Prologue: Going for a test-run...
"Oilslick Brown, you may now enter."
Those words echoed in my head as I rubbed my weary and tired eyes from the fatigue of working night shifts ten days in a row. After letting out a yawn I put down my hands onto the industrial sofa and struggled to rise up from my comfortable spot. Everything was fucked, that was all I knew. A meteorite shower was bound to arrive to our planet in a matter of a few days, and nobody could protect us.
Magic died a long time ago, maybe two hundred years? I'm not certain anymore. Either way, what happened was that with the increase of technology driven by electricity the electro-magnetic fields began to disrupt the usual magic currents. Which in turn led to every creature and thing on our planet losing the ability to interact with magic and now we have to suffer the consequence by not having all-powerful alicorns who can just pop up a giant protective shield or something...
"Mister Brown, you may now enter!"
The voice coming from the speaker up on the wall began to sound a bit annoyed and I shrugged my shoulders casually. With dragging steps I walked over to a slide door which opened by itself with a hissing sound as I got close. I stepped into the room and saw a yellow furred mare with a long and volymous brown mane and a slender tail who was wearing a lab coat and stood next to a weird looking chair which reminded me of some sort of high-tech dentist chair.
"Ah, you made it. I'm glad that you decided to try out our new little project," the mare said and smiled casually and then gestured with her hand for me to sit down on the chair.
"Uh, yeah. Sure," I said a bit carelessly. In all honesty I didn't even know what I was about to do, my friend just told me to sign up for something and now I'm here.
Whilst I walked over to the chair I looked around the room and saw lots of computers and pictures of brains up on the walls, was she some scientist within psychology or something? In that case, she probably was someone from Theta or Omicron, which were two sections of Póthos II that were focused around research more than anything else. I shrugged yet again before turning around and then throwing myself down into the chair.
"Good, we can now begin the 'test'," the mare said and activated a small little recorder tablet and then put it down on a table before turning around to face me. "Beginning interview with test subject number 7: Oilslick Brown, field technician over at Upsilon," she continued and put down a small chair which she then sat down on. "What inspired you to sign up for the 'ARK' project?"
"Uh, the 'what' project?" I responded and scratched the back of my mane with one of my hooves as I gave her a puzzled look.
"The 'ARK' project, where we hope to scan the brains of all of whom are working at Póthos II so that they can live on forever inside a digital world strapped to a satellite which we'll send up into space where it can be fueled by solar energy for thousands of years. You know, you should do your homework before you agree to something," the mare explained and giggled lightly.
"Heh, well, I was told by my co-worker Chrome Wire to apply for it, if that's gonna answer your question," I said and watched as she giggled slightly again.
"Oh, yes. He came in for a test-run yesterday and was exceptionally motivated for this project," she said and then grabbed another tablet and got ready to document something. "So, on a scale from 0 to 10, how well do you think this project is going to work? And what is your opinion of continuing to live your life in a computer manufactured world?" She asked and tapped onto the screen of the tablet with one of her hands.
"It's probably an eight, but I'm kind of curious about how it'll play out with this meteor shower on it's way towards us. And it wouldn't be so bad, I guess. Anything beats living underwater in a dark and dull facility that's filled with that black goo; 'structure gel' or whatever the engineers call it," I said and leaned back into the chair.
"Hm, well. That about wraps up this short little interview, it's time for your scan," the mare says and rises up from her chair and then grabs her recorder tablet and stops it before walking over to a computer.
"How exactly do you scan my, uh, brain?" I asked, relaxing my arms onto the arm rests as suddenly two metallic cuffs wrapped over my wrists and kept my arms in place. "Wait, what?!" I observed the cuffs in shock and my heart began to beat rapidly.
"Don't worry, mister Brown. The cuffs are there in case you get a seizure," the mare said and continued to press away at her computer. "Look up and you'll see the scanner," she then said while still mindlessly preparing for the scan.
I instinctively looked up and saw a giant thing that was hollowed out for a head of any size and just then, a hissing sound went off and the 'helmet' (if that was what I could call it) slowly sank down and soon I found myself surrounded by darkness as the big thing blocked out all light.
A moment later the thing booted up and I could see everything as if it was normal again, like looking through a pair of glasses really. The mare faced towards me and was holding a thing looking like a pen with a small red button at the top.
"Will this hurt?" I asked nervously, but I couldn't do anything about it. I was literally strapped to a chair.
"Nah, it's like taking a picture but with an old camera," she said with a giggle and then activated a countdown on the monitor which counted down from five.
Five, four, three...
"Say: Cheese!" She exclaimed and then pressed the little thing in her hand, making the whole 'helmet' I was wearing light up and forcing me to close my eyes.
And then, it went dark...
