//------------------------------// // Ch 6 Research // Story: Run of the plague // by reader8363 //------------------------------// After an hour of blood testing, xray scans, testing her flight, reaction, and mental capabilities, I said, “Okay, nothing is wrong with you, but I want you to visit next week. There might be a possibility that the bird passed on a small piece of what it had.” She nodded, then said, as she was about to leave the room, “Okay, thanks for helping.” I nodded and said, as I followed her out of the building. I locked it behind me and headed off to Twilight’s castle, my home for now. When I got home, Twilight said, “Welcome home. Timber, what happened?” I walked to the kitchen and plopped down in a chair, then I said, as I rested my head in my hands, “I got Fluttershy hurt.” Twilight’s face turned into something between surprise, shock, and confusion. She placed a hoof on my knee and said, “Why don’t you tell me what happened.” I took a deep breath and said, “I was bringing home a box of my clothes, that Rarity made for me, then Fluttershy came up to me and asked for my help. We went to my office and I looked at the bird that she brought. When I put my hand on it’s stomach, it bit me, then I asked Fluttershy to come with me into the hall, then it bit her. If I just told Fluttershy there, she wouldn’t have gotten bit.” Twilight said, “It’s not your fault, you didn’t know that it would happen, and I know Fluttershy isn’t blaming you for it either.” I got up and headed to the doorway, then I turned around and said, “Do you have an microscope, magnifying glass, and a notebook I can borrow?” Twilight turned to me and said, “yes they are already in your room, I thought you would be needing them.” I said thanks and headed to my room. I got in and locked the door, then I turned on the light and sat at the desk, on the desk was a microscope, notebook and a magnifying glass. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the vial, and held it under the magnifying glass. It look like a cockroach, without legs, with a long tail. I drew a picture of it, then I opened the vial and poked it with the tip of the writing utensil, then I moved. I jumped out of the seat and watched it squirm out of the vial. I grabbed a cup and put it over it. It jump on the edges, like it was trying to tip it over. I slid the cup to the edge and placed the vial on the edge, so the black thing would fall in. It work as I thought, the black thing fell in, then I capped it, and placed it on the desk then I got into my pajama and headed off to bed For the next six days, I followed the same plan, wake up, eat breakfast, do research, eat lunch, read some books, eat dinner, then study the creature until I was tired. The next day, I got up and headed down stair, I was making me a cup of coffee, when I heard knocking at the door. I grabbed my cup and headed to the door. when I opened the door, Fluttershy was standing there. She said, “Am I too early? You wanted me to visit today, to see if anything changed.” Then I remember what I said last week. I said, “No, you could have come anytime, please have a seat.” I led her to the kitchen and sat down at the table, Fluttershy sat on the other side of me. I said, after taking a sip of coffee, “Have you noticed anything different about you in the past week, even the smallest detail. She said, “Well I wasn’t scared at all when I was talking to other ponies, and a few ponies caught me singing and I didn’t shy away at all.” I said, as I set the mug down, “Is it natural for you to be really shy.” Fluttershy said, “Yes. Does it have something to do with the bird biting me.” I said, as I lean in the chair, “I don’t know. It might.” Then I saw Twilight standing in the doorway. “Morning Twilight.” Twilight said, “Good morning Timber. Hey Fluttershy, didn’t know you were coming today, but it’s still great to see you. How’s the bite?” Fluttershy turn to Twilight and said, “It’s healed, just like it never happened. Good to see you as well.” I said, “Twilight, how strange do you think it is for Fluttershy to be able to sing in front of  a few random ponies while they are staring at her.” Twilight’s face turned into serious and worried at the same time, then she said, “That is strange, When I first met Fluttershy, she couldn’t tell me her name. It was until she saw Spike that she was able to.” I said, as I got up from the table, “Fluttershy, I need you to come with me to my office. So I can run some test.” Fluttershy nodded and followed me to my office. When we got there, I took Fluttershy  the room and took an xray of her. I said, after I got the result back, “You seemed to have a slightly bigger creature, than the one I found in you bird last week. It don’t seem to be doing any harm, but I still want you to come in weekly.” Fluttershy got off the table and said, “Okay.” Then walked out. I sat there, looking at  the picture, then got up and walked out the door. I didn’t pay attention on where I was going, I had a lot on my mind. When I finally looked up, I was in a plain field. I laid down by a tree and look up at the sky, thinking about what I’m going to do. If it does good, why did it make the bird go nuts and if that’s it, why am I here to stop it. I heard someone say, “Why are you up here?” I looked to my side and saw Rainbow Dash standing there. I said, “What, are you going to make it rain on me again to “cool me off”, or are you going to do something else.” She said, as she came closer, “Something else.” Then she laid beside me and said, “What got you cranky.” I said, “I just have a lot on my mind. you wouldn’t understand.” She laughed and said, “You can’t be worse than Twilight. Come on, give it a try..” I sighed and said, “I was doing a check up on Fluttershy’s bird, it bit Fluttershy. Then I killed it and carried Fluttershy to a different room. Then I went back and found a worm-like thing in the bird. I took it home and studied for a week. The Fluttershy came to Twilight’s home, and told me what changed. She doesn’t have any fears, now, and she has more courage. I did an xray, and found that she has the same worm-like in her, but it’s helping her, not hurting her. Why is it helping her, when it did the opposite with the bird.” Rainbow Dash stared at me and said, “Wow, you summarized two days in a matter of minutes. You are close to Twilight.” I smiled and said, “I said you might not get it. What do you think I should do, you know I’m here to try to stop a plague, but if that’s it, why stop it.” Rainbow Dash said, “Do you still have the “worm”?” I stared at her and said, “This isn’t a game, I don’t what it will do.” She said, “I could be a test subject.” I thought about it, why not have another test, sure it might kill her, but it might help with studying this creature. Then I said, “Ok, just follow me.” I led her to Twilight’s castle and grabbed the vial with it in it. I turned around and Rainbow Dash grabbed it away from me and said, “This thing is what is in Fluttershy, it’s too small to do any harm. I said, as I turned my back to her to gather my research, “This is the one out of the bird, the one in Fluttershy is bigger. I think it depends on height and size of the creature’s brain.” Then I heard Rainbow Dash say, “Oops.” I turned to see why she was said oops about. She wasn’t holding the vial and she was looking at my lower half. I looked down, and nearly jumped out of my skin. The creature was climbing up my leg. I tried to shake it off, but it climbed even higher. It was up to my stomach, when Rainbow Dash finally moved. She reached out to grab it, but then it did the weirdest thing. It lift it’s tail and stabbed Rainbow Dash’s hoof. Rainbow Dash’s eyes rolled in the back of her head and she fell to the ground. I didn’t know it had a defence mechanism. to stop any creature from trying to take it off, but why does a parasite need a defence mechanism, if it’s helps the creature. When I felt across my lips, it stopped and dropped to the floor. I saw it was heading towards Rainbow Dash. I grabbed a cup and placed it on top. Then I check her pulse, I sighed when I felt it. Then I went to my research and wrote down about it’s defence. I picked up Rainbow Dash and put her on the bed, so I can move around and clean up the glass vial. I said, mostly to myself, “This thing might have more things hiding. I’m afraid, I haven’t seen all it can do.”