Author's Note

Hey my dudes. welcome to this lovely series. Hopefully I should be updating this semi regularly, however if you check out my main youtube Purgatory Corner you'll see I am getting myself quite busy so this might be a bit difficult to keep up with. Hope you all enjoy this series though and lemme know what you think! This is the first piece of literature I've ever made, so throw me your comments and I will make sure to read them all. Thank you!

Prologue: Monsters and Machines

Prologue: Monsters and Machines

“My name is [redacted information] and I am, well was, a security guard for the 4th batch of experiments in Fillydelphia, labeled 4-01 to 4-50, or as we more commonly say it, 400 to 450, and these were my logs.” A deep sigh rings out before a cracked hoof presses down on the pipbuck, a whirling sound is heard as the tape rewinds.

Day 1:

I’ve been in Fillydelphia for quite a few years now; the city looks the same as it did when I started. A slave camp like no other, fires burning in the factories, slaves being thrown from one place to another, many being tortured, and others still just being forced to do manual labor, not the worst life for some. The worst part being Fillydelphia Crater, a hell hole of incredible size and terror; ponies sent down there would get radiation poisoning within days, and be trapped down there for years.

Not the best thing to watch, listen to, or smell. By Celestia, the smell was one of the worst parts.

But enough about that terror of a city; my original job was watching over the slaves and making sure they did their jobs. Not the most entertaining of lives, but it kept me on my hooves and kept me awake at least. I must have done something amazing however, as I got offered a promotion; likely cause some poor bastard got killed by one of the slaves. Considering it was a pay raise, an incredible one at that, and I could at least get away from that smell, I took it. That was… not the brightest decision I’ve ever made, but hey the pay was worth it.

Day 2

I gathered up what little I had after a good night’s sleep, well as good a night as you can have with all the slaves crying and wailing and, in many cases dying, around you. The sounds still echo to this day.

After I got my stuff, a saddle bag full of different tools, some everyday tools to fix anything broken. Screwdriver, hammer, nails, and some more… painful items.

Such as my knife -I call him Rusty- a whip, and a few other tools I use on the slaves when they get rowdy.

I finally got approached by one of the higher ups, never found out his name, no one ever really used names, only numbers, and he brought me further into the city. I’ve been on the outer edges of Filly for most of my time here; the last two decades of hell I would call’em. As such getting to go further in was a very odd experience.

The screams around me slowly faded, not quite sure if that was helping the atmosphere, or making it worse.

Eventually the stallion brought me to a plain looking building; plain looking as the rest of them, although with less smoke surrounding us, as we have now exited the main industrial area. Inside was very different from what I was used to, it looked so much cleaner, so white the light practically bounced off every surface.

There was also an odd smell practically clinging everywhere, it was so very familiar but I couldn’t place it. At the end of the hall, there was a blue light and a grated door, what clearly looked like an elevator.

“An elevator? Haven’t seen one of those in more years than I care to count. Why are we going down if I may ask?” I question as I turn to look at the higher up.

“What’s your number, son?” He said as he kept walking forwards, not missing a beat as he slammed a hoof against the button, likely calling the elevator up.

“4427614” I said snapping to attention, the action long since drilled into my skull.

“Good, you still remember. That is the only name you will be given, and will be the only way we will refer to you. If you learn another guard’s number, remember it and use it, or don’t speak,” he cracked his neck before looking at a door adjacent to us. “To answer your question, we are going down for your reassignment; however, you can take the stairs if you like.”

I decided against doing so.

After a few minutes the elevator came up, and the stallion and I walked inside. Going down was one of the tensest moments of my entire career. Finally the elevator stopped, and we got out; the lower levels were similar to the ground floor, all shiny, all white.

The smell, however, had only grown stronger, reminded me of the outer edges. Still couldn’t place it and it was starting to bug me with how clean everything was.

The only sounds that could be heard in this… I suppose we could call it, ‘cell block’, were the faint sounds of singing. I’ve long since forgotten what music had sounded like, if anyone did have music in the other edges, it would almost constantly be overridden by the screams, so we just stopped having music at all.

Turning to the higher up, I ask simply, “Who’s making that music?”

His expression didn’t change, always as cold as steel, pretty fitting for the surrounding area. “Experiment 426, she sings most every day, we do not quite understand why. We have long since stopped trying to beat it out of her, as she continues even if we beat every inch of her body to a pulp. As long as she can speak, she starts to sing, and if we force her to stop, well... You’ll find out soon enough. Experiment 427 makes it very clear.”

I raised my eyebrow at that, but decided to keep my mouth shut as he continues along. “Your main job here is very similar, albeit much more difficult than the one you had with the slaves. You are to keep watch of Experiment Block 4; there are 50 experiments in this block, all of which are under your watch, and the various guards around you.”

As the higher up finished saying this, we approached what looked to be a series of monitors; each monitor focusing on a different cell, or a group of cells. There were also around 4 other guards sitting and watching with extreme focus. This was kinda strange to me, as this job sounds like it should be rather easy. A singing pony to provide music, a bunch of cells, some empty, almost all filled, and some getting “experiments” thrown in. The fact that the other 4 guards stood at extreme attention, almost filled me with dread.

“So my job is basically to be a foal sitter to a bunch of monitors and listen to music all day? Sounds simple enough; when do I start, and where am I focusing?” I say as I sit down, the chair was decently comfy, albeit I’ve been walking or sleeping on the ground for the last two decades, so I’m sure even a rock filled sack would feel nice right about now.

“You have the most difficult job, you get to watch Experiment 426, 427, as well as 447. That one,” he pointed to another monitor with a rather large brown stallion on it. The stallion had a black mane and was curled up in a corner, barely moving. I actually had to strain my eyes to catch him breathing. “Is one of the most dangerous experiments in the entire block, however, he is also the most stupid, and likely the easiest to take care of. Give him food, water, and leave him alone.” Stupid, and simple; sounds like every slave I’ve ever dealt with.

The stallion points to another monitor with two cells on it, rather than the one cell he showed previously. This cell showed an actually almost attractive female pony; a very small and petite pony with long, extremely matted, and almost purple hair, with the ends somewhat black. This was likely because it got stained with her blood, but it might be her original for all I knew. She had cuts and bruises all over her body, making it an odd shade of black and blue; almost impossible to tell what her original color was, but I swear I saw some green in there. Her mouth, however, was likely the worst part of her, all dry and cracked; I wonder if she ever closed the damn thing. Although there was no sound playing on the monitor she still sang loud enough to be heard.

“This is Experiment 426. As I said previously, she sings constantly whenever Experiment 427 is inside of his cell, she will begin to sing. As I said before, we don’t know exactly why; but when we have made her stop before, he started to go on a rampage, so we let her sing, makes our lives easier, even if it is rather irritating. Do what you wish with her. She will let you do anything and everything without hesitation, just give her food and water twice a day, and you’ll be fine.”

He pointed to the last one he gave me watch over, Experiment 427. The camera didn’t show very good detail for any of the ponies, but this one was even stranger. The cameras give everything an odd green tint. This pony appears, however, to be even greener; with scarring all over his body, random metal extruding from random points, and when he looked at the camera, those eyes could kill a stallion just from a glare. It sent shivers down my spine; maybe this won’t be that easy after all.

“This is, by far, the most actively dangerous experiment you will have to deal with. He has ripped more ponies to shreds then many of the slaves in the The Pit, he’s also a rather special case. If you’re careful, he will not be able to get you; his cell bars are made from triple-reinforced iron, only damn things that hold the bastard. So when you give him food and water, slip it through the holes in the door. Do not, I repeat, do not, enter his cell. You are replacing the last pony that did that.”

Day 3

Today was an odd day; the higher ups told me to start using these terminals to log down anything interesting, for “scientific reasons,” they said, I call bullshit, but whatever, the pay was incentive enough to keep my mouth shut and just do the job. It was a rather effective system, although greatly tedious. I did a few for the other two days, which I assume have been listened to; I shall continue as such.

Nothing much happened, mostly just figuring everything out, and settling in for the long run. Today, however, is when things got interesting.

My first task of the day was to check up on Experiment 447, as the higher up had previously said he was rather simple to take care of; throw some food in his cell with some water, and leave. Watching on the cameras was very strange; whenever he would start moving, the cameras would start to static. I was very concerned with this at first, but another guard told me to wait. In doing so, it went back to normal and the food was gone, but the experiment didn’t seem to have moved at all. I do wonder what the higher ups do to these things, but as the saying goes: "Our job is not to reason why, but do and die"

After dealing with Experiment 447, I went to go check up on the other two. Experiment 426 was fairly simple to handle; she was still singing, and after a day of listening to this tune, I was getting rather annoyed at it. However, considering the warnings, I just dealt with it. She was lying on her side, looking almost dead; if not for that song I would assume she was. Staring at her, I paused for a moment, actually listening to the song. I realized that I hadn’t actually listened to the lyrics before, even though I’ve been down here for a while now.

Fire burns in the evening tide

A wall so tall and bright,

Summer comes to a close with a fall of dawn, on the evening tide.

We cry some more ‘til we’re told, don't cry, don't cry

Evermore, on an evening tide

Don't cry, don't cry, till night time

Say goodnight, my foal

Goodnight, my filly

‘Til we see that outer wall.

Huh, I wonder if that actually has some meaning to it, it seems to be looping constantly. Looking over to Experiment 427, I noticed he was leaning against the wall. He was staring at me with a glare that both made me pity him, and fear him. That look almost felt like he was sliding a ghost along my skin and dragging my very soul out of my body. Oddly he wasn’t moving; just watching. I assume this was because of Experiment 426’s singing, but I would rather not make sure of this.

Sliding over the food for Experiment 426, the usual bread and water they made us give all of these poor creatures, I went over to Experiment 427’s cage; being curious on how he would react. Surprisingly he did, well, nothing. He just sat there against the wall, staring. If not for the breathing I would swear he had died and gone to whatever is after this hell of a life. I grabbed his plate of food and slowly pushed it under the door, keeping my eyes on him the entire way. Once I stepped away he started moving, scaring the living crap out of me, but he moved slowly; leaning forwards and grabbing the plate of food and taking a bite. The scary thing, however, is that he didn’t just bite the food, he bit through the entire metal tray the bread was on, his teeth sliding through the metal and bread like a hot knife through butter. It was one of the stranger things I’ve ever seen; although I once saw a pony being turned into liquid within 2 seconds because a unicorn was especially pissed, so this wasn’t too bad. Smelled better too.

Day 15

Today, I finally understand why all these preparations are necessary for these creatures; they are truly hell’s creations. I’ve decided “Experiment” was too odd of a term, so as such I shall now label them, “Subjects.” It’s such a kind word for such a horrifying creation; I honestly have no idea what the higher ups plan on doing with these things, but I hope it either doesn’t happen, or I’m dead before it does.

Now before I get into why I feel this way, I should sum up the last couple weeks. I’ve been here for a while now, and got into a routine of sorts; wake up, get my food, ask the other guards to bring me up to date as we are on different shifts. Get the Subject’s foods, deliver, and leave, simple right? Until now the answer was “yes.” Now, however, things have changed. Every couple of days, the higher ups would send some ponies down, and they would start experimenting on the Subjects; namely 426 and 427.

Subject 447, however, was a curious one. They experimented on him almost every day, doing anything and everything they could think of, like beating him senseless, breaking his bones, shoving rotten food at him. Then they tested for more super power-esque abilities; testing for super speed, super strength, telekinesis. You name it, they tested for it. Nothing seemed to work on him, and the frown that was practically etched into his face seemed to grow deeper every day. Some nights, I thought I could hear him cry.

Today was the day they released him; I dunno what they did with him, but considering what they did with the other subjects on a daily basis, I cannot imagine that they just let him go.

Now for the other subjects, 426, and 427; to give you a bit of context, the two of them are usually experimented on in their cells. Apparently the higher ups thought it produced better results to have the two of them be forced to watch what happens to each other. This has produced… well, some kind of results at least. 426’s experiments, I would say, are more akin to torture. They’ve beaten her, broken her, ripped her apart, and put her back together again. The only time I’ve ever heard her stop singing is when she started screaming. This had a, well, rather terrifying effect on Subject 427; once she started screaming he started to fight. He practically broke both of his forelegs the first time this had happened; he ripped the chains right off the walls and started beating the guards to death with them while screaming and crying. The guards, for some reason, seemed to be used to this; only 2 of them died as the others reacted with seemingly practiced ease. One of them practically ripped off his arm when they pulled him back and slammed him into the wall. The strangest thing, however, and maybe one of the… saddest, was that after this happened, Subject 426 started singing again. She had 2 broken back legs, a broken foreleg, and I am fairly certain at least 4 ribs were snapped, and yet she was still singing. They started breaking even more of her; dragging blades along her sides and legs, digging them into her back, ripping through her scalp, and yet even through all of that she hadn’t faltered again in her singing.

For Subject 427, the experiments were even worse. On 3 different occasions, I could’ve sworn I saw them remove most of his organs and then put them back in. Many times adding metal piece after metal piece; I’m surprised he’s still alive at this point. However, I've also seen his healing factor in action, so I’m not too surprised. They must have put him on one hell of a concoction, because I’ve watched him heal fatal wounds in minutes; stitching his ribs back together and sliding his insides back inside. The horrors that have been captured shall never fade from my memory, and every single night that damned Subject 426’s singing brings it all back. These creatures can’t even be counted as ponies any more; some of them I don’t even think realize they were once ponies, and I don’t think I would want them to.

Day 20

Today was a rather uneventful day, but I figured I would log it down regardless. The other guards seems to take their calm days as if they will never come around again, although, after what I saw a few days ago, I can’t quite blame them. The screams of those that have died echo through my skull; very similar to the slaves, but with as much quiet as we get down here, it’s… almost worse. The only real noise that is made besides the occasional screaming from the experiments is Subject 426. She continues to sing every day; she’s one of the only subjects that doesn’t get taken out of their cells. I have no idea what kind of actual experiments are really done to her, but I’m assuming they are mainly psychological, alongside from the actual torture.

Subject 427, however, is a very different case, although I have not seen him kill anypony since day 15, he is now taken out of his cell every hour or two during what I imagine is the daytime, which apparently is also the only period of time Subject 426 stops singing. I am essentially the caretaker of these two as Subject 447 was released, as I said about a week or so ago. As such, during this downtime I make sure to give Subject 426 water just to make sure she doesn’t kill herself singing, or lose her voice and make Subject 427 go on a rampage again. Speaking of him, I got a bit off track; the experiments are rather...I suppose the word is ‘harsh,’ for him; I am not honestly sure how his body handles all of it. He is often taken out of his cell to do these experiments, where I’m sure they do all kinds of crazy things to him, although, sometimes they do it in his cell. This seems to have a particular effect on Subject 426, for some reason; she starts to sing louder whenever he goes through this in his cell; whether this is to stop him from going on a rampage, or just trying to stop his pain, I am unsure about. Whatever is the case, I would rather him not go on another killing spree with me in the crossfire; so I just let her sing. We’ve all gotten rather accustomed to hearing her voice at this point, anyways.

To explain Subject 427’s…experiments in a bit more detail; the higher ups appear to be turning him into a cyborg of sorts, not quite a full one, but close enough. A lot of his insides have been replaced by metal; unfortunately I’ve had the displeasure of witnessing this firsthand. This somehow has been increasing his strength, his regenerate capabilities, as well as his general rage. Aside from that, he appears to be in peak condition. Sadly, this makes it that much harder to keep him restrained. When it comes to the sounds of his screams, layered on top of 426’s singing; it almost sounds like music. Haunting music that shakes you deep to your core, I’m not sure if I will ever get these sounds out of my head, and on some days, I’m not sure if we are doing the right thing. However, that same old sentence rings through my head, “Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die.”

For my final note, the higher ups told me Subject 427 was going to be released into The Pit today, and that he would be out for a while. From what they told me, I can only assume they are putting him in such a place to see how the experiments on him will handle it, how his body itself will handle this hell, and more importantly, if they can control him through it.

For the next couple days, Subject 426 said not a single word, and sang not a single syllable. Today has been one of the quietest days since I started, and from what I’ve been told, since the project started. I barely got any sleep that night, and the nights that followed; the screams in my head raged on, and on...

Day 30

Alarms and warnings are flaring across the pipbuck, and a sharp voice rings out.

This is guard 4427614; I am assuming you have heard my previous recordings, if so then you know about the experiments and the horrors we have had to witness here. I don’t have much time but I’ll try to get everything out for you, this was meant for the higher ups but I am assuming that’s not going to happen. If you can hear this, be prepared.

The past couple days have been hell for me; hell for all the guards really. Without Subject 426’s constant singing it was just dead silence, watching screen after screen; switching from one experiment to another. Considering these subjects weren’t my duty to take care of, all I could do was watch. Some had remarkable powers, like the ability to control fire, and play with it like putty; the ability to control water, and ice, you name it and these ponies could do it. It made me wonder what the other floors were like. It wasn’t completely quiet, however. Apparently the higher ups figured they could do more with Subject 426, considering she wasn’t singing anymore, so they started to break her. They did everything you can possibly imagine; from whipping, breaking, degrading, to more…well let’s just say it was not a pleasant time.

As the days passed, the treatments got worse. Slowly, ever so slowly, I watched this poor filly get broken; on the outside, and on the inside. By the time we have reached the 30th day, this poor mare was practically a dog. This was also...the beginning of true hell.

On the dawn of the 30th day, they brought back in Subject 427, and he looked like hell. Spending 10 days straight in the radiation pit and he looked like he was practically expelling the radiation; more metal was forced into his body, and I cannot even imagine what else they did to him on the inside. On top of that, the psychological aspect must have been horrifying; however, nothing, and I repeat nothing at all, could have been worse than what happened once he got back into his cell, and Subject 426 did not begin to sing.

At first he looked confused, likely wondering if they had actually killed her, but she got up; she looked at him, and I am sure, as I have seen it many times in the last couple days, that he saw nothing but the dead husk of the poor filly’s body. At first he didn’t seem to process it. He slumped against his wall as she practically barked like a damn dog. He didn’t even notice the ponies coming in and sticking him full of more and more needles.

I honestly thought for a few hours, that he had simply given up. That this was his way of saying he couldn’t go on anymore. However, then one guard had the pure gall to tell him she deserved it. I don’t think it would have been possible to see that guard’s head come off with the naked eye, in fact I’m not sure if his body actually registered what happened, hell I’m not sure if I had registered it yet. The guards surrounding him immediately sprung into action, give them what shit you will, but they are at least responsive when their lives are at stake.

The first guard tried to knock out 427 as fast as possible, considering he broke the cell bars with the other guard’s head, that was a very smart idea. 427, however, was having none of that. Quicker than the stallion could pull out his gun, his arms were on the floor and 427’s teeth were in his neck. The last guard didn’t last much longer, a single blow to the head and his brain matter was lining the floors, and walls, and everywhere really. After this, Subject 427 went to 426’s cell, broke it open, and held her. I still do not know their connection, and maybe I never will. Considering there was no audio on the cameras, I couldn’t make out anything they were saying. From the looks of it, 427 was trying to convince 426 to go, to leave, yet 426 just couldn’t go. Whether this was because she was so psychologically tortured to a point that she was unable to leave, or maybe because she was physically unable to go, I am not sure. For everyone hearing this; this entire exchange lasted less than 3 minutes from the death of the first stallion to 427 standing up from 426. While staring in shock, and pure horror, I will always have this burned into my brain; Subject 427 stood up, and looked into the camera. The look of pure rage and pain on his face shook me to my very core, and then he started walking. The last thing I heard before the screams was Subject 426 singing once again; I do not know if it was one last ditch effort to get him to calm down, or if her brain just defaulted, or something else entirely.

Fire burns in the evening tide

A wall so tall and bright,

Summer comes to a close with a fall of dawn, on the evening tide

We cry some more ‘til we’re told, don't cry, don't cry

This will be the last of my logs, I am currently hiding in the backroom, hoping, praying that he won’t find me, and the only thing I can hear is subject 426 singing, and finishing her never ending song.

Evermore, on an evening tide

Don't cry, don't cry, ‘til night time

Say goodnight, my foal,

Goodnight, my filly,

‘Til we see that outer wall

Forever you have stood,

Time for you to go

Subject 427 is no longer a pony; it is a machine, a monster, a pure abomination, and something I hope the world can survive. If you ever encounter it, be afraid. My name is [redacted information] and I am, well was, a security guard for the 4th batch of experiments in Fillydelphia, labeled 4-01 to 4-50, or as we more commonly said it, 400 to 450, and these were my logs.