Outbreak

Chapter XII

Up in the Air

Night had long since fallen over the world. Ponies, changelings, griffons, zebras, every race (for the most part) snoozed in their beds/cots/tarps/hammocks, anything to keep their bodies from the hard ground. Needless to say for those aboard the new zeppelin airship, "Harmony 1", ponies and changelings in transit to the city of Chitin slept well off the earth in five-star accommodation- each slept peacefully, warmly, snuggly in their soft beds, lavishing the silken sheets as they dream of wage raises and a warm bath in creamy, creamy frosting.

That is, except for one lavender alicorn.

Twilight Sparkle tossed and turned in her sleep- something causing her immense discomfort had ravaged her since her slumber began only a few hours prior. Sweat poured from her body as she groaned in pain until finally, she shot up in her bed, tossing the covers to the edge of the large mattress.

"Guuuh... uulllgh..." she groaned, feeling sick to her stomach. She needed water.

Getting from her bed onto her hooves was a struggle all in its own- she had never felt so weakened in her young life. Once upon her four hooves, she slowly but surely made her way to her bedroom door, opening it as silently as possible as not to disturb the other passengers around her.

Upon opening the door, however, Twilight felt a wave of humid heat hit her like a freight train. She could see that she was no longer in her cushy air-hotel room. Rather, she had just stepped into what appeared to be some darkened, demented hospital. As soon as she felt the hot air in her throat, the young princess coughed violently into her right foreleg. The cough left her feeling weakened, crippled even- as if something had been filling her lungs with fluid. Shaking off her cough, Twilight continued down the mysteriously out-of-place hallway on her quest for a glass of cold, refreshing H2O.

All around her lay ghastly images of the dead and dying- changelings and ponies alike lay in their beds, gagging on their own blood, sweat trickling from their bodies as tall, skinny figures in ghostly black robes oversaw them with cold, unyielding eyes. The visage of the hallway repulsed Twilight, causing her to bolt toward the nearest bathroom.

Once in the lair of the porcelain thrones, Twilight could feel another coughing fit come up. Cupping her hooves over her mouth, she let them come without resistance. Upon looking at her hooves afterward she noticed the morbid sight of her own blood coating them. Quick as a wink, she snapped her head up to the mirror in front of her, gasping weakly at the sight before her. Her face had become more pale than a fillet of fish, and a scarlet flush overtook her cheeks and nose. Her eyes were bloodshot and dry. Looking to her left, twilight found a random thermometer in a nearby sink. Quickly grabbing and unsheathing the instrument, she popped it into her mouth and awaited the telltale beep.

104.7 degrees Fahrenheit- she was sick, severely so.

Overwhelmed by fear, several tears made their way from Twilight's eyes onto the white counter below. Only the counter did not stay white for long- instead, her tears stained the counter top a deep shade of crimson, causing her to scream at the sight, falling back onto her haunches. Looking at her surroundings in a panicked state, she saw blood ooze from the walls, bubble up from drains, gurgle from the toilets, and seep through the tile grout. The nightmarish scene grew only more frightening when Twilight looked to her hooves, seeing deep-blue veins visibly protrude through her muscles, seeming to spread up her legs right before her very eyes.

"Gaaah!" she squeaked, scooting herself back to the doorway, realizing her most private of areas had left a trail of red behind her. Mortified beyond all rational thought, Twilight could now feel the spidery veins snaking up to cover her neck, then to her face...

GYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!

Twilight Sparkle shot up in her bed, tossing the covers to the end of the mattress. Panicking and covered in a cold sweat, she darted her eyes around the room- still a comfortable temperature with a comfy bed beneath her weight. Looking down at her hooves, she saw that they remained their normal shade of vibrant purple. With them, she rubbed her eyes, looking down at the result- nothing out of the ordinary.

"...Phew..." Twilight sighed, burying her face in her hooves as she sat erect in her bed. "...Just a bad dream..."

Now that she had shaken her panic off, she realized just how thirsty she was. Making her way to her hooves, she groggily made her way out of her room and to the nearest restroom.

*Gulp* *Gulp* *Glug*

"...whew..." Twilight again sighed, setting her glass down on the side of the sink. Looking up to the mirror, she saw that her face looked quite normal, save for just a little bit of sweat left over on her forehead. "...That was one intense nightmare."

Satisfied with her drink, Twilight stepped away from the sink and re-entered the hall of Harmony 1. The halls, lined by large glass windows, displayed only the faint light of the stars in the dark. Luna's moon hung overhead, sheathed in cloud cover, offering a scenic view of the wondrous dark void of the night.

Her biggest fear since her discovery that her health was in tact had been that she had woken up her partner, whom was sleeping in the room next to her. This fear, however, alleviated itself when she noticed a faint noise coming from between the cracked door in the darkened room of her partner, causing a certain level of intrigue in the alicorn.

...Break... Chitin southern... Medical... 6...

Creeping closer to the opened door, her curiosity peaked as she overheard what appeared to be somepony talking.

"...Is somepony in there with him?" Twilight whispered, inching closer to the door. Once she had reached her goal, the inexperienced princess leaned in, pressing a cheek and a raised ear to the wooden frame, just barely making out the conversation inside.

...Quarantine of southern side of industrial district 17 in effect until...

Twilight, pressing her snout nearer to the crack in the doorway, failed to notice a small wooden doorstop in the darkened hallway- and promptly tripped over it. Within half a second, Twilight found herself falling through a rapidly opening doorway.

"UMPF!"

The next thing she experienced was a face full of carpet.

"W-Whoa! Twilight?!" Dr. Seymour shrieked in surprise at his partner careening into his room mere feet from his bed. "What are you doing in here?!"

Twilight picked herself up onto her hooves as quickly as she could, apologizing fiercely for her intrusion.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Gah... It's alright, just gave me a little start is all..." Seymour dismissed, calming down to his normal chipper demeanor. "Hey, what exactly are you doing in here anyway, do you need something?"

"I was just... I was-"

"Hey, I said it was alright." Seymour sighed. "Calm down, sheesh."

"...Sorry... I just overheard somepony talking in here."

"Oh, the radio?" Seymour questioned, glancing over to an average-sized radio box- a new innovation courtesy of the Changeling Kingdom's recent technological and communications boom. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"O-Oh, no, no, no." replied Twilight, shaking her head vigorously. "I just... had a bad dream is all. I needed some water, then I heard something coming from your doorway. I decided to snoop a little bit... Sorry about that."

"Oh, it's no problem... I couldn't sleep either." Seymour explained. "I just decided to listen to the radio here to see if I could calm my nerves... I'm just real nervous about the mission."

It had been well known that the Changeling Kingdom had lacked a certain level of magical influence commonly seen in other countries such as Equestria. The changelings knew this, and actively sought ways to lessen the burden on their hive and colonies. One such recent invention had been long-range radio communication- a means of sending and receiving information unheard of in magic-dependent Equestria. The princesses saw great potential in these devices, and allowed their use in the kingdom of the ponies, though to a limited extent. Being joint Equestrian and changeling property, however, Harmony 1 came outfitted with many such devices, often one in each room. The devices may have been drab and bulky in appearance, and offered little more than an influx of incoming information and news, but they got the job done just as well as any magical scroll of paper if not better altogether.

"...What were you listening to?" Twilight inquired.

"Well, I decided to check Chitin's news for any sort of lead into our mission." Seymour admitted. "But I found out something terrible."

"What do you mean?"

Seymour turned toward his partner, his face showing an expression of urgency.

"We have another cluster." he explained.

"What?"

"The virus just got into another section of Chitin three miles from the original outbreak- the changelings are reporting an outbreak of a flu-like illness, but remember that's how those books said Ebola started off." the professor continued. "I don't know how or why, but I think whomever was responsible for the first outbreak just released a second attack."

"Wait, couldn't the virus just have spread on its own?" Twilight asked, hoping that the virus had indeed just gotten out of the quarantined sector by accident.

"I don't think so." denied Seymour. "If it had, we'd probably see sick changelings in between the two areas... but they said on the news that there weren't any infected except for those two sections of the city."

"...Oh..." Twilight sighed. "... Do we know how many are sick?"

"As of now..." Seymour responded, turning his head down. "...6,000 in that area- this time, they're all confined to a massive medical building capable of housing 200,000 patients."

"Gracious... We have to tell the queen about this!" Twilight commanded.

"Listen, Twilight..." Seymour requested. "We need to check that hospital immediately. If we don't figure something out, there will be more outbreaks soon, at least that's what I think."

"Agreed." nodded Twilight. "Quick, does that radio have some sort of microphone or something?"

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

A grey pegasus guard beat his hoof upon the door of a secluded room in Canterlot's grand castle. No response came for several seconds, causing the guard to rap on the door again.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Stirring from the bed at the rude noise at such an hour, a black insectoid raised her head from her pillow. Blue, scruffy hair fell in front of her face as she groaned and cursed the intrusion on her well-needed slumber.

"Yeah, yeah..." Chrysalis grumbled loud enough for the guard to hear. "...I hear you..."

Soon enough, the door to the changeling's rented room creaked open, revealing a bedraggled queen with half-slumbering eyes.

"...DO you have ANY idea what TIME it is?" she demanded, clearly not amused.

"M-My apologies for the intrusion... Queen Chrysalis." the guard faultered, intimidated at the sight of the queen before him. "But your presence is urgently requested with the princess."

"Why at this ungodly hour...?" the queen inquired before letting out a loud, very un-ladylike yawn.

"An urgent message from the agents you have sent into your kingdom... they said something about another outbreak of the virus. I'm here to take you to a secluded conference hall, follow me please."