Morbid Curiosity

"Impressive." Forensics admitted to himself, his face portraying the shame he felt at such a thought even crossing his mind. "But it's wrong." he continued, tensing with renewed purpose as he strode over to the subject.

Twilight's face fell. "Forensics ... p-please, no. Don't touch the subject, he's in a very delicate state!" she pleaded, putting a hoof on the griffon's shoulder.

"I appreciate what you've done is with the best intentions at heart, Miss Sparkle," Forensics told Twilight, his voice becoming a softer, gentler tone than it had been previously. "But this simply flies in the face of ethics - you cannot do this, not to a living creature."

Twilight frowned a little. "You think this... this thing deserves any kind of mercy? What he did was wrong!" she retorted, taking the hoof off Forensics to indicate the subject, the heartbeat of him now becoming faster, less rhythmic.

"I'm sure Celestia has told you the phrase 'two wrongs don't make a right'. Well, such a saying applies here - his actions do not justify such treatment. What you've done is wrong." Forensics returned, his voice rising a little and emphasising the word 'wrong'.

The unicorn furrowed her brow further. "How can you possibly ask me to stop this? I've taken this scum and used him for the benefit of society. The drug treatments I've found alone with this subject warrant what I've done!" she spat, her anger rising at what was, in her opinion, the worst of all accusations - being wrong.

"Miss Sparkle. I'm sorry this has to happen, but it does. Let me put an end to this." Forensics demanded, his talons against the floor tensing, making a quiet but noticeable scraping noise.

'There's that noise again. It's so loud... get it out of my lab!' Twilight thought to herself, teeth clenching together and eyes closing to try and refocus her mind on blocking out the grating noise.

She slammed a hoof against the floor and Forensics turned to face her. "Don't you dare accuse me of being wrong. YOU are wrong! What is it, jealousy of my achievements while you remain a by-gone doctor?!" Twilight yelled, opening her eyes fully to glare at the griffon. "Or are you just some traitor to science, too blind to see past his own judgements?"

Something behind the griffon's eyes snapped. He stared directly back into Twilight's eyes, his voice becoming a low, menacing tone as he spoke now. "Then you leave me no choice."

There was the clacking of talons again on the floor as Forensics turned to leave Twilight's glare and approach the subject. He closed his eyes, muttered something and sighed. Opening his eyes again to look into the subject's panicked own, he addressed it directly: "Forgive me."

With that, Forensics brought a talon up, and then across the subjects neck. The subject screamed aloud in pain, the sides of his closed mouth being torn with the reflective motion, before gargling on the blood now filling his airways.

The subject writhing violently within his bindings before going limp, Forensics turned back to Twilight. "It's done. Miss Sparkle; now I need to get you and your work back to the princess, so she can decide what to do with you. Come with me, please." the griffon held out a claw for Twilight to take.

Twilight's mouth was having to be forcibly shut to stop it from falling agape at what she saw as a random act of sabotage to her work. This had the side-effect of Twilight's jaw being almost locked, she was biting down on her own teeth so hard. She remained silent, shocked eyes not moving from the doctor as her magic felt around the room nearer the subject and her implements for something to wield. "You don't even get to touch my work; and after that, I'm not going anywhere with you." Twilight spat out through gritted teeth.

"Then by the authority of Princess Celestia," Forensics began, putting his claw back on the ground to step towards Twilight. "I hereby -"

A purple hue emitted from the subject's chest cavity before the sound of tearing flesh filled the air. Forensics was silenced not by this but the blow and his own exasperation of pain.

Using her magic, Twilight had ripped a rib from her subject and brought it across Forensic's mouth. The blood was fresh on it, though she knew not whether it was from her subject or if it had been recently drawn from the creature before her who planned to halt progress. "You will not touch it! It is my work! MINE!" Twilight cried, her eyes widening and teeth bared as she shouted at the body of Forensics, now getting back to his feet.

Seeing this movement, Twilight hit Forensics across the side of his head again with a crack, sending him skidding across the room and into the wall as he let out a yelp of pain. Twilight's adrenaline was pumping now, and she walked over to the griffon, any pretense of keeping herself together gone. "YOU do not carry her authority!" she yelled, hitting Forensics again, leaving a splatter of blood across the wall.

"SHE would want what's best for me! What would you know?!" another blow came down on Forensics, the wound now turning the feathers of his head red with his own blood.

"YOU! WILL! NOT! STOP! PROGRESS!" Twilight screamed, bringing the rib down with a deadly thud on every word.

Twilight panted deeply, seething with rage that someone would even consider claiming to speak on the Princess' behalf - and tell her she was wrong! Had he not seen her notes? Not known the fruits of her labour?!

"This is MY experiment! MY research. And MY right to end it!" Twilight said, breaking the rib she used as a weapon over Forensic's head, taking off parts of his skull with it - though the doctor himself was long gone.

Twilight breathed more deeply, slowly beginning to regain her composure. She looked back over her shoulder to her experiment; blood seeping out of its chest and the body hanging limp, eyes not focusing on anything ... and the silence deafening. The heart had stop beating.

"It ... it's ruined ..." Twilight confirmed quietly to herself. She turned her attention back to the lifeless body of the doctor, emptying her lungs with a yell of pure sound, no speech at all, and throwing with all her might the rib across Forensic's head, breaking off another large part of the skull which flew across the room along with the bone.

Behind closed eyes and controlled breathing, the unicorn began letting her mind calm back down. She breathed through her nose, focused her mind on something unrelated to the situation, and attempted to calm down - her body shaking in protest, still writhing with anger. She found it hard to stand, but her muscles were so tense she felt rooted to the spot.

It was minutes before Twilight opened her eyes, having regained the minimal level of composure she required to function properly. Her breathing was still erratic and more forceful than usual, even being audible sometimes, though it was back down to controllable levels. She could move again, and the shaking had stopped. Twilight allowed all her senses to take in the scene with her now clear mind.

The sound of dripping blood came from behind her, the subject still letting out his last. The pounding Twilight could feel in her head she knew was internalised - nevertheless it was a little jarring. Nothing near the griffon's clacking, but something she still wished would stop.

Her nostrils were assaulted by the metallic smell of fresh blood, an unmistakable smell - and one to which Twilight had grown accustomed. She always associated it with being in the lab, or back in biology class during the dissection lessons - it was a smell she linked with doing science, a subject she loved dearly; the smell of blood being let from the body was able to bring back memories of times Twilight felt at peace, quietly working away and being content with the exploration and advancement of her own knowledge.

The sight that greeted Twilight was something new however - Forensic's head hung limply over his shoulder, resting on the wall. Blood had seeped from where Twilight had hit him, leaving red streaks down his feathers from the side of his head down to his chest and spilling over onto the floor. It was still too bright a red to have dried, but it had lost its shine and didn't have that glisten of wetness.

Forensics himself looked a state - Twilight could see the side of his eye, the side of his socket having been cracked back. His actual skull was missing a large piece near the top, along with any feathers or flesh, exposing the pink brain inside Forensic's head. Pieces of this same organ were plastered over Twilight's wall, small chunks still stuck to it along with the blood splatter caused by such an act. Some small parts had slid down, the red liquid trailing like tears, resting on Forensic's side where he had slumped against the wall, lifeless. The griffon's mouth still hung agape a little, dead eyes staring into nothing.

Putting her hoof to her mouth, Twilight felt all anger drain from her as she took in just what she had done. "By Celestia..." she muttered aloud, recoiling at the sight of Forensic's body and his brains dashed against the usually clean lab; yet found herself unable to look away from the horror she had wrought.

"I..." Twilight began aloud, speaking to herself to let it sink in further that what she was seeing and feeling was really happening but finding her throat too dry to continue.

Swallowing, Twilight internalised her thoughts once again. 'I need to tell the Princess. I need to clean up this mess and tell the Princess immediately.' she thought, panicking even in her own monologue.

Without further ado, Twilight rushed around to make preparations for corpse disposal - something she now was used to doing - and tried to puzzle out how to tell this to Celestia. Twilight's mind was flooded with emotions and worry and shock; not even sleep would provide relief or solitude that night.