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.