//------------------------------//
// Chapter One » GN19.16.3.10.18.1 
// Story: Cypony » Escaping from Reality 
// by Bass Kick 
//------------------------------//



CYPONY » ESCAPING FROM REALITY


Chapter One » GN19.16.3.10.18.1


Her eyes slowly opened, and she yawned like a small filly. She was still curled up in a ball, laying on a cold tiled floor. She looked around, turning her neck softly as she did so. She was in a dark room that seemed to be entirely blocked off, with no way in or out. This was the first time the mare had breathed, and she had already swallowed in panic.

What am I doing here? Even though she had known existence for a mere five minutes, she had a pre-developed mindset full of questions. She tried to push herself into a sitting position from the floor, but her hooves didn’t move. Most of her muscles were numb and unmoving. Fear clouded her mind. Would she be left in this room forever? More importantly, where exactly was she? Who was she? She closed her eyes hard, trying to process any memories that might have been lurking in her mind. She found nothing; she had no memory. The mare curled her back up, forcing herself into a tighter ball.
        
//PROCESS COMMENCING//

All of a sudden, she felt extremely light and comfortable in her own skin. Her hooves lost their numbness, and she stretched them. Her eyes and ears twitched. Her heart beated powerfully, sending a wave of life through her entire body, from head to hoof. She put her hooves on the tiled floor and pushed herself up to a sitting position.

A single light placed above her switched on, giving a powerful glow to the room. Vents along the grey walls appeared, and various cameras were set in the corners of the room. The mare, looking down at her hooves, noticed that her once-white coat took on a bright yellow shade in response to the light that turned on. What? The color transition of her skin made her jump back. Her coat seemed to change color again due to her startle, from light yellow to a dull blue. She could change colors? She thought about this ability for a second before information flooded her mind. I can change color through feelings and due to my surroundings... like a chameleon. She didn't know exactly what a chameleon was, but grew very curious in what else she was capable of. She calmed down, and her coat cooled down to a light blue color. Her mane seemed to change color as well.

She looked around the lit room, spotting the numerous vents that were centered along the four walls. Though it didn’t occur to her that escape was important, she chose to find a way out of the room in curiousity. She walked up to a randomly chosen vent, her hooves clanking against the shiny floor. Clanking? She looked down at her hooves to notice that not only were they metallic, but her entire coat seemed to be. Was she some sort of robot? Questions poured into her mind again, and she lifted the soles of her front hooves to her face, sitting down on the floor. What’s this? The bottom of her left hoof had black marks on it. She stared hard at the imprint, and her brain decided that the symbols were words. What did they say? She squinted to process the words. They read GN19.16.3.10.18.1. GN19.16.3.10.18.1? What was that supposed to mean? The mare looked up at a camera that was staring back at her, and down at her hoof again. Was she some sort of experiment? She stammered to her hooves, backing against a far wall when the realization hit her. She was an experiment.

Panic began to set in, and she slammed her back hooves into the wall with a loud thud. Her kick was useless, and it only caused smoke to cloud from the vent she had almost hit. She had finally decided to escape the prison, and she slammed her front hooves into the vent. Though her epidermis was metallic, she still felt pain as she finally gained enough power to smash through the dysfunctional vent. With a loud echoing boom, the metal vent dented in, exposing a hole that let out cold air. She shivered, and poked her head through the opened vent. To the right and left, the vent continued down two pathways, each filled with a chilling fog. She chose to go left out of randomness. The vent was a little too small for her body to fit through, but being slim, she decided to try and wiggle through the opening, anyway. It was the only way out of the assumed prison, by the way.

The mare finally managed to slip through the tangled vent opening, piercing her thin metallic skin through the process. She wiped blood from her side and continued to crawl down the long vent. During her silent crawling, she mentally asked herself who she actually was. She knew that she was a mare, but how did she really know? Only fourty minutes of her life had passed, and she had been able to recognize all of these things that had been going on. It had set in her mind that she was an experiment, and she chose that for an answer. But who was she an experiment to?

Another five full minutes of crawling through the vent went by until she finally reached another vent cover at the end of the dark tunnel. She peered out through it, looking at what lay beyond the metal cover. Another room. But the room was larger this time, with... doors! The mare turned herself around in the tunnel and kicked at the vent like she did with the prior one, until it shattered in a boom. She scooted herself backwards out of the makeshift entrance to the room.

When she stood up, warm air hit her. The ceiling of the large room was full of pipes and vents, all pumping humid air around her. She suspected that other ponies other than her were in existence, so she began to look around the room for help. Or possible danger.

After searching the elaborate room for anypony else, she found nopony. She decided to find a way out of wherever she was. She crept up to a slightly ajar door and pushed it open with her hooves. Another room. She walked into the empty room and instantly spotted a giant window that was on the wall adjacent to her. She noticed something lying in the center of the dim room through the window, and after seeing its back rise and fall, found that it was another pony. She wasn’t too cautious about coming into contact with the pony, so she knocked on the thick window. Nothing. She began to pound on the window now, but all that she saw was the small pony lying in the room, its back rising and falling to a calm rhythm. The mare, actually named GN19.16.3.10.18.1, realized that the small pony must be an experiment as well, hidden away in the chambers of this dark place that surrounded her. A shiver went down her back.

She was ripped from her thoughts of being doomed when she saw the pony's eyes slowly open, revealing two small circles of bright orange. The pony yawned, and peered at GN19.16.3.10.18.1. Then the little pony brought her head up slowly, every muscle in her body shaking as if this was the first time her heart had pumped blood through her. It was.

GN19.16.3.10.18.1 was eager to come into contact with this smaller pony, so she whipped her body around, and gave a powerful kick at the window. A loud thud sounded off, and the small pony on the other side of the wall jumped back, stumbled, and fell. GN19.16.3.10.18.1 felt sympathy for the fear the small pony experiment was in, and decided that she had to free the little filly from her prison, even though smashing through a window wouldn't come about as a warm welcome. Nonetheless, though, what had to be done had to be done. With another drawing back of her hind legs, the mare sent her joints out in a powerful burst, her hooves crashing through the thick window. The filly experiment trembled uncontrollably, and she had scurried to the far wall of the room, her back pressed up against the cold wall.

GN19.16.3.10.18.1 jumped in through the broken window, being lightly sliced by the thick shards that opposed her entrance into the room. The filly let out a high-pitched yelp, and began to cry. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. GN19.16.3.10.18.1 was startled by this. What is that? Is she... what IS that? She then approached the filly with an outstretched hoof. The filly looked at her appendage, then back up at the trespasser. Her light orange eyes then cleared away any tears as she lunged out to hug the hoof. The filly hugged GN19.16.3.10.18.1's hoof tightly, head facing the tiled floor.

GN19.16.3.10.18.1 didn't know how to react to the filly's emotions for a while, until she mustered up the idea to provide themselves with a warm welcome.

"...Hello," she started. These had been the first words she had ever said, and though she didn't fully understand what words were or why she was using them, she continued her greeting. "Don't be afraid... little filly. I don't mean to cause any harm to your component." The last words that slipped out of her mouth sounded strange to her tastes.

The experimental filly, her slick coat a bright shade of turquoise and her mane and tail light orange, looked up at the mare, lip trembling. She looked down at the floor again, and spoke hesitantly.

"I'm scared." She paused. "What's going on?"

This appealed to GN19.16.3.10.18.1 very emotionally, watching the small, cold filly look away from her eyes, her body still shaking. The mare took on a sad and comforting tone of voice.

"I... I don't know what's going on, but I," she stopped talking abruptly, something strange flooding her mind. "I won't let anything bad happen to you; this place is a stranger to me as well, but I will fight for us to find a way beyond these walls." The statement she had just said shocked her. What did I say? Her own words came about as alien. The small filly was still looking up at her, stillness sprawled across her face.

GN19.16.3.10.18.1 sighed. "How about we introduce ourselves? My identification -- name -- is..." she looked up in thought for a second. "My name is Spectra. I'm very pleased to meet you." Spectra finished her greeting with a small chuckle that expressed her wit; she had cleverly translated the numbers in her code to letters. The name Spectra sounded pretty good as well.

The filly looked back down at the ground, trying to shield the sight of more tears from her new acquaintant. "I don't know my name. I don't know anything."

This made Spectra frown. She used her front hooves to cup the filly's head, and raised her to meet eyes. "Look, I am as oblivious to all of this as you are. I truly am. But let me speak from my heart when --" another idea cut her off. She held on to one of the filly's legs, her left leg, and brought it up to their sights. "See this? This is your name. Can you read it?"

The small filly eyed the markings, then after a second, nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. I can read it."

Spectra smiled fully. "That's great. Now what does it say?"

"It says... G... N... 3... 18... 5... 19, 20, 19, 8, 9, 14, 5."

Spectra computed the numbers quickly. "That means your name is Crestshine. And that also means you're special," she said with a bright smile as she stroked the filly's mane.

Crestshine smiled. Then she noticed something on Spectra's cupping hoof. She lightly pushed it away to view a marking.

"Is that your name, Spectra?" She was met with a nod.

"Well, I guess that means we're both special."

Crestshine was now more comfortable with the presence of the mare, but something was still eating at her insides. Where was she?

"Is this where we live?" she asked, staring up at Spectra.

Spectra shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know, Crestshine. I don't even know what we're doing here or why," she said with an added frown.

"Oh."

"But I do want to find out, much like you do."

"So what are we waiting for!?" Crestshine hopped up on her hooves. "Let's find away out of this dark and scary place!" She put on a brave face.

Spectra agreed, and a new feeling poured into her heart. A new feeling of devotion, courage, enthusiasm...

A friendly and Whole-hearted bond.

//DISRUPTION OF PROGRAMMING. VOIDING PROCESS//

Spectra's eyes twitched viciously, and her head shot up. Crestshine was eyeing her new friend, worried of what was happening as the mare's coat changed from a cool yellow to a bright red.

"...Spectra?"

Spectra was instantly hit with a wave of dreadful nausea,  and she stumbled. Her eyes started to flicker a bright red, and her head dove into unconsciousness. The world around her began to blur. She shook her head violently, but darkness kept flooding her mind. The last thing she saw was small Crestshine, looking at her with eyes of worry and fear, yelling something that was muffled and muted.

Blackness clouded in around Spectra.


~CyPony~