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"... Everything it touched, everyone it saw... gone! ..."

>March 19, 3015<
>Anthroville Park, 7:37 PM<

All but two of the girls slept peacefully under the moonlit sky. Fluttershy sat, watching the starry skies.

However, there was an unnatural stillness and calmness in their town that aroused Fluttershy’s anxiousness.

Unbeknownst to her, Pinkie Pie was laying down silently, staring at the skies as well. Fluttershy had assumed she was sleeping like the rest.

Fluttershy observed her surroundings with great anxiety. Something in her didn’t sit right, and it was preventing her from getting any type of sleep or relaxation. And, she couldn’t just bother the others either, not when they were all sleeping so peacefully.

She thought back to yesterday, March 18, Pinkie’s birthday party, as her eyes swept over the streets of Anthroville.

For a few minutes, the fun memories of them throwing the town-wide party calmed her. But as she kept looking over the unnaturally still and quiet streets, she noticed something as a thought clicked in her mind.

She brought her hands up to her hair, as cold sweat began to form over her forehead, resisting the urge to simply scream. Her pupils dilated, and her breathing sharpened.

With no words, and quick movement, Pinkie Pie arose, and put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. The loud shifting of the sudden movement seemed to stir the others, as they yawned and got up themselves.

“Something keeping you up, Flutters?” Rainbow Dash asked with a yawn. Fluttershy observed her briefly, before her eyes darted back to the streets.

“Something’s off.” Fluttershy said with a level of sureness that sparked a degree of alarm in the others.

“Now that you mention it… It’s awfully quiet. The town isn’t usually all asleep at once.” Applejack stated, fingers on her chin as she looked around the quiet city surrounding the park they were in.

“What’s on your mind, Fluttershy? What’s worrying you now?” Rarity asked, concerned.

“… Pinkie Pie’s birthday was yesterday…” Fluttershy said softly through her excited breaths, as her anxious, beady eyes pierced the empty streets and darkness.

Everybody, save for Pinkie Pie, was confused, and looked at the paranoid Fluttershy strangely. Suddenly, Twilight gasped with realization. Pinkie Pie simply looked around feverishly, as if observing their environment, scanning for something.

“Oh my Celestia… Fluttershy’s right! Pinkie Pie’s birthday was yesterday!” Twilight gasped, as she stood, observing the unnaturally still streets along with Pinkie Pie.

“Twi, what’s going on? Fill us in.” Rainbow Dash urged, an uncomfortable feeling in her gut from the sense of alarm.

Twilight shook her head, looking back at the group.

“Think: aren’t Pinkie’s most trivial parties usually filled with excitement and mess? Mess!” Twilight emphasized.

Gears began to turn in the heads of the confused girls, as their faces twisted in thought.

“Who’s usually stuck cleaning those huge messes her parties leave behind? Especially ones hosted in public places, like the town hall, or say, the streets?” Twilight asked.

As she said that, things clicked immediately, as the group entered a state of alarm. It seemed so extremely silly now that they had missed it. Something so blatantly obvious!

“The officers and Royal Guards that Celestia sends to maintain Anthroville! They’d be here, cleaning still…” Rarity gasped softly.

“And with a party that huge, they’d be cleaning to next Friday…” Applejack said lowly.

“They’re not here… And they’re certainly not off-duty… There’s never a shift where there aren’t patrols around.” Rainbow Dash added in.

The girls were quiet, observing their surroundings in a silent state of alarm. All of them now shared some degree of dread, watching as party gimmicks and streamers and ribbons blew across the empty streets.

“Should we… Should we go home…? Maybe it’s not safe out here…” Rainbow Dash suggested.

Pinkie Pie was the quietest of the group. She had not uttered any words. She simply followed along, staying by her friends’ sides.

Suddenly, they heard small footsteps rushing towards them through the park’s grass. In an instant, a green blur tackled Twilight to the ground, startling everyone as they yelped.

The figure put a hand over Twilight’s mouth, shushing her.

“Shh!”

“Spike…!?” Twilight whispered harshly. “The heck is wrong with you, running up on me like that in the night!?” Twilight scolded.

The small boy, an adopted little brother, was only a few years younger than her and the rest of the group.

The others calmed down, as they realized it was Spike.

Twilight was immediately softened by the look of pure-terror and fear in Spike’s being. He was shivering on a particularly warm day, and had dried tears all over his face.

“Spike? Spike! What’s wrong??” Twilight asked.

“I’m so glad you’re safe, Twilight! W-we’ve gotta go! Quick, before they find us, too!” Spike cried frantically, pulling Twilight with desperate strength and urgency.

While the entire group ran, following Spike, the girls questioned Spike, needing some sort of confirmation, perhaps to ease the sickening pit in their stomachs.

“What happened, Spikey?” Rarity questioned, as they ran through the park.

“I-I dunno which way, or what direction, but… it came, and it wiped them out. Everything it touched, everyone it saw… gone! Not gone, but ‘gone’! Oh god, we have to go, we have to go!” Spike cried, as he ran.

“Who? Who’s gone?” Fluttershy asked.

“Everyone! Everyone…” Spike cried, rubbing his eyes as they ran.

“I saw them slaughtered, by our own guards! Executed! I-… I didn’t even know blood could be that color!” Spike cried further.

They stopped, the shock and dread pausing them.

“Spike, slow down… Tell us the story.” Twilight said, as their breathing sharpened from the running. They stood on the outskirts of the park, just within the western end of the city.

“It’s here, guys! I can’t believe it, but the parasite is he-,”

*BOOM!*

A heavy explosion erupted from around the corner, as a large orange glow could be seen. Unsettling screeches of unknown nature were heard, as bullets were heard firing off.

“Here, too!? Guys, we’ve gotta-”

Spike was interrupted by another unsettling screech, as movement could be heard closing in around the corner. However, as they heard a few more bullets fly off, all movement stopped.

All seven of the witnesses were silent, not daring to step even an inch closer to the corner to examine the situation.

Sharing understood glances and nods, the group silently agreed to follow Spike to an area of relative safety, creeping away in as silent of a run as possible.

After several minutes of rushing, the seven found themselves at a dead-end: there seemed to be a battle blazing behind them, and every direction they headed towards shortly ran into only more assumed conflict.

They decided they needed to play the waiting game, all ducking behind a building, and frantically keeping an eye out for any approaching figure, not sure who, or what, they should be looking out for.

“Now, Spike…” Twilight began, trying her hardest to catch her breath.

“Tell u-”

“Spike!” Fluttershy interrupted, frantically grabbing Spike by his shoulders. Spike urged her to be more quiet, afraid that they might be heard.

“Did you say, the parasite!?” Fluttershy squeaked out as quietly as she could with her level of alarm.

Spike could only nod.

“Applebloom — the farm, did you see it?” Applejack asked.

Spike nodded slowly, his eyes softening in the moonlight.

“Well?”

“It’s decimated… I’m sorry, ‘Jack.”

Applejack’s arms fell to her side lifelessly, and her eyes seemed to sink into her skull.

“Everything’s either destroyed from battle, or from the Royal Guards trying to ‘cleanse’ the area! They almost shot me, Twi, me! Do I look infected to you?!” Spike cried, hugging Twilight, as tears wet her shirt.

Twilight held Spike, as the six girls glanced between each other, all at a similar loss of what to do next.

“Hold on, guys… do you hear that?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she stepped forward, listening.

“Hear what…?” Twilight asked, as Spike released himself from her, wanting to be alert as well.

“Exactly… Everything’s quiet…” Rainbow Dash asked, their voices hushed.

They were all silent, simply observing, none making a deciding move.

“Well, this means there’s two outcomes: the parasite’s won, and is looking for more prey, or the Royal Guards won, and they’re sweeping the areas.” Twilight finally spoke up.

“We should get to somewhere where there’s light, then. The Guards can see us clearly, so that we’re not infected, and we should be able to see anything coming towards us with a fair bit of ease, as well. It’ll help us decide where we can run.” Pinkie Pie chimed in. All eyes laid on her, the unexpected intelligence catching them off guard.

Fluttershy looked up: Pinkie Pie wasn’t hiding her solemnity this time, like she usually would. She seemed all business, and the usual exuberance was nonexistent.

“But, there’s three major problems with this,” Pinkie Pie continued, the attention prompting her to do so.

“One, the Guard may shoot us out of fear for us having been infected; two, the parasite is an unusually hushed topic, so we have little information on how it spreads, how fast it can move, and how to defeat it, as well as other useful intelligence; third, if the parasite is an intelligent life, that light won’t help us — they’ll simply ambush us instead.” Pinkie Pie stated, holding up three fingers.

“I don’t know where this Pinkie Pie was hiding, but gee whiz I like her! I say we go with that idea.” Applejack stated.

The others quickly agreed, save for Twilight, who watched her strangely, before agreeing herself.

As the seven rushed for a nearby streetlight that lit an entire intersection, passing several buildings riddled with bullet-holes, absolutely atrocious odors, and strange, thick, crimson and shades-of-green liquids, one thing became horrifyingly clear:

Fluttershy’s feelings of anxiety had been confirmed — the parasite was here, and it would swallow their entire town.

Author's Note

Okay, this should be the last short chapter for at least a few chapters, but we'll see.