9
“Careful… Careful, dear.”
“I’ve got it,” Apple Bloom said as she took a spoonful of batter and moved it over to the skillet. As carefully as Granny Smith shown her, she tilted the spoon to let the batter fall into the boiling hot oil and gave it a small tap to flatten it so it would cook quicker.
“There you go, Apple Bloom. Yer gettin’ good at it,” Granny Smith said, patting her granddaughter in the back.
“Thanks, Granny Smith.” Motivated by her initial success, she took another spoonful of batter, ready to drop it.
“Let’s make a whole bunch of ‘em, We don’t rightly know when everypony will be back, so we better have somethin’ fer them to fill up their bellies when they get here,” Granny Smith said as she looked through the cabinets for a large enough plate.
“I hope they don’t take long…” Apple Bloom whispered to herself.
“Oh, they’ll be back in two shakes of a pony’s tail, ya’ll see,” Granny Smith said, and gave a reaffirming thrust in the air with her good arm to drive her point.
Apple Bloom, for her part, stared at the little gob of yellow batter in the oil, watching as it started to sizzle all on its own. She quickly dropped another spoonful of batter into the skillet to keep it some company.
“It feels kinda lonely in here,” Apple Bloom muttered to herself, “just the two of us. I mean, the house is all silent and, well…”
Granny Smith sat next to the filly and gave her an affectionate nuzzle, one that Apple Bloom was quick to reciprocate.
“Don’t you worry your purdy lil’ head, Apple Bloom. Once everypony’s back, they’ll be hankerin’ for a nice plate of warm apple fritters,” the elder mare said, reassuringly.
“I know… I ain’t saying they won’t be back, but…” Apple Bloom let the spoon rest inside of the bowl. “Gosh, I don’t even know what I want to say, anymore.”
“Oh, you lil’ sapling. What’s on yer mind?” Granny Smith asked her.
“I don’t even know where to start…”
“Speak what comes to your mind, dear,” Granny Smith said, prodding her.
For a moment, all that could be heard was the sizzling of the fritters as Apple Bloom ‘s gaze remained fixed on the frying pan. Many things came to Apple Bloom’s mind, perhaps that was part of the problem. She thought about all that had happened since that Thursday. Miss Harvest, Diamond Tiara, Miss Cheerilee. They all lost their cutie marks, just like dozens more all over town. She thought back to the couple she saw today at the schoolhouse, the ones who blamed Miss Cheerilee for losing her cutie mark.
How many ponies would think that way? Quite a few if what she heard at the market today was any indication.
“What’s gonna happen now, Granny Smith? Princess Celestia closed up the whole town, and we don’t know how long it’ll be until that ends, and… And ponies are already starting to panic.” Apple Bloom’s words bled out from her mouth, and each caused her body to slump a bit more, as though she was carrying the weight of each of those words on her back.
The elder mare didn’t say anything, not immediately, at least. She poked the half cooked lumps of batter, turning them around so they would cook evenly.
“Did I ever tell you how I got my cutie mark, Apple Bloom?” Granny Smith said, giving her granddaughter a sideways glance.
Apple Bloom couldn’t say she expected that response. Her grandmother, on the other hoof, was expecting one, so she shook her head.
“We used to spend quite a lot of time on the road, our family and I, way back before we settled here in Ponyville,” Granny Smith said. “Quite a lot of times we all had to tighten our belts just to get through the day. Ain’t easy to get by only on dry food for months on end.”
Nor did she expect that, if she were to be honest. The grim sense of resignation that had slowly filled her that day gave room to a gnawing discomfort.
“How… how were things back then?” the filly asked with traces of hesitance in her voice.
For her part, Granny Smith either didn’t notice, didn’t press, or more likely didn’t care about her granddaughters’ reticence enough to stop her tale. “Life was different back in those days, less big farms meant fresh produce was harder to come by. We lived off of selling the seeds and fruits we could collect while travelling from town to town, or we ate ‘em when there weren’t any buyers.”
Apple Bloom was aware of how far from luxurious life at Sweet Apple Acres was, a far cry from the commodities of places such as Canterlot, but a difference about which she cared little. However, her granny’s retelling of the hardships of a foalhood lived on the road—at one point nothing more than fleeting afterthoughts which were quickly waved off as tales of days gone by—were so far below the life at the farm as her own was from the posh Canterlot lifestyle.
And yet, Granny didn’t seem to recall those days with resentment, if the softness in her eyes was anything to go by. What’s more, she was able to identify some hints of fond remembrance in her smile.
She didn’t have much time to dwell on these thoughts, as Granny Smith started once again.
“Ah know whatcher thinkin’ Apple Bloom,” the elder mare said as she threw her a dirty look, and the filly couldn’t help but wonder if her thoughts were really that obvious. “N’ Ah reckon not everything was as easy as a pie. Yes there were them times when things were rougher than a sandpaper saddle, and more than once the thought of settling down on the first patch o’ free land crossed our minds. Those were the times we needed to stick together as a family.”
Those last words were punctuated by the sound of batter touching burning hot oil as Granny Smith dropped another glob into the pan.
“We’d just made our way from the far eastern coast of Equestria, down from Fillydelphia and past the Foal Mountain,” Granny Smith said, tracing the imaginary ridges of an unseen map that floated in the kitchen air. “Winter’d been rough, and we were just starting to see the first sprouts of Spring, ‘n it’d be a while before we could see some fresh fruits growing from the trees.”
She paused for a second to regard her granddaughter, as though she had forgotten for a moment that the filly was there. She looked straight at her for a few seconds before the corners of her mouth twisted into a wrinkly smile. “Couldn’t’ve been much older than you back in those days. Just as youn’, wide-eyed ‘n curious about the world around me.”
Apple Bloom couldn’t help but crack a smile of her own at that. She had seen the few pictures there were of Granny Smith when she was younger, and the even fewer there were of the time her grandmother’s flank was as blank as her own. All things being said, it wasn’t that much of a stretch to see the resemblance.
Almost as if they were family, some could say.
“I remember the times we didn’t have much to eat, my pappy used to go a few ways ahead to ‘scout the road’ whenever supper time came round, just so we didn’t see how he had gone hungry so we could eat.”
At that moment, Apple Bloom became painfully aware of the sizzling batter in the pan. Not to mention the already plentiful platters of food on the table.
“They thought I didn’t realise what they were doing, but I had a good head above my shoulders.” At this, Granny leaned a little bit towards Apple Bloom and gave her a small wink. “Good enough to know not to say anything.”
Despite herself, the corners of Apple Bloom’s mouth twitched slightly upwards.
“But Ah knew,” Granny Smith continued, unabated, “we all knew. Diff’rence was, what were we gonna do about it?”
With the precision brought by years of experience, she deftly took the ladle in her mouth and removed the already cooked fritters from the pan.
“Back in Fillydelphia, I saw this lil’ shop. Quaint ‘ol place, a bakery it was. Yes. T’was run by this mare and her colt. Both happy as they could be,” the elder mare said, a smile on her face and the glazed eyes of one lost in remembrance of times long gone.
Apple Bloom listened intently at her grandmother’s words, the melancholy of before already swept away by her tale.
“We didn’t stay long, no. But I remember going there every day after we closed up at the market. You could smell the cakes and the pastries and the bread from a block away,” Granny paused to let out a wistful sigh. “Wasn’t until Pinkie Pie moved in with the Cakes that I got to taste pastries that good again.”
That was high praise if Apple Bloom ever heard some.
“Ah stayed there 'til way after sundown, and in those few days, that mare and her colt shared all their knowledge with me,” she said with a happy grin plastered over her face. “Had to do some fastin’ of my own e’ry now and then, plus usin’ some good restrain myself whenever Ah saw a pretty trinket or a nice dress that caught my eye, but soon I got enough saved up to make somethin’. Mah very first apple pie.”
Another glob of batter found its way into the oil, sizzling as if to cut through the thick silence that had settled in the room.
Hearing Granny Smith tell her about those days made her feel queasy, yes. But what really got to her was the way the elder mare spoke, as if that was the most common thing to starve yourself just so you could eat the next day. It was such a harsh disconnection from the life she knew, Apple Bloom almost wished her grandmother would speak of those days with sadness or resentment, even if such a wish made her feel disgusted with herself.
A brief thought, however brief it was, ran through her mind, making her wonder if ponies were really able to adapt to anything. That thought was gone, though, as soon as Granny Smith spoke again.
“You learn to live with the daylight, y’see. Live on the road long enough ‘n you’ll find yerself lying fer sleep as soon as the sun hides itself down the horizon and waking up soon as it comes out. But that night the whole family stayed up 'til sunrise,” Granny Smith leaned towards her granddaughter once more, as if they hadn’t been close enough already, and continued with a whisper, “Not even the most exhausted of stallions can resist the smell of my apple pie, and that first time was no exception, Ah’ll tell you that.”
A quick flip and the apple fritters were turned around, showing off their beautiful golden coating.
“You haven’t known tough 'til you find yourself tryinna bake a pie with no oven. That’s tough ‘n a half, tell you that much,” Granny said in between short laughs. “I reckon we made more than a few messes, ‘n maybe the pie wasn’t near as good as the ones I’ve made since, but we didn’ care much about any of that. We were just glad we were together ‘n we were having fun. That apple pie wasn’t any highfalutin’ dish, but it was the darnest tastiest thing we had sunk our teeth in since we could remember.”
With a wistful sigh, Granny Smith stopped talking and focused on making sure the apple fritters didn’t burn.
“Oh, silly me. Ah was supposed to tell you how I got mah cutie mark,” Granny Smith said as she started to laugh at her own forgetfulness. If Apple Bloom was being honest, even herself had forgotten about that. “Can’t rightly say when that happened, none of us were paying much attention, but by the time we finished eating, we found these here pies on my flanks.”
A comfortable warmth wormed its way to Apple Bloom’s core, and she knew it had little to do with the heat coming from the kitchen. Without even thinking it, she leaned to the side and rested her head on her grandmother’s arm.
“Feelin’ a lil’ bit better, Apple Bloom?”
Apple Bloom looked at the small pile of apple fritters on the plate next to the stove. Maybe things weren’t all that well right now. Maybe a lot of time would pass before they came back to normal. Maybe they wouldn’t. But, Apple Bloom thought, she had her family with her, she had her friends. She wasn’t alone. No matter what came, they would face the weather.
“Yeah… I’m alright, Granny.”
Apple Bloom rubbed her head against her grandma without saying another word. And whether it was due to the events of that night, her talk with Big Mac, Granny Smith’s story, or a combination of all those factors, Apple Bloom meant what she said.
It was with a solemn pace, as if wearing lead horseshoes, that Twilight entered the main meeting room of Ponyville’s Town Hall. Part of her wanted to turn around and leave, another wanted to yell and ignore this entire mess. However, over the course of the day, these had lost strength until they faded into an uncomfortable murmur in the background of her mind, overpowered by a single, focused voice that motivated her to see things to their end.
Whatever it may take.
She entered the room and saw Ivory Scroll sitting at the head of a long conference table, idly skimming some files and waiting for the time to pass until she finally became aware of the other pony in the room. Perhaps too eagerly, she pushed aside the documents she held and greeted the unicorn who just arrived.
“Miss Twilight, is it time already?” she said as she motioned towards the chairs. “Please take a seat.”
Twilight gave the Mayor her best smile and returned the greeting.
“Thanks, and yes, it’s about time the meeting starts,” she said as she gave the Mayor the best smile she could muster. She sat in one of the chairs to the right of the Mayor and couldn’t help but eye the clock as she counted down the minutes left until it marked eight o’clock.
“How is the census going?” Ivory asked.
Twilight wondered if her lack of a sigh was a sign that she had run out of them.
“Why don’t we wait until everyone arrives to talk about it?” she said in an attempt to buy herself some time to think about how to break the news to everypony. Applejack would be quick to remind her that honesty was the best policy, but she wondered if perhaps there was a way of softening the blow. She didn’t have to wait for long, however. Not a minute had passed since the clock had struck eight when somepony knocked on the door.
“Hello?” a stallion with a measured voice said from behind the door.
“Come in, Mister Rich,” the Mayor greeted her.
“Good evening, to both of you,” Mister Filthy Rich said as he entered the room, “I see I’m one of the first one to arrive.”
“And right on time too,” the Mayor added as she motioned to one of the empty chairs.
“Well, considering the circumstances, I didn’t see it fit to be fashionably late, wouldn’t you agree?” Mister Rich said, taking a seat opposite to the Mayor.
He wore his typical business façade: a confident smirk and a relaxed gaze. However, the way he quickly avoided eye contact, how his shoulders slumped every few steps before he remembered to straighten them, as well as the rigidness of his lips betrayed a deep worry the source of which Twilight knew very well. She thought it would be impolite to ask, however.
“Your punctuality is appreciated, Mister Rich,” Ivory said, offering the stallion her best reassuring smile.
“I, uh…” Twilight trailed off, her mouth having gotten ahead of her brain and started speaking before she could figure out what to say. “I hope you didn’t have any trouble getting here.”
“No, I did not. It was a considerably calm walk, seeing how the streets are empty tonight.”
While she knew Filthy Rich didn’t mean anything by that statement, Twilight had to fight the urge to groan.
“After I assured my family I’d be back as soon as possible, I came straight to Town Hall. Hopefully that’s one promise I get to keep.”
“I promise you this won’t take more time than what’s strictly necessary, Mister Rich,” Twilight said in hopes of defusing the tension in the room before it settled.
That got a smile out of Filthy Rich, a more genuine one this time. Pinkie Pie would be proud. “And I, Miss Sparkle, hope you get to keep that one,” he said, just as two ponies appeared in the doorway.
“Uh, hello,” the stallion said with a nervous edge.
“We were told to come here at eight,” the mare said, walking into the room ahead of the stallion.
“Miss Raindrops, Mister Thunderlane, I’m glad you could make it in time,” the Mayor greeted them, and after exchanging some polite hellos, they took their seats.
The arrival of the two pegasi marked a shift in the mood of the room. A bit of the tension had left, and Twilight felt grateful for it. However, the underlying worry about their situation wasn’t something that could be whisked away with such ease. She still didn’t know what to say, there had to be something she could say to at least try to maintain a positive environment in the room.
“Thanks for coming on such short notice, all of you,” she ended up saying.
“It’s no problem, really,” Raindrops replied.
Nodding, Thunderlane spoke up as well, “Besides, it’s not as if we had much to do at the office anyway.”
“I can imagine being under a bubble would make for a rather uneventful weather,” Filthy Rich deadpanned.
Thunderlane gave a slight grimace at Mister Rich’s remark. Raindrops, in turn, simply rolled her eyes and ignored the stallion.
“We’ll get to that,” Twilight said, “we’ll figure things out tonight, that is why we’re here. So we can decide what to do under our… new circumstances.”
All eyes turned to Twilight, all filled with a trace of wistful optimism. With how these past days have been, it was somewhat reassuring to know there was at least some optimism left in town.
“Good,” Thunderlane finally said. “Good to know. Who else is coming?”
As if to answer that question, there was another knock on the door.
“Evenin’, y’all,” Applejack said from the doorway, holding her hat to her chest, “hope we’re not late.”
“Not at all, but please come in,” Ivory Scroll said.
“Good evening, Miss Applejack, Mister Big Macintosh,” Filthy Rich said.
The rest of the ponies in the room mimicked the greetings, and after nodding in return, the Apple siblings walked in.
Silence followed.
The group of ponies kept their stares fixed on the door, and in the pony who was standing there.
“Good evening, Miss Harvest,” Twilight said in an attempt to ease the growing tension in the room.
“Good evening, Miss Sparkle,” Golden Harvest said in a flat tone as she averted her gaze, and walked into the room, doing her best to ignore the eyes that followed her and drilled into the blankness of her flank.
Nopony said anything as she followed the apple siblings, nor did they say anything as she took her seat next to them at the end of the table, not even when she was sitting, staring down at the wooden table.
“Good… Good evening, everypony,” she finally said, and there was a bit more energy behind her words this time.
“Good evening, Miss Harvest,” Filthy Rich said back, followed by equal greetings from the rest of the ponies at the table.
Twilight gave the carrot farmer a nod of encouragement, and did her best to keep the conversation flowing in hopes that it would drive the attention away from the newly arrived.
“How is everything going at your farms?”
“Reckon they’re as good as they can be,” Applejack said from her seat, “we’re done collecting all the leftover fruits from the apple trees and will spend the comin’ days storin’ ‘em.”
“Same here,” Golden interjected with a melancholic tone, but past it the firmness of her voice came through.
Twilight gave her another encouraging smile. Earlier that day, she hadn’t known for sure if Golden would be willing to come, but seeing the mare here, taking steps to get out of her rut and help her fellow ponies brought a small smile to her face. If anything, it furthered her resolve to do her best.
Not long had passed before the final pair of ponies arrived, and with them came a rekindled sense of hope.
“Doctor Horse, Nurse Redheart,” Twilight greeted them, “I’m glad you could join us.”
“Apologies for not being here earlier, but we had a lot of paperwork to straighten out at the hospital,” the doctor said as he waked in, giving everypony in the room a polite nod as the nurse and him made their way to one of the empty seats.
Silence followed, once again, nopony willing to break the silence and be the first to bring up the issue that had brought them here tonight.
“Well, now that everypony is here, I think we should start with this meeting,” she said. A few scattered grunts of acknowledgement were her only response. Undeterred, she decided to press on, “I know it’s sudden, and with the way things have been—”
Raindrops raised a hoof.
“Oh, uh… Yes, Miss Raindrops. Do you have any question?”
The pegasus stood up.
“Heh, yeah… I mean… I’m sorry, I’m sure there’s a very good reason you asked us to be here, but…” the pegasus stopped for a second, grimacing as she fumbled with her words, “It’s just that we don’t really understand what’s going on. I’m not trying to be rude, but yesterday’s meeting left a lot of things to be desired.”
Twilight’s expression mimicked the one on Raindrops’ face.
“Yeah, and what with the confusion and the guard arriving after that, and then the census…” Thunderlane gave a nervous shrug.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about today’s events, as well,” Filthy Rich added.
Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Golden Harvest remained silent.
Twilight gave a heavy sigh. Even after all that happened today, or perhaps because of it, she hadn’t been able to shake off the disappointment over yesterday’s fiasco. Regardless of her feelings, however, she was here to rectify her mistakes, as was everyone else. So she would tell them all she could.
“There have been some new developments since yesterday’s meeting, as I’m sure you’ve noticed,” this was met with grunts of agreement. “While we haven’t learned much else, I’ll lay down the facts for you.”
Twilight looked around the table. Seeing everypony’s gaze fixed on her made her feel slightly uneasy, but she managed to swallow the knot forming in her throat and kept talking.
“As of this time, you know as much as I do, ponies are losing their cutie marks, and in the event that this was indeed caused by a disease, it was opted to quarantine the whole town. The exact cause of this plague is unknown, although we do know that there isn’t a magical cause behind it, according to my initial analysis. Which is why I contacted the hospital, and thanks to the efforts of Doctor Horse and Nurse Redheart alongside their colleagues that we may find a solution to this problem.” She nodded towards the medical ponies, hoping they would take the lead from her.
“Thank you, Miss Sparkle,” the doctor said, straightening his back and regarding everypony else in the room with a serious expression. “While I would love to say that the Canterlot medical team has made progress, the truth is we still have much to figure out.”
The atmosphere of the room, already melancholic and dour, became even more so, much to Twilight’s discontent. Regardless, Doctor Horse didn’t let the silence stretch and spoke up once more.
“This disease does not seem to present symptoms before the disappearance of the cutie mark. We still do not know how it spreads, how it infects the pony, how long it has to pass from initial infection until the cutie mark disappears, nor do we know if something specific triggers the effect. These are the main points the medical team will try to identify. Until then, the barrier will keep us quarantined while also filtering the air coming in and out of Ponyville.”
The doctor concluded his summary by lying back on his chair and letting out a small sigh. On cue, Nurse Redheart took the floor.
“We have taken a few tissue samples from a few of the ponies who have already lost their cutie marks, these are currently in possession of the Canterlot medical team.” Nurse Redheart’s eyes settled on Golden Harvest for an instant before continuing to look around the table at the rest of them. “As… As the spread of the disease increases, they’ll monitor the reaction of the population with periodic tests. At this point, they’ll probably be performing tests on Rainbow Dash fi—”
“Wait, what?” Applejack exclaimed, standing up. “What’s this about Rainbow Dash?”
A pang of guilt shot through Twilight’s heart at Applejack’s worried look. She had been so preoccupied with carrying out the census, she hadn’t gotten around telling her other friends about what happened with Dash.
“During the first rounds of the guards, we found that Rainbow Dash was outside of Ponyville when the quarantine begun. I didn’t really have the chance to tell many ponies afterwards, we had to act fast once we found out what happened. I spent the afternoon helping the Mayor organise the census while Sergeant Bold Spear contacted Cloudsdale,” Twilight said, and while her words didn’t assuage Applejack’s concerns, they at least appeared to shift her concerns.
“Cloudsdale?” she asked.
“Oh… That’s right,” Thunderlane said, slumping in his chair, “she had to report back to central about Tuesday’s storm, but she was supposed to come back after that.”
“It appears that she stayed with her family for a while,” the Mayor interjected, “she only returned today once the quarantine had begun.”
“Have they let her back in yet?” Raindrops asked.
“No… not yet,” Twilight replied, wincing slightly. “They fear she may have carried the blankness plague with her.”
If Twilight had thought the earlier silence had been unnerving, the one which followed her words was downright painful. Finally, the silence was broken by the pony she least expected.
“Did she… Did she lose her cutie mark?” Golden Harvest said.
“No,” Twilight replied almost immediately, deciding she didn’t want to sit through another grating silence, “she has not, but the med team didn’t want to take the risk.”
“They will have her under observation for the time being, and see if she shows any symptoms. Other than that, there’s not much that can be done,” Doctor Horse said.
“As I was saying,” Nurse Redheart continued, “Miss Dash will be kept under observation as they determine whether or not she’s infected. Right now, however, we have no way of knowing how long that will be.”
Applejack opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if trying to force out words of acceptance, but ultimately stayed silent and sat down. Golden Harvest just gave a small nod, whether it was directed to them or to the farmer herself, Twilight wasn’t sure. Regardless, the conversation had already found its momentum so she pushed forward.
Just like ripping off a band-aid, she thought.
“It was Rainbow Dash’s situation which prompted the census, yes. But as it was being carried out, something came up. Specifically… the amount of ponies who have been afflicted by the blankness.”
“What did they say?” Golden Harvest asked before anypony else in the room had time to react.
Twilight, once again, replied almost right away, but in those scant seconds, she felt the air in the room grow heavier with anticipation. “About twenty percent of the population of Ponyville have lost their cutie marks.”
“What?”
“That’s terrible!”
“How did that happen so fast?”
“What does that mean for the rest of us?”
At least this was better than another pained silence, but only marginally so.
“I don’t know what to make of it either, the news was a shock to me as well,” Twilight confessed, a bit downcast. “But that’s the purpose of this meeting. To assess the situation and figure out a course of action… The rest of Ponyville deserves that much, you all do.”
As a stone thrown into a pond, Twilight’s words had a ripple effect on the room. One by one everypony settled back into their seats and waited for her start. With a deep inhale and an encouraging gesture from the Mayor, Twilight looked through her notes and spoke again.
“I don’t want this to take longer than strictly necessary. We have only three major points to address, and we’ll start with the most important one: Food. There are approximately three hundred and fifty ponies living in Ponyville, not counting temporary residents. Ponies who must eat three meals a day for however long the quarantine will last.”
“Barnyard Bargains will make all the stock of its Ponyville stores available for the town,” Filthy Rich said with no hesitation in his voice. His announcement was met with a mix of surprised and thankful stares.
Twilight, for her part, felt a small weight be lifted from her shoulders. She counted on Filthy Rich to extend a helping hoof—that is why she had included him in this meeting after all—but it was good to know he was so willing to extend a helping hoof.
“Thanks Filthy, that’s very kind of you,” the Mayor said, giving the older stallion a smile.
“Everypony must do their part, right?”
“Darn tootin’, and y’all can be sure Sweet Apple Acres is gonna help as well,” Applejack said while Big Mac gave a small grunt of agreement. “We’ve lots of produce over at the farm, and we’ll be more than glad to share.”
“I may not have as much, but I’m willing to part with this season’s carrots as well,” Golden added, doing her best to smile at the group. And while Twilight did her best to return her smile, she was becoming well aware of a growing sense of discomfort in the room.
“Ah…” Thunderlane let out but quickly stopped himself from saying anything else, trying to pass it off as a cough. Raindrops elbowed him on the side; however, everyone else had already caught on his reticence.
“Is everything alright, Mister Thunderlane?” Twilight asked him.
One by one, the eyes of everypony else in the room settled on him. Thunderlane’s gaze flickered back and forth between them, not able to meet anyone’s eyes for too long before having to look elsewhere. Not once, did he look at Golden Harvest, though.
“Geez… I’m sorry, Golden. I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just that… well…” he started once again, but his words died on his throat.
Golden Harvest huffed as the last traces of her smile bled away from her face. “What, Thunderlane? What is it?”
“You know what I mean…” Thunderlane said, looking as though he wished to fly away from that room.
“No, I believe I don’t,” Golden said, raising her gaze and looking straight into the eyes of the pegasus.
Everypony else remained silent. None dared to speak and be the one who would break the tension in the room.
“It’s just that, well, I don’t know if may ponies are gonna be willing to try your carrots since… Since we all know you lost your cutie mark,” he said, as if he had to forcibly pull the words out of him.
The effect in the room was immediate. Raindrops gave a long sigh as she covered her eyes with her hooves, Applejack and Big Mac’s threw the pegasus a dirty look but remained silent otherwise while Mister Rich simply looked away.
“Uh, I mean. Don’t… Don’t take it the wrong way, it’s just that, well…” he stumbled with his words, trying to save face.
“I understand what you’re saying, Thunderlane,” Golden said, her face morphing into an unreadable mask. “I’m still going to give my carrots away. If ponies don’t wish to eat them, that’s fine by me, but that won’t stop me from doing my best to help.”
Twilight felt a small warmth flicker in her heart at the firmness of Golden’s words. If, despite the hardships she’d been through, she could still find the strength in her to stand up for herself, what excuse did Twilight have?
“You can count on us standin’ right besides you, Golden. We ain’t gonna leave you hangin’,” Applejack said as she gave her fellow farmer a friendly bump on her arm while Big Mac smiled and gave her a small nod.
“You have my support as well, Miss Harvest,” Filthy Rich said, putting his hoof over his chest. “I won’t stand by anypony discriminating you because you lost your cutie mark.”
The meaning behind Rich’s words was not lost on the group. Golden Harvest looked at him and managed to gather enough strength to give the old stallion a small smile. “Thank you, Mister Rich. I really appreciate it.”
“Golden, listen... I’m sorry, seriously, that was completely out of line,” Thunderlane said, his features growing heavy with worry, although Golden was quick to calm him down.
However, amidst the expressions of apologetic regret and calm acceptance, what Twilight found most remarkable was the serene expression of two ponies. Both Doctor Horse and Nurse Redheart remained stoic, staring right at her.
“Is there anything you would like to add, Doctor Horse?” Twilight asked, and the gazes of the other ponies quickly turned towards the two medical ponies.
The doctor’s face betrayed no emotion. He gave Nurse Redheart a sidelong glance before speaking. “I just wanted to note that any precaution regarding further spread of the plague within the boundaries of the quarantine would be useless.”
Confusion slowly dawned upon the rest of the ponies as a blanket. They exchanged a few inquisitive looks as they waited for the doctor to speak again.
“Even if there were still uninfected ponies in town, it won’t be long until it gets to everypony,” Nurse Redheart added.
Twilight felt grateful for their professionalism. While it by no means softened the blow, at least it didn’t spark further outrage; however, she could feel her shoulders being weighed down by the sorrows of the other ponies and knew she couldn’t let it go on like that.
“Hey, how about we talk about the weather?” Twilight asked with a smile full of hope. One that quickly receded as she saw the looks of confusion spread amongst the other ponies.
“Um… pardon, Twi?”
“Ah, I meant talking about how the weather will be managed while Ponyville is under quarantine,” she said once she realised how she must have sounded. “Sergeant Bold Spear told me that the barrier lets clean air come through, but I don’t know the extent to which this applies regarding wind currents and air moisture.”
“It’s a good thing we just had that storm, then. Seems like Ponyville is going to have a dry summer,” Raindrops said as she uncrossed her forelegs and leaned forwards. “Guards are stationed outside of the barrier, right? We’ll have to figure things out with them.”
Applejack was quick to express her discomfort at the notion, “I hope this don’t mean we won’t be gettin’ any rain. Earth pony magic will take you so far, but even we can’t make crops grow with no water.”
“If we don’t get water, the crops will be the least of our problems,” Big Mac said, uttering his first long sentence since arriving. Those who grimaced at the prospect of a drought on top of their already strained situation weren’t few.
“We’ll work something out. Quarantine or not, the town can’t be cut from the rest of Equestria like that.” Twilight knew they wouldn’t simply lock the town and throw away the key, but there was a small part of her which wondered if that’s not what they should do. “We can always organise the construction of a few greenhouses. That way we won’t have to rely on rainwater as much. However, this is just a theoretical worst case scenario. We should be prepared for the worst, but hope for the best. Let's believe the medical team will find a solution. Should the situation go south, though, I’ll make sure to contact Princess Celestia and arrange the delivery of supplies, including clean water.”
Or just contact her at all, she added as an afterthought.
“Very well,” Ivory Scroll said, taking control of the conversation, “that gives us three major points to consider: Discussing the management of weather with the guards, establishing ways of saving water, figuring out the logistics of the greenhouses, and organise the distribution of food amongst the citizens. Let’s get to it, ponies.”
Now that they had finally overcome the initial friction with which the meeting had started, she found that the conversation flowed with relative ease. All their worries were left in the background as the group worked together for the sake of their fellow ponies. It brought Twilight a measure of comfort to know that, despite the hardships, they were willing to put their fears aside for the common good of the town.
The minutes passed, each bringing them closer to the completion of their task, and Twilight allowed herself a small smile as she finished the first draft for the following morning’s meeting with the rest of Ponyville.
As she should have come to expect, her relief was short-lived. The noise of a growing ruckus outside the meeting room came to her ears. All ponies fell into silence and looked at the door just as it flew wide open and two ponies burst in.
“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight said when she saw her friend gasp for air, probably having ran all the way from the main room. She was followed by two city hall’s workers, who looked just as ragged as her.
“Decree, Justice,” the Mayor said, addressing the other two ponies, “what is the meaning of this?”
“Miss Scroll, we—” One of the aides started before being cut off by Pinkie.
“We were doing the recount of the ponies who were missing, and we got to that part in the outer circle of town near the farms where the buildings start spreading a little bit more, and there’s this block with all these new buildings, and it took a while to check everypony who was there because—”
“Pinkie, stop!” Twilight said, her insides already twisting in anticipation to what was to come, “what happened?”
The earth pony bit her tongue as if to stop herself from going into another ramble, and took a deep breath before speaking once more. “There is one pony missing from town.”
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Oh boy... that is not good!
And it is great to see this story back!
What's this? What's this?
Do my eyes deceive me?
What's this? What's this?
Blankness has updated.
Finally got that grilled cheese and is back to writing!
:D
My god my heart beats faster, and my mind is racing. Could it be? Could it be that you've come back to life?
400th like. Great story ^^
There's always one friggin' idiot who tries to escape a quarantine. Because clearly they're more important than the rest of the world. And they're always infected, too, or at least a carrier.
Can't have a quarantine without a breach!
Unless in this case it's just an innocent thing, but if they'd tried to come back home they'd have seen the guards. They should have approached. Hm.
Fluttershy? It would make sense, since Pinkie is panicking, and she hasn't been mentioned at all yet. Plus, her cottage is sufficiently far away from the town to have been overlooked.
I need to reread this.
ITs alive! Iit's aliiiive! And I want MOOOOOORE
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I wasn't dead, I was just in a coma, but I'm back now, and twice as apologetic!
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Huh... It's funny how you never stop and think about things until someone points it out. It's true that she never addresses Twilight as Miss, but it felt appropriate at the time I wrote it. I don't think I'll change it, but I will keep it in mind going forward.
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Yeah, I imagine that's the case for anyone who followed this. It's been a while.
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Answers will come with the next chapter and, as usual, they'll be accompanied by additional questions.
Normally, I would just let the mystery hang over everyone's heads until the next chapter, but since it's been so long, I figure I should at least say this: The missing pony isn't Fluttershy.
Well, that should cover my bases. I'll be posting some of the stuff I wrote in these two years while dealing with this chapter, but I'll get around writing chapter 10 sooner than later.
I will say this about the next chapter, though: It features a guest appearance by Discord.
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Fair enough. It is just great that this story will be continued! (I confess that it was the Blindness movie poster art that made me read the fic - I hope that this will not be dark as the original story!
)
Maybe you could add the Mystery tag?
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As much as I love Saramago, I have a slightly better opinion of humanity so, while Ponyville is going to go through some rough spots, it won't reach the depths the Portuguese did.
But only time will tell how deep does the rabbit hole go.
I though about that once the Mystery tag was added to the site, but I ultimately decided against it because, even though the mystery of the blankness plague is central to the story itself, the focus is on how the ponies react to it as a mean to explore the role cutie marks have in pony society and how each individual sees themselves in relationship to their cutie marks.
...
You know, I'm kinda glad the story is turning out to be nowhere near as pretentious as it could have been.
It is nice to see this up as well. And what a cliffhanger you left us with. But the fact that the pony isn’t Fluttershy, it got me curious to who it is. Anyways, keep up the awesome job and can’t wait to read more.
C&Cs will be PM.
Great to see this story back. I doubt that Fluttershy's affected by the blankness, living closer to the Everfree and all.
It's alive!
this story is awesome. can not wait for more.
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Neither can I, truth be told.
ya'll (you'll); y'all is the southern plural you.
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than a
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I
(you use I, rather than Ah for the Apple's in this fic, and most of this chapter so keeping to I keeps it's consistency. Even if Ah can be used for the strong southern dialect the Apple's use.)
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You/you
(Ye is the plural of thou. And yeh is a variant of yeah. Technically you could use Ya/ya, but you've used You/you consistently throughout the chapters. So keeping it You/you is more internally consistent with the story)
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was
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remove " mark after Food.
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DUN DUN DUN!!!!
Man that was one hell of a ending for a chapter. Good work ^_^.
Hmmm, who should be instrumental in discovering the nature of the epidemic and the options for retrieving cutie marks? Isn't it obvious. Ok, which ponies. I say the CMC discover the cause an assist Twilight with the treatments.