//------------------------------//
// First Day in the Facility (Rewritten) 
// Story: The Knight is Rising 
// by clearshot01 
//------------------------------//

	I found out pretty quickly that my magic was a no-go. Something, or somepony, was blocking it. Same for my shadowporting and Celestial Techniques. I was confused, to say the least. Ok, why in the name of Celestia and Luna are my powers not working? Whoever is behind this must've known about them beforehand or something, how else would they have found a way to neutralize them? For buck sake, how did they find out about them in the first place? I- My thoughts were interrupted by the cell door opening.

“Hey Triple Digits, how goes it? Settling in alright?”

 My blood boiled when I recognized the voice, but I held my anger in check and remained silent. No sense getting myself killed. Can't use my powers, so I don't stand much of a chance against him if he was able to defeat both mom and dad in less than ten seconds.

The bastard just smirked as he looked at me. “Eh, still itching to kill me? Fat chance. Maybe you didn't know, but I'm the favoured subject here. As I said before, name's One. Didn't like my old name, so when he came looking for subjects, promising power, wealth and mares, I volunteered. Turns out, I was the first, and the only willing, participant, so I've got free run of the place. Best part is, when the experiments start, I get to choose who I fight after each one.”

 Fight? This can't be good....

“Now come on, the boss has an announcement to make to the rest of you subjects.” And with that, I was dragged out of my cell, into a dark corridor... 





After what felt like hours, we finally arrived in a huge open area. I was literally tossed in the door, which was promptly shut and barricaded. Figuring that escape wasn't possible at this time, I proceeded to look around, noticed that there were only a few others here. I walked up to a female earth pony, startling her, but when I promised not to harm her, she apologized, and told me about the others here. She said with, venom in her voice, that there were around one hundred of us imprisoned here. Sixty of whom were ponies. 20 earth ponies, 20 unicorns (including myself), and 20 pegasi. 

Seriously, what is with this guy. He must have some serious OCD to be this precise in how many ponies he has. She also said there were 20 changelings. From what I remember learning, they were insect-like ponies that had a hive mentality, so basically, they had a telepathic bond with their queen, as well as each other. If their own Queen can't find them, then the one keeping us here must be really powerful.

Finally, she told me about the last 20, who were a mix of different creatures, including a pitch black Zebra with blue eyes, How does she know what color his eyes are? She must be crushing on him or something, grey stripes, a black and grey mane and tail, and bat wings. Cool. Wonder if he has powers too, a few dragons, some diamond dogs, and some strange creatures she said she'd never seen before. They were bipedal, sort of like dragons, with long arms, but instead of claws, they had what looked like flexible branches attached to them. They had fur only on top of their heads, and they were wearing clothes all over their bodies. When I thought about it, they sounded kind of familiar.

While the two of us were busy talking, the rest of the 'guests' were brought in. It was a few at a time, and all of them looked like they were either scared out of their minds, or extremely angry. After a couple of hours I noticed the zebra and the bipedal creatures she had mentioned walk in. The doors shut behind them with finality Hmm; they must be the last to arrive. And would you look at that, they make one hundred. The bipedal ones looked scared out of their minds, while the zebra just looked mildly concerned, though I could see he was shaking slightly. I decided to try to be polite and introduce myself. 

When the bipedal things saw me approach though, they immediately tried to be hostile. 

“Back off, or else, Silver.” The smallest one stated. Silver? Ok, why would they think my name is Silver? What about me could honestly make them think my name is Silver? My fur is grey! I decided to save that for later and started speaking.

“Ok, I don't know what you are, or where you're from. All I know is that I wanna be here just about as much as you, so what's say we take any and all hostility and lose it, at least until we get out of this, Sound good?” Although I could tell they were hesitant, they all nodded.

“Sorry, just never seen a talking horse before. Actually, we've never seen any of these kinds of creatures before. Well, except for the ones that brought us here, so our hostility is at least warranted.” What the buck? Seriously? You've never seen ponies, or diamond dogs, or any of these creatures before? Wow. “I mean, unicorns, pegasi, dragons, these definitely don't exist where we're from. There are horses, and dogs, but neither of them can talk, and the dogs definitely can't walk on two legs, at least, not for lengthy periods.” I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised. 

“Really? Well what are you, and where are you from? And also, we're ponies, not horses.” I said, a little miffed at their ignorance.

“We're humans, we're from Earth, and sorry about that little pony dude.” The tall one said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Ok, humans. I remember reading up a bit about them in one of my dad's old books. And are you sure that you're from Earth? This world is called Earth too and...oh. Oh no...”

“What? WHAT? Come on little pony dude, tell us what you're thinking before I bust a nut!” The short one asked, a little panicked.

I hesitated, but only for a second, since it would be unfair to keep them in the dark. “I just thought, what if you're from another world entirely? What if you got pulled here from yours? And 'bust a nut'? What's that even mean?"

The one I assumed was the eldest sighed and shook his head. “Well, that sucks, but it beats the explanation we were thinking of a minute ago. And 'bust a nut' is an expression that means to get really angry.” He explained.

I nodded. “Ok, and your theories on our predicament would be...?”

The short one spoke up again. “That we were all having an insane nightmare. We even pinched ourselves to be sure, and nothing…” Just then, the Zebra walked up to us, with a grim face. 

“You thought you were dreaming? Well, sorry, but by the time this is all over, you'll all be wishing you were. I know I will.” We all shared a look of worry before turning back to the Zebra... 

“And what do you mean by that?” I asked, more than a little afraid of the answer.

“You don't know? The guy in charge of this place is bad news. I recognize him from a book I read before I got kicked out of my home by my parents, on account of my looks, and 'other' reasons.”

“What kind of 'other' reasons?”

“It's personal, and I don't like talking about it. Anyway, the guy in charge was the brother of the Princesses, but he was apparently banished from this world during the war with Discord.” 

“Why?”

“He wanted to experiment on other ponies in order to find ways of improving the effectiveness of the troops, but Celestia and Luna refused, saying that it was too barbaric, and that the results wouldn't be worth the cost. He got really pissed by this, and he switched sides. Joined up with Discord. Any time they captured a pony, he would torture them through experimentation. He'd push their minds and bodies to the breaking point over and over until they couldn't take it anymore and either died, or went insane and became mindless killing machines, which Discord would release on nearby populated areas.” I was feeling very ill hearing this. I noticed two of the humans had already thrown up, and the third was barely holding down the vomit. The zebra ignored this and continued.

“The worst thing he did though was a forbidden ritual. He sacrificed several innocent foals, and by spilling their blood, he created a de-” Before he could continue further, he was interrupted by another voice I knew all too well.

“Greetings test subjects...”

“That's him...” the Zebra whispered to me, his eyes full of anger, which he was just barely keeping in check.

I finally had a chance to see what the fallen alicorn looked like up close. I wasn't impressed. He had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in centuries, and he also had several cuts and bruises. Probably from trying to capture some of the more stubborn of us. My guess is he tried to do it alone the first few times, and then switched to partnering up with One. One tires us out, then he knocks us out. All in all, good strategy.

“Now, I'm sure you are all wondering why you are here. Well, you have all been chosen to be part of a series of experiments. All of you are among the best of your individual species and subspecies. That is why you are here. Only one of you will leave here alive.” We all went pale at that revelation. Some even threw up on the spot. He ignored us.

“That one will become a living weapon with which Lord Discord will rain Chaos and Destruction upon Equestria, overthrowing Princess Celestia and taking back his throne!” Everypony had looks of disbelief on their faces. Some tried to charge at him, probably thinking if they took him down, we'd have a shot at escaping. They didn't even get close before he restrained them with magic. What scared me though, was the fact that not only did he not look at them when casting his magic, but his expression and tone of voice never changed, and he continued on as if nothing had happened at all.

“Of course, to those of you who have been here for extended periods of time, I apologize, but we needed one hundred subjects in order for the tests to be as efficient as possible. Now, I would like to turn your attention to the dark grey unicorn with the crossed swords cutie mark. Everypony, meet Rising Knight, a member of the very prestigious Celestial Assassins. However, he is no longer to be considered anything except for a fellow test subject. So, feel free to call him Subject One Hundred from now on.” Instantly, all eyes turned on me, and I wished for nothing more than to be able to shadowport anywhere, just to be away from all the probing stares...

“Wait, you're a Celestial Assassin?!” The zebra exclaimed, looking me over with amazement, before regaining his composure and holding a hoof behind his head, embarrassed. “That's pretty cool. I mean, I've read books about them, but I always thought they were just a myth.” The humans, zebra and I were walking back to our cell.

Turns out that the five of us would be sharing a cell. They placed most of us in groups of 5, and told us that each group would sleep in the same cell for the duration of their 'stay'. The humans protested at first, saying they didn't want to share a cell with ponies, but we shut them up, whispering that if we could come up with a plan, the five of us would have a better chance of escaping together. They eventually agreed, all too eager to escape from this hellhole and to get back home.

“Anyway, my name's Dark Storm, but just call me Storm. He told everypony your name, so it's only fair that you know mine. But do you mind if I ask you something?” He inquired with almost childlike wonder.

“No. Go ahead, as long as you finish telling me about what happened with that alicorn guy.” 

“Sure, no problem. Anyway, how'd he capture you? I heard Celestial Assassins are supposed to be almost unbeatable.” 

“Unbeatable? Tell that to my parents.” I told him about my life, ever since they found me, right up to the point that we were attacked. My voice was dripping with rage as I told him about it. 

“It only took One a few seconds to beat them. After that, I made my sister run so she wouldn't get hurt. I got her to head for Ponyville. She has some friends there, Pinkie Pie, this energetic Pink earth pony who loves parties. Fluttershy, a yellow pegasus with a heart of gold. Then there's Rainbow Dash, a pegasus who, I dare say, could be her doppelganger in terms of personality. There's also Applejack, a local apple farmer, she's got a buck that could knock you through a barn door with enough momentum left over to knock the apples out of any tree you happen to hit. Lastly, there's Rarity, I met her once, and she struck me as very sophisticated. She has an unparalleled gift for making amazing clothes too. I know that as long as she's got friends like that looking out for her, she'll be fine.” 

“I'm sorry about your parents, but don't worry, I'm sure you're right. Your sister will be fine.”

“Thanks. So, wanna finish telling me about that guy?  Just what did he create that required sacrificing foals?” He just looked at me with a grim expression before he answered my question. In all honesty, when he finished his story, a part of me wished he hadn't. 

“A demon. That's what they created.” 

“WHAT!?” A bucking demon! And I thought changelings were bad!. 

“Yeah, a demon. They sacrificed foals and offered their bodies and souls in order to create a powerful demon. It was called Abysmal Shadow. They bound it to Discord, so it could use his magic, and they released it upon any and all populated areas. It killed a lot of ponies, and it even took out three regiments’ worth of royal guards as if they were nothing.” I became pale trying to imagine a creature that powerful. He ignored this, and continued his explanation. 

“Eventually, the princesses had no choice but to take it on themselves. By that time though, it had become so powerful, that both of them combined weren't able to defeat it. In a last-ditch effort, they used the Elements of Harmony. You know what they are, right?” I nodded and motioned for him to continue. 

“Anyway, they used the elements and managed to destroy it. Then they turned Discord to stone, and banished the brother from this world entirely, marking him a fallen alicorn for all eternity, as well as erasing him from the history books and making his name taboo, so nopony can say it, even if they wanted to.”

I didn't hear the last part. My head was only focused on what he'd done. He betrayed his sisters. He helped Discord kill hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent ponies. He killed innocent foals to create a demon, which then went on to kill more ponies. The only question I have is how did he get back here? I don't need to ask why. Storm pretty much gave enough of an explanation. He's a psychopath, that's all there is to it. And one way or another, he is gonna pay.

“Yo, Knight. You there, colt?” I snapped back to reality to see Storm staring at me with a worried expression. 

“Yeah, I'm here. Sorry about that… Lost in thought.” 

“Dangerous place to be. Anyway, got any more questions? I'll answer anything you ask.” He offered.

“Ok, my question is as follows: What's your story? How did you end up here?” Storm became very uncomfortable at the question. “I'm sorry, you don't have to-”

“No, it's only fair. You told me about your past. I should at least tell you mine.” He sighed, as if trying to expel his fears or something. “Lemme warn you now, it's not pretty...”

“As I told you before, my parents abandoned me when I was a kid. My dad was a pegasus, and my mom was a zebra. I have a little sister, she's about two years younger than I am. She was always interested in potion making, and she had a habit of speaking in rhymes. Last I heard, she was living somewhere in the Everfree Forest. She'd be about 15 now.” 

“Sounds like someone I may know. Would her name happen to be Zecora?”

“Yeah, but how did you-” 

“I grew up in the Everfree with my parents and sister. I met her a couple of times, and my parents sometimes sent me over to her place to learn more about potions. If you're wondering how I could survive there, we actually had a home in a relatively quiet area in the forest. But can I ask you something about Zecora? Why is somepony so young living there by herself? What happened?”

“I happened.” 

“What do you-”

“You know how I said there were 'other' reasons for me being abandoned, besides my looks, by which I mean the wings. And yes, before you ask, I was born with them like that!” 

Wow, he read me like a book there. “OK, so what was the reason?”

“I have a monster living inside me.”

“A monster?” 

“Yeah, it's name is Pain.” 

“Charming” 

“Ha ha. Anyway, it's a sadistic beast, and that's putting it mildly. When it takes over, my body changes. My eyes become red with sharp slits for pupils, my mane changes so that it looks like it's made of lightning, my tail becomes more like a dragon's tail, my wings burst into flame, my mark changes from a thundercloud to a skull, this weird smoke starts coming out of my body, and these weird marks appear on my body. My teeth all become razor sharp, and I can unleash a dark energy that acts as a poison to anypony it makes contact with...” He shuddered talking about Pain's power.

“It can only take over if I let it, or if I become consumed by my rage. But I've also got an ally on the inside, named Flare. He can wield fire and he's a bit of a hothead, but he's generally a nice guy once you get to know him. When he takes over, the only thing that really changes that much is my colour. My body turns red, my stripes orange, and my mane and tail turn the colour of flames and flow as if they really were made of fire.”

“I got kicked out after my dad found out about them though. His exact words were ‘You're not my son, you're a freak of nature, now GET OUT!’. My mom tried to reason with him, probably thought she could do something to help me, but my dad wouldn't hear it. He kicked me out, and told me if he ever saw me again, he'd kill me. So much for unconditional love. Since then, I wandered the world, never staying in one place too long. Eventually, I got noticed by the pony One. We fought, and Pain really did a number on him. Then the big boss came in and took me out. It was so fast, I didn't even have time to prepare. Next thing I know, I'm in a cell, being called 99.” He trailed off, looking pensive, and I just waited for him to pick up the story from where he left off... 

Eventually he seemed to finally finish up with whatever thoughts were orbiting his mind. “That was about three days ago, but from what I've heard, most of us had been here for months. I wonder if my sister's ok...”

“Don't worry, I've seen her several times. She can handle herself. I wouldn't be surprised if she turns out to be a Celestial Assassin herself.” 

“Seriously? My little sis, an assassin? Now that is a weird image…” We all laughed. I had completely forgotten the humans were here, but they didn't seem to mind, being content to just listen to our stories. We arrived at our 'shared' cell to find several more beds had been set up. We said our goodnights, and got some sleep. With what was in store for us, we were gonna need it.

We woke to the sounds of guards banging some sort of going right outside our cell. 

“Get up! 99, 100, you're both first in line for experimentation. 56, 28, and 81, you're scheduled for tomorrow, so you can go back to resting your pretty little heads!” We were all considering taking on the guards and risking death to try and escape, but before we could, one of the guards' horns glowed, and I suddenly couldn't stay awake anymore.

 I woke up strapped to a gurney surrounded by jars filled with various organs and 'other' things. I could barely keep from vomiting right there. And then HE came into view. 

“Ah, you're awake. Good, then we can begin. Now, if this experiment is successful, we will have successfully given a non-changeling the ability to shape-shift without using magic. You'll literally be able to turn yourself into anything you can think of. Won't that be fun?” He was smiling with a mad gleam in his eyes. I was terrified, and began straining at the restraints keeping me there, but to no avail. They were reinforced with magic. 

“Ah ah ah, can't have that. A good subject knows when to BE STILL!” With those last two words, he touched his horn to my head, and suddenly I couldn't move. I was literally paralysed. I could still feel everything that happened to me, but I was powerless to do anything about it. “Good. Now let us begin the experiment!” If I hadn't been paralysed, my screams would have completely deafened everypony in the entire compound. As it was, all I could do was scream inside my head until I eventually passed out, while the fallen servant of Discord went about his work with a sick enthusiasm... 







I woke up in the large room we had all been gathered in last night. “What the buck... oh, my bucking head. When I get my hooves on him, that bastard’s a dead stallion walking...” I muttered, not really expecting anypony to reply as I stood, rubbing my head with one hoof.

I heard a huff from not too far away, “It's about time you woke up.” a gravelly, but distinctly female voice said, as a bipedal creature, which I realized was a diamond dog, stood up. She had long, brownish-red fur, with a white area over the stomach.

“And you are?” I asked as calmly as possible.

The diamond dog snorted, "It's not like you'll live long enough for it to matter." Every couple seconds, her eyes kept darting to an overhanging balcony near the top of the room.

“Why is that?” I inquired.

“Because one of you is going to die today. Didn’t you pay attention when I mentioned the fighting part, Triple Digits?” that all too familiar voice called from above. And lo and behold, who should I see when I looked up, but One, standing on the balcony, his sadistic grin ever present on his face. “It’s pretty simple. The two of you will fight. One of you will die. Who it is depends on who the better fighter is.” He explained, turning to exit through a small door. “So, good luck, and may the best subject survive.”

As one said the last word, the d-dog charged me, her fur morphing into what looked like solid strands of grey metal, which entwined with each other to form scales of what looked like steel, except for a part that grew rapidly, forming a spear-like shape, aimed right at my heart.

“Shit!” I cursed, pivoting and barely avoiding the unconventional attack before retaliating with a standard magical blast. Weak, but fast enough that avoiding it from close range would be all but impossible under normal circumstances. But dodging didn’t seem to even cross her mind.

The metal hairs covering the female moved faster than I could see, weaving a shield to block the spell. "I won't lose to you! I've got too much on the line!" She shouted as she created more spears of metal hair, trying to impale me.

“GAH!” I yelled as several of them pierced my chest. None of them were fatal, but they would be if I didn’t end it quickly. “You’re... you’re not.. the only one... with something... on the line.” I spat, just barely taking note of the blood hitting the floor instead of saliva. “I’m not... dying here...”

"Mph that's what you say." The female charged again, this time all her hairs arranged into spikes covering her body.

“Got no choice...” I muttered, focusing on the shadows, letting myself melt into them and rematerialise from her own shadow, right behind her, with the one thing I felt I needed more than anything in my magical grip. My sword, or one of them anyway. “Now... LUNAR SLASH!” I screamed as I brought my blade down, the deep blue metal slicing through her sharpened hair and the flesh underneath, like a hot knife through butter. She didn't even have time to shout in pain before she died.

“... I’m sorry.” I whispered, before fading from consciousness.






Third-Person


The nameless one stood over the unconscious body of Subject One-Hundred as Subject One disposed of the body of Subject Eighty-Four.

“This test was not satisfactory... he did not test the ability he was bestowed. Instead, he relied on those he had already had... Tell the science team I want all of One-Hundred’s known abilities neutralised when in combat, so as to, ‘encourage’ him to test those that we have given him. Understood, One?” He asked without a hint of emotion as one of the facility guards grabbed the unicorn colt and none too gently dragged him back to his cell.

“Understood, sir.” One replied in a cheery tone. “And if Triple Digits... refuses, to show us the results of his, improvements?”

“Then he is of no use to me. Let him die, and that will be the end of it.”

Nameless turned and left through the massive doorway. If he had stayed and observed just a second longer, he would have noticed the flinch One suffered upon hearing this, the only source of emotion he had ever shown in his entire service under Nameless. One simply brushed it off and finished disposing of the dead bitch, wondering why he would ever feel anything for such a worthless piece of trash as Subject One Hundred.