Chapter 4
Lockdown
“That’s at least three,” Spike said from his perch in the windowsill. He was flat on his back, using his belly as a desk for his tally sheet. “It’s definitely spreading.”
Applejack peered past the little dragon. In the dim reflection of the window she could see her own slitted emerald eyes looking back at her. “That ain’t normal,” she said, turning her head sideways to get a better view. Spike poked at the reflection with his quill.
“We should go out there,” Applejack said, looking over her shoulder at Twilight. The lavender dragoness had her snout buried in a book. She shook her head without looking up.
“We have to enforce a quarantine. It’s the only way to keep the contagion from spreading,” she said.
AJ pried the book down to get her friend’s full attention. “But it has spread,” she said. “And Ah don’t feel right about leaving Fluttershy all alone at Carousel Boo... Bow... Err... Rarity’s.”
“Sweetie Belle is there too,” Spike pointed out.
“And that’s not puttin’ mah mind at ease either,” Applejack said, biting her lip.
Twilight frowned, avoiding Applejack’s searching eyes. “But the quarantine-”
“-will be a lot easier to enforce if everypony knows about it,” Applejack said firmly. “Now Ah’m going to go out there and round up all the dragons, and Ah’m gonna go get Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle.”
Twilight looked outside into the dark. “I thought for sure the others would all see that they needed to stay inside...”
“Twilight we dern near spread the thing to nearly every single one of our closest friends ‘fore we figured out how it was gettin’ around,” Applejack said, joining her at the window. “Ah’ll be goin’ now. You best get ready for kin and company.”
Twilight frowned into the darkness. She didn't look up until Applejack had opened the front door. "You're right. It's probably for the best... Just be careful okay?"
“Will do!” Applejack saluted her and hurried out into the dark.
“I hope she comes back soon,” Twilight said, still unsure of her decision to let Applejack go out. It was a breach of quarantine but Applejack wasn’t the compromising sort when she had her mind set to something. Either was it was too late, she was long gone.
“I hope Rarity gets out of the shower soon,” Spike said, grumbling. “It’s been over half an hour. She’s going to use up all the hot water.”
“She’ll be out soon,” Twilight said, summoning a few more books down from the highest shelves. “Also, when did you start worrying about bathing?”
“Hmmmph. I wouldn't be so sure about that. I heard her say something about ‘scrubbing til the soot and the scales come off.’ Believe me they don’t come off easy." It was about then that Spike realized he no longer had an audience. Twilight was thoroughly engrossed in her book. "So what are you reading?”
“It’s a book on dragon magic,” Twilight said, holding it up so he could see the cover. She took a special sort of joy in holding it up in her clawed hand without the aid of telekinesis. “I’m getting better at it.”
“At what? Reading?" Spike asked skeptically. "Twilight you’re the champ!"
“The claws!” she said, wiggling her taloned digits.
“Oh, right. Hey Twilight? Don’t ask how I know, but whatever you do don’t try picking your nose,” Spike said. There was a moment of awkward silence as the librarian stared back at him with her nose wrinkled in distaste. “Trust me on this.”
“Right...” she said and burrowed back into the book.
Spike made another tally on his page as a hulking figure, too large to be a pony, walked past the window. “When did you get a bunch of dragon books?”
“After you went off on your quest,” she said. “I felt bad that I couldn’t answer your questions.”
“You said there weren’t any.”
“Somepony up in Glendale wrote some,” she said, scanning across the page. She lowered the book and looked at Spike. “According to this, a dragon’s magic is in their fire. That must be why Princess Celestia’s letters always come in a puff of fire.”
“Yeah they don’t exactly taste good. I wish she wouldn’t write during meals,” Spike grumbled.
“Do you know any other spells?” Twilight asked. She went over to the window where he was lounging and took a look at his tally sheet.
“I can make gems disappear,” he said and chuckled. Twilight frowned.
“This is very serious Spike,” she said sternly. She was slipping into a lecturing tone. “We have a responsibility here. Princess Celestia will be counting on us to see Ponyville through this disaster.”
“Aww c’mon Twilight, you know I’d say something if I learned a new trick,” the little dragon said, scratching his chin. “Besides, how bad could it be?”
“How bad could it be?” Twilight echoed pensively. She took to pacing laps around the foyer. The familiar rhythmic clop of this particular ritual had been replaced with a steady tempo of claws clicking against the wooden floor. At last she stopped. “Really bad.”
“Huh?”
“Well first off the more ponies that become infected, the harder it will be to impose quarantine, and dragons are bigger than ponies. We don’t have the infrastructure to feed that many dragons. We’ll have to ration.”
Charts and tables were already forming in her mind. They’d find their way to paper soon enough. For now, her first concern was a cure.
“We need to find out where this all began,” she said. She went to the basement with Spike hurrying along after her.
“What's a ration?” he asked.
“You know, rationing,” she said. “Careful selection of who gets how much food based on need and availability. We have to make our food stores last as long as possible or we’ll have serious problems underhoof this winter.”
The basement door was ajar, though Twilight couldn’t remember leaving it open. In fact, she couldn’t remember leaving the basement at all. That was the last place she’d been before waking up in the hall with a belly full of gems. Still full of gems, rather. The thought of them reminded her of just how full she was and made her feel groggy. Spike’s propensity for long naps was suddenly making a lot of sense to her.
The basement lab was dark, and the candles refused to answer the call of Twilight’s magic. She plucked one from the wall and blew a thin stream of violet flame across the wick. It had the desired effect. The rest of the candles sprang to life, a sympathetic reaction of the magic lying dormant with them.
“Sometimes they need a little kick-start,” Twilight explained as she circled down toward the lab area. Much to her surprise, a dragon was waiting for them, snoozing lightly on her back between a thaumic retrospector and a magicite transductor.
Her scales were gray as stone, and broad, feathered wings stretched out as they approached. Slender spikes the color of straw ran along her spine to the golden spade of her draconic tail. She stretched languidly as she yawned and rose from her makeshift bed among the scientific equipment.
“Good morning Twilight Sparkle!” The gray dragon exclaimed, waving.
“It’s... the mailmare?” Spike said, unsure. Derpy nodded emphatically. She was beaming with pride.
“It’s night, actually,” Twilight said.
The mailmare's wings drooped. “The mail’s gonna be late...”
“I’m sure that will be fine,” Twilight said. Derpy's presence in her lab was a variable she hadn't counted on. It was fortuitous and gave her a starting point to work from. “We have very important work to do tonight and you can really help us out. Do you remember if there was anything strange about when you arrived this morning?”
“Uh huh, I brought you some packages and when you opened that one you turned into a dragon,” Derpy stretched out a slate grey talon toward a crumpled box on Twilight’s workbench. There, amongst a rainbow assortment of potions, was a small stone. It was vaguely round, and no larger than a tennis ball but the surface was marred with tiny craters, giving it a meteoric look. It seemed to be enveloped in fire, but the desk didn’t burn, and it was cool to the touch. The flames cycled through a broad spectrum of colors. At the moment it had settled on an otherworldly lime green. Beside it was a small bowl It was made of the same dark material and had many chambers of various sizes in it. The one in the center looked about the right size. Colorful flames lit up in all the chambers when Twilight dropped the burning stone into the middle section of the bowl.
“It came from the Canterlot archives,” the mailmare said, nodding. “And it wasn’t on fire when I delivered it. Promise!”
“That's very interesting. Can you breathe fire, Derpy?” Twilight asked. She looked back over her shoulder at her visitor.
“Of course she can, she’s a dragon,” Spike said, looking up at the mailmare turned postal dragon. Derpy shook her head ‘no’.
“Watch,” she said. She blew a stream of bubbles directly into Spike’s face.
“Ack!” Spike shielded his eyes and ended up choking on one of the bubbles. Derpy hopped after the few that didn’t burst against the little dragon’s face and bit each one of them out of the sky.
“Please be careful Derpy,” Twilight said. Immediately the mail dragon stopped, grinning sheepishly.
“They’re so fun though!” She answered cheerfully. “I can’t wait to show Dinky.”
Twilight flinched visibly. Her ears drooped back. “About that...” she started.
“Yoo hoo!” Rarity called from the ramp. “Oh my, is that the mailmare?”
“Yes ma’am!” Derpy saluted. “Neither snow nor rain nor blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! ...no... Rain nor sleet nor scale or claw... wait no.... Well the mail will go through regardless!”
“Listen, Derpy, we need you to stay with us tonight,” Twilight said gently. “Until we can find out what’s turning everypony into dragons.”
“I have to go home and pick up Dinky,” Derpy said matter-of-factly.
“You can’t, not tonight,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Is she at a friend’s? She’ll have to stay there tonight.”
Derpy drooped, whining softly. “But... Muffin...” Her eyes were starting to shimmer with tears.
“It’ll be fine, just until we can get this straightened out,” Twilight said, trying to reassure the young mother.
“What if you can’t?” Spike asked.
Twilight thought about it a moment and opened her mouth to speak.
“She can!” Rarity jumped in, shooting Twilight a look of warning. “Of course she can.”
“Oh, uh, right. Certainly!” Twilight said. She forced an optimistic smile with practiced ease. Derpy tried to return the grin, but the gesture was halfhearted.
“I think we will all feel better after a nice home-cooked dinner,” Rarity said, looking toward the distant door. Something about the dingy basement lab left her quite uncomfortable. “I’ll get started on that right away. And Miss uhm, Derpy, can come and... uhm, watch?”
Derpy gave her a doleful look.
Rarity gathered her courage. "or maybe... help?"
The mailmare's spirits immediately began to lift. “I make awesome macaroni!” she said cheerfully.
“All right! Count me in!” Spike said, hopping onto Derpy’s back.
“Oh how... uhm... well it doesn’t exactly sound like fine dining does it?” Rarity asked. She chuckled nervously at the thought.
“Kitchen’s upstairs,” the baby dragon said. His trusty steed jerked to life, galloping toward the promise of food.
“Wait! Wait for me!” Rarity called desperately, scurrying after them.
At last Twilight was alone again, and the meteoric bowl of fire was a siren call to her inquisitive nature. She was too smart for that. A little glass dome fit neatly over it. A protective ward was etched into the surface, trapping the magic inside.
“Now then, where did you come from?” she asked, squinting at it through the glass. The answers were unlikely to come from the stone itself, but the books so often spoke to her. She had so few on dragons, and only the one on dragon magic. There would be more in the Canterlot archives, but they were out of reach. It was too bad really, she’d have her brother’s support, and the wellspring of Celestia’s knowledge. It wouldn’t be too hard to sneak out, particularly with her warp spell. Of course, if she was thinking about it...
* * *
The warm, tantalizing smell of fresh, buttery muffins drew Applejack toward the kitchen. Inside she found a trio of dragons gathered around the table. Two were eating, trading stories with their mouths full of muffins and macaroni. Rarity, however, was timidly prodding one of the strange hybrid creations of sweet bread and cheesy pasta as if she thought it might bite.
“Oh, Applejack, you’re back!” Rarity said, eager to excuse herself from the table. “Where are Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle?”
“They weren’t there. Why’s Twilight on the roof?” Applejack asked.
“Wh-What?” Rarity stammered.
“Yeah she’s on the roof screaming,” the farmer said, pointing skyward. “Creatin’ a real ruckus.”
“Who’s on the roof?” Spike asked, stuffing an entire muffin into his mouth.
“Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle,” Derpy added helpfully.
“No it’s definitely Twilight,” Applejack said. “Screaming at everypony to go inside. Ah don’t think it’s helpin’ much.”
“Nevermind that,” Rarity said, vying for Applejack’s attention. “What do you mean ‘they weren’t there?’ Applejack?”
“Just that,” Applejack said. She shrugged. “Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle were gone. Not a soul inside. Ah didn’t see a note either.”
“G-gone?” Rarity stuttered, eyes widening. “They can’t be gone! Where are they?!”
“How in the hay should Ah know?” she asked with narrowed eyes. She was unappreciative of Rarity’s accusatory tone.
“Please! You have to help me find Sweetie Belle! I’m responsible for her, my parents will be furious!” Rarity clung to Applejack, bawling and shouting lamentations toward the ceiling.
“Alright that’s enough,” Applejack said after a minute or so. “Listen, this ain’t workin’. First, Ah’m gonna have one of those muffins.”
On cue Derpy held one aloft. Rarity stared horrified at the nightmarish appetizer. A sticky glob of cheese teetered on the brink and fell, tumbling end over end until it landed on the tablecloth in a gooey heap.
"It's manticoroni," Spike explained.
“Are you... sure... Applejack?” Rarity asked, unable to take her eyes off the new blemish.
“Yup, Ah’m gonna eat. And then we’re gonna go get everyp- err everydragon together--”
“Finally! Sheesh!” Spike shouted, throwing his hands up.
“--and then we’re all gonna go out to Sweet Apple Acres until we can fix this mess. And Ah’m relatively sure Twilight’s not gettin’ anything done up there on the roof. Screaming.”