I walked once again trough the bright white halls of our facility. Some brilliant person had made a counter on the main entrance. As of this morning it read one-one-zero-twenty six. Nearly a half of what we had at first. Such a loss of life was appalling, abhorrent, and heartbreaking. Of nineteen thousand, we have lost nearly eight thousand.

It felt a lingering pain in my stomach as I went towards subject one's chambers. She was responding to treatment like a roach to radiation. One would be hard pressed to find any changes, but they were there. Even the slightest cracks or flakes in her carapace were colossal achievements.

A new pony walked over to me. "Sir. I'm Newton's replacement." he spoke nervously, as if asking for my approval. I only nodded to him, ushering him along the halls. "I'm sorry if I'm a bit late. They still aren't sure what happened to him so they said to wait for a few weeks."

I stopped him in the hall. "I don't care. You're here, so get to work. Check the rooms, count the dead and report them to me when you are sure. And be sure to make sure they are dead, they like to play dead, so poke them or something."

My new assistance seemed appauled. "Poke them?"

"Yes." I waved him off and started walking away. "Tap them, poke them, check if they're really dead. You'll figure it out."

I had somewhere to be. I hurried down the halls once again, past the red marked door, past the operating room, past it all and into subject one's private room. It resembled a hotel room, covered in medical equipment and reeking of sterilizer. I wrapped a mask around my head, barely able to stand the smell of synthetic medicines in the air. With the fumes now cut by the mask I could walk freely.

I hurried into the subject's treatment room and found her taking her daily dosage. At first I had started her on basic, then double, and by now she was up to four times the dosage. Given her size and the extent of the genetic damage I deemed her able to take more.

"Subject one...hello. Any more memories?" I probed as I pulled a chair over to her bed. "Any complications, weakness, anything?"

Subject one turned to me. "Oh...it's you. How's Juniper?"

I resisted the urge to hit her. "Good, she's resting peacefully. But I'm here about you." I stood up and looked her over. "Any cracks, anything?"

"You will burn." she mumbled to me as she stared at out her slowly fogging eyes. "For what you did to me, for what you did to my hive, for everything."

I checked her restraints and scratched at the cracks that were growing on her scalp, her rancid green mane having fallen out a month ago. I let out a long sigh. "It's trying to heal...how...." I tried to peel away the black plates, managing to spot the smallest sliver of flesh beneath the hard black shell. "...What is your name?"

She stared at me weakly. "You know my name, yet you refuse to use it."

"Lies!" I shook her bed hard, rattling the railing and making the equipment jump. "You know who you are, why refuse to accept it!?"

She glared at me, her eyes fading noticeably in the time I had been here. "You love her don't you. You love a mare you've never even met, how sad."

I felt like killing her, like flooding her body with toxins would fix every problem she caused me. I suppressed my rage and settled back into my seat. "Save one, save them all. You are the strongest, she was the strongest, you are my chance." I adjusted her dosage, adding about ten percent more to her intake. "So, I will ask again. Why do you refuse to acknowledge who you are?"

Subject one let out a rattly groan as her eyes completely glazed over, solidifying into a solid blue green shell. She went into a heavy seizure, rattling the bed and shaking everything connected to her. I held her down and waited until the seizure passed.

Once she settled down I held my hand to her chest. I felt horribly sick as I checked my watch. "Time of death...two--"

The subject's heart raced back to life as she let out a guttural scream. "No! Off, get off!" She pulled at her restraints and started hyperventilating.

"Not another!" I yelled, pulling a box from the wall. I opened it and prepared a syringe full of sedatives. I jammed the needle into the IV and watched as her heart rate fell to a weak level. As she stabilized I sat beside her, watching as a large fissure broke the hearty breastplate in half.

Once her breathing was the only sound left in the room I pressed my hand against the fissure, digging my nail between the cracks and chipping away a large chunk of the blackened shell. I could finally see a soft patch of pure pink flesh, bare and heaving. "Is not much." I mumbled to myself. "But it's a start."

I picked up her limbs, checking where the holes had been, now covered over by a thin grey film. I rubbed my hand over them, finding them rock solid. Ecstatic with the sudden change I slumped back down in the chair. "What is your name?"

Subject one laid there for a long time, just panting and trying to regain a steady breath. "I'm...I...-" she convulsed violently. "Fuck you human! You took my eyes, you took my damned eyes!" Subject one continued to snarl and fight her bindings while I stood up and threw a blanket over her.

"A miraculous day I think." I checked my watch and rubbed her head, flakes of black shell coming off as I did. "Maybe soon I can unbind you and you can eat solid food."

"I'll eat your heart!" Subject one snarled as I walked away.

With that done it was time to clean out the bodies for the day. I waited in the hall for my new assistant to run over to me. "There you are, you never told me where to--"

"Yes yes, now bodies, how many?" I snapped and rolled my hand impatiently. "Hurry, Newton would be done by now!"

"Uh sir...there aren't any."

"What you did it already? Maybe you--"

"Sir!" my new assistant stomped his hooves. "Let me finish please.... There aren't any bodies to clean up sir. There was some vomit but somepony was already cleaning it up."

I rubbed my chin and leaned against a wall. "No bodies, nothing? No casualties?"

"No sir...that's good right!?"

I nodded offhandedly. "Yes...yes is good." I rubbed my head, letting my nails dig into my hair. "I just...I don't know what to do with myself right now." I truly had no idea what I should be doing. Half my day was cleaning out the bodies that piled up over the day. "Anyone in emergency care?"

My new assistant shook his head. "Nothing sir, like I said, some vomit, but they said the changeling was fine."

I stared at the floor. I was free, there was nothing I could do to help. In fact, anything I could do would only harm. I quickly decided to pay my respects at the red marked door and went home. This was it, I was on the edge of either complete failure or absolute success. And all I could do was wait, and so wait I did.

It felt horrible, like watching my own death grow closer on the calendar. But should I try to act, I'd run the risk of damaging a patient or causing them horrific damage.

Author's Note

This was it, I was on the edge of either complete failure or absolute success. And all I could do was wait.

This is what it's like to publish to this site. Fucking terrifying for a low level person like myself.