I trotted quickly with a hint of hesitation towards the office doors of Trojan Creed’s office. Security had just informed me of the destruction of Research Facility Terra, nearly half an hour after I’d been informed of a containment breach by subject Agis. My teeth ground against each other in frustration. The sheer incompetence! I’d barely left those idiots alone for three hours and they managed to make such a mess of it!

As time passed quickly over the rant in my mind I found myself in front of two large black and silver doors, showing two prancing mares engraved in silver on the corners. The doors to Creed’s office. I raised a hoof to knock. But mere milliseconds before my hoof reached the door the intercom sprang to life. “Miss Golden Genes. Please come in, I’ve been expecting you.” It was a voice that I could feel the anger emanate from; despite the small veneer of patience that attempted to hide it.

I gently pushed the doors aside and entered the cold office of Creed. It's appearance matched the temperature, black marble flooring and walls, a ceiling of rich blood red mahogany, the two walls on either side of him had large displays protected by glass containing various souvenirs and oddities from around the world. Behind him loomed a wall of enchanted windows that were completely black from the outside, but could peer outside, or cast an image of his choice, this time it appeared to be a slow moving wall of fire. Creed himself sat at a crescent shaped desk with a column also made from black marble with veins of gold on each side. Creed’s face was a cold passionless mask of indifference. His eyes, his eyes however, told a very different story; they blazed with rage and seethed like a maelstrom carrying a far deeper and darker anger. An anger more terrifying then his words could ever express. “Come closer.” He said betraying no emotion.

I closed the seemingly vast difference and stood at attention in front of his desk. He looked me over for several moments before standing and gesturing with a hoof to follow. We stopped by one of the displays as he went to a wooden cabinet and took out a large glass and bottle of whisky. He poured slowly, as the tension built in the air I could feel myself sweating. “The board is not happy, and thus I am not happy.”

I gathered the little courage I could and asked. “S-sir is everything alright? Is my job secure?”

An unexpected chuckle came from him as he finished pouring the drink, he took a slight sip, and without turning back spoke. “Is everything alright?” Another chuckle. “And of all the things to ask about” A slight note of anger was rising in his voice. “YOU ASK IF YOUR FUCKIN’ JOB IS SAFE!” Creed wheeled and hurled the glass at my head. Narrowly missing me, and shattering against one of the pillars instead. “DO YOU REALIZE THE MESS YOU’VE MADE!”

“Let me paint it very clearly for you shall I?” He said advancing on me till I felt myself pressed against the pillar. “Billions of bits in personnel, resources, and equipment from an entire facility poof up in flames. Thousands of hours of research erased. Countless prototypes all to dust. And all because you couldn’t keep your Tartarus damned dog on its leash!”

After a brief moment he asked me in a much more calm manner. “Tell me Golden. Who do you think runs things.”

I gave a shaky response hoping it would please him. “Um… You sir?”

It only seemed to anger him further. “No you stupid bitch! You’re an egghead aren’t you? Show me that brain isn’t for show. It’s the people who pay our checks. The investors, the shareholders. The. Board. Of. Directors.” He forced through clamped jaws. "AND RIGHT NOW HALF OF THEM ARE CALLING FOR MY HEAD ON A PLATTER!" Gathering himself he smoothed his suit with a hoof before taking several steps back. “To answer your previous question you need fear naught. Your job is safe… for now. Fortunately for you the backups of your research you’ve been bringing survived, so little progress on ‘Project: Blacklight’ has been lost. And the Eclipse Machine at Facility Terra was just a smaller prototype… We can recover.”

Hoping to try and drag myself from the fire I tried to bring up what he might consider good news. “Yes sir. We’ve also managed to set up some at the new facility and have readied several experimental subjects made from material gathered from Agis called-”

“Yes your hunters.” He said shocking me. “I’m aware. I’ve taken the liberty of requisitioning one along with several members of your team.” Creed said ignoring me as he stared at the wall of fire.

Anger flared in me and chased my fear away for a few scant moments. “Wha-what do you mean! They’re my team! Those hunters are my property! My research!” I stamped a hoof on the ground to emphasize my point. At which point Creed turned back to me. His look crushing any sparks of wrath beneath an iron boot.

“Let me make something very clear. Your toys are not yours. They are the company’s and I will be using one of them to clean up your blunder.” His eyes were cold and glassy like arctic ice, promising swift retribution. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-y-yes sir!” I said with a slight tremble in my legs. With a seemingly satisfied nod he made way once more for his alcohol cabinet. Gathering what strength I could in my legs, I made my way to the door. Part way through though I heard Creed call out to me.

“Golden! I want to make something clear. I want results. Should you fail like this again when the Board come calling for a head it will be yours on that platter. Not mine I assure you.” With a gulp, I took a final step, closing the door behind me.

A thin ray of light slashed through the attic window, catching the dust in its blinding illumination. One of my eyes blearily blinked open catching the light of the ray. The song of a distant bird could be heard somewhere far off. “Ah… fuck you, fucking Disney movie world.” I weakly muttered. It didn’t feel right… or at the very least real to wake up without saws, and various other dissection tools, above me.

Groaning I picked myself up, the blanket falling limply from my back in the process. I remembered feeling things like this was more a vestigial response and quickly shook away the grogginess. Looking over at the bed it appeared Bulwark was still sleeping, if the methodical rise and fall of the blankets was anything to go by.

Carefully I made my way to the door and gently walked down the stairs. On my way down I passed several family photos on the wall showing the family, and another mare who I had not met with a white mane and golden coat was present in them. Peeking my head out from the stairs into the living room, and listening for the kitchen. I confirmed I seemed to be the first one up.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity to deal with the problem I’d promised to take care of without curious Ponies I left through the door. A little way from the house, on the side opposite from the wagons. I found a small dirt path, trodden into the hard ground from years of service. As I put more distance between me and the house I became more comfortable and reverted back into my human form.

The path wound through the forest and further up the mountain, the path seemingly becoming more uneven as time went on. Finally light once again began to peek through the dense trees. Emerging into a clearing I was greeted by the sight of something I certainly didn’t expect. I stared up at a large metal wall, if I had to guess about seven feet tall and made of steel, barbed wire about as thick as my human arm and spikes as thick as a finger at their base.

There was a large gate in front of me but it was chained up and I couldn’t see the other side. Sighing to myself I tried to think back to the conversation from last night. The memory of Scruffed mentioning the Ram he wanted me to get rid of making a hole struck me. Getting to work I started walking alongside the wall searching for the hole.

Partway around the perimeter though I facepalmed. I’m a dumbass. I thought. I was still thinking like an ordinary person. With my body the way it currently was I could have just jumped over. But I continued to press onward, because I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about the damage this thing inflicted.

After about ten minutes I came to a large break in the fence; metal bowed inward and several spires of broken metal stuck out of the ground, thrown from the fence. If I had to guess I’d say it would take two of me laying head to toe to bridge the gap in the fence. Whistling with a little awe I stepped in and got my first good look at a Herculean Ram.

They were about eight feet at the shoulder. With long horns that swept back before curling back around. Thick cords of muscle tensed beneath coarse tan fur. Huh. So that’s what a young Arnold Schwarzenegger would look like as a goat. A small herd of them grazed about fifty feet away.

But the herd itself wasn’t what caught my attention. It’s back was turned to me but standing at the edges of the herd was a large black one, several feet taller, that shook the ground with each pounding step. Several additional black horns decorated the bridge of its snout. As it stopped it sniffed the air as if sensing me and turned to face me.

It was as it set it’s orange eyes on me that something clicked about why this one was so much more strange. It’s been infected with the Blacklight virus! It’s eyes shone a furious and blazing orange, like a pit of fire, pupils contracting into an unnatural slit. It lowered its head raking the ground with a hoof, a jet of steam blasted from its nose, and a decidedly not Ram-like growl reverberated through its chest.

Oh shit. Spinning on a dime I spirited along the wall, throwing up swaths of grass behind me. Moments after I heard, and more importantly felt, the rhythmic pounding of thunderous hooves behind me. Going against my better judgement I looked over my shoulder to see the black Ram behind me. Worst of all it was gaining. Must go faster! Must go faster! I put everything I had into running. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t outpace it.

Umph. Suddenly my feet left from under me and a large horn appeared as I was impaled through my chest. First I saw sky than I saw ground as it sunk me further on its horn before slamming me into the ground. That didn’t stop its ceaseless charge though, it actually picked up speed. Using my body like some kind of plow it carved a large groove into the ground with me.

Sometime between spitting out mouthfuls of dirt a thought came to me. Wait I can get out of this! With some effort, which was much harder in the current situation, I managed to change my body into a wild swarm of viral tendrils. Sliding around the Ram I regroup and reformed my body several feet behind it.

The Ram noticed quicker than I would have liked and slid to a halt. Facing me it got ready to charge again. Knowing what would happen though I wasn’t about to let history repeat. Squaring my shoulders, and giving them a pop, I slammed my hands together as they changed into their muscle mass form. “Alright you roided out mountain climbing bitch. I’m tired of this, and can’t risk taking much longer with this. Now we can do this the hard way or the… harder way. Your choice.”

A bull-like bellow accompanied by another puff of smoke was the answer. “Harder way it is!” I rolled my neck popping it, and threw out a few experimental jabs. Before I made a come on motion with my hand. Big black took my invitation gladly. I stood still as stone till we were down to the last several feet between us. Which is when I made a dash to sidestep, avoiding the charge by the skin of my teeth. Without even looking I used the momentum in my dodge to turn and throw a punch into its gut.

From the reaction though it did little more than piss it off. Jumping away I tried my best to put distance between us to give me time to think. That was like a normal human punching a grizzly bear! As much as I hated it I would have to think my way out of this one. Hide is too thick. Brute force ain’t going to get me through it, and if I want to do any real damage I’ll have to destroy it from the inside out. Punching it will only piss it off.

Dodging another charge it was when the horn of the Ram nearly took my face off I remembered something. The opening. Thinking back in my mind I pictured the jagged metal spikes from the destroyed section of wall. Another close miss and I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted. “Your mother must have been an obese lamb with how slow you move!” For good measure I scooped up a hunk of earth and threw it in the Ram’s eye.

A weak laugh escaped my mouth before a much more roar like sound bellowed from him. “Oh shit. I might have pissed him off to much!” Abandoning any pretense of fighting I bobbed and weaved a path leading us back towards the opening. To my benefit I think the dirt in its eye slowed it down.

Up ahead I saw the perfect point. Most of the shards in the ground were to small. But still partially attached to the wall was one of the broken vertical supports. Which right now was pointed inward with a jagged end at chest level to the Ram. Checking behind me again I saw there was still several meters between us. Spinning I rooted my feet to the ground, literally, and threw my arms out in front. Using the precious seconds left I spread the roots further to brace myself.

It wasn’t enough however. As I grappled its horns with my arms it was only delayed for a moment. I found myself being pushed back quicker than I would have liked. Gathering every ounce of strength I had left I dragged myself down with the roots and fought to lift him up. Aided by its momentum it tumbled above my head. Swinging with as much force as I could gather I slammed it into the spike.

Catching my breath I gather myself up and admired my handy work, patting it on the flank. “Ya put up a good fight, but in the en-” A gruff snort erupted from it. I heard the grinding of bone on metal as it attempted to pull itself off. I let out a low whistle. “Damn still kickin’ huh.” Had to admit it was impressive. Suspicion began to bubble in me. Just how strong is its Virus? Is it infected with my strain?

Focusing on myself for a second I tried to tune everything out. I focused on the virus. Myself every minute fraction of me to the lowest cell focused solely on the connection between each one, working in tandem. Opening my eyes the world went various shades of gray. The only things that stood out were the Ram in front of me, its blood, and myself which were all a deep red.

I threw a fist up in the air as a little whoop of victory. I’d managed to switch over to my own sort of viral sense all on my own. It also alerted me to everything nearby for a couple hundred feet. It helped me confirm that the other fifty or so Rams weren’t infected. The virus in big black I could also tell was a little different from mine, incomplete.

Stark’s memories flooded back to me and I recalled him speaking to a security officer. Handing off a case with a ‘sterile’ form of the virus for testing on local wildlife.

I was brought out of my victory musings by the grind of metal. The Ram had been impaled completely with the tip poking out the other side of his chest. By now though he’d nearly pulled himself off.

“If I can’t beat you from the outside. I’ll do it from the inside.” With a short breath and a little shake of the body I dispersed into a swarm of tendrils. Worming my way along the spike I slid into the wound in his chest. Inch by inch I spread myself throughout him, my senses could make out some discomforted braying.

Skin pulsed and pushed, it’s eyes flared, and in one massive burst I devoured it down to the last cell. The sudden surge in biomass and genetic information causing me to explode outward. A few seconds after the explosion began to slow and sucked itself-myself up in a much smaller implosion.

I laugh out a deep laugh as I could feel some new power course through me. It was intoxicating on a whole new level. Looking down I saw I’d changed. My skin was an almost leathery black, with it hardening into almost plate like sections over large portions of muscle. Coursing beneath the breaks in it were a red bioluminescence. All in all it shared the same appearance the virus did when in an unaltered state.

Bringing a hand up to my face I rotated it getting a good look. Their appearance had changed like the rest of me and in the place of fingers were small claws, grooves marking serrated edges to them. My toes had gone through the same change.

Looking for a reflective surface I found a clean enough spot on the wall and got a good look at my face. Looping around on both sides of my head were ram horns, along with a smaller serrated one in the center of my forehead. Splaying from the back of my head was a group of tendrils that seemed to be trying to pass for hair, but were as thick as dread. My eyes were missing as was my nose. My mouth was present though, but my lips were not. So my mouth was a collection of well ordered fangs.

I like out another deep chuckle to myself. “Looks like somebody’s armored up now!” Though I’ll admit the mouth was a bit strange. To my knowledge armored forms typically lost facial features, but then again Heller had eyes in his.

While I was appreciating my new form I suddenly fell to one knee. My appearance changed back to normal and I clawed at my chest with my right hand. Chest aching and organs pounding, virus worked into a frenzy. Frankly I felt tired as hell. “Guess that took more out of me than expected.”

Thinking back that thing managed to get a few good hits on me. I’d lost quite a bit of biomass, and I was definitely feeling it. Couple more missing chest cavities and I would’ve been out for good.

Taking a few deep breaths, out of habit more than anything. I gathered my strength and began making my way back down the mountain path. Once I could catch glimpses of the house through the trees and could make out talking I changed back to Stark.

Emerging from the trees I saw the entire family gathered around a packed wagon. Bulwark stood at the front hooked into the harness, seeming ready to leave. Scruffed noticed me and waved me over.

Putting a hoof on my shoulder his eyes held a questioning look. “Where were ya boy? We missed ya at breakfast. Don’t tell me you tried to get rid of that thing on yer own!” A slight note of panic entered is voice in the last part. But his worry was quickly dismissed once he looked me over and he saw I wasn’t hurt. “Is-is it done than? How?”

With an awkward chuckle I rubbed the back of my head with a hoof. “It took a while, but eventually got it done. In the end I just ended up making an illusion of a rival male and lured him out through the hole.”

“Well ya have mah thanks Stark. Thanks to you my family can get back to work.” With a chuckle he added. “And if you could probably tell from the wall to keep them in this business isn’t exactly one where you can skimp on payments!” As if remembering something important he winced. “Almost forgot!” Reaching back he unhooked a pair of saddlebags from his back. Hoisting them around with his hoof he offered them to me. “Here. Consider it a parting gift and a thank you from mah family.”

“Oh… you really don-” He pushed them out again.

“Wasn’t askin’ boy. Whether you believe it or not you’ve helped my family a great deal. Besides we would’ve given ‘em to ya anyway we heard about what happened to your wagon. Ain’t much, some bits and food, but should be enough to get you started again.” I briefly considered levitating them onto my back but decided against it and took them by hoof for a more personal measure.

“Thank you sir. I’ll take good care of them.”

With a slight grin he said. “Screw the bags! If you want to make sure something comes back in one piece make it mah boy!” We both shared a laugh and to my surprise he pulled me into a hug. “You stay safe now.”

Bulwark finished another round of goodbyes before we began down the path. Right before we were out of earshot Scruffed yelled down. “Don’t forget what I said! Bring him back in one piece!”

Author's Note

This chapter brought to you by a sleep deprived madman listening to metal Tibetan throat singing on loop.