> The Plague Master
>  by Theyellowninja13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Welcome to Plague Master Mode
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	My brain woke up before the rest of my body. Probably something to do with the tingling feeling in my head. ‘Ugh, another headache? I knew I shouldn’t have stayed up that late yesterday.’ I didn’t want to get up yet, as it was a weekend. ‘I’ll just sleep for an extra hour or two.’

Right as I moved a little bit, trying to get more comfy in my bed, I noticed something strange. My bed felt… harder than it usually does, and it felt wet as well. ‘I am way too old to be wetting the bed!’ My body wanted to ignore it, but the sun that was shining directly into my eyes disagreed.

Finally deciding to give in, I opened my eyes, before quickly closing them due to the sheer brightness of the burning hydrogen ball in the sky. ‘Man, that’s bright. I gotta get a better curtain for my window. It’s like I’m sleeping outside on the ground instead of on my comfy bed.’

“WAIT, WHAT?!” I yelled, shooting up, and looking around. I noticed several healthy looking trees. In fact, I was surrounded by them. “A forest?” I asked out loud, before quickly realizing that something really bad happened. I looked down at my body, moving each of my fingers to see that my body seemed to be working properly. I also noticed I was wearing the same clothes I was wearing last night before I changed to go to bed.

‘Wait, I don’t remember falling asleep. Last thing I remember was playing Plague Inc. and then there was… GAH!” I screamed, grabbing my head in pain, as it felt like it was vibrating rapidly.

I felt tears come out, as my head started hurting more and more, and I screamed louder and louder. It felt like someone took my brain, and had put it in a paint mixer. I spent the next few minutes, trying to be able to think clearly again. I struggled to open my eyes, and I noticed a lot of red. They were all small blurs, as if I was looking at someone from far away.

I closed my eyes again, unable to deal with the pain from my head.





I open my eyes again, noticing the forest seemed to be darker. ‘Did I pass out from the pain?’ I quickly blinked in surprise at the fact that I could think properly again. ‘The pain’s gone.’ I looked around, noticing that I still felt a faint tugging sensation, and I could see some red blurs.

I heard my stomach growl, and slowly stood up, before falling back down. ‘Oh right, I’ve been unmoving for a while, lack of blood in the legs.’ I stretched my legs, before slowly getting up, and stumbling over to a tree, and leaning against it, waiting for my legs to act normal again.

While waiting, I decided to go through what I know. “Okay, I’m in an unknown forest, been here for at least seven hours, judging by the sun’s position when I last could see, and the moon’s current position. Last thing I remember was unlocking that new mode in Plague Inc. What was the mode called again?” I shook my head. “No, doesn’t matter right now, I gotta focus on what’s important. I need food, shelter, water, warmth, and protection. Let’s focus on finding shelter, and I might find food on the way.” I took a few steps away from the tree, glad to see that the numbness in my legs has faded.

        “I really wish I took survival classes or something in school,” I muttered, as I was about to walk out of the small clearing I was in. “Wait, what am I doing? It’s already night time, and I’m surrounded by trees. I can try to make a fire.” I quickly got to work, pulling weak branches off of the trees. I started piling them up in the center, before crouching next to it, and trying to create enough friction to create a spark.

I spent several minutes on this, with no results. I sighed, before throwing the stick I was using against a nearby tree, breaking it in half. I would have done more, but I was starting to get really hungry. I looked around, noticing some strange fruits on the trees. I cautiously walk up to one of them, and pick one of the fruits, before noticing that it was glowing red like a lot of other things were. It kinda reminded me of a pear in shape, but it had coloring similar to a mango. I gently squeezed it, and felt a soft skin to it, similar to an apple. It also had a stem sticking out of the top of it. I pulled off the stem, and dropped it to the ground.

“Well, dying of hunger, or having diarrhea. I choose diarrhea.” I closed my eyes, and took a small bite of the mystery fruit, before opening my eyes in shock. ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!’ I quickly gobbled it down and dropped the seed, before pulling off the rest of the tree’s glowing fruits, and ate all of them, making sure to avoid the seeds.

By the time I was finished, my stomach felt full, and I laid down next to the wooden sticks I couldn’t do anything with, before closing my eyes, and falling back to sleep.





When my eyes opened, I noticed I was still in the forest, but this time it was day again. I slowly got to a crouched position, and yawned, before feeling a familiar annoyance on the back of my throat. I sniffed, noticing my nose was running as well. “Great, I got a cold.” I sneezed, spraying snot on the ground in front of me.

I rubbed my nose, trying to get it to stop irritating me, and heard a sizzling sound. I opened my eyes, and saw the grass in front of me was turning brown, and wilting, but only where I could see traces of my snot, which also was a red aura around it. “The grass is dying?”

For some reason, seeing the grass die made my stomach growl. I got to my feet, deciding to focus on the dying grass in a bit. I looked at the tree I ate some fruit from yesterday, and noticed the lack of delicious fruit on it. I turned around, looking to the other trees. I noticed a few of them had fruit growing from them, and they didn’t have the red aura around them.

Too hungry to care, I walked over to another tree, and picked a fruit that resembled a banana in shape, and feel, but had a yellow peel. “So… it’s a banana?” I questioned, surprised to see a familiar food, especially when I saw that other fruit.

Shrugging, I peeled the banana, and took a bite, before spitting it out. “GACK!” I dropped the banana, and tried to get the nasty taste off my tongue. “What the hell was that? That was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted! It tasted like… like....”

My mind stopped for a second, as I realized what it tasted exactly like. “It tasted like a banana. It tasted exactly like a banana. But, I love bananas, did something happen to me?” My right eye twitched for a second, and for some reason, I took that as a cue to turn to my right, and I noticed a tree right next to the banana tree, that had the same fruits I had last night.

I wiped my mouth, noticing the increase in saliva. I ignored it as I walked over to the tree, hoping to taste some of those delicious fruits with the red aura around them. I walked over to them, and pulled one from the tree, before quickly gobbling it down and spitting out the core. I reached over and grabbed another one, but for this delectable treat, I decided to savor it slowly.

I smiled as I looked at the glorious fruit, and took a bite out of it, before slowly chewing. I looked back down at the fruit, before everything stopped. As I looked at the the fruit, I noticed the wiggling body of a partly chewed worm. I was about to spit it back out, as I could feel the live piece of worm in my mouth, but I stopped when I noticed that it didn’t taste that bad. It tasted delicious. As delicious as the other fruits I ate earlier.

My eye twitched again, and I gobbled down the fruit, worm and all. I grabbed more fruits, and gobbled them all, smiling as I grabbed the ones with bugs on them. I took a handful of them, and walked back to the middle of the clearing, and sat down, preparing to have a feast, when a low growl was heard from my right.

I finished chewing the fruit in my mouth, as I turned to see an orange furred, red-maned lion, with two bat wings, and a scorpion tail. It also had a red aura around it. ‘The hell am I looking at?’ I didn’t have enough time to try and figure out what this creature is, and why it looks familiar, as it roared again, and charged at me.

I felt everything slow down, and I assumed I was about to die, as I had no way to escape the strange lion. But to my shock, I rolled to the right with reflexes that I know no normal human, let alone a scientist like myself, should be able to match. The lion skidded to a stop, surprised by my sudden movement.

I looked at my hands, and my body, trying to figure out why my body did that. I wasn’t even planning on moving. I expected just to die there! But something made me survive. I was about to look up, when I noticed something strange about my skin. It was changing shades. Last time I checked, my body was like most humans are, but maybe a tad pale as well due to my lifestyle, but now, it looks like it’s taking on a pale greenish hue.

Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes I ever made in my lifetime was looking away from the beast attacking me. I hear a growl, and I was suddenly trapped on the ground, as the lion creature roared at my face, putting all of its weight on top of me, preventing me from moving.

I struggled to free myself, as the lion started to bring its mouth down on my neck, preparing to kill me. I screamed for help, but none came. The lion pierced my neck, and I felt everything go dark, as the last thing I heard was a roar.
	

> The Power of Diseases
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


As I slowly woke up, I shook my head, trying to dispel the sleepiness from my head. I slowly opened my eyes, and was suddenly barraged by senses. My nose and throat were killing me, I could faintly hear some sounds, but I couldn’t figure out what they were. The area I was in was too blurry to make anything out, and I felt like I was laying on something soft.

‘Ah… it’s good to be back in my bed. I’m glad that was all a dream.’ Then the pain struck, I shot up, my eyes practically bulging out of my head, as I clutched my chest in pain. “GAH!” I yelled, as I looked at my bandaged chest. ‘Definitely not a dream!’

I stopped screaming in pain, and instead just breathed in and out, trying to hold down the pain. While I was doing this, I noticed I appeared to be in some kind of a small room cut out of a cave. There wasn’t much to the room, except for a dresser, the bed I was laying on, and a nightstand. I noticed my breathing slowing, and the pain felt more bearable.

Unfortunately it wasn’t like that for long, as I heard something coming. I quieted down, trying to figure out what was going to happen. The footsteps came closer, and I could have sworn I heard claws scratching against rock. Eventually, the person, no, the creature walked in, and I started freaking out.

The newcomer was a giant bipedal lizard with sharp teeth, sharper claws, and clearly a FREAKING DRAGON! I felt my heart beating out of my chest, and I ignored all the pain there as well.

The dragon clearly saw my freak out, and rushed over to me, holding me down. “Calm down! You don’t want to open your wounds, do you?” I was still panicking, every single instinct in my body telling me to run, but the rational part of my brain was telling me to calm down, and listen to the dragon. Seeing that I was clearly not calming down, the dragon grabbed something that was balancing on his tail, and I took this moment to push myself free.

I quickly rolled off the bed, and got to my feet, before putting my fists out defensively. “Who are you?” I ignored the burning feeling in my chest, as I imagined my wounds are bleeding again.

“Calm down young one. My name is Ral’nor’kin, I am a healing dragon,” the male(?) dragon spoke, a wise hint to his voice. “I found you nearby, you were passed out, bleeding badly. You were lucky the manticore quickly died of a severe and rare disease, or you would have been the one who died.”

I blinked in surprise, and I just now realized that the dragon had a blue aura around him. I looked down at my hands, still extending in a fighting pose, to notice my aura was blood red. I looked back up, and almost felt some primal fear again. Not because of the dragon, but because of the blue aura that contradicted my own aura. For some reason, I hated that blue aura.

“Why do you have a blue aura around you?!” I yelled, unaware that my hands were glowing red.

The dragon looked surprised at this. “Blue aura? I do not have a blue aura around me. I need you to calm down. You might have ingested some kind of hallucinogen that’s making you see things. A hallucinogen is a…”

“I KNOW WHAT A HALLUCINOGEN IS! I’M A DOCTOR!” I screamed at him. How dare he try to explain something like that to me. “AND I KNOW I’M NOT UNDER THE EFFECTS OF A HALLUCINOGEN! I’VE BEEN IN THIS FREAKING WORLD FOR TWO DAYS! I’VE FELT MASSIVE PAINS! SO UNLESS THIS ENTIRE WORLD IS A HALLUCINOGEN, I AM NOT CRAZY!” With a roar unlike any human can make, I ran past the dragon, and quickly navigated through the cave, one that luckily had some light in it. Deep inside my mind, I asked myself about my behavior. ‘Why am I acting like this? I’m usually calmer than this.’ Those thoughts were quickly overtaken by anger of the blue aura, and as a result, the dragon.

I ran for a minute and quickly came across a natural light source, the sun. I ran towards it, hoping to leave the cave, when I quickly stopped, noticing that I was near the top of a mountain. Unfortunately I lost my balance on some of the melting snow, and slipped, sending me over the edge.

I fell, screaming all the way. I thought I was going to die, and I was also curious how I wasn’t hitting anything sticking out of the mountain yet. I eventually impacted the tree line, and hit the ground.

        I hesitantly opened my eyes, to see the green grass of the forest, and several broken off twigs lying around me. I groaned, “How the hell did I survive that?” I gently push myself up, and looked down to see a giant stick stabbing my gut. “Oh… okay then, I’ll take bleeding out over being dinner.” I carefully get back to my feet, knocking off all the other twigs on my back, before looking at the thing spearing me.

I gently touched the stick, and flinched at the sensitivity of the wound. “Why is there no pain?” I firmly grasp the stick, and rip it out, like pulling off a band-aid, and let out a scream of agony. I dropped the blood covered stick to the ground, ignoring the fact that the wood covered in blood looked radically different than the part that wasn’t covered in blood.

I stumbled forward, trying to escape the dragon, and kept one hand on my wound, trying to stop the bleeding. “Hell if I’m getting eaten today.” I don’t know how long I walked for, but as I did, I noticed animals sniffing in my direction, and running away. I eventually got to a familiar location; the clearing I was in earlier.

I looked around the clearing with a small smile, before noticing the rotting corpse of the lion creature. ‘Manticore! That’s what they’re called.’ It took me a minute to register that the manticore was a rotting corpse, and there were several more corpses of different animals near it. 

I walked up to the dead animal, noticing the faint red aura around it. The same aura was around the other dead animals. As I walked up to it, I instinctively lifted my hand and touched the Manticore, before my hand glowed red, and the red aura absorbed into my hand, before flowing through my body.

I took a step back, and was about to yell in fear, but I didn’t want the dragon to find me. The red continued to go through my body, until it disappeared, and I felt a soothing sensation across my body. The bandages fell off, revealing no scars or wounds, and the hole in my torso was gone.

“I’m healed?” I muttered, looking at my freakishly pale hands, and then back to the corpses, before walking over to the other dead animals, and absorbing the red aura from them. As I did this, I felt more and more alive. Like this red aura stuff was ambrosia, and I wanted more.

Eventually, all the red aura was gone, and I was sad. The rush faded, and I fell down, coughing up blood. “What the hell is happening to me?” I managed to wheeze out, before I coughed up more blood. I noticed the blood was killing the grass as it touched it. The once green grass was now brown and ugly.

When I stopped coughing up blood, I felt a familiar presence, and quickly turned around, and got to my feet to see the dragon with the blue aura.

“There you are. I was worried you might have hurt yourself during that fall. It’s a miracle you’re still alive.” The dragon actually sounded like it cared for me.

“Stay back!” I yelled, trying to contain my anger for the blue aura.

“You need help. It’s not safe to wander this forest. Please, let me help you,” the dragon tried to reason.

“I said STAY BACK!” When I yelled that, my hands glowed with a red aura, and the dragon looked surprised at that.

“Your hands. The red aura. You’re a Plague Master, aren’t you?” The dragon had a hostile tone to its voice.

‘A Plague Master? That’s the name of the mode in Plague Inc!’ “I don’t know, but I suggest you stand back!”

“You were the one who killed the Manticore. I should have guessed, that disease appearing in a Manticore around this time?! You’re a monster!” the dragon roared.

“I was defending myself!”

“There’s no such thing as defending yourself when you’re a harbinger of disease and plagues! You’ll see this world burn! I won’t let you!” Then, with a screech, the dragon flapped its powerful wings, and flew at me, claws extended.

I panicked, and took a step back in fear, as the dragon grabbed my throat with it’s claws, and trapped me against a tree. The dragon’s mouth started glowing very blue, causing me to panic. I instinctively pushed my hands against the dragon, trying to escape, but I wasn’t strong enough.

‘I don’t want to die! I will not die!’ I slammed my hands against the dragon again, and this time, its eyes widened in fear, as it stumbled back, grabbing its body, and I looked down at my hands, noticing the red aura surrounding them. I looked back up to see the dragon falling to the ground, coughing up blood.

The dragon’s scales were losing their luster, and I noticed some of them turning brown, before spreading to more scales. The brown quickly overtook it’s body, and I noticed it’s blue aura was fading, in favor of a red aura. Eventually, the dragon wheezed out one last thing. 

“You’ll destroy everything, you monster.” I noticed the life disappear in his eyes, and I quickly ran over, about to eat his corpse, when I realized what I just did. My mouth fell open, and I took a step back, my vision getting blurry. I rubbed my eyes, feeling wetness against my hands. I quickly turned on my heel, and ran as far away as I could.

I ran for what felt like hours, until I came across a small river cutting through the forest. I crouched down, dipping my hands in it, and bringing them up to my face, trying to drink some water. When I was done, I looked at my reflection in the water.

I didn’t look much like I used to. My once neatly combed black hair was now greasy and slicked back. I had some stubble growing on my chin. My skin was sickly green and pale at the same time. It looks like I haven’t taken a bath in a month. But the scariest thing about my reflection, was my eyes.

My normally green eyes were now completely blood red. Not blood red like someone who has something in his eyes. I mean my eyes were only blood red, with a small white dot in the middle where my irises used to be.

I blinked, trying to get rid of them, but they were still there. I saw my eyes watering, and I slammed my fist into the water, dispelling my reflection. I noticed my hand was glowing red, and when it was touching the water, the water was changing to an unhealthy brown color.

I walked away from the water, before falling to my knees, and crying. I killed a creature. I killed two creatures. I’m a monster. I let out a loud howl of pain, as I mentally swore.

I would never kill another again.

The dragon called me a Plague Master, the same mode I clicked on in Plague Inc. before I arrived here. I think that means I have some sort of control over diseases. ‘But how can I help others with my powers?’

Easy, I will try and help cure diseases.

I will make ‘Plague Master’ a name to be proud of. I will help others.

I am the Plague Master.

> The Doctor is in!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I let out a small yawn, as I focus back in on the screen. I was currently playing Plague Inc. Evolved, and I was playing an easy round of Bio-weapon on mega brutal. I was barely paying attention anymore to the game, as I infect country after country and start to wipe them out. I've played this game so much, it was hardly even a challenge.

I suppose I could take this time to introduce myself. My name's John. I'm a epidemiologist. That means I'm a scientist who studies the patterns, causes, and effects of diseases. It's kinda ironic, isn't it? I'm playing a game where I'm trying to kill all of humanity with a disease, even though my job is to do the opposite. I try to cure or at least contain diseases.

I was currently wearing a dark grey hooded sweater, as I was cold, and I had some black sweat pants on as well. The reason I was cold was because winter was coming, and I didn't really feel a need to turn up the heat in my house, if I could just put on more clothes. I sat up straight in my chair when I see that my disease has almost wiped out all of humanity. Again.


Victory!


Bio-weapon 245 has successfully eliminated all life on Earth


I yawn again, as I skip through the replay menu. Then, to my surprise, a small box popped up on the screen.


Unlocked Plague Master Mode


Having shown your expertise, you can now try the hardest mode! Mega Brutal has nothing on this!


My eyes widened at that. "An even harder mode?! I don't recall ever hearing about it. But it has to be true, as I even got a Steam achievement from it! I also have to stop talking to myself." As I was put back in the main menu, I quickly started making a new game, but to my surprise, an extra option showed up, below the scenario options. It said 'Plague Master Mode.' "I thought it was a difficulty setting?" Shrugging, I clicked on it, and then another menu popped up.


Are you sure you want to do this?


What kind of question was that? What am I getting myself into? I clicked the yes option, and suddenly my screen flashed white, before I felt a tingling sensation across my entire body as I went numb, and everything went black.





I open my eyes, and shake the sleepiness out of them. I try to slide out of my makeshift bed only to trip, and rip it again. I push myself from the rocky ground of the cave, and wipe off the blood on my arm, ignoring the cut on my arm, as I stared at my ruined hammock. "This is why I'm not a carpenter!" I start kicking a rock at my feet, trying to vent my anger. "I JUST FINISHED BUILDING IT AGAIN!!" After my little fit, I calmed myself down. I turned around, and grabbed a rotten apple off the tall rock I use as a table, and absentmindedly take a bite out of it, before finishing it off quickly for breakfast. I sighed, remembering my dream. "It's been a month, and I keep on having that nightmare." About a month ago, I woke up in this forest, and had to survive for myself. It was quite shocking, waking up like this. It wasn't long before I found this cave, and made it into a temporary living space.

It was about a day in, when I discovered the life forms of this forest. They were not normal. I freaked out when I saw a manticore, and couldn't process this information. I thought I was going to die, but I noticed something strange about the manticore. It wasn't long before I realized it was gravely sick with some kind of virus. Being a kind-hearted person, I helped it out, and that's when I realized what happened to me.

I was able to remove the virus from the manticore, straight through it's mouth, and I was able to mentally control the virus. I caused it to grow and shrink, become strong and weak, and I realized something else. This is what it means for Plague Master mode. I have control over all kinds of diseases. I was able to quickly destroy the virus, and the manticore thanked me, by giving me a slobbery lick across the face.

As the days turned into weeks, I learned more and more about my powers. I could create any disease I could think of, and control it mentally. I could even upgrade it if I wanted to. Things got even stranger when I found out I could create the neurax worm and the necroa virus. Eventually, the manticore spread the news of my powers to other animals, and I would commonly find animals coming to me for my help. I've quickly gotten used to these strange wooden wolves (which I have named tree wolves), and the chicken lizards that can apparently
stone creatures with their eyes if they wanted to.

I guess I've become some sort of legend to these animals, as they would commonly bring me food, and bowls of water. I tell them they don't have to, but they just want to thank me for my help.

I heard some scratching sounds and felt a nearby sickness, and went to the entrance of my cave, to see a couple tree wolves, with one that had a much younger one on it's back. They looked at me with worry in their eyes, especially with the one I could assume is the mother of the little one. I gently picked up the young wolf, and put him on a makeshift table, before putting my hand on it's chest. I closed my eyes, and just felt, before slightly flinching when I felt the life force of it. It was the way I discovered how to tell if tree wolves are still alive or not. Seeing as how it was still alive, I got to work figuring out what disease it was. I could only control the disease if I could name it.

Some of these animals had diseases I've never seen before, and I wouldn't have been able to save them (because I didn't know the disease's name, and I can't create a name unless specific requirements are met), if it wasn't for some quick thinking, and a neurax worm, who I've started to consider as pets. "Let's see... weaker life force, hard breathing, weaker branches, and strange growths. Tree sickness I believe." I muttered to myself, before my hands glowed a faint red, and I gently moved them along the young tree wolf's body, before a green substance left it's mouth, and I floated it over to a glass vial I found in some strange abandoned workshop (I looted the place, and took any resources I could use. I left the books talking about 'magic' there. Not enough space to carry it). I capped the vial, and walked back over to the tree wolf, who was starting to wake. I grabbed a nearby bowl of water, and when the wolf awoke, I had it drink it. I may be able to cure diseases and control them, but sometimes symptoms stay behind for a few hours, or a day. This wolf will be a little sick for about five hours, before being healthy again. As long as it doesn't get into much physical activity.

When the wolf finished drinking the water, I gently picked it back up, and gave it back to it's mother, who I put my hand against, removing the same disease festering in her. "There you go, you two should be fine. As long as the little one rests, he should be good."

The wolf's mother nodded, and left the cave, leaving me with a satisfied smile on my face. When they left the small clearing around my cave, I stretched, and let out a rather audible yawn, and shook my head, getting rid of the sleepiness. I wandered off into the forest myself, looking for some fruit trees for breakfast. That's mostly what I've been eating for the past month, fruit, fish (caught for me by my new animal friends) and the occasional vegetables.

I eventually found a tree with some fresh fruit on it, and reached up, picking them off, before removing the stem on the strange fruit, and taking a big bite out of it. After finishing that one, I drop it to the ground, hoping it would become a big tree someday, and grab a couple more. I was about to take a bite out of another one, but heard a small sound near my feet, and saw a small fox, looking at me with pleading eyes. Smiling, I bent down, gave it the strange fruit, which it quickly dug into, before I patted it on the head. I smiled, glad that my job had me do some field work, plus some camping trips with my dad helped me figure out how to survive better in this unknown forest. But what happened next really shocked me.

I heard voices. English speaking voices. My eyes widened, but my caution rose, and I stayed where I was with my little fox buddy with me. The voices were coming closer, and eventually what came out of the bushes were three colorful little fillies, all arguing with each other, not paying any attention to me. I stared at them in shock, surprised about the fact that these horses were speaking the same language I do. 'I must really be in an alternate universe.' My eyes widen even more, when one of them falls down, moaning in pain.





"Rainbow Dash!" An elegant voice yelled out, attracting the attention of the rainbow-maned athlete. Rainbow Dash popped her head out of a cloud.

"Hey Rares! What's up?" She jumped off the cloud, and gently flew down to the ground.

"I haven't seen Sweetie Belle anywhere! I've looked for her for about an hour! She was supposed to come home when school let out, but she hasn't arrived yet!" Rarity said dramatically.

"I'm sure the girls are just doing some kind of Crusading. You know how they are." Rainbow Dash dismissed.

"Oh, are you talking about the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" A familiar voice spoke up, as Derpy Hooves stopped nearby. "I saw them entering the Everfree Forest while I was delivering mail. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen to me. And I kept stumbling over myself." Derpy floated to the ground, sadness in her face.

Rainbow Dash patted the shoulder of her old flight-camp friend (other than Fluttershy and Gilda). "It's okay Derpy, You tried, and that's important. But right now we got to save the girls. Applejack is still outta town, so we'll have to do this on our own. You ready Rarity?"

Rarity nodded, and the pair ran/flew over to the Everfree Forest, hoping to save their sisters.
> Cutie Mark Crusader Epidemiologists!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why are we out here again? You know our sisters told us we're not allowed to go into the Everfree Forest," A small white unicorn filly, Sweetie Belle, asked, as they walked through the dark Everfree Forest.

"Relax. We're not going to be in here for long. And we won't go that far." A small orange pegasus filly, Scootaloo, answered.

"Yeah. We're just looking for something we could get our cutie marks in. Like Timberwolf tamers!" A small yellow earth pony filly, Applebloom added.

"Or dungeon finders! Just imagine it! We'll find a dungeon, and we could explore it, finding all kinds of awesome loot!" Scootaloo said, daydreaming.

"But won't that be dangerous?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Pfft, it would be an abandoned dungeon, obviously. Why would someone have a still-in-use dungeon in the Everfree Forest?! Besides, any kind of danger would be worth it if we get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo said, jumping up, and fluttering her wings, before falling back down.

The two fillies kept on talking, and they didn't notice their other friend's muscles tighten when she heard a familiar sound. "Uh, girls?" Applebloom called out.

"But our sisters will soon figure out that we're in the Everfree!" Sweetie Belle replied, oblivious to her friend's warnings. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to be punished by Rarity again." She shivered in fear.

"Girls." Applebloom called out again, this time slightly louder.

"Don't worry." Scootaloo responded. "We'll be in and out. Just imagine how glad everypony would be if we brought back enough ancient treasures, that we'd make Diamond Tiara look poor in comparison!" She smiled, imagining showing up the three fillies' biggest rivals.

"GIRLS!" Applebloom yelled, getting the attention of both of her friends. "I think we might get our cutie marks in being chased by timberwolves."

Scootaloo lat out a small laugh. "Please Applebloom, there aren't any timberwolves nearby." Right after she said that, the timberwolves charged at them, and the three fillies screamed, running deeper into the forest.





After being chased for about an hour, the three fillies lost the wolves, and they slowly walked forward, tired, hungry, dirty, and scared. "I told you we shouldn't have gone into the Everfree Forest!" Sweetie Belle yelled. "Now we're lost!"

"Well, we wouldn't have gotten lost, if you didn't stop us from entering the forest in the first place!" Scootaloo retorted.

"You were the one who dragged us into this mess!" Sweetie Belle replied, having a signature voice break. They kept on walking forward as they were arguing, until they walked through a bush.

"Well maybe you should have used some of that fancy magic of yours to fight off the timberwolves!" Scootaloo yelled, voice getting even louder.

"WELL MAYBE...!" Both fillies were cut off when their friend moaned in pain, and fell to the side, grasping at her stomach. "Applebloom, what's wrong?!"

"I don't feel too good. Everything feels dizzy." Applebloom moaned, and suddenly there was a strange bipedal creature right next to her, moving her hooves off of her belly.

"You say you have nausea?" The strange creature asked, as it looked at an inch long cut on her belly. The normally crimson colored blood was surrounded with yellow puss, coming out of an infected wound. "Do you have any other symptoms? Headaches? Leg cramps? Lung or other organ pains?"

All three fillies were surprised at this newcomer. "Hey! What are you doing to my friend?!" Scootaloo yelled out, puffing up her chest, trying to instinctively appear threatening.

But to her surprise, the creature looked over it's shoulder. "Do you want your friend to die? She's got a lethal infection. Probably got cut by a poisonous plant. What were you three thinking? Coming out into a dangerous forest! You know what kind of dangerous creatures live in this forest?!" Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle backed off in surprise.





I don't know why I said that. I just felt my instincts take over, and my desire to protect and heal others brought up some anger. I heard the small filly moan, and I quickly looked back. Her complexion was getting more and more worse, turning green. "I need to identify the plant, if I can, I can cure her. If not, she'll die." I said, gritting my teeth.

"Why don't we quickly bring her to a doctor?" The white one said behind me, still a little scared of me, but also worried for her friend.

I shook my head. "Not enough time. From what I can tell, this is a fast acting poison. The kinds of plants that can create such a poison are rare around these parts. I might be able to cure her if we get to my place. It's nearby." I gently pick up the little filly, and started running back to my cave. "Are you two coming? I'm sure it'll help your friend's condition." The two fillies and the fox quickly followed me, as I led them back to my cave.

We quickly got there, and I rushed in, putting her on the table, and putting my hand against her, feeling for the disease. I may not know what it is, but I still have the ability to alter it. I lessened the severity of it, buying me some time, and I quickly caused a skin lesion to form, allowing me to draw some blood, into another makeshift vial.

I closed off the lesion, and looked at the blood. My eyes slightly burned, as I looked at it, examining it, and seeing it at a molecular level like I'm newly able to. I tracked down the things killing her, and my eyes widened, at what kind of disease it was. Quickly placing the vial down for examination later, I got back to the filly, and lessened the effects that have gotten worse when I was examining her. "I know you're in pain, but you need to work with me here, little one. What kinds of pains are you feeling?"

The little filly moaned, before speaking. "Well, my tummy hurts, and my throat burns. I feel like I can't use my legs, and my insides hurt, and I have trouble breathing. And my face is stinging and watering." She coughed, coughing up some blood

"Nausea, vomiting, small time paralysis, sweating, hyper sensitivity, internal haemorrhaging, fever, necrosis, systematic infection, who would create such a thing? It's like it's soul purpose is to cause as much pain as possible before death." I muttered to myself. "Gah! These are hard to work with! Diseases created by others?! How do I name it?!"

Hearing another cough of blood, and wheeze of pain, brought me back to the real world. I turned back to the filly, putting my hands on her, before they glowed red. "I'm not sure what kind of toll this will have on me, but I won't let a little girl die!" My hands glowed with such intensity, but I didn't look away, as I pulled the disease out of her, and into me, where it was quickly destroyed, due to my ability to not be able to get sick by any disease other than one I created for myself.

The light faded, and the little filly started turning back to her normal look, and I sighed, placing a hand on her side, feeling for anything else, before I grabbed some makeshift needle and thread, and stitch up the wound. Seeing as it could still be infected, I held out my hand in front of me, and blew my breath into it, creating a bacteria to help me. I put it against the wound, and let it quickly go through the body, and mutated it only for helping her. The wound quickly closed as much as it could, leaving a small newly healed scar, and all the swelling went down.

The filly was soon asleep, and I stumbled out into the waiting area I made, so others don't interrupt my work. I grabbed onto a wall, trying to keep myself awake, as I looked at the other worried fillies. "Don't worry. She's fine. She'll be right as rain after a small nap. Took a lot of energy out of me. Now, you three better be careful next time, or maybe all of you will be in serious trouble next." Right after I said that, I fell down, impacting the ground with a thud, as I passed out.





(One month ago)

"Oh god. Where am I?" I panicked, running around the small clearing I was in. "Someone?! Anyone?! HELP!" I yelled as loudly as I could. I fell down on my butt, panting. "Someone, please help." I moaned, before falling on my back. I mysteriously appeared here, and now I'm trapped in the middle of a forest, with no idea where I am. Yeah, I've done some field research, so I know my way around the poisons of the forest, but nothing here looks familiar! The berries look like poisonous berries, but at the same time look better than I've ever seen!

I felt a small tugging sensation on my skull, and ignored it, having felt like my mind was vibrating ever since I appeared here. What I didn't ignore, was the growling of a very loud lion from behind me. I shot up, and turned around, feeling some weird pains in my body that weren't there a minute ago. A huge lion bursts from the trees, and roars at me, making me be frozen in fear, and the tugging sensation increased dramatically. At this point in time, I noticed two wings sticking from it's back, along with a scorpion tail. Now, I'm no zoologist, but I know for sure that no breed of lions like that exist.

My muscles seized for a second, and my reaction time seemed to speed up, as I rolled out of the way of the attacking tail. 'What the hell? How did I do that?' The 'lion' looked surprised, before taking a swipe at me with his big paws, but I jumped back, narrowly getting my shirt and sweater shredded. 'Wait a second, I remember now. This creature was something from Greek Mythology. A chimera? No, a Manticore!' The Manticore was about to attack again, before it moaned, and fell on it's side, and I noticed that it looked like it was sick. It was showing signs similar to how a lion reacts when it's sick. Feeling the tugging sensation start pulling me towards the Manticore, I slowly walked up to it, hands in a peaceful position.

When I got in front of it, I put my hand out. "Listen. I don't want to hurt you or anything. You're sick, and I want to help. I'm a doctor." The Manticore stared deeply into my eyes, and I could have sworn I saw some intelligence behind those eyes, as if it was smarter than it looks. The Manticore looked away, and I took that as a cue to help it. I patted across it's fur, and felt some movement from under the skin. 'A parasite? But it's missing some symptoms if that's the case. What was that I just felt?'

'Virus...' A faint voice echoed across my mind, and I blinked in surprise. 'Yeah, it shows symptoms of being a virus. But how can I help it?' Right then and there, my hands glowed red, and a similar glow was coming from all of the Manticore's body. Suddenly the redness merged together into a small ball of red inside the Manticore, before flying out of it's mouth, and into my hands. "What the hell?" I asked, not sure what this red ball of... something was. It quickly disappeared into my hands, which caused my body to glow red, and I started freaking out, thinking I would get sick. 'More. Need more. Must have more.' 'Okay, nope on that front. I'd prefer to be normal, than having some weird... red powers.'

I was shaken from my thoughts, as I was picked up by the Manticore, who was looking much healthier. I thought I was going to die, but instead, was given ferocious licks, covering me in slobber. It then set me down, and acted akin to a cat, purring and everything. "Wait, you're not sick anymore. It's like I just removed the virus from your... body... well ****!"





(present time)

"Should we wake it?" A voice rang out, as I slowly returned to my senses.

"But what if it's a monster, and tries to eat us?!" Another, squeakier voice rang out.

"Why would it do that? It just saved my life!" A cowgirl like voice replied.

Deciding to open my eyes, I sat up, and shook my head to clear the blurriness. When I could see properly again, I saw the three little fillies from earlier. "Oh, you're still here?" I yawned, noticing them flinching. "Sorry about passing out like that. It took a lot of energy to get rid of that... disease." 'Can't tell them what it really was. They're too young to know.'

"Thank you for saving me." The small yellow and red one said, nodding.

I smiled. "You're welcome. I like to help everyone I can." I slowly stood up.

"But how did you help her if you're not a doctor?" The white one asked.

I let out a small laugh. "I am a doctor."

She tilted her head. "But where's your white coat? And why aren't you a pony?"

"I'm not that kind of doctor. I'm an epidemiologist. That means I'm a doctor who tries to study and cure diseases. My name's John, what's yours?"

"I'm Scootaloo!" The orange and purple one said, jumping in place, and fluttering some wings behind her. 'Some kind of pegasus?'

"I'm Sweetie Belle!" The white unicorn squeaked. 'Unicorns too?'

"And I'm Applebloom!" The yellow and red one I saved earlier said, jumping in between her friends. "And together, we are..."

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" They shouted, and I clutched my ears in pain. But I quickly stopped when I noticed Applebloom cringe in pain.

"Careful Applebloom. You have a fresh scar, and you don't want to open it, do you? I recommend no strenuous tasks for about a week, doctor's orders. You nearly died, and you wouldn't want your friends and family to lose you over another infection." I said, sternly.

Applebloom looked at the ground, pawing it. "I guess not." She suddenly flinched, and looked up at me with wide eyes. "Maybe you can help us some more! Can you teach us how to be... eckadermagists?" The other two looked at me with puppy dog eyes as well.

I chuckled. "Maybe. But what I did to save you, can't be passed on. I somehow gained the ability to control diseases. You're lucky I was able to even create some, or else your cut would be infected. I had to create a disease that actually helps you instead of hurting you. It's still in your system, and will leave once a week has passed." A thought occurred to me. "Wait, shouldn't you be getting back to your families? Won't they be worried about you? I mean I did bring you in, about an hour ago." I looked at the sun's light, which was about in the middle of the sky.

The three fillies started to panic. "Ah! How did we forget?! We're going to be flayed alive by our sisters!" They screamed, as they were about to leave, but I stopped them.

"Wait!" I tell them, and they stop on a dime, and look at me curiously. I look to the fox who's been waiting here since he came back with us. "Can you go with them, and make sure they stay safe? You can come back here when you're done, and I'll get you something nice to eat." The fox smiled, and nodded, before going up to the fillies. "The fox here will escort you out, and keep you safe. Oh, and visit if you have a chance to! Just be careful, and I'll tell the animals to avoid you." I said, waving, as they walked off.

"We'll try to visit, but our sisters might not let us!" They quickly left my vision, and I sighed, before walking over to a small bowl of dirt water, and reached my hand in, before pulling it out, and wiping the blood and sweat off my face. Being immune to everything really takes a load off your shoulders while surviving. Once my face was cleaner, I walked over to my working area, and picked up the vial filled with the blood of Applebloom.

"Now, who in this world would and could create a bio-weapon? And how and why did they administer it to the fillies?"





"There you are! You had us worried sick!" Rarity, older sister of Sweetie Belle, said, as she ran up, and embraced her younger sister. Then, Rarity regained her angry look. "You've been missing for three hours! We were just about to come in and save you! We've told you countless times not to go into the Everfree!"

"Yeah! It's dangerous in there! You could have gotten yourselves killed!" Rainbow Dash yelled at the three fillies, and they squirmed, not liking being 'talked to' about their actions, and fearing the punishment. Unfortunately, by squirming, Applebloom felt a sharp pain go through her body, caused by the recent cut.

Both adults noticed this, and looked at Applebloom. "Applebloom, sweetie, are you okay?"

Applebloom held back the pain, and tried to smile. "Me? Yes. I'm very much okay. Nothing wrong with me at all." Rainbow Dash gently pushed her over, and both mares saw the cut along her stomach.

"Applebloom! What happened?!" Rarity exclaimed.

All three fillies sighed, before looking at each other, and nodding. "Well, we were walking into the forest, hoping to find a rad dungeon or something to get our cutie marks in!" Scootaloo started.

"But we were quickly chased by Timberwolves, and lost them after maybe half an hour. But by that time, we didn't know the way back, and Applebloom was cut by some kind of poisonous plant!" Sweetie Belle continued.

"We were found by a strange creature in the forest. It spoke Equestrian just like us, and walked on two legs, without a tail! It wore clothes too, but they were all tattered. It grabbed me, and brought me to it's house in a cave, where it was able to heal me from what it said was a very dangerous disease! He was able to cure me like it was nothing! And then he told us he was some kind of doctor who cures diseases. After he healed me, he had his fox show us the way back!" Applebloom finished.

Both mares looked at each other, not believing this story. "Girls, are you sure this is the truth?" Rainbow Dash asked.

All three fillies nodded. "It's the honest truth! I swear!" Applebloom said, putting her hoof on her chest, before getting back to all fours, as the pain kicked in again.

Both Rainbow Dash and Rarity sighed. "Why don't you three get back to your homes? We'll give you your punishment in a bit." Rarity spoke up, making a shooing motion with her hoof. The three fillies looked nervous, before walking back to Ponyville.

"Why would they lie? I mean seriously? A two-legged creature that can speak Equestrian? We've been in the Everfree several times! We've never seen anything like that!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Maybe they aren't lying? Applebloom did have a scar on her." Rarity suggested.

"Ugh! What do we do?! I wish Applejack was here, then she would be able to tell if they were lying or not." Rainbow moaned.

"Maybe we could go by Twilight's check to see if she knows anything about a creature the fillies described. If she doesn't, then we know they were lying." Rarity asked, and both mares agreed on it, before heading to their friend's house castle.
> The Plagued Ones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Woof!” A wooden wolf barked at me, as it looked over it’s shoulder. I was quickly chasing after it as fast as I could. The wolf came to me a few minutes ago, and from what I could gather, one of it’s pack was sick, but they were unable to bring it to me, so I was going with them. Unfortunately, I’m not as fast as a wolf, so I was quite a ways behind it.

It took about half an hour, and a small break, but we got to the wolf’s cave, where I noticed a wolf waiting outside for the other to return. They shared a quick conversation using common signs I remember seeing in my own dogs when I was a child. They motioned me to come in, and I carefully did, unable to see in the dark cave like the wolf’s can.

I felt a tingling in my head, and the cave quickly illuminated. “Weird.” I muttered under my breath, getting used to these weird abilities. ‘I don’t recall a disease that could make me see better in the dark.’ It didn’t take long to see the pack of wolves huddling around one laying on the ground.

I calmly walked up to them, noticing how they parted ways for me, before I crouched down in front of the sick one. I put my hand on it’s side, and noticed the lack of a tingling in my head. “It’s not sick.”

Some of the wolves had confused expressions on their faces. “Definitely not sick. But it is showing symptoms of something. Shortness of breath, as if something is preventing oxygen from getting in, as if it’s choking on something.” My face fell for a second as I realized what I said.

I take a deep breath, and gently grab the sides of the wolf, before squeezing tightly, causing it to cough up something. I put the wolf back down, and walked over to the object, before picking it up, not worried about the sap covering it. It was a chewed up bone. Sighing, I turned around, to face the wolves. “You should really be more careful about what you eat.” I took my cue to exit the cave, and the seconds after I left, my eyes started to burn from the light, before they tingled, and everything dulled again.

“I’m glad the wolf’s okay, but I don’t want to be called whenever someone seems sick. I’m not that kind of doctor.” I said out loud, as I started making my way to my cave, and stumbled on a root hanging out of the ground, causing me to impact the ground, breaking my arm, as I held it out, trying to catch myself. “OW!” I yelled, as I nursed my broken arm. I noticed the bone protruding from it, and started looking around for something to act as a makeshift cast, when it cracked back into position. “I have the strangest body.”

I heard footsteps behind me and felt a massive tingling in my skull, and turned to find myself faced with a towering. hooded figure. He stood at about ten feet, his appearance hidden behind a black cloak and hood other than a pair of blue points of light. Flinching in surprise at the new creature, I quickly moved away, and felt my body crack, as my bones forced me down to a crouched position, as if ready to pounce on a prey. ‘Great, now I probably look more like a hunter.’ “Who are you?”

The figure spoke in a deep, rough voice. 

“The name’s Jack. And I take it you’re this world’s Displaced then, Mr…?”

“Doctor. Doctor John.” I corrected. “My last name doesn’t matter anymore, so why use it?”

The figure chuckled. “Understandable. Though I am rather curious why you’re out here alone in this forest?”

“I arrived here about a month ago. The only sentient life I’ve seen was three little fillies. Everyone else have been strange animals. From the wooden wolves, to Manticores.” I was still wary of the stranger. “Now, who are you?”

“Like I said, the name’s Jack. And I suppose the best term for my current purpose is being a traveller.”

The figure reached a hand out from the cloak and pulled back the hood, showing himself to be wearing some sort of armored helmet, which seemed to be the source of the twin lights. He reached up and triggered some sort of mechanism, and it unfolded and retracted into whatever armor he was wearing under the cloak. He had a square jaw, and for the most part appeared human, but with alien traits. He had black, inky skin, and long dark hair, and a pair of burning yellow eyes. 

“I assume you already know of the Displaced? That would simplify things a great deal in my explanation.”

I stood up, and took off my own hood, exposing my rotting face, and raised an eyebrow. “Never actually heard of it. I’ve been cut off from the world for a while.”

“Hmm… Alright. Well, it’s not something from your world. I’m not the best source of information on this, but from my understanding the Displaced are beings from across the multiverse, taken from their own versions of Earth and thrown into some version of Equestria. They can form ties to each other with the use of ‘tokens’, these being items bound to their maker and scattered into the space between spaces, the void between universes. I myself am travelling across the worlds of other Displaced in search of my family, whom I believe may be somewhere out in the multiverse waiting on me. That’s the short version of things, anyway.”

“So you were once a human?” I asked, ignoring the massive tingling in my skull. He nodded.

“Yes. See, most Displaced are humans that have been transformed into the forms of beings fictional to them but otherwise real in the multiverse. I personally was transformed into a Necromorph, a creature from a video game known as Dead Space. Though I no longer resemble the base creature I was forced into becoming…”

He pulled back the cloak for a moment and I glimpsed the strange techno-arcanic armor he wore, but more so noticing that he had not two but four arms to him.

I flinched a bit, the tingling turning to throbbing. “A necromorph, as in dead? Is it some sort of virus or sickness that spread rapidly?” I reached up, and started grabbed my head, desperately hoping to stop the pain.

“In a way. Necromorphs are comprised of formerly dead tissue reanimated and reconstructed by something known as a Marker. Though they do have the ability to infect still-living creatures in a manner similar to a traditional pathogen.”

“That...explains...why...my...head...is...throbbing. Powerful...pathogen. Very...powerful.” I managed to blurt out, as I crouched down, trying to get my head to stop. Out of a reflex I didn’t know I had I raised my arm, a blood red glow surrounding it in the same way as most of my other abilities did. I slammed it into my head before it dispersed into my body, and the pain faded from my head. I stood back up, and shook my head. “That was getting annoying.”

“I’m assuming that you have some kind of affinity for things of the biological sort, then?”

I nodded. “Anything related to diseases. Bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, prions, nanoviruses, bioweapons, neurax worms, necroa viruses, and even that disease from the planet of the apes movies.”

Jack nodded and put a hand to his chin in thought. “Hmm. That’s a pretty wide area of influence. So, why’re you out here then?”

“I have no where else to go. Plus, I like to help these animals, as they can get sick a lot.”

“Hmm… Yeah, I get that. Though personally you could probably find a place to stay in Equestria should you desire such. Of course that’s up to you. And speaking of animals it seems my wolf’s done hunting.”

I felt a puff of warm breath on my neck, and I slowly turned to see a wooden wolf such as those in the forest, but the size of a large manticore and patterned in different types of wood. Along with that, his ‘fur’ was a lot less ragged and his muzzle was a lot less jagged, looking more dog-like than the others. I stood stock still as it sniffed me, only to let out a booming bark and then walk past me, sitting by Jack.

I took a step back in surprise, not expecting the creature. “You tamed a wooden wolf?”

“They’re called Timberwolves, and I had… help.”

His eyes lost focus for a moment and his expression softened, seeming to be thinking back on a fond memory. He shook his head and he refocused on things. 

“Yeah, I’ve had Fefnir here for nearly a thousand years, if you care for them properly then they can last as long as a sequoia tree. And of course, they do tend to grow over time just like a tree, hence Fef’s size.”

“Timberwolves…” I deadpanned. “I think I prefer wooden wolves, over that pun.”

“Believe me, I fully agree. They already had a name back home that stuck, so I ended up getting over it. Still, a bit of respect and care and even a timberwolf can be befriended. I didn’t necessarily tame him, more like… Made him a ‘pack’ member. Think a regular dog, but with some extra loyalty and intelligence mixed in.”

“I kinda have a pet of my own, but he’s more of a small fox. Reminds me more of a cat than a dog.” I heard some yelping, and the exact same fox I was talking about ran past us, before quickly running back, and hiding behind my back. “What the? Hey buddy, where you going?!”

A loud roar permeates the air, and a huge dragon landed on top of the trees. I took this time to piss my pants, and try to process this information. “On second thought, I think my fox had a good idea.” 

The dragon roared and lashed out with a claw, sending me and the fox flying back, straight through a tree. We both landed landed hard, and I heard a loud crack, as I felt my back break, along with the rest of my fragile body. Everything went black, and I lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes I heard pained roars echoing through the forest, and I looked around, to determine what happened whilst I had been unconscious. I locked eyes with the small fox, who was whimpering and trying to free itself from under a destroyed tree. There was a puddle of blood underneath it, and a lot of it matted into its fur. “Hey… buddy… you alright?” I managed to ask, light-headed from my own blood loss.

It looked at me, a sense of helplessness in his eyes. I grit my teeth, and look at my own injuries. Every single bone in my body felt broken, with several sticking out from my skin. I had a few fragments of wood spearing me.Strangely, I didn’t feel any pain but I imagined that this was very severe. “So.. is this how I’m going to die?” I asked out loud. I looked back at my whimpering buddy, and I felt a tingling sensation spread across my body. “No, I won’t die today!” I screamed out loud, as my body glowed blood red and my muscles started tripling in twisted mass. All my wounds forced themselves back together, and I quickly got to my feet, only to have to hold my body up with my two arms. I looked down at myself, noticing my similarity to a Tank from Left for Dead. ‘Green flu?’ I looked to my fox friend, and picked up the tree untop of him with ease, before throwing it towards the dragon. “Stay here. I’ll take care of this.” I ran forward, slamming trees into the previously wounded dragon, before jumping into the air and punching the dragon straight into its face.

I landed on the ground, and looked to Jack, who looked surprised at my appearance.

“This part of your disease powers?”

“Green flu. A disease that spread in the Left 4 dead world. Can cause serious mutations in those it infects. I guess my powers aren’t limited to just real world diseases...”

“That… Could prove dangerous. You may your work cut out for you in keeping control in a lot of cases. Still, at least you can defend yourself.”

Jack turned to the dragon and lashed out, planting a hand onto one of the ridges along its back and pinning it. 

“Alright big guy, what’s the big idea with going after the tiny fox? I doubt it could’ve done that much to harm you, so what’s up?”

The dragon roared and struggled, finally letting out a booming voice.

“This forest is MY realm demon! That thing forgot its place and it is time that I show you to YOURS!”

The dragon let out a wave of flames, missing Jack, the fox and I all but setting a patch of the forest ablaze unintentionally. I picked up a huge rock from the ground, and threw it into it’s mouth, blocking the flame. Jack rammed a fist into the side of its head and it ceased efforts to escape. 

“Jack! I have an idea! Distract it long enough so I can mutate!” I yelled, as a red aura surrounded me, and the muscles disappeared, before I felt my face change the most, as a huge long tongue fell out of my mouth, and a stinky aura surrounded me. I flung my tongue at the dragon’s neck, sticking to it, and instead of it being pulled towards me, I pulled myself towards it, landing on it’s back, and quickly mutating into a hunter, and climbing up to it’s head. “Time to stop you.” I put my hands against its head, both of which glowed with a red light as I placed a disease straight into its brain. “Now! Leave us alone! Go back to your cave!” I jumped off, and the dragon stopped thrashing, before flying away. I mutated back to normal and turned to face Jack. He deactivated his helmet, which had been turned back on sometime during his fighting the dragon without me.

“What… Did you just do?”

“Neurax worm. Basically, I took control of his brain. Once he returns to his cave, the neurax will die off harmlessly, as it has fulfilled its objective.” I smiled, glad I didn’t have to worry about it spreading and taking over the world. Jack nodded, seemingly put off by this somewhat. 

“Yeah, it’s a very dangerous power. I can understand why you might be a little worried.” I said with a chuckle, before I remembered something. “Crap! The fox!” I turn around, and start running back to where I left him. When I found him, I noticed that his legs were more mush than they should be, and he was bleeding even more than before. “Darn it! Don’t die on me!” I yelled, as I fell to my knees, ignoring the blood soaking into my torn pants, as I put my hands against his body. “GRR! No diseases! How am I supposed to heal this?!”

Jack looked down at the fox in consideration and then spoke. “Well… You could potentially rig a virus to create a mutagen. Something to alter the fox’s genetics to elicit some a positive mutation to improve its ability to heal itself.”

“Create a virus?! I know I can replicate some diseases to heal minor wounds, but I’m not sure if I can create a whole new virus with new objectives....” I looked at my hands. “But, if it’s to save a life, I will try.” I clap my hands together, before pulling them apart. “Hopefully it’s not that different that what I’m used to.” The area between my hands glowed red, as the Plague symbol appears, and floated between my hands. I grit my teeth. “I can’t access anything other than from the game!”

“But this isn’t ‘the game’. It’s real life. That means that the rules are changed and you have more free will. Now listen, try and use something as a base. Something simple, a virus that barely does anything, something that spreads but doesn’t cause any serious effect. Now look through the fox, every little cell with every little widget of DNA. If you can manipulate diseases, then it’s only a few steps up to do the same thing with a more complex creature. Find whatever traits you need there, whatever needs changing, and then reconstruct your  virus with the substitute you wish to replace it with. From there it’s a simple matter of letting it loose…”

I nodded my head, and created a basic virus, as if I was about to play Plague again from the start. I watched as the small creature floated in between my hands. I concentrated on upgrading it. “There aren’t any symptoms from Plague that can allow stronger healing. Do you have any suggestions from another form of media? If I can utilize the green flu from Left 4 Dead, then maybe I can create something else, and give it to him.”

Jack seemed to think for a moment before kneeling down on the other side of the fox and placing all four of his hands on the sides of mine. A red glow of his own went over them, and a patch of static distortion went over a blank patch of the available upgrades that I could sense possible. I watched as a new mutation option appeared in the now distorted area, shown as ‘Necromorph: Regenerator’. I mentally selected the upgrade, and I watched as the small virus quickly squirmed, as it mutated and became more jagged. I thought of another upgrade, and selected it, before selecting more and more upgrades that came to my mind. I started laughing at all the ideas, imaging all the infections. My laughter turned crazed, before Jack snapped me out of it.

“Hey, I’m taking a risk on your skill so don’t go losing your head!”

He jerked  his hands away from mine, and all the new upgrades faded, sans the first few I had selected. I sighed. “Fine. I guess my fox won’t be immune to mind control then.” I clapped my hands together again, creating the virus, before putting them against the fox’s side, as a red glow went across his entire body. His leg’s quickly turned back to normal, before it’s entire body grew larger, until it stopped around half my size. It’s fur grew a greyish color, as it’s muscles increased, making sure it wouldn’t be put in a situation like that again. 

I stood up, a smile on my face. “There. I guess I should probably give you a name or something now. No way I’m letting you wander off after that super upgrade.” I rubbed the fur on his back. “I’m glad you’re okay.” I turned around to face Jack. “Thank you for the help.” I blinked in surprise as I noticed something. “Hang on, you got a bit of green flu on you.” I grabbed his shoulder, and pulled the greenish aura off his body. “You aren’t going to want to spread that around.” I pulled my hand away, before shaking it off, trying to get rid of the brown aura on my arm. It quickly grew up my arm, turning it into a blade. “Nope!” I yelled, as I forced my arm to mutate back to normal. 

Jack narrowed his eyes in concern upon seeing this. 

“That… Is worrying. One second.”

He held a hand out in front of himself and a holographic screen illuminated in front of him from his armor. A light went over me and something appeared on it. Jack spoke slowly.

“Well… It seems with your abilities you’ve taken on some minor traits from exposure to my influence. Nothing major, but you seem to put off a slight amount of Marker static… Normally I would be extremely worried, but it’s weaker than even the natural signal my body produces to maintain itself. Enough that you should be able to access some minor necromorph capabilities and mutations. You should be able to handle it, but if you go too far it could easily get out of your control.”

“Well, I just won’t use it. It seems way too deadly to infect someone with, and I hate death. If I need to, I’ll turn my own arms into blades, or just mutate myself in another way.” I snapped my fingers as an idea popped it my mind. “In thanks for your help in saving my fox friend…” My hand glowed red, and I squeezed it, before holding it out, as a small ball of shifting colors floated in my hand. “Here. It’s an ever changing disease. It only has one use before it stays like that, and you can copy it if you need to. If you ever lose your powers, then you can use it to change back. Also, no one can copy it, unless it already becomes a disease. Also, it’s definitions of disease are as unclear as my own. You could infect someone with a temporary Wolverine healing factor if you want.”

“Hmm… Alright then, that could prove useful.” Jack reached out and took it, placing it into a slot in his armor.

“Still, I think I’ve stuck around here long enough. Still, before I go do you need anything?”

I put my hand on my chin, and thought about it. “I remember you mentioning something about tokens earlier.”

Jack nodded. “Oh right. A token is something used to summon other Displaced to your universe, or vice versa. If you’d like I could assist you in constructing one before I leave.”

I nodded. “Some help would be nice. What does the token look like?”

“Well… Anything you desire really. Just choose an object, usually one relating to you, and you can use it for a token.”

“Should I try and do the Plague Inc. symbol? Or maybe some kind of disease you have to give yourself to summon me? I think the disease one sounds better, I could make it a beneficial one. One that increases any attributes you need temporarily.”

“Again, it’s up to you.”

I had my hand glow red, and clenched it, creating a glowing red ball, and I smiled as I noticed the Plague Inc. sign floating in it. “Should I leave a message in it? People might get the wrong idea seeing this.”

Jack shrugged and nodded.

“Okay… My name is John, the Plague Master. If you ever need help, with sickness or disease, don’t hesitate to call. I will help anyone, friend or enemy who needs help.” The ball glowed red, as it somehow recorded the message, and disappeared in a flash. I created another one, before handing it to Jack.

He nodded and tossed it forward, where it drifted through the air for a moment before fading into nothingness. 

“Before I go, here’s my own token if you have need of me.” 

He held out a hand, and a disc of red metal appeared in it, bearing an image of two spires curving around each other with a sword tearing down the middle of them. I took it and he waved to me as he drew a sword of black metal, swinging it and tearing a rift in the air. 

“Before you go. Don’t you dare use that thing I gave you for evil. If I sense it being used as such, I will deactivate it from wherever you are in the multiverse.” I threatened. Jack deadpanned at me. 

“I’ve spent my entire life literally dedicated to defending my world and guiding it. I have no plans for ‘evil’. Like I said, I’m just looking to find my family and then head back to my world. Now then, fare thee well ‘John the Plague Master’”

He waved goodbye as he stepped through the portal, followed by his wolf.

“See ya. Good luck on finding your family.” I waved, my own fox right next to me. I turned to face my new pet. "Still gotta think of a name for you. Something plague related." I felt a small and faint tingling in my head, and turned around to see a rainbow maned blue pegasus floating behind me, against everything my physics teacher taught me.

"You're the one who helped out Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle the other day, right? The doctor?" She asked.

"Yeah..." I said, taking a step back.

The pegasus sighed. "I need you to come with me, Ponyville needs your help. Ponies are getting sick and falling all over."

'I'll never get a chance to name my fox, or change my pants, will I?'
> Bioweapon P begins in Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

-An hour ago-

"So Twi, you ever hear of such a creature?" Rainbow Dash asked, watching as the tired Twilight looked around her new library, thinking.

"Are you sure it wasn't a minotaur? Or a Diamond Dog? Or the girls could have been mistaken, and not really seen anything," Twilight yawned, as she pulled book after book from the walls.

"The girls seemed to be rather sure of themselves. Plus Applebloom had a scar on her belly that looked like it was healed by a professional doctor," Rarity added.

Twilight looked over her books, before pausing on a certain page. "If the girls aren't lying, then it would have to be this creature. A human. But these ones are different than the ones I met in the other world." Twilight spun the book around on the desk, so the two other ponies could read it.

"Human? Isn't that the one creature from those old tales?" Rarity asked, noticing the garish figures of the humans in it, wearing barbaric clothes, and fighting each other.

Twilight nodded, yawning one more time. "Yep. They were known for being a warrior race a long time ago. Supposedly they loved war so much that they destroyed themselves in a single day, and ruined the world for hundreds of years, before the first pony was even born."

"How did they manage to do that?" Rainbow Dash asked, not interested in the history lesson, but still curious about what kind of power could wipe out an entire race.

"Nopony knows. But some scientists say it was a weapon brighter and more powerful than the sun." Rarity suddenly gasped.

"And Sweetie Belle was with one of those monsters?!" Rarity fell back, but her rapidly appearing fainting couch showed up, catching her.

"Well, it does say that not all humans are bad. There were many humans who helped others. The interesting thing is that they lived their entire life without magic. They only used technology, and theirs was centuries ahead of our own." Twilight's eyes sparkled at this interesting information.

"How can one survive without mag..." Rainbow was cut off by a pony bursting through the doors. All three mares looked over to see Mayor Mare with a panicked expression and what looked like a bright red blush between and under her eyes. Her coat seemed a little different than its usual tan shade.

"Princess Twilight! Something's wrong! Ponies are passing out left and right! And even the doctors are passing out! And....and..." The mayor fell down to the ground, her complexion becoming much more pale.

"Mayor!" all three ponies yelled, running over to the pony, whose breathing was already getting shallow and strange growths started to appear on her legs.

"I don't understand! What happened?!" Rarity exclaimed, putting some pillows under the mayor.

"She seemed to have contracted some sort of disease? I'm sorry, but I haven't read much on colds, flus, and diseases. But what was she talking...about..." Twilight trailed off, as she walked to the nearby window, and looked out, seeing the bodies of ponies laying on the ground. Some looked worse than others, as they were bleeding, and had massive swelling and various growths. There were several ponies running around, trying to help their neighbors, but many of them started to join the sick ponies as they fell down. "What in Equestria is happening!"

"I don't know, but this doesn't look good. Should we alert the princesses?" Rarity asked, walking over to Twilight.

"You're right. SPIKE!" There was a loud thump, and the sounds of running, as Twilight's dragon assistant quickly ran in.

"What's wrong, Twilight?!" ee yelled, noticing the passed out mayor.

"I need you to take a letter," Twilight said, trying to act calm for Spike, but was nevertheless still freaking out. Spike pulled out a scroll and a quill from his back. "Dear Princess Celestia. We need your help here in Ponyville. There seems to be some sort of disease spreading around rapidly, and ponies are dropping left and right. Please help! Sincerely, Princess Twilight."

Spike took a deep breath, and quickly exhaled, a green sparkling flame coming out of his mouth and burning the finished letter, where it turned into dust, and quickly flew away to Canterlot. When the letter was sent, Spike looked to the older mares, hoping for an answer to what was happening.

Twilight, seeing the young dragon who’s basically her brother getting worried, quickly trotted over to comfort him. “Twilight? What’s happening?”

Twilight looked over at her two friends with an unsure glance. “Well, we don’t know. We think it’s some kind of illness. Stay here, and we’ll go check it out.” Spike nodded, and the three mares walked over to the door.

Rarity stopped in her tracks, before opening the door. “Wait, what’s preventing us from getting the illness as well if we go out?”

Twilight blinked in surprise. “Oh! I’ll cast a health bubble, so make sure to stay close.” The two mares nodded and stood by Twilight’s side as her horn glowed with a purple hue, and a bubble formed around the group. As soon as the bubble formed, several small purple crosses floated around the bubble, representing the widely known medical spell sign.

Twilight took a gasp of breath. “I don’t know how long I can hold this. I’m not used to casting medical spells, so let’s solve this problem quickly.” Rainbow Dash gently opened the door, her usual reckless personality replaced with a careful persona, as she did not want to get sick like these other ponies. Especially if she got growths on her wings, and couldn’t use them anymore.

The three girls gasped at the sight of the town’s state. It looked completely different than it did just a few minutes ago when Twilight looked out of the window. All the ponies were on the ground, clearly affected by whatever illness was spreading. All three mares felt sick in their stomach as they saw the pools of blood beneath many of the ponies. Pegasi laid upon the ground, their wings outstretched, as they throbbed with tumors. Every unicorn had a bright red rash on their horns, with several small bumps, and their faces were contorted in pain. Each earth pony’s hooves were black and shriveled, as if all blood has been removed from that part of the body. Several bodies of children laid upon the ground, crying bloody tears, as their bodies had various other symptoms.

Twilight couldn’t take it any more, and emptied the contents of her stomach, which luckily fell out of the bubble so the three mares wouldn’t have to wade in vomit. Rarity was close to imitating Twilight, when a thought popped into her head.

“Sweetie Belle!” she screamed, and ran out of the bubble, much to the dismay of the two remaining mares.

“Wait, Rarity! It’s dangerous!” Twilight called out, but to no avail, as Rarity quickly disappeared after making a sharp turn.

“Quickly, Twi! We have to follow her!” Rainbow got behind her friend, and started pushing Twilight forward, until she finally decided to move on her own legs instead of being pushed.

The two mares quickly followed their best guess of where Rarity ran to, and noticed all the fallen ponies along the way. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the sobbing body of Rarity, standing over the ill Sweetie Belle, while a surprisingly fine Applebloom tried to help.

When the mares got closer, they saw Rarity’s body being wracked with illness. Her once pristine skin was developing rashes and cysts, and her horn was swollen. Applebloom quickly noticed Twilight and Rainbow and ran over to them.

“Applebloom?! What are you doing out! You’re going to get sick!” Twilight exclaimed, and tried to get the small filly into the health bubble, but she just bounced off of it.

Applebloom shook her head. “I don’t think I will get sick, Twilight. It feels like I’m only sick from that disease Doctor John tried to cure me of.” Applebloom blinked in surprise. “Maybe we should get Doctor John’s help! He’s a doctor who helps ponies who are sick like this, so maybe he can help?!”

Twilight looked at Applebloom. “Now’s not the time for myths, Applebloom, Princess Celestia should be showing up soon, and she’ll be able to take care of it.”

“But Twilight!” Applebloom tried to object, but Twilight shushed her, and walked over to Sweetie Belle along with Rainbow, but before she could get there, a scream was heard coming from the left of the group. Everyone looked over to see an orange and blue blur and the sound of fast moving wheels. The blur quickly turned into a pale-looking Scootaloo who was riding a scooter that had lost its handle.

The scooter got even closer, and Scootaloo tried to stop it, but instead caused it to tumble, and it sent the young pegasus flying into Twilight’s health bubble, where she fell to the ground, unable to enter. The same couldn’t be said about the scooter. Twilight was focused more on Scootaloo, and wasn’t able to dodge the scooter, which slammed into Twilight’s hooves, causing her to fall down, her hooves having been moved from underneath her.

When Twilight hit the ground, she lost concentration on her spell, which quickly faded, and Twilight collapsed next to a sick Scootaloo, which quickly transmitted the same illness to the unicorn. The illness infected Twilight quicker than should be possible. Her horn became swollen, and she coughed up blood, as her organs started failing. Her body grew tumors, and her hind legs lost all blood to them.

Rainbow Dash quickly reacted once the bubble faded, and flew into the air, making sure to stay away from the sick ponies, no matter how much her instincts told her to help them. “Twilight! Come on! Get up! We need your help to save everypony! Twilight!”

“She’s not going to be able to get up, we need to get Doctor John!” Applebloom exclaimed, trying to get Rainbow Dash to listen to her.

Rainbow Dash looked down. “But even if what you’re saying is true, how do we know this ‘Doctor John’ will help? Twi said humans cared only about hurting others. And they have no magic, so how can this human help?”

“He just can! He helped me when I needed it. He’s got some strange control over stuff like this! He’s one of the nicest creatures I’ve ever met! Of course he’d help!” Applebloom tried to convince the pegasus.

Rainbow looked unsure for a few seconds, but when she heard the pained moans coming from her adoptive sister, she quickly made up her mind. “Where can I find this Doctor?”





Rainbow Dash was quickly flying over the Everfree Forest, looking for where Applebloom described. As she got deeper and deeper into the Everfree, she noticed a huge shimmer in between some trees near a bunch of destroyed ones. She decided to check it out, but before she could put on some extra speed, she had to stop in midair, and have a small coughing fit.

When she was done, she flew back over to where she remembered the shimmer was, and saw a dirty looking creature next to a giant dark fox. Hoping that this was the figure Applebloom described, she flew down, and the creature turned around, revealing a face with two blood red eyes.

The creature was surprised, and took a step backwards as it tried to process the flying pony. Rainbow snapped him out of it by asking a question. "You're the one who helped out Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle the other day, right? The doctor?"

"Yeah..." the creature said, taking another step backwards.

Rainbow sighed. "I need you to come with me, Ponyville needs your help. Ponies are getting sick and falling all over."

> Saving the Day, Plague Style (unedited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Come on! Hurry it up!” The rainbow-maned pony yelled from above, as I quickly navigated the forest on top of my pet fox.

        “We’re going as fast as Dippy can!” I yelled back, patting Diphtheria on the back of his head. I decided to name him after the disease, because no one will have any clue of what Diphtheria is. Spoiler alert, it’s a bacterial infection in mucous membranes in your nose. It causes stuff like sore throat, fever, swelling, weakness, and it can close up your airways which makes it harder to breathe. If it’s not cured before too long, then it can damage your heart, kidneys, and nervous system. But it’s very rare too. I remember only seeing about one case of it while doing my job.

        “Dippy?!” The mare, or at least I think she’s a mare, yells from overhead, as Dippy jumps over some fallen trees in our path.

        “Not enough time to explain!” I yelled back. My head snapped back, getting hit by a branch on a tree. I shake it off, being careful not to use my hands and staying on Dippy. My neck felt sore, which I instinctively tilt my head, a loud crack resonating from me. I look around me, noticing my lack of feeling afraid.

        ‘Interesting. I’m usually terrified of stuff like this. I can’t bear going at high speeds, or at least being near a window while moving at high speeds. Which is why I just walk to work and to the store. Maybe these strange powers are affecting my instincts? Would make sense as the plagues in me would want to spread the diseases as much as possible, but would also want me to live so they can.’ I go through many thoughts in my head, almost missing the fact that we exited the forest, and a homely looking town sat below the hill I was on. There was a huge castle near one edge of the town that looked awfully out of place.

        The pegasus was quickly flying towards the town, and I furrow my brow, as Dippy quickly take me into town, where ponies were lying left and right. The plagued fox skids to a stop, and I jumped off, ignoring the pain in my legs as I landed on the grounds at speeds faster than I should.

        I ran up to the closest pony, a mare, and put my hand on their chest, ...no I think it’s called a barrel. She was overflowing with that weird red aura, and I instinctively licked my lips. She seemed to have several small tumors growing out of her body, and she had a dried bloodstain going down from her mouth. She was gently shaking, and I sighed, as she stopped shaking, and just laid still, the aura slowly fading, and entering me.

        Standing up, I slightly turned my head to this rainbow maned pony. “What’s her name?” I asked.

        The pegasus looked confused and irritated. “What does it matter! We need to save everypony we can!”

        I looked her straight in the eyes. “What was her name?!”

        The pony backed off, shocked by something. She looked at the dead mare. “Sprinkle Medley. We used to go to flight camp together.” She had a sad look, clearly remembering some better times with the pony.

        “I’m sorry for your loss.” I turned back to Sprinkle Medley, and gently put my hand on her barrel. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. May you rest in peace.” The red aura quickly went into my arm, and I noticed some small growths appearing on my pale arm.

        Standing back up, I looked around, noticing countless red auras through all the walls and buildings. “I can’t save all of them, we’re gonna need some help. Do you know who can help me?”

        She didn’t even take a second to think this through. “My friends can. Especially Twilight. She might be able to make a magic cure for everyone.”

        ‘Magic. There’s no such thing… wait, I shouldn’t dismiss it so quickly. After all, how do I have these powers? Suspension of Disbelief maybe? I might have to ‘believe’ in magic to help these ponies.’ “Lead the way.” The pegasus nodded, and I followed her, Dippy close behind me.

        As we quickly made our way through the town, I saw countless ponies laying on the ground, several dead, and more dying. I had to hold back tears as I saw the lack of red aura in children, as they laid still next to their parents with a fading red aura. From what I can tell, all these ponies seemed to be suffering from a more advanced form of the bioweapon that Applebloom pony suffered from. The town seemed like such a nice town too. With wooden houses and straw roofs. ‘What kind of creature could have made a bioweapon to harm these peaceful creatures.’ It didn’t take long to get to where the pony was leading me.

When we got there, I saw Applebloom, desperately trying to help a bunch of sick ponies. I noticed her two friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo also laying on the ground, sick, along with two ponies one that while also sick, gave off some kind of bright white aura, along with the familiar red aura. This bright aura made me feel like I should stay far away from them.

I pushed through this feeling, and quickly ran over, checking on the nearest pony, a purple one with both wings and a horn and the bright aura. Applebloom noticed me and I could see her walk over out of the corner of my eye. “Mister John! Can you save them?!”

I put my hand against the purple pony, and I noticed her slowly move her head to look at me. She looked a bit surprised, and if I’m not mistaken, excited, but she grimaced in pain. “Stay calm. I’m a doctor.”

“That’s Twilight. She can help us. Can you cure her?” The rainbow pony sounded exhausted, and I sensed the red aura in her flare, as she fell down and started showing more symptoms.

Closing my eyes, I focused only on the red aura inside this ‘Twilight’ and I felt it reaching out to me, as if either it wanted to infect me, or to join with me. Either way, the red aura moved to reach my hand, and suddenly was pulled in, merging with me. I opened my eyes as I felt a sharp pain through my body. I started taking quicker shorter breaths, as if I was having trouble getting oxygen.

I removed my hand, as Twilight slowly started to move, her horn slowly deflating, with the surprising sound of a toilet bowl flushing. Her black hind legs turned purple as the necrosis left them. The tumors quickly started disappearing. Needless to say, I was shocked by the sudden regeneration.

Twilight rolled over slightly, sitting in a position as if she was about to stand, but too tired too. Her legs were folded underneath her. She looked at me, surprised and gaping. “Y-you’re a-a-a human!” I cringed at her voice, which sounded like she was gargling glass, and then someone left a hair drier in her mouth, and kept it on for a few hours.

“Yes-I-am. And I-was told-that-you-can help-me, Miss. Now-if you’ll excuse-me.” It was getting harder to speak with my shortness of breath. I quickly stood up, and turned around, standing over the ill body of Sweetie Belle, and a white unicorn with a purple curled mane. I crouched down, putting one hand on each of them, and did the same process I did on Twilight. I noticed the aforementioned pony stumble over, looking at what I was doing with wide eyes. The red aura went into my arms, leaving the two ponies to heal. The bigger one seemed to heal faster, but not as fast as Twilight, while the younger one didn’t seem to heal at all, which should be normal, as diseases like these don’t go away in a minute. Like popping a zit on your face. You could fully clean it out, but the red mark would stay there for a bit, eventually healing.

“How did you do that?” Twilight asked, her voice somehow sounding better.

“I don’t-know.” I responded taking a few more breaths, which was partly true, but I also wasn’t going to reveal everything to a person...er pony that I wasn’t sure if I could trust. I got back up, and walked over to Scootaloo, quickly healing her. She didn’t heal fast either. Either something is strange with the two older ponies, or the two fillies heal slowly.

Standing up and turning around, I noticed Applebloom wasn’t sick, but still had the red aura. Which would make sense, as I cured the bioweapon in her, and her body might’ve developed an immunity to this bioweapon, even if it’s an upgraded one. I was about to quickly walk over to the rainbow maned pony, but I suddenly lost feeling in my right leg, and fell down.

Holding myself up with two arms and my left knee, I regurgitated some blood, and looked down at my right leg, ripping off the fabric around the bottom of my leg, revealing my leg to be shriveled up, and almost dead looking. ‘Crap, just the time to receive necrosis in my leg!’

I looked at the rainbow pony, as I felt her red aura slowly fade, meaning she was slowly dying. I mustered up as much strength as I could, trying to pull my body over, but wasn’t able to get more than a few inches closer, before I started puking more blood, staining some parts of my clothes with my vital life juices.

I heard a sad whimper to my side, and I turned my head to see Dippy sniffing me, and then looking at it’s back, before looking at the rainbow pony. I understood what it was suggesting. Trying to climb onto it’s back, I failed miserably, before a pink aura surrounded my body, lifting me onto Dippy. I looked around, noticing Twilight looking at me with a face of determination, and her horn glowing pink.

Nodding, I patted Dippy on the back, telling him to move, which he did, quickly taking me over to the rainbow pony. I slid off him, ungracefully falling to the ground, but my hand landed on the pony’s barrel, which allowed me to absorb the disease. I noticed she also healed as fast as the white pony.

I turned my head to see Twilight helping the white pony up. We briefly shared eye contact, and I noticed fear in her eyes at the sight of me, but I looked over at Twilight. “I can’t take much more of this. I need a lab. I don’t get rid of the disease by doing this. I absorb it and it’s killing my body.” I decided to reveal this information, because I do need help. “If I have a lab, I can make a cure, one that can be spread around, helping more ponies, quicker than I can do by myself.”

Twilight nodded, and walked over to me, using what I can only assume to be ‘magic,’ to lift me back on Dippy’s back. “Follow me. I have a lab in my hou-castle.” Her voice sounding what I assume is how it usually sounds. ‘She must have some kind of abnormal regeneration factor. maybe due to the fact that she has both horns and wings, both traits that ponies only seem to have one of? Or maybe it’s due to the bright aura she has. Or perhaps the aura has to do with the horns and wings, or the opposite of that?’ I shook my head, trying to dispel these thoughts. ‘These are questions for later. Now, I have to focus on helping as much as I can.’

“Lead that way.” I said, exhaustion clear in my voice. “And please be quick about it. We don’t have much time. I give two hours at most ‘till everyone is dead.”

“Don’t you mean ‘everypony’?” The white mare asked, almost completely healed as she kept up with the quick pace Twilight, Dippy, and I were going at. I noticed Sweetie Belle on her back, and Applebloom not far behind.

I glared at the pony, shutting her up. Hearing a flap of wings, I turned my head to the opposite side of Dippy, seeing the rainbow maned pegasus flying, looking almost fully healed as well. “Here’s a question. Why are all of you almost fully healed? That’s abnormal.”

Twilight was the first one to speak up. “I think it’s because of our connection with the Elements of Harmony.” Before I could even ask what the Elements of Harmony were… “They’re six magical artifacts that my friends and I wield. They embody the six aspects of friendship; Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity; Kindness, Laughter, and Magic.” ‘How is magic an aspect of friendship? Wouldn’t courage or trust or love or even hope be more likely an aspect of friendship than magic?’ Twilight spoke up, snapping me out of my thoughts, as I continued to listen. “They help us defeat any threat to Equestria, like Nightmare Moon or Discord.”

I was about to ask another question, but the sight of an imposing blue crystal castle in the shape of a tree, left me with my mouth hanging open. I shook the feeling away, and focused on what I’d need to do for making a cure. The big golden doors opened with the same pink aura coming from her horn surrounding the doors.

We quickly moved inside the building, which is thankfully big enough for Dippy to carry me into. Twilight was about to speak, but before she could say anything else, I asked her to lead me to the lab, which she did. When we got to the lab, I noticed that there seemed to be many ridiculous scientific machines. Things from a colander with wires attached to it, to machines that spit out paper with lines on it. “It’s primitive, but I think I can make it work.” I tell her, and ignore the sound of her being offended, as Dippy takes me over to a chair next to a desk, and I gently get off and faceplant the ground. “Stupid leg.”

I managed to crawl onto the chair, with help from Dippy pushing me, and once sitting down, I look at what I have on the desk. Which is just a bunch of papers with weird marks I can’t read. I look over at Twilight. “I need a few blood samples of diseased individuals. If you can get me two blood samples for three different ponies, I can work on an antidote.” Twilight looks confused and disgusted. I sigh. “Take those needles on the desk over there,” I pointed to a desk across the room. “And push them into ponies that are sick, and extract their blood into them.”

Twilight still looked disgusted, but nodded, grabbing the needles in her magic, and quickly leaving the lab. I look over at Dippy, who tilted his head at me, wondering what to do. I silently point over at a bunch of beakers over on a wall, and Dippy nods, walking over and gently grabbing one in his mouth, bringing it back to me.

I grab it from him and feel the faint slobber on it. My hand glowed red, as some kind of bacteria left my hand and absorbed the saliva, leaving the beaker incredibly clean. I put the beaker down on the table and get Dippy to bring me more of the things I need such as some household chemicals and other lab equipment.

I had all I needed by the time Twilight got back with six blood filled needles, and a very revolted face with some new tear stains below the eyes. I grabbed them, being close enough to reach for once, and carefully put them in a crystal vial rack. “Thanks. I should be able to make a cure before too long. You should take a shower or bath or something. Clean the blood off you.” I said nonchalantly.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be clean again…” She said in a faraway traumatized voice, her eyes unfocused.

“Trust me. A nice cold shower did me wonders when I first visited North Korea to see what we could do about the bioweapon unleashed there.” I responded, paying more attention to the various chemicals I was mixing together, as to avoid a volatile reaction.

“But what if I’m needed!” She yelled. “What if you finish the cure and I’m not done in time and everypony else dies because I took too long to help deliver the cure. Or maybe I can help you with making the cure! It has to be in a book here somewhere!”

‘She’s way too eager to help me with this.’ I mentally sigh. ‘I can’t reject her help, as I don’t want more of these ponies to die, but she would have no way to cure something like this. It’s a bioweapon. Just like the one that Applebloom was infec…..ted…..with….’ A lightbulb flashes in my brain, and I slap my face. “Of course!” I yell. “Making a cure would take too long! So why not fight bioweapon with bioweapon!”

Twilight’s head is tilted. “Bioweapon? What is that? Some kind of monster? I never heard of it in any of the books here.”

“A bioweapon is a weapon that involves an entity that reproduce in their host body. Imagine a disease that someone could infect an entire town with by unleashing it on one person and it keeps on spreading to other people and starts to kill them.” I said with a way too excited tone for this.

Twilight looked appalled. “How would releasing something like that help save Ponyville?!”

“A while back, I cured Applebloom of the same disease that’s spreading through the town. And because of that, she’s immune to it! So if I can figure out a way to give the same immunity to everyone else!” My face fell as I remembered how I cured Applebloom. “Wait, I absorbed Applebloom’s disease into my body and that helped her. I could make a disease that their dying bodies can quickly overcome, and provide themselves with a stronger immunity to the current disease, allowing me enough time to save everyone I can. But what kind of disease would work the best. Bacteria would take too long, and a virus, a bioweapon, a nanovirus, a parasite, and a prion would be too hard and risky. Fungus can easily spread quickly, and I can spread it across the world so this bioweapon doesn’t infect another town.”

Twilight was having trouble computing what I was talking about, and I quickly stood up, only to fall onto the floor again and break my nose. Man, my reaction time feels like it’s getting worse. I would have been able to catch myself before. Dippy helped me onto his back, and we quickly sped out into the town, and stopped at the first fallen pony we saw. A unicorn mare.

My hand glowed red, and I quickly pressed it against them, and infected them with a fungus. With the first step taken care of, I quickly evolved the fungus so it became a very weak form of the bioweapon and sent out some spore into the air to infect more. The body focused some of its immune system on the new disease, and quickly vanquished it in minutes, and took the information into itself, allowing the body to start building stronger white blood cells, which quickly fought and started winning against the bioweapon slowly but surely, judging by the slowly dying red aura.

I put my hand against the mare, absorbing the rest of the bioweapon and saving her life. I smirked as I looked around to see small red dots quickly flying across the air, and spreading my fungus to other ponies. Gotta love the ability for fungus to spread spores. Dippy and I quickly take off and start absorbing the bioweapon from all the ponies that were still alive.

It took somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour, but I imagined to pull the disease out of the entire town, both living and the dead. Dippy took me back to the front of Twilight’s castle, where Twilight was coming down the golden stairs in front of it. “Did...did you do it?” She asked, worried.

I gave a smile, which caused her to flinch back. I guess I really need to brush my teeth. Heck, I haven’t even seen a mirror in a while. “Yep. I absorbed all the bioweapon out of all the living and dead. And everyone in town is now immune to that bioweapon permanently. The fungus is spreading across the world as we speak, so soon the entire world will be immune to it.”

Twilight looked happy for a second, before becoming grim. “But how many did we lose? How many mothers lost their children? How many children lost their parents?”

I was about to respond, when I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and fell off Dippy, writhing in pain. Dippy looked at me, worried, and licked the side of my face, and Twilight quickly ran over, checking on me. She yelled something, but I couldn’t hear her. I felt my vision going black. It wasn’t long before I lost consciousness.