Blood splatters all over as I do my best to fight back.
We’re surrounded, and I don’t think there’s anythin’ I can do. I glance around, feeling my heart beat wildly in my chest. Nothin’s right, nothin’s been right for weeks. It’s like… all of a sudden, everythin’ went to Tartarus.
At least up against the wall, they can’t come in from behind, right? I bare my teeth, feelin’ raw fear mix with adrenaline. The cursed concoction rushes through my veins, almost makin’ me light-headed.
I spare a glance to my left. Rainbow Dash stands valiantly in front of Fluttershy, who can’t help but shake as if she’d been drenched in ice water. To my right are Twilight and Rarity, each sporting different shades of valiancy. I see through it, though. They’re afraid. I think we all are.
“Get out of here!” Rainbow Dash growls, jumpin’ forward at the leader of the pack. She collides headfirst with Pinkie Pie, who snarls like a rabid dog. “All of you get out! I’ll hold them back!”
“No way!” I yell back, rushin’ to her defense as the rest of our group watches. They all exclaim something akin to my name. I ignore ‘em. There’s only so much I can do, and that’s all gotta be enough. “I got your back, Dash,” I all but scream as I dodge an attack from one of the assailants.
Covered in blood that ain’t mine or anypony else’s in this building, Cherry Berry growls. Her glistenin’ fangs shine in the moonlight. They look sharper than any knife I’ve seen, an’ I don’t doubt that they are. I definitely don’t wanna find out, though.
I can tell that Rainbow Dash doesn’t wanna hurt Pinkie Pie, but she’s gotta hold her down, at least. Though, despite what Pinkie’s state was like not even two hours ago, I can’t blame Dash for bein’ overwhelmed at our friend’s sudden show of brute, unstoppable strength.
As I watch Rainbow Dash wrestle with Pinkie, avoidin’ gnashin’ jaws and razor-sharp white teeth, one of ‘em catches me off guard. My body hits the ground as a snarlin’ stallion pins me down. His charcoal black wings are speckled with crimson, and his breath smells of rancid blood. I bite down on my lip, tryin’ to wrestle free from his grasp, and choke down a terrified yelp. Dirty red spittle rains down on me as he opens wide, sendin’ his face flying toward my neck.
I close my eyes, fearin’ the darkness that would come next.
But that darkness doesn’t come. Before he takes a bite outta me, he disappears in a glowin’ magenta blur. I instantly jump to my shakin’ hooves, rattled by the close call. Behind me, Twilight gasps as she stumbles. Her horn fizzles out with the sparkling vestiges of used-up magic, and the stallion, Cloud Chaser, I think, screeches in a way I didn’t even know a pony could. A loud grunt catches my attention, and I turn to see Rainbow Dash narrowly escape from Pinkie Pie’s wrath.
It really breaks my heart seein’ her. Her once bubbly pink mane hangs flat to her head, not on account of negative emotion I don’t think. She’s drenched with sweat an’ rage, with pure anger in her eyes. Worst of all, she’s got this giant set of razor-sharp teeth, ready to rip out our necks with no warnin’. I know it ‘cause I saw it happen to Trixie. I don’t think I can ever unsee it. The chaos around me blurs into its own sick, demented memory. Burned forever into my mind, taken to my life like a brandin’ iron; red-hot an’ angry. Never able to disappear.
“We gotta get outta here!” I order, barkin’ at those of us who are left.
Twilight takes a shaky step forward an’ opens her mouth in the beginning of a reply. In a split-second moment that feels like much too long to me, a shape rises behind her. I can’t even think to try to yell out a warnin’ before Cloud Chaser stomps on her back, not hesitatin’ to dig his teeth into the back of her neck. She lets out a gargled scream, choked out by the burbling sound of blood fillin’ her throat as the crimson liquid splatters out from her.
It happened so fast. There was nothin’ I could do, I tell myself. I gotta remember that. I can’t be held down by regret. Can’t slow down.
“Twilight!” we all yell in unison. Despite knowin’ there ain’t no point, I wanna go to her, but my hooves are stuck to the ground. Everythin’ seems to play out in slow-motion. Specks of blood rain from where Twilight lay twitchin’. At first, I can’t tell if it’s muscle spasms or if she’s alive. But the anguished, bubbly sound of her attempts to cry give me an answer I didn’t want.
She’s bein’ devoured alive.
Is it bad that I’m at least a little glad that she won’t turn after all this? There won’t be anythin’ left to turn, I think.
Fluttershy scrambles forward with tears slippin’ down her face as she shrieks louder than I’ve ever heard anypony shriek. In that same moment, Rainbow Dash lunges, knocking Rarity out of the way as Cherry Berry nicks her shoulder with an angry fang. The unicorn winces as blood is immediately drawn, an’ I’m stuck doin’ nothin’.
My world’s fallin’ apart around me and all I can do is watch.
Blood roars in my ears before, finally, it all comes back to life. I blink, and everythin’ becomes so much louder, no longer drowned out by the very sound of my own body workin’ inside me. The heavy weight pinnin’ me down to the ground through my hooves disappears, and in that same moment, I rush forward to help anypony I can. Pinkie Pie notices this and runs at me.
I’ve never been more scared of the bubblegum pink mare in my life. Her eyes are wild as she jumps at me, gnashin’ those knife teeth at me. My heart drops an’ my instincts kick in. I growl, pressin’ my eyes shut an’ imagine bein’ back at the orchard in front of a tree an’ not my friend. I plant my front hooves forward and twist violently, bucking out behind and stoppin’ Pinkie dead in her tracks.
She falls with a thud, but I see her sides heavin’ angrily. I can’t even spare a moment to look again, but I do so anyway, hopin’ to… to anyone that she’ll somehow be alright. With that, an’ sweat or somethin’ pourin’ down my face, I shake my head harshly to clear all that away and backtrack toward the entrance of Town Hall. Once, it was a safe haven for us. Now, it’s what I can just call a hellhole.
Rainbow Dash lets out an agonized scream somewhere around me. I stop, my blood instantly runnin’ cold, and I turn to look. I dunno what happened in those short moments I was caught up with Pinkie, but Cloud Chaser an’ Cherry Berry hold Fluttershy an’ Rarity down respectively, draining their screamin’, cryin’ bodies of the very red essence that gives ‘em the strength to even yell. I tear my eyes away from them.
Next to that mess, Rainbow Dash stumbles forward, but falls. Her right wing flops uselessly at her side as she tries to fight back but she can’t even get close enough. I look over to Pinkie, who is only just stirrin’, and back to the flailin’, sobbin’ Dash. She looks in the direction of Rarity and Shy, but I don’t think she’s really lookin’ at em.
I grunt and hold back my own sob, then I push back. Her wing, now drippin’ red with her own blood, has a chunk taken out of it. It bleeds freely, but not as much as I woulda ever thought, thankfully. Not that I ever did, not before all this. I swallow bile and pull up next to Rainbow Dash, tryin’ my best to avoid lookin’ at the massacre only metres away from us.
The pegasus grunts as I put her over my back, drenchin’ myself in that awful warm liquid. The sound of sticky, wet noises is put behind me as I gallop as fast as I can away from the gruesome scene. It takes everythin’ I got to ignore Fluttershy’s cries for help. Rarity’s sickening wailin’... an’ Twilight’s dead silence.
Rainbow Dash moans painfully on my back, but I dunno what else to do. I spare a glance behind me. At least they all seem to ignore us as I make our hasty escape, leavin’ an easy trail of red behind us. Pinkie spares us not even a second look. She’s too busy feastin’ on her friends.
I think Rainbow’s passed out. She’s breathin’ heavily; each breath a rattling gasp, but she ain’t makin’ any other noise.
Littered around Ponyville are stains of blood, an’ more an’ more bodies. Ponies I knew. Ponies I called friends. Ponies who will, dependin’ on how much of ‘em is left, probably get up and do the same to anyone else left alive. I wish I could stop it, but I can’t bring myself to desecrate their bodies like that.
Everypony who was able to evacuate is gone, I think, an’ all that’s left is me an’ Dash an’ the other… the other things that are lurkin’ about. My hooves move on their own accord, keepin’ us hidden behind the houses as I hold the weight of the world on my shoulders. I don’t really know where I am, but I know where I’m goin’.
Under the cover of darkness, I do my best. I’ll take us to the train station. I heard talk ‘bout somethin’ up north. I just hope it’ll help. All I got is hope.
Author's Note
Song that (kind of) inspired this fic:
I'll never let them hurt you, not tonight
I'll never let them, I can't forget them
I'll never let them hurt you, I promise
Struck down, before our prime
Before you got off the floor
