My Little Paranoia: Friendship is Mandatory

My Little Paranoia: Friendship is Mandatory Ch1

Twilight's eyes snap open to the sound of the morning buzzer. Hurriedly, she gets out of bed and puts on her white technician's uniform. Twilight stumbles out of her assigned living space and observes the work-ponies flooding out of their chambers. They are heading towards the food hall, as is she. She glances toward the wall and her eyes catch the armed guards. Slowly, her neighboring ponies start to smile and pair up as the guards become more numerous. Suddenly, a pink, frizzy haired pony rushes to her side, beaming. Twilight copies her facial expression. There is a sign above the doors that reads, in bold letters, "FRIENDSHIP IS MANDATORY". Near the wall, a camera zooms in on a lone pony. She is mostly grey with straight purple hair, and she is visibly shaking. The pony next to Twilight starts to sweat, as her eyes dart between the singled out horse and the camera. One of the guards rushes toward the grey pony and leads her towards another hall. Twilight's temporary buddy looks forward and tenses up. Twilight spots small tears in her eyes from the corner of her vision. The pink pony smiles wider as her mouth starts to quiver.

Twilight eyes the food on her metal tray, although her attention is quickly snatched by the other ponies' introduction. "Hi, friend! I'm P-pinkie Pie! Wh-what's your name?" Twilight can tell she's in pain. "I'm Twilight. It's nice to meet you." She scans every inch of Pinkie, eyeing her red chef-ponies' apron. "Shouldn't you be working?" Twilight asks. Pinkie's smile falters for a second "Well actually, my shift is at lunch." Pinkie hesitates before asking,

"What sector of Happy Place do you work in?"

"Sector X4, Sunshine region."

"Ooh, what's it like there? Is it like the name? Maud told me-"

Pinkie stops. Her eyes drift to the floor. "Maud..." she whispers.

"Maud? Who is Maud?"

Twilight gets no response. Pinkie is still. The silence is interrupted by the shrill sound of the buzzer, signaling the start of the first work shift. Twilight slowly stands up, staring at Pinkie Pie through hooded eyes. She wasn't sure how she felt about her.

As she approaches her workstation, Twilight looks at the floor. She still didn't have an answer to her question. 'Could Maud be the pony that was taken? What was her relationship with Pinkie? We aren't allowed to have long term friendships...'. Suddenly, Twilight bumps into something and falls on the ground. There is a loud noise as the cleaning cart of the other pony falls to the ground. She looks up and sees a yellow pony in a blue jumpsuit. The yellow pony has a tired expression and light pink hair.

"Sorry..."

The ponies' voice is hushed and raspy, like she hasn't spoken for years. The pony picks up the cart and continues working. Twilight resumes her walk. She pays close attention to the shadows cast by the fluorescent light overhead. She walked through this hall everyday, but she never noticed the lack of windows. Twilight knew there was a world outside of the facility, she had seen it, but somehow it still bothered her. The paintings of green landscapes and smiling suns on the walls stared her down like vultures, and for the first time, she thought about ditching work.