//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Virus // Story: To Save Equestria: The Mysterious Virus // by KalaAWild //------------------------------// Chapter 1: The Virus A/N:Before you read this, here's a link to the first story just in case you some how didn't find the first story on my profile. Enjoy :) To Save Equestra (the first) A year ago, the brave Silvershot Crimson was faced with Equestria's biggest threat. The heinous Vanguard Knights, who were led by none other than Silvershot's father, Silver Lancet, attempted to overthrow the princesses with a dangerous piece of magic. Silvershot had to fight against him and the Vanguard Knights to save Equestria, but he had a little problem. After his hometown, Venturian Reign, was burned to ashes, Silvershot forgot his past entirely. When Equestria's smartest unicorn, Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville, told him that he had a dramatic version of amnesia, he didn't believe it. Within the events of that year, Silvershot was reunited with familiar faces and made new friendships together. As parts of his memories rejoined him with his friends, he crept closer to the end of his trials and tribulations. Silvershot faced his father and defeated him in an epic battle of magic. He took the legendary element of sacrifice from him, the ultimate source of power, and destroyed it. One year had passed since the fall of the Vanguard Knights. Silvershot was a married stallion with his wife Fortress Evergreen. Fortress' name has been changed to Mrs Crimson since the marriage ceremony. She was reunited with him when he went to Ponyville for some assistance with his memory lost. They were dating before the fire of Venturia Reign separated them. Even though peace had been established all over Equestria, there was a greater evil being formed. Silvershot would need all his strength to fight this new nemesis. But would he need to delve deeper into his memories to win? Deeper than he has ever accomplished? Like the memories of an ancestor or ancestors? A cauldron burned with a mysterious material called petraphyte in the center of a dark room. Four cloaked figures surrounded the cauldron and chanted random words to the cauldron. These words were so random only a psychotic person could make sense of it. The cauldron moved with the voice of the chanters as if it were alive. Every time the pitch of the voices got higher, the fire grew to heights higher than the figures themselves. When the pitch lowered, the fire shrank to the size of a candle flame. Sparks jumped off of the petraphyte and skittered across the stone floor. The material, petraphyte, would be hard to describe to an ordinary pony. It constantly changed shape; it first had a distinct form of wood, then liquid metal, and then a single perfect square block. Whatever it was, it wasn't natural to this world. The chanting figures continued to feed the fire with words until a new voice stopped them. The hoof steps of a pony echoed in the darkness with the sound of clattering metal. Each step sounded like the pounding noise of a blacksmith hard at work. The owner of these steps emerged from the darkness behind the cloaked figures and stood next to them. Much like the other figures, the face of the pony was covered with a hood. The pony removed her hood and revealed her identity. She was a zebra, and underneath the other hoods were zebra faces Her markings moved around on her body. A zebra's tattoo wouldn't move like that. Her tattoos would hypnotize anypony who dared to look at her. The zebra approached the fire and stared at it with evil intent. The flickering flames of the green fire made the zebra happy. It was almost insane how the green flames of the petraphyte could please any sane pony. She smiled evilly and laughed maniacally into the air. Her voice was so loud, ponies in Canterlot could hear her voice from the Badlands. "Is it ready?" the zebra asked her followers. She looked away from the cauldron to look at them. "Almost. We only need one more night," one of the followers replied. The zebra leader was not pleased. "No matter. I can wait one more day." The zebra smiled and looked at the cauldron fire again. "When we are done here, it will mark the end of the pony race forever!" The zebra laughed one more time and the followers followed along. Their voices echoed throughout the Great Tower. Silvershot walked down the ever busy streets of Ponyville. He moved strong and proud with his hooves pounding against the ground, and it had a certain rhythm to it. The wind blew through his uncut mane and it brushed up against his bad eye. Birds chirped in the air and whistled with excitement. He breathed in the good morning air and smiled happily wherever he went. He greeted everypony he passed by with a ‘good morning’ or ‘how do you?’. Ponies of different ages and specialties greeted him back. He had been well known throughout Ponyville; actually he was renowned across Equestria for his heroic deeds. He carried his weekly groceries in his cloth saddle. It bounced on his sides each time he took a moving step. The never ending pounding of the saddle left a bruise mark on his side since it was so heavy. As he was about to make the final stretch back home through a turn in the streets, he found Digger passing by with the Equestrian Tribute in his mouth. Silvershot had been Digger's friend since they were colts. After their hometown was burned to the ground by the Vanguard Knights, he met Digger in Ponyville along with his wife. Digger was an Earth pony with a unique cutie mark on his flank; it resembled a shovel digging into dirt. If you hadn't guessed his special talent yet, his special talent involved anything to do with the earth and its interactions. To expand on this, it is classifying rocks and minerals, and even measuring seismic activity. Digger saw him and waved hello. He went up to him and walked beside him. They worked up a conversation with each other when they met. Digger galloped to Silvershot's side and was eager to talk to him. He had many things on his mind that he wanted to tell his friend. Silvershot was willing to listen to anything he said. The news wasn't new, since Digger had already told Silvershot the news only an hour ago in the market. Digger, unexpectedly, ceased his non-logical mouth and talked about a more pressing matter. "So how's Fortress doing? Is she okay?" Digger asked Silvershot. He lifted his goggles to see him. Silvershot could see his yellow eyes, and that meant he was dead serious. "She's fine," Silvershot replied with a sigh. "She got the horse flu, but we don't know whom she got it from." "She is not fine, then!" Digger gasped and stamped one of his hooves into the ground. Silvershot stopped walking to listen. "She is pregnant with your baby and you are saying she is fine with the horse flu?" "I have medicine with me. The doctor said as long as she gets a daily dose of her meds, she and the baby should be fine." He began to walk again and Digger caught up. "How far is she? Changing the topic just slightly." "Eleven months. Our doctor and my mother say she is bound to give birth soon." The two reach Digger's house before Silvershot's. "What are you going to name your baby?" "If it's a girl, we are going to name her Milan Silvershot Crimson. If it's a boy, then it will be Satter Fortress Crimson." Digger took his keys from his saddle and opened the door to his house. The door creaked opened and Silvershot could see the graphs of papers that littered the floor. The graphs were about something that involved an element called petraphyte, but Silvershot didn't know what it was. Digger entered inside and said goodbye to Silvershot. He closed the door, and Silvershot was left in the sunny but windy Wednesday. Silvershot needed to get back home as quickly as possible because his wife was waiting for the medicine. Silvershot used his magic to fasten the straps on his saddle. The buckle tightened the grip on the saddle, and he was ready to go home. He scraped his hooves against the ground and galloped in the direction of his house. His home was next door to the Golden Oaks Library, where Twilight Sparkle lived. Her library was extensive in all kinds of topics. There were books on folklore and fiction, and others like biographies and William Feather Shakespeare’s plays. Silvershot slowed down in front of the library as he wanted to say hi to Twilight and her friend Spike, the purple baby dragon. Something he remembered changed his mind. He skipped going to the library and went to his house instead. He went up to the door to his house and used his magic to open the door with the key. He pushed the door open with his hoof and entered his own house. He closed the door behind him and he placed the groceries on the kitchen table. He dug out the medication prescribed for Fortress from his saddle and carried the meds upstairs. The floorboards under Silvershot's hooves made a sound that was shrilling to the ear. He tried to be light in his hooves but the volume of the sound was left unchanged. In the master bedroom upstairs, Fortress lay in the bed with the covers over herself. Her long mane was parted away from her gloomy eyes and sweat was dripping from her forehead. She was relaxed on the bed with her back on the mattress while an ice pack sat on top of her head. Twilight Sparkle was beside her and ran a basic diagnostic on Fortress Crimson. She checked her temperature first. She took a thermometer from her medical saddle and put it in Fortress' mouth. The thermometer gauge skyrocketed to the top, and Twilight quickly took it from her mouth. The thermometer was extremely hot from Fortress' fever. Twilight took a stethoscope out next and listened to Fortress' abdomen. She closed her eyes and put away her medical supplies. She got up from the stool she had been sitting on and walked over to Silvershot. "I am afraid she is getting worse," Twilight whispered to Silvershot. Silvershot silenced her by hushing her and brought her downstairs where Fortress would not hear anything. He took out a chair at the kitchen table for her to sit in while they talked. He sat parallel from her at the table. "What do you mean, 'she is getting worse'?" Silvershot repeated her last statement. "Her horse flu turned into pneumonia. She has a terrible fever, her heart rate and blood pressure have gotten higher, and she hasn't eaten in two days," Twilight explained. "She's been hiding her food underneath her bed. Something is really wrong with her." Silvershot was shocked when he heard that Fortress hasn't been eating. Every plate and bowl he had brought upstairs every day had been licked clean. "Will these meds work, then?" Silvershot levitated the medication to Twilight. "These should help her, but this is as much as her body could take. Any more drugs and the baby could..." She gave the meds back to him and left his home without another word. She said goodbye, of course, and closed the door. The door made a loud thud as it shut. Silvershot got up from his chair and went back upstairs to Fortress. Fortress groaned in pain as she lay in the bed. Silvershot took a moist cloth from a cold bucket of water and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. He put his cheek against face to comfort her and to tell her he was present. Her eyes closed even tighter but then relaxed again. It was as if something was continuously hurting her from the inside. "Silvershot, is that you?" Fortress moaned with her eyes closed. "I am here, sweetheart," Silvershot said. "You have to eat. I am worried about you and the baby." "Please, Silvershot. You don't have to worry so much." "This is my wife and my unborn child here! I don't want to lose you again." Silvershot shoved his eyes into the covers of the bed and cried. His wife was sick with this weird ailment called pneumonia and he couldn't do anything but feed her drugs. He bawled his eyes out for a minute and then he got back up with little hope. Fortress lifted her hoof and placed it onto Silvershot's head. She rubbed his mane as if he was a young colt again. "I guess time will te-" Fortress's eyes become heavy and she was quiet and still. Silvershot immediately tried to keep her awake by shaking her, but she pushed him away. She was exhausted and she had dozed off when she was speaking to him. He apologized, and pulled the cover over her. She sighed and continued. Silvershot left the medication for her on the night stand beside the bed, with the instructions on how to take it. He walked down the stairs and began to make breakfast for himself and Fortress. The doctor gave him more pills for Fortress to take with her food, just in case she did not want to take the other pills. Silvershot promised Fortress that he would make food without the use of magic so he hoof-cooked the food. After a couple minutes, he made a nice warm bowl of porridge that was enough for two ponies. He smashed the pills with his hoof and added it to the porridge. The pills were grape flavored; Fortress's favorite. Silvershot placed the bowl of porridge on the night stand and went back downstairs. Like most stallions his age, he had bills to pay. He took out a piece of paper and wrote down the calculations for the home insurance, utility bill, and water bill. The numbers went from fifty bits to a hundred bits and it eventually flew as high as two hundred. Not to mention that he had to pay for food, so another twenty-five bits onto that. That’s over two hundred and fifty bits since he went shopping twice a week. Silvershot's job, helping Applejack with Sweet Apple Acres, didn't even come close to that amount. All of his fortune from Venturia Reign was destroyed and he couldn't seek financial aid from his father, since he was in jail. He was short over fifty bits. Again. "Why does growing up suck?" Silvershot complained to himself and slammed his head on the table. He sulked to himself and wished he could find some way to earn more money. More importantly, he wished Fortress would get better soon. He would trade his home for Fortress to get better. With his forehead on the top of the kitchen table, the front door echoed with a pounding noise and Silvershot answered it. When he opened the door, Applebloom stood happily on the front door step. Her vibrant red mane glowed in the sunlight and her pink bow kept it all strung together perfectly. Her excitement kept her from being still and she was hyper and giddy. Silvershot had no idea why she was so happy or why she was alone; usually Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell were with her. "Hey Applebloom, how ya doing?" Silvershot greeted her. Her family's accent started to get to him. "I just came to say hi, and to see how Fortress is doing," Applebloom replied back. "Actually, I wanted to show you this." Applebloom turned around so Silvershot could see her flank. He inspected her flank and was amazed at a wonder. Her flank was blank just yesterday. Her, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell were in this group called the Cutie Crusaders where the fillies tried to find their cutie marks by doing random things. Applebloom's flank had a cutie mark; a real and colored cutie mark. The cutie mark was a marvelous one to boot. Pink flora flowers with yellow stems. "Congrats Applebloom, how did you manage to get it?" Silvershot raised an eyebrow as he started to make up guesses. "Did you go through Twilight's book? Zecora's garden again?" "No silly! I went to see if Zecora needed any assistance with her herbs or potions. After I found a special type of flower for her, the cutie mark appeared! I found out ma special talent is being a florist. I went to see you first before running home." "Why me first?" "Applejack is sick and Big Macintosh is working at the market right now." "How about I go with you to the market to see Big Macintosh and then I bring you home?" Applebloom smiled at him and jumped around the front porch. He told her to wait because he had to get a couple things before leaving. He grabbed his bag from the coat rack and he put on his golden boots. He clicked the heels of his boots and openings appeared in the top of the boots. He inserted his hooves into them and clicked the boots again. The boots tied around his legs and he was ready to go. He closed his house door and he walked with Applebloom to the market. Applebloom jumped around the streets and showed her cutie mark to everypony she could lay her eyes on. Everypony was happy for her and Silvershot was certainly happy for her, too. He wondered if she would still be friends with Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell since they were friends because of being cutie mark-less. He may never know. Friendships always stayed connected, even if no pony remembered each other. He and Applebloom arrived at the market in minutes. Ponies purchased agricultural goods and mechanical trinkets of Equestria. The Ponyville market was one of Equestria's busiest markets ever established. The Sweet Apple Acres, Applebloom's family farm, sold apples at the market and other baked apple foods, like apple pie and applesauce and juice. Silvershot and Applebloom looked through the grouping of stalls until they found her brother at the Sweet Apple Acre farm. "Big Macintosh!" Applebloom squeaked at him. She made a mad dash to him and jumped repeatedly in place to show her excitement. "I got ma cutie mark today! Don't ya'll think this is cool?" "Eeyyup," Big Macintosh replied. A customer came by and bought a few apples which distracted him from Applebloom. "Sorry sis, I am busy with the stall. That is great cutie mark, by the way." "Thank you, big brother!" She turned her face to Silvershot who patiently waited for her. "Can we go home now? Ma brother is very busy." "Sure we can, Applebloom," Silvershot said to her. Applebloom led the way back to her home just on the outskirts of Ponyville. The dirt road underneath Silvershot's hooves reminded him of his first day in Ponyville. The feeling of being lost and helpless haunted him in the back of his mind every time he went to Sweet Apple Acres to work. The white picket fence of the front gate swung open when Applebloom kicked it. Silvershot and Applebloom followed a smoothed out path to the house on top of a hill next to a brown, wooden barn. Silvershot was permitted by Applebloom to enter the house and see Applejack. The upstairs floor of the house was cluttered with blankets and pillows of all sizes and shapes. He had to step over the pillows, but Applebloom's size allowed her to easily bound across top of them. In the bedroom down the hallway, Applejack lay tired and sick. Applejack was inflicted with symptoms that were different than Fortress; she had motion sickness, slight vomiting, and delusions. In a lighter sense of things, she still had her sanity from the prolonged sickness. "Applejack!" Applebloom yelped. Applejack, with the little strength that she could muster, turned to her sister on the side of the bed. "Look, I got ma cutie mark!" "That's great sweetie. Ma and Pa would be so proud of you," Applejack said happily to her sister. She turned to Silvershot who stood at the doorstep to her room. "Oh, Silvershot. What are ya'll doing here?" "I just came here to bring Applebloom home safely, boss," Silvershot replied. "You don't have to call me boss just because you work for me." Behind Silvershot, he could hear the pitter-patter of footsteps coming closer. He turned his head and saw little Spike running toward him. "Applejack! Applejack! Excuse me, Silvershot," Spike hollered down the hallway. He politely pushed away Silvershot so he could urgently pass on a message to Applejack. "Calm down, Spike. What is so important?" "Twilight and the others need your help. Everypony is being assembled in Canterlot." "Spike," Applejack coughed and tried to cover it with her leg. Some blood splattered onto her hoof from the cough. "I can't go to Canterlot, not like this. Silvershot, could you go with the others?" "Sure I would, but Fortress is sick. Spike, can you go to my house and watch over her for me? I'm sure I'll be back before nightfall." "Yea, I'll make sure Fortress is okay. I forgot; Celestia also asked for you and she sent me this letter to give to you." Spike spat out a letter in a burst of flames and handed it to Silvershot. He used his unicorn magic to unroll the letter and read the letter out loud. There was only one sentence on the parchment paper that was hoof-written by Princess Celestia. "Remember him," Silvershot read the sentence out loud in a confused manner. His head, unexpectedly, stabbed him with pain. He hasn't experienced the feeling of his mind pain for months; in fact he hasn't felt the pain in over a year. When his mind faltered with pain, it meant that he was remembering something of his past. Ever since the events of the Vanguard Knights, he remembered his entire past. What more did he need to remember? His head, unexpectedly, stabbed him with pain. He hasn't experienced the feeling of his mind pain for months; in fact he hasn't felt the pain in over a year. When his mind faltered with pain, it meant that he was remembering something of his past. Ever since the events of the Vanguard Knights, he could remember his entire past. What more did he need to remember? Silvershot could see Venturia Reign in his memory flashback. The town was renewed and it was unscathed by the fire caused by his father. Ponies wandered around the streets of Venturia Reign without a care in the world. Silvershot couldn't recognize any pony he saw in the memory. Could he have been looking at another time in the past that wasn't his? The ponies were dressed in Equestrian Renaissance clothing which only meant one thing to Silvershot; the memory took place nearly a thousand years ago. One pony in particular caught his eye as he was watching the memory. The pony had Equestrian armor on. The armor hasn't been seen in over a thousand years, and any armor Silvershot had seen before were in archived books. The armor was constructed out of pure platinum. His helmet covered his short and spiky grey hair which was the same shade as Silvershot. Sheathed at his side were two metallic swords of the Nihon civilization. A saddle carried something valuable. This pony, this alicorn, was the perfect solider. As the pony walked down the streets, he met a certain mare who Silvershot most definitely knew. She had pink flowing hair that seemed to move with the wind. Her sleek white coat and her celestial cutie mark made her identity clear as the sun; it was Princess Celestia. "Nice to meet you, ye old friend," Princess Celestia smiled at him. "The pleasure is all mine, your majesty," the alicorn replied. "Do you have it?" "I have it." The alicorn reached into his saddle and took out a piece of jewellery. The jewellery had a silver quartz star as its center-piece. It was none other than the element of sacrifice. Silvershot fell to his shins and huffed out a deep breath. Applejack and Spike gasped when he fell. Applebloom went to Silvershot's side and made sure he didn't fall face first onto the floor. "Princess Celestia..." Silvershot murmured. "She knew about the element of sacrifice over a thousand years ago. And she didn't give a damn to tell me about it."