The Crimson Rage

by Time Shield

Chapter 7: "The Dispersal"

THE CRIMSON RAGE

By: Time Shield

CHAPTER 7: “The Dispersal”

The night skies hung over the seemingly deserted town of Ponyville. It was far from silent, as the growls and shouts of the infected seemed ever present in the air, and there were also those who continued to roam the streets, still prowling for more healthy bodies to infect. When it came to intelligence and rationality, however, the town was devoid of it, the empty husks of the buildings being the only sign that there was a civilization to begin with.

Nevertheless, hope was not completely gone. The last two uninfected bodies in Ponyville were small enough to slip into the town unnoticed and carefully sneaked from building to building, hiding from the infected. It took an hour for them to make it partway through town this way, waiting patiently for the right time to take their next move.

Reaching the side of another building, Spike and Apple Bloom moved around to the front, staying concealed in a flowerbed. Apple Bloom poked her head out of the flowers just for a moment to get a look around, lowering back down for a moment while another one of the infected ran by. Once it was safe, she moved over to the window and braced herself as Spike climbed up on her back.

Apple Bloom whispered, “How’s it look?”

“No good,” Spike whispered back, still looking through the window. “I see some of them in there. Just kind of pacing around, like the others.”

She let Spike back down and they took cover in the flowers again. She was frustrated but kept her voice down as she said, “Ain’t we ever gonna find one empty buildin’ in this town?”

“It has to be empty,” Spike reminded her. “If there’s even one of them in there, it’s one too many.”

Apple Bloom was going to say something else about eventually having to take the chance, but decided not to. In truth, she probably wouldn’t take that chance anyway; the situation was frightening her much more than she let on. She knew she had to be strong if she ever wanted to see her brother and sister again, but it wasn’t easy. She finally just sighed and said, “All right… what’s next?”

Spike looked around at the nearest buildings and pointed, “There! Town Hall… The Mayor keeps a lot of paper in her office.”

“But it’s huge!” Apple Bloom protested. “There’s no way it’ll be empty!”

“Maybe not, but it’s worth a shot,” Spike said. He started creeping through the flowerbed towards the side closest to Town Hall; Apple Bloom bit her lip and followed silently.

After another long, patient wait, they had an opportunity to cross without being seen, and did so as quickly as they could. For a moment, a sharp growl from one of the nearby infected ponies made them afraid that they might have been spotted. Sliding into some bushes next to the building, Spike turned to look back fearfully, but was relieved when he realized the pony that made the growl was facing the other way and hadn’t noticed them.

Spike wiped sweat from his forehead, then prepared to step deeper into the bushes to join Apple Bloom. He paused when he nearly bumped into something suspended in the leaves of the bush, something shiny that stood out even in the dim light. He plucked it from the leaves and looked closely at the object, which appeared to be some sort of tiny glass bottle containing a shiny, silver liquid.

“What’s that?” Apple Bloom asked from her hiding position deeper in the bushes.

“I don’t know,” Spike said, turning the bottle over and examining it. “Somepony must’ve dropped it.” He moved over to join Apple Bloom in her hiding place.

Looking at the bottle, Apple Bloom couldn’t help but feel like she had seen a bottle like that before. It hit her suddenly, and without speaking too loudly to give away their position, she exclaimed, “Zecora keeps a bunch o’ bottles just like that! I saw those once when I was over helpin’ her brew some potions a few weeks ago…”

“Neat,” Spike said, holding it up to try and get a better look at the contents. “Do you think it’s some kind of potion then?”

“If it is,” Apple Bloom replied, “then I dunno why it’d be so small.”

Shrugging, Spike kept the tiny bottle held in his palm and said, “Well, never mind that for now. Let’s get back to checking out Town Hall…” With Apple Bloom close behind, he inched along the side of the building over to the window, which was low enough for them both to see through. They peeked inside to see the large gathering area of Town Hall, and it had more of the infected ponies everywhere.

“Look!” Apple Bloom suddenly said, pointing into the group of ponies. She sounded horrified, and Spike soon realized why: inside where she was pointing, he recognized one of the shapes moving through the group…

“T-Twilight!” Spike exclaimed. “Oh no!!” Even in the dim light inside Town Hall, there was no mistaking Twilight Sparkle, and even less so that she wasn’t herself, with the same red, angry eyes that all the other infected ponies had.

They began to back away from the scene presented by the window, when another sharp growl came from behind them. Spike hoped it was just another random growl that wasn’t directed at them, but his hope disappeared as he saw a pegasus flapping in the air near the building, its red eyes locked directly on them. With only a second to react, Spike yelled, “Run!!” and both he and Apple Bloom darted quickly through the bushes around the side of the building, heading for cover behind it.

They didn’t get very far, however, because the pegasus dived down in front of them in an instant. It moved extremely fast, and Apple Bloom’s heart sank as she realized only one pegasus was that fast. “Rainbow!” she cried out in fear, stepping backwards. “P-please, don’t!”

Rainbow Dash obviously didn’t listen as she flew towards her, growling. Spike did the last thing he could think of to protect Apple Bloom: he jumped and swiftly grabbed her around the torso, pinning her wings to her side. The two of them fell into the bushes in a tangle, and Rainbow twisted from side to side, trying either to shake off the dragon or to bite him. One of her snaps nearly got his arm, which he pulled away just in time, but it caused him to lose hold of the bottle he was still clutching.

It fell to the ground and broke on impact, releasing a cloud of silver gas around them. All three of them coughed and couldn’t see a thing. Spike ended up releasing Rainbow to rub his eyes and get his bearings, but as the gas cleared, he noticed Rainbow was doing the same. He was about to grab Apple Bloom and run when he noticed something had changed about Rainbow; she was blinking and trying to get her bearings, and the redness in her eyes was gone.

Apple Bloom noticed it too, and cautiously edged closer, whispering, “R-Rainbow…?”

Rainbow squinted at them and finally spoke up, “Apple Bloom? Is that you?”

“You’re okay!” Spike exclaimed, extremely relieved. He and Apple Bloom practically threw themselves into a hug around Rainbow, who was still too disoriented to care. “What happened?” Spike asked.

“I-I was…” Rainbow said, trying to remember, then gasped and said more urgently, “Twilight! Zecora! Applejack! Where are they?!”

“Twi’s in there, but she’s one o’ them now,” Apple Bloom said, pointing sadly at City Hall. “We dunno where Zecora or Applejack are.”

“Oh no,” Rainbow said, distressed, “No no no… this is really bad!” She put her hooves on the sides of her head as she tried desperately to think of what to do next, saying, “We were gonna fix everything…”

Apple Bloom look confused, “Fix? How?”

Rainbow quickly explained, “Don’t you see? We had the cure! We had it, and we were gonna release it in town so I could make some wind to carry it around to everypony! But then I… I got bit…”

“The cure?” Spike asked, but then he figured out what she was saying and said, “Oh! That bottle I found! That’s what cured you, didn’t it?”

“It must’ve been,” Rainbow agreed. “We’ve gotta find the rest! We had a bunch of ‘em!”

Spike looked around the bush to see if there was anything else in the bushes, but couldn’t find anything. “This is where I found the bottle, but the rest aren’t here,” he said.

“Maybe that one was dropped?” Apple Bloom offered helpfully.

“Dropped?” Rainbow repeated. She looked up at Town Hall and noticed an open window up above. Looking around quickly to make sure no pony else was watching, she flew up to the window to look inside, and smiled at what she saw: the center of the balcony inside had a pile of all the bags containing the vials. Fortunately, there was no pony else on the balcony. “Jackpot!” she exclaimed, and flew inside through the window.

Making a few trips, Rainbow delivered the bags down to the others two at a time, until finally all eight bags were collected. “That’s a lot,” Apple Bloom remarked. “Think it’ll be enough though?”

“Definitely,” Rainbow said with a confident nod.

Spike grinned, “All right! We’ve got this! We just need to…” He was interrupted by the sound of multiple growls nearby, and in shock he realized that one of the roaming groups of infected had spotted them. They were growling loud enough that it started to attract more attention.

“Go, go, go!” Rainbow shouted, scooping up four of the bags, while Spike and Apple Bloom each grabbed two. They sped away from City Hall, the sound of hooves galloping behind them as the infected were in pursuit. They had a bit of a lead, but not much, and the bags only weighed them down. “Center of town,” Rainbow ordered, “quick!”

It wasn’t far to go to reach the dead center of town, but the commotion was attracting them from everywhere. When they finally got to where they needed to go, Apple Bloom and Spike tossed their bags over to Rainbow so she could bring them into the air; Rainbow struggled to fly with the additional weight but managed to raise herself up higher. Thinking fast, she pulled a few vials out and dropped them in a circle around the others to protect them, and sure enough, it forced the closest ones to stop their approach as the cure did its work. She knew it wouldn’t last long with the rest there to re-infect them, but it would still buy them the time they needed.

As Rainbow gained air, another problem arose. She could see the shapes of pegasi taking to the air and flying towards her, and as weighed down as she was, she realized she couldn’t hope to dodge or react fast enough to throw more vials at them. It occurred to her that their attempt might be in vain after all, and braced herself against the incoming assault…

It never came, because something flew through the air, striking the closest pegasus and knocking it off-course, causing it to spiral out of control away from her. More of the odd projectiles whizzed through the air, each of them striking a different pegasus. Blinking, Rainbow tried to make sense of what she was seeing, until she realized that the objects being thrown were cupcakes. She looked down and grinned as she saw the source of the onslaught.

Pinkie Pie was perched on the branch of one of the trees not far from Sugarcube Corner, which she had obviously been using as a hiding place. A mixing bowl with a large crack in it covered the top of her head, and there was a slightly torn sash still slung around her shoulder. She had frosting splattered over her face and body in different places, a sign of the struggle she had been through earlier. She was pulling more cupcakes from the saddlebags at her side, and her face was a mask of determination as she continued throwing them at any pegasi that got too close to Rainbow. She didn’t say anything, but gave Rainbow a small smile and nod.

“Way to go, Pinkie Pie!” Spike called out from the ground, and Apple Bloom cheered as well. Rainbow, now with the extra time she needed, rose up the rest of the way she needed to go. She pulled off the bags and dropped them; as they fell, she prepped herself to create the wind that was needed.

The bags struck the ground, shattering all of the vials inside. An enormous cloud of silver erupted and started to spread outwards from the center, and at that instant, Rainbow shot into action. She sped in a circle around the perimeter of the cloud, shaping and drawing the cure back towards the center. As she flew faster and faster, the cloud became almost like a tornado, swirling around in a bright, sparkly silver funnel.

The cure washed over the ponies on the ground, including all of the pegasi that had just been knocked out of the air. As they regained their senses and looked up at Rainbow keeping the cure together, several of them took to the air and joined her, spinning around and helping to increase the size of the funnel. It began to grow and pass through more of the town, the gas seeping through all of the open doors and windows and reaching everypony as it grew, heading outwards like a wave. Rainbow noticed the extra help she was receiving and gave a quick salute of thanks to them, then brightened even further as she recognized somepony else that had also joined in. Fluttershy flew up alongside Rainbow and smiled, doing her best to help push the winds further.

Before long, the cure had washed over all of Ponyville, restoring all of the townsponies back to health. It eventually grew beyond its limits to stay together, and the cloud finally dissipated, vanishing into the night air. The pegasi stopped their circling and the winds died back down again. There were a few moments of silence, no longer the growls of the infected echoing through the streets, until down below, the cured residents of Ponyville let out a combined cheer for their rescuers. Rainbow and Fluttershy flew down and rejoined Spike and Applejack, huddling together in a congratulatory hug. The crowd parted to let others through to join them, coming from different directions: Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Big McIntosh and Twilight Sparkle all joined in the huddle, while Zecora stood to the side, watching proudly.

---

As the sun rose on a new day, a quick count was made to verify that everypony was accounted for, and that no pony was still infected. Thankfully, the infection hadn’t left the borders of Ponyville again once Big McIntosh had carried it into town. The infection was completely eradicated, but Zecora provided some more of the cure to the town, just in case somepony was missed. The townsponies got to work repairing the damage to the town; compared to the storm the day before, this was a lot more work and would probably occupy them for a few days to come.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were fixing up Sugarcube Corner, which was in as bad a shape inside as it was outside. There was cake and frosting splattered everywhere, and Pinkie Pie was lending a hoof cleaning it from the walls. It was only fair, she had said, since she was the one who had made the mess in the first place.

Inside the library, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were getting things back into order; the front door hadn’t been fixed yet, so the remains of it were sitting open. Applejack poked her head in, and then walked inside followed closely by Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh; she said, “Howdy, Twilight. How’s the cleanup goin’?”

“Not bad,” Twilight replied, putting some fallen books back up on their shelves. “All things considered though, it could’ve been a lot worse, and almost was.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed, lowering her head slightly. “Things were really scary there for a while. I was so worried that I wouldn’t see any of y’all again…” She brightened and continued, “But I’m glad I did come back to town. I was able to help out after all!”

Applejack nodded and said, “You were a big help, little sis. That mighta been the craziest, most reckless thing you and Spike ever did, tryin’ to sneak back into town with all those infected ponies about… but I’d be lyin’ if I said I weren’t proud o’ y’all for doin’ it.”

“Eeyup,” Big McIntosh agreed.

“Aww, it was nothing,” Spike said, blushing slightly. “Just doing my job as an upstanding citizen of Ponyville, that’s all.”

“Don’t be so modest,” Twilight told him. “No pony else knew the cure; who knows what would have happened if it had spread out of Ponyville and into other towns?”

“I don’t even wanna think about it,” Applejack admitted, “and I’m mighty glad I won’t have to.”

Finishing the shelving, Twilight said, “We really need to wind down and relax after all that has happened. After the cleanup is done, I think this calls for a celebration.” She laughed a little as she added, “Once Sugarcube Corner is back to normal too, I mean.”

“Sounds good to me!” Apple Bloom said with a smile.

“Me too,” Applejack nodded, and Big McIntosh simply nodded.

Twilight smiled, “Great! One more thing… Spike, take a letter, if you would please…” Spike nodded and grabbed a scroll and quill, writing down as Twilight spoke:

Dear Princess Celestia,

We have just made it through one of the most terrifying ordeals here in Ponyville, a threat that spread through the town, literally turning friends into foes. The bonds of friendship are what keep us together, and having those bonds torn away from us so forcefully made me realize all the more how terrible it would be if we ever lost them for good. But it also told me that that would never come to pass. Even when our most trusted friends were turned against us, we never gave up on them; even when it looked hopeless, there were those who continued onward, who pushed aside their fears and doubts to save their friends. I learned that nothing can break these bonds forever, and that when things are the darkest, it is the friendships we’ve made that will ultimately pull us back into the light.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

THE END

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Nice job with this story. It was good to read and see how two unlikely foals saved Ponyville.

[Time Shield]

4791675 Thanks, although one of them doesn't really count as a "foal" per se...

[SageBrony07]

4791858 Drake, Foal. Tomato Tamato.

[Element of Harmony]

excellent story.

[Mad Maudlin]

Why was Spike worried?

The ponies are herbivores and have herbivore teeth. He's a dragon. He's basically wearing platemail and zombie proof.