It was a clear dark night, the streets of Manehattan were bustling and busy as usual, but slightly above street level, the serene quiet of the night was present. Nightrider stood on the roof of a low rise building between a busy intersection and the entrance to a dark and dirty alley. She was standing on the edge, staring up at the moon. It was the last night of winter, and the moon was full, Nightrider was doing what she always did on these nights. She was thinking, thinking about her past, and about her present and future. Each time, Nightrider gets lost in a vortex of flashbacks varying in intensity, testimony that her thoughts get her nowhere. She is still stuck in her life, a life that had been ravaged by tragedy. Orphaned as a young filly when her parents lost their lives in a changeling attack, Nightrider grew up on the crime ridden streets. She had to fight constantly for her survival, and in doing so, she discovered her hatred for evil. As she grew up in a constant fight she got great at defending herself, she trained herself as a martial artist and gymnast, she is extremely agile, flexible and quite strong, she has also trained her hearing to acute levels, and has mastered moving without making a sound. Today she lives as a vigilante antihero who hides in the shadows, strikes her enemies fast and effectively and is gone before they can retaliate. Nightrider has made it her mission to destroy as much evil as she possibly can, by any means necessary. Motivated by her uncertainty of her past and future, and by her harsh childhood, Nightrider does this to come to some form of peaceful terms with her past and future.

The sound of breaking glass interrupted Nightrider’s thoughts. Her eyes flew open and she glanced in the direction of the sound. She heard a series of thumps and muffled voices. Without making a sound she made her way to the edge of her rooftop, and peeked over the edge doing her best to remain concealed. There was a broken window and 2 stallions were stuffing what appeared to be bags, Nightrider looked up at the building opposite her, the sign read “First Marehood Jewelers” it was a jewelry store. Nightrider moved closer to try and hear what the ponies were saying. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she was sure she heard the name Boris. The ponies stopped moving, they were now looking in the broken window, muttering. Then the deafening sound of an alarm going off from inside the store. A third pony joined the first two from the broken window, and the other two looked furious. One started yelling “Boris, what did you do? You had one job! One!”

They frantically started stuffing the bags again, Nightrider made out shiny items in the bags “Really?” she said to herself “Stealing wedding rings and pearl necklaces?” she rolled her eyes, “Typical”

The ponies made to leave, so Nightrider jumped, and disappeared. The robber ponies made it to the end of the alley when suddenly one of them was knocked over. The other two looked around in disbelief, one of them turned out to be a unicorn, who cast a light spell, then, he was also knocked over and fell on his face. Then finally, the three of them were thrown together and before anyone could move, they were being tied up by another pony, it was Nightrider.

“Evening fellas, what’s with the bling?” Nightrider said with a smirk. The pony called Boris lunged at the bags, “Ah ah ah, I don’t believe that’s yours” she said. The unicorn fired a spell at her, but Nightrider was too fast, she dodged it and countered with a kick to his face, the satisfying cracking sound made her sure she drew blood. Nightrider secured the rope to a pole nearby, and with a flick of her tail, she was gone. The ponies tried uselessly to escape, but sirens could already be heard up the street. Nightrider watched from her original rooftop for a moment, she knew they wouldn’t get free before the authorities found them. She then leapt again and made her way to a new, quieter rooftop to get lost again in thought.

A few blocks away Nightrider found another clear, quiet spot. She looked up at the moon, “… …Life is wonderful. But… why?” her thoughts were interrupted again, but this time it was from a faint but distinctly painful groaning noise from below her, she moved to the edge of her rooftop to look and noticed a pony huddled to the side against the wall on an otherwise deserted street. “Just a bum” she thought. But she couldn’t help but wonder, what if this pony needed help? Irritated with her own self she decided to investigate. She made her way down a nearby fire escape, and came up to the pony. She was an elderly mare but she looked strong for her age. She was groaning and mumbling to herself and coughing badly, she seemed unaware of Nightrider’s presence. “Uh, can I help you?” she said to the mare, who immediately turned around startled

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you”

“No its alright” said the elderly pony “I haven’t been really feeling myself lately, out of nowhere I have this cough and terrible pain everywhere. Where am I?” she asked

Nightrider was puzzled “Uh Manehatten. Lower West Side” she replied. The mare looked shocked “That’s impossible, I live on the other side of the river, I don’t remember walking over 15 miles to get here.” The pony entered an awful coughing fit that lasted several minutes, and she spat blood several times.

“Maybe we should get you to a hospital” Nightrider offered. The other pony groaned and nodded “That might help” she said.

Nightrider normally didn’t like directly dealing with other ponies, but she could tell something was not right with this elderly mare. Nightrider supported the pony up the street to a hospital and went in, by now the mare was very weak and her blue and white mane looked much paler than it was before. Nightrider noticed a young filly that looked to be having the same symptoms as the elderly mare, but Nightrider didn’t stop to interact further, she had done her part by escorting the mare here, so she silently left before the elderly mare could even thank her.

Back on her rooftop, she thought about what happened. “Two different ponies having similar symptoms in one night” she said to herself “Could that be just a coincidence?” she pondered several minutes “what does it matter anyway? Not like I can help at all” she said again to herself. “whatever” she thought “that’s why we have doctors”, and she made her way into a corner, lay down and tried to go to sleep.

Nightrider was awoken by a loud shriek. She opened her eyes and saw that it was still dark, the sky was overcast and was giving way to faint light, it was the early hours of morning. Nightrider got up and made her way to see what all the commotion was, she saw three ponies huddling around a fourth who was lying on the ground motionless, it appeared to be a young stallion. Nightrider made her way to the edge of her building to try to see and hear the scene better. She heard voices but could not make out exactly what the other ponies were saying, she sensed a deep panic in their voices and could make out that whatever happened was very sudden. A young mare began sobbing uncontrollably.

“How could this have happened? He was fine last night!” screamed the young mare between sobs.

Nightrider frowned and closed her eyes. She shook her head and dashed to the fire escape, she could not bear hearing anymore.

“Why do I even give a damn?” she said to herself as she quickly and effortlessly made her way down from the roof. “I’m sure it’s nothing…”

She made her way to the collapsed stallion. “Out of the way everypony” she ordered. She ran her hoof down the stallion’s chest, she checked his pulse and felt that he was still alive. She turned to the young mare. “What happened here?”

“I don’t know” she said still crying “He just collapsed. He was fine last night, but now as we were walking home he just...” she trailed off into more sobbing.

Nightrider stepped toward the mare “Calm down” she told her “Where were you walking home from?”

“We were at a birthday party for a friend” She sobbed “It went on quite late, and it was not far from here. He was fine all night, nothing out of the ordinary”

Nightrider looked at the other two ponies

“We own the café just over there” one stallion said pointing “my brother and I were preparing to open but we saw what happened and came to see if we could help”

“Did your boyfriend experience any coughing?” Nightrider asked the mare “now that you mention it, he has been speaking of a slight pain in his chest, and yes maybe a few coughs”

Nightrider thought of the elderly mare she helped earlier, and the young filly she saw in the hospital. “How long has he felt this way?” she asked

“a day or two” the mare replied.

“You need to get him to a hospital, now!” Nightrider said “You two, help her” she said to the stallion brothers, and with a swish of her tail, Nightrider was gone.

Nightrider made her way back to the rooftops where she felt most comfortable. The sun was rising now over the city, but Nightrider didn’t stop to ponder, she was running at full gallop jumping gaps between buildings. “this can’t be a coincidence” she thought to herself. I need to figure out what the hay is going on with these ponies” she made her way to the hospital where she left the old mare the previous night and went into the emergency. Nightrider looked around the waiting area, there were at least a dozen other ponies there, and many looked as sick as the other’s Nightrider saw, but there were some with different issues, one young colt was there with his mother who was using her unicorn magic to hold an ice pack to his leg, another Pegasus mare had her wing in a bandage. Nightrider thought that it was a normal emergency room sight but was still troubled at the similarity of the ones who were sick. Each sick pony looked to be in a lot of pain and a few were coughing, just like what Nightrider saw.

Nightrider made her way to where the ER beds were and slipped in when a nurse walked out, she saw more sick, groaning and coughing ponies in almost every ward in the room, some of them looked slightly discolored. She spotted the old mare she helped the previous night when a nurse came up to her. “You can’t be in this area, are you sick?” she asked.

“No’ replied Nightrider, she glanced to the old mare and thought for a second “She is my grandmother, I’m desperate to know what’s wrong with her.” Nightrider lied “Please, anything you can tell me”

The nurse mare sighed “Well, she was brought in last night with serious respiratory difficulties.” The nurse explained. “She had an overwhelming cough and complained of pain throughout her body, and she was growing weaker with each passing moment. Similar symptoms have been reported by other patients”

“Do you know what’s wrong with her?” asked Nightrider, trying to sound desperate.

“We have placed her on heavily sedating pain medication, morphine and Percocet, and assisted her breathing, basically we have stabilized her condition and are awaiting a physician to analyze further and start treatment.” The nurse explained. “Unfortunately we were unable to get much further as we are getting busy. Other patients are reporting similar symptoms so we should know something soon, but you really should be waiting outside.” The nurse motioned to the door to the waiting room.

Nightrider forced herself to look and sound as desperate as ever. “Please, my parents passed away not long ago and my grandma is all I have left! I need to know something more reassuring”

The nurse sighed again “Just a minute.” And quickly trotted off, she returned with a unicorn stallion “The doctor in charge of the emergency room from the time your grandmother was brought in is just off and the next one will soon be in, he has agreed to fill you in on what he knows.” And she trotted off again to tend to another patient.

“Dr. Bigmane” said the doctor introducing himself, he was muscular and bulky, he seemed in great shape, and his mane flowed long and loose, like liquid. He had an accent that Nightrider was not familiar with. Nightrider might have found him ever so slightly attractive. “Quickly now young lass I must be off to see my brother in Ponyville regarding the matter” Dr. Bigmane seemed to be a senior member of the staff, Nightrider could tell he had experience and that he knew quite a bit about what was going on. “What can you tell me doc?” asked Nightrider, trying to mask her curiosity with concern.

“We are dealing with a form of infection here, a type of disease it seems, but it doesn’t appear to be viral” said Dr. Bigmane “Early analysis on some of the first patients reporting these symptoms have showed whatever we are dealing with suppresses the respiratory system and as a result causes chest pain around the lung area. In some cases, it appears other bodily systems are also affected which explains the pain elsewhere in the body. Unicorn ponies are reporting that they have been unable to use their magic for quite some time before they got sick, also pegasus ponies have reported their flight has been impaired too. The most obvious thing you might have noticed is the discoloration of the bodies and manes of the infected” The doctor went on.

“Your grandmother has told us that she started feeling pain in her chest, then, throughout her body, and her coughing has been intensifying ever since. We put her on morphine and other pain killers and put her on a ventilator to assist her breathing, she is in critical but stable condition. Unfortunately this is all we know at this time. Hospitals all over Manehattan have been reporting similar situations; one hospital reported that a closer look at the horn of one unicorn had showed signs of decay in its core. This news is truly alarming and as a result I am headed to Ponyville to speak to my brother Dr. Whooves, who has reported similar conditions there too. He is an expert on technology and I am an expert on infectious disease, we hope to go to Equestria’s disease control laboratory in Canterlot to escalate the matter and see if they know any more, maybe even to Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, surely all of Equestria is dealing with this plague like condition.” The doctor started towards the door, “I must be going now lassie, best of luck with your grandmother’s condition”

“Thank you doctor, you have been most helpful” Nightrider replied, and Dr. Bigmane left. She needed to know more about how these ponies got sick, and what they were doing in the days before they were hospitalized. She looked around the emergency ward, all the ponies were either completely sedated our too weak to speak. She made her way to a mare about her age to try and gather some information.

“Excuse me?” she said to the mare, she looked very weak and her bright pink and yellow mane looked very discolored, as if it was turning gray, but she was able to look at Nightrider and was able to muster a faint “Wha…?” Nightrider continued “What happened to you? How long have you been feeling like this?” she mare coughed and Nightrider ducked her head quickly. “So much pain… coughing… unbearable…” the mare groaned, Nightrider pressed on “When did you start feeling like this?”

“Yester…” the mare trailed off.

“Were you doing anything out of the ordinary?” Nightrider asked now some desperation in her voice.

“No, jus… at home with my mom…” The mare said barely audible

“Where is your mom?” Nightrider asked, nearly begging now for any information.

“Came here with me… sick too…” the mare said “She was coughing lots of blood and… collapsed on the way… had to drag her, but it was so hard…” the mare broke off into a coughing fit and the nurse from before came to her side. “Excuse me, but you really must go now” she said to Nightrider more sternly now. Nightrider wanted to argue and try and get more information, but decided to go and avoid a scene.

She left to the waiting room, and saw the other sick ponies, coughing, groaning in pain, and having obvious discoloration all over their bodies. Nightrider wanted to question further, but thought it was best to leave, these ponies were too weak to give her the info she needed. She left the hospital into the now sunlit street, and her thoughts began to race again like they always did, but this time, it wasn’t her past haunting her, it was the sight she saw in the hospital. “A random disease comes out of nowhere and all of a sudden these innocent ponies are barely clinging to life.” She thought to herself as started walking.

She made her way back to where she had spent the night, or what little of it she actually slept through, Nightrider was used to getting little sleep. Her sleep was almost always interrupted by something. Either it was somepony in need, or her own racing thoughts about her life. Nightrider frequently suffered from flashbacks from her past tragedy. It was not common for a young filly to grow up on the streets, in the underworld of society, with no one around to care for her. Young ponies need love and care so they grow up to be the living embodiments of love, friendship and happiness, at least that’s the story Nightrider was always made aware of while she watched from the sidelines, her life a constant fight for survival against those who suffered the same fate as she has. Nightrider had all but given up on love and friendship. She once desired it, but that was long ago, she spent her life just trying to isolate herself from all the evil around her. All she ever knew was evil, and she always hated it, so her only motivation is to destroy as much evil as she can so others don’t need to see feel what she has seen and felt.

As Nightrider walked past an alley, she heard a noise, as if something was ruffling through something. She carefully and quietly made her way to investigate. She saw the back side of a pony head first inside a dumpster, frantically rummaging through it. “Nice, another dumpster diver” she though rolling her eyes, she turned to leave and accidentally kicked a bottle which flew against the wall and shattered. The pony from the dumpster instantly jumped out and looked at Nightrider, he was definitely a stallion, but didn’t look like one Nightrider ever saw. His mane and tail were a frizzled mess, they looked like they were once a brilliant green and yellow, but now looked like grayish green vomit, his eyes were blood red and his mouth was foamy. He looked like he was a third of the weight he was supposed to be, he was almost skin and bone, he looked terrifying, but the worst was the expression on his face, it looked like a mixture of shock, rage and starvation, he looked wild, almost feral. He glared at Nightrider for a while, and Nightrider stared back, almost frozen, she finally spoke.

“Uh… can I help you?”

The stallion hissed in a horrible, unnatural way and lunged at Nightrider who quickly jumped out of the way. The stallion turned around, unnaturally quickly for his size and age, and chased Nightrider up the alley. Nightrider was fast and agile but the stallion chasing her was a skilled opponent, they both effortlessly ducked around corners and jumped over trash cans and dumpsters. “What the hay is up with this freak?!” she thought. Nightrider jumped up a fire escape, then quickly did a flip kick off and landed it on the stallion’s face. He collapsed on the ground, groaned then broke into a coughing fit, and Nightrider ran. She leapt up fire escapes and dumpsters to the roof of a building and stopped, the stallion was no longer chasing her. Nightrider calmed down as she realized the stallion did not know where she was, and she slowly and quietly made her way to the building’s edge and peered down. She saw the stallion still collapsed on the ground, no longer coughing, he was now twitching and jerking about in small slight yet irregular ways. Nightrider wanted to go down and help, but was worried she would get attacked again, so she stood and watched. The stallion kept jerking and twitching, making sickening screeching sounds, and Nightrider grew worried, she finally decided to face fear and go back down to him. As Nightrider made her way back to the stallion, he stopped jerking, and just lay there. Now Nightrider was concerned, she rushed over to him, his body felt alarmingly cold, and she could feel no pulse. He was dead.

“No.” Nightrider said “No! NO!” tears filled her eyes and she began to sob. Suddenly she was overwhelmed with feelings of dread and horrifying flashbacks as she sobbed. This pony had just died in front of her, she had seen death in all the evil she had grown up around, but this time she felt it was somehow her fault; she had let this stallion die. No, she killed had him. Nightrider cried and cried until she was gasping for air. Eventually she calmed down and stopped, though no longer crying she was still overwhelmed by dread. She looked again at the pony’s body. “I killed him” she thought “But he attacked me, and he was in this wild state. That could not have been natural.” Nightrider saw the red swollen mark on the stallion’s face her hoof had left when she kicked him to stop his pursuit. “Could I have killed him with that?” she thought, horrified by the thought. “It was self-defense, he attacked me” Nightrider thought of other times she had kicked other ponies, in her life as a vigilante, she was threatened before. One time she was trying to stop 2 ponies robbing an elderly mare, and they turned on her with unicorn magic and she had to duck and hit them both in the face, knocking them unconscious. Another time, she was cornered by two stallions, and, after some struggling, she managed to pull a dumpster over them so she could run for help. This time was no different, she was being attacked so she did what she needed to do. It was a matter of life and death, and she chose life. “But I didn’t aid him while he was suffering. That part is on me.” She thought to herself “I could have gotten help” but then she remembered all those times she could have done more for other ponies to help them. She looked at the body again, and then she couldn’t look at it anymore. She wanted to go get help, but she did kick him, what if someone thought she did this deliberately? Nightrider had to run, she had to get away from this area, she needed to think, to just get away.

Nightrider made her way across town and finally settled in a quiet courtyard with no one around. It was getting late and she needed to rest, she was still shocked from her experience with the wild stallion and all the sick and dying ponies she saw in the hospital. As Nightrider drifted off, she pondered the day’s events, she tried to piece them together and look at them from other angles. “Could they all somehow be related?” she pondered, “I let him die!” was her final thought, before she drifted into a deep sleep of powerful dreams.

Author's Note

This story has been in development since about 2018 and I'm only just beginning to post it. There is ZERO intended reference to or ideas drawn from the current global situation.

Nightrider is an earth pony OC I created early in my artistic endeavors. in the cover at, she is the purple pony on the cliff. She is intended to be an orphaned homeless mare who made her own path on the criminal underworld of society, learning survival the hard way and becoming a resilient, powerful force. A stone cold night vigilante who undergoes self discovery and the making of new friends (Other OC's)