The Magpie Syndrome

by canonkiller

1: Awakened

*****

I slowly opened the door, the billowing mist already down the stairs. The screams had faded. I was alone.

With shaking steps, I nosed the door open, the shadows distorting around me. I couldn't cry. I had to be strong. There would be others, who had seen, who had lived...

...there had to be.

Resolve trembling, I decided I had to look for Lemon's body. I could put all of them in the basement, keep the animals away until I could give them a proper burial.

"Miss Dusk?"

Damn, I could still hear her voice...

"Miss Dusk? Is that you?"

I stood up a little taller, the ear flaps on the hood flicking up. I scanned the room, the strange fog messing up the visor's readings.

"Lemon Mane?" My voice sounded strange, the speakers on the front of the mask projecting my voice. "How... how are you alive?"

"Why are you wearing such a weird suit?"

She appeared like a specter, the fog dancing around her body. Her eyes almost seem to glow, green lenses reflecting the small headlight beside the visor. I lifted a hoof and turned it off, expecting the shine to fade. It didn't.

"That was creepy..." she hissed, shivering. "It was so cold..."

"Like...?"

"Like death." Her eyes flickered again, and she stepped closer.

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I reared back with a whinny, slamming my hooves down in front of her face. She backed up, terror playing across her face.

"Miss Dusk?! Why are you attacking me?!"

"Because you're going to kill me!" I yelled, striking out again.

"No!" She sidestepped, dropping under a table. "I swear! I wasn't!"

I bent down, glaring through a sea of chair legs. "The fog-"

"It did nothing! I swear by Celestia's holy mane!"

I hesitated. "But all the rumors say that these gases... they've been tested on criminals... and all that happens is fighting and death."

"I don't think these are our Chemicals, Miss Dusk. There's no way the Three would let their security be compromised. The only place our Chemicals were stored were right behind the Three's lines. If these were Equestrian, we'd all be dead... and we've never made anything this strong."

"The Griffons have no reason to attack here-"

She rolled her eyes, scuffing a hoof on the worn tile. "They didn't have a reason to start the war either. They don't need a reason."

Her mane flipped as she tilted her head. "Although...I don't need a reason for wanting that suit, do I?"

"What?"

She bucked the table, sending it flipping over my head. I ducked before I could get my horn taken off. "Hey!"

"Don't make this easy." She hissed, pouncing forward and landing on my chest. I sprawled, feeling her weight vanish as she jumped backwards.

"Lemon!? What's gotten into you?!" Sugar! Sweet salvation! "The suit's mine!"

My ears dropped as the silhouette of my rescuer leaped away, a wet thump sounding as she collided with her target. I scrambled to my hooves, whimpering at the scene.

Lemon was pinned under Sugar, each kicking and biting. I knew Lemon Mane's strength, she could kick Sugar across the room any moment... for now, she was nailing my sister's ribs, over and over...

There was a snap, and Sugar screeched in pain. Lemon lunged up, mouth open, towards my sister's throat. I swallowed vomit against the inevitable...

...and Sugar brought both her hooves and her skull down on Lemon's exposed chest.

The waitress let out a little gasp before going limp, her raised head falling to the floor.

Sugar stepped back, looking horrified... her eyes were wide, ears down...

...and grinning.

She knelt down, bringing her teeth to one of the exposed shards of bone. She gripped it gently, pulling it back and out. With a slender hoof, she tugged on the open fringe of skin.

I turned away and tried to cover my ears through the helmet as a tearing sound echoed around the small room.

"Oh, sis-ter~"

I gulped. "Y-y-y-yes?"

I felt her hoof wrap around my shoulder, mocking an embrace. I could feel how could it was, even through the insulated fabric. She moved the hoof beside my helmet. I could see the blood dripping onto my suit, even in the dim light.

"Why don't I just borrow this helmet here?" She crooned, her hoof catching on the rim. "I'll just lift it off now..."

*****

*****

"No!" I kicked out, feeling her hit against my hooves and slam into the table behind me. I spun, ignoring Lemon Mane's mutilated carcass, and sprinted for the door.

"Get back here!" She screamed, getting up and charging after me.

I managed to kick out a hoof as I ricocheted out of the building, the door slamming behind me. I heard Sugar slam into the door...

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...and the sound of the door being snapped out of it's frame.

I screamed and leaped sideways as the wooden weapon crashed into the ground where I had been standing, splintering along one edge and skidding away.

Sugar's hoofbeats filled the still air as she sped up, barely hindered by the door. "Get back here!"

"No!" I don't know how I managed it, but I jumped, landed on a barrel, and jumped again, getting onto the roofs. Without time to comprehend what I had done, I ran, seeing Sugar skid past as she tried to stop. The rhythmic clicks of my shoes on the slate got faster, so fast I virtually knew I was going to fall over.

And then I saw it.

The end of the rooftops.

Beyond that, open air, and beyond that, the border. I couldn't turn around. I could hear my sister on the roof behind me, catching up.

I forced myself to go faster, faster, faster, putting every single ounce of energy I had into motion, my eyes watering against the wind.

And as my front hooves cleared the roof, I jumped.

*****

For a single moment, everything was still. The air was thick as mud, and I could see the ground dangerously far away, and my sister just reaching the last rooftop...

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And I was on the ground, somehow intact, and off like a bolt. My sister stopped at the edge of the roof, a few shingles falling down in front of her. She screamed angrily after me, but, to my relief, turned around and trotted away.

*****