• Published 6th May 2017
  • 635 Views, 50 Comments

H.E.R.D. - Time Code



Being foal-napped by armed thug wasn't a good start to Scootaloo's day. Neither was being flown to a topical island in the middle of nowhere against her. All of this, just to offer her a free education? Scootaloo's not buying it.

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A Slice of Life.

The group of foals were lead off along a large catwalk, that curved off into various flood lit caverns. Large mirrors with light orbs at their centre were attached to the ceilings, the ancient stalactites glinting in the mirror's glow. Far below them along the cavern floor where large octagonal domes, built from glass panelling. Each dome was filled with plants. Some in neat, ordered rows. Others set up in more natural dispersions, with grass and moss covering their floors.

"H.E.R.D. is a near self-sufficient facility." The Contessa announced to her wards. "Greenhouses and Hydroponics bays like the ones you see below are used to grow many different plants. Some of them supply our kitchen with fresh ingredients to ensure our students and staff eat delicious and healthy meals. Other plants are grown here for their more... exotic properties." At this point, the Contessa gestured out to a specific greenhouse, nestled amongst the others. "A couple of the greenhouses contain fully functioning eco-systems, containing both flora and fauna. These are used to supply our more carnivorous members. " The Contessa moved onward, the group following after her.

"It's not enough." Scootaloo turned, hearing Applebloom's muttering.

"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked, confused.

"The farms. Ah grew up on an orchard. I know about farming and that's not enough food down there to feed all these people. " Applebloom explained, gesturing around them as they trotted after the Contessa.

"Well, she did say 'near self-sufficient'. They probably import the rest of the food."

"Not this amount though. No way you'd be able to bring that much food in by carriage. Not without someone noticing." Huh. If that was the case then there might be another hanger or dock somewhere, Scootaloo thought. Surely such a large amount of food couldn’t be flown in by pegasus. Not through the earlier hanger anyway.

"A bigger question is, how’d they build all of this." Scootaloo tapped the catwalk with her hoof, a soft clang ringing out as a result. “A construction job like this would have hundreds of construction workers.” A macabre look spread across the Applebloom’s face.

“I doubt they ever left the island. These guys don’t feel like the sort to leave loose ends like that.” That was a dark prospect. Unfortunately, it was also probably true.

“Well… That’s one aggressive retirement plan.” Applebloom, as well as the white filly from earlier, both turned to pin Scootaloo with a glare. “Too soon?”

“Yeh. Too soon.” Despite Applebloom’s reply, Scootaloo noticed that the white filly hadn’t turned back to face the direction they were walking.

“Sorry,” Scootaloo muttered, a sheepish look on her face. The white filly finally turned back. Note to self, Scootaloo thought, Speak quieter.

The party continued on in silence after that. They turned off the catwalk into a side corridor that felt like it was gently sloping downwards, at least to Scootaloo. Eventually, they came to another small cavern, that seemed to act as a junction for other corridors. As the group crossed the cavern, the marbling of the stone walls began to lightly glow and a voice blared out across the facility.

“MWAH! MWAHAHAHA! MWAHAHA!!!” The voice sounded both deep and forced. Like someone was making their regular voice deeper than it normally was. Still, the glowing of the walls, as well as the sheer volume of the voice made the sound terrifying to the children, who immediately clustered together in the middle of the room. It was a good thing they did too, as almost immediately ponies started pouring into the room, mainly students by the look of them, from all different streams and age groups. The wall seemed to vibrate, as the cavern was filled with conversation and laughter.

“... What’s the point of learning lockpicking, when we have mana explosives?...”

“... then he said ‘Plutonium?’ and we all start laughing!...”

“... a seven-unto-three point umbric array should be enough...”

“... stick him in a pod one of these days...”

“...and I said ‘Oatmeal? Are you crazy!’...”

The bewildered group of first years just stood there in the centre, watching the students go by. Some of the students noticed them, point the first years out to their friends before moving one. Occasionally one would smile or wave, but soon enough the cavern emptied again. The whole event, from silence to school yard cacophony and the back to silence, couldn’t have lasted more than a minute.

“As you can see punctuality is something that is taken very seriously here at H.E.R.D. Tardiness is not something taken lightly, and you don’t want to be caught by our hall monitors without a pass.” As if on cue a team of guards swept through the hallway; 2 unicorns, 2 pegasi and an earth pony. A quiet, soft voice spoke up from the back of the group.

“Why… Umm… Weapons?” Looking over, Scootaloo saw a small, light grey earth filly with a long dark grey mane. Realising that everyone was looking at her, the filly cowed down, hiding her face in her hair.

“Are you asking why the guards are armed, dear?” The Contessa asked. At the filly’s hesitant nod, she turned, gesturing the guards over. “Do not worry my dear, the guards are here for your protection. You have nothing to fear from them. Well, unless you break the school's rules anyway.” The Contessa now turned towards the approaching Guards. “Besides, these aren’t your average weapons. HERD GUARD! PRESENT ARMS!”

At the Contessa’s shout, the 5 guard snapped to attention, smoothly pulling the weapons from their sheaths in a fluid, well practised movement, holding them combatively for a second before relaxing their stance slightly, safely presenting the weapons to their commanding officer. These definitely weren’t just your average school guards. These guards were military. This was the first good look Scootaloo had got of their weapons.

The unicorns had telekinetically pulled bronze spears from sheaths on their backs. Unlike a regular spear, the head on these was split laterally, with a light purple crystal embedded in the gap, hints of yellow light occasionally glinting from deeper within. While the spear definitely still had a sharp edge and point to the metal parts, the weapon was clearly designed around the central crystal. Inlaid lines of gold twisted their ways down the spear shaft, with the occasional glint of sapphire slivers embedded between the lines.

The two pegasi had pulled out wing-blades, previously housed in a pair of quick release blade holsters attached low on the guard's flanks. Similar to the Unicorn’s spears, these wing-blades had a core of the same purple crystal. Unlike the spears, however, the yellow light was clearly visible, forking up and down the lengths of the blades at random. Also unlike the spears, the crystal itself had been cut into a sharp edge. The surrounding metal, some sort of woven material interchanging periodically between gold and bronze, served only to attach the crystal edge to the wielder. A line of glowing, green emeralds lined the metal where the weapon met the pegasi’s wings.

Unlike the rest of the guards, the earth pony had no clear weapon. Instead he reared up, clapping his front two hooves together, before dropping back down onto all fours and presenting his right forehoof, frog up. On closer inspection, one could see that the guard's horseshoe was made near entirely from the purple crystal, although the edges were gold, with slices of glowing ruby inlaid in them. Once again the purple crystal was different, with the crystal practically glowing yellow. Scootaloo wasn’t sure, but she thought she could see a yellow glow coming from under the earth ponies other hooves as well.

The Contessa’s horn glowed purple, her aura coating one of the spear staves from one of the unicorns. An uneasy look flickered across the guard's face as he released his grip on the weapon.
“You may draw another stave from the armoury when you have finished your Patrol. Dismissed.” The guard nodded and turned to leave. The rest of the patrol followed, stowing their weapons in the process. The Contessa suddenly pointed the spear at the unarmed unicorns back. Her magic flared slightly before the air between the guard and the spear head seemed to pulse. With a flash of yellow light and a zapping sound, the guard collapsed unconscious, completely limp. The foals screamed in alarm, although the guard just slowly edged away from both their collapsed comrade and the Contessa.

“I didn’t formally request this weapon.” The Contessa’s focus was solely on the guards. “Your squad mate should not have relinquished control of the weapon without a full, verbal order.” The Contessa turned back to the students, presenting the spear staff to them, point up to the ceiling. “These are mana scrambling pulse inhibitors, or as the guards call them Sleepers. When exposed to a directed mana flow, the crystals produce a pulse of weak but wild chaos magic. If hit by said pulse, your mana will be temporarily forced from your body, rendering you unconscious. It will also randomly misalign any mana you have left, preventing recovery until your magic has realigned itself. The process is completely harmless, and one usually recovers in about eight hours.”

The Contessa tossed the weapon to the team's other unicorn. “When he wakes up, he is to report to Colonel Biceps for remedial training. DISMISSED!” The remaining guards quickly picked up their unconscious comrade and marched out of the hall. Probably towards the nearest barracks, Scootaloo though. “The weapons were developed here at the H.E.R.D. by some of our student as a final year project.” The Contessa was once again talking to the foals, trying to reassure them. “The students in question were concerned with the potential effect the Ketamine used in our old tranquillisers could have on young minds. Additionally, the student managed to build in a security system, so only those with permission may activate a Sleeper. These are the sort of innovations you too will be able to create, come the end of your course.”

Scootaloo was very interest in those weapons. Those could be amazing for Equestria's police force. No more ‘accidental’ deaths during police raids, and a lot of profit to be had as the seller. Nothing wrong with making a little money, on the side. A grin spread on Scootaloo’s face. She had to get her hooves on one of those Sleepers. Looking across at Applebloom, Scootaloo saw the yellow filly had a troubled look on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked. Applebloom turned to Scootaloo, concern in her eyes.

“Wat’s the last thing ya remember before waking up in the carriage.”Scootaloo tilted her head down, thinking.

“I was walking around the Island, trying to lay low, and then...” The orange pegasus tilted her back in in concentration. Suddenly her eyes flashed open. “The sound! I remember that sound.” Applebloom nodded, as suddenly reassured of something.

“Ai remember seeing somepony enter the room, then a flash. Ai have a feeling those get used a lot more often than they should.” Scootaloo silently agreed with that assumption.

“Come along now students,” The Contessa called out, “We do need to hurry to the quartermasters. We are starting to run behind schedule.”

“We should probably try to avoid provoking the guards any time soon,” Applebloom muttered, trotting after the Contessa and their fellow first years “Ai for one don’t want to wake up with another headache ” A flash of confusion spread across Scootaloo’s face. What headache?

Author's Note:

I seem to really have a thing for purple in this story. hmm.:applejackunsure:
Anyways, sorry about the delay. A friend dragged off to Spain last minute and completely mucked up my writing routine. :facehoof:
But I'm back and ready to write again! :twilightsmile:

In H.I.V.E. they never really explain how they get meat into the school. We assume that it's imported, but Otto notes that there isn't enough 'Hydroponics Labs' to feed everyone with.
You can't grow meat in a Hydroponics Lab! :flutterrage:

They never mention the presence of meat being suspicious so I added an explanation. :twilightsheepish:
Honestly, the pony foals would never have noticed the issue, being herbivorous and all, but Humans should have noticed it. Otto's explanation of why there needs to be a dock actually make more sense for Apple bloom to come up with, being a farmer and all.