Rosa woke up to the same harsh, glaring light in her cell. She couldn't tell how long she had been sleeping, but the feeling in her mouth was dreadful and the waterbed in her belly felt like it was about to burst. She'd slept right through her need to pee, but now it was no longer avoidable. Lowering herself gently to the floor was an exercise in teeth-grinding patience, as was shuffling carefully across the tiled floor. Once there, Rosa looked at the cell door and then at the toilet. It was just mounted to the wall, right there in plain sight. If anyone walked past, they would see exactly what she was doing.
Yes, her roommates had sometimes been in the bathroom while she had done her business, or vice versa, but that had been entirely different. Rosa trusted those mares with her life. On the other hand, she would be bound to hear anyone coming from a long way away, if Dr. Mason's echoing footsteps from the previous day had been any indication. With a sigh Rosa lifted herself and sat on the toilet.
Maybe Dr. Mason would let her have a toothbrush? All Rosa's belongings were gone and she'd forgotten to ask the woman when she had been in her cell. For that matter, Rosa wondered if someone could turn her lights off at night. She'd fallen asleep the previous night thanks to the drugs, but waking up with that harsh glare in her eyes was decidedly unpleasant.
She did the best she could for her mouth by gargling copious amounts of water, then went back to her bed. It was very unlikely she would sleep any more, which meant she just had to wait. If only she had something to read. Or do. Anything.
Were they trying to break her spirit through boredom?
Rosa realized she'd forgotten about her plan to try calling out for anyone else in the same corridor last night. It could be something constructive to do. She made her way to the cell door and thought about what to say and how. It was probably still early in the morning, so the humans weren't around yet. At least that was what she was hoping. Alternatively, any noise from her might make someone angry.
Despite her misgivings, Rosa cleared her throat and ventured: "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
It was not a shout, but it should still be loud enough for anyone nearby to hear her. About a minute later there still wasn't any reply.
"Please," she tried again, "I just want to talk to someone!"
Rosa leaned her head against the bars so that one of her ears was poking out. She swiveled it this way and that, trying to catch any sound at all.
"Anyone? Sky Light? Dr. Mason?"
Maybe she really was the only pony in this hallway. She couldn't hear anything, nor could she ask anyone. It was probably very early in the morning, so the doctor wouldn't be in for hours! Rosa groaned and lay down on the floor beside the bars. There was nothing to see out there, but she would know a little sooner if anyone came.
Nothing to do. It was quickly driving her insane. The mare sniffed, unable to hold her tears inside much longer. At that point, she would welcome Dr. Mason, even if the doctor scared her. Any company would be better than this. When was the last time she'd been really alone? Had Rosa ever been really alone at all? At the School she always had her roommates, and her classmates, and even the teachers if no one else was around. Then, she'd been alone for a day when she ran away, but she'd been doing something, so Rosa didn't have time to think about it. Ever since then she'd been almost inseparable from Sky Light.
Except now she was gone. Rosa didn't know if she was alive, or dead, or hurt. She didn't know if her friend was scared or alone. Well, she probably was scared, but knowing that didn't make it any better. Rosa hoped Sky could ever forgive her.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered to no one in particular.
This couldn't go on for much longer, not if Rosa liked her sanity. She needed something to do, even if it was stupid. She got up and walked back to her bed. For a moment she consider getting in and trying to sleep some more, but it was not going to happen. She was fully awake. Instead she made it, smoothing down the sheets and fluffing the pillow until everything looked absolutely pristine. After that, she took several sips of water from the sink. No one had told Rosa if the water in the place was okay to drink, but she did it anyway. It helped a little to fill her empty stomach.
She ended up walking in circles around her room out of sheer boredom and desperation for what felt like hours, before a new noise caught her attention. Rosa rushed to the cell door to try and see outside. There were footsteps approaching and she felt her treacherous tail wave around in excitement. Pretty soon Dr. Mason came into view and Rosa immediately relaxed. Maybe she even smiled at her a little, it was hard to tell.
"Oh my, up bright and early are we?" the doctor asked with pleasant surprise in her voice.
"I don't know what time it is! I couldn't sleep."
Mason didn't comment on her predicament as she crouched in front of her cell to bring her face closer to Rosa. She lowered her voice a little bit, as if imparting a secret. "I'd like to do a few tests today, Rosa. Will you behave?"
Being let out of her prison sounded good, even if it was for medical tests. Rosa quickly nodded at the woman. "I promise!"
"Good! Now, this isn't because I don't trust you, okay? It's just a precaution, but you need to wear this," Dr. Mason said and pulled some bits of leather from her lab coat pocket.
Rosa couldn't immediately make sense of what she held. It looked almost like a collar, except that Rosa already had one. Realization slowly dawned. "A bridle?!" she gasped indignantly. "I'm not a horse!"
Eliza gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but you did bite Dr. Ruth. It's just for now, okay? I'm sure if you behave well I'll be able to convince them you don't need it."
Her ears were as low as they would go, but Rosa still nodded. Even that would be better than pacing up and down her cell, alone, for hours. The doctor gave her a brilliant smile and reached her hand through the bars. Rosa stood still while she slipped the leather contraption over her head. A bit poked at her lips.
"Open," the doctor commanded.
She did so, reluctantly, blushing and avoiding her eyes. The piece of metal slipped into Rosa's mouth while Eliza tightened the bridle. "'eesh 'eeshm faa'," she tried to tell her.
The disfigured speech seemed quite funny to the doctor and Rosa's embarrassed look changed to a glare. "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetheart. Don't talk, okay? You are to be quiet while we do the tests and we'll chat afterwards. Just nod."
For a long moment Rosa considered refusing. Why make their lives easier? They experimented on ponies in this place! Would the doctor shock her with the collar to get her to obey? Rosa examined her face and was forced to admit that yes, she would. Instead of balking, she swallowed a lump and nodded, ears flat and tail curling up between her hind legs. Dr. Mason might act pleasant, but Rosa didn't trust this woman a single bit.
"Good girl," she praised and for some reason the words suddenly felt dirty to Rosa. Dr. Mason stood up and opened the cell door. "Come on, follow me," she invited, but she discreetly put her hand in her pocket. Of course she was holding the remote to Rosa's collar, in case the mare tried to escape or attack her, but at least she was trying to be discreet about it.
Rosa trudged out of the cell with her head hanging low.
"This way." The doctor set off and Rosa followed close behind her, already dreading what new horrors the day would bring. Yet, at the same time, she was more afraid of being left alone in her cell. Doing something - anything - had to be better, right?!
She had forgotten to ask Dr. Mason if today's tests would hurt. Now Rosa wished she had.
Dr. Mason led her into a perfectly normal-looking examination room. Rosa had seen one just like it back at the School and then again at the free clinic where Sky Light had taken her during her 'spayed scare'. There was a chair next to a stainless steel table and the doctor patted the backrest.
"Up," she ordered.
Rosa obediently clambered up on the examination table and then stood still, uncomfortable with the combination of height and exposure. She really wanted to ask Dr. Mason what she was going to do, but the bit in her mouth would make that an exercise in futility. Besides, she'd said Rosa should stay quiet and it had sounded like she meant it.
Her ears tracked the woman as she walked around, opening drawers and gathering whatever equipment she would need. While Rosa waited it was all she could do to control her breathing. Finally the doctor seemed ready and pushed a cart with a monitor over to the table. There was a tray of medical implements and Rosa hurriedly scanned it for anything sharp or pointy.
"Okay, be a good girl now and stand still," Dr. Mason murmured to her, picking up a glass tube.
It was a thermometer but Rosa was not sure how she would take it with the bridle on her muzzle. She didn't have to wonder for long. Dr. Mason stepped behind her, grabbed her tail in a firm hand and-
"Eeempf!" Rosa wanted to twirl around and her tail wanted to clamp down, but Mason kept an almost painful grip. "Hush now, sweetheart. Don't crush it or you'll cut yourself."
The warning worked and Rosa made herself stand still and lift her tail away. This way of taking her temperature was utterly demeaning and the woman should have at least warned her! Instead, Dr. Mason simply ignored Rosa's glare as she came back around, already putting a stethoscope in her ears.
"Deep, regular breaths," she commanded. There was nothing to it but obey. Rosa kept frowning at the wall in front of her. More than once she almost flicked her tail in annoyance, but remembered the thermometer in time and forced herself to stillness.
"Cough for me, please."
The mare did her best with the bridle and Eliza seemed satisfied. She took the metal pad away from her barrel and let the instrument dangle down from her neck. Then she picked up the next tool. It was the thing they used to look in Rosa's ears - she knew its function, but not its name.
"Ears up, please," Dr. Mason instructed.
When Rosa didn't comply in time, she simply gripped one with her fingers and lifted it enough so that she could work. It took a concentrated effort of will for Rosa to relax and not jerk her head away. If she refused to cooperate, it would just result in a struggle which the doctor would undoubtedly win. Rosa couldn't help being constantly aware of her collar and of the remote in her pocket.
"Mmm, good. Let's see here..." Dr. Mason muttered to herself and went back to her rear. Rosa tensed up in expectation of another humiliating thing, but all the doctor did was pluck the thermometer out of her. Rosa's tail went down to hide her immediately, but the woman didn't seem to care anymore. She examined the instrument under the light.
"All good here. Now, let's get a blood sample," she told her.
Knowing in advance made all the difference! This ordeal would have been a ton nicer if she'd just told Rosa what she was about to do! The mare almost stomped a hoof in frustration at being unable to say that.
Perhaps Dr. Mason had noticed her fidgeting, because she patted her side. "Stay still. We don't want you to pull out your IV, do we?"
Again Rosa imagined unstoppable fountains of blood and swallowed a lump. She made herself stand as still as she could. At least there was no needle this time. The doctor simply affixed a vial to the bit of plastic on her leg and it quickly started filling with red. Rosa was not too comfortable at the sight of blood, but she had done this kind of thing quite a few times now so she just bore it in silence.
"Very good," Dr. Mason praised her while she was labeling the vial and putting it in a rack on a nearby desk. "One of these days we'll have to do a pap smear and take a look in there to make sure there's no problems."
Rosa didn't know what that was and she raised her eyebrows at the doctor. Eliza guessed what she wanted to ask and smiled pleasantly. "Don't worry, it's just a routine test on your, hmm, 'lady parts'."
Her eyes bulged out in sudden horror and Rosa's tail crept further up her belly, but the doctor just chuckled pleasantly before giving Rosa a friendly pat on the mane. "It doesn't hurt, I promise."
That still wasn't too comforting, but Rosa already knew she couldn't avoid it. The good news was that wasn't happening right at that moment, so she would have more time to mentally prepare herself.
"Have you been sexually active?" Dr. Mason asked.
Rosa quickly and emphatically shook her head no. She couldn't tell if this pleased or disappointed the doctor, or if she just didn't care either way.
She gave the mare a final pat on her neck, then reached over to turn on the computer screen on her cart. It lighted soundlessly and showed some kind of a diagnostic screen Rosa couldn't make heads or tails of. There was a handle on the side and she remembered Dr. Haggar's ultrasound. This looked different, but maybe it was the same sort of thing? It would figure that secret government facilities had better gear than free clinics.
Except that Dr. Mason ran the plastic paddle over her neck, first on one side and then on the other. Rosa didn't see anything change on the screen and Eliza frowned a little, which confirmed that something was wrong.
"Hmm." The woman tapped a few buttons on the screen and then tried the paddle on Rosa again. This time there was a beep about halfway down her neck. The screen showed some message in blinking red.
It didn't look good. Whatever this device was meant to measure, it looked like Rosa's numbers weren't okay. She was starting to get worried.
"Well, that would explain it," Dr. Mason said. "I told them they should have swapped it, but does anyone ever listen to me?"
Rosa had zero clue what she was talking about. Maybe her equipment was malfunctioning and her boss or whoever refused to fix it?
When she looked back to Rosa, the mare gave her another eyebrows-raised questioning look. Eliza grinned and ruffled her mane. "Nothing you need to worry about, little Rosa."
At that moment the door to the examination room opened and another human walked in. Rosa let out a muffled 'eep' when she recognized him. The scientist she had bit the other night.
He immediately spotted her and his face went an ugly, dark shade of red. "You!" he muttered and it sounded almost like a swear.
His reaction caused no end of amusement to Dr. Mason and Rosa was suddenly very glad the woman was standing between the guy and herself. "Now now, Charlie, no reason to hold a grudge. Rosa is very sorry about biting you, aren't you, Rosa?"
Rosa was willing to promise anything to placate the man. She had a worrisome feeling he might try and get some revenge when Dr. Mason wasn't around, so she gave him her best 'sorry pony' look and nodded to the lady doctor's statement. The man just grunted and went on to take a clipboard from a drawer in what Rosa assumed was his desk.
On his way back he glanced at the monitor and paused. "This from her?" he asks curtly.
Dr. Mason nodded and stepped away so he could see better. "It's bust. We'll have to get it out of her and send it to tech for analysis."
'Take it out of her?!' Rosa made an involuntary whimper and Dr. Mason seemed to remember the mare was still there. She smiled at her in what she probably thought was a reassuring way, but it didn't quite work this time.
"Nothing to worry about, Rosa," she said, stroking her mane.
"Mmgph! 'aay womf 'oo 'ew ee?!" Rosa demanded.
The doctor just raised a finger. "Ah, ah," she cautioned, "remember what we said about talking?"
Rosa's ears flopped down and she heaved a long-suffering sigh. She even went as far as to lightly stomp a hoof, but she didn't try to talk anymore. Hopefully the bridle would come off later, as promised, and Rosa would be able to ask her questions. Hopefully, Eliza would even answer them.
Dr. Mason put her hands on the chair beside the examination table. "Come on, down you go. Let's get you a shower and some breakfast. We'll talk after."
All three of those things Rosa liked, so her ears perked up, which made the woman smile pleasantly.
"See? We're not monsters here, Rosa, we really aren't. I'll explain everything and then I'll let you decide."
Rosa highly doubted that last part, but the woman seemed sincere. Maybe - just maybe - whatever this decision was wouldn't be too bad. Rosa obediently clambered off the examination table, making sure to keep Dr. Mason between herself and Charlie at all times. He cast an occasional glare her way, but otherwise he was busy fiddling with the computer screen and whatever mysterious problem it had.
Only too happy to get out of his sight, Rosa followed Dr. Mason back into the corridor. The doctor led her down some passages and through some doors in a confusing labyrinth of offices. The weird part was that they didn't see any cells, nor any other ponies. Rosa would have imagined there would be more, especially as this particular facility seemed very well equipped to deal with her kind. Her mind was ablaze with all the questions, but all Rosa could do at the moment was quietly follow the lady doctor.
She passed some people on the way and greeted them in an absentminded, disinterested way. A few of them looked at the mare, but no one paid her much attention. Rosa was grateful for that, since the bridle was still making her blush with embarrassment.
Eventually they ended up in a tiled room that smelled strongly of chlorine and soap. There were some shower-like fixtures on one of the walls and a large drain in the floor under it. Rosa looked around for a curtain or a glass pane, but there was nothing.
"In you go," Dr. Mason said, motioning with her hand.
Rosa looked at her and then tapped the bridle with a hoof and grunted. The doctor leaned down to scratch her ear. "Sorry, sweetheart. It'll have to stay for now. I'll talk with the people tomorrow and see if we can dispense of it. You've been a very good girl, so far."
The 'so far' worried her a bit, but Rosa was determined to comply, at least for as long as Dr. Mason keeps acting nice. She gave the woman a resigned nod and shuffled under the shower. She was wondering if Eliza would wash her herself, which would be completely awkward and totally inappropriate, but luckily the woman just took a bottle of some kind of soap from a cabinet on the wall and placed it on the floor beside Rosa. She reached for the doorknob much to the mare's relief. At least she would get to wash herself in privacy.
"You can handle things from here, right?" the doctor asked and Rosa nodded emphatically.
"Mpmhpmm!" she confirmed.
"Good. Knock on the door when you're ready to get out."
Too late Rosa realized that she hadn't left her any towels, but the woman was already out of the room. Rosa looked around to see if she could find anything, but the place was pretty bare. It was not a big deal. Maybe Dr. Mason would bring her a towel when Rosa was done and if it came to the worst she could always dry out naturally. It wouldn't be Rosa who had to mop up all the floors!
For now, she was determined to enjoy some hot water, bridle and collar or no!