//------------------------------// // 3) The Chase // Story: The Experiments // by SapphireRose87 //------------------------------// We went to the shack where Milton had woken up and went inside. “At least there’s no sign of those creepy weirdos, Ada and Willow!” I said. “Who are those two creepy weirdos, Ada and Willow?” Sarah said. “Oh good,” I said, “you haven’t run into them yet and trust me, you don’t want to! Those two women are after us ugh... ‘Experiments’ to trade us for a high pay raise!” “Is it just me,” said Sarah, “but I don’t like the word ‘Experiment’ attached to my name!” “You and me both!” Milton and I said. I looked over to see Martin still sleeping. “I wonder how long,” I said, “he’s going to be out for?” “Don’t know,” said Milton, “maybe we should try and wake him?” “I don’t know if we can!” I said. “Well,” said Sarah, “we’re still ponies now. So maybe we should give him a little nudge?” “Well,” I said, “no time like the present!” Sarah then took her horn and poked Martin hard on the shoulder. “Easy there,” I said, “you don’t have to be so rough with him!” “Hey,” said Sarah, “I don’t know how to do magic like you do!” “Seriously!” I said. Sarah and I started to argue about how to wake Martin up.  “Well,” said Milton, “if shouting doesn’t wake him up, I don’t know what else will!” We looked to see Martin opening his eyes. “Where am I?” Martin said. “Hey there,” said Milton, “my name’s Milton and this is Henry and this is Sarah. We’re all ugh...  ‘Experiments’ from Lab 14!” “You know what,” said Martin, “I had a box that kept saying ‘Experiment Martin!’ I don’t like the word ‘Experiment’ attached to my name!” “You can do that bubble thing with your horn!” Sarah said.  “Your point?” I said. “I can’t do magic yet!” Sarah said. “That’s why I poked Martin with my horn!” “And…” I said. “Just because you're the leader doesn’t mean you have to be an idiot!” Sarah. “Excuse me?” I said. “I told you that I was the first one to wake up, and I know more about what’s going on than you do! I think I’m not an idiot on that one!” “Yeah you are!” Sarah said.  I rolled my eyes, “Do you want to be the leader? Because I would be happy to give you the job! That’s because you seem to think you can do it better! So just go right ahead!”  “The same thing with all three of us!” Milton said. “Henry and Sarah stop shouting already!” Sara and I didn’t realize that we were still arguing until Milton had told us to stop. Milton did a face palm and groaned. “Princess Celestia is right,” said Milton, “we’re nothing but children!” “Hey!” Sarah and I said. “What’s that picture on your butt?” Martin said. “It looks the same as mine!” “Huh,” said Milton,”let me see…” Milton and Martin looked in the mirror at the same time. They both saw that they had the same picture on their butts, a cloud with a lightning bolt coming from it. “I wonder,” said Martin, “are we twins?” “I don’t know,” said Milton, “let’s see what we both look like as humans.” Milton and Martin both shouted the word ‘human’ and turned back into human form. Sure enough they looked exactly like each other. They both ha black hair and green eyes and freckles on their cheeks. “We are twins!” Milton and Martin said. Milton and Martin looked in their pockets and each one of them took out a pocket knife and a watch that had a picture of the same pony that looked a lot like Princess Celestia but the pony was purple in it. “Cool!” Milton and Martin said. “Okay,” I said, “not following any of this are you Sarah?” “Well, the only thing I’m getting,” said Sarah, “is that they’re twins!” “Hey,” I said, “I was wondering, you have a Stetson hat on, do you by any chance have a music box?” “Yes I do,” said Sarah, “oh and we should turn back into human form now.” “Okay!” I said. “Human!” Sarah and I said. Once Sarah was in her human form I saw that she had red hair and brown eyes. I could see that she was a couple of inches shorter than me. Sarah then opened her music box and it played the same weird tune that mine did.  “Huh,” I said, “do you by chance have the same picture on your butt?” “Oh no,” said Sarah, “I saw your picture and it was a moon and a black cloud on the left corner of it. My picture is a star with a wavy thing coming out of it. I have no idea what it means though.” I shrugged, “Your guess is as good as mine!” “Do you have strange memories?” Sarah said. “You know, voices that you can’t place where they come from?” “Yes I have,”  I said, “just one where a voice said that Crimson was having a power surge. They also talked about Crimson and Stars gotcha days coming up. I have no idea what that’s all about.”  “Hum,” said Sarah, “same here! One of the voices had a strange accent and the other one was just plain weird!” “Uhm Henry?” Milton said. “What?” I said. “What’s that thing coming out of your ear?” Milton said. I didn’t feel the thing coming out of my ear until after Milton mentioned it. “Ouch!” I said. It felt like my ear was going to come off my head. Before whatever it was finished coming out of my ear, the pain was so great that I passed out. *    *    * When I woke up I saw Sarah, Milton and Martin were looking at me worried. “How long was I out?” I said. “Five minutes,” said Sarah, “it was weird too! Whatever came out started crawling around so we stomped on it!” Sarah pointed to see a round tube that had legs on it. It also looked like it was a mangled mess. I touched my ear and it felt tender to the touch. “Your ear is completely red,” said Milton, “does it feel like it’s on fire?” “No,” I said, “it just hurts when I touch it. I have a feeling the same thing is going to happen to you three.” “Gee,” said Sarah, “I can’t wait!” “Maybe we should stay here and wait until our tracking devices come out?” Milton said. I shook my head, “No, we have to keep Jane and Aria from going to Jade Summers hideout! If you guys pass out, I’ll protect you to the best of my ability. If we have luck on our side, Princess Celestia will step in and help.” “Let’s hope so,” said Milton, “so when do we head out?” “We’re heading out now!” I said. “Everyone, grab your two most important things and your backpacks and let’s go!” *    *    * Before we could even leave the shack we heard voices off in the distance. I rolled my eyes, “That would be the creepy weirdos, Ada and Willow!” “Oh yeah,” said Sarah, “I ran into those two shortly after I woke up!” “Same here with Milton and I!” I said. “Did you run into them Martin?” “Nope,” said Martin, “I have no idea who they are!” “Well,” said Milton, “at least one of us hasn’t run into them yet!” “And trust me,” I said, “you don’t want to meet them!” “Okay,” said Martin, “if you say so…” “I wonder what... ugh…” Sarah gagged, “Experiment’ they’re after this time?” “I don’t know,” I said, “but if I were you, I’d keep your things on you as much as possible cause we’re going to have to run when we save whoever it is.” We didn’t have to go very far when we heard someone shout: “earth pony!” We could hear Willow and Ada shouting after whoever it was. “No you don’t!” Willow said. “You’re not escaping us like the other Experiments did Experiment Jane!” “No way in hell am I going with you willingly!” Jane said.  “What is with these Experiments and cuss words?” Ada said. “Now I know Lab 14 didn’t program that in them.” “What am I,” said Jane, “a computer to you?” “I guess you could say that,” said Willow, “that’s because you’re a lab rat for Lab 14!” “Oh hell no!” Sarah said. “No she didn’t! We’re not lab rats!” As soon as Sarah said that, I couldn’t stop her because she charged out of the shack so fast, it was like she was a lightning bolt shooting out of the sky! “Oh boy,” I said, “she really hates being called a lab rat and I don’t blame her!” “Unicorn!” Sarah shouted and transformed. “Well if it isn't Experiment Sarah!” Willow said tauntingly. “So nice to see you again!” “The feeling is mutual!” Sarah narrowed her eyes and hissed. “At least they haven’t dropped any F bombs on us yet!” Ada said. “I have no idea what an F bomb is,” said Sarah, “but I’m pretty sure I’ll figure it out!” “Let’s hope not!” Willow said. Willow then threw a rope at Jane and it wrapped around her waist. “Oh no you don’t!” Sarah said. Sarah then stomped on the rope and bit it with her teeth, this freed Jane and she head butted Willow as if she were a goat. The head butt knocked Willow out and Ada rushed to her aid. “Good,” I said, “while they’re distracted, let’s get out of here!” “If you say run,” said Jane, “I’m running!” “Same here!” Sarah said. We ran as fast as we could to the middle of the forest. *    *    * We stopped when we couldn’t run anymore. We stopped by a nearby tree that had a huge branch of leaves hanging out from it. “This should be good enough cover,” I said. “Before I turn back human,” said Jane, ”who are you guys?” “Oh,” I said, “we’re... ugh... ‘Experiments’ from a place called Lab 14. When each of us woke up there was a message that came from a small Tv that was in our backpacks. All of us had a shack ten feet in front of us. Inside the shack was a small table with a manual on it.” “Not to mention,” said Milton, “when we woke up we all had two most important items with us, that for some reason we feel the need to keep on us at all times. Mine and Martins are a pocket knife and a watch. We can only assume that we’re twins because we look exactly alike when we’re human and we’re exactly the same when we’re pegasus.” “You wanna see?” Martin said. “Sure!” Jane said. “Pegasus!” Milton and Martin said and transformed.  “And Sarah and I wear Stetson hats on us at all times,” I said, “just to show you, ‘unicorn!’” I changed back into a unicorn and Jane spotted the necklace with a ring on it around my neck. “You have a necklace with a ring on it!” Jane said. “I have one too! Wanna see?” Jane pointed at her neck and that’s when I saw the necklace. “Hey,” said Sarah, “we all have one of those. I wonder what that means?” “I wonder if Aria will have one too?” I said. “Who’s Aria?” Jane said. “She’s one of us too,” I said, “let’s hope we can come across her before Lab 14 along with Willow and Ada do.” “Oh,” said Jane, “what’s with the goofy clothing?” “We should probably show you our clothing too.” I said. “Human!” Everyone said. We changed back to human and we all showed Jane that we were dressed in the same clothing.  What Jane looked like is that she had sandy blonde hair and of her eyes was green and the other eye was blue.  “I wonder what all of this means?’ Jane said. “Your guess is as good as mine!” I said. “Oh,” said Jane, “and did anyone by chance have a small tube with legs come out of their ear?” “Only Henry has so far,” said Milton, “and he passed out because of it! I am not looking forward to that experience!” “Let me guess,” I said, “you passed out too?” “Yup,” said Jane, “and my ear hurts like crap! As soon as I saw the thing, I stomped on it!” “Great,” I said, “that means three if not four of us if you include Aria, still have yet to have their trackers pop out!” “Lovely,” said Milton, “not looking forward to that at all!” “Um… Milton?” Martin said. “What? Ouch!” Milton said. “Damn it! I have something coming out of my ear don’t I?” *    *    * Just like what happened to me, Milton was out for five minutes. Milton was laying in the fetal position when he woke up. “Man that hurt!” Milton said. “Why did it have to be me next?” “Well,” I said, “I’d rather have it happen sooner than later!” “Oh great,” said Sarah, “that means three of us are left! Hopefully, Aria’s tracker popped out!” “Maybe we can speed up the process so you can get it over with?” Jane said. “No way!” Sarah said. “Not gonna happen!” “Okay then,” said Jane, “have it your way.” *    *    * “Discord!” Princess Celestia said. “What do you want now?” “I was wondering,” said Discord, “exactly when are you going to tell the children that they have the updated tracker in their ears already when their old ones popped out?” “Nope,” said Princess Celestia, “not anytime soon! You know it’s kind of funny though.” “What?” Discord said. “Lab 14’s technology is very outdated,” said Princess Celestia, “it’s practically obsolete! While we already implanted updated trackers Lab 14 still needs to put their trackers underneath the skin! It’s sad that neither of us were able to wipe their memories! I can only assume that it’s because of their magic!” “I was wondering about that,” said Discord, “why do you feel the need to experiment on only Equestrian children anyway?” “We didn’t just steal Equestrian children you know!” Princess Celestia said. “Oh,” said Discord, ”I haven’t seen them at either lab! Are they imaginary children?” “Oh no,” said Princess Celestia, “they’re not imaginary! Celestial labs and Lab 14 have split half the Experiments with Celestial Labs and the other half with Lab 14!” “I hate it when you talk about these children like that!” Discord said. “They’re not property you know!” “For the time being they are!” Princess Celestia said. “Don’t worry, they’ll be guided back to Celestial Labs in no time!” “What about returning the children back to their rightful parents?” Discord said. “Oh that,” said Princess Celestia, “Luna and I are their rightful parents! That’s because we helped create them after all!” “You didn’t create them!” Discord said. “You stole them from their cribs! They were already created, Princess Celestia!” “Humph!” Princess Celestia said.  “And when do you think,” said Discord, “when they’re going to figure out that they can do magic in their human form?” “Probably,” said Princess Celestia, “when their cutie marks appear on their left hand. They already have their names on their right hand. Lab 14 should go ahead and consider their experiment a failure! Their loss is my gain!” Discord groaned, “It seems that my reasoning goes in one ear and out the other!” *    *    * “So,” said Jane, “what are we going to do for food?” “Hmm,” I said, “I’m pretty sure the manual says something about it!” “It says here,” said Milton, “that we forge for food in the forest when we come across one and catch fish in the river.” “And,” I said, “what about cities?” “It says,” saiid Martin, “that we can use these bits in our backpacks to get food and work odd jobs to make more.” Before we could make another move, there was a voice coming from my backpack. “Henry!” We heard a voice say, “Henry if you’re there, turn on the screen and the auto please I need to talk to you!” “What’s that voice?” Jane said. “It doesn’t sound like Cora,” I said, “it sounds more like Princess Celestia.” “Who’s Princess Celestia?” Sarah said. “She’s that big white pony that’s popped up to save us quite a few times!” Milton said. “Oh I remember!” Sarah said. “She did pop up to save us from that Eleanor woman!” “Yup!” I said. I turned on the Tv and the auto to speak to Princess Celestia. “Oh good,” said Princess Celestia, “you’re safe for now.” “For now?” I said. “Yes,” said Princess Celestia, “the two sisters Willow and Ada are bound to be after you once again. So you better not stay where you’re at for very long. You should probably just grab some food and keep moving! Oh, and I’ll be sending my assistant Moria. So be on the lookout for a black dog with a pink color around her neck. The color has a gold tag with the name Moria on it! And keep your Tv’s with you at all times! That includes all of the other children that are with you! Many children are there with you?” “There’s four.” I said. “Oh good,” said Princess Celestia, “you still have yet to come across Aria!” “How do you know about this?” I said. “Well, I did work for Lab 14,” said Princess Celestia, “I left shortly after your creation. So, I know how many of you are there. And you need to know that there’s something different about Aria.” “What?” I said. “She wears glasses when she’s in human form,” said Princess Celestia, “don’t worry, her glasses disappear when she’s turned into an earth pony. And the glasses are indescribable, so you won’t have to worry about them breaking! And don’t worry about Cora, I will intercept her messages and replace them with mine. That’s all I have to say for now. Bye Henry until we meet again!” “Bye Princess Celestia!”  I said. The screen went black and I turned the Tv off.