RhythmHooves

"To be honest, I have NO IDEA. I mean, we could just leave Croaks and Lionheart here while me and George go upstairs to try and work out some sort of cure ,but I don't know... I thought when you gave me the idea to make a cure i'd have more time to do it. I think Lionheart's got an hour left and Croaks said he has 4 to 5. I'm not sure what we can do about Lionheart ,but it might be possible to save Croaks. I just don't want to single any pony out. Plus, even if we leave them here while me and George do research, whose going to look after them? "

"Croaks from the looks of it taking into account how long it took the fire-fighter to well start going crazy I can say that we have around 1 hour left before we turn into those thing. And yes we. I have been scratched to and it pains a lot. I doubt it's just a normal scratch. We need to find a cure and fast and I bet that since this place is hidden details about it ought to be there," said Lion heart as he went over to me looking over the map I was holding. "Okay, as intriguing as the basement is, and I agree that there must be a reason that it's hidden, I don't think that it'll be anything good. The last thing we want is to creep into some old, abandoned, dark room, with Celestia knows what in there waiting to kill us. Besides, we have injured ponies here who can barely walk (*points to Croaks*). If we split up into two groups and have one check it out, both are going to end up dead. We CAN'T split up again, strength in numbers (*I looked back at Lovely and winked, then continued talking to every pony*) I say that for now, before we doing anything else, we get ourselves all healed up. George, you're the doctor here. Go get us some better medical supplies, these aren't going to do us any good. Take Lionheart with you."

"There's only one way to kill these things," I told Lovely. From what I remember, because they were dead, these infected ponies bodily parts tore off a lot easier than regular ponies. Still, for what I was going to do, I didn't want to get close. I put my nail gun back in my saddle bag, levitated out my knife, and from long ranged distance, using my telekinesis, I cut full circle around the base of the zom-pony HO's neck while it was still taking in the pain from the nails and couldn't move. That would make his head easier to tear off. I then charged at him and bucked him in the face.

"I could say the same thing about you," I said to Lovely as we walked hoof in hoof downstairs, commenting on how she said I was distracting her. She stopped from entering the hall of floor 3 when I heard sounds coming from one of the apartments. "Do you hear that?" She whispered to me, "sounds like banging and scratching and screeching. Is it safe to enter?" "Guess not," I told her as I reached into my saddlebag, levitated out my nail gun, and readied myself before I entered the hall.

Lovely grabbed his face and kissed him. As she slowly pulled away from the kiss she whispered into his ears, "I love you too." Lovely stood up and nodded, "let's get back down to George and figure this out, anything else you need here?" She smiled. I could barely even think straight. I had my head so up in the clouds, all I could think about was what an amazing kisser Lovely was. And... and she said she loved me. Gah, I'll never live this down. I'll still have this goofy face on even when the zomponies are munching on me. I got up and said, "Yeah, we should go get the bags and stuff...," with goofy face still intact. I went back to the counter where I dropped the medical supplies, stuffed them all in my saddlebag, checked to see if I still had the other saddlebag on the left side of my body with the nail gun and knife inside, and made sure Lovely had the two saddlebags stuffed with food and her hammer. "Alright, we got everything. Let's go downstairs to check how George is doing. Wai--," I stopped mid-sentence and realized how they would never open the door for us without knowing if we were... well. I trotted over to my shattered wireless phone in my lab, pieced it back together, and made a call to George to let him know we were at my place the whole time and we were coming down, then hung up. I went back over to Lovely. So, if we are mare friend and colt friend now, does that mean we can walk hoof in hoof? I was blushing as I smiled at Lovely and grabbed her hoof after opening the door and lead the way.

I stopped sobbing. She... she really is amazing. She's not just a pretty face... she's sweet, generous, funny, always says the right things, and most of all, she makes me feel warm inside. Such a contrast from being locked up in my lab every day, where it's cold, lonely, and calculations are my only friend. She could make any pony happy and encourage them in any situation, and she was proving it right now by comforting me in the loneliest point in my life. This is it. This is the mare of my dreams, the mare I never want to let go and protect with my life. I wasn't going to let her down. NO, LETTING HER DOWN WASN'T EVEN AN OPTION. Not just for her, but for EVERY PONY in this building. WE WERE GOING TO MAKE IT OUT OF THIS ALIVE! And Lovely was the mare who let me see that. I nuzzled Lovely back. "I love you Lovely," I said, blushing in fear of rejection. I wanted to kiss her, but I wasn't sure that she shared the same feelings as me. "I always have. Ever since I moved in here three months ago. I just didn't want to make a fool of myself trying to compete with the other, more handsome colts who fought for your attention.. I thought that some pony like you wouldn't go with a bookworm pony like myself. I admired you a lot Lovely. But, now that I know what kind of pony you really are, I see the beautiful heart inside the beautiful mare." I paused for a moment, realizing how I was completely ignoring the task at hand. "I'm not going to let you down, Lovely. I'm not going to let any pony who lives here down. I'll find a cure, no matter how difficult it may be. I already lost some pony important in my life ,but my mother wouldn't want me to waste time crying over her. She may be proud of me now up there in Celestia's skies ,but she won't be proud of me if me and every other pony in the building meets her there. Thanks, Lovely. I owe you nothing ,but my best in getting us out of this."

I let go of Lovely's hooves. "Mom... my mom is dead," I said in a timid voice as I was in disbelief of what I just heard. I picked up my wireless phone and chucked it all the way across the room. As it hit the wall, it's casing broke off and there was a mess of wiring on the floor. I slid my back against the wall and sat up in a Lyra-like position, and buried my face into a shield I made with my front legs, so Lovely wouldn't have to look at the defeated, poor, excuse of a colt I was. At first I cried softly ,but quickly it changed from soft to a newborn filly's cry. "I guess... I should've... spent more time... researching cancer... than that stupid... cure for a common cold," I said with less than four words between sobs. After a while, I got up and grabbed an apple cider from the wine rack. I opened the cap, chugged the whole thing down, then smashed it on the floor. Shards of glass were everywhere. Every last bit of confidence I had from 2 minutes ago was gone. "How... how am I supposed to save us all when I can't even save my own family? I might as well just kill myself now before I do any more harm giving false hope."

"Your home is beautiful," said Lovely. "Oh, well thanks. I AM pretty good at home decoration," I said with a boastful attitude. Stop yourself, idiot. You're starting to brag again... stay humble. ..."Nope, nothing here is edible," I chuckled, ",but you can have some cider from my wine rack if you'd like." As I was rummaging my wall cabinets, I found a couple of syringes, a box of band aids, rubbing alcohol, and flu medicine (Mareaflu). "If this infection is a disease? Then couldn't you create a cure? I mean, if we got a blood sample, you and the doctor could-," asked Lovely. Before she could even finish her sentence, I had already dropped everything on hoof on a counter, rushed over to her, and grabbed her hooves. She's done it now. How was I supposed to keep myself from bragging when a beautiful mare had just admired my talents? "YOU'RE A GENIUS, Lovely!! With my lab, my research already done on a cure for the common cold, and George's medical skills, we could come up with a cure in 10 seconds flat! Sure, we would need a couple of supplies to make it happen ,but... I can't disappoint her. I can't let her know that I there's no way in Discord's inferno I'd be able to find the supplies needed for a cure in our building... I am sure it can't be too hard!"

"We better hurry. I haven't had a face-off with an infected pony yet and I don't plan to." I said in urgency. I rummaged through my closet when I found a hammer and a nail gun. Using my magic, I opened the barrel of the nail gun and loaded it up with a couple of needles I found in my tool box. I put the rest of the nails in a small plastic bag and put it into my saddlebag. The knife I got from earlier was still there. I gave Lovely the hammer, "Here, I want you to be able to protect yourself," I said, blushing. I wonder just what was on her mind right now. She's not even sure that she can trust me yet and I locked myself in here with her, despite it being for protection... Then there's that smell coming from my room... I drink too much cider when I'm working in my lab. "Oh... and about what you asked earlier," I said as I was leading Lovely to the room adjacent to my bedroom. I opened the door to reveal a large, spacious room with several test tube racks on either side of the wall, filing cabinets on the floor, storing cabinets on the wall, three computers lined up on a massive desk with a rolling chair, a larger table with a sink connected to it in the middle of the room where I did my experiments, and a small wine rack in a small corner of the room. "I'm not a doctor ,but I do dabble in the sciences. Of course, its not a proper lab ,but I did make some arrangements with the land pony of the building for my special needs."

I barely kept myself from staring into Lovely's cute eyes when she did that look ,but I quickly put things into focus. "Right, so, wherever we are going to hold up, we're gonna need food, water, weapons, materials for barricades, and medical supplies. I'll supply the food and water. As for weapons, we already have a few ,but we'll need at least 1 for every pony to keep themselves safe. I have meagar medical supplies ,but since George is a doctor i'm pretty sure he has a lot in his apartment. Barricades... every pony is going to have to chip in on that one. We also need to pick a safe place to stay in," I said as we trotted up the stairs all the way to 5B. Surely enough, the door was wide open. I locked it and ran all the way to my closet. "Start stuffing all the food and water bottles you can find into your saddlebags, while I go grab some stuff from my closet." *GUNSHOTS* "What in Luna's name was that?"

((That HO pony who just came down... was he the one in my apartment? If so, the door must be wide open...)) Suddenly, the HO pony accused Lovely of being infected, came at her with a knife, and ended up dying in a failed attempt. As the firefighter from downstairs came by and everyone was strategizing on what to do, I noticed the water can I threw down the hall earlier. I took out the knife in the HO's chest by the handle in one hoof, opened up the water can lid and dipped the knife inside to clean it. "Ill go with you Lovely, but first, I need to get some supplies from my apartment. Anypony want to come with?"

I ran up the stairs with Lovely and the rest of the group closely behind as I heard a creak come from one of the doors upstairs. Suddenly, I heard the sounds of some pony talking. I recognized the voice as George's and called out for him, "Hey, George, It's me, Lab Brag! You in there with Greenery? LET US IN, there's an emergency!"

Everything happened so fast... I can't, I can't think... what in Luna's name am I supposed to do... I witnessed as Lionheart saved everyone's lives with his barrier and that bought me time to run up the stairs and try to get to my apartment...*BEEP BEEP* My pager? I pulled the thing out from my saddlebag and surely enough, it was a signal that someone was in my apartment. "Well, it looks like someone else got the idea to lock themselves in my apartment before I did." Then suddenly, I remembered something... "UP HERE EVERYPONY!!!," I yelled as I trotted up the stairs, "Head up to 3B! It's the closest safehouse and Greenery and George are still in there!"

(Sorry Pilot, I have a habit of switching between third person and 1st person, lol. I'll stick with 1st for now.) I was suprised at how easily the word zom-pony slipped off his tongue. My suspicions were affirmed... it had to be a zom-pony if he said the word so easily. I mean, the old hag did bit the fire pony and did try to attack Croaks. And then there's all this talk about the disease being contagious and lethal. But, it still suprises me how easily Croaks was able to adjust to the idea that zom-ponies existed. He wasn't suprised, shocked, or nervous at all about something so fictional being so... REAL. Still, it would take pure, concrete proof to convince me that zom-ponies are running amock in here. And as soon as that last though popped into my brain, he changed...

Okay, so the fire ponies were useless in giving any answer. But the sight of Croaks and Ampyrion coming down stairs with an injured fire pony sparked my curiosity. I thanked Lovely for her help as a health official walked in, "Now I need every pony to cooperate with a simple blood test and you will all be able to leave. I will be looking for a few signs of disease: Dilating pupils, discolored blood veins, and a few others. Now has any pony here been bitten by anything?" Bitten by anything?" So this was a contagious disease... ,but the real question was, what did the disease do the person who was infected? If the screaming from Old Lady Eye Spot's apartment was any indication, it wasn't anything pleasant. As the health official in his HAZOP suit was giving tests, I went over to Croaks, who was proven negative for whatever the disease was, and began talking to him, "Hi Croaks, my name is Rhythm Hooves and I live on apartment 5A. You probably don't know me, and that's fine because I've only lived here for three months. I know it's not my place to be asking you this ,but did anything unusual happen up there with Old Lady Eye Spot? Was she infected? What did the disease do to her? I'm sorry to be asking you so many questions ,but I need to know," I said as I quickly glanced at the line for the syringe tests and saw that it would be my turn soon. "Well, at least Ampyrion's buying me some time."

Lab Brag shoved the fire-pony off of him and gave the other fire-pony back the walkie-talkie. Well great, my plan of imitating the fire-pony's voice to let us out wasn't going to work. Once again, I overlooked a fatal flaw in one of my plans... They're even keeping authorities locked up in here... Wait, didn't he say this was a contact isolation quarantine? Like a CONTAGIOUS DISEASE? "Leave us all to die..." OH SWEET MERCIFUL CELESTIA! Maybe a bit far-fetched ,but ZOM-PONIES? Was this the reason we were quarantined? I had to be certain, that was the only way I could formulate a plan... but I can't get anywhere near Old Lady Eye Spot's room... I need some witnesses of what went down up there, and those fire-ponies weren't cooperative... Then suddenly, he had an idea. Lab Brag went over to talk to Lovely and asked her to talk to the un-cooperative fire-ponies about what they saw upstairs. *Face hoof* I can't believe I'm asking my crush to flirt with those two flank-holes.

Lab Brag noticed the two fireponies standing nearby the exit of the building, who had terrified looks on their faces and most likely just came down from Lady Eyespot's apartment. Not only was the door barricaded ,but the windows were boarded up as well. The only way Lab was going to communicate with the authorities outside was by snagging one of the walkie-talkies the fireponies had. Even then, he'd have to do some serious convincing to let them out. Lab had been through quarantine protocol before when he stayed at a hotel in Horseshoe Lake. Inn Steed, the colt who worked there, was held up by a group of robbers downstairs. All the guests were forced to stay upstairs or risk getting shot. Nopony goes in, Nopony goes out ,but that rule still had its exceptions. Lab walked over to talk to the two fire ponies. He talked to the beige colt with the dark red mane first, and asked him what was going on. Without warning, he stole the walkie talkie from him with his right hoof and shoved his other hoof into the firepony's mouth to keep him from talking.

Lab Brag allowed Lucas to pick him up, and told him it was alright. Wait... is he one of the Pegasus brothers. They throw some pretty wicked parties! Too bad I never get invited... He noticed that every pony surrounding him was panicked, and took the situation into his own hooves. Lab was going to have a little "chat" with the authorities outside.

Lab Brag felt like an idiot carrying the water can, so he quickly tossed it down the hall before Lovely could notice it. Before he answered her question, he put 2 and 2 together (the sounds he heard upstairs and the firefighters coming up). "It must be related to whatever sounds were coming from Old Lady Eyespot's apartment. Probably a fire since she was screaming. We should get the Buck out." Lab Brag quickly grabbed Lovely's hoof and led the way downstairs.

Lab Brag heard a car pull up to the building and leave from downstairs. "Strange, I think I heard some pony upstairs run down the stairs.." Lab Brag was getting anxious to just go upstairs and check out what was happening already ,but he didn't want to go alone. What the hay was Greenery doing in there that he wouldn't open the door...

Lab Brag stopped knocking on the door when he heard a noise coming up from upstairs. "What in Equestria...", he muttered to himself. Lab was temped to go upstairs to see if it was coming from Ampyrion's apartment ,but he didn't want to disturb the poor colt's nap. He decided to wait for Greenery to open his door to ask if they wanted to check it out together.

That time of the week had come--Lab Brag knew Greenery's flowers were starting to wither again, and he always used this opportunity to get a sneak peak at Lovely. Lab Brag admired Lovely--not only was she beautiful, smart, and worldly ,but she was also only 2 years younger than him. In fact, there weren't a lot of people in his age range in the apartment complex. It was full of frat-brony college kids like the pegasus brothers. His only friend was George Grey, as he could relate to the man since he also worked with medicine, even though he was administering it instead of inventing it. In fact, it was George Grey who tipped off Lab Brag about Greenery's balcony being directly below Lovely's. Lab Brag pulled up to Greenery's door, knocked on it, and prepared to be bored to death. He hoped George was there...

Lab Brag, even in the morning, was busy working on what he thought would be the long-awaited cure for the common cold. "There seems to be a few things I'm missing...," said Lab Brag out loud to himself, with a tendency to do so. Lab Brag yawned, got up off his chair, and figured that he'd work on it later. Lab Brag looked up at the clock and realized that it was that time of the week. He went to his closet, grabbed his water can, left his apartment on the fifth floor, and took the elevator down to the third.