Author's Note

[Warning!]

Please read this before starting!

I have never written a mature MLP fanfiction before, but I have in other stories. You may be used to my normal stories with some dark elements but mainly Teen rated. This story is not rated mature for mindless gore, even though gore is a big part of it. This is science fiction based with many aspects of fantasy, all formed together to make Surprise's backstory. This is your second and final warning, if you DO NOT like gore, abuse, or torture... do NOT read this story. If you are looking for a happy ending, this is NOT that kind of story. This fic, is mainly to help my readers understand more about Surprise from my other story The Strongest Element of All but can be read as a standalone.

For those reading The Strongest Element of All, the ending will make more sense.

This will be five chapters only, and I wish those reading the best of luck! Leave your feedback in the comment section, I wish to hear from you! Please be nice! Cheers!

Chapter 1

War. Nations fear it, for it does not determine the side that is right… but the only ones that are left. One can argue if killing thousands can be redeemed as necessary for the sake of their cause, while others simply despise the idea of a genocide. Unfortunately it seems as the Gods have abandoned many worlds long ago. Disease runs rampant, resources scarce, turning friends into enemies and forcing ponies to do what they never thought they would do before.

How did this happen, you might ask? What caused all this devastation, what started this bloody war? Life seems to take advantage of the things they have, take sunlight for example… without it, vegetation would wither, water would not evaporate and there would be no rain. No one thinks about what happens if that star were to die, for it rises and falls every day relying on the faith that it will appear the next morning.

But one day, one fateful day, that sun did not come up. The sky was as black as burned rose, and it remained that way for several days. Their sun had run its course, all that remained was a husk of the life bringing star, starting its next phase in history. The yellowish dot in the sky, turning a hue of hellish red… dull in the vast liquorice haze of the unlit sky.

The star was dying, evolving into a red giant… preparing to end all life.

This earth, millions of years in advance to other societies had prepared for this day. God’s power was harvested and created long ago, for the mortals to use. Playing God had always been looked down upon, but their dying prayers had reached no ears. They were on their own, abandoned, forced to fend for themselves against a problem only their own brains could solve. Their technology could spare their earth from the Armageddon, the cursed day where the Gods would bring judgement on the ones who walked the path of evil.

Was this their punishment? Were the Gods angry that they stopped asking for their help long ago? Bringing back the dead, creating life, destroying life, all were deeds of the Great Ones… powers that this earth had no problem performing.

Yes, this was their punishment… but they took up arms against the fate the Gods bestowed upon them. The nations gathered, one by one coming together to reverse doomsday… creating a solar panel that could collect the last burst of energy from the dying sun. The red giant would burst from it’s helium-burning process, destroying any and all planets in the way.

This “flare” of life from the red giant the nations hoped to collect and reflect away from their planet. The collected energy would be so powerful, they hoped to create an artificial star from the residue of the dying one. The captured power, would be reshaped into something big enough to revive their planet’s fate, but they had one shot… the last of its energy.

Artificially enhancing the earth’s magnetic field, was their only shot at avoiding the sun’s flare from massacring all life like the other planets, but it was not guaranteed. So the day of the end, came.. But it could also be the beginning. The nations communicated, watching the star build up energy and pulsate until the energy was released.

The solar panel collected effortlessly, but they cursed themselves with their own technology. Keeping the heat from touching their earth, only meant taking more of it in. The earth’s magnetic field reversed and reflected the heat that much is true, but the sun’s flare started to create a greenhouse effect to where it started to bake the protected life under the field.

Once the flare had ceased, and the energy was collected, the remaining damage was already done. Too much heat was collected by the panel, collapsing their defenses and causing it to spread and absorb by other means. This created their own doom, for the heat withered every single plant on their world killing many ponies who could not go deep into the earth’s core.

Some generations were spared, mostly young ponies who were able to be saved by the nations. They remained under the earth’s surface where they awaited for the heat to cease, for many years until the earth was cool enough to live on. This did not mean that it was comfortable conditions, actually very opposite… their lands were nothing but dry wastelands covered in mile deep sand.

They created artificial oxygen, dug deep into the earth to find water… but their world was doomed. With limited resources, it soon drove the united nations into chaos… wanting what was left for themselves. This was music to one particular God’s ears, the God of War Ares sought to teach these mortals a lesson for solving their issues on their own instead of worshipping and praising the Gods like their ancestors did.

Ares whispered to a leader named Vycter Blackheart, telling him he could rule what was left and bring their dying planet to life once more. Blackheart knew they did not have enough resources to share among the billions of ponies populating their earth, so he decided to wipe out half to ensure the survival of the fittest.

He hoped to create genes and evolve the course of ponies to develop immunity towards the harsh heat, over generations. For that to happen, the weakened and frail ponies would have to be killed only keeping the strongest to utilize resources.

So Blackheart created a disease, one that would determine who was weak enough to dispose of… and who was strong enough to breed. Before he could release the weapons of mass destruction, the nations left came together once more to stop this threat. He escaped with his life, thanks to the God of War Ares… and with this God, he was given an army… an army that sealed his plan in stone.

The disease was released, and the billions of ponies in weeks were now limited to millions.

If you are expecting a resolve to this planet’s demise, or a hero to emerge to create harmony once more… this is not one of those tales. Not every story has a happy ending, not every problem has a logical solution, and there is no hero in this tragedy.

This is the life of a cyborg, a monster created to save this dying world.

But when this monster turns on its masters, it is the first to be blamed, so why do we not blame the ones who created it in the first place?

80 ML. A.D The Phoenix Era.

A mare screamed, her stomach contracting as nurses swarmed around her. A slab of glass was the only thing visible in the whitewashed room, as coated scientists monitored the laboring pony resting on a hard metal table. Her heart was scanned, hundreds of wires connected to her fur, while the sweat poured off of her forehead.

She screamed again, the nurses emotionlessly lifting her legs to view the oncoming life poking its way from under her. A pony with a darkened red pelt strolled his way into the room, the terrified eyes of the mare reflected his figure as he glanced at the nurses aiding the birth.

His face was wrinkled, aged… while his mane appeared scattered and gray. The scientists flicked their heads to him, before reporting on the situation.

“The newborn seems to have healthy vitals, but this situation might put too much strain on the surrogate mother… the others didn't seem to survive when put into induced labor.” One of the coated ponies said, typing on the screen as they watched a holographic live stream of the foal lodged within the womb.

“I agree, Dr. Crimson all of the fetuses have perished under these conditions. Artificially creating an embryo has caused her body to reject it, her white cells are constantly fighting it as if it were an infection for it is an alien to her body.”

Dr. Crimson shook his head. “I am well aware of the risks I am taking, our research has created artificial life and many times we have failed. We have sped up the process of the pregnancy, to where it only took one month instead of twelve. A pony’s body would most certainly be fighting off the fetus at this stage, but that is why I sped up the process and induced labor… it should not be long before our hard work produces fruit.”

A mare working for the doctor pointed towards the squirming baby in the hologram. “I am afraid the risks we have taken with this one out of the five hundred and twelve others, might be fatal. Growing her artificially was hard enough, with her blood being different from the mother and no father genes present. With her rapid month growth, her brain has not developed as we have hoped… it may provide us with a non-useful foal to work with.”

Crimson pushed up his glasses before leaning over the shoulder of one of his workers. “Are you meaning to say she may be disabled?”

“Her chances of being disabled are severely low, for we would have detected it before she was ready to be delivered. Her brain may or may not produce the right chemicals that help her to make choices early on in life. She lacks serotonin, which will affect her social interaction with those around her, along with dopamine which may provide difficult to have her listen to our commands.”

The doctor cleared his throat. “That is why we created a more advanced genome this time around, take the green anole lizard for example. We inserted DNA from this creature into the foal’s chromosomes, to where she can regenerate and keep up with the rapid growing… just like when the lizard loses a tail. Her cells will divide and split from within her spinal cord, and it will repair the damage in due time… have faith Bow Tie.”

The scientist named Bow Tie swallowed. “I don’t know sir… we don’t have anymore time to spare, Blackheart is hunting us down as we speak. We have already dedicated countless years for this project, every single mother and foal has died… why is this one any different?”

Crimson gestured to the hologram. “Because I can feel that this one is a fighter, our chances of having an embryo incubated instead of grown in the wound increase in failure. Having her born naturally and feeding off of a host, will provide more successful.”

Bow Tie sighed. “Tell that to the other mothers and babies who have died.”

The mare screamed once more, before she went limp. Alarms blared, as nurses slapped the side of her head gently to wake her up. The screens went red, as the holographic monitor went limp, causing her muscles to stop pushing.

“We have lost the surrogate mother, we will have to manually deliver the foal ourselves.” Bow Tie yelled, throwing her hoof in the direction of the motionless mother. “Quickly now, the more time we waste the more damage will be caused to the fetus!”

The doctors brought over a machine, with a pointed laser that started to gently cut open the skin. The fur and flesh was peeled back to expose the uterus, where they carefully exposed the foal who was squirming lively underneath the protected layer of the amniotic sac.

The newborn was saved, as she was quickly collected and monitored. The foal started to cry out and scream, as she was washed and examined.

“We…. did it…. We are the first ones in history to create artificial life, with an advanced genome! Congratulations Dr. Crimson Desert, we have successfully delivered the subject.” Bow Tie cheered, as the baby’s cries echoed throughout the room.

“Our work is not over yet, my faithful assistant. We now must mature the fetus to where she will reach adulthood within three weeks, for like you said our time is limited.”

The doctor watched as the mother was roughly stuffed into a body bag, her gory presence shielded from the nauseated ponies. Bow Tie shut off her computer, as she went to address the nurses and give them new orders for their test subject.

She approached and looked into the foal’s purple eyes, her striking yellow mane and tail blowing from the breaths of the ponies hovering over her. Bow Tie reached down, carefully stroking the sobbing child’s chin before tisking.

“I apologize for what you are to go through… and the world you have been brought into. You must understand, everything Crimson does is for the sake of the future… but you… you were a little surprise today… I didn't think you would survive.”

The foal gently wrapped her lips around the tip of Bow Tie’s hoof, as Crimson joined her side.

“Begin the maturing stage at once.”

The mare seemed saddened, as the beginning of a torturous lifestyle began for the miracle child. A bottle with advanced medicine was shoved into her mouth, as the baby screamed and cried when forced to drink every last drop.

“We shall call her Subject 666 her code name Annihilation Gen-1 2.0.” Crimson announced, as Bow Tie wrinkled her nose at the name.

The doctor started to order his workers, but Bow Tie was so transfixed on the newborn she could only hear his muffled voice. With her unnatural genome, it caused her to mutate in the womb and form unnatural color sequences. The mare smiled at the foal, as she stared back at her.

“You shouldn't have a number as a name… you should have a real name, for you are a pony like all of us.” Bow Tie whispered, gently hushing the baby as she scooped her up to calm the newborn. “I know… I’ll call you Surprise, for you seem to surprise even the most hardened pony here. I hope you keep surprising me, I have much faith in what you will become… and one day you will liberate us from this war.”

Bow Tie sighed when a nurse approached her. “Don’t get attached, she is nothing but a tool for us to use. We have to think this way, this is war... we created her only for one purpose and one purpose alone.”

The mare quivered before handing the baby over. “Yes.. yes of course, I know my place.”

Bow Tie watched as they shot a magnetic collar into Surprise’s neck, which would keep her from straying anywhere outside of the base without permission. Her new life consisted in the same way as a chained dog, only seeing sunlight when she was let out of her cage… which saddened the mare even more.

“Stay strong… little Surprise.” Bow Tie whispered.

Crimson marched throughout the halls, accompanied by fleets of guards as they escorted him towards his destination. He held a screen with his magic, as his horn carried along with him a report on how his subject was doing. Bow Tie scurried along his side, her cerulean fur ruffled and her pink messy mane pulled back with yellow bows.

Her dark purple eyes scanned over her papers as her hooves tried to keep them from blowing away from the gust of their pace.

“Most of her organs have reached full maturity, her reproductive system is fully operational, along with her frontal lobe… which puts her around the age of eighteen. She listens to every single thing we say, responds sharply… and seems fiercely intelligent, surpassing even the greatest minds that have ever lived… it’s incredible!”

Crimson hummed. “Exactly what does that mean, her being able to memorize simple patterns is meaningless to me. I want to know how she responds to war strategies, how she calculates on the battlefield.”

“Well sir, she doesn't just memorize simple patterns… she can color code rubix cubes with any sequence we give her within two minutes! You want three sides green, and one white… she can do it… it is something I have never seen! Not just that, she can solve the Riemann hypothesis and six other known equations that pony kind has NEVER been able to solve!”

Crimson stopped. “Are you telling me she can solve… the Hodge conjecture?”

Bow Tie nodded. “Sir she’s solved it three times, under ten minutes.”

The doctor breathed out breezilly. “By the Gods…”

Bow Tie swallowed hard. “Even though her brain seems to be far more advanced than any mind here, we have a major problem.”

Crimson nodded his head. “That’s what you said before you came and got me, what’s the rush? We have a supermind in our grasp, yet you still say there is a problem?”

“Well… during her entire life of three weeks… she’s matured, but… has not said a word, and refuses to move from one spot.”

The doctor squinted. “Not one?”

“Not one, not even a sound.”

Crimson hummed once more. “Odd..”

A pony greeted Crimson by ushering him inside a bullet proof room, and protected by a one way mirror that was thick enough to stop a charging rhino. The pony was dressed in a general’s uniform, her purple hair flowing behind her coloring the room with her streak of blue as well.

Her pelt was white as snow, and her mane and tail curled. Her eyes were hardened from years of battling against a plagued land, and her uniform stained with the blood of those she had slain.

“Glory, please tell me Subject 666 has moved from that spot after I left.” Bow Tie said, nervously glancing at Crimson who seemed deep in thought.

“Nope, we asked her to move, yelled at her to move… she won’t budge.” The general replied, staring at the white pony motionless in the populated room.

Nurses inspected her, doing the mandatory checkup. They nodded towards Glory, as she blew out a bubble from her gum and booted up Surprise’s stats.

Her vitals and heart appeared along the glass. “Seems pretty normal to me, her brain is fully operational, her heart healthy… along with everything in her body.”

Crimson leaned forward, staring at the glazed over eyes of Surprise in front of him. The mare sat tall, her ears pointed forward but unmoving as the nurses casually walked underneath her. She was posed on a pedestal where they could easily reach her and examine this odd behavior.

“Do you think she is rebelling?” Crimson asked, as Bow Tie flinched when staring into those emotionless and empty purple eyes.

“I don’t know… I can’t read her expression.” Bow Tie replied.

Crimson tapped on a button before clearing his throat. “Subject 666 we need you to respond, we ask of you to remove yourself from the pedestal.”

The mare didn't even blink, her gaze and head remained forward staring at the glass. Glory snorted before pressing the button harshly. “Bucking move, you idiot!”

Bow Tie peeled Glory off the speaker. “She’s been like that all day, is she choosing to not listen to us for some reason?”

Glory laughed darkly. “I don’t really care is she decides to rebel, I have had soldiers like this before they just need a little push.”

Crimson rubbed his hoof along his chin. “Negative reinforcement might be necessary.”

“Leave it to me sir, I’ll get her to move.” Glory said, as something appeared from her horn and a taser floated beside her as she marched in. Her clearance caused the doors to open, as the mare approached the nurses clearing from her path. “Okay 666 we can do this the easy way or the hard way, move!”

Surprise didn't even look at her, as Glory brought the taser to her side.

“If ya don’t move, this is gonna hurt like a bitch.” The general warned.

When she got no response, the taser was rammed into her flank! The electricity flared to life, lighting up the inside of her nostrils and sparks rolling over her pelt. The mare did not even flinch, her gaze remained unwavering as Glory blinked and reared back in shock!

“That was fifty thousand volts! How did you not even move?”

Crimson’s voice came from behind the glass. “Increase the voltage… go to forty watts.”

“F-Forty… won’t… won’t that… kill her?” Glory asked, as Crimson remained quiet.

She swallowed but shrugged.

“If you think this will work… I trust you.” The general said, as the nurses cleared the way. Glory mumbled before fiddling with her taser, she increased the voltage before licking her dry lips and looking up.

Surprise was staring straight at her!

Glory’s mouth dropped open as the subject’s face started to twist, with a sadistic grin! Before the general could ram the taser in her flank, the hoof of the mare went crashing into Glory’s head tossing her towards the wall! The impact cracked open her head, her wails of pain tearing the silence of the room and causing pure chaos!

Surprise leapt off of the pedestal, before tackling a nurse. Her hooves wrapped around his head, before twisting causing a loud and stomach churning snap! With un-pony speed, her body rammed into the next pony trying to scatter away from the mutant! Surprise smashed her hoof into his head, each hit causing his skull to split until eventually it burst open!

His blood and brain matter oozed onto the ground, as Surprise gently brought up her hoof and licked off the remaining liquid on her left. The mare eyed the next victim, before leaping towards them and slamming her hoof down on her spine! The nurse’s back bent to unnatural levels, creating a slight “U” shape in her back. Her spinal cord was severed, causing the unlucky worker to die instantly.

Surprise gently picked up the mare’s head, before looking into her lifeless eyes and coking her head. The mutant let the head drop to the floor, without following it with her gaze before staring at the remaining scientists rushing to the door! Surprise eagerly watched them look back and scream towards Crimson to let them out.

“Subject 666 has gone wild! She’s going to slaughter us!”

“Let us out! We are just scientists! We can’t fight back!”

Suddenly a yellow light wrapped around the poor nurse blocked from the back, he screamed and pleaded for help as his hooves dragged on the ground. Surprise held her hoof outwards, as a smile crept on her lips… gently tugging the sobbing scientist towards her!

“S-She’s using telekinesis!”

The pony was lifted above the subject’s head, her magic enveloping him while he levitated. Surprise looked up emotionlessly, with the strange smile still on her face as she cocked her head and watched the tears drip onto her mane.

“Please… please spare me… I-I…” the worker begged, but before he could finish a terrible strain started to pull at both his head and his back legs! He screamed and cried, as his spine started to stretch out to unhealthy levels. Surprise watched curiously, as the pony’s back started to make sickening cracks before he coughed up blood!

With one last gargled scream, his spine snapped! The pony breathed his final breath before his hooves dangled out of his control. Surprise looked towards the cowering ponies, before the body above her started to strain once more. His skin started to tear, a rip starting from the base of his stomach and running around his back and ribcage, until his entire body gave way!

With a shower of blood, he was in halves and tossed in two ways at Surprise’s sides. The murderer licked the droplets of blood running down her lips, before shaking off the rest from her mane and stalking towards the remaining victims.

Glory recovered, groaning and rubbing her cracked head as she stared at the devastation laying in heaps of blood around her! The general, wobbled to her hooves, but quickly barreled through the scientists trying to open the door. Surprise lifted her hoof, before every single head in the room was grasped by her magic.

Glory was surprised to see that her head was still in her control! The general was shaking from head to tail, as the workers were ripped up into the air by their assailant! Surprise pouted looking at the choking ponies gasping for air, before she grinned once more.

She flicked her hoof to the side.

SNAP!

In a split second ten more lives were lost, their bodies released towards the floor. Glory had tears in her eyes as she stared at the broken necks of the workers that were living and breathing just moments earlier! The general pawed at the door, until it recognized her facial features and opened for her to escape!

Glory jumped out of the room, before whipping around and looking at Surprise grinning at her! The mutant winked, before turning around and allowing the door to cut off their gazes.

The general panted, her heart thundering… as she shakilly brought herself onto her hooves. In seconds her fear turned into anger, as she stormed into the observation room and anxiously stared at Crimson who was calmly watching the now motionless subject.

“What the hell! That… that… monster just killed your own workers! Why didn't you open the DOOR?”

“Of course she killed them, I had her provoked for a reason… her responses are… incredible! She easily took on several ponies, and had them killed in under five minutes!” Crimson laughed, staring at the bloodied mutant from within his safe distance.

“Wait… Sir you wanted them to die?” Bow Tie asked, still shaken from what she had experienced.

“Well wanting them to die, and needing them to die are two very different things. If I were to volunteer ponies to die by her hoof, they would have said no would they not?”

Glory’s veins were popping out of her neck. “She just slaughtered fourteen ponies! I ALMOST died, do our lives mean nothing to you?”

Crimson waved his hoof. “Of course they do, you are alive aren't you?”

“NO sir, she LET me live… there is a difference! She purposely let me go! I don’t think you understand what the hell you are dealing with!”

The doctor nodded. “Indeed she did let you go, for that I do not understand… why you out of those fourteen ponies? I needed her to demonstrate her strength, I can positively say that we succeeded in increasing her strength and speed… but her temperament must be controlled. I say this field test was completed successfully, let’s have her moved to training.”

Glory shook her head in disbelief. “You honestly think you were the one testing her? She just learned that you are vulnerable, that the ones who control everything for her can die! She’s understanding who runs things around here, and it sure ain't you! I don't think you want her to figure that out!”

“I am more than capable of controlling her, she was created to be aggressive… that was infused into her genetic code, I expected exactly this.” Crimson said, as Glory screamed in anger.

“Heed my warning Crimson… that THING… is not going to be controlled!” Glory shouted, before thrusting her hoof towards the mutant perched on her pedestal. “I fear no pony, but that monster scares me!”

Glory stormed out of the room, as Bow Tie turned to view the murderous pony in her cage. Surprise sat calmly on her pedestal, nothing changed from the previous position they found her in… only this time… she wore a bloody grin.

Bow Tie gulped when she approached Surprise’s cell, it had been three weeks since her last encounter with the mutant. She shakilly pushed a cart full of food for the experiment, as the guards unlocked the heavily protected metal door. The vault was the only place they could keep her, for her strength could crush a ten inch metal plate!

The assistant nodded to them, as they gave her a worried look. Bow Tie was extremely nervous as well, for Surprise had killed fifty more ponies in the last few weeks. She seemed to get enjoyment out of it, even playing with the bodies like a filly would do with dolls! Bow Tie pushed the cart into the dark hall, which hung hundreds of feet above the ground in the form of a walkway.

Guns pointed at her, preparing to fire if Surprise happened to break out of her cage. Bow Tie watched as the spinning latch became undone granting her passage into the deepest part of Surprise’s prison. She felt her blood run cold when the vault opened to reveal the metallic glass that separated her from the strongest artificially enhanced pony in the world.

The mutant turned her face lighting up as she skipped to meet Bow Tie near the surface of the glass. The mare knew Surprise seemed gentler towards her, making her relax just a little… but not by much, as she gently moved the plates towards the ground.

“Greetings Bow Tie… you are kinda late to the party, but that’s A-okay! Didja bring anything tasty? Oooo, didja bring a cupcake again? I really, really, liked how that tasted, especially the delicious icing!”

Bow Tie could never figure out why she was so chipper, all the time! “Oh I’m sorry Surprise, I didn't get one for you today… perhaps next time alright?”

Surprise pressed her hooves against the glass. “No problemo! I am sure you brought something else tasty in that cart! Ya know, you are the only one who calls me a name instead of a number, why is that? Everypony else is kinda a goofus, like why call me a number? Everypony else has a name right? I hear the guards talking outside, I think everypony has a name… except me… I do not understand this.”

Bow Tie slid the tray of food under the slit that allowed Surprise to receive the food. “Well I gave you a name, so don’t listen to everypony else.”

The pegasus pawed through the food, “Ak… brussel sprouts! Who’s the chef, let’s cut off his head and play beach volleyball with it!”

The earth pony flinched. “S-Surprise you can’t do things like that!”

The mutant lifted her head up with a happy bounce. “Really? Why not?”

“Well for one murder is wrong, and second of all ponies have values and lives… taking a pony from this earth is just not how we do things around here.”

Surprise munched on a piece of bread, chewing curiously before spitting out the crust. “Huh that’s weird, isn't there like some gigantic war going on outside these walls? I can hear the gunshots from here with my ultra fantastic hearing… and I know you only shoot a gun when you are trying to hit something… and if I put together the screams and the gunshot timing I am pretty super sure they are trying to hit each other out there. So if murder is wrong, why is it okay during a war?”

Bow Tie sat down in front of the eating pegasus. “Well, war is a last resort. Sometimes we have war to stop an enemy from hurting more ponies… and sometimes that results in fighting and harming the other side. What you are doing is hurting innocent ponies, ones that have done nothing to deserve your wrath.”

Surprise stuck out her lip. “Alrighty tighty, but what exactly does innocent mean?”

“Well, innocent means not guilty of a crime or offense. So ponies that are innocent are ones that have done nothing wrong… and are not breaking any rules.”

The subject waved her head to the side, before tapping her chin. “So an innocent pony is one who never breaks rules… so when you sneak a snack at midnight when rations are divided equally among every other pony… and break the garrison rules… does that make you not innocent?”

Bow Tie blinked in shock. “W-Wait how… how do you know that?”

Surprise poked Bow Tie’s nose from behind the glass. “I have enhanced hearing and smell, and I can sense your presence all throughout the fort hee-hee! I can kinda sniffy sniff out all the ponies throughout this place… pretty cool right? For some reason no other pony can do that… why is that Bow Tie?”

“You’re special Surprise, artificially made… how did you not figure this out yet?”

Surprise wrinkled her nose. “Artificial…. Like those plants in the common room? Like the oxygen flowing through these rooms? So I was not born naturally? With a stallion and a mare? Swaddled in a snuggly wuggly blanket? If I was created… it must have been for a reason… why was I created Bow Tie?”

The pony sighed before responding. “You were created to revive this fallen world, outside these walls… is not a world you see in recordings that I bring you. It’s barren, sandy… hot… and full of plagues that a stallion named Blackheart created. It’s a genetically modified disease, and the only way to fight it was to create soldier we could have birthed immune to it. Only Blackheart has the cure, and his base is surrounded by this airborne plague… none of our soldiers can breach it without dying at the base of the walls. We need a pony capable of destroying the defenses, and taking on the entire army by themselves. If you are able to take down Blackheart and get the cure this world can start to rebuild… and Crimson can take over instead.”

Surprise seemed unfazed. “Ah… so murdering is okay in this case… because it is war.. And Blackheart is not innocent, right?”

Bow Tie nodded. “Yes, Blackheart is an evil stallion… a very evil stallion that has killed billions.”

“But..” Surprise interrupted. “Who’s to say your side is right, Crimson has killed many ponies as well in this war… how is he still innocent?”

“Well he is trying to save ponies-”

“By killing his own soldiers? By sending them into my cage… unarmed?”

No matter how much Bow Tie wanted to argue, the little pegasus was right. Both sides were at fault for murder, Crimson even went as far as to creating a weapon to slaughter a total nation. Murder was wrong, no matter how much she wanted to validate it… not matter how badly a pony deserved to die, at the end of the day their deaths still were at the hoof of another.

“You know Bow Tie,” Surprise said, pressing her hooves into the glass along with her nose as the pony watched the subject carefully. “If you say I am not allowed to kill innocents, and those who kill others are considered not innocent… where does that put Crimson? Hee-hee, I’ll tell you a secret, when I get out of here… and I will so you don’t have to worry your pretty little head about it… I’m gonna be the cure this disease needs.”

Bow Tie cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“Simple really, don’t you get it you silly goose?” Surprise giggled, before pointing towards the open doors towards the unknown. “The disease has been both sides this whole time!”