Crystal Blood

Chapters

Prologue: Dread
Chapter One: Discovery
Chapter Two: Awaken
Chapter Three: Arrival
Chapter Four: Revelations
Chapter Five: Exodus
Chapter Six: Vector Major
Chapter Seven: Escape from Manehattan Part One

Prologue: Dread

Crystal Blood Prologue: Dread

Fluttershy’s Cottage, Ponyville, Day -1

Fluttershy

Fluttershy sighed. It had been a long day, even for a busy pony like herself.

First she, like the rest of Ponyville, had been awoken at the crack of dawn by the new speaker system Vinyl Scratch had installed in her house and the seismic wubs they caused. Then she had to grade final projects and exams for her class at the School of Friendship-school was ending soon and she had a lot to wrap up before summer break. Next thing Fluttershy knew, she was being called to the animal sanctuary to deal with a medical emergency. After a few hours of providing medicine to the animals under her care, she was finally able to finish up and head back home just as the sun was setting.

Fluttershy entered her cozy little cottage and shut the door behind her. Immediately, the entire room went dark besides the spaces that were illuminated by the faint moonbeams that penetrated her open window. A slight breeze came through the room and made the timid pegasus shiver.

“Brrr,” Fluttershy groaned softly as she closed the window. “I thought I told Angel to not let all the warm air out?”

Fluttershy's gaze swiveled around the dark room as she felt around for a lantern. “Angel? Are you home, friend?”

A gust of wind tickled her back and sent a child up her spine.

Fluttershy gasped like she had been dunked into a tub of ice water and looked back at the window.

It was still closed.

“Where did that come from? It’s never this drafty in here,” the shy pony pondered. A floorboard creaked behind her and sent Fluttershy twirling back in fear. “Who’s there?!” she gasped with a raspy voice.

Fluttershy watched as the silhouette of a slithering creature darted from her living room into her kitchen before disappearing in the darkness.

The pegasus froze. She wasn’t afraid of most slithering animals like most ponies, but this creature was different.

Whatever had slithered into the kitchen was larger than the common snakes in Ponyville, not to mention this one was slithering in the shadows of her house without an invitation.“Uhm…hello…who goes there?” Fluttershy asked as she pulled an old lantern off of a nearby desk and lit it up.

The room was quiet, too quiet for there to be another creature in the room with her. “Angel? Are you playing a trick on me? This isn’t funny,” the pegasus whimpered with trembling legs and a hammering heart.

Still, there was no sound.

Fluttershy walked forward with the lamp in her mouth. Floorboards creaked beneath her hooves with each step. She could hear the sounds of pots and pans in her kitchen clamoring together as if some creature had run into them. Fluttershy jumped and gasped as her mind raced with images of what might be in her house.

Fluttershy approached the kitchen with her lamp in her mouth. From the doorframe, she could see that pots, pans, broken jars, and uteslis had been thrown across the kitchen floor.

“Hello,” Fluttershy murmured with the lamp handle in her mouth and trembling voice. She stumbled forward as quietly as a mouse.

“Maybe I was just seeing things. I really am exhausted,” Fluttershy thought to herself. The thought still did nothing to ease her fears, but she chose to believe it anyway. “I’m not some little filly. I shouldn't be scared of shadows on the wall.”

Fluttershy slowly entered through the kitchen door frame and scanned the room.

When the shy pegasus looked into the kitchen corner her jaw dropped.

A large creature with a serpent-like body that stood on two hind legs was in her house. In its hand it held one of Fluttershy’s sharpened kitchen knives. The being was too far into the corner for the lamp's light to reach its face.

The lamp slid from Fluttershy’s gaping mouth and hit the ground with a loud cracking noise. The flame inside immediately shriveled up and disappeared, trapping fluttershy in darkness.

Fluttershy dropped to the floor and covered her head with her hooves. “Please don’t hurt me!” she squealed.

The hidden creature did not advance on Fluttershy, instead, Fluttershy heard the knife in its hand drop to the floor as a family voice shouted out to her. “Wait! It's not what it looks like!”

Fluttershy peaked her eyes open as the shadowy figure scrambled over to another nearby lamp and flooded the room with light.

The shadowy curtain that covered the beast was pulled back, revealing the comforting face of her favorite draconequus.

“Discord?! What type of prank is this?” Fluttershy screamed with the relief that a filly would feel after getting off a roller coaster.

Discord's face cringed as he nervously held himself. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Then what are you doing?” Fluttershy got onto her hooves again.

Discord rubbed the back of his head nervously with a goofy smile plastered across his face. “Well…I heard that you had a pretty rough day at the animal sanctuary, so I decided to make you a nice dinner,” Discord explained as he motioned over to the kitchen table where an unlit candle, tea kettle, and multiple plates had been set out.

Fluttershy gasped. “Discord, you didn’t have to! And you didn’t have to keep it a secret from me either.”

Discord awkwardly pulled out a chair for Fluttershy. “I just wanted it to feel special,” he replied sincerely. “Look, I even made the food myself, I didn’t use a single drop of magic.”

Fluttershy stared at a single burnt and withered carrot that laid before her with a forced smile. Still, she felt a warm feeling in her chest. “You did all of this for me?”

“Of course, you're my favorite pony after all,” Discord replied.

Fluttershy wrapped her arms around Discord and snuggled his chest. “Thanks, you really do know how to brighten my day.”

Discord flashed another goofy smile as he sat Fluttershy in a chair and picked up a broom. “Well, I might as well clean up the mess I made.”

Fluttershy watched as Discord began to sweep up the broken lamp before turning to her many options for dinner. Most of the cooked foods had been burnt and were out of the question. She eventually settled on a plate full of promising-looking cucumber sandwiches and began to dig in.

“I guess that their are a few pony customs I still need to become accustomed too,” Discord replied as he swept.

“Like not breaking into a friend's house and giving them a fright?” said Fluttershy with a devious smile.

Discord snapped his finger and the pile of broken jars and lamp parts he sweeped up teleported away. “That would be a good start,” he chuckled.

Fluttershy laughed and pulled up a chair as she motioned over to it. “Never change, Discord,” she replied as Discord sat next to her.

Discord lounge in her seat before setting his elbows on the table and laying his chin on his knuckles. “So, how was your long day?” he pondered out loud.

Fluttershy chuckled and sighed as she scarfed down a few sandwiches. “It was a lot. Grading papers at the school of magic took much longer than expected, mostly because half of the staff was missing. Rainbow Dash got called up to Wonderbolt HQ near Cloudsdale for training, AJ and Rarity are in Manehattan, and Twilight and Spike are headed to the Crystal Empire.”

Discord raised his eyebrow. “What are they doing so far away?”

Fluttershy became uncomfortable. “Twilight is on a diplomatic mission as apart of her new princes duties. Rarity had an emergency at her Manehattan boutique, and AJ…well…”

“Well, what?” Discord asked, his voice softened.

“AJ is in Manehattan to get pain medicine,” Fluttershy replied solemnly.

“Ah, yes,” Discord started. “It's for her grandmother-Granny Smith-right?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy confirmed as she sat up straight. “How did you know?”

“Big Mac told me. He says the doctor can’t do much and that it's just her time. You know, it's weird being a being of unbridled chaos. I can do so much yet when it comes to something as simple as preserving life I am powerless,” Discord explained as he lowered his head like a sad dog.

Fluttershy comforted Discord with another hug and placed a hoof on his chin. “Don’t
feel bad Discord, it's just the way it is.”

Discord looked up at Fluttershy and smiled softly as he wrapped his claws around her hoof.

“I know-resurrection and life preservation magic are terrifying things to think about, not to mention impossible. But parting is such a strong sorrow, is it not?”

Fluttershy leaned into Discord and laid her head on his shoulder. “It may be, but I just want
to enjoy this moment while we have it.” Fluttershy pushed her empty plate to the center of the table and yawned.

“Are you done already?” Discord joked quietly.

Fluttershy yawned once more. “I’m tired, Discord. Why don’t we save the rest of this food
for Angel?”

“Oh, we don’t have to worry about him. I bribed him with snacks to spend the night At the
animal sanctuary so we could be alone.”

Fluttershy gave Discord a nervous smile. “Then…I guess you could finish this off for me.”

“If you say so.” Discord unhinged his jaw and swiped all the remaining plates off the table.

With one swing he devoured his meal and teleported the dirty plates into the kitchen sink. Next, the draconequus took Fluttershy into his arms and headed up the steps.

Fluttershy curled up into Discord’s arms and began to drift off to sleep.

When Discord got to top of the steps, he turned towards Fluttershy’s bed and laid herbeneath the covers. “Goodbye, Fluttershy,” he whispered.

Fluttershy yawned. Within a minute, she had succumbed to her tiredness.

Discord watched Fluttershy drift off to sleep with a proud smile and took the opportunity to teleport back into the kitchen. With the snapp of his fingers, the dirty dishes in the sink began to wash themselves as Discord relaxed at the dinner table. A happiness filled his body as he smiled.

The feeling did not last long.

Without warning, Discord was struck with an emptiness that he had not felt before.

It was as if the draconequus’ insides had been scooped out and replaced with a dark void. Discord keeled over forward, he felt like he was about ready to throw up. His palms and forehead became sweaty. “What in the name of Tartarus is this?!” he panicked and dropped to his knees.

The sounds of ponies talking filled his head.

“Hurry we found something behind the staircase!” a stallion exclaimed.

A nervous Discord held his ears, but the nosies did not go away or even dampen.

“It’s some sort of crystal!” another stallion yelled and echoed in Discord's head.

A dream like vision hit Discord. He watched as the cozy interior of Fluttershy’s house vanished and was replaced with darkness. A forest of blood red crystals appeared before him. “What is this?” Discord thought as a wave of dread drowned him.

Something was off about these crystals, it was a feeling, something about them felt unnatural and powerful, yet…organized.

The crystals were alive, Discord could feel it. But they were not alive in the sense that animals were alive. Animals spent their days in a constant, chaotic state of evolution and genetic variation. All living things, in fact, just responded and reacted to whatever stimulus was being applied to their bodies. Discord felt this type of chaotic energy all the time, he admired it even.

Yet these crystals were different. They were intelligent, sentient even. Discord sensed intent and desire in the crystals. Intent and desire for what was still a mystery.

“What do you want?” Discord muttered, his eyes raced around the dark realm.

The crystals began to pulsate a red energy that was usually undetectable to most creatures, yet a creature of Discord’s magical stature could detect it easily. The pulsation physically pained Discord as red waves slammed into his chest like an ax to a tree.

Discord let out a pained cry as he fell to the ground.

A cryptid voice filled Discord's ears. “Step aside, draconequus, you can’t defeat me.”

“Who are you?” Discord moaned on the ground, he had never felt this weak before. It was like the crystals had some sort of anti magic properties like the ones in Queens Chrysalis' throne or the Bewitching Bell.

“I am a servant of King Sombra, I was created as a contingency in the event his Empire fell. I waited for centuries to get the chance to serve my master, and I will not let you stand in my way.”

Discord snapped his fingers as he attempted to hone into his magic but nothing happened.

The crystal pulsated with a red glow as laughter filled Discord’s head. “You can’t win, draconequus. You may have power in your domain, but I was prepared to take care of creatures like you, so you may not get in my master's way.”

A red beam lit up Discord’s body, it felt like when he had been defeated by Twilight and her friends. He felt his body disintegrating.

“No! Don’t do this!” Discord shouted as tears ran down his face. He felt powerless. He only had one pony on his mind as darkness tore into himself. “Fluttershy! Fluttershy, help me!”

The black room vanished and Discord with it.

Fluttershy’s cottage returned to normal.

Fluttershy weakly stepped down the first flight of stairs. “Discord?” she asked, exhausted. “Discord? I thought I heard something.”

No one responded. Discord had vanished without a trace.

“I must have been hearing things.” Fluttershy yawned and went back to bed, none the wiser.

Author's Note

Hello-author here-this is my first MLP fanfiction ever (first fanfiction ever actually)! I have big plans for it and already have multiple chapters complete. I hope you guys enjoy!
I'm thankful for all feedback so feel free to comment and rate! Thanks!

Chapter One: Discovery

Crystal Blood Part 1: Discovery

Crystal Empire, Day -1

Doctor Emerald

“Bang, bang, bang!” the sounds of hoofs slamming against wood was enough to drive Doctor Emerald insane, let alone wake her from her shallow slumber.

“The Tartarus?” the young earth pony coughed as she rolled out of bed and onto a pile of research papers. She lifted her hoof onto her nightstand and pulled herself up. “Who’s got the nerve to knock on my door in the middle of the night!” the doctor thought to herself as she fixed her green mane and grabbed the satchel that was fixed to her bed rest. She had had a rough day studying all of the gems in the Crystal Empire and just wanted to sleep.

As Emerald collected her things, another salvo of bangs rang out from her hotel door. This time, the noise was followed by a stallion's shout. “Doctor Emerald! Open up!”

“Sweet Celestia!” the mare shouted with a yawn as she approached the door. “Give me a damn minute!”

The banging halted as the doctor wrapped her forearm around the doorknob and complained. “Seriously, who knocks on a sleep deprived researcher who’s just trying to hit the hay-” the doctor froze as she swung the door open.

Two guards in Crystal Empire gear stood in the doorframe. A carriage was parked directly behind them. One of the guards, a unicorn, used his magic to pull a scroll from his pocket.

“Yup, this is her,” the guards replied as he dropped the scroll, revealing a simplified sketched of her cutie mark: which was a simple crystal.

The mare gulped. “Uhm…am I in trouble?” she asked with trembling hoofs.

The other guard appeared to hide a smirk.

“Is something funny?” Emerald replied.

“No,” the guard replied apologetically. “It’s just that you are not the first person to ask us that tonight.”

“Not the first? Are you pranking other tired ponies tonight?”

“I wish it was that simple,” the first guard replied. “Unfortunately we have been sent on official business from the Crystal Empire. You, and a few others, have been requested to come to the palace immediately. You will be compensated for your time, of course.”

Emerald stumbled back in confusion. Her mind raced. “Why?”

“Unfortunately, that is classified at the moment. You can either accept or decline your offer and we will be out of your mane and on our way.”

The scientific, curious side of Emerald tingled. “What do they want at this hour of the night? I guess there's only one way to find out.” she thought to herself. “Fine, I’ll come. This better be important.”

The two guards looked at each other with worried expressions. “For your sake, lets hope its not,” the smirking guard replied as the two went back to the carriage and strapped themselves to the front.

Emerald hopped aboard and climbed into the passenger compartment, where she was surprised to find two other ponies in the same predicament she was in. “Uh…hello. Did they also wake you guys up?” Emerald half joked as the carriage accelerated at a breakneck pace and threw her into a seat.

The guards did not even wait for her to get her seatbelt on.

A crystal pony chuckled. “You can say that. What’s your name?” she questioned.

“Emerald, I’m a gemstone researcher from the University of Manehattan.”

An orange stallion with yellow hair and an amber cutie mark spoke up. “The names Professor Jewels, I’m from the Canterlot Academy for Geological studies.”

The crystal pony with a white coat, spoke up. “I’m Jeweled Beads. I teach a class here at the Crystal Empire's university on gemstones. I see we all have similar skill sets.”

“About that, do you guys know why the Crystal Empire wants us?” Emerald replied.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Those guards told me nothing.” Professor Jewels explained.

“Same here. But they made it seem important,” Jeweled Beads replied.

“Important my flank!” Professor Jewel responded. “We are in the Crystal Empire aren't we? Shouldn’t they have their own gemstone experts to wake up in the middle of the night? Why do they need us?”

The carriage began to slow down before eventually grinding to a halt.

“We’re here!” One of the guards shouted and opened the carriage door.

“I guess it's time to find out,” Emerald replied as she stepped out of the carriage before almost fainting. “Woah,” she whispered as she observed the area. The carriage had been parked directly under the Crystal Castle and next to the Crystal Heart. An entire division of guards had been placed around the castle like a giant, shining fence.

“What are they guarding?” Emerald asked.

The guards that had driven her there did not respond.

“Let me guess? Classified?”

The guards nodded in response as they lead the party of scientist to one of the corners of the Crystal Castle.

“Wait, are we going into the Crystal Castle?!” Jeweled Beads exclaimed. “I can’t wait!”

“We’re not tourist,” Professor Jewels replied cynically as the group made their way to the Crystal Castle’s entrance.

“The professor is correct,” One of the guards replied. “This will not be a vacation. You will each be tasks with the study and retrieval of the items we are about to show you. There will be no gandering. Besides, you won’t be going into the castle.”

Emerald went quiet as she pondered the guards' words. Then, she looked around in awe of the massive, light blue crystal that filled her with love and confidence, despite the circumstances.

The guards halted in front of one of the four staircases. A large construction tarp had been
placed in front of it.

“Uhm, it looks like we can’t go this way,” Professor Jewels noted.

The guards paid no attention to the professor, much to his dismay, and pushed through the tarp. “Follow us and be careful, there's a lot of debris you need to watch out for.”

Emerald carefully passed the tarp before gasping. “Who did this?”

The staircase that led to the top of the Crystal Castle had collapsed, revealing a large crack in the floor that extended downward like an abandoned staircase. A line of hastily placed torches lit the way down.

“No pony did anything. These stairs were due for maintenance, when some construction ponies began their work, they found this secret entrance,” the guard replied as he stuck his snout down the staircase and screamed. “Commander, are we clear for entry?”

“Come on ahead!” a handsome sounding stallion’s voice echoed from the unseeable bottom of the stairs.

The guards marched and the scientist followed.

Emerald looked down the obsidian black staircase and the walls which were covered in black crystals that stabbed into the air at odd angles. It was a scene that was familiar to the mare. “This architecture just screams King Sombra, don’t you think?”

Jeweled Beads shivered. “I was thinking the exact same thing. This must be one of his secret rooms that he used in the old days, but I thought Princess Twilight Sparkle uncovered them all. I’m surprised this room lasted as long as it did.”

Emerald whispered out of earshot of the guards. “You don’t think what is down here has anything to do with such an evil monster?”

Jeweled Beads started to tremble and her crystal coat dulled. “I hope not. He wanted the entire realm to suffer under his rule. He could have any number of evil objects in these catacombs.”

Emerald bit her lip nervously as she stood in the silhouettes of the guards that escorted her. “It would have been nice if the guards told me I was going to be dragged into Sombra's personal dungeons,” she thought to herself.

The staircase got wider as the party approached the ground. The sounds of mining equipment slamming against crystal and the huffs of ponies echoed up the stairs. The sounds got louder and louder with each step until Emerald was sure that she was almost at the bottom.

The guards stepped off the stairs and went to the side, allowing for Emerald to finally learn why she had been brought here.

“Woah…” Emerald gasped as she laid eyes on the sight before her.

A room, the size of a large buckball field was laid out in front of her. At least a dozen or so blood red, pony sized crystals were spread out evenly across the floor. Something about the crystals did not sit well with the doctor. They did not look like anything she had seen before. The crystals had sections that reached out in random directions like an octopus’ tentacles that attempted to grasp at the air around them. Each tentacle ended with a large spike. Additional spiked crystal formations spread across the floor like roots.

The crystal closest to the stairs had been hacked out the ground with pickaxes and loaded onto a sled to be pulled up to the surface.

A wooden crane had been hastily constructed out of pulleys and was being used to lift and second crystal off the ground. A team of ponies worked to slowly maneuver the crystal towards a second sled.

At least fifty royal guards could be seen assisting with the excavation. About a handful of additional scientists were with them too. Many of them, despite wearing protective armor, had minor cuts on their legs from the jagged crystals.

“Why don’t you guys just teleport the crystal upstairs?” Emerald asked.

“You don’t think we tried that?” one of the guards replied like he was offended. “Some our best magic users attempted to teleport the crystals to the surface, unfortunately, the crystals appear to have some sort of immunity to teleportation spells, none of the spells worked.”

“Interesting,” Emerald pondered as she watched two large stallions struggle to bring a sled and its crystal contents up the stairs. One almost lost his grip and dropped the sled, but was able to catch it before anything catastrophic happened.

Emerald was careful not to cut herself on any of the crystal shavings that littered the floor. Despite her fears, Emerald's curious side motioned her closer to the peculiar structures. “What are you?” she questioned as she looked deeply into the clouded, red mysteries. She could see her distorted reflection in the crystals.

The reflection of a white unicorn with blue hair appeared behind Emeralds.

“That’s for you to find out,” the unicorn replied in the same handsome voice she had heard at the top of the steps.

Emerald turned around and was face to face with Shining Armour, Princess Cadance’shusband and captain of the royal guards. Emerald gasped and bowed.

Shiny Armour reached his hoof out and pulled Emerald to her feet. “I appreciate your respect, but we do not have time for formalities,” Shining Armour replied with a charming smile.

“Yes, of course,” Emerald replied, embarrassed.

The other researchers crowded around Shining Armour in awe.

“You must be the other researchers. The Crystal Empire is honored to have your minds with us tonight.”

“The honor is all ours, your highness, but I don’t know if we can help you, I’ve never seen anything like this. The origins and shapes of these crystals appear…unnatural,” Emerald replied.

“Nonsense!” Professor Jewels exclaimed as he pulled a microscope and hammer out of his travel satchel. The professor hacked off a piece of crystal and took a few minutes to prepare a sample for his microscope, then a few more minutes to adjust the many settings of his device.

Emerald stood to the side as she twiddled her hooves next to Shining Armour. A combination of nerves and excitement caused her to rock back and forth in anticipation as the orange and yellow pony took his time in examining the specimen.

“By Celestia’s light!” the professor finally exclaimed with a fearful expression.

“Wait, what is it?” Shining Armour asked.

Emerald stood up in anticipation. “Yeah?” she replied.

“No, no, no. That can’t be right,” Professor Jewel muttered to himself.

“What is it?” Emerald responded, eagerly. “Tell us!”

Professor Jewel continued to hog the microscope as he adjective it’s settings while muttering to himself. He began to sweat.

“I can't take this guy anymore,” Emerald thought to herself as she pushed the professor to the side and swiped his microscope.

“Hey, you better not break that! Do you know how many bits it cost me to get a microscope that is both powerful and compact?” Professor Jewel whined.

Emerald ignored the stallion as she readjusted the microscope and stared at the crystal below her. At first, all she could see was a bright red haze. Emerald adjusted the microscope and was finally able to get a clear image.

She gasped.

“I see why you were so shocked, Professor Jewels,” Emerald replied.

The crystal structure was nothing like anything she had seen in a crystal before. However, it was not unfamiliar. Emerald could see hundreds of round, dark red, tightly packed particles that were stuck together. Somewhere small and compact, others looked like they were in the process of splitting in half. Almost all of them had a strange dark spot in their center and were unmoving.

Emerald had taken a biology class years ago when she was still in school. She had looked at blood under a microscope once to view and understand the cell structure better. The image she was looking at under the microscope was almost identical to the collection of red blood cells that she had observed all those years ago.
“These crystals have cells,” Emerald concluded.

“Impossible,” Shining Armour replied. “These are crystals, not animals.”

“With all due respect, you asked for my opinion on this issue, and I have concluded that these crystals have some sort of organic origins,” Emerald replied as Professor Jewels furiously took his microscope back.

Shining Armour took one look back at the blood colored crystals. His demeanor had changed from charming and welcoming to secluded and pondering. He looked at the crystals like they were puddles of blood. “Cadance, you might want to get over here,” the stallion shouted across the room.

The majestic sounds of wings flapping captured Emerald attention. The mare turned to see the Princess of Love floating across the room while being flanked by two elderly mares who carried a pile of books.

Emerald had seen the two elderly mares before and recognised them as the local librarian, Amethyst Maresbury, and the legendary unicorn sorceress, Mistmane.

She was now even more starstruck.

“Yes?” Cadance replied, her eyelids wrinkled from a lack of sleep.

“We might have found something,” Shining Armour announced as he looked down to Emerald.

“Uhm, yes, your highness,” Emerald stuttered. “I believe that these crystals have some sort of organic origin. They appear to be made up of blood cells, like a ponies body.”

Cadance looked just as surprised as Emerald. “Blood cells? That certainly is a new theory,” she pondered. “Mistmane? Amethyst? What do you two think?”

Amethyst flipped through an old encyclopedia on gemstones before closing the book and dropping it to her side. “I’ve been looking through the olden tomes in the library for hours and I haven’t found anything on living crystals.”

“I also have never seen anything like this, either a thousand years ago or today,” Mistmane added.

Professor Jewels pushed his way past Emerald and scoffed. “Do not worry your highness, I am also skeptical of Doctor Emerald's claims. There must be some sort of reasonable explanation for these crystal formations then them being made out of blood. There is no way an organic material like this would be able to last so long down here. If I could get a better look at these crystals at my lab in Canterlot I could figure out their secret.”

“With all due respect,” Emerald began. “We can all see the cells under the microscope. The secret is looking us right in the face!”

“Oh please, your just some filly who’s seeing monsters in her closet right where a coat hanger is located,” the professor snapped back.

Emerald poked her snout between Professor Jewel's eyes. “I’m not seeing things, you're just in denial. And I bet that if I get a sample back to my lab, I would be able to prove that!”

The two ponies growled before Shining Armour stood between them. “I believe that we have come to an agreement,” the stallion sternly interjected.

“And that is?” Professor Jewels asked.

“You two both want to take a sample back to your labs, right?” Cadance replied as she used her magic to slam a pickaxe into the nearest crystal. Three hoove-sized pieces broke off along with tiny crystal particles. Cadance wrapped each chunk into separate bags and floated them over to the three researchers. “Here you go, Mrs. Emerald will take a sample back to her lab in Manhattan, Mr. Jewel will go back to his in Canterlot, and Jeweled Beads will stay here in the Crystal Empire. Hopefully one of you will be able to use your unique tools and skills to figure out these crystals,” the princess eloquently explained like a diplomat.

“Great,” Professor Jewels replied as he pocketed the crystal. “My people at Canterlot will solve this crystal problem for you in no time, your highness.”

“Not if I beat you to it,” Emerald replied while Jeweled Beads just sat and watched the argument in an awkward silence.

Emerald went to pocket the crystal, only for a sharp pain to run through her hoove. She winced. The doctor squealed in pain as she looked down at her hoove. The bag that the crystal was stored and had torn open and the crystal inside had pricked her.

Blood, the exact same shade of red as the crystal, flowed from Emerald.

Cadance's eyes widened as she gasped and cast a healing spell. “Careful! these crystals are unusually sharp. Many of the guards have pricked themselves just by brushing up against them.”

The pain in Emerald’s hoove faded as her small cut was magically sealed shut.

Emerald pocketed the Crystal and did not think too much about the injury. “Thank you, your highness, I will not fail you.”

Cadance flashed a calming smile. “Don’t fret, I trust each and every one of you. And you can just call me Cadance,” the princess added with a chuckle.

Emerald chuckled too, though her nerves were still not healed. Her mind raced with hypotheses.

Shiny Armour pointed to the exit where two guards were still attempting to haul a massive crystal up the steps, more guards rushed to their aid. “You better get going. Time is of the essence.”

Professor Jewels lead the way as Emerald, Jeweled Beads, Mistmane, and Amethyst followed. He stopped at the foot of the stairs and waited for the guards to move the sled covered crystal that blood their way. “Those brutes better hurry,” he snarled as he watched the stallions struggle.

Emerald felt the urge to buck the professor in the back of his head, but restrained herself.

She looked back up at the struggling stallions and contemplated offering a helping hoof. As she did, a crisp snapping sound echoed throughout the enclosed room.

“The crystal snapped the ropes! It's going to fall” one of the sled ponies warned, his tone urgent.

The crystal began to slowly slip out of the sled's restraints and fall onto the stairs. More and more ropes snapped as the crystal ran up against them.

The guards who were on the floor shouted for help and ran to hold the crystal in place.

“Stand back!” one ordered the researchers.

The guards only got halfway up the steps before the finally rope snapped and the crystals came falling down the steps like a guillotine's blade. The guards immediately did a 180 and ran down the stairs while screaming.

“Get out of here!” Emerald panicked as she pushed Professor Jewels and Jeweled Beads to the side before turning and gently, yet firmly, pushing the two elderly mares into a corner.

The crystal hit the floor and shattered like a vase that was just knocked off a dinner table. A loud crashing and shattering noise filled Emerald's ears. The ground shook.

A flurry of small, dark red crystal rained down across the room like pieces of snow in a blizzard as larger pieces ricocheted like chunks of hail.

The ponies that were closest to the crystal disappeared in a wave of razor sharp particles that tore into their skin.

A buckball size piece slammed through the makeshift crane as it was in the process of transporting another crystal, sending it and its cargo tumbling to the ground, causing further carnage. Dozens of crystal shards flew towards Emerald and the others. The doctor curled up into a ball and covered her face.

“No!” Cadance yelled from across the room. She lifted her horn as magic pulsated from her body.

A sky blue beam of energy reached from the princesses horn and formed a bubble around the team. The crystals impacted the bubble and immediately shattered like they were glass bottles hitting a bar wall.

Emerald looked up to see an unprotected Cadance take a crystal shard through her wing and fall to the ground.

Shining Armor screamed out before jumping onto Cadance and shielding his wife with his own protection spell.

The crystals did not even dent Shining Armor's magical, pink sphere.

Within the blink of an eye, the chaos had stopped.

The loud shattering had been replaced by a silence as all the ponies held their breath.

Next thing Emerald knew, the screams of stallions crying out for a medic began. At least half of all the ponies in the room had been injured in some way.

Trembling bodies laid across the ground.

Both protection spells disappeared as ponies got back on their feet.

Emerald watched Shining Armor hold his wife in his arms with a tear in his eye. “Cadance? Cadance! What happened?”

“Are the citizens safe?” Cadance moaned.

“Yes,” Shining Armor replied. “But what about you?”

Cadance held up her blood cover wing with a gaping hole the size of a hoof placed right in the middle. The princesses' eyes watered. “I don’t know how bad it is, but everything hurts,” she cried.

Shining Armor clenched her teeth. He turned his head as he scanned the chaos that flowed around the room. He screamed. “The princess is down! We need to get her to our doctor now!”

Bruised and bloodied guards rushed the princess and placed her on a stretcher.

Shining Armor kissed his wife on the forehead before trotting over to the critically wounded guards and used his magic to drag them out of piles of crystal shards that littered the ground.

Emerald turned back to the others.

Professor Jewels groaned in pain in a pool of blood. He had landed directly on the satchel that held his crystal sample. A corner had been impaled directly into his flank. “Help!” he demanded.

Emerald removed the crystal and immediately used her hooves to cover the wound.

Professor Jewels had gotten lucky, his wounds was shallows and far from any of his internal organs. It was essentially a glorified papercut. Within a minute, the bleeding had mostly stopped and the professor was able to get back on his feet.

One of the guard’s that had brought Emerald to the castle ran up to her. “We need to get you guys out of here,” he announced as he turned and ran towards the exit. The three researchers, librarian, and sorcerer made their way through the maze of crystal shards, injured ponies, and medical personnel who stormed the room.

Some injured were screaming at the tops of their lungs, others were just groaning softly.

Thankfully, it looked like all of the guards were still alive, although most of them were in critical condition.

Emerald watched as a guard attempted to hold one of his colleagues down in order to wrap his gushing thigh with a bandage and felt compelled to help.

“Keep moving! We soldiers will take care of the wounded.” the guard replied as he turned and dragged Emerald forward.

Emerald stumbled out of the exit in a blur and collapsed against one of the support beams of the Crystal Castle. She was breathing harder than she ever had before. She watched as a steady stream of guards flowed into the basement with an empty stretcher and out with a bloodied pony. Emerald counted about thirty guards with injuries ranging from large cuts, to bones bent at unnatural angles, to having large crystal shards sticking out of their bodies like glass.

Professor Jewels hobbled up to a medic and got his cut properly treated.

Jeweled Beads helped the elderly ponies get to a nearby bench and rest.

Emerald was finally starting to calm down when a familiar voice approached.

“Are you injured?” Shining Armor asked, his white coat was painted with splotches of red and his eyes were locked in a hundred yard stare.

Emerald's stomach dropped. “I’m fine, but are you?”

Shining Armor looked down at his blood covered body. “I’m fine too, none of this is mine,” he replied.

Emerald leaned back up against the Crystal Caste and did not say a word.

Shining Armor pulled out a pouch of bits and dropped it at Emerald's hoofs. “Well, if you are feeling strong enough, this pouch should be enough for a train ticket to Manehattan.”

Emerald looked back in surprise. “You’re sending me home? Isn’t there anything I can do to help here?”

Shining Armor turned away. “Crystal General is close by and will provide care for all of our wounded. The only thing you and that professor pony need to do is to find out the secret to those crystals.”

Emerald got on her hooves and nodded. “I will do my best.”

“And the Crystal Empire is forever in your debt. I hope that Professor Jewels is right and that those crystals have nothing special about them. However, if the crystals really are a danger to the empire, we will need all the information necessary to defeat them. Now, the next group of trains leaves in less than half an hour. I already sent one of my guards to escort Professor Jewels to his train.”

Emerald nodded and took off towards the train station at the edge of the empire. She made it just as the last train to Manehattan was leaving the station.

Emerald hopped onto the train and found her way to her seat: a comfy, white coach cushion. The doctor collapsed onto the coach like it was an expansive bed and began to drift off to sleep.

The soft conversations and snores of the ponies aboard the train were her lullaby as she began to fall into the comfort of Luna's domain with the satchel containing the blood red crystal snuggled next to her.

Emerald was about ready to sleep when a sharp pain erupted in her hoof. She jolted up and looked at her hoof, theorizing that her gash had opened up, however nothing was happening. Her wound was still fully healed thanks to Cadance's healing spell, however Emerald was beginning to feel a pain in her hoof. It felt like a small piece of crystal was lodged inside of her, however she had no wounds.

“I must be losing my mind,” Emerald thought to herself, but the pain persisted. Additionally, her mouth felt dry, her stomach growled, and her head began to feel fuzzy.

Emerald took a glass of water from a stewardess and laid onto her coach. “It's been a long, hard day,” Emerald noted. “All I need is some rest and it will all be fine,” the doctor thought. She closed her eyes as the train chugged its way to Manehatten: the largest city in all of Equestria.

Crystal Blood Part 1: Discovery

Day 0

Chapter Two: Awaken

Crystal Blood Part 2: Awaken

Crystal Empire, Day 0

Shining Armor

Shining Armor ducked his head beneath the bathroom shower head as a cold spring ran down his neck and washed away the filth the past hour. He watched as the shower floor turned red with the blood of his own wife.

“What in Equestria was that?” he raged and slammed his front hooves into the shower wall.

Shining Armor had seen unspeakable things, but the image of Cadance’s torn wing and the pain in her face as he held her stuck with him. It haunted him. Shining Armor used his horn to grab a nearby wash cloth and furiously scrub the blood of his chest.

The faster that he got clean and presentable, the sooner he would be able to enter the castle medical room and see his wife.

Still, despite Shining Armor’s best efforts, it was nearly impossible to scrub blood out of a pure white coat like his own. He began robotically dumping globs of soap on his chest and scrubbing furiously as his mind wondered.

Shining Armor thought back to what Doctor Emerald had said.

“What if she’s right? What if those crystals aren't just from Sombra’s personal collection, what if they are organic?” Shining clenched his teeth. “If it's organic, it may be alive, like a monster, or a disease. It’s more dangerous than a magic item or scroll which could be thrown into a dusty library and forgotten about. A living being can grow, it can learn, and it can scheme. It can defeat us. It could kill Cadance. It could kill Flurry Heart!” Shining Armor vented his frustration as he thought about his daughter being nextto be harmed by the crystals.

Shining Armor froze in the chilly water and dropped his washcloth to the ground. His chest had been rubbed raw, but he was finally blood free. The stallion stepped out of his shower and dried himself off. He had not even washed his mane, but that was the least of his concerns. Shining Armor’s goal was to hose himself off and look presentable, not to smell like roses.

A knock echoed from his bathroom door.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” Shining Armor quickly strapped on his purple plated armor and exited the bathroom.

His and Cadance's royal secretary stood at the door, nervously. She was a young, gray pony with black hair, a red bow tie, and a typewriter cutie mark.

“Evening, Crystal Quill,” Shining Armor acknowledged.

“Good evening, sir, I have those reports you asked of,” the secretary replied as she used her unicorn magic to lift a clipboard up to her face.

“And?” Shining Armor replied patiently.

“Well. We have a total of thirty guards in the hospital with serious, sixteen of them are in critical condition. Then we have another twenty-five or so with minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, despite this, they are still being monitored in the hospital in case their condition worsens.”

“That many?” Shining Armor replied in shock as he exited into the hallway and began to trot towards the castle doctor.

“Yes, sir,” Crystal Quill confirmed softly. “In fact, you where one of the only few who weren’t injured.”

Shining Armor cringed as he remembered Candance bleeding out in front of him while he didn’t even have a single scratch.

Crystal Quill looked up at the prince and immediately pinned her ears to her head. “Sorry sir, I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just that you got extremely lucky. The only other ponies who got that lucky were Mistmane, Amethyst, Beaded Jewels, and four royal guards.”

“Those guards in the basement were some of the Crystal Empire's best soldiers. Their loss leaves our empire at risk.” Shining Armor emphasized. “I want all reservists placed on duty, they’ll be needed to form a perimeter around the castle and all city entrances. As for the injured guards, make sure that they do not gossip about what they saw under the castle. If rumors escape about Cadance's injury and the discovery of Sombra’s crystals then the whole empire will panic.”

Crystal Quill furiously scribbled on her clipboard. “Understood, sir. Anything else?”

Shining Armor thought to himself for a second, he did not like what he was about to order but he saw no other suitable option to protect the Crystal Empire. “If the press ask any questions, lie, tell them that the collapse under the castle was caused by renovations and that Cadance is in perfect health.”

Crystal Quill gulped uncomfortably as she added Shining Armors final notes. “Yes, sir. I only have one question.”

“Ask away,” Shining Armor replied.

“It's about your sister, Princess Twilight Sparkle, she is scheduled to make a diplomatic visit to the Crystal Empire. Her train should arrive in twenty-four hours or so. Should she be notified of the situation?”

Shining Armor paused. He had forgotten completely about Twilight's visit. “No.” he replied firmly. “Twilight would be a great help, but she can be a nervous wreck sometimes. If our citizens watch her teleport into the castle ground while in a panic then they will all know that something is wrong. We need to let Twilight come in naturally, like nothing is wrong.”

“Of course,” Crystal Quill finalized her notes and put her clipboard away. “We are here,” she added as the pair approached the medical wing.

Shining Armor charged through the doors like he was a barbarian tearing through a city gate. “Cadance!” he shouted.

Cadance and his personal doctor, an elderly crystal pony with a white coat, yelped in fear at Shining Armor’s entrance. “Carefully, your highness, the princess is trying to rest over in the next room.”

“I must see her,” Shining Armor interjected, his heart twisted into knots.

“Off course, your highness,” the elderly doctor replied as he took Shining Armor to his wife. He opened the door to the recovery room as Shining Armor hopped through like a dog with its cage door opened.

“Honey? Are you alright?” Shining Armor asked as he laid his eyes on his wife.

Cadance looked even more tired than Shining. She was laid onto a king sized bed with pure white bed sheets. Her wing was wrapped in bandages like they were stockings and pinned to her body with a splint. The remaining four royal guards stood on duty at each of the four corners of the bed, ready to defend the princess.

“My Shining Armor…” Cadance raspily replied with a soft cough.

Shining Armor leaned in for a kiss only to be stopped by Cadance herself.

“Wait! That isn’t a good idea.” Cadance hacked.

Shining Armor recoiled as he felt her forehead. It was burning to the touch and covered in sweat.

“I know,” Cadance replied weakly. “The doctor thinks that I might have an infection. I mean, who knows what types of bacteria and grime were on those crystals?”

Shining Armor wrapped his hooves around Cadance's. “Is there anything you need, my princess?”

“Well, the doctor already gave me some medicine. All that I really need is some water and food. I am feeling thirsty all of the sudden,” Cadance groaned.

Crystal Quill nodded and went to get a tall glass of water and some food.

Cadance looked directly into her husband's eyes. “Have you figured anything out about those crystals.”

Shining Armor looked away in shame. “Not yet, we still have no leads. We just need to give those researchers more time. I was thinking that maybe I could go to the hospital where Jeweled Beads, Mistmane, and Amethyst are conducting their research.”

Cadance placed her hoove on Shining Armor's cheek. “Thank you, Shining. I know that you can handle this, I just wish that I could be there with you.”

“I won’t let you down,” Shining Armor's heart ached.

Crystal Quill stormed back into the room with a crystal cup, a large pitcher of water, and a box of crackers. “Here, this shouldn’t be too difficult on your stomach.”

Cadance jolted forward slightly. She levitated the box of crackers over to her bed, pull out a sleeve, and immediately began to devour the crackers. Crumbles and saliva went all over the bed sheets.

“Goodness, she’s almost never this messy, she’s acting like she hasn’t eaten in months,” Shining Armor thought to himself as he flinched back slightly and watched as an unnatural amount of saliva dripped from his wifes mouth. “Careful, you might choke.”

Cadnace paused for a moment as she scanned the debris that covered her bed. “Your right, sorry. I kind of blacked out for a moment as I ate. I’m just really hungry right now, it's probably the drugs or the infection that’s getting to me.”

A worried Shining Armor brought the pitcher of water and the cup to Cadance's side. “Here, drink this, you need hydration.”

Cadance's pupils expanded as she took a look at the pitcher. Without grabbing the cup, Cadance pulled the pitcher out of her husband's hooves and began to throw it back.

“Wow! Calm down, you're acting crazy!”

Cadance put down the almost half empty pitcher and gasped for air. “Sorry, I don’t know what keeps coming over me.”

Shining Armor set the pitcher and remaining cracker to the side as he kissed Cadance on the forehead. “I think that it’s best if you just get some rest,” he replied like he was talking to his daughter when she was sick.

“I’ll try, but don’t be surprised when you come back and find me still awake. I feel some sort of pressure in the back of my head, I think I have a migraine coming on.” Cadance laid back in her bed with a hoof over her eyes.

Shining Armor nodded and looked over to the four guards who surrounded the bed. “Alright stallions, you four are coming with me to the hospital. We are leaving in five minutes.”

“Yes, sir!” the four replied in unison and marched out of the room.

Shining turned to Crystal Quill. “Keep her safe,” he whispered just out of Cadance's earshot.

“I’ll do my best,” Crystal bowed as Shining Armor left the medical wing and met up with his guards.

“Are we clear to go sir?” one of the stallions asked.

Shining Armor walked past his guards and turned down a long hallway. “Not yet, there's still one more item of importance that I need to check up on,” he explained as he quickly propped open the door at the end of the hallway and stuck his head inside.

The faint light from the hallway illuminated a strip of the room, allowing Shining to get a glimpse inside.

Shining watch in complete silence as his little princess, Flurry Heart, slept in her crib with her stuffed snail toy right at her side. He smiled as her tiny wings twitched slightly under her blanket and her little chest rose up and down with each adorable snore. “She’s growing so fast. Just this week she became fully potty trained, within a few years she will be ruling the Crystal Empire.” Shining Armor froze as his smile turned to a frown. “I just hope me and mom are still alive to see it,” he thought to himself as he slowly closed the door. “Sleep well, my little pony,” Shining whispered and turned to his guards.

The four stallions stood at attention, waiting for orders.

“Move out,” Shining huffed in a faint whisper.

“Yes, sir,” the guards replied in the same whisper, careful not to wake the baby.

Shining Armor let a small chuckle escape his mouth as he left the palace with the four guards at his flank.

The streets were quiet, but Shining Armor knew that this would not be the case for long. Within an hour, the sun would rise and the citizens of the empire would wake up with their princess injured.

Shining Armor as his escort arrived at Crystal General, which was one of the only areas of the city that was still awake. Shining pranced into the hospital and pushed through the waiting room.

A nurse tried to stop the stallions only to realize that she was speaking to the prince. She gasped and bowed in embarrassment as the guards ran past her without giving the pony a second thought.

Jeweled Beads, Mistmane, and Amethyst stood at the end of the hospital emergency room with concerned expressions on their faces.

“Ladies,” Shining Armor acknowledged with a respectful nod. “Have you made any progress?”

Jeweled Bead’s ears dropped. “I’m sorry your highness, but I think you highered a pony from the wrong field of study. You need a virologist for this job.”

Shining Armor was taken aback by Jeweled Beads suggestion. “What? Why would I need a virologist to deal with crystals?”

“Ask the hospital director,” Jeweled Beads replied as she entered the recovery section of the emergency room.

Shining Armor’s jaw dropped as he entered the recovery room.

At least forty ponies where laid down in their own individual beds with nurses running from bed to bed as they desperately tried to attend to the needs of each individual soldier.

The cries of grown stallions assaulted Shining’s ears. The younger guards called out for their mothers, siblings, or girlfriends while the older ones called out to their wives or even their fillies. Those who still had energy tossed and turned in their beds while others just laid like corpses in a pool of sweat.

Shining Armor walked to the bedside of one of the royal guards. “Good evening, private. How are you?” Shining Armor awkwardly removed his helmet and set it on the guards nightstand.

The guard slowly tilted his hand to the side. “My prince, I-I-need water-” he mumbled softly with saliva dripping down his chin.

A nurse trotted over to the bed and watered the stallion as he groaned in pain.

“Who’s in charge here?” Shining Armor questioned the nurse.

“That would be me,” a voice behind Shining Armor replied.

Shining Armor looked back.

A pale blue earth pony with lime green hair and a doctors lab coat and mask stood waveringly with bags under his eyes. “I’m Malady, Doctor Viral Malady. I’m Crystal General's chief virologist.” The doctor bowed but was trembling so much that he almost tumbled over.

“What is all this talk about virologists?” Shining Armor pondered out loud. “These men aren't sick, they're injured.”

Malady’s eyes began tweaking as Shining Armor spoke. The doctor turned to the royal guards and asked. “May I speak to the prince, alone?”

The guards looked at each other with looks of worry before Shining Armor raised his hoof. “Don’t worry. I can handle myself. You four will stay in this room while I speak with the doctor.”

The guards nodded as Shining was escorted out of the room and into Malady’s nearby office. Malady slammed the door shut behind him like he was closing the door to a rabid animal's cell. “What’s the problem doc-” Shining Armor was cut off by Malady as he shoved his hoof in the prince's face. “The Tartarus?” Shining thought in confusion.

“Listen up!” Malady replied with a trembling voice as he passed back and forth throughout his office. “You clearly have no understanding of the gravity of the situation you’re dealing with! Those stallions are not “just injured!” I don’t know what they were up to, but they have clearly been exposed to some sort of virus!”

Shining’s eyes widened. “Impossible, the royal doctor believes that this is just a simple infection.”

Malady chuckled darkly. “Then tell him to come down here and see the guards for himself! No medical profession can deny what’s happening down here. I have never seen anything like this! I’ve tried all the antibiotics we have in the hospital and nothing has worked! In fact, all of the stallion’s conditions are just getting worse!”

Shining gulped. “This must be the secret to the crystals. If so, Cadance might be in danger,” He fell backwards into one of Malady’s chairs in exhaustion. “I understand,” he replied, defeated.

“Good, I’m glad you understand. By the way, I’m sorry about my tone, you highness,” Malady replied cautiously.

Shining Armor was about to ask a question, only for a loud banging to echoed from down the hall.

A nurse ran through the door while hyperventilating. “Doctor! We have a situation in the emergency room!”

Malady and Shining bounced up before sprinting to the emergency room with the nurse in tail.

Shining Armor could hear the sounds of screams and gags from inside the emergency room. He swung open the doors to witness the chaos that was ensuing.

Five of the guards had fallen out of the beds and were convulsing on the ground. Their limbs trembled and shook as though they were flags fluttering in the wind. Eyes rolled into the backs of their sockets. Each one was either weezing deeply or cackling through their coughing fits. Blood and slobber spewed from their gaping mouths as they distortedly called for their nurses.

The rest of the guards weren’t much better. Most of them where to weak to move and just laid sprawled out in their beds as blood and mucus bubbled out of their mouths. The few who were still strong enough to register what was going on around them either fell out of their beds or pushed themselves away from the choking stallions.

“Stay back! I don’t want you getting infected!” Malady threw gloves on his hooves as he rushed in and began to dredge blood from the throat of one of the ponies. The nurses who surrounded him began to do the same.

Shining Armor kneeled next to seizing body one of his stallions and tried to reach the unicorn with his words. “Come on, soldier! Fight through this! You’re stronger than this!” Nurses did their best to try to help the pony.

The unicorn looked at Shining with squinted eyes that radiated fear. His eyelids locked shut and his head tilted backwards.

Shining's heart dropped to the tip of his tail as the stallion took one last pained breath before he keeled over. “No! Somepony help!”

A nurse placed the stallion on his back as Jeweled Beads cradled his head. “I need to perform CPR!” the nurse announced.

“I can help perform the breaths,” Jeweled Beads replied as the nurse began to trample over the stallion's chest with her front hooves before pausing for a brief moment as Jeweled Beads provided breaths.

Shining watched as his entourage formed a protective barrier between him and the sick ponies. Mistmane and Amethyst stumbled behind the barrier with a shared look of concern. Shining Armor could do nothing but watch as the nurse and professor went back and forth for a full minute as they tried to resuscitate the stallion. He stared into the stallion's lifeless eyes and watched as they suddenly twitched.

The body's limbs locked out in place as the two mares fell back in shock.

Jeweled Beads stuck her neck out above the stallion's head. “He’s back! I can hear him groaning!”

Something about the stallion’s eyes put Shining off. They were blank, like a doll's eyes. All the fear, pain, and shock from before had drained from his eyes. The eyes locked onto the mare above him. The stallion's head rocketed off the ground as his jaws wrapped Jeweled Beads neck.

Jeweled Beads did not even have time to scream before the stallion pulled back and ripped out the mare's throat.

Blood rained down on the stallion's white coat as he chewed the chunk of flesh like a cow snacking on cud.

The nurse screamed as she fell on her flank and pushed her body away from the cannibal.

“Sweet buckin’ Celestia!” one of the guards screamed as he readied his spear.

Mistmane and Amethyst pushed past Shining as they ran towards Beads as she stuck her hooves into her gaping throat. The panicked shouts of confused medical staff echoed from all corners of the room.

Shining rushed in front of Amethyst and pushed her back, but he was unable to catch Mistmane. “Stop, it's too dangerous!”

Mistmane used her magic to hold the attacker to the ground as he riled and snapped his jaws in the mare's direction. Mistmane ran to Jeweled Beads and held the mare in her thin arms. “Beads, stay with me!”

A sharp, gasping scream echoed from the far end of the room. It was not of fear, but from pain.

Shining watched as another guard from across the room jumped atop a nurse and ripped her cheek off with one strong tug of the flesh.

One guard rolled out his bed before hopping up and turning his jaws against one of his follow patients who laid weakly in bed.

A gaging unicorn held his horn up and ignited it with a magical aura. The sounds of the magic charging up echoed as a small crystal grew out of nothing and launched itself into the eye of one of the doctors who rolled on the ground in pain.

All of the once sickly ponies who had laid paralyzed in bed suddenly jolted forward like they were snapping out of a bad dream. Only their mouths were full of mucus and blood and they wheezed like old ponies. The ponies snapped their necks in the direction of Shining and his guard as they bared their jaws like rabid animals before jumping out of their beds with a newly discovered vigor.

Shining’s fear faded as his eyebrows narrowed and his gasping expression turned to that of a growl. “Don’t just stand there! Form up!” Shining shouted like a trainer yelling at a pack of dogs.

The four guards immediately stood shoulder to shoulder and held their crystal spears outwards in the direction of the horde of dying ponies, only breaking formation to let a few injured nurses escape through the emergency room doors with a terrified Amethyst.

“Advance! Try to use nonlethal force, these are our people!” The shabby squad of four stallions and their commander pierced through the horde of rabid ponies.

Doctor Malady propped up a large metal tray like a shield to defend himself from an infected pegasus as it swooped down from the ceiling and swiped at his face.

Another infected hopped onto a bed where Mistmane and laid against and sunk its jaws into the old pillar’s neck.

Mistmane cried and dropped to the floor. Her millennia old heart stop beating before her head even hit the floor.

“Shit!” Shining ignited his horn and hit the bloodthirsty stallion with a stunning beam of energy. It was a basic spell that he had learned when he had first joined the royal guard. It was simply a concentrated beam of energy that hit like a bucking bronco and stung like a flash bee. It was considered non lethal, but anypony who was hit with a blast would be in enough pain and damage to where they would not be able to stand straight for days.

The stunned stallion was sent flying back above multiple hospital beds before slamming into a wall like a bird flying into a window.

“That's the end of him for awhile,” Shining confidently assumed as he readied another bolt. As he aimed his second shot, the hoof of the stunned pony raised from behind one of the blood stained hospital beds. The world began to move in slow motion as Shining’s eyes locked onto the stallion.

It’s hoof wrapped around the end of the bed and pulled itself up like it was simply getting out of bed.

A cold sweat ran down Shining neck. He had personally seen royal guard cadets, including himself, get hit with such a painful spell and stay on the ground for at least a few minutes. No pony ever got up and brushed themselves off like nothing was wrong.

Yet here was a creature that was back on all four legs right after being slammed into a wall by the spell, and now it was looking Shining Armor directly in his eyes. Its eyes were no longer blank like a corpse. It was angry, hungry, and bloodshot all at once.

Shining shook his head and turned back to his guards. “We need to get out of her now! Grab the survivors!”

The four stallions skittishly used the long metallic poles of their spears to knock their old comrades away as they grabbed onto Doctor Malady and pulled him to safety as Shining Armour laid down a continuous blast of covering fire which knocked the nearby infected back.

“Get out of here! Now!” The bloodied doctor pounded his fist into Shining Armors chest plate.

“What of the others?” Shining yelled back.

“Can’t you see? They're all dead!” Malady screamed as he ran through the double doors.

Shining scanned the room and locked onto the multiple dead medical staff who’s bodies littered the ground. Somewhere covered in bites and left to rot white others were in the process of being torn into by the infected who must have still thought the corpses were alive. “Fall back! No one else is dying here!”

The four guards turned and ran out of the room. Shining Armor held the door open with his hoof and knocked back the blood covered infected with his horn’s impeccable aim before he himself evacuated.

Shining slammed and locked the door shut as he felt the bodies of dozens of bloodthirsty infected slam into the door like a tidal wave.

Wood chippings broke off and flew from the doors as those inside continued to pound them down.

Shining ignited his horn and leaped back as a massive, pink shield formed in front of the emergency room and acted as a blast door against the dead.

Nurses pushed beds and cabinets from nearby suites in front of the door and locked them in place. Within seconds a mountain of a dozen beds and cabinets stretched from door to wall. “That should be enough,” one of the mares replied.

Still, Shining Armor kept up his shield. The doors vibrated violently with each impact, which were weak yet frequent like a decentralized horde each slamming their hooves down individual instead of all at once. It was quite different then the tactics that the guards where trained for. Shining had personally trained the guards to act as a battering ram and coordinate together for optimal force.

After a few minutes that felt like a hour, the blows weakened and became less frequent, almost as if the infected were giving up. Eventually only two of three groaning beings were still keeping up with their task.

Shining lowered his shield.

“They stopped,” Malady whispered as he slowly and carefully backed away from the doors.

The others followed.

Malady got to the doors to the emergency wing and locked them before barricading the door with a stretcher. “Those restraints should hold them up for a little while. I don’t think they can hear us from here.” he assured the nurses as they bandaged their bites.

Shining Armor took his first deep breath since the outbreak as he fell to his knees. “What under Celestia’s sun was that?!”

“That was no infection like I’ve ever seen.” Malady pulled a notebook from his coat and began to skribble rapidly.

“What are you writing?” Amethyst gasped as she sat down.

Malady spat out his pencil. “Notes, about whatever that was. Based on what I saw before those ponies went mad. I can tell that symptoms include body aches, intense hunger and thirst, fatigue, migraines, fever, and increased salivation. Tell me, my prince, when were those ponies infected?”

Shining rubbed his chin before replying. “For most of them it was no more than two hours ago.”

“My goodness, it's that fast?” Malady gasped as he picked up his pencil and scribbled some more. “Within a few hours, those afflicted will experience short seizures followed by the stopping of the heart. However, within minutes the infected will exhibit cannibalistic, aggressive, and unreasonable behavior.”

A drop of blood fell from the doctor's snout and onto his paper.

“Are you okay?” one of the guards asked.

Malady rubbed his cut face. “I’m fine, a few simple cuts won’t stop me from containing this threat. Those ponies in the emergency wing are contained for now. Are there any others we need to worry about?”

“No, all of the injured guards were sent to the hospital. Everypony who was injured by the crystals were sent to the hospital. Everypony except…” Shining Armor’s voice trailed off as his jaw hung open.

“Who?” Malady urged. “Who wasn’t taken to the hospital?!”

“There was the researcher from Canterlot, the one from Manhattan, and…” Shining Armor’s mouth quivered as he spoke. His eyes became misty.

“Who?!” Malady cried.

“Cadance.” Shining’s ears dropped as he pivoted towards the exit and took off like a rocket.

“Your highness, wait!” one of the guards yelled as they trailed far behind him.

Shining Armor did not look back. He just trotted out of the hospital with his guards at his tail. “no, no, NO!” He thought to himself as he ran through the crystal streets. “Cadance was experiencing all of those symptoms back at the palace! But she’s a princess, she’s too powerful to succumb to some magical ailment, right?”Shining’s heart raced as the bright light of the dawn sun began to shine over the Crystal Empire.

Shining and the guards arrived at the palace and charged through one of the entrances. They galloped up the spiral staircases and made their way into the main body of the castle.

An eerie silence hung over the stallions. All of the usual guards were losing their minds back at the hospital and most of the staff were still tucked in at their homes.

Shining entered the medical wing and immediately cried out, “Cadance! Doc! Crystal Quill! For Equestria’s sake, anyone!”

Not a peep sounded from across the empty medical wing.

Shining’s heart broke into two. He quickly trotted over to Cadance’s room and knocked. No pony opened so Shining kicked it in himself.

The guards gasped and cursed as they looked onto the bed that once held their ruler.

The sheets were thrown around and stained a dark red. The fine linen canopy looked like someone had taken a set of sheers to it before pulling it to the ground.

The old royal doctor laid stiff in an ever growing pool of blood with a horn shaped stab wound going straight through his eye socket and out the back of his skull.

A stream of blood trailed off from the doctors blood pool and followed to the corner of the room.

Shining followed the river and eventually locked eyes with a blood soaked Crystal Quill.

Her once professional and beautiful mane was now dripping in blood. Her neck looked like it had been hacked open like that of a butcher's animals. “M…muh…my prince,” the mare gargled.

Shining stood at her side and attempted to use his magic to stop the bleeding, although Crystal had already lost too much blood. “What is it, Crystal Quill?” he replied softly and caringly with the same kind voice he used when talking to his own daughter.

Crystal took a moment to respond. “Cadance…she…she…killed the doctor. I thought it was an accident at first and went to help…but…” her voice began to trail off. “She…attacked me too. It was…awful…like a timber wolf attack.” Crystal Quill’s eyes were full of tears. Her head began to slump to her side, she wasn’t even looking into Shining Armor’s eyes anymore.

“No! Don’t die on me!” Shining gasped.

Crystal’s eyes began to flutter like a filly attempting to stay awake during class. “Sir, I…I feel cold. I have a headache…sir. I think I’m going to die.”

Shining froze. He looked at the bite that was taken out of her neck, there was no way he would be able to get the mare to the hospital in time. He knew that Crystal was going to die and he did not know what to say.

Crystal’s head tilted back to Shining. “Sir, your wife…she…ran out of the room after she bit me. I think she went down the hallway…towards Flurry’s room.” Crystal’s eyes dropped like curtains as her head fell back against the wall.

“My goodness,” Shining panicked.

“Crystal! Crystal!” Shining yelled as he shook the pony, yet she did not get back up. He dropped the magic spell that covered her neck and turned back to the guards. “You heard her, get to Flurry’s room and find the princess!”

The wide eyed guards nodded and ran down the hallway.

Shining trotted like a racehorse and caught up to the guards. At his hooves where a trail of blood drops that ran down the entire hallway. He turned down the hallway to Flurry’s room as a high pitched, blood curdling scream echoed down the hallway. “Flurry! Daddy’s here!” Shining screamed as he entered Flurry’s nursery.

The cradle had been knocked over, all of Flurry’s toys had been torn to individual threads by what looked like teeth and scattered across the room.

Flurry Heart laid curled up in a ball in the corner of the room with her little horn lit up. A yellow bubble formed around her body. Tears stained her cheeks.

Blood ran down the bubble shield like rain down a roof.

Shining Armor's ears dropped as he laid eyes on Cadance.

Her eyes were bloodshot and full of rage. Her mouth was unhinged and wrapped around Flurry Hearts shield as she snapped wildly. Cadance attempted, unsuccessfully, to break her way into the magic dome like a bear attempting to break into a tortoises’ shell to devour the soft meat inside. Cadance’s perfect front teeth chipped and bled yet she still kept biting.

“Stop, Cadance! This isn’t you!” Shining Armor screamed as the creature in Cadance's place tensed up and tilted its head in Shining’s direction.

Flurry Heart stopped crying as she looked over to Shining. “Dada?” she whimpered while rubbing her eyes.

Cadance’s wings sprung outward like a bird of prey. Her head hung down with her horn pointed directly at Shining’s chest as it began to glow and materialize a blood red crystal from out of nowhere.

“She’s going to try to shoot me with a crystal. Just like that unicorn back at the hospital!” Shining immediately pulled up a pink shield with his magic right as Cadance threw her crystal.

The projectile was absorbed by the shield, though not without causing a crack to form in the structure.

Cadance let out a nasally scream that made Shining shiver as she took off from the ground with a single flap of her wings. Cadance gilded across the nursery like a hawk soaring in towards a mouse. She impacted the shield and sent Shining sliding backwards, though she stayed tall.

The guards, on the other hoof, gasped and flinched backwards as Cadance spawned in another crystal which she stabbed through the magical shield.

“Cadance! Stop! It’s me, your Shining Armor!”

Cadance did not even appear to register her husband's voice. She growled and sent a light stream of blood and mucus raining down against Shining’s shield.

A glimmer caught Shining Armor’s eye as the blood ran to the ground.

It looked like bits of glitter were mixed into the vomit, like Cadance had inhaled glass.

Still, Shining did not have time to investigate. He swung his head back before whipping his forwards as he sent a jolt of magic out from his horn. All while trying, in vain, to not hurt her too much.

The magical shield was sent flying backwards towards the nurse wall with Cadance along for the ride. The shield slammed into a pillar with Cadance with it and shattered into dozens of pink pieces before completing fading from reality.

Cadance fell onto her back with a crutching sound emitting from her as she hit the ground.

“Dada! Dada!” Flurry cried as she deactivated the shield and flew into Shining Armor’s chest. “Mama…mama…sick,” she huffed between fits of tears.

“I know princess, you’re safe now,” Shining’s voice was begin to break as he looked over at Cadance's still body as he debated going over to her. “She’s just like those other ponies. She tried to eat our baby!” Shining panicked as Cadance's wing fluttered. He immediately stood in a defensive stance and passed Flurry Heart over to one of the guards.

Flurry Heart cried and attempted to teleport back into the fathers chest, yet her teleportation spell refused to ignite.

“Quickly! Get Flurry Heart out of here and find me some magical dampening rings!” Shining screamed as the guard holding Flurry saluted and ran off into the distance.

Cadance rolled onto her stomach and onto her feet. Blood flowed from her body as she stood.

One of the guards gagged as he noticed where the blood was coming from.

One Cadance's front ribs had fractured and was poking out of her chest. Yet the pain seemed to not even phase the princess. Her eyes were still in the same enraged, bloodshot state as they were before.

Shining Armor established another magical shield and retreated down the hallway as Cadance gave chase. “This can’t be real! What has happened to all of those guard ponies? What happened to my wife? This isn’t her! She must be being mind controlled, or sick, or just anything! Just let her be okay!” A single tear ran down his panicked face as Cadance slammed into the shield and attempted to break her way through.

Her mouth was mangled and bloodied from her attempt to break through Flurry’s shield.

Her jaws were somewhat loose and hanging so that she could not shut it fully. A glimmer shone in Cadance's mouth. It looked like a few tiny, almost inconceivable needles growing in the back of her throat.

It made Shining Armor want to gag, but he held it in. He and his guards made it to the end of the hallway as cracks once again began to form in his shield. “Form a perimeter!” he shouted as the guards lowered their spears.

Cadance’s horn stabbed directly through the center of the shield and caused it to immediately crumble like a stale cookie.

“Cadance! Stand back! We don’t want to hurt you.” Shining screamed as his body was pelted by shards of magical shield.

It was like Cadance was deaf. She did not even register Shining’s words and instead just charged at the nearest guard.

The guard fell back onto his flank with his spear raised directly towards Cadance's neck.

“Stop! Please!” Shining begged loud enough for the entire castle to hear. He used his unicorn telekinesis to grasp onto his wife's tail, but it had almost no effect besides slowing her down.

The hairs on the tail just snapped as if they were excruciatingly painful to tear out.

The terrified guard screamed as he welded his eyes shut as Cadance swooped in for the kill.

Cadance landed directly on the outstretched spear.

The spearhead dove deep into her throat like a pickaxe into a boulder, causing a waterfall of blood to squirt from her neck and either rain down onto the marble floor or sliver down the spear’s handle.

The edge bulged against the back of Cadance’s neck before breaking the skin and exiting through the opposite side.

Blood bursted through the wound like a pipe that had been blown open. It has the type of wound that would kill a full grown stallion in seconds.

Shining Armors world shattered around his as he unhinted his jaw and let out a scream that echoed across the entire castle. “No! Cadance!” his voice strained as he cried. “This can’t be real, I must be dreaming. I have to wake up!”

But, the nightmare did not end.

The guard screamed and pushed the spear away as Cadance fell onto her side, her crown fell from her head and slid across the ground.

The spear handle snapped in two, leaving just the spearhead and a bit of the metallic rod in her neck.

Shining ran to his wife, only to freeze in fear as she wobbled onto her feet like filly after falling off their bike.

Candace’s messy and blood soaked hair covered her face like some sort of ghoul. It looked nothing like Cadance’s.

Shining and the other guards stood silently as Cadance stumbled around in confusion as she snapped her jaws in the air.

Shining’s eyes were glued onto the spearhead that was stuck directly into his wife's neck. “Impossible,” he whispered to himself as cannonballs of sweat ran down his forehead. “Cadance couldn’t survive that. No pony could survive that. Only a monster could take a hit like that.”

“Your highness, I have the magical dampening rings and even some shackles! And don’t worry, I hid the princess away from the danger. ” a voice rang from across the room.

The creature in Cadance's skin, along with everyone else, pivoted towards the voice as the other guard ran into the room with a sack of equipment. Cadance's hair whipped out of face as she locked her bloodlusted eyes on the young colt.

The guard cringed as he realized he had just made the worst mistake of his life.

Cadance growled like a beast as she ignited her horn and fired a blood red crystal at the pony.

The guard ducked down as the crystal flew over his hand and Cadance charged at him.

Shining recharged his shield spell and jumped between his wife and the guard.

Cadance once again bounced off the shield, breaking her snout in the process. It was like she hadn’t learned that the shield would harm her.

“Quickly! Prepare the restraints, I’ll hold her off,” Shining ordered as his horn pulsed as the shield jolted forward, sending Cadance flying backwards.

The four guards trotted to the bag and pulled out a thick magical dampening ring for Cadance along with two pairs ofshackles and two clawless bear traps.

Cadance growled as she got back onto her feet.

Tears clouded Shining’s eyes. “Sweetie, please, stay down!”

Cadance did not listen and took flight. She shrieked like an animals while driving down towards Shining and strafed the castle floor with a barrage of red crystal.

Shining quickly dodged the crystals as his mind raced. “This isn’t Cadance! She must be mind controlled, or a doppelganger.” Shining through back to his and Cadance's wedding day. He had been tricked by a changeling into believing that she was his wife. He would not let that happen again. He looked deep into the imposter's eyes. They physically looked like Cadance’s but all the love inside was gone.

Shining stopped pulling his punches. He charged up his horn and with a single blast sent a stunning beam straight into Cadance's chest, sending her falling to the ground. Her leg snapped as she hit the floor. “Now!” Shining screamed as guards swooped in from all angles.

One of the guards quickly through a magical damping over her horn right as she was in the process of building up another crystal projectile. The premature crystal immediately dropped to the ground and shattered before it had the chance to be fired.

Cadance angrily turned her neck and attempted to bite into the guard who dared to block her horn.

The second guard swooped in and swung one of the bear traps like a lasso. He threw it towards Cadance's face and hopped back as it chopped down on the princess' perfect jawline.

Bones snapped and droplets of blood flew through the air like morning dew as the two other guards ran in as they locked Cadance's hooves together with shackles before pushing her to the floor.

Cadance tried to unhinged her jaw, but she could only let out the a wet growl as blood ran from her mouth. The white floors of the castle were stained with the crimson red of blood and made the entire room smell of death.

Shining Armor lifted the bag above his head and was about ready to wrap it around the creatures, until he hesitated. He felt like he was nailing Cadance's coffin shut. He took one last look at the beast's face, then with a pained gulp, he swiped the bag down and covered the imposter's face.

The guards all let out a relaxed sigh as they locked their view on the writhing, bloody body that laid before them. “Is it over, sir?” one of the younger ones asked as he trembled from adrenaline.

Shining Armor bit his lip as he held back tears. “Yes, it's over, you boys did good. Everything is fine now.” He stood strong for his stallions.

The guards began to take in a few deep breaths, only to flinch and gasp as they heard a door slam from the medical wing.

One of the guards turned towards the noise with his spearhead pointed at the intruder. “Impossible!” Shining stumbled backwards like he was seeing a ghost, because he was.

Crystal Quill hobbled out of the medical wing, leaving a trail of blood as she went. She groaned just like Cadance and was also afflicted with the same blood shot eyes that latched onto the uninfected ponies and refused to let go.

“We all saw her die!” Shining thought to himself as Crystal Quill charged the guard with his outstretched spear.

“Not again!” the guard screamed and shook as he chucked his spear across the room. This time, the spearhead penetrated the pony’s forehead and cracked the skull open, allowing the blade to dive deep into the pony's brain. A deep, glass-like crutch echoed across the hallway followed by silence.

Crystal Quill’s angry eyes dulled into blank, far off stares as her legs locked and she fell to her side.

For a moment, no one spoke except for Cadance’s occasionally gagging gasps.

“Holy shit, I killed her,” the guards whimpered and sat down as he held his forehead.

“No, you couldn’t have killed her, she was already dead,” Shining Armor comforted the stallion.

“But we just saw her up and walking around!” one of the guards argued.

The gears in Shining’s head began to turn. “Do you guys remember back at the hospital? Every stallion who came in contact with those crystals eventually stopped breathing and turned into bloodthirsty monsters. They died and they came back.”

The four guards looked at each other like Shining was crazy. “But the dead can’t come back to life, it's unnatural!”

“Well, we just saw it happen in front of our own eyes,” Shining replied as he checked a deceased Crystal Quill for a pulse.

“This is completely different, your highness, Crystal Quill was never even in contact with the red crystals downstairs. She shouldn’t be able to come back to life.”

Shining paused for a moment as his jaw dropped in realization. “But she did come in physical contact with someone who was infected by the crystal! Everyone who comes in contact with the crystal gets infected, dies, and comes back. It must be the exact same for healthy ponies who are contacted by the infected. Dr. Malady was right, this is a disease, and it's spreading.” he shouted as he pointed at Cadance’s twitching body and began to pace back and forth across the hallway. He placed his hoof on his chin and began to think. His face soured even more. “And if anyone who was injured by the infected becomes infected themselves then that means…”

A scream echoed from far off in the distance.

“That came from outside!” a guard said as all five living ponies went to the window.

The dazzling sun was shining down on the crystal architect of the empire.

Shining looked down the main street where Crystal General was located and watched in horror as a stallion in hospital attire stood over the mutilated corpse of a crystal pony. The infected pony plunged his jaws directly into the flesh of the corpse and tore his head back, sending a stream of blood into the air which sparked like the crystal walls and street. A small group of civilians who had just left their homes quickly turned away and ran while screaming.

The steps to Crystal General were covered in blood and the doors had been torn open, allowing for a steady stream of infected to breach the perimeter and chase after the fleeing ponies.

The monsters ambushed ponies in the streets. Tore out of throats of young and old, stallion and mare alike. They shrieked and groaned just like the others. Some slammed their heads into the hard front doors of homes while others just jumped into the front windows of residential buildings as their owners ran outside and into the jaws of other infected.

Infected earth ponies ran in herds.

Bloodthirsty pegasi swooped down from the sky and tore into the bodies of the grounded ponies like arrows.

Bloody unicorns fired indiscriminately into crowds of survivors.

The clean streets flowed red with blood as a faint layer of smoke began to cover the city from small fires which had already begun to burn out of control.

“Sweet Celestia. What do we do now, sir,” one of the guards whispered.

Shining Armor's throat tightened and went dry. Sweat ran down his face as his eyes stayed glued to the carnage unfolding outside. He took a deep breath before giving his orders. “We’ll save as many ponies as we can, and if any one of you sees a dead pony coming back to life…” Shining Armor gulped uncomfortably without finishing his sentence.

“Yes, sir?” the guard asked.

“Then you put them down,” Shining finished as he strapped up his helmet and went trotted over to the castle armory to get a weapon. He was going to need it.

Author's Note

Wow, this chapter I realized that I had been spelling Cadance's name as "Cadence" this whole time, lol. I read through the draft an additional time solely to fix all the typos. Cadance doesn't even seem like a real name after going through all of that.
Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have a few more chapters already written that just need proofreading before submission. I hope to publish them weekly so check in next week for more content.

Chapter Three: Arrival

Crystal Blood Part 3: Arrival

Crystal Empire, Day 1

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle reclined at her desk as the snow of the far north pelleted her window. She shivered, despite the fact that her train car was heated. “I hope it's warmer in the Crystal Empire,” the princess chuckled to herself as her royal train engine chugged through the storm.

She turned her attention back to the mountain of papers that sat at her desk and sighed, her throat tightened as she looked down at all the work she had to attend to.

Becoming the sole ruler of Equestria came with a load of responsibilities that Twilight was still getting used to. Everyday she had to deal with foreign dignitaries, petitions, press interviews, governmental meetings, and bills.

While Twilight had secretaries to help with the influx of work, (Thank Celestia) there was only so much she could accomplish.

Her days were so jam packed that even the great planner herself could not formulate a spreadsheet which would include space for everything. Her only solace was the occasional opening in her schedule where she could spend time with her friends or family.

Twilight placed her hoof under her chin as she began to read over another legal document concerning the Equestrian military budget. She had been hearing reports of concerned ponies who wanted to bolster Equestria’s security ever since Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis also took over all of Equestria. It was all she had heard about for at least a month. Her mind began to wander to the Crystal Empire half way through, however.

It had been months since she had seen her brother and his family. This “diplomatic mission” as she called it was the one chance to see them outside of the holidays.

Celestia and Luna were keeping tabs on Twilight’s work around Canterlot while she was gone. They had just returned from a vacation and had some down time before their next adventure just when Twilight had begun to develop the need for her own rest and relaxation. They understood the most about how demanding the job of princess could be and immediately volunteered to help.

A sudden knock on the door awoke her from her daydreams as Spike poked his head in through the train car door. “Uhm, Twilight? I hope I’m not interrupting.”

Twilight sighed. “Don’t worry, Spike. I’m not getting any work done anyway.”

Spike approached Twilight’s desk with a tray of breakfast. “Jeez, Twilight, you look awful! It’s like you haven’t slept in days.”

Twilight face planted into her desk. “I know, Spike. I really need this vacation,” she mumbled with his cheek pressed against the wood.

“Well, you're in luck.” Spike smiled as he flew up to Twilight's desk and dropped off the food. “I just talked to the conductor and he said that we should be in the Crystal Empire in just half an hour.”

Twilight happily munched on a bowl of assorted fruits as she straightened her main. “I guess that means I better get ready for my royal entrance.”

“I know, and Spike the Brave and Glorious needs to prepare for his too,” Spike replied as he flexed his small biceps.

Twilight chuckled weakly before yawning. “Good one, Spike. Now is there anything else you need from me?”

Spike smiled. “Well, I don’t need anything from you…”

Twilight raised her eyebrow. “Yes?”

“He wants to talk to you,” Spike announced as Twilight’s heart bounced and her cheeks blushed a bright red.

“What does he want?” Twilight asked as she steadied her beating heart with her hoof to her chest.

“He…wants to discuss your security detail,” Spike replied while twiddling his thumbs.

Twilight smacked her face. “Spike…you don’t need to talk in codes while we’re in private. We only use them in front of the paparazzi.”

Spike shrugged his shoulders. “What? Can’t a dragon pretend that he’s a secret agent?”

Twilight laughed and waved Spike away. “You can send him in,” she added as Spike slid the car door open and waved to a far off figure.

Twilight's heart fluttered as the captain of her royal guards stepped into her office.

“I hope I’m not bothering you.” The orange pegasus smiled.

“You're not, in fact I really needed this…Flash,” Twilight replied as Flash Sentry removed his helmet and hung it on a nearby coat rack.

“I could tell,” Flash explained as he trotted over to Twilight and wrapped her wings around her. Twilight immediately felt his warmth as the two nuzzled.

Twilight blushed, but soon pulled away and straightened herself up.

“What? Is it my breath?” Flash gasped playfully as he smirked.

Twilight chuckled softly. “No, It’s just that I have to get off this train in about half an hour and I need to start getting ready. I’ll have hundreds of ponies, reporters, and dignitaries to impress. Not to mention the paparazzi and tabloid writers,” she groaned.

Flash’s energy immediately burned out as he crawled away from Twilight’s desk and began to look over her shelves of personal belongings and photos. “Oh, right, we still have to deal with those ponies.”

Twilight took a sip of tea. “Only for as long as I’m the most important mare in Equestria. I guess that’s a part of the royal duties, you have to put on a pretty face for the kingdom, even if it means you get no privacy,” she huffed.

Flash once again wrapped his wings around Twilight's tense body. “You know, I wish we didn’t have to keep meeting up in secret like this. I’ve always wanted to take you out to a fancy restaurant but I suppose this will have to suffice for now.”

Twilight's mind began to race. She imagined herself at a candlelit dinner with Flash by her side. The closest they had gotten to anything like that in their six month relationship was the occasional cup of coffee in the privacy of her palace. “I want that too,” she replied. “But if I do, your face will be plastered all over the front pages of Equestria Daily…then your family will be hounded by ponies day and night asking for interviews…and then-!”

“Twilight! You’re spiraling again,” Flash warned as he held Twilight close to his chest.

Twilight began to relax in Flash’s embrace. She stopped spiraling, but her fears still ate away at her.

“I don’t want you to get so worked up over me. I don’t want my family to get wrapped up in the next celebrity news cycle, sure, but it also hurts me to hide our relationship from everypony and watching you have a panic attack every time we are almost caught. I want to just rip the bandage off and come clean, and this is the perfect place to do this.” Flash began to caress Twilight's hair.

Twilight narrowed her eyebrows as she pulled away from her stallion. “You aren’t suggesting what I think you are. We talked about this,” she gasped with her hooves implanted into Flash’s chest.

Flash became defensive. “Twi, I don’t get why you don’t want your family to know about us, I personally have been dying to introduce you to my brother.”

“That's because it would be easy for you!” Twilight shouted as she began to tremble. She placed her hooves against her temples and started to panic. “You only have your mom and little brother to deal with. On the other hoof, I have to deal with my big brother. If he found out about us, he would try to vaporize you!”

Flash settled down as he tried to comfort Twilight. “I know, but trust me, I served under your brother during my time in the Crystal Empire. I doubt that he’d try to vaporize me with a magical laser blast…I hope.”

Twilight looked at Flash like he was crazy.

Flash placed his hoof on Twilight's shoulder and looked directly into her eyes. His own eyes were soft and open, like a comfy, inviting bed. “Twi, I know this might seem scary now, but I remember the stories you told me of the Canterlot wedding. You were so hurt when you found out that Shining Armor was getting married without telling you first, I don’t want to be the force that wedges a divide between you and your brother.”

Twilight sighed. “I get where you’re coming from, babe, but I don’t know if I’m ready to tell Shining Armor just yet.”

Flash leaned back and lowered his head as he thought to himself. “I understand, Twi. If you aren't ready, then I won’t bother you about this for the rest of our time in the Crystal Empire. I won’t force anything on you.”

“You’ll really do that, for me?” Twilight whispered as she cracked a smile.

“Of course, I love you after all. If you aren’t ready yet I won’t spoil this vacation for you,” Flash replied as he smirked and leaned up against Twilight's ear. “Besides, you are a princess after all. Your wish is my command, your highness.”

Twilight blushed and recoiled back. She had always told Flash that he did not need to be so professional around her. Yet, occasionally, Flash would use “your highness” as a way to make her feel better when she was feeling down or to simply tease her. It usually always worked on her.

The flustered Twilight leaned back in next to Flash’s face and grinned. “Your right about one thing, I’m the princess here. If you don’t follow my orders, I’ll have no choice but to send you to the dungeon!” she announced melodramatically, like an amateur actor and caressed Flash’s chest.

Flash bit his lip, before bursting out in full blown laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked.

“Send me to the dungeon?” Flash whipped a tear from his eye. “I think that you have been reading too many of those romance novels of yours.”

“Hey, I can smooth talk too!” Twilight defended herself with a playful smile.

“Please Twi, save the flirting for me. There's a reason why I made the first move to ask you out.”

Twilight shook her head while laughing like a little filly. “Fine, but my offer still stands,” Twilight leaned in as the pair locked lips.

As they embraced, the train suddenly slammed on its breaks, sending the two careening into the desk.

Twilight shrieked as Flash extended his wings to slow down their fall, but the two still hit the ground hard. She slammed her head against the desk as Flash landed on top of her.

The train's breaks screamed as they shot out sparks up towards the windows.

Eventually the train came to a full stop as Twilight groaned in pain.

Flash held Twilight's head. “Are you hurt?”

“I think I’m good? But what was that?” Twilight moaned as the offices cars door slammed open.

Spike flew through the open door with a panicked look on his face. “Twilight, we have an emergen-” he stopped and covered his eyes as he watched Flash cover Twilight's body with his own. “Uhm, am I interrupting your “meeting?” Because I can come back later.”

Flash looked down at Twilight as the two blushed.

“Where weren't doing anything! Just tell us what happened,” Twilight shouted like an older sister and teleported both herself and Flash back up right.

The two ponies acted like nothing happened.

“Something has happened to the Crystal Empire!” Spike exclaimed as he began to fly outside. “You have to see it for yourself.”

Both Twilight’s and Flash’s hearts dropped. Twilight ran outside. Flash grabbed his helmet and followed her.

Twilight pushed through her attachment of royal guards they got out of their travel bunks and threw open the train doors to the harsh, whistling winds of the north.

Dagger-like snowflakes cut through the air and Twilight's body.

Twilight turned in the direction of the Crystal Empire, which was still a couple of miles away, and fell to her knees. “What in Equestria-” she muttered to herself as she locked her eyes on the massive pink doom that covered the entire city.

“That’s the captain's protection spell,” Flash replied as he lifted Twilight out of the snow.

“But why didn’t he send us a warning letter or something before he set it up?”

“I don’t know, I just got a letter from him a few days ago discussing my visit. He knew that I was coming yet he didn’t warn me of this.”

“Princess Twilight!” The conductor hoped from the engine with a pair of binoculars around his neck and bowed before Twilight. “Your highness, the protection spell appears to be blocking off the entire city. I do not see an entrance. Should we head back to Canterlot?”

“Of course not, if there's an emergency at the Crystal Empire then I must solve it immediately,” Twilight replied without even giving the pony’s suggestion any thought.

“Of-of course, your highness,” the conductor stuttered as he trotted back to his car and ignited the engines.

Twilight turned back and faced a herd of dozens of staff members who had wandered off the train. Most of the crowd were members of the royal guards with a few medical, cleaning, and train repair staff dropped in between. Twilight took on a politician's stance as she announced, “This does not change our plans. We will continue onto the Crystal Empire, be prepared for anything.”

The guards nodded stoically as they funneled back into the train.

Spike flew next to Twilight with a scroll in hand. “Twilight, I tried to send a letter to Shining Armor and Cadence, but nothing is happening,” the dragon cried as he blew flames on the scroll in his hands. Instead of the letter whispering away into a beam of energy and flying off into the direction of the Crystal Empire, it simply turned to ash and blew into the snow.

“Impossible, it’s a simple teleportation spell,” Twilight explained as she took another scroll from Spike and cast the same spell. She focused on the Crystal Empire, specifically the royal throne room, before causing the scroll to vanish in a burst of pink light and electrical wisp. “There, the message has been sent,” she replied confidently.

To her surprise, the scroll reappeared just a few feet away from her.

Twilight’s ears dropped as she twitched.

“Uhm, was that supposed to happen?” Flash asked.

Twilight didn’t answer and began to pace back and forth. “What? How is that possible? Me and Spike have cast this spell hundreds of times. How did we both screw it up?” She activated her horn and cast the teleportation spell on herself.

A dome of magic formed around her body before popping, yet the same thing happened to her.

Twilight reappeared just a few feet away, on top of the scroll. She tried to teleport again, only for nothing to happen this time. The magic dome just appeared and reappeared without Twilight moving forward even an inch.

Curious, Twilight used he telekinesis to levitate the scroll of the ground and wave it in front of her, the scroll levitated like normal in her control without any problems.

“Strange, my teleportation appears to not be working when we are this close to the city. Maybe it has something to do with Shining’s protection spell,” she suggested as she looked back at Flash and Spike.

“Or it could be the reason why Shinging put up his protection spell. Either way, I don’t like this,” Spike trembled.

“But we still have to go, we need to make sure that the Crystal Empire is safe,” Twilight added.

Flash nodded as he tightened the straps on his armor. “In that case, I’ll rally the guards.”

The trio stepped back onto the train as it chugged itself down the tracks to the border of the Crystal Empire.

The train grinded to a halt in the Crystal Empires train station, just short of the massive pink dome.

Twenty guards stepped out of the train under the command of Flash Sentry. They stood in rows of 10, each row flanking each side of the train car’s door as Twilight and Spike left the train.

Twilight crown glimmered in the light of the rising sun and her purple scarf flapped in the wind.

The station was eerily quiet. The train station at Canterlot had been filled with ponies, their voices and the noises of other trains had filled the air and blended together.

Here, only the faint buzz of Shining Armor's protective shield could be heard.

The guards fell into formation as Twilight exited the train and formed a barrier around her and Spike. Flash Sentry led the formation as they approached the bubble.

Flash halted the detachment in front of the transparent, pink shield. He raised his hoof and taped it against the dome like he was knocking on a door.

Twilight poked her head through the herd of guards and got a look into the city for herself.

The whole area was a complete ghost town. Not a single pony was in sight. The once lively city was now completely still with the exception of the uncharacteristically placed pieces of trash that glided through the streets.

“Where is everypony? Shouldn’t the crystal ponies be getting out of bed and heading to work and school by now?” Spike asked as he hid behind Twilight leg.

Twilight looked down at Spike and opened her mouth but immediately closed it. Her throat was in a knot. A cold sweat ran down her face.

Flash turned back to Twilight with an attentive, yet nervous look. “Your highness, I can’t detect anypony inside the dome. Should we work on finding an entrance?”

“No,” Twilight replied gravely. “My brother’s protection spell is almost flawless. He doesn’t leave gaps in her dome unless he specifically wants to. We are going to have to brute force our way through.”

Spike winced. “But Shining's protection spell is top tier. Remember when it took an entire army of changelings to break it?”

“But we don’t need to break the shield. We just need to create an opening large enough to pass through. I could probably use my magic to pull back some of the shielding and allow us all to pass through.” Twilight activated her horn.

“Unfortunately, my brother's spell is a tough nut to crack, even for me. I have no idea how long I will be able to hold the shield open for. This will need to be quick.”

Flash nodded and imminently began to organize his men in front of the spell’s barrier.

Twilight sent a beam of energy striking against the shield. A section of the pink bubble, just large enough for a pony to enter, faded before being parted.

“Now!” Flash ordered as he pushed his soldiers through the hole.

Twilight groaned and fell to her knees as she kept up the magical beam. “I can’t keep this up for much longer.”

Spike sat on Twilight's back and comforted her. “C’mon, Twilight, you got this! We just need to get ten more ponies including us.”

The remaining guards pushed their way through the slowly shrinking hole until Flash, Twilight, and Spike were the only ones remaining outside the boundary.

Twilight felt as if a switch was flipped in her body. Her legs gave out as she huffed and fell to the ground.

The hole in the magical barrier began to shrink as Twilight succumbed to exhaustion.

Flash clenched her teeth as he turned towards Twilight and flapped his wings. He and Spike grabbed onto Twilight as the two pulled her through the barrier right as it snapped shut behind them.

Twilight blacked out as she hit the cities floor, only to be pulled out of her exhaustion by Flash as he waved his wings and sent a gust of cold wind in Twilight's face.

“Your highness, wake up! We are inside the Crystal Empire, your plan worked!” Flash exclaimed as Twilight groaned and leaned up in confusion.

“Well…I hope that the hard part is over,” Twilight gasped as Flash held out his hoof to her.

Twilight smiled as she took Flash’s hoof and was pulled back onto her legs.

“Are you feeling alright?” Flash asked.

“I’m fine, just a little drained,” Twilight explained as she looked over to the other guards who stood on guard around them.

“Yeah, thanks to me!” Spike replied as Flash chuckled and Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Uh…I think that Flash did most of the heavy lifting when he carried me in,” Twilight replied.

“Well, he still got an assist from Spike the Brave and Glorious! Speaking of which, I kind of assumed that the Crystal ponies would come running to me when we entered the city.” Spike looked around in concern.

The erie aura of the city was much more potent while inside the pink dome. Not a single voices echoed through the usually crowded streets.

Twilight straightened herself up as she turned to Flash. “Commander, we need to get to the palace. Now, I’ll allow you to do your duties,” Twilight announced as cordially as she could muster. She began to quiver softly as she thought about what might have happened to her brother.

Flash nodded as he stood in front of his troops. Yet instead of shouting like drill sergeant, he talked in a stern but hushed voice. “Alright guards, you heard the princess, we are to approach the palace. Be quiet and stay vigilant, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

The group began to trek through the abandoned streets, and it only got more erie as they got closer to the center of the city. Carriages had been knocked over, the front doors of ponies homes had been knocked in, and cloths, trash, and suitcases had been strung through the streets. The magical dome above them was thick enough to cast a light pink, dim shadow over the entire city.

“Twilight, this doesn’t look like the works of Sombra.” Spike trembled at Twilight's side.

“Whatever it is Spike, we have to be ready to fight it,” Twilight replied as she wielded a purple, glowing orb on the tip of her horn that acted as a torch in the shaded, dawn light.

Suddenly, Flash raised his hoof in the air, causing all the trailing guards to halt in their place. His face, scrunched up in disgust at his eyes widened as if he was looking at a ghost.

Twilight pushed her way to the front of her protective entourage and gasped when she found herself at the front.

Out in the middle of the street was the bloody, torn body of a young stallion.

Twilight and Flash ran towards the body as the guards formed a defensive perimeter around the two with a fence of spears raised.

Flash shook the stallion with his gauntlet wrapped hooves before rolling the stallions body over onto his back.

Twilight squealed as he did.

The stallions stomached had been completely torn open and his bowels strewn across the ground like the messy insides of a pie. The poor pony's right eye had been penetrated by a crystal that appeared to be completely covered in blood and that went straight into his brain.

Spike tensed up as tears filled his eyes.

“Sweet Celestia,” Flash muttered under his breath. “What did this?”

“More like who did this,” Twilight thought to herself. The princess kept herself from gagging as she looked over the body.

Besides for the crystal shard through the ponies' eye, there was no sign of sharp cuts from a blade or claw. There were, however, bite marks. Although, the wounds did not look like they came from fangs. It looked like the aftermath of a pony’s gluttonous feast.

The guards around the body began to exchange nervous looks and stubbled away.

Twilight did not say a word. She just looked up at Flash and gave him a worried look.

Flash gulped dryly and turned back to his ponies. “Be careful and keep your eyes peeled.

Whatever did this could still be in the city, and we don’t want to end up like this stallion, don’t we?”

The guards uncomfortably began to fall back into formation with an audible silence as one suddenly yelped in terror and sprung their spear outwards in the direction of a dark alleyway. “I got movement: 3 o'clock!” he shouted as Twilight readied a spell while Flash flew over to the young guard.

Flash Sentry stood on guard as he gazed into the nighttime-like abyss and watched as nothing moved into view. “Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things, private?”

“No, I saw it too,” another cried. “It was a mare, running between the buildings. It looked like she was hurt. She was hobbling across the alleyway.”

Flash readied his spear as he shouted down the alleyway. His authoritative voice echoed like a blast of sounds through an instrument as it passed through the crystal architecture. “Hello! Is anypony back there? I’m here to help.”

The silhouette of a young mare appeared at the far end of the alley. A wet crackling noise sounded off from the distance as the shadowy figure hobbled towards the light. The mare's legs looked torn, like ribbons. The shimmered that was usually covering the citizens of the Crystal Empire was uncharacteristically absent.

Flash’s ears popped up as Twilight stood by protectively. He removed his helmet and held out his hoof. “Hello, young lady, are you alright? Don’t be scared.”

The mare stepped into the sunlight.

Twilight nearly screamed.

The pony was covered from hoof and ear in bite marks that ranged from minor tooth print to full on tears of flesh. Her jaw had been broken and was hanging on solely by a few tangled strands of muscle. The pony’s eyes were still, like a corpse’s, until they suddenly flinched over in Flash's direction. The pony threw herself forward like she was shot out of a cannon.

“Watch out!” Twilight screamed as she activated a shield. A blast of pink light came from her horn and grounded itself in front of the mare that slammed into the shield and then back onto the ground.

The mare began to scratch at the shield while gurgling loudly.

Flash began to take short, shallow breaths. “Who is that?”

“I don’t know, but I think it's the same thing that did all of this,” Twilight replied as she looked out at the abandoned city.

“Twelve o’clock!” One of the guards yelled.

Twilight and Flash immediately looked down the street as a second blood covered pony ran towards the formation.

Twilight pulsated her horn, causing her shield to electrify and send the contained mare flying back into the darkness. She lowered her shield before aiming her horn at the incoming pony.

Twilight and her unicorn guards all fired barrages of magical charged missiles. A few attacks missed and scorched the crystal streets, but most impacted the pony directly in their chest, knocking them to the ground.

“Stay down! That’s an order.” Flash screamed at the top of his lungs like a barbarian.

The two ponies got back on their hooves as if Flash’s words did not even register with them. They raised his snout up in the air as a crackling shriek roared across the air before charging in as if nothing had happened.

Twilight heard what sounded like a stampede of buffaloes start up in the distance as another guard shouted, “Sweet Celestia! Six o’clock!”

“We got even more! Nine o’clock!” another cried. “They’re surrounding us.”

The guards formation began to fold in like a poorly built tent as Flash sprung into action.

“Hold the line! Don’t let those things get close.”

Twilight, Spike, and Flash flew above the guards and observed the situation. A dozen snarling, bloodied ponies ran from between houses or thorough front doors and windows. They swarmed the streets like an army.

The unicorn guards let out a barrage of magic beams that knocked the crystal ponies back, clearing a section of street in front of the formation.

“Forward! Get to the castle!” Flash ordered as his subordinates charged.

Twilight shot down the street and rained static sparks down on the attacking ponies that gargled and hissed. Blood and saliva dripped from their mouths. Their bodies sounded like hollowed trees every time they were hit.

Twilight winced every time she shoot one of the citizens with her magic, although they showed no pain, the creators simply shrugged the blasts of and kept moving forward.

The groups armor clanked as their hooves pounded the pavement and attracted more monstrous ponies who chased them through the streets.

The creatures snapped at the companies tails as they ran, only to be quickly stunned by lasers and stumbling to the ground for a few vital seconds.

“We are almost there…we just need to make a turn down this street and we’ll be at the castle!” Twilight shouted in between breaths as her heart beated harder than her wings.

Twilight and the first half of the guards made a sharp turn towards the castle before stopping suddenly as the guards behind them ran into their frozen bodies.

“What’s the hold up!” Spike cried as he looked towards the castle that stood before them and dropped his jaw.

It looked like a concert was being held at the foot of the palace. A hoard of thousands of crystal ponies stood snarling with their snouts pointed directly at the pointed tip of the castle. Some were missing legs, others were covered with bite marks and wounds that should have killed a normal pony.

The bloody crystal ponies collectively turned their heads in Twilight’s direction like she had just walked into a private conversation that she was not supposed to even witness. They unhinged their jaws and growled. Their voices echoed across the open field and caused more ponies to point in their direction and charge like a herd of rapid animals.

Spike quickly turned and flew the opposite way only to be blocked by a wall of pegasi who had flown into the air and were diving down towards the guards who raised their spears in anticipation. Spike screamed weakly as a pony flew towards the dragon with its jaws wide open.

“Spike!” Twilight cried as her horn glimmered and a massive dome formed above her head.

The magic crashed against the ground like a tidal wave making landfall and swallowed the entire entourage.

The hoard ran jaws first into the shield with the sounds of water balloons pelleting a window. Their bodies piled against each other, blocking out the sunlight. Soon about a hundred pairs of eyes were glued onto the princess and her guards.

A bloodthirsty unicorn leaned himself up against the shield before blasting the surface with a crystal projectile the size of an arrow head. A small hairline crack formed in the dome as more unicorns ignited their horns in a flurry of sparks and pelted the shield with tiny crystals.

Some of the guard began to panic, other just hopped around wildly with their spears raised in the direction of the beastly ponies as they attempted to bust through.

One guards just dropped his spear and looked up at a pegasus filly that was missing a leg before he began to hyperventilate. “What the buck?!” he cried. “They’re going to kill us! I don’t want to die!”

Flash pushed the guards to the ground with his front hooves and hovered above the stallion. “Shut up, soldier! No one is dying on my watch!”

“The-then-what do we do, sir? Those monsters are everywhere and they're all trying to rip us open like that corpse we found in the street.”

The entire squad of guards stood at attention and looked directly at Flash. The inside of the bubble went quiet besides for the labored breaths of the ponies inside and the gnashing of teeth that faintly groaned from the outside.

Flash addressed his guards with bags under his eyes and sweat dripping down his face. “First of all, everyone needs to remain calm. Once we take care of that, everypony needs to get into a phalanx formation. I want three rows of six ponies with two unicorns in the back providing air cover with Twilight and Spike. Once the shield breaks, we'll have no choice but to move towards the castle and hope there is somepony left to let us inside.”

“Sir, with all due respect, the mission is as good as done. Why don’t we run back to the train while we still have the chance?”

“And abandon our allies in the Crystal Empire and disobey Princess Twilight's orders? I think not, besides, if we run back to the train we’ll draw the hoard out and they’ll rip the others apart.” Flash slammed his hoof down to the ground as he looked over to Twilight.

“Your highness, can you use your magic to take care of these creatures?” Flash motioned up to the many dozens of ponies that bled out on top of the dome and snarled angrily like fighting dogs in a cage, waiting to be let out so they could rip and tear.

“I-I might have a spell that can wipe out most of them,” Twilight exhaled in exhaustion and looked up as bits and pieces of her spell began to break off in spaces.

Spike wrapped his chubby little arms around his neck as he troubled like a filly holding onto the safety rail on a rollercoaster. “Du-don’t worry, Twilight, I’ll keep you safe with my fire.”

Twilight corresed Spike’s hands gently like a mother while the guard nervously got into formation.

The ponies outside the bubble roared out like animals in frustration. Saliva ran down their mouths like they were looking into a window at a five star restaurant that they did not have reservations to. Their eyes were dead yet predatory and hungry.

Twilight gulped as Flash gave her a comforting look and nodded to her. She nodded back and ignited the very tip of her horn. Her veins popped and sweat ran down her forehead while a beam of energy ran from her horn to the shield, causing the structure to glow and bright white before erupting into an explosion that rocked the entire city block.

The pink shock wave fluctuated across the castle grounds, blowing all of the blood hungry ponies in a thirty meter sphere to the ground.

Pegusi where blown off their flight paths and rammed into their comrades before the unfortunate couples twisted and spiraled all the way to the ground.

Earth ponies and unicorns found themselves pilling up in massive piles of flesh and broken bones that riled and screamed.

“This is our chance! Charge!” Flash Sentry's booming voice cut through the screams as he took flight with a spear held tightly in his hooves.

The rows of royal guards let out a war cry as they made beeline towards the massive crystal castle that stood before them.

A handful of unstunned ponies stood between the guards and castle.

“Take them out!” Flash ordered as the front row of spear ripped deep into the oncoming crystal ponies.

Fountains of blood shot through the air as seahead ripped throats open and send the attackers stumbling back onto their flanks, but still they were able to eventually hop back up and continue the pursuit.

“They’re not dying!” a guard cried as his spear went straight through the chest of a wobbling earth pony and snapped in half.

“Quiet, private! Keep running, we’re almost there!” Flash ordered as he bobbed and weaved through the air as half a dozen crystal shards were blasted at the stallion from her left by a barrage from the remaining unicorns.

Twilight and her unicorn guards let out a focused spread of quick and numerous energy beams to their left. The beams either knocked the crystals out of the sky or hit their senders in the chest and scorched their bodies.

Twilight kept up the stunning blows as Spike screamed.

“Twilight! To your right!” Spike shouted as a green flame illuminated Twilight peripheral vision. She turned and watched as a single pegasus dove into Twilight airspace. Spike breathed flames onto the pony which immediately engulfed the pony's entire body.

The pegasus’ body melted away down to its bones, its pastel body turned to a bloody ash, yet it still kept slicing through the sky.

Spike’s cheeks turned red as he gasped and fell against Twilight's neck. His flames died out like an empty lighter.

Twilight screamed like a little filly as the pegasus shot towards her neck like a burning comet towards a city. It was too late for her to redirect her shield around herself.

The pegasus unhinged its jaw.

Twilight looked deep into the pony’s jaw. It was rubbed raw and bloody. The pony’s teeth where crooked and loose, as if they were a filly who was in the process of gaining new teeth.

Sharp needle-like objects were embedded deep within the pony’s throat and gums. They made the pegasus’ insides look like a blender.

The objects where a blood red and shone like a crystal, yet that did not make sense to

Twilight at all. However, Twilight didn't have time to ponder on the wounds, she raised her hooves above her head as her eyelids winced shut. She anticipated the pain.

A pink beam of energy, similar in color to Twilight’s aura, rushed across the sky.

The energetic crackling alerted Twilight, who threw her eyes open.

The pinkish beam did not just stun and bruise the pegasus. It tore its way through the ponies skull like a drill and dropped the attacker.

Spike screamed. “What was that?”

Twilight followed the trajectory of the blast and found herself looking directly at the tip of the Crystal Castle. Her heart fluttered. “There's only one pony I know who has a magical aura that looks like that. Now get to the castle!”

The guards trotted to an immediate stop in front of one of the castle entrances.

Twilight swooped down to the ground and activated a shield. She could not help but notice an emptiness in the courtyard. She looked over to the center of the palace ground and noticed that the crystal heart was gone. Her racing thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain that sliced through Twilight's head as she struggled to keep the shield from collapsing like a glass vase.

Monster like ponies pounded at the perimeter as the largest of Twilight’s guards lowered their shoulders and charged directly through the castle doors. The crystal doors were knocked off their hinges as the ponies rushed into the safety of the castle.

Flash grabbed onto Twilight and pulled her through the entrance as he shield cracked and shattered behind her.

The attacking ponies rushed the entrance, getting stuck as they all tried to enter through the same door at one time. Ponies ran over and trampled each other as they made their way up the winding staircase.

Guards either shot back at the ponies with their magic of just threw their spears into the horde.

Twilight's legs grew weak. Her head throbbed as thought her brain was inflating like a balloon with each step she took.

Shrieks and roars echoed up and down the entire crystal staircase.

“Hang on, Twily, we are almost at the top!” Flash screamed as the guards rushed a locked gate at the top of the stairs.

A guard slammed his bulky hooves into the door, yet this time the door did not fly off the hinges so easily. The guard continued to no avail. “It’s not working. This door feels like it's been completely barricaded shut!”

“No, it can’t be!” Flash shouted as the echoes of shrieking ponies, now combined with the damp sound of bloody hooves sliding across the crystal floors got even louder.

Twilight looked down at the staircase and raised her head.

“Twilight, what are we going to do now?” Spike trembled behind Twilight's front legs.

Twilight’s stomach dropped, she tried to speak but felt like she was about to throw up with each word. “We are going to be fine, Spike,” she lied.

The guards continued to beat down the stiff door. “Help! Let us in!” they screamed.

“What if they can’t get the door down in time?” Spike squealed.

Flash positioned the front of his body between Twilight and the advancing horde. “We’ll keep you safe, Spike.” Flash turned to Twilight and gave her a comforting look.

Twilight gulped and nodded as she primed her horns' magical aura.

A single, bloody pony stumbled and slipped up the flat crystal floors as the guards panicked. The beast growled as more assailants made it up the stairs and ran over each other.

Multiple rows of bloody teeth snapped in the air like battle lines of soldiers.

Twilight prepared to cast yet another shield. She mustered up her remaining strength and hoped she had enough stamina. To at least be able to create a shield, maybe hold back the vicious ponies for a few fleeting moments. As Twilight prepared herself, she heard a loud bang followed by the screeching hinges of a door.

“It's open!” one of the guards screamed.

Twilight turned and watched as soldiers pushed their way through the gaping door frame.

“Where saved!” Spike replied as he flew through the doors.

Flash and Twilight flapped their wings in unison and soared through the opening as the guards slammed the door shut behind them and used their own bosses to barricade the doors against the tidal wave of bodies.

Twilight noticed a pile of hastily stacked crystal bars. “Quick! Use these,” announced as she levitated a few of the bars off the ground and slid them into special designed racks that were held in the palace as the horde pounded at the door.

The guards slowly back away from the door. To their astonishment, the defenses held efficiently.

Twilight gave a sigh of relief before fainting and falling to her side.

Flash swooped in and caught her.

Twilight awoke with a startle right as she landed in Flash’s arms. “Sorry, I’m just drained right now.”

“That’s fine, we’re safe now,” Flash announced as he stabilized Twilight against his own body. “Those magic spells of yours prevented us from being cannibalized out there.”

“Whoever broke down that door was the real hero,' Twilight kicked in between hacking coughs.

“But we didn’t break down the door. It kind of just swung open on its own.”

“What?” Twilight gasped.

“It’s true, your highness, I saw it all myself,” an especially bulky guards humbly replied as he rubbed a scrape on his elbows. “I had backed up and was about ready to tear those doors off their hinges when they just suddenly swung open. I couldn’t stop myself from tripping through the door frame and hitting the floor.”

“Then who opened the door?” Flash asked at the slicing sound of a metallic sword being pulled from a scabbard cut through the conversation.

Twilight slowly turned around as if she was coming face to face with a predator. Only instead of coming face to face with a row of razor sharp jaws, Twilight was faced with a wall of spearheads pointed directly at her face.

Author's Note

Twilight has arrived in the Crystal Empire, but will she be able to help the infected nation or will she herself fall victim to the hoards of the undead?

Find out next week-and leave a comment if you have any suggestions or ideas for what ponies you want to see in future chapters! Thanks for reading!

Chapter Four: Revelations

Crystal Blood Part 4: Revelations

Crystal Empire, Day 1

Twilight Sparkle

The wall of spearheads was held just inches away from Twilight's forehead.

Twilight’s vision narrowed onto the shining metal blades that shook in front of her before fluttering backwards onto her flank. She took in the full scene as it was laid out.

Multiple crystal ponies stood behind the spearheads that were usually wielded by royal guards. Yet these ponies did not look like royal guards. Almost none of them wore official uniforms, most were clothless.

The few that were armored were covered in training gear or antique suits that Twilight swore she had seen decorating the halls of the palace on previous visits.

Twilight tilted her head and observed the ponies cutie marks. She didn’t see swords, shields, and armor plating on their flanks but baking equipment, paint brushes, and other non combat worthy items.

A mare at the front of the disjointed formation, who’s hooves were trembling as she struggled to keep her spear straight, screamed at Twilight and her entourage over the shrieks and snarled of the rapid ponies who pounded at the entrance door. “Stand back! Get away from me!”

“Woah, we are not like those ponies outside, we mean you no harm,” Twilight replied in her most diplomatic tone of voice.

“Yeah, she’s the princess of friendship for crying out loud! I’m ordering all of you to stand down or face the consequences!” Flash Sentry ordered as he slammed his gauntlet to the ground.

“Like we’ll believe that! That’s the exact same song that all of those infected ponies out there told us at one point or another. Now stay the hell away from us and reveal to us who’s infected.”

“Infected? Like with the flu? None of us are sick with anything. We are just here to help,” Spike mumbled as he flew above the crowd.

Half of the crystal ponies gasped and bowed down before the dragon. The other half still held their weapons tall.

The mare called out to her companions. “Don’t lay your guard down just yet. Just because he is Spike the Brave and Glorious doesn’t mean we can’t still be infected. Those ponies outside used to be our friends too, and now they are gone.”

“What are you even talking about being infected?” Twilight asked in concern.

“Did you not see what’s going on out there?” a trembling stallion muttered. “All of those ponies were just like you and I less than a day ago, that was until they were bitten. Speaking of which, where are any of you bitten?”

“No,” Twilight quickly replied.

“Yakshit!” the mare shouted. “There's no way you could have made it this far without being bit. We’re not letting you pass until you tell us which among you have been bit.” The wall of spears tightened around the survivors.

A spearhead was thrusted just centimeters away from Twilight's neck.

The fearful, crystal ponies growled in anger as a booming voice cried out from down the hall.

“STOP! ALL OF YOU!”

Flash’s eyes widened as he instinctively straightened his posture. “I know that voice,” he announced.

The crystal ponies parted like water and oil as a backpack wearing, white stallion trotted through with two royal guards at his side.

“Shining!” Twilight shrieked like a filly as she galloped and vaulted into her brother’s open hooves.

“Twily!” Shining Armor replied as he kissed his sister on the forehead before immediately pushing her away. His expression hardened. “How did you get in here?”

“I arrived at the train station and discovered that your shield was up. There was no pony at the train station, so I decided it was best to open a hole in the dome and investigate the situation to make sure you were alright-”

“But you closed the hole, right?” Shining interjected with sleep deprived eyes.

“Uhm, of course,” Twilight replied as Shining Armor went back to speaking.

“Good, our entire operation here is built of containment. In fact, no pony was supposed to be allowed either in or out of the city.”

“Then why did you not even bother with sending me a letter?” Twilight exclaimed as Shining Armor led Twilight, Flash, and Spike away from the door that stood between themselves and infected ponies. Her entourage of guards stayed back to help secure the castle entrance.

The two royal guards winced and drooped their ears. They looked at each other with a look of understanding fear.

Twilight's body shook like an elderly mare with each step she took through the crystal hallway.

“That’s the thing, Twi, I did try to send you a letter,” Shining uncomfortably explained. “I attempted to teleport a scroll to you soon after the outbreak but my magic failed. I sent two of my royal guards to the outskirts of the city in order to try to deliver a message to you and Cantelrot to tell you to prepare for the worst.”

Twilight paused in fear. “What do you mean, prepare for the worst?”

Shining Armor froze in the chilly castle halls. His two guards looked even more concerned. Shining looked back at the Twilights guards who stood, visibly shaken. “Come with me. I cannot discuss the situation here,” he replied anxiously as he made his way up the stairs and further into the castle.

Spike gave Twilight a nervous look, but neither said a word.

Shining Armor brought Twilight, Spike, and Flash into a secretaries office and shut the door behind them. His two guards stood outside defensively.

Shining Armor legs began to tremble like he had just ran a marathon as he fell backwards into a comfortable chair. He softly swung the backpack around onto his chest and held it like it was a newborn puppy.

Flash pulled up a chair for Twilight and Spike, both of whom collapsed in exhaustion.

“So, what was so important that you needed to separate us from the others?” Twilight uncomfortably asked as she jittered her hooves.

“Equestria is doomed.” Shining Armor jumped straight to the point. His eyes were dead, like those of the ponies outside.

“What?” Spike screamed as he fell out of his seat.

Flash tensed up as his eyes bulged.

Twilight covered her mouth with her hoof. She dropped her hoof as she argued, “No, that can’t be true. We’ve fought evil before, you know this.”

Twilight’s chest tightened. Shining Armor had been there when she and her friends had saved Equestria on multiple occasions. How was this time any different?

Shining looked away in shame. “This is nothing like one of those villains who can be either banished or reformed, Twilight. This…this disease is not something we can defeat with the magic of friendship, I should know, I’ve seen what it can do to ponies first hoof.”

“Disease?” Twilight repeated with a confused wince.

“Yes, a little over a day ago, me and Cadance investigated a strange group of crystals that were found beneath the palace. Some ponies got cut by the crystal and began to show symptoms that were associated with some strange illness. Within an hour every infected pony was dead, only they didn’t stay that way. The infected came back from the grave,” Shining Armor explained with his eyes darting around the room. He held onto the backpack even tighter.

“Impossible, not even the best sorcerers in all of Equestria have been able to bring ponies back from the dead,” Twilight interjected like she was correcting one of her students.

Shining Armor’s eyelids narrowed. “Then explain to me how I saw it happen in front of my own eyes!” Shining began to tear up. His voice trembled as he spoke. “I saw dead ponies turn into rabid animals and rip into their neighbors, friends, and even family like they were a bucking seven layer cake! Don’t tell me what’s not possible!” Shining hopped out his chair and looked Twilight dead in her eyes. His own eyes were as angry and as dead as the ponies outside the castle.

Twilight recoiled backwards in fear.

Shining shocked his head and snapped himself out of his rage. “Sorry, but I haven’t slept in over a day.”

Twilight heart sank. She had seen Shining when he was sleep deprived before and on multiple occasions; this was different. “No, big brother, you said that you saw families tear themselves apart out there. What about our family? Where’s Cadance and Flurry?” Twilight jumped out of her seat as her eyes twitched.

Shining Armor eyes watered.

Twilight looked at her brother, who could not hold even a second of eye contact with his sister before he was forced to clench his eyes shut and turn away. Twilight dropped to her knees. “No, you don’t mean. . .”

The room went silent.

Spike covered his mouth with his scally hands.

Flash Sentry got closer to Twilight, he refrained from hugging his girlfriend like he normally did when she was sad but it still comforted Twilight to have his strong body next to her.

Shining sniffled and let out a few quick sobs before he finally responded. “Yes…Cadance is gone.”

Twilight fell from her seat.

Flash imminently bent down and tried to help her get back up, yet Twilight's body was like a sludge that just slipped from his hooves and poured back onto the ground.

Spike curled his body up into a ball and sank into his chair, staining the seat with his tears.

“Please, tell me it's not true. This has to be a dream. Cadance couldn’t have been killed, not like that,” Twilight sobbed as she thought back to the torn open corpses that she had witnessed laying like roadkill in the streets. She thought of the young mare and the rabid fillies she had witnessed outside as she looked up to her brother in an even more intense fear. “What about Flurry Heart...is she safe?”

Shining Armor unstrapped the backpack and rummaged through it. “When I lost Cadance, I almost lost Flurry Heart too. Since then, I made sure that Flurry never left my sight.”

Twilight’s head perked up as she watched Furry’s blue and purple swirly hair popped out of the bag.

“It looks like she just woke up,” Shining announced as Flurry yawned and emerged from the pack.

Flurry’s eyes widened like a child on Heartswarming as she dropped her precious snail toy, Whammy, to the ground and flew over to Twilight with the speed of a Wonderbolt.

Twilight’s frown flipped into a smile as she sighed in relief. “Oh…oh thank goddess, I thought I lost you.”

“M…mama?” Flurry muttered like a blade that sliced through Twilight’s heart.

Twilight tears began to flow once more. “No, Flurry, mama’s not here. I wish she was but she isn’t.”

Flurry’s face wrinkled and soured as she cried like the tiny filly she was.

Shining Armor bent down and comforted his daughter. “Flurry saw Cadance go mad when the virus took over her body. She tried to eat us both.”

Twilight ears fell to her cheeks “But she’s the princess of love. How could this happen?” Twilight thought back to when she was but a foal and Cadance was her sitter.

Cadance was the type of pony who wouldn’t hurt a fly if she didn’t have to. Everywhere she went she would spread love and joy, not a virus. The idea that she would ever eat another pony or go completely bloodthirsty was inconceivable to Twilight.

No matter how hard Twilight imagened, she could only visualize Cadance in her perfect, beautiful alicorn body.

“I told you, Twilight, this virus changes ponies. I don’t want to accept it either, but those ponies aren't ponies anymore. I know you saw that one pegasus outside as it tried to rip your face off. I know because I was the one who put it down, we can’t reason with them, they’re like rabid dogs.”

Twilight’s fluffy cheeks were wet like a tear soaked pillow case. She held Flurry Heart tightly and refused to let go. “Can I at least see her body? I need to say goodbye.”

Shining bit his lip. He rotated his neck and refused to look at his sister. “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that.”

“Please!” Twilight begged. “I just want to see her face one last time.”

“You won’t recognise her,” Shining replied. “I can’t.”

Twilight’s tone shifted. “She’s your wife! How can you say that?”

“You haven’t seen what I’ve seen, Twilight. This isn’t some argument! You are not stepping near Cadance,” Shining advanced on Twilight with his chest just puffed out as he leaned over her.

Twilight felt small.

“Step away from the princes,” Flash Sentry ordered as he stuck his leg between Shining and Twilight like it was a guard rail. He stood as if he was a bouncer at a Las Pegasus nightclub.

“What did you say to me, private?” Shining spat into Flash’s face.

Flash’s eyes flickered in and out of Shining’s piercing gaze. A drop of sweat ran down his face.

“I…I said step away from the princess and it's not “private” anymore. I’m in charge of keeping the princess safe and you're intruding on her space,” Flash explained with a small gulp.

Shining laughed and shook his head before he suddenly exploded and slammed his hooves directly into Flash’s chest.

Flash let out a gasping grunt as he was thrown against a wall.

“As far as I’ve seen you’ve done a pretty poor job, pretty boy,” Shining roared.

Twilight hoofed Flurry to Spike and tried to pull Shining away, but her brother was too strong. “Shining! No! He protected me out there!”

“Really? Because it looked like he stood by and let you enter the city that was filled with infected ponies.” Shining argued.

Flash stood with both his hooves at his side. “I’m sorry, the Crystal Empire needed us. We came here to help.”

Shining dropped Flash, who kneeled in fear. “You're not one of my guards anymore, you’re Twilight’s. You should have been protecting her, instead you almost let her throat get ripped out by some infected pegasus.”

Twilight recalled the previous encounter she had had with the infected outside. “You saw that?”
“Of course,” Shining began. “I was the one who saved your life, not your guards, me. I’m not letting anyone else in my family die.”

Flash shivered as he laid against the crystal wall.

Twilight rushed to his aid. “But it all worked out, Shining, I‘m alive and well. I’m sure that Celestia and Luna will come to the Crystal Empire and finish this disease off.”

Shining flung the backpack over his chest as he collected a tearful Flurry Heart and placed the child in his front pocket. “That’s if they're still alive.”

Twilight raised her eyebrow. “What are you saying?! I thought that the disease is quarantined to the Empire. You're not making any sense.”

Shining tilted his head towards Twilight with twitching eyes. “Cadance and my guards weren’t the only ponies to become infected when we first discovered the crystals. We had a few researchers come to the palace to investigate. Two of them, one from Canterlot and one from Manehatten, decided to take samples of the crystal to their respective labs to conduct tests on them. The disease is probably eating its way through both cities as we speak.”

Twilight’s heart dropped. Her tail curled up into knots as her diplomatic posture crumbled like an ancient statue. All she could do was shake her head side to side.

Flash let his head swing back and slammed against the hard wall behind him before bouncing back between his legs where he gasped, “By Celestia’s sun.”

Spike just looked up at Twilight for any sign of what to do, but he received nothing but fear and shock.

“Shining, you're not thinking straight. You’ve lost your mind!” Twilight finally grasped with trembling legs.

“I feel like I’m the only one who’s thinking at all!” Shining snapped, his nostrils flared. “I’m the only one around here keeping ponies alive! When the disease first started everypony panicked. They hid, they ran around aimlessly, they didn’t accept what was happening to their loved ones! Everypony except me! I mean some of the civilians still can’t accept reality!”

Twilight pointed her snout against Shining’s like it was a dagger. “Are you saying I can’t accept reality? What are you calling me? Stupid? Just because I haven’t given up hope on the Empire and Equestria.”

Shining turned his back to Twilight and sighed. “You’re not stupid, Twi…but you have no idea what you're talking about. I-I’ve seen more things in the past twenty four hours than you and your friends have seen in all your adventures combined. This isn’t something you can reason with.”

“Then what do you want me to think? Both of our kingdoms are in grave danger! We have to do something!” Twilight ordered.

Shining slouched over and turned back to Twilight. He was clearly offended by Twilight's words. “I didn’t say we should do nothing. I’m just suggesting that what you and your friends normally do won’t work this time, besides, I already came up with a contingency plan in case you fail to get my message.”

Twilight ears perked up. “You do?”

“Of course, I told you I’m the only pony around here who is thinking. It’s the only thing I’ve been doing since this all started,” Shining gasped exhaustion. “We need to tell Canterlot what is happening in the Empire, but the only way we can do that now is to get to them.”

“But-but the only way we get to Canterlot is if we first get through that crowd of ponies outside.” Spike shivered so intensely that his scales jingled.

“Unfortunately, yes. But I’ve noticed that the infected are a lot less active during the night, not to mention darkness is the perfect cover for everyone in this castle to make a dash for the train station. Another thing I noticed is that after I fired a burst of energy into the sky to put up my shield, the castle grounds soon swarmed. It was like ponies showing up to see the light of The Royal Crystaling. If I can use my magic or some fireworks or something equivalent to cause a distraction towards the north of the city it should clear on the southside of the region. Then, if the two of us use our shields, we should be able to break through whatever resistance is left and make a beeline to the train station,” Shining broke down the mission like one of her royal guards explaining castle security.

“That's it? We just run for our lives?” Twilight exclaimed.

“You got a better idea?” Shining shot back.

Twilight opened her mouth but no words came out. She shut her trap and bent her lips into a pouty face.

“He’s right, you know, we don’t have any other options,” Flash explained as he rejoined the now civil conversation.

Shining huffed. “Well shit, maybe you do have a lick of strategic sense in you after all, private,” Shining explained as he went to the door and cracked it open to the que of his guard who popped into attention. “C’mon, I’ll show you to the refugee quarters, you guys can stay there until the sun sets, if it even does, that is.”

Twilight nervously inched closer to Flash. “I’m sorry,” she choked.

Flash comforted his bruised back and pride. “It’s fine, he seems tense right now, I wouldn’t want to poke the bear when he’s like this.”

“Fair,” Twilight whispered as the group left the quiet office space and went back out into the chaotic hallway.

Ponies rushed back and forth down the hallway.

Guard ponies, who Twilight could tell were reservists, broke open crates and display cases of antique sets of chains and plate armor to strap to their bodies. That was, if they were lucky enough to get their hooves on a set of armor.

Twilight locked with the fearful eyes of one colt as he used his teeth to rip apart the rests on a fancy chair before strapping the thick pair of cloth and cotton to his knees.

Twilight’s entourage had already been put to work helping fortify the castle. She watched as her stallions arranged old bookcases and desks into a wall that blocked a single set of stairs that rose high into the castle floor above them. “Wait, the infected are below us. Why are they blocking the stairs to the top of the castle?”

Twilight turned her attention over to Shining to raise her objects, only for her big brother to note even notice her while giving an encouraging nod to the ponies as they worked.

“Keep it up stallions, no pony should be getting up through those defenses,” Shining added.

Twilight pocketed the thought and followed Shining to the royal ballroom.

The ball room was apparently a cultural staple of the Crystal Empire, though Twilight barely had time to see it when she visited.

Shining Armour flung opened the double doors.

The interior was in the shape of a grain silo, with a long cylindrical body and a dome rounding off the top.

In the center of the room stood the Crystal Heart which levitated around a group of peonies who stared into the jewel with eyes full of hope.

The wide open, marble dance floor was covered in splotches of long dried blood and rows upon rows of identical hospital beds. Crystal ponies huddled among their families or simply sat alone with trauma written across their faces.

Crystal pillars that surrounded the room's perimeter stood tall like ancient trees and were now the perfect perching site for hammocks that the few pegasi survivors could rest in.

The proud citizenry of the Crystal Empire, once numbering at around 20,000 ponies, had been reduced to the contents of this ballroom.

Twilight did a lightning fast headcount. She counted about 200 ponies sprawled out across
the area. This was in addition to about 100 or so guards she had seen around the castle.

A filly excitedly squealed from his bed. “Everyone, look! It’s Spike the Brave and Glorious.”

The citizens immediately stopped what they were doing and swarmed Spike with the same intensity of the infected. Some of the ponies cried, others cheered, a sliver dropped to their bellies and embraced Spike by the ankles as they praised him.

The filly who had noticed them looked up at Spike with eyes that looked like they had been coated in glitter. “Are you here to save us?” he asked.

Spike nervously looked up at Shining who gave the dragon a confirming nod.

“Of course, Spike the Brave and Glorious is here to save the Empire. I have devised a plan with the prince and princess in order to get all of you to safety in Equestria. We have a train on the outskirts of the city that can hold all of you,” Spike announced as he flew over the crowd.

The ponies erupted into cheers as Shining turned out the door.

“Brother, where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“We have about twelve or so hours until the sun sets. The guards have a lot to get done before we can make our escape, I’ll need to help them.”

“Then let me come with you,” Twilight replied.

“No,” Shining immediately replied as he slammed his hoof down. “You've already put yourself in enough danger, I’m not leaving you to get killed. I want you to stay with the refugees until I finish up.”

Twilight sighed weakly. She felt like she had been flying into a brick wall over and over again each time she talked to Shining. “Fine,” she muttered.

“Good,” Shining replied with a relieved huff. The white stallion turned to Flash. “Now, private, I’m giving you a second chance to prove yourself. I want you to stay with the princess and make sure she doesn’t leave the safety of this room. Do you understand?”

“Of course,” Flash whimpered with a beaten frown.

Shining nodded as he slammed the door to the ballroom behind himself.

Flash and Twilight hoofed it to a corner and collapsed against the wall.

“Sweet Celestia. How did we get here?” Flash gasped.

“How are we going to get out of here? This is a mess,” Twilight replied as she laid on her belly with her legs tucked beside her and held herself like a newborn filly. She dropped her head towards her chest and against the ground while refusing to look back up.

“Hey, your brother has a plan. I trust that stallion with my life, even if he might not be in the best state right now.” Flash comforted Twilight by stroking her hair gently.

“He’s not like himself at all!” Twilight shouted out in gasping despair. “It's like he’s a different person than he was a few months ago. He’s stern, sure, but whenever I’m around him I feel like the two of us are kids again. He’s an even bigger goofball around Flurry Heart, I mean he’s such a dad, and around Cadance he’s-” Twilight froze like she had just seen a ghost.

Cadance's perfectly princess-like posture and mannerisms filled Twilight memories.

Everything about her screamed grace, strength, and kindness. She was healthy, a fighter, powerful, she wasn’t one Twilight expected to pass so soon.

Twilight sat in a daydream filled daze. She felt a rug had been pulled out from underneath her. Something didn’t sit right with her. She felt like she had read a book with only the first and last pages available, with the middle being violently ripped out without any real closure.

“Twi? Are you okay?” Flash asked and pulled Twilight out of her trance.

“Oh, sorry Flash, I was just thinking of Cadance. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her.” Twilight eyes watered, her head began to throb under the stress.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, I don’t know what to say,” Flash mumbled in embarrassment. “This is
all so different.”

“I’ve never felt fear like this before, I’m scared of losing you all to those things,” Twilight recoiled off the ground.

“I know. I don't want to lose you either, but what I’m really worried about is my little brother.”

“First Base? Why? Is there something wrong?” Twilight stammered.

“Not now, but if what Shining Armor said about the infection spreading to Equestria is true then they could be in danger,” Flash replied.

“They’ll be safe, I promise,” Twilight added as she laid her forehead against Flash’s chest.

Flash blushed and tensed up. “Twi-Twilight, we’re in public.”

“I don’t care about that any more. I could lose you at any time, besides the crystal ponies are too preoccupied with Spike.” Twilight poked her hoof over to the crowd of ponies who turned their backs to the princess as they cheered for Spike.

Even the guards who are meant to be protecting the room got up from their posts and went to see the little dragon.

“Shining Armor wouldn’t like that.” Flash eyed the guards. “Somepony could just walk in or out without them noticing.”

Twilight got onto her hooves and sprung up with her snout aimed directly at the door. “Yeah, you're right, we could just walk out without them noticing,” Twilight explained.

Flash cocked his head back in confusion. “Uhm, yeah we could, but your brother made it clear that we need to stay in this room. I don’t want to make him more angry than he already is.”

Twilight bit her lip and continued to focus on the door. “But Cadance is out there, somewhere, I need to see her.”

Flash bolted up. “You can’t be serious. Shining told you what happened to her.”

Anger boiled up through Twilight’s chest. “No, that’s not good enough. If either of you think I’m just going to move on after this then you both are crazy! I’m leaving.” Twilight unevenly stomped towards the doors with raw red eyes and a scrunched forehead.

Flash took flight and blocked Twilight. “I thought that back on the train we agreed that we didn’t want to upset your brother.”

Twilight trotted to a halt. “C’mon, Flash, we both know this is different. Now let me go. Whatever happened to my wish being your command?” Twilight attempted to trot forward.

Flash stretched out his wings as Twilight slammed into the pegasus like a bird into a cage wall. “We both know this is different,” Flash parroted cockily.

Twilight stumbled back and wore a pouty face. “It’s true, things are different.” Tears clouded Twilight’s eyes like storm clouds interrupting a sunny summer day. “When I decided to go on this trip I assumed that I would get to finally see my sister, alive. Now that I’m here, do you just expect me to let Cadance go without even saying goodbye? What if it was your mother or brother who you found out was killed?”

Flash’s face had grown distressed at Twilight’s tears and now he froze at the mention of his own family. He sighed. “Alright, I’ll let you go see Cadance. But I’m going with you, you're not getting hurt or getting in trouble on my watch.”

Twilight expression brightened, just slightly. “Thank you,” she whispered, her face still full of tears.

The two stood side by side as they silently creaked the ballroom doors open and snuck out into the hallway. The few guards that patrolled the castle were more focused on the threats outside than whatever the citizens in the ballroom were up to and did not even look in the pair's direction as they slid across the crystal ground.

“Where are you even taking me?” Flash whispered as he and twilight crouched behind a stack of crates.

Twilight’s head rotated like a periscope as she scanned the room. “Over there!” she exclaimed as she laid her eyes upon the recently barricaded staircase that led to the upper levels of the castle. “Doesn’t that staircase go to the throne room?”

“Yeah, so why is it blocked off?” Flash replied with his eyebrow raised suspiciously.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. If it isn’t for keeping the infection out, then it must be for keeping other ponies in. Let’s go!” Twilight dashed towards the staircase and Flash fearfully followed behind her while consciously checking over his shoulder to see if the two had been spotted.

Twilight’s horn ignited like a struck match and moved some of the bookshelves and desks to the side, creating an entry point just large enough for the two ponies to get through if they walked in a single file line.

Twilight kept her magic active as Flash and herself walked through barricade and into the dark staircase.

Flash stood closer to Twilight and her pinkish-purple aura that filled the space around them with light. He tilted neck backwards towards his flank and pulled a small dagger out of a slot in his armor with his teeth.

“C’mon, the throne room is just up these stairs,” Twilight whispered.

The pair ascended the many floors of the castle. Each step illuminated the eerily empty castle.

Twilight anxiously marched up the stairs. She half expected an infected pony to poke its bleeding face through the darkness and maul her. She trembled like a filly on Nightmare Night, so much so that her body shook more than Flash’s armor.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’m here for you,” Flash comforted with his masculine voice.

Twilight’s fears did not subside, they only evolved.

She looked up the crystal architecture that was now masked in darkness. The crystal pillars and walls were so old yet so beautiful. She felt like she was raiding a mausoleum.

Twilight pondered back to the mangled corpse she had encountered earlier in the streets. Would Cadance be in a similar state? She gulped as the two approached the double throne room doors.

A wet splotch echoed in the darkness beneath Twilight hooves, causing her to jump and yelp in fear. She tumbled in Flash’s wings, who immensely set the princess onto the ground. “Relax, it’s just a puddle.”

Twilight concentrated her light against the floor. A bloody pool was slowly inching beneath the throne room doors and into the hallway. “Is this…Cadance?” Twilight thought to herself as she hyperventilated.

Flash embraced Twilight, his presence almost seemed to squeeze the pain out of her body, almost. “Hey, I think we found what we were looking for. Now, do you want me to go in with you?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I need to say goodbye alone.”

“Alright.” Flash got Twilight back onto her hooves and stood guard next to the door. “If you need anything from me, yell.”

A beaten Twilight nodded before locking up like a statue before the door. She took a deep and closed her eyes and she pushed the door open and entered.

Twilight stopped just a few feet into the throne room and let the door slam shut behind her. She opened her eyes to a nightmare.

The area was light then the hallway, but not by much. All the windows had been blocked out by curtains.

A wall of white bed sheets and support beams had been constructed around the grand Crystal Throne and obscured its view. They looked like they had been wrung through a meat grinder as each sheet had been stabbed into and drenched in blood.

Twilight could not bear to look at the sheets and instead recoiled her head towards the ground.

The floor was covered in a river blood that flowed out from where the throne should have sat.

Twilight took another deep breath and stumbled around the blood and towards the dividers. Her footsteps echoed beneath her as she pushed aside the bedsheets like a hospital curtain and almost passed out.

A steak had been driven into the crystal throne. Attached to the steak was the ends of dozens of chains that rattled through the puddles of blood.

A slender, pink mare was wrapped in the chains. She stumbled around aimlessly as Twilight held her breath in perfect silence.

“Cadance?” Twilight whispered.

The mare turned to face Twilight. Her body was covered in cuts that bleed out onto the ground. Strips of dried blood stained her pink fur.

The mare's neck had been penetrated in a way that Twilight could see through it if not for a
peculiar arrangement of quill like crystals that grew from the wound.

A muzzle had been placed over the poor creature's snout.

The mare had the eyes and hair of the same color and size of Cadance, but there was something dull about them, like a dead flower.

Twilight looked over to the pony’s flank and at their cutie marks. It was a crystal heart surrounded with a golden frame. It was the same as Cadance's mark.

“No. This isn’t you, Cadance,” Twilight whispered with wide eyes that could not break away from the bloody mare. Tears filled her eyes as the mangled Cadance pounced through the air with bloodshot eyes.

Cadance attempted to take flight, but she could only hobble across the ground as her wings had been tied down with the chains.

Twilight screamed and fell back into the blood with a splash. She activated her shield, but Cadance could not even get close to Twilight without being pulled back towards the throne by the massive chains.

Twilight watched through her shield wall like a researcher looking through the protective glass of a dangerous animal enclosure.

Cadance lowered her head and began to swing her horn around like a club.

Twilight realized that a magic damping ring and metal casing had been fixed to the horn.

A frustrated Cadance then tried to snap her teeth at Twilight, but her muzzle prevented her from moving her jaw at all.

The throne room doors were thrown open as Flash stormed the premises. “Twilight! Are you alright?” he gasped with a fearful expression.

Flash saw the scene unfold before him as his expression changed into a stone cold war face. He readied his dagger and charged in Candace's direction.

“No!” Twilight cried as she stood between Flash and Cadance while the two restrainedly lunged at each other.

“What are you doing, Twilight? She’s infected! I wish Shining would have specified that before we tried to see Cadance,” Flash mumbled with his dagger in mouth.

“But we both know that this isn’t Cadance. She would never do this, you know that!”

“Twilight, Shining said that the infection changes ponies. That’s not Cadance any more, it's an infected!

“NO! Stay back!” Twilight raised her magical shield around Flash, locking him inside a ball of magic energy.

Flash timidly tensed up and crouched inside the forcefield. “Geez, Twi, what are you doing?”

Twilight tears obscured her vision, and her judgment. “I’m showing you that you're wrong!” Twilight stood before the stumbling Cadance as she tried to break free of her unmoving chains and pounce onto Twilight.

Nothing but small hisses and gasps escaped past Candace’s gag to threaten Twilight.

Twilight was perfectly still and simply let Cadance try and fail to reach her.

Flash pounded against the shield and screamed for Twilight to stop, but Twilight tearfully blocked his cries out.

Twilight gathered up all of her remaining strength to look at Cadance directly into her eyes. They looked dead, but Twilight figured that they were still Cadance's eyes, it was still Cadance's body, it was still Cadance's cutie mark. Cadance had to be alive somewhere under the infection, she just had to.
“Sister?” Twilight started as she got closer. “I know you are under alot of stress and pain, but don’t you recognize me?” Twilight outstretched her hoof.

Cadance lunged forward like a striking snake.

Twilight flinched like a filly and fell back onto her flank. “Stop-please! It's me, Twilight!”

Cadance just continued to pull against the chair like the guard dog at the end of its leash. She was pulling her restaurants even harder now, so much so that her front legs were hovering off the ground and all the fur and skin around her neck had been rubbed off.

Twilight took another deep breath as she thought to herself. She remembered back to the first time she thought she had lost Cadance, that being during her wedding in Canterlot. Twilight had almost killed Cadance after believing her to be an imposter, but something stopped her, something only Canadce and twilight herself knew what to do.

Timidly, Twilight crouched down and began to trot in place as she softly muttered the opening lines of her and Cadance's little dance.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake,” Twilight feel to her stomach and covered her eyes, hoping that when she opened them Cadance would be back to normal.

Twilight opened her eyes.

Cadance was unchanged.

Twilight felt like a blade had been driven into her heart, but she continued anyway.

“Clap your hooves…” Twilight extended her hooves towards Cadance for her sister to clap, but Cadance only saw the gesture as a close enough place to try and bite at.

Twilight felt woozy and low energy, like she was bleeding out in the throne room. She enthusiastically turned her flank towards Cadance. “...and do a little shake.” Twilight paused, hoping that Cadance would suddenly spring into action and finish the dance with her, but nothing happened.

“Twilight! What are you doing?” Flash exclaimed in a voice that was muffled by the magic barrier.

“Me and Cadance do this all the time, she should recognise it.” Twilight crouched back down and did the dance again.

“Sunshing, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake.”

Cadance growled even louder in frustration. She roared like a hungry animal.

“Cadance, I know that you're in there, you just have to listen!” Twilight exclaimed as she
repeated the dance one last time. “Sunshine…sunshine…ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake?”

Cadance remained unchanged once more.

Twilight dropped to her knees and covered her face as she wept. “No…please, Cadance, come back to me, please.”

Twilight felt like a desperate mourner at a funnel who wept for a corpse that would not respond. Then, it hit her, Cadance wouldn’t respond to her pleas, her cries, or even their special dance.

Cadance was gone.

Twilight gave up.

Her magic shield crumbled and Flash rolled out towards his love.

Twilight immediately sat back up as Flash began to muzzle for her to move. “I-I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I shouldn't have dragged you into this, and I shouldn’t have pushed you away either.”

Flash helped her close. “Hey, you need to see Cadance, I get that. Now we really know what we're dealing with, we just have to fully trust each other.”

Twilight held onto Flash tighter as her tears flowed down his chest. “Thank you, I don’t want to lose anyone else to…those ponies.”

The room was quiet for a moment, even the corpse of Cadance began to get choked up on her chain and quiet down.

The silence was soon shattered.

“What is this?!” a voice screamed from across the throne room.

Twilight and Flash immediately looked across the room and watched as Shining Armor, flanked by multiple guards who stormed the perimeter.

Two guards flipped their spears around so their butts were sticking out which they used to
prod Cadance back.

Two more guards, both unicorns, magically lifted Flash off the ground and locked his body in place.

Shining trotted up to Flash and kicked him in the gut.

Flash gasped as all the air in his lungs was forced out through his throat.

The unicorn released their grasp on the pagus and sent him falling to the ground like a dead bird that had just hit a window.

“Wait!” Twilight screamed as she covered Flash's body with her own. Her eyebrows narrowed as she looked back up at her disapproving brother. “What are you doing?”

Shining magic threw Twilight off of Flash and towards himself. “What am I doing? What are you two doing? I told both of you to stay in the ballroom! I could have your little captain here executed for insubordination!”

“Don’t you dare!” Twilight screamed. “It wasn’t his idea to come up here. He was just doing what I commanded him. I hope that you know his allegiance is to me and Equestria, not the Crystal Empire!”

Shining snorted like a raging bull. “Well I’ll have you know my allegiance to the Empire and my family. That captain of yours should have protected you from this!” Shining raised his arm and pointed it towards the walls that barricaded Cadance.

Flash weakly rose his hoof off the ground like a student raising his hand in class. “Sir…I’m, sorry,” he gasped like an old stallion with a sore throat.

“Can it, Sentry! You’re lucky the princess is sticking up for you, otherwise you’d already be in one of Sombra’s old dungeons!” Shining levitated Flash off the ground by his chest piece and threw him out of the throne room.

The crystal guards followed.

“Damn it, Shining, that's enough!” Twilight roared.

“Stay out of this, Twilight! You're making this worse than it needs to be, your acting like you’re my annoying little sister,” Shining shot back.

“Well you're not acting like my brother at all!” Twilight puffed out her wings and made exaggerated head movement with each sentence she spoke. “You’re almost acting like one of the infected. It’s like you're trapped in all of this anger right now like the past never happened.”

Shining Armour angrily extended his back legs into a crystal pillar, causing a massive crack to form around the epicenter of his impact.

All the surrounding ponies went quiet. It was like a judge had just angrily slammed their gavel.

“Sweet Celestia…I thought you were just ignorant, but you really just so…stupid,” Shining snarled.

Twilight wings dropped to her side. At this point in the day her heart didn’t break again, it grinded itself into a fine powder and blew away.

“I. Bucking. WISH! That I could live in the movement right now and act like my old self, unfortunately- especially for you I bucking guess-I can’t! I’m the farthest right now from living in the present and being consumed by my emotions. Whenever I close my eyes I only see the past or the future. It’s either I relive the Crystal Empire crumbling or my wife dying, and then I imagine Flurry Heart, you, our parents, Spike, and all of Equestria being torn to bucking bits by a horde of pure evil!” Shining tried to contain his tears, but his eyes began to bulge out his head like a damn about to burst. He swung his head down low and hid his face in front of the crowd of stunned onlookers.

As an uneasy silence hung in the air, it lasted for what felt like hours before a faint rasping noise broke through the void.

Every head in the hallway immediately focused its attention towards the disturbing song. They watched as the zombified Cadance shambled its way around the throne like a fish in a bowl while occasionally trying to snap at the remaining guards.

Shining Armor staired like he was stuck in a trance that was focused on Cadance's eyes.
He shook his head and quickly sprung into action. He got up and slammed the throne room doors closed with his own hooves, blocking the deathly moans. He seemed to mouth a Goodbye, but it was impossible to know for sure.

Twilight watched as Shining Armor froze with his upper chest and forehead pressed against the door.

Shining rested for only a few seconds, yet the pause was still noticeable. He immediately stood back up in an authoritative stance in which he presented as if the tears he had just cried never actually fell.

“Let this be a lesson for all of us. The infected are no longer ponies, they are monsters. Remember that when we make our escape in the next twelve hours,” Shining announced as his guards saluted. He turned his attention back to Equestrians.

“I need a group of guards to escort the princess back to the ballroom and I now want Flash
Sentry to serve by my side at all times. I don’t want him out of my sight where he can cause trouble.”

A pair of guards attempt to lock arms with Twilight, only for the princess to smack them away. “I can escort myself, thank you very much!” She watched as Flash was hoisted up onto his feet, dribbles of blood ran down his chin and nostrils.

Flash gave Twilight a comforting nod. He would be fine, but Twilight still beat herself up inside over the whole ordeal.

Twilight paned her vision back over to her brother.

Shining was eyeing her angrily. “I’m doing this for you,” he spoke like a hardened rock.

Twilight just stared for a while. Her brother looked so different to her than before. “What ever happened to friendship?” she interjected.

Shining’s eye narrowed. He didn’t speak. His face looked like it was wrapped up in thought.

Twilight turned and walked down the stairs. Her head bobbed up and down as she sobbed.She had lost her sister, and then she even lost her brother.

And now, she feared, she might even lose her entire kingdom.

Author's Note

Will Twilight and her brother make it out of the Empire alive to tell Canterlot of the coming virus, or is it already to late for all of Equestria? Find out next week and thanks for reading!

Comments with feedback are always appreciated!

Chapter Five: Exodus

Crystal Blood Part 5: Exodus

Crystal Empire, Day 2

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight ruffled her feathers as a familiar pair of scale hands wrestled the alicorn to wake.

Her eyes sprung open, her face was dry and her hair was a mess. “Spike! I just had the worst nightmare!” she cried while shivering.

Spike played with his hands uncomfortably. “Well…It wasn’t exactly a nightmare.”

Twilight jolted to a stop as the memories of the previous hours rushed back to her. She could see every traumatizing image span across his mind as if it were a picture book.

Spike comforted Twilight as she leaned back against the ballroom wall.

Twilight felt exhausted. She massages her head while simultaneously questioning Spike, “How long was I out?”

“About ten-no-eleven hours.”

Twilight panicked like a student who had overslept their alarm. “That long?! Aren't we supposed to be leaving soon?” Twilight scanned the room and noticed that it was completely vacant.

“That's the reason why I’m waking you up. Everypony is up and getting ready to evacuate, I just wanted to give you some extra rest,” Spike comforted. “I’m sorry that I don't have any breakfast to give you like usual.”

Twilight smiled. “I’m just glad I’m not waking up to the face of one of the infected. It’s good to see a familiar face-speaking of which-where’s Flash and Shining?”

“Shining is organizing the citizens for the evacuation, Flash has essentially been demoted to your brother's secretary, and Flurry is where you’d expect her to be-right next to Shining,” Spike listed as he counted each important pony off on his fingers.

Twilight got onto her hooves. “Then let’s not keep any of them waiting.”

Spike flashed an adventurous smile and escorted Twilight into the hallway.

Hundreds of ponies had lined themselves up against the massive crystal walls in almost complete silence. Filly’s clung to the mains of their mothers and fathers, individual stallions and mares stared off into space with wide eyes that broadcasted their trauma and everything they had lost, elderly ponies were hanging onto the shoulder of stronger ponies who could carry them, much to Twilight’s concern for both parties safety.

High above the floor was the small percentage of pegasus crystal ponies.

The winged creatures shuttled boxes full of fireworks across the castle, their wings casted a constantly cold breeze onto the earth ponies and unicorns that stood below.

“What are they doing with fireworks?” Twilight wondered.

“Some guards found them in storage, Shining suggested that we shot them off towards the north of the city as a distraction in order to escape. They should be firing them off in just a few minutes,” Spike commented as a few guards from Twilight's entourage snuck up on her.

“Your highness, we have been sent to inform you of the status of evacuation,” the lead pony announced. “Shining Armour has requested that you take the back of the formation and use your shield spell to protect the rear. Shining, meanwhile, will be leading the charge out of the city with his remaining royal guards. All other combatants will form a protective barrier around the civilians in the center. Shining wants us to move fast, so you have to keep up and make sure you or anypony else does not fall behind.”

“And when do we leave?” Twilight muttered nervously.

“In about ten minutes. As soon as the last few crates of fireworks are set up and fired, Shining Armor will give a signal to the group when we move out.”

Twilight gulped, then nodded her head and took flight with Spike. The two overlooked the crowd of refugees.

“Are you ready for this?” Spike asked with soft eyes.

Twilight tried to exhale all of her fears, but they stuck inside her like ash trapped in her lungs. “As ready as I’ll ever be, we just need to focus on keeping these ponies safe.”

Spike clenched his fist and nodded in determination.

Suddenly, all of the soldiers in the hallway stood at attention. Shining Armor emerged at the head of the caravan with Flash at his side and a small, locked chest with an air hole on his back where Twilight assumed Flurry Heart was hiding. Shining bobbed his head between the faces of each and everyone of his subjects, as if he was taking an account of each individual face.

“Attention, citizens of the Crystal Empire! We are about to embark on a dangerous, yet necessary mission-”

The entirety of the crowd stood silently. They watched in anticipation as they jittered or looked around to each other nervously.

“This mission will decide the fate of the Crystal Empire and the entirety of the realm, but fear not! For the Empire still has its hope and love!”

Two pegasus guards flew above Shining’s head. They held onto two poles each that connected to a glass chest. The inside of the chest glowed brightly from the light of the Crystal Heart.

The crystal ponies looked on in awe.

“Whenever you get nervous or fearful of the outside, just think of the Heart, of your family, of your neighbor and of your country! I am only asking each and everyone of you one thing-fight your hardest, look out for each other, and remember that if you encounter an infected, no matter how pony-like they are, put…them…down.”

The ponies looked nervous, but ready, like soldiers about ready to storm a landing ground.

Shining turned towards the door, he waited for the pegasi guards to return.

Suddenly, a loud boom and crackle echoed across the castle.

Twilight turned towards one of the windows. They were boarded up, but Twilight could catch glimpses of a splendid rainbow of colors as they fizzled out in the distance.

The pegasi flew down the hallway with empty boxes and landed next to Shining. “All the fireworks have been primed. We have about five minutes until all have gone off.

“That’s five minutes of cover. If we move fast enough, we may be able to make it to the train station by the time they stop. But that means we have to leave-now!” Shining explained as he turned to his subjects. “Everypony! We leave now!”

The guards pushed open the doors.

Shining used to his telekinesis to grab a short sword from an armor stand that had been stripped bare. He raised it above his head and charged.

The others followed suit like a herd of bulls charging.

Twilight and Spike took off down the stairs.

The stairs where covered in a layer of bloody hooves prints, but their were no signs of infected.

Twilight fluttered out of the castle doors and into the glow of a hundred fireworks exploding in the northern end of the city. The rush of the escape filled her veins with adrenaline.

The entire horde of infected had vanished from the premises, leaving only a few mangled dozen bodies scattered across the ground.

Back towards the fireworks, Twilight watched as infected pegasi flew straight into the explosions, igniting their wings in flames and sending them falling to the ground.

Twilight could hear the blooding gurgling and clamoring of a crowd of corpses as they almost seemed to become entranced by the burst of colors overhead, like an annoying cloud of flies driving into a fire.

Crystal ponies penetrated the ruins of the city and towards the train station. Their pace was not as slow as a casual walk in the woods, but it was not a racing pace either.

Twilight doubted that they could make it to the train station in under five minutes, considering that it was about a mile away.

The elderly ponies were essentially being carried through the streets as their legs were not able to keep up with the younger stallions and mares.

Shining spearheaded the group into an abandoned market area. Dozens on dozens of stalls had been set up on a square of perfectly flat and smooth crystal that had been tainted by puddles of blood and corpses.

One of the stalls shook like a rattlesnake threatening to strike.

Right as Twilight noticed the motion, an infected jumped out from under the stall and drove its mouth into the neck of one of the perimeter guards.

His screams echoed across the open city. His neck opened like a foundation-spewing blood across the street.

The civilians flinched before jumping away from the bloody scene.

“Get away!” Twilight screamed as an instinctual pink blast shot from her horn, the energy entered through the ponies eye socket and blasted out of its skull.

Mashed and fried brains sprinkled the ground as the two, now deceased, ponies tumbled over each other.

The preceding guard placed his hoof on his fallen comrades neck. “He’s gone, what do we do?” he cried out to anyone who would hear.

Twilight flew above, her expression was sour and pained, she felt some sort of spectator, sitting back and watching as those below her died. She had not seen what the infected were capable of, but now she knew now.

A stallion pushed those around him forward. “Hurry! Hurry! Keep moving before its too late!”

Twilight kept flying, but with a heavy weight now hung in her heart, only numbed by her adrenaline filled dash through the air.

Picking up the body and dragging it would only slow the group down even more, but it felt wrong to just leave the poor thing on the ground.

Twilight looked back at the body as the ground quickly trotted away.

Her focus was suddenly snatched from her again.

The musical sound of cracking and falling glass sliced through the air as an infected broke through a second story window and jumped into the center of the crowd below.

Twilight was more prepared this time and fired another magical bolt into the infected before it even got close to its target.

Her projectile tore its way through the ponies chest and stomach, blowing its belly open and raining intestines down onto the ground.

Yet, to Twilight horror, the infected pony still continued biting.

The disabled infected dropped head first onto an elderly mare’s back, its teeth disappeared beneath the mare’s wrinkled skin.

The sickening crack of a spinal cord rang over the mare’s screams in pain.

The mare’s hind legs went limp as her attacker ate upwards towards her neck and arteries.

Her poor old heart went out right as a guardstalion thrusted his spear directly into the eyes of the infected.

The entire length of the formation began to panic as civilians weaved around the increasing piles of bodies.

The screams served as a neon sign that pointed directly above the vulnerable ponies. Straggling groups of zombies came through the woodwork to spread their infection and feast.

Twilight kept her head on a swivel, she fired rapidly into crowds of infected as they attempted to advance, keeping most of them at bay.

Still, some infected broke through the formation like a bull rushing through a farm's fence.

Left and right ponies began to fall. For every two or three infected that the guards stabbed down, one would get close enough to take out a guard or a civilian in turn.

Twilight’s magic and Spike’s flames lit up the sky as they brought down an ever increasing horde of infected that trailed the group. The bodies of infected ponies and abandoned civilian corpses began to pile up like a trail of bread crumbs that lead right to the survivors.

The fireworks had finally stopped firing off in the distance. The screams intensified.

The city darkened, glimmers of light arrived in the form of occasional burst of magical energy as unicorns fired into their enemies.

The pink dome was getting closer off in the distance, Twilight heart fluttered. “We're almost there!”

Shining Armor’s horn hummed as a beam of magic rose above the air like a knife.

The magic penetrated the pink dome and made a downwards slice.

The dome was pulled back like a curtain to the train station outside.

A singular pony, the conductor, stood outside his train with a winter coat over his body. “What is this?” he screamed. His request for answers took a backseat as a herd of ponies pushed their way through the dome.

The refugees spilled onto the snow covered ground, some were covered in blood. Most ponies pushed past the conductor and invaded the passenger cars of the train, weaker ponies collapsed to the ground much to the confusion and screams of Twilight’s staff.

Shining pushed his back to the dome wall. His eyes bounced between the heads of his subjects, counting each pony that made it through the barrier.

The other guards pushed their shoulders against each other, locking in place like a barbed wire fence that wrapped around the flanks of the refugees. They lowered their spears in a defensive line that the infected willing subjected themselves to.

Twilight and Spike were still a ways out.

The cut in the dome looked like the finish line at the end of a race, it was wide open and the massive headlight from the train shone brightly, almost as if it was inviting the princess to exit the city.

Twilight felt weightless as she glided towards the exit. “Almost their, we’ll be free in nowtime, just as long as nothing bad happens.” Twilight continued to rain down fire on the mostly earth pony infected.

The remaining citizens of the Empire weaved around both disabled and advancing zombies in a desperate dance with the jaws of death.

One young mare, who looked like they had just grown out of being called a filly, ran at the very end of formation with nothing but a guard behind them.

The raspy shriek tore through the crowd as an infected unicorn with a chewed off ear blasted down its front door with a crystal projectile. It turned its blank canvas eyes to the screaming mare and ignited its horn with a snarl.

A crystal structure formed around its horn before blasting off in the direction of the mare.

She screamed and ducked down, doing a desperate cartwheel and scraping up her leg in the process.

The clueless guard pony’s eyes widen in shock and fear before all life extinguished from his body as the free flying crystal soared over the mare’s body and into his chest. He fell to the ground with a damn gasp.

“Stop!” Twilight ordered in vain as she fired back at the infect, blowing its head straight off its neck.

The young mare screamed as the crystal ponies in front of her ran away without even noticing the female. She laid on the ground like a little guppy that was being surrounded by a school of sharks.

Twilight felt her feelings of weightlessness disappear as she descended to the ground. She covered the young girl with her wing like it was a comfort blanket. Her teeth clenched and her face dropped into a frown. “Can you walk, young one?”

The mare nodded her tear covered face. She slowly raised herself on her trembling legs that bled out onto the ground. She winced like somepony had thrown salt into her opened wounds.

Twilight felt the ground shake she turned back and watched as a massive horde-at least a few hundred ponies strong-rushed down the street, undoubtedly returning from the firework show in the north.

Twilight gasped.

“What is it, your highness?” the mare sobbed as Spike helped pull her up.

“Nothing, just run! I’ll cover you,” Twilight exclaimed as a barrage of crystal projectiles
arched through the air.

Twilight’s aura became visible as she put all her attention into the formation of a street wide shield that absorbed the incoming crystals. She looked back and watched and waited as Spike and the mare got outside the dome before finally relieving herself from holding up the shield.

Twilight turned and with a single, strong flap of her wings rocketed her body down the length of the street.

The shield shattered and crumbled into a pink dust behind her as a wave of large stallions hammered the defenses.

A flock of pegasi zombies took the lead and began to gain on Twilight, they flew as if they could not feel the pain and burning sensation that Twilight felt as she flapped her wings at top speed.

“The princess is coming-and so is that horde! Fall out!” Shining declared as a group of guards exited through the dome. Shining readied himself for battle.

Twilight’s heart began to hammer her chest as she snaked her flight patterns around the trajectory of the incoming crystal projectiles.

“Hurry! Let’s go!” Shining exclaimed, now surrounded by only Flash, his two personal guards, and a graveyard of infected with their heads smashed in.

Twilight’s conductor poked his body into the dome with a worried expression. “What under Celestia’s sun is going on here?”

Shining exploded. “Get out of here you stupid horse! Do you want to die?”

The conductor froze and pucker his lips in shock as Twilight zoomed past him and hit the ground hard against the snowy outside.

“Sweet Celestia! The princess!” the conductor gasped as a reloaded barrage of crystal rained down from the sky.

“I told you to leave!” Shining screamed as he tackled the lanky stallion to the outside as crystals rained down and shattered into dozens of tiny bits of shrapnel that pelted himself and his men. The crystals sounded like popcorn in a pot as it bounced off the stallions’ armor. Shining blasted the domes opening with his horn.

The gap in the shield was almost immediately welded shut as Shining reinforced the shield with an additional spell.

The rapidly advancing pegasi slammed head first into the shield. Their skulls cracked open and splattered all over the inside of the dome like water balloons.

The conductor threw up. “What was that?!”

“Those are what would have torn into your body if you didn’t leave the dome like I told you too! Now go back to the train and to your damn job!” Shining cried as the conductor whimpered.

“Uh-uh, y-yes, sir.” The conductor ran back to the engine as a steady stream of steam arose from the smokestack.

The noise of a dozen sets of hooves began to overpower Shining Armor’s voice as he spouted out orders. “Alright, I want all guards on high alert. I want everypony that exited that city to be checked for bites or scratches. The infection can start from even the smallest cuts-so be vigilant. If you find an obvious bite on a pony-throw them off the train, if you find a small scratch, tie the injured pony down and quarantine them so you can better monitor them for symptoms of infection.”

“What?! You can’t be serious,” Twilight gasped.

Shining did not even look in Twilight’s direction. “The orders of the princess of friendship are not to be taken serious. You are to report to me. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” a singular guard responded.

Flash Sentry stood with his ears drooping.

The second of Shining’s guards appear to be staring off into space.

Shining gave his first guard an affirming nod before stepping towards the other two stallions. “Is that clear?” he repeated.

Flash looked even more nervous as the crystal guards suddenly hoped back into consciousness.

“Ah! Uhm, yeah-yes, sir…” he voice began to trail off as his eyes glazed over.

“Is there a problem?” Shining asked.

Twilight looked at the guard and noticed a stream of blood running down his chest and dripping onto the snow below.

“No, sir. I’m just…a little under the weather-yeah-under the weather,” the guards rambled as Shining tore open the young stallion chest plate and dropped it to the ground.

The ponies gasped as they gazed into the wound on the guard's neck. A crystal from the barrage had logged itself directly into the stallion's neck.

The guard fell like a piece of lumber as Flash rushed to his side. “Oh my…I think his arty has been served, he’s losing consciousness. What do we do?”

Shining froze. He suddenly started grinding his teeth as he stomped his foot. “There’s nothing we can do, even if we stop the bleeding he’s still infected! Damn it!” he cried. “We were so close! He was fine just before we stepped out of the city! This is bullshit!”

Twilight was taken aback by Shining’s outburst. She watched as her brother's breath turned into mist as he exhaled sharply.

His tears began to flow and run down his face like icicles. “Damn it…” he whispered as he ignited his horn.

“What are you doing? He’s still alive!” Twilight shouted as she kicked her brother who failed to budge.

“Twi-we all know that he’s going to die, then he’ll try to kill us. I have to put him down.” Shining softly explained as he looked down at the guard as he weakly coughed on his own blood. Shining readied a magic beam and carefully steadied his horn and neck. “I’ll make this quick.”

Twilight raised a shield over the stallion's dying body. “Please, let him live, he’s not infected yet.”

Shining solemnly looked over at his sister. “Twilight, your making this worse than it needs to be. Don’t you see he’s infected? The virus is already flooring throughout his bloodstream. In this state, even if we heal his wounds, he’ll only last an hour tops! So just get on the train, I don’t want you or Flurry to see this!” Shining untied the chest that Flurry was hiding in the drop it at Twilight's feet. “I gave Flurry sleeping meds, they should wear off in about half an hour. I want you to rest her in a safe and comfortable place.”

“I’m not going to babysit while you're killing that stallion!” Twilight put the chest onto her back and tied it down.

“You don’t have a choice.” Shining nodded to his last remaining guard who pounced onto Twilight.

The stallion wrapped his front limbs around Twilight wing, locking himself onto Twilight while also preventing her from flying away.

“What are you doing?! Get off me!” Twilight cried as the guard pulled Twilight towards the train, bending her wing at an unnatural angle. Twilight sobbed in pain, causing her shield to fall apart.

“Relax, princess, it will all be over soon,” the stallion replied as he dragged Twilight through the snow.

Twilight fought back, she flapped her other wing, just barley bringing herself up off the ground.

The guard recoiled in fear. His face contorted and grimaced as all the muscles in his body acted together to bring her down. His grip began to slip as Twilight’s wing began to sliver away.

“You’re making a mistake! You can't kill him!” Twilight screamed.

“Why not?! If I don’t then he’ll just kill everyone on that train!” Shining yelled back with gnashing teeth. “What do you expect me to do?”

Twilight tried to think of a response, but all of the books that she had read in the Canterlot and Ponyville libraries could not give her a logical response. She only grunted and roared as she fought against the poor guard who tried to hold her down.

“For bucks sake! Get her out of here already!” Shining ordered as he turned back andsteadied himself.

It was then when Twilight suddenly felt a second pony grab onto her other wing and ground her permanently. “Wait a minute-Flash? What is this?”

Twilight watched her lover help arrest her and drag her to the train.

Flash avoided making eye contact. His gaze would dash away each time he looked down at Twilight thought she could still tell that he was on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t be seeing this.”

The two stallions dragged Twilight over the train tracks and into the train.

Twilight took one last look at the outside before boarding. She watched as Shining seemed to mouth something to his guard, a single tear ran down his face.

The guard closed his eyes, as if he was drifting off to sleep. He looked peaceful.

A ray of light quickly and effortlessly penetrated the guard's forehead.

The guard’s body bounced due to the impact but almost immediately relaxed and fell back to the ground. He didn’t resist or rile in pain, he just laid there. It was over.

Twilight stopped fighting, it was no use fighting over a corpse. She let herself get dragged to her cabin as a hazy crowd of panicked ponies watched on.

Eventually, the train jolted forwards and began to roar to life as it mechanically pounded the tracks in the direction of Canterlot.

“I’ll take her from here,” Flash offered in a stern, official voice. It was like he was escorting a prisoner away.

Twilight dropped to the ground as Flash shut the cabin door behind them. She started to cry, her shoulder raised off the ground with each sob. Twilight imminently began to think back to Cadance, she could no longer imagine her as her old kind self without seeing the bloodthirsty zombie that stole her body.

Flash turned away from Twilight and hung his head low. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Twilight was still strung out against her floor like a dirty rug. She gently raised her head up. “You don’t need to apologize. There was nothing we could…there was bucking nothing that I could do. That stallion was going to turn no matter what we did.”

Flash looked back at Twilight, just slightly, and eyed her weakly. “You don’t sound like yourself, Twilight.”

Twilight closed her eyes and lowered her head between her hooves, submerging herself in complete darkness. She thought of the stallion that Shining put down. “Well, maybe Shining was right, Maybe friendship can’t solve this problem, maybe I’m just useless and a bucking idiot.”

Twilight could hear Flash slowly trot up to her. She could tell that he was trying to place his hoof on her back to comfort her.

The cabin door was thrown open.

Twilight looked back up as Shining entered the room.

Flash slammed his hoof to the ground and saluted Shining. “Welcome back sir, I was just guarding the princess.”

Shining rolled his eyes. “Stop being a suck up and go help the rest of the guards secure the train.” Shining’s voice sounded tired and disappointed.

Flash gave a salute with an awkward look on his face as she shuffled out of Shining's way and into the civilian train car.

Twilight laid strewn out across the open car. “What do you want?” she whimpered with a hint of aggression in her voice.

“I’m making sure my little sister and daughter are alright,” Shining said softly. He took the chest away from Twilight and opened it. He gently reached into and retrieved a balled up Flurry Heart before placing the little filly on a nearby coach.

Flurry snored softly without a single care in the world.

Twilight couldn’t stop looking at the precious little ball of joy.

“She’s what I do all of this for,” Shining interjected.

Twilight lowered her ears and turned her head from Shining.

Shining growled. “So you’re just going to not talk to me?”

“Please, like you would listen to anything I had to say,” Twilight whispered.

The two did not speak to each other for the next minute.

Shining just eyed Twilight with infuriated eyes.

Twilight could feel the gaze burning into her coat. She shuffled around where she was sitting and trying to avoid her brother's looks but nothing gave her relief. She contemplated talking back but everytime she moved her lips to speak her vocal cords refused to budge.

The cabin door slammed open, breaking the stalemate.

“Spike?” the two ponies exclaimed as the purple dragon ran into the cabin holding a scroll in his hands.

“Sweet Celestia! I’m glad the three of you are alright! I just finished writing this letter to Celestia and Luna explaining our situation. I just need your official signature and I can send it,” Spike piped up.

Twilight immediately swiped the letter from across the room with her horn and began to proofread it.

The wording was quick and sloppily written but still eligible. It described the situation at the Crystal Empire, the infected, and the status of Twilight and the train full of ponies.

Twilight was perfectly fine with the informal tone of the letter, the situation did not afford time for formalities. She just copied her signature onto the document before tossing it back to Spike to be sent.

“Do you think they’ll even get it?” Shining asked, his mouth hung open with a frown.

“We're far enough from the Crystal City, right? Once we get away from those infected ponies my teleportation magic should be back to normal,” Twilight recounted.

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Shining replied. “Two trains with infected ponies on they took off two days ago. They should both be in Manehattan and Canterlot by now, perhaps further. We have to consider the fact that-”

“Shining, I know, but being a pessimist is not going to change anything. But if this letter is able to be sent then that means that Canterlot and Manehatten are fine, then I can teleport myself and the rest of this train to safety. This whole thing will finally be over.”

Shining looked over to Spike. “In that case, go for it,” he locked eyes with Spike who nervously held up the scroll in his hands.

Spike took a deep breath, his cheeks inflated and stretch like little red balloons that were about ready to painfully burst. The dragon exhaled, sending forth a flurry of green flames towards the message.

The flames seemed to almost avoid the paper for a moment as they wrapped themselves around and up the parchment before squeezing in tightly like a python. The fire engulfed the paper, turning it into a gust of ash.

Twilight watched the pile of ash. “Please,” she whispered.

Her heat dropped as the ash flowed through the air and descended to the ground like debris from an explosion. The rest of the message took fire and immediately blackened like burned skin and crumbled to the floor.

Twilight dropped in front of the ash pile and immediately began to try and pick up the pieces with her hooves, but the burnt crisps flew out of her hands with the slightest breeze. She started to cry again with his her chin pressed against the ground.

Spike gasped with his claws inside his mouth.

“Looks like we’re not out of the woods yet,” Shining replied as he tightened his armor. “This is going to be a long ride.”

Twilight looked over to her desk. A photo of herself and her friends sat proudly in the center.

“Please, be alright,” Twilight whispered as she looked over Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Starlight. “Please.”

Author's Note

As Twilight races home, the state of Equestria seems bleaker than ever. Is their anything left back home? Find out next time as Rarity and Applejack take Manehatten right as the first infected crash into the city.

*Chapter Six will hopefully be out next week. However, due me starting university early my writing has slowed and I may have to take a break from writing for a week. I'll post any and all updates necessary.

Thanks for reading. All criticism is allowed and appreciated. :)

Chapter Six: Vector Major

Crystal Blood Part 6: Vector Major

Manehattan, Equestria, Day 1

Rarity

Rarity was exhausted. Her heart was pounding, her lungs inflated and deflated on a whim-
and her hooves-her own hooves-were aching as if she had just trotted the entirety of the trip from Ponyville to Manehattan. She sat down against some of the stairs in her boutique as one of her salesponies approached her.

“Wow, Coco-darling-I am absolutely fatigued. I’m sorry that I had to come to the boutique
on such short notice,” Rarity gasped.

Coco giggled. The petite, mayonnaise color horse sat down next to her boss with a smile.
“Don’t worry about it Rarity, I understand that things have been busy in the past few weeks. I mean I’ve seen it first hoof! We’ve been absolutely slammed with orders, I’m just surprised that you have been able to keep up with demand!”

Rarity smiled and waved Coco away. “Please, you don’t even need to mention it. I’ve been
so busy finishing up classes at the School of Friendship that I didn't even realize that Rarity for You was dangerously understock! It feels like forever since I’ve been able to come back to the shop and visit you.”

Coco got back up onto her feet and scanned the entirety of the freshly stocked storefront.
“Well, I hope that you like how I’ve run the place in your absence.” Coco raised her hoof and pointed across the room to the new paint job, mannequins, and speakers that were tucked away around the store. Coco hit a button on the side of the wall and the latest Equestrian hits began to play over the speakers.

Rarity smiled and placed her hoof over her chest. “My-my, you really have been hard at
work. This place looks absolutely incredible!”

Coco blushed. “It's the least I could do for this place, Rarity. I just thought that I needed to
bring it into the modern era.”

“Modern era? What do you mean by that..?” Rarity gasped. “Wait, do you think that my styles are falling behind?!”

Coco chuckled. “No, your designs are perfect. It's just that some of the technology in the shop is a little old, that’s all. You see, a lot of shops in Manehattan are beginning to use radios in their shops, so I thought that it would be best to buy one for ourselves.”

Rarity rubbed her chin. “Ah-yes-I have heard of radios before. I only ever see them when I
head into the big cities, Ponyville on the other hoof has almost nothing of the sort.”

Coco led Rarity to a corner of the room where a cabinet sized device was situated.

The device was covered in small buttons that Coco began to mess with as Rarity sat back and watched.

“I’m telling you, Rarity, this stuff is the future! With the flick of the hoof I can listen to the latest music, the news from across Equestria, or even entire shows!” Coco excitedly explained as she spun a dial on the radio as a cacophony of voices filled the closed shop.

One station appeared to be enthralled in a battle between a furiously played cello and an
unrelenting and bass power electric keyboard.

“Wait! I recognise some of those songs! Is that Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody? I know them from Ponyville,” Rarity excitedly clapped her hooves together with a giddish smile.

“Well, it looks like their music careers are doing good. Perhaps we should consider dipping our hooves into the world of radio. You know they have entire stations dedicated to advertising and shopping!” Coco suggested.

Rarity’s eyes sparkled. “Really?!” she exclaimed with a toothy grin. “Wow, darling, I must say that I feel like I have been transported into some technological wonderland. I wish I could learn more, but…” Rarity’s voice trailed along off with her energy.

Coco calmed down as well. “Oh-right, you have to leave soon.”

“I completely forgot,” Rarity started as she slapped herself in the center of her forehead. “I wish I could stay for longer, I really do…”

Coco piped up. “Ma’am, you could stay at my place if you would like. I enjoy your company too-”

Rarity raised her hoof and silenced the young salespony. “Darling, finding a place to stay is
not the problem this time, nor does it have anything to do with my schedule or work load. You see, I did not come to Manehatten alone this time, I traveled with a friend.”

“Which one?” Coco pondered.

Rarity bit her lip. “Applejack…” she announced quietly.

Coco’s face lit up like a shooting star. “AJ! Why didn’t you tell me she was in Manehattan? I would have loved to have her!-Wait…why are you making that sour face?” Coco pointed to Rarity’s frown.

“Oh my, you haven’t heard the news…have you?” Rarity choked up.

“No, most of the news I hear about your friends comes through you, Rarity. Is something wrong?” Coco asked in confusion.

Rarity rubbed her hooves together in a fidgeting motion. “Applejack’s grandmother is dying. She came to Manehatten to buy medicine. We need to get back to Ponyville as soon as we can.”

Coco gasped and covered her mouth. “Goodness, I didn’t know. Give Applejack my condolences…please.”

The doorbell to the boutique jingled from across the shop as the two mares jumped in shock.

“Sorry, we are closed,” Coco explained as she looked to see who had invaded the storefront.

An orange pony with a dusty hat entered through the door with a tightly stringed sack at her side. Her hair was curled and bent at unnatural angles along with being completely oily and filthy, almost as if it had gotten stuck in one of Pinkie Pies used mixers.

The mare's eyes were fixed only on what was directly in front of her and seemed totally exhausted.

“Applejack?” Coco whispered her ears dropped.

Applejack did not reply, she appeared to be lost in her own head.

Rarity sighed. “Don’t worry, darling, she’s been like this for weeks.”

Applejack's eyes slowly crept over to Rarity and Coco. “Oh, there you two are, I didn’t see You. I’m ready to get going when you are, Rarity.”

“Just a moment!” Rarity pulled Coco to the side. “I’m sorry that things had to end like this, but we need to get this medicine to Granny Smith. Thank you for everything.”

Coco nodded. “I understand, but what do you want me to do about the shop?”

“Just close down for the day, it makes no sense to stay open when we have already wasted the entire morning restocking the shop.” Rarity waved the question off. “Have fun the rest of the day! Just be sure to lock up before you leave.”

“You’re too generous, Rarity,” Coco giggled as she and Rarity hugged goodbye.

Rarity waved goodbye as she took Applejack's hoof and led her out of the shop. “Did you get everything you need?” she quickly asked.

Applejack sighed and reached into her pouch. She pulled out a single glass bottle containing a substance as clear and pure as water. “This is it. It’s supposed to be some of the best and rarest pain medicine in the entire kingdom. I only hope that it’s enough.”

Rarity walked to the side, but just ahead of Applejack in order to lead her through the hustle and bustle of the early morning Manehatten traffic and to the train station safely. “Do you think that's enough to cure her?”

Applejack scoffed and pocketed the serum. “As far as I know, nothing can cure her. Granny Smith has lived for many moons and as far as I’m aware it’s just her time, it happens, the only thing I can do is try to make her comfortable.” Applejack reached her hoof up to her hat and pulled the brim over her eyes.

From the sliver of her face that was still visible, Rarity could see a watery sparkle in her eyes.

“Uhm…are you okay darling?” Rarity asked as she lowered her head to try to catch a peak under Applejack’s shield.

Applejack pulled away from Rarity as she concealed her face. “Oh course, I’m fine.”

Rarity gave her friend a smug frown. “You know, for the element of honesty, you sure are comfortable with lying.”

Applejack snapped her neck towards Rarity. Her face was wrinkled and robbed of color like a corpse. “Now won’t you shut the barn door! I said I’m fine!”

Rarity recoiled with a puppy-like whimper. “Uhm…sorry, AJ. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Applejack sighed. “It’s fine, sugarcube, you don’t have to worry none about me. You have enough in your trough as is and I don’t want to spoil anything for you.”

The two mares continued weaving in and out of the Manhattan rush hour crowds in an awkward silence.

The street was beginning to fill with hardworking ponies on their way to work. They stuck close and brushed against each other on the thin city sidewalks.

The familiar whistle of a train echoed through the alleyways as Rarity perked up.

“Ooh, do you hear that, Applejack? We have almost arrived at the train station. Soon we’ll be in Ponyville with your family. Doesn’t that sound pleasant?” Rarity fished for a morsel of a smile on Applejack’s face.

Applejack did not respond for a few minutes. She kept her head down until the pair made it to the steps of the train station. “Yeah, I guess you're right, I want to spend as much time with Granny before…” Applejack’s voice trailed off as her eyes waters.

She shook her head like a dog trying to dry itself off before stepping onto the stairs and towards the doors to the station. “Nevermind,” she quickly added before stepping into the station.

Rarity closed her mouth, disheartened. “I better not open up that wound anymore, at least for a little while.”

Applejack silently took a seat at a train station bench and looked down at her hooves, her wrinkled eyelids where unblinking.

Rarity tried to keep a stable eye on her friend as she bought the tickets for the first train back to Ponyville, a train from the Crystal Empire that was stopping in Manehattan and Ponyville on its way down towards Appleloosa.

An attendant pony informed Rarity that the train should be arriving within ten minutes.

The news satisfied Rarity, who plopped herself next to her rough and tumble friend.

A crowd of rail workers stood next to them and prepared for the incoming train to arrive. Each one was dressed in a handsome uniform consisting of either white undershirts and black vests or hard hats and overalls.

Rarity and Applejack sat in silence for a moment.

Rarity’s mind raced, she tried to look for some sort of weakness in Applejack’s emotional armor that she could penetrate. Unfortunately, she could see no such path. Rarity took a deep breath and fired aimlessly at her friend.

“Hey…AJ?” Rarity whispered.

“Hmm?” Applejack replied, almost inaudibly.

“I have your ticket!’ Rarity exclaimed with a smile.

Applejack blankly took the ticket in her mouth before turning her head towards the crowd of railroad workers without even saying thank you. She watched their mannerism as they joked around and waited for the train to arrive.

Rarity bit her lip and sat back. “Sweet Celestia, AJ’s getting worse, I just hope I can cheer her up before Applebloom sees her big sister in such a state.” Rarity followed Applejack's eyes towards the crowd of ponies.

The crowd began to get antsy.

The train was supposed to have arrived at that time but the railroad tracks were still bare like a dried out skeleton. Infact, the train had not even blown its whistle to announce its approach to the station.

“I’m going to check with the track operator, he can radio the conductor and ask what the hold up is!” a young railroad attendant asked as he galloped up to some office space on the second floor of the station.

“C’mon, what is taking this fancy machine to get here?!” Applejack groaned-the loudest she had all day and rolled back into her seat.

“Oh no, my dear, I am sure that everything is perfectly fine!” Rarity jolted energetically as she looked over at the squallering rail ponies as they rushed around the platform while trying to convince the busy and anxious Manehattanites that they would not be late.

A door suddenly slammed above them.

Rarity watched as the young rail pony from earlier ran out of the office with a smile on his face.

“The train is on its way! One of our staff members radioed in from the first major rail checkpoint into the station. The conductor, on the other hoof, hasn’t responded to our calls. My best guest is that his radio stopped working. So don’t fear! The train is here!” the young colt announced as the platform erupted into a burst of cheers and sighs of relief.

Ponies began to stand by the platform and lean over the sides to watch as the train came in.

About a half kilometer of straight track led to the specific platform that Rarity and Applejack stood on. That specific rail also ended with a massive brick wall and train barricade.

Any and all trains going through this specific track would have to pull in, collect its passengers, and then reverse for a kilometer or so until it reached a track that it could transition over to. It was a result of the old and outdated rail lines along with the lack of land available in such a dense city.

Still, the system usually worked.

“There it is!” Rarity sang as she watched the train appear from off in the distance.

The train kicked up a burst of sparks as it made a sharp turn down the tracks at unnecessarily fast speeds.

“Oh my, the conductor must be trying to make up for lost time! He must be rather reckless,” Rarity added rather jittery.

Applejack took a step away from the tracks. “Uhm…Rarity, this doesn’t seem safe,” she mumbled quietly.

The rail ponies, while not being able to hear Applejack, seemed to agree and began to scatter.

A unicorn worker grabbed a megaphone and a flare before running to the end. He ignited the flare and raised the megaphone to his mouth. “Conductor! Break immediately! You are exceeding the standard station speed limits!” The flare waved rapidly above the unicorn head.

The conductor, if he could ever see or hear the unicorns warnings, made no attempt to slow down.

The train continued to huff and puff like a furious beast.

The unicorn’s face shifted to a look of fear. He turned towards the platform and lifted the megaphone towards the passengers. “Clear the platform! Now!”

Ponies screamed and slammed against each other as they crammed through the doors of the station.

Pegasi took fight and abandoned the station.

Workers jumped down stairs to reach emergency exits and maintenance tunnels.

Rarity quickly turned and followed the fleeing pones.

The ground shook like there was an earthquake. The vibrations deafened the scream and confused shouts of the ponies around them.

Rarity glanced back and watched as Applejack stood where she was.

Her legs were rooted to the ground and her lips had been clenched into a fearful frown. She seemed to be completely frozen with no thoughts to move.

“AJ!” Rarity screamed as she used her unicorn telekinesis to pull back Applejack's hair and drag the earth pony across the ground.

“What in tarnation?!” Applejack gasped like she had been holding her breath.

Rarity caught Applejack and the two tumbled backwards and down the flight of stairs.

The train roared into the station like a meteorite into a city. Its engine choked smoke and sparks up into the air that rained down onto the ponies below.

“Get down!” Rarity shouted as Applejack and herself curled up into balls while covering their heads.

The train rammed straight through the thin barricade. The iron engine did not stop or was even slowed by the barricade as the vehicle ran straight through the wall of the train station.

A deafening, earthy crack echoed through the station as the train's front bulldozed down the stone and brick walls.

The walls themselves cracked under the pressure and fell on top of the train as the engine, coal car, and the first couple of passenger compartments disappeared behind the wall and into the buildings next door.

Dust and particles invaded the enclosed space, forcing Rarity and Applejack to begin hacking up the debris in their lungs.

The train engine bursted into a ball of flames that filled the room with light before extinguishing itself and leaving nothing but destruction and darkness.

Rarity screamed.

Applejack shivered and rocked.

The train soon rolled to an abrupt stop in compliance with the sounds of bending and scrapping metal.

The crash was over, but the chaos was still unfolding.

The low grumble of support beams bending and bricks slowly crumbling around them filled the room along with the screams of other ponies.

Rarity jumped to her hooves. She took one look at the train cars with their shattered windows and at the flames that slowly crept from car to car before turning to Applejack. “We have to help those ponies!”

“Are you crazy? You’ll get us all killed!” Applejack shouted.

“Well I don’t see any pony else rushing in to help!” Rarity replied as the sounds of metal wires twisting and snapping rag out above.

“Look out!” Applejack shouted as she rushed Rarity and pushed her to the ground as a light filament came crashing to the ground right where Rarity had been standing. “See? This whole place is falling apart.”

Rarity looked up at Applejack with hope in her eyes. “AJ, that’s why we need to go now. If we don’t get those ponies out soon then this whole building could collapse on them.”

Applejack was silent for a second that felt like an eternity before looking back up to Rarity with a chuckle. “Sweet Celestia, you're right.”

Rarity gave Applejack a knowing nod as she activated her protection spell and turned to the rumble behind them. “Stick with me, don’t get crushed…”

“You bet, sugarcube,” Applejack replied as the two charged towards the nearest passenger car. Applejack would take the lead and use her back legs to buck the door in.

Rarity hopped into the smoky car as she switched her unicorn magic in order to have a bright aura surround her horn like flames on the torch. “Hello? Anyone in here?” Rarity's eye dropped to the side of her head as he eyes widened in the dark car.

Although the onboard lamps had been completely destroyed, Rarity could still see the carnage inside.

Blood stains and bloody hoof prints covered the walls and seats. It looked as though someone had dropped a barrel of punch on the ground.

Fluids dripped down from the ceiling and splattered against Rarity’s shield and Applejack’s hat.

The belongings of the ponies were spilled out around the car, which Rarity expected, but they were still in a peculiar shape. Some pieces of clothing looked like they had been torn into by animals.

“Where are the bodies? Where are the survivors?” Rarity coughed on the smoke that was bellowing into the car like water into a boat that had sprung a leak.

Applejack bent down at the bloody hoof prints.

They all appeared to be going towards the caboose of the train.

“It looks like those ponies must have crawled to the back of the train. Maybe there's an emergency exit?” Applejack suggested as she pushed Rarity down the car. “C’mon, we got to get to those ponies before the fire gets to us.”

The cracking of flames and the sounds of crumbling bricks rained down atop the ceiling.

“Wait!” Rarity shouted over the noise. “Something isn’t right! How could ponies that have been injured enough to cause this much of a blood bath have the ability to pick themselves up and just walk it off?”

“I don’t know how, but from what I can tell it clearly looks like they did. Now c’mon for Celestia's sake!” Applejack shouted as she made her way to the end of the car and proceeded to bust this one off the hinges as well. She took one look into the room as her face turned green. She stumbled backwards and fell onto her flank with a high pitched, choppy scream.

“What is it?!” Rarity asked with the high pitched cry of a curious child. She stepped over Applejack and looked into the car.

“No! Don’t look!” Applejack cried to no result.

Rarity took a step into the room and laid her now gaping eyes onto what Applejack had seen. She stumbled back and emptied the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

Before the two mares laid the body of a young, emerald colored mare.

Around her neck was a bag with the symbol of the University of Manehattan. Her body was covered in long scratches, her limbs were outreached at odd angles.

Her front chest and neck had been embedded with shards of crystal, as if the poor thing had been thrown into a crystal vase.

A river of blood flowed from her open mouth and her ripped open stomach and onto the ground.

Rarity couldn’t help but look at the blood. It looked like too much for just a singular pony to have in their body normally.

Applejack helped Rarity stand up and whip the many tears from her eyes. “It’s fine, Rarity, just don’t look at it.”

Rarity could not help but look at the carnage unwaveringly. She had never seen anything like it.

The body was perfectly still, even the mare’s eyes seemed to be frozen in a look of terror.

For a moment Rarity took in the silence of death. It was all she could think about. A corpse that would never move again. Then, the body moved.

Rarity jumped back into Applejack’s tight grasp and screamed. “She’s alive!”

Applejack replied with a soothing voice. “Calm down, it’s just reflexes. They sometimes happen post mortem.”

“-No! I saw something move!” Rarity replied as she dove her forehead straight into Applejack’s chest fluff.

“Rarity, I think you're being delusional…I mean that pony is dead. They’re not even breathing!”
Applejack replied as she looked onto the body. She squinted her eyes onto the carnage as the mare's front leg-one that had been bent out of shape suddenly swung back into place with the click reminset of that from a buckle.

“What in bucking tarnation?!” Applejack cried as Rarity escaped from her clutches.

“See?! I told you!” Rarity cried as the other legs popped back into place.

The mare’s eyes spun around in their sockets before finally centering themselves onto Rarity and Applejack’s faces.

The mare’s legs extended outwards as her broken body got off the crimson ground.

Her jaws were broken and failed to make any understandable words besides the labored grunt. Still, her face continued to contort and snap at the pair.

“Ma’am! Don’t move! Who knows what kind of injuries you have!” Applejack cried as the mangled pony decrepitly made their way down the walkway.

“Darling, I don’t think she can hear you…” Rarity looked up at the mare’s blank stare.

The mare bared her jaws, bits of flesh and multiple colored hair strands hung from her front teeth like streamers.

Rarity was entranced by the carnage. Her heart slid down to her stomach and she stomached more vomit. “Is that her flesh or another pony’s?” she thought to herself in an icy panic.

Applejack pushed herself between Rarity and the oncoming mare. “Get back, Rarity. Something ain’t right!”

The mare stabilized herself while stumbling like a drunk. Then she made an energetic dash towards Applejack.

Rarity reacted by covering her eyes with her hooves and screaming but not before establishing a diamond shaped magic shield in front of Applejack.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed from outside of the train.

Rarity tried to look out the window to see what it was but it was simply filled with too much blood, dust, and smokey ash.

An exit door between Rarity and the bloody pony was broken open and thrown to the ground.

A police pony stuck his head through the door and looked back to Applejack and Rarity. “What are you two doing here?! Get off the train! Do you want to get yourself killed?”

The mangled mare’s eyes widened as the pony stuck out his twist neck right before her. She lunged forward without the stallion noticed and swung her jaws against his neck. Blood splashed across the room as the pony’s artery was ripped from his neck.

The stallion’s screams turned into a moist gaggle as his body hit the ground hard and his body began to go limp.

Rarity’s mouth dropped as she continued to scream.

Applejack jabbed Rarity in the chest and spouted out orders. “For pony’s sake just blast her already! You're a unicorn, ain’t ya?”

Rarity panicked and sent a jolt of energy towards the emerald mare.

The spell was weak. But it was enough to act as a bat that could knock the pony all the way back into the other car where it rolled straight into the passenger door, breaking the thing into two pieces.

Rarity rushed towards the police pony and tried to magically hold his wounds, unfortunately, he was already gone. “He’s not breathing? What do we do?”

Applejack stuttered. “Uhm…I…I don’t know…let's get out of here and find a real doctor for this stallion.”

The emerald pony groaned from across the room.

Rarity looked shocked. “She’s still alive?” She looked back at Applejack and half expected her to make a snarky remark about post mortem reflexes, but her face was frozen with shock and awe.

The emerald mare backed away from the door as a family of multi-colored hooves appeared from its splitting crack.

The hooves tore and bucked down the reminder of the door as a division of ponies with injuries ranging from small bite and scratch marks to the amputation of entire limbs and patches of flesh lumbered out in confusion.

Blood and flesh ripped from their mouths, along with some sort of sparkling dust that caught Rarity’s eyes.

Unfortunately, Rarity did have the time to investigate further.

“Run, Rarity!” Applejack powered her head and violently nudged Rarity around and towards the back of the car.

“But what about the officer?” Rarity cried as Applejack spun her around and sent her racing towards the exit.

“He’s dead! And we'll be too if we don’t get off this train!” Applejack shouted as she clenched her teeth and dashed.

Rarity looked back as a wave of dread came over her. She felt as if she was about to be hit by a tsunami as the horde of bloody and shredded ponies rushed over each other in hopes of gorging themselves on her flesh.

“Don’t look back, sugarcube, just run-RUN!” Applejack shouted as the wall of death gained on them.

Rarity's heart raced as she followed Applejack's tail as it made a sharp turn and threw itself out of the train car and back onto the station platform.

The mares raced down the platform and towards the double doors at the exit.

The chimes and groans of glass shattering and metal structures.

Rarity flinched and braced for impact. She looked up at the ceiling in anticipation that part of the roof was about ready to cave in on her. Yet, to her surprise, the building still seemed somewhat sound despite the train impact and the flames that ran from the sides.

Back on the train, the crazy ponies had begun to slam their hooves against the glass windows.

The window shattered under their presence and sent the monsters spilling out like water from a jug.

The beasts immediately got a backup onto their feet and got back to chasing after the mares.

Rarity’s legs were moving faster than they even had. She and Applejack entered a full out sprint as they crossed the threshold to the outside and ran right into the hooves of an oncoming group of police officers.

“Woah, boys! Stop! We have civilians incoming!” the head officer, an old stallion with a balding head and rectangular mustache, shouted as he slid to a stop.

A trio of police ponies who ran behind the officers slid to a stop too, as if they were about to run into a brick wall.

Applejack turned around and slammed the doors to the station shut before any

Rarity pushed the head officer back before he even had the chance to ask what the mare was doing. “Why, sir, you can’t go in there! The ponies on the train have…have…”

“They’ve gone mad!” Applejack shouted. “They attacked us and killed an officer on the train! You can’t go inside!”

The ponies looked around in confusion. “Please ma’am, you're sounding crazy! We have to get in there!”

The police ponies began to push past the pair.

Rarity got onto her stomach and wrapped her legs around the lead officer. She cringed in embarrassment but did not have time to care about how others viewed her. “Stop! If you go into the building you’ll die!”

“Nonsense!” the officer cried. “Let us in! Those “crazy ponies” ao whatever you’ve labeled them need our help. Now let us into the station!”

Applejack snorted and flexed her muscular body. “I’m afraid I can’t let that happen.”

The police froze as they planned their next move.

A loud crack stole the group's attention as all the nearby ponies looked over to the windows on the side of the train station.

A limping unicorn with a broken and hanging jaw and a singed main had stabbed the glass and sent the panes falling onto the ground below. They jumped through the crack, slicing their chest open as they did.

“Sweet Celestia! It’s a survivor.”

The police broke away from Rarity and Applejack before running down to the window as more ponies spilled from the glass. Some had their guts cut open. Others were covered from a mane of hoof in bites.

“What are y'all city slickers thinking?! Can’t you tell those ponies ain’t right?!” Applejack shouted.

A medical team where pure white uniforms each painted with a white cross and five hearts brushed passed Applejack with a stretcher. They set up shop right next to the carnage that overflowed onto the Manehattan streets.

A young nurse pulled out a bandage and calmly approached one of the dangerous ponies. “Stay still, we’re here to help!”

The ponies eyes locked onto the nurses neck as they jumped up into the air and sunk their teeth into her thin neck.

She screamed as her coworkers gasped and tried to pull the pony off their companion.

The other members of the bloodthirsty horde took their own chance to strike. They scattered and striked at the encircled medical workers. Pilling onto them like a pack of hyenas taking on prey.

Within seconds the entire team had been cannibalized. Their screams went quiet as the monsters tore into their throats with great efficiency.

The four on the scene police officers pulled out their batons and rushed the attacking ponies.

“Wait! Stop! What are you doing?” the officers cried as their wooden weapons pounded against flesh and bone.

Dozens of ravenous ponies rushed the officers in the form of one giant wave.

Hundreds of teeth tore into the officer, their batons did little to stop the incoming carnage.

The officers could do little but scream as they succumbed to the horde.

And more of the monster kept coming.

“Run, Rarity!” Applejack cried as she kicked Rarity in her flank, sending her trotting down the street.

“But where to?” Rarity snapped back.

Applejack’s face went blank. She bit her lip and started pondering as if she was thinking, “but where DO we go?” She suddenly found an answer. “The only place nearby-the boutique! C’mon!”

Rarity nodded and chased after Applejack as thought shouted warnings to the oncoming ponies. “Run for your lives! There are cannibals at the train station. Get out of here!”

The Manehattenites looked down at Applejack and Rarity like they were crazy. Some laughed, others looked away as they tried to ignore them, while others stuck their nose up into the air as if they were above the screaming mares.

Rarity grabbed a couple who were sitting at a local cafe and threw their cups onto the ground. “What are you all sitting around for! You’re all in great danger! Run!”

The ponies looked more annoyed at Rarity’s disturbance than fearful.

“Cannibals? Why, what are you two ruffians shrieking about. This is Manehatten, not some backwards settlement from the Badlands!”

The socialite ponies chuckled to themselves before a sudden scream put an end to the carefree mood.

Down at the end of the street, a bloody unicorn in a full conductor’s outfit had jumped onto a well dressed shop pony.

The shop pony’s wonderfully embroidered and sewn dress that Rarity could tell was the result of dozens of hours of work was ripped open in a matter of seconds.

The unicorn’s jaws ripped off chunks of the shop pony's face and eyelids until her body began to go limp due to the puddles of blood that were no longer in her body.

“The loony mares were right!” a stallion with a decedent handlebar mustache shouted as he ran.

The entire crowd echoed with a collective scream as ponies got up from their seats and ran for their lives with no time to spare.

Right as the chaos kicked off, a squad of bloodthirsty ponies turned the corner down the street and jumped a few of the socialites. Ending their lives with a horrifying efficiency.

The unicorn conductor raised his horn and began to fire a barrage of crystals into the backs of the ponies as they fled.

The ponies began dropping like flies around Applejack and Rarity.

Rarity used her shield to the best of her ability to deflect incoming attacks.

Applejack weaved like a serpent around the pathways of incoming projectiles.

The Manehattenites ran like chickens with their heads cut off.

A mare froze in the street after her long dress got caught on a sewer drain, allowing for a stallion to run up from behind and rip her chest open.

An elderly stallion tried in vain to wave down a taxi, only for their pullers to completely ignore him as a crystal sharp entered through one side of his neck and exited through the other.

A blonde unicorn unevenly trotted down the street with at least a dozen or so bags of high end clothes and perfumes floating above her while under the influence of her telekinesis. She cautiously weaved around the screaming ponies at a pace comparable to a snail. She made sure not to get a drop of blood on her expensive belongings.

Her journey ended as an enraged pony sidelined her and dug its jaws into her shoulder blade before snapping her neck and moving onto the next pony.

Rarity and Applejack had no choice but to run and dodge through the streets as a nauseating amount of screams filled the air.

The street before them began to become more recognisable until the Rarity could see the street sign for Rarity For You off in the distance.

“We’re almost there!” Rarity shouted.

An explosion of sounds echoed from around the corner of the boutique.

A stallion pulling a massive taxi cart turned and hit the curb of the sidewalk with so much speed that it almost flipped over.

Two pegasi that looked like dead birds that had been scooped off the ground snapped at the taxi stallion with their broken and jagged teeth. The two pegasi took turns flying down, snapping at the stallion’s neck, and being quickly jabbed away before restarting the process.

Rarity started to feel uneasy. Her heart dropped each time the stallion swerved and almost sent his cart flipping over and she gasped in relief each time it stabilized itself.

“Get off me!” the stallion screamed as she lowered his shoulder and jabbed it into the chest of one of the pegasi.

The pegasus flew unnaturally backwards as its head and caved its skull in a light post.

Bits of skull and brain flew out onto the pavement as the pegasus stopped moving almost instantly.

The second pegasus dove in and landed on the exhausted earth pony's back. Their jaw immediately drove into his neck and clamped down on his veins

A stream of blood poured from the stallion's neck as his legs gave out and his body dropped to the side. His chest slammed into the poles that attached to his taxi car, sending the entire carriage flipping onto its side right in front of the boutique.

“Help!” the stallion screamed while still stuck in his harness as the pegasus snapped at his neck.

Rarity and Applejack turned away from the boutique front door and went to assist the stallion.

“Get off him!” Rarity shouted as she took the lead into the fray with Applejack trailing her closely.

The pegasus looked up from the twitching and gasping body of the taxi driver as it immediately lunged at Rarity without even stopping to finish the kill.

“What in tarnation are you thinking, Rarity? You’ll get yourself killed!” Applejack jumped to Rarity’s side.

“Don’t fret, darling, I can handle myself!” Rarity announced with a confidently firm expression.

Rarity activated her magical shield.

The pegasus slammed into the shield and bounced backward into the overturned carriage.

Rarity advanced.

Her horn charged until her magical aura pulsated with energy.

The pegasus flapped its wings and shot forward, kicking up dust and debris as it did.

Rarity ducked, allowing the pegasus’ own momentum to send the poor soaring over Rarity without having the control to stop.

Rarity released a pulsating wave of energy above her, sending the pegasus to become paralyzed as its body soared dozens of yards into the air.

The mangled pony was unable to retake flight and stabilize itself. Instead of landing gracefully like a typical pegasus, the pony landed right on its back. Its wings folded like a piece of paper as blood spilled from the newly formed cuts and cracks like a shattering water balloon.

Rarity whipped her head as a white, magical energy flowed from her horn with the force of a tsunami wave.

The energy hit the beast and sent it tumbling back into the still corpses of the other pegasus where it fell silent.

Rarity spun around with her back to the bodies. Her hair whipped around elegantly as she moved. “See, darling, I can handle myself,” Rarity replied with an overly confident smile.

Applejack was not amused, in fact, she looked horrified as she shouted. “Get out of there! It’s still standing!”

“What?” Rarity gasped as her eyes widened. She slowly turned around and watched as she became face to face with a set of shattered, bleeding jaws. Rarity screamed.

The pegasus ran towards the screaming unicorn while dragging its limp wings across the pavement.

A trail of blood was laid behind the pegasus as it ran with its crooked legs and snapped at Rarity’s neck.

Rarity fell onto her back and avoided the attack, only for the pegasus to jump on top of her defenseless body.

Applejack snapped into action. She leaped into the air and positioned herself with her hind legs pointed directly at the pegasus’ face. She fired her hindlegs like a double barreled cannon straight into the skull.

The pegasus’ skull collapsed into itself like it was a tent made of a cheap canvas. The creatures’ body tensed up as torn pieces of brain slid from the open cranium like slugs and plopped onto the ground with the unsavory sound of a wet sponge slapping against the floor.

Rarity pushed the body off and gagged as Applejack rushed to the stallion.

“Go and fetch me some bandages!” Applejack held as he covered the stallion's wounds with her own hoofs.

Rarity panicked in silence as she dashed into the boutique. She unlocked the door and rushed past the box of bandages that she used for minor cuts and scrapes-they would not be enough. “This can’t be happening!” Rarity thought to herself as she went up to one of her most expensive and high quality dresses before tearing off a thick strip of cloth.

“This should suffice,” Rarity thought to herself as she rushed out into the streets with adrenaline still clawing itself through her veins.

The streets were clear, but Rarity heard a scream sound out and went silent just a street over from where she was standing. “We can’t be out here for much longer!” she realized while running over to Applejack’s side.

Rarity laid the banageds over Applejack’s shoulder. “Here. Get him wrapped up quickly. More of those things could storm this street at any moment!”

Applejack did not move or even acknowledge the bandage on her shoulder.

A fearful Rarity poked Applejack with her horn.

Applejack popped up, the stallion laid still in front of her. “He’s not breathing…”

Rarity looked over to the stallion. His eyes were closed and sunken into his skull. His mouth was wide open like the opening of a river that spewed blood into the ground. His chest was resting peacefully.

“My word…” Rarity gasped. “In that case we need to go!” Rarity turned towards the boutique.

“No,” Applejack murmured.

“What?” Rarity snapped. “AJ, we need to get out of here, now!”

“No, I can still save him.” Applejack got on top of the stallion and started pounding her hooves into his chest with a stable beat.

“Applejack! This is ludacris, you’ll get us both killed!” Rarity shouted, although she did not run to the safety of the boutique.

Applejack continued the compressions. “Just give him a chance!” Applejack cried with a tear rolling down her cheek.

Rarity conjured her shield in anticipation and took up a defensive stance. “Applejack, I don’t think you understand what’s happening here-” Rarity listened as a faint cry echoed down the street.

“I know exactly what I’m doing!” Applejack roared as she firmly slammed her hooves into the stallion's chest.

A gasp of air escaped from the stallion's lungs in the form of a low wheeze.

“My word!” Rarity gasped as the stallion's eyes creaked open.

“Yes!” Applejack shouted as she bent down to the stallion's snout.

The stallion groaned as he snapped up at Applejack’s face. He snarled as his rigor mortis afflicted muscles suddenly bent and snapped back into place.

“What’s gotten into y’all!” Applejack shouted as she ran back.

The stallion’s jawline clenched, he grinded his teeth while snarling at the two mares with dead eyes.

“He’s gone mad too!” Rarity cried.

“Get to the boutique!” Applejack screamed as she pushed Rarity away from the reincarnated corpse.

The stallion gave chase.

Rarity slid into the boutique with Applejack essentially on top of her.

Applejack turned and bucked the front door which flew as it came to a close.

The stallion stumbled through the streets like a drunkard. It leaped through the air towards the closing door and lunged itself through the opening.

Its front leg lodged in the gap like a door stop and began to pry open into the boutique like a thief in the night.

“Shit!” Applejack cried as she rammed her body into the door, slamming it shut on the arm before it had the chance to cause damage.

“Give me a hoof!” Applejack shouted as Rarity hopped next to her and pushed into the door.

The stallion cried out as it slammed its body into the front door over and over again. Splinters and paint chips ricocheted off the door and it shattered beneath the two forces that pushed against it.

Debris hits Rarity’s eyes.

Rarity screamed and winced in pain and exhaustion. Yet she continued to fight for her life at the door front.

The door rattled with each onslaught of attacks.

Applejack turned to Rarity. “Keep the door closed! I got an idea!” she shouted as she pushed herself off the door.

The door almost was thrown off the hinges by the stallion once Applejackand and her strength left.

Rarity screamed before engulfing the door with her magical aura and pressing the full weight of both her magical prowess and strength against the door.

The stallion screamed and snarled.

Rarity could see its eyes through the cracks that emerged in the door.

They were pointed directly at Rarity and filled with murderous intent that seemed to never let up despite the many wounds on its body.

Applejack readied her hind legs and bucked the stallion right in his legs joints.

The bones audibly snapped as the foreleg lost its connection with the rest of the body and fell to the ground.

The stallion roared as it fell from the door frame and onto the ground. It rolled around like a dying bug with only three legs to support itself.

Rarity slammed the door shut before reaching up and pulling the lever for the solid steel gates of the shop. Rarity almost never used them under normal circumstances, the anti theft gates only seemed to make her boutique seem less hospitable to customers. Unfortunately, this circumstance was completely out of the ordinary.

The gates of the shop closed, as a wave of darkness filled the room.

The stallion could still be heard struggling to get up. Once it did, it slammed its body into the steel dividers.

Rarity and Applejack stood at attention as the pounding at the door continued. It went on for what felt like an eternity before the creature stopped and very loudly stumbled away.

The room went silent for a little while.

Rarity went light headed and dropped to the ground.

Applejack made a gagging sound in the corner of the room.

“AJ! Are you alright?” Rarity shouted as she flipped on the lights.

Rarity’s vision was restored. She watched as Applejack leaned over a trash can and vomited.

Tears rolled down her face.

“I-I’m fine, Rarity, I’m just a little beat up…” Applejack explained.

“Oh no! Did that pony hurt you?” Rarity exclaimed.

“No…but I’m exhausted. Those things were nothing like I’ve ever experienced before, what were they?” Applejack sobbed.

Rarity paused. “Wherever they were, they weren’t ponies. They were rapid…like animals.”

“Is that what you think they were? Some dangerous critters?” Applejack asked.

Rarity did not know the answer. “Perhaps, but I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Neither have I,” Applejack sighed. “You don’t think those things are in Ponyville, do you?”

Rarity thought about the possibility. Sweetiebell was home with her friend Scootaloo’s aunts. Rarity was not there to protect her younger sister if anything happened.

Applejack’s sister, Applebloom, was in a better position. She was with her older brother, but even a large stallion like himself would still have trouble fighting against those creatures by himself while caring for a filly along with an elderly and sickly mare.

Rarity observed Applejack’s mental state, she was not in the position to receive bad news. Rarity smiled warmly.

“I’m completely sure they are fine. The city of Manehatten should be able to contain a few rapid pony’s. Not to mention the army should be prepared to handle situations like this. We just have to sit tight and hope for the best,” Rarity added with a warm smile to mask the fear in her heart.

Applejack seemed to be put at ease.

Rarity sat back. “Sit tight, we’ll be alright. We’ll get out of here soon. I'll turn on the radio and listen to the news for more information...” Rarity was not even sure if she believed herself. But she hoped it was true. She had to get back home, and soon.

Author's Note

As the first train of infected eat their was through Manehatten, Rarity and Applejack are trapped in the boutique. But will its walls be enough to protect the mares from the jaws of the undead? Find out in two weeks when Rarity and Applejack fight their ways through the streets of Manehatten as they try to find their way home...

This chapter was one of the longer ones and it was written in half the time due to my busy schedule. I will be getting to work on chapter seven (which I expect to be even longer than chapter six) right now. Thanks for your continued support!

Chapter Seven: Escape from Manehattan Part One

Crystal Blood Part 7: Escape from Manehattan Part 1

Manehattan, Equestria, Day 1

Rarity

“How long has it been?” Applejack moaned while surrounded by mountains of threads and ribbons.

Rarity did not answer. She was too preoccupied on the radio in front of her to hear Applejack.

The standard news and entertainment channels had gone quiet hours ago. But not before dispensing some valuable information.

About thirty minutes into the incident the news began reporting on the breaking situation. A young stallion’s voice suddenly shifted from talking about Equestrian military spending to talk of riots in downtown Manehattan.

A sphere, roughly a mile and a half in diameter had been declared a no go zone by the Manehattan Police Department.

The island that Manehatten was situated on was only fourteen miles across at most

The charming and calm voice of the stallion explained how the Wonderbolts and newly formed Home Guard was being dispatched to the area, but that would take time.

Until that happened, the police and firefighters were being sent into the area to deal with the chaos, while going block to block evacuating civilians and taking the injured to Manehattan General for treatment.

Rarity could not forget the station's final message.

The stallion had been reporting on a secondary riot breaking out at the hospital when something shattered in the background.

The stallion went silent, along with the entirety of everyone else who was on air or listening live at home.

Then a secretary screamed out, her painful shrieks were so powerful they almost broke the radio.

The audio slowly became corrupted by static as the stallion shouted. “Sweet Celestia! They’re in the building! Manehattan! Listen to me-The Manehattan Broadcasting Association will continue to broadcast just-shit-just in a different location! Stay safe, stay inside, stay alive…”

Rarity could hear some sort of machine slide and fall off a desk before the entire audio program was engulfed in a storm of static.

A few independent stations tried to make statements but their buildings were also soon breached by the intruders or police who forced them to evacuate.

Since then, Rarity had been glued to the airwaves while hoping for a signal through the noise.

That had been almost twelve hours ago.

The power had gone out six hours ago, forcing Rarity to switch to a smaller battery powered radio, but not much had changed.

“Rarity!” Applejack cried.

Rarity tensed up and jumped into the corner. “Don’t be so loud! Those ponies might hear you…” her force was firm yet as quiet as a mouse.

“That was the point-you’ve been ignoring me for the past hour so you can wait for that little boy friend of yours to speak again,” Applejack shouted.

“He’s not my boyfriend! I have no idea where you came up with that ridiculous idea. He’s the only person who’s been keeping us up to date on what’s happening out there,” Rarity replied.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying…you’ve been making goo goo eyes at that box for the entire day. Just accept that he’s probably been evacuated with the rest of the snobs in this city.”

“But he said he would get back on the air later,” Rarity whined.

“He also said we were supposed to be rescued, but that hasn’t happened yet either. Face it Rarity, we’re all alone,” Applejack’s facial expression sank. She lowered her head and looked at the darkened stains on her orange hooves.

After the fighting earlier in the day Applejack had gone into the bathroom to dispose of the stallion's forearm and to clean off the blood.

She wasn’t able to get all of it off.

“We’re not alone, they’re coming for us, I know they are,” Rarity whispered as she turned back to the radio static.

“Ah geez…turn that dang bucket of bolts off! You're driving me as crazy as a rat in a sticky trap!” Applejack roared and slammed her hoof onto the desk where the radio was stationed.

The radio bounced off the desk and would have slammed into the ground if Rarity did not catch it at the last second.

“What has gotten your bow in a twist?” Rarity snarled as she stabbed her snout into Applejack’s.

“You may have driven yourself batty with that radio but I’m not letting you bring me down with you. I haven’t been able to think straight for the past twelve hours! It’s all static!” Applejack shouted as she tried to get ahold of the device.

Rarity held it tightly to her chest. “No! Get back and stop being a ruffian!”

The mares climbed on top of each while reaching for the device. They kicked and each attempted to break each other's grasp.

They showed no signs of stopping until a body threw itself against the metal gates at the front of the boutique. A massive clanged echoed through the shop.

“Oh my! They can probably hear us outside, quiet down…” Rarity whispered only for the knocking to continue.

“RARITY?!” A voice shouted from outside.

Rarity gasped. “Coco? Is that you?”

“Rarity! Yes! It’s me you need to let me in! Those things are coming for me!” the little pony screamed as a low growl rumbled from off in the distance.

Rarity immediately began unlocking the gates as Applejack shouted behind her. “Wait, Rarity, those other ponies might be able to get in.”

“Well I’m not just going to leave my friend out in the open!” Rarity snapped as she threw the gates open as Coco Pommel bursted through the opening like flood water through a levee.

A monstrous scream echoed from the streets. Rarity looked up to see a pegasus that looked like it had a bucket of blood dropped on its head rushing towards the doors.

Rarity’s face tensed into a fearful frown. She slammed the gate shut and locked the door right as the pegasus slammed into the fencing, leaving a hoof sized dent.

Rarity and Coco jumped back and hid behind a table as the pegasus tried and failed for what felt like hours.

Applejack stood at the side of the door while primed to strike the intruder if it got through the defenses.

Soon the beast lost interest and moved on with a low growl.

Rarity gasped. “Oh my, that sure was something! I’m just glad you're alright…” Rarity turned to Coco.

Coco did not respond. Her face was gray and her eyes were woozy. Coco’s eyes closed as she took a nose dive into the floor.

Rarity screamed and shocked Coco back onto her flank.

Applejack tensed up and pushed Rarity away from the gasping Coco.

“Rarity…I’m not feeling so good…” Coco’s head leaned forward, revealing a large bite mark on the back of her neck. Dried blood covered the wound like a nauseating syrup coating. Her mouth was slobbering and spitting with each raspy breath.

Rarity covered the wound with a piece of thread. “What in tartarus happened here?” Rarity cried.

“My neighbor was attacked by some of those ponies. She started feeling sick so we decided to try to get to the hospital. By the time we got there-it was completely overrun. We tried to make it back home, but…but…she became cursed, just like the other ponies. She attacked me and got my neck. The boutique was closer than my apartment so I came here…” Coco sobbed with a choking voice. Her eyes were red and had trouble staying open.

Rarity could not speak, she did not know what to say. “Woah, you need medical assistance! We have some in the bathroom with a trough of water if you need it.”

Coco’s face turned green as she gagged. “Thank you, I’m going to need it…” Coco wobbled in the direction of the bathroom.

“I’ll go with you-” Rarity offered as Applejack grabbed her. “What are you doing?”

“Stay with me for a little bit, I need to talk to you, Rarity,” Applejack asked with a disturbed expression.

“What is it?” Rarity quietly asked with confused expression.

Applejack watched as Coco went into the bathroom and shut the door. “We can’t let Coco stay here…”

Rarity’s jaw hit the floor. “What?”

“You heard me…she’s a risk to all of us both. I’m not saying we need to throw her out into the street, but we can’t be having her in the show room with us,” Applejack urged.

“Applejack! You’ve said some ridiculous things recently but this takes the cake! Coco is not like those other ponies, why should I isolate her?” Rarity moaned with anger.

Applejack grabbed Rarity by the shoulder and shook her. “You're the only ridiculous pony here! Remember that taxi stallion who attacked us when we tried to help him?”

“I can’t get it out of my mind…” Rarity whimpered as she hung her head.

“Well, you should know that he was a perfectly normal pony before he was bit. Then he died and came back. And remember what Coco said about her neighbor? She got bit too, then she lost her marbles and bit Coco. That’s not even mentioning all those other creatures we saw with bite marks, scratches, and massive wounds…” Applejack paused and looked down at Rarity while waiting for her to respond.

“This doesn’t make any sense. One moment a pony is perfectly fine, the next they are going insane over a bite,” Rarity grasped at the situation with a heavy heart.

Applejack embraced Rarity. “Sugarcube, I’m no expert in this stuff-I don;t think anypony is-but I can recognise a pattern. I mean, call it what you will: Curse, insanity, accident. I reckon there's some sort of correlation between whatever this is and those wounds.”

“Damn, she’s probably right.” Rarity thought to herself. She did not want it to be true. If it was then Coco was in danger. “I understand, I’ll go talk to Coco and find her a place to rest in one of the other rooms.”

“Good choice,” Applejack smiled. “This will only be for a little while, just until we figure out what’s going on out there,” Applejack replied with a hug.

Rarity wore a weak smile and turned towards the bathrooms. She gasped and hopped back as she did.

There before the two mares stood Coco Pommel. Her clothes had been torn and blood ran down her neck into her knees.

“Coco, darling!” Rarity shouted as she ran towards her assistant.

Applejack’s jaw clenched down on her tail and dragged the unicorn back.

Rarity was taken aback by the act. “AJ! Let go of me! She’s hurt.”

“She’s worse than hurt-I don’t believe she’s breathing!” Applejack warned Rarity as she defended her friend.

Coco looked up. Her eyes were empty of emotions and completely bloodshot.

A bloody slobber ran down her chin that only seemed to salivate more as the pony looked at Rarity and ground her teeth.

“Co…Coco?” Rarity whimpered. Her heart felt like it was going to pop.

Coco stumbled forward like a newer born deer. She seemed to be getting the hang of the surroundings. She was not breathing, the only air that escaped from her lungs was from a pained wheeze.

Rarity ignited her horn. “Coco, stay back.”

Tears formed within Rarity’s eyes. She could not control them.

Soon her vision became blurred from the tears. “Don’t make me do this…” she prayed to herself.

Coco did not seem to even recognize Rarity’s voice, let alone heed the warning. She growled and lowered her head and shoulder like a cat preparing to pounce.

“Rarity?” Applejack muttered. “You got the magic here…do something…”

Rarity began to whimper and gasp like she had inhaled smoke. Her eyes were glazed in tears, turning all of her surroundings into colorful blobs. She watched as the mayonnaise colored pony suddenly snapped into action and attempted to overrun the mares.

Applejack turned and prepared to buck Coco in the head.

Rarity shrieked and randomly fired a bolt of magic into the room. Her aim was off, disastrously off.

The lazer like bolt breezed past Coco’s neck and hit a full body mirror on the opposite side of the boutique. The magic flew back past Coco’s neck and almost took off Rarity's own head before it hit the metal security gate with a rattling explosion.

Rarity gasped and ducked down into a protective ball as Coco was inches away from ripping her face off. Rarity readied a protection spell, but she would not need it.

Applejack's legs sprung out like tensioned springs and hit Coco right in the snout.

The young pony’s snout cracked into dozens of large and small pieces that rocketed back into her skull. Coco instantly dropped to her knees and keeled over just short of Rarity.

Rarity fell next to her. “Coco! Wake up!” He cried.

“She’s dead!” Applejack shouted with a shiver in her voice. “Now get on your hooves, we’re leaving!”

Rarity looked back up at Applejack.

The orange mare looked completely terrified and started pacing.

“Leave? Why?” Rarity shot out.

Applejack pointed to the front door. “Because ya blew the front gate open! That’s why!”

The gate had a filly sized hole where the locking mechanism used to be.

“Now come on…that blast probably alerted the whole darn neighborhood that the grub’s here…” Applejack made her way to the front door and through the gate open. She stuck her head in the street and made sure the area was clear.

A faint barbarian’s cry echoed from off in the distance before suddenly sounding closer.

“But where?” Rarity gasped.

“That’s what I’m thinking about-“ Applejack paced into the streets. She seemed to survey the street around her. “I recognize this area. I think I have an idea.”

“Who are we going to? And why can’t we just hide in the bathrooms?” Rarity whimpered.

“Rarity! We had no time to argue. Those things could be anywhere…wait a minute…shit-they’re already here!” Applejack screamed.

Rarity stepped out into the street as a terrifying shriek penetrated her eardrums. Down the road at least five blood soaked earth ponies stumbled around.

“Run!” Applejack screamed as she followed her own advice.

Rarity tailed Applejack as the monsters realized she was there and began to do the same. The bodies followed each other like train cars.

Applejack quickly swung around street corners as Rarity tried to keep up.

The advancing creatures shrieked like sirens.

“Where is she taking me?” Rarity panicked as she slipped down the trash covered streets.

Taxi carts had been flipped over in the streets while supply carts full of goods were left abandoned with their cargo perfectly preserved and unlooted.

The street was also filled with the sights and smells of dozens of corpses. Some of them were still, others were not.

The echoing shrieks alerted every single crazy pony within a block that Applejack and Rarity were here.

Soon the numbers of the creature grew. Ponies slid out from under carts to snip at Rarity’s hooves of jumping through the windows of storefronts. Within seconds, a swarm of dozens of ponies ran from the shadows and grouped up into one massive herd.

“We have to get out of here!” Rarity shouted as she raised her shield, knocking down a mare that tried to fly into her.

“I know! Were almost there! Just come this way!” Applejack shouted as she ducked into an alleyway with a large cart full of barrels parked next to it.

Applejack waited until Rarity crossed the threshold into the valley before kicking out the wheels to the cart.

Barrels flew to the ground like a massive wave. They rammed the incoming creatures in a cacophony of pounding flesh and snapping bones.

The creatures were washed away and Applejack pushed Rarity through the side doors of a large apartment complex.

“This is it…” Applejack panted as she locked and barricaded the doors behind her.

Rarity recognized the complex, many wealthy Manehattan citizens lived there. “Why are you bringing us here, Applejack?”

The pair maneuvered their way through a staff hallway into the main lobby of the apartment complex.

“Remember my Aunt and Uncle-the Orange’s? I don’t know if I’ve actually introduced them, but I’ve sure told you about them-”

“Oh! Yes! You lived with them when you moved to Manehattan as a filly. Yes?”

“You bet…but something tells me they ain’t here…” Applejack went quiet as she scanned the lobby.

The expensive chairs had been torn open leaving trails of stuffing across the floor. Half-eaten foods and spilled, crushed cups of tea were left out on tables. Trails of bloody footprints led their way to the front desk.

The front desk looked like it had been closed for some time.

A massive metallic cage had been pulled over the desk with a closed sign draped over it. The cage itself dripped blood from its many bars.

In the center of the structure, two of the bars appeared to have been forcibly and violently pried open and lubricated with large quantities of blood.

“What happened here?” Rarity asked as she approached the gate.

“Same thing as what happened in the rest of the city. Those things got in,” Applejack approached an elevator and tried to get it operational but it was no use, the power in the building was completely out.

Rarity watched as Applejack fiddled and looked for a path.

“You could give me a hoof,” Applejack snarled as she fiddled around for a door handle.

“Sure thing,” Rarity replied as her ears perked up. The familiar sound of radio static filled her mind. She turned back to the front desk and saw a battery powered radio propped up on the gate.

Her eyes glimmered.

Rarity trotted away from Applejack and listened in as her heart fluttered.

“Ponies of Manehat—. This i—. Is anyone—” the voice of a stallion fought through the radio static.

Rarity recognized the stallion as the news anchor from earlier. Without hesitation, Rarity slammed her body against the hole in the gate and attempted to grab the device. A metallic rattled echoed through the lobby.

“What in tarnation are you doing?!” Applejack cried.

“This radio is still operational! I think that somepony is trying to reach us!” Rarity smiled with a new found energy.

Applejack snarled and grabbed onto Rarity’s behind. “Get out of there! You’re covered in blood like how a hog’s covered in mud!”

“No! Applejack! This could be important!” Rarity cried.

Applejack slammed her hoof into the ground, cracking the marble floor. “Now I’ve had it up to here with your delusions! I’m done with this fancy tech of yours.”

Rarity attempted to escape as she continued to reach for the radio.

As she did, a sudden crackle caught her attention.

The faint, wheezing coughs of a dying pony echoed from underneath the desk.

Applejack gave Rarity one last tough as she pulled the mare from her predicament right as one of the creatures, a deathly looking unicorn, lunged from underneath the desk like a breaching shark.

The bloody pony wore a bellboy uniform that had been torn open along with its stomach. It snapped up at the space in which Rarity had once occupied as Applejack and Rarity screamed in terror and fell back.

The pony snarled and started to pound its way through the bars.

It pushed its mangled and thinly muscled body through the open and fell onto the ground with the consistency of a slime. It raised its head and pointed the tip of its horn directly at Rarity’s face.

With a few sparks of magical energy, a blood red crystal formed above the stallion's head and flew across the air like an arrow.

Rarity activated her shield, shattering the crystal into dozens of smaller pieces that ricocheted into all around.

Shard tore through wall paper, knocked over expensive decorations, and some hit the glass front doors to the apartment building, sending them crumbling into a clear dust below.

The creatures from the streets howled at the noise and could be heard stampeding towards the building at such a volume even a deaf pony could hear it.

“Get your rump moving!” Applejack cried as she ran away with Rarity shielding her retreat.

The mare’s ran through and around the bloody puddles and destruction in the darkness of the apartment. The only light came from Rarity’s horn.

Rarity’s eyes scanned the entire hallway until she stumbled upon a staircase opening. “Their;s our chance!” she announced while out of breath.

“I see ‘em!” Applejack exclaimed as she led the charge up the stairs as a groaning roared distorted as it echoed up the long stairwell.

Rarity climbed up more stairs as she counted. She felt like she was paddling through the open ocean with no island in sight. “How much longer, AJ?” Rarity cried.

Applejack got to the top of a floor before kicking over an expensive table and sending it falling into the path of the oncoming monsters. Her face winced in worry. “Uhm…my relatives live near the top of the building, just give me one more flight of stairs. Can you do that for me?”

Rarity nodded as the creatures turned the corner to the staircase and immediately tripped into a large, tangled, pile. Rarity pushed onward as the creatures grew closer, only for them to soon fall back into the well placed obstacles that Applejack kicked down the stairs.

The sounds of groaning, hooves pounding, and bodies falling rose through the stairwell like smoke.

Rarity rounded a corner onto the next floor, then the next, and the next.

Applejack continued to parrot her pleas to Rarity. “Just give me one more flight of stairs…we’re almost home free…”

Rarity felt her legs begin to go limp. She could not go on for much longer, and Applejack’s worried expression told Rarity that she could tell.

Applejack’s face suddenly brightened as she looked upwards at the next floor. “Hang on!” she screamed at Rarity.

“Wait, what?” Rarity only had time to breath before Applejack threw her upward towards the next floor. Rarity hit the ground hard as Applejack then charged and pushed Rarity down the floor’s hallway and behind a wall. Rarity felt her insides be smacked around by the force of Applejack’s directioning. Her heart pounded against her chest, beating it like an egg.

Applejack leaned Rarity and herself up behind the wall and smacked her hoof over Rarity's mouth. “Not a peep…they'll hear us…” she whispered before holding her own breath.

Rarity tried to breath but Applejack’s hoof was firm.

While Rarity could not see them, the creatures rushed up the stairs like a roaring river.

They rose with the force of lightning, for their loud and power rumblings soon vanished and were left only with an echo of their former presence.

Applejack released Rarity who gagged and fell to her knees.

“What the hell was that for?” Rarity whined as Applejack nudged her down the hallway.

“Don’t complain about it. I treated you a lot better than those creatures would if they heard you gasping for air!”

Rarity nodded in reluctant agreement before rushing with Applejack down the hallway. They stopped at a welcome rug with an image of an orange on the front.

“This is the Orange’s apartment! They always have a spare key under this rug in case they forget their main one,” Applejack explained as Rarity manipulated her magical aura in order to lift the rug off the ground.

Applejack gasped as no spare key revealed itself. “Impossible, there should be one here!”

Rarity flipped the mate around in the air. “There doesn’t appear to be one, darling. I’m sorry.”

Applejack knocked on the door yet no one replied. She winced in fear. A cold sweat ran down her face. “Hello?! Aunt Orange?! Uncle Orange?! Is any pony home?”

“AJ, they might hear us-” Rarity exclaimed as a mare in a large and poofy pink dress with red polka dots stumbled down the stairs. It did not take a second look to realize the polka dots were blood stains and exposed wounds.

The bloody cover mare scream and charge Rarity and Applejack.

Rarity tossed the welcome mat into the air where it landed directly in front of the charging lunatic.

The mare slipped on the mat, it attempted to get back up right only for it to stomp on its dress and slam its head straight through a door near the front of the hall.

Rarity readied her horn.

Applejack flexed and prepared to attack.

More and more creatures began to rush down the hallway.

“Is this it?” Rarity realized in complete fear. Her eyes watered as Applejack stood at her side and noticed the pain.

“We’ll be alright, we're friends, we can make it through this together,” Applejack shouted and adjusted her hat. “Just stay by my side,”

Rarity gulped.

The walls of gnashing teeth closed in on her as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Before she could open them, a strong grasp latched onto her tail and pulled her backwards. Rarity threw open her eyes as saw herself being thrown through the open door of the Orange’s apartment.

“Rarity!” Applejack shouted as she jumped after her, landing directly into the apartment.

The door slammed shut behind them. Multiple bolt locks slammed shut as a bar fell over the door.

The creatures slammed onto the door outside but were unable to break the barricades.

Rarity and Applejack embraced.

“We’re alive! We’re alive!” Rarity cried into Applejack’s chest.

“It ain’t over yet, sugarcube,” Applejack let go of Rarity, who looked up to see two stallions and a mare looking down at them. “You’re not my family…” she whispered as the tough looking ponies looked down at them.

Rarity looked at them up and down. They held knives and batons in their mouths and clenched them tightly while eyeing each other.

Dried blood coated the weapons as they slowly approached.

Rarity did not know where the blood came from. She felt more scared of the pony than the creature outside.

Applejack shielded Rarity’s body with her own. She whispered into Rarity’s ear, “I don’t trust these ponies…”

Rarity locked eyes with one of the stallions who’s eyes pierced her like daggers.

“Are you infected?” the stallion snarled.

Rarity was too terrified to speak. “What does he mean by infected?” Her words became stuck in her throat.

“Answer me!” the stallion shouted. “Yes or no!”

Rarity twirled the question in her mind. “What do I say?”

The stallion was ready to strike and Rarity was a sitting duck.

Rarity waited for a miracle.

Author's Note

Applejack and Rarity have escaped the boutique and found shelter. Yet, are they truly safe? Is help actually on the way? Find out in two weeks with "Escape from Manehattan Part 2."

As the title suggests, this is one chapter split into two parts due to the length of the chapter. I am trying to write good stories that are high quality and still able to come out at a reasonable time.

Thanks for reading as it is always loved!