I sat in my chair as Ms. Cheerilee taught her history lesson on the Paleopony Period, and the mysterious disease that appeared and mysteriously disappeared during it, all the while glaring at me. She was teaching about the time Cutie Pox had it's one major outbreak, killing many ponies from exhaustion.
"Apple Bloom," our teacher finally said,"Would you like to say anything on the subject."
"Thowwwwy about this Apple Bloom,"Twist lisped into my ear spraying slobber all through my mane,"This has got to thuck..."
"It's fine," I grumbled, embarrassed as I was.
"Apple Bloom?" asked Cheerilee again,"Will you come to the front of the class?"
At this, I got up from my front row seat, and stepped in front of the class,"Didn't I already tell 'yall, it started out awesome, then began to stink when I couldn't sleep because my body was being forced to tap dance!"
"Thank you Apple Bloom," said Ms. Cheerilee,"But other than just that, what was it like?"
"A battle with my own hyperactive body, just so I could rest, just so I could eat, just so I could fulfill the necessities of normal life, and I reckon the inability to do that was what caused ponies over a thousand years ago to drop dead, and luckily for me Zecora somehow knew a cure where Princess Twilight's book didn't, and in that case Ms. Cheerilee, how did you know about the Cutie Pox for this lesson where Twilight had to find it in one of her books?"
"The Paleopony Period is a normal part of the curriculum that I have to cover as a teacher," Ms. Cheerilee smiled,"And speaking of Zecora's one known cure, does anypony in the room know the name of the cure?"
I raised my hoof methodically.
"Well of course you know it," Laughed Cheerilee before looking at the rest of the class to see Sweetie Belle also raising her hoof,"And the rest of your group of friends."
Twist raised her own hoof.
"Yes Twist!" Cheerilee called out excitedly as Sweetie Belle and I put our own hoofs down.
"It was the Hearthh Dethire Flower right? It blooms here in Ponyville!"
"No Twist," laughed Cheerilee,"Hearts Desire, if I'm not mistaken actually caused the disease in Apple Bloom."
"Yes," I grumbled,"Heart's Desire did cause it..."
"Anyone else think they know the name of the cure?" Cheerilee continued.
"Oohhh Oooooh! I know!" called out Sweetie Belle.
"Yes?"
"It was the flower that bloomed from the Seeds of Truth!"
"That is correct!"
"A lifesaving blend of a beautiful flower, and the flavor of rotten apples in a blend of Canterlot's sewage, don't ask how I know that flavor..."
"It was an exploring cutie mark attempt where we ran out of water in our bottles and we were trapped in the sewer!" Laughed Scootaloo,"Those were the times!"
"I'm sorry," said Diamond Tiara,"But that was unnecessarily disgusting."
I hung my head, humiliated not only because of the reminder of the Cutie Pox incident from over a year before, but because of Scootaloo telling the whole class that I had desperately drunk out of a sewer.
Suddenly, the bell for the end of class rung and I was freed of any more questioning, and luckily would not have to humiliate myself anymore in front of the class.
"Before you go," Featherweight walked up to me,"Will you write me an article about the Cutie Pox for the Foal Free Press, it was just over a year ago, and I bet ponyville would love it, also ponies did love your writing, for a bit."
"I quit from writing for the Foal Free Press a long time ago"
"Maybe if you get the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, you can do a Gabby Gums reunion article!"
"I guess I will talk to the rest of the Crusaders, but likely, Gabby Gums is ancient history."
I began walking over to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo when Silver Spoon grabbed me,"I need to speak to you and the Crusaders in private, meet me later at the deep end of the Everfree forest."
"That isn't a safe place to meet."
"We need to keep our meeting secret, so we must meet there."
"Why not in our clubhouse?"
"Anypony could be eavesdropping, at any moment."
"Alright, we'll meet you there I guess."
I walked over to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
"Whats up?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Do we have some awesome quest?" continued Scootaloo.
"First, Featherweight wants us to do a Gabby Gums reunion article on the Cutie Pox, second, Silver Spoon wants to meet us secretly in the Everfree Forest."
"First," said Sweetie Belle,"Gabby Gums was a total disaster, second, Lets go meet Silver Spoon!"
Quickly, we walked into the Everfree forest which loomed at the edge of Ponyville, and as we walked into the forest, we realized that the air was more humid than it normally was and the trees beckoned us in like a dangerous trap where we were the mice and the many creatures of the forest were a giant cat.
"Anypony think we should turn back?" asked Sweetie Belle suddenly worried.
"I'm not scared," lied Scootaloo.
"Let's continue," I said,"Whatever is going on, we have to help Silver Spoon."
After that, we continued quickly as we wanted to get out of the forest sooner rather than later, for later, timberwolves would come and they would eat us one by one, taking us down like a raging tiger, then gobble us up one by one like a hungry ape given a rare piece of food, and let me assure you, none of us were in the mood to be dinner that night.
As we kept up our brisk pace, suddenly we heard crunching leaves behind us and stopped, turning only to see Silver Spoon.
"This spot should work for our meeting," Silver Spoon said, looking around frantically.
"Ok, so what do you need help with," I started.
"Recently, my father disappeared in these very woods, and while it was rare for him to come out here, he did a week ago, and has yet to return."
"We'd be happy to help," I said,"But we are supposed to help with everypony's purpose, we aren't detectives."
"I need you help," she began to cry.
"Lets find your dad!" the crusaders and I said in unison.
Silver Spoon looked up at us hopefully.
I stared at Silver Spoon as she sniffled then formed a weak smile.
She then stepped over to Scootalo, Sweetie Belle, and I, and muttered,"Thank you." Immediately after she said that, we began searching through the mysterious woods, but our search screeched to a halt as a thick mysterious fog rolled in making it nearly impossible to see.
"Darn it!" I exclaimed, trying to make out the shapes of Sweetie Belle, Scootalo, and Silver Spoon through the fog.
"We have to keep searching!" Yelled Silver Spoon, though she was not so far away,"I need to find my father."
Suddenly, there was the deep rumble of a growl that shook the ground around us.
"What was that?" Sweetie Belle asked, fearfully.
"A timber wolf." I answered, remembering the sound from the last zap apple harvest,"RUN! GET BACK TO PONYVILLE IF WE CAN!" As I spoke, the other fillies and I began running hard, our legs pushing us into a desperate sprint as the predator pursued us, and suddenly we reached a clearing.
The air was not moist in the clearing as it was outside of the clearing, and there was a bright blue glow in the center that split the fog allowing us to see, and as quickly as we gained our sight, Silver Spoon rushed towards the light, a moth to a flame as the timber wolf stepped into the clearing then whimpered and backed away like a small puppy confronted with a tiger.
Quickly after, Scootalo, Sweetie Belle, and I ran over to her, and tried to pull her back as she quickly reached out and touched the mysterious orb of light with a single hoof.
There was a blue and white flash of blinding light, and then blackness. No sight. No sound. No feeling.
Then, I opened my eyes, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo lay to my right, and on my left was Silver Spoon. The timber wolf was not in sight. A grey unicorn who boasted a white mane and beard dressed in blue starred robes designed with suns and moons across it and a pointy hat, also boasting a sun and moon design stood above us, his horn, which pointed out from under the hat was the only source of light, as it glowed with magical yellow light.
I looked up into the night sky through a small window in the small room that I lay in to see a single star shimmering like a single piece of gold among a sea of obsidian, but then I noticed that I was not in the Everfree Forest clearing.
"Looks like you've woken up." Grumbled the unicorn.
I stared up at him,"Who are you, where have you taken us."
"I found you lying in the middle of the forest, and there is no town for days of travel, just some shelters like this one, so what where you fillies doing in the Everfree, unarmed, and well, ASLEEP!"
"You said no town for days," I began,"What about Ponyville."
"Ponyville," he grumbled,"Sounds like a load of made up stories, who are you really?"
"Who are you?" I then asked him.
"Well," he said,"I am Star Swirl, though most know me as Star Swirl the Bearded, I raise the sun and moon."
"I'm Apple Bloom, to my right is Sweetie Belle, and to her right is Scootaloo, and to my left is Silver Spoon, but from everything I heard, you are long dead."
"Time travel is not impossible," smiled Star Swirl,"I have achieved it myself."
"What year is it?" asked Scootalo, pushing herself off the floor, I quickly followed suit realizing that I had just been lying down while having a likely important conversation with a very important unicorn in the history of Equestria, a unicorn so important that even Twilight Sparkle studied him.
"It is the night before Hearth's Warming Eve, year three of the paleopony period."
"The night before Hearth's Warming Eve," I mumbled,"No, no, something terrible is about to happen."
"Terrible," grumbled Star Swirl,"Tonight is a great night, Platinum Hooves has been discovered as the first pony to have gained two cutie marks in recorded history, and his second Cute-ceañera on Hearth's Warming Eve will be a historic day, though I have sensed a danger in that colt, and you are from the future, so why will he turn evil, or likely worse?"
"If I explain," I began,"Could it set the future into a dangerous spin, leading us to our doom?"
"You are a clever filly, for an earth pony," laughed the unicorn,"No offense."
"None taken," I grumbled,"Now should I, or should I not tell you?"
"Time is a river," the unicorn laughed, while it's course can be changed, it tends to keep small things, like saving a possibly important life from causing the complete change in a language, though it could cause the fall of an empire.
"Ok," I said,"How about saving countless of lives from a deadly disease."
"Disease," Star Swirl stared down into my eyes,"The trots epidemic of this year just ended days ago, what else could happen?"
"Something much worse."
"How bad?" The unicorn mumbled, suddenly worried,"I'm surprised I don't know of this."
"In what way would you want to die?" I asked the unicorn, he was taken aback by the question.
"Happily, resting in bed," he said,"Why?"
"Imagine the exact opposite," I said,"A disease creating cutie marks all over a pony's body and forcing them to do every insane task caused by it, until they drop dead from exhaustion, just like that."
"How would we fight it?"
"Do you know any zebras?" I asked.
"Little filly," he chuckled,"In my travels I have slain dragons, and created hundreds of spells, but zebras just don't spend time with ponies, and the other way around," he stopped laughing,"Wait, you're being serious."
"I know a zebra who has the seeds to the flower that cures the disease, but she lives in the future."
"Does this disease ever go away, from what you know about our time?"
"Cutie Pox," I mumbled,"Will simply disappear as mysteriously as it appeared."
"How do you know so much of it?"
Scootaloo smirked then nudged the still sleeping Sweetie Belle to wakeness,"This is going to be good."
I grumbled,"I had it once."
"I thought you said, not only that it killed ponies, but that it mysteriously disappeared!"
"I did," I mumbled,"I was cured, and it came back into me because I ate a flower that was supposed to give me my heart's desire, which was, at the time, a cutie mark."
"Be careful what you wish for I guess."
"No kidding."
"We have to warn all of the other ponies going to the Cute-ceañera though, and make sure to keep everypony alive."
"I hope it's possible."
"I do too, but we must try."
We woke up Silver Spoon, and stepped out of the door into the cold winter night, filling her in as we walked.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Canterlot," said Star Swirl, we must find a carriage to Canterlot."