The ministry of alteration.
The ministry of alteration.
“Wha..where am I?” The Groggy pegasus said as he came to. He cast his eyes around the room. It was large, airy and the sound of his hooves on the metal floor echoed throughout the room. A single spot light illuminated the area around him, but not much else of his surroundings. He looked around the room, his breathing heavy and his heart racing. He could swear he saw figures moving in the shadows, but without proper light it was impossible to tell. “Who’s there?! What’s going on?! Where am I?!” He shouted out as his got up to his hooves. He walked forward into darkness, but was stopped by an abrupt pull on his neck. He looked down to see a collar attached to a steel cable which ran into a hole in the wall. He began to panic as he took the cable in his mouth and began to yank on it profusely. He eventually stopped pulling the cable and fell against the wall, allowing himself to slide down back onto the floor, crying. “Subjects, prepare for integration.” A loud voice squeaked onto a tannoy system. It sounded firm and direct. Not long after the voice spoke, all the lights came on in the room. The pegasus was forced to cover his eyes due to the shear brightness that now surrounded him. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he could freely look around the room. It was larger than he thought, stretching some 30 feet away from him. He noticed a door on one of the walls. It was large and appeared to lead to some sort of corridor, although it was clearly bolted from his side. As well as the door he noticed other things around the room, they were alive, other ponies of all races were tied by collars to the wall around the room. The pegasus froze, his eyes fixed on every last pony. None of them appeared to take much notice of him, instead just lay on the ground staring at their hooves. Occasionally one would cast a glance his way before looking back at the wall or the floor. The was only silence and the heavy, rapid breathing of the pegasus. Nopony was talking. “What the hell is this place?!” he shouted across the room. His question was only met by silence and the odd glance of surprise. “Hey!” He shouted again. The same response came from the other ponies.They all appeared to be in some sort of trance. They knew they were in the room, that much was obvious, but it was like they didn’t care.”Subject 816, please settle down or we will take action” the voice screeched over the tannoy once again. “Who are you?! What do you want?!” The pegasus began.” settle down or we will take action, this is your final warning” The voice sounded flat, no emotion or deviation was there.” What do you mean take action!? What do you want!?” The pegasus’s voice began to crack from the strain of shouting. Without warning the collar around his neck tightened as the cable retracted through the hole in the wall. He hit the wall with an audible thud, his head now pinned down. The door at the opposite ends of the room opened and two identical earth ponies walked in. One carried a needle in his mouth, containing a strange black serum. They walked over to the pegasus, their eyes covered by mirrored goggles and their bodies covered by white lab coats. As they drew nearer to the pegasus he began to flail his limbs wildly. One of the earth ponies jumped on top of him, pinning him to the floor. The other jammed the needle into his neck and injected its contents into him. “Get offa me!” He shouted as he unfurled his wings, they were the only thing not pinned down. The pony who carried the needle then kicked him underneath his wing, causing them to instantly retract. The pegasus let out a scream of pain, his wing now broken. After a while he began to feel light headed, the room began spinning and his movements began to become weaker, eventually falling still. The earth ponies released their grip on the pegasus and walked out of the room, leaving him quiet and still. The cable on his collar slacked off, allowing him to roll over onto his front. He simply began staring at his hooves, just like the others in the room.
The passage of time was impossible judge, but it felt like days since the pegasus woke up in the room. His head was still spinning from the injection, most of his limbs numb. His wing was twisted from the break, but the serum kept the pain away. “Subjects prepare for extraction” The voice burst from the tannoy suddenly. Nopony in the room paid any attention to it, much like the first time the pegasus shouted. Suddenly two ponies jumped up to their feet, another pegasus and a unicorn. They began shouting a screaming, pulling at their cables in desperation.The cables retracted, pinning them down, much like the pegasus had been when he was given the injection. The unicorn shouted something out at the others in the room, but the other ponies were to zoned out to hear what she said.The door opened again and about six earth ponies walked in. Splitting off into two teams they apprehended the ponies and tied them down to hospital carts before hitting them both on the head, silencing their screams. They wheeled them out of the room and the door closed and bolted itself shut again. The room was once again left in silence, the sound of the ponies hoofsteps fading as they walked down the corridor.
Why wasn’t the serum clearing his system? It must have been five days since he was given it. He asked himself these these questions, but he lacked strength or willpower to answer them. He didn’t want to move. All motivation to change position was gone. He must have spent days on his front, staring at his hooves, making circles on the floor, causing an echo throughout the room. He wasn’t hungry either, although truth be told he probably didn’t have the energy to eat anyway, but he couldn’t help wondering why. Maybe the serum did more than just calm a pony down. Maybe it took care of the bodily functions as well. He never slept, but he wasn’t tired, why would he be, he hadn’t moved for days. All he could do was wait. Wait until they took him too.
“Subjects prepare for extraction” The voice came over the tannoy again. Once again nopony took any notice. Suddenly a large electric shock coursed through the pegasus’s collar. His head instantly cleared and he jump up to his feet, his energy suddenly restored. another pony shot up next to him, a dark grey unicorn. “What the buck is going on!” he shouted at the pegasus, his head snapping and darting around the room. “I don’t know” the pegasus responded, his tone quiet, his nerves evident. He suddenly contorted his his body, falling to the floor as a jolt of pain burned through his body. He looked at his wing. It was twisted and bruised. The pain was unbearable. He screamed in agony, clutching his wing with his hoof. The serum was clear of his system now, that much was evident, and feeling returned to his extremities. The cables on both ponies’ collars retracted, causing the unicorn to gag. Once pinned, the unicorn began screaming, his cries falling on deaf ears as the other ponies stared at the floor. The pegasus steadied himself, using his wings the prop himself up against the wall. If he was going out, he was going out fighting. The door opened and like before six earth ponies entered the room. Three went straight for the the unicorn, grabbing his arms and legs. He kicked and bucked wildly, sending one of the earth ponies reeling. His movements fell still though as one of the ponies drove a powerful hoof into his head, knocking him out cold. The pegasus lined up his target as the other three approached him. When they came into range, he pushed his wing off the wall and propelled himself towards the earth pony. His hoof connected with a godly loud crack as the pony fell to the floor, blood spewing from his nose which was clearly broken. He lay still, his eyes rolling back in his head, out cold. The other two stood staring at their colleague, mortified. The other 3 that had tied the unicorn down to the cart ran towards the pegasus, diving on him, pinning his hooves down to the floor to avoid any further strikes. Another pony walked over to him and landed a strong powerful blow to the side of the pegasus’s head, dazing him. But he still remained conscious. The earth pony landed several more blows to the pegasus's head before he finally lay still. They unhooked his collar and carried him over to another cart. After tying him down they wheeled him out of the room. They dragged their unconscious colleague out of the away and closed the door. The room fell silent once again.
“Psst, dude, wake up!” the unicorn whispered to the pegasus. “Yo, wake up.” The pegasus opened his eyes. He was lying under what appeared to be a large light, like the ones found in operating theaters. He tried to lift his head to get a better view of his surroundings, but failed as his head was strapped down, as was the rest of his body. “Dude, we’re bucked, we’re so bucked!” the unicorn shouted once more. “Gentlecotls!” A voice said from nowhere. “I bet by now you're wondering where you are.” The voice sounded old and well educated, much like the dialect you’d expect to find in canterlot or manehatten. “Where are you!? Show yourself!” the pegasus demanded. As if on cue a grey maned unicorn walk into the pegasus’s vision. He look him deep in the eye’s. “Where are we?” the pegasus asked.” You're in the ministry of alteration” came the response. “ I’m sure you’ve heard ponies saying ‘ I wish I could use magic ‘ or ‘ I wish I could fly ‘“ The old unicorn began. “ We’re looking for ways to make those wishes come true ” The old unicorn walk over to the other unicorn who lay whimpering on the table. He placed his hoof on his face and said, “I’m sure you’ve always wanted to fly, haven’t you?” He gave a nod towards the other side of the room and three other unicorns dressed in operating overalls stepped forward and surrounded the pegasus. Using their magic they picked up a scalpel and made a long incision from one wing join to the other along the pegasus's stomach. The screams of pain from the pegasus were deafening. He attempted to thrash his limbs about but he couldn’t. Using clamps the unicorns opened up the incision to reveal the organs inside. They took hack saws and began sawing at the bones that connected the wings to the body. The pegasus blacked out from the pain. Once the bones were detached they then removed the skin and ligament holding the wings in place. The newly detached wings were brought over to the whimpering unicorn. Cuts were made along each side of the unicorns body, his ear piercing screams filling the room. The unicorns then cut a the skeleton, opening up gaps in which the new wings would fit, they placed the wings into the spaces and stitched them together. The unicorn was on the edge of consciousness. The doctors plunged an adrenaline needle into the pegasus’s heart. He lurched back into life, arching his back upwards as the shocked kicked through his body. The old unicorn walked up to the pegasus. In a patronising voice he said “Now, how does casting magic sound to you?” He once again nodded to the doctors and they quickly made an incision on the unicorn’s head from his horn to the back of his head. They peeled back the skin and, using an electric saw, cut away at the unicorn’s skull in till the brain showed.The unicorn let out one final scream before his body flopped lifelessly on the table. “Blast” The old unicorn exclaimed. “ Ah well, at least we could make one unicorn today!” The doctors lifted the brain out of the unicorn’s skull and placed it on a separate operating table. Using a scalpel he carefully cut away at the brain matter until he reached the casting gland. He used a saw to cut the horn free of the skull, making sure to keep the magic ducts intact. Another doctor made a similar incision on the pegasus’s head, although it was a bit longer to accommodate the addition of the horn. They opened up the pegasus’s skull and carefully cut into his brain. Tears streamed down his face and screams of shear pain emanated from the pegasus’s mouth. He jerked his body, causing the doctor to cut the wrong part of his brain. The pegasus lost control of his body as urine and fecal matter spewed from his body. The old unicorn looked on eagerly. This was the closest they had gotten to pulling this off. The last remaining doctor too the saw and cut a hole in the pegasus’s head and slid the horn into place. He then inserted the magic ducts through the newly made cuts. They implanted the casting gland into the pegasus's brain and connected the ducts. It was done. All that remained was to see if the horn could cast spell. An electrical stimulus was applied to the gland. Sure enough the horn glowed bright orange. cheers of success resonated throughout the room. But something wasn’t quite right. Yellow sparks began shooting from the horn. Without warning the magic shot back into the skull. There was a loud bang. Brain matter and skull fragments were sent flying everywhere. the old unicorn look at the now headless corpse. He collected some of the entrails in his hoof. With a sigh he turned around and walked out of the door. The doctors wheeled the Two corpses out of the room and the door was closed. Silenced filled the air once again.