Chapter 2: Forbidden Phrases
Sweetie took one last look at the skeletons before turning toward the door, “Come on. Let's leave these ponies to their rest.”
“Yeah,” Applebloom said as she came alongside Scootaloo so she could lean against her.
“Where to now?” Scootaloo asked.
“First, medical to see if there are beds that don't have bones in them, then the lab or security, depending on which is closer. They're both in the same direction, and either might have a map,” answered the unicorn.
“You only wanna go to the lab to see what kind of experiments they did,” Applebloom deadpanned.
“Well, I would like to be able to tell Twilight what kind of facility we found.”
Her friends just rolled their eyes, a feat that impressed Sweetie as one of them lacked the necessary parts, yet still conveyed the intent. Shaking her head clear of the thoughts, Sweetie Belle headed back into the hall, leaving the grisly scene behind.
As the Crusaders made their way down the hall, Sweetie was lost in thought. She just couldn't figure this place out. The technology she had seen was well beyond modern tech, but the bones of those ponies seemed far too old. They had browned with age and looked like they might have been well over a thousand years old. But if that were true, why was the facility in such good shape? The entire structure should have collapsed by now. Was it enchanted, or just really sturdy?
“Uh, Sweets?” Applebloom interrupted the white filly's thoughts, “Ya just passed up the medical place.”
Sweetie blinked a few times as she stopped and looked back at her friends. The room they stopped in front of had a big sign saying 'medical'.
Sweetie chuckled sheepishly, “Oh, right. I guess I was just lost in thought.”
“Well, come back to Equestria for a sec,” Scootaloo teased.
After Applebloom pried open the door, they stepped inside... and immediately walked back out.
“Nope.”
“Not a chance.”
“I don't even want to know.”
“So... the labs might have something that can be used as a bed,” Sweetie offered.
“Unless they're occupied too,” Applebloom said with a slight shudder.
Once again, they marched in silence, Sweetie lighting the way. They all just wanted to get out of there and go home. The weird place, the quiet, the bones, it was all starting to get to them. They wanted their own beds, in their own homes. The atmosphere between them grew thick with depressing thoughts of never seeing home or their families again. It was a godsend when they were provided with a distraction in the form of the laboratory door.
Applebloom steeled herself as she gripped the door, “If there's more dead ponies in here, I'm done. I'll sleep right here.”
“Sounds good to me,” Sweetie agreed.
“I'm glad I'm blind, right now,” Scootaloo admitted and yawned.
With a heave, the farm filly pulled the door open and Sweetie cautiously walked in, shining her light across the room. She let out a sigh of relief when she didn't see anything that was once alive.
“It's clear,” she told the others.
They walked in and glanced around a little. There were two desks and three bare tables. Sweetie went to a desk near the door and started searching for any books or papers that might have survived. Places like this would usually enchant their work so it was beyond reason that they would be in good condition. Unfortunately, the desk just had a few unrecognizable trinkets, but no paper or books. She went to the next and found more of the same.
“That's weird,” she said, “What kind of lab doesn't have notes or books?”
“What about in there?” Applebloom pointed to a door labeled 'experimentation', “Ah don't know how labs work mostly, but Ah know Twilight takes all kinds of notes when she experimentin' with stuff.”
“Yeah, good thinking, Applebloom,” Sweetie praised her friend. The filly slid through the already opened door and looked around briefly. It wasn't like any lab she'd ever seen. There were shelves, but instead of books they had containers of fluids, some containing something floating inside. The back wall had a strange counter along it with an angled surface and what looked like dials, gauges, and gems. The center of the room was dominated by a large contraption surrounded by four tube-like beds with lids hanging open.
“Oh hey. Beds! And they're empty!” called out Sweetie
“Where?” Scootaloo made her way, one hoof out in front as she hobbled on the other three.
“Right here,” Sweetie answered after stepping up to one.
Once Scootaloo reached it, Sweetie helped her up. The young pegasus flopped to her side with a content sigh, “You guys go on. I'm good here.”
Sweetie and Applebloom giggled at the fuchsia maned filly's antics, and turned back around to inspect the room. As Sweetie Belle was examining the shelves, something caught Applebloom's eye. On the counter on the back, one of the gems shined with a dull red glow. The apple farmer trotted up to it with an inquisitive look. She could tell something was written above it, but since Sweetie was on the other side of the room, her light didn't reach and the gem's light wasn't bright enough to read by.
Sweetie was inspecting a jar that held some kind of creature with grim curiosity, when she heard something that brought the icy touch of fear to her heart. Everypony knew there were certain phrases that invite disaster, one of which she herself was guilty of using just before they fell through the earth. The others include 'hey, watch this', and 'it looks friendly enough'. When in a setting like this, though, there was one that stood above the rest... and Applebloom just said it.
“What does this button do?”
Before she could stop her, the earth pony already performed the terrible deed. At first, nothing happened and Sweetie nearly let out a sigh of relief, but then a sound filled the air. It was a low whirring sound that seemed to resonate from below somewhere.
“What's that sound?” Scootaloo asked from the bed.
Suddenly, the world exploded in a fiery flash of light... or at least, that's what they thought as the unicorn and earth pony hit the deck and covered their heads. It took them several seconds to realize it wasn't an explosion or fireball, but lights. Several lights came to life in panels on the ceiling.
“Whoa!” Applebloom said in wonder, “This place has that electricity stuff like the cities?”
“It looks that way,” Sweetie replied.
“Clear testing area,” a voice said from everywhere.
“What was that?” Applebloom asked.
Suddenly, a red wall encompassed the center of the room. A scream sounded from Scootaloo's bed and the others rushed around to see what was happening. Straps had wrapped around the pegasus filly, holding her down as the lid closed.
“Scootaloo!” Applebloom twisted and bucked as hard as she could. The barrier flickered, but held firm.
As the yellow filly continued to pummel the shield, the voice spoke again, “Administering subject AXD-5639.”
From within, Scootaloo was in a panic. She struggled and pulled against the restraints. She could hear the frantic voices of her friends as well as a thumping. She called out to them, begging for help. Suddenly, she felt a sharp, stabbing pain in the back of her neck and fire spread through her.
The ear splitting wail from their trapped friend brought tears to the two ponies outside. When streams of red energy filled the space within the barrier, they cried out for their friend and redoubled their efforts. Their hooves slammed against the barrier, not knowing what else to do.
It was about a minute before the whir of the machines slowed, but it felt like an eternity for Applebloom and Sweetie. The moment the barrier fell, the two were rushing to the opening bedside. As soon as the bindings were released, Applebloom pulled the motionless form of their orange friend from the machine and laid her on the floor.
Sweetie quickly put a hoof to her neck to feel for a pulse, then her ear to her mouth to listen for breathing. The unicorn sighed in relief, “She's alive.”
They moved the unconscious filly to the corner of the room, as far away from the awful machine as possible. The two just sat by her side for half an hour before Applebloom broke the silence.
“Ah'm so sorry. Ah didn't know that was gonna happen.”
“It's not your fault,” Sweetie said.
“It is!” the farm filly said a bit louder than she intended, “Ah shouldn't a' been messin' with stuff, and Ah 'specially shouldn't a' touched the red button!”
“Hey, the red button gave us lights! It wasn't bad, just... bad luck,” Sweetie tried to comfort her friend, “I wouldn't have been able to keep up the light spell much longer anyway. We'd be in the dark in an hour if you didn't do that.”
“Who cares about that?!” Applebloom shouted at Sweetie, but her anger was directed at herself, “Scootaloo has been in the dark for two years! We could a' managed a couple hours! Now, she might be diein' for all we know, cause Ah couldn't keep mah hooves off a' stuff!”
“We don't know what that was, okay,” Sweetie assured, “It was probably something meant to make ponies better.”
Applebloom moved closer to Scootaloo, “Ah'm so sorry, Scootaloo. Please wake up soon.”
Sweetie put a hoof around her yellow friend, “She'll be okay.” She was trying to convince herself as much as the distraught earth pony. “Scootaloo is the toughest filly in Equestria, and you know it. She'll bounce back like nothing even happened.”
“We don't even know what that thing did to her,” Applebloom pointed out.
Sweetie sighed, “I know. This place doesn't even keep notes. I mean, what kind of lab doesn't log its...”
Sweetie suddenly went quiet when she looked back in the other room. Applebloom followed her gaze and saw what had distracted her. One of the desks had a strange, glowing object on it that wasn't there before. Sweetie and Applebloom gave each other a look before the unicorn got to her hooves. Applebloom, scooting closer to their unconscious friend, told Sweetie that she was staying where she was.
As Sweetie got closer, she saw that it wasn't an object, but a magical display like Twilight's thought projection spell. She stared at the thing in curiosity and confusion.
“What is this thing?”
“This device is a Project: HOPE database interface.” a monotonous feminine voice replied.
Sweetie jumped back at the sudden, unexpected answer.
“Did you just answer me?” Sweetie asked it.
“This device is equipped with the Songbird 5.8 voice command software.”
“Whoa!” Sweetie Belle sat in front of the strange machine and asked, “What happened to Scootaloo?”
“I'm sorry, voice command not recognized.”
“What? I just asked what happened to my friend in there,” Sweetie said in anger.
“I'm sorry, voice command not recognized.”
“How do you not recognize the voice command?” Sweetie asked incredulously.
“Songbird 5.8 is programed to respond to hundreds of words and phrases. If a voice command is not recognized, that command is not held within the database. Please contact Hayseed Industries service line for instructions on adding commands to the Songbird database.”
“Uh... okay?” Sweetie stared at the device for a moment, after which she decided to ask a question that had been bugging her for some time, “What happened here?”
“Accessing video log...”
The screen went black just before returning with an image of the room Sweetie was in, though in much better condition and with more ponies. In Sweetie's place sat a unicorn stallion with a white coat and a short, blue mane.
The stallion spoke, “Personal log of Doctor Bright, lead researcher for Project: HOPE...”