Delta Flame, a yellow pagasus colt with a short brown mane, was currently fighting for his life and to save all of Equestria from complete anihilation. The sky was clouded with a gloomy grey as rain began to slowly pour from the black clouds. As a large skyscraper collapsed on top of him, he emerged from the complete wreckage with hardly a scratch in what could only be described as an epic final battle between the invincible colt, who was destined to save the world, and a strong and powerful faceless white humanoid figure without an identity. It was nothing like Slenderman, however, as he was not wearing a black suit. It's appearance was closer to a plain mannequin than anything, without even any clothing, not that it needed any. It had a mouth, but no eyes, ears, or nose. Delta smirked in satisfaction as the hate-filled creature only roared in anger, gathering a dark energy in its palm to unleash at the heroic colt. "That's it," Delta taunted with confident look in his eye. "Give me all you've got, mother bucker." The soulless monster then fired point-blank black energy at Delta Flame, who was immediately engulfed in its sheer energy.
"All right everypony, that's a wrap for today, let's pick it up again tomorrow from there." The director called out to the cast from his megaphone. Delta then trotted off the set briskly, satisfied with another successful day of filming his first-ever leading role in the action movie, "The Grimdark", which was about a heroic team of ponies who defend the world from a species of dark horrendous creatures bent on the extinction of all life on Earth. It was rather high-budget, and was predicted to be the #1 blockbuster of the year. Being an actor was Delta Flame's special talent, and he had been an actor now for a very long time; his cutie mark was a movie clapboard. However, most of his acting career had been on stage.
Ever since before he got his cutie mark though, he wanted to be in movies. Making up advenures in his head when he was a foal, he always wondered what it would be like to actually act out such adventures and see them come to life on screen. And now here he finally was, acting in an epic adventure like he always dreamed of. He wore his orange t-shirt and open red button-up shirt over it in most of his roles when he could, since it was his favorite apparel. The sun was shining as he walked outside into the studio lot in the bustling city of Fillydelphia, meeting his good friends Dreamweaver (A brown unicorn stalllion with a brown mane), Crooked Cross (a white pegasus colt with a black and red mane), and Silver Cloud (a grey colt pegasus with a silver mane). "How's the movie coming, superstar?" Crooked asked him light-heartedly, nudging Delta's shoulder with a smile. "Not bad, another good day, we're on track to releasing it by next summer." Delta replied casually, walking with his friends down the busy street to meet up with his sister Iron Heart, who was going to be meeting them at an ice cream shop across town.
They all waited at the bus stop for the bus to pick them up, and other ponies began to gather around them as they also waited. After a few short minutes, the bus finally came and took them to the section of town where Iron was waiting. A thick layer of clouds formed unexpectedly across the skyline and it began to sprinkle lightly, each tiny clear drop hitting the bus's window in front the yellow colt. As the bus slowly weaved its way through the busy streets, Delta gazed absentmindedly out the window. A colt standing out on the sidewalk waiting to cross caught his eye; he was swaying back and forth a little, his face looking grey and tired even though his body was a deep purple. Time seemed to slow down momentarily as he looked on at the sickly unicorn. Delta's eyes widened as he witnessed the colt collapse, seemingly lifeless on the ground. He turned to his friends sitting near him and stammered a little, but opted from actually saying anything about it.
"It's probably nothing.." Delta thought to himself, still feeling a little uneasy. "He was just.... sick, that's all..." He tried desperately to convince himself he knew what he was talking about. But never before had he ever seen anything like... that. That colt Delta saw falling to the ground like a limp rag doll.... "He must've been pretty damn ill." He stared off into space for the rest of the trip, not sure just what to think about what he saw. His friends hadn't noticed at all; they were simply talking amongst themselves about the usual things, like mares and Poison Joke. Delta's curiosity got the better of him and he glanced out the window again, this time noticing an orange and green mare galloping down the street at full speed as if her life depended on it and not looking back, with another mare strikingly similar in grey sickly tone to the colt he saw before walking slowly after her. Delta immediately regretted his decision of looking out the window a second time. He closed his eyes tightly and tried desperately to just relax and forget all about what he saw. "It's just the movie you're in, Delta... it's just getting to you... you've been working a lot, you're just tired, that's all.... tired..." Even though they were almost there, Delta couldn't help but drift off into a quick nap.
He quickly woke up to the sound of the bus stopping at its destination. Dream, Crooked, Silver, and Delta all got off of the bus and walked just one more block to the creamery where Iron Heart waited. "Hey guys!" She called out to them; she had been waiting for them to get there without having gotten hers yet. "Hi Iron!" They all greeted back to her. Delta walked a bit ahead of them and smiled as he lovingly nuzzled his sister. "How was your day?" They accidentally asked each other simultaneously. This caused them to both let out a laugh, and Delta decided to start. "Mine was pretty good, got a few more scenes done... but man, that director can sometimes be a bit of a pain." They all laughed again. "Mine was okay too, I've just been spending most of the day looking around for a new job."
"Yeah, if only there were more available..." Silver sighed in agreement, as he also was looking hard for one. "Well anyway, it's really nice to see you all." Iron said with a smile. "Let's get some ice cream, I'm pretty hungry." They all waited in line to get theirs, with a few more ponies ahead of them. Delta found it hard not to notice all of the seemingly sick ponies around, but kept telling himself that "It's just a flu going around... nothing to worry about..." Even the ponies on the patio tables were swaying a little, their faces looking pained and grey. Finally at the head of the line, each of them decided what to order. Delta was having trouble focusing though, as he felt as if he was either hallucinating or was in a slowly developing nightmare.
The inside of the ice cream booth had no lights on at all, the ice cream maker was working in pitch darkness, and his face was also just as grey as the other ponies around. His expression, however, looked more happy than sick. He almost looked.... too happy. "How does nopony else see this? Even if he is sick, he shouldn't be working today! If he's not sick.... I don't even want to know what's wrong with these ponies." Delta's mind raced; he had never felt anything like this before, but he felt as if he was having an anxiety attack. He gasped for air as he tried to place his order, not sure why he was feeling so nauseous. "I'll... have.... a.... Blue..... Moon...." He gripped the table and held on for support, his friends all looking at him with concerned expressions on their faces. "Delta, are you all right?" Dreamweaver asked, holding him up.
The others helped him too, and Delta felt a little bit better, but not by much. Several minutes later, the ice cream pony brought the ice creams to the counter, levitating them with his magic. "Enjoy...." He grinned evilly as he slid back into the darkness of the store. Delta's concern only grew more as he watched the pony disappear. He then looked at his ice cream, and his friends did the same. He looked again at the sickly pony sitting at the table with its head face down. Looking closer at the partially eaten ice cream, he let out a yelp of panic and immediately threw his cone on the ground.
"What is i-" Iron yelled as she jumped back in surprise.
"DON'T EAT THAT!" Delta yelled as he knocked the other cones on the ground.
"Hey! What was that for?!" Crooked asked, annoyed that they had bought ice cream for nothing.
"Look..." Delta whimpered s he pointed in the direction of the sick pony at the table.
"Yeah, there's a sickness going around, so what?" Crooked replied, not seeing what Delta was getting at.
"No... look at what she... ate..." Delta said quietly and pointed at the cone she had bitten into. "What the hell..." His friends all replied, not believing what they were seeing. The ice cream the pony had bitten into, as well as those of the other ponies at the store, even the food in other restaurants all across town, was filled with a strange oily black sludge. The pony they were all looking at suddenly started to sit up again, looking just as pale as ever. What none of them noticed while they were looking at the suspicious ice cream was that an oddly-shaped shadow on the ground had been creeping up to her and enveloping her legs, working its way up her body. It seeped into her skin and into her mind, taking its hold on her while she was weak.
In a mere matter of hours since earlier that day, ponies all over town were going from starting a perfectly normal day to becoming transformed into soulless monsters. The ponies that were still sane in the city were amazed at just how fast it all happened. Most still around had also figured out that it had something to do with the suspicious food from the places around town, just as Delta and his friends had. Everypony who realized it made a point of it to not eat anything until the crisis was done. None of them had noticed anything earlier that day either, completely throwing them off guard, which was why they hadn't initially noticed so many sick ponies.
The five friends all felt the air pressure suddenly increase as the sick pony looked straight at them with her new completely black eyes. Her body shook and spasmed in front of them, her limbs and face morphing into a grotesque monster of a pony. Other ponies around them were doing similar things, their sanity was lost, their mind overtaken by something purely evil. Their body shape changing drastically. Hooves became claws, teeth became blades, hair became barbed wire. A collective, victorious roar echoed through the entire city as the final symptom of the sickness took hold on its victims. The five untouched ponies looked on in horror at their new surroundings. Ponies, at least, if they still were ponies, began to surround them from all sides. Surprisingly, the purple colt that Delta had seen from the bus earlier was one of them. Delta began breathing heavily uncontrollably, feeling overwhelmed by this unknown force he could feel surrounding him.
"....What do we do?"
The five untouched ponies looked on in horror at their new surroundings. Ponies, at least, if they still were ponies, began to surround them from all sides. Delta began breathing heavily uncontrollably, feeling overwhelmed by this unknown force he could feel surrounding him.
"....What do we do?"
Dreamweaver focused his energy and closed his eyes in focus, surrounding them with a small blue bubble shield that would allow them to all teleport. In a bright flash, they all found themselves in a field in the outskirts of Fillydelphia. "What... the hell.... just happened?" Silver Cloud gasped as he lay on the ground. "Those ponies... something is very wrong here..." Iron panted as she also struggled to get up. Delta was quiet, not able to think straight. Dreamweaver sighed in hopelessness. "I feel like I remember something like this happening before, but not to this extent..."
"What do you mean?" Crooked questioned, looking over at him in confusion.
"Do any of you remember a few months back when there was that big storm and the whole sky was black? There was green lightning?" Dream continued.
"Yeah..." Iron replied, still shaking. "I was in Canterlot a few days before, I remember seeing something in the news about Chrysalis returning."
Dream explained, "I was in Canterlot at the time, and I saw Chrysalis from inside the hotel. There was a lone changeling fighting her, and then another mare. I wasn't even sure it was even her at first..."
"Why's that?" Delta replied, finally coming into the conversation.
"Because she looked.... awful. As if she was rotting. She looked less like a pony and more like a monster. It looked like the face of... pure evil. I saw that same face, that same expression of bloodlust again in Fillydelphia just now. Whatever it is, I feel like its the same cause as what happened several months ago."
"So do you know anything about what's going on?" Iron asked.
"Not a clue... what we do know is that that black muck in the food somehow caused it, so I hate to say this, but we may be going hungry for a while." Dreamweaver said gravely.
Delta lowered his head slightly, unable to believe it was all really happening. It felt more like a nightmare than reality. "What happens now?" He thought to himself. "How many thousands of ponies have become... whatever they are... within only the past few minutes? How can there be any hope? Today... today is Doomsday. This is a nightmare..... I have to wake up." He then promptly smacked his own jaw with his hoof as hard as he possibly could, immediately reeling back in pain with a sharp yelp.
"Brother, what are you doing?!" Iron shouted in surprise, helping him up.
"I fell asleep on the bus, remember?! This is a dream, and I have to wake up! Don't try to stop me! I'm still asleep.... I'm still asleep..... I'm...." Breaking down into tears, Delta continued hitting his face repeatedly with his hoof, hoping that the shock would wake him. His cheekbone felt completely sore before he finally stopped, collapsing in self-defeat on the cold ground. Iron Heart then rolled him over on his back and got on top of him, hugging him as tightly as she could. He looked up at her and blushed a little at the situation; Iron nuzzled her brother comfortingly.
"I'm sorry brother, but this isn't a dream. This is very real. I don't know what will happen, but I do know that we will make it through this a long as we stay together. All of us. We'll survive, trust me. We'll find a way."
Delta hugged his sister back and both of them stood up facing the others. "All right," Silver spoke up, "is there anywhere we can go for safety?"
Delta looked to a point on the horizon. "Canterlot. That's our best option."
"Canterlot!?" the others said in disbelief. "Delta, do you have any idea how incredibly far away that is?" Dream exclaimed.
"Yeah, but you have magic, you can just teleport us there." Delta replied bluntly.
"My magic isn't THAT powerful, I can only teleport a certain distance, and I become tired immediately afterwards. It'll be about 24 hours before I can even teleport the distance we just did again."
"How far away was that?"
"About five miles. Canterlot is fifty miles away. How about another plan, genius?"
"We'll just have to walk while you regain strength after each time you teleport, simple as that. That should be fine, right?"
"Fine, but you're all walking at my pace when I'm tired, I'm not getting left behind to be eaten or infected by those things. If you leave me to die, I'll haunt you forever."
They all had a laugh before they began walking as a group through the seemingly empty valley towards Canterlot, where they would be well-protected against the mysterious new evil.
"No, seriously. I will."
*****************************************************************************************
Princess Celestia looked somberly out the window of her majestic fortress of Canterlot, her once beautiful magenta eyes now tired and weak, with a slight hue of dark grey. "Sister," she called out to Luna in a raspy voice.
"Yes, sister?" Luna responded as she arrived by her side with concern in her voice.
Celestia spoke as a single tear fell from her eye. "Even my magic cannot resist him forever.... he will eventually overcome me.... and all I am capable of doing is waiting for it to finally happen. When the time comes, my dearest sister, I do not want you to hesitate to do everything you can to end my life."
"Understood."
