Plague

by Cezar

Rating: teen
Tags: Fluttershy, Princess Celestia, Gore, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Princess Luna, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Tragedy
Length: 14603

Drake is an orphan living on the streets of Canterlot. His average day is spent running from cops and avoiding truenct officers, but when a plauge hits the city, and it is cosed off to the outside world, his average day becomes an average nightmare.

No longer does Drake fight for his next meal, but for his next breath.

Published 2013-06-08 00:50:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-07-18 04:04:16 UTC

The days prior

Drake flew as fast as he could. Three police ran after him.

“Hey, stop right there,” one shouted.

He rounded a corner and shot down another alley way. It wasn’t the first time he had done this, but he still got good dose of adrenalin. He continued down. The police tied down. They heard over their panting, on the radio that there was an incident three streets away.

‘That was too close,’ he thought to himself as he slowed his pace and took in a deep breath. He looked around at his surroundings. He automatically knew where he was by the sign hanging off the wall that said GLORIA’S FLOWERS, and the black street cat with a white spot on the tip of its tail.

He turned around a corner, and to his right. He smelled the air. Damp, and kind of stinky. He walked to the corner, and then went to the back wall of a large building. It was right outside of a hospital. On the side where they threw out all of their trash. He walked down, and to where the trash harbor ended. There was a square, with a narrow entrance, and a rag tag roof. An old mattress with torn sheets and ripped up pillow.

This was what he called home. A dog got up. It was a well fed rottweiler. Rather small for a dog of its breed, but pure bred.Her name was Bella

He had found her being thrown out. She was part of a freak litter. He bought her for all the money he had at the time, fifty-seven bits. He had gathered it from a combination of begging, lying, and finding it on the ground. She was his most valuable possession.

Drake pat her on the head as she stood up and whined at him. She missed him so much. But Drake was used to this. She was always this way. He laid down on his bed. Bella came and laid down next to him. She snuggled up right up with him, and nudged his arm. He scratched her stomach, and flopped around her ears.

She calmed down, and layed there. He lied there and listened to the hospital people on the other side of the brick wall. This is how he normally entertained himself. He dozed off into sleep after about an hour. When he awoke, he didn’t feel like going back to sleep. It was dark outside, and walked out. Bella sat at the door, and whined. She wanted to come too.

Drake decided to bring her. Besides, it wasn’t too smart to walk around the capital city at whatever hour it was. Dark, thats all he knew. So he put her on a leash and walked her out of the shack he called home. He turned down the corner, and between two buildings. It was a short cut out. He looked around. The moist streets glistened from the lights of the street.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something shiny reflect off the light. It got his full attention. It was a palace guard. Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia were all there, talking.

Drake decided to follow them. He was curious as to what they were doing. They walked slowly up the street, talking to eachother softly. Political business, Drake assumed. He couldn’t hear their conversation. They turned the corner, and headed to the train station. Drake stood at the corner, and waited for them to disappear into the blackness before he continued. He reached the next light, he then realized that he didn’t see them go through the next light.

Three guards seized him, and he dropped his leash, which then Bella turned and bit one of the guards in the leg. He let go of his grip. Drake broke from the other two, and he scooped up Bella, and took off flying as fast as he could.

A bright light flashed in front of him and Celestia herself was there in front of him. He made a hard right, and nearly dropped Bella. He wanted to go home. Then he saw a dark shadow in front of him. He collided with it, and dropped Bella. She fell a small way, but was caught by a magical aura, which held her there, and gently brought her to the ground. He was caught by two hooves, and then was held there.

“Why are you following us?” she asked.

Drake recognized the voice. He had heard that voice before, in the hospital. It was Luna.

“Why are you following us?” she re-asked.

Drake was in panic.

“Where are your parents, and why did they let you out so late at night?” She asked.

“Leave me alone,” he said. He broke free of her grip and took off. He then turned around, remembering Bella. He would have get her back. She was all he had. His most valuable possession. Drake looked back. The princess landed and continued. Bella walked next to a guard. He prayed it was the one she bit.

He flew this time. There was no suspicion as to if he was following them. They knew he would show up eventually and get his dog back. The guards would just keep an open eye for him. They were happy that it was just some pegasus child, instead of a burglar or a stalker.

They entered the train station. Luna leaned over to the clerk and whispered something into his ear. Then the clerk hit a big red button, and the door began to shut. Drake flew as fast as he could to it, and slipped in under it. He was hidden by the dark and unseen by the clerk, or any guards, or one of the princesses.

He had a burn on his shoulder, where he had rubbed against the cobblestone, on his‘great’ entrance to the station.
They sat there and waited for the train. They, everypony but Luna that is, sat around and engaged in small talk. Drake heard them laugh at something. They talked like friends. But Luna walked off into the dark. She was looking for something, or somepony. Most likely Drake. He swooped down by the guards who stood at attention. One of which had Bella. Sadly it wasn’t the one who she bit. Drake wanted that guard to feel the torture of holding her after what she did to him.

Drake had to think, ‘how would he get her?’ He figured that if he could break free of two, he could get her from one. But he would have to make it swift, and quick. He decided on what he was going to do.

The train’s rumbling echoed down the tracks, and they watched as it rounded a corner. It began to screech to a halt. Drake took this as his time. He flew to the end of the Track, and geared up. He shot forward, fast as a bullet, straight at the guard holding Bella. He slammed into him, denting his armor severely, and causing him to drop Bella. Drake quickly picked her up, and carried her away.

“Stop, by order of her majesty's guard!” One shouted.

Drake ignored the order and continued on his escape.

(Back on the platform)

Celestia looked after him as he flew off into the dark abyss, where he disappeared.

“Well, so much for our plan,” she said.

“Wait, what just happened?” Twilight asked.

The train stopped. The cabin doors opened, and out came mrs. Percival. She was followed by a school of young fillies and colts. They all looked in awe at Celestia and the other princesses. Fluttershy got off the train. (She was a chaperone).

“Hello,” one said.

Celestia looked down, and saw three ponies standing in front of her. “Oh, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Nice to see you again. How’s everything going back in ponyville?” She asked.

“Everything’s okay, for the time being,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Well, I hope you enjoy your stay. I have prepared a place for you to stay. In the castle. It will be quite a luxury stay for some of you,” She continued.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle and I will be accompanying you to where you stay,” She said.

Luna leaned in and whispered,” What will I be doing?”

“Finding that little colt, and finding out where he lives. I’ve seen him around before, and I know he has been in trouble like he was today before. I think he is an orphan...

“Excuse me children,” She said remembering them.

“Anyway, I think he’s an orphan, and I want you to find him,” she said.

Luna nodded her head and went to the clerk and told him to open the gate. Once the gate was all the way open, she stepped out onto the street. She whispered a simple light spell and then set out on her mission.

(Back with Drake)

Drake landed toward the end of the alleyway. He walked a few steps and then turned and ran down another alleyway. He then turned once more and was back. He went straight to bed. He had no intentions of causing any trouble for at least a week. But knowing himself, he would probably get into trouble the next day.

He lied in his bed, quietly, and slowly closed his eyes and fell to sleep.

(Luna)

Luna had found trouble finding this pony. He had literally disappeared, not leaving any signs of which direction of where he was. But Luna knew of a way she could find him. Part of her job as the lady of the night, was to monitor the dreams and help everypony resolve problems they’ve come across throughout their day, week, and even life. She concentrated strongly. She found one dream that stood out. Drake was running. But not from guards, not from police. It was a black blob like thing. He jumped on top of something. The creature then took him over.

She had a flashback. She thought that he was running from, no it was too awful to think of.

He wasn’t consumed. What he was trying to protect... Luna didn’t know who it was. It was kind of creepy. He was trying to save somepony. But she couldn’t tell who it was.

She was confused. Never before had she seen something with such realness. As if he was actually remembering it...

She had to go. She turned around. But something shined out of the corner of the street. It was very odd.

(in the hospital)

“Are you okay? You seem sick,” a nurse asked a visitor.

“Yea, I’m fine,” She responded. She got up to go home. A cold sweat rested on her brow. She stumbled toward the door. The nurse knew something was wrong.

“Mam,” she began.

The lady stumbled, then fell to the floor.

“Mam!” the nurse said, as she ran down to her.” I need a doctor.”

(Celestia)

Celestia showed the girls where they would be staying. “Now, in order to make sure that no one walked off, and at the request of your teacher who wasn’t able to make it, I am having Luna, whenever she gets back, put a lock spell on this wing. But as long as you keep it quiet, you can play around or mess around, or whatever,” she said. “I have some buisness to atend to in Cloudsdale. I will see you in two days to see you off.”

(Drake)

Drake opened his eyes. It was hours later, but it seemed to him only a few minutes. He wanted to go back to sleep, but Bella wanted to go on another walk. He got up. It was partly cloudy, with a side of sunshine. Drake was hungry. He hadn’t eaten for a while. He went to the bakery, owned by the Bakers.

They were home, and gave him some coffee muffins, which were fresh made. They were always kind to him.

He went about his business. He had to get back the dog food that was taken from him by the cops. He knew where to get that from. He went to the dumpster behind the station, and took it.

The cops for some reason, he couldn’t figure out, didn’t like him, at all. They always accused him of doing things he didn’t do and had never done before. It was more of a guilt thing, he figured. They knew his story, and had they of acted instead of not paying attention to his urgent, desperate calls for help, his parents would be alive, and him not an orphan.

Drake didn’t hold it over their head. He was barely old enough to even remember his parents. so it didn’t really matter to him all that much.

Drake walked out from behind the building and down back to his shack house. He fed Bella, and then came back to the city. Three police officers saw him, and shouted,” There the little thief is, get him.”

Drake had done this number so many times that it was no longer a worry for him. It was more of a game. He ran down the street, but where he normally would turn for the alleyway, two more cops blocked him.

Drake now realized he might just lose this one. He turned around and ran over a bridge. A group of children were walking behind somepony, most likely touring the capital. He got into the group, where he blended in perfectly. When the police came over the bridge, they looked out over the crowd and then turned back.

“Hello, who are you,” Apple bloom said to Drake.

Drake was shocked. But in a way, he kind of asked for it. “Drake, who are you is the real question...” He slowly backed out of the group, until he bumped into somepony. He turned around to see, Princess Luna.”Sorry, your majesty.”

“Wait, aren’t you the boy from the...” She began. But then she stopped.

Drake had already thought of how to get out of this one. Fluttershy came over and shepherded all of the children along, including Drake, saving him from Luna. He looked over at Scootaloo. She was a blank flank.

“Hey, one of them leaned over, blank flank, can you please...”

“Shut up, we never did nothing to you, stop making fun of us,” one said.

“Sorry, it’s just so fun. I can’t help it, just like you can’t help it,” Diamond Tiara said.

“Make fun of them for not having one, but at least they don’t have one that means BRAT. I didn’t realize that being a brat was a talent. You must be the best at it, because I’ve never seen one like it,” Drake said.

Diamond Tiara stood back in shock. Drake stood her down even more, when he lifted up his wings.

“Well,” she said, looking on his flank to see if she could make fun of his.

It was two swords that cross with a castle in the background, and an olive branch running between the two swords.

Drake caught what she was trying to do. “ Oh, mine means protector and peace maker, just incase you're trying to burn me.”

She backed down, and went off to the front of the group.

“Thanks, Drake.” Apple bloom said.

“Just helping a friend out,” he said.

“Wow, that was a brun. Glad that wasn’t me, otherwise my wings would have been cinders,” Scootaloo said.

“Yea, what’s your name?”She said.

“ Oh, I’m Scootaloo, and that’s Applebloom, and that’s Sweetie Belle,” she said.

Drake hung out with them. They went to places and he learned things that he never knew or knew existed. They even went to the underground catacombs of the city. They learned a secret way out. They learned how to do cool things too, like, they got an interview with a wonderbolt, and they got to see her do a sonic rainboom.

She and fluttershy knew each other well apparently. They were friends. And her name was Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash had to go, they needed her for some business. Some E.M.S. units were headed in the same direction. Everypony in that group had their theories as to what it was. Some said an explosion, others said a bad carriage wreck, Drake had an idea, but it wasn’t right as to think. It wasn’t something that they should deploy military personnel to. He theorized that it had to do with the lady in the hospital he over heard that night. But he couldn’t be sure. For now, he was avoiding the cops, and trying to get food.

The day was long. They went to the castle and Drake had to slip out of the group, undetected. When he finally got back to his shack home, something was different. The air, it didn’t smell right. It smelt off, in some weird way that he couldn’t explain. The feeling went away after a minute or two. He went into his shack house.

“What do you mean evacuate?” a voice on the other side of the wall said.” We need to seal off the city.”

Drake sat up and listened. It was Rainbow dash. If the outbreak gets worse, then we will evacuate. But until then, the people should keep to their lives.

“It has a one-hundred percent death rate, and too many ponies have gotten it, and there is no telling how many more will get it. We should at the very least warn everypony,” a doctor said.

“That I will agree on, but look, if it becomes any more serious, we will not even evacuate, we will be forced to put a shield around the city and pray it dies out before the people do,” Rainbow said.

Evacuation

Drake awoke. He had a sick feeling about him, like an invisible aura about him of sick. He tried to roll over, but couldn’t. His ribs ached, and he coughed. A strange liquid, black, swelled up in his throat, and he spit it out onto the cobble street that he thought of as a floor. It slowly went down a sewer pipe. Drake felt awful. His head throbbed, like his brain was going to explode out of his head.

Bella looked at him and whined. Then she came and snuggled up next to him. At first, it ached his back, and he coughed up some more of the black fluid. But he got used to the feeling of her there on his back. Soon, he was asleep again. Bella after awhile of Drake being asleep, got up and exited out onto the streets. She walked out and into an alleyway.

Drake woke just in time to see her round a corner, and disappear behind it. He was all alone now. The world closed in around him, and he felt like giving into the sickness. The pain of every breath became allot. He could barely bear it. He was dieing. He could feel it. He tried to stay awake, for he feared he would slip away in his sleep if he allowed him to doze off.

He had to get medicine. He tried to get up, but his muscles gave way, and he stumbled, catching himself on the wall of the hospital. He knocked on the back door as hard as he could. His nerves buzzed and he felt like his hoof felt like it was falling off.

No one was answering the door, making it so that Drake had to go all the way around. He began the long walk of pain and torture. One step after another, pain and pain, and more pain. Whatever disease was doing this, was attacking his nerve system. He collapsed onto the ground. The last thing he saw, was a dark figure walking up to him and dropping something at his face. Then his head felt like it was buzzing, and he saw black dots all over the place, and they filled up his eyes, until he couldn’t see, then he left consciousness.

(Luna and Fluttershy)

“Come on children, we have to get you to the train station,” Fluttershy said, while corralling them all into a group.

“We can’t leave, someone’s missing,” Apple bloom said.

“Who’s missing?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“Oh, who was the boy we met yesterday during the...” She asked the other two.

“Ugh, was it Dark?”

“Drake! That was his name Drake.”

“Yea, he was with us yesterday, and no one has seen him since,” Apple bloom said, in a rather worried tone.

“Okay, we’ll go look for him, but you just need to make the train,” Fluttershy comforted.

She went to Princess Luna. “We aren’t moving fast enough, and I just found out that were missing one of them,” She said, gesturing to the group of children.

“That doesn’t fit, well, I will have some guards go look for the child. But we need to get to the station, the evacuation was ordered by the chief head of the Equestrian Disease Center of something or another. My point is that you should get them out. They seemed serious about it. I fear that they would, if it came down to it, not allow anymore people to leave, and escape the nightmare their saving us from,” Luna said.

“What is it that they’re saving us from?” Fluttershy asked.

“We don’t know. There is no known cure, all we know is that if you get it, you only have a one percent chance of living through the first day,” She answered. “ Well, you now know just as much as I know, and honestly if I were you, I wouldn’t tell anyone. No need to cause more panic than is what is already occurring.”

“ Mrs. Fluttershy,” somepony said. Fluttershy backed off and went to attend to the child.

Luna sighed, and looked out over the crowd already forming toward the train station. Some just up and flew out of the city.

(Drake)

He stood himself back up, and turned back to go to his shack house. He thought, ‘If I’m going to die, I’m going to die there. He stumbled, almost falling on his face. He heard somepony.

Up above, a Pegasus was flying, carrying nothing but her purse and a few light items.

Drake had a longing to fly out of there himself, but the pain of just breathing was allot to bear.

She swerved to dodge a pipe, and something fell out of her purse. It plummeted down, landing in a drainage pipe, where it came out the bottom. Drake picked it up. His bones ached as he bent over, and he stumbled as he slipped to the ground. He got back up to his knees. It was painful, but not as much as falling. He crawled to his bed, where he then lied down, for what he thought would be the last time. He examined the object. It was a small pocket mirror. He looked at himself in the mirror. He examined his face. He looked pale. His normal color was a very light tan. His hooves slipped, and the mirror almost fell. He caught it, at the expense of some pain. But he saw something.

(Train station)

Luna and Fluttershy both were walked over to the platform. It was more crowded than normal. Of course, it was expected. Everyone ran about in a large commotion. A large train waited to pick up as many of the people as they could.

Many people were moving to the train, trying to get onto the train.

Fluttershy grouped the group tighter. There was no elbow room. They all were waiting for their escort onto a car.

Luna stood there. Cops in riot armor, and holding riot control equipment. Luna saw somepony out toward the train. He was sick. No one noticed until...

The pony fell to the ground coughing, and gasping for air, like it was painful to breathe.

‘Oh, no...’ Luna thought.

Officers all went and surrounded the people, and started to force them out of the train station. They began to shut the car doors, and order the train to leave.

The crowd exploded into a riot. Ponies frantically ran to the train, trying to get on. The stallions in armor all stood in the way, holding their riot shields ,and Pepper spray in hand. They were all wearing gas masks. They gave some signal, and then tear gas was thrown out into the crowd. But that did little to help the condition of the crowd. Pegasi were flying to the roof’s of the train and the officers had to stop the train.

Luna went to an officer. He didn’t recognize her from behind his shield.

“Get back ma’am, we aren’t allowing anyone else on,” He shouted.

Luna kept a calm face on, and simply said, “Officer, stand down, by order of Princess Luna.”

The officer looked out from behind the shield. “Your majesty!!!” he said. “Sorry, but orders from higher authority have me stopping everyone. I can let you on, but no one else.”

Luna looked puzzled. “What higher authority? There is no higher authority than I, and I have ordered.”

“Not true, by the orders of Celestia herself, If enough of the council vote, it can overrule the princess, and if all of the princesses vote, it can overrule the council,” He stated.

“Tia,” Luna muttered.

The guard saw the group of children close behind the princess. “Ma’am, I’m so sorry. I would if I...”

“No, I know, you're just following orders. I guess I will stay with the children,” she said.

“Your majesty...” Four guards came walking up to her. “We are here to get you to safety.”

“No need, I’m staying,” Luna said clear and sternly.

“Your Majesty, by order of the...”

“I don’t care, I am your rightful ruler, and I said I’m staying with the children,” Luna said. She stood tall, and firm.

The guards backed down on this one. The officer let them in, after they showed him their I.D.’s.

“I’m sorry,” The officer whispered to her as she left.

‘Sorry doesn’t even start. You just sentenced over a dozen children to death. Not to mention the others who aren’t sick.’

(Drake)

Drake examined a dark dot on the side of his hoof, just between the hoof and the skin. It was a strange little thing. He touched it. It wasn’t part of his hoof. He got a closer look. It was a tick. He pulled it off. It stung, and the little critter kept on squirming. He squashed it onto the ground, and blood flowed out of the large pouch.

He sat there, for about an hour or so. The pain slowly dwindled away, until it was unnoticeable for him. He got up, and his head ached, but it was a different kind of ache. Almost like dehydration. He looked at the tick. He picked it up. It was squashed. He needed to look at it closer. He looked at the building next to him. He got an idea. He had to get into the hospital. Bella came back, with a large bucket of water. She looked almost shocked to see him up and about.

He looked at Bella and said, “ We’ve got some work to do.”

(Luna)

The children were taken back to their quarters, where they were supposed to stay. They would be in the city for a while. Fluttershy began to rub her eye.

Luna looked at her and said, “We only have so much food right now. We will need to go and get the food for them within the week.”

“Why? Don’t you have a pantry the size of some ponies houses?” Fluttershy questioned.

“Yes, we do, that is why we are in trouble. Since we have enough food to last this castle, and everyone in it six months, we don’t go shopping all that often. Maybe three times a year. So, right now is around the time that we would need to go shopping again, except, the pony who normally does it, came down with this sickness. So, no one has gone shopping, and we only have enough supplies for maybe two or three days. But then again, we will be most likely the only source of food for some time. So we will get allot of visitors, lots of visitors. All that taken into consideration, only two or three days,” Luna said, in a rather tired tone. “That means that me and you need to go find food, for everypony.”

(Drake)

Drake ran down the hall. He was looking for a room. Anyone who knew anything about hospitals, knew that they had microscopes. The room he was looking for, was one that contained all of the special manifests that recorded the cases they came across. He flew down a hallway and turned to his right.

A nurse stood in the hallway, and looked shocked to see him.

Drake thought quick. “Don’t come any closer, I’m infected with it.” He whispered a quick prayer hoping that it worked. She slipped on a mouth and nose cover. Drake slapped his face.

“You're in too good condition to have it. So, why are you here?” She asked

Drake looked at her, and figured he’d just tell the truth. “Okay, let me rephrase that, I had it, and got over it. I may have found what is causing it. I need something that can get a closer look.”

“Yea right. There is a 100% fatality rate with the disease...” She began.

“Thats just it. It might not be a disease.” Drake began.

Bella came around the corner with books strapped to her. She looked at him asking for a treat. He looked around, and saw nothing to reward her with. He picked up a manifest board, and pulled all of the paper off of it. He then handed her the clipboard. She ran off with it, and did something with it.

“Help me,” Drake said to the nurse.

She looked at him with a fishy look, and then said,” Get out of this hospital, before I call the authorities.” She then began to cough. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to scare the both of them.

Lightning cracked, and the lights flickered. The nurse looked around, and said, “ What’s your theorie, child.”

(Luna)

Luna stood in front of the young fillies and colts. “ We can’t leave. They’ve sealed off the city. Any second now, you won’t be able to fly out of here too. So if you're here, you're stuck. For who knows how long at that.”

The children all got scared looks on their face. Apple bloom walked up to her and said,” We still haven't heard of Drake.”

Luna didn’t hear her. She turned out, and went to the balcony. This was her home, and it would be her prison for the next few days. She didn’t want to wait for much longer to get out. She still had to be there though. She looked up. A giant green orah appeared over the sky, and a large bubble that you couldn’t go through appeared. She took one last glance of the sky, before the shield blocked it up, and made it almost impossible to see.

The shield hardly let in light. It got gloomy. Fast. The only thing that was giving off light, was the street lights.

“Princess, your sister wishes to talk to you,” a guard behind her said.

Luna took off to the edge of the bubble shield. Celestia was there. She looked worried.

“Luna, why didn’t you get onto the train?” Celestia began. “You could catch the sickness, and...”

“Calm down Tia, I know, and I knew what could happen when I made the decision. I wasn’t gonna leave the children,” Luna said.

“I know, but still, you could die. Do you realize that everyone who got this illness...” Celestia quieted. “They died.”

“I know, I won’t catch it though,” Luna said, in an attempt to calm her sister.

“How can you say that?” Celestia asked. A tear slipped out of her eye. “I lost you once, and it was the worst experience of my life. If you get this, you’ll be gone for good. I couldn’t take that.” She said, then she broke into tears, crying.

“Tia, Tia. I know. Think though, what about all of the others. It would be better if they had someone who could lead them through this time. Plus, it could get me more popular with the people. I need that, you’,ve said it yourself,” Luna said.

Celestia nodded her head. Even if she wanted to get her sister out, it was too late. She had stayed and that was that. She couldn’t change that, without endangering the other ponies.

“Okay, but please promise me you’ll stay healthy. Don’t let this take you...” Celestia said.

“I promise,” Luna said.

Celestia turned around and took off flying. Luna turned around to the city. It was getting dark, and it was going to start raining.

(Drake)

“Drake isn’t a, orthodox, name for a Pegasus. Who were your parents?” The nurse asked.

“My dad was the captain of the guard, before Shining armor,” Drake responded. “I want a small sample of your blood.”

The nurse nodded her head and went to go get a needle.

Drake plopped a book onto the table in front of him. The learners picture guide to the basic pony anatomy. Drake opened the book and went straight to the blood section.There were twenty pictures. One of just simple blood, another of blood infused with some blood disease.

The nurse came in with a needle full of blood. She coughed, and sat down. “I’m feeling weaker and weaker every second,” she said.

Drake put a small drop of her blood under a microscope. He looked at the picture of basic blood, and then at the blood under the microscope. “Thats weird, I don’t see any difference. He looked at the tick, and placed it into another microscope. He looked into the microscope. He looked up and around. Then he looked onto the floor. There was another book. A small book about ticks, called Ticks Ticks Ticks, all about Ticks. He looked through it. Nothing. Just stuff about how they behave and where they live.

“I need to go back to the library, and look for another book,” He finally concluded.

Held by force, until I broke away...

Drake was at the library. Its large, grand door, with massive brass knobs, and gold enlaced lining made him feel small, like a mendicant. For the first time, in his life, he felt poor and small.

He ran opened the doors, and saw a group of children, which he recognized. Luna and another, pony with a lighter pink mane, and light yellow fur. It was the one he had hid in just the day before. He looked around, and saw the guard escorts. If he could get in, he would have to try harder to get out.

(Apple bloom)

Apple bloom walked in the back of the group. She and Scootaloo were in deep discussion as to what was causing the sickness, and weather they were ever going home, and as far as their minds could go with the event, they went. Scootaloo suggested zombie’s, and Sweetie Belle suggested that it was another changeling attack. Apple bloom suggested a government conspiracy to kill the princess, and make it the most believable non-assassination attempt possible.

Apple bloom was mid sentence, explaining what she thought, when she saw a familiar figure at the door. She stopped, and looked straining, trying to remember him. “ Hey, Sweetie Belle, who’s that kid again?” she asked.

“ Who, Oh, isn’t that... Daren?” she responded.

“ Thats it, Drake!” She exclaimed.

“ Who’s Drake?” Fluttershy asked, pulling aside to the girls.

“Him, the pony up at the ste...” She began. He was gone. She looked up and saw him flying up and above the group, toward another section of the library. “Flying over us,” she finished.

Fluttershy looked up, and said, “ Oh, dear. Stay here, I’m going to go get him...” and she finished with a deep and longish sigh.

(Drake)

Drake was flying up and above the shelves, until he found the general section where he had got the books for the hospital. He landed, rather gracefully for his normality. It made him feel good, after the door of discouragement, and rejuvenated his spirits.

He looked through the section about parasites, and found nothing. He looked through the Insects and found nothing. He was just about to go on to the other side, when he saw the book. Feld journal of exotic bugs. It was rather thick. Drake figured that would be the book for the job.

He picked it up and flew up and into the air.

“ Um, excuse me...” a quiet but sweet voice said.

“ Yea,” Drake said, whirling around to face the voice.

Drake was now face to face with the pegasus, which he saw with the group of children when he entered the library. “ Yes ma’am,” he responded respectfully, trying to go back to his duty at hand as soon as he could.

“ Is your name Drake?” She responded.

“Yes ma’am, why?” he responded.

“Well, our group is moving along, and you're kinda slowing us down,” She said.

“Sorry, I’ll be out of the way as soon as I can, I just gotta go and get this checked out, then I’ll be on my way, and out of your’s,” Drake responded.

Fluttershy was rather shocked at this response. She was now confused. “ Well, you can just wait for us to get to the checkout, and until then, you’ll have to remaine with the group.”

Now Drake was confused. “ Wait, what...?”

Fluttershy didn’t let him finish his sentence, she upright took his hoof, and flew down to the group. He tried to be nice, but resist, nice resistance, peacefully protest, whatever it was, he was doing it.

Fluttershy’s grip was firm though, and he couldn’t escape without getting kicked out without a book. He remembered the nurse. She was by now probably experiencing pain and vomiting up that black fluid.

“ Ma’am, you need to let go, someponies lives depend on it,” he said, as politely but sternly as possible.

Fluttershy didn’t get the memo, but took it as a threat. “Oh, thats how you want to be, huh, well, do I have something for you. I swear, if angle heard you talk to me like that, she would’a slapped me and made me hurt you.”

Drake was rather shocked, “ I think you heard me wrong...”

“Yea, yea, save it for the judge punk!” Fluttershy said, rather crossly.

“What judge?” Drake said. He was more lost, than a chicken in goat factory.

Fluttershy rejoined the group, where Luna came over to see why she left to begin with. “Where did you go?” She asked, rather nicely.

“To get this little punk,” Fluttershy responded, holding up Drake, off the ground.

“Well, a trouble maker, do you know what we do with troublemakers?” Luna said, taunting Drake, to almost no avail.

“ Wait, I’m not even apart of this group, I live here in Canterlot, and I came to check out a book, I haven't done nothin,” Drake explained.

“ Well, a troublemaker and a liar. We really bagged us one this time,” Luna said, rather cross at the persistence of the child. Then something clicked. “ Wait, I recognize you.”

Drake shook his head, and said, “No you don’t,” quickly.

“Yea, from the train station. You were walking your dog, at the middle of the night. And from the other day, when you were with the children,” Luna continued.

Fluttershy looked more confused than she did before when Drake was trying to get out of the whole group thing.

“No, you got the wrong pony, it might be my, ... evil twin,” Drake said the last part rather slow and high pitched. He had dug him a hole, and now it was getting more and more impossible to get out of.

Luna gave him a stern look, then looked to the guard next to her “Keep an eye on him. I don’t want him to get away.”

Drake looked down and sighed. There was no way he was getting out of this one without either getting marked as a bad pony by the princess, or sneaking off, and being marked as a bad pony by the princess. He needed to get back to the hospital, and save the nurse.

“Look, I may have, ..., I just need to get back to the hospital as quick as I can, or else, somepony, not threatening you two, just to clarify, but somepony else is going to die if I can’t get back,” Drake said, in a level tone.

Fluttershy remembered she was holding him off the ground, and dropped him, then blushed.

Luna ignored his pleading, but something told her he was telling the truth. She went to the front of the group, in order to escape the grip of the pity for the boy. She lead the group, while surrounded by three guards. She twisted and turned through the shelves, allowing the children enough time to grab the books that intrigued them.

Soon, and by soon, an hour later, they had gone through the entire library, as grand and big as it was. Then they went to check out the books. Drake showed the lady his card, which was given to him by the manager of the place, who he got to know very well. She was astonished of how well taken care of it looked, as if only a few days old.

“Well, sonny boy, looks like someone likes to visit. But your card expires in two days. Renew it now, and I can give you a discount,” the elderly assistant said.

“Sorry, I can’t do it right now, I don’t have any money. I spent it all on getting some dog food and... and...” he stopped. “And something else.”

The old lady at the counter saw his eyes. They were at battle, fighting off an army of tears. She didn’t need to know why, she already knew. “Ahhh, it's their anniversary,” She said as sweetly as she could.

“Yea, it was last week,” he said.

“So, what did you get them this time?” She asked.

“I got them some roses. And candles,” Drake said, now fighting off crying.

It was painful to hear his parents names, or the mention of them. It reminded him of the night they died. They went off for dinner, and left him home alone. When they got back, they were shot on the front porch, and their house torched. He watched them bleed out. It was forever scarred in his mind, and the vivid images always popped up in his head, his dreams, practically every time he blinked. It wasn’t the best thing at all to have forever scarred in a childs head.

The Librarian looked at him softly, morning with him. “You know, when I was little, something that always cheered me up was when I would look around me and look at somepony else, and make fun of them in my head.”

Drake looked up. That didn’t at all fit the scene, and was rather unorthodox for advice from an elderly pony.

“Look at that one over there, the one with the snooty face,” She continued.

Drake looked over and saw Diamond Tiara, and chuckled a little.

“I’d think to myself something like, at least I’m not her, she must be some hooligan,” she said.

Drake laughed at her old pony talk. He liked the elderly ponies. They were nicer to him than any other population, and they all seemed to know each other very well.

“Thank you... yea, thats it,” he said. But when the librarian looked at him funny, he explained, “ Oh, I was gonna give a corny speech, but I decided not to.”

“Okay, good, I would have made fun of you for that, but you sorta saved yourself,” She said.

Drake looked up and saw the guard. He happened to see his leg. It was the one Bella bit. Unless, the guard population just all got some weird body formations, in the shape of a rottweiler's jaw. He snickered, then continued on his way.

They walked all the way to the castle, a good mile or so, and they would let all of the pegasi in the group fly, except Drake, for fear of him flying off.

Luna was now hanging back with Fluttershy, and they were talking about something, girly most likely, just from the giggles and squeals that came from the group. Drake wanted to make fun of Luna, for being a jerk, and Fluttershy too, just cause. But he didn’t want to start anything, so he kept his mouth shut.

He kept looking for a time when he could break away unnoticed. It never came.

(Luna)

Luna pulled away from fluttershy, and went off to see if Celestia was at their designated meeting spot. Sure enough, she was.

“Hey, Tia, how’s life been?” She said, rather joyfully.

“Nice to hear you in good spirits. How’s your health?” Celestia questioned.

“Well, I haven't seen any of the symptoms yet, but I’ll keep my eye out for them. How’s the rest of Equestria coping with one princess behind figurative bars?” Luna asked.

Celestia went into a stair, and then finally spoke, “ You’ve grown since I last saw you. At least an inch.”

“Oh, you just got smaller,” Luna said, avoiding her eyes. “Tia, I ran into that little one, we clashed with a few nights ago. He was in the library. I think his parents are sick, and he was trying to help them.”

Celestia leaned in as close as she could. “ He’s okay? Was he sick,” she asked.

“No, he was just fine. But he was rather worried. I took him with us, and have a guard watching him right now,” Luna said.

(Drake)

Drake was having trouble coming up with a way to get out. He thought, ‘the most defendable position in the nation, the most fortified, and splendid structure in that city, and one little pegasus with a guard on his tail needs to get out, how?’

The guard stood close by him, only talking when Drake’s hand motions annoyed him enough, until, “ Hey, can someone turn on the A.C. it’s getting hotter in here than it is out there.”

That answered Drakes question. The A.C. unit was the way to go, but how.

“Um, excuse me, but I gotta go to the bathroom,” Drake said.

The guard sighed, “ Come with me,” he ordered.

Drake snickered in his head.

The guard took him to the bathrooms. There was one for Gentle colts on the right, and one for lady’s on the left. Drake peeked into the boy’s room and saw no vent he could get out of.

“Did I mention that I’m a homo-sexual, not really, I'm just a perv” he mumbled that last part as said to the guard, and quickly took his head out, and slipped into the little fillies room.

The guard started after him, but then thought, ‘I’m not going in there, besides, if anypony in there or goes in there, he will be embarrassed beyond what is possibly possible.’

Drake saw a vent between the sinks, and got straight to work.

Apple bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, all rounded the hall, and saw a guard standing between the two bathrooms. “Wow, they really do mean secure when they say it,” Scootaloo said.

The guard snickered a little when they opened the door to the bathroom. Applebloom whispered to scootaloo, “ What's this all for, see conspiracy!”

Sweetie Belle shrieked. Applebloom and Scootaloo looked to see what it was all about. There Drake was, with a screwdriver in his hoof, taking out an air filter, exposing a shaft out of the bathroom, both up and down.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!?!” Sweetie Belle screamed.

Applebloom and Scootaloo broke out into a hard laugh.

(the guard)

Laughter and screams pierced the wooden door that separated the bathrooms form public, and the guard snickered.

(back in the bathroom)

Drake looked over at the three laughing girls.

“WHY ARE YOU IN HERE!” Sweetie Belle demanded.

“Calm down, I’m just breaking out of the castle,” Drake said. “Does anypony know what time it is?”

“No,” Applebloom managed to say before going back into a painfully hard laugh. “It’s getting,” she had to stop to breath. “dark.”

“Oh, no, it may be too late,” Drake said, frantically.

“Where’d you get the screw driver?” Scootaloo asked.

“Oh, I got it from... ya know what, I really don’t know. It was just there, and I picked it up and,” Drake said, rather curious as to where it came from.

Drake then looked up the shaft, and began to climb in.

“You still haven't answered my question, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!?!” Sweetie Belle asked again.

“ I don’t know, what are you doing in here?” Drake responded.

“ Well, what do GIRLS do in the GIRLS bathroom?” Sweetie Belle replied.

“If only I knew,” he said sarcastically. “And for the record, I did answer your question.” And with that said, he slipped into the ventilation system, and flew upward, towards the light.

(Luna)

Luna was flying back from where her and Celestia were talking. She was almost at the door. She for some reason looked up. A vent that sucked in fresh air, and sent it through the castle started to make strange noises. Then it burst oven, and fell, nearly hitting luna. Drake popped out his head, and said, “ My apologies your hiney, but I have business to take care of.”

Drake took off, toward the hospital.

Luna was stunned at the utter expectancy of what happened. She looked at a guard and ordered, “ Find where he got into the vents at, and seal it back up.” The guard turned and went in full gallop to his job. Luna turned and spread out her wings and took off after Drake.

(Drake)

Drake was flying as fast as he could. It was now dark and the nurse was still waiting. Then he remembered, the book. He turned around and flew back to the castle. He went back into the air vent. It was a good thing he was fast. He was flying as fast as he could. He popped out of the air vent, which was still open, and opened the door. He grabbed the book from the guard, and turned back around and into the bathroom

He went back up the air shaft, and was almost to the exit. He popped out of the hole, just for Luna to be in front of him, blocking his way.

“Stop, you are getting on my nerves,” Luna ordered.

“Sorry, but there’s too much at stake,” Drake said, in the most respectful, but defiant tone he could muster. He then took off, hard to the left, where he circled back around to the hospital.

He landed, after losing Luna in the dark. He walked into the building. Bella was waiting for him, with a chewed up clipboard at her feet. Drake smiled, and patted her head, as she whined and tried to jump up on him. But Drake was already flying up the hallway. He didn’t even reach the room. He stopped, and dropped the book.

It was the nurse. She was dead, in the hallway. Her body was pale, and cold looking. Drake’s eyes teared up and he could only hover in the air, while he took in this scene.

The door flung open, and Luna came in, furious. She looked and saw Bella laying down by the door. She had a chewed up clipboard caught between her legs. Luna ignored the strange sight, and walked quickly down the hallway. She looked right, and saw an empty hallway, and then left, and saw Drake, hovering there, not even moving around. She stomped down to him, but just before she grabbed him, she saw over his shoulder, the nurse.

She gasped, and backed up. So many things ran through her mind. ‘ There is a dead lady here, in the middle of the hallway, The child is seeing this,’ but then something hit her. He had all day been trying to get back, he continually said, “ Someone's life depends on it,” and it all hit her.

“I tried so hard, so hard. But you stopped me,” Drake said. Then he turned around and walked right passed her, and took a right. He walked down the hallway, and signaled Bella to get up and follow him.

Luna was now left alone, dealing with this. She had just practically killed somepony. She had stopped her only friend. She looked down, onto the ground. A book about ticks was on the ground. ‘What was this doing here, why did he need this.?’ Luna moved over to the body, and touched it. It was cold. She had been dead for at least a few hours. Luna turned around and looked to see if Drake was still there.

He wasn’t.

(Drake)

Drake exited the back door, and went into the alleyway. He went behind the trash harbor and into his old, home, where he lied down in his bed, and fell asleep.

Brought down to her knees

Luna now alone, was left to deal with the death of the poor nurse. She went over and picked up the body, and carried it out and to the streets. She looked about. Literally, there were bodies in the street. Somepony with a wheelbarrow strapped about him, walked through the streets, and picked up the bodies, and loaded them onto carts, where he would take them to the edge of the city, and after the bodies built up, burn them, and drop the ashes over the edge, where they would scatter off to the utmost parts of Equestria. He hadn’t yet come through. Luna set her down next to a box.

She looked about to find out where the boy was. She figured that she should at the very least apologize. Luna went about, looking for the boy. She searched high, and low. In rain gutters, and in old houses, that were broken into. She couldn’t find him.

Luna had no idea what to do. She wanted to talk to her sister, but her sister wouldn’t be around until at least three days. She had no idea as to what she was to do. She went to the train station. A few guards had set up a checkpoint outside the shield.

“You there, send word, I need to speak with my sister,” Luna ordered.

“Yes ma’am, she will be here in three days,” One of the guards said.

“Yes, I need to speak with her now.”

“Well, if it’s so important, you’ll just have to remember,” the guard said, rather snootily.

A magical grip appeared around the guard, and slammed him against the shield wall, cracking the shield, and breaking some of the guards ribs. Luna with a low, and utterly terrifying voice said, “ Do you forget who I am? Just incase you do, I am princess Luna, Nightmare Moon.” She dropped the guard, who struggled to get back up. “If you wish a worse fate than those stuck on my side of the shield, just keep ignoring my order,” She shouted.

The guard looked at another soldier, and signaled him to go fetch Celestia. Then, he got up and limped over to where he had a bed, and sat down on it. “Get a medic, I think something’s broke.

“No need, four cracked ribs, and a broken leg,” Luna said turning around.

If the guard had a middle finger, he’d be using it now.

Luna took off in flight. She went slowly, but picked up pace as she neared the castle. Luna was very distressed. She landed in the courtyard. Three of the children came running up and then all at once began spewing out a bunch of jumbled up words.

“Not now children, not now,” Luna said.

“But Fluttershy’s sick!” one of them shouted.

Luna looked at him, then she looked up. She went off in a full gallop to her friend. She entered the grand doors, and sped faster and faster down the long hallway. She turned to where the castle had it’s sick bay. Fluttershy lay in one of the beds on the far end of the room. None of the nurses dared to come near to her, for fear of getting the disease.

“What happened,” Luna demanded.

“Your highness, she started coughing, and she was fine, but she collapsed on the ground when she went up to her bed,” one of the nurses on the other side of the room shouted.

“Why aren’t you over here helping her?” Luna asked.

“There is no cure, and we don’t want the disease,” another responded.

Luna left the room with one thing on her mind the children. She went down the hallway, where a guard was peeking his head into the little filly’s room. She then slammed the door on his head.

The guard’s helmet was dented. “What was that for...?” the guard said.

“Your peeking in the lady’s room, what do you think?” Luna said, continuing on her fast paced walk.

“No, that boy you told me to watch went into there, and I’ve been waiting for him for like an hour to get out,” the guard explained.

“Yell, you stink at your job, because he escaped through the ventilation system, and is now freely about canterlot, somewhere I can’t find him...” She said. Then she realized something. She stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes. There were hundreds of dreams going on around her, she searched.

(Drake)

Drake was running. There was something he was running from. He saw it, and knew it. There was a shadowy figure on the ground, which he couldn’t recognize. It was in the path of the creature, which consumed all of which it came across. It was alive, the thing lying in the street. He jumped onto it, in an attempt to protect it. This time, instead of the object getting consumed, It began to eat away at him. Pain shot all over him, as the thing ate away at him, slowly. He could go and run, leaving the pony in the street to die, but he instead stayed there.

A bright flash beamed all around him, and then there was nothing around him, but a blank surrounding. “What was that?”

Drake whirled around to see who said that. Princess Luna stood there, looking almost sympathetic.

“I don’t know. I just have this same dream and most of the time, it kills whatever is I’m protecting,” He answered.

“ What were you protecting?” She asked.

“ I’m not sure,” He said.

“ Well, you seemed pretty avid at it. Whatever it was, you didn’t fail in saving it,” Luna said, almost complimenting him on it. “When did these dreams start?”

“ The night before my parents died, that was the first time it came,” He answered truthfully.

Luna got the idea that it was a long time ago.

“ Wait, the nurse was not your mother?” she asked, now confused.

“ No, she was somepony who I had to help. My parents died eight years ago. They were murdered, and the murderer was never found,” Drake said.

“So, you’ve been living on the streets for eight years?” Luna questioned.

“No, I went into an orphanage, but the people there were just horrible, and only did it for the funding that they got when they cared for the unlucky children who they were placed over. So me and a few others ran away one night. Most of us were caught. But me and another got out. She went off somewhere, and I don’t know where she is, but she isn’t there anymore. I came back here,” Drake said.

“Look, I need your help. Out of anypony, in all equestria, you seem to not be afraid of the disease. I think you know a cure,” Luna said.

“No, I don’t know a cure. I know how to stop it though. The pain doesn’t fully go away,” Drake said.

“I need you to come to the castle. Somepony will die if you don’t help,” She said.

“Lot’s of pony’s will die. I must be the only one who noticed, but those who were sick, are the same pony’s who were at the wedding a few months ago, or in canterlot. It could be just me being suspicious, but there is no way that somepony or changeling, would not go into a battle, which there was a huge possibility of losing, and not having a backup plan,” Drake said.

“What do you mean?” Luna asked. “They all got blown away by Cadence, and Shining Armor.”

“Yea, the changelings did, but not everything,” Drake said.

“So you think it’s an attack from the changelings,” Luna tried to conclude.

“No, well, I think that while they were here, and almost had victory, which they almost did, they dropped something, small enough to not be affected by the blast,” Drake answered.

Luna looked almost worried as she tried to piece the things together. “Look, just get to the castle as soon as you can.”

“No, I can’t...” Drake said quickly.

“Why not?” Luna questioned, now worried.

“Because, it’s a trap. You and the other’s and the guard want me there. You will take me,” Drake said.

“What,nopony wants you here?” Luna said.

“I’m no fool, you're just trying to get me back there,” Drake said.

“That makes no sense!” Luna shouted. “You don’t have a cure, but you can stop it, you can’t come because you're supposed to come, but you don’t know what it is that want’s you there!”

“I don’t know what it is, but I know you do... Nightmare moon,” Drake said.

He jolted up, and got up. He looked up to the moon, and saw the mare of the moon’s face look down at him, almost angrily. He had crossed her one too many times, and he knew it. Fear took hold of him, and he had to get out of the city.

(Luna)

Luna was infuriated, she was stomping about, pacing the hall. ‘ What nerve he must have to do that to me! How am I supposed to know what the stupid thing that want’s him is.’

“Princess, Celestia will see you now,” A guard said.

“Okay, I’m on my way,” Luna said.

Luna walked back out to the courtyard, and then spread her wings to fly. Pain shot through her, all the way to her head, causing her to fall. she caught herself, just before hitting the ground, and set herself down. She all of a sudden got the urge to cough. She couldn’t hardly breathe.

Voices echoed in her head, ones she couldn’t recognize. She collapsed on the grass beneath her, and couldn’t get back up. Four guards rushed over to help her.

“No, just go,” she said. Then she whispered a silent spell, that made the pain more bearable. She got up, and walked. It was a good fifteen minute walk, she would have to move as fast as the pain would allow. She coughed and her stomach turned upside down. She wouldn’t make it all the way there, and back. This might be the last time she saw her sister, while she was alive.

She couldn’t hardly breath by the time she made it to the shield. Celestia got one glance from Luna, and she already knew. She ran to the shield. Four guards had to stop her from breaking it further than it already was from earlier. “Luna what happened!” Celestia cried.

“It honestly wasn’t about this, it just popped up fifteen minutes ago, or so. I needed to talk to you about,” Luna stopped to cough. “The boy. He escaped. He knows how to stop the whole epidemic. But I can’t tell where he is, and,” She paused to cough again. It sounded harsh and painful. “I...” She stopped, and fell to the ground, with a thud.

Celestia had it not been for the four guards, plus eight more for help, would have crashed through the shield, shattering it, to see her sister. “Luna!” She shouted. Tears began to pour out of her eyes as she stood the most powerful being in all the land, but powerless to help her sister. She was so close, but at the same time so far. The guards decided that it would work out better if she was taken from the sight.

“Ma’am, Princess, we have to go,” One of them ordered.

Celestia didn’t move. She stood there, not moving. The guard walked over to her. There was a bright flash, and her eyes were glowing. The guard thought she had gone mad.

(Drake)

Drake was sitting on his bed. He had something to do, but he forgot. It was vitally important. ‘What is it’, he thought as he hit his head against the brick wall. ‘I should stop, if it draws any blood, I could get an infection, ... THATS IT!’

Drake got up and flew back into the hospital. The book was on the floor next to the now missing body. He picked it up, and went back into the room, where he had come to need the book in the first place.

He flicked on a light, and began to flip through the book to find out if something the tick did could cause the whole epidemic. He scanned page after page. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into an hour, and still, nothing. Finally at the end of the book, there was something that had the potential of helping him. The section of the book was called: Bites.

There was a picture of a tick on somepony’s flank. Beneath it was a question, How is it that ticks, and for that matter, any parasitic bugs can bite you and you not notice. Drake read the section. It almost interested him, almost. ‘ When ticks and mosquitoes bite you, they inject you with a fluid that numbs your nerves, so you don’t feel the bite, and it can get what it needs.’
‘Wow, that could be it,’ he thought. ‘If it is just an allergic reaction to the fluid, then our problem is we need something to jumpstart our nerves again. Now, what jumpstarts nerves?’

(Luna)

Celestia stood there, completely still, almost like she was in a magical coma. Just, she couldn’t move. Anyone of the guards who would get brave enough to touch her, would feel a sporadic shock, and shoot back an average of twenty feet. It was as if she had an invisible shield around her.
Luna came back into consciousness. Celestia’s eyes glowed, and her hair was bright, as if she had colorful fire for a mane, instead of her usual orah.
Luna struggled to stand up. Once she was on her hooves, she could hardly maintain it. Celestia turned around, and flew off. She still had yet to snap out of it. Luna turned, and began to slowly trudge back to the castle. Every step sent agonizing amounts of pain through her legs. She was not far, just a couple more minutes of walking, then she would have reached the castle. But, just before she could finish taking another painful step, her body went limp, and she fell to the ground, with a thud. She opened her eyes for what she thought was the last time.

(Drake)

Drake was nearly done with the search through the medical closet. He had grabbed all of the ‘nerve boosters’ he could find. He set them all down next to the book. He read the instructions very carefully. He drew some of the clear liquid into a needle, and injected himself with it.

There was a bright flash, which drew his full attention. When he saw who it was, fear rocked the very foundation of his being, and awe expressed itself on his face. It was princess Celestia, but, not her. It was a ghostly looking figure. He bowed to the ground, and didn’t dare move.

“Get up child, I need to ask of you a favor,” She said.

“Yes, Princess,” He quivered.

“My sister, she’s sick. She need’s your help. I see, you have already found something to help,” Celestia said just seeing all of the drugs on the table.

Drake shook his head, and closed his eyes. He looked at her funny. Then he tried to walk out of the door, but ran into the wall.

“You weren’t doing drugs, were you?” Celestia asked.

“No, just stopping the hurt, ...”

(Luna)

Luna lay in the streets, not able to move. She could hardly keep her eyes open. There was a thickness to the air, one which was truly nasty, and which one didn’t wish to breath. She could not move out of it. She couldn’t move her wings, or her hooves. Her fate was all but sealed. She closed her eyes, and lied there. A tear slipped from her eye, and slid down, and dripped onto the cold cobble street.

Drake stood before her, feeling angry, pity, sorrow, and he wanted to leave, and not help her. But he couldn’t, it wasn’t in him to leave somepony so weak to die. He lifted her as gently as he could, which was still rugged, due to the fact she was almost twice his size.

Luna opened her eyes to see the darkness of an alleyway close down on her, then she blacked out.

Finished

Drake’s legs quivered beneath the great and now powerless Princess Luna. He could hardly hold her, and if he wasn’t to die from any of the sicknesses, then he would die from getting crushed. He managed to get down to the familiar alleyway, and to just in front of his raggedy old bed, where he threw the limp and just about lifeless body onto it.

It bounced a little, off the springs, by which he saw one was sticking out, by where his back hooves were to be. He then went over, and shoved it back into the bed, where he slipped an old rag over the hole and began to sew it on.

Luna twitched, and shivered all over her body. Drake then got up and went over to her side.

‘I never planned to be checking anypony for ticks, let alone the princess of the moon,’ he thought to himself. He looked behind her ear, and through her mane. He couldn’t find it. He checked around each of her hooves. Where could it be hiding?

He looked for especially dark spots on her, dark enough that a tick wouldn’t be noticed, or at least would blend in. Her cutie mark.

He looked, and sure enough, if you looked close enough, you could make out the shape of a tick. He pulled it off, and smashed it. It sat there, waiting for the next rain storm to sweep it down the drain. Drake looked behind him, and picked up a can of fruit cocktail. He slammed the cap against a metal pipe, which busted a few years back. It opened up a hole, just perfect sized to drain it at the right pace. Too fast, and it would spill, too slow, and it would take for ever.

Luna fudgeted. She slowly opened her eyes to see him walking off, with a can of fruit in his hoof. She was shocked. She tried to sit up, but her ribs still ached. She leaned back and rested her head on the soft pillow. She began to see things. Stuff she knew couldn’t be real. There was a strange looking monkey on somepony’s shoulder, who was on a unicycle, with a weird rainbow effect around him.

She blinked and it all cleared up. She whispered her anti pain spell, and then got up. She looked about her. Bella got up and went and sniffed her. Luna tried not to move, but she had an agenda. She had to get back to the castle. She began to fly off. She saw Drake off in the distance, flying to the castle. She had an idea as to what he was doing, but she had to go there anyway. She should just catch up with him.

(A guard on the outer wall)

“Why do we have to stand guard?” a guard complained. “I’m tired, and got absolutely no sleep last night, with those kids in there playing around so loudly.”

“Shut up, thats just what we were ordered. Deal with it, and maybe when this is all over, you can get a promotion,” another guard said.

“So what’s our orders?” He asked. “I mean the details.”

“Well, we are to keep an eye out for the princess, she went missing a few hours ago, but, beside that, we are to protect the castle. Shoot on sight stuff,” The captain said.

“I bet you that I could shoot the first target that presents itself. With one arrow,” the guard said, pulling back the string to his bow.

“Stop talking like that. What if it’s somepony else? Then you’d be charged with murder. If I were in charge, you would be seized, and shot just for being so irresponsible,” the captain barked.

The guard turned, kind of angry from that random outburst.

(Drake)

Drake flew over the castle, a few guards shouted up to him for him to stop. He didn’t have time. In the time he had been flying, he noticed that he was being followed. He knew who it was, and figured as to why he was being followed. He saw Bella running, barking at him from the streets. she dodged abandoned carts and a carriage, and jumped over trash that littered the area.

He flew faster and faster, in a hurry. He needed to help the pony that Luna had told him about in his dream. He wouldn’t let this one slip, like he did the nurse. He landed on a balcony, and dashed through the hallways. He could only think, ‘ right now, seconds are separating somepony from death.’

He looked in every room. Eventually he came by the med bay. There, Fluttershy was hanging on to her final breaths of life. Drake ran over and saw the tick almost instantly. Due to there not being allot of dark area on fluttershy’s body, it took refuge at the base of her mane. He gently pulled the tick off, and then injected her with the nerve jumping stuff.

Some guards ran into the room and pointed their spears at him.

“Get away from her!” one of them barked.

“Wait, wait, I was just helping her. Look, nothing is...” Drake was interrupted.

“Shut up, and put up your hands!” the guard shouted.

Drake was angry. No pony would ever listen to him, no pony would ever just do what he asked. His whole life, had somepony’s of taken him seriously, his parents would be alive. The thought that they knew better, just irked him. “No...” Drake said, with a harshness in his tone.

He raised his wings to take into flight.

“Don’t move!” the guard shouted at him.

“Make me,” he said, and at that, he swooped his wings down, and took off and out of the room.

“Get him!” The guard shouted.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, and saw daylight. She wasn’t in pain anymore, she was simply drugged up. She lied her head down, and went to sleep.

Luna walked down the hall, to see twenty guards come out of the med bay. She looked in and saw Fluttershy put her head back down. She felt happy. She looked to see what the guards were chasing.

(Drake)

He flew faster and faster. The hallway came to a quick end. The doors slammed open, and the guards standing guard on the other side were flung forward, into the crowd of children.

Scootaloo looked up. She saw the guards chasing him. Sweetie Belle looked up and saw the same thing, and she shook Apple Bloom awake. They all watched as he shot out through a glass window.

Five guards got into the room first, and saw the window shatter. “ He’s getting away!”

The others joined them and took off out the window, piling out onto the balcony. One of them pulled up his bow. “Sir, he’s getting away!”

The captain looked at the figure growing in distance. He closed his eyes, and said, “Take the shot.”

An arrow whistled through the air, gaining on Drake. Scootaloo got onto the window, and saw what happened.

(Drake)

Something hit him, just between his shoulder and his rib cage. Whatever it was, it sent him sprawling to the ground. He felt no pain until he hit the ground around fifty miles an hour. There was a loud crack, and he felt that his wings were broke. He turned his head and saw blood all over the cobble streets. He couldn’t hardly breath.

(Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom)

Scootaloo dashed out of the window, and jumped off the balcony. Though she couldn’t fly, she could slow her descent to slow enough to escape broken bones. She hit the ground hard, and ran over to him as fast as she could.

“Drake,” she shouted.

“Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh,” Drake hushed her, as he tried to get up. The arrow had snapped, and got shoved deeper into his heart. He stumbled as he got up. There was a sudden pain in his side, like a sledge hammer hitting him in his side. He fell back down. “Looks like this is my last one, huh?” he said to his sister.

Scootaloo’s eyes began to tear up. She was fighting them as hard as she could, but it was just too much. “I should have stayed. I should have stayed,” She began.

“There is nothing you could have done to stop this,” Drake said, now fighting crying. He started to breath heavier and heavier. As soon as he finished saying that, the crowd formed around him.

Luna pushed to the front, and saw him. She saw the blood, and the broken arrow shaft. She ran to his side, “What happened.”

“It hurts...” Drake had to breathe. Every breath got harder and harder. He looked at his sister and said, “Keep yourself safe.”

Luna came to his side, and looked down at him. There were no doctors left to help him. They had evacuated before the whole thing started.

She picked him up, and held him in her arms. She could help him, but at the cost of everypony else. She had to decide. She looked at the pain in his face, and she needed to help him. He had saved her life, and Fluttershy’s, and found a cure. He earned it.

She took off at her fastest speed, moving at speeds of mach seven. She broke the sound barrier, three times over, and came closer and closer to the top of the shield.

There was a loud boom as the shield shattered, and fell, dissipating into the air. Luna looked around, and saw the guard post. She took off to it, and landed swiftly, and as smoothly as she could.

“Get a doctor!” She demanded.

Four guards ran to her side, and took the kid.

The looked at eachother, and then one of them spoke up.

“Princess, we can’t help him. You need a surgeon, we can only do simple stuff. That arrow is broken up into fragments, and it’s already punctured his heart. He should have died instantly. We can’t help him.”

Luna looked at Drake.

“The tick, its the tick,” he said.

“Look, don’t you guy’s have a field surgeon?” Luna protested.

Drake shuddered, and shook. “It’s getting cold, I can’t breath...” he took in a deep breath, and exhaled for the final time.

Luna looked down at his face. It went blank, and his body went limp. His wings, which were tense relaxed and settled on the ground. She laid him down, gently.

“He found out what everypony else was too scared to find out, and his reward was an arrow to the heart. It’s not fair.” She looked up at a guard. “He just wanted to help.”

The guard looked down. Soon, the crowd was there and Scootaloo saw him. She pushed past the crowd in front of her, and to her brothers dead body. “Is he...”

“Yes,” Luna answered.

Epilogue: Said and done.

-Authors note: I couldn’t just leave it off with him dieing. It did end quite bitter, as was in one of the comments. This is what is the result of the sacrifice which he made. (P.S. for those who recognized it, the story was a greek Tragedy.)

(Luna)

She entered the carriage, next to her sister, and the always faithful student, Twilight sparkle. There was a light drizzle, which only added to the gloomy effect of the day. A few rows of trees stood before the carriage, freshly planted, and receiving their first watering in their newest home.

The carriage door shut, locking in the depressing moment of the funeral. Luna peered out the window, just before the carriage driver would snap the whip, and the four stallions with ropes fastened to their bridle, would take off at trots pace.

There was a lone filly, standing before the stone monument, with a drooping head, and dark cloak, protecting her from the light downpour. Luna couldn’t look at her like this. She was just so young. The rottweiler next to her was almost as large, as her, only short by an inch or two. Luna popped the lock, and stepped out. She slowly approached the sobbing Scootaloo. She wasn’t sure what to do, now it wasn’t as uncommon, but still, It was uncommon. She stood there beside her, not saying anything, just being there, in her time of mourning.

The minutes crept on, and all she could only keep the others waiting for so long.

“He was very smart,” she said.

Scootaloo raised her head and saw the princess standing there. She gave a quick head nod, and looked back to the stone. She didn’t want to speak, to anypony, not the princess, not her friends in the C.M.C. , for like the first time ever, not even rainbow dash could fill the hole in her heart. Though they had been separated, for quite some time, he did send her mail, regularly. Infact once every two weeks or so.

She loved him, and the distance between could only have hurt them more. She was now the last of the lineage for their family. There was so much on her shoulders, and racing through her mind, she couldn’t focus.

“Yea, he was...” she answered, half heartedly.

Luna didn’t know how to comfort her. “The stuff of a hero.”

Scootaloo heard those words, and they hit her, and she knew they were meant for comfort, but it only made her wish to cry even more desperately than before. “No, he wasn’t... A hero is bold, and daring. Willing to do whatever it takes to finish his mission, and save as many pony’s as possible . A hero has a cape, and a spear, and can fly faster than most. He wasn’t any of that.”

She only felt more pain, from the loss of her brother, as every word was spoken.

Luna couldn’t keep silent about this.

“Well, those are hero’s none the doubt. They seem to be the stereotype of hero’s.” She looked down at Scootaloo. “But he was a different kind of hero. One who wasn’t supposed to be anything, but rose above it.”

Scootaloo sighed at this, and splashed her hoof in a small puddle.

“He was poor, had a roof as a home, and the most valuable thing he had was a dog. He wasn’t forced to go to school, but he instead educated himself. When most fillies and young colts were hiding from the plague, he ran to it,” She was just starting.

Scootaloo only hurt more, yet, it made her feel better, all at the same time.

“Instead of just trying to rob other houses, he tried to help other households. When trouble arose, he went to the library, and looked for a way to solve it. He didn’t hide behind boarded up doors, and windows. When he could have gotten away, he stayed,” She put her hoof on the young pegasus’s shoulder.

Something in her lightened up, and a little of the youth in her sparked up again. Though it was dulled by the situation. “I miss him so much already.” A tear fell to the ground, and dissipated into the soggy soil.

“Well, if I were to tell you that I’ve lost pony’s close to me, would you believe it?” Luna said, in an effort to comfort the young filly in distress.

“Of course, you’re at least a thousand years old,” Scootaloo responded, holding back tears. She didn’t want to seem weak.

“Well, I choose to think of it nonetheless, whether I’m ten thousand or ten, everypony at one point will loose somepony close to them. And it hurts. But in life, you just gotta push through it, that’s all, that’s all you can do,” she said.

Scootaloo didn’t move. She wasn’t sure if she was sad, or depressed, or even just angry. She wanted to be left alone. Emotions plagued her, aching her heart. But there was wisdom in what the princess said.

“I... I want to be like him,” She looked up to the princess. “I want to do something great, like him.”

“Well, life has a course not even the greatest of great can control. Just maybe it will hold something for you,” Luna comforted her.

Happiness hit her for a moment.

Fluttershy came, and took Bella. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both joined her, only a few minutes later.

Luna turned, for She had figured she couldn’t do much more, and her sister was getting impatient.

“So long, Scootaloo, and the blessings of a thousand be with you,” Luna said as she turned back to the carriage.

Scootaloo looked up. The monument was a statue, made of stone. It was newly carved, as he had only died a few days prior. He stood, his wings outstretched, his head looking outward, over the terrain. One of his forward legs up, as if he were in a pose, and the other placed firmly on some stubble. But it looked grand. It was life sized, not much bigger than scootaloo, but a few inches. She turned back, and began her trot back to the group. Applejack was waiting on them to go home, and it would be late before she got home.

“Hero’s can be born and made, cast out, or taken in. But in the end, they all are hero’s,” she whispered to herself.

“What was that?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Nothing, just something..” Scootaloo looked back at the monument once more, and then turned, determined to go do something great.