Snuggle Bug

Chapters

Prologue – Patient Zero
I – Chain of Infection
II – Biological Warfare
III – The Cure...?

Prologue – Patient Zero

Golden Harvest skipped through the Everfree forest, humming along to a song only she could hear. Her smile only grew wider as she pressed further and further into the woods; it was a trip she didn’t get to take very often, and on the rare occasions that she did, Roseluck was always there to… erm, supervise her. Things tended to go wrong when Golden was around, and the Everfree was the last place you wanted your bad luck acting up.

But Rose was off visiting family in Manehattan with her sisters for the week, and Golden had run out of Zecora’s special fertilizer for her carrots. So she got to head out on her own, just this once.

Besides, she was a strong, independent young mare! She didn’t need a chaperone anyway. She was fully capable of taking care of herself, thank you very much.

With an audible harrumph, she turned her nose to the air and picked up her pace, headed for Zecora’s home. Before long, she reached the door to the ominous tree-hut. Skidding to a halt, she waited a moment to catch her breath. She glanced up above the door frame—the open sign still hung proudly over the entryway.

“Welp,” she said, exhaling loudly, “here goes nothing!”

Without a second thought, she nudged open the door and took a step inside. The chimes that hung just above the entryway rung out, alerting the zebra to her presence.

A moment ticked by before a voice piped up from the back room: “Sir or madam, please wait patiently; with you in a moment, I soon shall be.”

“No rush,” Golden replied absently, eyes wandering around the room—there were so many pretty things here! Exotic vegetation and herbal mixes, eerie potions and brews of all colors, and trinkets and knickknacks aplenty. Name anything and this place probably had it. Deep down, Golden knew she shouldn’t let her eyes tempt her, but she couldn’t help it. Rose usually made her wait outside, so she’d never seen the inside of the shop before. And besides, everything was just so… touchable.

After lingering on a certain shelf for a tad too long, her eyes pulled her towards it. It hosted jars with varying materials inside, all of which had many holes poked atop. Golden stared at them, rapt.

She was so enraptured that she hadn’t even noticed the hoofsteps approaching her. “Scent is the most powerful sense,” Zecora said. “If you wish, give a sniff of my incenses.”

Golden jumped at the voice. “Oh! Hello,” she chirped with a smile.

Zecora smiled right back at her. “If ask you I may, how might I help on this day?”

“Uh, do you happen to have any fertilizer? The stuff you usually give to Roseluck?”

Zecora nodded in understanding, her lips pursed. “Of fertilizer I have only just run out, yet there is still no need to for you to pout! I can make a new batch just for you, and perhaps for all your lovely friends too.”

After giving Zecora a dismissive nod of thanks, Golden turned back to all the different incenses sprawled across the shelf. She shot a glance back at the zebra, who was currently rummaging through her drawers, gathering all the supplies necessary to make her fertilizer. Exactly why making fertilizer was such an involved, time-consuming effort, Golden didn’t know—nor did she care to.

Instead, seeing that Zecora was busy, Golden turned back to the first jar on the shelf. Leaning in, she inhaled deeply. It smelled of lavender, yet much, much stronger. Golden smiled and sighed deeply. How Zecora managed to capture such a potent scent, Golden didn’t know, but it was wonderful all the same.

Propelled by her curiosity, Golden moved down the row, wafting each of the varying jars—lilac, fresh rain, white oak, and even a few less pleasurable ones too. Never in her life had Golden ever seen such a variety of smells before.

Once she reached the end of the shelf, she turned back to Zecora. She had moved over to her cauldron, and was mixing together all the ingredients. After a moment, the familiar odor hit her—a smell significantly worse than anything she’d just sampled. Granted, a fetid odor should be expected of fertilizer, but it didn’t make the smell any less repugnant.

Fighting back a grimace, Golden turned back to face the wall. She needed something to overtake the terrible scent that permeated the room.

Entirely by chance, she glanced upward. A ways above the first shelf, far out of her reach, was another, smaller shelf. On that shelf sat a singular jar—a jar with a bright red lid, and a black label with the words “WARNING” sprawled across in all caps.

Lips pursed, Golden squinted at the jar. “I wonder what that one smells like,” she mumbled under her breath, her words unravelling in unison with any hope of the soon-to-be crisis being averted.

Goal in mind, Golden searched the room with for some means to get the jar down. After a moment, her eyes eventually settled on a broom—she could knock it down! Goal firm in mind, she plodded over to the broom and carried it back to the high shelf. Miraculously, Zecora noticed none of this transpire.

Golden assessed her target one last time, then took the broom into her mouth. She swatted at the jar a few times, missing each attempt. On the fifth try, however, she tipped it, and it began to wobble back and forth. After what felt like an eternity, it tipped just enough to fall onto its side. Golden quickly dropped the broom as the jar began to roll toward the edge of the shelf, readying herself to catch it…

…And, surprisingly, she did just that.

The jar rested atop her head, balanced and miraculously unbroken. Golden sat back on her haunches and rolled it off her head, taking the jar into her hooves and eyeballing it greedily. Glossing over the “WARNING!” label once more, she looked at the lid. Unlike the others, it had no holes on it.

A mysterious smell, huh?

Well now she had to smell it!

Brow furrowed in concentration, Golden tugged at the lid, trying to pop it off. Her first few attempts proved fruitless. She bit her tongue and pursed her lips, deep in thought. Using her hooves had clearly proven to useless. Perhaps she could use her teeth to pry it open?

She held the jar with her two forehooves and tried to use her mouth to open it, but the jar kept slipping out of her grasp. With a grumble, she rolled backward onto her back and held the jar in place with all four of her hooves, tearing at the metal lid voraciously. Eventually her teeth found purchase, and she started to pull as hard as she possibly could.

Just when Golden thought her teeth were about to start bleeding, the jar cracked open with a loud pop.

Stale, warm air radiated from the jar. It sent a wave of chills down Golden’s spine; perhaps the scent was magical, then?

Golden leaned down and stuck her entire muzzle into the jar and inhaled deeply, yet she couldn’t register any scent. She did the same thing twice more in an effort to identify the jar’s invisible contents, but it was to no avail.

With no other options, she decided to voice her concern. “Zecora?” Golden asked. “What was in the jar on the top shelf?”

Zecora never tore her gaze from her cauldron of fancy dirt, saying, “A dangerous disease thrives inside of that glass—a strand of bacteria that would spread very fast.”

It took a moment more than it should have, but once the realization struck her, Golden’s face went as white as a ghost’s. “So, erm… what would happen if someone were to hypothetically open the jar? Could it be fixed… hypothetically?”

“I do not know as it has yet to escape,” Zecora replied casually, “but it’s resurgence would surely leave Equestria in bad shape.”

Several seconds ticked by, then several more. Once it became clear that Golden didn’t intend to respond, Zecora’s legs tensed and her eyes grew wide, the realization hitting her harder than a freight train. Slowly, she turned to face her customer, praying for the best but expecting the worst.

Golden stood there, eyes locked on Zecora menacingly. The mare rocked back on her hind hooves as if she were preparing to pounce. Her eyes seemed oddly vacant—the pony was definitely still there somewhere, but she wasn’t in control. She was still aware but the disease had invaded her consciousness, dictating her actions.

A lump caught in Zecora’s throat.

Golden let out vaguely sensual noise, somewhere purr and a growl. Zecora grimaced, taking a few steps backward to put as much distance as possible between herself and the fluffy orange beast. Eventually, however, her back was against the wall; she had nowhere left to run.

The possessed Golden Harvest paused. Several seconds passed before either of them moved. Then, inevitably, Golden launched herself into the air with a battle cry so loud that it would make Commander Hurricane proud.

Zecora let out a croak, flinching before Golden had even hit her.

“We’re doomed!” Zecora cried out as Golden tackled her. She tensed, fighting back tears between the mare’s vicious… snuggles?

I – Chain of Infection

Twilight sat alone in her castle’s enormous library, surrounded on all sides by piles and piles of books. It was a normal evening for the alicorn, poring over the pages of one of the many books Princess Celestia had sent her to fill the empty bookshelves of the library.

But as she leafed through the pages of her book in the intricacies of alicorn reproductive behavior, she couldn’t help but feel as though something was off. She’d tried to push the feeling away at first, but it persisted. The little parasitic brain-worm niggled at the back of her consciousness, preventing her from focusing on her studies.

With a sigh, she placed her book face-down on the table beside the chair.

“Spiiike?” she called out, drawing out the word.

“Yeeesss?” he replied from a few rooms over, mocking the inflection of her voice.

Deciding a yelling conversation wasn’t one she wished to have, Twilight pulled herself to her hooves and trotted to the kitchen were Spike currently resided. He sat there at the enormous dining table, absently munching away on some opal.

“Is there something going on in town today? I can’t help but feel as though I’m missing something important.”

Spike shrugged. “I’unno. I’ve been sitting right here all day eating.”

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “But I told you not to—”

A vehement knock on the door cut Twilight off mid-thought, momentarily saving Spike from a barrage of verbal torment. He let out an audible sigh of relief as Twilight turned away from him, the mare trotting cautiously toward the door.

“Who could possibly be knocking?” Twilight mumbled to herself. “I’ve never had a visitor show up unannounced before. At least, not since the library burned down all those months ago.”

Without a second thought, Twilight flung the door open. On the other side stood an angry Zecora, eyes glassy and foam frothing at her mouth. As it turned out, the zebra hadn’t been knocking. She’d been pounding on the door in an effort to break it down.

Twilight glanced behind the zebra in an attempt to survey the scene. The streets of Ponyville were in chaos. Infected ponies—infected with what, she didn’t know—roamed the street, growling and sputtering at every innocent passerby. The few healthy ponies stupid enough to be outside ran and screamed for their dear lives, making a break for the shelter of the homes.

She watched as one pony, Lyra, galloped down the road at full speed, her mane flowing behind her in the wind. Then, out of nowhere, an infected pony leapt onto her, tackling her to the ground. Lyra let out a shriek, causing Twilight to flinch. Her attacker, Daisy, let out a low rumble and yanked her into a tight embrace. Lyra struggled against Daisy's grasp, but it was to no avail. She gave in as Daisy snuggled her vigorously in the middle of the street, resigned to her life as the flower mare’s little spoon.

Twilight let out a groan.

“Oh c’mon,” she pouted,“why can’t we have just one week where nothing goes wrong? Only one week! That’s all I ask!”

Zecora let out a grumble-snarl-moan, snapping Twilight out of her reverie. The zebra moved as if to lunge, but Twilight, propelled by adrenaline, slammed the door in her face and dead-bolted it shut.

“Spike?” she called out, her voice wavering. “We’ve got a bit of a problem.”

Twilight slammed the door shut once more, this time behind Applejack as the farm mare stormed into the castle. Out of breath, the two of them worked together to barricade the door with bookshelves, tables, chairs, and pretty much anything else within reach.

Once sufficiently satisfied that their wall would hold, Applejack wiped the sweat of her brow and turned to face the five mares and one dragon in the room with her. “Hoo boy, it’s crazier ‘n an Appleloosan rodeo out there!”

Fluttershy’s ears splayed to the side. “Is it really that bad out there? Is… is everypony safe?”

Applejack lifted her hat off, scratching her head. “Hmm… I’d reckon that about a third of Ponyville’s infected, another third is on the run, and the last of ‘em are all hiding.”

“O-oh, okay,” Fluttershy replied, hiding behind her mane. “Twilight? What do we do?”

The alicorn’s head shot up, her mane frazzled. “Erm… well, if the disease hasn’t already escaped Ponyville then we should quarantine the town. It would probably also be help if we found out exactly where the disease originated. Does anypony have any clue how this all started?”

“Quarantine?!” Rarity cried out in exasperation. “I can’t be quarantined! I’m a lady, Twilight Sparkle, and I intend to be treated like one—not like some sort of… some sort of rabid animal.”

Twilight heaved a sigh; she should’ve seen this coming. “Rarity, I promise you that it’s nothing personal. We just need to make sure that we prevent as many ponies from getting infected as possible, and that means keeping everypony who might have been in contact with the disease away from the rest of the healthy ponies.”

“Yes, I understand that, but there simply must be a better way! What happens if we run out of supplies here? What then?”

“Pffft. C’mon, Rares! It’ll be fun!” Pinkie fired back, hopping circles around the distraught unicorn. “It’ll be like a town-wide party where nopony else is invited! Wouldn’t that be fun? Huh? Huh, huh, huh!?”

Twilight shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She needed to… She needed… She needed a to do list!

Alright… “Step one is to inform Princess Celestia. After that, I need to… I need to—”

“—So I hate to interrupt, Twi,” Rainbow piped up, her voice low, “but, uh, we’ve got a little bit of a problem on our hooves. Take a look out the window.” She gestured broadly toward the window on the far side of the throne room.

Twilight glanced up, staring in the direction Rainbow had pointed. The sun had just begun to set outside. The beauty of sunset’s vibrant reds and oranges sharply juxtaposed the hordes of infected ponies piling outside the window, moaning and groaning as they searched for a way into the castle. The crowd easily held twenty ponies, and it grew larger and larger with each passing minute.

The crowd quickly grew silent, all of them staring onward in both fear and awe.

It was Fluttershy that broke the silence. “What… what do we do?”

Just then, the a large stallion shoved his way to the front of the crowd. Big Mac stared into the castle at them absently. Then, entirely unprovoked, he let out a cry loud enough to pierce the heavens and smashed his forehead into the window, shattering the glass. The ponies pooling outside the castle let out a collective rumble-moan of triumph, working together to hoist Big Mac inside.

Rainbow’s wings flitted at her sides. “You wanna now what we’re gonna do now, ‘Shy? Run.”

Like that, any semblance of calm shattered. Everypony sprinted away, scattering across the castle like the scared little prey they were.

Twilight flung Spike onto her back, and he let out a yelp of surprise. Once her little dragon latched onto her, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck, she made a break for it. As Twilight darted up the stairs, she glanced behind her and watched as Big Mac lunged, catching Rarity’s tail. Twilight grimaced, knowing that her friend was as good as done.

She could only pray that she and Spike weren’t the next ones to bite the dust.

The streets of Ponyville were desolate. It was a peculiar sight, to be sure. The town usually radiated life and jubilance. Despite its small size, something was always happening; there was never a quiet moment. But right now, aside from the occasional chase… there was nothing. Nearly everypony had been infected, and those who had yet to be remained locked away in their cellars.

Suddenly, two ponies galloping full-speed appeared just over the horizon. Discord smiled. Finally, some action! He snapped his fingers and a bucket of buttered popcorn poofed into existence. He kicked his feet out and put his hands behind his head, rocking back into his perch atop the roof of Town Hall. With a sadistic grin, he started to much on the popcorn, waiting for the show to begin.

No matter how many times he saw it, watching the ponies hunt one another never got any less hilarious. It happened the exact same way each and every time. It always started with the chase, followed by the inevitable capture. Rarely did the pony being hunted ever escape—the only occasion Discord had seen it happen was when one pegasus had been intelligent enough to use his wings to get away. It was only a temporary victory, however, as a few airborne infected ponies had jumped him soon afterward. Ah, watching the hope drain from his face had been absolutely priceless.

Once the prey was caught, the cuddling began. The captured pony usually went through five stages. The first was always surprise. No matter how many times they’d seen it happen to the others, they always expected to be bitten or attacked or something of that nature. That’s why, when they ended up on the receiving a vicious hug, they were always incredibly confused. Then that confusion immediately turned into fear as they struggled to escape their captor’s iron grip. Once that proved fruitless—as it always did—they finally resigned to their fate, sitting limply as their oppressor nuzzled and squeezed and snuggled them to his or her own liking.

Then, slowly, the victim warmed up to the idea. Discord hadn’t yet been able to discern if it was a mental change or if it was the pathogen infecting them, but with the passage of time, they always ended up worming their way deeper into their captor’s embrace, reciprocating the malicious snuggles. Then—and this was the best part—after a few minutes of consensual cuddling, they always wordlessly decided to go their separate ways, headed off to infect other ponies.

Equines were such peculiar creatures, weren’t they?

Discord watched as the ponies on the horizon grew closer, their distinct forms now visible against the dark of the night. Eager for a show, he squinted, watching. He determined that the chaser was the wall-eyed mailmare, and the chasee was none other than the one and only Fluttershy. He briefly considered swooping down and saving the Element of Kindness, but decided the better of it. The benefit of being able to taunt her with the story far outweighed the momentary flash of anger he’d face from her, no matter how intense it might be.

If he were being honest, he was somewhat impressed. He’d never seen the shy little pegasus more her legs so quickly—that was genuine terror spread across her face. He was almost rooting for her to make it… almost.

Just then, Fluttershy made the mistake of glancing behind her. In that one moment, she managed to trip over her own hooves. Her inertia sent her tumbling to the ground, where Derpy eventually caught up to her. It was all over.

Fluttershy let out a squawk of alarm as Derpy latched onto her, trembling and hiding behind her mane. The draconequus let out a chuckle, beaming as he watched Fluttershy struggle. Ah, it was a glorious day. He could sit here for the rest of time and never get bored of watching this same scene over and over.

By far the best part of the whole scenario, though?

Discord hadn’t even done anything to cause it.

Twilight hid in the back of her closet, cradling Spike like a little foal. He pressed up against her chest as he slept, every once in awhile letting out a sleep-addled mumble. Sometimes he’d tremble in her grasp, and Twilight would always squeeze him back tightly. She hoped her poor little dragon wasn’t having a nightmare. After all, they both were already living one; there was no need for another.

The two of them had been sitting in her closet for almost seven hours now. Twilight was far too terrified to try leaving. By now, she reasoned that at least a quarter of Equestria must’ve been infected. What if she and Spike were the last ones still healthy? It fell onto their shoulders to find a cure—and she couldn’t do that if she were infected too.

Just then, the sound of heavy hoof-falls hitting marble floor reverberated throughout the castle. The sound stopped for a moment before starting up again, getting louder and louder…

Twilight’s breath caught in her throat.

It didn’t take long for the intruders to make their way to Twilight’s bedroom where she and Spike hid. She glanced through the slits in the closet door, assessing the situation—there were three enemies total, two pegasi and a unicorn. Together, they began tearing apart the room, searching for their next victims.

Twilight pursed her lips. There was no way she would be able to take all of them, especially while worrying about Spike’s safety at the same time.

This… this might be the end for them.

Twilight clenched her eyes shut and prayed that her brief letter had reached Princess Celestia before the disease had. If Twilight got infected, then Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were Equestria’s last hope. If they knew the disease was coming, perhaps they would be ready to defend themselves.

The hoof-steps outside paused momentarily. Then, after a moment of pure nothingness, they started up again, approaching the closet door at last. Twilight let out a little welp, heart beating so hard it almost lurched straight out of her chest. She squeezed Spike more tightly than she ever had in her life, trying to fight back the tears welling behind her eyes.

She was right.

This was it.

This was the end.

Slowly, painfully, the door creaked open…

II – Biological Warfare

Queen Chrysalis paused, blinking twice in succession, trying desperately to shelve her excitement. “So what you’re telling me is that the ponies are wholly incapacitated as we speak?”

Her changeling scout nodded once, cowering slightly. When she got like this, she was often prone to… vehement mood swings. His fear was probably warranted, all things considered, but she chose to ignore it for now. There were bigger ponies to fry.

“…And that they have no chance of defending themselves against us if we were to launch another attack?” she added. “No chance whatsoever?”

Another hesitant nod from the changeling. Another toothy grin from Chrysalis.

“Hmm…” she mumbled, trotting back and forth frantically.

This was a brilliant opportunity; they had failed so miserably all those months ago, but now they had a chance for redemption right here in this very moment. Sure, maybe the changelings weren’t quite up to full strength yet, and maybe their numbers were still alarmingly low, but that didn’t matter if they were waging war against creatures who were just about as potent as stuffed animals.

But… was the queen above kicking the ponies while they were down? It would be a hollow victory, after all, defeating them when they don’t have a chance of defending themselves. It was a pretty terrible thing to do, villain or not.

…

Chrysalis let out out an abrupt cackle, her evil laughter reverberating off the stone walls of the changeling hive buried deep underground. Her changeling scout flinched, whimpering ever so slightly at the sound.

“Child!” she shouted. “Gather up all your brothers and sisters as quickly as possible.”

Her cheeky grin spread from ear to ear as the changeling ran away, leaving her alone with herself. “Equestria, watch out,” she mumbled. “We’re about to start a war.”

Princess Celestia glanced over Twilight’s letter once last time before passing it to Luna. Celestia then panned her gaze over to the nurse sitting on the other side of the table, gesturing for her to give some sort of explanation.

“It’s a pathological disease, Your Highnesses. We’re not entirely sure where and how it originated as it’s progressed so rapidly, but it is clear that it started in Ponyville.”

Celestia pursed her lips. “Tell us about the disease itself.”

The nurse ran a hoof through her mane. “Well, uh, nopony in the medical field as ever seen anything like it before. It’s caused by bacterial infection, and it is spread through contact with an infected pony.”

Luna pulled her nose from Twilight’s brief letter, re-entering the conversation. “If it is only passed through direct contact, then it should not be difficult to prevent its spread. Yes?”

“One would assume so, yes,” the nurse said. “But the diseases symptoms make quarantine and other methods of disease prevention… erm, markedly more difficult.”

“How so?” Celestia asked.

The nurse’s ears splayed to the side. “Well… uh, everypony over in the research ward has dubbed the disease the ‘Snuggle Bug’. It’s a tad colloquial, especially for so serious a matter, but the name as apt. You see, once it infects a pony, it takes command over their muscular and skeletal systems, controlling their actions while still leaving the body’s owner consciously aware.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow but said nothing, signaling for the mare to continue once more.

“And once a pony is fully infected, they, uh… have an uncontrollable desire to capture and snuggle with another pony—any other pony. Their primary targets are uninfected ponies, but we’ve observed that they’ll target other infected ponies if the supply of ‘fresh meat’ has been depleted. We’ve determined that the motivation is entirely platonic and non-sexual, but it’s still disconcerting all the same.”

“…Huh,” Celestia said. “I can’t say I’ve ever seen or even heard of a disease as peculiar as this one. What can we do to prevent its spread, then?”

“It’s already spreading incredibly fast, Your Highnesses. Our estimates show that the pathogen has only been viable for thirty-six hours, and yet a fifth of Equestria’s population has already been infected. It’s expected that, should the disease progress unrestricted, all of Equestria will be infected by the end of the week.”

“This is quite the conundrum,” Luna said. “What have you learned about the disease itself? Anything of use to us?”

The nurse sighed. “…Unfortunately, we have not been able to isolate a sample for testing. We know next to nothing about the disease biologically, Princess.”

“Hmmm…” Celestia hummed. This truly was quite the conundrum—there was no readily available solution here. Invoking magic wouldn’t work as the disease had the potential to mutate, which would make the situation far worse than it already was. It was far too late to start quarantining cities, and with only a few days left to find a cure… well, things certainly weren’t looking good.

It was a shame Twilight had already been infected; it seemed as though Celestia wouldn’t be able to pawn off her problems this time.

Just then, a piercing shriek arose from outside the conference hall in which the three ponies sat. Each and every one of their heads shot up, knowing at once what the outcry signified.

“Hold your ground, girls,” Celestia said, her voice level. Her words possessed more confidence than she really had. “As long as it’s only a regular pony or two, we should be able to take them.”

Something smashed into the door form the other side, causing its hinges to tremble. Then it struck again, and the oaken door impossibly beginning to bow inward. Finally, after a third hit, the door crashed in with a sickening crack, revealing none other than their own Princess Twilight Sparkle, a small army of ponies pooling behind her.

Luna turned to Celestia, expression deadpan. “A normal pony, huh?”

Celestia opened her mouth to respond to the jab, but she never got the chance. Twilight, unwilling to wait for the scene to play out in its entirety, had lunged, tackling Luna onto the cold and unforgiving marble floor.

Luna let out a yelp of surprise, trying fruitlessly to pry Twilight off her. “Ah! G-go on without me, sister! Save yourself!”

Celestia pursed her lips, turning to the nurse. After sharing a knowing glance, the two of them nodded, plan firm in mind. Teeth clenched, they both ran, plowing through the horde of ponies. With the element of surprise on their side, they managed to break through the crowd, tearing through the hallways of the palace for their dear, sweet lives.

Once they realized they’d been duped, the horde of infected spun on their hooves and chased after the two of them, snapping at their heels.

“Head for the throne room!” Princess Celestia called out. “We can easily defend it!”

The nurse nodded, but it was a fleeting gesture. Her legs simply couldn’t carry her as quickly as Celestia’s much longer legs could, and she grew tired; the horde was gaining on her.

“Push yourself!” Celestia cried out. “We’re almost there! Run faster!”

In that very moment, the nurse’s legs crumpled beneath her and she fell into a neat little heap. Having run down their first victim, half of the ponies piled onto her, giving her all their unwanted, unneeded, and unprecedented love.

Celestia, realizing she was the nation’s final hope, buckled down and pushed herself further, galloping faster than she ever had in her several millennia of living. After rounding the final turn, she bursted into the throne room, slamming the doors shut behind her.

She slumped down against the door, tired, sore, and out of breath.

Lowly, she whispered, “…What am do I do now?”

As she marched her troops through the streets of Canterlot, the same evil grin still shone on Chrysalis’ face. For the time being, everything was going swimmingly. The streets on the outskirts of Canterlot were desolate, almost as though nopony had even realized the changelings were invading them. It was peculiar, marching through equine territory unobstructed, but it gave her a vindictive feeling of superiority; Chrysalis couldn’t remember the last time she felt this giddy.

Of course, almost empty wasn’t entirely empty. They had encountered a few rogue infected ponies, but her forces had sustained minimal casualties. Usually just one changeling fell per pony, which still left her with the greater majority of her army for storming the capital. Ordinarily she’d be upset that she was losing bodies already, but she’d deemed them acceptable losses. After all, it wasn’t as though there would be any actual fighting going on. It was purely for show.

And besides, the ponies’ attacks had been significantly more… cuddly than she’d expected. It was baffling, sure, but she would take whatever advantages she could. Her “fallen” changelings were not only alive, but alive and well—in fact, the attackers’ incessant snuggling, while irksome much like everything else the ponies did, was still providing them with the sweet, tangy, savory taste of love. Her changelings were fed, if nothing else.

But as they pressed onward, Chrysalis noticied the city streets progressively getting more and more populated. The Queen found herself dodging and kicking away a few more attackers than she would’ve liked to, but they had come so far. It was nothing they couldn’t handle.

She glanced behind her at her changelings—they, while clearly scared half to death, still followed her lead, fighting off their attackers when possible. Behind them, however, were more than a few of her changelings caught in the death grip by their adversaries. They were leaving a trail of fallen changelings behind them, trapped by the ponies’ hugs; she was losing bodies, and fast.

Chrysalis let out a hiss, her cocky grin quickly falling away. “Faster!” she cried out. “We must make it to the castle now!”

She charged, and her changelings buzzed after her, eager to escape the predatory gaze of the ponies lingering about. But just as before, the closer they got to the castle, the more and more ponies appeared, eager to take out her changelings for the mere purpose of snuggling.

Stopping to fight them would have been counterproductive; that would only leave them more vulnerable to attack. No, they needed to keep pressing forward. Otherwise, this whole endeavor would’ve been for naught.

Suddenly, the castle appeared in the distance, looming over them. Destination now firmly in sight, Chrysalis urged her little bugs onward.

She turned around only to see the infected ponies pouring out of their homes, having seen the new potential victims.

Her eyes grew wide.

This… this was a losing battle.

“Take to the skies!” she cried out. “Get to the castle!”

Queen Chrysalis’ own wings buzzed to life, propelling her full-speed ahead toward the residence of her little princess friends. She didn’t dare turn around at this point. Instead, she resorted to praying that enough of her own would survive to be able to take over the castle.

When she reached the gates of the castle, she swooped down and landed gracefully in front of the large gates. Turning around to assess the situation, she let out a gasp—literally every single one of her changelings was incapacitated. All throughout the city they lay, mindless slaves held captive by the slightly larger equines. Chrysalis was completely alone.

More pertinent, however, was the swarm of infected ponies closing in on her. They pooled maybe ten yards away, eyeing her curiously. Chrysalis backed away from them, pressing herself against the gates to get as much distance between them as possible. There was no escape now, though—pegasi blocked any hope of an aerial getaway. She was trapped.

Then, just like that, the horde of ponies paused. After a moment of piercing silence, two ponies galloped up to the front of the crowd—the one and only Princess Twilight Sparkle, saddled atop Princess Luna’s back like a medieval knight. Twilight donned a matching plastic sword and shield, glowering at Chrysalis. Her trusty steed paused some three meters from Chrysalis. Then, after the longest moment of her life, Luna reared up and let out a deafening whinny. Twilight stretched out her monstrous wings, tightening onto the reins around Luna and grinning evilly.

Chrysalis, the mighty Changeling Queen, meekly squeaked: “Eeep!”

Twilight pointed at Chrysalis with a sneer, letting out a noise that resembled the gurgling of marbles. On cue, the infected ponies all reared up and charged, closing in on the helpless Chrysalis.

Chrysalis’ eyes bulged and she spun around. With only one last chance at saving herself, she bashed her head against the steel castle doors with all the strength she had. Impossibly, her hard exoskeleton-covered head managed to break through the metal gate, knocking it off its hinges. Without stopping to register the immense pain, she charged inside the palace, desperate for escape.

The castle was completely empty.

Her heart sunk deeper into her chest.

There… there wasn't even anything left here to be taken over.

This whole endeavor was completely and wholly pointless.

In that very moment—her thoughts almost drowned out by the cries of the infected behind her—a realization struck Queen Chrysalis:

She had made a grave mistake.

III – The Cure...?

With no other options available to her, Chrysalis darted deeper into the castle, weaving through the hallways in search of an escape, an army of cuddle-crazed ponies hot on her trail.

As it turned out, the horde didn’t take turns particularly well. That’s why, at every available opportunity, Crysalis dug her hooves in and flung herself around a bend at the last possible second. After a few such turns, she’d managed to shake them, even if only for the briefest of moments.

Panic-stricken and scared for her life, Chrysalis ran and ran as fast as her swiss-cheese-legs could carry her.

She could hear the unsettling chattering of the infected echoing not far behind her.

In that instant, Chrysalis faced a choice: she could keep running, or she could stop and hide. At the moment, it was clear that the former was getting her nowhere. Sure, she might be able to stay ahead of them, but that was only temporary. She couldn’t run away from them forever.

That in mind, she decided on the latter—she was going to hide. She trotted forward, searching for somewhere, anywhere to hole away until this whole thing inevitably blew over. After rounding a turn her eyes settled on the enormous throne room doors down at the end of the hallway.

Chrysalis paused and nodded; she knew what she had to do.

She stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath. After steeling herself, she crouched, getting ready to sprint. Then, just as the clammering of the ponies’ hoof-falls became audible behind her once again, she jumped to life, galloping as fast as she possibly could. She tore through the hallway, running so fast that she could feel tears forming in her eyes.

As she closed in on the door, she sped up even faster. Then, just before she hit it straight on, she pushed down on her hind legs with all of her might, launching herself into the air. Then, with all the grace of an ursa, she threw her weight into the door, bursting through it and tumbling through the make-shift barricade on the other side.

After gathering her bearings and letting out her umpteenth groan of the day, she clambered to her hooves and looked around.

Much to Chrysalis’ surprise, she wasn’t alone.

There, perched atop her throne in the fetal position, was Princess Celestia.

They stared at each other wide-eyed, unsure how to react.

Eventually, it was Chrysalis that broke the silence. “Quick!” she spat. “Help me re-barricade the door! They’re coming!”

At that, Celestia leapt up, finally realizing the gravity of their current predicament. Together, the two former enemies worked together to block the entryway with anything available to them. Tapestries, carpets, chairs, podiums… it was all thrown haphazardly at the room’s entryway in a desperate—and likely fruitless—attempt to block the infected ponies from getting inside.

Once they’d used everything they could, Chrysalis turned to Celestia, out of breath from what felt like a lifetime’s worth of cardio. “Can you please explain to me what the hay is going on?”

Celestia’s gaze fell to her hooves. “Honestly, you know just as much as I do. It’s an epidemic; the disease broke out two days ago. Before long, everypony will be infected.”

“But how? And why?”

Celestia shrugged. “I truly do not know.” She paused. “Now, what are you doing here?”

Chrysalis let out a brief and pathetic cackle. “Hah! The plan was to launch another invasion while you and your precious little Elements of Harmony were incapacitated.”

“And…?”

“And… clearly you can see just how well that worked out, can’t you?”

Celestia grimaced. “Is it really that bad out there?”

Chrysalis let out a long, heavy sigh, flopping back onto her haunches. “Yes. Almost everypony and everything has been infected. There aren’t any sane ponies left out there—just lots and lots of cuddling…” Chrysalis mumbled, her words trailing off into silence. “Actually, what’s with that? Why cuddling?”

“I really don’t know,” Celestia said, mimicking Chrysalis’ sigh flopping onto the ground in a starfish position. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Just then, a semi-audible thud came from their make-shift barricade. This was it—the horde had already found them. Chrysalis swallowed the lump in her throat, trying her best not think about the inevitable as the thud repeated itself again and again. The pile visible trembled with each thud.

“Y’know, I was thinking?” Celestia asked, pretending not to have noticed the noise.

“What?” Chrysalis asked. She fell onto her back, laying down beside Celestia.

Celestia opened her eyes, staring up at the ceiling listlessly. “What’s so terrible about this disease anyway? I mean, a little snuggling never hurt anypony, right?”

Chrysalis paused, taking a deep breath. “…You know, I… I’m not entirely sure either. My changelings are all fed because of your ponies’ love, and all the ponies are content as well. Are we sure it’s a disease?”

Celestia let out a laugh at the thought. “Hah! I suppose it depends how you define the word ‘disease’. Sure, everypony is happy for the time being, but productivity is down. Nopony is doing anything besides laying about. If this keeps up for months and months, they’ll probably all starve to death.”

“Well what happens once everypony is infected?”

“I… I do not know,” Celestia replied. “It is a pathological disease, right? It should probably run its course in a few weeks or so. Maybe a month, tops. After that, everypony will be healthy again.”

“And what then? Everypony is suddenly better again, just like that?”

After a moment of thought, Celestia nodded.

“So this whole thing is essentially just a month long cuddle fest?”

Another nod from Celestia.

The loud thud sounds from the barricade grew louder; soon they would break through and reach the two royal beings stuck inside the throne room.

“…And our best plan is to wait it out?” Chrysalis asked.

Celestia turned to Chrysalis and smiled. “Yup, pretty much.”

“Well…” Chrysalis rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself back into a sitting position, looking down at Celestia. “All of my changelings should be pretty well-fed after this, so we haven’t got much of a reason to ‘invade’ Equestria anymore. Do… do you want to just go back to normal and pretend none of this happened once this nightmare is over?”

The banging was getting progressively more and more vehement; the barrier would hold for another minute, max.

Celestia nodded in agreement, pulling herself up to a sitting position as well. “Yes, that’s probably for the best.”

“…“

“I just had a crazy thought.” Celestia blushed ever so slightly. “Do you… do you kind of want to go out there? I mean, if our plan is to play the waiting game, we might as well get in on the cuddle fest while we still can.”

Chrysalis let out an awkward laugh. “That… that sounds like a better plan, honestly.”

The barricade finally gave way, and the first purple, frothing-mouthed equine pushed her way through the tiny opening. The whole barrier crumbled, and the horde of ponies pushed through, charging the two of them.

Knowing that this would be the end, Chrysalis and Celestia linked hooves. Together, the two of them smiled peacefully as the masses overtook them, succumbing to the deadly snuggles.

Perhaps… perhaps everything wasn’t as bad as they had originally thought.