Epidemic

“Nurse RedHeart,” Twilight said sternly, “Has there been any other ponies with this ‘unknown virus’?” The nurse held her chin with her hoof as she begins to think.

“Well. We have been getting a decent amount of ponies coming in with this virus, but the virus is mostly harmless. Nothing that can actually hurt anypony.” RedHeart explained. Twilight thought about the book, and of Celius.

Suddenly, Spike began to groan. Nurse RedHeart and Twilight back away, and he held his stomach in pain.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked the nurse. The nurse looked at her clipboard, and back at the dragon.

“I don’t know. His results showed nothing of stomach infections.” RedHeart said. Then, an unbelievably believable scene occurred.

Spike belched out a letter. Twilight and RedHeart let out a sigh of relief. Twilight levitated the letter up to her and read it silently.

+Dear Twilight Sparkle, Celius is nothing to worry about. The plague had been eradicated thousands of years ago.+ Twilight sighed in relief once more and kept reading. +Although it almost wiped out our species, we were able to find a cure for it.+ Twilight smiled at the good news, though the next thing she read almost threw her in panic. +However, it is possible that the virus may not be 100% gone, and the cure can take extensive amounts of time and studying to get rid of the disease. Let us hope that the plague never returns. Your humble teacher, Princess Celestia+

Twilight started to slowly hyperventilate. Could Spikes illness be Celius? Nurse RedHeart looked at Twilight.

“Is something wrong Twilight?” RedHeart asked.

“Yes! Yes.” Twilight snapped back into reality. “Are we finished?”

“Yes. Like I said before, we don’t know what Spike has.” RedHeart explained as she walked them towards the door.

“Well thank you for your help.” Twilight departed as she heads home. “Come on Spike let’s go.”

After a while, (and a bunch of annoying coughing) they got to the library. Twilight immediately sat down in front of the disease book, and flipped over to the symptoms page.

The second symptom on the list was ‘nausea’. Twilight decided to keep an eye on Spike to see if he showed any sign of nauseated signs. Then she heard a knock on the door. Departing from the book, she went to go see who it was. Surprisingly, it was an orange earth pony wearing a cowboy hat.

“Hello AppleJack, how can I-” Twilight was interrupted when the cowpony started coughing.

“Hello there Twi. Ah was wondering if you were carrying some cough medicine. I went to Fluttershy’s house, but she ain’t got any.” AppleJack said. Twilight backed away from her, afraid that she might catch the possible Celius. AppleJack noticed Twilight’s sudden movements.

“Don’t worry Twi. It’s only a cold *cough cough*, Ah think.” AppleJacks assures Twilight.

“I’m sure it is. Wait here while I go get your medicine.” Twilight closed the door and zips to the medicine drawer upstairs in her room. Grabbing some cough syrup, she dashed back down and opened the door to reveal an impatient AppleJack.

“Here you go AppleJack,” Twilight gave her the bottle. “A couple spoonfuls of this and you should be good as new.” AppleJack looked at the bottle labeled ‘Doctor Hooves Cough Syrup” and smiled gleefully.

“Thanks Twilight,” AppleJack said before coughing once more. Twilight backed away again, fearing the possible plague. AppleJack turned and left. Twilight closed the door, and went back to her book. Ignoring the repetitive coughs upstairs, she sat down and continued reading.

Twilight flipped back a page, to the cure. The ingredients for the blue liquid were mostly plants, some of which can be found in the Everfree, while others were on the far side of mountains. Twilight wanted to write a letter to Celestia about the mysterious illness going around Ponyville, but she didn’t want to disturb Spike, given his condition.

Twilight decided to study the virus herself. She slowly walked up to her room, and peeked inside. Spike was laying down in his small bed, coughing. There was no changes to what she had seen before.

Twilight went downstairs, grabbed a saddlebag, and headed towards the hospitals. If she was going to study the virus, she would need every piece of information she could. Upon arrival, she met up with Nurse RedHeart.

“Nurse RedHeart.” Twilight begins. “I need a bit of Spikes blood samples."

"Why," the nurse asks Twilight, concerned.

"The virus you found in Spike needs to be studied. I’m going to need some samples to take a look at the cells.” Twilight explained. RedHeart simply nodded and went into a cabinet behind her. She levitated a container filled with the red liquid, and gave it to Twilight. Twilight took the container and put it in her bag.

“Thank you, and have a nice day.” Twilight said before heading out the door, and back to the library. On her way back she saw more ponies coughing, but they didn’t seem to care or notice at all.

Twilight arrived at the library, and placed the container next to the disease book. She walked up to her room. Spike was still there, snoozing silently. She snuck in and took a microscope from a box under her desk.

Twilight went back downstairs and put the microscope next to the small container. She slid the drawer open, and pulled out a small syringe along with two small plastic sheets. She opened the container and dipped the needle of the syringe into it and sucked up some of the blood. Then, she carefully put a tiny drop of the blood onto one plastic sheet, and put the other sheet on top. She slid the two plastic sheets with the blood under the scope of said microscope. She took a peek into the microscope.

The cells were tiny, and far apart. Some of the cells were not even noticeable, and the ones that were noticeable blended in with the blood cells. The virus cells were blackish, and moved very slowly.

Suddenly, a there was a groan upstairs. Twilight’s ear perked up, and got off the microscope. She hurried upstairs to her room, and saw Spike holding stomach.

“Spike? Is everything alright?” Twilight asked Spike.

“I just feel like throwing up. You were right Twilight, I do feel sick.” Spike said, still holding his stomach even tighter.

“Well get some sleep.It’ll be over soon.” Twilight assured Spike. Spike rolled over and threw a blanket over him, still groaning in disgust.

Twilight went back downstairs, and looked back into the microscope. Only this time, something was different. The cells grew. Not in a large way, but in a very small noticeable way. Twilight looked over to the book, it was still on the ‘symptoms’ page. The second one on the list was ‘nausea’ and that has already occurred in Spike.

Twilight began hyperventilating as she put the puzzle pieces together. What she assumed was true, and no other pony has noticed it.

Celius has returned, and is evolving...

Fast.