“I still don’t see why I have to even participate. It’s not like I’m going to be a fluffy vet or anything…”
Samantha was obviously annoyed as she spoke to Principal Winters. Having been called to his office during the senior’s free period, the teen’s day had quickly taken a turn for the worse. What had started as a request for exemption was now a threat to her graduating. “My hands are tied Miss Summers. It’s simply a matter of the project being such a large portion of your final grade…and if I’m being frank, it’s on you for being so lax in your studies. If your average had been higher, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion…”
“This is such bullshit!”
“Language, young lady!” Flustered by the sudden outburst, the principal’s voice carried far beyond the lilliputian office, garnering more than a few gasps and chuckles from the passersby in the hallway. “The fact of the matter Miss Summers, is that unless you participate and actually apply yourself, you will likely be repeating your senior year.” That was all the teen needed to hear. Despite all her misgivings and hesitation, she would be damned if she was held back on the cusp of her graduation.
“…Fine…”
The walk back to the science lab was an arduous one, with Samantha in no hurry to return to class. She had made such a scene earlier, all but insulting her Biology teacher Mrs. Goodings, calling her a killer and an abuser before storming out. But now the angry teen would have to spend her free period with her anyway, and spend it torturing fluffies no less. Having finally reached the threshold of the lab, the teen took a deep breath before opening the door and heading within. “…Ah, Samantha. Good of you to join us…Nearly everyone else has already picked a partner, so go ahead and head to the back table with Daniel.” She held her tongue, not even giving her teacher a second glance as she stormed past her and sat down. Seemingly aloof, the young man beside her was glancing over a checklist, clicking a pen near his mouth as though lost in thought. “Hmm…which three to pick?”
Irked by the social pariah’s disinterest, Samantha cleared her throat loudly, breaking the boy’s concentration. “…Oh? You’re my lab partner? Fantastic…” Rolling his eyes as he spoke, Daniel’s sarcasm was palpable as he went back to eyeing the paper in his hand. “Don’t suppose you have an actual opinion on which procedures we should do?”
“Maybe don’t be such an asshole…and procedures?”
Before Daniel could answer, he was cut off by Mrs. Goodings, who was heading into the room where the lab equipment was stored when not in use. “We’ll be starting the vivisections in ten minutes class. While I’m getting the necessary equipment, make sure you and your partner are clear on what three tasks you’ll be attempting from the checklist.” Closing the door behind her, Samantha watched as the teacher left, still befuddled by the terminology that was being thrown around. Still annoyed with him but lacking answers, she swallowed her pride and turned back to face Daniel.
“Look, we have to do this dumb project anyway…no reason to make it any harder than it needs to be.”
“…Okay. And sorry if I seemed pissed at being your lab partner. You…kind of have a reputation of not really caring about your grades…”
“I have more important things to worry about, alright…Besides, it wouldn’t even be a problem if Goodings hadn’t sprung this on us! I mean, a final project out of the blue…and for nearly half of our final grade?!”
“It was on the syllabus…”
“The what?”
“…Never mind. Listen, we need to agree on three of the procedures from the checklist.” Daniel handed the paper he had been so intently focused on to her. It was a bulleted list with a line of text at the bottom to select three.
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Successfully expose the Heart. Properly identify the major valves.
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Debone a limb without amputation. Properly name all removed bones.
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Feed subject. Using an incision along the abdomen, observe and note where the food travels.
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Remove top of skull. Using electric probes, identify and forcefully manipulate the Broca’s area, the Parietal Lobe, and the Cerebral Cortex.
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Successfully expose the Stomach and Small Intestine. Locate and identify the Cecum.
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Successfully expose the Uterus. Making an incision, excise a foal fetus and estimate it’s age based on development.
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Place conductivity pins along the primary muscle groups. Using electric probes, forcefully manipulate each muscle group while noting it’s function.
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Excise the Oculus Dexter without disconnecting or harming the Optic Nerve.
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Using an incision along one of the primary Metacarpal Hoofpads, locate and identify the Sensory Nerve Clusters.
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You must choose and be able to successfully preform three tasks off of the checklist within one hour. For full credit, the subject must still be alive for the duration of all three.
The color fell from Samantha’s face as she worked her way down the list, each somehow more terrible than the last. She knew that it would be hard, even grotesque, but to see it all written out, and described so cold and mechanically. Noticing that his partner was starting to blanch, Daniel gingerly pulled the paper from her hand. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good…”
“I…I can’t do this! I just can’t!”
She shot up from her seat, almost as though she planned to flee from the room. “Whoa, calm down…What’s wrong?” Almost without thinking, he helped her back to her seat before the other students noticed, not wanting her to inadvertently embarrass herself…
“It’s too much…I knew I couldn’t do it. I knew that I couldn’t handle…cutting into something alive…”
Before Daniel could say anything to calm her, he was interrupted as Mrs. Goodings returned, pushing a cart that carried several boxes stacked on top of each other. One at a time, she carefully lifted one of the boxes and placed it with the paired off students, giving the last to Daniel and Samantha with a slight smile, oblivious to the teenage girl’s short lived theatrics. Opening the sealed box, their teacher revealed an off brown mare, the fluffy’s breathing shallow and slow as it slept in a drugged stupor. Separated by a thin sheet of cardboard were the implements required for the final: scalpels, electrodes, metal pins, rib spreaders, vials, ampoules and more, each tool looking more and more imposing as Samantha glanced over them. “Here you are…good luck, Miss Summers.”
It was hard for the teen to tell if Mrs. Goodings was being sardonic or not, but there was hardly time for her to focus on the teacher’s intentions. With only an hour and her future on the line, she just stared down at the mare within the box, frozen with indecision. Noticing her dire expression, Daniel waved his hand in front of her. “Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but if what you were saying is true, then you don’t have a choice…” Handing the paper back to her, Daniel then began to unbox the equipment before grasping the slumbering mare and placing her on the metal tray. “…Just pick the three that seen the least awful to you and we’ll go from there.” Looking back at the ghastly list, Samantha took a deep breath. Her lab partner was right. No matter how grotesque or unseemly it was, she was going to have to go through with it. Glancing back over the list, it seemed that there were truly no options that were less terrible than the others. Wanting it over with, she simply took her pencil and circled three at random.
“Let’s just…let’s just do these three, okay?”
Glancing over her choices, Daniel nodded, grabbing a small scalpel. “Sounds good. Let’s start with the leg then…” Rolling the brown mare slightly, Daniel pressed the tip of the blade against her shoulder, with Samantha audibly wincing as blood began to drip down the fluffy’s leg. “Go ahead and write down that we started the cutting near the scapula and worked out way down the humerus…” Scribbling down notations while trying her best not to look, Samantha found herself startled as she suddenly heard a weak voice calling out to her.
“…Hewp… … …P’wease hewp… … …Fwuffy am…am soon mummah… … …”
“Jesus, she’s awake!”
Her head feebly rolled about as her eyes fluttered open, glazed over but clearly aware and in pain. Still holding the scalpel, Daniel barely reacted as he let the blade slide through her flesh, all the way to where her leg met her soft, pillowy hoof. “Of course she’s awake. She’s been dosed with Halothane…” The teen took his free hand and lightly rapped against a small bottle next to the varied implements that he’d set up. “…It’ll keep her mostly paralyzed and docile while we work. If her head clears too much, we just hit her with more.” Even as Daniel spoke, all Samantha could focus on was the scalpel as he pulled it away, the blade still wet and dripping with the mare’s vital fluids, the skin and muscle of her leg now split open. While it was marginally relaxed from the anesthesia, she could still see that the limb was trying to move reflexively, the muscles flapping grotesquely as Daniel put the scalpel down and grabbed a large pair of forceps.
“I think I’m gonna be sick…”
“Try not to think about it too much. Just jot down the bones as I remove them.” It was shocking to Samantha how unfazed the boy was, even as he worked the metal instrument within the mare’s leg, working the metal prongs around the exposed bone like a pair of pliers before squeezing the handle and tugging, each pull causing the inebriated fluff to grunt, her head jerking slightly. “Okay, first we have the Navicular and Coffin Bone…” Crackling as he shifted the forceps, the bones finally came loose with a sickening snap, the mare’s eyes widening as she screamed.
“*SCREEEEEEE!!! Wow…wowstest huwties…W…wai weggie hab huwties…Wat…wat wong wiff weggie?”
Her breathing was strained as she spoke, her words slurred and slow. Hearing her struggled questions as Daniel disembodied her leg, bone by bone was nightmarish, the bile rising in Samantha’s throat as she heard them clatter against the metal tray. “…And now the Pastern, short and long. Followed by the Splint and Cannon Bone*…which connects to the Radius and Ulna…You are getting this down, right?” Disoriented, she almost didn’t hear the question, just staring at the pile of bloodied remains that her partner has ripped free from the mare.
“…Of…of course…”
Repeating back the list, Samantha stuttered slightly over her words as Daniel finished up, seemingly satisfied with her response. Putting down the bloody forceps, he reached past the tools for a small butane torch. “There, one down already. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” As he spoke, he turned the nozzle on the torch, the gas erupting in a small flame. Holding the mare with his free hand, Daniel turned her slightly, bringing the fire just close enough to the shoulder, the flesh sizzling as he seared the wound shut.
“*SCREEEEEEE!!!”
“Hmm…she might be coming to far sooner than I thought. Do me a favor and hand me that glass bottle I showed you earlier. Oh, and those tongs and a cotton ball.” Thankful to have an excuse to look away from the ruin that was once the mare’s front leg, Samantha gathered the supplies as her partner made sure their fluffy wouldn’t die from blood loss. Now seemingly more alert, the mare shifted her head, trying to look up towards the pair, unaware of what was happening to her. Tears falling down her cheeks, it was as though she were staring right at Samantha, as if the teenage girl could somehow save her.
“Nices’ mistuh…nices’ wady…wewe am fwuffy? Fwuffy am soon mummah…nee’ git back tu nestie…”
Stunned into silence, Samantha only stood there, her hand over her mouth, unsure how to respond to the broken mare. It was bad enough seeing what they were required to do to her, but to hear her, to actually look her in the eye. It was somehow far worse. As the guilt threatened to overwhelm Samantha, Daniel took a piece of Halothane laced cotton, holding it carefully with the tongs and bringing it inches away from the fluffy’s muzzle, her eyes glazing over before her head went limp once more.
“Ba’ smeww!!! Gib buwnies tu smeww… pwace…Fwuf… … …fwuffy mummah… … …nu feww gud… … …”
“Just need to make sure she’s out. Don’t want her dying from shock…” While he made sure that the Halothane was taking effect, Samantha could hear that the other students were having the same issue, with many of the mares coming to near the end of their first procedure. At the table right next to them, a neon green mare started to shriek, her anesthesia weakened body reaching out for her own disembodied eye that was paradoxically staring back at her.
“GIB SEE PWACE BACK!!! FWUFFY NEE” SEE PWACE!!!"
At another, an off purple mare was on her back, her head clearing just in time to see the students remove one of her unborn foals from the incision in her belly.
“…Tu widdew…babbehs am tu widdew…”
Seemingly annoyed as she heard the fluffies start to cry out, Mrs. Goodings cleared her throat loudly as she stood up, addressing the class. “A quick reminder than you may have to re-sedate the mare before the hour is up…” Based on the number of students scrambling with the vials of Halothane, Samantha assumed that Daniel was the only one who had the foresight to knock their fluffy back out unprompted. With the small crisis averted, she turned back to her partner, and to the mare who was thankfully under once more, eyes still open, but blissfully unaware of what was happening to her. “Okay, she should be ready for the next one…” Taking her other leg, Daniel once again retrieved the scalpel, making a thin slice under the marshmallow like under-flesh of her hoof. “…This one should be over pretty quick.”
While it was far less gory than the prior experiment, Samantha was still ill at ease as Daniel peeled back the outer layers of the sponge like flesh surrounding the mare’s hoof, revealing an interlaced series of nerves underneath. “There we are. And right here…” The teen took the dull side of the scalpel, working it carefully underneath the fleshy strands and slightly tugging them upwards, the mare wincing slightly with each pull. “…is the Median Nerve Cluster, as well as the Radial Nerve Cluster. Write that down and we only have one more procedure to go…”
Thankful that it was nearly over, Samantha jotted down the last of the notes on the mare’s hoofpad, mentally preparing herself for the last past of the test. They had all seemed so awful that she had simply chosen at random. But as Daniel marked the crown of the fluffy’s head with a black marker, a power-drill in his other hand, she deeply regretted her decision. Once the fluffy had been prepped, the teen started the drill, the whirring of which caused the mare to stir as he brought it closer to her skull. As the metal bored through bone, the mare began to seize, the intense pain causing her to feebly fight against her stupor, shaking her head slightly and forcing Daniel to pull back the drill. “Damn it…She’s too weak for another dose this soon. You’ll have to hold her head for this one.”
“I…I don’t know if I can…”
“You don’t have a choice! I’ve already started and if she dies before we finish, then we only get half credit! Now, grab her head and don’t let go, no matter what!”
Pressed on by her partner’s fervor, Samantha gripped her hands around the mare’s mane and held tight. Still feeling her second dose of Halothane, the fluffy’s glazed over eyes drifted towards the teen that was holding her, only vaguely aware of the torment that was befalling her.
“Nice…nices’ wady…fw…fwuffy hab…hab head huwties…p’wease hewp fwu…*SCREEEEEEE!!!”
Cut off by the drill once again working it’s way through her skull, the mare shrieked and shook in Samantha’s hands, fighting with all the strength her addled body could muster. “That’s good. Don’t let go and it’ll all be over soon…” After making a series of connected holes near the top of the fluffy’s head, the boy then placed the drill head within, lightly tilting it until the surrounding bone cracked loose, revealing her exposed brain. While everything up until then had been fairly grotesque, it was seeing the pink fleshy organ that was the breaking point for Samantha. Letting go of the mare, she leaned over the table’s worksink and lost her lunch. “Sorry about that…but we’re nearly done now. You okay?” Brushing her hair from her face, Samantha ran the tap and flushed her face with water, still feeling weak in the knees but far better than before.
“I’ll be fine. Let’s just get this over with…”
Putting the drill down, Daniel reached over and grabbed a small black box attached to a long metal pin via several wires. This was the electrode used for probing tissue, powered by the tiny generator when switched on. While not overly powerful, it was more than enough to stimulate the prodded area, especially when used on the more delicate biotoys. While no longer shaking her head, the mare had been put into a panic with all the drilling from before. She peered around in terror, blood staining her face as she realized that the teens weren’t there to help her.
“…Nu…nu am nice’s wady ow mis…mistuh…am…am munstahs…Fwuffy nee’ wun way’! Ne’ sabe tummeh babbbbbbbbzzzzzzzrrrrrrrgggggg!”
“Stimulation of the Broca’s Area with electric probe had caused the subject’s speech to become almost indecipherable. With the lobe overstimulated, it can no longer regulate it’s ability to communicate…” Her words had become a series of over enunciated nonsense, with each shock to the brain causing her to shake as she babbled against her will.
“Stahp!!! Fwuffy am fow hugggggeeeeezzzzzzrrrrggggg…P’WEASE STAHP!!! NO MOWEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHZZZZZZZ…WAT AM MUNSTAHS DU’N TU FWUFFEEEEEEEEWWWWWWSSSSSSSSS…”
Samantha held her tongue as she watched the unfortunate mare, the naïve creature clearly tormented by her own uncontrolled screaming. Once Daniel had pricked the area a few more times, he thankfully stopped, his attention now on the dynamo’s varied switches and knobs. Now shaking and trying to stand despite her limbs being weakened by the Halothane, the mare knew that if she didn’t escape, she wouldn’t survive.
“Fwuffy…fwuffy nee’ git upsies…w…wai weggies nu wowk…wai nu feew weggie…”
Even as she spoke of the lost limb, her shoulder twitched and shuddered slightly, causing the macabre sleeve of flesh and muscle to drag weakly against the metal tray. “Okay, amperes increased and now stimulating the Cerebral Cortex…” As the tip of the pin came close enough to the exposed gray matter to create a spark, the mare began to shriek again, her eye shaking wildly and darting back and forth.
“WAT AM WONG WIFF FWUFFY!!! WAT HAP’EN TU FWUFFY’S SEE PWACES!!! NU WIKE!!! NU WIKE!!!”
“Stimulation of the Cerebral Cortex has resulted in involuntary eye movement, nearing on…” Daniel struggled to remember the term from the textbook, knowing that Mrs. Goodings would be looking for it on their final. “…Nystagmus.” Giving the lobe a few continuous shocks to double check the effect each time, the teen once again adjusted the dynamo’s output. “Last one and we’re in the clear.”
“Good…”
Her eyes now normal, the mare was lying on her stomach, sobbing quietly and no longer trying to stand. It pained Samantha to see her suffering like this but at least it was almost over, for both of them. Her breathing now slow and shallow, the mare placed her hoof against her belly, whimpering as she began to meekishly sing to her foals.
“Mummah…wuv…babbehs…”
“Babbehs…wuv mummah…”
“Dwink…wots…of…miwkies…”
“…Gw…gwow…big…an’…stwong…*huuu…huuu…huuu…”
At the last verse the quiet sobs became full throated crying, the mare knowing that her foals would never get the chance. Unsure why it came to her or why she even did it, Samantha reached out with her hand, the mare seeing her approach and screaming as she anticipated nothing but more pain and torment.
“*SCREEEEEEE!!! NUUUUUUU!!!”
Grabbing her free hoof, Samantha grasped it tightly, holding her as the mare began to calm. Still sniffling, the fluffy calmed at her touch, her body untensing as she simply stared into the teen’s eyes.
“It’s almost over…Just hang on a little longer…”
Whether the fluffy could even comprehend what she was really saying was beyond Samantha, but her tears lessened as the mare was visibly soothed, even if just for a moment. “Not a bad idea…Keep holding her for this last part.” Almost feeling as thought she were betraying the unfortunate fluff, Samantha nodded before closing her eyes, unwilling to see whatever horror awaited the mare next. “Now probing the Parietal Lobe…” The effect was near instant, with the mare screeching and flailing in phantom agony.
“BUWINIE HUWTIES!!! SU MANI BUWNIE HUWTIES!!! TU MANI HUWTIES!!! NU MOWE!!! NU MOWE!!!”
“Stimulation of the lobe has affected the sensory nerves through out the subject’s muscles and skin. More specifically, it has triggered a burning sensation within her entire body…” As he pressed the lobe again and again, the mare seized and tremored against the table, with Samantha finally having to let go of her hoof, the teen almost able to feel how much agony she was in by how the limb tensed with each shock. After countless prods and shocks to the lobe, the fluffy couldn’t stop screaming, even when the pin was no longer in contact with her, her eyes wide and bloodshot as she shook against the table.
“WAN DIE!!! WAN DIE!!! WAN DIE!!!”
Putting the probe down, Daniel took the tongs and cotton again, this time putting the remainder of the Halothane within before holding it up to the shrieking fluff’s maw, her breaths quickly becoming shallow and her shrieks becoming slurred and weak until she fell to the table, her body finally giving out a few moments later. There was a tangible silence between Daniel and Samantha as they both looked at each other and the fallen mare, one that was only broken as they heard Mrs. Goodings call out to them. “Very well done! A+ !”
Inspired by a very fucked up night terror I had a few weeks ago.
Art by the very talented @Reddit-Word_H83r
