Fallout Equestria: After Burn
A Sight for Singed Eyes.

My days here at the office aren't necessarily bad considering my ass mark states I'm good at my job. I'm currently sitting in my lab just next door to my office, a lab in which I study and examine the infections daily. Today is the day Bronze is scheduled to operate on and he hasn't showed up yet, I'll use my time wisely and figure out what exactly this infection is while I wait for him.

I wrap my nearby syringe with my magic and levitate it over to the bottle of moss looking residue inside of the bottle. Whatever this stuff is certainly is unlike anything I've seen, it's got the same texture as moss and the scent of it smells like charcoal. I carefully dip my syringe into a bottle of calcium chloride and squirt a bit of it on the residue, noticing nothing happening, I move on to the next chemical, testing all of them to make sure everythin--

“Oh ho ho! Is it my good ol’ Doctor comrade I see?” shouts a voice in the same direction as the door to my lab. I recognize that voice, not in a good way either. That's Wick, the local nutcase.

Wick shoves the door open, swinging it against the wall with a loud thump, “Hello hello hello hello hello my friendorino!”

I look up to him with unamusement spread across my face, “Look, Wick you can't keep coming in here, for fuck sake You almost broke the door. Now get out.”

“Oh come now Diphead, I've only come with a peace offering! A gift of sorts!”

“A gift? And what would I possibly need?”

“The gift is me!”

I give him an emotionless look before responding strictly, “Is there a receipt?”

Wick chuckles for longer than he probably should have before wandering up beside me, being surprisingly silent and watching me thoroughly. He always comes in here when I'm working and fucks with me, he's a lunatic. Despite the therapist being here, he comes to me as if I'm his personal therapist.

“Look Dippy, I'm not here to fuck up your school projects, I'm here to ask you something, about that cold stuff.”

“When did I allow you to call me Dippy? It's not school projects, it's not a cold and it's not a subject I'm talking about with a non doctor, especially you.”

“Come now Doctor, what is it you're doing in here? Fumbling with silly chemicals and pouring them on your carpet looking herpes until what? It magically goes away?”

“I'm testing whether it reacts to certain chemicals so if one affects it in a dramatic and possibly infection killing way, we'll be alright.”

He glared at me and begins to laugh rather high pitched. I give him a blank stare and put down my equipment and turn to him. His eyes are fire red at all times, I've been worried yet careful around him. He looks as if he would kill off this entire Stable just for fun. He suffers with personality and mood disorders along with mild schizophrenia. The therapist has given him multiple medications to treat these problems but we aren't sure if he's taken them in a while. We aren't sure if he would go mad and kill somepony but he is smoothed by fire when on the medication and he turns violent with a mixture of euphoria when he sees fire while he is off the medication. We often light a match near him to see how he reacts to the flame.

“Have you been taking your medication like the therapist told you?”

“Oh? Oh! That little placebo you insist on giving me is inDEED inside of me, I still have no idea why you inform me of these so called ‘problems’ you think I have.”

He's delusional.

I roll my eyes and head into my office, I'm not leaving him in my lab alone so I gesture him to come to my office and he lights up in happiness. He skips merrily inside. My office, mind you, isn't the cleanest nor is it organized. Scattered paper and folders line my--

“Hey!” I shout as I see Wick rush to my desk and begin looking through my papers, all the while saying 'ooo’ at each page. I see several pages from behind him, case files of all the residents with the infection. One stands out to me in particular, Bronze.

“Ah? What's up with these lot Doctor? They seem a little sick.. Of course they're sick, Wick you IDIOT! They've got that cold or some shit. I know! Don't talk to me like that or I'll ha--”

“Wick..” ,He does this frequently, he has conversations with himself but when his other half speaks he gives it an Australian accent. The medication doesn't help that. I speak up and wander behind my desk and take the papers from him while he talks to himself. “Stop going through my things, honestly I'm surprised I even let you inside here. Now head off to your room now.”

Wick mumbles under his breath and nods before heading out the door. “Look! He kicked you out, you're a fucking idiot. Enough! I will not be harassed by myself, you aren't real. You are real but.. but not now! Or maybe.. in a few seconds because I'll… Wait.. what the heck was I saying again?”

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It feels like the same day yet the day has passed and I’m still inside of my office. I shuffle through my folders and papers, trying desperately to clean up a little despite my tiredness. Several documents line my desk and I take a quick glance over each of them before putting them in their proper files, but there’s a few I look over a bit more than usual. I get worried about the infection every single day but it feels like nothing is done about it in this place with just me worrying about it. I’m the only real doctor able to study these infections and even that isn’t helping. I pick up a case file and glance at it’s information. I begin to read aloud, “Blue Crest, Age 23, noticed the symptoms of the pony on July 12th and began observing the symptoms. Update: July 22nd, the current date, no new symptoms have been appearing. Patient seems like she’s fighting back against the infection rather well.” I grumble and set the paper down. At least SOME ponies are dealing with it better than others. I find another and begin reading it as well, letting the words sink in my head, “Cracked Quartz, Age 20, noticed the symptoms of the pony on July 15th and began observing the symptoms. Update: July 20th..” I trail off and look back down to my desk only to mumble the last bit of the page, “...patient died of infection at 23:00.” It’s horrible to think that such a young pony died so quickly, only in a span of 5 days but that doesn’t make any sense! Why can one pony survive the infection but some die super quickly, I just don’t understand the infection, it’s almost like a cold but at the same time both ponies had similar metabolisms so that just couldn’t be it. I put my head on the table and notice a piece of paper just where my head is, I bring it up to my face and examine it. It’s Bronze’s case file, the stallion has yet to show up for his examination and I’m honestly worried I’ll lose another patient at the hooves of this infection. He was shown to have the symptoms of the infection around July 4th, one of the earliest members to receive it. He has had rather intense symptoms than the rest and I’m studying him specifically to see what the infection attacks first and perhaps stop it in it’s track to see it’s next move. I’ve got to find him, he has to be around here somewhere. Perhaps he’s hold up in his room? Bronze was indeed afraid of my work, he felt like he was in danger near me and I don’t blame him, I’ve operated on a lot of ponies in my days but none have ever died to my hooves. I cease my rambling and head out of my door, leaving my files and papers still rather unorganized. My office had been far away from the residents bunks so I had to take quite the walk to get to my destination, luckily each case file had the ponies’ room number attached to it just in case of emergencies like these. I turn the corner and see the hallway lined with rooms, mind you there had been a lot of ponies in this stable so finding the hallway he was in was a bit of a walk. I wander down the corridor, glancing up at the door numbers until I find his room, Room B49H. Good thing for me, all the staff had copies of every infected ponies’ room just in case. I unlock the door and slowly walk into the room, noticing that Bronze wasn’t to be seen, that means he’s somewhere in the Stable. I notice his decorations lined in his shelves and most importantly, the desk. The desk is nothing more than a boring desk but what I saw made by jaw drop and my heart beat faster, his medical mask that every patient is told to warn so the infection doesn’t spread. If he isn’t wearing it and he’s out in the Stable walking around like nothing’s wrong that could mean for some horrible situations that I have to deal with in the future! What a fucking idiot, what is wrong with him? I--

“BOO!”

I’ve never turned around that fast before in my entire life, after turning I notice who it is and it doesn’t surprise me. It’s Wick again. I curse and speak rather loudly, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing scaring me like that?”

Wick gives me a puzzled look before taking a glance around the room and back to me, “Well what are you doing in here?”,he’s got me there.

I gave him a deadpan expression, “I'm trying to find Bronze, do you know where he is? He isn't wearing his medical mask.”

Wick actually takes a second to ponder the question before looking surprised, “Perhaps he's somewhere in the Stable!”

“I know he's in the Stable! I meant where?”, I breathe in before letting it back out, rubbing my temples with my hoof. “Look, I'm going to try and find him, you can go.. do what you do.”

Wick nods happily, a little more happily than I thought he would to be told to fuck off but maybe he's gotten a hang of what I'm trying to tell him. I walk past him and out the door and head into the hallways lined in grey walls. I sigh out of frustration and mutter, “Why can't he just show up to my office like everypony else?”

“Perhaps there's something wrong, Doc?” I instantly jump when I hear Wick behind me, he's been following me the entire time? That's a little creepy, but I guess when I told him to do what he does, he took that as “follow me.” I shrug and just let him follow, giving up on getting rid of him. I'll be honest, he's not entirely useless or annoying sometimes.

We turn the corner and see the cafeteria, not wanting to really go in we check through the windows that line one of the walls, allowing both sides to see out. I glance around the room, it was filled heavily considering it's about time everypony eats. Bronze.. where is.. Bronze? I take a longer look at one of the ponies in one of the middle sections of the tables and recognize him. My eyes go wide and I spot the stallion I've been trying to find, so I rush to the door and open it. My muzzle is brought into a world of food from the kitchen, filling my nostrils, I turn to the table and walk up to Bronze to where he is enjoying a burrito or something.

“Bronze. It's me Dr. Dip, I'm going to need you to both put on your mask and come with me to my office for the appointment I've so generously scheduled.”

He looks up to me and gives me half a smile and shrugs, “Why? I feel fine and this isn't even bad, it's just a cold like the Overstallion has been saying.”

I give him a puzzled and frustrating glare before raising my voice, “Cold? No sir this is worse than a cold, you could..” I look around as to not cause a scene, “.. die from this..”

He looks up at me in shock and states rather loudly, more than I'd like, “This infection can kill me? What?”

All eyes go to us and I freeze in place, the Overstallion must have gotten into these ponies’ heads and convinced them it was nothing more than a cold and not to worry about it when in the harsh reality it was killing off innocent residents without them knowing. Clueless and ignorantly. I was about to speak when I hear a back door open, presumably from the other side of the room as I see him glooming over to me rather disappointed. The Overstallion heard everything.