Force of Five: Sundered Together

by DustyDominic

Chapter 7: Orientation

"Oof! I don't know about you guys, but this suit is pinching my place-where-Celestia-don't-raise-the-sun," Keegan announced, pushing his way out of the stall and hobbling towards the showers. The scientists had given each of them suits they said would need to be worn for the duration of their stay. I wouldn't mind not needin' to shower, Keegan privately admitted, but if I'm going to be pinched back there the whole time...

Three bangs of doors signaled their respective exits. Keegan glanced around at his fellow colts and saw that he was not alone. Each had their own clothing malfunction, and Keegan fought the dire urge to collapse on the locker room floor from laughter.

Calder's ocean blue spandex suit had over a yard of sleeves beyond the end of his hooves, and he tiptoed as slowly as a newborn foal, so as not to trip himself. On the other hoof, Camdyn's cyan suit overestimated how large he was, and he had to deal with a baggy girth which swayed back and forth like the ribcage of a fat dog. Eade's was the worst. He could barely move because of how awfully they had underestimated his muscular figure. The

He pulled the neck of his scarlet suit to snap it back into place and confidently uttered, "These guys at MaxxiDyne, no finer tailors in all Equestria. Really."

"Tailors don't fix spandex," Eade growled.

"What's that matter?" Calder asked petulantly. The inability to move at more than a foal's pace frustrated him. "They could'a leess waited 'til they got our measurements."

"I don't know about you, but I look like an imbecile!" Camdyn shouted, batting the air with an angry hoof.

"They captured your essence perfectly," Eade snarked.

"Might as well go show them now so we can get 'em fixed!" said Keegan hurriedly. Conflict avoidance was an entirely new emotion for him, but he was fast getting used to it.

The four colts filed into a small auditorium. The rows of seats were raised to view a podium, complete with whiteboard and projector. Already sitting were several lab-coated scientists, a mix of middle-aged mares and stallions who greeted the colts with pleasant but wary eyes. At the exits were posted half a dozen security stallions in blue suits, hooves on tasers and gazes firmly focused on the colts.

The three colts took their seats near the front, where two scientists waited patiently for them to file in. By their demeanor, they could tell those two were in charge. One was the golden-maned stallion who woke them up. The other was a strange black-maned mare who kept a watchful eye on her, uh, watch.

All throughout, Keegan made note of his surroundings as well as of his companions. While Eade sat down without a fuss and patiently stared straight ahead, Calder mumbled apologies and gave short hiccups of laughter at making tiny fumbles. Camdyn, on the other hoof, jerked around and wouldn't stop making awkward, sudden, spontaneous movements that drew the attention of every security guard in the room. He looked around at everything excitedly, and bounced up and down in his chair. To Keegan's surprise, he eventually shouted out why he felt such eagerness.

"Dude, it's just like juvy!" Camdyn exclaimed, loud enough for the whole room. The guards unbuckled their holsters, and the scientists coughed and scooted a little away.

The other three looked at him incredulously. The message was clear: Dude, shut up.

Shortly thereafter, the black-maned mare ambled to the center of the podium and cleared her throat. Finally, Keegan thought, some real answers.

"Hello, fillies and gentlecolts. My name is Dr. Lyn Spectra, for those of you who don't know," she began. The other scientists murmured their assent, and she lightly coughed before continuing.

"Since Mister Teller is not here to begin the presentation, I shall instead open with the propositional remarks and go on from there. Ahem."

"Here at MaxxDyne, we are always exploring the new and the weird. Everypony knows that the MaxxDyne corporation is a scientific research enterprise. What they do not know is that we do not only research the conventional avenues of scientific progress, but also the unconventional, precisely because we feel true, progressive science is not made by timid nudges, but by leaps and bounds. It is for this reason that Maxx Teller has found it conducive to advanced research to create a special program here at the Gideon Laboratories facility dedicated to focusing efforts on exploring such a possibility."

Keegan's jaw was agape. If he thought he was going to get simple answers, he knew now he was mistaken.

"First, some history. As all of you know, current theories about the origins of magical connection in ponies is murky. Nearly no other species in the natural world -- including even those species within our own evolutionary family -- possess nearly as much magical potential as ponies do. Every individual pony possesses some innate power, expressed as an aptitude for one activity or another. Many of us now do not think of anything but arcane powers to be 'magic.' For example, an earth pony may object to the classification of her aptitude with, say, agrarian pursuits to be distinctly non-magical."

"To the contrary," Dr. Spectra whirled about. "Scientific consensus is that at least some portion of these expressions of natural aptitude are in fact due to a pony's magical potential (though the consensus of magic-scholars is quite the opposite). This applies to earth ponies and pegasi as well as the unicorn subspecies. Magic has been linked to being a unicorn, true, but we scientists have never determined exactly why it's far easier for them to express their innate magical abilities."

"However," she grinned for the first time. "We have some clues that give us insight."

"History and legend are rife with ponies of exceptional talents. Ponies who have gone beyond the normal power level. Ponies who possess unparallelled control over aspects of the natural world... super-ponies, if you will." All four colts sat up, disregarding their ill-fitting clothes and totally intent on Dr. Spectra's lecture.

"This sounds like the stuff of comic books, but we see opportunities in all things. No matter how obscure. No matter how odd. And no matter how seemingly unrealistic. We are always willing to apply serious research to such possibilities. If it turns out to be a dead end, we say 'better to have tried' and call it money well spent. If it doesn't, then we have advanced a field which all others had hitherto then dismissed... real science. Plus, we get the patent."

"To the point, we have already formulated a process, through months of dedicated research and theoretical calculation by our finest minds, all of whom contributed greatly to the project and deserve applause," she took a second to clop her hooves together at the scientists, and they all applauded along with her, grinning at the thought of all those long worknights.

Keegan clapped along with them, until the glares of the other three reminded him he had no reason to be clapping. So he stopped.

Dr. Spectra went on, "You four colts, good sirs, are the brilliant volunteers upon whom we shall develop our thesis over the coming months. If our theory is correct, any pony of unexceptional could be remolded, with some targeted processes and intense training, into an exceptionally powerful one. You four, pardon me for saying, were as unexceptional as we could find."

"Ouch," said Calder.

"Well," she tried to console them. "You did qualify. You have to be zeroes before you can be heroes."

"Still ouch," replied Eade.

"Moving on."

The gold-maned stallion from before rose to take centerstage. "Thank you, Lyn, for that excellent crash course. You did forget to mention what the project entailed, so I guess that's my job now."

He laughed, 'shiningly' as Camdyn later described it -- mostly because the light glinted off his teeth and blinded him.

"Well, my name is Dr. Ian Stone, and this project is called Project Sutter. We started it last year. Lyn is the current project director, and I am the current assistant director. If anyone has any questions, or complaints, or requests, either Lyn or I should be able to get you what you want."

"I can't introduce you to all these talented scientists here, boys. It would take too long, and you won't be meeting too much with them anyway. They did the theoretical work, and they'll oversee its application, but it won't be their central role. That belongs to Dr. Sue Partexa." Dr. Stone waved to a silver-maned mare sitting in the front row across the room from the four colts. Dr. Partexa got up, took a slight bow, and sat back down.

"You have been fitted into the suits, I see, but it seems our manufacturer made a mistake with the specifications," he chuckled, but none of the colts showed any trace of humor. "We'll get those fixed for you as soon as possible. Your suits are of utmost importance, especially when -- I mean, if -- we progress to the later stages of the project."

"Calder McMiren, Eade MacDomhan, Keegan McCadden, and Camdyn McGaith. Welcome to your new home."

"What!"
"New home? Are you kidding me!"
"What a load!"
"I am also shouting!"

"Settle down, settle down," Dr. Stone rolled his eyes.

" 'Settle down'? Don't you tell me to 'settle down.' How long are we going to be here for?" Keegan snarled.

"Indefinitely."

"Indefinitely! Ha! ... is that like 'infinity'?" Calder mused.

"It might as well be," Eade shouted.

"Shut up, or my good friend, security chief Tays Orrin, will shut you up." They shut up. "If you had read the contract, you would have seen the clause stipulating that you were signing over yourself to be a test subject indefinitely. Heck, you'll be given food, board, exercise, clothes, and entertainment for a long time, all just from participating in a few tests! We all should be so lucky!"

"Lucky ain't the word," Camdyn quipped. " 'Bucked' is more like it."

"Hush you. It's a sweet deal, and you'll realize it soon enough."

"But we're supers, right? Why should we listen to you, we'll have superpowers and we'll kick your butts," Eade challenged.

"First, that would be very rude. Second, you are on track to be supers. You're not super yet. We can pull the plug on your track if you misbehave."

"Who's 'Emerald Thistle'?" Calder wondered aloud. "Sounds like a pretty name."

Dr.'s Stone and Spectra both visibly tensed at that topic. "She's no concern of yours. She's just another subject."

"Oh. A 'she', huh?" Camdyn raised one eyebrow.

"Don't you get any ideas, twerp," Stone reprimanded him. "She's in a different part of the program than yours. The only interactions you'll have with her are in common areas. We've got ball courts, a mess hall, and an entertainment area for y'all, but you won't see her elsewhere. All three are under supervision constantly by security."

"Oh, sir, you've got the wrong idea," Camdyn mocked. "I have no ideas whatsoever."

"That's new," Eade remarked. Camdyn waved him off; he was used to it by then.

"Oh, Ian. No need to be so cynical," came a voice from the stairs.