After about fifteen minutes of flying, Fluttershy stopped at the western entrance of Ponyville, behind her, the rolling hills of Sweet Apple Acres lay abandoned.

In front of her, she saw the same; empty and desolate, not half the town she used to know. She took a step onto the pavement, her hoofstep knocking, the sound bouncing off building by building. She took a deep breath to settle her nerves as she walked into the once lively town.

As she made her way to the other side of the town, she started to discover bodies. Bodies of ponies, her age and older, sometimes younger were scattered in alleyways, with lumps of flesh torn off them, pools of blood lay stale on the concrete. The stench was enough to make Fluttershy gag again, the rot entering her nostrils as if foreshadowing her own demise. She stayed toward the center of the street, where nopony seemed to have been eaten alive.

When she finally reached the purple crystal castle, she was amazed how old it seemed. Vines were starting to crawl its way up its trunk, spiny and thick. The color seemed a little unsaturated, as if discorded. Fluttershy fought off memories of Discord as she sneaked her way up to the golden gate that seemed rusted. The bar was down, a heavy one made of the same material. Fluttershy struggled as she heaved the bar upward, falling with a crash onto the concrete. She put one hoof forward and pushed the door open with a small squeak. It was nearly pitch black inside at this rate; the sun was low on the west horizon, giving the castle interior a daunting red glow.

Fluttershy slowly made her made in, making sure to be relatively quiet. Twilight is missing, she reminded herself. I don't want to run into her while I'm at this. She approached a trapdoor at the end of the room, the passageway to the underground lab. The trapdoor was makeshift; warped two-by-fours laying atop a page of sheeting. An ominous sound like breathing lay underneath, not shrill, like she'd heard at the infirmary, but low, almost sleeping. Too low to be a pony's.

Fluttershy attempted to lift the trapdoor to no avail. With a cocked eyebrow, she studied the trapdoor, circling around it once or twice. She noticed a lock holding the two-by-fours down, a lock inaccessible without keys. Fiddling with the chain binding it down, Fluttershy discovered it had some give. The sheeting was not locked down.

Great! Fluttershy thought. I just need something to pry the two-by-fours off... a crowbar would be ideal... Fluttershy brought up locations to thought; scavenging the castle didn't seem like the best idea, stores and most houses would be locked up by then... and it clicked. What other perfect place than a farm to find one of those tools!

Fluttershy bounded back west to Sweet Apple Acres. She didn't have time to waste. Who knew when the other two would find the infirmary... She shook the thought out of her head; she couldn't afford to be distracted.

Five minutes later, she arrived at destination. Sweet Apple Acres wasn't only abandoned, but it was wrecked, especially the barn. Most damages were near to the ground, such as caved in corners and dented walls. A stampede, Fluttershy figured. The running crowds would've spooked the animals, no doubt. Her eyes were fixated on the barn. The structural integrity was failing as it leaned threateningly toward her. Its smashed doors were ajar, the left one hanging on the bottom hinge.

I bet a crowbar would be somewhere in there, she thought. The Apples don't store tools in their houses as far as I know. The only thing I need to watch out for is the barn itself. She stiffened her jaw as she walked toward the foreboding structure.

She peeked past the door, the smell of rot filling her nostrils. She tossed her head aside and gagged, and with one final breath, glanced at it again. It was dark enough inside that the only window of light filtered in through the door and cracks in the wall. Lying in the very center of the barn was a cow. Its light coat was stained red with blood, the upside gnarled and stripped of skin and muscle, strings of it wrapping around the exposed bone. Gnats and flies buzzed around it, landing all around the wound and the popping, open eyes of the cadaver. But sticking from its head stood the tool she needed.

Fluttershy raised her hoof to her nose, inhaled and bit her tongue, the reflex to gag slowly subsiding. The reeking stench hammered her senses once again. "I can do this..." Fluttershy mumbled to herself, lowering her hoof. She sneaked into the barn, though she wasn't sure why. Something nagged at her, the feeling of being watched. She sped up her pace, her muffled hoofsteps managing to echo in the large room, until she was finally upon the creature.

Fluttershy gulped. The prying end is stuck really deep into there, she thought, feeling a drop of sweat tracing from her brow. How will I do this... The crowbar was nearly parallel to the ground, and there was no possible way to shove it down to pry it out. She would have to lift it, and hopefully the structure would hold up to the prying. She licked her teeth. This will hurt, she told herself as she bent down and wrapped her teeth around the metal tool. She could swear she heard something rustling as she pulled on the crowbar, the cow's skull creaking and cracking along with her bottom set of teeth. She gave it one final yank, painfully, along with a fragment of her tooth, there was a loud distinct pop! The cow's body jolted as the tool came free, the force nearly sending Fluttershy on her back. She regained her hoofing. A shard of the cow's skull skid across the room, then there was a sudden clack!

Fluttershy looked up to find a silhouette of a sunken-in figure. From what she could depict, his coat was pitch black in the sundown light. His mane was curly, and bobbed up and down when the he bowed down to the earth, snarling. Fluttershy took an involuntary step back. She didn't know this pony—but as his horn took the light, she knew she had to run.

Only a moment after, wire wrapped around her body, her abdomen, legs, throat and head being entangled by searing hot magic string. She was lifted up into the air, flipped upside down. Fluttershy struggled, yet it was in vain. The wires slowly snaked around her, sinking itself deeper into her skin. Blood trickled onto her chin from her left foreleg, which had already given way to the pressure. She bit down on the crowbar as a sharp pain filled her, setting her skin on fire.

Wait... Fluttershy thought, the crowbar! Trying to ease her panicked mind, she sized up her target. He was maybe eight feet away from her at the closest. She gulped. The longer she stayed idol, the more fatal this action would become. Without any other thought, she turned her head to the side and whipped it back, her whole body following the movement, the wire plunging into her skin more. She muffled a scream. The crowbar fell right in front of the sick pony with a large clang. Ears buzzing, Fluttershy's heartbeat jumped up, her eyes widening as more blood trickled down her face, finding its way into her tunneling eyes.

She had failed to hit him. She was going to die right here.

But soon after, Fluttershy saw his ears twitch. The movement became more violent, his head following in spastic fits, the spell releasing. Fluttershy had barely any time to react before falling slap down on the ground, managing to swing herself on her side, the familiar impact expelling all the air from her system. She gasped for air, holding her side with one bloody hoof, pushing herself off the ground with the other. When she finally looked back up, horror temporarily gave way to curiosity.

The sick pony was patting his ears with such resounding knocks he was literally punching himself in the face. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow as she took a step back. This reaction... Fluttershy thought. Could they be sensitive to sound? She shook her head. Big Mac didn't react in that way. She focused her gaze on the crazed stallion, who was now jerking his head to the side as if trying to get water from his ears. This was her chance! While it was dazed, she could grab the crowbar and be out of there. Fluttershy bowed to the ground, expanding her wings before she zoomed toward the crowbar. She grabbed it, and soon after, she was down, her head pounding against the ground. Through doubled vision, she saw the sick pony above her, now up close and personal. His breath reeked of rot. His eyes were narrowed as his mouth turned a sinister smile before opening his mouth to impossible sizes.

Fluttershy had only a split second to act. She flung the crowbar at his face before his teeth were able to sink into her neck. His face was now only inches away from hers, breathing erratically. He scowled at her as he tried to slide his teeth across the metal, teeth chipping and saliva dripping from his mouth. Fluttershy tossed her head to the side, and faster than the stallion could react, the hook of the crowbar soared through his jaw, the bones snapping like twigs, the skin and muscle, if any, ripping like paper. The stallion's blood fell on Fluttershy's face as she watched it in slow motion, his jaw following nearly after his face. He soared into the wall, the wood creaking upon impact. Fluttershy righted herself immediately, pointed toward the doorway. She burst out at high speed before the stallion was able to follow.

The rushing adrenaline faded when Fluttershy reached the thick of the town, sudden tiredness pulling her down to earth. She was cut all over, blood seeping through paper-thin cuts on her legs and barrel, thankfully not her neck. Her face was covered in the stallion's blood, such a deep hue of red on her muzzle that it was nearly black. She wiped the blood off, breathing heavily in near yawns. She barely had any strength yet. She didn't know what striking the alleged source would do, or if there was even a source to attack. She lifted her cut hoof lazily toward her mouth. She was going out of complete faith that there was some way to resolve this in the physical form, rather than watching her friends die slowly and painfully. She didn't even know if Rainbow Dash was still alive, a fracture like that! Fluttershy narrowed her brow. Should I continue on, she thought, in sheer hope that there is something I can do? Or...

A flash of memories of Twilight flashed through her mind once again. She had promised to resolve this. But what if... what if this way isn't the solution? Her eyes welled up in tears. It had never occurred to her, that leaving all those people be might be the solution to this problem. Then again, with cases like Big Macintosh, and that stallion she'd just encountered, who knew if the others would do the same? Follow the same cannibalistic route. Then there will be a lot more casualties than just the near fifty that was in there.

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut, red light filtering through her eyelids. "No..." she said. She couldn't allow herself to back out now. I gave them hope that I would be able to stop it, even though they may doubt it, Fluttershy reminded herself. The least she could do was try. Try to push forward. Try to get into the basement once more. She knew something was down there, but it was living and breathing. She wasn't sure, but what if that was Twilight, sleeping or whatnot? Or was it something else... She couldn't remember the specifics.

All that's left, though, Fluttershy thought, is to get into that basement.

She made her way through the village again, tripping over her own hooves, the cuts all over her screaming in sharp pain, her eyesight notably caved in, her joints aching. She looked around at the buildings, new and old, short and tall. She wondered if she would ever see these streets lively again, if she alone could stop this disease and bring about new hope for this place after all. She clenched the crowbar in her teeth tighter. There's no doubt about it, she assured herself. Ponies will come again, I know it. Even if my journey here is a failure.

Before she knew it, she was back at the golden gates, the door ajar as she'd left it. She creaked it open, shining whatever light remained in the twilight in the room. She walked toward the trapdoor, each hoofstep resounding and bouncing from wall to wall. She ceased the movement and craned her neck down to look at the two-by-fours. Hoping to the heavens that she'd have the strength to do so, Fluttershy swung her head parallel to the ground, the crow's head biting into the wood plank near the sheeting. She released her mouth from the crowbar, some saliva stringing from it, and turned, lifted a hind leg and bucked it into the ground, the two-by-four's nails squeaking as it was released from its parent. She righted herself, wiping the perspiration from her brow, her heartbeat starting to pound in her head again. Rinse, and repeat. With every two-by-four, the more her legs buckled, the more she quaked, the more she gasped for air. When the final two was released, with a final effort, she pushed the sheeting out from under, grinding across the diamond floor.

Fluttershy lay down by the lip of the stairwell going forever down, her chest heaving. She wiggled across the ground, hanging her head over the edge, the torchlight still going.

That's when she caught her breath. There, on the third wrap of the stairs, right under the licking flame of the torch, sat another frail body. She was looking up toward the mouth of the stairwell above, her eyes shrunken and her skin near to bone. Her head twitched to the side, her messy, magenta mane with red stripes flicking along with it. Her wings looked like claws. Her lavender coat on her chest was greener and stuck together.

Fluttershy suppressed a yelp.

"Flu... Flut... ter..." said Twilight Sparkle, her head abruptly ceasing its twitching.

Fluttershy couldn't help herself. "Twilight! Please—"

Her sentence was cut short when the princess soared upward through the scope of the stairs, missing Fluttershy by a hare. Grunting, Twilight landed behind her.

Fluttershy could not stand up. Her eyes filled with horror as Twilight, tongue out, eyes unfocussed, landed on top of her, jaw impossibly wide. She barrel-rolled to the side, nearly half her body now hanging over the edge of the stairwell. Twilight stumbled to the side, not hesitating to be upon her again, this time, over her lower barrel. Fluttershy bucked at her, but lost her balance, plummeting over the edge. She had barely enough room to flare her wings out to alter her course so she didn't hit the loop of stairs, though still plummeting at falling speeds. She pulled up at the foot of the stairs, grinding on the ground on her side.

Fluttershy's vision was doubled when she looked up, intense pain in her side and wings and head. Through the dimly lit room, she could see many aberrations in the regular shapes and forms of the lab. When her vision finally sharpened, she took in a sharp breath.

All around her, there were pulsing veins along the walls and floor. Pink, bubbly cancers just like the tumor she saw back at the infirmary. They all seemed to spiral around the room, getting bigger and bigger until it hit its center. Atop a lab table was a callused, red, egg-shaped organism, growing and shrinking as if breathing. Its skin was translucent, notable blue veins rooting inside its body. There was a green glow in the center, pulsating three times per set.

Fluttershy lifted a hoof. This is the source! she thought. She scanned the room, her heart racing. Twilight could be down the stairs any moment. She didn't have enough endurance to stand against her. But she needed a weapon: something that she could use to rid of this aberration. But no matter where she looked, there was not a weapon. There was no broken glass she could use; all of the shattered glass was too small. The only thing she could do was...

She walked to the base of the stairwell, maybe four yards away from the source. She had some strength left, but this would be the last thing she could do. She blinked, tears running down her face in near waterfalls. Images of the six broke into her mind like a flood. Through all their adventures, misadventures, and just plain lives, she never would've thought she'd be in this position. Slowly, she flicked her wings out, bowing to the ground, scratching at the ground.

"Whatever... it takes..."

The last thing she saw was the growing red body of the source.

Two months of rehabilitation. That's how long it took. Twilight Sparkle had never anticipated this happening. At first, she was participating in a noble cause, but then it turned into a disaster. She was the first one to contract the disease, and she managed to quickly put together that makeshift trapdoor before it completely took her over. She'd asked Spike one last favor to lock her in there until Fluttershy came.

Twilight cast her eyes to the ground. Fluttershy came all right. However, it came at a great cost.

"Hey! Twilight!" Rainbow Dash's squeaking voice called out above her, the voice nearly muffled to Twilight. "... Twilight?"

"This is all my fault," Twilight managed, her voice becoming broken up. "I made you girls suffer... I could've prevented that from happening..."

"Twilight..." There was a rush of wind beside her, then she felt a hoof around her. "You've been telling yourself that since you could speak again. No one could see this coming. Not even Starswirl the Bearded could, I swear it!"

Twilight hung her head. Yeah, right, she thought. "How's she doing, anyway?"

"She's making great progress. She may have forgotten about the events before, but she hasn't really spoken after she woke up from that coma. Took a whooping, that girl did."

"I sincerely hope she remembers this," Twilight said. "That experience alone should be remembered."

Rainbow Dash cocked her head. "Question. Why did you choose Fluttershy to help out if things went bad?"

Twilight lifted her head. That's right... "You know those couple times where she let caution fly to the wind and became what she could to protect us?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I knew that if anything went wrong, she would be there to protect us. She has a gift, that's for sure. A gift that can't be ignored. That's why I put that much faith into her. Just based on those prior experiences."

Rainbow Dash folded her hooves. "Wow. She really sticks to promises, eh?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah. A promise among the rotting."

Author's Note

No. Fluttershy is not dead. I can't even think about that without making myself cry, because Fluttershy is such a good character!

But anyways, hi! Thanks for reading! This is the first fic for One-Shotober, if you haven't noticed already. Why did I decide to do a Mature-Rated fic to kick off? Well, this idea came first hand when I discovered One-Shotober. And, it's really hard to hold up on gore in a zombie-like fiction, so, I didn't even bother to do so. And this is actually my first Grimdarkish fic, so yeah! Celebration! Naw, but seriously.

I am tired. I don't even know what I'm doing in these notes. So, bye!!!!!!~