First Day on the Job: The Outbreak

Within the tube was a grotesque, deformed filly. It had unusually twisted wings, and what looked like the beginning of a horn growing in it's head. It's eyes were shut, and it's dull color looked drained. It was huddled in the fetal position, suspended in a strange blue bubbling liquid. It had an umbilical cord protruding from its stomach.

Twilight put a hoof to her lips, feeling nauseous. What monster would do such inhumane experimenting on a filly like this? After swallowing hard, she managed to finally speak.

"What in the world is that?!" Her voice was extremely shaky. She wanted to look away from the abnormal form before her, but couldn't.

"Calm down, Ms. Sparkle, it's only a clone!" Beaker said this rather proudly. Twilight was thrown off from the tone in his voice. She looked at him with concern.

"Clone or not, what could we gain from such a... disgusting experiment?!" Twilight was beginning to grow a bit irritated. This kind of scientific study and experimentation was unacceptable in her book.

"Oh, Twilight Sparkle. So naive." Beaker shook his head and chuckled. Twilight almost scoffed at hearing this. She felt offended. Beaker continued. "From this research, we can study the biological functions of alicorns! We're attempting to make an artificial one. We can't exactly study on live alicorns, and as you know, they're not known to die from old age." Beaker claimed. This was starting to make a little more sense to Twilight, but she still didn't like the whole idea.

"In fact," Beaker began once more, "all of our research here is funded by Princess Celestia herself!"

Twilight was shocked. Princess Celestia? As in the Princess Celestia? Why would she fund such a horrid thing? None of this added up. There was no way.

"I find that a little hard to believe." Twilight stated with a concerned tone in her voice.

The two scientist ponies pulled the curtains shut, they're hooves moving back and forth across the floor once more, continuing their work.

Twilight sighed as the horrid display was put away. Her eyes directed back to Beaker, who was still staring at the large tube, smiling. Twilight found it rather disgusting for anypony to be smiling at such a thing.

"Isn't it still a living, breathing pony? Aren't you creating a creature and giving it life for the sole purpose of experimenting and who knows what else?" Twilight's tone became much more irritated. This was an outrage. The life of other ponies was nothing to mess around with. She was still stunned from the thought of Celestia funding this project. She didn't believe it for a second.

Beaker, still smiling, only put up a hoof to silence Twilight's angry questioning.

"You ask too many questions, Ms. Sparkle." Beaker spoke while stifling a laugh. "I thought you'd like working here? What ever happened to all that excitement?"

Twilight thought for a second, still a bit angry. Maybe she was overreacting. She did really want to work here, so she just decided to control her thoughts and emotions. If Celestia funded this, maybe it wasn't something to act so harshly about.

"I'm sorry for my outburst, Beaker. This actually is quite interesting work that you're doing." Twilight admitted, a little defeated. Although gross and a little inhumane, this experimenting was rather impressive.

"Don't worry about it. I understand your feelings. Now, I think this tour's gone on long enough, let's get you to work!" Beaker said while moving back toward the elevator doors. Twilight almost forgot, she got to do some experimenting of her own! Still, she once again noticed Beaker was staying close to the wall, and it was a bit strange. She was probably just over-thinking it. The elevator door quietly slid open again, and they stepped inside.

Back on the ground floor, Beaker led Twilight to an empty mini-lab towards the back end of the room. Inside the lab was a lab table with a sink, some empty test tubes on a rack, and a burner.

"Here's your own little lab! Since it's your first day, I'll be pairing you up with another newer member here!" Beaker backed away from the door entrance, and a yellow unicorn with a fluffy blue mane entered the room. She had a bored, tired expression, and it didn't change when her eyes met Twilight's.

"Ms. Sparkle, this is your new partner, Sprout!" Beaker announced. Twilight smiled awkwardly.

"Uh, hello!" Twilight said, trying to start a conversation. Sprout's expression remained.

"Hi." Sprout spoke in a voice that matched her bored state. Beaker walked between the two mares.

"Here are your key cards for the entrance to this lab. Don't lose these!" He handed a card to each of them, and walked over to the door.

"Well you two have fun now!" And just like that, Beaker was gone.

Twilight's eyes were still stuck on the doorway where Beaker once stood, then they snapped over to Sprout, who was still tiredly staring at Twilight. Twilight once again gave an awkward smile.

"Soo, uhh... What kind of things do you like to study?" Twilight attempted to break the awkward moment of silence. She kicked a hoof into the ground, trying to keep herself occupied. Sprout continued to stay silent.

Twilight wanted to make a new friend here, and she thought maybe she and Sprout could share a few laughs or something. She kept thinking back to that moment earlier that day. The two colts at the water cooler. She felt a little bit of jealousy. She wanted a coworker she'd look forward to seeing at this job, and she wasn't about to give up. Maybe Sprout was just shy.

Twilight thought for a moment on what to say. She looked at the ground while she pondered, and noticed Sprout's cutie mark. It was a potted plant, with a leaf sitting at the top. Of course! She's interested in plants. Twilight felt a little silly for not guessing that from her name.

This newfound information excited Twilight, she wanted to know plants a little more, and perhaps Sprout had information she didn't! Twilight smiled.

"Hey, are you interested in plants?" Twilight asked. Maybe they could bond from this similar interest. Sprout's expression stayed the same, but she began speaking.

"Of course. I love plants." Sprout said in the same monotone voice. Twilight smiled wider.

"I've been studying plants a lot recently, how about we do some experimenting on that?" Twilight kept her smile, waiting for Sprout to respond.

"Sure, why not?" Sprout said as she pulled out a small potted flower from somewhere. Twilight's eyes widened a little. Where'd she get that?

"Great! Let's begin!" Twilight stomped her front-right hoof in approval. Sprout put the plant on the desk, and they began to examine it.

"Wow, Sprout, that's amazing!" Twilight said, her eyes not looking up from the notebook she was jotting down information onto. Sprout was giving Twilight a nearly full-fledged lecture about plant life and its importance in Equestria. And of course, Twilight was eating it up. Twilight was surprised at how much of a talker Sprout could really be. When it came to plants, Sprout was all about socializing. Twilight finished up writing and looked to Sprout.

"Thank you so much for all the information! None of my books elaborated that extensively!" Twilight said thankfully. Sprout still had the same expression, but something about it seemed different to Twilight than her previous bored look.

"It's no problem Twilight. I'm just happy someone listened to me for once." She looked down at the ground, then back up to Twilight. "Y'know, I'd say I made a pretty cool friend today." Sprout said to Twilight, who was beaming. And for the smallest of moments, Twilight could've sworn she saw Sprout smile just a little.

Just then, the lights in the building went out.

Twilight blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness.

"Sprout? Are you okay?" Twilight spoke blindly into the darkness.

"Yes. I'm fine." Sprout replied, as mundanely as ever.

Twilight's horn began to emit a glow at the tip, and the room lit up brightly.

"Thank goodness for illumination spells." Twilight said, sighing. "I wonder what happened to the power?" She lowered an eyebrow and looked up at the ceiling lights.

"I hope everything is okay." Sprout said, still bored-sounding, looking up at the ceiling as well.

"C'mon Sprout, let's go see what's going on." Twilight motioned towards the exit of their lab, and Sprout followed her out the door.

All of the other lab ponies were gathered outside of the labs, discussing loudly and slightly panicked about what was going on. A few emergency lights lit up the floor along the walls of the room. There was a loud beep, and Twilight realized it was an intercom. A voice began to speak.

"Attention all employees: Please do not panic. This facility is now running on a backup generator. Main power will return shor-"

There was a loud booming sound, and the entire ground started to shake.

Ponies began screaming and running around the room in panic. Many started to run towards the exit door, which was for some reason locked. This just caused more panic.

Twilight looked next to her to see Sprout, still standing there. Sprout seemed amused by all the chaos taking place before her.

Twilight began to suspect foul play taking place, and thought of the experiments happening beneath her feet. Something must have happened down there, and she was the only one who knew about this. She thought back to what Beaker said about keeping it secret, and she sighed. She turned towards Sprout.

"Sprout, I have to go. I'll be back, just stay here please." Sprout nodded in approval.

Twilight quickly trotted to the door that was off limits, and slipped her key card in. For whatever reason, it worked. Maybe it was the power outage messing with the wiring.

This hallway was a lot creepier without the light. Especially since the lights were dim now. Twilight walked to the elevator door, and with a bit of hesitation, she hit the button. The door opened, and Twilight stepped inside. She pressed the 'B1' button, and the elevator door slid closed.