"So how are you holding up?" Sadie asked as she sat next to Laura on the sofa.
"Better than I thought I would," said Laura. "I'm worried about what will happen next, but I'm not terrified about it."
"Well, that's good, isn't it?"
"I want to think so, but it's still weird. I'm less human every day. Shouldn't I be freaking out over this?"
"Have you talked to your mother about how you feel?" Sadie asked.
"I try to, but she's only interested in 'fixing' me," said Laura. "I know why she feels that way, and I guess I feel that way, too. I want things to go back to normal, but ..."
"But you want to be acknowledged for who you are now," said Sadie.
"Something like that. I don't even understand it myself. I think that's why I wanted to listen to that lady yesterday. I wanted to understand." She glanced at Sadie. "Do you have family in town?"
Sadie shook her head, her eyes subdued. "All my family is very far away right now. You could say we drifted apart. I haven't talked to them for a long time."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"I miss them terribly, but I feel I'm right where I need to be at this point in my life."
"Sunny, does anyone understand?" said Laura. "I've been reading news reports all morning, and no one can say anything about it. Why is this happening? Is it even a disease?"
Before Sadie could respond, footsteps rushed down the stairs. "Laura, have you seen--" Bob stopped short as he caught sight of their guest. "Oh, um ..."
"Bob, this is Sunny," said Laura. "The woman I told you about."
Sadie smiled. "Hello, Bob."
"Hi," said Bob in a distracted voice. "Laura, where's Mom? I really have to talk to her."
"She's in the kitchen," said Laura.
"Thanks. Nice meeting you," Bob said before rushing off.
Sadie watched him go. "Does he not have this?"
"He was the last to get the flu," said Laura. "Well, that is, if it's related to the flu. The news reports were unclear about that as well."
"But obviously someone thinks they're related," said Sadie.
"That's what our doctor said he thought it might be."
"Your doctor?"
Laura nodded. "Doctor Kevin Conner."
Sadie smiled. "Really, now? I've heard of him. Hard not to considering he seems to be the only one without this strange condition. One wonders how he managed it. But to go back to your question, Laura, all I can say is that I've always believed that things happen for a reason. I don't believe in fate or coincidence."
Laura's eyes widened. "You don't think what that woman said was right? That this is some sort of evolutionary thing?"
"In my view, that's about as good an explanation as any," said Sadie. "Eh, maybe I wouldn't have put it in quite the terms she did, but she did have one good point: if this is supposed to be a disease, why don't we feel sick?"
"Yes, that's what I thought." Laura's ears started to swivel. "That's what's been so weird about this, and why ... um ..."
Laura trailed off when she heard her mother's agitated voice in the kitchen: "Not if I have anything to say about this!" Sarah burst into the living room. "Sorry, Sunny, I wanted to stop and talk, but something's come up."
"No trouble at all," said Sadie. "Should I leave and come back another time?"
"That might not be a bad idea."
"But Mom--" Laura started to protest.
Sadie stood. "It's all right. May I ... exchange phone numbers with Laura?"
Sadie's moment of distraction had been brief, barely long enough to register with Sarah in her agitated emotional state.
"Certainly," said Sarah as Bob emerged from the kitchen. "It was nice to meet you."
Sadie smiled. "Same here."
Sarah raced up the stairs as Bob wandered over.
"What happened that has Mom so upset?" Laura asked.
"My mother happened," said Bob in a somber voice. "She's on her way to try to take me out of here."
Laura covered her eyes with her hand. "If we don't have enough to deal with."
Jenny sighed, supporting her head with her hand as she turned from her random websurfing and cast a morose look at her Skype window. Her Aunt Eileen's status still remained offline. She had tried sending several messages earlier in hopes her aunt was hiding her online presence, but none had received a reply.
Something flickered at the edge of her vision as she started to turn her head away. A different contact had come online, and she stared in surprise. "James??"
A message appeared in her window: You there?
Jenny turned more fully towards her monitor. Yes, I'm here. Where else would I be while I'm being forced to stay home like a damn prisoner?
How are you doing? James typed.
Jenny hesitated before typing back: I have purple eyes.
I have the ears. Mom almost fainted.
Jenny ran a hand through her wavy pink hair. What should she say? That her sister had fur? That she could no longer stomach the idea of eating meat? That her mother had a full tail?
That she was scared?
A soft knock at the door startled her. "Jenny, I'd like to talk to you for a bit," came Harold's voice.
Jenny rolled her eyes. "What did I do wrong now?"
"You're not in trouble, but I do need to talk to you about something important."
She wanted to protest that she was talking to James, but the conversation was going nowhere fast. She quickly typed out a message: BBL, Dad wants to talk to me about something. She didn't wait for the reply before spinning around in her chair. "Fine, come in."
Harold opened the door enough to let himself slip inside before closing it behind him.
"What is it?" Jenny said in a less terse voice.
Harold started to sit down, winced, then remained standing. "Laura told me that you don't remember what happened during the big storm when you were five."
Jenny uttered an exasperated sigh. "What big storm?! She's complaining to you now about this? Why can't she leave it alone?"
"I know you were very young, so you probably don't remember the details--"
"Dad, there's no details to remember."
"But your mother and I remember it very clearly," said Harold. "It happened, Jenny."
Jenny's eyes darted to the side. "Fine, it happened. Satisfied?"
Harold gave her a concerned look. "I'm just trying to understand what happened. I thought you had told us afterward that you weren't scared."
Jenny shuddered slightly. "Well, there you go. That's why I don't remember. It was a non-event."
"But that's not what Laura said."
"Maybe she's the one who doesn't remember it clearly, you ever think of that?"
"Honey, she said you were very scared."
Jenny swallowed and said nothing.
"Maybe you were so scared, you just blocked--"
"I wasn't scared!" Jenny cried. "I don't get that scared, okay? Name one time since I was little that I ever got really scared. Just one."
Harold looked thoughtful. "I can't recall one off the top of my head."
"See? Laura's wrong. I'm not scared. I mean, I don't get scared."
Before Harold could reply, a loud knock sounded at the door. "Harry, I need to talk to you!" came Sarah's urgent voice. As soon as Harold opened the door, Sarah said, "Bob just told me that Eileen is headed into town right now."
Jenny smiled. "Aunt Eileen is coming?"
"She's intending to take Bob out of here."
Jenny's smile faded.
"Oh, for Christ's sake," Harold muttered.
"We can't let her do that," Sarah declared. "I don't care what legal right she has."
"How the hell can she anyway? The whole damn town is going to be quarantined."
"I heard on the news that they're behind schedule. If she does get here, we have to find a way to stall her from leaving."
Harold frowned. "And if she gets stuck in town, where's she going to stay?"
Sarah folded her arms. "As much as I don't care for her, she's still family. She'd have to stay here."
"Right, that's just what we need is having you two at each other's throats for the duration," Harold muttered. "All right, one step at a time. This may be a non-problem. She probably won't even make it considering how badly the highways are backed up. Let's talk about this somewhere else. Jenny, we'll have to talk more on this later."
Jenny said nothing as her parents left. Only after they had closed the door behind them did she mutter, "You can wait until the end of time for all I care."
She glanced at Skype. She couldn't bring herself to talk to James. He would just want to talk about her story, about the fantasies that she had used as her shield against reality.
It didn't work very well the closer fantasy got to reality.
Kevin glanced at the National Guard soldier standing on one side of the door to Fred's room. "I was told I would be allowed to see the patient."
The soldier nodded, his eyes roaming to the ID badge hanging from the pocket of Kevin's lab coat. "Yes, sir, please proceed. Don't hesitate to call me if he becomes violent."
"I think it would be counterproductive to shoot him," Kevin said in a slightly acid voice.
"I've been armed with a taser and tranquilizer, sir."
Kevin should have guessed that, but he supposed the stress was starting to get to him. "Very well," he murmured before allowing himself inside.
After stepping over the threshold, he paused with his hand still on the doorknob. He struggled to connect the small, colorful pony who lay on a bed too big for him with the tall and imposing ex-Green Beret he once knew.
Fred's legs were folded under him, his tail curled around his haunches. His head was turned to the side and lay on the bed, eyes closed. As Kevin closed the door behind him, Fred's ears rose. Fred lifted his head, huge amber eyes fixing on Kevin, a deep frown crossing his short muzzle. His expression softened somewhat after a few seconds, and his tail swished once.
"What do you want?" Fred asked in a low, curt voice.
Kevin stepped forward. "I was hoping to meet with you for a while."
Fred narrowed his eyes. "Only if you're not gonna stick me with more goddamn needles. I don't need to play another round of 'guess where the vein is.' Or watch me while I do my business. Just because I don't wear clothes anymore doesn't mean I don't want some dignity."
"All I want to do is talk."
"Fine." Fred rose to his hooves, then settled onto his haunches in a movement so smooth, he might as well have been a pony his whole life. "Talk."
"I'm sorry for whatever you've had to endure," said Kevin. "It's only so we can figure out what happened to you."
Fred held up a fore-hoof briefly. "Save it. I don't need or want your pity. I'll put up with a hell of a lot, but not that."
Kevin had not thought it pity, but he decided not to belabor the point. "I'll get right to the point, Mr. Turner. I wanted to talk to you about the little girl."
Fred's tail twitched. "What little girl?"
"The one who has been your friend for some time."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Fred in a flat voice.
"Mr. Turner, I am not a psychiatrist--"
"Good, because I'm not a mental case," said Fred.
"What if I told you I believe the little girl may be real?"
Fred hesitated. His ears drew back. "I'd say you were the crazy one here."
"This is not a test of your mental health."
"It doesn't need to be tested!" Fred snapped. "Only a delusional fool believes that a little girl followed him home from overseas and didn't age a single day in the last twenty years. I am no fool!"
"No, you're not," said Kevin in a low voice. "But maybe you were played for one."
Fred's pupils shrank slightly.
"Maybe you were fooled into thinking she was a little girl."
Fred's gaze narrowed, and his teeth clenched with an alarmingly loud grinding noise. He hopped off the bed, landing with a sharp clop of his hooves, and marched up to Kevin. "You listen to me. I feel like I just woke up from a twenty year sleep, like some goddamn Rip Van Winkle. I don't have a marriage anymore, I don't have a career anymore, I don't even have the body I was born with! But now I finally have my head screwed on straight. That's all I have left. Nopony is gonna take that away from me."
"You have your daughter."
Fred's frown deepened. "I treated her like crap."
"She's been your most ardent defender all this time," said Kevin. "She wanted only what was best for you from the start. She wanted people to treat you with the respect you deserve."
Fred's eyes shimmered. "Then why the hell isn't she here?"
"She sick."
Fred's ears drew back. "With what?"
"The flu," said Kevin. "Perhaps the same one you came down with."
Fred's mouth dropped open.
"If that's the case, and there's any sort of link between it and this transformation, she and a lot of other people are going to have the same thing happen to them."
Fred closed his mouth and averted his eyes. "I don't know how this happened to me."
"But maybe that girl does."
Fred glared at Kevin. "That girl vanished into thin air right in front of me. Does that sound sane to you? I have no idea how I managed to become sane again, but I don't want to give that up. I don't want to give my hallucinations any more power than they already had for so many years."
"And what if somehow that girl was the least bit real?" Kevin said in a firm voice. "What if she was behind your transformation? What if she's behind all of this?"
"You're starting to sound like me, or the way I used to be."
"Not if there's any truth whatsoever to it."
Fred remained silent, his gaze drifting towards the floor.
"I'm not saying everything is exactly as it appeared, Mr. Turner," said Kevin. "For all we know, she could have been a full grown woman. Or a man. She used some sort of trickery on you to make you think otherwise."
"What the hell do you want me to do about it?" Fred said in a voice far less combative than before.
"Tell people everything you know about her," said Kevin. "Everything you remember she did and said."
"It's going to sound like the ravings of a madpony."
"But you know and I know you're not that way anymore."
Fred raised his gaze to Kevin. "Do we? What if this hold on sanity is so tenuous it can snap at any moment? I lost twenty years of my life, Doctor Conner." He reached up and poked a fore-hoof into Kevin's belly with respectable but not painful force. "Let that sink in a bit. Do you know what it's like to feel like you've lost everything and you're just going around in a daze?"
"Yes, I do," said Kevin in a solemn voice. "Ten years ago, I lost my wife to a cancer I convinced myself afterward I should have caught." He paused. "I tell myself that I'm over it, but ... I'm not so sure anymore."
Fred's gaze softened. "I'm sorry for your loss. That'd be hard on anypony."
"You need to get past this, Mr. Turner," said Kevin. "And if that doesn't convince you, maybe think of this: you have a duty to your country."
Fred's ears snapped to attention, and he shot a surprised look at Kevin. "What?"
"In a way, your country needs you. This has the potential to be a disaster. You know now it wasn't the government who was the cause of your problems."
"I know," Fred said in a low voice. He closed his eyes. "They treated me the only way they could when I started acting odd. They had to. They had no idea what had happened to me. I'm still not sure myself."
"Mr. Turner, you talked to me about getting answers," said Kevin. "You still have a right to those answers. This may be the way to find them. A sane way."
"All right," Fred said softly. "I'll tell whoever will listen what I remember."
"Thank you, Mr. Turner," said Kevin.
"Fred." He opened his eyes and lifted his gaze to Kevin. "The name's Fred."
Kevin smiled. "Kevin. I'll tell Doctor Marlowe you're willing to talk about this. I'll check on you as much as I can, and I'll let your daughter know you're okay."
Kevin turned for the door.
He heard hoofsteps follow him. "Kevin, wait."
Kevin turned back around.
"You should know," said Fred. "When you and Janet talked to me over the intercom, the girl prompted me into asking you those questions about how you remained immune to this."
Kevin stroked his beard. "Did she, now?"
"I thought she was just trying to make me distrust you again. I ... Janet was right. I had started to come around. I wanted to believe you. I wanted to trust you."
"Then I would say you were starting to become sane again long before now."
Fred let out a slow breath. "I hope so, because my head is the only thing that's sane about the world right now."
Eileen's friend Sam gripped the wheel tighter and uttered an exasperated sigh as the traffic on I-70 once more came to a complete standstill. "Eileen, we better reconsider this."
"We've already had this discussion!" Eileen snapped.
"We've been on the road for hours now and we're not even halfway there. If they really did put that town under quarantine--"
"I am not going to be separated from my son. Even if I can't get him out of that town, I can at least get him out of that house so he doesn't catch this."
Sam frowned. "And you think I want to catch this myself?"
"You can stay in the car the whole time," said Eileen. "If I really can't take him out of town, then you can just drop me off and go back to Denver." She looked at him. "You still want that date with me?"
Sam hesitated. "I'm not so sure now."
"Oh, bullshit. You wanted in my panties the moment you saw me."
"Eileen!" Sam protested.
"Well, am I right?"
Sam paused. "Maybe," he muttered in a low voice.
Eileen smiled faintly. She had almost hoped he would deny it, that maybe once she had found a guy that was interested in more than just a roll in the sack. She thought if he was willing to do this for her, maybe he was a cut above the guys she usually met. "Then keep driving."
Sam caught an odd movement up ahead. A car had pulled out onto the shoulder and was heading slowly away. A state patrol officer walked up to the next vehicle. He conversed with the occupants briefly and stepped back. That vehicle also pulled out.
Eileen leaned forward. "The fuck?"
"I think this is the end of the line," said Sam. "There's an exit a half mile ahead. I bet they're clearing the road."
"No fucking way! We can't--"
Eileen quieted as the car ahead pulled out and the officer walked over to them. He gestured for her to roll down her window. "I need you to pull out, head slowly down the shoulder, and take the next exit."
"We can't do that!" said Eileen. "We have to keep going."
"Ma'am, I-70 is closed just west of here," said the officer patiently. "You need to get off at this exit, cross over, and head back the other way."
"All right, officer, we'll--" Sam started.
"No, this is bullshit," Eileen growled. "We need to get to Lazy Pines."
The officer adjusted his hat. "Ma'am, I wouldn't advise that at all."
"My son is in that town!" Eileen cried. "And last I looked, I have a Constitutional right to travel anywhere I damn well please in this country."
The officer considered. "All I can tell you is to try to contact the officials in town about your son. But in any case, I need you off this road so we can clear it for emergency vehicles. Good day."
The officer stepped back and gestured for them to move, clearly calling an end to any further discussion. Sam pulled the car onto the shoulder and eased forward.
"We're not heading back to Denver," Eileen declared.
"You heard what he said," said Sam.
"I don't give a shit. No one is keeping me away from my son."
"Then you might have to do it yourself."
Eileen glanced up as they passed the exit sign and took out her cell phone. "All right, this is the exit for Empire. You can pick up US 40 here. It leads up and around and through Kremming. Then south on nine would head right into Lazy Pines."
"Look, I know US 40," Sam snapped. "It's a hell of a circuitous route. It goes over several tight switchbacks that take forever to traverse."
"Yes, thank you for the lesson on Colorado geography," Eileen said sourly. She looked over the map on her cell phone. "Fine, just get me as far Parshal. You can turn on County Road Three. I know a back way into the town."
"And you don't think they'd consider blocking that as well?"
Eileen put her phone away. "Yeah, but likely a lot closer to the town. Then I can plead my case with them for letting me in."
Sam tapped his fingers on the wheel as he pulled off onto the exit ramp. "Look, I don't want to see you separated from your son, okay? This is just more than I bargained for." He glanced at the traffic still stacked up on I-70, where more state patrol officers were directing people off the road. "Jesus, this is nuts. You'd think this was the friggin' apocalypse or something."
"Then take me as far as Fraser," Eileen said in exasperation. "There's a car rental place there. I'll drive myself the rest of the way."
"You got the money for that?"
"Enough," Eileen said.
"Fine, then." Sam sighed. "Goddamn, it's gonna be midnight before I get back to Denver."
Later in the afternoon, another reverse-911 call had gone out asking those with the most advanced symptoms to volunteer to come to the urgent care clinic for more testing and imaging. The place had been taken over by the Colorado Department of Health for the duration, and Kevin had pitched in to help. He was glad he had when he saw a particular name go by the main desk.
He knocked on the examination room door, and a familiar female voice replied, "You can come in."
Kevin opened the door and smiled. "Hello, Laura."
Laura smiled. "Doctor Conner! I didn't know you were here."
Kevin closed the door behind him. Laura was still wearing the simple hospital gown they had given her for the X-rays. Several inches of yellow fur peeked out from the bottom edge. "How far has it gone now?"
"It's reached my thighs," said Laura. "Also, I can't stand up straight. Did the X-rays tell you anything?"
"They're still being analyzed. We have a lot to go through."
Laura nodded. Her ears drew back slightly. "Um, I guess it's too much to hope that you know what's going on."
"Not yet, but now we have a lot of data coming in, and we have the state's top physicians here." Kevin gave her a wan smile. "To be perfectly honest, I feel like an intern around some of them."
Laura giggled weakly. "Um, I hope you didn't mind that I stopped coming to see you with the latest symptoms."
"It's perfectly fine. I imagine you didn't want to wait hours just to be told nothing can be done right now. Believe me, it hasn't been fun at my end, either."
"So I'm kind of hoping I saved you some grief."
"Are your shoulders still bothering you?" Kevin said. "One of the radiologists said you looked like you were in pain when they were setting up the X-rays."
"It's gotten worse today. There's a feeling like pressure, too."
Kevin nodded and stepped up to her. He noted no obvious swelling or redness, but the pattern of bones under the skin seemed off. "How's the rest of your family doing?"
"Both Mom and Dad have tails," said Laura. "Mom has a headache she can't get rid of. She would've come down but she's, uh, sorta dealing with some family issues."
"How are you holding up?" Kevin asked.
"Better, ever since I got a chance to talk to a friend who's about at the same point I am. Her name is Sadie Sommers."
Kevin smiled. "You mean Sunny?"
"You've heard of her?"
"She's a volunteer at the hospital. I've seen her a few times only in passing, but a lot of the staff know her. They say she's been a big help despite having this herself."
Laura smiled. "She's been a big help to me."
"Speaking of the hospital, we have beds available now," said Kevin. "If you'd feel better going there, please say so."
Laura shook her head. "Not until I'm forced to. Being stooped over is no fun, but I can still get around."
"I hate to cut this short, but I have a lot more people to see," said Kevin. "Do you have any other questions for me?"
"The rumor is that you have Turner in the hospital," said Laura.
"That's no rumor. He's been taken into medical isolation."
"What ... what does he look like?" Laura asked.
Kevin couldn't lie anymore, not to the Tanners. He had come to care for them perhaps more than a physician should. He had once been told by his mentor early in his residency that a general practitioner needed a bit of detachment. That was much harder to do in a small town. "Laura, can I ask that you don't repeat this to the general public until we have a chance to issue a formal press release?"
Laura swallowed and nodded.
"He's a pony," said Kevin.
Laura's eyes widened, and her ears flattened. "You mean ... c-completely? As in four ... four hooves?"
"Yes."
Laura took a deep breath and let it go slowly.
"I should note that he has all his mental faculties, including his intelligence and memories, and he otherwise appears, well, healthy."
"But he's still a pony," said Laura in a flat voice.
"We're doing everything we can to find out why."
"I-I know." Laura's lips curled into a tremulous smile. "Thank you for being honest with me. Do you have any idea how long I have until ... until I'm like that?"
"We have only rough estimates right now, as he's the only one we know of who progressed to that state." Kevin paused. "Three days."
Laura nodded quickly.
"We're going to be setting up shelters for people who have trouble taking care of themselves."
"Good to know. Um, thank you."
Kevin's heart ached. "We have counselors available if--"
Laura shook her head. "No, I'm fine. A little shocked, but I'm handling it okay. I exchanged phone numbers with Sunny. I can talk to her."
Kevin nodded. "All right, Laura. You can get dressed and head home. If you come back here, I'll try to see you again."
Laura smiled faintly. "Thanks."
With US 40 so crowded with people forced off I-70, day had given way to dusk by the time Eileen rolled out of the car rental in Fraser. The agent had seemed like he was wary of completing the deal; Eileen's fever had surged, and she couldn't stop shivering or coughing.
As she waited at the final traffic light out of town, she lifted her long hair out from under her coat and let it spill down her back. A streak of her normally red hair was dyed purple.
Traffic moved along better as she proceeded west on US 40, thus she was puzzled when she came to the sign erected along the shoulder: ROAD CLOSED AHEAD. It wasn't until she was almost upon the turn off that she realized which road was actually closed.
Eileen thumped the steering wheel. "Shit!"
To the left, the entrance to County Road 3 was blocked off with a simple unmanned barricade surrounded by red cones on either side. The left turn lane was also blocked off with cones.
At the intersection, she yanked the wheel hard to the left, the back fishtailing, an oncoming car skidding to a halt. Eileen cut her turn too short, and the left side of the car clipped the barricade, smashing the headlight on that side.
Eileen stomped the gas pedal to get herself as far away from the scene as possible before anyone reported what she had done. Her heart hammered as she forced herself to slow down to a safer speed once the intersection was no longer visible in her rear view mirror.
She swallowed hard and tried to ignore her aching body. She peered ahead where nothing but two-lane blacktop stretched as far as she could see in the fading light and one headlight.
Eileen took out her cell phone, which she had already paired with the vehicle's wireless, and called up her Skype app. She decided against calling Bob, as she couldn't take the chance that he'd be too reluctant to go against Sarah and Harold. She smiled as she knew exactly who would be up for this.
She placed the call and set the cell phone in its receptacle on the dashboard. A few moments later, she heard a scrambling noise and a few bumps of the mike. "Aunt Eileen??" came Jenny's hushed and surprised voice.
Eileen chuckled. "Heh, I knew you'd be smart enough to keep it down." She paused as a spasm of coughing overcame her. "Sorry we're audio-only, but my phone isn't worth crap for video, and I'm driving."
"Why are you calling me?" asked Jenny. "I mean, I'll glad to hear from you, but--"
"We better not stay on long in case your parents overhear. I'm coming into town."
"Bob said you were going to try, but how can you get in?"
"I'm coming in the back way over Ute Pass Road." Eileen grinned and ran her hand through her hair. "I'm hoping they'll let me in once they see my little impromptu dye job."
"You're going to fake that you have this?" Jenny said in a mix of surprise and awe.
Eileen smiled. "I knew you could appreciate it. I'm not taking a chance that Sarah will just slam the door in my face. I'm going to come in the back door. You need to let me in."
Jenny remained silent.
"Jenny, you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm here," Jenny said in a distant voice.
"So what about it? Can I count on you to help?"
"Aunt Eileen, maybe you shouldn't do this."
Eileen raised an eyebrow. "What, seriously? This will just be another part of the adventure you were telling me about before I got sick. Bob is the captured prince, and you're the Fae Queen's servant who will let the disguised hero in through a secret entrance to rescue him."
"Bob doesn't want to go," said Jenny.
"I know that's what he said, but he assumes I can't get to him. If I can, I'm sure he'll be fine with it."
"You've got no place to go. Where could you take him?"
Eileen paused to cough. "Okay, what's up? Why are you being so hesitant? You do stuff like this at the drop of a hat, like you did when you went on what's-his-name's property."
After a long, silent pause, Jenny said in a resigned voice, "All right, I'll help."
Eileen grinned. "I knew I could count on you."
"How long will it take you to get here?"
"About an hour."
"Give it two," said Jenny. "Dinner will be over, and Mom always goes into her office after that. Dad will be puttering around in the basement."
"That'll be just perfect," said Eileen, her voice quavering as a chill wracked her, and she broke down into another fit of coughing.
"You okay? You don't sound very good, and Bob said you still looked sick when you talked to him this morning."
"On the tail end of the flu, that's all. See you soon." Eileen snatched the cell phone from the cradle and terminated the call. She cranked the heat up to the max to try to hold the chills at bay.
As Eileen had hoped, authorities were more concerned with keeping people in town than keeping people out. She didn't reach a manned roadblock until she was descending from the pass. What she had not expected was that those "authorities" would be dressed in fatigues and carrying automatic weapons, breath masks covering their mouths and noses.
"HALT!" shouted one of the soldiers as Eileen grew close.
Her heart hammered, and she tried not to shiver as she pulled the car over. Two National Guard soldiers approached her. "Sir, I--"
"Get out of the car," one of the men ordered.
Eileen didn't hesitate. She climbed out of the car and started forward.
"Stay by your vehicle, ma'am!" the soldier said.
Eileen froze and retreated a step, breathing hard.
The other soldier gestured at the damage to the car. The first soldier nodded and turned his attention back to Eileen. "All roads into town are closed."
"Yes, I know that," said Eileen in a quavering voice. "My son lives in Lazy Pines."
"This town is under quarantine. You are to leave at once."
"Did you hear what I said?"
"I heard you loud and clear, ma'am," the soldier said. "There are phone numbers for family members to call. You can discuss this with them."
"But I've caught the same thing they have!" Eileen turned around. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a click, until a bright light played on her a moment later. "See? I must've gotten it when I visited my son a few days ago. Don't you want me in quarantine, too?"
The soldiers exchanged a look. "What do you think, Sarge?" said the second soldier.
"Hell, I don't know, she could've used dye or something," said the sergeant.
"Do we take the chance, though?" He glanced at Eileen as she turned to face them again. "And, frankly, she looks like she's sick."
The sergeant frowned and stepped closer to the car. "We had a report that someone ran the barricade at the north end of County Road Three and clipped it on one side." He gestured to the damage. "This looks suspiciously like the sort of damage I'd expect if this car were involved."
Eileen's mind raced. "I-I hit a rock."
"A rock," the sergeant deadpanned.
"A rock fell on the road. That happens sometimes around here."
"Ma'am, I happen to be a native Coloradan, I know perfectly well that it can happen. This just seems to be a hell of a coincidence."
"All I want to do is see my son," said Eileen in a despairing voice, her eyes glistening. She broke down into another spasm of coughing and shivered hard.
The sergeant paused, his gaze softening somewhat. "What's your full name, ma'am? And the name of your son?"
"Eileen McDermott. My son is Bob." She recited her sister's address.
"Call it in up the line," said the sergeant to the other soldier. "See what they want to do with her."
The next few minutes seemed the longest of her life before the other soldier finally returned. "Sarge, we're to keep her here until the police arrive."
Eileen's heart sank. "Y-you're arresting me?!"
"If they think you ran that barricade, ma'am, the state patrol will see to it that charges are brought against you," the soldier said. "But given your lack of criminal record and how swamped they are means they don't have the time to process you right now. You'll be under house arrest."
"What? House arrest? Whose house?"
"Your sister's."
Eileen just stared.
"You're very lucky she called the police and warned them you were coming," said the soldier. "Not to mention that the state is running the show, and if you do have this disease, they'd rather you be inside the quarantine rather than outside."
Eileen barely listened to the second part of the soldier's reply. "How did she know I was ..." She trailed off before saying in a low voice, "Jenny told them."
The sergeant stepped forward. "Then I would say this Jenny person just saved your hide, because if it were left up to me, you'd be in a hell of a lot more trouble than you already are."
Sadie entered her modest home near the center of town and descended into her basement, where upon the floor a double circle had been etched, about four feet wide. Between the two circles were strange characters in no known Earth language.
She stepped up to the edge of the circle and carefully studied lines of force that should be invisible to human beings. Sadie was not exactly what she seemed, yet she was not enough of what she should be in order to properly conduct this investigation. A bright flash of light, and a yellow and red unicorn stood where "Sadie" had stood moments before.
Sunset Shimmer lighted her horn and frowned. The ward had indeed sensed a brief and weak energy pulse down the portal. It had disappeared soon after it had started, so she had been in no great rush to investigate when she first sensed it while in the Tanner household. Indeed, all was as quiet as it should be. The endpoint remained firmly anchored, and the portal had not opened.
She took a step back, hooves clopping against the concrete floor. So what had caused it?
Her greatest fear was not Celestia discovering the deception, as no mage she could possibly send was a match for her. She doubted Celestia would come herself and risk getting cut off from her world. Instead, she feared that the dark forces that she was sure had since taken over Equestria would attempt to follow her to this world. That none ever had could mean that Equestria was still fighting back.
Or it could mean it had been wiped out, and the dark forces decided to simply take their gains and leave.
Sunset took a deep breath. She wanted an Equestria to return to, even if a broken shadow of its former self. She wanted family to return to, though she had given up hoping for that the longer she took to accomplish her goal. If only Star Singer had agreed to come, all this would have been done by now. Instead, it had taken Sunset two decades to get to the point where she could even make the attempt.
And all the while keeping a native locked up in his own fears and paranoia. She was not at all proud of that.
Another flash of light, and she was back in the guise of the partially transformed human Sadie Sommers. Soon she would have to find a way to leave this anchor unattended, as she would progress her "condition" to where she had to join the masses of townsfolk at a shelter.
That was not what really concerned her, however. She still needed to discover why one person in town was immune. For if one person was immune, there likely were others. The diagnostic spell she had cast at Doctor Conner was inconclusive.
Simply put, no human should be immune. The magical component bypassed all that. Yet she was torn as to how to proceed. Discover his secret now, or wait until matters had run their course and deal with the stragglers later?
She imagined that the human authorities would be very interested in his immunity as well. Perhaps she could use that to her advantage. If she could appropriate some samples of blood or DNA, she could run her own tests. That would tell her far more than any non-magical testing would.
She was not too worried. Things had come too far to be spoiled now. She doubted she could stop it even if she wanted to. New Equestria would rise, and ponykind would never face another threat ever again.