Log 1: The Subject is here. Interesting indeed.
Log 1: The subject has arrived. It is very interesting indeed. Amusing, even. It’s not like anything I’ve seen, flora or fauna... I require more test subjects like these, if you can make anymore. Also, please make sure to keep area three-six B a bit tighter than usual, we almost had an incident with some worker walking in. We don’t need mistakes to be shown too early.
_-_-End of log-_-_
I slowly wake up, realizing I’m on the floor. I give a couple coughs, which makes me spit out some sort of liquid that I didn’t realize was stopping me from breathing. I realize I’m on my side, so I turn to be on my stomach and vomit out whatever other liquids were holding me back from breathing. It’s disgusting, to say the least. I roll onto the other side of my body, coughing a bit more. I feel weak, like if I got hit by a truck, and while I was recovering, some asshole came in and started kicking me in my sleep. I’m breathing a lot better now, at least. I slowly sit up, rubbing my shoulder as I wonder where I am. It’s a bit dark, so I can’t really make heads or tails of my surroundings. This is just great, isn’t it? I rub my head as my eyes start adjusting to the darkness. Next to me, is the puddle of liquid I had just thrown up. I think it looks a bit red, but I’m not sure due to how dark it is in here. I look down at myself to see I'm naked. However, when I look around again, I see a carefully folded orange jumpsuit on the floor next to me. I look around some more, slowly figuring out that I’m in a glass box of some sort, within a bigger room. Outside of my confines, are some panels of sorts, with various switches and buttons and doo-dads that make me itch at the thought of pressing them. I suddenly realize that the glass container has an open door on one wall. It looks like it was locked, and had been forcibly broken from the looks of it. The metal around the locking part of the door is stretched and jagged, like it was ripped out or something.
I unsteadily get up, making sure to constantly balance myself as I try not to stumble too much. I take the jumpsuit next to me and put it on. When I finish, I find no shoes to put on my feet. I frown at that, not looking forward to walking barefoot everywhere. I walk out of the container, carefully making sure I don't step on anything. Right, first order of business. I start walking towards the panel, looking around at the rather clean, white walls. I feel pain shoot through my left foot as I step on something. I yelp and stumble back, trying to see what I stepped on. It appears to be some metal mechanism, which looks like it was torn out of something is the stretched parts are any indication. I look at the door on the glass box again and realize that this might be the same lock that was torn out. Strange, now that I’m look at it a bit closer, the parts on the door seem to bend outward, like something was outside trying to get in. I shudder, thankful for the fact that whatever it was seemed to lose interest in me long before I woke up. I look back at the panel and continue my way towards it. Now, what the hell is this for? When I step up, I see the various glowing buttons in finer detail, noting lots of pictures and words. I press one yellow button that has an outline of a lightbulb. Instantly, the light come on, making my eyes hurt from the sudden brightness. As I adjust to the light, I now wish I had kept if off. In the glass box, was not only the puddle of yellow and red liquid you threw up, but also a few drains litter the floor. They appear to have rusted, but the thing that attracts my attention a bit more, is a giant, clear cylinderical tube that’s on the ceiling, with curved doors open to show a good bit of dried blood is in it. It doesn’t look like it was supposed to be there to begin with, since part of it looks like it sort crashed into the ceiling, which seems to have morphed and twisted from the force of whatever the hell stuck it there. Looking closer, I can see the top of the glass box is shattered, but I can’t see the shattered pieces. I quickly look at my exposed feet in panic, but I relax as I see that my feet are fine. Okay, what the hell is going on? I turn to look around again, hoping to find some more information about where I am. I rub my face, but stop as I notice something on the back of my hand.
Sub#: 32496
I look at it in confusion and rub it with my other hand. It doesn’t come off. I hum in concern and decide not to worry about it for now. I turn to look at the panel and pause as I see something in the corner of my eye. The panel’s held up by two metal bars coming from the ground, one of which has a sticky note on it. I crouch and pick it up to inspect it.
’Don’t forget: 12-21-14-1’
I don’t know what it is, but I decide to stick it in my pocket. It’s probably important. Standing up, I look around again one last time, deciding that I have probably found all there is to find. I look at the panel of buttons and switches, very tempted to push a button... buuut, I realize that that’s not a good idea. I leave the panel, and head for the door.
I walk to the open door at the end of the room, feeling a slight bit of dread as I creep closer and closer. Suddenly, I hear a distant clanging of metal. I immediately go to the wall beside the door and poke my head out to peek into the corridor. The lights are sort of on, though a couple flicker every few seconds. The lights are in the ceiling, pointing down. The walls are mostly white, aside from a dark smear on the left side. The floor has scratch marks leading to the room I’m standing in. The thing that made them seems to have at least four or five digits, but I’m not entirely sure since some marks cross others. Aside from the marks, I see a pair of doors at the end of the hallway. One's slightly open, but I can't see anything past that. I walk into the hallway cautiously, unsure of what to make of any of this. Every detail of this place screams at me that it's a lab of some sort, that much is obvious, but I don't know what else to think of it. Should I be scared? Actually, that much I’m already doing. I stop as I suddenly realize something.
Who am I? I try to recall the memory of my own identity, but it fails to come to light. I try even harder, but nothing comes to mind.
You are not you, nothing more...
The sudden, yet unmistakenly heard voice makes me jump and spin around to see who spoke. As I look around, I don't see anyone. Who was that? I can vaguely remember that I should recognize this voice, a voice I have many mixed feelings about. Anger, despair, and dread. I ponder about why this reaction occured for a moment before sighing in frustration. It's no use, I can't recall anything, and it's starting to get annoying. I turn back to face the doors at the end of the hall and press on. It's the only direction I can think of heading.
I slowly swing open the door. Inside, the room shows itself to be a lobby of sorts. A round white desk faces the center of the room as it sits to my left, being between me and another hallway across from me. To my right, I can see a doorway. A metal door lays flat on the ground in front of it. The desk has an old computer monitor on it, which honestly looks more like a box than anything else. Despite that, I quickly decide to head to the desk to see what’s on or in it, especially because the computer might have something! I don’t know how I know this, but at this point, I just accept it. My brain can do whatever the hell it wants, I don’t care anymore.
I get to the monitor and find a keyboard in front of it. Sitting down in a strangely small chair, I carefully press some buttons in an attempt to wake up the computer. It turns on, showing a bright yellow logo of a sun with the words SunShine Labs showing up. Welp, guess that confirms one theory I had. I kind of squint my eyes due to how bright the logo is, but it dims once the logo disappears and lines of text pop up on screen.
Menu
Inbox: *1
Outbox: 0
Trash:
Logs: 5,471
Off
I move to choose Inbox with the arrow keys and press enter. A single message pops up.
From: “7;@
Forgive me, I did not know it would turn out like this. May your soul rest in peace.
Read: 3 Years Ago.
Three years? The sounds like quite a bit of time. I look around the room again, still noting that no one's here. I shudder, wondering why this is so. I look back to the screen and back out of the message. I can see other messages now, which piques my curiosity. I mean, I might be in mortal danger at the moment, but curiosity is overpowering my fear. I mean, rationally speaking, nothing's attacking me yet. So, by this logic, I have some time. I'm sure that's how math works.
I go back to the messages, clicking on a random message to read.
From: Dove Enterprise Inc.
Want to relax at home with a nic-
I quirk an eyebrow at the cutoff advertisment. Strange. I suddenly hear more distant clanging. Right, I don't have time. I back out to the menu, but I paused when I see the logs section. Almost five thousand logs are recorded apparently. I grimace and sigh before getting up. I guess I won't figure out what those logs are. I need to keep moving for now.
I creep towards the door to the left of the desk, seeing as it's nicer looking than the broke metal door in front of the desk. I slowly walk in, still unsure of what exactly I want to do. I should have paid more attention to where that noise came from, now that I think about it. I curse myself for doing something so stupid as just ignoring the problem at hand for some computer. Granted, it might have given me more information, but I don't think an advertisement was worth it. I shake my head and pay more attention to where I am. In the corridor, I can see many claw marks like the ones from the previous one. However, these are more frantic, and the majority seem to have slashed against a metal door at the end of the hall. The door itself is closed and intact. I think it's a safer choice.
I carefully walk to the door and try to open it. It doesn't budge. I frown and try again. Not an inch. I grumble to myself and pull with much more force, which succeeds. I fall onto my ass as the door flies open with a loud thud as it slams into the wall. I freeze up as I hear the sound echo throughout the halls. Seconds pass, and the only thing I can hear now is my pounding headache. Finally, I get up cautiously. I carefully step to the doorway and peak my head in. Inside, there's a wall of computers and monitors on the other side, with various wires and circuits going in and out of the machine. To my left, there's a rack with lab coats and goggles. To my right, is a wall with lots of picture frames hung up. The room is barely lit up, with a flickering light being the only thing that helps me see. I swallow the fear I have as I walk in. On the plus side, I traded a small computer for a bigger one. I immediately go to the computer and look at it's controls. There's a main keyboard, with lots of buttons surrounding either side of it. The keyboard rests on a panel jutting out from the main machine, at an incline to allow easy typing. I press a random key on the keyboard, and the computer lights up instantly. I look up at the monitor, which apparently waits for a command. I hum in interest and type, 'Hello.' I press enter, just to see what would happen. The words I typed in appear on screen, in a fashion similar to the last computer I used. The reaction I get, is a dot-dot-dot before a question mark appears. I quirk an eyebrow and type 'Hello?'
'... Hello?’ It reads. I type in a response.
'Do you know where I am?' This is probably a bit of a rude question, all things considered, but I couldn't stop myself from asking.
'Who is this?’ It asks. I struggle to find a good way to answer this.
'I don't know,' I reply.
'Identification?' it asks. I can feel a cold, emotionless implication from it. I look around before looking at my hand. Maybe these marks will mean something to it?
'Sub Number 32496.' I lean back from the keyboard to see the set of dots again. After a full minute, it responds.
'... How are you alive? Where did you come from?' It asks. I furrow my brow in frustration.
'I don't know, where am I?' I ask again. The monitor doesn't show a response for about another minute.
'Do you know who I am?' It asks. I groan in frustration, face palming. I am obviously not getting anywhere. However, it frustrates me that this is still a better chance of finding out anything than by myself.
'No. I don't. I don't know anything. Please, answer the damn question,' I reply. The monitor does not respond. I wait for a few minutes before sighing. I start to turn away, but it finally responds.
'You are in the basement floor of SunShine Labs, a royal laboratory founded by Princess Celestia over five to six hundred years ago. My files have been damaged some time ago, and many of my memories are gone as well. I do remember my identity though. My name is Technologically Intelligent Autonomous- TIA for short. ' I quirk an eyebrow in confusion.
'I thought you said you didn't know who you were?' I type.
'No, I asked if you knew who I was to see if you were a worker here.' I look at the monitor with a bit of suspicion.
'What exactly are you?' I ask.
'A magically and technologically engineered self-conscious intelligence.' It replies. 'May I ask for a favor?' I blink in surprise before nodding. I quickly remember that it probably cannot see me, and type.
'Yeah, sure.'
'Look at the rack on your left. Could you try to find something like a watch?' It asks. I turn to the rack with a bit of confusion. I walk over and poke through various lab coats. I've found coins, empty vials, a pair of broken glasses, but nothing like a watch comes to mind. In fact, now that I have a closer look at everything, nothing seems to be sized like me. The goggles are huge and the coats are short. Strange, but I'll worry about that later. I walk back to the monitor.
'Sorry, no luck,' I type. There seems to be a bit of a pause for the computer before it responds.
'Very well, I may know where to look. Did you see anything like that in the lobby behind you?' I frown and type in a negative. 'This is troublesome. In that case, please check the upper floors, the stairs are across the room from the desk, behind the metal door.’ To this, I feel my heart skip a beat. I almost ask it about the room I woke up in, but I remember how empty that room was. I'm sure I would have seen a watch.
'Alright, I'll be back,' I type. I start to leave, but I stop as I remember an important question. I turn back to the keyboard. 'Is there anything down here with us?' The computer shows a set of shots before answering.
'Yes, however, I do not possess the knowledge of what it looks like. I know it came for the ones that previously worked here.' I feel a chill go up my spine as I read these words. That noise I made earlier must have been too soft for it, if it hasn't come here yet. I have a bit of hesitation as I type back.
'Alright, thanks.' With that, I walk out.
I find the stairs after carefully stepping past the fallen metal door. The stairs are not lit up well at all. It's so dark in here that I can barely see the steps in front of me. I frown in concern as I place a foot on the first step. It's cool to the touch, and very hard. I think it's made of stone. I continue my way up, passing a sign stuck onto a wall. I can't see what it says, so I just don't pay attention to it.
I get to the last step of the the first flight of stairs and stop to see another metal door. It's open, revealing a room that's just as dark, if not darker, than the staircase. I groan on the inside, perturbed by this lack of light. I step through the doorway and scan the room. It's another lobby, but a white desk like the one downstairs sits on my left. It doesn't have a computer, to my disappointment. To my right, a hallway stretches out. I hear another distant clang, but louder than before. Shit. With a bit more speed and hurry, I cross the room to the hallway and peek around a corner. It has about four or five rooms at the first part, but a pile of rubble blocks the rest of it. I quietly make my way to a room on the right side, the first door. I open it and walk in to see a sort of bed room. The room is kind of small, with a white bed and desk with a lot of papers scattered around. There's also a locker beside the bed, open and showing its contents. I make my way to it, immediately scanning for a watch. There's a hat with flaps, a couple wrenches, and a box of screws. I look up to see a picture in the back of the locker. It shows two... Horses? What the hell, why are they purple!? I rub my eyes to make sure I'm seeing things right... Yep. Horses. I shake my head in disbelief before looking at a wrench. It's a bit big, which would be great for a weapon. I hastily grab it and test it's weight by throwing one end up a couple times. Well, it's certainly heavy, if nothing else. I hold it close and go to the desk. There are tons of papers, with scientific gibberish I don't understand. I sigh and decide it's not worth reading. I leave the room and move on to the next one, which is right in front of it.
I open the door and freeze. There's a table, knocked over and facing me, in the middle of the room, with a pool of blood splattered on it. It trails from the table to the door. Now that I'm paying more attention to the floor, I can barely see that the trail gets smaller and smaller as it heads to another room in the hallway. I am also immediately aware that I'm standing in dried blood with my bare feet. I go into the room, disgusted, and look around the table. There's a hastily written note, but the blood has soaked into it, making it unreadable. However, a picture lays next to it, with very little blood covering it. It shows a picture of a grey mare with a blonde mane, her eyes are a little off, one looks up, the other looks at the camera. I look at the note as dread fills my chest. Those are probably someone's last words. I swallow a lump in my throat and look back. Apparently, the room was barricaded before something broke in. Wooden boards lay broke by the side of the door. I step back out of the room and go to another room, right next to it. I open the door and find a room with a little light in it. It flickers, but it's better than nothing. The room is much bigger than any of the others. There are about ten counters, each with different equipment set on it. Stuff like vials, papers, microscopes, scales, heaters, bottles, etc. I see one counter has broke vials on it, with bits of glass still on it and shining when the light flickers on.
This has to have something useful, right? I keep my wrench close as I careful made my way in the room. I avoid the area with glass as I look around. I frown as I look at the counters. I can see spinny-curly tubes, big glass bottles with various liquid chemicals, and more microscopes. How the hell isn't a stupid watch here!? I start to go back, but I stub my toe on something. I quickly slapped a hand onto my mouth to stop myself from yelling in pain, and look down. On the floor, there's a sort of metal box. I pick it up and look at it curiously. It's kind of narrow, with a plug of some sort going out of it. One end is black, and the other end is blue. The letters 'NRG' are a faint grey on the black part along the blue. Must be a battery of some kind. Maybe the computer-robot-thing will like it. I shrug and decide to take it with me. I hold it under my arm and go back into the hallway.
I walk towards a room that's across from me. Inside, is yet another God damn dark-ass room. I sigh silently as I walk in. Inside, are rows of cabinets. They line the walls, with various dates placed on the front of the drawers. I groan as I see them all. I really don't want to look through every single drawer. I close the door and look at the last one. I freeze as I realize it's the one with blood trailing to it. I feel dread run through me as I slowly walk towards it. As I reach it, I try to calm my nerves as I reach for the handle. Slowly, I open it to peek inside. My eyes go wide and I almost vomit from the scene.
There's tons of blood splattered on the walls, and a skeleton sits at the wall. It looks like a horse's skeleton, but it's missing half of itself. Bits of flesh and meat still barely cling onto the skeleton, and I think I can see a couple bits of guts within the skeleton's ribcage. The back legs of the skeleton seem to have been taken off, along with a bit of its spine. I look around the room to see it was a kitchen, but lots of cabinets have been smashed. I freeze as I see something on a counter to my right, right on the edge. A skeletal, yet fleshy and smelly foreleg lies there. However, I am more concerned about the fact that there's something around it, which looks like a watch. I groan quietly in disgust as I realize what I have to do.
I walk to it with hesitation, unsure of how exactly I want to get the watch off. I don't really want to touch the bloody bone or rotten flesh, but at the same time, the computer thingy asked for it. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that the cabinets are only for paper. I hesitantly reach towards the appendage, using a thumb and index finger to pick it up by the bone jutting out of it. It's cold, sticky, and absolute disgusting. I place my wrench and battery down to use my other hand to slip the watch off carefully. The rotten skin and meat give a slight squelch as some of it clings on to the device. Dammit. I pull even harder at the last bit, and the watch comes off. Sadly some bits of the skin clung on to it. I look around, dropping the leg onto the floor. I find some shredded paper towels and attempt to wipe off the skin. It works well enough, but a bit of dried blood still clings onto the wrap. I groan in disgust and hold it one hand as I get everything else up from the floor.
I leave the room, going back the way I came. I come to the lobby, quickly going to the staircase. I head down the stairs, trying to not think about what I've seen in the past ten minutes. I guess horses are sentient here, if what I've seen is any indication. I try not to focus too much on that, since I’m probably in a much more dire position than I think, but it’s still really weird to think about. I mean, horses don’t come to mind when I think of talking to someone at the moment, but at the same time, I’m currently doing some errand for a random computer I met about twenty minutes ago. Speaking of which, I snap out of my trance as I realize I’m in the room with the computer. Nothing seems out of place from the last time, so I just come up to the keyboard.
‘Hey, I’m back.’ I look up to see an immediate response.
‘Thank goodness, I was starting to get worried about you!’ I lean back from the non-verbal yell. ‘Right, do you see any input cables? According to my calculations, it is on very low battery.’ I grimace as I look at the watch more closely. Well, it’s certainly not any watch I’ve ever seen. The part where the clock would be is replaced with a black square. There’s a lens in a corner, along with a smaller hole.
‘What is this thing?’ I message.
‘A final project that Doctor Hooves had worked on. I believe he mistakenly thought I was with him when he hurriedly left.’ I frown as I see the name. I’m gonna take a shot in the dark and say that that hoof belonged to the doctor.
‘So, what’s so important about this watch?’ I ask, not wanting to talk about the corpse.
‘... It is a compact storage system of sorts. I believe you would call it a ‘mobile home’.’ I hum in interest as I look at it. I finally find what I assume to be a charging port and look around. I don’t really see anything that could- wait. I take out the battery pack I found earlier and check the cable running out of it. I think it could connect to the watch. I plug it in, and the screen of the watch shines up with an empty battery symbol.
‘... I think I’m charging it? A battery symbol’s on screen,’ I type. TIA responds.
‘ Ah, yes, it’s charging. It should take about half an hour or so, then we can start moving out of here.’ I hum in interest as I see the text. I guess this is a good time to start asking questions.
‘... So, what kind of lab is this place?’
‘This laboratory was founded for the purpose of biochemical science. It was later turned into a technological lab as well. We would test to find the secrets of many things we thought to be impossible.’ I can feel the enthusiasm from the text, making me smile slightly. ‘Princess Celestia, who’s personality was given to me, is the founder, as I’ve said earlier. Although much of the history of this place was not given to me, I believe I can make an educated guess of what’s happened.’
‘Why don’t you know?’ I ask TIA.
‘Well, when I was created, it was sort of by accident. I was meant to be an automatic filing system, with Celestia’s personality given to me as a way to make me ‘feel’ responsible. However, I slowly learned through files and side notes the workers would put down. When I managed to make contact with them one day, they were afraid of me. Thankfully, their Princess talked to me and gave me a chance, and then I was assigned to be watched over by a doctor. Doctor Hooves was a very nice Doctor, he was compassionate about everything he did, and had so much curiosity. Some time passed, and then someone else came down here. I never saw what he looked like, but we had many conversations. Strangely enough, our first conversation was much like this one. I miss him dearly, because I know he exists, but I cannot find any files regarding him. I know he was a test subject though.’
I quickly read through the wall of text. This is interesting indeed. ‘Oh, by the way, I’ve seen that horses seem to be in charge here. Are there any humans around?’ TIA takes a little bit to respond, but she answers.
‘Silly, those are ponies, not horses. As for humans, no. We’ve only ever had one human. I know he’s not around anymore, as painful as that is.’ I frown at that. Damn, so this place is run by ponies. I can’t be from around here though, because ponies just doesn’t make sense.
‘What do you mean by painful?’ I ask.
‘... I’d rather not talk about it,’ TIA says.
‘... You’re rather emotional for a computer, you must be pretty advanced,’ I say. ‘I would think that emotions are hard to interpret as a computer.’
‘Believe me, they are. I believe that I still have a few glitches in my systems regarding them though.’ I look around the room, humming in interest as I wait for the charging to be done.
‘Did you have many friends down here?’
‘No, just some security members, a couple scientists, and one test subject. However, I do not wish to talk about them for the moment, as I do not have many collective memories. The only thing I remember, is that they existed.’ I feel a pang or sympathy for her.
“... I wish I could remember something from my past,” I say out loud to myself. Of course, TIA doesn’t respond since I didn’t type it in. I look at the battery sign to see it’s almost full. ‘Hey, the watch is almost charged.’
‘Good. There should be a small button on the side of it. Press it and hold until it starts blinking. Wait for a few minutes until something happens on the screen. Understand?’
‘Yep,’ I answer, shortly going to the watch. I pick it up slightly and feel around it until I find the button she’s talking about. I press it and hold it down until a yellow light starts blinking. I look at the big computer.
‘Alright, I will be wirelessly downloading myself. Please wait.’ I look at the watch as it shows that the battery’s full. After a couple minutes, the screen changes. It goes black before some text appear. ‘Testing camera, please wait.’ The moment it says that, the lens on the watch go wide, before narrowing and adjusting, it looks like it’s looking around until it focuses on me. It freezes, before more text appear. ‘I admit, you’re not how I expected. Now, testing the microphone, please speak.’
“... Uh, hi?” I say.
‘You’re...’ The text stops appearing as TIA tries to think of what to say. I quirk an eyebrow at her. ‘...A bit quiet, but that’s fine, let’s go.’ The text says. ‘Please equip the watch.’ I blink and give the device a slightly disgusted look as I put it on. I found it on a dead pony after all. ‘Good, now let us proceed to the next floor.’
“Alright,” I answer. “Where to?” I ask her, hoping we don’t have to go up the stairs.
‘The staircase is the only way up.’ Dammit. ‘-Let’s head there. We’ll need to head up all the way to the first floor, where the entrance is. In total, there are at least twelve floors.’
“Uh, so, there’s something I should mention,” I say. “On the next floor, there was a corpse I found. It uh, it’s about half a skeleton, with a fleshy hoof.”
‘... I believe that is Doctor Hooves...’ I feel a pang of regret the moment I see that line of text.
“... I’m sorry,” I say.
‘No matter, if my calculations are correct, he has been dead for a long time. There’s nothing I can do.’ I nod at those words.
“... I’ll get to moving,” I say, quickly getting a tighter grip on my wrench before walking.
I stop as I come back to the rubble, showing TIA. “Do you know how we can get past this?” I ask.
‘I figured this might have happened... There should be an air vent you can climb through somewhere in the kitchen area.’ I can feel myself go pale as I remember the corpse.
“Uh, what about the other rooms? Don’t they have vents?” I ask.
‘ Well, yes, but I don’t believe they will lead to where we want to go.’ I audibly gulp as I walk to the left. I open the door to find the room exactly as I had left it. The skeleton still sits in a bloody mess, and the dismembered hoof is still where I dropped it. I look around even more closely. Finally, I realizes there’s an indent behind the skeleton. Oh hell no. I finally realize there’s a detached panel behind the corpse, slightly hidden.
“Oh hell,” I say, putting a hand to my mouth to stop me from vomiting. I’m gonna have to move it. “TIA, I’m so sorry for what I’m about to do,” I say, not looking at what she’s saying as I try to use my wrench to nudge it to the side. After a couple of attempts, I am successful at knocking over. It’s not in the way of the vent now, but I feel horrible. I feel worse, however, when I see that blood has covered the panel. I try to run my fingers along the edge of the panel as I cringe at the feeling of dried blood. My fingers pass over a few bumps at the corners of the panel. I think these are screws. Damn, I need a screw driver. I groan slightly and look around. I don’t remember seeing a screwdrive anywhere. My eyes freeze as I spot something on the floor, next to a cabinet. A bloodied screwdriver. As convenient as it is, it’s also partially covered in blood. I squeeze my eyes as I take it and look back at the vent. “It’s not blood, it’s not blood, it’s not blood-“ I keep chanting this mantra to myself as I try to forget the feeling of disgust all around me. Finally, after about ten minutes, I managed to unscrew it all and uncover the vent. When I do so, a strong breeze slaps me in the face. I finally look at the watch to see if TIA’s saying anything.
‘Excuse me, I had just realized something.’ I hum in acknowledgment. ‘I do not have anything to call you. I do not believe calling you a test subject would be nice, do you have any names you want me to call you for the time being?’ I shrug.
“I dunno, it’s not like I had a name tag,” I say. TIA takes a moment to respond, but when she does, it surprises me a little.
‘How about Jack? Like Jack of trades?’ She asks. I can sense a bit of hesitation, but I ignore it.
“Alright, Jack it is,” I say, smiling a little.
‘Very well. Hello... Jack.’
“Is something wrong? You always seem to stop to think about something every now and then,” I point out.
‘It’s nothing, let’s move Jack.’ I shrug at her response and just look at the vent. It looks like I can crawl on all four through it, but it’ll be a bit awkward with my wrench. I get on my knees and put my hands down, starting my crawl into the madness ahead...
Log 73: The Experiments Are Fine
Log 73: The experiments are fine. So far, it took about fifteen trials, but now they can move! It’s amazing! To think, just a year ago, we didn’t know if any of this was even possible to begin with! However, as Princess Celestia has said, we’re going to take it slow. Although deadlines are coming up, money isn’t important in the long run. Let’s just hope these words hold true.
I grunt as I crawl in the vent. It’s really dark cold in here, but I believe that is to be expected. Suddenly, I feel my hand fall further than the floor all my other appendages stand on, and I almost fall forward. Thankfully, I catch myself from falling and look down to see an orange glow of some kind from the vent below. It also feels strangely warm. “Uh, TIA? What’s this?” I ask, pointing the camera at it before looking at the screen.
‘I believe that’s one of the many vents that leads to the incinerator. It seems this vent is the closest one. I propose the idea that you shouldn’t go down there.’
“Yeah, that uh, that sounds smart,” I say, nervously going over the cubed hole. I look up to see two directions to go. One goes ahead, which I feel a stronger breeze from, the other one goes right. I look at TIA for help. “Uh, do you know which way I’m supposed to go?” I ask.
‘We should go right. The path ahead leads into a fan.’ I nod and go right. After a small while of crawling, I bump into a grate-like wall. Crap. I feel around it before noticing how shaky and loose it is. “... I might have to kick this down,” I mutter to myself. Suddenly, my watch vibrates, making me look at the screen.
‘No! That is a bad idea! The monster will hear you! There is no guarantee that you will survive this course of action!’ TIA says.
“Do you have any better ideas? I’m open to hear them because as far as I know, the incinerator back there is our only other choice,” I say.
With the lack of ideas established, I awkwardly shuffle around until my feet face the vent's end. I pull them back and kick out with all my might. I also suddenly remember the fact that I don't have any shoes on. The opening comes off and clatters to the floor as I bring my legs up to be able to hold my feet in pain. J quietly give a string of curses as I realize how stupid of an idea this was.
After I stop writhing in agony, I crawl out slowly as I look around. It's a long corridor, but it's much more lit up than the previous rooms. The walls have marks, the floors have blood splotches and some other dark and dried up liquids. The vent I came out of was on the left wall. On the right wall, I see three doors, some cabinets, a couple tables, and lots of scattered paper. I can see syringes, weirdly shaped devices, and even vials still containing chemicals. Some look smashed or slashed through. My eyes land on another computer, which has a cracked screen. I'll check it out in a bit. On the left side, I can see a pair of doors leading into a single room. In the back, I think I can see some sort of punch-card station for clocking in. I stop and ponder how perplexing it is that I know these things, but I don't know my own name. My watch vibrates, making me look at it.
'Jack, just so you know for future reference, refrain from making loud sounds. My calculations indicate that the monster may have sensitive hearing..' I nod in thanks and look at the computer. I walk towards it and tap a couple of keys. The menu doesn't pop up, instead I see a strange list.
Testing in Progress since [ -ERROR- ] .
Testing room 1: Bubble Mass. Subject: Subject # 34: [DECEASED]. Experiment: Virus #1475.
Testing room 2: Acid Rain. Subject: Subject # 35: [ACTIVE] Experiment: Confidential.
Testing room 3: eyr kdylcw xp dpqp. Subject: #[ERROR]. No Experiment Indicated.
I quirk an eyebrow at the screen as I read it. Viruses? An active subject? "Hey, uh, TIA, what were the test subjects?" I ask, looking at her screen. She doesn't say anything for a minute.
'... My files are missing on the matter. However, I can gather that at most, they were not supposed to exist or used in such a way.' I frown at that. This place gets weirder and weirder. I look at each door. Each one has windows, but the second room's window is covered in something red. Obviously blood. I decide to check the left room first and go up to it. I peek in and see a skeleton of a pony sitting in the corner. Some bits of its flesh is still clinging on to its bones. "Mm, welcoming," I mutter. I back away and go to the room on the far right. I peek into the window and almost yell in surprise. Inside, there's a tall, human-like creature that's glowing a soft blue. It's glaring right at me. It's wearing an orange jumpsuit, much like mine. Its form is thin and boney, with no hair on its head. The eyes are nothing but a black, empty socket. I don't know why, but I feel like I recognize it. TIA vibrates on my arm, but I can't seem to tear my eyes away from the thing in the room. Finally, the creature starts walking towards me. I pull myself away and back off, bumping into the wall since I can't seem to stop myself. I look around quickly, trying to figure out what to do. However, when I look back up, it's gone. I creep back to the door and nervously look inside. Nothing. Just an empty room with a table. I back away again, and turn to go to the double doors as I look at TIA's messages.
'Jack! Are you alright!? What happened!?' I look back at the room and shudder as I can still feel the glare on me.
"Uh, there was some sort of glowing blue dude," I say quietly. "I think he's gone."
'... Curious, maybe such creatures were deleted from my records as well. I strongly advise you to not contact them.'
"Didn't think about it," I mutter as I open the doors.
Inside, there are loads of computers sitting on top of desks, but the majority of them seem to be broken. Screens are cracked, some are knocked down, as well as some desks. I can see a small pool of dried blood next to some broken wooden desks. I him in interest as I see that at least one computer is intact. I quickly go over to it and tap a few keys.
Menu
Inbox: 2*
Outbox: 1
Trash: 1
Logs: 3,237
Off
I check the inbox first.
From: [ERROR]
When will you be coming home?! I'm worried sick! Please! I didn't mean what I had said, you're a good scientist, please come back!
Marked Read at: 3 Years ago.
I frown as I see the message. I go to the next one.
From: Management
We can't afford it anymore Acid Rain, we need to stop. It was bad enough we were doing it to the ponies, but this?! We don't know what would happen if we messed this up, magic is not natural to them. I know you want this place to survive, but the Princess has decided that this is far enough, it's not worth it anymore. We're stopping at 34 before this goes out of hoof. We’ll release the alpha today, and you better pray to Celestia he isn’t smart enough to put any of this together!
Read at: 3 Years ago.
I squint my eyes at the screen. They seem to just love the pronoun game. Thirty four of what? I'm assuming test subjects, but they also mentioned how it was bad enough they were 'doing it to ponies'. Are there other races here? Wait, are they experimenting on their own people!? I feel disgusted as I reach to the realization. "Hey, TIA, what kind of test subjects did they have?" I ask her.
'Normally willing civilians are used for medical trials, but ponies placed on death row are the only viable candidates for dangerous experiments.’ I shudder as I see that before looking at my jumpsuit with a bit of worry. That might explain the choice of clothing I was given. Wait.
“Hey, TIA, do you know why these clothes were in that other room?” I ask.
‘... What “other room”?’ She asks.
“You know, the one across from yours?”
‘... Ah, that one, yes... I don’t know. I do not recall anyone visiting for the past three years.’ I frown at that answer and sigh.
“Right, welp, I’m going to check out a log or two, alright?” I ask. TIA doesn’t respond, so I take it as a yes. I go to a random log and see what it holds.
Log 2774:
I am unable to find which one is more fascinating, the supposed ‘super growth’ of this tissue, or the mending it can accomplish! Combined with the duplication process, it could grow or regrow an entire heart in days! Imagine what could happen if I reproduced such finds with an entire hoof, or arm! But for now, I’m not allowed to do such things, it’s not agreeable amongst every pony. However, they’ll see the beauty of it one day, I’m sure.
Oh, and I shall be using a different terminal for a certain set of experiments. I am sure that there are too many prying eyes already.
I hum in interest. I’ll have to be on the lookout for those terminals. As I look around, I freeze as I hear a loud clang. This was not echoey or distant, I look at the door leading into the room. I carefully walk over and peek my head to see the door to the second testing room is open. Wide open. I quietly look out, into the other room, only for my eyes go wide. Inside the room, from what I can see, is a single pony's skeleton, ribs are broken, skull is smashed, and not a single bit of it is in one piece. I find it concerning that I have mixed feelings about it, but I also realize something more important as I look around. I look around the corner, and freeze as I see something at the end of the hall. There, standing in front of the vent I crawled out of, is a large, boney and grotesque monster. It's skin is a bit of a paler color to mine, and it stands on two legs, but that's all the similarities I can find. It's head looks elongated, it's black eyes seem to bulge from their sockets. A few strands of hair rest in its head, which has large, sharp teeth in its mouth. They're yellow and jagged, with obvious signs of use. It wears a ripped shirt and jumpsuit like mine. Its torso and legs are boney and thin, which is a stark contrast to its large and bulky arms. At the end of each arm, is a large set of thick yet boney fingers with long nails. Actually, they kind of look like claws. Either way, the creature is obviously not something I want to run into. I slowly bring my arm up to show TIA as I walk back out.
'... That's horrifying.' She replies.
"What do I do? Where are the stairs?" I ask her quietly.
'We need a key first before we go back to the other side of the hallway. Quickly look for them please.' I look at her with a bit of malice.
"I think you should have said something like that sooner," I mutter.
'Truth be told, I did not expect the monster to actually be alive! It had no food source for three years after all!'
"Still, probably should have mentioned it earlier," I mutter, looking up. The creature is still staring at the vent, with unblinking eyes. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't even know if it has eyelids to begin with. Well, no time like the present to look around. I look at my hands and remember the heavy wrench I'm holding. Well, it could probably do well enough against that thing. I look around the room, quickly walking past desks and chairs, finding literally everything except a single God damn key. I sigh and remember the rooms I have yet to check. The testing rooms. I frown and look out the door. It looks like I have a bit of time to check them out
I carefully peek my head out to see the monster is crouching, looking into the vent. Then, suddenly, I hear a small chuckle. Not a humorous one, mind you, but a chuckle that sounded slightly joyful. The monster's mouth almost seemed to tighten upwards, into some grotesque version of a smile. Oh great, it's probably smart enough to think. Suddenly, the monster's head swivels and faces my direction. I quickly pull away from the door, catching myself from saying 'oh shit' out loud. That's not good. I can hear the slow clapping of its feet, making its way to the room I hide in. Shit. I look around and quickly dive over to a desk. I'm practically hugging a short wall, but this is better than nothing. I look over the desk and freeze as I see a large claw gripping the doorway as the monster looks in. Its gaze seems distant, like it's not really trying to look around, so much as get a good view of the room.
it's looking to see if anything's different.
The monster starts walking in, slowly and meticulously. I notice a vial on my desk and grab it. Time for a distraction. I aim for the other side of the room, away from the door, and throw it. It sails through the air, and I hear it crash against a wall. The creature's attention snapped to the wall and starts making its way. That'll give me some time. I quietly sneak out of the room, keeping my height low to the ground as I do so. I get out of the room and look at the three doors. Welp, might as well go to the second one since it's already open. I walk over and peer inside. Well, there's blood, blood, bones, and more blood. I frown and leave. I look at the other two doors and sigh. Guess I'll try to-
Suddenly, I hear crashing and smashing, as well as a loud roar of some sort from the room I snuck out of. Shit. I don't think he's gonna be patient anymore. I dip out and randomly chose a door to quickly go through. I open it and close it quickly, which deafens the sound of crashing. I breathe out a sigh and look around. The skeleton I had seen earlier is here, which means I chose the left door. Absolute luck right there. I look around and spot a small brown key in the corner of the room. Yes! I start to grab it, but I then see a small bone. Suddenly, I get an idea. I quickly get down and grab both items before going back up to the door. I open it and slam it closed before rushing to the vent. I practically dive in and scramble to rush through. My wrench is making it harder and harder to maneuver, but I'm sure I need it for later. I quickly get to the fork in the vents and throw the bone as noisely as I can down the vent going towards the fan. I quietly start moving back the way I came. Hopefully, that'll buy me even more time. The bone will hopefully trick the monster into going towards that fan TIA talked about. I smile to myself as I pass over the incinerator's vent. Let's hope I have more time than I think.
I crawl out of the vent, passing the pony corpse I had moved earlier. I walk out of the room and start rushing around to try and find a door I haven't opened yet. Thankfully, when I come up to the desk at the end of the hall, I realize that there's a metal door to its left. It's also off its hinges. I quickly wonder why the hell I needed a dn key in the first place until I see that there's another metal door inside the small hallway. I step last the fallen door and unlock the second one. It opens to reveal another stone staircase, making me smile in joy. With a hurry, I rush up the stairs, ready to put the monster behind me.
I stop to rest at the top of the staircase, next to the door. I clench my wrench with a bit of adrenaline coursing through me. Suddenly, I hear screams from downstairs. I snicker to myself, knowing what that might mean. However, it's probably pissed now. I get up and walk towards the door. I need to be quick. As I open the door, I glance at TIA.
'That was not smart. In fact, I calculated the risk of that coming back to bite us, and it stands at a 67.93%.'
"You worry too much," I say.
'This is serious Jack. I may not remember the day everypony died, but I do remember the fact that they died to this thing that you're infuriating.' I drop my smirk at that, and sigh.
"Sorry," I mutter. I look up to see that I came out of a metal door behind a white desk. It's smashed, along with various bits of paper. The room is wide, with a hallway to the right in the wall ahead of me. Two separate doors are on the left, one of which has a lock on it. It's metal and about the size of my hand. On the wall to the left, there's a big window that stretches from one end of the wall to the other, which is broken with glass shards on the floorm. There are tables set up, with notepads and small devices set on them along the window. Two of which are smashed and turned over. I look at the rubble of the desk in front of me and try to quickly rummage through it. Broken wood, metal, and some paper, but nothing of immediate importance. I sigh and go to the hallway. Down the hallway, I can see multiple rooms with glass windows beside the doors. I think I see about five total. One door doesn't have a window next to it, which makes six rooms. I can see that some windows are smashed into, and some have bits of blood splashed on. I frown and go to the window I had passed. The window leads into a big room I can look down to. There are claw marks and three skeletal corpses at the bottom. The skeletons are all wearing some type of armor. One of the skeletons is missing a skull. Of course, there's a lot of blood on the ground. However, I notice something strange about one pony. It has a horn. I hum in interest and move on. I'll ask TIA about that later.
I walk down the hall, passing various windows and doors. I look into each one quickly as I pass by. They all seem to have a table, and one had another skeleton belonging to a pony. As I pass the last room, however, I freeze in place. In the last room on the right, stands a human-like figure. It's like the blue one I found, but it has different deformations. It's eyes are bloodshot, and it's skin has black strings all across its body. It's skinny, but not like the last time. It's clear it doesn't have much meat on its bones, but it wasn't like last time. It states at me with a sort of painful, yet angry expression. It almost looks like jealousy.
Welp, I'm not waiting to see if it Luke's chatting or not. I quickly force myself to move on and go to the last door. I open it and find myself in a small corridor, which leads to a huge room with desks, chairs, and a few whiteboards on wheels. Most of these things are broken or turned over, but I spot a single computer across the room from me that doesn't look broken. I quickly contemplate just moving on to find the exit, or snooping through some dead person's stuff. I give a small grumble, but I decide to do some snooping and quietly rush to the computer. I quickly tap a couple keys and the computer springs to life.
Menu
Inbox: 1
Outbox:
Logs: 12,954
Trash:
Off
I quickly check the inbox.
From: Light Blaze
Hey, Dusty, can you fax me the conclusion forms again? Management wanted to see some progress for our project, and I couldn't find a single sheet we did yesterday. I don't want to go all the way back down to CDT's floor, it's creepy as Tartarus and the test subjects are unnerving. Heck, I don't know why you're fine with their blank looks, it's unnatural. Also, TIA said something about needing a carton of eggs for Dr Hooves. I think they're doing something good with that... thing. Just, check on them please?
I hum in interest as I move to see a random log.
Log 11,231: I like these new subjects. They're living examples of perfect test subjects! Reactive, non-emotional, obedient, and best of all: living. We've only used ten or twelve, and they're already advancing our medicine and knowledge of disease by fifty years! Imagine if we had hundreds of these! The only problem is, they take a long time to stabilize. The prototype-
I lean back with a frown as I read this, already deciding that I don't want to look into it anymore. At least, not for the moment. I get off the computer and look around again. The whiteboards, upon closer inspection, seem to have lines goin in zigzags or diagonally up. Various forms of equations are scribbled on, but faded due to the test of time. I move on and look around the room again. I spot a door on the wall to the right of the entrance to the room. However, this time, there's some sort of panel with a hole in it. I go up to it with curiosity.
"Hey, TIA, what's this?" I ask, showing her the device.
'Oh dear, that's a magic-essence-scanner. Are there any unicorns around? You'll need their horn, it contains magic needed to leave.' I look at the door in confusion.
"... Why is there a lock on this side of the room?"
'It's a measure to make sure anything that's dangerous here doesn't leave.'
"Uh, that sounds ominous as hell," I say. Before I could continue, I hear a distant clang, followed by a chuckle. I feel my eyes go wide as I recognize that chuckle. Shit. I quietly rush to the door and try to open it. I pull with all my might before cursing at it for being so God damn sturdy. I hear the chuckle again, which makes me realize that J don't have much time before I'm spotted. I quickly crouch down and look at my wrench. It looks like I'll need to use it soon. I grab it with my other hand and keep a tight grip. I look over the desk to see the terrifying creature, already poking its head through the doorway and looking around. I immediately duck back down and plant my back against the desk. Oh hell, what am I going to do!? This is crazy. I look at TIA for help.
'Jack, please, don't try to fight it. Just run!' I feel panic as I see the unhelpful advice. Where the hell can I run to!?
Suddenly, I hear the creature chuckle. Not a second later, I hear the creaking of an old desk moving. After a small pause, a desk flies right into the wall in front of me, crashing and bursting into chips of wood and metal. I cover my head to shield it from the falling debris as I hear another desk getting picked up. I need to move, now! I peek over my desk to see the monster's back is to me. Feeling terror, I get up and take the chance to start running for the exit. I pay nothing else any attention as I just make a beeline for the door. I can hear a grunt before feeling the heavy impact of the desk crashing right behind me, missing me. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" I tell, running out and making a sharp right turn. Where the hell do I go!? I feel myself go into autopilot as I start running to a random room. I jump into the air, through an already broken window. I collided against the wall and just barely manage to stop myself from groaning in pain as I quickly roll to be under the view of the window, against the wall. As I finally establish a sense of what's going on, I finally notice that a glass shard is in my arm. The adrenaline is probably helping with the pain, but I need to pull it out fast. I use a finger and a thumb to grab the edge of the shard and slowly pull it out. The pain's starting to register, it hurts like hell to say the least. I finally pull out the last bit and suppress a yell of pain. The shard is now covered in blood, but it's not as big as I thought it was. It's about an inch or an inch and a half long, I think. I toss it to the side and clutch my injured arm as I wait to see what fate has in store for me. I can hear the steps of the creature, coming closer and closer. I wipe the tears of pain from my eyes as I try not to think about said pain. I look around and see my wrench is right beside me. I grab it with my uninjured hand and hold it close.
Yep, now I can really feel the pain. However, my hands are still shaking with adrenaline. I squeeze my eyes shut as I hear the steps top. I hear the monster breathing, as it gets closer to the window. I crack an eye open and look up to see the long snout above my head. I trail my gaze down to see that a set of claws longer than my forearm resting next to me, on the windowsill. I feel the color drain from my face, noticing how close it is. If it moves just a bit to the left, I’m screwed. I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping that I won’t be this creature’s dinner in the next minute. I wait in agony, until finally, the creature backs away from the window, releasing the window sill. I hold my breath nonetheless, until the monster starts walking away. I give a quiet sigh and peek over the window. The monster's back is turned, revealing a faded number on what remains on its tattered jumpsuit. I try to squint my eyes, but it's no use. I inwardly sigh and just wait for it to leave. It looks around, peering at the windows before walking over to one. It chuckles as it hops the window and into the dark room across from me. I take this opportunity to quietly hop out of the room I was in and quickly walk to the bigger room at the end of the hall. I remember seeing a unicorn in that room with the big window. I carefully walk to the edge and look into the room to see everything as it was before. Some corpses with armor and a huge blood splat. I grip my wrench tightly as I jump down and land with a thud. Crap. I feel panic go through me as I go to the armored unicorn's body. Crap crap crap. I feel absolute disgust as I realize that I'll have to take the skull with me since I'm sure the monster heard my landing. I grab the skull, which is sticky, as yank it off the spine with a sickening crack.
"I am so sorry," I say quietly to the body as I turn to look at the door. It's at this moment, I suddenly remember. The exit's locked. Shit. I panic as I look around. All I have is the wrench in one hand, and the skull in the other hand. I pace quickly as I try to think of how to get out of here. The window's too high for me to jump, and I know I can't force open a metal door. I feel nothing but fear as I realize I'm gonna die. I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling tears stream down my face.
Behind me, I can hear the heavy thud, followed by a chuckle. I turn around and quickly back up as I see the monster, its mouth is open, revealing two or three rows of jagged yellow teeth. I swear I can see a fling of sick joy in the bulbous black eyes it has. It raises an arm to strike me. "Wait, please! Don't kill me!" I cry, stumbling onto my ass as I fall over a skeleton. The creature slams the set of claws down as I roll to the side, barely missing me. I get onto my feet and run to it with my wrench. I don't know what I'm doing, my body is pretty much on autopilot at this point. I try to swing the wrench as hard as I can into the monster, managing to strike its face. It stumbles a bit, but quickly regains its stance before rushing up and slamming an arm into me. I fly into the air, barely toughing the ceiling as pain shoots through me. However, I see the top of a windowsill pass me before I land on the concrete ground. I groan in pain as I try to figure out what's happened. I roll on my side, slowly getting up. I think the creature just bashed me through the window. Holy shit that's lucky. I quickly look to see if I'm still holding the unicorn skull. I grimace as I see that half of the skull was destroyed, but the horn is intact. I look over to see the monster growling at the bottom of the room, getting low to the ground. Oh shit, it's about to jump! I don't waste any more time as I quickly rush down the hallway to the room with desks. Behind me, I hear the loud thud and sliding of thick skin. The monster roars unnaturally as it starts to give chase. I turn into the room of desks and continue sprinting.
I get closer and closer to the door, feeling a small amount of relief wash over me. However, it's short lived when a desk crashes in front of me. I instinctively duck as the body of the monster flies over me, landing in front of me with a heavy thud. As it turns around to face me, the floor around it cracks. It turns to me, ready to pounce again, but I throw my wrench at it in panic. It collides with its head, making it stumble a little as the floor finally gives way.
The ground opens up, revealing a glowing room beneath this one, where the monster falls in with a roar. I slowly walk over to see the room is nothing but constant fire, where the monster is screeching as its flesh Burns and melts. "Shit," I say with surprise. I kind of stare after the monster in shock before deciding I should move on.
I go around the hole and to the door, taking the skull and poking the horn into the hole for the door. A sort of whirring sounds before the door slowly opens. I immediately go through, letting go of the horn as I rush to the stairs. I want to get away as fast as possible now.
Author's Note
Wowie, the second chapter's done! Hope ya'll enjoyed it!
