Chapters Sandbar was walking to his friend's dorm. "Hey, Yona," he said, "Are you ready to head to Sweet Apple Acres?"
"Yaks were always ready," Yona stated. The yak and earth pony walked down the hall. They arrived in the courtyard where Applejack and several other students were waiting.
"There you are," Applejack said. "I'm glad y'all decide to help out with me and my family with the apple harvest. Extra credit will be given to you, but it's nice for y'all helpin' anyways." The apple farmer and her class headed towards the farm as Yona saw Ocellus.
"Friend want to come along?"
"Thanks, Yona," Ocellus answered, "But I'm good."
"Suit yourself," Sandbar said as he, Yona, and the rest of the class walked off.
"Ocellus," Fluttershy said, "Can you help me with something?" The pegasus was carrying some bottles, which was a little much for her to handle. The changeling caught the bottles nearly smashing on the ground. They set them on the ground so Fluttershy could catch her breath.
"Professor Fluttershy, why are you carrying all these bottles?"
"I'm sorry, but we have a special teacher coming over to help us with potion making. Mage Meadowbrook."
"You mean one of the pillar ponies? Like Rockhoof?"
"Yes. I also asked Zecora if she wanted to come, but I couldn't find her. She was probably looking for herbs."
"So, we'll be learning potions?"
"Yes. As soon as she arrives we'll get things set up."
"I can't wait to try that,"
"Good to know." The two picked up the bottle and carried them towards the classroom.
Elsewhere, Applejack's class had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. The farm pony was confused to see a rain cloud hovering over the orchard. "I thought I told Rainbow Dash I only needed rain for one day," Applejack groaned.
"Is this going to be a problem?" Sandbar asked.
"As long as it doesn't..." Applejack didn't finish as raindrops started coming down from the cloud. "Rain." One of the students, who was a pegasus, flew up to the cloud and tried to kick it, but he only moved it closer to his classmates. Many of the students got out of the way, but poor Yona got soaked.
"Gah," the yak cried. "Rain freezing."
"Sorry, Yona," the pegasus apologized.
"It's alright, Sugar Maple," Applejack said. "Come on, Yona. Let's get you some towels." After getting the yak dried off, the two rejoined with the class.
"You feel better?" Sandbar asked his friend.
"Yona much better," Yona confirmed.
"Alright," Applejack said, "Now that we've taken care of that, let's get apple buckin'." She led her class down into the orchard with Sandbar having a questioned.
"Why couldn't one of your family members help you out?" he asked.
"Well, Big Mac's busy with a delivery, Applebloom is tutoring some other students, and Granny is busy with Filthy Rich. I was hesitant of having the students help, but Dash said it would be a good exercise. Then again, she forgot to get rid of the cloud."
"So, what we do?" Yona asked.
"Just take some baskets, place them under the tree, and kick it like this." Applejack bucked a tree and the apples fell into the basket. "Once you do that, just carry them over to the barn."
"Sounds easy enough," Sandbar said.
It didn't take long for the ponies and Yona to get to work. While their teacher did most of the work, everyone else pulled out their weight. Yona, however, might've pulled too much. Her idea of collecting apples was to ram into the trees. This did make some apples fall down, but she got smashy happy and caused one of the trees to fall over.
"Whoops," Yona said regretting what she did. Most of the ponies were shocked at what happened.
"It's okay, Yona," Sandbar said. "Nopony is hurt." The two then heard some squishing beneath their hooves. The ground was very muddy and their weight made them sink in partly.
"Yona not liking farm work."
"It's alright. How about you help me take these apple's to the barn?" Yona smiled and carried the loaded baskets with her friend.
The yak couldn't help herself and she ate one of the apples she was carrying. "Sandbar want apple?"
The earth pony was hesitant but his stomach growled and made him change his mind. He bit off a bit of an apple, but he chewed it pretty slow before swallowing it. "Uh. Yona, these apples taste weird."
Yona ate a second apple and found he was right. "Apples don't taste right. Yona and Sandbar should tell professor."
"Tell me what?" Applejack asked as she saw the two heading towards the barn.
"These apples taste funny," Sandbar said. "And not in a haha funny way."
The farm teacher ate one of the apples they brought and promptly spat it out. "You must've gotten a rotten set. Just put them in the compost heap." Sandbar just shrugged and threw his load onto the heap, so did Yona. They carried on helping the rest of the ponies with the apple harvesting.
"What will happen to apples?" Yona asked.
"Well, many of them will be shipped to around Ponyville. Pinkie did say apples for cafeteria snacks."
"Professor Applejack!" cried one of the students. Applejack, Yona, and Sandbar ran over to see some of the students stuck in some mud.
"What in tarnation is goin' on?"
"We tried to get some apples," said one of the students as she slowly stepped out of the mud. The ground wasn't firm enough to keep the trees upright, and a couple of them fell down.
"I swear if this is Discord's doin'." The farm pony saw the orchard was easy to mistake for a bog and many of the ponies were struggling just to walk. "We're not gonna be able to work in these conditions. Looks like we're gonna have to head back to the school."
"So much for extra credit," Sandbar sighed.
"Don't feel too sad. You still did a good job."
"Yona's apples all rotten," Yona sighed.
"Maybe you'll get it next time. I'm gonna get a cart to carry the apples."
"Yak can pull cart."
"If you say so. Gonna have long talk with Discord."
After a quick trip back to the school, Pinkie was surprised to see Applejack's class back so early. "Wow, that was fast," the pink pony said.
"Or we were cut short," Applejack sighed. "M'ah entire orchard is now a pig's spa. The mud's makin' the tree fall o'er."
"That's not good."
"Tell me 'bout it. We did brin' enough for you to make snacks." She pointed over to the cart of apples being pulled by a happy Yona.
"Thanks. Follow me, Yona." The yak followed the pink pony towards the kitchen while Applejack went to look for Fluttershy so she could talk to a certain draconequus.
"How can a farm end up like that?" Sandbar asked Yona as he walked with her.
"Maybe it was Discord," Yona suggest.
"Ugh, don't remind me of him. I still get scared when Ocellus turns into a bugbear."
"What pink pony going to bake?"
"I'm glad you asked," Pinkie said as they entered the cafeteria. "Apple appetizers and apple pie. I'm going to have AJ help me with it later. Hopefully, it'll get her mind off the farm thing. I'll take it from here, Yona." The yak unhitched herself from the cart and left with the green earth pony.
"I wonder what we're going to do now," Sandbar said.
"Maybe find friends," Yona suggested.
"I think Silverstream said she was going to be in drawing in the library." Sandbar stopped walking to scratch at his neck but only for two seconds.
"Is Sandbar okay?"
"I'm fine. Let's find out friends." The pony and yak continued to walk down the hall. Sure enough, Silverstream was in the library along with Ocellus, who looked rather excited.
"Oh, there you are," Silverstream cooed. "I didn't know you could harvest apples that quick."
"Yona and ponies come back early," Yona explained. "Farm too soggy to work safely. Plus, yak knock down tree."
"One tree," Sandbar said trying to make his friend feel better. "Besides, the ground was weak."
Yona felt better but she noticed their changeling friend shaking with excitement. "Why Ocellus shaking?"
"We're going to be making potions tomorrow," the changeling cooed. "With a pillar."
"Rockhoof coming back?"
"No, Meadowbrook is coming here." The yak's excitement dissipated.
"Making potions does sound cool," Sandbar commented.
"I wonder if we could make one that can let me talk to fish," Silverstream said. She noticed Sandbar itching at his neck. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. It's just an itch. Could you help me scratch it?" The hippogriff nodded and started scratching her friend's neck. "Aah, that feels nice."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Ocellus asked.
"It's fine. I probably just got a bug bite."
A little while later, Pinkie and AJ had gotten some apple pie ready for any students that wanted a snack, along with some ice cream. "So, what's with the treats?" Gallus asked.
"Well, the cakes miscalculating with the amount of ice cream they needed," Pinkie explained. "So, I thought I would help out and use this ice cream to go along with this apple pie."
"Nice." The griffon picked up a plate of pie and ice cream and flew over to a table where his friends were sitting.
"Yak like pink pony problem solving," Yona said.
"It's one way of getting rid of something," Ocellus said.
Sandbar wasn't liking his slice. He took only one bite and just shoved it away. The scoop of ice cream, however, he had no trouble gobbling up. "Why Sandbar no want pie?"
"I didn't want it," Sandbar said.
"Why not?"
"I don't want it and I don't want to talk about it."
"If that's the case," Silverstream said, "Could I have it?" The pony just scraped the slice onto his friend's plate which delighted her. He scratched his neck again which made Ocellus get worried.
"Sandbar, I think we should get you a check-up," she said.
"It's just an itch," Sandbar replied.
"Itch should've gone away," Yona stated. "Maybe Sandbar sick."
"But I feel fine."
"So stop scratching," Gallus said.
"I can't help it." Sandbar couldn't stop scratching at his neck.
"Hey, has anyone seen Smolder?" Silverstream asked.
"I'm here," the dragon cried flying into the cafeteria. "I had to finish a project."
"Want some pie?"
"Ah, sweet. Still streamy fresh." Silverstream scraped Sandbar's pie slice onto another plate and the dragon dug it. Once she finished, Smolder let out a burp which also shot out some fire. "Man, that was good."
"There's still more being served," Ocellus stated.
"Sweet. You guys want anymore."
"I'll take a slice," Silverstream said.
"I'll just have another scoop," Sandbar said.
"No slice?" Yona asked. The pony just groaned as Smolder flew off to get seconds.
"What is wrong with you?" Gallus questioned.
"It's this itchy neck," Sandbar replied as he scratched it again. Without warning, Yona picked the pony up with her horns and carried her down the hall. "Yona put me down."
"Sandbar not well," Yona said. "Sandbar need help." The earth pony tried to break free but the yak kept him in place.
Starlight Glimmer was in her office as Yona carried in Sandbar. "What are you doing?" Starlight asked.
"Sandbar sick. Need find problem."
"Yona, I'm a guidance counselor, not a nurse."
"School has no nurse. Star pony next best thing." The yak placed her friend on the sofa as he kept scratching his neck.
"...Maybe Yona has a point."
"I'm fine," Sandbar said but he could stop scratching.
"Medical problems aren't really my thing. I'll try and find somepony who could help. Just have him stay in his room." Before Sandbar could say anything, Yona picked up and carried him away.
"Yona, I can walk." The yak didn't reply as she placed her friend down on his bed.
"Sandbar need rest," Yona said. "Maybe he feel better in morning."
The earth pony looked out the window. "It's like eight o'clock."
"Yona only doing this for Sandbar. Yona don't want friend's sickness to get worse."
Sandbar sighed. "I understand." The two shared a hug and the yak left the room.
She walked back into the cafeteria where she was surprised to see how much pie was still left. "Hi, Yona," Pinkie said, "You want another slice. Not many students are having some, but they love the ice cream."
"Why no pie?" Yona asked.
"Don't know. Maybe they're full from the leftover apples I left out for other snacks." Yona shrugged and took her pie slice over to her friends.
"Okay," Smolder said as she and Gallus had two apples, "Loser has to do the other's schoolwork." The dragon used her claws to cut the skin off the apple while the griffon used his beak.
"What friends doing?" Yona asked.
"Smolder and Gallus are trying to figure out who can get all the skin off their apple first," Silverstream said.
"I don't really understand the prize," Ocellus said. "They're not going to learn anything if the other does their work."
"Don't care," Smolder said as she kept cutting.
"So, how's Sandbar?"
"Lying on bed," Yona explained. "Are students acting strange?"
"What do you mean?" Silverstream asked.
"All ice cream gone but there still pie."
"That's weird," Ocellus said.
"Maybe they're more a fan of ice cream," Silverstream suggested.
"Hope Smolder's a fan of extra work," Gallus said, "Because I win." He showed off his skinless apple while Smolder's was only two-thirds done.
"Um... Best out of three?" Smolder asked with a nervous grin.
"I beat you fair and square. Now, I needed help in making a dress design for Professor Rarity." Smolder groaned as she apple her apple. "Come on, you like cute things." The griffon gave a smug look as he ate his skinless apple.
"Hey, Smolder," asked a mare, "Could you scratch my neck. It itches really bad." The shrugged and helped her classmate with her itch.
"That's the same problem Sandbar was having," Ocellus commented a bit confused.
"It's probably just some bug bites," Smolder said as she kept scratching. Ocellus and Yona looked at each other and felt a bit worried about how the student was having the same itch in the same place as Sandbar.
Speaking of which, the earth pony had fallen asleep pretty quickly. His neck still itches but since he was asleep he couldn't scratch it. Sandbar kept tossing and turned until his blanket fell off which seemed to make him calm down. Still, he kept groaning as his throat was causing him some pain. Sandbar started sweating as he felt as if he was overheating even without his blanket.
The next day, the students woke up and headed towards the cafeteria. "So, Smolder," Gallus said, "I've worked on the design of the dress." He showed a ball gown dress which Smolder didn't want to look at. "It's a prototype, I haven't even chosen the color."
"I like it," Silverstream commented. "Where's Sandbar?"
"Yak will go and check," Yona said. She walked towards her friend's dorm and based down the door to make sure he woke up. "Sandbar, you missing breakfast."
"Ugh..." Sandbar groaned as he fell out of bed. Yona helped him up but noticed that his eyes were only half open. Not only that but as he walked out of his dorm Sandbar limped.
"Is Sandbar okay?"
"I'm just tired."
"But Sandbar went to bed early."
"Just please stay quiet until I eat." Yona did so but she also noticed other students were having similar problems that Sandbar was having. They were half asleep and also limping.
Their friends could see the colt limping towards them. "Sandbar, are you okay?" Ocellus asked.
"I'm just need something to eat." Silverstream decided to get Sandbar a tray of food so he didn't have to walk around so much. When she gave him his food, he didn't seem to be interested in the ones that were still warm like the pancakes.
"Is something wrong?" the hippogriff asked.
"No, it's just... My stomach isn't liking things that are warm right now. Maybe I'll just have some cereal." He let out a yawn and Gallus seemed to be surprised by something.
"Sandbar can I see your tongue?" Gallus asked.
"Say what?"
"Open your mouth so I can see your tongue." Sandbar didn't understand but he opened wide so the griffon could take a look, and he was pretty shocked.
"What is it?"
"There's some... Moss on your tongue."
"What?" Gallus held up a plate so Sandbar could see his reflection. He closed his mouth not knowing what to say. "How did that get there?"
"That's what I wanna know."
"Me too," Ocellus said. "Maybe we should get you to the hospital." Without hesitation, Yona picked Sandbar up and started running to the school exit.
"Yona, I haven't even eaten yet."
"Sandbar not well," Yona said. "Need doctor now." Once Yona got outside, she was surprised to see Applejack being carried on a cart being pulled by Big Mac. "What happen to Professor Applejack?"
"Don't know," Big Mac replied. Yona was shocked to see the stallion limping as he pulled the cart. She was also shocked to see Granny Smith and Applebloom riding with Applejack.
"May Yona help?"
Big Mac was hesitant but his sister had something to say. "Go ahead and take a break," she said. "She's alot stronger than she looks." Mac shrugged as he got in the back of the cart. Sandbar got on board and Yona hitched herself up and took them for a ride.
Even though she needed to be told which way to go, Yona got the ponies to the hospital in record time. The nurses were pretty surprised to see five ponies riding in. "What's going on?" she asked.
"We can't walk straight and our necks are itching like mad," Granny Smith said as she got off the cart. They got Sandbar and the Apple family to a room. The doctor checked them over as Yona waited outside.
"I've never seen anything like this," he said checking Applebloom's tongue, which just like Sandbar's was covered in moss. "Did you do anything out of the ordinary?"
"No," Applebloom replied. "I was just helping out the school and did what we always did at home."
"I think I might know some weird," Applejack spoke up. "Our orchard is all muddy to the point where the trees just fall down."
"I see. Did you harvest any of the apples?"
"The ones from the muddy orchard we brought to the school of friendship. The rest are in our cellar."
"Right. Nurse, tell Ms. Yak she will have to leave."
"Why?" Sandbar asked.
"This is worse than you can realize. Nurse, make sure to contact the emergency medics." The nurse nodded and walked out of the room.
"Can I at least go back to the school with Yona?"
"Sorry, kid. We don't have the gear to do that yet."
Sandbar was left in the dark at what was going on and so was Yona, who had been forced to leave.
"But Yak want to see friend," Yona cried.
"I'm sorry, ms.," the nurse said, "But you need to head back to school." The yak sighed and walked away. The nurse walked inside with a worried expression on her face.
By the time Yona got back to school, the first classes were already over. Twilight Sparkle was waiting outside of the school waiting for her. "Where have you been?" she asked.
"Yona was taking Sandbar to hospital," the yak explained.
The princess/principal's angry dissipated. "What happened to him?"
"Sandbar sick. Tounge has moss on it."
"A mossy tongue? Yona, what are you talking about?"
"It's much more serious than you think," said a voice. The Alicorn and yak saw a stallion walking towards them in a hazmat suit.
"Who are you?"
"Doctor Dose. I've gotten word of a virus that has infected five ponies. A few of them helping around this school."
"Sandbar student," Yona stated.
"Whatever he is, until we figure out what the virus is and how to cure it, this school is under quarantine."
"Quarantine?" Twilight gasped. Some unicorns levitated Twilight and Yona inside.
"This is nothing personal princess. We don't want this virus to spread." While Twilight was trying to take in what was happening, Yona could only think about Sandbar. If they were forced to stay in the school, how serious could her friend's sickness be?
In the school hall, Silverstream and Smolder were walking side by side. "So, are those pointy parts horns or ears?" the hippogriff asked.
"Well, you see..." Smolder stopped when she saw a sad Yona walking towards them hanging her head. "Yona, you're back. Where's Sandbar?"
"Hospital," the yak replied.
"Yeah, I know that but why isn't he back?"
"Sandbar's sicker than friends thought. Apple ponies sick too."
"You mean the apple family?" Silverstream asked. "Not just Professor Applejack?" Yona nodded.
"I'm going to go see them." Smolder flew out of the school but she was stopped by an invisible force. A transparent pink wall appeared in front of her. The wall was apart of a dome that covered the entire school. "What is this?"
"A forcefield to make sure you don't get out," said a voice, which came from Shining Armor who was standing on the outside of the dome.
"Shining?" Twilight questioned walking towards the edge of the dome.
"I'm sorry, Twilight," Shining said, "But the ponies said this virus is too risky to get out."
"It's nothing personal," Doctor Dose said.
"I know," Twilight said. "What do you know about the virus?"
"Honestly, not much, the ponies that are infected with it are the Apple Family and a young colt name Sandbar."
"He's one of the students and Applejacks one of the teachers. More importantly, my friend."
"I understand, but if it breaks out then Equestria could..." The doctor paused as a certain dragon kept kicking and punching the wall. "Could you stop that?"
"Let me see my friend," Smolder ordered only to be brought back to the ground by Twilight's levitation.
"Smolder, get back to class," the alicorn ordered. The dragon just groaned and walked back inside.
"I can see if I could transport AJ and Sandbar here without contaminating anypony," Shining said.
"If you're going to do that," Doctor Dose said, "I'd recommend that you take a hazmat suit." The Stallion nodded and walked towards one of the tents that were being set up.
Smolder sulked down the hall until she met up with Gallus and Ocellus. "So, do you know how Sandbar's doing?" he asked.
"He's stuck in the hospital and we're stuck in the school," Smolder answered.
"What?"
"They've set up a dome and no one can get in or out."
"That's probably for the best," Ocellus said. "We have no idea what Sandbar has."
"And neither do the doctors."
"Oh, that's just great," Gallus commented.
"Look, hopefully, they'll figure out what's going on," Ocellus said.
"Gallus, Ocellus, Smolder," Fluttershy called, "You're going to be late for your next class."
"Hopefully." The Changeling, griffon, and dragon followed their teacher.
The yellow pegasus looked towards her class. "Now, I know a couple of you are scared of what's going on, and so am I. But you need to stay calm and if you have to let out a scream, do something like this." Fluttershy demonstrated this by pulling out a pillow and screaming into it. "Now, let's start our lesson."
Smolder looked over to the yak, who was still hanging her head. "You okay, Yona?" she asked.
"No," the yak sighed. "Yona can't stop worrying about Sandbar. What if doctor ponies can't fix sickness."
"They'll figure it out," Ocellus said trying to comfort her friend. "Let's just try and focus on class."
"Thank you, Ocellus," Fluttershy said. She wrote on the chalkboard as the class tried their hardest to focus. Yona wasn't focusing at all. She was doodling in her notes of certain pony she knew.
Speaking of which, Sandbar had a load of medical equipment. The doctors and nurses were trying their hardest but the couldn't figure out the problem. "Doc," he groaned, "Please tell me you have something good."
"I'm trying my hardest," the doctor replied.
"Excuse me," Shining Armor said walking in wearing a hazmat suit, "I was wondering if I could take some ponies back to school."
"Shining?" Applejack questioned. "What are you doing here?"
"I had to help put the school in quarantine. Twilight was wondering if I could bring you and a pony named Sandbar."
"That's me," Sandbar said raising his hoof.
"These ponies can't be around others," one of the nurses said.
"That's where my shield spells come in." With his horn glowing, he picked up Applejack in a bubble. He did the same thing with Sandbar. "Have you made any progress?"
"Sadly no," said one of the doctors. "We'll keep trying with the other three. Be careful with those ponies."
"Yes, sir." Shining walked out of the hospital with Applejack and Sandbar floating beside him. While walking back to the school, he came across a blue mare with a red mane, and she was also wearing a green skirt. "Can I help you."
"Yes," the mare said. "I've only been here once and I don't remember my way around."
"Meadowbrook," Applejack said, "We're glad to see ya."
"Same to you but why are you and that colt in a bubble?"
"It's a long story. Follow Shining and we'll explain."
Back at the school, Fluttershy walked over to the student that wasn't paying attention. "Yona," she said startling the yak, "What did I say?"
"Yak sorry," Yona sighed. "Yak can't stop thinking about Sandbar."
"I know you're worried about him still you need to pay attention in class."
"Yona knows. Yona stay after class." Just like that, the bell rang and all the students left, except for Yona.
"I feel sorry for her," Ocellus said to her friends.
"I know," Silverstream said. "I want Sandbar to get better too."
"Actually, I mean..." They then heard a wiring sound. "What was that?"
"It came from outside," Gallus said as he to the school exit. Outside, Shining Armor and Meadowbrook walked through the doom, with the mare now wearing a hazmat suit.
"Sandbar, you're back," Silverstream cheered flying up to the colt.
"Hey, guys," Sandbar said as he limped over to them.
"Easy kid," Shining Armor said.
"My goodness," Meadowbrook gasped.
"I told ya it was bad," Applejack said as she suffered from the same problems.
"Would you like some help?" Gallus asked. The farm pony nodded, so Ocellus helped her out as Gallus helped Sandbar.
"So, how are you feeling?" Silverstream asked.
"My tongue feels like it has a rag wrapped around it," Sandbar explained. "Plus, my neck still itches."
"The doctors said not to scratch," Applejack said stopping herself from doing the same.
"I didn't miss too much, did I?"
"Just Professor Applejack and Fluttershy's class," Ocellus said.
"Wait, who did my class while I was gone?" Applejack asked.
"Spike did his best," Smolder explained.
"I liked it," Gallus said, "It was pretty easy."
"Of course you would like it," Ocellus murmured.
"Well, where's Yona?" Sandbar asked.
"She's right in here." The opened the door to Fluttershy's class where Yona was writing down what she had missed.
The second the yak saw her pony friend she raced towards him. "Sandbar!" she cheered tackling him with Gallus barely getting out of the way.
"Yona, calm down," he said, "I was only gone for an hour."
"Felt like forever."
"It's good to see you Applejack," Fluttershy said to her farm friend. Applejack felt the same but she wanting Fluttershy to look towards a different pony. While it was hard to see through the mask, she could make out it was one of the pillar ponies. "Meadowbrook."
"Greetings Fluttershy," Meadowbrook said. "I wish we could've had a better encounter."
"Wait," Ocellus said, "You're Mage Meadowbrook?" The pillar pony nodded and the changeling squealed in excitement. "It's such an honor to meet you."
"It nice to see so many different creatures not fighting with each other."
"Uh, Professor Fluttershy said you were a sorceress," Gallus said. "You think you could help fix this?"
"Well, I'm not sure. I've heard that modern medicine has come a long way."
"But what about Zecora?" Applejack asked. "Fluttershy managed to help her when she had Swamp Fever when the doctors said there was no known cure."
"She's right," Fluttershy stated. "You could help out."
"Alright," Meadowbrook agreed. "But I need some of the moss from their mouths."
"On it," Smolder said. She opened Sandbar's mouth and used her claw to scrape off some moss.
"Smuder!" Sandbar cried.
"Look, you're sick, and we want you to get better. Now, give me some of the moss." Fluttershy got a small bag for Smolder to put the moss in.
"Could you tell me where Zecora lives?" Meadowbrook asked.
"The Everfree Forest," Fluttershy explained as she handed her the bag of moss. "Her hut is kind of hard to find."
"Don't worry, I'll do my best. Wish me luck." The sorceress walked away and Sandbar glared at Smolder.
"Okay, I got ahead of myself," Smolder said, "Come on, you want to get better."
"I could've used a fork," Sandbar said.
Mage Meadowbrook had to ask a couple of ponies for the directions of Zecora's hut, and though she got a few ponies without answers, she managed to make her way through to the hut. Knocking on the door, a zebra answered.
"Hello, I don't we've seen each other before," Zecora said, "What brings you to my hut door?"
"Hello, I'm assuming you're Zecora," Meadowbrook said with the zebra nodding. "Good, I'm Mage Meadowbrook. Fluttershy told me about you and I was wondering if you could help me." Zecora let the pillar pony in and poured out some tea. "The School of Friendship is under quarantine all because of this virus nopony has ever seen before."
"A sickness I can you from experience is quite a drag, but I can't help but notice something in your bag." Meadowbrook showed Zecora the moss she got from Sandbar and also showed her Mystical Mask.
"This mask helps me from getting sick from viruses like Swamp Fever. I think you would've like one before you got it." Zecora nodded as she sipped her tea with her guest doing the same. "This tea is really good."
"Thank you, I make them with my best, though I don't get that many guests. I would like to know more about you, so care to tell me what you do?"
"I come from Hayseed Swamp and I'm a very good healer. I help make potions for the swamp's villagers. I'm also one of the pillar ponies who assisted Starswirl." Mentioning that name nearly made Zecora spit out her tea. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's alright, that wasn't really a big fright. Hopefully, we can talk some more as we get to work making this cure." The zebra poured some potions into her cauldron and started the fire. "See if you can find a way to get more of this moss if we lose all of it we'll be at a loss."
"It's a good thing I brought my journal. You try and find what you can do with the moss you have, I'll try and get some more." The sorceress pony left to find more moss as the zebra got to work.
Yona and Sandbar were still in Fluttershy's classroom as they still had some work to catch up on. The earth pony was trying his hardest not to scratch his neck but this was getting harder and harder. He could hold it any longer and scratch his neck like crazy when he promptly smacked across the face by Yona.
"Pony said no scratch," Yona said.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it," Sandbar replied. "It's like I'm wearing a wooly scarf that filled with fleas." Yona took off her shawl and tied it around Sandbar's forelegs to prevent him from scratching his neck.
"Try scratching now." Sandbar tried and he managed to reach his neck. "Drat." Yona untied the pony's forehooves as her idea was pretty much useless.
"It was a good try Yona."
"Yaks more brawns than brains. Yaks go with their guts. Like at dance."
"You mean the pony pal dance? I thought you were great there."
"After Yona crashed into punch bowl."
"Okay, so it wasn't flawless but I'm glad you were doing of that for me. I also thought it was fun doing the Yakyakastian stomp." They both chuckled as a mare in a hazmat suit walked in.
"Your teacher says you can leave and have lunch," she said.
"Good, I skipped breakfast." Sandbar and Yona follow the mare to the lunch room where all the other students were at. Some ponies wearing protective gear were severing soup which everyone was having. Sandbar and Yona sat next to their friends, who had already gotten some soup for them.
"It's good to have you back Sandy," Ocellus said. "So, what do you all think of this situation?"
"It's kind of scary," Silverstream admitted. "What's going to happen to us?"
"Don't have a panic attack while their hot soup around us," Gallus said. "Look, I may not be liking some of these medics Principal Twilight said they're trying their hardest and we just need to stay calm."
"I hate the fact that we're stuck in here," Smolder said.
"That's the point," Ocellus said.
"I know how quarantine works but they've got the Apple family in the hospital so I think they should just have all the students that are sick just stay here when school's over and we can do what we want."
"Yeah," Silverstream agreed, "I don't want to get sick too."
"Well it's almost impossible you're not going to get sick," Ocellus said. "Besides, it doesn't look too bad. I mean, look at Sandbar."
Their pony friend took one spoonful of his soup before spitting it out at Smolder. "Thank you," she said obviously annoyed.
"Sorry Smolder," Sandbar apologized. "It was just hot."
"Then go get some ice," Gallus said. Sander walked off to do so while the griffon helped Smolder dry off. When the pony returned, he had a cup filled to the brim with ice, and he poured all of it into his soup. "Whoa. Sandbar, that's way too much ice."
"I said it was hot."
"But soup will lose flavor," Yona said.
"I don't want to burn my tongue off." Sandbar ignored what his friends were and just drank his now cold soup.
"Okay, what's going on?" Smolder asked. "There's no way you could be enjoying that." Again, Sandbar said nothing. Out of anger, the dragon took her friend's soup and breathed fire into it to heat it back up.
"Hey!" Sandbar tried to take his soup back.
"Guys, you're going to spill it," Ocellus cried but they weren't listening. The pony dragon lost their grip and the bowl went flying and splash an unlucky Spike in his face.
"Shoot, sorry Spike," Smolder cried.
"I'm fine," the dragon replied with his voice sounding incredibly hoarse. When Spike picked bowl he limped towards the kitchen to put it away.
"Nice going," Sandbar groaned. The group then heard soon hacking noise coming from the kitchen. Smolder and Twilight looked to check it out and found Spike belching before he threw up in the sink.
"Spike, are you okay?" Twilight asked running up to him.
Spike wiped his mouth before looking at Twilight. "I... Strangely feel better," he replied with his voice sounding better too. "I better go tell the medic ponies." The dragon ran off as the alicorn looked at Smolder and clearly wasn't happy.
"I don't have an excuse," Smolder said putting her claws up. "Just pick my punishment."
Doctor Dose was checking with other sick ponies that had eaten as Spike came running up to him. "Doctor," Spike cried as he ran up to him.
"Weren't you one of the creatures that were sick," the doctor asked.
"Well, yes, but... Follow me." Spike and the doctor in a hazmat suit to the kitchen where Twilight was telling Smolder her punishment. Doctor Dose was shown what Spike had upchucked. Strangely, a large pile of soggy moss was sitting down in the sink.
"What did you eat?" Smolder asked.
"All I had today was some cereal with an apple and the soup they were severing," Spike explained. "Though, I had to cool the soup down. But the next thing I knew, my entire body like it shut down for a second and then I threw up."
"I see," Doctor Dose said as he took notes. "The medics and I will take a look at what the dragon had... Given back. Just carry on."
"Yes, sir," Twilight said. She and the dragons left the kitchen while the doctor got a bag to put the mossy vomit in.
"Spike, wait," Gallus said grabbing the dragon's attention. "Weren't you limping a minute ago?"
"Yeah, he was," Smolder answered.
"I don't understand it myself," Spike said, "But I'm sure that the medics will answer." He walked away but the six students were confused.
"This is weird," Ocellus said. "Spike's just... Okay now?"
"Yeah, that makes no sense," Gallus agreed.
"Okay," Smolder said, "Either we can stand around and question everything or we get out of here and actually try and find the solution."
"Smolder," Ocellus cried, "We could get into trouble."
"It's better than just standing around doing nothing. Besides, I'm already in trouble."
"Smolder," Twilight called from down the hall. The dragon groaned as she walked off to start her punishment.
"Smolder's right," Gallus said as he and his friends walked into the library. "We've saved Equestria before. What's stopping us now?"
"A dome surrounding the school," Ocellus answered flatly. The griffon crossed his arms in frustration but as he flew around the corner he saw a grate. An idea struck his head and he looked around to if anyone besides his friends were around. Once he made sure of that he tried to lift the grate up.
"This would be easier if Smolder was here."
"What Gallus doing?" Yona asked.
"I'm trying to make an escape."
"Gallus, just stop," Ocellus demanded. She pulled the griffon away but Gallus pushed her back.
"Ocellus, look at Sandbar." The colt was riding on Yona's back and he could barely keep his eyes open. "A lot of the school has the same virus he has. Including the teachers."
"But Mage Meadowbrook is trying to help us. We just need to be patient and wait for her and/or the doctors to find a cure."
"They don't know what the virus is. I'm not risking my chances."
"Yona wants to go too," Yona said, "But Yona can't leave Sandbar."
"Plus, we've still got to catch up on our schoolwork," Sandbar added.
"I should also ask what if the teacher notice that we're gone?" Ocellus stated. "Remember the last we ditched school?"
"Again, this is for a good reason," Gallus objected. "Find a cure and save the ponies."
"Do you even know how this even broke out."
"Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. Sandbar, what did you and Yona do when you got sick?"
"Well, everything was normal," Sandbar replied, "Until we got back from Sweet Apple Acres. Yona and I thought those apples tasted funny."
"Then that's where we're going."
"Again," Ocellus objected, "What are the teachers say if you're gone?"
"Couldn't you just disguise yourself as one of us?" Silverstream asked.
Ocellus thought for a moment before she changed into Gallus. "Okay guys," she said in Gallus's voice, "Let's do something that will get all of Equestria infected and us in trouble."
The real Gallus didn't say anything and just led Yona over to the grate. The yak pried it open with her horns like a crowbar and the griffon climbed through. "Any creature coming?" he asked.
"I'll go," Silverstream said.
"Yeah, go luck," Ocellus said returning to her normal form not really carrying anymore. Gallus and Silverstream slipped through the hole. Once they were through, Yona put the grate back to cover their tracks.
"Good luck guys," Sandbar called.
"Well, we're doing this," Ocellus said. She walked off to find some to see if that would get her mind off things. "This is not going to work."
Gallus and Silverstream wandered around the cave under the school. "If the spirit of Harmony tests us down here I swear," Gallus said to himself.
"You sure this place can get us out of school?" Silverstream asked.
"It's worth a shot. Besides, we're already here and if go back our teachers will be as mad as Ocellus."
"I wonder how she's doing?"
The changeling in question was grumbling as she sat at a table with her remaining friends. "Sandbar, back me up here," she said, "This plan is as strong as rotting balsa wood."
"It does sound dangerous," Sandbar replied as he sat next to Yona.
"There... You are," said a tired voice which came from Rarity. The generous teacher looked to be having trouble keeping her head up. "You're going to be late for class."
"Students still have free time," Yona said pointing towards the library clock.
"Oh, I must've lost track of time." The mare walked in the wrong direction and into a bookshelf.
The three students looked at each other in confusion. "Professor Rarity, are you okay?" Ocellus asked.
"Just a little light-headed. Have any of you seen Gallus or Silverstream?" The three froze as they didn't know how to answer.
"Gallus won bet," Yona spoke, "Smolder have to do his project."
"Really? I'll see about that." The generous teacher left the library after searching for the exit and race down the hall. It took a little while but she did find the dragon scraping gum from under some desks.
"Why did I chose this for my punishment?" Smolder asked herself. "I mean, it's nice that she gave me a chose."
"Smolder." Rarity's cry made the dragon bump her head on the desk as she was a bit startled. She managed to look at her teacher who wasn't happy. "Where's Gallus?"
"How should I know? I haven't seen him since lunch."
"Your friends said that you were doing his work."
"I lost the bet and... Are you feeling okay?" Rarity seemed to be struggling to keep her eyes open and she suddenly fainted. "Oh, crud. Professor Rarity?" Smolder got on her knees as she looked closely at the mare. "Principle Twilight!"
The alicorn was being checked on by one of the doctors as she saw her dragon student flying up to her. "Smolder, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Professor Rarity just passed out."
"Don't panic," said the doctor pony, "Show me where she is." She did so, and the medic took a look at her.
"Is she okay?" Twilight asked.
"She fine, just unconscious." He looked inside Rarity's mouth to find a mossy tongue. "The virus has spread to her."
"But she was walking just the last time I saw her."
"Maybe she wasn't infected back then. I'll see what the others and I can do." The doctor picked Rarity up and walked away. Twilight left the room and Smolder went back to scraping gum.
Back in the caves, Gallus and Silverstream came across glint of light coming from above them. "I think I found something," the hippogriff said flying up to where the light was.
"Finally," Gallus groaned as he was tired from walking. Silverstream touched the crack from where the light was coming from saw it got bigger. Gallus helped her push up and removed the top part of the cave and found themselves in a building.
"Where are we?" The two crawled out and jumped a bit as the hole fixed itself.
The griffon flew around until he found a window. He looked out could see the quarantined school. "I think we're in Princess Twilight's castle."
"That makes sense, the school is right there."
"Get down." Gallus pulled his friend back from the window before anyone saw them. "Let's find an exit where no creature will see us."
"Right." Because the two hadn't really explored the castle before it would take a while for them to find an exit. Outside, Meadowbrook had put her hazmat suit back and reentered the school to gather more moss. She looked around until she found Fluttershy being checked over.
"Meadowbrook," Fluttershy said. "Have you found a cure yet?"
"Sorry, I'm not sure," she replied. "Zecora is using a small amount of moss to make potions while I get some more. Do you have more?"
"Well," said one of the doctors, "That purple dragon did upchuck some moss."
"You can't just give that stuff away," said another doctor. "She could be some crazy pony trying to spread this into an epidemic."
"She's one of the pillar ponies," Fluttershy stated. "She's worked with Starswirl."
"The bearded?" the doctors asked with Fluttershy nodding.
"I'm only wanting to help," Meadowbrook said.
"Hmm, alright," said one of the doctors. "But we're only giving you twenty percent."
"I can work with that." The medic ponies place a small part of the moss and placed it a small container and sealed it tight to make sure it would open by accident. They placed it in Meadowbrook's bag and she left the school. She was told to keep the hazmat suit to make sure she wouldn't get infected so she kept it on.
She managed to get back to Zecora's hut, where the zebra was quite surprised to see her. "Oh my, I didn't recognize you," Zecora said taking a close look the mare's face. "Come inside, I think I found a clue."
Meadowbrook walked in and she was asked to pore some of the moss she got into the cauldron. She did and it started disintegrating. "Oh my," she gasped.
"If we want this virus to beat, we'll have to turn up the heat. But the heat needed to make this virus break might be too much for the infected to take." Zecora was right, the water in her cauldron was boiling and the moss was still burning away at a slow rate.
"This water has to be nearly three hundred degrees. How will the ponies survive that much heat?"
"I'm not entirely sure, hopefully, I have a potion that helps with the cure. One we might desire, is one that can let you walked the heat of fire." The two looked at different potion recipes to see if they could find the fire potion Zecora was talking about.
Gallus and Silverstream managed to make their way to Sweet Apple Acres. Once there, the could see several quarantine ponies inspecting the orchard. "Great," the griffon groaned, "How are we suppose to be the apples now?"
"Maybe we could distract them," Silverstream suggested.
"How?"
The hippogriff used her necklace to turn herself into a seapony. "Cover my tail and fins with something." Gallus looked around and found some tarps and coved his friend's tail and fins with them.
"Now what?"
"Hide." He did so as Silverstream then started wailing. This grabbed some the ponies attention.
"Ms., are you alright?" one of the ponies asked.
"I don't..." She didn't finish as she faked several coughs while Gallus sneaked towards the orchard.
The pony removed the tarp on Silverstream's forelegs to find they had fins. "What are you?"
"A very sick pony."
"Actually, I've of these things called seaponies," said another medic. The "sick" seapony found her plan wasn't really going to work. Gallus knew he wasn't going to have enough time to pick the apples himself. He found a basket of the fruit and he snatched it and made a break for it.
Just before he could a yard away from the farm he was trapped in a pink bubble, much to his shock. "What are you doing here?" Shining Armor asked walking up to the trapped griffon.
"I can give five reasons why you should let me go," Gallus stated.
Shining took Gallus over to Silverstream, who had the tarps thrown off her. She turned back into a hippogriff knowing they were caught. "How did you escape the school?"
"If we told you wouldn't believe us," Silverstream said. She gave a grin but Shining wasn't buying it.
Later, he brought them back to the school and he had them locked in one of the classrooms to make sure they didn't escape again. Shining saw Spike towards them and he asked what happened. "These two somehow managed to escape the school."
"Seriously?" Spike questioned. "Maybe I should send Cadence a message." The dragon quickly wrote down a message but when he tried using his dragon breath to send it the message just burned to a crisp. "That's... Never happened before."
"How does that work?" Silverstream asked.
"A while back, I had this spell put on me that allows me to send messages through my fire breath. I better tell Twilight what's wrong." Spike ran off to find her as Ocellus, Smolder, Yona, and Sandbar walked to where their friends were.
"I told you it wasn't going to work," Ocellus said.
"Shut up," Gallus replied, "At least I tried something."
"Kid," Shining said, "Leave the work to the professionals."
"Professionals find anything?" Yona asked.
"Well, they did say..." The stallion was interrupted by Sandbar's groaning. Before he could ask what was wrong the colt collapsed onto the ground. His friend immediately got worried as Shining ran off to find a medic.
"Sandbar, can you hear us?" Smolder asked.
"Legs... Weak," Sandbar groaned. "Having... Trouble... Breathing."
"Sandbar, hang in there," Ocellus said. The medical ponies came running up and checked over him. Sandbar struggled to keep his eyes open. The voices of the ponies and his friend were drowned out by the sound of his heartbeat as his eyes slowly closed.
Zecora and Meadowbrook searched for what seemed like an hour until the zebra found a book she hadn't opened in a long time. "Ah ha, here it is," she said, "Now let's see what the potion recipe says." They looked through it until that found one about fire.
The page read, "For those who are afraid of getting burnt a fire immunity potion is what you need."
Ingredients:
Three Dragon Scales Two Fresh Lava Rocks A Spicy Herb Water at 300°F
"Hmm, I forget about this potion, so we'll need some help to put it in motion."
"I can only think of two dragons," Meadowbrook said. "I'm not sure that Twilight and her friends will let them help."
At the school, Sandbar was lying on his bed hooked up to a breathalyzer and a heart monitor. Doctor Dose and two other doctors were trying to find out what was wrong.
"Will Sandbar be okay?" Yona asked.
"I honestly don't know," Doctor Dose replied. "Until we can figure this out, you're going to have to give us some room."
"You heard the doctor," said a pony in a hazmat suit, "Stay out and let us do our jobs." He pushed the yak and the rest of Sandbar's friends. Yona was at the point of crying.
"Yona it's okay," Ocellus said, "They're... Going to figure it out."
"It doesn't sound like it," Smolder said. "They've been at this school for like four hours. I'm sure they would've found something."
"Well... Maybe..." Ocellus was trying to think for a reason why the doctors were still looking for the problem.
"Maybe they don't have a reason. Sandbar might not make it and we're stuck her with her thumbs up our noses." The two looked over to Yona, who was just sobbing.
"Yona, don't cry."
"What if Yona never see Sandbar walk again," the yak wept.
"Don't talk like that. We'll get through this."
"How?"
"By breaking out," Smolder said.
"But we'll get caught."
"Either we lose our friend just sitting here or we try to get out." The dragon and changeling stood up and walked off as Yona stayed behind staring at the door.
Gallus and Silverstream were still locked in their room with Shining Armor guarding the blocked exit for good measure. "Is this really necessary?" Gallus asked.
"If we don't want you escaping again, then yes," Shining replied.
"We were just trying to help," Silverstream said.
"Leave it to the professionals."
"Yeah, they're doing just great," Gallus said sarcastically.
"Mr. Armor," Ocellus said as she and Smolder walked up to him, "Could you let our friends go?"
"Sorry kid," Shining said, "I've been given orders to keep them locked up."
"Yes, treat the students your trying to help like prisoners," Gallus said.
"You're not helping."
"I know. You won't let us."
The group then heard some commotion coming from outside. "Shining Armor," Spike called running towards him, "The students' parents are outside rioting."
"You've gotta be kidding me," the guard groaned. He followed Spike to the school entrance, leaving the other creatures behind.
"He seriously just left us," Gallus said in amazement. "Smolder, could...?"
"On it," the dragon interrupted. She breathed fire on the locked door and then kicked it down. The burnt wood pieces scattered all over the floor. "Let's go."
The four raced down the hall and into the library. They removed they grate and crawled into the cave. "Wait, where's Yona?" Silverstream asked.
"She's still waiting outside Sandbar's dorm," Ocellus explained. "She's not leaving him."
"Then we won't force her," Gallus said. "Let's go." They placed the grate back and walked to where Gallus and Silverstream found the exit.
"This place gives me the creeps sometimes," Smolder admitted.
"Same," Ocellus said. "How do we get out of here?"
"Right here?" Silverstream said pointing towards a crack with light. They pressed up and they were back in Twilight's castle. They escaped so no one can see them and they snuck around town.
"I kind of feel bad for leaving Yona behind," Smolder said.
"You saw her when she was worrying about Sandbar," Ocellus said. "She'd be crushed if she couldn't see him. Plus, we can't go back now. The way back is sealed and we can't get through Shining Armor's dome."
"We can't go to Sweet Apple Acres either," Gallus stated. "There are ponies everywhere there."
"Then where do we go?" Silverstream asked. None of them could answer the question.
"We didn't think this through."
"No," Smolder sighed. Gallus looked towards Ocellus when an idea struck him. He began whispering it to his friends.
Back at the school, Yona was still sitting outside of Sandbar's dorm. Doctor Dose opened the door to find the yak still waiting with tears in her eyes. "You want to see your friend, do you?" he asked with Yona nodding. She was let in to find Sandbar was awake but he still had the gear hooked up to him.
"Yona... You're still here?" Sandbar asked weakly.
"Yona not leaving friend," Yona said. "Sandbar feeling better?"
"Barely. I can barely move."
"Which is something you shouldn't do," Doctor Dose said. "You need to save your energy."
"Doc, please tell me you found the problem."
"The only thing we noticed was your cutie mark is faded." He held up a mirror so the colt could see his cutie mark. One turtle was fine, the second was faded, and the third one was just gone.
"How is this possible?"
"It's obviously got something to do with the virus."
"Sir," said one of the quarantine ponies, "Something's happening to the ponies' cutie marks."
"Are they fading?" The pony nodded and Doctor Dose followed her. Yona stayed behind with Sandbar.
"Will Sandbar be okay?" Yona asked.
"I don't know," the colt replied. "I just... Ngh. I'm getting hot."
"Yona get Sandbar some water." The yak ran as her friend groaned. As this happened, Sandbar's cutie mark lost a second turtle.
At Sweet Apple Acres, several ponies were looking at the apples from the trees that were in the mud. "How can one rain cloud cause all of this?" one mare questioned.
"I don't know," replied a stallion, "I think we should focus on the apples."
"Mind if I take a look?" asked another quarantine mare.
"Oh, hey. Can you take a look at those apples over there?" The stallion pointed to a crate of apples that had been untouched.
"I'll get right on that." The pony picked up the apple crate and walked off. The pony walked pretty far from the farm and turned back into Ocellus. The changeling found her friends hiding behind some bushes.
"Okay, I got the apples," she said in her normal voice.
"Alright," Gallus said, "Let's take a look."
"Okay, so, Sandbar ate one of these apples, right?" Smolder asked.
"Right," Ocellus said.
"But so did me and Gallus. So how are we not sick?"
"We're about to find out," Gallus said as he broke the apple in half. What they found was a bit disgusting. Inside the apple looked like it had green veins coming from its core. The part of the apples that would normally be light yellow was now gray and mushy. Gallus kept the apples slice moving in his claw which was frustrating Smolder.
"Could you stop shaking it?" she asked.
"It's freezing." He gave one of the slices and she was shocked at how cold it was.
"Wow, you're not joking."
"Can I hold one?" Silverstream asked.
"Here," Gallus said giving the hippogriff his slice. "My claw's numb now."
Silverstream tried touching the inside of the apple slice and found it very mushy. She squirmed when she felt the inside of it and the mush just felt on the ground. What surprised her pearl piece now had its bottom covered in moss. "Ew, my necklace is dirty now," Silverstream groaned with disgust.
"That looks like the same moss that was on Sandbar's tongue," Ocellus said.
"Why is it on her pearl piece?" Smolder asked.
"I don't know," Silverstream replied as she tried to scrape it off.
"Silver, don't touch it," Ocellus said. When she got close to the hippogriff, she accidentally stepped in the apple mush which quickly crawled up her foreleg. "GAH! Get it off me. Get it off me!" The changeling was in a quick panic as she tried to scrape the mush which was turning into moss. Before her friends could react, the moss crawled up to her horn and stuck.
As fast Smolder scraped the moss of the changeling's horn, it just grew back twice as fast. "Stupid moss," the dragon groaned, "Why won't you come off."
"Keep it down," Gallus ordered, "They're going to hear us."
"Let's get out of here," Silverstream said. The picked up the crate of apples and made a break for it.
"How are you feeling?" Smolder asked Ocellus.
"Fine," the Changeling replied. "A little lightheaded."
"Just like Professor Rarity."
"Oh no. What do we do?"
"Shush," Gallus said, "I hear some creature coming." The hid around the corner of a shop as Mage Meadowbrook and Zecora walked past.
"Who's the zebra?" Silverstream questioned.
"I think that might be Zecora," Ocellus said. "Remember Professor Fluttershy talking about her."
"Sort of," Smolder replied. "Should we ask them for help?"
"Probably," Gallus said. "Ocellus can you transform?"
"On it," the changeling replied. She changed into her pony form and walked toward the two potion makers.
"Well, we have the spicy herb," Meadowbrook said as Zecora paid the pony at the stand. "Where are we supposed to get the other ingredients?"
"Excuse me," said the disguised changeling, "What are you doing?"
"We're trying to make a potion," Zecora replied, "But we're laking what we need to put it in motion."
"Oh, do you usually ryh...?" Ocellus groaned as her body started changing color. Her body turned blue and her mane pink as she suddenly changed back into a changeling. "What?"
"Are you one of the students at the school of friendship?" Meadowbrook asked.
"Yes, but..." Ocellus held her head as she collapsed, much to her friends' shock. They came out of hiding and ran over to see if she was okay. The changeling could barely stand.
"It's this stupid moss," Smolder said, "It's maker her weak like Sandbar and the other students." They looked towards Zecora, who seemed to be angry at them.
"Oh, we were..." Silverstream tried to think of an excuse but Gallus stopped her by grabbing her beak.
"I know for a fact you should be in school," Zecora said, "So don't you try to play me for a fool. The virus will get worse without a doubt, but I must ask how did you get out?"
"Long story," Gallus said. "Look, we know you're trying to make a potion to fix this, let us help you."
Zecora was about to object but Meadowbrook spoke up. "Zecora, we need dragon scales, remember?" she asked.
"What for?" Smolder asked backing away a bit.
"We found out how to cure this mossy bug. We need to heat it up to a boiling point."
"But there's no way they could survive that heat," Gallus said.
"We know," Zecora said, "But we have a way to fix that though. A potion we're making will let ponies walk through fire, so the heat they'll take won't be dire."
"So, what else do you need?" Ocellus asked.
"Three dragon scales, two fresh lava rocks, and water boiling at three hundred degrees," Meadowbrook explained.
"Alright," Smolder sighed, "Do it."
"Do what?" Silverstream asked.
"They need dragon scales. Rip some of mine off." The hippogriff did as yank off three dragon scales, each one making Smolder yelp.
"Got them." Silverstream handed the scales to Zecora who put them in her bag.
"Okay, and lava rocks?" Gallus questioned.
"I'm on it," Smolder said. "Let's go, Ocellus. Maybe the heat from the lava can help you." The dragon and changeling flew off as the remaining creatures look at each other.
"Follow us to Zecora's hut," Meadowbrook said.
"Actually, I think I'm going to follow them," Gallus said. "I'm not sure how much longer Ocellus will stay up." The griffon flew after his friends as the others walked towards Zecora's hut.
It took a while for Smolder and Ocellus to get to the dragon lands but they found a lava pool pretty quickly. "Okay," Smolder said, "Stay here." She dived in as the changeling started feeling uncomfortable. The heat was started to mess with her head.
"Ocellus," Gallus cried as he landed nearby. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," Ocellus said, "Just a little dizzy." She rubbed her head as she struggled to sit up.
"Where's Smolder?"
"Lava diving. Ghh, my head is just..." The changeling then started gagging just as Smolder resurfaced some lava rocks in her claws.
"Gallus, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Check on Ocellus before she..." Gallus couldn't finish as Ocellus started throwing up a bit.
"Guys..." the changeling groaned, "I don't feel so good."
"We better get to Zecora's hut." Gallus picked up his sick friend and he and Smolder flew off as fast as they could.
"Why is she throwing up already?" Smolder questioned.
"The moss must be close to the source."
"What source?"
"I've been thinking about, but I'll explain when we get to the hut."
At Zecora's hut, the zebra was mixing the scales and herb into her cauldron. "I still don't understand why there's moss on my necklace," Silverstream said.
"It's very mysterious," Meadowbrook said as she looked at the apples the hippogriff and her friends collected. "Where did you get these apples."
"Sweet Apple Acres, Galls thought we should've looked there. Sandbar and some of the other ponies at the apples from there. However, Yona, Gallus, and Smolder ate some of the apples too. How come they're not sick?"
"Tell me about your necklace."
"My necklace? Well, it's a pearl shard from a magical pearl that allows hippogriffs to turn into seaponies and visa-versa."
"Magical you say," Zecora said, "I think I know why the ponies and your necklace are the moss's prey. Each different pony has a different type of magic, if they were to lose it then it would be tragic. I think it might what the moss is has been eating, and very soon it will be depleting."
"What?"
"The moss eats magic," Meadowbrook explained.
"Oh. Oh no, Ocellus."
Smolder and Gallus bashed down the door with carrying the lava rocks and Ocellus, who was looking like she was going to pass out. "Here are the rocks," Smolder said, "What do we do?"
"Place them into my cauldron so we..." Zecora didn't get to finish as Smolder just tossed the rocks into the cauldron and the zebra started mixing. "Rude."
"Ocellus, how are you feeling?" Silverstream asked worriedly.
"Like my inside are crawling with fleas," the Changeling replied. She started gagging some more as Silverstream got a bottle.
"The water isn't hot enough," Meadowbrook said, "The potion needs the water to be hotter."
"On it," Smolder said. She breathed fire on the bottom of the cauldron and heated the brew faster.
"Hang in there Ocellus," Gallus said trying to calm his friend down. "Can you make that any faster?"
"Almost there," Meadowbrook said. The water started to turn golden-orange and the pillar pony placed a bottle in there to fill it up. Surprisingly, when she dipped her hoof in didn't sting. "It's working."
"Then give it to Ocellus," Smolder ordered. Meadowbrook did so and once the changeling drank all the potion that was in the bottle she then turned to dragon.
"You need to breathe fire on her horn."
"What?"
"It's fire immunity potion. She's immune to fire now." Smolder walked up to her friend and breathed fire on the changeling's horn. While the moss burned away, Ocellus remained fine. When all the moss was gone Smolder stopped. "It worked."
"Alright," Ocellus said as she slowly stood up. Her legs were pretty wobbly and she nearly fell down. "So, are we going to use this on the whole school?"
"Yes, but we're going need a plan."
"It looks like you have a couple of gallons of this potion," Gallus said. "Maybe we could attach it to the school's sprinkler system. It'll be a good way to test it."
"That's one problem we have beat, but how are we going to get the school to that much heat?" Zecora questioned.
"I'm not sure about that."
"Maybe Spike can help think of a solution," Silverstream said.
"Right," Meadowbrook said. "Ocellus, come with me. The rest of you help Zecora fill up some bottles." The pillar pony and changeling left the hut as the other creatures got to work.
Shining Armor was furious that some of the students had gotten out again. The parents were bad enough but the contaminated students just made it worse. "Shining, calm down," Spike begged.
"How am I suppose to calm down?" Shining asked. "Four students have escaped and have probably spread the virus to all of Equestria."
"They said they were trying to help fix the problem, they woul..."
"Spike, they're teenagers. They're just making things worse. I'm going to look out looking for them." Just as Shining left the school and walked through his dome he saw Meadowbrook and Ocellus walking towards him. "There you are."
"Sir, let me explain," Meadowbrook spoke. "We've found out how to get rid of the virus. If we get the infected students hot enough we can burn the virus out. To help with this, we've made some fire immunity potions to protect the students from getting harmed from the heat."
"This sounds crazy."
"But I was the first one to be tested," Ocellus said. "Some moss got on my horn, I drank some of the potion, and after Smolder breathed fire on me the moss was gone."
"I'm more interested in listening to the creature who was following what she was told."
"I understand your anger but we needed one of your students to help get some of the ingredients," Meadowbrook said, "Without her, we wouldn't be able to make this potion."
"I can agree to that," Smolder said as she walked up with her friends and Zecora walked up with a covered cauldron riding in a cart pulled by the zebra.
"We drank some of the juice so we didn't get burned lifting the cauldron," Silverstream explained.
"What are you going to do with all of that?" Shining asked.
"We're going to spray every creature in the school by hooking this up to the school's sprinkler system," Gallus explained.
"You'll need to get them into one place," Spike said as he joined in the conversation. "We've only gotten the system in the teacher lounge, cafeteria, and all the classrooms."
"Actually, the potion only makes you immune to deadly heat," Ocellus said.
"That's why you're going to help me heat up the school," Smolder said.
"Are you going to do that?" Meadowbrook asked.
Later, Spike showed Smolder to the boiler room. "Here we are," he said, "The thing that keeps the school warm."
"Alright," Smolder said, "Let's turn up the heat."
"Not yet," Meadowbrook cried, "We need to attach the potion to the sprinkling system."
"You do that," Gallus said, "We're going to get everyone in the right rooms." Gallus, Silverstream, and Ocellus raced off to get all the sick students to right places.
Yona was sitting by Sandbar's bed with the colt now looking much skinnier. "Sandbar, stay strong," Yona begged. He tried to reply but he could let out some moans and groans which made the yak more upset.
"Yona, there you are," Silverstream said as she entered the room.
"Silver," Yona wept, "Sandbar... Not strong."
"Don't worry, we have a solution. Help me get the students and get the students into the cafeteria." The yak didn't understand one hundred percent but she still picked up Sandbar and helped Silverstream carry the students.
Gallus and Ocellus had moved the students into the class lounge. "Okay," Ocellus said, "Let's move onto the other rooms."
One by one, the different creatures moved all the sick ponies into the classrooms until the teacher lounge was the only room left. "What are you doing?" asked a sick Twilight.
"Helping you out," Gallus explained. "Silver, go tell Smolder and Spike to get fired up."
"On it," the hippogriff replied as she flew off.
"What exactly are you planning?" Applejack asked weakly.
"You'll see," Gallus replied.
Down in the boiler room, the dragons were helping zebra and sorceress hook up the potion to the sprinkling system. Once it was hooked up, they turned it on. The potion traveled through the pipe and into the sprinklers and all over the sick ponies.
"Hey, Smolder," Silverstream called as she flew up to them. "You can start firing it up now."
"Great," Smolder said, "Let's do this Spike." The two dragons took a deep breath fire up the boiler as hot as they could.
Everyone else in the school could feel the temperature rising but thanks to the fire immunity potion spraying all over them they were fine, partly. They coughed and gagged as burnt moss escaped their mouths the virus couldn't stand the heat. Sandbar shook a bit as his cutie mark slowly started to return.
"Y... Yona," he groaned as he stood up. The yak took him by surprise by giving him a huge hug.
"Sandbar feel better?" she asked. The two look towards his returned cutie mark.
"Much better." The same could be said about all the other ponies who were recovering from their sickness.
"It's working," Ocellus cheered.
"Yeah, we saved the school," Gallus smirked.
"We have to thank you for the help," Doctor Dose said to Meadowbrook.
"It was no problem," the pillar pony said.
"We'll gather infected apples and burn them all." Shining Armor dismantled the dome allowing anyone in or out. As he did this, Twilight had a long talk with the students that escaped.
"I understand you helped save the school," Twilight said, "But don't do it again."
"Yes, principle Twilight," the students said. The alicorn walked away as the griffon groaned.
"She can't give us any slack," Gallus complained. "I mean, bare minimum extra credit."
"Gallus, let it go," Ocellus said. "Everything is back to normal and we should be happy."
"Yona happy that Sandbar not sick anymore," Yona announced as she nuzzled the colt.
"Don't really know what you guys did, but thanks," Sandbar said.
"No problem," Smolder said.
"Hey guys," Silverstream said as she flew up to them. "Zecora's in Professor Fluttershy's class." The students walked in the classroom to find Zecora had set up her cauldron.
"I'm glad you decided to stay and help teach," Fluttershy said to her friend.
"Meadowbrook said she would be helping with the medics," Zecora said, "I think I help these students with their extra credit."
"Zecora, you're still here?" Ocellus asked.
"It's the least I can do for you helping us out, the ponies will be grateful without a doubt."
"Do you always have to rhyme?" Smolder asked.
Zecora chuckled. "No, but it's fun though."
"Like potion making," Ocellus said as she got to her seat.
"Already?" Gallus asked. "I thought we could use a break."
"Come on," Silverstream said, "I've been wanting to make potion since yesterday."
"Then sit down so we can get started," Fluttershy said. The students were curious and listened to what the pegasus and zebra had to say.