Author's Note
Just a note, this is set maybe a week or two after Pinkie got her cutie mark.
Also, I'm English so that's why words such as "grey" are spelt the way they are.
The Rock Farm
27th of September.
My medical work is going nowhere. At the moment I have taken residence in a Rock Farm on the outskirts of "Ponyville". I detest that place. I mean, who calls a place for ponies Ponyville? It's like calling a wardrobe "Clothesville". But anyway, enough of that. I scrape by a meagre living here, moving rocks from one side of the field to another. It's pointless and stupid; but there is a silver lining. There is a rare mineral found only in rocks that have been exposed to a certain degree of sunlight, found only in this farm. Once I have it, I feel that Chemical X-27 will be complete. I am as of now uncertain of the effects, and I will have to find a "guinea pig" sooner or later. There are three fillies living here, around 11-16 years old. One is pink and bouncy. Highly annoying. I felt like punching her more than once, although I have to maintain my current position. The next is quiet, with a white mane. She brings me milk and cookies every so often. The final, and most important filly is one known of "Inkis Pie". She is young, 16, and can be easily manipulated. She seems like the perfect pony for the job...
"INKIS!" Pinkie shouted from across the field. "Inkis look at me!" the pink mare was precariously balanced on top of four or five rocks, waving frantically at her sister. Inkis turned and sighed.
"Pinkie, get down from there...You'll give a bad impression to the new mare that works here."
Pinkie jumped down from her perch, and somehow managed to teleport over to the grey mare. "I think she's creepy" whispered Pinkie, rather loudly.
"Who? Doctor Cipher?" asked Inkis. Pinkie nodded, looked over her shoulder and then bounced off to make another tower of rocks.
Inkis let out another sigh, and then got back to work. She tried to concentrate, but her mind kept wondering back to Doctor Cipher. She had to admit it, she was indeed creepy. She sat for hours on end in her room, never sleeping, just looking. She had seen her take a rock up to her room, and then throw it out of her window in anger. Blinkie doesn't like her either; she said she saw her walking around the field at midnight, kicking rocks about and shouting abuse at them. Mother never really speaks about her. Father sometimes pulls her aside to have words with her. Whenever she asks him about it, he always gets angry and tells her to mind her own business. Inkis shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
"Work." She told herself. "Just, work..."
11pm. Inkis wrapped her blanket around her self, and shut her eyes tightly, willing herself to sleep. It was no use; she'd never sleep tonight. She let out one of her trademark sighs, and then jumped out of her bed. She creeped into the hall way, sneaking past her parents room, taking care not to wake them. She stopped outside the Doctor's room. Pushing the door open slightly, she could see that it was empty. 'Must've gone on a midnight walk around the field..' Inkis thought, walking into her room. On the desk there sat many test tubes filled with different coloured liquids, all letting out a foul stench. She covered her nose with her hoof, and then proceeded to root around in her draws. She found an old-looking book - a diary? Curiosity got the better of her, and she began to read.
September 28th.
I have the final ingredient. Chemical X-27 is complete. After all these years it's done...
Inkis read it again. And again. Chemical X-27? What on earth is that?
The answer was standing right behind her.
"Hello Inkis." Came a voice. Doctor Cipher had come back. Inkis froze. "I see you found my diary." She said, her lips curled into a smile. Inkis laughed nervously.
"Y-yeah. I-I swear I didn't see anything - w-wont tell anyone-" Doctor Cipher cut her off, laughing.
"You really think I'd keep my diary there if I didn't want anyone to read it? Now now, Miss Pie, this is where your job starts..."
6 months later
I can't stand another second in this damned place. Inkis proved to be acutely infuriating to live with. This rotting shack is falling to pieces around us - but what d'you expect from a farmers wage?
Inkis is finally ready. Test subject 896 will be coming into the surgery tomorrow. I just hope Inkis is as idiotic as she looks.
Inkis sat in the surgery of their shared cabin; she was expecting a patient later on today. This was it; everything that Doctor Cipher had taught her was all going to pay off. All the paperwork and revision, all leading up to this. The Doctor trotted in, a large grin spread across her grim face. she stopped and stood in front of the young mare, her smile growing still. "The test subject is ready." She said, her eyes gleaming. Some thing was wrong - and Inkis knew it. What was it she had said? Test subject?
"Just relax..." Said the trainee Doctor. Her patient lay across a hard wooden bench, hooves strapped down and eyes covered with a blindfold. Inkis had questioned these precautions, to which Doctor Cipher replied only with a not-quite-right smile; she was good at those. Cipher sat in the corner, her body shrouded in shadows. Inkis shakily picked up a syringe filled with a cloudy murky green liquid. She glanced at Cipher for reassurance, but none came. She slowly injected it into the subject's bloodstream. 'Delayed reaction...' Doctor Cipher thought. Inkis looked up. 'That's not right.' She thought to herself. "Why is the subject's pulse getting faster?" Inkis turned to ask the grim Doctor in the corner. Again came no answer; only the same crooked smile. Inkis' vision began to blur. She suddenly became very tired, very quickly.
Inkis woke with a scream. She was lying in her straw bed, the covers wet with sweat.
Two Months Later, at the Train Station.
Pinkie hugged her sister tightly. "I-I don't want you to lea-leave!" She yelped, tears streaming down her face. Inkis hugged her back awkwardly. The whole station was looking at them.
"I'm sorry Pinkie; but me and Doctor Cipher have important work to do..." She replied. Doctor Cipher watched her from the corner, smiling slyly. Inkis scowled at her, and mouthed "Help me!". The red-maned Doctor trotted over, and put a hoof on Pinkie's back. "Me and Inkis have to go now; we'll miss our train." Pinkie nodded, and let her sister go. Inkis turned to her parents and gave them one last wave before boarding the train to Trottingham. They sat opposite each other, Doctor Cipher nose-deep in a rather interesting book. "So..." Inkis said, fumbling with her map of the city. "We're moving in together, and I don't even know your name, age, or anything." The Doctor looked up.
" My name is Steele Cipher, I am 27. That's all you need to know."
"So...can I call you Steele?" Inkis replied. The Doctor paused, looking up from her book.
"No." She said, frowning at her. Inkis sighed, and turned to look out of the window. She rooted around her bag, and brought out a large rock. "So what's so important about this thing?" She asked, turning it over in her hooves. No reply came. Inkis rolled her eyes. Doctor Cipher always loved to be mysterious, and although it did cast an eerie suspense, it got rather annoying over time.
The train screeched to a stop. The two mares bustled off, squeezing past all the other ponies desperate to get out. They sat inside the station's tea-shop, which, although looked pretty from the outside, turned out to be full of drunks and hostile idiots, as Doctor Cipher so delicately put it. Inkis left to order drinks, which gave the doctor time to write in her diary.
November 28th.
Inkis is so far ignorant of my plans. It's startling how quickly that filly will trust any old mare wondering by with a silver tongue and tales of riches. I tested Chemical X-27 on a rat that I found in the street. The results were horrifying - perfect.
