The following day, Fluttershy woke up, took a shower, remembering everything that happened the previous day, and exited her room. She quickly realized she had no idea where she was, only that a bunch of ponies in lab coats were walking around. They all gave her looks of confusion as she wandered about. She entered a room to find it freezing, with boxes labeled DO NOT HANDLE. she quickly exited and soon found herself in a lounge of sorts. she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down on one of the sofas, grateful for the time to relax. She then continued her journey and found herself in a lab, complete with test tubes and various containers filled with unlabeled liquids. She heard a door open, expecting to be yelled at, instead she heard an amused chuckle. She looked and saw Jostrom standing next to a rather large black pegasi, she quickly remembered him as the one who took Angel yesterday. "How's he-" she began.
"In due time." the pegasus interrupted her. Jostrom approached her and, after a quick hug, said "So I heard you gave yourself the tour, huh?" Fluttershy nodded sheepishly and blushed. "That's great." Said Jostrom, his face suddenly very serious. "I'm glad you came here, I have something to show you." He led her to the back and pulled on an unused test tube. A door opened and he ushered her inside, followed by the black pegasus. Upon standing in the room she saw a huge window. On the other side was a critically injured Angel Bunny. She was about to ask why he was here, when Jostrom explained everything.

"So as you can clearly see, your good friend Angel is laying there in critical condition. Allow me to explain. After you entered the cottage, a rabid Angel threw himself at you, striking you from behind with a lot more force than I thought..." That's weird... thought Fluttershy, It seemed heavier... "So after I finally managed to sedate him..." She realized he hadn't stopped talking. "I took you both here, to Z-base, where we quickly put angel under quarantine. that's when we tried to get him to calm down, at least to the point where we could sedate him again... we lost many good ponies... However by freak luck you found your way in there on the other side of the glass. Angel tried to attack you again, but he hesitated, which is when we realized you would be the one to stop him. Unfortunately you had passed out from fright so I simply turned off the lights and waited for you to awaken... I waited a long time, and eventually had to step out to stretch my legs, fortunately I hadn't gone very far before I heard you scream..." He then continued to tell his part of the story up until after he left her room after checking in on her. She took it all in in silence. "...Ok..." She eventually managed to choke out, feeling a new wave of emotion wash over her. "There's... one last thing..." He said, his voice lowering to just above a whisper.
"What is it?" This time it was her turn to embrace him as she draped a wing over his shoulders.
"W-we can make a cure, but.." He choked out.
"But what?"
"We'd need the essence of a pony..."
"Essence?"
"Yes, if you want to help Angel, then I'm gonna need you to help me."
"I'd help you even if Angel was perfectly healthy." She smiled.
"Please come with me..." He led her to his private lab. If she thought the last lab was complicated, this one was enough to confuse Twilight. Where do I keep getting these names from? She thought to herself, realizing that this was the second time she thought of some random ponies name.

Not only were there a bunch of tubes in various set ups, but the entire place was filled with various machines, who's purposes she couldn't even begin to fathom. Once again Jostrom led her to a back room which had a couple of chairs and a large box of some kind. He searched through the archives until he found a disk labeled "Big Mac". He placed it into the monitor and took a seat next to Fluttershy, his stomach bungee jumping from what he was about to show her. She sat patiently as the box came to life with a click followed by various sounds. She saw a large red stallion that looked eerily familiar. "So... Mr. Macintosh?" She heard a voice.
"E-eeyup." replied the stallion, obviously afraid.
"Were you planning on taking your test?"
"E-eeyup."
"Well then I suggest getting to it." Fluttershy watched as the stallion in question headed through a doorway in the wall, only to have it slide shut once he passed through. "Now," she heard the voice again, "I understand that you were behind the brutal rape and murder of the three fillies, who's names shall be withheld to contain their honor?"
"E-eeyup." The stallion hung his head in shame.
"Tsk tsk mister Macintosh, you seemed like such a gentle creature... T'is a shame, but that's why I'm here, to make sure freaks like you stay off the streets." As soon as he finished speaking, three metallic headstones rose in the center of the room. along with a fake tree that had iron balls hanging from it. "Now, let's see that strong work ethic of yours." The voice called. The stallion looked confused. "Oh come now, you know, buck the contents of the tree out."

The stallion walked uneasily towards the tree in question, never looking at the headstones. He really should have, as a blade swung out of its hiding place within one of the headstones and struck the stallion right in the flank. The stallion cried in pain as the he tried to slowly wiggled the blade out, more and more blood pouring from the wound. "Don't stop, keep going." The voice said. The stallion gave a mighty push and the blade broke off the headstone before eventually falling out, revealing more and more flesh and bone as the wound continued to grow. Still, he pressed onward. He finally got to the tree and gave it a solid buck. All the iron balls came loose and the red stallion looked rather proud of himself. That was, until the balls hit the floor.

They each erupted into a fireball that sent the stallion flying. He slammed against the wall, crying out in agony as his flesh boiled and popped, melting off various parts of his body until he looked like a true monster, with the right side of his rib cage as well as the majority of his skull visible. Not to mention the sight of his cutie mark melting away to reveal a hipbone. A lone unicorn entered the room. She saw the stallion get encased in a ghostly pale grey aura as the unicorn carried him into a different room. she could hear muffled screams coming from behind the door as the video came to an abrupt end.

She sat speechless. "Fluttershy?" She heard a tiny squeak beside her. She looked at her coltfriend, unsure what to think. "What happened next?" Was all she could manage. She watched as Jostrom shifted in his seat.
"Well, the unicorn took him to a separate room, where he extracted all the essence from that stallion. We use what he gathers to create our various cures and remedies." Fluttershy sat there and thought about it. Her eyes widened as she realized what was going on.
"You want me to help. Don't you."
"It's the only way..."
"Would I have to..."
"No, you would only help me get them here."
"And Angel..."
"That's why we're doing this... We need a very specific essence to bring him back an-"
"I'll do it..."
"What?"
"I said I'll do it."
"Fluttershy..."
"I told you I'd help you even if angel wasn't involved... but now that I know why you need it..." She put on a brave smile, "how could I say no?" Jostrom silently analyzed Fluttershy's words. He pulled her into a tight embrace. "Thank you.." was all he managed to say before he teared up. After a brief silence she finally asked. "So... do you know who we're going after?"
"Ah, yes." He replied. "I have a list of the most possible candidates..." He searched his lab, cursing as he was unable to locate said list in all his clutter. "Hey hoarder," the black pegasus teased, "I think I found it."
"Thank you." Jostrom said through an embarrassed smile. He quickly walked up to Fluttershy, laying out a list in front of her. She read the top name and felt an eerie sense of familiarness envelope her.

LYRA

Author's Note

OK! So here's the other part of the prologue. Things are REALLY starting to get hectic so I think we may well end up shelving this for now... either way we will finish this monstrosity.

As always constructive criticism is welcome in the comments section. Thanks.

Edit* We are going to continue this story, but at a much slower pace than normal. rather than do the one-chapter-a-week thing we had ORIGINALLY planned on, we're going to slow it down to 2-3 weeks a chapter to ensure quality (school is going to be stressful on all of us as we're all taking advanced classes).