Chapters "Um, Scoot?" whispered Rainbow Dash when she returned home from the funeral of Twilight.
"Well, Rainbow, it's nothing... it's just a matter of life. Even my other crusaders know it." replied Scootaloo calmly. She thought that Rainbow was still sad from the loss of her friend.
But it was not the death of Twi that Rainbow was sad. It was that she feared for herself that she will die. The Yellow Disease was sweeping across Equestria like wildfire, no matter what the hospitals did to save their patients. It is just too strong.
"...Maybe...I...won't teach you how to fly straight in a loop today. I...have something else to do." Rainbow stammered.
Scootaloo felt strange towards Rainbow. She was usually so bright and bubbly, always up to a horror story at night. But now, her stories are getting shorter and cheesier, even though the time was only 7pm. There's something seriously wrong with her , thought Scoot.
And she was right. Due to her continuous loss of sleep and depression, Rainbow contracted the Yellow Disease. The yellow bits in her mane and cutie mark spread quickly, covering her whole body. The funeral of her came a few days later.
"Guys, this is serious. Two out of six Elements disappeared. We have to do something, quick! Since the Elements are no longer complete and they could not use them to wipe out the plague, it's up to us fillies to do it." Scoot said on the day of RD's funeral.
"But what Scoot? We don't have a speck of an idea in our heads right now!" Apple Bloom blurted out.
"Good question, Bloom. Come back tomorrow at the clubhouse to see if you have thought of anythin'." Scootaloo replied. Then, the three of them dispersed, each with a wondering mind.
"SWEETIE BELLE!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"What's with the screaming, sis? Don't you know that I'm trying to do Ms Cheerilee's humongous pile of homework?" Sweetie Belle replied, annoyed.
"But Sweet-"
"No sis! Remember what I said. MS CHEERILEE GAVE ME A HUMONGOUS PILE OF HOMEWORK AND I MUST COMPLETE IT BY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!" Sweetie Belle bellowed at Rarity.
Which Friday? This or next? Rarity was about to ask, when she remember the conflicts she had with Sweetie. Maybe not ask and keep my mouth shut , she thought.
Rarity shut her mouth and stared at the three dead ponies from the main 6 on the floor. She felt gushes of nausea and she regretted carrying them over to the Carousel Boutique to make them funeral dresses. She did not manage to make them just before the funerals as she was too busy fufilling orders for other ponies' funeral dresses, as the Yellow Disease wiped out almost half of Equestria. Unfortunately, they looked perfect from the outside, but their insides are rotting at an alarming rate, which is a confirming symptom of the Yellow Disease. The stench from the rotting flesh kept invading Rarity's nose, and she retreated. A few minutes later, Rarity carried them out of her house with a mask on.
But she never knew the power of the spreading disease. She got contaminated by the virus which can invade a pony's body just by a slight touch. Emotional difficulties work too. She turned yellow and......
"NOOOOOOOO! RARITY!!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!" Sweetie Belle screamed at Rarity a week later. "I should have helped her that day...." she thought, her ears drooping.
"Funerals are like Pinkie's parties these days," Scootaloo sighed,"anypony got an idea on how to slow it down?"
The Crusaders looked at each other. They don't have one now but they sure do have one in the future....
Sweetie Belle broke the silence. "Anyway, why can't Rarity just levitate those ponies that contaminated her out. She can use her horn anyway." She had smelt the stench and thus covered her nose and mouth with a mask on that day when Rarity forgot to use her horn, thus resulting in death.
Author's Note
Okay, I know you gugs might be a little bored now, since the stories are so short and straightforward. But soon, better stories will come from me.
"So many ponies are dying around Ponyville! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!!!!!!!!! WE'VE TO DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Sweetie Belle on their way to the CMC clubhouse. She had tears streaming down her cheeks as she howled regretfully. Now, both AB and SB's sisters have died, no matter what they did.
"I should not have screamed at her that day...."
"Mah should have taken cara Applejack...."
"It's ok, guys." Scootaloo who didn't have a sister can do nothing but try to calm down her friends. Her mind was racing at the same time. This is a disaster, but what can an average pegasus filly do?
As they passed by Fluttershy's cottage, they spotted Fluttershy on the ground, screaming and crying for her friends. Using Angel's sign language, they knew that Fluttershy has been doing this for three days in a row and they better do something before Fluttershy cries to death.
"Um, Fluttershy?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Y-yes?" Fluttershy sobbed. She looked up and the CMC gasped in fright. The Fluttershy they saw before was not the same as now. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face was smeared with dirt and grass and her hair was in a tangle.
"Ar-re you alright?"
"NO! HOW CAN I EVER BE ALRIGHT WHEN MY FRIENDS ARE ALL GONE?????" Fluttershy howled, smashing her face into the grass and started to cry all over again.
"I'm sorry to hurt your feelings, Fluttershy." Apple Bloom muttered her apology and trailed away, leaving a crying yellow pegasus on the ground with her animals.
Everypony knew what happened to her a week later.
"And I think I got an idea....." Sweetie Belle whispered. Scoot and Bloom came close to her and the idea was revealed....
Ever since the death of her two friends, Applejack the super-bucker pony will not endure it. Not a single bit. Apple Bloom did not notice the abnormal behaviour in AJ until she fell sick. With The Yellow Disease.
Usually, Applejack will always have a very big appetite, and will never leave the dining table without having at least five apple pies. But today, AJ only ate three. The next day, she ate one. One the day after that, she could not even eat without having to rush to the toilet.
One day, AJ could not even get out of bed without Apple Bloom's help. Bloom had to drag her off the bed, and then flip her over onto her stomach, then straighten up her four hooves. Even after that AJ still cannot walk on her own.
As AJ's condition got worse and worse, Apple Bloom's teacher Cheerilee also started to give a lot of homework for the school foals, so Bloom had lesser and lesser time to take care of AJ. AJ's yellow mane became her yellow body. In the end, AJ died a painful death.
There was a huge crowd at AJ's funeral. Granny Smith was wailing like nuts. Big Macintosh was sobbing quietly for his beloved sister. Even Cherry Jubilee was there, although she was not a close relative of AJ's huge family.
Again, the Crusaders gathered at a quiet alley near the funeral, and Sweetie Belle sighed. "Why are everyone dying so quickly? Is the Yellow Disease really so powerful?"
"Crusaders, we've got to find a plan, or just a very fundamental idea, so as to stop or just slow down the speed of the Yellow Disease spreading. We've already lost half of the elements. If we don't do anything, everypony will die." said Scootaloo.
The three fillies clapped hooves, and they temporarily put aside their cutie mark crusading. Now their mission is to protect the rest of the Elements from the Yellow Disease......but how? What could three fillies with blank flanks do?
"Gummy! Gummy! Gummy! Gummy! Gummy! Gummy! Gummy! Gummy!......" Pinkie Pie screamed once she reached Sugarcube Corner.
"Oh, I just put him at Fluttershy's. Would you want to go and get him back?" asked Mrs Cake.
"You go get him. I want to play with him. I'm bored."
She seemed weird today , thought Mrs Cake.
"Gummy, have you ever lost a friend?" Pinkie asked sadly.
In response, Gummy stared at Pinkie's big blue eyes.
"No? Then I will tell you the feeling of losing a friend. You will first feel startled, then when you saw your friend in a coffin, you will start to feel perplexed, then you shall be very, very, very, very sad." A tear slipped from Pinkie's eyes as she started to sob. She could not bear to see three of her friends disappear.
Just then, little Pumpkin Cake crawled over after getting bored with playing with Pound Cake, who was walking upside down on the ceiling with help from his wings. When she saw her most beloved babysitter sobbing, she immediately began to levitate the cupboard door open to take out a bag of flour. But Pinkie pressed her hoof onto Pumpkin's horn to let her stop, and said, "It's ok, Pummy, I don't need flour."
"Pinkie! Time for dinner!"
"No, Mrs Cake. I have no appetite."
"Oh....um, okay, you stay with Gummy and our two precious little ginger breads then. I'll eat myself."
Actually, Mrs Cake already knew why Pinkie's appetite disappeared.
And she was right-Pinkie was contaminated with the powerful virus-THE YELLOW DISEASE.
Death reached Pinkie even faster than Rainbow Dash. Mr and Mrs Cake had to attend her funeral just the next day. No one knew why it was so fast.
For the third time, the CMC got together, this time under a tall shady tree.
"I guess the Yellow Disease is too powerful. We need to stop it!" said Scootaloo determinedly.
"Yes!" chorused AB and SB.
