//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Unknown Epidemic 
// Story: My Little Pony: The Element of Space 
// by Thunderwing250 
//------------------------------//

	As StoneColt and the group of ponies continued their route to the coastline, screaming was heard within Rarity’s house.
“Oh my goodness.  Ants…ANTS!!! EVERYWHERE!!!” Rarity screamed out.
Twilight, Applejack, The Archivist, Amethyst, and Doctor Hooves moved their eyes left and right, as Rarity ran back and forth, trying to save her clothing.  
“Umm…Rarity.  We need to talk.” Twilight called out
“NOT NOW TWILIGHT!!! I MUST SAVE MY FABRICS!!!” Rarity yelled.
“The ants are not going to stop.  Applejack’s trees were filled with termites and I have a feeling it will continue…” The Archivist said.
Rarity ran up to her, confronting her.
“TERMITES!!! NO!!!!!” she yelled.
“RARITY!!! PLEASE STOP YELLING!!” Twilight yelled.  
Suddenly, the ants crawled out of Rarity’s house, shocking the ponies.  
“What just happened?” Applejack asked curiously.
“I have no idea…” Twilight replied.
Doctor Hooves turned to the Archivist.  
“Let me go to the lab and analyze the termites and these ants.  Not an common behavior, I’m guessing.” He said.
The Archivist agreed and Doctor Hooves left the house.  In the process, The Archivist assisted Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity as they clean up the mess.  Dusting the fabrics, floors, and other items the ants dropped on the floor, Sweetie Bell walked in.
“Oh hi, Rarity!  What’s going on here?” she asked.
“Oh nothing, sweetie.  Just…doing some cleaning along with everypony else.” Rarity nervously responded.
The facial expression of the other ponies, made Sweetie Bell curious.  Tilting her head, Rarity tilted hers like a parrot.
“Ok!  Just want to let you know that Scootaloo, Applebloom, and I are gonna hang out for a while.  See you later!” she jumped.
“Ok.  Bye.” Rarity continued to smile nervously.
As the door shut, they all breathed a sigh of relief.  Rarity at that moment couldn’t handle telling Sweetie Bell what just occurred.  Instead, she wanted to leave her out of it, considering to be a wise decision, the Archivist thought.  After spending half an hour cleaning up, they decided to visit Pinkie Pie, which they soon realized her visit would be something of a surprise.  Walking into her home, they noticed locusts flying around.  
“Pinkie Pie!  Where are you?” Applejack called out.
Pinkie Pie jumped out of a corner, where military gear.
“Hurry!” she yelled, grabbing the four and pulling them behind the counter.
It surprised them to see Pinkie Pie was having a similar issue.  Something was very unusual and needed to be solved immediately, the Archivist thought.  Suddenly, Rarity screamed loudly which then halted the Locusts.  There was a silence in the house, until the swarm flew out of the window and disappeared into the Everfree Forest.  Pinkie Pie walked out with her jaw dropped?
“What just happened?” 
“Believe us, darling.  We asked the same question in my house.” Rarity replied.
“Hold on ya’ll.  First the termites on the apple trees, then the ants in Rarity’s house, and now locusts?  Is there something we should know about, Madame Archivist?” Applejack asked curiously.
Archivist shook her head, having no answer.  Twilight began to think about the three incidents as well, thinking back to the time they first encountered discord.  However, he was only spreading disharmony from one thing to the other.  This was all of a sudden, happening at the same time.  She turned to the Archivist.
“Since we are all here, what was it you wanted to discuss?” she asked.
“Yes.  Besides questioning myself about this issue, I would like us to go to Canterlot and explain the current situation.  The incident over in the coastline plus what we just encountered here.  Seems that some secrets can no longer be hidden.  If we keep this up, we would only bring danger to ourselves.” The Archivist mentioned.
Twilight finally realized the Archivist was starting to sense dangers and that her idea of keeping secrets is doing no good.  Yet, at the same time she agreed that these incidents must be brought up to the Princesses.  
“Will Princess Cadance be there as well?” Twilight asked.
“Yes.  It will concern her as well, because the Crystal Empire is a vital area of interest.” The Archivist replied.
“Then let’s head on up there to Canterlot!” Applejack said.  
They agreed and headed for the Train Station, nearby.  As they got on board the train, a faint whisper was heard.  The Archivist and Twilight turned.
“Do you hear that?” Twilight asked.
“Yes…faintly.” The Archivist replied
“What does it mean?” Twilight asked again.
“Keep your eyes peeled, Princess.   We’re being watched…” The Archivist cautiously responded.  
As they entered the train, high above the clouds a shadowy figure stared before disappearing.  Finally reaching the shoreline, the group of ponies halted in shock after seeing seagulls, crabs, and some fish laying on the sand, sick.  Fluttershy hurried over to each one.
“Oh my goodness.  Are you okay?” she asked calmly.
The birds she picked up were breathing heavily, but alive.  She noticed their temperatures were high enough, giving them a possible fever.  StoneColt turned to the other ponies.
“Search around and assist Fluttershy with these creatures, I’ll scout ahead and see what I can find.” He said taking flight.
Moonraker flew at Rainbow Dash’s side.  
“Don’t worry, we’ll be perfectly fine.” He said.
“Oh here we go again.” StoneColt rolled his eyes.	
“No snoody business from any of you.  Understand!” StoneColt yelled.
“Yes, Sir!” They all replied.	
As StoneColt went further up the coastline, New Horizon could not believe her eyes at what she was seeing.  
“These poor creatures…they seem to be in some sort of shock?  Mariner, what do you think?” she commented.
Mariner walked over and observed the animals shaking.  Then he checked their body temperature which he realized was unusual.  He picked up his head and turned to his sister.
“There in severe shock.  It’s like whatever they saw scared them to a point of fainting.” He spoke.  
Curiously on what he said, Fluttershy walked over to him.  
“Um…just out of curiosity, what you do?” she asked.
“Rarely asked, to be honest, but besides being a navigator, I am also a veterinarian.  Something similar to what you do, but only a little more advanced” he winked.	
“Oh, that’s so great.  Can you teach me something things you do?  I adore animals, but I never knew there would be other ponies with the same interest.” Fluttershy responded happily.  
“Um…can we please continue?  I’ve got a few crabs over here that are covered with something.” Orbiter called out.  
Both Mariner and Fluttershy gathered all the injured animals, while Voyager and New Horizon set up a campfire to nurse the animals back to health.  Flying over to Orbiter, they noticed the crustacean creatures were covered in orange spots.  When Fluttershy went to lift one up, Mariner put his hoof in the way.  He informed that the spots maybe somewhat venomous if touch.  It was better to get protective gear to lift them to the campsite.  Suddenly, Voyager appeared with a bag and dropped it on the crabs.
“Pick them up just like that and come on over.” Voyager said.
Using the bag to pick up the crabs and heading back to the campsite, StoneColt continued his view of the coastline, seeing nothing but rocks and sick animals.  It was like an epidemic occurred on the shoreline.  Flying back to the group, Moonraker and Rainbow Dash managed to pass by informing him that no other sightings of animals other than the ones StoneColt found.  Good news at that point was that the animals were all and alive, and required medical attention.  Heading back to the camp, New Horizon and Deep Impact prepared water and food.  
“I gotta admit, this is seriously weird.  How could something like this occur on these animals?  It’s like the Pony Pox all over again, only this one is affecting other species.” Deep Impact commented.  
“I wish we could understand them at least, so it would be easier to find out what did this to them.” New Horizon mentioned.
“Do not worry.  We have just that.” StoneColt replied, turning his head to Fluttershy.
“Of course, let’s first nurse these poor things back to health and ask them.” She replied.