Twilight had trotted back into her library and grabbed a history book to read, wanting some peace and quiet after the recent chaos that had been her life.

While reading Twilight had a thought, Pinkie is centuries old, maybe she can tell what’s historically accurate and what isn’t!

“That could make for decent research, it could also clear up a lot of hearsay! Alright, tomorrow I’ll ask Pinkie for a new series of tests, and-” Twilight was cut off when Spike ran into the room.

“Twilight!” Spike called.

‘Can’t I just have at least an hour of peace?’ Twilight thought. “Yes, Spike? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“I got an emergency call from Celestia,” Spike handed her a note.

It had a special seal, only used when there was a problem that needs her attention.

“Thanks, Spike,” Twilight said, before opening the letter.

Dear Twilight,

Forgive the informal greeting but this is urgent, we need your attention. An unknown malady has appeared in a town just east of Ponyville call Horseshoe Hills, I am requesting you meet with General Colton outside the quarantine zone to learn more.

I shall meet you there, bring your friends.

More bad news you should know…

Luna has fallen ill with this mysterious sickness as well, and I fear the worst, come as soon as possible.

Love Celestia-

“What’s it say Twilight?” Spike asked.

“An unknown disease is spreading, Spike, I need you to gather the girls,” Twilight asked urgently.

“Can…I tag along?” Spike asked.

“I’m sorry Spike, but this sounds really dangerous, It would be best if you stayed behind,” Twilight said.

“Oh…. Ok,” Spike said, Twilight saw his sadness and hugged him.

“It’s for your protection, if it were anything other than a virus, I would consider it,” Twilight said.

Spike smiled a little “Just be careful,” Spike said before running off… only to be sent flying by the door when Pinkie and the others came bursting through.

“Whoa!” Spike was caught mid-air by Twilight and set down.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,”

“HE’S HERE!” Pinkie yelled going into her skeletal form.

“Pinkie, what are all of you doing here? How did you know I was sending Spike to look for you?” Twilight asked.

“Pinkie just ran into each of our houses and dragged us out,” Rainbow Dash said “She’s lucky I just finished my sunscreen soak,”

“Ah hope Big Mac’s ok taking care of things till I get back, that seems to be getting more common lately,” Applejack said with a bemused expression.

“I hadn’t finished giving myself a hooficure thank you Pinkie,” Rarity said sounding annoyed.

“Girls, I’m serious right now,” Pinkie said sounding grim.

This caught the group's attention, they don’t usually hear Pinkie sound like this.

“I assume you already know what’s going on,” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” Pinkie said “Celestia knows by now too, and I’m gathering you all here right now to tell you, leave it to me,” Pinkie said.

“Huh?” The group said.

“Pinkie what do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“I know what’s causing this, and if any of you are too close to it, you could fall ill too,” Pinkie said.

“Now hold on, you can’t tell me to stand by and let a friend take care of a big problem by themselves,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah, you forget Pinkie, we’re not regular ponies,” Rarity said revealing her changeling form.

“Girls I’m serious, this is too big for even you girls,” Pinkie said seriously.

“What?” Rainbow said indignantly.

“Just trust me and stay behind,” Pinkie said, and before anypony could stop her she de-materialized before their eyes, vanishing completely.

“Whoa!” Applejack exclaimed, seeing this.

“Whatever this is had Pinkie quite worried, you don’t think it has something to do with her past do you? Rarity asked.

“We can’t just leave her to handle this alone,” Applejack said recovering from her shock.

“Pinkie seemed pretty adamant,” Twilight said.

“I’m not sitting on the sidelines while Pinkie goes and faces…. What are we up against again?” RD said realizing she doesn’t even know what the situation is.

“A town called Horseshoe Hills is experiencing a plague,” Twilight clarified.

“Then Pinkie needs our help no matter what she says,” RD said.

“Then we have to get moving,” Fluttershy said.

The group got packed up with Spike's help and they galloped for the train.

“Bye Twilight! Be careful!” Spike called from the front door.

“Thanks Spike!” Twilight called back.

The group got on the train and they anxiously stayed silent through most of the trip, thankfully Horseshoe Hills isn’t too far away from Ponyville.

But that also creates worry for Twilight because if the disease escapes, Ponyville could be its next target.

“Can ah see the letter Twilight, I want to know what we’re up against this time,” Applejack asked.

“Ok,” Twilight hoofed it to Applejack and the others leaned over her shoulder to read it too.

“The letter also said Luna was a victim of this plague, let’s hope she’s okay,” Twilight said.

“Oh dear,” Rarity said.

“Then we gotta hurry!” Rainbow said.

The group arrived at Horseshoe Junction and galloped out, it wasn’t long before they a barrier surrounding a town, roughly as big as Ponyville.

Ponies in hazmat suits were trotting around performing various tasks.

“What happened here?” Twilight said before spotting Pinkie over by the barrier.

“Pinkie!” Twilight called and the group ran over to her.

“Huh? Girls?” Pinkie said turning away from the ponies she was arguing with.

“We’re here, where is Celestia?” Twilight asked.

“A better question is why are you all here, I told you to stay in Ponyville!” Pinkie yelled.

Twilight was taken aback, she’d never heard Pinkie yell in frustration.

“Pinkie, we can’t do that, This requires all of our attention!” Twilight said back.

“I’ll be fine, go home!” Pinkie said turning around again.

“No!” RD said jumping in front of her.

“Rainbow Dash out of the way,” Pinkie said.

“Your our friend Pinkie, what you face we face,” Rainbow said.

Pinkie seemed concerned now “Girls, I don’t want you to get hurt, I can handle this, seriously,” Pinkie tried to reason.

“Pinkie, Celestia asked fer us all, she’d take no as well as we would,” Applejack said.

“Girls…” Pinkie said looking conflicted.

“Trust us Pinkie, we’ll be okay,” Twilight said.

“...Ok, but you listen to what I say, I know this situation,” Pinkie said trotting towards a tent.

“Alright,” Twilight and the others said.

“Put on hazmat suits,” Pinkie said.

“But dearie they're not even-” Rarity was about to complain but Pinkie gave her a firm look that put an end to any complaints.

The group put on their individual hazmat suits and followed Pinkie into the tent.

Upon entering they saw something that made them unsettled.

Luna was lying amidst a series of doctors, she was green with red eyes and breathing in deep raspy wheezes, she looked skinny too, very weak.

“Goodness,” Rarity said taking a step back.

“Ah’m gonna be sick,” Applejack said silently.

“What’s happened to her?” Twilight asked.

“We are trying to find that out,” Celestia said approaching from the left with a hazmat of her own on.

“Celestia, how did Luna end up like this?” Twilight asked.

Celestia was hesitant to answer “A pony tried to escape before the barrier was put up and Luna had to force him back in herself, that is undoubtedly how she got infected.” Celestia said.

“Any…casualties?” Twilight said hoping there wasn’t.

“None that I know, this disease seems to be more intent on causing suffering than death,” Celestia said “I think it would be best if we- Pinkie? Pinkie! What are you doing?!” Celestia exclaimed and the group turned to see Pinkie had removed her helmet and appeared to be sniffing Luna.

“I knew it…” Pinkie said.

“Guards! Quarantine her!” Celestia commanded.

“Wait! I know what’s causing this, I won’t be affected,” Pinkie said.

“I am sorry Pinkie but we cannot allow you to leave now that you’ve deliberately exposed yourself, what were you thinking?!” Celestia said

“I won't be affected, you have to believe me this was the only way to confirm the origin,” Pinkie said dodging a guard.

“Wait!” Twilight said getting in front of Pinkie and blocking the guards.

“Twilight get out of the way,” Celestia said.

“I…” Twilight knew why Pinkie wouldn’t be affected but she knew she couldn’t tell Celestia.

“I need to go in!” Pinkie hopped over Twilight and dashed past the group.

“Pinkie! Wait!” Celestia cried and tried to chase her down, the group followed closely behind.

They saw Pinkie run past the guards and she paused in front of the barrier before taking a breath and giving a sonic scream which blew a hole in the barrier.

“Pinkie?!” Celestia exclaimed surprised by her scream attack.

“Crap! We gotta do something!” Twilight said as Pinkie ran into the hole as it was closing.

“Rainbow Dash! Get me in there!” Twilight commanded.

“On it!” Rainbow grabbed Twilight and sped off into the hole as well.

“TWILIGHT, RAINBOW DASH, NO!” Celestia cried having not been able to grab them with her magic in time.

The other mares tried to follow suit but Celestia trapped them in a barrier.

“I am not letting any more ponies risk their lives! I intended for you all to go in and discover the nature of the illness together after preparation, now everything is in chaos, let us just hope they can fix this without succumbing to sickness as well,” Celestia grimly before releasing them.

Twilight and Rainbow crashed on the ground and got up quickly to survey their surroundings.

“Pinkie! Where are you?” Twilight called.

“Whoa…” Rainbow said looking around at the town.

Houses were boarded up and the few ponies that were still around were lying on the ground in a similar state to Luna, moaning and groaning.

“W-we’re alright, right?” Rainbow asked.

“With the suits on, yes, come on,” Twilight and Rainbow ran around looking.

As they looked they knocked on some houses but there were no responses.

Twilight checked down an alleyway but only saw nothing.

“She has to be somewhere,” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash galloped around and saw more suffering ponies.

“What happened here?” Rainbow said before pausing when she heard groaning and turned to see a stallion lying facedown on a table outside a restaurant.

When he spotted Rainbow he reached out.

“...H-Help…” He fell to the ground.

“Yeesh, this place gives me the creeps,” Rainbow said before moving on, only to feel a hoof grab hers.

“AH!” Rainbow jumped away and saw it was the stallion from before, and unfortunately, when she stumbled back she cut her hazmat on a rock.

“Oh no…” Rainbow said.

Twilight ran down the road and saw a figure ahead.

“Pinkie?” Twilight said, when she got closer she saw it was Pinkie and she was fine despite not wearing any suit.

“Huh? Twilight? What the hay are you doing in the infection zone?!” Pinkie said approaching Twilight.

“Me and Rainbow followed you in, don’t worry as long as we’re wearing our hazmats we’ll be alright,” Twilight said.

“You girls really need to listen, I know who’s doing this and if he feels like it he’ll strike you down with a terminal illness! You have to leave!” Pinkie said.

“I don’t think I even can!” Twilight said back “Celestia is determined to prevent the infection from escaping,”

“Twilight I-” Pinkie paused when her tail twitched.

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

“Hide, quickly! I need to summon him to convince him to leave!” Pinkie said.

“Who?” Twilight said, Pinkie sighed in frustration and grabbed Twilight before teleporting the both of them behind a building corner.

“Huh?” Twilight exclaimed.

“Stay put…” Pinkie said before disappearing and reappearing back in the road. Before Twilight could react she gave another sonic screech into the distance.

A few seconds passed by and before Twilight could voice her confusion she froze when she saw a hooded humanoid figure standing in front of Pinkie, literally a millisecond after Twilight glanced away briefly.

“Huh?” Twilight leaned in to listen.

Pinkie looked up at the being with a calm but grim expression, then the being spoke with a sickly raspy voice.

“Hhhheeehh… hello Pinkamena Pyrocelsa Pie,” the being said.

“Hello… Pestilence,” Pinkie said with a tone of bitterness.

“Aw…still bitter about” He paused to have a violent coughing fit before resuming “Being fired eh?” Pestilence chuckled with his raspy voice.

Black Ichor dripped from his grinning mouth, filled with rotten teeth, he stared at Pinkie with black eyes.

Twilight shivered as she stared at the being, she’d never seen a creature like him before, she could only assume he was one of the horsemen of the apocalypse Pinkie told her about.

Trotting up beside the being was a sickly white horse.

“Hello Haze…” Pinkie said.

Haze simply nodded, acknowledging the greeting.

“She’s not a speaker as you remember, I like her much better than you, you’d talk my ear off as we brought glorious plague to worlds, I-” Pestilence had another violent coughing fit and spat some black ichor which dissolved the grass it landed on.

“Still as terminally ill as ever, I see,” Pinkie said.

“And crushing it,” Pestilence gave a wheezing laugh “So, are you going to introduce me to your hiding friend?” Pestilence asked glancing at Twilight who yelped and hid again.

“Leave her out of this!” Pinkie said turning into her skeletal form.

“Hhhehhh… even though your power surpasses most mortals in this world, do you really think you could stop me if I went after her?” Pestilence brought out a bow and arrow.

Twilight nervously exited her hiding spot and hid behind a big rock.

“...No… but I’ll fight to the death for her, and for everypony here, Why are you here anyways Pestilence? Why start a plague when the apocalypse is still a long ways off?” Pinkie demanded.

“No thanks to you,” Pestilence growled a little.

“I overslept, answer my question!” Pinkie demanded.

“Truth be told I came around to simply see how my ex-steed is doing. and perhaps to deliver a message,” Pestilence said.

“Then deliver and leave, these ponies will die if you don’t,” Pinkie said seriously.

“Oh they won't die, Nobody is going to die from this. That's his bailiwick, after all. They'll get sick, cough a lot. Maybe pay attention to their doctor when he tells them to lose weight and exercise. And in the end, they'll be immune to it. I'm doing them a favor if anything." As he spoke a pony was struggling to trot by and he hacked and wheezed. “Even though they don’t realize it yet,” Pestilence added.

“And they should suffer until then?” Pinkie demanded.

“Whatever, suffering makes one stronger and when the real apocalypse hits and not that fake one that killjoy is bringing, then I’m gonna hit the world with diseases that’ll knock their horseshoes off!” Pestilence laughed before going into another hacking fit.

“What? Who?” Pinkie asked, curious about this mysterious killjoy.

“There are dark forces at work Pinkie, and one of your friends is a target,” Pestilence said.

“Who?” Pinkie asked seriously.

Twilight was trying to listen in but they were speaking too silently.

As she thought of going over and introducing herself, she heard wheezing near her.

“Who is it now?” Twilight turned expecting a random pony but then she saw Rainbow Dash hobbling towards her looking a little green around the gills.

“Rainbow!?” Twilight ran up to her.

“Twi… the suit's been breached, I’m infected…” RD said.

“We need the cure now!” Twilight grabbed Rainbow and dragged her to Pinkie.

“And that’s why they shouldn’t know yet, tell them once everything calms a little, the sigils will reveal themselves in due time,” Pestilence said.

“I-...I understand,” Pinkie said.

“Now that that is taken care of, time for me to-” Suddenly he was interrupted when Twilight and RD approached.

“WAIT!” Twilight called.

“Twilight?” Pinkie said before seeing Rainbow's condition.

“Ah, so the princess ceases her cowering behind a rock,” Pestilence gave a wheezing laugh.

“You have to help her, and Luna, they're both sick!” Twilight said.

“You don’t order me,” Pestilence said before getting in her face “My orders come from someone higher than you’ll ever be, that’s it,” Pestilence said

“Then take it as a request!” Twilight said.

“Why should I? I cause sicknesses, I don’t heal them,” Pestilence said.

“Please,” Twilight said

“Pestilence, at least tell the method of curing this new disease you’ve introduced to this realm, ponies will need it.” Pinkie asked

“Hmmph..… fine, lots of sunlight and vitamin C will make you feel better and treat the symptoms like an infectious cold, don’t forget your medicine, get some magical roots from the forest, symptoms will go by the end of the day.” Pestilence sighed “I swear you mortals never appreciate my work…”

“Thank you,” Twilight said.

“Whatever,” Pestilence said, “I told you what’s needed, now I’ll leave, but this isn’t the last time we’ll meet, princess, trust me,” Pestilence said before climbing aboard Haze and the white horse nodded in acknowledgment of the two before she trotted away.

Almost immediately after he left the greenish fog that hung over the town seemed to fade.

“Ugh… I feel like crap,” RD said.

“Don’t worry Rainbow, we’ll get you help,” Twilight said.

Twilight and Pinkie made their way back, when Celestia saw them she opened the barrier and let them back out, almost immediately they were apprehended and placed in a medical tent.

“This sucks…” Rainbow coughed a few times as she grumbled.

“Don’t worry, if what Pestilence said is true you’ll be better by tomorrow,” Twilight said.

“You two could have been killed,” Pinkie said with a small, concerned frown.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, but we needed to be there just in case,” Twilight said.

“Just be more careful next time,” Pinkie said.

Suddenly Celestia entered the tent, still in her hazmat.

“Twilight, you have been cleared of having any signs of the illness but there will be words later,” Celestia said.

“Yes, Celestia…” Twilight said sadly.

“You may leave,” Celestia said.

“But-”

‘Now,” Celestia cut her off.

“Ok,” Twilight left the tent.

“Celestia, the problem is fixed now, shouldn’t we all be allowed to leave?” Pinkie asked.

“While it is true you have brought forth the answer to this malady, the method of how you did so and the fact you show no symptoms I admit is suspicious,” Celestia said.

“What do you mean?” Pinkie asked.

“You are hiding something Pinkie, how were you not affected? How did you discover the supposed cure?” Celestia asked.

“Uh…” Pinkie was shocked the conversation took this route, in hindsight maybe she could have been more secretive…

“I am waiting,” Celestia asked.

Pinkie was conflicted, remembering what Pestilence told her, including why nopony should know just yet.

So she decided on a lie.

“I… I’m just that strange apparently,” Pinkie shrugged.

Celestia didn’t look convinced but decided to drop it, for now at least.

“Very well, I will let this go for now, mainly because you saved my sister,” Celestia said before exiting.

“I need to keep an eye on that mare,” Celestia muttered.

“Thanks again Pinkie,” Rainbow said.

“No prob, but next time a horseman comes, please leave it to me, I know them better than you girls,” Pinkie said.

“Ok,” Rainbow said.

Night fell as Twilight and her friends, minus Rainbow who was still sick, were returning to the train and paused at the decontamination area.

“Rainbow Dash will be okay right?” Fluttershy asked.

“According to Celestia, she’s already showing signs of overcoming the sickness, It could be her Vampony genes helping her with that,” Twilight said.

“Ah hope she doesn’t bring the sickness back with her to Ponyville, that’s the last thing ah want is fer AB or anpony else to get sick,” Applejack said.

“Agreed but Celestia won't release her until she’s sure Rainbow is okay,” Twilight said.

“I…overheard Celestia scolding you Twilight, are you okay?” Fluttershy said with concern and nervousness.

“Yeah… she was just worried about me, she told me to never do something like that again,” Twilight said somberly.

Eventually, they exited the decontamination zone and made their way into the train before setting off for home.

Author's Note

Next ones going to be a bit but I will always aim to provide for my viewers.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter about meeting Pinkies former rider, trust me, we'll see him again.

If you have suggestions on chapter ideas let me know and you may be posted on the next author notes to give credit for the idea.

Until next time.