Patient Zero
Floral Pattern scratched at the unbearable itch on her hoof. In the three days since she had arrived at the Crystal Empire, to start a new life with her husband and daughter, the itch had slowly grown. At first it seemed like a bug bite, now it felt like a rash. Had she gotten a rash? Or perhaps a bug bite?
She wondered if she should go to the doctor? She didn't feel sick, and she was sure it was just something minor.
But for now, she smiled and ignored the itch. She looked down at her foal, little Copper Heart, who walked beside her as they browsed the market. Copper looked up at her and smiled, and Floral smiled even brighter.
For a few moments, she even forgot about that pesky itch.
Floral Pattern sat at the doctors patient table, trying desperately to not scratch at the burning itch on her hoof. In over two weeks, the itch had covered her hoof and nearly her entire arm. And the skin under her fur, felt flaky and hard. She had put aside her schedule today to go to the doctors to have it looked at once more.
The first time, she had gone when she felt the itch spread across her entre hoof. But the doctor couldn't see anything other then some inflammation and prescribed some anti swelling medication. But that hadn't worked.
Now she was back once more, and she watched with a worried look as the doctor looked at her arm.
"Doctor, do you know what's wrong?" She asked.
The doctor looked up, then took up some papers on a board.
"It looks like a skin rash. You said you were a recent immigrant here right? I take it you experienced your first Crystalling right?" The doctor said.
"Yes. We arrived during the Crystal Fair at the start of the year." Floral said.
The doctor nodded, "That explains it. Its called the Crystal Rash. It occurs all the time in non Crystal ponies who are here during the Crystalling. Just a magical side effect, normally it goes away after a week or two, though sometimes it can be a month. The rash shouldn't spread any further and I can prescribe an ointment to help with the itchiness."
"But my husband and daughter are fine." Floral said, still not sure.
The doctor shrugged, "The Crystal Rash is a magical ailment, sometimes it affects ponies sometimes it doesn't. You're a unicorn, and we find the rash affects unicorns more then other ponies. It has something to do with your magic."
Floral sighed, "Oh."
The doctor smiled, "Don't worry. You will be fine."
The doctor wrote out the prescription, which Floral took and headed out of the clinic. She felt a little bit better, but she still felt worried. Perhaps that was just the rash driving her nuts, and she was sure that once she could lather herself in the ointment she would feel a lot better.
Yes, things would be better soon.
Floral watched in a blurry haze as she was rushed into the hospital, her husband with her for as long as he could before being forced back by doctors as she entered into a different room.
Everything was so confusing and the world hard to focus on.
Shouldn't she be at home? She had to take her medicine today.
"Symptoms?" A voice said.
Floral tried to look and saw the images of doctors about her, and she saw a lot of them near her arm. Her eyes looked down as she watched her once gold brown fur give way to dark, hard stone like patches of dark crystals. The crystals went up her entire arm and up and down the left side of her body and neck.
"Fever. Cough. The patients husband said she had felt an itch two and a half weeks ago. Strange, black crystal growths that seem to grow further on the body." Another said.
Floral tried to speak up, but found herself took tired and her head to hot to even think on the words. She could only watch as she was pushed out of the room to another room, before she felt really sleepy and the world went dark.
Floral Pattern lay on her bed, her body aching from her arm, to the side of her face and down her body. Even the slightest movement sent waves of pain as she felt the dark crystal like growths, moving on her body.
She had been in the hospital for two days now, and so far she couldn't get an answer when she would leave, or what was wrong with her.
"Hello Floral."
Floral moved an eye, the only one not covered by the strange growths, to see her nurse, who wore once more a mask and suit.
"So...am I going to die?" she asked, feeling tears come to her eye.
"What!? No!" The nurse said quickly, "Please just understand, your illness is still largely unknown, and we don't know how it can spread. We are just taking every precaution. But we are doing everything we can, and you will be out of here in no time."
kill....
Floral's ear perked and she looked around.
"D-did you hear that?" She asked.
"W-What? Hear what?" The nurse asked, as she came over to do her regular inspection of Floral.
Kill....kill......kill.....
"Th-that...." Floral said, hearing the voice again. Her heart began to race and she winced as she felt the crystals on her start to move again.
"I'm sorry no. You might just be hearing things from the fever. It will pass in time. Are your in any pain?"
"M-My head hurts....I-AGGGHHHH!" Floral started, before she felt the Crystals tear up further and then a sudden stabbing pain in her head that made everything go dark.
"AGHHHHHHHH!" A scream went out from Patient 18770s room. The sound of screaming and tearing drew several orderlies to the scene.
What they saw, sent many into throwing up their lunch, as the saw the patient, whose body was now covered across the entire half of her body, in dark crystal like growths as she tore and bludgeoned the limp body of one of the nurses; her face now nothing more then a crushed up piece of red meat and broken bone.
The patient looked up and screamed again before charging, tackling one of the orderlies with strength surprising, and began biting his face, tearing and beating with her hooves and stabbing with her growth covered horn.
Screams sounded across the hall as others tried to pull the rampaging mare off, and even with three strong stallions she still managed to gouge or bite two of them, and break the neck of the other before she suddenly went still.
Floral's whole body soon spasmed about as she screamed one last blood curdling scream as the Crystal growths soon grew to cover her entire body and in another instant, exploded, sending dark crystal shards everywhere, including into several patients, nurses and doctors.
Though the scene in the hospital was quiet, outside the building, in areas of the Crystal Empire Capital, the once calm city was now washed in a single noise.
Of blood thirsty screams, and crystal shattering explosions.