The unicorn marched up and down the length of the laboratory, the click of his steps against the stone pavement echoing around the room in a nervous, frenzied rhythm.
"Are you sure about this?" his companion asked, as she herself sat at a table and clutched an empty beaker in her hoof just to have something to hold on to.
Her body slightly twitched every few seconds, the tension inside her trying to push its way out.
He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to her, his eyes wide and his pupils shrunk to the size of needle holes. "I have never been less sure about anything in my life," he stated, in what sounded closer to a dam breaking than to a pony speaking. "The only thing I know for sure is that if this doesn't go well then we're both going to die a slow painful horrible death, probably at each other's hooves. Is there anything you'd like to say to me before we go out there and sign our death sentences?"
The beaker in her hoof seemed threateningly close to cracking, but still managed to remain intact. "I think we signed our death sentences when we came to work here, Star'."
"We didn't have a choice there. The alternative, I'll remind you, was death. You don't disobey an order from Her Majesty." He sat down, pushing his back against the wall. "I guess you could argue she signed our sentences for us. We never really had a say in all this. We're only allowed to do what she's okay with us doing."
"When you think about it, everyone signs their death sentence the cycle they are born. That's how life works. Or something." She tried for a smile, and ended up with something decently close to it. "Except for her I guess. Fuck."
The other gave a resigned, almost accepting sigh. "Well. Time to go. Been nice knowing you, Sunlight." He got up, and began to march towards the door.
The other unicorn set the beaker down, and stood up as well. "I told you, don't call me Sunlight." She stepped to his side, in front of the door. "Also, same."
"Sure thing, Sunlight." With a flick of his horn, he opened the door and walked into the next room. There, behind a curtain of glass, a stallion lay strapped to a table, a worried but determined smile on his face.
The two unicorns looked at each other, then the mare lit her horn and spoke to the pony on the table. "We will begin now. I will warn you, this is going to hurt."
He said something in response, probably about doing it for the glory of Her Majesty or some other honorable idiocy the soldiers were brainwashed with. It was a bit of a shame they couldn't hear him, but they both knew they'd be grateful for that once the screams began.
The male unicorn swallowed, readying his spell. "All clear?" he asked to his partner.
"All clear." She nodded.
Closing his eyes, the unicorn flared his magic, and the machine on the other side of the glass hummed to life.