“I still have to insist that you wear protective gear.”
“And I have to insist that you don’t need to waste any of that stuff with me.”
“It’s protocol. And it’s the smart thing to do. Haven’t you ever heard of ‘better safe than sorry’?”
“Yeah, and I ignore it all the time and things usually work out anyways.”
“You are impossible. I am not letting you inside without you wearing these clothes.”
“Calm down, mom. I know you mean well but just give it a rest. Won’t those ponies in there be happy to see someone who isn’t wrapped up like a mummy anyways?”
“I will calm down as soon as you get properly dressed. At least put on the jumpsuit and goggles if you don’t want anything wasted.”
“Hello, everyone,” Doctor Swab said as he entered through the front door. “Apologies for being late but—what’s going on?” He stopped as he saw Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema glaring at each other, with Heartwrench and Blue Rose nervously looking at them off from the side.
Heartwrench came over to him and whispered in his ear. “Rainbow Dash has decided to help us out with taking care of the patients, but the two of them have been arguing like this from the start.”
“Arguing about what?”
“Rainbow Dash doesn’t see the point of wearing the same protective gear we do,” Blue Rose answered.
“Well she’s not exactly wrong… as long as she showers and takes a pill after she’d probably be better off than the rest of us regardless of what she did or didn’t wear. Not like she’d be touching the green blotches on any pony directly,” Doctor Swab considered. “With her body she’s safer around the patients than the rest of us.”
“Try telling that to Doctor Anathema,” Heartwrench winced.
“You know what a stickler she can be...” Blue Rose said.
“Well she’s not wrong either,” Doctor Swab scratched his head.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the other mare. “Okay, fine, whatever. You’re lucky all my friends would probably agree with you and want to make me wear this stuff too.”
“Sounds like you have smart friends,” Anathema glared at her.
“Ugh, out-stubborned by a doctor...” Rainbow shook her head.
“I’m not going to back down when I’m right,” Anathema said and walked over to the lockers where the clothes were. “Now put these on. And you haven’t even been introduced properly to Nurse Heartwrench and Nurse Blue Rose yet.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said and looked over at the other three, her eyes widening when she saw Swab with the nurses. “Oh, hey dude, didn’t notice you come in.”
“I just got here. So apparently you’ve volunteered to help us out here?” Doctor Swab said.
“Yep!” Rainbow saluted. “Just doing my part while I’m here in Pinetree Warren. I dunno, just feel like I have a lot to offer. Helping ponies is kind of my thing, maybe not in the same way you doctors do, but still.” She looked over at the nurses. “So… Heartwrench and Blue Rose, right?”
“They were the two with us when we first found you in the forest,” Doctor Anathema said.
“Oh yeah? Gotta thank you for that then,” Rainbow smiled at the nurses.
“Just doing our job, it was still Doctor Anathema that had us go to you,” Heartwrench said and walked up to Rainbow Dash to shake her hoof. “I’m Heartwrench.”
“And I’m Blue Rose,” Blue Rose said and came to shake Rainbow’s hoof once Heartwrench was done.
“Nice to meet both of you for real,” Rainbow said.
“You look much better than when we first saw you, and we were there a couple of times when you were still asleep,” Blue Rose said.
“You really want to help us take care of the other patients?” Heartwrench asked.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I mean, even if it wasn’t just the right thing to do I kind of owe you all for helping me out. Consider it me paying you back for keeping me alive.”
“You really are quite the good soul,” Doctor Swab smiled to her.
“Enough talk,” Anathema interrupted. “Let’s hurry up and get dressed. Our patients might not be missing us but there’s no reason for us to be late and shirk our duties.”
“Getting right on it,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked over to the lockers and stared at the equipment. “How do you put one of these jumpsuits on?”
Anathema rolled her eyes. “I’ll show you...”
“Thanks, mom,” Rainbow grinned.
“Just shut up already,” Anathema growled.
It was really uncomfortable wearing this thing with her wings. The extra appendages didn’t fit right inside the tight jumpsuit. And even with the jumpsuit, Rainbow Dash shivered slightly when they went inside the main room where all the ponies were. It annoyed her that she had seemingly lost her cold resistance so quickly. After all that time in the True North and her body was back to acting like something like this was “cold”. As if she needed to be uncomfortable physically when she was already going to be a bit uncomfortable and awkward on the inside when it came to seeing and taking care of these ponies. There was a stab of guilt that she tried crushing down, Anathema would’ve told her she shouldn’t feel guilty and it wouldn’t help anybody anyways.
She still really wished all those tests Anathema and Swab ran would’ve found something though. If even some of these ponies could be helped it would be great.
For the first time now she was really looking over all of them, not just paying attention to the ponies closest to where her bed had been. So many faces twisted in pain. So many green spots covering up bodies. So many ponies just lying back and staring emptily up at the ceiling. It was horrible, she had never seen something like this before. Not one of her many trips into the hospitals back in Equestria had brought Rainbow Dash to such a scene of abject misery like this plague created. If Twilight was here maybe she could ask her if there was a history of diseases like this in Equestria. Without her walking encyclopedia of a friend, Rainbow Dash was left with nothing.
“We’ll start with another visual checkup on everyone,” Doctor Anathema said, holding a clipboard with some paper on it and a pencil in her magic. “Rainbow Dash, you’ll walk with me while the others take their own rows. Sorry but I can’t let you do this on your own without any experience. It’s important that everything is recorded correctly.”
“Hey, no need to explain things to me. I get it,” Rainbow shrugged.
They started at the first bed in the corner of the auditorium. In it lied a mare, probably a few years younger than Rainbow Dash, but it was difficult to make out with the condition she was in. Originally her coat might have been a cyan color, but it was almost impossible to tell with probably upwards of 90% of her body being covered in green splotches. The mare didn’t move or offer any sort of acknowledgment that she noticed Rainbow Dash and Anathema even though her eyes were wide open and she was breathing steadily. She was awake yet not awake, either the pain or paralyzing effect of the spores making her more of a husk than a living pony.
Anathema only briefly looked her over and made a checkmark on her clipboard. “Soap Bubble, no change.”
Rainbow Dash grimaced at how apathetic Anathema seemed as she did that. She knew why Anathema acted so detached but it just felt so cold. “Uh, d-do we try talking to her or anything?”
“She can’t speak,” Anathema shook her head.
“Well… but do you think she would like to hear a pony speak to her anyways? Tell her a story? Even if she can’t say anything back...” Rainbow persisted.
Anathema paused and looked down at Soap Bubble, the mare’s chest slowly rose and fell as her eyes vacantly stared off into the distance. She sighed. “If you want, after the rounds are over you can come back and talk to her. But wait until we’re done with the checkups until then.” Her eyes glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Try not to let yourself be affected so much by every pony here. Are you planning on talking to and telling bedtime stories to all of them?”
“If I think they’d like it, then maybe,” Rainbow answered.
“Not like I disagree with that sentiment… I’ve just become tired after so long,” Anathema said.
“Well I don’t blame you for that… I think if I had to see this everyday it would really get to me too. I don’t like feeling helpless and not knowing what to do. I hate it. I’m a mare of action. So if I was in your position and I just had to stand around doing the same stuff and not even knowing if it would make a difference—I’d probably lose it after not too long.” She blinked and looked at the doctor. “Uh, sorry if some of what I said hits too close to home.”
Doctor Anathema just chuckled slightly bitterly. “No, it’s alright. Come on for now though, we have more patients to look at.”
The first row of patients were all pretty much the same, with various amounts of green mold covering their coats. Some actually moved around or wheezed and moaned but most simply lay still. Anathema kept checking off all of them without any change in demeanor. It took only a few seconds for her to look over each one and be satisfied—the mark of a pony who had been doing this routine for a long time. Rainbow Dash watched what she was doing and made sure to take a good look at each pony as well to get familiar with them.
That went on until they came to the bed of a young colt no more than ten.
He was covered head to hoof in green and constantly breathing heavily, his hooves pawed at nothing as he stayed lying on his side. Rainbow Dash could barely make out a Cutie Mark that looked like some kind of flower on his flank. When she and Doctor Anathema approached his bed his eyes flickered up at them, the first real sort of recognition any patient had given them.
It tore Rainbow Dash up to look at him. What if it was Scootaloo lying there? It was bad enough seeing anyone like this already…
Doctor Anathema saw his eyes move too. “Thornfall? How are you feeling today? Can you speak?”
The colt breathed in and out, his mouth slightly moving. “Doctor...”
“Yes, I’m here Thornfall,” Anathema stood close to his bedside.
“Mom… dad… can I see them?” Thornfall asked.
Anathema frowned. “I’m sorry Thornfall but they can’t come in here. Would you like me to go talk to them later today? I can talk to them for you.”
“I want… to see them...” It looked like he would be crying if he had the ability to right now and Rainbow Dash grimaced at the sight.
“I’ll bring you a picture of them from your house and you can keep it beside your bed. Tomorrow I’ll tell you everything they want me to relay to you. Try to rest now, Thornfall,” Anathema said and made another check on her board. She then nodded her head at Rainbow Dash and gestured for the two of them to move on. While they were walking between beds she leaned in and whispered to the pegasus: “That’s not the worst you’re going to see either. Try not to let it get to you.”
She was right, shortly after they came across an even younger filly called Turnip. Her eyes were practically glazed over as Anathema and Rainbow Dash approached. The doctor made a simple mark on her clipboard and was going to keep moving, but Rainbow Dash paused as she caught the filly’s eyes.
“You’re… new,” Turnip said.
“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head as Anathema turned to watch the two of them. “Is there anything you need? You want to talk for a bit, kid?”
Turnip breathed in and out and slowly, painfully, turned her head to look directly at Rainbow Dash. “Kill… me.”
“K-Kid-” Rainbow Dash started but found herself lost for words.
Anathema quickly walked over and put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Turnip, please, stay strong. You’ve done such a good job, we’re all working hard to help you.”
“I… don’t… care. Kill me,” the filly said to them.
Anathema closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m going to get you some water and a stronger sedative. Please try and sleep.”
Before Rainbow Dash could say or ask anything herself, Anathema pushed her along to the next bed and explained for her. “Her mother and father were infected by the spores too… they didn’t make it.”
“Oh, Celestia...” Rainbow Dash winced, looking over her shoulder somberly at the filly.
“She’s just lost the will to go on. Everyday she’s able to speak it’s the same thing from her,” Doctor Anathema shook her head. “But I haven’t given up on curing her… even though that would only be the first step in a long journey for her.”
“She must be in so much pain already...”
“Yes. Inside and out,” Anathema nodded. “That’s what this plague has done to our village.”
“This is so wrong,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.
“What I’ve been telling myself everyday.”
The rest of the rounds proceeded pretty much the same. Rainbow Dash had to watch as numerous ponies in agony writhed or stared blankly at nothing while Doctor Anathema inspected them. Rainbow Dash kept a mental note on which ones looked like she could talk to them, or might actually enjoy having some company around. And the ones who didn’t… maybe she could talk to them anyways, even if they didn’t give her any response. It was just the right thing to do. And these ponies needed all the kindness and generosity they could get. Still though, by the end of the visual inspection Rainbow Dash was feeling defeated and worn out. There was just so little she could do and these ponies were hurting in a way none of the other creatures she had encountered in her journey so far were. Even the ponies in the Metal Mountain weren’t in this sort of constant, brutal, agony. And even worse she didn’t have a direct plan or obvious way of getting them out of their misery.
“Why does this have to be so difficult?” Rainbow Dash growled under her breath.
“Welcome to the world of infectious diseases,” Anathema mumbled back.
Rainbow frowned. “Didn’t mean for you to hear that...” She looked at some more of the beds and at the nurses and Doctor Swab doing their own inspections. “I think I meant it a little differently than you too.”
Anathema shrugged. “Does it matter? We’re both having a tough time here. And even when you leave and go on your next adventure or whatever I’m sure we’ll both deal with difficult things too, even if they’re completely different. If we ever do find a cure to this disease it’s not like my work is going to stop. Ponies always get sick and injured and I have to always be there for them. It’ll be especially tough after how taxed the village has been because of the plague.”
“I don’t envy you,” Rainbow Dash said. “I respect you, I think you’re cool, but I definitely don’t envy you.”
“Same to you. Your life certainly sounds fun but I know what my path is. I’m happy to be a doctor, and just a doctor. Even in a time like this I don’t regret getting my Cutie Mark,” Anathema said.
Rainbow Dash glanced out across the beds again. “Yeah...”
Anathema raised an eyebrow at her. “Something else on your mind?”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip and looked back at Turnip’s bed. “You… you said Turnip’s parents died?”
“...yes,” Anathema slowly answered.
“They haven’t been the only ones who died from this, have they?” Rainbow asked her.
Anathema sighed and lowered the clipboard and pencil she was holding. “No. No they haven’t been. Not by a long shot unfortunately. I remember the names of each and every pony who has passed away from this disease.”
Rainbow’s face was solemn as she mulled over that in her head. “What happens to them?”
“I’ll show you,” Anathema answered.