Ripples

Chapter 14

Experiments

        I slowly awoke. My cloudy eyes had much difficulty focusing in the dim light of the room, obscuring many objects. From what I could tell, there was a metal barrier between me and...everything else. I could hear distant talking...wait, not so distant. It was coming from my right?

        I slowly moved my head to find the source of the noise. I still had a headache, and my head burst into pain. I managed to push through it and look towards the talking. My eyes found something to focus on, and revealed Captain behind a barrier next to me. His hooves were chained to the barrier...okay, so they’re metal bars.        “Loste!” he yelled with a cough. “Wake up!” His voice was raspy, and still seemed more distant than it should be. I moved my head downward as slowly as possible to avoid any potential headache, to find my hooves in a similar situation. The skin was rubbed raw, and I couldn’t feel the area around it. I felt an ache in my horn as well.        “Loste...what happened?” Captain asked, concerned. “Where are we?”        “I...I don’t...know,” I managed, my throat rough and painful. I let out a hacking couch, sending phlegm onto the hard ground around me. I felt like total shit.        Another voice sounded from nearby. “Is he awake?”        It was Rage’s voice, pretty much as gravelly as it always is. He didn’t seem physically harmed, but I could hear fear in his voice.        “Loste! Help us!” The words flew across my head, useless to me. I was trapped. They were trapped. We were trapped. Everypony was trapped. I could see the brown tail of that red pony across the hallway which ran through the center of our cells sticking out of the bars.        I sighed, wincing from the pain in my head. I rested my head on my hooves, staring hopelessly at Captain, who returned a desolate stare. I think the red pony was crying.        Lights turned on in a sudden burst of ocular pain, intensifying my eight gazillionth headache of the...day? Week? Doesn’t matter. It hurt like hell, and that’s all that matters. They made a long buzzing drone, breaking the almost silence. It was a strange hum, it didn’t sound like any kind of recognizable pitch but...it hummed. It hummed into my mind, calming it and infuriating it at the same time. I felt sleepy, but I also felt restless. That drone was eating into my mind and causing total chaos within. I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to block out the drone. Suddenly, I felt a very cold sensation on my lower neck.        “Aw, is poor Loste getting upset?” I knew that voice. That voice had caused me so much stress...that horrendous voice, it echoed frantically in my mind. Even with my eyes closed, I saw a hallway of PT. It flashed into my mind, that hallway. That damn voice yelled into my ear, telling me to work harder or I would suffer. The vision faded, and my eyes opened. I could only see Captain, however his eyes held a look of severe terror. He was staring right at me...no, right behind me. I began turning my head, fighting the headache.        A very cold and hard hand grasped one side of my face, while a soft and furry hand grasped the other. It held my head still. “Ahahah, trying to end my fun, now are we?” the voice sounded in my ear.        “I’m sure you’ve worked it out by now I’m the leader of PT, if you have any capability of remembering voices. Except this time, it’s up close...” the hands tightened, and I felt a warm breath on my ear. “...and personal.”        Rage was boiling inside me, I felt like I was about to explode and rain blood and guts all over everypony in the room. “Fuck...you,” I managed.        “Oh, that wasn’t very nice,” he responded, sarcastically offended. “I think you need to clean that dirty mouth of yours!”        A pink bar of soap was in my mouth, out of nowhere. I didn’t see it come in, it was just there. It tasted foul, and I spat it out. The taste lingered on my tongue, sour and disgusting.        “Don’t like it? Aw, what a shame. That was a nice, new bar of soap!” the voice sounded. The soap on the floor in front of me suddenly began to melt. Pink fluid spread across the floor, the pool ending just before it touched my hooves. It began rippling, circular waves extending out from the center. An image began to form in the pool.        A group of six mares stood in a formation, five wearing some form of necklace, and one - the pony in middle - wearing a crown thingy. Magical energy surged around them, lifting them off the ground which they were standing. The crowned pony in the middle, a purple unicorn, opened her eyes to reveal nothing but white where her eyes would normally be. An enormous surge of magical power blasted from all six of them.        I didn’t really care for whatever this crap was, and I tried to wiggle my head free of his grasp, but to no avail. I heard him let out a slight chuckle.        The image in the pool began to fade. It reformed into an image of an extremely...strange creature. He was long, sort of like a dragon or a snake...two horns sprout from his head, each seemed like it belonged to an entirely different animal. He had two mismatched arms, one birdlike and yellow, the other furry and animal-like. Hold on a moment...        The same magical energy from the previous scene blasted into him, working its way up his body. Terror covered his face, and he struggled as the magic surged through him. He slowly turned to stone, trapped with his terrified expression. The pool faded once again, this time returning to its pink color. The creature’s hands lifted their grasp of my face. I immediately turned to face him, ignoring the pain in my head. The exact same creature from the soap puddle movie stood in my cell, leaning against the bars. He smiled mischievously.        “Aren’t I amazing? That act of terror was splendid, it had to be my best acting yet! Of course, I was stuck like that for a few months,” he said, looking at the claws of his bird-hand. “When I was finally released again, I had to spend so much time with this annoying little yellow pony...she was trying to reform me. Can you believe it? Reform me?”        I simply gave him a hostile glare.        He sighed. “Look, my name is Discord. Awesome name, right?” he smiled. I did not change my expression. “You are just no fun at all. Care for a history lesson?”        I finally gathered the strength to speak. “Let...us...go!”        Discord laughed. “Oh, but there’s so much fun we could have!” He snapped his fingers, disappearing. I heard Rage’s voice. “Get off me, dammit!”        Suddenly, Discord and Rage reappeared in front of me, in my cell. Rage’s tongue hung out of his mouth, and he did not look happy about it. “Puph muh pung buch rught dis phuhkihn instuhnt!” he babbled. I could barely tell what he said, but he sounded pretty mad. I was certainly pissed.        “Oh, calm down. I’m just having fun,” Discord said as he flicked Rage’s head. Rage’s face started to steam just like many faces before it. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to properly enjoy myself?” Both me and Rage continued with our outrage. Pretty soon somepony is going to start something...        Discord tied Rage’s mane into a bowtie, and smiled at his work. Rage’s tongue had somehow returned to normal; he attempted to bite Discord, but he teleported away before Rage could touch him. I felt a warm paw rest on my head, erupting much more pain. I am going to fucking kill that...guy...thing!        “You see, I’m pretty certain you’re perfectly aware of Parasprite Technologies. They started off as any other company, just making products. Sure, they had a monopoly on pretty much everything, but they were just a company. But some ponies really don’t like it when one pony or company has absolute control. They’re the radicals of Equestria, always trying to change things...fight the government, fight a company, boycott a product, they’re always up to something.”        He lifted his paw off my head, and I heard footsteps pacing back and forth behind me. “But ever since PT acquired such a marvelous control over everything, those ponies got even more audacious and chaotic. The chaos...it was delicious. Opinionated wars between two sides occurred everywhere, and nopony ever convinced anypony to change their opinion. They just kept fighting, arguing, et cetera. I regret to say it, but I actually considered myself reformed after the little...process with Fluttershy.”        “So what the hell happened?” Rage asked.        Discord let out another one of his mind-fuckingly evil laughs. “The chaos stirred by PT...it made me remember why chaos is so fun! My life had gotten boring, everything was all regulated and was governed by so many rules...but that chaos reawakened me, reminded me of who I was. So I performed a little...experiment on the leader of PT, got her out of everypony’s hooves, and stepped right in.”        “Why did you...do this?” I struggled, fighting the pain in my head. Discord teleported in front of me, wearing a silly party mask.        “Do what, my good sir fellow? Trap you here? Because that was just so I could explain everything to you in person, maybe wreak a little more havoc on that pathetic mind of yours-”        “SHUT UP!” I interrupted. I ignored the headache, as terrible as it was. “Everything! Why did you kill so many innocent ponies?! Why did you enslave the world? Why...and what did you do to Sawblade? What is the reasoning behind this?!”        Discord snapped his fingers, causing his party mask to disintegrate into sand and pour onto the floor. “You see, I love chaos. Chaos is fun, and very original!” He snapped his fingers again and summoned a teddy bear, and began ripping its appendages off and sewing them back on in the wrong places. “Sure, practical jokes and tricks with the weather were pretty fun, but something was...missing. It didn’t feel as satisfying as it should have been.”        Rage jumped from behind Discord, trying to grab onto Discord’s neck. Discord simply snapped his furry paw fingers, and Rage froze in midair.        “I had a spark of...inspiration when I decided to take over PT. A few fights stemming from their wondrous products had occurred in Equestria...not just any fights, but physical, violent fights. They gave me an idea.” Discord summoned a plastic bowl and a wooden spoon, and dumped his teddy bear into it, along with some lettuce and spices. “What would happen to chaos if you simply stirred in a little...pain?” He added a single bullet shell, smiling. The concoction in the bowl began turning red, and overflowed in a gelatinous goop. It corroded into the floor, leaving a burned and sizzling crater. It seemed to spread across the floor, corroding away more and more until it stopped in front of my hooves and settled. I was tempted to back away, but I could only fight off so much pain.        “And...Sawblade?” I asked Discord.        “I thought you hated the Resistance?” Discord asked, taking a sip from his concoction. “Mmm, spicy!”        “Answer my question,” I commanded him.        Discord frowned. “Oh, fine.” He tossed his bowl behind him, narrowly missing Rage’s frozen body. It landed near the bars separating Rage and I from everypony else, and the world. It exploded in a cloud of smoke, opening a hole in the bars I may be able to fit through.        “All this time...those slaves, the workers, the resources from the Resistance...all of it was for this project. I marketed it as a purification project, to restore Equestria to its former glory. That was all a lie. Ha ha, sorry to rub it in, but you fell for it!” Discord laughed insultingly, sending even more painful fury through my mind.        “In reality, it was the stride for ultimate chaos. I alone can only handle so much at a time, a limited capacity of chaos. It’s a design flaw in me, but I found a little...exploit. By siphoning the magic from ponies’ souls, I could amplify my power, and spread it across Equestria!” Discord began doing a strange tap dance, laughing uncontrollably whilst doing so.        “Of course, as I was using soul magic to achieve this goal, it had some unintended side effects which related to aspects of a pony’s soul...such as, oh, their race? I personally would say these side effects turned out beneficial for me, as I can create an artificial alicorn! I just need to recruit somepony willing enough to help me out, make them an alicorn, and then nopony can stop me!” Discord let out his largest, most dramatic laugh yet. It hurt my ears. “I just need to keep anypony...unqualified for the job as unqualified as possible. Don’t want any meddlers, now do we? Anyway, Sawblade was merely a test. I combined both branches of the project: my mutation chaos, trademarked by me, and my alicornification. The mutation chaos kept him alive, but in the most painful, horrific way possible, and rendering any of his magic or abilities useless. It cancelled out the alicorn powers, which was exactly what I was aiming for. And both projects were a huge success!”        I was beginning to make some connections. “If you’re so powerful, how was I able to escape so easily? Why did I escape?”        Discord smiled. “Ah, so you’ve figured out it was all a plan. I admit it, we set it up. And everything went exactly according to said plan!”        My mouth dropped open. I had suspected something like this, but...I was simply a minion of his experiments? Another part of his procedure, arranged and built to function just as needed? Did I have any free will?        Discord summoned a large, soft red chair to sit in. “Sure, you had the freedom to go wherever you chose, but your recruiting Captain benefit the plan much more than originally anticipated. Oh, the information we were able to extract from your memories! We know practically everything, now!”        Extract from...memory...I...what?        “Awww, does poor Loste feel violated? Upset that we went snooping in your personal belongings? Well, news flash: nothing of yours has ever been personal. Not even your mind. You’re chock full of little transmitters, the only one you knew about was the body control. You’re a walking satellite! The most information we could possibly acquire from any single pony, or group of ponies for that matter, has come from you!”        Tears began forming in my eyes. This had to be a lie, or a dream, or something...this must be false...it CAN’T be real...        “If you feel any better, we disabled all of that. We don’t need you anymore. I stuck plenty of devices in that Resistance army we kidnapped, some of them extracted from you. The scars should be there forever, but you’re free of our control. We don’t need you anymore, we’ll just stick you in our shelter, activate my wonderful chaos machine with the help of my Resistance army and their magic, and then dump you into the world. And I’ll just sit back and enjoy the chaos, wherever there happens to be some.”        My head was starting to droop. Tears were streaming down my face, but I couldn’t think about anything. My mind wasn’t processing what I was hearing anymore, I felt like a hollow shell of a pony. There were scars on my hooves...everywhere. And dried blood.        “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll keep some ponies intact...it’ll be fun! Ponies will start their little heroic adventures to save Equestria, and they’ll all fail miserably. And I’ll be there to watch. Now come on, let’s get you in that amazingly comfy shelter of mine. He snapped his fingers, and my body lifted from the ground to follow him. Rage unfroze and floated behind him as well. I thought I could hear Captain’s voice in the distance. The only thing I really heard was “okay”. That was the only word my mind could focus on...okay...okay.        I was levitated along behind Discord, I didn’t care or know if any of my friends were with me. I didn’t feel like a pony. I didn’t feel like anything. Suddenly, everything became black. I faded away to sleep.