Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

Sunset was hurt, confused and afraid.

She was delirious ever since she crawled up in a ball at the back of the bus.

Everything she saw was flashing before her eyes in a never ending loop of horror.

Teeth tearing up the flesh.

Madness in the blood-red eyes.

Bullets ripping people apart.

Blood gashing from the wounds.

“... Sun...”

Blood... So much blood.

“... Sun...”

It was raining down on her. Getting in her eyes, blinding her, in her mouth, leaving that disgusting metallic taste, in her nose, making it hard to breathe.

“Sunset...”

“My little Sun.”

Something touched her!

Sunset jerked her head up and threw her arms forward to shove away whatever it was. She tried to open her eyes but they refused to open! Confused, Sunset tried to crawl backwards but her back was already pushed against the wall, so she only managed to blindly flail her arms and legs around, making frightened squeaks.

A pair of hands grabbed her by the wrists and forced her arms to stop, but there was no aggression In that grip. “Shhh. It’s okay. It’s all over.” Sounded a quiet and soothing voice.

When Sunset stopped moving the hands released her arms and she tried to open her eyes again to no avail, but at least she understood what was going on. Her eyelashes stuck together. Fido’s blood coagulated and glued them shut. Sunset raised her hand and used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe away at her eyes, flinching a little when she touched her right eye. It felt swollen.

When Sunset opened her one good eye, she saw Fluttershy kneeling down beside her, she looked disheveled and pale as a ghost. Her eyes were red, but not in the same rage filled way like those of the ferals. It was obvious that she was crying, even now her face was still wet with tears.

“F-Fluttershy?” Sunset stammered.

“Sorry. I didn’t want to scare you. I called out your name but you didn’t respond.” Fluttershy managed to keep her voice calm and soothing despite obviously being terrified by the events that transpired. “It’s okay now. We are out of the city.”

Only now Sunset realized that the bus was not moving. She looked past the yellow girl just in time to see how the two soldiers were carrying out one of the corpses, as well as several students, who were helping the injured by bandaging their wounds.

“Are you hurt?” Asked Fluttershy and Sunset nodded absentmindedly in response. “Let me see your wounds, maybe I can treat them. I-if that’s okay with you.”

Sunset looked back at Fluttershy. “Why?” She asked.

“H-huh?” Fluttershy cocked her head to the side.

“Why do you care?” Sunset found it hard to believe that the girl, she bullied on a regular basis, would willingly offer her any help at all.

“Because you are hurt.” She answered firmly, looking her straight in the eyes. There, on Fluttershy’s face, was the look of something that Sunset never saw before - the look of confidence. It lasted for a moment, but then she averted her gaze and returned to her usual meek self. “And... well.. um... n-nobody else... wanted to.” She added quietly.

‘Well, at least that last part sounds about right.’ Sunset thought. She then looked herself over. “It’s mostly bruises on my arms and chest, and my eye barely opens.” She carefully touched the swollen area around her right eye. “I don’t suppose you have any ice?” Sunset asked hopefully, although she knew that it was a long shot.

“S-sorry.” Fluttershy shook her head. “But I have these.” The yellow girl raised a package of alcohol pads and a few medical patches she got from the first aid kit, that the driver gave to the passengers. “There is an open wound near your temple, we must clean it before it gets infected.” She opened the package and took one of the pads. “Um... this will sting for a bit.”

“I know.” Sunset nodded and closed her eyes. A moment later she hissed as some alcohol got in her wound as Fluttershy worked to clean the area around it.

‘I wonder if she did that on purpose’ Sunset thought. ‘A small payback for all the shit I’ve put her through.’ She opened her good eye and looked at Fluttershy’s face. She looked focused on the task at hand, she even bit her lower lip a little. ‘No, she’s not the type for a petty revenge. Besides, it needs to be disinfected anyway.’

“There. All cleaned up.” Fluttershy finished the treatment and placed a medical patch over the wound. “It will itch for a bit, but please don’t scratch it, okay?” She stood up and looked around. “Um, you should get back in a seat, the floor is too filthy. And I better look around if anyone else needs help.”

“Fluttershy.” The yellow girl was about to walk away, but Sunset stopped her. “Thank you.” She muttered. Sunset was a little surprised to realize that she was honestly grateful to the quiet girl. She didn’t have to do that and if their roles were reversed, Celestia knows, Sunset wouldn’t even think of helping anyone unless she had some ulterior motives.

“You’re welcome.” Fluttershy responded and even managed some semblance of a small smile. Then her gaze shifted to another student. “Oh my. Rover, don’t hold your head up like that. You shouldn’t do that with a nose bleed.”

Sunset stood up and her arms ached when she leaned on them for support. She moved towards her seat, sidestepping the pool of not yet fully dried blood that was left on the floor, where Fido’s body once was. Apparently the soldiers decided to move the bodies from the floor first.

As Sunset got near her seat she felt a draft of chilly wind coming from the smashed window right next to it. She didn’t want to sit in the cold and thought that maybe it would be better to find another place to sit down. And when she saw the seat itself, she knew for certain that she didn’t want to be anywhere near it. Her seat was covered in blood and something that looked like bits and pieces of Cloud Kicker’s head and its contents.

Sunset thought that she should be sickened by it, but instead she only felt numb. And so she went forward, looking for a suitable place to sit.

Many seats were also covered in blood splatters either from the fights that broke out or as the result of shooting. Some still had corpses slumped over them, but Sunset did her best to not look at the cadavers. Other seats were occupied by the students who were just sitting there with the blank expressions on their faces, or crying, or tending to their injured friends. Sunset was near the front of the bus when she finally saw an empty seat, but it had someone’s purse on it.

“May I?” Sunset asked, only now looking up at a person, who sat nearby.

Rarity looked back at her. She looked disheveled. Her hair, that always were expertly curled, were messy as if someone grabbed her by them and shook her violently. Her mascara was running down her face, creating several dark lines on her pearl white skin. She stared at Sunset in silence for so long, that the read headed girl was about to move on, but then she blinked several times and shook her head as if snapping out of a daze. “Oh! Ah, sure. Take a seat.” She reached out for her purse and moved it to her knees. As she did so, Sunset noticed that her knuckles were bruised. Rarity definitely fought someone.

“Thanks.” Sunset muttered, sitting down.

As soon as she did so, Rarity let out a gasp, “Darling, your face! It’s covered in blood! Here-“ she opened her purse and, after rummaging for a bit, produced a handkerchief and a bottle of antiseptic, “-take this.”

“Thank you?” Sunset thanked her again as she took the things that Rarity gave her. “You, ah, have a little something on your face as well.”

“I do?” Rarity opened her purse again and pulled out a small mirror. She let out another gasp as she saw her reflection. A moment later she got a second handkerchief and started to remove her ruined makeup.

As Sunset and Rarity were busy cleaning their faces, the soldiers moved past them and took yet another corpse to carry it outside.

“You can’t just dump them on the side of a road!” Someone cried. “Please... don’t you have any conscience at all? They were our friends!”

“They will be given a proper burial once this is over. I promise.” Private Strike said to a crying student. “But for now it is too dangerous to have them here, they are contaminated.”

“Less talking and more hauling, Strike.” Muttered the lieutenant. “We need to move fast before...” He stopped himself short. “Let’s just finish this and get going.”

It took them a few more hauls to carry out the rest of the bodies to the outside. When they finished their grim task the two soldiers returned to the bus and went straight to the driver, who was nervously smoking his fifth cigarette in a row. Sunset watched as they quietly discussed something but she couldn’t hear them, the only thing she heard clearly was their decision to stick to the roundabout paths to avoid heavy traffic on the highway.

Soon the bus started to move again.

Everyone were silent. It was that kind of a viscous silence, a silence that is much worse than any noise can ever be, it was almost suffocating. And although the bus itself made a lot of sounds, going down a dirt road, it did little too dispel the gloomy haze that enveloped the minds of those present. Everything fell so surreal. And Sunset would again try to convince herself that this is all just a nightmare, but the throbbing pain in her swollen eye and battered arms was all too real.

She turned around on her seat and looked around. If she remembered everything correctly, there were about thirty people on the bus before it all started. Now there were only twelve frightened and wounded students, a couple of soldiers and a driver. Sunset looked closely at the faces of the survivors. She knew almost all of them. ‘Does this mean that I also knew everyone who didn’t make it?’ She thought. ‘Probably. They weren’t my friends, not even acquaintances, simply the students of the school I sought to control. But I knew them, probably even better than some of their own friends. What they liked, what they were hoping for and afraid of. I dug everything I could find so I could manipulate them better. And now they are all gone...’ Sunset lowered her head and rubbed it with her hands.

She remembered the time when she first fled to this world. Then it seemed to her that her former life was over. Everyone, or rather everypony, she knew were back there, in Equestria, and no longer mattered to her, they were gone from her life. But they were still alive. And this... This was completely different... These people were gone for good.

And she almost joined them on the side of the road.

Sunset shook her head, she didn’t want to think about it. It was all because of this damn silence. She needed to break it. And understand the situation in which she found herself. And who, if not the military, can know what really happened.

So, Sunset looked at the two soldiers who set on the front seats near the driver. “Hey... uh... Lieutenant? Sir?” She called out. Her voice sounded almost alien in this heavy silence, and many students raised their heads and looked around, shaking off the daze that settled in. Even Rarity, who fell back into a near-catatonic state, simply staring into her mirror, roused herself once again and looked around.

Lieutenant Combined Arms turned his head, looking for whoever called him. When his gaze met the red-haired girl, he turned to her. “What is it?” He asked.

“Sir, what’s going on?” It was a simple question, but Sunset noted with satisfaction the wave of whispers that swept through the rows of seats behind her.

"Right..." The lieutenant sighed, got up from the seat and stood between the rows. “As I said earlier! There was a biological attack...”

“What kind of a bioweapon is that!?” Someone shouted from the back rows.

“We don’t know for sure. But our best guess is some sort of a mind control agents.” He answered as if reading from the paper.

“Was that what was going on in the other cities for the last three months!?” Another shout.

“Not on the same scale but...” Arms sounded less confident this time.

“Wait! Does this mean that those videos were actually true!?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, those videos were...” He began but was immediately interrupted.

“They looked and acted just like those maniacs from the videos!”
“That was going on for months and you didn’t tell anything!?”
“What else are you hiding from us!?”
“How could you!?”

Sunset already began to regret her decision to ask questions as the situation quickly devolved into a shouting match. Almost everyone were shouting and flinging accusations at the soldier, without even giving him a chance to answer. And though Sunset most definitely managed to break the silence, that was far from the result she wanted.

It continued for almost a minute, with shouting getting louder and louder. Even private First Strike stood up and was nervously looking at the shouting students as if waiting for them to go feral at any moment and rush them. He nervously looked down at the rifle in his hands but the lieutenant gestured for him to calm down.

“ENOUGH!” Lieutenant Combined Arms bellowed over the screams. “I don’t know shit! Okay!? I am not the one making decisions! And those who do, don’t report to me! I am too low rank to have access to any important information! I am telling you what they told me! So for God’s sake, stop shouting and be grateful that we are still alive!”

His commanding voice reverberated through the bus, shutting everyone up. Maybe some were convinced or intimidated by his tirade, maybe they decide that it was not a good idea to antagonize two men with guns, but no one tried to argue with the lieutenant any further.

“What about our families?” Rarity asked in a quiet voice, barely above whisper, but it was clearly heard in the ensuing silence. Sunset turned and looked at her. Rarity was holding her phone and looking at the empty reception bar.

“I don’t know...” Lieutenant Arms suddenly sounded so tired. He slumped back into a seat and rubbed his face. “I too have a family. But right now all we can do is pray for their safety.” He then turned around and his voice regained its previous commanding qualities. “We are going to a FEMA camp, once there we will regroup with another unit, as for you, you will be given a medical check and relocated to a safe zone. That is all I know, just a protocol.”

“But I told Sweetie that I’ll be home soon.” Tears were again streaming down Rarity’s face as she moved her phone in vain hopes of finding the signal.

Sunset didn’t know what compelled her to put her hand on Rarity’s shoulder, but it felt like the right thing to do at that moment. ‘I might be a bitch, but I am not heartless.’ She thought as she tried to silently comfort the alabaster girl.

Rarity raised her head and looked Sunset in the eyes. She was used to seeing constant mockery in her eyes, to the fact that the red-haired girl looked at everyone with an undisguised sense of her own superiority. But this time there was genuine compassion in her eyes. Without thinking, Rarity raised her hand and placed it over Sunset's.

Sunset could feel Rarity shaking, and with each sob she squeezed her hand a little tighter.

At that moment, Sunset remembered the little amber filly. She sobbed softly, trying to fight the feelings raging inside her. And a large white wing that gently fell on her shoulders... That soft warm wing...

Then the Princess leaned towards her...

“Let it out.” She whispered.

Rarity shuddered once more, squeezed Sunset's hand tightly and buried her face in her shoulder, crying her eyes out.