I am Twilight Sparkle

I am Twilight Sparkle

Pilot

Dear reader, I am glad that somepony except me has survived this hell. Even so if you might find this journal, next to my dead body, or somewhere where I have chosen to stay for the night. Equestria, is no more.  As far as I know to this point, there is no cure, to the curse that brought ponykind to the brink. It all started three years ago. I, Twilight Sparkle, was just crowned the newest princess, of Equestria. Everything was going so well, and everypony was happy. You must know, that I write this all down, so if there is somepony there, except me, they will know what has brought this plague over us.

Two days after my coronation, an explosion in a magical research center, just outside of Canterlot occured. As the new girl on the job, it was my duty to investigate, so I can give you a first hoof testament. I arrived in the Mane-forest, where the center had been located, just an hour after the explosion. With me, I had several royal guards who were there to ensure my safety. None of them ever came back, because they did their duty. To our utter suprise, the facility was almost completly intact, even so we didn't meet anypony on our way inside. As princess, I used my authority to direct the guards, and split them into groups, so our search efforts would have the maximum effect...

Thinking back to that day, I regret that I did that. Had we all stayed together, we may have been able to stop it all at it's root. But, on the other hoof, how should I have anticipated something like this? Out of the fifty guards, I kept three by my side. One of them was my brother, guard captain Shining Armor. Strange enough, we searched the complex for quite a while before we ever saw something wrong. The first of them that we saw, was a yellow Earthpony stallion, wearing a labcoat.  He looked fine on first glance, until I took a closer look. His flank was ripped wide open, his guts painting a red trail behind him. Still we tried to help him, even so we didn't know how he could still be alive. That was, when my brother became infected. The stallion had tried to charge and bite me, but Shining Armor caught his attack, being bitten instead of me. Had he not sacrificed himself, I would not be able to record the last days of ponykind....

The infection overtook my brother in less then a minute. His eyes rolled up to the whites, and he collapsed. I myself confirmed that he had stopped breathing, while the other guards tried to restrain the stallion. Both of them were infected, when Shining Armor started moving again. I tried my best to restrain them with my magic, but whatever spell I threw at them, it just bounced off of them. I could sense a verry powerfull magical aura around them, but I had never imagined it would be able to repell my Alicorn magic. To my eternal shame, I fled screaming for the other guards. They DID come to the sound of my voice, but none of them were alive anymore. By the rolled up eyes and stumbling movements, I could tell that whatever had caused this, had overtaken my escort. Unable to do anything with my magic, I ran as fast as I could, and sealed the double doors behind me. Not yet used to my wings, and no Pegasus guard to pull the carriage I had arrived in, I was forced to gallop back into the city.

Many Ponies bowed to me, when I finally reached Canterlot at sunset, but I didn't care. All I was thinking about, was finding the other princesses. They were already worrying about me, by the time I arrived in the throne room. We all agreed that this was a new crisis for Equestria, and therefor a job for the elements of harmony. My friends and me, who we were the beares of the elements, wasted no time, and set out to the facility once again, even so I would have liked to rest after my full gallop on my way back.

Princess Luna, whos domain also was the magic of necromancy, accompanied us on this mission. The double doors I had sealed that morning, had been broken open, which was a disaster. I had seen what these cursed ponies could do, and that their curse was infectios, to make matters worse. We encountered two of them, that came stumbling out of the forest, and Princess Luna confirmed that they were indeed dead. Some spell research, must have gone wrong, creating this awefull curse. Luna tried to lift it, since it was part of her domain, but had no success. These creatures, where no ponies anymore. Nor where they targetable by any kind of spell. All magic directed at them, just evaporated without any effect on them.

In the end, even the elements of harmony we used on the small group, had no significant effect.  The bodies dropped, when hit by the elements, but it was more then ineffective. We could only hit one at a time after all, so soon we were forced to retreat, as many more of them came out of the forest towards us.

For days, we tried to fortify the towns of Equestria, but it was just not enough. Every guard, every militia member that got bitten, joined their ranks soon after. The first city to fall, was Dodge City. They were simply overrun by the several hundred undead. Baltimare, Manehatten and, to my great dismay, Ponyville were next on their list. By that time, we had abandoned the idea of fortifying all remaining towns. Instead as many survivors as possible were brought to Canterlot. We, meaning the four present princesses, took turns keeping a barrier around the capital up, trying to keep the masses at our borders out of the city. It worked.... for a while atleast.

The numbers that came to us, increased by the hour. Soon, two of us where needed to pour enough magical energy into the barrier, to keep it up. This was hard on us, since none of us got much sleep, nor much time to actually recover. I want to stress the point, that Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and myself did everything we could, to protect our subjects! Several Unicorns volunteered to help us with the barrier, but with the shifts we had to take on substaining it, none of us had the time to spare to teach them the spell. Three hours were the most, any of us was able to be on duty, and in the other three, until we had to go out again, we had to eat, sleep and relief ourself.

At the time, I think atleast Celestia already knew we couldn't go on like that forever. The night the barrier finally broke, I had been on duty with Princess Cadence. Our shift was coming to an end, and I already felt like falling asleep while standing. We had done this for a little over a year, so it was no wonder even we were exhausted and overworked. Canterlot had been fortyfied in that time, and many ponies were trained in battle. What finally broke our neck however, was that the undead could use their natural abilities. The undead Unicorns could fire rudimental arcane bolts at the barrier, while the Pegasi bumped into it from all directions.

The only viable means of deposing of one of these creatures, is to cave their head in. For a Unicorn, or an Alicorn for that matter, to do that without magic is very hard. All we could do, was throw things at them using telekenisis. Due to the extreme amount of focus, and magic needed for that, to bring a stone or another hard and heavy object down with enough force, left the spellcaster volnurable.

However... Cadence and I stood on Canterlots observation tower.  We still had to go fourty more minutes, but we couldn't do it. I called for one of the guards, so he could get Celestia and Luna, but it was too late. Cadence was first to collapse, leaving me with the task of keeping the barrier up on my own. I couldn't do it. There were millions beating on it, and I was exhausted, only a shadow of what I had been in my best days, and I was already verry close to an arcane burnout. The barrier fell, on my watch. I know it was not my fault, and that we couldn't have prevented it either way, but I still feel guilty about it. The guards at the broders, were unprepared. They had relied on us to keep the barrier up forever, even so I think they knew even we wouldn't been able too.

A slaughter started in the streets of Canterlot. The gates to the city, made of wood, fell fast. The guards on the walls tried their best to repell them, but we were just outnumbered. There were almost a thousand of them for every one of us. When Celestia and Luna realized what had happend, they immideatly ordered guards to evacuate the city. To bring as many of the survivors away and try to establish safe zones if they could. Ten guards were assigned to Cadence and me. Five of them took me to the west, the other five, carried Cadence to the east. I think Celestia hoped that, if even one Alicorn survived all of this, there would still be a chance to rebuild our kingdom.

The last thing I saw, before I was carried of, were the sisters spreading their wings and charging into the battle, to buy us time. Many buildings were already on fire by the time they did....

We flew for quite a while, and I hoped that my friends and family would be alright. I told myself, that they surely would have been one of the first ponies to be evacuated. The elements of harmony, even if uneffective against groups of them, were still the most powerfull magic known to ponykind. It was then that two of my guards were plucked out of the air, by several undead Pegasi. I saw them struggle against their attackers, while spiraling towards the ground. The other three didn't even look back, but increased their speed.

It made me think of my friend, Rainbow Dash... She was supposedly the fastest flyer in all of Equestria. Had she made it out alive? I guess I will never know the fate of my friends. I just hope that, if they died in Canterlots defense, they are not walking now.

The guards brought me to a small fortress on an island, west of the shore of Baltimare. There was nopony else there. Just the three guards, and myself. The storage rooms of the fortress, were well stocked with unperishable goods, and there was a well in the middle of the courtyard. I tried to put up a barrier, to protect the place, but one of the guards stopped me. He told me, that they were drawn to magic, aswell as sound, and that I needed to rest if I wanted to be of any use to my subjects. I asked him if he had lost somepony, but he just shook his head. He told me that everypony had lost somepony in this crisis, but that he was confident that I would be able to make a difference, once I was at full strength again.

Upon me inquiring, on what had become of Celestia and Luna, I never got an answer out of any of the guards. Up to this day, exactly one year after the fall of Canterlot, I believe that they died defending our subjects. Had they not, I guess one of them would have showed up at the fortress...

The fortress... I abandoned that aswell, about three weeks ago. I do not know how they tracked us, but it began with a undead Pegasus I spotted circling above us. Soon after, they came out of the waves. They had traveled underwater to the island. Their flesh was all swollen up, and on some there was barely any flesh left at all... They reminded me of some horror novel I had read when I was younger, and they were numerous. There was no way we could have fought them. Again, my guards, Thunderlane, Spitfire (the former captain of the Wonderbolts) and Switwind, showed just how determined they were to keep me safe. They did everything to draw the undeads attention, while I escaped. For that I am eternaly gratefull.

I used the time they bought for me, to teleport back to the mainland. The undead density there was thin, so I was able to slip away unnoticed. Ever since then, I have been on the run. I do not doubt, that the last of my guards are now a part of them. I have hidden myself in abanoned buildings, and even in drainage pipes. My coat is dirty, and the dress I wore during my short time as a princess, I have long left behind. I decided to keep this journal, since I think that hope shall never die. Maybe there really is somepony out there, that will find this journal. Maybe ponykind will overcome this ordeal, and then this journal may be the only testament of an eye witness.... As I write this, I sit in the basement of my old home. I do not know how I ended up here, but I guess my instincts have drawn me here. Instinct... it seems the only thing driving these creatures... It is more likely that memories of better times drew me here. I have barricaded myself down here, caving in the entrance with a simple spell, but that was already enough to draw them to my position. I can hear them pounding on the rubble, where the door has once been.... For the time being, I am safe but tomorrow, I will have to move on. I think I might make my way to Canterlot. I want to see with my own two eyes, that there is nothing left of the once so mighty capital of ponykind. Even though it might mean, I will find my mentor and my friends dead.... or even worse, dead and walking... But I just have to go... In Celestias private study... maybe I can find a clue on where Cadence was brought. Maybe her position is still safe? If that is so, I must find her. I must help her defend what is left of our race. I will continue to write down, what will happen from now on, so I atleast leave something behind if I fail. Maybe somepony that finds this, will be able to learn from the mistakes that I made, and avoid a simliar fate, if I get overwhelmed....