If you’ve ever felt like everything was crumbling around you and that everyone was against you, you wouldn’t have even come close to the feeling that Gear was currently feeling. A sense of deep, dark, inescapable despair filled him to the brim. Depression wasn’t a usual thing for him to feel but he’d lost too much to suppress it at this point. His entire world had come crashing down in the course of just two weeks, as a matter of fact, so had every other pony’s though he doubted there were many left. It was all over. There was no hope at all for any pony anywhere and Gear, who had formerly been optimistic, sat depressed against the dusty wall that had, at one point in time, been full of life and joy. A couple of dusty toys lay on the floor, a crib near by lay empty on its side, the blankets sprawled on the floor in a heap. The light pink wallpaper had begun peeling though it had only been left alone for two weeks. A ceiling fan hung from the ceiling, two wires the only thing holding up three and a half blades and a broken light. Gear had bolted the door shut with planks of wood and nails but it wouldn't hold forever, he’d seen too many broken down doors to believe it would. It wouldn't matter any way; he didn't have any food with him.
He’d started his journey with six others, but they were gone now. Just like every pony he’d ever known, they were gone. He'd abandoned four of them when he was overcome with depression, the other two had simply gone missing one night and no amount of searching could find them. They all knew what had happened, but no pony was willing to voice it. They’d traveled a fair distance, going from Ponyville to Canterlot then Stalliongrad, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered any more. They had been naive to think that any place were safe. Even though he were immune, there were just too many infected around, no where was safe, nothing was safe. It had struck like lightning; just one infected pony was enough to doom an entire city. It started with just one pony, no pony knew for sure how he’d been infected and any pony who may have known was infected now. It was all just a matter of time before the last few ponies died out and Gear was sure his time was near. He could remember the first day he had known what was going on.
Day 1
Gear sat at the table with a cup of coffee and the day’s newspaper. It was going to be a sunny day today with no clouds in the sky, perfect for going for a walk in the park or something along those lines. That morning had been like every other morning, wake up, get dressed, drink coffee, eat toast, and read the news before opening up shop. Gear was an inventor and mechanic, if you could break it, he could fix it. If you could think of it, he could invent it. He was currently living in ponyville in his wagon and workshop, it was nice here, most of the ponies were nice though he found two or three of them to be unlikable. Not many ponies bought his wares but every now and then somepony would come to browse or have something repaired. It was a simple, quiet life and Gear enjoyed it.
He continued to look through the paper, stopping now and then to read an article about this year’s crop and the differences in prices that would result. On the back page was an article about how a new disease had been discovered and was rapidly spreading through Manehatten. The city was apparently under quarantine and some of the best doctors were working to find a cure. The title of the article read “NEW DISEASE INFECTS 37% OF POPULATION” He read the article carefully.
‘A new disease was discovered today in Manehatten, it has been confirmed that 37% of the total population has been infected. How long it took to infect that much of the population is unknown as the symptoms are very mild. Patients get headaches, muscle aches, increased appetite, and shortness of temper. Doctors are confident that they will have a cure within the month. The virus appears to be water born so the city's water supply has been shut down and bottled water is being distributed. Helix corporation claims to have the situation completely under control, armed guards are ensuring the peace is kept and research continues un-obstructed. The origin of the the virus is unknown as patient zero has not yet been identified. In an interview, Helix corps. CEO stated that determining who patient zero is will take time and that any information would be helpful.’
Gear frowned and folded the paper up before slipping it into a recycling bin he had near the door. He drank the rest of his coffee and opened up shop. He was surprised to find a small line had already formed. “Welcome to Gears and Cogs, is there something you need?” He asked.
A purple unicorn that he vaguely remembered ran the library was first in line. “Yes, do you have any surgical masks?” She asked. “The hospital is running out of them.” Gear frowned at her.
“No, I don’t have surgical masks, but I did build a couple of functional gas masks, those should work better.” He said. He pulled three masks out of a container, one of them had a simple air filter and covered the entire face, the second had a chemical filter that would kill most germs but leave the wearer unharmed, and the last had a long tube going to a fresh oxygen supply tank. “These are all I have at the moment.”
The purple unicorn examined them a moment then took the chemical filter mask; she slapped some bits down on the counter and walked away with it. The second pony in line was Mayor Mare. She simply took the first mask and put some bits on the counter. Gear frowned worriedly. “Is every pony looking for a mask?” He called out. Everypony in line nodded their heads. Gear sighed and pulled over a bin full of raw materials. “If you wait a while, I’ll have enough for everypony.” He said.
It took him the entire day just to make enough masks for half of the original line, to make matters worse, the line had gotten bigger during the day and he was beginning to run out of materials. He set down his tools and turned to the line. “I don’t have enough materials to continue making masks. I’m sorry but you’ll either have to bring me more or go without a mask.” He was beginning to worry about every pony. They were clearly over reacting, they were miles away from Manehatten and from what he'd read, a gasmask wasn't necessary. It was giving him business though so he didn't mind.