Dear Spike,
I am sure that this Bay is probably just foreign, and is adjusting. I only have a few more days in Canterlot and I'm sure you'll be fine. If he really worries you, be on your guard. I trust you to judge him wisely. Please don't overreact. Send another letter if you feel this is really important.
With love,
Twilight
Twilight finished the last character on the letter, and put it in her saddle bags. She would have Celestia send it to Spike in a few minutes, but first she would have to bid Cadence and Shining Armor farewell. It was time for them to return to the Crystal Empire. Twilight got up from the small desk in her parent's house's study. Some grunting came from the doorway, and Twilight walked over to the young earth pony stallion struggling to move the royal couple's baggage from the front steps to the carriage waiting in the street. Soon after Twilight had finished helping the pony, Cadence and Shining appeared in the doorway. The alicorn walked over to Twilight and gave her a big hug.
"Oh, Twilight, I'm sad to leave you! I had such a fun weekend! Sadly, duty calls."
"Its all right, Cadence! I'm sure I'll see you soon enough." The two broke their pace and started heading to the carriage. A call from behind stopped them.
"Actually, Cadence, can we walk to the station? We have enough time, and I wanna see some Canterlot before going to the Empire." The two sisters-in-law agreed, and Twilight bid them goodbye on the doorstep. She wanted enough time to look at all the memory Orbs before going back to Ponyville. The group went their separate ways.
Twilight arrived at the palace within a few minutes. She walked through the ornate doors, right up to the throne room. She saw that Celestia was in a meeting, so she walked up to the assistant, near the door. Upon recognizing her, he gave her a package.
"From the Princess." He said. Twilight told him to give her letter to Celestia, and to tell her to send the letter to Spike. She took the package, which just so happened to be the key to the Memory Orb Room, and headed down the passages to her destination.
~
The old door slid open, and Twilight entered the dust-covered room. She walked over to the oldest shelf, with the mechanical-feeling orbs. She walked over to the next orb in Cee's story, and studied it. It was bigger than its fellows, and had, instead of bright white, blue and green, like its fellows, a red and black color washing over it. This fact only slightly deterred Twilight. she cast the spell, and was sucked into the Swirl.
When Twilight emerged, she realized she was looking through the eyes of a much older Cee. She was hunched over a fifth-grade level sheet of math problems, printed on an impossibly perfect sheet of parchment. It appeared she was focusing very hard. It was a frustrating scenario for Twilight, because she knew all the answers, and could not do anything her. Suddenly, there was a sound from her right, and an older looking Beta walked into the room.
"Hey, Cee. What's up?"
"Homework. I don't see why Dad says this is so important. Its annoying."
"I feel ya, sis. Just finished. By the way, the answer is 42."
"No it isn-" Cee looked at the paper.
"Thanks, Beta. Yes! Done!" Cee cheered. She placed the perfectly white piece of paper in a compartment in the desk, and retracted the strange yellow stick she was writing with into her foreleg device. It looked like it had been modified since Twilight last saw it, and she identified, among other things, a spoon, fork, and the yellow writing stick. Cee looked away from the device before Twilight could identify any more tools.
"So, Cee. Whaddaya wanna do?"
"I dunno. The Cryo Labs?"
"Nah. Dad said he was having an important meeting with some big shot inspector in there."
"The Ventus Atrium?"
"That's always where B-6 and her cronies hang out." With these strange names being mentioned by the second, Twilight was getting extremely confused.
"Where do you want to go, Beta?"
"I wanna go somewhere we've never seen before. Maybe cause trouble. Maybe..." Suddenly, the brown pegasus gained a loo of mischievous glee on is face. "The Outside?"
"I don't know, Beta. What if we get in trouble?"
"We won't! we're, like, the sneaky-est subjects I know!"
"Well, I have always wanted to go outside. But how? We can't just go through the lobby. We'll get caught!"
"Y'know how yesterday I said I found something super cool?"
"You found a conveniently placed emergency exit, didn't you."
"Aww! You ruined the surprise!" Beta was only a little put out by this. "Its behind the Atrium Humidifier Ducts."
"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Twilight could tell that Cee was starting to become exited by the notion of an "Outside World"
"You," Beta replied. They set off down the hallway, conversing about what the Outside might be like.
"Maybe it'll be all green and nice."
"Nah," said Beta. "I bet it'll be like in The Last Survivors where it's all barren and rocky, with a permanent cloudy sky."
"I like mine better." Cee shot back.
"Mine's more likely." They crossed though a large doorway, into a tall room, of which the ceiling was made of a grubby Plexiglas skylight. The air was warm and damp, and the ground was soil and real grass. there were palm trees in here, and the walls were a comforting blue. Twilight was amazed, but Cee and Beta had obviously been here before. They immediately set off for the small door on the other side, but about halfway through they were stopped by a blue pegasus, and her pegasi friends. Twilight immediately recognized her for what she was. A bully.
"Hey, nerds. Where do you think you're going?"The bully sneered. Beta stepped forward.
"First of all, what's wrong with being a nerd? And second, B-6, I thought we were going to the other side of the Atrium, but apparently not." The dark blue pegasus' friends started to snicker, but were stopped by a killer glare from B-6.
"Well, well. Looks like stupid Beta has forgotten his place."
"I thought I was a nerd a second ago." B-6 snorted.
"That doesn't matter!"
"It does If you enjoy logic." Cee put in. B-6 snorted again, her cronies barely holding in their giggles.
"Fine. You nerds can go soak your head. I'm going to go do something worth my while." B-6 took off with her newfound power of flight and cruised to a nearby treetop. Her buddies followed.
"I thought we were stupid!" Beta called after her. He and Cee shared a giggle and continued on their way. soon enough they were at the door, on the other side of the large room. They approached the door, painted blue like the walls, and, after making sure nobody was looking, entered. Cee looked around the room. It was more cramped, and there was a row of big machines, humming and whirring. The walls were an ugly grey, and the lighting was poor. Beta started down the hall.
"It's Down here, Cee." They arrived at a very inconspicuous door.
"Ready?"
"I think so." Beta pushed open the door. Cee let out a gasp. They had a perfect view of the most magnificent sunset Twilight had ever seen. She walked outside, and felt the breeze on her face. It was nice and cool. Twilight realized that Cee had never felt a breeze in the cold, white hallways of the facility. Cee felt the crunch of gravel under her hooves. She turned back to look at Beta, who was wedging a moderately sized rock in between the door and the door frame.
"It's so that the door doesn't automatically lock behind us." Having seen that the door was not going to close anytime soon, he trooted over to join Cee. They sat down. The sun was just dipping toward the horizon. They sat in silence, watching the beautiful sunset, with its magnificent oranges, reds, yellows, and even a little purple.
An irritating sneer came from behind. "Later, loosers." Cee looked back just in time to B-6 kicking out the rock and closing the door.
"Wait!" Cee ran over, but it was too late. The door was smooth. It was impossible to get back in this door. Beta was ranting to himself.
"Nonononononononono! We're in such deep shit! Dad's gonna rip us a new one!" Cee turned to her brother.
"Its alright, Beta. We can just walk around until we find a door."
"The Rainbow Corporation Facility is huge! It'll take hours! Anything could happen! We could get attacked, or kidnapped, or, or...!" Beta was starting to hyperventilate.
"Beta, Beta! Remember what Delta said! Deep breaths!" She demonstrated. While Cee was looking at Beta, Twilight realized something. Beta had no cutie mark! he was well above the age of receiving it.
"In, and out. In, and out." Beta started to calm down, and eventually he was breathing normally. he sat on the ground, just staring at it.
"I'm sorry, Cee. This is all my fault." he started to tear up. Cee rushed to comfort him.
"Thats ridiculous! It's not all your fault! I agreed to come with you!" Cee giggled, and Beta cracked a smile. "Heh." They sat in silence, as the sun finally set. The sky was rapidly growing dark.
"I guess we better get going, huh?"
"Yeah."
~-~
Beta and Cee had been walking for almost an hour, and Cee was starting to get tired. Twilight could tell Beta was tired, too. He was struggling to hide it. Cee saw something in the distance, and got very excited.
"Look! Beta, look!" She shook beta and pointed with a hoof. "A road!"
"Huh?" Beta replied. Cee shot off, dashing toward the black strip of land. Beta was forced to pursue. Soon they came across the road, and a large parking lot.
"Duck!' Beta said.
"What?" Cee replied. Shen she saw. a creature (Twilight had decided to call them "Walkers") in a lab coat was exiting the large glass doors on the side of the building which Beta and Cee had been in the process of circumventing. The duo dashed into some nearby bushes, and spied on the walker. He walked over to an old, beat-up purple car and started fumbling at the handle. Much to Beta and Cee's surprise, another walker jumped out from behind the car. The filly and colt were too far away to hear the conversation, but they saw the first walker stick his arms up when the other walker pulled something out of his pocket. The first walker slowly reached into his coat and withdrew a small black object. He handed it to the other walker. The creature looked at it, for a moment, then thrust whatever he had at the first walker. Cee gasped when the thing doubled over and fell to the ground, as the walker ran to a nearby car, entered it, and sped off down the road. As soon as he was out of sight, the duo rushed out of sight and over to the creature, who was laying down near his car. he was shivering and gasping, and as Cee neared, she saw a large pool of liquid around him. Cee recognized this as blood. The two rolled him over so he was on his back. A small trail of blood ran out the corner of the strange creature's mouth. His eyes locked on Cee's, just in time for the light to fade from them. The man shuddered, and died.
Cee stared. She heard Beta running off, but didn't look after him. Her sight began to blur as she started to shake.
She kept staring.