Dear Diary,

I know I usually only write in my diary on Nightmare Night or when Angel gets mad at me, but today, I’m making an exception.

I woke up this morning feeling totally fine. I was having a very pleasant week, just listening to the birds sing their songs and taking care of some newborn bear cubs. (They’re just so cute!) But this morning, Angel was acting very strangely.

He kept poking me with his paw and pointing towards the front door. My first thought was that he wanted me to go buy him some more snacks and toys, but when I checked, I found that he still had plenty of food left, and Angel’s old toys were still in great condition. I tried giving Angel a massage, feeding him extra, petting him more, and even carrying him around everywhere, but he still kept trying to lead me towards the front door.

It was a very traumatic experience, and I eventually started crying softly.

“Oh Angel! I’m sorry that I’m such a terrible owner! I don’t know what you want me to do,” I said. Angel rolled his eyes at me and ran back to the front door, this time banging on it as hard as he could until the lock broke, and it opened.

“Oh no! You broke the lock,” I said. Angel ignored me as he hopped out the door. A moment later, he returned holding a rolled up newspaper that had been delivered this morning just before Angel had started acting strangely.

I stared at the newspaper he held in his front paws for a moment. I knew he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it. Then, I had a thought.

“Of course! You’re cold, aren’t you? You want me to use that for kindling!” Angel dropped the newspaper on the ground in order to slap himself in the forehead with his paw. Then, he picked the newspaper back up, came over to me, and slapped me across the face with it’s papery surface.

“Ow…”

When I didn’t do anything else, Angel proceeded to unroll the newspaper, jump onto my head, and hold the paper right in front of my face. I was about to ask him to please stop, but then I happened to read the front line of the newspaper.

“Oh no! I’m sorry Angel, but I think making a fire for you is going to have to wait! This says that there’s a pandemic going on!” I continued to read on through the front page as Angel stared at me, looking very annoyed.

“But that can’t be right. This says that the pandemic became official a whole week ago! That’s impossible. I’ve been out since then, and everything was fine.” Once I said it, I realized it wasn’t true. I hadn’t been out in a while. I guess I was just so preoccupied with the birds and bear cubs, that I just sort of… Didn’t go out.

Then I realized that in the time I’d been in my house, I hadn’t heard from my friends at all. What if something had happened to them? I turned to the next page of the newspaper.

‘Princess Twilight Sparkle and Friendship Counsel Respond Badly to Outbreak,’ the article read. What in Equestria could that possibly mean? My friends have always been such strong ponies. I would have thought that they would have responded better than most.

‘Princess Twilight Sparkle has enforced rules for guards to wear full hazmat suits that are burned and replaced every two hours. This is in stark contrast to her good friend and one of her lead advisors, Rainbow Dash, who has been trotting all across Ponyville completely exposed, coughing on anypony that gets within twenty feet of her. Another mysterious member of The Friendship Counsel, Pinkie Pie, had to spend a night in jail for disturbance of the peace. Then of course, there’s the trendy fashionista, Rarity, who has ponies protesting outside of her Ponyville boutique. When questioned, one of these protesting individuals named Lilly Lace spoke to one of our reporters.

‘’Rarity like, got my whole business started. She was like, literally my only role model. I never would have expected her to buy out all of the bottlesof my favorite brand of shampoo. It’s literally the only one I can use.’

‘Then of course, there’s Princess Twilight’s most honest advisor, Applejack, who confessed to a health inspector-after being harshly interrogated-that she has been a witness to gatherings of more than ten ponies, even confessing that there has been at least one wild party at Sweet Apple Acres hidden away in her family’s silo.

‘And while Princess Twilight and most of her counsel lose their good name and reliable reputation, the final member of the friendship counsel, Fluttershy, has been completely unreachable for the entire time of the outbreak. Some sources believe that the pegasus died, and her friend’s crazy behavior is a result of their grief for her, while others believe she’s simply too terrified to leave her home, but one thing's for certain. Wherever she is, she’s a help to nopony.’

“Oh dear,” I said as I finished reading the article. I could barely believe it. How had I not left the house for a week and not realized it? Well, I guess since I have such good friends, I just sort of got used to them coming over and bringing me out of my cottage every day or so.

From only reading those two articles, I could tell that the world was turning to chaos. (And not the kind that comes from Discord.) I knew I had to do something about it.

A little later, after a bit of procrastination, I wrapped an old towel around my muzzle as a make-shift mask, put on some disposable shoes, and went to the Ponyville Post Office to mail five letters that I’d just written. I only hoped that the post office was still open.

It turned out that the post office was supposed to be closed, but Derpy had decided to sit outside of the post office on the front porch, and deliver the mail that ponies normally would’ve taken inside the post office. No offense to Derpy, but usually I would’ve been a little nervous that she’d mix up the addresses, but luckily, the letters all had pretty much the same message, so even if she did, I was pretty sure my friends would understand what I meant.

A little later, I got home, then sat down in a chair on my front porch, and waited. And waited. And waited. In my letters, I’d asked my friends to meet me in front of my cottage at six in the afternoon, and it was already seven. I was beginning to worry when suddenly, Twilight teleported to a spot that was about twenty feet away from me. She was sporting a full-body hasmat suit, and holding a gallon-sized jug of disinfectant spray in midair with her magic.

“Hi Fluttershy! I’m so sorry to keep you waiting. Derpy delivered your letter at six-thirty four, and then I had to take some last minute precautions. Just basic stuff like changing hasmat suits forty-nine minutes early, getting together some-”

“Don’t look at me!” Rarity interrupted loudly as she walked through the nearby trees, and made her way towards Twilight and I. Of course, me and Twilight both looked at her immediately.

Rarity had rotten tomatoes all over her. They were on her face, stuck in her mane and tail, and even on her hooves, leaving small red footprints everywhere she went.

“Is it really so hard to pretend it’s not that bad?” she asked. Then, she put her hoof to her head as if she was fainting. “I suppose that-”

“GET BACK!” Twilight yelled as she blasted Rarity away with her magic. I was very confused at first, but then I noticed that Rarity had just walked up around five or six feet away from Twilight. Rarity had fallen over, and she slowly stood back up, touching her hair with her hoof. When she realized that the force of Twilight’s magic had made her already… Slightly unattractive hair look even worse, her whole face turned as red as the tomatoes.

“Twilight! I can’t believe you would-”

“Hey girls! Wow, it’s been a while! What new cake flavors have you tried? And what’s the capital of Yakyakistan again? Oh, and I’m loving the new haircut, Rarity!” Pinkie said, showing up in the middle of Rarity’s sentence. It was clear that Twilight and Rarity wanted to object to her poorly timed appearance, but all three of us were silenced with one look at Pinkie’s insane looking hat. It looked almost like an umbrella or parasol, since it shielded Pinkie from the sky, but it wasn’t round or colorful. It looked like some sort of strangely shaped slab of some kind.

To everypony’s surprise, it was Rarity who first dropped the old conversation in order to confront Pinkie.

“Pinkie Pie…? What is that?” Rarity asked, pointing at the contraption above Pinkie’s head.

“Ooh! Good question! Let’s play ten questions later, okay? So, I promised the Cakes that I’d stay on the property during COVIB-19. But then I got arrested and- Oh, by the way, you should totally try Ponyville’s prison food! It’s the texture of mashed potatoes, but it tastes like artificial chicken mixed with rotting celery! Crazy, right? So I got arrested, and when I got back, the Cakes said I broke their rule of not leaving the property, and I was like ‘But the roof is part of the property,’ and they were like ‘Fine, we’re changing it. From now on, stay under the roof.’ So when I got Fluttershy’s letter, I didn’t know what to do at first, but then an idea hit me. Well, it didn’t actually ‘hit’ me. Wouldn’t that be so weird if ideas hit ponies? So, after I got the letter and had my idea, I got my secret chain-saw that I keep in my party-planning cave, and cut off a chunk of their roof! Then, I just super-glued it to a plastic tiara and put it on my head!”

We all stared at her silently, trying to comprehend everything she’d just blurted out in under ten seconds.

“I’m *cough* here!” Rainbow called from a few feet above us. “Sorry I’m so *cough* late. I started getting ready as soon as I got *cough cough* Fluttershy’s letter, but I didn’t really have the energy to *cough cough cough* get up and come over here until now. I’ve been *cough* more tired than usual recently. Although, more than anything I’m just *cough cough* tired of everypony making such a big deal about this dumb virus. *cough* Am I right?”

Twilight gaped at her, open-mouthed. Her left eye twitched.

“Think I’m just gonna *cough cough* curl up by you and take a nap,” Rainbow said as she dragged herself over to me, collapsed onto the floor, and grabbed my leg as if it was a teddy bear.

“Rainbow! That is a total violation!” Twilight yelled.

“Well I um-” I started quietly.

“Shut up, Twilight! Stop being *cough* ridiculous. I’m trying to sleep. Fluttershy’s *cough cough* fine with it.”

“Actually I-”

“No she’s not!” Twilight yelled even louder. Then, she started spraying my and Rainbow’s entire bodies with disinfectant until we were soaked.

“I can’t believe you!” yelled Rainbow.

“I can’t believe you!” yelled Twilight.

“Can everypony just-”

“Well I can’t believe Fluttershy hasn’t offered me some of her shampoo for my ugly mane! You’re hoarding it just like everypony else, aren’t you Fluttershy?” yelled Rarity.

“Wait, wha-”

“I’m gonna yell and interrupt Fluttershy too!” yelled Pinkie.

Then, Rainbow Dash got up and walked the ten feet towards Twilight. She started yelling offensive things in her face, not seeming to realize that it was her repeated coughing that was offensive to Twilight. Rarity crossed the few feet of distance next, although I couldn’t hear why over all of the yelling. Then Pinkie did the same, although I had a feeling that Pinkie might not even have a specific reason to have jumped into the fight. I had no clue what to do, and in the midst of the screaming, I heard hoofsteps a few feet away from me. It was Applejack.

After taking a look at all the arguing, Applejack started yelling too, though not as loud or crazy as the others.

“Great! Good to see it ain’t just my family! Nopony even cares anymore, do they?” Then, before I knew what was happening, Applejack joined the others in their in-your-face screaming. I shrunk down into myself, not knowing what to do. What had happened during the pandemic that had turned my friends so crazy so quickly? It was like one moment, they were doing totally fine, and then the next, they were at each other’s throats. I understand that pandemics are scary, but why couldn’t they just be kind to each other? I had to stop this madness. I was determined.

“Uh, girls...?” I called timidly. They all ignored me, so I said it a few more times, but they still didn’t pay me any attention.

“Girls!” I yelled. Well, it was more the volume of how Pinkie talks on a daily basis, but for me, it was probably some of the loudest I’ve ever been. My friends looked over at me in unison. I started to shrink down again, but I managed to stop myself.

“I know we’ve all been having trouble lately, and that we all have different opinions about how best to cope with everything, but we’re best friends! We could get along before this despite our different opinions. What changed?”

Twilight rolled her eyes condescendingly.

“Maybe we could get along through our differences before, but this is serious!” Twilight said. That made me really sad.

“So that’s it then? After everything we’ve said and learned about how our differences bring us together, when things get serious, none of it matters anymore?” We all looked a little sad after that.

“I know what you’re saying darling, and I think it’s very sweet, but you must be able to tell how horribly they are responding to this! Their behavior is disastrous,” Rarity said.

“Us? I couldn’t even get my *cough cough* sensitive skin soap because of you! Not that I *cough* actually use those frufru brands or anything…” Rainbow countered.

“I think Fluttershy is right,” Twilight said, surprising us all. “We’ve all made a lot of mistakes in the past week, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try to maintain our friendship. I guess I can admit that I might have gone a little overboard with my ‘precautions’.”

“I suppose you might have a point, Twilight. We’ve been through so much together. It would be tragic to simply give up now that we’re in a difficult position. And perhaps I didn’t need all forty-six bottles of conditioner that I purchased,” Rarity admitted.

“Hearing ya’ll admit your issues makes me think that I might need to have more faith in my family and friends. Just because we all make mistakes doesn’t mean I should give up on ponies so quickly,” Applejack added.

“I guess that even though I don’t believe in all of this virus crap, *cough cough* I should still respect that other ponies do believe in it and *cough cough* give them their space,” Rainbow said begrudgingly.

“I probably shouldn’t have cut such a big chunk of the Cake’s roof off for my hat… Oh, and getting arrested might not have been the greatest thing either,” Pinkie said.

“And I should be able to leave the house enough to hear about these things, even if my best friends aren’t there to remind me,” I said.

Normally, at a moment like this, we would’ve hugged, but given the circumstances, we all took a few steps back from our close proximity instead.

“So… Can we be friends again? Even through our differences and our current limitations?” I asked. I’m proud of myself for having been so forward with my questions.

“Well, we all know this dumb virus is *cough cough cough* not a big deal, so how about we just ditch caution altogether and come over to my house for a *cough* sleepover tonight?”

We all stared at her, unbelieving. She smiled and let out a hoarse laugh.

“Just kidding!” she said. We all laughed more light-heartedly than we had for what seemed like a very long time.

I think that’s about it for this entry. COVIB-19 is still a serious problem, but now, all six of us know that we can get through it. How? Because we have the most powerful magic of all to keep us from going insane: Friendship.

See you on Nightmare Night!

Fluttershy

Author's Note

Hey bronies and pegasisters!

I know this probably isn't the ending you were expecting, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! I think that right now, a lot of people are growing apart because of their political beliefs, and while I certainly understand that at some point, enough is enough, I also think that behind most stupid ideas is a true purpose, and I ask you to take a moment to try to understand where your opposing friends are coming from before you dissmiss them. Sometimes continuing contact with people and educating them can prevent them from doing dumb things in the first place.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Shout out to Ri2 for giving me the idea of Fluttershy not knowing about the pandemic! If you liked this story, make sure to give it a thumbs up, and tell me in the comments what your favorite entry was!