Coffee, As Promised
Twilight thought she was dead. Being crushed under half a ton of steel usually did that.
But as she found out, she wasn't. Being able to move her limbs confirmed her living state.
And so, she groggily opened her eyes. At the blurry bright light coming from above and the sounds of soft hummings that suggested a hospital room, she smiled, grateful for the Early Duplicants that had developed the technology needed to save her life.
A blue blob of mane and fur obscured her vision, and her smile evaporated as quickly as she could count basic mathematics. "Mhm . . . Minuette?"
Said blob of blue annoyance broke into a toothy grin. "Twilight! Oh my goodness, I was so worried! I was—"
Twilight glared.
Minuette's smile vanished and she leaned back. "Uhm, Twilight?"
Twilight's glare hardened. "I have a feeling you knew you could've prevented that."
Minuette whimpered. "I-I . . . yes, yes I do. I'm so sorry . . ."
As her mind caught up with her surroundings, Twilight's glare softened as she finally noticed the state her coworker was in. Her mane was disheveled, her eyes bloodshot and threatening to spill again, and her coat stank of sweat, medicine, and grime.
But, most importantly, she was wearing a nursing cap instead of her usual helmet.
"Minuette, have you . . . how long was I out?"
She sniffed. "Five cycles, I think? I dunno."
Twilight's glare came back. "Have you slept during that time?"
"Of course I—"
"Let me rephrase that: How many times have you slept, and for how long?"
Minuette flinched and looked away. "Uhm, it's, uh . . . Hey, Twilight, do you need anything? A cup of coffee or—"
"I do, actually." She put a hoof under Minuette's chin, bringing their eyes to meet. "I need a glass full of your answer, up to the brim and spilling. Spill it, Minuette."
Minuette sighed. "Twice. Two hours each, I think? But hey, you're now back in perfect condition! I promise you—"
"We have protocols, Minuette! You can't just break them, not even when you felt extremely guilty for a failed attempt at an organized murder! What did the Manager say about this?"
Minuette chuckled weakly. "Wow, you're still funny even at times like this, huh?" She glanced back, to where her multitool belt was neatly folded next to Twilight's own. "The Colony Manager was furious when I decided to switch my job, so I decided to ignore her. She sent Redheart shortly after to give me a mouthful, but I persisted. After the first cycle, she gave up and made it official."
Twilight grunted in annoyance and flopped into her bed. "You're such an insufferable mare, you know that?"
Minuette chuckled. "A certain astrophysicist reminded me of that every morning, yes."
"Astronomer," Twilight corrected. "Speaking of which, I'm already fully healed, right? I can go back to the project right away?"
Minuette laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, about that . . ."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Minuette, I swear if you—"
The doors at the far end of the room opened, and in came a white pegasus mare wearing a yellow jumpsuit with tri-colored cotton candy mane tied in a tight ponytail. Celestia smiled at the two mares and waved a greeting wing. She wasn't wearing any hats at the moment, which suggested that she's there purely for a visit.
Twilight gave a squeal of excitement. "Celestia! Oh, I'm so glad to see you!"
As Celestia reached her bed, she gave her a friendly nuzzle. "Hello, Twilight. How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling great!" She looked to Celestia's side, noticing her saddlebag with her scrolls jutting out. "Oh, right, the project! Sorry for the delay. I promise you the starmaps will still be finished on time."
Celestia frowned and shook her head. "I'm afraid that wouldn't be the case here, my dear student." At Twilight's panicked look, Celestia took out the scrolls from the saddlebag and laid it out, giving Twilight a view of her perfect, undamaged piece of flattened gemstone. "Don't worry, Twilight. Your charts were more protected than you were from the accident."
Twilight sighed in relief. "So, what is it, then?"
"The project has been suspended. It would be—"
"The project was what!?" Twilight shot up from her bed, looking at Celestia right in the eyes. "Why!? Was I not good enough? Is the observatory destroyed? Please tell me it's the former. I'll promise I'll be faster! I—"
Celestia put the tip of her wing to Twilight's muzzle, prompting her to cease her vocal assault. "It is you, Twilight, but not in the way you may think."
Twilight sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. So, what did I do wrong? I promise I'll do anything to fix it."
Celestia opened her mouth to object, but closed it again. She put her wing over her mouth, obscuring her sly grin from Twilight. "Anything?"
Twilight nodded in determination. "Anything at all, Celestia. I promise I'll do it."
Celestia couldn't help, and let out a hearty chuckle. Looking at the ceiling, she said in a playful tone, "Did you hear that, Manager? She promised. Oh, what's that? Oh, right, of course. Right away."
Twilight looked up her mentor with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, Celestia? What did the Manager just say?"
Celestia smiled. "Twilight, tell me what you know about Bristle Acres."
"It's the industrial area, spanning from floor 200 - 250," Twilight answered confidently. "It's where nearly everything in the colony is produced, from our foods and clothes to our refined metal and oxygen. In fact, it hosts the colony's largest and most efficient self-powering oxygen generators, besting the one in Regoville Frontier here by a large margin.
"It also happens to be where the Printing Pod is, which is why it is filled with more young Duplicants in training than most other areas."
Celestia gave her a proud smile. "That's wonderful, Twilight. It's good to see you know your future home very well."
"Of course I—wait, what?"
Celestia reached to her saddlebag, this time producing a grey cap with the words 'Bristle Acres' written in it. "You've been reassigned, Twilight. You're now the supplier for Bristle Acres."
"I—What!? That can't be true!" She glared at the ceiling, her pupils burning with enough fire to forge the half tons of steel that five cycles ago nearly killed her. "What do you think you're doing, Manager!? How stupid are you to put me in a rural area when I can be a lot more useful on the surface!? Why suspend the project for the sake of torturing me? You little insufferable piece of omnipresent consciousness, you think you can do anything just because you could—"
"My dear student," Celestia cut in, draping a wing over Twilight, "will you believe me if I tell you it was my idea?"
Twilight's glare faltered, and the fire behind her eyes was put out as quickly as a candle dipped into a carbon dioxide reservoir. As she spoke, her voice was almost a whisper. "W-what? But why, Celestia?"
Celestia waved her wing around the hospital room they were standing in. "It's clear now that your lack of athleticism is a danger for yourself, Twilight. Especially when you're working on the surface where these kinds of accidents can happen regularly. Assigning you with a courier duty will let you practice your athletics to counter your anemia while keeping you working, which we know you'd prefer than a training quarantine." She looked at Twilight with pleading eyes. "Please, Twilight. As much as this project means to the Manager, your life is more important."
"B-but—"
"Please, Twilight. For me?"
Twilight opened and closed her mouth a few times. Eventually, she sighed in defeat. "Alright, Celestia. I trust your judgment." Then, she looked up at her mentor in determination. "And I promise you, I'll make you proud."
Celestia smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Good. That means making a few friends when you're there won't be a problem, no?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
Celestia smiled fondly. "It has come to the Manager's attention that you've been actively avoiding social interaction ever since you were printed. A little change in pace wouldn't hurt, would it? Take your time and relax; make some friends while you're there. The project won't be going anywhere anytime soon."
Twilight flopped into her bed and muttered, "Fine, I guess . . ."
Minuette chirped in. "By the way, do you still want that coffee? I can have somepony deliver it to your new room."
"Absolutely."
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Okay, that crossover was inevitable. X)
I still think having a changeling art-pack for ONI would be cool.
Not sure I understand what this is, but when have I ever let that get in the way of a good read?
Not a crossover I expected, but everything's better with ponies. Looking forward to seeing what you do with this.
I look forward to seeing where things go from where.
I have no idea what this is a crossover with (you might want to add that to the description) but it's interesting so far.
9824949
its a game called oxygen not included
9824824
That would be awesome but what would the roles look like?
9824824
There's a disturbing lack of it in any platform whatsoever. Even DeviantArt. I'm fixing it.
9824949
Added. Thanks for the heads up!
This game is both at the same time simpler and much more complex than one would think.
Definately going to read this.
Question, though that I can't seem to find the answer to concerning the game: Why is it that after the first two times I launch the rocket it seems unable to travel the same distance it could before with the same amount (and type) of fuel it had before? I've had this happen on multiple attempts. Rocket body isn't altered, it's just not cooperating.
This is quite good! Though the regular contracting of "she was" into "she's" threw me at times.
Even if you don't know that it's a crossover, it's detailed enough to stand alone as it's own sci-fi AU without leaning on the support material.
I just activated, all at once, a set-up of 6 nat-gas generators, my oxygen production of 6 electrolyzers, and a complex cooling unit that lets me cool the generators as well as my base. I nearly cried when it all worked.
YES! Oxygen not included crossed over with MLP? This has the potential to be amazing! xD
Adding this to my favorites just because I'm way too eagerly looking forward to more XD
At least Twi will no longer have to deal with Stinky.
An interesting read. I’m having a hard time imagining the shear scale of this colony...
9824949
its a crossover with a colony building simulator called Oxygen Not Included (its actually made by Klei Entertainment, the same developer that made Don't Starve and Don't Starve Together) you have to manage you colony's resources whether it be minerals, liquids, disease control, temperature, gases and labor (the colonists are called "Duplicants" and exhibit various desirable and undesirable traits and skills that you have to manage) or else your duplicants die, and your colony fails. the end goal is to reach the surface of the asteroid you picked at the start of your game, and launch a rocket to explore space.
9826060
my current game, i have an electrolyzer creating oxygen for my Atmo suit docks (any excess oxygen is ducted straight to the barracks) and the hydrogen is filtered out and sent to a Hydrogen generator to make power for the colony.
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9827006
I take it you haven't researched Distillation yet; that unlocks the Water Sieve where you can filter polluted water and turn it back into usable water.
9824869
Me neither, all I really play is R6 and Factorio
Huh. I wonder what ponies could do with Oxygen Not Included... It's not like there's some integral plot, after all.
I guess they could make everything more frienshippier?
Oh hey, I just invented a new word.
9827006
Get the research for the liquid containers and just line up and connect a bunch of them that ultimately connect to a water-purifier or to an Arbor tree farm or whatever-needs-it. less chance of that happening that way.
9826316
Three thousand people (ponies) is the size of a small town (pop. 1k-10k). Or, since you start with three people, over 1000x the size of a new game, since some areas will be larger but need fewer people in them.
9827282
Factorio is like crack for me right now...
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Now I want a pony mod for ONI.
And 3000 duplicants? That colony must be huge. Just trying to picture the infrastructure to support that is something else.
Although I'm left wondering why the observatory is so far from the airlock instead of being built into the base.
9827790
Might be because Twilight has the ''Anti-social'' negative trait that reduces her morale if she spends too much time around others? Combine this with her ''Books!'' trait which gives her plus 3 morale if she spends most of her time alone in a room containing books, and you'll see why the observatory was built far away =P
That or it's just a quirk of their omnipresent manager =P
Actually, I'm kind of hoping the Author will make some original traits for this story. Because I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out which traits each of the mane 6 would have... Though giving Twilight the Anemic trait was spot on XD Probably gave her Quick learner too.
9827790
Plot convenience, obviously! But the Manager insisted that it was for efficiency and definitely, absolutely, positively not because Duplicants look helluva cute while walking in atmo suits.
Good writing, not familiar with oxygen not included but you've avoided the common crossover pitfall of having characters break character to maintain the original plot.
Looking forward to more.
9827006
Completely honest? I set up a spot below my base for mushrooms and reed fiber as a way to get rid of slime and polluted water. As long as you keep wash basins on the path, it keeps the base clean and gives a disposal point for wash basins that become full. While toilets are nice, I’m at day 350 or so and just got plastic and am still using two latrines until I can set up a steam turbine. 14 dupes
I like to consider myself slightly elitist when it comes to content on fimfiction, and other than the occasional choppy grammar, which can be fixed with an editor/personal improvement, this story so far has only left me with a few words.
Finally. Some good fucking content!
9827790
A pony mod for ONI would be amazing. When your unicorn builder cements their head into the floor tile they're building, there's that itty bitty bit of stubby horn sticking out the top. Pegasus dupes that build thunderstorms in the rec room when they get too stressed. The earth ponies looked after the sleet wheat a little TOO well, and now it's gained sentience and keeps trying to annex the ice machine.
9828061
Come o think of it. Twilight's job has her going from her private bedroom to an isolated observatory, with the only social interaction being walking through the halls or getting something to eat. And she want's a job that will have her cut off from others for days at a time. Call me cruel to my dupes but that one doesn't need to know how to make friends.
It would be neat to have some new traits but I can see the ones from the game working.
9828483
9828979
All of that would be cute to see in a pony mod.
9827282
Oni is pretty fun, you can automate transportation mid game...... But the factory must grow.
9829394
The factory must grow!
Damn... Now I can hear the iron lines calling me :/ what have you done...
9829468
LET THE FACTORIES CONTROL YOU!!!
I'm sold from the title alone 🤣
9829570
I'd honestly want that 🤣 or have them reskinned to dwarfs
9831291
True but the oxygen is only if the base doesn't have good air circulation
It seems Celestia is still Celestia, not matter the context.
9832236
No, the in-story manager is literally the stand in for the in-game player, you can't alter the in-game world at all on your own, you can ONLY rely on your duplicants to follow your orders.
Basically the manager is a ''ghost'' that can only interact with the rest of the colony by sending mental orders to the pony Dupes.
9832236
you need to check out Changeling Space Program by Kris Overstreet its basically Kerbal Space Program, only with Changelings.
9828061
well, i think I can figure out the Mane 6's Stress Responses: Rainbow Dash and Applejack would be Destructive, Pinkie Pie and Rarity would be Binge Eaters, Fluttershy would be an Ugly Crier, and Twilight would be a Vomiter.
9838357
Yeah I can totally see that xD