I Am Alone

My day began with a painful wake-up call—a sharp kick to my ribs.

“Get up.” One of the orderlies, a large stallion, barked at me. I didn't dare look up at him, but I could feel his impatience.

I slowly made my way to the door, but apparently not fast enough for the orderly's liking, as I received another kick.

“Oi.” I growled at him.

My reward for such a brazen display of resistance was to be zapped by some sort of taser stick. The pain was excruciating, like lightning coursing through my bones. I wanted to snap at him, but didn’t want a second zap.

The orderly nudged me again, prompting me to keep walking. Walking right into the white chest of the one pony I never wanted to see again, Dr. Test Chambers. I felt the orderly's legs behind me, blocking my retreat.

The mad Doctor towered over me. His presence sent shivers down my spine, setting off every flight response.

“Subject Seven-Nine-Seven-Nine,” he addressed me condescendingly, “we are going to have some fun today.”

I didn’t like his idea of fun, whatever it’d be. I wanted to go back into my cell. I wanted Grim; he made me feel safe. As much as that sounded like Stockholm Syndrome, it was true.

“Prep operating room number three Iron Hoof.” He instructed the orderly behind me.

I turned back to look at the one who woke me so violently. He seemed completely mute as he just nodded and walked off. He was a brutish individual, that much was certain. He had a scruffy black mane and tail that appeared to have never seen a comb. His coat was a dark brown, almost black, and he was covered in scars and blemishes. I couldn’t make out his eyes, but I bet they were beady little specks filled with disdain.

I then turned my attention back to the despicable Dr. Chambers. “I will be conducting some necessary tests,” he began, “you can either cooperate or resist.” He then leaned in closer to me, lowering his voice, “I do hope you resist. It will make your pain all the more...pleasurable.”

My blood boiled with anger. I wanted nothing more than to exact revenge upon him, to tear him limb from limb.

But Grim told me to behave. So, suppressing my rage, I swallowed what little pride I had, and begrudgingly followed the doctor to Operating Room No. 3.

Of course, I was hesitant to give into any of this sick cunt’s demands. But what other choice did I have? Be tasered again? No thanks.

Forced to comply, I entered the room. Looking around I noticed that this wasn’t exactly a sterile environment, some of this equipment looked like it still had blood on it. I grimaced and pushed down the lump in my throat.

“Take a seat right here,” Dr. Chambers sneered, pointing to a large metal reclined operating table.

I didn’t want to. I wanted to be in my cell. My cell was safe.

“Ow!” I yelled at Iron Hoof, who was at my side with his taser stick. Miserable oaf. Not wanting to be electrified a third time now, I hopped on the table. It took me a while as it was higher than I thought it would be. Plus no one helped me up.

Once I was up, I heard a metallic sound and noticed restraints popping up from the sides of the table, quickly moving towards me and locking me in place. The cold metal bit into my skin, sending shivers down my spine as I realized the gravity of the situation.

“Wha-” I started to protest, before a hoof found its way into my mouth.

Don’t bite down, don’t bite down. I had to mentally tell myself.

“Pliers.” I heard Dr. Chambers instruct his offsider.

Pliers? What were they gonna do? Rip out a tooth? I panicked.

I started to close my mouth around the Doctor’s hoof in my mouth, but other hooves came out of nowhere and held my mouth open.

This is gross, too many hooves in my mouth. I struggled against my restraints as much as I could. Something that would probably please that sick fuck.

I felt cold metal against my gums. No, please no. The pair of pliers grasping a back tooth. No, I didn’t want this to happen.

Rip. I felt a sharp, searing pain as the tooth was wrenched from my gums, a sickening sensation of something tearing away from the bone.

My tooth was gone. I tried to scream out in pain as loud as I could, but all I could manage was a strained and muffled sound. The full force of my scream was held back by the foreign obstruction in my mouth. I let out a high-pitched wail, added with the tightness of my very fear.

Just as quickly as my mouth was violated, the many hooves were gone. I tried looking up but my eyes were now blurry from the new tears forming. My body was shaking, I sniffled a sob back inside me.

Tears streamed down my face as I trembled in the cold metal restraints, my body too numb with shock to struggle or resist.

Through blurred vision, I spied the form of Dr. Chambers. I couldn’t tell for sure, but I knew he’d be smiling, reveling in my suffering. Blinking away my tears, my suspicion was proved correct.

“What’s next will hurt even more,” he sneered. He really was a mad scientist. Dr. Chambers turned around to grab something from his medical tray, while I continued to fear for my safety and sanity.

I didn’t like this pain. I wanted it to stop. I wanted Grim.

As I watched in horror, Dr. Chambers approached me with an ominous-looking instrument in hand. It was a T-shaped device with a long, thick needle attached to it. I could feel my heart racing in my chest as I realized what he intended to do. I had never seen anything like it before, but I knew it was going to be excruciatingly painful. The needle was thick and menacing, and I could already imagine the searing pain as it pierced through my skin and into my bone.

Iron Hoof grabbed my right back leg with his large, rough hooves, and I felt a sharp twinge of pain shoot up my spine. The wound where the Timberwolf had bitten me was still raw and throbbing, but neither he nor Dr. Chambers seemed to care. Despite my wince of pain, they continued with their task, callous to my discomfort.

Just as I had feared, the needle was plunged into my hind leg, directly into the bone. I let out a scream, but the only sound that came out was a gurgled mess due to the blood in my mouth. I wanted to spit right in both their faces, but with the risk of contamination, I quickly retracted the thought. As the bone marrow was extracted, the pain became unbearable, and I felt like my leg was on fire. I could no longer feel it, and the numbness spread throughout my body.

I could feel my heart racing and my breath coming in short gasps. The leg from which the bone marrow had been extracted felt numb, as if it didn't belong to me anymore. It was a strange sensation, and I didn't know if it was temporary or permanent. All I knew was that I wanted it to stop, wanted to be free from the agony.

My anger and hatred towards Iron Hoof and Dr. Chambers grew even more with each passing moment. How dare they do this to me? I felt disgusted and infuriated, wishing that I could lash out at them with all the strength I had left. I knew I couldn't, not yet anyway. But I swore to myself that one day I would make them pay for what they had done to me.

The worst was far from over as Dr. Chambers deactivated the restraints that had held me to the table. He turned to Iron Hoof and barked out an order.

"Flip it," he said.

Iron Hoof's rough grip pulled me off the table and flipped me onto my stomach. The cold, hard metal surface made my face numb. My heart rate quickened and my fear tripled as I heard a loud ripping sound. They had torn the hoodie that Helping had given me right up the middle.

"No!" I cried out, fresh tears streaming down my face.

The restraints reappeared and held me down as I writhed and squirmed, trying anything to escape, but they bit into my skin with a fierce grip.

My body flinched as Dr. Chambers whispered in my ear, "This next part will hurt more than the last," his hoof gripping the back of my neck tightly.

As I lay there, sniffling and unable to come up with a retort, my attention was drawn to the sound of a hoof clinking against metal. What would they extract next?

With my back exposed and my body tense, there was only one option left—one that I knew would be more painful than anything I had already endured.

But then, there was a surprising pause. I waited for the anticipated pain, but instead heard the sound of clippers. They were going to shave me first? The thought left me feeling utterly exposed and defenseless.

As a hoof traced the shape of my spine, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with each passing vertebra. I could feel the hoof stopping short of my tailbone, tracing back up only a short distance before tapping lightly on my lower spine.

That was where he would start. With a small section of the surrounding area shaved, I braced myself for the inevitable pain to come.

The pain was excruciating, as the cold, sharp metal was being plunged into the soft tissue of my back. The needle seemed to hit a resistance on the way in, intensifying the agony. My head felt like it was being split in two, and a scream escaped my throat before a wooden bar was shoved into my mouth, muffling my cries of pain.

Dr. Chambers pushed the needle in even further, and I writhed, screamed, and cried, but my struggles were futile. The wood in my mouth couldn't withstand the pressure of my clenching teeth, and I spit out the splinters and blood as I continued to wail.

A large hoof covered my mouth, and in a moment of desperation, I bit down as hard as I could. I tried to hold back, hoping Grim would understand, but the agony was too much to bear.

Fluid was extracted from the intrusion in my spine and the pressure decreased and alleviated as the needle was removed. The hoof that covered my mouth was also lifted, though not without a struggle as I had bitten down hard on it. Iron Hoof probably wasn't pleased, but I couldn't care less.

My body felt like it was on fire. Every nerve in my being was screaming with pain. I could no longer focus on what they had just done to me anymore, I was consumed by the agony. All I wanted was for it to stop, for someone to make it stop.

My vision was blurry with tears and my breathing was ragged as I struggled to control my sobs. I felt so vulnerable and exposed, stripped of all dignity and my remaining humanity. The thought of being reduced to nothing more than a lab experiment was almost too much to bear.

But amidst the pain and despair, a flicker of defiance burned within me. I refused to let them break me, to let them win. I would survive this, no matter what they did to me.

Hoofsteps then receded away from me. They just left me hooked up to this table face down, the bastards.

Several minutes passed, then half an hour, and finally a full hour until someone returned to the room.

I judged from the weight of the hoofsteps, that is was Dr. Chambers. I was proven correct when he started speaking. “Well, well, well. You just keep getting more and more fascinating the more I learn about you.” he seemed pleased with himself.

My restraints keeping me facedown were then deactivated, much to my surprise. I turned myself around, despite pain wracking my body. Dr. Chambers stood a respectable distance away now, although I still backed up on the table as much as I could without falling off. I ignored the pain in my spine and leg, which was now bleeding again from the bite wound.

Dr. Chambers waited with unsettling patience until I made eye contact with him before speaking again.

“The test results I got back from what I extracted proved a theory I had about your origins,” I sensed a long tangent coming on, “you see, we’ve developed something called the Soul Resonance Chamber, or SRC for short, a revolutionary piece of equipment that sought to push the boundaries of science and magic.

It functioned by using a complex system of magical crystals and alchemic machinery to pull recently deceased souls from the aether and fit them into bodies before they expired. The process was extremely delicate and required an enormous amount of power, both magical and mechanical, to achieve. At first, we attempted the feat on Equestrian souls, but unfortunately, the new bodies couldn't last longer than six months. So we widened our radius, and through some unknown miracle, it seemed to work.

However, the signal for the retrieved soul was lost over the Everfree Forest. That was twelve months ago, we deemed the project a failure as the subject was never recovered.” he trailed off on the last sentence, looking directly at me.

Was he suggesting that I was the result of this SRC experiment? “Me?” I queried.

“Yes, we believe it to be you. Initially only theorising such a thing, however after several tests I’ve come to the conclusion that you are in fact the experiment. Testing the strontium in your teeth revealed no Equestrian counterpart at all, some of your cell counts are vastly different from a normal Equestrian pony also. Your chromosome count is also something to behold, forty-six, as opposed to the usual sixty-four. By all accounts, you are an anomaly that shouldn’t exist.” He revealed. I could tell he was completely unapologetic on how he acquired such results.

“And?” I pushed, butchering the end of the word.

“It means that you are from another world entirely, and therefore are not bound by our natural laws of magic.” Dr. Chambers announced in a crazed voice, taking a few steps closer.

My mind raced with the implications of what Dr. Chambers was saying. "What you want?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Dr. Chambers smiled, his eyes gleaming with a manic intensity. "We want to use you. Use you to discover the secrets of immortality and ascension into Alicornhood. With your unique DNA and the power of the SRC, we can unlock the secrets of the universe."

A chill ran down my spine as I looked into Dr. Chambers' eyes. I knew then that I had to find a way out, no matter the cost.

Before I was led back into my cell, Dr. Chambers gave me other results from the testing. Something about being negative for Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis and not showing signs of any degenerative cell conditions. Information free of charge. Funnily enough, I was found to have low levels of iron.

I retreated into the far corner of the padded cell, wrapping the ripped scraps of my hoodie around me, with no idea what my fate might be. I knew I was from another world, and I couldn't help but feel angry that they had to go to such lengths to figure it out for themselves.

After spitting out the blood that had pooled in my mouth again, I tried to calm my racing thoughts, focusing on my breathing as I tried my best to hug my knees to my chest. I couldn't let them use me for their experiments, no matter what they promised me. But how could I escape? The cell was padded, the door was locked, and the vents were too small for me to fit through.

I closed my eyes, willing myself to come up with a plan. I couldn't give up hope. I had to keep fighting, no matter how dire the situation seemed. Throughout this, I still felt hopelessly alone.