My eyes shot open as I scanned about the room, finding myself in an empty cell, only a couple feet wide in either direction, I could barely stand up without my horn hitting the ceiling. I waited for my eyes to adjust to low light and tried to get a feel for what was around me. I found that the cage I was in followed the same theme as the height; I could not stretch out while lying down in it at all.
Finally, my eyes started to adjust to the light and I was startled to find myself facing a mirror. I looked at my once turquoise fur and dark blue mane filthy with dirt and blood. I quickly checked myself for injuries, but found only a couple bruises. I felt around my neck to find a thick metal collar just tight enough to be uncomfortable, but not tight enough to choke me. I briefly wondered whose blood it was before realizing that I wasn’t the only thing in the mirror.
Behind me appeared to be a group of cages, all containing unicorns that acted depressed at defeated, all of which in the same cages I’m in. I counted them to be about a dozen unicorns in cages, one of them crying loudly to himself, creating an eerie atmosphere, although none of the other unicorns made a move to comfort him, or even acknowledge him in any way. Curious, I looked around me and found the nearest cage, which contained a light green unicorn with a glossy mane colored the same way as her fur, except it had a white streak inside of it. Her golden eyes were glossy with defeat and red with crying as she stared blankly at the wall in front of her, hardly moving except for the slight rise and fall of her chest.
“Hello?” I called out to the unicorn next to me, who promptly looked up at me slightly, not even moving her head.
“You’re wondering where you are, aren’t you?” replied the unicorn
“Well… yeah…” I said slightly aghast at her emotionless voice. It sounded so… defeated, like she had given up on life itself, like she had seen things nopony should ever have seen.
“Welcome to hell… nopony really knows what it’s called, but that’s what’s written right by your cage…”
I looked to my left to see smeared in a crimson liquid that sloppily spelled… “Welcome to hell”
“I-Is that…”
“Blood? Yes, they don’t give you writing materials here…”
“W-Who are you!” I said feeling the fear creep into my voice “What’s going on!”
“Lyra… although my name really doesn’t matter… chances are either you or I will be dead within the next couple days.”
“B-but… no… this is just some sick joke isn’t it!” I shouted denying the possibility “Alright guys you can come out! I am sufficiently terrified; I just wonder how you got all these strangers in on it! Guys!?”
“Unfortunately, this isn’t a joke…” murmured Lyra “Don’t be so loud though… they’ll punish you for it.”
“C-Come on guys! This isn’t funny anymore!” I shouted at the walls, trying to block out the small voice in my head telling me this was true. “B-Buck! Guys get me out of here! Guys please!”
“Hey! Shut up, it’s almost time…” Shouted another unicorn staring at a clock on the wall, ticking slowly towards noon.
“Time for what! Guys! Seriously! I’m getting really scared, this is getting close to life scarring!” I shouted, nopony answered me, or even acknowledged my screaming more than to turn their head slightly.
“G-guys!” I shouted, that small voice getting louder and louder. The emotional strain quickly becoming too much.
“I hate to tell you this…” Lyra said, a twinge of sadness flashing on her eyes “But you’re going to die here within the next couple days… in the exact same cage you’re in now.”
It was too much, I broke down into tears, anger and adrenaline. With my eyes burning with tears, I began to slam against the cage, screaming as I did so.
“LET ME OUT OF HERE! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!!” I shouted at the top of my lungs banging my hooves on the cage until they were bloody and cracked.
I quickly remembered my horn and prepared to use a magical blast to breakaway the cage. Suddenly, I felt an electrical jolt surge through my body and I was forced to stop using my magic and deal with the searing pain. I howled in rage once the electricity stopped and tried again, ending with the same burst of electricity that happened before, this time, it brought me crippling to my knees. Panting as I dealt with the searing pain in my neck.
“You can’t use magic here.” Lyra mumbled “That collar around your neck makes sure of it.”
Suddenly a rectangle of light flashed into the room, blinding me for a couple moments, but I forced myself to gaze upon who was there. I found the silhouette of two large stallions, one a pegasus, the other a unicorn.
“It’s time…” mumbled the unicorn staring at the clock.
The unicorns all backed away to the far end of their cages at their approach, their pupils shrinking and shaking in fear. The two ponies glanced at everypony, as they walked through, eventually settling their eyes on me. They started to walk towards the cage slowly, I wasn’t going anywhere, but that didn’t mean I didn’t try. I pressed my back against the cage trying to avoid the two ponies.
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter, they opened my cage and roughly grabbed me, they each took two limbs and dragged me roughly away.
I panicked and tried to struggle, but it was pointless. They just gripped tighter, stretching my limbs in awkward directions and eliciting a yelp from me and forcing me to stop squirming. My mind rushed to process what was happening. Was I going to die? Would it be painful or quick? Every second I became more and more terrified, eventually shouting for help. Hoping, no, praying that somepony would hear and get help.
Part of me still thought this was some sick prank, which was my only true hope at the moment that my college buddies were freaking me out again. At this point I didn’t care, I wanted the nightmare to be over, nothing but a memory that I could joke about later, with a wife and my parents. No matter how much I tried to convince myself, that this was all some horrid nightmare, and nothing that could actually harm me, I knew that this was just too real. There was no possible way a group of college ponies could gather these kind of resources for nothing but a small prank. All throughout this I continued to scream bloody murder, thrashing my head, tail, and any other available limb.
It didn’t matter.
By the time the ponies came to a stop my throat felt like sandpaper grinding up against a stone. When they tossed me onto a table; I was too defeated to fight back.
They strapped me down, so I was lying horizontal with a strap on my horn, each of my legs and my tail sprawling my limbs straight out exposing my belly. I watched as they left, leaving me to my own devises for a while. I realized my chance, probably my only one and scanned the room, looking for any sort of thing I could use to escape.
I found I was trapped in what looked like a white lab room, with a bright light overhead, making everything seem painfully white. I could make out what looked like a sink, stained with crimson around the edges, as well as a table. Other than that and the table I was strapped to, the room was empty. As my eyes adjusted to the bright light I could make out red splotches on the walls and floor, causing me to panic slightly. On one wall was a particularly large mirror, which allowed me to see myself strapped down. I saw how terrified I looked and it only made me even more terrified. On the table seemed to be a couple instruments; mostly a combination of a doctor’s and carpenter’s tools. All stained crimson.
I tried the straps, but realized that they were too strong, and even with my body overflowing with adrenaline, and Celestia knows how much fear. I struggled for a few moments before I heard a door opening behind me. Since I was strapped down, I couldn’t turn my head to see who it was, only try and listen as the hoof steps came closer and closer to me.
“Do you understand why you’re here…?” I heard a soft male voice come from behind me.
“N-no…” I said “G-get me o-out of here! P-pl-please!”
“Stammering, a common sign of nervousness…” said the pony “That’s good… I want you terrified…”
I saw him come into view above me, he was a dark blue unicorn stallion with a black mane with dark blue eyes, surrounding his shrunken pupils. What really unsettled me though was his smile, it was comically large, literally almost ear to ear, a smile that a wild animal from the depths of the Everfree would have when it catches its prey.
“You see… I need something of yours… something that you have no choice but to give… unfortunately, you’re going to have to die for us to use it effectively…”
“W-what the b-buck are y-you talking about!” I shouted at him.
“I’m sorry Cloud…” He said addressing my name directly and leaning close to me “but I’m going to need your horn…”
I froze. What the buck was he talking about! Why would anypony need a horn of another pony? He had his own right on his head, he even used it as he moved the table I was on slightly so I was lying at about a forty five degree angle with my head up.
I wanted to ask if this was a joke; that there was no way he was serious. No words came out though, my mouth and throat were only able to form incoherent mumbling, I was too terrified to even speak.
I watched as he picked up a circular saw, examining it and scratching off a bit of dried blood from it.
“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to cut off a small portion of your skull as well… which will very likely damage the frontal lobe… killing you instantly.”
I saw him smile at the last three words. That was enough to cause to me to start struggling at the bonds, causing him to laugh harder.
“Yes… keep struggling… I can practically taste your fear…”
He held the saw up with his magic and started it up. Creating a slow whirling sound as he slowly walked towards me, chuckling to his self as he did so.
“Y-You’re i-in-insane!” I spat at him, never ceasing in my struggling.
“No! That would imply mental illness or psychotic behavior! Which I do neither… your horn will go to good use, don’t worry… although I’m never wasteful of the body…”
I once again found myself too terrified to speak. He walked ever so slowly to me, the small buzz of the saw ever present in my mind.
Soon he was right on top of me. His eyes as wide as his smile, and his pupils as small as his heart. He slowly brought the spinning saw only a couple millimeters from my forehead, forcing me to stop struggling else I would be cut.
“Any last words?” he asked his smile still plastered on his face.
“W-Why the b-buck are you sm-smiling?” I stammered.
The stallion paused for a moment, backing away slightly, his smile deteriorating…
“I… I don’t know…”
A twinge of hope flashed across my mind.
Then his smile returned, just as psychotic as before, causing my heart to sink into my chest.
“But it feels so… natural! Goodnight Cloud…”
With that he plunged it into my forehead.
0)-----(0
“GUUUUUYAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!” screamed the pony behind the one way glass.
“Another one bites the dust…” said the light blue pony next to me, with a simple mane, half dark blue, and the other half a blueish gray. Most of her body and cutie mark were covered by a simple white lab coat, similar to the one I wore over my white coat, hiding my musical note cutie mark.
“Yeah…” I sighed as I tried not to look at the crimson stains now all over the window “You know… you think this is all worth it Colgate?”
“We’ve got no choice Vinyl” she said as she wrote down a few things on a clipboard. “The boss won’t allow anypony to leave… just be glad you’re on this side of the glass.”
I sighed, throwing my clipboard on the table and burying my face in my hooves. Having lost my glasses long ago, I didn’t need to worry about them cracking underhoof.
“Watching this twice a day doesn’t make it any easier…” I mumbled under my breath.
“It’ll be awhile.” Colgate said looking at me with sympathy “After awhile you just stop feeling anything.”
The thought of not caring for a pony’s life made my gut wrench. I stood up and tossed my lab coat off.
“I need a moment…”
“Go ahead, I’ll finish up here.” Colgate said giving me a sad smile before turning back to her clipboard.
I walked away, past the room where all the unlucky unicorns were kept. I stopped for a moment, listening to the soft wailing going through the unbreakable door. I sighed, remembering why these ponies were picked. They had done nothing wrong, only being unlucky. The boss wanted to weed out all the “Unworthy” ponies, which basically meant the one’s born to a poorer family.
“Nopony deserves such a fate for any reason…” I mumbled to myself.
My thoughts wandered back to my past life as a DJ, all the friends I had, and all the parties I had gone to. Back then I had felt invincible, popular, but more importantly, happy and ignorant. I saw no trouble when I got into some legal trouble when some drug use got involved at one of my raves. An elegant mare agreed to bail me out in exchange for a favor. I thought the choice was obvious.
I was wrong.
“Is something wrong dear Scratch?”
I looked up at the epicenter of my hatred; the cause for all the evil in this wretched place. At first glance you would suspect nothing. Her kind blue eyes gave nothing away of the evil hidden behind them. Her perfect white fur and hooves had no trace of the blood she splattered twice a day. Her elegant purple mane that never seemed to have any flaws, revealed nothing of the devious brain underneath.
“N-Nothing Miss Rarity…” I mumbled refusing to make eye contact.
“Oh dear, you just came back from a recent operation…” she said gently touching the side of my face with her hoof.
I hated how whenever she spoke of the murder she caused, she treated it like it was just another daily thing, like the way some of the workers who had particularly let the slaughter get to them. It was almost like they enjoyed it.
“You really shouldn’t worry about it, it’s for the good of Equestria after all.” She said caressing my face. I had to resist the temptation to pull away in disgust. I’ve heard about what happened to workers who had made the boss angry. She had a special way of taking a horn from them.
“I… I guess so…”
“Hmm…” Rarity said thoughtfully “Do you question why we’re doing this?
“N-No Miss! I uh…” I mentally panicked, what was she going to do?
“Relax, I won’t kill you… I want all my workers to realize that these terrible ponies, but ponies nonetheless, are a sacrifice worthwhile.”
I wondered what could possibly make a ponies life worth sacrificing. I didn’t like her, I thought she was insane, and moreover, I didn’t trust her one bit. My curiosity however, got the better of me.
“Come on dear, don’t be shy.” She said turning away, swaying her hips in a ladylike fashion as I followed close behind.
We walked through another door, this one still made of metal, but looking thinner than the one used to keep the ponies. On it, was a sign which said…
“Maintenance Ponies Only”
Rarity pulled revealed a key and placed into the lock, opening the door. She walked inside without any sort of hesitation.
“You’re lucky… the horn is just entering the machine…” She said gesturing towards a glass wall where I saw a group of unicorns with goggles and lab coats similar to mine. Holding a tray with… well the top of a unicorn's head.
“You see… a horn starts to lose its magical properties after it loses contact with a body.” she explained to me “That is why we have to move quickly in order to keep as much magic in the horn as possible”
I saw a transparent, almost invisible green aura flowing out of the horn, dissipating into the air after it traveled a couple centimeters off of the horn.
“This is also why we take it off of the living pony... as well as try to scare them. When a unicorn feels fear, as a natural defense mechanism, the horn begins to build magic, so a more powerful spell can be realised more quickly, therefore a more magic rich horn.”
“Why do you need the magic?” I asked her, curious.
She watched intently, looking as if she were watching her child compete in a sport on the field.
I watched as the horn was placed into a small machine, which emitted constant grinding and banging sounds.
“Here, the machine takes the horn and grinds it into dust...” stated Rarity her eyes gleaming “There the magic becomes infused with the bone..."
"Thats horrible!" I shouted a gut wrenching feeling in the pit of my stomach, the grinding sounds the machine was emitting taking on a new meaning.
"Its worth it for what comes out..." She stated dreamily, a little too into such a horrible act against nature.
I watched for a little longer as a couple ponies in more lab coats preparing two glass jars. They appeared to sterilize the inside and outside of the jars before placing them under two separate taps coming out of the machine. After a moment of humming, a white powder fell out of both taps, leaving both jars about half full with a sparkling white powder similar in appearance to sugar with glitter in it.
“W-Why?” I managed to choke out as I watched them take away the horn dust and take it into another room.
“This can be used for many reasons... but we tend to dissolve it into a solution to make, Enhancement X.” Rarity said, looking at me, her emotional high obviously gone.
“E-Enhancement X” I stammered, shocked at such a display
“It can be anything... it depends on what chemicals you mix it with, but it can create the most brilliant unicorns, the quickest pegasi, and the strongest earth ponies...”
My brain went into a state of panic. This couldn’t be happening! I never knew what the horns we watched being sliced off the heads of living ponies were used for, but I always hoped that they went to some kind of greater good, maybe helping sick ponies, or anything! Just not this!
“You mean you kill innocent ponies to make... steroids!”
“Well it doesn’t sound as great as it is when you put it that way...” she whined looking at me with a pouty face.
I quickly started to lose all sense in replacement of rage. This... monster! Nopony could be so horrible, and still pretend to contain such innocence and sense of righteousness!
“How can you stand there and look so... innocent!” I shouted anger coating my voice “This is murder!”
“That is the technical term...” said Rarity in a still calm voice, but slightly warning “I like to think we're pushing aside the lesser ponies who inhibit the strongest...”
That did it... for a moment, my brain locked up, and could only think of one thing. Stop the horrors that were coming out of the mind of this horrible mare, stop this madness of a facility, and end the life of the monster in front of me.
I couldn’t exactly remember what happened, I must have blacked out for a few seconds, but the next thing I knew, I was under the hoof of the white mare in front of me.
“Hm... we don’t appreciate ponies who can’t even keep control of their emotions...” she said pressing her hoof into my throat. Before I knew it, I was grabbed by two burly ponies that I had seen many times before, dragging their victims to the operating room. I glanced behind me and saw Rarity, walking closely behind.
“P-Please Mistress Rarity! I-I beg of you! Please, don’t kill me! I’ll do anything!”
“Second chances are for fools...” Said Rarity “Your kind... your drastic flaws, deserve to be wiped clean from this world, like a rancid stain.”
“No! I’m sorry!” I screamed and started thrashing, desperately trying to escape with my life. It was no use, my strength began to leave me, and soon I was only weakly twitching. They finally arrived at a familiar door. Opening it, I watched as the captured ponies, in cages no larger than they were, turning their heads to see the newcomer. They tossed me into a cage, locking the cage door.
“P-Please...” I managed to muster with the last of my strength.
The last thing I heard was Rarity, addressing the guards.
“She has betrayed my trust and taken my hospitality for granted... give her, the “special” treatment.”
The door slammed shut, an echoing banging noise through the small room; the final theoretical nail, in my literal coffin.
0)-----(0
I watched as the metal door swung close. The two oafs in front of me, staring blankly ahead. There names always escaped me... but I was pretty sure one of them had a “Muscle” in it... It doesn’t matter. They kept me from harm and that the occasional idiot would attempt to cause.
I had liked Miss Scratch... she was one of the few here with any sort of intelligence. However, I’ve realized over the years that nopony could be intelligent and still share the same idealistics that I had.
My mind briefly toyed with the question of why she would attack me like that? We were not only clearing the streets of those unworthy of life, but also helping others move up in the world with Enhancement X!
I dropped it, as the fact that she was too weak to do what needed to be done. Yes that must be it... just like the rest of the fools surrounding me. Too fearful to do what had to be done to keep the streets of Canterlot clean.
“Uh... Ma’am?” I heard a male voice from behind me.
I turned to see one of the scientists, with a white lab coat and goggles that covered his eyes. His yellowy tan fur and brownish blonde mane perfect, his face in an emotionless stare. He levitated a small glass jar, filled halfway with the white powder.
“I believe it’s tuesday... you always request a jar of dust on the first tuesday evening of every month.”
I liked this pony, I had seen him around before, he handled things like any sensible ponies should, without emotion to cloud judgement, in fact it seems he had mastered it better than I have.
“Thank you M...” I told him taking the jar and holding it “You know... maybe one day you’ll be up for a promotion? Maybe a seat of power by my side?”
“That would be nice Ma’am...” said M with his normal emotionless voice.
“Mmm, yes... say could you watch the facility for an hour..”
“Yes Ma’am,” said M “I assume you’ll be heading out then?”
“Observant as always...” I said putting the jar into the saddlebags “If anything happens...”
“It will be resolved before you get back.” M said finishing my sentence.
“Good luck...” I told him walking away and finding the door, leading out into a dark alleyway. I breathed in the cool night air. It was great to feel so good about yourself.
I walked down the dark alley and into the street, which was as usual, empty, and quiet. I started to trot down the dark avenue the jar of dust in my saddle bags.
My thoughts started to mindlessly drift towards M and how he was. He had come a long way since I first... found him... his family was entirely dead, and he never had made friends easily. I knew that things could happen to me, industrial accidents, or a crazy ponies who couldn’t contain their fear. What if something happened to me? Somepony would have to continue my work. I decided to discuss it with him at a later date.
I didn’t have to wait long however, as I heard the door slam shut and the familiar flapping of wings coming from the door. I picked up the jar in my magic and turned to face the mare. She landed and stepped towards me, a saddlebag on her back, and her rainbow mane shining in the small amount of moonlight the place had.
The cyan mare stepped out of the shadows. Her obvious attempt at a poker face failed to disguise the boredom that overtook her.
“You’re late...” I stated.
“I’m here...” she said snarling “Do you want it or not?”
“It’s not like you have a choice... you need this, and I don’t exactly need your spectra.”
“How do you know I need it? What if I just use it as you do, to dye my mane like you do?” she said her nervousness was as obvious as the wings on her back.
“I don’t think so...” I stated debating on how much to reveal “I talk with... powerful ponies, and I’ve heard about your little... operation in Cloudsdale.”
Rainbow’s eyes flashed with fury, but then calmed down. I wondered what possible counter she could have... if she was looking for a fight she would be sadly mistaken. Instantly I started to build power in my horn, but stopped it at her next statement.
“Yeah well... I’m curious how you get your little powder... I had some of my scientist’s test it... it has magical properties only found it horns.” she smiled, knowing that we had come to a stalemate.
“Well done Dashy...” I told her “I didn’t think you had the intelligence.”
“Watch it...” She growled “Just give me the dust and take the spectra so we can both move on.”
“Very well” I said handing her the jar of white powder “Good luck with your rainbows...”
“Good luck with your prisoners.” she said handing me a small jar of a purple, viscous liquid. Spectra.
“Thank you...” I said “Now I must be going... same time next month?”
“Yeah...” She said before spreading her wings and levitating into the air “Just remember... if my factory goes down... so will yours.”
I nodded.
“Ditto”
Then she took off into the sky. I sighed to myself in sadness. She was a good friend to me, and the spectra made my mane a more luscious purple than I could get any other way. But I couldn’t have liabilities... my calling was too great, even for... hair... she would have to be taken care of.
I walked out of the warehouse and immediately headed towards a familiar hangout for me and my friends. It wasn’t far from the warehouse, and I got in there pretty quickly, I opened the door and walked inside.
“Hiya Rarity! What brings you here?”
“Pinkie... I need a certain somepony’s number to come up...”
0)-----(0
This was it... my chance... years and years of mental torture and being forced to not show a small hint of my pain... my chance was finally here.
I... M... was left in charge of this Celestia forsaken factory... I could finally do what needed to be done...
I walked down the hall looking for the certain black door with the spot of paint that had been spilt on it. I walked down the hall quickly, knowing that the moment Miss Rarity came back my chance would be gone...
I finally found it and I walked inside to find it thankfully lacking of all life. The room was well lit and painted a bright white so that everypony who went in could see well. The place was very simple, mostly a bunch of tables in a circle each with a bunch of equipment. All these tables were centered around a small, glass container, cylindrical in shape that was about a meter tall and with a four inch diameter.
Inside, was liquid “Enhancement X” possibly one of the most unstable compounds in all of Equestria. It reacted with oxygen to form... explosive, results...
I walked in and picked up the jar with my magic. All it would take was a small break in the glass just enough for a few molecules to get through, and this entire factory would be gone in a matter of seconds. I levitated it and prepared to drop it, until something flashed before my eyes.
I realized just the decision I was making here... I realized that... that I would die as well...
The thought had crossed my mind before of course, but I had thought that I would easily sacrifice myself, after all, what was my life to the lives of dozens of other unicorns. Here though... here it was so... real, the ponies I would never see again, the things I would never do if I died.
Then I thought of all the good I would do, countless lives would be saved, nopony would ever have to be subjected to the torture that this factory produced. I held the jar in my magic, thinking carefully... all it would take was a single command to let go... just cut off the magic to my horn and it would shatter. Demolishing the whole place... my mind focused on it... on the decision... life... or death... I heard movement outside...
“Hello! If you’re in there don’t be startled I’m coming in!”
Whatever I was to do I would need to do fast... then I decided...
0)-----(0
I sighed returning to my factory... my mind on how I could get my mane to an almost as great purple. I decided to take a small walk around the factory to try and come up with some solutions, besides, I needed to make some checks on the process anyway, I walked around and ran a few inspections on the machine... it was in working order as usual, and it didn’t look like it needed repairs. I waved hello to the ponies cleaning it from all the bit’s of gore and blood before turning to check on the next process.
In order to create Enhancement X, the dust had to be dissolved in a solvent, but until it settled completely it was... volatile to say the least. It was worth giving it a look. I walked over to it, the idea or harvesting my own spectra starting to come to mind as I walked to the room. I stopped, hearing movement inside, dismissing it as one of the scientists.
“Hello! If you’re in there don’t be startled I’m coming in!”
I opened the door and met face to face with M, who was just leaving.
“Oh hello dear! I see that nothing eventful happened.”
“No, mistress” he said in his usual monotone voice “All went well.”
“Excellent!” I said as I put a hoof on his shoulder “You know, I’ve been looking for a coworker, and it seems like you're just the pony for the job!”
“I would be honored mistress” He said emotionlessly.
“Yes, here allow me to show you some of the ropes, come along!” I said as I started to walk towards some of the more hidden rooms in the factory. It took me a few moments to realize that he was hanging back slightly.
“You coming?” I asked him.
He looked at me and shook it off.