//------------------------------// // A Terrible Catastrophe Part 2 // Story: Falling Apart // by The Infinity Doctor //------------------------------// "Good morning!" the insane, beanie-wearing fluffball cheered loudly, snapping him out of his sleep. "Screwball...there is no- I repeat, no reason you should be waking me up at this ungodly hour," he claimed weakly, his new body weighed heavily against the floorboards of the cottage, as if the gravity of the planet was doubled on himself "it's still dark outside for god's sakes!" "That just means we can get an extra-early start on the day!" the filly stated, landing on my chest. "Screwball, I'm in no condition to get up, much less go outside and play whatever game it is you want to play." "Silly! I can fix that!" 'Oh god...' I moaned to myself, hoping she'd just pull some aspirin out from under her beanie. In the blink of an eye, Screwball was suddenly dressed in a nurse's uniform, her beanie now replaced with a white hat with a red cross on it. "Wha?" I could only ask, concerned as to where this was going, and how this fiasco was going to end. "Just sit back, and Nurse Screwball will take care of everything!" she said, way too cheerfully. Her spiraled eyes spun rapidly as she removed a large, sharp syringe filled with a mysterious green liquid out of her mane, as an enormous grin threatened to split her head in two. "Sc-Screwy, let's be r-r-rational here-" He was interrupted, as Screwball plunged the syringe into his shoulder, forcing him to shriek in pain. His screams were unheard by either Screwball, or the other residents of the cottage, as Screwball pushed on the plunger of the syringe with all her weight, injecting the mystery fluid into his body. "Whoops, zat was not medicine!" Screwball quipped, studying what appeared to be a label on the syringe. He grunted in pain as the liquid surged through his bloodstream, making him squirm in agony. "D-D-Damn it Screwball..." he wheezed painfully "wh-what was in th-that?" "Oh, y'know, just a little something I threw together." she replied cryptically. He growled as he took Screwball by the neck of her uniform, his entire left arm blossoming in pain. Ignoring it, he shook her, making her spiraled eyes rattle in her head. "Tell me right now, damn it!" he screamed, both in anger and pain. Screwball looked genuinely terrified, tears slipping down her face as he held her firmly. "That's not going to work this time! You tell me what was in that, or so help me I'll-" "P-poison Joke, s-some Zap Apple jam, and-and-and some Griffon's bane." "Poison?! POISON?! YOU POISONED ME YOU LITTLE WEASEL?!" He shook her harder once more as he screamed at her. Screwball continued to cry as she did nothing to escape his grasp. Surprising himself, he threw her, making her collide with a far wall of the house. 'Screw this.' he thought, charging out of the house, knocking down the cottage door. He paid no mind to the damage he'd caused, and kept on running. His four legs pounded against the dirt and grass as he ran, feeling the wind in his face. He found himself running towards a large farm, apple trees as far as the eye could see. Taking a running leap over the rather short fence, he ran through the grove, finding a large, red barn in the distance. His animalistic instincts had taken over, and he bounded toward it, hoping to find something to fill his stomach. He ran past the orange one, Apple-something, surprising her. "What the- hey! Y'all come back here!" she shouted, giving chase to him. Looking behind him, he found Apple chasing her. A feral grin split his muzzle, and he steered away from the barn, the orange mare still galloping behind him. 'Pony wants to play!' he chuckled inwardly, turning sharply as he headed into the grove of apple trees. He leapt over fallen tree, presumably not bearing any fruit. Apple followed suit, clearing the fallen tree with ease. "Hey! I know y'all can talk!" Apple shouted to him "Stop runnin'!" He ignored her, and instead continued to dash ahead of the palomino pony. A small house set in a tree was coming just over the horizon. He vaguely heard Apple gasp, whether from exhaustion or concern he didn't know. Then she screamed as loud as she could, her voice piercing the air like a banshee. "APPLEBLOOM! Y'ALL COME OUTTA THERE RIGHT NOW!" Three small fillies suddenly came down the ramp leading up to the small house. He barely saw them, before his brain could make a decision. He was already running full force, and there'd be no way to turn without harming the three small ponies. He panicked, worried that he wouldn't make it. 'Do not harm the young.' a voice in his head stated. He stumbled, surprised at hearing the voice. 'You are better than this,' it stated 'you do not harm the young.' He hurriedly thought what he should do, as the treehouse was almost upon him. The three fillies were frozen with fear at the base of the ramp, their eyes wide, with fearful expressions adorning their faces. Planting his legs firmly into the ground- he leapt, sparing the three small ponies from harm. He breathed a sigh of relief, before he realized that there was one thing between him and safety. The treehouse. He crashed, his head forcibly pushed into his collarbone as the rest of his body was filled with splinters and other debris. His body mass being too heavy for the roof, plus his velocity, forced him to go right through the floor of the treehouse. He lost consciousness as plank after plank hit him over the head, combined with the many splinters buried in his hide. His whole body screeched out in pain as the rest of the treehouse collapsed in on him, entombing him in a barrier of wood and nails. He vaguely became aware of blood trickling down the back of his neck, indicating that the wound from the purple one had re-opened. His eyes closed, and he became dead to the world, falling into a deep sleep, the pain numbing only slightly as he barely heard shouts coming from outside the wreckage. "See? I told you this thing would be trouble!" Rainbow stated as she helped her friends, plus Big MacIntosh, clear the site of the former CMC headquarters. Said crusaders, were currently in the farmhouse, being tended to by Granny Smith. "Ah wouldn't a' believed it if I hadn't seen it with mah own eyes," Applejack replied, tossing a plank into the wagon near the wreckage "ah mean, he just came tearin' outta the orchard like nopony's business, and...well, this happened." "For its' sake, it better not have done anything to Fluttersh-" Rainbow's eyes widened, and she darted off. "Well, I'm certainly not happy that the treehouse was destroyed," Rarity said, daintily lifting a small piece of wood and placing it carefully into the cart "but...oh nevermind, it would sound morbid." "Ah honestly don't think it'll make much of a difference right now, Rares." Applejack stated flatly. "Eeyup." MacIntosh agreed. "Well, maybe now that he's...'down for the count' as it were...perhaps this situation might be a bit easier to handle?" "Provided that doozy of a landin' didn't kill 'im." Applejack replied.