It was not the world they had known.

Before the world had moved on, it was once was filled with colour and life. Birds flew, flowers grew, and ponies (as well as other species) lived day to day. Well, most would, anyway. To some, Armageddon (or The Passing, as some had chosen to call it) was soon. To most, though, the concept had merely been a high fantasy.

Unfortunately for them, however, Armageddon had been nearing for almost one thousand years. You see, it had been hundreds, maybe thousands, of years since the last large-scale war, much less the last battle. The countries of Equus, though slightly strained, had relied too much upon each others resources to fight over them. They especially relied on Equestria. The Equestrian diarchy (which eventually turned into a monarchy, then back, then to a triarchy, and even a quadrarchy.) had the ability and the responsibility to raise and lower the sun and the moon. It was their express purpose to prevent the planet from simultaneously burning and freezing. Due to this, the planet's inhabitants thought it neigh-impossible that anyone could even imagine killing the diarchs.

And they were right. None could stand the thought of killing those responsible for their survival.

But viruses don't think, do they?

Viruses infect.

They don't care for whatever unfortunate creature they're infecting is. They just infect, reproduce, and spread. And when they spread, they infect. And they reproduce.

And they spread.

With this endless cycle of infection and spread, a virus could kill towns, cities, and countries. The only limits to their power are a doctor's medical treatment, and the host's own immune system. If a doctor could identify and treat the virus, and the host had a strong enough immune system, a virus can be wiped out in a matter of weeks, if not days. Some viruses adapt and disguise their presence, but again, a strong immune system can kill them when they're found.

This information is elementary on Equus. Children are taught and tested on this information. And some children take a special interest in it and become doctors, or become a specialist and work for their government's biological engineering institution. In either scenario, the risk of infection is higher than an average person's. For the specialists, though, it may not be a normal virus.

The specialists could be working on new diseases, be it engineering one or defending against them. And to do either, you need to get close. Dangerously close. If they were to get that close, they needed to be encased in a bulky hazmat suit, but all it took to ruin that defense was a small, almost invisible hole.

And if a virus got through that hole, it would infect the being behind it.

And it would reproduce.

And, once the suit were removed, it would spread.

All it would take was a tap. Or a cough. Or, perhaps, a shared drink. And it would spread to whomever touched what was infected.

It was this way that Armageddon had happened. It was this way that nearly all life on Eqqus was ended.

Including the diarchs.

It was this way that the Old World ended, and the End World was born.

But this is not that story.

This is the story of picking up the pieces of the Old World. The story of the forces that will fight to keep the End World standing. And the story of a gang of ten who will determine which will win.

Author's Note

See, I've gotten to be a fan of Stephen King recently. I'm in the middle of reading both The Stand (aka the longest damn thing I've ever tried to read) and The Dark Tower series (currently in The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands), and it's given me ideas. Specifically, a mashup like this.
Now, I'll never be as good a writer as I wish I could be. But with you lot who enjoyed (and/ or criticized (I get it, guys. Show, Don't Tell.)) the first story I made, I think I'll get better. All thanks to y'all.
Now, I'm gonna say this right now: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will characters from The Stand or The Dark Tower appear in this story. This is BASED off of, and INSPIRED by, the stories mentioned above, not a crossover with them. I'll allude to characters, but I won't place them in the story whatsoever.
Thanks for listening. Or reading. Whatever.