//------------------------------// // The Lizard // Story: MLPU: The Amazing Spider-Mare // by TheInvincibleIronBrony //------------------------------// Dinky stared open mouthed at what remained of Dr. Cheerilee’s lab. She had been working here for only about a year, but never in her life had she seen something like this. The only words she could think of to describe the sheer scope of destruction before her was as if an atomic bomb had been set off inside. Glass covered the floor, the desks and tables where shattered and any machines or computers in the room looked as if they had lost a fight with a wood chipper. Dozens of vials and beakers lay shattered on the ground, their contents mixing into pools of various sizes and colors. Surrounding the lab was a veritable spider-web of caution tape, and two security ponies stood guard, idly discussing the results of the latest football game. Dinky wracked her brain for an answer to explain the strange sight before her. She saw another intern who was also staring at the remains of the laboratory and walked over to them. “Hey, Flicker,” she asked him. “What happened here?” she asked pointing at what remained of the laboratory. Flicker, a slightly older unicorn stallion with gray mane and black coat, turned to face her. “I’m not really sure. I was told it was a break in, but nothing was taken so that doesn’t really make any sense,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking just as confused. “Seriously? That’s odd,” Dinky commented, gazing at the lab. “Is Dr. Cheerilee around?” she asked. “She was here earlier, but I think she got called upstairs to talk to the board. They’re pretty damned pissed right now, I’ll tell you that.” Flicker said. Dinky bit her lip, becoming worried for the older mare. She’d hate to see her get into trouble for something that couldn’t have been her fault. “Okay, thanks,” she said as she made her way to the elevator down the hall. “Sure thing Dinks.” Flicker replied, turning to handle his own internship duties. ///////////////////// Dr. Cheerilee sat at the end of the huge oak wood table where the board of directors sat. She was sweating slightly, this being the first time she’d ever been called up to the conference room. The grim faces of at least twelve stallions, all looking quite angry, stared back at her.The past hour had been incredibly stressful for her, with a constant barrage of questions directed towards her, all concerning the events of the night before and what Cheerilee might have had to do with them. She herself didn’t even have a proper clue. She only had a vague series of foggy memories, images of sewers and claws and scales. “Dr. Cheerliee,” One thin stallion with a high voice and an incredibly expensive suit asked. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for us to believe that anyone could have gotten past our security?” “I understand that it isn’t plausible, but I assure you I locked my lab when I left last night,” Cheerilee said, internally wincing at the lie. She hadn’t been able to figure out why she had blacked out last night, but whatever the reason, they’d most likely be furious to learn that she had been experimenting past closing time. “Besides the window was broken.That’s probably how they got in,” she suggested, hoping to lessen their suspicion. “The glass was outside the lab though. Whoever broke it was already on the inside when they did it,” pointed out the only mare, an incredibly mean looking individual with a slicked back mane. Cheerilee gulped. What would she tell them? That she had somehow managed to transform into a giant lizard and destroy the lab? Oh yeah, they’d accept that right off. Probably fire her on the spot and black list her name. “Sir, what do you make of all this?” another stallion sitting at the end of the table closest to Cheerilee, huffed. Everyone looked to the white unicorn sitting at the far end of the table. He hadn’t said a word throughout the entire meeting. He had only been listening, absorbing what everyone else was saying. It was Blueblood, head of the board of directors, and founder of BlueCorp. “What do I think?” he asked incredulously. “I think that this entire meeting was a waste of time and therefore money. All the evidence we need is in the security office in the monitor room. Someone call them and tell them to start going over the tapes from last night. Then we can figure out exactly what happened and take proper action afterwards,” he told them, his voice terse. It was obvious that he was holding back any anger he felt at having what he must have thought was an incredibly trivial matter. “What about the lab?” Asked an earth pony on the left side of the table, a worried look on his face. “It was an important one.” “We buy a new one,” Blueblood stated nonchalantly. “It’s not exactly going to bankrupt us is it? We would have gone out of business a long time ago if one destroyed room were enough to put us under,” he said rising from his seat. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have more important things to worry about,” he said walking through a set of doors behind the table, into his office. “Meeting adjourned,” he stated as he closed the doors behind himself. The rest of the board began discussing other business and Cheerilee noticed that they were no longer paying any attention to her. “Um…am I excused?” she asked, hoping that this was her chance to leave. She was starting to feel odd, like something was gnawing at her missing arm and a dull headache was starting to form. One of the ponies waved his hand dismissively, not even bothering to look at her as he discussed something with the other board members. Taking this as a sign that she was dismissed, she quietly got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. “Oh, what am I going to do?” she asked herself as she looked out one of the windows at the city below. She knew that as soon as security went through the tapes they’d see whatever happened in there. Although her memories were foggy as to what had happened after the injection, she knew whatever happened, she’d probably be fired or worse jailed. Not that it would matter. She’d be barred from any job involving genetics for the rest of her life. Get the tapes, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. She shook her mind to clear it, a strange wave of dizziness suddenly overtaking her. Once her head cleared, she sat down, pondering what to do next. The idea of stealing the security tapes was quickly becoming all the more attractive by the second. But how? She thought. How do I get the tapes without getting caught? The answer to her question came in the form of a familiar voice calling to her from down the hall. Cheerilee looked in the direction the voice came from to see Dinky trotting up towards her, looking rather worried. “Dr. Cheerilee! What’s going on? I just showed up and saw the lab,” she said, looking at Cheerilee as if the older mare might have the answers. Cheerilee looked down at Dinky, wondering what to tell the young filly. An idea starting to form in her mind. “Somepony tore up the lab. They aren’t sure who, but I’m under suspicion since I was the last pony to leave last night,” she told her. “But that’s crazy!” Dinky said, stamping a hoof on the ground. “Why would you tear up the lab? That’s your life’s work in there!” Cheerilee nervously held up her hoof to calm Dinky. “I know Dinky, but, as strange as it sounds, there’s a chance they’re onto something.” “What? How?” Dinky asked, confused. “You didn’t do anything did you?” she asked, her voice filled with worry. Cheerilee shook her head, started to feel just as confused as Dinky must have been. “I don’t know,” she sighed. “I can’t explain everything right now, but I do need your help,” she said, quickly becoming more determined by the second. Dinky looked puzzled for a moment, as if Cheerilee had just spoken in another language. However, after a long pause, her expression changed to a determined look. “What do you need me to do?” A small smile crossed Cheerilee’s face. There was a light at the end of tunnel at last. “Okay, Dinky, I need you to go to the security office and get the tapes from last night and bring them to me. But, whatever you do, don’t watch them. Understand?” Cheerilee said. Dinky looked a tad worried at this. “Um, are you absolutely sure about this? What if I get caught?” “Then say that Blueblood asked you to do it,” Cheerilee quickly answered. Dinky nodded, her worry fading slightly. “Okay. Where do you want me to bring them to you?” “Bring it to my house. We can’t risk anyone here catching us,” Cheerilee replied, her headache slowly returning. Dinky nodded and began to walk away. She stopped part way to the elevator. “Everything’s going to turn out okay right?” she asked, looking for some reassurance. “I don’t know,” Cheerilee said, unable to meet her protégé’s eyes, the headache becoming more and more prevalent. Dinky looked noticeably worried as she stepped into the elevator and closed the doors behind her. ///////////////////////// Dinky walked through the main security office, carrying a cup of coffee. Cheerilee had been acting very strange upstairs, and had asked her to do something that sounded awfully risky. Nonsense, she thought. Dr. Cheerilee would never put me in danger. If she asked me to do it, most likely she really needs me to do it. Get a hold of yourself Dinky. Nonetheless, she was barely able to stop herself from shaking, the coffee vibrating her aura. “Can I help you young filly?” a deep voice asked. Dinky nearly jumped as an older stallion dressed in a black security uniform addressed her. “Oh, sorry if I’m getting in your way.” Dinky said, quickly calming herself down. “I was looking for the monitor room. One of my coworkers in the genetics lab wanted me to bring this,” she levitated the coffee mug. “To the stallion who works there,” she said, kicking herself over the horribly flimsy excuse. The security officer gave her a long, hard look before he responded. “If you want I can bring it to him,” he offered. Dinky gulped. “Oh thank you, that’d be awesome,” she said levitating the beverage to the stallion. The stallion took the cup in his own magic and started walking down the hall. Dinky waited until he was around the corner at the end of the hall before following after him. She peeked around the corner and saw him arrive at a door and punch in a code. 79654. She repeated the code to herself as the stallion walked in. “Hey, your friend in the genetics lab sent someone to give you this,” he said as he walked in. “I don’t know anyone from genetics. Who brought it?” Asked another voice from inside the room. “A gray unicorn.Didn’t get her name, she just told me this was for you,” The first stallion answered. “Where is she?” Asked the second security officer. “I left her down the hall,” Answered the first stallion. “Seriously! Get her out of here! No unauthorized personnel are even supposed to be on this floor!” Shouted the stallion in the monitor room. “Okay fine, relax…” the first stallion answered, turning around and walking out of the room. Dinky’s eyes widened and she dodged around the corner as fast as her feet could carry her and darted inside a nearby maintenance closet. Just as she closed the door the stallion came around the corner and looked down the hall. “Huh. Guess she left,” he said, walking away. Dinky breathed a sigh of relief. She peeked out of the closet. The hallway was completely deserted. Taking a deep breath, she slowly started to walk towards the door. Chanting the code to herself, she quickly typed it in, hoping that she remembered it correctly. The door popped open and she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “What do you want? I’m busy,” said the stallion inside, who was staring intently at a set of monitors, each one displaying a different part of the tower. He didn’t bother looking up from the monitors to see who had come in. Dinky took the chance and charged up her horn. A silvery mist wafted from her horn and drifted to the stallion. “Hey, what the hay?” he said becoming alert at the disturbance. Just as he started to sit up the spell took effect and he slumped onto the floor, unconscious. “Sorry,” Dinky whispered apologetically as she closed the door behind her, being sure to lock it. Just in case. After double checking the door was locked, she started going through the room looking for the tapes Dr. Cheerilee wanted. She found them sitting on the desk in front of the unconscious stallion. He had apparently began to go through them by the time Dinky had come. Hoping he hadn’t already seen Cheerilee doing whatever she had done, Dinky started searching for the correct times on the tapes labels. The janitorial staff was usually the last to leave each night at midnight so, whatever happened last night had to have been between midnight and five in the morning. That was when the reception staff opened the front doors. Dinky found four tapes between those times and stuffed them in her bag. She was just about to leave when something on one of the monitors caught her eye. It was recording of the spider room on the genetics floor. A very familiar pegasus was standing in the room, looking around in wonder.It was Scootaloo and judging by the time, it was during the tour when she was supposed to be meeting Cheerilee. “Damn it Scoots!” Dinky groaned, still watching, the angle changing as Scootaloo tripped motion sensors inside the room.Her eyes widened when she saw Scootaloo smack the back of her neck as if she had been bitten by something. “Oh you have got to be kidding me,” she whispered angrily as she ejected the tape from the monitor. She stuffed that one in the bag along with Cheerilee’s, deciding she would have some very choice words with Scootaloo about what she saw later. //////////////////////////// Cheerilee had left work as soon as she could, feeling terrible. She felt as if something were trying to explode out of her stomach, twisting it and stretching it. On top of that, her headache was getting even worse. It felt as if her head was in a vice. Nobody really paid attention to her leaving, and she made a beeline straight towards home. She arrived home just as the sun was setting. She was about to take a seat in her living room, groaning in frustration at the sight before her. It was still completely decimated, the shredded remains of the couch scattered around the room. She was about to start cleaning the mess when the phone rang. The ringing sound was like a nail being hammered into her aching skull. She staggered over to her kitchen and answered. “Hello?” Cheerilee groaned, her own voice sounding like nails against a chalk board to her. “Dr. Cheerilee? It’s Dinky. I’ve got the tapes and I’m on my way. I just wanted to give you a heads up. Let you know everything went okay,” Dinky said sounding a bit out of breath. Cheerilee let out a sigh of relief. At least that went well. She thought. “Thank you Dinky.Thank you very much.” She said, terribly relived. “It’s not a problem. I’ll see you soon,” the young unicorn said before hanging up. Cheerilee let out a long happy sigh of relief. Once she got her hands on those tapes, she could finally figure out what had happened the night before and rule out that preposterous theory about the giant lizard. And, once that’s figured out, she thought. I can figure out my next move. I think you should let me dessside what to do, a demonic voice hissed in Cheerilee’s ear. Cheerilee nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the voice. She spun around looking for the intruder. The house of was completely empty. It was just her. “Who’s there?” she called out hesitantly, her fear returning. Your greatessst creation, the voice hissed, sounding quite pleased with itself. Then it dawned on Cheerilee. The voice wasn’t from anywhere in the house…it was in her head. She began to feel a strange tingling sensation in her left shoulder. She looked at it trying to discern the cause only to discover her shoulder was turning from a light purple to a deep green that seemed to shine in the light. Panicking, she quickly brushed her good arm along her shoulder, staring in bewildered fear. Her hoof caught on something and she plucked whatever it was off of her shoulder and looked at it. It was a scale. Just like the ones she had found that morning and in the lab. “Dear Celestia,” she said in shock. “What have I done?” Then she had a thought. Dinky was on her way here right now. Oh that’sss right! You’re preciousss little asssissstant. We shall make a meal of her, the demonic voice cackled in her head. Cheerilee tried to scream for help, but all she heard was a deafening roar as her vision faded out. //////////////////////////////////// It was night time by the time Dinky arrived at Dr. Cheerilee’s house. Traffic had been unexpectedly awful today, so it took much longer then usual to get there. Dinky walked up to the door and knocked. The door creaked open at her touch. Dinky blinked at the oddity. Dr. Cheerilee always locked her door. “Dr. Cheerilee? Are you home?” she called out, walking into the house slowly. Not hearing an answer she made her way into the living room. The lights were off, which was strange. Dinky flicked the light on and her eyes widened. The room was completely decimated. All along the walls and floor were dozens of gouges and scratches, as if a tiger or a dragon had gone on a wild rampage inside. The sliding glass door facing the backyard was completely shattered, covering the floor with shards of glass. The couch was noticeably absent from the living room. Dinky looked out in the backyard and saw what she assumed was the couch lying scattered around the backyard, torn to shreds. “What the hay happened here?” she whispered to herself. A strange scraping sound greeted her ears. She turned to look in the direction of the sound but saw nothing but the empty living room. “Okay this is getting weird.” She said, quickly starting to panic. This wasn’t normal, it looked as if a monster of some kind had attacked the house and destroyed everything. Suddenly the sound of scraping caught her attention again. She could have sworn she saw a giant green tail pass through the corner of her eye. That’s it! I’m out of here! Dinky thought, bolting to the door in a frenzied panic, ignoring the fact that her backpack had fallen off her body in the rush and was now laying on the floor. She darted down the street and into the night, not even thinking of looking back. As soon as she was gone a pair of emerald green eyes peered out of the shadows and followed the filly as she ran off. It ssseemsss you ssstill have sssome control over usss, a reptilian voice hissed as the creature revealed itself. A massive lizard stepped out of the darkness, crawling to look out the window. The tattered remains of Cheerilee’s lab coat clung to its body. No matter. We will ressst for tonight and by tomorrow you will no longer have any control. Then I can find my prey, hissed the reptile, smiling evilly as it turned back into the shadows and disappeared. ///////////////////////////////////////// Scootaloo and Cup Cake sat at the kitchen table in silence. The twins had cried themselves to sleep hours ago. Neither knew what they could say. Nothing could change what had happened. The silence slowly became overwhelming to Scootaloo. All it managed to do was highlight the scope of their loss. Never again would they hear Uncle Carrot’s voice in the house. Instead, where his voice would normally be, there would always be an absence. Scootaloo let out shuttering sigh, rubbing her hands together. She had to say something. “It’s my fault,” she finally admitted, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Cup Cake’s widened as she turned to look at her niece. “Sweetheart, how could you possibly think that?” the older mare asked concerned, her voice sounding like she would start crying as well. Scootaloo hesitated for a moment, unsure how her aunt might react if she told her about the events earlier that day. She thought about what Uncle Carrot would have wanted to say. That only made her feel more guilty. Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke. “I-I-I could have stopped that stallion. When I left I wound up at the school and he stole this other filly’s purse,” she started to cry a little more now. “She was a bully so I thought she deserved to have something bad happen to her. So I let the stallion go,” she finished, a steady stream of tears falling from her eyes. Cup Cake was silent for a moment before getting up from her seat and walking over to Scootaloo. “Don’t you ever say this was your fault again,” she said sternly as she pulled the young pony into a tight embrace. “You could never have known where that stallion was going when he left. On top of that, he made the choice to pull the trigger, not you. You cannot blame yourself for the mistakes of others, only except the consequences for your own actions. Do you understand?” the blue pony lectured. Scootaloo listened to every word, feeling conflicted inside. “But I-” “No, it wasn’t your fault,” Cup Cake said cutting her niece off. “It was that stallion. He made his choices and when the police catch him he’ll pay the price for it.” She paused, taking a moment to wipe away some stray tears. “I know this hurts, but we have to think past the blame. I’ll need help with the twins while we prepare the funeral. I need you to be strong,” Cup Cake said as she released Scootaloo. “Can you do that for me?” she looked Scootaloo directly in the eyes. Scootaloo wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded weakly. “Yeah, I-I guess…” she said. “Okay then,” Cup Cake said as she stood up. “You get to bed and be up early. I have a few calls to make,” she looked tired and her eyes were puffy from her own share of crying. She walked over to an end table and picked up the phone sitting on it. Scootaloo nodded quietly and started out of the kitchen. She paused in the doorway and turned to her aunt. “Th-thank you Auntie,” she said. She could tell her aunt had done her best to comfort her, but she herself still felt bitter towards that stallion. “No problem,” Cup Cake replied, as she started dialing a number, smiling at her niece. Scootaloo noticed that even though Aunt Cup was smiling there was a sadness in the smile. She didn’t wait to see who she called, instead simply nodding in response and making her way upstairs to her room. She closed the door behind her, making a beeline towards her desk. Her eyes immediately locked onto the police sketch of the killer she had gotten from Featherweight. “Auntie was right when she said you’d pay, but the police won’t have much to do with it,” she said darkly. She then walked over to her bed and collapsed into a fitful slumber.