It was the third movie marathon that week, and Silver was beginning to feel like he was sitting in his own filth. He had not moved from his seat for eighteen hours now, and he was beginning to get antsy.

Silk, on the other hoof, was as enraptured as she had been eighteen hours before, a single kernel of popcorn sitting between her lips as she gaped at the movie screen, giant bucket of the buttery snack sitting on her lap.

Honestly, he would’ve left by now, if not for the death glare the seemingly comatose mare would shoot him whenever he began to get out of his seat. Of course, the truly impressive part was when she then returned to watching the screen, mouth all but hanging open as she ate her popcorn kernel by kernel.

Who does that anyway?

Why doesn’t she just grab a hoof full and eat them like a normal pony?

He watched as she lifted another, single kernel to her mouth, chewing slowly as she stared into the giant screen that held the image of a screaming mare, about to meet her doom.

If he was perfectly honest, all these movies were beginning to blend together. Whether it be ancient burial grounds, psychos, demonic dolls, it all seemed the same after a while.

They hadn’t had a mission for the week, and the days off were beginning to blend together. Commander Spike was offering jobs to the other teams, and Silver was beginning to worry about it. Did he do something wrong? Was their last mission not good enough? Were they being relegated to guard duty of the most boring door in the Department?

Silver didn’t know. It could have been just as likely that Spike was just giving them the week off.

So, instead, he was sitting here, watching boring movies to keep himself from flying into a panic about his performance.

And, if nothing else, the movies were definitely boring.

Honestly, watching Silk eat popcorn was just as exciting, and she was eating it wrong.

He watched, as yet one more buttery piece of popcorn came up to her mouth, and past her two...luscious...full...hypnotizing lips.

He blinked, and shook his head, trying to rid himself of that thought.

That was...weird, at the very least.

He needed to get out more.

When mealtime came around, along with a great case as to why they should leave the Department’s theater, Silk and Silver finally emerged, blinking in the light. Silver was quick to duck away and run himself through a shower, just to get the stench off of him.

When he finally returned to the mess hall, he saw all of Alpha Team sitting at the table, laughing as he came in on the tail end of yet another story. “And-and that’s why—” Neon said, trying his best to speak through tears. “That’s why there’s a fence around it!”

“They built a fence?” Sparky asked, laughing.

“They built a fence.”

“Hey, hey,” Chestnut said scooting over to make way. “Here’s the boss!”

Silver took the seat, happy to be sitting in some proper light. “Afternoon, Alpha team. What’s been going on?”

“Just enjoying the downtime, boss,” Chestnut answered.

Lemon nodded, as she threw her lighter between her hooves. “You have to love the vacation hours we get here.”

“Well, I’m not surprised,” Mandible grunted. “They have to give us something to keep us docile, considering we lay our lives down all the time…”

“Always the ray of sunshine, Prisoner,” Silver noted as he popped open a can of soda.

“One of us need to be the grounded, logical one,” Mandible said, “and quite frankly, I just don’t trust any of you ponies to have the mental capacity for it.”

Chestnut laughed.

Mandible shot him a glance.

“What? That was funny?” the heavy weapons pony said.

“You do realize I’m insulting you, right?”

“It was still funny,” Chestnut answered.

The changeling shook his head.

“So where have you two been all day?” Amber said, smiling knowingly at Silk and Silver.

“Watching horror movies,” Silver answered, as though it were obvious.

“Good horror movies,” Silk stressed. “If I’m going to reintroduce him to this, it needs to be the cream of the crop.”

Amber seemed slightly disappointed by the news, but continued on. “So how has that been going?”

Silk turned to him.

Silver sighed. “They’re...okay, I guess…” he said. “I liked maybe two or three of them, but I’m not the biggest fan.”

“Oh, don’t say that…” Silk said.

“I’m sorry, Silk,” Silver said, exasperated. “I’m just not that into them.”

The pegasus sighed, before she sighed. “Well, at least now you know how to have good taste.”

Silver smiled, and was just about to dig into his meal when a voice rang out. “Alpha team!”

They all turned around and saw Spike standing on a small balcony. “Report to training room 3 in five minutes!”

The others nodded, and quickly began to finish their mostly-empty plates, and finished their lunch as quickly as they could. Silver, meanwhile, blinked as he stared down at his own tray, stacked high with food.

He sighed, grabbed the apple off his plate and his can of soda. “So glad I’m got to eat something other than popcorn today,” he muttered.

Then again, at the very least, he knew how to eat it right.

“Welcome to the Danger Room, rookies,” Spike said, standing in the middle of a large, white-tiled room.

Silver had never been in training room 3 before. They had passed it back on orientation day, but the Commander never spent more than a passing sentence on it. Of course, if the perfectly blank room was as empty as it seemed, that would make sense.

Of course, the large yellow line that read “DO NOT CROSS” in big, bold, black letters quite a giveaway to the contrary.

“This room is perhaps the most technologically advanced room in all of Equestria. And as it name implies, it is also the most dangerous room in all of Equestria,” Spike continued, before he began to pace along the tiles. “Whenever a team manages to win a week of R&R, like you did, they need to spend one session in the Danger Room.”

A claw stepped one of the tiles, and in quickly shot up, revealing a strange nozzle beneath it. There was a spark, and a jet of flame shot out, burning orange in the air where Spike was. Or had been, because he had leapt into the air in the time it took to blink, leaving the flame to sputter uselessly.

He did not have time to rest as he landed, however, as a tile on the wall slid open, and stream of darts shot forward, all towards Spike. The dragon simply raised a claw to catch them in the air as they flew at him. “The point is to keep every member sharp and ready during times of rest. The last thing we need is for one of you to get just rusty enough that you wind up dead.”

A third tile shot up like a pedestal, and a ball and chain spat out and swung around, nearly taking out Spike’s legs.

But the dragon was fast. Far too fast for the traps of the Danger Room, and the ball did nothing but bounce along the tiles.

Spike dodged through the room, as darts, arrows, blades, and gouts of flame, a the while carrying on his conversation with Alpha Team. “Regardless of your performance in the Danger Room, you only need one session. If you do well, great.”

He spun around, catching a spear that had been thrown at him, and threw it back in a single motion. The spear slammed into the tile right beside the spear launcher, and it began to glow an angry red. “If you do poorly, well...then I suppose your medic will have a little more practice than she wanted.”

Spike then walked back, across the line. “Set difficulty to level one,” Spike ordered.

“Yes, Commander,” came a voice from the ceiling.

“And lock the door until they’ve completed the session,” he said, as he stepped through the doors, only for them to close behind him.

“Yes, Commander,” the voice repeated, as a very large bolt slid into place.

Alpha Team all stared at the door, before looking at the rest of the white-tiled room.

“Please cross the line, Alpha Team,” the voice said.

There was a beat.

“Well, he lowered the difficulty, right?” Sparky said. “It can’t be that bad?”

“Well,” Mandible said, “technically speaking, we don’t know how difficult it can be, without a sense of scale, anyway.”

Silver did his best to fight back a sigh, before finally speaking. Well, there are exactly two ways to find out.”

“Actually trying it, and…?” Silke asked.

“Um, hey!” Silver shouted, “Voice in the ceiling?”

“Yes?” it answered.

“What is the most difficult setting for this room?”

“It is not advisable to use that setting,” it answered.

“I understand that,” Silver said, “and I do not want to use that setting. I just want to know what is the maximum setting.”

“Maximum available setting is undefined.”

“Undefined?” Silver asked.

“Undefined: adjective, not clear or defined.”

“What? No, no,” Silver said. “I know what undefined means, I just...what do you mean that the maximum is undefined?”

“The Danger Room has no theoretical maximum,” the voice answered. “It is based off of an algorithm, defined by the late Princess Twilight Sparkle, which slowly builds difficulty over time. The inaugural session is typically used as a reference point, on which all future session are based.”

“I...see…” Silver answered.

“For reference,” the voice continued, “Commander Spike was using a level 50 program.”

“Level 50?” Neon said. “Somehow I expected him to be higher.”

“Level 50 is the highest recommended setting for normal ponies. However, it is Commander Spike’s recreational setting. His current maximum is 362.”

“Oh.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Well, level one can’t be that hard, right?” Chestnut asked.

“Ah, quit your whining!” Sparky said, crossing the line. “It’s level one, not—”

Clang!

Sparky was immediately silenced as a cast iron pan slammed into his face. Knocking him out cold.

Amber sighed, before she flew over, dragging his body back over the line.

“Spark Speed,” the voice said, “currently failing level one. Deadly foe is equivalent of grandmother with a frying pan.”

Neon snickered.

“If the rest of the team could proceed across the line,” the voice asked.

“Sure,” Silver said, “just let us collect ourselves.”

“Of course,” she answered, as Amber slowly brought Sparky back up.

“And...could you discount Sparky’s first try?” Silver asked.

“Deleting file…Complete.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. When you’re ready, Alpha Team.”

Gathering themselves up again, Alpha Team crossed the line.

“Well done, Alpha Team!” the voice from the ceiling said, as the ponies crawled back across the line. “You have reached level 20! Your chances of survival are 25% higher than average!”

Chestnut groaned, with a large, hypodermic needle stuck in his flank. “Make the room stop spinning…” he moaned.

Sparky, who had been hit with yet more frying pans, cradled his head in his hooves, trying to keep a headache from forming.

Amber had managed to got out mostly unscathed, but she looked liked she had suffered with the rest of them. Panting, she crossed the line, muttering about her kit having been completely used, before yanking the needle out of Chestnut’s flank.

“Ow…” he muttered.

“You did well!” the voice continued. “In three more levels you reach potentially deadly attacks, so level 20 is an optimal level for your training.”

“Good to know…” Silver said, following behind his team as they slowly made their way back to safety across the line.

“I will send a digital copy of your result to the commander, post haste. Congratulations once more, Alpha Team! Unlocking doors now.”

The door hissed, before sliding open, letting the ponies free.

Silver grunted. “Thanks—” he began before pausing. “Um...I...I actually didn’t catch your name,” he said to the invisible voice. “D-did I miss it or…?”

“Running introduction sequence,” the voice said, before continuing. “Welcome, Department Employee! I am TWI, and experimental, artificial, arcane-based intelligence. I am a tool in charge of the various security measures of the Department, as well as various administration roles, including power and emergency communiques. How can I help you?”

Silver looked up, blinked. “Um...no...Thank you TWI.”

“You're welcome,” she answered.

The next day, Alpha Team was enjoying lunch once more. Neon, Chestnut, and Sparky were swapping stories again, while the mare listened and laughed. Mandible, while he did sit with the ponies around him, did not interact, instead remaining quiet, and brooding.

Silver, meanwhile, was focusing on eating, because he was not going to let some surprise training exercise keep him from a meal.

A lull appeared in the conversation, and the team and a collective sigh escaped the ponies around the table. In the resulting silence, they all heard the clack of the claws on steel. A handful of the ponies looked around, to see Spike walking behind them, down into a hallway.

Neon watched him before nudging Silver, pulling the assault’s attention away from his meal. “Hm? What?”

“Do you know the Commander goes all the time?”

“What? You mean his room?” Silver asked, his mind thinking back to red, wooden door with yellow candle carved into its face.

“Yeah, have you seen it?”

“I’ve seen the door, sure,” he answered.

“Have you ever been inside?” Neon whispered.

Silver blinked, before he realized that everypony around the table was listening intently.

“No…” Silver admitted. “Sweetie Belle told me that Spike killed the last pony who entered it.”

“What?” Sparky whispered under his breath. “That’s crazy…”

“Makes you wonder what he’s hiding,” Mandible said.

“What makes you say that?” Amber asked.

“Everyone has something to hide,” the changeling answered.

“It..it is pretty serious, considering he killed a pony,” Lemon whispered.

“Well, you say that,” Silver began, “but we’ve all seen Spike in battle. I would not be surprised if he could snap my neck without really trying. It could have been an accident, and we just don’t know.”

Mandible smirked. “Aw...is someone making excuse for their boss?”

Silver raised a eyebrow in the changeling’s direction. “And I thought projecting was below you.”

Chestnut laughed.

“Look,” Silver said. “I think it should be pretty clear, that we should just avoid that room, alright? That just makes sense.”

“Totally agree!” Silk said, sitting beside him. “I mean, sure, he didn’t really respect our privacy when he recruited us, but I’m rather a fan of living.”

“Well, for as long as we can, anyway,” Lemon said with a smirk.

Cold hooves dug through cold earth.

They moved far beneath the ground, deep under even the Department’s headquarters.

They were given orders, and they were eager to carry them out.

They moved quickly, clawing through the rock and soil, as if their lives depended on it.

Or, at least, whatever remained of their lives.

They dug, slowly moving their way, driven by hunger, but still as strong as the day they started.

They were so very, hungry.

They stopped.

This was it.

This was the silver-laced concrete they were looking for.

Rushing water was just beyond the wall.

But it was not going to slow them down.

They were so hungry, and they were finally ready to feed.

Silver finally finished his lunch, and was returning his tray to its little collection station, when an ear-splitting klaxon blared in his ears.

“Danger! Danger!” TWI cried over an unseen intercom. “Security Breach! All members, active and inactive, must gather all gear and prepare for battle!”

Silver dropped the tray, and ran for his room.

At the very least he had a proper meal this time.

Next Chapter: This Means War Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 35 Minutes