The scene was the ending of season three episode seven. With Rainbow Dash flying off into the clouds as Pinkie Pie yelled behind her. The scene proceeded to fade out as the episode ended. The credits rolled as the theme song began playing. But dear readers, do you know what happens behind the screen? What really happens behind that TV screen? Once the credits roll?
The episode had ended long ago. But behind the black screen and white credits, the ponies were showing no signs of stopping. Pinkie continued jumping up and down and yelling. The elements watched as Rainbow Dash continued flying. The six mares were completely unaware of the background ponies who were sneaking up on them, ready to strike.
Twilight was the first to go down. One of the guards had snuck up on her and had given her a stiff shot to the back of the head, enough to knock her out. Meanwhile up in the skies, Fluttershy was hit by an airborne guard. She spiraled to the ground, unconscious.
Applejack turned around just in time to be the recipient of a grazing shot to the face by Raindrops. She went down hard, The rest of the mane six looked at their fallen friends. Only to meet the exact same fate. Up in the clouds Rainbow Dash had just caught on and saw her friends lying on the ground. She flew towards the landing strip. Before she could make it, she felt something hard strike the back of her head before blacking out, spiralling towards the landing strip.
Some time later...
When they did wake up, they were in chains. The six mares had their hooves and wings chained and could not do anything about it. They appeared to be in some sort of room. With only a single light bulb illuminating their surroundings. There was a single door in front of them. Everything else was concrete.
“Where are we?” Twilight asked
“I don’t know sugarcube, and it’s startin’ to scare mah a little.” Applejack replied
Twilight tried to open the door, but it was locked. And as if that wasn’t enough, the door was steel. Magic couldn’t blast through this. Twilight looked at her friends. Fluttershy was hiding behind Dash whom had an annoyed look on her face. Applejack was paranoid, Rarity too was nervous. Pinkie simply stood in the middle of the room with a smile on her face. Unaware of the potential danger they were in.
Twilight tried her magic on the walls, hoping that her powers would bring them down. And it failed miserably, dissipating almost as soon as it made impact with the wall. But she never stopped, every shot only encouraged her to push on. Finally, she stopped, her breathing heavy, with sweat running down her face. She gulped and slumped down. Just the thought that she couldn’t help was just oh so frustrating.
The gang just waited. Wondering what could be behind the steel doors. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a sort of malice from just looking at the door. She just sat with her friends, trying her best to find a way out. The room was completely concrete, no way out besides the door. There were no holes whatsoever for them to peek out of. The minutes slowly passed, with each minute only adding more and more suspense.
Finally, the door swung open. One incredibly buff colt stood at the doorway, two more flanked him from behind. They had black suits and gas masks on. The only thing visible were their manes. The colt on the right was yellow, another was grey and the colt in the middle had a mane that was a mixture of purple and gold.
“Wake up dirt bags.” He growled
Rainbow Dash ran in without hesitation, with intentions on hurting the colt. Before she could even touch him, Twilight held her back with her magic. She gave an embarrassed smile and made sure RD calmed down before she let her go.
“Um... Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle and I-”
“Save it smarty pants. We’ve seen you before. 59 times before to be exact.” The colt on the right snapped.
“Nitrage, you know we shouldn’t tell anypony else about what we do here. Not even a hint.” The colt on the left said.
“So? No way out, and they’re gonna be gone soon enough Trailblazer. No harm in giving them a little teaser before the big show huh?” Nitrage answered.
“Well, no. But we can’t take the risk. Just ask ol Plasma.” Trailblazer said gesturing towards the colt in the middle.
“Just shut up you idiots. Let’s get this over with.” The colt in the middle said.
The colts stepped aside. Twilight shuffled forwards nervously, her friends followed close behind. Pinkie took her usual position behind them, bounding along. Nitrage walked beside them, while Trailblazer took the other side. Plasma stood at the back. The floor felt weird, sticky. And the stench of rotting flesh and blood filled the hall. It was way too dark to see.
Twilight lit up her horn. She wished that she hadn’t.
The hall was filled with the dead lifeless forms of ponies. Most were mangled, most were cut up, all were decimated and unrecognizable. The bodies were just out of reach of the dim light that illuminated their path. Various chunks of flesh and patches of skin littered the sides. Twilight could hear her friends gasping, they stopped. But the guards prodded them along. Twilight was scared by now, and so were her friends. She wanted to just stop and stand still. But the guards quickly proved that it would do no good.
Eventually the dark, smelly hall had been replaced by a vast room, the unicorns magic instantly turned off as soon as they entered. Not a good sign. There was a scaffold on the wall. There still weren’t any holes or windows. But instead, close by was a chamber with a huge metal door and a glass pane on it so you could see inside. Then close to it was a huge hole with a scaffold that ended right at the middle of the massive hole. The rim of the huge device. And there was another steel door, much more secure than the last one. And another white door that didn’t look so heavily guarded. But the guards would get to any of them before they were even halfway through.
The guards had blocked the way back to the hallway that lead to the room. The elements silently waited. Two ponies emerged from a door on the scaffold and walked to the middle. One of these ponies was the sun goddess herself, Princess Celestia with a stern look on her face and her rainbow mane flowing as usual. She had a smug look on her face. The second pony was a cream unicorn mare with a brown mane. Her cutie mark was that of an orange flame.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight spoke up.
“Silence!” Celestia hissed.
The elements kept silent. The princess simply stared at them, a smile slowly forming on her face.
“This is my colleague, Pyro.” she said, gesturing towards the unicorn.
She nodded in response. Celestia turned her attention back to the elements.
“We’ve enchanted this whole building so that unicorn magic is unusable unless you are allowed access. So, you're wondering why you're here. Well, same as always. To get grind up or burned to ashes." Celestia said.
Twilight felt panicked and scared. Her friends probably felt the same way. Fluttershy looked like she was going to faint.
"But princess, why?!"
"Because my “pupil”, ponies learn from their mistakes. And every episode you six learn something. We can't have you all picture perfect now can we? The ratings would drop through the floors! I mean what’s the fun in seeing six perfect little mares going around town? Booooooriiiiing! So after every episode, we bring you here. Where you'll be grinded up and then remade. With absolutely no memory of what transpired in the last episode." Princess Celstia explained explained.
"How could you?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"How could I? Well, as long as it keeps the show going, I can.” Princess Celestia smirked.
"You’re not the princess!" Twilight yelled.
"Meh. Go ahead, be the stubborn idiot that you are. Now, I think it's time I introduced you to our toys."
Celestia flew down to the chamber and placed a hoof on the door.
"This is our furnace. Where one-shot characters meet their inevitable fate. Allow me to give you all an example."
"One-shot?" Rainbow Dash asked.
The door at the far side of the building opened up. Two guards walked in escorting a green pegasus with a gold mane.
Lightning Dust.
The pegasus seemed to be quite mad about it, but she had no choice but to follow the guards to the huge chamber. The guards opened the door and shoved The mare inside. Lightning Dust seemed kind of scared but she quickly put on a face of courage. The door slammed shut. Pyro walked over to a lever and pulled.
Fire blasted from either side. Engulfing Lightning Dust in flames. Her screams of pain echoed throughout the facility. She banged on the doors with her hooves. Twilight watched
in horror as the banging slowly died down and the fires slowly did the same. The furnace returned back to it’s dark, moody lifeless form.
The doors reopened, revealing a charred body. Burnt black. Twilight couldn’t dare look, her friends looked in horror, Fluttershy stumbled and leaned against Dash for support. The fact that she hadn’t fainted was a surprise.
“That was fun.” Princess Celestia said.
The navy blue pegasus flew to the rim of the machine. The door which Lightning Dust had come out of opened again. This time it was a very familiar pegasus mare. Her body was yellow and her mane looked like flames.
Spitfire.
The guards escorted her to the scaffold and made sure she stood at the edge. Her wings were chained up, nowhere to go by now. She stood on the edge of the scaffold while some guards stood behind her, making sure there was no way out. Spitfire put on a brave face, trying to mask the fear that was building up in her.
“The grinder is where the recurring characters go to. Their grinded flesh can be remade, reused, recycled.” Princess Celestia explained.
Spitfire took one look down the massive hole. By now Twilight and the gang had walked over to the machine and was staring down at it. At the bottom was an assortment of metal drums with spikes on them. They spun slowly, like gears.
Finally the guards pushed her and she fell, Twilight shielded her eyes, but it was inevitable. Spitfire fell into the grinder and her yells were instant, as was the splattering of blood. Spikes tore through her flesh and crumpled the body as well as tear it apart. The sound of a loud *RIIIIIIIIIIP!* was heard as her limbs were slowly torn to pieces.
Spitfire disappeared through the gears, her intestines and various other parts of her body were still stuck on the spikes. Twilight’s heartbeat was racing, and so was everypony else’s. Save for Celestia, Pyro and the guards.
Twilight looked at her friends, gesturing towards the furnace. The six nodded, and simultaneously galloped at the princess, knocking her into it. Twilight slammed the door shut, hyperventilating. She quickly pressed the lever, Celestia banged on the doors, demanding to be let out. But it was too late, the fires quickly erupted and encased her in searing hot heat. Guards struggled to turn off the flames and open the door as the princess let out screams of agony.
"Run!" Twilight yelled
The elements at first tried running together, but Applejack noticed a better solution.
"Let's split up, it'd be harder fer ‘dem to get us."
"Got it!" The mares yelled, dashing off in their own respective directions. They underestimated who they were up against. Rainbow Dash was first to go, getting knocked down by a large fireball. She howled as she ever so slowly burned to an ash. Her magenta eyes, filled with unimaginable pain, locked with the brown eyes of the one who brought it upon her.
"Why?" She mouthed to Pyro, but the unicorn only looked down at her with ice-cold eyes. She watched the rainbow-maned mare being consumed by the flames, if she had any regret, it never showed. Pyro watched the mare take her dying breath, choked and coughing. Soon enough she was nothing but a charred skeleton. One down. Pyro turned her attention back to the others.
Rarity was in a panic, and NOT because the place was a mess... not entirely, at least. Even if her life is being threatened, having it in such an uncouth place was simply unimaginable! The white unicorn ran for her life, and she felt blood on her hooves. She skidded a bit, crashing into Pyro. Rarity screamed and tried to escape, but the fire-mare was skilled in this. She sent several fireballs at the escaping unicorn, and one caught Rarity's curled tail. Due to copious amounts of hairspray, her whole tail was a curl of fire, and it quickly travelled up her neck, her head going up in flames. The marshmallow tried to put it out but couldn't. Pyro put her face close to Rarity's.
"I always love watching you go, it's very fun. My cousin hates you anyway." She smirked, and bucked her in the face. Rarity stumbled, falling to the ground, still yelling her lungs out. Pyro watched and waited for the mare's eventually demise, occasionally sending another fireball at the fashionista. The white fur of little miss Generosity was pitch black, her mane and tail gone and her flesh the next to be devoured by the flame. Her screams of horror may have echoed across the cold, intimidating walls, but they fell deaf to Pyro's ears. Blue eyes melted away, and the body surrounding the bones burnt off. Pyro walked off to find the rest, taking care to step on the dead mare's horn, snapping it off. She smiled like a maniac as she swished away.
Twilight and the remaining elements ran through the white door, making sure to shut it behind them. Some guards who were chasing them got a face full of the metal. The steel managed to hold up against the two muscular colts. Twilight was breathing heavily, her heartbeat was as rapid as it could get. Her friends were no better, Pinkie Pie had resorted to collapsing to the floor and sobbing, Fluttershy had passed out almost as soon as they passed through the door and AJ was holding her stetson against her chest, her head hung low and tears streaming down her face.
Twilight calmed down, it wasn’t easy but she finally managed to do so. She looked up and looked at her friends. Trying to look brave.
“Alright girls. You heard Applejack. We have to split up. Whoever gets out first can go get help from the real princess.” Twilight said
Applejack gave a small nod. Pinkie gulped and managed to hold her tears back long enough to whisper: “Yes”. Fluttershy was still out cold and held no response.
"What about Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked, her voice breaking.
"I'll take her." Applejack said, putting her hat back on and heaving the unconscious pegasus on her back. She stood up shakily, and trotted off. Pinkie and Twilight hugged and they started away in their own directions, each one knowing in the very deepest, darkest part of their minds, they would never see each other again.
Pinkie was trying to think of happy things, but it seemed like this place forbade it's prisoners to have hope. Hope... what is hope? Lighting Dust didn't have hope, nor did Spitfire. Tears fell again as she ran, faster and faster. She couldn't outrun this nightmare, it was too real. As much as she wanted it to, it couldn't be a dream. A dream couldn't be this horrid, but could real life?
Luna wake me from this dream. She thought as she dashed through the hallways, each step making her feel more helpless against the murderers within it. Her heart was about to crush through her chest, her eyes blinded by the tears. The candy-colored mare halted when she thought she saw something in the corner of her eye. A flash, an orange flash... She shrieked when she noticed the cream unicorn in front of her, horn lit up with fire. Pinkie tried to turn and run, but felt a hoof on her tail. Pyro had held her poofy curls down, and put her horn to the back of the captured pony's neck. Pinkie howled as the flames attacked her, swallowing her up. She couldn't take it, it was torture.
"HELP!" Pinkie screamed, "HELP ME!"
She received a swift kick to the throat. The earth pony coughed up blood when she wasn't yelling for her life. She was shaking, her coat drenched in sweat, blood, and melting skin. She couldn't take it. This was torture beyond anypony's wildest dreams.
"Kill me..."
"What?" Pyro looked confused. Pinkie thought her voice was too... too innocent, too foalish, to be a heartless murderer.
"Kill me." She coughed up more blood.
Pinkie looked at Pyro again, studying her. She looked like an innocent mare, incapable of doing anything as sinister as this. Her cutie mark wasn't even intimidating, in fact, it was kinda cute. She looked into her brown eyes, they had an emotion... was it... did she...?
Pinkie fell to the ground, a smouldering pink heap, her thought forever unfinished.
Applejack was hyperventilating, trying to go as fast as she could with a mare on her back. Fluttershy was abnormally heavy, despite her appearance. The apple-bucker was looking around like mad, desperate for an escape. Her chest was rapidly rising and falling as she tried to process her situation again. In her line of sight all that she could see was just one long narrow hallway. She took a deep breath and walked forwards, pressing herself on. This place gave off the general feeling of death and decay. She hated it, longing to be back in the apple orchards, bucking trees with her brother. She had to be strong, for Fluttershy, for Twilight, Pinkie, Dash, Rarity, for herself. The orange mare trotted on, tears falling down her face like a waterfall. She couldn't take her mind off of seeing Lighting and Spitfire die horrible, horrible deaths. And for what? For entertainment!
"Whoever’s being entertained from watchin’ us get killed tain’t nothin’ but a buncha sick monsters." She hissed, her emerald eyes filled with rage. "Ain't that right, Fluttershy?"
She seemed to forget her cargo was knocked out. She took a deep sigh, her eyes on the ground.
"Ah hope this ends soon, ah can't take much more of this."
"Good, because it's the end of the line for you."
Applejack jumped several feet. She hadn't heard Pyro speak, and kind of just assumed she didn't.
"Anything you want to say, Applejack?" She sneered, her ear flicked once as she advanced on the mare. The earth pony quickly pushed Fluttershy to the side, her heart banging as she focused on the unicorn. Her horn was covered with blood, dripping down her face.
"Don't hurt Fluttershy, please." Applejack pleaded. "She's such a sweetheart..."
Pyro put her hoof to the element's mouth.
"I promise I won't."
The two stared at each other intensely.
She's not lying... The Element of Honesty thought, thoroughly surprised. She... isn't planning on hurting Fluttershy
"Goodbye, Applejack."
The mare's screams were so sudden, so loud, so... so hurt. Pyro cringed a bit. She couldn't tolerate the sound of the pain this pony was going through. After so many years here, she still couldn’t get used to the screams of agony, the begs for mercy. Applejack cried as the fire tore at her flesh, eating the muscle with an intense sting. Her sobbing screams seemed to awake something inside of her torturer, as Pyro put her head to the orange mare's chest. She took a deep breath and leapt forward.
She slowly withdrew her horn from the limp body, blood dribbling down her face, staining her cream fur once more. Pyro was revolted by herself. A murderer. That's all she was, a murderer.
"What happened to you?" She murmured to herself, not daring to close her eyes for the fear the broken may come and punish her for her sins. She wiped her face with her hoof, covered in sweat, blood, and ash. She looked up, seeing a yellow lump on the floor. Fluttershy.
Pyro walked shakily up to her, putting a hoof in her shoulder.
"Wake up, sleepy head." She cooed as softly as possible. One could not blame the pink-maned pegasus for screaming at the top of her lung when she opened her eyes.
"Shh, shh, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. I won't hurt you." Pyro murmured, pulling a shaking Fluttershy into a hug. The butter-colored mare could do nothing but cry in
confusion and horror as she listened to the oddly soothing words coming from the horrid unicorn's mouth. "I won't hurt you..."
The two held on to each other, Pyro holding Fluttershy's head to prevent her from seeing Applejack's broken body. The fire-mare's gut hurt as she thought of the horror she had thrown upon such an innocent creature. "I won't hurt you..."
Pyro had formed her fire into a knife-like shape, pointed straight between Fluttershy's shoulders. Pyro stroked a hoof through her mane, heart pounding.
Do it fast, it'll be easier if I do it fast... The cream unicorn thought, shifting a bit. And then, the knife slammed forwards.
Fluttershy let out a single gasp and her insides felt warm. The fire traveled up her spine, burning up her nerves and muscles. Her brain sizzled, her organs fried. The fire flooded her body, eating away at her until she was hollow. Her aqua eyes were frozen in shock as her life burned away.
Pyro laid her down, closing her eyes with a motherly touch. She stood up, horrified even more with herself. She brushed stray mane off of the dead pegasus's forehead, and kissed her face.
"Sleep tight, my little butterfly." She whispered, and walked with soft hooves as if not to wake the deceased. The unicorn pressed a hoof to her eye. "Murderer Pyro... what happened to me?"
These halls she once walked with a certain ease were now as cold and intimidating as her first time stumbling through them. Her eyes slammed shut and she coiled into herself as she heard screams... their screams... it was nothing, merely a memory, but they sounded so real, so fresh. They burned Pyro's mind like her fire, charring her the same way. Her stomach churned and her heart wept. She had killed them, she had killed Fluttershy. Flutter... Fluttershy...
Pyro stumbled to the side and emptied her stomach. She felt weaker than ever, her body shaking, but she forced herself on. Twilight Sparkle was still left.
The purple unicorn was running faster and faster, if she could be more afraid, she would. She had heard their screams, and how they were suddenly cut off.
At least she didn't torture them... Twilight thought as she galloped forwards, her
lavender eyes wide with the horror she had seen. Sweat dripped off her fur as she pushed on, not daring to stop. The walls that surrounded her formed a labyrinth, the prize being life, the punishment for losing, a horrible death. And yet somehow, that death seemed more merciful... no. No, she needed to tell the others, find the real princess Celestia, to tell her about this so she could stop it. She needed to get out, quickly.
She didn't have time to scream as a filthy hoof was pressed against her lips.
"Don't. Scream." Pyro said sternly, staring into Twilight's eyes. The purple mare nodded as she stared back. The emotion in the murderer's chocolate eyes... was that fear? Remorse?
Pyro pulled her hoof away, and Twilight remained silent. "I don't want to kill you, I don't want to kill anypony anymore."
Twilight opened her jaw to speak, but hesitated. Pyro nodded and she spoke. "A-are you still going to kill me?"
"No! I... I don't want to be a murderer. I don't know why I am, hell, I don't even remember who I am anymore." The dirty cream mare looked close to tears. "I'm getting you out, but you have to promise me one thing."
"Wh-what?" Twilight asked desperately.
"No matter what happens to me, you will run. You will escape. Don't worry at all if I get left behind, I deserve it." She said, her tone dead serious. "And,"
Twilight nodded, afraid, yet anxious to hear the last part. She jumped when her front hooves caught on fire.
"Follow the flames. Now scream and run."
The fire didn't hurt Twilight at all, but instead felt warm and soft. She was screaming her lungs out like Pyro instructed, and it seemed like the flames knew where to go. Pyro chased after the running fireball. For the first time since she had come here, Twilight felt hope. The light shone bright... literally and figuratively. Maybe even a small smile crossed the lavender mare's face. Does it never seem like the characters know that something bad will happen? As the two mares ran through the grinder room, Twilight felt her legs seize up, but she kept running. She ran farther and farther away from Pyro. Twilight found another door up ahead. She didn’t hesitate. Instead, Twilight burst through the door.
And ended up back in the room she had started out before. The blood on the grinder had dried, the furnace had now cooled down, the remnants of Celestia were nowhere to be seen. Twilight skidded to a halt but not before sliding a few feet and onto the rim of the grinder. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Until Pyro came skidding out the door in similar fashion and crashed into Twilight Sparkle.
The lavender mare tumbled to the very edge of the board. Any movement at all would seal her fate. Twilight opened her eyes and gazed at Pyro who was just starting to rise.
“Hey, you oka-” Pyro began.
She was cut off as golden light encased her and lifted her off the ground, Pyro seemed panicked and unable to move. Pyro was turned around to face her attacker. A half burnt, disfigured Princess Celestia. A glare on her face.
“Treason.” She croaked.
The sun goddess chucked the cream unicorn down the grinder, Twilight tried not to look only to sneak a peek. As soon as Pyro hit the spiked drums, screams of pain were heard echoing from below the machine. As the cream mare fell through the drum, flames shot through the drums like fire out of a dragon.
“Any last words?” Celestia said, a smirk on her face.
Twilight looked at the white alicorn and muttered her last words.
“Thanks for everything, Teach.”
