It was a dark night. Trixie sat in her carriage, watching the starless sky as she made her silent way to her destination. The stallion pulling her cart hadn’t spoken throughout their trip but constantly scanned the area, as though fearing detection. Not a sound was made other than the soft rumble of wheels on asphalt. In the distance she could see a few lights. The carriage puller suddenly stopped. “This is as far as I go lady.” He said as he searched the area, eyes dilated in fear.
“That’s fine. I understand.” She said, giving him a reassuring nod as she exited the carriage. The stallion looked at her, silently thanking her, before turning and going back down the path they came from.

She looked back to the lights in the distance, taking note of the dense forest that surrounded her. A very secure perimeter… She remembered her briefing as she teleported on to the top of a tree. She scanned the area to find that there wasn’t a single guard pony or anything that wasn’t a tree. I wonder where they all went. She thought as she teleported herself back down. She leaned against a tree as she grew dizzy. Without the rush of adrenaline that usually accompanied the dangerous situations she often found herself in, she could only teleport so much before she had to rest.

As she made her way to the factory, she began to run through all the events that had led up to this.
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After Watcher had left her office, she sat in silence for a long time. She knew what she was getting herself into, she just wasn't ready for the suddenness of it all. She lowered her head onto her desk and stayed there, clearing her mind. Eventually she fell into a light sleep. She awoke an hour later. She opened her door and peered into the workroom. Everypony was gone except for a few janitors. She turned off her office lights, then silently exited and entered the elevator.

Grayscaled…

The word entered her mind; with it, the image of her former partner. She remembered Daring, the kind, honest, forgiving mare who had shown her things that the others could only dream of. They had spent a lot of time getting to know each other. Eventually, Daring began taking her on some of her adventures searching for ancient treasures. They had saved each other many times, and spent many cold nights keeping each other warm. Their bodies pressed tightly together as they shared what little warmth they could keep...

Trixie pushed the thoughts out of her head. Daring was gone, and would never come back. Nopony, not even her, could survive their last mission. She went to her new apartment complex. The doormare greeted her with a bow and polite “hello miss Great and Powerful”. Trixie stopped her before she could finish.
“It’s just Trixie.” She said. The doormare nodded and opened the door to the main lobby.
“My apologies miss Trixie.” Trixie gave her a cheerful nod, trying her best to hide the great sadness that title brought to her.

The next week had gone by in a blur. She spent most of her day training. Whether it be learning and practicing dozens of new spells, running around the city, studying what little details she was provided about her next mission, or prepping the equipment given to her by Watcher. When the day arrived she sat in her living room all day, meditating. At around five in the afternoon, she heard a knock on her door. She opened it to find the carriage puller waiting for her. “Let’s go.” He said before walking towards the elevator. Trixie followed and began her journey.
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She stopped, her focus shifting towards the Factory. She was at the edge of the forest, staring across a clearing at the entrance to her target. She saw a tall fence with an immense gate, big enough to fit multiple construction carts. She saw nopony at the checkpoint. All the search towers’ lights were on, but remained static as though nopony manned them. This can’t be it. she thought. She shrugged off her concerns and walked across the clearing to the entrance. As she neared, she took note of how overgrown the grass was. This is really starting to get weird… Trixie thought to herself. She had experienced many different “scary” situations on her various adventures, but a ghost town? She leaned into the security checkpoint and pushed the button labeled “Open Gate”. The large entrance opened slowly and silently. Trixie took a few moments to calm herself and ready her equipment. She pulled out her final instructions.

Remember what you’re getting yourself into. This isn’t your average case, this place is responsible for the deaths of almost 100 ponies. Keep your Holocorder on at all times and remember, truth or death. The others before you followed this code, I know you’re more than capable of doing this. Keep your head down and get out as quickly as possible.

-Watcher

She nodded at the letter, then put on her vest. It was purple with various stars and moons printed on it, just like her old hat. She then pulled out her Holocorder. It was nothing special, just a hoof-held crystal that recorded everything user pointed it towards. She tested out a few, quick spells then placed the Holocorder into her special vest-pocket. She took a last, calming breath before entering the complex.

She was making her way through the complex to the factory in the center. She heard a faint banging sound. She quickly whipped out her Holocorder and took aim at where she heard the sound from. She saw a building with the big letters BIOENGINEERS ONLY. “Well that’s strange,” she said, just loud enough for the Holocorder to pick up her voice, “Why would they need Bioengineers?” She slowly approached the building. “And also, where are all the guards?” She stood in front of the building, looking at it. She scanned the area with the Holocorder before putting it back in her vest pocket. She searched for an easy place for her to levitate to but couldn’t find anything that wouldn’t drain her too much. With a sigh, she backed away from the building and began looking at the rest of the complex.

She was rapidly approaching the factory. The rest of the complex was pretty generic, living quarters for the employees, a mess hall, and a few places where one could just sit down and relax. It honestly didn’t seem like that bad of a place to work at. Looks can be deceiving Trixie. She reminded herself. She continued walking down a cobblestone path until she reached the factory. She stood there, amazed by the large structure. She pulled out her Holocorder and pointed it at the building.

It didn’t look anything like a factory. It’s white walls extending upwards farther than Trixie could dream of teleporting, its high walls holding searchlights at the top pointing in various directions. Trixie took note of how the searchlights were off even though they clearly weren’t supposed to be. She walked around the structure until she found an entrance way. She gently opened the door and made her way inside.

Author's Note

Hi guys. Hope you're enjoying this thus far. If not, then please tell me what I could work on (I feel like this chapter wasn't as good as I could've made it, but I can't put my finger on it. It just seems off)