Chapter Nine: Critical Condition
Day Seventy Two
Infected: 1.694 Billion
Dead: 910 Million
Twilight stepped into Sweetie Belle’s room wearing her, seemingly becoming usual, Tyvek suit. She went over to the pony’s bed and pointed an IR thermometer at her forehead before pulling the trigger with her magic. This routine, in which she and Fluttershy would take turns, had been occurring for over a week now.
The pony then slid the thermometer back onto her belt and reached up to an IV drip that Fluttershy had found in her veterinary kit. Had they not discovered this, it’s likely that Sweetie Belle would have died from her inability to drink and eat. She adjusted the dial to increase the number of drips.
Just then, she heard a slight moan from below. She looked over to see the previously sleeping pony’s eyes begin to flutter open. Twilight smiled as she looked down to her.
“Sweetie Belle, its Twilight.”
She let out a moan of a different pitch to signify a response.
Twilight sat down on the bed next to her. “If you can move, try to nod, okay?”
Sweetie Belle nodded very slightly.
The Alicorn smiled even more. “Good! Now I want you to answer some questions. You were in a coma for fifteen days and at times you’re temperature reached a hundred five. I just want to make sure there’s nothing wrong. Okay?”
She nodded once more.
“Do you remember me?”
She nodded.
Twilight clapped her gloved hooves together. “That’s good. Do you remember coming to Fluttershy’s cottage?”
Sweetie Belle nodded.
Twilight laid a hoof atop her shoulder. “Good. It looks like you’re okay, but it’ll be awhile before you’re up and about again. Though a young mare like you should be just fine.”
To Twilight’s surprise, the pony attempted to mumble something, but she was unable to understand her. She leaned her ear in closer. Twilight instantly noted that her voice was rough and raspy, but the word she spoke was clear.
“Spike.”
Twilight’s expression instantly turned grim. “Sweetie Belle,” she said sadly, “Fluttershy and I had to move Spike into another room. You don’t want to see him like this.”
She gave Twilight a look begging her to go on.
The Alicorn sighed. “We think his lungs are beginning to fill with fluid.” Twilight’s eyes began to grow damp. “We don’t know if he’s going to make it.” Twilight then leaned down and wrapped a hoof around Sweetie Belle. “Just know we’re going to do everything we can. And I’m not going to let-“ Twilight’s voice cracked cutting her off. She then turned away and stood. “You just worry about getting better, Sweetie Belle.”
As Twilight began to walk out the door she turned back around. “Oh, I almost forgot.” With the glow of her horn she turned on a radio atop the dresser. “The power’s back on for now, so I thought you’d like to get up to date.” Feeling as though she were talking to herself, Twilight began to feel awkwardness atop her sadness, so she left Sweetie Bell alone with the news.
The voice of the reader sounded unprofessional and stuttered frequently. Sweetie Belle assumed the old anchor died or was sick.
“S-Since the discovery of a vaccine last week, pharmacies have been rushing t-to produce the lifesaving formula, despite only having thirty percent of its usual workforce.”
‘Oh wow, good news, that’s a first.’ Thought Sweetie Belle.
“However,”
‘And never mind.’
“many fear that it will be at least six months before a vaccine is available to the general public, and even longer to vaccinate the entire p-population. Worse yet, is the looming fear of a mutation that may occur at any time and make all vaccination research useless. If this were to happen, it is possible that vaccine production could take as much as a year and six months.”
This information both filled Sweetie Belle with hope and despair. She was happy a vaccine was complete, but doubted it would make a difference in the pandemic. This doubt would turn out to be not ill-founded.
The pony’s thoughts began to shift back to her husband now that she was more conscious, and more able to comprehend what Twilight had said. She wondered in what state he was in, and if it would be possible for her to see him. She wished she wasn’t trapped in her body, unable to move or even speak without pain.
---------
After leaving Sweetie Belle’s room, Twilight made her way to another nearby one in which Spike lay. She pulled back the plastic with her hoof and stepped inside. Fluttershy, who was sitting at his bedside, looked up at Twilight. Her face was as pail as moonlight.
Already knowing the answer, Twilight hesitated to ask, but did so anyways. “Any change?”
Fluttershy averted her eyes and shook her head.
Twilight looked down. “You know, for someone without a ventilator, he sure is doing good. Maybe he’ll get better.” She knew this not to be true, but hoped that if she lied enough, she herself would begin to believe it.
The Pegasus made no gesture in response.
Twilight drew closer to the bed, but tried not to look at her friend. She couldn’t handle seeing him like this, but if she and Fluttershy’s fears were realized, she knew she’d have to overcome this phobia.
“Fluttershy, could you leave us alone for a moment?”
The pony nodded and stood before silently trotting out of the room.
Twilight took a seat upon the stool in which Fluttershy had been sitting. It was facing the bed, and gave her no choice but to look at Spike. She began with his hand. It was a dull purple with an IV and medical tape around it. Slowly, she made her way up his arm. It was just as dull, and had the rest of him not been visible, it’s possible that Twilight might have just assumed he was feeling under the weather. Finally was his face, the part she most dreaded seeing. His eyes were enshrouded with dark circles and cheeks were an eerie violet with a tinge of blue beginning to show. She knew why this was too; he was slowly suffocating.
This sight brought tears to Twilight’s eyes, yet they were no different than the previously fallen ones of days past. Twilight hesitantly outstretched her hoof to Spike’s claw, though when she had it, she wrapped her other hoof tightly around it.
“Hey, Spike.”
As her lips moved, a few tears broke free.
“I have some really good news. Sw-“ Her voice cracked. “Sweetie Belle is awake. She’s just fine, but a little sore. It’ll be a little while before she’s up and about, but you two will be back to groping each other in no time.” Twilight smiled at her own joke, also in an attempt to cover her sorrow.
“You wanna know something, Spike?” She paused. “I never really liked, Sweetie Belle.” Twilight smiled. “Shocker I know. But to be fair, it was never really anything she did. It’s just I see a lot of myself in her. She’s strong, caring, reliable, and… She loves you.”
Twilight sighed. “Yeah… She loves you. We have that in common.” She trailed off.
Just then, Twilight began to cry. At first it was only one or two tears at a time, but once the flood gates had opened, there was no stopping it.
“Spike… I fucked up!” Her slight cry was now a near bawl. “I was so caught up in this princess shit that I never took the time to care about you. I took you for granted because you were always there, and I thought you’d always be there. And… And…”
Twilight cracked her hoof on the nightstand near Spike’s bed.
“Goddesses damn it!”
She wiped her eyes with her foreleg.
“I always thought you’d be there no matter what I did! I thought you’d never leave. If I had just cared about you more and spent more time with you, maybe things would have been different, but… Spike, please don’t leave me, not again.”
---------
Fluttershy took a seat at the dinner table, bowl of soup at hoof. Twilight finished pouring herself a bowl from the kettle above the fireplace, and was trotting over. As she took a seat, Fluttershy made sure to focus her eyes only on her bowl in the dim candle light.
“Sweetie Belle’s doing better,” she said.
Twilight took a sip. “That’s good.”
Fluttershy nodded. “I think that sometime tomorrow we could get that wheel chair from the back and let her see, Spike.
Twilight nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”
There was a long silence after that.
Fluttershy finally took in a deep breath. “Twilight, I overheard what you said.”
The Alicorn froze, her spoon locked in place with her magical grip.
“I just want to say, that I could never possibly know just how hard this has been for you, but if you’d like to talk, know I’m here.”
Twilight smiled and took another sip.
“Thank you, Fluttershy.”
“I mean the next few weeks are going to be really rough for you and Sweetie Belle and-“
Twilight raised her hoof aggressively, interrupting. “Wait? What do you mean by that?”
Fluttershy recoiled slightly, but did her best to remain firm.
“Twilight, his lungs are beginning to fill with fluid. At this rate he’d be lucky to see tomorrow.”
Twilight stood, sending the chair screeching back, and slammed her hooves onto the table.
“No! Don’t you fucking dare talk about him like he’s already dead!”
Fluttershy flinched. “Twilight, please. Even if his lungs were suddenly void of fluid, the damage to them would probably still be fatal, and even if he did live, he wouldn’t be the same. We both know this is true!”
“No! I don’t want to hear this shit!” Twilight trotted off. “He’s not dead yet, so don’t start acting like he is!”
Twilight stormed out the back door and took a seat on the steps. Despite the fact that earlier, Fluttershy had sat out here with her the last time she was upset, she was fairly certain she wouldn’t follow tonight. She’d made it abundantly clear that she needed a moment to herself.
She peered up at the night sky and saw the stars peering down on her and the moon shining bright as ever, all completely unaware of the hell that is now Equestria. She took some comfort in this though, for no matter what, some things in this world would always remain constant, and reliable. She hoped that they would remain this way, not like everything and everyone else in her life.
Twilight now looked to the ground; a light frost covered the now dead grass. This suddenly caused her spirit to do a one eighty. There was no life to be found on the ground, only brown ugly earth. There was no beauty, no joy, and no refuge from her life. Though this is typical in December, its existence, or lack thereof, presented Twilight with an overwhelming sense of worthlessness.
In this day and age, nothing seemed to have any value anymore. Property had no meaning, life was disposable, and civilization itself mattered not in the eyes of the virus. Twilight wondered how many other millions of ponies were feeling the same way, in the exact same situation. All because of the flu.
---------
Day Seventy Three
Infected: 1.725 Billion
Dead: 923 Million
The next day brought no hope, only disappointment. The power was still off, Spike was still dying, and, for a brief moment this morning, Twilight found herself wondering what he might like for breakfast before reality came back to wash her illusion away. That’s the thing with reality; it spares no feeling and speaks only truth, the hard truth.
Fluttershy called for Twilight to assist her in moving Sweetie Belle. As she stepped into the plastic coated room, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of hatred for her. After all, had Spike not kissed her, they wouldn’t be in this situation; they wouldn’t be preparing to bury the one they loved.
None the less, Twilight went over to the mare’s bedside and assisted her into a wheelchair. She cringed and yelped in pain as they lifted her.
“I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy through a masked face as a gloved hoof lay upon her shoulder. Twilight, on the other hand, felt no such sympathy.
The Alicorn then stepped away from the wheelchair and over to the door. She lifted the plastic sheets with her hoof to grant them entrance. She then went over to Spike’s room, but before she did the same she hesitated. For a second, the thought crossed Twilight’s mind that in the time they assisted Sweetie Belle, he had already passed. Not willing to let this thought hold her back, she swiftly lifted the plastic and stepped inside.
Her eyes fixed on his chest. When it didn’t rise, Twilight began to panic. Thankfully, a slight breath could be seen. Twilight breathed a mental sigh of relief.
Fluttershy pushed the wheelchair next to Spike’s bed. It never really hit her just how bad off he was until now. Looking at his pail scales, blue cheeks, and black eyes caused her the utmost shock imaginable. She wished to scream in horror or cry out, but all she could do was sob. A steady stream of tears and a moan unlike anything she’d ever heard was all her body as capable of. Struggling, she raised her shaking hoof to his hand. Fluttershy helped guide her.
Sweetie Belle just sat there, holding her husband’s cold dying hand. Her thoughts filled with images of the things they’d never get to do together; the foals they were never going to have, the vacations they’d never take, the days they’d never spend growing old together. All of this gone.
Twilight just stared at Sweetie Belle, though her mind wasn’t full of rage, instead she felt understanding. She had been in her exact same spot and once again she saw herself. She saw herself in Sweetie Belle’s sobbing eyes, her heartbroken moans, and her utter despair.
Gradually, Twilight made her way around the bed to Spike’s other hand. She held it in her hoof and stared down at him. Her eyes began to feel heavy with the weight of tears once more. She had thought that she could contain herself, but Spike’s touch set her off. As her mask began to dampen, she looked up at Sweetie Belle. Their eyes locked. In that moment, they both knew what the other was feeling, and they both knew that if they were to pull through this, both of them had to work together.
Sweetie Belle bent down and pressed her lips to Spike’s for the last time. When she finished, she looked up to Twilight. The Alicorn carefully removed her mask and lowered herself down to Spike. She formed a slight magical barrier to prevent infection, and she too kissed him. Fluttershy then stepped forward, her face now soaked, and pressed a hoof to her mask before placing it upon his cheek.
The three mares stared down at their friend, his breaths growing weaker and farther apart. Spike would have wanted it like this. His friends and loved ones there for him in his final minutes. It’s something many would hope for, to know that they were loved until the end.
Spike drew his final breath.
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poor spike may his soul rest in peach for this.
Keep up the good work, and i have to ask is there anyway to lower someone immune system? am just wonder is all, but most likely not i gusse.
3619574 Besides cancer and a generally unhealthy lifestyle I don't think so.
3619593 will a smell heart desies count as one?
3619604 No, well not enough to make a difference anyways.
3619619 will just great, but i say that becasue i think i have one for a long ass time now i just get random hreat pains out of nowhere that hurt like hell ever now and than
3619604 Possibly.
3619636 so far it have not killed me yet i think i got it at the age of 14 where the hreat pains come out of no where
3619619 What about AIDS? Doesn't that suppress your immune system?
3619745 Oh yeah, I forgot about that... It also kills you though.
3619825 Yeah... good point.
3619976 I know. They just didn't mention that it was an immune suppressant.
YOU TOOK HIM AWAY......................
IT WAS TOOOOO SOONNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, I still like this story, and now Sweetie and Twilight will suffer immensly.....................
So sad, yet sooooo realistic,
May Spike rest in infinite peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cue Spike NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO scene
3620922 Well, to be honest, they're suppose to be out of character. Given the situation, I think anyone's cheerful self would be snuffed out rather quickly. I know if I were in their place, my personality would shift pretty drastically.
3621185 I know. I was soooooo conflicted about doing this. My choices were an unrealistic recovery or this. And realism is my goal with this story, no matter how bleak it may be.
3622704 ................ don't you think it is more unrealistic that it killed him? f he is not a pony. the virus in question would have to completely mutate to harm him, and the likely hood that the mutation would lead to fatality is not very likley as it would no longer be the same flu strain.
it is an intersting and chilling concept, but it does not work when using mlp characters and the universe. Magic gives far, far too many options and rememdies in case of disease. magic would allow them to accelerate the creation of a vaccine far beyond human potential, allow them to slow the killing of a virus to a crawl, even create a spell that is actually designed to destroy the viral particles if you get more creative. literally have someone walk through it and the virus is removed.
Realism does not mesh well in a world where an allergic reaction to a plant can manifest in floppy horns, reduced size, and giving a lemon colored mare a sultry deep voice.
Honestly while the realism helps make this story work, in some areas your attempts at educating us, do get in the way of charters, now I am not saying that the charters are bad, just you could have done better, e:g just making Fluttershy a swearing badass in, the beginning, where it would be more interesting seeing her become one through, having to put up with all the death and destruction.
Which leads to another problem that being I don't feel like the character arcs were amazing, I think the main reason for this was that you never established what they they were like before the outbreak.
So final score
7.5 out of 10
Pros
Deep realistic story
Real well exacted emotional moments
Cons
Charter arcs could have been better
Charters could have been done better
3621143 Tamiflu can count, since lessening symptoms counts as suppressing an immune response. So basically all antivirus drugs would work.
3622879 I agree, however my PRIMARY goal was to create a story that was both interesting and informal. I could not do so if I were to make the story apply more to Equestrian than our world. It is a sacrifice, but must be done in order to work in our world.
3622992 I agree as well, but since this was fan fiction, people seem to already have an attachment to the characters, as well as an understanding. Nonetheless, I will admit that I could have done more to make the characters more fitting and developed.
(The reply above is also intended for you since your points were somewhat similar.)
3623136 Though good luck finding them.
3625294 Yeah... a gun in your hand would help you get some though.
3625301 As long as they don't have one too... so its unlikely.
3627434 Haha... whoever pulls the trigger first, I suppose. Yeah, antivirals would be pretty uncommon in a flu pandemic.
*sob *sob
R.I.P
Spike
[Enter Age Here], [Enter Date Here]
Keep up the good work bro, the medical facts and realistic storyline kept it up. And I have good music to accompany Spike's death (from one of my fav games
)
http://youtu.be/FXFP7sjrGD0
YOU FUCKER DRAGONS SHOULDN'T GET SICK I WILL EAT YOUR GODDAMN SOUL!
...... I now hate this story...... But I will continue reading.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Not SPIKE!!!!!!
Damn, and I have no idea why but every time you give me facts of what the disease will do to us after each chapter, it makes me just want to commit suicide as soon as it does happen, if it ever does, is that a bad thing?
this pretty much sums it up.
Spikes dead.... That's Bullshit!!!
But I will keep on reading...
I honestly thought Sweetie Bell and Spike would live until the end of the story because it centered around them. Welp, I'm wrong.
..Why do I read things that made me sad and scared..??
I don't know...
Anyways, macabre and all, it's a good story..