Shadow Factory

“NUUUUKKEEE!!!!”

Nuke jumped awake. He blinked, then warily looked at the clock. It was 3 AM.

“NUKE!!”

Nuke growled in annoyance and hissed, “What?”

“HELP!! HELP!! PLEASE, HELP!!!”

Nuke leaped out of bed and raced into the living room. He almost collapsed from the sight laid out before him. The room was in ruins: chunks of the cave walls had crumbled onto the floor, pictures and other delicate items were strewn about, smashed to smithereens, and there were his siblings, caught in pincers and surrounded by six factory workers.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!!” roared Nuke, fire blazing in his blood-red eyes. He whipped around and bucked a worker hard, sending him straight to the floor and knocking him out as his head crashed painfully into the rock. The other workers swore at Nuke, trying to grab him by a leg or ear. He bucked another worker, sending her tumbling to the floor, also. Swordfighter was now free and she wriggled out of the conflict, darting into the kitchen, screaming and crying in horror.

The mutant pony growled angrily at another worker, stomping his hoof on the floor. Suddenly, Skullsmasher was freed and she ran away into the kitchen to join Swordfighter. Nuke started to wonder why Skullsmasher had been freed, but his thoughts were soon answered by the coldness of metal clasping around his neck. “HEY!!” he screamed, thrashing wildly.

Bladeslasher sobbed and writhed pathetically, tears drenching his fur. Nuke managed to kick out one last time and hit a worker right in the crotch. The worker dropped the pincer and fell to the floor, groaning in agony as Bladeslasher also raced into the kitchen.

“AHAHAHA! Your balls are no match for my mutated hooves!!” laughed Nuke. He gripped at the pincer around his neck and pulled as hard as he could, still struggling to get free. The pincer was starting to open a little when another one clamped around his left hind leg. “HEY!! GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!!!” he screeched, kicking as violently as possible.

The five workers were now all on their feet again and had Nuke trapped and virtually defenseless. Another pincer clasped around his midsection, and the green pony screamed in rage. “LET ME GO, YOU WORTHLESS MAGGOTS!!!” he shrieked, still trying to thrash.

The workers pushed him to the floor, keeping him still. He writhed and squirmed, screeching swears at the workers as one clasped a pincer around his other hind leg and the other worker clamped around his right foreleg. They then lifted him off the floor, heaving with the effort. Nuke was still screaming in fury, his fangs dripping with saliva. “LET!! ME!! GO!!!!!!” he roared at the top of his lungs.

“Hey, shouldn’t we get Jeff?” asked one worker to another.

“We’ll get him after we load this one up.” answered the other worker.

The five humans carried the hollering equine outside and toward a factory truck. The second he saw the huge vehicle, Nuke’s crazy antics came to a grinding halt. His rage was now being replaced with a special fear. The fear that you get only when you know you’re in serious, death-defying trouble.

“Thank God, he stopped screaming.” breathed one worker.

Nuke couldn’t move. His whole body tensed up, leaving him paralyzed with fear. Another worker opened the truck doors, revealing two other ponies sitting on the vehicle floor. Nuke was tossed into the truck, and before he could even take a breath, the doors were slammed shut and locked. He just laid there on the floor, his eyes wide and his body shaking.

One of the ponies, a graceful, slender Pegasus, carefully trotted up to him and poked his side. “H-Hello?” she squeaked.

Nuke jumped and scrambled to his hooves, panting heavily. “I gotta get outta here, I gotta get outta here,” he muttered. “Where’s out?!” He looked around frantically, and finally spotted the doors. He body-slammed them, only earning him a nice bruise on his side. He tried pounding his hooves on the doors, but that didn’t work, either. He then turned around and bucked them as hard as he could, but it was useless. He was locked in, and there was no way out. He sighed and slumped back to the floor, tears welling up in his eyes.

The Pegasus leaned down and nuzzled his ear. “There’s no way out, sweetie,” she whispered. “But it’s gonna be okay, alright?”

Nuke merely nodded, wiping his eyes with his bleeding hooves. “I have three younger siblings back home.” he whimpered. “I woke up when they were calling me for help, and after I managed to free them all, I got captured...”

The two ponies gasped.

“Hey,” called the other pony. Nuke looked to his left and saw a cyan Pegasus with a beautiful rainbow-colored mane.

“You’re the bravest pony I’ve ever known.” said the Pegasus.

Nuke squinted at her. “Are...are you Rainbow Dash?” he whispered.

“The one and only.” answered the cyan pony, winking at him.

“How...how did you get caught? I mean, you’re so fast and agile!” cried Nuke.

“They tased me.” answered Dash simply, picking at her teeth.

“Oh, I...I’m so sorry...” whimpered the mutant equine.

“It’s alright,” said Dash, grinning slightly at him. “I knew this day was gonna come eventually; might as well just accept it and move on.”

“But what about your friends? Your family? What about your biggest fan, Scoota-something?”

“They’ll eventually move on without me; it’s okay, alright? Chill out.”

Nuke dipped his head down in defeat. He looked up at the other Pegasus who was still standing beside him. She was a light yellow and had a gorgeous pink, flowing mane. Nuke recognized this one immediately. “And...and you’re Fluttershy, right?” he asked. Fluttershy simply nodded.

“Wow...I can’t believe I’m with two of the Elements of Harmony!” cried Nuke, sitting up. “I mean, this is amazing!” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash grinned broadly at him.

Suddenly, there was a loud thump coming from the truck, and then it rocked a little, the doors slammed shut, and the engine roared to life. “Well...” Fluttershy gulped. “Here we go...”

Dash sighed, looking up at the ceiling as the truck began to move. Nuke hung his head, tears brimming in his eyes again. He would never see Skullsmasher, Swordfighter, or Bladeslasher ever again.

“Hey, whatever-your-name-is,” called Dash. Nuke looked up at her.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what...uh...exactly happened to you?” asked Dash carefully.

“Oh, when I was a colt, I was walking with my parents and we didn’t know we were in a nuclear bomb testing site, and the bomb went off and it killed both of my parents and left me mutated like this.” explained the mutant pony softly.

Dash and Fluttershy gasped. “Oh...I’m so sorry...” whispered Dash.

Both Pegasi trotted over to him and engulfed him in a hug. Nuke gladly returned the hug. They stayed like that for about a minute or two before they separated.

“My name is Nuke.” said Nuke.

“Nuke? Cool name, bro.” replied Dash.

“Oh, I like that name...although, it scares me a bit...” whispered Fluttershy.

Nopony spoke for the rest of the trip. They sat there, on the floor, for two, maybe three hours. Nuke and Fluttershy had fallen asleep and Dash was on the verge of dozing off when the truck suddenly stopped. Dash’s mind kicked into full throttle and she got to her hooves, sensing a difference in the air. She smelled something very different than what she was used to. She smelled...fear, and death, and blood, and smoke. She winced at the very stench of it and backed into the wall, her ears pressed flat against her head.

Suddenly, there was a faint click, and the double-doors swung open. Dash squinted at the new light, shielding her eyes. Fluttershy and Nuke were both awoken by the sound of the doors and scrambled to their hooves the moment they saw two factory workers standing at the foot of the truck, staring at them.

“They look good.” stated one worker.

“I agree.” replied the other.

“Alright, time to get these worthless things outta here.” The other worker reached in and grabbed Fluttershy. The yellow Pegasus screamed and immediately burst into tears, wailing in horror.

“FLUTTERSHY!!” cried Dash, racing for her sobbing friend.

Fluttershy was stuffed into a narrow and very tight cage. She whined in distress and struggled futilely. Dash growled and leaped at the workers, only to be caught in mid-air and quickly pushed into the cage, also. Nuke backed away as far as possible, his eyes wide with terror as adrenaline pulsed through his veins.

“Come on, you weird-lookin’ cow!” hissed the worker, reaching and straining to grab Nuke.

The green pony gasped. “HEY!” he roared with such volume that the worker jumped and pulled away. “NOBODY MAKES FUN OF HOW I LOOK!!” Nuke found he’d regained some of his fury and he stood defiantly.

“I don’t give a damn about how you feel! Now get your ass over here before I climb in there and choke you to death!!” snarled the man.

The mutant equine stared hard at the two workers. They were obviously much stronger than him, and he saw, in their pockets, very scary-looking tasers. There was no use in resisting anymore.

Sighing, Nuke slowly walked over to the workers. One man gripped him tightly and stuffed him into the cage, then locked it and slammed the truck doors shut. Nuke coughed. The cage was so tight that it was hard to even breathe, let alone move around.

The workers talked for a few more minutes, then one hopped into the vehicle and drove away. The remaining worker looked down into the cage and smirked. “You three are gonna have a lot of fun here.”