The dark grey unicorn rolled his eyes at his co-worker, then trying to immerse himself back into a scientific magazine. His cutie mark, a simple glass vial containing a blue liquid, matched their sterile laboratory environment. The off-white walls gave off an air of a clean and crisp environment, devoid of any unprofessionalism.

Well, almost.

“You know Beakers, if you keep poking that container, we're all going to be in trouble.”

Beakers, a light orange pony with a maroon mane, simply shrugged, giving the container another prod. The green liquid inside fizzed and frothed from the disturbance, but otherwise remained stable.

“Yes I know that Vial. I'm just bored! The blasted eggheads-”

He stopped, and would have face-hoofed had he not been wearing a splash-guard helmet.

“You mean the other eggheads I'm assuming? Because last time I checked, we are eggheads.”

A glare was shot his way, Beakers continuing to speak.

“You know what I mean. They're running those stupid tests two levels below, and we can't even get to our offices to do our job! How serious could draining the tanks be?”

Vial shook his head, looking back to his 'Scientific Reasons Revealed' magazine.

“Not my place to ask. Seriously though, I'd stop prodding that vial. The last time you didn't listen to me, we had to evacuate the entire building.”

Beakers' ears flipped up indignantly at the mention of the 'incident.'

“Hey, that was coincidence, I just happened to be nosing around a few bottles of chemicals, and an alarm went off for a different floor! Not my fault! So poke away I shall!”

No sooner had the pony touched the container again, a tremor shook the building, followed by a low rumbling sound, like a dragon clearing its throat. A few seconds passed before a large orange bulb began to flash, followed by a loud emergency klaxon echoing through the off-white laboratory.

“Told you.”

Numerous pony scientists streamed out of the squat building, the same off-white color as its interior. A few nudged him on their way out of the doors, clearly focused on getting as far away from the bland building as soon as possible. His black mane and tail blew in the slight breeze generated inside the structure, designed to keep out contaminants. A dark green streak ran through his mane and tail, only slightly matching his cutie mark; a bright lime-colored biohazard symbol. It was the pony's eyes that stood out. They burned with the same intensity that his cutie mark held; a bright green, seemingly lit from within.

He stood for a moment in the large room, avoiding the waterfall of ponies pushing out from the two doors on either side of the large reception desk. There was a general feeling of fear, no doubt spurred on by the warning lights that flashed a sinister orange. From what he could tell, he was the only one headed INSIDE, whereas everyone else was frantically trying to get as far away as possible.

Yep. He was in the right place.

“Are you Toxic Shield?”

Toxic turned to the security earth pony and nodded, observing the semi-official outfit and badge. The fact the guard's eyes were wide with shock suggested he hadn't been on the job very long.

Poor guy. He had no idea what he had gotten himself into.

“I take it that you know what's going on?”

Levitating a large clipboard, Toxic ran his magic across the surface briefly, neat letters swirling into view. He then turned the surface towards the guard. Hopefully he wouldn't have to explain his not-so-normal method of communication...

Only partially. I need to know what is inside this laboratory, as specific as you can recall. Along with that, I need to know what chemical or substance was being used, and how it was being used. Finally, I need to know where the problem is.

The guard nodded, handing Toxic his security badge.

“Well, the problem is on the lowest level, eleven floors down, my badge has clearance. As for what was being worked on...”

The guard lowered his gaze, shrugging apologetically.

“I honestly don't know. I don't work on the projects, I just stand near the door. The scientists can't tell you either. Apparently it was a classified project, all the way up to the Princesses. I do know there is some nasty stuff though, it makes hydrochloric acid look like salsa. Levels ten and eleven are on a separate ventilation system because of the dangers associated with it. Sorry, I wish I could tell you more, but we honestly don't even know what went wrong.”

Toxic raised an eyebrow to the last statement, causing the new guard to glance to the ground.

“We can't tell how far the contaminants have spread, or what it even is. We honestly don't know what's down there. All security features are...destroyed.”
Great.

A quick scrawling on the clipboard again, this time the guard instinctively looking over.
Self-destruct sequence?

A shake of the head was the guard's response.

“No, thankfully. We're still in Canterlot, so nothing too explosive, if that's what you mean. The doors in the facility are set to seal off in case of a breach, but my badge will get you past the checkpoints. There might still be ponies down there though...”
Ok, that would have been helpful to know from the start.

As Toxic made his way to the elevator, the guard followed, carrying a bag, to which he deposited next to him.

“Here's some specialized biohazard gear, not sure if you brought your own.”

This guy had to be REALLY new.

Toxic just nodded to the guard thankfully, stepping inside the elevator as he lowered his saddlebags to the floor, pulling the offered gear inside with him. He then tossed a dark grey box to the guard, a few red lights visible on the strange device's surface.

“I wi-ll s-send. Sur-vivors.” He stuttered.

The last thing the guard saw was the unicorn's eyes glowing with a strange green aura before the doors shut. The pony's voice still shocked him to the core. It hadn't had any focus on pitch or tone, and was as though he couldn't control it varying in speed and intensity.

The doors clicked shut, the elevator waiting for instructions.

Finally, alone at last.

Inserting the badge to the appropriate slot, Toxic then began to sift through his saddlebags as the elevator clanked down to the lowest levels. If nothing else, his job never got old.

At least it wasn't various magical concoctions being regurgitated from a toilet this time. That had been a nightmare.

His horn began to spit a few sparks, then igniting into a dull white glow that surrounded Toxic's entire body. Perfect. With the detection spell running, he'd get a warning if any anomalous particles impacted the shield, and, if he was lucky, would get an idea of what he was dealing with.

Hazardous Waste and Magical Material Removal; an interesting job, to say the least.

There were only two other ponies with his specific job, and he wasn't terribly surprised by that. Hazardous Waste and Magical Material Removal was only for a select few. Toxic wasn't terribly surprised at getting called to this specific site, especially if the spill was corrosive. He always got the nasty jobs, but for good reason.

Lucky him. The pay was good though, and he enjoyed the excitement-

-CLANK-

Well, most of the time.

The elevators light's flickered, but thankfully stayed on. Guess it was on hoof the rest of the way.

Toxic focused for a moment, teleporting his clipboard and other non-essentials back up to the top of the facility, putting the donated respirator into his saddlebag. No sense in losing any of that. The clipboard was enchanted by the Princess herself; a rare gift and privilege, one he was eternally gratefully to her for. As soon as a few pages of paper were filled, they reset, eliminating the need for more materials. Not being able to communicate like other ponies took quite a long time to explain, and a lot of parchment, and so that had been a nice reprieve.

Toxic shook himself out of his thoughts, and focused on the task at hoof. He stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway. It had the same feel and color as a hospital; dull white walls, and blue glass lining a few small cubical areas. This was level three, and from the looks of it-

-POP-

Toxic felt something poke at his detection shield. Well, it wasn't as much of a poke, as it was a needle-like jab at his consciousness.

That wasn't good. He wasn't sure what the ponies down here were experimenting with, but it must have been rather...toxic.

He couldn't help but groan aloud at his own poor pun, then enhancing his detection shield before taking a few more steps. If there were traces of this stuff on level three, the containment systems must have failed completely. So much for a sealed ventilation system....

Toxic quickly backtracked as more needles jabbed at his mental awareness. Ok, that was enough of that. The laboratory appeared normal, plain white fluorescent lights shining off the white sterile walls and tile floor. It was this sense of normalcy that was almost more unnerving than visually seeing something wrong. All he had was his spells and senses to indicate that something was amiss. It wasn't bad enough to get through the respirator, but just the intensity of the reaction to his shield wasn't comforting-

'WHAP!'

Toxic let out a muffled shriek, backpedaling a few steps as something fell onto his face. His heartbeat returned to normal as he looked at the banner, the flimsy cord holding it to the ceiling having snapped.

Take your child-to-work day! Please keep all activities on levels three and above!
The banner was written in pink marker on a simple off-white background. Child-to-work day?

Not good. He had to hurry. What if there was a filly down here?

Toxic took a minute to pause, collecting his thoughts. The thought that a filly or colt could be down here terrified him. The white aura around him shimmered, lessening in intensity. He hadn't needed to use this spell for a while...

The white light began to brighten, distinct shapes visible across his body. His natural resistance to chemicals would do the trick, but only to a certain extent. The substance wasn't in enough concentration here to do any physical harm, but as it increased, that much wasn't guaranteed. He would need that heavy-duty respirator before long.

Light continued to dance across his dark blue fur, forming into semi-solid plates that covered his entire body. The armor was an adaptation of a protection spell, and had taken quite a bit of time to perfect. The end result though, was a complete shield against harm. Not so much a spear flying at one's head, but anything that would dissolve a hoof or burn flesh was instantly negated, in theory. Quite ingenious really-

“Help! A-anyone there?” A filly's voice echoed down the hallway, stuttering slightly from fear.

Toxic instantly galloped down the misty hallway, following the faint voice that led him down a few twisting corridors. Skidding around a corner, he came to a small office area, chairs and papers strewn across the floor. Toxic looked under a few of the desks, but only found some staples and more papers. Where was-
Oh.

Two large light-blue eyes looked back at him, and Toxic found himself confronted by a terrified filly, no more than eight or nine years old. Her flank devoid of any cutie mark, her fur was a dark green, and she sported a bright blue mane. Eyes still wet with fearful tears, she was curled into a ball beneath one of of the desks, shivering slightly. Thankfully, a large bag-like object covered her head; an emergency escape helmet. Thankfully, this was the last unsecured level, and such devices were plentiful.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Toxic mentally kicked himself for leaving the clipboard. It would take too much energy to teleport it back now...

“Help. M-me?” The tiny filly squeaked.

The fact it was a question, and that the filly's orange eyes were filling with tears, was more than Toxic could bear.

“Yo-u'll. B-be.Ok.”

The filly's eyes widened even further as Toxic's voice echoed around the offices. It was halting and broken, fluctuating between pitches, but understandable.

“Ok.”

Toxic fished into his saddlebag, and handed the small earth pony a small disk, which pulsed a comforting purple.

“Tel-eport. Y-you. Safe.”

He pressed the large violet button in the middle of the grey metallic disk, which began to flash at an ever-increasing speed. The filly then ran forward, giving Toxic's light-armored leg a hug.

“T-thank you mister.” She whispered, just before disappearing in a flash of white light.

Toxic resumed his route, finally making it to the staircase which led to the lower levels. After swiping the security card at the door leading to the secured levels, he paused. He could sense the air getting thicker with...something. It would have caused any other pony to choke, but it was but a foul taste in his mouth. So far so good, but if it got any worse, he wouldn't be able to handle it. If only he was as resistant to chemicals on the inside as he was the outside.

Time for the heavy-duty filters then.

He dug out the appropriate mask from his saddlebag, and enjoyed a breath of not-so-nasty air, before continuing on to the lower levels.

Entered the workplace without too much hassle, and warm glow in his heart from saving a filly. Not a bad start to the day.

Author's Note

Feedback appreciated! I am always seeking to improve. *brohoof*

*edited* I added a few things, clarified a few points...
OH! And thank you to Vanost for providing some professional insight on how to REALLY handle a hazmat situation! As well to all the users out there willing to review my work ^_^