//------------------------------// // 1: Failed // Story: Incomplete // by Teku Senpai //------------------------------// "ROOK!" A stallion in a hat shouted out. Immediately, a large stallion appeared at a nearby doorway, standing at attention. Like every well-trained stallion, he stared off into the distance while he awaited orders. The stallion chuckled and in a gruff voice continued, "Ah, Rook. Do you know what today is?" Rook simply snorted and blew air out of his noise as a negative response. He did turn to look at the hatted stallion however. "Today is the big day. The day we finally get to see what becomes of your daughters." Rook felt a lump in his throat. He signed a contract to work under this stallion as his own personal peacekeeper in exchange that his family be kept safe. "With all do respect, sir. According to our contract, you -" "I what? Rook, I own you, and in extension... your family." The stallion got out of his leather chair and walked slowly and condescendingly toward Rook. He stopped a few centimeters away and continued, "The contract means nothing to me. I would come up with a bitter excuse like 'You did not read the fine print" but I give it to ponies straight. You've earned that much respect from me." Rook clenched his powerful jaws and contained his outrage. In this scenario, there was nothing he could really say. The rest of the ponies that worked in this facility offered their total allegiance to this mysterious leader, not even knowing what they were getting themselves into. Rook did not have a choice while the rest of the researchers here did. The hatted stallion waved his hoof and watched as Rook stepped aside to let him through. When the old stallion had left, Rook, try as he might, let a single tear through his defenses. A tear that his family would be safe throughout the diabolical schemes that the hatted stallion had for them. --- --- The bushes shook and the branches snapped as her hooves beat down on the cool dirt, sending little clouds of debris into the air with each stomp. Her deep pants of exasperation burned her lungs and her vision began to blur. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts and looked behind her. Sure enough, the menacing shadow tailed her. She coughed and felt the burn in her through, but pushed on. She knew what would happen if she stopped and no one enjoys the prospect of eternal slumber. Swerving around a clump of dense foliage and around a thick tree, she continued on down a path that had not been there before. She looked down at her hooves, thumping against the earth and back up at the dirt trail. The trail was clear and gave her some hope, but it was not much. Looking behind her again, she noticed that the shadow had vanished. Her pursuer was no where to be seen. She shoved her hooves into the dirt bringing her to an abrupt stop. She heaved, her body desperately begging for more air, for water, for a break. She desperately wanted to bunk down somewhere. She lowered her head and continued down the path. As she looked around, the forest around her seemed to look down upon her just like how her condescending mother used to. She could hear her mother, "You've brought home a failing grade, again. There seems to be no other choice. You will be -" The pony shook her head and tapped her head, clearing the painful memory. She whispered, "Not the cage" as a tear made its way to her eye before wetting the fur on her cheek. As she continued to trot down the rocky path, she happened upon a run-down cottage. It really was quite the eyesore, but to somepony being chased through the woods by a terrifying shadow, a cottage this run-down was nothing to be picky about. She quickly picked up the pace and made it to the front door, but when she put her hoof on it, the door dissolved into dust. She coughed on the dust as she let herself into the cottage. It was a quaint little place. If it was not so run-down, she could imagine that it would be a nice little place to get away from the city. A sense of nostalgia washed over her before an ear-piercing shriek shattered the silence. The pony quickly turned to the doorway to see a small pony, except it wasn't. This filly was missing a front leg and most of her coat was tattered and burned. Bits of her flesh were missing and her ribs poked out. The filly shook and screamed again, sending blood rushing out of her wounds before she turned away and ran away from the cottage. The pony within stood staring at where the filly had been, nothing more than a puddle of blood remained there. Snapping out of her trance, the pony bolted to the doorway, leaped over the crimson puddle and looked around. She saw fresh bloody tracks leading back down the trail from whence she came. She let out a gout of air and thought about her options. She eventually settled on going out to find the young filly who had been badly injured. She took off down the trail, making sure to follow the small red tracks. She galloped all the way back down where the shadow had initially been chasing her and hopped off the path. The bloody tracks led into the forest, but suddenly vanished. The pony trotted towards where the track ends and again looked around. That young filly couldn't have gotten far. She must be hiding in one of these bushes. I wonder if - A dying bush to her right rustled and the filly's head poked out. She offered a weak smile and shoved her way out of the bush. The filly trotted up to a tree and put her hoof on it. The tree immediately began shriveling and it's many leaves showered down to the earth. The pony gulped and stared wide-eyed at the filly who turned to look at her. The filly smirked and whispered, "Checkmate." The rest of the immediate bushes rustled violently and exploded into shadow fragments. The void entities convened together on the wounded filly. The pony took a step back and made herself ready to take off at a moment's notice, not wanting to sprint down the path yet. When all the fragments came together, they engulfed the young filly and another shriek accompanied the whooping wind. The small filly increased in size and her small figure disgustingly grew in a distorted manner. The sounds of bones snapping and flesh ripping was all that the pony needed to dash down the road without thinking about looking back. Running on pure adrenaline, she ran back down the path until she saw the cottage she had temporarily taken shelter in. This time, however, she did not stop for it. She darted past it, the bloody puddle mysteriously missing without a trace. Chancing a glance backwards, the shadow was already upon her. This time, it was too late. The pony released a quick sigh in between her pants before the ground gave in beneath her. She tumbled down a hillside and rolled down until she smashed into a tree. With dazed vision, she looked up the hill to see that the shadow had not let up chase. She swerved around the tree and began to run once more, but a sharp pain stabbed through her front left leg and she tumbled back to the ground. Looking down at her leg, something was stuck in it, but in the dimmed light she could not make out whether it was a stick or a bone. It did not matter, anyway. It was over. The shadow loomed over her and she closed her eyes for her final moments, but instead she heard a dreadful voice state, "Experiment number 404. Status: Experimentation Complete. Results: Failure. Expected Traits: Unknown." 404 looked away from her injured leg and up at the shadow being. It dissipated as her entire field of vision went bright white before everything went void black again. --- --- 404 felt her body jostling up and down, presumably from being on somepony's back. She had a blindfold on and couldn't see anything. She sniffed the air. Musty moldy air. She perked her ears to catch any noises that could help her identify her whereabouts, but the only thing responding were the clip clops of hooves against stone. Her transporter suddenly stopped, which sent a shock of pain through 404's body. She felt herself slide off the pony's back. She was sat up against a wall and her blindfold came off. It did not help at all though, her vision was fuzzy and she could only make out the fact that there was a light coming from somewhere. "Look, around here I am called Rook, and I can't tell you any more than that when it comes to who I am, but hear me out. Trust me when I say that I will get you out of here. Believe it or not, there is one other I need to grab if we are to escape here, but until then please hold out and promise that you will not give up, no matter what." 404 was still fairly dazed, but she understood the gist of what this stallion seemed to be saying. He's a rookie... He wants me to trust somepony he will grab so that we don't give up... Got it... The dazed look on 404's face did not give Rook hope about her, but he had to heed his own advice and not give up. Rook looked around the sewer that they were in. The nasty smell of the sewer keeps curious ponies out of the experimenting areas, or so Rook has been told. He looked back down at 404, who had passed out against the mossy cobblestone wall, and sighed. Breaking out of this place should not be too hard, but timing will mean everything --- --- The smell of sterilization filled the air. Experiment number 404 opened her eyes and still stared upon darkness. She flicked her ears here and there to pick up any noises or sounds. Any at all. She heard a faint beeping along with muffled voices. The voices seemed to talk for a while before hoofsteps. She tried listening harder and patiently waited until her hearing slowly cleared up in time for the new set of hooves to arrive. "How did it go?" A gruff voice. Deep and gruff. Like a grandfather. "Uh, the results came back as negative, sir. Another failure it seems." The second voice was a step above a whimper. It was almost like a son coming right out of a scolding. 404 felt a mark against both her flanks as if someone just drew a line across them with a marker. "Negative? This one is not allowed to be negative. She's the third Unknown we have had. We can't afford to lose any. Put her through it again." "Sir, I understand, but..." There was a shaky sigh. "She... It... It can't. No, it won't survive another experiment in this condition." I won't... survive? What condition? What's an Unknown..? These thoughts lingered in her mind for a while but scattered quickly as a sharp clank reverberated through the air. "Put her though... another test." The gruff voice seemed relatively friendly at first, but it began to emit a cruel and cold vibe. The younger experimenter audibly gulped loudly and whimpered. "Do it." That voice. So cruel. So demeaning. 404 clenched her teeth and growled. She wanted to say something. She wanted to combat that acrimonious voice. She wanted to strike down his air pipe and keep him from speaking again. Something about that voice filled her with a violent surge of power. The smell of burning fabrics invaded the scent of sterilization and the bed 404 was lying in caught fire and shattered, bursting the mattress and sending cindering wool shrapnel in every direction. She slowly opened her eyes to look at her aggressors, both of whom were wearing masks. The younger stallion was in a scientist's coat and had glasses while the older stallion hid his face under a hat. The older stallion grinned widely and began to chuckle as 404's shield of fire began to expand outwards. She hovered a few centimeters above the ground and floated toward the two stallions. Before she could do anything, however, another stallion, a bulkier one, leapt at her from the side and tackled her to the ground "Please. Don't," he whispered kindly. Almost immediately, 404's fiery rage was exhausted and the fires that had consumed half the sterilized room instantly puffed out of existence. The mark they have left, however, had not. 404 felt the weight of the bigger stallion on her and began to cry as her rage became sadness, unwarranted sadness. She slowly closed her eyes, as the large stallion picked himself up off her. Before she succumbed, however, she heard a single word. Blood...