To Save Equestria: The Mysterious Virus

by KalaAWild

Chapter 7: The Tablet of Harmony

Chapter 7: The Tablet of Harmony

"Applebloom?" Silvershot called out into the darkness of his cabin. "Applebloom are you in here?"

"Ey'm here," Applebloom voice replied back from the darkness. Her voice had the slightest bit of fear in them.

"Are you alright?"

His nerves were blazing when he wasn't confident about Applebloom being alright. With a certain light spell he learned from a spirit fox, he conjured an orb of light on the tip of his tail and flicked it into the room. The room was lit up in a rainbow of colors and it revealed what Silvershot feared.

Applebloom wasn't alright. She was beyond alright. A griffin held a steel sword against her throat. The sharpness of the blade was terrifying enough for Silvershot's hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. Her safety became a top priority for him to follow. He summoned his throwing star and kept it levitated in the air. The griffin was no match against Silvershot but the griffin had Applebloom hostage.

"Look griffin," Silvershot said to the pirate. "whoever is paying you, I can pay you double. Just let the filly go!"

"This isn't a negotiation," the griffin responded. "I came here for you and you alone. I'll release the filly if you give me your throwing star and yourself."

There wasn't many choices left for Silvershot to choose. His bluff, a really bad one at fault, was his last choice. He had to follow what the griffin wanted. He threw down the throwing star and raised his hooves into the air. The griffin lowered his sword and picked it up. He had a firm grip on it so Silvershot wouldn’t be able to pull it back with his magic. He released Applebloom but still pointed the sword at her.

“Now calmly get over to this side of the room or els-“A loud boom sounded behind Silvershot and it blew his ear drums off.

Silvershot’s head was light from the loud booming noise behind his ear. He knelt onto the ground and placed his hooves on his ears to stop the pain. His eardrums were torn from the exploding sound and it rang like the bells of Heart’s Warming Eve. A couple seconds With time, his ears would recover and his pain in his head would heal. After a couple seconds, he got up after stuffing his hooves into his ears and looked at what enfolded.

Applebloom was quivering like a scared little bobcat near the legs of a pony Silvershot has never seen. The pony had a blue violet coat that was covered in a snow white cape that had ash all over it. On top of her head, was a sapphire pirate cap and a feather that came from a phoenix. In Silvershot’s head, he concluded many things about the pony. One thing for sure, she did shoot a gun right next to his ear almost making him deaf. The pirate cap distinguished her rank on the ship but no pony knew what rank. Silvershot approached the pony and politely asked Applebloom to join him and not the stranger.

“Thanks stranger for the help,” Silvershot thanked. He looked at the griffin laying down flat on the ground with a bullet hole in his forehead. He then looked at the gun the mare had but there wasn’t one.

“No problem,” the mare answered. “Finn said you were looking for me?”

“You’re the blacksmith?”

“The one and only.” the blacksmith happily smiled. She lifted her hat away from her yellow eyes and looked down at the filly next to Silvershot. “Sorry I didn’t make a first good impression. What’s your name cupcake?”

“Applebloom,” Applebloom said with a shaky voice.

“How about I show you a couple toys I made. Silvershot, you can come too.” she gave a jester’s grin with a sticking out of the tongue at him.

Applebloom jumped into the air and followed the blacksmith out. Silvershot followed along with the two girls to the blacksmith’s chambers. He can see that the blacksmith was wearing similar boots to him. There was a locking mechanism on a golden plate on the back of the boots and he could see sweat coming from her legs meaning they were warm just like his. He wondered what difference there was between his and hers but he would have to find out at the blacksmith’s room.

They strolled through a narrow hallway that seemed to get more narrow as you continued down it. Claustrophobia encircled Applebloom and Silvershot but not the blacksmith. She had been down the hallway numerous of times and has not been affected by the claustrophobia effect. At the end of the hallway, there was a wooden hatch door with a see-through window on it. The window had a curtain behind it though so no pony can look inside. The blacksmith took her pirate hat off and stared at the window with a beaming glare. The curtains behind the window waved away and pony behind it looked through it. The pony's eyes made an astonishing happy face and the three ponies could hear the door unlock.

"Sorry ma'am," the pony behind the door apologized instead of greeted. "I didn't mean to lock it."

"It's a magical door, Storm Shock," the blacksmith chuckled. "It always locks when I leave and unlocks when I return."

The blacksmith, Applebloom, and Silversgot entered what was called the Workshop. The Workshop explained perfectly what it was; it was the blacksmith's area of work. There was anvils, furnaces, and worn out hammers and tools with lumps of coal scattered across the floor. The blacksmith walked to her workbench and Applebloom scampered to the furnace to see the colorful sparks scintillating from it. Silvershot wanted to talk to the blacksmith so he walked to the workbench. The lumps of coals snapped into a thousand pieces under his hooves. Dark black splotches covered his hooves as more coal was crushed under him.

The blacksmith switched her pirate hat for a yellow construction hat that had an attached monocle to it. The monocle was over her eye as she inspected the final details for a project she has been working on for the past hour. An empty capsule laid flat over the workbench the blacksmith was working on. It flashed neon colored lights in it and Silvershot stared at it with confusion. What was that?

Silvershot looked at the other things on thr workbench. There were gold round bullets on the table that stuck together for some odd reason. Gold wasn't magnetic so how did they stick? Silvershot tapped the bullets with the tips of his hooves and saw they were indeed stuck to each other. He levitated the bullets up into the air and saw that the back sides of the bullets were weilded together.

"Those are for shotguns you know," the blacksmith said without looking away from the mechanical capsule.

"What is a shotgun?" Silvershot inquired.

"Never mind," the blacksmith looked at Silvershot and then at the capsule. She touched the capsule with a metal rod and it let out a small flame. "There, it's done."

"What's done?" He set the shotgun bullet down.

"Your new boots."

The blacksmith smacked her hoof on the opened capsule and it closed itself. Silvershot took a second glance at it and he realized that it was boot. She carried the boot and slammed it on the table. Then another boot afterwards was slammed next. The boots didn't look all different from his so what was the difference?

"They look my old boots," he smirked.

"They are different," the blacksmith said with confidence. "Put it on and press the second button."

Indecisive whether to follow her command, he made a hesitant reach for the boots. He touched the boots and pulled them closer. He took off his boots with a click of a button and put on the blacksmith's. The boots didn't feel different at all, even with all the electrical wiring inside it. He remembered the blacksmith's words and clicked the button underneath the first one that allowed him to take off the golden boots. Skidding noises rang in the air and the blacksmith covered her ears. She quickly hit the second button before Silvershot could.

"My fault," the blacksmith whimpered. "I forgot you have you have to stand on your hind legs. The gears get, stuck, if you are standing on hooves."

Silvershot nodded and sent strength into his legs. He pushed himself up and clicked the button while standing. The gears inside the boots didn't make a sound and six openings popped out on the sides. The openings spouted out barrels that look like barrels of rifles.

"Cool right?" the blacksmith said pleasingly. "These boots are more advanced than any other gun. It holds up thirty six bullets and the bullets are shot by magic and not by gunpowder."

"How would I fire them?" Silvershot asked. "I don't see a trigger."

"You won't need one. Just use magic."

A dab a magic was all that needed. He emitted a magic glow from his horn into boots and watched as the gears inside turned again. The barrels spun in a clockwise rotation and each one fired a golden bullet. Silvershot stopped it when he realized it would happen. This was amazing!

"If only Armonia had this kind of technology," Silvershot murmured.

Running for so many hours on end, made Armonia weak and tired. Shafts of arrows stick out of him like a porcupine's needles. Each one giving him a reminder of what he just escaped from in pain. Escaping Danja's grasp was no esay task and he was happy got away. A trail of blood entrailed him as he walked down the dirt path.

The night sky looked beautiful. The star constellations helped Armonia navigate with a brilliant night show of a meteor shower. He was headed somewhere and he was glad to see that the starry sky was so clear. Maybe it was Princess Luna who was helping him from continents away.

The dirt path was beaten by the hooves of other ponies and zebras and rocks on the ground made it rough as a rock quarry. Many of the roads of Afriki were like this but the road Armonia was taking was the least popular. The calmness from city life helped calm Armonia's aches and pains from the escape from Danja.

A group of old trees sloped together to form a gate. At last, Armonia found what he was looking for. He continued on, down the road, with his blood following behind him.

Città di Guarigione, the City of Healing, was most famous for all its doctors and shamans who were experts in healing. Somepony there could help with Armonia's injuries. The city was quiet and still. Everypony was asleep with the lights of the town dimmed down for the moon's graceful light. Many of these doctors were already asleep and he didn't want disturb any of them. There was a high probability that the doctor's would reject his request for the time of day. One house, just down the street from where you would enter from, had its lights on and a red cross on the door meaning doctor.

Armonia knocked on the door with his hoof and then collapsed before somepony could answer the door. His strength slipped away from him like water on ice and he couldn't stay conscious any longer.

Just before Armonia could fall asleep from the exhaustion and pain, he could see the doctor's door open. The doctor's face was clouded from his vision but he still spoke before sleeping.

"Could you help me?" he asked silently.

He relaxed and then fell asleep. He didn't have a dream because there wasn't anything to look forward too in the future. His family might think he's dead since he has been gone for so long and the element of sacrifice still existed. Maybe the mare, the mare he was forced to leave behind, would marry him when he get's back.

He could feel his body regaining it's strength. He could feel his hooves and then his legs and neck. He opened his eyes and saw that the doctor really did heal him. His arrow injuries were cleaned up and bandaged and the concussion he recieved from crashing into a brick wall didn't hurt as much anymore. The straw mat underneath him was comfortable too.

"Doctor?" Armonia asked around.

"Seems like the fallen has risen," the doctor's voice said, echoing off the walls of the house. Her voice was angelic to his ears. Maybe she was a savior angel. "it looks like you escaped from one hella of a prison."

"Why do you zebras always have to rhyme?"

The doctor came up to him, bandages in hoof, and changed the ones on Armonia. "It is part of our dialect. Unless you want me to be direct?"

"That would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for treating my wounds."

"It was not a problem young traveler. But I wonder why you look like a bounty for bounty hunter?"

"I am a very important pony and I need to look for the Tablet of Harmony."

"If it's the tablet you seek, why don't I show you a peek?"

Shortly after changing the bandages on Armonia, she walked over to the bookshelf and pulled a book off the topshelf. Her mane fell off her face as she reached hard for it. She carried the book in her mouth and dropped it in front of Armonia. Armonia got up from the ground and glanced at the opened book. The book was opened to a sketch of a stone tablet with the symbols of the elements of harmony on it.

"Yes that's it! Can you tell me anything about it?"

"This tablet is not one who doesn't like to be found. It is ready to give consequences in a bound. Once an archaeologist came looking for it like you, but he was never the same after finding his death wish due. His body exploded, his remains were virus encoded. Ponies and zebras alike in that village, fell to the curse like a viking pillage. No one remained to be seen, and your death could be foreseen. If you follow this path, you could face Celestia's wrath."

"I should not get affected by the curse, I have something to protect me from it." He wasn't completely sure about that. The element of sacrifice wasn't something to rely on. "I need to continue moving. I need that tablet."

"What are going to do when you find the tablet? Maybe destroy the planet?"

"Not quite. I have to use the tablet to destroy an element of harmony."

"That's what he wanted!" Silvershot all of a sudden yelped in the workshop. "He wanted to use the technology or the magic of the tablet to destroy the element of sacrifice. Everything makes sense. Excuse me blacksmith but I have to tell Finn."

Taking his new boots with him, he dashed out of the blacksmith's Workshop and headed to Finn's quarters. Armonia was trying to tell him the secret of the mysterious virus. Applebloom galloped behind him, trying to catch up to him to ask him a question.

"Silvershot," Applebloom huffed. "What were ya talking about in the Workshop?"

"Armonia," Silvershot began. "The virus that affected everypony came from this tablet he tried using to destroy one of the elements of harmony. He must have failed and that's why we know about a similar outbreak in the zebra kingdom. Somepony must have used the tablet in Equeatria and it got everypony sick. Whoever did it though intended to get everypony sick."

"What does this have to do with anythung?" Applebloom asked again.

"If the tablet can inflict sickness, maybe it can cure sickness." At least, that's his theory. He wasn't sure if the Tablet of Harmony could actually do it. It was his only lead thus far and he had to do it. For Applejack, for Rarity, for Princess Celestia, for Equestria, for Fortress, he had to find the Tablet of Harmony at all costs.