Chapter 3

"A Master Mind?" I asked with suspicion. I don't trust this guy as far as I could throw him.

"Yes. You see, certain ponies in this land contain a small potential to command my army. However you. A human have the biggest potential to command my army and more," The voice explained.

"You want me to command the army I'm guessing?"

"Yes. You are my champion. You will help me spread my blessings upon this impure world!"

"You must be mistaken, now, if you don't mind. I'm off," I scoffed. Not before his shifty voice called me back.

"I have a proposition for you, my worshippers have retained my good name by spreading my blessings across the land. Ah but that is not enough, you see, that fungus requires a hive mind.".

"So it's you! You are the one who caused the death of that innocent! Well you can go fuck yourself. I'm not being your hive mind!" It just laughed though.

"My friend, you do not have a choice". I felt a sharp pain in my hand. A red fungi developed on my hand. I could feel it crawling inside my arm. Suddenly several cysts popped out of my head. A guard was patrolling and saw my infected body developing. As my eyes laid on him I could only think one thing. Food.

"Halt! Identify yourself!" The guard demanded. He walked up to my hesitantly. I grabbed his head and he dropped his spear. I saw the nutrients from his body pumping into mine. I have to admit, this feels good. The guards was no more than a shrivelled pile of skin. Another guard soon walked in. Bloody loud-mouthed guard. Seeing his comrade having the structure of an old towel. He tried to run, but suddenly my instincts caused my tongue to extend, and biting him on the neck.

"Buck! What are you?" The guard asked, rubbing his neck from the pain. I grabbed him by the neck and breathed spores onto him.

"I am the Master Mind, and Equestria will fall". The fungi had grown on his face and caused him to lose control. I dropped him as he lied down in a death like stillness.

"Good. Now use your powers to command the carrier to explode," The Disease God commanded. I was no more than a primal beast, Pestilence being my master. I imagined that the guard would explode in a green mist. Which is what exactly happened. The guard released a cloud of spores. I heard Pestilence's voice, this time with a sense of satisfaction.

"You are exactly what I have been searching for. Congratulations my champion. Now for the catch". Why is it that everything good comes with a catch!

"You must transform once a day or more. You must also cause harm with your abilities to at least two other beings. Otherwise you will end up like the hunted and explode. You will also forget everything you did at the time of being the Master Mind. You will, however know that you must go to a secret location my worshippers have set up once a night". Brilliant, so it's either infect the innocent or blow up like a firework.

"I have consumed 2 beings master, may I return to being one of the hunted?" I said, my voice was much deeper in this form.

"Yes my child, go forth blend in with the flock". I imagined my former self, and began to transform into myself again. The Master Mind's memory was still in my head for a few minutes, allowing me to go back into Canterlot Castle.

Luna's POV

Flowers, chocolates, candles and other trinkets that Cadence told me to set up. If this doesn't show my affection, that I don't now what will. I hope Cadence's advice helps. I saw Lucas come through the door. He looked around and saw everything, including me on the bed.

"Ok...what is going on Luna?" He asked. I could see it now, he would just freak out and run away. Lets just hope that he doesn't go full on ballistic and scream at the top of his lungs. I closed my eyes, waiting for a reaction.

"This is lovely Luna," He softly complimented. He saw the rose petals and gave a 'aww' sound. Then, of course, I go redder than a dragon's inferno.

"T...Thank you, do thou like it?" I stammered, I feel like a timid teenage filly.

"No". My heart suddenly plummeted.

"I love it". Back up it goes. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to eject out of my chest. Lucas went up to me and sat on the corner of the bed. He planted a small kiss on my forehead. We hugged each other and landed side by side on the bed. We stared into each other's eyes and were mesmerised in

The Next Day

After my duty, I fell asleep. I felt warm inside, and outside. I couldn't stop thinking about him. Where could this go? More importantly; what should I do? As I lay deep in thought, my mind was interrupted by a high pitched scream. I flew up instantly from my bed and went over the balcony. I went to the source of the scream and saw a gardener looking at something on the floor. I wasn't close enough to get a clear view of it. I flew closer and saw...What the hay!

I landed next to the frightened gardener.

"What happened?" I asked her calmly, it helps not to scare those who are in shock.

"I...I don't know, I was just cutting the hedges until I found these 2 on the floor!" The gardener screamed, she was hyperventilating and was frozen in shock. I saw a pile of skin, which belonged to a guard. Next was a pile of organic matter. With a familiar fungus growing on it. I picked a tiny bit with magic and looked at it closer.

"Not again!" I shouted. The symptoms seemed clear enough. It was spreading. Suddenly Lucas ran beside me. He saw that I had the fungus in my grasp and he sighed.

"Another one, this is going to get bad. I'm going to try and find a cure for this fungus, whether it kills me or not!"

"No. You will not! I will not take the risk of you getting hurt. Go to that tower and stay there!" I shouted. Lucas stormed off back to the tower which I had told him to stay in. I could what I could only guess as human cursing.

I flew to the throne room quick as a flash and landed in front of Celestia.

"Big sister. We have an urgent matter!" I shouted, trying to overpower the petty bureaucrats. A look of serious concern was on Celestia's face.

"What is it little sister?" She asked.

"That fungus. It is present in the gardens!" Celestia froze. She ordered the guards to take the politicians out. The acting Captain of the Royal Guard was present by Celestia's side.

"Evacuate all the staff. We don't want it spreading!" Celestia shouted. The captain responded and ran outside as fast as he could. Celestia got off her throne and wrapped her wing around me.

"I'm scared sister," She said feebly. I returned the hug but was then interrupted by Lucas running in.

"Lucas! I told you to..." I shouted.

"Princesses. I have a plan that I drafted in the event of this happening," Lucas interrupted. He held a piece of paper in one of his hands.

"Let us hear it then Lucas," Celestia said.

Lucas cleared his throat.

"In the event of Canterlot Castle being under serious threat where life is in constant danger. The current royal and their co-rulers will relocate to the city of Manehatten for safety. A temporary base of operations will be formed and emergency protocols will be initialised".

Me and Celestia looked at each other.

"I'm sorry Lucas, but I will not leave my subjects in this state," Celestia declined.

"Celestia, if you stay here. You and Luna will more than likely die here. If that happens, the country will fall into chaos and anarchy!" Lucas shouted.

"He has a point big sister," Luna agreed, looking up at her frightened sister.

"No! I will not leave my subjects to face this alone!"

"If you stay, then all of Equestria will face more dangers than just the fungus. I'm surprised the Changelings haven't launched another attack," I saw his fists clench and the mention of Changelings, "If they hear that you are dead, they will take the chance to do so!"

I saw Celestia stunned, she was lost in thought. She then looked at Lucas.

"Fine. Prepare for evacuation to Manehatten," Celestia muttered, she held me tighter and began to cry.

"This is too much sister," she whispered in my ear. All I could do is comfort her as she sobbed. I saw Lucas run out of the throne room but I heard a thud.

I tried to struggle out of Celestia's grip but it was too much.

"Big sister, I heard a thud," I stated.

"I'm afraid Lucas will not be accompanying us to Manehatten yet," Celestia informed me. Still sobbing at the thought of leaving her subjects.

"What! No! Why?" I squirmed.

"Lucas is not from Equus. Neither is this fungus. It is only common sense that we test him".

"No! I will not allowed it," I screamed. It was futile as Celestia's wings restricted my movements. I saw Lucas being dragged by 4 stallions. I feel tears form on my face as I saw Lucas' limp body being dragged.

"No! Let him go!" It was useless, they already have him. My body went limp and finally gave to Celestia's grip. Celestia then tried to comfort me.

"It will only be a week and he will come to no harm. I will make sure of that little sister".

Lucas' POV

I woke up in a bubble. This is weird, I expected a dungeon. My vision was blurred but I focused on a stallion. He had a white coat with a sky blue mane.

"Whoa, easy there. you had a pretty nasty fall," He said, his voice was a soft German accent. I rubbed the back of my head where I got hit.

"Where am I?" I asked, the stallion seemed friendly so I guess he won't hold back information.

"You are a Mycology lab in the National Research Laboratory in Canterlot," He replied.

"Why?" I groaned, still having a searing pain in my head.

"We theorised that the fungus that is causing so much distress was from your homeland. We want to know if you are a carrier of it due to you being close to the Princesses," The stallion explained.

"OK, I get that. You could of just asked me".

"I apologise about that, we wasn't sure if you would cooperate so we had to knock you out. You will come to no harm here..." The stallion explained, trailing off in a way to know my name.

"Lucas".

"I am Mystic Bloom, the head researcher of the Mycology labs. If you have any questions or need anything, call for me."

"I have questions," I notified.

"Go ahead".

"How long am I staying here?" I asked.

"Ah, yes. You will stay here for a maximum of 1 week. Providing that you are passed negative for the fungus, then, we don't know yet," Mystic Bloom replied.

"What kind of tests will you do on me?" I went into a defensive position, readying plans of escape just in case it's something like a vivisection.

"Blood tests mostly sometimes we will do skin tests".

"Oh OK. I was expecting like you to sharpen the scalpels or something," I joked, Mystic just chuckled to himself.

"Anyway my friend, I must leave to analyse the first set off blood samples. See you soon," He walked out of the room that the bubble was in. Looks like I better get used to this then.

Later That Night

I woke up and remembered that I had to go to the abandoned Canterlot mines. I set up a small workshop there and have to check up on it daily. I called for Mystic and he came.

"Hello my friend, are you feeling well?" He asked. He was a nice guy, always checked up on me. However, he seems too nice. Guess I haven't adjusted to being in a world full of colourful ponies yet.

"Yes thank you. I just remembered that I must go to the abandoned Canterlot mines to check upon a project I am working on," I explained.

"OK, we shall go to this mine," Mystic said.

"What?"

"I said OK, wait there while I put this on," He put on a necklace with a black rune stone. Suddenly a small shield enveloped around him. He deflated the bubble and opened up the back door. "Quick, we must hurry".

We sneaked throughout the several alleys and side streets. Luckily, Canterlot has no police force. Just the royal guards who are assigned to ground zero. We arrived to an abandoned mineshaft, I walked up to it tapped the giant metal door I placed to stop nosy ponies. A keypad extended out of a loose brick. Camouflage, a Human's forte. I typed in the combination and the door lifted, revealing a old, wooden, ancient mineshaft.

Mystic trotted along side me, I came here every night to check upon my new projects I build. Celestia just restricts me to inventions she sees fit, but I can build anything I want here. We entered that main room, a large, open room with several shipments of raw materials I 'borrowed' from the main supply lines to Canterlot. Hey being the royal pioneer gets you first dibs on parts!

I moved to a giant metal room. Every part of it was reinforced, from the walls to the keypad itself. I typed in the combination for this door and entered it. Mystic was wondering what I was doing.

"I am just putting on my workshop gear, metal is sharp you know". I walked up to another giant steel door. This one was much bigger than the rest. I used it for storage of inventions that are confirmed to work. I was about to tap the keypad release mechanism before I felt a sharp pain in my hand.

"Ow!" I exclaimed.

"What is the matter my friend?" Mystic said cautiously.

"Nothing it's just..." The pain got worse, it felt like I had something crawling out of my skin.

"Lucas!" Mystic shouted. Trying to pry open the door. "Wait".

I feel on my knees, feeling pain all over my body. I looked at my hand, an infamous fungus grew out of it. The same fungus that killed the stallion and the 2 guards. My fingers grew to lengths impossible for a human like me to have. Same with my legs. My jaw extended out, looking like a muzzle. Several cysts began to develop on my face. I wasn't Lucas any more. I was the Master Mind.

"You are your true form again my child, I see you brought company," Pestilence said to me. Finally being able to talk to me without causing suspicion. I looked at Mystic, who was laughing. Laughing? Why was he laughing?

"Pestilence's child walks upon Equus!" Mystic bowed. "What are your commands my lord?"

"Stay still," I said. Thoughts of food crossed my mind.

"No, do not consume him! He is not a heretic!" Pestilence shouted. "Sorry about that Mystic".

"Do not be sorry my lord. I am honoured to be chosen as food to your child," Mystic said, completely brainwashed by Pestilence.

"Don't you fight the blessings Mystic?" I asked suspiciously.

"No my lord. I sabotage the heretic's work. I am an agent of Pestilence. I am to sabotage the results to fool the heretics so you can keep your position with the heretic leaders".

"Ah. Good work loyal worshipper".

I got out of the metal chamber walked across to the several machines used to aid Lucas in inventing. Suddenly an idea sprung in my head.

"I have an idea master," I notified Pestilence.

"Do not tell me, you are to lead the mortals to victory my child. I am to watch over you," Pestilence shunned.

"Yes master". I turned to Mystic who was observing the workshop.

"Mystic, I have a plan. Fire up those machines, they must have plans in them". Mystic pulled down a power switch. Machines came out of hatches and several robotic arms used for several purposes were ready.

"What is the plan my lord?"

"Lets just say I have become death, the destroyer of worlds".