Chapter 1: The Countdown
[32 Days Left]
August, 7th
The train's intercom speaker turns on as a monotone voice come through the speakers. "We will be arriving at PonyVille in a few moments." Crimson gathered his belongings and waited for the train to come to a halt. Once the train has set, he begin to head for the exit. As he walked down the isle Crimson noticed many ponies and fillies glaring their eyes at him in disgust. From one of the seats Crimson could hear a tiny colt asking his mother a question and Crimson glances over to see him. "Mommy! Mommy! Why does that man have pointy ears? Mommy? Is he a bat?" Just as the colt asked that question, his mother hushed him and gave Crimson an apology.
Crimson forgave the mother for her son's behavior and made his way out of the train. As Crimson stepped out he pulled his hood over his head and continued his way through the town to find a place to get settled. It's gonna be a long day ahead of me. Better hurry before it gets dark. Crimson rushed around town trying to find apartments that had available space. In his rush a white pony clashes into him, causing his bags to fly open and throw his belongings around. "Crap! You all right dude? Sorry I was jamming to some sweet wubs and i didn't see you there." Crimson pulled himself together and looked at the pony who collided into him. She was a unicorn, with beautiful crimson red eyes, and multi-shaded blue hair. All he could muster to say was "um" or "uh" due the mesmerizing beauty of this pony. "Hey, you okay? Your face is getting kinda red."
Crimson felt his face to find it was warm from blushing. "Ahem! Sorry, but it's okay, ill pick these up." Crimson became flustered with nervousness. She began assisting Crimson in picking up his belongings using her magic.
Crimson began trying to make conversation with this pony, "Uh, do you know where some apartments are? I just arrived and I need a place to settle down."
She paused and began to think, "Hm let me see, there should be some apartments inside PonyVille. I'm not sure how many are open to applicants like, Um, you." Crimson soon realized his hood fell back and she saw his wings through his open coat. She pointed to them as she said her remark. "So are those actual bat wings?"
Crimson began to blush, but he mustered up as much courage as he could to talk to this beautiful pony. "Y-y-yes. I'm a Bat-pony, usually people fall into disgust when they see me but I try to ignore it." She looked strait into my eyes and gave Crimson the cutest, prettiest, and most sincere smile he had ever seen. It made his heart explode twice and he couldn't help but give her a big grin in return.
"Dude, it's cool! I wish I could have some sweet wings like yours, plus on the bonus you have some epic hearing." she held her hoof out and helped Crimson stand up on his own four hoofs. "Don't dis your bat features, there pretty rad." she remarked with a grin.
"Thank you, I appreciate your kindness mis-" Crap! I don't even know her name! Should I ask her? would it be weird if I aske- before Crimson could finish his thought the pony said, "My name is Vinyl Scratch, what' yours?"
"Crimson Shade" he responded with a slight smile. As they walked around the town looking for an area Crimson had felt comfortable with. Vinyl couldn't help but wonder what the sword and shield meant on his flank.
"Hey Crimson, what does your cutie mark stand for? Are you like a guardian or something?" Vinyl asked in wonder.
"Well Vinyl you are kinda correct, I used to be on a job where I had to protect 'something' from 'somepony'. As the talked Crimson and Vinyl slowly became close and closer.
[25 Days Left]
August, 14th
After Crimson's first week in PonyVille Vinyl and Crimson became close friends. He had been sleeping in her living room till he got settled down in PonyVille. Today was the day though, Vinyl and Crimson have been looking and they found it. They finally found an apartment that Crimson could afford. It was pretty close to Vinyl's house so that would allow Crimson to still be able to be near her and see her almost everyday.
Vinyl had agreed to help bring Crimson his new bed and a few necessity on the first trip today, then tomorrow bring the rest. Crimson still cant believe he would have the one in a billion chance to meet a great pony like Vinyl. She has helped him out so much and has showed him that it doesn't matter if he's a bat-pony it only matters if he's a good guy.
It took them all day to just move in Crimson's bed, fridge, stove, and dresser to his new apartment. They couldn't find any available moving carts so they had to do it by hoof. Vinyl was able to use her magic to carry some small stuff but they had a lot of trouble carrying the rest to the apartment.
When they had finished semi-furnishing Crimson's new home, he decided to finally go to bed after this long day.
[23 Days Left]
August, 16th
After two days of work, Crimson and Vinyl finally finished moving in all Crimson's stuff. In favor of their efforts, Vinyl invited Crimson to her club and they were gonna party till the sun came up! Vinyl invited so many ponies so that Crimson could get a nice greeting into PonyVille. In attendance was Pinkie Pie, Octavia, Twilight, Fluttershy, Apple Jack, and Spike. Many of the PonyVille residents were also there. Rarity wasn't in attendance, but they had so much fun.
Throughout the night they danced, drank, and partied harder than they ever had. The way Crimson knew that is because he started dancing which trust me, isn't a pretty sight. Luckily there were some other bad dancers there so Crimson wasn't alone. Some ponies found out about the free drinks and took it to their advantages.
After a few hours of hard partying, heavy drinking, and more partying it finally came to an end. Everypony slugged their way out of the club and headed to their humble abode. All the ponies there knew they would be hungover in the morning.
Vinyl and Crimson left the club later than others due to Vinyls love for wubs. "But Crim, the wubs are calling to me!" She said as Crimson began dragging her out of the club. As they walked they began to converse between each other. "Hey Crim, Where are you from?"
This made Crimson fall quiet, "Well, I'm from a bat colony omit far from here."
Vinyl looked in wonder, "Why? I mean why not go back to your family and friends?"
Crimson stopped and looked down, "I was banished and to this day I have yet to try to contact anyone I knew from my home. I can never return." Vinyl and Crimson both fell out of their laughing state.
Vinyl didn't say a word in response, both Crimson and Vinyl walked to their homes in silence. As they reached Vinyl's house Crimson apologized for his saddening back story. Vinyl accepted his apology. As Vinyl began to walk towards her door she turned and called Crimson, "Hey Crim, I'm sorry that you cant go back home. Just know, No matter what-" Vinyl fell quiet for a few moments. "Just know that ill always be here for you and you can talk to me about any of your problems." Vinyl gave Crimson the sweetest smile he had ever seen with a cute little tilt. Thus causing his heart to burst into happiness.
[14 Days Left]
August, 25th
Crimson, Vinyl, and Octavia all planned to go for a tour of the town so that Crimson could get to know the town a little bit better. As they began to walk around PonyVille they head towards the shopping district to get a bite to eat.
The first food stand they saw was Apple Jacks stand. As they walked towards Apple Jacks stand they saw her and Rainbow Dash talking to each other. "Sup Jack, Sup Dash." Vinyl said to Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash.
"Hey Scratch, The club was raging at that party you had a week ago! I cant remember half of it but I know we had some fun!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Vinyl let out a slight chuckle and thank Rainbow for the compliment.
"Thanks Rainbow, it's my god given gift to share the sweet sound of wubba dub dubs." Vinyl said with a slight sense of confidence. From behind each other Crimson began to hear hoofsteps coming from behind him. As he turned to see who it was Crimson came to the surprise of Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity all coming to say "Hi" to the group.
"Hey guys, Whats up?" Twilight asked in a cheerful tone.
Applejack turned to respond to twilight, "Hey Twi, we were all just talkin' bout stuff. Whats goin' on with you three? Headin' somewhere?"
"We were all going to go for a spa day!" Rarity said with excitement.
Rainbow Dash looked at Rarity in disgust. "Spa day? Why would you wanna go and do that for? that's not awesome at all." Keeping Rainbow Dash's "Tom-Colt" figure. Just after Rainbow Dash had remarked on the three's trip, Pinkie Pie had been bouncing her way down the street towards the group.
Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash in disappointment as she Facehoofed. As Pinkie reached the group she gave Rainbow her usual "Hey Dashie!" As The group all talks, with Octavia and Crimson left out they begin to talk to each other.
"So Octavia, what exactly is it like to be a cellist? I mean it has to be pretty cool to perform for such royalty in Canterlot." Crimson asked Octavia trying to break the ice of their silence.
Octavia brightened up as a subject she was quite fond of and enjoyed to talk about had arose. "Well it is quite fun. I love every second of it, even when I mess up because I know I can always get better and better. Although sometimes the crowds can be quite, intimidating. the sheer number of how many ponies have come in attendance the payoff is always worth the hours of practice."
"Well what are some of the son-" Crimson was cut off by Octavia as she continued on her train of thought.
"To see the faces of all those ponies, enjoying the music we play is just so, satisfactory! I mean, to be a part of such a great group, and to play such wonderful music is just so soothing and so invigorating!" Octavia gains more and more excitement as she goes deeper and deeper into her love for her musical career. Crimson begins to realize why nobody talks to her about it.
"Well what do you find to be your favorit-" Once again before Crimson could finish his sentence Octavia interrupted him.
"One time we played for a crowd of more than one thousand ponies! After the first song I could see the music had reached every single one of them! Everypony there had smiles and faces of pleasure which had made me filled me with so much happiness!" Crimson waited a few moments to see if she had finished her moment reminiscence of blissful moments.
"Well you know, I once went to go see a Concert at the Canterlot theater. I had a pleasa-" Crimson had started to become irritated by Octavia's passionate love for her musical career.
Octavia's eyes shot open with a memory. "Oh! I have performed there many times! In total I have performed there in over a total of fifty times! it's crazy to think that in such a small amount of time, someone can perform in an area many, many times." Octavia relaxed as she finished her thought and let out a soft sigh of relief.
Crimson only had one last question for Octavia. "You really love music don't you?" Octavia gave out a soft chuckle in embarrassment.
"Yeah, it's my life" Octavia said with as she blushed with an embarrassed look on her face.
"Ahem, Anyways how has your search for work been? Any luck?" Octavia asked Crimson.
"I was thinking of applying to Vinyl's Club. I think it would be kinda fun." Crimson said with a sense of excitement. Octavia was shocked by his choice of employment.
"You plan to work at such a loud place? What position were you looking at?" She asked in curiosity.
Crimson had thought about it and in response to Octavia's question, all he could think to say was "Any spot that can help pay the bills."
Octavia laughed at his reasoning and admired his bluntness. "Well at least you have priorities. Ill give you that." Octavia's laughter slimmed down to a soft chuckle. Vinyl finally turned back to Crimson and Octavia as she had finished her conversation with the others.
"Man, Twi does not know how to keep a conversation interesting, good thing Pinkie came and saved the conversation. What have you two been talking about?" Vinyl asked in curiosity.
All Crimson and Octavia could say was "Nothing really, what were you guys talking about?"
"Oh well Twi was just asking if she had done anything humiliating at the party last week. Then Pinkie reminded me that she needed me to DJ at one of her upcoming parties. So yeah that gonna be cool." Vinyl said in response to their question.
Crimson, Vinyl, and Octavia left the others so they could finish showing Crimson around the town.
[9 Days Left]
August, 30th
Crimson had been sitting on Vinyl's couch waiting for her to finish getting ready for work. Octavia had been in the kitchen fixing some tea for the three so they can talk before Vinyl had to leave. As Crimson sat, waiting for the others. Octavia had came out of the kitchen to the living room to hand Crimson some tea.
As Octavia walked in she apologized for his wait. "Here's your tea Crimson, my apologies if I took quite a while."
"No need to apologize Octavia, you went out of your way to make this for me, so no need for apology's" Crimson said to reassure Octavia. As they sat down they began waiting for Vinyl to finish her preparations.
"So how has your day been? Anything interesting happen?" Asked Octavia, trying to break the silence.
Crimson began thinking but nothing came to his mind that he felt was of interest that Octavia might want to know. "Hm, nothing much. I just went to the store and stocked on groceries then took a walk and then came here so it's been good I guess. What about your day?"
"Well my day had not much excitement either. I just woke up, ate breakfast, then went to the market for a walk and now I'm here. So neither of us have much excitement, at least we have something in common." Octavia had concurred.
"Well at least we both can find something in interest inside our unexciting days." Crimson had said in response to Octavia. As they sat in silence Vinyl came from the bathroom into the living room.
"What's up guys? sorry I took so long, but there was this one little hair that just would not go down." Vinyl had said to the others.
"it's okay Vinyl, we were just chatting. I see your prepared for your night of entertainment and dancing." Octavia said in response to Vinyl.
"Heheh, whoa Octi, I'm not that kind of pony." Vinyl had stated clearing letting Octavia see how wrong her wording could be taken. Octavia began to blush and became flustered with embarrassment. Crimson couldn't help but laugh at the situation.
"I-I-I didn't mean it like that Vinyl!" Octavia yelled in embarrassment.
"Okay Octi, okay" Vinyl remarked on Octavia.
As they began to converse Vinyl had realized if she didn't leave soon she would be late for her show. "Well I guess I should be heading out too, ill see you guys later." Crimson had said to Octavia and Vinyl.
As Vinyl and Crimson had headed for the door Octavia had a question she wanted to ask Crimson. "Hey Crimson, would you mind stay for a bit? I would like to talk to you about something." Crimson agreed to stay with Octavia for a bit longer.
"So what did you want to talk about Octavia?" Crimson had asked.
Octavia had walked to the door and locked it. She slowly started to approach Crimson. In a serious tone Octavia had asked Crimson a single question. "Why were you banished?"
Crimson fell silent and dropped his smile. "I don't want to talk about it Octavia, it's a touchy subject." Octavia could feel how this subject wasn't to comfortable to talk about with Crimson. she continued to pressure the question.
"Was it bad? Why were you banished? What if your a danger to me and Vinyl?" As Octavia continued the pressure. Crimson to begin to become overwhelmed with stress.
"Just tell me why you were banished Crimson." Demanded Octavia
Crimson's stress turned into frustration, "Just drop it Octavia, lets talk about something else."
Octavia grew stubborn around this subject and kept questioning him. "Why wont you tell me? it's not like ill tell anyone."
"Stop it Octavia, I don't want to talk about it so please just leave it alone." Crimson was completely flustered with distress.
"Crimson just tell me!" Octavia kept her pace to push Crimson into telling her, while Crimson was on the brink of giving in. Crimson began backing away from Octavia, slowly being backed into a corner. Crimson couldn't take it, he couldn't the pressure.
"Fine! I'll tell you why." Crimson had given in to Octavia's persistence but hesitated to explain.
"Look Crimson, I wont say a word to Vinyl. So don't be afraid to tell me." Octavia's words barely swayed Crimson's hesitance. He knew that sharing this reasoning would relieve him from a lot of mental stress.
"Well a few years back, in my colony we have tasks we need to fulfill in order for us to make a living. while on one of my task's I didn't fulfill my duty, you can say I abandoned it because the task I had been assigned was just to, gruesome. My colleges didn't appreciate my failure and neither did the chief of our colony. So yeah, that how I got banished from my colony." As Crimson began explaining memories began flashing through his head. His facial expression fell from a smile to a strait, emotionless stare.
Octavia began to understand why Crimson is the way he is. Octavia had began to think to herself , he probably has been through so much. I don't understand how some pony could have possibly gone through such pain yet come out smiling and leaving it in his past.
Crimson fell silent. Octavia had realized she had caused memories to arise inside Crimson that he never wanted to remember. Octavia had began to apologize as she saw Crimson's joy slowly fade to sadness and depression.
Crimson looked up to Octavia and stared for a second. "It's alright Octavia, memories come and go on their on accord and there's nothing I can do to stop it but try to forget it again. So please don't apologize for something that you haven't done."
Octavia had begun to run out of topics to keep them occupied and began to just babble with anything that had come to her mind. She felt that she would cheer him up but it was no use.
"I think it's about time I head out Octavia, I will talk to you tomorrow." Crimson had began to leave as Octavia had grabbed onto Crimson's hoof.
Octavia's head hanged low and as she began t speak to Crimson her tone had changed to a hushed, soft, firm voice. "I'm sorry. Obviously it had a tragic effect on you and I wont ever bring this up again to anyone. I'm so sorry Crimson."
Crimson had pulled his hoof away from her's slowly and let her hoof fall to the floor as he headed out of the house.
[3 Days Left]
September, 5th
As Crimson began to awake he had began to head to his kitchen to find something to eat for his breakfast. He grabbed a glass of apple juice and an apple turnover, as he sat at the dining table he began to indulge in his breakfast.
As he finished his meal he grabbed his coat and headed for the door. his neighbor, Topsy Tervy had been throwing out his trash as Crimson said "Hello" from his door. Topsy just ignored Crimson and walked right back into his apartment.
Crimson let it go and continued on his day. He began walking to Vinyl's house to wish Octavia a safe trip to Canterlot. As he walked down the street ponies began to stare at him with fear, After about a month they still are afraid to be around me. Crimson had finally made to Vinyl's house while being stared at for what had felt like hours.
When Crimson had come close to the house, he could see that Vinyl, Octavia, and Pinkie Pie had been in the front talking to Octavia. She was just about to leave for Canterlot. "Octavia! Sorry I'm a bit late, took me a while to get through town."
Octavia had chuckled but accepted his apology. "it's quite alright Crimson, you made it and that's all that matters."
Crimson looked at Vinyl who was holding her tears. 'Oh calm down Vinyl, She will only be gone for two days!"
Vinyl looked at Crimson with a pouting face full of tears, "But I'm going to miss her so much!" everyone laughed because of Vinyl and her playful manners. As Crimson and everyone else said their goodbye's to Octavia, She began to head to the train station.
Crimson patted Vinyl on her back as she still whimpered at her from porch. "It's okay Vinyl, want some ice cream? I can get you two cones." Crimson said to Vinyl as she nodded in response to his offer.
Pinkie popped between the two, "I want ice cream! can I come!?" Crimson and Vinyl both laughed and let her come along with them. Pinkie had gotten a chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla swirl cone with extra extra sprinkles. Crimson and vinyl both got vanilla and chocolate cones.
[2 Days left]
September, 6th
Vinyl had brought in her old JoyBoy, "Have you ever played with one of these?" Crimson thought about it and realized he has never played a single game in all his life.
"I'm sorry Vinyl, but I've never even touched a gaming console." Crimson said with a distressed look on his face. Vinyl Gasped and pretend to faint in shock to his inexperience. As she rose she grabbed her JoyBoy and slid one of her old cartridges games in called "Shape Stack" and handed Crimson the game.
As the screen loaded, Crimson waited patiently for his first gaming experience to begin. The coming of this experience gave Crimson a sense of wonder and excitement. What is it going to be like? Is the game gonna just be fun or just some boring waste of time. As the game menu appeared Vinyl explained the controls, rules, and ways to win. Crimson didn't waste a second to press the "PLAY" button.
Shapes began to fall from the top of the screen and inch closer and closer to the bottom. Crimson had managed to line up an entire row causing the row to dissipate giving him a lump sum of one hundred points. Crimson's inner child began to show as his eyes grew in joy and excitement.
"This is amazing! I love this game!" Crimson began to shout from his adrenaline rush as he gained another two-hundred-fifty points. Vinyl began to laugh as she saw Crimson go from his calm, behaved personality to a loud, childish, joyful stallion.
Crimson had looked up at Vinyl in embarrassment as she continued to laugh. The JoyBoy played It's normal "Game over" tune which caused Crimson to snap back to his game frantically realizing it had ended.
Vinyl had continued to show Crimson different games for different consoles. Such as her XSphere, GameSquare, PonyStation, and a few more. Vinyl and Crimson headed for the door. Vinyl had her headphones around her neck and pouch on her back. Crimson had began to hover using his wings while playing the game with his hoofs.
"Crimson, talk and fly, talk and fly. I don't want to feel like I'm alone on this walk when I know I'm not." Vinyl said as she moved him out of a path that almost made him crash into another pony that hadn't been paying attention. Crimson chuckled as he remained focused on his game. He had tried his hardest to beat his previous high score on "The Elder Fouls: JoyBoy Edition".
"Hey Crim, you hungry? Maybe we could go to the market and find something to eat. Anything you want in specific?" Crimson gave Vinyl a emotionless answer once again. Vinyl was growing irritated with Crimson Ignoring her.
As they continued their walked, Vinyl kept trying to grab Crimson's attention but it was no use. His mind was completely set to his game. Vinyl slowly became more and more desperate in finding ways to attract Crimson's attention.
"Crim, wanna go to the park?" Crimson shrugged in response and went back to his game. "Wanna go get some cupcakes?" Crimson had shrugged once more as Vinyl's tolerance slipped quickly into annoyance.
On their walk Crimson had nearly crashed into twenty ponies and two stallions. Luckily Vinyl was there to keep him from crashing into innocent ponies. Vinyl had lead Crimson to the park to try to break his new addition to games and possibly play a game of catch.
Crimson paid no attention as Vinyl tried her hardest to draw him away from the JoyBoy. He simply kept rising higher and higher into the sky until she couldn't reach him. Crimson had finally pulled the last straw and Vinyl used her magic to swipe the JoyBoy from Crimson's hoofs and put it into her pouch. "No! No! No! Why would you do that?! I almost beat my high score!"
Vinyl looked to Crimson as he slowly descended to the ground and gave him an ultimatum, "Didn't I just say I don't want to feel alone?! I brought you out so we could spend time together! Crimson, you haven't been paying any attention to me this entire day and It's really bothering me, It's either me or that stupid game!"
Crimson had fallen to shock and put all his attention to Vinyl and boy was Crimson blushing. As Vinyl had just realized what she had said and began to blush in unison. Does Vinyl like me? I mean she wants my attention and mares want attention from the pony they like right? Right? Right?! maybe, just maybe I have a chance.
Crimson stayed quiet for a few seconds as Vinyl's face began to blush more and more. Crimson looked into Vinyl's eyes as he began to blush. "Vinyl, would you go o-" from behind the two the elements of harmony had called out to them from what looked like a picnic.
"Hey!" Pinkie had shouted to Crimson and Vinyl. The group ad begun to walk to them with pinkie in front, bouncing with her usual overjoyed smile. "What are you two doing out here? Having a fun walk? You guy's should join us, come on!" Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, Apple Jack, and Fluttershy had all agreed to them joining.
"I would love to get to know you better, if it's alright with you." Fluttershy had said to Crimson from behind Pinkie Pie. Crimson and Vinyl couldn't just say "no" to them so they just went along and joined the picnic.
"uh, y-y-yeah, sure." Crimson had said to the group.
Vinyl looked at Crimson then turned to the group, "Uh, hold on guys." Vinyl looked back at crimson, "What were you gonna say?"
Crimson couldn't do it, he lost all his confidence as his ears dropped low. "Nothing Vinyl, just forget what I asked." Crimson had said in a pathetic tone.
"Okie dokie lokie." Pinkie had said with her bouncy voice.
The group had all spent the day together with Crimson and Vinyl tagging along, sharing laughs, eating snacks. Everyone was getting to know Crimson a little bit better while letting him feel more at home in his new town.
[0 Days Left]
September, 8th
The sun hadn't even begun to rise as Octavia had begun to venture back to PonyVille. She knew she could expect something of a "Welcome home" party for her arrival back into PonyVille.
She began her morning with a cup of orange juice and some toast and began packing her stuff up for the trip back to her home. Toothbrush, keys, cello, bow, and on. Octavia had thought about everything she had brought for her little trip.
As she finished packing her stuff she headed for the door and left. Octavia had met up with few ponies and stallions that were also on the train she had ridden. Octavia couldn't wait to get back to her house and to be with her friends and get to share their company.
When she arrived at the train she had found her seat and set her belongings under her chair. She began looking out at the dark luminous sky. Octavia noticed that the moon was black, it had barely shown through the night skyline.
This sight she had barely had the chance to see made her feel more relaxed and comforted about her trip back. She began to slowly slip into a gentle and peaceful rest until she had arrived to PonyVille.
[A Few Hours Ago]
Crimson and Vinyl had finally finished their long seemingly endless hours at the club. They finally were able to walk to their humble abodes. Crimson had begun trying to find stuff to talk about on their so walk to try to seem less silent.
"Hey Crim, we should set up a welcome home party for Octi! She would be so surprised it would be awesome!" Crimson looked at Vinyl and laughed.
As Crimson looked back at Vinyl he had smiled and replied to her idea, "Sure, we will need to go get some Decorations first." Vinyl laughed as they walked back to her club to "Borrow" some decor for their last minute party.
As they arrived at the club they "Borrowed" streamers, balloons, party favors, etc. They quickly left before anypony noticed them. As they arrived at Vinyl's house Crimson began looking over their decorations, "We forgot a cake!" Vinyl looked over and noticed the same thing.
"Well, know how to bake?" Crimson laughed and noticed Vinyl was serious. Crimson's laugh slowly went down to a slight chuckle.
"Ahem, no I don't." Vinyl quickly ran inside her house in search for a box of cake mix and frosting. "Sweet!" Crimson heard from inside the house as he reached the door. "Crim we are in wubtastic luck! I found some! It might not be Pinkie pie material but we gotta do what we gotta do."
Crimson went inside with the decorations and headed for the kitchen with the cake mix. Vinyl began putting streamers up and filling balloons. "Vinyl do you have an eight-inch baking pan?" Crimson had asked from inside the kitchen.
"Crim, look inside the cabinet down next to the sink, there should be some pans inside there." Crimson looked where Vinyl had told him but all he found was a seven-inch pan.
Crimson walked out of the kitchen with the pan in hoof, "Vinyl, you only have a seven-inch pan." Vinyl puzzled and walked into the kitchen to see Crimson had opened the cabinet to the right of the sink, instead of left of the sink. Vinyl opened the cabinet and pulled out an eight-inch pan Crimson had been looking for.
"Wrong one Crim." Vinyl handed the pan to Crimson. All he could say in response was "oh' and he walked back into the kitchen with both pans.
When Crimson had finally walked out of the kitchen he had finally finished baking the cake and was going to help Vinyl. To his surprise he saw Vinyl passed out on the floor. Guess It's time for me to decorate. Crimson woke up Vinyl and helped her move to her bed and let her sleep as he finished the decorations downstairs.
Crimson had worked for hours on end, filling up the balloons Vinyl had left out and set up the party favors that had been left in the bag. As Crimson finally finished he had noticed the sun was about to rise. Crimson grabbed his bag, went upstairs and wished Vinyl a goodnight of sleep. when Crimson went back downstairs he checked once more over his work and headed out the door to his apartment.
[Few Hours later]
The train had finally come to a stop as Octavia had finally awoke. A voice had come from the intercom, "We have arrived in PonyVille, please exit the train in an orderly fashion."
Octavia had grabbed her bags and began to walk to the exit. On her way down the aisle, a stallion had leaned into the aisle. "Um, Excuse me sir I need to exit." The stallion groaned and looked at Octavia. "Sir? Are you alright?"
The stallion rushed Octavia and pinned her down as he sank his teeth into her hoof. "Ah! Somepony! Help me!" A few stallions pulled him off of Octavia. As Octavia looked at the bite, it had began to bleed excessively. A pony pulled her to the side and bandaged her wound and Octavia quickly rushed off the train.
As she was on her way home the sun was high in the sky as Octavia had begun to have cold sweats. Her pigmentation began to fade from her dark, rich gray to a light, almost white shade of gray.
What is happening? My head feels like It's splitting. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop! Make it st-, Octavia lost all her thoughts. I'm so hungry. Was the only thought in her mind. As she walked back to her house she keep thinking of food.
I need something to eat. Why do I keep looking at these ponies? Why do I- Why do they look so. Tasty? What am I thinking? Ponies? Food? Could they be, food? As Octavia reached her home she dropped her bags in her front yard and rushed inside the house.
Octavia quickly ran to her bathroom and looked in the mirror. What is happening to me? Why am I doing this? Octavia looked in the mirror for a few minutes and began feeling that hunger again. I look so tasty. I wonder what I taste like.
Octavia slowly turned to her arm and softly pressed her teeth in her skin. She slowly began biting deeper and deeper into her arm. Octavia stopped eating as she heard a knock at her door.
"Hello? Ms. Octavia? I saw you weren't looking so good so I brought some of your luggage from outside in for you." Octavia heard the pony that had called to her.
Octavia slowly headed out of the bathroom door as she knocked over a glass that had been on their bathroom counter. The shattering of the glass had worry shoot through the pony downstairs.
"Ms. Octavia? Are you alright?" The pony had asked as she walked upstairs. As the pony had reached the top of the steps she could hear a low growl coming from down the hall.
Octavia began to walk closer and closer to the pony as she felt that hunger growing intensely. I'm so hungry. In a low muffled voice, what was left of Octavia could only say one thing.
"I'm. I'm so sorry for this. I'm just so hungry." As Octavia came into the light, all that the pony could see was tears of blood begin to fall from Octavia's blood-shot eyes and . The pony let out a horrific scream as Octavia began to consume the helpless pony. Octavia began ripping flesh from the pony's body creating a pool of fresh blood.
As Vinyl began walking back home from her trip to SugarCube Corner. She had a variety of frosting colors and chocolate in her bag, she couldn't wait to finish the cake and surprise her best friend.
As Vinyl had finally reached her house she noticed the door was left wide open. Hm, I thought I closed the door behind me. Is Octi home? As Vinyl got closer to the house she saw Octavia's luggage in the living room.
"Hey Octi! Where are you?" Vinyl had yelled through the house. As Vinyl searched the house she heard rustling noise come from upstairs. "Octi?" Vinyl had called as she began heading up her stairs.
As Vinyl reached the top of the stairs, she had come to a sight that she would never have imagined to see in her life. Her best friend had been terrifically consuming a pony. The pony was almost unrecognizable if her cutie mark hadn't been eaten.
Octavia had turn towards Vinyl staring at her with lifeless eyes, and began inching her way closer and closer to Vinyl. Octavia had let out a soft growl towards Vinyl as she stood there, motionless from fear.
Octavia screeched knocking Vinyl back to reality but all Vinyl could do was run. Vinyl began running down the stairs heading for the door but tripped over a suitcase. Octavia had sped down the stairs and walked over to Vinyl as she picked herself up, backing out of the house.
Chapter 2: The Beginning of the End
A scream was heard from all around PonyVille. Ponies everywhere came out of their houses in curiosity and in worry. Who and why is somepony letting out such a blood curling scream? Vinyl backed out of her house through the front door in fear for what was slowly following her. Her best friend that has now turned into some kind of cannibal was now walking closer and closer to her. Pieces of her leg missing and the blood of the pony that she had been horrifically consuming was covering her face.
The once kind, sweet, normal Octavia was now right in front of her, covered in blood and staring at Vinyl with cold, dead eyes. Vinyl was speechless as she laid on the ground in terror of being the next pony this-this, thing was going to eat. A low growl came from the thing that was once her friend and as it came closer hurried hoofsteps were heard from behind her. A pipe had been swung at the Thing and slammed into its skull causing blood to fly across the floor, covering vinyl in dark red blood. Brain matter was thrown to the floor by the force of the pipe.
Vinyl slowly turned to the Pony that saved her. It was Big Mac. Mac froze by the sights he had caused. The stallion helped vinyl up from the ground. "Are ya' alright mam?" Vinyl was silent for a few moments as she slowly nodded in response to question. Screams came from all over town, screams of pain, terror, and of murder.
"What is going on Mac? What happened to Octavia!? Why did she do this?!" Vinyl paused and looked at Mac in worry, "M-Mac, can you help me to Crimson's apartment? I-I need to make sure he is alright."
He looked at Vinyl and quickly responded with his usual, "Eeyup".
As they ran to Crimson's apartment they saw many more ponies that were like Octavia. All were eating other ponies, some fought back but most ran to the trains in hope of an evacuation to somewhere better. After having to run past so many families in need of help, they finally reached Crimson's apartment building. Big Mac quickly ran and busted open Crimson's door to find Crimson with a knife to Mac's throat.
"Crimson! No!" Crimson noticed Vinyl and let his knife down.
"I'm sorry, I was worried he was one of them." Crimson responded in a sorry tone.
"This is Big Mac, he's part of the apple family. He saved me from almost being killed earlier."
Big Mac looked at Crimson and said his usual line, "Eeyup." Before they were able to continue their briefing, Big Mac's eye's became miniscule with fear. "I'm sorry Vinyl, I need'a go make sure my family is okay!" He said as he ran out of the house. As Mac left Crimson quickly shut his door and locked the door before he said a word to Vinyl.
"Are you alright Vinyl nodded in response as they headed to Crimson's kitchen to gather supplies. "We need to grab some stuff and quickly get to the trains before anything else happens. The faster we leave this town the faster we will be safe."
"Well do you have anything I can protect myself with? I don't want to be helpless encase anything happens and you can't help." Crimson looked at Vinyl and slowly walked to her. He handed her the knife and gave her the only weapon he had. "Crimson no, you need a weapon too. Is there anything else?" Crimson just slowly shook his head and spread his wings.
"I can just fly through and clear a path, as long as your safe ill be alright" He said with a sincere smile.
Vinyl looked down and come close to Crimson. She put her arm over him and held him tight. "Just be careful. I can't fly so you will be ahead of me but don't stray too far ahead, okay?"
"Okay Vinyl, ill need speed to create a path, so give me a few seconds to build speed and then run as fast as you can." He told her as he held her in return. They both gathered their things and waited at the door preparing for what was about to come.
Crimson opened the door and rushed to the skies. As he flew Vinyl counted to five and waited for his decent.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
"Five..." Vinyl began running as fast as she could as Crimson began flying through the infected while pushing them to create Vinyls path. Hundreds on hundreds of infected tried getting to them but Crimson had a purpose. Crimson wasn't about to fail to protect the one pony he cared the most for. He wasn't about to fail Vinyl.
They finally came to a somewhat stop of infected as they reached the train. But what they saw wasn't what they came to expect. Bodies everywhere. Blood covering the floor leaving nothing but a gigantic pool of red, fresh blood. Organs, brain matter, limbs, and other body parts were thrown around the place.
A pony was screaming for help at the train door. Her face was torn to shreds. "SOME-PONY! HELP ME! PLEASE! OPEN THE DOO- AH!" Infected came from behind her and began to consume the unlucky pony. Crimson and Vinyl were frozen from shock. Their one chance for survival has now been engulfed in this chaos. What do we do? how will we survive? Vinyl began to think.
"Vinyl, do you hear that?" Before she could respond Crimson hushed her and his ears began moving in the direction of the sound. "Vinyl! That's the town hall! Ponies must be trying to gather others to a safe point of sorts, we have to go!"
Vinyl and Crimson began running towards the town hall trying to make it in time. A purple beam shot into the air beginning to form a barrier, enclosing the space around the town hall. "Vinyl run faster, we wont make it!"
"I can't run any faster! I'm too tired!" Vinyl screamed as she began to slow down. Before she collapsed Crimson grabbed her and spread his wings and lifted them up enough to glide inches off the ground. The barrier was mere feet from closing, inching its way closer to the ground. Ponies from inside the barrier were giving their all to keep the infected out.
I must push harder, I must fly faster, I must be stronger! Crimson began to think to himself as he drew closer to the closing barrier. Crimson let out a scream in pain as he continued to carry Vinyl and push far past his limits and go as fast as he could to ensure their safety.
Just seconds before the barrier closed Crimson threw Vinyl into the safe zone. "Someone! Catch Vinyl!" and gave one last strong thrust causing his wings to be impaled by the force of his wings colliding with the barrier. *snap* Crimson let out a loud scream as his body crashed and tumbled as it entered the safe zone. The force of his wings colliding with the barrier caused them to brutally snap and fold backwards. Crimson barely made it into the safe zone and he fell into a deep phase of unconsciousness.
Crimson's eyes slowly began to open after hours of unconsciousness. He found himself inside the town hall. He slowly turn his head as a sharp pain shot through his head. "Ah!" A white hoof came to his face and turned it to look at the owner of the hoof.
It was Vinyl, giving him a sincere smile with tears in her eyes. "Crimson! I thought I-" She fell silent for a few moments. "I thought I had lost you. You had taken a major crash, when I ran to you, you didn't wake up but look now, your awake." She said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I could never leave you Vinyl." Crimson reassured her as he held his hoof up to her cheek and rubbed the tear off her face. Vinyl closed her eyes as she held his hoof on her cheek allowing herself to feel the comfort of someone who she cares for. Crimson sat up and looked around the town hall to see his surroundings. "Vinyl, how long was I out?"
"You have been out for a few hours now." Crimson's eye grew wide as he looked outside the window of the town hall in worry to what was outside the barrier. "Twilight and other unicorns that switch on hourly shifts. They all work together to keep a magic barrier up while we wait for Canterlot to send help."
A red stallion walked over to Crimson's bed, "Well, well, well look who's finally risen from the dead. Ya' know Vinyl here has been here sittin' right by ya' for the past few hours." Vinyl began to blush and create an excuse.
"Well I am glad to see that she cares about me." He said as he smiled. Crimson began to sit up in his bed and look around the town hall. "How many ponies are here?"
Vinyl began looking around, "There was a body count when we all got here. Twilight said there was about twenty-five ponies in here. But a lot have died of injuries." Crimson started getting off of his medical bed and began to stand with the help of Vinyl. As he began to walk he noticed how his wings felt weird. At that moment he remembered hearing a loud *snap* before he fell unconscious.
Crimson tried moving his wings but as he moved them, a sharp pain ran through him and he saw that they had bandaged his wings . "How bad are they broken Vinyl?" Vinyl became silent.
"Vinyl, what happened to my wings? What happened Vinyl? Why cant I use them?!" His mind became flustered as he tried to think of why his wings were immobilized. Before he went into a frenzy of internal thoughts, Vinyl began to sooth him down and began to explain what had happened
"The doc said it might take months to fully heal. But they had to be re-broken so that they could be able to properly heal." As he began to fully understand his current situation and began to panic.
They began walking around the building. As Vinyl continued to explain how he had saved her and as he came close to coming into the zone snapped his wings on the barrier. Crimson began wanting to explore outside and see what horrors had over taken the city.
Infected lined the walls of the barriers with torn faces, exposed jaw bones, and blood covers snouts. Many of the infected pressed their bodies against the barrier attempting to break through.
"Its kinda scary to see them like this. They seems so lifeless but somehow they are alive." Crimson said.
"Crim, let's go inside you need to rest." Vinyl told Crimson. As they walked inside they could hear voices shouting inside the building.
"What is going on?!" "Why are they eating ponies?!" "What do we do?!" The ponies inside began to panic in worry to their survival and the survival of their families. They began walking in.
The pony that had been informing us had been Twilight Sparkle. "Everyone! Everyone! Please calm down, there is no need to panic. The barrier will be held up until the situation outside has ended and help arrives. I have already sent a letter to the Princesses and informed them of the tragedy that has fallen over PonyVille."
Crimson opened the hall doors and as they opened ponies began to stare at him with evil and discriminating looks. An elderly pony that had been quite near to where Crimson had been standing stared at him with fearful eyes. The elderly pony began screaming at the top of her lungs.
"It was him! He is the one who had started this! This BatPony has to be the cause! This town was perfectly fine until he had come into our town!" Everypony else had begun looking at Crimson in anger, fear, and disgust.
Crimson began defending himself in any way possible. "Madam I assure you that I had nothing to do with this, I can't possibly have caused it. Please believe me, I haven't caused this!"
"Bullshit! We know things have been going to hell ever since you got here!" A stallion yelled out as others began yelling their reason to why he is to blame.
As Crimson was under blame, Vinyl began trying her best to help defend him. "Crimson had nothing to do with this! Stop blaming him for this just because it your first thought that bucking fits!" In awe Crimson couldn't help but look at her.
Nopony believed him besides Vinyl and all of his friends. Everyone began to enclose around him as he kept trying to defend himself. A pony began yelling from the medical area. "Someone help! My sons wont wake up! Please someone!" The woman began carrying her son as she tried to find help.
The son laid deathly still on the mothers back and as she began to call his name, he lifted his head and bit into the mother's neck. The son's teeth tore into her esophagus and as he bit down tighter he began to tear it right out of her neck.
blood began to shoot straight out of her neck spraying into the crowd. As the mother fell to the floor the infected son began. to slowly walk into the crowd with bloodshot eye's craving the only thing that would please him. The flesh of other ponies.
Everypony that was inside the building was going into a full panic due to the outburst. The son began tackling and biting pony after pony. Unlike the other infected he seemed to be just focusing on spreading the infection.
Crimson grabbed Vinyl's hoof and ran as fast as he could to the doors. The unicorns outside didn't know about the situation inside. As Crimson and Vinyl headed towards the barrier the elements of harmony ran outside and followed them.
"Crimson! Vinyl!" Twilight yelled out. As they all approached the wall, Twilight and the others seemed to have brought some other ponies with them. "We need your help Crimson, I know of a way out but I don't know the Everfree forest that well. If I'm not mistaken you know it pretty well, I need you to guide us all inside and all the way through to Canterlot." Crimson looked at Vinyl as he thought about the consequences of both decisions.
If I choose to just go with Vinyl I will only have to worry about her, but then the elements of harmony might be left to die. If I take them with him I will have to worry about everyone and make sure nobody leaves the group. I don't want to have the lives of some-ponies like the elements of harmony on my hands because what if I let them down? I don't want to live with the fact that I caused our elements of harmony's demise. Crimson thought hard about it, but he came to a decision.
"I'll help you Twilight, but you have to listen to me and pay attention." Crimson told Twilight and the others. Crimson began telling the ponies the formation he wanted them all to run. They all began to get into their form before people began to follow them. Crimson got ready to push his way through the barrier to break the seal.
"Everyone get ready, once this barrier falls we will have a lot of zombies in our path. Twilight and Vinyl will hold up a barrier that will guide us to the forest. Rainbow, Mac, I, and everypony else will be making sure they stay safe and keep the infected off our flanks or else you will be take." Before they began, Crimson looked at Vinyl and as he looked she gave him a nod of approval. In moments they were all gonna be in danger of being infected, but they had to push on.
"Everyone, go!" Crimson yelled as they charged through the barrier. They began plowing through the infected, throwing them left and right. As Rainbow flew by them causing them confusion as Twilight and Vinyl used their magic barrier to push a path through the infected. Everypony that followed had carried various tools to help protect themselves. Crimson and Mac used their bare hoofs to beat and push the infected.
After continuous pressure Crimson began to get weary due to the stress after going through his injury. As they reached closer to the Everfree they begin pushing their limits and start rushing to their destination. From their view they could see how they could easily lose the infected in the woods.
"Crimson! Help me!" Vinyl had been grabbed by an infected and before Crimson could even think he took action. he grabbed a rock off the ground and smashed it into the infected's skull. Brain matter to land all over Vinyl. As she stood there in terror for what just happened, she quickly collapsed. Crimson picked her up and carried her to the forest, saving her from other infected.
As they reached the forest they all began to follow Crimson. Crimson serpentined through the trees, doing everything he could to get the infected off their flanks. Many of the fast infected didn't give up the chase like the others. they continued on trying to get them.
Crimson began hearing trotting ponies coming from another direction. As he turned he saw a group of around seven ponies running towards the mountains in an offset direction. As they ran he noticed something was chasing them. A horde of infected had been chasing them as they tried their hardest not to get taken.
Crimson began leading the group in the direction of the helpless ponies. As they drew closer and closer to the mountain he noticed they were heading towards a dead end.
The ponies had ran as they tried to escape, but once they hit the wall there was no way out. They had become surrounded by infected. Instead of helping them, crimson brought the group close and let their trail of infected go after the helpless ponies while Crimson and the others go in the opposite direction.
Inside Crimson's mind he knew what he had done, he had ensured the death of helpless ponies for the benefit of his group. As they ran screams were heard from behind and a part of the group stopped and turned to the direction of the screams.
"Crimson! Lets turn back! Ponies are in there and they need help!" Twilight told Crimson.
"No! We cant risk more lives than need to be spared, I don't feel good about it but we need to get out of here and survive Twilight!" Crimson told Twilight.
"We have to do some thing Crimson, we cant just leave them there to die!" Twilight protested.
Crimson went past his better judgement for the safety of his own group, "Even if we could do something they would probably be dead by the time that we got there Twilight!" Vinyl could tell that Crimson was in distress, she knew he didn't want to leave them there but he was right, there was nothing they could do.
"I know we feel sympathetic but we need to move now. Everyone, keep moving. There's nothing we can do now. We just need to focus on getting out of this forest and into higher ground." Crimson said to the group.
Crimson fell silent for a moment as his ears began to scan around in search for a noise. A very distinctive type of sound. "We need to move, now!"
Everyone turn in the direction Crimson was facing as the sound off hoofsteps drew closer towards them. The entire group fled deeper into the forest in a unknown direction.
As they flee they find themselves in a dead end, nowhere to turn. The group all went into panic as all of their options of survival slipped away from them.
"We are all going to die!" Rarity cries out.
Crimson walks over to the scared pony and slaps her in front of everyone.
"Calm the hell down! If you keep screaming like this they will find us faster. We need a way to get out of this and i know the pegasi cant carry all of us in time."
The group fell silent, as Crimson began looking around. "Twilight. How many ponies can you teleport?" Twilight gave Crimson a confused look.
"Crimson, I haven't teleported a group of ponies before. Ive only teleported myself, I don't think its possible!"
"Well we don't have much time before the infected find us and come after us so please just try!" Twilight gave a concerned look as she closed her eyes and began to concentrate her magic.
Vinyl and Rarity closed their eyes and began feeding their magic into Twilight's horn to increase her magic level. A bubble began growing over the group as Crimson heard many hoof-steps coming from behind them.
"Twilight not to burst your concentration but I hear them coming, so please hurry." Crimson told them cautiously.
"I'm going as fast as I can, this is taking a lot of magic." Twilight responded as she began to force her magic level past its boundaries. The bubble of magic began growing faster and faster as Twilight's body began to give in from stress.
"Twilight! please hang in there! They are almost here! Just a bit longer!" Crimson told Twilight trying to help her. Twilight's horn began to glow dimmer and dimmer as she grew closer to blacking out. "There here!" Crimson yelled as infected came towards them.
Twilight gave one final push and teleported them at the top of the mountain. The group all fell into relief as they were finally in safety.
Crimson walked over to Twilight and noticed she had passed out from the stress, as did Vinyl and Rarity. "I am greatly thankful to the three of you."
Crimson began looking over the others as they began trying to calm down and recollect on what just happened. Many were panicking and pacing in circles, but others were trying to take a rest and relax. After an hour the three start to wake up after the stress they had just been put through.
Apple Jack began a head count to see if anyone had gone missing. Apple jack began recounting over and over again but she couldn't believe the numbers she had counted.
"We are missing ponies! We had twenty-nine but now we have twenty-two!" Apple Jack counted once again frantically.
As Twilight rose, she began looking around seeing where she was. Crimson walked over to her and thanked her for her efforts. They began walking around, and Twilight looked over edge to see a horrid sight. A pile of blood, organs, and corpses had been in place for the horrific epidemic had occurred. Apple jack had seen that Twilight's expression had been pale and scared.
Apple Jack saw Twilight and looked over the edge to see seven dead bodies had been laying inside the pool of blood and organs. "What? We went by here, why didn't we see them?" Apple jack began to ask.
Crimson's face fell with dread as he knew what happen caused this. "I caused this."
Apple Jack and Twilight looked at Crimson in worry, "What do you mean you caused this?" Twilight asked Crimson.
Crimson looked down in shame. "I led the trail of infected that had been following us towards them so we could buy some more time to escape."
Twilight looked at Crimson and could tell he had guilt. "Why didn't ya' tell us about them Crimson? These ponies were with us!" Apple jack began to become enraged because of what Crimson didn't do to help these ponies.
"I'm sorry Apple jack. i couldn't save them, but there wasn't anything i could do. I had no plan what so ever. If i would have run in there it would have endangered the entire group, killing us all and helping nobody." Crimson began to tell Apple jack.
In a rage, Apple jack just left and stayed away from Crimson.
Crimson began to walk towards Vinyl, he needed to talk to her. As she saw him in his distress she began to try to comfort him. "Whats wrong Crim? Did something happen?" Vinyl began to question.
Crimson began to explain everything that had happened and what he had caused. Vinyl didn't change the way she felt for him, she kept comforting him and just helped him through what she could. It soon began to grow dark and everyone began to go to sleep, despite the ponies on night shifts. They all set camp there till dawn, awaiting a new day, hoping for a better tomorrow.
