996 CE

(Nurse Redheart)

(Warning: Gore)

In all my years of being a doctor, I think today might be the worst day I have ever experienced. And yes, I am a doctor, Nurse is my given name, I just got tired of correcting people.

The day started pretty normally, just making the rounds and checking on the patients that had to stay the night. That all changed when Bon Bon came into the emergency room. She was carrying a nearly catatonic Pinkie Pie on her back. The story she told was unbelievable, the Cakes and Pinkie Pie hadn't taken a trip out of town, but were foalnapped by the griffin that claimed to be house-sitting for them. Bon Bon was able to get Pinkie out, but the Cakes were still in the bakery and needed immediate medical attention. The confectioner insisted she stay with Pinkie, so it was quickly decided that I would serve as an EMT after running to the guard post to get help.

Unluckily, the only guard available was the universally disliked Doughnut Break. Still, I had to make do, so I lead him to Sugercube Corner. When we got there, the bakery was abandoned and the suspect was nowhere to be found. With what was in the basement, I am glad we missed the monster who was staying there. Mr. Cakes was mostly fine, he was unconscious, but we were able to wake him up. Other than some psychological trauma that I am grossly underqualified to diagnose, none the less treat, he only had some abrasions from his restraints as well as some lingering effects of a tranquilizer.

Mrs. Cakes was another story. Her body was a grotesque map of scars and discolored flesh. Just from a glance, it looks like somecreature had performed operations on her chest, lower abdomen, and neck. The incisions and stitches from the operation looked professionally done but were not properly sanitized. Several had clear signs of infection and all were at least agitated. I would guess the surgeries took place less than a day ago, we still had plenty of time to save her.

We needed to get them both back to the hospital, ideally with an ambulance cart, but carrying them on our back would have to do. There was no way we could wait for an ambulance, not when whoever did this could come back at any moment. I had Guard Break take Mr. Cakes while I carefully fixed Mrs. Cakes to my back. Neither of us wanted to stay in that cursed basement, so we left to return to the hospital as soon as possible.

It was still early in the morning as we ran through Ponyville, but enough of the morning rush had started that quite a few ponies saw our flight. I am sure the rumors would be flying by the time we got to the hospital. Protecting the Cakes' reputation and or preventing a panic isn't my job.

The next hour was absorbed in helping the victims. Dispatches were sent to both the Canterlot Royal Guard and an expert in psychological trauma. Mrs. Cakes was intensive care, while both Mr. Cakes and Pinkie Pie were barely responsive.

I had just begun my first well-earned break of the day when Roseluck came in. She was escorted by her two sisters, blood dribbling from her mouth. According to Lily, Roseluck had just started vomiting blood out of nowhere. Daisy and Lily weren't in the emergency room five minutes before they were vomiting blood as well. In just the morning shift, Ponyville General had seen more emergency room visits than the last two months combined and now there were signs of a pandemic.

With my break reduced to a small snack and some water, I got back to work. Three patients soon turned into five, into ten, into fifty. The whole hospital was in chaos as we tried to set up triage, find out what was causing the disease, attended to the patients, prepare for future victims, warn the larger hospitals, contact the Celestial Institute for Disease Control, and find out what the buck was going on. We even had Mayor Mare declare a state of emergency, in between her vomiting.

All said we were getting lucky. Even as the numbers started to approach quadruple digits, there had yet to be any deaths, nor had any of the town's elderly residences been affected yet. I hoped that was a good sign, but it was only a matter of time. Young, healthy ponies seemed to be able to handle the disease as well as could be expected, but I doubted those who are already sick or weak could cope with it.

As I worked, I heard more and more strange rumors from town. It appeared my trip with Pinkie earlier today caused some ruckus. Now ponies were claiming a bunch of ridiculous things; like that Pinkie and/or the Cakes were dead, a terrorist had chicknapped Flutershy's griffin, an elite S.M.I.L.E. task force was in town to hunt said terrorist, there was a griffin attacking the schoolhouse, the aforementioned attack resulted in the griffin killing a white unicorn, and even more such nonsense. I hardly had time to listen between my work.

There was another thing distracting me from rumors, about half an hour after my interrupted break, my stomach started to become upset. I knew what it probably was. I also knew it wasn't uncommon for doctors fighting a pandemic to be infected by the enemy, but I could let myself believe it. I had too much work to be sick. Plus, I was wearing all the PPE the hospital could spare at this point. Although I wasn't when the Flower sister first came in...

Finally, not long before I was supposed to take my lunch break, I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom. Soon I was looking down at a toilet filled with my red-tinted breakfast. I wiped my mouth to get rid of the blood and got back to work.

(Spike)

I was reading a comic, waiting in the library for Twilight to come back. At first, I was excited for this trip. It was my first time out of Canterlot! I got to ride the train and see stuff other than the castle and the library! But I got here only to go right to another library. At least this one was inside a tree, that is kinda cool. We were supposed to meet with Miss. Fluttershy soon. I was excited about that too. Twilight would always read me her letters. She seemed nice, and she actually thought that baby dragons were cute. Don't get me wrong, I am glad everypony knows how awesome dragons are, but having ponies scream or call the guard when they see you gets old quick.

It was a little after Twilight left when I noticed a commotion in the library. There were some footsteps and shuffling. Not much, but in the quiet tree, I could pick them out easily. Without getting off of my cushion, I couldn't see anypony, so I decided to ignore it. Living trees like this made sounds all the time, it was probably nothing. I tried to get back to my comics, but I couldn't not hear the noises. More shuffling, an occasional wing flap, and even the tell-tale sound of a book being placed on a wooden desk. Somepony, probably a pegasus, was upstairs.

Normally, something like this wouldn't be a problem. I was used to background noise while I was reading in the Royal Archives or with Twilight. But the library is supposed to be closed today, that is why Twilight felt she could leave me here. Maybe it was a weird book thief, or somepony broke in so they could read after hours like Twilight sometimes did. It was probably just something boring like the janitor, but the curiosity was killing me.

Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. I got up from my improvised comic horde and started my investigation. Sure, I could just call out and see if anypony answered, but where is the fun in that? Plus, if I might scare them away.

I moved quietly through the tree-library like the Power Ponies when they were infiltrating the Mareinac's base. As I climbed the stairs, I saw my first piece of evidence. A black feather! Suspicious, not many pegasi have black coats or wings. Maybe a griffin? I stared at the feather, trying to deduce where it came from, just like Batstallion would have. Turns out I am not Equestira's greatest detective. I would have to work on that. Maybe one of the maids would make me a costume for Nightmare Night?

Putting the feather down, I finished climbing the stairs. The second floor was dark. All the windows were shuttered save one that was open to the world, letting in the sounds of some commotion in the morning market outside. It did not take much to deduce that somepony had snuck in through the window.

Something moved in the corner of my eye! I searched franticly, but I couldn't see what had caused the shift. And now the sounds I had heard before were gone. Whoever was up here was hiding from me. Swallowing and slightly regretting my recent; life choices, I moved towards the center of the room. I could occasionally see movement or hear shuffling, but the darkness reviled nothing but the sensation of being watched. By the time I reached the central reading table, I felt less like I was in a Power Ponies comic and more a Nightmare Night tale. On the table, was a single, open book. It was too dark to read anything, but a quick breath of dragon fire could fix that. Now I could read the title! Let's see what the thief was looking at! Maybe it was some sort of treasure map!

"Plants and Poisons of the Everfree?"

I read the title out loud, only to hear something heavy land behind me.

Author's Note

Hi! School started up recently for me, so it was a little hard to get the chapter out. I did not build up as much of a backlog as I had hoped over the summer. This chapter was originally going to have another part from Shining Armor's PoV, but I decided to move it to the next chapter to keep it more thematically consistent. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Lore corner: Ponyville doesn't have only one well, but they have only one reservoir. The well featured last chapter is just the main well, the more modern building have pluming that draws from the same reservoir. Only properties on the edge of town have independent water sources.