Grandma visits the Nursery (PAARS)

[Becka *Pone*]

Bella had been true to her word and come as soon as she could to Karma's aid. On her back she'd packed alot of soup stock (it had just been sitting in their freezer anyways - Bella and Canto had been eating out more often as of late, not having much time to cook dinners), and alot of tea from Dark. She had also packed some clean linens and towels - from what she heard the constant laundering of the sheets was starting to wear some of the cheaper fabrics out, and they were gaining large holes and frayed edges.

But more importantly than the objects packed on her back was her health and vitality, for PAARS hadn't yet spread in Dream Valley like an epidemic - only a few pockets here and there had arisen so far.

Not bothering with the doorbell or knocking (afterall, it was, technically, her daughter's home, and Bella was always welcome), she opened the door and took a step back at the reek of bleach, sickness, and soup that hit her seagreen nose. "Oh Rainbows," she said and held a hoof over her nose to mute the offending sense.

A tired orange head poked itself around the doorway and broke into a effort-full smile. "Grandma Bella!" Sherbet exclaimed with relief, "we thought you wouldn't be here til tommorrow!"

Bella smiled under her hoof - all the children had taken to calling her 'Grandma Bella' at her insistance during her last visit. "Well, I told Karma I would come as soon as I could, and it takes much less time to fly here by yourself than it does with a family." Breathing through her mouth she untied the pack from her back and dropped it on the floor next to the door. She had packed the linens on the bottom so the harder objects wouldn't hurt her back, and the sound of the soup and tea was muffled as it landed. Better, she thought, for the sleeping children.

"May I?" she asked and opened a window without waiting for an answer. The temperature outside was not quite warm, but the cool breeze that blew into the stuffy house could only help the feverish fillys and colts inside. Rainbows-help any unfortunate passerbys that had to pass through the undiluted stink that would undoubtably seep out.

"Hello Bella!" echoed from the kitchen as Karma kept the soup and tea hot and fresh. "Hello!" Bella called back as she bent down to unpack all of the soup and tea stocks. With an arm-full of cans, boxes, and plastic containers, she entered the kitchen and gave Sherbet, the only healthy-looking foal, a kiss on the top of her head. "Hello darling, how are you feeling?"

"Sleepy," Sherbet said honestly as she looked up with lidded eyes. "But as soon as dinner is finished and cleaned up Karma said I could go to bed. All the laundry is done for the day." She gave a large yawn, covering her mouth with the back of her hoof before going back unloading the dishwasher and getting the bowls and spoons and teacups ready for the evening round.

"And you, Karma? Are you feeling ok?"

She turned with a tired smile of her own, "yes, as well as can be expected. You look like you're still doing fine."

"I'd hope you'd tell me the truth otherwise," Bella smiled, but in the back of her mind wondered exactally how long she would herself stay healthy. The news coming out of Ponyville was not good, and she thought perhaps the news coming out was not the same as the news being portioned out to those stuck in the city. Afterall, high morale was the best pancea known, and hopelessness the quickest killer. Mayor Pie would be stupider than many thought him if he let the people of Ponyville know the real danger they were in - assuming he knew himself.

"Why don't you take a break?" she placed a hoof on Karma's shoulder to take over stirring. "Go check on the foals and make sure everyone's comfortable, and maybe step outside for a bit of cool, fresh air. I'll keep things in line here."

Karma nodded and let the older peg take over without comment. She went to inspect the ranks of cots in the living room, and make sure everyone was still alive.

[Crescent]

[[I assume we can come to this thread? ^-^

cont. from Cotton Candy Cafe]]

Rogue walked up to the Nursery door and stopped there. Tramp was still floating unconscious nearby, and Angel was hovering over his shoulder. That was really beginning to annoy him now, but he let it go for the moment. He suspected that Poppy was somewhere there still - usually it was not so easy to get rid of the little creature, and he couldn't very well wink at the moment.

He raised a hoof and knocked on the door, hoping for a speedy answer.

[tahlise]

Chemica stood a foot or two behind Rogue and Angel. She could tell that he really did not like her hovering so close to him, but he seemed to tolerate it for the sake of his brother. This day was turning out to be completely strange, indeed. Here she was with ponies she'd just met to help an stallion she didn't even know. And now, they had come to the make-shift shelter for the homeless. She wondered if this was really a good idea or not. She moved aside, a bit to the left of Rogue, so she could se the suspended, unconcious unicorn. "He would have healed me....even in his condition..." She let the thought swim around in her head as she watched him hover with his brother's magic, waiting in front of the closed door. Her eyes never left his form.

[Becka *Pone*]

Hearing the knock at the door, Bella sent Sherbet hurrying over to see who it was. The filly opened the door, looking up at the group with tired eyes that were unphased by the site of the floating, unconcious pony. "Is he sick or hurt?" she asked automatically, having realized long ago that sick and injured ponies often sought the nursery's healer before any other. If he was injured somehow they may be able to do something for him, but if he were sick like the rest of them then all they could do was wait.

*****

Karma poked her head into the hallway to make sure the door had been taken care of, and seeing that it had went back to checking on the children. None of them were getting any better, and as she scanned the ranks of cots with her eyes one in particular caught her notice. The aura in that bed was black, and slowly fading to nothing, leaving the empty body of a tiny filly, her neck swollen purple and eyes bulging. Luckily, most of the other children were asleep and couldn't see the filly, so Karma hurried over and picked her up, wrapping her in her blankets quickly so none of the foals disturbed by the noise would wake up and see the horrible sight.

"Oh Rainbows, please no, not a child." She moved into the back hallway and to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it behind her before placing the bundle on the floor and unwrapping it. But it was too late, there was no more aura surrounding the body - Baby Sea Spray was dead. Unsure what exactally she should do, Karma wrapped the bundle up again and opened the door, peeking out down the hall to the front door, and then the other way to the back. She couldn't leave the body here, waiting to be found by a stranger or another sick child, but she couldn't exactally take it to the kitchen to ask Bella for help either. They should bury it, obviously, but the flower garden out back seemed like a poor place to do such a thing.

Racked by a sudden attack of coughing, Karma decided just to take it out back and leave it covered until she could get Bella to help her bury it somewhere. She made sure those at the front door were not looking and made her way quietly back down the hallway and to the back door, where she placed the bundle, securely wrapped, against the side of the house and went back inside to tell Bella quietly what happened and find out what to do. Rainbows she wished Kail were back.

[Crescent]

Rogue was rather startled by the way the filly answered to the door - seeming as though this happened every day. Now he was beginning to get a little worried.

"Uh, sick," he said. "I don't... I don't know what's really wrong, he just collapsed and..." Suddenly he felt there was a sneeze coming on, and after a moment of trying to hold it, he had to let it burst out, achooing violently. Afterwards he frowned a bit, having still not made the connection between his brother's illness and his own; stupid flu messing with him. "Anyway, I brought him here, as I wasn't sure where else. I thought it was just a flu."

Angel nearby continued to stand quietly, quite unnerved by now. She didn't really want to be surrounded by all these sick ponies and hoped that Rogue would take her away soon. She hardly even noticed the vague dizziness and sense of weight she had in her head.

[Becka *Pone*]

Sherbet nodded in understanding when Rogue said the pony was sick, and motioned for them all to come in. "We've got alot of sick ponies right now," she explained, as she tried to think of where they could put him. She peeked into the room full of sick foals, noticing the empty cot without dwelling right away on what that would mean. "Well, we do have a space we can put him in, if you don't mind all the kids."

"Is everything ok, Sherbet?" Bella called from the kitchen, where she was busy spooning soup into bowls and mugs.

"It's fine! I'm taking care of it," Sherbet replied and led the other ponies through the rows of sick foals to the empty spot that had been occupied by Baby Sea Spray. She picked up the remaining blankets, ran them to the laundry pile on the side of the room, and grabbed fresh blankets from the "clean" pile. They didn't bother to fold them, with the turnover rate as quick as it was, and the pile of linens was probably infected even though it had been washed, but at least it would be more comfortable to lay on then the old, sweat-soaked bunch she removed.

Making a hasty bed, she nodded to place the sick pony on it. "We are about to bring out supper. You can stay and eat if you like."

[tahlise]

Chemica had watched silently as Sherbert and Rogue spoke. The pony did seem to treat this whole matter as if it was an everyday occurrence! Despite how careful one of the ponies had been, the white mare had caught a glimpse of the pony taking something outside, but she did not know exactly what it was. Chemica had also heard the mare's violent coughing. Was everybody sick? Rogue fell into a fit of sneezing while Angel seemed to really want to leave....now!

Sherbert took them inside, passing all the cots with very sick foals on them. They were all so young and they did not look good at all. "Sick... they're all so sick..." Chemica said it under her breath so only she could hear. She looked at the faces of the babies as they passed. What was going on? Then her green eyes fell on the empty cot that Sherbert was preparing for Tramp. "Empty..." her eyes grew wide as a horrible realization was trying to come over her. She looked back in the direction that the mare had gone with that bundle. "It couldn't be..." she whispered to herself. Shaking her head, she tried to shake the thought, but as the minutes in this place passed, she began to get that awful feeling again. She tried to push it aside and think. "What is going on...?"

Sherbert's voice broke through her thoughts. "We are about to bring out supper. You can stay and eat if you like."

Chemica wasn't too sure she wanted to stay in this place. "If so many are sick like this"... she pushed her thoughts back deep into the back of her mind and tried to turn her attention to Tramp, hoping that someone could help him. Still, her heart went out to all the young ones who lay coughing and sneezing or worse. She could not understand why so many were so ill. All she could ask herself was, "What is going on..?"

[Crescent]

Rogue followed the filly inside, looking around carefully and quietly as he floated Tramp ahead of him. A terrible cold hand seemed to grip his heart as he stared at all the sick ponies around them. His eyes went anxiously to Tramp and he could not speak as he set his brother gently on the bed. No... surely it wasn't the same disease? Surely this wasn't some horrible epidemic that...

But... what else could it be? He let his magic slide off from Tramp when his brother was comfortably on the bed, and stared in horror at the faintest flush of purple that he only now realised was on Tramp's cheeks. It was hardly noticeable, but it was there. And some of the ponies around... he glanced around him and a cold shiver went through him. As hardened a warrior as he was, illness was something that he knew he could not fight or kill just by his willpower.

He looked at Sherbet with a sharp gaze in his eyes, ignoring Angel who was hovering around him anxiously.

"It's something serious, isn't it?" he asked, ignoring the fact that Sherbet was probably not the best to demand answers from. "All these ponies... it's the same disease, isn't it?" He walked toward the center of the room and stopped, looking around all the beds, then turned to Sherbet again. "How could a flu cause all this? What is it?"

Angel twisted and turned her tail a little and walked to Rogue, her eyes full of worry. She really didn't want to be in this room - what if they all got sick?

"Rogue, please... let's just go away," she said with an anxious voice.

Rogue's eyes turned to Angel sharply, something extremely angry flashing in them. Did she not understand the gravity of the situation? His brother was lying there, sick... and it was beginning to dawn on him that this illness might indeed be lethal.

"No," he said sharply and more bluntly than he'd meant. "I'm not going anywhere." He looked at Sherbet. "I'll stay, at least. I'm sure you can use extra hooves around here with all these sick ponies." His expression softened a little when he realised just how young the filly was. "Is there someone... adult here I could talk to?"

[[Just how young is Sherbet right now? She's not three anymore I assume, but I also assume that she's not adult either.]]

[Becka *Pone*]

(I believe she is currently seven, and quite used to sick/injured/dead ponies because of living with Kail)

"It's the same," Sherbet agreed, looking up at him with eyes that were miraculously still innocent. "Baby Sea Spray's mother died from it, and she came here, and then they all got sick. And Kail is gone..." It was at that moment, mentioning the baby pony, that Sherbet realized she wasn't in the room. That, in fact, they had just laid Tramp in Sea Spray's bed. But that wasn't right... she was supposed to be the first one to get better - where was the filly?

With her own cold fist of terror wrapping around her heart, Sherbet searched the room quickly with her sky blue eyes, hoping to find the little filly in a different cot. She was ignoring the purple pegasus who seemed to want to leave so badly, and was trying not to cry. When would Kail be back? She could make it all better if she would only come home.

"Grandma Bella's in the kitchen," she whispered, hoping that Sea Spray had decided she felt better and gone to the kitchen herself and they would find her sitting in Sherbet's spot, helping to dish out food for the rest of the foals who would soon be getting better as well. The orange filly led them back out of the room, with one last quick look back to make sure Sea Spray hadn't walked back in, and then ran into the kitchen, tugging on Bella's apron to get her attention.

"One second, darling," Bella said as she finished laddeling the soup and wiped her hands off on her apron as she turned to greet the group.

[Crescent]

Rogue didn't recognise Kail's name, but assumed it was someone of importance to the filly - perhaps her sister? He didn't know but what concerned him more was what Sherbet told him about how the disease had got to the Nursery. Some orphan pony had brought it there - and now they were all sick. That meant...

For the first time during the entire episode did it hit Rogue that he, too, had shown signs of an illness. He grew just a little paler, though it didn't show well on his white coat. Oh...oh.

He followed Sherbet without a word, his mind racing as well as his heart. He was not particularly unfamiliar with the idea of an epidemic sweeping through town, but according to his experience it usually happened in small towns where there were very little well-equipped healers and not good enough stock of medicines. But Ponyville was a big town, and he would have expected to find good healers here.

The experienced mercenary stopped a few feet away from Bella when Sherbet tried to attract her grandmother's attention. Rogue eyed the older mare quietly for a moment, waiting for her to be finished with what she was doing so that she might greet them. As she turned to meet them, he inclined his head for a polite bow. He was vaguely aware of the hovering purple pegasus near his shoulder. He had no patience for her now, and though Angel was attractive that was all she was to Rogue - a plaything, and he had no time for playthings now. He didn't even recall Chemica's presence anymore - his mind was bent on only one thing.

"Hello," Rogue said, automatically assuming a respectful approach toward the elder mare. "My name is Rogue, and I just brought my brother Tramp in for some care. He's ill." His face was quite serious as he met her eyes. "I believe I am ill as well, though not as badly as my brother - yet."

He heard Angel gasp behind him but ignored it. For all likelihood she was sick too, and would start showing symptoms very soon, Rogue knew - though it was clear to him that this silly mare had not realised it yet herself.

[tahlise]

Chemica had listened very intently, staying quiet but watching everyone very closely. As Rogue had come to the realization that all these ponies had the same disease as his brother. So too, did the white mare. Her heart jumped in throat as the word 'epidemic' echoed in her head. She scanned the room just as Sherbert had and wondered if a pony had occupied the bed that was now serving as Tramp's cot. The thought sent a shiver up her spine, making her spasm in a jerky movement. The sounds of the coughs and sneezes were much louder to her than they truely were. She even started to back away but stopped when Angel had dared to suggest that Rogue take her away from this place.

"No," Rougue had said sharply and more bluntly than he'd meant. "I'm not going anywhere." He looked at Sherbet. "I'll stay, at least. I'm sure you can use extra hooves around here with all these sick ponies." His expression softened a little when he realised just how young the filly was. "Is there someone... adult here I could talk to?"

Chemica perked her ears, wondering the same thing. Mabye the filly had her information wrong...? She could only hope. She followed Rogue, her mind swimming with thoughts of horrible things. "Everyone is sick... Why am I still here...? Does it really matter now...? Am I sick...?" She vaguely heard Rogue announce that he was sick too. She knew that but didn't know it was part of a plague. Her green eyes darted all over the room. "What do we do?" She mouthed it but stood in silence now looking at the aged one for answers to her unspoken questions. The mare tried to be as respectful as Rogue was when he introduced himself, but seemed forced and rushed. "Hello, I'm Chemica. Has anyone else died?" She knew her rapid speech sounded awkward, to say the least, but she had to know if there was a death toll.

[Becka *Pone*]

(I think Bella is protesting being called "old" She's only in her late fourties)

Lavendar eyes swept the room and the bodies before her as Bella finished wiping off her hoofs. Behind the group of strangers her eyes landed on her eldest "daughter", Karma, who was trying to get her attention. Bella gave her head a miniscule shake to indicate she'd deal with whatever Karma needed later, and focused her attention back on the ponies before her as Rogue made a bow and introduction.

"Hello, Rogue, and Friends." She politely inclined her head towards each one of them, smiling warmly and trying to put them each at ease. At Chemica's outburst she patted the mare's hoof for reassurance before replying, "I couldn't tell you how many, the reports reaching Dream Valley were all very scattered and our own officials not in possition to figure out what was true and what was not. But from what I know very few have died from this sickness, although there are a great number who have come down with the symptoms."

She turned back to Rogue, "We will do everything possible to help your brother, and yourself, but I'm afraid our star healer is away at the moment on a slightly different errand. I'm Bella Hoofspen, her mother, and I'd be more than willing to do what I can."

[WingSong]

((Geez, I come back, and...dead babies... Cont. from the Cafe, anyway.))

Poppy was keeping up with Rogue well enough, keeping her purple eyes glued to him for as long a time as her attention span would allow. What she was having trouble following was all the talk about the sicknesses. Breezies had such tiny, fragile bodies, any illness would be bad news for one of them. However, Poppy had spent a good deal of her life in a forest or wandering between towns, and could never remember being sick herself.

More confusing still was the talk of death, and how it seemed to at least be making Chemica nervous. The little pony didn't have much concept of death, other than what her basic instincts told her. Like a small foal, she didn't realize how permanent it was, or why it was a cause to be sad or alarmed.

Even as she tried to sort all of this out, the breezie's little body tensed up for a loud, squeaky sneeze. She was propelled into a little flip backwards, and had to flap her wings at double speed for a few seconds to regain her balance in the air. She decided she didn't like the whole sneezing thing, and felt tired, so she carefully landed in Rogue's mane and held on. The stallion seemed upset about something - with her memory temporarily blotting out Tramp, she couldn't be sure of what it was - and she was worried that he would try to shake her off, so she decided not to say anything yet.

[Crescent]

[[Hehe yes, I knew she wasn't really very old, but to young adventurous Rogue, anyone who's forty or more is "elderly".

Yays the breezie's back!]]

Rogue listened to what Bella was saying attentively, and nodded a little when she'd finished.

"I would be grateful for any help for my brother, but if you understand, it is not in me to sit quietly and let others do all the work. I should like to help as best I can." He furrowed his brow a little. "It seems like a bad epidemic to me, though. My brother has an extremely good resistance, he hardly ever even has a cold. The violent way in which this disease has took him over makes me worry."

[Becka *Pone*]

"It makes me worry too," Bella said softly, but with a warmness that spoke comfort and hope. "However, any help is much appreciated, so long as you are in a capacity to help. We can put you to work for as long as you are able, and hopefully some remedy can be found quickly enough that we wont have to put you to bed."

Despite her outwardly calm and collected demeanor, inside Bella was really begining to worry. She'd never seen nor heard of an epidemic this strong anywhere in Ponyland, and her husband was a historian! Surely he'd have heard of one if it had been out there. The only thing she'd ever known to wipe out a land so completely was the smooze, and even then the flutters and the Rainbow had disposed of it. But this disease was already creeping into Flutter Valley - she'd heard the news just before leaving Dream Valley. And the Rainbow was currently in the hoofs of the wrong ponies to do any good. For now the ponies would have to rely on good old fashioned chicken soup and hot tea... and hope.

"Well," Bella said and clapped her forehooves together, getting down to buisness, "the first thing is to feed all the sick ones, and then ourselves, and then we all could use a good nights rest I think."