April 26
I woke up in the middle of the night with a stuffy head and a runny nose and decided that I was sick, and then my nose started twitching and before I could even get my hoof up I sneezed and I thought it would be loud enough to wake up Peggy but it wasn’t.
And that was pretty much it for my night. I was either too hot or too cold, and no matter how I lay in bed I couldn't get comfortable for too long.
I kept trying to sleep, but it just wasn't working at all. I probably dozed off and on but it wasn't restful at all and I finally got up at well before sunrise and went out and walked around the quad for a bit and then went back to my room and turned on my computer and sent a computer letter to Miss Cherilyn because I was supposed to do that if I was sick or hurt. Then I went and took a hot shower because I knew that it would make me feel a little bit better.
Of course such relief is short-lived, unless I wanted to stay in there all day.
I think it would have been better to have been in the showers in Hoben, because there was a whole shower room and I could have filled it all with steam, but that shower room wasn't for girls unless I had permission and I didn't want to wake up Sean to ask him.
When I got back to our room, I checked my computer mail and I had a letter from Miss Cherilyn and she said that they would be over soon.
I couldn't decide if I should wake up Peggy to warn her because she probably wouldn't want to see them when she was in her sleeping clothes, or if I should let her sleep and maybe they would be gone before she woke up.
And I wound up not making my decision before there was a quiet knock at the door and I stood on my hind hooves and looked through the spy-hole and it was Miss Cherilyn and Mister Salvatore so I let her in but said that he had to wait outside because Peggy was asleep and not wearing pants. So he handed her a bag and said that he would be in the hall and she came in and sat down on my bed and asked if I minded if she did some tests.
I said it was okay, so she took out a flat tablet that was like a pocket telephone only bigger and she set it up on my desk where it was facing us and she touched some buttons on the screen and pretty soon a picture came up of a unicorn.
He said that he was going to ask me how I felt while Miss Cherilyn got ready and I didn't know what that meant until I saw her getting a thermometer out of the bag and putting on blue gloves. Humans like to wear those to keep their hands safe.
When I got done saying when I'd started to feel sick and what my symptoms were she stuck the thermometer in me and then held her hands up against my neck to feel for my pulse, and after she was done making sure that my heart was still working she used a stethoscope to listen to my heart and my lungs, which was about when Peggy woke up.
Peggy didn't pay any attention to Miss Cherilyn, who was talking to the doctor on the big pocket telephone, but she went right over to me and petted my head and asked what was going on and I told her I was feeling sick and assured her it wasn't because we'd run around in the thunderstorm last night.
Then she had to move so that Miss Cherilyn could look at the thermometer and take it back out and Peggy asked why I didn't just put it in my mouth and I said that I really would rather not.
The doctor said that I either had a cold or an upper respiratory tract infection, and he wanted some more tests to be sure which it was.
I wasn't expecting to go right away, but Miss Cherilyn said that they were ready to take me and she asked Peggy if she wanted to come along, too.
She did, so Miss Cherilyn gave her ten minutes to get ready and told me that I should take anything that I thought I might need for a van ride and the doctor's office. Then when Peggy had put on a robe and gone to the bathroom she went outside to talk to Mister Salvatore for a minute.
When we were ready—which only took about ten minutes—we all got into Sienna and Mister Salvatore went out to the 94 Interstate and headed east. I thought we might be going to East Lansing, but we passed by the 69 Interstate and kept going straight.
We followed a blue car almost all the way there. It got in front of us right after we passed the 69 Interstate and then Mister Salvatore followed it. I guess it was showing him where to go.
They eventually stopped in front of a low brick building and the blue car left, 'cause it's job was done.
We all got out of the van and went inside and I got to go to a little room where a couple of nice nurses took blood samples and used a stick with cotton on the end of it to wipe some of the snot out of my nostrils and then they used a bright little light to look into my nose and eyes and mouth and pretty much everywhere.
Peggy stayed in the room with me and so did Miss Cherilyn. Mister Salvatore spent his time out in the hallway on his portable telephone and every now and then I would see him pacing up and down.
I was upset that I was missing class. I could have gone and then seen the doctor afterward. I almost regretted calling them. But it was important to be healthy, and Miss Chestnut had told us several times that it was possible that we might get some kind of sickness that nopony had ever had before because we were in a whole new world, so it was important to tell our assistants whenever we felt sick.
And I was starting to get worried because it felt like I had been there forever already and I hadn't heard any results so I was thinking that maybe what they found was a new thing that nopony had ever been sick with before and to distract myself I got out a poetry book and started reading it.
I'd read a half-dozen poems before I thought that maybe Peggy and Miss Cherilyn were also getting bored with waiting so I read the next one out loud and then we took turns reading poems.
We got interrupted when a nurse came in with lunch for all of us. I wasn't all that hungry, so I hadn't been thinking about it, but Peggy had missed breakfast, and I thought that Miss Cherilyn had, too. So I poked at my food and had half a sandwich that I didn't really want but they also had given me a big glass of thick milk which the nurse who brought the food said was an instant breakfast.
When we were done a doctor came in and she said that I just had a cold and a mild fever and as long as I got lots of rest and drank plenty of water I'd be fine in a few days. I asked her if it would be okay if I went to Madison this weekend to see Gusty's play and she said that it would be as long as I wasn't showing any more symptoms.
Then she said that they were going to set up a schedule to do blood tests just to make sure that everything was okay but that could be done in my dorm room and they would just send someone over. And then we were free to go.
Of course by the time we got back in Sienna I knew that we wouldn't be getting back to Kalamazoo until it was late.
We had to go out a different way than we'd come in because there was a big white bus that said CDC on it parked near the entrance. I didn't know what that was so I asked Miss Cherilyn and she said that it was sort of a portable hospital.
It was dinnertime when we got back to Kalamazoo and I still wasn't very hungry even though they said that we could go to Taco Bell. I was tired and felt pretty miserable so Mister Salvatore stopped by his office and brought out a big bag of stuff which he said would help make me feel better, including little candies called antihistamines which tasted minty and made the mucus go away.
Even more exciting was that there was a bag of tea from Equestria and even though I wasn't that particular to tea the smell of it just relaxed me.
When we were back in our dorm I made a cup of tea and drank it and I felt a lot better after that, but I was pretty tired so even though it was still light out I got into bed and I thought that I ought to send a computer letter to Conrad so that he would know why I had missed class, but then it felt like that was too much effort so I just closed my eyes instead.
CDC is on the move and she calls them sick? Yeah, I can see why they'd react like that... Even if I find their response to be perfectly reasonable under normal circumstances.
The part with the blue car made me giggle. Makes me wonder if Silver Glow is right or it was simple coincidence. I love how well you capture a pony's perception of our world.
Of course you would be concerned being sick on an alien planet. That's how the Martians died (according to hgwells.)
7328557 the little french dude who made the metric system what it is now ... and enforced it on nearly everyone
7333624
Especially since, the story being set this April, Zika is/was the big health risk on everyone's minds.
...ewwwwww.
7333667 you dummy, its ment that she put it in her mouth first !
Poor sick pony.
This reminds me of this webcomic:
freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00362.gif
I wouldn't want that in my mouth either.
Edit: webcomic link - Freefall.
Depending on how overt the CDC was I have a feeling the jokes about pony diseases may abound once Silver gets better. Like, diseases that make you literally crap rainbows or "Help, help! I've caught something! I have the urge to... sing!" Someone may also bring up War of the Worlds and the radio incident.
Heh, this would be an interesting time for her friends to hear about Poison Joke, actually.
So this is how the pony plague begins . . .
Makes sense they want to go into full response mode. A pony student dying on Earth from sickness would be a huge diplomatic incident, at least as far as the local authorities are concerned. Equestria itself would probably just be sad over it.
Given the incubation period, I have to wonder if this is the onset of an STD. Or, maybe the. Pony Pox. Living in an isolated community she might not have been exposed.
Cold covers a wide variety of diseases -that is why they can't make a vaccine for it.
Well, it doesn't seem like some kind of xenopathogen is going to rampage across unsuspecting immune systems. Not that I was expecting one to; it's not that kind of story. Still, poor sick Silver. Hopefully she'll get well soon.
I'm kind of surprised they let her go back to her room if she's sick. There's too many unknowns at this point, presumably, in Equestrian/Earth relations to really make the call that it's just a mild illness.
Hopefully it is not bad. I wonder what she got it sounds like it is not feather flu.
So was the blue car some sort of secret service or something like that?
7333685 Accurate? Hah, haven't seen the ones we've been using XD
And I bet that all of her friends and professors are getting the mother of all debriefs on a regular basis from the powers that be. While under instructions not to reveal that fact to the subject. On pain of consequences. Because reasons.
Interesting entry to say the least. The thermometer part was a little surprising (I can't think of any other word to describe it) but made me shudder a bit.
Loving this whole series, though. The way it's spaced as a diary makes for very compelling reading. I didn't have much to say before that hadn't already been, but felt compelled to do so now.
Keep it up!
Today a pony has the sniffles, next week the Earth is a lifeless wasteland.
Is the doctor they met a different pony then the one they spoke to on the tablet?
Or did he/she had a sex change while they were driving?
7333957 If it wasn't a coincidence, and its purpose was to serve as some sort of escort, then I imagine it was the Michigan State Police. Their police cruisers are entirely blue.
Ah, I feel bad for Silver here. I am sure she will get better soon. She seems like the type to bounce back quickly. One thing that confuses me though, did she have the thermometer in her ear or under one of her legs like humans do the armpit?
7333713
I'm hoping this goes one of two ways.
One, though this already seems to not be the case, Equestrian diseases are more literal. A pony cold makes her core temperature drop.
Or two, pony diseases, like Equestria, are more whimsical.
"Silver! You've turned green! Like bright, grass green!"
"I know... it's a cold."
"But... you turned a whole new color."
"Heh. You should hear about the time I got colic as a filly. I turned orange a purple. These things suck, but it happens. I'll get over it soon!"
EDIT: I didn't make her foul-mouthed enough, did I?
Missing the first letter of the alphabet.
I hope she wakes up...
7334099
*click* Mr President, sir, we may be looking at a sniffles scenario here. How should we proceed?
7334286
Oh, that we could all be so innocent.
Sorry, sorry, I've been awake for nigh on two days now, here in the UK, attempting to digest referenda, politics and the consequences thereof, I feel very strange right now.
Hate being sick. Especially if I have to go to the hospital. To get seen quickly you literally have to have body parts falling off. Otherwise you sit and suffer those God forsaken seats.
7335218 Yeah I was purposely ruling out the thermometer being put in her ass, but I guess everyone says the same answer.
Look it's the CDC!!
https://youtu.be/lO2-YxWkRxk
7334311 Yeah I imagine the thermometer was inserted in through her back door like vets do dogs.
*sneeze*
(Magical pony mucus! Let's study it, for SCIENCE!> <I feel somewhat conflicted about that.)
That's gross. Humans are so weird sometimes.
For non USA readers
CDC = Center for Disease Control the federal agency in charge of the really serious stuff. I'd say less than 1 in 10,000 cases goes to them AFAIK I've never even met anyone they've dealt with.
USA health care is very dependent on money. The best is as good as any in the world. If you don't have any medical insurance it isn't in the top 30.
7336734
Oh! So she misunderstood "centigrade" and thinks a "grade" is equal to a difference of 100K (or °C, same thing).
I'm not sure how, but Silver probably sneezes adorably.
*a new thing
spoiler alert those blood tests will totally show that she's pregnant won't they.
7336903
I have this fantasy or her taking up Aric or Meghan, and just hanging out on a cloud together. Though admittedly that would be horribly dangerous and probably break all the FAA's rules at once.
7336774
Remember to clear your search history.
As an infectious disease researcher and enthusiast, I'm actually somewhat curious to know what you found.
Now I kind of want Silver to have a cultural hangup about people putting thermometers anywhere but up their butts.
"Oh Celestia you put them where?"
"In our ears."
"That is disgusting!"
"What? It's more accurate than our mouths."
"I think I'm going to be sick..."
7336588 middle aged for sure.
7336795
Well that wording's clenched it, Meghan is going to get her pregnant.
"No man am I! You look upon a woman. Meghan I am, Éomund's daughter!"*
*Meghan's father is probably not in fact named Éomund. Though that would be awesome.
7336903
It's from a comment thread discussing a situation that is very like and yet entirely unlike this one. Number 3 on this list (as a reply to the last quoted comment).
7333624
CDC's on the move for her. When she got sick, CDC was called in case they had to do a quarantine
7333628
She was half right. The blue car was a Michigan State Police cruiser, and it was there in case the van needed to get through traffic, or if Silver's condition got any worse . . . basically, he was there in case he was needed. Luckily, he was not.
7333644
And that is a situation that keeps doctors at the CDC awake at night. One human virus/bacteria/whatever mutating, on one pony version mutating, and then it could be bad news.
7333661
Although in this case, that's not what they're worried about.
7333667
Everybody, even Silver Glow, knows you don't go to mouth.
7333673
She's used to getting her temperature taken that way. Plus it's more accurate. Peggy and Miss Cherilyn are more uncomfortable with the procedure than Silver Glow is.
7333676
7333685
I need to start reading Freefall again. That was one of my joys before ponies.
7333713
They were standing by waiting for the results from the lab tests. If the results had been bad, they would have gone in in suits and nobody would have left that clinic, and they would have descended on Kalamazoo like a plague.
Maybe when she's better. . . .
7333758
The sneeze that was heard around the world.
7333797
The CDC, at least, is less concerned about a pony student dying on Earth and more concerned about whatever disease she's got spreading to humans and killing them. If she's sick with something serious, the protocol is get her to a Pony doctor if he thinks he can fix her, or send her back through the portal ASAP. Likewise, there is a similar protocol in place in Equestria.
7333851
No, although it would be an interesting twist for her to have contracted an equine STD because then there would have been a lot of awkward questions directed at Aric.
And equines can also get colds.
7333934
In retrospect, it would have made a hell of an April Fool's chapter if that had happened.
7333939
Given the right equipment, they can do genetic sequencing in a few hours to find out what she's got, and from there make their decision about what further precautions they need to take.
7333954
Just a cold.
7333957
Michigan State Police cruiser.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/2006_Michigan_State_Police_Dodge_Charger_1.jpg
7333961
Actually, they're not. Not as a matter of routine, anyway. If something goes wrong, somehow, they will.
7334074
If that was routine for you, though, you wouldn't bat an eye. The person it was most weird for was Miss Cherilyn.
Thanks!
7334099
I could totally see that being the beginning of a story. I think I'd read it, too. Sort of like The Stand, but with ponies.
7334277
You are correct; it was a MSP cruiser.
She is, luckily.
Nope. Under her tail. I think you can guess where.
7338216
Identifying the virus is only part of the problem though, since even if it looks like something that's been seen before, we're still talking about something that's somehow managed to breach the interdimensional biological barrier.
I'm not a virologist, so I may be wrong, but it seems unlikely that you would be able to extract much information from just the sequence of a virus itself. Certainly, you can identify it, but biology has so much emergent properties the higher you go in an organism, I'm skeptical that you'd be able to look at a genome and know fast it'll spread or anything about how it behaves. You probably wouldn't even be able to tell which cells it targets, unless you already had that data on hand as to the outcome of the gene in question (ie we know this sequence folds into a receptor that binds to certain cells because this other virus has the same and does the same)