The Crimson Town: Part One (Summer)

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.