Chapters I sat in my chair on the verge of passing out due to the boring lecture on why ponies regenerate using spells instead of letting wounds heal naturally, or how ponies would heal normally and how healing spells work. I laid my head on my table and closed my eyes trying to get my headache to pass.
"Pencil, could you answer how muscle mass regenerates after receiving trauma of some sort," Cheerilee asked me. I lifted my head off my table and tried to think of the answer.
"When you receive muscle damage of some sort, you heal," I told Ms. Cheerilee, knowing the answer to be wrong.
"Yes, but how, Diamond Tiara, do you know," Cheerilee called on her, after catching her talking to Silver Spoon.
"I, uh, your immune system does something to it," she told her while stumbling on some of her words. Cheerilee was on trying to hold back a laugh at Diamond Tiara. After a little bit the lunch bell rang and the class headed off to lunch. I stood up and walked over to the school house entrance and waited for my friends to come up to me.
"Hey, Pencil come here," Apple Bloom yelled over to me. I walked over to my friends and looked at Scootaloo's new scooter. The wheels were a bright blue and the handle bars were a dark green.
"What do you think of my new scooter, isn't it cool," she asked. I just stared at the scooter.
"Yeah , it's cool, I guess, what did you guys bring for lunch today, I brought a salad," I said while pulling out my salad. I began eating the salad while watching the others get out there lunches. Apple bloom had brought an apple. Sweetie Belle had brought a salad as well, and Scootaloo brought a cookie in the same shape and color as Rainbow Dash. "I swear your addiction to Rainbow Dash is creepy, in fact, I'm surprised your scooter isn't Rainbow themed."
"Hey, blank flanks, how is your lunch going," I stood up to walk away from the soon coming interaction between the CMC and the school bullies. "Where do you think you're going, blank flank?"
"Diamond Tiara leave him alone, he didn't do anything to you," Apple Bloom told her while getting between me and her. I walked away from the interaction and went and sat on the swings in the playground. I quickly ate my salad and went back to the school house. I sat in my seat right after the bell had ringed for the final period of the day.
"Okay, listen up everypony, we're going on a field trip to the medical research lab up in Canterlot," Cheerilee told the class. The class was a mix of approvals, groans, and snores. I was part of the groans as I hated field trips, especially ones that took me out of the city. "I've already asked your parents if it was okay, and they all agreed, so we are leaving first thing tomorrow."
After the small announcement we got back to doing what we had been before we went to lunch. I tried my best to draw a tree but ended up drawing a scribbled line that had the shape of a warped piece of wood. I laid my head back onto my desk and tried to fall asleep. I ended up just sitting there with my head slowly starting to hurt from the weight of my head.
I was relieved and annoyed by the ringing of the bell, signifying we had to leave and go home. I was relieved because I didn't have to sit through another boring lecture from Ms. Cheerilee, and I was annoyed because now I was closer to having to go on the field trip. The entire school house tried to leave, only to be stopped by Cheerilee.
"Oh, one thing, try to find a group of at least 6 ponies per group, so we end up with 2 groups," Cheerilee told the class, receiving once again more groans, cheers, and snores. She finally let us leave, returning to her desk to grade last week's test.
"Hey, Pencil, do you think that we could be in a group," Apple Bloom asked. Apple Bloom always had a slight crush on me, everypony could tell from the way she acted around me. "Along with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle."
"Sure, but who would be the fifth and sixth ponies," I asked her. She put a hoof to her chin after doing a slight victory dance that I had caught the end of.
"Snips and Snails," she told me after a good while of thinking. She ran off to find Snips and Snails, who were the only foals in my class that actually made me grind my teeth. I walked home, only stopping to walk to the lake behind Ponyville that not may know about. I picked a rather flat stone and threw it at the water surface, and watched as it hit the surface about five times. I left the lake and walked the rest of the way to my house. I looked up at the tall, two-story building and grimaced at the chipping paint and broken windows.
"Ponyville orphanage, a place where foals come to stay for eternity," I told myself making me chuckle a little, as I walked into the orphanage. I wandered up to my room, which was straight across from Scootaloo's room. I opened my door, hearing Scoot's door open, I looked out to Scootaloo standing a pair of pajamas. "Good night, Scootaloo."
"Good night, Pencil," I closed my door and threw myself onto the bed, and passed out on contact with the rather soft material.
I awoke with Scootaloo jumping on my bed screaming at me to wake up. I kicked her off my bed and heard a gathering of giggles and snorts. I got up and followed the now hysterical Scootaloo to the kitchen for breakfast. We had cheese and hay sandwiches. I didn't eat anything due to my allergic reaction to hay. We had left the orphanage and headed to the school house. I was sulking behind as to slow my eventual reunion with the school house. After an hour walk, we spotted the school house in the distance, with the two groups getting into different carriages. Luckily our group was getting on last, so we had time to get with our group and converse.
"Hey Pencil and Scootaloo, you guys missed the directions as to where we're going today but we'll catch you up on the ride over," Sweetie Belle told us as we tried to regain our breath. "First, we're going to be split in the lobby of the lab, then we get to different high-class scientist to lead us around the giant seven-floor underground lab. Then group two ,us, will start at floor six, the floor where they hold the regenerative animals, such as lizards and octopi."
"What's on the seventh floor," Scootaloo asked.
"We don't know the scientists that did come here wouldn't answer our question about it, but it's probably just a storage or testing facility," Apple Bloom told us. We finally loaded up into the school carriage and we took off, headed for the sub-level laboratory.
I was awoken to the weight of another pony bouncing up and down on me. I looked up to see a bright eyed Scootaloo standing over me.
"We need to hurry before the school chariots leave," Scootaloo told me while bouncing up and down on my bed. She looked as if she had been ready since last nice.
"Why are you in a hurry, I thought you hated school," I asked her while getting out of my bed. My mind cried as I Ieft my rather my warm blanket. I eventually caved into my thoughts and shoved my blanket into my saddle bag.
"I do, but if it gives me a chance to hang out with my friends and not learn about how Cheerilee's mane style when she was a filly," she told me as we left my bedroom quickly running out the front door of the orphanage, and down to the schoolhouse. We rounded the corner and I saw the chariots getting loaded, but it was Diamond Tiara's group that was boarding currently. At worst we would get a lecture from Ms. Cheerilee about not being late because blah blah blah, but I would block it out. Somehow. I slowed to a walk as I reached our group. Apple Bloom looked as if she were about to fill Sweetie Belle's mouth with an apple over how much Sweetie Belle was talking about the trip.
"Hey girls," Scootaloo called out, waving to her friends. The other two waved back, but Sweetie Belle was still chatting off Apple Bloom's ear. I studied the ponies in group one and two, noticing that a few ponies weren't there, such as Button Mash and Twilight Sparkle's adopted foal. By the time we were in the carriage and in the air, Apple Bloom had already asked Sweetie Belle to calm down, for her to only calm down a sliver of what she was doing. We couldn't tell her to stop, as she was passionate about this stuff. I spotted the lab from my spot, which was right next to the door. We had fought over who had the door seat, whoever won got it, which was bad for me as I had a terrible fear of height, but everypony had to play rock, paper, scissors to get it.
"Hey, Pencil, what are you wanting to learn while we're here," Sweetie Belle asked me, finally shutting up after 25 minutes. Apple Bloom audibly sighed from the relaxing silence, gaining a look from Sweetie Belle that made Apple Bloom move over to the wall of the carriage.
"Um... I'm wanting to learn about how a... uh... nerve regenerates after being destroyed," I told her, not expecting the question. She accepted it and went back to talking everyponies ears off. We landed outside the lab, getting out and following Ms. Cheerilee inside.
"Hello, colts and fillies," a scientist announced when both groups were inside. "There is a lot of you, but today we're going to be giving your groups a tour of our labs and facilities while explaining about how regeneration works in ponies and how regeneration works in other and how that differs between animals and animal families, group two will be with me and my brother will take group one."
"Hello, my brother was rude and didn't introduce himself nor myself, my name is Dusky Scar and this is my brother Shadow Scar, my brother works on the seventh floor and I work on the fourth floor as a mechanical engineer and repair technician for the machinery. I'll be showing around floor one through four and my brother will show off floor five and six," Dusky told the groups. We were group two so we got to see the lower floors, but my mind was confused on why he didn't describe what his brother did and why we weren't going to the seventh floor. The groups once again separated and we made our way to the stairs, while group one stayed in the lobby. We passed the fifth floor and went onto the sixth floor. The floor was directly a hallway with glass containers holding animals.
"So this is our testing floor, we have several medical ponies that test on the animals with different cures and vaccines for dangerous diseases," he told us. He pointed at a glass window and inside was a dog that was laying in the corner and getting a needle pushed into his neck. "This poor guy is sadly not going to make it, he was brought here by some lovely couple that say they saw him in the street. They said the owner had left him there, after beating him mercilessly. We tried to help him but sadly we couldn't help him, his wounds were just too great."
"What are they injecting him with," Snips asked.
"We're running one last experiment to see if we could help him, but if this test fails we will have to put him to sleep," he told the group. Fluttershy would have a field day with this place, and when she left there would be no lab. The lights suddenly cut out and the scientist sighed. "Stay calm, the lights should come back on in a minute, the lights have been failing frequently now and we can't figure out why."
I suddenly heard what sounded like tearing, and I believe the scientist heard it as well as we continued on down the hallway. When we had stopped the lights turned back on.
"What was that tearing noise back there," I asked him.
"That was the dog chewing on a bone," he told us. I didn't believe him since the dog could barely stand up let alone chew a bone. "Now in this container, we have a lizard that surgically lost a leg, and we have been trying to figure out why they regenerate lost limbs, as well as octopuses, which we have a few of."
The lights once again flicked off and the scientist quietly swore. I jumped and would like to imagine that the rest of the group jumped as well, when some glass shattered from down the hallway, I heard growling and backed slowly into the group.
"Sweetie Belle do you know a light spell," I asked her. She didn't respond but quickly lit up her horn and the hallway quickly became illuminated. We saw broken glass lying on the floor. The tour guide walked over there slowly to check out what happened. One of the scientists ran out of the window and tackled him to the ground by one of the scientist's and was fighting with him. The tour guide tried to push the stallion off but was getting nowhere. I made a rather stupid decision on my part and ran over and tackled the pony off of him. I looked him in the eyes and noticed that they were bleeding heavily. His skin was rotting under his fur, causing his fur to fall out. I backed off him the sick pony, catching a quick glimpse inside the cell I saw a blood scene, the dog was eating the other scientist while the mare was eating the dog, ripping chunks from the dog's legs, some parts even showing bone. I looked back to notice the infected stallion was gone. I walked over to the tour guide and stared at the bite wound in his neck. I walked back to the group and sat down.
"What are we going to do," Apple Bloom asked me. I wanted to yell at her for even asking me what to do as I wasn't the leader type. I couldn't lead a group of two across the street. Except I had to take control, as our tour guide was now dead, and if I let Snips or snails lead we would end up dead quicker than with me leading, and if Apple Bloom, Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle lead they would probably snap. I stood up and walked over to the stairs and pushed the door to take us up, except it didn't move, not even budge.
"We need to find a way out of here is what we need to do, and survive long enough to do so," I told them. I turned around noticing the tour guide staring at me with hunger in his eyes, and to make it worse the dog and mare were out in the hall. "But first we need to ditch them."
We quickly ran down a side hallway and towards what looked like a janitor closet. Apple Bloom got there first and threw the door open and ran inside, I was the last one with the dog right on my tail. I slammed the door shut and sighed. Safe. I suddenly felt a thump on the back of my head and watched the world turn black.
I awoke slowly, as when I sat up my head blared flashing white lights and black shadows danced in my vision. I tried to clear the specks in my vision but failed so I looked around at my surroundings, remembering that I wasn't in my bed but a locked down factory. I noticed Snips, and the CMC in chairs huddled around each other, all of them asleep.
"You're finally awake," I heard a coarse voice to my left and I finally noticed a rather old stallion holding a wooden plank in his hooves. I saw the large blood stain in his coat and on the makeshift weapon. I tried to vomit, but all that came out was weak coarse coughs, due to me having nothing left in my system to vomit. I stopped hurling and faced the pony who only gave me an apologetic look. "I hate this place, even before they started roaming."
"What do you mean, who are they," I asked him, confusion in my voice.
"The scientists that were giving you tours have been planning this for weeks," he told me. "They were planning on this happening, pardon my language, but it was fucking heartless and cold what they did to you foals." I was taken back by his strong language.
"Wait, they were planning this," I asked. "How could they have planned this Ms. Cheerilee told us she called them that day."
"Kid, when did you start your healing class," he asked.
"Um... two weeks ago," I told him.
"Well, that is when they called her, Ms. Cheerilee is in on this, they had the second group go to the lower levels, when they had sent the first group as food for these animals, but luckily enough for your group you were group two, so you were used as the major distraction to cause the main event."
"Main event," I asked even more confused than when we had begun. "Wait, you mean that this has been planned for about a month now and that this is just the beginning?"
"Yes kid, when you reach the surface, there will be groups of ponies outside that are working for these miserable excuses for ponies, the group will take the infected, dead, and diseased to the center of Canterlot and it's gonna be happening again."
"Pencil, you're awake," I heard Apple Bloom basically scream.
"Hi, Apple Bloom," I told her. I looked at the group and suddenly noticed that Snails wasn't present. "Um... where is Snails?"
"Pencil, he didn't make it to the room," she told me, tears coming to her eyes.
"What do you mean, he was in front of me when I came in," I told her.
"No, he left after you were knocked out by Steam Valve," she told me.
"Sorry kid," Steam told me. I accepted his apology and made my way to the corner of the room. I cried and I didn't care who saw me, I had lost one of my friends to this damned disease.
"Listen, you five need to leave this place, I'll help you to the fourth floor, but from there I have to leave you," he told us, pointing to a collar on his neck. "Wake your friends up and let's go."
We took a while to wake Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, but they finally got up and hugged me. We followed Steam through the winding hallways of the laboratory. I felt a tap from my right and looked to see Apple Bloom standing there.
"Pencil, how do we know we can trust him," she asked me.
"We can't, we just got to hope that he doesn't lie to us," I told her. She hugged and pulled back, blushing red. We finally found our way to the stairs. He let us go in first and barricaded the door behind us. I somehow ended up at the front of the group once again. I was at the door to the fifth floor, as the stairwell to the fourth floor was missing. I opened the door but closed it when I heard grunting from below. I looked back noticing the old pony had Snips in a form of headlock. I quickly made my way down to them. I pushed the old stallion off him and threw him against a wall. He threw a hoof and it connected with my jaw, causing me to back up to the railing. He stood next to me, picked me up and hoisted me over the railing. I looked down noticing the long drop below. I pulled myself towards him and grabbed onto his neck. I tried to choke him to the best of my ability. He suddenly lost his balance and fell towards the railing, once again hoisting me over it. He suddenly let go of me, basically dropping me, but I grabbed onto the railing and hung there. The old pony was kicked in the back and fell over the railing and landed with a sickening splat. I was lifted up by my friends and we sat on the stairs, where the infected corpse of Snips was laying. He had a needle sticking out his neck, with a bottle of what I guessed was the disease lying next to him.
"We need to go, I know we want to mourn but we don't have time," I told the group. We made our way back up the stairs and left the stairwell.