We Are Equestria

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Chapter 1

"Nurse Burdock?" an older earth pony slumped on a bench in the sitting room in the Crystal Clinic, looked up to observe the crystal pony calling for him. "Is she awake?"

"Hello Scrawl. It's nice to see you too," the worn, sullen earth pony snapped.

"Is she available for today's session or should I just come back tomorrow?"

"She's awake, I was just tending to her." The old stallion responded, trying to sound as spiteful as possible.

Scrawl walked out of the waiting room and down the hall, nodding to the guard posted outside the room.

"She wants to see him again," the guard informed him.

Scrawl sighed in response. The guard opened the door and motioned him in.

The white-washed crystal walls of the resident patient room surrounded him as he looked at the orange unicorn mare laying face up on the bed staring up at the light. The cold white bulb fitted with a crystal mobile sent shafts of colorful light bouncing around the room.

"Miss Clementine?" Scrawl said, placing a microphone and recording equipment on the table between himself and Miss Clementine.

"Whatever you say, I still don't think these sessions are necessary." The mare rolled to turn her back to him.

"The Princess wants this story to be told, and it’s my job as the Lore-master to record it. Do you really not feel any better then you did when you first got here?" Scrawl seated himself on the opposite side of the table from the bedded patient.

"I suppose these helped a little bit." The mare shrugged

"This time I'm going to record you so I can write it afterwards," he said plugging in the microphone to the cassette recorder.

"I assume you want me to start form the beginning then."

"Yes," Scrawl said.

"I'd be easier for you if you'd just ask him—"

"You know we can't do that," Scrawl interrupted.

"Fine." The mare took a deep breath. "It all started about twenty five years ago, on the outskirts of Ponyville."

Victory Bell sat in her garden, pulling weeds from her carrot patch.

"Mommy, can Patches and I go to the park?!" Tribute, her eldest, was known for his practical jokes. And for his knack for being quiet enough to pull them off while the teacher is in the same room.

"Tribute, you know better than to sneak up on ponies like that!" Victory said, pulling herself together.

"Sorry mom, but can we?" The colt pleaded.

"Alright, but be home before your father. Remember that surprise party we have to get ready."

The colt nodded, "I know mom, and we’ll be back before dad gets home."

"Have fun, and watch after Patches." Victory beckoned after her colt, already galloping off with his little brother in tow.

She sighed, looking back on her small vegetable patch. Her sunflowers were starting to sag, unlike those of her neighbors.

"Well, it's not bad for a Unicorn at least." she said. Her thoughts turned to her husband's surprise birthday party, wondering if she had forgotten anything she had planned.

She stuck the trowel into the ground with her yellow magic aura, and walked back around to the front of her family's small cottage, close to the Everfree forest. Her husband said too close for comfort, but she disagreed. She claimed truthfully that the nature calmed her down.

And that had been it; she and her husband built that cottage with her magical precision and his knowledge of carpentry. Then she was blessed with two strong colts, Tribute the earth pony and Patches the unicorn. Nothing could make her prouder.

She opened the door and walked inside. The cake was made; balloons covered the living room ceiling, the streamers...

The streamers!

"Oh how could I forget the streamers!" She ducked into the broom closet that she had been using as a hiding place for the party supplies. Victory dug through the party box, looking for the streamers.

"Candles, extra balloons, party blowers—Ah, here we are! Streamers."

The roll of streamers fluttered about the room, leaving a trail of streamers in its wake. Hues of red, green, blue, and yellow flew across the Living room, tying themselves to lamps and other free spaces.

The cardboard tube rolled up to her hoof, having left all the colorful strands hung decoratively around the room. She took the tube and levitated it into the trash.

A knock at the door caught her attention.

Redwood wasn't supposed to be home for another couple hours. Tribute must have forgotten something here and came back.

Miss Bell pulled back the blinds to look at who was at the door. A pony, pale looking beneath his darker coat, stood weak-kneed waiting for someone to answer.

She moved to open the door for the stranger to see what he wanted, but something felt...wrong. She hesitated; something was off about how the pony carried himself. A chill ran down her spine as she moved back to the window to look at the stranger at her door.

The pony had already turned to get back on the road, his gait limp and weak. "I should be concerned," she thought to herself. "Why am I so scared?"

She sat at the window, watching the stallion wobble away. He had nothing with him; no saddlebags, tools, or anything. But his path lead him into the Everfree. She sat and watched until she was certain he was gone.

She hadn't noticed she had been holding her breath, and let it out in a sigh.

Who was that stallion, and why did he walk into the Everfree forest alone? He looked horrible, but again, why was she so stricken with fear when she saw him at the door? She looked at the potted flower outside in the windowsill. It had closed its petals, projecting at her the same fear she had felt.

She opened the window, taking up the potted plant like a parent would a swaddling foal. "It's alright," she whispered. "The scary pony is gone. It's fine now." Saying it half to comfort her precious flowers and half to comfort her.

Victory thought about her plants, which reminded her of her cutie mark. A small beanstalk in a pot gilded her flank. "An odd talent for a unicorn," she remembered her father saying. She had discovered her talent in class one day outside at recess. She and her class had been assigned bean plants to take care of individually, and she had been taking care of it constantly. The stalk never left her side, even leaving it on her nightstand in her room next to the window.

Everyday she took the plant to school, levitating it carefully as she walked down the long road from her farmhouse home to school in Ponyville. Every day, the plant got a little bigger, a little more robust. She remembered talking to the plant; she talked about her day at school, all the pretty flowers in the fields on her way to school, and even read the beanstalk bedtime stories. After a few weeks in her care, the plant had vastly outgrown the plants grown by her unicorn classmates. It had even grown to be among the best of the beanstalks grown by her earth pony classmates as well.

She even won a blue ribbon for the beanstalk, and the extra joy when she earned her cutie mark.

She let the memories flow freely, fond childhood memories and moments of adult hood that filled her with pride. The memories flowed out as a green aura, emanating from her horn. The fright that had overcome the poor plant subsided. The flower again opened its pedals, opening in happy hues of yellow and red.

She levitated the flower out of her grasp and took it with her as she paced around her house, comforting her plants. Most had closed up, but some had stayed open. She wandered outside after checking carefully for any sign the freaky pony might still be around. Her plants had all closed, scared of what had come so close to the garden's borders. She comforted them the same way, reciting the story of her gleeful life in her mind. Again the aura flowed from her horn, caressing and calming the plants.

As all her plants opened up, Victory again sighed to herself. What could cause all her plants to act this way? Every vegetable, fruit tree, and flower clammed up.

Except her sunflowers.

Her sunflowers, the ones in front of her cottage and the ones in her garden, hadn't budged. Thankful she didn't open the door, she walked back inside.

____ ____ ____

"Surprise honey!" Three voices shouted in unison as the door opened wide. Two colts jumped into their father's fore-legs. Followed by his spouse with a peck to the cheek.

"Dad, we made you a cake!" Patches said.

"Mom said we did a good job following your recipe!" Victory bell floated him a piece of cake.

"My recipe?" He looked at his wife.

"Your world famous Charcoal Cake, don't you remember?" Victory snickered as their boys looked up at him in awe.

Redwood looked back down at his colts, "Oh yeah, I remember now." He feigned acknowledgement and returned his wife's playful look.

Then there was knock at the door.

"Uncle Rivet!" The two colts yelled as they ran from their father to the door. Their father followed, holding them back from the door so they wouldn't pounce on his brother.

Victory smiled at her children's disposition towards excitement and moved to the window to see what Rivet had brought his brother. She pulled back the curtain, and screamed at the top of her lungs as her husband opened the door. Her world slowed down as adrenaline rushed into her system.

The same pale, miserable pony slammed into the door as it opened, knocking Redwood back into his colts. The pale pony erupted with magic green shards chipped off and fell away, leaving only an insectoid behind. Victory scrambled to her foals and pulled them back, screaming.

The thing was flailing violently at her husband, who was just barely keeping the bug from tearing out his throat. Victory Bell jumped to aid her husband.

A volley of kicks, bucks, and when all else failed, she broke a lamp over its head. The lamp shattered, slivers stabbing into the beasts face and eyes. It reeled in pain, its limbs scraping at its wounded head. Redwood used its preoccupation to throw it off.

The monster landed in a hissing mass, green blood was starting to really run from the lacerations it had sustained. Redwood got to his hooves and slammed all his weight into the creature. In a focused rage of self-preservation, he beat down the creature with much more force than his wife.

The thing stood little chance. Redwood outmatched it in size and strength, it was only quick enough to avoid a few blows from the towering stallion. Redwood beat it to a pulp.

Victory Bell ran out into the street, where neighborhood watch ponies where walking by. She called out to them, screaming that her family had been attacked, and needed help.

Her neighbors rushed to their aid. Ferrying her husband to the Ponyville Hospital, and waiting with her until the proper authorities arrived.

____ ____ ____

Chapter 2

"They took her husband to the local clinic for treatment for his wounds, and they took the changeling's body away." Clementine said, moving a hoof along with the directions she was giving.

Multiple papers were spread across the table. Scrawl was switching his focus from the talking patient and the reports on the table quickly absorbing all the information he could.

Horilious the changeling looked at his cup of tea in front of him, sipping quietly in his small hut outside the graveyard.

"Hello?" Horilious leapt in surprise, casting his disguise and opening the door.

6-foot opened the door and nervously chuckled at the town guards with a large casket. "Well hellooooo, fine gentle-stallions. what needs doing for you fine bucks today?

"Are any of the open plots of land outside available for a quick burial?" one of the guards asked.

"Quick?" 6-foot leveled his lamp at the casket the two had with them.

"Nothing to get to concerned about sir, just something that needs to be buried." the guard deflected.

"Some mare's pet, I presume?" the old stallion's curiosity was piqued. He chuckled, noticing the guards were becoming more and more uneasy.

"Can we just bury this thing?" the second guard pleaded.

"Mine shall be the only shovel that toils through the graveyard earth, and that shovel won't move until morning." The old unicorn stood stubborn in his doorway.

"Fine," the guards plopped the casket next to the gate to the graveyard. "You do it in the morning, just don't open it!" The guards commanded. The guards tried to hide the haste in their leaving, but were very unsuccessful.

"Don't open it, eh?" 6-foot huffed as he moved to the side of the box. He gave it a nice smack with the flat side of his shovel. The box didn't budge, chipping the blade of the gardening tool.

"Nightmarish strength," Horilious thought to himself. "Gold perhaps?"

"You ain't the only one with a strong will, box," 6-foot said, tapping the box with the sharp edge of his shovel. He gripped the farthest down handle on the box, and dragged it inside.

He cleared room of his front table, wiping papers and old plates to the side. He heaved the container onto the table and pried at the nails holding the planks firmly together. The thing was heavy, maybe filled to the brim with bullion.

"Money may not buy love, but it sure makes this changeling feel better." The nails came out, one by one, with each bringing another rush of gilded ecstasy.

The last nail slid loose, and Horilious dropped his disguise and pried the top open with the shovel. A burst of spores shot out and covered the shovel and his face. He screeched, and at manic speed, levitated the casket filled with fungal spores and decomposing changeling outside. He followed and dumped the whole thing into a stallion hole outside.

Horilious didn't return to his hut. He ran away from the Everfree forest, into town. He couldn't stay; he had no time to lose.

____ ____ ____

"Thanks for coming so soon Chime, I think it'd be best for the kids to get away from our house after what happened." Victory confessed. She pushed a loose bang back behind her ear to rejoin her mane, which was a disheveled mess.

"No problem Victory. It's been to long since you and your foals have been to Canterlot. It'll all turn out." Chime reassured her.

"Just my kids. I'm staying here with Redwood in the hospital until he gets better."

"Oh alright—"

Victory lunged and held her sister close. "Please Chime, take good care of them."

"I will! You're talking like you don't trust me to watch kids."

"I'm sorry. It's just been a long night."

"I alright, to have a changeling just barge into your house like that, its unheard of. Well, bring up Redwood after he gets better and you can come up to Canterlot to get away for a while."

"I'll definitely think about it."

Victory turned to her two colts, "Now your dad will be better in a day or two. You go with Auntie Wind Chime and stay in Canterlot until we come and get you. Tribute, keep a good eye on Patches for me will you?"

Tribute saluted, "Will do mom,"

Victory gathered her foals in a big hug, and after a while, relinquished them to their aunt. Her smallest waved as Victory watched her sister leave. She sat there for a while staring at the door, wondering how long Redwood would really be in the hospital.

"Missus Victory Bell?" a voice broke her form her stupor.

Victory shook off her fixation on the door and nodded at the nurse.

"Are you sure that your husband has no allergies to any of the medications we talked about?" The nurse's eyes were locked on her, making her somewhat uncomfortable.

"Yes, why would I lie about that?"

"What about anti-fungal treatments?" the nurse pushed.

"No, why?"

"There was some sort of fungal growth in one of the wounds the changeling inflicted, and we just wanted to take every precaution before he undergoes treatment."

"Fungus?"

"Yes, it seems to be the same species of fungi—"

"Nurse Burdock!" Another pony in hospital garb ran up.

"Yes?"

"That fungus! It's spreading up his leg!"

"What!" Liberty and Burdock exclaimed in unison.

Burdock moved into action immediately. "Get him to a quarantine unit now, get as many nurses as you need and move." Burdock magically depressed the button on his radio, "Listen up! We need Anti-fungal prepped at the quarantine units now!"

"What!" Liberty repeated through shock.

"Ma'am, I suggest you follow me." Burdock commanded over his shoulder.

Victory's mind was racing, the world around her slowing. The nurse was moving faster than she could urge herself to. All of a sudden, her eyes cleared and she felt adrenaline surge through her veins.

She blew past Nurse Burdock, bolting down hallways and reading her way to the emergency wing of the hospital. Her thought she heard the nurse calling after her, but she didn't care. Redwood was in deep trouble, and she wasn't there for him.

"Redwood! Redwood!" She screamed, calling for any sign of him she could get. A pained scream answered from one of the nearby hallways.

"Redwood! I'm coming!" She called back.

Victory read the sign leading to where she heard the scream, Quarantine room A, and galloped toward her husband. A hospital guard burst out a room in front of her, magic flowing to his horn. Victory charged, he was separating her form her family, she had no choice. She screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping to scare the orderly into backing down.

The guard didn't. The eldritch magic flew forth making stunning contact. The spell sending electric pulses through his target, who was quickly incapacitated.

Everything went numb. Victory watched as she tumbled to the floor horn over hooves, and slid to a halt in the middle of the hallway. She struggled as best she could against the spell, but it was no use.

Hooves running along tile caught her ear as she sat, laid out on the hospital floor.

"Merciful Royals," A voice she recognized as Nurse Burdock huffed, "What spell?"

"Anesthetic and Silence, Nurse Burdock. I'm afraid I might have over done it, sir."

"I am a fool," Burdock swore to himself. "Saying things like that in front of an ailing stallion's wife. Move her to the room next door until the spell wares off."

The orderly picked her up, and trafficked her to the adjacent room. The room began to spin when he placed her on the bed, and swirled to black as he shut the door behind him.

____ ____ ____

"What's the situation?" Nurse Burdock asked the head quarantine nurse.

"Well, take a look..." The Nurse pointed at the male stallion surrounded by doctors through the separator glass. "This fungi we can't Identify has been growing out of his fore-leg at an alarming rate for the past couple hours. His complexion under his coat is getting pale, and most of the anti-fungal treatments we've used have done nothing."

"What are you doing right now?" He questioned again.

"Honestly, nothing. The doctors we do have in there have zero idea what to do." The quarantine nurse muttered.

"How much anesthetic did you use?"

"Wha-We gave him the standard dose for an earth stallion his size. Why?!" The nurse stammered

"I just saw him move..."

As he spoke the stallion began to shift slowly, to the great disturbance of the doctors in with him. Nurse Burdock depressed the talk button on his radio.

"Strap the patient down, and hit him with the knock-out spell again."

The orderlies in the room moved quickly, but to their surprise, the stallion was incredibly hard to get a handle on. The stallion bucked and kicked from his back at the orderlies at his hind-legs with incredible force, flailing with his fore-legs at the orderlies out of reach of his mouth, he bit and chewed on the orderly securing his head. A nurse applied the spell again and the doctors went back to work.

Burdock indicated the bitten orderly, "Clean that out well, got me?"

The quarantine nurse nodded as she looked on at the ordeal before her. Nurse Burdock left the observation room, and continued his rounds in the hospital.

____ ____ ____

Chapter 3

"If that's how the infection made it into Equestria, how did it explode in the populous?" Scrawl asked.

"The changeling dumped the infected corpse into the sewer west of town, where the body was consumed by the fungus. The corpse sprouted with tons of fruiting bodies. The tunnel was a nearly perfect staging area for the fungus; it was dark, moist, and there was mass to be used to make more spore producers. It was only a matter of time until the whole population of Ponyville was exposed."

"Reports we received from Canterlot claim that the element bearers were evacuated from Canterlot the day of the attack on one 'Victory Bell's' house. Why wasn't the whole town evacuated? I mean, wasn't the whole town in danger?"

"Celestia was misinformed; she was told that the changeling was a scout in another invasion plan. So the bearers were moved immediately in secret, as to not provoke a panic. She wasn't aware of the infection until later."

"Are you sure, sister?" Luna asked.

"It is the safest plan of action we have, Luna." Her sister responded. "If the changelings have spies in Ponyville that are violent enough to attack a family in their home, any mass evacuation might set them off." Celestia was scribbling instructions on a scroll and quickly sealing it and preparing it for departure.

"We already have guards in Ponyville, why not reinforce them and prepare for combat?"

"According to Twilight, the changeling was strong enough to put a earth stallion near two and a half times his size in the local hospital before dying. I'm not saying I'm against protecting our lands, but the spies might notice the increase of guard presence and accelerate their plans. I'd rather just have the Twilight and her friends out of harm's way first."

"This changeling attack, as twilight described it, was somewhat out of character for changeling abduction?" Luna questioned, skimming the hastily written letter for her sisters recently crowned pupil.

"Yes, it lacked any form of stealth whatsoever."

"Hmm," Luna mumbled. "Send for them, it’s about time for you to raise the sun."

"Yes," Celestia said, "Go get some sleep. You should get some rest before they arrive."

Luna left the room, and the letter went up in a cloud of smoke.

____ ____ ____

The patient room Victory had been placed in was dark; the security guard hadn't come back since she had batted him on the snout with a numb fore-hoof. Luckily, she had been laid down belly up so she could see the clock. Almost an hour had passed since the last visit from the guard and Nurse Burdock. Motor control had returned faintly, but feeling was still long gone.

The control attached to the bed was just out of reach of her hoof, and her magic was still locked-up thanks to the silence spell the guard used on her. The feeling of being cut of from magic and the sensation of touch in a near pitch-dark room was maddening.

The door slid open just out of vision, and closed again. Someone had entered the room.

"Miss Bell?" Burdock came into vision at the foot of the bed. The silence spell held back a torrent of cusses and curses that exploded in Victory's mind.

"Your husband has stopped responding to out efforts, and his vitals have all but gone."

Victory could do nothing. She was paralyzed, not by the spell, but by the shock. She would've been struck silent by grief, if she had possessed the ability to speak.

Burdock lowered his head in shame, "I'm sorry we couldn't save him, our team did all they could."

The spell didn't keep her from doing at least one thing. Tears began to flow down her face, and Nurse Burdock left the room.

_____ _____ _____

"Did you tell her the news?"

"Yeah," Nurse Burdock answered.

"How'd she take it?"

"Can't tell, you really overdid it with the spells," Burdock stated.

"I'm sorry; I went straight from incapacitating a full grown earth stallion to a dainty sized unicorn mare. You have to admit there wasn't much time for adding that factor to the spell," The guard justified.

Nurse Burdock nodded, and looked back at the clipboard hanging on the hook just next to the quarantine room door.

"Did Paisley get that bite cleaned?" Burdock questioned.

"M'hm." The guard nodded.

"Where is he?" Nurse Burdock tapped his pen against the clipboard.

"I believe he was sent home after they cleaned and wrapped the bite."

"Alright," Nurse Burdock slipped the clipboard back onto its hook. He walked away and spoke into his radio once he was out of earshot.

"Redheart? It's Burdock."

"Yeah, Bur?"

"Can you tell me which one of the nurses fixed up Paisley?"

"I don't know. I didn’t do it."

"Who sent him home?"

"He got sent home? I was at the front desk and I never saw him clock out."

"For the love of—find him. We need to find him. He was exposed to a fungus that already killed a patient. We can't have him wandering around the hospital with the possibility he's living on borrowed time." Burdock began to gallop down hallways searching for the lost orderly.

"I'll get security on it. We’ll get any available personnel to search the hospital right away. If he’s still here we’ll find him."

_____ _____ _____

Captain Black Frost, of the First Ponyville Platoon, sat behind his desk inside town hall like it was any other morning. Surprising he had all this free time, given the night before a changeling had attacked a Ponyvile family in their own home.

The reports had been filled, and no more paperwork meant today would be as cushy as every other day was. It was probably about a week until some other calamity happened.

Black Frost kicked up his hooves, and sighed.

The front door blasted open as the new recruit busted into his office. Black frost launched over backwards and collapsed on the floor.

"What is it, cadet?" Frost said, irritated. The cadet was struggling to get words out between gasps for air.

"Captain—a changeling—is outside!"

"You’re seeing things, cadet. Now get back out to your patrol, you aren't due back for another hour." Frost picked himself up off the floor.

"No—Captain—changeling!"

"Cadet, if I hear you say that word one more time, you'll be doing gallops around ponyville until I'm tired. Now get back to your patrol."

"Captain—just look!” The recruit yelled as he pointed out the town hall's main doors to the courtyard out front.

A whole commotion was coming from outside, ponies screamed as the town guard corralled a changeling with a phalanx of spears.

"What in blue blazes?" Frost pushed aside the gassed recruit and rushed outside.

The changeling was panicking, it's head spinning trying to find an escape. It batted at the spears only to have more take it's place.

The changeling was pleading for it's life, but the spears didn't lower. The changeling saw Frost and yelled.

"Help me! You ponies have to!"

Frost was skeptical. "Really; why should we help a spy?"

"I've been poisoned! I need medical attention. Surely you can put aside our species’ past discrepancies and help me!"

"I'll help you, you leach on society." Frost taunted the changeling. "Stallions, take him to his new, nice warm cell."

"No! You can't jail me! I need medical help!" The changeling screamed as he was escorted away. The changeling was quickly out of earshot.

"Great," Frost mumbled as he trotted back inside and sat down in his desk. He pulled out forms from the file cabinet and set them down on his desk, "More paperwork."

_____ _____ _____