That Scarecrow Is Moving...by Can-dees_Murder_WeaponChaptersHospital LockdownThe First Signs"It follows me everywhere-"Hospital Lockdown"So, you're giving me the day off?" Spike asked with an ounce of enthusiasm. "That is correct, Spike. Now go on, shoo!" "Perfect!" The little dragon went to leave the library when he stopped, turning back at his caregiver with a suspicious glare. "Wait, hang on... why though?" He stared at her, eyes never straying. "No, reason." Twilight began ushering the dragon out of the library much to his protest. "Wait, that's not a-" The unicorn smoothly guided him right out of the library, quickly shutting the door before he could say anything. She quickly ran upstairs to check if he was leaving through the window. To her relief, he was; he was just casually strolling across the grass of Ponyville. She waited a few minutes before she went to exit the library herself. It was a fairly rainy coupled with a series of lightning, the unicorn picked up a simple black umbrella and left the premises. The fashionista had sent her a letter to come meet her, wanting to discuss something. "Ah-ha! This was great Twilight. It's unfortunate that you can't stay just a tad a bit longer." Rarity said, taking a sip of her tea. Spike's birthday was coming up in six days and the fashionista had some difficulty in locating a gift for little dragon. It was just a simple "what should I get him" discussion, various other topics had popped up but it was mainly about that. The meeting had to be cut short however. "I'm sorry, Rarity but I volunteered to help out at at the hospital. Maybe we could pick this up maybe... uhh-tomorrow? If you're free, obviously." Twilight suggested, getting up from her seat. "Yes, tomorrow sounds delightful! Sweetie Belle and her little friends will be coming over although but it is no matter." "Oh? You sure? I can meet up for on another day. Spike's birthday doesn't get here for another six days, I'm sure we can-" "Nonsense! Tomorrow is perfectly ideal!" The mare elegantly insisted. "Oh, okay. Well, I will see you then! Take care, Rarity." "Take care, darling." The fashionista waved her friend goodbye. Twilight left the boutique and started heading toward the Ponyville hospital. The citizens were carrying out their day-to-day routines as usual, working at the stands, talking amongst each other, pegasus would normally be flying around town today but the unfortunately it was also raining. Twilight held her umbrella up. Rarity had offered to purchase her a much more "stylish" one but the bookmare insisted that she keep the one she already had. She saw the hospital in the distance when Pinkie Pie came hopping around the corner. "Oh hey, Twilight!" The party mare was wearing a rainbow-colored umbrella hat. "What'cha doin'?" "Hi, Pinkie! I was just on my way to the hospital, I volunteered to help out over there." "On your way to the-oh okay! Can I come too!? I don't have much to do today so I thought 'hey, why don't I come see what my friends are doing' and here I am!" The bubbly mare explained, wouldn't expect any less from the party pony. "I mean, as long as you're willing to help out I guess it would be okay." "Of course I'm willing to help out! What? You just think I was gonna come along and just stand by and watch you help sick ponies, all by yourself? That would be selfish of me!" With a humored grin, Twilight rolled her eyes at the pink pony's shenanigans. The two mares trotted in pace with one another. The Ponyville hospital was a few more buildings away. As Twilight and Pinkie walked toward it, the bookmare caught a glimpse of a crowd in front of the hospital. Which was weird, why would a crowd of ponies be outside of a hospital? And looking mighty agitated at that. Twilight and Pinkie got closer and it quickly became apparent that screams were coming from inside the hospital. Naturally, the mares became uneasy as they approached. She saw the expressions in the crowd, a mixture of fear, concern and curiosity; they were all murmuring, talking amongst each other, trying to figure out what's going on. The screams were much louder now, now that they were right in front of the building. Twilight and Pinkie both shared the same looks the crowd had just displayed. "What is happening in there?" The pink mare muttered, mainly to herself. "I dunno, I'll go ask," Twilight replied, nonetheless. She looked to one of the ponies in the crowd and her eyes landed on a familiar pale yellow pegasus who looked visibly shaken by the whole situation. Not surprising... "Fluttershy?" The unicorn called. As soon as the pegasus had heard her name, her eyes locked with the unicorn. Twilight saw her mood brighten. Seeing somepony familiar within the crowd. "Twilight!" "Fluttershy? What's going on? Is somepony hurt?" The bookmare inquired with a frown. "I-I dunno but everypony is saying that a whole room of patients started freaking out and that they began attacking each other." Twilight paused taking in the information she was just told. Whole room of patients... attack- "Wait, what!? Attacking?" The timid mare nodded. "All the nurses and doctors are still in there trying to calm them down." The unicorn quickly thought over her decisions and being Twilight she obviously wanted to help despite the fact that she was feeling uneasy. "Alright, I'm gonna go see what's going on." "Be careful." Fluttershy muttered. The unicorn nodded before ushering Pinkie forward. The two anxious trekked down the green messy hallway that was cluttered with medical junk. Empty syringes, blood packs, pieces of paper all over the floor; carts that were thrown aside. All this only made the uneasy feeling in their bodies grow more and more as they continued. The screams coming from the end of the hallway weren't helping either. They had made it at the end of the hallway, coming to a path leading left or right. The two ponies heard voices coming from their left. "What exactly do we do? We don't have a whole lot of options!" "It's better than yours!" Twilight and Pinkie turned the corner and saw couple of ponies dressed in medical garments standing by a set of two dark wooden doors. It was barricaded by an iron bar and the screams were coming directly from inside that room. "Excuse me?" Twilight called out, drawing their attention. "I think I may be able to offer some assistance." "Me too!" Pinkie added. "What are you doing here!? I thought we evacuated the building already!?" One of the ponies said, a white earth mare with an orchid colored mane. The others turned their heads toward the two ponies. A caramel unicorn, Twilight recognized him as "Doctor Horse" came over to speak with them. "Could you please wait outside with the others? I'm afraid the hospital's off limits as soon as the situation has been handled." "I know doctor but I honestly think I may be able to help." Twilight tried reasoning, she heard shuffling coupled witb a series of thuds coming from the other side of the door. Wails and crying were also heard. She didn't want to imagine what could've been happening in the other side of the door. "We could use the extra help," one of the doctors said, a grey unicorn stallion with a pink mane. "One of us is already injured." Just then, Pinkie noticed the pale yellow earth mare who had a black mane. There was a bandage wrapped around the mare's forehead, a small splotch of crimson seeping through. Doctor Horse shook his head. "No, it's too dangerous we won't be able to help them if they're-" A shriek came from the other side of the door, interrupting him. "being attacked!" "I assure you, we'll be perfectly fine." Twilight tried to calm the doctor's nerves. "Me and Pinkie can handle ourselves and we have plenty of times in the past." "Well, this will be the first." "The first what?" "The first situation you won't be able to handle." "Well, it doesn't seem like you-" "Ugh! This is not the point here!" The white earth mare from before angrily interrupted. "We need to be figuring out what we should do about the patients, not this random useless spout that you two are having!" Twilight relented, her irritability suddenly replaced with guilt. She sighed. "Do any of you have a plan?" Doctor Horse paused for a moment before filling her in. "Initially, the plan was to go in and to sedate everypony but unfortunately we got attacked by the patients. We were forced to leave the room and locked them in to stop them from hurting anypony else." Doctor Horse explained, glancing at the others. "What exactly happened in there?" The bookmare inquired. She got a some information from Fluttershy but it wasn't too helpful. "Why did they all suddenly go berserk?" "Calm Touch over there." The caramel doctor gestured to the pale yellow mare. "Was just checking up on a patient when another one started to... tremble." "Tremble?" Twilight frowned. "Yeah," Calm Touch replied this time. "I went to go check if the stallion was okay when he flinched away from me. Then... he-he just started shouting. Yelling at me to go away. I tried to calm him down but then he just... tackled me." "It was hard enough trying to get him off of her then the others started acting the same way." The white mare provided. Doctor Horse sighed through his nose. "And here we are now. We were just discussing-" A loud and abrupt bang rattled the door, startling everypony; it was followed by a series of grunts and moans. "I-I...I...JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" A scream of agony shortly came after. "Has anypony thought that... t-they could be attacking each other?" Everypony all threw a look of fear at one another, their hearts stopping at Pinkie Pie's statement. They reluctantly but quickly removed the bar that was barricading the door. They slammed open the door only to come to see the aftermath of a... well essentially it was a crime scene now. It was a sight that would've made Queen Chrysalis flinch. A sight where ponies would voluntarily have a part of their brain removed just to be free of what they saw. Inside, blood was splattered all over the walls. Piles of red chunky meat were slid across the tile floor but that was not the worst part. In the middle of the room was a stallion pinning another to the floor. Repeatedly, in a wildfire of frenzied fear was bashing the head of the other stallion into the tiles of the floor; painting it in a coat of crimson mixed aside with brain matter and pieces of skull fragments. The sound as the stallion's head was pummeled to the ground was like watermelon being tossed against concrete. Twilight could do nothing but stare in horror of the scene that was taking place in front of her. Strickened with fear, she stood in place; wide eyed and watched as the stallion bashed the other stallion against the floor over and over again without any motive of stopping. The victim was... dead. ...but he didn't stop. All the while the maniacal pony was screaming, yelling out. "GO AWAY! JUST. STAY. AWAY FROM. ME!" His words synchronized with the pummels. It was only when the doctors had shoved him off of the dead victim, Twilight snapped out of her paralyzed daze. She quickly ran over, kept the stallion locked in place, her magic manifesting around the crazed stallion's hooves. He had been attempting to shield his eyes with them... but from what? One of the doctors desperately searched for a sedative while the others had the pony restrained. "Move over! Move over!" The grey stallion came over with a syringe in mouth. He drove the pin into the maniacal stallion's neck, pumping the substance into his bloodstream. After a few moments, the maniac slowly began to drift off and soon after he was napping like a foal. The relief didn't come. Death was prevalent in the room like an odor. Twilight and Pinkie stared down at the sleeping stallion. Compared to just a few moments ago, he was sleeping soundly with not a care in the world. Whatever he was terrified about, whatever he saw - if the thing he even saw was real - it didn't seem to be affecting his unconscious state. Turning, they saw the rest of the room. Their eyes being assaulted by a diabolical mess, something sent straight from Tartarus... if not worse. They could feel something icky coming under their hooves, Twilight didn't bother to look down to see what it was. The room was painted in a chaotic spree of splattered crimson, splotches of blood everywhere and what looked like, meat... or a chunk of flesh was just as consistent. Then she noticed the bodies... "Twilight, Pinkie!" Fluttershy saw the two mares coming out of the hospital with the rest of the doctors. She noticed the patch of blood at the bottom of their hooves, leaving a trail behind them. While the doctors went to inform the crowd, Twilight and Pinkie stepped off to the side to meet the pale pegasus. She quickly flew over to them, her heart running palpitations. "Are you girls okay!? Are you hurt!?" It took a moment to register. Twilight couldn't shook the image of those... bodies - if you could even call them that anymore - out of her mind; you could say that it was scorched into her brain like a brand, a hot iron prod with a symbol at the end of it. "Y-yeah, w-we're okay." Pinkie side eyed Twilight who had a dazed look in her eyes. The party mare was... disturbed. It was frightening enough, making their way toward the room but it was another when they actually saw what was inside. They've faced off against Nightmare Moon, an army of Changelings even stopped the crystal empire from returning but this... this was the most traumatic. "O-oh but... what is..." the yellow pegasus timidly nodded downward. Pinkie frowned, tilting her head. "Huh?" She then looked down and realized what she was gesturing at. "O-oh, u-uh... it's just... a bit of... paint! Yeah, it's just p-paint!" The party mare feigned her chirpy attitude although it was easy to tell that she wasn't being sincere. She wasn't going to tell Fluttershy what it actually was. Rainbow? Or Applejack? Maybe but not Fluttershy. A look of disbelief flashed across the pegasus's face before it changed into a look of dread. She probably knew what it was but Pinkie was going to keep her muzzle shut. "I'm gonna go home now," Twilight abruptly said, her voice oddly monotone. "I'll see you girls later." Pinkie and Fluttershy frowned as the unicorn walked off in the direction of her home. The library. "T-Twilight?" The pegasus called but the unicorn didn't respond. "I-I think it's best to just... leave her be at the moment." Pinkie glanced down at her hooves, it was hard to believe that this was somepony else's blood... on her hooves. "U-um Flutters? I-I'm gonna go home too and g-get some of this... paint off." The party pony quickly sprinted off, not wanting the timid pegasus to see her tears. Twilight flung the door against the frame. Instead of clicking shut, the door merely bounced back from the wood, leaving a tiny gap. She trotted to her bedroom, opening the door and once more closed it in a lackadaisical manner. She trotted upstairs, taking a left into her restroom. It wasn't too small, the bath was only a few feet in front of her and the sink and counter were to her right. She switched on the bath and began cleaning herself up. The pressure was more than welcoming, raining over her back; calming her senses as if it was washing away her troubles. She was slowly coming to grips on what happened in the hospital, it was mostly a blur and she just didn't want to think about it. The whole horrid event, It all went by in a flash to even think about. Everything had went so fast with taking down that stallion then having to face that bloodfest of a room. Twilight had thought about what Calm Touch said. How the stallion had completely blew out of touch with reality and just straight up attacked her. It wasn't just him. The other patients were like that too. The bookmare spent almost half an hour within the shower when she heard her bedroom door open. She glanced down at the ceramic of the bathtub and saw the faint trail of blood washing away down into the drain. She levitated the shower head and began feverishly rinsing herself before finally turning off the shower. "Twilight! Twilight! You here?" She heard the unmistakable voice of Rainbow Dash. The mare in question stepped out of the tub, grabbed a towel and started scrubbing herself with it. "Twilight!" She heard Spike's voice next. "Are you okay? F-Fluttershy told me about what happened!" It was as if everything had stopped once he said that. Twilight's movements had froze for a moment, her heart rate picked up once more. Taking one shaky inhale, the mare hanged the towel on the rack and compelled herself to go downstairs to greet her friends. She opened the door and made her way downstairs; her friends, Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity were all down there waiting for her. Clearing her throat, she greeted them. "Girls... it's nice to see you." "Hey, Twi," Applejack solemnly greeted. "We... heard about what happened at the hospital." "It sounded just horrible! Those... ponies going crazy a-and-" "Yes Rarity, I was there." Twilight butted in, interrupting the elegant mare. "You don't need to go into detail about it." The elegant mare sighed. "Sorry, darling." "What happened at that hospital!? Why did all those ponies go crazy anyway!?" Rainbow Dash asked with her usual, up front and confrontational attitude. "I don't know, all I know is that they just went crazy. That's it." Twilight went over to her study table, cluttered with books. Some were open, some were closed. "How are you holdin' up sugarcube? From what Pinkie told me, it weren't all that good." Applejack asked, concerned. The bookmare sighed. "I-I'm still processing it... i-its just hard to believe that..." she trailed off. All her friends gathered around the distraught mare. The farm pony laid a gentle hoof on her friend's shoulder. "I can't believe that something... s-something like this happened." There were no tears coming from the mare's eyes, just plain shock. Utter disbelief. "Me neither, darling." Rarity added. "H-how do you suppose we... handle this?" "I don't know, I just need to relax for a few minutes." Twilight said as stress pumped through her body. The unicorn was thinking about going back to the hospital tomorrow or at least once everything was settled. She wanted to try and speak with... the stallion and asked why... he did what he did. If it was out of malice or he had no control over what he was doing. He looked genuinely terrified... but of what though? The First Signs"Angel!" Fluttershy called. "Angel! Your dinner is ready!" The mare carried a bowl of salad in her hooves as her wings casually took her across the room. "Angel?" She called once more. The mare entered her living room, frowning when she didn't catch sight of the bunny. Usually, he would always come at the sound of "dinner". She set the bowl of salad at the end of her couch. She turned, scanning around the room only to find not one animal in the room. Even though she was beginning to grow worried, she knew it wasn't a big deal. The bunny was probably just doing something or he didn't feel like eating... that or he left the premises. The pegasus noticed that her window shutters were open, she usually kept it closed, especially at night. She began walking over to close it. The mare was still shaken up about the hospital incident but she was also relieved that it was resolved quickly, thanks to Twilight and Pinkie. She also heard about the ponies that lost their lives during the incident, other patients that were unfortunately in the same room with the stallion when he began attacking. Fluttershy felt the color drain from her face when she first heard that. The mare saw the look on the pony's face when she told her that it was just "blood". She appreciated what Pinkie tried to do, cover it up and act like it was "paint" when really it was just another pony's lifesource. She gulped as the image came into her head... The pale mare made it to her window. "Angel?" She called out once more, glancing around. She could see the Ponyville lights in the distance. Instead of doing what she came there for, close the shutters, the pegasus decided to go outside to look for the bunny. She opened the door and let herself out, taking in the nice fresh breeze. She promised herself she'd check up on Twilight and Pinkie tomorrow to see how they were handling with everything. From the rumors she's heard and the things she's seen, it was obvious that they needed some support. The mare called out for the bunny several times during her search, earning no result. She looked around outside for a few moments and had no luck in finding the bunny. There was still the backyard to check, hopefully he didn't enter the Everfree forest. After what happened today, Fluttershy didn't feel like spooking herself even more. The mare went back inside, closing her shutters and finally locking her front door. She made her way through the living room, failing to notice the missing bowl of salad she left by the end of the couch and out to the back door. She looked through the window, barely able to pick out anything in the darkness. Her cottage only lit up about half of the backyard until it became almost pitch black. The only thing she was able to catch was grass, a few flowers here and there and the faint outline of her chicken coop. Maybe the bunny wasn't out there, perhaps he may have just gone into hiding? Fluttershy didn't want to go out there, especially at this time of night and she definitely did not want to go trotting through the Everfree either. She could just go fetch a torch and bring that out there with her? But what happens when she catches something she didn't want to see? The pegasus quickly shook away the thought, trying to laugh it off. Come on, Flutters. You're just scaring yourself now. Just go out there and call Angel. Taking a steady inhale, she forced herself to go open the door when she noticed it. Standing just outside of the fence, on the right side, was a strange silhouette. It's outline was strange, like some type of dragon but only wasn't. It looked too... smooth? She would've been able to see the faint outline of it's scales or claws but it didn't have any. It definitely wasn't a pony and it wasn't an animal either but that wasn't what got her quivering from head to hoof. The thing that got to her was not the fact that there was a strange ominous figure standing motionless in her backyard but the fact that it was staring directly at her. The mare ha been steered into a state of paralysis under it's locked gaze even though all she could see was just a black silhouette she could tell that it was looking right at her. It wasn't doing anything and somehow that was the worst part. It was just standing there, doing nothing. The terror induced mare stood there for a few moments, her eye never straying from it's prey... well; more accurately, it's predator. Suddenly, she felt something on her shoulder and she fell to the floor and screamed. She screamed loud, so loud that the citizens of Ponyville must've heard it. She shuffled to the left side corner, stuck between the wall and the door. She wailed, crying out for help. She kept her eyes tightly shut as she trembled but when she heard the comforting chirps of her birds, she opened them. Half of her initial fright was gone as she looked over the five colorful miniature birds that were hovering right in front of her. In one scoop, she brought them all to her chest, clutching tightly to them. A bit too tightly... . She was slowly starting to calm down and the mare dared herself to look again. She peeked over the small border of wood that met the window and the sinister figure that was ominously standing there had vanished... When she finally noticed the severe lack of movement coming from her chest, she looked down and immediately felt the bile that came rushing up out of her throat. Twilight woke up with a gasp, a nightmare plaguing her dreams. It had a something to do with the hospital incident that happened yesterday. Where was Luna when you needed her? The unicorn stayed in bed for a few moments, aimlessly observing the sun seeping through her blinds. She tried not to think about what happened yesterday, it was too early to get herself worked up but regardless of that; her mind forcibly recalled back to the moment. The first image that came to mind was the stallion... killing the other stallion. She was still in complete disbelief as to how he was able to do that, it didn't seem like he knew what he was doing. He just seemed petrified. But of what? What could've gotten in the hospital? Was there even- Twilight immediately put those thoughts to rest; it was definitely too early for this. Sighing, the unicorn sat up and removed herself from the seafoam colored blanket she was using. She got up from the bed, giving herself a big stretch before beginning her routine. Rarity didn't want to but she had to, for her friend. She promised Twilight that she would go with her to check on that crazed stallion. Rainbow Dash was coming along too as the "extra backup". She didn't disagree with that, in fact, she was glad that the foolhardy pegasus was coming. It provided that sense of protection, knowing that the cyan mare would do anything to protect her friends. She just wished Applejack decided to come along too but the pony had other issues she needed to deal with. Perhaps, it would be wise to check on Pinkie once I'm done with Twilight. The elegant mare thought. She still wondered how she was doing, she hadn't seen her come out of her room since yesterday after she tried visiting. The door to her room had been locked and the cakes said that when she came into the shop, the pink mare was crying. Rarity felt nothing but sympathy for the poor mare. She was sat at her table, tea set in front of her. It was ready. She took a sip. She suppose she would've been the same if it were her in that position; if she had went with Twilight to the hospital yesterday. Hopefully, this will be dealt with quickly. She hated seeing her friends in such a distressed state. The farm pony trotted toward her farm, carrying the last basket. The mare couldn't stop thinking about Twilight or Pinkie after hearing what happened to them yesterday. Applejack didn't no what to think, ponies suddenly going crazy and... killing each other? That didn't make any sense, why would they just start attacking other ponies? The farm pony had been debating herself on whether to come with Twilight to interrogate this sick stallion or stay here and finish up her work. Yes, she did want to interrogate the colt. He was dangerous and he already killed another pony. She didn't care why he did it, he killed another pony. She was perfectly fine with interrogating him but Twilight probably wouldn't allow it. The mare plopped down the basket by the tree and went to buck some apples. She drew her hind legs and effortlessly delivered a powerful kick. The apples all fell into the basket. "What!?" The mare looked down at her apples, her bad apples. They were all mushed, rotten and mold looked was growing around the flesh. The mare groaned. "That's just wonderful... fruit bats..." "Twilight, a-are you sure you're feeling alright? Perhaps, we should come back tomorrow?" Rarity suggested, walking with the lavender unicorn and Rainbow Dash. They were in the streets of Ponyville, late in the morning. The sun brightened the town in a welcomed glow. "Yes, I'm fine Rare. I just gotta ask the stallion a few questions and that'll be it." The bookmare replied. "Yeah and he better not try anything while I'm there or there's gonna be some serious trouble." Rainbow Dash added. "Let's just hope, for our sake and yours, that he doesn't." Rarity relented. The trio trotted toward the hospital which was in the distance, a few buildings away. Even though she was nervous about doing this, she still had to find out what caused this whole thing in the first place, what exactly caused the stallion to go berserk. "Have you told Princess Celestia about this?" Rarity inquired. Twilight sighed. "No, I haven't. I-I was honestly not even thinking about it until you brought it up." "She probably already knows." Rainbow interjected. "Murder doesn't happen everyday, I'm sure somepony's told her." "I hope so... 'cause I don't wanna have to tell her myself." Twilight muttered the last part. They made their way toward Ponyville Hospital. On their way there, they could see the townsfolk. Their troubled looks as they spoke amongst each other. Probably talking about yesterday's incident. Some ponies were even staring, gawking at them as they past by, only looking away when Rainbow or Rarity gazed back. As Twilight was walking, she spotted a familiar pale pegasus only problem was, was that she looked scared, frightened. She could tell by the trembling and the wide-eyed expression she was occupying on her face. She could also see some bags under the mare's eyes. The pegasus was headed in the same direction they were headed except she didn't notice them. The pegasus was staggering in her walk, her hoofsteps erratic. There were ponies walking around everywhere but they were practically walking side by side, the only thing that separated them was the random ponies that past in between them. The pegasus still hadn't noticed them even when there weren't ponies weren't cutting in between them. "Fluttershy!" Twilight called out. The pegasus let out shriek, startling every other pony around her and ran to a nearby stand to hide under. There was a fuchsia colored mare with an aqua blue mane selling herbs as well as tea and coffee. She saw the pegasus run over the counter next to her and frowned. Rainbow Dash turned to look at the girls. "You know, I thought Fluttershy already got over her fear of being shy." "I think it's fear of being in social situations, darling." Rarity corrected. "Well, whatever they're the same thing." "Actually, it's not but beside the point. What is she doing hiding away like that?" Rarity asked with a frown. "The usual, Fluttershy being Fluttershy. Her scared-self." Twilight sighed. "Come on, let's go see if she needs anything." They walked over to the counter, the fuchsia mare looking down and pleading for the frightened pegasus to leave her stall. The mare noticed them. "O-oh, I'll be right with you in a minute!" She politely told them but Twilight waved her off. "We don't need anything, w-we're actually here for her." Twilight gestured at Fluttershy. The fuchsia mare gasp. "Oh, right well please do your thing! B-because with all due respect, I really have to get back to work." She gestured to the line of ponies, impatiently waiting. Twilight nodded and the mare went back to work. "Fluttershy?" She took a glance over the counter, the pegasus was huddled over, trembling with her hooves covering her eyes. "Fluttershy!" Rainbow called out louder this time. The frightened pegasus peeked through her hooves and saw them "O-oh, h-h-hey g-girls." She offered a fake smile. "Fluttershy, would you please come out of there? You're distracting this poor mare." Rarity said. The pegasus shook her head quickly. "N-no, I-I-I'm fine h-here, thank you..." "You can't stay down there Flutters, this is somepony's stall." Rainbow Dash sternly interjected. "Y-yes, I can." "Fluttershy?" Twilight started again. "Is there something going on?" The mare give a simple nod. "No." "Are you sure?" Even though she already knew and this was kind of the norm with Fluttershy, that was why she hadn't caught on earlier. She was scared, not of public or social interaction but genuinely scared. Dash was right, Fluttershy was fine with public interaction albeit not perfect but she was much more better in comparison to when Twilight first met her. Something must've gotten her spooked... which means... "Fluttershy, did... something happen?" The pegasus looked like a deer caught in headlights and she shook her head; much quicker than before. "Mm-mm." "Wait, what do you mean? What happened?" Rainbow interrupted but Twilight ignored her. Something was wrong, she must've seen something. She can't be this spooked of the public anymore. "Are you sure that nothing happened?" Twilight repeated, sternly this time. "Twilight, I do have to object to this." Rarity interrupted this time. "Why are you questioning her like that?" "Nope. D-d-didn't see anything..." Fluttershy kept her lips sealed tight. The unicorn relented and sighed. "Well, you're gonna have to come out of there. Was there something you needed? Maybe, we could go get it for you." Fluttershy shook her head but slowly pulled herself up from the floor. "N-n-no, I c-can get it myself." The mare flew herself out of the stall and without another word trotted from her friends. "Perhaps, we'll pay her a visit after we're done. Make sure she's okay." Rarity suggested. "She's probably just having one of those days, no big deal." Rainbow casually said. Yeah, maybe..." Twilight trailed off before continuing on to the hospital. "It follows me everywhere-"Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity made it to the hospital. It was much quieter now, not with the patients screaming bloody murder. Literally, screaming bloody murder. "Well, we're here." Rarity said. "Shall we..." the mare walked forward, looking back at her friends expectantly. Twilight sighed. "Alright, let's get this over with." The unicorn walked over to the front doors of the hospital, opened it and entered. The building wasn't full but there were a few ponies coming in and out of the premises; doing their own thing. Visiting, coming for a check up or picking up their medications. Rainbow moved past Rarity. "Come on, let's go see this stallion." They continued up to the second floor, passing by other ponies, doctors and nurses. In the green hallway, Twilight saw a familiar white earth mare dressed in medical scrubs. One of the doctors or nurses, she saw yesterday in the attack. "Uh, hi!" The unicorn greeted. The mare's ears flickered and she looked up to see who it was. Twilight saw a frown flash across the mare's features. "Oh, it's you, you were here yesterday." The mare sighed. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name's Vexing and I'm a nurse here. Pleasure to meet you." Twilight could tell by the tone of her voice that that was obviously not true. "N-nice to meet you, Vex. I'm Twilight, this is Rarity and Rainbow Dash." She gestured to both of her friends who exchanged their own introductions. "I'm Rarity, it is a pleasure to meet you darling." "I'm Rainbow, hey." The nurse masked an act of condescension. "Wonderful, may I help you with something?" Rainbow frowned at the rudeness of the nurse but held her tongue. "We... were just looking for the... s-stallion. Y-you know... the one from yesterday?" Vexing threw a look of confusion at them. "Why?" "We have to ask him some questions." Rainbow interjected before Twilight could say anything. "What type of questions?" Vexing sternly inquired. "It's none of your business." "Considering he's a patient of this hospital, I'd say it is my business." Before Rainbow Dash could say anything else, Twilight interrupted them. "We just want to ask him a few questions, that's it." "Again, what type of questions?" "Well, we just wanted to know why he did what he did. I-I may be able to-" "We've already spoken with him." The nurse cut her off, causing Twilight to frown. "W-wait, you've spoken with him?" "Well, not me but one of the doctors did." Twilight shared a look with the others, all wearing the same frown. She turned back to the nurse. "W-what did he tell you?" Vexing let out a bored sigh. "Look, I gotta get back to work." She began walking away with Twilight and the others following behind her. "I've wasted enough time talking with you as it is and besides..." the nurse turned back at the lavender mare. "I'm not at liberty to disclose any information." Twilight quickly grabbed the nurse's shoulder. "B-but can I at least talk to him?" She sighed once again. "If he gives you permission then yes but unfortunately, he's not exactly in the most stable place right now so he's not allowed to give you permission. Unless if you're-like an authority figure or something but other than that, don't bother." "What if... w-what if I was Celestia's pupil?" Twilight suggested. Vexing begrudgingly led the girls down a hallway, it was on the third floor. Not many ponies occupied it as much as the others, there was only two visitors on this floor. The nurse took a left, continued down the green hallway then took a right. At the end, on the left side was a brown oak door; Vexing stopped and opened it. It was a small room but it was different than the others. The beds in this room were designed with straps, patients were tied to their beds. They didn't seem like they were against it, they weren't showing signs of resistance. "He's over there." Vexing pointed to the right-hoof side of the room. "In the corner." Twilight looked at the stallion. He was a spruce-blue colored pegasus with a sand-colored mane, he was strapped down from his hooves all the way up to his chest. He was staring at the ceiling, eyes half-lidded. He looked to be somewhere far away, somewhere in his mind; not paying attention to his surroundings. "What's his name?" Twilight asked, staring from the other end of the room. "Jade Wing, please do not freak him out. I don't wanna have to deal with another mental patient today." And with that, Vexing left the room, closing the door behind her. Twilight began walking across the room, glancing at the patients strapped down to their beds. She did not want to be here any longer than what she had to, this room was filled with literal crazy ponies. "Are... these all the ponies that went crazy yesterday?" Rainbow inquired, looking around at them. The cyan pegasus felt sorry for these ponies, wondering what drove them to such an unhinged state. Twilight nodded. "Yeah, yeah they are." The patients were groaning, saliva dribbling down their muzzles and muttering to themselves. Something about "it's coming-it's coming-" or "it's coming to get me". Rarity was looking over them in sympathy. "What happened to all these ponies?" She murmured. "We're about to find out." Rainbow said as they approached Jade Wing's bed. He didn't acknowledged their presence, his eyes stayed glued to the ceiling. "Jade?" Twilight softly called. They heard a gasp come from the stallion himself, his eyes found theirs. "Yes?" His voice was dry and dull as if all strength had been drained from him. "H-hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle a-and these are my friends." Jade didn't say anything. His eyes slowly moved to Rainbow and Rarity's. There was something sinister about his expression, those unhinged eyes that he possessed. The cyan pegasus held her gaze while Rarity felt compelled by an invisible force to look away somewhere in the room. "W-we were hoping to ask a few questions?" The stallion kept his gaze on the two other ponies for a moment longer before slowly, almost robotically returning Twilight's. "What about?" She drew in a quick inhale before answering. "I-I was wondering if we could talk about yesterday?" "The doctors already talked to me about that." "Well, I was hoping if you could explain it to me... w-why you did what you did?" The stallion let out a tired scoff. "It wasn't like I wanted to." Twilight frowned, sharing a glance with Rarity and Rainbow before turning back at Jade. "What do you mean by that? A-are... you saying that s-somepony make you do it?" "No, I mean... I-I didn't even know it was a stallion until a few hours ago... when the doctors came and told me about it." His gaze drifted from her to his bed sheets, possibly recalling what happened. It wasn't a stallion that he saw? "W-what... did you think... it-the stallion was?" He paused. "...A scarecrow," he simply answered. With a roll of her eyes, Rainbow shook her head, murmuring something to herself. "A scarecrow?" Twilight repeated, she didn't believe this but she listened to him nonetheless. "Yeah." The unicorn held back a sigh, tearing her gaze away from him. Hallucinations? Most likely. Twilight was considering chopping it off as the pony being insane and just had a full psychotic breakdown. That was what she was leaning toward anyway but then again, it wasn't just him who became unstable. The other patients in the room had experienced something similar. She only looked back at the stallion when he abruptly continued. "It's everywhere, you know? It's watching me... even you." As he said it, he stared directly at the bookmare; his eyes locked on as if he was pleading for her to listen to him. "I-it watches everyone... it watches me all the time. It never goes away... even now." His eyes trailed to a corner of the room to which she followed. With a stutter and a severe drop of bass in his voice, he said. "I-it's right there." He paused for a moment, seemingly staring at nothing. "It just... stares, like it's taunting me and it won't go away. I-it never... ever goes away..." He seemed to be growing agitated by the second and Twilight attempted to lay a hoof on his shoulder to which only agitated him even more. "Do-don't touch me... please!" "Look, listen to me. Whatever, you're seeing? It's not real. Nothing is there, nothing is going to hurt you. You're hallucinating." "But it is!" The stallion was quick to rebuttal. "That's why this is happening. B-because I-I-I saw it, this is why this is happening. It's because I saw it." As Rarity listened to the insane stallion ramble on, she was beginning to grow anxious herself but she feigned a look of boldness. Rainbow Dash didn't look like she was fazed at all by the stallion, her stern glare was locked on the stallion. "You're gonna see him too." Jade said, staring at Twilight. "When I saw it, it just... followed until..." "Until what?" Twilight inquired. "W-well... I-I guess yesterday was the thing that happened." Rainbow was the first out of the hospital, Rarity and Twilight were the last ones out. After speaking with the stallion, they moved on to the other patients and began speaking with them. Most of them were incoherent, continuously murmuring to themselves over and over again while others talked about the same thing... ...a scarecrow. The ones that they were actually able to speak to only lasted a few seconds before Twilight had to stop the line of questioning due to them getting too aggravated. It was late in the afternoon. The sun was going down, it's orange glare painted across the sky. They were a few yards away from the hospital when Rainbow finally said something. "So, scarecrows are the new things to be afraid of?" Rarity was already feeling anxious from listening to Jade Wing. She'd hoped that it he was just insane and he had some type of obsessive fear over scarecrows but that wasn't the case. When she heard the other patients talk about a scarecrow, she only denied it further; thinking to herself that they're all just psychotic. She knew deep down that that wasn't the case... "That... doesn't make any sense though? Scarecrows aren't... sentient." Twilight said with a thoughtful frown on her face. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure wood and fabric aren't sentient." Rainbow replied. "You don't think somepony's going around Ponyville placing scarecrows to freak everypony out, do you?" "Well, I haven't seen any scarecrows recently. I mean, Applejack doesn't even have a scarecrow... or at least I-I don't think so." Rainbow looked off to the side, thoughtfully. "Rarity, what do you think about this?" Twilight inquired but no answer came. She turned to her left, the elegant mare staring down at her hooves as they trotted together. "Rarity?" She called once more, giving a slightly startling the mare. "Huh? Sorry, what did you ask?" The mare apologetically glanced at the bookmare. "She asked what you think about all this." Rainbow clarified for Twilight. "Oh, um-" Rarity was scared, not too scared but she felt uneasy all the same even though it sounded silly. She wouldn't be feeling uneasy if not for what happened yesterday, she probably would've just swept this whole ordeal under the rug if nopony had gotten hurt. She may have even thought that this would've been childish instead one pony was dead and plenty of others were in the hospital strapped to their beds; all the while losing their minds in the process. "I-I think that those ponies should be put in an asylum." Twilight and Rainbow exchanged a look. "What about the scarecrow?" Twilight asked. "M-maybe it's-" Rarity sighed. "I'm not thinking about that at the moment." Before Rainbow was able to open her mouth, she continued. "Perhaps, we should go check on Fluttershy? She didn't seem to be doing so well last time we saw her." Twilight gasped. "Yeah, she did look more stressed than usual." Rainbow let out a chuckle. "And that's coming from you, Twilight." The bookmare felt her cheeks flare up in heat. "Yeah, Rarity's right. We should go see how she's doing." "Yup, change the subject Twilight." The three of them started heading toward Fluttershy's house. Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow made it across the cottage bridge, the water smoothly drifting under them; the sound carrying a blissful tune to their surrounding area. Twilight walked up to the door and knocked. "Fluttershy? It's Twilight! I'm with Rarity and Rainbow!" No response came. "W-we just wanted to check up on you, see if you were okay." Still no response. "Huh, she must not be home then." Rarity said, looking through the windows but having no luck due to them being covered by curtains. Rainbow then came up to the door and knocked. "Fluttershy! We kn-" A loud muffled crash came from the other side of the door. They all exchanged a knowing look with one another. Rainbow knocked again. "Fluttershy, we know you're in there! Open up!" "...C-come back later! D-doing something!" Came a soft muffled voice from the other side of the door. "Fluttershy darling, we wanted to check if you were alright! We saw you today and you didn't seem like yourself!" Rarity replied. "U-um... I-I-I'm fine now!" They all heard the stutter in her voice, it wasn't hard to tell that something was going on. "Flutteshy, we're coming in!" Rainbow began hovering in the air, readying herself to fly through the cottage. "Wait! NO!" Fluttershy yelled and almost instantly a loud shattering crash came after. Rainbow came bursting through the front door and found herself floored; her mouth agape, staring in shock at the sight in front of her. Soon after Twilight and Rarity came running in. Rarity let out shriek, staring wide-eyed at her friend and Twilight was in the same state as Rainbow Dash. In front of them was a white circular wooden table tipped over, facing toward them. Blood leaked from the table like a tap that wasn't turned off properly but where the blood came from was the thing that caused everypony to grow weak. The thing that caused Rarity to shriek. In the middle of the table, a small white furry body was pinned up against it, needles or whatever they were had been shoved into the paws. It's stomach was torn open, insides were exposed and organs dangled from the miniature body. And on the floor was the pale pegasus, her disheveled mane covering up her tear-streaked bloodshot eyes. In front of her, laid a bloody kitchen knife... "I-I-it wa-wasn't me..." She said in between sobs.
Hospital Lockdown"So, you're giving me the day off?" Spike asked with an ounce of enthusiasm. "That is correct, Spike. Now go on, shoo!" "Perfect!" The little dragon went to leave the library when he stopped, turning back at his caregiver with a suspicious glare. "Wait, hang on... why though?" He stared at her, eyes never straying. "No, reason." Twilight began ushering the dragon out of the library much to his protest. "Wait, that's not a-" The unicorn smoothly guided him right out of the library, quickly shutting the door before he could say anything. She quickly ran upstairs to check if he was leaving through the window. To her relief, he was; he was just casually strolling across the grass of Ponyville. She waited a few minutes before she went to exit the library herself. It was a fairly rainy coupled with a series of lightning, the unicorn picked up a simple black umbrella and left the premises. The fashionista had sent her a letter to come meet her, wanting to discuss something. "Ah-ha! This was great Twilight. It's unfortunate that you can't stay just a tad a bit longer." Rarity said, taking a sip of her tea. Spike's birthday was coming up in six days and the fashionista had some difficulty in locating a gift for little dragon. It was just a simple "what should I get him" discussion, various other topics had popped up but it was mainly about that. The meeting had to be cut short however. "I'm sorry, Rarity but I volunteered to help out at at the hospital. Maybe we could pick this up maybe... uhh-tomorrow? If you're free, obviously." Twilight suggested, getting up from her seat. "Yes, tomorrow sounds delightful! Sweetie Belle and her little friends will be coming over although but it is no matter." "Oh? You sure? I can meet up for on another day. Spike's birthday doesn't get here for another six days, I'm sure we can-" "Nonsense! Tomorrow is perfectly ideal!" The mare elegantly insisted. "Oh, okay. Well, I will see you then! Take care, Rarity." "Take care, darling." The fashionista waved her friend goodbye. Twilight left the boutique and started heading toward the Ponyville hospital. The citizens were carrying out their day-to-day routines as usual, working at the stands, talking amongst each other, pegasus would normally be flying around town today but the unfortunately it was also raining. Twilight held her umbrella up. Rarity had offered to purchase her a much more "stylish" one but the bookmare insisted that she keep the one she already had. She saw the hospital in the distance when Pinkie Pie came hopping around the corner. "Oh hey, Twilight!" The party mare was wearing a rainbow-colored umbrella hat. "What'cha doin'?" "Hi, Pinkie! I was just on my way to the hospital, I volunteered to help out over there." "On your way to the-oh okay! Can I come too!? I don't have much to do today so I thought 'hey, why don't I come see what my friends are doing' and here I am!" The bubbly mare explained, wouldn't expect any less from the party pony. "I mean, as long as you're willing to help out I guess it would be okay." "Of course I'm willing to help out! What? You just think I was gonna come along and just stand by and watch you help sick ponies, all by yourself? That would be selfish of me!" With a humored grin, Twilight rolled her eyes at the pink pony's shenanigans. The two mares trotted in pace with one another. The Ponyville hospital was a few more buildings away. As Twilight and Pinkie walked toward it, the bookmare caught a glimpse of a crowd in front of the hospital. Which was weird, why would a crowd of ponies be outside of a hospital? And looking mighty agitated at that. Twilight and Pinkie got closer and it quickly became apparent that screams were coming from inside the hospital. Naturally, the mares became uneasy as they approached. She saw the expressions in the crowd, a mixture of fear, concern and curiosity; they were all murmuring, talking amongst each other, trying to figure out what's going on. The screams were much louder now, now that they were right in front of the building. Twilight and Pinkie both shared the same looks the crowd had just displayed. "What is happening in there?" The pink mare muttered, mainly to herself. "I dunno, I'll go ask," Twilight replied, nonetheless. She looked to one of the ponies in the crowd and her eyes landed on a familiar pale yellow pegasus who looked visibly shaken by the whole situation. Not surprising... "Fluttershy?" The unicorn called. As soon as the pegasus had heard her name, her eyes locked with the unicorn. Twilight saw her mood brighten. Seeing somepony familiar within the crowd. "Twilight!" "Fluttershy? What's going on? Is somepony hurt?" The bookmare inquired with a frown. "I-I dunno but everypony is saying that a whole room of patients started freaking out and that they began attacking each other." Twilight paused taking in the information she was just told. Whole room of patients... attack- "Wait, what!? Attacking?" The timid mare nodded. "All the nurses and doctors are still in there trying to calm them down." The unicorn quickly thought over her decisions and being Twilight she obviously wanted to help despite the fact that she was feeling uneasy. "Alright, I'm gonna go see what's going on." "Be careful." Fluttershy muttered. The unicorn nodded before ushering Pinkie forward. The two anxious trekked down the green messy hallway that was cluttered with medical junk. Empty syringes, blood packs, pieces of paper all over the floor; carts that were thrown aside. All this only made the uneasy feeling in their bodies grow more and more as they continued. The screams coming from the end of the hallway weren't helping either. They had made it at the end of the hallway, coming to a path leading left or right. The two ponies heard voices coming from their left. "What exactly do we do? We don't have a whole lot of options!" "It's better than yours!" Twilight and Pinkie turned the corner and saw couple of ponies dressed in medical garments standing by a set of two dark wooden doors. It was barricaded by an iron bar and the screams were coming directly from inside that room. "Excuse me?" Twilight called out, drawing their attention. "I think I may be able to offer some assistance." "Me too!" Pinkie added. "What are you doing here!? I thought we evacuated the building already!?" One of the ponies said, a white earth mare with an orchid colored mane. The others turned their heads toward the two ponies. A caramel unicorn, Twilight recognized him as "Doctor Horse" came over to speak with them. "Could you please wait outside with the others? I'm afraid the hospital's off limits as soon as the situation has been handled." "I know doctor but I honestly think I may be able to help." Twilight tried reasoning, she heard shuffling coupled witb a series of thuds coming from the other side of the door. Wails and crying were also heard. She didn't want to imagine what could've been happening in the other side of the door. "We could use the extra help," one of the doctors said, a grey unicorn stallion with a pink mane. "One of us is already injured." Just then, Pinkie noticed the pale yellow earth mare who had a black mane. There was a bandage wrapped around the mare's forehead, a small splotch of crimson seeping through. Doctor Horse shook his head. "No, it's too dangerous we won't be able to help them if they're-" A shriek came from the other side of the door, interrupting him. "being attacked!" "I assure you, we'll be perfectly fine." Twilight tried to calm the doctor's nerves. "Me and Pinkie can handle ourselves and we have plenty of times in the past." "Well, this will be the first." "The first what?" "The first situation you won't be able to handle." "Well, it doesn't seem like you-" "Ugh! This is not the point here!" The white earth mare from before angrily interrupted. "We need to be figuring out what we should do about the patients, not this random useless spout that you two are having!" Twilight relented, her irritability suddenly replaced with guilt. She sighed. "Do any of you have a plan?" Doctor Horse paused for a moment before filling her in. "Initially, the plan was to go in and to sedate everypony but unfortunately we got attacked by the patients. We were forced to leave the room and locked them in to stop them from hurting anypony else." Doctor Horse explained, glancing at the others. "What exactly happened in there?" The bookmare inquired. She got a some information from Fluttershy but it wasn't too helpful. "Why did they all suddenly go berserk?" "Calm Touch over there." The caramel doctor gestured to the pale yellow mare. "Was just checking up on a patient when another one started to... tremble." "Tremble?" Twilight frowned. "Yeah," Calm Touch replied this time. "I went to go check if the stallion was okay when he flinched away from me. Then... he-he just started shouting. Yelling at me to go away. I tried to calm him down but then he just... tackled me." "It was hard enough trying to get him off of her then the others started acting the same way." The white mare provided. Doctor Horse sighed through his nose. "And here we are now. We were just discussing-" A loud and abrupt bang rattled the door, startling everypony; it was followed by a series of grunts and moans. "I-I...I...JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" A scream of agony shortly came after. "Has anypony thought that... t-they could be attacking each other?" Everypony all threw a look of fear at one another, their hearts stopping at Pinkie Pie's statement. They reluctantly but quickly removed the bar that was barricading the door. They slammed open the door only to come to see the aftermath of a... well essentially it was a crime scene now. It was a sight that would've made Queen Chrysalis flinch. A sight where ponies would voluntarily have a part of their brain removed just to be free of what they saw. Inside, blood was splattered all over the walls. Piles of red chunky meat were slid across the tile floor but that was not the worst part. In the middle of the room was a stallion pinning another to the floor. Repeatedly, in a wildfire of frenzied fear was bashing the head of the other stallion into the tiles of the floor; painting it in a coat of crimson mixed aside with brain matter and pieces of skull fragments. The sound as the stallion's head was pummeled to the ground was like watermelon being tossed against concrete. Twilight could do nothing but stare in horror of the scene that was taking place in front of her. Strickened with fear, she stood in place; wide eyed and watched as the stallion bashed the other stallion against the floor over and over again without any motive of stopping. The victim was... dead. ...but he didn't stop. All the while the maniacal pony was screaming, yelling out. "GO AWAY! JUST. STAY. AWAY FROM. ME!" His words synchronized with the pummels. It was only when the doctors had shoved him off of the dead victim, Twilight snapped out of her paralyzed daze. She quickly ran over, kept the stallion locked in place, her magic manifesting around the crazed stallion's hooves. He had been attempting to shield his eyes with them... but from what? One of the doctors desperately searched for a sedative while the others had the pony restrained. "Move over! Move over!" The grey stallion came over with a syringe in mouth. He drove the pin into the maniacal stallion's neck, pumping the substance into his bloodstream. After a few moments, the maniac slowly began to drift off and soon after he was napping like a foal. The relief didn't come. Death was prevalent in the room like an odor. Twilight and Pinkie stared down at the sleeping stallion. Compared to just a few moments ago, he was sleeping soundly with not a care in the world. Whatever he was terrified about, whatever he saw - if the thing he even saw was real - it didn't seem to be affecting his unconscious state. Turning, they saw the rest of the room. Their eyes being assaulted by a diabolical mess, something sent straight from Tartarus... if not worse. They could feel something icky coming under their hooves, Twilight didn't bother to look down to see what it was. The room was painted in a chaotic spree of splattered crimson, splotches of blood everywhere and what looked like, meat... or a chunk of flesh was just as consistent. Then she noticed the bodies... "Twilight, Pinkie!" Fluttershy saw the two mares coming out of the hospital with the rest of the doctors. She noticed the patch of blood at the bottom of their hooves, leaving a trail behind them. While the doctors went to inform the crowd, Twilight and Pinkie stepped off to the side to meet the pale pegasus. She quickly flew over to them, her heart running palpitations. "Are you girls okay!? Are you hurt!?" It took a moment to register. Twilight couldn't shook the image of those... bodies - if you could even call them that anymore - out of her mind; you could say that it was scorched into her brain like a brand, a hot iron prod with a symbol at the end of it. "Y-yeah, w-we're okay." Pinkie side eyed Twilight who had a dazed look in her eyes. The party mare was... disturbed. It was frightening enough, making their way toward the room but it was another when they actually saw what was inside. They've faced off against Nightmare Moon, an army of Changelings even stopped the crystal empire from returning but this... this was the most traumatic. "O-oh but... what is..." the yellow pegasus timidly nodded downward. Pinkie frowned, tilting her head. "Huh?" She then looked down and realized what she was gesturing at. "O-oh, u-uh... it's just... a bit of... paint! Yeah, it's just p-paint!" The party mare feigned her chirpy attitude although it was easy to tell that she wasn't being sincere. She wasn't going to tell Fluttershy what it actually was. Rainbow? Or Applejack? Maybe but not Fluttershy. A look of disbelief flashed across the pegasus's face before it changed into a look of dread. She probably knew what it was but Pinkie was going to keep her muzzle shut. "I'm gonna go home now," Twilight abruptly said, her voice oddly monotone. "I'll see you girls later." Pinkie and Fluttershy frowned as the unicorn walked off in the direction of her home. The library. "T-Twilight?" The pegasus called but the unicorn didn't respond. "I-I think it's best to just... leave her be at the moment." Pinkie glanced down at her hooves, it was hard to believe that this was somepony else's blood... on her hooves. "U-um Flutters? I-I'm gonna go home too and g-get some of this... paint off." The party pony quickly sprinted off, not wanting the timid pegasus to see her tears. Twilight flung the door against the frame. Instead of clicking shut, the door merely bounced back from the wood, leaving a tiny gap. She trotted to her bedroom, opening the door and once more closed it in a lackadaisical manner. She trotted upstairs, taking a left into her restroom. It wasn't too small, the bath was only a few feet in front of her and the sink and counter were to her right. She switched on the bath and began cleaning herself up. The pressure was more than welcoming, raining over her back; calming her senses as if it was washing away her troubles. She was slowly coming to grips on what happened in the hospital, it was mostly a blur and she just didn't want to think about it. The whole horrid event, It all went by in a flash to even think about. Everything had went so fast with taking down that stallion then having to face that bloodfest of a room. Twilight had thought about what Calm Touch said. How the stallion had completely blew out of touch with reality and just straight up attacked her. It wasn't just him. The other patients were like that too. The bookmare spent almost half an hour within the shower when she heard her bedroom door open. She glanced down at the ceramic of the bathtub and saw the faint trail of blood washing away down into the drain. She levitated the shower head and began feverishly rinsing herself before finally turning off the shower. "Twilight! Twilight! You here?" She heard the unmistakable voice of Rainbow Dash. The mare in question stepped out of the tub, grabbed a towel and started scrubbing herself with it. "Twilight!" She heard Spike's voice next. "Are you okay? F-Fluttershy told me about what happened!" It was as if everything had stopped once he said that. Twilight's movements had froze for a moment, her heart rate picked up once more. Taking one shaky inhale, the mare hanged the towel on the rack and compelled herself to go downstairs to greet her friends. She opened the door and made her way downstairs; her friends, Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity were all down there waiting for her. Clearing her throat, she greeted them. "Girls... it's nice to see you." "Hey, Twi," Applejack solemnly greeted. "We... heard about what happened at the hospital." "It sounded just horrible! Those... ponies going crazy a-and-" "Yes Rarity, I was there." Twilight butted in, interrupting the elegant mare. "You don't need to go into detail about it." The elegant mare sighed. "Sorry, darling." "What happened at that hospital!? Why did all those ponies go crazy anyway!?" Rainbow Dash asked with her usual, up front and confrontational attitude. "I don't know, all I know is that they just went crazy. That's it." Twilight went over to her study table, cluttered with books. Some were open, some were closed. "How are you holdin' up sugarcube? From what Pinkie told me, it weren't all that good." Applejack asked, concerned. The bookmare sighed. "I-I'm still processing it... i-its just hard to believe that..." she trailed off. All her friends gathered around the distraught mare. The farm pony laid a gentle hoof on her friend's shoulder. "I can't believe that something... s-something like this happened." There were no tears coming from the mare's eyes, just plain shock. Utter disbelief. "Me neither, darling." Rarity added. "H-how do you suppose we... handle this?" "I don't know, I just need to relax for a few minutes." Twilight said as stress pumped through her body. The unicorn was thinking about going back to the hospital tomorrow or at least once everything was settled. She wanted to try and speak with... the stallion and asked why... he did what he did. If it was out of malice or he had no control over what he was doing. He looked genuinely terrified... but of what though?
The First Signs"Angel!" Fluttershy called. "Angel! Your dinner is ready!" The mare carried a bowl of salad in her hooves as her wings casually took her across the room. "Angel?" She called once more. The mare entered her living room, frowning when she didn't catch sight of the bunny. Usually, he would always come at the sound of "dinner". She set the bowl of salad at the end of her couch. She turned, scanning around the room only to find not one animal in the room. Even though she was beginning to grow worried, she knew it wasn't a big deal. The bunny was probably just doing something or he didn't feel like eating... that or he left the premises. The pegasus noticed that her window shutters were open, she usually kept it closed, especially at night. She began walking over to close it. The mare was still shaken up about the hospital incident but she was also relieved that it was resolved quickly, thanks to Twilight and Pinkie. She also heard about the ponies that lost their lives during the incident, other patients that were unfortunately in the same room with the stallion when he began attacking. Fluttershy felt the color drain from her face when she first heard that. The mare saw the look on the pony's face when she told her that it was just "blood". She appreciated what Pinkie tried to do, cover it up and act like it was "paint" when really it was just another pony's lifesource. She gulped as the image came into her head... The pale mare made it to her window. "Angel?" She called out once more, glancing around. She could see the Ponyville lights in the distance. Instead of doing what she came there for, close the shutters, the pegasus decided to go outside to look for the bunny. She opened the door and let herself out, taking in the nice fresh breeze. She promised herself she'd check up on Twilight and Pinkie tomorrow to see how they were handling with everything. From the rumors she's heard and the things she's seen, it was obvious that they needed some support. The mare called out for the bunny several times during her search, earning no result. She looked around outside for a few moments and had no luck in finding the bunny. There was still the backyard to check, hopefully he didn't enter the Everfree forest. After what happened today, Fluttershy didn't feel like spooking herself even more. The mare went back inside, closing her shutters and finally locking her front door. She made her way through the living room, failing to notice the missing bowl of salad she left by the end of the couch and out to the back door. She looked through the window, barely able to pick out anything in the darkness. Her cottage only lit up about half of the backyard until it became almost pitch black. The only thing she was able to catch was grass, a few flowers here and there and the faint outline of her chicken coop. Maybe the bunny wasn't out there, perhaps he may have just gone into hiding? Fluttershy didn't want to go out there, especially at this time of night and she definitely did not want to go trotting through the Everfree either. She could just go fetch a torch and bring that out there with her? But what happens when she catches something she didn't want to see? The pegasus quickly shook away the thought, trying to laugh it off. Come on, Flutters. You're just scaring yourself now. Just go out there and call Angel. Taking a steady inhale, she forced herself to go open the door when she noticed it. Standing just outside of the fence, on the right side, was a strange silhouette. It's outline was strange, like some type of dragon but only wasn't. It looked too... smooth? She would've been able to see the faint outline of it's scales or claws but it didn't have any. It definitely wasn't a pony and it wasn't an animal either but that wasn't what got her quivering from head to hoof. The thing that got to her was not the fact that there was a strange ominous figure standing motionless in her backyard but the fact that it was staring directly at her. The mare ha been steered into a state of paralysis under it's locked gaze even though all she could see was just a black silhouette she could tell that it was looking right at her. It wasn't doing anything and somehow that was the worst part. It was just standing there, doing nothing. The terror induced mare stood there for a few moments, her eye never straying from it's prey... well; more accurately, it's predator. Suddenly, she felt something on her shoulder and she fell to the floor and screamed. She screamed loud, so loud that the citizens of Ponyville must've heard it. She shuffled to the left side corner, stuck between the wall and the door. She wailed, crying out for help. She kept her eyes tightly shut as she trembled but when she heard the comforting chirps of her birds, she opened them. Half of her initial fright was gone as she looked over the five colorful miniature birds that were hovering right in front of her. In one scoop, she brought them all to her chest, clutching tightly to them. A bit too tightly... . She was slowly starting to calm down and the mare dared herself to look again. She peeked over the small border of wood that met the window and the sinister figure that was ominously standing there had vanished... When she finally noticed the severe lack of movement coming from her chest, she looked down and immediately felt the bile that came rushing up out of her throat. Twilight woke up with a gasp, a nightmare plaguing her dreams. It had a something to do with the hospital incident that happened yesterday. Where was Luna when you needed her? The unicorn stayed in bed for a few moments, aimlessly observing the sun seeping through her blinds. She tried not to think about what happened yesterday, it was too early to get herself worked up but regardless of that; her mind forcibly recalled back to the moment. The first image that came to mind was the stallion... killing the other stallion. She was still in complete disbelief as to how he was able to do that, it didn't seem like he knew what he was doing. He just seemed petrified. But of what? What could've gotten in the hospital? Was there even- Twilight immediately put those thoughts to rest; it was definitely too early for this. Sighing, the unicorn sat up and removed herself from the seafoam colored blanket she was using. She got up from the bed, giving herself a big stretch before beginning her routine. Rarity didn't want to but she had to, for her friend. She promised Twilight that she would go with her to check on that crazed stallion. Rainbow Dash was coming along too as the "extra backup". She didn't disagree with that, in fact, she was glad that the foolhardy pegasus was coming. It provided that sense of protection, knowing that the cyan mare would do anything to protect her friends. She just wished Applejack decided to come along too but the pony had other issues she needed to deal with. Perhaps, it would be wise to check on Pinkie once I'm done with Twilight. The elegant mare thought. She still wondered how she was doing, she hadn't seen her come out of her room since yesterday after she tried visiting. The door to her room had been locked and the cakes said that when she came into the shop, the pink mare was crying. Rarity felt nothing but sympathy for the poor mare. She was sat at her table, tea set in front of her. It was ready. She took a sip. She suppose she would've been the same if it were her in that position; if she had went with Twilight to the hospital yesterday. Hopefully, this will be dealt with quickly. She hated seeing her friends in such a distressed state. The farm pony trotted toward her farm, carrying the last basket. The mare couldn't stop thinking about Twilight or Pinkie after hearing what happened to them yesterday. Applejack didn't no what to think, ponies suddenly going crazy and... killing each other? That didn't make any sense, why would they just start attacking other ponies? The farm pony had been debating herself on whether to come with Twilight to interrogate this sick stallion or stay here and finish up her work. Yes, she did want to interrogate the colt. He was dangerous and he already killed another pony. She didn't care why he did it, he killed another pony. She was perfectly fine with interrogating him but Twilight probably wouldn't allow it. The mare plopped down the basket by the tree and went to buck some apples. She drew her hind legs and effortlessly delivered a powerful kick. The apples all fell into the basket. "What!?" The mare looked down at her apples, her bad apples. They were all mushed, rotten and mold looked was growing around the flesh. The mare groaned. "That's just wonderful... fruit bats..." "Twilight, a-are you sure you're feeling alright? Perhaps, we should come back tomorrow?" Rarity suggested, walking with the lavender unicorn and Rainbow Dash. They were in the streets of Ponyville, late in the morning. The sun brightened the town in a welcomed glow. "Yes, I'm fine Rare. I just gotta ask the stallion a few questions and that'll be it." The bookmare replied. "Yeah and he better not try anything while I'm there or there's gonna be some serious trouble." Rainbow Dash added. "Let's just hope, for our sake and yours, that he doesn't." Rarity relented. The trio trotted toward the hospital which was in the distance, a few buildings away. Even though she was nervous about doing this, she still had to find out what caused this whole thing in the first place, what exactly caused the stallion to go berserk. "Have you told Princess Celestia about this?" Rarity inquired. Twilight sighed. "No, I haven't. I-I was honestly not even thinking about it until you brought it up." "She probably already knows." Rainbow interjected. "Murder doesn't happen everyday, I'm sure somepony's told her." "I hope so... 'cause I don't wanna have to tell her myself." Twilight muttered the last part. They made their way toward Ponyville Hospital. On their way there, they could see the townsfolk. Their troubled looks as they spoke amongst each other. Probably talking about yesterday's incident. Some ponies were even staring, gawking at them as they past by, only looking away when Rainbow or Rarity gazed back. As Twilight was walking, she spotted a familiar pale pegasus only problem was, was that she looked scared, frightened. She could tell by the trembling and the wide-eyed expression she was occupying on her face. She could also see some bags under the mare's eyes. The pegasus was headed in the same direction they were headed except she didn't notice them. The pegasus was staggering in her walk, her hoofsteps erratic. There were ponies walking around everywhere but they were practically walking side by side, the only thing that separated them was the random ponies that past in between them. The pegasus still hadn't noticed them even when there weren't ponies weren't cutting in between them. "Fluttershy!" Twilight called out. The pegasus let out shriek, startling every other pony around her and ran to a nearby stand to hide under. There was a fuchsia colored mare with an aqua blue mane selling herbs as well as tea and coffee. She saw the pegasus run over the counter next to her and frowned. Rainbow Dash turned to look at the girls. "You know, I thought Fluttershy already got over her fear of being shy." "I think it's fear of being in social situations, darling." Rarity corrected. "Well, whatever they're the same thing." "Actually, it's not but beside the point. What is she doing hiding away like that?" Rarity asked with a frown. "The usual, Fluttershy being Fluttershy. Her scared-self." Twilight sighed. "Come on, let's go see if she needs anything." They walked over to the counter, the fuchsia mare looking down and pleading for the frightened pegasus to leave her stall. The mare noticed them. "O-oh, I'll be right with you in a minute!" She politely told them but Twilight waved her off. "We don't need anything, w-we're actually here for her." Twilight gestured at Fluttershy. The fuchsia mare gasp. "Oh, right well please do your thing! B-because with all due respect, I really have to get back to work." She gestured to the line of ponies, impatiently waiting. Twilight nodded and the mare went back to work. "Fluttershy?" She took a glance over the counter, the pegasus was huddled over, trembling with her hooves covering her eyes. "Fluttershy!" Rainbow called out louder this time. The frightened pegasus peeked through her hooves and saw them "O-oh, h-h-hey g-girls." She offered a fake smile. "Fluttershy, would you please come out of there? You're distracting this poor mare." Rarity said. The pegasus shook her head quickly. "N-no, I-I-I'm fine h-here, thank you..." "You can't stay down there Flutters, this is somepony's stall." Rainbow Dash sternly interjected. "Y-yes, I can." "Fluttershy?" Twilight started again. "Is there something going on?" The mare give a simple nod. "No." "Are you sure?" Even though she already knew and this was kind of the norm with Fluttershy, that was why she hadn't caught on earlier. She was scared, not of public or social interaction but genuinely scared. Dash was right, Fluttershy was fine with public interaction albeit not perfect but she was much more better in comparison to when Twilight first met her. Something must've gotten her spooked... which means... "Fluttershy, did... something happen?" The pegasus looked like a deer caught in headlights and she shook her head; much quicker than before. "Mm-mm." "Wait, what do you mean? What happened?" Rainbow interrupted but Twilight ignored her. Something was wrong, she must've seen something. She can't be this spooked of the public anymore. "Are you sure that nothing happened?" Twilight repeated, sternly this time. "Twilight, I do have to object to this." Rarity interrupted this time. "Why are you questioning her like that?" "Nope. D-d-didn't see anything..." Fluttershy kept her lips sealed tight. The unicorn relented and sighed. "Well, you're gonna have to come out of there. Was there something you needed? Maybe, we could go get it for you." Fluttershy shook her head but slowly pulled herself up from the floor. "N-n-no, I c-can get it myself." The mare flew herself out of the stall and without another word trotted from her friends. "Perhaps, we'll pay her a visit after we're done. Make sure she's okay." Rarity suggested. "She's probably just having one of those days, no big deal." Rainbow casually said. Yeah, maybe..." Twilight trailed off before continuing on to the hospital.
"It follows me everywhere-"Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity made it to the hospital. It was much quieter now, not with the patients screaming bloody murder. Literally, screaming bloody murder. "Well, we're here." Rarity said. "Shall we..." the mare walked forward, looking back at her friends expectantly. Twilight sighed. "Alright, let's get this over with." The unicorn walked over to the front doors of the hospital, opened it and entered. The building wasn't full but there were a few ponies coming in and out of the premises; doing their own thing. Visiting, coming for a check up or picking up their medications. Rainbow moved past Rarity. "Come on, let's go see this stallion." They continued up to the second floor, passing by other ponies, doctors and nurses. In the green hallway, Twilight saw a familiar white earth mare dressed in medical scrubs. One of the doctors or nurses, she saw yesterday in the attack. "Uh, hi!" The unicorn greeted. The mare's ears flickered and she looked up to see who it was. Twilight saw a frown flash across the mare's features. "Oh, it's you, you were here yesterday." The mare sighed. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name's Vexing and I'm a nurse here. Pleasure to meet you." Twilight could tell by the tone of her voice that that was obviously not true. "N-nice to meet you, Vex. I'm Twilight, this is Rarity and Rainbow Dash." She gestured to both of her friends who exchanged their own introductions. "I'm Rarity, it is a pleasure to meet you darling." "I'm Rainbow, hey." The nurse masked an act of condescension. "Wonderful, may I help you with something?" Rainbow frowned at the rudeness of the nurse but held her tongue. "We... were just looking for the... s-stallion. Y-you know... the one from yesterday?" Vexing threw a look of confusion at them. "Why?" "We have to ask him some questions." Rainbow interjected before Twilight could say anything. "What type of questions?" Vexing sternly inquired. "It's none of your business." "Considering he's a patient of this hospital, I'd say it is my business." Before Rainbow Dash could say anything else, Twilight interrupted them. "We just want to ask him a few questions, that's it." "Again, what type of questions?" "Well, we just wanted to know why he did what he did. I-I may be able to-" "We've already spoken with him." The nurse cut her off, causing Twilight to frown. "W-wait, you've spoken with him?" "Well, not me but one of the doctors did." Twilight shared a look with the others, all wearing the same frown. She turned back to the nurse. "W-what did he tell you?" Vexing let out a bored sigh. "Look, I gotta get back to work." She began walking away with Twilight and the others following behind her. "I've wasted enough time talking with you as it is and besides..." the nurse turned back at the lavender mare. "I'm not at liberty to disclose any information." Twilight quickly grabbed the nurse's shoulder. "B-but can I at least talk to him?" She sighed once again. "If he gives you permission then yes but unfortunately, he's not exactly in the most stable place right now so he's not allowed to give you permission. Unless if you're-like an authority figure or something but other than that, don't bother." "What if... w-what if I was Celestia's pupil?" Twilight suggested. Vexing begrudgingly led the girls down a hallway, it was on the third floor. Not many ponies occupied it as much as the others, there was only two visitors on this floor. The nurse took a left, continued down the green hallway then took a right. At the end, on the left side was a brown oak door; Vexing stopped and opened it. It was a small room but it was different than the others. The beds in this room were designed with straps, patients were tied to their beds. They didn't seem like they were against it, they weren't showing signs of resistance. "He's over there." Vexing pointed to the right-hoof side of the room. "In the corner." Twilight looked at the stallion. He was a spruce-blue colored pegasus with a sand-colored mane, he was strapped down from his hooves all the way up to his chest. He was staring at the ceiling, eyes half-lidded. He looked to be somewhere far away, somewhere in his mind; not paying attention to his surroundings. "What's his name?" Twilight asked, staring from the other end of the room. "Jade Wing, please do not freak him out. I don't wanna have to deal with another mental patient today." And with that, Vexing left the room, closing the door behind her. Twilight began walking across the room, glancing at the patients strapped down to their beds. She did not want to be here any longer than what she had to, this room was filled with literal crazy ponies. "Are... these all the ponies that went crazy yesterday?" Rainbow inquired, looking around at them. The cyan pegasus felt sorry for these ponies, wondering what drove them to such an unhinged state. Twilight nodded. "Yeah, yeah they are." The patients were groaning, saliva dribbling down their muzzles and muttering to themselves. Something about "it's coming-it's coming-" or "it's coming to get me". Rarity was looking over them in sympathy. "What happened to all these ponies?" She murmured. "We're about to find out." Rainbow said as they approached Jade Wing's bed. He didn't acknowledged their presence, his eyes stayed glued to the ceiling. "Jade?" Twilight softly called. They heard a gasp come from the stallion himself, his eyes found theirs. "Yes?" His voice was dry and dull as if all strength had been drained from him. "H-hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle a-and these are my friends." Jade didn't say anything. His eyes slowly moved to Rainbow and Rarity's. There was something sinister about his expression, those unhinged eyes that he possessed. The cyan pegasus held her gaze while Rarity felt compelled by an invisible force to look away somewhere in the room. "W-we were hoping to ask a few questions?" The stallion kept his gaze on the two other ponies for a moment longer before slowly, almost robotically returning Twilight's. "What about?" She drew in a quick inhale before answering. "I-I was wondering if we could talk about yesterday?" "The doctors already talked to me about that." "Well, I was hoping if you could explain it to me... w-why you did what you did?" The stallion let out a tired scoff. "It wasn't like I wanted to." Twilight frowned, sharing a glance with Rarity and Rainbow before turning back at Jade. "What do you mean by that? A-are... you saying that s-somepony make you do it?" "No, I mean... I-I didn't even know it was a stallion until a few hours ago... when the doctors came and told me about it." His gaze drifted from her to his bed sheets, possibly recalling what happened. It wasn't a stallion that he saw? "W-what... did you think... it-the stallion was?" He paused. "...A scarecrow," he simply answered. With a roll of her eyes, Rainbow shook her head, murmuring something to herself. "A scarecrow?" Twilight repeated, she didn't believe this but she listened to him nonetheless. "Yeah." The unicorn held back a sigh, tearing her gaze away from him. Hallucinations? Most likely. Twilight was considering chopping it off as the pony being insane and just had a full psychotic breakdown. That was what she was leaning toward anyway but then again, it wasn't just him who became unstable. The other patients in the room had experienced something similar. She only looked back at the stallion when he abruptly continued. "It's everywhere, you know? It's watching me... even you." As he said it, he stared directly at the bookmare; his eyes locked on as if he was pleading for her to listen to him. "I-it watches everyone... it watches me all the time. It never goes away... even now." His eyes trailed to a corner of the room to which she followed. With a stutter and a severe drop of bass in his voice, he said. "I-it's right there." He paused for a moment, seemingly staring at nothing. "It just... stares, like it's taunting me and it won't go away. I-it never... ever goes away..." He seemed to be growing agitated by the second and Twilight attempted to lay a hoof on his shoulder to which only agitated him even more. "Do-don't touch me... please!" "Look, listen to me. Whatever, you're seeing? It's not real. Nothing is there, nothing is going to hurt you. You're hallucinating." "But it is!" The stallion was quick to rebuttal. "That's why this is happening. B-because I-I-I saw it, this is why this is happening. It's because I saw it." As Rarity listened to the insane stallion ramble on, she was beginning to grow anxious herself but she feigned a look of boldness. Rainbow Dash didn't look like she was fazed at all by the stallion, her stern glare was locked on the stallion. "You're gonna see him too." Jade said, staring at Twilight. "When I saw it, it just... followed until..." "Until what?" Twilight inquired. "W-well... I-I guess yesterday was the thing that happened." Rainbow was the first out of the hospital, Rarity and Twilight were the last ones out. After speaking with the stallion, they moved on to the other patients and began speaking with them. Most of them were incoherent, continuously murmuring to themselves over and over again while others talked about the same thing... ...a scarecrow. The ones that they were actually able to speak to only lasted a few seconds before Twilight had to stop the line of questioning due to them getting too aggravated. It was late in the afternoon. The sun was going down, it's orange glare painted across the sky. They were a few yards away from the hospital when Rainbow finally said something. "So, scarecrows are the new things to be afraid of?" Rarity was already feeling anxious from listening to Jade Wing. She'd hoped that it he was just insane and he had some type of obsessive fear over scarecrows but that wasn't the case. When she heard the other patients talk about a scarecrow, she only denied it further; thinking to herself that they're all just psychotic. She knew deep down that that wasn't the case... "That... doesn't make any sense though? Scarecrows aren't... sentient." Twilight said with a thoughtful frown on her face. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure wood and fabric aren't sentient." Rainbow replied. "You don't think somepony's going around Ponyville placing scarecrows to freak everypony out, do you?" "Well, I haven't seen any scarecrows recently. I mean, Applejack doesn't even have a scarecrow... or at least I-I don't think so." Rainbow looked off to the side, thoughtfully. "Rarity, what do you think about this?" Twilight inquired but no answer came. She turned to her left, the elegant mare staring down at her hooves as they trotted together. "Rarity?" She called once more, giving a slightly startling the mare. "Huh? Sorry, what did you ask?" The mare apologetically glanced at the bookmare. "She asked what you think about all this." Rainbow clarified for Twilight. "Oh, um-" Rarity was scared, not too scared but she felt uneasy all the same even though it sounded silly. She wouldn't be feeling uneasy if not for what happened yesterday, she probably would've just swept this whole ordeal under the rug if nopony had gotten hurt. She may have even thought that this would've been childish instead one pony was dead and plenty of others were in the hospital strapped to their beds; all the while losing their minds in the process. "I-I think that those ponies should be put in an asylum." Twilight and Rainbow exchanged a look. "What about the scarecrow?" Twilight asked. "M-maybe it's-" Rarity sighed. "I'm not thinking about that at the moment." Before Rainbow was able to open her mouth, she continued. "Perhaps, we should go check on Fluttershy? She didn't seem to be doing so well last time we saw her." Twilight gasped. "Yeah, she did look more stressed than usual." Rainbow let out a chuckle. "And that's coming from you, Twilight." The bookmare felt her cheeks flare up in heat. "Yeah, Rarity's right. We should go see how she's doing." "Yup, change the subject Twilight." The three of them started heading toward Fluttershy's house. Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow made it across the cottage bridge, the water smoothly drifting under them; the sound carrying a blissful tune to their surrounding area. Twilight walked up to the door and knocked. "Fluttershy? It's Twilight! I'm with Rarity and Rainbow!" No response came. "W-we just wanted to check up on you, see if you were okay." Still no response. "Huh, she must not be home then." Rarity said, looking through the windows but having no luck due to them being covered by curtains. Rainbow then came up to the door and knocked. "Fluttershy! We kn-" A loud muffled crash came from the other side of the door. They all exchanged a knowing look with one another. Rainbow knocked again. "Fluttershy, we know you're in there! Open up!" "...C-come back later! D-doing something!" Came a soft muffled voice from the other side of the door. "Fluttershy darling, we wanted to check if you were alright! We saw you today and you didn't seem like yourself!" Rarity replied. "U-um... I-I-I'm fine now!" They all heard the stutter in her voice, it wasn't hard to tell that something was going on. "Flutteshy, we're coming in!" Rainbow began hovering in the air, readying herself to fly through the cottage. "Wait! NO!" Fluttershy yelled and almost instantly a loud shattering crash came after. Rainbow came bursting through the front door and found herself floored; her mouth agape, staring in shock at the sight in front of her. Soon after Twilight and Rarity came running in. Rarity let out shriek, staring wide-eyed at her friend and Twilight was in the same state as Rainbow Dash. In front of them was a white circular wooden table tipped over, facing toward them. Blood leaked from the table like a tap that wasn't turned off properly but where the blood came from was the thing that caused everypony to grow weak. The thing that caused Rarity to shriek. In the middle of the table, a small white furry body was pinned up against it, needles or whatever they were had been shoved into the paws. It's stomach was torn open, insides were exposed and organs dangled from the miniature body. And on the floor was the pale pegasus, her disheveled mane covering up her tear-streaked bloodshot eyes. In front of her, laid a bloody kitchen knife... "I-I-it wa-wasn't me..." She said in between sobs.
