NHRD Laboratories Journal No. 7

by Golden Cake

Rating: teen
Tags: Profanity, Adventure, Human, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Drama, Original Character
Length: 3796

“I have to get out of this underground NHRD laboratory. Maybe that purple, horselike thing I saw today belongs down here, but I don’t.”

“My name is Jay Tallin, and although this lab journal doesn’t technically belong to me, it’s mine now.”
“These past months haven’t been easy for me, as usual, but these past few days have been even worse, so I’m keeping this journal to record my thoughts.”
“I just don’t get it, the NHRD was supposed to help people, but they forced me to stay in their underground lab with that purple, horselike, alien thing.”
“I have to get out of here, I’ve heard of the experiments they do down here, and I’m not about to be one of their lab rats…”

Published 2023-01-02 03:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-01-05 03:27:46 UTC

Journal entry #1, I guess

Author's Note

(Taking a step back from the story, this is using a completely new format for stories compared to what I’m used to, as it’s told from the perspective of someone actually writing in a journal. I don’t know if it will look good, or will be immersive, or not, so I’m sorry if you don’t like the way I’ve made this story.)

Journal entry #1, I guess

Information on test subject 3A98-

When injected with the blood of an African Lion, the subject did not react as hoped.
Effects included- Itchiness around injection area, visible swelling on the neck and chest, and a reported head pain, “like a throbbing, burning sensation in the brain”.

Information on test subject 4A76-

When the subject was injected with the blood of a Veiled Chameleon, the subject responded with some unexpected side effects.
She did not gain all to the abilities we hoped for, but she did gain a few, including the ability to change the color of her skin(though not at will, at least not currently), and increased awareness, as she wouldn’t take her eyes off of the testers as they were in her room once she was injected with the blood.
Side effects include- A more isolated change of personality, and new food cravings, such as

(Rest of the page is torn off)

Journal entry #1, I guess-

I can’t believe I’m doing this. Diaries were more like Ellie’s thing before our uncle… anyways, these months have been hard to deal with, and these past few days have been even worse, so I’m keeping this journal to write down my thoughts and experiences, so they’re not just trapped in the chaotic mess that’s my brain.

I have a surprisingly good memory, so this should come pretty easily to me.

I’m in a laboratory containment room right now as I write this, and this “bed” that I’m laying on is unbearable, and the one pillow I have is super stiff, which I hate, but I’m dealing with it.

This journal about animal blood, or whatever those first freaky pages were, doesn’t actually belong to me.

When I was first brought here for “testing”, I had a brief opportunity after I was questioned and was being taken to my room/prison cell.

When no one was looking, I swiped this notebook off of an employee’s desk, and hid it in my pants.

I’m a pretty slim guy, but this book isn’t very big, so I was able to hide it without it being too obvious for someone to see.

So, I was brought here by Newfound Hope and Research Development, or NHRD for short, so they could run tests on me, saying I was exposed to an anomaly, and that they needed to see if it had affected me.

I’ll talk about that later, but right now, I’ll just talk about how all of this happened.

Okay, here we go.

It was a normal day, just like any other. By which I mean, just as bland as the last.

I worked a dead end job as a pizza delivery boy, a job that’s part of the reason of why I’m here, and I lived with my sister, Ellie, and my uncle.

I always hated living with my uncle, even before I lost my little sister.

Lucas Kohann, our uncle, was always commanding and condescending, and even worse, he was creepy, and gave me shifty vibes sometimes.

Even though he gave me bad vibes every now and then, I never thought he was capable of sexual assault. Especially not on my own fucking sister, and his own niece.

Even I’ll admit, this world is a scary place sometimes.

When me and Ellie later went to court against him, we won the trial, and me and her both got a restraining order against him, but I’ll never forget what happened next.

As we all walked down the steps of the courtroom, Lucas took out a pocket knife and stabbed her in the chest, killing her before I could even react.

In my anger after that, I tackled him and punched him in the face relentlessly, as my mind went blank, aside from my instincts screaming at me to never stop punching him, until his face was pulp. Or, that was, until I was pulled off of him by the people standing around us.

I’m not normally a violent guy, even in these days. I might have an attitude problem, at least according to my school teachers, but this was a situation where anyone would be bloodthirsty if they were in my shoes.

In the weeks that followed after that, I mourned the loss of my sister, and Lucas was sent to life in prison for homicide.

As nice as it was with Lucas finally being out of my life… Ellie was too. And since me and her both lost our mom and dad from a young age, I had no choice but to move in with my grandparents.

It was just a year ago that my sister died, and I dropped out of high school since then, even though I was just one year until graduation.

I’m seventeen, and she was fifteen, so we had some high school classes together.

I was not a perfect big brother, if I’m being totally honest. I should’ve been better, but I wasn’t.

I struggled in my classes a lot to the time, and actually had to have Ellie help me with some of my subjects.

She wasn’t able to help all the time, since she was a whole grade below me, but she’s always been smart, so most of the times that she’s helped me, she was able to improve my grade.

Her help actually gave me some motivation to really learn, at least sometimes.

Even in the times she wasn’t able to help, I still appreciated her trying, and I loved it when we spent time together, even if it was just us doing some boring schoolwork.

The things I would give for just one hour of studying Algebra II with her right now…

I just wished I’d told her how much I appreciated her back then, before she left this life. I hope she’s found peace in her own heaven right now, cause she deserves it more than anyone else I know.

She was a smart, sweet girl, when she graced this world with her presence, and she deserved my love and respect more than anyone else.

We always had each others backs, and in the occasional times she had bullies pestering her in school, I would happily ‘persuade them’ to stop.

She had times where she would get self conscious about how smart she was, or how nice she was to everyone, including our school teachers, with her bullies teasing her and calling her names like “egghead”, and “brown noser”.

I would always be with her on those days.

The days at home where she would be crying with her face buried in her pillow.

I would sit in her bed and hold her, give her some comforting words, and maybe make a joke or two.

Sometimes it would take a while, but soon, she would smile, as I assured her that her intelligence and her heart were blessings, just like she was.

We were really close.

(Bottom of the page is stained with a few dried tears)

Anyways. Anyways, with my current situation, I was forced into this lab because I came into contact with an ‘anomaly’ of some kind, and I remember it pretty clearly.

It was a pretty average day, and I was working my shift delivering pizza’s.

As I said, I live with my grandparents now, and they do a damn good job of taking care of me.

They’re providing, caring, and don’t give me creepy vibes.

In fact, my grandparents actually almost coddle me, saying that I don’t need an actual job as long as I help out around the house.

I didn’t want to be a freeloader though, so I thought I’d play my part and get a job, even if it’s one that I really don’t enjoy.

As I was delivering pizza’s on my bike, I was riding through a forest, with the sunlight flashing in my eyes as it passed through the branches that flew by me while I pedaled.

Nothing was out of the ordinary as I was riding along the side of the street, or that was until I heard a loud noise, almost like an explosion, coming from my right, in the forest, as there was a bright flash of purple light.

I slowed down and stopped my bike, as I looked into the forest curiously.

After a moment of me looking in the direction of the explosion, I stepped off my bike, letting it fall to the ground, onto the crunchy leaves and dirt, before I walked into the forest.

There were a lot of tree’s, but they were thin, so it was pretty easy to see things from a distance.

And see things I did, as I walked for a bit, and saw what looked like a crater in the ground, and in the center of it, was some animal unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

It looked like a horse, or a pony, except it had a purple coat, a weird looking mane and tail, and freakishly large eyes.

It also had a horn, and seemed to be a unicorn.

As I looked at it, with my jaw agape, the creature looked at me and tilted its head.

It then took a few steps toward me, giving me a look that felt… imploring? Almost like she was asking me for help.

Her closer steps immediately prompted me to step back, before I tripped on a stick and fell on my rear, and the creature stood over me.

She opened her mouth and made some neighing sounds, just like any horse would, before she immediately put one hoof over her mouth, as her eyes widened.

She opened her mouth again, and neighed at me once more, looking at me worriedly as she stepped a bit closer, before I raised my arm defensively.

When she noticed this, she stood in place for a brief moment, before she tapped her hoof on the floor, as she looked at the floor, as if she was thinking.

Then her eyes suddenly lit up, and she looked up at her horn, then at me.

I tried moving away, as her horn lit up with a purple, foggy glow, before the fog slowly flew through the air, right into my nose and mouth.

My eyes watered, and I felt like crying, as childish as that sounds.

But whatever she did to me was stinging my insides, and my lungs felt like they were burning for a moment.

But after that moment, the pain actually faded away entirely, as the creature looked down at me, and gave me and assuring look, as if to say: “you’re ok, don’t worry”.

I then scrambled to my feet, and turned around, as I was about to run for my life, before I heard a female voice calling from behind me, right where the creature was.

I turned my head, as I was still ready to run, as I saw that there was no one there, except the creature, who was looking at me curiously, with her head tilted slightly to the side.

She opened her mouth, and spoke. With actual words. And the same feminine voice I’d just heard.

“Hello? Can you understand me now?” It said.

I gulped, before I slowly turned around to completely face her.

“…Y-yes. I… I can,” I said in return.

I took a hesitant step closer, as her eyes remained fixated on me.

“How… how are you talking? You’re a horse.”

The creature looked offended for a moment, as she scoffed at me.

“Actually, I’m a pony. You’re a pretty ill mannered stallion.”

I gave her a confused look.

“Yeah, I uh… I’ve had people tell me that more than once before. And… did you just call me… a stallion?”

She opened her mouth as she was about to speak, but said nothing, as her eyes widened, and she stared into space.

I looked at her side, and saw that she was shot in the side of her neck with what I assumed was a tranquilizer dart.

She stumbled, and nearly fell, as she barely caught herself, and looked around quickly, as she lit up her horn and gritted her teeth.

“What the tartarus was that?!” She yelled, as she looked around, before she looked back at me with an aggressive expression.

“I’m not here to hurt you! I just need… heellllllpp…”

She was then shot with four more tranquilizer darts while she was talking, before she face planted onto the ground.

I looked around quickly, and saw people dressed in white outfits and masks for a moment, before I felt multiple darts hit me in the back, before I stumbled for a few seconds, then fell to my knees, and tumbled to the ground.

I weakly opened my eyes, and saw that they were carrying the creature, and putting her in a truck, and that two people were starting to lift me up, before I slowly shut my eyes, as the last of my strength faded away.

Journal Entry #2, a Day of Prison Life

So last night, I wrote down my thoughts and what happened to me before I was brought here, just to get all my thoughts down on paper.

This might sound silly, but I can kind of see why diaries are popular. Maybe guys should use them a bit more.

Maybe I’m just being silly, though.

So lunchtime today was… interesting.

I found out that I’m not the only prisoner, or ‘patient’, based on what the staff say, here.

But everyone else, even excluding that creepy purple unicorn, aren’t exactly… normal.

When I first got my lunch, when I tried sitting at a table with a girl who had poofy, frazzled hair, and with a few other girls who looked similar to her, they all glared at me defensively, before one of them slammed their hand over the seat defensively.

That one girl sort of… growled at me, too. Like some kind of feral animal.

After attempting to sit next to her, I moved to a table in the corner, with one other girl sitting alone.

Aside from her literally staring at me for the entire time I ate, based on what I could see from the corner of my eye, she didn’t really seem threatening.

Maybe the NHRD is doing good, and maybe they’re just trying to help these… mentally ill people.

I wanted to think that, but I wasn’t feeling too sure.

I mean, before me and that purple creature were forcibly brought here, I never thought that the NHRD used specialized units armed with tranquilizer darts, for ANY purpose.

I guess I understand them being scared by that creature, but it’s not like I a threat to them.

The people here think that I’ve been influenced by an ‘anomaly’, which I assume is that creature, and that’s why it seems that I’m in a deeper level of security than other patients.

But all the creature, who I assume was a she, based on the voice, did to me was make me ingest that sparkly fog.

That could’ve been something really bad, though.

I don’t want to think about it.

So, it turns out that all of us patients get about an hour and a half of exercise time in an underground courtyard, set up with seemingly fake lights, sometime between lunch and dinner, maybe.

I don’t have a clock, so the only base of time that I have is my sleep schedule.

Luckily, for the last year or so I’ve always had a set sleep schedule, even without an alarm.

My internal clock always wakes me up generally around 9:10 AM(even if I still lay in bed once I’m awake), and I start feeling drowsy at around 10:35 PM.

But time aside, today at the courtyard, when I was sitting on a bench by myself, as the rest of the patients either lifted weights or lurked on the outside, like me, I actually saw that purple creature again.

She wasn’t exercising either, but she immediately galloped over to me the moment she saw me, and sat next to me.

After a short moment of tense silence, she started a casual conversation, which took me by surprise.

“Yknow, I never expected humans to be so defensive,” she said, as she looked at the guards who were overlooking everyone in the large room.

I cleared my throat politely, before I briefly looked around at the guards, too.

“Yeah. Even I didn’t think that they would do that kind of thing, and I’ve known the NHRD for a while.”

“NHRD?” The creature asked.

I looked at her for a second, before my eyes shifted back to the other patients on the courtyard.

“It stands for Newfound Hope and Research Development. It’s an organization of people who have been finding cures for diseases and stuff like that.”

The creature looked at the courtyard of patients, as I did.

“I never looked deep into them, but I never thought they kidnapped people,” I said.

I looked at her.

“And to be totally honest, I don’t even know how to feel about… you.”

She looked at me, slightly offended, but mostly confused, as she asked me what I meant.

“Well, it’s just, you seem to go against any laws of nature or logic in this world. I mean, you’re a multicolored, talking unicorn.”

She looked up at her horn curiously for a second, then back at me, before I looked back at the courtyard.

“No one in this world has ever seen anything like you. No offense,” I said, still evading eye contact.

“How strange…” she replied.

For a few minutes there, things were silent between us, as I assume she was thinking about everything I’d said, and Inwas just trying to avoid talking to her.

But as the silence went on, I tapped my foot for a few moments, before I looked at her.

“Why did you do it?” I asked.

She looked at me, clearly surprised by the sudden, strange question.

“Do what?” She asked.

“That thing with your sparkly fog, where you pushed it in my down my throat,” I said. “That hurt, and it… scared me.”

She looked up at her horn again, then back at me with a raised eyebrow.

“You mean… my magic?”

I looked away for a moment awkwardly.

“Yeah, whatever it’s ca-… wait, you have magic?” I asked, as I looked at her again.

She nodded.

“Of course I do. Don’t all of you?”

She looked out at the courtyard.

I scratched the back of my neck.

“Err, no. No we don’t.”

She was visibly surprised by this, as she looked at me with wide eyes, then down at the floor, as she rubbed her chin with a hoof.

“No magic?” She asked, mostly to herself. “I have to get out of here.”

She looked at me innocently.

“Do you wanna escape from here?” She asked simply.

I felt fear and worry course through my body once she said that.

“Shh!! I said quickly. “You know the guards can hear us, right?”

“No they can’t,” she said immediately.

My eye twitched a bit, as I looked at her, as she looked at me with complete seriousness.

“What I mean is,” she started. “It may not seem like it, but right now, you’re the only creature who can hear me talk.”

I raised an eyebrow, before she continued.

“When I first arrived here and tried talking to you, I realized that my vocal cords were different,” she started. “I knew that in Equestria verbal communication was possible for nearly all creatures because of the innate magic of the world.”

I continued looking at her, still confused.

“So, I had to resort to something more drastic,” she said. “I used my magic so that my vocal cords could… sort of mimic yours.”

I looked at the courtyard, and shifted my sitting position, as this was a bit uncomfortable.

“It’s not a spell that I fully understand, but I do know that it connects just the two of us, where you can hear me and I can hear you,” she said.

She must’ve noticed that I was pretty uncomfortable, because she asked me what was wrong.

I said it was nothing, before she shifted a little bit closer to me, and looked at me, as I looked at her.

“Look, I don’t want to scare you,” she said. “I said it before, and I’ll say it now; but I‘m not here to hurt you.”

She sighed lightly as he faced forward.

“All I want… is to go home. It’s all I have left now.”

I looked at her, as she closed her eyes and folded her ears.

I didn’t want to think deeply into what she meant, but I slowly started to rub her back gently.

She jumped for a second, but nudged into the feeling of my hand pretty quickly.

After a minute of comforting her a bit, I removed my hand from her, but moved a little bit closer to her.

I asked her what her home was like, and when I did, she spent the next few minutes patiently telling me some really basic aspects of what her world was like.

By the time she was done explaining, I was quite surprised by everything I’d heard.

Horse goddesses controlling the sun and the moon? Pegasi? And she listed off quite a lot of other mythological creatures, too, but she didn’t really tell me anything about her life, which I guess was fair.

Soon after she was done explaining her world, the guards around us told us it was time to go back to our rooms.

She then got off the bench, and looked back at me.

“Well it was nice talking with you,” she said with a small smile, before she started leaving.

“Wait! My uh, my name is Jay,” I said, as I gave her my own small smile in return. What’s your name?”

“Twilight, Twilight Sparkle,” she said.

I almost grinned stupidly as she said that, but controlled myself, and gave her a wave goodbye instead.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later, Twilight.”

“And I’ll see you later, Jay,” she replied with a smile, before she started trotting to the west exit, and I stood up and started walking to the east exit.