Outbreak

Chapter VI

Ravaged

Back with the changeling queen, Doctors Seymour and Photon stood in a small, white-walled room illuminated by a single hanging light. The queen’s two underlings entered the room soon after the trio had arrived, carrying a large steel cart covered in various surgical tools and supplies.

“What is this place?” Seymour questioned, staring down at what he presumed to be another body lying under a white tarp on a cold, grey table similar to those in the larger room.

“The air is thick with freshener… It is making me sick.” Photon complained, holding a hoof over his nose. “Some sort of makeshift laboratory?”

“You catch on quickly… for a pony.” Chrysalis confirmed in her self-echoing voice. “You will be begging for more freshener within a few moments.”

Waving a hole-covered wing, Chrysalis silently instructed her servants to remove the tarp from the table. Once this demand was issued, the queen dismissed her underlings- levitating two plastic visors from a nearby table up to the pair of unicorns.

“Use these…” she instructed, causing the two stallions to strap on their masks.

Once each of the three were masked, the queen draped a sterile white apron around her neck, the garment covering the front of her body to prevent contamination to her torso and front legs.

Next, she pulled back the apron, revealing all of the gruesome sight within.

*FWOOSH*

“AYE, EBAT’ COPAT!” Photon cursed, reeling back from the sight. “Uugh, that is rancid!”

“Holy hell, is that a changeling?!” Seymour gagged. “That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen!”

The sight was more than vile, to say the least. Underneath the tarp lie a dead changeling- skin beginning to fall away from the edges of the body’s fine details. The corpse lay in a puddle of dark fluid which oozed from every bodily orifice- anus, mouth, ears, and eyes- giving off an absolutely putrid odor which immediately filled the room.

“Uugh, that thing reeks!” Seymour exclaimed, facing away from the disturbing scene.

“Collect yourselves… these are my spawn dying here!” Chrysalis barked. “We have work to do!”

“Ulp… s-sorry…” Seymour apologized. “I didn’t think I’d see something this… disturbing today.”

“Forgiven.” Chrysalis panned. “Now, back to the task at hand.”

“Are all of the bodies like this?” Photon questioned the insect empress.

“Affirmative.” Queen Chrysalis confirmed. “The victim before you displays the evidence of late-stage symptoms. Each case develops into this severe level of hemorrhaging within twenty-four to thirty hours of the first symptom onset, depending on various individual factors concerning each changeling.”

“I haven’t seen anything like this before...” Seymour interjected. “I’ve never seen these sort of symptoms in anything other than books.”

“We are unsure of exactly what has happened as well.” Chrysalis continued, grasping a scalpel in her dark-green aura. “But the worst is still to come, brace your gastrointestinal tracts.”

“Oh, this ought to be good…” Seymour whispered to his grey companion.

“Early symptoms resemble Pathogen E-123-7B.” Chrysalis explained.

“What now?” Photon questioned, having not a clue what the queen just spoke.

“Curse translation…” Chrysalis hissed. “It resembles typical influenza in pony terminology.”

“The flu…” Seymour added. “So acute, mid-grade fever and body aches?”

“Yes.” the queen confirmed, leveling her blade just above the fallen changeling’s midsection. “Within the span of a day, the symptoms progress rapidly into delirium, seizures, and severe internal and external bleeding. Fever elevates to very high grade.”

With a quick jab, Chrysalis buried the scalpel blade in the changeling’s torso, easily piercing the creature’s ribcage. A sickening slicing sound followed as she dragged the blade down vertically, opening the victim’s chest to reveal the horrors inside.

“Within three days, each changeling infected looked like this.”

“…Mother of Celestia…”

The inside of the changeling was an even greater mess than the outside- organs were perforated, mushy, or even dissolved altogether. Nearby bones had become porous and spongy. The odd illness had essentially turned the poor insect into a walking bag of dark-red soup.

“…A tragic sight, and a haunting one.”

“…What could have done something like this…?” Photon asked, visibly sickened at the mere sight of the changeling’s melted insides. “I do not believe there has ever been something this insane to pop up anywhere near Equestria.”

“My worries exactly- we believe that this may be an emergent disease, one never observed before.” Chrysalis spoke. “From this first outbreak, the mortality rate is one-hundred percent… all infected have died.”

“…My word...” Seymour sighed. “A hundred percent… How do you think the disease got to spread? There seem to be a very high number of victims in the span of a very small place… do you have any reason to believe that this could be airborne?”

“We do not believe so.” Chrysalis dismissed. “If it were airborne, the disease could have easily spread to hundreds more through the plant’s ventilation system.”

“Well, if the disease is not airborne, wouldn’t the changelings need to be in direct contact to spread the pathogen?” Photon reasoned. “Were all of these changelings on the same floor? The same area of the factory?”

“That is correct.” Chrysalis credited. “Of the 132 changelings infected, 57 of them worked on the same refining line on the top level of the plant. Each worked in close proximity to each other, maybe a few feet between each worker. Once the symptoms set in, they were taken care of by on site staff, while those at home rested in their family cavities- spreading whatever this disease may be to them.”

Seymour stroked his chin with a hoof before speaking up.

“Were there any medical staff ill?” Seymour inquired, now beginning to put each piece together.

“All medical staff on the affected floor became infected.” Chrysalis affirmed. “We have reason to believe-”

“That the illness is spread through direct contact with infected fluids… perfect.” Seymour interrupted.

“…Explain why your guess matches ours.” demanded Chrysalis.

“Well, if the disease was airborne, we would likely have seen significantly more workers and family members infected, but only one floor was ever exposed, even as those infected entered and left the building.” Seymour explained. “If 57 workers from a single floor on a sustenance processing factory became ill, they would have needed to come in contact with some sort of infected substance on the line, likely before treated with heat, cold, or chemicals. Let’s see… did this floor deal with processing animal tissue for food? I am well aware that changelings are not herbivorous by nature… and mainly resort to feeding upon emotion during shortages of food or abundances of love.”

“…Hmm… you are good.” Chrysalis complimented. “We deal with blorths on that floor- a large form of grub raised and used for food as livestock. Their meat is cut in the area where the infection occurred- blood is a common factor, it gets everywhere.”

“Well, I’d say we’ve found a reasonable explanation for the tragedy at hand…” Seymour surmised. “An unknown disease spread by direct fluid contact, high mortality rate, and we know where the outbreak originated.”

“Are we done here?” Photon asked, hoping for the best.

“Almost.” answered the bug queen. “We still have one more question to tackle… and we need an answer immediately. News of this outbreak hits Changeling News Network and the Equestrian Department of National Security in an hour.”

“What more could we need?” spoke Seymour.

“We need to know if this and our current barrier problem are connected…” Chrysalis concluded. “…Could this have been an act of war?”

ORDER 215 READY FOR PICKUP!

About thirty minutes had passed since Twilight Sparkle had been briefed on her upcoming assignment and the details of her new partner- just enough time for her to grab a bit of comfort food at Hayburger in a nearby food court pavilion. She didn’t need much just enough to give her a little bit of an emotional boost after such a stressful day.

“Here you go, your highness!” chirped a cheery young colt at the register. “Your total comes to twenty-one bits and four cents.”

“Thank you… and please, you can just call me Twilight.” she suggested, laying three ten-bit coins on the counter. “You can keep the change.”

“A nine-bit tip?” spoke the counter colt. “That’s awfully generous of you. Thanks!”

“Oh, you’re welcome…” Twilight chuckled. “Well, I’d better get going… thanks again.”

Twilight didn’t really feel like eating in public at the moment- she just wanted some peace and quiet to reflect upon her day. Only one place could satisfy her need for solitary comfort better than anywhere else- the Starswirl the Bearded Wing in the nearby Canterlot Archives. She knew that with the area being off limits to civilians, she could just find a place to sit down, eat in peace, and try to think of a way to salvage her friendship with Flash Sentry, whom she had emotionally crushed earlier despite her best efforts.

Shortly after arrival to the wing, Twilight picked a nice, comfy spot by a stained-glass window. Once seated, Twilight removed several items from her paper order bag- items including three double cheese Hayburgers, a grilled Hay supreme, two large orders of horseshoe fries, fried cheese curds, extra-large diet cola, and a chocolate milkshake. Taking hold of her supreme in her hooves, Twilight sighed in ecstasy once she sunk her teeth into the large, three-patty Hayburger, moaning in delight as sauce splattered her cheeks, a stray pickle exiting from the other side of her sandwich, delicious, pure soulful…

“Comfort food, Twilight?”

“P-Primfesh!” Twilight yelped through a face full of burger, launching chunks of hay onto the floor. Quickly swallowing her food, she tried to hide her embarrassment as well as she could. “I-I can explain…! I was just-”

“Twilight… it’s okay.” Princess Celestia eased, her motherly voice easily calming down the startled young alicorn.

“Princess Celestia… how did you find out that I was here?” Twilight questioned, beginning to regain her calm demeanor.

“Twilight, I know you too well for you to hide from me.” Celestia chuckled. “I just wanted to follow up on my promise from earlier…”

“…Earlier promise?”

“Flash Sentry…” the princess explained. “I recall that you were having some emotional troubles after your recent meeting… Would you like to talk about it? Just you and I?”

“…I would really appreciate that…” responded the distraught purple princess. “…you want me to begin with this afternoon?”

“I can spare some time before your partner arrives… why don’t you start from the beginning?”

“…Okay.” Twilight agreed, shifting to become more comfortable. She knew that this would be a long talk, and that her emotional fortitude would be tested at each turn. Gathering all of the mental notes she could pull up on the orange pegasus, Twilight began in her explanation. “I first met Flash Sentry after Spike and I went through the dimensional mirror in the Crystal Empire seven months ago.”

“When Sunset Shimmer stole the Element of Magic?” Celestia asked.

“Yeah…” answered Twilight, popping a horseshoe fry into her mouth. “While we were there, he really helped me to keep on my hooves…er, feet… when Sunset tried to throw a wrench in my quest to get my crown back. Believe it or not, he knew Sunset Shimmer, and dated her before discovering the kind of person she had become.”

“Really? He helped you to complete your mission?” Celestia inquired, thoroughly curious.

“He actually helped me to get the crown back in the end- you know, when Sunset went all demon-witch thing…”

“I never realized he played such a pivotal role in that whole ordeal…” Celestia responded, somewhat surprised at what she was hearing. “Continue?”

“Y-Yeah.” Twilight affirmed. “After the whole ordeal was over and Sunset showed remorse… he asked me to dance with him at the fall formal…”

“Did you?” Celestia questioned again.

“…Yeah… I really liked it, like a lot.” Twilight continued, a blush growing on her face as she smiled at the fond memory. “It just… felt so nice. He was just so wonderful, nicer than any other stallion I’d ever met- even when I met his pony form after returning home- he’s just the same.”

“…I suppose you had a bit of a crush on this Flash Sentry?” Celestia asked, draping a warm wing over Twilight’s shoulder.

“…Maybe I did… at one time.” Twilight confessed. “But I just don’t know for sure… I mean, he did make me fell things that nopony ever made me feel before.”

“Twilight… I think I know where this is going.” Princess Celestia tried to comfort. “I just want to make it clear to you that it’s okay to be unsure about a new feeling… especially if somepony else makes you feel that way.”

“I thought maybe I had found something in him that I hadn’t ever found before… but it just didn’t last for me.” Twilight continued. “The next time I met him was when Discord put Cadence and I through Tartarus on one of his little pranks. He stood on the train platform as a guard. We looked at each other for a while… he seemed shy, now that I think about it. But I guess I really didn’t even feel… well, anything that time- I just smiled and waved like some school filly to a passing friend.”

“So…” intervened the sun goddess. “…You believe that you were just going through a little crush before, and you didn’t feel that way for long?”

“Yes… the problem really came about today at lunch when Cadence and Shining told me about how he always had, you know…” Twilight spoke. “…Special feelings for me. They told me about how he always talked about me, how he always got excited when I came to visit, even how he admired my looks when I would pass by him.”

“But you don’t think of him the same way, do you?” guessed Celestia.

“…I owe him everything for all he’s done to help me and my friends in the other world. He’s just a truly wonderful stallion, and I couldn’t bear to lose him as a friend… but I’m just not interested in a romantic relationship with the guy. So when he showed up at my door today with flowers, acted all nervous, even fainted on my doorstep-”

“You set him straight?”

Twilight did not speak, she simply nodded her head.

“…Twilight, I understand.” Celestia cooed. “You really admire him and everything he’s done for you, that’s wonderful. But he just feels something for you that you just don’t feel ready to return. No pony can force you into a relationship if you don’t want to get into one.”

“I know… and I’m happy that I got my feelings off of my chest in as direct of a way that I could.” responded the young princess, continuing her somber tone and facial gestures. “But after I saw what happened to him when I dropped that confession, I just can’t seem to live with myself.”

“He didn’t take it well… did he?” Celestia suggested.

“I just wanted him and I to be able to keep our friendship. I want him to find somepony that he’d truly fall in love with, not some insecure little filly like me. I told him that I only wanted him to be happy.” Twilight concluded.

“Twilight… It’s okay… really.” Celestia continued to comfort. “He will find somepony to truly be happy with… I just know a fine young stallion like him will.”

“But then he said…”

“He said?”

“…He said that I made him happier than anything else.”

“…I see.”

*Knock* *Knock*

The two princesses turned to find one of Celestia’s royal guards gently knocking on the doorframe into the private wing. He seemed to be attempting courtesy by doing so, but Celestia had an idea of what his arrival would mean for the two.

“Your highness?” the guard called.

“Yes, my assistant… what do you request?” Celestia calmly and comfortably answered.

“The professor you wished to summon has arrived.” explained the white pegasus guard. “He is waiting in the grand foyer right now.”

“Understood.” Celestia replied. “Carry on.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The guard turned and left the two to their business. With the knowledge that her hand-selected partner for Twilight had arrived, she turned to her former pupil and uttered a gentle command.

“Twilight... It’s time to go.”