Chapter 3: The Explanation
"Silvershot, isn't it a good thing your ancestor was an Equestrian hero like your mother and you?" Pinkie Pie inquired.
"It doesn't make any sense though," Silvershot replied. "I traced my ancestry before and we didn't live in Venturia Reign, we lived in Canterlot. Armonia wasn't an ancestor of mine either-"
"You haven't traced far enough, then," Princess Celestia said, interrupting Silvershot. "Who’s your earliest ancestor that you traced back to?"
"His name was Sadder Wolfpack, an Earth pony who hunted Timberwolves."
"That's where Venturian history is wrong," Twilight said. Her voice had the tone of a university professor who was about to give a lecture. "Alicorn traits within ponies are dominant. In other words, any offspring from a male alicorn should be an alicorn. Sadder can't be an ancestor because he's an Earth pony. Why was Venturian history wrong?"
"I was trying to hide Armonia's past," Celestia said to Twilight.
"Why? Why would you hide it?"
"It hid the truth about the Equestrian War."
Celestia was on top of Feathered Hill in the Griffith Kingdom. Her face was covered in a hood, but her pink mane could be clearly seen. Her eyes could see what the hill overlooked. The sounds of clashing metal and the screams of dying souls rang through her ears. These sounds were unbearable to listen to, but the princess had to hear them. She had to see how the battle was unfolding around her.
Griffins, zebras, and ponies were fighting one another. The blood of the soldiers was spilt onto the ground of the earth. Soldiers, one by one, fell to the blades or talons of each other. A majority of these soldiers were ponies, since they were not superior in strength like the griffins, nor did they have chemical weapons like the zebras. The ponies had at least one advantage, and that was magic. The unicorns at least gave one advantage to the ponies, but would it be enough?
A pony behind Celestia approached her as the battle continued. He was dressed in armor that suggested he was a general; he was clad in plated golden armor, a golden helm to cover his face, two swords sheathed on his sides made out of the highest quality metal, and a metal cap outfitted his horn into a stabbing weapon.
"This war will end horribly, you know," the general said to Celestia. "We have to use the elemento del sacrificio."
"We have allies down there!" Princess Celestia exclaimed. "They would go down as well."
"If we don't do something now, we lose Equestria."
Celestia didn't even take a second to think about her decision. She knew something had to be done. "Do it."
She walked down the hill, back to her HQ tent. When she could no longer be seen, the general turned his attention to the Battle of Feathered Hill. He ripped his helmet off of his face and levitated the element of sacrifice to his face. The glowing magic of the element could be seen reflecting off of Armonia's eyes.
Silvershot's head ached when his eyes could see the real world. He had learned the truth about the Equeatrian War. Celestia allowed Armonia to kill over a thousand griffins, zebras, and ponies in a blink of an eye.
"I know the truth," Silvershot mumbled out loud. It wasn't loud enough for everypony to hear, but Celestia and Luna were able to hear it.
"How come I have these memories of Armonia? I don't understand."
"Your memories will help you on this task I will ask of you," Princess Luna answered him. "Most of you already know about the sickness correct? This plague isn't a natural occurrence, somepony made everypony sick."
"How do you know this? What proof do you have?"
"These pictures will show you. The ailments cannot be natural, it's impossible."
Without another word, she used her magic to reveal a dark secret about the plague. The secrets of the plague were too gruesome to know about but practically everypony knew about it for those who have reached the final stage. Ponyville was the only town in Equestria to not have reached the final stage of the sickness but Princess Celestia and Luna feared they would eventually reach it soon.
On her throne chair, she levitated a pile of pictures and sent them to the four mares, stallion, and filly. Once Silvershot laid his eyes on the pictures, he immediately covered Applebloom's eyes with his hoof. The pictures were too disturbing for a young filly to see.
The pictures, taken from a Kodak camera, showed the menacing side of the plague. The images seen in the pictures disturbed the ponies who looked at them. Each one, once upon looking at the pictures, made them want to run home to their loved ones to see if they had met the same fate.
On one of the pictures, which was time-stamped at Day 1 of the sickness, had a patient who began to suffer the effects of the mysterious virus. The mare's face was hot red and her thermometer reached the bulb top. Then, on another, stamped at Day 300 of being sick, the mare was gone; all that remained of her were her scattered organs all over the room. Some of the blood was on the camera lens when the picture was shot.
For the rest of the pictures, they were all the same.
"That is terrible," Fluttershy's voice quivered. "Why would something like this happen? Will it happen to Applejack and Rarity?"
"That's what I want you five to figure out. If you could figure out where the virus came from, who made it, and how to cure it, you could save Equestria."
"Why am I her,e then? It seems like the Ponyville Six can handle this," Silvershot said while staring at the ground.
"Your memories, the memories from Armonia. They are the key, because Armonia witnessed an epidemic similar to this in the Zebra Kingdom. He is trying to tell you something and you need to figure it out."
"Okay, where do we begin?"
Silvershot was ready, at this point, to go on another adventure. From what the pictures told him, he only had one week to save Fortress from death, he only had one week to save his new home Ponyville, and one week to save Equestria.
"Twilight Sparkle," Princess Celestia asked. "Where will you start searching?"
"Maybe in the Canterlot library? It would be a good start," Twilight Sparkle responded with confidence
"That's a good idea." She turned to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. "Where will you two go?"
"Los Pegasus!" Pinkie Pie screamed in glee. "Parties are everywhere and ponies come from far and wide to be in them. There's bound to be somepony who knows about it."
"Good, you three go ahead and find out what you can. Help those who need help on your way. I'm going to talk to Silvershot and Rainbow Dash-"
"and Applebloom!" Applebloom interrupted.
"and Applebloom, alone."
The three mares that were tasked by Princess Celestia nodded their heads to accept their mission. Equestria needed their help once again, and they were willing to do whatever it takes to protect it. Twilight gave Silvershot a hug, whispering in his ear about her worries for Fortress. He whispered back that he would find a cure before she reached the final stage.
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie walked away as they all said their goodbyes.
"Now, what do you want us to do?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I want you to go to the Zebra Kingdom with Silvershot and Applebloom. With Silvershot's memories of Armonia and Applebloom's ability to identify herbs and plants, by the way congratulations on your cutie mark and your special talent, you three might find the cure. Luna and I are counting on you to return back to Equestria in a week because-"
Before Celestia could finish her sentence, she coughed but rather erratically. The cough sounded like it hurt, and Celestia's white face turned bright red from a fever. She limped to throne chair from the amount of pain raging inside her body. She sat in her chair and sung a mighty sigh.
"Princess Celestia," Applebloom quietly asked. "Are you sick?"
"Yes, little one, yes I am," Princess Celestia admitted. Her voice sounded hoarse and out of breath.
"How long have you been infected?" Silvershot asked politely.
"I'm on the verge of the final stage. I have about a week left, much like Equestria."
In the back of his mind, Silvershot now acknowledged that he and his friends had to save one of Equestria's rulers from doom. In one week, he had to save his wife, his friends, and Equestria. Things couldn't get any worse.
"Don't worry princess, we'll find that cure. Just tell us where to go and we'll follow."
"There's a ship behind the castle that will take you from Canterlot straight to the Zebra kingdom and back," Princess Luna instructed to the three. "Hurry, little ones, you don't have much time left."
Silvershot, Rainbow Dash, and Applebloom said goodbye to the Canterlot royals and galloped away. Silvershot looked behind him to see the blue starry maned pony taking away her celestial sister away to her room.
Following the directions of Princess Luna, the trio galloped along a stone pathway to the back of the castle. Only one thing confused Silvershot as he galloped; Canterlot was in the middle of Equestria and Canterlot Castle was on a mountain, so where would the ship be if there's no water? Rainbow Dash took off from the ground and moved ahead of Silvershot and Applebloom.
"Are you ready for a whirlwind of an adventure?" Silvershot asked Applebloom.
"I sure am!" Applebloom replied.
Silvershot and Applebloom turned around the castle corner and pulled the brakes on their galloping. They stared at the most amazing, yet bizarre thing. It was a ship, but it wasn't just a ship though. The ship was flying! It was a 1,200 foot long ship from mast to bow and it had gigantic wings made out of cloth that propelled the ship up with wind. Spinning propellers assisted with the flying mechanism. Rainbow Dash, adventurous as she was, galloped along the side of the ship. It was almost like she was defying gravity, exploring how perspective could change a pony's point of view. The wooden body of the ship clapped against her hooves as she moved across it. The foremast of the ship was shaped like a dragon, which gave it a terrifying but aesthetic look.
Silvershot asked the most obvious question a pony could ask when looking upon the ship. "What is that thing?!"
"It's called the Time Traveller, it's really cool!" a pony's voice answered back.
"Hey, I know that voice..."
Silvershot looked up at the ship and saw a familiar face who owned such a familiar voice. A mare leaned over the port bow of the ship. Her curly cocoa mane waved in the wind of the propellers and her light chocolate coat reminded him of the chocolate at Pinkie Pie's candy shop. She waved at him and made her way down from the ship. She bit on a rope that was attached to the boat and lowered herself down. She allowed the sheer height of one hundred feet to drag her down to the ground. Silvershot and Applebloom were directly underneath her.
"Cookie Dough!" Silvershot exclaimed.