Night Glider slowly opened her eyes. She always had more trouble getting up after a nightmare. She got out of her makeshift, somewhat cold bed and looked around. She was in a cave. A cold, small cave that she shared with other two ponies:Double Diamond and Party Favor. The stallions were still asleep, so she decided to go and prepare a quick breakfast. The mare slowly trotted towards the place they called a kitchen:a corner that had some natural rocks they used for sitting, eating and keeping the food rations they still had. The pegasus frowned when she noticed that they had a lot less food than she remembered. That didn't sound good and she knew what that implied. But for now, breakfast.
Night Glider sat on a rock and slowly ate her instant porridge. Unfortunately, the bland taste let her mind wander, and like almost all the times, she remembered what happened to their beloved Town. She started to cry as she bitterly filtered the memories in her head and mourned her friends.
In Night Glider's mind, things were as vividly now as they were then. It always felt like this happened yesterday. But she was pretty sure that at least some weeks or months passed since the incident. She was in the town, happily chatting with her friends. The town was a quiet and boring place, but she was pretty sure that all ponies loved it. It was their sanctuary. That changed when a black, somewhat translucent mist descended upon them. It was so fast that they barely had time to notice what happened. After they shook off the daze, the ponies started inspecting each other and breathed a sigh of relief when it appeared that no one was harmed. That is, until they noticed Starlight Glimmer. Their leader appeared nauseous and unsteady, but she assured them that she was fine and that she needed some rest. They took her home and a pegasus stallion named Sunny Glasses decided to look after her. Starlight's condition slowly started to deteriorate, to the point that she was bedridden. Sunny Glasses and other ponies that used to visit her were concerned when her eyes started to appear glazed over. They wondered if someone should leave the town and get help, but unfortunately they wouldn't have the opportunity. Starlight suddenly sat up and locked her disturbing eyes on her caretaker. He was taken aback and didn't really have time to react when Starlight pounced on him and sunk her teeth in his neck. It was something so unpredictable that no pony present knew how to react. Double Diamond shook off his stupor and grabbed the first pony he could, which happened to be Night Glider, who in turn grabbed Party Favor and ran as fast as they could from the house of horrors. At first, they felt bad that they ran like cowards, and tried to turn back to help Sunny Glasses and other ponies, but to their surprise and horror, Starlight managed to hurt more ponies and she was looking at them like a hungry, rabid animal. Even if ponies shouted for help, their pitiful wails ringing in their ears, with their heart broken, the three ponies turned back and ran. Night Glider remembered that they barricaded themselves in a house and waited. Waited for what exactly? For things to calm down? For Starlight Glimmer to magically turn back into her normal self? For the other ponies to die? She had no idea, and turned back to her fellow survivors, that gently shook like leaves in the wind.
"Ok soo, what now? What are we supposed to do? Any ideas?"
The stallions turned towards her with sad, panicked eyes.
"We...we let them to die! W-we...we just ran, like cowards. They were hurt, and in pain, and...and-", Party Favor said, his mind trying desperately to process what happened.
"C-calm down buddy, Night Glider is right. We need a plan", replied calmly, but still in a shocked tone, Double Diamond.
"Should we...go outside?", but right as Night Glider said that, a loud scream was heard outside that scared the three ponies. Night Glider and Double Diamond ran towards the window and looked outside. Their eyes went wide with terror at what they saw:Starlight Glimmer and Sunny Glasses limped their way outside. It downed on Night Glider how bleak the situation looked:Starlight Glimmer was drenched in blood, her eyes glazed over, dripping a black ooze and snapping at the air while groaning and moaning. The same black ooze was dripping from her mouth, along with blood. Sunny Glasses had a huge gash in his neck that was constantly drooling blood and the same ooze, but he also had bitemarks all over him. The ponies outside that didn't know what happened at first, started running towards them to help, and the unlucky ones that got caught by the two infected ponies were rapidly bit and killed. Some of them managed to run and hide, and one pony scrambled towards the house the other three ponies managed to hide.
"If someone is there, please open up!", screamed the distressed pony.
The ponies inside ran from the window to the door and opened it. In the doorway stood Sugar Belle. Night Glider guided her inside.
"Oh, it's you guys. I'm so happy you're ok!, she said while gently sitting on the floor, trying to catch her breath. Upon closer inspection, Double Diamond noticed that Sugar Belle had a tiny bitemark on her left forehoof. He decided to inquire about it.
"Oh this? haha don't worry, I'm ok. I was bitten by a pony that stumbled and fell when he ran from Starlight. Poor Starlight and Sunny though."
"Yeah, I always wondered why she was the first and only one that got sick. But come to think of it, wasn't Sunny transformed after he...got bit?", the revelation made by Night Glider made all the ponies in the house suddenly turn to Sugar Belle.
"Oh, oh no! You misunderstood! I wasn't bitten by Starlight or Sunny! A random pony just fell on me and accidentally bit me. That's the truth I swear.", Sugar Belle almost started to cry. The thing is, she didn't know for sure how this strange disease was transmited, but she was fairly sure that the pony that bit her wasn't infected. At least she hoped.
The other ponies looked at her with sadness in their eyes, then at eachother. They decided to have a discussion in the other room about Sugar Belle. After seeing what happened to Starlight and Sunny, they for sure didn't want an infected pony in the house. They explained the situation to Sugar Belle and went in the other room, while closing the door behind them.
"So, what are we going to do? Should we trust her?", Party Favor asked, seeming to have calmed himself down enough to discuss the situation with his fellow ponies.
"I...honestly don't know. Even if she is lying, I don't have the heart to kick her out.", Double Diamond's statement was accentuated by screaming, tearing sounds and crying from outside.
"I think we should compromise. How about we bound her? That way, if she will transform, she will not be a danger to us", replied Night Glider. The other ponies agreed, and just as they opened the door to tell Sugar Belle what they decided, a screaming Sugar Belle descended upon them.
"YOU WILL NOT BOUND ME, YOU UNDERSTAND??", she picked a knife in her magical aura, not actually attacking, but ready to defend herself if needed. "I WILL NOT GET SICK!PLEASE BELIEVE ME!", she started crying hysterically.
As Night Glider, Double Diamond and Party Favor tried to reason with the distressed mare, Sugar Belle suddenly lurched forward, holding her stomach. She felt an intense pain in her stomach and a strange hunger. Before passing out, she heard the panicked gasps of her fellow villagers.
Sugar Belle woke up and noticed she couldn't move. She was tightly bound with rope while three ponies appeared to be looking at her. She growled, gnashing and snapping her teeth at them. A black, tar like substance was bubbling from her mouth and nose. Her eyes were glazed over and her coat appeared even duller than before. Double Diamond was looking at her pitifully, Night Glider was crying and Party Favor was just sitting in a corner, defeated. Not knowing what to do and too afraid to haul the infected mare outside, they decided to lock her in the storage room.
Other ponies frantically knocked on their door and pleaded to be left inside, but the ponies inside just covered their ears and ignored everypony that tried to enter. They even attempted to be as silent as possible, to make the others outside believe that no one was home. Finally, the screaming, knocking and begging stopped, but it was instead replaced by more growls, snarls and strange teeth chattering. That night, Double Diamond decided to stay guard, but the other two ponies barely slept. After all, how could they?They saw their leader transformed into a monster craving pony flesh, they saw others dying and even a friend transformed right before their eyes. Plus, the background noise didn't help at all.
The next day, the survivors decided they needed a plan. After all, they couldn't stay here forever. And their supplies won't last forever. However, there was a thing that bothered Night Glider all night, and she felt like she had to voice it to her friends.
"Hey guys...I know what I'm about to say it's a bit absurd, but have you noticed that Sugar Belle was holding a knife in her magical aura, then suddenly she got sick? And...and also, Starlight was the first and only one that got sick almost immediately? Do you think it's just a coincidence that both Starlight and Sugar Belle are unicorns?", just as Night Glider finished her statement, Double Diamond and especially Party Favor paled.
"I certainly hope so! I haven't really used my magic so much but I also don't really want to test your theory.", replied Party Favor panicked.
Seeing how distressed his friend was, Double Diamond tried to change the subject.
"Ok let's ignore that for now, but Party Favor, just to be safe, don't use magic. I checked and this house has enough supplies to last us three of four days at best. Then, I think we have to go out and search for more."
"I wonder if other ponies survived...", sniffled Night Glider.
"What do you mean IF? Maybe not all of them survived, but we have to believe that at least half of the town are alive! We managed to escape, right?", Party Favor almost screamed at his pegasus friend. He was clearly taking this the hardest.
"You're right. Maybe they're just barricaded inside their homes like we are. We can check if that's true when we go searching for food", replied the pegasus.
The next days passed slowly and agonizingly. The three friends talked, ate and sleep while one of them kept guard. Their peace was ocasionally disturbed by growls and snarls from outside, and also from them scratching and thumping the door. When the day of going outside came, they trembled in both anticipation and fear. The door slowly creaked and a set of eyes peered outside. They widened in shock when they noticed the carnage outside:blood and corpses everywhere. Fortunately, it didn't appear that one of "them" was around, so Night Glider stepped outside and quickly took flight. That way, she was able to avoid the infected and also scan the area. She gently glided above the rooftops and looked for signs or life:boarded up windows, closed and locked doors, and Night Glider even wished to be lucky enough to spot someone in a window. She surveyed the area closely, but unfortunately she didn't find any survivors. She was starting to feel defeated and discouraged, especially since she could see a lot of dead ponies in the streets:some trotting, some unmoving, dead for good, and others ganged on downed ponies, slowly eating them like ravenous dogs. Night Glider was disturbed. Her tiny little village was in shambles. She couldn't believe this could happen. In fact, she still hoped it was just a bad dream and she will wake up any minute now. But as the pegasus flew between dilapidated buildings, she noticed how bad things looked:most of the houses were painted with blood, some of them were almost destroyed and almost all of them lacked doors, signs that the infected overpowered some of the ponies. The mare sighed and decided to pick a spot mostly free of infected. After making a mental note, she flew back towards Double Diamond and Party Favor, which patiently waited for her to come back from her scouting.
"Ok sooo...the situation doesn't look so good. I didn't find any survivors, a lot of infected are trotting randomly in the village but I found a spot relatively free of them, so we can search the houses from that area."
The face of the two stallions dropped with disappointment and their hope left their eyes. They expected to find at least one survivor. But maybe Night Glider didn't look enough. They will continue to scan the village for more chances. But for now, they had to go find supplies.
The three ponies walked carefully behind the houses to avoid being detected. The stallions had their eyes wide in shock and horror. Just like Night Glider, they couldn't believe the state their small, quiet village was. They tried their best to focus on their mission, and when the pegasus signaled for them to enter a house, they ran towards it without looking left or right. They decided to check different parts of the house to save time. So Double Diamond checked the kitchen, Night Glider the living room and Party Favor the bedroom. Double Diamond was stacking his saddlebags with all the food he could fit inside them and Night Glider decided to help him after not finding anything interesting in the kitchen, but suddenly they heard Party favor scream. The other two ran towards the bedroom and found the unicorn crying hysterically in a corner. They went and asked him what was wrong, and he pointed a trembling hoof towards the bathroom.
As Double Diamond gently opened the door, the first thing they noticed was the blood. It was everywhere and it was coming from the bathtub. In it, was a pony. A dead pony. After a bit of examination, they concluded that he killed himself. The poor stallion couldn't probably take all this violence and decided to end himself. They slowly trotted towards Party Favor and soothingly put a hoof on his shoulder, at the same time signaling that it was time to go. The stallion slowly lifted his head and looked at his friends, eyes filled with tears.
"Did Check Mate actually killed himself? Please tell me that he isn't actually dead!"
"I am sorry, but he is...Please, we have to go now", whispered Double Diamond.
Just as they were about to leave the house, they noticed a horde of infected ponies slowly making their way towards the door. The three ponies panicked and backed away in the house. It appeared that they were surrounded, but then Night Glider pointed towards the window. Double Diamond and Party Favor got the signal and leapt, following close behind the mare. They decided to run towards a nearby house, but at the last moment they noticed that it didn't have a door. What to do, what to do? Suddenly, Night Glider had an idea. She screamed back at her friends.
"Guys, we have to go in the mountains!"
Party Favor and Double Diamond nodded and started running faster.
They weren't surprised that the infected were after them. Some were faster than others, but they at least had an advance and they hoped they could lose the infected in the mountains. But where to go?They could try the cutie mark cave, but what if it was dangerous? They concluded that magic had a play in all of this, and after all, cutie marks were magical. They remembered that close to that cave was a smaller one they could use. At first, it was easier to run despite the rocky terrain, but it became difficult when they had to climb higher and the mountain became covered with snow. They had to stop when they faced a big rope bridge. The only one that connected their side and the cave. Double Diamond looked back and noticed that while the dead ponies were still following them, they were fewer now. He turned towards Night Glider and Party Favor and asked quickly.
"Do you think we should cut the rope on the other side?"
"We should pass first, and if they follow us and we see that they can pass the bridge, we will cut it", replied Night Glider.
They quickly passed the bridge and watched with hitched breath: some of the infected fell, while others stumbled across the bridge. Should they try to fight them? They could try, but that would give the opportunity for others to pass the bridge and it was obvious that the dead would outnumber them. Night Glider had the advantage of flying, but she wasn't a spectacular pegasus since she wasn't a better flier than anypony else. Party Favor and Double Diamond were practically earth ponies and it would've been harder for them to fight, since they could slip and fall on the ice and snow. So with a solemn look at eachother and then the bridge, Double Diamond cut the rope. They watched as the infected plummeted to the ground. At least due to the fog, the ponies couldn't see the infected splatter on the ground. Now, it appeared that the small cave was their new home.
Night Glider heard a slight shifting behind her. She looked back and noticed that her companions were waking up. She got up and went towards the pantry and picked up two more instant porridge sachets. Night Glider opened them up, put the porridge in some bowls then added cold water. She always loved warm porridge. The cold one was sticky, flavorless and overall bland. But now, she couldn't be picky. She brought the breakfast towards the rock that served as a table. Double Diamond and Party Favor groggly came towards the table, still shivering and covered in blankets. They grumbled a "good morning" and a "thanks" towards Night Glider and silently began to eat. The pegasus watched them eat, and as they finished, she decided to open the conversation with the most important news.
"We barely have any food left."
Double Diamond and Party Favor looked at her while their eyes slightly widened.
Night Glider averted her eyes."Should I try to go in the village and bring whatever I can find?"
Party Favor crinkled his nose. "It's too dangerous and you know that. We'll do the regular, you'll pick one of us to go with you."
"Party...the thing is, I don't think I'm strong enough anymore to do that. Weeks...heck, maybe months without proper food take a tool on a pegasus...on anypony actually", replied Night Glider bitterly.
"Then, do you really wanna go alone? Are you sure?", asked Double Diamond. He didn't like this idea, but he also knew that without supplies they won't last long. Plus, they heavily relied on their pegasus friend to do scouting and pick one of them above the chasm left by the cut bridge, so two of them could descend towards the decimated small town to scour for supplies.
"It has to be done.", said Night Glider with an air of finality. It was obvious that she didn't want to do this, but she had to. "I'll go outside, you two wait for me. I'll go bring the saddlebags". The stallions followed her towards the cave's entrance. They nodded at her and the three quickly shared a hug.
"Please be careful, Glider", said Party Favor on the verge of tears. The pegasus slightly nodded then took flight.
The stallions were terribly worried about their friend. It felt like an eternity since she left, but they justified this with the fact that she was alone now and maybe it took her more time to find supplies. They hoped so. Double Diamond was sitting at the edge of the bridge, carefully looking for Night Glider while Party Favor was pacing back and forth like a caged animal. He was on the verge of breakdown. Suddenly, Double Diamond noticed a figure running towards the bridge. It was Night Glider! Double Diamond was grinning and whinnied when he saw her. But why was she running instead of flying? His heart sank when he got his response:her right wing was bloodied and hung limply against her side. Party Favor came near Double Diamond and watched in horror as his pegasus friend ran with all her might to overcome the infected ponies behind her. But the destroyed bridge was slowly approaching and she knew she had to stop. Night Glider looked towards her friends , then back at the infected and then took off her saddlebags and looked like she pondered something. She then put her forehooves around her muzzle and screamed.
"Guuyys! I am not infected, one of them tackled me and I just hurt my wing. I cannot fly anymore, so I'll try my best to throw the saddlebags to you, ok?"
The stallions looked at her with dismay. "Are you crazy??Not only you won't be able to do that, but since you can't fly, you won't be able to overcome the infected alone!", Party Favor was screaming hysterically at her. He couldn't lose another friend. Night Glider looked at him with a sad expression on her face. Then, she lowered her head while tears poured out her eyes. She wiped them off and locked eyes with the stallion.
"I am sorry Party, but I don't know what else to do!". Growling and snarling could be heard behind her. The pegasus gasped and looked behind and saw that the infected were slowly approaching. Just as she was about to haul with all her might the saddlebags, she felt strange. She was enveloped in a magical aura and slowly lifted off the ground. She looked up and noticed that her unicorn friend was trying his best to bring her towards the cave with his magic.
"PARTY FAVOR!", screamed Night Glider and Double Diamond in unison.
"Please stop Party! You still have time, please put me down!"
"Party...", said Double Diamond, who was pitifully looking at his friend. He couldn't bring himself to tell him to stop what he was doing, but at the same time, he was still afraid for him.
"Shh, don't say that please", said Party Favor just as he slowly floated Night Glider over the hole and towards the cave. She was almost near the small space before the entrance. "We don't know for sure if using magic will change you into one of them. Maybe we were wro-", but just as he said that, he let out a pained scream and collapsed on the snow. He dropped Night Glider, which rolled on the snow on the other side of the bridge. She got up, shook the snow off of her and ran panicked towards Party Favor. He was flanked by Double Diamond, who was holding the stallion in his forehooves.
"What are we going to do, Glider?? He clutched his stomach and fell, and now he's unconscious. Just...just like Sugar Belle did!", screamed Double Diamond.
Night Glider looked at him with wide eyes, then at Party Favor. She started crying for her friend, for the stallion that saved her life. But she was at a loss. She didn't know what to do to save him. The only hope she could cling right now is that unlike Sugar Belle, Party Favor wasn't actually bit by one of them. So maybe she just lied back then and was indeed bitten by an infected pony and that caused her transformation. Maybe magic sped up the process, but it wasn't actually the cause. So maybe Party Favor will be alright. As she was lost in thought, she heard Double Diamond gasp.
"Party? Party Favor! Can you hear me?", he asked the unicorn, which was slowly waking up. He coughed, then looked at Double Diamond and Night Glider.
"Hey guys. I have a favor to ask you.", he weakly said then closed her eyes.
"Anything, Party! What is it?", asked quickly the pegasus while holding his hoof. Since he woke up and was still himself, maybe he will be ok. He was probably just magically strained. She couldn't fly, due to malnourishment so maybe he was in the same situation. After all, unicorns need strength to-
"Please throw me off the mountain."
"What...?", whispered Night Glider.
"Come on Night, let's bring him in the cave. He is probably delirious due to magical exercion." Party Favor put a hoof on Double Diamond's chest and tried his best to sound sure of himself.
"No please. Please trust me, I am not feeling well. I have this...this strange discomfort in my stomach that at the same time, feels like it's in my very core. I honestly don't know how to explain it, but it's not normal. I never felt anything like this. Also, there's this strange hunger...I....Please, do what I say before it's too late. Please don't make me do it myself".
Night Glider and Double Diamond both looked at him sadly and started to cry. They honestly didn't know what to do. They couldn't tie him up with anything, but at the same time, they couldn't just throw him off the mountain. That would be too cruel, even if they knew there was a chance that he might become one of them. Just as Night Glider and Dpuble Diamond pondered their options, they turned their heads and saw Party Favor slowly crawling his way towards the end of the bridge. The two ponies screamed and ran after him. They had to stop this madness somehow. Just as the pegasus and unicorn were about to protest, they saw something that froze the blood in their veins:Party Favor's coat appeared dull, almost a light gray, and one of his eyes was a bit glazed over. He slowly looked at them and growled. The other two ponies instinctively took a step back while Party Favor continued his way towards the edge. Double Diamond and Night Glider were leaning on eachother for comfort while they continued to cry and look at their fallen friend. So that was it, then? He was infected. But at the same time, something felt off. If he was infected, why wasn't he trying to attack them? Just as he was at the edge of the bridge, Party Favor turned his head towards his friends and smiled gently.
"Thank you. I love you both."
Then, he closed his eyes and let himself plummet towards the cold, dead abyss.
Author's Note
Phew, it is done.
I was always a fan of the "Them" stories, made by PaulAsaran and RainbowBob so for a long time I wanted to add my contribution in the "Them" universe.I hope I did a good job
