//------------------------------// // Twilight Sparkle // Story: A Cold Quarantine // by The Crusaders //------------------------------// Twilight greedily snatched at the letter, eager to read it's contents. My dearest Twilight Sparkle, You're friends, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, can not be released at this time. I'm sorry, but they have to stay in the room for safety reasons, and you all must stay in the building no matter what. Please remain calm and collected, and the temporary quarantine will soon be resolved. ~Celestia Twilight nearly hit the roof. Stay calm?! How in the hay was she supposed to STAY CALM!? Her friends could die in there! *BOOM* Everybody turned towards the sound of the explosion, finding themselves staring down the staircase. Fluttershy gasped and raced down the staircase in a hurry. "The temperature control room!" she cried. Twilight gasped, chasing after her, followed by Applejack. When they arrived, the toxin bomb had exploded. The room was quite damaged, but most of all, the temperature control machine was broken, and the dial was blown down very far. Fluttershy would never set it as that temperature, even on the hottest days! Then, a thought struck them all, sending Applejack and Fluttershy racing up the stairs. But Twilight just stood, and blinked. Her friends were going to die. They would freeze for sure. The dial was blown off. They couldn't even fix it if they tried. Slowly, the trotted up the staircase, trying desperately to think of some sort of plan. Then, a thought rushed into her mind. She could teleport in, then teleport them out, followed by herself. It was genius! Now galloping up the staircase, she skidded across the main room floor. Powering up her horn, she performed the teleportation spell with ease, appearing in seconds within the rink. Suddenly, a letter appeared in front of her. With a puzzled look plastering her face, she picked it up and silently began to read it. Dear Twilight Sparkle, I am most disappointed in you! I thought my number one student would be better than to disobey her teacher and princess! After what I've seen, the guards have improved their magic! Teleport shields are now in action! ~Celestia Twilight went pale as she felt her legs stagger beneath her, losing their usual strength. "Twilight? What are you doing here?! I thought you were supposed to be outside, this room is quarantined!" Sweetie Belle puzzled. With a flash of blue magic, Twilight found herself outside the rink again. Twilight smiled weakly, happy that her teacher would never leave her to die. Then those emotions changed. Celestia had left five of her friends to die horribly in the icy hell they were trapped in. Twilight shuddered, remembering how freezing it had been. The feeling of hunger overcame her like a wave, suddenly, and too strongly. Her stomach growling at her, she trotted to where Fluttershy was standing behind a counter, thinking hard about what she could do. Twilight smiled weakly as she dropped five bits on the counter. "Two slices of pizza, please." she pleaded. Fluttershy nodded, obviously on the verge of crying, and but the bits in a box, taking the slices out of the holder and giving them to Twilight. "Oh Twilight, I just don't know what to do! I feel like everybody is relying on me to handle this place!" she teared up. "Fluttershy, it's okay!" Twilight smiled, putting a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "You can relax, we can handle ourselves!" Fluttershy nodded slowly as Twilight walked away. Then, it happened. Twilight heard something, she heard a cough. Then several more, until it turned into a hacking cough, getting stronger every second. Somebody was sick. Somebody had too much toxin in their system. And somebody was going to get the others infected if somebody didn't get help. Twilight covered her muzzle and peered around the corner, careful not to take any breaths. She had to quickly run off to the nearest closet to gasp at sight she had seen. It was Spike, Spike was sick. Who knew if it was fatal? It had to be, or Celestia wouldn't quarantine them. Oh maybe they didn't know? Twilight sure didn't. But she wanted to. Just then, light poured into the closet. Twilight screamed, then quickly silenced herself as she saw Rarity. "Twilight!" she sobbed. "Spike is sick! It's the disease, Spike has it!" Twilight nodded, explaining how she had seen Spike coughing and gotten so scared that she was going to get infected that she ran off to the closet. Just as her explanation ended, a hacking cough broke the silent sobs. Twilight and Rarity peered around the corner to see two medic ponies, Royal Riff and Lemon Hearts, carrying Spike to a random room that Twilight had never been in before. Then a pounding on the rink door, followed by Apple Bloom's voice. "WAIT, WAIT! STOP! WE HAVE TWO SICK PONIES IN HERE! STOP, HELP!" Twilight teared up at the sound of her muffled scream. Two sick ponies? Rainbow and Pinkie Pie? Pinkie Pie and Scootaloo? Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle? The chart began to sooth her mind, so she continued making it, seeing all the possible matches and sketching them in the wall. Scootaloo + Rainbow Dash Scootaloo + Pinkie Pie Scootaloo + Sweetie Belle Rainbow Dash + Pinkie Pie Rainbow Dash + Sweetie Belle Pinkie Pie + Sweetie Belle "Hm...by the shown symptoms, Apple Bloom wouldn't be able to walk over, bang on the door and scream if she was sick, so she can't be infected..." Twilight mumbled thoughtfully to herself. All the possibilities confused her, she wanted to know exactly who the sick ponies were. *thud* How fast was the disease going to spread? Was it fatal? What would Twilight do if she caught it? *THUD* The thought of Spike dying because of this whole thing terrified her. She didn't want anybody to die, not because of this whole stupid quarantine. But what could she do? Not leave. Celestia had an army, she was just a pony.