It Came From The Factory

Fluttershy snapped awake, spitting out the water that filled her mouth as she coughed. Through blurry eyes, she looked around at her immediate surroundings. It was dark, damp, and cold. She needed to get dry, she'd surely succumb to hypothermia otherwise. As she pushed herself up, she groaned and collapsed as the pain coarsed through her body.

"I...need to get out of here. I need to tell Twilight and the others."

Forcing herself through the pain she felt, she was able to get to her hooves. Looking around, she saw three close walls and something at the end of the corridor.

"That might be a way out! But, what if the floor is trapped again?"

Worry overtook her, and she hesitated.

"No. I have to get out of here."

A small bit of fake confidence was enough to make her lift her right front hoof and place it further in front of her. Shakily making her way down the hallway, she saw that there was a door at the end of the hallway, with a small amount of light coming from the space between it and the floor. Fluttershy hesitated, but gently pressed her ear up against the door. After a few seconds of hearing nothing, she put her hoof on the door, and slowly, very slowly opened the door.

"Hello? Is anypo-"

She gasped at the sight that met her as she fully looked at the room. Bodies lie piled atop each other in the center, surrounded by a caked pool of blood. Turning away was all Fluttershy could do to keep from vomiting, but when the scent hit her, she ended up vomiting in the blood-stained corner to her left.

"What... what happened here?"

She looked at the bodies, many were almost fully decomposed, but there were a few near the top that were fresh. The gagging feeling returned, and she turned and regurgitated again. After wiping her mouth, she looked up and saw a hatch in the floor above.

"Maybe I could get out through there? But, I don't think I can fly with this wing."

Fluttershy grimaced at the scorch marks across her wing, and heaved a heavy sigh. But as she looked back up past the bodies, a dark idea came into her head. Fluttershy took a few steps and hesitantly looked up at the top. Vomiting once again threatened to happen, but she swallowed it and placed a hoof on a skull in the pile. The skull caved under the pressure, and Fluttershy once again had to hold back vomiting.

"Maybe I can use my good wing to help go faster."

She unfurled her left wing and used it to boost herself up. About halfway up, a head that she placed her hoof on snapped off, making her lose her grip and fall to the floor. When she opened her eyes, the head was staring back at her. She screamed and scrambled to her hooves again, losing her lunch once more.

"Ok, I have to do this."

Fluttershy again began her climb up the mound of deceased ponies, this time making it all the way up. Looking at the hatch, she figured she could open it by pushing it open, like any other hatch. When she pushed it, it clicked and swung open, almost knocking her off of the pile. She regained her balance and climbed out of the room.

"Now to get out and get to Twilight."

"And, and that was the thhhird time I saw Discord naked."

"Alright Rainbow Dash, just go to bed, I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Rarity is cheating on AJ, I just know it."

Twilight frowned at Rainbow Dash's near hundredth ridiculous comment of the night as she helped her into the spare bed in her castle.

"Goodnight Rainbow Dash."

She turned out the light and closed the door behind her, hearing no response or protest from the mare inside. A sudden knock at the door startled Twilight, as it was nearing two in the morning.

"Who could that be?"

As Twilight approached the door, the knocking came again, panicked and hurried this time. She opened the door to see a blood coated pegasus with a pink mane.

"Flu... Fluttershy?"

"Twilight, thank Celestia, you need to listen to me, right now. I know who the killer is! I saw him at the party, we need to go tell everypony!"

"Fluttershy, calm down for a second."

Twilight wrapped a wing around Fluttershy and led her to the map room. They sat down in two chairs that faced each other and Twilight sighed. Fluttershy was visibly shaking, and her breathing was rapid and off-time.

"Fluttershy, what happened? From the beginning."

"When we got to the party, I sat down beside a pony that seemed really familiar, and just when I pointed it out to him, Dash dragged me away to dance. Later, I saw the same stallion leaving the party, and I followed him. When I got outside, I got hit in the head, and passed out. I woke up in the factory, and he..."

Tears were steadily streaming down Fluttershys face at this point, and she looked down and sobbed. Twilights brain was reeling, she couldn't make sense of anything Fluttershy was saying.

"Fluttershy, I think you should stay here, get cleaned up, we'll get to the bottom of this tomorrow."

"M-maybe that is a good idea."

"Wait, Fluttershy."

"Yes Twilight?"

"Why do you have a gun?"

Fluttershy looked at where Twilight was pointing. She had almost forgotten that she had been holding the gun in her right wing the whole way there.

"Maybe we should make that first thing tomorrow."

Thunder Tail dragged the body through the dilapidated hallways and into the room where he threw the corpses into the room below. When he walked in, he noticed that the hatch was open.

"Wait a minute."

As he tossed the body into the room below, he jumped down and landed facing down the hallway. After a brisk walk down it, he looked up to see that his trap had been activated.

"Hmm, maybe that wasn't as effective as I thought. Really should've gone for spikes. Ah well, next time I guess."

He sighed and closed the hatch. As he walked back into the body room, his eyes started fluttering. He closed them and held a hoof to his forehead.

"Ugh, my hea-"

His eyes widened, pupils dialating, and his mouth dropped wide open.

"What....what...."

Thunder Tail was speechless. His legs started feeling weak, and he felt as if he needed to throw up.

"Did...is....is this what I've done?"

He looked around at the mass of corpses in dismay.

"How...how do I get out of here?"

Thunder Tail threw the stained brush into the garbage and tossed some tissues over top of it.

"I have to stop this, I can't keep letting this happen."

He took a deep breath, still keeping his front hooves on the edge of his bathroom sink. He looked up in the mirror, seeing the lines and marks from age, stress, and his ever so tiring 'second personality'.

"Alright, enough is enough. I'm ending this."

He coughed into his elbow and walked towards the front door.

Just where are you going?!

"I'm not listening anymore!"

Really? How about now?

Thunder Tails ears were met with a shrill ringing that brought him to his knees.

"Make it stop!"

He fell backwards, hitting the button on his stereo. By the time his head hit the floor, an upbeat metal song started playing directly beside his ears at near full volume.

"Jeez!"

He shot up and turned the volume down. After a few seconds, it came to him.

"If I can drown it out, I'll be fine."

"Thank you sir, have a good day."

Atlas, a stocky, blue coated unicorn put the bits that he had just received in the cash register and smiled. He looked up to see his employee Fair Wheather, a pegasus mare with a blonde coat and black and deep orange mane.

"Hey Atlas, when am I getting my pay stub, I know you know they don't just grow on trees."

"You'll get your money when I get it to you."

He slammed the register shut and stared daggers at his employee. Fair Wheather scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"You know, if Equestria was run by ponies like you, there wouldn't be an Equestria anymore."

"And what makes you say that?"

"I say that because ponies like you take all the money from the ones who work to earn it! We wouldn't be able to live, and then society would cease to exist! Ha, it's even worse on you, nopony comes into this crapfest anyhow."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Well, how's about you start working on commission instead of fixed pay?"

Fair Wheather's mouth dropped open, and Atlas smiled.

"That's what I thought."

Fair Wheather closed her mouth and gulped as the door opened and the bell rang.

"Oh look, there's a customer. And if I were you, I'd try hard and make that sale, just in case I do decide to put you on commission."

Fair Wheather turned around and walked over the pony who had just walked in. He was a tall, white coated pegasus with a black mane tinged with red.

"Good day sir, can I help you find something today?"

His movements were choppy and quick, almost twitchy. As he looked at her, he cleared his throat.

"Yes, actually. I need a stereo system, or a boombox, or anything like that."

"Ok, well, this one is a lovely model; brand new, CD and radio. Only 200 bits."

"Ah, lovely. I'll take it."

Thunder Tail gave Fair Wheather a small bag of bits and walked out with the stereo. Fair Wheather smiled and turned around to meet Atlas. Atlas sneered, snatching the bag from Fair Wheather

"Hey!"

"I told you you were working on commission now, here's your cut. Oh, and you have to go throw the garbage in the dumpster."

Atlas took a few bits from the bag and tossed them on the floor. Fair Wheather sneered and walked closer to Atlas.

"Listen bud! I don't need this crap, and I sure as hell don't need you! And I'll be taking my full pay!"

Fair Wheather snatched the bag of bits from Atlas and ran out the door.

"Fine then! I don't need your sorry flank working here anyways!"

Atlas turned around in a huff and levitated the bag of trash sitting beside the counter. He muttered to himself as he dragged the bag outside, pushing the heavy metal door with such force that it hit the brick wall or was attached to. There was a large section of chain link fence around the small back lot, the only ways in being the door from inside and a smaller one at the back. As he tossed the bag into the dumpster, he smiled.

"See, I don't need her."

He chuckled as he went to open the door to go back inside, but his smiled soon faded.

"Locked? I didn't even-"

His ears perked up as the disregarded sound that had been lingering seconds ago became apparent quickly. He turned around to see a tall white pegasus with a boombox beside him.

"Hey, how'd you get in here? That gates usually locked."

"Blind too?"

"What?"

The pegasus chuckled as the noise from his boombox momentarily ceased, and he raised his wing, brandishing a crowbar. Atlas had no time to react, as the music started again and Thunder Tail brought the weapon down on Atlas' head.

When Atlas came to, he could barely open his eyes from the immense pain in his head. He could barely feel anything on the left side of his face, and feeling was weak throughout the rest of his body. Using his functioning senses, he tried to grasp what was happening. All he was met with was the smell of cleaning chemicals and the sound of a door opening.

"Hello? Who's there? I'll have your flank for doing this!"

"I wouldn't be so sure."

Thunder Tail chuckled as he twirled the bloody crowbar near the ground. He pressed a button on the boombox that was sitting on the floor, starting a loud heavy metal song, and walked towards where Atlas was sitting.

"What do you mean? What's going on here!?"

"I'm just giving an example of what happens to such sinful ponies. It can be... deadly. But, only if I'm accurate I guess."

Thunder Tail raised the crowbar high in the air, and smiled as he brought it down into Atlas' left rear leg. Atlas screamed in pain, and his stomach wretched as he felt the curved weapon pulling the bones out of their places.

"Hmm, wasn't dead on, but this will do."

Smiling and almost giggling, Thunder Tail grasped the crowbar with his hooves and pulled down on it, slowly ripping Atlas' femur out of place. The thought alone made Atlas want to vomit, but the reality, the feeling of blood running down his leg, the scraping of metal on bone, and the intense pain, all combined to breach his tipping point. The small amount of his eyes that could be seen disappeared, and his head flopped over to the side.

"Oh no, you're not copping out on me like that."

Thunder Tail lighty sang along to the song as he walked over to the table and grabbed a syringe.

"This should do it."

He walked back to the limp unicorn and jabbed the needle deep into his chest. As he pushed the plunger, Atlas' eyes opened. He took several deep, panicked breaths before slowing down.

"There we go, welcome back."

"You're a fucking pyscho."

"Yeah yeah, I've heard them all. Psycho, maniac, madpony, crazy. Heh, one mare even called me bananas. Can you believe that? You're dying words, 'you're bananas', like fucking come on."

"Why are you doing this? Why!?"

Thunder Tail stopped picking at the dried blood on his coat and looked at Atlas.

"Let me ask you something. Why are you who you are? Hm? Answer me that."

Thunder Tail grabbed the crowbar, still jammed in Atlas' leg, and pulled. As Atlas screamed, the bone finally was ripped from him, and Thunder Tail was sent falling backwards. His head hit the floor, the crowbar falling beside him along with several bone fragments. He put a hoof to his head as his eyes fluttered. He slowly pushed himself off the ground, eyes closed.

"Ah, what the... Oh no."

He looked behind him at the stallion struggling to escape his restraints.

"Holy shit!"

Thunder Tail ran over and started unbuckling the restraints. Atlas tried to look at the other stallion, but his vision was far too hazy to make out anything distinctly.

"What? Who, who are you? Get away!"

"Sir, I'm trying to help you!"

"You did this, I'll have you dead when I get out of here!"

Atlas broke free from the last restraint before Thunder Tail was finished, and pushed him to the floor. Atlas staggered out of the room as Thuner Tails head hit the ground. His eyes rolled back into his head for a moment, before soon fluttering and shooting wide open. Thunder Tail sprung to life, instantly jumping back onto his hooves. Raising a hoof to the back of his head, he felt the blood that was slowly dripping out.

"Well, it seems we have a fighter this time. Too bad he won't be able to get far."

Thunder Tail calmly walked past the boombox, grabbing it in one wing and the crowbar in the other. When he walked into the hallway, he saw a thick blood trail leading down the right hallway.

"Hmm, finally somepony goes this way."

He chuckled as he followed the trail, dragging the crowbar behind him. His ears perked up at the sound of someone banging on a door, and his grin widened.

"Ready or not, here I come."

Atlas heard the words, and turned around just to see the tall figure standing in the doorway, merely a shadow.

"Well well well, almost escaped did ya?"

"You know, why don't you fight me yourself! You jumped me, I was tied up, and you have a crowbar! Fight me like a real stallion."

Thunder Tail broke into a hyper, almost foalish laugh at Atlas' attempt. He threw the crowbar to the side and set the boombox down at his side.

"Now that is a good one. Alright, let's do it. Come at me."

Atlas took the opportunity to throw himself at Thunder Tail with all that he could. Thunder Tail reacted quick enough to grab the boombox and swing it at Atlas, hitting him in the side of the head. Atlas fell to the floor, roughly half a metre from the crowbar. He started crawling towards it, but Thunder Tail stepped on his hoof before he could get to it.

"What happened to no weapons, huh?"

"You...hit me...with a fucking boombox!"

"Heh, I guess that does violate the guidelines. Alright, give it a shot slugger."

Atlas levitated the crowbar and swung it at Thunder Tail, who dodged it.

"Aw, come on, you gotta do better!"

Atlas grunted and swung the crowbar at Thunder Tail, again missing, and cutting open the side of a barrel. The green-tinged liquid spilled onto the floor, slowly moving closer to the fighting stallions. Atlas swung once more, and Thunder Tail ducked and kicked Atlas towards the puddle. Atlas landed face down in the puddle, and Thunder Tail walked over.

"Well, gotta say, you put up a damn good fight. I respect that."

He picked up the crowbar and looked down at the other stallion. Atlas was gagging on the small amount of liquid that he had injested as he twitched on the ground. Thunder Tail smirked and his work, and started backing up out the door.

"You know, I actually have an idea. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere, if you can. Feel free to try man, go for it."

Atlas sat on the floor, eyes closed, steadily breathing the pungent fluid around him in and out of his mouth. After an amount of time he couldn't remember, his eyes shot open.

"Jeez, almost lost ya. Anyways, I'm back."

Atlas looked at the weapon that the pegasus brandished. It was the crowbar, but both ends were hooked and had small hooks on them, and there was a joint in the middle of the bar.

"Admiring my work? I taught myself some pretty basic metalworking skills, you know, welding, grinding, cutting, all the same sort. Now, let's get you somewhere everypony can see you."

"Ready to go?"

"Yes. But, what about Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight looked towards the room where she heard loud snoring from the cyan pegasus.

"Yeah, I don't think she's up to going with us."

Fluttershy shrugged and started towards the door. Both mares stopped, their ears perking up when they reached the door.

"Do you hear that Twilight?"

"Sounds like there's a mob out there!"

"What do we do?"

Twilight closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. With a quick motion, she flung open the doors and exhaled. When she opened her eyes, she saw what could've easily been everypony in Ponyville.

"What's going on here?!"

"We know that Fluttershy's in their!"

"And she's the killer!"

"We saw her running through town with a gun last night!"

"And she had blood on her fur!"

"Everypony calm down!"

Twilight stepped closer to the crowd. She looked at all of the faces, mixtures of anger and fear upon them.

"Listen to yourselves! Do you hear what you're saying? This is Fluttershy, she wouldn't hurt a fly if it had prevoked her! She was a victim, she's not the killer. The only reason she has a gun is because she needed it as part of her escape. I know it may look bad from the outside, but look on the inside. Do you really believe what you're saying is true? Or do you all just want somepony to blame?"

Multiple ponies in the crowd bowed their heads, knowing that Twilight was right.

"Well what do we do then?"

"Fluttershy and I are going to see what we can do, you are all ordered to resume your normal lives. Report any suspicious or abnormal activities, along with sudden dissapearances or changes in somepony's character. Now go."

"Do you think we'll have any luck Twilight?"

"I sure hope so. Let's just check as many stores as we can. Ask for employees suddenly quiting or their performance dropping."

As they entered the first store, they were met by a pegasus mare with a blonde coat walked over.

"Hello, anything I can help you with today?"

"Yes, we were wondering if you've seen anything, weird lately."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, we're trying to track down the pony that's been, you know."

"Oh. Oh, I see. Well, I, I haven't really seen anything. As far as I'm concerned, everyone's been just as weird as usual."

Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other, then back to the mare.

"Well, um, if you see anything, you know, suspicious, just find us."

"Will do. Hey, you may wanna check the electronics store just a block down from here. I used to work there, and somepony told me they didn't open today."

"We will, thank you."

"No problem. Good luck."

Twilight and Fluttershy both waved at the mare as they walked out of the building.

"So, should we just skip the rest and go over to that store?"

"Well, it's our only lead so far, I think we should."

"She was right, place is still locked up."

Twilight prodded the lock on the door with her hoof, then put it to her chin.

"Maybe there's another door?"

"Good idea Fluttershy, let's go check the back."

The two mares turned around and started towards the back of the store. When they reached the chain link, both gasped and stopped dead in their tracks. There was a small pool of blood in the center of the compound, and a trail leading through the small door in the fence and into the grass.

"He's already been here. We need to stop this now, if we don't, more and more ponies will die. Come on."

Twilight motioned for Fluttershy to follow her, and the two started running back towards the first building they had checked. When they entered, the same mare as before met them.

"Anything?"

Twilight sighed and looked at Fluttershy, then to the mare.

"We need you to answer some questions for us."

"Did anypony come in? Buy anything?"

"Well, just before I quit, I sold a customer a boombox. Never seen him before, figured he was new around here. He, he was acting kinda strange, now that I really think about it."

"Weird in what way?"

Fair Wheather moved around in her seat and let out a sigh before speaking again.

"Well, his movements were really choppy, and twitchy almost. Like he just drank nine gallons of coffee. But we was so calm, and monotone."

"What did he look like?"

"Tall, pegasus, black mane, weird red and white coat-"

"Red and white?"

"Yeah, looked kinda weird, it was pretty faded looking. I don't know much else, he wasn't around for long."

Twilight nodded and looked down at the table for a moment.

Could it be her? No, Fluttershy saw what she saw, she went through what she said she went through.

"What, what did your boss look like?"

"Pff, nothin' like this guy if that's what you're saying. He's fatter, and his mane is shorter. The other guy was almost kinda cute, but he just had some freaky mannerisms."

"Well, what happened after he left?"

"My boss started being an ass, I told him that I quit, then I left. I was sick of that greedy bastard, I honestly think he had it coming, as bad as that sounds."

Fluttershy nodded to Fair Wheather and looked at Twilight.

"I guess we're-"

At that moment, Apple Bloom burst through the door, panting.

"Y'all gotta come see this!"

Twilight and Fluttershy both stood up, but Apple Bloom ran out the door before they could ask her what was happening. All three mares started out the door, then simply followed where everyone else was rushing to. Their fears were soon realized when they saw a mutilated body hanging from a tree. He was strung up by the neck by some sort of makeshift metal noose, two ends of a crowbar jabbed into his neck, and there was a note stapled into his forehead. Twilight levitated the note to herself and read it aloud.

"I'm back again, and I'm not stopping. This makes four in this place, but there were others, and more will come. You'd better watch yourselves, you wouldn't want to end up like him."