Author's Note

Warning: Gore

A Slice of Life

Life can crumble into pieces.

My reality crumbled into pieces. Ironstar released Plague-03. Why would he do such terrible thing. Thoughts ran through my mind, nearly losing my temper.

'WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?' I roared in front of him, furious at what she did.

Ironstar burst into tears, curling himself into a little ball, stroking his tail. I kept on cursing at him, eventually completely losing my temper, until something happened, something weird happened. My hooves burst into flames, my mane also on fire, a blue and red coloured flame. It was at this point I noticed I had to stop.

Quickly trying to control my temper, I finally was able to get out of the fiery state. If I didn't, I might've set the place on fire or something like that. I had no idea why I transformed into that state, doesn't seem right to me. I didn't have that necklace that Silverstream gave me or anything that had magic. Thank goodness I turned back to normal, what would the others think of me if they see me like that.

Turning back, I was still kinda mad, but less mad if I say so myself. Maybe that transformation was because of my temper, not sure. Ironstar uncurled himself, and I asked him, 'What happened, tell me the truth, I won't get mad like before.'

'Really,' he replied.

'Yes, promise.'

Breathing in and out, he explained, 'It was quite some time ago, but I could remember it like it was yesterday. I never forgot about it, it was in engraved in my mind. Back then I was a leading scientist in a program that was developing Plague-03 as an experimental defence program.'

'What?' I gasped, 'What is Pentagon Space?'

'My home, the place is situated in a galaxy billions of light years away.'

'How did you get here?'

'Warp drives.'

Can't believe the race of ponies on Pentagon Space were able to develop warp drives, I went through space-time rifts instead of warping across infinitely large universes.

'Mkay, get back to the story please,' I requested.

'The virus, it mutated dead and living cells, turning creatures into zombies. This wasn't the objective though, and I started to modify it to make it so that it suited the genetic transfusion. The other scientists and the government didn't approve of it, and I was ordered to leave the Pentagon Space International Research Labs.'

'What happened after that?'

'I stole some of the serum, escaping from Pentagon Space to avoid execution. I used the modded serum on myself and later gained the iron hooves. It also caused the side effect of twitching. The rest, I dropped it between your planet and Eve.'

'Eve, I've been there.'

'Really? Cool!'

'Also, I'm not from this planet, I actually came from an alternate universe.'

'How did you get here?'

'Space-time rift.'

Ironstar unfurled his tail, pouncing on me, hugging me. 'I've never seen a pony so forgiving as you,' he complimented.

'It's ok, it's ok, now we need to fix up all the problems that you caused, it's ok, I forgive you, even if the others don't.'

'Really?'

'Yes.'

The EASA space center was the last place in Equestria that could still sustain life. The outside was a complete wasteland. I had nothing to do other than stay in the hospital and stay with Starry until she heals. Ironstar walked out of the hospital, sad. 'Planetshine, I'm sorry to tell you this but Starry is a complete vegetative state,' A doctor explained.

'Wtf?' I asked.

'Means she's brain dead.'

'What? Ahh damn it.'

Walking in the ward, though she was completely fine with heartbeat and body functions, she had no perception. She couldn't perceive who I was or where she was in. Her reflexes worked though, and she could blink and move when she feels something, but her brain was dead. No cognitive functions, no emotions, no words.

Mysterium was also there, sleeping on the floor. I walked up to him and uttered, 'Mysterium, why are you sleeping.'

'Huh? oh, uh, tired from the electric shocks I did,' he replied, 'What do you think, how am I not tired.'

'Ok, lemme sleep here too.'

'Uh, Planetshine, I'm just asking, but do you want to see my real identity?'

'Yeah.

'Don't tell anypony else, I've always wanted to share my identity with somepony, but I never really got the chance to.'

He pulled off his mask, revealing a handsome young stallion's face. 'Lone Wind.'

'Wow,' I honked. He was majestic, his face so pretty. Didn't have a crush on him though. I don't exactly know why he chose to stay with Starry, maybe he had a crush on her, could be true. It was hard to exactly describe him, he was a graceful white stallion, muscular, sexy af.

A day passed, I'm bored of staying in a little hospital ward, needed to go outside. I'm not entirely an introvert. I had to go outside too, right? Trotting out of the hospital door, the outside was gloomy, dead bodies scattered on the ground. Anarchy was very apparent, no leader of the bunch, no way of governing them. The princess didn't want to command all of the ponies. Nopony was the leader. This was true anarchy.

The princess flew down towards me, landing right in front of me. 'Planetshine, the numbers of ponies are decreasing, we need your help with something,' she cried.

'Show me princess,' I responded.

'Call me Donut, or GD, short for Glazed Donut.'

'Ok, Donut.'

Strange name for a princess, good names for princesses would be Mi Amore Cadenza or Molestia. Yeah, Molestia, joke name for Luna because 'Moon' and 'lestia' make Molestia. Funny in a bit of a sexual way because molesting something is bad. I love my high school days.

Anyways, I was brought to the spaceplane hangar, told to help with some of the engineering. I'm no expert in engineering, but I was decent. I mean, I've designed atmospheric planes like the Aeris 3A and a spaceplane called the Aeris 4A. The Aeris 3a was a huge success as it was used everywhere as a training jet, the 4A was not very popular.

From there, I came up with a few plans and whatnot to get the fucking spaceplane off the ground. I came up with the best idea of all the engineers and design experts, strap on more boosters. The others came up with ingenious ideas such as making it so that the Galaxy Diver could start of with barely any fuel and get to Minmus to refuel, but my design definitely caught the eyes of the other ponies. Done!

Nothing to do now, Flame Rider was being the typical engineer that was salvaging parts while I might go to the hospital to do a piss. No other toilets, the astronaut complex was destroyed and the ones in the R&D were dead. Too bad I had to take my suit off to fucking piss. Oh well, that's the nature of a spacesuit I guess.

Talking about taking off my spacesuit, I noticed some funny differences to my body. My tail looked different and my legs had extra fur or hair on it. Quite strange, it was like a kirin. Talking about kirin, they had large ears that looked very different from pony ears. Looking into the mirror, I definitely had kirin ears, but no strip of scales down the forehead and onto the muzzle, or scales on my back. Strange.

There was no way that was possible though, I was a pony from the start. How could I become a kirin like that. How is that even possible? Maybe I was born that way, but that chance was low, but I never got to meet my real mother, perhaps she was a kirin. Also, I was found at the Peaks Of Peril, adopted by my not biological parents. Oh well, that wasn't important, and later I checked on Lone Wind and Starry.

No sign of 'life'. No emotions, brain's still dead. What now? The night passed with theories of what shit would happen the next day. This is equestria after all. Dragons destroying the place? Lone Wind electrocuting Starry Night again after her heart randomly stops beating. For what I know right now is that my friends are all alive, except Lyra and Bon Bon.

Waking up, there was nothing to do for the whole damn day, nothing, like fucking nothing at all. No attacks came from outside and everything went well, Flame Rider doing some ion engine engineering and whatnot, Donut doing keeping the place out of intruders, Lone Wind and I with Starry. Ironstar somehow was nowhere to be found. He wasn't in any nook and cranny of the space center. Where was he? Did he die?

Starry was extremely hard to care for, and Lone Wind and I had lots of problems trying to meet all her needs, feeding her and washing her. We were like nurses, but not certified nurses. Nopony else was in the hospital, it felt like it was abandoned, and Lone Wind could easily have his identity revealed with nopony seeing him, though he didn't.

Days passed, everyone alive, Ironstar still missing. Where was he? Seemed like he was dead. Ponies salvaged the remains of the ESS, making them into a fleet of Galaxy Voyagers, spaceplanes running off fusion propulsion that were designed for long range missions and warfare, also able to be launched like a shuttle. The space center also received an outlandish message from what we think as a foreign spacecraft from Pentagon Space.

Pentagon Space, Ironstar's homeland. The message read:

Thank you for testing our new biological weapon. It has been a huge success and we thank you very much for your service in helping us test it. We will now eliminate all remaining life on the planet.

-PS-d

PS-d, what could that mean? Pentagon Space defectors, destroyers, defence program? What my interpretations of the 'd' at the end are as good as the other ponies. Most of the ponies freaked out after seeing the eliminate all life part, but the best thing to do was to keep calm. Why would they do this? Was Ironstar an undercover agent? Was he telling lies?

More days have passed, Starry still not able to move or do anything, but it was getting better. Cognitive functions could kinda work according to electromagnetic sensors. That was a great sign that she was living and was not dead. Great thing that she didn't die, It would be tragic if she did.

No Pentagon Space battleships or new viruses, maybe they were planning their attack or something. Speaking of them planning the attack, we were given lots of time to develop advanced spaceplanes. One week later the first Galaxy Voyager was complete, and Galaxy Diver was able to fly. It flew, and it got into space, going to Laythe, carrying base building kits and only 120 passengers. They were the last of the creatures that lived on Equestria, also ponies.

All the others stayed on Equestria, the Galaxy Diver couldn't fit everyone. We formed a group called Gravity. Just five members, me, Starry, Flame Rider, Lone Wind and Donut. We all wanted Ironstar to be in the group, but he was still nowhere to be found. Where did he go?

Weeks passed, the virus starting to get more serious. Hope seemed to just fade into thin air, the last stand on Equestria slowly fading away. There were now only ponies in Equestria, the last remaining creature other than a pony died. Life in Equestria seemed like it would be extinct in the next year, but we wouldn't let it be that way. We have to fight back.

Kevlar armour started to spark up, making near impervious suits and vests that could be made for cheap. Flexible carbon fiber made it so that it could be more than 100 times stronger than steel, enough to resist anything. I modded my spacesuit with a kevlar layer on the outside for some protection. I don't want to die, just like all the others, but the others were slowly infected. A cure was still not found, though some have kinda worked, reverting the physical body but not the mind.

EASA also started to make mech suits, those ones that a pony would be able to control, courtesy of Starry's ingenious and forward thinking designs. Equestrian technology was advancing, and it was advancing fast. Still no sign of Pentagon Space attacks, and the zombies were nowhere to be found. The infected air became stronger though, and ponies were still turning into zombies one by one.

On the 2nd of June, 4419, something heartbreaking happened, Lyra died. She was such a good pony, leading in the spaceplane program. She kept the spaceplanes all safe, away from any of the zombie intruders and also participated in the building of them. She was also my friend, which made it extra shattering. I fell into depression, extreme depression. My emotions broke down, my brain couldn't function, I'm dead inside.

All that is known of her death was that a zombie dragon killed her, though she died in hospital. The story goes like this, Lyra was trying to fight a zombie dragon with a few other ponies. The other ponies weren't hurt though, they were completely fine. Lyra wasn't though, and the dragon grabbed her by her helmet, taking it off.

The next part was painful to even think about. The dragon grabbed her by the neck and bit into it, blood oozing from her neck. Then, the dragon breathed fire when she was in its mouth, bleeding from the dragon's bite at the same time. That's all I was told, nothing else. The dragon later was killed and Lyra was rushed to the hospital, barely alive.

Her last words were, 'Tell th...'

Her heartbeat stopped, thick crimson blood still dripping out from her burnt head and neck. Her breathing also stopped, she was completely dead. Donut tried to revive her, but no, it didn't work. I lied there on the floor, in a dangerous state of crippling depression.

I stood there for the rest of the day, Lyra's body eventually getting removed. I couldn't perceive anything, my mind was in a complete state of thinking about Lyra. Flashbacks occurred, memories played back. How could she die? She was one of the most important ponies in my life. She was my friend, and losing a friend, it doesn't feel good.

Finally getting out of that period of extreme depression, I finally had the guts to get up, still in a severe case of sadness. I sobbed the whole way out, going to the kitchen to grab a knife. Grabbing the knife, I slowly crawled to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. Instead of the reflection of me showing up, it was Lyra. I couldn't stop thinking about her. There was no way I could stop thinking about her.

Holding the knife in one hoof, I thought to myself, shutting my eyes tight, tears pouring down my eyes. I couldn't take it anymore. Slice, the knife went, a huge chunk of my mane fell onto the ground. I needed a way to remember to remember Lyra, and this was the easiest way. Shaving some of my mane off even more, I had the Lyra mane style. Looked nearly identical to her. This was the way I'm going to remember her.

The next few days were harsh. I was still in depression, and I just wasn't able to take in everything that happened. I resisted suicide. I could never suicide. I know this was just depression and it wasn't an excuse to suicide. If I were to die I would rather die as a hero, dying in fighting for other ponies' lives.