Finally Cora decided to take a break from her 'data gathering' which finally let me get some sleep. If I didn't know any better I thought that maybe she had a heart inside of her somewhere, but I was just probably being delusional.
“Henry!” I heard a voice say. “Henry! Wake up!”
I opened my eyes to see a strange creature floating above my bed. It looked like he was made up of a bunch of different animal parts. The only parts that I could tell what they were was he had a bear paw for his left hand and some sort of claw on his other hand.
“I know you don’t know me,” said the creature, “but my name’s Discord! I started working for Lab 14 since I found out that they stole you from your cribs and tweaked you just for their Experiments! I want to return all of the Experiments back home where they belong! Come on, we don’t have much time! I’ll get you out of those restraints!”
As soon as Discord said that, I found that I was instantly out of the restraints. I rubbed my wrists because it felt good to be out of them.
“Here are your original clothes, hurry and put them on!” Discord said.
Discord handed my clothes and I changed out of the hospital gown that Lab 14 had me in.
“Here’s your backpack,” said Discord, “with all of your items. Here’s your music box and you’ll probably want your hat! You were wearing it when you came in! You know, the music box does look familiar... but never mind!”
I pointed at my throat hoping that Discord would be able to get my voice box back.
“Sorry about that,” said Discord, “there’s nothing I can do about that at the moment. But I did put a notebook and pen in your bag! I assume you still know how to read and write. You do remember how to do that right?”
I nodded my head and narrowed my eyes at him.
“Yeah I know you don’t trust me because I work for Lab 14!” Discord said. “But believe me when I say I want to send you home! Your friends should be breaking out of Luna’s maze very soon! So I’ll drop you off right outside it! And for what it’s worth, your friends are very worried about you!”
I pointed to the sign on my door and pointed to the part that said Experiment and the other part that said Henry. Discord looked a little bit puzzled at first but somehow, he picked up on the fact that I was talking about Aria.
“Yes, yes!” Discord said. “Experiment Aria!”
We're not experiments! I narrowed my eyes at Discord and I wished that I could’ve growled at him. But I couldn’t make a sound at the moment.
“Oh yeah sorry,” said Discord, “you don’t like being called an experiment and I don’t blame you! I don’t know where they released her but you might come across her soon!”
I nodded and looked over to see that for some reason there was a figurine that was a black dog on my dresser. I picked it up and pointed at it.
“Oh yeah!” Discord said. “That would be Princess Celestia’s assistant! I know because she used to work for Lab 14 and that dog was always following her around! You’ll probably run into that dog again soon! Anyway, this is a jailbreak and as soon as you leave this room an alarm will sound! So when I get you out of Lab 14, run like the wind! Got it?”
How did he know about Luna’s maze and Celestia’s assistant? I guess I’ll find out another time. I nodded.
Before I knew it, we were out of Lab 14. Of course just like Discord said the alarm sounded.
* * *
Discord had dropped me off by the exit of Luna's maze and it looked like my friends were getting ready to run. Where they were getting ready to run to I had no idea.
“Finally,” said Milton, “we’re out of that maze! I get a feeling that was a test and I don’t care if we passed or failed!”
“I totally agree with you on that one!” Sarah said.
I saw my friends run past me and I ran up to Milton and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Great, now let’s go find-“ Milton said.
Milton turned around to see me.
“Henry!” Milton said. He pulled me close to him and gave me a big hug. This didn't feel like the time for a hug, so I quickly pushed him back and raised an eyebrow at him. I would’ve laughed at something like this, but since my voice box was gone I couldn’t.
“I’m so glad you’re back!” Milton said. “Now I don’t have to be a leader anymore!”
Yeah that’ll be a bit difficult to be a leader without a voice! I shook my head and pointed at Milton. He seemed to understand what I was trying to say.
“I take it, you still want me to be the leader?” Milton said.
I pointed harder--if that were possible--at Milton and nodded.
“You’re joking!” Milton said. “Please tell me you’re joking!”
I shook my head and Sarah’s eyes went wide in anger because she seemed to pick up on the fact that my voice box was gone.
“You’re an idiot Milton!” Sarah snapped.
“What?” Milton said. “What is it? I’m confused.”
Sarah growled, “You can’t tell he doesn’t have his voice box? He can’t even make a sound!”
“And how do you know this?” Milton said. “I’ve never had that done to me before.”
“That makes two!” Martin said.
“Me neither!” Jane said.
“That makes four!” We heard a voice say from behind us. We turned around to see a young woman dressed in the same clothing as us but she had black hair and blue eyes.
“I take it,” said Milton, “you’re ugh... ‘Experiment Aria’?”
“Yes,” said Aria, “and I’m classified as an earth pony! And as you can see I wear glasses when I’m human! I can’t see when I’m human.”
“My name is Milton!” Milton said. “That’s my brother Martin, this is Sarah, this Jane and the handicapped one is Henry!”
At the very mention of the word handicap I stomped on Milton’s foot. My legs aren’t handicapped!
“Okay,” said Milton, “I get it! Calm down Henry! This guy over here that just stomped on my foot, was the original leader of the group but since he doesn’t have his voice box right at the moment, I have to take the job! Unless one of you wants to do it?”
All of us including me shook our heads.
“Great!” Milton said.
“So what are we going to do with Henry?” Aria said.
“I don’t know.” Milton said. “I’m guessing from what he just did that should be enough for him to communicate for now at least! I don’t know what to do about that because he’s handicapped right now!”
Once again Milton just had to say something smart and it really pissed me off so I stomped on his foot again. His legs won’t work if he keeps it up!
“Ow! Hey what was that look for?” Milton said.
“I think,” we heard a voice say, “you provoked him now let’s get a move on!”
We all jumped back when we saw Moria. She was standing there with a smile on her face.
“That’s no ordinary dog isn’t she?” Jane said. “Last time I checked, dogs can’t talk! Usually dogs can communicate through hand signals. It's usually whatever their owner teaches them to do!”
“Well duh!” Moria said. “I’m an assistant, so of course I’m no ordinary dog! And I don’t need hand signals either! Maybe we could teach Henry some hand signals? He doesn’t seem like he wants to talk right at the moment!”
“No Moria,” said Sarah, “it’s not that he doesn’t want to talk it’s-“
We heard a voice come from the Tv that I had in my bag.
“Henry!” Princess Celestia said. “Henry come in! If you can hear me come in!”
I can’t come in when I can’t talk! I still wouldn’t trust you if I could!
“Who’s that?” Aria said.
“That would be Princess Celestia,” said Milton, “she saved us a couple of times. So I’m going to consider her and Ali until she gives us reason not to! Got it Henry?”
I rolled my eyes and handed Milton the small Tv to him. He flipped the screen on and turned on the auto.
“Ah!” Princess Celestia said. “Milton it’s so nice to see you! Where is Henry?”
“Henry’s right here!” Milton said. He then pulled me next to him so that Princess Celestia could see me. When she saw me her eyes went wide in terror.
“Damn it!” Princess Celestia said.
“Let me guess,” said Milton, “you can tell Henry doesn’t have his voice box! How’d you figure that out quickly?”
“I figured it out because,” said Princess Celestia, “he has stitches in the right side of his neck! They are hidden but if you look hard enough you can find them if you just touch the right side of his neck they appear instantly.”
When I realized what Milton was going to do I backed away from him.
“It’s okay Henry,” said Milton, “this won’t hurt a bit!”
I narrowed my eyes at him because that’s what Cora told me before she cut my fingers.
“Someone hold him still!” Milton said.
“Got it!” Sarah said. Sarah then pushed me to the ground and sat on me. I tried to get out from under her, but that was next to impossible.
“Okay,” said Milton, “that’s not the way I would’ve preferred to do that, but this way works too!”
“What,” said Sarah, “he’s favoring his right hand and keeping it in his coat pocket! Why, I have no idea. We’ll figure it out sooner or later, good thing he’s left handed.”
Milton then touched the right side of my neck which didn’t feel gentle at all. I winced at the pain.
“Sorry about that Henry,” said Milton, “I thought I was being gentle! Yup, those stitches lit up like a Christmas tree! Don’t ask why I know that, but okay!”
Princess Celestia laughed, “That’s probably because Lab 14 had something like that in your rooms for the holiday. Anyway is Moria there with you?”
“Yes ma’am!” Moria barked.
Princess Celestia said, “Moria please guide the children to the Inter Inn that’s at the edge of a forest. I’ve spoken to the owner and they should be able to work odd jobs to make some money. Oh and Henry?”
I raised an eyebrow at Princess Celestia.
“Whatever you do,” said Princess Celestia, “don’t let Willow’s sister Ada kiss you! Let’s just say it won’t be pleasant!”
Yup that confirms it, creepy weirdos!
“I can tell,” said Princess Celestia, “that you’re creeped out by them. Good, keep it that way!”
I smiled and nodded at her.
“Well,” said Princess Celestia, “until we meet again Milton and Henry! This is goodbye for now!”
Milton turned off the Tv and had a grin on his face. I gave him a look as if to say ‘what.’
“Looks like Henry already has a girlfriend!” Milton said.
I frowned at him and put up my hands and gave a look as to say ‘what the heck is going on.’
Jane, Aria, Sarah and Martin just started laughing hysterically and I couldn’t do anything but glare at them.
“I’m sorry Henry,” said Sarah, “you’ve got one of the two sisters as a creepy stalker!”
At that moment I was seeing red--although I can’t really see red--but in any case, I was not going to put up with any teasing especially not from Sarah or Milton. I pushed Milton into Sarah, knocking them into each other.
“Ow!” Sarah said.
“Hey!” Milton said. “What was that for?”
“Probably,” said Martin, “because you provoked him again! You guys just love doing that don’t you?”
“Provoked him!” Milton said. “I was just teasing! Lighten up will you Henry?”
I just sat down and I put my head up to show my scoffing at them.
“Okay fine!” Sarah said. “Have it your way!”
“I don’t think it’s time for casual conversation!” Moria said. “In case you didn’t notice, Henry just broke out of Lab 14. How, I don’t know. Maybe he’ll tell us one day! You guys just got out of Luna’s maze. Lab 14 will probably send tracker cats on our tail. Luna will probably send the two sisters Willow and Ada! We definitely want to keep Henry away from them for some reason, but let’s get a move on!”
“Right!” Everyone said. I couldn’t say anything so I just nodded my head, we grabbed our bags and followed her to the Inter Inn.
* * *
Princess Celestia laughed as she knew that Cora would be boiling with anger because Experiment Henry broke out of Lab 14, thanks to Discord. She was sitting in her office at her lab that she called Celestial labs with a silly grin on her face when Discord suddenly appeared.
“Thank you so much,” said Princess Celestia, “for breaking Experiment Henry out of Lab 14! I really appreciate it!”
“It’s a good thing I broke him out too!” Discord said. “It might backfire on us! Provided Ada doesn’t get to him! I'm just mad we couldn’t track her powers ever since she disappeared!”
“Yeah,” said Princess Celestia, ”that’s a bad thing too! Ada ‘plays’ with her victims before she kills them!”
“I know,” said Discord, “she puts her hands inside of her victims and looks her victims in the eye while they bleed out and die a slow painful death! And all she needs is one kiss for that to happen! For some reason Ada decided to leave Experiment Henry alive. Maybe she fell in love with the guy? Yeah, that’s not creepy at all!”
“Hum,” said Princess Celestia, “something about that first Experiment doesn’t add up!”
“What do you mean?” Discord said.
“If Lab 14 knew she could do that,” said Princess Celestia, “then why put her with Experiment Henry?”
At that thought, Princess Celestia's ears went flat against her head in anger.
“I know why!” Princess Celestia said.
“Why?” Discord said.
“It’s because Lab 14 enhanced Experiment Henry’s powers,” said Princess Celestia, “so he’s basically a superhero. I guess Lab 14 wanted to see if Ada could kill him!”
“That’s right,” said Discord, “she didn’t even get an organ from the guy because his wound kept healing up. Which means the torture that Cora put Experiment Henry though will heal right up! Of course there will be some psychical scars but that can’t be helped.”
“It’s a good thing Lab 14 hasn’t decided to eliminate him yet!” Princess Celestia said. “They’re the only ones that can actually kill him!”
“How?” Discord said.
“The surge projector boxes!” Princess Celestia said. “If the box is put on the highest voltage it can stop his heart and then they can take out his brain! Then they can go ahead and take him apart like a robot!”
“That’s not good!” Discord said. “And why haven’t they done that yet?”
“Lab 14 probably thinks,” said Princess Celestia, “that Experiment Henry is their most valuable ‘Experiment’ they have yet! Not to mention he was the first one! Why would they let go of something like that?”
“If I were a scientist,” said Discord, “I wouldn’t want to lose something like that!”