Pure Rage

Celestia stared listlessly into the city from her balcony. There was a large crowd of ponies forming at the entrance to the castle grounds, all shouting or pleading for entry. She could see them all, how they were scared, and angry. There would be nothing she could do for them. She could see figures in the distance coming towards the crowd. She couldn't tell if they were infected or not. Her vision was altered by the large shield dome surrounding the castle.

The once beautiful city, the one Celestia called home was completely devastated. She could see bodies littering the streets just a few blocks down, and further out, she could see pillars of smoke, and flames erupting from buildings. It was a long time since she had seen anything similar to this. Shining Armor was the one holding the shield up, but once he was deployed with his unit to Ponyville, the shield would go down. All remaining guard units within the castle were being deployed to ensure other city's and main settlement's safety in the event of panic, or outbreak.

She and Luna would be the last to leave the castle, ensuring everypony else had left safely. She decided it was time to proceed to the chariot launches.

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Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were hunched right next to their new assumed guardian. It was an earth pony stallion with a navy blue coat with a light blue main and tail. He had a book with a clover on the cover for a cutie mark. He was a random pony who had saved them from the streets after they were separated from the rest of their class, and they stuck with him, seeing as he was the only one they could really trust. All the ponies among the crowd were all shouting at whomever may reside inside the castle, angrily demanding entrance, or pleading. Crying could be heard among the crowd. Children were close to their parents, or whoever was left for them, and guards were trying to open the dome. Scootaloo noticed a few objects flying away from the castle from the inside. They were too big to be a single pony, and their were many of them. Not shortly after, the shield began to fall.

"Okay you two, climb up," The stranger said to the two fillies practically underneath him. They climbed onto his back and he quickly trotted into the castle. The rest of the crowd had stopped, looking for any signs of a pony. It was completely empty.

"They left us!" A pony shouted, which brought panic to the entire group. The guards among the group began organizing themselves, and tried to calm the crowd down. Many of the ponies began running further into the castle, and others began grabbing objects that could be considered a weapon. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other worriedly.

"It's alright, we're going to get out of here, I promise," The stranger said to the two fillies in hope to calm them down. Other ponies began to take whatever they could and tried to form barricades on any possible entrance. "What are your names?" The Stallion asked the two.

Scootaloo was the first to answer. "My name's Scootaloo." She looked at Sweetie Belle, who had soaked cheeks, and wide eyes. She was shaking a bit, and hadn't answered. "And she's Sweetie Belle. I don't think she feels like talking." Scootaloo hadn't really felt like talking either, but this was the only pony she could trust, so she at least wanted to get on his good side.

"Well, my name's Fortunate Story. You can call me Fortune, though. All my friends do." He introduced himself, putting on the best fake smile he could muster. He really wanted the fillies to be positive, but it was hard when he himself had negative thoughts on where the situation was going.

The loud yell of somepony shouting "Infected! filled the room. Everypony looked out the doors to see a small group of ponies racing towards the front doors. All abled bodies suddenly went on autopilot, and started working to prevent them from entering. The guards began shutting the doors, and the infected were advancing rapidly. Other ponies rushed to the door, adding extra muscle to the door in order to close it fast enough.

Screaming filled the room, as ponies started to panic, fleeing throughout the castle. Loud banging and screeching could be heard beyond the door. The screeching became more plentiful, as the door slowly started to come inward.

"Hold on, we're getting out of here." Fortune said to the two fillies. He began galloping upstairs to go to what he assumed was a safe place to hold out.

The space between the doors was growing, and soon enough an arm slipped through. It began feeling around. Soon enough, it tried forcing it's head through. It managed to get it's muzzle through, and anypony left who wasn't on the door ran screaming down the halls. The infected then noticed why the door was resisting, making eye contact with a pony on the door. The infected screamed at him, and he tried to not pay attention. Soon enough, the infected had it's head through, being able to swivel it's head. It look at the pony and spewed out blood at him. He was drenched.

Ponies who noticed ran the instant they saw the almost red pony. He started tearing up, realizing what was going to happen next. The door was opening really quickly now, seeing as most of the force keeping it closed was gone. The bloodied pony began going through the infection trance, before turning to the others behind him, catching them off guard. He leaped towards them.

The lack of force on the door allowed the infected to pour in, infecting many of the remaining ponies around the door. They began galloping after the others in the castle.

Fortune hadn't expected to see so many others running around, going from room to room before going in one without coming out. Everypony was trying to find a place to hide. He knew that the most safe place would probably be the royal chambers, If he could get there. He heard hoofsteps coming rapidly, along with panting. He quickly went into the nearest room, a broom closet, and hid inside with the fillies.

"What's going on out there? Are they up here?" Scootaloo asked, nervous. Sweetie Belle was in a worse state than before, seeming on the verge of tears again.

"I don't know. I think so. Stay quiet, and don't move." Fortune had opened the door very slightly, peeking through the crack to see what the commotion was. He saw a pony come around the corner, panting heavily. He stopped and looked around. Screeches could be heard around the corridor, along with more hoofsteps. He quickly ran into the nearest room. Just as he shut the door, an infected came around. Fortunate closed the door as quickly and quietly as possible. "There's one up here. Stay quiet." He whispered to the fillies.

A loud banging was heard from down the hall. The infected was trying to break into one of the rooms. Loud bangs were heard in repetition, until the final sound of wood splintering was heard. Screams erupted from within the room. The stallion had ran into a room with ponies already inside. Fortune opened the door to see what was going on. The door was splintered off it's hinges, and a mare suddenly ran out from the room down the hall, leaving the rest behind. The screaming subsided after a few seconds, and more infected came out of the room.

They ran to the next door. It was obvious to Fortune what they were doing. "Okay, I need you two to hop back up. I also need you to not make a single sound. We're going to make a run for it. We'll make it." He waited against the door. Once he heard the sound of wood splintering and the screams of ponies, he opened the door and began galloping down the hall towards a two way. He turned left to see the mare from earlier, neck in the jaws of an infected. She was being shaken violently by the infected, as if in the grip of a predatory animal. At the sight of him and the two fillies, the infected dropped it's now dead victim and began running towards them. He quickly turned around and galloped down the hallway.

Turning the corner, Fortune noticed another pony standing there. He wasn't infected, and seemed confused.

Running past him, wondering what he was thinking, he continued running. He was coming to what looked like another double hall. He could keep going straight, or turn right. He took the right hall.

There were two guards standing there.

"Help, there are infected in the castle!" Fortune shouted to the guards.

"So they got through?" The guard looked, concerned. His question was answered by a screaming pony running down the hall. Not two seconds later did an infected run by, in the same direction.

"Go, we'll take care of it." The guards said, readying their lances, galloping off after the infected. Fortune continued trying to make his way upstairs. If he could get to the princess' quarters, they would surely be safe. Finding the stairwell wasn't difficult. Neither was getting to the princess' quarters.

"We made it.  We should be safe here." Fortune said, as he tried to push the doors open, but they wouldn't budge. He tried pushing harder, but they still wouldn't move. "I bet..." He stopped and knocked four times in a pattern that made it obvious he was normal... The door opened.

"Hurry, get in here." A pony whispered. He quickly trotted inside, as the doors were close behind him, and a bar was placed in on the door, as well as a dresser. Taking a look around, Fortune could see ponies sobbing to themselves, or in the corner with blank expressions. It seemed as if everypony was hopeless. They had one armed guard. He seemed completely out of it though, staring at the door with his weapon ready, shaking.

"It's okay, we're safe now." Fortune said to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. They both hopped down from his back, looking around at all the ponies. Looking at them just filled them with a sense of hopelessness, so they tried not to make eye contact. Sweetie Belle couldn't find the will to say anything. She was afraid she would make the situation worse than it was already.

"Sweetie Belle, are you okay?" Scootaloo asked concerned, "You haven't said a single word since... well, earlier today." Scootaloo was worried about her friend.

Finally, Sweetie Belle spoke. "I'm fine. Do you think the others got out okay?"

"Of course, I'm sure they all got out." Scootaloo reassured.

"I don't mean them. I know they escaped. I mean the others who were with us. When I let go." Scootaloo realized why Sweetie Belle seemed so down. She must have felt as if it was her fault. A pony had ran right into Sweetie Belle, but by the time she got back up, the rest of the class had vanished. They hadn't seen the others when they were taken in by Fortune, so they didn't know where they had gone. They had all split up.

"It's okay. They're probably with somepony too." Scootaloo said, hoping it to be true.

"What about that family? I could see through the crack in the door when the other room had been broken into. There was a filly in there, too. She had a whole family and two others, and they were all... " Sweetie Belle couldn't even recall the word used for when a pony stopped living. She never had to. Nopony ever had to.

"Well that's not going to happen to us!" Scootaloo said a little more loudly than she wanted. A few eyes drifted towards her. All of them were saddened. "It won't."

They sat there, silently staring at each other.

"How long do you think we're going to spend sitting here?" Scootaloo asked, trying to start some kind of conversation.

"I don't know, maybe we can -" Sweetie Belle was cut of when a loud thud was heard against the door. Another was heard, and soon, it began to sound like somepony was trying to break in. Everypony's face contorted to horror.

"How did they find us!?" A pony shouted.

"What do we do!?" Shouted another.

Panicked shouting started erupting as ponies began searching for a way to escape. There was nothing left but the balcony. Ponies began rushing towards the balcony, trying to get out before the infected could get into the room. Unicorns on the balcony tried to teleport to the roof of the tower across. Some weren't so good with magic, and earth ponies couldn't see any hope of escape.

Fortune began thinking hard. The wall wasn't to far from the balcony. Maybe if they jumped. It was the only clear option they had. He turned to the fillies, and looked them in the eyes.

"Look... There aren't many options to get out of this, but that doesn't mean we're not taking them. They best chance we have is to jump." Both filly's expressions showed obvious horror. "Trust me. I know how this can work. Hey, Scootaloo, right? I need you two to both jump together, and flap your wings as hard as you can. You can get over the wall."

"But... I can barely lift myself up for more than a few seconds!" Scootaloo was mortified at his idea. There was no way she could do this.

"Listen to me. It's the only option." Fortune took them together, and reared up on his back legs. He got a good hoofhold, and threw the fillies as hard as he could. They went a few feet before their fall slowed and they were over the wall much earlier then Fortune thought they would be. Their descent suddenly increased in speed, and they were rapidly descending.

Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle were screaming for their lives as they fell from the city. The only thing they could really land on was the mountain slope, and they were going to fast.

"C'mon wings!" Scootaloo shouted as she tried to fly. She managed to slow their fall to land on the mountain slope, but it was too steep to stand on. They began sliding down, as if it were a massive slide. Their stomachs felt as if they were rising and they were locked together firmly, sliding downwards into whatever lied below.

Everypony on the balcony stared at Fortune as if he were insane. Fortune bucked the railings until they broke, and fell to the streets below. He ran back inside the room. In front of him was the broken rail. If we went fast enough, he could make it. Just as he was about to take the first step, an arm burst in through the door. Fortune took off as fast as he could, leaping for the wall. He fell quickly, with his hooves outstretched. He was about to grab the wall, but he missed. He was too far, and slammed into the wall.

His entire underside was scraped from sliding down from the wall, and his front legs were in too much pain to move them. He Maneuvered himself with his back hooves to see where he had fallen. He couldn't see. He must have fell in a container. He felt something warm slowly trailing down his face, as he started to fade from consciousness.

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Celestia looked back at Canterlot, now far away. She could still make out smoke pluming from the city. It was devastating to see it like this. She was going to Baltimare now, since it's the second biggest city in Equestria. She would set up a new temporary capital there. Equestria still had a chance to warn other countries, and it would be taken. She could only hope that Canterlot would be the only city to fall.