A Deadly Sanctuary

3 months. 3 months since the worst epidemic to affect Equestria started. In Ponyville, a small group of lucky ponies who managed to escape the disease were staggering exhaustedly forth.

They were entering the Castle of Friendship, which was now the last sanctuary in Ponyville, and as far as the survivors knew, in Equestria. Princess Twilight Sparkle was ushering them all in as fast as she could, noting that many of the infected appeared to be approaching rather swiftly.

“Everypony, please just remain calm! I know you feel unsafe!” she said, hoping her message of assurance would settle the survivors down. Unfortunately, her words no longer had the effect they did when Equestria wasn’t a blood-drenched wasteland.

“How can we stay calm when they’re right behind us?!” cried out Lyra Heartstrings.

“Yeah! You’re not the one who was being chased by slobbering, manic ponies who spit and hurl blood at you!” added Bon-Bon.

“I know that you’ve been through a lot, everypony, but as soon as you get into the castle, you’ll be safe, I promise! So please, enter in an orderly fashion!” Twilight responded, feeling somewhat like a school teacher attempting to keep order in a classroom full of hyperactive foals.

Thankfully, the survivors weren’t going to complain about a sanctuary from the hellscape outside. Practically running inside, they immediately got as far away from the entryway as they could. Once Twilight knew they were all in, she slammed the doors closed, using her magic to form a magic shield around the entire castle.

Having expended much of her energy to do so, Twilight sank to her haunches and breathed heavily, taking a good look at the survivors. Her element-bearing friends were all there, which brought her some relief. In fact, Rainbow Dash’s whole family had made it, consisting of her younger brother Second Wind, their dad Bow Hothoof, and their mom Windy Whistles.

“Alright, everypony, we need to count how many of us made it here. I’ll need you all to line up and stand still while I count.” Twilight said sternly to the beleaguered ponies.

The ponies all nodded in agreement, lining up as asked. As Twilight counted each one, she found there were exactly twenty ponies all together, including herself and her number one assistant, Spike.

As Twilights’ gaze swept over the small group, she noticed something that chilled her to the bone.
At the very end of the line, a pair of ponies were lost in a passionate embrace, practically eating one anothers’ faces as they made sick squelching noises. Twilight’s stomach felt like it dropped into an ice-cold lake as she realized who they were.

“D-derpy? Rarity?” Twilight asked quietly, her eyes tearing up.

Rarity, jerking away from Derpy, looked around before backing up a few paces.

“O-oh, Twilight, darling! W-whatever may I do for you?” she said, looking rather nervous.

“R-rarity… You know kissing is dangerous, and it’s not like you to just… are you two i-infected?” Twilight asked as her voice broke.

“Oh, darling, me and Derpy were just… lost in the moment,” said Rarity, her eyes flickering over to Derpy, who was obviously trying as hard as possible not to raise suspicion.

Trixie, who had been at the other end of the line, stepped forward and glared ominously at the two.

“Rarity, Derpy, have you two been kissed by anypony else lately? And I mean anypony,” she asked.

Rarity hesitated a moment.

“There was a certain colt in the marketplace a week or so ago who kissed me out of the blue, but surely he was just excited, not infected!” she insisted.

Derpy shuffled in place awkwardly, and seemed to be concentrating on something, as best as could be told by her permanently derped expression.

“Um… Well, the Doctor kissed me after he baked me a basket of muffins… He was just being nice I think,” she stated.

“As I expected… and did you know that he was one of the infected chasing us?!” Trixie said with a huge step towards the grey pegasus, closing half the distance to her.

Derpy cringed back somewhat.

“But he couldn’t be! He’s such a nice stallion, and he just baked me another basket of muffins this morning!” Derpy said defensively.

“Oh, and how long ago was the kiss then? About...a week and a half ago?“ Trixie asked with a stern look.

Derpy blinked.

“Has it really been that long?” she said, seeming confused.

“If it has...then you’d be at the stage where you start having a little trouble with things coming out both ends right about now. Say, why are you standing like that?” Trixie asked, as everypony stared at Derpy.

“Um… I don’t know?” Derpy said, her stomach making a gurgle as she let out a small squeaky fart.

“With how quiet this castle is, I’m sure most ponies heard that...our little grey friend here is mere hours from becoming one of those things!” Trixie stated as she turned away from the grey pegasus.

“D-darling, don’t you think you may be acting just a bit rash? I understand she was most unladylike with her actions just now, but that doesn’t mean that she is infected!” said Rarity.

“I’m afraid even the Great and Powerful Trixie has no definitive test, but we know there’s been contact with an infected, and behavior like one. The two of you will need to be... put down. Twilight, aren’t you the authority here?” Trixie asked as she returned to a spot far away from the two infected ponies.

Rarity turned to Twilight with a pleading look.

“Please, Twilight… We’re your friends! You wouldn’t do this to us, would you?” she begged.

"Ah'm afraid we don't got a choice, sugarcube," Applejack said, laying a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder in support.

"But of course you do, darling! You can simply exile us, perhaps?!" Rarity begged.

“If we did that, you’d just help the rest of the infected get in here!” cried out Starlight, with a few murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

"You assume we’re infected, but couldn’t you come up with a test? You can’t just murder a pony on a hunch! You don’t know for sure!" said Rarity with a stamp of her hoof on the floor.

“I don’t know, I’ve tried to make a test before, but it never worked,” Twilight sighed.

“We just don’t have the time,” Starlight said grimly.

“Regardless, It’s true I can’t just execute you without knowing for sure, so I’ll let you two decide,” Twilight stated.

Derpy stepped forward with a scowl on her face, making Twilight and Applejack step back. The mare appeared ready to unleash a tirade that could demolish the castle, but she lost her demeanor as a loud squeak erupted from her rear.

“While Trixie loves to argue, Derpy could blow at any moment. Can we take this outside to leave things there instead of here?“ stated Trixie with a look of disgust.

“I… I suppose… I’ll just need to extend the shield a bit,” Twilight responded.

“I’ll deal with any infected with a few simple spells. Now, everypony follow me.” Glimmer reassured her as she lit her horn and walked out the door.

“I shall not move from this position,” said Rarity, sitting on her haunches in place. Derpy nodded in agreement, doing the same.

Starlight rolled her eyes and nudged Trixie. Within moments, the two suspected infected were swept off their hooves and dragged along by levitation magic, with a slight “eep” noise escaping Rarity’s mouth.

Once everypony was outside, Starlight focused her gaze on a bloodied Big Mac muttering something and upchucking a bloody spray. He charged at the shield and she simply smiled as she lit her horn, making the shield’s surface nearly instantly vaporize his front half, while blood spewed onto it.

Applejack shrieked at this, while many of the ponies watching gasped in shock.

"Starlight! That wasn't necessary! The shield could keep him out!" cried out Twilight, sitting down from the sight.

“It was. Big Mac was the strongest of them, we couldn’t have him hanging around here,” stated Starlight coldly.

"Mah… Mah brother…" said Applejack, obviously shocked.

"B-b-big Mac…" Applebloom whimpered, hiding her muzzle against her sisters' side.

The two suspected infected were speechless, wondering if their fate would be the same. They were soon dragged to the edge of the shield and made to face the castle.

“Everypony, these two are dangerous, if you aren’t one of their friends or making the decisions, it would be best if you stand far to their left,” said Trixie, Twilight appearing too shocked to say anything against the decision.

The main crowd moved left as ordered, and Twilight, who had recovered at last, along with Trixie, Mayor Mare, and close friends of the two infected, went close to their right.

Twilight looked to Trixie and Starlight with a glare, disliking the way they had taken control of the situation, but Mayor Mare stopped her with a hoof.

“Twilight, you’re the princess here, but I think they’re right. Could you at least try to listen to them?” she requested.

Derpy, meanwhile, had advanced on Rarity yet again.

“Hey, it might be our last chance to get some sugar…” she said.

Rarity cringed, but allowed a quick smooch.

"Look at them, so desperate to touch one another. Of course they're infected!" stated Bonbon, to several mutters of agreement from the others.

Twilight sighed, looking down in defeat.

As soon as she did so, a pained expression appeared on Derpy’s face. She quickly squatted, lifting her tail.

“Um, one moment please!” she said with a goofy smile as a sudden squelch came from her rear.

It was followed by several more squelches, then a loud squirt, and finally the patter of excrement.

At this, ponies lowered their ears with varying expressions of disgust and illness. Several moved slightly farther away, and a few like Second Wind and Scootaloo made their disgust audible.

Rarity stared in shock, looking rather queasy and horrified as Derpy’s bowels released for over a minute.

Derpy sighed in relief for a moment before she seemed to become nauseous.

“I don’t feel goo-” she began, getting cut off by a stream of vomit splattering on the ground from her muzzle.

“See, there’s blood in it. Trixie was right!” said Trixie triumphantly.

Twilight gave a glare that, if looks could kill, would have reduced Trixie to ash.

Windy Whistles seemed particularly disgusted by the scene, hugging her youngest foal, Second Wind as a series of sputters signaled Derpy’s body was starting to let loose from both ends at once.

“Please, just get it over with! Put the poor mare out of her misery!” she said, covering her foal’s eyes with a hoof.

“This actually isn’t too bad, anypony wanna kiss?” Derpy asked while seeming delirious in between streams of vomit, alarming many ponies, especially Rarity.

“I’m sorry, Derpy…” Starlight said as she lit her horn.

Starlight formed something similar to a blade made of air from her magic, giving off heat that even the crowd could feel. It swung down fast onto Derpy’s neck and effortlessly slid through to the other side. In an instant, Derpy’s head was severed, and the wound on both sides cauterized with a bit of steaming.

Derpy’s head flew several inches away from her body, blinking at the crowd and eliciting several cries of fear and disgust. Windy Whistles and Rainbow Dash both looked queasy, Windy throwing up at the sight. Second Wind quivered as he heard his mother vomit.

Rarity screamed and stepped back a bit from the blinking head, her hoof hovering in the air as she looked at it uneasily. A single, squeaky fart from the unicorn could be heard.

"Starlight! Why would you do that?!" Twilight yelled, her horn lighting up angrily.

“She was spewing from both ends, and she was about to start trying to get it on us deliberately! I’m sorry, Twilight, but it had to be done...” she said with a sad look.

“Twilight, she was doing what was necessary for the only survivors of Ponyville,” said Mayor Mare calmly, yet diplomatically.

Twilight breathed deeply, unlighting her horn.

"Fine. If it was for the greater good," she replied.

“You know, that was pretty messed up, Starlight, but… It was kinda awesome too,” said Rainbow.

Twilight and Applejack glared a moment at the pegasus.

“Everypony, now’s the time for goodbyes. Rarity’s dying one way or another,” said Twilight solemnly.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy held each other as they began to bawl, muttering incoherently amidst the waterworks.

“Rarity! You can’t let them do this! We could… we could cure you!” Spike said, running up and getting as far as Twilight before being stopped by an outstretched wing.

“I’m sorry, Spikey-Wikey, but there isn’t time and I don’t want to go out like Derpy!” she said, tearing up slightly as she motioned a hoof to the puddles of vomit and diarrhea with her eyes still fixated on the now-twitching head.

Rarity broke her gaze with a look of horror as she finally succumbed to her own biological needs, squatting with her tail up and farting profusely.

“Oh goodness, it’s happening to me too! This is so undignified!” said Rarity desperately as liquid began spurting out her rear.

“Rarity… I treated you like just a crush sometimes, but… I always felt we were close...” Spike said as Sweetie Belle came to his side.

“Ngh… Spikey-Wikey... you didn’t need to say anything. Just don’t remember me like this. Remember me from before this horror!” she said with a pained expression and tears streaming down her snout as feces streamed out below.

Spike sniffled and turned away, not wanting to look any longer.

“Rarity… you really were a great sister. I know I took you for granted sometimes, but I really did love you more than anypony else. G-goodbye.” said Sweetie with her voice cracking.

“Goodbye… Please, make it quick, Twilight!” begged Rarity as her diarrhea worsened with a squelch.

“I’ll miss you…” murmured Twilight as she formed a magic blade just like Starlight’s.

Rarity smiled back, despite clearly being in pain, even as the blade went through her neck. With a sickening thump, her head hit the ground and her body fell over. Her eyes met with Sweetie’s as she tried to mouth something, but soon she twitched and then went still.

As everypony looked on, a moment of silence passed, broken only by the bawling of Sweetie Belle, a few sputters from Rarity’s corpse, and the muffled whimpers of Second Wind.