First Day on the Job: The Outbreak

"Ugh..."

The morning sunlight cut through the crack in the almost-shut curtains draped over the window in Twilight Sparkle's bedroom, and straight into her eyes. She rolled over, groaning, but the light continued to nag at her like an old mare telling their filly to wake up for school. Twilight of course, was dead tired. She had stayed up quite late the previous night, reading up on indigenous flowers and plants in Ponyville. She was going through a sort of phase, as she always does when she discovers a new scientific field she has yet to study and discover every little detail about. She was paying for all of that late-night reading now.

"I already passed Magic Kindergarten, mom..." Twilight managed to garble out, shutting the blinds harshly using her magic. The light was gone, and the room was once again a comfortable shadow. Finally, some peace and quiet. And hopefully, Twilight thought, some sleep. Her eyes shut softly, and she was already drifting off again.

"Twilight!" A voice called out. Twilight's eye's ripped open, bloodshot and irritated. She jerked her head up and yelled back.

"WHAT?!" She shouted to the ceiling. When she looked back down, gritting her teeth, Spike was mere inches away from her bed. He was holding a letter in one claw, and covering his left ear with the other. He was still wincing from the sudden volume.

"Jeez, sorry. I was just here to tell you you got a letter." He waved the letter back and forth, still holding his left ear. Twilight felt guilty for yelling at the poor baby dragon, and her face fell to a frown.

"S-Sorry, Spike. Thank you." Twilight gave Spike an apologetic smile, and he returned it with an annoyed expression, lowering his eyebrows. Twilight sheepishly took the letter from Spike with her magic.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Spike turned and walked away, down into the living area.

Twilight kicked the covers off her body, and managed to crawl out of bed. She levitated the letter gently in the air in front of her as she carefully took a few steps down the stairs, still a little tired and uncoordinated. She reached the ground floor, and sat with Spike at the breakfast table. She saw a cup of tea on the table in front of her. Realizing that Spike had made this tea for her before she had woken up, she felt even more guilty for her outburst, and her face sunk again.

"Hey, I'm really sorry Spike." She somberly looked at Spike, sitting across from her. He just crossed his arms and let his eyes trail to the ground, an annoyed expression still covering his face. Twilight sighed, then perked up. "Hey, to make it up to you, why don't I make you your favorite breakfast?" She smiled at him, awaiting a response. He gasped in excitement.

"You mean ruby pancakes?" Spike was nearly bouncing from his excitement. This was no surprise to Twilight, who knew Spike was pretty easy to please, and not one to stay upset for long.

"Of course, Spike." She smiled a little wider, taking a sip from her tea. Still too hot. She blew on it a little to cool it off.

"Yes!" Spike hopped out of his chair and scurried toward the kitchen entrance. "I'll get out the ingredients for you!" He turned and bolted into the cupboard. Twilight chuckled in amusement, and looked back down to the piece of paper before her. She unraveled the ribbon holding the letter, still using her magic. That was strange, Twilight thought. Usually the typical mail she gets comes in envelopes, not in scrolls. And letters from Celestia always get sent through Spike. What could this be?

She heard something break in the kitchen.

"Oops, I'll get that!" She heard Spike say. Twilight just rolled her eyes, and took a sip from her tea. She brought the letter to her face and began to read.

Dear Ms. Sparkle,

We at the Board for Equestrian Science have reviewed your application and information extensively, and we are proud to announce that you have been accepted!

Here at the Equestrian Experimental Research Center, we need more ambitious mares like yourself! Thank you very much for joining us here at EERC. Enclosed in this scroll is a work schedule. We await your first day!

Sincerely,

Equestrian Experimental Research Center Executive Chairman and Head of Experimental Studies,

Boris Beaker

Twilight spit out her tea, making sure to move the letter out of the way before doing so. Spike started to say something as he was coming out of the kitchen.

"Alright," Spike stuck out his thumb behind his head, pointed to the kitchen,  "I already started on the first batch of pa-" He stopped in place. His mouth still hung open from speaking.

"Y'know Twi, if you don't like my tea you can just tell me."

"Spike! I've been accepted!" Twilight hopped up on the table, quickly and excitedly tapping all of her hooves on the tabletop. She smiled so wide, Spike was afraid her face might rip in half.

"Uh, accepted into what?" Spike scratched the back of his head and looked Twilight up and down, a little thrown off by her behavior.

Twilight's excited fit came to an immediate stop, and she turned her head frighteningly fast to face Spike, who was nearly horrified at this point. Her suddenly serious, wide-eyed expression became an almost exaggerated smile. It was official. Twilight had gone nuts, and Spike was definitely horrified now.

She hopped down off the table and squished Spikes cheeks with her two front hooves, making his lips pucker out. Her intense gaze bore deep into Spike, who was frozen in fear.

"Spike," Twilight's face once again fell serious, "I've just been accepted into the most prestigious laboratory in all of Equestria!" She smiled wide once more and shook Spike slightly, hoping to get some words out of him.

"Uh, what laboratory?" Spike mumbled through his still smooshed lips. He raised a concerned eyebrow. Concerned as to what Twilight was talking about, and concerned for her sanity. She finally freed his face from her grasp. Spike rubbed his sore cheeks

"The Equestrian Experimental Research Center, Spike! Do you not remember that application I sent in two months ago?" Twilight's tone became more annoyed as she threw a hoof to the air. She narrowed her eyebrows down at Spike, who was squinting and trying to remember what she was talking about. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, Twilight put a hoof to his lips. "Never mind. The point is I got accepted!"

Twilight brought the letter over with her magic. With a large, ridiculous grin on her face, she read the letter over and over and over, her eyes moving alarmingly fast. Spike was still a little distraught, and took a small step back.

"Can I see it?" Spike asked nervously, rubbing his arm up and down. Twilight blinked hard once, as if breaking out of a trance, and her expression became normal again.

"Sure, Spike!" She gladly handed the letter to Spike, a warm smile appearing on her face. Spike took it carefully, and held it out in front of his face at a good enough distance to be able to read it. He looked over the letter, and his eyes met the bottom of the page, where the work schedule was disclosed.

"Says right here you start tomorrow." Spike leaned over to Twilight so she could see where he was pointing to on the letter. Twilight narrowed her eyes to read the schedule, and gasped. She shot up.

"Tomorrow?! Oh, I have no time to prepare! I have so many things to study up on! I'm going to have to go out and buy a new labcoat!" Twilight darted back and forth around the library, panicked, tearing various books off the shelf. Many books crumbled to the ground, their pages making the distinct flipping noise as they flew through the air and onto the floor. Spike had seen this sight one too many times.

"Uh, Twilight?" He raised a finger, and lowered an eyebrow.

"Not now Spike! I've got a lot to do!" She gathered up all her things, shoved them into her saddlebag, put it on, and went barreling out the front door before Spike could even propose against her leaving.

"What about the pancakes?"

The smoke alarm went off.