Innocence
Beth panted as exhaustion racked her body. Any minute now, the child felt like she would collapse into unconsciousness. At the same time though, her wide grin of triumph barely scratched the surface of her true elation. Beside her, Sweetie Belle, her friend, and Twilight Sparkle, her teacher, clapped their hooves together, applauding Beth’s effort.
After all, it wasn’t every day that your eleven-year-old human girl levitated a broom.
“Oh, I’m so proud of you, Beth!” Twilight exclaimed. Beth smiled, too tired to voice her reply, and wobbled on her feet. Seeing her student’s exhaustion starting to take hold, Twilight rushed over and caught the girl as she fell. “Don’t worry, I got you,” Twilight said as Beth rested her weight against the lavender mare.
The human girl gave a little cough, her lungs tired from greedily gulping down air. Twilight blinked and wiped the droplets of human spittle from her muzzle with her hoof. “Oh... sorry about that... Ms. Twilight.”
“Don’t worry about it,” the alicorn replied. “I’m just worried about you. That looked like it took a lot out of you.”
Beth, after sitting down on the Golden Oaks Library floor, dismissed Twilight’s concern with a wave of her tiny hand. “It’s all good... I’m fine... Just let me catch my breath.”
“Well, that’s good.” Twilight nodded as she spoke, and then turned towards the kitchen. “I’m going to go help Spike make icecream sundaes for us all. Why don’t you and Sweetie Bell review the next lesson’s notes while you wait?”
“Icecream? SWEET!” The human and filly duo cheered.
Twilight wandered almost aimlessly down the streets of Ponyville with only a vague goal in mind. That goal was roughly ‘find Pinkie Pie,’ though considering it was the confectioner’s day off, Twilight had no real idea where to look.
As she walked, Twilight’s muscles gave an involuntary and almost unnoticeable shudder. She continued to trudge along the path regardless of the general feeling of malaise that had descended upon her in the past few days. Judging by the bags under her eyes and the distinct lack of coffee in her apartment, Twilight figured that she had had one too many late nights of studying interspersed with comforting the homesick human child that she was now raising.
And so she had set out to locate her party pony friend. If anypony could energize Twilight (and provide childcare advice at the same time), it would be Pinkie Pie. Now all she had to do was find-
“WATCH OUT!” A voice screamed out in warning. Before she could react, Twilight’s target plowed into her at a full gallop. The duo rapidly tumbled across the ground, merely a writhing pink and purple mass to onlookers, before coming to a stop, albeit with Pinkie’s lips firmly planted on Twilight's own.
They each blinked in surprise, which rapidly morphed into embarrassment as they tried to untangle themselves from one another. “Aww... That was my first kiss!” Pinkie petulantly whined. “I was saving that for my future coltfriend!”
“Bleh, I’m sorry, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “That was a bit of a surprise for me, too.”
“Meh, it’s no big deal.”
Twilight sighed in relief. “Anyway, you’re just the mare I needed to see.”
Pulling out a plastic stethoscope from her saddle bags, Pinkie asked, “Now what can Doctor Pie do for you today, Ms. Sparkle?”
Twilight giggled. “Do you have any of those coffee cupcakes on you? I could use the wakeup. And some company, if you have the time.”
“Of course, Twilight, I’d do anything for a good friend like you!”
“Prince Armor, Princess Cadance, I know that you are family, but I am afraid that I cannot let you go in there.” A hazmat suit-garbed Nurse Redheart, despite her small stature compared to the muscular unicorn and tall alicorn, firmly blocked their path into the east wing of the hospital.
“I don’t bucking CARE!” Shining Armor roared, stamping his hoof against the ground for emphasis. “That’s my sister and her friends in there! I’ve got to see them!”
“Your highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle is in the ICU with one of the most contagious diseases ever seen by pony kind! We’ve had to operate twice to keep her lungs from collapsing from the fluid buildup! You are NOT going in there!” Nurse Redheart yelled back.
Shining Armor growled and bowed his head, looking as if he was ready to skewer the mare who dared to keep him from his L.S.B.F.F. A pink hoof moved into his path, blocking him.
“Shiny, please calm down. Nurse, would it be alright if we went in with my health bubble spell active?”
Redheart shook her head dismissively. “No can-do, Princess Cadance. Whatever this thing is, it punches through any magic we throw at it. Only conventional hazmat suits can withstand this thing, and we barely have enough for the emergency staff as is. And with Rarity and Clean Room both ill, there are no ponies in Ponyville qualified to make them.”
Shining Armor’s frown deepened. “Couldn’t you call Canterlot to get more of them?”
“Already tried. It’s the same story in almost every pony inhabited city on the planet. With the exception of the Crystal Empire, which closed off its borders, as you know, every single city is sick with the pandemic,” Redheart replied. “And you’re standing in ground zero.”
“Shining,” Princess Cadance said soothingly, “perhaps we should return home before we-”
“Nope!” Redheart forcefully interjected. “Ponyville is in quarantine. Nopony leaves until this thing is cured, or we’re all dead.”
Several ponies in the nearby waiting room, who had been listening in, gasped. Throughout the room, mares burst out into tears while stallions, barely restraining their own, gently comforted them. Foals screamed and wailed, desperate to see their parents, brothers, sisters, friends, and classmates once more.
In the back of the waiting room, the one lone human cried into her hands at the thought of losing the mare that was quickly becoming like a mother figure for her. The thought that the only family Beth had on this alien world could die at any moment drove her to the brink of despair.
Every few minutes, her sobbing was punctuated by a slight cough.