The Plague Doctor

The Plague Doctor - Chapter One

"Interesting" The Plague Doctor muttered to herself as she flipped the page, leaning against the wall next to door between Burner and operating room. The book she had in hand was an "introduction to magic", meant for young colts and fillies, who are starting their magic lessons, though it also worked as a explanation book for non-unicorns and other races as to what the magic actually was, how it worked and other important detail, such as one's inner magic, that all living creatures contained, even if they couldn't use it to cast spells.

Why was she reading a book about magic, even though she's suppose to research the cure for the plague? Because as The Plague Doctor continued to learn about magic, her research assistants continued to study the abnormalities caused by the plague, so that once properly studied, they could fix the magical properties of the plague itself.

However, as she (literally) had no other things to do than to either attend patients (who hated her due to her dark appearance) or to go around the town, recording and picking up the dead ponies (which her other assistants were doing, with the Minotaur moving the wooden cart behind them, where they loaded the dead bodies), which she preferred not to do, due to rising number of ponies hating her and joining the mobs.

So, leaving both of those options unavailable (well, they were available, but she chose to ignore both of them), she decided to take up reading, especially topics about magic, so that she might get some insight of what the magical part of the plague possibly could do to weaken the physical cure......

The Plague Doctor paused her reading and looked towards the research station, where one of the ponies slammed his hoof on the table from frustration, causing the other two researchers and the Burner door guards to turn their attention towards him "The research would be so much easier if we could study the effects of the plague in accelerated rate, so that we could see exactly how it affects the victims from beginning to the end, because studying the samples doesn't reveal what was because of the physical part and what was because of the magical part" the stallion said in frustration.

"I know that it's hard to sit by and wait for the slow progress of cure making, especially with your wife also being infected" the research assistant closest to the stallion said, making the frustrated researcher turn his glare towards the mare, who hastily continued speaking "But, we have been fully informed by Princess Celestia herself, that in any circumstances, we are not allowed to test the accelerated plague on anypony, even if they give permission for it" she said, before turning back towards the sample on the table "though even one subject would be very useful, because we could that way isolate and cure the effects of the magical part of the plague" she finished as she started studying the sample again.

"You can say that again" The third research assistant said as he too (with the frustrated assistant) continued studying their own samples "normally, I would suggest breaking the rule of testing on a living pony, but Princess Celestia made it clear that the result of doing so is either life-in-prison or immediate execution, depending on the age of the subject and if we have their permission"

The Plague Doctor moved the bookmark on the page she had been reading before closing the book in her hand and walking closer to the research station "While I personally understand the moral choices behind the ban on living test subjects, the princesses have greatly slowed down the research for the cure due to their constant supply re-directions and the rule that doesn't allow us to research the plague itself on living host" She said as she stopped behind the three researchers, who turned around to look at her, standing there with both of the hands holding the book against herself.

"However" The Plague Doctor continued as she looked at the researchers, who were carefully listening to her every word "Should more than half of Equestria's population perish before the cure for magical side has been found, you are authorized to disobey the ban Princess Celestia has placed. I will take full responsibility for it, even if it means execution or life-in-prison" she said, watching the three ponies in front of her nod their heads in unison.

"Now, please return to your work, we still have 10 days before the Royal sisters return with additional supplies and 3 days before the guard reinforcements arrive" she finished, receiving a nod of acknowledgement from the researchers as they returned to studying the samples.

With her speech done, The Plague Doctor turned around as she walked to her previous spot, leaning against the wall as she resumed reading the book where she left off.

"ma'am" one of the guards said, causing her to turn her head to her right, where the stallion was looking towards her "Should the need to arise where the ban must be broken in order to safe countless lives, the guards and staff members have agreed to stay silent and dismiss any claims that we have used living subjects, but only if you have given permission to use the infected ponies for studying the plague" he said, receiving a nod of understanding from The Plague Doctor, who returned her attention to the book.

"Well, that is pleasant surprise" The Plague Doctor said, loud enough for the guards and the carefully listening researchers to hear her voice clearly.....

"And so it begins" The Plague Doctor said as she knelt down and raised the stone tiles, revealing the hatch leading to the basement.

The mobs had finally reached their limit, deciding that tonight was the perfect time to attack the workshop. The guards were busy outside trying to hold them back, but from the sounds of battle it was clear that they wouldn't win against the overwhelming amount of civilians, who falsely blamed The Plague Doctor for causing the plague in the first place. It wasn't her fault that she woke up in middle of nowhere, with massive medical, society and cultural knowledge of Equestria (and possibly beyond) in her head, dressed in the outfit she (somehow) knew belonged to The Plague Doctor, with purse full of gold coins, enough to buy half the town if she needed to.

Of course, there was the fact that she couldn't remove the suit she wore 24/7, both for mental and physical reasons, though on the plus side, she didn't have any physical needs other than few (3-4 at max) hours of sleep per day. Still, she had this feeling that she had forgotten something important, as she didn't remember anything before waking in middle of a flower field in Equestria.

As the staff members quickly moved all the necessary equipment (mainly research they had so far done, extra supplies from the cabinets across the room and the compartment chest under the operating table), The Plague Doctor continued to hold the hatch open as she counted all the staff members going in. So far, all 12 of them (5 researchers, 7 assistants) were accounted for, but.....

"You, wait" she said to the two guards who had come out of the Burner room to help and guard the staff members "Both of you have lost your families to the plague already, correct?" she asked, receiving a sad nod from both of them. The Plague Doctor motioned them closer as with her hand, before reaching to the small notebook on her belt, taking it off and giving it to the them "If full day goes pass without anyone trying to break into the basement, you two have been given permission to be test subjects for accelerated plague, so that the researchers can have the information they need to finish the cure. You can accept or decline that, because it isn't an order, simply a permission should you volunteer for it. Inform the staff members that they all have permission for this, but no more than two can be used, unless it is necessary, understand?" she asked, receiving a nod of acknowledgement.

"Good, now make sure that if the staff members agree to do the accelerated plague research, they must follow the proper safety precautions....now go, and good luck finding the cure" She said as the two guards entered the basement, before she closed the hatch behind them and put the stone tiles back to their place.

Just as she stood up and grasped the cane lying on the operating table, she heard the outside door break as the mobs rushed in, before they started trying to break the door between shop front and the operating room down. Taking a deep breath, The Plague Doctor readied herself as she took the small knife off the sheet in her belt and prepared to defend herself, with the cane cracking in electricity (the cane has power crystals build inside it, connecting to the outer metal layer, where when the cane hit against something, it would release a burst of electricity to the target, though non-lethal of course)

As the door finally broke down, the lead stallion was quick to spot her on the other side of the operating table, raising his voice to yell the others where she exactly was. The Plague Doctor quickly moved as the ponies stormed in, with the lead Pegasus jumping towards her with anger in his eyes. The Plague Doctor carefully aimed as she let the cane swing with all her strength towards the stallion's head.....

• 10 days later -

Celestia could feel her sister patting her wing against her as they watched the hanging body of The Plague Doctor, her arms and legs tied tightly as the thick robe was wrapped around her throat, suffocating her and snapping her neck as she was left to hang there, with the charred remains of her workshop behind her.

Celestia could almost feel the anger and sadness radiating from Luna, mirroring her own feelings almost perfectly as the guards finished gathering up the remaining mobs, though not quite many of them were in good shape as large portion of them had been exposed to the dead and infected ponies housed in the (now destroyed) workshop of The Plague Doctor, with no one to treat or delay the effects of the plague.

Taking her eyes off the hanging body of The Plague Doctor, Celestia took a look around as she spotted the burned, headless bodies of former workshop guards lying on the streets as their heads were put on the spikes, their masks (some obviously damaged) still on, signalling the hatred her previous ponies had held towards The Plague Doctor and those using the protective uniforms, designed after hers.

It was like a bitter taste in her mouth, to know that her ponies were capable of such cruelty, especially against innocent people who were trying to cure the plague that now ravaged Equestria. It wasn't that long when she and Luna had defeated Discord, Sombra, Tirek and few others, who caused harm towards their subjects, and yet, it was almost like the land of Equestria was being punished because of so many incidents happening during their rule....

Celestia could feel Luna pat her side with her wing, causing Celestia to look at her right, where she noticed Luna motioning her head towards the lieutenant walking towards them "Tell us lieutenant, has all the ponies in the town been detained for guestioning?" Luna asked in her royal tone, making the young lieutenant wince a little at the voice level "Of course you majesty. But so far, we have not been able to make clear note on who was and who wasn't involved in the...incident..." Lieutenant said awkwardly as he motioned his hoof towards the hanging body of The Plague Doctor and the ruins of her workshop.

Celestia nodded in understanding "You'll be given permission to search the minds and memories of everyone in the town, even by the use of force if needed to. Those of who were not involved are to be released and given medical treatment, should they need it. Those of who were involved however are to be immediately imprisoned and to wait for their courts to decide their fate, if they survive the plague that infects them now" Celestia said in clear voice, though there was an hint of anger in her voice as her eye narrowed a little for the last part "Of course, your majesty. We shall begin the interrogations immediately" The Lieutenant said as he turned around and quickly walked away, heading towards where the prisoners were temporarily being kept.

"Are thou sure that is the right choice, Tia?" Luna asked as she turned her gaze towards her older sister, who turned her head towards the motionless body of The Plague Doctor "While I would normally consider easier and less harsh measures, the crisis we face and the fact that the ponies, our subjects, involved in killing the prime researcher and possibly destroying the cure because of their believe that she was behind it all, even when we confirmed and told them that she had no part on it, has made my patience thin. Though perhaps after the crisis is over, we can discuss the less harsh punishments for those involved, but right now, we are required to see if any of the research and staff assistants survived this.... dark deed" Celestia said as she moved forward, going past the hanging body of The Plague Doctor and heading towards the burned remains of her Workshop.

Luna took final look at The Plague Doctor, who she had grown close to during this crisis, before following her sister and leaving the dead body behind her.

Neither of the Royal sisters even noticed when The plague Doctor's hand twitched, or when she raised her head to look around......

As Celestia stepped through the remains of workshop door frame, she could see the dried blood on the blackened stone tiles, with few piles of molten (now cold and solid) metal, probably from the beds for patients that had once been on the second floor. From the lack of bodies, she could tell that the mob had cleared the former patients off the building before burning it down, though as she took a look at the direction of the operating room, she could see the skeletal remains of Pegasus, lying against the molten remains of operating table with it's skull clearly cracked.

Moistening her mouth to get the dry feeling out of her mouth, she moved towards the skeletal remains, noticing that the area The Plague Doctor had once called "The Burner", was mostly intact, though a part of it had collapsed. However, the furnace was still at working shape, so when she spotted the two guards cleaning the rubble away, she ordered them to restart the furnace and dispose of the bodies that hadn't been burned before the mob attacked (clear from the pile next to the furnace, with some of them under the rubble) and the new ones that had come after the incident, before turning her attention back to the operating room, where Luna was carefully walking around and trying to look where the stone tiles hiding the hatch were.

Due to the security reasons, only The Plague Doctor and the staff knew where the hatch was (though the royal sisters knew that the basement existed), so it took some time before Celestia noticed the small crack between the stone tiles, which she levitated off the floor to reveal the metal hatch beneath it.

Of course, this was the moment when the guard captain decided to make his presence known, especially since he hadn't been informed of the basement and was quite vocal about searching what was beneath there first, before Princess Celestia made it quite clear that should anyone else than her, Princess Luna or the recently deceased The Plague Doctor attempt to gain the access to basement beneath, the staff and guards had been instructed to attack them with lethal force.

This of course made the Guard Captain even more vocal, but the dark glare from the princesses made him change his mind as he hurried away to 'make sure the guards do their jobs'.

As the guard captain disappeared from her sight, Celestia took a deep breath before turning towards the hatch and opening it, with the darkness inside greeting her. Narrowing her eyes, she slowly moved down the stairs, not making sudden moves before stopping at the bottom, looking at the darkness in front of her. Narrowing her eyes, she let the tip of her horn glow in magic, revealing her surroundings.

The sight of raised swords and daggers, reflecting the light coming from her horn, greeted her as the horns of The Plague Doctor's former staff started glowing, spells being prepared as they stood in battle positions. It only lasted a few seconds, before they started lowering their weapons as the unicorns lit up the candles around the room, lighting up the dark basement.

"Princess Celestia, it is good to see you again. Thankfully, it was you and not some curious member of the mob that attacked us earlier" The closest member of the staff said as Celestia let the light on tip of her horn die down, taking a look around the room "Yes, well it seems that you have survived, which is good to know that the knowledge of the plague cure was not.... lost..." Celestia said as her eyes stopped at the two bodies of the guards lying at the operating table, their gear neatly folded in the table next to it.

Following where the Princess was looking, the staff stopped moving as they spotted the bodies lying in the open "Ah yes, the guards.... During the attack, they were infected by the small tears in their suits, and since they were already infected, they offered to be the test subjects we needed in order for us to finish the progress of making the cure for the plague" The mare closest to them said, before turning towards the Princess "At first, we declined their offers, but they made it clear that they no longer had anything to lose, meaning they would infect us all if we didn't take the opportunity to study the plague and create the cure, sacrificing their lives so that we in return could save thousands" she said, before bowing her head with the others.

Luna had followed Celestia down as soon as the candles were turned on, meaning she heard the entire thing as another mare, researcher from the looks of her, continued where the other mare left off "We have agreed to accept any punishment you see fit, as long as the cure the two guards and The Plague Doctor sacrificed their life's will be used to safe those still infected" she said, before taking a glance at the open notebook on the table where the two guard's bodies were.

Just as Celestia was about to answer, the guard captain returned, this time in a hurry as he entered the basement "Princess Celestia, we need your presence upstairs immediately" he said as he was breathing little faster than normally. Confused, Celestia turned towards the guard captain "What is it that you require our presence for in such a hurry?" she asked, thinking of possibilities that the guard could use as answer.

However, the answer she received was not anything she expected "The Plague Doctor's body has disappeared!" the guard captain said, his voice and face revealing the panic he held due to lack of information how it had happened. There was more than 80 guards on the town, and none of them had spotted what had happened to The Plague Doctor's body.

Neither the Princess Celestia or Princess Luna could hide the surprise and shock that spread to their faces, before Celestia turned back towards The Plague Doctor's former staff "We shall discuss what will be done with you, for now however, prepare the list for everything you need to make the cure and start moving the equipment here back to surface" She said before moving quickly past the guard captain, with him and Luna following as they started heading towards the place where The Plague Doctor's body had been hanging earlier, less than ten minutes ago.

The Staff members took a look at each other before they went to work, researchers writing down the list of equipment, chemicals and herbs they needed for the mass production of the plague cure, calculating enough of the ingredients for 80% of Equestria's former population, even though only 67% of the former population was till alive. In the  meanwhile, the assistants started moving the medical and other supplies back to the remains of the operating room, taking only a little time off to drop the guard's bodies to the Burner room, where the two royal guards were restarting the furnace, sweat gathering on their skin from the heat.

"How did it happen?" Celestia said with anger in her voice as she glared at the group of guards standing in front of her.

Truthfully, no one knew how The Plague Doctor's body had disappeared suddenly from the middle of the town, with over 80 guards running around and making sure no one but them was moving around. Apparently, they had only looked away from The Plague Doctor's body for the second, and when their gazes returned, it had disappeared, leaving the robes that had tied her hands and feet on the ground beneath, completely opened.

Princess Luna was already checking the scene with every spell she could think of, while the guards in front of Celestia stuttered as they tried to explain that no one was sighted removing or moving the body of The Plague Doctor in mere seconds no one's eyes were on it. There wasn't any physical evidence she had been moved, other than the opened robes and the lack of body that is.....

As Princess Luna confirmed that no magic had been used, Celestia quickly ordered all the guards to start searching the surrounding area for the body immediately, which they seemed eager to do in order to get away from the angry princesses.

As Celestia took a deep breath few times to calm herself down, she turned her gaze to the loop that was still hanging there, even though it had been around The Plague Doctor's neck less than fifteen minutes ago. She couldn't understand how the body has disappeared, there wasn't any physical evidence and there wasn't any magic in use. They couldn't even feel the telltale remains of magic that Pegasus wings left in the air, so how such a large body, surrounded by large number of guards, had disappeared in mere seconds.

But the bigger question was who and why......