05 Adjustment (1 of 2)

After a quick tour around the other parts of Canterlot Control and one more chat with Central Officer Celestia, the girls were then allowed to go home to both prepare themselves for what came next and to sit on everything they had just learned. In less than 24 hours, they were introduced to a world of magic, power, and apparently adventure. All thanks to a pony princess from another dimension befriending them.

The next morning, Applejack lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had been up for a few hours already and she was just waiting for the sun to peek into her room. Eventually she got what she asked for as the golden rays of light started to color her face. She exhaled as she got up.

Ah wonder what’s gonna happen now, she thought.

She looked to the back of her now fixed, she would have the blues to thank for that, door. Hanging on a hook was something she would never have thought she would be wearing. It was a brand new, custom made, freshly pressed, purple blazer. She approached the article and gently laid a hand on it as she admired the texture and the color of her new uniform.

Rarity hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Not because her mind was busy thinking about everything they learned, but because she was thinking of ways she could spruce up her new midnight blue blazer.

She already had quite a few ideas of how she could at least improve it aesthetically. Now all she had to do was to get her ideas to the Cloak Lab and then they could show her how it was done. She had to find a suitably large box to transport all her sketches.

As she looked at the pile, she remembered that she still had the box for that old television lying around. Now all she had to do was remember where it was.

Fluttershy gave herself a short once over in the mirror. She raised an arm to admire the craftsmanship in what she was wearing. Even though she was in her room, she still checked around to ensure that nobody was watching. When she was satisfied that she was indeed alone, she brought her sleeve closer to her nose and took a nice long whiff.

She was surprised to note that it actually had a hint of strawberry to its smell.

Her other arm soon raised itself as she did a little twirl to inspect her outfit from all sides. She had on a pair of dark brown leather flats, a nice, crisp pair of black flared slacks, a modestly white button shirt, and finally, a fresh, red blazer. When she was done appreciating herself, she stepped out of the house.

There, leaning on the car, was her ever faithful bodyguard, Stonefist. He nodded to her as he approached the driver’s seat, ready to take his young charge to her first day as an agent of MLP.

The moment her alarm clock had sung its song Rainbow immediately sprung out of bed. This was a far cry from her usual behavior of just yanking the poor device out of place; and occasionally throwing it at the wall.

She quickly made her way to bathroom and accomplished everything necessary in ten seconds flat. Everything.

She made her way back to her room and opened her closet to admire the latest addition to her wardrobe. She picked it up by the hanger and took the time to really look at it. The symbol of the greater thing she was now part of: a grey blazer

Just as yesterday morning, Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense allowed her to accomplish everything one step ahead. As both a kindness and a little test drive of her psychicness, she set up the shop for the day’s activities, preparing a particular assortment of treats and pastries that she sure would sell out today.

As she expected, the moment she entered her room the Cakes exited theirs. With that done, she proceeded to ready herself for today’s activities. She looked at her new uniform and a minor scowl adorned her face. She had only one problem with it and that problem was relatively simple: This shade of grey looked so dull.

She eventually shrugged it off. Rarity would most likely be able to help her with her problem.

Twilight had already taken several laps around the grand fountain of Canterlot Control in her pacing frenzy. The whole morning had her in a panic to the point that it took her a good twenty minutes just to brush her teeth. It was then that her brother, Shining Armor, approached her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around to face him.

“Twiley! Calm. Down,” he said, taking care to emphasize every word.

Her face was frozen in an expression of shock, confusion, and frustration as she stared at her brother. Right when the moment started to become awkward, she shook her head to regain herself.

“You’re… You’re right. What have I got to be scared of?” she said as she gave off a less than enthusiastic chuckle.

Her eyes widened and her jaw went slack. She looked her brother in the eye and said, “But what if we can’t work together?! What if I prove to be completely and utterly incompatible with them?! What’ll happen to Project Harmony then?! What if-”

Shining sighed, even knew that she was pretty much lost when she went into this state. There was only one way to get her back out. He prepped a finger, drove just the tiniest bit of magic into it, and poked her.

Canterlot Control had five gates all-in-all. One in each of the cardinal directions and one near the center of the base, to go with the original setup of the organization. Having a gate lead directly to the heart of your base may seem stupid, but that gate was also located directly below CHS, which was a fortress in and of itself. But that will be addressed later, for it was at this time that that gate, Gate 3, opened and in walked five of the latest members of MLP.

As they entered the hall, they were met by friendly smiles and greetings from a small crowd composed of members of the four different branches.

"My, I was not expecting quite a welcome," said Rarity as she shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with several of her fellow blues.

Rainbow and Pinkie on the other hand were greeted by fist bumps and bear hugs by other grey agents. Fluttershy was given a significantly gentler welcome by her fellows. Applejack was met by Twilight and several other purples.

The six girls then gave each other well wishes before going to their respective first activities.

"So Applejack, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you're interested in the technological half of the Magitek division, right?"

"Yes ma'am. Ah saw what you fellers 'ere buildin' and Ah think I'd like to try mah hand at a bit of that mahself."

The moment they arrived at the Engineering Bay, their entourage had dispersed to allow Applejack some space to adjust. Twilight had then showed her the more specific parts of the facility, from the assembly station, to the storage chambers, to the enchanting station, and even the comfort rooms.

The two were now inside one of the private workshops. The room was as large as a one car garage with the walls, floor, and ceiling all emitting faint, but when together very bright, light. One wall was covered by an absolutely diverse array of hand, power, and possibly magic tools. In the center of the room was a large metallic table that had a number of scuffle marks on it, most likely from previous tinkerers. On top of that table was a device that looked like the child of a circular saw, an electric drill, a jack, and a blender.

Applejack lifted the strange tool. “Twi, whut in the hay IS this?”

"I'll be honest, I have no idea. I work mostly on magical research so I never really familiarized myself with this stuff." Twilight gave a sheepish grin

Applejack was flabberghasted. "Wait, whut? If you don't really know much 'bout this stuff, why are you showing me around?”

"Well, Central Officer Celestia is the one who said I should show you around. You know... Project Harmony and stuff,” she said rather uncomfortably.

The country girl stared at her for a moment then shrugged. “Fair ‘nough.” She gripped the device in what looked like its grip. “Might aswell give it a li’l test to see what it does.”

She pressed the trigger. Lights began to burst out from tiny holes in the device as they emitted patterns on the wall opposite her. The device then began to vibrate as it started… playing disco music.

Applejack had a blank expression as she looked to her friend. “Uhhh…?”

Twilight was just as surprised, and was even more surprised when the door to the workshop opened and in stepped a very interesting looking Magitek agent. His blazer did not even look like a blazer as it was lengthened to the point that it was a lab coat rather than a jacket. He had a pointed nose and a bunch of hair on his head that grew to resemble grass more than any other kind of style. A slight hunchback was also prominent in his gaunt frame. His attention was drawn to the device that Applejack was experimenting with.

“Oh there it is! Hey... I know you,” he said as he noted the thing’s wielder. “You’re one of the newbies who are gonna bring Project Harmony back up.” His voice was of a significantly high, yet somehow nasal, quality.

He approached her and took back what was apparently his invention. After fiddling with it a bit things started to calm down as the device was turned off. Twilight smiled and introduced the newcomer.

“Applejack, meet the Canterlot Magitek Officer Silly Inator. I know he may not look like much, but believe me, he’s the Officer for a good reason.”

He looked to the girls and smiled. “Ya got that right, ladies. They don’t make just anybody the head of the local Magitek division. But anyway, I see you found my Discoinator!” he said as he gestured to the strange thing.

“Discoinator? Ya named it after yourself? For that matter, whut’s it even supposed to do?” asked Applejack.

Silly looked confused at her inquiry. “Well of course. Who else would I name it after? But to answer your most important question, haven’t you ever just had the urge to start disco dancing but couldn’t because the atmosphere just wasn’t there?”

His question was met by two head shakes.

He rolled his eyes. “Well if ever you do find yourself in such a situation, just press the button and lay this baby on the ground as it plays some of the BEST disco music, all straight from my ‘Best of the 70’s collection,’ and even provides ambient strobe lights.”

“Well that sure seems… useful,” said Applejack.

“I know right!”

“Anyway…” interrupted Twilight. “Silly, you’re obviously much more familiar with all the stuff here than I am, so you think you could show Applejack the ins and outs of the tools on the wall.”

He placed on a hand on his chin. “Hmmmmm, Well,” he said just before straightening himself. “Sure, why not.”

He approached and grabbed a crystal-like tool that looked to be a light source in and of itself. “This is one of my favorite magical tools…”

Rarity had gotten to know quite a bit about the Obfuscation agents that went with her to the Cloak Lab. She found it very amusing that the section of MLP dedicated to hiding seemed to be composed of individuals who were very friendly and open. Since the others had business elsewhere, she had only one companion with her on the catwalk overlooking the laboratory.

She was fairly young, but clearly older than Rarity. Her skin had an aqua hue to it. Her hair had two definite streaks of dark blue and white and was arranged in a spiky mop look. Her natural colors went fabulously with the midnight blue blazer of their division, Rarity noted.

“Guess that just leaves the two of us,” she said.

“I suppose it does. You said you’ve worked her before, did you not Miss Minuette?” said Rarity.

Minuette gave a slight chuckle. “Just call me Colgate, newbie. And yes, I have experience working here. Come on, I’ll show you what you’re looking for.”

Rarity nodded as she followed Colgate around the twists and turns formed by all the different workstations. From the catwalks everything looked so neat and orderly, yet once you were level with everything, it became more of maze. As she thought about it, it seemed oddly fitting considering that they were responsible for misdirection and confusion.

Finally they arrived at a room that had a few things Rarity could recognize, and a lot of things she could not. One side of the room had everything from sewing machines, edgers, embroiders, manikins, cutting tables, rolls of fabric, and plenty of other things one could expect to find in a dressmaker’s shop.

The other side though, had things that looked completely baffling. One table looked to have several lights embedded into it with magical runes placed strategically in a circle on it. Another was a large machine that looked like a giant press and emitted a strange magical aura that Rarity could actually feel. Hanging on the wall was a pair of those wide-fingered gloves. Another section of wall had several tiny cubes of light floating around it. There were a few more things, but frankly, she just could not make out what they could possibly be used for.

“Heard you’re into fashion, so I had a good feeling you came to the Cloak Lab for this,” said Colgate.

“Indeed I am, and yes, this is precisely what I was looking for,” Rarity said as she smiled at her escort.

“To be honest I already have quite a few ideas.” She reached inside the bag that she brought with her and pulled out a very obese looking manila envelope and placed it on the table. “I actually had quite a bit more, but I just decided to bring what I thought were best.”

Colgate let out an impressed whistle as she stared at the stack of designs. “Wow… You did all that last night?”

Rarity smiled as her her cheeks pinkened. “Well I was ‘in the zone’ as it were.”

“Well why don’t you actually make one of your designs first, then I can show you how to enchant it with the stuff over there.” She pointed to the half of the room with the mysterious devices.

Rarity considered for a moment then agreed. “Yes, perhaps that would be best. Thank you by the way, for assisting me.

“It’s no problem. Happy to help,” Colgate replied.

Fluttershy did not enjoy being the center of attention. The idea of eyes locked onto her, of expectation from others, made her feel like she was carrying the world on her shoulders. Whenever that happened she usually cracked under the pressure and would then try to slink away where no one would find her for the next few days.

The moment she started feeling that way though, all the eyes simultaneously looked away. The strange thing was that she still wasn’t alone. Her escort was still surrounding her, yet she did not feel as uncomfortable as she was a moment ago. One particular Medical agent approached her.

"Hi, I'm not sure if you remember me. My name's Top Form, me and my partner are the ones who checked up on you girls yesterday," she said.

Realization hit Fluttershy. "Oh, yes. Thank you for that, by the way."

"It's no problem," she said as she waved a hand. "We make sure that everybody is always in tip top shape. Anyway, sorry about making you feel like that."

Fluttershy's eyebrows creased as she looked to Top Form. "How did you know?"

"Well..." said the agent with a smile. "As members of the Medical division, we have the ability to empathically understand others. So when we sensed that you were feeling uncomfortable by all of us crowding around you, we immediately backed up."

"Oh my, that sounds... nice." Honestly, she didn't know how to feel if they could feel how SHE could feel.

"You know, since you'll be joining us," she said as she gestured to Fluttershy's blazer. "You'll end up getting that little trick too."

Her eyes widened more than before. "Oh... my." She had no idea how to feel if she could feel how OTHER people could feel.

Top Form placed an arm around Fluttershy and brought her close. "Hey, don't worry about it too much newbie. The thought can be kinda scary, I know. But once you see what it means to really be a part of the Medical division, you'll see that it is totally necessary."

She gestured to the others and they understood. In short order the group had dispersed as Top Form led the newbie to the Medical wing of Canterlot Control. The first place they had toured were Medical's laboratories.

These labs were all kept very sterile and very secure. Unlike the palatial look of the rest of the facility, this place looked more like a hospital. It had white walls, minimalistic architecture with practically no embellishments on the design, and was noticeably scentless. Along the hall there were several doors that had windows right beside them. Through those windows one could see the individual labs therein. The doors were also labeled as to what each lab handled. They ranged from pathogens, to curses, to aftereffects, to addictions and to plenty of other fantastic, and a number of mundane, illnesses or irregularities.

The two were currently looking through the window of the Growth lab. What really interested Fluttershy, however, was the agent working inside. She had snowy skin and pink hair tied up in a bun. She looked to be working with a number of chemicals, but rather than wear gloves, her hands themselves were aglow. But above all of that, she could have sworn that she looked just like the school nurse.

"She's our boss, Canterlot Medical Officer Redheart."

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, but Top Form could sense what she was feeling and looked to her. “I know she works up top in CHS, so seeing her here must be pretty surprising.”

It wasn’t actually surprise that Top Form sensed, rather it was something else. Her curiosity outweighed her shyness so she decided to ask Top Form something that had been bugging her since yesterday. “What’s so special about CHS? The Central Officer is the principal, a chemistry teacher heads Obfuscation, and now the nurse is actually the the head Medical officer? Why?”

Top Form was now the one with wide eyes. She really didn’t think she’d be the one to have to answer those questions. Thankfully though, she wouldn’t have to as the door to the Growth lab opened and out stepped Redheart. She greeted the two with a warm smile and approached them.

You could say that Fluttershy was petrified by the way she just stood there as the Medical Officer appraised her. Redheart let out a little giggle. “You can calm down Fluttershy. I’m not going to do anything to you, and your questions are entirely valid. Why don’t we walk around as I give you the answers you’re searching for.”

At first she still stayed frozen, but after seeing the inviting look that Redheart gave her, she relented and walked by her side with Top Form trailing just behind them.

“CHS is special because of those who attend it. Tell me, have you ever been to other high schools in Equestria?” asked the Officer.

“Well, there was the one in Cloudsdale. My cousin attends there and I accompanied her once,” replied Fluttershy.

“If you were to compare it to CHS, what would you say the differences were between the students here and there? And I want you to be as honest, or blunt, as possible.”

“Well from what I saw the environment there seems awfully different from ours. Some of the students were really rowdy with each other. Others were… crude, I suppose. There were also some who seemed to be doing things that were, well, kind of… dumb.” She felt guilty at the way she chose to characterize them. She never even really got to know them so their actions might have just been taken out of context, but then she remembered something that was in context.

“They were also very… provocative,” she added, as memories of one annoying flirt came to mind.

Redheart gave off a soft laugh. “Indeed. If you looked around Equestria you would find that that behaviour is actually quite normal for high school students. CHS is the real anomaly.”

They left the halls of the Medical labs and entered a somewhat less sterile but more hospital-like room. In the center was a receptionist’s desk which was flanked by two doorways that each led to a hall with several more rooms. This room actually had small decorations such as a few potted plants, a bit of wall art which Fluttershy didn’t quite get, and a few benches by the walls. Above the desk was a directory of names with their corresponding room number. The room was also filled with older looking reds heading places and reading on tablets. Others weren’t even holding theirs as it just floated casually in front of them. There were also a few members from the other divisions, but the ones here did not look too good. Putting it all together, she realized that these must be the wards.

Any of the reds that got close to them performed a gesture with their fingers that Fluttershy couldn’t quite understand, but Redheart had responded to in a similar fashion.

“You see,” Redheart said as she approached a blue, who looked to have his fingers fused together, and picked up his hands. “We classify people under three categories. The Sleepers: those who have no idea about the magic world at all, basically the majority of the population.”

Her hands started to glow as the blue made a face akin to that of one you would make when you touched something hot. “The Awakened: those who have regained access to their abilities; everyone here is Awakened for example.”

With his fingers now normal. she released his hands. He performed the finger gesture which Redheart just smiled to. “Finally, the Dreamers: those who are ready to accept the world as it really is, but have yet to truly make that ‘leap of faith.’”

She looked back to Fluttershy and saw that she still had the young girl’s full attention. “CHS is a very old school, and that is very evident in the architecture it uses. It is also one of the most prestigious schools in Equestria.

“Since our purpose is to help people be all that they can be, we found it to be easier if we could closely watch over the Dreamers. Tell me, why are you attending CHS, if all your life you’ve mostly lived in Cloudsdale?”

It took a moment for Fluttershy to realize that she wanted her to answer. “Well when I graduated elementary, I was offered a scholarship to attend CHS.” Her head snapped to attention as her mind connected the dots. “Since I was a Dreamer you invited me to the school but… wouldn’t that mean that everyone else attending is…”

Redheart just smiled and nodded in response.

Pinkie and Rainbow were treated very buddy-buddy-like by their group. They cracked jokes, laughed, and all around had a good time as they approached a very large door on the western side of the facility. Past that door was an equally large room. One would be forgiven for thinking that this place was used to store an airliner as it was simply that large. Several metal archways were placed along the room to support the place. The walls were given a washed, green color. Around the floor were two rows of closed off, evenly spaced, circular areas. Within some of these circles two agents looked to be practicing their abilities on each other.

“Welcome ladies, to the Training Center,” said a voice to their left. “I am the Canterlot Reactionary Officer, Shining Armor.”

The others around them scrambled and, in but a moment, stood in formation, at attention, right behind the two new girls.

“I’ll take it from here, dismissed,” he said.

As the others left to attend to their own matters, Shining approached the two girls. “Come on, let me show you around the place.”

The trio walked along a path that went between the two rows of arenas. The arenas themselves were separated from the outside world by a shimmering wall of light that was still clear enough to see through. They stopped and observed one particular arena. Inside of it two greys, both wearing their uniforms, stood and faced each other. One was wearing the wide-fingered gloves and looked to be using it to create a curved sword made of nothing but blue light. The other held a curled-up, more physically present whip in her hand.

“I’m sure that by this point you already know the purpose of the Reactionary Division, so I’m not going to elaborate on that,” Shining began.

The swordsman charged his opponent who in return bent her arms and legs into a ready stance. Using one hand, he got ready to perform an upper slash whilst his other arm stayed close in a guard position. The whipwoman then jumped high. Very high. She was around ten feet in the air when she turned herself and released her whip towards the swordsman. As it sailed through the air it crackled and sparked with electricity.

“But it doesn’t stop at just combatting magical threats. It also means that we are a first response team to anything. We are guardian angels who not only protect ourselves, but everybody out there.”

The swordsman extended his arm and made the rest of himself small. The whip then wrapped itself around the protruding sword. With it firmly locked, he pulled its user towards him and got his other sword ready. In response, the whip receded back to its wielder and shrunk till it took on the form a handmade string bracelet as she flipped and kicked into the air. The kick was able to, somehow, cancel all the momentum from the swordsman’s mighty tug allowing her to safely land on the other side of the arena. This did not go unnoticed by Rainbow and Pinkie.

“Whoa! How’d she do that?!” exclaimed Rainbow.

“That was so cool!” shouted Pinkie.

Shining laughed. “Once you know more about what you can do, you’ll realize that that trick is a lot simpler than you’d think.” He looked to the two. “You should see what some of our best can do. Anyway, let’s keep moving.”

They a passed a few more arenas before they stopped at one that had only one occupant. He stood in the center and had on a pair of the wide-fingered gloves. There was also one thing very noticeable about this person.

“As I’m sure you can tell, these skills don’t exactly come with your powers, so you are going to have to learn to use them efficiently, properly, and responsibly. Your abilities do not necessarily have to be used for combat as they can have plenty of other useful applications. Likewise, the other branches are also recommended to learn to hone their more combative skills.”

The guy in the arena had on a blue blazer. He balled his left hand into a fist and two light-based shafts extended from it and formed a slight arc. He brought his other hand closer, then pulled back. A long, thin, straight line formed from one fist to the other. He was using a bow and arrow. He then fired into several, seemingly random, spots around the wall. Shining tapped on the wall of light and the section opposite them but on the inside revealed a grassy field that had targets popping out every once in a while. One of the targets was subsequently incinerated by one of his arrows.

“As members of the Reactionary Division, you will be expected to consistently be in top physical form, and in top magical form.” He turned and faced them. “Can I expect this from you?”

For a moment, the two looked at him with wide eyes before they saluted and said, “Yes, sir!”

Shining smiled. “Good. Also, that’s not exactly how we ‘salute’ down here.”