Twilight sat alone in her castle’s enormous library, surrounded on all sides by piles and piles of books. It was a normal evening for the alicorn, poring over the pages of one of the many books Princess Celestia had sent her to fill the empty bookshelves of the library.
But as she leafed through the pages of her book in the intricacies of alicorn reproductive behavior, she couldn’t help but feel as though something was off. She’d tried to push the feeling away at first, but it persisted. The little parasitic brain-worm niggled at the back of her consciousness, preventing her from focusing on her studies.
With a sigh, she placed her book face-down on the table beside the chair.
“Spiiike?” she called out, drawing out the word.
“Yeeesss?” he replied from a few rooms over, mocking the inflection of her voice.
Deciding a yelling conversation wasn’t one she wished to have, Twilight pulled herself to her hooves and trotted to the kitchen were Spike currently resided. He sat there at the enormous dining table, absently munching away on some opal.
“Is there something going on in town today? I can’t help but feel as though I’m missing something important.”
Spike shrugged. “I’unno. I’ve been sitting right here all day eating.”
Twilight’s brow furrowed. “But I told you not to—”
A vehement knock on the door cut Twilight off mid-thought, momentarily saving Spike from a barrage of verbal torment. He let out an audible sigh of relief as Twilight turned away from him, the mare trotting cautiously toward the door.
“Who could possibly be knocking?” Twilight mumbled to herself. “I’ve never had a visitor show up unannounced before. At least, not since the library burned down all those months ago.”
Without a second thought, Twilight flung the door open. On the other side stood an angry Zecora, eyes glassy and foam frothing at her mouth. As it turned out, the zebra hadn’t been knocking. She’d been pounding on the door in an effort to break it down.
Twilight glanced behind the zebra in an attempt to survey the scene. The streets of Ponyville were in chaos. Infected ponies—infected with what, she didn’t know—roamed the street, growling and sputtering at every innocent passerby. The few healthy ponies stupid enough to be outside ran and screamed for their dear lives, making a break for the shelter of the homes.
She watched as one pony, Lyra, galloped down the road at full speed, her mane flowing behind her in the wind. Then, out of nowhere, an infected pony leapt onto her, tackling her to the ground. Lyra let out a shriek, causing Twilight to flinch. Her attacker, Daisy, let out a low rumble and yanked her into a tight embrace. Lyra struggled against Daisy's grasp, but it was to no avail. She gave in as Daisy snuggled her vigorously in the middle of the street, resigned to her life as the flower mare’s little spoon.
Twilight let out a groan.
“Oh c’mon,” she pouted,“why can’t we have just one week where nothing goes wrong? Only one week! That’s all I ask!”
Zecora let out a grumble-snarl-moan, snapping Twilight out of her reverie. The zebra moved as if to lunge, but Twilight, propelled by adrenaline, slammed the door in her face and dead-bolted it shut.
“Spike?” she called out, her voice wavering. “We’ve got a bit of a problem.”
Twilight slammed the door shut once more, this time behind Applejack as the farm mare stormed into the castle. Out of breath, the two of them worked together to barricade the door with bookshelves, tables, chairs, and pretty much anything else within reach.
Once sufficiently satisfied that their wall would hold, Applejack wiped the sweat of her brow and turned to face the five mares and one dragon in the room with her. “Hoo boy, it’s crazier ‘n an Appleloosan rodeo out there!”
Fluttershy’s ears splayed to the side. “Is it really that bad out there? Is… is everypony safe?”
Applejack lifted her hat off, scratching her head. “Hmm… I’d reckon that about a third of Ponyville’s infected, another third is on the run, and the last of ‘em are all hiding.”
“O-oh, okay,” Fluttershy replied, hiding behind her mane. “Twilight? What do we do?”
The alicorn’s head shot up, her mane frazzled. “Erm… well, if the disease hasn’t already escaped Ponyville then we should quarantine the town. It would probably also be help if we found out exactly where the disease originated. Does anypony have any clue how this all started?”
“Quarantine?!” Rarity cried out in exasperation. “I can’t be quarantined! I’m a lady, Twilight Sparkle, and I intend to be treated like one—not like some sort of… some sort of rabid animal.”
Twilight heaved a sigh; she should’ve seen this coming. “Rarity, I promise you that it’s nothing personal. We just need to make sure that we prevent as many ponies from getting infected as possible, and that means keeping everypony who might have been in contact with the disease away from the rest of the healthy ponies.”
“Yes, I understand that, but there simply must be a better way! What happens if we run out of supplies here? What then?”
“Pffft. C’mon, Rares! It’ll be fun!” Pinkie fired back, hopping circles around the distraught unicorn. “It’ll be like a town-wide party where nopony else is invited! Wouldn’t that be fun? Huh? Huh, huh, huh!?”
Twilight shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She needed to… She needed… She needed a to do list!
Alright… “Step one is to inform Princess Celestia. After that, I need to… I need to—”
“—So I hate to interrupt, Twi,” Rainbow piped up, her voice low, “but, uh, we’ve got a little bit of a problem on our hooves. Take a look out the window.” She gestured broadly toward the window on the far side of the throne room.
Twilight glanced up, staring in the direction Rainbow had pointed. The sun had just begun to set outside. The beauty of sunset’s vibrant reds and oranges sharply juxtaposed the hordes of infected ponies piling outside the window, moaning and groaning as they searched for a way into the castle. The crowd easily held twenty ponies, and it grew larger and larger with each passing minute.
The crowd quickly grew silent, all of them staring onward in both fear and awe.
It was Fluttershy that broke the silence. “What… what do we do?”
Just then, the a large stallion shoved his way to the front of the crowd. Big Mac stared into the castle at them absently. Then, entirely unprovoked, he let out a cry loud enough to pierce the heavens and smashed his forehead into the window, shattering the glass. The ponies pooling outside the castle let out a collective rumble-moan of triumph, working together to hoist Big Mac inside.
Rainbow’s wings flitted at her sides. “You wanna now what we’re gonna do now, ‘Shy? Run.”
Like that, any semblance of calm shattered. Everypony sprinted away, scattering across the castle like the scared little prey they were.
Twilight flung Spike onto her back, and he let out a yelp of surprise. Once her little dragon latched onto her, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck, she made a break for it. As Twilight darted up the stairs, she glanced behind her and watched as Big Mac lunged, catching Rarity’s tail. Twilight grimaced, knowing that her friend was as good as done.
She could only pray that she and Spike weren’t the next ones to bite the dust.
The streets of Ponyville were desolate. It was a peculiar sight, to be sure. The town usually radiated life and jubilance. Despite its small size, something was always happening; there was never a quiet moment. But right now, aside from the occasional chase… there was nothing. Nearly everypony had been infected, and those who had yet to be remained locked away in their cellars.
Suddenly, two ponies galloping full-speed appeared just over the horizon. Discord smiled. Finally, some action! He snapped his fingers and a bucket of buttered popcorn poofed into existence. He kicked his feet out and put his hands behind his head, rocking back into his perch atop the roof of Town Hall. With a sadistic grin, he started to much on the popcorn, waiting for the show to begin.
No matter how many times he saw it, watching the ponies hunt one another never got any less hilarious. It happened the exact same way each and every time. It always started with the chase, followed by the inevitable capture. Rarely did the pony being hunted ever escape—the only occasion Discord had seen it happen was when one pegasus had been intelligent enough to use his wings to get away. It was only a temporary victory, however, as a few airborne infected ponies had jumped him soon afterward. Ah, watching the hope drain from his face had been absolutely priceless.
Once the prey was caught, the cuddling began. The captured pony usually went through five stages. The first was always surprise. No matter how many times they’d seen it happen to the others, they always expected to be bitten or attacked or something of that nature. That’s why, when they ended up on the receiving a vicious hug, they were always incredibly confused. Then that confusion immediately turned into fear as they struggled to escape their captor’s iron grip. Once that proved fruitless—as it always did—they finally resigned to their fate, sitting limply as their oppressor nuzzled and squeezed and snuggled them to his or her own liking.
Then, slowly, the victim warmed up to the idea. Discord hadn’t yet been able to discern if it was a mental change or if it was the pathogen infecting them, but with the passage of time, they always ended up worming their way deeper into their captor’s embrace, reciprocating the malicious snuggles. Then—and this was the best part—after a few minutes of consensual cuddling, they always wordlessly decided to go their separate ways, headed off to infect other ponies.
Equines were such peculiar creatures, weren’t they?
Discord watched as the ponies on the horizon grew closer, their distinct forms now visible against the dark of the night. Eager for a show, he squinted, watching. He determined that the chaser was the wall-eyed mailmare, and the chasee was none other than the one and only Fluttershy. He briefly considered swooping down and saving the Element of Kindness, but decided the better of it. The benefit of being able to taunt her with the story far outweighed the momentary flash of anger he’d face from her, no matter how intense it might be.
If he were being honest, he was somewhat impressed. He’d never seen the shy little pegasus more her legs so quickly—that was genuine terror spread across her face. He was almost rooting for her to make it… almost.
Just then, Fluttershy made the mistake of glancing behind her. In that one moment, she managed to trip over her own hooves. Her inertia sent her tumbling to the ground, where Derpy eventually caught up to her. It was all over.
Fluttershy let out a squawk of alarm as Derpy latched onto her, trembling and hiding behind her mane. The draconequus let out a chuckle, beaming as he watched Fluttershy struggle. Ah, it was a glorious day. He could sit here for the rest of time and never get bored of watching this same scene over and over.
By far the best part of the whole scenario, though?
Discord hadn’t even done anything to cause it.
Twilight hid in the back of her closet, cradling Spike like a little foal. He pressed up against her chest as he slept, every once in awhile letting out a sleep-addled mumble. Sometimes he’d tremble in her grasp, and Twilight would always squeeze him back tightly. She hoped her poor little dragon wasn’t having a nightmare. After all, they both were already living one; there was no need for another.
The two of them had been sitting in her closet for almost seven hours now. Twilight was far too terrified to try leaving. By now, she reasoned that at least a quarter of Equestria must’ve been infected. What if she and Spike were the last ones still healthy? It fell onto their shoulders to find a cure—and she couldn’t do that if she were infected too.
Just then, the sound of heavy hoof-falls hitting marble floor reverberated throughout the castle. The sound stopped for a moment before starting up again, getting louder and louder…
Twilight’s breath caught in her throat.
It didn’t take long for the intruders to make their way to Twilight’s bedroom where she and Spike hid. She glanced through the slits in the closet door, assessing the situation—there were three enemies total, two pegasi and a unicorn. Together, they began tearing apart the room, searching for their next victims.
Twilight pursed her lips. There was no way she would be able to take all of them, especially while worrying about Spike’s safety at the same time.
This… this might be the end for them.
Twilight clenched her eyes shut and prayed that her brief letter had reached Princess Celestia before the disease had. If Twilight got infected, then Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were Equestria’s last hope. If they knew the disease was coming, perhaps they would be ready to defend themselves.
The hoof-steps outside paused momentarily. Then, after a moment of pure nothingness, they started up again, approaching the closet door at last. Twilight let out a little welp, heart beating so hard it almost lurched straight out of her chest. She squeezed Spike more tightly than she ever had in her life, trying to fight back the tears welling behind her eyes.
She was right.
This was it.
This was the end.
Slowly, painfully, the door creaked open…