King Of The Changelings

by Bluecatcinema

Project: Infestation (Part One)

A very special time had come again to the hive. The anniversary of the peace treaty between the Changelings and the ponies was upon them.

At Sleight's suggestion, they held a special gala to celebrate. The guests included not only their Changeling subjects, but special pony guests, such as Celestia, Shine, and Harlhooves and Gridlock.

"Great shindig, Sleight." Shine declared.

"Thanks." Sleight grinned. "Glad you could make it."

"We wouldn't miss this for the world." Celestia smiled.

"I should hope not." Chrysalis nodded. "It is, after all, a commemoration of the day our races finally made peace with each other."

"If I recall, that wasn't exactly your plan at the time." Shine remembered. "Your plan involved taking my for a trophy."

"You'll never let me live that down, will you?" Chrysalis snorted. "Though I suppose you are the one who helped make the treaty possible. And for that, I can never thank you enough."

"Just let me have a few more of those little hay tortillas, and we'll call it even." Shine chuckled.

"Alright, you've got a deal." Chrysalis smiled.

Sazh had dressed up for the occasion, wearing a jacket Maud had gotten him, along with the top hat Sleight had gifted him with when he became King. Maud was right by his side.

"Having fun, honey?" He asked.

"Yes." Maud answered. "This party is a real blast."

Char had also invited Fleetfoot, and they were mingling with some of her Wonderbolt colleagues.

"You two still doing okay?" Misty Fly asked Fleetfoot.

"You know it." Fleetfoot nodded. "Though this is pretty much the longest time I've spent at his place."

"I didn't think you needed to be cooped up in thizzz hive, my dear." Char shrugged. "I know how you like being out in the open."

"I like being with you, you goof." Fleetfoot nudged him playfully. "No matter where we are."

"Good to know." Char smiled.

While Sazh was going to fetch some more refreshments for himself and Maud, he bumped into somepony.

"Sorry." He said quickly, continuing his dash.

Sazh grabbed some food, and rushed back to Maud.

"Here you go, honey." Sazh smiled.

"Thanks." Maud nodded. "But where's your hat?"

"What?" Sazh felt his now-bare head. "Oh, jeez. It must have been knocked off when I bumped into that guy. Sleight won't be happy..."

"I'm sure he won't mind." Maud declared.

"You're probably right." Sazh sighed. "But the hat has sentimental value."

"I can appreciate that." Maud nodded, recalling the rock candy collection her sister had made her.

Meanwhile, Sleight and Chrysalis had once again crossed paths with Aspir Harlhooves and Grenade Gridlock.

"Nice to see you guys." Sleight smiled.

"Nice to see you too." Harlhooves grinned. "Thanks for the invite. It's not everyday I get to come to a Changeling hive."

"I'm a little surprised you wanted me here." Gridlock mused. "Didn't think we got off on the right hoof last time."

"You are an uncompromising stallion." Chrysalis admitted. "But I can appreciate your determination. Besides, I felt showing you a room full of ponies and Changelings having fun together might sway your opinion."

"I'll admit, it looks innocent enough." Gridlock admitted. "Hope it stays that way."

"My, aren't you the life of the party?" Harlhooves chuckled. "Worry not, your highnesses. I shall provide levity enough for both of us."

"Good to know." Chrysalis chuckled.

The band started a new song.

"Shall we cut a rug?" Sleight asked Chrysalis.

"With pleasure." Chrysalis nodded.

They moved on to the dancefloor, where Wizel and Sapphire Shores already were.

"Let's show those two how it's done." Wizel smirked.

"You know it, Wizzy!" Sapphire grinned.

"Come on, Char." Fleetfoot urged.

"Zzzure." Char nodded. "It'zzz been too long zzzince we lazzzt danced. Hope I zzztill got it."

"I know you do." Fleetfoot smirked. "Trust me, you don't lose skill like that."

Sazh and Maud engaged in a slow dance.

"Aw, this is the life." Sazh sighed.

"Yes." Maud nodded. "I've never felt so happy."

"Oh, I can tell." Sazh said wittily.

Even Vito and Glinda were showing their stuff.

"You dance divinely, my dear." Vito complimented her.

"You're not so bad yourself." Glinda chuckled.

The pony/Changeling pairs danced lovingly and merrily.

"Such a beautiful sight, don't you think?" Harlhooves asked.

"It's... something, alright." Gridlock shrugged.

"Something wonderful." Harlhooves grinned. "Ponies and Changelings, together as one. Love truly is blind."

"If it were, I might just get more dates." Gridlock snorted.

"Ever the sourpuss..." Harlhooves chuckled. "But I, for one, choose to enjoy this darling moment."

"I'm going for a smoke." Gridlock announced, heading for the balcony, cigar in hoof.

"To each his own, I suppose...." Harlhooves shrugged.

The night's festivities were grand and glorious, but like all good things, soon came to an end. After Sazh, Wizel, and Char arranged for escorts to take their marefriends back to their homes, they joined Sleight and Chrysalis as the celebrations wrapped up.

"Hey Sazh, I thought you lost your hat?" Sleight asked, pointing out the returned headwear.

"I did." Sazh nodded. "But these nice ponies found it for me. Lucky for me, huh?"

"Sure is." Sleight nodded. "Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm about ready for some shut-eye."

"As am I." Chrysalis nodded. "After a fun night like that, all I want is to curl up with my darling husband."

"Well, I don't think you're in for a disappointment..." Sleight grinned, as they walked away.

"Have fun, you two." Wizel smirked.

The next day, Sazh was walking through the hive, inspecting some of the new structures on Sleight's behalf.

'Looking good.' He smiled. 'Looking real goo-' He coughed slightly. '...Guess I partied a little too hard last night. Weakened the old reserves a little...' He shook his head. 'But I've still got a job to do...'

Suddenly, he bumped into somepony. Unfortunately, it happened to be one of Char's ex-supporters; Pincer, the scout Changeling.

"Well, if it isn't the would-be King's little buddy." Pincer snarled.

"Oh, great." Sazh growled. "Like I need this right now..."

"Look at you, still playing errand boy for that false monarch." Pincer glared. "Not that I should be surprised. After that idiot pony showed a runt like you some undeserved attention, it was only natural that you'd follow him around like a lovesick puppy."

"You are aware that as the King's advisor, I could have you sanctioned for talking like that?" Sazh glared.

"Like I'm afraid of him... or you." Pincer sneered. "You'll never be anything more than a lousy runt."

"A runt who's currently a royal advisor." Sazh shot back.

"Oh, and don't think I haven't noticed your little pony girlfriend." Pincer sneered. "What's wrong with her face? Or is being you so soul-suckingly terrible that she just can't bring herself to smile?"

"Hey, don't talk about Maud like that!" Sazh yelled.

"You're lucky I haven't said anything worse." Pincer smirked. "Bad enough you made friends with the pony who usurped the throne, but now you're actually dating one? You make me sick!"

"Honestly, I don't care how it makes you feel." Sazh growled. "What matters is how I feel. Maud makes me happy. Sleight makes me happy. If you don't like it, it's your own problem."

"No, it's the hive's problem." Pincer retorted. "You and all the others who have bought into the King and Queen's weak, pony-loving ways. Even Char has turned on us because of you. Well, we true Changelings aren't going to stand for it any more. It's time to set an example!"

Pincer leapt at Sazh, tackling him.

"Are you nuts?" Sazh growled. "Get off me!"

"Not until I beat a little message into you." Pincer snarled. "The message being that Changelings like you are ruining this hive!"

Pincer and Sazh exchanged blows. While Sazh wasn't as strong as the scout, he was faster.

"Where's your best pal now, runt?" Pincer spat, slugging Sazh in the face. A bit of blood splattered from Sazh's mouth, getting on Pincer's hoof.

"I don't need his help to take care of trash like you!" Sazh punched him back.

"Scrappy, aren't we?" Pincer snorted. "Getting full of yourself, huh? You need to learn your place again..."

"And you need a dose of reality!" Sazh blasted him with a beam from his horn.

"Gah!" Pincer yelped, as the blast caught him in the side.

"Do you really think this is going to help you in the long run?" Sazh asked. "That you can get back your precious old ways by attacking your fellow Changelings? Seems kinda weak, if you ask me."

"You're the weak one here!" Pincer snarled, leaping at Sazh again.

This time, Sazh was ready. He flipped Pincer onto his back.

"Ugh!" Pincer groaned.

"Final chance, Pincer." Sazh growled as he wiped his mouth of his blood. "Drop this now, or I'll be sure to make life very hard for you. I'm not the same runt you could push around before. Now, I mean something to this hive. And if you don't cease, I promise you, I will see to it that you join your larvae-beating buddy Herk in the dungeons."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, runt." Pincer sneered, as he retreated into the shadows.

With his foe gone, Sazh let up his tough guy act, teetering a little on his hooves.

"Yeah, you'd better run..." He held his hoof against lip, stemming the blood flow. He then coughed a couple of times more. "Great. Just great. That's all I need..."

That evening, Pincer was regaling his fellows with the tale of his clash with Sazh (though he embellished it by claiming to have put up a better fight than he actually did).

"I had the runt against the ropes, but he fought dirty." Pincer claimed. "I mean, really dirty. Threw actual dirt in my eye."

"Way to go out there, Pincer." Hunter told him. "You really stood up for what we believe in. With Herk out of commision, we need all the gestures we can make..."

"I can't believe you didn't flatten the overgrown beetle." Strut smirked.

"That little runt's tougher than he looks, I'll give him that." Pincer scowled. "But he will be sorry if I see him again."

"Yeah, still, it might help next time if you had back up." Abdo nodded. "I like to see the runt take on all of us."

"No thanks." Pincer scoffed. "I don't need help in seeing to it that the runt knows his pl-"

He suddenly began coughing violently.

"Whoa, dude, say it, don't spray it." Hunter grimaced.

"Sorry..." Pincer coughed some more, "It's just... I think I caught something."

"What kind of something?" Abdo frowned.

"I dunno... I've been having these coughing fits and I have this rash..." Pincer panted, showing off his rash-covered hoof.

"It's not contagious, is it?" Strut said warily.

"I dunno." Pincer began to shiver. "I think I'll be fine once I... I..." He let out a groan, clutching his head.

"Pincer? Pincer, what's wrong?" Hunter asked.

"I dunno..." Pincer whimpered. "I feel... kinda funny... and my head is on fire..."

"I think he might really be sick." Strut frowned.

"I'm sure it's probably nothing a good piece of bitter-root won't cure." Hunter declared hopefully.

Pincer coughed, spraying a multi-colored plume of blood onto the floor.

"Or not." Hunter frowned.

"Maybe we should take him to the infirmary..." Abdo suggested fearfully.

Suddenly, a orangish-white colored fungus began sprouting from Pincer's head, cracking through his shell.

"What is that?" Strut gaped.

"It's like bursting from his brain or something..." Hunter murmured.

"I... I... arrgh..." Pincer gasped, holding his head, as some of the fungus began sprouting around the left half of his face, even tearing through his eye. "H-help...me..."

He suddenly went silent, dropping to the floor.

"Oh by the first queen..." Abdo gasped, crying in hysterics. "Pincer!"

"Pincer?!" Hunter kneeled at his side, trying to wake him up. "Come on, pal, wake up!"

"What do we do?!" Strut whimpered. "...We gotta get the nurse!"

"You think the nurse can help?" Abdo yelped. "Look at him!"

"We gotta do something!" Strut urged.

"Pincer, wake up!" Hunter shook his comrade hard.

A growl, followed by bunch of odd clicking sounds was suddenly emitted from Pincer.

"...What was that?" Abdo asked.

"Did that... just come from Pincer?" Strut whispered.

Suddenly, Pincer's body began stirring, as he slowly rose to his feet. Hunter backed away a bit.

"Pincer?" Hunter asked. "...Are you okay, buddy?"

Pincer suddenly raised his head. His face was now horribly scarred, with roots poking from the clear side of his face, causing scars, his good eye dull and lifeless, while the other half of his face was covered in fungus. Furthermore, fungus had now sprouted all over his body.

"W-w-what... the hell..." Strut gaped.

Suddenly, Pincer let out a guttural scream that sounded a mix of anguish... and mad-like rage.

"RARRRRGHHH!!" Pincer roared.

"AGH!" Hunter screamed, unable to get away.

"Hunter!" Abdo and Strut screeched.

"Get... get off!" Hunter struggled to push Pincer away.

"RARRRGH!" Pincer snarled. He lashed out like a wild animal, beating Hunter with his hooves.

"No... stop..." Hunter grunted, as the blows continued to rain down. "I don't want to hurt you..."

"RAGH!" Pincer continued the beating unabated.

"Please... don't..." Hunter wheezed, his body a bruised and cracked mess, barely able to stand.

Pincer lowered his hooves.

"...Buddy?" Hunter asked hopefully.

"RAH!" Pincer suddenly sank his teeth into Hunter's neck, tearing his throat out.

"Urghhh..." Hunter gurgled, falling dead.

"Did he just..." Strut gulped.

Pincer turned his rabid dead eye to the others.

"Pincer, don't..." Abdo pleaded. "Please..."

Deaf to her pleas, Pincer charged at his fellow Changelings like a mad beast. Their screams echoed around the hut, then faded away, both one by one... only to be replaced by guttural snarls.

Mere hours later, an alarm was sounded.

"What's going on?" Sleight asked, as he and Chrysalis rushed out of the tower. "Are we under attack or something?"

"Who would wish to attack us here?" Chrysalis pondered. "Now?"

They were soon met by Char, who looked dishevelled and distressed.

"Your majezzztiezzz, oh, thank Faust..." Char panted.

"General, what is the meaning of this?" Chrysalis demanded, "Why the alarm?!"

"It'zzz bad, my Queen." Char whimpered, "There's zzzomething going on with zzzome of the other Changelingzzz."

"Define 'something'..." Sleight frowned, not liking the tone of Char's voice.

"I dunno what'zzz happening." Char admitted, a bit freaked out. "Me and my troopzzz were out on patrol when we found a Changeling limping and in pain. He had bite markzzz all over him..."

"Bite marks?" Chrysalis gasped, "What kind of bites?"

"At firzzzt, I thought maybe some wild Timberwolvezzz maybe attacked him... but thezzze bitezzz at clozzzer glance..." Char gulped, "Looked like Changelingzzz bitezzz..."

"Changeling bites?!" Sleight gasped, "What, like some other Changelings used him as a chew toy?!"

"I wazzz confuzzzed as you were!" Char grimaced, "I tried azzzking if he wazzz alright...then suddenly, he began attacking uzzz like some rabid animal!"

"What..." Chrysalis gaped.

"It wazzz horrible!" Char was nearly driven to tears. "His eyezzz were all dull and gray. There wazzz like rootzzz and funguzzz zzzprouting from hizzz body... and it getzzz worse... I think we might have... an outbreak... on our hoovezzz..."

"Outbreak?!" Chrysalis gaped even further.

"You mean like a disease outbreak?" Sleight grimaced.

"What elzzze could I mean?!" Char panicked. "When zzzome of my troopzzz tried to rezzztrain them, they got bitten by them. And then... they began convulzzzing, and zzzprouting rootzzz and funguzzz too, and then they went mad!"

"Oh Faust!" Chrysalis screeched.

"...How many are infected?" Sleight murmured.

"I don't know!" Char shook his head. "But when one of the infected zzzcreamed, a whole bunch of them began coming towards uzzz! They're like zzzombiezzz, and they're killing any uninfected Changeling they can see, and infecting thozzze they don't kill! It'zzz..." He tried to keep in the tears. "It'zzz a nightmare..."

"Well, it sure sounds like it!" Sleight trembled.

"This can't be happening..." Chrysalis shook her head. "It's like a nightmare..."

"Your majezzztiezzz, pleazzze!" Char pleaded. "We can't afford to panic."

"You're right." Sleight nodded, forcing himself to calm down. "We need to think of a battle plan."

"But how can we fight our own, while they're in that state?" Chrysalis asked.

"I don't know." Char admitted, sniffing a bit. "What I do know izzz the infected muzzzt be contained and fazzzt! We're gonna need firepower, and lotzzz of it!"

"We're with you, big guy." Sleight nodded.

"Good." Char declared. "Becauzzze they are right behind me!"

A group of infected Changelings, several of them Char's fellow soldiers, stepped out of the shadows, snarling and growling, with a lot of clicking sounds echoing. As Char described, fungus were growing all over their bodies, and in the cases of the soldiers, the fungus broke through their armor. Some of them had their eyes blotted by fungus, relying on the sounds of their fellow infected to guide them, and some of them had no fungus, but had rabid eyes with intent to kill... all of them making their way over to them.

"Holy buck..." Sleight gaped.

"My... my children." Chrysalis sniffed. "What has happened to them?"

"I wizzzh I knew, your majestiezzz." Char grimaced. "All I know is that we can't let them touch uzzz!"

"Then we won't." Sleight lit up his horn.

More soldiers joined them.

"Soldiers, stand ready!" Chrysalis urged. "Loathe though I am to admit it, we must fight our own brethren!"

"Yes, my Queen!" One of the soldiers nodded.

"We won't falter!" Another nodded.

"Form a perimeter!" Char told his fellows. "Let nopony get pazzzt!"

With matching snarls, the infected Changelings charged at the group.

"Forgive me!" Chrysalis cried, firing a blast that scattered three of them.

"Whatever's wrong with you guys, we can't let you attack your kind!" Sleight declared, trapping a couple inside his cards. "Soldiers, don't let them get too close! We can't let this virus spread!"

"Yes, your highness!" One soldier nodded, blasting an infected back.

"They're not so tough." A cocky young soldier declared, blasting another. "They're like mindless animals!"

Suddenly, another infected leapt of the shadows, biting the soldier.

"No!" Char yelled.

"Let him go!" Another soldier tried to pull the infected off, but was downed himself by the ravenous beast.

"Buck!" Char yelled. "We can't lose more of us to those things!"

"We need to keep these guys contained." Sleight continued trapping the infected in the cards, not liking the way the cards shook and shuddered when they did. "They're not themselves, we can't-"

At that point, Sleight heard a scream. Turning around, he saw to his horror that Glinda had been cornered by one of the infected.

"Glinda!" Sleight attempted to throw another card, but to his shock, he found that he ran out of cards to use. And there wasn't time to duplicate more.

"Help me!" Glinda screamed.

"NO!" He rushed over and tackled the Changeling. "Leave her alone!"

"Sleight, don't!" Chrysalis called, horrified.

"Don't fight it head on!" Char added.

The Changeling snapped and snarled, desperately reaching for Glinda. Sleight couldn't hold him down, but he couldn't let him hurt Glinda either.

"Daddy!" Glinda cried, too horrified to move as Sleight tried to keep the infected Changeling's biting jaw away from the young Changeling.

Sleight solemnly knew what he had to do.

"I'm so sorry..." Sleight whispered, as he gritted his teeth, and with a tremendous burst of strength, he twisted and snapped the sick Changeling's neck, as it fell dead.

Glinda let out a squeak as Sleight took her aside and quickly went back to Chrysalis and Char.

"You... you killed him." Glinda whimpered.

"Glinda-" Sleight tried to explain.

"I saw him this morning..." Glinda silently sobbed.

"Listen to me. There is something bad going on." Sleight said firmly, "You've got to get outta here. Do you understand me?"

"O-okay..." Glinda shuddered, hugging him tightly. "T-thank you..."

"It's alright, sweetheart." Sleight whispered, trying to sooth her, as he then brought her to another soldier. "You. Take Glinda somewhere safe and lock the doors. Do not let anypony in or out until I send somepony, got it?!"

"Yes, your highness." The soldier bowed. "I will gladly defend her with my life."

With Glinda out of harm's way, Sleight, Chrysalis, and the soldiers worked tirelessly through the night to try and corral all of the infected, sealing them within one of the new constructs, which had been intended for food storage, and was thus well-fortified. The infected snarled and roared as they tried to break free, while the exhausted defenders tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"Our own kind... turned into monzzzterzzz." Char trembled.

"They don't even look like Changelings anymore." One of the surviving soldiers grimaced.

"What if we end up the same way?" Another fretted.

"My poor children." Chrysalis whispered, as she looked upon their snarling forms through a peephole in the door. "Why is this happening?"

"I wish I knew, Chrysalis." Sleight hugged her. "But we need to tell Celestia about this. If there's already this many infected Changelings... there might be more that already left the hive after the celebration!"

"Which can only means thingzzz will get worzzze." Char frowned.

"Either way, we can't deal with this alone." Sleight declared. "We need to contact Celestia and the rest of the royals."

"Say no more." Chrysalis nodded, though heavily concerned. "...I only hope they can help."

Quickly, a letter was composed, and sent off to Celestia. Celestia read it with grim horror, alongside the other royals.

"Oh dear Faust..." Celestia whispered.

"Those poor Changelings." Luna shook her head in horror.

"I can't imagine what they're going through." Shine bowed his head.

"As if one major catastrophe wasn't already bad enough." Blueblood grimaced.

"What do we do?" Gothic asked.

"We must mobilize the DCD at once." Celestia declared, as she then gestured to a nearby guard, as she handed him a note. "See to it that they get this letter immediately. Time is of the essence."

The DCD, or Disease Containment Department, had been founded many years ago,for the express purpose of preventing the spread of plagues and diseases. They had had several successes, like stopping the spread of a hoof-and-mouth epidemic a forty years ago.

The current head of the DCD, a balding, peach-colored stallion with a syringe Cutie Mark by the name of J. Fencer, received Celestia's letter with much concern.

"Oh, this doesn't look good at all..." He turned to his subordinates. "We must quarantine the entire territory at once. And any Changelings who attended the party must be returned immediately."

As soon as the order was sent out, the DCD began scouring all over Equestria for all Changelings that were affiliated with the hive at one point or another, including those who didn't live at the hive anymore. While nearly all of them complied, just as worried for their bretheren, a few were not as compliant, and had to be dragged kicking and screaming back to the hive, where a quarantine zone was being built. They even went as far as to contacting other countries' own DCD to bring the Changelings that had left the country back to the hive, one of them being none other than Carapace, one of the Napoleons' leading changeling agents.

"This is ridiculous!" Carapace growled as he was being manhandled towards the newly made mithril gates of the of quarantine fence, which now circled the entire hive. "I was fine over in Bitaly! I was at that stupid party for only an hour! You're only going to get me turned into those things!"

"Sorry, it's quarantine 101." A hazmat-suited pony declared. "We can't risk the spread of infection."

"Oh, so that's why I have to?!" Carapace scowled. "You can't make me go in there!"

"I'm afraid we can." Another pony declared.

Several of the suited ponies grabbed Carapace and shoved him inside.

"Stop it!" Carapace yelled. "I have my rights!"

"Not any more!" One pony yelled, as the gates closed.

"Let me out!" Carapace banged on the gates. "Let me out..."

"I'm sorry, Carapace." Wizel sighed. "They mean well."

"Well, it doesn't look it." Carapace snarled.

"At least you're among friends." Wizel offered.

"Yeah, there is that..." Carapace sighed.

Chrysalis watched as they began setting up aerial forcefields (as earlier, a couple of the 'less compliant' Changelings attempted to fly over the fences), grimacing at their newfound isolation.

"So this is what it has come to." Chrysalis frowned, "Back to being isolated from the ponies... I thought these days were behind us."

"Do not fret, ma'am." One of the suited ponies declared. "This is the only way to contain the infection, but rest assured, this is only temporary. Once we find the cause and cure of this disease, things will be back to normal."

"That's the best case scenario, though." Chrysalis sighed. "Things could turn out far worse..."

"Have faith, Chrysalis." Wizel declared, he and Sazh having been brought up to speed on what's going on.

"Yeah, we'll get through this." Sazh nodded. "I know we will."

"We'd better." Sleight frowned. "Bad enough the hive's in danger of being wiped out, but now they're locking you in there like roaches in a trap..."

More ponies approached.

"Now what?" Sleight scowled.

"I'm glad you're here, King Sleight, because we're afraid we will have to remove you from this hive." Another suited pony declared, "We have reasons to believe that this 'virus' could affect ponies as well."

"No way." Sleight shook his head. "I won't leave my subjects."

"But you must." Chrysalis told him. "If the virus affects ponies differently, who knows what will happen?"

"I can't leave you either." Sleight declared, "Not you, Glinda, Sazh, Wizel, Char..."

"We'll be fine." Chrysalis smiled sadly, "Don't forget, I'm tougher than most Changelings. But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you."

"This way, Mr. Gambit." One of the ponies urged.

"But..." Sleight murmured.

"Go, my love, so you can be safe." Chrysalis whispered, as she kissed him.

"...Okay." Sleight sighed.

"Good luck, Sleight." Sazh declared with a sniffle.

"You too, pal." Sleight nodded. "Try and stay safe."

"We'll do our best." Wizel sighed.

"And my bezzzt countzzz for a lot." Char boasted.

The DCD ponies escorted Sleight out of the hive. By that point, the aerial forcefields were set, and effectively blocking in the Changelings. Some of them railed against their imprisonment, even calling out to Sleight.

"Let us out!"

"We must be free!"

"Don't let them do this, King Sleight!"

Sleight looked on in sadness, his subject's plight cutting through to his heart, as the gates closed.

"Okay, close it!" One of Sleight's escorts called.

As the gates closed, Sleight looked upon the hive. In that moment, he knew he was making a mistake. He couldn't abandon them.

"Sorry, guys..." He declared, pushing his escorts aside as he rushed towards the closing gates.

"No!" One of the escorts yelled. "Don't be a fool!"

"Look at who you're talking to." Sleight smirked. "'Fool' is practically my middle name..."

Knowing he couldn't fit through the closing gap, Sleight pulled out a card. He threw it into the air, then used his magic to go inside it. The card fluttered through the gap and landed on the ground, Sleight emerging seconds later.

Naturally, the others were shocked to see Sleight still among them.

"Are you insane?!" Chrysalis yelled.

"Nice to see you too, honey." Sleight snorted.

"You could have left, and been safe." Wizel declared.

"But then I wouldn't know if you were safe." Sleight declared. "I'm the King of this hive, and my place is here, with my subjects... and my beloved Queen."

"Oh, Sleight..." Chrysalis embraced him.

"I don't care if I get infected or not, as long as I'm with you and the others." Sleight smiled.

"Zzzuch courage..." Char said appreciatively. "I am honored to be quarantined with you, my King."

"As am I." Wizel grinned.

"Me too." Sazh nodded.

"The honor's all mine." Sleight beamed, as he then frowned at the fence, "But as of now, we have to rein all the healthy and able and hunker down... I feel like this is going to be a long quarantine."

Outside, Fencer was chewing out the escorts for letting Sleight go back in.

"You idiots!" He yelled. "Do you know what you've done! For all we know, the virus could mutate upon exposure to pony genetics. We'd have an even worse epidemic on our hooves!"

"Calm yourself, Mr Fencer."

Elite Everest, clad in his signature cloak walked over. At Celestia's request, he had been called upon, having made himself more available in light of 'recent events'. Along with him was Caboose Napoleon and Fletcher Ulysses.

"Oh Faust... Director Everest!" The DCD head saluted swiftly. "I did not realize you would be coming..." He then frowned in confusion, "Wait...what are you doing here? When does the RDL get involved with DCD matters?"

"When it comes to a disease as bad as this suddenly appearing." Elite clarified, "After what happened back in Canterlot, I feel I need to get out more and make sure nothing else go wrong when I go back to work on other things."

"And who are these two?" The DCD head pointed to Fletcher and Caboose.

"Captain Fletcher and Lieutenant Caboose." Elite explained. "They are serving as my consultants in light of this epidemic."

"Hello." Fletcher said curtly.

"Hey, how ya doin'?" Caboose smiled.

"So, what's this I heard about the King going back into the quarantine zone?" Elite asked.

"Like you just said. That idiot king was told that he could get infected if he stayed, but he didn't listen! Now he is stuck in there with more changelings growing sick by the hour!" The DCD head scowled.

"Hmm... well, he can't be faulted for wanting to stand by his kingdom. That takes a great deal of courage." Elite nodded, "But it was indeed foolish. Is there a vantage point for us to oversee the situation?"

"Right over there." Fencer pointed to a watchtower. "That tower overlooks the whole hive."

"Good. Let's get going, gentlestallions." Elite declared.

The trio rushed up to the tower, taking stock of the situation. Several infected Changelings were pushing corralled by the healthy, snapping and snarling at their former friends.

"Oh, this is not good." Fletcher glanced through the binoculars.

"Yeah..." Caboose frowned, looking through his own binoculars, "Look at the curtains on that hut on the end of street. Pee-yew!"

"I was talking about all those Changelings getting sick and turning into those monsters!" Fletcher glared.

"...Well, that too." Caboose frowned sheepishly as he turned to Everest, "What say you, sir?"

"Hmm..." Elite frowned deeply, as he focused on the infected Changelings, taking in their fungus-covered bodies. "This all looks awfully familiar. In fact, it brings to mind an incident that almost happened many years ago..."

"You mean when 'You Know Who' went and did 'You Know What' to that 'You Know Where', and made it look 'You Know Why' so that awfully familiar thing wouldn't happen?" Caboose asked.

"Um, why are you talking like that, Caboose?" Fletcher asked, "We both know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, you two do, but not the readers. We hadn't finished 'Shades of the Past' yet and we are seriously risking major spoilage if we drop the wrong names at the wrong time." Caboose explained.

"...That makes no sense." Fletcher glared.

"...It kinda does." Elite nodded, "I mean, the fact that the three of us are here right now might raise some questions."

"See, the Director gets it!" Caboose smiled.

"But that is aside the point." Elite frowned. "We must get to the bottom of this disease and stop it before the whole hive gets sick."

"We'll do everything in our power to make sure it doesn't, sir." Fletcher pledged.

"Yeah." Caboose nodded. "No dumb mushroom virus is gonna ruin this hive."

"Now, let us go." Elite turned to leave, "Our 'help' should be in the war room right now."

The trio, before they had departed for the hive, had been earlier tasked with gathering the smartest ponies they could find so they could be brought together to find the cure, and make sure that nothing stopped them. Twilight Sparkle was the first to entered, followed by her old friend Moon Dancer, who know wore a tweed jacket and silk waistcoat as part of her role as a professor at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Having studied diseases (among other things), she was a worthy candidate. After her came Lars Napoleon, and Echo Alchemy.

"Good to see you again, Moon Dancer." Twilight declared.

"You too, Twilight." Moon Dancer nodded. "i just wish it was under less... distressing circumstances."

"Why is the leading expert on dark magic here?" Lars glared at Echo.

"Because the virus could be based in dark magic." Echo pointed out. "But why are you here? I hear you're more of a number cruncher."

"Numbers aren't the only things I crunch, mister-" Lars growled.

"Ahem."

They all stopped talking, as they soon turned to see Elite, standing at the center of the room.

"Now that I have your attention." Elite said sternly. "You are probably wondering why you are all here. Surely, you must had heard from my associates and on the news, but here it is again, straight from the horse's mouth... or rather, from statements of the frightened critters in the quarantine zone as we speak: at 20:30 hours, a bigoted Changeling by the name of Pincer had developed an unknown disease that caused him to sprout mushrooms and roots, and gone savage, murdering a couple of his fellow Changelings, and turning many others." He then pulled out a projector screen. "Here's what this Changeling looked before he was infected, as provided by the local Changeling with the affinity for photography."

A picture of a Changeling, covered in the rash, and standing very oddly, was shown.

"This is what he looked like after only a hour of being infected."

The infected Changeling was leaping at the photographer.

The same Changeling, now covered in fungus, leapt at the camera in savage fury.

"Oh sweet Celestia..." Twilight gaped.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Moon Dancer gagged.

"I've never seen such horror before." Echo admitted.

"Neither have I." Lars gulped.

"Not a pretty sight, I know." Elite nodded. "And I fear this is only the beginning." Several more pictures were shown, depicting the infected chasing, attacking, biting and killing others. Pictures were shown of them expelling spores, with those who came into contact becoming infected also. "As you can see from this pictures, this disease is causing these otherwise docile changelings to go raving mad, attacking anything that moves. We had already pinpointed that the disease is transmitted by the infected biting you or breathing in the spores their fungus expels. The moment that happens, depending of the severity of the wounds they inflict on you, the disease will take hold from five minutes to an hour tops. But it is not how it is spreading that we should be concerned about."

Suddenly, a big question mark popped up on the screen.

"It's the matter of what started this outbreak, and how to stop it." Elite declared fiercely, "According to the DCD, the infected had already been isolated from the others, but despite this, Changelings are continuing to grow sick. Your mission?" He then jabbed his hoof forward, as then a table with a glass box is rolled in by Caboose, containing the remains of the Changeling Sleight had killed, "Study this poor bucker's body and find out how this damn disease work. The sooner we can find that out, the sooner we can find out how it started, and how we can cure it."

"That poor thing..." Twilight sadly declared, "To go out in a way such as this."

"Is this really the only thing we have to work with?" Lars frowned, "If we are to crack the viral code, we are going to need more corpses than this. Surely there are more infected bodies...isn't there?"

"I am afraid not." Elite shook his head, "Aside from the healthy ones that had been slaughtered by the infected, the rest of the infected had been accounted for and isolated. The Changelings are adamant in not killing their own unless necessary, and the infected don't seem interested in attacking one another."

"Well, then, it seems we have our work cut out for us." Echo sighed.

"That it is." Elite nodded. "Just remember that all of you are the smartest ponies we could find, and the entire hive of Changelings behind that fence is counting on you." He then saluted them, "I bid you all good luck, and ask that you keep me posted."

"Okay, everypony." Twilight said firmly. "We have a whole hive counting on us."

"And I have no intention of letting them down." Moon Dancer declared.

"Me neither." Lars nodded. "Let's save us some Changelings."

"Something we can agree on." Echo smiled.

They donned surgical masks, and readied tools.

"Let's get to work." Twilight declared, as they descended on the corpse.

Hours seem to pass as the smart ponies were hard at work. As they did so, ponies from all over had started to gather by the quarantine fences. At first, the DCD had thought it was just a bunch of ponies trying to see what was going on... until some of them began setting up camp there. It seemed that the exodus of all the hive's Changelings and the disease that was gripping the hive had concerned many of them greatly to a point that they are standing vigil for them, especially those who had loved ones in there.

To many of their surprise, Sapphire Shores was there, talking with Wizel.

"Wiz, I'm so sorry." Sapphire sniffed, "When I heard about this outbreak, I came as soon as I heard. Are you alright?"

"Well, I am as fine as I can be, but I am happy that you came." Wizel gave a small smile, "But you mustn't be sorry. We'll get through this. Trust me. We had faced strife much worse than this."

Not long after, Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts came in, coming to see none other than Char.

"Char..." Fleetfoot murmured, as she saw her coltfriend, who was in a sorry state, with rings under his eyes, and bruises all over his face, "You look terrible. What's going on in there?"

"Thizzz?" Char gestured to his face, "Thizzz is nothing..." He winced a bit in pain, "It's juzzzt zzzince the outbreak, more infected keepzzz popping up and I had been zzztaying up for hourzzz working with my men to round them up."

"Oh, why are you putting yourself at risk like this?" Fleetfoot glared.

"For the hive, of courzzze." Char declared firmly, "The Changelingzzz need protecting, and I'm the General. It's my duty."

"Oh, Char..." Fleetfoot sighed, as she tearfully growled, "If you don't make it through this, I'll kick your sorry butt to the moon."

"Now there'zzz incentive." Char chuckled lightly. "Don't worry. You won't get to enact any butt-kicking zzzoon. I may be tired and bruizzzed, but my zzzpirit izzzn't."

Even Maud had come to see Sazh.

"I'm so worried about you, Sazh." Maud admitted, an actual frown upon her face, "I heard that this disease is pretty bad."

"I'm worried too." Sazh admitted. "But you just have to hold on to the hope that we'll be to hold each other in our hooves again." He coughed again.

"Are you okay, Sazh?" Maud asked.

"I'm fine." Sazh rubbed his throat. "Just a cold."

Even royalty was among them, as Vito made a mad dash to try and find Glinda along the fence.

"Glinda? Glinda?!" He called, trying desperately to find her.

"I'm here, V!" Glinda waved her hoof over a gap.

"Glinda!" Vito rushed. "I was worried you'd-"

"Not yet, at least." Glinda smiled.

"Glinda, I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you..." Vito sniffed.

"Don't cry, V." Glinda smiled. "Everything's going to be okay. As long as we have Sleight, I know we'll make it through this..." Even though she meant those words, she couldn't help but feel the harrowing fear within her.

Even some unexpected guests had made their way to the fence.

"I miss you so much." Carapace said lovingly. "Every moment without you is agony. I long for the moment we can be together again..."

It turned out his was talking to Gregory the Griffon and Big Guns the buffalo

"...Dude, are you doing alright?" Gregory cringed.

"Do I look like I'm doing alright?!" Carapace growled, "I'm stuck here because of this stupid disease that is practically a rip off of that zombie game, and I am scared, REALLY SCARED!"

"Just hang in there, pal." Big Guns declared, "Lars and the others are working hard to find how to stop this disease, and we are pulling no punches in trying to get you out of there. You hadn't been experiencing any symptoms, have you?"

"No, but it's only a matter of time." Carapace shuddered. "Just this morning, my brother's neighbor turned and nearly killed him."

"It will be fine." Gregory assured, though it was obvious that he wasn't completely sure, "It's just gotta be."

"I hope so. But in case something bad happens to me... up in a hay field in Buckston, under an old oak tree, there's a rock that has no earthly business being there. Under that rock is a box with something I want both of you to have. Of course now that I think about it, I hadn't been to that spot in 25 years, so I could possibly be mistaken, and the whole area could be a Hall-Mart by now. If it is, pick something nice for the both of you and good life to you both." Carapace shrugged.

"...Okay." The Griffon and Buffalo glanced at each other with uncertainty, as Big Guns continued. "Let's just hope it doesn't have to come to that."

Many other ponies had came to support them, holding rallies, and singing songs, trying to keep their spirits high. Newsponies were there as well, trying to keep in the know of the progress of finding the cure to this disease.

But in spite of all the support, tension was reaching an all time high within the hive. By the day, more and more Changelings were getting sick, and attacking anypony they come across, in spite of the infected Changelings being locked up in the former food storage building. As Elite had explained, the one that had begun the spread of the virus was still among the uninfected, and they were determined to find him or her.

"Where is that infectious slime?" A soldier snarled, as he looked upon a crowd.

A Changeling suddenly sneezed.

"It's him!" One of the others yelled. "Kill him!"

"No, don't!" The Changeling yelped, as the others descended, looking to tear me limb from limb.

"That's enough!" Sleight leapt in. "Leave him alone!"

"My king-" The soldier protested.

"I know you're scared, but this isn't the way." Sleight declared. "If you turn on each other now, you're just doing the virus' work for it. Just try to calm down. Don't give in to paranoia."

The Changelings didn't look all that convinced, but they dispersed quickly.

"Something tells me it won't always be that easy." Sleight sighed.

The number of infecteds had reached a point where there wasn't enough room in the storage building to contain them, so they were forced to quarter off an entire portion of the hive, severely reducing the room for them to roam.

The construction Changelings worked tirelessly, though not all Changelings were as enthusiastic

"We should just kill them, not contain them." One scowled. "Some of us are losing our homes to make room for those freaks."

"Yeah, they're pretty much dead anyway." Another sneered. "We should finish the job."

A small crowd voiced their agreement.

"Yeah!"

"Kill them!

"End the scourge!"

"No." Chrysalis stepped forward, outraged. "We will not stoop to killing our brethren. The infected are sick. They are victims. You wuld do well to remember that, my children."

The crowd glanced at each other, uncertain.

"You will not kill the infected unless it is absolutely necessary." Chrysalis ordered. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, your highness..." The crowd muttered.

"Good." Chrysalis nodded.

However, despite Chrysalis's decree, in their attempts to contain the growing number of infected, some of them had to be put down when they got too close in killing or infecting the others.

One morning, Char and his soldiers working to curtail a group of new infected.

"That'zzz it!" Char instructed as they lured their attacks down a narrow alley. "Force them into a bottleneck! Limit their numberzzz zzzo they can't overwhelm uzzz!"

Suddenly, Char heard screaming from a house down the street.

"Hold the line!" Char yelled. "I'm going to check that out!"

Char quickly broke into the nearby house, and was shocked to find one of his fellow changelings, a scout Changeling named Antler, struggling to hold back his son, barely a teenager, as he was covered in fungus like the rest of them. His mate and daughter were pinned in a corner, scared to move.

"Antler, get away from him!" Char ordered.

"No! He's my son!" Antler snarled, struggling to hold him down, "He's just not acting himself!"

"He's sick!" Char growled. "And he'll get you sick too!"

"If I let go, he will go after his mother and sister!" Antler barked, as his son was beginning to shake him off. "No, no, NO!"

In a burst of strength, the son threw him off, as he let out a guttural roar. With a shift of his head, his sight was set on the mother and daughter.

"Son... son, please..." Antler pleaded.

His pleas fell on deaf ears as the infected young Changeling darted towards the two, screaming... only to stop with a screech.

"NO!" Antler screamed.

In a flash, Char had impaled the young Changeling with a spear he had on hoof.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Char grimaced, trying his best not to cry.

The victim let out a dying shriek as he was lowered to the ground by Char.

"Son!" Antler cried, as he dashed to his side. "Son, no!" He then screamed at Char. "What did you do?! Why did you kill him?!"

"...I... I had no choice." Char whispered, "He was going to kill them. I had to act... I had to..."

"No!" Antler's mate wept. "My little boy..."

"Big bro..." The daughter sniffed.

Overcome with guilt Char left, shaken and nearly broken by what he had to do.

Shortly after, the boy's body was recovered by the soldiers and burnt with the other slain infected as it was the only way to prevent further infection

Antler sat there, watching as his son's body was cremated, as Wizel joined him.

"Antler... I am so sorry for your loss... but you must understand, Char had to-" Wizel tried to sooth him.

"I don't blame Char... he did what was required of him." Antler said coldly. "...Instead, I blame the one who caused everypony to get sick... and I swear on my son's ashes... I will kill him. Mark my words..."

Wizel decided to leave Antler with his grief. Though Antler's words worried him...

"I certainly hope you don't the chance, Antler..." He frowned.

Five days after the quarantine began, Sleight and Chrysalis were called to the quarantine's borders, where Echo Alchemy stood, being chosen to inform them of the research team's findings.

"Echo, long time no see." Sleight murmured.

"Indeed it has, your majesty." Echo nodded. "I only wished that we could had met under different circumstances. How are you all holding up?"

"...It's bad." Chrysalis admitted. "Changelings are tearing at each other throats, and I don't mean just the infected. My children are scared for their lives, and I don't blame them. Please tell me you have some good news."

"Well, it depends." Echo frowned. "First off, as we feared, this disease can affect ponies."

"Oh buck..." Sleight grimaced.

"But on the up side, it seems the disease will only affect them the same way they do the changelings, just don't get bitten and scratched." Echo explained. "And as for the cure... well, we hadn't found it yet."

"...I said I wanted good news." Chrysalis growled.

"I was just getting to that." Echo winced. "We believed we may had found the cause of the disease."

"Really?" Sleight lit up.

"Yes. " Echo nodded. "After patient study of the initial infection, and the pattern of those since, we believe that the disease was started by a 'patient zero'."

"Patient Zero?" Sleight asked.

"Yes, the original Changeling that had caused the spread of this disease." Echo clarified. "We believe that if we are to further understand this disease, we must find him."

"Why?" Chrysalis grimaced. "Chances are, this 'patient zero' has already turned, and is either dead or stuck in with the rest of them."

"Not true." Echo said firmly. "As you can see, more Changelings are getting sick still, so that means that he is still among the uninfected, and there is a strong chance that he hadn't turned despite being inflicted with the disease."

"How do you figure? What makes this 'patient zero' different?" Sleight asked.

"That we don't know." Echo admitted. "But it seems this disease was mutated in a way that it cannot simply infect a pony by normal means. It needs a host, a 'incubator' if you will, to grow enough so that it could infect another being. As such, the 'incubator' would take much longer to succumb to the disease than the others. Nonetheless, at this point, he might start showing symptoms: rashes, expelling spores, and coughing up brightly colored blood."

"I see... but what do we do with 'patient zero'?" Chrysalis asked.

"Simple. You must find him, and bring him to us. Hopefully, by studying his system, we might be able to reverse-engineer the virus and create a vaccine." Echo declared.

"Then we've gotta find that Changeling, ASAP." Sleight nodded.

"Correct." Echo nodded. "If our calculations are anything to go by, 'patient zero' himself might not have long before he turns as well."

"Then let's get cracking." Sleight declared, "The sooner we find him, the sooner we can end this whole mess."

"We shall keep you posted of any further development." Echo turned to leave. "And good luck."

"Thank you." Chrysalis sighed "I believe we're going to need it..."

A stringent screening process began. Many Changelings were examined, but none seemed to fit the bill.

"Still no luck, your highnesses." Wizel told Sleight and Chrysalis after the twentiefth subject, a scout named Facet, was examined. "Char and I had been asking around for hours, but no dice."

"Keep trying." Sleight urged, "We need to find this poor guy and fast. He might not even know he's making everypony sick."

"Facet, do you know of any Changeling who has displayed these symptoms?" Wizel asked. "Coughing blood? Rashes? Spores?"

"Well... now that you mention it." Facet murmured. "I did notice Sazh kinda scratching himself earlier."

"You... did?" Sleight frowned.

"And his hoofprints had this sort of green dust on them. Like he stepped through some flowers or something." Facet noted. "And I'm not sure, but I think I heard him coughing. Coughing real bad."

"...Thank you, Facet." Chrysalis nodded.

As Facet left the room, the others turned to Sleight.

"Sleight-" Wizel started.

"Seriously?" Sleight frowned. "We're pinning the blame on Sazh, just because of some conjectural evidence?"

"We muzzzt be zzzure." Char declared. "And if it izzz Zzzazh, it may not be zzzuch a bad thing. Azzz it wazzz zzzaid, Zzzazh could help us beat thizzz viruzzz."

"By getting poked and prodded by a bunch of lab coats?" Sleight frowned, "Who knows what they might do to him if he is 'patient zero'?"

"Sleight, we have to know." Chrysalis urged. "Besides, the hive needs to be cured, even if it must come at a price."

"Okay, fine." Sleight scowled. "But I still say you're wrong."

They quickly located Sazh, who had been staying in his room (having said thathe wasn't feeling well).

"Hey, Sazh." Sleight called.

"Oh, um... hello, Sleight." Sazh shook his head.

"You okay, pal?" Sleight asked.

"Yeah, I've just been feeling a little..." Sazh yawned. "Under the weather lately."

"Under the weather?" Sleight frowned.

"Under the weather how?" Chrysalis asked.

"Well, I'm sure it's nothing bad... I just got this killer rash." Sazh frowned.

"And, um... what is that green dust on your shell?" Wizel asked.

"Beats me.." Sazh shrugged. "It just showed up all of a sudden. I figure it was part of the cold I have been having..."

Suddenly, Sazh sneezed, a stream of green spore spraying out of his nose. The others backed away quickly.

"What's with you, guys?! I'm sure it's harmless!" Sazh pouted.

"Oh, jeez..." Sleight cringed.

"What? What is-" Sazh suddenly started coughing. He brought his hoof to his mouth, and it came down covered in neon green blood.

"Oh no..." Sazh grimaced.

"It's you." Sleight realized the awful truth.

"Me?" Sazh asked.

"You're the carrier, Sazh." Chrysalis sighed.

"Patient zero." Wizel nodded.

"You're the one who cauzzzed the infectionzzz." Char bowed his head.

"What?!" Sazh spluttered, "You're saying I..." He pointed out. "Caused all..." He shook his head. "No! That can't be!"

"Look at yourself, Sazh!" Wizel urged, "You are experiencing all the symptoms. How long has this been going on?"

"I dunno!" Sazh murmured. "It started not long after the party. It was just a cough at first, but then I started itching, then the spores. I thought I might have caught something from Pincer..."

"Pincer?" Char's blood froze, knowing he was one of the first infected. "What happened between you and Pincer?"

"That jerk and I got into it. He was being a jerk." Sazh growled. "He got me right in the jaw. I was bleeding from the lips for hours after I'd beaten some sense into him..." He then noticed the mortified expressions on their faces. "But I didn't bite him or anything! That's how it's been spread, right?"

"It must have been the blood..." Chrysalis murmured. "Pincer must have gotten some of your blood on his hoof..."

"And it took a while, but in the end..." Sleight didn't finish the thought.

"Oh Faust..." Sazh gaped, the reality of the situation becoming clear to him. "I caused the outbreak... I'm the reason everypony is..." He then burst into tears. "OH FAUST!"

"Sazh..." Sleight moved to comfort him, before being stopped by Char.

"I'm sorry!" Sazh cried. "I didn't mean for this to happen! I don't know how this could had happened! I'm so sorry!"

"It doesn't matter how it happen." Wizel said firmly. "What does matter is stopping the virus before anymore gets sick."

"W-what's going to happen to me?" Sazh whimpered.

"For starters, we must isolate you immediately." Chrysalis declared. "Then call in the DCD and the researchers to try and find a cure."

Unbeknownst to them, Antler was outside. He had come to demand that Sleight and Chrysalis enact stronger measures. But he had overheard them talking.

"A cure?" He said hopefully, listening in more closely.

"They're not going to hurt me, are they?" Sazh shuddered, obviously scared.

"They might have to." Wizel nodded solemnly, "But rest assured, we will see to it that they don't do anything drastic to you."

"What the buck are they talking about?" Antler growled, "Is Sazh..."

"Oh, what if the others find out that I'm the reason they're getting sick?" Sazh whimpered,."They'll kill me!"

"They won't." Sleight assured him firmly. "We just have to get you somewhere safe so they can study your blood and stuff and with luck, we might be able to-"

Antler pulled away, beside himself with fury.

"So, he is the one." He scowled, "And they are just going to hide him away, and let him get away with killing the others? My son?" He then snarled viciously. "Not if we have something to say about it..."

He then ran off, intent on avenging his son.

"This cant be happening." Sazh frowned, coughing a bit. "How can it be happening? I haven't been anywhere I haven't already been lately. I don't know how this virus could have gotten into me... what if Maud had caught it?"

"Don't worry about that, they said that no ponies have been infected as of yet. So we'll good in that aspect." Chrysalis assured him.

"Hopefully, the DCD will be able to find out what's wrong with you." Sleight declared.

"But for now, we must keep you from infecting any of the others." Chrysalis created a magic dome around Sazh. "This should hold until we get you to the dungeons."

"The dungeons?" Sleight frowned.

"It's the safest place, Sleight." Wizel sighed. "Isolated from the rest of us."

"What about Herk?" Sleight protested.

"He'zzz zzztill in hizzz cell." Char declared. "Lucky enough to avoid all thizzz...

"But... but..." Sleight murmured.

"It's okay, Sleight." Sazh nodded. "It's gotta be done."

"Okay." Sleight sighed. "Let's go."

As they walked into the corridors, Char signalled his fellow soldiers to join them.

"It'zzz a crying zzzhame, if you azzzk me." He told Sazh. "You're the lazzzt Changeling who dezzzerved thizzz. It'zzz not fair..."

"Hey, I'm used to life not being fair to me." Sazh sighed. "Should've known things were going too well lately... and I'm sorry, Char. Because of me, you had to kill that poor boy..."

"It'zzz fine, Sazzzh." Char stifled a sigh. "You didn't meant for thizzz to happen. All that we can do now is make sure it doezzzn't happen again."

They soon reached the ground.

"I just can't believe this is happening." Sleight sighed. "My best friend, a plague carrier..."

"It's okay, Sleight." Chrysalis comforted him. "We'll find a way to make things right again.

"I hope so." Sleight declared. "I really do..."

Suddenly, the front doors were kicked open. To the group's surprise, Antler and a mob of angry Changelings burst into the tower.

"What the buck?!" Sleight gaped.

"Antler, what is the meaning of this?!" Wizel demanded.

"There he is!" Antler ignored him, pointing to Sazh, "Sazh Teller, the one who had infected our loved ones with his disease!"

"Oh no..." Sazh quivered.

"Antler, I know this seems bad, but you can't just-" Chrysalis tried to scold him.

"Stow it, your majesty!" Antler sneered, "I always knew you had favorites... but I will be damned if I allow you to hide the one that had damned this hive!"

"Hide?" Chrysalis gaped, appalled. "We are taking him somewhere safe so he can't infect anymore Changelings, and hopefully end the disease!"

"Why do that when we can end it right now?!" Antler snarled. "As long as that little rat is still living, we are all in danger!"

"We have to kill him, before he infects us all!" A female added.

"Kill the plague bearer!" An older male yelled.

"Snuff out the infection at its source!" Another female screeched.

"Now hold on!" Sleight stepped forward. "You can't do this!"

"But we will!" Antler sneered. "For too long, we let this runt lived What was it that you said back then, your 'majesty', that 'all life is capable of accomplishing great things'? Well, this 'life' might have brought about the end of our hive!"

"I... I didn't mean..." Sazh muttered, deeply hurt by Antler's words.

"Now hold on a moment!" Wizel snarled. "It's not like he has meant to do this! Sazh loves this hive as much as everypony else!"

"And him being a runt hazzz nothing to do with thizzz!" Char snarled.

"They are right, so I will only ask this once." Chrysalis glared, "Stand down!"

"I'm sorry, your highness." Antler growled. "But the source of the contagion must perish, before we all turn into mindless monsters!"

"That is not our way!" Chrysalis declared.

"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, our way is dying!" Antler screamed. "Our hive is dying! And this is the only way to save it! By killing the source of the virus!"

"No!" Sleight pulled Sazh away. "Run for it, Sazh!"

"You won't escape!" Antler yelled.

"Wanna bet?" Char declared. "Zzzoldierzzz, hold the line!"

Char's loyal soldiers formed a blockade, holding back the mob. Sleight, Chrysalis, Wizel and Sazh ran towards the balcony.

"Why are you trying to stop us?" Antler yelled, as the mob pushed against the outnumbered soldiers. "We have to end the contagion!"

"And who zzzays you have to end it thizzz way?" Char asked, as he raced after the others.

"We do!" Antler snarled, as the mob began to overwhelm the soldiers.

Meanwhile, Sleight, Chrysalis and Sazh and Wizel were running back up the stairs, joined by Char.

"Times like these make me wish this place had a back door!" Sleight wheezed.

The roar of the mob came closer, having overpowered the soldiers.

"Sleight, take Sazh and get away from here." Chrysalis urged. "If Antler kills him, there can be no cure."

"I know." Sleight nodded. "But what about you?"

"Wizel and I shall buy you some time." Chrysalis declared.

"And zzzo zzzhall I." Char nodded.

"Thank you all." Sazh smiled tearfully. "You're risking everything for me."

"For the safety of everything." Chrysalis nodded. "You may be the source of contagion, but you're also our one chance of ending it. That won't happen if you die today."

The roar grew louder.

"Get to the balcony." Wizel urged.

"We will." Sleight nodded. He kissed Chrysalis deeply. "Love you."

"Love you too." Chrysalis smiled.

"Here they come..." Char noted, as the roar grew louder.

"Come on." Sleight urged Sazh.

"Right behind you." Sazh nodded.

As Sleight and Sazh continued to run, Chrysalis and the others stood before the mob.

"As your Queen, I order you to stand down!" Chrysalis demanded.

"With all due respect, I cannot obey that order." Antler growled. "I serve a higher call: Justice!"

"Very well then." Chrysalis snarled. "Do your worst. You all may be my children, but I will not tolerate disobedience and bloodshed!"

"And I will not let our hive devolve into anarchy!" Char roared.

"Even if killing Sazh was the answer, I would never allow it!" Wizel added.

"Let nothing stop you!" Antler told the mob as they charged forward, "If they are going to let this disease live, they don't deserve to live with it!"

Meanwhile, Sazh and Sleight reached the balcony.

"So... what now?" Sazh asked.

"Now? We take a little flight." Sleight panted.

"No offense, but in my condition, I don't think I could carry your weight..." Sazh frowned.

"None taken." Sleight shrugged. "And that's not the kind of flight I had in mind." He pulled out a card. "Get ready to jump."

Sazh nodded in understanding. They both took several steps back, then ran full pelt toward the edge.

"Now!" Sleight called.

They leapt over the balcony. At the same time, Sleight's horn glowed, activating his magic. The two were pulled inside the card, and drifted away on the wind.

Their daring escape had not gone unnoticed. One of the DCD operatives that were stationed within the hive (as suggested by Elite to help the soldier Changelings keep the peace in this trying time) had overheard a angry mob talking about the 'advisor' Sazh Teller being the source of the infection. He would have interfered with the mob's intent of killing him, but they greatly outnumbered him and he hadn't the time to gather more DCD members.

He did however notice Sazh and Sleight jumping from the tower and turning into a card, that effortlessly flew through the aerial forcefield (the forcefield having been made to block Changelings, not other things).

Wasting no time, the operative raced to the quarantine central command tent, posted just outside the hive. The pony he was answering to was not happy.

"How could you let 'patient zero' get away?!" The pony in charge snarled.

"There were so many Changelings, and only one me!" The DCD member growled. "I had no chance! All I can say now is that they are out of the quarantine zone and possibly on the run. What is the suggested course of action, Mr. Harlhooves?"

The pony in charge was indeed revealed to be Aspir Harlhooves, having been summoned there by Elite and the others for his 'expertise' in chemistry.

"Alert Director Elite and the others. We must find this 'Sazh Teller' quickly. He may be the source of the infection, but he is our only chance at finding the cure. And he doesn't have long before he succumbs himself."

"Yes, sir!" The operative nodded.

As soon as he left, Harlhooves let out a harrowing sigh.

"Don't stray too far, Sazh..." Harlhooves declared, an odd look on his face. "You are vital for our success."

Comments

[HolyCross9]

So Harlhooves is in league with the ForeFathers?!

[Grekoy]

At first I was like : Oh Luna no!
But later on: And so it begins. Night of the Zombie Changelings. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

"I'm so sorry..." Sleight whispered, as he gritted his teeth, and with a tremendous burst of strength, he twisted and snapped the sick Changeling's neck, as it fell dead.

When did Sleight learn this?

[Vakama95096]

7052320 Now, hang on a minute, we don't know that yet

[danick]

Yep definetily a resident evil thing

[moonlit scribe]

OK. Ok. Ok. OK. Uh-huh. Mhmm. What!!!

[Vakama95096]

there's one thing I don't get, what's the point with this Project Infestation?

[Bluecatcinema]

7074736 All will be revealed soon enough.

[Razzy]

Oh god, those poor changelings... I hope the ponies responsible pay for this dearly.

[Diamond_Dancer]

Where's "Shining Armor's Patented Magic Bubble Shield" when you need it?