Transparent Living

by PinoyPony

Chapter 28: Disaster During Presentations

Dazzle sat with crossed legs. It was the day after the first presentations and she was already bored out of her mind. Even though the other schools went first, she still had to attend. Hopefully now was the day that the judges got to them.

She caught herself dozing off a couple times, trying to fight off the urge to sleep.

If only she had brought her homework from Mrs. Paprika’s room… she could’ve gotten a bunch of studying done. That, and her body was fighting for an afternoon nap.

At least Bling and Vertigo were okay. They were probably having a blast right now. Vertigo eagerly invited them to see a trick that her and Bling learned. Unfortunately, Dazzle had to decline since the competition couldn’t wait. Thankfully, Vertigo was a good sport. Both Vertigo and Bling said that they would continue practicing so they could show them when the competition was over.

Dazzle jolted awake when she heard the sound of Napoleon slapping his book shut.

Through foggy vision, Dazzle could see him in a blur, as she sunk in and out of sleep.

“Long Night?” Napoleon asked.

“Yeah.” Dazzle yawned. “I was up trying to play catch-up with my assignments. Mrs. Paprika gave me the assignments I was missing.”

“Same here.” Napoleon set the book down. “The hardest part was the literature.”

Dazzle shook her head and chuckled. “I thought you loved to read…”

“It has to be of my own choice. Forcing me to read something takes the fun out of it.” Napoleon hopped out of his chair. “It doesn’t matter though. We need you bright-eyed and ready to spring into action.” He held out a hoof.

Dazzle, in her half-conscious state, reached out with a mild dizziness and finally grasped his hoof.

He helped her out of the chair. Through the fogginess, everything whirled around her. She could feel her body fight between the two sides of sleepiness and consciousness. At this point, even the gym floor looked like a good place to take a nap.

“I have a good cure for sleepiness.” Napoleon said. He fished in his backpack and grabbed a pencil and some scratch paper. He held them out for Dazzle. “Let’s review our presentation.”

Dazzle accepted, yawned again, then stuck the pencil in her mouth. “Ready.”

“Okay, so, first we start off with the beginning, heating up the lye and the fat.” He said.

Napoleon had just the right thing in mind. Her sleepiness faded away as she took careful notes. As soon as she noticed her writing becoming scratchy, she pushed off the urge to fall asleep. When she was through the last of it, a judge trotted towards their board. Napoleon zipped up to him as soon as he spotted him.

“Good morning.” Napoleon greeted promptly.

“Good morning.” The Stallion set the clipboard in his mouth down on the counter and held out his hoof. “Mr. Yorsets.”

“Napoleon.” Napoleon smiled and shook his hoof. Dazzle could tell that he was giddy, but tried to keep his composure. She would be lying if she didn’t see a little shake in his tail from the excitement.

“Looks like you know your magic.” Mr. Yorsets waved to his posterboard. “Can you tell me a little more about your experiment?”

“With pleasure! We did a modification of a classical Meadowbrookian experiment.” Napoleon waved out to a couple pictures and charts, giving the basic rundown of the process.

Overall, Dazzle figured Napoleon would do just as well solo as he were in a group. While he led most of presentation, she only added a couple spark notes, to add simplicity and show her participation.

“…And so, Mr. Yorsets, we found that the ab-staining spell worked best within the fifty-fifty percent range of lye and fat.” Napoleon presented the conclusion section. “We also found that synthetic fibers conduct magic better than natural fibers.”

Mr Yorsets nodded. “Well done! Second Meadowbrookian Postulate! Non-organics can become strong magic conductors when a mediator, such as soap, bridges the gap!” He nodded his head. “Well done. My advice for you next time is that you let your partner talk. But other than that, A plus!”

Napoleon glanced back to Dazzle, sheepishly smiled, then turned back to Mr. Yorsets. He took one of the soap bottles from the crate and held it out to Mr. Yorsets. “Here is a sample of what Dazzle and I were able to make.”

He smiled and accepted. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Dynamite.” He bowed and trotted away.

“You’re welcome, Mr. Yorsets.” Napoleon bowed back.

Once Mr. Yorsets disappeared out of view, Napoleon turned to Dazzle with a wide smile. “That was Bastion Yorsets!”

“Bastion Yorsets?” Dazzle asked.

“Blasphemy!” Napoleon teased. “He’s one of the executives from CSGU!” Napoleon sat on his haunches. “I really hope I made a good impression!”

Dazzle snickered. “Don’t worry. That fact that you were calm and collected says a lot. Plus, I think a little bottle of soap couldn’t have hurt.”

Napoleon shuffled his hooves and squealed quietly.

THWACK!

Dazzle nearly leapt out of her skin. She looked over to the doors of the gym, from where the sound came from. Little Cookie rushed down the aisle with tear-filled eyes. The only words that Dazzle could make out from in between in hiccups was ‘Help’.

“Woah, woah, woah! Little Cookie, what’s wrong?” Dazzle asked as she stepped away from their presentation stand and stopped her in the middle of the aisle.

She looked at Dazzle with teary eyes, almost like streams gushing down the side of her face. “A-arct-tic Ar-ar-row! His h-horn!”

Dazzle’s heart dropped in her chest. It couldn’t have hit here, could it?

Suddenly, Bulk Buster burst through the doors. He huffed, then confirmed the suspicion. “Corrosion! Outside!”

---

Dazzle pushed through floods of students. Some clamoring, but most of them trying to push forward towards the scene of the incident. For a moment, Dazzle wondered if she was going the right way. The lack of visibility of anything amidst the sea of foals made it hard to get her bearings.

“Dazzle! Dazzle! Wait up!” Napoleon’s voice pierced through the din.

Dazzle turned around just in time as Napoleon squeezed through the crowd. His white coat brushed up against hers. “Quite a crowd, huh?” he chuckled.

“Yep.” Dazzle said. “Also going to see what the fuss is about?”

“Yes.” He sighed. “I’m really hope it’s not severe.”

They pushed further through the crowds, some protesting them to watch where they were going. Of course, Dazzle didn’t care. This could’ve been her doing, after all. She noted to herself to clean her coat thoroughly after visiting the labs.

“Quite an inopportune time to have a breakout.” Napoleon commented. “The Corrosion seems to always ruin my plans.”

“You must have very bad luck.” Dazzle looked back at him and stuck her tongue out. She turned back to weave through the crowd. Surprisingly, the crowd had thinned. “Gosh, it’s so hard to see, I don’t know if we are going in the right direction.”

“We are.” Napoleon looked up. “Something that doesn’t change are the walls surrounding this courtyard.” He pointed toward one wall of the school.

Dazzle looked up also. “What happened to the flurry of pegasai foals that were learning to fly?” Then, out of the corner of her eye, a yellow blob zipped across the sky. When she turned her to look, she gasped.

A Pegasus dressed in a hazmat suit carried a shiny metal canister towards the scene.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Napoleon said. “Wait! Bling and Vertigo!” He rushed forward ahead of her. “Quickly! I see yellow tape!”

Dazzle followed Napoleon and broke through the barrier, all gathered around the yellow tape. A whole section of the courtyard was taped off. Teachers, janitors, and advisors guarded the perimeter while ponies dressed yellow hazmat suits sprayed the area with a white dust.

As soon as Dazzle saw the quarantine- and who was in it- her heart stopped.

“Vertigo!” Napoleon cried out. He ducked under the yellow tape and charged.

“Stop, Napoleon! We’re unicorns!” Dazzle yanked him back. “We’ll catch it too if you go any closer!”

As he wriggled more to evade her grasp, a teal aura suddenly enveloped him.

To Dazzle’s surprise, she found Ms. Paprika’s horn glowing. She had never seen the true color of her teacher’s aura.

“Ms. Paprika! You aren’t prote―!” Dazzle protested.

“I know.” Ms. Paprika said. “I don’t care. If I had to choose between one of my students or me to get Corrosion, I’d take the fall each time.”

Napoleon fell to the ground, limp as a ragdoll. Ms. Paprika levitated him towards her.

“Napoleon. You know better than charging straight into a Corrosion lockdown.” She scolded, but in a calm, gentle way.

Napoleon’s avoided eye contact with her.

“I understand where you are coming from. You’re brave and will do anything for the ponies you care about, even if that means putting yourself in harm’s way.” Ms. Paprika gave him a gentle smile. “Just like I’m doing for you now.”

“But I never said goodbye!” Napoleon cried.

Mrs. Paprika picked him up. “I know it hurts. My mother, Peppercorn, passed away because of this.”

Napoleon stopped wresting out of her grasp.

“But you know what hurt the most? I couldn’t say goodbye because the doctors said I’d catch it.” Ms. Paprika finished. Tears filled her eyes.

Napoleon hugged her. Ms. Paprika embraced him back.

Out of the corner of Dazzle’s eye, she spotted an eerie sight. A pony wearing a hazmat stopped a purple and yellow pegasus foal approaching the yellow tape. The opposite side of the yellow tape, to be exact. Bling’s ears drooped and his head slumped to the ground. After inspection around the wings, the guard let him pass the tape.

“What happened?” Dazzle asked as soon as he was permitted to pass.

He turned to her with puffy red eyes. “It’s my fault. I’m sorry!” He bolted away into the crowd.

“Bling!” Dazzle called out. Before she could chase him, he disappeared into the sea of clamoring students. Dazzle sighed and turned back to the site. She stared out as long as she could bear at her friend, Vertigo sat on a foldable metal table. Without a fight, the hazmat suited ponies sprayed a familiar substance- a white powder on the bridge of her wings. Then, they fitted a pair of glass containers over her wings. To finish, they strapped the glass together, pinning her wings to her sides.

Altogether, she sometimes flinched, but never wrestled. She had the strength to fight back too.

Each of them had a glass fitted to either their wings or their horn. Some fought it, some of them let it happen, like Vertigo. There must’ve been at least thirty foals lined up. As she studied the quarantined foals, she spotted Artic Arrow, the one colt that Little Cookie mentioned. Others stood out as well, but it was a mixture of passerbys and familiar faces from the school. With the ones that were unfamiliar, she really hoped nopony from the other schools had caught it because the majority of visitors were unicorns.

“Just so happens to be on the same day we invite two different schools to join us.” Ms. Lagoon growled. “Looks like the atmosphere of multiplying the number of Unicorns in our school for one day only gives this Tartaric disease a breeding ground.”

“Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing.” Dazzle turned to the gym teacher. “Is there anypony in there that is from the other schools?” She figured that Ms. Lagoon would know since she practically had every foal in her class.

“Thankfully I haven’t noticed any so far. All the faces I’ve come across are definitely ours.” Ms. Lagoon said.

“Dazzle! Dazzle!” Mrs. Paprika shouted as she squeezed through the crowd toward her. Napoleon followed close to her side. “Hey Dazzle, there is a Nurse here that wants to talk to you.” She pointed towards a mare pushing through the crowd and following Mrs. Paprika. Dazzle immediately recognized the Pristine white coat and red hair accented with green ridges over the wings.

“Nurse Radius!” Dazzle rushed up to her. “What are you doing here?”

“I was sent here in a hurry as soon as Doctor Fuse received word that the Corrosion hit here.” Mrs. Radius said. “He’s finishing up a report and will be here within the hour.” She looked towards the enclosure. “I have something for you.” She took out a laminated card with Dazzle’s Photo and few lines of information that stated her name and her Identification.

“Really? I thought I wasn’t clear to go into the labs for another week.”

“Think of it as an early Birthday Present from Yttrium.” Nurse Radius said. She motioned towards the enclosure. “Normally, we’d wait a week, but since Corrosion has made itself apparent here, we need as many hooves on the floor as possible. Not to mention that an Earth Pony is an advantage.”

“How did you know where I was?” Dazzle asked.

“I’ll tell you later.” Nurse Radius pointed towards the enclosure, where quarantine tents were being set up at the current moment. “We need to move. Corrosion isn’t waiting any longer.”

“What about my tiara?” Dazzle asked. “I don’t have it on me.”

“We can adjust as necessary.” Nurse Radius lifted up the tape.

“What do you need me to do?” Dazzle asked.

“Take roll of the names of all affected and how badly.” Nurse Radius said. “After that, we wait for further instruction from Mane-hattan North’s Director as well as the governor of Mane-hattan.”

“That official. Wow, we really need to work quickly...” Dazzle said.

“Yep. The more we get done the better we can contain and study the Curse.” Nurse Radius said. “I know it’s kind of like being thrown into the deep end, but are you okay with helping?”

“Certainly!” Dazzle said.

Suddenly, a thought popped into her mind. Since she was going to go see the foals in quarantine, she could multitask ―in the form of passing a message along. “Hold on, let me take care of something first and I’ll be right with you.” Dazzle trotted up to Napoleon first. “Hey Napoleon?”

He turned to Dazzle. The fact that she saw him in his broken and vulnerable state like this made her heart fall to pieces. His main characteristic was apathy. He never really showed emotion other than when talking Chemistry. Even when he was teased, he kept his emotions in control. Something that Dazzle had yet to master. To see him like this caused her to wither on the inside.

“I’m going to see Vertigo with Nurse Radius.” Dazzle explained. “Is there anything that you want to say to Vertigo?”

“Uhm… Hic… I don’t know.” Napoleon sniffled.

Dazzle shook her head. “Napoleon, now isn’t the time to be unsure. You won’t be seeing her for a while.” She had learned to calm down patients because if she told them really how it was, it would hinder their recovery. On the other side, the reverse was also true. The Placebo effect at its finest. Plus, she couldn’t just tell him right now that there was a chance that Vertigo may not make it.

“Tell her she is the most amazing Pegasus I’ve ever met.” Napoleon said. “Tell her I’m sorry for not being there when she needed me.”

Dazzle nodded. Dazzle turned to Nurse Radius who was dressing in a hazmat suit. She trotted towards her.

“Dazzle?” Napoleon stuttered.

“Yes?” Dazzle stopped dead in her tracks and turned towards him.

“Tell Vertigo I love her.” Napoleon said.

Ms. Paprika’s eyes widened.

“You should show how you feel more often. It looks good on you!” Dazzle waved to both of them before ducking under the yellow tape.

Nurse Radius instructed Dazzle once she got close. “Mr. Filter here will help you into a hazmat suit. Even though you are immune, it’s still a good idea to protect yourself and others.”

Dazzle nodded as she was helped into a tiny hazmat suit. It was certainly made for an older pony, but luckily it wasn’t overly baggy. They zipped it shut and put the plastic seal over the zipper.

“C’mon. We don’t have much time.” Nurse Radius’s voice echoed in her suit. “The Shield Ambulances will be here shortly. We will need to work to contain this fast.”

---

Dazzle wrote down the name of the pony on the clipboard she visited last before writing down Vertigo’s name. She already knew who was up next, and wanted to surprise her. She slipped through the entrance of the enclosure slowly, sneaking up to Vertigo.

Vertigo’s ears drooped. She stared at the ground, zoning off.

Now was the prime opportunity to surprise her. Dazzle approached the edge of the table slowly. “Vertigo?”

Vertigo yipped and fell off the table. “Dazzle?!”

“Easy there. You don’t want to shatter any of that glass.” Dazzle said, running to catch her.

Vertigo quickly regained her balance, twirled around, and gave Dazzle a big hug. “How did you…?”

“Get past quarantine?” Dazzle asked, trying her best to embrace her with plasticky hooves. “I have friends on the inside. That… plus I’m an earth pony. We have perks too.”

Vertigo chuckled. She pointed to her wings. “Well, I guess I’m going to have to play earth pony for a little while too.”

Dazzle chuckled. As she examined the carefully wrapped wings, she noticed something colorful on Vertigo’s tan flank. “Vertigo! You got your cutie mark!”

“I know.” Vertigo’s ears drooped. “It’s kinda cruel.”

“Why?!” Dazzle said.

Vertigo posed to sport her cutie mark― a heart with a dizzy face on it. The face had swirly eyes and a goofy smile. “I got it while doing a free-fall with Bling. But when I got it, I felt a burning in my wings. Suddenly, I only could fly upside down! It was like my movements got reversed! Instead of flying up, I hurtled towards the ground, everything was switched!”

“Shielded Ambulance coming in T-minus- twenty minutes.” A stallion over the intercom said.

Vertigo shook her head. “Chances are that I’ll be going through treatment for a long time.” She said. “I already know what they are going to do to me.”

Dazzle knew it from the labs. First, they needed to soak her wings in a pH bath, then, allow the feathers to grow back. It will be an extremely painful process for her.

But, knowing Vertigo, and her cheerful demeanor, Dazzle was ninety-nine percent sure that she was going to survive. She will be able to fly again. Just a trial she had to go through.

“You know what the worst part is?” Vertigo sighed “Once I got my cutie mark, I also saw a bunch of other foal’s unicorn horns fizzling. I think earning my cutie mark had something to do with it!” She sighed. “Above all, I feel bad for Bling. Somehow, he didn’t catch it, but I think he feels bad for causing the chain reaction. It’s not his fault. He only helped me get my cutie mark.”

Dazzle nodded. Perhaps she should tell Yttrium when he got here.

Another pony with a yellow hazmat suit entered the room. “We’ll be leaving in fifteen minutes, Ms. Heart. I will need you to get back on the table and lay down. The Frost team will be here shortly.” He slipped back out.

Vertigo hopped onto the table.

“Frost team?” Dazzle asked.

“They are going to put me in a cold chamber. Supposedly, the disease slows down in the cold. It also alleviates some of the burning.” Vertigo said. She smiled. “It’s supposed to be as cold as dry ice. Though I’m not worried about it. Pegasai are used to extreme conditions.”

Dazzle shook her head. “How come you are still so happy, Vertigo?” She swished her tail. “You’re in pain, aren’t you?”

“Thank Napoleon.” Vertigo hopped up and laid down on the table. “Napoleon taught me to be strong. I can see why you chose him as a friend.”

Dazzle smiled. “You are also a good friend. He wanted to tell you that you’ve helped him also. He wanted to say sorry for not being there.”

Another pony, this time in a blue hazmat suit, stepped in. The suit was fitted with all sorts of protective gear as if it were designed for artic research. He trotted over to the table and started to undo the strap pinning her wings. He was followed by a mare coming in with a similar suit.

“Tell him it’s okay.” Vertigo said, wincing every often as the glass covering was undone. “I’ll show him my cutie mark once I’m out of treatment.”

“You! Filly in the Hazmat! We will need to leave the room. We’ll be releasing Ms. Heart’s wings.” The third pony in a blue suit instructed.

“Understood.” Dazzle said. “One last thing though.”

She turned to Vertigo. She tried to deadpan, but she could feel the corners of her mouth lift because she was couldn’t keep the mischievous smirk off her face. “Napoleon wanted to say one last thing.”

“Oh?” Vertigo cupped her lips.

“Napoleon says he loves you.”

Silence penetrated the room. Dazzle took that as her que to step out. She waited until she was on the other side of the curtains to burst out in laughter.

“Dazzle! How dare you!” Vertigo shouted jokingly behind her.

The hazmat suits grunted. “Okay, the volunteer’s gone. Remove the glass.” One of them instructed.

---

By the time Dazzle came out of the quarantine and got sprayed with white powder, Napoleon came up to her. “How’s she doing?” He asked.

He still had watery red eyes matched with croaky voice, but altogether, he was back to composed.

“Great.” Dazzle answered. She figured she’d get down to business. She still needed to take care of one more friend. “Do you know where Bling is?”

“He wasn’t in the tents?” Napoleon asked, pointing towards the quarantine.

“Nope. He was cleared by the guard and was allowed to walk out.” Dazzle explained.

“Huh. Weird.” Napoleon raised an eyebrow. “You saw him, but why didn’t you approach him?”

“I did. We talked briefly.” Dazzle said. “And by brief, I mean he ran away a soon as soon as I said the first word. When talking to Vertigo, she mentioned he felt guilty for causing it.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” Napoleon said. “But, what did he cause? Why does he feel guilty?”

“Sorry. I wasn’t clear.” Dazzle said. “He feels bad for causing Corrosion.”

“That’s just ridiculous!” Napoleon “It was nopony’s fault.”

“I agree.” Dazzle said. “Though I think he feels bad for being unaffected. He was in the center of it, pulling off a dive with Vertigo, when everything went to chaos. Whilst everypony was catching the fizzle, he stood unaffected. That’s why he probably feels bad.”

“Survivor’s guilt.” Napoleon said. “We’d better get a move-on and find him.”

“Okay, but first, we need to ask permission.” Dazzle suggested. “Let Ms. Paprika know where we are going.

“Mrs. Paprika,” Napoleon approached her teacher. “I need to go and find my friend. Dazzle will be joining me. Is it okay if we go?”

Mrs. Paprika nodded. “Just come to the commons when you are done. That is our rendezvous point during fire drills.”

“Okay.” Napoleon nodded. “We got the green, Dazzle! Let’s go!”

Author's Note:

Important blog post (you could probably tell what it is about by the title): https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/903015/okay-before-you-judge-me-for-being-a-covid-19-clickbaiter-heres-a-little-disclaimer