The Crisis

1

You know how some days just seem... Well, off?

You know, it's normal at first. You get up, do your thing, go to school, think about getting through the next few hours, like- that sort of stuff. It's when you get to the classroom when things start to become strange. A sick-looking blue mare, the substitute teacher. When we asked where our normal teacher was, we only got "She was sick," even though the frizzy messed up style of the substitute's mane, combined with her stuffy voice, didn't show her as much better than 'sick.'

It was only about thirty minutes until our principle's voice came over the intercom, calling all of the grades to different sections of the school. My class, along with the other freshcolt classes, had to go to the gym. "Hey, we get to skip some of math, cool." I thought. At first, everyone thought it would just be some kinda' guest speaker, to 'warn us of the dangers of drugs and alcohol!' Some kind of cheesy topic like that. Once we arrived, I got a better look at the other teachers. Tired eyes, slightly pale fur, and a assortment of other things that made each teacher look sick in their own way.

I was sat down on the third row of the bleachers. A pink filly and a green colt sat on either side of me, the filly turning to a group of other fillies to gossip, I think, didn't exactly hear what they were saying. My friends were seated about seven or eight ponies away from me, and I didn't want to get in trouble for trying to get over there. At the same time I didn't want to be the odd one out, so I decided to try and talk to the green unicorn beside of me.

"Hey."

"Hey."

...

Great.

I decided to just sit back and relax after that awkward attempt of a 'conversation.' I got a good chance to look around the gym as I sat there in boredom, when I started to feel something wrong. Something wasn't right, it felt like it was hitting my brain with a battering ram, but I just couldn't think of it.  After a few seconds of just looking around, the battering ram managed to get through the walls of my brain, letting the answer go through the cracks.

There was no teachers.

I started to look about the room, double checking, even. No teachers. The other ponies didn't seem to notice, or care, as they all kept talking. It wasn't normal for the teachers to just leave us, but I just decided to let it go, and enjoy the time I was spending not doing school work. Probably just left when I wasn't paying attention.

Now, here I am, almost twenty minutes later. I'm tapping my horn with a mix of boredom and worriedness, hearing some of the other ponies starting to talk about the missing teachers. I'm pretty sure some of the more 'adventurous' colts and fillies were talking about looking for the teachers, but I haven't seen anyone leave yet. Where are the teachers? They couldn't of just decided to take the day off, right? What about the principle? I've only heard him this whole time, ain't seen him once.

The whole right side of the gym abruptly goes quiet, only a few whispers and giggles are heard from the colts and fillies. I turn my head, almost expecting to see something like a dragon from how quickly everyone became quiet. There was two fillies, a purple pegasus with a ball cutie-mark, and the other, a bright yellow earth pony with a map for a cutie-mark. The two were standing by the exit, talking to eachother. The purple one had her hoof on the door, the two's talking coming to a stop as she pushed the door open and went inside, the yellow one not far behind.

As the door closed, the whispering and giggling turned into full-blown talking and laughing.

"They're going to get in so much trouble!"

"What are they thinking?"

"You think they'll find the teachers?"

Yeah, today was off.

I laid my head back, letting my neck go limp. At this point, even I was considering going out and looking for the teachers.

Too bad I didn't get the chance.

There was a loud bang, like a explosion of some kind, but larger. The ground shook, almost like a giant tidal wave hitting the ground. I was wide-eyed, a slight ringing in my ear from the bang, and the screaming it caused. My mind went to a halt, slowing down. It was like the only word I could think of was 'What?'

As the ringing in my ears died down, I could hear a unidentifiable ripping sound over the large amount of screaming from all the ponies, it almost sounded like lettuce being ripped in half. I frantically started to look around, only seeing scared and confused ponies, but no ripping sound. My heart started to pound like a hammer against a nail, my brain slowly gaining some speed once more as I shuddered.

There was one last rip, a sudden gush of wind coming from above as a few bricks fell onto the floor. I looked up to see the roof, three giant scaly claws wrapped around each side. With one movement, the roof was thrown elsewhere, letting everypony in the gym get a good look at what just tore the roof off.

Here I was, thinking the ponies couldn't scream any louder, but I don't blame them. I'm pretty sure I felt myself getting a bit teary-eyed.

It was a dragon, but not like you'd expect. It's scales, a faded color of red and green, covered most of it's body. In some areas, the scales seemed to be pealing off, revealing only some sort of bloody puss mixed with green slime, while the other areas had no scales at all, letting the blood pour freely onto some areas of the ground. It had one ear, the other one was missing, along with a chunk of it's head. It's eyes were hollowed out, only pure darkness filling it's spot.

My brain, almost had to smack me in the head, only screaming one word in my head.

Run!

Forcing my teary eyes away from the dragon, I could see all the ponies rushing to the door, the bigger ones shoving the smaller ones out of the way. I was starting to scramble out of my seat, before I heard the dragon letting out a roar, letting out a wave of wind strong as a tornado. I was sent flying, I wasn't sure which way I was going, or if others were joining me, but I do know one thing...

I hit my head, and hard.

My ears were ringing, my head was throbbing, and I was scared. I wanted to be out of there, I just wanted to go home. I let the tears flow freely, unbearable pain coming from all over my body.

Comon', Arc... Get up...

I only heard the sound of something falling before-

*thwack*

My whole body went limp, my vision going dark.