And the pedestal that they stood on fell down with
A terrifying crash, and it’s tremors
Shook the rest of the world with force worthy of
It’s demise
-Ernest Horsingway
A rush of light flooded into my eyelids. Pure, blinding, light. I could not make out its color, although I doubt it had any. After my sight adjusted, I could feel myself floating-no, submerged- in a liquid. The liquid seemed to have a consistency of water, which told me that my inability to move was not it's doing.
My next sense that was activated was the taste. An iron and metallic taste entered my mouth, and it lingered there without ever subsiding. Then, I could smell alcohol, rubbing alcohol. The smell was artificial, seemingly created to let me know the sense was activated.
My eyes fully opened, but they still did not reveal much. I was correct in my assumption of being submerged, and the thin liquid bore the color of green toothpaste. Although I could not move my head, my pupils strained upward to see metal. In front of me, a thin but long glass door kept me trapped inside the container.
It felt like hours sitting there, submerged in a liquid I could easily see and breathe in. Time. Its construct came to me quickly and with it the sense of space and distance. More things came to me, such as the ability to read, write, and talk. All suddenly entered my mind like tiny small flashes. Sound, however, still eluded me.
I realized the hours I thought I spent only took up two minutes. And with the analysis of my surroundings, I realized I only understood the language, in fact, several languages, but could not speak yet. I learned this when I was gifted with the motion of my mouth. I tried to let out a whimper but was unable to as if nothing even allowed me to try to speak. There was no sense of being muffled by the unnamed liquid.
I now understood it took five more minutes for a new update to occur. I felt something running through my veins, which I thought was blood. There was nothing to prove my assessment. In a short second after, I felt two syringes plunge into my back, and I felt something enter my system.
I now understood pain...it was not a desirable experience. I tried to yelp out but was still unable to. However, my hearing did activate. I heard the gentle sloshing of the liquid as I made tiny and small movements. I also heard the sound of pressured air being released, and finally a loud, deep, and mechanical voice playing all over my own body.
“Pain Receptors. Online. Sight Receptors. Online. Taste Recptors. Online. Smell-”
The glass plane opened up with a loud whir, and the liquid quickly flooded out. Including me. This sudden change shocked me into a bigger sense of reality, matched only by the fall I took on the hard floor.
“-empurture Receptors. Online. Fight or Flight. Activated. Spatial Awareness. Online. Cognitive Abilities-”
I struggled to stand up, and my attempt immediately failed, sending me crashing down to the glass. I heard it crunch underneath my weight, and the pain that it brought me made me yell loudly. It was good to know that I could speak now. Or yell for that matter.
I laid down on my side, trying to will my hooves to move. They were stubborn, standing there lifeless in my gaze.
The voice finally stopped, and I cursed myself for not paying more attention to what skills I acquired. Now accepting my current situation, I looked around the environment. I was the only pod in this room, covered in dull gray concrete on all fours. To my left was one such wall. My right was a bifurcated staircase that led up to a steel door and a large viewing window. I could imagine the number of ponies that would stand there, looking at me, inspecting me. However, as I stared, I was barely able to see through the window, which was topped with cobwebs and dust. I knew that nopony stood beyond that door or window.
My arm twitched, which brought me back to consciousness. I had a goal to do. My mind focused completely on being able to move, one ligament at a time.
It must have been five hours until I was able to stand on all fours, full of hard falls and painful learning experiences. When I did stand up on all my fours, I experienced intense wobbling. It took everything to stop, and as a result, I opted to stand still, trying to get my hooves accustomed to the hard concrete floor.
Slowly, I took a step, where I suffered little wobbling. As I took three steps, I was able to now hold myself up while walking. Now, I focused on climbing up the stairs. As I made my way to the staircase, a saw a loudspeaker box attached to the top corner of the room. I identified that as the source of the loud informing voice.
A put my hoof on the rail, and with much effort, I stood on the first two stairs. I slowly, very slowly, made my way up the first staircase, and eventually made my way up the second. I know could now see through the window more easily, and I saw my entire reflection.
I could see that I was a stallion, medium build, and white. I was also an earth pony. My mane, my coat, everything was white. Something on my flank which I characterized as a cutie mark was what seemed to be a calculator. My brain wasn’t ready to decipher that one.
I then tried to smile, and a scarring grin spread across my face. I almost jumped back at the terrifying vision. I quickly changed to a frown, which looked rather unnatural. I finally let my face go slack, and saw that I looked rather normal. My hair was rather long, with some getting in front of my eyes, and reaching almost halfway down my back. I shook my head slowly, admiring the way the white hair moved back and forth. I then cleared my breath.
“H-h-hel-lo,” I said shakily to nopony in particular. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I opted to repeat the phrase to the empty room until I got it down right. Once I finished my little goal, I walked to the steel door and proceed to walk inside.
The new room did little to add anything interesting. There was a desk propped up underneath the window with a few chairs in front of it, and that was it. There were one or two notebooks propped up on the table, but when I looked at them, the writings were too eroded to read.
I realized that I had no idea where I was, what the year was, why I was there, or anything of the sort. But as I tried to look deeper into those thoughts, my brain almost set a boundary against me, and despite how hard I tried, I could not divulge into deeper thought. I quickly got rid of that goal and instead turned to what seemed to be more important. There was no door.
From everything that I could see, this room seemed to be a dead end. I walked to the adjacent wall, which seemed entirely as a dead end. Even though my mind was still booting up, I did know that rooms should have doors in them.
I tried tapping my hoof against the wall in an ill-guided attempt at a secret passageway. Not so silly it seems, as the wall turned green. After three seconds or so, the wall began to almost break apart. It started by separating from large pieces of wall, and after about a minute or so, it allowed me to see a long and winding hallway.
I then instantly regretted my senses coming into focus, as a rancid smell invaded my nose. My muzzle instinctively wrinkled up, and I fought the urge to gag. Although I lost that one, I was able to keep from throwing up.
The corridor was a sickly gray, and the only direction it went in was straight. At the far end of the hallway was a door with a hoof scanner. Midway through the corridor was a door also with a scanner. This one was busted, and inside was a container similar to mine.
I walked in quickly and saw that the glass was broken, and there was sick black blood dried on the floor. No doubt helping with that putrid smell. There was nopony inside, and I realized that a small blood trail ended just outside the door. A computer sat on a desk across from the pod. I couldn’t access the files, however. It said I needed an auxiliary pass. My brain couldn’t make out what that was. I decided that once I made sense of my surroundings, even the ones outside of this facility, that I would come back. It must help me find out who I was. And with that, I now had a goal. I made my way back to the corridor.
Still, the smell persisted, following me down my straight line. It was terrible, more so that my new senses couldn't exactly tell what caused it. I dont even think I would want to know. And then there was a scratching sound.
As I opened the door, I entered into a giant atrium. Instead of little shops and however, there were rooms that were guarded with a scanner. I looked down at my hoof and smiled. I had the touch.
There was an overhanging bridge above my head, which led to more rooms. I grew hopeful that those rooms held the pass. However, I needed to start with this bottom floor. My newly working brain told me that the offices and small-time scientist rooms would only hinder my journey. I kept searching until I found a room labled Dr. Whooves, Main Chairstallion's Office. I knew that the room must hold information to my newly accepted quest from it's grandiose title
I used my keycard and...I was not ready for what was on the other side. It explained the smell.
