What We've Lost

Blood. There's blood everywhere I look. On the floor, on the walls... Even on the ceiling. My senses are on lock down. I can't move as I stare in mute horror at the scene in front of me. The sound of something snapping brings me out of my terrified stupor. I turn to my left towards a window. It's been smashed to pieces and what bits of glass that are left are coated in a thick red ooze.

Creeping slowly towards the open window, careful to step over and around the blood coating the floor I prop my hooves on the sill and carefully peek out. My jaw goes slack as my eyes fall upon the mare outside. Her coat is matted with blood from head to tail. Her eyes stare blankly into space, lifeless. But that's now the most disturbing part. Is my eyes move over her prone form I see the gaping hole in her chest. Blood and entrails are strewn about haphazardly.

That's when I see it. The form off to the right. It's just sitting there, occasionally twitching or moaning. It's back is turned towards me so I can't tell if it's a mare or stallion. I should call for help, maybe they know what's going on. But something stops me. It's covered in blood as well. I try my best to hold in a gasp as the figure suddenly shifts it's gaze back on the dead mare.

As it slowly gets to it's hooves I can tell it was once a mare. My neighbour, Ms.Roseluck. Her eyes are sunken in and wild, her pupils a faded white. Blood drips off her muzzle as she slowly shambles towards the corpse on my lawn. When she finally reaches the body, to my complete horror, she sits and begins to root through and eat the entrails that are strewn about the bloodied grass.

I can't take it anymore. Turning towards the sink, I lean forward and empty my stomach. Soon I'm dry heaving and coughing into the sink, tears running down my cheeks as I try and calm down. When I turn to look back out the window, Roseluck is no where to be seen, and strangely enough neither is the corpse.

A crash against the kitchen door brings me back to reality as I realize what's happened. I've been discovered. Fearing for my life, I open up the cupboard underneath the sink and squeeze myself in, closing the door behind me. It isn't long before the kitchen door smashes open and I can hear that creature make it's presence known, moaning and growling in hunger. I sing my hooves over my mouth to silence my breaths as the monster makes its way around the room. I can't hear it open anything. It just wanders around the room aimlessly, growling to itself.

It isn't long before all is quiet in the room. I don't dare move or make a sound though, in case it's waiting for me outside. For ten grueling minutes I wait, just listening for any signs that that monster is out there. when I'm almost certain that I'm alone, I open the cupboard door a crack and peer out. an empty room greets me. Walking fully out of the cupboard, I look around the room and notice the bloody hoof prints entering and exiting the doorway. Sighing in relief, I quickly but carefully make my way to my bedroom, cautiously looking in every room before passing them by and entering my own, locking it behind me.

My room is your typical bedroom. My bed lies in the corner of the room, my blue blankets and pillow strewn every which way. next to my bed is my writing desk, covered in papers and quills and little cups of ink. My dresser sits on the other side of the room, filled with fancy dresses and winter attire for when I actually need them and topped with a photo I haven't looked at in years. The rest of the room is sparce except for the few posters I have on the walls depicting famous novelists and bands I like.

As I walk over to my dresser, I levitate the photo over to me and look at it mornfully. A small white unicorn filly with a light blue mane smiles brightly next to a beige unicorn with a darker blue mane. She's smiling just as brightly. It was taken at my cuteceanera. Me and my mum. I wonder where she is...

Putting the picture frame down, I slowly walk towards the window and peer out into the streets of Ponyville. There's chaos everywhere. Mares and stallions alike, all running in a terrified panic from those... Things. I don't know what they are, but they look like residents of Ponyville. Have they all gone mad?

I watch in horror as a stallion is tackled to the ground and stifle a scream as I watch his throat get torn out by his assailant, a filly, maybe a year or two younger than me sits on his chest and rips at his neck like some wild animal.He screams for somepony to help him, but everypony seems content to flee the scene and save themselves. As I'm watching this, the little filly suddenly gets off the now dead stallion and sprints after another unlucky mare. as the run around a corner out of sight, my attention is drawn back the recently deceased stallion. His body is twitching. He's dead though, that shouldn't happen. I hold back another scream as the once lifeless body begins to pick itself up and sprint after a terrified filly, tackling her to the ground and ripping her open.

I can't take it anymore. Turning around, I collapse on my bed and begin to cry.

"What's going on? What's happening to everypony?" I cry into my pillow as the screams of the town filter in through the window. "Where's mum?"

The sudden thought causes me to sit up. All that blood down stairs... Was that mum's? Fresh tears begin to fall down my  cheeks at the thought of my mum being torn apart by one of those creatures.

I don't know how long I layed there crying, but when I finally calmed down enough to look outside again, the streets were eerily calm. Looking over the silent town, I noticed only one house had any lights on. The town library. With a solid resolve, I grabbed my saddlebags, threw my photo frame inside, and slowly made my way down stairs. If anypony knew what was going on, it was the town librarian, Twilight Sparkle. I had to get to her... Somehow...