As I'm Falling to Pieces

by Pinkamena Diane Pie

Chapter XLVI: Rebirth by Encryption

Chapter XLVI: Rebirth By Encryption

The elevator Doors opened to a mass of moving ponies. They were all going on the same direction. Twilight turned to the others before they walked out.

“I have to go now, but you will see me later.” she smiled mischievously. Her body began to glow, and the next second she had teleported away, leaving them to stare at the spot in which she had been standing. Rainbow shook her head and let out a sigh.

“I hate it when she does this.” she said, walking out of the elevator. “It is always about something she did.” she said, rolling her eyes. Despite himself, Lightning had to laugh. They fell in line behind the wall of ponies, all moving in one direction. Lightning had never been to the amphitheater, so this would be new. Finally, they reached a set of metal doors, and walked into the room beyond.

Lightning gasped. The place was enormous. A thousand seat, enough to fit the entire population of the Bunker, were set out in rows, all facing a massive stage that was set into the far wall. Already, most of the seats were filled, and some of the pegasi were flying around, not wanting to be part of the moshpit. There weren’t six seats next to each other, so they split up, Fluttershy and Rainbow taking to the air. Lightning finally found a seat, and sat down next to a pony with cream colored fur and a red and pink striped mane and tail. After a few minutes of confused talking, the lights dimmed, and all the ponies stopped talking.

Twilight, dressed up in a lab coat, walked out onto the stage. She had a small headset on with a wire going down her back. She walked out into the middle of the stage, then turned and faced the ponies. She had a look of happiness plastered on her face. She cleared her throat, and smiled down at the crowd.

“I am here, to report something magnificent and amazing.” she said, the smile growing larger. “We have done something that we thought we would have never accomplished. Fillies and Gentlecolts, we have created a Cure!”

The audience erupted into noise. Ponies cheering and yelling. Twilight just laughed and began talking once the noise had stopped. “I know what some of you are thinking. You are thinking that we already have one, why do we need another. But you would be wrong. We have a Cure that stops the virus before it spreads completely. But now, we have one that can reverse the effects, once the virus has taken over the host. Now, we can heal our friends and neighbors who were struck down with this terrible disease!”

A new round of yelling and hoof clopping rose from the ponies, including Lightning. Twilight smiled at him when she saw him, then looked around at the ponies. “Many of you are probably sceptical, and I understand that. You want proof. Well here you are!” She waved her hoof towards the side of the stage, and a pony limped out to meet her.

He was a pegasus, the pile of gauze and surgical tape on his right wing showed that. He had a deep purple coat, and a dark blue mane and tail. A white stripe ran down his mane and tail, just over his left eye. He limped over to twilight, who helped him to steady himself. He looked out over the crowd. Even from where Lightning was sitting, he could tell he was shaking. Turning back and forth between the crowd and Twilight, he seemed to be much younger then he seemed. Twilight nodded reassuringly, and he nodded back, swallowing. Lightning couldn’t place it, but he looked very familiar.

“H..Hello.” he said, voice shaking. “My name is..is Sky Spark. I don’t suppose many of you know me. I am from...from Baltimare, or what used to be Baltimare. And..” he turned to Twilight. “What is the date?”

“September 19, 2013 A.L.” she replied, watching him carefully. He nodded, turning back to the crowd.

“And six years, three months, and twelve days ago, I was bitten.” Small gasps and yells came from the audience, and Sky shrunk back a bit. But Twilight put her hoof on his shoulder, and he stood up straight again. “I was transformed, living a hell without death. But one this had not changed. I did not eat others. I did not crave pony flesh.” he said, staring out into the crowd. “An expedition found me, and brought me back to the Bunker.”

“There, I was experimented on. They tried to find what kept me...somewhat sane.” he said, a sly smile on his lips. A scar ran from the bottom of his right eye to his top lip, making him look like he was always crying. “Finally they found it. It was...was...” he stopped, looking back over at Twilight. “Do you want to explain this part.” he said. laughing. Twilight nodded, smiling as well.

“Well, the virus enters your system, and begins to re--work your DNA. If left un touched, it will completely change your DNA, turning you into a new species. What we still don’t understand, is how most of Sky’s DNA was left untouched. All he would eat, was apples.” she said, laughing. “We had to separate him from the other infected, as they seemed to know something was off about him.” Suddenly, Lightning remembered. This was the pony from the lab. Twilight had called him “Crocker”.

“We were able to extract a Cure.” Twilight continued. “A solution of his DNA and other chemicals, which, when injected, would re-write the already overwritten DNA. This would, over the course of a couple weeks, return a pony to normal.”

A sudden, sharp, angry voice rose from the crowd. “He is a danger to us all! How can you believe that he is cured?!” Murmurs rose from the crowd. Some in agree ment, others in defence. Soon, ponies were arguing with the ponies next to them. Sky stepped back from the podium, looking over at Twilight. Twilight walked up to the podium and banged her hoof on the wood, several times. Slowly, the ponies began to quiet down.

“I can’t believe you ponies!” she yelled. “How can you even think that I would put you in danger?” She pointed over at Sky. “Of all the things to worry about in this world, you are worrying about this?” She shook her head. Some of the ponies in the audience were hanging their heads. Twilight walked away from the podium, pointing Sky towards it. He slowly walked towards it, looking apprehensive. He cleared his throat.

“Where was I?” he asked. “Oh, right. I won’t say that this will be enjoyable. The feeling of your DNA being changed, feeling it move under your skin. It makes you wish you were dead.” he said, staring gravely around at the ponies. “But, trust me. Living, is the greatest feeling you can have.” Twilight walked over and laid a hoof across his shoulders. She seemed to melt into her fur, almost as if he belonged there. Lightning assumed that she was probably like a messiah to him, saving from a living hell.

“This is still under heavy development. This was just a test to see if we were headed in the right direction. I know some of you have family down there. Give us time, and you will soon be able to reunite with them!” At this, the loudest round of cheering broke out. Ponies stood on their hind legs, hooves clapping together. Lightning could feel the sound deep in his chest. He could see the pegasi in the air doing flips and spins. Sky smiled down at the crowd, bowed, then limped off stage. A thick scar ran down the side of his leg, cutting his cutie mark, a light blue lightning bolt with white stars floating around it, in half. He almost fell one time, and Twilight rushed over and helped him off the stage.

When she left, a small murmur in the crowd rose to a swell of talking. It seemed like everypony had something to say, and they were all going to say it now. Lightning looked around, spotting Phoenix, Cora, and the rest walking out of the amphitheater. He trotted over to them, feeling happy and light.

“I can’t believe this.” Phoenix said when he was within ear-shot. “Looks like we are out of a job now.” Lightning punched him in the arm, but he was smiling as well.

“Yeah, I guess so. But how are they going to be able to fix everything?” Lightning asked, his mind bringing up visions of the surface, Infected roaming everywhere. “Can they possibly cure all of them?”

“It is possible.” Cora said, turning to look at them. “Putting the cure in some form of gas, or creating a type of delivery system, like a syringe rifle, could make this an easier task than anticipated.”

Lightning felt something brush his side. Looking over, he saw that Applejack had trotted over. She smiled up at him, then looked around at the others. “I think we should go see him.” she said. “He probably doesn’t have any friends, and I think most of the ponies here don’t like him.”

“Why would that be?” Rainbow asked, looking back down at the stage.

“Well, he symbolizes the reason that we are still down here.” Applejack responded. “If we could make them see him as just another pony, they might be more accepting.”

“I guess.” Rainbow said. Lightning could tell she was not one for making new friends.

“I think it is a wonderful idea.” Fluttershy said, already heading towards the door. “He probably wants somepony around right now.” And with that, she had exited the doors, leaving the others to gallop after her. But Lightning couldn’t help shake a feeling. Something in the back of his mind was nagging at him. Telling him, that everything had just changed.

Comments

[Pinkamena Diane Pie]

If you hadn't already referred to our blog post at; http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/24726. Then please do.

We are sorry for such a sudden hiatus without much warning before hand, but our writers block and real life things are hitting us hard this time. We've never had it this bad before, but I guess it happens to all writers.

Hope to see you all in a few weeks. We will keep updating for a bit longer until we run out of reserve chapters. Hang in there!

[Sky Spark]

scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw4604-1335652135097.gif Me reading this chapter I love it. Now they can cure all the ponies.

[DreZoma]

WOO!

Though I have a feeling this is going to turn to hell.