War, Friendship, and Crisis: The Tale of a Torn World

Act III: Betrayal and Corruption

It had been a week after the Second Battle of Ponyville. Life ran smoothly for Equestria during this small break, but the fun was halted after the disappearance of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. No evidence was detected, and they were the only ones taken. All of their armor, supplies, tools, and weaponry were left behind as if they vanished from existence. The other four ponies and GEST Corp. were heavily alarmed by this situation. Someone was up to this, but they had no idea who.

•—————•

As a dark corridor appeared into view, a soldier in onyx armor patrolled from one side of the hall to the other. Multiple doors with labels on them filled both walls of the corridor. Every single one of them held someone or something inside. Some of the doors were kept completely locked while others allowed a food slot or window in the doors to stay open.

A booming voice from the speakers became audible. "Specimen E-015 is needed for experimental procedures. Please acquire them and place the specimen in testing room X-122. Minimal damage is necessary for the test."

Two soldiers in onyx armor marched down the corridor to one of the less secured doors. The soldiers wore helmets that masked their identity. Two glowing blue eye-shaped visors covered part of the helmet. Two huge ears flopped around in a thick leather coating. A twisted tail curled and whipped behind their suits, and two hands were filled with claws and a laser rifle. Unlike the demons' variety, these soldiers were completely identical from head to toe.

They opened the door with a keycard and encountered the creature curled up in the cell. Even though the cell looked exactly like one of Ponyville's houses, it still horrified the pink fluff under the bed sheets. Pinkie sat there crying her eyes out and afraid. She didn't know what to do, but she had no choice. The soldiers grabbed her forelegs and carried her out of the room. She fought a little, so one of the soldiers injected an electric shock into her body. She felt extremely weak from the shock and couldn't even move her face.

The soldiers continued down the hall with Pinkie between them. They turned left into a bigger corridor with double doors on the sides instead of single doors. They entered the third set of doors on their left and headed towards a chair. They placed Pinkie Pie in the chair and tightened the straps around her hooves and head. Her weakness faded as she shouted and wriggled in the chair. The soldiers left the empty room and locked the set of doors, leaving Pinkie alone to herself.

"What are you things going to do to me?" she asked in panic and terror. "If this is one big prank, it isn't funny! It's scary!"

The room that she was strapped in had a set of one-way glass panes to her left. One of the soldiers that did not carry her to the testing area spoke into a mic inside the chamber with the one-way glass. "Specimen E-015 appears as a light pink equine-like creature. The hair of the creature shares the same fluffiness as cotton, and the entire body is coated with a short fur. Its eyes contain a light blue hue, and the head is relatively large when compared to the rest of the body. The eyes also seem to carry the same trait of size. The personality of the creature involves celebration themed items, happiness, and love. The creature is more scared and sad than usual, but this is expected in its current position. Other specimens state that it is an "Element of Harmony", but no evidence acquired so far supports this conclusion. It is to be tested for psychological limits, illnesses, and potential in violence-based activities in the near future. This first test will involve her cooperation with certain themes that these equine creatures would not regularly practice."

A machine slowly descended into Pinkie's head and strapped itself around her. She was hyperventilating now, and her pupils were absurdly tiny. "No, please don't do this! I don't know what this is, but please stop!"

The soldier ignored her and spoke again. "Activate the virtual reality mechanism on specimen E-015."

Pinkie's vision was warped as a loud whir became audible from the machine on her head. Instead of seeing herself strapped in a chair in an empty room, she saw herself in Ponyville again. She was in Sugarcube Corner. More specifically, she was in her own room. She rolled out of bed in pure speculation and bafflement. Was it all a dream? she thought to herself.

She walked out of her room and into the dining area to find another pony strapped onto a table. The pony was Twilight Sparkle, but part of her horn was cut off. She was screaming and panicking, but all of her sounds were mute. An axe sat next to the table with bloodstains on it. She instinctively approached the table and glared down at Twilight.

A voice spoke sadistically in Pinkie's head. Go ahead, use the axe. This pony is worthless anyway.

Pinkie was furious with the voice. She's my friend! If you want me to hurt her, it won't happen!

She is setting you back. Your friends let you get captured by those wretched demons, and they let you face punishment from a machine. She deserves to die.

No she doesn't! Twily's still my friend, and some little boo boo isn't going to change that!

You don't have a choice. Kill her now. She's worthless to your wishes.

Pinkie's hooves reached for the axe and picked it up. Even though she resisted the idea, she could not stop herself from picking up the weapon. Her eyes filled with tears as she lost control over her actions.

The voice spoke again. Didn't she reject some of your parties? Do you know how much she truly despises your songs and parties? She is not what she seems. Now, give her the correct punishment.

But she invited me to parties! Pinkie silently shouted at the voice in her head. And who are you?

You are growing insolent. Break her at once, or else you will be more than crying and broken!

Pinkie raised the blood-stained axe over her head, aiming for Twilight's left foreleg.

Do it now! Those words echoed in Pinkie's head and motivated her actions.

The axe smashed into Twilight's hoof and created a deep, gushing gash. Her screams from before became audible and deafening. Pinkie involuntarily swung again and drawn even more blood from Twilight's body. Every swing that burrowed into her forged another set of shrieks and quivers. By the time Pinkie felt like vomiting, an entire foreleg was sliced into five pieces of wet, crimson flesh. The feeling vanished as the axe raised above her head once again. She couldn't stop the movements, but a brewing urge gave her more and more possession to swinging the axe.

Pinkie creatively struck different parts of the body now. Instead of aiming for Twilight's other leg, Pinkie sliced Twilight's right eye in half. The skull cracked a little as more blood ran down Twilight's twitching face. She cried tears and blood as another strike sliced into her chest. Ribs cracked, lungs broke apart, and blood drained out of her flesh like a gentle and warm river. Pinkie couldn't hold back her tears, yet she still wanted to see the torment now. Even though the event severely racked her mind, she could not comprehend if this was by choice or if it was planned. No matter what it was, it did not stop Twilight from choking in her own blood and viscera.

One of the onyx soldiers walked into the observation room in room X-122. He observed the monitor that showed Pinkie Pie hacking at a mangled corpse of Twilight. Another soldier in a chair examined a computer with the same footage.

"The specimen is beginning to accept this," the soldier in the chair discovered. "It is not ready though. It can easily shrug off one traumatic event of this magnitude. Also, we need to use more than a virtual realm to achieve our goal."

The footage on the screen died out as the machine on Pinkie's head ascended into the dark ceiling. She darted her eyes around the room in shock and horror. She eventually vomited on herself from the horrors she had just witnessed.

"Ugh, at least it wasn't real," she quietly stated through her tears and stinging throat. "Please, anypony, let me go! Don't do this to me, please!"

"That is unfortunate." The same soldier in the chair glared at the vomit in disgust. "Clean the specimen and send it back into its cell. Further tests are needed if we want to actually gain new discoveries. All we have is the exact same reaction from other specimens."

Machines popped out of the metal ground near Pinkie and scrubbed the vomit off her coat and mane. After she was completely clean, two onyx soldiers opened the double doors and deactivated her straps. She fought vigorously against their hold, but it was to no avail. They shocked her once again and carried her out of the room. She was one step closer to hell, and the soldiers knew that perfectly well.

•—————•

and have left your party.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends were inside a recently built GEST Corp. base in Ponyville. The base was spherical on the outside, but a labyrinth of high-tech rooms lurked below that entrance. Princess Celestia was perfectly fine with the addition of the building due to its green setup and its placement. The entire base was located east of Pink Tree Plains to avoid any disruptions or suspicion.

The room that the ponies wer inside was General Solk's office. He sat in his chair behind his desk, typing documents on a computer while the four ponies stood in front of him. After finishing a digital report about the situation with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, he turned to the quartet with a serious expression.

"I have absolutely no idea how this happened, but this is gravely serious. Anyone, hell, anything could have taken those two ponies. So far, we have no data on there whereabouts." He looked over to his computer and continued speaking. "We have two scenarios that are being tested right now. Scenario A, being the least likely, is that they are right under our noses. The reason why it is so unlikely is due to the lack of any signals from them. Scenario B, being more likely but much more dangerous, is that they are in another dimension. Our tracking on the Elements of Harmony fades in those other dimensions due to their size. Yours is fairly small at the current point, only supporting one galaxy."

"Will we ever see those two again?" Applejack asked in hope.

"It depends on their condition. Anything can happen to them, and I bet anything will. Our enemies are twisted enough to use our species as test subjects for their experiments. If they can convert a human into a bloodthirsty, mindless, and twisted abomination of nature without batting an eye, then I bet they'll do the same to ponies." Solk remembered an important task for the quartet. "I've also wanted to say that we have new suits for you four."

"New suits?" Twilight was intrigued in this information. "What do they do?"

"All of them have different functions for each of you. Twilight Sparkle, yours allows greater control over your magic, allowing stronger magical blasts and barriers. Fluttershy, your suit is programmed to be comforting and attracted to other animals. If you ever find yourself in a tough situation, you can call upon any nearby creatures from the land, air, or sea. Applejack, your suit allows stronger endurance against enemy attacks and boosts your bucking power. It also holds lasso and projectile packs to it just in case you want to be ranged for a while. Rarity, yours involves your unique ability to find gems. All gems in the area will bend to your will, floating or soaring anywhere you want them to. Hopefully, these upgrades allow a greater resistance against this world's adversaries. If the enemy is advancing and tinkering, then we have to too."

"What about storage?" Twilight asked politely.

"Every suit comes with a Teslatech brand Pocket Chest. They are small compartments that can hold hundreds of times their size without the detriment of weight. Some more speculative people like to call them boxes that are bigger in the inside, but I digress. Those little devices will allow you to carry as many artifacts as you want without losing your strength."

Fluttershy inched towards the desk. "Will Ponyville be okay whenever we leave? It's already went through two attacks, and I don't think I can live there if it happens again."

"It'll be fine. Security around that city has been increased by ten-fold ever since the Craw Wars ended a few days ago.

"The Craw Wars?" Twilight questioned in interest again.

"They're a bunch of battles that we had to partake in due to the Craw wanting to turn all organic life into machines. I think they are the same robots that attacked you and Fluttershy in the Bad Lands." Solk pointed a finger to the door. "You four should get going now. Colonel Vincent has the four suits and a mission for you all upstairs."

The quartet funneled out of the door and walked up a set of stairs nearby. They walked up three floors before hearing a soldier ordering an entire battalion how to fight. The soldier turned towards the ponies and placed a little smirk on his own face.

"Welcome to the brigade, girls." Colonel Vincent kicked a large chest to the ponies. "These are your suits. Put them on, and then I'll give all of you your mission."

The quartet put their suits on with slight confusion. Rarity was confused if her suit was backwards or not, Applejack could not determine which mechanism held lassos or projectiles, Fluttershy did not know if was exactly safe to wear, and Twilight was testing the different abilities on her suit. After a couple minutes of small tests and acknowledgement on what was what, Vincent spoke to the ponies again.

"Your mission involves a deadly discovery from the enemy. We have reports that Dr. Scraps is searching for the Mirror Pool, and his army is near completion with that mission."

"What would he want with the Mirror Pool?" Twilight questioned in interest.

"World domination and economic bypass, that's what. If he gets his hands on that pool, he can create an endless army of robotic soldiers. Nothing can stop him from unleashing billions of machines upon this planet." He activated a digital map of the Everfree Forest. "Luckily, we know where he placed his robot factory. He planted it inside the reclusiveness of the Everfree Forest, allowing him to silently create an army right on this land. Your objective is to storm the factory and destroy it before it creates too much mayhem. These troops will patrol the forest and protect the Mirror Pool. Our soldiers are not immune to explosions and gunfire, so an entire army of robots will kill them all very swiftly."

"We'll teach those robots a valuable lesson then!" Applejack exclaimed confidently. "They'll never get to that pool!"

"Good. Your ride to the factory is right outside the base. Go to the third drop ship on the landing bay."

The four ponies saluted the colonel and dashed out of the base. After climbing up flights of stairs once again, they exited the dome and took a sharp left. Nine out of ten drop ships were filling with soldiers from all sides. The ponies entered the still vacant ship and waited for liftoff.

"All of you will be dropped off on the north side of Ghastly Gorge," the pilot informed with a not so menacing but still stern voice. "Word has it that the factory is located in the gorge somewhere."

"Why would they place a factory in a gorge?" Fluttershy asked quietly.

"Most likely for defense purposes and seclusion. Dr. Scraps hates visitors and intruders to an extreme. He'd place a factory in the core of a planet if he had the time."

"Isn't that taking security a little too far?" Twilight was baffled on why Dr. Scraps would take extreme measures to keep one facility safe. "Even I wouldn't do something like that to keep something safe."

"Well, if you ever met the guy, you'd know exactly why." The pilot circled a finger around his wobbling head. "The dude's nuts, literally and figuratively."

The pilot turned back to the controls and activated the thrusters. The drop ship ascended into the air slowly and headed southward. The four ponies, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, where ready for whatever they were about to face.

•—————•

The drop ship landed next to Ghastly Gorge carefully. In the bottom of that valley rested a river flowing through the ground. Patches of mist floated along the bottom of the pit. A small platform was attached into the north side of the gorge. A long walkway stretched to the top of the gorge. Robots with huge, bulky arms rolled around the area, patrolling the entrance for any intruders. It was currently nighttime, so the ship and the ponies were completely invisible in the darkness.

The ramp door opened slowly and quietly to avoid suspicion. As the pilot gestured a goodbye to the ponies, a crackle in the communications chips became audible.

"Are you four there?" Travis asked through the chips.

Twilight kept her voice very low. "Yes, we are."

"From what I am picking up, that walkway leads directly to the factory. Be careful around those macho bots. They'll uppercut your heads off very easily."

The quartet kept their muffled movement as they crept towards the walkway. Torches lined the gorge's wall just enough to allow the ponies' cover to be broken. They avoided the torches and hid behind a few trees and bushes. Fluttershy was the first to speak. "How are we going to enter that place undetected?"

"We aren't," Twilight answered quietly. "We are going to avoid alerting too many robots, but we still need to fight these ones." She glared at their brawny arms that were punching and breaking rock into pieces. "Applejack, I think you are a good candidate for fighting them. I don't think they can match your power."

"I'm on it, Twi!" Applejack exclaimed in valor as she galloped towards the robots.

One of the macho bots was showing off to another. "You know bro, if I ever see those 'Elements of Harmony' punks that Dr. Scraps keeps babblin' about, I'll punch their faces off their heads!"

"Bro, how are you going to do that?" the other macho bot asked. "You'll break their skulls if you punch 'em, bro! That's awesome enough!"

The other macho bot looked at his metal muscles in delight and pride. "I know, bro! Gimme five!"

The two robots high fived each other with excessive force. They then turned to Applejack, who was about to ram right into them.

"Hey bro, I think this horse wants to fight, bro!"

"Then let's fight, bro!"

Applejack halted in her tracks to avoid their deadly fists of fury. The two macho bots rolled towards her with their right arms ready for two deadly jabs. She backed away and turned her body around to buck at the robots. The macho bots kept their distance and unwound their jabs.

"Bro, I'm not gettin' hit by those hooves anytime soon," the macho bot to Applejack's right stated. "You can go ahead and get beat if want to, bro, but I'm stayin' here."

Applejack kept her bucking position and readied her projectile launcher. "If you two don't want to come over here and fight, then I'll bring the fight to you!"

Two metal spheresvwere tossed into the air by the launcher. Applejack bucked both of them at the macho bots, creating two dents in their bodies. The macho bots split paths and readied their jabs again. Applejack waited a little before retreating. When both macho bots were to the left and right sides of her body, she dashed forward instantaneously, causing the macho bots to punch each other. They soon shrugged off the punches and rolled towards her again. Twilight intervened and fired a precision blast at the macho bots, creating a thin magic blast that passed through the robots. They fell to the ground and shut down as their life support systems and brains were destroyed.

"Come on y'all!" Applejack gestured to the ponies a 'move along' with her right foreleg. The other three ponies galloped down the metal walkway and stopped in front of the door. Applejack followed down the path with them. Twilight could not find a keycard slot or any panel for entry around the door. She used her magic to push the two doors apart, creating an entrance for the quartet. All of the ponies quickly dashed into the first room before the door closed on them.

Right in front of them in the next room was another metal door with a keypad. Two circular holes in the building were kept closed by two metal panels. Twilight walked up to the keypad and examined it carefully. "I think it wants me to put in a numerical password." She turned her head to the three ponies behind her. "What do you three think the password would be?"

"I don't know," Rarity admitted while glancing around the room. "These creatures do seem fond of their leader though. Maybe try that?"

"It's numerical, not alphanumerical," Twilight pointed out that small detail again. Her face changed to relief after noticing that fact. "At least we don't have to think about an entire phrase. That would have driven me crazy."

Travis checked the records on his computer for any helpful information. "Despite being the scientific genius he is, Dr. Scraps has a few flaws. He is terrible at creating codes, so he usually uses one code for everything. The code is 7-1-1 because his favorite numbers are seven and eleven."

Twilight keyed the code in the door, deactivating the lock. A long, slender machine popped out of the door, and it held one big, bulging eye at its end. The machine scanned Twilight Sparkle's frightened body. A blaring siren sounded as the holes in the ceiling opened and spat out four small orbs. The orbs carried a small laser at their bottom, and four glowing red circles were placed evenly around the orb.

"I don't think they're friendly," Fluttershy cooed in terror while backing away slowly.

Twilight grabbed the orbs with her magic and slammed them into the wall on her left. They broke apart into multiple pieces that tossed sparks and light in the room. She then typed the code into the keypad again. The door opened with no trouble or eyestalks, allowing the quartet to advance safely. The next room was a hallway with conveyor belts on both sides. The conveyors carried various pieces of broken metal and dropped them into two enormous funnels.

Six more orbs hovered into the area and fired lasers at the ponies. Twilight grabbed a few with her magic and slammed them into the walls. Rarity tested her new powers by slicing the orbs with her razor-sharp gemstones. All six of the orbs exploded into metal and electricity, allowing safe passage for the group. They reached the automatic door and stepped into the other room.

The entire area was teeming with activity. Conveyor belts were all over the place, sending parts and almost completed robots into different machines. Lights flashed, machines beeped, and gears turned all around the quartet. Swaying lights high up in the ceiling created dim shadows all over the place. Robots rolled and crawled from catwalk to catwalk placing crates in areas, flicking levers, pushing buttons, and keeping their only eye out for any intruders.

A nearby turret bot to the ponies' left spotted them. It was as tall as an R-Bot, but it moved around on a predetermined track and a pole instead of a wheel. Two laser machine guns were placed into the front of the machine snugly. A piece of curved bulletproof glass kept the one eyestalk behind the glass safe from any attacks. Multiple other turret bots wandered aimlessly on their tracks since they had no idea where the ponies were.

Twilight fired a magic blast at the turret bot, but the blast only dented the metal a little. Streams of lasers trapped the ponies in a confined blind spot. Rarity creatively levitated her gemstones behind the turret bot and smashed them into the eyestalk, destroying the turret bot's view. It fired wildly in all directions before Applejack, dodging and hopping over lasers, finally ended the terror by bucking the top piece off the pole.

Two more turret bots swiveled from the ponies' right. They fired downward to rain lasers at the group, and they succeeded somewhat. Even though the ponies felt the damage from the blasts, their suits were absorbing the blows and repairing their injuries. It was a slow process, but it was better than nothing.

Rarity was astounded at the healing laser wounds. "I didn't know they could do that." She glared up at the two turret bots. "I think you two need to learn about manners!"

Waves of sharp gemstones pelted the turret bots. Their glass and metal warped and cracked from the power of the projectiles. Eventually, they punctured the life support systems and brains of the bots, destroying them swiftly. Two macho bots and eight orbs approached the group desperately, hoping to annihilate four ponies that were ruining their master's plan.

"Bro, I think these punks wanna fight real hard!" The macho bot on the left pound his fists menacingly.

The other macho bot flexed his arms. "Yeah bro, let's give 'em a taste of what our ripped circuitry can do!"

Twilight fired a wave of magic at the two bots. They tumbled to the ground as Rarity and Applejack picked off the orbs in the air. Fluttershy called to nature and retrieved an eagle for the fight. As Rarity and Applejack already destroyed five orbs, the eagle swooped into and shredded the other three. The macho bots regained their balance and rolled towards the group. Twilight fired another wave at them to keep them on the ground, and Applejack pummeled one of them into scrap. Rarity shredded the other with her gemstones, leaving nothing but broken metal and sparking wires.

Twilight peered over the end of the room. She saw two mega bots guarding a huge door. On the top of the door read 'power systems and management'. "Girls, I think that's where we need to go."

The other three ponies nodded in agreement as they galloped towards the group of robots waiting for them.

•—————•

Two onyx soldiers were sitting in an observation room. Multiple camera panels littered their view. Humans struggled to leave their cells, durnoki attempted to use their shapeshifting abilities to leave only to be foiled by machinery, demons clawed the walls patiently to finally gain an upper hand, odd, yellow, and savage creatures bled yellow blood on the walls and doors, and ponies panicked and hid from everything. One of the cameras showed a pink, frizzy pony who was sobbing on her bed. She kept mumbling about her friends and where they were. She missed them so much, and she hated this place so much. She hates the soldiers, she hates their 'experiments', and she hates the occupants' uncaring and stern moods. She wanted to go home so badly. She wanted to see her friends' faces again, no matter what she had to do. She just wanted to leave this horrible place.

Her cell door rattled as a soldier walked up to it. He carried a plate of food for Pinkie Pie as ordered by the Pure One, his determined and ingenious leader. He opened the slot and placed the meal into the cell. It looked like a red velvet cake, but it was all red and no velvet. The soldier slid the inspection slot and glared at her. "Eat up, pony! That's all you'll get until further notice."

Pinkie only shook a little while staring at the wall. She had nothing to eat, and they never gave her a meal yet. If she was going to eat something, this was it. Even though her mind told her no, her starving stomach growled a yes to her. She sluggishly rolled out of her familiar bed and plopped into the floor. She dragged herself before getting up on all fours to see what she was given for a treat. She inspected the slice of red velvet cake carefully. It looks safe to eat, she thought positively. Her frown didn't express that though. Well Pinkie, remember what he said. If this is all you'll get, you'll have to take it.

She sat on the imitating floor and picked up the plate. At least those things were nice to give me a fork, she thought while looking at the familiar silverware. I don't need it though. Only somepony like Twilight- She broke down a little from remembering her friend, but kept herself together. Nevermind. They're nice enough to do this for me, so I might as well dig in.

She took moderate and patient bites into the cake. Unlike other sweets that she ate before, it tasted, salty. The cake was also tough and oddly juicy for a treat supposed to be moist and soft. She denied all horrible thoughts and continued eating. It was appetizing, but something felt, off. She didn't know if it was the atmposhere, the odd assortment of characteristics to the meal, or the fact that an armored alien, robot, or something just gave her cake. After finishing the meal, she slumped back on her bed. She couldn't get that taste out of her mouth. It was as if it clamped onto her taste buds and refused to go away. She can down entire cakes and shakes while losing the taste quite quickly, sometimes too quickly, but this was different. Never before had something have an aftertaste as strong as its regular taste. To her, it felt oddly appetizing. To her, it felt pleasant.

She smiled a little from the taste while the two soldiers examined her behavior. As a human bashed their head into a wall, they typed a report on her behavior.

One of the soldiers spoke while they typed. "Specimen E-015 is showing rather effective and efficient progress. After being given the taste of ED equine flesh, the specimen shows signs of desire for more of the product. The reason for this method was to ensure no panic ensues from anymore tests placed on the specimen. The diet for E-015 will be converted to disguised equine flesh until completion of future tests or specified otherwise. The next experiment on specimen E-015 will involve behavior to hostile humans, dark dirithians, and ponies. After those tests are completed, she will be given docile variants of the same species. If at any time in the tests the specimen E-015 kills one of the other specimens, she will be forced to devour them for further studies."

The soldier saved and sent his report to the stockpile, a collection of reports read by other scientists and the Pure One himself. The other soldier swiveled his chair to the first soldier. "Avorom, you are pretty good at writing reports."

Avorom turned to the soldier and sighed in displeasure. "Honestly, I hate this job. I just want to fight in the battlefield and collect the specimens, not hide behind a screen and watch them like a human twenty-first century movie." He thought about how he would carry out his future job. "Krazkof, do you ever think that the rebellion is right?"

Krazkof glared at Avorom in surprise. "The, rebellion? Hell no! Those guys are the extremists of extremists! Why would you even think they are right?"

"They're as civil as us, and they carry out the same duties as us. We might as well unite again than fight each other for no reason. Plus, they do have some bright ideas."

"I don't think turning males into females is a bright idea. They're nuts if they're anything."

"But they're kavarians like us. I don't get why we don't get along."

Krazkof stood up and raised his voice a little. "They don't agree with the Pure One, that's why. Do you know how a fascist government works? Anyone who defies him dies. Those radicals are still alive because they were lucky enough to escape the Vozora System in one piece." He sat back down and swiveled his chair back to the monitors. "You might as well teach a Zog how to learn calculus than talk some sense into those lunatics."

Avorom silently mocked Krazkof as he looked back at Pinkie's cell. She was sitting at the door while another red velvet cake slid from the food slot. Avorom grabbed his mic and screamed at the soldier near the cell. "What are you doing? That's not planned!"

The soldier held up a finger to nothing and responded calmly. "But, she asked for more, and she wasn't very polite with how she said it."

Avorom looked back at the pink pony that was ravenously devouring the cake. Some of the bloody juices from the cake wrapped around her face. She hastily licked all of the blood and licked up the rest of the meaty scraps. "I know that you'll get killed for whatever you did, but you have hastened our progress by a longshot.

A deafening scream echoed from the hallway outside Avorom's observation room. A certain pony was having an outburst. "I thought you said that I was getting more!"

The soldier outside Pinkie's cell backed away slowly. He changed his channel to Sergeant Dravvoraz. "Uh, sir? What do I do?"

A low, guttural voice responded sadistically. "Send it to testing room X-031. The specimen's ready."