Outbreak

Chapter IV

Foreign Affairs 101

The dimmed lights of the conference room occupied by Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle served a quiet yet effective backdrop for a rather serious topic. Upon the illuminated projection screen lay two photographs depicting black-and-white scenes taken from the air over some city surrounded by huge, black walls. Twilight Sparkle sipped at her complimentary water as she listened to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna brief her on the images.

"As you already know, on the southeast of the Changeling Kingdom lies a port city named Chitin..." Celestia explained, pointing a hoof to one of the photographs on screen. "The area is roughly fifteen square kilometers in size, and holds a population of more than two million changelings- it is the second most densely populated city in the kingdom. This city is also home to the Central Hive, where our now neutral neighbor Queen Chrysalis resides."

"But herein lies the problem..." Luna added. "Roughly a week ago, the city and its surrounding provinces were surrounded almost overnight by a huge, impassible wall of a mysterious black substance which we have deemed to be living tissue... based on samples taken from the scene. This wall is proving to be quite a detriment to the city's trading capability."

"Alright then... So we have a huge city in a now loosely allied kingdom, and their trade industry is suffering due to the rapid construction of some huge wall of bug flesh?" Twilight tried to surmise.

"Correct." Celestia affirmed. "The only problem is, we have no Idea who or what could have been behind this wall's construction. We're sending teams to investigate, but we haven't had any success. Whomever is responsible has flawlessly covered their tracks and left not a trace in their wake."

Twilight Sparkle already had one idea.

"I'll bet this was just another of the queen's misdeeds." she claimed. "We've seen what that witch is capable of, and you of all ponies should know..."

"Chrysalis is the one who sent the distress call in the first place." Princess Luna interjected, causing Twilight to gain a confused look on her face.

"What?" Twilight questioned, still surprised from the answer she had previously attained. "SHE sent the call? SHE wants US to help HER?!"

"Twilight, you forget that you were an ambassador to the kingdom... we have every reason to believe that all of her misdeeds were only for the well-being of her spawn, even the attack on Canterlot more than a year ago." Princess Celestia reasoned, trying to make the skeptical mare understand. "Sometimes you need to trust even those who have wronged you in order to make things right, and right now, this is the only lead we have into whatever is happening in Chitin."

"But princess, we can't forgive what she's done to us!" Twilight argued. "We were lucky that nopony was killed when she attacked the city!"

"Twilight, please try to understand..." Princess Celestia pleaded. "The queen has met with us in private since the events in Chitin began. We could feel the worry in her voice, the way she behaved... her fear for her children was real. Twilight, you must just give her a chance... think of all of the other ponies that you gave a second chance- Luna, Trixie Lulamoon, Sunset Shimmer, Discord..."

"Princess..."

"Twilight, you have more of a natural talent for gaining the trust and friendship of others than anypony I have ever seen." Celestia concluded. "You're the best chance we have to help our new allies and build their trust... only you can face such a task with any hope of succeding."

Twilight Sparkle knew deep down that her mentor was right. Even when she had met with the queen in person during her peace talks, she could sense that something about Queen Chrysalis was different, and not in a negative way. If she could give Discord and Luna a chance at redemption, with success in both cases, perhaps she could give this former menace the same opportunity.

"...Okay." Twilight accepted. "I'll go and speak with Queen Chrysalis."

Celestia sighed, smiling.

"Thank you, Twilight... I knew you would make the right decision."

Princess Luna stepped into the conversation once more, pointing back up to the monitor where a large, detailed picture of the wall was presented.

"From what we know, the walls surrounding the city seem to be highly resistant to trauma. Even if breached, the wall will repair itself within seconds." she explained. "We have reason to believe that the right sort of chemical weapon could be effective in damaging the wall permanently. For that, you will need backup on this mission."

"Backup? Why not just my friends? The elements?"

"We don't want to lose you or have you in any danger, we assure you." Celestia eased. "But we can't just send in the elements... we don't know how the queen would react if we did. We're pairing you up with somepony we've hand picked for the task- you will be meeting with him this evening when he arrives."

"You assigned me a partner?" Twilight asked. "Who?"

"RIBONUCLEIC ACID- RNA." called a masculine, but somewhat geeky voice to a class of adult ponies in Canterlot's Royal University. Two ponies- one a blue pegasus and the other a green earth pony, stood near a chalkboard at the front of the room, listening to the eccentric speaker drone on while covering the black slate with complex terminology and diagrams. "Now, if we know that DNA, Deoxyribonucleic Acid- the source of all of our various traits which make us different from each other- is composed of a double-stranded helix of nucleotides and sugar, and that RNA is the product of splitting this helix in half,  we can essentially view this little strand..."

The professor finally turned to his students as he concluded his lecture. The stallion, a snow-white unicorn with a tar-black mane covering his temples, wore a set of round, nose-hugging glasses, which he adjusted with the white aura from his rather long unicorn horn that parted his long, black hair. His coat and mane were well-accentuated by a crisp, black leather jacket.

"...As the basic blueprint for our little friend the virus- bane of ponykind for millenia."

The class gave the professor a typical look- complete with some bright students paying close attention, while the rest either slept at their desk or conversed quietly with neighbors. Gazing up to the far-left corner of the auditorium, the preaching stallion had noticed one student appearing to be distracted in her own personal beauty.

“…How are the hooves coming along Crystal Flare?” The stallion asked from across the room, to which the nail-filing pony would immediately shrink back into her seat, hiding the tools of her vanity under the desk.

“…That’s what I figured.” he spoke, gaining a slight rumble of laughter from the rest of the class.

"...Anyway, this is a corona virus- one of the more standard designs." the white stallion instructed, pointing out a spherical diagram covered in protruding spikes on the blackboard. "Real softie, she isn't that hard to beat down. Just give her some flowers, nice romantic talk, a heavy dose of anti-symptom medication like Poniflu, I can't get a hold of any of that stuff in flu season but always worth a try. This is what we can see in the Common Cold, the flu, up towards more damaging viruses such as..."

The stallion stopped as something caught his eye. In the doorway at the bottom of the large lecture hall stood two rather beefy Earth Ponies dressed in black, sunglasses obscuring their eyes.

"...Can I help you?" the professor questioned.

"Mr. Seymour, if we're correct?" one stallion questioned without any expression.

"Maybe." the professor chuckled.

"...Yes or no, please." the same stallion questioned, beginning to get irritated.

"Uh, the first one." Professor Seymour answered, still keeping a dose of humor in the air. "Is something up?"

"We would appreciate if you would come with us, sir." the other black-dressed stallion spoke, flashing a silver badge.

"Am I in trouble?" Seymour questioned, fiddling with the collar of his jacket as the two men lead him across the campus greenway, positioned on his right and left side. "What's going on?"

"We don't know, sir." The stallion to his right answered. "Your security clearance is higher than ours."

"I have security clearance?" Seymour questioned, now even more confused than before.

"We're just here to take you to your train, sir." the stallion again instructed.

"...I have a train?"