remained up and running for as long as it already had.

She waited. The backup generators would be kicking in in, five, four, three, two, one…

Nothing happened.

“What?” she muttered. The orange glow remained. Suddenly, the water ran cold and Willow practically screamed. She threw herself to the side and tangled herself in the shower curtain. Staggering, she flopped out of the shower, the curtain followed her happily as it popped out of its spot on the wall and clogged her across the back of the head.

She groaned. Broodingly, Willow pushed herself to her hooves and reached over to shut off the water.

Out of the bathroom she went, stomping over to her dresser to get a set of barding that wasn’t soaked in blood. Why couldn’t she just have a break? Maybe some sleep. But no, now there was a faulty generator to deal with.

“Brick! Get your things. We’re going to the basement!”


*              *              *


The lights shut off.

Sunny blinked. It was dark in here. Really dark. He closed his eyes; it didn’t matter if they were open or closed—everything looked the same.

He had never really liked the dark. In fact, he hated it. Sunny looked sightlessly around the room, which now felt much smaller than it had been before. He could hear every sound, every breath that echoed off the walls.

At least the buzzing from the intercoms had stopped.

He tried to stay calm, but in the darkness his composure was quickly slipping away from him. 

Minutes passed, maybe hours. Over time, his mind dragged him back to his past. Memories flashed by, faces he hadn’t thought of in what seemed like forever. Anything to keep his mind off the darkness. How long had it been? A minute? An hour? There was no way to tell. One memory stuck out more prominent than the others. He could see the faces—remember the names, the sights, the sounds. Anything to get away from this darkness.

It was his friend, Mango’s birthday party. Parents sat around gossiping with one another while the children played hide and seek. It was Mango’s turn to seek and all the foals had already ran off searching for a good spot to hide. Happy as could be, the little orange colt counted in the corner while the group of foals dispersed.

Sunny knew where he was going to hide. His hiding spot was going to be the very best. He sneaked around the edge of the house and pulled open the door on the side. It led down into a cellar. It was dark down there but Sunny wasn’t afraid of the dark like all those other weenies. He climbed down the stairs and looked around. There was a big trunk sitting in a corner. Sunny knew that it would make a perfect hiding spot. Nopony would ever find him there.

He climbed into the trunk and shut the lid.

This was the perfect hiding place. Nopony was going to find him. He was so clever. When they finally got tired of looking they would yell for him to come out. Then he would climb out and tell them where he had been hiding. Perfect.

He had never really been friends with any ponies in his town. They all made fun of him because he couldn’t fly. And the ponies who weren’t making fun of him didn’t want to be around him or they’d get made fun of too. He was only at Mango’s birthday party because his mother had made the pony invite him. But Sunny still liked to consider Mango as a friend, because his mother was so nice to him.

But little did he know the game up above had been delayed. It was present time, and everypony knew what happened after presents. Cake! The game was totally forgotten and what was it if that orange pegasus wasn’t there? He probably got tired and went home early.

Sunny stayed in the trunk for about an hour until he was finally sure that they couldn’t find him. He went to push up on the lid but it wouldn’t open. Sunny tried again but the lid only opened about an inch before it stopped. Sunny didn’t worry. Somepony would find him. Or maybe there was just something blocking the lid and he just had to push harder. He tried a few more times to get the lid up. Even twisting over onto his back and kicking it with all four legs. But it still wouldn’t move. Sunny cried for help but realized that down here nopony could hear him. He called again, still nothing. Now he was starting to get scared. He called a few more times hoping anypony would answer. Now he was terrified; it was hard to breathe in the trunk. And it was dark. Sunny couldn’t even see his own hooves. But he could hear his breathing.

“Help!” he screamed. But still nopony heard him. Maybe they were still having fun at the party. He couldn’t hear anything that was going on above, just the sound of his own breathing. The darkness suddenly seemed a lot more sinister than it had been and Sunny found himself wishing that he had never come down here in the first place.

Nopony had found him for a whole day. Only when Sunny’s parents had said they couldn’t find him anywhere did Mango’s parents decide to search their house. They had found a cowering orange pegasus in the chest in the cellar. The colt had been terrified. When they had tried to take him out he had screamed and kicked at them.

Later he couldn’t think straight; he didn’t even want to close his eyes because it would block out the light. His parents had taken him home but after that he refused to sleep in the dark and despite his father’s protests his mother had gotten him a nightlight...

Sunny jerked out of the daydream or night-dream—whatever it was. “Wrong memory,” he groaned. Anything but that would have helped. But not that. Now all he could think about was the dark.

Something seemed off in the room but he couldn’t place a hoof on it. It was too quiet, much too quiet. Sunny thought back to an hour or so ago. Willow had told him that this room had its own atmosphere.

Sunny gasped. “Nonononono, that can’t be right.” He couldn’t hear the fan—the fan that recirculated the air.

He groaned. No lights meant no power. No power meant no life support system. And no life support system meant no air. Combine that with a breathing pony in a small, airtight room and you had one soon-to-be-dead pony.

“Don’t panic, Sunny. Stay calm.” This was bad. This was really bad. “The more you panic the faster you breathe. The faster you breathe the more air you use and the more air you use you faster you die.” Not panicking. Not panicking at all. “Oh sweet Celestia.” This wasn’t working. He was panicking! “Take deep breaths, Sunny, deep breaths. Wait no! Light breaths! Breathe lightly.”

It took a while, but soon the calmness came. If only he could get of the dark! “Well this is okay. I’ll just sit here and talk to myself while waiting for somepony to come and save me before I die.”

With nothing else to do Sunny rolled back on the bed and closed his eyes. All he could do was wait... wait and breathe lightly. “Come on Willow, where are you?”


*              *              *


Willow followed Brick down the stairs, his flashlight proving very useful in the darkness. The only way to reach the basement without the elevator was to take the staircase from the lobby. The group had been bombarded by scared ponies trying to figure out why there was no power and had to force their way through the mob of ponies. On the bright side, Willow had found two maintenance ponies on the way down here who knew a whole lot more about generators than she did. Most of the staff had been out when the building was sealed but some still remained. She was thankful these two were here. The building manager had been absent at the time of the quarantine, leaving Willow, head nurse, the next highest in command.

“I don’t know why you’re dragging me into this,” the yellow maintenance pony muttered. “I just fix the damned lights.”

“Don’t complain Socket, let’s just get this done,” said the gray unicorn behind the earth pony.

“Honestly,” he shot back, “how do you expect me to know how to fix a generator?”

“Stop arguing,” Willow snapped back at them as the group exited the stairwell.

The basement was dark apart from four emergency lights on the ceiling. Willow pointed a hoof at the grey unicorn with the purple mane. “You, it's Snowglobe right?”

The mare nodded. “Yep, that’s me. Been in maintenance here for... quite some time now.”

“Good. So you know how to fix a spark generator?” Willow looked around the room. She didn’t even see anything that looked like a generator.

The mare scoffed. “Of course! I spent my whole life around these things. I know that what we got down there are some of the nicest generators you can get this side of Canterlot. Magic powered, four year lifespan, amazing output. They’re a new government issue.”

“So why don’t the damned things work?” muttered Socket.

Willow nodded approvingly. She’d known this mare had been in maintenance for a while, but she had never guessed that Snowglobe would know what she was talking about. For the love of Celestia, the last maintenance director had fixed the elevator buttons with duct tape and drawings of frowny faces. “Okay, so where are these generators?”

Snowglobe frowned. “Well, they were originally supposed to be installed on this level. But the generators the REA used were still here and they were too big to move. When this place was under construction they dropped those monsters in the basement then built the building on top of them. Those babies weren’t going anywhere.”

“So where’d they put the new ones?” Willow pushed. It was nice that this mare knew all this but right now wasn’t the time to hear all of it.

“They hollowed out another level. I don’t know how they did it without compromising the entire building but somehow they did. Either way the spark generators are one floor below us. All they did was cut the wires to the REA generators and run them to the new ones.”

Willow blinked. This mare was an asset. “So how do we get down there?” Without Snowglobe, Willow probably wouldn’t have achieved anything by coming down here.

Snowglobe pointed a hoof towards one of the big machines on the other side of the room. “Over there. There’s a staircase.”

“Let’s go then.” Without waiting for a reply, Willow crossed the room and came around the side of one of the two massive machines that dominated the basement. “Brick, hurry it up. I can’t see a thing!”

In the wan light of the emergency systems, she could make out the basic silhouette of the staircase down to the next level. Without thinking, she started down the staircase, then promptly tripped over her own hooves and found herself falling face-first into the darkness. Willow closed her eyes, expecting to hit the hard floor at any second. Instead of the sudden pain that was expected, everything went cold and wet, her senses plunged into murkiness.

Willow screamed and thrashed, inhaling a mouthful of water before she realized just what was going on. Resurfacing, hacking and coughing, Willow found herself treading water a quarter of the way down the stairwell.

Brick’s light shone his light down on her, eyes wide.

“I thought we were fixing generators not going swimming,” Socket scoffed.

Willow found her hoofing and pulled herself back up the stairs, her mane wet and dripping. Stale water streamed into her eyes, stinging them, and she shook her head to clear them. Socket chuckled at her as she stomped by.

“I’m going to throw you down there if you don’t shut up,” Willow snapped. The buck just laughed harder while Snowglobe tried not to. In cold vengeance, Willow slapped him across the face with her sopping tail as she passed.

“Hey!” Socket protested, shaking water from his head.

Willow sat down hard next to Snowglobe. “Let me guess?”

Snowglobe slumped. “Yeah.”

“Generators are—”

“Yep.”

“Any way we can—”

“Nope.”

Willow screamed and stomped her forehooves, though quickly regretted it as squiggles forced their way into her vision. “So, that’s it then?”

Snowglobe slowly shook her head, looking down at the churning waters. “There’s really no way to be optimistic about this.”

Willow groaned. “I’m just going to take a shot in the dark here and guess that they don’t work anymore?”  This wasn’t fair. One thing after another, she just couldn’t get a break. “Does the basement have a pump?”

“Sure does.” Snowglobe sighed. “Runs off of electricity though.”

“Well that’s convenient. How are we supposed to drain our generator room if the generators used to produce the electricity to drain our generator room are in the flooded generator room!?” Willow scoffed, glaring down at the dark water. “I’d like to meet the egghead who thought that up.” How had she gotten caught up in all this? She was just a mare that worked at a hospital for Celestia’s sake! Who would have thought she’d end up in charge of a whole damned hospital in the middle of an epidemic?

“Well,” Snowglobe thought aloud, “we could see if those old REA generators still work.”

Willow raised her head to look at the grey mare. “You think they would still work?”

“Well, theoretically.” Snowglobe frowned and rubbed her chin. “We’d have to run the wires to them again. They most certainly wouldn’t be energy efficient considering they were used by the REA. Those ponies didn’t really have a need to conserve power. But I guess if we could get them running it would be better than nothing.”

“That’s wonderful.” Willow breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s do it.”

“Okay, just let me make sure everything’s working correctly before we hook em’ up. Last thing we need right now is to blow every circuit in the building.” Snowglobe pulled Brick’s flashlight from his grasp with her magic and trotted over to one of the giant metal shapes. She pressed a blue button and a terminal built into the machine blinked to life, casting a green glow from its dusty screen.

Willow gaped. Those were the generators? They were huge! You could have stacked three ponies on top of each other and they would barely clear the top. And there were two of them! “Are we going to need both of them?”

Snowglobe laughed. “Oh goddesses no. The second one must have been either a backup or support. These things are massive.”  She hit a button on the terminal and trotted around the machine looking it over and muttering to herself. After about a minute or so she trotted back over to them. “Everything appears to be working normally. The spell matrix is a little scrambled but I can fix that in a jiffy.”

“Is that it?” Willow frowned. There was no way it could be that easy. The generators were going to blow up or something. That was about how lucky she felt.

“Well... not exactly.” Snowglobe pulled open a hatch on the side of the giant machine and sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

“Exactly what do you mean by that?” Socket scoffed.

“What is it?” Willow groaned inwardly. It wasn’t going to go easily.

“Well...” Snowglobe hesitated. “This thing’s gem powered.”

Nopony spoke for a moment or two. “What in the name of sunbutt does that have to do with anything?” Willow asked.

“A little FYI, Snowglobe, we aren’t geeks like you. So you’re going to have to clarify things just a little bit.” Socket made sure to layer his voice with sarcasm.

Willow could tell from Snowglobe’s expression that the mare wanted to do nothing less than push the stallion down a flight of stairs. Lucky for her there was one nearby. “Okay fine.” Snowglobe sat down and motioned for the other two to do the same. Willow flopped onto her side, relieved to get the weight off her hooves. After her little cold bath her limbs seemed to burn more than ever. Brick sat next to her and Socket pointedly did the same.

“Shouldn’t have even asked,” Socket muttered.

Snowglobe tapped her hooves together. “Now here’s what we’ve got. The generators below us used to be spark generators. Notice how I say 'used to.' Spark generators don’t tolerate water too well. Either way, spark generators run off of magic. Unicorns charge them up kinda’ like they do batteries. Most of the process is still a secret that only the manufacturer knows. But from what I have learned, spark generators use unicorn magic to form something that ponies like to call ‘spark’. In turn, that creates electricity. I don’t know how. But somewhere in between magic and electricity something happens that the companies are really hush-hush about. Following so far?”

“Mostly,” Willow replied. “But keep going, this is interesting.”

“Yeah sure, generator one-o-one,” Socket muttered.

Brick was too busy eyeballing his flashlight on the ground in front of the gray mare.



Willow wouldn’t exactly describe it as cool, but interesting nonetheless. Snowglobe, on the other hoof, seemed almost ecstatic to be sharing her knowledge of generators. “I could fill these two beasts up with gems right now and hook them to the city’s power grid, and they would power the whole city. They might get a little hot and the gems would run out pretty fast. But it would work! Unlike spark generators, which only provide a set amount of power, gemstone generators will put out as much power as needed... to a certain degree. So the more power you use, the more gems you use. Now this is where our second problem comes in. This hospital drains a lot of juice. And considering these things were retired a long time ago there wasn’t much of a need to keep gemstones lying around.”

Willow frowned. “So do we have any gems?”

“Sort of.” Snowglobe rubbed her chin. “Well, let’s see. This Gemmy’s bin is about half full. If that other is the same, which I’m guessing it is considering that these two machines were designed to run in sync with each other. Then if I empty the contents of that bin into this one, we should have a full load.” Snowglobe closed her eyes working it over in her head. “At our current consumption rate, I’d say we’d get about a month of power.”

Willow nodded, that was perfect. “Good, that’s all we need.”

Socket looked over to her and tilted his head. “How is that good? I think only a month of power is pretty damned short.”

Snowglobe looked just as curious. Willow sighed. Shouldn’t have let that one slip “This building is a hospital, not a shelter. It’s only stocked with enough food to survive a crisis, not a full-on apocalypse.”

“Did you say apocalypse?” Snowglobe gasped. Socket’s eyes widened and his face changed from one of contempt to worry.

“Didn’t you hear?” Why did she have to bring this up now? Bad Willow. “This whole thing started in Canterlot. It’s not just here.” Both Socket and Snowglobe gaped at her.

Brick took the time to sneak forward and scoop up his flashlight.

“So... we’re a lot worse off than I thought we were.” Snowglobe swallowed, apparently struggling to take the information in. “I knew things were bad, but I kept thinking the REA was going to come rescue us or something.”

“A lot worse off than you thought? Pretty much. I doubt anypony is coming to rescue us.” Willow thought desperately for a way to change the topic. “So, Snowglobe? How could we cut down on power consumption? It wouldn’t hurt to drag out what we can.”

The grey mare shook her head as if clearing it. “If we had to do something I would suggest turning off the water heating systems first. Unscrew every light bulb you can, trip the breakers to sectors we don’t need, and shut down the elevators. You could turn off the main power grid at night as well. And... I hate to throw this out, but all the medical machinery and life support systems.”

Willow’s pupils shrank to mere pinpricks. “The life support systems!? You mean the ones that are keeping ponies alive?”

“Yes.” Snowglobe looked reluctant to continue. “Do you really think those ponies in intensive care have a chance? The ones that are in comas and on whatever other machines keeping them alive? If things are as bad as you say they are... and nopony is coming to help us. All that they are doing is taking up electricity and food.”

“There’s no way.” Willow stomped her hoof.

Brick and Socket sat a short distance away. The two stallions watched in silence, not wanting to interrupt but also not wanting to miss anything.

Snowglobe sighed. “Look Willow, I don’t like it either. But the only reason those ponies are alive is because of those machines. When the power runs out they are going to die. If things are as bad as you say they are, no matter what, they are going to die! It would only make sense to unplug em’ now and save the power. If we keep all those machines running they’re going to guzzle power and bleed us dry! We’d only be prolonging their deaths.”

Willow opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Horror dawning on her face, she sat back. Snowglobe was right, but she just couldn’t bring herself to say it. She couldn’t just pull the plug and kill those ponies. She was the one who had helped half of them. There was no way she just let them die. But... Snowglobe was right. It only made sense; unplugging them now would save power and supplies.

“Say,” Socket cut in, “if the powers out wouldn’t, you know...” He hesitated. “Wouldn’t they already be dead?”

Willow shook her head. “No. All those machines have an independent power source that will last about four hours. The only things in this building that don’t have backups are...” Every muscle in her body seemed to clench with fear. “...the confinement rooms.” The confinement rooms were the only things without an independent power supply.

Snowglobe cast a worried glance at Willow. “You okay? You look kinda tense.” She took a step towards her.

Willow jumped and nearly landed on the gray mare. “We have to get this generator going, right now!” She had left Sunny in an airtight room and had completely forgotten about him. How could she be this stupid?

Snowglobe put a comforting hoof around her. “Willow, just calm down a little. Okay? Tell me what’s going on.”

She forced herself to take a few deep breaths. “I have a pony locked in confinement. He is going to run out of air if we don’t get the power back.” He was in trouble. She knew it. That room was too small for a pony to survive in for long. How long had it been? An hour, maybe?

Snowglobe must have caught the urgency in her voice. The mare trotted back over to the terminal and hit a few keys. “Socket, I’m going to need your help.”

For once the yellow stallion didn’t complain. “What do I need to do?”

Snowglobe pointed a hoof towards a panel on the wall behind them. “Take the cover off that panel. Inside there should be six, four-gauge wires. Find a pair of cutters. You need to pull out as much length as you can and cut the wires. Those run down to the generators.”

“Got it!” Socket galloped over to a utility closet and crashed around inside. A moment later he emerged with a pair of wire snips in his mouth.

Snowglobe spared a glance backwards. “I would have recommended hoof held ones but those’ll work.”

Socket reached the panel, though he only frowned at the casing. “Hey brown pony!” he called. Brick lifted his head. “You got a screwdriver?”

Surprisingly enough, Brick dug in his saddlebag and pulled out a screwdriver. He trotted over to the panel and starting working out the screws while Socket stood back approvingly.

Willow paced impatiently. This was taking too much time. At this rate they would never get the generator going in time. “What are you doing on that terminal?” she pressed Snowglobe.

“This thing has some stupid security code on it.” The mare didn’t look up from the screen. For a minute Willow contemplated going up there to get Sunny now. She pushed the thought away. Even if she could manage to run up six levels of stairs in her current condition the door itself had an electronic lock. It would take no less than a plasma cutter and a battering ram to get that door open.

“Yes!” Snowglobe jeered pointing a triumphant hoof at the terminal. “I beat you! Now who’s smarter?”

“Hey Snowglobe?” Socket called. “There’s an extra wire in here. It’s black but it’s not marked and its thicker than the other ones. What should I do with this one?”

She didn’t even look back. “It's  probly’ just a ground. Take it too. I might need it.” Snowglobe chuckled at the computer as Willow leaned over her shoulder, trying to figure out just what was so funny. “Your wimpy security can’t stop me,” she whispered to the terminal and hit a few more keys. Suddenly, Snowglobe went stiff, her eyes widening. “...Spark generators don’t need a ground.”

There was an earsplitting crack and a flash of blue light from behind them, right as the emergency lights cut out. All at once, everything went to complete darkness.

Willow couldn’t hear anything but she and Snowglobe’s breathing. The smell of ozone filled the air, sharp, mixed with the pungent smell of burnt hair. The only light in the room came from Brick's flashlight which sat on the ground a little ways away and the faint green glow from the terminal.

“Oh Celestia, what did I do?” Snowglobe whimpered, her face illuminated by the glow from the terminal. “He’s dead. He’s dead, I know he’s dead. I fucking killed him!”

“Socket?” Willow called into the darkness. The air around her felt warm, literally warm. “Socket?” Nothing. She could smell it. She didn’t want to think about it. “Brick, where’d you go!?”

As if summoned, the flashlight seemed to levitate up off the ground as the brown stallion retrieved it. He shone it briefly around the room, then trotted up to stand beside Willow.

Willow knew. She didn’t even have to look. She knew it was there. Snowglobe stared at the terminal screen, unmoving. Sucking in her breath, Willow nodded and Brick pointed his flashlight towards the panel. Slowly she turned her head to look at the shape on the ground. The limp form of Socket lay about five feet away from the wall, smoke rising from his singed coat.

“Socket?” Willow nudged Brick and the two approached the unmoving pony. She could still hear Snowglobe whimpering behind her. Brick held the light steady as they neared Socket. Slowly, Willow circled the smoking form until she could see his front. Despite her experience, she still gagged. Across his entire front his yellow coat was burned and blackened. So much electrical current had passed through the pony that his eyes had boiled in his skull. She had seen this once before when she was still in training. Smoke rose from his charred form and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

Willow turned away and walked over to Snowglobe. She put her leg around the shaking mare.

“T-that wasn’t a g-ground,” Snowglobe stammered, still not taking her eyes from the terminal. “That was the p-power cable for the emergency systems.”

“It’s okay.” Willow pulled the shaking mare closer to her. “It’s alright.” She tried to comfort the mare who shook in her grip.

“It’s not okay!” Snowglobe sobbed. “I just killed a pony!”

“I know how it feels,” Willow comforted. “But you have to get ahold of yourself.”

“How do you know how it feels?” She whimpered. “You haven’t killed ponies, you just watch them die!”

The comment stung like salt on an open wound. “You’re wrong!” she hissed, Silencing Snowglobe with one angry glare. “Look, I try not to think about this, but you need to understand. Two years ago, I was in charge of an operation on a stallion. It was a minor surgery.” As Willow spoke Snowglobe’s shaking subsided a little. “He insisted that we start, that he didn’t have time to wait around, but the pony in charge of the anesthesia was out. I was certified in the area so I volunteered to do it.” Snowglobe turned away from the terminal to look at her. “I miscalculated the amount and overdosed him. That pony never woke up from a minor operation because I screwed up. I fell apart for weeks, at times I wasn’t even willing to get up. I got fired and that’s why I moved here, because this hospital doesn’t do background checks! I faced lawsuits and fines, and I had to tell his wife how he died!” She grit her teeth. “But you can’t fall apart. You need to be strong right now. Because if you aren’t, then a pony that could be very important to all of us is going to die. Okay?”

Snowglobe wiped her eyes and nodded. “I’ll try.”

“No, Snowglobe. I don’t want you to try. I want you to do it. You are the only one that knows how to work this generator and if all you do is try then a good pony is going to die.”

A cold determination seemed to set in the mare's face. Her eyes gleamed in the soft green glow of the terminal. “Okay.”


*              *              *


Moon groaned as she rolled over for the twentieth time, the covers bunching up around her as she tried to get comfortable.

She wanted her normal life back. Just four days ago, she had been going to work, talking with friends, wondering what she was going to do when the weekend came around. And now, all of a sudden, she was locked in a hospital with a bunch of crazy ponies eating each other outside. It was hard to believe things had changed so quickly. Sure, her old life had been boring and repetitive and sometimes she had wished for something exciting to happen... but not this. This wasn’t any better. Ponies were dying, and going crazy, and killing and eating each other.

She thought back to the unicorn at the gate she had watched die. She could still see the fear in his eyes as he pleaded for her to let him in, the sadness in them as he lowered his head, waiting for the shot to end his life. All of this was just terrible. Ponies didn’t deserve this! When they had closed down the hospital they had killed ponies. There had been foals out there!

Moon rolled herself out of bed and crossed the room to the window. Like every other window in the building it was covered by a metal grate. The room was dark apart from the dull orange light that shone above the door. The power had gone out about an hour ago and hadn’t yet come back on. Why would it? Without ponies to work the plants the batteries had probably ran out or something. Whatever those ponies did to make power, they weren’t doing it anymore.

She gazed down at the town below. Little fires burned here and there around the town, like candles in the night. An explosion lit up a building about two blocks away from the hospital and Moon actually felt the floor shake. They were still fighting out there, what survivors there were.

“I wonder what’s going on out there,” she wondered aloud. She wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight. There was way too much going through her mind. One thing was for sure, she was too restless. If she didn’t go do something now, she could have drowned in her own boredom.

Moon turned away from the window and trotted back towards the bed. Her eyes fell upon the dresser where the shotgun and some twenty shells rested. She’d figured keeping the gun would be a good idea. After all, there were zombie ponies outside and so far the only two ponies she knew who had guns were Dusty and Brick. And she doubted there were many here. This was a hospital after all, it’s not like ponies just kept guns lying around in a hospital.

Moon trotted for the door, but paused before she reached it. Her eyes flicked back to the gun lying on the dresser. “Are you crazy?” she scolded herself. “You’re just going for a walk in the hallway. You don’t need a gun.”

She couldn’t help but to cast it a backwards glance as she pushed out into the hall.

The hallway was completely dark apart from the emergency lights that cast a dull circle of orange light down on the floor every twenty or so feet. When Moon had spent the first night here she thought they would all end up sleeping in the lobby or something, but it turned out there had been enough guest rooms for almost everypony to have their own. She had tried to do a quick head count when everypony was still in the lobby and had come up with about forty. But if she added up the hospital staff and patients it would probably be a little higher.

It was... creepy walking down the dark hall, passing silently under the circles of dim orange light cast upon the floor. There was a horrible, horrible sinking feeling in her gut and a burning fear in the back of her skull; it was infuriating and terrifying and Moon had no idea where it was coming from. She’d never been afraid of the dark... So why was she afraid of it now? Every single nerve in her body screamed for her to run back to her room and grab the gun. It was as if all the horrors of the past few days were pouring out of her and manifesting themselves in this section of dark hallway.

Moon stepped out from under emergency lamp, trying not to think about the surrounding darkness and what it might hide in its depths. Moon chuckled quietly to herself. “Stop being such a foal. It’s just a hallway. There can’t be anything here.” She was almost to the next circle of orange now. She couldn’t understand why she was this scared. It’s not like she was scared of the dark or anything.

Moon breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped towards the comforting orange glow.

Then it was gone.

How could the light just disappear? Moon went into full panic mode. It was so dark she couldn’t even see her own hooves in front of her! The things in the darkness were closing in, surrounding her, she could feel it.

She screamed and ran, galloping through the darkness with no direction in mind. Just, away. The sound of hoofsteps came from somewhere ahead of her and she ran faster not daring to stop and turn around for fear of what lay behind. She collided into something that yelled when she hit it and both her and the unknown thing crashed to the floor.

“What the hay are you doing?” a stallion’s voice asked from beside her.

“Stay away from me!” she shrieked trying to scramble to her hooves. But a weight landed on her back pushing her back to the floor.

“Calm down,” said the same voice, this time from above her.  Something in the back of her mind told her that the stallion was probably trying to comfort her but she was still too worked up to care. She tried to pull free from his grasp but he wrapped his legs around her flank and kept her belly firmly pressed to the ground.

“Get off me!” Moon snapped trying to push herself up again. SHe fought for a moment more, then went limp. The hooves that held her were firm but, gentle. He had her pinned on her belly, hooves splayed out at her side. Moon listened to her own breathing and the slow, gentle breaths of the pony above her.

“Moon, I ain’t lettin’ you up till you calm down enough to tell me what’s going on,” the voice said.

“How do you know my name?” Moon gasped. “I can’t even see my own hooves and you know my name. What’s going on here?” Moon tried to pull free again but the effort was pointless.

The stallion chuckled. “I’m good at rememberin’ voices.”

“Dusty?” Moon asked.

“Yep.” Moon couldn’t see the pegasus, but she knew he was smiling. A door banged open somewhere ahead and Moon jumped. A moment later a beam of light lit up the dark hall, bringing the two of them into focus.

“Just what the hay are you doing to that mare?!” a stallion bellowed, stomping up to them from a doorway and beaming the two with harsh, white light.

“Tryin’ to get her to calm down,” Dusty replied wincing in the bright light. “Hey could you by any chance take that light outta my eyes?”

The unicorn glared. “Do I look stupid to you? Now I’m gonna ask you again. What are you doing to that mare?”

Moon still didn’t feel right. She shook under the pegasus but found comfort in him being with her. She looked around at the hall, using the unicorn’s source of light to calm her fears. Nothing. She had just been going completely crazy over nothing... That wasn’t good.

Dusty looked puzzled. “Now look mister. I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, but I...” He trailed off and looked down at Moon below him. And then the way he was holding her. “Oh...”
Moon suddenly found the situation to be somewhat funny. She turned her head to the side and took a few deep breaths, trying not to laugh and trying not to blush.

Dusty rolled off her back and scrambled to his hooves. “This ain't what it looks like.”

The stallion looked unconvinced. “So tell me I’m wrong when I say this. Here I am, trying to get some sleep. I hear screaming in the hallway. I hear ponies running, and then I hear a crash and the sound of a tussle. So I haul my tired rump out of bed, get my light and come out here to see you on top of this poor terrified mare.” He took a step closer to Dusty. “Now tell me what I’m missing here?”

Dusty gave a little nervous chuckle. “Well, shoot. This does look a little bad doesn’t it?”

The unicorn stepped closer still until he was right up in Dusty’s face. “Things are already fucked up enough around here. We don’t need ponies like you in here.” Dusty backed away still trying not to look embarrassed but failing miserably.

A mare poked her head out of the door nearest to them. “What’s going on out here?”

The blue unicorn nickered. “We got ourselves a rapist here.”

“What?” Dusty gaped. “I am not! He just walked in at a very awkward moment.”

The mare scoffed. “Yeah, definitely awkward.”

“What I just saw proved otherwise.” The unicorn stepped closer to Dusty who backed away further.

“We should shoot you right now.” The mare spat from the doorway before slamming the door. “I’m getting my husband’s gun!” came her muffled yell.

Moon finally pulled herself together and took in the situation. Dusty could probably handle himself but a fight right now wouldn’t be the best thing that could happen. She climbed to her hooves and faced the accusing stallion. “He didn’t do that.”

He frowned. “Are you sure? 'Cause I saw...”

Moon cut him off. “Look I’m not stupid, okay. I think I would know if a pony was trying to… Look. I’m not stupid. Okay.”

The unicorn looked like he wanted to argue, but he lowered his hostility. “Look, I’m sorry. I just don’t like the idea of ponies hurting each other. And it really looked like he was trying to... You know.”

Moon’s tone softened. “It’s okay, okay? it was just a misunderstanding.”

Now it was the unicorn's turn to look embarrassed. He turned away from her. “I’m just gonna go back to sleep now.” He headed back to his room and closed the door, plunging the hallway back into darkness.

She spoke to where Dusty had last been. “Hey, Dusty? Do you have a light?”

“Yeah, one sec.” Moon jumped when his voice came from right next to her. She heard the sound of him rustling around in his bags. A little white light winked to life in his mouth bringing them both into focus. “It’s all I got.”

Moon rolled her eyes. “At least take that thing out of your mouth so you can talk right.” Before he could reply she levitated the light from his grip.

“Thanks.” Dusty was silent for a moment. “So what were you doing out here anyways?” The blue pegasus looked concerned.

“What? You mean besides being sexually assaulted?” Moon joked. She frowned at herself. Bad taste.

“What?” he choked. The look on his face was priceless. He threw his head from side to side as if looking for somepony else in the hallway.

Moon chuckled. “I’m just kidding.” She nudged the pegasus who was still looking quite flustered. “No, I was just restless so I figured I’d take a walk and maybe even go check on Sunny.”

“Well you certainly have an interestin’ way of walkin’.”

“Oh don’t worry,” she added. “I just had a minor nervous breakdown. It’s over now though.”

“Well that’s nice to know.” Dusty tilted his head to one side. “Did you say you were going to see Sunny?”

“Yeah, why?” The pegasus was looking at her as if she was still thrashing around on the floor screaming. “What’s so strange about that?”

“...Isn’t he dead?”

Moon glared in confusion, then her eyes momentarily widened. “No, he’s not, actually.”

Dusty gave his head a little shake, furrowing his brows. “That can’t be right. Ah’ saw him get bit.”

“Yeah, he did get bitten.... We’re being safe with him. He’s up in confinement on the fifth level.”

“Are you crazy?” he spluttered. The look Dusty was giving her was almost convincing enough to make her think that she was. “You’re keepin’ one of those crazy ponies in here?”

Moon sighed. She really needed to clarify things better. “Oh, no! I would never dream of it. Willow has him locked up. He’s fine. She thinks me may be immune.” She bounced on the tips of her hooves for a second, shooting the pegasus a little smile.

He dropped his questioning gaze. “Well that’s nice to know. I liked that pony for the whole ten minutes that I knew him. It’s a lot nicer knowing he’s not dead.”

“Yeah.” She was still worried about him. Willow said that he was okay but there was no way to tell for sure. She just felt giddy about the whole mess.

“Tell you what.” Dusty smiled. “You got me wonderin’ how he’s doing now too. Mind if I went with you?”

“What makes you think I’d say yes?” Moon teased.

“Cause I got the only light.” The pegasus chided, flapping his wings.

“It’s fine.” Moon laughed. “I’m just giving you a hard time. Besides, if I decide to freak out again it would be nice to have you around to tackle me to the floor.”

Dusty nodded and rolled his eyes. With no more words to exchange, the two started off down the hall, walking side by side, Moon shining the way with Dusty’s flashlight. It wasn’t much but it still lit up the hallway ahead of them.

When they reached the elevator she stopped by it and pressed the call button.

Dusty stopped and turned to look at her. “Moon, you do know there’s no power right?”

“What? Oh!” She nickered and stepped away from the panel. Something, sometime somewhere must have scrambled her brain. She was acting crazy. Freaking out in dark hallways, and now trying to use an elevator in a power outage.

Leaving the elevator behind, Moon scampered after Dusty towards the stairwell. Every time she’d try to meet the pegasus pony’s eye, he’d look away. It was starting to get to her. Maybe he was still embarrassed about what had happened back in the hallway. Probably...

Moon took a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry about freaking out and screaming and making that pony think you were trying to have your way with me.”

“It’s okay.” He sighed. “It’s hard to read a pony by how they look. I would never touch you.” The pegasus froze and looked at her, his face going a little rec. “Well, I mean. Not that I wouldn’t.” He stammered. He went an even darker shade of red. “Not without your permission I mean.” He flopped over and threw his hooves over his face. “I mean only if you—“ He cut himself off and groaned.

Moon tried not to laugh but she couldn’t help it. Dusty rolled over onto his back. “I’m sorry.” He added not looking at her.

Moon wiped a tear from her eye. “It’s okay.” She tried to sound sincere but she just couldn’t stop smiling. The pegasus was hilarious. “I understand.”

Dusty gasped and looked up at her. “No not like that!”

She was going to cry; this was too funny. Moon broke out in laughter again as Dusty banged his head on the floor.

After a minute, Moon got control of herself and Dusty pushed himself back to his hooves. “I’m sorry.” Moon teased. “I just seem to have that effect on stallions.”

Dusty glared at her. “You are evil.”

Moon just chuckled. Soon enough, the emergency door to the stairwell loomed at them out of the darkness.

Dusty sighed as he looked at the little picture of a cartoon pony running downstairs away from a cartoon fire. “You aren’t going to ever let me hear the end of this are you?”

Moon chuckled and opened the door. “Nope.”


*              *              *


“You almost ready Snowglobe?”

“Almost.” Snowglobe had finished running the wires and was once again hitting buttons on the terminal. “I just need to reboot the spell matrix. This thing has been sitting on standby for who knows how long. There are some errors in the system. Magic is one thing. Technology is another. I want to smack the ponies who decided to try and put them both together and tell them how stupid of an idea it was.”

“Right,” Willow murmured. This mare’s machine-y talk was getting confusing. When it came to medicine she could tell a pony anything they needed to know. But machinery was out of her range of knowledge. “I don’t mean to come off as pushy, but could you please hurry it up a little?”

“I’m going as fast as this machine will let me.” Snowglobe huffed. Her eyes were still wet and Willow could understand why. She had had to pass Socket multiple times to reach the wires. She sniffed. “It’s my fault.”

Willow sighed and walked over to the mare. “Look Snowglobe, I’m not going to candy coat it for you. You screwed up. Socket is dead because you messed up. You messed up just like I did. But you can’t dwell on it. Especially now, okay?”

Snowglobe nodded and wiped her eyes. “Reboot’s done.” She sniffed, then stood up. She stretched briefly, then walked around the giant machine until she reached a switch. “Let’s hope this works.”

She took the switch in her mouth, and with a heave, pulled it to the on position. The monster hummed to life casting beams of rainbow light across the ceiling and walls.

“Is the floor supposed to vibrating!?” Willow yelled over the sound of the machine.

“Don’t know!” Snowglobe shouted back. “Never seen one of these in action before!” The room lit up as the recently dead lights blared to life. “It works!” She jeered. “Yes! I knew it would work!”

“Great work!” Willow cheered. Now that the power was back on she could take the elevator up to the fifth floor. Sunny’s room should have resumed its cycles but she still wanted to make sure. “Brick, go call the elevator!” The earth pony complied and trotted away towards the other end of the room.

Willow could see Snowglobe more clearly in the light. Her coat was a light gray and the mare had a short purple mane, but her tail hung down almost to the floor. She was frowning at the generator. “Those rainbows are a bad sign!”

“Why!?” Willow frowned. “I like the rainbows, they’re pretty!”

Snowglobe shot her a sideways glance. “The rainbows mean that the machine is leaking magic! You get magic when gems are broken down in a special magical process! Any uncontained, unrefined magic will manifest itself as a rainbow in open air! That means that this machine is leaking magic it’s supposed to be converting into energy! But whatever you do! Never look directly into the source of the light! You’ll go blind!”

Willow only heard half of her shouted explanation. “Look, I’d love to stay and talk but I have to go check on somepony!”

Snowglobe nodded. “Go ahead; the elevator should be working now! I’m gonna stay here and see what I do about these leaks!”

Willow smiled. The mare may still have been suffering from Socket, but at least work was keeping her mind off it.

“Thanks!” Willow called. She turned and ran for the elevator that Brick was holding for her. Thank Celestia. No more stairs!

“Don’t mention it!” Snowglobe called back. Willow reached the elevator and hit the button for the fifth floor. “If we meet up again I’ll have to tell you about that time I had to rewire a—” The elevator doors closed and cut off the rest of her sentence.

The deafening hum the generator was immediately cut off to be replaced by casual elevator music. Now that she had a moment to think, Willow realized just how tired she was. Every muscle in her body screamed with weariness and she leaned against Brick for support. Brick looked down at her and smiled, draping a foreleg around her neck to give her a sideways hug.

Wait? Had he smiled? Willow did a double take, but the stallion was looking straight ahead. She needed sleep. Imagining things definitely wasn’t a good sign.

Willow groaned. She had been awake now for two days. Not counting the brief nap she took after beating Sugar Apple to death with a desk drawer. Her bones were sore, her joints hurt, she had a massive migraine, and her insides burned like fire. She nuzzled into Brick's shoulder. This was comfortable; she could fall asleep like this.

“Why don’t you talk anymore?” she wondered aloud. The warmth of his body was comforting after the chilly air of the basement. “Back when we were kids I couldn’t get you to shut up.”

The brown pony just shrugged. Willow took a deep breath. He smelt like raspberries. “...Did you use my shampoo?” Willow looked up at Brick, who did nothing but flick his ears. “You did! Didn’t you?”

Brick shrugged.

“How many times have I told you that the blue bottle is mine?”

The elevator doors opened and Brick stepped forward, forcing Willow to stand on her own again. “I swear if that bottle is empty I will make you trot that rump of yours over to the store and get a new one, zombie ponies or not.” Willow pouted, following him out of the elevator.

The two set off down the hall. After a moment or two Willow heaved a sigh and gave the stallion a nudge. She couldn’t stay mad at Brick for more than a minute. He was like a really big kitten. Really big. He was almost a head taller than her.

She reached the end of the hall and pulled open the door that lead to the containment room she had Sunny in. Momentarily all traces of weariness were gone. If something had happened to the orange pony she would never be able to forgive herself. She was surprised to find Dusty and Moon already there. “What are you two doing here?”

Moon was in her face so fast Willow could have sworn she had teleported had her horn been glowing. “You have to do something!”

“What are you talking about?” From what she knew, Moon sometimes overreacted. But Moon looked like she had a good reason for it this time. It put Willow on edge.

Dusty trotted up and put a wing around Moon, who seemed to settle a little. “Sunny ain’t movin’.”

Willow froze. “No...”

“Open the door!” Moon bellowed at her.

“Right.” Willow reached the door as fast as she could and punched in the key code. Every part of her brain was yelling at her. How could she be so stupid? If she had remembered he was here in the first place this never would have happened.

Nothing happened.

“What’s taking so long!?” Moon was back at the window with her front hooves propped up on it.

Willow tried the key code again. Still nothing. “The lock must have restored to defaults in the power outage. I’m trying to get it open.”

Moon glared at her. “Well open it faster!”

“I am trying to open it faster!” She tried desperately to remember the default code but it wouldn’t come to mind. “Oh forget this!” Willow turned away from the door and waved Brick over. Much to his surprise, she plunged her head into his saddlebag.

“What are you doing?” Moon pushed.

Willow found the bit of the gun and pulled it out. “Imphrovishing!” She turned and fired the whole clip into the lock. Firing the gun jarred her brain and the sound rung in her ears. It certainly wasn’t helping her condition, and it definitely wasn’t helping her migraine. She dropped the gun and threw herself at the door. It didn’t budge.

“What can I do?” Dusty added as Willow shook her head to clear the stars.

She turned to Brick. “Open that door.” The stallion narrowed his eyes, then nodded. He took one look at the damaged lock, then reared up on his hind legs and threw himself at the door. The frame bent and the glass cracked, but it held strong.

Moon was staring at Sunny as if she could melt the window between them with her eyes. “Do something,” she whined, but with none of the previous venom in her voice.

Brick backed all the way up to the end of the room and drug his hoof across the tile. All at once, he charged, gaining as much speed as possible in the confined space. The stallion sprang into the air at the last moment and hit the door with all four hooves. The impact jarred the frame and the entire door tore free of its hinges. Brick kept on sailing, and a second later there was a crash from inside the cofinement room.

Willow raced into the room and hopped over Brick. “Good job,” she added before attending to Sunny. He was on the single bed in the corner. It looked like he had fallen asleep. Good, she thought. Maybe he’s just sleeping. Dusty and Moon filed in behind her.

“Is he breathing?” Moon pressed.

Willow checked his pulse; it was there, barely. Thank Celestia there was a pulse. Okay, breathing. Breathing...

He wasn’t breathing. “He needs help until we can get him on a machine!” Willow called. She couldn’t use any potion for this. And any drug that could have been useful was either in storage or not in her bag. “I need to get him breathing again.” She gasped.

Moon knocked her out of the way. “I can do it! You do your... Willow stuff.”

Willow shook her head trying to clear it, even if the trick had stopped working a few hours ago.. “We need a stretcher. We need to get him to intensive care on the first level.” She looked down at Brick who was still on the floor. “Brick, go get me a stretcher.” The stunned pony lifted his head and gave it a shake. At least it still worked for him.

“Uh, Willow?” Dusty muttered.

“What!?” She didn’t have time for this. Couldn’t he see that something very serious was going on here?

He pointed a hoof at the bed Sunny was on. “That bed has wheels on it.”

“Oh.” Willow froze, her train of thought broken. Wheels, bed downstairs, right. “Somepony help me push this!” She ran back over to the bed and grabbed ahold of the rail. Dusty grabbed hold beside her and together they managed to tug the bed away from the wall and out of the room. “Second floor, let’s go!” Willow went to put her hoof down for another pull but suddenly it wasn’t there. She landed flat on her face and the bed nearly rolled right over her.

“Get up.” Moon yelled nudging her with a hoof. Willow tried to get up but her body had had it. She had gone on this long but this was as far as she was going. The combined efforts of the last few days and the medical death she had sent through her system back in the square had taken their toll... again. This was the second time today her body had failed her. Maybe it was trying to teach her a lesson.

“Can’t.” She gasped, trying again to get her hooves under her but failing. Her vision went black and when she opened her eyes again lights were flashing by above her. She rolled over to look at an unconscious Sunny. She was on the bed, next to him. Brick was on her left and Dusty and Moon were pushing from the right. She tried to pick her head up but spots filled her vision and she blacked out again. It was a weird feeling. Willow knew what exhaustion was but had never experienced it herself. She could still hear everything as if she were in a dream but could see none of it.

“Willow, wake up!”

Moon was cranky, time to wake up.

Willow rolled over, preparing to push herself up only to see the floor rushing up to meet her.

Thud.

“I’m awake!” she moaned. “Why didn’t you tell me there was a floor there?” At least everything didn’t hurt anymore. Now it was more of a dull throbbing that filled her entire body. With Brick's help she climbed to her hooves. Moon was glaring at her. Again. Moon was the master of evil glares. “What did I do?” She couldn’t think. Her brain was still trying to sleep.

Moon stomped a hoof. “Willow, you’re the only one here who knows how to work that machine.”

“Right, right.” Willow stumbled over to the machine. Looking it over she found everything in order. They had managed to hook everything up right. It was operating the machine that they were confused about. She looked over to the control terminal and hit the little button that ran the routine. “There, all better.”

Moon pressed in beside her. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty.” It was a good thing Moon was here. At least she knew a thing or two about medical care. Willow knew that if she had had to hook up the machine without Moon in her current condition, she would have had to talk a pony through it. She turned away from the bed and immediately landed on her face, again. How many times could she fall down in one day? It was really starting to hurt. Maybe she could get Brick to carry around a pillow and throw it down wherever she was about to fall.

A green mare trotted into the room. Her curious gaze looking at Sunny and then down to the heap of pony on the floor. “I-is everything okay in here?” she stammered.

Willow recognized the mare. She worked here. “You.” She jabbed a hoof at the mare. “Watch the one on the bed. Near suffocation. Possible... possibly some form of infection. Try not to touch him.”

The mare looked skeptical but nodded and trotted over to the machine.

Willow climbed to her hooves again and Moon opened her mouth to say something. Willow stuck out a hoof to silence her. “Moon, I swear it by Celestia. If you give me crap right now, when I’m well I will tie you to a bed and force feed you a whole bottle of Ipecac. He’s going to be fine.” Bed, where was a bed?

Her eyes trying to droop shut any time she stopped thinking about holding them open. If she ever had to take that blue stuff again she didn’t know what she would do.

“What happened to him?” Moon was eyeing the orange pegasus with worry.

Willow sighed. She at least deserved and explanation. “When the power went out... the life support system in that room went out too. That place is airtight. The REA built it to contain biological specimens.”

Moon looked furious. Please Moon, not now. “Why didn’t you go help him?” Moon spat accusingly.

Willow already felt bad enough. She didn’t need another pony yelling at her about how she screwed up. “I went down to start the generators. By the time I was down there it would have taken longer to come back up than to stay down there and get them started.”

“He almost died because you were too lazy to go and get him!?” Willow cringed as the angry mare spat at her. “That’s real nice to know!”

“Look!” she spat back. “Do I look like I’m in any condition to trot my way up six flights of stairs?” Moon tried to speak but Willow cut her off before she could start. “It’s over! Stop dwelling on it. Sunny’s alive. I’m alive… sort of. And now with that said. I’m going to bed.” Willow turned her back on Moon and stalked out of the room. Fighting to stay on her hooves. Every step seemed to tire her more. “Damn medicine,” she growled. “Never taking that stuff again.”

The thought of a soft bed was almost enough to put her to sleep where she stood. She was going to take a long nap, and Celestia have mercy upon anypony who dared to try and wake her.