The Apocalypse Ponies: Origins

by PlagenShiki

Act 4: Chapter 18 - Plague of Change

I wake up in a dimly lit room that smells of iron and around me I hear sobbing and whining. My head is pounding and my mouth feels dry, but I look around for any indication of where I am. When I realize where I am my stomach sinks. I look more closely at myself and notice chains around my legs and that I am sitting in a cage. As a feeling of dread washes over me, I hear hoof steps approaching.

“Vell, Vell, Vell. It vould appear as though you are avake, Veld,” A familiar voice says with a chuckle. “It is a pity zhat you just had to znoope into our affairs. And after I defended you and your friends vhen you vent on your ezcapade into zhe mines. Vell, I do zuppose zhat you vere alvays a zmart vone. Though, I do zuppose zhat I am partially to blame for your finding out. After all, I didn’t give zhese ponies any anezteztic. Vut, you can’t very vell blame me, can you? Who vould vaste zhe precious resources on mere experiments? Zhey are vut vermine vhat vill eventually die.” He looks at me pitifully for a moment.

“Ah but you are probably vondering vhat is going on. Vell, Veld, you vere right, you are your little…Society of Slumber club? ‘Zhe conzpirazy! Oh no, ve ‘ave all ‘ad dreams, there must ve zomething going on.’ Vell right you vere! Vut, mere children couldn’t have found that out, no, no. Ve are too careful, vhich is vhy you are ‘ere now, Veld. Anyvone who find out about us must ve taken care of.” I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out.

“Ah, you vish to zpeak! I guess your mouth must ve quite dry, ‘ere, ‘ere, drink zhis vater,” he says as he pour some water into a bowl inside the cage. “Vhile it vould be a vaste to use zhe medicine on you, food and vater are very important. After all, ve vant you alive as long as possible.” I drank the water and tried to speak again. “W-what are you doing this for?” I ask him in a raspy voice.

“You know Veld, I don’t usually zhare information vith zhose who vill die zoon. Vut, for you I vill make an exception. After all, ve vorked together! You zee Veld, my Queen, zhe most beautiful and powerful being in zhis vorld, vished to find zhe veaknesses of you ponies. For years, our kind ‘as veen forced into ‘iding, vut no more! My Queen declare zhat ve vould rule zhis vorld and all in it. Vut first, ve ‘ad to plan, ve ‘ad to rezearch! For you zee, ve ‘ave veen avay for too long, ve ‘ave grown ignorant of zhe pony vays.” His mouth grew into a large smile as he continued to talk.

“My Queen ‘ad zhe most brilliant of ideas! Ve vould create a city, ‘ide in plain zight, and take zhe unsuspecting from zhere ‘omes and bring zhem ‘ere to our veautiful fake city vuilt atop our true ‘ome.” He pauses for a moment, giving me time to ask, “The mines, you mean?” He lets out a laugh, “Very good Veld, very good. I vould expect nothing less from you. Yes, zhe mines are our true ‘ome. Deep, deep down in zhe mines, deeper zhan you vould ever ‘ave gotten. Zhat is zhere our colony lies, avay from zhe prying eyes of zhe vorld.”

“What are you?” I ask. He laughs once more, saying, “Ve are zhe zhings zhat you ponies ‘ave tried to eradicate from zhe face of zhe vorld many, many times. Ve are zhe zhings zhat your legends tell of vhen zhey mention zhe zhapeshifting creatures zhat pray on zhe unsuspecting. Ve are vhat you pony folk call, zhe Changelings. Zhe veings zhat can transform into anything, zo long as ve ‘ave zeen it.” He smiles proudly after stating this.

“Then, the dreams…we were right?” I ask. “Vell, almost. Ze dreams vere not dreams. Zhey vere reality zhat ve vanted you to forget. Vut you ponies are persistent and managed to remember,” he says. “Then…my parents…all of our parents…” he cuts me off, “Yes! Zhat is correct, dead, long, long ago! Killed so zhat ve could take you foals to our city. Of course, ve ‘ad to replace your parents vith our own soldiers. Zhey just ‘ad to change zhere zhape and zuck the vlood of your parents to gain zhere memories and know zhere personalities, and you children ‘ave no idea of zhe change that took place.” He laughs once more.

“But why?” I shout at him, “Why go that far?” His smile disappears, “I ‘ave told you zhat already. Ve needed to research, to know our enemy. Vut zhis? Zhe experiments? Zhey vere all my idea! My Queen put me in charge of finding a vay for us to combat zhe ponies. You zee, zhe ponies outnumber us vy quite a lot. Ve needed a vay to kill as many as ve could, and I suggested ve find out vhat diseases vork the vest on zhem!”

“But, surely someone noticed, right? All these ponies locked up with me, missing?” I ask. “Oh Veld, you still ‘aven’t figured it out? All of zhe children in zhis city, are ponies. All of zhere parents, are Changelings. Zhere are no adult ponies in zhis town, aside from zhe few individuals who found us and moved here zhemselves. Of course, zhey vere zwiftly removed. And zhe best part? Zhen ve take a child for testing, ve ‘ave zhere parents pretend to move avay. Nothing suspicious zhen, right? No vone truly disappeared. You replacement parents vill ve moving today as vell.”

“So you replace our parents, move us here, and then have our parents move away once you capture us, and then you experiment on us? You monsters!” I scream at him. Dr. Arzt just smiles broadly and says, “Not just zhen, Veld. Ve experiment on zhem for zhe entire time zhey are ‘ere. Even you ‘elped me out vith zhe experiments!” He declares. “What? I did no such thing, all I did was help ponies!” I retort. “Oh Veld, you zhink zhat you vere ‘elping zhem? Zhe medicine zhat you gave zhem vas laced vith new diseases. It vould cure zheir current illness vhile giving zhem a new vone!” He broke out into laughter once again.

“I…But I…” I was speechless, unable to think of anything else to say to the monster before me. “Oh no, did I break you Veld? Come, come! Ask anozer question!” he says playfully. I look at him and say, “What are you going to do to me now?” His smile disappears, “Veld, zhat question is no fun. Vut, zince you asked, I vill tell. I vill keep you ‘ere, fed, ‘ydrated, and diseased. You vill ve my newest Guiana Pig. I do ‘ope zhat you vill last longer zhan zhe other vones. Vesides, I do enjoy our little chats.”

He laughs once more as I slide against my cage as my anger dwindles into hopelessness. As he continues to laugh, a door opens and more hoof steps approach, careful, measured hoof steps. “Now, now doctor,” I sweet sounding voice calls out. “Don’t torture the poor thing with your babbling. You might kill it with boredom, then where will you be? Back digging tunnels, if you’re not careful.” Dr. Arzt’s laughter stops when he hears the voice. A few moments later, I see the figure the voice belongs to.

A black figure with blue insect-like wings, sharp fangs, a teal mane that reaches down to half the height of her neck, holes in her limbs, a long horn, and a crown upon her head. The doctor takes a step back and bows to the figure as he says, “My Queen! I did not expect you ‘ere, I vould ‘ave cleaned up a vit ‘ad I—“ The Queen cuts him off with a wave of her hoof, “I heard you ran into an issue up here. I came to see to it personally. I take it this creature is the issue?” She asks. The doctor nods his head.

“Hello there, creature. What is your name?” She asks. “Feld,” I reply. “Feld,” she says, “I am glad that we could add you to the ranks of our experiments. I am Queen Lavari, Queen of the Changelings, a title which I inherited from my mother, when I devoured her and a title one of my daughters will inherit when she devours me. But, that is some time off, I’m nowhere near as weak as my mother was, which is why I will conquer this world. When your kind is enslaved beneath my hoof, I will make sure that your name is remembered, along with all others who aided in our victory.”

“What? I’ll never aid you monsters!” I yell at her. “Vhy you insolent—,” the doctor begins, but Queen Lavari cuts him off, “Oh but you already have! And you will continue to do so, as the doctor here continues to experiment on you and find out just how to exterminate your kind. So, I have an order for you. While I am not your queen, and you owe me no allegiance, I ask that you follow it. I order you to live as long as you can, suffer countless diseases and help my doctor find how to best kill your kind.” She laughs slightly as she begins to walk away towards the door she came from.

As she reaches the door, she turns towards the doctor with some parting words, “Remember doctor, I expect results. If you fail me, I will force you into the tunnels myself where you will dig for the rest of your life.” The doctor winces and Queen Lavari exits the room. The doctor then turns to me and says, “Vell Veld, you ‘eard zhe Queen. Ve ‘ave vork to do, you and me.” He begins to laugh once more as he lifts up a tray filled with syringes. “Don’t vorry Veld, zhe zhot vill not ‘urt. It is zhe disease zhat vill cause zhe pain.”

============~+~============

For the next few weeks, the doctor talks with me while injecting me with various diseases. He starts with simple sicknesses like the common cold and I deal with coughing, snot, and a fever for a majority of the time. At one point, I am puking off and on for about a week straight. During this period I am severely dehydrated and the doctor hooks me into some IVs to prevent me from dying from it. “Now, now, Veld, ve can’t ‘ave you dying now can ve?” he says with a smirk.

By this point I stop talking to him at all and only stare daggers at him. However, this doesn’t dissuade him from talking to me, nor from acting as though I am talking to him. He makes up entire conversations doing this and it is like hearing half of a conversation. I am honestly not sure if he is doing it to mess with me or if he is actually insane at this point. “So Veld, ‘ow are you feeling?” He asks. After a few moments he laughs and says, “Vell, zhat is too bad! Ve vill ‘ave to fix zhat.”

He injects me with another syringe and says, “Zhis vill cure you current illnesses. Vut, cause zome new vones!” He jots down some notes and says, “Vell, zhat is all for you today, Veld. Vut, I cannot vait for our next conversation.” He then moves to another pony and begins prodding them and seeing how their illnesses have progressed. They scream and cower in fear, but the doctor doesn’t say much to them. In fact, he treats them almost as though they aren’t alive.

This process continues for a few days as my symptoms disappear and new ones show up. This time I get irritating rashes all over my body. The more I move, the more it hurts. I try to sleep as much as possible, and when I’m awake I don’t move much. However, the doctor seems to take some sick joy in poking and prodding me to see how I react. After a few days of this sickness he injects me with something else. “Just zome cure zhis time, Veld. Ve vant you to ve perfectly ‘ealthy for zhe next part. Vut, I vill of course keep zhe zedatives going to prevent you using your magic.”

The rash begins to go away and I start to gain my strength back. But, like the doctor said, he keeps giving me sedatives to prevent my magic use. Once I get my normal health back the doctor grins broadly at me as he says, “Looks like it is time! Veld, I have vaited so long for zhis day. Zhese other zhings veren’t vorthly of zhis experiment. Vut, I felt as zhough you deserved a break.” He injects me with another syringe and continues to explain, “Zhis is a veak shot of adrenaline. It vill prevent you from zleeping and you vill be vide avake. You zee, zhis experiment is to zee zhe prolonged effects of zleep deprevation on your kind. I vill ve keeping an eye on you very closely to make zure you don’t zleep.”

He turns as though he is walking away, but turns back towards me, “No Veld, you need not vorry. If you are in any danger I vill of course ensure you live. Ve don’t vant you to kill over, do ve?” He turns once again and walks across the room to where a chair is at. He grabs the chair and drags it across the room towards me while he says, “I know vhat you are thinking. Vhy do I not just use my magic? Vell, it is less dramatic zhat vay, and I do enjoy zhe dramatic.” He continues dragging the chair, causing loud screeching noises causing me and the other ponies to cringe and try to cover our ears.

Finally, he gets the chair in front of my cage and sits upon it. He begins to talk to me but I tune most of it out. Most of what he is saying has to do with the experiments he has been doing on all of us down here. Basically just listing off all his notes he has taken. At one point my mind fades back into the conversation he is having, “…vut you know, I vill try to keep you company as long as I can. You zee, I like to ve a ‘ands on kind of doctor. Zhat is vhy…” he pulls out a syringe and stabs it into himself before injecting it into himself, “…zome adrenaline for me as vell.”

After he does this he continues to talk about his experiments. The hours go by and he gives me another shot of adrenaline, as well as himself. This process continues for about a day. He has just been talking to me the whole time, rarely moving from his chair. At this point however, he announces, “Vhat? No, don’t vorry Veld! I ‘ave done zhis many times. I do zhis often to myself to pull all-nighters. I’ve ‘ave ztayed up many nights just like zhis.” He continues to talk about the various nights he has spent using adrenaline to conduct various prolonged experiments and other various things till I decide to tune him out and stare at the wall.

A few days pass and my body has been shaking uncontrollably for quite some time. I also lost track of time and began to think I saw things that didn’t actually exist. Each time I experienced something new the doctor would exclaim and write down some more notes. However I soon begin to not do anything and just stare at the walls due to severe lack of cognitive ability. After a few days of this, with no new discoveries the doctor decides to end the experiment. He injects me with a sedative and I drift into a much needed slumber.

============~+~============

I sleep for a few day straight and the doctor, surprisingly lets me. He says he wanted to let me recover to my fullest before the next batch of experiments. However, once I am awake he starts immediately. Over the course of the next few months I am injected with various diseases and illnesses. Some I knew nothing about and others I had experience with. While sometimes it was better not knowing what would happen because of them, other times I was thankful I knew how to deal with them and make them not as intense.

The doctor usually injects me without telling me exactly what it is, but this time it was different. As he injects me he says, “Veld, zhis is a very zpecial disease. Vone zhat I think only you vill appreciate. It vas very ‘ard to get zo I don’t vant to vaste it on zhe others...” he looks towards them spitefully before turning back to me, “Zhis is particular disease is a major part of your favorite zubjects. Zhe disease which zpread across zhe vorld and killed countless! Zhe vone and only Plague!”

My eyes grow wide and I break my long period of silence as I yell at him, “Are you insane!? Do you know what that will do?” He laughs and says, “To ve ‘onest, no. Vhich is vhy ve are testing it out! I do know zhat it kills very quickly, zo I vill be vatching you closely so zhat I might administer zhe cure if zhings get too bad. Ve don’t vant you to die, do ve?” I stare at him as I say, “Do you at least know how it spreads? What if this gets out, do you have enough to cure everyone!?

He waves a hoof, “Of course I know zhat. Vhich is zhy I vill limit exposure to just zhe two of us. I ‘ave just enough to cure us both.” He gives a broad smile as he walks away to conduct other experiments. “You bastard!” I call after him. “This is too much, even for you!” I stare into the darkness where he disappeared, but nothing moves, he doesn’t even say anything back. “So, he doesn’t know what it does…” I think aloud.

A thought then strikes me. Up until now, he had been able to keep me alive by preventing my death as he knew how to administer aid before things got too bad. Now, however it was only I who knew when the critical conditions set in. For a while, I had been hopeful that I might somehow escape, but as time drew on and the experiments got worse and worse, I lost all hope. The latest batches of tests he has been administering have been especially painful and I have begun to wish for him to slip up and kill me. But he won’t, not as long as he can help it.

This is my chance, however. He has no clue what he is doing and I can use that to my advantage. I just wish I didn’t have to use The Plague to do it. I won’t tell him anything, I’ll let myself fall into the critical stage, where death is one hundred percent and the cure cannot stop it. I had sometimes warned him if I was slipping into death, I was first imprisoned here. But, I was hopeful for escape now. Now, I wished for death, an end to this torture, and a way to scorn them. They want to keep me alive for their experiments? Well, I’ll stop that here and now in just a few days.

As I prepare myself for The Plague’s symptoms, I think back to my time in the Society of Slumber. I wonder what Aurora, Lucky, and Hem were doing now. I hope that they would find a way to expose what was going on and not get caught up in this mess like I have been. I’ll not see that day, however. Perhaps it was never meant to be. But, the least I can do is think back to all the fun times the four of us had. While I remember all of the fun we had together to slowly drift into sleep.

============~+~============

When I woke up, the first symptom had shown itself. I was coughing, like a less serious illness. The trick The Plague plays, attempting to make you think nothing serious is happening while it slowly takes over your body. It only takes a day to spread throughout your body and then paralyze you, preventing you from seeking aid by yourself. The doctor comes by after a few hours to inspect my condition, but soon leaves seeing that nothing of interest has happened yet. I try to go to sleep as soon as I can, so I can speed up the spread of The Plague though my body.

The next morning I wake up and as expected my body is paralyzed. My cough has lessened, as usual, to draw less attention to The Plague’s carrier. The doctor comes by and begins jotting down notes furiously, laughing off and on while claiming discover, “Zhis is it! Zhis is vhat ve vill use to kill off zhe ponies! Vhen zhey cannot move, ve vill move in and zlaughter zhem!” He goes on talking to himself as he moves on to other subjects before he returns to me a few hours later.

By this time, my orifices have begun to trickle blood. I had heard tales of what The Plague felt like, but going through it firsthand was another thing completely. My eyes, nose, and mouth burn as though they were on fire and my body began to get hot and despite the paralysis it was shaking slightly. The doctor now isn’t leave my side, he watches intently for more and more symptoms to show themselves talking to himself all the while claiming, “Ve von’t even ‘ave to kill zhem ourselves! Zhey might bleed to death!” He sits in his chair as he watches.

About an hour passes and he is still watching intently. However, my throat starts to tighten up and I begin to struggle for breath. “Ah! Zo zhey also vegin to zuffocate!? Brilliant! I vas vorried zhat zhe bleeding vould take too long. Oh, vut you…yes. Ve zhould administer zhe cure!” He walks away to table and gets the cure from it before walking back and administering it to me.

As my throat’s swelling starts to go down, I begin to let out a weak laugh. It is too late. I can already feel my organs failing. “Vhat is zo funny?” he asks me, with a curious look on his face. “You stupid bastard!” I say weakly, “I’m already past saving. The cure will have no effect and I will die, no more experimenting on me!” Upon uttering this I cough up a large amount of blood. And my vision begins to grow dark.

“Is zhat zo?” he asks with a cough. “Vell, I vill just ‘ave you replace you zhen. You vere a valuable zubject, vut you can and vill be replaced.” At this point I can barely hear him and I can feel my body giving up. He continues to talk to himself as he approaches the table that holds the other dose of the cure. But as he grabs it he stops in his tracks and his face goes pale. I try to move my head to look, but I forget that I am still paralyzed. Instead I move my eyes as far as they will allow me to look.

Standing in front of the doctor is a black cloaked figure. He points silently as the doctor and I can barely hear the doctor say, “No! Not yet! I ‘ave zo much vork to do!” as he begins to back away from the figure. The figure puts his hoof down and walks towards the doctor while saying, “It is not yet your time, doctor. But…” he pauses as he raises a hoof and knocks the cure out of the doctor’s hood. “it will be soon,” he says as he steps on the cure and renders it unusable.

The figure turns towards me and approaches me. “Feld Grau,” he says, “it is time.” Upon uttering those words my vision that had been getting darker and darker finally blinks out and I can feel the embrace of death take me. My final thought is, ‘go to hell, doctor.’

============~+~============

I wake up gasping for breath. I am in a bed, surrounded by three smiling ponies. “Welcome, brother!” they all say at once. “My name is Death,” a black stallion with a familiar voice says. “I’m War, good to have you with us,” says a red earth pony. “And I’m Famine, nice to meet you, Pestilence,” says a yellow Pegasus.

I sit up, confused. “Pestilence?” I ask before saying, “Wait, never mind. Where am I? I thought I died?” They all grin and Death says, “The answer to all your questions is the same. But, I think it’s Famine’s turn to give the speech.” Famine gives a look of surprise as she says, “What? Really? Ok, ok. Feld, you did die. We all have, but make no mistake, this isn’t the afterlife. We are in a plane is existence that is outside of time. As for why I called you Pestilence…That is who you are, what you are. I’m sure you have heard of us, right?” she asks.

“Wait, you mean…?” I start but Famine finishes, “Correct. Our names aren’t just us playing around, we are the Apocalypse Ponies, though we might not look it. Prepare yourself, to gaze upon the real us. Death, if you would?” Death gives a nod and his horn glows. Suddenly magic dispels from the three ponies around me. Death becomes skeletal, War displays numerous scars and wounds, and Famine is basically just skin and bones. I stare at them with my mouth agape.

“Death uses an illusion spell on us to mask our actual appearance while we are here. We like to remember what we once were. And, I think you will want to see your appearance. You haven’t seen it since you were caged up, have you?” She moves aside to show a mirror and in it, my reflection.
I stare at it for a few moments, unbelieving. But, as I move, it moves. My once bright coat has become a dull green, parts of my mane and tail have fallen out in patches, and various parts of my body show the effects of the various diseases I was exposed to. Patches of hair missing, showing raw, irritated looking skin and tumors could be seen in some places. I could also still see the blood around my eyes, mouth, and nose, however as I rub at it, I see that it can be removed.

“You have experienced so much in such a short amount of time, Pestilence,” Famine says, “Of all ponies thought time, you have suffered the most at the hands of disease and illness. Not only did you experience the diseases yourself, you unknowing caused others to contract various diseases. This gives you the right to join us as Pestilence, the pony of sickness, disease, and plague.”

“But I didn’t mean to infect them!” I yell at her. “We know,” she says. “Like you, each of us have experienced our own particular tragedy. We were good ponies, just like you. It was the tragedies that we went through, however, that give us the right to this power. We know what it means to suffer at the very powers we possess, but that is why we are suited for this. We won’t cause unnecessary death and destruction. We are bound by that code.”

“Indeed,” says a voice that seems to be coming from everywhere. Death looks around as though he knows the voice. “Is that you?” Death asks. “Yes, it is us,” replies the voice. “You have gathered together, Ponies of the Apocalypse. It is time your destiny is made known to you. This world is precious and must be protected. That is your duty.” War takes a step forward “But how do we protect it? And from what?” he asks.

“From its inhabitants. There will come a day when the inhabitants of this world will cause its destruction. When you see them begin down this road, you will know it is time. The world will be threatened by their actions, and you must stop them. They must be eradicated, all of them. It is unfortunate, but life will start again. This is your destiny, this is why we have gathered you here.”

“But that’s so-” Famine begins, but is cut off by the voice, “It is necessary! If this world is destroyed to a state in which nothing new can be formed, all will be lost. Though it is a terrible thing, it is also a necessity. You will know when the time comes, just like how you found each other. Watch over this world, Ponies of the Apocalypse.” Upon saying this, the voice seems to disappear.

“What now?” I ask. They all look serious for a moment, but then Death speaks, “Now, we continue like we always have and always will.” Famine and War nod, but I ask, “And what do I do?” Death gives a smile and says, “You will join us in our duties. We will talk more about that later, however. For now, just rest. Your body might not require rest, but your mind has been though a lot recently. Once you’re ready, we will throw you a welcoming party.” Him and the others give me broad smiles as I lay back in the bed and begin to laugh slightly to myself.

Author's Note:

And done! Well, I didn't think this chapter would be this long, but that's fine, right? I still need to add a proper prologue and I am also thinking about ending with an epilogue that will go over some other stuff that has to do with what happened after each died.

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed! I plan to eventually (as in not for a long while) write some more stories that tie into this one. So leave me comments and what not on how I could improve the story and what not!

Lastly, I am setting my sites on a new project, publishing this as a series of books. I want to convert all the pony related stuff to human related things, and then add A LOT of new content. Basically, each book will be about as long as this entire fanfic. XD

Comments

[Blondlionezel]

I thought this was about Apocolypse...Good story though!

[Edgy_Edgehog]

Damn... This was good.