PROJECT HIVE
Spring Has Sprung
Merry May breathed in the warm, cosy air and fluffed her wings with a smile. It really was her favorite time of year, and it made her job so much nicer as she listened to the hustle and bustle of her class. Foals wandered around the orchard, learning what the Agriculture department did and being cajoled into helping their seniors. Some took to the work more eagerly than others while others were more happy to play in the cool spray of the sprinklers, which the adults pretended not to notice .
It really was an almost perfect day, the pegasus thought to herself as she absolutely didn't shuffle closer to a nearby sprinkler's gentle show. The only thing missing would be the rest of her herd, but-
"LOOK OUT!"
"GET DOWN!"
"MY CABBAGES!"
Merry was snapped from her musings by the cries of alarm and sounds of sudden chaos, sliding on her belly in the wet grass as something whipped over her head. Her sharp pegasus eyes widened in confusion at what she saw, but all she could get out before it was gone was a bewildered "Wha-"
The Maintenance stalls were a place of ordered chaos, with every surface covered in something, from parts undergoing maintenance to schematics of the various systems that served both Stable and Hive. The Great Mural, as some jokingly called it, dominated the largest wall... and at least some of the ceiling... and around the nearest whiteboards and blackboards on the adjacent walls. It was a vast piece, decades in the making, and being able to add to it was something of a dream for the younger Maintenance crew.
It was a rough map of both Stable and Hive, with countless notes describing everything from reliably unreliable systems and mechanisms to places where important things had happened since the Great Door had closed. It was no mere blueprint or architectural drawing, though, practically alive from the number of hooves that had touched it, added to it over the long years.
A visitor could find themselves lost in it if they weren't prepared, catching glimpses of hidden details that seemed to vanish as soon as they were focused on. Tiny figures trotted through the orchard, tending their trees. Security uniforms could be spotted as they patrolled in pairs. Foals ran and played through tunnels and halls that were ever expanding, while a pair of equines watched diligently over everything from above their office above the Atrium.
The Morale division was represented in the cafeteria, throwing a party of some kind. The entire Maintenance division denied adding that, but two small, distinct, identical figures present in that particular addition had raised some suspicions about the culprits when it first appeared... suspicions that were quickly and pointedly ignored when some very infamous cookies mysteriously made their way to each and every desk.
It was the pride and joy of the Maintenance stalls, and it was a comfort to see on those long, late-night shifts, to just lean back and let tired eyes wander and see what could be found.
The storage rooms, however, were given over to other matters, with small nests and sleeping nooks made on unused shelves or between boxes, with personal projects springing up on tucked-away desks and work surfaces or behind hidden panels that absolutely didn't exist, no matter what the blueprints for the area said.
In one particular not-so-hidden room, a changeling and pony worked around their own creation, trying to get the cover off of an airvent. Honeycut cursed as it came free with a jolt and bonked him on the nose. Behind him his partner, Hawkeye, fiddled with a flashlight, blinking as it turned on suddenly and blinded him for a moment. The pair, one rubbing his snout, the other blinking spots away, peered into the dark vent.
"I definitely heard something," Honeycut grumbled as he wiped grease from his snoot. "A rattling sound, like one of the fans is failing."
The pair listened carefully, before Hawkeye shrugged. "I don't hear anything. Are you sure it wasn't-" He was cut off by a black hoof pressing to his mouth.
"Listen, there it is again"
With a grimace, the pony pushed his partner's hoof from his mouth, the pair leaning in to the vent, their ears twitching at the intermittent rattling, pinging sound. "Is that what you hear-GAAAH?!" Hawkeye ducked, something shooting between his ears and richocheting around the room before vanishing back into the vent, taking with it a good chunk of his mane.
Lured by the commotion, several equine faces poked around the absolutely-not-a-hidden-door, utterly bewildered at what was in the room. A startled changeling had attached itself to the roof, while a pony was busy cursing and checking what was left of its mane in the shiny copper vessel that everyone made a point of not acknowledging.
"What is going on in here?!"
Ponies and changelings threw themselves out of the way as a pegasus projectile hurtled down the halls, everyone utterly bewildered at the commotion. "IT'S CHASING ME!" Holly shrieked as she banked and rolled and kicked off of walls, floors, ceilings and a few slow moving equines as she tried to make her escape from the pinging, rattling, sproinging thing that was hot on her tail.
A good distance behind, Lorikeet was flying with all his might to keep up, apologising to everyone sporting a new set of hoofprints from the madmare on the loose in between delivering reports to the rest of the Security team.
In the Security offices, it was all-hooves-on-deck to try and contain the chaos. Whatever the mysterious thing was, it had been loose and running wild for a couple of hours, and it was showing no sign of stopping or even slowing down as it left a trail more suited to a trio of rambunctious foals than a single whatever-it-was.
Ironside and Damsel were shouting orders and forming a plan as quickly as they could, before relaying instructions to their flutterpony-on-the-scene.
A sudden ping from her hoof and the appearance of a blip in her vision almost made Holly crash, but Lorikeet's shouted instruction cut through her wild panic. "FOLLOW THE MARKER, HOLLY!" With a scream of acknowldgement (and definitely not terror), the pegasus changed directions, following the little marker in her vision and hoping her Pipbuck would steer her the right way.
Not even a minute later, she got the helpful notification that she'd reached her destination, the little blip vanishing as she rocketed past the waiting capture team, barely ahead of the tail-tearing horror.
As one, the waiting Security team activated their Pipbucks, using their often-forgotten Stable-Tec targeting spells to strike together. Nets were swung and thrown, resin was spat, and when the dust cloud settled everything was silent.
The team shared a look, then cautiously checked what they'd caught. What they found left them all flabbergasted and stunned, even as Lorikeet fluttered by overhead, out of breath and trying to catch his still-panicking partner.
It was not their brightest idea. That much, the embarrassed pair happily admitted, much to the consternation of both Regent and Overmare. They claimed that they'd just been testing the thing after finding it in a dusty old box in the back of... well, they wouldn't say where, and even their superiors in the Morale division refused to elaborate, only stating that, clearly, an in-depth inventory of that place was apparently overdue.
It was decided that doing that inventory would be an adequate punishment for the sheer chaos the two had caused, and the look of sheer dread on their faces was enough to make the Regent and Overmare decide that some questions were better left unasked.
As they left the office behind their superiors, Ginger Snap and Tagalong glared at the thoroughly restrained thing in its clear, reinforced case, still bobbling and bouncing despite the resin, vegetation and mane-and-tail hairs stuck in its coils. Despite their dread of the upcoming punishment, they still managed to give the uncaring, mismatched thing the best stinkeye they could, and they both had the same thought.
A spring-loaded Discord-in-a-Box was more trouble than it was worth.