Keeping her rear right leg elevated so as to stop the pressure from causing her incapacitating pain Blue surveyed the scene, her heart dropping instantly. Below her a unicorn mare with talon-sharp extensions from each of her hooves and a massive, fresh gash across her left eye was scrambling at the door desperately, her eyes staring in opposite directions as she butted her head on the wood, trying to get in. A thick scar circled the entirety of her stomach, almost giving the impression that she'd been sawed in half and stitched back together.

Given what she knew about some of the... Rather less friendly facilities out there—a word which she realised no longer applied to her's—it was entirely possible.

A few metres off Breakneck was stood snarling, his chest low to the floor as if ready to pounce. His tails were raised high in the air warningly, the dagger-like ends pointing towards two stomping and wound up stallions, both of whom wore the same expression as their companion still struggling below Blue.

The whole lot of them were mad. Such a fact would have been great—simple logical thinking skills did not come easily to those in their condition—if not for the fact that the mad'uns had a tendency to not realise if their leg had been torn off. Many barely even felt pain; they would keep going until they literally were incapable of moving. This Blue knew firsthoof; there had been the occasional mad pony on the loose during her time in the facility—they were usually kept locked in high tech basement rooms—and all the doctors could do was put them down before they attacked every single occupant. It was harsh but necessary; they'd surely attack everypony otherwise.

"Damn." Blue bit out as she stomped a fore hoof on the caravan's roof, before instantly realising her mistake just as a wave of pain from her neck made her clamp her jaw. The mare below her stopped and looked up slowly, eyes the colour of the sun staring at her unresponsively. Blue held her breath and tried to smile at the unicorn, wishing she would smile back and that they could leave on equal terms, but the plague didn't work like that. Once infected, you were changed for life. There was no known cure, nor could any pony ever simply snap out of the madness which the disease caused.

A few seconds passed before the unicorn managed to recognise that her prey was on the roof. When she did, though, her misaligned eyes instantly darkened, her lips curling in a snarl before she opened her mouth and made an odd hissing sound, her tongue, bleeding and split in two, lolling out of the side.

She continued to scramble at the wall, jumping on her rear legs to try to reach Blue who, luckily, was just out of her reach. It didn't take long, sadly, for the mare to begin to scale the wall; watching with horror, Blue let out a small whimper and stumbled back slightly as the unicorn's talons dug into the caravan walls, giving her enough grip to work her way upwards. She continued to hiss in a strange, guttural way as the scaled the surface, eventually managing to get her claws over the edge and she heaved herself up.

"Uh, hi..." Blue mumbled, backing up until her hooves began to slip off the edge of the roof. She could always fly, of course, but doing so was painful on her neck.

The mare's response was a simple combination of grunts, snorts and a weird attempt at a roar which would have been highly amusing if she hadn't also been baring sharp, bloody teeth which looked almost sawed off.

Well done Blue. You can't even hold your own against a mad'un. So much for thriving...

"I... I don't want to hurt you. Just... Please stay back?" Blue's words were strained and shaky, betraying her terror. The mare slowed her walking and paused mid-step as if enthralled by the sound of her voice. "What am I s-saying, you can't understand me anyw-way, right?"

The unicorn remained still for a moment, her opposite eyes slowly coming closer together as if she was regaining her sanity; Blue's heart leapt as she felt about ready to dance—this was a breakthrough, nopony had ever figured out how to cure a mad mare! She smiled widely and her grey eyes shine brightly at the strange pony who cocked her head very slightly in interest.

A second later, she was lunging straight at Blue once more. Her eyes had returned to normal, her posture once more on the defensive in an odd way which only a mad pony could pull off successfully.

Yelping loudly as Blue felt the unicorn's razor teeth brush over the skin of her muzzle—not another wound, surely?—she jerked backwards quickly, rapid movements sending her bandaged wounds crazy, and she soon recognised that she'd lost her footing on the roof. Giving a small cry of fear as she fell she snapped out her wings at the last second, angling her whining body upwards and flying higher once more.

At this rate she would end up killing herself, rather than be killed by anypony else.

Watching the unicorn mare silently and trying desperately to ignore the pinpricks of red forming on her sore muzzle Blue pushed her neck forwards, ready to dive; she had no weapons in this world so really, flight was her only advantage.

Flapping hard once Blue succeeded in gaining enough speed as she dove to ensure a decent chance of success. She closed her eyes as she drew nearer, extending her fore hooves out so that she collided into the distracted unicorn, sending her plunging from the roof. She fell at a diagonal, landing on the rocky, grass less floor and skidding at least ten metres, completely sawing the bottom of her hooves off and leaving nothing but bloody stumps behind. Still she looked up at Blue and snarled, struggling towards her on now-destroyed legs. Her blood flowed from the injuries in waves, staining the ground a beautifully horrid crimson red, and her limbs gave way soon. Her misaligned eyes grew wider and she began to snap weakly from her position far away from Blue. She then began to writhe, bellowing a low, mournful bleat, until eventually her movements became little more than feeble attempts at movement and she lay her head on the ground, eyes glaring at the pegasus above with pure hatred. With heavy breaths she tried to move closer but to no avail; a few seconds later she was gone completely.

Blue watched the scene before her in silence before she realised that this mare, this mad, helpless creature, had just died.

Murdered by Blue herself, just as RipEar had been brutally stolen from this world by the hounds.

Whimpering quietly Blue felt her forelegs give way and she collapsed down on the roof of the caravan, her body trembling. She stared for a moment, silent, before she let out an agonised wail of fear and disgust at herself. Letting her left rear leg give way also, the right one being weak and useless, she lay her head down and let out mournful bellow, her ears pressed flat, her tail tucked. With her nostrils flaring and her eyes tightly shut she continued to whine, her entire body quivering as she yearned so desperately for her soft, plush pillow and thick, heavy duvet from the facility to simply cuddle up under and sleep. Such simple things she'd never appreciated before. The weight of the cover would wrap around her, comforting, and she could bury her entire face in the cushion and let the feathers soak up her tears until there were no more left to fall...

"Blue!" came a loud, petrified shout over the gently howling wind, a sound which made the mare's ears prick forwards for a second as she jerked her head up, an action which elicited a low moan as she lay back down. "Blue, I told you to stay inside!"

The mare simply grumbled in response and curled up smaller, tucking her hooves in and whining.

"Get back inside already!" Breakneck yelled once more and, when she looked up to see what he was doing, Blue took a sudden, deep breath in at the sight. The stallion was half turned in her direction, keeping an eye on her, whilst also trying to ward off his two relentless attackers; having her as a burden was making him more vulnerable.

Oh, is this for real? Blue thought bitterly as she tried to stop her shaking and get up to help; every time she tried, though, her eyes landed once more upon the dead mare and reminded her of her guilt, leaving her incapable of doing anything. I don't need one, let alone two, killed ponies on my conscience...

A loud shout of pain, a heart wrenching scream of a neigh, tore through the air and Blue's eyes shot open, darting down to where her only companion in this dratted world was currently stood, fighting. His posture all but yelled terror and pain, his full-blue eyes almost lacking pupils for the size they had shrunk to. He bellowed as he bucked wildly, frantically attempting to dislodge one of the ponies who had bitten down on his shoulder blade and was clinging on like a starved lion, hooves raking at his sides. Breakneck grunted as he bucked over and over again, dropping down a second later on his side and crushing the attacker momentarily. Shaking, he stumbled to his feet and turned his back on them, tails raised once more until he roughly jerked one down in the laying pony's side, gritting his teeth as he did so and waving the spare at the second attacker.

The mad stallion cried out in pain and writhed on the floor, his body spasming and foam building around his mouth as Breakneck jerked the dagger-like tip out of the pony's side; a deep red coated the end of his tail and, when he turned around with a little stumble to snarl at the second stallion who was now circling him, Blue saw the way his new wound was slowly starting to leak blood, the sticky liquid dribbling slowly down his leg. Still he kept on fighting, though with much less finesse.

"Oi! Get inside before another one comes for you!" Breakneck cried, pain laced into his voice as he reared at his attacker, spinning around and attempting to stab the second stallion who jerked backwards, hissing savagely. Blue couldn't help but feel sympathy for the mad thing; Breakneck's defences were far from shoddy and the sight of the wounded pony made her cringe and wonder if she should really trust him. He was a dangerous creature.

Her sympathy instantly dissipated once she saw him lunging at Breakneck, hitting his wounded shoulder and knocking him flying. He landed with a groan as his attacker—an earth pony, Blue noted—leaped on top, standing on both of the tails to stop him from striking. Breakneck stuggled and moaned, his ears, just as manoeuvrable and deadly as his other mutations, reaching out to stab his adversary but to no avail; they were not as well adapted, not quite long enough to reach.

Damn it, Breakneck! Blue cursed in her mind as she squeezed her eyes shut and wobbled into a standing position, preventing herself from noticing the dead mare or seeing the bloody scene and passing out. Snapping her wings out she pushed off with her one good leg and flew upwards. Allowing herself to look momentarily as she angled herself downwards she aimed, before closing them so that she couldn't freak out. Pinning her wings to her sides and trusting that Breakneck would see if she was too close to the ground and warn her she plummeted down, the wind rushing through her mane and tail and leaving her feeling strangely exhilarated. This wasn't so bad!

Squinting her eyes open a few moments later when she heard a panicked masculine mumbling Blue yelped as she realised that the floor was only a few metres away and she struggled to open her wings against the rush of the wind, finally succeeding and zooming forwards just above the ground. She gritted her teeth at the extra bite of the wind and, as she caught glimpse of two ponies before her, she shut her eyes one final time and braced herself for impact.

The pain of slamming into a stallion, even one without much muscle to beef him up as the mad'un, was shocking and Blue struggled to keep consciousness for surely the thousandth time in a few days. Once she finally felt her motion cease she winced as she shifted and clambered off of the stallion's body, feeling rather uncomfortable about the way she had been laying on him, and scuttled backwards, watching him nervously. His coat was torn up and grazed terribly, blood rising on his skin from skidding but, unlike his mare companion, he'd landed on grass and was in a better state. He rose shakily just as Blue's pain made her limbs gave way and she fell down on the floor, unable to get up; watching with wide grey eyes, she tried to scuttle backwards but found her still beaten up body incapable of doing so.

The stallion shifted forwards, his steps unsteady, and he opened his mouth in a hiss, tossing his head. Blue whimpered and buried her head in her hooves, hoping he'd go away; a few heavy hoof steps later, she tensed up for the attack which never came. Instead a stallion's groan rung out and, when she tentatively looked, she saw Breakneck standing in front of her, ears flat back as he attacked.

After yanking his tail out of the mad'uns shoulder Blue whined as she saw the fresh blood coating it and felt a wave of nausea as her gorge rose at the sight; heaving she looked away just as she heard the thud of the stallion's body collapsing on the floor. He groaned and moaned in a way which sounded distinctively like a zombie before, after a few seconds, he grew silent.

Blue moaned as the wave of nausea grew stronger and she turned her head away as she promptly felt herself grow even weaker; not even a blink's time later she felt herself begin to vomit and she groaned as she rolled over, covering the grass in part-digested crackers.

A gentle limb, not a hoof but something more slender, stroked her back and around her neck, caressing her. Sighing at the comfort Blue gave a small smile at Breakneck as she finished her retching and stood on three wobbly legs, her head spinning at the fast movement and placed her wing across his back for support, keeping her eyes closed so that she couldn't see yet another dead pony.

"You 'kay?" Breakneck asked in a soft, somewhat nervous voice and, at Blue's nod, he smiled slightly. This sort of scene didn't unnerve him as it did her; he'd grown up in this way, after all. "Come on, let's get back to the caravan. You need to stop tearing yourself up."

"I guess so..." Blue whispered as she removed her wing, trying to stand on her own three legs but only ending up falling, sending shooting pain through her neck. She let out a small grunt as she felt herself land on something slightly bumpy—the dragon style spines on her companion's neck—and then sighed as she felt the weight be lifted off of her feet and began to feel movement.

"Steady there, girl. I've got ya." Breakneck said, his voice strained as he struggled forwards, scuffing his hooves through the dirt and mud and blood.

And Blue, who was so exhausted physically and mentally from everything that had gone on, fell into a light slumber. Next Chapter: Stories Ingrained With Truth Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 43 Minutes