Starring Applejack and Fluttershy, the duo must investigate an epidemic that may be linked to Filthy Rich's chemical company
When Applejack's crops begin to wither, and Fluttershy's animals grow sick, they must investigate as to why everything is dying. When young foals start falling ill and go into a comatose state, the Mane Six look into Filthy Rich's operations in Ponyville.
But once the Mane Six find out what Rich is up to, the corporate giant will stop at nothing to silence them. But this isn't just a manifestation of greed, something much more sinister is afoot. As the Mane Six further unravel the strings of lies and deception, they uncover a terrible evil.
"What sacrifices will we endure for economic progress?"
The sun rose over the hills, shedding light on the tree-house residence of a remarkable young mare with a gift for taking care of animals. The soft breeze blew in through her window, filling the room with the smell of dandelions and fresh air.
The breeze tickled her pink mane, and the sound of birds singing awakened her from slumber. Fluttershy yawned, stretching her hooves out. She looked outside, seeing the beautiful day outside. She cheered. “Squee! It’s the first day of spring!”
She threw off her sheets in excitement, and got herself ready for her daily chores. She stepped into the shower, and she was so happy she begun to sing. Her melodic voice rose above the sound of the water
“This heart, a stripling seedling sown underfoot Held tight in the dark, wet womb of the earth Rising forth, pushing through and given birth This heart, it grows.”
“This heart, reaching upward with green hands Held steady by the mother from which it came Always connected, my heart reaches forth This heart, it grows.”
“This heart, now grown tall and budding Can now support itself, the ground seeming More distant and unfamiliar than ever Every hour that passes, it thinks of the flower it’ll become, bright petals and verdant leaves This heart, it grows.”
“This heart, finally flowered and mature Still remembers the roots down below It drops its brightest petal, as if in acknowledgement Landing on the dirt, that still anchors it down Even though its head is stuck in the clouds, This heart has grown, but still remembers.”
When she finished her song, the same song she had once sung for her mother, she stepped out and dried herself with a towel. She bounded down the steps, and took a bunch of carrots out from the fridge. She set the carrot’s down. “Oh, Angel!” she called. “Breakfast time!”
Angel didn’t appear. Fluttershy left the carrots at the door. “Oh, Angel. Where are you?” She shrugged and stepped outside. Fluttershy saw the first flowers growing in her yard. A blue jay chirped at her as it flew past and she waved at it. This was her favorite season for obvious reasons.
She fed the chickens, planted tulips in the garden bed, cleaned out the bird bath, and did all the chores she did at the beginning of every new spring. Drawing water from her well, she let all the animals drink the fresh water from the bucket. Well water was much better tasting than tap water, especially since all that winter snow had melted. She drunk the remaining water, savoring the sweet taste. She had watered her plants with the same water as well. Even the plants seemed to grow better from drinking it.
After a few hours, she wandered back inside. She noticed that the carrots were still at the doorstep, still untouched. Fluttershy was very concerned now. “Oh, Angel? You rarely miss breakfast, but you never miss lunch.”
She regretted letting him sleep outside last night. He was a house pet, even though he fancied himself as an outdoor rabbit. She looked back outside, seeing that it was way past noon. It would be getting dark soon. Fluttershy searched her entire property for him, but he was nowhere to be found. Poor Angel, she thought sadly. He must be so lost and afraid.
She wanted to cry, but continued on her way. She wandered off her property in search of him, and she found a trail of bunny tracks. Angel.
Fulttershy followed the tracks, and eventually she found herself standing in front of the Everfree Forest. The sun was setting on the horizon, and she looked back at the imposing forest in front of her. The trees reached high into the sky, and the canopy was so thick that it barely allowed any light to filter through. A rough dirt path winded through the trees, but it was chocked with weeds and thorn bushes encroached upon its edges.
Fluttershy was unnerved. She didn’t like going into the forest at night. But she distinctly realized Angel’s trail, and it led into the forest. She had to go in. How could Angel have gone in there? She had told him so many times not to.
She mustered her courage and began walking down the path. Stumbling over a gnarled root, she quickly regained her balance. She was now surrounded by the ancient looking trees. Their twisted and unsightly branches extended above her head, and cast shadows upon the ground that looked like a thousand decrepit hands reaching out for her. An owl hooted in the distance, and she shivered. It was completely dark now, and the full moon was her only light. “Oh, Angel!” she called out softly.
The bunny trail seemed to become lopsided as she went along, and eventually she arrived at a clearing. She saw a small white clump of fur on the ground, and galloped to it. “Angel!”
Her rabbit was curled up in a ball, shivering. She picked him up, and she gave a startled gasp. Angel was burning up with fever. “Oh my goodness!” She rushed back home, carrying the sick rabbit on her back.
She kicked open her door, and grabbed the carrots still on the doorstep. She made a bed for Angel, and propped his head up. She put a wet rag on his head and stuck a thermometer in his mouth. 104 Farenheit.
Fluttershy wanted to cry. She had to bring his fever down. She rushed to her cabinets and made a poultice out of her herbs. “This is an old herbal remedy that I learned as a filly.” She had ground it up into mush and brought it up to Angel’s mouth. “Please eat, Angel. You’re very sick.”
Angel ate the bitter poultice without complaint. She sat at his bedside for the rest of the night, and eventually the fever went back down. She had fallen asleep sometime during the night, and when she awoke, Angel had eaten all the carrots.
She picked the bunny up and allowed him to play inside. She sighed in relief. He seemed to be normal again. She wondered what had happened to him. He must have eaten something he shouldn’t have. He was alone in that forest for such a long time.
Fluttershy began to clean up Angel’s sick bed, when she noticed something. There were black splatter stains all over the pillow. She immediately recognized the pungent smell. Vomit? She let the black vomit slide off the pillow and into the garbage can. It was thick and viscous, and reeked of death. What in the world did Angel eat?
The light orange mare was trotting to the edge of her farm, the light spring breeze caressing her straw-blonde mane. Applejack stood beside the mailbox and took out the newspaper, carrying it in her mouth back the farmhouse.
She walked into the farmhouse, and heard Applebloom whining and Granny Smith chiding her. Applejack plunked the roll of papers on the table where her family was eating breakfast. Granny Smith smiled at Applejack, her tight bun of white hair trembling. “Oh, darling, did you check that fancy smancy new pipe system?”
“I’ll get right on that, ma.” Applejack replied cheerily. “I’m glad we got that irrigation network, it was working mighty fine yesterday.”
Granny Smith laughed. “I knew that contraption would do us good. This is going to be a fine harvest season.”
Applebloom was smearing jam on her toast as well as all over the table. “Does that mean we’ll get more money now?”
“Eeyup,” said Big Mac, his mouth full of toast.
Winona bounded through the door yapping. Applejack smiled, pouring herself some juice and reading the newspaper. There was a picture of Filthy Rich waving on the front page with the headlines, “New Chemical Plant Now Hiring. New Jobs Expected to Stimulate Economy.” Applejack pushed the newspaper out into the center of the table. “Filthy Rich is opening a factory right here in Ponyville.”
Granny Smith nodded. “Oh, yes. Though that’s old news, the building has been up and running for a few weeks now. It’s about time they’re hiring.”
Applejack continued reading the article. “Oh, it also mentions Filthy Rich’s oil drilling operations in the Badlands. Apparently he struck it rich.”
Applebloom giggled. “Can we call him Filthy Richer now?”
“Eeeyup,” Big Mac agreed. Everyone laughed. Applejack helped pick up the dishes and cleaned up the table. Applejack smiled. Maybe she could work there for some extra money. All those new jobs would make everypony so happy. Filthy Rich brings prosperity wherever he goes.
She trotted outside, admiring the design of the irrigation system. The corn stalks stretched high up, almost ready to harvest. Never had she seen the crops so bright and full, she marveled.
“Applejack!” she heard a soft voice call out for her. She turned around and saw Fluttershy running down towards her, tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong, sugarcube?” she asked Fluttershy, very concerned.
She sobbed, tears running down her eyes. “I don’t know what to do,” she screamed. “They’re in so much pain!”
“Whoa, slow down there, Fluttershy,” she said in her country drawl. Fluttershy calmed down, still sobbing. “Now, who exactly is in so much pain?”
“The animals!” she cried. “I don’t know what happened, they were all fine the night before, but now…” Fluttershy broke down.
Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder. “Easy there, Fluttershy. C’mon let’s go see those animals.”
Fluttershy looked up at her, her eyes hopeful. “Oh, thank you. Thank you.”
“Now, now,” she said. “I’m not an expert with animals like you are, but as a farmpony, I still know my stuff.”
They went to Fluttershy’s house, and as soon as Applejack stepped on her property, she could immediately tell that there was something wrong here. All of Fluttershy’s plants were withering, even the grass was withering. The critters that usually frolicked about in her yard were nowhere to be seen. Not even the birds were singing. The silence was eerie.
Fluttershy led her inside, and Applejack gasped. She had set up an infirmary inside her house, and every makeshift bed was filled with a sick animal. Applejack leaned down, looking at a squirrel. The little brown squirrel looked up at Applejack weakly, streaks of dried black ooze ran down the squirrel’s mouth and down its tiny neck. Applejack moved back, surprised. She looked back at Fluttershy, who was flitting about, making sure her animals were comfortable as possible. “Nothing like this has ever happened before!” Fluttershy cried desperately, wiping away black ooze from a chicken’s mouth.
Applejack looked around. “Sugarcube, we’ve got to get these animals quarantined. They’re obviously very sick, and whatever they’re sick with is probably very contagious if they all caught it in one night.”
Fluttershy looked around panicked. “They need to get to a hospital!” She grabbed her mane, “I should have noticed the symptoms! The animals weren’t as energetic as they usually are during the spring, the birds were refusing to eat, and oh my goodness!” Fluttershy ran over to Angel, who was appearing to have a seizure. “Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy faced Applejack. “What do I do!?”
Angel’s seizure ended, and he became very still, black ooze bubbling from his mouth. Applejack thought for a solution. “We can’t risk the disease spreading to the other animals in the hospital. Let’s get Twilight to help us, she’s smart, she’ll know what to do.”
She prayed that Twilight could help, for Applejack had no clue what to do. Applejack looked at Fluttershy, putting her hoof on her shoulder. “Fluttershy, you can fly to Twilight’s faster than I can run there. I’ll take care of the animals, and you bring her here.”
Fluttershy sniffed. “I’m so scared, Applejack. What if when I’m gone…” she looked at all the sick animals around.
Applejack sighed. “I’ll do my best to take care of them, now hurry! Fetch Twilight!”
Fluttershy nodded, wiping her tears and spreading her wings. She flew out, and Applejack tended to the animals. She wiped off the black ooze from their mouths, and it felt viscous and gooey on her hoof. “What in tarnation is this stuff?”
An hour passed, when Twilight came charging through the door with Fluttershy. “Oh, dear!” Twilight cried out. “It’s an epidemic!”
Fluttershy walked in with a bucket of water, her eyes red from the tears. She began trickling water down the beaks of her chickens, “Please drink, little guys. It’ll keep the fever down.”
Twilight looked around, overwhelmed. She sat down near a sick kitten, observing it. “Fluttershy, can you tell me if anything out of the ordinary happened between before the onset of the symptoms?”
“Well, Angel wandered away from home.” Fluttershy touched noses with Angel. “I found him in the Everfree Forest, and when I brought him home, he had thrown up the same black ooze. But I thought he had been feeling better, but…” Fluttershy sobbed. “Is this my fault!?”
Twilight nodded. “It’s not your fault, Fluttershy. You didn’t know.” Twilight walked through the crowded aisles of the infirmary. “Epidemics happen all the time…” she looked closely at a sick kitten, pulling out a notepad and quill. “Symptoms appear to be a high fever, profuse sweating, vomiting…” Twilight gathered some of the black ooze from the kitten’s mouth. “They are all spitting up this stuff.” Twilight’s horn began to glow, and the black ooze began to glow as well. The light faded, and Twilight gasped. “This ooze is dead tissue.” Twilight nodded her head. “This is very serious, something is eating them from the inside out. Angel probably picked up some kind of monster virus from the Everfree Forest and infected all your other animals when you brought him back home.”
Applejack looked around uncertainly. “I don’t know much about viruses or any of that, but I have never seen sickness like this before.”
Twilight nodded, wiping off the black ooze from her hooves. She gasped, and looked at the ooze remaining on her hoof. “There’s some kind of crystalline fragments in the ooze!” She wiped the remnants off on the ground. “I’m going to go back to the library and look through my books for diseases with symptoms like this.” Twilight made for the door. “Whatever this is, it’s exotic and very contagious. You can’t let any of the animals leave.”
Applejack stared at her. “Twilight, what do we do in the meantime?”
Twilight sighed. “Just hang in there. Once I’ve got the disease identified, I can make medicine for it.”
Fluttershy began crying again, seeing that Angel was having another seizure. “Oh, please hurry, Twilight! I don’t know how much longer they’re going to last!”
Twilight nodded and galloped out of the door. Applejack stood beside Fluttershy, consoling her. “Don’t you worry now, Fluttershy. Twilight has always come through for us. I’ll help you through this in the meantime.”
“Oh, thank you, Applejack!” Fluttershy hugged her, and Applejack wrapped her hooves around her. “Thank you so much.”
Twilight returned later that day, and night had fallen. The way she looked when she opened the door made Fluttershy’s heart sink. Twilight collapsed on the ground, exhausted. “I don’t understand. I looked in all my books about viruses, but found nothing!”
Applejack stepped forward. “Twilight, I don’t know much about germs and such, but I remembered this one time we had to call a vet to the farm. All of our cows had gotten sick, and that had been a virus as well. Though nothing as serious as this, but we were worrying that Winona might get sick as well. Then he said something about viruses being “species-specific”.” Applejack shrugged her shoulders. “I never understood what he meant when he said that, but he said the sickness wouldn’t affect Winona.”
Twilight stared at Applejack, her jaw dropped. “You’re right…It can’t be a virus! Viruses can only affect one certain kind of species, like cows…” Twilight gestured to all the different kinds of animals in the room. “A virus couldn’t possibly attack such a broad spectrum of species!”
Fluttershy was confused. “So, it’s not a virus?”
“It’s not. It can’t be.” Twilight smacked her hoof on her face. “How could I have not remembered that pivotal fact?” Twilight sighed, looking at the roof. “I looked at all my books on diseases, bacteria and other microorganisms included, but there was still nothing. Maybe I'm not approaching this in the right way....”
Applejack shrugged. “Maybe it was magic? You know, like a curse.”
“No, if this affliction was magic based, I would have detected it.” Twilight walked around, confused. “What is causing this then?”
There was banging on the door, and Fluttershy’s heart stopped for a moment. A large stallion pushed open the door. Applejack cried. “Big Mac!”
Big Mac rushed in, his face desperate. “Applebloom is in the hospital!”
Fluttershy watched Applejack’s face darken with shock. “What happened!?”
He beckoned Applejack urgently. “She was eating the corn in the fields and started throwing up this slimy stuff….”
Twilight stepped forward, concerned. “Did the slimy stuff happen to be black and have the consistency of ooze?”
“Eeyup!” Big Mac nodded. Fluttershy exchanged glances with Applejack and Twilight. They all followed Big Mac outside and rushed to the hospital.
Fluttershy ran in, following Applejack and Big Mac. She was overcome with the smell of stale air, old latex, and bad cafeteria food. Applejack was yelling at the nurse at the table. In a few minutes, they were all running down the stark white hallways, following a nurse.
She led them into the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), and they saw Applebloom lying in a hospital bed in the first room. They rushed in, and Fluttershy stayed behind while Applebloom’s siblings tended to her. The little filly was in deep sedation, hooked up to a heart monitor that beeped at constant intervals. A doctor stallion trotted in, holding a clipboard. Applejack rushed to him. “Is my little sister going to be all right?”
The doctor sighed. “Does…” he checked the clipboard. “Yes, Applebloom, is she epileptic?”
Applejack shook her head. “W-what? Epileptic? No, no, she isn’t.”
“Does she have any neurological disorders?” Applejack looked at the doctor blankly. The doctor sighed. “Can you tell me Applebloom’s medical history?”
Applejack nodded. “Applebloom never got sick before. She had the Cutie-Pox once, and that was it.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.
“So let me get this straight,” the doctor said. “Your little sister had a seizure, but she isn’t epileptic and has no history of any illness. Save for the Cutie-Pox. She started vomiting profusely when she was eating…corn?” Big Mac nodded. “Is she allergic to corn?”
Applejack shook her head vehemently. “No, sir. She eats corn all the time, and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened.”
Twilight leaned close to Fluttershy, “Hey, do you see any similarities between your animals’ sickness and Applebloom’s?”
Fluttershy looked at Twilight and nodded. Applebloom’s case looked exactly like her animals….
There was a knock on the door and Granny Smith came rushing in, looking at Applebloom with deep concern. “I don’t care how much I have to pay, but make my sweet Applebloom get better!”
The doctor sighed, irritated. “For her to get better, I must first understand what caused this illness! Healthy fillies don’t spontaneously have seizures.”
Twilight stepped forward. “So, you don’t know what’s causing this?”
“I know what’s causing this,” the doctor said gravely. He turned to Granny Smith. “I’m sorry, but your granddaughter is epileptic.”
“W-what?” Granny Smith said, her elderly frame trembling.
“No!” Applejack shouted. “Applebloom is as healthy as can be! She doesn’t have epilepsy.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.
The doctor waved his hoof apologetically. “I know it’s a hard truth, but….”
A mare knocked on the door, and they all turned around and faced her. The strange unicorn mare with a black mane and white lab coat walked in. She took one look at Applebloom. She used her magic to levitate a walkie talkie up to her mouth. “Administrator, we’ve got another case.”
Two stallions in hospital security uniforms grabbed Applebloom’s bed and began rolling it backwards out towards the door. The doctor gasped in outrage. “This is my patient! Where are you taking her!?”
The strange scientist mare sighed. “We’re taking her to isolation, along with all the other foals showing similar symptoms.”
“Wait, there are more cases of this illness?” Twilight asked.
The scientist mare nodded. “Yes, we have a few other foals that have gone into a comatose state because of it.” Applejack and Big Mac gasped. The stallions began wheeling out Applebloom’s bed. “But she’s the oldest patient so far, so she has a better chance.”
Fluttershy approached the strange mare. “Umm, excuse me?” The scientist mare looked at her. “Well, you see, my animals all got sick too. They all had the same illness.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, we’ve been trying to investigate this epidemic.”
The scientist mare looked at all of them. “You all look like capable ponies. Maybe you can help us find the source of this disease.”
They followed the scientist mare down the hallway, doctors rushing past as they progressed to a more secluded part of the hospital. “My name is Crystal Glow,” the scientist mare said. “Infectious disease specialist, I work mainly with children.”
Applejack sobbed, stroking Applebloom’s red mane. “Please, Applebloom. Wake up. Please wake up.”
Hot tears ran down her cheeks, dripping onto the ground from her muzzle. There was an alarm over the intercom, and Crystal gasped. “We have a Code Red, we have a Code red in Isolation.” the intercom buzzed.
“What?” Crystal said, dumbfounded. She raced down the hallway, and the two stallions rolling Applebloom’s bed gave pursuit.
They all followed Crystal, and Applejack shouted. “Why are we going to isolation?!”
“One of the other cases just went critical,” Crystal said.
They pushed through several air tight doors, and Applejack wrinkled her nose at the recycled air in the complex. Crystal slid her access card at a security terminal and the door opened. They dashed into a room with about seven other children. At the very edge of the room, there was a group of doctors surrounding a young colt. Crystal pushed past the huddle of doctors, and sighed. “Is this our code red?” The doctors nodded. Crystal slipped the latex gloves onto her hooves. “Let the physical examination begin.”
Crystal stood beside the colt, who seemed to be in a deep sleep. The black ooze dripping from his mouth had a strange crystalline appearance, with small cubes of the mineral deposited within the viscous black fluid. Crystal leaned down and screamed into his ear. Applejack’s heart jumped at the shrill wail. “No response,” Crystal said. She then poked the cold with a needle. She poked him with the needle again, this time drawing blood. “No response,” Crystal repeated. After a few more tests, Crystal was resigned. “Set time, 6:13 pm. Patient failed to respond to physical stimuli, code red status confirmed.”
The doctors took the clipboard hanging at the colt’s bed, and wrote over it in beg red letters. “BRAIN DEAD.”
Applejack wanted to cry, and she heard Fluttershy sobbing behind her. The bed was pushed aside, and Applebloom’s bed was rolled up right beside his. Crystal was talking to a doctor, “Inform his family. We need his bed, but we still need to ask permission to take him off life support. Pointless keeping him alive now, he’s gone.”
One of the doctors looked around frantically. “Isn’t that Mr. Filthy Rich’s son?”
“Yes, it was.” Crystal Glow said. “He owns the hospital, so tread lightly.”
As soon as the doctor left, Applejack stormed up to Crystal. “How can you do this!?” she screamed. “How can you be so coldhearted!? Do none of you doctors have any feelings?”
Crystal retained her stoic expression. “This is a tragedy that we face every day of our lives. I once worked at the nursery, where I took care of prematurely born foals. I cried when we lost our first foal and went into a deep depression. After crying and crying, seeing foal after foal dying, I stopped feeling.” Applejack stared into the mare’s face. “It’s not that I don’t care. It’s just…” Crystal sniffed. “It’s just that I have to remain emotionally detached. I can’t let my feelings get in the way of my duties.”
Twilight was standing beside the colt’s bed, looking at the crystalline deposit that had formed outside his mouth. Crystal noticed Twilight looking. She wiped her tears, not able to look at Applejack anymore. “Yes, I see that you’ve noticed the crystals.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, it’s so odd. I guess the disease attacks the central nervous system first, causing the comatose state.”
“Yes, definitely. It’s a similarity with all the cases, though Mr. Rich’s son was our first case.” Crystal Glow gathered up the crystals up in her hooves. “These crystalline fragments,” the crystals began to glow, the unicorn using her magic to make them levitate. “As the disease progresses, the dead tissue laden ooze starts to harden and crystallize. The colt’s blood was full of the crystalline powder, and the crystals were forming on his spine and brain stem and spread to all his other internal organs, and solidifying them. It’s like he’s being petrified from the inside out.”
Twilight looked up at the mare doctor. “Well, what do we do now?”
“We sent samples to our labs in Canterlot. We should get the toxicology report from there any day now.” Crystal sighed, looking at all the sick foals. “It won’t matter though. Most of these foals will be brain dead by then. The best we can do is make them comfortable as they sleep.”
Fluttershy approached Crystal. “Can’t we do something? Could we inform Celestia or the other royalty? Maybe they can help.”
Crystal shook her head. “We can’t tell anybody.” Crystal looked at all of them in turn. “By patient privacy protection laws, you all are legally bound not to speak a word of this to anybody. Unless the family decides they want to give us permission to disclose the patient information. Since you’re working with us, it’s fine, but you cannot tell anyone.” Crystal looked at all of them, “No one.”
Twilight attempted to reason with her. “As long as you don’t mention the names it’ll be fine, right? Maybe you can publish an article in a medical journal….”
“No, still we cannot tell anyone. Not only will the hospital face a devastating lawsuit, but...” Crystal looked at the brain dead colt. “That is Mr. Rich’s only son. His father gave us strict instructions to keep his son’s sickness a secret, and furthermore the entire outbreak.”
Applejack grew suspicious. “Why does he want to keep it a secret?”
“It’s simple,” the mare said. “That colt is the heir to Mr. Rich’s business empire. It’ll hurt his company’s stock value when people learn that his son is critically ill, and especially now that he’s brain dead.” Crystal looked all around the room. “All this state of the art equipment, our wages, this entire hospital, if his company goes down, so does this hospital. He owns all of it.”
Crystal looked at the door, and they all looked behind them. Two more beds with sick foals were wheeled in and set aside. “All we can do is wait for that toxicology report, and hope that we can stop this thing in time.” Crystal began trotting to the two new sick foals. “Now excuse me, I have work to do here.”
Crystal walked away, and Applejack nuzzled Applebloom softly, looking at her brother. “Oh Big Mac, what do we do?”
“I don’t know, sis.” He said, his eyes watery with tears.
Fluttershy looked around panicked. “Are all my animals going to die now?” she looked around, panicked. “I can’t afford life support machines for all of my animals, so when they go brain dead…” Fluttershy scrunched her face up, her lips trembling, her eyes threatening to flood over.
Twilight shook her head, stamping her hoof. “I refuse to stand by and do nothing while this happens. We’ve got work to do.”
Crystal had allowed them to use a seldom used solarium as a base for their investigations. The room had large panoramic view windows with warm sunlight filtering in through the dusty blinds. A coffee vending machine lay in the corner, nestled in between two leather couches. Small tables with lamps were beside the couches, with magazines and health awareness fliers that appeared to be twenty years out of date.
Twilight had dragged one of the tables to the center of the room, sliding all the, “Have the stallion in your life get his prostate checked, it could save his life” fliers off the table, dumping them on the couch. She then unfurled a map of Ponyville onto the table, and pulled out a box of colored pin needles. “Alright, Mr. Rich’s son, Firespark, is our index patient.” She picked up a bright blue pin. “He started showing symptoms when he was in a water gun fight with his friends.” She stuck the pin down near a stream, only a small distance away from the Everfree Forest. “This is where it happened. This is where this chain all started.”
It took a minute for Twilight to use the hospital’s records to chart where all the other infections occurred. “Now,” Twilight said, putting the last pin down. “We have to look for patterns, and try to trace the epicenter of this epidemic.”
Applejack stared at the map, but all the pinpoints were randomly scattered. There was no inherent pattern. “Hmmmm…I don’t know, Twi. I don’t see any patterns at all.”
Twilight shook her head, “That doesn’t make any sense. Maybe this will help.” She began sticking numbers onto the pins. “See, now we can observe the chronology of the infections.”
Fluttershy was looking over at the map. “I don’t understand, Twilight. If this disease is contagious in nature, then shouldn’t the pins be in clusters?”
“You’re right, Twilight said. “None of the victims ever had any contact with one another.”
“But my animals…” Fluttershy muttered. “I thought Angel had gone into the forest, picked up the disease there, and brought it back home to my animals. But according to this data, that isn’t a correct assumption.”
Twilight scratched her head. “This is perplexing. According to this map, the disease isn’t contagious at all. Or the victims would be clumped together. No, this disease isn’t behaving at all like a normal disease.”
“Maybe there are other clues here.” Applejack said, rubbing her muzzle with her hoof. “What were all these foals doing when they got sick? I know Applebloom was eating corn, Firespark was in a water gun fight….”
Twilight shook her head. “Nothing strange or out of the ordinary. We had one filly doing laundry, another colt was taking a bath…These activities aren’t related at all, are they?”
“Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “Look at this.” Everyone looked over at her and Fluttershy pointed at the numbers on the pins. “Firespark, our first case, got sick near a stream on the northern edge of the Everfree Forest. Angel also got sick in the Everfree Forest, but the clearing where I found him was several miles south from where Firespark got sick.”
Twilight nodded. “Oh, I see.” Twilight traced the numbers down. “You’re animals got sick then, which is a few more miles down south, then to Applejack’s farm, which is even further south…and the disease just fans out from there, but there is still a pattern. These cases were occurring in a southern pattern, until they hit this building and then the distribution of cases became random at that point.”
“What is that building?” Fluttershy said, pointing at what appeared to be some kind of utility building. “It’s certainly not a residence.”
Twilight looked through some papers and records regarding the layout of the town. “Oh, here it is!” She slapped the paper down on the table. “It’s a water purification facility. The only one in Ponyville.”
An eerie hush fell over the three mares. “It’s in the water,” they said all at once.
Applejack pointed at the water facility. “All the town’s drinking water goes through that building for purification, and then is distributed to everyone’s homes. That explains the random distribution once it reaches that point.”
Twilight traced the chronology back from there, her hoof hovering over Applejack’s farm. “Here. So, how did Applebloom get sick again?”
“She was eating corn,” said Applejack, concerned.
Twilight stared at Applejack. “All those crops on your farm, how do you get them all watered?”
“Oh, we have a fancy irrigation system that draws water from…” Applejack silently put her hoof over the same stream which Firespark had been playing near when he had gotten sick. “We draw our irrigation water from this water source.”
“What about you, Fluttershy?” Twilight said, facing her. “Where do you draw your water from?”
“Oh, I only use well water for my animals.” Fluttershy’s face scrunched up. “Is there diseased water in my well? Was I the one who was making my animals sick?”
Twilight held Fluttershy’s hoof. “It’s not your fault, no one could have known the disease was waterborne.”
“That’s right." Applejack said. "All the foals got sick when they were in contact with the infected water. Applebloom was eating corn which had been soaked in that water, Firespark was splashing himself with his water gun, the filly was doing the laundry, that other colt was taking a bath….”
Twilight looked at all of them. “This is officially a health crisis. The water is making people sick.” Twilight traced her hoof upward. “It’s this stream. That’s where it all started.” Twilight dug through the maps of geographic layout, elevations, weather patterns, and then finally pulled out a map of Ponyville’s watershed. “This stream gets its water from this river.” She traced her hoof northward, drawing deeper into the Everfree Forest and the elevation was increasing. “Somewhere along this river, something went wrong. The epicenter of this disease shouldn’t be too far from the first infection….”
“Hey!” Applejack shouted. She pointed at the only building near the river. “Isn’t that Mr. Rich’s chemical factory?”
Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Yes, it is!”
“Do you think that’s where this contamination is coming from!?” Fluttershy squeaked.
“It would appear so,” Applejack said, glowering. “Filthy Rich is dumping his chemical waste into the river!”
Fluttershy jumped. “We have to tell someone! Before more foals get sick!”
“No wonder he wants to keep this outbreak a secret,” Applejack said, crossing her hooves.
Twilight waved her hooves. “Now, hold on guys. This is just speculation. We need more concrete evidence before we expose ourselves. Once this gets out in the open, people might come after us. This is a company that churns out billions of bits in a week.” Twilight looked around at all of them. “If we dare to throw a stone at a giant, we must have a rock-solid case. We’ll be going against the toughest lawyers….”
Applejack slammed her hoof down on the table. “He’s poisoning our town! He made Applebloom sick!”
“Maybe we can inform the town council, and maybe they can shut down the water distribution center.” Fluttershy suggested.
“Then our town won’t have any drinking water,” said Twilight. “And that facility is also owned by Mr. Rich.”
Applejack grunted, throwing up her hooves. “Does that stallion own everything!?”
Fluttershy continued. “Then we’ll all drink bottled water in the meantime. We have to tell the mayor.”
Twilight shook her head. “You guys aren’t thinking clearly! Even if we go through the town council, Filthy Rich will easily trace back to this hospital, then us! He’ll find out very quickly that we know about his secret. He'll go through whatever means it takes to silence us, including shutting down this hospital.”
“But his own son is brain dead because of it,” said Applejack. “Is he that crazy? I’m sure the stallion loved his son. I saw pictures in the newspaper of them together.”
Twilight nodded, reconsidering. “Maybe even he doesn’t know what’s happening at his chemical plant. Maybe there was a leak or something.”
“We have to explain it to him,” Fluttershy said. “We have to tell him what’s going on, and reason with him. Filthy Rich is an honest businessman and a loving father, he’ll understand.”
Twilight agreed. “That’s a good plan. Agreed?”
They all nodded. Applejack raised her hoof. “I know where he lives. I deliver Zap Apple Jam to his mansion a few times every year. It's in a very secluded place and hidden place, very few ponies know about it.”
“All right, let’s go!” Twilight said, rushing out of the room. “There’s no time to waste.”
They all left the room, trotting to the Rich residence to save their town.
The room sat empty for a few minutes, and the three mares failed to notice the small, blinking red light in the corner of the room. The security camera swiveled around, its lens zooming in on the table.
In a secure facility many miles from the hospital, a specter stared up at the live security camera feeds. The dark voice whispered, “They know.”
The sun was setting on the horizon, painting the sky a bright pink and orange. Fluttershy would have loved to watch the sun set and see the world plunged into darkness, but there was no time. Lives were at stake here.
Applejack had four jars of Zap Apple jam inside her bags to give to Mr. Rich. The stallion had lost his colt, hopefully the treat would loosen his tongue and make him more cooperative.
They ran along the dirt path, the crickets beginning to chirp as the sky continued to darken. In about an hour, they arrived at the estate shrouded by trees. It was a large, two story Victorian style home. All the lights were on inside, so someone was definitely home.
Their path illuminated by moonlight, they trotted across Rich’s luxurious driveway and climbed up a few set of steps and arrived at two very large mahogany doors. Twilight urged Applejack to knock on the door, and she did. Thud. Thud. Thud. Her hoof striking the wood made a thudding sound that echoed inside.
The door cracked open, and they saw the tear streaked face of a beige mare with a scarlet mane. Applejack stepped forward. “Mrs. Rich, I have come to offer my condolences for your son.”
The mare slowly opened the door, her eyes downcast. “Oh, thank you. Please,” she urged. “Come on in.”
Applejack stepped onto the polished marble floor, the smooth ground cool and pleasant underneath her hooves. They walked into a large reception area with oak staircases leading up to the second floor and different wings of the house. Brilliant artwork hung from the walls with spotlights trained on them, glass sculptures stood on pedestals, and Applejack could hear the trickling sound of an indoor water fountain somewhere.
Mrs. Rich sniffed, blowing her nose in a handkerchief. “Oh, excuse me.” She turned and faced them. “I’m such a mess…” she sobbed, her eyes filling up with tears again. “I’m a terrible mother. It was my negligence that made Firespark brain dead.”
Twilight frowned, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “That’s what we came here to talk about. We have some news….”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. Mrs. Rich turned away, the Zap Apple jam at hand. “Please leave me be, I’m a terrible person.”
“It’s not your fault,” Applejack said consolingly.
“How do you know it’s not my fault!?” Mrs. Rich screamed. “I had four miscarriages before I was finally blessed with Firespark!”
“That’s not your fault either…” Fluttershy murmured.
“It is!” Mrs. Rich put her hoof on her head. “I’m a murderer! Everything I love shrivels and dies!”
Twilight sighed. “Mrs. Rich, we need to talk to your husband. It’s very important. There’s a lot of sick foals, and Mr. Rich can possibly save them.”
Mrs. Rich wiped her tears, sniffing. “Mr. Rich is unavailable. He has requested to be left alone ever since he returned from his oil-drilling campaign.” She turned away, trotting up the staircase.
Applejack chased her up the steps, and blocked her path. “My little sister is sick! And Mr. Rich is the only one who knows what’s wrong with her! You take us to him right now!”
Mrs. Rich sobbed again, collapsing on the steps. “Mr. Rich was already so distressed when he returned home from the Badlands, but then he barricaded himself inside his room when he found out that his son was…” she swallowed, “brain dead.” She began nodding vigorously. “I need him so badly, I need him more than ever…but I guess everypony has their own way of dealing with grief. My husband loved and nurtured Firespark more than I ever could.”
Twilight kneeled down so she was face to face with Mrs. Rich. “Please, help us. The same thing that happened to Firespark is happening to a dozen other foals and counting. We need his help to stop this.”
Mrs. Rich stared into Twilight’s eyes. “Second floor, west wing, the very last door at the end of the hallway.” Mrs. Rich retreated from them, and slunk down the steps, her ears drooped. “I hope you have more luck getting to him than I did.”
Mrs. Rich disappeared into one of the lower hallways, and her lonely sobs echoed in the cavernous mansion. Twilight nodded and they all trotted up the carpeted steps. It took them a little while, but they finally reached the west wing of the house. An eerie hush had fallen over this part of the house, and they all stood at in the hallway. They stared at the door to Mr. Rich’s bedroom. There was something haunting about it. They wanted to proceed, but something akin to fear kept their hooves rooted to the ground.
There was the sound of something crashing and they all jumped. They rushed forward, and there was the sound of glass shattering from within the bedroom. Applejack bucked the door hard, and the door shook to no avail. Mr. Rich was screaming from inside. “No! No! NO!”
The screams were cut off suddenly and Twilight blasted the door with magic, sending it flying off its hinges. They charged in and Applejack stopped suddenly. The other two mares bumped into her, and Twilight was about to protest until she saw what Applejack was staring at. In the center of the room, tied to the fan, Filthy Rich hung from a noose.
They all stared at the suspended body, the rope still swinging back and forth from where it had broken his neck. They were awoken from their stupor when there was the sound of glass breaking from the master bathroom. They kicked open the door and rushed up to the broken window. Somepony had jumped through, and they could see the pony’s dark shadow fleeing into the dense forest far below.
Applejack gasped. “What in tarnation? Who was that?”
Twilight shook her head. “I have no idea, but….”
They all turned around, and they could still see Mr. Rich hanging from the roof from where they were standing. Applejack stepped forward, trotting into the room. A wardrobe had been turned over, and there were shards of broken glass everywhere. “How could Mr. Rich commit suicide?” Fluttershy asked, tears in her eyes.
“Maybe he had a guilty secret,” Applejack hissed.
“No,” Twilight said. “Suicidal ponies don’t yell ‘No, no, no’ when they are about to kill themselves.” Twilight gestured to the state of the room. “This was no suicide. There was obviously a struggle here.”
“So you’re saying,” Fluttershy swallowed. “That this was a murder?”
“Yes, that’s what the evidence suggests.” Twilight pointed at the broken window in the bathroom. “Somepony was here with him, and then fled the scene when we came in.”
Applejack shuddered. “Twilight, I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all. It’s like somepony wanted to make this seem like a suicide, an anguished father killing himself in the wake of his son’s brain death. But we showed up, and the murderer had to flee and had no time to clean up the signs of Mr. Rich’s struggle.”
Twilight nodded. “What have we gotten ourselves into?” She turned to Fluttershy. “Call the police. Tell them that Mr. Rich has been murdered.”
It was dim in the lonely mail room. It was cluttered with packages and papers strewn about, and the walls felt like they were closing in on her. This was the night shift at the hospital. Nurse Redheart shuffled through the mail, organizing it and putting it into the appropriate outgoing box. She looked up at the clock on the dull green wall, and saw that it was a little past midnight.
She sighed, jamming a package in its appropriate compartment. The clerk and the other nurses had gone outside for a smoke break, and she was left inside to make sure everything remained stable with the patients. She accidentally spilled a stack of mail papers on the floor, and among the letters was a fluorescent yellow folder. It read, “Canterlot Laboratories” in bold print over the cover. There was a big “URGENT” right underneath the title.
Redheart looked around to see if anyone else was looking. She had been looking for this folder. Crystal Glow had requested that she take it straight to her office as soon as it came in the mail. “So, this is the toxicology report.” She said to herself.
She took up the folder and began walking down the empty white hallways. All the rooms she passed were dark, the rooms on this side of the hospital were empty and seldom visited. Crystal’s office was adjacent to the isolation room where the sick foals were. She had heard that Firespark’s body composition had started to look more crystalline than flesh and bone. What kind of wicked disease has afflicted these children?
She shook the folder. In here, they would find answers. After a few minutes of trotting through the eerie silence, she saw Crystal’s office. She checked the isolation room first, and saw that it had been darkened inside the room. The beeping of heart monitors, the wheezing of the ventilators, and the small gasps of the comatose foals created a monotonous ambience in the dark room.
Satisfied, she unlocked Crystal’s office. She turned the white lamp on and closed the door behind her. She turned down the blinds so no one could see her, and settled down on Crystal’s chair. With trembling hooves, she opened up the toxicology reports. Everywhere she looked on the paper, the words “ABNORMAL” and “IMMEDIATELY CONTACT CANTERLOT HAZMAT TEAMS” jumped out at her.
What in Equestria? thought Redheart. She had never seen such dramatic labels in anything from those stiff-necks working at the Canterlot Labs. As she read in detail, her face twisted in horror at the implications. Lethal hazardous waste in the town’s drinking water? A possible chemical attack by terrorists? The crystals forming inside the foals are actually….
The lights flickered, and Redheart clutched the folder to her chest. Her heart was racing as the lights flashed on and off, and eventually went completely dark. There was the whirring sound as the last of the power was drained.
Redheart was frozen in the darkness. There was a clinking sound, and the emergency generators kicked in. Everything was bathed in the eerie red luminance of the backup lights, and she trembled in the office.
She peeked through the blinds, her hooves damp with perspiration as she clutched the folder. All she could see was the empty hallway. She locked the door anyway.
She swallowed, and fumbled with Crystal’s phone. She picked up the receiver, but she couldn’t hear a thing. She looked to see if it was even connected, and saw that the wire had been cut straight through.
Redheart was terrified now. She was trying to wedge herself underneath Crystal’s desk when she heard the sound. It was the shrill alarm of a heart monitor. She leapt up from instinct. One of the foals’ hearts had stopped beating. One of the foals would die if she remained in here.
She swallowed her fear, and grabbed a flashlight from one of the drawers. Her hoof fumbled with the doorknob, and she finally unlocked it. She stepped outside into the red lighted hallway. She looked over to the adjacent room where all the comatose foals were. It was pitch black inside the room. She leapt back. Was it just her, or was something moving in there?
No, it’s just my imagination, she told herself. I just…I just need some sleep. The shrill wail of the heart monitor grew louder, and she heard another sound: A visceral ripping sound. The sound of flesh being torn. Then there was a solid snap, as if…as if someone had broken a bone. Rip, tear, crunch, crunch, rip, tear, crunch, crunch…
Redheart shuddered and considered running, but she turned on her flashlight and waited. Just one look, she told herself. One look, and then I’ll run as fast as I can.
She held the light in her mouth, and slowly cast her light into the room. Her light found the bed of a sleeping foal, and she slowly turned her head, the light’s beam moving from bed to bed. Her circle of light lingered on the floor for a moment. Rip, tear, crunch, crunch…
There was a large spatter of blood there. Her light caught the bottom of Firespark’s bed, and she saw thick streaks of blood and gore soaking the sheets and dripping onto the ground. Rip, tear, crunch, crunch…
She moved the light up, and saw it. A hulking figure with piercing red eyes hung over the gory remains of the foal. The thing drove its muzzle into the gore, and lifted its monstrous head back up, the foal’s entrails hanging from its mouth as it chewed. It was eating the foal!
Rip, tear, crunch, crunch…The figure knocked the heart monitor over, and she yelped as it hit the ground. The monster looked at her then, its red eyes piercing her. It let out an ear splitting shriek and lunged towards her. Redheart dropped her flashlight and screamed.
Celestia awoke screaming, her entire body trembling and drenched in perspiration. What was that thing she had seen!? She hadn’t had such a vivid nightmare in ages. She slid out of the poster bed, her heart still hammering in her chest.
There was a knocking on her door, but before she could answer, Luna trotted into her bedroom. “Did you see it, sister?”
Celestia nodded. “Yes, I saw it. A great evil has come to Ponyville.”
Luna beckoned her. “Then there is no time to waste, we must get there as soon as possible.”
The police had arrived at the Rich mansion. Applejack shivered outside in the cold break of dawn. Frost glittered on the tips of the grass, sparkling like broken shards of glass. They all sat in the driveway, and Fluttershy had fallen asleep on her shoulder.
The paramedics pushed open the mahogany doors, and they carried out Mr. Rich’s body out on a stretcher. Mrs. Rich ran after them, wailing. She leapt at their feet, wrapping her hooves around the paramedic’s legs. “No! Please don’t take him away!”
A police-mare wrested her off the paramedic, and dragged her back inside. They slid the stretcher inside the ambulance and closed the doors. Twilight trotted over to her, “Applejack, Fluttershy, the police want to talk to you two.”
Applejack roused Fluttershy and they went inside the mansion. They walked past Mrs. Rich who was having a total breakdown. Twilight whispered, “They first accused Mrs. Rich of killing her husband, but…” Applejack saw Mrs. Rich pulling out clumps of hair from her mane, screaming. “As you can see, it obviously wasn’t her.”
“So they have no idea who the murderer was?” asked Fluttershy.
“No,” Twilight said.
A police-stallion walked up to them, and beckoned them. “Come, sit down. The investigators have some questions for you.”
Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight sat down on a couch and waited. Soon they dragged in Mrs. Rich and sat her down on another couch. An investigator approached them, his trench coat and fedora making him look more comical than serious. “Alright, Mrs. Rich. So your husband was acting strange when he returned from the Badlands?”
Mrs. Rich nodded. The investigator continued. “Did you know that your husband was assaulted by one of his workers at the oil-drilling plant?”
Mrs. Rich shook her head. “I had no idea.”
“The worker stabbed him with a jagged object, and did you notice a stab wound on him?” Mrs. Rich shook her head. “No? Well, the worker who attacked him claimed he was hearing voices and the voices told him to stab your husband. He’s in a mental institution now.”
“So, what’s your point?” Mrs. Rich snapped. “Is that why my husband was so shaken up?”
The investigator held up a bag with some kind of broken horn in it. “This was the object your husband was stabbed with. A piece broke off inside him.” He shook the bag. “We believe this object is cursed. Everyone who holds on to it for too long starts hallucinating and hearing voices.”
Twilight trotted over to the investigator. “So they uncovered this horn as they dug their oil wells in the Badlands? It looks like a unicorn’s horn….” Twilight blinked. “It’s black, and curved.” She blinked again. “I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen it before.”
Mrs. Rich stood up. “So, a piece of this cursed horn broke off in my husband? Is that why he was acting so strange?”
“He was possessed,” said Twilight, staring at the horn. It seemed to radiate a malignant presence. “I know who’s behind this.” Twilight stared at the ground, shaking her head. “No, we killed him at the Crystal Empire. Some part of him must have survived in his horn and when it broke off inside Mr. Rich….”
There was a loud siren that pierced the air. All the police-stallions started looking around, confused. The investigator barked at his underlings. “Is that one of ours!?”
All the police started rushing to the entrance of the mansion, and the investigator dashed after them, cursing. Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy all looked at one another and followed the police. Applejack caught up to the investigator. “What’s going on!?”
They all ran into the main reception room and a police-mare was holding up a radio, and everypony had gathered to listen. They could hear the muffled voices of ponies shouting through the radio static. One of the police-stallion grabbed the receiver and was yelling into it. “Alpha squad to police base, Alpha squad to police base, what the hell is going on over there!?”
The voice was muffled. “We’ve had a hospital fire! Most likely an arsonist! The fire had only affected the isolation rooms, and you won’t believe what we found…”
“Tell us!” The investigator screamed.
“Someone cannibalized one of the foals and a nurse, and then set the whole place on fire. We couldn’t find the remains of the other foals though, so they were obviously taken by the suspect.” Applejack stared at Twilight, horrified. “Applebloom….”
“But that’s not the problem, it’s raining here in Ponyville and…” The next few words were lost in static, but then his voice became clear again. “They attacked us on the scene, and only a few of us made it back to the base.”
Fluttershy looked like she was about to cry again. “What’s going on?”
The radio blared. There was indiscriminate screaming in the background, and a cry of pain. “They’ve broken through the barricades!” There was more yelling, and the sound of swords being drawn. “Oh no! NO!” The stallion talking to them screamed, and the transmission was dissolved into static.
There was a moment of silence, and the police-stallion shook the radio. It had gone silent. The police captain clapped his hooves. “Alright! We’ve got to return to Ponyville and find out what’s going on!” He waved his hoof. “C’mon, move!”
They all filed towards the door, but Applejack looked through a window and realized that the sky was gray and stormy, the rain pouring down in sheets. Was it just her, or did the rain have a strange red tinge?
“Hmmm…” one of the police mares said. “Rain wasn’t in the forecast today.”
They were about to open the door, but there was a banging on the door. They hesitated. A hoof smashed through the door, and started groping around for the doorknob. Fluttershy screamed and they all backed up. Another hoof smashed a hole in the door. Twilight grabbed Applejack. “We can’t go outside,” she hissed. “The chemical contaminant is in the rainwater, and it looks like it has been concentrated tenfold!”
“So?” said Applejack. “It shouldn’t affect…”
There was large crash at the doors, and the doors went flying open. Three police ponies stumbled in, jagged outcrops of glowing red crystals jutting from their bodies. Their eyes were green, the pupils red and dilated. “Stand down!” the police captain screamed. The three ponies moaned, and shambled toward the police captain. “Halt!” the captain yelled again, backing up.
The dozen or so police ponies backed up even further, as the three crystallized police ponies reached out towards them, moaning. “Kill me…please…” one of them said.
“I knew it!” Twilight yelled. “Who other than Sombra could have done this?” The red crystals growing on the ponies crackled with energy at the mention of his name. “It was him who was coerced Mr. Rich into dumping waste into the river!”
The crystallized officer ponies stared at Twilight, grinning. They all spoke at once, they’re voices deep. “That’s right, Twilight Sparkle,” they said in unison. “It was I who made Firespark sick as a means to secure Mr. Rich’s full obedience. But when his son’s brain died, he dared to speak out against me. So I had to end him.”
“Why are you doing this!?” Applejack yelled.
“Crystals,” they said simply. “The chemical cocktail I put into the town’s drinking water, it turns living tissue into crystals. I sucked the life out of the foals, and devoured their bodies when they became ripe. It has given me all my power back and more….” They laughed again. “Now that I have increased the concentration, everyone exposed to the contaminant now will be subjugated. The contaminant crystals in the rainwater will hijack their nervous systems and they will obey my every command.”
“You’re mad!” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Well,” said the three ponies in unison. “I now have an army and all the crystals I could want, but I want more…MORE!”
The three officer ponies shrieked and charged them. The officers drew their nightsticks in defense. Twilight fired bolts of magic at the crystal ponies, and they all exploded. There were screams of pain as crystal shrapnel flew everywhere, and Twilight protected the few ponies around her with a shield.
She put down her shields, and there were ponies crying out in pain. An officer-mare was screaming, the crystal shrapnel embedded in her wings. The two ponies who had been hit by the shrapnel began to writhe, and the remaining ponies backed away. The crystals were in their blood…they had been exposed to the contaminant.
The two ponies rose up, their eyes green and pupils red. They laughed. “You all will die here!”
Celestia flew as fast as she could, the wind roaring in her ears. Luna flew a distance ahead, scouting ahead. She had to get to Ponyville with all haste. The devastation had spread far and wide and was reaching further still....
Celestia looked down at the forested hills she was flying above. Like the blood-laden veins underneath her skin, the scarlet rivers were etched into the landscape. All the plant life close to the contaminated river was becoming sick, dying, and becoming crystallized. Celestia blinked. She could feel the immense power drain, like some terrible, malignant force was sucking the life out of anything that was exposed to the contaminated water.
She could feel the life force of millions of plants being leeched and all sent to one source. Sombra. He was the one she had seen in her dream.
Celestia shuddered. The fish in the streams, the trees and shrubs, the animals who drunk from the river…They were all under Sombra’s subjugation. They were all slowly being sapped of their life force and being crystallized.
How much power had Sombra harvested? Surely he was much deadlier now than the last time he had shown his face. Celestia felt a sharp spike of concern for all the towns and villages who used this river as a water source. They all now belonged to Sombra.
Celestia stopped and called out for Luna. They were about an hour away from Ponyville, and she had no idea what they were going to encounter. What if all her subjects attacked her? Would she have the heart to kill them?
She thought of her student then. I hope you and all your friends are alright, Twilight.
Luna flew close to her, hovering. “Sister, there is no time to waste.”
Celestia sighed. “Perhaps we should make a plan. Sombra is drawing power from every living thing exposed to the contamination. I cannot fathom how powerful he has become. Every plant, every animal, are energy reserves for him. His magic will be devastating.” Celestia looked down. “Also, if there are ponies who have been subjugated…” she felt tears in her eyes. “I can’t bring myself to put down Twilight, or anyone else who has been contaminated.”
Luna embraced her sister. “Do not worry, sister. If culling the infected makes you uncomfortable, I shall be the one who sends them to the eternal night.” Luna pointed at herself. “I’ll take care of the infected, you take care of Sombra. Agreed?”
Celestia was about to agree when Luna screamed. Celestia reflexively dove down, and she felt the tip of her horn scrape a giant crystallized boulder the size of a house. Celestia flipped around, and a giant Crystal Monolith shrieked at them. It towered above the trees, as tall as the skyscrapers in Manehattan. Its body was made out of crystallized tree bark and the leaves of a thousand trees. What was this horrific creation!?
The Crystal Monolith picked up another boulder and hurled it at them. The boulder flew above Celestia’s head and Luna barely dodged it. The earth shook as the boulder shattered against the ground, a crater forming at the impact site.
She stared in horror as she saw a dozen more Crystal Monoliths on the horizon, lumbering around. This forest, it provided unlimited raw materials for Sombra’s constructs….
These things could easily destroy a city. The Crystal Monolith shrieked, raising its arm and shooting red crystal fragments at them. Celestia created a heat shield, and all the crystal projectiles turned to dust. Luna fired a bolt of energy at the construct’s head, and it’s head was blown off, but it still leaned down and picked up another boulder. Luna hissed. “They just won’t die, will they?”
Celestia shouted. “We don’t have time to deal with them! We have to stop this at its source!”
Luna shook her head. “What if these giants come across a city? They will kill everyone!”
“We don’t have time!” Celestia felt a concussive blast, knocking her out of the sky. Luna screamed in pain. A giant boulder crashed somewhere near her as she lay on the ground. She shook her head, dizzied by the blow. She took off into the air, beckoning her sister. “Come!”
They sped to Ponyville, seeing other Crystal Monoliths as they flew past. They were strong and durable, but they could not give chase.
Soon, they spotted the outskirts of Ponyville. It smelled like it had rain recently. Puddles of the scarlet water were in the streets, and that’s when she saw the first one. A mare shambled around in the street, disoriented and slowly being consumed by the crystals. Oh no, has everyone been exposed?
Boards and planks of wood had been nailed on the doorways, and soon she saw more of the crystal infested ponies. The streets were filled with them, and they all shrieked when they saw her flying above. The pegasi ponies gave pursuit, but Luna easily knocked them out of the sky with her magic. Her heart broke as she watched them shatter on the ground, smashed to pieces as if they were made out of glass.
Luna yelled to her. “I will purge these ponies, and you go look for Sombra! Check at the Rich Chemical Plant upstream!”
Luna dove downwards, slamming into the ground and sending a shockwave that killed hundreds of ponies. They all charged after her, throwing pieces of their own crystal bodies at her. Celestia heard a dark voice addressing them through an intercom somewhere. “Flee now, little princesses. Three towns and an entire forest are in my control! Flee now…” a red mist rose up from the stinking bowels of the sewers and erupted from the storm drains, the contamination sweeping through the streets and rising up in the air. Celestia stared in horror as the tidal wave of mist approached where Luna was. Celestia screamed at Luna. “Fly! Death approaches!”
Luna saw the mist reaching out towards her, her eyes wide. She took wing, but the crystal ponies were slinging jagged projectiles at her, and Celestia gasped as she saw blood dripping from her wing. She was knocked back down, and the wall of mist was approaching her from both ends of the street.
Celestia screamed, charging down to save her sister. She felt Luna’s hoof in hers, and created a bubble with a pocket of air for her. They settled down together, the mist washing over the bubble of air. “Thank you,” Luna whispered.
Outside of their bubble, all they could see was the scarlet mist shrouding them. Large figures began to appear, and Celestia gasped. Horrendous looking aberrations lumbered towards her, and she noticed that its body was made out of still living ponies. They all moaned in pain, the crystals protrusions interlocked, holding them in place to form the creature.
“We’re going to have to fight!” Celestia said, helping Luna up. “We have to destroy that chemical plant!”
Luna nodded, joining her side. “Let’s kill these things.”
They took a fighting stance, flank to flank, staring down all the aberrations that were surrounding them and reaching in towards them. There was an explosion of light.
Applejack ran through the hallways, the crystallized ponies in pursuit. Fluttershy, Twilight, and three other police ponies followed behind her. They had split up into three groups, but the majority of the crystal ponies had followed Applejack’s group regardless.
They were trapped inside the house until it stopped raining. Anyone exposed to the contaminant in the rainwater would become a servant of Sombra. What kind of mind-control sorcery had he infused in the crystal contaminant?A crystal cluster exploded in front of her, and Twilight shielded all of them. Twilight yelled over the shattering crystal. “These ponies can be saved, even the shattered ones! Once we break Sombra’s hold on them, they will be able to recover.”
Fluttershy screamed. “But where is he!?”
Twilight replied. “He’s the source of the poison, so he’s obviously going to be at the chemical plant where all this started. We have to get there!”
A door in the hallway in front of her was smashed open, and crystal ponies shambled out, blocking their path. Applejack skidded on the ground and ran down another hallway. “Oh my, Celestia help me!”
Fluttershy squeaked. “Is that a garage over there?” she said, pointing to an annex building connected to the mansion with a glass promenade.
“That’s right!” Twilight yelled. “I’m sure Mr. Rich has a car!”
“That’s our ticket out of here!” Applejack yelled, and the police ponies agreed.
They took a turn down the hallway and into the connecting promenade. They reached the door, but it was locked. “It needs a passcode!” Applejack shouted.
There was the sound of glass shattering behind them, and the crystal ponies that had been caught in the rain outside were pouring in through the breach. Twilight blasted the passcode keypad with a bolt of electricity, and the door opened. They rushed in and saw that Mr. Rich had a whole car collection in the annex. They ran past flashy sports cars, antiques, and saw a big yellow SUV that would fit them all.
The door from which they had come flew off its hinges, the crystal ponies now running towards them. “Ack!” one of the police ponies cried out. “They can run now!?”
They all filed into the car, and closed the doors behind them. Applejack was in the driver’s seat and she looked around for the ignition. “Twilight! Where does the key go?”
“It’s a keyless ignition you farm hick!” one of the police stallions yelled. He reached forward and hit a button and the car’s engine roared to life. “Now go!”
Applejack had only driven a tractor before, but she knew what to do. Applejack floored the gas pedal, ripping through the garage doors. They raced down the driveway, seeing all the crystal ponies were pouring out of the mansion and running towards them. “Drive faster!” Fluttershy squeaked.
Applejack floored it, the engine humming at the exertion. They rocketed forward, and the end of the driveway came into view. The gate was closed.
They all screamed, busting through the iron gates. The car bounced and went airborne for a moment, before hitting the ground, jolting everyone in the car. They raced away from the mansion, adrenaline pumping through her veins.
Twilight was sitting in the passenger seat, looking like she just had a heart attack. “We have to go to the chemical plant and stop Sombra! Once the magic breaks, hopefully everything will return to normal.”
“Twi, I don’t think anything will ever be the same after this.” Applejack said, worried.
“These are a special strain of enchanted crystals. They are invasive, aggressive, parasitic, but they need a constant dose of the contaminant to survive. Once the contamination’s source is destroyed, the crystals will stop working and just fall off.” Twilight said.
“Even if they’re brain dead?” Fluttershy asked.
Twilight shook her head. “They weren’t brain dead in the first place, that’s what it looked like from a medical perspective. We had failed to see the subtle magic involved. The ponies were merely sleeping, waiting to answer the call of Sombra.”
“That still doesn’t explain how he got so powerful so quickly.” Applejack said.
Twilight nodded. “The Rich Chemical Plant has been open for quite a while now. He was probably putting a low dose of the contaminant in then, to draw power from all of us without us noticing, but when he was ready, he increased the concentration of the contaminant and exposed himself.”
One of the police stallions in the back muttered. “Clever.”
Fluttershy pointed up ahead. “Look! It’s the chemical plant!”
Ahead of them, the massive factory building came into view. Tall smokestacks reached into the sky, and piles of empty waste barrels lay on their side. It had stopped raining thankfully, but where were all the workers?
Fluttershy pointed at the top of the plant, beside one of the smoke stacks. A dark cone of energy with a giant levitating red crystal were hovering there. “That must be where Sombra must be storing all his power! If we can break that….”
Applejack screamed, a crystal pony had jumped on the hood, and was smashing the windshield. Twilight blasted it with her magic, and they all filed out of the car. “Here it is,” a police stallion said. “Sombra’s dark heart of power. It’s strange that he would leave it undefended.”
There was a low roar from inside the building, and the ground began to shake. “You just had to say it!” Twilight screamed at the stallion.
The ground shook, and there was a tremendous upheaval, the walls of the plant bursting open. Twilight could see a monstrous silhouette stirring within. She heard laughing, and looked up. Sombra was standing on the roof of the plant near the dark energy vortex. “You have come far, Twilight,” he said, chuckling. “But can you kill your own friends?”
The creature in the plant stepped into the light, and turned out to be three crystallized ponies. Fluttershy screamed and began to cry, and Twilight stared in horror. “Rainbow Dash!”
Crystallized Rainbow Dash stepped forward, and behind her followed Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Applejack cried out in grief, seeing her friends’ state.
King Sombra laughed, seeing their anguished faces. “I wish I could enjoy seeing you three tear your loved ones apart, but I have an invasion to coordinate. My crystal constructs will move on Manehattan, Canterlot, Detrot, and all shall bow before me!”
Sombra laughed again, and with a flourish of his cape, he disappeared in a plume of black smoke. Crystallized Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie shambled forward, and they all backed up. One of the police stallions shuddered. “We have to destroy this building, but…” they looked at the three crystallized mares. “We have to get past them.”
Applejack sighed. “Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie are our friends. We’ll distract them,” she looked down, sniffing, “and if need be, we’ll put them down.” She pointed at the three stallions. “You guys go in there and bring that plant down. Like Twi said, if we destroy that vortex up there, hopefully everything will return to normal. Hopefully.”
The three police ponies rushed ahead, while the crystallized guardians were set on engaging their former friends. Fluttershy stepped forward, facing Pinkie Pie. “Umm…Pinkie, can you hear me?”
The pink crystallized pony smiled. “I’m so glad I have all my friends here. My worst fear was that I would die alone as a crystal pony, but now…” Pinkie smiled sadly.
Applejack stamped her hoof. “You three are going to get through this! I promise.”
Crystallized Rainbow Dash coughed, spraying contaminated blood on the ground. “Oh, Applejack. I wish I could have confessed my feelings for you while I was healthy.”
Applejack blushed. “I had no idea you felt that way about me. I don’t know what to say.”
There was a dark pulse from the dark vortex, and it grew larger, Sombra’s range of influence increasing. Crystallized Rarity sobbed. “Please, you have to kill us. You have to save Equestria.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “I’m so sorry,” she rushed forward with incredible speed, striking Applejack and sending her tumbling away. Applejack hit the ground with a snap, and slowly stood again, pain in her eyes. “I love you,” Rainbow Dash sobbed.
Applejack stood back up, her legs trembling. Twilight looked at her friends, and then at the three advancing crystal ponies. “Applejack,” she whispered. “You take Rainbow Dash.” Twilight looked at Fluttershy. “You take Rarity.” Twilight looked ahead. “And I’ll take Pinkie Pie.”
They all nodded and engaged their assigned friend. Twilight approached Pinkie Pie, and the pink party mare smiled at her sadly. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, Twilight. I can’t control myself. But I do hope that you can…” Pinkie swallowed. “Finish it quickly.”
Twilight snorted. “You’re not going to die, Pinkie!”
She smiled, tears in her eyes. “I’m so scared. Pinkie promise?”
“Pinkie Promise.” Twilight raised her hoof.
Pinkie Pie squeaked, a sound resembling a cross between a giggle and a sob. She sent a volley of crystal shards at her, and Twilight leapt up, easily dodging the projectiles. Her horn started to glow, preparing to return fire…but she couldn’t. A memory flashed in her mind. It was the day she had first come to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie had been the first to meet her….
Twilight screamed, being knocked away by a barrage of crystals. She hit the ground hard, and her world spun. She lay in the dirt, and saw that Rainbow had pinned Applejack down and was punching her over and over again, hot tears falling from Rainbow’s eyes. She looked to the other side and saw that Rarity had put Fluttershy in a headlock, the yellow pegasus whimpering in pain. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t kill their friends.
Pinkie Pie appeared above her, and nuzzled Twilight softly, the crystal protrusions scraping her skin. Twilight couldn’t move. This was it. Pinkie Pie raised her crystalline hoof, preparing to stomp on her. Her hoof came down with all her earth pony strength, and there was the sound of her ribs cracking. Twilight screamed in pain, and Pinkie Pie was sobbing as she raised her hoof again. Again, her hoof came down. There was more crunching, and scarlet stained her vision. Pinkie’s hoof appeared over her head. This would be the final blow, the one that would crush her skull and send her into oblivion.
She heard the whistling of her hoof coming down, and there was a flash of light. There was the sound of glass breaking, and crystal fragments rained down on Twilight. She opened her eyes, and saw Pinkie Pie standing above her, the crystals disappeared. Pinkie collapsed, and so did Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Twilight struggled to get up and looked over Pinkie and the others. There was no sign of infection.
Twilight steadied herself and turned around. Celestia and Luna stood there, and behind her stood an army of the ponies they had cleansed. “Well done, my faithful student. But now it is time to face the source of the poison.”
Twilight grinned. Rainbow Dash groaned, lying on top of injured Applejack. “Heh,” she smiled, looking down at the mare she loved. “Is this heaven?”
“No, it isn’t,” Sombra barked. He pointed his hoof at Celestia and Luna. “I will not allow you two to ruin all my hard work!” He laughed. “You are too late! I have gathered enough power to….” The ground shook violently, and the dark vortex of energy grew larger and larger. Massive screens appeared, depicting the streets of Canterlot and many other cities. The Crystal Monoliths had arrived, and she could hear the panicked screams of ponies running for their lives. She could see the Monoliths bearing down on the buildings, destroying them with a single stomp or a sweep of their arms.
Celestia and Luna flew up to stop him, but the vortex knocked them down. They sent a golden beam of energy at the vortex, and it slowly penetrated the mass of energy, trying to reach for the dark heart of power where Sombra stood. The black stallion grunted, and counteracted with his own beam. A malignant beam of violet and black met the golden beam, forcing it back at Celestia and Luna. Twilight added her own beam to the sisters, and all the unicorns in Ponyville joined in, all their beams augmenting the princesses’ power. But Sombra was too powerful, and the beam descended down back at them. Twilight grunted. If that beam crashed down, they would all die.
Sombra laughed. “Time to die!”
The beam was almost upon them, and Celestia screamed. Twilight intensified her beam as much as she could, but she noticed something happening on the roof. She could see the silhouettes of three ponies appear on the roof from the staircase. She could barely make them out from behind the vortex of dark energy.
Sombra continued to laugh, the beam almost touching Celestia’s horn. Then, the three ponies came into focus. The police ponies!
The three stallions snuck up behind Sombra and gave a hard whack with their nightsticks. Sombra cried out in pain, and his beam subsided completely. The golden beam of power, the accumulation of everypony’s power, came surging through the dark vortex and right into the heart of its power. Sombra screamed, the energy tearing him apart. “NOOOOOO!”
There was an explosion, and the entire plant came tumbling down. The large smoke stacks collapsed, falling into each other. Twilight shielded her eyes as dust and debris came rushing down in a pulse. They stared at the ruins of the concrete building, and the rubble shifted. They all gasped. Three different colored hooves rose from the dust, and clawed their way to the surface. Everyone cheered, and Celestia shot a beam of light into the sky. The entire sky grew overcast, but the clouds were all slightly glowing with energy. Golden drops of light began to fall down in the raindrops, clearing the contaminant.
The screens depicting Equestria’s greatest cities grew calm again, and the Monoliths collapsed as the golden rain came down. Twilight looked behind her, seeing the river bank in the distance. The blood red water returned to its normal color.
The three police ponies were each carrying something in their hooves as they rose up, and Applejack screamed as they dumped a yellow and red pile down on the floor. “Applebloom!”
The police stallions had rescued four or five other foals. They were completely crystallized, but as the magical rain poured over them, the crystals began to break apart and disintegrate. Applebloom opened her eyes, looking up at her sister. “Applejack?” she whispered softly.
“Oh, Applebloom!” the two sisters embraced.
Soon, other worried parents rushed over to claim their foals. Everyone was cheering, except for Luna. The moon goddess stormed up to the ruins, while everypony was celebrating their triumph over evil. Luna used her magic to move aside some rocks, and dragged out a battered Sombra. Everypony was watching her drag Sombra towards them. Celestia moved to help her sister, but Luna hissed. “He’s mine!”
Luna dug her hoof into a large gash on Sombra’s belly, and he howled in pain as blood welled up. “I’ll make sure he is adequately punished for what he’s done.” She disappeared then, taking the wounded Sombra with her.
Twilight grinned, and Pinkie Pie put her hoof round her shoulder. Fluttershy joined them, and soon they were all together, hugging and laughing. After they drew apart, Rainbow Dash looked shyly at Applejack. “Hey, do you want to have dinner sometime?” Applejack smiled. “Sure thing, sugarcube.”
Twilight laughed, and soon they were all laughing. The effects of the magical rain swept through the land, cleansing the contamination. Now that Sombra’s power was broken, everypony was able to break free of their crystal possession.
Fluttershy returned to her home to find her animals healed, Twilight returned to her library after being showered with praise from Celestia, Applejack returned to her farm with her little sister healthy again, Pinkie Pie returned to the bakery, Rarity to her salon. Everything was fine then, but even though they had recovered, there were still a few that were still suffering.
After a few years of mourning, Mrs. Rich inherited the family business, married again, and now has three healthy foals. The ponies that had been shattered during the invasion were put back together again, and with a lot of effort, recovered completely. The environmental damage was repaired over time by the Canterlot Hazmat Team, the hospital was rebuilt, and it is said that Sombra’s cries of anguish can still be heard in the dead of night.
