Outbreak

Chapter V

Assignment detail

At the bottom of a short stone staircase connecting with the back-alley of one of Canterlot's busiest streets, two white royal guard pegasi opened a steel-gated door into a small concrete room occupied by a few vending machines. The two earth pony agents had led Seymour down to the area, and now instructed him to enter.

Upon entering the room, Seymour noticed a slightly older grey unicorn stallion, mercilessly beating a nearby soda machine while dropping a slew of Stalliongrad-accented profanities. His face lit up as he remembered just who this stallion was, and an overwhelming desire to call out to him had surfaced.

"Photon!" Seymour called, alerting his target audience with a loud, cheery voice. "PHOTON!"

"...Sucking... MEAL-WORM!" the grey pony concluded, giving the machine one more thump as he turned toward Seymour. Upon seeing the stallion's face a smile soon replaced the angry scowl he had worn up to the moment. "It's about time you show up!"

The two unicorns wasted no time throwing a rough embrace around each other, Photon patting Seymour's back as he did so.

"Ohoho! My friend!" he greeted. "You are always late to party!"

"Photon, my man, how long has it been?" Seymour asked, enjoying the company of his old school companion. "I haven't seen you since we went to that electronics convention last spring!"

"I know, I know!" Photon laughed, leading his pasty companion deeper into the facility, finally bringing him into a very large concrete room, illuminated by bright overhead lights. Within the room lay several dozen steel tables, each covered with an unassuming green tarp.

"They came and took me from my office, and I wind up here with all of these chemists, biologists, I hate these guys!"

Seymour had nonchalantly turned to lean on the nearest grey table as he and Photon continued their conversation regarding their unusual reunion. Upon contact, however, the green tarp covering the table shifted, allowing a black, gnarled leg to flop out from underneath.

"Well when you get kidnapped by government lackeys, you can always be assured that there's no need to-"

"OHOOIET!" Photon swore, leaping back from the table. "Bloody hell!"

"What's the matter, buddy? You look like you've seen a- DEAR LUNA, what the hell?!" Seymour exclaimed as he noticed the source of Photon's sudden scare, stumbling back onto his haunches much like his friend. "These...! Um, these are bodies!"

"I-I think we are in the wrong place here..." Photon responded, still shaking from his previous bout of fright.

"No, if you were in the wrong place, you would have both had your memory wiped."

Both stallions cringed at the sound of a sinister, dual-toned feminine voice emanating from the far entrance of the room. Emerging from the distant doorway stood an unusually tall, intimidating insectoid creature, closely followed by two smaller, similar-looking underlings. Each of the pitch-black creatures sported a large pair of clear wings, a gnarled, black horn, and long, black legs covered in large holes.

"Photon, changelings!" Seymour exclaimed, hastily retreating from the advancing trio. "What the hell are changelings doing here?!"

"You are asking me?!" Photon answered, following suit with his glue-colored friend.

"Be not alarmed, ponies." the larger of the three commanded. "We mean you and your city no ill at this time."

"Who are you?!" Photon questioned, still shrunken back from her intimidating voice.

"Photon, she was all over the news!" Seymour responded. "She was the one who attacked canterlot with an army of changelings last year!"

"SILENCE!" demanded the female insectoid, her voice echoing on top of itself. "While it is true that our past relations with Equestria have been as hostiles, we have urgent business to take care of."

"Eeep!" Seymour squeaked as his grey friend cringed in fear.

"As we were about to explain, I am Chrysalis, queen of the changelings and ruler over the Changeling Empire." the irritated queen explained. "Ponies, everything you are to be told in this room is to remain confidential until official news is released to the press. Am I making myself clear?"

"And why should we trust you?!" Seymour refuted. "We know what you did in the past, all of Equestria does!"

"I-I agree..." Photon interjected. "This could all be a trap for all we know. We don't even know why we are here!"

"If you will allow me to explain, we can get to that!" Chrysalis barked. "And as to why you should trust us?"

"Yeah, why?" Seymour again asked.

"Because..." Chrysalis sighed. "...As much as we detest to admit our own immanent crises to you ponies, Equestria is our only allied country with enough resources to turn to in our time of need."

Both stallions sat back in silence, trying to keep as far back from the queen as possible.

"...Good." the queen spoke, taking their stunned silence as justification to continue. "Now again, nothing discussed here leaves this room until an official press release can be justified. Am I understood?"

Both stallions nodded, not wishing to escalate the situation any further.

"...Between the hours of 8:00 and 10:00 this morning, 132 of my changelings in our capitol city of Chitin... died." Chrysalis explained, a somber expression upon her face. "According to those who lingered just a bit longer than most of the others, they had all been suffering bizarre symptoms for three days before their demise."

"Bizarre symptoms?" Seymour questioned.

"How does that warrant us being here?" Photon added.

"The 132 changelings present on these tables were all working in the same sustenance manufacturing hive for at least a week prior to their afflictions in various work programs." the black and green queen furthered. "We need your assistance in order to determine exactly what happened to them, and why this tragedy occured."

"A factory?" Photon muttered, pawing his chin with a hoof. "Could it have been some sort of nerve agent? A chemical accident?"

"We looked into that already." Chrysalis dismissed. "The victims would likely have died more rapidly in the event of a toxic chemical release- likely within hours or even minutes of exposure."

Seymour sat silently, rubbing his temple while Photon took another swing at explaining the ordeal.

"Does the factory deal with any sort of nuclear materials?" he questioned. "Radiation poisoning?"

"No, radiation would have taken longer to kill them- maybe years." Chrysalis again dismissed. "We did not detect any signs of radioactive isotopes in the factory, nor did the building deal with contaminated-"

"It's biological." Seymour interrupted, causing the two to look toward him. "Some sort of disease, probably."

Chrysalis nodded her head.

"Under two minutes- your reputation is well deserved, Mr. Seymour."

"Biological?" Photon asked his companion. "How do you know for certain?"

"Well..." Seymour began. "...The way I see it, we've already ruled out two likely causes. If the deaths occurred to long after exposure to be chemical-based and too soon to be due to radiation sickness, and given the fact that we know that this was not an act of random violence due to the present lack of media coverage, it can safely be assumed that these deaths weren't just a coincidence."

"Really?"

"Also, given the fact that she sent out for us- me being a biophysicist and you an expert on weapons of mass destruction, I think I know why she called us here."

"Your reasoning skills are impressive, white one." Chrysalis praised. "We suspect that a biological agent, hereby unknown, was the cause of these deaths."

"Then why did you need us?" Photon questioned, beginning to doubt the need for the two to be present. "You seem to know what is going on..."

"You will find out soon." Chrysalis replied, motioning for her two underlings to lead the pair into another area of the concrete structure. "We have set up a bio-containment ward in this facility to better understand what could have caused this sudden outbreak. Follow us to the ward... come."

"...I have a reputation?" Seymour whispered to Photon, who gave him a quizzical look before simply shaking his head.

"His name is Dr. Seymour- a new biophysics instructor from Canterlot Royal University." Princess Celestia explained, pointing to the photograph of the young doctor on the projection screen. "He's a bit wet behind the ears when it comes to teaching, but he's one of the brightest in the business. He should be more than useful in your endeavor to find a way to bring that wall down and restore Chitin's trade and infrastructure."

"We have also enlisted the assistance of a Dr. Photon Surge." Princess Luna added. "He's a foreigner from Stalliongrad- apparently the two have known each other for several years."

"Wait a minute..." Twilight Sparkle interjected. "How are you two sure that this guy is the right fit for this sort of thing?"

"He has quite a reputation for being able to look deeper into many situations than most other ponies- a sort of deep-reasoning skill." Princess Celestia answered. "He also possesses a profound knowledge of non-equine life forms, and we believe that he may be able to come up with an answer to Chitin's wall problem."

"I see." Twilight responded. "But does he have any experience in this sort of thing? I mean, just selecting some colt for a high-level government task seems a bit... risky, don't you think?"

"Twilight, there is an inherent risk with sending anypony out of the country... I'm sure you know that." Celestia reasoned.

"Well, yes..." Twilight spoke, still unsure of the circumstances of her assignment. "But I still think we should have somepony with more experience. I mean, he could get hurt, couldn't he?"

"Twilight, you will be fine. There hasn't been any cause for alarm in the city other than the walls." Celestia assured. "This will be a quick mission- two days tops, then you will be brought back here. We've asked the queen to up her patrols of the city in order to help maintain safety."

Twilight Sparkle gazed up at the projection screen, than back at her former teacher. The elder alicorn draped a wing around her protege, giving a sincere, reassuring smile and warm embrace.

"...Twilight, I promise... you will be okay. You and Dr. Seymour both." Celestia calmed. "You two are our best shot at getting more information, and at strengthening our relationship with the changelings."

"...Princess..."

"...Twilight, don't you trust me?" Celestia's motherly voice questioned. "Don't you trust your teacher?"

"...Okay... yes, I trust you." Twilight smiled. "I always have."

Gazing once more at the projection screen, and at the profile of her new partner, Twilight Sparkle weighed out the various qualities of the white unicorn.

"...So... Dr. Seymour." she spoke to herself. "Twenty-six, biophysics professor, Canterlot native... no political experience whatsoever..."

The two remaining princesses rolled their eyes, smiling at each other. She really was still the young, cautious thinker they knew and loved.

"...And this is my partner..."