There is one infected among us..by Arial_DreemmurrChaptersAnother fail? time to bail!Emergency meeting: Body reported.New strategy: Duos.And another one-Rainbow sus...Quiet, not calm, but VERY quiet.Vents.one vs two. But who?Extra chapter: Behind the scenes!Tasking, maybe some masking, but mostly tasking.Another fail? time to bail!"Status Patient: Positive..." The test answers stared back at the purple alicorn princess as she read the results. Her face quickly grew frustrated as she crumbled it up and threw it away in the trashcan near her. "Let me guess," Spike, the little green dragon next to her, started. "Another failed cure?" Twilight looked back at her dragon friend and let out an exhausted sigh. "Sadly, yes.. And I was so sure about it this time! I stayed up whole nights to get this one to work!" She sat down, letting her head drop to her chest. "I just don't know what to do anymore.. More ponies keep getting infected every day and we've already lost half of our population through the effects.." As Twilight finished, Spike quickly came to comfort the mare. "Hey, I get it. But you can't beat yourself up over it like that. Even Celestia and Luna can't figure out what's causing all of this." "Yea but," She started again, looking over at the dragon again. "I just thought if I just tried hard enough.. It just seems we're hopeless against this. We've always been able to overcome anything that came for us. It just doesn't feel right when it doesn't." Spike slowly nodded in agreement but stayed quiet. Twilight got up again and got another paper that laid on her desk. "I'll still have to send a report about the results to Princess Celestia. Spike, write it down for me please." She said as she handed him the paper and quill. "Right on it!" He replied, with already the quill pressed on the paper. Twilight let out a quick sigh before starting the report. "Dear Princess Celestia." "Today's report is the result for cure attempt 14. I regret to inform you that the new cure I thought of failed to like the ones that came before and the pony I tested still came out positive. I've released them back to where they were with the others infected that are yet to draw blood as you requested. I'm not sure what to do now. I was sure this one would maybe work, but it didn't and I'm tired of doing all of this over and over again. No disrespect to you, but I don't think we can stop this." Both Twilight and Spike paused before she continued. "I honestly believe we should evacuate any important ponies that haven't caught it yet to those who are at risk of getting infected as well. If we can't stop it, we have to find a way to prevent it. And I will probably keep trying my best to find a cure. But until then, this is the best I can think of right now. I look forward to hearing back from you." She turned back to Spike as she said the last line. "Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" Spike wrote the last words and rolled it up. "Send it out spike. We need an answer back as soon as we can." The dragon nodded before blowing out a hot fire breath that engulfed the letter before it flew off to Canterlot. Twilight let out a slightly relieved sigh before sitting down at her throne in the map room. "I hope she accepts my proposal to keep everyone that's not infected evacuated. I can't think of any other way for it to all end." "I'm sure she will." The dragon next to her said, sitting down as well. "You're smart, so is she. I'm sure she'll consider it." Twilight showed a small smiled and looked back at her dragon friend. "Thanks, Spike. I don't even know how I would've stayed sane through all this without you here." Spike returned she smile and was about to respond when he was interrupted by fire bursting out of his mouth followed by a letter popping out of the flame. Spike picked it up and handed over to Twilight who looked quite surprised, but quickly got it. "That's fast." She noted before opening it up and reading what was inside. "Dear Twilight Sparkle," "I'm sad to hear about the results of the test you shared with me. But with that said, I completely agree with the choice you presented to me. I think it's best for most if we keep all non-infected ponies and other creatures of Equestria evacuated where they're not able to catch it. I and Luna will soon see the report of today's confirmed to be infected and found dead and will try our best to single out as much as we can. Those will be kept inside the castle where usually dungeons are. Those will be redone to look more liveable for the ones staying. So it's all settled there. But before I end this letter, however, I think it's a smart idea if you and your friends stay together in one place for the time it'll last. If none of them are infected, your castle would be a good and safe place to stay. Princess Celestia Twilight showed a smile seeing the letter and put it away, only to replace it with the other five empty ones. "Spike, can you tell the others to come over here? I need to tell them something. Oh, and tell them to pack their essentials." She dragon nodded before finishing the letters and sending them their ways. It wasn't long, probably about 15 minuted until the other elements arrived at the castle. Just in case there would be some blood-hungry pony out there, twilight stood at the door to let them in as soon as she could. And now, they were all around the cutie map, on their thrones, asking the same question. "I know you're probably wondering why I asked all of you to come here." Dash was the first the respond with a slow, but still confused, nod. "I guess, but I'm more confused about the "pack the essentials" part of the letter." "Right, so why I put that in there is because-" The alicorn was quickly interrupted by Pinkie, who was waving her hoof in the air, clearly excited. "Oh, oh! Are we going on a fun friendship trip? Or maybe a sleepover! Or maybe even-" Pinkie was stopped by Apple Jack. "Why don't we let Twilight talk?" "Oh, right! Sorry Twilight." Twilight let out a small chuckle. "It's fine Pinkie." She continued again. "So, the reason I mentioned that is that we're going to be here for a while.." She looked away for just a second only to look back at a bunch of confused faces. "We- what now??" Rainbow asked first followed by Apple Jack. "What exactly is this about?" Twilight through for a few seconds of how to respond before thought of something. "Okay so, the newest cure I thought off ended up not working.." "But I thought you said it was going to work. You were so sure about it darling.." Rarity interrupted slightly confused. "Well, yea, I was.. But it didn't work." Twilight continued. "But because of that, and the fact we have no cure or way to reverse it, me and Celestia had decided to keep everyone who's not infected indoors to prevent further spread." They all looked shocked after she finished. Right now, Twilight was just waiting to hear something from one of them. "D-Did it really get that far..? I didn't think it could get that bad.." Fluttershy muttered, sinking away in her throne scared. "I-I mean.." Twilight tried to find the best words to use. "It's just best for everyone involved. And I'll get a message from Celestia informing me each week about the statistics. If this works, we might have something." After a second or two, Twilight saw Apple Jack show a small smile. "Alright, if it's really gonna be best, Ah won't mind stayin' inside the farm walls for a while. It's no issue for me." "But-" "Yeah!" Dash quickly interrupted. "I don't mind either! If it's going to save Equestria, I'm in!" Rarity happily followed. "Me too!" "Me three-!" "I wasn't finished!!" The alicorn cut the pink pony off before letting out a quick, calm, sigh. "You aren't staying at your homes. Celestia said the ponies as important as elements had to be kept extra save. My castle would provide enough of that with its strong walls and magic barrier around it. That's why I asked you all to bring the essentials." She said before finishing with a slightly more serious tone. "We're all going to stay in these walls." It was followed by more confused yelling that was eventually ended by Fluttershy. "Can everyone stop yelling!?!?!" Faces turned towards her as fast as her voice got quiet again. "I-I think Twilight's right.." "Yea.." Apple Jack followed. "Like ah said before, if it's best, ah'm willing to do it." Dash showed a smile too. "Totally! I can totally live in a big ass castle for a while! No probs!" She smiled. Soon after, everyone was in. Twilight soon went to clean up some rooms and after some time, everyone was settled in. Emergency meeting: Body reported.The sound of a loud scream filled the castle, reaching every room and anyone in it. Rainbow Dash immediately turned away from her task, recognizing the source. "Fluttershy!?" She asked, looking both confused and worried at the same time. Apple Jack did the same just a quick second after and shared the same look Dash did. They shared a quick look before the rainbow pegasus sped off to where the sound came from. Apple Jack followed soon after but couldn't keep up with her friend's speed. Dash almost burst through the storage area, looking to see what was wrong. Her expression immediately turned from worry to horror as she laid her eyes on the room. There were many boxes knocked down and smashed, but worst of all, right between one of them was a pool of blood that covered most of that area with a lifeless Pinkie Pie lying in the middle. Looking a bit more to the left side, Dash spotted her other friend splattered in blood next to her, her eyes full of tears that came down her cheeks like waterfalls. The rainbow pegasus got back to ground level, glancing from one friend to another for a few seconds before tears started to form in her eyes as well. "Fluttershy..? What..?" was all she managed to get out before more tears interrupted her. Not being able to get any words out, she joined Fluttershy, sitting closely next to her letting some of the blood get on her coat, before just looking at the pink pony before them. It wasn't long after that Apple Jack made her way to storage too, before seeing the body and the two ponies next to it. She had the same reaction Dash did before but left the room instead. When she came back, Twilight and Rarity were with her, as Twilight asked the other two that were still there to leave the room. "Okay, now that everyone is here, what happened?" Twilight asked the ponies before her who all met up in the map room not long after the incident. "Fluttershy, you were there with her. Do you know anything?" Still, in tears, she quietly answered. "N-No.. I don't know what happened at all. It was so sudden, I-.." She tried explaining before tears cut her off again. She was quickly comforted by Rainbow Dash who had put her wing around her. "Twilight, I don't think we should ask Fluttershy anything right now." "Yea, you're right.." The alicorn nodded but quickly continued. "But there has to be someone that maybe saw anything suspicious?" "Not me," Dash responded again. "I was working on the wires she whole time. Apple Jack can confirm." Apple Jack nodded. "Indeed, Ah can. What do you think happened Twi?" "I don't know. But I do know that there hasn't been anyone going through the force field around the castle, so whoever did this, has to be one of us." Her face turned more terrified as she came to her conclusion. "One of us must be infected.." Everyone stayed quiet, only looking around at everyone in the room. "W-What now?" Rarity dared to ask, hearing her conclusion. Twilight took a quick second to think before she spoke again. "From what I've seen, a pony infected doesn't admit to being infected easily. We'll have to find out together who it might be so the rest can stay safe." "But how? No one saw anything, right?" Dash asked, still holding the yellow pegasus tight. "I think it's best to question everyone first. Dash, where were you throughout the day?" She asked, not breaking eye contact with the mare. Dash soon answered, keeping her voice straight. "After I asked you where the tools were, I picked them up at storage and stayed in the map room fixing the wires. I never left that room after that. Apple Jack?" She asked the earth pony again. "That's true, Twi." Apple Jack confirmed again. "As for me, Ah emptied the garbage in the map room, took it to the place ya told me and went back to put a new bag in. Ah saw Rarity there too, but most of my time was spent in the map room with Dash." "I see.." Twilight moved on to the last name that was mentioned. "Rarity, what about you?" "I was just finished with the first room on the map you gave me when I heard the scream and later got asked by Apple Jack to follow her. She was the one that told us two about it remember?" The alicorn quickly nodded. "Yea, I remember. Now, Fluttershy. You were closest to Pinkie and you have her blood all over you. What happened while you were with her?" "I.." Fluttershy started, trying her best to keep talking. "I was just doing my t-tasks when I heard Pinkie Pie scream from under me.." Her face turned distressed again. "I didn't know what to do.. I panicked. My first thought was to see if she was still alive so I could do something. When I didn't feel or hear anything from her, I panicked even more and yelled something myself." She looked over to the rainbow pegasus next to her. "That's when you came in.." She said before bursting into tears again, with Dash comforting the pegasus. Hearing all their stories, with all of them sounding legit, Twilight let out a sigh. "I don't think this isn't going to get us very far.." She thought for a second before looking back into the room. "I know this will be a risk, but I think we should maybe let it be for now and see if we can catch whoever it was. The best we can do now is look for any suspicion between all of us." "But what about.. Pinkie..?" Fluttershy asked quietly. "And the storage..?" "I'll.." The alicorn looked away for a second before looking back at the mare. "Take care of it. Clean some mess up, probably put away her body somewhere where it'll be safe to stay." Everyone slowly and quietly nodded. They decided to keep their tasks for the next day and see what'll happen then, with all of them sure to keep their eye out for anything suspicious. Author's Note No one was ejected. (Skipped) New strategy: Duos.It was the next day. Since Apple Jack and Rarity had similar tasks, they decided to stick together for protection, mostly insisted by Rarity and with Apple Jack leading the duo. Rainbow Dash was already heading off to finish the last couple of tangled wires in the map room when she heard a soft voice behind her, along with a tap on her shoulder. "H-hey Dash..?" She turned to see Fluttershy behind her wearing a scared expression. "C-Can I join you? I know we don't have the same task but... I don't want to go all by myself... I'm scared something bad will happen if I do.." Seeing her friend so upset, she showed her a smile and put a wing around the pegasus. "Of course you can join me. I think it would be saver too if you stayed with me. I don't mind." Fluttershy quickly showed a smile again. "Thanks, Dash." "It's nothing. Don't think about it." As they continued across the hall, Dash got an idea. "You don't necessarily have to do nothing when you're with me. You can be like my assistant or something like that." "I like that idea." Fluttershy smiled again as they arrived at the map room together and entered to start tasking. While Dash handled the wiring work, Fluttershy handed her the tools she needed while keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Apple Jack and Rarity also arrived at their tasks, not wasting any time getting started. Rarity decided to start with the floor since there was some garbage under the furniture that Apple Jack could then dispose of. Every time Rarity had her small bag filled up, Apple Jack emptied it in the trashcan next to her. Once Rarity finished the floor, Apple Jack had a full trashcan. "Are ya gonna stay here while ah throw out the trash or not?" "Well, It would be saver together.." the unicorn responded, not looking very comfy with the idea of being alone. "Fluttershy's there too right? We'll be able to check up on her that way too." "Yea.." The earth pony said before looking away a bit. "Ah don't know 'bout ya but ah'm kind of worried 'bout her.." The unicorn looked back at her, only slightly confused. "How so?" "It's just.." The farm pony started, her voice shaking a little. "She was closest to, ya know who, when it happened. Y'all saw her reaction before and during the meetings. Ah just feel like we should check up on her." Rarity looked away for a second before showing a small nod. "I guess you're right. But are you sure she's there?" "She has to be. That's where most of her tasks are. Ah couldn't imagine her anywhere else." Apple Jack said before starting to head out. "So, ya comin'?" "Of course." Rarity joined her friend as they made their way across the halls to the castle's storage area. They arrived in an average amount of time and looked for the pegasus as Apple Jack also looked for a place to keep the trash. She decided to use her previous spot from the day before and turned back to the white unicorn. "Have ya seen her?" She shuck her head in response and decided to call something across the area, hoping to receive something back from the pegasus. "Fluttershy? Are you somewhere in here?" They waited for a few seconds, but after hearing nothing back, they decided to turn back to the door to head out again. "Maybe she's somewhere else right now." Apple Jack thought out loud, before noticing that Rarity's face had turned a bit more distressed. "Y'all alright, Rares?" She slowly nodded, but not genuinely. "Just... What If something happened to her..?" She seemed almost afraid to ask it. "We would've heard something by now if that was the case." "Then where is she, Apple Jack?" She sounded more desperate for answers now. "Ah..." She thought of something to ease her worries before continuing. "She could be with Dash?" "I guess she would be the one to want to be with someone like Dash after what happened.." She didn't look quite convinced but seemed to have accepted it as possible. "You're right.. Let's continue shall we." Apple Jack showed her a smile making the unicorn crack a smile too. They made their way to the next task to do together. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, with Fluttershy's assistance, had finished her first task. "And... All done!" She said, closing the electricity box before turning back to the yellow pegasus. "Now with that done, we should see how storage is. Your task still needs to be done." Dash picked up the toolbox and starting to put some of the used tools back in when Fluttershy quietly spoke. "Actually, you can go before me. I'll put the tools back in for you and meet you again at storage." She smiled at her friend, already taking the box and some of the tools from her. "You sure? I thought you didn't want to be alone." Dash asked, slightly confused about what her friend just said. "I don't but I just feel like helping out a bit more.. Just let me clean this up for you." Dash hesitated for a bit before showing a smile. "Okay, but when you're done I want you to come to storage immediately after. I don't want anything to happen to you while you're alone." Seeing her friend's concern, the pegasus nodded, smiling at her. "Of course.. I'll be fine Dash." Dash hesitated only a little before leaving the room. Fluttershy watched her walk out before putting her attention back at the toolbox and started putting all the tools back in the right spots. It was only a minute later when the lights turned off and everyone got stuck by complete darkness. Author's Note Lights sabotaged. And another one-Everything in the castle suddenly became dark as a loud shriek was heard right after. "What the hay!?" Apple Jack wondered as her eyes adjusted to the dark only slightly. After a bunch of confused blinking, the most she was able to see was about a meter or two away. "Apple Jack? Where are you? I can't see a thing!" Rarity asked, her voice shaking as she frantically started looking around her, only able to see darkness. Apple Jack heard her voice and went in that direction until she felt herself bumping into the unicorn. "There ya are. What the hay happened to the lights all of a sudden!?" Rarity just shrugged as she made sure to keep close to her friend. "I have no idea, Darling. But I hope it gets fixed soon. I can't even see the exit of the room anymore." "We'll have to get out somehow.." The farm pony thought before feeling for a nearby wall to hind an exit, holding Rarity's hoof tight as they did. "Can't ya make some light with that horn of yours?" "Oh, of course!" Apple Jack let out a sigh before seeing the room light up with a light blue aura. "I hope that's enough. I can't get it any brighter or I'll burn myself out." "It's more than enough, Rares." Their sight increased a meter or two and they could see more of the room now. That's when Apple Jack spotted the door to leave and lead Rarity to it. "Let's go and see what's up with the lights." Rarity nodded as they left the room they were in before and walked into one of the castle hallways. "Do you really not know what happened to make it all dark like this? There must be something that caused this." "Ah dunno. Mah best guess is somethin' with the electricity-" She stopped herself before continuing, her voice much louder and more sure than before. "Rainbow Dash! She works with the castle's power system. She'll know what's up." "Yea, your right. Any idea to where she is?" She shrugged but still replied. "My best guess is the map room. She had quite the task to complete in there. But if she ain't there, ah guess we'll try to find her somewhere else." "Sounds good to me." Rarity smiled as they continued their way across the castle halls. After some looking, they made it to the map room and entered only to see a toolbox with its contents all over the floor and cutie map, along with an electricity box that was wide open. "What in Equestria happened in here? It looks almost like a crime scene!" Rarity commented as they both walked into the room. Apple Jack got closer to investigate the toolbox and saw a few small yellow feathers between all of the fallen tools on the ground. "These are Fluttershy's." She said, picking up one of the feathers. She looked over to the electricity box and found a blue one in there. "Seems like Dash was here too. And it doesn't seem to be from too long ago either." "So we were right. They did a task together right?" Rarity asked the earth pony. "Ah guess we were. But something must've happened for them to leave the place like this." She looked into the electricity box and saw the wires, that were really tangled before, completely torn out. There was also another pair of blue feathers found after she looked into it more closely. "Why are all of Dash's feathers in here?" Rarity just shrugged, not knowing the answer to her question. Hearing no response, she turned back to the box, but after seeing nothing more in it, she closed it and turned back to her unicorn friend. "Whatever happened here, Dash and Fluttershy were involved. But we should really get to finding a way to turn the lights back on before we look for them for any answers." She concluded, before receiving an agreeing nod from Rarity. "I completely agree. I don't think I can keep this light on for very long." "Let's go then!" The earth pony said before taking her hoof and making their way back into the hall to find whatever they were looking for. The duo was still wandering around the dark castle, with Rarity's light being mostly gone by now, when they spotted a pink-ish light coming their way. They stopped and waited patiently to see who it was until eventually seeing Twilight come out of the darkness, her horn glowing a pink glow. "Apple Jack, Rarity, thank goodness I found you two!" The alicorn said as she walked closer to the two ponies. "Have any of you seem Spike? He was with me just a second ago when I just suddenly lost him! I didn't even hear anything from him.." Her face turned more worried with every word. Both shuck their heads before Apple Jack responded. "We didn't. you're the first pony we've seen since it became dark." Rarity also spoke up with the same question from before, hoping to get an answer that time. "Do you have any idea why it's suddenly so dark, Twilight?" "My best guess is that someone messed with the lights or electricity system. Which could only be done by Rainbow Dash. But she would know better than leave us all in the dark." Everyone went quiet, all doubting Twilight's last statement about the pegasus. The silence was soon interrupted by the sound of running their way that ended with a panicked yell. "Twilight!" They all looked where the voice was coming from and saw Fluttershy. She came to a halt once she got to them but still had panic written on her face. "Twilight! It's Spike! He..He..." Before she could finish, she fell to the ground in tears. Worry also shot through Twilight as she heard the dragon's name along with seeing the pegasi's panic. "What with Spike? What happened? Fluttershy, what's wrong??" Her questions became more panicked as they left her mouth. Fluttershy looked up again, before wiping her tears a little and muttering what she was about to say before. "He's dead..." Author's Note Body reported. Rainbow sus...Everyone shut quiet as they just stared at the yellow pegasus for a bit, taking in what she said before they felt tears falling down their cheeks. The lights also shot back on, making the insides of the castle light up again. A bit later, Fluttershy was going to lead them to where she found the body when they bumped into a speedy cyan pegasus. The pegasus grounded herself again before looking over to her friends. "Finally I found you guys! I've been flying for ages trying to find-" She noticed their faces. "What's wrong?" She got no answers from them and followed them as Fluttershy continued walking. Dash was still confused but was willing to follow them noticing that they weren't going to say anything. They eventually arrived in storage where they found Spike's body in one of the boxes in the higher areas. All of their expressions turned into horror again as they eyed the dragon's lifeless body. Soon after, an emergency meeting was held. They all met up in the map room again like the day before and took place on their thrones. Everyone had their eyes on each other, with Dash noticing that most of the others were on her as she walked in. Once they all sat down and were able to talk about the incident, Twilight asked the first question. "I think we all know why we're here..." She looked across her friend's faces and received multiple nods. "Let's start then. Did anyone see anything suspicious today? Before and after the lights turned off." Apple Jack put her hoof in the air before looking over at both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who sat across from them at the other side of the table. "When ah and Rarity were tryin' to find out why the lights turned off, we saw a big mess in the map room." "What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked confused. "I don't see any of that here now. Also, if that's true. What did it look like exactly?" "Ah'd be more than happy to tell ya, but ah think ya know already." Apple Jack looked straight at the pegasus, not breaking eye contact with the mare at any time. She simply showed a confused face in return. "I don't get it..." Apple Jack started explaining. "Ah know for a fact you were here for tasks. You're the one that knows most of how the electricity system works out of all of us. Ah think we all know what ah'm gettin' at." Dash looked just as confused as ever but took the time to look around the table and see the others nodding. "Just tell me what it is already!" She yelled both confused and annoyed. "Ya sabotaged the lights Dash, admit it." Apple Jack said bluntly, holding nothing back. "And ah think ya used it to get away with murdering Spike!" She slammed the table like she was slamming evidence onto the table. "Did not!" Rainbow Dash yelled back almost immediately after hearing her conclusion. "I was with Fluttershy the whole time! Right, Fluttershy?" "Actually..." Fluttershy started quietly. "You did head to storage before me after we agreed that I would put the tools back in the toolbox. You could've sabotaged something and killed him in storage while the lights were off." "That's not true at all! I mean, the first part is but not me killing Spike!" She basically screamed at the pegasus next to her, who hid away in her throne. Twilight spoke up now. "I mean, there is a lot of evidence against you right now." The others nodded again, agreeing that she must be the one infected. Dash still stood her ground and yelled against is once more. "But it's not true! Because that would mean I killed Pinkie Pie too and Apple Jack was with me the whole time when that happened!" She got a smile again, giving them more evidence that she was innocent. "Not the whole time." Apple Jack spoke up again. "Ya had at least a few minutes alone when ah took out the garbage. And when ah came back, it was only a minute later when we heard what happened." "But-" "Also," She continued. "You'd be fast enough to make your way there and back." Rarity put her hoof in the air. "If I may add something, if I remember correctly, Dash also had Pinkie's blood on her during the last meeting." Everyone had their eyes on Dash again, waiting for her to either admit to it or throw out another excuse. This time, she stayed quiet for a bit, just looking at all of them defeated, before speaking again. "But it's not me.." Her voice was quieter and had less force behind it. "What now?" She quietly asked, tears starting to form in her eyes a little. "If it's true that you're infected," Twilight started. "We'll have to throw you out to prevent anyone else here getting it from you." She looked away. "Since Spike is dead... I can't send a report to Celestia on a quick notice so we'll have to send you out with the others and what's left of Ponyvile." Dash's face turned from hopelessness to fear as she heard the alicorn's words. "But all the ponies out there are infected! They would kill me in a second if you leave me out there!" Her voice was shaking with horror as she said it. "We don't have another choice," Twilight said simply before standing up from her chair. "Apple Jack, hold her down." Apple Jack nodded and acted quick, pinning the pegasus to the ground and keeping hold of her wings. The pegasus tried to break free, kicking and yelling as hard as she could, but without any success. They took her to the castle's balcony and looked down at Ponyvile that was in ruin and splattered with blood everywhere, along with ponies that were acting aggressively towards each other as soon as they caught sight of one another. Dash looked down with even more fear than before, seeing her inevitable death below. "Please don't do this! I'll die out there! Do you see those ponies! I'm not anything like that! Please just don't throw me out there! I'm not-" Before she could continue her pleads, Twilight got rid of the force field around the castle before Apple Jack threw her down, closing her eyes as she let go of her friend. Once Dash was out, Twilight got the force field back up, making her unable to get back to safety, keeping her out. As she fell down, Dash desperately tried to flap her wings to escape the blood-hungry herd below but failed due to the damage done to them as she was held down earlier, she could only slow her fall a little. A huge spike of pain shot through her once her body hit the hard, cold ground. She tried to get up but failed due to her whole body hurting and looked up to see tens to hundreds of blood-hungry ponies. They didn't waste any time getting to her and after some last few yells and screams from the pegasus, she was silenced as her body was ripped apart and all signs of life left her. As this happened, the others were already back in the castle, not even looking back at their friend's corpse down below. Thinking they got the one infected, they ended the day and went to bed to look forward to the next day. Hopefully without any murders... Author's Note Rainbow Dash was ejected. Rainbow Dash was not infected. Quiet, not calm, but VERY quiet.They started the day with good hopes that nothing bad would happen again. Thanks to that, they felt safe enough to let go of the duos and let everyone go out on their own again. They all went back to their assigned tasks like nothing happened in the last couple of days, with most of them being in different rooms. As they all went different ways, Fluttershy quietly made her way across the castle halls to storage. As she did so, her steps shook as she paid close attention to anything around her, shrieking at even the smallest noises around her. Lucky for her, the shrieks weren't enough to alarm anyone else in the castle. She arrived at storage and after slowly closing the door behind her, she flew up to the storages upper section. She got to her usual spot that was filled with multiple boxes and other items to the side that she had to sort out into the boxes. There was quite some work for her to still do, especially after the last few events that took most of her time up. But now that that was all over, she could continue where she last left it. As she worked, she still paid close attention to the things around her. Her attention mostly lingering at the door and other openings like windows or vents. No matter how much she tried to forget about it, the anxiety kept coming back. She didn't like being alone in there. She liked it better when she was there working with Pinkie Pie or with Rainbow Dash. It also wasn't helping that most of the murders happened where she was right now. Alone... She made sure to finish her task as fast as she could and once she did so, she flew down to ground level, looking back, before leaving the storage. She let out a relieved sigh as some of the anxiety from before left her. She closed the door behind her and turned back to the same hallway from before. Now that she was done with her first task, she was supposed to tune in with Twilight. She knew she'd probably be assigned to do some of Pinkie's leftover work, but anything to keep her from being all alone for a bit was worth it. As she made her way across the hall and stairs of the castle to find the library, she spotted Rarity coming out of a room near her. Once the unicorn had turned around, she noticed Fluttershy there and greeted the pegasus, smiling at her. "Oh, hello there darling. I thought you would be working on things in storage?" She asked, walking towards the pegasus. Fluttershy just nodded before explaining. "Yea, but I finished that now, so I was looking for Twilight. She's in the library, right?" "I think so." The unicorn responded. "She hasn't left that room for a while. I only ever see her in meetings or that one time yesterday when the lights were sabotaged. I wonder what she's doing in there." "I guess I'm about to find out." The pegasus simply said, looking away for a bit. It felt much saver with Rarity around than before when she was all alone. If she had a choice, she'd stay with at least one of her friends until the day was over. But she knew the others were probably busy as well. Rarity saw her anxious face and looked over at her again. "Fluttershy, dear? Are you alright?" It took a few seconds for the mare to answer, but when she did, it came out really quiet. "I-I'm scared Rarity... I don't want to be all alone... I don't like it at all..." But even with that, Rarity could hear the fear in her voice. "But, darling." She started. "The infected is gone. We don't have anything to worry about anymore." "How can you be so sure?" Fluttershy asked in return. "What if she wasn't infected as she said and there's still someone out there? I don't want to die Rarity!" The pegasus was now in tears on the ground. Rarity looked down at the upset pegasus for a bit before showing a smile and levitating her back on her hooves. "You aren't going to die Fluttershy. I can see you're scared, so how about we stay together? If that's something to make you feel saver." "You mean it?" Fluttershy asked, looking up at the unicorn. "I-If you don't mind of course... I won't bother you.." "Of course I don't mind." She smiled as she walked ahead before looking back at her friend. "Now, let's go see how Twilight is shall we?" Fluttershy got a smile again and followed her friend as they headed to the library. Meanwhile, Twilight was busy getting through a new book she found. Even with the last couple of failed attempts, she didn't give up on finding a cure. She just found some new information that could be used to do just that. She was deep into the book, writing notes on the side, before she was interrupted by the sound of the door behind her opening. She perked up from her book and turned around to see Fluttershy and Rarity at her doorstep. "Rarity, Fluttershy, what are you two doing here?" She asked as she stood up and walked closer to her friends. Fluttershy walked forward before replying. "I've finished my task in storage." "Oh, right!" Twilight said before going over to her desk and picking out multiple papers before eventually picking one out and reading through it. Once she finished, she got a smile and put it back in before walking back over to the two mares. "Can you do a quick walk across the castle for me to see if everything is in check? Come report to me if there's anything." "I can do that." The pegasus smiled. "Great." The alicorn now looked over to Rarity. "And you, Rarity?" The unicorn looked up before getting a smile. "Oh, nothing really. I just joined Fluttershy since she didn't want to be alone." Twilight tilted her head a little, showing some confusion. "How so? We got the one infected. I'm pretty sure of it." She asked looking over to the yellow pegasus again. "O-Oh, it was just so quiet... I'd rather have someone with me in case there's still someone out there..." She looked away. Twilight slowly nodded but showed her a smile. "I get it Fluttershy. But you have nothing to worry about. Nothing is going to happen." She reassured her friend, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Fluttershy showed a smile again. "Thanks, Twilight." She said before turning back to the door only looking back to look over at Rarity. "I'll do my course of course, but I can still join until we need to split up. I'll probably meet Apple Jack soon enough then too." "Agreed. See you again later Twilight." Rarity said before leaving with the pegasus. Author's Note 1 infected remains. Vents.Having her new task, Fluttershy left the library with Rarity. As they walked across the halls, Fluttershy stopped every once in a while to check in the other rooms. After seeing if the rooms were clear, or just having nothing worth reporting back to Twilight, She turned to leave the room. She did this with multiple rooms as they walked through the hall together. Rarity was always patient enough to wait up for her friend as she did her little inspection. This stayed the same for a while before Rarity pointed at one of the rooms and moved closer to it. "This is it. I expect you'll be fine by yourself now, right?" "Yea," She nodded, feeling much safer than before. "I'll see you again later." Rarity gave her a smile in return. "Of course. see you then, darling!" The unicorn smiled as she showed her friend a quick wave and entered the room, leaving the pegasus by herself. Fluttershy watched her close the door behind her before continuing herself, wearing a smile as she continued her way across the hall. She continued her walk around the castle, looking and checking into each room before moving on and doing the same again in the next. As she did so, she knew she'd find her other friend in one of them as well. Meanwhile, Apple Jack was at the castle's garbage dump, taking a quick break from the work she just did. As said at the start of the week, she had some of the tasks with more heavy work. She was used to it, of course, but still had to take a break in between the tasks to keep up with the schedule. She also quickly found out there was more garbage in the castle than she could ever imagine there would be. Most of the rooms in the castle had at least one trashcan in them. It kind of got her wondering why Twilight would need so many places to dispose of things when there could also be just a few main ones. But she wasn't there to solve dumb mysteries like that. They'd already solved the biggest and probably most important one. She stood back up from the wall she had leaned against for a while was ready to leave for her next trip around the castle. But before she could do so, or get even get a step further, she saw the door open and someone peek into the room, before spotting the mare and walking in. "Who's there?" She asked towards the door since the area there had a shadow casting over it. As she asked it, she also took a step closer to whoever was there so she would be able to see them better. The one there heard her voice and turned to look over at her. "Oh, it's just me Apple Jack." Apple Jack could now recognize the soft, quiet voice came from Fluttershy. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything..." "Ya didn't. Ah was just 'bout to head out." The earth pony said, showing the pegasus a smile. "Oh..." She responded quickly before continuing. "T-That's fine. I'll only be here for a little bit anyway." Apple Jack watched as she closed the door behind her and took a few steps into the room. "Ah didn't know ya had a task here, Flutters." The earth pony said as she walked closer. "Oh, I just got a new one. Twilight asked me to take a quick tour around the castle to see if everything is still how it's supposed to be." The mare said smiling. "I just need to look if everything is still in place. It won't take too long." Apple Jack nodded before showing a smile. "Alright then." As the pegasus looked around the room, Apple Jack made her way to the door. "Ah'll be off. Ah'll maybe see ya again later." "Sure thing." The earth pony heard her friend say before she opened the door and left her alone in the room. Apple Jack closed the door behind her and made her way across the hall to find her next destination. It took a few minutes to get there since it was all the way on the other side of the castle. She opened the door and walked in to be greeted by another, practically filled up to the top, garbage bin. She went to pick it up when she noticed it being quite a bit heavier than most others that were a similar size. She decided to see what the extra weight was so she could maybe make it an easier trip. And with the distance back to the garbage dump, she preferred having something a bit lighter. She decided to take out the bag first and once she did, she felt the most of the weight at the bottom. She got it open to investigate and found a lot of small screws along with a screwdriver or two. She was obviously confused when she saw what caused the weight. When she looked closer, there was even a small piece of vent in there that was probably torn out for any reason. As much as the objects confused her, most of her other confusion laid at why they were in an average garbage bin, rather than something more specific that would be better to throw away things like that. curious, she looked over to a nearby vent that was on the room's floor. She took a closer look and noticed the screws were gone. This made it so it could easily be opened and closed whenever someone wanted that to be the case. She was still confused but decided to let it be and continue with her task. Remembering the screwdriver, she just assumed it was something Rainbow Dash couldn't continue after being sent out. She got the garbage bag back closed and made her way out with the thing. She kept the screws and screwdriver on a table inside the room to maybe get those back to Twilight later. She arrived back at the garbage dump and found Fluttershy still there. She was looking through some boxes that were inside the area and her away when she noticed her friend coming in. "Oh, hey Apple Jack. You're back fast." She said, closing the box she was looking in before. "Really?" She imaged she'd be slower thanks to the extra weight she inspected but decided to ignore that. "Nevermind. Ah'll have to head back there anyway. Ah left some stuff behind ah still have to pick up." She continued and she put the bag down on the ground. Fluttershy nodded as she walked over to her friend. "Which way are you going?" "Right. Ah'm headin' off to the other side." She responded. "Oh, I have to go over there too. You don't mind if I join you do you? I just finished here." Apple Jack showed her a smile. "Of course ah don't mind." Fluttershy replied with a smile as she joined her friend before they walked out together. While Fluttershy checked on the rooms on the way, Apple Jack would patiently wait up for her. It was during one of these times when they found Rarity dead in one of the rooms... Author's Note Body reported. one vs two. But who?Soon after they found the body, Fluttershy and Apple Jack went to report to Twilight. It was obviously a surprise to most of them as they assumed they were safe after the last meeting. But now that that was proven wrong, Twilight didn't waste any time in getting everyone together in yet another meeting. But this one was bound to be tenser than the ones that came before. "Let's not waste any time here," Twilight said firmly as she set eyes on the two mares together with her in the room. "I want to know where everyone was at any time. I'm not leaving any questions unanswered!" She said strictly before she looked over to the yellow pegasus with a serious look. "Fluttershy, you're the last one I saw with her. Speak up." "A-After I finished my last task in storage I did my walk around the castle.. I didn't even know there was still someone infected among us..." She answered quietly, looking away as she said it. "Ah don't think anyone knew..." Apple Jack said before showing an upset face. "Wait, does that mean Dash was innocent..?" Everyone got quiet for a bit, sharing the same look Apple Jack did before the silence was broken by Twilight. "I'm afraid she was... It would take some time for someone new to be infected and even more for them to act on it..." More silence followed before Apple Jack quietly started again. "Ah can't believe ah killed one of my best friends..." Fluttershy nodded in agreement, sharing the same destroyed face. "I feel horrible... I've been such an awful friend..." She said as she looked down at her hooves, before showing an even more upset face. It wasn't long until they were cut off by Twilight. "Let's not talk about all of that now. We can do that later. What's important now is that we find the one who's really infected and get them out of here." "But what if we're wrong and we throw out someone innocent again..?" Fluttershy asked quietly again. "Uhm..." Twilight struggled to find an answer but eventually continued. "I just need the right evidence this time. And the only way to get that is to answer all of my-" Before she could finish, she was interrupted by Apple Jack. "And ours." "What?" "We'll answer your questions if you'll do the same for ours." She said knowing what her next words would be. "Ya always ask us but we never get your side of the story. It's like you're hidin' something." "I'm not!" She started before starting to defend herself. "You know just as well as me how bad of a lier I am. I could never-" She got interrupted again. "So you wouldn't want to be the one answering questions! Probably 'cause you'd have to lie!" Apple Jack finished. "That's it ain't it?" "It's not!" Twilight denied again. It soon became a back and forth between them mostly filled with accusations and finger-pointing. But they were soon interrupted by the other mare in the room. "Can everyone stop yelling!?" The pegasus said more loudly before continuing in more of a quiet tone after getting their attention. "I-I think we should do one thing at a time. But I agree with Apple Jack that you should answer us too, Twilight." The two stayed quiet for a bit before showing a slow nod. Twilight decided to start again. "Okay, Fluttershy. Let's start over. Where were you, when and what were you doing? Also, how long were you and Rarity together?" Twilight listened closely as the pegasus started again. "I finished my task in storage before heading to the library to meet you for a new one. I met up with Rarity on my way there and after I got my new task, I stayed with her until we split at one of the rooms and I continued my way. I eventually got to the garbage dump where I saw Apple Jack and continued my way with her until we found the body." As Fluttershy finished, Twilight started again. "Is that all?" The pegasus gave her a quick nod before the alicorn continued. "Did you see anything suspicious from anyone here before the incident?" "I don't think so..." The pegasus quietly responded before looking over to her other friend. "But Apple Jack did leave the dump while I was there. We found the body right after..." Hearing what she said, Apple Jack quickly explained. "Ah said ah had to go to the other room to continue my task. You even saw the garbage bag I brought back." "Oh, right..." She muttered back, looking away. "Hmm..." Twilight hummed before she spoke again. "Anything else?" Fluttershy shook her head so she continued. "Apple Jack, I'd like your side of the story now." She said as she looked over to the earth pony. "Ah'd be happy to tell ya, but there's nothin' much to say." Apple Jack answered. "Ah did my tasks and made my way from room to room around the castle." She finished. Twilight tilted her head a little before she spoke up again. "Can you be more specific? We need all the information we can get." She said as she looked back at her friend more seriously. Apple Jack slowly nodded before continuing. "Ah guess ah can try." She said as she started again. "Ah started again where ah left of and after walking back and forth for a while from room to room, ah took a quick break. That's when ah saw Fluttershy walk into the dump. Ah left and went to another room soon after." She took a second to pause before she continued, looking like she had remembered something important. "Ah remember walking in there and feeling the bag was heavier than usual. When ah looked in to check, ah saw a screwdriver and multiple screws in there, along with a vent that had its screws missin'" "Yea, that is suspicious..." Twilight muttered before looking over to Fluttershy. "Do you know anything about that Fluttershy?" "I-I..." The mare stayed quiet for a bit before continuing. "I don't... When you told me to check the rooms I didn't think I'd have to look at every vent. And the one I saw at the dump wasn't touched at all." Apple Jack tilted her head, looking slightly confused. "How did ya know there was a vent at the dump?" She shut quiet again before answering. "I-I moved some boxes and saw that. I just remembered when you brought the vents up." "Ah see..." Apple Jack said before showing Twilight a grin. "Now, mind tellin' us where you've been?" "Of course," She quickly answered before continuing. "Like the days before, I stayed in the library to read up on new possible cures. I thought I found one when Fluttershy and Rarity showed up at my door, but after they left it turned out less impressive than I thought. I kept reading, with not much success, until heard from you two what happened." "You never left that room?" Fluttershy asked confused. "You must've been out at least once for food or something..." The alicorn just shook her head. "I didn't. I had everything I needed right there." She looked satisfied and finished what she said before. "That's all I have to say. I hope that's enough for you Apple Jack." "Ah'm mainly just wonderin' what happened to the vents around the castle. The screwdriver made me think it was somethin' Dash couldn't continue, but it could've also been some kind of sabotage from one of ya." "Funny how you bring sabotage up," Twilight said bluntly. "Sounds like you're looking for things to accuse other people off." The earth pony looked back at her before starting to talk back. "Look who says it, ya literally just accused me of somethin'!" She yelled at the alicorn before finishing. "Also ah didn't accuse anyone. Ah just suggested somethin'" "But you did allude to us being involved in that, which is basically accusing but said differently." As the two got into a heated argument again, Fluttershy stayed quiet as she just watched them throw accusations at each other. Tears slowly filled her eyes as the accusations started getting more directly linked to being infected. Before they could call each other infected one more time, they were interrupted by the pegasus. "It's me! I did it!" As her yells reached the two mares, they shut quiet and looked over to the pegasus who was now in full tears. "I'm infected..." The room stayed quiet for a whole ten seconds, with only their friend's quiet sobs to be heard, before Twilight broke the silence. "I-Is that really true...?" The pegasus responded with a quiet nodded. Twilight looked over to Apple Jack who had the same shocked face. "But Twilight..? Ya said an infected couldn't admit that they were..." The earth pony asked as Fluttershy got quieter too. "I said it's hard to get them to confess, not impossible." The alicorn explained before looking over to Fluttershy. "What made you confess? I'm sure it wasn't easy." The pegasus stayed quiet for a bit before giving her answer. "It wasn't... But I couldn't bear see another one of my friends, that I know are innocent, to be killed for no good reason at all. I wanted to say something at the start but couldn't make myself do it... I'm sorry..." More silence followed before Twilight spoke up again. "I see... But we're going to have to throw you out now, you know that." "I know..." The pegasus nodded. "But I'm okay with that... I deserve it after being such a terrible friend to everyone..." Twilight looked over to Apple Jack before receiving a nod from her. They walked over to the balcony together and looked down at the remains of Ponyvile together before Twilight spoke again. "Ready Fluttershy?" The pegasus looked down before quietly nodding. Twilight levitated her over the balcony as she got the force field off and let go of her friend, before quickly getting the force field back up. Fluttershy didn't even attempt to fly or save herself in any way as she let herself fall down the castle. As she looked down and saw her inevitable death down below, a small smile appeared on her face. The happiness that her remaining friends would be safe, accepting the punishment for what she did before. She soon reached the ground and had the infected ponies give her her quick but deserved death. With the infected now officially gone, the remaining friends in the castle could continue their days in peace. And even though there were a lot of deaths and mistakes made, they still had it in them to look forward to the future. Author's Note Fluttershy was ejected. Fluttershy was Infected. 0 infected remain. Victory. Extra chapter: Behind the scenes!Author's Note Before I start this, just know this isn't continuing the story in any way. The last chapter was the ending and these are the behind the scenes and extras that lead to that. If you're interested in that, please continue reading! Extra chapter: Behind the scenes! Welcome, reader. We're here... The story has ended. The infected are known and everything is back to normal. I mean, how normal it can possibly get after all of that. So now, why am I doing this? The story has ended. There's no reason for me to be doing this. But does it sound like I care? I'm really proud of this story, and with all the attention this story has gotten, I found it fun to explore some of the backstories. So, let's start off with the first major thing! This was asked multiple times in the comments too. The origin of the infection! I don't have one. Really anti-climactic I know but hear me out. I'm not a good storyteller. I just get the story idea and roll with it. That's part of the reason I struggle with making the first chapter since I have to set up the story. I never imaged making a whole chapter exploring the origin. I got most excited to write when I thought about the main story once the mane six were locked in the castle. But I will try my best to think of something good. So here it is, a quick explanation of how the infection started: It was just an average day in Equestria. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming... All until the sound of sirens were heard. But not just any sirens. The ones from emergency ponies. They were heard far but came from none other than a little town called Ponyvile. Most ponies turned their heads to see two ponies being taken away. One looked like they were hurt, with blood and bruises as if they just came from a fight. The second one was a mare that was kept on straps that were holding the mare back as she tried to break free. Quite aggressively too. Most ponies near eventually lost sight of them as they both entered the hospital. Most that were there assumed there was an accident or an argument taken too far. And all was forgotten until the same thing happened not long after. Most looked the same, aggressive pony being held back by staps, but this time there were more hurt ponies to be seen, all looking seriously injured. This soon became a regular sight for the ponies of Ponyvile. And not just there. The entire population of Equestria had the same problem of random ponies going crazy towards the nearest there. It became a too big problem to ignore and ponies like Twilight started gaining interest in what was going on. Across all the ponies that have randomly attacked ponies, one thing was always the same. It was something that didn't include a free choice. They were all looked at and they found they were all infected by the same thing. What is was, no one knew and many tried to figure it out. But to this day, no one is completely sure. The best guess someone had been able to make was that the virus has its own intentions, plans, and ideas, and they would use the ponies around them to fulfill the deed. That deed being murder. Mass murder if possible. But no one has been able to find out why. No one knows why there are so many cases at once now. But most importantly, no one knows how to stop it. That's it. Sorry if it was bad but it's the best I could think of. Now, I want to start with the fun parts! Story choices! Were all decided by spinning a random spin wheel! Don't believe me? Let's look at what happens in the story, shall we? Firstly, and most importantly, I had to decide who would be the one infected slowly killing off their friends. If I were to decide that on my own, I already knew it would be bad. Either I'd end up with an out-of-character Rainbow Dash or get bored writing for someone else. That's when I got an idea! And a pretty fun challenge for myself! That being: Write a whole story (that makes sense) using a random spin wheel to make all the major choices! Of course, I still had to write the things that go in between myself but that was easy enough. Having made my choice, I put all the mane six in there (and spike) and spun the wheel! It eventually landed on Fluttershy. Now, I had the one infected, but I also needed to know who would die first. That turned out to be Pinkie Pie so I made it easy for Fluttershy to kill her in the first round by putting them together in a room. In the next part of the story, along with the meeting, I didn't use the spin wheel and just wrote what was most likely to happen. That was until I spun the wheel to decide if they should skip or not. It ended on skip so I went that route and continued. My next choice was who would die next and if someone should be ejected for it. The next death ended up being Spike and Rainbow dash was the one who would be ejected. I really looked forward to that. I had one idea for it that would be perfect. Light sabotage. It would give the mane six a reason to suspect Rainbow Dash without making it unreasonable and it made it easier to write in another death without anyone being there to witness it. So that's what I did. I made Fluttershy stay behind to sabotage the lights to eventually kill spike and made Rainbow Dash look suspicious by making her absent. I wanted people to think twice about whether it was Rainbow Dash or not. I had her be ejected and looked forward to writing their realizations in now that they know "they not only killed their friend but an innocent pony." Quoted from Pete100 in one of the comments (I appreciate you) I spun the wheel two more times to decide the last few choices. Who would be the last one to die? That ended up being Rarity. The second one would be whether she would be caught or another meeting would happen. The wheel picked the meeting option. I also used the concept of vents now to make it able for Fluttershy to get to Rarity quickly and return to the spot she was. That's how she knew there was a vent in the dump and she used it to do her kill while Apple Jack was away. Lastly, T\the wheel decided she would confess so that what I ended the story with. So, yea. It was all decided by a spin wheel. It wasn't easy at times to make it work but I found my ways. Now, with that all explained, on to the next part! Scrapped story ideas! I have a few of those that I thought would be fun to share! Firstly I had the idea of putting in chapters for the ones that died. They would be ghosts, just like in among us, and would comment on whatever happened in the story. Pinkie Pie died first so she would watch the rest of the story happen knowing it was Fluttershy. She would probably follow her friend around while she did her deeds. I'm not sure what else she could do except make some jokes but that was the idea. The next death was Spike. He would probably head back to Twilight and try anyway to tell her it was Fluttershy. It was fun to imagine him screaming at her at the top of his lungs and Twilight not noticing any of it. But like Pinkie, not much else. The next death was Rainbow Dash but she would be a lot different. She wasn't killed by Fluttershy. She was thrown out of a castle by her best friends into a bunch of blood-hungry ponies. Because of that, she would probably be more than traumatized if she were to return as a ghost. If anyone has read more of my stories, they would know I love to torture my little Dashie. I had a lot of fun imagining again, but nothing made their way into the main story. I honestly don't know what I would do for Rarity. But it doesn't really matter. It never made its way into the story anyway. It were some fun ideas but I'm satisfied with what I have now. I won't change that. The second one stayed for a while longer. I finished the first chapter when I decided to change it. My original plan was to make the mane six humans. Not the mirror clones. Just the mane six from Equestria humanized. You can actually still read it in one of my blog posts when I first suggested the idea. Once I made the first chapter, I decided I'd cancel that idea and rewrote them to be ponies. I found it a lot easier to write. This one is just a minor one but it's worth mentioning that there used to be a profanity tag on this story. You can even still see some traces of this, mostly with Rainbow Dash is chapters one and two. Her saying, "I can totally live in a big ass castle for a while!" and, "My god, does she never check these things??" was when the tag was still on. My plan was to make it the among us experience but with the mane six. So, as some who played may know, meetings can get quite aggressive. So, when I knew Dash would be ejected in the story, I wanted to make her freak out in the best way possible. But as I wrote the story, I found that it would be a distraction to put random curse words in there, especially in the middle of the story. I'm not changing the story now so the two lines from Dash will stay in. But it was worth a mention. The last one is the cover of the story. In the description, it said that it would be changed at some point. That was also written before I changed the plan of them being humans. The thing is, I can draw humans but ponies are a whole different thing. I've tried it before but it won't be good. Also, I've kind of learned to love the cover and it won't be changed. I'm too attached to it now. But that's okay! Castle map! (requested in the comments) This was asked in the comments and I'm actually making it cause why not? It's highly inspired by the main Among Us map, the Skeld. https://www.deviantart.com/anoukfeenstra101/art/Twilight-Castle-map-There-s-one-infected-among-us-858366931 The main rooms are the map room with the cutie map where the meetings take place and the story starts. The storage is nearby and takes just a minute or two to walk to from there. The library is on the right and the garbage dump and balcony are on the other side. There are also some smaller rooms that don't matter too much or have a name. I didn't really bother too. I got the most important things in there so I hope that's enough. Now, I know this is the end of the story and if you're here you probably read all of it, but now you have this map! So, yea, that's all of it. This will be the last few words of this story so I wanted to use it to thank everyone who took time out of their days to read my story. I can't thank you all enough for all the comments that I enjoyed reading every day. With that all said, thank you for reading the story and I'll maybe see you in another one. Have a nice day~! Tasking, maybe some masking, but mostly tasking.Once everyone was settled in, Twilight created a small schedule for each of them with daily tasks. Each of the schedules were specifically created for each of them, surrounding their specialties. Shortly after creation, Twilight met up with them again around the cutie map to discuss it. "While you all got your stuff in order, I made a plan for the following few weeks." She said as she gave everyone their individual schedules. "These are some bigger and smaller tasks around the castle that need to be done this week, if possible. If we're going to be here for a while, we need to keep things in check." Everyone looked down at their schedules, looking across the tasks for a bit, before looking back up. "And ya said this was for a week?" Apple Jack asked first. The alicorn smiled and nodded."Yeah. What do you think of the tasks? I kept all your specialties in mind." "I sure am." Dash said before looking down at her tasks again. "Electrics, something about high storage with Fluttershy." "Mhm," The alicorn nodded once again. "Those are too high for any earth pony or unicorn without levitation or teleporting, and I'll be busy down in the library. Also, the electrics are just to make sure we don't lose any electrical power inside. Wires can get really tangled if not taken care of. Directions should be under the task." She looked down at the task before looking up with a smile. "Yeah, got it!" "Next, Apple Jack?" Twilight said as she looked over at the farm pony. "I thought you wouldn't mind doing some of the heavier tasks around here." "Ah don't mind at all, Twi." She looked back down at her schedule. "Clearing out the garbage, movin' things around the castle, it should be easy enough. Ah do most of that at the farm anyway. It's nothin' new." "Great, so you'll be able to do that?" Twilight received a nod. "Sure thin'" She quickly moved on to the next. "Rarity?" "Just a moment, darling." The unicorn said as she quickly looked down at the paper and back up. "Cleaning around the castle sounds good for me. I wouldn't mind at all." "Good, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight moved on. She quickly got a smile back from the pink pony. "Organizing storage, I'm great at organizing! I can do it in my sleep!" Twilight showed a smile before getting to the last one. "Lastly, Fluttershy. You basically do something similar to what Pinkie does but in the upper section. Along with Dash at times too." "I don't mind the task at all." Fluttershy smiled. Satisfied, Twilight showed a smile now too. "So, that was all. Now, it's pretty late right now. It's probably best if we go to bed so we'll be able to do our tasks tomorrow. I'd imagine you'll all be fine by yourselves but I'll be in the library most of the time if anyone would need me after that." Everyone nodded in agreement before making their way to the rooms they were assigned to before. And after getting comfy, it wasn't long until everyone was asleep and ready for the next day. It was the next day and everyone was up and ready for their tasks of the day. Some like Apple Jack and Rarity went their own way but others like Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy went the same way. "Twilight said I'll first have to get some tools from storage. Might as well join you two." Dash explained as they walked across the hall to the storage area. "Oh, I don't mind at all." Fluttershy smiled. She was later followed by Pinkie. "Me neither! It's even more fun now!" "I guess, yea. But I'll just need to pick up some tools and I'll be off. The one in the map room should be the closest electricity stand out here." Dash got the schedule she kept between her wings and looked through it one more time. "Yea, map room." "I think that's where Apple Jack said she would go." Fluttershy quickly mentioned. Dash just shrugged before they entered the storage. As Dash went to get a toolbox from one of the cabinets, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie went to their part of storage to start looking through the multiple cardboard boxes. Once Dash got what she needed, she left the storage room and was soon in the map room. Once she entered, she saw Apple Jack there, who just finished tying a full garbage bag. "Oh, hey AJ! I already thought you were out here." Dash greeted, putting the box down on the cutie map. Slightly surprised, Apple Jack turned to see the rainbow pegasus. "Howdy there. so, what are ya here for?" "Ya know," Dash started. "checking the wiring, fixing it if it needs some touch-ups." Apple Jack smiled before giving a nod. "Ah see. Well, good luck with that, I'll be getting rid of this." The farm pony said as she got the garbage bag and walked out. After Apple Jack left, Dash found a small electricity box and used some of the tools she had to open it up. Once she did so, she almost dropped her screwdriver seeing almost nothing but a tangled mess. "My god, does she never check these things??" She said, slightly annoyed before getting the toolbox ready next to her and starting to fix the tangled wires. Meanwhile, Apple Jack got to a place in the castle where the garbage could be kept until the end of the week. She left the bag there and turned to see Rarity walk in. "Oh, howdy Rares." The farm girl greeted before seeing she had a whole new cleaning outfit on. "You look.." "I know, I know. I didn't want to get all dirty." She got a small bag from behind her and left it in the room. "How are your tasks going? I'm almost done with cleaning the first room." "Ah cleaned some trash in the maproom and emptied the trash. Only thing now is to put a new bag in and I'll be off to the next one." Apple Jack grinned. "Dash is there too, so I'll catch up with her." The white unicorn gave a quick nod. "She's with the electrics, right?" She asked before continuing. "Must be complicated with all those wires." The farm mare just shrugged in response. "Probably. But I'm sure Dash can handle it. She's better at those things than most of us." "Agreed." Rarity said before turning back to the door. "I'll see you again later Apple Jack." "Same for me. Ah'll catch up with ya later." They walked across the hallway together until they eventually spit up at the map room. Apple Jack entered and saw Dash already busy with the wiring. "Howdy, Dash." Apple Jack quickly greeted. "How's the wiring?" Dash looked her way and showed her the inside of the electricity box. "Bad, better than before, but REALLY bad. They're all over the place. I'll probably be here for a while." Apple Jack could see in her face it annoyed her, but also saw determination to get it untangled. "That does look pretty awful, but ah'm sure ya can make somethin' of it." "Oh, no doubt about that! This is nothing compared to some of the things I've seen inside the Rainbow Factory. That place can be a real mess sometimes." They both let out a quick chuckle. "Right. Well, ah just need to replace the bag of the trashcan with a new one and Ah'll be off to the next room." "lucky you." Dash smiled, turning back to her task as Apple Jack walked over to hers. "I should get back to this." She said, getting her tool again and working on the wiring. Everything was going like usual until a minute later, ...A scream was heard from another room...
Another fail? time to bail!"Status Patient: Positive..." The test answers stared back at the purple alicorn princess as she read the results. Her face quickly grew frustrated as she crumbled it up and threw it away in the trashcan near her. "Let me guess," Spike, the little green dragon next to her, started. "Another failed cure?" Twilight looked back at her dragon friend and let out an exhausted sigh. "Sadly, yes.. And I was so sure about it this time! I stayed up whole nights to get this one to work!" She sat down, letting her head drop to her chest. "I just don't know what to do anymore.. More ponies keep getting infected every day and we've already lost half of our population through the effects.." As Twilight finished, Spike quickly came to comfort the mare. "Hey, I get it. But you can't beat yourself up over it like that. Even Celestia and Luna can't figure out what's causing all of this." "Yea but," She started again, looking over at the dragon again. "I just thought if I just tried hard enough.. It just seems we're hopeless against this. We've always been able to overcome anything that came for us. It just doesn't feel right when it doesn't." Spike slowly nodded in agreement but stayed quiet. Twilight got up again and got another paper that laid on her desk. "I'll still have to send a report about the results to Princess Celestia. Spike, write it down for me please." She said as she handed him the paper and quill. "Right on it!" He replied, with already the quill pressed on the paper. Twilight let out a quick sigh before starting the report. "Dear Princess Celestia." "Today's report is the result for cure attempt 14. I regret to inform you that the new cure I thought of failed to like the ones that came before and the pony I tested still came out positive. I've released them back to where they were with the others infected that are yet to draw blood as you requested. I'm not sure what to do now. I was sure this one would maybe work, but it didn't and I'm tired of doing all of this over and over again. No disrespect to you, but I don't think we can stop this." Both Twilight and Spike paused before she continued. "I honestly believe we should evacuate any important ponies that haven't caught it yet to those who are at risk of getting infected as well. If we can't stop it, we have to find a way to prevent it. And I will probably keep trying my best to find a cure. But until then, this is the best I can think of right now. I look forward to hearing back from you." She turned back to Spike as she said the last line. "Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" Spike wrote the last words and rolled it up. "Send it out spike. We need an answer back as soon as we can." The dragon nodded before blowing out a hot fire breath that engulfed the letter before it flew off to Canterlot. Twilight let out a slightly relieved sigh before sitting down at her throne in the map room. "I hope she accepts my proposal to keep everyone that's not infected evacuated. I can't think of any other way for it to all end." "I'm sure she will." The dragon next to her said, sitting down as well. "You're smart, so is she. I'm sure she'll consider it." Twilight showed a small smiled and looked back at her dragon friend. "Thanks, Spike. I don't even know how I would've stayed sane through all this without you here." Spike returned she smile and was about to respond when he was interrupted by fire bursting out of his mouth followed by a letter popping out of the flame. Spike picked it up and handed over to Twilight who looked quite surprised, but quickly got it. "That's fast." She noted before opening it up and reading what was inside. "Dear Twilight Sparkle," "I'm sad to hear about the results of the test you shared with me. But with that said, I completely agree with the choice you presented to me. I think it's best for most if we keep all non-infected ponies and other creatures of Equestria evacuated where they're not able to catch it. I and Luna will soon see the report of today's confirmed to be infected and found dead and will try our best to single out as much as we can. Those will be kept inside the castle where usually dungeons are. Those will be redone to look more liveable for the ones staying. So it's all settled there. But before I end this letter, however, I think it's a smart idea if you and your friends stay together in one place for the time it'll last. If none of them are infected, your castle would be a good and safe place to stay. Princess Celestia Twilight showed a smile seeing the letter and put it away, only to replace it with the other five empty ones. "Spike, can you tell the others to come over here? I need to tell them something. Oh, and tell them to pack their essentials." She dragon nodded before finishing the letters and sending them their ways. It wasn't long, probably about 15 minuted until the other elements arrived at the castle. Just in case there would be some blood-hungry pony out there, twilight stood at the door to let them in as soon as she could. And now, they were all around the cutie map, on their thrones, asking the same question. "I know you're probably wondering why I asked all of you to come here." Dash was the first the respond with a slow, but still confused, nod. "I guess, but I'm more confused about the "pack the essentials" part of the letter." "Right, so why I put that in there is because-" The alicorn was quickly interrupted by Pinkie, who was waving her hoof in the air, clearly excited. "Oh, oh! Are we going on a fun friendship trip? Or maybe a sleepover! Or maybe even-" Pinkie was stopped by Apple Jack. "Why don't we let Twilight talk?" "Oh, right! Sorry Twilight." Twilight let out a small chuckle. "It's fine Pinkie." She continued again. "So, the reason I mentioned that is that we're going to be here for a while.." She looked away for just a second only to look back at a bunch of confused faces. "We- what now??" Rainbow asked first followed by Apple Jack. "What exactly is this about?" Twilight through for a few seconds of how to respond before thought of something. "Okay so, the newest cure I thought off ended up not working.." "But I thought you said it was going to work. You were so sure about it darling.." Rarity interrupted slightly confused. "Well, yea, I was.. But it didn't work." Twilight continued. "But because of that, and the fact we have no cure or way to reverse it, me and Celestia had decided to keep everyone who's not infected indoors to prevent further spread." They all looked shocked after she finished. Right now, Twilight was just waiting to hear something from one of them. "D-Did it really get that far..? I didn't think it could get that bad.." Fluttershy muttered, sinking away in her throne scared. "I-I mean.." Twilight tried to find the best words to use. "It's just best for everyone involved. And I'll get a message from Celestia informing me each week about the statistics. If this works, we might have something." After a second or two, Twilight saw Apple Jack show a small smile. "Alright, if it's really gonna be best, Ah won't mind stayin' inside the farm walls for a while. It's no issue for me." "But-" "Yeah!" Dash quickly interrupted. "I don't mind either! If it's going to save Equestria, I'm in!" Rarity happily followed. "Me too!" "Me three-!" "I wasn't finished!!" The alicorn cut the pink pony off before letting out a quick, calm, sigh. "You aren't staying at your homes. Celestia said the ponies as important as elements had to be kept extra save. My castle would provide enough of that with its strong walls and magic barrier around it. That's why I asked you all to bring the essentials." She said before finishing with a slightly more serious tone. "We're all going to stay in these walls." It was followed by more confused yelling that was eventually ended by Fluttershy. "Can everyone stop yelling!?!?!" Faces turned towards her as fast as her voice got quiet again. "I-I think Twilight's right.." "Yea.." Apple Jack followed. "Like ah said before, if it's best, ah'm willing to do it." Dash showed a smile too. "Totally! I can totally live in a big ass castle for a while! No probs!" She smiled. Soon after, everyone was in. Twilight soon went to clean up some rooms and after some time, everyone was settled in.
Emergency meeting: Body reported.The sound of a loud scream filled the castle, reaching every room and anyone in it. Rainbow Dash immediately turned away from her task, recognizing the source. "Fluttershy!?" She asked, looking both confused and worried at the same time. Apple Jack did the same just a quick second after and shared the same look Dash did. They shared a quick look before the rainbow pegasus sped off to where the sound came from. Apple Jack followed soon after but couldn't keep up with her friend's speed. Dash almost burst through the storage area, looking to see what was wrong. Her expression immediately turned from worry to horror as she laid her eyes on the room. There were many boxes knocked down and smashed, but worst of all, right between one of them was a pool of blood that covered most of that area with a lifeless Pinkie Pie lying in the middle. Looking a bit more to the left side, Dash spotted her other friend splattered in blood next to her, her eyes full of tears that came down her cheeks like waterfalls. The rainbow pegasus got back to ground level, glancing from one friend to another for a few seconds before tears started to form in her eyes as well. "Fluttershy..? What..?" was all she managed to get out before more tears interrupted her. Not being able to get any words out, she joined Fluttershy, sitting closely next to her letting some of the blood get on her coat, before just looking at the pink pony before them. It wasn't long after that Apple Jack made her way to storage too, before seeing the body and the two ponies next to it. She had the same reaction Dash did before but left the room instead. When she came back, Twilight and Rarity were with her, as Twilight asked the other two that were still there to leave the room. "Okay, now that everyone is here, what happened?" Twilight asked the ponies before her who all met up in the map room not long after the incident. "Fluttershy, you were there with her. Do you know anything?" Still, in tears, she quietly answered. "N-No.. I don't know what happened at all. It was so sudden, I-.." She tried explaining before tears cut her off again. She was quickly comforted by Rainbow Dash who had put her wing around her. "Twilight, I don't think we should ask Fluttershy anything right now." "Yea, you're right.." The alicorn nodded but quickly continued. "But there has to be someone that maybe saw anything suspicious?" "Not me," Dash responded again. "I was working on the wires she whole time. Apple Jack can confirm." Apple Jack nodded. "Indeed, Ah can. What do you think happened Twi?" "I don't know. But I do know that there hasn't been anyone going through the force field around the castle, so whoever did this, has to be one of us." Her face turned more terrified as she came to her conclusion. "One of us must be infected.." Everyone stayed quiet, only looking around at everyone in the room. "W-What now?" Rarity dared to ask, hearing her conclusion. Twilight took a quick second to think before she spoke again. "From what I've seen, a pony infected doesn't admit to being infected easily. We'll have to find out together who it might be so the rest can stay safe." "But how? No one saw anything, right?" Dash asked, still holding the yellow pegasus tight. "I think it's best to question everyone first. Dash, where were you throughout the day?" She asked, not breaking eye contact with the mare. Dash soon answered, keeping her voice straight. "After I asked you where the tools were, I picked them up at storage and stayed in the map room fixing the wires. I never left that room after that. Apple Jack?" She asked the earth pony again. "That's true, Twi." Apple Jack confirmed again. "As for me, Ah emptied the garbage in the map room, took it to the place ya told me and went back to put a new bag in. Ah saw Rarity there too, but most of my time was spent in the map room with Dash." "I see.." Twilight moved on to the last name that was mentioned. "Rarity, what about you?" "I was just finished with the first room on the map you gave me when I heard the scream and later got asked by Apple Jack to follow her. She was the one that told us two about it remember?" The alicorn quickly nodded. "Yea, I remember. Now, Fluttershy. You were closest to Pinkie and you have her blood all over you. What happened while you were with her?" "I.." Fluttershy started, trying her best to keep talking. "I was just doing my t-tasks when I heard Pinkie Pie scream from under me.." Her face turned distressed again. "I didn't know what to do.. I panicked. My first thought was to see if she was still alive so I could do something. When I didn't feel or hear anything from her, I panicked even more and yelled something myself." She looked over to the rainbow pegasus next to her. "That's when you came in.." She said before bursting into tears again, with Dash comforting the pegasus. Hearing all their stories, with all of them sounding legit, Twilight let out a sigh. "I don't think this isn't going to get us very far.." She thought for a second before looking back into the room. "I know this will be a risk, but I think we should maybe let it be for now and see if we can catch whoever it was. The best we can do now is look for any suspicion between all of us." "But what about.. Pinkie..?" Fluttershy asked quietly. "And the storage..?" "I'll.." The alicorn looked away for a second before looking back at the mare. "Take care of it. Clean some mess up, probably put away her body somewhere where it'll be safe to stay." Everyone slowly and quietly nodded. They decided to keep their tasks for the next day and see what'll happen then, with all of them sure to keep their eye out for anything suspicious. Author's Note No one was ejected. (Skipped)
New strategy: Duos.It was the next day. Since Apple Jack and Rarity had similar tasks, they decided to stick together for protection, mostly insisted by Rarity and with Apple Jack leading the duo. Rainbow Dash was already heading off to finish the last couple of tangled wires in the map room when she heard a soft voice behind her, along with a tap on her shoulder. "H-hey Dash..?" She turned to see Fluttershy behind her wearing a scared expression. "C-Can I join you? I know we don't have the same task but... I don't want to go all by myself... I'm scared something bad will happen if I do.." Seeing her friend so upset, she showed her a smile and put a wing around the pegasus. "Of course you can join me. I think it would be saver too if you stayed with me. I don't mind." Fluttershy quickly showed a smile again. "Thanks, Dash." "It's nothing. Don't think about it." As they continued across the hall, Dash got an idea. "You don't necessarily have to do nothing when you're with me. You can be like my assistant or something like that." "I like that idea." Fluttershy smiled again as they arrived at the map room together and entered to start tasking. While Dash handled the wiring work, Fluttershy handed her the tools she needed while keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Apple Jack and Rarity also arrived at their tasks, not wasting any time getting started. Rarity decided to start with the floor since there was some garbage under the furniture that Apple Jack could then dispose of. Every time Rarity had her small bag filled up, Apple Jack emptied it in the trashcan next to her. Once Rarity finished the floor, Apple Jack had a full trashcan. "Are ya gonna stay here while ah throw out the trash or not?" "Well, It would be saver together.." the unicorn responded, not looking very comfy with the idea of being alone. "Fluttershy's there too right? We'll be able to check up on her that way too." "Yea.." The earth pony said before looking away a bit. "Ah don't know 'bout ya but ah'm kind of worried 'bout her.." The unicorn looked back at her, only slightly confused. "How so?" "It's just.." The farm pony started, her voice shaking a little. "She was closest to, ya know who, when it happened. Y'all saw her reaction before and during the meetings. Ah just feel like we should check up on her." Rarity looked away for a second before showing a small nod. "I guess you're right. But are you sure she's there?" "She has to be. That's where most of her tasks are. Ah couldn't imagine her anywhere else." Apple Jack said before starting to head out. "So, ya comin'?" "Of course." Rarity joined her friend as they made their way across the halls to the castle's storage area. They arrived in an average amount of time and looked for the pegasus as Apple Jack also looked for a place to keep the trash. She decided to use her previous spot from the day before and turned back to the white unicorn. "Have ya seen her?" She shuck her head in response and decided to call something across the area, hoping to receive something back from the pegasus. "Fluttershy? Are you somewhere in here?" They waited for a few seconds, but after hearing nothing back, they decided to turn back to the door to head out again. "Maybe she's somewhere else right now." Apple Jack thought out loud, before noticing that Rarity's face had turned a bit more distressed. "Y'all alright, Rares?" She slowly nodded, but not genuinely. "Just... What If something happened to her..?" She seemed almost afraid to ask it. "We would've heard something by now if that was the case." "Then where is she, Apple Jack?" She sounded more desperate for answers now. "Ah..." She thought of something to ease her worries before continuing. "She could be with Dash?" "I guess she would be the one to want to be with someone like Dash after what happened.." She didn't look quite convinced but seemed to have accepted it as possible. "You're right.. Let's continue shall we." Apple Jack showed her a smile making the unicorn crack a smile too. They made their way to the next task to do together. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, with Fluttershy's assistance, had finished her first task. "And... All done!" She said, closing the electricity box before turning back to the yellow pegasus. "Now with that done, we should see how storage is. Your task still needs to be done." Dash picked up the toolbox and starting to put some of the used tools back in when Fluttershy quietly spoke. "Actually, you can go before me. I'll put the tools back in for you and meet you again at storage." She smiled at her friend, already taking the box and some of the tools from her. "You sure? I thought you didn't want to be alone." Dash asked, slightly confused about what her friend just said. "I don't but I just feel like helping out a bit more.. Just let me clean this up for you." Dash hesitated for a bit before showing a smile. "Okay, but when you're done I want you to come to storage immediately after. I don't want anything to happen to you while you're alone." Seeing her friend's concern, the pegasus nodded, smiling at her. "Of course.. I'll be fine Dash." Dash hesitated only a little before leaving the room. Fluttershy watched her walk out before putting her attention back at the toolbox and started putting all the tools back in the right spots. It was only a minute later when the lights turned off and everyone got stuck by complete darkness. Author's Note Lights sabotaged.
And another one-Everything in the castle suddenly became dark as a loud shriek was heard right after. "What the hay!?" Apple Jack wondered as her eyes adjusted to the dark only slightly. After a bunch of confused blinking, the most she was able to see was about a meter or two away. "Apple Jack? Where are you? I can't see a thing!" Rarity asked, her voice shaking as she frantically started looking around her, only able to see darkness. Apple Jack heard her voice and went in that direction until she felt herself bumping into the unicorn. "There ya are. What the hay happened to the lights all of a sudden!?" Rarity just shrugged as she made sure to keep close to her friend. "I have no idea, Darling. But I hope it gets fixed soon. I can't even see the exit of the room anymore." "We'll have to get out somehow.." The farm pony thought before feeling for a nearby wall to hind an exit, holding Rarity's hoof tight as they did. "Can't ya make some light with that horn of yours?" "Oh, of course!" Apple Jack let out a sigh before seeing the room light up with a light blue aura. "I hope that's enough. I can't get it any brighter or I'll burn myself out." "It's more than enough, Rares." Their sight increased a meter or two and they could see more of the room now. That's when Apple Jack spotted the door to leave and lead Rarity to it. "Let's go and see what's up with the lights." Rarity nodded as they left the room they were in before and walked into one of the castle hallways. "Do you really not know what happened to make it all dark like this? There must be something that caused this." "Ah dunno. Mah best guess is somethin' with the electricity-" She stopped herself before continuing, her voice much louder and more sure than before. "Rainbow Dash! She works with the castle's power system. She'll know what's up." "Yea, your right. Any idea to where she is?" She shrugged but still replied. "My best guess is the map room. She had quite the task to complete in there. But if she ain't there, ah guess we'll try to find her somewhere else." "Sounds good to me." Rarity smiled as they continued their way across the castle halls. After some looking, they made it to the map room and entered only to see a toolbox with its contents all over the floor and cutie map, along with an electricity box that was wide open. "What in Equestria happened in here? It looks almost like a crime scene!" Rarity commented as they both walked into the room. Apple Jack got closer to investigate the toolbox and saw a few small yellow feathers between all of the fallen tools on the ground. "These are Fluttershy's." She said, picking up one of the feathers. She looked over to the electricity box and found a blue one in there. "Seems like Dash was here too. And it doesn't seem to be from too long ago either." "So we were right. They did a task together right?" Rarity asked the earth pony. "Ah guess we were. But something must've happened for them to leave the place like this." She looked into the electricity box and saw the wires, that were really tangled before, completely torn out. There was also another pair of blue feathers found after she looked into it more closely. "Why are all of Dash's feathers in here?" Rarity just shrugged, not knowing the answer to her question. Hearing no response, she turned back to the box, but after seeing nothing more in it, she closed it and turned back to her unicorn friend. "Whatever happened here, Dash and Fluttershy were involved. But we should really get to finding a way to turn the lights back on before we look for them for any answers." She concluded, before receiving an agreeing nod from Rarity. "I completely agree. I don't think I can keep this light on for very long." "Let's go then!" The earth pony said before taking her hoof and making their way back into the hall to find whatever they were looking for. The duo was still wandering around the dark castle, with Rarity's light being mostly gone by now, when they spotted a pink-ish light coming their way. They stopped and waited patiently to see who it was until eventually seeing Twilight come out of the darkness, her horn glowing a pink glow. "Apple Jack, Rarity, thank goodness I found you two!" The alicorn said as she walked closer to the two ponies. "Have any of you seem Spike? He was with me just a second ago when I just suddenly lost him! I didn't even hear anything from him.." Her face turned more worried with every word. Both shuck their heads before Apple Jack responded. "We didn't. you're the first pony we've seen since it became dark." Rarity also spoke up with the same question from before, hoping to get an answer that time. "Do you have any idea why it's suddenly so dark, Twilight?" "My best guess is that someone messed with the lights or electricity system. Which could only be done by Rainbow Dash. But she would know better than leave us all in the dark." Everyone went quiet, all doubting Twilight's last statement about the pegasus. The silence was soon interrupted by the sound of running their way that ended with a panicked yell. "Twilight!" They all looked where the voice was coming from and saw Fluttershy. She came to a halt once she got to them but still had panic written on her face. "Twilight! It's Spike! He..He..." Before she could finish, she fell to the ground in tears. Worry also shot through Twilight as she heard the dragon's name along with seeing the pegasi's panic. "What with Spike? What happened? Fluttershy, what's wrong??" Her questions became more panicked as they left her mouth. Fluttershy looked up again, before wiping her tears a little and muttering what she was about to say before. "He's dead..." Author's Note Body reported.
Rainbow sus...Everyone shut quiet as they just stared at the yellow pegasus for a bit, taking in what she said before they felt tears falling down their cheeks. The lights also shot back on, making the insides of the castle light up again. A bit later, Fluttershy was going to lead them to where she found the body when they bumped into a speedy cyan pegasus. The pegasus grounded herself again before looking over to her friends. "Finally I found you guys! I've been flying for ages trying to find-" She noticed their faces. "What's wrong?" She got no answers from them and followed them as Fluttershy continued walking. Dash was still confused but was willing to follow them noticing that they weren't going to say anything. They eventually arrived in storage where they found Spike's body in one of the boxes in the higher areas. All of their expressions turned into horror again as they eyed the dragon's lifeless body. Soon after, an emergency meeting was held. They all met up in the map room again like the day before and took place on their thrones. Everyone had their eyes on each other, with Dash noticing that most of the others were on her as she walked in. Once they all sat down and were able to talk about the incident, Twilight asked the first question. "I think we all know why we're here..." She looked across her friend's faces and received multiple nods. "Let's start then. Did anyone see anything suspicious today? Before and after the lights turned off." Apple Jack put her hoof in the air before looking over at both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who sat across from them at the other side of the table. "When ah and Rarity were tryin' to find out why the lights turned off, we saw a big mess in the map room." "What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked confused. "I don't see any of that here now. Also, if that's true. What did it look like exactly?" "Ah'd be more than happy to tell ya, but ah think ya know already." Apple Jack looked straight at the pegasus, not breaking eye contact with the mare at any time. She simply showed a confused face in return. "I don't get it..." Apple Jack started explaining. "Ah know for a fact you were here for tasks. You're the one that knows most of how the electricity system works out of all of us. Ah think we all know what ah'm gettin' at." Dash looked just as confused as ever but took the time to look around the table and see the others nodding. "Just tell me what it is already!" She yelled both confused and annoyed. "Ya sabotaged the lights Dash, admit it." Apple Jack said bluntly, holding nothing back. "And ah think ya used it to get away with murdering Spike!" She slammed the table like she was slamming evidence onto the table. "Did not!" Rainbow Dash yelled back almost immediately after hearing her conclusion. "I was with Fluttershy the whole time! Right, Fluttershy?" "Actually..." Fluttershy started quietly. "You did head to storage before me after we agreed that I would put the tools back in the toolbox. You could've sabotaged something and killed him in storage while the lights were off." "That's not true at all! I mean, the first part is but not me killing Spike!" She basically screamed at the pegasus next to her, who hid away in her throne. Twilight spoke up now. "I mean, there is a lot of evidence against you right now." The others nodded again, agreeing that she must be the one infected. Dash still stood her ground and yelled against is once more. "But it's not true! Because that would mean I killed Pinkie Pie too and Apple Jack was with me the whole time when that happened!" She got a smile again, giving them more evidence that she was innocent. "Not the whole time." Apple Jack spoke up again. "Ya had at least a few minutes alone when ah took out the garbage. And when ah came back, it was only a minute later when we heard what happened." "But-" "Also," She continued. "You'd be fast enough to make your way there and back." Rarity put her hoof in the air. "If I may add something, if I remember correctly, Dash also had Pinkie's blood on her during the last meeting." Everyone had their eyes on Dash again, waiting for her to either admit to it or throw out another excuse. This time, she stayed quiet for a bit, just looking at all of them defeated, before speaking again. "But it's not me.." Her voice was quieter and had less force behind it. "What now?" She quietly asked, tears starting to form in her eyes a little. "If it's true that you're infected," Twilight started. "We'll have to throw you out to prevent anyone else here getting it from you." She looked away. "Since Spike is dead... I can't send a report to Celestia on a quick notice so we'll have to send you out with the others and what's left of Ponyvile." Dash's face turned from hopelessness to fear as she heard the alicorn's words. "But all the ponies out there are infected! They would kill me in a second if you leave me out there!" Her voice was shaking with horror as she said it. "We don't have another choice," Twilight said simply before standing up from her chair. "Apple Jack, hold her down." Apple Jack nodded and acted quick, pinning the pegasus to the ground and keeping hold of her wings. The pegasus tried to break free, kicking and yelling as hard as she could, but without any success. They took her to the castle's balcony and looked down at Ponyvile that was in ruin and splattered with blood everywhere, along with ponies that were acting aggressively towards each other as soon as they caught sight of one another. Dash looked down with even more fear than before, seeing her inevitable death below. "Please don't do this! I'll die out there! Do you see those ponies! I'm not anything like that! Please just don't throw me out there! I'm not-" Before she could continue her pleads, Twilight got rid of the force field around the castle before Apple Jack threw her down, closing her eyes as she let go of her friend. Once Dash was out, Twilight got the force field back up, making her unable to get back to safety, keeping her out. As she fell down, Dash desperately tried to flap her wings to escape the blood-hungry herd below but failed due to the damage done to them as she was held down earlier, she could only slow her fall a little. A huge spike of pain shot through her once her body hit the hard, cold ground. She tried to get up but failed due to her whole body hurting and looked up to see tens to hundreds of blood-hungry ponies. They didn't waste any time getting to her and after some last few yells and screams from the pegasus, she was silenced as her body was ripped apart and all signs of life left her. As this happened, the others were already back in the castle, not even looking back at their friend's corpse down below. Thinking they got the one infected, they ended the day and went to bed to look forward to the next day. Hopefully without any murders... Author's Note Rainbow Dash was ejected. Rainbow Dash was not infected.
Quiet, not calm, but VERY quiet.They started the day with good hopes that nothing bad would happen again. Thanks to that, they felt safe enough to let go of the duos and let everyone go out on their own again. They all went back to their assigned tasks like nothing happened in the last couple of days, with most of them being in different rooms. As they all went different ways, Fluttershy quietly made her way across the castle halls to storage. As she did so, her steps shook as she paid close attention to anything around her, shrieking at even the smallest noises around her. Lucky for her, the shrieks weren't enough to alarm anyone else in the castle. She arrived at storage and after slowly closing the door behind her, she flew up to the storages upper section. She got to her usual spot that was filled with multiple boxes and other items to the side that she had to sort out into the boxes. There was quite some work for her to still do, especially after the last few events that took most of her time up. But now that that was all over, she could continue where she last left it. As she worked, she still paid close attention to the things around her. Her attention mostly lingering at the door and other openings like windows or vents. No matter how much she tried to forget about it, the anxiety kept coming back. She didn't like being alone in there. She liked it better when she was there working with Pinkie Pie or with Rainbow Dash. It also wasn't helping that most of the murders happened where she was right now. Alone... She made sure to finish her task as fast as she could and once she did so, she flew down to ground level, looking back, before leaving the storage. She let out a relieved sigh as some of the anxiety from before left her. She closed the door behind her and turned back to the same hallway from before. Now that she was done with her first task, she was supposed to tune in with Twilight. She knew she'd probably be assigned to do some of Pinkie's leftover work, but anything to keep her from being all alone for a bit was worth it. As she made her way across the hall and stairs of the castle to find the library, she spotted Rarity coming out of a room near her. Once the unicorn had turned around, she noticed Fluttershy there and greeted the pegasus, smiling at her. "Oh, hello there darling. I thought you would be working on things in storage?" She asked, walking towards the pegasus. Fluttershy just nodded before explaining. "Yea, but I finished that now, so I was looking for Twilight. She's in the library, right?" "I think so." The unicorn responded. "She hasn't left that room for a while. I only ever see her in meetings or that one time yesterday when the lights were sabotaged. I wonder what she's doing in there." "I guess I'm about to find out." The pegasus simply said, looking away for a bit. It felt much saver with Rarity around than before when she was all alone. If she had a choice, she'd stay with at least one of her friends until the day was over. But she knew the others were probably busy as well. Rarity saw her anxious face and looked over at her again. "Fluttershy, dear? Are you alright?" It took a few seconds for the mare to answer, but when she did, it came out really quiet. "I-I'm scared Rarity... I don't want to be all alone... I don't like it at all..." But even with that, Rarity could hear the fear in her voice. "But, darling." She started. "The infected is gone. We don't have anything to worry about anymore." "How can you be so sure?" Fluttershy asked in return. "What if she wasn't infected as she said and there's still someone out there? I don't want to die Rarity!" The pegasus was now in tears on the ground. Rarity looked down at the upset pegasus for a bit before showing a smile and levitating her back on her hooves. "You aren't going to die Fluttershy. I can see you're scared, so how about we stay together? If that's something to make you feel saver." "You mean it?" Fluttershy asked, looking up at the unicorn. "I-If you don't mind of course... I won't bother you.." "Of course I don't mind." She smiled as she walked ahead before looking back at her friend. "Now, let's go see how Twilight is shall we?" Fluttershy got a smile again and followed her friend as they headed to the library. Meanwhile, Twilight was busy getting through a new book she found. Even with the last couple of failed attempts, she didn't give up on finding a cure. She just found some new information that could be used to do just that. She was deep into the book, writing notes on the side, before she was interrupted by the sound of the door behind her opening. She perked up from her book and turned around to see Fluttershy and Rarity at her doorstep. "Rarity, Fluttershy, what are you two doing here?" She asked as she stood up and walked closer to her friends. Fluttershy walked forward before replying. "I've finished my task in storage." "Oh, right!" Twilight said before going over to her desk and picking out multiple papers before eventually picking one out and reading through it. Once she finished, she got a smile and put it back in before walking back over to the two mares. "Can you do a quick walk across the castle for me to see if everything is in check? Come report to me if there's anything." "I can do that." The pegasus smiled. "Great." The alicorn now looked over to Rarity. "And you, Rarity?" The unicorn looked up before getting a smile. "Oh, nothing really. I just joined Fluttershy since she didn't want to be alone." Twilight tilted her head a little, showing some confusion. "How so? We got the one infected. I'm pretty sure of it." She asked looking over to the yellow pegasus again. "O-Oh, it was just so quiet... I'd rather have someone with me in case there's still someone out there..." She looked away. Twilight slowly nodded but showed her a smile. "I get it Fluttershy. But you have nothing to worry about. Nothing is going to happen." She reassured her friend, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Fluttershy showed a smile again. "Thanks, Twilight." She said before turning back to the door only looking back to look over at Rarity. "I'll do my course of course, but I can still join until we need to split up. I'll probably meet Apple Jack soon enough then too." "Agreed. See you again later Twilight." Rarity said before leaving with the pegasus. Author's Note 1 infected remains.
Vents.Having her new task, Fluttershy left the library with Rarity. As they walked across the halls, Fluttershy stopped every once in a while to check in the other rooms. After seeing if the rooms were clear, or just having nothing worth reporting back to Twilight, She turned to leave the room. She did this with multiple rooms as they walked through the hall together. Rarity was always patient enough to wait up for her friend as she did her little inspection. This stayed the same for a while before Rarity pointed at one of the rooms and moved closer to it. "This is it. I expect you'll be fine by yourself now, right?" "Yea," She nodded, feeling much safer than before. "I'll see you again later." Rarity gave her a smile in return. "Of course. see you then, darling!" The unicorn smiled as she showed her friend a quick wave and entered the room, leaving the pegasus by herself. Fluttershy watched her close the door behind her before continuing herself, wearing a smile as she continued her way across the hall. She continued her walk around the castle, looking and checking into each room before moving on and doing the same again in the next. As she did so, she knew she'd find her other friend in one of them as well. Meanwhile, Apple Jack was at the castle's garbage dump, taking a quick break from the work she just did. As said at the start of the week, she had some of the tasks with more heavy work. She was used to it, of course, but still had to take a break in between the tasks to keep up with the schedule. She also quickly found out there was more garbage in the castle than she could ever imagine there would be. Most of the rooms in the castle had at least one trashcan in them. It kind of got her wondering why Twilight would need so many places to dispose of things when there could also be just a few main ones. But she wasn't there to solve dumb mysteries like that. They'd already solved the biggest and probably most important one. She stood back up from the wall she had leaned against for a while was ready to leave for her next trip around the castle. But before she could do so, or get even get a step further, she saw the door open and someone peek into the room, before spotting the mare and walking in. "Who's there?" She asked towards the door since the area there had a shadow casting over it. As she asked it, she also took a step closer to whoever was there so she would be able to see them better. The one there heard her voice and turned to look over at her. "Oh, it's just me Apple Jack." Apple Jack could now recognize the soft, quiet voice came from Fluttershy. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything..." "Ya didn't. Ah was just 'bout to head out." The earth pony said, showing the pegasus a smile. "Oh..." She responded quickly before continuing. "T-That's fine. I'll only be here for a little bit anyway." Apple Jack watched as she closed the door behind her and took a few steps into the room. "Ah didn't know ya had a task here, Flutters." The earth pony said as she walked closer. "Oh, I just got a new one. Twilight asked me to take a quick tour around the castle to see if everything is still how it's supposed to be." The mare said smiling. "I just need to look if everything is still in place. It won't take too long." Apple Jack nodded before showing a smile. "Alright then." As the pegasus looked around the room, Apple Jack made her way to the door. "Ah'll be off. Ah'll maybe see ya again later." "Sure thing." The earth pony heard her friend say before she opened the door and left her alone in the room. Apple Jack closed the door behind her and made her way across the hall to find her next destination. It took a few minutes to get there since it was all the way on the other side of the castle. She opened the door and walked in to be greeted by another, practically filled up to the top, garbage bin. She went to pick it up when she noticed it being quite a bit heavier than most others that were a similar size. She decided to see what the extra weight was so she could maybe make it an easier trip. And with the distance back to the garbage dump, she preferred having something a bit lighter. She decided to take out the bag first and once she did, she felt the most of the weight at the bottom. She got it open to investigate and found a lot of small screws along with a screwdriver or two. She was obviously confused when she saw what caused the weight. When she looked closer, there was even a small piece of vent in there that was probably torn out for any reason. As much as the objects confused her, most of her other confusion laid at why they were in an average garbage bin, rather than something more specific that would be better to throw away things like that. curious, she looked over to a nearby vent that was on the room's floor. She took a closer look and noticed the screws were gone. This made it so it could easily be opened and closed whenever someone wanted that to be the case. She was still confused but decided to let it be and continue with her task. Remembering the screwdriver, she just assumed it was something Rainbow Dash couldn't continue after being sent out. She got the garbage bag back closed and made her way out with the thing. She kept the screws and screwdriver on a table inside the room to maybe get those back to Twilight later. She arrived back at the garbage dump and found Fluttershy still there. She was looking through some boxes that were inside the area and her away when she noticed her friend coming in. "Oh, hey Apple Jack. You're back fast." She said, closing the box she was looking in before. "Really?" She imaged she'd be slower thanks to the extra weight she inspected but decided to ignore that. "Nevermind. Ah'll have to head back there anyway. Ah left some stuff behind ah still have to pick up." She continued and she put the bag down on the ground. Fluttershy nodded as she walked over to her friend. "Which way are you going?" "Right. Ah'm headin' off to the other side." She responded. "Oh, I have to go over there too. You don't mind if I join you do you? I just finished here." Apple Jack showed her a smile. "Of course ah don't mind." Fluttershy replied with a smile as she joined her friend before they walked out together. While Fluttershy checked on the rooms on the way, Apple Jack would patiently wait up for her. It was during one of these times when they found Rarity dead in one of the rooms... Author's Note Body reported.
one vs two. But who?Soon after they found the body, Fluttershy and Apple Jack went to report to Twilight. It was obviously a surprise to most of them as they assumed they were safe after the last meeting. But now that that was proven wrong, Twilight didn't waste any time in getting everyone together in yet another meeting. But this one was bound to be tenser than the ones that came before. "Let's not waste any time here," Twilight said firmly as she set eyes on the two mares together with her in the room. "I want to know where everyone was at any time. I'm not leaving any questions unanswered!" She said strictly before she looked over to the yellow pegasus with a serious look. "Fluttershy, you're the last one I saw with her. Speak up." "A-After I finished my last task in storage I did my walk around the castle.. I didn't even know there was still someone infected among us..." She answered quietly, looking away as she said it. "Ah don't think anyone knew..." Apple Jack said before showing an upset face. "Wait, does that mean Dash was innocent..?" Everyone got quiet for a bit, sharing the same look Apple Jack did before the silence was broken by Twilight. "I'm afraid she was... It would take some time for someone new to be infected and even more for them to act on it..." More silence followed before Apple Jack quietly started again. "Ah can't believe ah killed one of my best friends..." Fluttershy nodded in agreement, sharing the same destroyed face. "I feel horrible... I've been such an awful friend..." She said as she looked down at her hooves, before showing an even more upset face. It wasn't long until they were cut off by Twilight. "Let's not talk about all of that now. We can do that later. What's important now is that we find the one who's really infected and get them out of here." "But what if we're wrong and we throw out someone innocent again..?" Fluttershy asked quietly again. "Uhm..." Twilight struggled to find an answer but eventually continued. "I just need the right evidence this time. And the only way to get that is to answer all of my-" Before she could finish, she was interrupted by Apple Jack. "And ours." "What?" "We'll answer your questions if you'll do the same for ours." She said knowing what her next words would be. "Ya always ask us but we never get your side of the story. It's like you're hidin' something." "I'm not!" She started before starting to defend herself. "You know just as well as me how bad of a lier I am. I could never-" She got interrupted again. "So you wouldn't want to be the one answering questions! Probably 'cause you'd have to lie!" Apple Jack finished. "That's it ain't it?" "It's not!" Twilight denied again. It soon became a back and forth between them mostly filled with accusations and finger-pointing. But they were soon interrupted by the other mare in the room. "Can everyone stop yelling!?" The pegasus said more loudly before continuing in more of a quiet tone after getting their attention. "I-I think we should do one thing at a time. But I agree with Apple Jack that you should answer us too, Twilight." The two stayed quiet for a bit before showing a slow nod. Twilight decided to start again. "Okay, Fluttershy. Let's start over. Where were you, when and what were you doing? Also, how long were you and Rarity together?" Twilight listened closely as the pegasus started again. "I finished my task in storage before heading to the library to meet you for a new one. I met up with Rarity on my way there and after I got my new task, I stayed with her until we split at one of the rooms and I continued my way. I eventually got to the garbage dump where I saw Apple Jack and continued my way with her until we found the body." As Fluttershy finished, Twilight started again. "Is that all?" The pegasus gave her a quick nod before the alicorn continued. "Did you see anything suspicious from anyone here before the incident?" "I don't think so..." The pegasus quietly responded before looking over to her other friend. "But Apple Jack did leave the dump while I was there. We found the body right after..." Hearing what she said, Apple Jack quickly explained. "Ah said ah had to go to the other room to continue my task. You even saw the garbage bag I brought back." "Oh, right..." She muttered back, looking away. "Hmm..." Twilight hummed before she spoke again. "Anything else?" Fluttershy shook her head so she continued. "Apple Jack, I'd like your side of the story now." She said as she looked over to the earth pony. "Ah'd be happy to tell ya, but there's nothin' much to say." Apple Jack answered. "Ah did my tasks and made my way from room to room around the castle." She finished. Twilight tilted her head a little before she spoke up again. "Can you be more specific? We need all the information we can get." She said as she looked back at her friend more seriously. Apple Jack slowly nodded before continuing. "Ah guess ah can try." She said as she started again. "Ah started again where ah left of and after walking back and forth for a while from room to room, ah took a quick break. That's when ah saw Fluttershy walk into the dump. Ah left and went to another room soon after." She took a second to pause before she continued, looking like she had remembered something important. "Ah remember walking in there and feeling the bag was heavier than usual. When ah looked in to check, ah saw a screwdriver and multiple screws in there, along with a vent that had its screws missin'" "Yea, that is suspicious..." Twilight muttered before looking over to Fluttershy. "Do you know anything about that Fluttershy?" "I-I..." The mare stayed quiet for a bit before continuing. "I don't... When you told me to check the rooms I didn't think I'd have to look at every vent. And the one I saw at the dump wasn't touched at all." Apple Jack tilted her head, looking slightly confused. "How did ya know there was a vent at the dump?" She shut quiet again before answering. "I-I moved some boxes and saw that. I just remembered when you brought the vents up." "Ah see..." Apple Jack said before showing Twilight a grin. "Now, mind tellin' us where you've been?" "Of course," She quickly answered before continuing. "Like the days before, I stayed in the library to read up on new possible cures. I thought I found one when Fluttershy and Rarity showed up at my door, but after they left it turned out less impressive than I thought. I kept reading, with not much success, until heard from you two what happened." "You never left that room?" Fluttershy asked confused. "You must've been out at least once for food or something..." The alicorn just shook her head. "I didn't. I had everything I needed right there." She looked satisfied and finished what she said before. "That's all I have to say. I hope that's enough for you Apple Jack." "Ah'm mainly just wonderin' what happened to the vents around the castle. The screwdriver made me think it was somethin' Dash couldn't continue, but it could've also been some kind of sabotage from one of ya." "Funny how you bring sabotage up," Twilight said bluntly. "Sounds like you're looking for things to accuse other people off." The earth pony looked back at her before starting to talk back. "Look who says it, ya literally just accused me of somethin'!" She yelled at the alicorn before finishing. "Also ah didn't accuse anyone. Ah just suggested somethin'" "But you did allude to us being involved in that, which is basically accusing but said differently." As the two got into a heated argument again, Fluttershy stayed quiet as she just watched them throw accusations at each other. Tears slowly filled her eyes as the accusations started getting more directly linked to being infected. Before they could call each other infected one more time, they were interrupted by the pegasus. "It's me! I did it!" As her yells reached the two mares, they shut quiet and looked over to the pegasus who was now in full tears. "I'm infected..." The room stayed quiet for a whole ten seconds, with only their friend's quiet sobs to be heard, before Twilight broke the silence. "I-Is that really true...?" The pegasus responded with a quiet nodded. Twilight looked over to Apple Jack who had the same shocked face. "But Twilight..? Ya said an infected couldn't admit that they were..." The earth pony asked as Fluttershy got quieter too. "I said it's hard to get them to confess, not impossible." The alicorn explained before looking over to Fluttershy. "What made you confess? I'm sure it wasn't easy." The pegasus stayed quiet for a bit before giving her answer. "It wasn't... But I couldn't bear see another one of my friends, that I know are innocent, to be killed for no good reason at all. I wanted to say something at the start but couldn't make myself do it... I'm sorry..." More silence followed before Twilight spoke up again. "I see... But we're going to have to throw you out now, you know that." "I know..." The pegasus nodded. "But I'm okay with that... I deserve it after being such a terrible friend to everyone..." Twilight looked over to Apple Jack before receiving a nod from her. They walked over to the balcony together and looked down at the remains of Ponyvile together before Twilight spoke again. "Ready Fluttershy?" The pegasus looked down before quietly nodding. Twilight levitated her over the balcony as she got the force field off and let go of her friend, before quickly getting the force field back up. Fluttershy didn't even attempt to fly or save herself in any way as she let herself fall down the castle. As she looked down and saw her inevitable death down below, a small smile appeared on her face. The happiness that her remaining friends would be safe, accepting the punishment for what she did before. She soon reached the ground and had the infected ponies give her her quick but deserved death. With the infected now officially gone, the remaining friends in the castle could continue their days in peace. And even though there were a lot of deaths and mistakes made, they still had it in them to look forward to the future. Author's Note Fluttershy was ejected. Fluttershy was Infected. 0 infected remain. Victory.
Extra chapter: Behind the scenes!Author's Note Before I start this, just know this isn't continuing the story in any way. The last chapter was the ending and these are the behind the scenes and extras that lead to that. If you're interested in that, please continue reading! Extra chapter: Behind the scenes! Welcome, reader. We're here... The story has ended. The infected are known and everything is back to normal. I mean, how normal it can possibly get after all of that. So now, why am I doing this? The story has ended. There's no reason for me to be doing this. But does it sound like I care? I'm really proud of this story, and with all the attention this story has gotten, I found it fun to explore some of the backstories. So, let's start off with the first major thing! This was asked multiple times in the comments too. The origin of the infection! I don't have one. Really anti-climactic I know but hear me out. I'm not a good storyteller. I just get the story idea and roll with it. That's part of the reason I struggle with making the first chapter since I have to set up the story. I never imaged making a whole chapter exploring the origin. I got most excited to write when I thought about the main story once the mane six were locked in the castle. But I will try my best to think of something good. So here it is, a quick explanation of how the infection started: It was just an average day in Equestria. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming... All until the sound of sirens were heard. But not just any sirens. The ones from emergency ponies. They were heard far but came from none other than a little town called Ponyvile. Most ponies turned their heads to see two ponies being taken away. One looked like they were hurt, with blood and bruises as if they just came from a fight. The second one was a mare that was kept on straps that were holding the mare back as she tried to break free. Quite aggressively too. Most ponies near eventually lost sight of them as they both entered the hospital. Most that were there assumed there was an accident or an argument taken too far. And all was forgotten until the same thing happened not long after. Most looked the same, aggressive pony being held back by staps, but this time there were more hurt ponies to be seen, all looking seriously injured. This soon became a regular sight for the ponies of Ponyvile. And not just there. The entire population of Equestria had the same problem of random ponies going crazy towards the nearest there. It became a too big problem to ignore and ponies like Twilight started gaining interest in what was going on. Across all the ponies that have randomly attacked ponies, one thing was always the same. It was something that didn't include a free choice. They were all looked at and they found they were all infected by the same thing. What is was, no one knew and many tried to figure it out. But to this day, no one is completely sure. The best guess someone had been able to make was that the virus has its own intentions, plans, and ideas, and they would use the ponies around them to fulfill the deed. That deed being murder. Mass murder if possible. But no one has been able to find out why. No one knows why there are so many cases at once now. But most importantly, no one knows how to stop it. That's it. Sorry if it was bad but it's the best I could think of. Now, I want to start with the fun parts! Story choices! Were all decided by spinning a random spin wheel! Don't believe me? Let's look at what happens in the story, shall we? Firstly, and most importantly, I had to decide who would be the one infected slowly killing off their friends. If I were to decide that on my own, I already knew it would be bad. Either I'd end up with an out-of-character Rainbow Dash or get bored writing for someone else. That's when I got an idea! And a pretty fun challenge for myself! That being: Write a whole story (that makes sense) using a random spin wheel to make all the major choices! Of course, I still had to write the things that go in between myself but that was easy enough. Having made my choice, I put all the mane six in there (and spike) and spun the wheel! It eventually landed on Fluttershy. Now, I had the one infected, but I also needed to know who would die first. That turned out to be Pinkie Pie so I made it easy for Fluttershy to kill her in the first round by putting them together in a room. In the next part of the story, along with the meeting, I didn't use the spin wheel and just wrote what was most likely to happen. That was until I spun the wheel to decide if they should skip or not. It ended on skip so I went that route and continued. My next choice was who would die next and if someone should be ejected for it. The next death ended up being Spike and Rainbow dash was the one who would be ejected. I really looked forward to that. I had one idea for it that would be perfect. Light sabotage. It would give the mane six a reason to suspect Rainbow Dash without making it unreasonable and it made it easier to write in another death without anyone being there to witness it. So that's what I did. I made Fluttershy stay behind to sabotage the lights to eventually kill spike and made Rainbow Dash look suspicious by making her absent. I wanted people to think twice about whether it was Rainbow Dash or not. I had her be ejected and looked forward to writing their realizations in now that they know "they not only killed their friend but an innocent pony." Quoted from Pete100 in one of the comments (I appreciate you) I spun the wheel two more times to decide the last few choices. Who would be the last one to die? That ended up being Rarity. The second one would be whether she would be caught or another meeting would happen. The wheel picked the meeting option. I also used the concept of vents now to make it able for Fluttershy to get to Rarity quickly and return to the spot she was. That's how she knew there was a vent in the dump and she used it to do her kill while Apple Jack was away. Lastly, T\the wheel decided she would confess so that what I ended the story with. So, yea. It was all decided by a spin wheel. It wasn't easy at times to make it work but I found my ways. Now, with that all explained, on to the next part! Scrapped story ideas! I have a few of those that I thought would be fun to share! Firstly I had the idea of putting in chapters for the ones that died. They would be ghosts, just like in among us, and would comment on whatever happened in the story. Pinkie Pie died first so she would watch the rest of the story happen knowing it was Fluttershy. She would probably follow her friend around while she did her deeds. I'm not sure what else she could do except make some jokes but that was the idea. The next death was Spike. He would probably head back to Twilight and try anyway to tell her it was Fluttershy. It was fun to imagine him screaming at her at the top of his lungs and Twilight not noticing any of it. But like Pinkie, not much else. The next death was Rainbow Dash but she would be a lot different. She wasn't killed by Fluttershy. She was thrown out of a castle by her best friends into a bunch of blood-hungry ponies. Because of that, she would probably be more than traumatized if she were to return as a ghost. If anyone has read more of my stories, they would know I love to torture my little Dashie. I had a lot of fun imagining again, but nothing made their way into the main story. I honestly don't know what I would do for Rarity. But it doesn't really matter. It never made its way into the story anyway. It were some fun ideas but I'm satisfied with what I have now. I won't change that. The second one stayed for a while longer. I finished the first chapter when I decided to change it. My original plan was to make the mane six humans. Not the mirror clones. Just the mane six from Equestria humanized. You can actually still read it in one of my blog posts when I first suggested the idea. Once I made the first chapter, I decided I'd cancel that idea and rewrote them to be ponies. I found it a lot easier to write. This one is just a minor one but it's worth mentioning that there used to be a profanity tag on this story. You can even still see some traces of this, mostly with Rainbow Dash is chapters one and two. Her saying, "I can totally live in a big ass castle for a while!" and, "My god, does she never check these things??" was when the tag was still on. My plan was to make it the among us experience but with the mane six. So, as some who played may know, meetings can get quite aggressive. So, when I knew Dash would be ejected in the story, I wanted to make her freak out in the best way possible. But as I wrote the story, I found that it would be a distraction to put random curse words in there, especially in the middle of the story. I'm not changing the story now so the two lines from Dash will stay in. But it was worth a mention. The last one is the cover of the story. In the description, it said that it would be changed at some point. That was also written before I changed the plan of them being humans. The thing is, I can draw humans but ponies are a whole different thing. I've tried it before but it won't be good. Also, I've kind of learned to love the cover and it won't be changed. I'm too attached to it now. But that's okay! Castle map! (requested in the comments) This was asked in the comments and I'm actually making it cause why not? It's highly inspired by the main Among Us map, the Skeld. https://www.deviantart.com/anoukfeenstra101/art/Twilight-Castle-map-There-s-one-infected-among-us-858366931 The main rooms are the map room with the cutie map where the meetings take place and the story starts. The storage is nearby and takes just a minute or two to walk to from there. The library is on the right and the garbage dump and balcony are on the other side. There are also some smaller rooms that don't matter too much or have a name. I didn't really bother too. I got the most important things in there so I hope that's enough. Now, I know this is the end of the story and if you're here you probably read all of it, but now you have this map! So, yea, that's all of it. This will be the last few words of this story so I wanted to use it to thank everyone who took time out of their days to read my story. I can't thank you all enough for all the comments that I enjoyed reading every day. With that all said, thank you for reading the story and I'll maybe see you in another one. Have a nice day~!
Tasking, maybe some masking, but mostly tasking.Once everyone was settled in, Twilight created a small schedule for each of them with daily tasks. Each of the schedules were specifically created for each of them, surrounding their specialties. Shortly after creation, Twilight met up with them again around the cutie map to discuss it. "While you all got your stuff in order, I made a plan for the following few weeks." She said as she gave everyone their individual schedules. "These are some bigger and smaller tasks around the castle that need to be done this week, if possible. If we're going to be here for a while, we need to keep things in check." Everyone looked down at their schedules, looking across the tasks for a bit, before looking back up. "And ya said this was for a week?" Apple Jack asked first. The alicorn smiled and nodded."Yeah. What do you think of the tasks? I kept all your specialties in mind." "I sure am." Dash said before looking down at her tasks again. "Electrics, something about high storage with Fluttershy." "Mhm," The alicorn nodded once again. "Those are too high for any earth pony or unicorn without levitation or teleporting, and I'll be busy down in the library. Also, the electrics are just to make sure we don't lose any electrical power inside. Wires can get really tangled if not taken care of. Directions should be under the task." She looked down at the task before looking up with a smile. "Yeah, got it!" "Next, Apple Jack?" Twilight said as she looked over at the farm pony. "I thought you wouldn't mind doing some of the heavier tasks around here." "Ah don't mind at all, Twi." She looked back down at her schedule. "Clearing out the garbage, movin' things around the castle, it should be easy enough. Ah do most of that at the farm anyway. It's nothin' new." "Great, so you'll be able to do that?" Twilight received a nod. "Sure thin'" She quickly moved on to the next. "Rarity?" "Just a moment, darling." The unicorn said as she quickly looked down at the paper and back up. "Cleaning around the castle sounds good for me. I wouldn't mind at all." "Good, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight moved on. She quickly got a smile back from the pink pony. "Organizing storage, I'm great at organizing! I can do it in my sleep!" Twilight showed a smile before getting to the last one. "Lastly, Fluttershy. You basically do something similar to what Pinkie does but in the upper section. Along with Dash at times too." "I don't mind the task at all." Fluttershy smiled. Satisfied, Twilight showed a smile now too. "So, that was all. Now, it's pretty late right now. It's probably best if we go to bed so we'll be able to do our tasks tomorrow. I'd imagine you'll all be fine by yourselves but I'll be in the library most of the time if anyone would need me after that." Everyone nodded in agreement before making their way to the rooms they were assigned to before. And after getting comfy, it wasn't long until everyone was asleep and ready for the next day. It was the next day and everyone was up and ready for their tasks of the day. Some like Apple Jack and Rarity went their own way but others like Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy went the same way. "Twilight said I'll first have to get some tools from storage. Might as well join you two." Dash explained as they walked across the hall to the storage area. "Oh, I don't mind at all." Fluttershy smiled. She was later followed by Pinkie. "Me neither! It's even more fun now!" "I guess, yea. But I'll just need to pick up some tools and I'll be off. The one in the map room should be the closest electricity stand out here." Dash got the schedule she kept between her wings and looked through it one more time. "Yea, map room." "I think that's where Apple Jack said she would go." Fluttershy quickly mentioned. Dash just shrugged before they entered the storage. As Dash went to get a toolbox from one of the cabinets, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie went to their part of storage to start looking through the multiple cardboard boxes. Once Dash got what she needed, she left the storage room and was soon in the map room. Once she entered, she saw Apple Jack there, who just finished tying a full garbage bag. "Oh, hey AJ! I already thought you were out here." Dash greeted, putting the box down on the cutie map. Slightly surprised, Apple Jack turned to see the rainbow pegasus. "Howdy there. so, what are ya here for?" "Ya know," Dash started. "checking the wiring, fixing it if it needs some touch-ups." Apple Jack smiled before giving a nod. "Ah see. Well, good luck with that, I'll be getting rid of this." The farm pony said as she got the garbage bag and walked out. After Apple Jack left, Dash found a small electricity box and used some of the tools she had to open it up. Once she did so, she almost dropped her screwdriver seeing almost nothing but a tangled mess. "My god, does she never check these things??" She said, slightly annoyed before getting the toolbox ready next to her and starting to fix the tangled wires. Meanwhile, Apple Jack got to a place in the castle where the garbage could be kept until the end of the week. She left the bag there and turned to see Rarity walk in. "Oh, howdy Rares." The farm girl greeted before seeing she had a whole new cleaning outfit on. "You look.." "I know, I know. I didn't want to get all dirty." She got a small bag from behind her and left it in the room. "How are your tasks going? I'm almost done with cleaning the first room." "Ah cleaned some trash in the maproom and emptied the trash. Only thing now is to put a new bag in and I'll be off to the next one." Apple Jack grinned. "Dash is there too, so I'll catch up with her." The white unicorn gave a quick nod. "She's with the electrics, right?" She asked before continuing. "Must be complicated with all those wires." The farm mare just shrugged in response. "Probably. But I'm sure Dash can handle it. She's better at those things than most of us." "Agreed." Rarity said before turning back to the door. "I'll see you again later Apple Jack." "Same for me. Ah'll catch up with ya later." They walked across the hallway together until they eventually spit up at the map room. Apple Jack entered and saw Dash already busy with the wiring. "Howdy, Dash." Apple Jack quickly greeted. "How's the wiring?" Dash looked her way and showed her the inside of the electricity box. "Bad, better than before, but REALLY bad. They're all over the place. I'll probably be here for a while." Apple Jack could see in her face it annoyed her, but also saw determination to get it untangled. "That does look pretty awful, but ah'm sure ya can make somethin' of it." "Oh, no doubt about that! This is nothing compared to some of the things I've seen inside the Rainbow Factory. That place can be a real mess sometimes." They both let out a quick chuckle. "Right. Well, ah just need to replace the bag of the trashcan with a new one and Ah'll be off to the next room." "lucky you." Dash smiled, turning back to her task as Apple Jack walked over to hers. "I should get back to this." She said, getting her tool again and working on the wiring. Everything was going like usual until a minute later, ...A scream was heard from another room...
