Library

The friends were all sleeping peacefully in their replica rooms with no care in the world. Ryan woke up to the sound of stomping outside his room but brushed it off. There should have been no reason for any of these ponies bothering them since they all stayed in their rooms. Sadly the friends were rudely awoken when the rooms disappeared and they fell on the floor smashing their faces. They lifted their faces from the ground to see an enraged Luna. They all looked behind the alicorn to see the guards and the other six ready for a fight.

They saw the small blushes on their faces as they looked at Drak. He was out of his clothing except his boxers. He was ready to have a heart attack from this embarrassing moment. Andrew helped to calm him down by handing him his clothes. Drak moved to a dark part of the basement and silently dressed himself. The friends all laughed at the others as their blushes started to recede.

“Good evening to you, princess, is there anything that we can do for you?” Blake asked as he smiled.

“Where is your friend Marcus?” Luna asked with a small growl.

“What do you mean? He should have been sleeping in his room like all of us,” Ryan stated.

The blue alicorn just gestured with her hand for them to follow her. The friends all groaned as they lifted themselves off the floor and followed her up the stairs. Once at the top they entered the foyer of the library and saw a bloody sheet in the middle.

“The reason I ask is because I want to know what happened,” Luna said as she removed the blanket. Every pony got a sick feeling but the friends except for Drak who just looked at it indifferently.

“This is why you rudely woke us up from a peaceful rest. Seriously, how do you know it was Marcus to begin with?” Jaeden asked.

“Because the last pony to see Marcus during the night was Rainbow over there. She left him alone after their little encounter and now I have this,” Luna said as she tried to keep her dinner from last night in her stomach.

“So what? Do you want us to find him for you?” Callie asked.

“I would like you to find him and bring him back so I can ask about this,” Alex was busy looking at the blade that was next to the four slices of the guard.

“Well, that will be a dangerous thing to do,” Alex stated getting everyone’s attention. “If this is right it looks like Marcus was attacked by your guard and defended himself. He should be a little lucky that his death was painless.”

“Even with what he can do, this is still going too far. So if you have any idea of where he might be then let’s go so we can get him,” Luna said, but now regretting it with the glares that she was getting.

“Exactly how much do you know about what he can do?” Luke asked as he stepped closer to the princess.

The princess looked into his eyes and could see the slight threat that they were giving her. She could try and lie her way out of this but she felt it would be better to come clean.

“During the train ride down here I saw into your dreams. I didn’t see much, but I saw enough in that hour to know the dangers that some of you possess,” Luna said as she rubbed her arm.

“Well, seeing as we have other pressing matters to attend to we will deal with this later. For now if what Alex said is right then I know where he is,” Luke said.

“Great, then I can come with you and help find him,” Luna said

“Sorry to burst you bubble there, Luna, but you can’t come,” Blake said.

“Why not?” Luna asked in a slightly hurt filled tone.

“The reason is because he might find you and possibly anyone else here to be a threat to him. I mean you’re welcome to join us, but you will probably die if you do,” Blake said as he stared directly in the princess’s eyes letting her know that he was serious.

“Is there really no other way that I can go with you?” Luna asked hopeful that she could do something.

“Not unless you want to get a lot of these guards killed,” Luke said. The alicorn could only nod as she felt helpless that she couldn’t do anything. “Before we go though we need to deal with that,” Luke said as he pointed at the sliced up guard. He motioned with his head at Andrew. The human sighed as he walked up to the dead guard and put his hand over him.

“What are you going to do?” Twilight asked.

“We are getting rid of the body so there won’t be any problems in the near future,” the princess tried to step in, but was stopped when Blake put a hand on her shoulder.

“Trust us when we say that we would allow for a burial if we could,” everyone watched as something dropped from the tips of Andrew’s fingers.

Once those drops made contact with the body parts they sizzled and melted. Everyone had to look away as the sight made them sick. After several seconds there was nothing left.

“Okay, let’s get this done,” Luke said getting everyone’s attention. “Blake, Andrew, Drak and Ryan, you are coming with me. Everyone else is to stay here and wait for our return,” the four of them nodded as they opened the door getting ready to leave.

“But when will I be able to throw you guy’s a party?” Everyone turned towards Pinkie to see that she was carrying party supplies. Her attitude was different as shown by her dark pink color and flat mane.

“Why do you want to throw us a party?” Luke asked.

“Well, I know that we have all gotten on the wrong foot and I thought to myself that maybe we could get to know each other better through a party,” Pinkie said as slight tears formed in her eyes.

“Listen, Pinkie, as much as that sounds nice we need to deal with this first. Even then I still see no reason for you to throw that party. You hardly know us and it doesn’t look like we are very welcome here. So as much as it is a nice gesture we don’t need a party,” Luke said stoically.

“But don’t you want to get to know everypony better? Don’t you want to have friends that you can count on besides each other?” Pinkie asked as she got closer to Luke and not breaking eye contact.

“Friends is a term that is used loosely now around us. The only reason we are still together is because we can still trust each other. Even then we still stand on our own pedestals and avoid making any friends. Last time we made friends or trusted older ones ended up dead. We don’t feel bad for it either since they brought it upon themselves. So don’t bother trying to be friends with us since we don’t want your friendship,” Luke explained as he and the others walked out slamming the door behind them. Once the door was closed Pinkie started bawling her eyes out.

Twilight and Applejack were by the pink mare’s side trying to help cheer her up. The alicorn looked towards the remaining friends with pure anger. They saw the anger that her eyes held and they just shrugged. They walked off towards the basement as they waited for their friends to return. Before they reached the door there was a flash of light blinding everyone in the room. Once the light died down everyone was staring at the blue police box.

The doors opened to reveal a tan stallion covered in soot and some minor scratches. He coughed as he pulled down his glasses and started to clean them. As he cleaned them everyone in the room just stared at him. Callie pushed past her friends to see if she was seeing things. Whooves saw the female human making her way towards him and he offered a friendly smile and wave. She reached the stallion and gave him a good slap across the face.

“What in the nine circles of Hell are you doing here?” Callie asked in anger.

“I came to see if all of you are okay,” Whooves said as he rubbed his cheek.

“Well we are doing fine so you can leave now,” Callie spat at him as she walked away.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” Callie stopped and turned around to stare daggers at him.

“And why in the Sam Hell can’t you leave?” Callie asked as her anger began to rise.

“Well, for first it’s because my machine is currently broken. The other is because I came to give you all this,” Whooves stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a stack of photos.

He handed each friend a photo along with the princess and the other six ponies. The friends looked at the photos for a few seconds, unable to understand what they were seeing.

The photo was back during their time in high school. They were on Spring break and were at their local beach. The friends all stood together smiling into the camera without a care in the world. The friends lowered their photos as they fought back their tears from falling. Brandon was the first to recover so he could ask the question they were all thinking.

“Why are you showing these to us and them?” Brandon asked as he pointed at the other ponies.

“The answer should be quite simple, Brandon. You all forsake your friendship and avoid making new ones. Why you do this, even I don’t know. What I do know is that deep down you along with the others want to find something to care for. You all put up this tough front especially Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Echo,” the friends then turned their heads and looked at the stallion with pure anger in their eyes.

“Before we start anything what is your name?” Jaeden asked.

“His name is Whooves. He helped me find Marcus when we first got here. He apparently knows everything about us,” Callie answered.

“Well, if he did know everything about us then he would understand to never use those four names,” Alex said.

“Well, what significance do they hold that they shouldn’t ever be mentioned?” Twilight asked.

“Those four names are used to identify Marcus, Andrew, Luke, and Blake,” Callie answered.

“Even then, darlings, why does it still matter?” Rarity asked.

“It matters because calling them that is more like their actual name then what we call them. They used to be Marcus, Blake, Andrew, and Luke. Now though after what happened they are better off being called those other four names,” Alex answered.

“Even then what does it mean?” Rainbow asked.

“If we wanted to we would tell you, but we won’t. We promised to never speak of it and act as though it never happened. Easier said than done especially since Whooves here likes to dig up old memories,” Jaeden said.

“I don’t know why you humans hold yourselves so low. You are able to do amazing things and yet you shy away from it,” Whooves stated as he placed his glasses back on.

“We shy away from it? Don’t even try to make me laugh. If more humans shied away from these sorts of things then we wouldn’t have lost our friends. They would still be here with us and we would all be happy. We wouldn’t be stuck in this world where we are still treated the same at a first glance,” Alex said.

“Even if that is true these events can’t be undone. I know that all of you hold onto the hope that your friends are still there, but you are all too afraid to try. You have completely shut each other out from each other that you lose sight of what you once had,” Whooves stated.

The friends all looked at each other as the words weighed them down. In a way he was right about how they felt. Some could tell the others felt the same way, but never said anything about it. They went about their business and made sure that they lived to see the next day. Now here they were in a world that could possibly help them, but are unwilling to accept it. The friends fell to their knees as they continued to look at the photos. Alex punched the floor as a few tears escaped from his eyes.

“Luna, how accurate are those rooms that you made last night?” Jaeden asked as he got to his feet.

“They are made exactly as your mind lasts remembers them. Why do you want to know?” Luna asked as she put away the photo.

“I need you to recreate Marcus’, Andrew’s, Luke’s, and Blake’s rooms.”

“I can do that, but what purpose is this going to serve?”

“The greatest purpose that this could serve. We are going to get our friends back and be happy like we used to be,” Luna couldn’t help but smile as she watched the friends’ determination.

Her horn glowed a few seconds as she brought back the rooms. The friends walked towards the doors and opened them up. They started going through all the items trying to find something to help jog their friends’ memories. Jaeden found a picture of Marcus at his last birthday party with all his friends. They were going to see Thor 2 that evening. Callie found a picture of Luke in the hospital with broken bones from a car crash.

He was depressed as he was stuck in the hospital, but was happy to see his friends visit him. Alex found a picture of Blake during a paintball fight that they had. He won that day and everyone was certain that he cheated that day. Brandon found a picture of Andrew asleep during a night they were staying over. When he woke up he wasn’t very happy how his friends entertained themselves.

They all walked out of the room happy to find something so memorable. They sat on the chairs as they waited for their friends to return. It may be a long shot, but this could possibly work. Callie could see that Pinkie was upset so she decided on the best thing to cheer her up.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Pinkie turned around to look at Callie. “Go ahead and start planning that party. I think it will do all of us some good,” Pinkie smiled brightly as her color and mane returned to normal.

Forest

The friends were walking through the forest, heading for the old castle. They were certain that is where Marcus would be hiding since they left their bags there. If it was true that he got stabbed then he was going to need that shot. The shot was more to help suppress that little parasite from controlling him. He would still be bleeding out slowly and they needed to hurry. They continued to walk through the humid forest hoping they were headed in the right direction.

Their hopes were answered when they found the castle ruins. They picked up their pace so they could get to their friend faster. Not even checking for any danger they busted through the closed doors. Once inside they headed for the upper foyer where they hid the bags at. As they ascended the stairs the found their friend leaned up against the wall holding his abdomen. There was a bag next to him fully open and a syringe in his hand. The friends let out a sigh of relief that he was able to get the shot in his system.

“Okay, Blake, patch up Marcus while we go get the rest of the bags,” Luke told Blake.

While Blake was busy focusing on the wound Luke, Drak, and Ryan got down to grabbing all the hidden bags. Drak found his bag that held his Bo staff and Sais. He grabbed his two weapons and put them on. The friends rejoined Marcus as Blake was finishing up. Marcus groaned as he slowly lifted himself off the floor. Ryan helped Marcus to his feet as he put his arm around his neck.

“How are you feeling, Marcus?” Ryan asked.

“I’m doing slightly better. Damn guard got me good, but sadly I still win,” Marcus joked as he rubbed his temples.

“Well, now we have a problem. Luna isn’t very happy about having her guard sliced into four pieces. She wants to talk to you when we get back,” Luke said.

Marcus got off of Ryan as he rolled his eyes. The alicorn could complain all she wanted to at him, but he was in the right. The guard attacked him first and he just defended himself. If she had a problem with that then she could just run back to her sister and get her help. He grabbed a few of the bags as they headed out of the ruins. There was a deep silence between the friends as they walked through the forest. As they walked through they heard a loud scream off in the distance.

Experience has taught the friends to ignore any sounds that they heard. This was different for Drak as he ran off towards the scream. He didn’t know what it was, but he couldn’t ignore the scream. It sounded like a small child and he wanted to help. As he ran he could hear more screams and they were getting louder. He was followed from behind with his friends. He reached a bush that he kneeled behind. He looked over the top of the bush and what he saw worried him.

He saw a tiny pink unicorn on the ground. Her foot was tangled in some vines and there was a lion creature with bat wings and a scorpion tail circling her. The little unicorn was crying as she tried to free herself, but to no avail. Pushing all safety to the ground, Drak jumped out of the bush and pulled out his Bo staff. The lion creature turned around when the human jumped out of the bush, but was smacked in the face by his staff. The creature stumbled back a little as it shook its head from a daze.

The human was standing in between the lion and the little unicorn. The creature stared at him as it tried to size him up. He held his staff in both hands as he kept his eyes on the creature. The creature slowly circled to the left of him and then pounced at him. He held his ground because if he moved then the little unicorn would have been hurt. The creature landed on top of the human and sunk his claw into his right shoulder. He grunted in pain, but held his place as he pushed back the lion.

The creature tried with all its might to bring him down but couldn’t. The lion then swung its tail out and pierced his stomach. The human coughed up some blood as he fell to one knee. The lion was going to go for another attack, but was tackled off of him. Marcus was on top of the creature as it roared at him. He lifted his left hand and transformed it into a claw. He then brought his clawed hand down on the lion and pierced its skull. The creature twitched for a few seconds before finally dying.

He then moved his index finger, slashing the lion’s brain. With the brain now severed, he consumed the beast. The creature was gone and the human turned his hand back to normal. Luke and the others were by Drak’s side assessing the damage. Drak had a couple of bad gashes on his right shoulder. He had a gash across the left side of his stomach that was three inches in length. Marcus took off his shirt and handed it to Ryan so he could tie off the wounds. Blake couldn’t heal him since Drak didn’t have the infection running through his body.

Luke helped the little unicorn from the vines and looked at her legs. Aside from a few minor cuts and bruises she was ok. She walked over to Drak and looked at him with tear filled eyes. The lifted his hand up to the unicorn’s cheek and gave it a slight caress. His hood fell down and he had a smile on his face. The filly held onto his hand, crying as her savior was dying before her.

“If I may ask, what is your name little unicorn?” Blake asked.

“My name is Dinky Doo,” Dinky answered as she wiped away some of the tears.

“Is there a nearby hospital that we can take him to?” Luke asked.

“There is one in Ponyville,” Dinky replied.

“Can you show me where it is?” Luke asked with urgency.

“Yes, I can lead you there,” Dinky replied as she got some of her crying under control.

“Okay then, Luke, you will take Dinky and Drak with you to the hospital. The others will meet you there. I will grab the others from the library and meet you there,” Marcus said.

“Are you sure that you want to do that? You aren’t wearing a shirt and I think they will question some of those scars on your body,” Ryan pointed out.

“At this point I really don’t care. I might as well be on the execution list for killing that guard. Right now our priority is getting Drak to the hospital before he dies. So for right now let’s get this done and we can solve any problems later,” Marcus said.

Luke picked up Drak and placed him on his back and then grabbed Dinky and placed her on his shoulder. He looked back at Marcus and gave him a nod. They never liked using their powers, but certain things were out of their control. Luke took one step before he was off for the hospital. There was a big indention of where his foot was when he took off. Marcus looked at the others and nodded at them. They took off running for the hospital while he ran for the library. He reached the library and slammed the door opened.

“Guys, Drak is hurt very badly. He is currently at the hospital right now but we all need to be there.” Callie and the others nodded at they got up from the chairs and headed out. He was about to leave, but was stopped by Luna. “Listen, I know I have a lot to explain about your dead guard but my friend needs me.”

“Yes, you do have much to answer along with your scars and your other name,” Luna said as she stared at him. He could feel his anger rise at having to explain something she wouldn’t understand.

“If it will get you off my case then I will. For now I want to get to the hospital and check on my friend,” Luna nodded as she stepped out of his way.

“Are you sure that it is safe to ask him these kinds of questions. He seems really defensive about sharing these stories. I think we are pushing them too far and I’m afraid that they will snap,” Twilight said as she worried for her friends.

“You have nothing to fear, Twilight. They may seem like a bunch of hate filled scary monsters, but they have a heart. Though that heart is buried under immense pain and betrayal. Getting them to open up is the true hard part that we will all face. They need people even if we are ponies that they can trust,” Whooves said.

“Even if what you say is true, Whooves, I still need to let my sister know,” Luna stated as she pulled out a scroll and pen.

“Very well, princess, I will not argue your decision. Just know that their trust is as little as for us as it is them. I suggest that you don’t bring your guards if you want this to go over a little more smoothly,” Whooves suggested.

“Are you certain that they wouldn’t try anything funny if the guards weren’t there?” Luna asked with a hint of doubt.

“I am not certain that they won’t attack, but sometimes risks need to be made. They need to see that we are willing to listen to them without the threat of cutting their heads off,” Whooves said as he stared at the door the human left from.

“I guess that can be arranged. I mean what they said was true. We did kind of look down on them wanting them to mess up. I guess we were being arrogant towards them and wanted to believe they are monsters. Neither of us have really been on the right foot this whole entire time,” Luna said as she let the stallion’s words sink in.

“Do you think we should go and see them at the hospital?” Applejack asked.

“I think we should. If they don’t want us to stay then we can leave. I think at best they could use some help getting Drak admitted and having his paperwork filled out,” The ponies all nodded as they started to walk out. The alicorn looked back to her guards that were waiting for her command. “I want all of you to return to the castle and give Celestia this letter. I don’t want any of you to come back to this town for some time. If Celestia has a problem with it then tell her that she can come see me about it,” Luna handed the guards the scroll and they all saluted.

Luna and the others arrived at the hospital just in time to stop a fight that was about to break out. Marcus was arguing with Doctor Stables about his scars. They were able to get the human pulled back before he did any serious damage. He sat on a chair with his other friends while the princess talked with the doctor.

“So, Dr. Stables, how is the other patient doing?”

“We were able to get him stabilized, but I do have one concern,” Luna gestured for him to continue. “What exactly is he? We haven’t seen anything like it and we are unsure of how to proceed,” Stables said.

“Well, Stables, your patient in there is human.” Luna said. Dr. Stables could only stare at the princess as he tried to process this new information. “I will leave him to you and your nurse and I will check on the others,” Stables could only nod as the alicorn walked away.

“So what do you want to know first?” Marcus asked with a little hurt in his voice.

“We can talk about this later if you want. I don’t want to push you into something that you aren’t ready for yet,” Luna said as she continued to stare at the scars on the human.

He had several across his upper arms, one huge one running down his sternum, and a few around his abdomen. The alicorn fought back her tears from seeing his destroyed body. She then used her magic to summon a simple t-shirt and handed it to the human.

“Thanks, Luna. That actually means more than you know,” Marcus said as he grabbed the shirt and put it on.

“The only thing I want to know is, what is the meaning behind Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Echo?” Luna could see that he cringed a bit from the mention of those names.

“The meaning behind them is that they are test subject names. I am Alpha, Andrew is Beta, Luke is Delta, and Blake is Echo. The names also showed which part of the experiment program we were in. During that time that was our name. We lost our humanity when we were used that way. They are now a burden on all of us and a painful reminder that you can’t trust everyone,” Marcus answered.

“Is that why you threw that picture off the train during our trip here?” Luna asked.

“Yes because I got tired of holding onto that painful memory. That person got what they deserved and I just hope they continue to burn in Hell for what they did,” Marcus answered as he looked her in the eyes.

The princess was about to ask another question, but was stopped by a flash of light. Everyone was blinded by the light as they tried to shield their eyes. Once the light died down everyone was faced with a furious Celestia and a butt load of guards. They all had their spears pointed at Marcus. He looked around at the guards and threw his hands into the air.

“Go ahead and take me away, Celestia. Just know that I don’t regret killing that guard when he attacked me,” Marcus said as his face held no emotion.

“That is the least of your problems right now. Not only did you kill a member of the guard, but you have put everypony’s life in danger. I am taking you back to the castle and locking you up in the dungeon until I can deal with you,” Celestia said in a stern tone. The human only shrugged his shoulders and this seemed to infuriate the princess even more.

“Celestia, you need to calm down. I know what Marcus did was wrong and that he should be punished, but we need to deal with this differently. I didn’t write it in the letter, but I talked with Whooves about this,” Celestia raised a brow at her, making sure she heard her sister correctly.

“You know very well that we don’t talk with Whooves about most matters. He is only trying to advance his own plans,” Celestia stated.

“Even then, sister, he showed us all, including the humans that we don’t understand each other. We have no understanding of their culture and they don’t understand ours. If we just sat down and talked this over then I am sure that we can avoid such problems later on,” Luna said. Celestia looked at her sister and at the humans. She gave a big sigh as she came to her decision.

“Very well, sister, we will have a sit down and talk about this like adults. Please come to the castle once your friend is healed. Twilight I would also like you and your friends to come along because I think I might have an idea if this goes over well,” Celestia said before walking out of the hospital.