//------------------------------// // The Outbreak // Story: Fading Harmony // by TheOriginalThundersky //------------------------------// The shrill sound of an alarm was heard across Equestria Laboratories, piercing the calm and quiet of the underground medical research facility. Had this been a normal day, scientists would be filling the halls in seconds, checking their screens for further instruction. However, the halls remained eerily empty. Then, out of nowhere, hurried hoofsteps could be heard across the marble floor. The shadow of a pony burst out of the antidote room, holding a bag filled with syringes. Crumpling to the ground with a moan of pain, the pony took a syringe out of the bag. For a second, not a sound was heard, even the alarm had ceased. Suddenly, a single scream shred throughout the lab, endlessly echoing off the walls. --- --- --- "It's a wonderful day, isn't it?" The sky blue pegasus said, walking side by side with a slightly darker unicorn. The school day had just ended and Blue Mint was walking back home with her best friend, Alpha. The autumn breeze was just picking up, sending Blue Mint's black and blue mane surfing the occasional drafts. Alpha's responded with his usual "Mhmm", avoiding further conversation. He was looking down at his latest copy of The Trotting Dead. Ever since he was a child, Alpha had always loved apocalyptic stories. When he stumbled upon this one, social interaction became a distraction. However, Blue Mint was used to it. Alpha was always the quiet one, but a good friend nevertheless. They walked in silence for a few more minutes, enjoying the smells of the season. Suddenly an idea popped into Blue Mint's head. "Hey, have you heard of that new game coming out?" she asked "Calf Life Three?" This time, Alpha closed his book. Blue Mint grinned to herself, if there was one thing Alpha liked more than books, it was video games. "Since when do you play video games?" He inquired, running his hoof across his black mane. "Don't you usually study for culinary class until you head off to bed?" "Usually yes, but ever since Bonbon got me Mint Farm Simulator 2015 I've been doing nothing but playing different video games." Blue Mint answered, smiling as she saw Alpha straighten up. She knew that her hours of playing video games had payed off when Alpha turned to her and asked: "Well, since you play video games, I was wondering if you'd like to spend the weekend at my place? We could play the whole Halo 4 campaign." He brought his hoof up to his mane once again. "I'd be glad to!" Blue Mint responded, congratulating herself on finally getting Alpha to spend a weekend with her. She had tried many years to hang out with him outside of school, but he would always come up with excuses. Alpha was difficult to understand, but that's what Blue Mint really liked about about him. She was looking forward to the weekend. The rest of the week was a breeze. On her free time, Blue Mint would go to the candy shop and help Bonbon with the many customers that came through. Alpha spent the week studying to become a physicist. When Friday rolled along and Blue Mint's final bell rang, the butterflies started materializing in her stomach. She had an hour and a half to kill before the end of Alpha's advanced sciences class, so she did the only logical thing, she called her DJ Friend, Ambient Beat. "Hello?" A quiet voice asked on the other side of the line. "Hey Ambient! It's Minty." She said as she started walking towards the nearest Burger Princess. "Oh hey Mints, hows it going?" Ambient asked, his voice immediately changing tone as he realized it was just a friend. Ambient was very quiet he was with strangers, but with friends, he was a bit more... outgoing. "It's going good! Great actually, I'm going to spend the weekend with Alpha." She told him before moving on to her question. "I was actually wondering if you wanted to go get a drink?" It was her usual activity when hanging out with him. "No actually." Ambient said. "Gear's on vacation, so he's fixing my turntable." Blue Mint heard some shuffling before flinching as Ambient yelled to Gear! "Hey Gear!! It's Mint! She's staying with Alpha this weekend!" Blue Mint facehoofed before bracing herself. "Heyyyy! Do you want some condoms for the weekend?" Gear said in a singsong voice as he picked up the phone. Blue Mint cursed, Gear was the only one who knew that she liked Alpha, so naturally, all he did was tease her about it. "Here, I'll put you on speaker while we work on this." As Blue Mint talked to Gear and Ambient, her eyes wandered to the nearby TV in the burger joint. "And now, more news on the Equestria Laboratory alarm. The facility has been cleared out. Princess Celestia says that there will not be an outbreak and that all workers have been magically swept for signs of any disease." The announcer said. Blue Mint looked away from the TV, losing interest. She talked with Gear and Ambient a little while longer before hanging up and sitting back on her chair. This is going to be an awesome weekend! She thought as she closed her eyes and listened to the bustle in the restaurant. --- --- --- Alpha was bored. For the third time this week, the advanced sciences test was taking up the whole period. He sighed, looking down at the strategies that he had laid out for the gaming weekend. He had finished his exam last class, so he had all the time in the world to work on Halo 4 maps and strategies. He was glad Blue Mint had finally gotten into gaming, Gear lived out of town and Ambient hated video games, so the only people Alpha played with were foals that raged the second he started winning. Looking at the clock, Alpha noted that he still had a good forty minutes left of class. So he returned to his maps, deciding to point out all the most common camping spots. When the bell finally rang, forty minutes later, he had prepared the entire weekend. Alpha stood up and headed out the door, biding his teacher and classmates farewell. He stepped out into the daylight, his eyes adjusting to the sudden change in the brightness. Alpha looked around and spotted Blue Mint cheerily trotting towards him, her bi-colored mane reflecting the sun. "Hey Alph!" Blue Mint brightly exclaimed. "How was class?" "Well, it was the last period of testing, so I managed to finish a whole bunch of Cattle Field Four and Halo Four maps. I also developed a bunch of strategies for multiplayer." Alpha replied, pulling out the maps and laying them on a bench. Blue Mint quickly looked over them, pointing out some places Alpha had missed. Then, without warning, Blue Mint pulled out a map of her own. Alpha was taken aback by her planning; not only had she corrected his maps, but she had made some of her own, almost as in-depth as his were. "Well, we should get going!" Alpha said, picking up the maps and carefully putting them back in his bag. "We can look at maps when we get home." "Agreed!" Blue Mint smiled and started heading to her house. Alpha followed closely, giddy with anticipation at the thought of playing video games with his best friend. Blue Mint opened the door to her house, ran in and grabbed a large bag laying by the door. She called out to her parents, telling them she'd be gone for the weekend, and running back out, almost crashing into Alpha. "You ready to go?" Alpha asked, smiling at Blue Mints' antics. "Yupsies!" She responded, straightening the bag on her back and following Alpha down the street. Alpha lived on his own, his parents had given him the house when they moved out to Phillydelphia. It was quite a walk away, but none of them minded, it was a nice day anyways. The two walked side by side, discussing what games they play for the next three days. Abruptly, Alpha spoke up: "Why is your bag so huge? It's only a weekend." Blue Mint laughed "I'm too lazy to individually pack a bag for every weekend, so this is my "Survival Bag", that way all I need to do after a trip is throw the bag into the laundry! Problem solved." "Ohhh" Alpha said, understandingly. A smile creeping up on his lips "I also have a survival bag, but it's only for emergencies." The two kept walking in silence, enjoying the breeze. After ten minutes, they finally arrived at Alpha's place. Alpha pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, inviting Blue Mint inside. She did so, wiping her hooves on the mat before looking up. Blue Mint gasped, she had never been at Alpha's place before. She had imagined a normal house, with a little square for gaming or something of the sort. However, all she saw as she looked around the hallway were swords. Alpha had lined his walls with different weapons and artifacts he would find in antique stores. "Woah! What's with all the blades?" Blue Mint asked, getting a better look at a dagger to her left. "I collect them, but watch out. Most of them are very sharp." Alpha responded, walking over to a door in the back of hallway and stepped into the room. "Come on, this is the gaming room." Blue Mint followed him in, only to be stopped dead in her tracks once again. The gaming room was just as impressive as the hallway. The huge projector screen was taking up a whole wall, across from it, Alpha had installed a mini-bar, from where he pulled out a bag of chips. There was a large couch in front of the screen, and the only thing separating the two items was a large mahogany table. "Make yourself at home!" Alpha called out to Blue Mint before filling a bowl with chips and plopping down on the couch. Blue Mint followed his example, almost jumping onto the couch next to Alpha. She grabbed a chip and pulled the maps out of Alpha's bag, laying them out on the table. "Ready?" Alpha asked, grabbing his custom TitanFoal remote. "Ready!" Blue Mint responded, carefully pulling out her controller. Alpha smiled at Blue Mints remote. It was a light green color, with blue veins that matched her mane. Alpha levitated Halo Four over to the the console and inserted it. "Then let's get this party started!" He exclaimed, selecting the multiplayer option. Several hours, multiple chip bags and countless kills later, Alpha and Blue Mint decided to call it a night. Falling back onto the couch, Alpha turned on the TV and passed the remote to Blue Mint. "Here, look for something interesting, I'll get you a mattress." Alpha said, getting up and exiting the room. Blue Mint laid down on the couch, looking at the screen she started looking through the hundreds of channels. She came upon Canterlot Live News, where they were talking about the Equestria Laboratories incident. The announcer was talking into the microphone in a quick and monotone manner. "-ere live at the entrance of Equestria Laboratories where the workers abandoning the facility will be released back to their families. The laboratory has been marked for destruction due to a disease currently named PD47 having come into contact with the air. Very little is known of this synthetic disease. The princesses will not tell us the whereabouts of the creator and why this error occurred. However, security measures have been set in place so as the virus is confined in the laboratory and will be destroyed along with the facility" "Hey Alph." Blue Mint called out suddenly interested "Come look at this, they're about to blow the medical facility." "Which one?" Alpha asked from the bedroom "There's no planned destruction anytime soon." "It's Equestria Laboratories, something about a disease leaking into the air." Blue Mint called back. Alpha rushed into the room, a worried expression on his face. Without a word, he sat by the TV, staring intently at the screen, his eyes taking in every detail. He started mumbling under his breath. "There's no timer set, so there must be a detonation chamber rigghhttt, there. Everyone is there, so why are they blowing the facility if it's confined? Why not magic sweep it. Unless it's immune to magic, if it is... It must be highly infectious, otherwise they wouldn't blow up the facility" Blue Mint just listened to the announcer with interest. "The head of the facility is now calling out the ten second mark, Equestria is watching with anticipation as the seconds tick down." Without warning Alpha jumped. "Buck!" A worker had just passed out. "Chill, he's probably just exhausted" Blue Mint said softly, trying to calm the sky blue unicorn. "Oh Buck, not him Minty, look at the detonation official." Alpha said, stressing out. The announcer suddenly noticed the change. "It seems that one of the scientists has fallen, the medics are rushing to him. It seems that the detonation has been held off due to... complications in the chamber." Suddenly three more scientists fall to the floor "It seems the first researcher has been confirmed dead, the medical team is doing all they can to save the others, but more and more of the staff are-" The channel abruptly cut off and a red screen with letters came up. An electronic voice announced: "This is the Equestria emergency podcast, under order of the princesses, you are to inside, this is to ensure that the current situation d-" Alpha shut off the TV. "Change of plans." He announced. "I've got a radio up in the attic, follow me!" "What's happening?" Blue Mint asked, a bump forming in the back of her throat. "Why were they... dying?" she swallowed, fighting back tears. "The country is currently in an state of emergency, the disease... PD47, probably managed to grip on a few hosts. From what we know, it is resistant to magic, otherwise it wouldn't have left the facility. It's airborne and travelling, which means it will spread very quickly. Do you understand?" Alpha stated, getting off the couch. Blue Mint just nodded, following Alpha's instructions. "Ok, we're going to go upstairs. It's airtight, has food for two weeks, and is also where I keep my multi-channel radio, which will let us listen to what's really happening." He said, taking her hooves in his. "Now go grab your bag and head upstairs. Oh, and don't listen to what they say officially. It'll get you killed." He added. "Any questions?" Blue Mint took a deep breath. "What about Gear and Ambient? Will they be alright?" She asked, picking up her bag. "They know what to do." He told her, leading her towards the stairs. "I hope" He thought to himself as he helped Blue Mint into the attic and crawled in with her, shutting the trapdoor tightly.