I can't remember, what happened in September..
I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. My face was stuck to the dusty ground, feeling uncomfortable and sticky. With a quick cough, I lifted my heavy body off the ground.
Black dots pestered my line of sight for a couple of seconds before I regained my vision completely. And when I did, I gasped at the sight of the dead Ponyville.
When everything is gone, when its dark and I'm alone.
The sun shined brightly on my face and I lifted a gentle hoof to block out the golden rays from blinding my eyes. I wish I had brought a pair of my new sunglasses, but I had just locked the door behind me.
"Get your newspaper!" a younger colt called out, clocking me in the face with a newspaper but not really noticing. I breathed deeply, trying not to get aggravated. I picked up the article-filled packet and skimmed through it.
A page in the middle of the paper caught my attention-no, not because of the fact that it was in ginormous red letters-that I had flipped to. "DISEASE SPREADS ACROSS EQUESTRIA" it read. Intrigued, I settled on my haunches and read the article featured with the heading.
"Trottingham carries a deadly disease that could kill ponies."
"You don't say," I mutter, continuing to observe.
"It has started to spread nationwide-Las Pegasus, Manehattan, and Apple Loosa. About one million ponies have died because of this plague-and no pony has found a cure yet. Be watchful; here's a list of symptoms that we've collected from the infected just before they perished.
• Crazed speech, mainly gibberish.
• Tinier pupils, frothy mouth.
• Act as if they don't no anypony.
• Shaky.
• Collapse a lot.
• Suicidal thoughts.
• And finally, a super insane personality driving them to their death.
"We hope that you be very careful and notice all these symptoms in a pony that might be infected. And according to scientists, the next city that will be hit is Ponyville..in about two days.
-9/9/2011"
"Oh, wow," I gasp, horrified by such a plague. I stood up abruptly, feeling the need to search for the infected even if it wasn't "two days" yet.
It's been forever, since I could have remembered: Where the hell is everypony? I just wanna know the story.
"What happened?" I cried, pushing myself away from the perished body next to me. I couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl-but it had green and black freckles over its face, and a pale blank look in the wide eyes.
Horrified, I stepped back and trotted. My hooves were still sticky-I looked back to see that a trail of blood had followed my stride. I looked downwards at my horseshoes-they were dripping with red scarlet. I nearly gagged.
The center fountain was miraculously still running with grayish water, but I didn't care. I stuffed my dirty hooves and watched as the blood streamed away like the last embers of a plume of dark smoke.
Nearby the fountain was a familiar looking stallion. He was a lighter shade of grey, with a single red streak running through his black hair. A flash interrupted my mind, and for a moment all I heard were voices..
Of what happened right before...I became so alone.
"Hey, Mic!" I called to my friend, who was trotting along the uneven Ponyville paths. He stopped with a grin and headed over to me.
"What's up, Tombstone?" he asked, the normal slang accent stuck to his voice.
"Have you read the news?" was my answer. I hoofed through his saddlebag and pulled out the packet, making sure he didn't crumple it. Mic lifted the newspaper up with his magic, reading the opened page.
"Er...what about Celestia eating all the cake?"
"What? Oh, wrong page!" I sighed, skimming through until I found the page I was reading just moments ago.
The gray stallion's eyes were moving quickly, as if he was begging for more suspension. He placed it back in my saddlebag cautiously, looking away as if he were guilty.
"Mic, you okay?" I asked, taking a small step forward. His iris's clouded up for a moment-then he looked up at me, a grin plastered on his face.
"Of course I am," he coughed, his tone faltering. "But anyways, I have a performance back at the Ponyville center, and I've got to practice."
"How'd you feel about the disease?" I asked, but he had scurried away, his breathing shallow. I shrugged it off and headed the opposite direction, leading to Sugarcube Corner.
Still can't remember what happened in September...
The voices ended in unison after an abrupt yell, and my line of sight was clouded by a fading mist. I shook my head furiously, trying to clear it off. No such luck.
I continued to pad along the deserted paths, more nausea building up inside of me as I saw the piled bodies of sickening perished ponies. I couldn't believe I survived whatever hit the poor population of cheerful bright citizens.
What brought me to my senses was the fact that the school yard was completely a pile of debris. I nearly vomited the bile rising in my stomach, seeing the half part of a skull.
The whole entire scene was bad enough, having such the town was defeated by a destructive force. But I needed my question to be answered-who did this, and why? I racked my brain for answers, not getting anything but a blur.
Back when everypony DIED, trails of blood during my stride...
Pinkie Pie was not there, which surprised me-more out of curiosity then concern. I opened the doors to the bakery, seeing a rather worried and desperate-looking Mrs. Cake.
"Uh, Mrs. Cake?" I asked, trotting towards the counter. She seemed to snap back into reality, looking at me with her sluggish eyes. Putting on a well-practiced grin, the mother said, "How may I help you, Tombstone?"
"Actually, I was planning to buy one of Pinkie's cupcakes...but where is she?"
The blue mare's face darkened as she shook her head and explained. "She woke up sick this morning, shaky and a rather muted speech. She's in her room right now, but we don't know how long she'll hold up.."
Wait a minute. Shaky, weird speech? Those were a part of the symptoms listed on the bulleted information on the newspaper! I tensed, which startled the pony standing in front of me.
"Have you read the news?" I asked abruptly, not even waiting for an answer as I pulled out the article-filled paper, making sure that this time it was on the correct page. Luckily enough, it was.
Mrs. Cake backed away after I showed her the words all located on the same piece of paper. "Oh no, surely Pinks wouldn't have caught it already...It hasn't even been two days yet!"
"Well...did she eat anything strange yesterday?" I ventured, my investigating personality kicking in.
The bakery-owner kept silent, lips pursed.
"Well?" I prompted gently.
Giving up, the mare loosened her tightening abdomen and limbs with a single nod. "She ate a pastry she got from Zecora-I have no idea what it was-and then poof, she woke up all frothy and crazed."
Zecora? Surely the rhyming zebra of the Everfree forest wasn't cruel enough to feed Ponyville's cheerful pony a poisonous, infected snack. Of course not-perhaps the mystic creature had a cure, and maybe the delectable food was not in the striped horse's knowing.
"Thanks for the information...And I'll pass up on the cupcake," I replied before heading out of the pastry shop. Next stop, the Everfree Forest.
I just discovered that the ponies were defeated..by something really strong..
I rounded the corner and my breath caught in my throat as I stared into the shining metal of an unbroken machine. It was like a circuit with a gray mechanical box, a red, dangerous-looking button smack-dab in the middle.
At another end of the ring was an exploded circular object. Ash surrounded it, followed by the sharp tang of chemicals. The machine looked familiar-another bright flash blinded me, but this time carrying the horrifying catch of a memory, a vision..
It seemed very weird and wrong, like it came out of this world.
"Hello, noble steed. What is it that you need?"
I had ventured bravely and confidently into the Everfree and had actually found the rooted tree. Zecora had just let me in, inviting me for a sit around her stump-table.
"Did you actually feed Pinkie Pie an infected treat?!" I yelled, sounding much more louder than I expected.
"I did not know such was infected-If I could, I'd fine the cure and she'd be perfected," the striped zebra replied honestly. At least she had read the newspaper, and she even looked a bit worried for the pink party mare.
"Okay, but why'd you even give her a 'sweet'"? I said, wringing my hooves to emphasize my last word.
"Advice she begged for, so I gave her treats galore. Foreign they had seemed-but her request was fulfilled, indeed."
"Fine..Thanks for your help, I owe you."
"No owing is needed, you had me nicely treated," she replied with a wave as she shut her wooden door. The decorations on it clattered as I went off, not looking back.
After retracing my steps (I left a pile of leaves in case I ever got lost), I had made it back to Ponyville. But something didn't seem right.
The sky was dark, the sun covered by amass of grey clouds. Everypony seemed slower than usual, their manes all crumpled or disheveled as if they had just woken up but had not bothered to comb or style their hair. And their eyes-Celestia, their eyes-were all tiny, clouded iris's.
"Oh no." I shut my eyes, wishing it was just a dream. I opened them again, seeing the same thing. My heart was beating faster and I tried jabbing myself, but that didn't take my knowing of the present. I was in reality, not a dream.
Ponyville had caught the sickness. The newspaper wasn't accurate after all-how the buck were we supposed to prepare?
Oh, well. Let's see what happens.
***
"Finally. Finally it's done. It's finally done!" Mic shrieked happily, laughing crazily. He was shaking, intensified as he stared proudly and insanely at the invention surrounding him. I gasped, stepping back into a gathering crowd.
Suddenly I noticed the nuclear stamp on the other object of the circular gadget. "Stop it, he's trying to kill us all! STOP IT!"
He thrust his head at me, his mane whipping fiercely in the wind. "NO! I'm going to save you. I'M GOING TO SAVE YOU ALL. DON'T YOU TRY TO STOP ME!!!"
***
"I've regained a small memory," I whispered, my eyes still shut, unaware of my dead surroundings. "Came to my head just like that suddenly...I think I've gotten a clue...SOMETHING TELLS ME THIS IS WORSE THAN WHAT I KNEW."
***
"THIS IS YOUR REDEMPTION DAY, EVERYPONY! STAY AWAY FROM ME! GO AWAY FROM ME.." he yelled, laughing manically. "GO AWAY!"
I felt sorry and fearful as I watched Mic seep into the full affects of the plague. With an angry snort, I lifted myself off the ground and hurried forward, trying to stop him.
But I halted as he looked at me with a stinging glare. "You can't touch me now!"
He hopped onto the metal stoolstep that lifted him a foot of the ground in front of the machine's main control. Oh no..
"YOU SEE THIS BUTTON HERE?! I'M GONNA PRESS IT!!" he screamed, lifting a hoof.
Our screams of horror were muted out by the explosion of nuclear chemicals. My body flew from the impact, slamming against a wall. Metal tasted on my tongue and I lost my train of heartbeat, falling unconscious onto the path of Ponyville.
***
"I just remembered what happened in September..."
"I'M THE ONE WHO KILLED THEM ALL, I SURVIVED AFTER THE FALL!" I shrieked happily in Mic's voice, combined with mine.
Maybe I was Mic, maybe that was just a twisted memory. But I survived, and I killed...killed the ones I had once loved-all in a daze of fear and insanity.
So yeah, I can bucking live with that.