The stillness hung in the air of the old library, five ponies, each silent in front of the other. Looks of shock on their faces told enough of the story on their own. The atmosphere was so thick you could cut through it like a knife. Rainbow was the first to speak up.
"So...a virus?" She squeaked quietly, voicing everyone's own thoughts. "Like...really bad, right Twilight?"
The unicorn nodded her head solemnly, sighing deeply. Her mane was all over the place and there were dark bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. "We haven't been able to work out when or why." There was a tone of hopelessness as she spoke. "Princess Celestia seems to have no clue about it either. Throughout her reign over Equestria, she's never seen anything like it." She stepped over to a blackboard. Various chalk markings adorned the board, various diagrams and question marks all over the place. "All we know is this...thing, this virus as you put it, is real nasty." She trotted from side to side, deep in thought. "We need a plan of sorts. We need a way to contain it. Sooo...any ideas?"
Each pony looked at one another, blank faces filling the room. Rarity turned to Twilight with a sincere smile. "Twilight, darling, we know nothing about this sort of thing. How can we fight it like that?"
"How else?" Rainbow soared up to the roof "Let's grab the elements, fly on over there, and zap the heck out of it!"
"But we can't" Fluttershy stepped forward, gazing up at her friend with calm eyes. "For all we know, it could be resistant to the elements. Somepony might get hurt."
"Come on, girls! We gotta think of somethin'. This thing could take all over Equestria, if we ain't careful! I mean...things have taken over Equestria before, right?" Applejack exclaimed, taking centre stage. "We defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord. As long as we work together, we can do this." Murmurs of agreement filled the room, Pinkie eagerly bobbing her head up and down, smiling. Twilight smiled weakly as Applejack put a supportive hoof on her shoulder. "So Twi, what do we do?"
"Well, first it might help finding out what in the hay we're ACTUALLY fighting, here!" Rainbow said, crossing her forehooves. "Because so far, this thing sounds lame."
"Everypony, just slow down." Twilight took a deep breath, turning once again to study the various markings scattered across the black board. "We won't make any progress working out what's happening if we bicker like this." She raised a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "I think it would be best for us to see first hand what's going on here. The outbreak happened right outside of Manehattan, so let's begin there." She managed to offer a weak smile to her small group of friends, who all returned the smile.
"Don't worry, Twi. We can do it." Applejack re-assured her.
"Yeah! That virus'll never know what hit it!" Rainbow leaped into the air, brimming with confidence. She threw a few punches through the air, making small grunting sounds as she performed a roundhouse kick. Rarity looked up at her, sighing.
"Rainbow Dash, you do realise that you can't punch a virus, correct?"
"Aw what?" The pegasus looked down at her friend, slowly descending to the oak floor. "Lame." She crossed her forehooves and pouted in disappointment.
"Just remember girls, pack only what you need to survive" Twilight grinned.
The girls exchanged smiles, before returning home, each gathering supplies for the journey ahead. Rainbow sulked all the way back, weakly pushing open the door to her stylish cloud home and crawling up the stairs. Each room she went through was a mess. Since staying at Applejack's more than often, she'd barely taken any time to make her own place look more homely. She entered her room, lazily turning to the closet and searching the inside for her saddlebag. She picked up the leather, checking it's contents before grabbing some bits from the nearby table. With a deep sigh, she finally brought herself to leave again, aiming for the library.
"Virus' are super lame."