Surroundings. Everyday they change, even in the most minute detail you experience something that is not quite the same as before. For some, barely anything can happen, maybe just a mug or a stack of paper or even different grid locked traffic. However for two individuals, their surroundings had vastly changed.
All that could be seen in the darkened void of blackness was a single rectangular screen. For the most part, it had just done nothing. Nothing changed or did anything out of the ordinary, just the same files and documents open on the screen, displaying vast arrays of numbers and text almost impossible to understand to the untrained. And yet, it would do something, something other then being idle for the past day. A small pop up appeared on screen. In bold text it read ‘Transdimensonal portal complex generator receiving opening coordinates’. As soon as it appeared, it closed automatically as nearby a flood of green light erupted, casting light upon tall columns of computers, shelves holding various bottles and jars, within those holding different coloured liquids and powders; Light glinted off several metal objects in the foreboding gloom.
The oval frame completely filled with the green swirling mass, as lights on the thick outline of the construct pulsated with blue and white light. A deep hum, which grew louder and quieter every so often, emanated from the device. After a few seconds, a figure emerged from the roiling mass of green. It took the form of a thin, lanky stallion. A fairly large moustache went from one side of his face to the other, complimenting the round lens spectacles he wore. He carried a large saddle bag on either side of his body, both bulging with equipment. On the outside of each were two glass jars, containing a strand of multicoloured hair and a slightly crushed paper cup. Stepping forward, a machine with what looked like several laser pointer activated and pointed towards the stallion. After emitting a small whining sound, it projected a large red screen in front of the figure, to which he just strode on through.
Out of the other side, was something quite different. After getting off all-fours, he stood up on his legs. Like the stallion that came through just a few moments earlier, he was lanky, wore glasses and had a large moustache. His bag had turned into a normal rucksack, although all the equipment was still intact; the curious jars still on opposite sides of bag. The man was clad in a long white lab coat, though it had several blackened sections and some splodges of a interesting brown/red substance splashed all over. He lifted his hands towards his face and looked exceedingly carefully at them. They were still there, just as skinny and scared as before. Taking excited strides forward in his long black boots, polished leather and to military specification, he moved towards a large bank of computers. As he did this, the large red screen shut off, and the device moved back to its off position, the long arm propped slightly up by the wall.
Moving toward the huge pile of hardware, he shrugged his backpack off and set it down carefully on the solid metal floor. Following this, he undid that large straps that held the bottles to the side of the dull brown bag, placing them on the lip of the metallic table in front of him. Pressing a small button on the desk, the entire section of the floor in front of the computer opened up. Just a few seconds later, a large metal chair with leather padding on the inside rose up. The entire chair was made out of one beautifully forged and sculpted piece of aluminium, though it had lost it’s shine. After a few clicks and a long whirr, the man took his place. Pressing a large button on the chairs console caused the entire monitor and hardware set up to come to life. Screens flickered into life, LED’s illuminated, all of which bathed his scared face in a bright glow. A smile grew on his lips, one of an almost insane person as he brought the jars towards something that resembled a scanner. Opening the one with strand of hair, he tipped it out delicately onto the glowing platform, before removing both jars and closing a see through panel behind it, resulting in a satisfying click as it was pushed all the way down. Looking behind himself, he noticed the portal was still active. Frowning slightly he pressed a smaller button on the console, prompting the green construct to shrink and dissipate.
“Now I am all alone, I now have the fun part to look forward to” he mused to himself in almost self satisfaction as he reached for the jars.
But, he was not alone, as moments before the portal shut down, a figure dropped out. A large red stallion pulled himself off the ground and looked around, face with an astonished look upon it. This whole place, seemed so eerie. The whole place he stood on seemed to be mostly suspended, as metal railing bordered many of the areas. Stepping over to the side, Big Macintosh looked downwards, only to be met by a black void, below, above and in front of him. On further looking into the area around, it seemed to be a large metallic pillar holding up a platform with only one catwalk across the vast expanse.
“What in tarnation is going on”he whispered to himself as he continued to take in the strange new world. Pricking up his ears, he could hear a voice fairly close by. As slowly and quietly as he could, he moved toward the source of the voice. As he moved, he passed a large cylinder shaped tank, full of a water like substance. Dull blue light filled it, illuminating the needles floating at the top. They had thin medical tubes attached to the back of each one; these in turn going into several mechanical arms, looking poised and ready. Pressing on forward, Big Mac reached a small metal shelf containing various different surgical equipment. A glinting scalpel, a pair of tongs and most worryingly, a large bone saw next to an object not unlike a grindstone. As well as these, there were several plastic bottles, all labelled in a faint scratchy hand writing. Again, Big Macintosh heard the voice, but this time it was much clearer. Pushing aside several bottles with his large hoof, he poked his head over and saw source of the voice.
“Right, now, scan cellular structures within the strand of hair. I must see the chromosomes within.”
‘Chromosomes? Cellular structures? What in the hay is he goin’ on about?’ Big Mac thought to himself as he peered closer at the screen the creature was looking at. He noticed a large strand of rainbow coloured hair was on their. However, the entire picture started to zoom in. As it moved closer to the end of the hair, more details became defined. Closer and closer in got until it reached the very end of the hair. Big Mac saw it looked like some sort of blob, with several smaller blobs within.
“Ha ha! There it is! A hair cell, perfectly intact. Now, time to extract the nucleus and copy the DNA”.
Big Mac was now going from curious, to being creeped out, to now being fully petrified. Something deep down told him to just run, just get the hell out of there. But he also knew that was no good. The way he had come from had closed up, and running down the long cat walk would get him caught and who knows what would happen. He decided to stay put, and just soak in the bombardment of information that was assaulting his brain.
Again watching the screen, he was aware of new sounds coming from in front of him. A high pitched whirring sound began to emanate from the bank of computers. He noticed on the screen thin needle like devices pushing their way into the cell. They encircled the largest blob in the almost centre, the nucleus. Slowly, it was dragged out and pulled from cell, suspended by the tiny devices which held it in place. They moved it out from the hair and towards a small metal box beside it, behind a thick pane of glass. Inside it appeared that the nucleus was just floating, suspended by nothing as the needle like appendages retracted.
“Now for the last part of the nucleus. Scanning of the chromosomes”After announcing this bright white light erupted from behind the glass. It stayed on for a couple of seconds before cutting out, then repeated again. Transfixed by this, Big Mac watched as slowly on the screen, a long chain began to form. It looked like the monkey bars in playground outside the Ponyville school, but much, much longer with several different coloured pairings forming the ‘rungs’. Slowly it grew longer and longer as it stretched across the expanse of the screen. After a few minutes, the bright light stopped. A pop-up appeared on screen ‘Scanning 100% complete, ready to replicate and generate embryonic stem cell’.
“Wunderbar... We are finally complete with the stage. Now it is time to create the replica, the soon to be superior clone of Rainbow Dash, then after that, comes the body augmentation” A large grin came to his mouth as he looked deeply into the monitor; lifting his hand up to his face, he pushed his glasses further onto the bridge of his thin nose. Then he placed both hands either side of his chair and stood up, an almost giddiness in the way he held his body. Noticing this, Big Macintosh ducked down further, behind solid area which was host to a cupboard. His mind was racing now, adrenaline pulsing through his blood vessels as he sat there cowering, too scared to move. He could hear footsteps close by to the left of himself. Slowly, Big Macintosh inched his way around the side of the shelves to the right of himself. The person strode right by him and towards the large tank Big Mac had seen earlier.
Cautiously, the red stallion backed away further behind the shelf, checking once in a while that he wasn’t going to knock into anything. He continued, heart pounding and sweat dripping from his forehead until he reached a large column of computers, buzzing and clicking noisily behind him. Still hunched over, the dragged himself around it, still listening for that voice which creeped Big Mac out so much.
Striding over to the tank, he opened a small panel at the base of the large glass cylinder. After pressing a few buttons on the touch screen pad, the whole top of the machine began to shift, revealing a much thicker tube in the centre. After hovering above the surface of the liquid for a few seconds, it retracted. Glancing back at his console, it read the following ‘embryonic stem cell submerged in growth promoting solution 100% success, cell dividing at rate of every 2 seconds ’. Again a smile came to the man’s face as he took in these words.
“Oh, we are well on our way to creation of the clone, the copy that will terminate its counterpart and then be the most feared in that pathetic world.”He said in a slight monologue as he gazed into the bubbling growth serum with distinct interest. “Ah, talking to myself used to be so much fun, however, with a guest, it is about to become a whole lot more interesting; isn’t that right, my red equine friend?”
Big Macintosh shuddered at those words, that thing knew he was here and was bound to come for him. He felt the hard cold metal behind him as he tucked in further, trying to get out of his way, but he knew that this would be pointless. He knew that he didn’t want these surroundings to be part of his demise as he braced, hearing the footsteps growing louder every second.