Plagues of Equestria

As her alarm clock blared out the familiar sound of dutiful trumpets, Rainbow Dash let out an irritated groan, begrudgingly getting up to turn it off. She wasn't used to her new schedule; getting up as soon as the sun rose, running around Equestria all day, then not getting too sleep much until the dead of night. Although, she figured that little sleep would keep her functional for longer than no sleep at all, so she compromised. Ever since Twilight began issuing evacuation orders, Rainbow Dash had been put in charge of search and rescue operations, which of course she didn't mind, she was able to get survivors quicker than anypony else.

Though, before she could go straight to saving the day, she had to grab herself a coffee, just something to give her a jump-start. The Haze had been rampaging for about a month now, and hardly any pony could sleep because of it, but Dash would just follow in Twilight's steps; drink some coffee and work through the day. Well, except Dash would actually manage to get some sleep by the end of the day.

Rainbow trotted outside of Wonderbolts HQ and took off towards the industrial district of Cloudsdale. Despite being so close to ground zero of the infection, the plague clouds never climbed higher than two stories, which kept the city in the sky as the best option for a sanctuary. The Wonderbolts had agreed to let anypony involved in the rescue efforts stay in their barracks, even providing food, medicine, and clean clothes.

Landing just in front of the door to the Rainbow Factory, where many survivors had been staying, the blue pegasus made her way inside and towards the break room. Usually, she wasn't a big fan crowded rooms; big groups of people talking over each other, every word meshing together into one large collection of noise. But for some reason, walking through the cafeteria and seeing so many ponies inside talking to each other made her feel a slow wave of relief, even if she knew none of the conversations would be positive. At least they were safe here.

Finally, after getting to the break room and starting the coffee pot, Rainbow Dash kept an impatient eye on the machine. However, her concentration was quickly broken by a blurry mass of orange out of the corner of her eye on the balcony, followed by the distinct stench of smoke entering her nose. Fear hit her stomach like an anvil, and she darted out the door faster than she could properly think, much to the confusion of Applejack, who had been outside smoking a cigarette.

Doing her best to avoid the embarrassment, Dash walked out next to her friend, leaning against the railing and doing her best to ignore the putrid smell of tobacco. She still wasn't used to seeing so many non-pegasi roaming around Cloudsdale, but if it were to be a safe space for everypony, then everypony needed to be able to walk on clouds. She could vaguely remember Twilight mentioning a rune or sigil, and something about Starswirl the Bearded, but she was way too tired to try and remember what it was.

After a few minutes of silence, Rainbow decided to finally break it, otherwise her own racing mind would drive her mad.

"I thought you quit smoking." Dash hadn't realized how accusatory her question sounded until it hung in the air for a moment, but the earth pony didn't seem to pick up on it, or was simply far too exhausted to.

"Well, I did." Applejack replied, taking one last short drag of the cigarette before placing the butt in the ashtray she had set out. "But with all the apocalypse preppin' and whatnot, kinda hard not to fall back on old habits."

Rainbow nodded, muttering in vague understanding before looking out at the vast fields between them and Canterlot. As she stared out, her mind began to wander; mainly back to Ponyville General, to the visceral sight of those mutilated ponies, those disturbing notes left by Redheart, and the deep well in her stomach still wondering if the nurse was even still alive. Just before the questions in her head could fully overwhelm her, Applejack spoke up.

"So, uhh, how're rescue operations goin'?"

Dash scoffed before standing straight up, still focusing on the empty plains ahead. "Well, out of 4 zones hit by The Haze? We've only saved a couple hundred, and most of 'em had to be kicked out cuz they'd been infected. If it weren't for Starlight's plague detection spell, we'd have hordes running throughout cloudsdale." Letting out a hefty sigh, she felt a sharp twinge of guilt hit her stomach. "It was...hard to turn them away, but we have no choice until the Canterlot Bureau of Disease manages to make a cure, Celestia knows how long that'll take."

AJ nodded solemnly, giving a weak smile to try and show a bit of support. "Well, we oughta have faith in 'em. Sure, a cure'll take a while, but they'll make one. We've saved the world how many times now?"

Dash raised her hoof to her chin to think for a moment.

"That was rhetorical, Dashie."

Just then, the door was pushed open by a noticeably exhausted Twilight, her drab sweater occasionally spattered with small coffee stains. She sat down the clipboard held up by her magic and took of her glasses, groggily rubbing her eyes with her fetlock, before taking a spot next to the pair on the balcony, both of whom elected to pause their prior conversation.

"Hey girls." Twilight muttered, undoing the messy bun her mane was in and pocketing the hair tie in her saddlebag. Leaning up against the railing and looking back into the building, she seemed calm enough for Rainbow Dash to feel at ease, but something about her blank stare made the farmpony beside her feel as if something was off.

"Heya." Applejack half-heartedly replied, placing another cigarette in her muzzle, unable to find her lighter before a purple spark appeared at the end, lighting it. She took a drag and sighed out a grey cloud, letting out a quiet "Thank ya." to the alicorn, who didn't seem to pay it any mind either way. "Ya hear anythin' from Discord?"

Twilight snapped out of her trance-like thought and gave her full attention to Applejack, almost as if an "awake" switch flipped in her head.

"No, but I know he has Fluttershy with him. I can only assume he's in his own dimension, but since Spike's never been to his plane of reality, he has no idea where to send our letters to. We just gotta hope we hit the mark by pure luck, but until we get a response we have to act as if neither will show up." She spoke with the same conviction as if she was giving a lecture, stating everything in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Typical, he can fix everything with the snap of his paw and he turns tail the minute we need him!" Rainbow Dash indignantly shouted, catching the others off guard with her sudden aggression. "We don't even know if he can get infected! We're all out here risking our lives while he's holing up in another dimension. Unreal." She crossed her hooves and slumped down to the floor, huffing as she slid into a position that couldn't possibly be comfortable.

Twilight adjusted her glasses and sighed. "We don't actually know how his magic will affect the Haze, chaos magic is really hard to predict, especially since our research has found that the plague has dark magic origins." As she spoke, she used her magic to pour two cups of coffee from the machine inside, levitating the mugs to herself and Rainbow Dash. "Dark magic is unpredictable enough as is, having severely adverse side effects on both the spell and the caster, the last thing we need is another element of surprise."

"Dark magic?" Applejack inquired at the sudden development. "That means this was a spell, shouldn't we be tryin' to find out who did it?"

The princess's ears folded back and a pit started to form in her stomach, because while Applejack was right, she already knew who caused it, but persecution wasn't necessarily an option. "My main concern is preventing further damage and creating a cure. But until then we need to keep everypony safe-"

"Cuttin' this off at the source would be better than waitin', Twi." Applejack's voice was cold and stern, which is exactly what Twilight didn't want to hear.

"What exactly would change if we throw them in Tartarus or encase them in stone? The cloud's already moving and it's completely independent of the caster, once we figure out how to stop the cloud, then we can point hooves." She put the still hot coffee mug to her lips and drank it all in a few greedy gulps. She slammed the mug down, wiped her muzzle with her fetlock, and made her way to the exit. "I've got to get back to the CBD, the cloud is en route to Las Pegasus and should be there in less than 24 hours."

With that, she left, closing the door with a bit more force than she intended, but at this point she didn't care. Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances and waited for the sound of hoofsteps to fade into the distance, then to silence.

"She's hidin' somethin'." Applejack took a long drag from her cigarette, putting it out and tucking it behind her ear.
"I trust her enough to know she ain't gonna hide no magical maniac, but what ain't she tellin' us?"

Before their conversation could continue further, a new set of galloping footsteps rapidly approached, before throwing open the door to the break room. Soarin, one of the many other wonderbolts who volunteered for the search and rescue program, frantically called to the balcony. "Rainbow Dash! We've spotted an abandoned survivor camp in the Everfree forest, it had medical supplies and this." He held up a note in his wing, quickly bringing it over to the rescue lead, who wasted no time in reading it.

"Day 27

The infected ponies can't read, so I'll leave this for any survivors who need sanctuary. I've had a hell of a month, but I'm getting closer to Canterlot. I can see it from here, even at night that magic barrier glows just brightly enough to act as a beacon. I should be there within a few days, maybe a week if I run into any more infected.

I've avoided using deadly force, I know that they won't extend the same courtesy, but at the end of the day these are still ponie; ponies I've passed on the street, ponies I was friends with, ponies I've cared for. It goes against everything I know to harm them, even if they want nothing more than to make me one of them.

I'll leave at sunrise.

Signed,
Nurse Redheart"