The Art of Magic II: Secrecy of the Facility

by Rarity Belle

Rating: teen
Tags: Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Gore, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Original Character, Trixie
Length: 37417

The duty of the Facility never ends, there's only more that gets added to it. The sudden return to the mythical ancient unicorn capital is one of them. The employees have to give their best to keep up with everything, or perish with time itself.

Six months have passed since the dreadful events happened. The manager has more than enough from the roaming nature of the most secret place in the whole of Equestria. The Magic Facility shall make its triumphal return to its home port: Tol Ret Nec. But the journey itself proves to be dangerous, as the minds inside the building only descend further into the realm of their madness. But nothing within the walls of the facility is what it seems. One has to be constantly on its guard to stay safe. Especially when all of the officials are insane and the workers balancing on the brink of it.

The adventures within the building are never over, not as long as the pistons jam and the boilers burn.

=============================================================================
Finally, after six months of being in the make and just under a year of the original it is done. The second story within my precious and cherished Art of Magic series has been completed. May you all enjoy this peace of written glory.
Cover image created by ZeplinQueen

Published 2013-05-30 20:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-07-22 09:42:51 UTC

Chapter 1

Dear,

You are invited to the closed casket funeral of Sweetie Belle and Twinkle Sparkle, beloved sisters and daughters who sadly were taken away too soon.

The ice cold, red eyes of the white unicorn mare read that simple line over and over. The mare lost the hold of reality while countless memories of the past returned to her. The knife being raised and pointed against the chest of the little filly while her teary eyes begged for mercy in silence. Yet it was the sound of the knife being driven into her chest, which then went straight into the rapid beating heart that shocked the mare back into the reality. A reality which she had caused to exist.

The unicorn let go a deep sigh before she leaned back in her chair. She allowed the piece of paper to drop itself on the wooden desk. Her eyes closed themselves and her mind brought her back to the day the two young mares found their end once more. Her eyes opened themselves while another deep sigh left through her nose. The eyes then just made their way through the bloodstained office. It almost seemed surreal that six months had passed since she killed her own sister. And for what purpose? The answer could be found in one of the windows of the office, looking into the pipe of a chimney which began to fill itself with some sort of liquid.

“The most powerful thing in Equestria,” she mumbled while many sparks of electricity began to race through the liquid. After a few seconds it shot up and thus toppling the office back into the artificial light of the ceiling lamps. “Where is that cursed stallion anyway..?”

When one speaks of the devil, it is to be believed he appears. In that case it was ever so true. There were a set of knocks that did their turn upon the steel door, not much later. That very door that separated the office from the rest of the building. The mare allowed her horn to charge itself up a little bit in its red coloring. Mere seconds later did the heavy door swung open like it was nothing.

In the opening was it revealed that a dark blue coated, light blue maned, light purple rimmed, unicorn stallion had been knocking. Without words spoken he walked into the office as the door closed itself behind him. “Ya wished to see me, boss?” he asked with care. The stallion ceased any motion before the desk.

“Keeton, you are one of the most valuable ponies in the entire facility, your department is what keeps this thing afloat ever since it detached from the city all those years ago, am I correct?” the mare said to him. Her red eyes pierced at him under a stern look.

“That is correct boss. Department we can’t miss. Without it, the whole place would just crash into the ground,” answered Keeton in a deep voice. He answered the question as honest as he could. It was the only thing that he could do in front of her.

“And it is true the Facility has been floating around only rising and lowering itself to adjust itself to the current state of wind?” the mare asked further to him.

“Yes boss, that is true. But only after the placement of the new chimney yar office as a view on,” the stallion answered. He had to admit that he was nervous, standing in front of her.

“Interesting indeed.”

The stallion began to feel himself even more uncomfortable. He was in the presence of the mad unicorn who softly tabbed her hooves together. It created the sounds like the passing seconds on a clock. A thing that managed to strike yet another nerve. What were the real reasons she called him, up there? “Mind if I ask for the reason ya wished to see me, boss?”

The mare allowed a deep exhale to leave her nostrils before she spoke again to the employee. “The reason, my dear Keeton, is because I want you to fire up the engines again. It is time for us to return to the city, with full speed.”

When Keeton heard the words echoing through his mind, it caused a couple wires in his head too simply snap. A thing which resulted in an eruption of anger. Keeton placed his forelegs on the desk and rose up on them. The action gave him a bit of an intimidating posture over the mare. “With all due respect, boss, but what ya ask here is insane! The engines haven't even be turned on in over five hundred years, when the chimney was installed,” he spoke to her.

“Hold your tone against me! I know bloody well they haven’t turned in that long, but it is time to fire them up again, under my command. Chart a course to Tol Ret Nac and don’t show your face before me again until I either ask for you, or your charted the course, understood?” the mare countered straight away without even lifting an eyebrow.

Keeton lowered himself from the desk before he gave her a look that could kill. Without any further words spoken, he just turned himself around. He let his horn coat in his signature purple aura. Under a screech of the metal hinges did the door open itself and he left the office just like that. But on the hallway, his muttering could be heard. Curses as if there wouldn’t be a tomorrow.

After the door fell back in the lock did the white coated unicorn stood up. She made her way over to a couple dossier cabinets and opened one of the drawers. There she began to gaze upon the many files before she took a nameless one out. The drawer was closed and she went back to the desk.

Though before she dropped her body back down in the chair, it were her eyes that fell upon the window that was leading to the processing department. To be more precise, the very device that made it possible. The machine that extracted the tears and blood out of their prisoners. A device with a name a foal could have imagined it. The dreadful and frightening, Magic Maker.

---

Keeton wandered through the stone cold hallways of the death factory. He allowed the countless, terrified screams and prayers of forgotten hope to reach his ears. Yet he didn't even gave them a look anymore. Years in the facility had made him tough but also left him mentally broken. His mind couldn't handle the stress from the work and therefore was placed in the movement department. One of the most underestimated parts of the entire place.

He reached the staircase and allowed his hooves to go down step by step. He made his way down through the internal spine of the building. A place he had been calling home for ever so long by then. But his true home was located deep within the bowels of the beast, the very bottom floors were his domain. A set of floors where nopony except its employees were allowed to enter it due to its many dangers and strict yet insane order Keeton kept there.

“Not even a bloody elevator in this hole... And now she wants me to fire up the engines after five hundred years? We better be in for a crash,” he muttered to himself while a smirk slowly formed itself below his muzzle. He kept descending even further while the thoughts rolled in. Within his mind he released the horrible thoughts run freely through the eternal plains of gray mass.

The sadistic mind did its turn once more when he reached the lower levels of the Facility, and finally met the end of the staircase. Before him was another door which he opened with the help of his magic and passed through it. The stallion entered the department’s first hallway before the door was closed again. Two stallions who held a little break took note of his entrance but what caught their true attention was the face of Keeton. A look of utter insanity.

“He is having that look again, can’t be good now,” one of them spoke in a whispering tone.

“Aye, this is bad news for us all,” the other said after Keeton had passed the both of them.

---

Keeton on the other end, let them be and turned his pace to a light trot. He left the hallway and found himself in the main engine room. Countless boilers were there to be seen. Boilers that were used to raise and lower the facility within the currents of the wind. He wanted to sit in the comfortable chair in his office, he couldn't help himself to just stop for a little while and gaze around.

Some of the boilers were as high as a house with pipes that left from it in in every single direction. Who in return were leading all the way to the top and bottom of the place. It was the steam that was produced there, that caused the Facility to raise or lower itself in order to move.

Steam would travel through the many pipes and leave the many ports into the wished direction. Keeton could have only grinned further before he made his way over to a door at the end of the boilers having the text keep out on it. “Keep out? Pfft, when has that ever stopped us?” Keeton spoke up before he charged up his horn. The door opened just like that thanks to the magic.

Many employees who were shoving up the coal for the raging fires noticed that the door opened itself by the magical force. But none didn't even dare to question why he would do such a thing. Keeton could be merciless against them, showing them no remorse. Rumors even spoke that the stallion was able to deliver a soul much more pain than the devices upstairs. The very things that created the magic, couldn’t tip to his fury.

Keeton’s horn was still covered in the purple aura and used that as his main source of light in the room he found himself in. A room where nopony had been in for five hundred years. The devices it housed made their faint appearance within his eyes.

But just then he shook his head a couple times as the expression on his face quickly faded. Even though the stallion was insane, he knew how to hide it and keep his sanity when needed. He is one of the Facilities most strange yet curious employees and case. A schizophrenic like no other.

“Now... Let’s see if this thing can be fired up in the first place, given how much dust is in here,” he said while walking a little further up the room. With his hoof he began to swipe away over some of the metal sheets. His eyes fell upon the dust that met his fur, it was thick dust. Dust of five hundred years ago. “Crazy bitch that she is... Hmph, lives will be lost in this operation, a lot of them.”

A deep and annoyed sigh left his mouth while he tried to keep his insanity locked up within his head. The stallion removed himself out of the room and shut the door, but not locking it. He found himself back into the main boiler area. “Corron, Mush, Kooiman!” the stallion shouted into the thin air. But was loud enough that everypony could hear it. And the ears of three ponies perked themselves up as the names were being called. Each of them stuck their shovel into the mountain of coal, before making their way over to Keeton.

“Yes sir?” a green coated, red maned unicorn mare asked when she stood before him.

“Mush, ya and yar, mates, are engineers, right?” Keeton spoke to her.

“Well yes we are, Corron and Kooiman are the best ones I ever worked with, can fix everything around these parts,” spoke Mush with pride while the two stallions behind her stuck their chests forward. Though there wasn’t anything prideful on the matter that came.

“Then I hope ya can keep yarself on that promise, miss Mush, for the boss ordered us to fire up the drivers and chart a course to the city,” revealed Keeton in a countering voice.

The eyes of the mare shrunk in size as she gulped a bit. The stallions dropped their chests a little bit before they stared at one another. “Is, is she mad!?” Mush brought out.

“That is what I said as well, but couldn't change her mind. If any of ya three need me, I will be in the chart room. Probably planning our doom,” said Keeton under another sigh. After that did he began to make his way passed them. Only to disappear into another hallway. In all three their ears was the sound of another metal door falling in its lock.

“Nee nah wordt ie mooi!” spoke Kooiman in his signature Nether-Equestrian accent.

---

The mare first let out a sigh of utter annoyance as a response to his words before she turned herself around and let the light blond coated stallion fall in her eyes. “Normal Equestria, Kooiman, normal! You are not in the Nether Equestrian parts anymore! Corron, what did he say?”

Corron took a step forward and he was to be revealing as a red coated and bald stallion. He opened his mouth in order to reply to the question. “He said, ‘no now it becomes something’, that is what I can make out of his gibberish at least.”

“Hey! Hold your tongue about my gibberish!” replied Kooiman before he lowered a little through his forelegs. He faced Corron in a fighting stance and was more than ready to charge him.

But the other stallion just smirked in response. "Oh look here now, now he can do it, hm?"

“Enough, the both of you! You heard Keeton! We need to fix the bloody thing now, I do not wish to encounter his other side any time soon,” spoke Mush. She turned herself over to the door that lead to the engines. “What do you two know about five hundred year old engines that probably won’t work anymore?”

“Kenne altijd kijke toch?” replied Kooiman as sober as always.

“Kooiman, one more time, and I shove a wrench not only up your arse, but also down your throat, am I understood?” Mush said in anger while she pressed her face against that of the stallion. “Corron, what did he say!?”

“We can always have a look,” the red stallion replied almost automatically. Corron and Kooiman always have been sort of mates together ever since they entered the Facility and the bald stallion often worked as a translator for the light blond one. Though Mush, was another case. She was a mystery to everypony. She had dedicated to her engineering job for sure but her origin was shrouded and the oddest rumors do their turn. One even said that she was a robot or android.

Others spoke that she could be a puppet controlled by their boss in order to spy upon the department as there were no cameras there. With the exception of the separate boiler rooms of course. The room where they burned the bodies. “We always can yes, stronger, we go now. Grab your tools and meet me in there. Work is calling,” said Mush. She removed her face out of Kooiman’s and began to walk over to the door. The stallions gave her a nod and they made their way over to another hallway. They opened yet another steel door and they disappeared inside for a moment as Mush entered the engine room, inspecting the near ancient devices carefully.

“Single piston driver... Exhausts connected to the pipe system, no control board nor fire up button. Perhaps with magic? Nah, that would have cost nearly half of its power to start these up,” the mare mumbled while she made her way passed the engines. But only to release a small sigh afterward. “I think we are in for the impossible... Where are those two idiots anyway?” Her head moved itself over to the door and hoped the two stallions would come any moment.

But what she got, were not the stallions she had hoped for. Instead she got the sound of a heavy smack echoing through the whole Facility. A deafening sound that made her ears ring for a couple seconds. “For Tartarus sake, this place is falling apart!” she screamed while she expected the evacuation alarm to ring loud and clear.

Yet everything kept surprisingly quiet and her head gently peeked out of the doorway as she regained the ability to hear. With her dull eyes did she saw that the workers were just doing their jobs like nothing had happened to any of them.

---

After a tremendous amount of time had the two stallion finally returned. They found Mush inspecting the machines once more. It was when her ears caught their hoofsteps that she turned herself over to them with a grin on her face. “Finally, you two are here!”

“Sorry Mush, had to inspect the piston crash. Rumors say the boss or one of her two mates blast the thing away, for it was the most secure piston in here. Stories do their turn quickly, really. Should have seen the hole that went right through the floor and crushing the poor bastards in the holding cell below, some survived with horrible injuries,” answered Corron to her. He set a hard hat on his head and adjusted his tool belt.

Kooiman tossed over a belt and hat to Mush who caught them with her hooves and hoisted herself in them. “Right, fair enough. Now then, let’s begin on this monstrosity,” she said.

“Right,” respond Corron while he walked up to a separate device. His eyes began to inspect it with care. One mistake, was a mistake too much. “Kooiman?”

“Ja?”

“Look if you can find some blueprints of these machines? These things are tougher to crack than making magic!” Corron said to him.

“Aye, aye chef,” responded Kooiman. He wandered out of the room and left the stallion and mare alone.

When the stallion had left the room, it was Mush who snickered slightly to it as her attention turned over to the other stallion while inspecting. “You know the last chart of the place had been burned after the installation of the chimney right?” she said to him.

“Yeah, but I am a little tired of him now, plus gives him a nice walk, right?” chuckled the stallion before his eyes fell upon something interesting. “Well hello, what do we have here...”

“What’chu got there, Corry?”

“I think I have a break-through.”

Mush made her way over to the stallion with haste. She just stared at a set of gears with a near ancient wrench stuck in it far in the engine. “You think what I think?” she said to him.

“Aye, the Great Magic Depression, unicorns almost without magic for around fifty years... Just in time...” His eyes shrunk when he made the connection in his mind. One of his fore hooves jammed itself into the steel plated cover. “This thing, caused the installation of the chimney, Mush!”

“W-What?” Mush brought out.

“If we remove that thing, it should work again. I mean, look around you, look at the devices. Everything looks untouched. Only having aged through time, nothing is broken, nothing is missing.”

“Well, where are you going for?” replied Mush. “I am not the one for history and you know that. So, get on with it!”

“Fine, just give me a moment,” he said before he charged up his horn. Though the charge only created a couple sparks and an orb or light. “The hay?” he brought out at realizing it.

“What happened to your magic?”

“I don’t know! Let me try again.” And so said, so done. Corron charged up his horn again only to get the same result of nothing but sparks and the orb of light.

“Odd,” said Mush as her eyes began to make their way through the room, taking a deep note to the walls before blinking a couple times. “Magic doesn't reach here...”

“Pardon?”

“The walls, they are too thick for the magic streams to enter. Probably something to do with the noise,” explained Mush in the only manner she could, obvious.

“Great, and just how do we get this out then?” asked Corron with a doubtful look on his face.

“Disassemble, remove, reassemble? You know, do what we do best? Reverse engineering.”

It was after those words that a familiar, Nether accented voice did its turn through the room again. “No luck finding the prints, any news here?” was said through the room.

“Kooiman, we found the origin of the problem, but came across another,” spoke Mush to him. She turned herself to him while Corron kept looking at the stuck wrench.

“And that being?”

“A wrench that is stuck in the gearing system of the engines, but our magic doesn't work in this room for some unknown reason,” Mush added to her words.

Kooiman placed his signature heavy wrench over his shoulder and began to smirk ever so deeply. “Allow me then. Just be ready to push the buttons when I have it removed.”

“She’s all yours buddy,” spoke Corron. He had given up on it. He turned his eyes to the other stallion and made a gesture.

The blond stallion chuckled a bit before he began to remove the protective cover over the gearing system. Mush and Corron went out of his way and Kooiman began to his job under a soft humming. The two others stared at each other for a little bit before they started with the inspection through the room as a whole.

---

Back in the charting room –which doubled as his own, private office– was Keeton breaking his mind over the ancient maps and logs. The data he received in his mind went all the way back to the Facility’s departure from the city. A secret office within the city itself had been sending their coordinates in case the facility would ever return. But over the years had changed the maps and borders by a lot and the gotten messages about the coordinates became less and less frequent.

“Ugh... Chart a course, she said. Like it is that easy with ancient maps!” he spoke up. In a moment of pure rage he slammed his hoof on the desk. The impact made a small deformation in the metal just before he huffed out a cloud of steam.

Though when his mind calmed down again, he began to see something. A pattern the city had been moving itself in. “How could I... From here, to here... to there... meaning they should be... Right around here!” Keeton mumbled in himself while carefully levitating a red marker and circled an area on the map. “Now, we are here...the city will float this way and thus stay there next... Meaning if everything works, we can be there in about two weeks.” A bright smile took place on his face as he began to create the possible routes the place could travel.

---

Deep within the engine room had Kooiman managed to take off the protective cover of the jammed gear system. He slowly reached for the insides with his hoof. He had set his hopes on being able to just grab the wrench. Mush and Corron found themselves standing before another engine while they mumbled lightly to each other.

“I don’t like this Mush... One wrench, causing the engines to fall still for five hundred years, I am not buying it,” said Corron under a soft whisper while he screwed a cover of another device back up. The situation seemed to be strange indeed, one that seemed impossible to have gone that way.

“Much isn't told, or simply left,” replied Mush to him. She was inspected the ignition system of the devices. The very things that would cause the spark, before the boom.

“True that...”

Kooiman was still reaching his hoof inside and could gently touch it. He pushed himself even more into it. Finally was he being able to wrap his hoof around the wrench and began to pull it towards him. “Come on... Kom op!” With a couple powerful yanks from his body was the stallion eventually launched backwards before he landed with the back of his head against the floor with the ancient wrench stuck in his hoof.

“Seems Kooiman did it,” said Mush when her ears perked from the new sound that filled the room. A sound that was followed by the moaning in pain of the stallion.

“So it seems, chef,” replied Corron and he went over to the blond stallion. He offered him a hoof to pull him back up on his hooves.

Kooiman rubbed his head a couple times before he took the hoof and pulled himself up. He then spun the wrench that was stuck around its axle in his hoof. “Heb hem, koste me wat moeite, maar hij is er uit.”

When the words spoken falling into the ears of the green unicorn, she had to do her utmost best in order to keep herself together and not make her promise made to him come true, at least, not yet. “Kooiman, good job, now reassemble it all so we can fire up the engines again.” The blond stallion nodded and tossed the wrench over to Corron. After that he began to do his job again.

Corron on the other end made his way over to Mush. Though he could see the anger dripping off her face. “A promise is a promise chef,” was the only thing he said.

“One I will fulfill, after he is done and the engine is roaring,” answered Mush in a near silent whisper. Madness had come to her once more, and Kooiman wouldn’t be safe anymore, anywhere.

Corron gave her a slight smirk and began to make his way over to the main engine where he wiped his hooves over the keys to undo do them from the dust. “Now... Kooiman!”

The blond stallion peeked up from his work, staring in Corron’s direction. “Wat?”

“Are you finished yet?”

“Nog een moment! Ben hier bijna klaar mee!”

“Alright, just give me a shout when you are.”

---

When the five minute mark had passed and the stallion placed his wrench on the ground before he leaned a little on it while wiping the sweat off of his face. “Ben klaar hier! Zet maar aan die handel!”

As soon as those words entered the ears of Corron, Mush stood next to him and she gave him a nod of confirmation. “Fire up.” With one push of the button did the engines slowly began to hum and covered themselves in a bright red aura. They appeared to be powered by magic itself but the variant they were seeing was a much darker one, a much more raw version of their product.

The humming slowly turned into an enormous roar of pure power for which the three ponies had to cover their ears but it didn't do a thing. The eyes of Mush went fast yet carefully over the control panel and she found the killswitch which she pushed in as if her life depended from it.

Soon enough did the deafening roar turned back to a soft humming before the fields of magic disappeared completely and they uncovered their ears. “Well that was, interesting. I am going to report to Keeton, see you two during the peck,” said Corron before he rubbed his ears a bit and made his departure. But as he left the room, he closed the door behind him, only letting Mush and Kooiman in the room alone. One had a promise to keep to the other.

“Nou, dat ging beter dan gedacht toch Mush?” spoke Kooiman in a chuckling tone.

“You remember what I said, you blond idiot?”

“Wat?”

“I promised you,” she took the ancient wrench in her hoof and made her way over to the stallion. Her eyes were determined while a mad mare grin stood on her face. “I would shove a wrench down your throat if you spoke in the language, one more time?”

“Oh shit... N-No! You can not do that!” plead Kooiman while he took a step backward.

“Oh I can,” replied Mush before she just propelled herself forward. The wrench within her hoof got positioned in such a position that it would be able to deal an insane amount of damage to any target meeting its way. Which was exactly the plan she had for him.

The stallion took more and more steps backward but saw the swinging motion of the foreleg and braced himself for the worst as he closed his eyes. It wasn't much later when the wrench made contact with the stallion’s face. Though Mush indeed kept her promise and the sound of bone and teeth breaking filled the silent engine room. A couple splatters of blood made their way to her face and the cold ground.

“I told you,” she replied stone cold and let go of the wrench after which she made her way out of the door, leaving the bleeding stallion with his broken bones. “Be happy I didn't shove it up your arse.” It was then that she simply disappeared out of his sight and left him, truly alone.

---

It didn't took long before Mush stood before Keeton who looked to her with a stern face and let go a deep exhale. “I hope ya are bringing me good news for once today, Mush,” he growled to her.

“I do, Keeton, the engines are working, but seem to consume magic in order to work, we haven’t gotten the time yet to identify where it comes from though. Whether or not they are a separate tank or just gets taken from the main reserve. Oh and, Kooiman won’t be able to speak for the coming months if not years,” the mare explained to him.

A sly smile appeared on the face of the stallion as he spoke with a unusual joy in his voice. “Corron already brought me that news and we all heard the deafening sounds. I managed to chart a course, ya fixed the engine and made Kooiman shut up, I should give ya a raise if I could, Mush. Now remove yourself out of my presence and keep doing what ya are supposed to do, I shall have let somepony grab Kooiman.”

Mush nodded and she went away in silence. She would have gone back into the warm bowels of the Facility. All in order to keep the ever raging fires running until she was needed for a maintenance job again.

Chapter 2

Tol Ret Nac, ancient city of the unicorns

Known as the Capital by the other races

A place non wishes to speak about

The office of the white unicorn was filled with an alarming sound as the mare herself changed up her horn and made the arcane control board appear. She gazed upon the many monitors in the back. “Where are they!? Where did you went!” she mumbled to herself in anger. Her ice cold, red eyes kept gazing upon the screens. Without a knock that was given on the door it just flung open and a mulberry coated and a blue coated mare entered the room. The both of them had the same questioning look on their faces.

“Trixie doesn't think that there has been one that escaped, for she knows that alarm too well. This is something different,” spoke the mare as she had also heard the mumbling of the other mare. But when the white unicorn heard the words, she took her attention away from the monitors and gazed upon the two mares that stood before her.

“Speak further, Trixie,” she said with a tone that spoke high interest in the theory or explanation to come.

“Trixie thinks it is something else... Have you looked at the magic reserves already?” Trixie said just before the other mare summoned her own arcane control board. The board she had summoned was purple in coloring, much like her magical aura. But it had nowhere near as many buttons as the one the white unicorn had before her nose.

“Trixie is right, Rarity. The levels have dropped in some the tanks. Somepony is either stealing it from us, or some machines have been turned on that haven’t been active for a long time,” the mulberry mare spoke up as she turned her attention back to the manager.

Rarity then turned her own attention away from the monitors and pressed a couple buttons on the control board with her magic. Her eyes fixed themselves on the three dimensional screen that appeared before her. “Magic levels, magic levels... Here we go.” Rarity let her red rims gaze upon what was to be seen and within seconds she began to boil in rage as she noticed the levels were uneven, lowered and consumed by something. “Where did it went to...”

The other two unicorns stared a little at each other as the mulberry coated mare allowed her board to disappear into the thin air and therefore letting the flow of magic leave her horn before her eyes rested themselves on the manager. “Any luck, Rarity?” she asked in a careful tone.

“Yes Twilight,” she replied under a grin of madness. “It worked. Return to your posts, I need to be alone for some time. Leave me be and await further instructions later.”

Twilight never took her eyes off of Rarity as she spoke her words in a tone of confusion and questioning. “B-But aren't you going to tell us an-”

Even before she could finish the sentence, Rarity had already made her reply for the both of them. “Out, please.” The both of them truly feared one of her infamous bursts of anger and hatred. The unicorns did what was asked of them and quickly made their retreat from the room. The door got shut behind them as the look in the eyes of Twilight turned into one of utmost uncertainty. Trixie stared back into the eyes of her mare. Though her gaze was a much more regular one.

The two mares made their way down to the processing department of the Facility. There where they continued on their work like a good set of workers. The both of them raised on their hind legs while each of them equipped herself with a glove. A glove that had a set of knives attached to them. The knives were more than ready to cleave through the flesh of any unworthy unicorn. Only for the red gold to flow. That what would be required to create Equestria’s greatest and most infamous power.

---

Rarity found herself smirking in utter delight in the direction of an arcane monitor that was floating against on the wall behind her. The very thing she had asked for earlier had become a reality. She couldn't believe it no matter how she looked at the situation. It was just an unbelievable thing. Rarity removed herself out of her chair and discharged her horn. The absence of magic let the many monitors disappear in thin air while she walked up to the door of her office. With the sound of the heavy metal door closing shut behind her, she found herself on the hallway. There would she have made her way over towards the spiral staircase. The very staircase that would bring her to a position –or better said, a station– she desired to see.

Floor after floor she passed while she descended from the steps of the stairs. The thing that was the spine of the entire place. Countless screams and prayers of hope filled her ears as the whistles of steam blew above them from time to time. She kept going further down and the more she reached the bottom of the place, the more she could feel the intensity of the heat. The heat that was heat that was created by the massive boilers in moving department. It started to surround her and let a couple streams of sweat upon her forehead to appear and travel down from it.

After the long descent of a mere thirteen floors did she finally stood where she wanted to be. Her red rims almost lit up in the faint darkness. She caught two stallions who carried a blond coated pony away for some reason. Rarity didn't gave it much attention though. Instead did she let her eyes rest on them for a small amount of time before she made her way towards the office of Keeton. She was almost dying to hear the news he would be having for her.

“Foreman? I have taken note that the engines appear to be running again, is this true?” she asked in an unusual friendly tone. When she spoke, she entered the office of the dark blue coated stallion. One who wasn’t happy with her arrival in his domain.

The eyes of Keeton glared up from the mess that was his desk and opened themselves widely upon the sight of his boss in the office. His office wasn't the most clean spot in the building for the fact that many things just laid everywhere. Yet the stallion always had been able to find what he needed. Also adding the fact that the higher officials never came down to his office and there for her appearance before him came as an even greater shock. “W-What, oh, that! Yes, yes they are working again, boss. Corron, Mush and Kooiman managed to do it. S-Shall we have a look together?”

“If you please, foreman,” she replied in that same tone and gave a simple nod.

Keeton stood up from his chair and just walked up to her. He let the charts wide open on his desk and Rarity gave her eyes the time to watch them for a small moment. She knew he tried his best to make a possible course that would bring them to the mythical and beloved city, the very capital of the Unicorn race since the Ancient Times. When Keeton left the office, Rarity followed up without a single word spoken. She wanted to see what they had done with her own eyes in silence.

---

The dark blue stallion guided the mare over to the steel door that housed the massive engines behind it. While the both of them stood before it, the stallion gazed over to the mare who gave him a simply nod. Keeton knew what she meant and called upon the magic he possessed. He let his horn coat in the Facility’s signature, blood red aura. After a couple clicks and cracks had done their turn through the room, there was a loud metallic screech that followed it up. The door opened on itself before the stallion bowed his hoof in a polite manner. “Ladies first,” he spoke up in a polite manner after the massive door had created a gap wide enough for her to pass through.

Rarity gave him a thankful nod before she made her way into the room with grace and elegance. Something that hasn't happened since her days of running the boutique in the calm town of Ponyville. It took mere seconds before her body was consumed within the darkness of the room.

After she had entered the room, Keeton made his way into it as well. Though he didn't discharge his horn. With the red magical aura of the stallion being the only source of light in the room, much was still hidden in darkness. The both of them just stared at the massive engines that once brought the Facility where it needed to be. Neither of the two ponies had ever seen anything like this before for they never entered the room in their years of service.

“By the Ancients... These things are, massive!” he spoke as his eyes caught the devices in their full size for the first time. On his earlier visit he took note that they were big but the size that they actually were surprised him even more.

“Of course they are, young Keeton, they once brought the place to every bloody corner of the land. And they shall be used again to bring us back to where we belong. Where the Facility belongs truly. Hidden in plain sight,” spoke Rarity before she took a deep inhale. Though next to normal oxygen, she also breath in the intoxicating vapors of the corrupted magic. Its distinct smell was caught up almost right away. “So that is where they run on,” she mumbled loud enough for the stallion to hear them.

“E-Excuse me?” he spoke up in confusion. “What did ya say, boss?”

“Don’t you smell it in the air? That mixture of salt, sweet, sour and bitter? That's the smell of corrupted magic.” Through small cracks within the many pipelines it could be seen that it wasn't normal magic that flew through them. Though it didn't had the signature blue, gold, green or light purple coloring. Instead it was a distinct red coloring that could be seen with black sparking through it every now and then.

Keeton took a couple sniffs with his nostrils before he blinked deeply in response to the words. “S-So, n-now that ya say it, boss.” His purple irises took the time to look up from the device and they then followed the many tubes until it all ended in the pipes disappearing out of the room. “Hey boss, ya aren't going to tell me that they are connected to the main reservoirs right? Right?” the schizophrenic stallion spoke in a nervous sounding voice.

“Keeton, of course they aren't connected to the main ones. If they happened to be, there wouldn't be any corrupted magic in these tubes. Do you even know just how long this has been rotting like it did?” Rarity asked of him with a serious tone.

“Uhm, five hundred years I think? Just a guess,” he replied on a pure gamble.

“Exactly, very dangerous stuff to be around,” the mare added. She gave her eyes the time to look at the near control panel. “Who can you spare?”

“Ya have to be kidding me! Don’t ya know just how unstable that is to begin with!? And how do ya mean, who can I spare?”

Without a warning of any kind given had Rarity just punched him right in the face. After that did she spoke her words in a cold tone. “I know what that means, Keeton, do you think I am the manager for nothing!? As for the other part, this room needs to have operators and I want to know just who can go from the boilers towards this room. Well, who can?”

---

His head turned itself to the opposing side upon the impact of the hoof and he allowed himself to spit out some blood. After that did he turned his head back to the lady of the Facility. The glare in his eyes was nothing else but one of death for a couple of seconds. “I am terrible sorry, boss, shouldn't have questioned it given yar, superior authority. As for the ones to spare, I shall do a screening of those who are actually capable of doing so. By tomorrow yar shall have the ponies you need,” he said to her in a mocking tone. One that was filled with disgust for her alone.

“I want those reports, tonight. And next time, say it if you mean it, please. Now for my final point of attention, have you been able to chart a course home?” she replied in the same cold tone. Though her eyes moved themselves up to the pipes. She waited for a reply from his side, a reply that was hopefully good.

In his mind he just wanted to do horrible things with her but managed to keep his sanity for as much as he still had it while giving a nod to the question. “I happened to have boss, that shall be on yar desk tonight as well. But ya have to leave now, otherwise it won’t be there.”

Rarity gave him a small nod and turned herself around. She was ready to leave the corrupted engine room without a word. Only to be making her way over the floor once again. All while she inspected what the workers were doing. Keeton left the room under a deep sigh before his magic closed the door behind him. His eyes glared over to Rarity for one last time. He then returned to his office. During his way, many voices did their turn though his head. Voices that tried to command him.

---

Keeton plopped back down in his chair before he took out the files of all the employees that worked in the department. His eyes were moving over the many names and information before they caught a figure stood in the door opening. A green thing was to be seen in the tops of his eyes. Keeton didn't even look up from his work as he simply spoke his words. “What is it that ya want this time?”

“What I want? Hmhmhm, I think you know that more than well,” a female voice echoed soft through the cold office.

“Quit it, Mush, ya aren't cut out of that kind of wood,” he spoke in response to the words. The ears of the mare dropped against her head as she heard the response but could understand just why he said them.

She let her eyes glance over to the charts and files that could be found on the desk, of the stallion. Her mind began to boil itself with curious questions. “Say, what did the boss told you?” she questioned to him.

“I need to give her a report of who goes into the engine room for maintenance and work. Of course, I could send my best stallion and mare, but that leaves open a gap for other shortcomings in the department. Nah, I need fresh ones for this job,” replied Keeton before he finally looked up and leaned back against his chair. “Don’t suppose that you have any ideas?”

“Ideas, fresh ones? Corron send... What were they named again? That annoying little group that just got here like a month ago, always bragging about just how great they are and how they can fit everything. Urgh, I forget their names,” said Mush while she leaned against the desk of the Keeton. Her soulless eyes looked at him before she gave off a gentle smile.

“I know the idiots you speak off, let’s see here,” the stallion answered. He looked through the many files that laid before him. “Ah, here we go.” It was then his eyes gazed over the file that he erupted out in a loud snickering while he presented them to Mush.

“Crackcase, Swindle and Hatchet? Don’t tell me those fools are named that way since they were born now are they?” Mush managed to get out before she erupted in a snicker.

“C-Course not! But they insisted on going into the r-records as that!” Keeton spoke through his loud snickering. “Seems lady Rarity has her engineers. I bet they won’t last one month in there without growing insane.”

“A month? I give them a week,” grinned Mush to him.

“How much do we bet? The usual?”

“Of course we do the usual. No fun in lowering, now is there, Keeton?”

And with that said, the two bumped their hooves together. Therefore they sealed another bet between them. “If ya will excuse me, the boss needs me with these reports. Be back in about an hour or something like that.” Mush nodded to him and left the office without a word.

---

The green coated unicorn made her way over to Corron who was on a small break from his duties. She plopped down next to him with a smirk bigger than Rarity could ever had. One that disturbed Corron just a bit too much. “Now what are you so happy about?” he asked while he took a sip from his coffee as his blue irises kept themselves focused on the mare.

“Oh, oh, oh, you will see Corron, I know who gets to work in the engine room,” she spoke in a happy tone.

“The engine room!?” he managed to speak after having both sufficient in and spit out some of the coffee. He almost fell on his back but managed to sit on his seat while he pumped his chest with a hoof to clear anything that was still in the way. “Bloody hell lass... W-Who gets to work there? N-Not us right? R-Right?”

“Calm down, you over-sized chicken, course it is not us. But ponies you would love to see going to there,” she replied while patting him on the back. Though that same smirk remained on her.

“I hope for ya, you are right,” the red coated stallion brought out before he continued to pump his chest.

“Take this from me, I am,” was the only thing Mush could say.

---

In the meantime had Keeton gathered all the information he needed and overlooked everything one last time before he left his office quietly. He made his way over the floor to the staircase as his eyes dropped to the first step. “For nightmares-bloody-sake... We have everything in here, except an elevator!” All of the sudden there was a shock of realization that went through him. He began to charge his horn up and closed his eyes. He imagined the hallway before the office where Rarity would sit. Keeton saw himself standing on one particular spot within it.

Slow and steady did his body started to dematerialize before there was simply nothing left of the stallion. He disappeared into thin air with a light ‘poof’. Keeton opened his eyes again in order to see the rather grim world he had entered. A world with shaky red walls and the staircase of pure blackness. He shook his head a couple times after which he began to venture up on the stairs, passing the many holding floors of the Facility.

When he reached the imagined hallway, the stallion found the spot he imagined himself to be standing on and closed his eyes again. His body began to materialize again and under that same ‘poof’ he reappeared into the world of the living, standing before the office of the manager while not even two seconds had passed. “Bloody hell, teleportation... Forget the stairs!” he spoke happily, but not too loudly to himself. Keeton soon managed to regain his more professional look. After he had returned to a more business state, he walked up to the door and knocked a couple times on it.

Within a few seconds did that cold voice of the unicorn do its turn through his ears. “Come in,” was all that came from the other side.

---

Keeton opened the door and found her as usual. She sat there with her chair rotated so it faced the wall with the arcane monitors. Rarity's went over all of the monitors as always. All monitors gave her a perfect overview of the whole Facility. The stallion rolled his eyes a bit before he opened his mouth. “Boss, ya asked me for those reports and the charted course,” he said in a respectful tone.

“Yes Keeton, I did. But did you deliver?” Rarity asked of him.

“I have the files right here,” he replied before he dropped all of the files on the desk. The charted course got placed next to them. It was only after it that the chair got turned around and his eyes met the stone cold red rims of his boss.

Rarity placed her elbows on the desk and rested her head upon the forehooves. “So, tell me,” she spoke while a gentle smile formed itself. Just her lips curled up while her eyes rested themselves upon his. She had given him her full attention, meaning he had to satisfy her.

Keeton didn't know what to do on first instance. When a set of seconds passed by, he began to clear his throat. Then he opened his mouth to speak the words on his mind. “Uhm, yes, I found three engineers very suitable. They live under the names of Crankcase, Swindle and Hatchet. Three young ones but they should be perfect for the job. As for the course, if I may for a moment.”

“Go ahead,” she replied before the stallion charged up his horn. He unfolded the map and held it into the air. Two spots got then marked upon the map. He made use of the time to look at the room as it was. Nothing had changed in all that time. The bloodstains still could be found on the walls while the windows to both the processing department and the inside of the chimney were also still present. Even the dossier closet which stood near the door was still there.

“The dot below is our current position as the dot above is Tol Ret Nac. With some luck, we will be there within two to three weeks,” he spoke with a steady tone as the magic around the dots faded but the line that connected the two began to light up.

“Two to three weeks, you say? And that is calculated with the engines running at full capacity?” Rarity asked to him. She needed to be sure about the matter before giving any orders.

Keeton shook his head at the words with a small sigh. “No it is not, boss. Given just how corrupted the levels are, I do not dare to let them run at full power,” he spoke as his defense.

“An understandable fact. Now, if you want to leave me alone. I need to concentrate myself a bit on these three before calling them up to tell them, the news,” replied Rarity surprisingly calm. Keeton gave a nod of understanding while the card fold itself back up and he made his exit from the office. But as he left, a grin took place on his face for he couldn't wait just how this would turn out.

---

There they all three stood. They shook on all four of their legs. Three black coated stallions, each of them having a different set of irises. One of them gulped before the metal door. “Hey, a-are you chicken, Swindle?” another one of them spoke.

“N-No I am not!” Swindle replied. He gathered his guts and knocked on the door with a hoof.

“Come in.” was the only thing that fell in their ears. Then the eyes of the stallions grew as small as possible. Swindle then processed to open the door and the three stallions let their eyes fall upon the office for the first time.

“Swindle, Hatchet and Crankcase, please, come in, I have important news to tell you three,” the mare behind the desk said to them. Once more, was her face hidden from the visitors she had.

“Y-Yes miss,” spoke Crankcase soft before he and his brothers entered the grim office.

“You three,” all of the sudden she turned herself around in order to face the triplets of lookalikes, “will be re-positioned into the engine room of the Facility. I have heard many great things about you three.” Her horn charged itself up and picked up the middle one, which happened to be Crankcase. She brought him up to her face. Her tone dropped into a cold one before she continued on her words. “...So don’t fail me! Now, get your sorry little flanks over to there and do your thing!”

Rarity threw the stallion out of the office and the other two soon followed on their own. The last one that left the room closed the door quickly behind himself. They made their way down the stairs as fast as they possibly could before they entered the room of the engine. The door was closed off behind them and they disappeared within the bowels of the room.

---

Corron and Mush were still sitting together and watched how the triplets ran by through the window of the canteen. The red coated stallion began to snicker deeply to himself as he saw just who entered it. “Finally those good-for-nothing-idiots are put to use! Mush, I have to grant it to you, this is going to be amazing,” the bald stallion chuckled up.

“See, I told you to just take it from me,” she replied under a small wink.

The triplets began to do their best in the engine room, shouting to each other to get it working while figuring out what they needed as many shouting and cursing did its turn through the room. The three of them were rarely seen outside of the engine room. Yet they somehow managed to get control over the entire room and its equipment within just two days. But little did they know was that they were breathing in the highly toxic vapors of the corrupted magic. It would be something that would eventually take its toll on all of them.

Though they were unable to make the engines roar with the ancient power they possessed. One day they would be. One day they would be able to make the Facility ready to travel back home, back to its very place of origin. The unicorn capital that was given the name of Tol Ret Nac.

Chapter 3

Corruption

A word with many interpretations

But given the line of work

It means just one thing

Death

“Hey Swindle! Did you finally figured out just how those bloody terminals work!?” shouted Crankcase over the humming engines. His brown eyes were fixed on the yellow rimmed stallion who worked like crazy. The triplets had been for in the engine room for two days by then as both Keeton and Rarity had been growing impatient for their deeds. Keeton just did it for the laughs he would get by discouraging them but Rarity was more serious. For she wanted to go to the unicorn city and with the opportunity given to her, she just desired to get there as soon as possible.

The yellow rims of Swindle glared over the many arcane symbols from the monitors while he tried to decipher just what the Ancient Unicorn language could even mean. “If you just shut up, Crank, then I may figure it out! Keep hammering on those switches, one of them has to turn these things on! Hatchet! Need a little hoof here, pull that lever over there again!” he shouted in return.

The blue rimmed stallion left his post by Crankcase with haste. He made his way over to the lever pointed out by Swindle. He yanked it back before his brown eyed brother pushed on a button he didn't even knew what it would do. Everything within the massive engines fell shut all of the sudden. The humming died ever so slowly as the flow of corrupted magic stopped. All three brothers stared at each other. One released a loud gulp while Hatchet dared to speak up. “We, are dead...”

It was when none of the three expected it that there was a bright red light. A light that made its way through the room. The corrupted magic flew even more freely through the pipes and pumped itself into the engines, which turned them on once again. But instead of hearing the soft humming they were used to, the engines gave a roar of pure and primal power. A roar that scared the three at first before they just erupted out in laughter. Something told them that they had done it.. They managed to get the five hundred year old engine to run as they did in the glory days of the Facility.

Without a warning given and above the roaring came the sound of pistons that dropped themselves down upon metal. Another sound was added soon enough as well. The screeching sound of drive shafts that turned again made their way into the ears. The three stallions grinned from ear to ear as they knew they managed to do it. The request of a mad mare had become a reality.

---

The pounding sounds of the engines were heard all over the Facility. The many captive unworthy unicorns crawled up against each other in their cells. Each of them was frightened that there was a machine even worse than the device they would met their fate in. All of the guards on each of the three holding floors looked at each other with a glaze of uncertainty. None knew just where the sound came from. If they didn’t know any better themselves, they too got a little scared.

Both Twilight and Trixie pulled the brakes of the Maker after the sounds did their turn in their ears. They stared at each other for a moment and then to the guards. “You all make sure those things do not escape, we need to look over at things upstairs,” spoke Twilight in a cold tone while her eyes laid down on each of the guards. But before the guards could react she and her mare were simply gone. They were off to the thirteenth floor to where the manager glared over the many monitors at once. She tried to figure everything out herself.

The both of them stormed into the office without a word. The eyes of Rarity were shooting all over the place. They went from monitor to monitor as her forehooves were stretched upon the desk. “Where does it come from, where does it bloody come from!?” she muttered to herself.

“Uhm, Rarity?” Twilight spoke up in a soft tone.

“Tell me you two have good news for me, please,” answered Rarity in her coldest tone.

“We, don’t... We hoped you would know it,” replied the unicorn even softer.

“Well, I can safely say... Hold on... N-No way,” she spoke up. Rarity let her mind to collect for the first time after the pounding sounds began. She then turned herself around on her chair. Her red rimmed eyes glared over to Twilight and Trixie with a big grin on her face. But the entire look on her face was more than enough to send a shiver down the spines of the other two officials.

“Does Rarity desire to tell both Trixie and Twilight what she has found?” Trixie asked with care. But only after she had recovered from the shiver and managed to look passed the maniac.

“I, I think I do. The engines, they are running again!”

“Impossible!” shouted Twilight without a warning and in an instant.

“It is true my dears. Finally, the Facility shall return to its place in Tol Ret Nac. Time for us, to go home, leave this roaming nature behind us... Time has come, finally come!” replied Rarity in utter joy. She leaned back in her chair and continued to smile like a fool. The same smile appeared on both the faces of Trixie and Twilight before they turned themselves back and left the office. The mares returned to their duties with an even greater pleasure.

---

Back down in the office of the moving department, Keeton and Mush found themselves in a discussion about the plans for the upcoming day as the events occurred. They stared at each other for a little bit while they tried to figure out just what may have happened as the pounding sounds entered their ears. The more Keeton stared into the eyes of Mush, the more a shock of realization came into him as he almost shouted his words in her face. “Sons of...!”

“W-What?” replied Mush in a confused yelp. The mare blinked a couple times after she had jumped out of her chair. She didn't receive a response as the stallion was gone almost in an instant. He made his way over to the door that separated the engine room from the rest of the building and placed his ear against it.

The more he listened to the sounds that came from behind it, the more he began to boil in pure anger. After a minute of listening had Keeton removed his body away from the door. Around his horn there was the signature purple aura formed itself while the humming sounds of power did their turns. Though they were almost inaudible by the crushing sounds of the pistons above their heads.

The head of Mush hung out the doorway and thus it gave her a perfect sight at the events that occurred. The deep purple coloring around his horn kept becoming stronger with each step he took. Many of the employees who were working on the floor quickly left as they knew what was going to happen and they didn't had the desire to be in the line of fire.

And then came the time that Keeton rose up on his hind legs and stood there for a couple seconds before he just dropped himself to the ground under a roar of mixed emotions. Emotions that couldn't be described by simple words. All the power that he could call upon got released into the free world. It formed one powerful beam that got sent towards a solid, metal wall. Once the metal and the magic made contact with each other, there was a deep corrosion that took place. Within seconds had the magic made its way through the wall. It only left a perfect, round hole behind. A hole that had to be sealed by somepony.

Mush gulped loud while she watched the events that happened. Yet she remained in the office, for the near rampaging stallion came back down the hallways. He discharged his horn in the progress before he walked through the opening and plopped back down on his seat.

“W-What is it?” the mare asked him ever so carefully and truly being afraid of another outburst. “Where was that even good for?!”

“Those three idiots, managed to let the engine run, that is what happened!” he snarled towards her. “Leave me alone, Mush, we have discussed what we needed, just get out!” The mare couldn't do much then that what was asked from her and she left his office quietly. She closed the door behind her and allowed him to boil in his anger. But she grew only more curious and thus went to inspect on the hole that was created. Mush gave her eyes the time to look at it, the devastating power of Keeton's magic was indeed more than worthy of his gotten name by gossip. She glared over the damage that was done and knew that Corron and herself had to repair it soon enough.

---

Inside the office on the thirteenth floor, there was a Rarity who could be found in her chair where she chuckled in herself. The time would be there soon enough that the very Facility would move once again under its own produced power. In order to watch the event happening, she left her office and walked down the staircase until she reached the –soon to be– ground floor. There she found herself before standing a heavy metal door.

With a light charge of her horn that coated itself in the red magic, was the door opened by itself. Rarity then stared right into the bright light of the sun that shone through the glass, front doors. She placed a hoof before her eyes to see for at least a little bit. After that, she progressed through the empty room. The room that every unworthy unicorn went through when they came to the Facility to meet their end. The path that would lead to death alone.

“The time has come,” Rarity spoke to herself just before she walked through the doors. Months of isolation within the Facility had made her forget just how pleasant it felt to have the sun meet her coat. With the soft wind that blew softly through her mane as it also served as some pleasant refreshment. Behind her was the cage she dared to call home for a long time. In front of her laid the land of Equestria, which had a wonderful day once again.

Rarity walked up to the edge of the cloud and sat down on her flanks. She just stared down upon the green plates of land before her eyes went up to the blue, cloudless skies. Times long lost boiled back up in her mind, times before the place she could be found in by then. But the memories were quickly crushed by her twisted mind.

Eventually it came to her ears. The loudest steam whistle she had ever heard, rang in her ears. All while more pistons had begun to sing their song. The drive shafts spun faster and faster with every passing second. Though the shafts had to connect to something and that they did. It was on the back of the Facility that there were three massive propellers. Propellers which slowly started to turn the more the shafts turned around.

The more she sat on the spot, the more the wind didn't only came from the side, but also from the front. All while the cloud drifted gently over the land on its own power. The cold, red rims of the unicorn glared at the event and once again erupted out in a maniacal laughter. The time had come, the Facility was moving on its own again. “Finally! Finally we can return to the city!” she shouted while she returned to the doors, only to disappear once more through them.

---

The Magic Facility had been drifting through the skies for nearly a week while Rarity had heard some rather disturbing news from the engine room. The very vapors from the corrupted magic took its toll on the triplets as they became sicker and sicker. The first solution was to give them the same suit that the workers of the processing department wore. But it wouldn't help either. Corron galloped to the door where he prayed that Keeton could be found behind. He entered the office of the stallion with a pant for his life and managed to rest his eyes upon the stallion. “K-Keeton, c-come quickly!”

The purple rimmed stallion just glared up from the many maps. “Corron, what is the matter?” he answered in a curious, but serious tone.

“E-Engine, casualties... J-Just come and see! No time to explain!” panted Corron out.

“For the love of,” was the only thing Keeton said. After that, he removed himself from the chair and passed the red coated, bald stallion in order to see just where the hype was about.

When he came into the boiler room, he saw just what had happened. On the floor could the bodies of three stallions be found. Each wore the classic white hazard suits and the door to the engine was still wide open. The purple eyes went back and forth between the two things before a shock of realization went through them and quicker than ever charged up his horn in order to close the door. After the shock of the door did its turn through the room, a glaze of rage that was irradiated from the eyes of Keeton went over everypony who had been gathering around. “Which one of you idiotic foals left that door open!” he shouted to everypony present.

A green coated stallion carefully rose his hoof under a gulp. “I, I sir.”

The enraged eyes of Keeton got fixed over to the stallion as a loud huff left through his nose. “And just, why?” he then almost wheezed through his mouth.

“I, I bring them their meals after my own shift, but when I didn't hear anything, I entered the room and found them like that, d-dead...” he stumbled.

“That is all fine and such, just why did you left that door open after that?”

“I thought it couldn't do much harm,” the poor stallion said in his defense.

As he heard the words in his ears, there were a couple wires that snapped in the head of Keeton. Before the stallion knew it he found himself smashed against the steel door of the engine room as the blue coated stallion discharged his horn. “And do you know just how bucking dangerous the liquids in that room are!?” he shouted to the other stallion.

“N-No sir, I do not!” the stallion shouted while he tried to fight of some tears. The hit had not broken any bones in his body, but the bruises would be unavoidable. Keeton wouldn't show him any mercy and charged up his horn again. The second time he levitated the green coated stallion and threw him against the hot metal on top of one of the boilers. The hissing sound of the flesh could be heard. The right side of his face was burned while he screamed in utter agony. It didn’t took Keeton before he dumped him on the ground once more. The poor soul hid his face from all the others. He wanted to ease the pain, but also don't show the other how he looked like.

“This is your first and only warning!” Keeton growled in a dead serious voice. “That goes for all of you!” He turned around and seemed ready to tell the news to his superiors. “And clean those bodies! Same treatment as the unworthies!” he barked as a last order. Some of the terrified employees managed to carry the bodies away as some others brought the burned stallion over to the medical office on the ninth floor which happened to be run by a stallion. A stallion considered to be even crazier than most of the others within the walls of the building.

A scientist –or that is what he called himself– that lived simply under the name of Medic. His manners of work were crazy and unlike any other doctor ever seen. But somehow he always managed to get things right. Everpony feared him deeply and thus they did their utmost best not to end up there. A thing which worked in most cases.

The green coated stallion was brought over and placed on a bedchair in the middle of the small medical office. The office where he just waited in pain as his body shocked and twitched every now and then while he moaned.

Eventually the white coated stallion appeared out of the backroom and only smirked at the sight that was caught in his eyes. “Ach, I knows whas zu tun. Just hold still.” A deadly grin took form just below his snout and before anypony could know it, the horrible screams of agony did their turn once again.

---

Keeton tried to keep the screams he heard from the unworthy's out of his own mind. Yet they echoed through the whole upper part of the building. With some difficult trains of thought did he found himself once again by that cursed, metal door. The stallion let a deep sigh pass through his nose and then opened the door without a knock. He looked inside and found Rarity glaring over to the insides of the chimney, where she watched the fresh magic that went up every now and then. “Boss, I have bad news...” he dared to speak.

“Bad news on the trip home?” her deadly gaze turned over to him as her breathing was deep and never heard before. “This better be terrible then...”

“It, quite is. The engineers in the engine room, died this day. They fell from the vapors that room is filled with. And just for yar information, I can’t spare a single soul anymore. With that thing running, I need every set of forehooves and horn I can get,” he spoke and pleaded his defense.

“So they passed away then,” she spoke while a soft grumble of utter discouragement left her mouth. Rarity fell back down in her chair and began to watch through the other window. The window that looked over to the processing department as in her own mind the many gears turned and twisted. She wondered herself gently just what to exactly do in the situation. “Leave me alone for the time being, Keeton, and thank you sharing this with me, return to your duty,” said Rarity after a few seconds had passed. It was clear that she needed to take some time for herself.

“Yes ma’am.” And with those words said he simply left the office and made his return all the way back down the stairs. Keeton made it back to his own office in the bowels of the beast without much problems. But one thought never left him as he ventured down, the discouragement in her voice. He never heard something like that in it. Many things began to spin in his head, many theories made up and revelations fantasized before he simply shook them off and worked further on his charting job. Even though they were on their way home, his skills were still needed.

---

“So they are truly dead now?” a female voice swiftly echoed through the room.

“Yes Mush, what do ya want this time? We just had our discussion of work just yet, remember?” the stallion replied without looking up.

“I require nothing from you right now, just that little word to confirm my thoughts. Just how do you think you will tell their parents?” Mush replied to him with a serious stare.

Keeton’s gaze finally turned up to the mare. One of his eyebrows rose up. “Nopony in this hole has parents left, remember,” he said in return to her, watching her ever motion.

“Watch out what you are saying, you will be throwing your own windows in like that.”

“Mush! Remove yarself from my office, and do it now!” A little shocked at the sudden outrage, Mush huffed loud and placed her belt buckle a bit more comfortable around her waist. After that did she just under some under breath muttering.

---

The stallion glared over Medic with a tear in his unburned eye. “D-Doc, how bad is it?” he managed to say in a high class sounding voice. The doctor had a look over him while a smirk came to his face. He plunged into a deep insanity and brought the burned pony over to a makeshift operating room and closed the door behind him. It would block off some of the sounds that would come from the room. But not all by far.

“Shh, shh, would you be quiet please? This procedure requires, concentration,” he spoke in a Germaney accent while he stroked the unburned cheek. The stallion couldn't do all that much else then just accept that what would happen and he tried to lay still on his back. The burning feeling of his skin connected to the metal still rushed through him. The poor soul prayed for an easy operation.

Medic took out a bonesaw with his red magical aura and started to hum a little in himself. As the stallion began to fear even more by then and simply closed his eyes. He was not even willing to see where it would be going to end.

Though everything was too late as many screams left the poor, burned stallion. Screams of utter agony had faintly made their way through the door. One other worker who happened to be walking by, he carefully placed his ear against the door and kept listening for a little while before he shook his head. “Poor fella,” he spoke before he went back to his original station. The dreadful holding department. The stallion made his way up some stairs to a locker room where he went over to a locker and opened it with his magic in order to pull on his bloodstained suit and hazard mask. A terrifying sight to behold and one many unworthy’s would see as their final sight.

Once being fully locked and loaded, he released a deep yet muffled sigh through the breathing apparatus and made his way over to a heavy metal door which opened with a simple charge of his horn. On the other side of the door was a metal catwalk. The catwalk that stood above the various holding cells. He was the first of the group to arrive and took place near the middle of it and waited. His eyes glared over to the terrified young mares and stallions below him. The more fear he saw in their eyes, the greater his sick joy became.

Time didn't had to progress that long before three other ponies –all of them wore the same suit design– made their way onto the catwalk and took their respectable places as well. Then it was the waiting game that began. The waiting for the under-managers to come and do their job.

Not a single word was spoken by either parties. Yet a young stallion looked up with teary eyes. He dared to let his mind grind over just why they did such a thing to them. His dull green eyes lowered themselves from the catwalk shortly afterwards. He dropped his eyes and let them fall upon his co-captives in the dark, grim and bloodstained cell.

Many of them were too scared to even look up and could be found curled up together as a final support. But the young stallion had accepted the fact of what came next. He had heard the rumors and words spoken by the guards from time to time, not to mention the first glimpse of the place when he was brought there. He knew he was not coming back from it all. It was a one way trip to the great unknown.

A deep sigh left through his nose before his eyes closed themselves from the world. It would let him drift off into realms unknown to anypony, realms only he could enters. Realms of freedom and peace as he softly started to sing a song from his foalhood. “The King and his man, lifted the Queen from her bed...and bound her in her bones. The skies be ours and by the powers, where we will, we’ll roam.”

More he couldn't sing as the banging sound of pistons that got into motion was heard even louder and the door flung open again. Instead of stallion shaped guards, there were two mare shaped figures which walked onto the catwalk and stopped in the very middle.

Their breathing was heavy while their eyes pierced into the soul of any unlucky enough to see them. Some of the curled up ponies began to glare up to the catwalk while others only began to shake in the purest fear they had ever experienced. Their time to become magic itself had come.

---

Rarity was still watched over the chimney as many thoughts rushed through her mind on just how to keep the engine room running without the loss of more precious workers. Many crazy ideas crossed her mind, but all ended up in losing workers. Both of her forehooves jammed on the desk as a highly annoyed growl left her. “For the sake of Nightmare Moon herself, am I that stupid that I am not seeing it, or it is just an unsolvable matter to begin with!?” the mare muttered to herself.

Hatred had begun to flow through her eyes. It made the red coloring even more dangerously looking than it normally did. The deep red color nopony ever wanted to see. It was when she turned her head over to the window of the processing department, when she stared deep into her own eyes which got reflected off of the glass, that a spark hit her. A spark of both insanity and ingenuity. For her eyes looked like rubies by that point in time. Little gemstones she always loved and liked. Stones she could summon and bend to her own will. “Yes, yes!” she yelled out to herself and leaned back in her chair and let it spin around a little bit. “One part of the plan can be put into motion, I just pray those two know what they are up for.”

A deadly smirk took form on her face and she simply left her chair. The mad mare walked up to the window that overlooked the entire department and her eyes fell on the just teleported group of unworthy unicorns. Rarity continued to watch with sadistic glee how they would be processed into Equestria’s greatest power.

The countless screams fell in her ears with pure evil delight as her eyes couldn't be hold off of them. The pure power of the device was simply mouthwatering and promising. Rarity loved it, every single inch of that horrible device she cherished like a child of her own. It was her destiny, her true potential. She provided the land with magic at the cost of the weaklings of the unicorn race.

---

The stallion who sang the song in the holding cell not even ten minutes ago, found himself on the belt leading into the mouth of the Maker. Its gaping, steaming hole of darkness and death was waiting for the next one to enter. He glared over to the ponies who had undone their masks before they rested on Twilight, who pulled a lever. The lever which set the conveyor belt he was hooked on, in motion. His attention turned back towards the gap and all he could do was something he did a long time ago, accepting his end.

His body got consumed by the darkness of the device and it didn't took long before the deadly syringes were crammed into his body and his tear tubes penetrated. All of his body liquids got sucked out of him faster than anything could imagine and a loud scream of pure agony left through his mouth. A scream which indulged even more fear into the ones behind him.

Then his screams stopped while the sound of bones snapped and broken could be heard before the eerie silence began to dominate the surrounding area for a few seconds. Afterwards, there were a couple of ‘thuds’ that echoed through a metal pipe. He was broken, dried and made his way to be consumed by the raging fires of the devil’s boilers.

---

Rarity turned herself back around and began to charge up her own horn. Her very own plan would be set into motion as the last of them were being processed. The more her horn began to store with power, the greater its humming became. Unknown amounts of power found themselves in the horn, amounts Rarity only used once in a year. Cracks would have emerged within the metal floor before it turned it into a gaping hole of ground and earth. Whatever she was doing, she was summoning something to their realm. Something that was possibly, terrible.

With a simple raising motion of her head did hundreds of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, mountain crystals, amethysts and diamonds rose up from the hole. All of the gems swirled around each other like a vortex before the hole itself got closed up again. Rarity let her eyes fell shut while she took some deep breaths and brought shapes in the many gems. Some of them got even brought to their melting point before being put into the right place.

Within ten minutes of intense work were four figures placed on the ground. The mare opened her eyes again and let them fall over the simple designed, crystallized ponies. “Soon, very soon,” she spoke under a devilish grin as her ears perked up in excitement.

---

And just when she spoke those words, both Twilight and Trixie walked into her office. They had done their deeds for the day. Though the both of them rose an eyebrow when they saw the ponies made out of the gems. Both Twilight and Trixie turned their heads to the other and back, almost if they checked that if their eyes weren't lying to them.

“Uhm, Rarity... Just what are, those?” Twilight asked a little anxiously.

“These little beauties, my dear Twilight Sparkle, shall be the workers of the engine room,” answered Rarity in a tone of madness.

“And how does that work? Trixie does not fully understand that,” added Trixie.

“That is quite the easy part,” said Rarity while she turned herself around and her glance of utter insanity fell upon the both of them. “You two, will animate them. Pull on their strings, giving them life!”

Both of the mares looked at each other again and but deep in their eyes they spoke the same words. They knew just what Rarity wanted and couldn't do much else then accept the will of the manager. Luckily for the white mare, they both knew the spell she mentioned and they charged up their horns to perform the casting of it.

“Yes, yes! Release it when ready!” yelled Rarity in sick joy while she took a step aside.

“Nragh!” was just one of the sounds released by them both before two beams of a red magical aura left their horns and surrounded the crystal ponies. Soon enough begun the aura to fade away and Rarity's eyes glared over everything in the room. First to her under managers, then over to the crystal puppets.

“Come on, come on,” Twilight mumbled in herself. Within a few seconds did the ponies began to move on their own. At first a little bit wooden, but then they got the hang of it. All four of the crystal bodies lined up behind each other and started to march towards the door opening it and just left like that. As if they knew where they would be going to.

Rarity began to fill herself with rage at the sight playing out before her. “And just why are my new employees leaving this room without me having spoken a word!?” she growled to Twilight.

“Because,” Twilight replied cold before she blew the steam off of her horn, “I imprinted where they needed to go, what they would be doing. You said they were going into the engine room, that is where they are heading as we speak. Any more questions, manager?”

“No, no I do not, return to your posts and don’t make me leave this office again.”

Both mares gave a nod of understanding before they turned back around and left the unicorn to cook in her own soap. Trixie gave a small kiss on the cheek of Twilight before she spoke up after the door had fallen shut. “You are so deliciously evil.”

“No Trixie, I am Twilightlicious,” she replied under a soft wink while she opened the door of her quarters. Her tone had changed into a much more loving one. “Come right in.”

“Hmhmhm, you know you don’t have to say that twice to Trixie,” her love replied and went inside under a soft chuckle. Twilight closed the door behind her for everypony and it would only be her love and herself.

Chapter 4

Bodies of crystal and no soul

The workers of the future today

If it was only so simple

“But what I don’t get Mush, is how in the name of Luna can you have a crush on Keeton? I mean, I am way more handsome than he is, plus only half as insane,” the stallion spoke with a sick chuckle while his eyes fell over on the mare who sat next to him. He kicked his hind legs on the small table that stood before him while he enjoyed his break. One of the few moments of rest in the hellhole.

“I don’t know Corron, I just have it. It, it’s a bit complicated to explain to another stallion,” the mare replied while she gained a deep red blush on her face in response to his words. They found themselves in the small canteen that was located in the department itself. Only two windows were to be seen and they both looked out over the hallway the triplet of stallions rushed though.

“Aah, don’t be into it too much. Relations here don’t stand long and you know it better than any of us. Either one of the two goes utterly insane.” Corron said while he closed his eyes in an attempt to take a very light nap. But he kept his ears perked to her words.

“I know, I know,” added Mush to her words, appearing lost in her thought.

“Heh, still can’t get the image of Kooiman’s jaw being destroyed by whatever it was that you had,” Corron then said in the hope to lighten the mood a bit.

Mush turned her attention away from the dull gray walls for the very first time. She just stared over to the stallion. She wondered just why he changed the subject so quick in her mind. “With a wrench and don’t go and feel sorry for him. For he knew none of us couldn't stand him out,” she spoke as her reply. Mush didn’t wanted to discuss anything about the incident.

“Aye, that is true. As much as we are friends, I hate being his bucking translator. You think they can refund an normal Equestrian course for him?” Corron said before as he placed his fore hooves behind his head. What followed was a chuckle from him, before he shook his head.

“If he is able to speak at all when he returns maybe. Never seen a jaw that fractured.”

“You know that Medic can do pretty much everything, right?”

“Don’t get me started," she spoke while she closed her eyes. The horrible images of her body that laid on the makeshift operation table shot before her eyes once again. It happened years ago, but Mush was caught in a terrible accident which caused a metal shaft to be impaled in her body. The thing did miss her vital organs. Yet to remove it out of her body was still something easier said than done. Even Medic thought that it was impossible at some points during the operation.

A couple tears built themselves up below the eyes of the mare. Corron knew he had tugged on her heartstrings a bit too much. “Oh yeah, I remember that one… ‘Cuse me for bringing it up again Mush,” he spoke when his eyes opened again. They got placed upon her in a gentle manner.

“It, it’s alright Corron, I just was on the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said while she gave him the smallest of smiles while she wiped the tears away.

“You sure about that?”

Mush gave only a simple nod to his words and opened her lifeless eyes once more while she leaned back in the little couch they found themselves on.

---

Time didn't progressed long before the door of the little canteen swung open and another stallion entered the room. The white coated, bloodstained stallion didn't spoke a word to the two and only gave a simple nod. He took place on one of the chairs that stood there and found himself staring right into the black hind hooves of Corron. “For Nightmares sake you red idiot, hooves off the table! There are some that are willing to eat here,” he snarled to Corron.

“Hm? Did you say something, Bloodshed?” he spoke in a teasing tone while one of his eyes opened up just a little bit.

Bloodshed huffed a little bit before he opened his lunchbox. “Yes I did, hooves off the table.”

“Fine, fine,” he replied in a nagging tone and removed his hindhooves from the table and allowed the other unicorn to be able to eat. “There, happy now pretty miss?” he spoke in teasing undertone.

“Much better,” spoke Bloodshed while he took out a sandwich with cheese. Mush had to be doing her best not to chuckle at the two foals. She closed her eyes again and leaned even further into the couch. “Is it true?” he asked while he turned his slightly red rimmed eyes over to the green mare.

“What is?” Mush replied to his question without even looking up.

“Your eyes, that they stare into your soul, almost sucking it out?”

“Is that what they say nowadays? No, they do not suck out your soul, but they are great for making you feel uncomfortable.” Bloodshed gulped a bit but also swallowed a piece of his sandwich while he quickly turned his attention over to the space between the two other ponies. “I thought so,” she spoke chuckling before shaking her head lightly.

---

Meanwhile in his office, Keeton let his blue eyes stare over the map of the ancient times. The time where Cloudsdale had just been raised up from the ground and the Capital of the Earth ponies was working on its strong fortification. It where those times that had been impressing him since he was just a young colt. Times of war and disharmony. The three races that clashed against each other while trying to gain more land.

Though he didn't truly mind the peace between the races as it was. For it helped all of them in so many ways. The unicorns didn't have to fear a sudden platoon of patrolling Pegasi in the air that were on a collision course with the Facility. Something that was quite different in the months before the banishment of Nightmare Moon.

With his office located close to the spiral staircase that lead through the whole building, his ears caught the sound of hooves coming down from it. “This isn't right, all the workers are down here," Keeton thought out loud while he rose his head up to the door. The stallion wondered just who would enter his domain. Out of safety reasons for himself, he folded up the charts again and let them rest upon his desk. After that he turned his eyes back over to the door. He waited for that what came through it. Whatever it would be, good, bad, or something in between.

The clattering of hooves became louder as the seconds passed by. In his mind he didn't count three sets of hooves, but four. “All the officials, and a new one?” he questioned himself before he took place in his chair again. Keeton allowed his elbows to rest upon the desk and his fore hooves to fall against each other while letting his head rest on top of that. “This shall be interesting,” the stallion said while a deep smirk appeared on his face.

---

When the door did finally swung open it revealed the animated bodies of crystal and they came walking in without a word spoken. With the sight that fell into his eyes, the blue coated stallion blinked a couple times in utter confusion. Though within a second had he removed his body from the chair. “What in the name of Tartarus is this!?” he almost shouted while he walked out of his office.

All the employees that worked in the main boiler room took note of the bodies that came in and dropped their work. Each of them turned themselves around while their attention was fixed upon the things. Those mysterious things that marched in a perfect line. Some started to whisper that they were the new security feature that had been doing its rumor for weeks by then.

The animated humps of crystal made their way over to the door that led over to the engine room. Keeton knew more than enough in that moment, it would cause bigger troubles than he was worth. The stallion rushed over to the things while he charged his horn up in order to keep the door shut. “Not a single soul has permission to enter there! Not without any higher authority,” he spoke up. He had assumed a pose showed he was ready to fight them if he had to.

Though the crystallized ponies came to a standstill and didn't even bother to turn themselves over to him. They just stood there, as they waited for the door to open.

“Hey! Are ya idiots hearing me? Even with yar fancy diamond cloths, ya are not going to make it in there. The levels of corrupted magic are simply too high!” he shouted out even louder over the sounds of the raging fires, whistles of steam and the jamming pistons.

A bright flash of raspberry aura'd magic appeared just behind the blue coated stallion. Keeton left his fighting pose and turned himself around once more. He carefully placed a hoof before his eyes in order to still see something. “Oh crap," was all he could say in response.

---

Out of the light that was created she stepped, the highly insane, under official. Her mulberry coat still hinted the strains of blood while her red rimmed eyes got focused on the stallion while a smirk was to be found on her face. “Keeton, why aren't our new workers on the place they need to be, hm?” she spoke in a sickly kind tone for her appearance.

“U-Under official Sparkle, I d-didn't expect ya to, quite literally, drop by. But ya have to know, that even with those suits, the levels of magic simply are too dangerous to let a single soul be working in there.” Keeton managed to speak with a polite tone in his voice.

“Good thing they don’t have a soul then,” replied Twilight while she passed him.

“E-Excuse me?” Keeton asked confused. He turned his body around to keep her within his eyesight. Something was going on and he needed to know exactly what it was.

“These, are the new workers for the engine room, Keeton. Imprinted with all the knowledge there is of them. They do not eat, they do not sleep and above all, they can’t become corrupted. Now, open the door or I do it for you,” added Twilight her words. She only turned her head over to him. He received the mad glare in her eyes and felt a shiver down the spine.

“Of, of course,” the stallion said before his horn discharge itself. With it, was it made possible to unlock the door. “But let them enter as fast as possible, I do not want to lose even more workers. And ya know how stupid those from the holding department are when they come here.”

“I understand that completely, Keeton,” spoke Twilight before she allowed her own horn to charge up again. With a simple movement of her head did the heavy locks of the door unlock themselves. Most of the workers took cover as if there was a bomb behind it. The stallion took a could steps back from it out of pure fear. There wasn't much he feared in the place, but the engine room was definitely up there. Twilight on the other end gained a grin of utter insanity while she watched the events. Their fright, was her delight.

Under the loud metal screech the door that led to the deadly engine room had opened once again and out of its gaping hole came the fog of the corrupted magic did its turn. The stallion’s eyes shrunk at the sight and he could only pray that the under official kept her word.

The crystal bodies made their way quickly into the room and Twilight closed the door once more before locking it back up ever so tightly. With the final lock that fell back into place again, she turned herself over to Keeton and spoke her words in the kind tone. “Now, that wasn't all too bad, was it?”

Keeton shook his head as her words echoed through his mind while he tried to be the rough and tough stallion he always was. “No it wasn't. I shouldn't have doubted yar intellect,” he spoke up in a sarcastic tone.

“Good, good. Now carry on with your normal duties down here, Rarity wishes to get the Facility moving again, asa-bloody-p,” spoke Twilight while she made her departure through the door that led to the staircase. Twilight wasn't in the mood to argue the sarcastic tone with him as she had more important business to do.

The stallion kept his mouth shut tight until the door fell in its lock. After it had closed again, his entire voice turned into a voice filled with anger while he made his way over to the small canteen. “Like I don’t know that! Thank ya for telling me, under official Sparkle… Been talking to that horse for weeks about this… Princess Celestia’s proud student, puh! My bucking behind!”

---

Meanwhile in the little canteen, Mush, Corron and Bloodshed were exchanging the very story of just how they got into the Facility. While he ate his sandwiches, the white stallion did his story. “I was in the need of a job, failed at a couple others until the letter laid on my doormat. Course I took the job right away, I mean, how many times does an employer come to you? Little would I know it would be here,” he said to the both of them.

“Boring story if you ask me, but one that is highly understandable given the bit crisis that is going on. Heard some counties are almost bankrupt,” spoke Mush. She opened her eyes once more and just gently stared over everything to be seen. The dull gray walls, the windows and door, the table and the free chairs. But in the end she let her eyes rest upon the stallion that did the words.

“I don’t get it to begin with, how can a country become bankrupt?” Corron spoke with his head leaned upon his right forehoof which was laid on the tabletop. The glance in his eyes gave away that he tried to think about the matter. A matter of which he understood little to nothing.

“Hell if I know,” Bloodshed replied, “never studied Economics.”

“Has something to do with the treasure chest. But I heard that the pegasi got the hardest hit of all the three races. The entire Weather Corporation up in Cloudsdale almost got shut down if it wasn't for Celestia. She gave some of her funds meant for her school over to them. Gotta admit, bold move. But one that saved our flanks. Can you imagine how things would become if it didn't happen?” said Mush before she came out of the chair a bit more. The green coated mare laid her forelegs on the table and her eyes glared over the two of them while she waited for the answer.

“The Everfree would expand. You know that the weather there flows freely right?” answered Corron. “Remember that we once decided to fly over it during the middle of a storm? Barely made it through… They say we are insane, but the ones that are truly insane,” he pointed his hoof upward as if he was aiming through the floors, up to the highest office.

“Never met any of the three,” replied Bloodshed before he finished his last sandwich.

“Be glad, for when you have to go up there it mostly means bad news for you,” the red coated stallion spoke with a dark chuckle.

“Enough of yar bloody talks, make some room will ya,” the voice of Keeton echoed through the room. Both the mare and bald stallion rose their eyebrows. Bloodshed moved a little bit with his chair in silence so that he could take place with another chair.

“Bad day, I take?” Mush spoke softly towards him.

“Don’t get me even started. Say, who are ya?” the foreman replied while he let his eyes fall upon the stallion next to him.

“Bloodshed sir, joined the department about a month ago,” he replied in a soft tone.

“Huh, I don’t seem to remember ya. What is yar normal station?” Keeton asked further.

“Boiler thirteen.”

“Celestiadammit!” the stallion almost shouted. His raise in tone startled the young worker.

“S-Something wrong?” Bloodshed carefully asked as both Mush and Corron got a deep smirk on their faces but tried to conceal it.

“How could… Who placed ya there to begin with!?”

“A, a blond coated stallion, sir.”

“Kooiman.” The blue eyes of stallion began to fill themselves with despise in an instant. All while he tried to keep his sanity together. “Seriously, if it wasn't for his engineering skills, I would have thrown him into the Maker myself a long time ago… Return to yar post, yar break is over, right?” Keeton was at the point of breaking. The strain of the day had almost become too much.

---

The white coated stallion gulped at the little outburst. He didn't know just how fast he needed to pack his gear and left the three of them. It was when the door fell shut behind him, Keeton managed to calm himself down from everything that had gotten across him in the past minutes. He brought his forehooves to his eyes and rubbed them under a groan. He seemed to be done with it all.

“What happened?” Corron bluntly asked eventually.

“New workers…”

“Now that isn't that bad now is it?” Mush replied to him. She allowed her eyes to fall on the both of them, watching over them with a careful expression.

“Yeah, ya weren't there when those, things, came in… Ponies made from crystal… Where did those three got that idea from!?” Keeton spoke up while he kept rubbing his eyes.

“Wait, what?” Mush turned her head over to Keeton and simply blinked a couple times.

“Ya heard me, those three created ponies out of humps of crystal that will be working in the engine room. What is next, the whole Facility?”

“Ha! If it comes that far, the current workers will spill out the secrets, or end in a body bag,” Corron chuckled to himself. In his eyes was there no other way it could have ended.

“It’s the last one that I fear,” Keeton spoke while he removed his hooves from his eyes. He then fixed the cleaned eyes on the stallion. His forelegs crossed themselves on the tabletop as a deep sigh left through his nostrils. It troubled him a lot more than it should have.

“Won’t be that bad right?” Mush spoke up as she allowed her gears to grind over the matter.

“We shall see and hope,” he spoke while leaning back in the chair. “But enough of this crap, how’s business for the both of ya?”

---

“Come in,” the voice of Rarity echoed through her office after she heard a knock on the door. The door opened and in its gaping hole was nopony else then Twilight herself. Her red rimmed eyes glared over the room where both the white coated mare and Trixie could be found. She then walked in. Rarity sat –as per usual– on her chair behind the desk whereas Trixie leaned against the desk. “Good to see you, Twilight, I assume the task given was a success?” she said upon the entrance.

“Not for the complete one hundred percent yet. I still need to dig through the archives to look for more data about the engines. Blueprints don’t exist anymore but notes might be left and right. I don’t want to be disturbed for the coming couple of hours. If you need something from it, I suggest taking it now. For once that door falls shut behind me, it won’t open until I am done,” the mare spoke while she stood in front of the desk. “And here, how are things going about?”

“Trixie shall indulge the greatest of fears within the very hearts of the unworthy’s,” the other mare spoke up. She allowed a deep grin taking form below her muzzle.

“I shall do my best to let both find and get some of my magic to be flowing right through the very vent that is connected to the engines reservoir. They knew what they were doing, all that time ago I am afraid. Not a single ounce of magic is able to be called up there and if luck isn't on our sides, they are just what they always have been, humps of diamond simply waiting to either get crushed, collected or sold,” spoke Rarity before she removed herself from her chair. The mare walked up to the window where she had a perfect sight on the processing department.

“So the tasks are known, only the execution awaits. Then so it shall be done. I will meet you both in a couple of hours again,” spoke Twilight up before she turned herself around and left the office. She would have made her way down a floor while she collected the magic within her body. She guided it over to her horn before the door of the archive opened on itself it.

Twilight made her way inside and let the door fell shut behind her. Twilight turned herself around in order to face the door again before the hum of magic only become even more and an arcane circle came around it. It was through this circle that the room would be literally locked off from any living soul within the Facility. “Now then,” she spoke while she let out a peaceful sigh leave through her nose, “let’s find some of those records.”

---

Twilight had begun on her time consuming search, Trixie had left the office as well. She was on her way to the holding department in order to change her attire. Only Rarity was left in the office and she kept watching the visible department for a little longer. She enjoyed the sight of the unworthy unicorns being broken, if not completely shattered, where they stood.

Eventually had she turned herself back over to the desk and took place in her chair again before she summoned a map of the whole Facility. Before her eyes did the arcane map of the whole building emerge. A map that was created by the first manager and edited by the ones that followed. It showed the many pipelines that were moving through it and her eyes spotted the engine room. Ever so carefully she maneuvered over the map with a hoof. Her eyes followed the pipes to the very vent the corrupted vapors would make their exit into the air.

The vapors where an interesting thing on their own. For they had ability to just drive a pony insane in just a matter of seconds. When one came in the contact with the air it appears to be far lighter than it. Therefore simply raising up further in the atmosphere and into space, where it can’t do any form of harm.

“Now this is something interesting.” But as she watched a bit more, it became all clear for her. “Eureka!” she shouted before she leaned back into her chair. “There is a small hatch, just before it leaves the Facility, if it is possible to get my magic into there and make it got against the stream, it should be possible for those humps to stay alive. Only if...”

There was a small, wondering twinkle came in her eyes. Rarity rose back up to the map, following the pipelines once more. Though that time she also reached for her signature glasses. Glasses she hadn’t worn in some time. All in the attempt to see if she had been looking right.

---

“So that is how the whole thing works then, isn't it?” Twilight mumbled into herself after having spent hours upon hours in the archives. Through countless documents had she been looking already. She had found some very useful information about the engines that were thought to be lost. “I only hope that Rarity already found that where she has been looking for,” the added to her words.

The unicorn placed her eyes back on the documents that were discovered. She read through them once more. Twilight just wanted to have all the information in her head for the transportation of it. The last thing she needed was to come back with nothing to show for it.

---

Through luck in her gazing she did manage to find it. The first time had Rarity glanced a bit wrong, the second time she was certain that she had the right tubes and thus found the right vent. There was only one last thing to do and that was waiting for Twilight to return back to the office. “Soon enough we shall be there, soon enough we do not have to roam around anymore,” she spoke up.

The door of her office swung open at the same moment she spoke her words and in the entrance the mulberry unicorn could be found with the many documents levitating next to her. “Soon enough indeed, if you happen to have found that thing already,” Twilight spoke up.

“Questioning me again, Sparkle?” the manager replied with a sick grin on her face.

“Questioning? No. Wondering on the other end, yes,” she said while coming closer.

“Anyway,” Rarity continued on, “I have located the very exit valve of the engine’s reservoir. There’s one catch, it is hidden somewhere deep within the Facility. It is right between the ninth and tenth floor. Just behind the most eastern hallway that leads from the catwalks, there is a door sealed tightly and it is there, it can be found. Ready to leave when you are.”

“Why haven’t we found it before then?” Twilight asked with a wondering gaze.

“Tartarus if I know, it is the same question as why didn't we start up the engines earlier,” replied Rarity before she shrugged with her shoulders.

“You do have a point there though,” said Twilight before giving a couple nods. “Let’s suit up then. And you sure Trixie doesn't need to come with us for this?” It is still a bit too sudden if you ask me...what has startled you so much that you want to return to the city in such a hurry? What is haunting you? It was a thought that went through Twilight. She never told it to anypony, but she had been wondering the entire operation from the start.

“She stays in the holding department for the time being. Besides, if we do not make it back, there is always her to lead, right?” Rarity spoke while hoisting herself from her chair. She made her way over to a small locker in the room and out of that she took her signature bloodstained hazard suit and mask. A sigh of nostalgia left her nose as she hoisted herself into it. “I suggest you do the same, Twilight,” were the last words that Rarity spoke.

The mare nodded before she turned herself around again and left the office with a rather quick pace. She went two floors down to her own room. There was a reason of why she went a lot faster than normal. The reason behind it was that she also took something out of the archives that she didn't had to. Something that was supposed to stay behind, hidden within the walls themselves.

Once she reached her quarter, Twilight took out the very bottom document she had gathered and glanced over it a bit. Soon enough, there was a single tear that made its way down her cheek. On the file stood a set of words and a number. The mare sniffled one time softly and with her hoof she removed another tear from her eye before the file was placed under her pillow. With her eyes she gazed one last time of the words before she mumbled them quietly. “T. Sparkle...”

Twilight turned herself over to her own locker and began to suit up as well, she was ready to quit the roaming nature of the Facility. But above all, she was ready to watch the mythical capital of her very kind. A city thought to be long lost by the two other races.

---

Many of the young adults were literally shivering within their cell, waiting for anything to happen to them. None knew what would happen, but they all knew they wouldn't come out of here alive.

Tik, tik, tik, tik, went above the heads of ponies in one particular cell and some of them dared to look up as others simply curled up even tighter into a ball, wishing it was all a nightmare. Above their little heads, high on the catwalk, she emerged. A Trixie who wore her full attire of suit and mask. On her right forehoof had she something that appeared to be a small, gloved dagger that covered the entire hoof.

Upon the sight of the madness did the ones that had the courage to look up, gulp loud. Some even lowered their heads already. They felt that it was all over. That their end had come and they would be next. They wouldn’t have been far off though.

“Welcome, welcome and welcome,” Trixie spoke in the muffled voice, “all of you are carefully chosen to become the very elements of what we as unicorn race use every day. Soon enough will your little bodies be broken, crushed while your spirit will be destroyed like it is nothing. And for what you ask?” Trixie began to snicker behind her mask as the visible gaze in her eyes turned to utter madness. “For magic itself!”

“Y-You wouldn't dare!” a young mare spoke up. Her eyes kept themselves fixed upon Trixie.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” the mare replied while her horn charged itself up. The aura wasn’t only around the horn of Trixie, but also around the mare that dared to speak up. The pony who dared to speak was brought up to eye height with the madmare. Who in return was willing to speak some hard words with her. “Now, now, now, there’s no need for those words,” spoke Trixie in a tone of utter insanity. All of the sudden there was a sharp pain went through the body of the mare. Trixie then removed the dagger out of the young mare her liver who screamed in utter agony from the pain that rushed through her. “Were you saying something, unworthy?”

Through her teary eyes she looked at the mare and shook her head in a disagreeable manner. “Good,” answered Trixie before she let her horn discharge itself and the unlucky mare fell down to the hard ground. On impact did she broke both of her hind legs. Yet Trixie didn't care for it. Soon she would have been broken anyway. “We do or we don’t. We never dare anything,” were the last words Trixie spoke before she left the holding cell as a whole.

With her gone, there were some of the other captives made their way over to the injured mare and began to take care of her the best they could. But that was a thing easier said than done for her tibia had been broken in two places and ripped itself through the skin. She sobbed quietly in her miserly as one of her co-captives pressed its hoof firmly on the stabbing wound while others tried to nurse it.

---

In the very bottom floor of the Facility had the red, corrupted magic gained a burst of a mixed blue and raspberry colored aura while it raced through the many pipelines. But where the corrupted magic was thick, the new magic was much thinner and therefore able to make its way through the metal pipes and cracks within them. The new magic made its way right into the humps of crystal. Which began to mutate the humps of crystal into the ponies they were. They all just worked on the very engine with the knowledge gotten through the new magic flow. That new flow of magic, was their source of everything. Sleep, food, knowledge, everything they could have thought of.

Within a couple hours had the Facility kicked back into its highest possible gear and was more than ready to continue the journey to Tol Ret Nac. Everypony in the building heard the roaring engines start up once again and the difference that was created into the movement speed. But the most remarkable fact was that all of them quickly adjusted themselves to this new routine of labor.

---

Some days had passed by and Rarity found herself sitting behind her desk. Her eyes glared over the map she had gotten from Keeton. After careful glancing did she gave a little nod. The mare removed herself once more from her chair and out of the door. She maneuvered her way down towards the rooms of Trixie and Twilight and gave a loud knock on each of the doors.

The two mares had lost all their track of time and basically fell asleep when they wanted or needed. There were no windows in the whole building and clocks hung on certain places. Both a sleepy Trixie and Twilight opened their respectable door and they simply gazed over to Rarity. “The time is nigh, we are approaching the city at last. Come with me,” she spoke with a smile. One that went from ear to ear in an eerie manner.

When the words echoed through their ears, the eyes of both the mares shot open. They almost jumped out of the room to follow the managing unicorn. None of them could actually believe it that after all the time they would finally be seeing their very own mythical capital.

With some time having progressed, the three of them found themselves on the very cloud where the Facility stood on. All three gazed in the far distance as before their eyes the very air started to ripple and twist. “They know we are coming, Twilight. If the city reveals itself, we do the same,” explained Rarity. But only after she took note of Twilight's odd expression. The mulberry mare nodded while she kept her attention to the twisting spot of air. And it was after a few seconds it become visible. The one place where a unicorn could really be, a unicorn.

The metal city within the air hung there as if it was the most normal day of the week. Its industrial chimneys stood high in the skies while smoke was blown out of some of them. A cloud of white smoke with bits of black hinting within them were the ones the lest them. The houses were just boxes stacked upon each other but the architecture was that of classical unicorn design. Straight lines and sharp edges were perfect for interlocking with things.

The dominant color of the whole city was the same grayish color the Facility had but there was the coloring of many gems to be found as well when Trixie gazed even further. Gems always had been something dear to the unicorns as a race. Rarity loved them more than anypony in the facility.

In the very middle of the beautiful looking city stood a building made of the purest metal ever seen. Making its way down the spire where the mythical rivers of liquid platinum. All three of the unicorns knew that it was there where their beloved princess had lived and was buried.

The full glory of the city was catching each of their eyes, all three of them gained a grin upon their face. A grin of complete madness. They were so close to returning him, Though there was one little problem. They were coming in far too fast.

Chapter 5

No matter how much one desires to get rid of the past happened events

They are always coming back harder than one would ever be expecting

A lesson most learn the hard way

Though some are too stubborn to see it

With the wind that blew gently through their manes, the three officials of the Magic Facility just stared down upon their ancient capital. Their sick grins turned into smiles of utter glee as time went by. The industrial chimneys came closer before the smell of the burned coal soon did its turn through their noses. Trixie was the only one to take deep sniffs from the blackened air. She closed her eyes in order to enjoy the industrial smell alone. The wretched stench of it, caused the grin to widen.

But something was wrong, for the whole building came towards the city far too fast. With her calculating mind had Twilight shocked up from the revelation. With fear in her body did she poked Rarity rather hard. After Rarity was ripped from her dream, she just turned her head over to Twilight with a unpleasant stare. “I pray on your soul that you are having a bloody good reason to ruin this moment for me,” she said to her in a normal, but haunting tone.

“We are getting in too fast! If we don’t slow down, the whole Facility will crash into the city,” Twilight spoke up. The fear that came from her voice was rightfully placed.

“Hmhmhm, my dearest Twilight, simply enjoy the sight for what it is. I have taken these kind of things into consideration, a long time ago,” replied Rarity before she turned her head back over to the metal city in the skies. Her eyes fell again upon the sight that she came to love.

“I can only pray you are right,” mumbled Twilight just loud enough for Rarity to hear.

“I am almost all of the time.”

“My fear exactly…”

While the gap only got closer and closer between the metal building and the city, Twilight feared that they would crash into the side and thus damage, if not destroy their precious Facility. Trixie opened her eyes a bit once more. There was a question that had been boiling in her mind for some time by that point. “Trixie wonders," she started, "how are we going to connect to there?”

Rarity looked over to the mare with a deep grin. “We are going to reconnect the same way it got separated, Trixie, through screws and bolts accompanied with strong hooves and horns.”

“Interesting,” both of the mares spoke in a soft choir.

---

Down in the engine room was it everything but nice and quiet. Every single soul was doing its utmost best to keep up with the raising tempo. Keeton found himself in the very middle of the room and was looking over his workers while yelling out his orders. “Mush, Corron! I need ya two by boiler number four, a piston has been getting stuck there all day! I want movement!” he yelled over to the two. The mare and stallion gave a nod in response before they were on their way with all the tools needed.

“Bloodshed!?” Keeton bellowed while aimed his eyes for the white coated stallion. “Where is that imbecile this time?” His purple rimmed eyes allowed themselves to make their way over the entire room. But the pony he was looking for was nowhere to be found. “Don’t tell me,” he thought out loud in a deep growl. Keeton didn’t even finish the sentence aloud.

As much as he wanted to go out and find the other stallion, Keeton had to keep his mind by other things. Though the mistakes that had been made by the stallion had been getting far out of hooves. Even the most simplest of tasks couldn't be executed the right way. Though Bloodshed tried his best every single day. Trying wasn't a word that came forth in Keeton’s dictionary. “I am going to ask if he can get bloody replaced,” Keeton spoke before a deep sigh left his nostrils. He then turned his eyes back up over the room. With them, he kept a keen eye on everything that was going on within its walls. Everything had to go just about perfect for their stunt to work.

---

Mush and Corron had made their way over to boiler four. Though when they entered it, the stallion saw right away what the problem was. He nudged Mush and pointed upward. “See that? That’s the problem. Gear shattered. Should be an easy fix,” he spoke up while he pointed to it.

“Small problem? Nothing is easy around here, remember,” the mare spoke with a soft chuckle. She then allowed her horn to charge itself up in the red colored aura. “Shouldn't we like, turn the thing off first?”

“And risk an explosion of Keeton? Or worse? No thanks. I don’t wanna end up like Kooiman did,” said Corron while he inspected the gear from ground level. “Seems to be a stainless steel one, one hundred ten millimeter diameter, going from the attachment point that is.”

“Can you look if there is one in the tool shack? Then I will take care of this one,” replied Mush. The charge around her horn only became more powerful. The broken gear than also gained the reddish aura around itself and was ready to be pulled off. The stallion gave her a simple nod to the demand. Corron left Mush behind for a couple minutes.

She tried her best to get the thing off of its peg. After some careful yet powerful tugging, it finally did came down. The gear was brought over to her eyes and much to her surprise, Corron was right about the type. “Son of a bitch that you are,” she spoke before a little chuckle left her. Mush turned her head back over to the door. “And I just remembered why I brought you on board for this.”

Time didn't had to progress all that long before the red coated stallion made his return. With him, he carried the desired piece. Corron had entered the boiler room with a grin. “One replacement gear, as you wished. Took a titanium one this time, they are much more durable than those stainless ones. Course these rust over time, but I have been coming to this one for far too much for my liking in just six months.” He threw the gear over to Mush, who caught it with her own magic. “I don’t get it why we don’t scrap this thing to begin with. I mean, we have so much problems with it,” he added.

The mare held the gear into the correct spot with a small groove pointing upward. “Can you hold the system for ten seconds? That gives me enough to time place it, make sure it points perfectly upward. Ten seconds should also be enough not to blow the system to bits.”

“Aye aye boss,” he spoke with a chuckle. Corron allowed his curved horn to collect some magic of his own. While he did that, Mush levitated the gear over to the correct spot.

“Just tell me when I can,” she spoke while her eyes kept themselves peeled on him.

“On three. One,” Corron said while he released the power from the horn. It took seconds for the entire gear system to be covered within the reddish aura. But as it all turned so fast. Yet the struggle to keep it all in one place was even greater. “Two," he mumbled. He tried to get the pieces right side up. His eyes caught the sight he wanted to see, he closed them with force. “Three!”

Upon the calling had Mush pushed the gear perfectly into its spot. With a click had the two parts connected to each other. “Done!” she shouted after the signature clunking sound of the metals over each other. It was the signal for him to let the system run again, hopefully without faults.

When those words that fell into his ears, Corron discharged his horn as a whole. Within no time was the rattling gear system up and running at maximum capacity once more. The two workers grinned to each other before bumping their hooves against each other’s.

“Job well done,” spoke Mush with pride in her voice.

“Couldn't say it better maself,” added Corron under a soft pant.

They walked back together, to the main room of the moving department and nodded to Keeton as his eyes fell upon the two. “Job done?” he asked them with a stern voice and sterner eyes.

“E’yup. Shattered gear. Replaced it with a titanium one, should be holding for a while now. Got anything else?” said Mush to him, eager to continue their streak of good work.

“Hm, should have known that… And yes, boiler thirteen doesn't seem to have its usual shoveler. Either your or Corron are going to be doing it,” answered Keeton before his eyes dropped.

“I’ll do it, Keeton,” the red coated stallion spoke up. He turned himself around to go to the boiler. Just like that, he had vanished from the room, only to go to the unlucky boiler number.

“Where would we be without him?” Mush asked herself out loud as she watched him go.

“Probably down on the ground or somewhere on the moon, either one will do,” Keeton replied as he caught the question within his ears.

“You think?”

“I am sure, I’m sure.”

---

Within the walls of the engine room were the crystal bodies busy with preparing everything for the final approach. Some of them pulled levers and the primal hum of the engine slowly died down. It eventually lead to the Facility's overall slower flow through the air. With the course it had been flying they had encountered a strong headwind. A wind that required much more force from the engines than originally expected. Though the wind would be their greatest ally in the matter. It would be able to slow the whole Facility down more than enough for a safe entrance.

A body with a set of green eyes gazed over to two steel pipes that led into the wall before it as behind the wall happened to be the outside world. It quickly made the connection that those pipes were part of the attachment points to the city. All of the sudden did it hummed in tunes unknown to ponykind to the other bodies. Each of the humps understood that what was hummed. The screws that were sticking out of each of the pipes where the points would connect to Tol Ret Nac’s main steam circuit. The very circuit that kept the whole city afloat and hidden from eyes.

With a soft ‘tok’ and screech of the metal, it signaled the crystal bodies to push the screws forwards with as much power as they had in them. On the other side of the wall –deep within the lower halls if the city itself– were two workers who turned the bolts over the screws with their magic. With the sweat that streamed off of their faces, had the ponies made it absolutely sure that they tightened them up as best as they could. It was through that connection that locked the two pipes and the Facility together. Other workers were busy with the shorter ones that were connecting the Facility's pipes firmly to the city's. Within minutes was the city completed again. Done in the fashion of a building toy that was designed for foals. So ingenious was it made up to create the floating city. A system that worked like an absolute charm.

---

Rarity, Trixie and Twilight found themselves still on the very cloud. They all shook a bit at the Facility crashed gently against the city. But where Twilight feared, Trixie and Rarity only grinned. The Facility had docked once again for the first time in a millennium of time. The unicorn capital city of Tol Ret Nac was complete once more.

The very cloud that they stood on, slowly dissolved itself into the thin air. What it revealed was the true metal box that it was guarding all those years in the skies. The Facility was never truly build upon the cloud but the cloud concealed the entire lower levels of the place. The mares were lowered a little bit before their behinds met the cold steel of the floor.

Where the entrance normally stood equal with the cloud, a small staircase of two steps had appeared. Rarity turned her attention over to both Twilight and Trixie. A stare that was followed by a deep sigh through her nostrils. “If you two would be so kind to return back into the Facility and carry on with the normal duties.” Both of the unicorns gave a nod to the manager. They stood up before they turned themselves around, only to disappear through the doors of the building.

Though they didn't like the decision to return, they didn't want to risk an outburst of the unicorn either. Not on the moment she had so eagerly been anticipating for. Not on the moment she had prepared herself for ever since the order was given to return to the city. Both Twilight and Trixie returned to their respectable stations and thought that their chance to walk through the metal streets would come later in time. Twilight returned to the processing department where she made herself ready to slice open some unlucky unworthy's. Whereas Trixie wanted to shatter the hopes of many captured unicorns like a glass window.

---

The red rimmed eyes of Rarity kept gazing over the wonderful city, she almost didn't dare to leave the metal of her very own Facility and just walk into it. Everything just seemed to be so surreal to her at that point in time. Her attention was then caught by a roaring sound that appeared to be coming from all around her.

While she let her eyes fall into every visible direction and noticed that the air started to shake and ripple once more. The souls that lived inside the city didn't even look up from the sounds anymore. Those that could be seen carried on with their own things, not even noting that the whole Facility had docked again. That, or they didn't wanted to know.

Under the sounds and sights did the whole city got again covered within the light bending spell. The spells caused the city to hide itself within the eyesight of every pony that would look up into its direction. For thousands of years it had been going by like this. Nopony outside of the city had ever found it. A thing the unicorns within the borders wanted to keep that way for as long as it could.

A smile emerged on the face of Rarity when she saw a faint line of deep purple magic dissolve from the highest tower in the city. The unicorn was shaking on her legs. Yet she stood back up from her sitting position. Rarity dared to take the very first steps into the city of Tol Ret Nac.

Her eyes moved themselves over to the many metal boxes that were used as houses for the residents. On the outside everything was cold and unfriendly, but structural organized and logically placed. Those were the unicorn ways of life. Though on the inside was everything different. Every home was decorated differently, one even more friendly than the other. Cold outside, warm inside.

Though the ponies she encountered along her trot were everything but friendly. Where Rarity gave each of them a respectful nod, only a single soul every now and then returned it. Not that she cared that much. Rarity felt like she was in heaven. And she was, for a small part.

Rarity made her way through the streets of metal, she eventually came on a small square with a little fountain where a statue of a familiar pony stood up on. Her eyes grew a bit in size before she shook her head. Rarity couldn't believe just who was standing there.

On the top of the fountain, there was something that stood on its hind legs while the forelegs were held behind the back. Its head that just stared into the skies as if it had a dream. Rarity recognized the statue in an instant. It was from the very founder of the Magic Facility from so many, uncountable years ago, professor Cosmos.

The unicorn couldn't believe the sight before her. But it also woke up something in her, something she had thought to be lost a long time ago. A memory of both pain and suffering. One she started to relive like it was the day before.

---

The unicorn tailor was working on the third order for the day and the sun had been set behind the hills of Canterlot and the moon took very first peeks over the land. Most would consider it time to stop everything but the mare had to finish the project before she would go to bed.

With the rain that ticked gentle against the windows of boutique, it created an unique atmosphere for her. One where she wasn't indulged into the just utter silence as she normally would be working in. It was a pleasant change for her as a roll of fabric got levitated within the airs and cut to the right size with the scissors before it got placed over the mannequin.

“Now then, let’s finish you,” she spoke with a simple joy within her voice. The glasses got placed before her very eyes. More pieces of fabric from all sorts of color did their turn before her eyes. With some of them being placed aside almost right away, the ones matching the ones matching the design on paper got cut and formed on the mannequin with the deep help her own magic.

She led a simple life, but one that she enjoyed the most. Her own business to attend to, wonderful friends and family. Life was just perfect for her and she showed that in every possible way. Humble yet famous were two words to describe her at best. Though a light drama-queen could be added to it as well.

It was after many minutes that there was a knock on the front door. One which disrupted her concentration and Rarity allowed her head to turn itself over towards it with a raised eyebrow. “Now just who can that be..?” she wondered to herself out loud. Everything that was still levitating in the air got brought down to the ground and the horn discharged itself completely.

The mare made her way over to the front door with a set of quick hooves and grace. She eventually opened up the door, the expectation was a lot different than the reality she was faced with. Where she thought to be seeing one of her friends or even a family member at this hour, there was an unknown stallion to be found. His deep voice made its way rather pleasant within her ears. “Good evening miss Rarity, may I come in for a little bit?” he asked of her.

Being the lady she was, Rarity allowed the stallion to enter without a word and he did so. In response to her hospitality he gave her both a respectful and thankful nod. Rarity guided him over to the living room. They both took place in a chair as she kept wondering what he wanted from her.

Even before she could question his visit, he already spoke his words in the same tone as before. “Miss Rarity, this probably will come to a big surprise to you and I do understand that. But there have been many considerations within the organization about you, considerations to which one would say ‘you’ against in the most formal manner.”

“H-Hold one moment here, considerations, organization? Can you, explain it a bit more for me please? For I am afraid I do not fully understand it,” she said with a confused look on her face. It seemed to have been a genuine confusion and it was a thing that the stallion could understand. Not that it would stop him though.

A gentle smirk formed itself on his face. “The source of where magic comes from requires your help fair lady of generosity. There is need for a new manager, and you were chosen,” the mysterious stallion spoke against her.

“W-What? S-Source of all magic, m-manager?” The more words he spoke, the more confused she got. Rarity was unable to understand anything he had said. A fact that her very body showed.

“I want you, Rarity, to lead on in the Magic Facility.”

---

Her eyes opened themselves once more. The unicorn kept staring down upon the statue of Cosmos. But deep within her, her rage and despise grew. “Rotaerc!” she shouted in the air. “Why did I even let you enter within my boutique that bloody day!?” Small puffs of steam left her nostrils with every exhale she took. Though the gaze in her eyes turned into a full on hatred look.

Years within the walls of the Facility had crumbled her mind more than enough to forget the unicorn lady she once was. But being outside like she was then, it made old feelings from before that time to submerge within her. Feelings she only became even more angrier about.

Rarity took her attention away from the statue and turned herself around while starting to walk away into an unknown direction. Rarity decided to follow some of the ponies that walked down the street but she never decided to meddle herself with them. Through many streets and alleys she went before she reached yet another square. But there was an entirely different statue that stood on the fountain. it's rich waters flew out of the holes in the most graceful of manners and with the sun through them, the many drops created rainbows on the sheets of metal. A few moments of actual color in the open streets had revealed themselves.

“Huh, guess they needed to have something to decorate the city with,” was the only thing that Rarity said while she stared at the waters. But it was that what stood above the waterline that caught her attention the most for the most part.

On the very top she stood in an ever so regal pose, the daughter of the unicorn king, princess Platinum. According to files within the archives of the Facility, she was the only pony of royalty that knew of the true origin of the magical force. A fate she accepted rather well, if the documents have to be believed.

With her red rimmed eyes had Rarity kept looking at the statue. It shone bright in the sun and then she saw it. The statue didn't appeared to be carved out of marble or any other kind of stone for that matter. Neither was it forged out of any lesser metal. It was created in the highest quality of platinum that there was to be found in the land.

“Remarkable,” she spoke to herself while she walked around it. Rarity inspected it from all sides with care. Her attention was caught over to a chimney in the far distance. On the very top of it, a blue color could be seen sparking up. While she watched the sight, it created a smile upon her face. Though it also triggered a little countdown for the mare. “Three... Two... One,” spoke Rarity to herself in a soft tone. On the mark of 'one' it came out of the chimney. A bright blue bolt of something that shot up into the skies while roaring like thunder as it went passed the spell's barriers.

“Hmhmhm, never gets old,” chuckled Rarity to herself before she turned her attention back over to the statue.

It was when she was looking into the eyes of the princess. More recent memories got unlocked within her mind. Memories of an event that happened not all too long ago but one she rather forgot. A memory that was perhaps too painful, even for her standards.

---

The unicorn of grace found herself in one of the holding cells of the Facility as they were empty and dirty. On the far side did some rumoring sounds took their turn. Which caused her attention to fall upon them. But to her own scare, it where both Twilight and her little sister who came in. Sweetie Belle was sniffing quietly before the mare pulled her more forward. Eventually they reached the cell where the other unicorn found herself but neither of them paid any attention, but she also didn't make a single movement.

Rarity’s eyes just watched as her little sister was hung up by her hooves and a small tear fell from Twilight’s cheek. There were words that were spoken but those were inaudible for Rarity.

Then she was left alone for a little bit, alone to make up her final thoughts. Time progressed a little bit before the white coated, purple maned unicorn entered the holding cell and began to speak words against the filly before allowing a knife to fall through her chest.

Being pulled back into the reality as it was, Rarity realized just what kind of a monster she had become over time. More and more power began to collect itself within her horn. Her breathing became heavier with each inhale she took. All while the clouds of steam became bigger with every exhale.

On the entire square wasn't a soul to be found anymore. Rarity rose up on her hind legs almost out of instinct. She kept her horn point up towards the skies. Under a roar of pure hatred had she released all the stored energy in one blood red colored magical beam. One that nearly drained her from every single bit of magic she had within her body. She had to return. Return to the shadows she has been living in ever since closing the door of her boutique.

---

In the meantime had Keeton taken the opportunity to get himself some rest after the building was reconnected to the city. But the absence of Bloodshed was still troubling him deep. He placed the charts used for the journey towards the city back in the respectable folders, a deep sigh left through his mouth and his eyes closed themselves a little bit. “Where do I have to bring that foal..?”

“Bring who were, Keet?” another voice echoed through the room. Upon entering his ears, the blue coated stallion looked up and around to see who the mysterious speaker was.

“A pony that had been troubling my mind lately, Corron. But come in further,” he replied while he pointed at the chair before this desk. “Take a seat if you want to.”

“The new one? From the canteen?” the stallion asked while he walked up to the chair. Though instead of sitting down on it, Corron rose up on his hind legs and placed his forelegs crosswise over the top part of it. “That the one you mumble ‘bout?”

“Aye, him,” responded Keeton with a slight annoyed tone. He fell back down in his chair. He reached over to a coffee mug and brought it to his lips. Keeton allowed the black gold to make its way into his body. “I don’t know where to place him, holding, processing or simply dump in a cell of his own. I mean, he is not even an use to me anymore!” he spoke again after having set the mug back on the table. The stress was visible in his eyes. The matter was gnawing at his mind, deep.

“Give him another chance, I mean, we are still short on Kooiman,” replied Corron in the hope to ease him up. Not to mention that he did have a point with it.

“A thing I rather keep that way, thank ya very much. But in all honesty, do ya see him working as an engineer on one of these devices?” Keeton asked while looking stern into the eyes of Corron. The glance exchanged was a dead serious one.

“Well, no,” was the only reply Corron gave after a bit of thinking.

“But that is not why I asked you to come here, as ya said yarself, we are still short on Kooiman. Course he is as stupid as a box of rocks but he does know how to fix things very well. So we either need a new engineer from upstairs, or hope he recovers well enough from his injuries to keep on working. And that him and Mush don’t go up against each other,” spoke Keeton in a softer tone.

“Heh, in that case. Arrange a new one from upstairs. For after what happened, those two hate each other to the bone. Mush doesn’t even want to speak about him anymore,” the red stallion spoke under a chuckle. “Can’t blame her though.”

“Is that so?” Keeton asked with a smirk upon his face.

“Oh it is, take it from me.”

“Very interesting.” The stallion allowed himself to lean back as deep as possible within his chair as the smirk kept standing on his face. “But aside those, how did it go with the gear. I remember ya speaking quickly about it after it was done, but I need more information for the administration.”

“Uhm, yes. The stainless steel one was beginning to crack open like a peanut. Mush and I removed it from its hold and we replaced it with a titanium one. It will rust in time, but the chance of it cracking again is near nothing. Next year somepony has to look over it again,” stated Corron.

Keeton nodded to the spoken words before he signaled the engineer to leave him alone again. The bald stallion understood the signal and left without a word spoken. Keeton on the other end wrote down the spoken words.

---

The rest that was given to him after Corron had left, was a short one. After a short set of minutes, Bloodshed himself knocked on the door and opened it in a careful manner. “S-Sir?” he said after his head peeked in.

The purple rimmed eyes gazed up towards the young stallion, Keeton made a hoof signal for him to come in closer. Shaking upon each of his legs, Bloodshed dared to enter the office of the foreman. With the stern looking eyes still fixed upon him did Keeton took a deep inhale. “Sit,” his voice spoke through the air and the other stallion sat down upon the spoken seat.

“Y-You desired to see me?” he asked with an utmost care in his voice and soft gulp.

“Yes, yes I indeed wanted to see you. For there is one question that is bothering my mind. Today we were having the biggest operation since the origin of the Facility. And you were nowhere to be found! Why, was that?” bellowed Keeton from his desk.

“I, I had been doing b-both the day and n-night shift sir. I was in my b-bed when the o-operation happened, v-vast asleep. A-At least, that is w-what I heard left and r-right,” spoke Bloodshed in a terrified tone. He didn't expect such an outburst to happen to him.

“I see, I will decide over you later. But do not think I shall grant you any mercy.” The other stallion gulped deeply and removed himself from the chair in order to simply leave the office as a whole and return to his duties.

---

When she had finally reached her dark office again, Rarity shook everything off of her mind. But for the most part it was something that she liked to call her ‘earlier life’. The unicorn took place behind her desk. With her horn that shone up in its dark red coloring, the arcane control board was summoned. With her eyes she just scanned over the many things that were to be seen. Whether it be reports from long ago, logs from previous managers or things they added themselves.

But her eyes paid extra attention at the reports and logs writing by one author in particular. A pony that was living under the pen-name of Rotaerc. Every time she was reading through one of its written works, the ‘why’ questions kept popping up in her mind. Though those were dispatched just as easy as they came as her eyes made their over to other written works.

Chapter 6

Is it even worth bothering?

Trying to cheat death?

Some of the questions that will arise

When the final hour awaits.

While the other officials had returned to their own private quarters, it was Twilight who disappeared straight in hers and she locked the door tightly shut. She didn't wanted any soul to find out that what she had been hiding and thus taken from the archives. Classified information that never should have left it was in her possession. She looked around the room with her eyes and saw the box she had to live in. All that stood within it was a small bathroom, a desk, a chair and the bed. It almost looked like a prison cell but it got the job done.

With her horn that started to charge up ever so gently and the pillow that laid on the bed moved itself from the head end. And there it still laid. Ever so peaceful yet holding so many secrets. The more Twilight allowed her eyes to fall upon the closed documents as more tears began to build up within her eyes of pure sadness.

“I am so sorry, sister,” she spoke in a soft tone. Twilight placed the pillow back to where it belonged and her horn discharged all the magic. All the power that was stored within it left her body. Yet inside the mind of the mare was there something snapped. Twilight turned herself around in order to face the locker that stood next to the door and she opened it in a ruthless manner. Without the usage of her magic she took out the bloodstained hazard suit and pulled herself into it.

Any sign of remorse, regret and sorrow quickly went away. The mare allowed her mind to dive once again into the mental insanity in which she had been living with for years. With a deep and dark chuckle in her voice she gazed upon herself in the mirror that hung in the bathroom. She was ready for the next load of unicorns to be processed.

---

In the meantime was Trixie happily changing her attire into the suit and mask while she hummed some songs to herself in a sick and twisted tone. With her cornflower blue mane being slightly visible through the mask, she also stood before the mirror while a deep smirk appeared on her face as she began to speak the lyrics out in a whisper to herself. “There has to be stability, even within this Facility.”

After a small passage of time did both of the dressed unicorns left their respectable quarters and gazed upon each other’s eyes. They had left their rooms at the same time but didn't seem to be truly minding it. They gave a confirming nod to one another together with a smirk that was hardly visible. And then they were off, off to the staircase that would lead them to the lower levels of the building.

“Holding cell three on floor seven today right?” Trixie asked after she had given the motion with her head.

“That is correct, my love, shall we walk, or appear?” Twilight spoke with a little bit of a seducing tone in her voice. The way that Trixie moved next to her was a magical sight to behold.

“You know how much I love just appearing right?”

“Hmhmhm, I know that all too well,” Twilight replied when they stood before the staircase.

“Oh and Twi, shall we do one of our special moments after having processed them? You taste so much better after, it,” spoke Trixie with a deep yet invisible smirk upon her face while one of her forelegs moved itself up. The hoof stroked the covered cheek of Twilight with a loving motion.

“But of course we shall, my love,” answered Twilight. She moved one of her forehooves over the covered cheek of Trixie. She also charged up her horn again in the normal, raspberry coloring. As more magic started to collect itself within her horn. The soft hum of its power fell in the ears of Trixie and it acted as a warning. She breached herself for the upcoming knock that was most likely to take place. Teleportation within the Facility was a rough thing to do, but easily executed.

Under a bright flash of red light did the two unicorns disappear out of sight and out of known matter. Twilight and Trixie found themselves in the red world which Keeton had entered once before. The pair made their way through the near still standing Facility. Time didn't had to progress long for them before they stood on the only colored spot in the whole Facility. The spot that marked their destination. The one spot where they both wished to reappear again.

---

In the holding cell that was going to be doomed for processing, there were many young stallions with a body build that would remind ponies that came from the regions of Ponyville. A specific stallion who was named Big Macintosh. But where the red coated stallion was a gentle giant, these ponies were everything but. Yet most of them were peacefully asleep but some of them were still awake and all found themselves in one of the corners.

It was uncertain for the guards just what they spoke about, but they didn't pay that much attention as their fate had been sealed a long time ago. Adding up the fact that it was impossible for them to call upon magic within the walls of the Facility. Forming a resistance was a failed plan that happened countless times before and would happen many more time. Only its dreaded workers knew just how to call upon their magic within the cursed walls of the building. The only fear that the guards truly had was that they would come close enough to the bars to fall within the hooves of one. Something that happened to several guards before and they got strangled on the spot.

But what they were truly speaking about, were possible plans to escape the place from. Even though they had been there for two months by then. Their eyes had seen many others being teleported upstairs. They still thought about getting out of the hellhole they found themselves in. Coming up with the plans had two effects, it created a bond between some of the stallions but also kept themselves sane enough to even think clearly. They knew their time was ticking away and they had to come up with something. For the next shipment, might be them.

“Any of you know just where the exit might be?” a lime green coated unicorn asked in a whispering tone. The eyes went over the others with a hopeful glance.

“My best guess are the two doors up there,” replied a light blue coated stallion in the same tone. He nudged his head over to the catwalk and with quick motions of their eyes, the others watched to what he meant.

“Hmm, this will get interesting. But you know that our time is short right? Hey, any of you remember the stories of the two mares that almost got away from here?” the lime green stallion asked to his fellow captives in a vague attempt of strange hope.

“Esuba, that tale originated from six months ago, four before our arrival here. How can that possible help us?” the light blue one asked.

“One of them was able to cast a beam of pure magic from what I have heard, we have got to do the same!” the stallion answered. There was a little twinkle could be found within his eyes. His lime green coat appeared darker in the thin light of the holding cell. All the others had heard the rumors as well by they never believed them. They couldn’t have been possible facts, it must have been hopeful lies. It all seemed to be too good to be true.

The light blue stallion shook his head at the plan. His mind brought him even further than just releasing the blast. “Consider just where to go after releasing your blast. I take that there aren't going to be signs simply saying exit or anything like it,” he answered in a realistic tone.

“Repmac, why do always think further?”

“No, I am considering other options, you fool! Blindly releasing a charge, if that is possible at all, and not having a plan and back-up plan will get you even faster killed then waiting on your turn!” he spoke up in an angry whisper. Not much later had he pressed his face into that of Esuba. “Do you understand me here with the near nothing brain of yours? Plus, the mare who cast the beam was the sister of the boss from what I heard. Just how big do you see our chances then?”

Those words shocked the lime green stallion deeply as he began to rethink the plan while speaking in mumbles. “C-Can’t believe it… Killing your own family just, just like that? Is it true, Rep?”

“Hmpf, from what I heard yes,” Repmac answered.

“Then we can forget it…” All the other stallions in the circle were just watching the two arguing like little colts and they couldn't do much more than just agree with the spoken words and each of the souls gave their plan rest. For they knew it would be just helpless to even bother to try.

---

For a couple minutes they sat in silence before the attention of Esuba was caught. It was caught by a humming sound that came from above him. With his curiosity growing had he allowed his brown eyes to move themselves over to the catwalk. There he saw it forming. The reddish matter that became bigger, the longer he stared at it. His mind could have only thought about the horrors.

Under a beam and explosion of light did the two under officials showed themselves before the young stallions. Mere seconds passed for them both and they placed their forehooves over the railing. Only to watch the souls below them with a sadistic joy within their eyes.

The remaining stallions woke their sleeping comrades up and pointed up to the two mares in the hazards suits above. Eventually were all of them awake and that was the starting signal for something else. For the two doors on the side of the catwalk opened themselves and four more guards entered up on the catwalk.

With the doors closing once again had the time come for the mares to do their job as Twilight started to speak up in a muffled voice. “Welcome foals, welcome. For years you have been monitored for your magical abilities and were given many chances to proof yourself. Some of you did, some didn't. But the one time you truly had to show your full strength in magic, you all failed. You didn't just fail your family or even yourself. No, you failed the entire unicorn race.”

Trixie took over the word. She continued on the very point that Twilight had been left off. “But do not let these little insults be denting your pride. For all of you are still having a purpose towards us. Something that, is of great essence for our race.”

“That is right, when you first arrived here, I am sure you have seen the chimney on top seeing shot a lightning bolt of different colors into the skies. Let’s ask you all a question here,” said Twilight.

“Who of you can tell Trixie just what it is, hm?”

None of the stallions even dared to open their mouths. They were already too scared to speak. The normally so fierce and brutal ponies were by then nothing more than scared little foals, and they had good reasons to be. Even Esuba and Repmac kept their jaws firmly on each other. It was unbelievable, but the two of them seemed to be intrigued by the spoken words. They had heard them countless times before in the other cells, there was something different when they were spoken in their cell. Almost as if they spoke the death penalty over each of them.

“Nopony?” Twilight spoke a bit disappointed.

“Then Trixie shall tell it. That bolt in the skies is a beam of magic that has been produced within this very building. Many would tell you that magic is a force that flows freely through the air. It does that for sure, but only after it has been created here, deep within the bowels of the Magic Facility.” With each word that she spoke, it could be noticed that her voice became darker. But it was at the very end that she erupted into a snicker of pure sadistic joy.

“Boys, if you please,” spoke Twilight to the guards. The one group of ponies who hadn’t even move a muscle during the mares their story.

Upon their calling had all four of them jumped down to the ground. Within an instant had they began to round up all the stallions present. They pointed their horns towards them and the charges of magic could be heard. Each of them got the deep red coloring around it as Twilight and Trixie watched over the scene. Esuba and Repmac were forcefully brought over to the group while they both growled over towards the guards, but they didn't care.

With their horns all humming up pure power there was another bright flash of red that appeared and the whole cell was just empty within a second. Not a single soul was to be found within the cell. As the ponies on the cell on the opposing side watched with big eyes before letting go of any hope there would be left for them.

---

“Now zhen,” Medic spoke up after he entered the room were both Kooiman and the burned stallion were lying down in their beds. “I zee you two have made great progress in the rehabilitation process. I am quite sure zhat soon enough you two will be working again.” The insane doctor made his way over to the bed of Kooiman, where he bend himself over to see the healing lower jaw of the blond stallion. It was an interesting accident that caused it to be broken in the first place and Medic just loved it. His sadistic nature for such injuries made him work only harder, by any means.

“Zell me when it hurts, alright?” he asked while his eyes pierced to the poor stallion. Kooiman could only give a nod to the words. Medic then began to press gently at certain spots of his jaw.

With each point pressed did the tough engineer gave off a deep wince in pain. He simply shook his head while a slight tear fell down from his eyes. The pain was almost unbearable for him even with the slightest of touches. “Hmm, I thought it was healing better last time I checked. Did you hold yourself on mir prescription of not speaking or trying zu speak?” the doctor asked him in a serious tone. He looked back to Kooiman’s eyes to see whether or not he was lying.

The eyes of the stallion grew small at the words of the doctor. He knew he shouldn't have been moving his jaw at all but out of sake for his face wrapped roommate he did it a couple times. That was what caused the healing process to fail or at least fell back by a lot, yet managed to keep their sanity.

“Zhe look in deine augen says more than enough for me. I do have a prescription though.” The madness took over the eyes of the doctor again before he leaned back from the bed. Medic rested all four of his hooves upon the ground and turned his attention away from the stallion. With his magic he brought over a small writing pad and wrote down some notes. “You either keep that little mouth of yours shut, or you go through surgery once more. Something I prefer more for a stallion with your duties,” he said while writing down the notes.

Then the face of Kooiman became whiter than the whitest snow. He heavily shook his head. He didn't wanted to go through another surgery done by the mad horse that called himself a ‘doctor’. Even if it was the last thing in the world he had to do, he wouldn’t do it.

“I zake you shut up then?” the stallion asked with a raised eyebrow. Kooiman could only nod his head in agreement. In response to it was Medic’s face that dropped itself while he released the thoughts of working on such a fine specimen. With a deep sigh that left through his nostrils. His face rose back up and eyed Kooiman. “Very well zhen. But one more time of talking, and you go right back under zhe knife, understood?” he said in a serious voice.

Kooiman only nodded once again and the doctor gave him a small pad upon his cheek with a grin. Medic then turned his attention over to the burned stallion. The doctor wasn't able to transplant the skin that was required to reconstruct the face, but made it possible to at least seal up the wounds. But the price was far more for anypony to pay.

“Now zhen, let’s look under the mask, shall we?” he spoke up. Medic made his way over to the other bed. Both the writing block and quill got placed aside but a small scissor got levitated into the air as the patient kept itself silent as the dead.

“Not very talkative I see, shame. Bet you two grow even more insane with this eerie silence around all zhe time,” the crazed doctor spoke up before he let the scissors do their job on the unburned side of the face. Carefully they made their way through the bandage. The original green coloring of the coat became visible while the doctor kept nodding at the events his eyes could see. “That looks good,” he mumbled to himself.

---

With the bandage cut open from bottom to top, they all knew that the time was there to reveal the new face he had gotten. “If you could turn your head ninety degrees to your left, facing your roommate, zhen I can continue on the procedure,” asked Medic with a more professional tone.

With a simple nod was given in response to the request. The stallion turned his head over to Kooiman. With the help of his magic would Medic have pulled away the remainders of the bandage with care. A small shiver made its way through his body as the sounds of skin being ripped away softly took their turn through the room.

Kooiman had been watching the events the whole time and took note of the different coloring within the eyes. One was the normal lavender coloring for the iris but it was the other one, the one that was still behind the bandage that gave him the creeps. For its coloring was yellow. Where a normal eye was white, the other eye had turned into a deep and simply unpleasant yellow.

“Now zhen, let’s reveal your pretty face,” spoke Medic with a grin on his face. He pulled the bandage even further off with big eyes. More and more parts of the new face took their turn within the eyes of both stallions and so did their horror.

For below the bandage was the burned face still visible. The muscles that walked below fine lines of reconstructed skin while the teeth of him were clearly seen. His eye had indeed turned into yellow and was only held into place by the muscles. All of the skin around the eye socket was simply gone. But the most remarkable of it all was that the burn injuries only held themselves to the right side of the face.

In the eyes of Medic was a medical wonder but in those of Kooiman it was nothing more but a monster. Medic grinned even more upon the sight and simply throw the bandages away like it was nothing and he began to inspect the semi healed up face. “Simply remarkable, zhe skin did not heal itself, yet manages to function. Zhis is highly fascinating. Creates a unique look as well, giving you two faces in a matter of speaking,” Medic spoke up. Never in his career had he seen something like it.

The doctor erupted out in a chuckle more in himself before his quill wrote even more things down upon his block. Though many new theories did their turn within his head. “I can not stress this enough, but you are simply fascinating. Though you are lucky it was only your face zhat got burned up. I am firing you today from the hospital. As zhe night falls, you shall return to your own bed, am I understood?”

The two faced stallion gave a nod before Medic turned himself over to Kooiman once again. “You know vwat? You, also are going to be able to return back to your department. How jolly nice! Two little friends. Three if you count...” He scratched the right side of his own face in an insulting manner to the burned up side before chuckling open. Medic turned himself around and left through the doors. The insane doctor took refuge within his own little office where he wrote down on his personal records, discoveries and advancements.

The two stallions in the room simply kept staring into each other’s eyes. The glances they exchanged to one another spoke more than a thousand words could ever do.

---

Accompanied under the bright red flash of the guards their magical aura, were all the ponies that held within the holding cell appeared onto the processing department. The final stop before they would be turned into magic itself. Their time was running out and they all felt it in their hearts.

With the guards discharging their horns but they kept pointing it over to the young stallions. Their blood red aura disappeared like sparks of electricity while both Twilight and Trixie found themselves in the very front of the group. They stood before a gaping hole of darkness. Almost shielding it off for the Unworthy's to view. Blocking the road they had to travel on in a sense.

Esuba was among one of the first that laid his eyes upon the insane mares and the hole behind them. In his mind he wondered just what would it could be. Countless things took its turn through his mind and his train of thought became a vortex. Though every thought ended up with the same thing, the utter destruction of his very soul.

A deep sigh of losing all and any forms of hope left the thoughtful stallion as his head dropped itself against his chest, accepting his fate that was to come. Repmac saw the defeat into the very eyes of the stallion and let out a deep sigh of his own while he carefully poked the lost stallion. “Hey, we will get out of here, trust me,” he spoke with a kind voice. He tried to at least make it better than that it was. A wishful thought that would be crushed with every puff of steam they heard.

“No,” Esuba spoke in a whispering tone, “we are not getting out of here… The only way out is through that hole and into the skies as magic itself.”

“Don’t say that!” his comrade returned in the same whispering tone.

“Admit it, Repmac, this is it. This is our final destination.”

Both of the mares removed themselves from the hole and allowed a deep look inside of it to be taken place. Most of the stallions dared to peek inside the utter darkness of the device the hole was surrounded by. Some began to shiver at the sight as others only looked more interesting.

“She is ready, madams,” a stallion that stood behind a small control board spoke up to the mares. Twilight turned her head over towards him and she gave him a nod. The worker got the point of the nod and he pushed on a series of button before pulling a large lever that would awaken the monstrous device of death.

Under the roar or pure power had it woken up. While the lights on the outside of the device turned from red to green, the many indicators moved themselves from their empty state to the full state. Sparks emerged on the very top of the machine. Inside the machine did the blooded gears crush even more. The screeching metal sounds took its turn in all the ears present. But even with the thing was waking up there was still the darkness and uncertainty of the gaping black hole.

“And here we, go,” Trixie mumbled through her mask. She even made some movements with one of her forelegs. The sheer power that the device held was something unmatched by anything.

Having spent so much time around the device, both of the mares knew exactly when what turned on. Those still brave enough to stare into the black hole, were able to see the lights inside illuminating the insides of the dreaded device. They began to shine off a bright red coloring. A fact that came to be due to the blood that was stuck inside the tubes. Blood that had been collecting itself over the years against the sides of them. In all its years, it was never cleaned out once.

---

“Now then, who desires to go first?” Twilight spoke up. The humming of the device behind her only became louder. It was hungry for fresh flesh to come for it.

All of them were shivering true fear by then for they never had seen, let alone heard, of such a thing that was standing in front of them. Esuba however, rose his head back up to the mares. Ever so gently did he rose up from his sitting position, back up to his four legs. He had accepted his fate. He knew that there was nothing left for him, he was a failure. An Unworthy one that needed to terminated for the good of the unicornian race.

Repmac was looking in utter surprise at the unforeseen event. In one outburst had he even tried to pull Esuba back to the ground. But his hooves just missed the tail. In a burst of mixed emotion, he also stood up and walked up in front of him. The action made the volunteering stallion stop dead in his tracks. The two glanced into each other’s eyes, thundering for different reasons.

The guards were looking at the scenery as they readied their horn for a blast to subdue the both of them if needed. But Twilight signaled them quietly not to do anything as she was interested in just how the events would be turning out.

“Esuba, you don’t have to do this!” Repmac spoke not to his comrade, but to his friend.

“Don’t you get it, I have accepted my fate. A fate that lays within the bowels of that device you fool. It is a fate you should also accept. There is nothing for us out there anymore Repmac. You heard the stories spoken at night, you heard the screams of the broken ones even in your dreams. I can’t take it anymore, my time has come. And I am afraid, yours is coming soon as well,” answered Esuba in a defeated tone. All the spirit to escape was just gone. It had to end, there and then.

Repmac was totally obliterated by the words that were spoken to him. Yet the stallion began to stumble out some words. He tried to exactly figure out what was meant with them. With his mind processing, tears were building up below his eyes and he did the only logical thing in the situation. Logical for him that was.

Repmac wrapped his forelegs tight around the neck of Esuba who placed a leg of his own on the back of his friend. The two stallions nuzzled each other’s cheek for a little bit while tears rolled down from below their eyes.

“K-Keep yourself though,” spoke Repmac up quietly before he gave a small sniffle.

“Always will,” replied Esuba before he tightened the hug a bit more. It was seconds after it that they parted from one another and the fate called upon them, had come. It was only then that Repmac removed himself out of the way of his friend. That way, Esuba could become the very first one to be processed within the terrible device.

Trixie smirked deep at the seen sight but she found the respect not to speak. That was until the stallion was standing in front of the machine. “So we are having a volunteer, Trixie sees,” she spoke up with a sick joy in her voice. “Twilight, if you please would explain what is going to happen, as it happens.”

“With pleasure,” replied Twilight before she moved herself over to the stallion. With her horn she summoned the blood red clamps that could held any unworthy on the conveyor belt that was going into the machine. The clamps were wrapped themselves around his hooves and held tight. “These clamps are strong enough to hold even the greatest of stallion or mare. Nopony has ever broken out of these things and they are connected to the belt that makes its way into the, what we like to call, Magic Maker. Though its official name is the Extractorius Magicos. You can probably see why we changed it up... Although creativity with names, is not our strongest point.”

Twilight moved herself over to a set of arcane buttons that were located on the side of the Maker as Trixie took over the word. “As my colleague will be done with the settings soon enough, the final process shall begin and I do not think that that requires much explaining, as long as you just watch it is already enough.”

With the words being spoken, Twilight pulled on one last lever. Clouds of steam left from both sides of the Maker and the belt come into movement. Which then brought Esuba slowly closer to the hole until he just vanished.

The sound of sharp objects that went cutting through skin and flesh did their turn and echoed free through the room. The very room that was sealed off from the rest of the department after the incident that happened just a mere six months before. The only other connection it had with the rest of the Facility was the window that led to Rarity's office.

Most of the stallions only shivered more before some cried out for their families and even their friends. But inside of the terrible device there was something most hadn't foreseen. As the screams were kept to a minimum even though the most important blood vessels of the stallion were cut open and two syringes had made their way into his tear tubes.

---

One loud crack was the first to herald a whole series of it. None could believe the levels of pain the stallion inside could hold. It didn’t took long before he screamed loud and in utter agony. But where many thought about the screams, it was an eerie silence that was heard just before a metal shut closed itself again. A moment where nothing made any sound. Not the machine, the guards, the mare or even the other captives. A moment of true silence.

“Forgot to tell you all this little detail,” spoke Trixie in order to break the peaceful moment and the machine turned back into its full force. “Your horn gets broken off and then you make your way over through a set of gears that crush your little bones before you fall within a metal shaft that will lead, somewhere in the engine room I think it was.”

Twilight allowed herself to bury herself in the madness and insanity of her job. She left every single trace of her own standards behind. With her eyes she just glared over the many souls before there was one simple word being shouted. “Next!”

Chapter 7

Managers come and go

So do the workers

But two things shall always remain

The tests and corruption

The metal shut closed itself for the last time, the two under officials had left the processing department through the door. They had ordered all of the remaining workers to clean up any of the mess that would have been created by the unworthies. Not every single one was proceeded but the mares couldn't keep themselves any longer. They had other business to attend to.

The workers nodded to the orders and continued to do their things as both Twilight and Trixie ventured down the stairs to their own private quarters. Once they reached their desired places, they each went into their respectable room. Blocked off from the rest of the world with only their thoughts to keep them company. The very stuff of madness. The mares undressed themselves in a gentle manner. Though the thoughts brought them back to events that happened over the courses of their lives. Mostly the ones that were involving the other.

While Twilight hung her hazard suit and mask back in her locker, there were a couple streams of sweat made their way passed the side of her head. She closed the door with a small thud. Under the sounds of a puff would she have dropped herself on her bed for a little while. Her head made contact with the soft pillow and sunk a bit in it. The only response given by the unicorn was a deep moan of comfort and she tucked her hind legs in and let them rest against her body. Twilight let her forelegs rest against her chest for a little bit. It all resulted in her lying down, losing herself a bit.

Even though her bed was lying comfortable and only got more comfortable with each passing second, she had an appointment to meet. One which she didn't desire to miss at any cost. Thus after having spent some time Twilight managed to hoist herself back up on her hooves and she walked over to the door. The unicorn simply left everything as it was and made her way over to the door next to hers. Knocking on it with a signature one.

“Come in, my love,” a muffled voice on the either side spoke up and Twilight reached over to the door handle to open it up. With a soft metallic screech it opened itself and the eyes of the mulberry unicorn fell upon a pleasurable sight.

Trixie was lying in her bed while grinning in an insane yet seducing manner while she patted a small spot next to her with a hoof. Twilight understood the sublimate message right away and she closed the door after her entrance. the mulberry mare walked up to the bed and slid right inside of it where cuddled Trixie ever so deeply and lovingly.

Their faces met one another and like a set of magnets, were the mares gently pulled towards each other. With the lips of them both twitching ever so lightly they closed their eyes while the forelegs of each managed to wrap themselves around the other. The both of them pulled the other closer towards her and then the moment of pure pleasure happened. Their lips met for a wonderful kiss of pure, yet insane, love.

---

The day had been progressing with time never stopping for any single soul, the sun had been lowering itself and the cool night had taken place for the for the warm day. But Medic was still sitting in his own little office. He let his eyes read over the health documents from both of the stallions he had as a patient. But somewhere deep in his mind, the very scratches of a spell did surface again. “Bones, bones, bones,” he whispered in himself. Medic stroked his chin in a slow motion of his hoof. His eyes had lost any form of madness in them and they were simply staring out into the distance. “Urgh, vhat was zhat spell again?”

He was unable to remember the spell he had been coming up with. The stallion removed himself out of his chair and over to a small shelf that stood over to his right. A shelf that was filled with books which contained spells used for medical cases. He took out one of the books with his magic and dropped it on the desk where he began to look through it with his eagle eyes. He would be reading through the written words with a great care and attention.

“Bingo,” he spoke up when he saw one tome in the book. It was matching the parts in his mind and a grin took form on his face. “Zhe doctor is zuruck.” Quicker than ever he made his way back to the two patients as he allowed his eyes to fall upon the burned one at first. “You are free zu go,” he spoke with a grin on his face.

The two-faced stallion gave him a simple nod before he removed himself from the bed and left the place without a word. He was more than ready to call himself better by his higher official in the moving department. But also feared the reaction he probably would get from Keeton when he would show his face again.

“As for you, mister Kooiman,” Medic spoke up. He fixed his eyes upon the blond stallion. “One, final, procedure,” he added to his words.

Kooiman looked up in utter shock at the spoken words. He even began to shake his head violently. But the mad doctor wouldn't stop for anything. Magic was already collecting itself within his horn. The stallion could only pray on his dear little life that whatever was planned for him, it wouldn't hurt as much as the pain he had already been through.

When the charged up magic finally did got released, it began to surround the lower jaw of the engineer. It was starting to place the broken bones back together. Far better than Medic’s own hooves could have ever done in any case. But it wasn't without its price. For Kooiman was screaming it out in both pure pain and agony.

The doctor kept staring at his patient with the greatest of interest and when everything appeared to be set up right again within the jaw, he discharged his horn with a smirk on his face. “Zell me, how did zhat feel?” he asked in a casual manner. Though he rose up on his hind legs and crossed his fore ones against his back. "Well?" One of his eyebrows moved up with a smirk.

“Y-You’re insane doc..!” the blond stallion spoke up while he rubbed his entire jaw line with the both of his hooves. “Wait...” Slowly had the gears in his mind managed to connect themselves. Kooiman started to blink like he had seen a miracle before his very eyes. “Y-You did it doc!”

“Zhat is where I am here for, now off with you as well. I need zu clean zhe beds,” Medic spoke up as he pointed over to the door that lead back into the very bowels of the Facility.

“Hey thanks,” were the last words that Kooiman spoke against Medic before he also left his bed and disappeared through the door. The patients were gone and Medic was left with his own insanity. Perhaps a thing better for all of them.

The doctor allowed a deep sigh of accomplishment to leave through his nostrils while he stared down at the bed. He just stared. Under the sounds of a soft hum he charged up his horn and started to clean the beds. As much as he was insane, so deeply he cared for the comfort of his patients. During operations did everything got messy without a single question and lives were lost without pardon. But when they needed rest, Medic’s only desire was that they had a clean bed. Even if he had to do it himself. A bit of kindness in a place that was labeled as hell itself.

---

Keeton looked firmly into the eyes of Bloodshed with his purple rims while a small cloud of steam left through his nostrils. They continued to go for a couple exhales before he spoke his desired words. “I do not know what I need to do with ya, and I probably never will be. Ya failed me on countless events where I needed every single hoof at my disposal. I am sorry Bloodshed, but ya shall be transported away from the moving department and be stationed in the holding department as a cell guard. The proposal shall be sent upstairs by tomorrow morning and within two weeks ya shall hear if it passes.”

“A-And if it doesn't p-pass?” the young worker asked with care and fear.

“Then ya pray on yar life that ya won’t end up somewhere ya don’t belong. Like inside the Maker for instance,” the rough stallion replied with a growl in his tone.

Bloodshed gulped loudly at the words and he stood up from the chair. The white stallion just returned back to his bunk. There he dropped his tired body on and closed his eyes while praying his transfer would get through. Keeton returned to his normal work as if nothing had happened. One way or the other, he would have gotten rid of Bloodshed.

“Keeton,” an all too familiar voice echoed a bit later through the office. The stallion had left his chair and was paying his attention to his own files that were stored within a dossier closet that was kept close to him.

“Kooiman… I reckoned ya were out for at least two more months,” he replied in a cold voice. Keeton kept his eyes to the files. The stallion didn't even bother to turn himself around. Instead he just placed the file on top of the closet in order to read it later.

“Doc patched me up well enough. I will probably begin tomorrow again or the day after that with both Mush and Corron,” he spoke up before turning himself around as well. Kooiman faced the exit of the office and left it like any other day.

With the sound of his hooves disappearing in the distance it was Keeton released a deep sigh before he plopped back into his chair. “I hate that idiot just so bloody much," Keeton muttered before he rubbed through his eyes. Perhaps a night of sleep would have done him better.

---

Kooiman had a set of different plans though. He had grown only more hateful towards the very mare that did the injuries to him. He wanted to see blood, her blood preferably. The blond stallion made his way through the moving department without looking up or around. He made his way passed the boilers and the engine room door before he went into the little tool shop.

His light blue, greenish eyes scanned over the many objects that were lying around and he picked up his trusty tool belt with a grin on his face. When the two belt parts clicked together around his waist, Kooiman turned himself over to the actual tools and gave his eyes the cost at them all. There he found the very wrench that Mush used to reform his face with. Much to his own surprise, there still was some blood upon it. He shook it off quick before taking the wrench from its hold.

While the heavy metal wrench rested on his shoulders, the stallion made his journey back to the room where the main boilers stood. But as he came back into the room there wasn't a single soul to be found with the exception of a mare. The green coated, red maned mare was still working on a boiler that had been giving trouble for fairly much the whole day by then.

“Mush! So delightful to see you again!” Kooiman spoke in an insulting manner.

The ears of the mare perked themselves up at the calling of her name but the voice was already more than enough for her to drop with what she was busy with. As she placed the smaller wrench she had been holding with her magic back within her tool belt, the mare released a deep sigh of utter tiredness towards him. “What are you doing here, Kooiman?”

“Me? Just getting back into work as I always did and taking some interest with me for that matter,” he replied to her. The stallion let the wrench fall from his shoulders and into the ground where it stood right up. The impact did cause a clang to fall within both of their ears but neither blinked at it. They only had an eye for each other’s pure hatred.

“And you honestly think, that that actually works on me? Coming with lousy threats like that?” Mush questioned with a smirk on her face. “Sounds like you don’t know me at all.”

“Threats? No Mush.” Without another word spoken from his mouth, he propelled his body forward as fast as he could. Before the mare could actually counter the incoming charge, Kooiman was already close enough to hit her.

She did the only thing that was actually helpful for her and that was jumping to the other side with the greatest of speed. In her lifeless eyes did she saw just how the stallion jammed the heavy wrench into the boiler, denting the metal deep on impact. It surprised her that it wasn’t shattered. Mush knew that business had gotten serious. She didn't had the desire to meet her fate, not yet.

---

But the sound of the clash from the metal against metal echoed through the whole department. Soon enough had they reached the ears of the foreman. The stallion rose his head up under a soft growl as he left his chair. “What in the name of Nightmare forsaken sake is going on there?” he mumbled into himself as he left his office and made his way to the main room of his department.

Mush and Kooiman were still in the greatest battle with each other. The stallion tried his best to hit the mare with every ounce of strength he had. Whereas Mush tried to evade him with the greatest of ease, given her slender body build. “Come here and fight me, coward! Fight me like you did when you broke my jaw, you bitch!” he yelled out before he gave another swing with the wrench.

Ducking for the incoming wrench, Mush lowered her head before she jumped backwards once again. In her mind had she come up a plan to just get rid of the stallion. A plan to truly getting rid of him once and for all. She rose back up from her position while a deep smirk slowly emerged on her face. “You wish me to fight, hm? Very well,” she spoke towards him. Before Kooiman knew what was going on, he had received a punch from the right fore hoof of the mare.

He winced in pain and tried to regain his very sight. The stallion received another blow in his face which caused him to fall to the ground. Kooiman rubbed his face in an attempt to reduce the pain a little bit. He discharged his horn and the wrench fell onto the ground with its signature metalized ‘dung’. In just two punches had everything turned around for him.

Mush just stood there while the adrenaline raced through her body. Pulsing itself through every vein in her body. Very small clouds of steam made their departure from her nostrils with every exhale. She had more than enough of the useless fight for Celestia knew what. “Never, ever, even dare to challenge me, you fool. You always end up on the losing side, understood?” Mush spoke in an enraged tone as she charged up her own horn.

Kooiman did hear the words spoken by her. But his own pride got in the way. He tried his best to stand up on all four of his hooves again. With a deep moan of pain and exhaustion he managed to get himself standing again. Yet the wrench was already into the possession of Mush.

---

“Now, finish him!” the voice of Keeton echoed through the room. He had been watching most of the battle in silence. Only when he spoke up did it cause the two of them to look up, genuine surprised.

Mush gave a simple nod to the words whereas Kooiman’s eyes shrunk to near nothing in response. He began to take careful steps back in order to stay out of her range. Though it would all be too late. With a thrust forward, Mush allowed the wrench make contact with the jaw of Kooiman once again. But when it hit again, it shattered his teeth and broke his jaw on several other places. Tears of agony formed themselves within his eyes as he a loud scream of the pain.

He thought that she was done but then the wrench made its way over to his behind and Mush grinned ever so devilish. "I told you, I would stick it up your arse," the mare replied. Through his bleeding mouth did Kooiman try to speak up. Though his jaw was too badly injured to even make the simplest of words. The mare walked up to him with a look that was almost yelling thunder and she made a quick movement of her head. The wrench flung forwards. Kooiman feared it would enter his anus. But in reality it rushed right into the back of his head.

The crushing sound of a skull that got broken was on its own terrifying to hear. But the biggest scare of all would have come when the wrench left the pried open skull. It was covered in blood and parts of the stallion’s brain.

Kooiman’s eyes had begun to twitch heavily before they turned themselves up so far, that only the white could be seen. For mere seconds he just sat in that eerie position. But then it happened. His body fell towards the ground and all of the motions ceased.

“Game, over.” Mush spoke before she dropped the wrench next to him. Her attention was turned over to Keeton. The stallion slowly made his way up to her. In her mind she knew more than well just she did. But she didn't had any form of regret towards it.

“Game over indeed yes. Mush, hide the body within the boilers. I have the feeling the officials won’t be happy if we share them the news as it is,” spoke Keeton to her before he placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Ya did a good thing Mush, nopony could get along with him, yet he was still sane enough to not be send to the asylum.”

Mush only gave a simple nod to his words before her attention turned over to the boiler she had been working on for the day. With a deep and calm sigh that left through her nostrils, magic collected itself within her horn. The door of that was keeping the raging fires out of the world opened itself and the dead body of Kooiman began to move itself over to it.

With one last quick motion was the dead stallion thrown into the raging fires. To be consumed by them and used to power up the Magic Facility as both ponies made their departure from the scene.

Keeton returned back to his office like nothing happened. Whereas Mush returned to the little tool shop to place all of her equipment back where it belonged. Even the blood covered wrench got placed back in it. Perhaps to be stored as a grim reminder? She cleaned it a bit and was done with her deeds of the day. Everything was set again on the places where it belonged. Mush simply went to her bunk bed afterward in order to get some sleep. Sleep that she was needing ever so much.

---

High up in her office was Rarity consuming herself deep. She read through the reports that spoke of the corrupted magic. Many spoke that the power one would gain from it was unmatched and often to be considered even more pure than the magic that had been shooting up in the skies for a thousand years. But it also had another side effect. For it would consume the memory of its bearer, making it forget the life before a certain date. It was perfect for her. If she could master the power of corrupted magic, Rarity would be able to forget about her earlier life. She then could focus herself on her permanent job. Only if.

With the bolts of magic that shot high up in the skies, they morphed themselves with the atmosphere. The bolt disappeared at a random point in the skies filling it with magic. Unicorns would be calling upon this power thus creating the myth that magic is actually a force the flowed free through the skies. But those who knew better were the ones inside the metalized box in the floating, capital city.

Corrupted magic on the other end was something that had captured the imagination of the mare for longer than she could have thought. Every night she took a small sniff from a little bottle that she kept hidden within her own private quarters. Locked off from any soul that might wanted to enter her room. A thing she did to not dwell too much within her own past.

“There has to be a way to harness it… There simply must be!” she spoke out loud while deep breaths left her nostrils. With her eyes that went over the many reports and casualties the corruption had claimed, one of the written works promised to be very interesting for her. She began to read through it with great care. Everything that it seemed to be knowing, she would get to know as well.

Minutes slowly turned into hours while the night kept venturing forward. Though the white unicorn didn't care. All she wanted was to truly harness the power that the red magic contained. Even if it would drive her over the edge of insanity. Far beyond the point of no return for certain.

Having made her way through the whole series of reports, she didn't became a thing wiser. Though it did clear a few things up for her. In her mind she got the ingenious idea to just do it. Not simply letting the corrupted magic to be able to be called up by her horn, but letting it flow through her very veins, together with her blood.

There was a determined look that began to take its form on her face. Rarity removed herself from her chair and left the office. When she made her way through the hallway, she locked the door behind her so that nopony could enter and descended from the stairs over to the tenth floor. The floor that would change her whole life once more. The floor which housed the room that would kill her in way or the other. The one place where she could become more powerful than ever imagined.

---

“M-Manager Rarity, you are not,” a pony who wore the hazard suit and mask spoke up with a muffled voice. A thing that made it unable to hear if it was a mare or stallion. Though the ivory unicorn found herself inside the highly toxic room of almost finished magic.

“Allowed to enter without a suit?” Rarity replied with a cold voice and a stern look in her eyes. Regulations didn’t needed to be told to her at all, she knew every one of them.

The pony gave her a simple nod. Though before any other action could be taken place, the suit wearing pony found itself on the wall of the hallway. It turned itself around before it tried to get back into the room but Rarity had closed the door and shut it tightly so the pony couldn't enter.

Uncertain of just what to do as its next action the pony simply took off its mask to reveal the face of a terrified mare. A mare who was sweating even more. She knew the many dangers the unstable magic had and she gulped loud before making her way over to the window in the door. Her eyes just glared over to what would be happening soon enough.

“S-She isn't that stupid, now is she?” the mare behind the glass spoke up in a whisper. Her attention was kept to Rarity who had made her way up to the little catwalk. The white coated unicorn simply stood there while the vapors entered both her nostrils and mouth.

Rarity took another deep inhale from it. After that, she let out a deep exhale that went accompanied with a small cloud of blue magical aura. With her body exposed to the highly toxic and unstable magic, it would only be a matter of time before things would go out of hooves.

Though the mare didn't care a single bit for it. Having read through the reports, Rarity had only one desire on her mind. She wanted to get control of the waste product that the Facility had been creating for centuries.

The deep red coloring got once again around her horn as some of the highly unstable magic began to form itself into a sphere and was levitated before her face. The sparks of the unstable sphere would normally be enough to scare any worker away. But the manager didn't care one bit for it and she simply kept staring into it.

She wanted to unlock the true secret it carried and Rarity went over the sphere with her eyes from every possible angle. In the end had she found enough bits of corruption that would help her with the messed up plan her mind had come up with. Gently she pulled out the very bits of corrupted magic with her own and created a separate sphere of them. When that sphere was big enough, and most likely to her own liking, she dropped the unprocessed magic back into the vat below while staring at the corrupted bits.

The mare outside was just looking with interest and fear as she never expected any of this to happen on a normal routine. Her desires to warn the other two officials had becoming bigger and bigger, but so was the attention towards the manager.

“Finally,” Rarity spoke up while staring at the ball of pure, corrupted magic, “after such a long time, I will be able to harness the power of the wastes. Then even that shall be having a use!” The red sphere moved itself a bit lower and was then aligned with the chest of Rarity. The mare outside gulped louder but couldn't dare to take her eyes off of the happening events. Accompanied with a roar of pain from Rarity, had the sphere made its way into the chest of the mare. Slowly it became one with the white coated unicorn. Slowly, Rarity merged with corruption itself.

The mare on the hallway grasp deep while placing a hoof before her mouth. She couldn't believe the things she had been seeing just yet. But little would she knew, that it was only the beginning of the end.

---

With the corrupted sphere surrounding Rarity’s heart, it took a hold of her body. It morphed it to its own desires while the head of Rarity lowered itself under deep winces of utter pain. She panted softly while her red eyes fixed themselves upon the vats below.

Her mane and tail begun to lose their curling and just hung there like she had just taken a shower. Around her four legs there was an unknown, black substance that did their turn. It crawled up to about her knees and ended up in a flame like pattern.

The mare behind the door couldn't believe the event that were playing out before her. Even though she was there the whole time, she shook her head in utter disbelief. “T-This can’t be, it simply can’t!” she mumbled into herself as she looked in utter horror through the glass again. Her eyes weren't lying to her whatsoever and that was the thing that frightened her the most.

But it was all very true. Rarity had consumed too much corrupted magic at once. It would drive her insane, crazier and overall more ruthless then she always was. The entire fate of the Facility was balancing on how long the ex-tailor was able to keep her mental sanity. The corruption had begun to chew on that more than anything else she had ever seen or done.

Epilogue

With the corruption that was flowing through her body, Rarity rose her head back up towards the ceiling of the room. Only to erupt out in a dark and mentally insane laughter. She had become one with the very waste product of the Facility. Something that would be coming very useful for her in the case of new escape attempts that would be made.

The mare behind the door had seen more than enough by then. She began to gallop over to the stairs that would be leading up to the even higher levels of the Facility.

Finally having made her way over to the floor where the officials slept she knocked loudly on both the door of Trixie's and Twilight's quarter. She stood there for a good minute while she hoped for an answer to come from either mare. But the silence had been taken over for far too long. She knew that there would be one other spot where the two could be sitting and she didn't made any time to go to waste and just went through there.

---

With the door opening for the unicorn manager of the Facility, she would have made her exit from the waste room with a deep, dark and insane grin on her face. With her new looks she had to come up with an explanation for it all. One that was made up quickly within her mind as she ventured up the stairs that lead to the office.

Having seen not a single soul along the way, Rarity fell back down in her chair and she simply looked at her own body with a deep chuckle. “Secrecy, is our priority,” she spoke up after the chuckles had died down. She turned herself around in the chair to see the many arcane monitors behind her. Her eyes watched over the many sleeping souls before her eyes caught a group that were speaking in silence.

Her very guts told her that the conversation held wasn't about the weather. Normally she would have made a remark of it but decided not to do so. Her desires turned into the simple action of watching the ponies. Rarity looked at their mumbling while she tried to read their lips.

“Secrecy is the Facility.”