//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Experiment: GENESIS // by Typographical Error //------------------------------// Chapter 4 As one, the flock of black Pegasi rose into the air. Their shrieks blasted the building they were hiding in. Turning, they started to advance towards the prison, wicked smiled pasted on their faces. Dual turned to Blue, both of them panicking. “Get the--” Dual started. “Others out.” Blue finished, nodding. She raced over and woke up the others. Before she could tell them what was going on, they hit. The pegasi burst through the windows. Climbing up the walls and ceilings like spiders. Dual could only watch as they invaded. A never ending stream of black pouring through the windows and doors. Blue stared at him, fear rising in her bright, blue eyes. “What should we do?!” she yelled above the noise. The rest of the Gens stood behind her, their eyes fixed on him. They were looking for answers. They were looking for the ‘Leader’ to get them out of this, like he always did. But he just bowed his head, shaking it slightly. “We just do nothing.” he said as they swarmed over them. ***** She opened her bright, blue eyes, blinking a couple times to clear them of fog. She looked around, her eyes confirming what she already knew. Cages. Cages all around. Fluorescent lights. Linoleum floors. The smell of alcohol. The Lab, they were back. Looking around, she saw the others in their own cages. They were still unconscious, except for one. Dual sat in his cage, fore-legs wrapped around his rear ones. He rocked slightly, back and forth. A dead, unfocused look sat in his eyes. It hurt Blue to see him like this. It hurt her to see any of them like this. “Dual?” she whispered. He didn’t respond. “Dual!” she called again. This time he looked. His eyes looked worse from this angle. They showed the defeated soul that rested within. How he had already given up? “What are we going to do?” she asked again. Once again, he just shook his head and looked away. His mouth moved, but she could barely hear his words. “There is nothing we can do. They won.” he said. He went back to rocking, his wings pulled over his head. Blue just stared at him. How could he have just changed? What happened to the brave Stallion that she knew? She turned her back on him, focusing her attention on the room around her. There were no windows. Cages stood stacked in the corners, empty as usual. A door, the only one in the room, stood of to one side. Their cages were metal, but they were wrapped in some sort of cloth. Something that their hooves, or teeth, as Blue found out, would not cut through. She was just starting to examine the roof, when the door opened. In walked a Mare. A unicorn, as Blue noticed. Her fur was purple, almost the same color as the sunsets Blue watched. Her mane was a bark purple with a pink stripe in it, as was her tail. Her horn was glowing, and a clipboard was hanging in the air in front of her. She paced in front of their cages a couple times, then looked down at them. “So, this is project GENESIS.” She hutted slightly. “Not much to look at. They could have added some color in...” her voice trailed of as she looked at them, her eyes falling on Dual, who was still rocking. “What happened here?” she dropped down on her knees, looking into the cage. “He appears to have had a breakdown. Oh, well. He will be more compliant now.” Blue couldn’t listen anymore. She was talking about them like they were objects. Like things on a shelf, something to be admired. “WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE?!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, waking up Red, who immediately sat bolt upright, staring at the Mare. The Mare took a step back, her eyes widening. “They put in emotion. I will have to congratulate them on a fine job as well.” she started to pace again, taking them all in. “Hmmm...identical, except for the eyes. They must have done that to account for the years in between births.” Blue was fuming. “STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!!!” she yelled, silver stars appearing in her vision. “We aren’t objects!! We!! Are!! Ponies!!” The mare cocked her head slightly, staring at her. “Self aware as well. They did a fine job. Compared to the last group...” she stopped talking, making a note on her clipboard. She walked over to Dual, looking in his dead eyes. “How old are you?” she asked, as casual as if talking about the weather. He did not answer, he just continued to rock. She shook her head. “Shame. Broken property is never good.” she turned back to Blue. “How old is he?” she asked again. Blue could feel her temper rising. This Mare had just walked in here and demanded something from them. That, after they had taken EVERYTHING from them. She opened her mouth, her whole body trembling with rage. “He is eighteen. I am sixteen” she pointed at green, who was still unconscious. “She is Thirteen” she pointed at Red, them Yellow. “Eleven and ten.” she finished. She stared at the Mare with hate. What had Orange called her? Supervisor Sparkle? Sparkle took a step back, her eyes widening more. “I see. And you know exactly when you were born.” She made another not on her board. She began to pace again. That was driving Blue crazy. “How did you survive for those two years after your escape?” Blue gritted her teeth. What did she want from them? “We found some fields with flowers and barley in it. We ate that everyday. We did what we had to do to survive.” Sparkle nodded, making another note. “Natural ingrained survival skills. Well, you five have exceeded our expectations.” she smiled, something that Blue did not want to see. Suddenly, shaking to a cage on her right made her turn. Green had woken up. She was turning back and forth inside the cage, looking for a way out. Her pupils were huge, and Blue knew that she as going to have a mental breakdown. Sure enough, a moment or two later, she collapsed. Tears rolled down her checks, and soft whimpers rose from her cage. When they had a home, and she had a breakdown, they would take her outside, show her the mountains. She would normally come back after a while. But now, without anyway of helping her, this could last for a few hours. Sparkle just stared at her. “Ah yes. GENESIS 4. The unstable one.” she shook her head. “Sad. She had so much potential. Now it is marred by her mental deficiency.” Blue was beyond fury. “SHE IS NOT DEFICIENT!!” she yelled. “You ponies made her like that! It’s your fault!” more stars flew across her vision. She started to feel lightheaded. She sat down, never taking her sight of the Mare, who was smiling. “I suppose we did.” she said, a small look of annoyance crossing her face. She trotted over towards Red, who shrunk back in his cage. “But we seemed to do fine on GENESIS 5 and 6. I would say that we learned our lesson.” Blue couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Why did you bring us back?” she asked, tears finally falling. “We weren’t doing anything, why couldn’t you just leave us alone?” he voice was small and weak. Sparkle smiled. “You thought that we let you go?” she smirked. “The truth is, you never escaped.” Blue’s eyes widened. She didn’t understand. “What do you mean?! We left. We lived in Coltarado for two years!” “Yes you did. And all of that, every part of it, was an experiment.” Blue was looking at her, clueless. “Did you really think that we would just let our most prized experiments escape? We could have brought you down that night so easily. But we didn’t, because that was part of the test. We had to test the new GENESIS project, the black Pegasi that I am sure you are familiar with. We also wanted to test how your pre-programed survival skills had developed. This whole thing was a test.” she said, the smile still on her face. Blue just continued to stare at her, unable to understand. Sparkle sighed. “Well, I think I have all I need now.” she made another mark on her board, then cantered towards the door. “I hope we will be seeing each other again.” The door opened when she approached, a small hiss escaping. Then she disappeared, leaving them alone in the dark again. Tears still fell down Blue’s muzzle. Their whole life was a lie. Every part of who they had grown to be over the last two years was fake, fabricated. They thought that they had been free, away from the tests. But the truth was, there was no freedom. They had always been an experiment. She laid down in her cage, her eyes still watching Dual. He was still rocking. Blue doubted that he had heard any of the conversation that had just gone on. Yellow was still unconscious, which was good. She didn’t need to know where they were. At least, not yet. She felt her exhaustion taking over her. She fought it, but she was loosing. The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes, was Green on the bottom of the cage. Tears falling down her face as she shivered and cried. Blue knew the shivers was from the breakdown. But the tears came from the understanding of what Sparkle had just said. ***** The next morning, she was awoken by the door opening again, and a female voice breaking the silence. “Up and at’em GENESIS! We have a big day ahead!” Blue opened her eyes, looking around. Sparkle stood in the doorway, a white coat on and a clipboard in the air. She looked well rested and cheery, the complete opposite of how Blue felt. She looked around the room again. The others were wake now. Even Dual and Green were focused, their hooves wrapped around the metal bars of the cage. He looked angry, but it was not the rage she had seen when their house was destroyed. It was the anger of somepony that knew they were beat, but just couldn’t accept it. Sparkle walked over to the cages, resuming her pacing from the night before. “I assume that you know what we are doing, correct?” she asked looking around at them. Dual opened his mouth. “You know what happens when you assume, right?” he asked, smirking. Sparkle shook her head, confused. “It makes an ass out of you and me.” he finished, smiling right in her face. She just stared at him for a moment, then laughed. “They installed a sense of humor as well.” She made a note on her board, reading it out as she wrote it. “‘Humor needs work.’” she smiled back at them. “Well, shall we get to work?” She walked over and unlatched their cages, one by one. They stepped out, stretching. Their cages felt like that same size as they did when they were here before. Which was unfair. They had all grown about two hands in height over the last two years. Now they stood a good four hands above Sparkle. But she didn’t look intimidated. In fact, she looked happy. “Strength and height. Exactly what you were programed for.” she looked them up and down, admiring them. Her eyes stopped at Dual. He was stretching his wings, all four of them. She smiled when she saw that. “Perfect. The rear wings working in conformity with the ones in front. That wasn’t planed, but it still works.” She looked up at his, wonder in her eyes. “You know, we still don’t know what caused that. You are truly one of a kind.” She walked away, leaving Dual to just stare at her. She stood by the door, waving them in. “We have lots planed for today. We better get a jump on it.” They walked towards her, which was all they could do. They passed her, Blue giving her a death stare as they went by. For a second, the creepy smile slipped of her face, replaced by one of sadness. But then the smile was back. The room they were ushered into was the same one from before. Seven doors, each marked with a color or a pair of wings. They passed the orange door first, and Dual put his leg out, stopping them. He stood on his hind legs, putting both of his front legs out in front of him. With his left leg, he reached behind and touched his wing. With his right, touched his heart. Then he pulled a feather out of his wing, and dropped in in front of the door. Blue just stared at him while he did this. It was something that they created one night, while neither of them could sleep. It was something to do at a funeral, if one of them died. But Orange was not dead, so Dual was using this as something else. It finally dawned on her. He was saying, even though he was still alive, Orange was as good as dead to them. After he dropped the feather, he turned and continued down the hall. Blue was the next to pass the door, doing the same thing. One by one, they did the same gesture, until they all stood next to their correct door. Sparkle watched them, a curious look crossing her face. Just like two years ago, the buzzer sounded, and the doors opened. They walked in their rooms, taking in the sights. The rooms had been changed, but not enough to stop the memories from flooding back. Pain, fear, hate, more pain. It all came flooding back to her. Blue felt slightly queasy as she looked around. She laid down on the metal operating table, just as she had done everyday before their escape. She felt the cold metal seeping through her fur and feathers. She shivered slightly, but not from the cold. It was from the fear. What was going to happen to them? Were they going to survive this time around? She didn’t want to think about it, but that was all she could think about. She heard the door behind her open, and hoof steps came closer. A scientists in a mask leaned over the table, looking her up and down. “My, you have grown.” He took some measurements, around her head, her neck, the length of her legs, and, completely against her will, the size of her pelvis. when he was finished, she heard him make a couple notes, then he leaned back over her. “We are going to do a little endurance test today. If you would follow me.” he gestured to the door he had walked through, which was completely unnecessary. She knew the way. ***** Almost an hour later, she was panting and sweating. She was running out of steam, and it hadn’t even been that long. But she had to keep running. If she was going to be a slave, then she wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of letting them knew they were beating her. The Gymnasium was a building far to the back of the Lab. It was at least two acres long by one wide. Inside it had a track, stretching over a mile long. sand pits and monkey bars were spread out, along with some more exercise equipment. Blue would have been happy to train on the equipment, with her own will. But in the hands of the scientists, the equipment became torture devices. Her breathing was coming in short bursts, and a blinding pain was growing in her side, just under her wing. She had to have run over ten miles by now, and their was no end in sight. Every time she passed the scientist, he wrote down her time and told her to go faster. But she couldn’t go any faster. And she wasn’t sure how long she could keep going. Finally, two miles later, she gave in. She collapsed on the ground, tears of relief falling as rest found her. She saw the scientist gallop over to her, felt him kick her in the side to get her moving. But she didn’t care. All she wanted was rest,and that is what she got. ***** The next thing she felt, was her head hitting the bottom of her cage as she was dumped in. She pried open her eyes. Above her, the scientists lowered in tubes. She instantly knew what it was, and put her mouth on it. The sweet feeling of water filling her parched throat made her eyes water, but she held back tears. After the water, a plate with bread and an apple was lowered in. She immediately fell on the food, eating the whole apple and half of the bread before she tasted any of it. She started to eat slower, savoring the warm bread. After she was finished, more water was given to her, and then she was left alone. Looking around, she saw that she was the first to come back. She decided that she was going to wait for the others, see how they got on. But her body had other ideas. Her eyes began to droop, and she was asleep before she knew it. When she woke, she sat bolt upright, instantly aware. She turned around and saw that the others had returned. Most were passed out, except for Dual. He sat, his back turned to her, his front left wing pulled in front of him. The position was so odd, that she instantly knew something was wrong. “Dual?” she called. With a jump, he turned around, and she gasped. Blood coated one side of his face, and she could see the open gash above his left eye. His wing hung at an odd angle. It was obvious that it was broken. His eyes were filled with pain and hate. But they softened when he looked at her. “I’m glad to see that you are alright.” he said, almost smiling. “You had me worried when you didn’t wake up for six hours.” “You were worried?! Have you seen yourself?” she pointed at his face and wing. “What did they do to you?!” she asked, disgusted. He smiled, but the smiled changed to a grimace when he bumped his wing against the bars of his cage. “It’s nothing.” he said, lying. “I was just being dumb. Decided it was a good idea to not listen to them.” he shrugged, but grunted when his wing was moved. “Trust me, you should listen to them.” He shook his head, eyes showing his concern for her. “What did they make you do?” he asked. “You didn’t wake up for a long time.” “They made me run, a lot. I think it was twelve miles in an hour.” she stretched out her legs, which had started to burn. She tried to reposition herself, but she couldn’t move very much. “What about you?” “Where to start?” he said playfully. “First, they measured me, then they took me out to test my flying. That’s when I had the brilliant idea to not listen. I just flew in a circle. I guess the new policy is to beat you if you don’t comply.” he said, looking over his shoulder at his wing. “So yeah, I would listen to them from here on out.” Blue smiled at him. “I would guess so.” She looked around at the others. They were all asleep, curled up in balls so they would fit in the cages. Yellow looked like she had been crying, and Red had a small cut under his wing. Green looked fine, but she shivered in her sleep. Blue sighed then turned back to Dual, who was staring at her. “Are you alright?” he asked, eyes wide. Blue nodded. “I didn’t get beat or anything.” Dual shook his head. “I know, but are you alright?” Blue understood, and shook her head. “Not even remotely. We are objects to these ponies.” she said, her head bowed. “They couldn’t care less about who we are. All they care about, is that we are GENESIS.” She spat the word. It had only ever caused them pain and fear. She sighed, looking around the windowless room. “But you know what this means.” she said, looking sideways and Dual, who nodded. “Just like old times.” they said in unison.