Epidemic

by UnknownSubject

Tragedy

Dr. Whooves walked over to the microscope already set up and took a good look. Twilight intensively focused on the doctor, and he peeked into her microscope.

"This is absolutely astonishing! The virus cells are growing with an accelerated rate. The virus seems capable of mutating up to three times in one day!" Dr. Whooves explains as he departs from the microscope. Twilight looks in as she saw the same the doctor has seen. After her own observation, she backs up off the microscope, and shifted her attention to Dr. Whooves.

"Does that mean that the virus is severe?" Twilight asked, afraid of what answers might prevail.

"Not only severe." Dr Whooves begins. "But very lethal and possibly immune. If the cure isn’t started immediately, we may not have a chance whatsoever!”

Twilight took a deep breath to relieve herself from any panic, and decided to open her book. She flipped over to the page titled 'Cure', and scanned through the ingredients. Dr. Whooves joined her, to knowledge himself of the ingredients as well.

"The cure has incredibly rare ingredients." Twilight says, turning to Dr. Whooves. "How long do you think it will take before we discover it?"

"With only us two, it could take up to ten years to find it." Dr. Whooves says, keeping his eyes on the book. Twilight begins to worry.

"At that rate, Ponyville will go extinct before we find the cure." Twilight said, now worried, not only for her own life, but for the life of the millions of ponies put at risk.

"Then we need to raise attention on Celius. We have to get more people on our side." Dr. Whooves put a hoof to his chin, while thinking up a solution for this predicament.

"How will we do that?" Twilight asked, her attention focused on the doctor fully. Twilight was prepared to do whatever it took to raise attention on the virus, and ultimately eradicate it.

"How about a 'Celius awareness day?'" Dr. Whooves suggests raising a hoof.

"But not many ponies know about it." Twilight begins. "How will get ponies to start a Celius awareness day without proper knowledge of it?”
"We’ll have to think of another way to spread the word." Dr. Whooves says as he looks out the window. The sun sets over the horizon. "But for now, you need to rest. We will continue tomorrow." The light outside Twilight's library was quickly beginning to be overpowered with the darkness of the night.

Twilight nodded at the doctor, as to agree with him.

"Very well. I will see you tomorrow." Dr. Whooves says, and heads out of the library, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts.

If Celius spread amongst the thousands, it could cause catastrophic damage to society. Twilight almost regretted not telling the townsfolk of the plague soon to rise in Ponyville, but she convinced herself it was the right thing to do not to tell anypony. If she had, the ponies would surely panic, for this isn’t the first time the ponies cause anarchy at the sign of trouble. They usually only panicked when something that was destructive came to town, who knows how bad society would’ve been left at if they realized that the next sign of trouble could kill them.
Twilight slowly walked upstairs to her bedroom, yawning and bowing her head in exhaustion, she carefully opened the door, to reveal Spike snoozing soundly on his little bed. She silently walked over to her own bed. She laid down, and yawned once more before drifting off to her peaceful slumber.

Who knows? This may be the last peaceful slumber she has.

☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣

Twilight awoke, and yawned. She realized there was something ominous outside; a mysterious red glow was emitting through her window. She got up and looked over to where Spike should be, but wasn't. Just then, she heard a knock, and went downstairs to see who it was. When she opened the door, she saw Dr. Whooves standing there, but the condition he was in frightened Twilight.

Dr. Whooves stood there with bloodshot red eyes, and his skin infested with opens wounds. He was sweating around small bubbles that formed around the wounds. Twilight let out a shriek of terror when the doctor coughed blood, and almost sprayed some onto her.

"Twilight." The doctor began to speak. His voice was broken, and hardly recognizable behind the gurgled words. He fell to the ground, coughing and spewing out blood. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he lay unconscious.

Twilight slam shut the door, and ran towards the book. She immediately opened the book, but was shocked to find that no words or pictures were in it. Just empty blank sheets of paper. Twilight frantically flipped through the pages, trying to find anything in there. Until she found one page. One paged in the middle of the book. The page had no title, only one word in bold letters centered on the page.
'Celius'

The word was written in big red letters. There were no other words, or pictures. Just the one word written on the book.
Suddenly, Twilight heard angry screaming coming from the outside of her library. She slowly opened her door, and saw tons of ponies outside throwing molotovs at buildings, flipping over chariots, and throwing bricks at hospitals and clinics.
Twilight teared up when she saw fillies and colts lying lifeless on the ground as their assumed parents furiously cried while hugging them tightly.

The ponies were all in the condition the doctor was in. Twilight started hyperventilating when she saw a couple ponies collapse to the ground, most likely dead. Flames engulfed ponyville as the angry ponies screamed out in pain.

Twilight could not understand what was going on around her. The virus could not have possibly mutated and spread so fast overnight.
Twilight closed the door, and ran upstairs to barricade herself in. There she remembered something. Spike! She hurried back downstairs. She still had the medical mask given to her at the hospital. She put it on, and fearfully walked out. Twilight was befuddled when she noticed that no one was looking at her, a healthy, clean, sterilized pony.

"Spike! Spike where are you!" The frantic Twilight called out. It took a couple minutes of yelling for Spike for her to realized the crowd forming a circle around something, and sobbing their eyes out. Curious, Twilight maneuvered through the crowd in an attempt to see what was going on. What she saw made her join the crowd's sorrow as she cried in emotional pain.

It was Fluttershy. Her limp body was oozing blood from the wounds, and her bloodshot eyes were rolled back into her head, her twitching arms confirmed that she was barely alive, and suffering a great deal of pain. Twilight scooped her lifeless body, not caring for catching the infection anymore, and hugged Flutershy tightly with remorse. Her tears dripping from her cheeks, and falling onto the dead Pegasus.
"This is my fault." Twilight blamed herself for the chaos around her. She hugged the butter yellow pegasus tightly, and shut her eyes tightly.
"This is my fault. This is my fault. THIS IS MY FAULT!"

"Twilight!" Yelled out a familiar voice.

"THIS IS MY FAULT!"

☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣☣

Twilight awoke to the brutal shakes of Spike.

"Twilight! Wake up!" The little dragon yelled.

"What?" Twilight rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. It was morning, and birds chirped their morning melodies.

"You were screaming in your sleep." Spike explained. Twilight yawned and got out of bed. “It must’ve been a crazy dream. What was it?”

"It was nothing, Spike. You need go get back to sleep. You're sick remember?" Twilight reminded Spike before yawning her again. Spike was disappointed, and reluctantly walked over to his little bed. Then he fell back asleep.

Twilight walked downstairs thinking about the nightmare she had. The virus has been stressing her out lately, and she has been on it too much. But it had to be studied, no matter what. Even if that meant putting her own mental state at jeopardy.

Twilight heard a knock on her door. She opened it, and was relieved to see the doctor in the healthy condition he was in yesterday.

"Good morning doctor. Please come in." Twilight said as she stepped aside, giving Dr. Whooves a chance to pass by. He accepts the invitation and walks in.

"Good morning Twilight." He says as he walks in. "I think you'll be glad to know that I got us access into a laboratory. So we can continue our research there." Twilight responded with a nod.

"So pack your tools and supplies. We'll head over in an hour." The doctor says. Twilight nods, and heads over to get her things.

“This would also be a good time to say goodbye to any friends you have.” Dr. Whooves pointed out. The statement caused Twilight to stop, and look at the doctor.

“The Lab isn’t in Ponyville?” Twilight asked.

“While there are laboratories here in Ponyville, I think we’d be more suited with a laboratory outside of the town where the virus is taking place.” The doctor explained. Twilight was saddened by the news that she wouldn’t be able to see her friends for the time being.

“Can’t I bring them along?” Twilight asked, hoping she’d get the answer she hoped for.

“I’m afraid not, Twilight. Remember that our mission has to stay silent. The ideas we had earlier were for spreading the word were for officials and authority figures. We can’t tell your friends about our mission.”

Twilight was deeply sorrowed about the news, but decided that he knew best, so she started packing her bags, and was prepared to leave her friends behind.

Comments

[The Philosopher King]

Allow the Plague Inc. to begin.

Just invading Equestria instead of earth XD

[smolbep]

extinct

You make it sound like the citizens of Ponyville are their own species.

[Krysnha]

Well this looks awasoe

[sunnybun]

Just thought I could try to be helpful?

have to get more people on our side." Dr. Whooves put a hoof to his chin

ponies, not people

"How about a 'Celius awareness day?'" Dr. Whooves suggests raising a hoof.

suggests, raising a hoof
just in case you can't tell, commacommacommacomma. I added one.

Dr. Whooves says as he looks out the window. The sun sets over the horizon. "But for now, you need to rest. We will continue tomorrow." The light outside Twilight's library was quickly beginning to be overpowered with the darkness of the night.

you switched tenses. Two paragraphs ago, it was past tense.

Twilight nodded at the doctor, as to agree with him.

that doesn't quite look right. Maybe try, "Twilight nodded towards the doctor, to show that she agreed with him." Or something like that.

"Very well. I will see you tomorrow." Dr. Whooves says, and heads out of the library, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts.

you switched tenses again.

Who knows? This may be the last peaceful slumber she has.

tensesssss. "Who knew? This could be the last peaceful slumber she had." Try that, maybe? Or paraphrase it, I don't even know.

"Spike! Spike where are you!"

try "Spike? Spike, where are you?!"

sorrow as she cried in emotional pain.

what kind of other pain could she cry in? I'm not trying to seem like a jerk, but that part kind of interrupts the otherwise smooth flow you had going.

her twitching arms confirmed that she was barely alive

Legs, not arms, I think. Unless this is anthro and no-one told me.

Her tears dripping from her cheeks, and falling onto the dead Pegasus.

"Her tears dripped from her cheeks, falling onto the dead Pegasus." might be a better fit.

her own mental state at jeopardy.

in, not at.

He accepts the invitation and walks in.

accepted the invitation and walked in." tenses dunno where they belong.

It has a sort of awkwardly abrupt ending, but that's my personal opinion. Don't have to change that if you don't feel like you need to. And that goes for my other commentary, too.
Sorry if some of my additional comments made no sense, I'm a little tired and sorta loopy. Or maybe that's just me being me. But anyhow, I didn't mean to seem like an asshole, even if that's how I came across. The storyline is good, and has lots of potential.
toodles!

~Laya