//------------------------------//
// Chapter 61: The Microchip 
// Story: Rosa 
// by awf 
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Rosa got a quick lettuce and tomato sandwich for breakfast and then it was away for more tests. For the most part they were done by Dr. Mason, but more and more often there were others to help. The number of people in the facility had increased as the day went on and a small, shameful part of Rosa was a bit glad for the bridle so she didn't have to talk to anyone.

Dr. Mason had taken her to get an X-Ray and then an ultrasound. Then she had taken Rosa to a kindly old doctor whose name she didn't catch and who examined her teeth and proclaimed her 'good'. Rosa hoped she would get to see him again. He was one of the few people who seemed genuinely nice at this place, but she had been whisked away before she could really get to know him. Not least because he'd removed her bridle to examine her teeth, which meant she was able to chat with him a little, at least for the few minutes while Dr. Mason was away.

At length the lady doctor had brought Rosa to the same examination room as in the morning. It was probably her workplace, Rosa supposed. Mason had her climb up on the metal table again.

This time the doctor plucked a few hairs from her cutie mark, then, seemingly at random, tested Rosa's eyesight. This last part meant the bridle came off again, but Dr. Mason had warned her repeatedly not to try to talk, other than answering her questions and reading from the eye chart.

As soon as that was done the leather thing had gone back on. Rosa was starting to feel pretty fed up with all the testing and poking, but none of it had been particularly horrible. Maybe they were saving that for the afternoon?

At long last Dr. Mason declared it was time for lunch and Rosa's belly growled as if on cue. Eliza took her back to the cell and finally removed her bridle, this time for good, or at least until they went out again. As soon as the wretched thing was off Rosa's face she shook her head and worked the stiffness out of her jaw muscles. She hadn't even realized how hard she'd been biting on it. She opened her mouth to ask the first question, but the doctor put a finger on Rosa's lips and the mare stayed silent. Dr. Mason was massaging her scalp with her other hand, so Rosa decided to obey for now.

"So, here's what we'll do. You shouldn't technically be allowed to join other ponies - quarantine and so on - so I can't let you take your lunch in the mess hall, but I'll bring you lunch in here, okay?"

The mention of other ponies got Rosa's ears up quickly. It sounded as if she might eventually be allowed to see them! Something else felt more urgent and she gently pushed Dr. Mason's finger away.

"Um, Eliza," she tried to sound as casual and friendly as she could, "what was all that about something breaking and taking it out of me. What is 'it'?"

Mason pursed her lips for a minute in thought, then shrugged a little to herself. "Well, don't be alarmed, but there is a tiny microchip implanted in you," she said and patted somewhere along Rosa's neck, "about here. It's so small you can't even feel it."

"Microchip?!" Rosa gasped, suddenly imagining she could feel a bit of metal poking her under her skin. She reached up with both hooves to feel it, but there was nothing to detect.

"You won't be able to feel it, Rosa. It's very small."

Rosa remembered the second part of her question. "It's broken?! What's it gonna do to me? What should it do to me?!"

She was starting to pant and the doctor put her hand in Rosa's mane to try and calm her down. "Relax," she said in a soothing voice, "it's harmless. You've had it for all your life and it hasn't done anything bad to you, right?"

Some wheels turned in Rosa's head and she pulled away from the woman. "Is that why I'm not going into heat?!" she demanded. "Why I only got one cutie mark instead of two?!"

At least Dr. Mason didn't try to follow her or keep her hold. Rosa didn't want to be touched right then and Eliza seemed to sense it.

"The first part is how it was supposed to work," she explained. "They are designed to slowly release hormones into your blood - it's like a kind of contraception. If you were chosen to mate, it would simply be disabled and you'd be back to normal in a month."

Rosa watched this woman with mounting horror, hooves going up to her neck as if she was going to rip the crazy little thing out. Dr. Mason didn't seem perturbed as she kept explaining. "That part must still be working. It would explain why you didn't go into heat. That one time back in your School was a fluke and we ran a full diagnostic."

"I don't remember any of that!" Rosa said, aghast.

"Your school vet - Doctor Patterson - scanned the chip when he checked you after your heat and sent us the files. It seemed fine. I said it should be replaced, but your instructor didn't want to subject you to surgery if it wasn't strictly necessary."

Rosa was starting to feel sick to her stomach. She had had no idea! Did this mean- "Do all the ponies in the school have this chip!?"

Dr. Mason smiled. "Of course. You're all part of an experiment. That's where the second function of the implant comes in. You see, ever since people decided that cutie marks are scary, we've been looking for a way to suppress them."

Twisting her neck to look at her flank gave Rosa a minute she desperately needed to calm down before she tried bucking this woman right in her smug face. She took several deep breaths. Fighting her would just get Rosa killed. "Why?" she sobbed.

"Because people are afraid. Because, despite their fear, they still want to employ ponies. This way you can help people without having to worry about what kind of cutie mark you get, or if it's good or bad. It's better for everyone."

Yes, on paper it maybe sounded nice, but something deep in Rosa's soul was horrified at the idea. Was this the reason the school ponies were being taught that cutie marks were bad? She now knew that wasn't true, but if they'd told her about this chip back in the School she would have taken it in stride, Rosa thought. She'd really trusted her instructors and the school staff.

Tears filled her vision and Rosa curled up on her bed. Suddenly she was not hungry anymore. Playing around with ponies' fate was nothing short of barbaric! "I didn't want this!" she choked out. "I hate this!"

Dr. Mason's hand was in her mane again, but Rosa didn't slap it away. "There there, I know it's a lot to take in, Rosa, but try to understand. We do this because we want you to have a happy, fulfilling life. You can't have that if that thing-" the woman poked her flank, "is telling you to do something else." She paused for a moment, then went on: "How would you feel if your cutie mark told you to kill people. Or other ponies? I've seen both and it's not very nice. Both of them went crazy in the end."

It made a kind of twisted, logical sense. Rosa felt there was an obvious, glaring flaw in it, but she couldn't, for the life of her, find it right at that moment. She remained silent.

"Just think it over, okay? The chips are very safe, even if they fail like yours sometimes. Ponies - and humans - are better off with them than without. And soon, every pony in the world will have one and we'll all be much better off."

Rosa didn't want to hear any more. "Please, just stop," she moaned.

"Don't you want lunch? Aren't you hungry?" the doctor prompted.

Despite her stomach saying otherwise Rosa firmly shook her head. "Just leave me alone, please!"

Dr. Mason heaved a sad sigh and stood up. "I'll let you think about this and I'll come see you before I leave, okay? This really is important for you to understand."

Rosa ignored what she'd said and turned her teary eyes on the standing woman. "What will you do to me now?"

Her reply came with a smile, an almost gentle one. "Don't worry, we'll get the broken chip out of you. There's no way to reverse a cutie mark, so you'll be stuck with it. The most important thing is that we figure out why the chip failed so we can fix it for other ponies."

"And then? What happens then?!"

This made Dr. Mason thoughtful, but finally she answered: "Your specific cutie mark doesn't look like one of the bad ones. We'll see if we can find you work aligned with your talent. But that depends."

"On what?!"

"On whether you can learn to accept the way things are or not."

"And if I can't?"

The doctor leaned forward and lifted her muzzle, gently, with a hand. "We won't give up so easily, okay? Give it time. I'm sure you'll understand someday."

Rosa very much doubted it, but she didn't say it out loud. Something told her that failing to fully embrace their twisted ideology would mean her death. Maybe she'd have to pretend? That would be her best chance to get out of this place alive, even if she ended up a virtual slave. Slave, doing what her cutie mark represented was a lot better than a defiant corpse.

She would have to be careful and shouldn't fake it too quickly though, or Dr. Mason would be bound to suspect her. Rosa slipped her muzzle out of Dr. Mason's grasp and looked at the floor. "I'll- I'll think about it..." she muttered darkly.

"Good girl!"

She didn't watch the doctor leave.





The day went mostly back to boredom, except now it was underlined by misery. How thoroughly had the humans been controlling Rosa's entire life? Could she even trust her thoughts anymore? Who even was she, really? Rosa kept feeling her neck, but she didn't sense anything unusual. This chip seemed really stealthy. She wondered if a regular doctor would even spot it. Maybe with an X-Ray? Too bad Dr. Haggar hadn't done one of those when she'd come in with Sky Light. Unfortunately they were a bit expensive, Rosa understood, so they only did them when necessary.

Dr. Mason had said they'd take the broken chip out of her. Rosa wondered whether they would put a different one in. Would there even be any point to it? More importantly, if she asked Eliza and got an answer, could Rosa believe it? Could she ever believe a human again?

Well, that one was a no-brainer. She'd believe Dr. Haggar, Pavo, Mrs. Basilius, Richie, even Terry, after a fashion. There were a ton of trustworthy people out there.
It was just the School staff and the scientists at this facility that Rosa knew she really shouldn't trust. As a bonus, they were the ones who had her fate in their hands. Irony.

Was that even irony? Rosa didn't remember that English lecture too well, so she might have been guessing a bit there. She tossed around to lie on her other side with a huff. The light was still too bright and it was seriously annoying, so she pulled the blanket over her head. It was not helping that she was very hungry from missing lunch. Last night's dinner also hadn't been quite filling enough, and today's breakfast had been a stop-gap measure at best. Rosa had been really looking forward to some solid food.

Maybe it was time to swallow her pride a little bit? She still had to live, even in this place. Rosa already knew she was beaten, so why delay? Defeated, hooves dragging on the tiles, she made her way to the bars. She leaned her forehead against the cool metal for a while.

"Here goes nothing," she murmured quietly to herself. Louder, she called: "Um, Dr. Mason? I'd like some lunch now..."

Of course it was too quiet for anyone to hear, especially a human, but Rosa's cheeks were already burning with embarrassment. A grumble in her stomach prodded her to greater volume. "Anyone?! Please, I'm hungry!"

She froze in the act of yelling when a new thought rose up. Was her unusual appetite the fault of her broken, hormone-releasing microchip? Like a side effect? Maybe she should tell Dr. Mason. If it was starting to mess with her like that, Rosa wanted it gone as soon as possible. The thought of some device going haywire inside her body made her belly clench into a painful knot.

"Help! Someone!"

A door opened and footsteps approached. Rosa immediately recognized it was not Dr. Mason, so she stepped away from the bars, worried. What would this new person be like? Would they be annoyed at the noise she was making?

It was a middle-aged man and Rosa scanned his face for signs of anger. Fortunately, he just looked vaguely curious. "Yes?" he asked in a pleasing, deep baritone.

Rosa decided she liked this guy on first impression, so she smiled tentatively. "Um, I'm h-hungry," she said.

The man reached for the wall and lifted a clipboard which was hanging there. Rosa hadn't even seen it when Dr. Mason had taken her out earlier. He inspected whatever was written there. "Sorry, says here you're under quarantine for the week. Dr. Mason is your attending, didn't she feed you?"

Rosa swallowed and tried to decide just how much truth to tell the guy. "Um- she left before she got around t-to it."

His expression unreadable, the man hung the clipboard back and turned to leave. Rosa opened her mouth to call him back and plead some more, but he sighed before she could get a word out. "I'll see what I can do."

She smiled brightly at the man and her tail swished around excitedly. "Thank you!"

As he walked away Rosa went and sat right at the bars so she'd see him the moment he came back into view. Hopefully he wouldn't be stingy, she really needed a solid meal in her belly. The world would look a lot better after a solid meal.





Rosa licked the last few breadcrumbs from the tray and then noticed there were some more on the sheet. Maybe eating on her bed hadn't been the greatest idea, but she didn't really have a table. Not unless she closed the lid on the toilet, but that was just gross. It wasn't a huge problem, and she simply leaned down and licked up the crumbs from the bed sheet too. Lunch had been vegetable stew, with two pieces of bread and a cup of pudding. The memory on its own was enough to get her salivating again, and Rosa poked her nose in the cup for that last bit of aroma. Despite having done this a few times already, she licked it clean yet again, imagining she could taste the last traces of delicious chocolate goop. It wasn't as much as she wanted to eat, but it was enough. Rosa reminded herself about willpower. Even if the chip in her neck was making her extra hungry, she had to control herself. She was stronger than some malfunctioning electronics.

She was a bit sad the new doctor guy hadn't stuck around to chat with her while she ate. He'd seemed pleasant enough, but Rosa couldn't really complain if he had other obligations. It was going to go back to boring in a minute, but just this second she almost felt fine. Well, except for the whole being captured and not knowing her future thing. Oh, and the 'your entire life was a lie' thing. That one kinda sucked, too. It felt like she hadn't finished agonizing and crying over that one just yet. It'd probably come after her in the night. Maybe she would get a nightmare. Maybe she'd see her weird night time visitor again. The way Rosa was remembering it, the voice almost seemed friendly in retrospect.

Rosa burped quietly and then froze when she heard another human approaching her cell. She listened to the footsteps for a moment and then her ears folded down.

It was Dr. Mason.

The doctor stopped at the bars in front of the cell and watched Rosa for a moment. "So you were hungry after all?" she asked, a small, amused smile on her lips.

Rosa dropped her gaze to the floor. "Yes..." she answered demurely.

"Ready to talk to me again?"

Almost she said no, but then Rosa thought about the long, boring, mind-numbing afternoon stretching before her and changed her mind. "Y-Yes."

"I looked up this Maribelle you mentioned, you know?"

This made Rosa sit bolt upright and perk her ears up so as not to miss anything. "Is she okay?! Where is she?! Please tell me!"

It was a bit frustrating the way Dr. Mason took her time to unlock the cell door, come in and then lock it after herself. She approached the bed and looked at the tray with a raised eyebrow. There was plenty of room for her to sit and Rosa scooched away, hoping she'd get the message.

Instead, the woman chuckled a little. "I'll have to have a word with Brad - he just brought you empty bowls it looks like."

Rosa was about to explain how hungry she'd been, but she spotted Eliza's lips quirking upwards. She was making a joke.

"Yeah." There was not much humor in it, but Rosa gave a dutiful chuckle anyway.

Finally Dr. Mason sat down.

"How is Maribelle?! Can I see her? Please!"

The woman didn't waste any more time in answering her questions. "Don't worry, your friend is fine. She got here only a couple of months ago because she got her cutie mark, too."

"I know that! Can I see her?" Rosa asked impatiently.

Dr. Mason put her hand in her mane and Rosa didn't fight the touch. She was just too anxious about Maribelle. Her plan to come see her had worked, even if it hadn't gone the way she'd imagined it! Knowing that made Rosa a tiny bit happier.

"Soon, don't worry," Eliza told her, gently scratching an ear. "You have to stay in quarantine for a few more days, okay? You don't want to bring some unknown germs to the ponies here and have them get sick, do you?"

It made a lot of sense, but the waiting was going to kill her. Rosa heaved a sigh and lowered her muzzle sadly. "I know..."

"Good girl. So, I've scheduled your surgery for tomorrow morning. We'll get that broken chip out of you and see what happened."

"W-Will you put a- a n-new one in?" Rosa stammered.

The woman chuckled a bit. "No, what would be the point? You already have your cutie mark, so it wouldn't do much for you."

"What about the- um, contraception thing?"

Her stuttered question earned Rosa a long, unreadable look, then Dr. Mason shrugged a little. "There's other ways to deal with that. We'll see."

Her words felt a tiny bit ominous, but they reminded Rosa of a potential other side effect. "Um, lately I've been really hungry. Is that b-because of the chip?"

This time Eliza sounded genuinely amused as she laughed. "Oh, you're just too precious, Rosa. Tell me, what was your normal day like back at the School?"

Rosa couldn't see where she was going with it, but it must have been building up to an answer, right? The woman wasn't that random. "Well, I mostly went to school and studied..."

"Physical exercise?"

"Uh, yeah in the gym class. Also, sometimes we played tag or hide and seek."

The lady doctor nodded a little, giving her an encouraging smile. "Okay, and what have you been doing recently?"

It would be very bad if she implicated Pavo, or his family, or Tim, or their company, Rosa knew. She tried to form her story so she didn't have to mention them. "I- um, lived on the streets with Sky Light. We went mooching a lot. Then I guess we were just," she thought furiously how to explain it, "um, hitchhiking over here."

Eliza didn't pick up on the omission, which was a good sign for her story. Her fingers dug into Rosa's scalp in pleasant massage "So, a lot more active, no? No wonder your appetite picked up. It's perfectly normal."

That was a piece of some good news, at least. Rosa relax a little more and returned to her original question. "Maribelle is okay? What about her chip?"

The scratching behind her ears went on. Rosa still didn't fully trust the woman, but that did feel quite nice. When the doctor spoke again, she was looking at the far wall with a million-mile look on her face. "We got it analyzed and there's a fix being worked on, so the rest of your friends at School don't have to go through the same thing. I wonder if yours will exhibit the same issue."

Rosa wisely kept silent about her friends 'having to go through the same thing'. If she ever got a chance, she'd like to take all their chips out and finally let them experience their destiny. Not that she'd done much with hers so far. Rosa glanced back at her flank and sighed. Hopefully it was going to turn out alright in the end.

Eliza watched her movements, then gave Rosa's barrel a quick pat. "You'll see her soon, Rosa. You'll be happy here, I'm sure of it. I know it's bewildering at first, but it'll all make sense in the end."

There was no point in asking 'what if it didn't'. Dr. Mason might tell Rosa the alternatives and they would likely be ones she didn't want to hear. It was best just to pretend, at least until something more useful offered itself. Heaving a sad, weary sigh, Rosa gave Eliza a flat-eared nod. "I guess..."

"So, you should get some rest. It's a small operation you have tomorrow, but we'll still have to put you under general anesthesia."

Rosa stiffened when she realized the doctor was going to leave her and she'd be bored out of her mind for the rest of the day! 'Um, c-can I get a book or s-something?" she pleaded, focusing a hopeful, wide-eyed expression on the doctor. "Please? There's nothing to- to do here."

The woman smiled some more. "I'll see what I can find, Rosa. Your behavior has been exemplary, so I think we can make some concessions."

The smile Rosa gave her was only half-forced, which disgusted her a tiny bit. Even knowing everything she knew, Rosa still wanted to please people. Hypocrite. Sky Light would have been so disappointed in her.

"Is Sky L-Light okay?"

"She's doing fine. Dr. Barton will give her a checkup and then we'll probably let you two meet- if you promise to behave?"

"I promise!" Rosa would be willing to say and agree to anything if it meant getting to see the pegasus and being able to tell her how sorry she was. "What will happen to her after?"

Dr. Mason looked thoughtful for the moment, then shrugged. "Well, she's a bit old to be educated, but it's been done before. I guess, if she's good, we'll find her a job somewhere. I'm sure we can find something for her to do." There was a moment's silence, then: "Rosa?"

"Yes?"

"I'll be counting on you to tell Sky Light to behave, okay? You have to convince her this is for the best. If she keeps fighting us I won't be able to do anything. They'll put her down."

Rosa's gut did a somersault at this and her eyes quickly filled up with tears. She started shaking her head. "Please," Rosa breathed, "why can't you just let her go? It wasn't her fault!"

"Don't worry, Rosa. It's not a decision we make lightly. We'll give you every opportunity to make her see reason. She can have a much better life here than on the streets. She'll have a place to stay, a warm bed, food, medical care. You'll both be fine, see?"

If Rosa could only believe the doctor, her and Sky Light's fates wouldn't seem entirely bad, other than being a prisoner or a slave for as long as they lived. There was that, but otherwise they'd be alive and somewhat okay. Maybe an opportunity would arise for the two to get away, once they had the humans' trust. Rosa would have to stay determined and keep her eyes open. After all, she and Sky Light had made it this far, hadn't they? The most important thing to do was for both mares to stay alive. She had to make Sky Light understand that, and she had to go along, even if she had to pretend, like Rosa! Thinking that way was helping Rosa keep the bad thoughts away and she gave Dr. Mason another weak smile.

"Okay. Um, thank you... Eliza."

The doctor gave Rosa another pat and stood up. "I'll go find you a book then. Oh, and I can take this away," she said, picking up the tray. There was nothing Rosa could really reply to that, so she just nodded and remained sitting on her bed. Hopefully she'd get an interesting read so Rosa didn't die of boredom before bedtime.

"Oh! Dr. Mason?" she squeaked just as the woman was locking the door.

"Hmm?" she asked, pausing.

Rosa pointed a hoof upwards. "C-Can you turn down the lights at night? It's hard to sleep..."

Eliza gave her a wide smile. "I'll see what I can do, sweetheart."

With that, she was gone.