Plague

Chapter III

Everything seemed odd.

She felt as if she was in a dream, yet awake. Her body moved on its own.

It cast a spell.

Rainbow fell.

It set her on top of a bookshelf that wasn’t built into the wall. Then, it tipped the bookshelf over to make it look accidental.

It called over some help.

They took Rainbow to the hospital, and thanked ‘Twilight’.

After they left, it released her. She shot forward.

She fell forward, onto her face. Her balance was off because of the ‘forward motion’ of regaining control over her body.

“What did you do that for!?” She asked.

It was necessary.

“I never wanted to hurt her!”

It was only a concussion, not severe enough to cause any harm rather than unconsciousness. I added a spell to fog up her memory as well, so you wouldn’t be discovered.

“Hmm... well... okay. If it was necessary.”

Just then, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy came in.

“What happened to RD?” Applejack said.

Play along. It was an accident, and she was being reckless.

Twilight kept her look of worry.

“She was on top of the bookshelf over there,” she gestured to the one that Rainbow was on earlier, which was now on the floor with books scattered around “I really don’t know why. But she fell off and fell on her head.”

“Why didn’t she use her wings?” Pinkie asked.

“She probably wasn’t expecting to fall off. Remember, Rainbow Dash gets in accidents all the time, she’ll be fine.” Rarity answered.

“Umm... Twilight?” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Hm?”

“Are you okay?”

She’s suspicious.

“Of course I am, except for the fact that Rainbow is unconscious in the hospital, and I have to fix this shelf. Is something wrong?”

“Well, no... It’s just that...”

Play nice, remember that you didn’t have enough sleep last night.

“It’s okay. I didn’t get much sleep last night, either.”

“Was it another nightmare?”

“Unfortunately, yes. But I think it’s just coincidence. I will definitely worry if it happens again. But for now, let’s check up on Rainbow.”

They agreed and left the library, heading to the hospital where their friend was admitted to.

Twilight, however, was nervous the whole time. As a matter of fact, she had lied about the worrying, for she already worried deeply about the nightmares- they just seemed so real. But could she tell her friends?

No, she thought this isn’t something they can help with. I don’t want to burden them with it.

Little by little, her mind began to deteriorate.

The four mares had arrived at the hospital, and were allowed to see their friend. Rainbow had been unconscious for about two hours, and had just awoken. But, when they entered the room, they found their previously fearless friend curled up in a fetal position in the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“I- I had a nightmare...” She said, shaking.

They looked at each other worriedly.

“What about, if I may ask?” Rarity said.

She explained, and to Twilight’s horror, it was very similar to her recent strain of dreams. Fluttershy was on the verge of tears, Rarity almost fainted, Applejack stared in disbelief, Pinkie’s almost constant smile disappeared completely, and Twilight stared blankly.

“That’s... almost exactly the same as my dreams...” she muttered.

Everypony turned to her.

Uh oh... What do I do? She thought.

Give me control, and I’ll handle it. Don’t worry, nopony will get hurt.

Uhh... okay.

She felt the pulling sensation again, but this time it was smoother and she could observe more clearly. It turned to the petrified pegasus.

“Rainbow,” It said “just pick up the lantern and listen to the voice. It will help you.”

They all looked at her strangely, then Rainbow said

“Okay... thanks.”

After this, they said their farewells and turned to leave. That was when Twilight noticed something. The most likely reason why they all looked at her strangely, and she saw it in the mirror.

Her eyes.

They had gone from their natural deep purple color to a slightly lighter version, with a reddish tint. Her head turned to Rainbow, and she was surprised to see her staring intently- as if she was searching for a memory. After a few moments, she shrugged it off and turned over in her bed. Twilight regained control, and her eyes switched back to their normal color.

She went home.

When she arrived, she noticed Spike there, doing some chores. He eyed her suspiciously and worryingly. She returned the suspicious side. After a tense day, they retired to their beds and welcomed the much-needed embrace of sleep.

“Remember last night?”

“Yes.” Twilight said as she lit up her horn.

“Good, good. You’re learning.”

“So what’s the point of this?”

“Don’t ask me, I didn’t make it.”

“Well, since you seem to be helping, then what advice do you have?”

“For when you’re here or awake?”

“Either.”

“For here, just try to escape. When you’re awake... well... be wary of these ‘friends’ of yours.”

“Why should I be wary of them?”

“Didn’t you see how quickly they turned on you? Just a bit of bad dreams and lack of sleep- then they are immediately suspicious! Remember the spying and mistrust?”

“Yes, but what if they’re trying to help?”

“Then they’d be more open and honest with you. The only one that I would trust is Applejack, she can’t lie. But still be careful.”

“But...” She started, trying to find reasons to defend her friends. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of any that didn’t have a negative side to it.

“I- I guess you’re right...”

“I’m sorry, but some things don’t last forever. Wait- RUN! GET AWAY!”

“Huh? What-”

She turned around to see what was there, but the creature leapt out of the darkness and tackled her to the ground, pinning her down. She was too involved in her conversation to notice it creeping up behind her. Instead of biting her like last time, it spoke.

“I will come for you. In your physical world.” It said in her voice, but multi toned.

“H- how?” She squeaked.

“Through you, Twilight.”

It spread its split jaws wide in a loud roar. Twilight screamed in terror and squirmed around, trying to escape the monstrosity’s grasp. The creature brought one of its spidery legs down on her abdomen, impaling her. Her screams were stopped suddenly as she looked down in shock. A moment later, she felt the pain, then gasped, gnashing her teeth in agony. The creature pulled its leg out and brought its head down to the wound. It then began to eat her alive.

Meanwhile, outside of her dreams, her body lay in bed. Seemingly asleep.

Once Spike was definitely sleeping, she got up. She grabbed a cloak and headed outside. It had rained earlier, and tomorrow was planned to be a long, rainy day. She looked down at a puddle.

She saw her reddish-purple eyes staring back.

Twilight won’t be the same after this dream. She thought. But while she’s gone, I might as well do a bit of exploring. And maybe have some fun while I’m at it.

She trotted down the streets, familiarizing herself with the town. Most of the ponies were sleeping, but some had late-night business to take care of. One unusual thing, though, was the occasional Royal Guard.

Why are they here? And what are they looking for? She thought.

Curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to follow a pair of them, to figure out what they were searching for.

“So, what are the symptoms again?” asked one of the Guards, an Earth pony.

The other, a Unicorn, pulled out a scroll.

“Multiple personalities, recurring nightmares, paranoia, and in more advanced cases, insanity, violence, and a change in eye color.”

“No wonder this is top-priority. What does it infect?”

“Uhh...” he looked around the scroll. “Unicorns. But the Captain says ‘take no chances’.”

The Earth pony Guard put a hoof on the other’s shoulder.

“Wait- I think we have a visitor.”

He gestured towards the direction of Twilight, and they both began to trot slowly towards her hiding place. There was nowhere else to go, and if she tried to run, they would give chase.

I don’t think she is physically strong, so let’s try magic... she thought, as she stood up and fired a stun spell at the Guards. it struck one of them and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

She’s very adept with spells, this will prove very useful.

The other Guard stepped back and tried to call for assistance, but he felt something grab his throat. It was pulling him towards the cloaked pony. He tried to yell again, but the telekinesis prevented this by constricting his throat.

He looked up at the stranger, and saw a lavender Unicorn mare with reddish-purple eyes. She stared at him coldly

“Looking for me?”she said in a slightly multi toned voice.

His eyes widened. She matched the description of the plague almost perfectly.

He tried yet again to call for help, but the grip on his throat tightened. It was beginning to sting.

“Nah ah aah, no yelling.” she said in a sarcastic way. “As a matter of fact , no talking at all!”

She gave his throat a sharp pull with her magic, tearing out his vocal chords. The Guard gnashed his teeth in pain as blood flowed out of his throat, and some dribbling out of his mouth.

“Wow, this host is powerful. Let’s see just how powerful, shall we?” she said, smiling playfully.

He shook his head and tried to run away. She caught his two back legs in her telekinetic grip and broke them. He grunted in pain, for that was the only sound he could make.

“Why are you leaving? We haven’t even started yet! As my host might say; we have plenty more experiments to do. How much do you know about anatomy?”

The Guard was beginning to feel light headed, due to blood loss. But when he heard her say something about ‘anatomy’, he tried desperately to drag himself away. The madmare noticed the blood loss and stopped the bleeding with a spell. Her magic mended the ruptured blood vessels and prolonged his life. For now. Then she flipped him over on his back and removed his armor. She pinned him down with a restraining spell.

“Let’s begin this lesson.” she said. “In order to properly access the internal organs of the specimen, they must be pinned down securely- so the process will be smooth and easy.”

Then, she traced an I-shape on his underside.

“Then, once they are secured, you begin the incision. To have maximum access to the organs, a clean cut is necessary. For this demonstration, I will use an I- incision.”

She formed a scalpel from a part of his armor with her magic. She then used it to open up the Guard. Despite his training and tolerance for pain, tears began to stream from his eyes. He gritted his teeth, then had an idea. He used his magic to pull out a knife from his unconscious comrade’s armor and throw it at his tormentor. It missed its mark, but still slashed down her right side, and she yelped in surprise and pain. She then looked down at him in rage.

“Nopony interrupts my lessons!” she hissed.

She picked up the knife and used it to carve out his liver. This was when the Guard realized that he would not make it out alive. Her magic was far superior to his, and she was dissecting him alive. He smiled up at her in a taunting way. She raised an eyebrow, wondering why the sudden change in attitude. Suddenly, a knife flew out of his armor and plunged into his temple with a crunch. He died instantly.

She frowned.

“Aww... I wanted a live specimen. Oh well, might as well finish this quickly.”

She finished her dissection, organizing the organs neatly. The deranged mare set the scalpel down next to the organs, and went over to the unconscious Guard. She performed the same spell she did on Rainbow Dash. Then, she wiped the area clean of any evidence pointing to her. After all of this, she nonchalantly trotted out of the alleyway and went back home The sun would rise soon.

But another pony ran away before he could be caught.