Epidemic

by UnknownSubject

Rating: teen
Tags: Crossover, Dark, Comedy, Tragedy
Length: 22038

A virus appears seemingly out of nowhere in ponyville. It isn't notice until it has spread through vast amounts of ponies.

The virus started off a simple cough, but then it evolved into something much more dangerous. Will the devistating plague wipe out the pony species before they can find the cure for it?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-08-12 23:20:08 UTC

The Virus

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.

Evolution

“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.

The Doctor

Twilight nervously closed the book. She opened the drawer, and pulled out a quill and a sheet of paper. Without thinking, she immediately began to write.

_

Dear Princess Celestia,

The plague Celius is back. We must start working on the cure as soon as possible. The disease mutates fast, and can become unstoppable if we don’t do anything about it. All I ask is that we get our scientist working, before the virus spreads. Please please PLEASE, get started immediately.

Twilight Sparkle.

_

Twilight rolled up the paper, and ran upstairs. She opened the door, and woke Spike up.

“Spike! We need to get this letter to Celestia, NOW!” Twilight fidgeted as she frantically waved the scroll in front of Spike.

“Why?” Spike curiously asked. Twilight quickly thought of an excuse, as to not scare Spike.

“Because, uhh. Because... It is very important!” Twilight exclaimed, still nervously waving the scroll around.

“Ok fine.” Spike weakly grabbed the scroll, and took a deep breath. Twilight anxiously waited for Spike to blow the letter away, but it didn’t happen. Instead, Spike violently coughed.

“You’re going to *cough* wait until I get better. I can’t do it like this.” Twilight fidgeted in nervousness, and headed back down stairs without saying a word.

Twilight walked in circles, and thought of a new plan. Click! She would try to find any other pony willing to help find the cure. She grabbed her saddlebag, put all her tools (Microscope, blood vial, the book, and a notebook with quill) in her saddle bag, and head out the door.

The first person Twilight would look for would be Dr. Whooves. His intelligence in these kinds of things would be needed of she wanted to stop the virus. She headed to the hospital.

Once she arrived, she went wide-eyed to see that the hospital was full. The line was even getting outside the hospital, and they were all violently coughing ponies. Twilight skipped to the counter, to see nurse RedHeart.

“Please sir. You need to wait, there are 7 ponies ahead of you.” The nurse tried calming the crowd down. “You’ll get your turn.”

Twilight walks up to the nurse, keeping a five foot distance away from everyone. RedHeart spotted her, and looked at her with pleading eyes.

“Oh please tell me you found something!” The nurse desperately asked. Twilight nodded, and the nurse let out a sigh of relief.

“Everypony calm down!” The nurse yelled out to the arguing audience. “Twilight here knows wha-” The nurse is suddenly interrupted by Twilight’s hoof being shoved into her mouth. Luckily, none of the ponies in the waiting room heard RedHeart’s announcement.

“Shh!” Twilight leaned in to RedHeart, and retreated her hoof. “We need to keep this disease in a low profile. If anypony catches on about this, Ponyville could go into complete anarchy.” Twilight whispered. RedHeart nodded at Twilight.

"Is Dr. Whooves here?" Twilight impatiently asked. RedHeart looked down at a clipboard, and back up at Twilight.

"Down the hall, third door." RedHeart replied with worried eyes.

"Thank you." Twilight ended,and walked past the door into the hallway.

"Why did she get to go first!?"

"Yeah! We were here first!"

-

Twilight passed two doors before reaching the third one. She slowly opened the door, to reveal a brown pony wearing a medical mask. The brown pony was looking at a green pony sitting on a bed.

"Hello?" Twilight asked the pony. The brown pony turned to look at Twilight. The green one coughed.

"Hello Twilight. What brings you here?" The brown pony says.

"Hello Dr. Whooves. I'm here because of..." Twilight leaned in, as well as the doctor. "The unidentified virus." She whispered.

"Oh. Good, but first let me deal with this patient." Dr. Whooves said, and handed over a medical mask to Twilight. "You might want this." Twilight put the mask on a watched.

"So, uhm. Lyra, it says here you are constantly coughing and you feel nauseated at times. Correct?" Doctor Whooves asked the patient.

"Yes doctor *cough*," The presumed Lyra answers. Dr. Whooves looks at his clipboard.

"Ok then we'll need to do an analysis on you. You know, physical checkup, urine samples, blood samples, all that regular stuff you do at a normal checkup." Dr. Whooves smiled at the patient. "So let's take a look at you."

Twilight attentively watched as the doctor placed the end of his stethoscope on Lyra's chest. Dr. Whooves lifts one eyebrow.

"Her heart rate is normal. Nothing wrong there." Twilight shuffled through her bag, and pulled out her notebook and her quill. She began writing what Dr. Whooves was saying. He then grabs a tongue depressor, and uses it to look into Lyra's mouth.

"Red throat. Obviously from repetitive cough." Dr. Whooves grabbed an ophthalmoscope and looked into Lyra's eyes.

"Hmm. This is new." Dr. Whooves announced. Twilight looked up from her notebook, and faced the doctor.

"What's the matter?" Twilight asked, once again concerned.

"Her eyes are bright red. Nopony else had this." Dr. Whooves explained, turning the ophthalmoscope off. Twilight pulled out her book, setting her notebook and quill on a nearby table.

Twilight cracked open the book to the 'symptoms' page. As she had assumed, the third symptom was 'Eye Fatigue'. She scanned through to the next symptom. 'Insomnia'. It wasn't too bad, but it had to be studied further.

"Ok. We are done here Lyra. If you were to please get through to the next room, the nurse will be with you to get your blood sample." Dr. Whooves explained to the patient. Lyra got up and walked out of the room, coughing and rubbing her eyes.

"Now then. Twilight. What do you know about the mystery virus?" Dr. Whooves asked Twilight, keeping a serious tone in his voice. They both take off there medical masks before speaking again.

"I think I may know the origins of the virus." Twilight responded. "It may be a plague named 'Celius'. It might seem like nothing now, but-"

"Celius?" The doctor went eyed upon hearing the name.

"Yes. It was found and supposedly eradicated from ponyville a while back, but-"

"Celius must not return Twilight." Dr. Whooves turned to look at Twilight. His face obviously struck with excessive fear.

"Dr. Whooves?" Twilight worryingly asked. "You know about Celius?"

"I do. It is my job to know. After all I am a doctor." Dr. Whooves explained.

"Oh... Right. I have this book about it with me." Twilight levitates the from the table, and showed it to Dr. Whooves. "It could give us needed information."

"Not here though." Dr. Whooves said. "I wouldn't want to scare the patients with this. Of the employees."

"Fair enough." Twilight returned the book to its original spot in her bag, as well as the notebook and quill. "Where should we study it?"

"At your library. I'll be there when my shift is done." Dr. Whooves said. Twilight nodded and walked out of the room. On her way to the exit, she noticed the red in ponies eyes. They were not too obvious, but they were noticeable.

Twilight walked out of the hospital, and headed home. She avoided everyone who had the slightest signs if Celius. Once she arrived, she went upstairs to check on Spike. He was laying in his little bed, snoozing soundly.

Twilight walked back downstairs and set her microscope out of her bag, and onto the desk it previously was on. She emptied everything from her bag, and organized them neatly next to each other.

Twilight grabbed the syringe she used for Spikes blood, and sucked up more blood from the vial. She then put a little bit of that blood on the two glass sheets. Then she placed the sheets under the microscope, and looked through.

The cells of the virus were growing for sure. They were now twice the size than when she looked through last time. Twilight wrote her observations in her notebook, and kept watching.

Twilight studied the virus for a couple hours, until she heard a knock. She walked towards the door, and opened it. There stood Dr. Whooves with a serious expression.

"Hello doctor, please come in." Twilight beckons the doctor to come inside, and she closes the door behind him.

"Now then. Let's begin the study shall we?"

Terrible Tragedy

Dr. Whooves walked over to the already set up microscope and took a look. Twilight intensively focused on him.

"This is absolutely astonishing! The virus cells are growing with an accelerated rate. The virus seems capable of mutating up to three times in one day!" Dr. Whooves explains as he departs from the microscope. Twilight looks in as she sees the same as Dr. Whooves.

"Does that mean that the virus is severe?" Twilight asks, afraid of the answer.

"Not only severe." Dr Whooves begins. "But also extremely lethal and immune. The cure must start immediately! If not, then the virus may soon become dangerous. Or worse." There is a suspenseful pause as Twilight looks up from the microscope.

"The virus may become completely immune to anything."

Twilight took a deep breath to relieve herself from any panic, and opened her book. She flipped over to the page titled 'Cure', and scanned through the ingredients. Dr. Whooves joined her, to read as well.

"The cure has incredibly rare ingredients." Twilight says, turning to Dr. Whooves. "How long do you think it will take before we discover it?"

"With only us two, it could take up to ten years to find it." Dr. Whooves says, keeping his eyes on the book. Twilight begins to worry.

"At that rate, Ponyville might go extinct before we even find the cure." Twilight says.

"Then we need to raise attention on Celius. We have to get more people on our side." Dr. Whooves suggests.

"How will do that?" Twilight intently asked. Twilight was prepared to do whatever it took to eradicate the virus.

"How about a 'Celius awareness day?'" Dr. Whooves suggests raising a hoof.

"But now many ponies know about it." Twilight begins. "How will get the message through if nopony notices it."

"Then we have to think of another way to spread the word." Dr. Whooves says as he looks out the window. "But for now, you need to rest. We will continue tomorrow." The light outside Twilight's library was quickly being overcome with the darkness of the night.

"Ok. See you tomorrow." Twilight says as Dr. Whooves leaves the library. He waves in respond.

Twilight slowly walks upstairs, yawning and bowing her head in exhaustion. She carefully opens the door, to reveal Spike snoozing soundly on his little bed. She silently walked over to her own bed. She laid down, and yawned once more.

☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣

Twilight woke up, and looked around. There was something wrong with the outside. A mysterious red glow was emitting from the outside. She got up and looked over to where Spike should be, but wasn't. Just then, she heard a knock, and went downstairs to see who it was. When she opened the door, she saw Dr. Whooves standing there, but the condition he was in frightened Twilight.

Dr. Whooves stood there with bloodshot red eyes, and his skin invested with opens wounds. He was sweating around little bubbles that formed around the wounds. Twilight let out a shreik of terror when the doctor coughed, because when he coughed, blood splurt out.

"Twilight." The doctor began to speak. His voice was broken, and hardly recognizable behind the gurgled words. "You failed."

Twilight shut the door, and ran towards the book. She immediatly opened the book, but was shocked to find that no words or pictures were in it. Just empty blank sheets of paper. Twilight frantically flipped through the pages, trying to find anything in there. Until she found one page. The page had no title, only one word centered on the page.

'Celius'

The word was written in big red letters. There were no other words, or pictures. Just the one word boldy written on the book.

Suddenly, Twilight heard screamig coming from the outside of her library. She slowly opened her door, and saw tons of ponies outside throwing molotavs at buildings. Twilight teared up when she saw fillies and colts lying lifeless on the ground as their assumed parents furiously crying while hugging them tightly.

The ponies were all in the condition the doctor was in. Twilight was hyperventilating when she saw a couple ponies collapse to the ground, most likely dead. Flames engulfed ponyville as the angry ponies screamed out in pain.

Twilight didn't understand what was going on around her. The virus could not have possibly mutated and spread so fast overnight.

Twilight closed the door, and ran upstairs. There she rememebered something. Spike! She hurried back downstairs. She still had the medical mask given to her at the hospital. She put it on, and fearfully walked out. Twilight was baffled when she noticed that no one was looking at her.

"Spike! Spike where are you!" The frantic Twilight called out.

Twilight noticed a crowd forming a circle around something, and sobbing their eyes out. Curious, Twilight squeezed through the crowd in an attempt to see what's going on. What she saw made her join the crowd's sorrow as she cried in emotional pain.

It was Fluttershy. Her limp body was bleeding furiously from the wounds, and her bloodshot eyes were rolled back into her head. Twilight scooped her lifeless body, and hugged jer tightly. Her tears dripping from her cheeks, and falling onto the dead Pegasus.

"This is my fault." Twilight blamed herself for the chaos around her. She hugged the butter yellow pegasus tightly, and shut her eyes tightly.

"This is my fault. This is my fault. THIS IS MY FAULT!"

"Twilight!" Yelled out a familiar voice.

"THIS IS MY FAULT!"

☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣

Twilight awoke to the brutal shakes of Spike.

"Twilight! Wake up!" The little dragon yelled.

"What?" Twilight rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. It was morning.

"You were *cough* screaming in your sleep." Spike explained. Twilight yawned and got out of bed.

"Spike. You need go get back to sleep. You're sick rememeber?" Twilight reminded Spike before yawning het again. Spike coughed, and walked over to his little bed. Then he fell back asleep.

Twilight walked downstairs thinking about the nightmare she had. The virus has been stressing her out lately, and she has been on it too much. But it had to be studied, no matter what.

Suddenly, Twilight heard a knock. She opened it, and was relieved to see the doctor in a healthy condition.

"Good morning doctor. Please come in." Twilight said as she stepped aside, giving Dr. Whooves a chance to pass by. He accepts the invitation and walks in.

"Good morning Twilight." He says as he walks in. "I think you'll be glad to know that I got us access into a laboratory. So we can continue our research there." Twilight responded with a nod.

"So pack your tools and supplies. We'll head over in an hour." The doctor says. Twilight nods, and heads over to get her things.

Leaving for a while

Twilight had her things packed. She was heading out the door. Outside, Dr. Whooves waited, and has his own saddlebag as well.

"Dr. Whooves," Twilight began, "Where is this laboratory?"

"The laboratory is in the outskirts of Canterlot." Dr. Whooves explained. "I have a friend waiting for us there. He is expecting us."

"Oh. Well, can I at least say goodbye to my friends before I leave?" Twilight pleaded. Dr. Whooves thought for a while. His friend wasn't expecting them until two hours,  so it would be enough time for a couple departures.

"Sure. Let's hurry along now. We wouldn't want to be late." Dr: Whooves mentioned.

Twilight and Dr. Whooves started walking to the closest place around, SugarCube Corner. She opened the door to the bakery, and inside, conveniently, there were all her friends, all behind the counter. Twilight walked in, happy to see all her friends in one place. Meanwhile, Dr. Whooves stayed outside.

That happiness quickly turned into despair when she realized the dangerously inevitable scene. Four of her best friends were sick. As she could see the fatigue in there eyes, and hear the groans of nauseated pain.

The only two ponies among the six that weren't sick were Twilight and Pinkie. Pinkie's mane was flat, it wasn't in its usual poofy style. Twilight stared at the four sick ponies, then she was noticed by Pinkie.

"Hey Twilight. There's a weird sickness thing going around Ponyville. You don't have it too, do you?" Pinkie's ears went flat when, and she bowed her head in anguish she said that.

"No Pinkie. I'm not sick." With that, every other pony in the room noticed Twilight. They couldn't fully make out Twilight, as they were squinting there eyes.

"Howdy *cough* Twilight!" Applejack spoke up. "Looks like that cough syrup didn't *cough* work very well, hehe."

"Is that Twilight?" Rarity spoke up next. Twilight wanted to tell her friends about Celius, but she didn't want them to think that they had a chance of dying.

"Girls." Twilight started, "I'm going to leave Ponyville for a while. I need too..." Twilight paused, and lowered her head, reconsidering to tell her friends about Celius.

"Ya need 't do *cough* what Twi?" Applejack asked. Twilight raised her head.

"I need to do some study on... Plants." Twilight ended her statement. All the ponies in the room looked at her and smiled.

"We'll *cough* miss you Twilight." It was Fluttershy's turn to say something. Twilight weakly smiled back. Twilight knew that Celius could cost them there lives, and they didn't know it, and there they are, smiling. They are in pain, in agony, in distress, but all they can do is smile.

"I'll miss you too." A tear ran down Twilight's cheek, because she thought about the dream she had, and about what Celius is capable of doing. The rest of the ponies noticed this, and there smiles quickly turned into frowns.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Pinkie walked over to Twilight, and placed a hoof over her shoulder.

"Nothing..." Twilight wiped her tears, "I guess I'm just gonna miss you girls a lot."

Pinkie gave Twilight a comforting hug, and smiled. After the embrace, she let go.

"You won't be gone forever. You'll be back, and everything will be back to normal." Pinkie comforted Twilight. Twilight felt better and turned to head out the door.

"Goodbye girls." Twilight waved. The smile on the others returned as they waved back.

"Good luck Twilight." Pinkie leaned in to whisper into Twilight ear. "I promise I won't say a word to anypony about you-know-what."

Twilight was taken by surprise, and was about to ask something when Dr. Whooves walked in.

"Speed this up Twilight, the train is coming in 15 minutes." Dr. Whooves impatiently said.

"I'm ready." Twilight responded, keeping her eyes fixed on Pinkie. Twilight and the doctor left SugarCube Corner, and headed for the train station.

Luckily, they arrived right on time, and got into the train. They presented two tickets, that Dr. Whooves had, to the conductor, and headed off to Canterlot.

☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣

The trip was an hour long, but they made it to Canterlot. Once they arrived, they were greeted by a pony wearing a suit and tie.

"Hello good gentleman. I am Dr. Whooves, and this is my acquaintance, Twilight Sparkle." Dr. Whooves said to the pony. The pony looked around, and then cocked his head at the two, keeping a blank expression on his face.

Twilight followed Dr. Whooves, who followed the pony in he suit.

"So. Who is this 'friend' of yours?" Twilight asked Dr. Whooves.

"His name is Labor Kittel." Dr. Whooves explained, "He is a Germane, and he does have quite the thick accent."

"Does he know about Celius?" Twilight asked.

"I wrote him a letter the night I left your tree. I explained everything to him, and he is more than willing to help." Dr. Whooves said, "Although I must warn you. He has a rather disturbing history of crazy experiments with live ponies. Burning them, freezing them, psychologically tormenting them, and I don't want to go further into detail." Dr. Whooves shivers to the thought. "He lost his medical license a few years back.

"How is he allowed to be in a lab?" Twilight asked a bit frightened that she will be in the same room with a deranged madpony.

"After he was sent to the nuthouse, he was rehabilitated. In addition to freedom, he also got his license back. He promised he would never experiment on live ponies ever again." Dr. Whooves explained.

Finally, they arrived at the lab. The pony in the suit and tie opened the door for them, and they made there way inside. Inside, they found a grey pony wearing a lab coat, and had some reading glasses on. His mane was a lighter shade of grey, and was extremely messy. He greeted Dr. Whooves, and shook his hoof.

"Ah. Dr. Whooves. How vundabah it is to see you!" The grey pony said. Then he looked at Twilight, who just stood there looking at the two.

"I see you brought company. Vhelcome to my laboratory, err?"

"Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you." Twilight took out her hoof to shake.

"Ah! Tvilight Sparkle! Zhe princess says a lot about you!" The grey pony said. "My name is Labor Kittel." He takes out his hoof and shakes Twilight's hand.

"Wait. You work for the princess?" Twilight asked, caught off-guard.

"Vhy of course! I am von of Celestias most intelligent scientists. I vouldnt be here if I vasn't." Labor said with a chuckle. "Vhy don't you put your zings over zhere?" Labor points at a desk nearby.

Twilight and Dr. Whooves walk over to the desk and place all there things on it. Twilight put down her book, microscope, vial of Spike's contaminated blood, medical mask, notebook, and quill. The doctor took out medical gloves, goggles, a notebook, and a quill.

"Now zen... Vhere vere we?"

Experiments

"I brought a sample of the virus." Twilight said, levitating Spike's contaminated blood into plain view.

"Good, ve're going to need it." Labor said.

"Will we use my microscope?" Twilight asked, putting the vial down, and looking at her microscope. Labor stares at the microscope, before bursting into laughter. Twilight flinched when he started laughing. She looked over to Dr. Whooves, who simply shrugged.

"Zhat zing?" Labor said, catching his breathe. "Zhat little zing is a microscope?"

Twilight was insulted, but there were bigger problems than her puny microscope.

"No no no." Labor said, now with a serious expression, "Ve vill use mine!" Labor then leads the two ponies to another room. He opens the steel door, and the other two walked in. It was dark, and no pony could see. That is, of course, until Labor turned on the lights.

Once the lights turned on, the first thing Twilight saw was a microscope. But this microscope wasn't like hers, it was huge. About four times her microscope's size.

"Velcome, to my laboratory!" Labor greeted, taking his hoof out to the complex. The laboratory was colossal. There was a black board, several test tubes, oversized machines, testing chambers, a box full of lab rats, books, papers, quills, and Labor's journal.

"Now you see, Tvilight. Your 'microscope' vill be useless. Now zhat ve have mine." Labor said walking over to his very own microscope.

"Wow." Twilight's eyes gazed at all the equipment. Never has she seen such beautiful scientific tools. She just wanted to use everything, and mix every chemical together just to see what they do.

"Twilight? Twilight!"

Twilight snapped out of her wild dreams, and turned to Dr. Whooves.

"Sorry. I think I dozed off." She stated, giggling nervously.

"Now zhen. Back to zhe virus." Labor said.

"Ok. I'll go get it." Twilight said, before walking out of the room.

"Good. And about you doctor." Labor looked over to Dr. Whooves. "How is zhe vife?"

"She's fine. She's taking care of Dinky. I told her I was going on a business trip." Dr. Whooves said smiling. "How about yours?"

"Vell. After zhey revoked my license, she left me." Labor said with a chuckle. Meanwhile Dr. Whooves frowned.

"Oh. I'm... Sorry to hear that. My Celestia, I wouldn't want to know what I would do if Derpy left me." Dr. Whooves said, his ears drooping to the thought.

"It's no big deal. I now have zhe laboratory! I vill manage vhizout zhat broad." Labor said. Twilight comes back into the room. Levitating Dr. Whooves saddlebag, while wearing her own.

"Sorry I took a while. I wanted to bring everything." Twilight placed Dr. Whooves bag on a nearby desk, as well as her own.

Twilight levitates the vial, popped the top, and dripped one drop onto the two sheets she brought along in the microscope. After she did that, she place both sheets under the humongous microscope. Then she looked in.

"I can't see anything." Twilight complained, adjusted levers and pushing buttons.

"Zhat vould be, because zhe microscope is off." Labor said in a matter-of-factly tone. Twilight took her eyes off the lens of the microscope and her face went red with embarrassment.

"Oh right." Twilight giggle nervously. Labor flicked a small switch labeled 'Macht,' and the microscope lit up. Twilight looked in, but the inside was completely blurry.

"It's still pretty unrecognizable." She said, trying to make out the blur. Labor readjusted the levers and pushed buttons back to their original state. Finally, Twilight saw the cells of the virus. Only this time, they were big. About twice the size they were the day before.

"They're big." Twilight stated, then backed away from the microscope. Labor looked in, and examined the virus.

"Zhis is extraordinary. I've never seen such... such... speed in a virus before." Labor got off the microscope, levitates both his journal and quill, and begins writing.

"Journal entry, 243. Title..." Labor looked over at Twilight. "Vhat did you say zhe virus vas called?"

"Celius." Twilight responded. Labor looked back at his book.

"Title, Celius. I have seen a virus named Celius. Ze symptoms are currently unknown, and zhe speed of zhe virus is quick. Subtle growth in zhe cells, most likely evolves very quickly."

Twilight lifted an eyebrow to, 'subtle growth.' She decided to take a look at the virus again.

"Future mutations could cause extreme severity, and maybe even death. Zhe virus should be studied, immediately!" Labor read the last of his notes, and closed his journal. Twilight remained on the microscope, trying to spot a small hint of growth in progress.

"Now zhen, vhat symptoms have you seen, Tvilight?" Labor asked. Upon hearing her name, she backed away from the microscope.

"Well... So far I've only seen coughing, red eyes, nausea." Twilight said, holding her chin with her hoof.

"Interesting. I vant to see zhe vial." Labor said. Twilight levitated the tube of blood, and there was only a little bit left.

"Ve vill need more zhen zhat." Labor states. He thought for a while.

"We could take some from the hospital in Ponyville." Dr. Whooves spoke up.

"Excellent!" Labor cheered. "I vill send some of my people, but for now ve use vhat ve can."

Labor open a drawer that wasn't seen before under the microscope, and pulled out a clean syringe. He then stuck the syringe into the vial and sucked up what was left. Then he levitated a rat out of the lab rat box, and injected the virus into it. Labor put the rat in a small box. All the walls were glass, including the roof and floor.

"And now ve vait for zhe virus to take effect." Labor said. "Vould you like to play a game of chec-"

Labor was interrupted when the little rat started coughing, throwing up, and sweating. All three of the ponies look at the rat. Twilight rushed to her saddlebag. She pulled out her book, and quickly turned to the 'symptoms' page. The fourth symptom 'sweating' while the fifth one was 'vomiting.'

"Mother of Celestia. Zis is not good. Ze virus is vay too dangerous. Ze cure must start immediatly!" Labor rushes out of the room.

"Where are you going!?" Dr. Whooves calls out. Labor stops and turns.

"To varn Celestia. Zat Celius has returned!"

Labor Quits! Fourth Wall Comedic Ending

The rats' condition didn't change. They were still coughing and spewing vomit inside their little glass box.

"Any sign of change, Tvilight?" Labor called out.

"Nothing yet!" Twilight replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the small suffering lab rats.

"Vell keep on eye on zhem! Ve must be prepared for zhe next symptom." Labor went back to the the cure.

A couple of hours earlier Labor sent guards to retrieve plants and such for the cure. The guards were now returning with a small assortmet of plants; Labor sent them to keep searching for more while he worked with what he had. Now there were only two things Labor and Twilight had to worry about; Celius, and why Dr. Whooves still hadn't returned yet?

-Ponyville Train Station-

"I need to get past!" Dr. Whooves yelled at the train operator.

"I'm sorry sir, but Ponyville is under a Pandemic alert. We can't let anypony travel to other places." The operator explained.

"You don't understand! I'm helping with the cure! Labor needs me with-"

"Look, I wish I could help, really, but I have orders from Mayor Mare to keep ponies from leaving or coming in." The operator explained while blocking Dr. Whooves attempt to get around him. Dr. Whooves finally found his attempts to get across futile.

Just then, he remembered something that made his heart drop: Ditzy could be sick! Dr. Whooves rushed out the train station without another word and headed for Ditzy's house; praying and begging that she would be alright.

-Lab-

"Oh no!" Twilight said, jotting down the next symptom. The rat was now experiencing a severe case of-

"Zhat's it!" Labor yelled.

"What!?" Twilight flinched at Labors outburst.

"I can't concentrate vith zhem vatching!" Labor points at a wall.

"Who?" Twilight asked confused.

"Zhose humans. Zhey have been sitting in front of zhat stupid computer vatching us zhis whole time!" Labor exclaimed. "I quit!"

Suddenly, the walls back away, scaring Twilight.

"No! You can't quit! You're the main character!" UnknownSubject begged Labor to stay and continue the story.

"No! I vill not tolerate zhe humans vatching my every move!" Labor

stormed out of the room.

"Who- who are you!?" Twilight nervously asked the bipedal creature in the lab.

"It doesn't matter anymore." The UNS pinched the bridges of his nose, before taking a pair of headsets off.

"Alright! Story over! Everyone can go home!" UNS sadly announced, dropping a clipboard he had on his hands. More bipedal creatures move behind the wall, towards the door.

And thus... The readers were excited that a new chapter appeared. Unfortunately, Labor quit, and the story couldn't be continued...

...stupid Labor.

Beggining

Twilight nodded and got to work. Labor went off to fetch some of the guards to acquire what the book asked for. The cure was to be quick, precise, and strong enough to overcome Celius.

"Okay." Twilight precautiosly stared at the infected rat inside the small glass box; making sure to take note of any hints of new symptoms setting in. Labor, on the other hand, had run into into a dilemma at the castle.

As Labor dashed through the halls, the sounds of sobbing coming from from Celestia's room stopped him in his tracks. Without thinking he found himself peeking in.

Luna had a comforting arm around Celestia, who was crying into her hooves.

"There, there sister. I know it was hard. It is in the past now. It's over" Luna's words seem to bounce off Celestia as she continued to sob, and face away from Luna.

"Princess? Is... Is something wrong?" Labor said, finally deciding to enter the room. Celestia quickly wiped her tears, and set a proper stance.

"Yes, doctor. I'm fine." Celestia told Labor, her back facing him.

"Forgive me, your highness, but I zhink your majesty isn't doing very vell." Labor responded with a slight bow. Celestia took a deep breath.

"Dr. Kittel. I'm fine. You have a cure to make." Celestia was serious. Labor felt a chill go down his spine at that sentence. He decided it would be best to leave the princess alone for a while. He walked back to the halls. He stared at the door for a minute with a worried look, and continued on his way to the guards.

Back at Ponyville

Dr. Whooves ran through the streets of Ponyville, avoiding the violent coughs, and the undigested food of any nearby ponies. Pretty soon he found himself at Derpy's front door, and began to frantically knock.

No answer.

At that point, panic ran through Dr. Whooves mind. Why isn't Derpy answering? Is she home? Is she infected? Is Dinky infected?

Dr. Whooves wild assumptions were put to a rest when a little grey filly opens the door.

"Hello?" The small filly greeted. She looked tired, as if she's been up for a couple nights. She didn't look infected, just tired.

"Dinky? Sweetheart? Do you feel well?" The Doctor searched throughout her body for cysts.

"I'm fine. Mommy hasn't been doing well though."

Dr. Whooves heart sank. He was struck with panic and sorrow. He dashed into the house and into Derpy's room. His jaw dropped and tears starting to form.

Derpy lay on her bed, seemingly unconscious. She bled around small wounds, and she was dreanched in sweat. A bucket of her undigested food sitting aside the bed.

Dr. Whooves approached the bed. He placed a hoof on her forehead; she had a fever. There was no doubt about it now. Derpy Hooves has been infected with Celius.

The Doctor backed away, now afraid of catching the virus himself. He didn't know what to do. Should he leave and help find the cure, or should he stay and keep Derpy company?

At the lab

Labor returned to his lab. Twilight was still staring at the rat.

"Any new symptoms, Tvilight?" Labor asked, walking to her and examining the rat himself.

"Not yet, doctor. Nothing so far." Twilight responded, finally breaking her trance from the rat and looking at the book.

"Oh please, call me Labor. In zhis lab, ve are friends! Zhere is no need for rank or class!"

Twilight was a bit shocked that Labor seemed so calm about the entire 'Plague Apocolypse' going around Equestria.

"Oh, o-okay." Twilight said, a bit uncomfortable calling the advanced doctor before her by his actual name.

Labor went back to his microscope. Twilight made an irritated face; remembering how Labor called her microscope "little."

"It doesn't look like they're moving." Labor pointed out. The cells were at a medium size range. It looked bad, but no lethal symptoms were actually taking place. The rats still coughed, sweat, and spewed vomit, but they weren't dying yet or showing signs of developing the next symptom.

Guards came into the room with saddlebags, and Labor took his eyes off the microscope.

The guards set the bag on a a desk. Labor walked up to the desk, and opened the bag; there were a variety of plants and liquids. Twilight brought the book to him, and he did a quick recap on what he needed. Sure enough, the cure needed these ingredients.

"Excellent!" Labor began, "Ve start zhe cure immediately. Tvilight? I'm going to need your help for zhis."

"Anything, doctor. I mean, Labor"

Labor smiled, as he pulled things out of the bag. Twilight looked at him, a bit nervous. There was a stallion in front of her, who was so calm. A stallion with a criminal record of insanity. He was smiling, obviously not the best time to do so, but he smiles nonetheless.

"L-Labor?" Twilight needed to now more about this stallion. (As of you viewers.)

"Hmm?"

"How... How was your license revoked?" Twilight asked, with a mixture of fear, and nerve.

Labor stopped in his tracks. His smile widening.

"Vhy. I hardly zhink zhis is zhe time for storytelling, my dear Tvilight." Labor turns his head to look at her, his eyes show an insane look. This was now scaring Twilight. "Zhere is a virus going around."

Twilight stayed silent. That look in his eyes, and that insane smile on his face made Twilight fear the doctor to a state of speechlessness. (That's a word now.)

"Vhat's wrong, Tvilight?" Labor's eyebrows creased. The look in his eyes becoming more and more evil by the second. "It seems you are left vithout a vord to say."

Finally, Twilight's trance was broken.

"I... I uhm..." But she's still at a loss for words. Go figure.

A guard walks in with another bag.

"Hey! Here's another bag full of that cure stuff!" The guard calls out. Labor breaks his eyesight, and turns his attention to the bag.

"Zhank you, gentlemen. Much abliged." Labor walks to them, and takes the bag.

Meanwhile, Twilight shakes her head, breaking her from trance completely. Her gaze lowers to the ground. She had just been stares death at, by a sociopath.

"C'mon, Tvilight! Ve have a lot of vork to do!" Labor restarts to pull the cure ingredients from the bags. Twilight looks up quickly.

I'm finding the cure for an old deadly virus with a sociopath... Twilight thought to herself.

How fun.

Celius has been spotted.

Cure priority. Minimal. (As no one other than Labor and Twilight find it very very lethal.)

Cure progress... 0%

Celius' Return

Chapter 9.

Twilight stares at the rat for a while. Then at Labor. Then back at the rat. Then back Labor. Labor's scene did quite the number on her, as she is now frightened of him.

Labor smiles. "Is zhere something on me I should probably vipe off?"

Twilight's eyes widen and she looks at the rat again. "Uhm... N-no doctor..."

"You can call me Labor. I believe I've mentioned zhat." Labor says, examining the plants the guards have brought in. "I hope I didn't scare you."

Twilight didn't respond to that, and she continued to study the rat. As presumed, the rat coughed, threw up, sweat, and was now developing... Cysts. Small pockets of skin appeared to open. No blood oozed out. They just opened.

"Anyzhing?" Twilight flinched as Labor unnoticeably walked up behind her. Labor looks at her, and smiles a crooked smile.

"U-uhm, yes. The uhm... The rat has a uhm... A case of uhh..." Twilight's nervousness was getting to her.

"Has Dr. Whooves mentioned my, *ahem* past?" Labor asked. Twilight looked at the doctor. Fear riddled her face, as the question she didn't want to answer, by the pony she didn't want to answer it to, was asked.

"Uhm..." Twilight's voice came to whisper as low as Fluttershy's. "Yes..."

Labor rolled his eyes, keeping the smile on his face. "Zhat doctor never really knew how to keep zhings to himself." Labor walked over to the ingredients.

Twilight watched, as he poured more contents out of the bags, and examined them. "Is it true?" She asked, after a while of watching. Labor didn't look at her, and kept on with his ingredients.

"Hmm... You tell me." He levitated a knife to cut a red plant. The plant was slices easily, and some of its juice stained the knife. Then he held up the knife up at Twilight, and smiled that crooked smile. "Do I look zhe type?"

Twilight was too afraid to answer the question. She feared his reaction, and didn't want to know what would happen if she answered wrong. Labor places the knife back on the table, and continues to examine more plants.

Twilight watched him a bit longer, then walks to the rat, and studies it again. She didn't want to know the answer to that question, but she also wanted to know who he was.

-Canterlot; Celestia's Room-

Celestia looks out into Canterlot from her balcony. Her peaceful little city, full of happy, healthy ponies. If what Labor has said turned out to be true, than this city has a chance of not being happy and healthy for long.

Celestia remembers the last time Celius was about. She remembers it, as her failure, because that's exactly how she sees it. Her failure. She closes her eyes, and tries to think happy thoughts. Thoughts that didn't involve the damned Celius. Thoughts that she was safe in. Thoughts that didn't involve her putrid failure.

Just then, Luna walks out to her. "Sister, are you well?"

Celestia ignores Luna. She doesn't want to involve Luna in her own dismair. Luna sits next to her, and looks out into the city. "It's a great view, isn't it?"

Celestia ignores more. The "great view" will become nothing but filthy air, and dead ponies. Those aren't happy thoughts. Celestia opens her eyes, as she finds it difficult to think happy thoughts in a state of panic.

Luna looks up at her sister, and frowns sympathetically. "You are concerned with Celius."

Again, Celestia remains quiet. Luna was also there. Luna was there to witness Celestia's failure. Luna was there on that faithful day, where Celestia showed she was a coward.

But to Luna, this wasn't a failure. Celestia panicked, and thus could do nothing. Luna does not see a failure. She sees a mistake. A mistake that isn't easily fixed, but not impossible to.

Luna looks out into the city once more. "Tia. Do you believe Labor has spoken truth?"

Celestia looks down at Luna, to which she looks up at her again.

"I hope not." Celestia finally lets out.

"Are we ready, this time?" Luna asked. Celestia looks out at the city again.

"For the sake of our ponies. Labor has to find the cure. We can't let Celius destroy us now." Celestia answers.

-PonyVille; Sweet Apple Acres-

"Ah'm scared, sis..." AppleBloom lays on her bed, sweating, coughing, and spewing blood. Applejack is no different from AppleBloom, as she too has the symptoms.

"Ah know, AppleBloom." Applejack covers her sister with the blanket. "Just get some rest, ah'm sure you'll be fine."

Everyone had heard the pandemic warning. They were advised to stay inside, and that's exactly what they're doing. Applejack was afraid this disease will be more than just meets the eye.

She assured herself, she would comfort the family as best she could if the disease... Did more to them, than just coughs and sweat. Big Mac was eating his favorite apple pie with hay soup downstairs. Granny Smith was doing what she loved best, sewing. And AppleBloom was resting up.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders weren't crusading today.

-Ponyville; SugarCube Corner-

Pinkie Pie had locked herself in her basement. There is a disease going around. Not a good one. There is no way she is coming out without an all clear signal. Either that, or have the coughing stop.

Pinkie had enough supply down there to hold her for about 7 months. If she's lucky, the disease should stop in about 2 weeks. If not, then she'll have no hope, but to join the others in the afterlife.

A knock came from the door. "Pinkie? Are you in there?"

Pinkie was no fool. It was Mrs. and Mr. Cake up there. She knows they've caught the virus, and she is not letting them in so that she can get the virus too.

Pinkie didn't answer. Hopefully, they'll think she isn't home, and leave her alone.

Knocking. "Pinkie? *cough* If you're in there, answer me. Half of all our food is missing, and most of our water is gone too. Pinkie?"

No. She will resist the urge to open. She was all about helping people, and making sure they're safe. Not this time. This time, it's survival for those who can. If this disease kills, it kills them. Not her.

Pinkie isn't coming out, and she sure as hell isn't letting anyone in.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Twilight was watching the rat for a while now. Over the time, nothing has changed. She looked over to Labor. Only to realize he was gone. She looked around, nothing.

Twilight still noticed the bag of ingredients, however. Labor left his work unfinished. Where has the doctor gone? Why has he left?

Twilight walked to the ingredients, some of the plants had to juices squeezed out into a beaker. Then she noticed a notebook. It was Labor's journal.

She levitates it to her view. The journal read, "Experiments." On the bottom of the cover, it read, "Since 1945."

Twilight looked around to confirm Labor's sudden dissapearance, and looks at the journal. She knew what she was about to do, and she knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help it, this stallion was mysterious, she had to know who he was. She flipped to a random page.

Page 97. Journal entry 124

Specimen is still trying to ex cape zhe labryinth. It's been 12 days, and he still doesn't find his way out.

I'm surprised he's still alive. Some of the wall has glass, yet when he rubs against it in tight spaces, his wings come out unharmed!

Wings? Labor has tested on a pegasus?

I am going to retest my IronSkin medicine again. The next specimen should-

"Anyzhing interesting?" Labor called out.

Twilight jumped, launching the book in the air. She fumbles with it when it falls, and puts it back down. "Me? Oh, no. I wasn't doing... Anything with anything." Twilight chuckles nervously.

Labor raises an eyebrow, and looks at his journal. Then he looks at Twilight, and walks to her. Twilight shrinks down at his approach, and shrinks down. "P-please don't hurt me..."

Labor stares at her for a while, before smiling. "No harm done." He levitates the the journal. Twilight remains shrunk, and gulps.

Labor then gently smacks her over the head with the journal. Twilight, taking it as a major threat, falls to the ground, shuts her eyes, covers her head, and trembles in intense fear.

"Zhere. Zhat should be punishment enough." Labor levitates the journal in the drawer under te microscope.

Twilight peaked up at him, and sees that he is walking away. She then picks herself up, still trembling. "I'm sorry..."

"It's no big deal. I'm sure you go around reading ponies journals all zhe time." Labor responds. "It's nightfall. You should be heading off to sleep. Celestia has arranged a room for you."

"Wh-what about you?" Twilight asks.

"Vell, zhe cure for Celius isn't going to make itself." Labor responds, walking toward the ingredients.

"You're going to stay up all night?" Twilight asks, to which Labor nods. Then Twilight nods, and gets her saddlebag. She walks outside, and to her reserved room.

-Ponyville; Derpy's residence-

Dr. Whooves sat on a chair in the living room. He carried Dinky in his arms. She was asleep. Dinky always liked to sleep early, as she would have so much energy to spend tomorrow.

Derpy, however. Her energy is out of the question. With Celius within her body, there will be no running around for her.

Dr. Whooves cried, as he knew what was coming. He silently begged a cure to be found quickly. If not, then the next one who dies at Dr. Whooves hospital, will be his own wife.

-Canterlot; Twilight's room-

Twilight walked into her room. Spike was asleep in his little bed. She hadn't heard from him all day. Being to busy with Celius and all.

Just then, a knock came from the door. "Who is it?" Twilight called out.

"It is Celestia."

"Oh... Please, come in, princess." Twilight stood up at, and bowed at Celestia's entrance.

"I am here to see if you are doing well, Twilight." Celestia pointed out.

"I am doing well, princess." Twilight said, getting up from her bowed position.

"Good." Celestia said. "I'd like if my number one student was comfortable."

Twilight let out a smile. "I'm very comfortable, thank you."

Celestia smiles in return. "I am ever grateful with your contribution to help stop Celius. After last time, we cannot let it loose again."

"What happened last time?" Twilight asked. Celestia pulled a frown, and closed her eyes. Twilight saw the sorrow, and regretted the question. "Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's fine, Twilight." Celestia said."You must know, since you are helping with the cure."

Twilight say, and attentively listened. She wanted to know anything, and everything she can get from Celius.

Celestia let out air. "I will tell you what happened."

Right after these messages!

Losing Hope

Chapter 10.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Labor yawns, takes an energy drink, and continues on with the ingredients. It's not all the ingredients, but it's enough for about a 30% progress.

Labor looks into the microscope. The cells are now 4 times as big as before. Labor is astonished, and writes his findings in his journal. Labor turns around, and bumps into a guard, smacking the chest plate armor with his head.

"Ow!" Labor rubs his head. "Any varning before you suddenly appear?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Germane. I didn't know minorities had equal rights." The guard retorted. Labor stop rubbing his head, and looks up at the guard, him being taller.

"If you don't mind, I'm trying to save a kingdom here. So, scoot and sit over zhere if you vant to vatch or somezhing." Labor gestures to a stool a couple feet away. The guard looks at the stool, then back at Labor.

"And what if I don't?"

"Zhen Celestia vill have a tough time finding a replacement as bull headed as you." Labor responds. The guard laughs.

"What are you gonna do? Tell on me?" The guard shoves Labor to the side, and walks past. "I was sent by Luna to check up on you anyway. Seeing with you history and all, you can't be trusted."

"I can see zhat happening. So zhey send zhey're big, strong, most handsome guard to stop me, eh?" Labor winks as soon as the guard turns to looks at him. The guard shakes his head in disgust, and returns to look at the rat.

"I'll tell Luna you've been a good Germane, colt." The guard said after a while.

"Zhank you. I'm sure she'll be very pleased vith you. I'm sure she'll give you a raise." Labor says. "Zhe name is Labor Kittel, by zhe vay. Learn it today, know it tomorrow."

"Sure thing, Germane." The guard says as he leaves. Labor smiles, and blows a kiss to the air. "I hope you come back soon. I just hate it vhen you're not here, handsome!"

"Go to hell." The guard shuts the door, and Labor chuckles, before getting back to work.

-Ponyville; Fluttershy's Cottage-

Fluttershy sits on her comfy couch. Coughing, sweating, and vomiting into a bucket she had nearby, she tries to have her bedtime read, but is interrupted still, by the cough's she coughs.

Fluttershy has heard the warning, just as good as any other pony in Ponyville. Surprisingly, Fluttershy was not in fear, but she was calm as ever. Maybe it was because she had fulfilled her dream of helping animals as best she could. Maybe she wasn't scared, for she new there was nothing to worry about.

Angel bunny comes hopping along, and stops at her hooves. A worried look on his face, he raises yet another carrot at her.

"Oh, it's okay Angel, I'm fine *cough* without it. Besides, this is the 7th one you've given me." Fluttershy says. Just then she turns, and hurls into the bucket. "I would like it if you'd bring me a glass of water though. My throat hurts, and I think it'll help." Angel salutes her, and hops to the kitchen.

Fluttershy smiles, coughs, and returns to the book. It's not so bad, surely there's a cure for this weird disease, right? Surely, it'll come her way, and everything will be alright.

-Canterlot; Twilight's room-

"I will tell you. It all happened a thousand years ago. When Celius was born.

"Celius appeared from nowhere, and by the time we've found out it has been spreading, it was too late. More than three quarters of Equestria was under it's death grip. I had no choice, but to evacuate and leave before the virus caught to me, and I succeeded. During the time, the cure was found, and most of Equestria was saved. Enough to bring ponykind back to its hooves."

"I don't understand..." Twilight said. "If most of the ponies survive, why is Celius one of the most feared diseases?"

Celestia closed her eyes. "Because I had lost two major cities in those years."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"There was once a city named SunDale. It was high above in the clouds, for pegasus. It was a special place. Ponies from all over the world would come to see its landmarks. But then Celius arrived... It took all of SunDale's residence, leaving nothing but a small filly, coughing, bruised, spitting blood, and falling to her side every three minutes."

"That's horrible... Where's SunDale now? Can we rebuild it?" Twilight asked.

"No. It has already been rebuilt." Celestia said. Twilight tilted her head. "It's been rebuilt and renamed 'Cloudsdale'"

Twilight's eyes widened a bit. The city above Ponyville was a place once overrun by the deadly Celius. "What about the little filly?"

"The filly died in the hospital. By the time we got the cure to her, she had already fallen victim to Celius' grip." Celestia lowered her head in symapathy.

"That's awful..." Twilight said. "What about the second city?"

Celestia closed her eyes, and fought back tears. "Graystone. That city fell because of me." Twilight was taken back by that. "Graystone would've still been if it weren't for me. I am the reason Grastone doesn't exist anymore."

"Why do you say that?" Twilight asked.

"I had the choice to stay and help find the cure, or leave and save myself." Celestia lowers her head in shame. "I panicked, and was so afraid of Celius, I chose to run instead of help." Twilight was in awe. Never has she seen the princess so ashamed of herself.

"I... I didn't know..." Twilight carefully says.

"I beg of you not to reveal this to anypony. What kind of princess can I be if my own ponies cannot trust me?" Celestia says, looking into Twilight's eyes. "Only you, Luna, Dr. Labor, and I now this dark, dark secret."

"I promise I won't speak about this to anypony." Twilight reassures the princess, by gesturing her lips shut.

"Thank you." Replies Celestia, knowing that her student will keep her promise.

-Canterlot; Laboratory. The next morning-

Twilight walks into to the lab, prepared for another day to fight the dreaded virus. Although others didn't have the right idea. Labor sat on his stool, in front of the huge microscope, head down. Snoring.

"Labor?" Twilight gives him a little nudge. "Are you asleep?" Labor budges, but doesn't wake up. "Hello?" She gives him a more firm nudge, and Labor shoots up, a paper stuck to his cheek.

"YES!! Vhat?" Labor unsticks the paper from his face, and reads it. "Celius now shows severe rashes? Oh, zhat's right. Zhe rat did zhe uhm... Zhe zhing vith zhe *yawn* red marks on his body."

"Rashes? Oh, that's not good." Twilight says, speeding up to the rat, and sure enough, the rat was stratching itself through coughs.

"Since vhen is anyzhing in Celius good?" Labor stretches and yawns once more, "I vas sure I'd stay up past 4..."

"What time did you go to sleep?" Twilight asks, and walks over to her book.

"How could I possibly now zhat?" Labor gets up, and walks to his journal. "My eyes vere closed. Unless you can figure out how to tell time in your sleep, I von't know vhat time it vas." Twilight opens the book, and looks in the symptoms page. Rashes, and next up, boils.

-Ponyville; SugarCube corner-

Pinkie sat alone on a bed, in the basement of SugarCube corner. She'd never thought life could threaten her much, she'd have to push everypony away, but here she was. Alone. Locked in her basement with nothing but pastry and water. There is a deadly virus out there, and she knows it. The only way Pinkie was going to get out of this alive, is to stay as far away from everypony. No matter how much she trusted them.

It was the only way.

-Ponyville; Derpy's residence-

"Will mommy be okay?"

"I don't know, Dinky. I certainly hope so." Replied the doctor, cradling Dinky in his arms as he sat on the couch in the living room. He can hear the sounds of her coughing, vomiting, and groans of agony. It was painful to here the one you loved scratch the bottom of the barrel, looking for some sustenance of comfort, or relief. But Dr. Whooves knew that if Celius is about, and within your body, such sustenance does not exist.

Dinky hugs Dr. Whooves, and Dr. Whooves looks down at her. Luckily, she hasn't been infected yet. She was healthy, and that's what matters. If this bastardized disease was going to take his family, then he'd atleast save one. If the cure isn't found by the time it starts to kill ponies, then he'll have to let Ditzy go.

"I'm going to go to my room. I want to color." Dinky tells the doctor. Dr. Whooves nods, and let's the filly run to her room.

All he had to do was keep his little filly safe, and away from Celius, and he'd save atleast one part of his family. Of course, he knew he couldn't hold her anymore from this point out.

Not until he stopped his coughing.

-

Celius is spreading fast.

Cure Progress: 22%

Issues

A door creaks open.

"Honey? *cough cough* Honey, are you feeling better?" Dr. Whooves calls out to his wife. All he gets in response is a fit of coughing, a sniffle, and a shuffle in her bed.

Dr. Whooves walks in and closes the door behind him, locking it. He walks over to her, and sits in a chair next to her. He takes her hoof, and gently carresses it in his own.

"Don't worry about a thing, I'm sure we can get rid of it." Dr. Whooves says. Ditzy smiles weakly, and closes her eyes to get some rest.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Labor stares at the rat. Bored. Even amidst an epidemic, this doctor is... Bored.

"I'm bored," He says. Twilight's ears perk up, and she looks over to him.

"Bored? Labor?" Twilight asks, obviously confused.

"Yes, Tvilight. I'm bored. B-O-R-E-D. Bored." Labor puts his head down. "I sent for more ingredients before I fell asleep. Vhy aren't zhey here yet?"

"Maybe they are still looking for them." Twilight points out, focusing her attention at the rat once more. Labor lifts and drops his hoof on the desk.

"Typical royal guard. If you vant to do somezhing, don't have zhem do it." Labor gets up, and heads for the door.

Twilight watches him, as he heads out. "Where are you going, Labor? To get some ingredients?" She asks the doctor.

"No, I'm going to my room, to sleep. Labor exits the room, leaving a puzzled Twilight in the room. Such interesting behavior from such an interesting character.

She pokes her was out the door to watch Labor leave, but to her surprise, he's already gone. Stumped, she steps out, and looks up and down the hall. To no avail, she gives up, sighs, and returns back into the lab.

-Ponyville; Rainbow Dash's residence-

A whistle. That's all you can hear when you're in this side of the field. Just a whistle. A fine whistle it is as well, for it is the happy tune of "Giggle at the Ghosties!"

This place is a not exactly the "sight for sore eyes." There is over-turned furniture everywhere, the smell of rotting food in the air, and the whole places looks like an earthquake hit it. And the earthquake was followed by a tornado. And the tornado was followed by uh... A uh... A hurricane!

And in the corner of this mess, is Rainbow Dash, curled up into a little ball. Whistling the happy tune Pinkie Pie once sang in the forest.

Trembling in fear, her eyes wide and bloodshot red, sweating and twitching.

Why, this isn't Rainbow Dash at all! Rainbow Dash isn't cowardice and fearful. She's brave! Courageous! Fearless to the tenth degree!

It's hard to imagine she would be curled up, crying in the corner of the room, wouldn't it?

She stops whistling. "It's going to be okay, Dash. You're friends will get you out of this mess. You're friends will do something... Right? They always do... There're your friends... They always help you..." She starts whistling the same tune again.

It's okay, Rainbow Dash, this'll all be over soon. Maybe. In one way or another.

Either way, this is one ghostie you aren't giggling at, my dear.

-Ponyville; Derpy's Residence-

Little Dinky knocks at the door.

"Daddy? Mommy? Is everything alright in there?"

"Yes, yes, sweetie. Go and play with your toys." Dr. Whooves calls out.

"But I wanna play with you guys!" Dinky complains, setting her little rump down on the ground.

"You can't be in here with mommy and me, okay?"

"Why not?" Dinky asks, "Is it because mommy has the flu?"

"Yes, it's because mommy has the flu, and we can't have you sick."

"Then I wanna play with you!" Dinky calls out, straightening her posture.

On the other side of the door, Dr. Whooves fishes for a response, but finds none.

"Hello?"

"I can't come out to play, sweetie." Dr. Whooves calls out. Dinky frowns, and hangs her head. She looks down at the picture she drew for them.

A happy little picture of all three of them, standing in a flower field, in a bright and sunny day, looking happy, and worry-free. She looked up at the the door.

"But... But I-"

"Daddy can't come out right now, and neither can mommy. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to play on your own." Dr. Whooves was serious, and Dinky knew it.

Dinky looked at the drawing once more. Her dad had never rejected her the way hedid just now. She knew he was probably right, and she shouldn't be going in with them anyway. But she just couldn't help but feel just a little heartbroken inside. "Okay..." Dinky takes her drawing, and sadly walks to her room with her was hanging low.

-Canterlot; Labor's residence-

Labor lays down on his bed, in his room, in the lab. Staring up at the ceiling with his eyes closed. He is relaxed. It sure is quiet.

Until somepony decides to knock on the door.

"Yes?" Labor calls out, hoping it wasn't anything that would disturb his rest. Twilight then opens the door.

"Hello... I just wanted to tell you that a new batch of ingredients arrived." Twilight says.

"Vundabar, I'll get to vork tomorrow." Labor points out, "Zhank you, you can leave now."

"Uhm... I don't mean to sound rude, or anything, Labor, it's just... I don't think we're allowed to just... Wander off and have breaks whenever we want to." Twilight says, now fully opening the door.

"Write a complaint to Celestia." Labor says. Twilight stands there, taken back by his remark.

"The lives of thousands depend on this, Labor." Twilight says more assertively. "Perhaps even the both of ours."

Labor yawns, and stretches. "Zhen I suppose you should get to vork."

"I... I don't know how to mix the ingredients together." Twilight points out. "At least... Not as perfectly as they ought to be."

"Zhen I guess you'll have to vait for tomorrow, von't you?" Labor says, twisting his body to face away from her.

"Labor, please, I'm just asking for you to-"

(Viewer discretion is advised)

"I'm not getting up until tomorrow. You're vaiting, or you're doing it yourself. If you're not doing it yourself, f*ck off." Labor concludes.

Wow. Did not see that coming. Twilight's eyes widen a bit. It would be best not to irritate this doctor. Especially with a history like his.

"A-Alright then. Sorry to have bothered you." Twilight backs out, and closes the door.

Twilight takes a deep breath before walking back to the lab.

-Next Day; Canterlot; Laboratory-

Twilight nervously studies the rat, while at the same time keeping an eye on Labor.

Labor notices this behavior. "... Vhat?"

"Huh? Oh nothing, I'm sorry." Twilight re-focuses on the rat.

Two royal guards come in, and drop a sack of ingredients, before leaving. Labor walks to them, levitates them onto a desk, then walks to Twilight. "Anyzhing new?"

"No, nothing." Twilight maintains a distance.

"Vhat's zhe matter? You act like if I'm going to bite you." Labor points out. "Is zhis about yesterday?"

Twilight becomes uncomfortable with the subject they are about to traverse.

"Well, I'm just not used to ...You know..." Twilight avoids looking his way. "You...?"

Labor raises an eyebrow. "You're not used to me."

"You're unique. Not that it's a bad thing, just that you... How do I put this... You have a scary personality." Twilight says.

"A scary personality." Labor repeats.

"I've heard from Dr. Whooves that you don't have a good history." Twilight says.

Labor stares at her. "Vhat, zhe butchering other ponies for my evil experiments?"

Twilight says nothing, but reluctantly nods. Labor stares at her again, chuckling a bit.

"Zhat's behind me, Tvilight. Do you really zhink I vould be doing zhat again?" Labor asks. Twilight fears answering. "And you assume I'm some sort of angry, sociopath, who is just dying to kill you?"

Again, Twilight fears her own answer.

"Vell, no. I like you, Tvilight. You're smart, and gullible." Labor says. "You vould be zhe last pony I vould vant to murder." Twilight is relieved to hear that.

"Now, back to vork, yes?"

"Yes, sir!" Twilight, now happy with her perspective of Labor, gladly walks to her book.

Labor examines a rat, then looks over to the sack of fresh ingredients brought in. He walks over to the ingredients, and starts picking them out. He checks out the list he has on a clipboard of the ingredients he needs.

Twilight re-reads the disease book she carries around, to make sure they aren't a missing anything. The ingredients for the cure must be precise, otherwise, they might as well kiss all of everything goodbye.

"Are all the ingredients here yet?" Twilight asks.

"Nien. Ve are still missing a lot. I'll start on mixing zhese in." And so he does. Twilight, meanwhile, closes the book, and goes to study the rat. To her surprise, the rat... Is dead. Twilight's eyes widen in horror.

"Uhm... Labor, I think you should have a look at this..." Twilight fearfully calls out. Labor sets the clipboard down, and goes to the rat.

"My my, it's dead. It looks like zhe virus is becoming lethal." Labor levitates a drawer open and pulls out his recorder. "Celius update. Zhe virus has now reached a minimal lethality rate. Anypony hosting zhe virus is now at potential of death."

Twilight's worries begins to grow more and more. This virus now has the capability to kill.

"Ve'll need more subjects. Get more vials of blood from already-infected ponies, and inject more rats." Labor commands, and quickly jogs towards the ingredients.

"Yes... Y-yes sir!" Twilight shakes the fear, and quickly runs out of the room.

Celius is now lethal. Let the carnage begin.

Anarchy

-Ponyville; Hospital-

"I need to come in, my son is really sick!"

"No! I was here *cough* first! Let me through!"

"I had reservations, if I'm not coming in, no one is!"

"Yeah right! *cough cough* I'm in terrible pain! I'm not going to let some two bit pony tell me what to do!"

Just arguing. That is of course, until a bottle flies through the air. Not just a simple bottle of PonyCola either. This, is a Molotov cocktail.

The gas-filled bottle streaks through the air, landing on the counter of the receptionist, who luckily has enough time to see the bottle come her way, and jumps out of the way.

Then chaos ensues. As soon as the bottle explodes it's fiery rage, every other pony begin shouting, and running out the hospital, hoping to aviod the flames.

As luck would have it, however, the crowd is greeted with more flames, as now there are ponies running around, screaming, torching houses, and aggressively striking each other. Nothing to bad, they're not killing each other. Just mindlessly beating each other.

The nurse inside, wearing an obligatory hazmat suit, decides to run further inside the hospital. Maybe she can get some of the more severely ill patients out. But to her surprise, they are dead. Well... Atleast most of them. Some breath their last breaths.

The nurse panics, and runs back to the lobby.

But she can't get out. The inferno is everywhere, the heat is too much to bear, but she can't take off the hazmat suit. If the smoke doesn't kill her, the plague will.

No one seems to be lending a hoof either. Everypony is too busy going nuts out there.

Ponyville is the first to fall into anarchy.

-Ponyville; Derpy's residence-

"Daddy! I'm scared!"

"You can't come out of your room!" Dr. Whooves yells. He came out when she was in her room. After an explosion was heard outside, he rushed out. Seeing the chaos outside, he barricades her daughter in her own room with chairs and a table. He doesn't have to worry about her windows, because for the life of his daughter, the author of this story made sure there were none.

Now he's nailing his door shut with wooden planks. Why they would try to break into his home in the first place? Maybe the medicine the doctor has. After all, he's a doctor. So if anyone tried to break into a doctor's house, it would probably be for the doctor's medicine. Because he's a doctor.

And doctor's have medicine. Everyone knows that. Even people who aren't doctors know that.

Dr. Whooves successfully barricades himself in the house. No would even try to get in now.

Or atleast... We hope.

-Canterlot; Celestia's residence-

Celestia sits, sipping tea. Luna aside her for moral support.

Ever since she found out Celius has returned, that's all she could think about. And SunnDale. Poor poor SunnDale.

Celestia stares out her window, there is nopony in sight. She hasn't seen anypony since the pandemic alert. Maybe they are too paranoid to even come out of there homes and breath the fresh air?

Luna stares out with her sister. She then looks at her. A mass amount of worry on Celesitia's face. "Tia? It'll be okay, dear sister."

Celestia says nothing, and simply stares out her window. She remembers SunnDale. How peaceful it was. Until... The virus happened.

Suddenly a stallion is seen coming around the corner. Looks like the mailpony.

"Atleast somepony is out today." Celestia says.

The mailpony proceeds to a house, and knocks. Then his rubs his nose. Celestia stares at the mailpony. The mailpony then scratches his back. Celestia stares at the mailpony, now confused.

As soon as the door is opened, the mare inside opens the door and smiles. The mailpony rubs his nose again, then reaches for the mail and gives it.

Celestia simply watches the back and forth interaction.

The mare takes the mail, and offers the mailpony some bits, and a tip.

Then the mailpony sneezes onto a napkin he pulls out of his bag. Celestia's eyes widen a bit, and her mouth opens.

The stallion wipes his nose with the napkin, and this time accidently sneezes into the air, at the direction of the mare. Celestia gasps, "no..."

The mare now looks frustrated, and puts the bits back into the house. The mailpony appears to apologize, but to no avail, the mare simply goes back inside and slams the door.

The mailpony, dissapointed, leaves te property, and sneezes into the air once more. He pulls out his napkin, and cleans his nose again.

"No no no no..." Celestia begins to tear up. She know what had just happened. Luna knows aswell, and stares shocked at the scene.

"Please... No, not here... Please no..." Celestia back away from the window. Luna remains staring out of it.

"Tia..." Luna finally says, then she turns to look at her sister. "I... I'm scared..."

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Labor whistles a tune, as he works, putting ingredients in a blender (a blender of science) to liquefy the herbs, to which then he pours in test tubes, and very carefully mix them together.

Twilight has already injected 10 more rats with Celius. And is now observing them with a medical mask on.

"Celius has evolved new symptoms, Labor." Twilight says, checking back and forth from her book to the rats.

"Give zhem to me." Labor calls back, still focused on the cure.

"Subjects 2, 5, and 9 are running in circles, and are trying to attack the other subjects, and try keep ramming into the glass. According to the book, this is a severe case of aggression. Subjects 3 and 7 hide in fear from me, despite my trying to feed them. That's paranoia. And subjects 1, 4, 8, and 10 are beggining to jump around, roll around, scratch the glass, and tear it's own flesh, I'd say that was insanity."

Labor drops some liquid into a beaker, "Zhey don't all get zhe same symptoms?" Labor asks.

Twilight looks at each individual rat. "No. It appears they each have different types of symptoms. I guess it depends on the host of the virus. Some may obtain symptoms that others don't." Twilight breifly explains.

Just then, a guard runs in. "I have a message from Celestia! You two will be working under maximum security. You are not allowed to speak to anypony, no matter who it is. You are not allowed to leave the building at any time, and you are to wear these." The guard levitates two hazmat suits to them.

"Vhy? Vhat's going on?" Labor inquires.

"Is everything okay?" Asks Twilight, now very worried.

"It's Celestia's direct orders." The guard says. "The virus is in Canterlot."

Cure priority very high.

Cure progress 75%

Death rate low.

False Trust. Corrupted ending.

[WARNING. WARNING. This is an alternate ending. You may choose for this to be the ending, or pick another ending that suits you. This ending will only be canon if you want it to.]

(Disclaimer: This is NOT a happy ending.)

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Labor and Twilight quickly put on the hazmat suits supplied to them. After the suits were fully covering their bodies, Labor looks at the guard.

"How zhe hell did Celius reach Canterlot!?" Labor anxiously asked the guard.

"Celestia says she spotted ponies sneezing and scratching, and it looks like she isn't taking any chances on passing it on as the Hay Flu." The guard replies.

(Viewer discretion is advised)

"F*ck!" Labor slams his hoof down on his desk. "Celius could reach us anytime... Unless ve take drastic measures." Labor walks to the guard, and stares him down. "You tell zhe princess to keep every. Single. Pony  avay from zhe castle, I don't care if zhey are delivering messages. I don't care if zhey claim zhey aren't sick. I don't care if it's Celestia's f*cking mother. Nopony is entering zhe castle."

The guard stares back at Labor, then salutes. "Yes sir, I'll get the message delivered right away!" Then he runs off.

Twilight returns to the examination of the rats. Labor rushes to the ingredients and re-commences the cure progress.

-Ponyville; SugarCube Corner basement-

Nopony comes in. Nopony one at all. Not one single pony. No matter how much they knock... Or bang relentlessly on the door. Pinkie isn't risking anything opening that door for a single second.

Wow, that sure is some hard banging, it's like they're hitting the door with chairs. Doesn't matter. Pinkie reinforced that door very well, with wooden planks, chains, iron bars, and masterlocks. No pony is coming in.

-Canterlot; Celestia's residence-

The guard runs in, and pants of exhaustion. Princess Celestia turns from her desk, and stares at the guard.

"What's wrong?" Celestia questions.

"L... Labor requested... That... We... Put the castle... On lockdown... No pony comes in... None out..." The guard pants heavily.

Celestia nods, "Thats a good idea, if we save a few, we'll have to save anyone inside the castle. Inform the staff to do just that."

The guard takes a deep breath, reluctantly climbs to his hooves, and rushes around the castle.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Labor focuses on a test tube filled with liquid very carefully. This part of the cure has to be dangerously precise. If added to much, restart this step, if added to little , restart this step. Carefully now...

(Viewer discre- You know what? You've read enough to learn why this story is rated teen.)

Drip drip. "F*CK!!" Labor flings the tubes to the wall, effectively breaking them. Twilight flinches, ducks, and faces the doctor.

"What!? What's the matter!?" Twilight screams in fear.

"The stupid f*cking liquid is supposed to only drip one drop into the other! It's so slick it keeps dripping two drops!" Labor drops his head the table he's on. "Every f*cking time!"

What he doesn't realize, is that I keep pressing the blue cure bubble everytime it pops up on my screen.

Twilight glances over to the broken test tubes. Then at Labor again. She then realizes that Labor set back the cure efforts, and that little outburst is going to set back the cure a bit.

Labor picks up his head, and levitates to new test tubes to view, just about to pour in the next batch, Twilight interjects.

"H-How about I do that part? You go tell Celestia that the cure is almost finished." Twilight walks to him, and takes the tubes from his magical levitation aura. She can't have more setback like that again.

"I thought you said you couldn't do zhe cure." Labor pointed out, looking at Twilight curiously.

"I uh... I can do this part, it seems pretty easy. Just pour one drop into this other tube, right?" Twilght smiles at Labor. To which then Labor exits the room.

Twilight looks at the tubes in front of her. "One drop into the other." Twilight focuses on the test tubes, and slowly begins to tilt the tube.

Drip drip. This is going to take a while.

-Canterlot; Celestia's residence-

An unexpected visitor arrives.

"Celestia, me and Tvilight are-" Labor suddenly stops when he sees Celestia turns and hides something like a little boy who's mom just walked into him reading a playboy magazine.

"Yes, what of you and Twilight?" Celestia inquires, holding a particular something behind her back.

"Vhat uh... Vhat are you doing?" Labor asks, trying to peek around her. Celestia covers the mysterious object by levitating her pillow over it.

"Nothing you should interest yourself in." Celestia says. "Now what of you and Twilight, Labor?"

Labor keeps his eye on her pillow, and speaks. "Ve... Are close to zhe cure. Vith luck, ve should have finished it by zhe end of zhe day..." Labor says.

"Good good. Thank you. You may leave now." Celestia says while shooing him. Labor simply looks up, and starts at her.

"Vhat is zhat?" Labor points to the pillow. Celestia then looks at the pillow.

"It's nothing. You shouldn't distract yourself with silly nonsense." Celestia advises, before shooing him again. Labor becomes more concerned, and looks at the pillow again.

"Vhat's under zhe pillow, Celestia?" This time, Labor uses a more menacing tone. Celestia stares at him with surprise. "Vhat's under zhe damn pillow?"

"I will not tolerate this behavior, guards!" Celestia yells out.

Labor levitates the door shut, and locks it. "Show me vhat's under zhe pillow." Labor threatens, as he walks toward her.

"I will not take this from you." Celestia stands, and prepares a defensive stance. "Cease, or else." Celestia's horn glows.

Knocks on the door. "Open the door! Open, or fear wrath!"

Labor stops in his tracks. And looks dead at Celestia. "Fine." Celestia's horn stops glowing, and she looks at him menacingly. "Leave."

Labor stands there for a while, and looks at the pillow.

Before levitating it to himself, and brings the mystery object to view.

"Wait! No!" Celestia tries to reach for her object, but it was too late. Labor had already locked it under his own spell, Celestia could not wrap her levitation aura around it.

Labor was shocked to see this thing.

A square, black, thin box, the size of a notebook. On it, multiple cells, a DNA strand, and the anatomy of a pony body. To the right side, a list of symptoms, some symptoms in green text, while others in red, with the word 'activate' next to it.

Labor dropped the object, and stared shocked at Celestia. "You... You're controlling it..."

Celestia stared back, not with a worried look, or a horrified worry anymore. This time, pure serious anger. As if she just hated him for finding out about her little scheme.

"You've been controlling it zhis whole time!?" Labor yells. "You've deceived me! You're killing your subjects! And you're doing it yourself!"

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Celestia nonchalantly says, then levitates her object, back on her desk.

"Vhy are you doing zhis!?" Labor's eye twitches in rage.

"Well... Over the years, ponykind has just been overpopulating. So, I've decided to find a way to lessen the crowd, so to speak. 100 years ago, they found a cure for it, so I wrote down everything anypony needed to know in a book, and places it in the Ponyville library, just in case I needed to... 'Lessen the crowd' again."

"You vill pay for vhat you-"

The crowd of guards bursts down the door and rush in, two tackling Labor to the ground. "Princess! Are you alright!?" One guard rushes to her aid.

"Oh! Yes! This madpony was trying to murder me!" Celestia secretly levitates her object under her bed. "It was awful! I thought I was going to be killed!" Celestia starts to cry.

"No! Don't listen to her! She's lying! She started zhe plague! She’s killing everypony!" Labor yells, as the guards cuff his hooves together.

"Clearly he's mad! He may be infected! He's spewing insanity!" Celestia cries out.

"Stop! Stop it! She is zhe real culprit! She should-" A good hit to the skull with a baton stops Labor, as he is knocked unconscious.

"Take him away," Celestia says, wiping tears off her face. The guards salute, and do as told.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Carefully... Caaaaaaarefully...

"Yes!" Twilight squees in delight, as she finally gets the perfect amount in.

Just then, a royal guard wearing a medical mask walks in. "Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight turns her attention. "Yes, that's me."

"You will be working on your own. The doctor you have been working with will no longer assist in the cure development." The guard bluntly says.

Twilight's eyes widen. "Wait, what!? I can't work without Dr. Labor! He knows how to mix these in, I can't!" She cries out.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but what is done, is done. Labor has been taken to the detention center of the castle."

Twilight is now confused. "Why is Labor at the detention center?"

"Attempted murder to the throne." The guard replies. Twilight's jaw drops, and her eyes widen again.

"He did WHAT!?" Twilight screamed. "I need to go speak with him! Could you take me to him?"

"He will be under restraints, if anypony were to visit." The guard says. "If you wish to speak with him, follow me."

Twilight sets down everything she's holding, and follows the guard.

-Canterlot; Castle detention center-

Twilight is lead to a room where there are guards at every corners, and a glass wall down the middle. Two guards proceed to drag a cuffed Labor to Twilight from the other side of the glass.

Niether of them have their hazmat suits on, by the way. They took Labor's off while he was outcold, and Twilight took hers off before arriving.

"Labor!" Twilight yells to him. "What in Equestria did you do!?"

"You've got to believe me, Tvilight. No von else is, but you must!" Labor looks at Twilight with desperation, while Twilight looks back with confusion.

"It's Celestia. She's controlling zhe virus, she's zhe von making it all happen! She's zhe von, who is trying to kill off ponies!" Labor yells through the glass. "Stop her! She has zhis zhing in her room! On it, she activates zhe symptoms!"

Twilight backs away from the glass a bit. "No, Celestia wouldn't-"

"She is, Tvilight! Zhe zhing vill not stop until zhe cure is done! But you need to buy us more time! Convince zhem to let me out, and zhat I'm not mad!" Labor desperately commands.

"I can't!" Twilight yells. "I've never gone against the princess!"

"Zhen sit back and vatch zhe vorld burn!" Labor yells back in anger.

Twilight flinches, and stares at the ground. "I... I..."

"Do it, Tvilight! Stop her! Stop all of zhis!" Labor commands.

Twilight begins to tear up. There are two options on the table. One: She believes Labor and finds this object he speaks of. Or two: Don't believe Labor.

But if she doesn't trust Labor, the cure can't finish, and Celius will win.

But if she does trust Labor, then very thing she's known about the princess will have been a lie.

Twilight shuts her eyes tight, this decision will be her final one.

"I... I..." Twilight bursts into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. "I just want to go home and see my friends!" Twilight runs off, crying and covering her face.

The cure has stopped completely.

Progress

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Labor focuses on a test tube filled with liquid very carefully. This part of the cure has to be dangerously precise. If added to much, restart this step, if added to little , restart this step. Carefully now...

(Viewer discre- You know what? You've read enough to learn why this story is rated teen.)

Drip drip. "F*CK!!" Labor flings the tubes to the wall, effectively breaking them. Twilight flinches, ducks, and faces the doctor.

"What!? What's the matter!?" Twilight screams in fear.

"The stupid f*cking liquid is supposed to only drip one drop into the other! It's so slick it keeps dripping two drops!" Labor drops his head the table he's on. "Every f*cking time!"

What he doesn't realize, is that I keep pressing the blue cure bubble everytime it pops up on my screen.

Twilight glances over to the broken test tubes. Then at Labor again. She then realizes that Labor set back the cure efforts, and that little outburst is going to set back the cure a bit.

Labor picks up his head, and levitates to new test tubes to view, just about to pour in the next batch, Twilight interjects.

"H-How about I do that part? You go tell Celestia that the cure is almost finished." Twilight walks to him, and takes the tubes from his magical levitation aura. She can't have more setback like that again.

"I thought you said you couldn't do zhe cure." Labor pointed out, looking at Twilight curiously.

"I uh... I can do this part, it seems pretty easy. Just pour one drop into this other tube, right?" Twilght smiles at Labor. To which then Labor exits the room.

Twilight looks at the tubes in front of her. "One drop into the other." Twilight focuses on the test tubes, and slowly begins to tilt the tube.

Drip drip. This is going to take a while.

-Ponyville; Derpy's residence-

Dr. Whooves watches intently at the door. There has been some ponies trying to get in, but if they do, Dr. Whooves will deal with them.

Who is crazy enough to attack this doctor, anyway? Especially when they see him with is pump action shotgun at hoof, they'll see what-

Hold on... Ponies can't have guns, they don't have thumbs. Or fingers, as a matter of fact. How will they pull the trigger? Scratch that shotgun thing.

Especially when they see him with his baseball bat at hoof, they'll see what the doctor is really made up of. He can't sleep anyway, he might as well do something else that will benifit his family.

"Daddy! I want to get out, I'm scared!" Ditzy yells from inside her barricaded room.

"Quiet Ditzy! You're not coming out! You are staying in there, wether you like it or not!" Dr. Whooves yells back. It looks like aggression caught up to our old chap. Ditzy sobs from inside her room.

The planks on the door are beggining to crack. Some nails are starting to slide out. This is not good. Danger is approaching.

-Canterlot; Hallway-

Having taken off the hazmat suit, Labor quietly walks towards Celestia's room to tell her about the progress. On the way, he stops, and leans against the wall. Labor closes his eyes, and levitates his glasses off. He then proceeds to rub his eyes with his hoof.

It's been a struggle for Labor. Technically, he was kind of the one doing most of the work. While Twilight just stared at some rats, Labor worked on the cure. He has been getting some sleep though, so that's okay.

After hearing some footsteps come from around the corner, Labor puts his glasses back on, and straightens up again. Two royal guards come around the corner, and as luck would have it, it's the two idiots who don't like Labor. Maybe they'll leave him alone, and just walk by for once.

"Well well, if it isn't our little Germane friend, Labor." One of the guards jokes.

"Oh joy. My two favorite guards." Labor sarcastly replies. One of the two guards, walks around Labor, as to not let him walk back.

"Don't you have plants to play with?" The second guard mocks.

"You know, I'm saving Equestria. As vell as your families, and maybe even you." Labor points out matter-of-factly.

"Pfft! We don't need no saving." The first guard says. "Especially not from a minority!" He then jabs Labor's head.

"Let me go through, I don't have time for your stupidity." Labor says, trying to find a path around, until the guard blocks him again.

"And what if I don't?" The guard challenges. Labor stares death at the guard. "You gonna file a complaint to Celestia?" The guard chuckles.

"Move." Labor's tone goes from serious, to angry.

"What are going to do about it?" Both guards laugh.

Labor stares at him, not changing his expression whatsoever.

"Aww, did I upset whittle Labby Wabby?" The guards laugh louder. "I supposed he's gonna-"

The guard is interrupted by a swift punch directly to his nose, knocking him on his back, clutching his face. Labor jumps to him, and begins to stomp his head in. Or atleast tries, as the guard cushions the blows with his arm.

"Who the f*ck are you speaking to!?" Labor yells in pure anger. The second guard watches in fear. "Who? ... Who!?" The second guard thinks twice about jumping in.

"Next time don't get in my f*cking face! I'm already mad from something and I have to hear you're crap!?" Labor stomps off angrily, as the second guard finally runs up to the first, and helps him up.

Labor walks around the corner, and takes a couple deep breathes, heading to Celestia's room.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Carefully... Come on...

Drip. Twilight squees in delight as she finally got the perfect amount of whatever Labor needed to get into the other tube successfully.

She just doesn't know what to do next. All she was supposed to do was this part, she has no idea how to do the rest. That's Labor's department, not hers.

Twilight looks over to the rats, one is dead. A one out of ten death ratio isn't so bad. It's not good, but it isn't too bad.

Twilight heads over to the rats, and examines the dead one. She can't really tell how it died, as all symptoms are the same as before, maybe something inside killed it. She heads to the microscope and looks inside, the cells are big, and you can barely see some white from the light of the microscope.

I guess we'll just have to wait until Labor gets back to finish the cure.

Cure progress: 76%

Death rate low.

Celius is global. We're not paying attention to anything other than Ponyville and Canterlot.

This is Twilight's story, not some pony over at Manehatten.

Annihilation; Sad Ending

-Canterlot; Outside Celestia's Residence-

Labor has just informed Celestia of the great job him and Twilight are doing, and how close they are to the cure. Celestia has happy. Everything is turning out great, considering what's going on around.

Then Labor hears something drastic, something horrifying, something that would scare the toughest stallions.

A cough, from around the corner.

In a fit of panic, Labor fumbles to grab a medical mask from inside his coat, and quickly strap it on. There is no time to figure out who was the source of that cough. The cure needed to be finished now. Labor runs in the opposite direction, towards the lab.

Had he stayed just a bit longer, he'd have seen Luna come around the corner.

She doesn't look very well either.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Twilight focuses on the rats. Two more are dead, leaving seven still alive. Probably hoping for death.

Labor bursts in, and hurries to his hazmat suit. Twilight sees the look of worry the doctor has, and refocuses her attention on him.

"Labor? Are you okay?" Twilight cautiosly asks.

"Celius is vithin zhe castle valls." Labor says, as he puts on his hazmat suit. Twilight's eyes widen, and she looks at the door. "No von is to come into zhe lab. Absolutely no von."

Twilight shifts her vision to Labor. "I thought you ordered a lockdown!" Twilight anxiously screams.

"Some may have gotten it later zhan others! It looks like our message vasn't fast enough!" Labor finishes putting on his hazmat suit, then proceeds to shut the door, and lock it tight.

"What are we going to do?" Twilight asks.

Labor looks at Twilight. "Ve have to finish zhe cure. Now!" Labor rushes to his work, and starts the cure again.

Funny, just a couple days ago, the doctor kept slacking off, playing as if he could care less wether or not the world died. And now, here at the brink of death, he's working harder then Twilight's ever seen anyone work.

I guess all the doctor needed was a little motivation.

-Ponyville; Derpy's residence-

Dr. Whooves remains in his home. With his daughter locked in her room, and Ditzy coughing away in her room. And Dr. Whooves, with his eyes on the front door with a baseball bat.

There are still some ponies trying to get in. Out of all the houses, they have to attack this one. Maybe it's because he's a doctor. And doctors have medicine. Because they're doctors. It's what they're known for... Having medicine.

Another crack on the wooden planks he put up. It looks like they're just about to come in. Dr. Whooves sniffs the air. What's this? I don't recall Whooves leaving the stove off. Where else could this smoke come from? Certainly not from inside his home. Whooves didn't set anything ablaze.

Unless of course. It comes from outside.

Dr. Whooves, jumps up, and runs to the source of the smoke. (Turn back now.) It's coming from down the hall. (Stop reading.) It's getting stronger, so he must be closing in on it. (Don't go further.)

That doesn't seen right, the only room on that side of the house is... Oh dear.

"DINKY!!!" Dr. Whooves grabs the chairs and tables, and tosses them aside. The house is on fire, the blaze started from his daughters room. Dr. Whooves finally gains access to the door, and without hesitation, breaks it down.

Dr. Whooves rushes in, but the smoke is everywhere. He coughs and coughs, trying to find any sign of his daughter. But to no avail, the smoke is too thick. He coughs and wheezes, trying to suck in the smallest of fresh air. But alas, it's no use.

Dr. Whooves falls back, hitting the wall, and sliding down to the ground. Coughing more and more violently, he finally sees his daughter. Laying motionless next to her bed, blood seeping from her head. It looks like a falling plank from the ceiling smacked her right on the skull.

Dr. Whooves starts to feel weaker and weaker. It looks like times up for this doctor. *wink* Dr. Whooves closes his eyes slowly, letting the cold grip of death take him away.

As for Derpy? Well, the house is on fire, Deroy is too weak to move.

We can all agree, that the Whooves family, just didn't make it.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

"Labor, look!" Twilight points to the rats, and Labor rushes over to see that the rats are spitting blood.

Labor runs back to his work, and continues, his pace slightly faster. Twilight wipes a fearful tear.

"It's not what I think it is, is it?" Twilight asks.

"Total organ failure. Ve have no time." Labor says.

-3 hour later-

Celius threatens world.

Cure: 96%

Death rate. High.

-Ponyville; Fluttershy's Cottage-

Crying. Nothing but crying. An agonizing pain comes from inside, but it's no use. Trying everything to get rid of it won't help either. The pain won't go away.

But the pain isn't Fluttershy's, it's Angel. A deep sense of emotional pain. For he is standing alongside Fluttershy, crying. She fell 20 minutes ago. In a fit of bloody coughing, she just dropped to the ground, and now Angel cries, because his owner is just laying there, without moving.

Blood oozes out of her mouth. The rashes cover up most of her body, and she is reeks of puke. A horrendous way to go.

Angel still cries, tugging at Fluttershy's mane like if that's going to be any help here.

Nope. This time you don't get your way, Mr. Bunny. You'll just have to face the fact, that dear old Fluttershy has passed.

Cure: 97%

-Ponyville; Caurosell Boutique-

After Spike was put in the care of Rarity, he was delighted. Sick, but delighted that he would be spending time with his crush.

Unfortunately for him, however, the past couple days weren't exactly the dream dates he's dreamed of. He was still happy to bring her water everytime she coughed, or a dry towel when she sweat. She can't go around looking like she was working hard on the farm in the hot sun day, now can she?

But now we're here, Spike is still alive. Breathing the best he can, wiping the blood off his lips, and the tears from his eyes. With a different handkerchief of course. Rarity passed about forty minutes ago. Sweetie Belle about an hour and ten minutes ago.

During the thirty minute gap, all Rarity was doing was mourning for her sister. The mourning was halted, when Rarity paused, dropped, and didn't move any more.

Spike watched her fall, but he couldn't do anything and he knew it. So he just came to the living room, and sat on the ground. Coughing blood, and throwing up to the side. It's not like anyone was going to clean that, right?

Why he hasn't died, is because he's a dragon. If he were a pony, he would've been the first to die, because he's a baby. But he's a dragon, so he'll last longer than the sensitive ones.

But alas, that doesn't save him from death. Spike coughs one last time. His vision blurs, and his eyes close, as he tilts to his side, and falls into an endless sleep.

Cure: 98%

-Ponyville; SugarCube Corner-

The one pony we all knew was going to survive! Although she completely isolated herself from the outside world, she has proven a match for Celius!

So here she is, the sole survivor of the devistating plague! Watch her as she... Hangs... From a... A noose.

This wasn't something you could say would never happen. After Pinkie gave it a long and hard thought, just one conclusion came to her mind. 'Everypony is going to die.' She could hear them too. The thumping of yet another Celius victim dropping to the ground.

So, she came up with the best solution of all! She would meet them all up in pony heaven, where birds sung, small children played and laughed, and ducks could paddle the ponds in safety! Being locked in the basement is no fun at all, especially when she can hear all her friends dying five by five out there.

Let's not sit around here too long. It's not a very happy place.

The cure has stopped completely.

Oh? Whatever for?

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Labor grabs his chest, coughing violently, while Twilight throws up in the trash bin. There hazmat suits are torn in some spots.

Well what happened here? Let's find out.

-One hour thirty minutes earlier-

Labor is at work hard, making surer everything he needs is just right. Twilight keeps a constant eye on the rats.

"Dammit." Labor mumbles to himself. Twilight looks over to him.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asks.

"It's another difficult part of zhe cure. It has to be precise, or it von't vork." Labor says, and attempts to drop the perfect amount again. Failing yet again. "F*ck!" Twilight takes a step toward him.

"Labor? I think maybe you need to calm down a bit." Twilight suggests.

"Calm down a bit? Zhere's a f*cking virus inside zhe castle, and you vant me to 'calm down a bit?'" Labor says, causing Twilight to stop in her tracks.

"Well, I thought maybe you-"

"Vell you zhought wrong." Labor interjects. "Like you've zhought of me going to murder you." Labor places the tubes down, and walks towards her. "I don't have time to 'calm down' Tvilight."

Twilight back steps, fearing Labor now.

"So you just vatch zhe rats, and let me do vhat I do, alright?" Labor threatens.

"But I just wanted to-"

"Alright!?" Labor screams.

Twilight jumps back. The worst thing she can do. Upon jumping back, Twilight hits the boxes, and tumbles three over.

"Sh*t!" Labor backs away, while Twilight jumps away from the counter. The rats run around for a while, and after running to no apparent direction, they spot the two ponies and charge them.

"Zhey're going to starts biting!" Labor screams, and sure enough, that happens.

The rats climb the hazmat suits, and begin sinking their teeth into the suits. Labor and Twilight both manage to swipe the rats off them, and Labor stomps the three.

There are patches of skin on the hazmat suits now, small bloody bites.

"Zhis isn't good..." Labor points out. Twilight hyperventilates, and starts crying at this point.

-Present time-

It didn't take but 15 minutes for the virus to settle and start giving symptoms, and 5 minutes every new symptom appeared. Total organ failure caught up with these two. Twilight struggles to stop her insides from burning so much. Labor on the other hand, coughs blood, and struggles to keep his hooves steady enough to get the perfect amount into the other tube.

It's no use working under these conditions.

The cure has stopped completely.

Labor grabs his chest, coughing violently, while Twilight throws up in the trash bin.

"Zhis is it, ve're not making it." Labor says through a bloody throat.

Twilight cries in the corner. Grabbing her head thinking of all the wonderful times she had with her friends. Just wishing it would back to that.

Sorry, sweetie. Not this time.

-Ponyville; Sweet Apple Acres-

The Apple Family is dead.

-Ponyville; Rainbow Dash's residence-

No more whistling. The tune of Pinkie Pie's lullaby has turned into nothing but silence.

Rainbow Dash remains in the places she was curled up in. Only this time, she isn't breathing. Blood puddles are seen by her mouth, and she looks way thinner than before. I think it's say to say she hasn't eaten since last time.

So who won, the giggly, or the ghostie? I think the answer is fairly obvious.

-Canterlot; Celestia's residence-

-One hour later-

"I'm so sorry, dear sister!" Luna cries at her sisters chest. "I did not mean to bring devestation!"

"You didn't know, Luna." Celestia argues, then coughs at a different direction.

"Do you still love me?" Luna looks up at her sister with pleading eyes. Celestia smiles down at her younger sibling.

"Of course I do." Celestia looks out the window, and her smile quickly fades. Anarchy is outside. Nothing but destruction, as ponies try and kill each other over pure hatred.

Luna coughs, and blood pews out. Celestia looks down, and sees that some of it land on her white coat. Celestia allows Luna to cuddle up to her.

"Why don't you catch some rest, sister? It will do you good." Celestia suggests with smile. Luna nods, and closes her eyes.

Celestia frowned, she knew Luna isn't waking up from her sleep. Celestia looks out the window once more. More ponies fighting each other, while others drop dead.

Celestia had already recieved word from a sick royal guard that both Twilight and Labor were found dead in the laboratory. There was no denying it now. Soon, everyone will just be a corpse. A tear runs down Celestia's cheek.

It's over. Celius had won.

5 years later.

Celius eliminates all life on earth!

Cure Progress: 98%

Pandemic Alert!

Dr. Whooves and Twiligt were left alone in the room. Twilight reading her book, while Dr. Whooves thought after a while.

"I have to get the samples. It's what Labor would want me to do. You stay here, and continue with your study." Dr. Whooves instructed Twilight before grabbing a medical mask, and running out of the room.

Twilight nodded, and she did what she was told. She stayed in the room, and continued reading the disease book. She looked at the rat. It was furiously coughing, and sweating a lot. Twilight worried about Celius, and she thought there about the possibility that just might not be enough time.

☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣

"I have to see zhe princess immediatly!" Labor was at Celestia's quarters. The two gaurds there wouldn't let him pass.

"Im sorry, but you can't come in under any circumstances. The princess wants to relax, and barging into her room isn't helping her relax." The gaurds informes Labor.

"You don't understand! Celius is back! Ve must sta-"

"You can't come in! Let the princess rest." The second guard warned Labor. Labor backed away. Right now would be the worst time to flip out on the guards, and he didn't want to cause any "accidents."

"Vhere is Luna?" Labor frantically asked. He would at least try to give one of the princesses the news.

"That is none of your concern, Germane." The first guard looks at Labor with menacing eyes. Labor got mad, mainly because the way the guard said "Germane" was threatening. Labor was about to do something when Celestia herself opened the door, and she was wide-eyed.

"Celestia! Ve need to speak!" Labor desperately called out. The guards held him back, and made sure he didn't get past.

"Guards." Celestia spoke up, "A moment if you will." The guards looked at each other, bowed, and walked away.

"Celestia. I have reason to believe zhat-"

"Celius has returned." Celestia interfered. Although very small and hard to see, tears were forming in Celestia's eyes.

"Please come in." Celestia invited Labor into her room. Labor accepted the invitation, and walked inside, Celestia followed. Once inside, Labor sat on a stool, Celestia just sat on the ground.

"Celestia. Ve must start zhe cure on Celius at vonce." Labor leans in to Celestia and whispers, "Ve cannot let Celius loose again."

"I understand." Celestia said. Now it the tears in her eyes were clear. Labor noticed her pain, and lowered his head as well as his ears.

"Celius vill not vin zhis time Celestia, I assure you." Labor said as he got up from his seat, and gently placed his hoof on Celestia's.

"Their were so many, and I couldn't do anything." Celestia burst into tears, and tightly hugged Labor. He hugged back, comforting her by patting her back.

"It's ok. Let it out. Zhat is in zhe past now. I promise Celius von't do anyzing like zhat anymore." Labor said. Celestia continued sobbing in Labor's shoulder, but Labor didn't mind. He knew what has happened, and he never wanted it to happen... Ever again.

☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣

Dr. Whooves jumped off the train, and saw the inevitable. Ponies all around him were coughing. If not coughing, then puking. He put on the medical mask he carried. The doctor ran as fast as he could to the hospital, avoiding eveything in a five feet perimeter. Once at the hospital, he dashed up to the counter.

Nurse Redheart was wearing a medical mask as well, and the hospital was packed. Ponies all over the place were in pain.

"Nurse! Call a code red! Write down a Pandemic alert, now!" Dr. Whooves yelled over the sounds of coughing, and vomiting.

"But Twilight said to ke-"

"Write down. A pandemic alert. NOW!" Dr. Whooves slammed his hoof down on the counter. He frightened he nurse. She had never seen the doctor act so stressed out before.

Redheart quickly pulled up a form and quill, and quickle scribbled through it. After she finished she gave him the paper, with a nervous shake. He snatched the paper out of her hands.

"Get these ponies home, before they infect anypony else, and send boxes of the ponies blood tubes to the laboratory in Canterlot." Dr. Whooves said with an all serious expression. He then ran outside, and made a break towards city hall.

He arrived at city hall, and surprisingly enough the mayor wasnt sick.

"Is somethig wrong doctor?" Mayor mare asked, turning to his direction.

"Submit this form. It is urgent!" Dr. Whooves quickly gave the paper over to the mayor. She read through it, and she started to hyperventilate.

"A pandemic alert? We haven't this in a while." Mayor Mare stated.

"Do it!" Dr. Whooves obviously wasn't in the mood for waiting. He panicked at the sheer thought of Celius. Mayor Mare quickly jogged her way into another room. After a couple minutes, a siren wailed over the city. Every pony outside looked around confused.

"Attention Ponyvile!" A speaker sounded. (How they have it, we shall never know). "This is Mayor Mare! A pandemic alert has been issued. We are shutting down any connection with any other state and/or country!"

Mayor Mare came out of room.

"The pandemic alert has been issued." Mayor mare said. Now we just have to wait until the trains and boats receive word."

"Good. I have to get back to Canterlot. Make sure you stay indoors." Dr. Whooves ran out of town hall, and back to the train station.

☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣

Twilight wore a medical mask, while she took the rat out of the box to examine it closer. She used her telekinetic magic to open its eyes. She was correct, they were bloodshot. She put the little rat back into the box, and starting writing in her notebook.

Suddenly, Labor came back into the room. He looked around the room for a bit.

"Vhere's Dr. Whooves?" Labor asked. Upon hearing Labor, Twilight turned around.

"He went to go get more samples for the experiments." Twilight stated.

"Ah yes. Zhe samples. Anyvays, Celestia agreed start zhe cure immediately. She vill even lend us some guards to help vith it." Labor points out.

"Great! I have the list of the ingredients in this book." Twilight said, levitating her book up to plain view. She opens it to the 'cure' page, and scans the ingredients. Labor looks into the book as well, and takes a quick look at the list.

"Vell zhen ve better get started. I'll some of zhe guards to vork on getting us some of zhe ingredients." Labor starts to take command. "Tvilight, you vill keep an eye on zhe virus, and record its every symptom." Twilight nods and gets to work.

Salvation -Happy Ending

-Canterlot; Outside Celestia's residence-

Labor comes out of Celestia's room. He has already told her how close to the cure they are. Now it'll just take a couple hours before employment can begin.

Suddenly, from around the corner, Luna approaches. Labor watches her come his way. When Luna reaches him, she nods, and Labor nods back, before walking away. Luna passes him, and enters Celestia's room. Labor takes a deep breath, and walks off to the lab.

-Ponyville; SugarCube Corner-

Pinkie takes a bite out of an apple. A clean one. Everything down in her basement is clean. It must be. For her very survival depends on it.

That is of course, if surviving is really worth it. No one is dying up there, and that's good. There is still time to find the cure. It's only a matter of time before they start to drop.

One question remains though. Back a couple days ago. How did Pinkie know of Celius? Twilight was surprised of her knowledge, but why? What does Pinkie know?

She has read that book before. The one in Twilight's library. You know, the Celius book. From cover to cover. She had found it in the Everfree, when she visiting Zecora.

That was a couple years back, though. She had kept it. Her job was to keep everypony happy, and this book was the exact opposite of it. So she kept it hidden in her closet. No one went in there anyway, so no one would find it.

But then something peculiar happened. Her friend; Lyra Heartstrings, started coughing. After a checkup stating that Lyra had an unidentifiable disease, Pinkie soon realized what was afoot.

Which is why she snuck the book into Twilight's library. If anyone could fix this mess it was her. Not Pinkie. She knew her expertise of party hats, and balloon animals was no match for Twilight's knowledge of these things.

She could've been wrong however, they might've made a mistake at the hospital. This stopped Pinkie from saying anything. She didn't want to cause panic over a little dud.

And now here we are. With probably the only uninfected pony in Ponyville. Downstairs in her basement. Locked in, hoping the cure would make it. She wouldn't want all her friends to die. It would kill her.

-Canterlot; Laboratory-

Twilight watches the rats, waiting to see any lethal symptoms approach. Nothing. Atleast, nothing yet.

Labor walks into the room, and straight to his hazmat suit. Twilight shifts between watching him put it on, and making sure the rats don't die off. There were seven, so the death rate out there was slow. She hopes her friends aren't in the small amount of ponies that are dying.

Labor finishes putting the suit on, and proceeds to the cure. Twilight now watches him, breaking her trance from the rats.

Labor works quickly, but to Twilight, not quickly enough. Labor catches her annoying fidgeting, but chooses to ignore it. Twilight stares at Labor do his work, [url=http://www.fimfiction

hoping that maybe he can just work just a little bit quicker.

Twilight bites her lower lip, and rubs the back of her neck, watching the doctor carefully mix around the-

"Tvilight, stop staring at me. You're making me uncomfortable." Labor finally speaks up.

"Oh! Sorry, I was just uh..."

"I don't care vhat you vere doing, just notify me of zhe rats, yes?" Labor asks of her. Twilight rubs her left arm with her right hoof.

"Uh, sure. Again, I'm sorry." Twilight repeats, and turns to the seven up-and-running rats.

-1 hour 30 minutes later-

Cure progress; 99%

Labor sweats a bit in anticipation as the final piece of the cure is just about ready.

Drip. "Success!! Zhe cure is finished!"

As stated above.

Cure progress. 100%

Labor laughs out loud, and Twilight jumps around with glee. The blue liquid filled test tube was the cure, finished, and ready for deployment. So far we have come, and the cure is finally finished!

Then Twilight tumbles it, and it falls to the ground and shatters.

Im just kidding, this is a happy ending!

It is filled with glee!

To conclude this segment. All ended well!

The next day.

-Ponyville; Twilight's library-

The cure deployment started as soon as the cure was found. Spreading around the world, it cured countless ponies. They made national announcements that the cure was waiting at a local hospital, to which every pony rushed, and waited to get vaccinated.

Twilight sits here, hugging her friends and crying happy tears of joy. Labor stands next to Celestia with a smile on his face, along with Dr. Whooves and his family. Safe and sound.

Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy stood in line at the hospital to get vaccinated. Rainbow Dash had to be vaccinated in her own home, for she refused to move. Pinkie was convinced to come out, after Twilgiht called for her.

And all was well! With the exception of a couple hundred dead bodies. Now they are on the road to rebuilding!

The town helps out, building new houses, planting trees, and lending a hoof to restabilize ponykind.

Twilight is happy. Labor is proud. Dr. Whooves is just glad it's over, and Celestia is relieved to know that this time, Celius didn't win. Not a single town lost.

And so we reach the end of our tale. Knowing that everything is finally back to normal for good old Ponyville. May something like this never plague the land of Equestria again!

Hehe, get it? Plague the land? Cuz it's a Plague Inc crossover. And it makes it-

You know what, screw you guys, I don't need you to laugh at my jokes. My mom laughs at my jokes, and that's all I need.

Assholes...

-5 years later-

Twilight reads happily in her library. After so long, Ponykind is up an running again.

But another particular book catches her eye.

But it wasn't on viruses like Celius. This one...

Is on a worm.