Just Another Day on the Jobby whynot707ChaptersDrowning Your MemoriesThe InterviewTouring The Factory...Drowning Your Memories“Bar tender. Another.” “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” “I just got fired from the best job of my life, my marefriend cheated on me, and now my house is being foreclosed. I think I’ll know when I’ve had enough.” “Suit yourself, but you better have the bits for the tab you owe me.” “Yeah, yeah just get me another drink.” Ok class let’s review this absolute bullshit last day I’ve had, or for the matter let’s review the bullshit life I’ve been leading for the past 22 years. My name is Silent Night and I was born to two ponies that only exist in my life, nothing less, and nothing more, they were just there. They never regarded me unless they were teaching me something or simply yelling at me for the sake of my existence but otherwise I was on my own and had to provide for myself. Even to this day I can never remember their faces, only the titles known by children as parents, mom and dad. They chose to ignore me so I chose to ignore them and as soon as I could I left to live on my own. I doubt they even noticed. The front door slams shut as another pony trots in, probably down on their luck trying to drink their lives away like I am. There’s a reason I like this bar and it’s that everyone’s here to drink, not to talk or have fun, only reflect on their pains. This would be the last place anyone would go to in all of Cloudsdale and I like it like that, the only sounds being the old wooden door slamming, clinking of empty glasses and the flick of the occasional lighter. It’s a silent world in here away from anything else. I’ve always been silent, avoiding anypony that might’ve broken that silence and only breaking it if it was required. That was until I meet Darling Heart. If only I could go back now and tell myself not to go down that road and run instead. She was the first person to willingly break my silence and I loved her for it. She truly was the mare of my life and I had it in my mind that I would spend the rest of it with her, but then the money issue came up. She wanted the best like any mare from Cloudsdale would, but my current job wasn’t enough to satisfy here tastes so I had to find a new higher paying job and for once in my life things were looking up. I found a cushy job working by delivering clouds to the local towns, it was easy and the long trips paid well but the best part was that I could work by myself so I had no annoying coworkers bothering me all day. Sure my boss might have been an asshole, but I was happy and Darling was happy too. Damn I was an idiot. A cyan blue pony with a rainbow mane took a seat next to me and ordered her drink. I just stared down at the liquid that was sitting there calling out for me to ingest it. No…. not yet. We sat there in silence, neither of us taking notice of each other, only fulfilling our love of the bottle. Darling, her spending getting higher and higher, started forcing me to take longer deliveries so I could satisfy her greed and for a strange reason my boss gladly gave me the deliveries and wasn’t acting like the asshole he normally is. I was starting to think something was up and my suspicions were confirmed when I had forgotten my order list and went to go get it from my boss. When I entered his office I found him and Darling, dear Celestia the image still makes me sick, anyway once their relationship was found out I was fired on the spot so I couldn’t diminish my bosses reputation by telling others of the relationship, so now everyone would believe it was just an angry colt telling lies about his boss because he was fired. Darling packed her bags and left that night, but not before draining my bank account causing the bank to put a foreclosure on my house. My life went straight to hell after that and here I am, draining away whatever bits I have left. I took a swig of the last glass I could afford and downed it in seconds. “Damn buddy, easy on that stuff. You don’t want to keel over. Do you?” The cyan pony turned and started looking at me with her magenta eye’s, a look of real concern on her face. I glance away and stare at the table hoping she would leave me alone. No such luck. “Don’t want to talk huh? Well I can still talk. Did you know I’m the fastest flier in all of Equestria? I even preformed the sonic rainboom when I was just a filly. Yeah I’m the best of the best there is…” “Maybe.” “What? Are you telling me there is somebody better than me?” She shouted, a bit of anger in her voice. “Maybe I do want to keel over.” I decided to humor her to try and get her off my back. A look of sadness crossed her face as she regretted yelling at me. “What’s wrong?” “Let’s just say my life is in ruins and I have nothing to go back too. Right now I have nothing to live for.” “Gee I’m sorry, I wish I could help.” “Well if you can get me a new job and make all my problems disappear that would be fantastic.” I couldn’t really bear talking with her any longer so I was getting ready to wrap up this conversation. “Well I don’t know about making your problems disappear, but I can get you a job.” She said with a proud look on her face. “Great sign me up. It’s not like I have anything to lose.” I really doubted that she could really get me a job, but now the liquor was talking. “I’ll get you an interview set up right away. We could use more people like you on the job.” “Wonderful, come get me when you’ve got that set up. I need to go home and sleep this day off while I can.” I got up and started heading for the door. “I’ll do just that.” She shouted waving goodbye. The bar tender took notice of me leaving and made a dash to the door to the bar. “Hey! You owe me 200 bits for those drinks!” He was fighting with the lock which seemed to have jammed. “I don’t give a damn. I’m heading home.” I whispered as the door shut behind me, turning my world silent once again. Anypony could clearly tell I was drunk, one because I was walking instead of flying and two I was swaying more than a ship at sea during a storm. The streets were empty and dark, I had no idea where I was going and I really didn’t care. I found myself wandering into a dead end back alley. I turned around to stumble my away around Cloudsdale some more when something grabbed me and put a piece of cloth over my nose. I started to struggle and fight my attacker but I started to lose conciseness. The last thing I saw was the hint of a rainbow shining faintly in the street light. The Interview“Mistress, he’s waking up, should we start?” “In a minute, I want to see his reaction first.” “Alright, we’re ready to start on your say then.” “Good. And remember Atmosphere, I do all the talking. Got it?” “Yes mistress.” Damn, my head. What the hell was it that knocked me out? Chloroform? I don’t know. Can’t seem to move my body, my legs and torso are strapped down tight. And of course they blindfold me, probably trying to hide their identities. Feels like they’re staring at me trying to gauge my reaction, I’m not going to give them the satisfaction. Just gotta keep calm and try and figure out where I am. Let’s see. It sounds like there’s heavy machinery not too far from here and there is the faintest scent of smoke in the air. I must be in some sort of factory, but it can’t be the weather facility, there would be too much risk in someone discovering me. They couldn’t have taken me far but I can’t think of any closer factories. Damn, I guess I have to wait it out and see if I can catch them talking about it. Sounds like they’re whispering now. “Are you sure he’s awake? He’s not doing anything.” Sounds like a young mare, not too sure of what’s going on. “His heart rate shows that he’s awake otherwise it would be slower than it already is. This equipment has never given false results before, though this is quite odd.” An older colt, it sounds like he’s done this before. There must’ve been others before me and their reactions must’ve been the norm. “No he’s awake.” This voice sounded familiar though I couldn’t get a mental picture of it. “He’s acting the same way I did when I was brought in. Let me guess, you’re trying to figure out where you are and who took you. Am I right or what?” She was right but I remained silent, not going to let them win. “Keeping quiet huh? This one’s already showing promise.” “Mistress if you say he’s awake should we get started the interview now?” The colt’s voice again and by the sounds of what he said it meant that the loud confident one was in charge. “Yes, but this interview is going to be different. First I want you to take off his blindfold. Let him have a good look at where he is.” The sound of hoof against metal was deafening as somepony trotted up metal stairs to get behind me. My eyes were quick to adjust to the dim lighting as the blindfold fell. I quickly scanned the room and focused on who I was looking for. She was standing on a catwalk directly left of me switching places with the other mare. My guess was it was a test if I could match the voice and apparently I had passed because she had begun to laugh. “Good morning sunshine and welcome to the rainbow factory where happiness is manufactured. I see you don’t forget a face and recognize those in power. Good. Remember last night? Where I offered getting you a job and you drunkenly accepted. Well think of this as your interview.” She began to laugh again. “Oh and did I forget to mention the device your strapped to? We call it the “Pegasus Device Mark 2”. We use these for a more… “personal” touch when we extract. We can make it slow and painful, quick and harmless, or we could even bleed colors together which makes for quite a show and is my personal favorite. Basically if you refuse you become product and we wouldn’t want that would we?” I had no clue what she meant by all this color stuff but I decided I will play along for the time being. “Alright subject, question one…” “Atmosphere what did I say?” she shouted at the older looking colt cutting him off. “Sorry mistress, but…” “But nothing, I said I would do all the talking and besides, this is not a normal interview.” “Yes mistress.” The guy looked defeated, he couldn’t go against an order of someone higher up. “Good. Now first question. What color do you like your mares?” “What?” I couldn’t help say at the ridicules question. “I’ll say it again. What color do you like your mares?” she said this with the most sincere expression I had ever seen on anypony. And the thing was, I didn’t know how to answer it. “I’m waiting.” “Any color is fine…” I thought for a moment, trying to think of any certain color I didn’t like. Then I remembered my ex. “Except lime green. I wish that color would die, die and burn.” I was pooling all my hate behind that one answer. I just hoped she would accept that answer. “Alright, I don’t believe we have any ponies working here that are lime green.” She sounded a little disappointed but she accepted the answer. “Atmosphere!” “Yes mistress.” The old colt seemed a little surprised he was called upon. “I want you to continue with the questions and get this colt a suit.” She turned to me. “You start work tonight. I’ll have something special lined up for you as a sort of introduction to what we do here.” She turned to leave. “One more thing, call me Dash. Welcome to the factory newbie.” She left through an iron door that was just out of sight. “Alright…” the old colt looked though a clipboard he was holding. “Silent Night, looks like you're guarantied the job so I won’t be able to toy with you. My name is Dr. Atmosphere and I will be training you like all other new recruits for the next few weeks. This here’s Cool Mist.” He pointed to the other mare who had remained silent throughout the conversation. “She is my assistant and a fellow trainee. She will show you to your living quarters and will guide you through the rules we have here. If you have any questions not pertaining to your training ask her, otherwise I will be your teacher. Now you are to report to my office when the work whistle blows and then we report to mistress’ introduction course. Cool Mist will show you to my office.” He took a breath and gave the clipboard to Mist. “Now, we have to do something about that grey tail of yours.” I really didn’t like the sound of that. “Think of it as the sort of mark of the worker here. Since I didn’t get to have my fun earlier I don’t think I’ll use painkillers for this.” “Painkillers for what exactly?” I really couldn’t help myself from asking because he had a complete personality flip form the last sentence. “So he talks huh? Well you’ll figure it out before you pass out. Mist, prepare the device.” “Yes sir.” She walked over to a control panel and pressed some buttons. A large needle appeared from above me and pointed straight at the middle of my torso. The tip was stained red, I couldn’t tell if it was rust or blood. It slowly started to inch closer as I started to struggle for the first time. “I guess he isn’t as calm under pressure as I first thought.” He started to laugh maniacally. “Welcome to the factory kid.” The needle pierced my torso and began pumping in a black liquid. For the first time in my life I screamed. Touring The FactoryWaking up was the easy part, trying to get up was another story. Every bone, every muscle felt like it had been sent through a shredder and ground to a fine dust. I see now why I wasn’t offered the painkillers. I don’t think I’m going to like Atmosphere for a while. Damn my stomach is killing me. I wince as I reach down to touch the puncture wound and find that a fresh sterile bandage had been applied. “Good to see you’re up.” The mare from earlier, Atmospheres assistant, was standing over me with a blank look on her face. I can’t tell whether she was giving me a look of sympathy or just didn’t care. “You are to follow me until the work shift starts, so until then I don’t want you to leave my side. Understood?” I simply nodded. She helped me to my hooves, my body feeling worse for every inch up I reached. “Don’t worry, it’ll pass.” She said reading my mind or the pained expression on my face. I try to bare the pain but fail miserably as I collapse to the ground after a few steps. “Come on recruit, I’ve seen stallions with broken legs tough out pain better than you.” I simply relaxed my muscles and let my body rest lying in a small pool of blood from the reopened wound. I wasn’t going to move until this pain subsided, Mist had other ideas though. “If you’re not going to move I’ll just carry you myself.” With that she threw me on her back and caused me to land me my diaphragm sending me into a violent coughing fit. She ignored it and headed through the iron door I assume Dash went through earlier. Once we were through the door her face softened and she gently let me down. “Sorry about that, can never be too careful in there. You never know who’s watching. If you can’t act the part you’ll be turned into product. It should be safe to talk here.” I couldn’t believe the personality changes these ponies went through so quickly. “Don’t talk much do you?” I kept to my silence. I mean these are the ponies that kidnaped me. I don’t owe them that much. “Anyway, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Cool Mist, but you can just call me Mist… or Misty… hell I don’t care, call me what you want. Back to the business at hoof, I need to show you around the living quarters. You’ll be spending the rest of your life here so you should know every nook and cranny there is.” I simply nodded in approval. Maybe I can find a way out of this place. “Let’s get started then. Right here is “The” hallway, where our ever so dear mistress likes to make her dramatic exits and provides easy access to the rest of the factory. Right now we have tour access so don’t think about using this hallway during normal work hours. Now let’s move to the dining area/ break area. This will be where you will spend most of your off time.” She started to trot down the long hallway, but I just stood there, fearing the great pain that every twitch reminded me of. “Oh right, I forgot to give you these.” She produced a couple of chalk white pills. “Mistress slipped me these when Atmosphere wasn’t looking. She must really like you if she is going against his pain induction. Atmosphere never really gives recruits pain pills from what I heard, just leaves them to wallow in agony. I should know. Worst day of my life.” I felt a pang of sympathy. She had been dragged into this mess and I doubt she was given the same warm welcome she is giving me. Damn I can’t let their stories get to me. I can’t put my trust in them yet. “Let’s get moving.” I nod and swallow the pills as we continue onward. “This here is the break area.” It was a vast room with high ceilings. One end had what looked like a recreation area the other half had dozens of tables set up. “You will be spending most of your time here on your off hours. Everypony’s still asleep so I can’t introduce you to anyone yet. Hey, are you hungry? I know the process takes a lot out of you, but you are showing a surprising amount of energy. Better to keep it up then to let it die down. Anyway eating now will help you keep it down easier when you go through initiation tonight.” Ok, time to speak up. “What do mean by initiation?” “Huh, didn’t think you would talk. Anyway lunch is on me.” She’s dodging the question. What is she hiding? “I should probably explain our currency system while we’re here.” She proceeded to pull out what appeared to be an I.D. card. “This is your lifeline in the factory. It’s where your pay goes at the end of the day and what you use to get all the necessities. Around the living quarters and here in the break room are machines like the one behind me. You simply swipe your card, type in what you want, and then pick it up from behind the glass door.” She proceeded to do as she said and came back with two orders of hay sandwiches and tomato soup. Lunch was a silent affair, neither one of us said a word to the other until after we finished and even then little was said. Mist took me around the rest of the factory showing me the purifier, color distributer, and many other heavy machines that handle the colors. Finally we reached the living quarters. “Well, this is it. Here’s where you’ll be living out the rest of your days. We11 1 6ue55 th15 15 600d8ye f0r n0w.” What the hell’s happening? I feel extremely tired and I can’t focus on anything she’s saying. Damn, was I drugged? I… I need to lie down. “Hey! 4re y0u 41ri6ht?” Using the last of my energy I stager into the room and lock the door behind me. Ugh, can’t see, head hurts, I think I’m going too… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… *Bang**Bang**Bang* Ugh. Head, shut-up. *Bang**Bang**Bang* “Silent, are you in there? It’s time for your initiation.” My eyes open focusing to the dim lighting of the room. I was sprawled out on the floor, head pulsating, eyes most likely bloodshot. I did not want to move, yet something compelled me to get to my legs. I don’t know if it was curiosity that was driving me or I was still being controlled by whatever the hell knocked me out. Walking was surprisingly easy. I didn’t have any pain from before and my mind was clearing up. Maybe I can get through whatever they have planned for me. Standing outside was Mist and to my surprise Doctor Atmosphere. “We don’t have all night. Let’s go.” Atmosphere was being persistent. I nodded and followed both of them down the many hallways that make up the factory. I had no idea where they were leading me. Mist hadn’t taken me down here during the tour. We eventually reached a large pair of darkened doors that I assumed lead to the work floor. “You are to report to Mistress on the other side of these doors and do as you are instructed.” Atmosphere said in a demanding tone. As I prepare to pass through the doors Mist trotted next to me and whispered, “Good luck” when Atmosphere wasn’t looking. Well this is it. Time to find out what exactly I was dragged here to do. I take a deep breath and go through the doors. The room was lined with many ponies all dressed in the same black getup. My eyes wandered from one side of the room to the other. There were only two who weren’t in the ridicules outfit and my heart sunk when I saw who they were. One was Dash, proudly standing next to the same machine I was strapped to earlier. The other was a young filly who had looked like she had received the beating of a lifetime. She was strapped to the same machine I was on earlier. Tears slowly falling down her cheeks as she tried to scream through the duct tape that covered her mouth. “Welcome to initiation, Newbie.” ..."I'm a monster."
Drowning Your Memories“Bar tender. Another.” “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” “I just got fired from the best job of my life, my marefriend cheated on me, and now my house is being foreclosed. I think I’ll know when I’ve had enough.” “Suit yourself, but you better have the bits for the tab you owe me.” “Yeah, yeah just get me another drink.” Ok class let’s review this absolute bullshit last day I’ve had, or for the matter let’s review the bullshit life I’ve been leading for the past 22 years. My name is Silent Night and I was born to two ponies that only exist in my life, nothing less, and nothing more, they were just there. They never regarded me unless they were teaching me something or simply yelling at me for the sake of my existence but otherwise I was on my own and had to provide for myself. Even to this day I can never remember their faces, only the titles known by children as parents, mom and dad. They chose to ignore me so I chose to ignore them and as soon as I could I left to live on my own. I doubt they even noticed. The front door slams shut as another pony trots in, probably down on their luck trying to drink their lives away like I am. There’s a reason I like this bar and it’s that everyone’s here to drink, not to talk or have fun, only reflect on their pains. This would be the last place anyone would go to in all of Cloudsdale and I like it like that, the only sounds being the old wooden door slamming, clinking of empty glasses and the flick of the occasional lighter. It’s a silent world in here away from anything else. I’ve always been silent, avoiding anypony that might’ve broken that silence and only breaking it if it was required. That was until I meet Darling Heart. If only I could go back now and tell myself not to go down that road and run instead. She was the first person to willingly break my silence and I loved her for it. She truly was the mare of my life and I had it in my mind that I would spend the rest of it with her, but then the money issue came up. She wanted the best like any mare from Cloudsdale would, but my current job wasn’t enough to satisfy here tastes so I had to find a new higher paying job and for once in my life things were looking up. I found a cushy job working by delivering clouds to the local towns, it was easy and the long trips paid well but the best part was that I could work by myself so I had no annoying coworkers bothering me all day. Sure my boss might have been an asshole, but I was happy and Darling was happy too. Damn I was an idiot. A cyan blue pony with a rainbow mane took a seat next to me and ordered her drink. I just stared down at the liquid that was sitting there calling out for me to ingest it. No…. not yet. We sat there in silence, neither of us taking notice of each other, only fulfilling our love of the bottle. Darling, her spending getting higher and higher, started forcing me to take longer deliveries so I could satisfy her greed and for a strange reason my boss gladly gave me the deliveries and wasn’t acting like the asshole he normally is. I was starting to think something was up and my suspicions were confirmed when I had forgotten my order list and went to go get it from my boss. When I entered his office I found him and Darling, dear Celestia the image still makes me sick, anyway once their relationship was found out I was fired on the spot so I couldn’t diminish my bosses reputation by telling others of the relationship, so now everyone would believe it was just an angry colt telling lies about his boss because he was fired. Darling packed her bags and left that night, but not before draining my bank account causing the bank to put a foreclosure on my house. My life went straight to hell after that and here I am, draining away whatever bits I have left. I took a swig of the last glass I could afford and downed it in seconds. “Damn buddy, easy on that stuff. You don’t want to keel over. Do you?” The cyan pony turned and started looking at me with her magenta eye’s, a look of real concern on her face. I glance away and stare at the table hoping she would leave me alone. No such luck. “Don’t want to talk huh? Well I can still talk. Did you know I’m the fastest flier in all of Equestria? I even preformed the sonic rainboom when I was just a filly. Yeah I’m the best of the best there is…” “Maybe.” “What? Are you telling me there is somebody better than me?” She shouted, a bit of anger in her voice. “Maybe I do want to keel over.” I decided to humor her to try and get her off my back. A look of sadness crossed her face as she regretted yelling at me. “What’s wrong?” “Let’s just say my life is in ruins and I have nothing to go back too. Right now I have nothing to live for.” “Gee I’m sorry, I wish I could help.” “Well if you can get me a new job and make all my problems disappear that would be fantastic.” I couldn’t really bear talking with her any longer so I was getting ready to wrap up this conversation. “Well I don’t know about making your problems disappear, but I can get you a job.” She said with a proud look on her face. “Great sign me up. It’s not like I have anything to lose.” I really doubted that she could really get me a job, but now the liquor was talking. “I’ll get you an interview set up right away. We could use more people like you on the job.” “Wonderful, come get me when you’ve got that set up. I need to go home and sleep this day off while I can.” I got up and started heading for the door. “I’ll do just that.” She shouted waving goodbye. The bar tender took notice of me leaving and made a dash to the door to the bar. “Hey! You owe me 200 bits for those drinks!” He was fighting with the lock which seemed to have jammed. “I don’t give a damn. I’m heading home.” I whispered as the door shut behind me, turning my world silent once again. Anypony could clearly tell I was drunk, one because I was walking instead of flying and two I was swaying more than a ship at sea during a storm. The streets were empty and dark, I had no idea where I was going and I really didn’t care. I found myself wandering into a dead end back alley. I turned around to stumble my away around Cloudsdale some more when something grabbed me and put a piece of cloth over my nose. I started to struggle and fight my attacker but I started to lose conciseness. The last thing I saw was the hint of a rainbow shining faintly in the street light.
The Interview“Mistress, he’s waking up, should we start?” “In a minute, I want to see his reaction first.” “Alright, we’re ready to start on your say then.” “Good. And remember Atmosphere, I do all the talking. Got it?” “Yes mistress.” Damn, my head. What the hell was it that knocked me out? Chloroform? I don’t know. Can’t seem to move my body, my legs and torso are strapped down tight. And of course they blindfold me, probably trying to hide their identities. Feels like they’re staring at me trying to gauge my reaction, I’m not going to give them the satisfaction. Just gotta keep calm and try and figure out where I am. Let’s see. It sounds like there’s heavy machinery not too far from here and there is the faintest scent of smoke in the air. I must be in some sort of factory, but it can’t be the weather facility, there would be too much risk in someone discovering me. They couldn’t have taken me far but I can’t think of any closer factories. Damn, I guess I have to wait it out and see if I can catch them talking about it. Sounds like they’re whispering now. “Are you sure he’s awake? He’s not doing anything.” Sounds like a young mare, not too sure of what’s going on. “His heart rate shows that he’s awake otherwise it would be slower than it already is. This equipment has never given false results before, though this is quite odd.” An older colt, it sounds like he’s done this before. There must’ve been others before me and their reactions must’ve been the norm. “No he’s awake.” This voice sounded familiar though I couldn’t get a mental picture of it. “He’s acting the same way I did when I was brought in. Let me guess, you’re trying to figure out where you are and who took you. Am I right or what?” She was right but I remained silent, not going to let them win. “Keeping quiet huh? This one’s already showing promise.” “Mistress if you say he’s awake should we get started the interview now?” The colt’s voice again and by the sounds of what he said it meant that the loud confident one was in charge. “Yes, but this interview is going to be different. First I want you to take off his blindfold. Let him have a good look at where he is.” The sound of hoof against metal was deafening as somepony trotted up metal stairs to get behind me. My eyes were quick to adjust to the dim lighting as the blindfold fell. I quickly scanned the room and focused on who I was looking for. She was standing on a catwalk directly left of me switching places with the other mare. My guess was it was a test if I could match the voice and apparently I had passed because she had begun to laugh. “Good morning sunshine and welcome to the rainbow factory where happiness is manufactured. I see you don’t forget a face and recognize those in power. Good. Remember last night? Where I offered getting you a job and you drunkenly accepted. Well think of this as your interview.” She began to laugh again. “Oh and did I forget to mention the device your strapped to? We call it the “Pegasus Device Mark 2”. We use these for a more… “personal” touch when we extract. We can make it slow and painful, quick and harmless, or we could even bleed colors together which makes for quite a show and is my personal favorite. Basically if you refuse you become product and we wouldn’t want that would we?” I had no clue what she meant by all this color stuff but I decided I will play along for the time being. “Alright subject, question one…” “Atmosphere what did I say?” she shouted at the older looking colt cutting him off. “Sorry mistress, but…” “But nothing, I said I would do all the talking and besides, this is not a normal interview.” “Yes mistress.” The guy looked defeated, he couldn’t go against an order of someone higher up. “Good. Now first question. What color do you like your mares?” “What?” I couldn’t help say at the ridicules question. “I’ll say it again. What color do you like your mares?” she said this with the most sincere expression I had ever seen on anypony. And the thing was, I didn’t know how to answer it. “I’m waiting.” “Any color is fine…” I thought for a moment, trying to think of any certain color I didn’t like. Then I remembered my ex. “Except lime green. I wish that color would die, die and burn.” I was pooling all my hate behind that one answer. I just hoped she would accept that answer. “Alright, I don’t believe we have any ponies working here that are lime green.” She sounded a little disappointed but she accepted the answer. “Atmosphere!” “Yes mistress.” The old colt seemed a little surprised he was called upon. “I want you to continue with the questions and get this colt a suit.” She turned to me. “You start work tonight. I’ll have something special lined up for you as a sort of introduction to what we do here.” She turned to leave. “One more thing, call me Dash. Welcome to the factory newbie.” She left through an iron door that was just out of sight. “Alright…” the old colt looked though a clipboard he was holding. “Silent Night, looks like you're guarantied the job so I won’t be able to toy with you. My name is Dr. Atmosphere and I will be training you like all other new recruits for the next few weeks. This here’s Cool Mist.” He pointed to the other mare who had remained silent throughout the conversation. “She is my assistant and a fellow trainee. She will show you to your living quarters and will guide you through the rules we have here. If you have any questions not pertaining to your training ask her, otherwise I will be your teacher. Now you are to report to my office when the work whistle blows and then we report to mistress’ introduction course. Cool Mist will show you to my office.” He took a breath and gave the clipboard to Mist. “Now, we have to do something about that grey tail of yours.” I really didn’t like the sound of that. “Think of it as the sort of mark of the worker here. Since I didn’t get to have my fun earlier I don’t think I’ll use painkillers for this.” “Painkillers for what exactly?” I really couldn’t help myself from asking because he had a complete personality flip form the last sentence. “So he talks huh? Well you’ll figure it out before you pass out. Mist, prepare the device.” “Yes sir.” She walked over to a control panel and pressed some buttons. A large needle appeared from above me and pointed straight at the middle of my torso. The tip was stained red, I couldn’t tell if it was rust or blood. It slowly started to inch closer as I started to struggle for the first time. “I guess he isn’t as calm under pressure as I first thought.” He started to laugh maniacally. “Welcome to the factory kid.” The needle pierced my torso and began pumping in a black liquid. For the first time in my life I screamed.
Touring The FactoryWaking up was the easy part, trying to get up was another story. Every bone, every muscle felt like it had been sent through a shredder and ground to a fine dust. I see now why I wasn’t offered the painkillers. I don’t think I’m going to like Atmosphere for a while. Damn my stomach is killing me. I wince as I reach down to touch the puncture wound and find that a fresh sterile bandage had been applied. “Good to see you’re up.” The mare from earlier, Atmospheres assistant, was standing over me with a blank look on her face. I can’t tell whether she was giving me a look of sympathy or just didn’t care. “You are to follow me until the work shift starts, so until then I don’t want you to leave my side. Understood?” I simply nodded. She helped me to my hooves, my body feeling worse for every inch up I reached. “Don’t worry, it’ll pass.” She said reading my mind or the pained expression on my face. I try to bare the pain but fail miserably as I collapse to the ground after a few steps. “Come on recruit, I’ve seen stallions with broken legs tough out pain better than you.” I simply relaxed my muscles and let my body rest lying in a small pool of blood from the reopened wound. I wasn’t going to move until this pain subsided, Mist had other ideas though. “If you’re not going to move I’ll just carry you myself.” With that she threw me on her back and caused me to land me my diaphragm sending me into a violent coughing fit. She ignored it and headed through the iron door I assume Dash went through earlier. Once we were through the door her face softened and she gently let me down. “Sorry about that, can never be too careful in there. You never know who’s watching. If you can’t act the part you’ll be turned into product. It should be safe to talk here.” I couldn’t believe the personality changes these ponies went through so quickly. “Don’t talk much do you?” I kept to my silence. I mean these are the ponies that kidnaped me. I don’t owe them that much. “Anyway, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Cool Mist, but you can just call me Mist… or Misty… hell I don’t care, call me what you want. Back to the business at hoof, I need to show you around the living quarters. You’ll be spending the rest of your life here so you should know every nook and cranny there is.” I simply nodded in approval. Maybe I can find a way out of this place. “Let’s get started then. Right here is “The” hallway, where our ever so dear mistress likes to make her dramatic exits and provides easy access to the rest of the factory. Right now we have tour access so don’t think about using this hallway during normal work hours. Now let’s move to the dining area/ break area. This will be where you will spend most of your off time.” She started to trot down the long hallway, but I just stood there, fearing the great pain that every twitch reminded me of. “Oh right, I forgot to give you these.” She produced a couple of chalk white pills. “Mistress slipped me these when Atmosphere wasn’t looking. She must really like you if she is going against his pain induction. Atmosphere never really gives recruits pain pills from what I heard, just leaves them to wallow in agony. I should know. Worst day of my life.” I felt a pang of sympathy. She had been dragged into this mess and I doubt she was given the same warm welcome she is giving me. Damn I can’t let their stories get to me. I can’t put my trust in them yet. “Let’s get moving.” I nod and swallow the pills as we continue onward. “This here is the break area.” It was a vast room with high ceilings. One end had what looked like a recreation area the other half had dozens of tables set up. “You will be spending most of your time here on your off hours. Everypony’s still asleep so I can’t introduce you to anyone yet. Hey, are you hungry? I know the process takes a lot out of you, but you are showing a surprising amount of energy. Better to keep it up then to let it die down. Anyway eating now will help you keep it down easier when you go through initiation tonight.” Ok, time to speak up. “What do mean by initiation?” “Huh, didn’t think you would talk. Anyway lunch is on me.” She’s dodging the question. What is she hiding? “I should probably explain our currency system while we’re here.” She proceeded to pull out what appeared to be an I.D. card. “This is your lifeline in the factory. It’s where your pay goes at the end of the day and what you use to get all the necessities. Around the living quarters and here in the break room are machines like the one behind me. You simply swipe your card, type in what you want, and then pick it up from behind the glass door.” She proceeded to do as she said and came back with two orders of hay sandwiches and tomato soup. Lunch was a silent affair, neither one of us said a word to the other until after we finished and even then little was said. Mist took me around the rest of the factory showing me the purifier, color distributer, and many other heavy machines that handle the colors. Finally we reached the living quarters. “Well, this is it. Here’s where you’ll be living out the rest of your days. We11 1 6ue55 th15 15 600d8ye f0r n0w.” What the hell’s happening? I feel extremely tired and I can’t focus on anything she’s saying. Damn, was I drugged? I… I need to lie down. “Hey! 4re y0u 41ri6ht?” Using the last of my energy I stager into the room and lock the door behind me. Ugh, can’t see, head hurts, I think I’m going too… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… *Bang**Bang**Bang* Ugh. Head, shut-up. *Bang**Bang**Bang* “Silent, are you in there? It’s time for your initiation.” My eyes open focusing to the dim lighting of the room. I was sprawled out on the floor, head pulsating, eyes most likely bloodshot. I did not want to move, yet something compelled me to get to my legs. I don’t know if it was curiosity that was driving me or I was still being controlled by whatever the hell knocked me out. Walking was surprisingly easy. I didn’t have any pain from before and my mind was clearing up. Maybe I can get through whatever they have planned for me. Standing outside was Mist and to my surprise Doctor Atmosphere. “We don’t have all night. Let’s go.” Atmosphere was being persistent. I nodded and followed both of them down the many hallways that make up the factory. I had no idea where they were leading me. Mist hadn’t taken me down here during the tour. We eventually reached a large pair of darkened doors that I assumed lead to the work floor. “You are to report to Mistress on the other side of these doors and do as you are instructed.” Atmosphere said in a demanding tone. As I prepare to pass through the doors Mist trotted next to me and whispered, “Good luck” when Atmosphere wasn’t looking. Well this is it. Time to find out what exactly I was dragged here to do. I take a deep breath and go through the doors. The room was lined with many ponies all dressed in the same black getup. My eyes wandered from one side of the room to the other. There were only two who weren’t in the ridicules outfit and my heart sunk when I saw who they were. One was Dash, proudly standing next to the same machine I was strapped to earlier. The other was a young filly who had looked like she had received the beating of a lifetime. She was strapped to the same machine I was on earlier. Tears slowly falling down her cheeks as she tried to scream through the duct tape that covered her mouth. “Welcome to initiation, Newbie.”
