The smell of blood hung in the air like a fog, giving a sense of dread wherever the smell drifted. It hung in a medical white room, accompanied with the horrified look of a young colt. His light brown fur had become stained with blood from what had just happened. In front of him stood a black pegasus, his silver mane stained with blood. His cutie mark looked like a bloody scalpel. He only grinned as he carved deeper into a unicorn mares chest. The mare spat blood into the pegasi's teal eyes.
"You really need to stop coughing up so much blood, it's getting every where." His deep voice gave off an unsettling feeling.
The mare panted heavily, trying to stay conscious for as long as possible. "Screw.......you..........Butcher. Anything.........you do to me..........is nothing compared............to what I'll do...........to you.........if you harm.........my son." She looked over to the colt and smiled weakly. "Don't be scared, my little shadow. Everything........will be.......all right."
Her breathing slowed to a small shudder, before stopping altogether. The stallion sighed in dissapointment, having expected more from her. He undid the straps that held her, and her body slumped to the floor. This 'Butcher' dragged her corpse towards a disposal chute, unhooking her necklace in the process.
The young colt walked towards the necklace, looking at the pegasus stallion throwing his mother away like trash. With his magic, he picked up the necklace examining it carefully. Three circles overlapped each other while inside a larger circle, creating a Trinity, and each circle had its own special engraving. The inner three represented life, death, and the afterlife. The outer circle represented eternity.
"And what is that, young one?" The butcher took the pendant out of the colts weak magic.
"Give it back!" The colt yelled, jumping up and down to try and get the pendant.
The Butcher eyed the necklace for a few minutes before tossing it onto the ground, spitting on it as he did so. "Nothing but a piece of trash, like the mare it came from. You can keep or burn it for all I care." He walked towards a small speaker near the door, pushing a button with his hoof. "This is head interrogation officer Unmasked Veil requiring another patient. Assistance from junior interrogation officer Silver Tongue will be required."
There were a few minutes of silence before the door opened, revealing a pegasus being escorted by an earth pony.
"I'll be okay, right?" The pegasus asked, looking at the earth pony.
She had a calming blue mane that complimented tan-orange eyes and soft red fur. Her mark looked like an honest stallions face with a serpent wrapped around it.
"I promise, everything will be alright." Silver tongue gave the pegasus a soft smile, but when he turned she motioned towards the Butcher to do what he does best. He slowly took out a small syringe, and when his head turned he jabbed the needle deep into the pegasi's neck, almost immediately paralyzing him. "Of course, everything will be alright for us."
Once the pegasi's body stiffened, the two adults took his body and strapped it down just like its previous occupant. Veil and Silver Tongue looked at the frightened eyes of the pegasi before Veil handed his knife to the young colt. The colt cautiously reached for it, before taking it with his magic and walking up to the 'patient'. He was only ever forced to watch before, having seen dozens of his fellow prisoners die at the hands of his 'mentor'. But he didn't want to anger the Butcher, the image of his mother still burning itself into his mind.
The colt nervously slicing into the pegasi's flank, causing a tear to fall down his cheek. He pulled the knife out of the fresh wound, momentarily losing what little food he had in his stomach.
"That always happens the first time, but you'll get used to it." Veil and Silver tongue gave him a reassuring smile, but the colt thought it could mean he would be their next victim. "Go ahead and try again."
The colt recomposed himself, and drove the knife deeper into the newly made wound, causing the pegasus to wimper. He continued to cut deeper and deeper into the stallions flank, failing to notice that the stallion had died of blood loss a few minutes earlier. Veil and Silver Tongue took the knife out of the colts magic, causing a scowl from the colt.
"I think your done here, for now. Looks like you might be good at this just yet." Veil walked over to Silver tongue after disposing of the body. "Get the kid some food and his own room next to mine. It's been a while since I've seen a smile like that since I discovered my talent." The colt hadn't noticed it, but his mouth had slowly formed a maliscous smile when he had cut the stallion, frowning when he had realized this. "Now before you eat, what's your name."
The colt looked at the Veil, cowering a little as he answered. "A-Archaic S-Science."
Tesla shot up from lying down in a medical bed, cringing immediately at the pain in his stomach. He looked down and saw a large bandage covering his stomach. Looks like I'm back at home base. Tesla looked around and saw a half awake Hydra reading some random Daring-Do book. Oh I know what I can do. He grew a mischivous grin as he silently slipped out of his bed. It took a couple minutes, but Hydra finally slumped into her book and started snoring lightly. Tesla got so close to her face that their muzzles were almost touching. He started poking Hydra with his hoof, causing her to slowly stir. When she opened her eyes, she was met with the one scene she hadn't expected when waking up.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Hydra shot out of her chair from this, but failed to notice the ceiling above her. She comically face planted with the ceiling, having to peel herself off like an egg. "Jumpy much, sheesh." Hydra couldn't react after her little 'surprise' while waking up. But after a couple of minutes of awkward silence, she practically tackled him to the floor, smiling as if she had just seen the greatest thing ever. "Glad to see you too, but could you kinda get off of me. I kinda need you to get off of me though, I really need some air." Tesla could feel pain coming from his stomach again, although it had subsided to a small annoyance by now.
"S-sorry about that. I'm just so happy your back." Hydra blushed a little as she released Tesla. "It's been a while since we've talked."
The scientist looked around the room, seeing that he'd been there for a while. "How much of a while Hydra?" Tesla looked around the room, feeling like something was missing.
"I think about three months, Tesla. You had a pretty bad wound when you came in." She shuddered a bit, remembering the wound. "A piece of wood was lodged in pretty deep in your chest when you came in."
Tesla felt a little taken aback by the three months he's been out, but that really didn't bother him. He still couldn't put his hoof on what was missing, but then it hit him like a ton of bricks.
"Hey Hydra, I have just one question I want to ask."
"Yeah?"
"Where's my coat?"
"After you came in, Luna washed it for you."
Hydra levitated a stitched up but clean lab coat over to Tesla, which immediately looked around in the pockets. But he lightly chuckled out of both anger and panic as he kept a calm expression.
"I was wondering Hydra, where did the stuff in my pockets go?"
"Twilight has it, wh-" Before she could finish, Tesla had scrambled to his hooves,bolting out the door. "Tesla." She sighed. "Wait!!" And with that, she bolted after him.
