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// ONE SIGNATURE (By ComicSansPony) 
// Story: Chilling Wasteland Stories to Tell in the Dark 
// by MuseoSansPony 
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Zane stared blankly at the paper in front of him.  One signature and his family would be all set for life.  This is what the researcher from Robronco told him.  Participate in their research, his sentence will be commuted and his family would never struggle for anything ever again.

Zane was not a career criminal.  He had robbed the convenience store out of desperation.  As Equestria went to war with his grandparent’s homeland, it became increasingly difficult to find honest work.  Zane had a family to support.  It was a choice to rob a store or go hungry.  He just had the misfortune of robbing a store run by unicorns.  All the fleet hoofed Zebra tactics in the world are no match for unicorn magic.

They quickly subdued him and turned him into the Pinks.  He was shown no mercy in the Equestrian criminal system.  After all he was a perfect example of why Zebras were not to be trusted.  “Better wiped than striped” as the Ministry of Image would put it.

He was arrested for armed robbery, it would be years before he would see his wife and daughter again.  So when the unicorns from Robronco came offering commuted sentences and compensation for family in exchange for volunteers, Zane was first to speak up.

The researchers were very pleased that of all inmates, a zebra had volunteered.  He was given a physical and approved for whatever experiment that they had in store for him.  So now all he had to do was sign what looked like a standard liability waiver or NDA. 

Zane was not a lawyer by any means.  Trying to decipher the legalese of the paper gave him a headache.  All he had to do was muster the courage to sign and he could see his daughter again.

“I can do this, just sign my name.” He said, taking the pen in his mouth and signing on the line.

A moment later one of the researchers entered and took the form, smiling.  Another researcher in a lab coat entered and administered a shot.  Zane became very sleepy.

“This will be a great help to the war effort.” He said, as Zane’s eyes closed.

When Zane came to he couldn’t feel anything.  It was all numb.  From his mane to his hooves he couldn’t move.  There was growing panic as he looked around the lab.  There was something about the way that lab looked that was off.  Like looking at a terminal monitor.  Several researchers were readjusting something under his bed.  He strained his ears to hear them.

“With the extraction complete, we just need the body set up.” one said.

“I just hope they remembered to wipe the memories this time.” the other complained, “we don’t need another criminal in charge of one of these.”

The growing panic caused Zane to try to speak up, “I..in charge of what?” he asked, his words coming out rather deep and robotic.

“Celestia damnit!” the second researcher said, “They forgot again.”

“I’ll ready the memory purge.” the first sighed, “Can’t have this brainbot talking when we show it to Ironshod.”