Happy Days Gone By

"Not too many ponies know the history of what happened to Equestria. Why the world we live in is how it is and how those things we all fear were created. I suppose a lot of the ponies just didn't think it was necessary knowledge or maybe they simply didn't want to learn it. I personally believe that maybe they're all just afraid and scared to. Anyways, a few years back when I was a colt, I was one of the few ponies in my Settlement who actually wanted to learn a bit more about our situation other than "If it moans, groans, shambles and looks fucking bloodthirsty then shoot it in the head!" or "If you get shot at, shoot back!". As helpful as these little tidbits of advice were, I wanted to know what happened. What really happened all those years ago. Not that sugar coated crap my school teacher fed me. Even if I asked him about it he'd just tell me that I was too young to know the truth. But after several weeks of begging the local historian to death, she finally cracked and attempted to explain to me as much as she could while also making sure that my little head could understand everything she was saying."

"We don't exactly know what happened out here in the wasteland as it's much too dangerous for us to leave our homes and explore the landscape for answers.  But thanks to the caravan leaders that donated many hoofwritten records that were left behind before and after the 'event' to our Settlement, we were able to make educated guesses and assumptions as to what happened. Now I'll repeat myself and say it again. What I'm about to tell you is what we assume had happened. We had to make guesses so of course it won't be one hundred percent accurate. Just bear with me, alright? Okay good. Let's begin.

"A century and some decades ago during the summer of 2004, a company was founded in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. This company was apparently named Sunny Smiles Inc. and the purpose of this organization was simple. They wished to act as a research facility of sorts to create drugs, remedies, and cures for ailing ponies of various sicknesses and cancers. And that's what they did.

"Clinics had sprung up all over Equestria and for many years the doctors of Sunny Smiles Inc. administered drugs and the like to the bedridden. And in days said ponies were healthy and they could once again walk. Young foals who were diagnosed with cancers were cured and they could live long carefree lives. Yet no one knew how this company could perform such medical miracles but they could and from what I can tell from the memos, everypony was very grateful. At least, at first they were.

"On September 1st, 2008, 6:01pm, a horrible incident had occurred. It had appeared that every single patient of Sunny Smiles Inc. had fallen ill on short notice and before any of the doctors from the clinics could see what was wrong with them, the patients had died right before their eyes. Though grief and anger had been short lived as almost a few short hours later, it was reported that the once dead patients were *revived somehow. It was a scientific impossibility but they were indeed alive. But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for them...*

"It had appeared that the 'revived' victims had attempted to bite anyone who got close to them. It was like a virus because that was exactly what it was. The ponies who were bit had then become horribly ill themselves and within minutes they too died. And then of course, they were reanimated as well. It spread like a wildfire all over Equestria, everypony panicked. There were riots and anarchy all over the streets of cities and towns. Large groups of infectees were overrunning the land and it was also reported that those packs of carnivorous ponies ripped apart their victims and ate them piece by piece. By this time it was far too late to stop the virus from spreading any further and so Equestria was lost.

"It is unknown to us if the virus had managed to infect neighboring countries but we are fairly certain that it has. Ponykind is stubborn, as you can see. We've managed to survive the apocalypse and since then our kind has erected towns and cities across the wasteland like the Settlement we call home. But nothing has ever been discovered about Sunny Smiles Inc. We don't know how they caused the infection. All we know is that they did. Maybe someday we'll be able to find the answers but at this point in time, we all just need to focus on surviving. At any rate, that's about it. Happy and content now?"

"I remember that I wasn't at all happy. In fact, I felt absolutely horrified to learn the truth. But I felt better that I knew about it even though it gave me nightmares for weeks after. But now I was curious. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know why this had happened in the first place. Was it an accident? Or was it intentional? So many questions flooded my mind then and even now they linger in my head. If I could, I would try and seek out the answers myself. Though I'm smart and I know that I would never survive out there in the wasteland. I've never even had the intention of leaving. No. Here in the Settlement where I've lived all my life, I was safe. Safe and more importantly alive. So why would I leave the comforts of home to go on a useless so-called adventure to acquire answers to questions that didn't mean a damned thing?

"But little did I know, I would be leaving my home.

"Whether I liked it or not. "