Experiment: GENESIS

by Typographical Error

Chapter 1

Just as evolution made us the victors, so, too, are we its victims. We are victors because at this moment we exist in an evolutionary tributary that continues to flow, un-yielded by outside intervention. We are victims because the processes of evolution put us, as individuals, at risk from the movement of conception and make our mortality inevitable. For evolution has produced not only the array of organisms that exist in the universe, but also molded, for its own uses, the mechanisms of heredity by which organisms pass genetic information from generation to generation. These mechanics are almost perfect in every way, except for the impatience of pony kind. This impatience has led to many ponies to try to take evolution into their own hooves. Most fail, returning to their work with a black mark on their souls. But sometimes, one succeeds, and it changes the rules that nature has laid down so carefully.

The Director looked up from the paper work and looked at the scientist who had given it to him. He did this a couple times before he spoke.

“Are you saying this is possible?” he asked, not believing his eyes.

The scientist nodded. “We believe so. Experiments on animals have proved our research successful so far. We believe that it is time for the next step.”

“Which would be?”

“Experiments on fetal and growing ponies.” he said frankly.

“You can’t be serious. Experiments on ponies?! Animals are one thing, but on pony kind is another.” He set down the papers and pushed them back at the scientist. “I can’t allow it.”

“But, Sir, do you realize what this could mean? This could usher in a new period in Equestria’s history! A new era of perfection and prosperity! And you, Director, could be the one who brings it to life.”

The director looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know. What if Celestia finds out about this?”

The scientist smiled. “She does not see everything under her sun. Trust me, she will not know until you are ready for the information to be released.”

The Director sighed and sank further into his chair. He reached over and pulled the papers back to him. He read them over again, carefully. “Are you sure about this? There is no mistake?”

“We are positive that our findings are correct, Sir. All you have to do, is sign there.” he pointed at the last page, where a short, black line waited.

The Director sighed again. Leaning forward he grabbed a pencil in his mouth. He signed his name on the very last page. Spitting the pencil back out, he sighed. Sitting further up in his chair, he said, “Approved.”

She was awoken in the same fashion as any other morning, by one of the doctors kicking her cage. She snapped out her leg in order to keep herself from falling over. Opening her bright blue eyes, she looked around the room in which they had been kept for the last eight years.

It had linoleum floors, white stone walls, and white ceiling with fluorescent lights. Cages lined the far side of the room, most were empty, and had been for a long time. However, the two on each side of her were filled with her brothers and sisters.

They weren’t blood related, but they had been together for so long that they just called each other family. The scientists came and un-latched their cages, one by one. They crawled out, slowly like they had been taught. When they stood up, they rose above the doctors. Standing in a straight line, they stretched out their muscles, flexing their over-long legs. Then, with a rush of wind and feathers, they unfurled their wings.

Their wings stretched farther than any other Pegasi’s. Even the wings of the youngest stretched over twelve hands wide. At first glance, the five were indistinguishable, identical. But when you looked a second time, differences began to fade in. They all had pure white coats with a dark blue mane and tail. Their Cutie Marks, normally never shared between a pony, were all the same. It was two strands of DNA forming an X with a pair of wings attached to the point where they crossed.

The differences were less prominent. They all had different color eyes. They were red, blue, green, yellow and, finally, black. For four of them, that was the only difference. But the Pegasus with the black eyes had the biggest different of all.

Being the first of the group, his genetic make-up had been experimented on too much. As a result, he had been born, or created to be more precise, with an extreme abnormality: a pair of bi-wings. He had a second pair of wings behind the first, making him look, from above, slightly like a dragonfly. This second pair of wings allowed him to fly farther, fly faster, and carry more, than any other Pegasi in existence.

A scientist held open a pair of doors at the end of the hall. Like they had been trained, they walked through the doors, and they kept walking until they reached the end. At the end of the hall were seven doors, three on each side and one at the end. All the doors on the side were marked. Five of them had colors, and one had a pair of wings on it. The doors with colors were marked with the Pegasi’s eyes colors: red, yellow, green, blue, and orange.

They passed the door marked with orange one by one. And as they did, they closed their eyes and bowed their heads, then continued walking down the hall. When they reached their specific door, they stopped and waited in front of it. When all five were in position, a buzzer sounded and the doors opened. They stepped inside and the doors closed.

The insides of the rooms were all the same. They had a normal operating table in the center, some cabinets on the wall, which were white as usual, and a platter of needles and scalpels. The floors in here were not white. They were a mixture of the old white, and the new maroon from years of blood being spilt.

The five Pegasi climbed up on the table and laid down. They waited for what was coming. Sure enough, a couple scientist, with masks, came through the door. They started to speak, but the five just shut out the voices. They had learned that if you do not listen, and just nod, then the pain will not be expected and will be much less.

The doctors started inserting needles, making them do endurance testing, and operating on them. The tests varied for each pony, depending on what their most advanced attribute was. When the day was over they were dumped back into their cages to await the same thing tomorrow.

But there wouldn’t be another day. They pretended to be asleep until the lights were turned off, then waited. Everything was silent and dark.

They opened their luminescent eyes. They had done this routine for the last couple of weeks, with no avail. However, tonight, it would pay off.

The five turned to the back of their cages. Over the past couple weeks they had been grinding down the three back bars of their cage with their hooves. With one of the five watching the door while the other four working, they had managed to weaken the bars enough. Blue Eyes stood up as high as her cage would allow her. She turned and looked at Dual Wings, who nodded. She gathered her energy and bucked.

The metal bars flew and slammed into the back wall. She tentatively put a hoof onto the floor, then another. For the first time she stepped out of the crate on her own will. She turned around just in time to see Dual kick his cage open as well. He stepped out and spread his wings, then launched himself into the air. He laughed for the first time in years.

“Red, Yellow, Green, hurry up we don’t have all day!” Blue flew up to join him, matching his wings beat for beat. The other three broke their cages as well and flew up to meet them.

“Do you know which way to go?” Yellow asked Dual, her small voice filled with fear and excitement.

“No idea. But I guess it’s through that door.” he pointed at the seventh door in the hall, the one that was always locked. He looked at Blue with determination. “You ready for this?”

Blue stared at the door. They had lived their entire existence in this room. What was beyond that door? She swallowed. “Yes.” she said, her voice trembling. But then she remembered, she was the second oldest. She had to set an example for the others. She jumped up and did a loop in mid-air. When she returned to her spot, she looked at Dual, a smile on her lips. “Yes. Let’s do this.”

Dual was the oldest, at sixteen. Next was Blue who was fourteen. Green was eleven. Red was nine. Yellow was the youngest, at eight. If Orange had been with them, he would have been twelve. She stopped thinking right then. She didn’t want to think about Orange.

Dual smiled, then took off towards the door, the others in pursuit. When he reached the door he dropped down on the ground in front of it. He turned tail and, with all his strength, bucked the door.

Wood splintered and his hooves left circular marks in the door, but it stayed in place. He lifted his rear legs and tried again. This time the door broke from its hinges and fell to the floor. He turned around to see what lied beyond.

Another hallway. More doors. At the end they could see the hallway break off into two directions.

“Damn!” Dual said, using one of the words he had picked up from the scientists. He flew off towards the end of the hall, then stopped. He hovered, his wingtips barely brushing the walls. He turned his neck one way, then the other Turning back to them, he said, “Which way do you think?”

Green Eyes suddenly detached from the group, flying back towards the room they had come. She returned with one of the cage bars clasped in her mouth. She pulled it out and held it in her hooves.

“I need you guys to be quiet. Really quiet.” She closed her eyes and let the metal tumble from her grasp. It landed on the floor with a reverberating crash that split the silence of the lab wide open. It slowly echoed away into nothing, but Green kept her eyes closed, listening for another minute before opening her eyes. When she did she pointed down the hallway going left.

“That way! There is a wide, circular room down there. It is made of something other than this stuff.” she knocked her hoof against the concrete. She did a loop, then started to fly down the hall. She stopped when she realized no one was following her.

“What?” she asked, her voice annoyed.

“How do you know?” Dual asked. He looked down the halls, but all he could see was darkness.

“I just know, OK?” she started to fly down the hall again. This time the others followed. Blue tried to think back. Green was the middle of their group. She was created a year after Orange was and two years before Red. They said she was the pinnacle of experimentation. They had tried to alter her as much as physically possible. They had succeeded to. But all this came with a price.

She was mentally unstable. She would have breakdowns from time to time. Most were simple, she would just curl up and whimper. But other times it was much worse. She would become violent, throwing things at the scientists, yelling, even hurting her brothers and sisters. One time she stabbed a scientist with his own scalpel. That time they had done something to her, shot something at her that made her fall to the ground, screaming and convulsing. The scientists made sure that next time, they didn’t mess with the genes and alleles as much.

They reached the room that Green had said was there. They looked around in awe. The ceiling in this room was made of something that was transparent. Through it they could see a dark blue roof with pin-pricks of white on it. A large tube stood in the middle of the room, glass on both ends, pointing at the blue.

Red stood in the doorway, staring up at the ceiling. “What is this place?” he asked, tearing his eyes away to look at Dual.

Dual walked back outside and looked at the sign next to the door. “Ob-ser-va-tory.” he looked back at Red. “I have no idea, but it looks amazing.” He stared for a few moments, then shook his head. “We need to stop being sidetracked. Let’s try to find a way out.”

Yellow looked at Dual with a smile on her face. The youngest of the group, six, her genes were the most stable out of all of them, and she showed it. Her coat almost glowed it was so white. Her eyes shown with a light that was absent in the others eyes. And her intelligence was incredible. She started talking at the same year that Dual did, even though she was two and he was eight. The doctors always treated her best, giving her candy and not kicking her awake.

She ran over to one of the walls. She pointed at a red case that was resting on the wall. “Use this.” she said, still smiling.

Dual walked over the the case. “Break glass in emergency.”? He looked at yellow like she was crazy. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Yellow let out a sigh. She walked over to the case. Raising her back legs, she bucked the glass. Her hooves broke through the glass, causing a cascade of shards to rain down around her. She pulled her hooves out of the glass, something falling to the ground next to her.

“This is an emergency.” she said, a look of annoyance on her face. “Break the glass.” and with that she turned and walked away. Dual looked at Blue who just laughed. Dual shook his head and looked down at what had fallen on the floor.

It was a bright red canister, about five hands tall and made of metal. He picked it up in his hooves, the metal cold against his fur. It weighed a good ten pounds. He looked at yellow, still wondering what she wanted him to do. He looked at the canister, the window, then to Yellow. He did that a couple more times, the realized what she wanted.

Hefting the canister he threw with all his strength, which was increased due to his genetic make-up. It sailed though the air and stuck the transparent wall. From the point of impact, cracks started to spread. Finally a small spiderweb of cracks covered about 15 hands in each direction.

Dual looked at Yellow, astonished. “How did you know?”

Yellow beamed with pride. “I just did.” she walked over to the cracks. “Now what?” she asked turning back to the others. Blue walked up to the window and stood next to her.

“I think...it just needs a little kick.” she turned around, gathered her strength, and bucked. Her hooves sailed through the glass. The window broke, sending a cascade of sparkling shards falling in a rain around her and Yellow. When she opened her eyes, a hole wide enough for three of them to fit through at once, had opened.

She turned back to Dual, smiling, a feeling of pride spreading through her. But that only lasted a second.

Alarms sounded. Bright red lights flashed. Hooves pounded. Above them, bright florescent lights turned on, blinding their over-sensitive eyes for a brief moment. When the glare faded, Blue saw scientists and other ponies pounding into the room. Dual turned to the group, panic on his face.

“RUUUNNN”!! he yelled, galloping towards the hole in the glass. As he ran through, his shoulder caught on a ragged edge. His skin ripping, crimson blood flowed down his chest. He grunted in pain, but kept running. When he was free of the building, he unfurled his wings, twelve hands in each direction, and soared into the sky.

Stark white against the black of the night sky, blood flowing over his heart, wind ripping at his mane, he looked like an avenging angel. Even his own group looked slightly afraid as they flew up to join him. They turned back towards the lab in which they had grown, just about to say goodbye forever. But it was not over.

One of the scientists brought out a cage. Dropping the cage onto the floor, he opened the latch, then galloped back a few steps. Out rushed a pitch black Pegasus, roaring and spitting. He turned his nose towards the sky, spotting them as they hovered two hundred hands off the ground.

With a shriek that chilled Green to the bone, it jumped up into the sky, bounding towards them.

Dual pushed Blue to get her flying, then grabbed Yellow and flew away as fast as he could, not looking back. He could hear the Pegasus, right behind him, shrieking. Looping and circling above the lab, Yellow screaming in his grasp, he tried to out race the Pegasus, but it was no good. He turned back just in time to pull his tail away from it’s snapping jaws. Suddenly he had an idea. He slowed slightly to allow the Pegasus to catch up. Blue let out a gasp. The others were watching the scene, not wanting, or unable, to move.

When it was within range, Dual brought his hind leg up. Then he brought it down with all his force, landing a solid hit on it’s muzzle. With a grunt, the Pegasus dropped altitude. After a few tumbles, it righted itself, then began to fly after them again.

A second later, the Pegasus cried in pain, reaching up to claw at it’s neck. A terrible sound was escaping it’s lips, a combination of a shriek and a growl. Dual looked and saw a small metal collar around it’s neck. A small red light was illuminated. It stayed like that for a few moments, the Pegasus screaming the whole time. When it turned off, the crying stopped. With a guttural snarl in Duals direction, it returned to the ground.

Dual rose up to rejoin the others. The rest had already soared into the night sky, leaving the pain and death behind. Dual turned back and spit in the direction of the lab, then flew off. But Blue hung back. She has seen the black Pegasi’s eyes. What she had seen was hate, rage, fear, and pain. But that was not what had stopped her. What stopped her was the color.