It Came From The Factory

Thunder Tail woke up with the birds chirping and the sun shining through his window. He raised his head and looked around, seeing spots of red on the floor, on his bed, and on himself.

"Oh fuck. Oh nonononononono not again! Fuck, fuck!"

He scrambled out of bed and ran into the bathroom. He immediately scrubbed at the blood stains that coated his body, only being able to get them out of his coat.

"Shit. What the hell am I gonna do?"

He looked in the mirror at the red spots that showed up here and there in his black mane. Letting out a sigh of worry he walked into the living room and flicked on the TV.

"...scene here is quite grim, as it is apparent that murder has taken place here in Ponyville."

Thunder Tail shot his gaze to the TV and stared at the newspony reporting the murder.

"Local shop owner Amethyst Rose disappeared last night and was found dead by a pony this morning who reported it to the proper authorities."

"Oh my, I remember."

Scenes of the murder flashed through Thunder Tail's mind as he watched the news story. The reporter walked over to a pegasus and levitated the mic towards him. The black coated stallion brushed some bright blue mane out of his face and spoke.

"Yeah, I mean I was just out early for a little flight, and I came across what from above looked like somepony just sitting against a post, but jeez, when I flew down there I just about passed out."

Thunder Tail quickly turned the news off and ran over to the door. He opened it and almost ran outside but stopped when he saw a white unicorn mare standing there.

"Um, hello?"

"Hey, I'm sendin' out invites for a party that I'm throwing tonight. Address is on there, hope to see you there. Oh, and if you could maybe take some of these and pass them out to some others, that'd help me a bunch, thanks. Love the highlights by the way dude."

She levitated a few invitations into Thunder Tail's face and he took them. The pony turned and waved as she walked away and towards another house after.

"Party you say?"

Thunder looked down at the invitation and thought. He suddenly remembered what the pony had said about his hair, and he decided to walk into town knowing that he had a cover-up.

"Party, I wonder why anypony would be partying at this time."

He shuddered as he walked towards town. He brushed some of his 'highlighted' hair out of his face and continued. When he arrives at the town, he sees another pegasus walking by with some apples.

Hmm, that doesn't seem like too bad of an idea.

He turned left and headed to where he thought he remembered seeing an apple stand. When he approached the stand, there were four ponies in line. He sighed and waited for the line to move.

"Next."

He walked up to the stand and was met with the face of an orange earth pony. She smiled and put a hoof on the table.

"What can I get you sir?"

"Um, I guess I'll just take ten apples."

"Sure thing."

The pony put a few apples in a basket and put the basket on the counter top.

"That'll be eighteen bits sir."

"Sure, just a sec."

"Alright, sure, just a second here."

As Thunder Tail reached into his saddlebag, he accidentally knocked one of the invites out. He picked it up and put it back in the saddlebag. After he put the required bits on the table, he thought about the invitations.

"Hey, you free tonight?"

"'Scuse me?"

"No, not for, a date or anything. There's this party going on and I was given some invites to pass out. You want some?"

"Sounds like a fun time! Ya got at least six invites?"

"Yeah, I have exactly six actually."

"I'll take 'em! Hope to see ya there partner!"

"Alright, cool, see ya there."

Thunder Tail put the apples in his saddlebag and started walking away from the stand. He starting daydreaming slightly about how crowded the party was going to be, and what kind of music would be played, and all the other things that could possible trigger anything.

"Ah whatever, I'm sure nothing bad will happen. I gotta get back home and clean my room up anyways."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure that going to this party is a good idea Twilight? I mean, who knows what could happen. What if the murderer is there?"

"Calm down Spike. Nothing will go wrong. And we've known Vinyl, or rather DJ-Pon3 for a long time. I'm sure she'll throw a great party, everypony will have fun, and nopony will get murdered."

Twilight put the book she had been reading before Applejack arrived with her invitation back in its place. Spike rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to protest further, but was interrupted.

"Spike. You aren't even going to be at this party."

"That's what I'm worried about! I won't be able to know if anything bad has happened until it's too late!"

Twilight Sparkle looked down at the worried dragon and smiled.

"Alright. I won't drink tonight, I'll keep my wits about me. And I'll do as much socializing as I can to try and get a good read on who's there."

"Alright, just be careful."

"No worries Spike. I can even get the rest of the girls to help me if that would ease you?"

"I guess getting a few of them in wouldn't be bad."

"Great."

Twilight smiled and started towards the door, Spike following.

"Everything will be fine. We're all going to have a good time. I'm sure it'll be awesome! Music, maybe dancing, friends, and there's probably going to b-"

"Ahem."

"Oh, right, sorry Spike. Maybe you could get some help re-organizing from the crusaders? I don't think they'd be allowed at this party anyways."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Well. I'll be back in a few hours. I'll talk to Rarity and see if Sweetie Belle can help."

Twilight walked away from her castle and off towards the boutique, where all of them were meeting up.

Everything will be fine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thunder Tail held a long exhale as he stood at the doorstep to the house where the party was. Looking down at himself, he saw nothing that could possibly cause suspicions.

It'll be fine.

He knocked on the door and stepped back a bit. After only a few seconds, the door opened and a grey mare poked her head out.

"Oh, hello."

"Hello. I got the invite for a party here?"

"Oh, yes, come in."

Thunder Tail walked through the doorway as Octavia held the door open. The atmosphere that met him when he walked into what he assumed was the living room. The poppy electronic music lulled softly, the lights were dimmed slightly and a disco ball hanging from the roof reflected the light perfectly.

Pretty nice setup.

"Just make yourself comfortable."

Octavia walked past Thunder Tail and over to the kitchen area where Vinyl was standing. They talked momentarily and Vinyl walked towards the living room, spotting Thunder Tail on her way.

"Hey! You made it!"

"Yeah, I did."

"Sweet man, just make yourself comfortable, snacks are on the island in the kitchen, and so is the alcohol."

Vinyl chuckled and nudged Thunder Tail, who joined in. As Vinyl walked away, Thunder seryeved the rest of the room and looked for somewhere he could sit down. He spotted a couch that was unoccupied and decided to sit their afterwards.

Might as well grab a drink first.

As Thunder Tail walked to the kitchen, he could hear that Vinyl had gone and opened the door for more guests. Trying not to start a conversation, he grabbed a red cup of what he assumed was some generic beer and took a sip, covering his face.

"Just make yourselves comfortable."

Thunder Tail used his peripheral vision to eye up the group at the door. He choked on his drink slightly when he saw the ponies that had just walked in.

"Thanks Vinyl."

"No problem Twilight."

Holy shit! Princess Twilight and her friends? Wait a minute, I gave that one the invites. Oh man, I may have just dug my own grave.

He refilled his cup quickly and looked back over to the couch. There was only space for two ponies, and now one of the spaces was taken by a pink maned pegasus.

Dang. This is probably going to be awkward.

Slightly nervous, Thunder Tail took a swig of his beer and walked over. He sat down on the couch and looked in front of him, not daring to look at the other pegasus.

"Hey, excuse me."

As the timid voice spoke, Thunder Tail was forced to turn and look.

"Do I know you from somewhere? You look really familiar."

For reasons unbeknownst to him, Thunder Tail was frightened. This mare obviously wouldn't hurt a fly, but her words struck him with fear.

"Uh, I wouldn't think so."

"Are you sure? I feel like I've seen you before?"

"Hmm. I don't know. I don't recognize you."

Thunder Tail tried to mask his nervous face with another drink of his alcohol, but when he lowered the cup he saw an upsetting look on the other ponies face. A face as if she had just caught him in the middle of a crime.

"That's where I've seen you! You were buying that watch from the pony who was just-"

"Fluttershy! C'mon! Come dance with us!"

Rainbow Dash, somehow already mildly intoxicated, took Fluttershy by the hoof and dragged her away. Fluttershy kept her eyes glued to Thunder Tail as she was dragged into the crowd. Thunder Tail blew a breath out and took another drink of his beer. He let out a long exhale and looked up at the ceiling.

"Troubled?"

"What?"

Thunder Tail shot his gaze towards where the voice had come from, and was met by a red coated stallion with a blonde mane.

"You looked troubled man, maybe need something to calm you down?"

"Wha..what?"

"Here."

The stallion levitated what looked like a rolled up piece of paper and lit the end. He put the unlit end to his mouth and breathed in deeply. After holding the breath, he let out a large puff of smoke.

"Here, have some of this, slows ya down. Been doing it for years, I'm as slow and calm as a sloth."

Thunder Tail took the item in his wing and put it to his mouth. Taking in a deep exhale, he could tell something was bound to go wrong. His eyes flickered, and he let out a puff of smoke.

Trying to repress us with drugs. Foolish! You think your street meds can heal you!? Kill the sloth, like you endedlust, wrath and glutton! Go now!

Thunder Tails eyes flickered again and he stumbled off the couch. His motor skills were impaired slightly, and his vision was cloudy. Making his way to the kitchen, he saw Vinyl look at him.

"Yo, dude, you alright? You ain't looking do good."

"I'm, f-f-fine. I just gotta go home and lay down."

"You need a walk home?"

"I'll be good."

Vinyl was concerned, but Thunder Tail started speaking again before she could protest.

"Thanks for the party, it was cool. I'll seeya 'round."

Thunder Tail wobbled out of the room and towards the door. Fluttershy and her friends were dancing in the middle of the room, and Fluttershy noticed the other pegasus walking out and left the group to follow. Upon leaving the building, Fluttershy felt a strange cold. It certainly wasn't this cold when they had left for the party, and it shouldn't have gotten this cold this quick.

"Maybe I should ju-"

Fluttershy was cut short by a sharp, sudden pain in the side of her head. She could only see and feel the damp grass below her before passing out.

-

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, but closed them again when the pain struck her. Her body was almost void of anything except pain. She couldn't feel anything except the horrible sensation in her head. Eventually, she braved through it and opened her eyes. Her pupils immediately dilated.

"Whe-where am I?"

She looked around at the dimly lit room she found herself in. The concrete floor was stained with blood, there was a small table with several blade objects upon it, and there was a larger table with an unconscious pony on it. All illuminated by a single hanging light. The pony on the table slowly opened his eyes.

"Ugh, what the?"

The pony looked at the straps that held him down to the table and began frantically thrashing around.

"H-help! Somepony!"

In his attempt to escape, he caught a glance of Fluttershy sitting in the corner.

"Hey, hey you! Help me!"

Fluttershy tried to get up, she tried to move, but with the overwhelming pain, she hadn't noticed that she was tied to a pole in the corner.

"I...I can't!"

"What? What do you mean you can't? Please, you gotta hel-"

The stallions words were cut off by the sharp creak of the only door in the room being pushed open.

"I remembered the trough!"

A small section of bloody metal was slammed down onto the ground in front of the stallion on the table. The stallions eyes shot wide open and his pupils dilated. He looked up at the shadowy figure that had spoken.

"Wh-what?"

"Ugh, the last pony I had in here made a mess. See this on the floor? Ugh, terribly hard to clean. Trough was forgotten, now I have it, all is well."

The figure moved around to the back of the table and pulled a lever, turning the table forty five degrees so that it was parallel to the floor.

"Look at that, the lever actually worked! I'll be!"

"What..what are you gonna do to me?"

"Correction, with you."

"What?"

"Let me explain. Your choices, your life choices, are...wrong. I'm not judging you, that's just the way it is. So, what do I do with bad ponies? I stop them. I make them, and everypony else know what they did was wrong. So, basically, we're just gonna have a gpod old time together."

The figure smiled after concluding, revealing a set of shimmering white teeth that jumped out from the blackness. The stallion became frantic once more, continuing to thrash around.

"Hey! Stop! For crying out loud, I just fixed those, and if ya go and break one I'm going to be quite upset! And wouldn't that just ruin the fun?"

"Wait a minute...I-I recognize that voice. You were that dude at the party!"

All of a sudden, lights flipped on, basking the room in a warm yellow glow. The figure now stepped into the stallions line of sight.

"Well, I guess you've gone an dtaken the element of surprise out of this, thank you very much for that. Jerk. That's kinda my whole thing, y'know?"

Thunder Tail pushed a small metal cart into the stallions view, a frown on his face. He started digging around in the middle rack of the cart, eventually pulling a small scalpel and a roll of duct tape out.

"I guess we'll just do this the old fashioned way. Since you seem hellbent on ruining our fun time."

"What? N-n-no, I wa-"

"No, no, it's fine! I understand! Nopony wants to stick around and have fun with me, that's fine!"

Thunder Tail took the duct tape and put a long strip across the stallions mouth, then smiled at the silence that followed.

"Never get sick of that. So, tell me..wait a minute, what am I doing? I have questions for you!"

Chuckling as he walked over, Thunder Tail used his wing to rip the tape off the stallions face. The stallion cried out from the pain, and cursed under his breath.

"Ha! You think that's painful? Oh, you aren't going to last nearly as long as anypony else who's been in here. Sad. Unfortunate. Weakling. Anyways, do you know what decisions got you here?"

"W-was it the party?"

"Ah, close. What were you doing at the party?"

"I, partying! What do you mean!?"

"No no no, there's something specific."

"I...I drank, but-"

"So close. Try again, I think you'll get it this time."

The stallion closed his eyes and thought for a second.

"Was it the drugs?"

"Aha! He has done it! I really hate to be a walking PSA, but come on dude, you should've known that that shit messes with you. Anyways, yes, let's begin. Often times I wish I had a wheel to help me decide what to do first, there are just so many options! But, I guess we'll just do some basic...wait! I got an idea! Be right back!"

Thunder Tail practically danced out of the room, waving the scalpel about as he trotted away. When the door closed, the stallion looked over to Fluttershy.

"Help me! You've seen what he's about to do, you gotta stop him somehow!"

"How?"

"Any way!"

Fluttershy started forcing herself through the pain, trying to escape her ties. Tears began to form in her eyes, but she continued to attempt her escape.

"I got it!"

Fluttershy held her right front hoof out in front of her, the feeling slowly returning to it.

"Good! Get the others!"

Fluttershy was able to simply slide her other front hoof out of the tie, but the rear ones were tied rather tight.

"I'm back!"

The door was flung open, and Thunder Tail walked back in, holding a small bottle-like device in his other wing.

"I think you'll find this pretty fun, watch this."

Thunder Tail put the scalpel on the floor and turned a dial on the bottle. A very faint hissing could be heard before he clicked the trigger and a thin beam of fire started shooting out.

"Blowtorch!"

Smiling maliciously, Thunder Tail held the blowtorch so that the fire was engulfing the sharp blade of the scalpel. After around twenty seconds, he pulled the blowtorch away and looked with satisfaction at the red-hot blade.

"Ah, that'll do nicely. Hmm, how am I gonna pick that up though. Should've thought about that. I know! I'll just use some pliers or something, I'm sure I've got a pair."

He walked back over to the table, looking over and noticing Fluttershy on his way. His smiled widened as he lowered the hoof he had raised.

"Hmm, perhaps I'll get a two for one deal?"

He moved his wing onto the bottom rack of the cart and pulled out another metal object that Flutterhsy couldn't identify. As Thunder Tail walked towards her, she closed her eyes and curled up into the corner.

"Well, I see you've managed to escape your bindings. Admirable. But futile."

Thunder Tail untied the knots that constrained Fluttershys rear hooves and motioned for her to stand up. The pain and the fear combined kept her glued to the floor.

"Ah, motivation is needed perhaps? That's why I grabbed this."

Fluttershy heard a small click, and looked to see Thunder Tail aiming a pistol right between her eyes.

"Try to run, stay on the floor, or anything else that's stupid, the trigger gets pulled. Now stand up."

Running on nothing but fear now, Fluttershy pushed herself up and onto her hooves. She wobbled slightly in place and Thunder Tail smiled.

"Good. Now, come here."

Using his free wing, Thunder Tail grabbed hold of Fluttershy mane and pulled her over to where the scalpel laid, still red hot. Thunder Tail threw Fluttershy down onto the ground beside the scalpel, evoking a small yelp of pain from the mare.

"Now, pick it up."

"Wh-what?"

"Wasn't speaking in riddles. Pick it up."

Fluttershy looked at the knife. The discoloring ran all the way down to the end, but it was fainter there. Either way, she knew that if she picked it up, it would be incredibly painful. But he knew that as well.

"I...I can't."

"Oh, I think you can."

Thunder Tail walked over to the stallion at the table and aimed the gun at his left rear leg.

"Well, I'll give you ten seconds to do it, or this little leg ain't gonna be the same again."

"Oh for the love of Celestia, please pick it up!"

"C'mon then. Ten. Nine. Eight."

Fluttershys whole world was fading around her. She couldn't think straight, she couldn't move. She just stared at the scalpel on the ground.

"Three. Two. One. Aaaaaaand zero."

The minute Thunder Tail ended his sentence, he pulled the trigger. The stallion screamed in pain as the bullet ripped through his leg and into the table.

"You bitch! Pick op the fucking knife!"

"Woah there mister, I don't think you should be talking. I'm sure you wouldn't do it if you were in her position. Anyways, ten seconds, next leg. Ten, nine, eight."

Fluttershy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She had to do it, or the stallion would keep suffering. As she opened her eyes, she reached down with her right wing and picked up the scalpel. The searing pain instantly coarsed through her wing and all the way to her abdomen. She screamed in pain and dropped the instrument, dropping to the floor. On the verge of passing out, Fluttershy looked at her wing through tearful eyes. It was now partially branded with the elegant design on the side of the scalpel. Something about the scene was missing, and she looked up. Thunder Tail had stopped counting and was now smiling.

"Well well, look who did it! Good job sweetie, honestly didn't think you had it in you."

Fluttershy sat and whimpered on the floor. Tears cascaded down her face and onto the floor as she weeped. So desperately did she want this to be over, but she knew that and at would sooner come than a way out. Thunder Tail walked over and pointed the gun at her head.

"C'mon sweetie, you ain't done yet. Pick it up, and stab him with it."

Thunder Tail motioned towards the table with the gun as he spoke. Fluttershy Looked up to see that the stallion was looking towards her, but his eyes were slowly closing.

"N..no."

"No?"

"No. I won't."

Fluttershy pushed herself upwards in an attempt to make her rebellion plausible. She looked Thunder Tail dead in the eyes, but he merely laughed.

"That's cute, really, you thinking you have a choice. Well, let me give you an ultimatum. You can swap places with that pony over there, or, you can just give up and do what I say. So, which is it?"

Thunder Tail stepped back a bit and looked towards the table.

"How'd you like to be Ponyvilles next landmark?"

Fluttershy was now standing up. Pain was still coarsing through her as she thought about her choices.

"W-w-where d-do I have to....st-stab him?"

"Hmm. Good question. Hadn't though of that. Uhhh. Hmm. Right about here."

Thunder Tail pointed the gun at the stallions side and gently poked it. Fluttershy immediately thought of a plan and acted upon it. Driving away all thoughts of pain, she grabbed the knife and jabbed it straight into Thunder Tails wing. He screamed and dropped the gun on the floor as Fluttershy pulled the knife out and threw it across the room. Using her uninjured wing to pick up the gun, she ran out the door and slammed it behind her.

"Fuck! Ah, my wing!"

Thunder Tail walked over to the cart and put his two front hooves onto it. He panted for a minute before hearing something behind him.

"A-aren't you gonna go after her?"

"Her? No no no. She won't last a second outside of this room. You think I haven't thought of this? Think it hasn't happened before? Try and take a guess at how many traps are set everywhere around out there. Go on, guess."

"I-i-i don't know!"

"Hundreds. This place is more likely to crumble into pieces before she escapes. Anyways, since I've moved on from the pain, we can get started here. And since I know you won't last long anyways, I'll just make this quick and get you outside."

Thunder Tail grabbed a large axe from the cart and walked over to the table.

"Goodbye."

He lifted the axe into the air and brought it down on the stallions neck before he could protest. Thunder Tail stepped back, seeing the blood run down the table and onto the floor.

"Forgot the trough again. Whatever. It doesn't matter. Let's get this sloth into his tree."

Fluttershy hobbled through the dark hallways of the factory. She looked left and right for any sort of way out, but couldn't see anything. She was stopped short when she ran into a rust metal railing. When she looked over the edge, she could see a light, and what looked like an exit.

"Is, is that an exit sign?"

The faint red glow gave her hope, and she felt around her immediate area for a set of stairs. After a minute of searching, she found a rusty set of stairs to her left.

"Hopefully these take me down to the exit, I need to get out of here and tell the others. Not to mention tend properly to my injuries."

Fluttershy slowly descended the stairs, now level with the exit. She started galloping towards the door, but as she grew closer she noticed that it's features looked oddly flat and blurry. She stopped in front of the door and put a hoof to it. It was painted onto the wall.

"It's...fake? But, why is the exit si-"

Fluttershys sentence was cut off by the floor below her sliding to the side in a flash, dropping her down into the dark room below. She landed on the floor with a splash, followed by a groan. The water was up past her left eye, which made her want to push her head out of it. She put her front hooves on the ground next to her head, and pushed her head out of the water. The pain got to her, and her legs gave way. Her head hit the water again, and her eyes closed.