Epidemic

Twilight was doing what she did best, reading. Only this particular book she was reading was a book on disease. She found the book on one of her many book shelves, and since she hadn't seen this one before, she decided to give it a try. Until she was interrupted by a certain baby dragon coming down the stairs.

"Hey Twilight! Whatchu doin?" Asked the curious Spike. Twilight kept her eyes on the book as she replied to him.

"I found this book, and decided to give it a read. It's weird though, I'm pretty sure I haven't seen this one before. Yet I've read every book in the library. Multiple times!" Twilight explains to the little dragon.

Twilight flipped the page to find an interesting section of the book. On the left side, there were gruesome pictures of extremely pale ponies with decaying ones not too far away. On the right, pictures of DNA strands and arrows marking their genetic manipulation. Twilight raised a brow at the pictures. The page containing the DNA was titled 'Celius', and on the bottom right corner there was a microscopic view of cells.

Twilight flipped the page, taking note on the previous page. She saw more of the gory pictures on the left side. The right side, however, contained pictures of a blue liquid in a beaker. The right side page was titled 'Cure', and had instructions for the liquid. The instructions demanded ingredients that were nearly impossible to retrieve.

Suddenly, Twilight heard Spike give a tiny but noticeable cough. Twilight turned to him, concerned.

"Spike are you okay?" Twilight asked the small dragon.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." Spike assured Twilight, "Just a little tickle in my throat." Twilight has a worried look upon her face, but shrugged it off. It was probably nothing anyways, and she continued the book.

Twilight flipped the page, the left side was titled 'Symptoms'. It had a list of symptoms. On the top of the list, it said 'coughing'. Twilight looked at the book wide eyed, then she looked behind her. Spike wasn't there anymore. He must've went into town.

Twilight returned to the book, and scanned through the list. The symptoms grew in severity and lethality as she went down on it. From 'coughing' to 'pneumonia' to 'coma' and finally 'total organ failure.'

Twilight closed the book, as she figured out why she hasn't seen this book before. It scared the living daylights out of her, she probably just never wanted to read the book in the first place.

Twilight took a deep breath, and Spike conveniently walked through the door.

"Spike there you are. I need you to write a letter." Spike somehow pulled out a piece of paper and a quill out of of nowhere and waited for Twilight to tell him what to write.

"Dear Princess Celestia, I recently read a book on a plague named 'Celius.' I just wanted to know if the virus is gone, or is it still roaming around the area. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

"Faithful... Sparkle" Spike repeated as he finishes the letter. He rolled up the paper like a scroll and blows fire on it, causing it to disappear into smoke that exits through the window.

"So what is this 'Celius' Twilight?" The small scaled dragon asks.

"Oh it's nothing you should be worrying about Spike." Twilight replied, sparing him the bloodcurdling details.

"Oh ok." Spike says rather disappointed. Then he let out another cough. Only this time, it was a bit more violent.

"Spike are you sure you're okay?" Twilight said as she gets closer to him.

"Yeah Twilight, I'm fine. Just a little tickle." Spike reassured her. Twilight reached Spike, and gently places her hoof on his forehead.

"Hmm. You don't have a fever." Twilight removed her hoof, "Spike, I'm taking you to see the doctor.

"But I'm fine Twilight. I just-"

"No buts. This could be the first stages of hay flu." Twilight said as she walks towards the door. Spike slugs his way out of the library.

A while after walking, Twilight finds the hospital. She leads Spike into the waiting room, and walks up to a white pony with a pink mane reading a book.

"Good morning Nurse RedHeart." Twilight greeted happily. The white pony looks up at her and smiles.

"Hello Twilight! How can I help you?" RedHeart asked with a happy grin on her place.

"Spike needs a check up. I think he might be coming down with something." Twilight explained as her smile unnoticeably faded away. Nurse RedHeart looks over at Spike, and raised a brow. The little dragon looked fine, but it could be something unnoticeable from the outside.

"Of course. I'll take Spike in for a checkup. There are a few patients ahead, so you might have to wait a while." The nurse explained to Twilight. Twilight nodded in agreement as she goes to sit next to Spike.

After a few patients came out, the nurse comes into the waiting room and called out.

"Spike!" She called. Twilight nudges Spike, and cocked her head over to the nurse. Spike lazily got up from his seat, and walked over to her. Twilight followed him.

They walked into a room, and the nurse walked in with them. The nurse took a quick look at the patient, and her clipboard.

"Spike. You came to see if you were sick, right?" The nurse questioned.

"Yes." Spike quickly replied, as he waved his feet below a big chair.

"Well then, lets get started." The nurse said with glee.

A couple tests, an uncomfortable urine sample, and a quick blood sample later. The nurse returned with a puzzled look plastered on her face as she stared at her clipboard.

"What's the matter RedHeart?" Twilight asked, with worried looks herself.

"Spikes illness, it-" she paused and took a quick look at the clipboard.

"It doesn't exist." She ended her sentence.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, more worried than before.

"Spikes results are unknown. We don't know what kind of illness he could have." The nurse explains, "We found a virus for sure, but we don't know what kind." Twilight thinks for a second. An unknown virus, possibly immune, and first symptom causes coughing.

Then she remembered Celius.