Subway car
“Maggie wake up! We’re at the 161st street station,” LaShawn said while poking Margot with her black-booted fore hoof.
“Did I miss anything?” Margot said.
“No. We had to wait a half hour or so while the tunnel drained. We also shot some zombies, no big deal,” LaShawn said.
Outside on the platform, two zombies kept hitting the train’s windows with their fore hooves like they wanted to break the glass and start eating.
Margot looked around, noticing that Far already had his gun ready as he stood next to Hanz. Hanz kept an eye and claw on Kim, as the he stared out the window at the zombies, nervously ready to open the doors.
LaShawn moved closer into position and nodded to Kim.
Instead of opening both doors, Kim opened one.
Of course, a zombie stuck its head into the door only to be shot by Far. The other zombie stuck its head in almost the same place and was shot by LaShawn. Both bodies fell to the floor with a thud.
Hanz rubbed his claws. “Ja, things are going well. We have to come with you above ground because we underestimated how much filth is down here.”
Kim nodded.
Apple Bloom ran up and gave Grace to the zombies.
After that LaShawn and Far led the group as they filed out of the train. The 161st street station was like the 155th street station except that it was larger and had stairs leading up and down. Again, they had to use a light from Skybreeze so they could see.
Hanz suggested that they take the stairs up instead of heading to an exit. Also, like the other station, there were rats and garbage.
Margot was glad there were no caspers.
A few zombies attacked, but they were easily shot.
They were climbing up the stairs to the exit when they reached a grey metal plate.
LaShawn looked at Hanz.
“Ja, this is the right exit. Don’t worry. All we have to do is knock on it, and resistance members will respond. Then we can cut through the plate,” Hanz said.
Margot stepped up and looked at the silvery-grey plate. She saw nothing of interest.
Apple Bloom cantered up to Margot. “The Messenger says you should scan the plate.”
Margot looked at Apple Bloom. “Why? It’s just steel.”
Apple Bloom sighed. “Mahgot please.”
Margot shrugged and did a quick scan. All she got for her trouble was info on a steel plate. For a moment, she thought about asking Apple Bloom to clarify, but then she remembered how the Messenger had saved her. She focused, and did a deeper scan. At first, it seemed that the plate was just steel, but there was just the briefest hint of something trying not to be scanned. A deeper scan found the first sigil that felt like the cold wet side of a swimming fish. Behind that, was another sigil that killed caspers.
Apple Bloom looked up into Margot’s eyes with her orange ones. “Well?”
“Thanks, there is a stealth sigil hiding a casper killing one,” Margot said while looking at Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom nodded.
Margot peered at Apple Bloom. “How is the Messenger talking to you?”
Apple Bloom just whispered,”Let’s talk about that later.”
“Guys, I found something,” Margot said when she looked up from Apple Bloom. All eyes locked on her. “The Gleaners use this sigil to hide a casper killing one.” She then showed a copy of the stealth sigil, and then the casper killing one.
Skybreeze’s eyes widened. “Well, with those we can protect ourselves, and hide that we have a casper killer.”
LaShawn pointed to the casper killer sigil. “Could we put that on our guns and bullets? If we could do that, we can shoot caspers. Maybe even kill Gleaner Lords. That would help the resistance a lot.”
Kim frowned and looked around. “Caspers are the most scariest enemies. They go through walls and can’t be shot.”
Hanz faced Kim. “This is a good find. We can now fight back against those floating casper bastards.”
Margot copied the sigils into several sheets of paper. “You need to do research on these to use them properly.”
LaShawn walked up to the plate. “You’re done Maggie?”
Margot nodded.
LaShawn rapped on the metal plate. For a few moments there was nothing. Then there was a faint reply. She listened, and then rapped again. Again there was a different reply. “Okay, the resistance is here. We just have to wait for a few minutes.” Then LaShawn disappeared.
Before Margot could do anything, Far was gone. She tried to scan, but then she found herself on the other side of the metal plate with Far and LaShawn. Margot was standing in front of a subway station. Across the street shadowed by an aboveground train track, there was a stadium. A quick look behind her showed a closed McDonald’s.
LaShawn faced Margot. “Sorry Maggie, I had no idea.” More and more of the group appeared in the area in front of the closed fast food store.
A burro, wearing a Yankee cap, and a beige unicorn walked up. The burro stuck out his left fore hoof. “Name’s Manuel Torres, friends call me Manny.” Then he pointed at the unicorn. “She’s Alexa Rodriguez. Thank her for teleporting you out of that station.”
Hanz smiled. “So, she is related to-”
Alexa shook her head making her glasses bounce on her reddish brown mane. “No, not that Rodriguez.”
Skybreeze walked up to Alexa. “How do you know teleportation magic? I haven’t seen too many ponies do magic in this city.”
“Well, they’re a bit lax up here. I learned advanced magic at NYU’s School of Advanced Arcane Studies. New York City has a lot of magic schools, but they tend to specialize. Ponies who are into illusion and the visual arts go to Pratt.”
Kim spoke up. “I went to Brooklyn Tech for my engineering magic training.”
Hanz faced Alexa. “We found something you should check out!”
Alexa looked at Hanz with a curious look on her face.
Manny looked at Hanz. “What did you find? I thought there was nothing down there, but zombies, caspers and trash.”
“Ja, we found that, and trains that work too. Margot found a way to kill caspers!”
Manny’s eyes widened in surprise. “Something that could kill caspers?”
Alexa scrunched up her face in disbelief. “Wait what? I know that the MA has their caspers fight rogue caspers, but the idea that the MA would leave something lying around for us to use sounds wrong somehow. Are you sure it’s not a trap?”
Hanz looked at Margot. “Ja. Tell them Margot.”
Margot dug through her saddle bags and brought out the sigils. “The MA hides the casper killing sigil with this stealth sigil. Caspers can’t sense the stealth sigil because the energy from the killing one gets them first. The sigils aren’t in the open, they are deep inside the metal plates.”
Manny turned to Alexa. “If this is true, we can fight back and protect ourselves.”
Alexa shrugged. “Maybe?”
Manny grimaced. “Alexa, why are you being so stubborn? This is our chance to fight back!”
Alexa looked away then back at Manny. “We’ve had so many failures, and false positives. This could be one too.”
“Can you at least check this stuff out? You got a fancy lab at Lehman College.”
“Yeah. I will check this stuff out,” Alexa said then she stuck out her hoof.
Margot gave her the sigils.
LaShawn turned, and opened her mouth then her walkie squawked. She walked down the block, and pulled out her walkie.
Margot watched as LaShawn’s tail and ears drooped.
Hanz pointed across the street. “Is the stadium okay? Are there games?”
Manny shook his head. “The stadium is clear, but sadly no one plays outside. It’s just too dangerous. Kids should be able to play outside...”
LaShawn came back.
Margot decided to ask LaShawn what happened later.
“So, Manny we need to get down to Lincoln Hospital. How do we do it? I’m sorry that I’m rushing things, but daylight is burnin,” LaShawn said.
“No problem. We have two vans. We also have to take a bit of a roundabout way down since the courthouse area is full of MA enforcers,” Manny said then reached into a pocket on his left fore leg for a cell phone. After a cryptic message, two vans showed up.
Hanz and Kim waved goodbye as Far’s group piled into the vans then Alexa led them away.
Margot wondered what they would find at the hospital and if they could handle it.
While the lead van drove down the parkway, LaShawn faced the back of the van. “Once we get to Lincoln Hospital we have to do two things. One, we need to get the SHC to heal the sick ponies at the nearby Hamilton projects.”
Skybreeze turned away from the window to face LaShawn. “How many of these sick ponies do the SHC have to heal? I doubt they could handle a large number.”
LaShawn opened her mouth then her cell phone rang.
Jerome leaned forward. “Cell phones work?”
LaShawn turned on the the speakerphone option.
Apple Bloom’s panicked voice came out of the device. “Scootaloo is wheezin and havin problems breathin. We need somepony to do something.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll pull over and see what we can do,” LaShawn said. Then the vans stopped,
Far was the first one out. He kept his right fore hoof near his holstered gun.
Margot galloped to the second van followed by Skybreeze.
Jerome stayed in the van.
Inside, Margot found a wheezing panting Scootaloo. “Why don’t you use a blessing on her?”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “We wanted to but Scootaloo didn’t want it. She said to use the blessing on the ponies that need it.”
Margot scanned Scootaloo. It seemed like something was interfering with her lungs, but she couldn’t get more info. She wasn’t a healer. There was something she could do though. Margot cast a spell that fed oxygen to Scootaloo’s mouth and nose. Her gasping for air slowed down to regular breathing.
“Scootaloo is infected. I recognized the symptoms,” LaShawn said with lowered tail and ears.
Apple Bloom looked at LaShawn. “Is there a cure?”
“Maybe? I’m not a doctor. We’ll know more when I see my doctor friend.”
Margot put her right fore hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Scootaloo nodded weakly.
When they returned back to the van, LaShawn continued her briefing. “The rest of us will visit a doctor friend to get the latest info.” Then she faced Jerome. “Some of the resistance was able to get some of the cell towers to work. So far the MA doesn’t know or care.”
Jerome looked back at LaShawn. “You didn’t answer my question about cell phones.”
LaShawn looked back. “Yeah, Curly, cell phones only work in the green zones and soon to be green zones. This area of the Bronx got cell phone coverage because it’s almost a green zone.”
Jerome grimaced. “Have you thought that maybe they are monitoring calls to get all of the resistance?”
LaShawn’s eyes narrowed for a second then went back to normal. “Yeah, that could be right. So far the resistance has just watched and waited. The last riots that happened several years ago were put down pretty quickly. Caspers even went into homes to get ponies, not just resistance members. After that nopony would do anything direct against the MA. If those sigils that Maggie found are usable, things could change pretty quickly.” Then she took a breath to calm down.
“I really appreciate that you’re helping me with this problem. If we’re able to find out why colts and fillies are having problems breathing, that could save a lot of lives,” LaShawn said.
Margot tried to imagine just cowering inside an apartment while a riot was going on, and then seeing the bright green glow of a casper. The poor ponies wouldn’t stand a chance. Then she thought about the poor family that killed itself. This mission in the Gleaner ruled world was tearing away at her patience. It seemed like there wasn’t any end to the horrible things she witnessed.
The vans stopped at 151st street and Morris avenue. Manny pointed to the alert looking ponies waiting at the sidewalk. “Your healers can go with those guys, and see if they can help out.”
Far checked his gun. “I’ll go with the SHC, you guys stop this.” He left the van and met up with the SHC and Nga'Devro.
Then Manny drove the van to the Patterson Projects playground.
Patterson Projects Playground
Late Afternoon
Margot couldn’t keep her eyes off of the scorch marks on the asphalt. She knew there was a sad story associated with them.
LaShawn tapped Margot.
Margot looked up.
A large zebra wearing a stethoscope and a doctor’s ID approached them slowly. She looked at the scorch marks and sighed. “It’s so sad when it’s a little one. So much potential lost.”
“How did it happen?” Margot said.
“A sunscreamer got into the park. It burned two children before somepony got a MA guard to kill it. At least the children died quickly. Sorry, I should introduce myself. My name is Tabitha Shelton. Friends call me Tabby.”
Margot nodded. “My name is Margot Summerholt.”
Tabby faced LaShawn. “You brought help I see.”
“Yeah, these ponies have been helping the resistance. I hope that they could help you stop the breathing sickness.”
“We haven’t made much progress other than finding out it’s a magically altered version of Legionnaire’s disease. If your friends are doctors and or epidemiologists, I could use their help,” Tabby said with hope in her voice.
LaShawn looked at Skybreeze and Margot.
Margot shook her head. “I don’t have that background, but I might be able to help anyway.”
Skybreeze looked down and then up. “I certainly wish I could help in that way, but sadly, I don’t have a medical background.”
Tabby looked at LaShawn. Her voice rose in annoyance. “LaShawn why? We need ponies with a medical background. This is a waste of my time!”
LaShawn looked back at Tabby. “Wait! These ponies might be able to help. They have helped me. You should give them a chance. It’s not like you have access to magically powerful ponies anyway. The MA has weakened or killed most of them.”
Tabby sighed. “I don’t know...”
Jerome stepped up. “My name is Jerome Siklis. My friends may not be able to cure the disease, but maybe they could get the info from the ones who made it. Would it help if we got you the research notes from the ones who made the disease?”
Tabby blinked. “Um, maybe?”
“Ms. Shelton, who ever has weaponized the Legionnaire’s disease probably had to start with the basic disease, and then added magic to it. I’m not a doctor, but if you know how they made the disease worse, you can make some sort of cure.”
Tabby nodded. “Yes. There are other doctors that I can ask to help me.”
Jerome smiled. “My next question is where do you think they are doing the research?”
Tabby frowned. “I think they are doing it upstairs on the top floor. Several months ago, they closed off the upper floor, and forbade the staff to go up there. One of the elevators was changed so it goes express to the top floor. Since Legionnaire’s disease is an airborne disease, they have to use the air cooling towers on the roof. The hospital is in the middle of the neighborhood. That makes it easy to spread the disease. I haven’t done anything because I didn’t know what to do.”
“All we have to do is to get upstairs, and get the info,” Jerome said.
Tabby frowned. “It’s not that easy. There is a MA checkpoint right in front of the elevator. They stop anyone who doesn’t have the right IDs.”
Jerome smiled. “Don’t worry about that. All we need is an ID from upstairs and some doctor uniforms and accessories.”
Tabby frowned, and stepped back. “No. No. If I get caught, I will disappear, and who will take care of my foals? No offense LaShawn, but your lifestyle is too many shades of precarious.”
LaShawn grimaced. “Yeah Tabby, it is but we need to do something to drive the Gleaners away. We need your help. You know the hospital better than any of us.”
Tabby stepped back again. “No. No. LaShawn I can’t. I’m a doctor, not a rebel fighter. I put ponies together not tear them apart.”
LaShawn’s eyes narrowed. “So you would let those who make our children sick continue to make them sick or worse?”
Jerome stepped between LaShawn and Tabby. “Ladies, maybe we can come up with a compromise? We need doctor uniforms and IDs. We also need a doctor to help us get the right info. Do you know somepony else who can help us.”
Tabby looked away from Jerome. “There is one. Dr. Vasny Poori.”
LaShawn laughed. “Vas is a trip without luggage.”
Tabby looked back. “Vas is still a doctor and I feel responsible for her. I will ask. First, you will follow me into the hospital and I will find you an examination room. Stay there until Vas or I return.” She shook her head and walked to the street.
Everypony followed her.
As Margot walked along, she watched as two teens played basketball. The park was pretty empty except for the two teens and one lookout.
At Morris avenue, there was a bit of traffic. Margot felt better seeing cars drive back and forward. Now it kinda felt like she was in a city. When the light changed to green they crossed the street toward the red brick and black glass windows of Lincoln Hospital. More ponies seemed to enter the hospital than leaving. She noticed the two MA enforcers with light blue helmets standing near the entrance to the hospital.
What she saw inside filled her heart with dismay. Every chair and bench was covered by ponies and other creatures with sad and tired faces. The air was filled with the sounds of wheezing, panting and some crying. What really tore at Margot’s heart was tired resignation in the older patient’s eyes.
A changeling doctor with green hair ran up to Tabby. “Dr. Shelton, we need you in Pediatrics. There’re so many...” Her wings fluttered in annoyance.
Tabby nodded. “Yes, Dr. Yung. I’ll be with you shortly.” Dr Yung cantered off down the light blue hall. Tabby opened the door to an examination room. “Please stay here until someone comes.”
Again Margot was surprised how the room looked like the exam rooms in human hospitals. The chair were larger since ponies stand in them, but everything else was the same. There was a computer in the back of the room.
Jerome looked around. “I wonder if we have to take off our clothes?”
Nopony laughed.
LaShawn walked up to Jerome. “Thanks. I was wondering how to get Tabby to help out.”
“No problem.”
Skybreeze walked around and peered at all of the equipment. “We don’t have all of this back home. I wonder how that works?” She said while pointing at the computer monitor.
Margot didn’t feel like answering Skybreeze’s question. She had other issues to think about. What if no doctor shows up? How would they help those poor creatures in the waiting room? She stood waiting for someone to come through the door.