The Shadow Plague

Nightrider was awoken by a pair of security guards. One of them was a young unicorn mare, the other an older pegasus stallion.

“Get up miss, you need to leave this area” said the stallion, his female counterpart was using her magic to lock a gate at the far end of the courtyard, she had a pile full of safety and barricade equipment at her side.

“Please leave now” the pegasus said. “Alright, alright” Nightrider said, irritated. Her first thought was that they were telling her to leave as this might be private property, but then she noticed the barricade equipment.

“What’s going on?” Nightrider asked as she got up to leave.

“This area is now off limits to everypony” said the pegasus “landlords are encouraged to lock down all public areas on their property until further notice, this whole courtyard is now closed.”

“Lockdown until further notice” Nightrider thought. “This must be due to the sickness.”

Nightrider left the two ponies without another word. She walked out onto the street, it was nearly dark out. “How long have I slept?” she thought. Her thoughts usually kept her awake, but now they have knocked her right out. She looked around, the street looked unusually empty, and there were quite a few police officers about. 2 officers appeared to be questioning an elderly stallion in one direction, in another she swore she saw a paramedic cart leaving far in the distance. An officer made his way to Nightrider.

“Ma’am, I must request you get indoors, there has been a disturbance in the area, 3 ponies are in the hospital after an attack, you must leave this area, may I escort you home?”

Nightrider gulped, were they on to her?

“I’m fine on my own, thank you.” She said

“Alright, but you must go now then” the officer said, Nightrider thought he looked ever so slightly suspicious.

Back on a rooftop, where Nightrider felt most comfortable, she began pacing and trying to piece together everything that happened in the last 48 hours.

“Just a normal evening of kicking stallion ass and wallowing in the joy that is my disgusting existence, and then I see that sick old hag, I help her, I see the rest of those sick sorry folks, and boom! It explodes into a city wide pandemic, over freaking night! Oh ya and some random sick bastard gives me chase to the point I need to bucking kill him, now I feel damn awful about it?” Nightrider felt her anger rising.

“What the hell is even happening?!” she screamed, then instantly regretted it, she dropped low on the roof to avoid potentially being seen. She forced herself to calm down, this was self destructive.

“That stallion was not my fault. I was defending myself, and he was not normal, he was insane, belonged in St. Bridledale’s!”

She thought about all the sick ponies in the hospital, barely alive, and what Dr. Bigmane said about how unknown and unexpected this all was. She wondered if through some insane further coincidence the attack and the sickness were potentially related. Then she remembered what the police officer said to her.

“3 ponies in the hospital after an attack” she thought “Did he attack 3 others? Then he wasn’t dead!” Nightrider was suddenly hopeful "I need to get back to the hospital”

Nightrider galloped through back alleys to avoid police to make her way back to the hospital, she came up to the front door which was now guarded by two security guards in respirator masks, one of them turned to Nightrider “Sick or visiting?” he said

“Uh… visiting” she said

“Go in, make a right and check in, the doctors will guide you through the process” the guard said.

Nightrider went in, the emergency was to the left, but the registration was to the right, there was a lineup of other ponies in masks and guards everywhere. Nightrider made her way to the waiting area in the center, pretending to want to sit down, then she dashed into the emergency room when no one was looking. The room was packed, cots and wards were full of sick ponies, almost all of them discolored, many on ventilators. Temporary stretchers lined the middle of the halls filled with more sick, the room was clearly over capacity. Nurses trotted around all over tending to the sick, then Nightrider heard a loud shriek from one of the wards that had the curtains closed. She snuck over and peaked in, there was a police officer inside wearing a mask, and a mare was restrained to the bed. She looked in a manic state, she was grey, almost black in color and her eyes were red, she looked identical to the stallion that attacked her. She kept screaming and yanking on her restraints, her mouth was covered by what looked like a metal mask which was locked onto her, likely to prevent her biting anyone. Then a doctor injected something into her side and the mare stopped moving, as if no longer alive.

“This sedative won’t last too long, we must get her into a secure area while we prepare her treatment.” Nightrider heard the doctor saying.

The doctor moved to open the curtain and Nightrider dashed behind a cart. To her left the door burst open and two nurses wheeled in a stretcher where a young Pegasus colt was lying and screaming hysterically.

“She bit off my wing! My wing!! I’m missing one of my wings! That monster, it hurts! It hurts so much!!” a blood soaked bandage was covering what looked like where one of his wings was. Nightrider had seen enough, in one day this Emergency room had turned into pure chaos. She dashed out the door at her first opportunity and fled the hospital at full gallop, tears flooding her eyes.

Once she had overcome the shock of what she had seen in the emergency room, she calmed down. Some of her questions had been answered, the stallion attack was indeed unnatural and may be a result of whatever was going on, other ponies were definitely sick from the same thing she saw in the old mare, and she did not kill the stallion, atleast she thought she didn’t “It was whatever that sickness is” she reassured herself though doubt still lingered in her mind. But the big question still remained, what is happening to everypony? She was now certain this was not a coincidence. She wanted answers. She wanted to help. She thought about what she saw growing up.

“Everypony now sees what I saw all those years, pain, suffering, sadness, hopelessness. I need to do something, I can’t just sit and watch, I need to make my life count for something good!” she told herself. “I pretended not to care for too long…”

“Dr. Bigmane, he seemed to know what’s up, but he must be in Ponyville by now seeing his brother. Maybe I could help him.” She thought. “But how in the wide, wide world of Equestria am I going to get to Ponyville?” Nightrider had never left this half of Manehattan, let alone the city itself, she had no money or any knowledge of how to travel around Equestria. “There is a way, I will get to Ponyville, I will figure out this mess and help escalate this to the princess, she needs to act instead of just washing her plot in that damned castle!”

Nightrider always saw taxi carts being pulled about the city, but she had no bits, and she knew the taxi ponies in Manehattan and the temper they had. She had to think of something, moreover she needed to find a cab first. She made her way to the main street, but she couldn’t see any. Usually the streets were lined with them, but now she couldn’t even find one. “Typical, right when I need one” she groaned. She ran about the intersections until she finally found one stopped on the side of the road.

She ran up to the driver “How do I get to Ponyville?” she asked

The driver pushed his hat off his face and quirked an unimpressed eye up at Nightrider “The train station. Duh.” He said

Not taken aback Nightrider went on “How much for a ride there?”

“Fifty bits” He said

“Fifty!” Nightrider thought “I never even had one” she thought for a while.

“I have no money, but I need to get to the train station, maybe I could give you something else for you trouble?” she said in a flirty voice, batting her eyelashes.

The driver raised an eyebrow. “Price is firm, but I’ll hear what you got to offer”

“What ever you want, big guy” She tried to sound as romantic as possible “Help a lady out, and she will reward a big strong man like you with whatever you want” Nightrider hoped this would work. She would get a ride then when they arrive, she would quickly ditch this gross driver.

The driver seemed interested. “Let’s go now, we’ll see how ya do. If I’m impressed maybe I’ll give you a ride.” Nightrider was irritated but tried to play it cool. “How about you drive me first and I’ll go above and beyond for you?”

The driver smirked “Yeah right. You think you’re the first to try and swindle me? I got a living to make. Get lost you filthy slut, I ain’t interested in your worn out burlap sack of an ass!”

Now Nightrider was mad, she couldn’t hold back. “What the fuck did you say to me?!” she dove at his legs and knocked his legs out from under him, then kicked his chin as he fell forward, then she wrapped her front legs around his neck in a choke hold, all before the driver could even react.

“Take it back asshole!” she yelled in his ear.

“Ah! Alright, alright, I’m sorry woman!” he said. Nightrider tightened her grip. “

“You will take me to the train station, now in record time, or I swear to Celestia I will disable you in ways you can’t imagine!”

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!” the driver squealed.

Nightrider jumped into the cart. “Mush” she said. The driver wasted no time.

At the train station, Nightrider got out of the cart, she turned to the driver. “Thanks. So which train is to Ponyville?” she asked

“The Friendship Express leaves twice a day, once in the morning, and once in the afternoon. If you hurry, you should be able to catch the morning ride.” The driver said “And lucky for you, the Friendship Express is free.” The driver grimaced at the last word. But he looked back at Nightrider and his expression dropped “You look like you’re in a hurry kid” he said “what’s in Ponyville? If I can ask”

Nightrider sighed “just some personal stuff. It’s important to me.” She said

“Yeah, I feel you” the driver said “I’m sorry I was such a jerk earlier, it’s just they are closing down the cab routes due to some sort of plague, I heard its pretty rough, but this is my only income.” He said. “I always been pushed around ya know, and well, when I think I can stand a chance, I try to show people that they shouldn’t mess with me. It usually fails, as you saw earlier.”

Nightrider felt taken aback. Was this pony being compassionate with her? She rarely saw that from anypony in her neighborhood. “don’t worry about it” she replied “I get it”

Nightrider went on “I think I can help with whatever plague is going around, that’s why I’m going to Ponyville, to try to make a difference.”

The driver looked at her and smiled “Well, good luck kid, I hope you can do it.” And he turned to leave.

Nightrider went into the station; she saw the sign for Ponyville “Friendship Express departing for Ponyville in 45 minutes”

Nightrider boarded the train, and she felt a strange feeling. She was excited, she was travling for her first time.

She took a seat “I can do this” she thought to hersef. “I will find Dr. Bigmane and help him and his brother. Maybe even the princess.” She looked out the window and the loudspeaker went. “Welcome aboard Fillies and Gentlecolts, the train will be departing for Ponyville in approximately 15 minutes”

“I won’t stand by and watch as everypony sees all that I have grown up seeing. This world deserves better than that.” She thought. “Life is wonderful, and I think I know why.”