Pain. What she felt waking up was all the pain in the world and a surplus of pain. A rash developed on her cheek, swelling nerves beneath her greyed, canary-yellow coat. The rash discolored her cheek a cherry-like coloration. Only, the spot the bear licked shrunk to a perfect circle, resembling blush anypony working the corner might apply. Silent groaned and rolled over in bed. The springs were harsh and shoved back against her. The mare wretched on choking stomach pain. She hacked and coughed against the mattress, inhaling dust and lint all the while. Silent emptied her itching, scratchy lungs over the edge of her bed.

A hard, wheezing breath collected her throat gunk. When she spat it out, her gunk turned out a dim, midnight black color. It's consistency was comparable to ectoplasm, sharing the same, dim luminosity as necrotic discharge. Silent clung to her sheets and crawled hindhooves-first out of bed. She barely caught herself as her weight slammed into her forehooves. The shock struck her sore chest and made her muscles lame. Over white and black checkered tile, she crawled toward some worn, splinter-blanketed night stand. Silent Hill made sure to avoid the sharp splints and used the surface for climbing leverage.

Atop it rest her travel pack. A silent, but dense sigh slipped loose from her lips. She ruffled it's contents about in lazy circles and found a bloodpack. The urge to consume it's contents crashed against her cracked kiss cavern. The mad hunger drove her to sink her fangs in and drain it. Not a minute passed her before a weird, hollow swooshing sound filled her ears.

She tossed it elsewhere and drank another, closing her eyes it warmed her to the cote just to feel right in her own skin. Abruptly manifested hoofsteps perked her pointy ears up. They were fast approaching from down the hall. At any time, they could bust in and see her witchcraft. Celestia helped the outcast with her magic, gracing Silent when she bumped into a trash bin. In went the bloodpack wrappers and, from the small glance at the mirror from the door, another glance at the mare in the mirror.

Apfel swung the door open, trotting in to find Silent Hill not inches away from his muzzle. Her cheeks ran cherry and he chuckled shortly. Silent Hill shielded her eyes and scrunched her lips. Amused, he felt an ear-to-ear grin fill his lips.

"Nice to see you, too, miss. Did you sleep okay- oh, look. Your rash is gone. Ain't that just a hoot?" He elate, only to put a hoof on his chin.

"I reckon you're one of those special ponies, aren't ya. I don't know what kind, but ain't nopony in town recoverin' from the taint like you did."

That word sounded... off. Taint. It sounded harmful. So she inquired what exactly it was, slipping her rump over the nightstand and sitting atop it. Her hindlegs kicked gently about, settling her wide, circular eyes into free-roam mode.

"What... is the taint, exactly. You talk about it like a terminal illness or something."

He replied while trotting slowly around the room, checking on various medical supplies. His eyes went toward a study to the right of Silent. It had a mirror frame without glass, some notebooks and a picture frame of a family all dressed in cowboy hats, ratan hats and fedoras. His hooves went absentmindedly toward the photo.

"The taint is a result of white magic getting so strong, it left stronger black magic in it's place. Most of it's from the Old World, I hear. I heard Coming Storm talking about it once, when I took a hike up the Macintosh Hills. Said the old 'elements of harmony' got used more and more. So then the taint got worse. I reckon that bear you got pinned by had it. I uh reckon every damn critter in the Badlands has it."

Elements of harmony...? The term seemed familiar. But it was foreign. It was a phrase she didn't like to hear, for some odd pension to deny it's existence. Wait. Her ears went skyward and Silent Hill rest her chin against her hoof.

"Are all the animals in the wastes tainted...? Do you think there's a cure for it. Do you think we can stop the taint from spreading to ponies?" She whispered, energized and sliding off the sturdy nightstand.

"Boy howdy, if we could cure it, we'd be all over that cure. But there ain't no cure for the taint. You got a good look at what just a little can do to somepony. Something that fierce and that infectious ain't ever been cured, no matter what we try." Apfel answered, a lack of heart in his words.

Another moment passed where he stared into the picture frame.

"Just two months ago we had this girl in town dying from the taint. She was covered head to toe in rotten fur. When we found her, she couldn't do nothin but cry and shake. Said the pain hurt so much that it was all her body let her do. Had ponies all over from Manehatten to Las Pegasus try to develop a cure of some kind. No one could do it. All said the taint was a mix or somethin'. A magical virus you could only treat with a hybrid cure. I didn't know her well enough. But I saw the pain in her eyes. You don't wanna end up like her."

No, that... wasn't right. And Silent knew it wasn't. Something stirred wickedly in her gut. Beneath her burning, stressful thoughts, she felt something wrong about the bugbear last time. It didn't hurt her. It didn't maul her or try to eat her. But the absence of a violent response perturbed her logic. When did animals not choose to harm somepony even when endangered by other stimuli. She decided to ask another question.

Silent Hill was left at the mirror-less study with a few books on Equestrian wildlife, several bestiaries of naturally occurring animals and accounts of mythical creatures. The lone scholar devoted her time to finding out the correlation between equines and other residents of the animal kingdom. For good measure, she also hauled a dusty old tome about the taint from some enclosed and boarded-shut portion of the local archives. Inside those peculiar texts, she found that animals mostly attacked when they felt threatened by equine body language. Looking down at an animal, to staring at it, from making sudden movements and even taking them in as pets, all triggered hostile responses in most species. Silent Hill took little notes down about the various ways ponies were found soothing animals. Most of it involved feeding them and swallowing one's fear on close-encounters.

What was it about her, though. What was it about Silent that made the bugbear not want to harm her. From what she learned about animal psychology, the bear found some sort of affection for her. And in that moment, it wasn't hostile toward her and her alone.

Attraction. That was it. But what was attraction. It was something everypony, at some point in their lives, felt. It led them to act strangely around certain ponies and no one else. It made the mind... change. She discovered a potential cure for the hostile wildlife problem. If, somehow, she could find a way to build relationships between the wildlife and ponies... there'd be less danger in the wastes altogether.

Silent Hill jumped in her seat when Apfel dropped a box-like shape onto her desk.

"Wh-what is that thing...?"

Apfel Schnapps shook his head with a subdued, amused grin.

"Heh. You ain't ever seen a terminal before?"

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