Sanguinem Sitienti

Pinkie giggled softly as she walked with Rarity, hearing to some of Rarity's more funny stories of when she went through her early days of dress weaving. The two sat a table outside, having tested each other ruthlessly to make sure they wouldn't melt in the sun. The idea was foreign to Pinkie, the thought of someone being in excruciating pain, but Rarity knew how bad the pain could be. The two sat eating their lunch, trying to focus on other things than the poor students.

"Well, still, what if that boulder accidentally rolled off the cliff?" Rarity asked the question as Pinkie at her last cupcake. Icing coated her nose lightly in a white layer, making the easily amused pink pony giggle and snort happily. The two sat giggling with each other as the day rolled on, waiting for their night classes.

Applejack's class was fun, and simple for the farming mare to keep up herself. She only knew the ins and outs of apple farming, but when Twilight asked her to lead the botany class she said yes before she could think of a reason as to why she said yes. Her and the class both learn together, but none of the student's minded, most of them to busy reading in the textbooks or pruning small plants to question the expertise of the apple mare.

Applejack stuck up a simple diagram of a plant breathing cycle on the chalkboard she barely ever used. Her class was smaller today, most of her students sitting in the clinic trying to not fall apart. She shivered slightly at the thought of their skin being burnt and charring up like firewood. She shook the thought from her head and turned back to her class of five.

"So, I presume most of you already know the plants breathing cycle, if you did your homework last night," Applejack told the class, and everyone nodded. "Good, it means I can get right onto the fun part, what happens when they are sick... well, while not really fun for the plant, we get to dissect things, and we all like that!"

"Ms. Dash, is it true that the other students are in the clinic and are extremely sick?" a young filly asked Rainbow as she sat on the sidelines of a hoofball game, keeping score and making sure students break the rules.

"Yeah, but it's nothing major, just a few upset stomachs from eating some bad food at lunch, nothing to be worried about, they'll likely be back in class next period, and if need be, tomorrow, so don't worry about them, sport. The filly smiled and ran back onto the hoofball court and joined back in seamlessly like she was taught, knocking the ball back and forth. Rainbow swallowed slowly and sighed, she shook softly as she blew her whistle. "Hey, Silver, you're out for the next round for bad sportsmanship!"

The stallion sighed and walked to the sidelines and sat down, sighing as they sipped at a water bottle filled with water.

Fluttershy smiled as she was cradled in Harry's arms, as he looked at the giggling class. Fluttershy tapped the big bear's chest and was let down safely, as he was given a small fish to keep him happy and content. He happily accepted the fish, as Fluttershy turned to her class.

"See, he really is a big softy," she jumped up on her desk, to get a better view of her class. Some students were missing, but almost everyone was here. Her list only said four students were missing, which was better than AJ's class. "While Harry is nice, he is somewhat domesticated, if you have a fish or something similar, he will remain content and won't find you as tasty."

The class jotted down the unneeded note as Fluttershy petted her friendly bear. His soft growl made some students jump as she chuckled softly. Fluttershy sighed as she resumed teaching her class, letting the students keep up.

Twilight was yanked from her thoughts, with a tap on her shoulder, from Starlight. She looked up and saw Starlight looking down at her, her eyes looking dismissively.

"You've been doing nothing for several hours now, I know you're trying to find a plan to help the kids, but the answer is, just take them to the hospital at dusk," Starlight told her. Twilight sighed as she nodded.

"I know, I just feel like this is somehow my fault, Starlight, but yeah, we'll move the kids to the hospital after sunset, and have everyone else come along and have everyone tested to see if they too will burn up," Twilight slowly stood from her desk as the door to her office opened quickly, the nurse walking in quickly. She was wearing white scrubs, that were doused in blood, a white paper mask over her muzzle had also been doused in a light spray of blood. "Nurse Clear Water, are you okay, are the kids okay?"

"T-They're becoming aggressive, I didn't want to, but I had to restrain some of them to their beds, but the yaks and Earth ponies broke the leather straps and the unicorns just removed them with their magic," tears nearly filled her eyes as she stuttered over her words. She coughed softly to clear her voice. "They tried to attack me and themselves, but their skin is looking better, but I don't think that's our main problem anymore."

"Okay, yes, but why are you covered in blood," Starlight asked bluntly.

"There was a filly in there who said that she had a headache, and wanted to lay down for a minute... they..." she broke down as the adrenaline in her body lessened, and the effects of what she had seen lay into her at full force. "They killed her, I tried to make sure she was okay... but she was dead."

"Oh sweet Celestia, Twilight, I don't think waiting until nightfall is a possibility anymore," Starlight told her friend. Twilight retreated into her mind as she tried to connect what she needed to do now. The nurse kept crying softly on the floor as Twilight ran out of the room, saying nothing to Starlight or the nurse. Starlight closed the door and locked it, slowly, not wanting any visitors, as she sat next to the crying nurse. "Miss Clear Water, I know this is stressful, but how did they kill her, was it with their hooves? Did they find some sort of weapon?"

"N-No...," she was crying nearly nonstop as Starlight hugged the bloody nurse on the floor, in a feeble attempt to console her. The nurse cried as Starlight held her, spotting two bleeding holes on the side of the nurse's neck.