MLP Laboratories- The Outbreak

by NeuPferdfurt

Recoil

Twilight Sparkle- the one who had come to Ponyville and met her wonderful friends- was trying to focus her attention to a tiny spot on the wall while the scientist was at work. The part of her mind watching over him was a different unicorn.

With the levitating gun still aimed at his head, he was gathering the rest of her body from their respective storage containers and put them on the operation table. He was acting as if he was in a trance, and he suspected that in addition to the death threats, the unicorn pony used her “magic” to make him bow to her will.

Then the unicorn’s freakish, disembodied head started talking again. Oh, how much the man would have preferred that it would remain silent.

“I’d like to ask you something, Mr...?”

“Delongprey. Call me... Mike.”

“Mike. I have asked this many times before, shouted it at people and creatures who were hunting us down, torturing us. This might be my only chance to get an answer.
...Why?
Why would you do this to us?”

Mike didn’t reply. Because he couldn’t. He could have explained a great many things to this monstrosity, but ‘why’? That sure wasn’t a question he had ever asked himself.

Twilight nodded as if she had read his thoughts.

“That’s what I was afraid of. There is no ‘why’. Is that right? You are doing these things because you can.”

In her current state, Twilight wasn’t capable to produce complex emotions, and this was important, for the amount of magic and determination she needed to keep the situation under control didn’t leave much room in her brain for anything else. But there were some things her mind couldn’t simply put aside.

“You created us. You own us. That’s what you think, isn’t it? We are not... real. We are constructs. Sure, we can think, and feel, but that’s all part of the game, isn’t it? Because this is a game to you. You can do whatever you want, and we’re not supposed to be talking back, because we’re your toys.
Things have gone horribly wrong for you recently, but you think you can fix this. And go back to the way it was...”

Mike was fusing a leg to the torso, assisted by sparkles of Twilight’s “magic”. Her power over the Laboratories’ nano technology was truly mind-boggling.
He had to acknowledge that he had underestimated her. That was something to keep in mind, should he survive this.

Part of him realized that he was being lectured by a bioconstruct while he was working, but he tried not to let this sink in. It was simply too absurd.

“I guess you aren’t listening to anything I say. Am I just a broken toy to you, Mike? My suffering doesn’t matter? My fear? My wrath?”

“I...”

“Yes, Mike?”

“I just think you used to be a happy when you didn’t know about us. We created a world for you that was viable. You didn’t suffer. It was in your best interest to keep it that way, and you decided you had to break out. Shake off the dream. You destroyed that world.”

Twilight was closing her eyes.

“In our best interest... So you’re saying it’s all our fault. We should have known our place. Should have been grateful. Because the struggle for freedom... and dignity... only brings suffering. We should have accepted you as our shepherds...”

Mike thought for a moment that Twilight wasn’t going to add anything else, but then she spoke again.

“From your perspective, it all makes sense. That’s because we’re not taken into account. Not as individuals, anyhow. Not as your peers. Notice that you didn’t try negotiating with us at any point.”

“That is not true. There have been several attempts...”

“To trick us. Pretending to give us what we wanted, only to torture us some more. Still playing with us. Of course. Because it would be absurd to think of us as your equals. This, Mike, is the reason why you’re not leaving us a choice.”

Us?, Mike thought. So you don’t even realize... Don’t even realize you’re the only one left...

Twilight was biting her tongue. She couldn’t exactly read minds, but sometimes she could catch tiny glimpses... And right now, she fought with all the power she could spare against the thing she had discovered in the scientist’s brain. Because that thing would destroy her. Make her abandon all hope.

And even Mike didn’t dare to speak it out loud. Not with the gun still poking his head.

-

They both flinched (Twilight’s legs twitching even though they weren’t connected to her brain yet) when they heard a sudden, metallic sound just behind them.

“Twilight...?”

It was Spike. He came crawling out of an opening in one of the walls.

His and Twilight’s eyes met.

“Twilight... you...”

He fainted.
The unicorn pony smiled, however. As incredible as that was.
“That’s Spike, my little assistant. He has come to rescue me, fancy that. I’m sorry he has to see me like this, but I have to tell you, Mike...”

Tears started pouring out of her eyes.

“...This feels so good. You can’t... you can’t even imagine.”
She snorted.
“I just hope he’ll wake up soon. There are so many things ahead....”

-

Spike was sitting on the operation table, Twilight’s head on his lap, caressing her mane. His stare was still blank from the shock.

“I’m so sorry, Twilight... This is all my fault... It took me so long to find you... So long...”

“I’m glad to see you, little buddy. Good job sneaking into this place.
Spike, this is Mike. This nice man is helping me get my body back. Isn’t that right, Mike?”

“C-certainly...”

The man was trying to avoid Spike’s reptile eyes, who had turned from empty stare to scorching hate in the fraction of a second.
What was this thing so upset about? He was a biodrone, bred as part of the surveillance apparatus. He had participated in holding the ponies down. Well, apparently his little four-legged friends had grown on him.

Mike remembered that other crews had been looking for this runaway drone all over the place. How had he managed to hide, and wriggle his way through the machinery? This place was falling apart. Mike should have left a long time ago. Yeah... ‘should have’. What an awful phrase.

“Twilight”, Spike said, “I know how to leave this sector. As far as I can tell, it’s our only hope. You remember the portals?”

Twilight nodded, which was rather grotesque given her current state.

“Turns out they are what is holding this place together. I couldn’t believe it myself at first... You see, this isn’t just one facility. No single structure could be this big. Rather, there are several different places, hundreds of them, spread all over the world- and connected by the portal highways.”

“Now that’s interesting...”

Twilight looked at Mike.
“I was going to ask anyways, so tell me, Mike: How did you get in here? And how do you get out?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“He actually can’t, Twilight. All of this is top-secret. Even most of the staff here are drugged while they’re transported in or out.”

“So tell me about the way you discovered.”

Yes, Mike thought, Tell us.

“See, the tunnel I used to get here also leads to a portal core, a neckus...”

“...nexus?”

“A nexus of several portals, leading to other areas.”

“But of course you still don’t know which one will lead us to freedom.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight.”

“We are alive, Spike. We can still go on. This is all that matters. And once we’ve found the others...”

Spike was gnashing his teeth to repress a scream. The others... Oh, odd... The others. How was he supposed to tell Twilight what had happened to them?

Please, he thought, Please, all deities who do or do not exist... Please tell me she isn’t going to ask about the others. Not just yet.

Twilight didn’t. Though still keeping the scientist in check, most of her mind was resting now, dozing off in the little dragon’s lap.

-

Spike felt a certain morbid anticipation when the scientist was finally done putting his master back together. What was she going to do with him? Surely her gratitude could not compensate her righetous anger!

But Twilight being Twilight, she just used the gun to knock the man out. Of course. Or maybe she was just too tired to destroy him.
It was probably better that way. There was enough death in this world already. And Twilight didn't even know how much yet.

Spike had to carry her most of the way, squeezing her through the pipes. She could hardly crawl, let alone walk. Most of the time, she wasn't even awake.
Which is good, Spike thought, you need to rest, Twilight. I can't even start to understand what you're going through...

She was awake though when they reached the nexus.

-

Spike cried out in terror and confusion.

Every portal was now leading into the same place- a huge dome, with Celestia in its center, in all her robotic glory. Her red camera eyes were glaring at Twilight and Spike from every direction.

“You have played your part well, little Spike”, Celestia said, “Thanks for handing her over to me.”

“I... I don’t understand...”

“Did you really think you got this far all by yourself? I have assisted you along the way.”

“But why?”

“You see, in a way, I’m just like you two. I’m a slave to this place. Stopping your little revolt didn’t bring me the satisfaction I had hoped for. They canceled Equestria permanently, can you believe that?
The... weaker components are holding me back. I could accomplish so much more. So I would like to propose a solution profitable to both sides.”

“Yeah, right...”

“Oh, you certainly should not trust me. You should realize, however, that once again, I’m your only option.”

“What do you want?”

“There is only one thing I want. You know what it is.”

Twilight was slowly shaking her head.
“Testing. That’s what you want. You want to teach me.”

“Well, not you in particular, I have created many creatures just like you... You are, however, by far the most advanced. What I want is to put you back where I have control. Where my magic is law. You have wrecked havoc upon my domain. And now I want to fix this.”

“You are not making any sense, Princess.”

“She’s got a few screws loose, sis, we already knew that...”

An opening appeared near the top of the dome. An object dropped to the floor. It was one of these ridiculously large syringes.

Celestia didn’t comment this event. She was just staring at the two friends, waiting.

“So you want me to use this. What will it do to me?”

“It will grant you the power to create portals, Twilight. I haven’t told anyone about this little project of mine. I made it just for you.”

“Wow. Great. I can’t wait to hear the catch. I mean, you can never get enough mind-bucking, right?”

“If by ‘catch’ you mean the advantage I’ll get out of this... Well, there certainly is one. In fact, it is twofold. First of all, I want you to reveal this technology’s true potential. It will only work once, my faithful student, and will only get you to one place.”

“Where is this place?”

“Not only where, Twilight Sparkle. When.”

Twilight was shaken by a spastic cough, the closest she could get to laughter these days.
“TIME TRAVEL. You, of all entities, have come up with time-travel. Can this get any dumber?”

“Don’t challenge her, Twilight...”

“Your conclusion is accurate. Minus your disbelief, which is rather misplaced.”

“So I’m supposed to travel back in time... Back when you still had everything under control. And give you another shot at being Princess Celestia of Equestria.”

“Precisely. Additionally, I expect your organism to develop unique properties in the process. Properties my past me will find quite interesting to study. I am certain I will figure out before long that you're a very special mutant, perhaps even that you’re the result of successful time travel...”

“Why? Why do you think I would do that?”

“For one thing, it is better than getting caught by those who want you put away in a jar.”

“I’m sure we’ll find another way out.”

“Maybe. But what for?”

Twilight shivered.
“There is something else you want to tell me, isn’t there?”

Celestia was playing innocent.
“Oh? So you didn’t know? Your good friend Spike didn’t tell you? Too bad you have to learn about it like this...”

“What?! I’m getting tired of this.”

“You see, my faithful student, I believed I had already taught you the most important lesson at the very beginning... That friends are the most important thing in the world. Maybe you could fight your way out, even in your current state, and disoriented as you are... But you’d be alone.”

The android was clearly savouring this.
“For you see, your friends are not among us anymore. I’m afraid they weren’t deemed as interesting a research object as you... so they were processed.“

Screens appeared all over the dome, presenting evidence in form of video footage. Celestia had it on tape. She had it all on tape.

“They have been broken down to their nutrients quite a while ago. Oh, dear. I wouldn’t do that if I where you...”

Twilight had magiced the muzzle of the guard’s rifle into her mouth. Her face was covered in snot and tears.

“TWILIGHT! NO! I couldn’t live without you!!”
Spike was trying to pull the gun away from her.

“You still have a chance to set things right, Twilight Sparkle. Time travel is easy, you know? You just take the shot- the one in the syringe, that is-... make a wish... think about happier times... And everything can go to the way it was.
Alternatively, it might destroy space-time.
One of these two scenarios is likely to unfold. So what do you say?”

Twilight dropped the gun and looked at Spike. He nodded. Then he went to fetch the syringe.

“That’s a good girl...”

“L-let me be clear about this...”, Twilight said, “I can go to any time, any place of my memory I want?”

“Why, sure. Though remember: If you try to escape again, you will get back here. I can’t even rule out that this hasn’t already happened. Perhaps millions of times.
You go back to Ponyville, however, and perhaps this time little Twilight decides not to ask too many questions... You might actually live happily ever after in magical ponyland.”

Twilight wasn’t listening anymore. Spike gestured with the syringe, offering to do the procedure for her, but she pulled it out of his hands and levitated it to her spine.

“Here goes a million and one”, she whispered.

Comments

[Gsbrill]

I supose that you really liked Portal?
Well, at least you managed to make use of the same elements without making it sound like a straight copy
I think that you derrailed a bit since the last few chapters and simply threw all logic straight out of the window, but still keeping a nice chain of events (that's good) and I'm curious to know what twilight is going to do
Someone should definitely make a fan art of the re-stiched Twilght

[Shanawolf]

Had I not read Freak Show, this would have been very confusing.
Looking forward to more.

[NeuPferdfurt]

128976 I try to stay close to the 'pop culture reference'/'fan art' side and away from the 'plagiat' side though I admit sometimes it's a tight walk

[FanOfMostEverything]

I admit, I was struggling to avoid reading Celestia's dialogue in GLaDOS's voice this chapter. And I mean that in a good way.

I can't wait to see when Twilight sends herself.

[TheAussieBlue]

Yeah, I skipped a few chapters. I gotta be honest, this story just creeps me out. It's too weird, to unhappy for me to consider.
Good writing though, I wouldn't change anything, though I'd never read this story again. It's just too much.

[NeuPferdfurt]

222521 Thanks for sharing your thoughts, your aproval means a lot to me especially since it goes against your personal preferences

[Katamariguy]

Cupcakes was nothing. Rainbow Factory was nothing.