Five

Muse quickened, running to catch up with Dusty.

“Hey, wait! Those mounds everywhere. That’s the stuff that was in Cloudsdale.” She said, pointing to the greyish muck which covered the buildings and streets of Appleloosa. Dusty eyed the nearest one hesitantly. Muse followed his gaze, the fear from last night growing inside her. “What are they?”

“I dunno. Let’s find out.” Dusty said. He walked over to a house with a little fenced in garden and unceremoniously bucked down the fence. The stallion made a sharp cry of pain, stifling it quickly. Muse’s eyes went to his injured flank, catching sight of yellow pus and blood leaking from his wounds. Before she could say anything, he picked a piece of the fence up and walked towards the sick-smelling sludge. His eyes narrowed, and the two mares took a step back fearfully. Then he raised his head, aiming. And poked the sludge, piercing the outer membrane and penetrating the thick, squishy substance inside.The stake made contact with something buried within the goop, and Dusty twisted his head, trying to open up the clump. A noxious cloud smelling of bile rose in the air, burning Muse’s nostrils. Something moved inside the sludge.

Muse called out, “Dusty, look out!”

The stallion dropped the stake and hopped back warily. And all three stared in shocked, as rasping and shaking, a mare stumbled out of the sludge. Legs shaking like an unsteady infant, the mare collapsed in the dirt, head lolling to the side. Beneath the slime that matted down her coat, the mare was a golden yellow, with a long green mane that covered her face. Her cutie mark was a pink and white bloom. Dusty let out a sharp inhale.

“Lotus Blossom?” He said with a pained strain to his voice that Muse’s ears recognized as heartache. He moved to the mare, trying to help her up frantically. “Lottie, do you hear me?”

Muse’s ears went flat. “You. You’re from here?”

Dusty gave Muse a guilty look, opening his mouth to speak, but was cut off when the mare slowly got to her hooves. Dusty smiled broadly and he brushed her mane back.

“Lottie, what happened to you? Do you know where everypony is?” He asked. The mare, Lottie, let her head drop, as she coughed and rasped. Dusty looked worried. Finally, she straightened and jerked her hoof clumsily towards a large building Muse assumed was a town hall.

“This way.” Lottie whispered hoarsely. “They are all this way.”

Dusty walked beside her, his attention entirely on the mare beside him. Ivory and Muse glanced at each other and then back at the sludge.

“What is it?” Muse wondered, approaching it. Her snout wrinkled at the pungent smell still rising from it. “Ugh, that stuff is vile.”

Ivory frowned.

“It could be like a Changeling chrysalis.” The unicorn purported. ”They incapacitate their victims in pods so they can become them…but it doesn’t explain the smell.”

“Muse! Ivory!” Dusty called them over. The two left the sludge and ran after the stallion. He stood in front of the town hall. Lottie was beside him, her mane still covering her face. Dusty’s face was bright and relieved and he was practically prancing in eagerness.

“Lottie says everypony is safe. Creatures attacked, but they holed up in the town hall.”

Muse frowned. “What happened to her?”

“She was knocked out and coated in the slime by the creatures to eat her after she suffocated.” Dusty explained quickly, his eyes going to Lottie who jerked her head in an affirmative nod. Muse shook her head.

“Creatures? What creatures?" Ivory inquired in alarm, her eyes squinting as she looked around the buildings.

"If she was knocked out, then how does she know where everypony is?” Muse asked as she eyed Lottie suspiciously. The mare’s head twitched in Muse’s direction and the pegasus’ skin crawled. Dusty frowned.

“It’s not that hard to guess where ponies would find shelter.“

“But you said-“

Ivory mumbled beside Muse. “The cocoon smelled like bile. Bile is-“

“Please.” Lottie rasped. She coughed dryly and took an unsteady step towards Muse. “Please come and help. We need your help.”

“Help with what-“ Muse started to ask. Then Lottie coughed again, her mane falling away. A strange bulge moved across the mare’s neck. The pegasus shouted in alarm, shoving the mare away. Lottie stumbled back, her long mane flying in the air, over her shoulder. Ivory and Muse both made sounds of horror, gaping at the pretty pony who stared at them with filmy, dead eyes. A lump moved from her cheek down to her throat.

“Please, help us.” Lottie repeated, walking towards the mares. Dusty followed the mare, worriedly.

“Lottie, Lottie, sweetheart, what’s wrong with your eyes?” He begged her, his voice shaking with doubt. The mare jerked towards the two frightened mares, her mouth dropping open. A hiss emanated from the maw. Then a stick slammed into her face. Muse looked back at Ivory who stood, eyes wide and horn glowing with magic.

“O-O-Oh god.” Ivory began trembling. Muse looked back at Lottie. The stick had ripped open her cheek and embedded itself into the mare’s eyesocket. Dusty moaned in pain, staring at Lottie in shock. The goldenrod mare jerked away, head lolling to the side. The ponies watch as the mare’s face stretched and rippled unnaturally and the stick twisted out and fell to the ground with bits of bone clinging to it. Lottie's head lolled to one side to regard the three others, milky white fluid dribbling out of the empty socket. Something wriggled inside the recess of her socket, and with a plop a round, fat, grey larva fell to the ground.

The larva wriggled around angrily, until Dusty’s hoof slammed down onto it, squishing it into the dirt. The larva didn’t stand a chance, and exploded on contact with the stallion’s powerful hoof. Inky blood pooled from the ragged remains, and stained Dusty’s fetlocks. The earth pony looked like he was about to be sick.

“I’m so sorry, Dusty.” Ivory whimpered, cowering slightly. Dusty looked dazed, and unfocused. He turned back to the mare, heartbreak etched in every movement.

“Lottie.” He breathed, unable to finish processing his thought. The stallion took a few steps away from her, his mouth opening and closing in an attempt to speak. Finding nothing, he just repeated her name. “Lottie…”

Muse’s mind had caught up to the events, and looked at the mare in concern.

“Why was she leading us here?” Muse voiced, taking a step back. Lottie’s head jerked back, and let out a loud, high pitched shriek. In answer, a new nightmare to haunt Muse came crawling out of the town hall.

They were almost pony-sized, and walked on six spiderlike legs, and had insect-esque wings along their grey backs and two angry pincers on their underside. Its entire body was covered in tiny black hairs that quivered slightly. The creatures had a long, reptilian snout filled with ugly, needle like teeth. Multiple black eyes blinked at the ponies hungrily.

Several of the creatures poured out of the town hall and clicked amongst each other. Then at once, they jumped towards the living ponies. One of the creatures lunged towards Muse, who shot into the air, dodging out of the way. Several buzzed after her, taking to the air in pursuit of the pegasus. The thought of the others tore Muse from soaring as fast as she could from the town,and instead she flew towards the ground, hitting it with her hooves running. She couldn’t leave the others. Not this time.

“Dusty!” She screamed. To her left, Ivory scrambled beneath a porch, screaming as the pincers of a couple creatures wriggled and struggled to ensnare her. Dusty blinked, still shocked. He stared at Lottie as more larva fell out of her distorted, wriggling body as she jerked her hooves up and slammed into the stallion. A creature slammed into Muse and the pegasus fell back, screaming and bucking at the pincers, trying to avoid getting caught by them. “Dusty, help!”

The pincers snapped at Muse and the creature snarled, twisting around to bite at the pony. Muse punched the snout away, screaming in fright. The bristling black hairs on the creature’s body were rough, and poked at Muse’s skin. A pincer cut the pony’s cheek, hot blood spilling into Muse's eye and blinding her. Muse wriggled desperately, flapping her wings in a blind panic, beating at the monster with them ineffectively. Muse heard the creature make a few growling clicks and its head twisted back to snap at her wings. A couple feathers were caught by the long maw and Muse screamed as they were ripped out. The creature crumpled suddenly, flying off the trapped pony. Dusty’s face appeared above Muse. His eyes were red from tears.

“Come on, we have to run.” He said. The stallion grabbed her and hoisted her up. The pair ran towards Ivory, dodging and bucking creatures out of the way. Dusty shouldered Muse to the ground as she slid in the dust as the stallion bucked a monster out of the air and kicked it into another. The tangled monsters snarled and fought against each other as Muse hopped to her feet and ran after Dusty. Muse glanced towards the town hall, where a couple creatures were whistling and clicking over a crushed, trampled stain on the steps of the town hall. She caught a glimpse of green and goldenrod, before Dusty directed Muse to scurry under the porch and shove and shaking unicorn out of hiding. Muse crouched and crawled towards Ivory. Overhead the hissing beasts were chewing through the wooden stairs, ripping out chunks of wood as their pincers grabbed at the creamy pony who was sniffling and crying pathetically. Muse reached out a hoof and prodded the unicorn into opening her eyes which. Ivory’s rose eyes widened and she threw her long arms around the pegasus.

“You came back.” Ivory whimpered in relief. Dusty kicked and trampled down the creatures by the porch until there was a satisfying crack. Then the two mares squirmed out of the porch, and the three ran down the streets, Dusty leading them through the town. He flew up a set of stairs and threw open a door. The mares dived in and he slammed it shut, the powerful stallion effortlessly shoving a nearby dresser in front of the door.

There was silence, other than the panting and gasping of three frightened ponies. There was a low buzz of creatures flying towards the house and the ponies pressed against the walls, listening. Ivory bit her foreleg to stifle her whimpers. Time edged on. The creatures passed the house by, and after several minutes of silence, Muse let herself exhale. The tension in the room relaxed and the three stood, surveying their surroundings. It was a very rustic house.  Wood beams went across the ceiling. The floor was decorated with homey rugs laid out over wood flooring. The walls were covered with pictures and framed dried flowers laid out decoratively. Muse glanced over and saw Dusty looking around the house sadly, and suddenly remembered to be annoyed at him.

“So is this a neighbor’s house?” Muse shot, glaring over at Dusty, who cringed. He said nothing, walking further into the house. His back legs limped slightly, trading the weight back and forth.Dusty limped back to the mares, tossing a saddlebag on the ground, alongside a small square first aid kit. The saddlebags were a soft, well-worn leather, emblazoned with a red apple that had a star cut out of it. The box was covered in red fabric, a set of snaps keeping it shut. The top of the box had a white cross with a red heart inside it.

“We need to grab everything we can carry.” Dusty was saying, as he peered out the window. “And then we need to get out of this town. Everypony here is gone, or worse.”

“Not before we bandage you up.” Ivory protested. Muse glanced back at the two. The unicorn had a point. Dusty’s crusted over scabs had broken, and more blood and pus was leaking from them. The wounds were red and angry and looked puffy with infection.

“Ivory’s right.” Muse agreed. “You need attention.”

Dusty’s face hardened into a mulish look of protest, but before he could argue, Ivory’s horn lit up and began lifting things out of the kit. She opened a bottle of clear fluid and drizzled it on the wound. Dusty’s eyes shut and he hissed in pain as the liquid fizzed over his wounds.

“Don’t…Don’t use it all on me.” He muttered to the unicorn, grumpily. Ivory didn’t respond, her mouth set into a concentrated frown as she magically sifted through tubes and bottles. Muse turned away from the pair, feeling nauseated by the smell of blood and chemicals mixing together. Instead she began examining the house, her eyes drifting over the framed pictures idly. After a moment she noticed something odd about the photos, or rather, something special. She stared at the flanks for a moment, before turning her head.

“This is an Apple family house!” She exclaimed, grabbing a photo and trotting over to the others. “Look, it’s a picture with Apple...Applesnack...or-” Muse stared at the orange mare in the photo, trying to remember the name.

“Applejack?” Ivory’s voice rose with excitement. The mare stopped looking at her work to peer at the photo. “One of the heroes of Equestria that fought with Princess Twilight? Isn’t she still alive somewhere?”

“Oh right,” Muse remembered. “Yeah, I think she’s the one still alive.”

“You’re from here- have you ever met her?” Ivory asked Dusty curiously. The stallion cringed, trying to look back at Ivory to supervise her attempt at nursing. Ivory glanced back at her ministrations, which had become her inattentively jabbing an ointment-covered cotton ball onto Dusty’s wounds. She blushed slightly, and refocused her attention. Muse continued to watch Dusty, waiting for an answer inquisitively. The stallion’s ears flattened as he spoke, his voice carrying a slight edge to it.

“Er, yeah, maybe once or twice.” His eyes glanced back at Muse. “Go put that back, will you? Stop nosing around somepony’s home.”

Muse sighed, moving to replace the photo on the table. She looked at it, the smiling blonde pony cheek-to-cheek with a green-eyed stallion holding a hammer in his mouth. Braeburn, she realized, recalling the statue in the town. The vest and hat were the same, minus the sheriff’s star. The pegasus hesitated, staring at the stallion. Something about those green eyes seemed familiar. Her senses buzzing, Muse looked at the photos on the wall more closely, watching the generations of Apples grow up and grow old through the wooden frames. Then she came across a photo with a brown earth pony with a blond mane. His cutie mark was an apple with a star cut into it. Beside him was a colt, and a mare, who was unmistakably a mustang. Her white body was covered with rust-colored spots and her braided mane was a deep red. The colt beaming between them had a dusty colored coat with mud colored spots, and huge green eyes. Muse gasped. Grabbing the photo, Muse flew back to the two just as Ivory was tying off fresh bandages around Dusty’s flank. The pegasus dutifully ignored the two faintly embarrassed looking ponies and displayed the photo.

“Are you an Apple?” She demanded, shoving the photo at the stallion. He looked at the photo for a moment, smiling a little in nostalgia. The smile drooped however, and his eyes filled with sorrow the longer he looked at it. Dusty pushed the photo away.

“I don’t like talking about my family.” He sighed. Ivory and Muse watched him incredulously.

“Why the buck not?” Muse probed further. “Your family is-“

Something clicked together in Muse’s mind, making a hollow and metal ‘thunk’ like a lock snapping shut. Family. Cloudsdale. Muse saw in her mind two clumps of sludge in her parent's house that suddenly seemed horrifically pony shaped. A hundred realizations swarmed her mind, overloading her until the mare felt flushed and her blood pumped loudly in her ears. Muse scrambled towards the window, knees buckling, and eyes staring out at the empty night sky.

“Those things could fly.” She whispered. “They took Cloudsdale. They took it. I have to go, I-“

She skittered towards the door, throwing herself at the dresser in a desperate attempt to push it away. The pegasus kicked and flailed as Ivory and Dusty tried to grapple her, the two shouting over Muse’s yelps.

“They could still be okay!” Muse screamed, fighting against her companions. Her hooves made small dents in the wood of the dresser as she attacked it. “I can save them, let me go, I can save them!”

Her wings flapped furiously, beating at the two ponies holding her back. Ivory’s bony body dug into Muse’s side. Dusty grabbed Muse’s tail and pulled, trying to keep her back. Muse bucked, and squirmed, splintering the wooden dresser in a mad escape attempt. Behind her, there was a shattering sound of glass breaking and clinking to the floor. Ivory screamed. Muse could hear the buzz of angry wings. Ivory was suddenly wrenched away from Muse, and the mare fell to the ground, twisting to stand. As she turned, she could see several of the creatures swarming over her friends. Ivory’s milky limbs disappeared as the creatures pulled her out of the window they broke through. Ivory clung to the windowsill, screaming out, her eyes locked on Muse. Then she slipped, and lost her grip, and the hissing and clicking monsters carried her away.

“Muse!” Dusty commanded the mare’s attention as he bucked and fought off the beasts. “Run, Muse!”

The creatures he had just bucked off all pounced on him at once, a splash of blood staining the wooden floor. Muse trembled, watching Dusty fall to the ground. Then she turned, and ran. Up the stairs and down the hall she flew, running into a bedroom and wrenching open the closet. Muse buried herself deep inside the closet, shaking like a leaf in the darkness. The mare shoved a hoof into her mouth as she tried to stifle her ragged breaths, choked out by sobs. She left them. She left them.

Over and over again, Muse saw Ivory’s disappearing face, full of terror. Dusty collapsing. Muse’s hooves running. She left them to die. The only friends she had. Magpie Muse was a coward. She had failed. Muse had sworn to keep Ivory safe. She had made the deal with herself to look out for her companions. And Muse, in the end, let them die so that she could have a few minutes more to life. Tears stained her cheeks as the pony rocked back and forth. She should go after them. Muse should try to save them. Or at least, Muse should die with them. But she couldn’t. The pony was frozen in the enclosed, dark space of the closet. She couldn’t bring herself to leave.

“I’m so sorry.  I’m so…” Muse sniffled to herself, eyes closing. Then she paused, and sniffed the air carefully. Filling the air, was the sweet, and noxious smell of vomit. Her heart stopped.

Above her, Muse heard a quiet hiss.