Chapter One: Strawberry Jam
Astral yawned, reaching over to smack the alarm clock with a webbed wing. The sun had just set; which meant it was time for work. There was a bonus to being nocturnal. Better pay, and a bit more peace and quiet.
The Thestral moved on autopilot, downing a quick breakfast and brushing his teeth. A simple uniform was shrugged on, the half-shirt complete with the company’s insignia; a prominent staircase.
Running a comb through some rebellious midnight-black fluff on his head and mane, Astral then double-checked his essentials.
Company laptop?
Wallet?
Low-level Security Badge?
Snacks?
He snagged a small bag of glorious fruity pastries near the apartment door; he had almost forgotten those!
Looking back to his simple but cozy 3-bedroom dwelling, Astral then stepped out the door. Stopping at the top of the staircase for his floor, the Thestral carefully set down a hoof-sized crystal on the ground and gave it a nudge.
A portal sprang to life, the bat-pony stepping through as the crystal magically returned to the worn saddlebags at his side.
Looking around the cream-tiled locker room, Astral used his minimum-security badge to open his specific compartment, retrieving the real badge that let him perform the various duties. In went the wallet, and then off he went.
Despite being in the Badlands, the facility was just a portal away. The new technology (developed by Princess Sparkle, naturally,) cut down transit times to nearly nothing across the nation.
Of course, taxis weren’t happy with that.
Trotting down the spotless metal corridor, Astral stepped through the security booth door, surveying the workspace to make sure nothing was out of place.
Two large monitors were positioned in the front, the see-through booth lined with heavy glass and emergency metal shielding that could drop down at a moment’s notice. Other than the various sensor readouts, the booth had a few shelves, a small refrigerator, and a typical water fountain.
The fact it had private air conditioning was the Best. Thing. Ever. A bit fluffier than the average pony, Astral enjoyed the cooler atmosphere immensely, to say the least.
And the refrigerator was always restocked with fresh fruits every day.
This place is awesome.
Of course, it was almost too good to be true. But Astral had seen the contracts and various work orders. If there was a Sub-Level five (which obviously there was), they were at least doing relatively harmless work down there. He had even seen the various supply manifests and some work orders after being hired to satiate his initial curiosity.
Personally, the Thestral had a hunch that some up-tight noble groups were commissioning the lab to develop a new, intimate type of lube that was usable by all species. That would certainly explain the odd chemicals and hush-hush about everything, along with the visits of high-profile nobles of various races.
That was what Astral decided for himself at least. It wouldn’t be the oddest thing that happened on the Equestrian continent in the past decade or two, and it made more sense than other conspiracy theories surrounding the company.
Booting up the various systems, the Thestral opened up the laptop and scanned over his schoolwork. The device was incredible, using a combination of magic and sensors (thanks again to a certain tech-savvy Princess of Friendship), to track his hoof movements to use the cursor.
No new assignments, that’s good.
The fact the company was paying for him to go to school for a completely unrelated field was yet another perk of this job. How could Astral protest? They weren’t doing anything unethical (he had done his homework in researching them) and at the worst, Management just seemed a bit uptight and paranoid. With the tech sector booming along with the theft of ideas and patents, he couldn’t blame them.
So, here he sat sucking on a juicy pineapple as his shift started. No-pony was due for a good hour or two (when the night shift came in for their secret work) so he had a bit of relaxing time.
Not bad, not bad at all.
An hour into the shift, Astral yawned and did some stretches, jogging in place to keep his muscles warmed up. He wasn’t about to let a desk job get him too fat; even now he had a bit of a belly. Nothing major; he could still pass the Guard entrance exams, but definitely worth noting.
I refuse to be fat. The fur certainly doesn’t help that matter. He grumbled to himself silently.
A red warning flashed on the left-most monitor, Astral tapping a button beneath a large speaker.
“Front Security Desk, Officer Sentinel here,” he said calmly.
“Astral! Hmm. That’ll do,” Ledger’s voice crackled, “No-pony is near to do this. Can you reset the breakers on Sub-Level Three? Just lock the booth, this takes priority. The egg-heads say the air conditioning is out on Four and they’re riding my tail to get it taken care of. No pony is on Three, and all of Two is busy at some staff meeting.”
“Sure thing, Boss. I’ll do that right now.”
“Thanks, Astral.”
Huh. He seemed nicer and more talkative than usual. Astral mused, locking up the booth and trotting to the elevators after snagging his portable radio.
The layout was a ‘T’ format where he worked; the booth leading to a split in the halls. The left went to the locker rooms, supplies, and so forth. The right went to the elevator hall.
A simple scanning of his card, and down Astral went to Sub-Level Three (SL-3) This floor was primarily supplies and labs; large glass rooms with centrifuges, chalkboards, computer screens, and refrigerators.
Oh, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Astral often wondered what it’d taste like, but the fact his mouth couldn’t keep up with his thoughts when caffeine was involved kept him far away from that, along with alcohol.
He learned his lesson with one energy drink. The Thestral hadn’t even realized he knew the lyrics to all of the ‘Greatest Showmare’ songs by heart. Evidently, he did, and at a near-perfect pitch too…at least before passing out and being dropped off at his apartment by Flask.
And that was just an energy drink. If I tried coffee or something from the bar, I might accidentally cause a black hole.
Whistling softly to himself, Astral noted the floor was empty; not an uncommon thing at this hour. In a bit, however, it’d likely be packed as more ponies arrived to do…whatever they did here. As of now, however, the freshly-mopped floors sparkled and everything was set and ready for the workday (or in this case, night).
Basic maintenance was part of the job, at least as far as flipping large switches went. Astral had been trained on this early on, so he confidently entered the massive electrical room, the shelves buzzing with servers, red and green lights. Meandering through the equipment, he made his way to the massive wall of breakers.
Sure enough, the breakers for Sub-Level-Four (SL-4) were tripped.
“You guys really need to stop adding more coffee brewers to the grid,” Astral muttered, flipping the breakers and watching the cheery green lights flick back on.
“Hey, Ledger. Breakers are reset,” Astral reported, “I’m heading…”
With a dull *snap*, the breakers flipped back off again.
“Strike that. Breakers are being stubborn. Can you tell them to not overload it? I’m trying to reset it,” Astral reported, glaring at the offensive switches.
“Yeah, keep trying Astral. I’ll let them know,” Ledger reported, sounding oddly stressed.
Poor guy is probably getting yelled at. I know I should cut him some slack. Astral thought as he flipped the breakers again.
Another *snap*, and the switches flipped back off, this time accompanied by a distant screeching of metal.
“Something didn’t like that, Ledger. Sounded like a motor died,” Astral reported, trying the switches again. The third time seemed to be the charm, the system fully booting up and staying on.
“Alright, Ledger. We’re good here,” Astral reported, a genuine sigh of relief coming back over the radio. It was so odd to hear the emotion coming from Ledger that the Thestral actually looked at the radio in surprise.
“Perfect. Thanks, Astral.”
“Sure thing, Boss.”
Walking back down the hall, Astral felt his fur prickle. It was a sinking feeling, one that he had felt only once before. It had ended in being discharged from the Guard, but the Thestral wouldn’t change that outcome for the world.
However, this felt just wrong, as if eyes were watching the pony’s every move.
His stomach churned into knots, the Thestral cautiously traversing the empty labs. He was almost past the final row of glass rooms when a bright color caught his eye. He frantically called into the radio, Ledger’s cool voice telling him to remain put as the Thestral stared.
A large, jagged hole was cut out from the floor to his left. The bloody marks on the glass and floor were what made the stallion’s limbs start to quiver. It was as if someone had been dragged into the hole, and violently.
Astral barely registered seeing Ledger and six heavily armored ponies charging towards him and cordoning off the area, the Guard quickly shepherded back to his booth.
Stats
Page generated in 0.031 seconds
Total duration
1,040 users online
1,560,247 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Sounds like they're just very good at hiding very illegal activities. Wonder how many odd disappearances have occurred recently.
nope. nope. nope. all the nopes.
Forget the crowbar, i'm sticking a bayonet on my shotgun.
Interesting start, you certainly have my attention.
10958987
What disappearances?
It certainly seems they have their rear ends covered....
Yeah, probably a good choice; you're gonna need a 10-gauge for this one. I'm glad you're enjoying it!
10958987
Welcome to the [REDACTED] . Don't worry, the security department only has the second highest death rate.
*insert Jontron Nope clip here*
11048345
NOOOOOOOOOOPE!
Minor error, unless it's intentional, Astral is ordered to turn on the breakers on sub level 3, but he goes to sub level 4 instead
11049368
I think that's an error on my part for not being clear (I updated it) =) The breakers themselves are on SL-3, but the breakers are for SL-4. Yeah I probably needed to clarify that better...thank you for bringing that to my attention!
"Booting up the various systems, the Thestral opened up the laptop and scanned over his schoolwork. The device was incredible, using a combination of magic and sensors (thanks again to a certain tech-savvy Princess of Friendship), to track his hoof movements to use the cursor."
Seems Twilight brought some designs from the human world over the portal. If Astral is still awed by the basic systems of function, then commercial computing tech must still be fairly new. Must have taken Twilight some time to adapt the tech to hooves.
11082113
Indeed! The company is mainly showcasing 'new and improved' systems, so he has a reason to be decently 'wow'd'.
reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/nope.gif
… comma should not be here
… same thing, parens comma should be dropped. Also the comma before the parens. Parens should be treated as if you could remove the entire thing and the rest of the sentence should still read properly.
11178311
Thank you!
Oh hell nah, with a side of NOPE!!
11637058
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
..... Oh the SCP levels of paranoia I'm suddenly feeling.
11658791
