Journal Entry #1: The Barn of Lost Echoes
Location: Sweet Apple Acres (Main Barn)
Status: Barricaded.
Ponies Present: Me, Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo.
Rarity says I should write this down. She says it'll "stop the loop." But every time I close my eyes, the loop just gets louder.
It was supposed to be a Spark. Twilight's "Unity Spark." She said it would make us understand each other on a level deeper than words. She was right. It's too deep. It's physical. I saw it start in the market. Two ponies bumped into each other—just a clumsy Pegasus and a stray Earth Pony—and those glowing lines appeared. Those stitching lines.
I was too slow. I'm the fastest thing in the sky, and I was too slow to pull them apart.
Now, we're stuck in this barn. Applejack is hammering more planks over the door. She won't look at me. She hasn't said a word to me since we flew in here, dragging the Crusaders behind us. I know she blames me. I was the one who told Twilight to "crank up the juice" during the rehearsal. I wanted the magic to be awesome. I didn't want it to turn our friends into... into those things.
Outside, the scratching hasn't stopped.
The Creatures at the Door
We've been calling them "The Chimeras." They aren't zombies. Zombies are dead. These things are too alive.
There was a painter in the square—I think it was Saffron? She was in the middle of a piece when the stitching got her and another pony. I saw her through the barn window earlier. She's at Stage Two now. Her muzzle is covered in this messy, dripping rainbow paint from her knocked-over easel.
Looking at her makes my stomach do backflips. It looks like the rainbow-cookie prank I pulled back in the day. Back when things were just funny. Seeing that rainbow paint on a face that's stretching, with extra hooves sprouting from the ribs and a mane that looks like jagged glass... it's like the universe is mocking me. A reminder of what I did, and what I failed to do now.
The Stages (As I see them)
I don't know what Twilight's notes said, but I'm keeping my own count.
Stage 1: They start acting like cats. Distracted. Obsessed with shiny bits of jewelry or coins. They look like themselves, but they're "itchy."
Stage 2: The "Monster" phase. This is the worst. They grow limbs where they shouldn't. They hiss. They're violent because they're fighting themselves. Two minds, one body, and neither one wants to share.
Stage 3: The "Melting." I saw one of the shopkeepers like this. You can't even tell who they were. Just a mass of shifting muscle and screaming magic. They hate the light. They hate water. They just want to pull more ponies into the mess.
I don't think there's a Stage 4. I think once you hit the melting point, you're just gone. You become a permanent monster. A "Convergence." Twilight's gone. Fluttershy is out there somewhere in the trees. I can hear them laughing, but it's not their laugh. It's a dozen voices at once. The Weight Apple Bloom is crying. Sweetie Belle is trying to hold her, but she's shaking so hard I can hear her teeth rattling. Rarity is staring at the door with her horn lit, ready to throw a shield she knows won't last.And Applejack... she just keeps hammering. "AJ," I said earlier. "I'm sorry. I should have been faster. I could have grabbed them before the spark hit."
She didn't even pause. She just drove another nail into the wood. "Keep your eyes on the window, Dash," was all she said.
She hates me. She has to. If the Element of Honesty won't even look at me, it's because she knows the truth: this is my fault, and there's no coming back from it. We aren't looking for a cure anymore. We're just looking for a way to stay separate.
Because I'd rather die than be stitched into someone else.