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.
2
Pain.
Pain was the only thing I could feel as I first came out of my state of unconsciousness. It felt like my leg's muscles were trying to tear themselves apart, I couldn't even get them to move an inch as my brain started sending messages to my body to panic. With each thunderous beat of my heart, my torso seemed to spasm with pain to the beat. I could barely hear the thumping of my heart, the only thing coming from my ears being a unfamiliar buzzing sound. I couldn't even feel my horn, or the area around it. I wanted to cringe, yell, cry, just anything- but the pain...
Wait a second.
There was something unusually heavy about my chest. Each heartbeat, I could feel something slightly move on my chest, not in-sync with the rest of my body's motion. I opened my eyes a bit, even a small task like that straining me as I tried to get a good look of whatever happened to by on my chest. I could only make out something large, it was grey with something green going down to it's backside. I craned my neck, noticing something turning at the end of the object. It was round-ish, a couple of dots and markings covering it.
It was a head, and it was turning towards me.
My body reeled in pain as I tried my hardest to move this thing off of me. I finally managed to move my forelegs, putting the two shaking limbs against the object. I pushed, sending a wave of nausea to my head, and unthinkable pain through my forelegs. I got whatever it was to roll over, only being on top of my hind leg's hoofs now. I twisted my chest, planting my hoofs on the ground and pulling as hard as I could. The nausea was increasing, and my insides were now on fire. I managed to pull my self a few inches forward, at least getting my hoofs out from under the thing.
I stopped, the pain in my torso increasing as I was forced to lurch downward. My grip started to fail, my hoofs instinctively wrapping around my stomach as I felt something almost blasting itself up my neck. Yesterday's breakfast winded up on the ground next to me, the smell forcing itself up my nostrils. Whatever eyesight I had before was gone, I was only greeted by a mix of unknown shapes and colors.
I let my head fall to the ground, closing my eyes. I wanted the pain to stop, I wanted it to awake in my bed, laughing about this silly nightmare. The buzz from my ears died down as my already weak breathing slowed. I was praying to whoever would listen, let me wake from this.
________________________________________________________________________________
I once again had the 'pleasure' of waking up again, this time not feeling as much pain. This time the buzzing sound was replaced with a squishing and dragging sound of some kind, it made me cringe. I wanted the buzzing back. I moved my stiff front legs, planting them on the ground and pushing the top-half of my body up. I forced my open, this time my vision fresh and clear.
I was watching a mare, shoving it's face into a smaller pony's stomach. The mare had it's legs on both sides of the smaller one's stomach, supporting itself as it ate. The smaller pony had a lifeless look on it's face, it's grey fur damped with blood. I wanted to vomit again.
I was unable to take my eyes off it, but I wanted too, so badly. I began backing up, eyes still locked on to the pony. Then it turned to me. Two empty eyes started at mine, only black pinpricks in the middle of a white void. 'Her' jaw was slightly bent, and she had little fur left. It moved it's hoofs to the ground in front of the poor meal, pulling it's self towards me. I looked down, regretting I did as I saw the pony had no legs. Only some of it's intestine dragged behind as it moved closer, leaving a trail of blood.
I have to get out of here.
I twisted my torso, using my forelegs to push myself up, and my hind legs coming in to place. I was going to run out of here, anywhere but here would be good right about now. I started off at a sprint... Only taking about three steps before a strong have of nausea hit me like a club to the face. I hit the ground hard, sliding about a foot before coming to a complete stop. I heard the half-monster getting closer, I looked over my shoulder to see it was about two or three feet away from me.
Use your magic, throw it across the room.
I gritted my teeth, focusing on the pony, getting ready to lift it up and throw it as hard as I could. I was almost about to focus an aura around it when my horn came back to life, deciding it would be funny to send a jolt of pain through my head. My magic fizzled out, but the pony was still getting closer. Only about a foot now.
What's going on with my horn!? Not the time for it! I started to scramble my way back once again, the pony almost reaching my leg. I looked around for anything, something or somepony that could help me. I found something, half of a wooden baseball bat. The handle part was still there, but the other part was missing, instead, the middle of it had large splinters stuck out of the wood, almost like spikes.
I didn't dare to check how close the mare was now, only focusing on the broken bat. I started to crawl over to it, an adrenaline rush letting me momentarily forget about the shape I was in. I was almost there, now. So close. I could almost feel the mare's breath against my leg, but I couldn't stop. I had to get the bat.
Yes!
The bat was within reach, I was there. I grabbed the handle of the bat, almost smiling at the feel of harsh wooden texture. I turned to see that the mare was now only an inch behind me, starting to grab my hind leg. She opened her mouth, revealing crooked green teeth, sharp and jagged to the point. Just do it. I turned over to my side, swinging the bat at the mare's jaw. It hit, tearing flesh, fur, and bone away from her face. There was nothing connecting the right side of the jaw to it's face anymore, making it hang limply from the right side. The mare reared back, letting out a wet gurgling sound. It still wasn't done.
I readied for another swing, surprised that the last one didn't seem to slow it down at all. The mare started moving up faster this time, getting to my lower-torso before I swung again. Bits of blood were sent across my face is the tip of the bat hit the eye, the splinters stabbing through it. The mare went berserk, flailing her head and arms around. I pushed her off of me, heart still pounding.
No time to stay here, I need to get out.
Not wanting to risk going through another nausea attack, I opted to just crawl and find the nearest pony. Unless they were like that one, but that's impossible. That one wasn't right. I once again found myself crawling, looking around for anypony. I would often have to take short breaks due to my muscles seizing up, or random pain or nausea attacks.
As the sound of the screaming mare became faint, I actually took a look around. It looked like I was on the hallway headed toward the lunchroom, no idea how I got here. I should've taken a look while I had the chance, I guess I was too busy with other things at the time. I reached the lunch room doors, my underside covered in dust from the crawling. I steadied myself with my right hoof, using the left one to push the doors open.
Or- I tried to push the doors open. They were locked. I slumped down, setting myself against the wall. I was tired, beat-down, and a nap sounded like a good idea right about now. The last bit of adrenaline was wearing off, and my pushed-aside emotions decided to re-introduce themselves.
Crying isn't going to do anything good for you right now.
Yeah, just have to find my parents, that's all. I'll be fine then.
Another growl. I quickly turned my head to the hallway I just came from, had the mare followed me? There was no sight of her, though, where was she? The growl repeated, only this time more aggravated. I turned to the other hallway connected to this one, to see another monster.
A stallion, a huge one. It was about thirty feet away, and from what I could tell, it was an earth pony. It had dark brown skin, with a black, messed up mane. This one, unlike the last, actually had most of it's body.
It snarled.
It was getting ready to charge.
