Chapters Twilight happily walked into her school, her friends following close behind as all of them smiled, seeing students walking between classes, changelings, yaks, griffon's and ponies all getting along as the talked about what they wanted to do after school, or that one teacher they all had that was extremely fun. Rainbow Dash departed her friends as she flew off, ready to go teach her class, followed by both Applejack and Fluttershy, the two walking the same direction towards their classes. Twilight and Starlight both left Pinkie and Rarity behind as the two didn't have classes until later in the day. Twilight and Starlight's offices were right next to each other, being in case of emergency the two can quickly congregate and figure something out.
Twilight smiled at her friend, before the two entered their offices, the room being dustier and feeling empty. Twilight was gone for a week, fighting several changelings that had joined Chrysalis, who had attacked Manehattan, but in that time her entire office felt run down. She would have the janitor's clean it, but she can clean the entire room with just a flash of her horn. She closed her office door and levitated a small duster, and quickly cleaned the shelves and books, and her desk's tabletop as she sat in her black office chair and laid back.
Twilight was awakened from her nap as she nearly fell out of her chair. The door to her office opened slowly, and the school's nurse came in. She waited for Twilight to stand before stating her intent.
"Miss Twilight, we have a problem in the clinic," the nurse told the slightly upset Twilight. Twilight breathed slowly as she calmed her heart from the sudden jump to awakedness.
"A problem? How so?" Twilight asked the nurse as she approached her door. The nurse turned and started walking back to the clinic.
"Well, after lunch, we had several students come into the clinic, they all came in at different times, but most are from the outdoor PE class with Miss Dash, and their fur and skin are... burnt," the nurse told Twilight as they stood outside the door to the clinic. "They said the sun felt hotter or warmer than usual, and only noticed when they said they felt on fire, and the teacher told them to go here."
"It sound's like photosensitivity, just very severe," Twilight told the nurse as she reached out to open the door to the clinic. The door opened and the hallway filled with the pain wails of young ponies, yaks, changelings, and griffons alike, as all of them seemed burnt, some worse than others. Twilight held a hoof to her mouth as the smell was that of burnt flesh. "Sweet Celestia, you poor kids."
The ponies in the clinic were among the worse in the room, as their fur was burnt off and their skin bubbled, blistered and threatened to fall off as the cried in their beds. Twilight quickly closed the blinds of the small window of the clinic. The yaks and griffons were better off, but not perfect as their fur was singed or feathers were missing in patches, but not from falling out but from nearly burning into the underlying flesh. No changelings sat inside the clinic, whether it was because of their exoskeleton protecting them or none have seen any symptoms yet, Twilight didn't know.
"I want you to put out an announcement, and to tell everyone to stay inside and close all the windows, we can't afford to have everyone begin burning," Twilight told the nurse as she nodded. "If any of their symptoms get worse, you come and tell me immediately, okay."
"Yes, Miss Twilight," the nurse smiled and quickly ran down to the school's front office, as Twilight frowned at the many creatures. She left the clinic quietly and closed the door behind her. She didn't really know what to do, she couldn't ask Celestia to just lower the sun nor could she ask her to dim it down. She calmed her breathing as she ran through her head what she should do before her thoughts were interrupted by the school's intercom system blaring on. "Attention, teachers, and students, but I have just been told that everyone must remain inside and that window blinds must be shut. We have been told that there is going to be an early Spring hail storm and we don't want anyone to be hurt, sorry for the interruption."
Twilight smiled softly as she returned to her office, seeing Starlight standing outside her office.
"Twilight, are you asleep again?"
"No, I'm right here," Twilight announced her presence as she opened her office door.
"A hail storm, what's going on Twilight, why is the nurse lying over the intercom?" Starlight followed Twilight into her office as she closed the door.
"Several of the students have all come down with horrible photosensitivity, so I told her to put an announcement out that everyone is to remain inside the school, to keep the symptoms down."
"Photosensitivity? So like sunburns?"
"No... Ponies with burnt and peeling skin, griffons with melted feathers and burnt skin, no changelings yet though, likely because of their external protection," Twilight sat in her chair as she sighed. A knock outside her door was like a soft explosion of dynamite inside her head, as she opened the office's door. Her friends slowly pushed inside as they all looked confused, except Dash.
"Come on, Twilight, a hail storm, I would have been told it there was a hail storm today," Dash told her friend as she floated above the ground. "Is this because of the sick students?"
"Yes, several students have come down with horrible photosensitivity... uh, an allergic reaction to the sun, but the effects are much worse than just a bad sunburn, some students had skin about to... fall off,"
"Oh my, should we be worried?"
"Yes, Rarity, if you see anyone with a severe reaction to the sun, get them to the office immediately, so far we have about 15 students in the clinic," Twilight told her friends as she sat and pondered on what she needed to do. "I want all of you to go back to your classrooms, and continue class as if nothing is going on, and if any students start speculating on what is happening, tell them that it's just a delayed hailstorm, we can't have students panicking."
Her friends nodded as they all left, some more worried than others as Starlight stayed seated in her chair. Twilight sighed and quickly grabbed a quill and paper from her desk and began writing a letter to Celestia, telling her of how several students have become suddenly sick, suffering from the worst case of photosensitivity she has ever seen or read about, sending it off with her own magic as she sat silently in her chair.
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.
Twilight ran quickly down to the main office, but she decided to stop by the clinic as it was on her path. She heard it first, the roars, screams, and occasionally someone would speak, crying out for help or begging for blood. Next, she smelt it, the smell of copper filled blood and burnt flesh. Finally, she saw it, the clinic's door was opened ajar, but the window into the room had been broken, with fur and flesh hanging to pieces of glass that remained. Looking through the window, she saw her students, all of them, roaring and growling, and the corpse of a little filly lay in the bed. Twilight had to bite her lip to not draw the attention of her students, afraid of them attacking her, but more so of attacking them. She forced her eyes away and continued running to the office, ready to put an announcement out over the loudspeaker.
She burst through the front doors of the office and ran to the intercom system, the secretary looking at her in panic. Twilight quickly turned on the intercom system and opened her mouth to speak, her words catching slightly.
"Students and Teacher's alike, I am putting the school under lockdown, lock your doors and remain out of sight from the hallway," she quickly shut off the intercom as she heard her mistake before she saw it. Violent screams filled the hallway as the sick roared and screamed in anger. They sounded feral, something Twilight had never heard a pony sound, and it knocked the breath out of her chest. The secretary sat silently as she listened to the screams and roars, jumping as a loud thud echoed throughout the school, louder than the screams. "Celestia helps us."
Pinkie and Rarity had just finished their lunch when they heard the announcement. Twilight sounded terrified as she spoke, which made both Rarity and Pinkie scared, knowing Twilight was rarely scared, panicky, yes, scared, no. The screams that followed the announcement made Pinkie take a step back and for Rarity's coat to nearly melt off her. The screams and roars echoed throughout the school and bouncing outside to where they were as they ate. Pinkie looked at Rarity and felt tears well up in her eyes.
"What is that Rarity?"
"I-I don't know, Pinkie, dear," Rarity told her friend as the two of them stood still. The large glass walls looking out at the school's courtyard shook slightly as the screams continued on. Rarity slowly took a step forward, afraid the school itself was gonna eat her. She held her breath as she walked forward, Pinkie following behind her closely. "We need to find Twilight, okay, Pinkie?"
"O-Okay," Pinkie's mane had darkened slightly as she walked slowly into the school.
Applejack had locked the door to her classroom, having moved her four students into a corner, as the screams got louder and quieter, originating from everywhere in the school. Her students cried softly as they sat in the corner, afraid of the screams as they continued with halt. Applejack joined her students in the corner and tried to console the kids as they cried. Something slammed into her classroom door, silencing everyone as the door was slammed into harder. Applejack felt tears well up in her eyes as she heard the wooden door start cracking, the pins in the hinges bending with every thud as closed her eyes and began praying for a miracle. She hugged her students as she began crying too, the door flying open as the lock finally broke.
Fluttershy had all of her students sitting in the corner, some trying to help her console the more scared students. Several students cried out as a low thudding pierced the thin veil of silence they had. Fluttershy tried to not focus on the thudding and more so on the crying children.
"M-Miss, Fluttershy, who is trying to get us?"
"I-I don't know, Light, but I don't think they know we're in he-," Fluttershy was caught off as another scream, this one less animalistic and more of a cry of pain, echoed through the school. Fluttershy felt sobs well up in her throat as she tried to push out the thoughts of dead ponies. "Everyone, you must remain quiet, no talking, crying, even stop breathing if it makes to much noise."
Yaks, changelings, griffins, and ponies alike nodded as they tried to stop their crying and hyperventilating.
Rainbow Dash had moved most of her class into the upper level of bleachers, the only place out of sight from the hallway. She had silenced the class fairly well, telling them that she would protect them, but she was unsure if she could.
She looked in the direction of the metal door as a soft knocking echoed from it. She didn't move like she was told.
"P-Please, help me!" A soft cry called out from the other side of the door, and one Yak stood quickly, her face pained.
"T-That's my sister, miss Dash, we have to help her," before Dash could give her an answer, the Yak raced down the bleacher stairs and to the metal doors.
"N-No, stop!"
"W-What, why? It's my sister, she won't hurt anyone!" the Yak ignored the rest of Dash's commands and slowly opened the door. She called out for her sister as time seemed to slow for Dash. The metal door blew inward, breaking the door off its hinges as the Yak flew a few feet, landing on her back with a yelp. Outside the door, Dash saw several bodies laying on the floor, as several ponies, yaks, and griffins flew and rushed into the run. They looked sick, their veins bulged out around their neck and eyes and glowed a sick purple, their eyes were bloodshot and had a misty red haze in them. The fur around their mouths was matted with blood. The students rushed in and quickly descended on the yak who screamed in pain as the other students bit into her body, letting blood flow into their waiting maws. Chaos quickly descended on the gym, the sick students rushed the fleeing students, resulting in them being killed, and Rainbow broke as she saw her students get slaughtered in front of her. She forgot logic and quickly flew out of the gym, sinking into her mind as she flew for Twilight's office, flying over dead bodies and infected students.