The Experiment
written by
Alex Babcock and Colette Bolin
He sat there at the dinner table. Thinking about what he had done. “I’m sorry” he pleaded quietly as he got up. He went out and trotted to what was left of a village. He entered the ruins and came across his old house. As he walked in, he checked if there was anything stable to support him. He came across his best old apple tree. It had been there since RD was a colt. He remembered how he used to hang out under this tree most of the day. Good memories filled him. “It's what I have to do.” he sobbed as he tied the rope into a noose. He tied it so tightly, he could barely breathe. He took. One. Last. Breath.
RD was a young and bright colt who lived in the town of EverFree. He lived in a family of five, there was his father, his mother, and his two brothers. RD was the middle child in the family which made him very different from the other two brothers. The youngest and the oldest would spend their time, going outside and be socializing with other ponies. RD, on the other hand, would stay inside his dark room studying and reading. As much as he loved studying, he loved science the most, he had to, it was his. Something no pony else could relate to, something like himself, an experiment. “My life and death are all just an experiment”, he thought to himself. He thought that thought every day since about 2 years ago, when he realized that nothing in this world was for him. Not sports, Not ponies, Not animals, and not even school, which he loved most of all in his lousy life. Every day, he thought this one simple thing, “my life is an experiment, something to see what the worst life in the world would be like. That’s my life”.
After that though, he would always remember a simple phrase his mother would tell him when he was a young colt. “Ran Delagotto” she would say. “RD mom, its RD” he would cry back “OK then RD, you are the best son a pony could ever have… you are my baby and my world always, you mean everything to me.” RD would cry thinking back to those moments now. Now his mother was too caught up in his little brother to even notice him. Now the only time he talked to his mother was when she told him to clean his room, or to do his chores. Those days, now, would make him either smile or cry depending on what kind of day it was, he would not think about all the bad stuff in his brain, but all the good stuff that happened to him when he was little. “The good old days” he called it.
“That was back when my parents loved me” RD would think. He loved his parents so much, but sometimes he didn’t think they were very fond of him anymore. Back then, every day was an adventure, him and his mom together every day, growing up they were so close. Every day he would watch his mom do amazing experiments in his parents laboratory. From splitting atoms to making explosives, RD was always where his mother was, or where the science was. Him and his mother were always together throughout all of life’s holes in the road. His father was there, just not as much as his mother, and when his little brother Lanker was born, his dad wasn’t there at all, nor was his mother. It had been 4 years since his life was turned upside down by his little brother, and way to long for RD to be away from his mother. “It all started when i was 12.” he thought to himself, “maybe if i never turned 12, this would never have happened. My mother would still love me, and my father would at least be there.” At that time, RD thought that was the longest time he had ever been away from his mother. That is, until it happened.
One day, when his parents went to the laboratory. They tried an experiment. An experiment that could tear through time. A portal. They stood up for countless days working on it. They forgot to eat, they forgot to sleep, and they forgot to take care of themselves. Finally, two months later, it was ready to be tested. They got the test dummy ready and they stepped back. The mom flipped the switch and the portal turns on. They threw the dummy inside the portal, but the portal sucked in the dad as well. Mom tried to hold on to dad, but she couldn't fight the strong, force that was pulling him. The dad was sucked in and the portal broke down. “No, now this cant be happening!” she cried as she tried to get the portal to work. She tried everything, but the portal didn't work.
RD couldn’t wait for his parents to get home. He wanted to know all about the experiment they were working on. Well, cause they have been away for two months. Then, there was a knock at the door. RD rushed to the door , eagerly. “Is it mom? Is it mom? Come on please?” RD said cheerfully. when he opened the door his mom stood there at the door, her head hanged with dispair. “How was the experiment? Mo-” His mother hugged RD and started sobbing. “Whats wrong?” asked RD in a distressed voice. “Your father.. isn’t coming home.” She said trying to hold back tears. “What?!” RD said as he burst into tears.
Ever sense then RD and his mother were never the same. His mother would just sit in her room and break out in tears from time to time. As for RD he prayed that his father would come home. But, things got worse. One day when RD returned from school he saw something he would never forget.
“I’m home!” yelled RD as he walked through the door. No reply back. Then, RD sense that something had happened. “Mom! Are you here?” Cried RD. Still, no reply. RD started to check each room in the house. He started with the kitchen. His mother was usually always in the kitchen. Baking different goods for other ponies. When RD entered the kitchen he yelled, “Mom? Are you here?” No reply. She wasn't in the kitchen. “Maybe she’s in the dining area. She might be eating a snack.” RD thought as he headed for the dining area. “Mom? are you in here?” RD yelled again, but still, no reply. “Ok. She’s not in the kitchen, she’s not in the dining room, maybe she’s outside watering the garden. RD rushed to the back door. “I hope she’s ok.” RD thought as he went through the back door. When he trotted out it was very sunny. Then, RD saw a shadowy figure. It was his mother. She hung herself.
“No! Not you too!”, RD cried as he rushed to get his brothers. When they finally got their mother down, they laid her on the sofa. RD was devastated. First his dad disappeared, and now his mother committed suicide. They lost their parents. RD laid there in his bed staring at the ceiling. He just kept thinking about his parents. So he got out his journal. Hoping that writing out how he felt would make the guilt go away. He wrote, “ Dear journal, today was the worst day I could ever have. Recently my dad disappeared because of some experiment mom and dad were working on. Mom and I didn't take it too well. I was devastated but I knew we would get though it. Mom just isolated herself in her room, and cried and cried. I was worried about her. And now, she’s gone. When I came home from school, I didn't see her anywhere. I looked all around the house and she was no where to be found. Then I went out to our garden to see if she was watering the plants. But I was wrong. She…. Hung herself. Now I will never see my parents again.” He closed his journal and put it aside. “My parents may be gone, but they will always have a place in my heart.” RD thought as he shut his eyes.
End of Chapter 1