~

"A long time ago, in the magical land of Equestria....

There lived two sisters of great and powerful magic. One of these sisters wielded the mighty burning heart of the Sun, while the other wielded the calm soothing serenity of the Moon. It was these two that ruled over the land of Equestria with peace and harmony in their hearts and in the hearts of their loyal subjects.

They oversaw the rise and fall of many villains, including the rise of one of their own inner monsters; Nightmare Moon. Evil after evil had been banished by the efforts of the six risen Elements of Harmony, the very foundations and pillars of the world themselves in pony form, come forth to banish chaos and disharmony wherever it chose to rear its head.

But... they were not prepared for this.

Chaos, like Harmony, is part of the balance. It is a part of every living creature's soul and is capable of as much destruction as Harmony is love. It lives in the hearts of every single pony, and every single one of its rulers...

When fire and death loomed over Equestria like a deadly shadow, Chaos took hold of the fears and doubts of such a ruler, and plagued her poor heart with dismay and hopelessness. With none to help her and none who would ever dare question her, Chaos played havoc with her heart, mind, body, and soul, and thus doomed Equestria to become beset by the very essence of Chaos itself: a terrible Ravage.

But as we know... Chaos is in the balance. If one scale is tipped, the other must restore the balance. As it was so for all the generations of ponykind, and so will it be again when Harmony is restored to the world. The cycle repeats itself without end. But always know that where there is Chaos, Harmony will always follow… until the scales break…

…at least, that’s how it usually works."

~

Zecora sipped her herbal tea with a calm sigh through her snout, her ears doing their absolute best to tune out the argumentative banter of the four ponies who had taken an apparent residence in her hut. It was understandable as to why they were all so upset, but a little less volume would have been much appreciated to the poor Zebra.

"Ah'm tellin' ya it's her fault!" Applejack barked at Rainbow Dash, the multi-colored pony held a face of anger as she stared back at her friend.

"You take that back!" Rainbow spat back, pointing an accusing hoof towards the country mare, "She's always been our friend! Look at all she did for us, Applejack!"

"Yeah, did is the word, Rainbow!" Applejack countered, slamming her Stetson down on the floor in frustration. "She smashed through the walls of Canterlot, brought her whole diseased group with her, and unleashed a horde of Afflicted onto everypony, nearly killing even the Princesses!”

Rainbow let out a furious growl as she set her hooves down on the floor, struggling to wriggle out of Pinkie Pie’s grip as the pink pony tried to stop the fight from escalating, to not much avail.
"She cured us all, Applejack! The most powerful magical blast we’d ever felt, was The Purge! She saved Equestria, you dummy!"

"At what cost!?" Applejack roared, stamping her hooves violently, "She brought it back and she brought Discord with her! Everypony who was cured before isn't coming back this time if they get infected, Rainbow, that's how it works, remember!? How do you explain Twilight showing up just out of the blue with the virus trailing behind her?"

Fluttershy was whimpering from a small corner in the hut, her front hooves ineffective at stopping the tears streaming from her eyes as she cried "P...please stop fighting! This isn't r-right!"

Zecora gulped back the last of her tea and let out yet another sigh as she rubbed a pained spot on the top of her head with a hoof. "Please, librarian..." she whispered to herself as she went to make another batch of tea. "Do hurry yourself back here..."

As if on cue, the sounds of distant galloping could be heard in the distance, loud enough to even carry over the furious banter between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Zecora's ears perked up as she heard this, quickly turning her head to shout "Everyone, hush! Open your ears and listen!"

The ponies quieted down, but the glares were still traded back and forth as the sound of a distant and panicked scream echoed faintly through the walls of the hut; “Help!!”
"What in tarnation…" Applejack mumbled, turning her head towards the door.

"I need help!" screamed a voice outside the hut, the door shuddering for a moment. The ponies inside gasped and immediately shot towards the door, Rainbow flinging it open first and zooming outside. They all made it out in time to see Twilight Sparkle collapse onto the ground, dropping the infected form of a white unicorn, previously slung on her back.

“Twilight, wh-“ Zecora was interrupted as Rarity pushed herself up on four hooves, and instantly lunged at the purple unicorn sitting there. But she was prepared. She slammed her own hooves into the ground and shot up into a defensive stance.

The creature looked her in the eyes with its matching blood-red ones and snarled, a drop of blood dripping from her lips as it took a cautious step towards Twilight, tilting her head. The cloaked unicorn narrowed her eyes. This all happened in a single moment. The beast lunged again, but Twilight was ready; with expert precision, she wrapped her strong hooves around Rarity’s middle and shifted their weight, slamming the attacker belly-first into the forest floor. The ponies standing there finally realized the situation, and Fluttershy screamed in fear.

“Twilight, no!” Rainbow shouted, unable to believe what she was seeing, while the zebra beside her shook her head solemnly.

“Ah can’t believe it…” Applejack said quietly, eyes fixed upon her now growling friend, who snarled viscously and swiped a hoof at them as they stood a few steps up on the porch of the hut.

“Get me some rope, now!” Twilight finally shouted, grunting as the infected unicorn thrashed wildly under her, and she struggled to dig a hoof into the dirt to get better leverage on her hold.

“What for? She’s dead already.” The orange mare replied, staring at the unicorn with resentment, knowing her friend’s condition was the lavender mare’s fault.

“I don’t care what the heck you think, Applejack! Get me some damn rope!!” she screamed, clenching her teeth as she gave the white unicorn another shove. But this time, Rarity snarled ferociously back and swung a strong hoof back, knocking Twilight in the chest and unbalancing her off. She squeaked in pain from the blow and backed up, coughing a bit for breath. As the unicorn turned with a red-eyed glare to the ponies standing there, she instantly locked onto the nearest one: Pinkie Pie.

Before the beast could take another step, a rainbow flash appeared from the side, and suddenly a pair of cyan hooves curled around Rarity’s hind leg, and grappled onto her shoulder from the front. Next thing they knew, Rainbow kicked her legs into the ground and twirled into the air, flipping over and crashing the unicorn back-first into the rough floor- a blow that would’ve cracked any regular pony’s spine. “Rope!” she shouted, gripping tightly and using her powerful wings to force the unicorn into the ground. She growled angrily and flailed wildly, trying to escape the strong grip.

Applejack emerged from the hut again and gripped a long piece of the required rope in her teeth, dashing over beside Rainbow and gripping the rope tightly. With speed of experience and precision of skill, she swiftly tied down Rarity’s kicking legs, and used the other end of the rope as a miniature lasso for the fore-hooves, binding them very tightly behind the unicorn’s back, arching her position.

The two mares collapsed right there, belly’s rising and falling from complete exhaustion from that single, dramatic event. It made their hearts beat like crazy. Twilight slowly stepped over to them, looking down at the growling and thrashing pony. She quickly knelt down and carefully put her head against Rarity’s nearly touching their horns together as she stared deeply into those wild-red eyes, and hissed: “Ssssleeep.”

Rarity, after kicking against her binds a couple more times, finally slowed, her eyes fluttering closed, quietly obeying the command and drifting off to sleep. “Thank you, girls, I’m very proud of you.” Twilight smiled warmly as she rose back up. She looked around at the group, all eyes were on her. Some fearful, some sad, some completely shocked. She knew one thing more than any other.

“I...guess I have some explaining to do...”

~

“Macintosh..." she whispered with a smile from behind the red stallion's neck, breathing her sweet delicious breath upon him.

"Mmmh... five more minutes, hun," the work horse whispered back, a deep rumbling sigh escaping his lips as he felt her hooves wrapping around his middle and giving him a firm squeeze.

"But...Macintosh, you have to wake up."She whispered sweetly. "We're all going to die if you don't wake up." Macintosh's eyes snapped open as he caught sight of Lyra screaming down at him, her eyes wide and panicked as no noise escaped her lips.

"You're all going to die like me, if you don't get up."

"Macintosh, please! Get up! Hurry!" Lyra screamed as the sounds of splintering and crackling wood echoed all around him. The workhorse grunted as he scrambled to get up, looking all around him and spotted the ravaged pony, who had managed to shove him into one of the barn's support beams and knocked him out. It was dead, an iron pole pierced into its side.

"Darn monsters... Ah've had just about enough o' them..." he grumbled to himself as he looked towards the entrance to the barn, the closed door creaking and cracking violently as several snarling voices rammed themselves against it.

"Why did you even come out here? It's night time, you know what He said about going out at night!" Lyra hissed as Macintosh shook his head from the dull throbbing pain that had suddenly returned to his skull.

"Forgot mah yoke." he whispered, heading towards the support beam which displayed his yoke on a hook, ready for wearing and working. He was so ready to go back to work too... if only.

"Seriously? Your yoke?! You could have been killed, you big dummy!" She pointed over towards the dead pony laying just several feet away as she growled, "You would have been too if I hadn't rushed over to save you!"

Macintosh let out a huff as he quickly made his way over to the ladder that led up to the hayloft. "Ah thank you for it too, Miss Lyra, but right now we gotta get quiet and get up here b’fore that door breaks." Lyra bit her lip for a moment, looking back towards the splintering door before nodding and rushing over to climb up the ladder that Macintosh was already half way up on.

The stallion reached the secluded loft first, turning and reaching down to help pull Lyra up quickly. In turn, she reached up and hooked her hoof around Macintosh's, squeaking in surprise as she was pulled up with incredible speed. As wiggling rear hooves disappeared up into the hayloft, the front door to the barn crashed inwards and let in a torrent of ponies. They were bloody, they were angry, and they smelled food.

The work horse pressed a hoof against Lyra's mouth as she let out a tiny squeak, shaking his head at her in an effort to make sure she understood not to make any noise. As she nodded towards him, Macintosh took a chance to carefully peer over the edge of the loft and down onto the floor of the barn. He grimaced as he spotted at least ten monstrous ponies, all of them with either dark crimson splashed against their faces, or adorned with some kind of bite mark in their tender fur.

He looked over each of them carefully, planning out the best course of action to attack. Ten was a bit of a challenge, but one he had faced before. It would be quick and calculated, over before any alarm was raised. Just as he was about to make his move, however, an eleventh pony trudged into view. Macintosh closed his eyes with a pained expression as Bon-Bon twisted her head rapidly to the left and right, like a chicken sensing that its feed was close.

Macintosh leaned back into the hayloft, his eyes centering on the small window that rested just beyond a few bales of hay. He pointed silently with a hoof towards it, drawing Lyra's eyes away from the edge and towards the window as well. She nodded and begun to quietly get up and stealthily walk over behind the hay bales. Macintosh followed after her quickly, making sure she didn't have a chance to peer over the edge. If Lyra saw her infected friend at any point like this... it'd probably be over for the both of them.

He had already tasted rage once... another would be his last.

Lyra reached the window first, the teal mare being as gentle as she could in pushing it open and letting the crisp night air reach them with a soft touch. She took a moment to peer out the window before hastily bringing her head back in with wide eyes. She turned towards Macintosh and shook her head, motioning towards the opening. At this, Macintosh frowned and took a step forward to look himself. He grimaced as he spotted five of the monsters standing between the barn and the farm house where the others were.

"Darnit..." he whispered, his eyes scanning for any opening they could've used to escape. When he found none, he slowly turned his head towards Lyra, his eyes centering on her horn.

She followed his gaze upwards, the tip of her horn coming into her view as her irises shrunk in a fit of panic. "Mac, no!" she whispered in terror, shaking her head several times.

"Just to one corner o' the yard!" Macintosh retorted, his ears perking to the sounds of thudding against the hayloft ladder, "The magic'll attract ‘em to the barn and give us a good chance to make it to the house!"

Lyra shook her head again as she whispered urgently "Macintosh, are you crazy!? I've never teleported more than a teacup or two! I can't teleport both of us down there!"

Macintosh furrowed his brow, looking away from Lyra for a moment to think. An idea clicked in his head as he quickly breathed, "Can ya launch any kinda flare, or magic bolt or somethin'?" When Lyra nodded, he pointed over towards the Everfree Forest with a hoof and whispered "Over that way, give them somethin' to run after!" Lyra nodded once more, approaching the window and pointing her horn straight over towards the forest.

"Please... go far," Lyra whispered as she reached into the recesses of her mind and magic. Her horn crackled for a moment before gleaming and stirring up a monstrous howl of a horde below. With a terrified cry, Lyra launched a bolt of teal magic out of the window, hurling it towards the Everfree Forest and immediately cutting off her magic flow.

The red stallion watched as the ponies in the yard turned and bolted straight for the forest while the sounds of thudding from the hayloft ladder grew in intensity. "Ok, go! Go now!" Macintosh urged as Lyra scrambled out of the window. The work horse quickly followed her, pausing to close the window behind him. They reached the edge of the roof together, looking down towards the far ground before looking at each other and giving each other a firm nod.

The two of them made a stunning leap as the group from inside the barn rushed out and joined in the chase after the wayward magic. Macintosh hit the ground first in a roll, making sure that not a single point of his body absorbed all of the impact. Lyra wasn't as fortunate, her hoof twisting slightly as she hit the ground and causing her to let out a loud whine of pain. Macintosh clenched his teeth as he looked over towards the forest, noticing that two or three of the bloody ponies had stopped, their ears perking as a new sound reached them.

The sound of wounded prey.

"Come on, Lyra!" Macintosh hissed as he hastily got to his belly. Lyra weakly pulled herself on top of him, barely having the strength to hold on as the work horse made a quick gallop towards the farm house. As the sounds of galloping started drifting back towards the barn, Macintosh shoved his way through the doors of his farmhouse and made for a quick gallop down the hall. Wasting no time, he ripped open a small door at the end of the main hall, rushing in and shutting it behind him. He bounded down the steps that were waiting for him just beyond the door, the work horse's breath labored and panicked as he reached one final door at the bottom of the stairs.

He paused for a quick few breaths before quietly knocking on the door and whispering "Spike, ya'll open up now. It's me an’ Lyra!"

There was a few moments pause before the young voice of a dragon whispered back through the door, asking, "Who does it belong to?"

At this, Macintosh let his head hang slightly and his eyes shut painfully. He knew the answer... but every time he had to say it, he could swear his heart tore a little every time. "Twilight..." he whispered, stepping back as the sounds of the door unlocking were heard. The door opened a few seconds later, revealing a weary looking Spike and a few barrels of apple cider. Macintosh nodded towards the small dragon as he made his way in, whispering "Thanks Spike... everythin' alright here?"

"As far as it can be I guess..." he said quietly, closing and locking the door behind them. The red stallion gently placed Lyra in the far corner of the cellar, next to the sleeping twins of the Cakes who were curled up against a pony who Macintosh was introduced to as 'Roseluck'. He sighed as he sat back on his flank next to a sleeping bundle in a tiny basket, watching as Spike took back his spot next to a sleeping Catie Cloud-Mane, the young Pegasus filly who had taken refuge with Twilight during the first incident.

That dreadful... painful first incident. It seemed as though it was repeated…

His eyes wandered to the right as he looked over a weeping Sweetie Belle pressed up against a worried Applebloom, with one of the weather ponies, Thunderlane, resting up against one of the cider barrels along the far wall. It was a lot of ponies for one apple cider cellar, but it would have to do. It was too dangerous to be up in the main house during the night. He jumped slightly as Spike called out to him "You good, Mac'?".

Macintosh felt a smile tug at his lips as he whispered back, "Eeyup... peachy." His eyes drooped to a close as his tiredness finally caught up to him, drawing blackness once more to his vision.

"Just... peachy..."

The following day for Ponyville was far more different than anypony would have liked as the sounds of retreating monsters and snarling ponies dissipated towards the Everfree Forest. One by one, ponies carefully poked their heads outside, taking careful steps to ensure that the outside was safe... if only temporarily.

Macintosh opened his eyes slowly as the sounds of clawed footsteps climbing down the stairs were heard, his head still throbbing from the grotesque sounds of howling ponies. From beside him, the sounds of a tiny creature gurgling reached his ears, causing him to turn his head. It was always something he adored, listening to the sounds of the very thing that he cherished more than anything in the entire world.

A baby filly, lavender in color with small spots of red lined in her fur, she had a streak of blonde in her purple and pink mane, her eyes the most dazzling color of emeralds in all of Equestria, according to a few. A tiny unicorn horn poked through her dazzling mane, and her tiny smile was enough to make Macintosh's headache disappear, if only for a few moments. He gently reached a hoof over to rub at her belly as the door to the cellar opened.

The stallion turned his head towards Spike, who walked in with a tired but determined look on his young face, the small dragon pointed a clawed thumb behind him and spoke, "Figured I'd give you a heads up... those traitors Lyra mentioned are coming."

At this, Macintosh closed his eyes and sighed, nodding and getting up to his aching hooves. "How long was Ah out?" He asked sluggishly, his hooves feeling a bit wobbly as he turned towards his filly.

"Almost all day, it's getting to be pretty late in the afternoon." Spike answered, drawing a deep sigh out of Macintosh. The stallion picked up his filly's basket in his teeth and carefully placed it on a balanced point on his back. With trudging hooves, he made his way out of the cellar and up into the main hall of the house.

His pace was sluggish as he passed by the entrance to the living room, his ears perking to the sounds of quiet arguing from within. "We were just here to sample some of Macintosh's new Apple Cider!" Thunderlane grumbled as he pointed an accusing hoof towards Lyra "That was, until somebody led a whole mob of monsters over here! Now we might as well be trapped here!"

"I was panicked, Thunderlane, give me a break!" Lyra shouted back, her mane disheveled and unkempt, "I've been having a little bit of a rough day if you haven't noticed! At least you still have your marefriend!"

At this, Roseluck quickly shook her head and pulled the twins closer to her while whispering, "Please don't bring me into this, it's already taking too much of my energy to keep these little ones quiet..."

Macintosh sighed as he made his way towards the front door, Spike following quickly at his side. As he saw the shadows of ponies just beyond the door, his mind wandered over exactly what happened the previous evening. Thunderlane and Roseluck, the two new happy parents of the orphaned Cake Twins come for a visit and a small sample of their new apple cider... with Lyra and an angry mob of savaged, bloody ponies screaming behind her. He didn't know what caused the re-infection or why... nor was he sure if he even cared anymore. So much blood and misery could play havoc on one's mind... and with so much more on the way, Macintosh wasn't sure if he could survive a second time.

He reached the front of the door with a heavy sigh, pushing it open to reveal two black-armored ponies clanking up the steps towards him. They were both colts, their armor embezzled with several serrated edges and a few spikes. He had heard about the 'Volunteers' from Lyra after she had run all the way from Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres, but couldn't really believe that anypony would actually buy into Discord's lies, let alone the acceptance of his rule. "What do y'all want..." he asked them irritably, his mood for dealing with ponies very thin.

"There were several attacks against Lord Discord's 'children' last night, particularly concerning the Elements of Harmony." The colt on the left growled "Do you know anything about that?"

At this, Macintosh simply shook his head in annoyance and spat back at them, "Ah'm livin' all the way over here on this side of Ponyville, ya damn cowards, why would Ah know anythin' bout the Elements?"

The colt on the right narrowed his eyes towards Macintosh as he retorted sinisterly "I think you know why..."

The patience that Macintosh thought he had quickly snapped as he pointed a firm hoof at them and hollered "Who the hell do y'all think you are trudgin' up here to me askin' stupid questions! Ah don't know anythin' bout' any Elements so y'all can just tuck yer cowardly tails between y'alls legs and get off of mah damn farm!"

The colts looked towards one another and then back at Macintosh, the two of them giving him one last glare before turning and moving away from the farmhouse. As they retreated, Lyra trotted up towards the red stallion and Spike, "What's going on up here? What's with the shouting?"

"Two more of those wuss ponies came to question Big Mac." Spike answered, inclining his head towards the black armored ponies "What's their deal anyway?"

Lyra sighed as Mac closed the door firmly, grumbling to himself and retreating back towards the kitchen. "They're just... scared, Spike," Lyra explained, "When I was in Ponyville, and Discord had us all cornered, he said that we'd be allowed outside during the day... but that we were too rowdy to be trusted." She followed Macintosh into the kitchen with Spike as she went on, "He promised to draw the ravaged ponies to the forest for the day if volunteers signed up to be his own little personal 'guard' or something. Never said why.”

"Cowardly if ya ask me..." Macintosh grumbled, plucking an apple out of the basket and taking a bite out of it. Lyra sighed and shook her head, trotting towards the table to get an apple of her own. Spike simply watched for a moment before the sounds of tiny hooves met his ears, drawing him to turn his head. Catie was heading towards the door, her head drooping and her eyes weary and tired as if she hadn't slept in days.

"Hey," Spike called, reaching a clawed paw out towards her. Catie stopped, lifting her head to meet his gaze as he asked "Where are you off to?"

"Oh, um... just outside," Catie answered, looking towards the door "I just need some air."

"I'll come with you if you want," Spike offered, turning and walking towards her, "It's not really safe to go out alone anyway." He watched as she thought it over for a moment before smiling and nodding at him.

"Alright, cool!" He exclaimed, turning towards the hall "I'll go grab a few things and we can head out."

Catie nodded and watched him disappear for a few moments, turning her head back towards the door. It was tough, she thought, having to switch lifestyles yet again. The very fact that the monsters had returned was enough to make her grimace and feel sick to her stomach. With Twilight dead and gone... what were they supposed to do now? Could anypony do anything to save them a second time?

"Alright, I'm ready to go!" Spike said as he approached Catie once more. She turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, noticing the small brown belt he now wore along with the baseball bat he had leaning against one shoulder and the baseball he threw up and caught in his other hand. In the small belt there rested what looked like a can of manespray.

"Um...Spike?" Catie asked, eying the can carefully.

"As far as you know..." Spike whispered, winking towards the filly "I'm returning it to a friend."

"What about the bat and ball?" Catie muttered, her eyes flicking over towards it.

Spike simply chuckled and responded with "If anyone asks, I'm playing baseball with the sky and you're flying up to catch the ball."

With a final nod, Catie pushed her way out of the farmhouse and out into the dreary afternoon. "Y'all don't stay too late out there!" Macintosh called after them, "It'll get dark before y'all know it!"

"We won't!" Spike called back, closing the farmhouse door behind him and hurrying to catch up with Catie up ahead, who was already moving into the lines and lines of growing and fully grown apple trees.

For a while, the two of them were quiet, walking side by side through the rows of trees. The wind was blowing gently through the leaves of Evergreen, bringing a sense of calm in a world gone mad once again. Spike was caught off guard when Catie suddenly spoke. "Do you miss her...?" she asked quietly, drawing a thin frown out of the young dragon.

He took a moment to piece his words together before answering her. "Yes... but I think maybe it's better that she's gone."

"What!?" Catie exclaimed with a gasp as they reached the bottom of a large, grassy hill.

Spike sighed as the two of them started up the hill, turning his head to speak. "Well... think about it," Spike said as the wind whipped around them, "Twilight got infected, right? Twice. That means she can't become a regular old pony again."

"Well... yeah that's true," Catie whispered, hanging her head.

Spike nodded and went on, "I wouldn't really want her to be around all her friends and... and her family if she couldn't even get close to them, you know?"

Catie sighed as they reached the top of the hill, a lone apple tree greeting them at the top. "I suppose you're right, but I still miss her..."

"Same here," Spike muttered, taking a seat under the tree and leaning back against it. Catie dropped to her belly gently beside him, laying her head on the grass and letting out a quiet breath.

"Hey, Spike...?" Catie asked, starting out across the wide expanse of the farm and at the pink clouds that loomed in the distance. When the dragon looked down towards her she whispered, "Do you think... things will go back to normal again?"

Spike looked out towards the clouds as well, putting his hands behind his head as he whispered back "It'll probably take a while, but I'm sure everything will be just fine."

The two of them fell into a silence, neither one of them uttering a word. It was a peaceful moment for Spike, his mind free to wander on all that he could. Was Twilight happy and at peace? Was she in a good afterlife? He turned his head to ask Catie something, but quietly closed his mouth as he beheld her sleeping form nestled up beside him. He smiled slightly, leaning his head back and closing his own eyes.

A few minutes sleep wouldn't kill him.

~

Twilight’s violet eyes watched the window with resentment, seeing the creatures run by with speed as she assumed they were called back for the night…

With a sigh, she turned away from the window, shutting the curtains and walking over to Zecora’s bed. It was occupied…

The unicorn stood there, staring at the sleeping creature, watching its chest rising and falling like a normal living pony. Her eyes fluttered under their closed lids, hooves would move every so often. It was all perfectly average. But was Rarity really dreaming? Or just following a command?

Twilight gulped slightly, not wanting to think about it, but she knew she must. Her friend had suffered through everything because of her. If she hadn’t worked so hard to break them all out, this probably never would’ve happened. But the mare couldn’t beat herself up too much for it, her motives were not selfish in any way, she had her reasons.
With a sad sigh, she climbed onto the bed, and curled up next to the white unicorn tied down to the bed, resting her head on Rarity’s soft, furry belly. She seemed so innocent and peaceful when she slept…

“I’m sorry, Rarity… I just… I can’t save you just yet, it would give us away.” The lavender mare whispered, talking mostly to herself, but she could feel a tear welling up her eye. “Just, if you can hear me… I promise you’ll make it out of this… we all will.”

~

The sounds of crickets was what woke Spike up first, the young dragon letting out a tiny yawn as he opened his eyes and frowned. "Crickets... what are crickets doing out during the-" He stopped as his eyes flew open to their widest point, the night time meeting his gaze. "Uh oh..." he gasped, turning to shake Catie awake. He pushed against her firmly as he whispered, "Catie, Catie wake up! We're in serious trouble!"

"Huh, what?" She whispered back sleepily, opening her eyes slowly, "What's going o-" She cut herself off as a gasp burst from her lungs, her eyes widening as she looked up at Spike, "What happened?!"

"We dozed off, come on we have to get out of here!" Spike whispered as he helped her to her hooves, the two of them making their way towards the edge of the hill top. As they made their way down the hill, a furious screeching exploded off above them, drawing a small scream out of Catie.

"Spike they're already in the fields!" She cried, the sounds of galloping hooves echoing all around them.

The young dragon whipped his head to the left and right as the sounds of snarling and growling weaved through the trees. They already had them sniffed out, there was no way that anything left outside wouldn't have been discovered by now. A feeling of hopelessness started to fill him as Catie skidded to a halt and let out a cry of fright.

A dark shadow jumped in front of them, a pair of sinister red eyes glaring down at them. Spike wasted no time in rushing ahead of Catie with the reflexes of experience, swinging his bat wide and clobbering the ravaged pony before him across the face. The pony screeched as it was flung off to the side, drawing a loud shout of Spike as he pushed Catie forward, "Run! Go Catie keep moving!"

There was no way they'd make it on foot, not with them surrounded like this.

There was no way for them to make it safety back to the farmhouse.

There was no way... for both of them.

Spike slowly stopped, halting his movements as Catie ran ahead. She turned to look back and she too skidded to a halt as Spike clubbed another blood smeared pony who rushed towards him. "Spike!" She cried, the snarling of monsters only intensifying around her.

"Just go!" He shouted, dropping his bat and pulling out the can of manespray "Hurry and get out of here!" Catie looked towards him with a sense of dread as a few more ponies rushed out of the shadows. But alas, her muscles took control of her mind, drawing her back around and into a full run as the young dragon took a deep intake of breath.

As he exhaled, he aimed the can of manespray towards the closest pony and watched in awe as his once small burst of green fire turned into an emerald inferno, cascading outwards through the spray and smothering the now burning pony in front of him. He turned as he breathed, igniting the trees with green fire as more ponies emerged from the dark. "Come on then!" He shouted, picking up his bat as he ran out of breath, his lungs heaving for air "I don't have all day! Bring it on!"

The afflicted did not move towards him, however, their forms simply retreating backwards as the greenish light from the fire danced across the darkness. "Where are you going?! I'm right here! What's wrong, you all scared!?"

"You know that's very cute... coming from a little rascal like you..." boomed a voice behind him, drawing Spike's eyes to widen as the diseased ones all around him bounded away in a panic. "I say... you've made quite a mess… Spike." Discord said in a half amused, half disappointing tone. "That's not really good for business, you know." Spike let out a furious snarl as he whirled around, throwing the bat from his paws towards Discord's face. The chaotic beast merely laughed however as he snapped his fingers, turning the bat into a bouquet of flowers and catching it swiftly.

Spike's jaw dropped as the multi-formed monster took a large whiff of the flowers and cackled with delight, "Oh, for me?! You shouldn't have Spike!" He then proceeded to throw the flowers upwards into one of the flaming trees as his yellow and red eyes narrowed towards the small dragon in rage.

"You really... really shouldn't have."

Spike felt a lot of things in that moment. Perhaps it was terror, or the adrenaline talking. Maybe it was the feeling of utter stupidity for having attempted to directly attack a supernatural being that could have easily unmade the world if he so wanted. But what he knew for sure that he felt, was pain.

Pain ripped through his body as red blood glistened. Spike felt himself rise up into the air as claws slashed against him, tearing some of his scales off. The young dragon hit the ground with a mighty thud, rolling slightly before coming to a complete stop underneath one of the blazing trees. "There's a good boy." Discord chuckled as he licked the disease off of his claws, "Now, be a good boy and... use your anger for better things, hmm?"

As Spike clutched his slightly bleeding side, feeling a stinging burning wind itself through him, he whimpered. "N-no!" He cried, a flash of red crossing his vision, "Not like this! Come on, is that all you got?!" The wounded dragon wobbled unsteadily as he supported himself against a tree, looking up towards the spot where Discord had vanished, his body burning with a feeling of rage. "Come back here!" Spike shouted, his cheek twitching as he felt something thick quietly sliding down his face "Come fight me fair you big loser!!!"

"S...Spike?" whispered a tiny voice, drawing the raging dragon to look over to where Catie now stood. She had come back, standing between two trees that had yet to catch fire. Her eyes were wide with terror as she looked upon Spike, her breath coming out in ragged gasps as she pointed a hoof towards him.

"What? What's wrong!?" Spike shouted at her, his claws digging into the tree with infuriating anger and strength.

"Your... your eyes." Catie whispered quietly "You're…"

And then she fainted. Her vision swimming with the only two colors she could see; the only colors that swam in those orbs of white green, orbs that were now laced with emerald and blood.