We All Fall Down

-ID World Wide Infection Day-

I shut off the newscast and looked at the clock. The thin red block numbers read 12:00 a.m. It was Wednesday,June Twenty-Third. Its not like the date could be forgotten. A few hours after that, reports started flooding in from all over Equestria. Appaloosa, Ponyville, even Hoofington. But that was just the start, within minutes every place except for Cloudsdale and Manehattan was quarantined. I don't know how but I managed to be in one of the only two places left “uninfected” in Equestria, but knowing this did nothing to make me feel better.

-One week later-

About one week ago it had been announced that a plague was sweeping through Equestria. Thats right a god damn plague. Since then it started to calm a little bit. The doctors had announced they found a cure,it was mandatory that everypony got the shot, and it worked......for a while. Within a week Equestria was released from its world wide quarantine, everything seemed fine life returned to normal. Well as normal as it could be with over 3,000 of Equestria’s inhabitants dead. The next few days were relatively normal, wake up, shower, go to work, come home. Rinse, wash, and repeat. “See.... normal,” The next day I woke up, but something had struck me odd. I stood there, my eyes glued to the screen. It was channel 7 news and again it was Breezy Pen. This time she was calm and collective, which should not have been for the story she was presenting. “Murder and Mutilation.”

I couldn't believe my eyes. “ A murder? In Equestria? There hasn't been a murder here in at least 200 years. The princess has been able to keep peace for this long, I wonder what happened.” I looked back at the screen, Breezy was talking. “ This is Breezy Pen of channel 7 news reporting from Hoofington. According to the report we were able to ascertain, today at approximately 2:47 p.m. a pegasus by the name of Mello Note was murdered. According to the autopsie, the pegasus’ chest was ripped open and some of his organs were missing, the report also shows that there were claw marks on the body, leading some of the guards to think the culprit is a  manticore that was seen roaming around two days ago. We will keep you updated as new developments become available. This is Breezy Pen reporting for Channel 7 News.”

“A-A manticore.” I said to myself confused. “The only way a manticore would be in Hoofington is if someone had it as a pet, but still having a pet manticore has been against the law since..... since the accident.” Just thinking about it sent shivers down my spine. That was three years ago. No need to think of it now.

“Mello Note ehhh? Why does that name sound so familiar. OH, now I remember he used to work at that club downtown, ah EQuine that was the club, with what's her name. Fuck I can’t remember. Anyways I might go down there and see what's up, its not like I have anything else to do.”

“I looked at the clock, it read 8:00. EQuine must be open by now.” I thought to myself. I headed outside and locked my door then started towards EQuine. As I made my way to the club I heard hoofsteps behind me. I saw a single mare under the streetlight about 30 yards away, even though she was bathed in light I couldn't make her out I could only tell she was a mare by her size. “Hello!” I shouted neighborly, turned and continued to walk, about a quarter mile later I still heard hoofsteps. I turned back around this time, she was about 20 yards away now, I could make her out a little better this time. She was an Earth pony with a red mane and pink coat. Again I called out “Hello” but again she did not respond. I had an uneasy feeling. I started to walk towards her. There was a faint metallic smell in the air. As I got closer to her I noticed her coat and mane looked matted and wet. Before I realized it, I was five feet in front of her and mane wasn’t red, it was purple, and her coat, it wasn’t pink no it was white. Then it hit me, the reason her mane and coat looked wet and matted was because it was covered in blood! I stepped back, admittedly it was partly from fear but also worry and shock. “Are you okay miss.” I said. I heard a faint moan “Help me”. She fainted.

  “Miss, Miss, MISS!” I yelled as I ran towards her. “Miss are you okay” I checked her pulse, it was faint and fading quick. She needed help and if i didn't find any she would die. Just then i notice a giant gash along her back. She’s gonna bleed out. “Miss I’ll find help”. Suddenly there was a faint growl. I looked up, it was dark i couldn’t see anything. “Who’s there” I shouted. My question was returned by another growl. I got up. There was another growl, and another. The growls were getting louder.Then I saw a faint shadow start to emerge from the shadow of a nearby vegetable stand. The shadow walked closer. Walked? No that wasn’t walking nor was it trotting, it was limping. As the shadow neared me I noticed it was Star Winter,a friend of mine and the owner of the stand, but something was wrong. Star had been missing for more than a week now. I hadn't stepped one hoof near him before I realized he had no tail, that wasn’t all. One eye was completely white while the other was as black as Luna’s night.

        “St-Star what happened to you? “GRRRR AAAA”  he answered with a fierceness. Suddenly he lunged at me, and luckily he missed. “Holy shit man what the fuck!” I yelled as I lept to the left. “You fucking scared me. “RRRR AAAA”  he lunged again. This time I galloped, I galloped as fast as I could. Eventually I looked back, I shouldn’t have but I did. What I saw was terrifying, when I looked back I could see Star, he was standing over the mare that fainted but he wasn't just looking at her, but at first I couldn’t tell what he was doing. Not until he looked up, when he looked up. ehhhh. When he looked up he had something hanging from his mouth, something-something so disgusting. The thing hanging from his mouth......was pony meat.