The Infection Journals

We just heard that a SE cargo plane blew up. Our spies tell us that it was carrying some kind of gas container. Princess Luna has ordered me and my squad to go and scavenge the plance wreck for the gas, but I don't really expect it to be intact. No pony here does.

2 miles away from Appaloosa

1600

We found the wreckage of the plane. It was surrounded by a barely thick fog of green. Expecting for this to happen, me and my squad put on our gas masks and moved in. The mask made my breathing louder and made my breath hotter and it was fogging up the lenses. The green fog was much harder to see through as we walked closer to the plane. As we got closer, blood began to appear on the dirt, but there were no bodies. It was strange. I took the safety off my gun and aimed for a hole in the side of the plane. I switched on my LED light attached to my helmet and looked inside. Everything was out of order. Boxes were all smashed and stripped of its contents, as if somepony opened it and took everything in it. Wires hung off the top of the plane, giving off sparks and making it difficult to navigate the wreck. Fires quickly spread throughout, making it even more difficult to navigate.

The impact and the fires seem to have destroyed anything valuable. I knew it was a waste of time, but did they listen? Fuck no. As we left through the opening in the side, we noticed that the gas cloud was heading Appaloosa. The gas began to engulf the city. We began running to the city, praying that there were survivors. Unfortunately, there wasn't. There were nothing but bodies on the streets. Something was not right. The gas didn't reach the city yet. Why are they already dead? Some bodies were hanging from windows, the mares died doing the laundry. All these innocent ponies, dead, minding their own business. It brought tears to my eyes.  But I tried to keep it in. For one, it could fill up my mask with tears. The gas began to flood the city in gaseous liquid.

I began to hear some smashing sounds behind me. I looked behind. A figure was walking towards me. It appeared to be a pony. It was limping, focusing all it's strength on one leg. I was getting a little freaked out. It was a colt. About 20? 30? He had a brown curly mane and grey fur. But as I looked closer, I began to realize there was blood all over him. There was blood coming out of his mouth and eyes. His eyes were red as well. I began to step back. My team noticed and walked next to me, aiming their rifles at the colt. The pony suddenly jumped and grappled me to the ground. I tried to push him away, with no success. He was ridiculously strong. He tried to bite my face. Blood was covering my mask. My unit immediately began trying to get the colt off. One grabbed the pony and pulled him off me. He had the colt in a headlock position, trying to stop him. The colt did a complete 180 with his head. The soldier's eyes grew wide with fear. The colt bit at the soldiers mask. The soldier tried to keep the mask on, but the straps gave away and he was left without a mask. He began gasping and coughing. Blood came out of his mouth as well. He grasped his throat. And then fell to the ground.

Another soldier cried out, "Light that fucker up!"

Next thing I knew, bullets whizzed past me and struck the colt multiple times. The colt fell to his knees, then stood back up. I ran up to the colt and tripped him. He smashed back onto the ground. I pulled my knife out of its scabbard attached to my front leg and stabbed him right in the side of the head. He was still moving. I groaned in frustration. I twisted the knife and pulled it out. The colt finally died.

"Mother fucker! What the hell was that!?"

We then checked on the soldier. His fur was beginning to burn away, revealing his rough and jagged skin. His face didn't even look like one. I looked away, trying my best not to gag. I grabbed the soldier above my shoulder and began carrying him out of the city to bring him back. My squad doesn't normally take casualties, so his death hit us all without warning. But I swear I could feel the body moving.

NLR Capital, Ibex Empire

2100 hours

We gave the soldier a quick memorial. His name was Pipsqueak. Funny name for a elite soldier. As I held onto his tags, I noticed that they weren't the same from the others that are given to the soldiers. It was dark blue and had the princess's cutie mark on the background. The normal ones had the NLR insignia on it instead. There was also a message scratched into it.

"To my favorite soldier

-Luna"

I suppose they had a connection. After the memorial ended, the body was carried over to the hospital, where it would be examined. I decided to give back the tags to the princess. The halls were completely covered with insignias of the NLR and colored completely in light and dark blue. Rows and rows of soldiers were lined up on two sides of the hall. At the end was a huge black door. Two elite soldiers guarded the door. Their uniforms blended in with the door, making them difficult to see at  first glance. I walked up to door. The two guards saluted, then stepped aside. The ancient door opened, making a horrible, metal screeching noise as it slowly opened. Princess Luna was on her bed. Her mane was long and flowing. I saluted in place. She looked up and nodded, implying that I was allowed to talk. I handed her the tags. She picked it up with her magic. She covered her mouth with her wings. She began to tear up.

"You knew him, ma'am?"

"For a long time, I did, when my sister and I were... Actually sisters. Now, we're enemies. I never wanted this."

"Remember, princess. She brought this on herself."

"I understand. I just can't believe that we're going at each other's throats." Tears were slowly going down her chin. She wiped them away, then took a deep breath. "On a more serious note, did you find anything at the crash? What happened to him?"

I quickly conflicted my thoughts with weather to tell her or not.

"No, princess. Everything was destroyed in the crash. And the soldiers' mask sustained damage after he fell and he accidentally breathed in some of the gas from the plane."

"Very well. Get some rest. If we uncover anything from the body, you'll be the first to know."

"Yes. Princess."

By the time I got to the soldier barracks, the rest of my team was either reading, sleeping, or cleaning their equipment and gear. As soon as I entered, they jumped to their hooves.

"Did you tell the princess about that 'thing'?"

"No."

They looked as if I was completely insane.

"Why?"

"I just couldn't tell it to her."

"C'mon, Mist. Those things could threaten not just the military, but all of our families and friends. If we don't inform the princess, the military won't be able to make any move fast enough to help for shit."

"I know, I know. Look, let's just try to stop thinking about it and gets some rest. We got scouting routines tomorrow."

While I was in a deep sleep, a loud beeping noise sounded. Then a voice came on the intercom.

"Sergeant Mist. You are needed at the hospital."

I dragged myself out of my bunk and slowly walked towards the hospital. Because mostly everypony was asleep, there was no need for light. It was completely black, apart from the exit signs that illuminated a faint green light. I used the locater attached to my suit to help myself find the hospital. After running into countless walls and tripping over my own hooves, I finally made it. I let out one last yawn and went through the door.

Inside, there were doctors and nurses scrambling to different places. They all seemed to be wearing mouth masks. They don't normally don't wear mouth masks. I grabbed a passing by doctor by the shoulder.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"That soldier you brought back? His body is infected with some sort of disease that we've never seen before. And to top it off, the body's missing. We're trying to find it."

"You really think the body would just get up and walk away?"

"Well, what do you think happened to it then, smartass?"

"Just go find the body."

"Aye, aye, corporal punishment." then the doctor ran off.

After hours of searching, one of my soldiers, Sonar, contacted me.

"Mist, I think I found the body. But it looks like it's... Walking? What the hell? HEY, PIPSQUEAK!"

"Turn on your helmet cam. I need to see this."

"Copy. Switching now."

My HUD made a small screen on the top right corner of my glasses. It was showing the first-pony view of Sonar from his helmet camera attached to the side. At first, I couldn't see much. It was too dark, but after a while, my eyes began to adjust. I saw the walking figure. It was Pipsqueak, but wasn't he dead? There seemed to be something coming out of his mouth. Sonar began walking towards Pipsqueak.

"Hey! Who told you you could come back from the dead?"

He looked at Sonar, than he suddenly sprinted at him.

"What th-!"

Pipsqueak grappled Sonar to the ground. He was trying to bite him. Sonar was keeping his head away by pushing it away, but judging from how much his hoof is wobbling, he won't be able to keep it away for long. I ran to Sonar. I pushed past miles and miles of ponies to get to him. By the time I got to Sonar, Pip was already biting into his neck. I guess he's still dead, because when I entered the hall, Pip continued to eat up the soldier, not noticing me. I knew that saving Sonar wasn't an option now. I ran back to the entrance to the hall and locked it. I then ran to the command center, then flipped the switch that was made in case of a biological attack. In this case, it looked like the most logical thing that was happening at the moment. A loud siren sounded and, on the huge base status screen, it was showing that most of the doors were being locked down. Then, a recorded message played.

"Attention, a biological attack is occurring inside the base permises! All personell are to evacuate the base immediately! Do not forget to equip a gas suit! This is not a drill!"

I could only hope that everypony could get out in time.

Sgt. Mist

5th Battalion

6th day of the 10th month, Dawn of the Seed