MLP Infection AU: Frostbite

Chapters

Chapter Zero: Luna's Worry
Chapter One: Starlight's Invitation
Chapter Two: Flurry's Curiosity
Chapter Three: Twilight's Discovery

Chapter Zero: Luna's Worry

Author's Note

This is just a test chapter for now. If folks wish to see more, feel free to comment ideas and opinions. This was mostly an idea that came to light after reading a bunch of other infection AUs, so this one is a personal idea of mine.

Chapter Zero: Luna's Worry

"Why is it cold.. We are so cold.."

Luna, ever vigilant of her nightly watch over the Dream Realm, could not help as a chill ran down her spine at those words.

"We are so cold.. We are sorry for being so cold.."

Try as she might, Luna could only hear those soft words repeat again and again, the source of which remaining hidden within the Realm which Luna patrolled so thoroughly.

She felt sadness and pain within those words, fear mixed with worry, as they repeat every so often with a chilly aura from each word, yet she could never find the door which they emanated from. And with each repetition they grew softer and softer until they could be heard no longer.

Luna could normally find any door to any dream of any sleeping pony in the land, be it within the grip a nightmare or the soft tranquility of a gentle dream. Tonight gave her pause and a moment of concern as several doors seem to have disappeared since her watch the night before, an occurrence which rarely happens outside of select special occasions, yet no news of any deaths or disappearances were posted at any point that week. She figured they must have moved to another location within the Dream Realm, an event that happens every so many moons. Even so, just the mere thought gave the young alicorn a mince of worry for her ponies should it be true that a few on her watch have disappeared from even the Dream Realm, if nothing worse.

After several moments of hesitation, Princess Luna's horn glowed and within moments she finds herself back in her royal chambers, soft moonlight streaming in from the open balcony with soft blankets of snow along the railings and outer stretches of the balcony. She stepped out of bed and towards the balcony, standing beside the open doorway looking out over Equestria as stray clouds were seen in the night sky, some clouds obscuring some twinkling stars but never the moon. A look of soft worry was on her face as she looked out towards Ponyville, thankfully bathed within the calming light of her moonlight. Something was wrong this night, it itched deep within her stomach, yet she knew not why.

Seeking solace with her dear sister, Luna's horn glowed once again as she found herself within the opposite bedchamber of her sister Celestia, already awake and standing out on her balcony overlooking Equestria with Luna standing within the doorway behind her.

"Sister? You are still awake at this hour?" she asks, curiosity as her tone masking her worry for their subjects.

"You feel it, don't you, Luna. There is a chill in the air that I cannot explain." Celestia says without turning to face her, still leaning over the snowy balcony railing.

"Sister, the only cold I feel is from your balcony, it is wide open and you are standing outside in nothing but your nightgown. Please, come inside and close the door." Luna says, watching her sister stand outside with the wind softly ruffling the hems of their nightgowns.

Several moments pass as Celestia stands silently on her balcony overlooking the kingdom, a look of worry on her own face, before sighing and walking to Luna, closing the door behind her as they stepped to Celestia's bed and sat upon it.

"Is there something worrying you, sister? Are you cold? I can go grab another blanket should you require it." Luna says in an attempt to do something other than think about the cold words from the Dream Realm.

"I.... Yes, that would be alright, Luna. I would not like to catch a cold this year, unlike last Hearthswarming where I had to stay locked in my room instead of participating in the festivities, watching as all my little ponies played and bounced in the snow with their cups of hot cocoa and their scarves flying in the wind around their necks.." Celestia says recalling last years festivities with a bit of sadness, as for most of the events she was indeed stuck locked within the castle, mostly her tower, as others played about below and in the courtyard on that faithful day, Luna even participating in some with the younger fillies and colts not even half her size.

Without a moment to spare her sister nods and leaves the room to go find a spare blanket, leaving Celestia to sit and ponder as she thinks back to the voices she heard during her sleep and how chilly each one sounded as they descended further and further into what felt like a cold winter's night without so much as Luna's calming moonlight to lead where they went. Something about them sent chills down the older sister's spine, like they are a warning of what's to come without so much of a hint as to what. Time will only tell as neither princess brings it up again that night in other to not cause any undue anxiety in the other for something that may be nothing of concern to the other.

Meanwhile, in a town in a blind spot from Canterlot, ponies are beginning to come down with a mysterious illness that appears to be at first the common cold, as these specific ponies are outside for most of the day, however they are a little aggressive towards others depending on how long they worked outside and how cold they were during the waking hours of the day. Some ponies comment it among their families and friends as they go about their evening and nightly activities, attempting to not cause a blown gasket with some of the mares and stallions that are abnormally hostile towards others with a more noticeable cough and fever as they were outside the most. Others attempt to tend to their afflicted loved ones as best they can yet they cannot help but feel concern for them, thinking something must going around as the temperatures begin to plummet during the wee hours of the night, a sign of something worse to come if they are not careful this cooling Hearthswarming Week.

Chapter One: Starlight's Invitation

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Two: Flurry's Curiosity

"A storm unlike any other may come through the kingdom any day, please be advised to take extra cautions this year. I fear receiving a cold this year may make ponies more irritable than usual."

Flurry suckled on a warm bottle of milk while she sat in her high chair in the kitchen as her mother Cadence read aloud a letter she received from Celestia, her husband Shining Armor standing next to his wife listening to her while leaning against the counter as he softly bit into a cookie.

"Please be sure to ensure everypony stays inside and warm this Heartswarming, even more than usual than everypony already does in the Crystal Empire. We are currently attempting to research this new strain of the common cold. Thankfully, its so far contained to one corner of Equestria and will soon be quarantined properly. Signed yours, Princess Celestia."

Shining Armor took a moment to chew his little cookie bits before opening his mouth to speak.

"New strain of the common cold, eh? I doubt its going to be any different than the two that hit us over the course of five years sometime ago, dear. But I guess it couldn't hurt to be extra cautious this year, especially for Flurry."

Flurry simply babbled her adorable little mouth off upon hearing her name, being the adorable little alicorn filly that she was.

Cadence gave a sigh and placed the letter on the counter, looking a little worried about the letter as she looked like she was running over some thoughts in her head for a few moments before responding.

"I don't know, Shining... Celestia never sent us a letter before for any of the other strains we went through before. Maybe this one is different? We have Flurry Heart to worry about and the forecast calls it to be dipping into the lower temperatures over the next week for us. We would need to address the kingdom so they know to be extra cautious this Heartswarming so nopony comes down with anything serious."

Shining, being the confident dad he attempts to be, simply rubbed Flurry's head which caused a new affectionate string of babbles to be emitted from her as he chuckled at Cadence's worry.

"Dear, we've been through worse and I doubt Flurry will even be affected much by this little cold strain. I have faith that she's much stronger than most ponies give her credit for and so I have my faith that she won't get sick from this one just as she has yet to get sick from the other strains that plagued us in the past. Trust me, Flurry's going to be juuuuuust fine, Cadence."

Cadence, lifting Flurry from her high chair as the little filly wiggled and squirmed about, sighed and had some reservation on his thoughts, yet a small portion of her believed him since it was odd that Flurry never caught any of the strains before so maybe she wouldn't catch this one either.

Meanwhile, Flurry mostly just wanted to go play with her toys in the living room as she was placed down on the floor, waddling away from her parents as Shining attempted to steal another cookie from the cookie jar behind his wife's back as the spoke some more.

As she waddled through the halls on her short waddle-walk to the living room she came across some of the staff whom most cooed down at her as she waddled past, even giving her headpats as they trusted her to know where she was going indeed. As she walked past one room, she could overhear two maids speaking softly to one another.

"Did you hear what happened at the train station an hour ago? Apparently some stallion got a little aggressive and hit a mare as they were getting off the train. He even had the nerve to cough on her!"

"How rude! I hope he got arrested for it."

"He did. Just before the guards arrived, apparently he hit her again and began yelling at her which lead the guards right to them. They dragged him away as he was kicking and screaming and coughing up a storm. Some say he was travelling from some remote village away from other towns. Some were concerned that he might have caught some infection which is why he was acting the way he was."

"Oh my! How dreadful. I hope nopony was infected by him."

The two continued to chat but Flurry had walked out of range of their whispering, entering the living room as outside the big window that looked over one side of the castle town the clouds looked a little darker than they usually do, the frost on the window looking a little thicker than usual as Flurry got to work rummaging through her big toybox looking for her favorite toys.

She was left alone for a good half an hour before her father came in looking for her, her embracing him as he lifted her up off the floor in an affectionate hug, him giving her affectionate cooing and smooches as he carried her over to one of the many mudrooms within the lower portions of the crystal castle, helping her get her winter clothes on as Cadence wanted to go for a walk and clear her mind of the troublesome letter for now and just spend some time with her family.

Thankfully their walk goes without a hitch, the wind driving a little deeper through their clothes that afternoon, nothing seemed to be out of place and nopony appeared to be agitated on their path. There was a few ponies coughing in the distance but it didn't register with the prince and princess as they went along their way, chatting about the festival in Ponyville they would be attending within the next few days, Flurry Heart running about and jumping around in the snow happily with her little wings abuzz from time to time with excitement and joy to play with some much of that powdered happiness.

Author's Note

I'm not really sure how else to lengthen this chapter, so if anyone has any suggestions, geel free to leave them

Chapter Three: Twilight's Discovery

It had been almost two days since all the ponies in Ponyville were assigned into their holiday groups, two days where everypony was trying their best to make this the best Hearthswarming Celebration in the past decade or so. Two days since the odd aggressive pony arrived on the train and caused a scene, but thankfully it didn't disturb the preparations going on around him.

Twilight, within one of the study corners of her castle overlooking the open fields and roads towards Canterlot, the castle city in the distance on its mountain, had just returned from a meeting after being interrupted from writing a quick letter to her mentor, Celestia. She had been meaning to write her one the past few days but had been too busy helping with the preparations around town to actually sit down to even get the parchment out. Today she got a break when two groups came to an impasse as they await a third group to bring in some more supplies so they can get back to work.

The Princess of Magic had only just gotten past her mentor's name and a quick few words when she noticed the wind just outside a nearby window had started to pick up, stronger than usual, making her set down her quill and look outside at the blowing winds and flying flurries outside as it looked like it had gotten a little darker due to the clouds overhead bunching together in a way that was unusual this time of year, since she had looked at the weather forecast for the week and she knew the weather teams had not scheduled a hard wind and strong snowfall at all that week leading up to the big event.

She could see some ponies down below briskly walking around, almost like they were looking for any young ponies still wandering about to gather them up, bringing them inside to shelter them from the sudden cold. Twilight sighed and magicked over another scroll, trying to write up a quick letter to Cloudsdale, to the weather teams in particular, to ask them to politely ensure that there were no heavy storms that week for the celebrations.

She was halfway through an explanation when Spike came up behind her and tapping her on the back, startling her as he holds a letter in his cute little claws.

"Spike! Don't sneak up on me like that! And what's that you've got there?" she asks, reaching for the scroll he has.

"Its a letter from Celestia. It seems really urgent. Apparently there's something weird going on with the weather. She says to be careful outside and that we should make sure we stock up on cold medicine." the little dragon says, handing her the letter that he had already opened.

Indeed, the contents contained were similar to the letter sent to Shining Armor and Cadence, putting emphasis on cold medicine and staying warm this holiday season. And while it was vague, the letter hinted at something worse on the horizon if things aren't taken seriously.

This brings a small look of concern on the Princess of Friendship, Spike standing nearby as he looks up at her worriedly, waiting for her to say something. Things were running through the mind of the princess, some that got answered while more questions arose from the letter as she kept reading the strange letter. Was there a spell she could cast to help make things better? Maybe she could make a shield or something to protect the town from this strange weather? Many thoughts were running through her mind as she read and reread it.

She reads it and rereads it for several minutes until a sudden knock from behind her startles her back into reality, sending her flailing a bit before slamming the letter down onto the desk and sighs as she gets ahold of herself, turning to face the new pony that tried to get her attention.

"Kor? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be helping outside helping carry supplies and decorations." Spike asks the new pony.

Kor, a mare with a snow white fur coat and a blond mane and tail, stood in the doorway with a flush on her face as a huff escapes her mouth, clearly having ran a distance despite having fine maintained wings and even a horn on her forehead. She had a scarf wrapped around her neck on top of other various winter attire upon her.

"Twilight? (Huff) We may have a... a problem down at the hospital. Nurse Redheart personally asked me to get you. She says we've got a few folks down with the cold but for some reason they're acting more aggressive than usual. She thought maybe you should come down and see this for yourself. She also asked me to go snag Zecora after I told you, something about this not being a normal case of the flu and told me to get her incase this was something worse." the alicorn mare says, leaning on the doorway a bit as she spoke a bit out of breath.

This surprised the duo before her as they looked at each other before jumping up and headed to fetch their own winter clothes, the white mare catching her breath for a while before heading out herself running out towards the Everfree Forest where Zecora lived. Twilight and her assistant meanwhile booked it towards the hospital as other ponies milled about still trying to care for the outside decorations as others were packing up and trying to save some by bringing them inside businesses and various residences.

The storm overhead was strong but thankfully wasn't getting any stronger for the time being, however that would soon change over the next few days as the weather got colder and ponies got more and more infected.

They arrive a few minutes later at the hospital in record time, spotting some of the staff and some patients huddled about outside, some looking flu-ish while others look a little irritated. Curious, the duo approach Nurse Redheart whom flags them over once she had spotted them coming up the snow drive.

"Twilight! I'm so glad Ms. Dust found you. We may have a situation on our hands. We think we may have a more aggressive flu strain on our hands. I'm not sure why but a few patients have come in with symptoms of the flu but some are... acting out in ways we haven't seen before. We were able to cure a few of the more recent ones but.... Well.... Its best you look inside for yourself. You'll find them on the second floor in a big group. Just... please don't aggravate them. One of the trainees accidentally made one mad and he got slapped and coughed on. It doesn't appear contagious so far but we have him quarantined in the first floor break room for now." Nurse Redheart explains the situation as best as she knew what was going on, which wasn't much but it was a good start.

Twilight thanked the nurse before nudging Spike towards the double hospital doors, heading inside with him to diagnose the problem herself as the wind howled outside softly, causing some of the ponies outside to shiver from the cold.

They first headed to the first floor break room where Redheart said the intern was located, curious and a little worried as they approached the door and knocked on it to see if anyone was inside.

"H-Hello? N-Nurse Redheart? I-Is it safe to come out now?" a nervous male voice speaks from behind the door, obviously worried he might be contaminated or contagious now.

"I'm afraid not, sir, but she did ask me to see if you were alright. Its me, Twilight, and Spike is here too." she says through the glass to him, Spike appearing in the window under her to look at the intern.

"P-Princess Twilight? I-I am honored that you came to check on me, b-but I'm the only one in here a-and I have nothing to report. Except for a mild cough and a dry throat, I-I'm fine in here so far." He speaks with certainty, even if he does cough a bit soon after.

"Its alright, sir. The more we know about what is going on the better we can cure the patients. Now, can you tell me what you saw before the patient slapped you?" Twilight asks the intern.

He tells her is that the patients had all the signs of the flu: runny, stuffy noses, fevers, a cough, some red on the cheeks, but other than the odd aggression everything seemed fine to the intern. All of them minus the one from out of town, which was the one that hit him. The other infected seem to almost shy away or allow it clear passage to the intern, almost like a leader, and assaulted the poor intern as he was tending to one. Two other nurses saw this and evacuated the other more normal patients but the big brute gave chase to the poor intern. Thankfully he was able to get away with only a bruised cheek even if it chased him all the way out the front door before returning to the second floor. Outside however he was met with suspicious gazes and was forced back inside into the break room to be contained if he had caught the infection or anything worse.

Twilight was now worried and concerned. The infected were up and walking about upstairs with a violent individual supposedly protecting them. If this had anything to do with the recent weather changes then it could explain why the snow had suddenly appeared so rapidly without the weather teams moving the clouds. Things were quickly escalating to a point where the town might need to be put on lockdown should the conditions get worse and worse.

She quickly ushered her assistant back to the lobby where they went over a few things, namely the weather picking up just as ponies were beginning to show strange symptoms. And it all conveniently happened the day that odd pony came to town, likely as an odd way of fate testing the little ponies if they will be able to adapt to the storm that was already licking at their feet. A storm that would rattle Equestria and the very nations around the kingdom that would last longer than anyone hoped for this Heartswarming.