The Rainbow Plague

by Prixy05

Chapter 6

Spike woke up on the ground, or more specifically, the dirt. He blinked and squinted. He was laying on his back, looking straight up to the sunset tinted sky overhead. Around him were the green tops of trees with their little leaves sticking out, creating a natural border around the clearing.

He grunted as he stood up, wiping away specks of rainbow goo encrusted around his mouth. The last thing he remembered was the attack in the Castle of Friendship. He had begun running to meeting room to get Twilight. Everything after became blurry, a persistent fog that encroached in his mind.

"What happened? Where am I?" Spike groggily questioned to no one in particular. His voice sounded raspy, he swallowed, biding the pain in his throat while looking around, examining his surroundings. He seemed to be in Everfree Forest, the surrounding darkness of the trees and hanging vines being a tell-tale sign. But it wasn't a location he recognized.

There was a large pool connected to a wide, sparkling waterfall as well as a multitude of smaller, bubbling pools. Steam rose and coalesced above the pools, indicating their warmth and bringing an atmosphere of moistness to the clearing. It was the Everfree hot springs, a place he had heard Zecora mention once or twice before, but never actually seen himself.

A yawning sound from behind made Spike spin around with the realization that he wasn't alone. In fact, far from it. The Cake Twins lay on the ground right behind him, sleeping peacefully in the grass. Curled up with one another, the two infants seemed completely fine and disinterested with the situation.

Spike gasped, in the shadows of the trees further back were more ponies. Featherweight, Twist, Shady Daze, all the fillies and colts Spike could recognize were grouped together, fast asleep on the ground.

"Don't bother with 'em," said a voice, "I already tried waking them up. They're out cold."

Spike turned his attention to the singular filly who was speaking to him, "Apple Bloom? What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too Spike," she faintly smiled in response before sighing, "and it's a long story."

"Why aren't you at Sweet Apple Acres? Applejack's going be worried sick!"

"Sweet Apple Acres is gone," Apple Bloom responded coldly, "I was the only pony who made it out." Spike's fins drooped as Apple Bloom began to tear up. "I was gonna go to the castle, but some pegasi were chasing me and-" she stopped as Spike pulled her into a hug. It seemed like everybody need a nice hug nowadays.

"I'm sorry for your loss," said Spike, "I really am. I wish we could've helped, but- things weren't going too great on our end either."

"What happened?"

"Starlight got infected and let in a whole bunch of zomponies. The others got out, but Twilight, I'm not sure."

"So how did you get here?"

Spike shrugged, "I don't know, I think I blacked out or something." He coughed, the aching in his throat getting to him.

"Well, I was tossed in here after I got captured," said Apple Bloom, "by Zecora." Spike thought to himself, so zebras weren't immune to the disease, that was some interesting information. At the very least she wasn't left out, not like the last time Ponyville got sick.

"What about them?" asked Spike, motioning to the other foals near them.

"No idea, they were already there when I got here."

Spike caressed his throat to ease the pain while he pondered. Already there? Were they imprisoned? Immediately the stones around him made sense. They weren't random nor natural, instead making up crudely constructed barrier for him and the ponies, a fence of sorts, a pen. There didn't seem to be any guards, at least not until the leaves overhead began to rustle.

A zompony pegasus stuck her head out from branches, turning her eyes to stare at the hot springs. Another pegasus emerged and did the same, swiftly climbing the down large Everfree tree using her wings as a third set of limbs to grasp the wood. With an unspoken agreement, both Apple Bloom and Spike simultaneously flopped onto the ground, pretending they were unconscious like their fellow co-inhabitors.

Spike opened a single eye while his snout touched the dirt. Both of the pegasi sentries stood at attention, their backs turned to the pen, facing a small parade of zomponies that rounded around the large boulders gracing the edges of the waterfall. Mr and Mrs Cake led the procession, stumping forward, their jaws slack with the rainbow dripping out, creating a bioluminescent carpet for the unicorns that followed. The unicorns walked in single file, each of their horns faintly glowing, suspending an object mid-air a good ten feet above their heads.

Spike then observed the floating objects and realized it wasn't what they were floating, but who. The floating things were ponies, a line of infected foals floating slowly toward the pen. Spike knew these ponies as well, Diamond Tiara, Snips, but the first one was the most notable, and distressing, and he could tell from Apple Bloom's muffled gasp that she saw them as well.

The infected Scootaloo hovered suspended by magic mid-air and was the first of the sick fillies in the line that approached nearer and nearer. Scootaloo had all the tell-tale marks of the infection, but her limbs violently twitched and her whole body shuddered as if she was pain. The line of zomponies lurched to halt as the Cakes reached the edge of the pen.

Spike clenched his jaw as the zomponies began to line up around the pen, but their attention was turned elsewhere. All the infected adults had turned their gaze skyward towards Scootaloo, who uncontrollably spasmed in a manner more aggressive than even the other magically suspended foals.

Everyone watched in silence as Scootaloo's stomach began to bulge outward as she loudly gagged. The bulge began to move upwards as her jaw hinged open. Scootaloo's eyes clamped shut as she retched forward, regurgitating a large spray of the rainbow goo that poured downward and splattered on the ground. As the pegasi finished heaving, the unicorn suspending Scootaloo let go and tossed her into the pen, where the little yearling rolled onto the ground and remained still.

The unicorn and the Cakes stumbled forward to the technicolor vomit spread on the ground. In the middle was a bug of some kind that resembled an oversized maggot. Its four, thin legs were curled up in the air, and it displayed no movement except for the stray bits of rainbow that dripped from it creases.

Like a hawk on the move, the Cakes leapt into action, Mr. Cake moving first and stomping a hoof into the grub's abdomen. Spike shuddered and turned away as a squelching sound echoed out. Mr. Cake's hoof punctured the waxy flesh like a rotten pumpkin, getting covered in a layer of rainbow slime and stringy bits of green. Mrs. Cake was next, crushing the creature's head which crunched like a leaf underhoof. Again and again the zomponies stomped on the grub, until it was completely shattered into the ground. Then, they leaned down, and began to eat the grub's innards. Slowly and methodically, the Cakes ate every bit of the creature's body, while Scootaloo's unicorn carrier licked up the rainbow vomit.

When the bug's body had been completely devoured, the trio of zomponies marched away to the hot springs where they proceeded to bend their heads towards the warm waters and regurgitate the bits and slime of the grub into the springs.

With the process complete, the unicorn left, turning and marching away to where she had emerged. The next unicorn stepped forward. Diamond Tiara overhead began to loudly gag. Spike grimaced and buried his face in the dirt as the arduous process began once more.

---

The sun had set as another day in Ponyville ended. Rainbow Dash pressed her muzzle against the window, gazing downwards on the streets. She was checking to see if they were followed but of course the streets of Ponyville were empty, just like the other nine times she had checked previously. In fact, none of them in the group had seen anybody, infected or not, leave the castle.

Rainbow frowned, she knew that they should be moving, preferably out of Ponyville, but they still had to wait. They had to wait for Twilight and Spike. If they made it, and she knew they did, they would come here, to Sugarcube Corner, the group's meeting place even before the outbreak.

Sugarcube Corner was, like everywhere else, dirty and dark, but it had gone untouched for a majority of the time. It seemed that the Cakes including the twins, had left early on, and they all knew what happened with Pinkie. They had holed up in the upper floor of the bakery, both as a way to avoid the "burrowing" zomponies and a way to get a good lookout over Ponyville. The group was huddled in the darkness, none of them daring to create a light, leaving them all in low spirits in the darkness.

Applejack leaned against the wall, looking out the window, cold as stone. She was tired of all the hiding and planning, and now that they had lost Twilight, the closest pony they had to a leader, things looked grimmer than ever.

Discord lay curled up like a snake, scowling at Rainbow Dash. It was outrageous. She had slapped him! Called him an idiot! For what? Caring about Fluttershy, bringing her to somewhere safe? And he had only been able to save one of his puppets too! Now how was he supposed to entertain himself without puppets or chaos magic?

Last was Sweetie Belle. The poor filly lay fast asleep on the swirled carpet next to Tank the tortoise. Even in sleep, she unconsciously clutched the ear that had a bite taken out of it earlier. Rainbow Dash continued to pace back and forth. Without her flight or speed, she was continuously on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

"Face it sugarcube," Applejack suddenly said, breaking the silence, "Twilight ain't coming back."

"You don't know that!" Rainbow answered defensively, "She's an alicorn! If anypony could make it out, it would be her!"

Discord spoke up next, "If Princess Twilight were still around, she would have arrived by now. After all, Twilight Sparkle is many things, but she is not tardy."

"Shut it!" Rainbow snapped, "You don't get to say anything after the crap you pulled in the castle!"

"You're still riled up about that?" Discord snorted derisively, "Tell me, was hiding an infected pony in the castle any worse than what that Claude pony did?"

"The difference is that Claude is getting his brains eaten or something while you are here being all Discordy."

"Discordy?"

"Enough!" Applejack stomped her hoof down, disturbing the sleeping Sweetie, "Stop with yer yapping!" Normally Applejack was the calm voice of reason, but she had been uncharacteristically cold since leaving the farm. She pointed a hoof at Discord, "You need to shut your trap!" she pointed at Rainbow, "and you need to accept the truth. Twilight's gone!"

"She's not gone!" Rainbow cried out, "And even if she was. We can fix it! We can find a cure!"

"What cure?" Applejack asked, "We don't know squat and we've already lost half our numbers in two days! There's nothin' we can do to help them!"

"Then what do suggest we do? Kill them?"

Applejack shook her head, "Not so drastic Rainbow! No, I say we take them out at the source." Rainbow looked at her blankly.

Applejack let out a heavy sigh, "Look, I'm sorry for snapping out at ya Rainbow, I just need to time to cool off," she yawned and leaned back against the wall, tipping her hat over her eyes, "As for the plan, just wait 'til tomorrow, Dash."

---

Gray. A gray expanse of nothingness. That's what Twilight Sparkle found herself in. Actually, it wasn't entirely gray. Blobs of darkness could be seen, unclear and indistinct, like shadows on the horizon.

"Hello? Anypony there?" Twilight flapped her wings and looked around. Still nothing.

She didn't know what this place was, why she was here, how she had gotten here.

"C'mon Twilight," she reassured to herself, "You're the Princess of Friendship, you can figure this out." She tried to remember why she was there. She could recall some previous situations, but nothing specific. It was like an oil had seeped into her mind, contaminating her memories. Her hoof clapped her forehead as she struggled to remember things, anything. Some faces appeared, friends, family even, but they blurred together, their features warping until they were indistinguishable silhouettes.

A mist had fallen in Twilight's mind. Locations vanished, ponies vanished, her whole life vanished; shrouded until it was nothing but the gray. The gray that was all she knew, all that surrounded her.

Gray. A gray expanse of nothingness. That's what the purple alicorn found herself in. The alicorn who had forgotten her own name, who stumbled aimlessly through the gray webs of her mind.

---

Canterlot Castle was a venerable, and literal, hive of activity. The infected ponies hadn't needed the typical digging and burrowing they used elsewhere, as the tunnels underneath Canterlot were more than sufficient enough. Yes, the zomponies, those creatures, had burrowed quite comfortably into the heart of Equestria. Celestia could only assume it was the same elsewhere.

The elder of the two sisters was still splayed against her throne, caught in the hot hues of the creatures' webs. Webs that had pinned the alicorn to the chair for days now. Her limbs tired, her body aching, Celestia wished it could all end. That somepony out there could stop this, Twilight most likely, she usually handled situations like this.

Various ponies, most of whom were former guards, gurgled as they roamed about the throne room. Some of them stacked those awful, bloated grubs of theirs against the pillars. Some more belched the bright rainbow ooze that had thoroughly seeped into the floor and walls.

Celestia was more tired than usual, besides the usual pattern of the bugs trying to infect her, she had just finished lowering the sun, and presumed Luna had raised the moon as well. Despite the bugs, those things, being living magical siphons of some sort, they had somehow let her continue to raise the sun every day, or at least until the hive could add her to their ranks.

The transfer of infection was a harrowing process during which a zompony would try to vomit a bug that would proceed to crawl down her throat. A bug that her powerful alicorn magic, no matter how subdued, would profusely reject. Celestia shuddered thinking about how many of those bloated rainbow grubs she had to cough up every day. But it would get grosser, for whenever the grub died, the zomponies would stomp it into a pulp and eat it, for why, she had no idea.

But what more was, she could hear them. It began on the first day, after the surprise attack, when she was first forced to ingest the rainbow goo. Celestia began to hear the ponies, or bugs, or whoever chittering amongst themselves. It was always unclear, like background noise, until a grubpony would walk up to her specifically.

This time a guard who went by the name of Flash Sentry walked up to her. His helmet was crooked, and his gold armor had multi-colored stains on it. He looked up at her with his blank, white eyes. His mouth didn't move, instead one high-pitched voice in her mind rose up against the constant indistinct buzzing of the others.

'Despite you and the other princesses' difficulty, we have added another valuable being for our cause.'

Celestia could only assume by the other princesses he meant Luna. On the first night after being captured by the hive, Luna had come to her in her dreams. Luna didn't say much, just that the infection was locking her out of infected ponies' dreams, that or the zomponies didn't sleep. Celestia assumed the latter, having not seen a single grubpony sleep or eat. Maybe they lived off emotions like changelings?

Flash Sentry grunted and began to wobble as the rainbow poured out, a sign that another infection attempt was about to occur.

'But you needn't worry about it,' the voice continued, 'Once you're fixed, you won't need to worry about anything.'

---

In the gray expanse of her mind, a solitary alicorn walked alone. She couldn't remember who she was, not even her name. Lost and confused she wandered alone, occasionally stumbling into something unseen. At least, until the voice spoke. A voice whispery and harsh, that somehow brought her solace.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle," the voice said, "What a pleasure it is to finally meet you."

The alicorn tilted her head in curiosity, "So, am I Twilight?"

"Of course," the voice replied.

The alicorn blinked, yes, that was her name. Twilight Sparkle.

Her head shot up, "Oh! I have a question!"

"Proceed."

"What is this place?"

"Why Twilight, this is the Castle of Friendship."

The Castle of Friendship. Like a shroud being lifted, something unlocked in Twilight's mind as her surroundings became clearer. The dark shadows became more defined as the gray seemed to shrink until the blurry outline of walls and pillars became identifiable.

"Come with me," the voice stated as it seemed to drift away. Twilight followed, not out of want, but out of need. She felt inclined to follow the voice. "See Twilight," the voice said as a pulsing sound, a heartbeat, began to rattle into Twilight's ears, "You are new. A new member of our family. A family made of many others, others that includes me and elements."

"The elements?"

"Yes Twilight, the elements, because you- are special. You are an element." Out of the gray stepped three other ponies, ponies that Twilight could swear she recognized. They all looked at each other in silence. "That is why you and me, we have a task. A special task. A task that will be shared between you and your closest members of the family."

A string was pulled in Twilight's mind and suddenly she realized she knew these ponies. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity, her sisters, her family. Her fellow elements.

"Our task is special, because we are the only ones who possess the knowledge we do. The knowledge you have."

"So what is our special task?" Twilight asked, looking up to the non-existent owner of the voice.

"There is threat, a threat to our family," the voice began, "A threat that you and the elements know much about. A threat that we must eliminate."

Twilight remembered. Yes, she had always known, known about these threats and her task. Her special task that required the intimate knowledge that only she possessed. Two ponies, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Two ponies that needed to be hunted down. She looked around as the gray began to vanish, being replaced by the colorful hues of a rainbow.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this a 28 Pranks Later fix fic?

[AgentKorpsman]

Twilight remembered. Yes, she had always known, known about these threats and her task. Her special task that required the intimate knowledge that only she possessed. Two ponies, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Two ponies that needed to be hunted down. She looked around as the gray began to vanish, being replaced by the colorful hues of a rainbow.

Well f**k.

So scootaloo might be infected anymore possibly.

But now they might have to kill a few to get to the source of this infection. Or all of it is connected somehow. Like the xenomorph’s do. Or at least their structure. And the queen died then the next strongest warrior becomes the new queen or birth it.

And yeah they might want to start rethinking. (Don’t kill them order for at least a few of them) I get it but sometimes you are just going to have to break a few eggs or do bad h to info in order to do some good.

[AgentKorpsman]

Applejack shook her head, "Not so drastic Rainbow! No, I say we take them out at the source ." Rainbow looked at her blankly.

They are so dead or going to get infected or something

[Prixy05]

11464230
Not really. This takes place at the same time of the episode and the zombies are based after the fake ones, but this story is largely it's own thing.

[darklight731]

Was Twilight a discount Alicorn or something? How had she gotten infected so easily?

[Charlie_K]

See folks? This is why you should always properly cook your food before you eat it!

11464551
She's still fresh compared to the others.

[DingoAte]

The transfer of infection was a harrowing process during which a zompony would try to vomit a bug that would proceed to crawl down her throat. A bug that her powerful alicorn magic, no matter how subdued, would profusely reject. Celestia shuddered thinking about how many of those bloated rainbow grubs she had to cough up every day. But it would get grosser, for whenever the grub died, the zomponies would stomp it into a pulp and eat it, for why, she had no idea.

no matter how young twilight is she is still an alacorn and still is overpowered how did she get infected so easily, without her body even remotely rejecting it?