The newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle waved cheerfully out of her carriage at the cheering crowd, throwing confetti and flowers to celebrate this momentous day. Twilight’s regal outfit glittered in the sunlight, which could only dream of being as bright as her smile.
“Morning in Ponyville shimmers!” Twilight began singing cheerfully.
“Morning in Ponyville shines!” A bouquet of flowers landed in her carriage, and she picked them up with a smile.
“And I know for absolute certain-” Twilight spread her newly acquired wings, and lifted into the air, soaring out of the glittering marble city of Canterlot.
“-that everything is gonna be fine!” Twilight finished singing with a huge grin plastered on her face. “Yes, everything is going to be just fine!” she exclaimed as she felt the cool wind through her mane. After all, with all the things she and her friends had overcome, what could possibly go wrong?
Three Months Later
Sweat dripped down Twilight’s muzzle as she whipped her head around. Her wide eyes filled with terror saw the horde of shambling beasts gaining on her slowly and methodically, never resting, and always, always hungry.
The purple alicorn's heart threatened to break free of her chest as she willed her hooves to move faster, trees whipping past her and weeds and roots grabbing at her hooves, trying their hardest to trip her, or cause her to stumble. One more furtive glance behind her revealed that the horde had picked up the pace, lurching and limping ever faster. Perhaps they smelled her fear, or they sensed that she was tiring. Maybe they noticed her loose her balance.
In any case, Twilight shakily spread her wings and took to the skies, the risk of being caught by the horde much more severe than being caught in the sky. As she broke through the canopy, her blood ran cold as a demonic shriek rang through the night.
Something rammed into her side, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to the ground. It was a white pegasus mare with a light blue mane, but she wasn’t herself. The pegasus’s necrotic decaying skin, dilated pupils and bloodied coat were all signs of that, even before it began snapping its teeth at Twilight.
Twilight used her forehooves to desperately push the crazed pegasus’ head away, but it was beginning to overpower her. In one instinctive instance, Twilight leveled her horn at it and shot a beam of pure, unfocused magic at her assailant. Its skull didn’t stand a chance, and blood, grit and gore sprayed Twilight’s face. The dead body slumped on top of her, and was soon shoved unceremoniously to the ground as Twilight made her escape from the growling, moaning horde of similar creatures that had continued their advance.
After several minutes of running, a small shack emerged into view in the distance, and Twilight took shelter inside. The previous occupant didn’t appreciate this, as Twilight soon found out when he tried to eat her. She dealt with the infected stallion accordingly, dumping his half-rotted corpse outside.
Several hours she spent in silence, listening to the horde that moved past her position, and then to the silent night afterwards. Once Twilight had decided it was safe, she used her magic to clean off the blood from her fur, nearly retching as the smell of the rapidly decaying body outside reached her nose.
Ignoring it, she looked around the shack for any scavengable supplies, finding only a few non-perishables, water, and a small saddlebag. Just as she was about to leave, something on the desk caught her eye.
It was a bloodstained journal, with a pencil laying beside it. Twilight’s curiosity piqued, and she trotted over to it. After flipping through it with her magic and finding it blank, she took one more precautionary glance outside, before sitting down on her haunches. Settling in, Twilight lifted the pencil with her magic, and began to write.
It feels like it’s been years since I've taken the time to read or write, but it’s only really been a few months. I've wanted to write this down, to document it, in case something happens to me. I don’t know why, but I feel that somepony has to document these events, even if it’s just in a little bloody notebook found in a log cabin in the middle of Whitetail Woods, where I am right now.
My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, though the title holds very little weight nowadays. My royal attire is long, long gone, and the only testimony to my title is the fact that I have wings to accompany my horn.
That is beside the point.
If anypony out there finds this book, be prepared for my account of the events leading up to the end of the world as I knew it.
Gosh, this is a terrible introduction.
I guess I should just start at the beginning.
“Pick up the pace, Twilight! Half the fillies in Cloudsdale could outfly you!” Rainbow Dash called as she raced on ahead of me. I was flapping my wings as hard as I could as is, and my back burned with the strain.
“Could...we...stop...for...a bit?” I wheezed between pants of exhaustion.
My pegasus friend Rainbow Dash (perhaps you've heard of her; she was the only pony able to pull off a Sonic Rainboom) was helping me train my newly acquired wings, and let me tell you, she was a tough coach.
“Alright, fine,” Rainbow said, banking left to reduce her speed. I gratefully followed suit and collapsed on the ground of the rolling hills just outside Ponyville.
"Way to go, Twilight!" quietly cheered my other pegasus friend, Fluttershy. She's the sweetest pony I know, and, if you hadn't guessed already, very timid and shy.
Fluttershy fluttered over to me, holding a bottle of water in her front hooves. I took the water with my magic and, after a brief thanks, guzzled the entire thing in one go. (Wow, was I really that out of shape?)
"Hooray!" Called out my friend Pinkie Pie, the most high-spirited, energetic party-pony to ever exist. She came bounding towards me, a wing-power reader balanced precariously on her back. "Twilight! Twilight! That was a new personal best!" She shoved the contraption in my face, and once my eyes focused, my mouth spread into a wide grin.
"Wow! Six point six wing power!" I exclaimed in surprise. "That's a whole tenth-of-a-wing-power more than yesterday!"
Rainbow Dash came up beside me, slapping me on the back playfully. "What'd I tell you? You're already twenty percent faster after only a week of training."
The sun was beginning to set, so we each said our goodbyes and parted ways. I opted to walk home; my wings hurt like a- well, you know, and I didn't want to over exert the muscles just yet.
I was so tired after the hard practice, that I didn't notice the dead bird until I had stepped in it. If the crunch of brittle bones and the plume of botflies didn't snap me out of my stupor, the horrible rotting stench would have done the trick.
Naturally, I screamed like a little filly, wiping the bloody yuck off of my hoof and onto the grass. I held down my lunch, and my eyes were drawn to the bird by some kind of sick curiosity.
It was lying on its back, wings splayed and legs sticking straight up. It's head was bent at a strange angle, suggesting it may have broken it in a fall. There were patches of dead rotting skin where no feathers remained, but otherwise the body looked fairly normal, except for the hoof-sized region of crushed, bloody sludge, of course.
I felt my stomach attempting to evacuate its contents, so I stopped my impromptu post-mortem and continued to walk home, giving the corpse a wide berth and letting nature do its thing.
First order of business as soon as I got back to the library (yes, I lived in a library) was a nice, hot shower, with extra cleaning done to the hoof that smashed the poor bird's body. After all, the disease it was carrying did- wait, disregard that last bit. I'll get to it later.
Anyways, the rest of the night passed without incident, as did the next week or so, during which I continued my flight training (with remarkable improvement). I won’t fill you in on the details because, quite frankly, they’re not important. What is important is the fact that Ms. Cherilee called in sick from teaching at the school.
“I’m sure it’s just a bit of a cold,” she told me as she stood outside my door, sniffling slightly in the cool, late-summer breeze. “If it wouldn't be too much to ask, would you be able to substitute for me at the schoolhouse until I get better? I know it’s short notice, and with you being a princess and all…”
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. “Of course I will. And for the last time, could you please stop with this ‘princess’ thing? I just want everyone to treat me how they did before I got, well, you know. These.” I flared my wings for emphasis, before looking back at Ms. Cherilee. “Anyways, I’d gladly teach for a few days at the schoolhouse.”
Cherilee sighed in relief. “Thank you, Twilight. I don’t know what I would've done if-” she was cut off as she broke into a fit of racking coughs. I recoiled slightly to avoid getting sprayed with mucus. The coughing subsided, and I looked at her with newfound worry.
“Are you okay?” I asked as Cherilee wiped the corners of her mouth with a hoof. “That sounded pretty bad, we should get you to a doctor to see if it’s serious.”
"No, it's fine, really," she insisted in a hoarse voice. "I just need a bit of rest is all."
I didn't want to force her, so we said our goodbyes, and the next day I was teaching at the schoolhouse. Applebloom, Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo were ecstatic to find out I was their teacher for the time-being, and I must admit, it was satisfying to give Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon after-school detention for picking on the trio of fillies. I continued teaching for the rest of the week, which worried me. If Cheerilee had been sick for that long, it must have been serious.
After school let out for the weekend, I decided to check up on her. She answered the door a few moments after I knocked, and she looked absolutely awful. There were dark rings under her eyes, and her lips looked raw and even bloody in some areas, as if she had been chewing on them. Her cheeks were sunken, making her look dead on her hooves.
"Oh, hello Twilight," she croaked out, before coughing slightly. "Please, come inside."
I nodded, following her through the door into her house. Despite her illness, Cheerilee's house was remarkably clean, although a thick layer of dust decorated every horizontal surface. I shut the door behind me, and Cheerilee motioned for me to sit down on the couch.
I shook my head. “I’m fine, I just wanted to check up on you and see how you were doing. The kids and I have been worried about you.”
“Oh, I’m starting to feel much better,” Cheerilee said, this time with a much clearer voice. “The fever’s gone down and my cough has subsided a lot. The doctor said I should be better by Tuesday at this rate.”
I nodded. "Well, I'm glad you saw the doctor after all. I was worried it was something serious."
"No," Cheerilee assured. "It's just a late-summer flu-bug. I'll be fine."
We said our goodbyes, and, as promised, Cheerilee was back to normal on Tuesday, and you wouldn't have been able to tell she'd been sick at all. After she returned to the schoolhouse again, I was able to continue flight training with Rainbow Dash, but a couple of days in I noticed that Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, Rainbow," I asked during a break one afternoon. "Do you know where Fluttershy's been? I haven't seen her for a couple of days."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, she's been taking care of her animals a lot more lately. The flu that's passing through town seems to have gotten them sick, and she's doing her best to help them along."
That worried me, so after training I decided to pay Fluttershy a visit to see if she needed help. As I glided over Ponyville, I noticed the streets were a bit emptier than usual. I could really see what Dash was talking about with the flu passing though town.
I soon arrived at Fluttershy's cabin, and knocked softly on the door. "Just a minute," came a muffled reply from within, and a few moments later, the door opened slightly to reveal Fluttershy with an air filtration mask hanging around her neck. “Oh, Twilight!” she exclaimed softly (she said everything softly). “Thank goodness you're here, I could really use your help.” She paused awkwardly. “Um, that is, if you'd like to. I wouldn't want to get in your way if you were going to-”
I stopped her. “Of course I'll help! What do you need?”
She led me into her cabin, and I was instantly aware of the large grizzly bear laying in the middle of the floor, moaning in discomfort. Fluttershy cooed softly to it, switching out the ice-pack that was resting on its forehead. “Mr. Bear is very ill,” Fluttershy explained, although I could plainly see that. I didn't voice those thoughts, however. “I just can’t figure out what’s wrong with him. Every vet he’s seen has never seen anything like it, and even Zecora doesn't know what’s wrong! I was hoping that maybe you could tell what’s wrong with him...”
Zecora was a zebra friend that lived in the Everfree Forest, and if there’s anything strange or bizarre that comes up, Zecora seems to always have an answer. The fact that she, too, was stumped by this mystery illness was disconcerting.
I told her that Mr. Bear was showing a lot of the same symptoms as Cheerilee, and that whatever was passing through town must be affecting the animals, too. After trying every spell I could think of, with no results to speak of (except for turning the bear into an orange for a brief second, much to Fluttershy’s horror), I headed home. I looked through every book I could think of, to no avail, so, when I went to bed that night, I went over all of the events of the past weeks in my mind. I could see the correlation between the dead bird and whatever infection was spreading through town, and the fact that it proved fatal to the unfortunate avian was very disturbing.
However, I had to remind myself that Cherilee got over it just fine, and I deduced that it must affect equines and larger animals less severely than smaller ones. Satisfied, but with a shadow of doubt in the back of my mind, I eventually drifted off to sleep.
Whatever I had thought that night would never have prepared me for the next morning.
Author's Note
Greetings, FimFictioneers. This story is one I've been slowly working on in my free-time for about a year, and it hasn't gone through any proofreading processes. Any and all feedback, positive or otherwise, is appreciated. I hope you all like it, and, until next chapter, farewell.