P23:4

P23:4

By Hero541

Part 3: Panic

September 26

Rainbow came back from Cloudsdale today, which helped ease my fears a little bit. I asked her about what happened while she was there, and all she'd said was that there was nothing more than rumors floating around and that she never saw anything out of the ordinary. At first, I felt better hearing that, until I saw her right foreleg. It was bandaged up heavily and I could see a little blood oozing out of the wound below.

When I asked her about it, she said that she'd been walking around one night to take in the feeling of being back home again. While she was out, she saw somepony stumbling around and moaning a little. When she asked the mare if everything was alright, all she got was another incoherent moan before she rushed her and bit her on the leg. From there, Rainbow had just bandaged it up herself and was going to see the doctor the next day to make sure everything was alright with it.

As soon as her story was done, all I could think about was what the princess and my brother had said only a few days before, how all the victims were covered in bites and how anypony bitten by... whatever crazed pony was around would become ill very quickly. I checked Rainbow all over before we made our way back to her house. She seemed alright, though her cutie mark was slightly less vibrant that normal. She also was running a slight temperature, but she had just flown all the way back from Cloudsdale, so maybe her body was just very warm.

After we stopped by her house, she, myself, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all headed over to Sugarcube Corner for lunch. The entire time, I couldn't stop thinking about the bite on Rainbow's leg, and what that could mean. I'm very glad she's alright and that she made it home safely, but I'm so uneasy about this whole situation right now. Maybe I ought to just sleep it off for now.

September 27

I... it's... it's so horrible! And she still won’t believe me! And... and... Rainbow...

When I got up this morning, Rainbow was at my door, along with all the others. She was looking pretty sick and was running the highest temperature I'd ever seen in my life. It's a wonder she could stand considering how sick and weak she'd become in just one night back. I removed her bandage and looked at her wound to see it was heavily infected and was oozing pus and some sort of black, thick fluid.

We all told her she needed to go to the hospital, that her wound needed to be treated right away. Initially, she refused, saying that she'd be just fine without it and that all she needed was some penicillin. However, when she tried to stand up, she nearly fell over from her dizziness. We put her on Applejack's back and made our way to the hospital, none of us having a single idea for what we were about to walk into.

Almost as soon as we arrived, we heard frantic hoofsteps and loud voices calling around from all over. The entire hospital was full of ponies calling to one another, some with bites just like Rainbow's, and others were even crying a little as they sat there. A nurse greeted us once we made out way inside and asked what it was we needed. We said that Rainbow had a bite that needed to be treated, and the nurse turned whiter than I thought was possible. She asked if the bite was from a pony, to which we answered yes, and she rose from her desk to the back.

As confused as we were, we waited for her to come back, and she brought along with her a doctor. He asked the same thing as the nurse, wanting to know first what the issue was, then if the bite was from a pony. After we answered him, he took a look at Rainbow's hoof, looking almost like he was having trouble concentrating on the appendage. When I asked him why the hospital was so busy, he just gestured to Rainbow and explained that in only the last twenty four hours they had seen a huge explosion of patients, almost every one with a bite mark from a pony. Just as I was about to ask another question, a nurse rushed out from nearby and said that one of the patients was beginning to seize and his vital signs were dropping.

The doctor rushed after the nurse and I followed along, wanting to know once and for all what this was all about. Upon reaching the room, I saw a light tan pony with a blonde mane on the table. He was seizing violently, every part of his body shaking and his eyes were bloodshot beyond all belief. The doctor rushed forward to help the patient, but almost as soon as he reached him, the pony stopped convulsing and went completely still, his mouth wide open and his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

The doctor tried again and again to resuscitate the pony, only to fail cause no change in the vital's monitors. After about four minutes, he swore and kicked a nearby table in his frustration. I couldn't take my eyes off the body of the pony whose cutie mark had gone completely gray along with the rest of his body. As I looked at him, I heard a noise come from his mouth, which immediately caught the attention of the doctor who had been talking to the nurse about what they were going to tell this pony's family. He leaned forward as close as he could, putting his ear to the pony's mouth, listening intently for the sound of breathing.

Almost as soon as he'd leaned down, the pony lashed out and bit hard into the doctor's face, causing him to scream in agonizing pain. The nurse with him rushed over to get the patient off him, only to worsen the situation. When the doctor finally was able to break away from the patient, a huge chunk of his face was torn off and the pony began to eat it ravenously. All I could do was watch in horror as the pony slowly sat up and looked all around the room, moaning loudly.

His eyes were milky and held an empty stare. The cutie mark on his flank had faded to a gray patch of fur, and his coat was becoming more and more light, almost as if the blood in his body had stopped flowing. He looked around till he saw the nurse who had begun to tend to the doctor and lunged for her. She screamed loudly as his teeth sank into her shoulder and tore away a huge chunk of flesh

The nurse tried her best to fight him off, kicking and punching him, attempting to force him away from her. She never noticed that the doctor had begun to seize behind her before going limp. I threw something at the pony, managing to draw his attention from the nurse. Slowly, he began to stumble towards me, moaning the whole time. I panicked and picked up a scalpel, jamming it into his chest. I looked on in horror as the pony didn’t even flinch or scream, continuing to make its way over to me.

I turned and ran away as fast as I could, making it out just as a security guard ran up to see what had happened and what all the screaming was about. As he arrived, I looked past him and saw the doctor on the floor reach out and bite the nurse again, causing her to scream even louder as blood flowed from her neck. I never got to see what happened next as I ran back out into the lobby, tears in my eyes the whole time.

When I reached the others, I told them all that we needed to get out of here as fast as we could and get back to town to warn the mayor. They asked what had happened, but I never answered. I was still in so much shock from what I had just seen. As we made our way out, a few more security guards began to run around as more and more agonized screams could be heard from all around the hospital.

Almost as soon as we made it back to town, I told the others to head for their homes and stay inside no matter what. Pinkie took Rainbow and headed for Sugarcube Corner, since Dash wasn’t able to fly a whole lot right now. I tried to explain to the mayor what I had just seen, about the pony who had seemingly died and returned to life to attack the others in the room, and tell her that Ponyville seriously needed to be secured before things got worse. Again, all she did was laugh in my face and say I was insane and that there was no possible way that something like that could be happening, that the dead couldn’t just return to life like that.

I was so frustrated, that I just ran out and headed back here. I have an enchanted barrier up to keep us safe for now, should anything happen. Spike has all the windows boarded up and the front door barricaded as well. I’m so afraid right now, and I just pray that this is all just some sort of horrible dream I’m having right now...

...Wait a second... What's that noise? Is that... screaming?