Her once beautiful indigo curls splashed along the floor in a messy tangled heap. Her pretty white coat was stained with blood, dirt, and various other grime. So much that it no longer even resembled white and instead was a dark and murky brown. Her eyes were rolled back in her head, and her horn had been removed. Sawed off, to a bloody nub that oozed a greenish pus down her forehead. Her body had been mutilated. Had they been experimenting on her?! Trying to cure her?! She was dead. I stared at her, teary eyed and disbelieving. This was a nightmare. This was an utter, horrible nightmare.

The guard who dragged her in didn't bat an eyelash. He was wearing a tarnished set of armor and walked with a slight limp. He simply dragged her in by a leg towards the end of the dungeon, where he opened a cell and threw the mangled body inside. As he did so, her neck snapped. The head bobbled towards me limply. I could deny it all I wanted, but that...that pony...that was Rarity. He turned towards me as I started to throw up, and gave a snort.

"We ran out of places for graves. Get over it." He said callously. I could feel a swell of anger starting to burn inside of me, but before I got the chance to lash out at this monster pretending to be a pony, the door to the dungeon opened yet again. The guards didn't waste time with small talk. They were in full battle dress. I didn't ask what they wanted. They held me at spear point and forced me to look at the wall. Then, I heard a familiar voice. Dr. Stable. Twilight's doctor before we moved to Ponyville. I could hear him standing just outside of my cell. He didn't waste any time, like usual, and got right to the point.

"We think it originated after the meteor shower. We think it was some sort of radiation coming from the meteor that touched down. Something that seeped into the atmosphere and poisoned the latent mana in the air. It's transmitted through magic. I've never seen anything like it, but this is, for all intents and purposes, a magical sickness. Unicorns are most susceptible, of course. This is followed by Pegasi, who harness magic through cloud walking or weather work. Earth ponies only succumb to it after direct infection. Bites do that pretty well, but even then it's only a fifty-fifty chance. But I never expected a dragon to contract the illness. The guards say you took the blood test. That means, you were exposed to blood and you didn't attack us. It's how we tell who's infected. They threw you down here for me to look at after I finished with the Princess. Princess Luna says Celestia sent you a message before the situation took its turn for the worst with her. You were infected by a pony who has all three pony species rolled into one. We took a sample of your blood while you were out. You were infected, but the illness seems to be receding. I think it's because of your draconic heritage. I think I can isolate the pathogen, and then, with any luck, devise a cure. You however, stay here. There's a good hoof full of us left alive in the castle, and we can't let you infect us. Even if you are cured, you could still be a carrier. We can't take any risks. If you leave this cell... we'll have to execute you." He said grimly. The guard from before, the one in the tarnished armor, nodded his head at me and leaned against the wall.

With that, he went back upstairs. I didn't know the guard glaring at me, but I didn't care. All I could think about was the letter I sent to you. The last letter I sent you an hour or so ago. I infected you. I infected the entire Crystal Empire. If that's the case, I've killed you. I've killed you, and I've killed Twilight, and I've killed Mom and I killed Dad. And Scootaloo. And Applejack. And Zecora. I killed everypony.

If Dr. Stable can create a cure, then maybe the world will have a chance. I hope.

I hope he can find a cure. I hope he can save everyone else. I hope that my blood will make a difference.

I hope I hope I hope.

And I hope you can forgive me. After I send this to you, I'm going to melt the lock on my cell and step outside and try to get to Rarity. I want to tell her one last time. I think I can make it before the guard catches me. Then...

then...

Then, maybe I can see you and Twilight and Mom and Dad. Maybe.

I hope.

I love you, big brother.

I'm sorry for everything.

I really am.

~Spike

Author's Note

Thats it. SAD ENDING.
To a horror story? I hope you didn't expect otherwise. ;)

Thanks for indulging me in my first real horror story! Thank you for sticking by me using a new format to try and tell a story. I'm not sure how well I did with the journal style format, but I hope it helped the story instead of hinder it. You're not supposed to know whats going on entirely. This is only from Spike's point of view. I used the character ' Stable' like Doctor house for some exposition towards the end. The good Dr., like House, loves to hear himself talk. He's been in Canterlot the entire time working on a cure and trying to keep most folks alive. The castle ends up overrun and Princess Celestia is infected. She's being held in her chambers until they can figure out a cure. Luna is taking over both duties. They tried to cure Rarity and accidently killed her in the process. Celestia, in her last moments of mental clarity sent the message to Spike, realizing if she was doomed, then all of Canterlot was as well. She had no idea she was infecting him. Fluttershy and Scootaloo weren't infected because they didn't fly, nor do weather work. I wanted to do another spin off story about what happens at the barn while Spike was unconscious, which is why he wakes up and all hells broken loose.