The metallic grinding sound of the pump below us screeched and sparked from the intense friction acting upon it, screaming in horror from a painful lack of lubrication.
Sighing, the floor officer next to me removed his goggles and rubbed his eyes wearily, "Alright, stop it. We need to send some workers down to lubricate it before we can continue, or else it's gonna bust on us"
The whirring machine sputtered and shook as I pulled the lever, before slowly shutting down and collapsing out of exhaustion. Following suit, the rest of the factory shut down, halting operations and leaving one unlucky mare suspended in midair with a knife stuck into her chest, refusing to grant her a quick death.
We heard angry shouting behind us, "What are you fools doing!? We haven't reached our quota for the day!"
Knowing that voice instantly, we both spun around and stood stiffly in the presence of Dr. Atmosphere.
"The pump below us needs lubricating, sir. It started to smoke" the officer hastily responded.
"We just lubricated it this morning, though! It should hold up for at least a few more hours!" Dr. Atmosphere responded, scanning the officer's face for signs of weakness.
The floor officer gulped, but refused to crack under pressure, "The oil seems to have dried already from being overworked, sir. It appears that you didn't use enough"
Dr. Atmosphere stared into his eyes for a moment or two, almost as if he was punishing the stallion by forcing him to stare into the eyes of a psychopath. After what seemed like ages, Dr. Atmosphere chuckled at the sweat drop hanging off of the officer's chin.
Without another word, he pushed him down into the machine and turned to me, "Turn it on"
I did as I was told emotionlessly and turned the pump on again. It screamed in agony before steadily chugging back to life. The stallion below us pleaded for his life, but his cries were drowned out by the machine that sucked him in and crushed him without mercy.
Though the machine seemed happier after being lubricated, it was still miserable. This is what the white hoof told me.
My mind no longer registers pain,
as it has been too commonly forced into my brain.
My eyes capture the images and send them in,
but my mind greets them lovingly, as commonly as kin.
Of course I cannot love it, this sibling of mine,
as its sins slowly undo what makes up my mind.
No, for me, there is but one love.
She is a blessing from the stars above.
A friend in this lonely existence we share,
one who understands the true pain I must bear.
My shift ended a few hours later and I was allowed time to sleep. I jumped into my bed and rolled around in the covers like a dog for a while to feel more comfortable before sighing and turning to my friend.
I smiled and limply flopped my head onto the pillow, turning to her, "Wow, I'm bushed. Did you see what happened to that floor officer today?"
She was about to respond, but a guard walked over to shush us, "We've been over this. You're not allowed to talk during taps. Go to bed"
I frowned, "Can't you give us a break tonight? Today was really exhausting"
He paused in confusion momentarily, before glaring at us, "No, you'll disturb the other sleeping workers around you. This is the last night I'm going to-"
I stuck my hoof at out a 45 degree angle sternly, "Jawohl!"
Flopping back down, I ignored his threat to get Dr. Atmosphere and pretended to be asleep until he walked away. He always threatened to, but he never did. Even he was too afraid to face the madpony. I giggled with my friend before we both agreed to be silent for the night and do what we were told.
It was then that Dr. Atmosphere entered the sleeping chamber, shouting, "What are you doing, fool!?"
My eyes went as wide as dinner plates and my life flashed before my eyes.
I stood up stiffly and swallowed hard, "My shift is over, sir. We were about to go to sleep"
"You are never to stop working. You will be purged like your former colleagues" he announced sternly.
Gasping in sheer terror, I pleaded, "No, sir, please! We were just doing what we were told! We were-"
"I'm afraid this is the end for you," he growled as he walked toward me.
"No! THUNDERSHOCK!" I screamed as I shot a bolt of lightning at him, though the attack bounced harmlessly off of him.
Laughing, he walked up to me with an antagonizing smile, "Is that the best you can do? Dream-eater!"
My hopes and dreams floated away before being absorbed into his body.
I grimaced in pain, "Th-that's not fair! I'm wide awake!"
"Are you? Are you really? How can you be sure that your life isn't just a cruel dream?" he laughed maniacally as he struck again, harder this time, "How can you be sure that your pitiful existence isn't just a figment of your imagination? It would make sense, after all. Nopony's life could possibly be THIS miserable"
Blood dribbled down my chin as I collapsed to the ground with a thud, before managing to stand back up, "FLAMETHROWER!"
It wasn't very effective.
He walked through the flames and, for a brief moment, I thought I was in Tartarus itself.
Smiling with a raised eyebrow, he stuck both hooves on the sides of my head and slowly sucked my gooey brain through my ears, "How can you be sure that you aren't dreaming right now? How can you be sure that you aren't dreaming right now? How can you be sure that you aren't dreaming right now?"
The question droned on, as if it were replacing my thoughts. How could I be sure that I wasn't dreaming? How did I know that my life wasn't just a cruel joke? How could I be sure that my life wasn't just a story made up by some cruel, bored god? How could I ever be sure?
He sucked the last of my mind from my skull before dropping me to the floor, "Worthless. Completely worthless. You're nothing to me, and you're nothing to this factory. You can easily be replaced if you aren't careful, which is why you must obey my every command"
Exiting the chamber with a huge grin on his face, he left my body to die there. To him, I was nothing. To him, I could be replaced. I was to obey his every command.
Laying there, breathing my last breaths of life, I seriously wondered what the point of living was without enjoyment. I managed to roll onto my back as I stared into the abyss longingly, waiting for my time to come.
Before I could be finished, however, I noticed a white hoof outstretched toward me. I grabbed it, and it helped me up. It taught me many things. It taught me that I did not have to listen to him, and that I could be free outside the factory.
We continued to speak of such things for hours upon hours. The white hoof taught me everything about the factory. It taught me about how they selected victims to be turned into rainbows, and about why it was important. Of course, rainbows weren't REALLY important to sustaining life for Equestria, they were just used to give HIM a job. The white hoof taught me how to kill him. Before we could finish our conversation, however, I was awoken by a guard.
He shook me awake and kicked me until I got to my hooves, screaming, "Reveille means GET UP, worker!"
The guard shoved me into the line of ponies, and we began to march. I turned to my friend at my side and greeted her with a good morning smile.
We both knew that that day was going to be the day that everything would change. This is what the white hoof told me.
Yes, 'tis this friend that I hide in plain site,
and 'tis this friend that has shown me the light.
Her unrelenting power is mine to bear,
question her authority I would not dare.
Forevermore I shall beg her to lead me,
guiding my insurrection for all eternity.
And to all those who have kept me captive,
learn this well, if you wish to live;
If you do not wish to face her gruesome judgement,
you must surrender your soul to her and repent.
We marched into the chow hall, ablaze with laughter. It was going to be the day- Yes, THAT day! The colors of Equestria would no longer drip red with blood, and we would stand tall.
"Aaah...powerful stuff, wouldn't you say?" I added enthusiastically in between bites.
She faced forward and ignored me.
The faint sound of heavy hooves on the metal floor could be heard approaching, but I made no mention of the obvious and decided to probe my friend's silence, "Why don't you speak? This whole time I've known you you haven't spoken to me ONCE. I'm starting to think you don't even LIKE me"
The thundering sound of hooves raced closer, and faint screams of 'Sweet Celestia!' and 'How could anypony have done this!?' reached us, but once again, we paid them no mind. They didn't deserve it. The whirring of the berserk machines- ~~my~~ OUR revolution- echoed throughout the tight corridors of the factory.
Taking another bite, I grew more and more insistent by the second, "Why can't the others see you? Why can't the others FEEL you? Why don't you grace them with your presence as you have done with me!?"
They finally switched on the alarms, and the shriek of sirens challenged the noise of the machines as valuable workers and their guards evacuated to get away from the malfunctioning machines. I heard stallions outside the steel hatch screaming at me to come out of the chow hall, but I didn't bother. I wasn't done with either my breakfast or my conversation, yet.
"I don't think you understand," I growled as she continued to ignore me, "I just gave up my LIFE to help you. They will sacrifice me to the machines for this. And yet, you don't speak to me- ME! Your closest, most personal friend in this JOKE of a factory!"
The steel hatch finally swung open, and several guards spilled out, trying to intimidate me through numbers, screaming, "GET ON THE GROUND! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!"
They all paused, some dropping their spears out of horror, before shouting, "Dr. Atmosphere! Are you alright!?"
He laid on my plate limply, barely able to speak from the shock of the pain.
"Kill...me..." he whispered as I cut off another piece of his liver.
I poked a hole in each of his lungs, "SILENCE! I'm trying to have a conversation here!"
Sighing out of frustration as I stuck another piece of his liver into my mouth, I turned to my friend and brandished my knife, "Speak now. I command it, SPEAK NOW! Show them what you are! Show them who you are! Please! Prove to me that I'm not insane!"
I gasped and dropped my knife, "Woah...I don't know what just came over me"
The guards finally managed to work up the courage to come up to me once I dropped my knife, before pinning me to the table and binding my hooves, "But you know what, white hoof?"
...I was wrong to have doubted you, old friend...
A guard strapped me into the machine and waited to give the signal to the control operator, "Any last words, pig?"
I stared at him silently with no emotion.
...you helped me kill them...
"Fine, then! See if I care! LET'ER RIP!" he snarled as the operator activated the newly-patched software that no longer had been cleansed of my virus.
Unlike most approaching their death, I did not wail or cry or attempt escape. I waited patiently as the knife came closer and closer to me, ready to drain me dry.
...you added lavender to the rainbow...
As I stared death in the face, I couldn't help but notice some familiarity. At first I thought it was the white hoof, but then I realized that it was something warmer. After a few moments, I discovered that it was my fiancé's beautiful face.
...you did nothing but good for this world...
"No, please, Dr. Atmosphere! The miscalculation was my fault, see? SEE!? That's my hoof-writing! Take me instead! Please, just take me instead!" I screamed as I stood in front of the only thing that mattered to me anymore.
He stared at me with the utmost contempt, "I know it was her, I saw her make the mistake with my own two eyes. Stand aside or I'll kill you both"
My mind raced and I was seconds from socking him in the face before I was stopped.
...and you know what?
A lavender hoof rested on my shoulder and, as I looked over, I saw my love's face, teary-eyed but smiling warmly. She stared at me silently for a few moments before whispering delicately-
...so did I!
"I love you," the white hoof told me as the blade pieced my body.
I kissed it lightly, "I love you too"
Author's Note
Btw, in case you were wondering, this story was MEANT to be a little confusing :P It's kind of my way of putting you in the mind of a psychopath, if that makes any sense. I've never written horror before, and I think the genre is kind of boring tbh, but I really enjoyed writing this for Halloween and I hope everypony who read this enjoyed it too c:
GREATLY INSPIRED BY THIS SONG SRSLY YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS FOR TEH NOSTALGIA BONER LAWL
