Bite of Death

Day 02: 8:46 p.m

Rainbow let out a loud sigh as she entered her apartment. The pegasus stretched out her back, shrugging off her saddle bags and tossing them near the door which she shut behind her with a hind leg.

The pegasus trotted over to her small kitchen, grabbing one of the several aluminum cans inside the fridge and popping it open with another hoof before heading over to her couch and stretching out on it in a relaxing position. It had been a long day and all Rainbow wanted to do was watch TV and relax her wings, which were still aching from her big workload from the day.

Rainbow reached over to the coffee table, pulling the remote closer to her and turning on the TV. The first channel to come up was the local Cloudsdale news station. Rainbow took the moment to take a big sip of her soda while the anchor continued talking about some insurance fraud.

Rainbow began to zone out as they started talking about how many ponies were affected and how those who were initiating the fraud were in prison and awaiting trial. Not really focusing, Rainbow accidentally nudged the remote off the couch with her foreleg. Rainbow straightened up the moment the channel changed to the biggest news station Rainbow knew of, Daily Equestrian News.

"The rates of ponies infected have skyrocketed in the past few days. Over seven thousand patients have died from the illness. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have released multiple statements that they are giving as much aid as they can to the medical facilities that are researching this illness." A quote appeared on screen next to the anchor, which was one of Celestia's statements that Rainbow had already seen.

The news had been running this same outbreak story for the past few days and Rainbow had already learned about it by how her co-workers had been calling in sick with the illness that apparently was 'spreading as fast as the common cold' according to a statement from Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Rainbow was reminded of the soreness in her wings at the thought of her ill co-workers. She (and the few other co-workers that were able to show up) had plenty of work to do to make up for those who were absent.

The pegasus yawned while the news anchor continued talking.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle has left to visit the Crystal Empire and it's ruler, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza to see if they have possibly discovered a cure to this illness. There has been rumors of the same illness popping up in Yak Yakistan and the Griffonstone, but we have not yet any reliable sources to confirm this."

For a moment, Rainbow found herself hoping that Gilda was doing okay, as Griffonstone was already a rather financially unstable area without a huge sickness to add onto that struggle.

"If  you or one of your neighbors or a loved one is displaying symptoms of aggression, headaches, exhaustion, insatiable hunger or other symptoms of possible illness, please contact your local hospital as soon as possible for the safety of yourself and those around you."

Rainbow shrugged and slowly sank back onto her belly, her wings draping over the couch as she dozed off into a state of sleep while the news anchor kept on talking in the background.

Day 02: 11:47 p.m

Rainbow was jolted awake by a loud crash outside her apartment. It was abrupt and was loud and enough to startle the pegasus into falling off her couch, knocking her half-empty can of soda onto the floor, staining the carpet a dark violet.

"The.. What in Tartarus?" Rainbow snapped, standing up and looking around her darkened apartment. The television had somehow turned off, leaving her residence in complete darkness, save for the light of the street lamps and police lights outside that was filtering through the windows.

Wait.. Police lights?

Rainbow slowly made her way over to the window, peaking past the cheap, blue curtains. There were several police cruisers outside one of the apartment complexes across the street. Rainbow silently watched as police ponies suddenly came out of one of the apartments, pulling two ponies out and pushing them towards the street before moving on to the next apartment.

Rainbow noticed the nearby building windows had lit up and several ponies were standing outside, watching as more police cruisers drove up and more officers came out of them. The pegasus reached for her lights, preparing to turn them on.

Then, a pony shot out from the apartment that the officers had forced open. It looked like a stallion from the dim glow of the street lights. Rainbow watched as an officer raised up a firearm and Rainbow shrunk away from her window as it fire, sending blood spraying out of the front of the fleeing earth pony.

Rainbow stumbled back, running to her bedroom which was at the back of her apartment. She wasn't sure why she was hiding, but the feeling of panic that was welling up in her chest was very  unpleasant.

She'd seen her fair share of blood and injury with how many accidents she had been in with her stunt practices in the past. But she'd never seen a pony's life ended so abruptly, by a police pony no less.

Rainbow could hear as the police ponies got closer to her apartment complex, knocking down the doors of nearby apartment complexes. She could hear the cries as her fellow pegasi were forced out of their homes.

The pegasus ran over to her dresser, grabbing some of her belongings before she had to get out of the apartment.  She reached for the framed photograph of Rainbow as a filly standing on her father's back. This had been taken by her mother at Cloudsdale's Young Fliers Competition.

Rainbow could hear the other doors of her apartment complex being smashed in. She could hear the panicked cries of the foal who lived next door with his older brother as the police forced them out of their apartment.

Rainbow ran out to the main living space as she heard the police ponies beginning to shout. She could see the silhouettes of the officers outside her windows.

The mare flinched away as her door fell inwards, splinters flying as the police stormed inside. Several of them had firearms.

"Check the residence." One of them barked, storming over to Rainbow who immediately flinched away from the stallion. She was sure this was the one who had shot the pony outside the other complex.

"I.. I live alone." Rainbow whispered as the officer began to study her while the others began to root through the apartment. Rainbow would have snapped at them if it weren't for the circumstances.

"Are you infected?" His voice was very harsh as he poked Rainbow in the side with his weapon, making her wings tighten against her sides. Rainbow took a quick look at the pony's uniform. He wore something akin to a police pony uniform, but she could recognize the Wonderbolts insignia pinned to the chest.

"Infected with what?" The officer narrowed his eyes, staring at Rainbow for a solid minute before turning to the other officers as they reentered the main living space.

"Nothing else here, sir." Rainbow turned to face the officer, who looked back at her for a good few moments before walking around Rainbow and beginning to push her from behind.

"Get outside, now."  The officer commanded and Rainbow obeyed his command, more out of fear for her own life than anything else. She trotted down the cloud stairway, stopping on the lawn out front of the complex with her neighbors.

"Rainbow! Do you know what's happening!?" One pony asked, garnering the cyan pegasus' attention. It was Open Skies, a stallion who worked with Rainbow on the weather team.

"No, I was hoping you would have an answer to that." Rainbow answered, walking over to the stallion who was now looking over at the giant bloodstain on the nearby apartment complex with a disturbed expression.

"We, uh.. Where's Clear Skies?" Rainbow asked, noticing the peppy, purple pegasus was absent. Open Skies began to look up and down the street again with worried looks.

"She left earlier today to go visit some friends.. Oh Celestia, hear me.. Let her be okay.." Open Skies' voice quieted towards the end of his sentence. Rainbow couldn't help feeling sympathetic.

"Hey, someone's down there! Hello!" One of the nearby pegasi called out, waving to a shadowy pegasus who was walking down the street. "Hello! Are you alright!?" The pegasus cried out, starting to trot towards the pony who didn't change their pace.

Rainbow was about to start calling out to the stranger as well, but stopped as she watched the pegasus approach the stranger. The stranger's gait was slow and their head was slightly tilted to the side while their wings were limply dangling from their withers.

"Hello? Sir? Miss? Are you alright?" The pegasus called out, trotting closer to the stranger who was now in the light of the street lamps. Rainbow felt an uneasy feeling form in her gut as she stared at the stranger's face.

The stranger's skin was tightened against their bones, their fur having turned a duller color than the vibrant pink that Rainbow was sure it was meant to look like. Their eyes were glassy and vacant and their jaw hung open, a thin line of saliva dripping past their bottom lip. Their feathers looked ruffled and unkempt, as if the pony had skipped out on preening for the past few weeks.

"Uh.. Hello?" The pegasus asked again, suddenly looking very unnerved by the stranger who was still steadily heading towards her. Rainbow turned to look around, watching as the police ponies began to regroup outside a complex further down the street. One officer looked up, noticing the stranger approaching the pegasus and held up his firearm.

"Hey! Get away from that thing!" The officer shouted, running towards the pegasus who had turned her head to look at him.

"Wha-" The mare was cut off as the stranger lunged forward, their jaws locking around the side of the mare's neck. The mare cried out in panic, eyes wide as she began to scream at the top of her lungs, frantically flapping her wings in an attempt to escape. However, the stranger remained attached to the mare's neck and Rainbow could see the blood starting to trickle down the mare's neck.

The officer began firing off his weapon, striking the stranger in one of it's forelegs. This sent the stranger toppling forwards. With the force of the mare attempting to pull away and the stranger falling towards the ground, the flesh on the mare's neck tore free.

Rainbow gagged, eyes wide as the mare's neck began to rapidly spew blood while she screamed out her agony to Luna's unresponsive moon above. The officer fired off his weapon a second time and this time the bullet found its mark, sending blood spraying out of their skull before their body went limp.

Rainbow turned to see one of the pegasi she was neighbors with shielding his younger brother's eyes with one wing, staring in horror at the sight of the mare's neck rapidly spewing blood down her foreleg and chest. The mare quickly landed back on the ground, stumbling with sudden weakness.

"O-Oh Celestia... Someone.. I.. A doctor, we need a-" The mare was abruptly silenced by a bullet that pierced itself through one of her eyes and sending the mare's body crumpling to the ground.

Rainbow spun around, eyes narrowing at the sight of the officer who had fired the shot. "W-What in Tartarus are you doing!? You- You just shot a mare in cold blood!" Rainbow stormed towards the officer, but was stopped by a barrel of a gun pointed directly at her face.

"Back up, m'am. I have direct orders to shoot anypony infected with the virus. Now, you all are going to listen to Officer Brass Bullet and follow his orders exactly." The officer commanded and stepped aside to let the stallion who had forced Rainbow out of her apartment step forward.

"Citizens, Cloudsdale has been given orders to evacuate. You are going to get inside these police cruisers and we are going to take you to safety. The more cooperative you are with us, the easier this will be for everypony." The stallion, Brass Bullet, stated, gesturing to the cruisers that the officers were now returning to.

Rainbow walked over to the nearest cruiser and stepped inside through the opened door, shuffling aside to make room. At least three ponies could fit comfortably inside the back of the vehicle. Open Skies slipped in and sat himself down beside Rainbow, followed by another pegasus that Rainbow didn't recognize.

The cruiser engine started to rumble and Rainbow could feel the vehicle shift before slowly beginning to accelerate. Rainbow, seeing as she couldn't think of anything else to do other than talk to Open Skies or the other pegasus, stared out the window, watching as the buildings passed by. She could see the blue and red lights of the nearby cruisers washing the white structures red and blue around them.

"Hey, Rainbow, you don't think this has to do with the outbreak, right?" Open Skies asked, looking over to Rainbow who straightened up in her seat. "I mean, it only started a few days ago but.. That's the only thing I can think of."

"Well, I mean, it did knock out a large portion of the weather team ponies.. But.. What in Equestria would bring that pony to.. Bite someone else? That.. It doesn't make any sense." Rainbow shook her head, pressing her face against the cold glass of the window which soothed the growing pain in her head.

"Yeah.. It... It doesn't make any sense, does it...?" Open Skies quietly muttered before going silent. This silence lasted the rest of the drive.

Day 03: 12:23 a.m

The police cruiser jolted to a stop, sending the unbuckled Rainbow slamming forward into the barrier dividing the driver's seat from where Rainbow and the other two pegasi were seated.

Rainbow let out a sharp groan of pain as she slammed into the back of one of the front seats. She tried to stand up as best she could in the vehicle. Open Skies shuffled over to her, helping her up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah... Yeah I'm fine.." Rainbow answered, looking up as the officer opened the door that she had previously been leaning on.

"Everything all right back here?" The officer asked, earning an annoyed look from Rainbow who stumbled out of the vehicle, pushing the officer out of the way.