Pontagion

by YADAMAN

Angel's Effect

Date 00:00:12 – 14:23; Southern Outskirts, Ponyville

The wind was blowing. Outside of Ponyville were two mares, having some sort of conversation at least, with another mare approaching them from Apple Acres.

“I still don’t think that griffons had something to do with it. I mean, I been to Griffonstone, and it’s not the place that a pony would say is a paradise. I see absolutely, POSITIVELY no reason that they would attack us!” the rainbow-manned mare assured, while her voice cracked.

“Okay then, Rainbow, got any better ideas?” the winged-unicorn asked with a fidgety look all the while holding a map with her magical grasp. Clearly drawn on with arrows and sketches and whatnot.

“Well, no. Look, it’s obvious that I’m not getting through to you and no matter what I say you are still going, so when you get to Griffonstone, just … just don’t make assumptions, all right?” Rainbow Dash’s face was enveloped with mixed emotions. Emotions of concern, anger and sadness, all at the same time.

Rolling her eyes, “Fiiiine Rainbow, I hear you. I’m pretty sure that all you want to do is protect Gilda, but at this point, we need this situation sorted out, as soon as possible. Get rid of all the possible suspects in order to pinpoint the culprit, you know?”

“But you’re missing the point, Twilight! Uggghhh!” Rainbow glanced left and right in a state of panic and then kicked the ground with both her rear hoofs. After a few moments of awkward silence and random eye contact between the two ponies, Rainbow couldn’t take it anymore, she jetted through the sky – leaving a trail of a perfect rainbow. Kind of lightens the mood.

The approaching mare finally trotted nearby Twilight’s side, then spoke with her signature country accent, “Do ya think that she will be okay?”

“She just needs some time Applejack.” Not surprised by the mare’s sudden presence, it actually comforted her, Twilight shifted her attention to the mare, “I mean, try to imagine being in her situation, it’s not easy to face the possibility that one of your best friends might have caused the virus that could lead to the entire pony race to extinction.”

“Right, well, if ya put it that way, it seems pretty ugh, harsh. But I agree.”

“Besides, we have to keep on our mission…” Twilight’s voice faded, due to the lack of enthusiasm.

“Oh of course! We have to follow Doctor Whooves’ orders, otherwise, we could be in more trouble than a snake caught in a rat trap.”

“Indeed.” Twilight gave out a small smile.

As both ponies turned to face the fork in the road, they were confronted with yet another mare, in fact another pegasus.

“Hey everypony, oh I hope I didn’t scare you.” speaking with a very light voice, the caretaker of animals, Fluttershy, greeted the pair of ponies.

“Not at all sugarcube! I haven’t seen ya in a good mood since, well, er…” Applejack’s words were escaping her mind as she saw Fluttershy’s eyes starting to water, “Ugh sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

Fluttershy’s eyes blinked away at the excess liquid. “It’s okay AJ, I know that you are just looking out for me. Thanks.”

Twilight noticed something was… off. “Umm, Fluttershy, are you okay? Your mane seems a bit-”

Without any hesitation, Fluttershy spoke with a stern voice, “Messy? I know, I just never got the chance to wash or take care of it, with all the commotion of the virus affecting all the woodland creatures.”

“I was going to say shorter. But in fact, how is that going? Are all the unaffected animals safe? Oh, speaking of which, how many animals die- I mean, daaanced the night away, you know yesterday at that party? Hehe…” Twilight tried so hard.

Both the country mare and alicorn gave each other a distressing gaze. The fact that Fluttershy was sensitive to such topics, it didn’t help that she was in charge of maintaining the count of alive and, for that matter, dead animals around Ponyville.

Fluttershy gave both AJ and Twilight an assertive look, her hair being shorter oddly seemed to make her point across even clearer.

“Twilight, I know that you and AJ are both worried about me. But I am a strong pony and I can deal with these things myself. So if you ask how many animals did not make it, fine. I will tell you.”

“Allrighty then, sugarcube. How many animals died in them there woods?”

AJ! Twilight called out to the farm pony by telepathy. It almost made the farm pony jump.

Applejack I know that you are blunt at times. But it still doesn’t change the fact that this is Fluttershy that we are talking to!

Well, goshdarnit don’t ya think I know that? And give me a warning, a sign or somethin’ next time ya decide to use that fancy new alicorn powers of yers. Flutters asked me to be straight with her, so I did.

“Umm,” Twilight and Applejack stared at the fragile pegasus. Fluttershy shut her eyes, bracing herself to not let the tears come. “About 30 of them,” her mouth was trembling, without a doubt – that must have been heartbreaking.

“Oh my, that’s quite the number! Well in that case, ya just sit tight with Twilight and the crew and I will pick those corpses up, okay?"

“NO! I DON’T WANT YOU TO HURT THEM!” Fluttershy raised her voice unlike she ever done before. Sure she had her moments of being assertive, but this was on a whole other level of… well, Fluttershy.

Just like Rainbow Dash just minutes prior, Fluttershy shot herself into the sky and set her course into Everfree Forest.

Twilight and Applejack both gave each other a mutual nod, no telepathy needed, and decided to put their order by the Doctor on hold. They were going to find Fluttershy and comfort her in any way they can.

Date 00:00:12 – 18:49; Everfree Forest Trail

“Fluttershy!”

“Fluttershy! We want to help!” that was Twilight’s voice, accompanied by Applejack. They have been searching for their dear friend for hours now, and their worst fears were steadily crawling to their focus.

AJ caught a glimpse of Twilight with her peripheral vision, and snapped her head to see what the alicorn was doing. It looked like she was trying to… relieve herself. With her forehooves outstretched like a cat, her flank rising to the air, and her wings moving ever so slowly up and down, it was a weird position to look at.

“Twilight what are ya doin’?

“Concentrating…”

“Oh yer usin’ that tepathity thing, right? To talk to Flutters?”

“It’s telepathy, and it’s no use.” Twlight sat up, her back in an arch, “I just recently became an alicorn, and I’m still developing my powers. I need the pony in sight to properly use it.”

“Well that sure is a problem. But pony feathers, I’m not gonna stop until we see our friend in good spirits, ya hear?”

“I hear you loud and clear, AJ. I’m so glad that you are with me.”

“Yea, me t- wait. What’s that supposed tah mean?” Applejack’s intuition kicked in, or was it her curiosity? Either way, something rattled in her head.

“Oh nothing Applejack, I didn’t mean anything by it…” Twilight’s voice was a tad bit nervous, actually a bit too nervous than she should be with talking with her friend.

Applejack’s sarcasm kicked in, “Allrighty then.”

“No I didn’t mean anything by it, honest!” Twilight’s cheeks became a light reddish color.

“I already heard from Rarity, Twi.”

Twilight stood in her tracks, and Applejack seemed to notice, since there wasn’t any sound coming from behind her.

“Can we, just, um…” Twilight let out a faint sigh. “Let’s just focus on the task at hoof, shall we?” Her cheeks were blooming with a deep scarlet overcoat.

“Hehe, I’m teasin’ is all, Twi!” As she gave a hug to the concerned alicorn. In all honesty, Applejack knew for a quite some time that Twilight had a crush on her, but the feelings were unrequited. Regardless, that hug made Twilight’s heart melt, and it convinced her that AJ didn’t know or at the very least, had no idea of her true feelings.

“Okay, let’s check right over this hill!” Twilight said with glee, with a spark of newfound enthusiasm.

AJ let out a small chuckle with that announcement.

Date 00:00:12 – 19:11; Everfree Forest Clearing

The two mares continued in their search, but were fruitless for the most part. All they found were trees, roots, trees, flowers, and even more trees. No sign of their friend.

Until they spotted a matte of pink hair lying on the middle of the trail. Applejack picked it up. It felt very smooth, fine yet stale. Like it was once alive, but now a shell of its former, hair? It had to be from Fluttershy. They spotted some more of the pink strands along the trail and it led to a base of a tree… they started to run.

Fluttershy lay still, with a few squirrels and birds by her side. They all looked as if they were in a deep sleep, but Fluttershy was the exception. Her face was pale, her hoofs were shaking, veins bulging, and her mane was gradually losing all of what was left of each follicle.

Twilight rushed in and picked her up, with Applejack, right be her side.

“Fluttershy! What did you do!? Never mind that! W-what happened!?”

Fluttershy rose her left hoof and raised it next to Twilight’s face, but before making contact, her hoof fell to the mossy ground, her last ounces of strength were slowly depleting. “I’m sorry… I…I couldn’t leave - ” the pegasus let out a dastardly chilling cough, just one measly cough. “I couldn’t leave them…”

She made a pointing gesture with her eyes to the animals around her. Some appeared to be in good condition, while others were covered in a permeable state of a dark purple roots.

Twilight understood what she meant.

Fluttershy infected those animals, she just wanted to be with them, to comfort them when it was her time to leave.

And now, they are all doomed with the same fate as the infected who gave them the virus in the first place.

“I’m sorry…” with her dying words, more of her once-glorious mane was slowly falling, almost leaving the pegasus entirely bald. Her face showed signs of suffocation, with a purple hue on her cheeks and neck.

“No Fluttershy! NO! Stay with me! You’re going to be okay! FLUTTERSHYYY!” Twilight’s scream reverberated through the forest, even causing a flock of birds to soar into the open air. The mere thought that Fluttershy appeared perfectly healthy, with the exception of a terribly trimmed haircut, just hours earlier, tore at the Princess of Friendship’s heart.

Applejack could only stare, as she witnessed not only the death of one of her closest friends, but one of the Elements of Harmony at that. Not to mention Twilight’s anxiety of losing somepony she cared for.

Seconds passed, then minutes. Twilight was still clutching the dead pegasus when Applejack knew that enough was enough. She leaned next to Twilight and tapped her shoulder, indicating that their friend was gone.

Twilight finally let go. It looked as if she would be okay but then quickly buried her face onto AJ’s chest. She needed her now more than ever. AJ embraced her, she lost somepony too and a second hug seemed to be the best medicine.

While the alicorn was sobbing, the wind of the forest pushed the pegasus onto Twilight’s back. For a second, Twilight thought that Fluttershy still was alive – trying to get into a group hug – but that quickly changed with yet another glance. The alicorn pushed away Fluttershy’s body and rose onto her hooves. She looked away and gave a signal to AJ. All she could do is nod.

Applejack set off a flare into the air, then placed a yellow tag right on her old friend’s wing, being very careful of not touching her.

Twilight was immune to the virus, or so the Doctor says, but as for the farm mare, that is uncertain. He strongly suggested for Applejack to not touch any infected without the proper procedures. Then again, this was her friend, she didn’t care at that point if she caught it, even though that meant she would have to leave her siblings behind – she didn’t want that.

Both feeling slightly guilty for their friend, they slowly trotted their way back. Twilight left drops of tears on the path, while AJ was trying to cover a somber expression on her face with her hat, apparently she did cry on the inside after all. But Twilight could had sworn that she saw something trickling down the country mare’s cheeck as the road to Ponyville beckoned for their leave…

Author's Note:

Okay sorry for the late update to this, I had some issues due to school :P .

Anyway, I realize that this story does have some romance involved, but by no means the focus of the story – that is why there is no romance tag on it. There will be more instances of ‘romantic’ scenes, but the story itself is based around the events of the virus, nothing more, no less. So don’t worry about it being a fanfic that has pony parings and the such; even though there will be, just not a romantic novel at the surface.

The next story chapter will be released… whenever. But I may post 2 or maybe 3 chapters the same day for the lack of my actual updates to the story. My original plan was once every week, but with finals coming up for my college courses, that may not be the case for the first 2 weeks of this month. That will change when everything finally settles down and then I can focus on what I like to do.

Comments

[Ponyess]

One small point, from the context, the title is spelled with a capital C?

[YADAMAN]

6712773
Oh I just simply did a combination, more like a swap really, of the word 'Contagion' and 'Pony', by simply just switching the first letter.

To be honest, I didn't really have decent title for this particular story, since putting the actual word, 'Contagion' would had been cliche, but it probably would had been better if I done so.

[Ponyess]

6715008

Oh I just simply did a combination, more like a swap really, of the word 'Contagion' and 'Pony', by simply just switching the first letter.

This does sound like a fair explanation to reason behind the choice. In effect, you made a Punny, right there.
Just not sure how other readers are reacting on your title. Readersmay be thickle and hard to predict.

To be honest, I didn't really have decent title for this particular story, since putting the actual word, 'Contagion' would had been cliche, but it probably would had been better if I done so.

I guess just the word could be seen just like that, yes. Try to avoice cliche as far as possible is good, too.
Take a moment and consider the title carefully. This is the first chance to draw in the readers you wan to enjoy the adventure at hoof.
From the tags, they are ponies, but before I delve too deep, there is a promise of bloodshed, from what I can see.

[YADAMAN]

6715025
Alrighty, thanks for the help! I really appreciate it! I will focus on that. (my other upcoming stories actually have better titles, I can guarantee that, but this one... it never really clicked from the start, so that's totally my problem :P)

I'm still getting the hang of all sorts of things here on FIMFiction (including the tags), and any sort of help is always welcome here!