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// Chapter 17: The Blackhoof Virus and The Pony named Hiller 
// Story: Fires of Friendship and Ice of Hatred 
// by Super Ponyman 
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(The Canterlot Archives, Canterlot)

The Canterlot Archives were a source of ancient knowledge and were the premier source of magical artifacts...

Provided you knew how to work the damn things!

Twilight Sparkle had sent Sunset Shimmer to find a specific text for her, it was on Burning Star's village origins. She was confident that she could find it in this giant library...

Sunset flipped through the pages of a book titled "Ancient Cities of Equestria", since she had heard from Burning Star himself that Firebrand Village once produced Romane Fire, and thus she went to the Roam Chapter and read out loud. 

"Romane Fire"

"An oil-like compound that burned hotter than lava, and stuck tighter than crazy glue. This substance was made in a secret location that was only available to the Roamane Emperor, Marriott. Because of its destructive properties, it was outlawed by Princess Celestia during the first few years of her reign. Little did she know that the producers of Romane Fire had another destructive weapon up their sleeves... and it was meant to destroy the enemies of the village..."

Sunset turned the page and noticed a scribble drawing of Discord on the next page with text under it.

"Romane Empire Chapter 2: Chaos in Firebrand"

She thought to herself, "Why would Discord associate himself with Firebrand Village?"

Suddenly, The spirit of Chaos himself jumped out of the page saying, "Why don't you ask me yourself?"

Sunset stood up and said, "Hello Discord, care to explain why you were covering a page relating to Firebrand Village?"

Discord laughed a little, "Just taking some of Twilight's advice and getting into a book."

He noticed Sunset wasn't laughing, so cleared his throat and said, "Anyways, I really was trying to keep some secrets buried, such as my involvement with Firebrand Village."

Sunset raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean, Discord?"

Discord snapped his eagle talons and a book appeared, he began to read, "Well I may have helped them develop weapons to destroy Roam with fire... various other things."

Sunset smirked, "I have an idea, you said you helped develop weapons for them? Why don't we go look for a few in the ruins of Firebrand Village?"

Discord stepped back in nervousness, "Sunset, dear. There is a reason why those weapons were lost, when Burning Star wrecked the village, I went back to look for my Chaos weapons, but there were buried deep under the rubble of the keep."

Sunset wasn't listening and instead began to walk out the door and turned her eyes towards the direction Firebrand Village was in, then teleported away.

Discord saw Sunset zip away, and face palmed and teleported after her.

(Firebrand Village, Ruined Keep)

Sunset Shimmer arrived at the keep that sat at the edge of the town, it was still somehow smoking, even after its fires had been doused decades ago.

Perhaps it was magical fire?

Discord popped up from behind her and said, "Sunset dear, I don't think going looking for an unstable chaos Weapon that even I don't remember what it was at the moment, is a good idea. And if I am saying that, then you know this is a bad idea!"

Sunset turned around and scowled, "If I can find a way to destroy the Windigos without endangering thousands of ponies lives, I'll look for it. If it is an "ancient chaos Weapon" as you called it, maybe this thing could be turned into our lead off attack against those frosty demons."

Discord sighed,"Well, it seems that talking you out of this won't solve this, so I might as well help you find these things and show you the horrors that I conjured up in my youth."

Discord turned his lion paw into a drill, and began to bore through the ground at breakneck speeds, 

...until he finally hit something metal.

Sunset teleported down into the little cave Discord has made excavating the thing he hit.

It was a hatch of some kind, made of metal strong enough to resist magic, as Sunset learned by trying to open it with her magic grasp.

Discord turned his hands into crowbars, and quickly pried the hatch open and skunked inside, dragging Sunset with him.

(Unknown Vault)

Discord landed on a hard cobblestone floor gracefully, while Sunset landed with a painful thud.

Discord helped the sun-colored unicorn Up and said, "Well, here we are... wherever this is. What do you think this place is Sunny?"

Sunset ignited her horn into a light, while Discord illuminated his own eyeballs like flashlights, which creeped out the Unicorn. 

Sunset responded to Discords Question, "Don't know, Discord. But if the inhabitants of this village sealed it up tight, it must hold something pretty valuable if you think about it, right?"

Discord gave her a deadpan stare, "You just don't like listening to anypony do you?"

Sunset Shimmer was over near what looked like a bookshelf, she had a book out that had the title, Weapon Log and Dangers

She flipped to a random page began reading the text, it was in runes

"Entry Number #013 Omega: The Blackhoof Virus"

This virus was once a harmless strain of the flu until King Sombra used his forbidden Dark Magic to mutate it into a deadly bio weapon, if was part of a deal with Firebrand to supply him with Romane Fire during his conquest of the Crystal Empire. It was dubbed the Blackhoof Virus, as it often caused the hooves of the infected to turn black. It was to be used to create a set of Super Soldiers, but every subject injected with the virus perished when they exploded into a string of fleshy blood covered tendrils. Because of this, The Shadow King, Sombra, ended the program due to the expense on Firebrand Village."

Sunset shuddered in terror, so did Discord, causing his various parts to fall off in fear and run away from him.

Sunset swallowed hard and said, "Well, perhaps your Chaos Magic can perfect this Virus, it is worth a shot, right?"

Discord bit his lip and said, "O-Ok Sunset, I'll try to perfect it. But if this doesn't work, we could have a major issue on our hooves. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sunset nodded and pointed to a map, "Find this chamber, Discord. Please?"

Discord teleported both Sunset and himself to the location on the map.

What they saw was not pleasant to look at...

It was a reddish-black substance covering the walls of a laboratory, it pulsed and throbbed like a sore or diseased lesion, and these things were everywhere!

In the center of the room sat an Earth Pony, who had obviously been here for a long time, But he didn't seem to show signs of age at all, he could be smelled outside the glass, he stank of death.

The earth pony's ears perked up and he turned to the window, seeing Sunset and Discord standing there staring at him in bewilderment.

He finally got up and lunged at the door, where Sunset got a good look at him.

The earth pony was probably as large as Big Mac, his gray coat of fur was highlighted by his reddish orange and black mane, which seemed to pulse like the substance around him. His hooves and legs also pulsed as well, and his orange eyes were glowing.

"Well Well, finally somepony comes to let me out of this damn cell. So let me the f--k out now!"

Sunset spoke into the microphone, "I need to know who you are first, who are you?"

The Earth Pony suddenly morphed his hooves into razor sharp claws and tried to slice at the glass, it had no effect other than scaring the unicorn and Draconequess witless.

The earth pony's body suddenly turned bright red and began to change, he suddenly turned into a unicorn! He then began to blast away at the glass, leaving cracks along the surface. 

Discord put a bubble around the now unicorn and pulled him out of the cell, he was kicking and screaming like a madpony.

Discord forcefully asked Sunset, "Don't you think this wasn't the wisest idea now!"

Sunset shook her head, "Maybe he is just upset from being locked up in there for so long, let's let him get some fresh air."

Discord swallowed hard and popped the containment bubble, letting the odd earth pony drop to the floor. He got up and said, "About freaking time, I was getting tired of that sh-t hole. Who the hell are you?"

Sunset, clearly fed up with this stallions off putting attitude, said in a harsh voice, "I'm Sunset Shimmer and this is Discord, The spirit of Chaos. We have come to ask you... what are you?"

The Earth pony got to his feet and snarled, ""I'm Mercury Blackhoof, the sole survivor of the Blackhoof Virus, and the viral killer of everypony in this facility. You have to be really crazy, or stupid, or both if you set me free. Ponies call me the Prototype of the Super Soldier Program, or the Protopony." 

Discord asked Mercury, "Are you open to an offer, Mr Blackhoof? We have a monster problem and we would like to kill them, you look like somepony who really enjoys killing, judging from those claws you created."

Mercury suddenly transformed his hooves into the fleshy tendrils Sunset saw on the wall and lunged at Discord, a murderous hate in his eyes.

Discord teleported out of the way, before zapping Mercury with a bolt of magic fire.

It hit Mercury in the back leaving a burn scar, but it suddenly healed instantly without any pain showing on his face. 

Mercury smirked, "Not gonna work Discord, I'm no fool when it comes to dealing with my foes, especially ones as dumb and stupid as you!"

Suddenly, another cell was opened by Sunset and out ran another Earth Pony, this one covered in brown fur and having his mane and tail cut in a short eraser like style. 

This Earth Pony turned his attention towards Mercury and turned one of his hooves into a fleshy bladed whip, then lashed it out at Mercury, stabbing him straight through his chest.

Sunset helped pull Mercury away from the Draconequess and she said to him, "Discord, meet Hill Taker, or Hiller as he said when I asked him his name. He said he wanted to "kill Mercury again."

Hiller finally reeled in Mercury and turned his other hoof into a blade the same size as Sunset, then stabbed him in the gut and said "Get back in your cell Mercury, or do I have to drag your biomass filled ass back there myself?!"

Mercury slipped off Hiller's blade and crawled back into the door, then Hiller turned his hooves back to normal and said, "Why the f--k did you free him?! And what's this that Sunset taking about. Windigos? If we are talking the same windigos that I heard about as a foal, then I'm coming with you. I've been stuck in this sh-t hole for years and I'm not staying here another moment!"

Sunset raised an eyebrow in shock, "Hey hey! Who said your coming with us?!"

Hiller pushed Sunset aside and walked up to the open hatch, "I'm not asking, I'm telling. Now let's go, we are losing Daylight here!"

Discord teleported to the surface and Sunset came with him, leaving a screaming and crying Mercury sealed in that hole.