Seeing Orange

by Tekket

Rating: teen
Tags: Death, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Sad, Horror
Length: 8013

A documentation of one mare as she tries to save her friends from a mysterious sickness... one that makes them see orange, and drives them mad.

A plague has swept through Equestria, and the Capital city of Canterlot contains the last bastion of civilization, the final holdout against the sickness that causes ponies to lose their sight and themselves. Inside an abandoned building, sits a lonely diary, chronicling a mare's journey to help her friends overcome the disease.

Published 2020-06-29 05:30:00 UTC
Last updated 2020-11-04 19:20:36 UTC

Guard Notes - Corporal Brick Breaker

End of Day Report - October 14th

We cleared out the wraiths hanging around the main gate with Lieutenant Windform; the Lt. said she heard some of the wraiths sounding like their old selves again, made me promise to detain her if she started having second thoughts about protocol. Recommend re-evaluating Windform’s condition for active duty.

End of Day Report - October 15th

Found a filly stuck in the debris of the old royal barbershop just outside the palace walls. Captain Brazen Bell directed the excavation efforts. Lt. Windform was given command of the perimeter while the Captain’s detachment dug her out. They found the kid’s parents completely crushed along with a couple of corpses that look like they might have turned into wraiths. No indication of what caused the collapse.

End of Day Report - October 16th

Corporal Crystal Lens had to leave her shift early on account of a splitting headache and nausea. Lt. Windform ordered her down to the infirmary for a checkup and bed rest. East wall patrol was uneventful. The Lieutenant saved my life today while we were clearing out wraiths from in front of the main gate again today, but she got a chunk taken out of her side. She says the wound isn’t deep and her blue fur looks striking with the red gash.

End of Day Report - October 17th

Crystal Lens had been infected. I went down to the infirmary today to visit her and found her ripping the throat out of one of the medics. I had to

She was my squadmate. I did what I

She would have understood. I put in a request for psychological re-evaluation and asked to see the resident psychologist, but my recommendation for Windform hasn’t even gone through yet.
I was given the rest of the day off to recover. I have a screening for potential infection tomorrow.

End of Day Report - October 18th

Screening came back clear. I returned to active duty today. Lt. Windform put in a request for more guards, our squad is starting to dwindle. Princess Celestia made a rare appearance today, reassuring everypony taking refuge in the palace. Doctors and mages are still working on a cure for the color plague. Otherwise, patrols were mostly quiet today. Our one foray into the city caused a lot of wraiths to follow us. I think Lieutenant Windform’s recent wound might be attracting them.

End of Day Report - October 19th

Lt. Windform’s wound has definitely been attracting more wraiths than would usually find us. Short trip into the city caused us to be completely surrounded in under an hour. The nine of us never stood a chance, but they mostly focused on the Lt. She told us to run and lead them around the walls of the palace. We were about to disobey her order and follow when we saw one of the wraiths come out of the alley.

It had been the Element Bearer of Honesty, Applejack. The Lt. got most of their attention, and the one that had been Applejack went after her too, but we still lost Gear Grinder on the way to the Western Gate. The rest of us made it inside. There’s been no word from the Lieutenant since she pulled the wraiths off us.

End of Day Report - October 20th

One of the other patrols found the body of Lt. Windform. The wraith of Applejack was hanging around her corpse earlier in the day but then left and started moaning and screeching at the main gates. No one knew how to respond so we just let it be until it left. Windform’s body was brought back into the palace grounds and she was posthumously promoted to Major and the service is tomorrow.

End of Day Report - October 21st

The ceremony for Major Windform was nice. Celestia raised the sun nice and early and the skies were miraculously clear, even with no pegasi to keep it that way. After the service, duty resumed and we went for another mission into the city. We found a building with some heavily barricaded doors and found a pair of dead fillies. The corpses were a few days old, but they hadn’t been infected before death. In the last room we found…

I am hereby reporting that The Element Bearer of the Element of Honesty, Miss Applejack has passed on. She seemed to have succumbed to the color plague, but a journal was found detailing her symptoms and travels, which will be attached to this report.

The building she was found in was burned, to destroy the evidence surrounding her death and preserve the image many had for her. With the information found in her writings we assume the other Element Bearers are also dead. The Princesses have been notified. Princess Celestia hasn’t come out of her room yet. Princess Luna left early in the evening, refusing any sort of escort. She flew high until she couldn’t be seen against the night sky, but all the guards and remaining civilians knew she was heading to Ponyville.

Our last hope is gone. We have nothing to strive for anymore.

Author's Note

Back with the finishing touches for this story. I'm trying to finish up the other stories that have been incomplete for far too long, but this year has not been kind to me. I've been doing far more reading than writing, and I haven't managed to do much reading at all.

I'm almost out of ink, but that's okay.

Dear Diary,

Oh bessie, it feels good to look at somethin’ that ain’t orange. I dunno what’s happened and I don’t know what’s been going on these last few weeks, but I can’t for the life of me explain it. I might start telling a full recounting of what happened later in these pages if I get my thoughts together but for now I just need to write and see something that ain’t orange. See, the ink is still black, and just putting pen to paper makes me feel a bit better, at least I can start sorting things out and trying to remember how everything happened.

For now, the ink is black, and that’s all that matters. These pages are still pale peach, but the ink is black and that means there’s hope. If there’s still something that’s black it means there might be something that’s another color too.

If I get my mind together and stop from going insane I might start recounting how things

Hang on, I already wrote that. Dagnabit. This has affected me more than I even thought it had.

I’ll try writing every day though, just to stay sane, and I think it’ll be good for my morale too… though if I were to guess, if I don’t find anything else that’s not orange soon, I might start writing as much as I can just to see the black ink on these pages.

For now, I’ve got a pen, a whole lotta peach-colored paper, enough ink to last me at least a week, and a whole lotta time on my hooves. I think the writing is doing the trick though, it’s already calming me down, and I think that’s a good sign. It’s getting late, so I ought to get some shuteye while I can.

I’m gonna keep this diary close to me, and the ink too. At night things are better though.

At least at night I don’t have to see that horrid orange.

Dear Diary,

I gotta say, I think this writing thing (or maybe just seeing the black ink) is really helping with my nerves, I woke up a lot calmer than the last few nights, and I think I’m ready to start retelling what happened, if only to have the words written down in case I need to go over them again.

Howdy, my name’s Applejack and I’m the element bearer of the Element of Honesty. I lived in Ponyville, at my family’s apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres. Together with my friends, I

I’m sorry, this is still hard to wrap my head around. I’m guessing that’s enough information about me for now, but I guess I can start writing down what happened that caused me to be so shaken up yesterday.

See, it all started with apple bucking season. I was bucking apples like normal, any other day, working hard alongside my big brother and younger sister to get all the apples down in the main part of the harvest when they were all ripe and such, and I looked at the apples I was bucking and it seemed like they were a bit off-color to me. Nothing serious, but they seemed like maybe they weren’t quite ripe yet once I had gotten a good look at them, but Big Mac and Apple Bloom said they looked redder than ever this year.

I thought maybe the heat and the work was just getting to me, and so that evening I made sure to drink plenty of water and took some extra vitamins; didn’t want to be coming down with nothing, you see.

Well, that didn’t help none as it turns out. The next day I woke up and I swear I thought we had peach and orange trees planted on the farm instead of apple trees. My siblings insisted that the apples looked fine to me, but I looked at an orange and I looked at an apple and they were the same color of orange to me.

I knew something was going wonky with my vision, so I went straight to Twilight. I’d hoped she had read a book about something like this happening, but she said she hadn’t and that my eyes were looking a bit dim.

We decided to go see Zecora after that, but by the time we set out in the afternoon, some of the leaves on trees were starting to look like autumn had come early, what with all the slight change in their color I was seeing. I told Twilight about it and she said we should speed up, so we did.

Long story short, Zecora gave me some medicine and told me to get plenty of rest. I didn’t want to leave my family to handle apple bucking season without me, but I was starting to get mighty scared I’d be seeing oranges instead of apples for the rest of my life.

Alright, I’d best get moving. I dunno if where I am right now is safe enough for me to risk writing more right now. I’ll write again tomorrow when I wake up. I think that’ll be a good routine. It’ll be good to have something to look forward to the next day, even if it’s something as small as just a bit of writing.

Dear Diary,

Woke up to the sound of one of those wraiths stumbling around in the dark outside. It was really early, but I didn’t get any sleep after that. I heard it shuffling around, growling like they do. Nearly scared me outta my coat when it started banging on the door, but I blocked that off good.

It felt like hours until it finally left, and then hours still until the sun came up, a single bright blot in the peach sky barely visible through the cracks in the piled-up furniture against the windows.

I should probably explain. I’m currently holed up in Rarity’s boutique, it’s pretty close to the train station, and somewhat close to the edge of town. It’s taken me a few days to get here, and I was having mighty serious second thoughts when I forced my way in here, those mannequins are kinda creepy when it's just you and them.

If I wanna get to Canterlot I have to follow the tracks out from Ponyville, but that won’t be easy. I’ll have to be right on the tracks in order to see them, and that means I might run into some wraiths out in the open.

I don’t like being out in the open.

The trouble with everything being orange, or some shade of orange and peach, is that it makes seeing things awfully difficult at times, especially when it’s really bright. I’ve already tripped myself up enough times to lose count, and ran face-first into a couple of fences.

Now, I’m a tough pony, but walking slap-bang into a well-built picket fence with your muzzle is not very fun, and I got a few splinters from that second one (those were a pain to get out with hooves and no help).

I think all the wraiths around me are gone though, so I’m gonna pack up and head out. I wanna make it to the train station today, and I need time to make sure the building is secure and that nothing can get in during the night. I’ll write again tomorrow.

Dear Diary,

I'm still alive, and I made it to the train station yesterday before nightfall, only problem is, I think somepony had the same idea as I did, 'cause everything was boarded off and blocked up from the inside. Luckily there was a train at the station, and I managed to lock myself in one of the carriages. I managed to get a good few hours of shuteye last night, and I'm about to head out of town.

The going will be a bit rougher from now on, I suspect, since there won't be nearly as much cover out on the tracks while I'm walking, so if I see any wraiths out there I'll have to get creative.

I should probably keep going on how this all happened.

After I took that medicine and slept for the night, I woke up feeling a little bit worse, with a small headache, but when I opened my eyes, I'll admit I started to freak just a bit. My whole room had a light peach tint to it, and when I looked outside all the grass looked like it had died and the trees looked like they were right in the middle of autumn.

I couldn't believe my eyes so I went straight to Twilight and she told me my eyes were a sort of murky grey color and she had said she was going to do a few tests. She took a couple blood samples and measured my brain I think; she used some kind of big fancy contraption that she put on my head but said it would take a few days to finish the tests, so I went home to get some more rest.

I shoulda known something was wrong when I got home and Granny Smith said she had a bit of a headache and her eyes were sore, but I didn't want to believe that whatever I had could be spreading, so I gave her some of Zecora's medicine and put her to bed before I did the same.

Big Mac and Apple Bloom decided to sleep on the main floor to stop them from getting sick in case this thing really was contagious, but we never

We didn't know.

We couldn't know.

How could we?

I have to get going. It's going to be a long walk down the tracks with nothing to do but watch the orange scenery.

Dear Diary,

I made a camp off the side of the tracks and drew an arrow into the dirt to show which direction I was going so I don't get confused about which direction I need to go today. Yesterday was mostly uneventful.

I went through one of my water canteens and ate a small supper, but my things don't feel any lighter. So far, I haven't seen any telltale signs of a wraith since I left Ponyville, but that could ch

Sorry about that. My eyes are always playing tricks on me now. I thought I saw something at the edge of the tracks for just a moment. My stuff is already packed and I just need to put my diary away to be able to get going, but I'm finding that it's hard to stop. If I could, I would just write nonsense words, just to see the constant flow of the black ink, but that'd be a waste and I have to get to Canterlot.

I promised I would get there and come back with a cure.

I promised Granny. I promised Big Mac. I promised Apple Bloom. I promised Rarity. I promised Pinkie. I promised Fluttershy. I promised Rainbow Dash.

I couldn't promise Twilight.

Dear Diary,

I was right yesterday. I had seen something by the edge of the train tracks, and I spent the better part of today trying to avoid it, but they're so gosh darn unpredictable it took me almost all day to lose it.

I realize I sound like I'm rambling a bit, not making much sense, but it would take a while to explain so bear with me. I'm writing this in the evening before I forget any details, but I also just needed something comforting and I get the most comfort from writing and seeing the words in black these days.

The flickering by the train tracks earlier today, it was a wraith. I was hoping it wouldn't be, but it was. I don't know how to describe them other than orange.

I started calling em wraiths on account of just how hard they are to spot. They're orange, just like everything else, but it's almost like they have no substance to em. They don't stay one shade of orange, unlike everything else, they kind of just...

They're like a ghost, or something like that. They're orange, but they tend to have the same color of whatever's behind them. They walk around quietly too, so it's hard to tell they're there, but they do make an awful moaning sound when they get excited.

I was out here on the train tracks all day just trying to put as much distance as I could between myself and it, but I realized it would just keep going the same direction and catch up to me at some point, so I had to lure it away from the tracks and take a long loop around to get back.

I lost almost half the day doing it, but I'm safe again... er, I hope.

All I know is that I am plum tuckered out after running all day today and trying to find the tracks again in this accursed orange grass.

Canterlot is visible on the mountain ahead, and it looks like just another day or two of walking before I get to the base of the mountain, so it does seem like I made some progress today.

I have to get some rest now. I'll write again first thing in the morning.

Dear Diary,

I don't know if I have great news or terrible news.

Turns out that wraith was more persistent than I thought it would be, 'cause it found me just before dawn and managed to catch me in my sleep.

I screamed bloody murder when I felt something chomp down on my shoulder, and my hooves shot out so quick it pulled a chunk of me off with it.

I was so scared and confused I ran for half an hour before I turned around to try to and calm myself down enough to scavenge my camp. It took another half hour of talking to myself for me to get the courage to go back.

The wraith was still there, flickering in and out of reality and just wandering around my camp. I would have completely missed it too, and it would have gotten to take another chunk outta me if there wasn't one thing that made it stand out like a sore thumb.

Its face was covered in blood.

You heard me! Blood! My blood, but blood no less! What I mean to say is, I saw red blood on its face, and only after that did I realize the blood dripping from my shoulder was red too.

I had never been so happy to see blood before in my life, and if the world hadn't hit the fan already, I don't think I ever would, but my blood was red still and it made it mighty easy to see where the thing's head was.

I knocked that thing a couple times over the head with a shovel I had in my pack before quickly grabbing all my stuff and running back down the tracks.

I stopped to bandage my shoulder, and the red still showed through the peach cloth I used as a bandage.

I don't know if I should be happy or not though. On the one hoof, there's something else that still hasn't lost its color, but on the other, its blood, and to see blood you need to hurt or kill something, and I don't wanna have to do that.

But it gives me hope. Maybe with blood we can make a cure or something. Or maybe it’s a sign that things might be starting to go back to normal.

And before you ask, the wraith did bleed when I hit it, but it was orange, just like everything else.

Dear Diary,

I got to the base of Canterlot Mountain today, and I made my camp a little ways away from the train tunnel leading into to mountain depths. I don't want anything sneaking up on me from there, but I wanna keep it in sight so I don't wander around looking for it in the day.

Anyway, it's a good thing I have a lantern I was saving for just such an occasion, 'cause it is going to be dark as a locked barn at night when I start making my way through there.

I saw some writing etched into the ground yesterday. It was right beside the tracks. That's another reason I don't wanna camp by the tracks.

Apparently somepony from Vanhoover got here before me, but the whole city is gone, taken over by the orange sickness, or whatever you want to call it.

I still remember how they looked.

The day after Granny started feeling worse I went back into town to see Twilight, hoping she'd have some results for me, but Spike said she had come down with a cold and couldn't get out of bed.

I rushed straight up to her room right away to check on her. She wasn't burning up or vomiting or even all that pale, but her eyes weren't purple anymore.

They were muddy brown, and glassy, too. At first I thought it might be my eyes not working properly again, but I asked Spike later and he confirmed it. She looked at me and told me she had a headache and her eyes were sore and itching.

I tried

I did what I could. Spike too. He's a good dragon, always trying his best where Twilight is concerned. I left him to take care of her after Twilight started complaining about her headache.

I went to see Pinkie Pie right away, but Sugarcube Corner was closed. I managed to sneak in the back though, and crept into Pinkie's room. Twilight might have looked a bit sick, but to me, Pinkie’s whole coat was the same color as my own and her mane was almost the same reddish as Apple Bloom's. I dunno if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, but she was lying in bed and just... just staring off into nothing.

Her breaths were coming in shallow gasps and she kept mumbling about "so much orange". She didn't even seem to see me when I waved my hoof in front of her face and tried asking her what happened. She must have heard me at some point, but she looked around like I wasn't there and started talking to me like I was hanging off the ceiling.

I wasn't... entirely sure if she knew I was there.

She kept saying the cake twins got her sick and that her eyes wouldn’t stop watering and everything was turning orange.

At that point I just bolted and got out of there. As I passed through Ponyville, I noticed some ponies acting strangely on the street. Some were just standing and staring straight ahead in the middle of the road, while others kept complaining about it being too bright and hurting their eyes.

I ran home to get the rest of the medicine and take it to stay as healthy as possible, but when I got there Big Mac was making soup for Granny Smith and Apple Bloom 'cause they weren't feeling well.

I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore.

It's hard to... to relive this like this. I know I have to write it down to help anyone that might read this and to help myself stay sane, but I need to stop for today.

Maybe I'll write again tomorrow.

Dear Diary,

I managed to get through the tunnel today. I'm lucky I managed to do it all in one day, I don't wanna think about trying to sleep in there. I found... bodies.

There were ponies in there, at one point at least, but... they looked like they got attacked by wild animals.

Or maybe wraiths.

I kept going, praying nothing would get me and that I'd make it through okay, and I did. I'm making camp right on the other side of the tunnel exit. I can see Canterlot in the distance, just a half hour's walk away, but I'm getting tired more often now, and that tunnel trip was mostly uphill.

I have hope though.

I can see lights on in some of the windows of the castle. Which means there's somepony in there still alive. Most of the city is all dark and quiet, which is a bad sign, but if there's somepony else out there, anypony else, then it means there's still a chance we can stop this.

There's a chance we can save some of our friends.

When I got home I gave everyone the last of the medicine evenly, even Big Mac. He said he was feeling fine, and I couldn't tell if he was lying, but I wanted to make sure. We needed to do everything we could to stay healthy and safe.

The next day my headache had cleared up, but by then everything was orange. Everypony I saw, everything on the ground, in the sky... everything was some shade of orange. It was starting to grate on my nerves.

I went to see Twilight again, and all the rest of the girls were actually with her. Apparently, they had all come to her the previous evening looking for help with the strange sickness that was making everypony see orange.

They were all weak, even Rainbow Dash. They were dizzy and lightheaded and constantly saying that their eyes hurt, and since I said I wasn't feeling as bad and could still reliably walk and run without getting all that tired we agreed that we would send a letter to Princess Celestia and if there was anything to be done then I would go and the rest of the girls would follow when their symptoms went down.

I had gotten a little bit better so it made sense... right?

Spike had barely started writing and Pinkie... she just... lost it.

She started screaming and crying and yelling at the top of her lungs about how she couldn't stand seeing only orange anymore. She didn't want to have parties where the only color was orange, and she

She

She...

Oh Celestia, I don't want to write this, but she attacked us. She tackled Rainbow Dash and started hitting her with strength I never knew she had, and then Rarity started complaining that the colors of orange she saw would clash terribly with her new fall line and she was just lost in her own little world.

Me and Fluttershy managed to pry Pinkie off of Rainbow Dash, but she was hurt pretty bad, all scratched up and bitten. We decided to lock Pinkie in the closet until she calmed down and me and Fluttershy took Dash to Twilight's room where we all made her comfortable and did our best to bandage her up and Twilight managed to give her a healing potion.

That's when we heard it.

I looked downstairs and Rarity was thumping her head against the closet door while giving out the most hideous noise I'd ever heard. I couldn't even tell if it was happening when she breathed in or out, it was like some kind of clicking and groaning combined, and

Pinkie started thumping on the inside of the closet door in response after a while, and then we heard groaning coming from behind us.

Rainbow Dash was tearing off her bandages saying she needed to see the red again, or something like that, and thrashed when we tried to pin her down. We had to tie her to the bed before she calmed down and stopped screaming.

Dear Diary,

I made it to the city gates easily this morning, and what I saw didn't look good.

The streets are as deserted as Ponyville, except I can see the flickering forms of wraiths down some of them. That means the going’ll be slow, just like in Ponyville. I give it a week before I get to the castle, I’ll have to move slow and careful if I want to get there in one piece.

I’m now holed up in a coffee shop a few streets in from the edge of town. Wraiths keep moaning outside and banging on the door, but I barricaded that thing tight. It should hold and I’m on the second floor.

I saw something I hadn’t seen yet in the bathroom down the hall. It… she must have done it when

I never thought somepony would

I locked the door. It helps keep the smell out just a bit, and I’ve made sure the door to the room I’m in is locked too.

I can see ‘em outside, occasionally. The Wraiths, I mean. There’s one down the street that keeps moaning and slamming against a door. I can’t see it and I don’t wanna open the window in case I attract some more attention but there doesn’t seem to be more of them outside right now.

I hope it’s not worse towards the center of town.

Dear Diary,

I barely slept last night. Every time I did the moaning of the Wraith down the street woke me up, except…

When I’m awake all I hear is moaning. When I fell asleep I coulda sworn I was woken up my somepony crying, screaming…

I waited all through the night like that. I didn’t want to light a candle or anything cuz the curtains have been all torn down in this room and it’s a mess. There’s nothing to block the windows with after I blocked off the doors and I don’t want to attract any Wraiths.

I couldn’t sleep. That thing kept wailing all night and… there’s no way it was talking when I fell asleep. I’ve never heard them talk before and it sounded almost like a pony I once knew.

Pinkie Pie was still in Ponyville when I left.

Must be my ears playing tricks on me. Yeah, that’s it, must be. No other explanation.

Granny Smith told me once that if you spend enough time listening to the same things, your mind starts playing tricks on ya and your brain makes it sound familiar.

I don’t know if that’s true, but right now I wanna believe that that’s what’s happening.

I… I think I was telling ya about what happened with my friends, and I know I had some of it done because I’ve gone back and read it a few times.

Every time I flip back to this page I seem to forget where I was. The moaning and banging down the street is making it hard to concentrate too.

I want to get back to what I was doing but I can’t with that thing constantly banging on the door.

It doesn’t help that this place has to have the most vibrant shades of orange wallpaper I’ve seen in my life.

I’ll be back.

Dear Diary,

I’m back. I told you I would be.

It’s good to see the black ink on your pages, diary.

I did something stupid. I went outside by myself, just with my shovel, and I walked down the street until I could just make out the shape of the Wraith as it slammed itself repeatedly against the door to a clothes shop.

I didn’t realize till after that… that it belonged to Rarity. The store was Canterlot Carousel, and I could hear somepony…

I’m getting ahead of myself. The Wraith. Yes, right.

I went right up to it, oblivious as it was, and just… I brought the shovel down fast and hard on what I’m pretty sure the head was. It… sort of… crumpled, and didn’t move, but then it started groaning again and trying to get up, so I hit it again and again. After the third or fourth time it made a sound like a pumpkin getting squashed and I could see orange liquid spilling out all over the ground. It… it was on the shovel and the door, and I think a bit on me too, but I just dropped the shovel after that and came back.

It was probably a stupid idea and I swear I heard somepony calling out from behind the boarded-up windows when I galloped back here.

My little episode of heroism was over and I… I was suddenly terrified that another one of those things had heard me, so I ran back and blocked everything up again.

I don’t feel like doing anything anymore, and I found some cans of food in the attic of this place. They look ten years old, judging from the dust, but who am I to be upset at this turn of events?

It says pineapple on the can, but they’re orange and look like peach slices.

Guess I can live through eating something else orange. At least it tastes different.

Dear Diary,

I checked outside the window today when I woke up and there didn’t seem to be any Wraiths around there. That’s good. That means I should be able to pack up and head out soon, maybe I can make some decent time to the castle.

I want to say I’ve been making good progress, but that’s not true. In fact, I feel less and less like myself every day. Rainbow Dash would have gotten to Canterlot sooner. Twilight would have come up with a cure already. Pinkie Pie would have kept everyone’s spirit’s high throughout this whole ordeal. Rarity would have kicked this sickness’ butt, since it was interfering with her creative thinking. Fluttershy would have taken better care of herself and all her friends.

I’ve done nothing.

I’ve hid, and cried, and ran, and taken days to come to decisions.

And it’s all been for naught

I’m too late

That’s enough of that. Time I get going. It’s quiet out and the sun is up, means it’s time to go. I’ll write again in the evening. The writing is soothing me, and the black ink calms my eyes.

Dear Diary,

Made it past a few more streets. I’m much closer to the castle now, so that’s good news. Even better news is I can see the lights in the windows turn off during the day and come on at night! That means somepony’s alive in there! It means someone’s not sick in there!

The streets of Canterlot are deserted, but I haven’t seen many bodies since I got here, so maybe most of the city’s holed up behind the castle walls. I sure hope so. I hope they have some sort of magic spell going on in there that keeps them from being sick.

I need hope right now. I haven’t had hope in a while now, if I’m being honest. To tell the truth, I’ve been terrified this whole time. Terrified of what I’d find when I got here. That’s part of the reason I’ve been moving so slow.

Leaving late in the morning, holing up early in the evening, I’ve barely been making progress. I’ve just been so afraid, afraid I’d get here and there’d be nopony left, nopony around, that there would just be me and more Wraiths.

Speaking of… today wasn’t all good.

I passed by the Wraith I killed the other day and I picked up my shovel again, but I still heard the occasional sob from inside Canterlot Carousel. So I called out.

I… what I heard

I thought

But no

Sassy Saddles wasn’t in there. There was a Wraith. It somehow managed to sound like her though. Its horrid voice occasionally choked out a scream that sounded like it could have belonged once to Sassy.

Sweet Celestia I didn’t want to do it, I swear it wasn’t her

The yells of the Wraith as it died attracted more though, so I was sure to get the buck out of there as soon as I cleaned out the problem.

I have my shovel once more, although I’ve got no way to clean it and its starting to smell. I’m in the basement of one of the older town libraries though, so I could wipe it off on all the books strewn about the place, though Twilight would kill

It’s getting dark. I should get to sleep. I’ll write again in the morning.

Dear Diary,

Don’t know how much I’m gonna be able to write today, I woke up with a headache and a pain behind my eyes today, and it’s kind of hard to string my thoughts together. I’ve still got a ways to go before I can start thinking of holing up for the night, though I should make it most of the way to the palace.

I hope the princesses are alright and can fix this somehow. I heard a thumping sound in the middle of the night and it kept me awake, so I think that’s why I have this headache.

I just kept thinking of Rarity and P

I’ve gotta go. I need to cover as much ground as possible.

Dear Diary,

I got closer. My headache got worse throughout the day and there’s some parts that I can’t remember, like I blacked out.

I remember walking to the corner of one street and then the next thing I realized I had walked straight into a Wraith standing in the middle of the next street.

I’m just lucky I reacted fast enough with my shovel, but I had to finally leave it behind.

It got stuck behind the wing joint

It, uh, got stuck and my scream of surprise was sure to attract more Wraiths, so I couldn’t spend too much time trying to recover it. I got covered in feathers blood trying to get it o-

Dear Diary!

I’ve got great news! I don’t know how, but when I smacked that Wraith, its blood came out red instead of orange! I think it’s a sign that my vision’s starting to go back to normal. I’m so glad I won’t be sick for too much longer. It’s probably my own fault it’s taken so long because I’ve been pushing myself for the last couple weeks instead of resting but my friends Ponyville needs me to be strong. I’ve got to find a cure, because I can’t just hope that everyone else will slowly get better too.

Just seeing red on me makes me feel better, even if it smells bad and it’s all sticky now that the blood’s mostly dried.

Although I don’t have my shovel I managed well enough to break into an abandoned home and armed myself with a knife, so it’s better than nothing, although I don’t remember where I got it from.

My hope has been a little bit renewed, so I’m gonna turn in early and try to get to the castle gates by noon tomorrow.

Dear Diary,

The headache’s worse, although I found food in this house, so I’m gonna have to postpone my final trek by a day, but I’m not too worried, I just feel a bit sick today. But I’ll get to that in a moment.

My headache. It’s worse and I know this time it was from too little sleep. I woke up to the sound of voices somewhere in the house but I was on my guard. I wouldn’t be taken by surprise again, although after not hearing them for a bit, I thought it was imagination.

The banging sound started again shortly after, but I don’t remember much else.

I woke up in the morning and found one of the doors in the house was busted down, and inside… Celestia have mercy on them, I saw the still figures of two fillies. It looked like a wraith had gotten to them, cuz they were all slashed up and bitten apart. I took the time to at least move them and bury them in some clothes, but that’s when I found the food. Cans of beans. Almost a dozen of ‘em!

I’ll admit I sort of forgot what I was doing and tore into the first can as soon as I brought it out of the room.

I can’t deny it saddens me that I was so close to seeing another pony again, but a Wraith took that away in the night. I didn’t find a trace of it in the morning, but I spied through the window outside a torch being carried along the wall of the castle just before it got light out, so I’ve got confirmation that there are still other ponies alive that aren’t sick around here. I’ll rest up tonight and be able to talk to the princesses tomorrow.

I’m so glad I’ll finally be able to do some good.

I’m also glad the blood on me and my knife is still red. Although shouldn’t it have dried after a whole day?

Dear Diary,

It’s another day and I feel the desperate need to tell you, I saw a different color today! And it’s wasn’t a color close to orange, but blue! Celestia-given blue! I saw something blue disappear around a corner today so I followed it. My hearing was kind of muffled but my headache had gone away, so if it was a pony, I didn’t hear what they responded to my cries for them to slow down, but I eventually found them!

A blue unicorn! In royal guard armor! She had been hurt, cuz the tip of her horn was missing and bloody, and by the time I found her she was surrounded by Wraiths. I jumped in to help, but everything else was a blur.

I woke up on the ground, with a lot of scrapes and bruises and my knife had been knocked out of my mouth, but it looks like me and the guard took care of all the Wraiths. Unfortunately, she wasn’t as lucky as me. I

She

I won’t dance around it. She must have been very brave but I think she succumbed to her wounds after killing the last Wraith. She had massive cuts all over her and her red, red blood was leaking all out into the street. I think those things took a few bites out of her, because she was missing patches of her coat too.

I said a few words in respect but I had to keep moving, the gates were just on the other side of the street. The only thing is, I could see the faint movements in the guard towers that meant ponies were inside, but when I called out for them to let me in I didn’t get a response.

I would have been there for hours, screaming to get them to open the gates, but of course that attracted the attention of a few Wraiths, and since I was by myself and already feeling battered, I was in no mood to try my luck.

I’m back in the house from before where I found the food, and I think Rarity would approve of the new blue accents I found for my hat. I’ll try again tomorrow at the castle gates. Hopefully somepony hears this time.

I’m running out of ink.

Dear Diary,

Today I found the corpse of a guard pony out in the streets on the way to the castle. She must have been quite pretty when she was alive, but those Wraiths tore her apart. She was all sliced up, with chunks of her missing, and her horn was broken off. Her coat was the same color of blue as the accents on my hat.

I kept my guard up as I made my way to the front castle gates. They were barred, but I swore I could see ponies moving around in the windows of the guard towers. I yelled at them to let me in but no one did.

Eventually I had to leave, cuz I heard the moaning of Wraiths coming up the streets.

I’m back at my temporary home and I still have enough food for the next few days, but I really need to get inside the castle tomorrow. I need to warn the princess that something’s making ponies sick in Ponyville.

Dear Diary,

I woke up today and I don’t know where I am. I’m surrounded by empty cans of beans and patches of different colored fabrics, though they’re torn down to the individual threads and they’re all stained with spots of red.

Half of what I see is orange and everything else is red. I’ve got a massive headache and my eyes hurt, but looking out the window, I think I’m in Canterlot.

I don’t know what’s going on but I tried reading this diary to find out what had happened.

It

It looks like my mouthwriting, but I can’t believe some of the things that are written. I

Dear Diary

I hear a Wraith. It took me a moment to find my knife, although it was so covered in blood it blended in with the red-painted floor. I don’t remember there being paint there before, and I slipped in it a bit. I’ll be right back after I deal with the Wraith.

Dear Diary,

I’m running out of ink, but I think I remember now.

The Wraiths

They’re not

What have I been

I can’t forgive myself

Twilight, I’m sor

I’m almost out of ink, but that’s okay. I won’t need it for too much longer.

I’ll use the knife one last time. I just hope the red can wash away the evidence of what I’ve done.

I was lying to myself the whole time. Death isn’t something you can cure a pony of.

If anyone finds this, tell Twilight Sparkle’s relatives I’m sorry.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading through my fever dream of a story! I hope at least some of it was enjoyable! As for those of you who've read some of my other stuff, yes I'm still working on it, but my life has been a rollercoaster for the last year and time to write as well as the proper motivation has been sparse for most of it.

I do still intend to finish my other stories but for now have something that's been in development on and off for two years with admittedly, very long breaks between writing sessions. Cheers!