Pandemic

“I want to stop by Pinkie’s grave.” Twilight said suddenly from behind Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “I haven’t yet been able to pay my respects.” She said solemnly without making eye contact. Pinkie had been given about the same service as AppleJack, she was buried with her element and some mementos of her life. Rarity started to lose it again and Dash had to be the one to respond.

“It is on the way back…” Dash said tentatively. She didn’t want to revisit the site. She had just managed to seal that wound up and didn’t want to tear it open again. Twilight noticed her hesitation and spoke again.

“It’s something I’ll need to do alone” she added more for her own benefit than for Dash’s, they’d done enough crying together for one day.

The three mares continued to walk for a while until they came upon a newly made dirt path that veered off to the right and disappeared into some foliage.

“We buried her alongside the path about a half mile back that way.” Said dash nodding toward the path. “I’m heading back to the library to try and sleep for however long I can before I am needed again.” Celestia knows she needed sleep too.  Her eyes were terribly bloodshot and had purple bags under them as a result of her three hours of sleep total she had gotten in the past four days.

“I’ll be recovering at my boutique if you need me darling.” said Rarity in as strong a voice as she could muster. She tried to keep her stained face out of site as she said this and she quickened her pace to make it back to her shop. Twilight felt sorry for the pair as they walked off. Rarity was most certainly not cut out for any type of real stress because of her tendency to blow things out of proportion. Dash seemed the better of the two but it was clear she wasn’t the same. Something dark lurked just beneath the surface of Dash’s consciousness, breaking free once in a while to rear its ugly head. Twilight knew Dash was suicidal; she had been down the hall when Dash had broken down and only then did she realize what a position this normally strong and lively mare was in. As they turned to small specks heading back towards the town Twilight turned onto the path and began walking.

Graves littered each side of the path. At first they were single graves that were nicely dug and put together as they would normally be, but as she proceeded she saw more and more mass graves and shallow, hastily made pits to dump bodies into. Finally she came upon some half depleted balloons tied to a marker made of a stone that was painted pink and surrounded with colorful decorations. The stone must’ve been hard to cut because it only read: A friend to everyone who always brought joy to this world. Rest peacefully Pinkie Pie.

Even this simple phrase was enough to elicit what tears Twilight had left as she rummaged in her bag to find what she had brought for her light hearted friend. She withdrew a bundle of wild flowers and a blueberry Cupcake, Pinkie’s favorite. She deposited them on the grave and backed away to view the stone. It was placed under the shade of an ancient willow and it had a five foot radius of party decorations. No doubt it was by Pinkie’s request. Twilight turned to leave only to find her path blocked by a dirty and bloody stallion with an orange and black mane. He had a knife strapped to his inner left forehoof. Even as she turned he was drawing his knife and throwing his arm out in a wild slash.

Twilight reacted quickly turning her head to avoid the blade but she still managed to sustain a cut that spanned the length of her cheek. She then took a step back while grabbing her saddle bag. The Stallion made another advance only to be hit in the face with a laden bag. Twilight’s heart was racing and she felt adrenaline start to race through her veins as she ran past the Stallion back down the path. He quickly recovered and ran after her.

“HELP!” Twilight yelled frantically as she ran as fast as she could away from the looter. She hadn’t had much on her but it seemed that these were quite desperate times. The looter was gaining on her as she dared to glance backwards. She looked forwards and saw the dirt right in front of her face. She was puzzled for a half second before she impacted and realized that she had tripped. She rolled for about twenty feet until she finally came to a rest on lying on her right side. She winced as she tried to get up feeling her rear right ankle giving out under any type of weight. Her ribs felt cracked as well and it hurt to breathe. The stallion slowed as he saw his pray fall and came to stand over her. He placed a hoof on her chest and held her down pressing enough to give her tremendous pain in her ribs.

The looter looked her up and down as if in examination and a slight smirk appeared on his face. Twilights pupils went to the size of dust particles as she realized what he was going to do. Her breathing quickened a bit as she felt another rush of adrenaline pump through her. He took his knife and began to run the tip down her neck and over her body pausing slightly at her pelvis causing twilight to shiver at its cool touch. He then took his knife and placed the point on Twilights temple as he spoke.

“I could kill you right now but I’m sparing you….I wonder how you could ever repay me for that” he said this in a low voice and it was plain what he intended to do. “Do you have any suggestions on how you could repay me?” he asked.

“Only one” Twilight said as she looked up at him weakly.

“And how is that?” he asked in a laughing tone.

“Like this” said Twilight. Her horn glowed brightly and suddenly and the knife left the looters hand. It glowed with the same purple aura as Twilight's horn as it sped quickly toward the Stallion. The looter’s mouth fell open and his eyes went wide as he realized what was happening and he started to say something but was cut off by the knife embedding itself in the center of his head. It then twirled quickly in a circle like a drill relieving his skull of its contents. Gray matter and blood flew everywhere leaving small explosions of red on the surrounding ground and trees as it impacted. The knife suddenly stopped and withdrew itself. It was then flung into the forest as Twilight pulled herself from under the now lifeless stallion. A red pool started to wet the dirt around his head as blood and brains drained from the hole in his head. Twilight turned and  vomited at what she had just done.  She then pulled herself to her three good feet and hobbled awkwardly home as her ribs were beginning to turn blue and black.