//------------------------------// // 7) Arrival at Inter Inn // Story: The Experiments // by SapphireRose87 //------------------------------// As Moria was leading us to where the Inter Inn was Sarah was looking at me with concern because I was still keeping my right hand in my coat pocket. “You gonna tell us,” said Sarah, “why you’re keeping your hand in your right hand in your coat pocket?”  I shook my head and looked down at the ground. “I take it, that's a no?” Sarah said. “At least he’s left-handed. But I don’t know how that’s going to help working odd jobs at the  Inter Inn!” Milton said.  Sarah paused and looked like she just had a light bulb go off inside her head.  “Oh no,” said Sarah,  “I just realized something!” “What?” Milton said. “He won’t be able to change into a unicorn now!” Sarah said. “I don’t think that matters right now!” Moria said. “Why?” Martin said. “Because,” said Moria, “the owner of the Inter Inn is human! He’ll understand our situation.” “Oh good!” Milton said with relief in his voice.  When we got to Inter Inn the owner was standing outside waving at us. “Hey Earnest!” Moria said. “How’s it going?” “It’s going good!” Earnest said. “Are these the children Princess Celestia told me about?” “Yes,” said Moria, “but we have a problem with Henry!” “Which one is Henry?” Earnest said.  I gave a little wave to Earnest and he nodded. “Derek!” Earnest said. A young boy about our age came out of the inn and smiled at us. “Yes sir?” Derek said. “Take these five with you, and show them what they’ll be doing,” said Earnest, “Henry come with me!” “Yes sir!” Derek said. He then led the rest of the group inside and Earnest motioned for me to follow. I hesitated and Moria bit on my coat sleeve and led me after Earnest. I followed Earnest into a room that was behind the desk. “So what happened Henry?” Earnest said. I didn’t do anything but raise an eyebrow at him and pointed at my throat and shook my head. Earnest responded by giving me a look of confusion. Moria looked at us and spoke for me.  “According to Princess Celestia, Lab 14 took his voice box, and hes been keeping his right hand in his coat pocket, my guess is that they used that hand to torture him!” “I wish someone,” growled Earnest, “would go into Lab 14 and blow it up from the inside out!” “You know that’s not possible right?” Moria said. “Yeah I know,” Earnest said, “but it’s not fair either way you look at it! You want to show me your right hand Henry?” I backed up to a nearby wall and shook my head rapidly. “Come on,” said Earnest, “it can’t be that bad can it?” “Henry!” Moria begged. “Please show us your hand! No one else has to know, honest!” I bit the inside of my cheek debating about if I should show them or not. I decided to pull my hand out very slowly. When Earnest and Moria saw my hand they gasped at it. Moria licked the stitches and I winced at the pain because it stung. “Sorry about that Henry,” said Moria. “Cora’s so cruel! Although I’ve seen worse, I guess you got off easy!” I stared at Moria and wanted to pick her up by her collar and hang her with it. “I know, I know,” said Moria, “I shouldn’t talk about what happened to you so lightly, my bad!” I balled my hands into fists and my stitches almost came out. “Easy there!” Earnest said putting a hand on one of my fists. “You don’t want your stitches to come out. Your hands are already starting to bleed! Just calm down okay?” I relaxed my hands and looked down to see that my hand was starting to bleed. “Well,” said Moria, “what are we going to do about it? He obviously doesn’t want anyone to see it. Trust me, I don’t blame him!” “I have an idea!” Earnest said. He picked up a box off the table behind him, reached in and brought out a black glove. “If you keep this glove on,” said Earnest, “you’ll be able to work without anyone seeing it. We should probably wrap up those stitches so they don’t bleed. I don’t want you doing any hard labor. So I just think you should be my assistant for now, sound good Henry?” I nodded and Earnest got to work on wrapping up my stitches. * * * After Experiment Henry tripped the alarm outside of his room and Cora saw he was gone she wasn't happy about it. She wondered how Experiment Henry was able to escape so quickly and left no trace behind. “How on earth did Experiment Henry get out?” Cora said. “I have a feeling of who did it too! Damn it! Agent Discord!” Discord popped up out of nowhere and didn’t look at Cora as though he were a bad little kid. “If you have something to do with this Agent Discord,” said Cora, “I swear!” “What are you going to do about me Cora?” Discord sneered. “It’s not like you can do anything! I’m the Lord of Chaos, and without me, you wouldn’t have the powers to shut down your ‘experiments!’ You could fire bullets at me and I would just sit and drink a cup of tea and not even flinch!” “Oh really now?” Cora said. “I think we should test that theory!” “Fine by me!” Discord said. He snapped his claw and he was floating in the air sipping a cup of tea. Cora took out her gun and smiled. “Let’s see,” said Cora, “if I can empty this gun on you!” “Fire when ready!” Discord said and made a circle with his hand and made a bullseye appear in front of him. Cora fired quite a few bullets and some of them hit Discord’s tea cup but he just kept drinking. A couple of the bullets hit Discord’s bullseye and all he did was giggle as if they tickled him. Cora stopped firing her gun and put it away. “You weren’t kidding,” said Cora, “were you?” Discord pulled on his beard in annoyance. “What part of 'Lord of Chaos' do you not understand?” Discord said. “Since my reasoning goes in one ear and out the other, I vow to kill you in one ear and out the other! But I won’t do that. Until I steal all of your experiments and send them back home. So I’m breaking the contract! Goodbye for good!” Without another word, Discord snapped his claw and disappeared. However, Discord knew that his threat of violence was just an empty threat because it was not his place to do so. * * * Willow was standing behind Princess Luna with a confused look. Princess Luna was sitting on her chair looking at her computer with a mischievous grin.  “So your highness,” said Willow, “when are we going after them? They already got through your maze and that was without their leader Experiment Henry!” “I do have another idea,” said Princess Luna, “I'm thinking of giving them another test to go through. Once they pass this test, they’ll be that much closer to going home! Unfortunately, it involves your sister Ada!” “What?” Willow said. “Why Ada? And why now?” "Yes I know,” said Princess Luna, “and you know why it has to be Ada!” “I know,” said Willow, “to throw the tracker cats off the Experiments trail! I wonder how many she’ll kill this time?” * * * Cora rubbed her temple as she was angry with Discord for breaking Experiment Henry out of Lab 14. Once again, she was pacing up and the main hallway while her state-of-the-art computers were trying to come up with a plan to get him back.  “Agent Rarity,” said Cora, “I’m sending you after Experiment Henry! The tracker cats I’m sending under your charge are Ezra, Aaron and Lily they’re the best in the business! Bring Experiment Henry back alive. The rest of the Experiments you can do with what you see fit. You can kill them for all I care! Experiment Henry is the most valuable experiment we have!” “Why is he so important ma’am?” Agent Rarity said. “Let’s just say,” said Cora, “he’s the pinnacle of our achievements and there’s nothing that can kill him. He’s been able to survive any stress you put on him. And that includes data gathering! Get Experiment Henry back and then deal with the rest of the trash!” Agent Rarity gasped at what Cora thought of the other experiments that were traveling with Experiment Henry. “Is that how you view them ma’am?” Agent Rarity said. “Things to go into the trash?” “In a sense yes!” Cora said. “If an Experiment doesn’t give us good results then they are no use to Lab 14!” Agent Rarity looked like she was about to protest that idea but, she chose not to say anything. After that, the tracker cats showed up. “You want us to go after someone ma’am?” Ezra said. “Yup,” said Cora, “I want you to go after Experiment Henry! I suspect that Discord broke him out of his room!” “How are we supposed to track him?” Aaron said. “We don’t have his scent!” Cora took out one of Experiment Henry's shirts that she had him wear during the data gathering. “Oh that’s right,” said Cora, “here’s a shirt that he wore when he was under our charge. Remember the scent and get him back alive at all costs!” Each of the tracker cats sniffed Henry’s shirt and nodded. Even though Agent Rarity had a pet cat herself she was not fond of the tracker cats at all. “Now go,” said Cora while waving them off, “time is of the essence!” “Yes ma’am!” All of the tracker cats said. * * * “Okay,” said Milton, “let’s get to work!” Derek showed Milton, Martin, Sarah, Jane and Aria to the barn behind the Inn. They were surprised to see actual horses in the barn. There were three horses in total. “Are these actual horses?” Jane said. “Yes,” said Derek, “their names are Bobo, La’al, and Cube. My mom, dad and I go riding on the weekend. I’ve competed in some competitions myself. Now you stallion's Milton and Martin stay away from La’al and you mares Sarah, Jane and Aria stay away from Bobo and Cube.” “Hey!” Milton and Martin said. “Who are you calling a stallion?” “Let me see if I can explain this in simple terms,” said Derek, “you’re a male pegasus right?” “Your point?” Milton said. “The males,” said Derek, “in the pony world are considered stallions and La’al is a mare. The females in the pony world are considered mares Bobo and Cube are stallions.” “Okay?” Sarah said. “Why do we have to stay away from them?” Derek did a face palm and groaned, “That’s because it’s mating season!” “No thanks!” Milton said. “I don’t need a horse for a girlfriend!” “And we,” said Sarah, “don’t need horses for boyfriends!” Derek couldn’t control himself, he laughed so hard, he had tears in his eyes. “That’s not funny!” Sarah and Milton said. “Hey,” said Jane, “what about Henry?”  “You mean that kid that went with dad?" Derek said. “I wonder if Henry’s going to show them his right hand?” Sarah said. “Oh yeah,” said Derek, “I noticed he was keeping that hand in his coat pocket. What’s up with that?” “We don’t know,” said Jane, “ever since he got out of Lab 14 he hasn’t showed us yet.” “What’s Lab 14?” Derek said. His expression appeared oblivious as to what Lab 14 was. His look made Sarah suspicious but she decided to explain it to him anyway. “It’s an evil place,” said Sarah, “where they capture kids and experiment on them!” “Yikes!” Derek said. “Let’s hope,” said Milton, “that you never get taken. Although you look about as old as we are. So I doubt they will take you.” “Do you guys even know how old you are?” Derek said. Sarah shrugged, “It doesn’t say on our ID cards it just says our names and what pony we’re classified as.” “That’s all kinds of messed up!” Derek said. “No kidding,” said Aria, “considering the hell that Henry just went through I’m very surprised that they even let him live!” * * * The next day that we were staying at the Inn. I was working with Earnest as his assistant when I noticed that he was staring at me with a curious look on his face. “I’ve noticed something different about you,” said Earnest, “can you see the correct colors of the boxes and the things I've given you?” I guess I should’ve figured out a way to ask for help because when I was putting things away to the best of my ability I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t tell if I was putting them in the right box because it all went by color. I shook my head at Earnest’s question.  “Hmm, interesting. So your color blind then?” said Earnest. I nodded my head and looked down at the floor.  “I see,” said Earnest, “I’ll label the boxes as to what color they are for later. We can go back and correct them tomorrow okay? Don’t worry, the items aren’t messed up that bad.” I nodded and yawned because it was getting late but I couldn’t make a sound with my voice box gone. Earnest then grit his teeth and slammed his fist on a nearby wall. “You can’t even make noise when you yawn! And I bet Lab 14 is the reason why you’re color blind!” Earnest said. “I’d like to take an M60 and kill every single one of those cursed scientists! Especially Cora! She’s the head of Lab 14. She almost took Derek from me!” I then titled my head in confusion. “The only reason my wife is gone all week,” said Earnest, “is because she made a deal with Lab 14 so they didn’t take Derek! She’s an agent for them now because of it!” I then put a hand on his shoulder and that was enough to make him calm down. I heard Moria when she came from outside. “Oh no you don’t!” Derek said, pulling Moria by the collar. “You need to wash your muddy feet before you come back into the Inn!”  “Why?” Moria said. “Because I’m not letting you get muddy footprints on the floor after I just cleaned it!” said Derek. “Fine!” Moria said. “Derek?” Earnest said. “Yes sir?” Derek said. “After you do that,” said Earnest, “can you show Henry to his room? I think I’m going to turn in for the night.” “Yes sir!” Derek said. After Derek took care of Moria he came in and showed me to my room. * * * Later that night, I had a nightmare, it was the first one I had ever since I woke up. I was in some sort of cave or at least that’s what it looked like to me. I was tied up to the ceiling by my wrists and the restraints were very tight, so tight that I thought I thought my hands were going to come off. Although I think that whoever was my warden wanted that. “Now, now,” I heard a voice say, “Experiment Henry it’s time for you to come out and play!” When I heard that voice, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. When I saw Ada, I felt nothing but terrified. “Hi Experiment Henry!” Ada said. “Boy you’re getting more and more cute by the day! It’s time for our play date now!” When Ada came near me to untie I kicked her in the chest. Ada smiled, “You do that every time! And I think that’s adorable!” “You’re psycho, you know that?” I said, “Moi? Psycho?” Ada said. “That makes me love you even more! Which is why I like playing with you a lot! You’re my favorite one, you know that right?” “I’m not going to play today!” I said. “I’m not in the mood!” “That’s too bad!” Ada said. “Sorry you’re going to play and you're going to like it!” Ada then took me down from the ceiling and dragged me to the center of the cave and tied me a pole. “I’m glad I took your shirt away from you,” said Ada, “it makes your scars more visible! And you’re even more cute without it.” “Again, you’re a psycho!” I said.  “And you have a sense of humor too!” Ada said. “What girl wouldn’t want to be with you?” “For the last time Ada,” I said, “we’re not together. You’re not my type!” Ada slapped me as hard as she could and I felt the sting from it. “Do I need to take your voice box out again?” Ada said. “I don’t really want to do that you know? Too bad it doesn’t count as an organ! And since I’m not able to kill you yet, I’ll just play with you instead!” “I don’t think that what you consider play is not “playing”, I said, “I’m surprised Lab 14 doesn’t lock you away in a straight jacket!” “But I’m special just like you!” Ada said. “So they don’t have the heart to lock me away!” “And you think Lab 14 has a heart?” I said. “As if!” Ada smiled at me and she forced me to sit down and sat on me. I wouldn’t allow myself to show how afraid I was at the time. “Hum,” said Ada, “you continue to fight! That’s okay, this’ll all be over before you know it! Just relax already!” I couldn’t do anything because of being tied up, when Ada leaned in for a kiss, that was when I woke up. * * * When I woke up, I was in a cold sweat. That almost felt more like a memory than a nightmare!  I hope that’s not a memory! “You okay Henry?” I looked up to see Derek sitting at the edge of my bed.  I just about fell off the bed in surprise when I saw him. Derek grabbed me before I hit the ground and I sat back up. Derek rolled his eyes, “Dad wanted me in the same bedroom to keep an eye on you.” Derek pointed and there was a bed across from mine. I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed. “It’s okay Henry,” said Derek, “I’m not going to do anything. Unless you want me to!” I scooted away from him and shook my head. Derek then kissed me on the forehead and went back to his bed. Why am I always running into weirdos? Although Derek's a different kind of weirdo and I'm not sure if I want to find out what kind of weirdo he is...