Sanguinem

by BIGBLACKINTOSH

Twice Bitten

“Come on Twilight! Three lap race, move it!” shouted Rainbow Dash. The duo were on a race track on Twilight’s, or Princess Twilight’s, first speed trial. After weeks of grueling flight training, it was finally time to see just how fast Twilight could go. Dash was sporting her coach cap and whistle, hovering in place while Twilight got into position.

Newly inducted (and currently tired) Princess Twilight Sparkle stepped onto the starting line, her eyes full of determination. The purple princess crouched down on her hooves, raising her wings, ready to go at a moment’s notice. After training for so long, she was definitely ready to see what she could do.

Dash blew her whistle. “Alright Twi! You're gonna fly just as we practiced! Are you ready?” she shouted at the unicorn. Twilight simply nodded her head, trying to keep her focus. Dash raised her hoof. “Alright. Three...Two...One...GO!” She yelled, blowing her whistle.

Twilight launched forward beating her wings once with all she had... And immediately tripped onto her face.

“Ow,” Twilight groaned into the dirt.

Dash sighed and hovered over Twilight. “Come on Twi. Get up, its only three laps,” she encouraged.

Twilight got to her hooves and materialized a hairbrush, holding it with her violet glow. “Dash, we’ve been at it since this morning, can't we take a break?” Twilight pleaded, brushing the dirt out her hair.

Dash shook her head. “Come on Twi, what we’ve done so far is just a warm up. After this trial, you still have to do forty more wing push-ups, twenty speed races and my personal favorite; the trick race!” Dash shouted, flying around Twilight in circles while doing barrel rolls.

Twilight’s muscles tensed at the mention of the trick race. Dash had been this “enthusiastic” during all of their training sessions. While all the exercises had taught Twilight how to control her wings and fly a few meters without crashing, Dash’s want for speed was starting to wane on her. Twilight rubbed her aching muscles. “Seriously Dash, I’m starting to get cramps,” she whined, dematerializing the brush. “Just one break?”

Dash waved her hoof dismissively. “Oh, just walk it off. You're starting to sound like Rar-,” Dash started, but immediately stopped when she saw a dark object in the sky. Dash blocked the glare of sun with her hoof. “What is that?” she asked Twilight.

Twilight shifted her position next to Dash and materialized a telescope. She brought it up to her eye and zoomed in on the object. “I don't know. It kind of looks like a ball of cloth,” Twilight guessed curiously. Zooming in further, she noticed that the object was coming toward her and Dash, fast. “But its coming straight for us!” Twilight shouted, panicked.

“Pff,” Dash scoffed. “I’ll stop it in twenty seconds flat,” she boasted before flapping her wings once, speeding off so fast that her hat and whistle were still in hanging in the air. Dash flew toward the UFO at top speed, ignoring its velocity. As she rapidly got closer, she could start to make out a pair of white wings sticking out of the cloth, which she concluded was a cloak. Must be a pegasus. Whoever he is, he’s coming in rough. She thought as she got in the opposing pegasus’s flight path, ready to catch the speeding flyer.

The glint of eyes flashed from under the pegasus's hood at the sight of Dash and started to frantically flap his wings to stop, but he still slammed into Dash. The two tumbled in the air a few seconds before separating. Dash stared at the cloaked pegasi. “Whoa, are you okay?” She asked, worried. Dash had never seen anypony come in that rough.

The figure let out a feminine chuckle. “Haven't seen that face in a few months,” she said hoarsely.

Dash recognized that voice and scowled at the memory attached to it. “Gilda?” She asked with angry uncertainty.

Gilda lowered her hood, showing Dash her smug smile. “Nice to see you too, dweeb,” she croaked.

Dash would have returned the insult but noticed the condition Gilda was in. The feathers on her neck were blotched with black spots, her purple feathers on her head disheveled and uneven. All of her head feathers stuck close to her neck and face, her amber eyes bloodshot and sickly.

“Gilda...You look sick,” Dash said bluntly.

Gilda rolled her sickly eyes. “Yeah, no duh dweeb. Trust me, I wouldn't be back here if it wasn't-,”Gilda started coughing frantically, holding her stomach, her wings faltering .

you?!” Dash shouted, suddenly noticing the feathers falling from Gilda’s wings. “Oh my Dash caught Gilda by her hood and let her level with her own height. “Gilda what's wrong with gosh you’re molting!”

Gilda took a shaking breath. “I...need to see that princess dweeb, Twilight. I need to see her now,” she demanded.

Dash shook her head. “You need to tell me what's going on. What's wrong with you and why do you look so sick?”

Gilda’s body started shaking as her wings struggled to keep her in the air. “I... Don't... Know,” she croaked before falling into Dash’s arms.

“Oh my gosh,” Rainbow shrieked, catching her former friend. Rainbow caught Gilda by her hood, and was struggling to maintain their altitude. Sweat poured off her brow as she strained to lower herself and her cargo to the ground safely while struggling to hold Gilda’s hood in both of her hooves.. “Just hold on, feather-brain. I gotcha.”

Just as Dash lowered Gilda to the ground, Twilight came running. “I saw all of that through the scope! What happened?!” She shouted.

Dash wiped a bead of sweat off her brow and heaved the clammy gryphon onto her back. “Gilda’s sick! I don't know what's wrong with her,” she said frantically, turning herself for Twilight to see. Twilight quickly moved closer to them and extended her magic onto the sickly gryphon. As a wave of energy similar to a scanner extended onto Gilda’s body, Gilda moaned in pain, her entire body shaking as if she was cold.

Twilight’s eyes grew to the size of saucers. “We need to get her to my lab, now,” Twilight ordered bluntly. Rainbow stared at Twilight skeptically before Twilight’s horn enveloped them in a purple field of energy. In a brilliant flash both mares and the sickly gryphon were in Twilight’s lab. Twilight quickly materialized a hospital bed and just as quickly levitated Gilda onto it.

Rainbow Dash watched Twilight’s movements in awe as she made numerous pieces of hospital equipment appear. Heartbeat monitors, life support machines; all the things that you’d find in an emergency room appeared in seconds. Since becoming the princess of magic, Twilight’s already amazing power had grown exponentially, and Dash had noticed. Twilight conjured up little things like brushes and pen-quills from time to time, but to see her make machines out of thin air was something to behold. But thats not why Rainbow Dash was surprised...

“Twilight, why aren't we at a hospital?!” Dash shouted.

Twilight placed a set of pads with wires attached to Gilda’s chest. The wires were attached to the heartbeat monitor next to the right of Gilda’s bed. Twilight sighed and materialized a clipboard and pen-quill. She looked to Dash with uncertainty in her eyes. “Dash, we can't go to a hospital yet,” she replied, jotting down some notes as she examined Gilda; from her featherless wings to her twitching talons. “Patient has contracted a currently...Unknown disease,” she noted with a shutter. “Wings have molted down to the skin. Spots similar to chicken-pox have appeared on her neck. Temperature is over a hundred and two and rising rapidly,-”

Rainbow questioningly. "And why not?"

Twilight stopped taking notes and slipped on an antibacterial mask from a nearby drawer. "I hate to admit it, but I don't know what she has. And as much as she needs a hospital, we can't have her spreading an unknown disease. I'm going to go upstairs and grab some books on diseases. You stay here and monitor her," Twilight ordered, materializing another mask. "Also, put this on, it'll keep you from catching whatever she has. Just take her temperature and write it down, along with any other changes, okay?"

Dash hovered in the air and slipped on the mask with her hooves. Whatever could bring down one of the toughest flyers she's known, she didn't want to catch. Twilight vanished in a flash, leaving Rainbow Dash with a very sick gryphon. Dash stepped closer to the patient, noticing Gilda's shivering. Dash gently patted Gilda's forehead and felt an amazing heat come from the spot. Gilda was burning up fast.

"Wow, you're burning up! Geez Gilda, what did you catch?" She asked her.

Gilda responded by seizing her body, all of her muscles randomly spasming. Grunts came out of her beak emphasizing her pain and giving Rainbow Dash even more reason to call for help.

Dash's eyes went wide as she watched her friend convulse in pain. "Twilight?!" She shouted to the ceiling. "Twilight I need you now!" The heartbeat monitor was going crazy, wires and pads were swinging everywhere. Dash shuffled on her hooves trying to think of what to do.

Twilight reappeared in bright flash, carrying a dozen books in her purple grasp. "What's wrong Dash? I think I've found the-," Twilight stopped when she saw Gilda spasming on her hospital bed . Twilight rushed over in a beat of her wings. "What happened?!" She shrieked.

Rainbow shook her head frantically. “I don't know! I just took her temperature and she started doing this!” Gilda’s beak started to foam, her ragged grunts becoming wet gurgles. Dash already knew the only thing she could do is hope that the seizure would stop soon.

The monitor suddenly flatlined, Gilda’s body falling still. Dash’s eyes watered at the sight of her friend. Twilight was completely stunned, not knowing what to do. Then as quickly as the noise and sadness came, Gilda took a deep breath, sitting straight up in the bed. “What...What happened?” She asked breathlessly.

“What?“ Twilight asked, stunned.

Dash didn’t share Twilight’s surprise and rushed to Gilda in a tight hug. “I thought you were a goner!” she said, hugging even tighter. Dash abruptly pulled away. “Ahem. I mean, of course you're okay. Never doubted it.” Gilda huffed rolled her eyes, but soon returned the gesture.

Twilight trotted around Gilda and Dash, staring at Gilda in stunned silence. “How is this even possible?! Your heartbeat stopped! The monitor isn’t even beeping!” she shouted, waving her hooves at the machine. Twilight abruptly noticed Gilda’s eyes. Instead of the proud amber they were not a few minutes ago, they were now a dark, glowing crimson, staring hungrily at Dash’s neck. “Dash, get away from her,” Twilight whispered to her friend.

Dash looked at Twilight as if she crazy. “What are you talking about, Twilight?” Dash questioned, not even noticing Gilda’s open beak. Before Twilight could utter another word, Gilda clamped down on Dash in a vice. Dash shrieked in surprise as Gilda slowly chewed at her neck. Thinking quickly, Twilight shot out a beam of magic at Gilda, knocking her off of the bed and releasing her grip on Dash.

Dash fell to the ground, clutching her neck. “What the buck is wrong with you?!” she screamed at the gryphon.

Gilda got back to her paws, smiling. “I don't know dweeb, but you and the Princess over there are looking tasty,” she said, hungrily. Without warning, Gilda rushed at the downed pegasus, letting out an eagle-like screech.

Twilight dashed toward her friend, putting up a domed shield around them both. Gilda smacked into the shield beak-first and bounced off, sprawling on the floor. Shaking her head, Gilda got back up and started banging on the dome. “Come on dweebs! Give me another taste!” She shouted at the fearful duo. With each knock on the field, a crack appeared, urging Twilight to put all her focus into maintaining the shield.

Dash rocked back and forth, gripping her wound. “What's wrong with her, Twilight?” she groaned.

Twilight flinched from another hit to the shield. “I don't know Dash, but I’m ending this now,” she groaned, her horn glowing a bright violet. In a single movement, the shield around them spread to both sides of the room, slowly surrounding Gilda until encasing her in a bubble.

Gilda punched at the shield, recoiling at its new strength. “Let me out of here, dweebs! Give me your juice!”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “She’s restrained....for now. That was too close; we need to send a letter to Celestia!” she said while shaking her head. What could have caused Gilda to do that? She wondered

“Uh, Twilight?” Dash said hoarsely.

Twilight looked down to her friend, her smile fading as she noticed the bite marks on Dash’s neck turn black.

“Oh no,” Twilight whispered.

Author's Note:

Hello one and all! This is the start of a series I've wanted to do a very long time. So long, I have almost 2 chapters ready. That being said, thats most you'll be getting from me as I'm currently in the process of moving or as I like to say, eviction. So everyone please, share your opinions, predictions, and concerns.