Alpha

Chapter One: Hell

"Rise and shine, colt. Wake up!"

"5 more minutes." The white Pegasus groaned, pulling the covers over his face.

"Now or else!"

"Fine! I'm up! I'm up!" Growled the brown-eyed Pegasus.

Pushing back the covers with his right-wing, Alpha got up. He sighed as he looked around his cell. Blood stained the walls and ceiling, leaving the ground black and dirty. An iron door swung open, letting Alpha leave his cell into the halls to walk to the shower room. Although there were other pegasuses walking there at the same time, no one gave a glance to him, which would be odd considering his age, but Alpha either did not notice or did not care. Alpha walked into the shower room and found an empty stall. He went inside it, turned the makeshift handle, and let the cold water run through his black-turning-blue mane. As it seeped through, washing away his fatigue, he thought about his life. He has worked at the RF for 3 years. Today was his birthday, he had just turned 11. He thought of having a celebration...a party, but then decided against it.

"There are no birthday parties at the RF. No such thing. You work or die." He told himself.

He turned off the shower, dried his mane, and walked to his assigned work place: The Repair bay. During his first week of hell, Alpha found out that he had a knack for creating and repairing anything metallic. For a normal colt, one Alpha's age, they would never understand the reason for a "welding torch", let alone how to use one properly, but for Alpha, the welding torch was like a magic wand for him. When he held it, he could create and fix anything. Alpha walked to the lockers, grabbed his mask, his leather gloves for his hoofs and wings, and his welding torch. He then slipped on his leather gloves for his wings and hoofs and was about to don his helmet when his hoof ran over his still burning and raw scar on his face. He stopped cold and ran over the scar with his hoof, without the glove, and carefully felt it. He closed his eyes, and remembered the incident.

Last week, One of the guards brought in another stray, a red mare. While looking around the bay, her eyes locked on to Alpha's torch. Alpha had stopped to get another part to fix. The mare walked over to the tool and held it up with one hoof, while looking over it with curiosity. Alpha, coming back into the bay, lifted his head to see the mare playing with the torch. With a rush of fear, he ran to the mare, "STOP!" he screamed as he galloped toward her.

The mare lifted her head to see Alpha running to her, unaware that she had turned on the wrench. Aware of the torch's danger, Alpha tackled the mare. He was not aware of the fact that the mare brought up the wrench so it was facing him. Alpha's face brushed the tool, its fire changing in a blur of neon colors as it burned into his face. The mare dropped the tool and hit the ground as she was tackled by a Pegasus running at full speed. She watched as the welding torch hit the ground, sputtered for a few seconds, then died. The mare then looked to her right, and stared at the white Pegasus. He was covering his face, specifically the place where he was burned with both front hoofs and wings. He was screeching in pain. The mare reached out to Alpha, but was stopped when 4 Guards, dressed in black uniforms, grabbed her and started to pull her away. The guards stopped dead in their tracks when they heard Alpha's voice. They turned and stared in disbelief to see the white Pegasus standing, looking at them with an etched scar, still burning, running from above his left eye, across his nose and ending below his right eye.

"She does not deserve to be punished." Alpha said in a calm voice.

"But she hurt you, damaged your face with your own welding torch." One of the guards said.

Alpha lowered his head and smiled. "Having their Parents abandon them should not be punished by death, let alone brutally tortured and killed slowly." He said as he walked up to the guards. "She was curious. She wanted to know what the tool was. Thank Celestia I walked into the room and saw what was taking place. If I hadn't, she," Alpha pointed to the mare, "she would not be alive. Let her go, I'll show her the ropes," Alpha said walking toward the mare. The guards stopped Alpha.

"We already have ponies working on that, she will live." Alpha nodded, and walked back to his work place.

A pegasus, tossed him a wet cloth and said "You always have a habit for saving others that did something wrong. Why? What did they do to earn that respect from you?"

Alpha caught the cloth, wrapped it around his face, making sure it covered his new scar, and replied. "3 years ago, I was caught for stealing bread. I was a stray. For my punishment, I was to work here for the rest of my life, or until I had died. In my opinion, I do not believe that those who did something so little like me, should deserve to be punished as hard as I was. I did not know what I was doing was wrong. I had no idea that stealing was against the law. So what you just saw me doing was me acting on my opinion, on my belief."

The pegasus smiled, and said "Keep that trait, colt. Most if not all ponies on this planet don't have it. In my opinion, the world needs more ponies like you."

Alpha shook off the memory, and was about to don his helmet when he saw a guard looking at him. Alpha looked around to see 3 more guards, all looking at him, surrounding him.

"Are you the one they call 'Alpha'?" the guard on his right asked him.

"Y...Yes, that is me. Is...Is there something wrong?" Alpha asked, nervous.

"Come with us." the guard said.

"Okay...?" Alpha replied as he followed the guard out of the lockers, passed the shower room and his cell, and stopped at a huge wooden door. The guard knocked once.

"Come in." replied a voice behind the doors.

The guard open the door and gestured Alpha to walk in. Alpha face had just finished entering the room when he was grabbed by the face, wings, and hoofs. Alpha, fully encased by fear, looked around as he struggled for his life. It was a torture room. Saws and torture devices covered the walls, blood stained the floor. He heard the sound of cuffs locking his wings and hoofs as he was put onto a metal table

"I don't understand. What did I do wrong?!" Alpha cried, struggling to get free from the cuffs.

"You spared a mare from her death. You protected her. Under normal circumstances you would be dead already, fed to the machine, but I have specific orders from the Princess to keep you alive." The Guard said. "So, instead of killing you, we will take off your wing."

"WHAT!?" Alpha screamed in fear. The guard nodded then stepped back. A black pony on alpha's right pressed the button on the tool and stepped toward Alpha's Right wing. Alpha heard the sound of his own Welding torch and knew what was going to happen next. "NOO-" he had barely had time to scream when the torch started burning through his wing. Alpha screamed in sheer agony and pain before he went unconscious from the pain.

Although unconscious, Alpha was still screaming. It took nearly an hour before the wing was no longer connected to Alpha. The black pony stepped back, admiring his work and sneered back to the Guard. The guard was about to nod back when Alpha instantly stopped screaming. The black pony slowly backed up, uneasy of what just occurred. The cuffs on Alpha instantly opened and Alpha rose into the air. The blue part of his Mane and tail turned to red. Alpha's eyes opened suddenly, the color, instead of being brown, was blood-red. Alpha looked at the guards and the black pony and sneered.

"You should not have done that..." Alpha said with a grin.

The ponies in full disbelief, ran toward the door. The door slammed shut in front of them.

"You have condemned him to hell for 3 years." Alpha said, floating towards them. "You have Tortured, Abused, Hated, Bullied, Teased him for 3 years."

The ponies started to panic in fear. All tools behind Alpha were on and floating, following Alpha.

"And now," Alpha continued, landing on the ground in front of them, "You took his wing, burning it off with his own welding torch."

"Please spare us," the guard replied frantically, "we were just doing what we were told to do."

"shh..." Alpha said, putting his hoof on the guard's mouth, silencing him. "shh... it will be alright, no need for apologizing. We already have ponies working on that. This is The Rainbow Factory, after all."

"We?" asked the Black pony. "Who is 'we'?"

"Alpha and I" Alpha replied without taking his eyes off of the guard.

"I thought you were Alpha." the guard on his right said.

"Currently, I am not. The Alpha you saw earlier is not here, he is in the back of his mind, screaming in agony. I am a pony who, long ago, suffered a similar life like his. I was hated, tortured, and bullied by society. I am Beta." Beta replied. "But enough talk. You five have some punishment to endure, that is, until you die."

"Die?" questioned the black pony, before all five were flung unto the metal tables covering the walls. "You said there wasn't any need for death." the black pony said as the cuffs for the five of them were being locked, their wings and hoofs locking onto the table.

" I said there wasn't any need for apologizing." Beta said, grinning.

Beta walked to the metal table where Alpha's wing was. He looked to his left, and saw Alpha's welding torch. Picking it up with one hoof, Beta walked to the black pony, teasing him by turning it on and placing the torch so it's flame was licking his ears. He did the same to the other guards but one, the main guard. "There is always a reason behind anything and everything that happens." Beta chuckled, "Oh, how I am going to enjoy every second of this." He glanced at the Black Pony "This is the rainbow factory, where no single soul gets through." He told the pony, as he started burning the main guard's wing off, his screams echoing through the room.

"Welcome to the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true."