The Rainbow Plague

by Prixy05

Chapter 10

Two weeks post infection...

---

“Keep still, this should only take a second,” Doctor Horse said reassuringly to his patient. Lyra didn’t answer, but kept her head still and her mouth open. She gagged as the doctor used his magic to carefully lower the pliers down her throat. She shuddered as he suddenly applied pressure. Doctor Horse nodded as he removed the pliers, “And there we go!”

“Thanks doc,” Lyra responded with a hoarse voice, giving an uneasy eye to the thing the doctor had removed from her throat. In the plier’s grasp was a single, long, sinewy leg of an iris grub, as they had come to be commonly called. Lyra had been infected by a grub much like the rest of Ponyville, and when she had forcefully vomited out the creature, one of its legs had gotten caught in her throat.

The doctor waved his patient out before quickly disposing of the insect leg into a small baggy. Lyra’s problem was unfortunately a common one. In fact, in the week since the end of the infection, the Ponyville Hospital had become swamped with patients, many suffering from clogged throats, errant goo splurges, and just plain old mental stress.

But for now, Doctor Horse had another patient to check up on.

Entering into another hospital suite, the doctor trotted up to the room’s sole patient. Rainbow Dash, the pegasus who had saved them all, remained still in her hospital bed. Sitting down, Doctor Horse began his routine checkups on her. As usual, she remained stable in her condition. While doing so, he glanced up, his eyes meeting the tired, but focused gaze of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

She had practically never left the side of the pegasus, and remained within hoofreach of Rainbow for nearly a week. Rainbow’s other friends had frequently visited of course, but the princess seemed particularly intent on remaining with Rainbow. Finishing his checkup, the doctor slowly stood up, he looked at the princess, trying to keep a neutral face, "Physically, she remains completely healthy, but in terms of her mental state, there’s only marginal improvement.” The same thing he had said every other day, with every other checkup. Twilight didn’t answer him, simply giving the doctor a nod as he left her alone with Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash had been the focus of Twilight’s attention since the whole thing ended. Like most others of the infected, she wasn’t sure what had happened near the end, with only a few distant and unclear memories. She did, however, remember rushing Rainbow to the hospital after the initial cleanup began. Rainbow, whatever she did in that cave, had saved everyone, and put herself in a coma while doing so. She had sacrificed herself for all of Equestria. To stop the rainbow plague.

Though the plague and its grubs were gone in reality, they had firmly cemented themselves in Twilight’s mind. Everyone else treated the plague and its defeat just like any of the other things that threatened to destroy Equestria, most of them wanting to put the whole affair behind them. And indeed they did; immediately after traveling back to Ponyville, the ponies were greeted by Celestia, who had escaped from her grub-induced imprisonment in Canterlot. She gave a speech, the crowd cheered, Pinkie Pie somehow put together a party to celebrate their victory, and they quickly cleaned up the damage that had been done. Even Discord, having gotten his magic back, threw in a helping claw.

However, the whole thing felt- off to Twilight. The amount of questions about the grubs and queens were numerous, and would likely remain unanswered. But for now, Twilight just hoped her friends were okay.

Suddenly, the door to the room creaked, causing Twilight to crane her head towards the entrance, expecting Doctor Horse to enter. Instead, Applejack poked her hat-wearing head in. She was followed by the rest of her friends.

They had all been busy doing various things outside. Making sure friends and family were okay, fixing up the damage, but they had each found time to visit Twilight and Rainbow.

“Hey Twilight,” said Applejack, “Just to let ya know, I finished fixing up Rainbow’s place. Is she holding up well?”

Twilight sighed, looking down at her unconscious friend, “She hasn’t gotten worse, but it doesn’t seem like she’s improved either.”

“Well, just let us know if you, or Rainbow need anything.”

“Speaking of needing anything,” said a voice from behind the door, “I got a heck of a bunch of things for you, Twilight!”

The door opened, and in toddled Spike, carrying a large stack of papers. “I got your mail for you just like you asked Twilight!” He said from behind the stack, “You’ve got messages from Celestia, Cadence, Shining Armor, heck! Pretty much everypony!”

“Thanks Spike,” Twilight responded, giving a wiry smile as she used her magic to lift the stack and place it beside her, “Answering all of these is the least I can do while I’m here.”

“Well, I hope you’re not here for much longer,” Fluttershy added timidly, “I mean- I hope Rainbow gets better soon.”

“When she gets better, I’m going to throw her the biggest ‘You Saved Equestria’ party ever!” Pinkie Pie excitedly interjected.

“Indeed,” Rarity agreed, “When she gets better, things can finally get back to normal and we can put this whole thing behind us! Celestia knows I want to forget having destroyed a whole selection of dresses in my stupor.”

“I don’t even want to think about what I did as a zompony!” Fluttershy exclaimed. A moment of silence passed between the ponies, all of them, with the exception of Applejack, silently reminiscing on the events the week prior.

”Anyways,” Twilight stated after clearing her throat, “I can’t thank you all enough for all the help you’ve been and really, just being friends I can rely on.” Her cheeks flushed with red a bit as she looked out towards the soft smiles of her friends before she turned her eyes back down to Rainbow, “I just wish Rainbow Dash was her with us right now.” She gave a sad sigh before wiping her snout and looking back up at her friends.

“Well, I guess we’ll be leaving now, other jobs to do an’ all,” Applejack said, giving a nod to Rainbow and Twilight. She turned tail towards the door and began to leave as the others followed suit, before they were stopped dead in their tracks by a voice.

“Leaving so soon?”

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight twisted back down to the hospital bed, her face filling with an expression of joy as she saw Rainbow Dash’s eyes flicker squint open.

Rainbow coughed, “Yeah, it’s me.” Almost immediately, the rest of the ponies spun around and gave a happy cheer, running back to the bed and embracing their friend with a group hug. Though she was tired, Rainbow gave them a wiry smile, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’m fine! Just passed out for a bit back there.”

“A bit!” Applejack playfully patted the pegasus’ shoulder, “You were out for a week sugarcube!”

“A week?” Rainbow nearly jumped out of her bed, “I was out for a week? What even happened? Where are the zomponies?”

Twilight tilted her head in puzzlement, “You mean you don’t remember what happened?”

“Nope! Last thing I recall is my super cool move of flying into one of the queens.”

“Hmph, I guess none of us knows what exactly happened down there,” Twilight furrowed her brow for only a moment before grinning again, “But that’s another thing for another time. Right now, I’m just happy you’re okay!”

The ponies moved in for another group hug, this one Rainbow heartily accepted, “Yeah me too. I’m glad we’re all back together again, and this time none of us are zomponies!”

Fluttershy giggled, “Yeah, no zompony, bug, or monster will ever separate these best friends ever again!”

---

The flow of rainbow waterfalls created a constant ambient sound that dulled out the other noises of the cavernous chamber. Created long ago by flowing waters underneath Rainbow Falls, these caves had been the original resting place for the original queens of the iris grubs. But now, they were empty. The grubs, rainbow goo, and queens had been cleaned out several days prior. The queen's tunnels that had dug underneath Equestria had been sealed, and royal guards had been posted in these caves, to make sure there weren't any straggler iris grubs.

And there weren’t. The caves had been peaceful in the week since the end of the infection, which prompted most of the royal guards to move elsewhere as the days continued on. Only a single guard was left, a lone pegasus stationed to guard the almost tranquil stony grotto underneath Rainbow Falls.

But in the darkness of one of the tunnels, something stirred. Out of the tunnel waddled two iris grubs, using their lengthy limbs to drag their bloated bodies into the chamber. They were skinnier now, having lost weight after being disconnected from their hosts. The two bugs mindlessly chittered to one another, being no more intelligent than any other bug, as their intelligence was dependent on their connection to the pony and the hive.

This particular duo of grubs were spared from the collapse of hivemind, having been ejected and abandoned in the tunnels previously by their hosts, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They had spent the last week slowly making their way to the chamber, seeking their calling.

The two iris grubs landed on the ground with a plop, crawling past a rocky outcropping, crawling over the hooves of the royal guard. The lone guard had been stationed there, but he was unconscious now and no threat to the grubs.

And so the grubs ignored the guard, giving out a high pitched chitter as they met the hooves of another pony. The grubs clinged onto the dark-colored hoof of the pony, who raised the pests to examine them.

The pony smiled underneath their dark purple cloak and hood.

Yes, the iris grubs had failed, and these two grubs were near worthless now, but the rainbow plague had been a very educational experience. For the iris grub had been created in another time, a time without the elements of harmony or the princesses, and they were unable to adapt, and fell because of it.

“I guess I shall save you two for later,” the cloaked pony presumed with a chuckle, placing the grubs upon their back. And without another word, the pony and the grubs turned, proceeding into the darkness of a tunnel, leaving the chamber of rainbows.

Comments

[TheAlienBrony22]

Oooohhh, this was a good story.

[AgentKorpsman]

“I guess I shall save you two for later,” the cloaked pony presumed with a chuckle, placing the grubs upon their back. And without another word, the pony and the grubs turned, proceeding into the darkness of a tunnel, leaving the chamber of rainbows.

Sequel perhaps?

[darklight731]

Well then, I guess there will be no happy ending after all.
Should`ve cleansed the caves with fire, just to be safe.
Amazing work as always!

[LastToTheParty]

Nice story . Looking forward how things will be continued further on and who our misterious adversery could be.

[Starlight Nova]

Why isn’t there a tragedy tag? Is it because of the squeal?