I slept for hours, or well, I pretended to. In reality, I wouldn’t sleep at all tonight. #20429 tried to wake me and talk to me. I ignored him. It’s not like we could talk about anything other than where we’re going. The train was very dark, almost pitch black. The only light that came through was of the window, which couldn’t give us much as we had been in a tunnel since we left the city. There was no internal lighting. All the seats were cold, and metallic. Every muscle in my body ached from the uncomfortableness of the train, but more so from the events before the boarding. The others chatted amongst themselves, only questioning where they were going. We all knew damn well where we were going. It was our turn for the Capital, but nothing looked like what we thought it would be. The overseers and Taskmaster always spoke of it as a place for high remorse, as if it were some sort of heavenly place away from all the darkness.

After a while, all noise was overcome by the train as it began squealing. We had slowed down quite a bit, before we all jolted forward to the sudden stop. I slammed into the seat in front of me, my nose smashed into it. It started to bleed, but I could only feel it. My blood dripped down my body, still warm. The train started again, going very slowly. There was a slight increase in light now. The windows revealed more. I could see now more of the world outside. We had exited the tunnel and the train was stopping at a very peculiar village. It wasn’t walled off like Baltimare. The place was made of rusted metal, and some sort of orange plant, wrapping around everything. There was a small platform for the train to stop at. Ponies sat there, waiting, mostly workers wearing assorted masks, the most common being the butterfly mask, all surrounded by soldiers. The soldiers were still outnumbered, but they had fear on their side. Most of the soldiers are and will always be, unarmed, but if its a match with our physical skill, what keeps the revolts from happening? They all wore a different kind of mask though. They still had clear marking and similar style, but the snout came out more on their masks with an interesting tube attached. They all wore thick, rubbery clothing too. It was uneven, protective, but still being eaten away by the pollution.

They started boarding the train into a separate cart. We were imprisoned in our own, as they were in theirs, forbidden from conversing with one another. The train pulled up a little bit, our cart passing the platform, and stopping several carts later. The cart at the platform opened, letting out a new batch of ponies. This batch was similar to the ones who got on board. They looked around with a nostalgic perspective. It was the last thing I noticed as the train took off again, before the soldiers forced them into the buildings.

20429 had noticed my bleeding nose. I tilted my head up trying to stop it. He didn’t know what to do but watch. It stopped after about ten minutes. I was covered in it by the time it had stopped. It felt weird whenever I moved a joint, as the blood had dried and crinkled at the joint movement. There wasn’t any older pony in our cart for myself to receive help for my bloody nose, but at least it was just a bloody nose. It didn’t feel broken at all.

We traveled for another few miles outside of the tunnel. Things were going fine. We stopped at a few more little villages and traded groups. The train seemed to be fueled by some sort of fire, as smoke billowed out, and lots of it too, thick, black smoke that never rose too high. You could see it for miles and it wouldn’t be spread out much at all. It was just one, continuous, low cloud, covering our tracks. I watched them for miles as a similar darkness began to find its way through the entire sky. #20429 tried to get closer to me. At first, I simply refused because his touch refiled with the dried blood flakes, but I grew tired, and he was restless to find my side. I knew how he felt towards me, but I didn’t understand it. We were still young, I was almost a mare, but colts and stallions were not a focus in my life. I wished I could feel the same way towards him as he did me. I allowed him to get closer, allowed him to lie with me. I embraced his warmth as we laid on the uncomfortable seat. It was still fun. He fell asleep on me, but I could not still. I watched the smoke for miles until it blended with the sky. The train was filled with the sound of snoring ponies until the engine busted up. It clanked hard and loud, shaking the train. It slowed down before stopping. Many on board woke up and looked out. We couldn’t see much, but the operators got to work fast.

Hours past before the train started again. It was going really slow this time, but they weren’t going to keep us stranded out here. I could see the sun coming back up by the time we started up. We were going through mountains when in the distance, a city. It was planted on the remains of a mountain, more of a hill now, the hollowed out parts were still visible from here. The city itself was like an egg, concealed by its sphere wall.

The train squealed again, not by choice. From the window we could see up ahead, there was a few bodies lying on the ground, charred. They were accompanied by three ponies. They stared into each train cart as it passed by. The burned bodies looked like farmers. One of them was strung up on a pole. What was left of his body had been melting onto the ground by now. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. I guessed it as anti-revolt propaganda. We sped back to our former speed as soon as every cart had passed the scene. #20429 had slept through it the entire time, and I would’ve kept it that way.

We came close to the city now. I could see all the graffiti painted on its walls as we came by. The wall had large panels missing, or eaten away. There was a large amount of workers trying to repair it. As we entered the tunnel, you could see the reasons why it was described so highly by the Taskmaster. The place was huge, shiny, classy, and very advanced. It had hallways made of crystal glass. If I looked up, it was like it was a city based on its wrong side. The masked ponies had interesting designs on their masks. Everything was amazing. It was like the city itself was happy. Sometimes we could see ponies wearing clothes for the fun of it. It was very interesting. Though, all the ponies I saw were star ponies. I had never envied them so much until now.

And then we passed into another tunnel. This is when the disappointment hit. We saw where we would be placed. I figured it was at the bottom center of the city. It was a large area, another sphere area. There was large, clear leaks that dripped down liquids that looked horrendous. When we reached the station and got off, we met with a large group of star ponies. We waited for them to speak first, as usual, but they wouldn’t. The train moved forward a few carts before letting out some more ponies. It did this again, leaving us with a very large group, about five times the size of our original.

The center star pony came forward once we were all there. “Listen!” she started, “I am Preceptor, you shall only see me at rare times. I am the deity here. The Taskmasters here report everything to me, just as the overseers to them. You will do as you are told. No more, no less. You will be shown to your rooms in a short time. I will leave you with your respected Taskmasters. This will be just as you were at your last city. I abide you farewell for now.” The Preceptor left, a few overseers following.

There were four Taskmasters left in front of us. One of them was but a young mare, no more older than five plus our own age. She looked nervous, but friendly. The other three were older, probably in their middle adulthood. One of them spoke up amongst the rest.

“Children! You shall refer to myself as Taskmaster Octavian. I will be the director of the animal department. This,” he pointed to the one with a large scar on his front leg, “is Taskmaster Un, he is the one in charge of punishment.” He nudged towards the other older pony. “Taskmaster Haven, in charge of the creative changes. And finally, my beautiful daughter, Taskmaster Fera, she is our magic instructing protegee.”

They turned and went down a hallway, not even saying a word, but we followed anyways. They stopped at a crossway. Octavian ordered for the tamers to follow him down one hallway, Fera had the unicorns go down her hallway, and the few left, #20429, some other duds, and I, followed Un and Haven down the left hallway. I had hoped he would show us the stage or at least our animals, but we just kept walking, he didn’t even stop at a janitors closet and tell us to clean. We walked for a long time, never crossing an intersection. After long, we reached a dark, damp room. He turned on a light and showed us to strange devices. Many of them were covered by cloth. He didn’t say a word, just showed us to a box shaped device. A door opened in the room as the Preceptor entered the room with his overseers. It was all confusing to me.

“Greetings again, children,” he said. We stayed silent, knowing what speech would get us.

“Pick one, I’m just the jester here,” Un said. Preceptor chuckled.

“I hear one of you had slipped away from a real punishment before leaving for Canterlot.” Did he mean me? “You’ll be lucky to find that I find thrill in the guessing game.” He started walking back and forth in front of our assembled line. A minute later, he stopped at #20429. “A fine and healthy subject. Come, Jester, for the joke needs its punchline.”

Un put his hooves on the cloth of his box device. “Come here, little one, for its time I show you real magic.” I nodded at him not to, but it would do no good either way. #20429 walked towards Un. He tore the cloth off the box. It was made of glass, reinforced by steel. “I’m going to simply make you disappear!” Un opened the box. “Are you ready? Get in, my magnificient assistant!”

“Ah, finally, I’ve waited to see this one at work,” said Preceptor.

20429 got in the device. All seemed well for him. There appeared to be a fan of some sort at both the top and bottom of the device, as his mane was flowing every which way. It seemed too innocent, and it was. Next thing I hear is him yelling “ow!” He had been cut somehow, and then again, and again. They were small cuts, not enough to bleed, but noticeable. Then I saw what was happening. Small glass flakes were being dumped through the top fan into the box. Un slammed the door some more, and #20429 voice was too muffled to be heard now. Bigger flakes began to dump into the box. The cut became larger. He was bleeding now, cut everywhere on his body, shredding up so quickly. Glass kept dumping into the vortex. He was bleeding everywhere. His body was deteriorating slowly. All the blood and waste fell into the bottom fan, disappearing. Un just kept dumping more glass into the box, so much that he was screaming, trying to protect himself. I couldn’t handle it. I was screaming too, I tried to hit the box and get him out, but Un kicked me when I got close. I could see his bones now as he melted away. He was sparkling as he died. He placed his hoof’s bone on the glass. His stomach had been cut up so much that his inner organs were becoming visible. His eyes were gone, cut open, and what was left was too gruesome to look at. I went back at the box, trying to break him out again, it was too late but I didn’t care. Un kicked me again, and two overseers came and grabbed me. I tried to fight back, but they were too strong. They dragged me away, back down the hallway we came from. I screamed and fought the entire way. I could hear their laughter over my screams. Those bastards were sick and twisted. I would’ve done anything to hold my lover again, but it was too late.

Author's Note

Had to make it Mature because of that last scene. I kinda wanna start a sequel to this, but it ain't too popular anyways. I guess that's better, cause I would've made it shorter, which it'll have the same ending either way, just rushed more in the between chapters.