MLP Infection AU: Frostbite

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.