//------------------------------//
// Everything Is Going To Be Okay... 
// Story: Hello From The Other Side 
// by FoxMcCloud7921 
//------------------------------//

	The year is 2037. The human race has advanced exponentially in technological and biological practices. The Sombra Corporation has led the way for a new meaning of human evolution with the “ESP Project”; using a newly developed serum, humans have been able to unlock certain powers, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and pyrokinesis among other things. 
Before, the project was only tested among those in the military and other limited agencies, but the corporation has now been given the green light to test this new serum on regular citizens who wish to expand their horizons. However, despite these successes, Sombra Corporation has never fully explained the resources being used for this serum or what exactly are the long-term effects of taking such a drug.



The sound of an alarm went off, waking Luna from her sleep. She groggily opened her eyes as she sat up and looked over to where her clock was before turning off the alarm. It was almost eight o’clock and as soon as she got out of bed her phone started ringing. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she reached for her phone and saw it was her sister calling.
“Morning sleepyhead,” Celestia said cheerfully. “I figured you were going to wake up early so I was wondering if you wanted to get some breakfast before we headed to the lab for those tests.”
“Hmm…that sounds pretty good right now,” Luna replied, stifling a yawn. “Which place?”
“The usual. My treat this time of course.”
Luna chuckled. “You’re going to regret those words later. Alright, I’ll get myself ready.”
“Make it quick, I already arranged a transport to pick you up.”
“…Tia you didn’t have to-”
“I know, it was more the corporation’s treat than mine. See you soon.”
Luna shook her head slightly as she put her phone down and quickly undressed and popped into the shower. She still had a lingering headache from the night before, an aftereffect of the ESP serum, but at least the warm water seemed to put her mind at peace momentarily. Despite working at Sombra Corporation, there had been no obligation for her to take the serum, she had volunteered, especially since she knew her sister was more squeamish when it came to needles. 
Once she was finished, she got dressed, wearing semi-formal clothing and then grabbed her things before heading out of her room towards the elevator, taking it to the roof.
As promised, there was a transport waiting for her right on top of the helipad. She walked over towards the transport and opened the side door before hopping inside and taking a seat on one of the comfortable leather seats. “Welcome aboard Dr. Luna,” the intercom suddenly went off. Luna assumed it had to be the pilot. “Make yourself comfortable and we’ll be on our way. It’s a short flight to Sombra Corporation so enjoy the view while you can.”
The transport soon started lifting up into the air and Luna got to see an aerial view of the city of Manehattan. As the transport took off, Luna got a good look of all the skyscrapers nearby which belonged to many of the large companies that were seen all over the world.


Hasbro Studios Presents


They turned left slightly and Luna got a good view of both the Manehattan Bridge and the Percheron Bay. “Nice view of the bridge today,” the pilot commented. “You don’t get to see the water this clear that often.”


A DHX Media Production


Luna could soon see the largest skyscraper in the city that bore the logo and name of the Sombra Corporation. The transport slowly made its descent towards the helipad on top of the building. Luna managed to get one last look at the skyline before the transport began to land.


Hunted


“Watch your step as you leave and have a nice day Dr. Luna,” the pilot said as Luna stepped onto the roof. The elevator in front of her suddenly opened and she saw her sister come out, wearing a white lab coat. “Right on time,” Celestia smiled as she looked at her watch. She gave her sister a small hug before the two of them made their way back towards the elevator. “I know you always like to try somewhere different but you can’t deny that Chef Puff here is probably the best chef in all of Manehattan.”
“I don’t mind,” Luna said as she pressed the button for the fifth floor, the doors closing soon after. The elevator started descending as music came out of the speakers.
“So…how are you feeling?” Celestia asked, looking somewhat concerned.
“Just a lingering headache,” Luna replied with a shrug. “I suppose I’m one of the lucky ones since the side-effects tend to be much worse than they say.”
“And nothing’s happened yet?”
“No…probably good thing too,” Luna sighed slightly. “But they did say it would take time for my body to…adjust, as they put it. Are you really that concerned?”
“I know the test runs have gone well…I would know since I supervised everything,” Celestia said matter-of-factly. “But even so, I still worry, especially since you’re my sister.”
Luna chuckled. “Big sister’s still looking out for me I see.” The elevator soon stopped and the doors opened out to the fifth floor. The building itself was split into two areas. The upper floors were for the executives and IT people while the lower floors consisted of many different laboratories and security areas. The fifth floor was a meeting point between the two and appropriately was where the large cafeteria was, their current destination.
“So what’s on the menu today?” Luna asked as they walked by the large windows.
“Oh the usual,” Celestia replied. “Normally I’m not a breakfast person but again, the food quality is top notch.”
“Better than me making breakfast right?” Celestia only chuckled in response.
Suddenly a voice called out behind them. “Dr. Luna!” They turned around to see a younger woman in her early twenties, wearing a lab coat just like Celestia with pinkish hair, running towards them. 
“Sugar Pine? What’s wrong?” Celestia asked.
“I’m really sorry to bring this up,” the girl said between deep breaths. “But Dr. Luna’s appointment has been changed unfortunately.”
“To what time?” Luna asked.
“Um…ten minutes from now.”
Celestia let out a deep sigh. “Of course they did,” she said, looking annoyed. “Thank you Sugar, let them know we’ll be on our way down.” Sugar nodded and headed back to her office.
“Oh come on sister, you don’t have to postpone your breakfast for me,” Luna said as the two of them made their way back towards the elevator.
“Don’t be silly, I can survive for another hour,” Celestia said as she pushed the button. “Besides, if all is good news, we’ll consider it a celebratory breakfast.”
Luna grinned. “Well in that case, I’ll definitely order double the normal amount.”



The lab where Luna would have her secondary tests conducted was on the third floor. Now she wished she had put on a coat since the A/C always appeared to be on on the lower floors. Once Luna confirmed her arrival, she was taken back immediately. “I have to go back to my office for a bit,” Celestia said before she left. “But I’ll meet you back here in about an hour.”
Luna was escorted to one of the rooms in the back which only contained a large window that showed a small group of observing scientists and a large round machine. “Thank you for coming Doctor,” one of the scientists said via an intercom. “We’ll try to make this go as quickly as possible. We just need to do a few scans to see if the serum has caused any changes in your body. Have you noticed any side-effects since the drug was administered yesterday?”
“No, aside from a lingering headache,” Luna replied.
“Hmm…yes this is normal for some people,” the scientist said. “After all, it’s called ESP for a reason.”
“Thank you doctor, I had no idea,” Luna thought.
“Now then, we need you to step into this machine here- oh and make sure you take off anything that’s metal or electronic if you can, it disrupts the scanners unfortunately. Don’t worry, it’s like one of those body scanners at the airports.”
Luna took out her phone and wallet, making sure she didn’t have any loose change in her pockets. Once she was done, she stepped into the large machine. “Alright Luna, now we just need you to stay still as best you can. This is only going to take about ten seconds so bear with us.” Luna kept herself still as the machine activated and started to rotate around her. No doubt it was showing an entire scan of her body which would show any possible anomalies.
“Very good.” The scientist seemed content. “Hmm…this is interesting…it almost seems like your body hasn’t had any real reaction to the serum.” It wasn’t quite the news she wanted to hear and she definitely didn’t want to have more of the stuff pumped into her.
“Doctor, something’s going on with the screen here,” one of the assistants said.
“It’s probably just a glitch or something. Alright Luna, well all I can say-” 
Suddenly an alarm went off inside. “Warning…containment breach detected…containment breach detected…”
“What the hell?” someone on the other side yelled. “What’s going on?”
“Alright, let’s just calm down and-AHHH!” Something had jumped across the room on the other side and latched itself onto the scientist’s face, causing him to scream and overall causing a panic inside the room. Luna could only watch in horror as two black figures made their way across the room and attacked the other scientists. Someone managed to fire a gun off but only managed three rounds before it stopped completely.
Luna knew she had to get out, but something was keeping her in place. It was only when she noticed that those same black figures, which looked like some convoluted form of a spider, started banging their bodies against the glass. Luna had been certain the glass was strong enough to withstand much trauma but they kept going with a ferocity that was very feral and cracks started to appear.
She finally broke out of her trance, grabbing her phone before rushing out of the room. Outside, it was chaotic with the sound of screams and weapons being discharged. Luna had no choice but to hide and found the closet for cleaning supplies to her left, opening and closing the door behind her quickly.
She almost jumped when she felt her phone start vibrating and saw it was her sister. “Celestia, thank Faust!” she said quietly.
“Are you alright?” Celestia sounded worried. 
“I’m fine but what’s going on? One minute I’m in a lab having tests done and next second something comes into the other room and starts killing everyone.”
“It was a containment breach, as the alarm stated,” Celestia replied.
“But of what!?”
“…I don’t know…”
“Bullshit!” Luna snapped. “You have higher clearance than I do so surely you knew what was going on!”
“Not high enough apparently!” Celestia snapped back. She then took a deep breath. “Listen…where are you?”
“Currently I’m in a supply closet,” Luna said. She put her ear up to the door and it seemed to have gone quiet. “I don’t think they found me yet. How do we get out of this?”
“Once the alert went out, everything’s been contained,” Celestia said. “We’d have to get out via the roof and since the elevators stopped working…”
“That’s nine floors,” Luna said with a sigh. 
“I’m on the sixth currently,” Celestia continued. “If you’re still in the labs, there should be a security room nearby. I’d grab whatever you can find. I’ll still be in my office so I’ll wait for you here. Just be careful alright?”
“I will, you too.” Luna hung up before getting to her feet again and opening the door slowly. She peered out and saw that it was quiet. She remembered passing a room on her way over to the lab so she took a left, retracing her steps. It wasn’t pleasant since the halls were now covered in streaks of blood while smoke started to fill the area. 
It didn’t take long for her to find a sign with the words “SECURITY” on it. Unfortunately, the door was sealed off but luckily the window wasn’t. While she was glad not to see any bodies, she had hoped to find something to use to break the glass. She did manage to find a briefcase near the waiting area and used it to smash the window in.
It was probably not wise to cause so much attention to herself but she was defenseless at the moment regardless. However, nothing appeared to be coming her way. After clearing away the remaining glass, Luna managed to climb over into the security room.
Luna searched around, finding a computer that was still operable but there was nothing on it of major importance. There were a couple of lockers next to her and once she opened the first one, she found a security uniform. It was a dark blue with a heavier and more durable material which made sense considering the job description.
“Well, it can’t hurt to have,” Luna thought before she took off her blouse, leaving her with a white tank top. She put on the top part of the uniform, relieved to see it fit her just fine. She glanced around self-consciously before stripping off her pants and changing into the lower part of the uniform as well. Again, it would probably offer her a little more protection.
Luna then opened the next locker and found what she had been looking for. A semi-automatic pistol had been tucked away and she immediately grabbed it, surprised how light the weapon was. This pistol wasn’t your typical handgun. Instead of using bullets as ammunition, the gun discharged semi-automatic amounts of pressurized energy, like a blaster seen in most science fiction movies. The clip was the battery that contained the energy and unlike standard handguns, the clip didn’t need to be reloaded as constantly.
Luna then grabbed a battery and loaded it into the gun. The gun gave a slight ding as the small light on the back of the chamber lit up green, meaning there was a full charge. Luna didn’t have a lot of experience with firearms but she figured she was a quick learner. “I’m sure no one will mind if I borrow these…”
Luna remembered there was an armory somewhere but on which floor? It may have been on the sixth floor as well and if that was true, her sister would’ve been wise to bunker herself there instead of her office. She made her way back out of the security room and paused as she noticed something.
The briefcase she had used had been left near the window but now it was further down the hallway towards the elevator. Luna still had the gun in her hand and wasn’t able to put it away anytime soon. She kept her eye on the briefcase as she got closer and once she was about two feet from it, the unimaginable happened.
The briefcase had suddenly disappeared and in its place was one of those spider-like things from before. It tried to jump at her but the surprise caused her to fall down onto her butt. It lunged at her once again but Luna raised her gun and pulled the trigger. The sound echoed throughout the hallway and the creature immediately disintegrated upon contact with the laser.
The sudden scare and adrenaline rush got Luna’s heart pumping now as she had to take deep breaths to calm herself down. Even at its max setting, the guns at worst would leave a clean hole in your body if you were unlucky enough to be shot by one. The creature disappeared at first touch, which made Luna slightly curious about its biology.
She got up and looked towards the elevator. She pushed the button and as expected there was no response. Luckily, there was a stairway that leads up and down the building. In case of an emergency, there were four stairways across the entire building to avoid any congestion. Of course, with the building being as big as it was, it took a couple flights just to get to the next floor.
She opened the door and looked upstairs and down. Surprisingly the power was still on and it gave Luna slight hope that there were others that were still alive. That gave her pause. Perhaps she could go down and check for any survivors. It was the moral thing to do but at the same time she had to keep herself alive and she had a feeling going downstairs was a very bad idea. She then slowly made her way up the stairs, conserving her energy in case of anymore unwanted surprises.
Finally, she found the door with the sign of the sixth floor sitting next to it. She went through the door and saw that this area more or less met the same fate. This area consisted of offices, mostly for the important people here. Well, not as important as the executives of course.
Fortunately, Luna knew where to find Celestia’s office which was only six doors down. But as she walked down, she stopped in her tracks. She had heard something but she wasn’t sure if it was just her mind imagining things.
Then she heard it again. It was a voice but for some reason it sounded slightly distorted. It was coming from her right, towards a small area of offices and cubicles. Luna walked slowly towards the sound.
“I told them this would happen…but they never listen to me!” The voice was female but again there was a slight distortion. The sound was coming from around the corner of one of the cubicles. She looked around but she saw no one there.
“Hello?” she called out. “Are you alright?” That seemed like a stupid question, considering none of them were alright. It was quiet for a moment and just as she started to relax, she heard the scream.
The scream was enough to send her heart into her throat and to her right she saw something big charging at her. She only got a glimpse of something black and humanoid before it crashed into her. The force of impact was enough to knock the gun out of her hand and sent her crashing into the wall about three feet back.
Her vision was now obscured but she made out a large figure approaching her. She tried to get up but her limbs weren’t responding. The figure looked human but all she could see was darkness and a pair of red glowing eyes. The creature grabbed Luna by the throat and picked her up with relative ease.
She tried to break the thing’s grip but to no avail. The creature seemed to study her closely. It was when she heard the words that her blood froze.
“I’ll make them pay…” The words had come from the creature itself, who Luna now realized had been one of the scientists here. Finally, the creature lost interest in her and flung her across the room with incredible strength. The last thing Luna remembered was crashing through glass before everything went dark.



“Pity…that didn’t seem to end well for you did it?”
“Hmm…I suppose not.”
Luna suddenly found herself floating in…actually she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. It was like a sea of random things and creatures which floated by her. Discord was floating next to her apparently unaffected.
“Oh, sorry, forgot to mention this place. This is my home of course: a dimension of complete chaos, perfect for a splendid chap such as me.”
Luna glanced around and noticed a house nearby. “Seems like a nice place,” she said curtly.
“Yes, but I don’t get a lot of visitors unfortunately,” Discord replied. “Of course, getting here by hoof is rather difficult so I have to hand it to the mail ponies who manage to venture out this way. Anyway, perhaps I can give you a tour?”
“That would be nice…but I feel bad leaving Tia behind. She wouldn’t have liked that whole thing anyway but perhaps you can have fun with her next.”
“Hmm…well she does seem a little more open than the princess so perhaps it couldn’t hurt.” Discord snapped his fingers and the two of them quickly reappeared inside Canterlot Palace.
“Oh good, you two are back.” Luna looked over and saw that her sister was again on the throne but she appeared to be eating something.
“Tia, did you take a trip to the kitchen while we were gone?” Luna asked.
“I sure did,” Celestia said as she took a bite of cake. Luna saw there was a bundt cake sitting next to her and then noticed half of it was gone. “This cake is delicious.”
“You…already ate half of it?” Luna deadpanned.
“Oh come on Luna, it’s not that bad,” Celestia said. “I read in a book how much equines eat and trust me, this is nothing for them.”
“You’re just using an excuse to be a glutton!”
“Nonsense,” Celestia said with a dismissive wave of her hoof.
Suddenly a ringing sound filled the room. “Oh dear!” Discord said, pulling out an alarm clock. “I almost forgot I have afternoon tea with Fluttershy today! Sorry ladies, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take off for now. Perhaps if you two are still here and Equestria isn’t in the middle of a national crisis then we can continue this fun later. Ta-ta for now!” The draconequus then disappeared, leaving the two alicorns alone in the room.
Luna then looked back at the cake. “So…is that lemon-flavored?”
“Of course.” Celestia offered a plate and fork with her magic. “You’re more than welcome to have some.”
Luna snorted. “I don’t think I have a choice since you’ll finish it all. Honestly, I’ll be surprised if you don’t gain ten pounds.”
Celestia rolled her eyes and the two ate silently for a few minutes. “So…what happened?”
“Oh…it’s quite the story I can promise you that.”