Rekindled Clockwork

Distant, somewhere in the far off dark recesses of the facility, loud mechanical clicking echoes off of cold, metallic walls. Fighting through the thick haze that was blocking her mind Twirose slowly opened her eyes, and took in her new surroundings. Everything was dark, bathed in an eerie red glow from the lights hanging from the ceiling.

As she scanned the room her vision soon starts to adapt to the light. All around her, she can see large pieces of machinery, storage bins, and various vats of green liquid. Above her there are twelve mechanical arms and various conveyor belts running from one wall to another. In the corner, she makes out a small cryo chamber with a young pegasus floating inside, all twisted and mutilated like some kind of horror film. She quickly quenched these thoughts.

Twirose attempts to move her arms, her hoofs coming into contact with the sides of cold steel restraints. It's only now that she looks down at her body, suddenly realizing that she’s strapped to a metal operating table.hands are completely metal! Twirose lets out a loud shout of surprise, finding that her mouth is stuffed with some kind of cloth-like material. As she looked over her arms and legs, she notices two tubes coming from her chest and left thigh that lead to a small machine sitting on a nearby table. The larger of the tubes is running a thick purple liquid into her, while the small one in her thigh is sucking out something red.

"This can't be real! Where am I?” Twirose thinks to herself, feeling slightly panicked but continuing to keep her cool.

There is a beep from her left, as something large moves from the shadows. Turning her head, Twirose stares at a stainless steel model of a pony standing at about six feet tall. She looks at her reflection in the glowing blue eyes, fear evident on her face.

After a short moment of just staring at her, the robot moves for a panel on one of the walls. It pushes a button marked, ON and instantly two mechanical arms lower and grabbed Twirose’s hoofs.

“Wait! What’s going on? Where are you taking me?” Twirose attempted, but all that came out was a muffled chirping.

The robot didn’t answer, instead it pushed another button, opening a hole in the floor under Twirose. The arms released her arms, and soon Twirose found herself free-falling toward the unknown.

The young pegasus sobbed silently to herself in the dim red light of the room, each breath a painful venture within itself. She could still feel the pain from where they had broken each individual limb in her wings, or wing. Even though she was in great pain and probably wouldn’t survive much more of this abuse,Twirose still wasn’t ready to give in to their demands. Even though they had been careful not to say anything around her, she had still figured out why they were doing this to her and what they wanted. This had to be about her sister who used to work here, before going missing.

She had always been paranoid about what the factory was doing. Always telling Twirose these stories about being forced to kill innocent ponies for reasons undefined. Twirose had thought she was kidding, just too embarrassed to tell her little sister where she really worked. Hours before she “disappeared” Twirose received a message about how her sister had finally had enough and was going to try to help someone escape. That had been the last thing she’d ever said. Maybe she had been right after all.

Twirose screamed a blood-chilling scream as her rear right leg was ripped apart, and her body continuing to be twisted and stretched like taffy. Steel arms turned her around, ignoring her cries as they grabbed the left one. Twirose continued to scream as her leg was slowly twisted until it eventually snapped off, making a repulsive squishing sound. Again, the arms picked her up, carrying her to a nearby table. Two cybernetic guards swiftly attached cold, metal restraints to her remaining limbs, as another began to work a machine. Nothing stopped them as they emotionlessly watched the machine start to slice open her stomach cavity.

Twirose was swimming in an ocean of pain which threatened her sanity. They had just finished harvesting her left eye, leaving her right because it was a different color. The restraints were removed and something grabbed her from behind, lifting her into the air. The movement caused her to black out.

When she came to, Twirose found herself alone in a large bare room. Near her head she could make out the door; near her feet was a large window that framed the faces of two of the Overseers. Suddenly the floor she was on began to move. She began to hear a low rumble coming from the direction she was headed. There, right in front of her was a gigantic concrete slab. It would be the final ending to this hell.

Twirose screamed as the slab made contact with her body, slowly crushing her. Blood gushed from her mouth as her ribs started to break one by one. She could feel her organs trying to escape through her head. Then, when Twirose was closest to death, everything stopped.

Twirose was barely hanging on to any resemblance of life as she watched the slab lift itself off her body. Miraculously, she was still conscious, wondering what happened. Had they had a change of heart? In the distance she could hear the Overseers laughing as they watched her trying to comprehend what caused the sudden reprieve. Then, the slab fell, smashing her flat as it ended her life. Strangely enough, death was what Twirose wanted most.

Two dark figures stood on a nearby balcony watching as the horrendous events unfolded below them. Being the ones who had brought the mare to the Factory, they had been granted the rare opportunity to watch as she was disposed of. Something the two quite enjoyed, and even called their favorite past-time.

"Is she dead yet?" The one called Smuggler asked, as he continued to twirl his knife between his black hoofs.

"I think so." His partner, a white Pegasus named Mole answered.

"About time. I was getting bored watching them tear her apart."

"I still can't believe she lasted as long as she did."

"Yeah, that is weird. Maybe the kid was special after all."

"Maybe."

The two turned and walked back to the elevator, each flanked by a cybernetic guard. Once inside Mole hit the button for them to return to the main floor.

"So what's up with all these robots anyway?" Smuggler asked eyeing the one closest to him.

"I'm not sure. Rumor is they had an incident a few weeks ago involving one of their most trusted employees. Someone called Chromatic Bolt or something like that." Mole replied.

"Was it a mare?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there you go. Stupid mare's are always messing things up." Smuggler said. "Don't know why we let them out of the house in the first place."

Mole didn't say anything. He was used to his partner's rants about the opposite sex and had stopped arguing long ago. Plus if he did say anything, there was no doubt in his mind that Smuggler would kill him without hesitation.

The lift stopped and the two bounty hunters strolled outside to their waiting sports car. As always Mole got into the driver seat, because as Smuggler put it, he needed his hands free if he ever need to kill someone.

"So who's our next unlucky guest?" Smuggler asked, lighting a cigarette.

"Some stallion by the name of Kiwi." Mole said, as he pulled onto the dark road. "Higher-ups say he's been snooping to close to their operations."

"Kiwi?" Smuggler asked. "Who names their kid Kiwi?"

"His mom was probably on something when she named him. That or the kid just got unlucky." Mole answered.

"Oh, so what did he do to get on the Higher-ups bad side?" Smuggler questioned, pretending to care.

"Intel didn't say. All I got out of them is that they don't want him to be taken care of like the rest."

"What do you mean?" Smugger asked.

"It means that we can't kill him." Mole flatly said.

"Fuck." Smuggler dropped his cigarette. "But I like killing."

"Yup. Apparently they think there's something special about this one. Don't ask me why though. Kid looks like he couldn't even handle a horde of Parasprites."

"Can I still cut off his jimmy?" Smuggler asked.

"No. And what is it with you and that?" Mole said, giving him a weird look.

"It's personal. So will they let me do anything to him?"

"No, the kid's not to be touched. But they did say we could have fun with anyone who happened to be nearby." Mole said winking.

The two laughed. It had been a long time since they had been allowed to have fun. Mostly because of what happened to the last town, Sparksburg. Or what had originally been Sparksburg.

Still laughing the two made their way to their hideout, both looking forward to what the day would bring.