Archdemon of the displaced

by Megaphiles

Plunder the castle

Gaismagorm roared to call back the Qurio. The Elder Dragon then saw the flock of parasites flying in circles around the hole in the ceiling of his underground domain, as if they were waiting for something.

"Alright… Gaismagorm feeds by eating the Qurio that survive in his stomach… to feed him the… life energy..." Gaismagorm sighed and opened his mouth. He then took a deep breath, creating a vortex that sucked up the flying leeches—those not caught in the suction flew directly into the vortex on their own accord.

Gaismagorm felt uncomfortable as dozens upon dozens of parasites flew down his throat and into his belly. It felt… weird. Until it didn’t.

"HOLY GUACAMOLE!!!" shouted the Elder Dragon as crystals burst from his vents. He felt revitalized and supercharged, like he had just downed fifty cups of coffee—which was strange, considering he didn’t usually drink coffee.

Fueled by sudden determination, Gaismagorm began digging through the underground, making the Everfree Forest tremble.
Multiple holes opened into the underground tunnels. Some lakes dried up as water drained into the earth, turning dirt to mud and creating small subterranean ponds.

Gaismagorm was so motivated, he even forgot he’d left a couple of Qurio behind. Not that he cared—several others were being “enlisted” directly into his belly.

But in his enthusiasm, Gaismagorm didn’t notice a glaring detail until it was too late: he was burrowing straight into a patch of strange underground vines. They were black, lined with cyan spikes. Still, he powered through.

Then came a loud rumble behind him.

Gaismagorm turned back—and saw an entire castle collapsing into the tunnel.

“Oops…” said Gaismagorm as he slowly extended a claw to move the rubble aside, gently lifting the debris to check if he had accidentally crushed someone.

Upon realizing the castle had been abandoned, he paused to weigh his options.
“On one claw, I could stay and wait for the owner to come back… y'know, face the consequences of my actions like a real man.
But I’m not a man anymore… I’m a dragon.
So I’ll do what my other claw tells me and—RUN AWAY!” he shouted, immediately speeding up his tunneling to get the heck away from the mess he had just caused.

What Gaismagorm failed to notice was that the black vines—Plundervines—were now growing uncontrollably from the ruins. Using the tunnel, they began to spread beneath the Everfree… and toward Ponyville.

---

Meanwhile, at the veterinary clinic…

After Fluttershy revealed she had no idea what the leeches were, the girls had dragged the chimera to Dr. Fauna.

"Alright… I’m not sure you know this, but I treat animals, not monsters," said Dr. Fauna, entirely unfazed by the chimera roaring and biting near her muzzle.

"Can you at least diagnose what she has?" asked Fluttershy, unable to stand seeing a creature suffer like this.

Fauna stepped closer to inspect the chimera’s parasites. She then flipped through a book until she stopped at a page featuring a pony with an insane expression.

"She seems to have some type of… rabies," said Dr. Fauna.

"Rabies? Is that some kind of party? Like a rave?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Nope. Far worse," said Dr. Fauna, passing the book to the others. "It’s a disease that makes animals go crazy and act like monsters—losing all their fears and becoming hyper-aggressive. But this chimera doesn't show the usual symptoms: no excessive drooling, no paralysis, no seizures."

"So… basically like a zombie?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Don’t be ridiculous, Dashie. It’s not a zombie virus, it’s just a disease animals get," said Rarity.

"Actually… there have been rare cases of ponies getting rabies," added Dr. Fauna. "It’s extremely uncommon, and they usually die before it spreads… but it can happen."

As the doctor kept staring at the parasites, she began to worry they might be carrying a far more dangerous strain—one that could be highly contagious.
Meanwhile, Rarity somehow looked paler than white as she stepped back, and the others followed suit.

“Wait—what if Fluttershy tries talking to the parasites? I mean… they’re animals, right?” asked Applejack.

Everypony turned to Fluttershy, who shrank under their expectant gazes.

"Well… it’s possible," Fluttershy said, walking closer to the Qurio not restrained by rope.

“E-excuse me, Mister or Mistress Leech… c-can you please stop parasitizing that poor chimera?” she asked softly.

The leech stopped sucking for a second—and replied:

NO.

Fluttershy jumped back, startled, but took a deep breath and stepped forward again.

“But why?” she asked.

It’s either their life… or ours. And the life of the Host.

Fluttershy blinked in confusion. Since when did leeches have a host, especially if they weren’t even counting the chimera as one?

"Who’s the host…? Who are you? What are you?" she asked, bewildered.

We are the Qurio.
We live and die for our Host—Gaismagorm.

"Who’s—"

But before she could finish, the Qurio bit the chimera again and returned to ignoring her, no matter how many times she tried to ask.

---

"What did it tell you?" asked Twilight. Everypony looked expectantly at Fluttershy.

"It said they’re called Qurio. And that they’re feeding off the chimera," Fluttershy began. That part didn’t draw much reaction. Leeches feeding on a creature? Obvious.
"But… they also said they had a host. A specific one. Gaismagorm. They said they live and die for him."

“So the leeches—Qurio—have a boss?” asked Applejack.

"So what? It’s just Chrysalis all over again," said Rainbow Dash with a grin. "Only this time, it’s giant leeches instead of changelings. All we gotta do is beat up this leech monarch and—BOOM—day saved!"

“It seems so… b-but they didn’t call him master or king,” Fluttershy explained. “They called him host… like they’re also living off him, not just the chimera. But differently. They said they do it for him.”

“Well, this sounds like another villain with an army,” said Twilight. “I’ll go to the library and search for anything we can find on these Qurio or Gaismagorm. With names, we might have a lead.”

She turned to the others. “You five—try getting the Qurio off the chimera.”

Twilight couldn’t even begin to guess what “Qurio” really meant. But she knew it sounded dangerous.

Author's Note:

Fun fact, if I’m posting this that means there’s around 3-5 non posted chapters following this one

In case I get a writers block I post the chapters slowly to make sure you don’t think I’ve forgotten about the fic

Comments

[Doctor_Den]

“you five try getting the… Qurio, off the chimera” added twilight, not completely understanding what the word “Qurio” even means

It seems to me that doctors should have already started doing this before trying to make a diagnosis.
It is obvious that this is the main problem that needed to be fixed first if they want to save the patient.

[ItsJustAClint]

Fauna got a bit closer to the Chimera’s parasites, she then went for a book and searched for similar symptoms until she stopped at a page with a Pony with a insane expression “she seems to have some type of rabies” Said Dr.fauna

Honestly you could had compared it to the effects of cordyceps to ants. To make Dash's response have made a lot of sense. Kinda missed opportunity.