Day 3: Infection

Soarin calmly strolled down the road, avoiding oncoming traffic by flying over the cars and onto the other curb. He bumped into another pony and was suddenly swarmed with questions.
"OhmygoshareyouSoarin?Canishakeyourhoofandgetyourautograph?Ihaveapictureofyouandapenandohmygosh! You are hot!" Looking down on the shorter mare, he saw a face he recognized. Her rainbow mane and tail were difficult to forget, much less those dazzling magenta eyes. He couldn't quite remember her name. It was on the tip of his tongue. All he could remember was...
"Rainbow?" This elicited a gasp from the youth.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" She paused to breathe. "You remembered my name!"
Soarin found this mildly offensive. It seemed that most ponies thought that celebrities would forget them after the meet their fans.
"Yes," he nearly hissed through his teeth.
"I remember you quite well." He smiled brightly as he recalled other memories regarding the rambunctious mare.
"You won that junior flying competition! That was amazing!" Rainbow Dash beamed proudly.
"Yeah, it was pretty awesome." She gave a cheeky smile. "But I could've done way better."
"Oh could you?" Soarin cocked an eyebrow, as if doubting Rainbow's capabilities. However, he decided for a subject change.
"Hey, wanna maybe to out for dinner sometime tonight?" Inside, Rainbow nearly exploded. On the outside, she tried to be as collected as possible. Even if it wasn't very much.
"Yeah! Sure!" is what she would've said. Rather, her jaw dropped and she slowly nodded. Soarin couldn't help but chuckle at her awe.
"Heh, okay then, cutie, see ya then!" He turned around and started trotting. Rainbow was simply dumbstruck by this stallion.
"I don't believe it... He asked me out..." Her eyes began to widen as large as dinner plates. "And he called me 'cutie'?"
She turned around on the sidewalk and began walking in the opposite direction as Soarin. While she was trotting along, she could hear the news channel opening ahead of her. She trotted up a few feet and saw several black tv's propped up by the television store's front window. They all had the daily news on. She decided that she would wait a moment to see what the newscaster had to say.
"Two days ago, the Ponyville Equine Research Centre was broken into by three child's rights activists against the use of foals for equine experimentation. It is reported that the laboratory has become the sight of a bloody mess, as one foal has been found dead, and the other nine test subjects who had survived have all gone missing, along with Dr. Vid Mudrost, a Northern-Gryphon-born specialist who earned his degree in Buckingham. Here, we have a photograph."
The screen flashed with a picture of a beige unicorn with glossy, black glasses. If one examined it, they would see a distinct scar in the left side if his chin.
"Mudrost, who had apparently grown very attached to his test subjects, was reported missing by his wife when he didn't come home yesterday evening." The anchor pony cleared his throat. "It is unsure whether or not any harmful diseases were released into the environment, and the whereabouts of the activists is unknown. I'm Mic the Microphone here with ya on Channel Four News!" The channel cut out into commercial breaks, and Rainbow turned to her left and continued trotting.
Meanwhile, with Soarin, as he crossed another street, a reckless driver swerved on the street. A driver that Soarin did not notice in time. He glanced in the car's direction a second before it plowed into him. His body twisted over the top of the vehicle and struck the ground on the other side. He lied on his back, allowing the various ponies to see the few cuts along his torso.
Several ponies gathered around him, all bearing looks of concern. His eyelids drifted downwards as more ponies enclosed themselves around him. Before they shut completely, he heard a call from the other side of the crowd, saying they they were a doctor. Voices eventually became dragged out, shapes becoming distorted.
Everything went black.
Rainbow arrived at her cloud house. She set her keys on the counter and plopped down onto her plush sofa. She let out a relived sigh as she reached for the Tv remote. She flipped on the power, and the TV flashed to life.
"This just in, famous Wonderbolt member, Soarin, has just been the victim of a hit-and-run car crash! It is uncertain whether or not the hit was intentional. Doctors say he is in stable condition and has suffered only a mild concussion, but his family urges fans to stay away. Spitfire herself will speak on the matter. Coming up next on Channel Four." Rainbow sat wide-eyed in disbelief, slowly shaking her head at the anchor's words.
She sprang from her position on the couch and speed out the door. Thankfully, since Ponyville was such a small town, there was only one hospital. Its location was stashed in Dash's memory since the first time she was sent there with a broken wing.
On the way, she muttered to herself, "The hell is going on in this town?" After a minute or two of flying, she arrived at the hospital. Her hooves cracked against the pavement as she approached the large double doors. With a small shove, they gave way and allowed her inside the building. Dash glanced to the right and trotted up to the reception desk.
"Hi, I'm here to see Soarin."
The mare at the desk looked up sullen expression. "Soarin will not be having any other visitors other than family and friends."
Rainbow felt something spark angrily inside her. "Yeah, well, I am his friend. He and I were supposed to go out for dinner until some jackass hit him with a car."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but unless someone can verify you and Soarin are friends, I cannot allow--"
"Hey, Dash!" Both looked up as a familiar fiery mare walking over to the desk. "I take it you're here to see Soar, eh?"
Rainbow looked up at her commanding officer from the Academy, Captain Spitfire, almost wanting to snap a salute. "Yes, ma'am..." She glared at the receptionist, then looked sweetly back at Spitfire. "I am."
Spitfire laughed. "Great, come on. He's doing pretty well, but they had to put him under." Rainbow followed after Spitfire to the gray elevator. "So did you hear about that lab break-in?"
"Yeah! I thought it was insane!" Rainbow looked up with a cocked eyebrow. "What if we actually do get a disease going around? It would be those activist's fault." Spitfire nodded in approval while the elevator climbed to the chosen floor.
"Precisely. I'm surprised that we haven't already got something going. I just hope those test subjects didn't have anything contagious." The elevator doors opened and the two walked out into the waiting room. They approached a doctor, who blocked them from Soarin's room.
"I'm sorry, ladies, Soarin is about to undergo some surgery. It appears his condition is worse than we thought. If you could wait here, we'd appreciate that." The two mares half-heartedly nodded and went to sit in front of a TV. Spitfire grabbed the remote and began flipping channels.
"Let's see what the gossip is today," she mumbled.
"--rioting in the streets of Hooves-town as ponies are breaking into homes, attacking other ponies, have over-turned a bus, and have killed already two civilians. Police forces and the SWAT team are having extreme difficulty controlling this outbreak of violence--" Spitfire changed the channel again.
"--As if they're angry but for no apparent reason! Two civilians have been recorded dead already--"
"--Riots in Hooves-town--"
"Jeez, is there nothing on today?!" Spitfire growled. Rainbow sighed and out her hoof on Spitfire's.
"Hey, calm down! It's just TV, it's not like it matters." Spitfire scoffed.
"They could at least put on some cartoons..." Rainbow Dash laughed at her captain's childishness. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at Spitfire before speaking again.
"Right, because you need mindless cartoons to entertain you..."
"Everyone needs cartoons," Spitfire replied. "You're just too boring to see that." Rainbow punched her arm playfully, and got a harder punch back.
"Ow... You're so mean," she said, curling her lip. Spitfire laughed and nodded. Rainbow stood from her less-than-comfortable chair.
"Oh well, look at the time. It's late... I was going to go out with Soarin, but I guess not. See ya, Spits."
Spitfire nodded and waved her hoof, "Uh huh! See ya!" Dash turned out the room and exited through the lift. That same, sickening, elevator feeling came over her, making her head spin. When the lift came to a stop, she trotted out, still a bit dizzy, and left through the sliding double doors, a sigh leaving her lips. Rainbow turned up the street and took off in a saddened flight to her home.

Author's Note

The infection has started, the world not entirely sure that this is indeed a viral outbreak from the Research Centre. Add this to your watch list and find out what happens!