This fanfiction contains scenes of violence and content people may find disturbing. If you are easily offended by blood and gore, here’s your chance to leave. Also, some strong language may be used. Why did I even put that there? It's rated Mature.

Plague in the Land of Equestria

Written by: killingfrenzycreator

Chapter One: Sudden Outbreak

Rainbow Dash shivered as the icy wind blew into her face and ruffled her multi-colored mane. For the last three days, there were nothing but storm clouds and bad weather, and despite her best efforts, Rainbow Dash couldn’t keep the skies clear of the storm clouds. Everypony just stayed in their homes, and didn’t go outside unless it was an emergency. Rainbow’s particular problem was that she was out of food. The stores were mostly closed, due to the fact that almost no one went out, so Dash had some trouble finding somewhere to restock. After almost two hours, she was about to give up.

“All this bad weather dampened even MY competitivity,” muttered Rainbow Dash. She was feeling better than she had the last three days; today was the first day that it wasn’t pouring, and it was nice to be able to go outdoors without the downpour soaking you down to the bone. Even with this improvement in the gloominess, Rainbow Dash felt incredibly depressed. She sighed as she stepped in a pile of mud and got her right forehoof covered in muck. Rainbow would go ask for some apples in Sweet Apple Acres from her friend Applejack, but she suspected the orchard wasn’t in the best condition, due to Applejack staying inside because of heavy rain, so the farm couldn’t be cared for. Not to mention the fact that the rain itself might have messed up the apple orchards.

“Guess I’ll just go hungry for tonight,” mumbled Rainbow Dash, almost too quiet to hear. She lifted off with her wings and flew to her house. When she arrived, she opened the door, walked inside, and flopped down onto the couch. In minutes she was asleep. Her rest was interrupted by nightmares, of the world being the way it is forever, and in one dream she saw a cloud of flies covering a huge pile. What the pile was made of, she couldn’t tell, but Rainbow could guess. Dash jolted awake with a violent jump, sweat beading her forehead. She had a horrible stomach ache.

“Ooooooh,” Rainbow Dash moaned in agony. She had both hooves on her stomach. Dash rolled off the couch and hit the floor with a loud THUD, sending a spasm of pain through her spine. Rainbow Dash got onto her hooves and ran to the bathroom, then forced herself to vomit. It was thin and somewhat tasteless, and contained blood. She didn’t feel much better afterwards, and she felt exhausted. Forcing herself up, Rainbow Dash stumbled outside. The rain had started up again, harder than ever. It was pouring down so hard that it hurt.

“What in Celestia is going on around here?” moaned Rainbow Dash, then vomited again. This time it was different, though. The vomit was thick and slimy, and tasted like blood, though this time it was pure black, with no visible traces of blood in it. She kept hurling for a while, and even when nothing came up, Dash sat there retching painfully and uncontrollably, then fell on her back. She was done retching, but was twitching. After almost twenty minutes, she was done. Rainbow Dash felt much better; her stomach no longer hurt, she had her strength back, and all the pain was gone. The biggest discomfort she felt now was that she was more soaked than she thought possible.

“I’ll let the rain clean this mess up,” Rainbow Dash soliloquized, then entered her home. After starting a fire in the fireplace and grabbing the biggest blanket she owned, Dash was soon dry and warm, even cozy. Eventually she slipped away into sleep. When she awoke, it was still raining.

“Oh, Celestia. Will it ever lighten up out there?” mumbled a disheartened Rainbow Dash. “I’d love to see the sunshine again.” She sighed and sat staring out the window for the better part of an hour, and when the rain let up a bit (it was still a light drizzle) Dash went outside and traveled to Pinkie Pie’s house. Pinkie answered the knocks almost instantly.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash, I’ve been sooooo boooooored with everypony inside. This is the worst rain I’ve seen since the Royal Cupcake Contest. I remember someone brought waffles, and I was like ‘waffles aren’t cupcakes’, I just ate waffles for breakfast 43 days ago. Do you like waffles Rainbow Dash? We should make some. Or maybe-” Pinkie Pie was losing her train of thought incredibly fast.

“Pinkie, calm down. I’m running low on food, and none of the stores are open. Do you have anything I could take home? I’m really hungry...” Rainbow Dash remembered what happened the night before, how sick she was... how did she magically recover so fast?

“No, sorry Dash. That reminds me; Applejack was terribly sick earlier. Could you stop by and check on her? I was sick once and it suuuucked, and the nurse helped me get better. Have you met the nurse? She’s-”

“I need to get going, Pinkie. I’ll stop by Sweet Apple Acres for Applejack,” interrupted Rainbow Dash.

“Okee-dokey! Have fun!” Pinkie Pie was enthusiastic and happy even when everything was so gloomy and sad. It cheered up Rainbow Dash, but she was back to her bummed out state shortly after.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” There was a scream coming from Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash picked up the pace and raced to the barn, where the screams originated. Big Macintosh was outside the barn, slamming the door and roaring furiously. As Rainbow Dash got closer, she noticed there was something wrong with Big Macintosh’s appearance. His coat was dull, and dustier than usual. His eyes were almost completely white, and his tongue was black. There was some liquid leaking from Big Macintosh’s mouth. Dash realized with shock that it was the same fluid she had thrown up in the rainstorm the previous night. There were incisions along Big Macintosh’s flank and ribs, with matted blood crusting them. He was letting out beastial roars while literally throwing himself at the barn door. It was cracked to hell, and wouldn’t hold out much longer. Rainbow Dash picked up a rock and flew right above Big Macintosh.

“Mac! Hey, Mac! What the fuck are you doing? What’s wrong with you?” she shouted out to him. He looked up with a low growl of surprise, then roared in hunger and started jumping up, desperately trying to catch her. She dropped the rock and closed her eyes. There was an audible cracking sound, and when Dash opened her eyes again, she saw that Big Macintosh had stopped trying to kill her. In fact, he stopped doing everything, due to the gaping hole in his skull, the gray mess that was his brain. Crimson blood was forming a very large pool around the battered corpse. He smelled of rotten flesh, a smell that made Dash gag, barely holding back vomit. She removed the outer barricade on the barn door (Big Macintosh obviously lost most of his intelligence to the sickness that corrupted him) and entered. What she saw shocked her. Applebloom was eating the inner organs of Granny Smith. Blood covered her face, and Granny Smith’s entire torso was open, revealing the remainders of her organs. Most of the floor was covered in blood. Applebloom was digging in vigorously, and her eyes were the same milky white as Big Macintosh’s.

“Rainbow Dash,” sobbed the voice of Applejack. Dash looked up and saw her friend sitting there, mane ruffled, tears flowing down her face, spots of blood on her chest. Rainbow Dash flew up to the rafters where Applejack was hiding from her infected sister.

“My family, they’re gone... everything’s ruined...” cried Applejack. Rainbow Dash put her hoof on her depressed friend’s back.

“AJ... I’m so sorry... but we need to take care of your sister, before she gets any more innocent ponies...” Rainbow Dash started choking up at the end of her sentence. Applejack just nodded. Dash flew down and picked up another rock.

“I don’t wanna watch!” bawled Applejack, turning her head the other direction. Rainbow Dash threw the rock, which bounced off Applebloom’s head, taking about half her head with it. Gore flew all over the place, with bits of brain landing on the walls and floor. A chunk of skull nailed Dash’s right arm, splattering blood all over Rainbow’s arm and chest.

The rain stopped completely outside. Dash looked up at Applejack, who was crying even harder. Dash heard a low moan, and looked over at Granny Smith, who was getting on her hooves. Due to laws of gravity, all her remaining insides slid out and hit the floor with a wet SMACK. She took one unsteady step towards Rainbow Dash, then another, then another. Her moans turned into desperate roars and growls. She quickened her step. Rainbow Dash hit Granny Smith in the face, hard. Her hoof went clean through Granny Smith’s head. A wet and soggy material stuck to Rainbow’s arm, and once her arm was out, a jet of red blood sputtered out and the contents of her head spilled onto the floor. Dash shook her arm violently, trying to get all the brains off. Golden light spilled into the barn. Dash looked outside and saw that the storm clouds were gone, and the sun shone bright. Even Applejack stopped crying. This sunshine after the days and days of dark stormy weather was the most beautiful thing either had ever seen.

“T-t-the clouds... they’re gone!” drawled Dash. Applejack sat by her dead family members, crying anew.

“What in Celestia is going on here?”

Author's Note

Wow, just came back after working on Chapter 10. It's funny how much the story's progressed from here.