Shadow Factory

The worker grabbed the cage and heaved it onto his shoulder, making all three ponies groan in pain. The man walked out of the parking garage, the equines gasping in horror at the sight of other ponies being thrown into cages. The minute the worker left the garage, the trio of ponies stared, wide-eyed, at the Factory.

A huge, blood-stained building sat there, waiting for hundreds, maybe even thousands of workers to come through its doors, holding helpless victims. On top of the building were four smokestacks, each one belching thick, choking smoke. Gigantic pipes led all around the Factory, carrying who-knows-what down into the ground.

But, the most horrifying thing was...the hundreds of mutilated equine bodies strewn about. It seemed as if they were thrown out after they had their pelts removed, left to rot and be picked apart by the tons of crows circling the property. The bodies lay motionless, twisted and mangled to the point where they were unidentifiable. They were literally swimming in pools of blood and body fluids, their own gore surrounding them. Fluttershy immediately passed out from the sight. Dash squeezed her eyes shut, blinking back her tears. Nuke, however, didn’t seem to be all that disgusted. He was mostly evil, after all, and had seen it all: guts, blood, corpses; you name it, he’s seen it.

The worker entered the building, casually stepping through the automatic doors and into the Factory. Dash and Nuke screamed. The Factory was GIGANTIC. Machines of all shapes and sizes were everywhere, and this was just in one room. The two ponies looked on with horror as they watched numerous equines get thrown onto assembly lines and be carried away into different areas.

The worker walked over to the lines and saw that there were three of them, moving at a fairly fast speed. Each one had a sign above it: the first line said “Pegasi,” the second “Unicorns,” and the last “Earth Ponies.” The man unlocked the cage and opened it, then grabbed Fluttershy’s unconscious form and tossed her onto the Pegasi line.

“FLUTTERSHY!!” wailed Dash, tears now streaming down her face. The worker then suddenly yanked her out of the cage and threw her onto the same line. Dash struggled to move, but then found that the entire line was coated in an extremely sticky substance that trapped her where she was.

Nuke shrieked in terror as the worker pulled him out and tossed him onto the Earth Ponies line. He, too, tried to struggle, but all three lines were covered in the substance. He and Dash looked into each other’s eyes as they neared the separate rooms they were going to.

Nuke mouthed the words “Goodbye.”

Dash mouthed back “Goodbye, Nuke.” And then, she and Fluttershy disappeared as Nuke entered the Earth Ponies room. He looked around and nearly retched in horror.

The room was divided into huge sections that were divided into more rooms. Steam-belching machinery was scattered all over the place. And the ponies...

Numerous equines were being held down by machines and having things branded onto their foreheads as they screamed and thrashed in agony. More ponies were locked into shackles as a machine fitted mechanical collars on each of them. Even more ponies were trapped in body braces as they whizzed by a needle that stabbed through their ears and placed a tag on them.

Nuke started hyperventilating in panic as tears started sliding down his cheeks. He looked forward at the pony in front of him. He saw she was an orange pony with yellow stripes running down her back. Her spikey mane and tail were colored blood-red and her eyes were a dark, threatening black.

Suddenly, her entire body disappeared. Just as Nuke was beginning to question this, he tumbled off the line and into a box of sobbing, squirming equines. Nuke cried out as one pony kicked him in the face and another knocked him to his side. It was complete chaos. Nuke, seeing that it was useless to try and keep his balance, covered his head with his forelegs in an effort to protect his skull. He managed to look up and saw a giant machine with an extendable arm and a large, horrifying claw. It was plucking out the ponies one by one and fitting them into the body braces by the needle.

Nuke almost fainted from horror as the claw reached down, heading straight for him. He leaped out of the way, revealing a stallion with a light brown coat and a dark brown mane. He had an hourglass as his Cutie Mark, and Nuke realized he’d put Doctor Whooves right in the machine’s path. Before Whooves could react, the claw clamped around his body and lifted his screaming, writhing form into the air. The mutant pony then watched as Whooves was carried over to the needle line and fitted into a brace. The brace locked shut automatically around him and he could do nothing but sob and squirm as he headed for the sharp instrument that was ready to pierce his flesh.

Nuke dipped his head down. Guilt washed over him as he realized he’d made Whooves get picked up instead of himself. Well, it was bound to happen. It could happen to anypony.

As Nuke was thinking this, he suddenly felt the coldness of steel clasp around him.

“OH SHI---!!” He didn’t get to finish his swear, as he was violently lifted into the air and carried over to the needle line. The green equine screeched in horror as the claw slammed him into the brace and it locked shut around him, trapping his forelegs to his sides. He tried to struggle and slip out of there, but the brace was so tight against him it was hard to breathe. He looked to his right and saw Whooves was next to him, still crying in terror. Nuke could do nothing but cry with him. They were getting closer and closer to the needle by the second. It was long, big, and very, VERY frightening. Nuke didn’t want to look at it, let alone have it jab through his ear.

Just then, Whooves let out a piercing cry as blood spurted from his ear and a tag was shot through it. Nuke roared in horror as he was positioned below the needle. Before he could do anything, the instrument jabbed through his flesh and inserted a tag, blood dripping down the side of his head. The mutated equine shrieked in pain. He then continued down the line, and he realized the previous moment was kind of like getting your ears pierced. It was really painful, but then the pain went away for the most part. Except the tag was irritating the wound and made it burn and itch like hell.

Suddenly, the brace unlocked and opened, dumping Nuke into another box full of writhing, screaming ponies. Nuke saw another claw above him. It reached down and grabbed a dark pink pony. Her mane was straight and dark, yet she had three balloons as her Cutie Mark. Nuke suddenly realized it was Pinkie Pie. Sweet, bouncy Pinkie Pie, in a factory full of death, blood, and torture, and turned into her opposite: Pinkamena. It was no wonder her mane was straight and her coat was dark. She cried out in horror, flailing in misery, as she was fitted into shackles that held her forelegs above her head.

Nuke couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He just wanted to wake up from this nightmare. He wanted to pretend he was dreaming some twisted, horrifying dream. He slumped down on top of an unconscious mare and closed his eyes, trying to block out the screams and cries of others. He could feel the pain as a multitude of hooves stepped on his body. He just wanted to wake up.

Wake up.

Wake up.

Wake up!

Sharp fingers wrapped around his body and lifted him into the air, snapping him out of his trance. He screamed in surprise as the claw pushed his hooves into shackles, leaving him hanging with his forelegs held above him. He looked to his right and saw that the others were having mechanized collars put on them.

Alright, alright, that’s not painful, Nuke told himself. It’s just a collar. How bad can it be?

He watched in sadness as Pinkamena had a collar fitted around her neck. It clicked into place and locked automatically. Nuke was then positioned in front of the machine and had a collar wrapped around his neck, too. He heard the audible click, feeling it tighten a bit as it locked. He was then carried through the line until the shackles suddenly opened, dropping him into yet another box of equines. He sat up on top of a squirming mare and poked his collar. It had three lights on it: one red, one yellow, and one green. The green one was blinking brightly.

Nuke stared at the lights in confusion until the claw grasped him in its tight grip. He whined in distress as he was placed on his belly on an assembly line. There was sticky substance on it, also, and kept Nuke from moving. He saw the ponies in front of him were moved under a large machine that had an arm and something red on the end of it. Whenever it touched an equine, the pony would scream in pain. Nuke was beginning to wonder what it was...until he saw steam rising up from the ponies.

OH NO, he thought. IT’S A BRAND!!!

He could only screech in terror as he slid under the machine, the brand appearing in front of him and aiming for his forehead. It was red-hot and steaming furiously. Since Nuke could read backwards, he saw it had a number and a letter on it: 9A. He guessed that’s what his tag said, also.

He sobbed in horror as the brand pulled back a little, preparing to hit. Suddenly, it jabbed forward, pressing hard into his forehead and burning “9A” onto his flesh. Nuke couldn’t take the pain. He roared and struggled as white-hot agony coursed through him, centering on his forehead. The brand pulled away and slipped back into the machine as Nuke was moved forward, shaking and coughing. He felt like he was about to vomit.

The line dumped him into another box. This time, the ponies weren’t screaming or squirming. They lay still, shaking and panting. Nuke was thankful for some quiet at last. He lay still in the middle of the box, waiting for the metal claw to grab him. But when he looked up, there was nothing. That’s when he noticed the pile of ponies he was laying on was...sinking.

There must be a hole in the bottom of the box, thought Nuke.

As he neared the hole, it got harder and harder to breathe as more and more ponies were dropped onto him. Finally, just when he thought he was about to suffocate, he fell through an opening and onto cold, hard steel. He looked around and saw he’d landed in an open-faced box. The ponies in front of him were moving between barriers, keeping them from escaping.

A worker grabbed the mutant pony by the neck and threw him into the single-file line of equines, making him stumble and almost fall. He slowly walked as the line advanced forward. He leaned to the left and saw that the ponies were being taken away by a few workers and into a section of the Earth Ponies room. He winced as he watched the workers toughly grab the ponies by their manes, legs, or throats and forcefully drag them away.

When he reached his turn he was shivering. A woman grasped him by the neck and dragged him into the section. He saw that the section was divided into 26 rooms, all lettered from A to Z. The worker pulled Nuke into Room A and the green pony saw that it was divided into hundreds of stalls containing crying, whimpering equines. The worker dragged him into stall 9. She then pulled the swinging door closer and Nuke saw that it had a hole for a pony’s head. Without a second thought, she grabbed the back of his head and pushed it through the hole, causing Nuke to cry out in pain. He then felt the coldness of metal clamp around all four of his ankles and he realized he’d been chained to the stall. The woman then closed the door, locking it tightly before running back to the main room.

The mutant equine dipped his head down, tears blurring his vision. He was trapped, with no hope of escape or rescue. He was going to be turned into a coat. A special-edition, radioactive coat. He was never going to see his siblings ever again. He was never going to see his friends ever again.

Nuke closed his eyes, a single tear dripping onto the concrete floor. Before he knew it, sleep overtook his brain.