The Machine Factory

by BlazingLight

Busy Days

"Come with me you two." The guard in front of me and Elena said. He was quite muscular and wore a blue labcoat, other than Rainbow Dash and some other ones that were walking by us. I could hear them whispering to themselves as they eyeballed us.

"Are those the new recruits?"

"Man, I heard there names and they both are girl names. Why is he here?"

"How come they bring people from below up here?"

"I wonder if they'll blow up something like the last recruit did last week."

Blow something up? Would something like that even possible? I pushed that thought out of my head. I look ahead of me and try not to listen to the voices around me.

Soon enough, I was stopped in front of a room and without hesitation, I walked right in. I assumed that it was supposed to be my room. I did see that there was a nameplate on the door as well, so that would make more sense that it's my room. I left the door open and turned around to close it, and I saw Elena walking past me. "Hey Elena."

She turns and looks at me. "Oh, hi Taylor. I was wondering how long it was going to take to talk to each other without these people around us." She gives off a light smile and a giggle with her mouth closed. I smile back. "Naturally."

I waved goodbye to her for now and then I close the door. I take a small examination of my room. First off, there's only just a single dangling light bulb from the roof. The bed was not broken, but handled with little care. Holes in the sheets and a few parts of the bed was ripped out. There was at least a fridge, which was nice. It had a nice little area for eating and cooking. I checked to see if everything was working, and it was. I then walked into the bathroom, and it looked quite nice. But when I turned on the shower, it wouldn't turn on the water, so it was going to be hard to take a shower. At least the sink was working, so I at least had a source of water.

I hum a little tune to myself and lay down on the bed. I lay down on the bed for about a minute until I hear a knock on the door. I get up and answer the door and find Elena standing at the door. "Oh, it's you. I had something to ask you." In my mind, I had a feeling that she might remember something about what happened before we arrived here.

"What is it Taylor?" She asks me with a small concerning look in her eyes. I gesture her to follow me inside. "I was wondering if you remember anything before we got here." She nods, understanding the situation. "Well, what I remember was that we were in a room together decided on whether we would want to work in a factory to help make other people's lives more easier and we both said yes."

I kinda bite my lip a bit. That's not how I remember it at all. "Okay. I guess that's what happened." At this point, anything could happen if I tried to disagree with her. I guess it's just best we play this game and go along with this factories rules. I give a light chuckle and smile. "Yeah, I thought that's what happened. My memory's a bit fuzzy right now." I kinda close my eyes and laugh a bit louder. She smiled at me and I looked closely at it. It felt a little odd to me. Her smile usually brings joy to her friends. But all it shown was abandonment. I can't trust that smile.

I wave Elena goodbye for now and I sit down on my bed. I take a little breather to calm myself down. Soon, I got up and I went over to the dresser to look through my clothes. All I see are white uniforms with the same logo on the same side. I breathe a sigh of relief. At least I know one thing that's still the same. But what bugs me is that Elena... Is kind of acting a bit strange.

An announcement came on. I figured it was Rainbow Dash. I bet it had to do with my encounter with Elena. If so, they must have been watching me somehow. "That's it for today everybody! Now you can all take a big relaxing break for a while and then you can all go to your rooms at 10:30 PM. Please make notice that work starts in 2 in the morning as per usual. Good night everyone!" Then the announcement clicked off once more as it ended.

I sigh. 2 AM? That's just crazy. All I had on my mind was a few things. What time is it, since I hardly found any clocks anywhere else other than Rainbow Dash's office. But no one would be able to think and count out each second to keep track of time.

The next thing on my mind was what is the secret behind this place. But most importantly... Where on earth an I?

1:55 AM

I had a nightmare... I had a dream of a person dragging me on the floor out of a fiery room. I couldn't remember their face, or even their voice, but what I remember was that they said, "We got to get out of here! Wake up!" It took me a while to relax and settle myself down, so I got up and walked around my crappy room. Then an announcement came on.

"Good morning everybody! Hope you had a nice rest! We have a big day ahead of us, so let's make it a good one! To the new recruits, Elena and Taylor, you need your slip passes to clock in for work. I have sent yours to you last night, so make sure you bring them. Have a good day everybody!" The announcement clicked off again.

I walked to my door and picked up the small piece of paper. It was just a small card that contained my information, really. So it was more like an I.D. card. I walked to a place where there was a clock and a slot underneath it. I assumed that I had to put my card through the slot, so I did.

I walked to this big machine that looks like it's building a TV. Rainbow Dash calls for me and I walk up to her via the scaffolding nearby. "Listen up Taylor. I need you to understand the buttons. All I need you to do is push the right ones in order. I'm giving you this book which will tell you what they each do. And since you're new, I'm not expecting high production today. Just do you best." She gives me a light pat on the shoulder and she flies off. Literally.

I sigh and open up the book. Apparently there a lot of complicated buttons, so it seemed quite overwhelming. I try my best to understand it by reading it twice and eventually, I figured out what to do.

About 8 hours later

The announcement for work to end rang around the factory and ends the same way as the rest do. Then the ambience of the factory filled the air again. I returned to my room and sat down on the bed and sighed. Today may have been okay. I breathed deeply and managed to relax for a few hours. I eventually drifted to sleep.

I soon awoke to the sound of another announcement and it said that the afternoon group was to report to their line of work. Which reminds me... I was assigned to the morning, and I didn't get to see Elena at all Maybe she was put in the afternoon group? I got up and decided to get some food to eat. There wasn't much I could take because a lot of the morning group here took so much because it was really early. I didn't get much because I didn't get any beforehand.

I grabbed a couple of sandwiches that were left over and started eating. I tried to relax a bit more as I ate, but I just couldn't help feel more uneasy. After I finished, I wandered around the factory for something to do as I waited because our rooms don't have much in them to begin with. Soon enough, I found this odd room that was different from the rest and it read, "The Archives" Just as I was about to turn around and leave, since I felt I shouldn't be here in the first place, Rainbow Dash turned the corner in front of me and saw me standing there.

"Hey Taylor. What are you doing around here?" She gave off an unsettling vibe that screams suspicion. I bite my lip nervously. "I-I was just looking for something to do, like read a book or something." Rainbow Dash nodded her head and turned, pointing in the direction of the library. "It's just down this corridor and to the right." I walk past her and look down the corridor she pointed at. "Thanks Boss." I look back at her. "Please, just call me Rainbow Dash, or just Rainbow's fine."

I smiled and waved goodbye as I walked towards the library and picked out a few books to read. I didn't have a place to put them, but I guess I could leave them on my bed or maybe on the floor. Either way, I could at least work something out. I took out an action book and another that looked like you had to read it backwards and it was mostly just pictures. I left and headed to my room. It's kinda nice that I can just take a book and leave. I should ask how to return them without looking for the library and I decided to figure it out on my own.

I read for a little while and then the announcement for the afternoon group to finish their work for the day, and a special announcement. "Hello everyone. I decided that since we've been doing so well lately, we hold a feast for the newcomers and for everyone else that did a lot of hard work. I hope to see everyone there." And once again. It clicked off. I sighed and decided to go. I didn't think they were asking for much. Maybe, just maybe, they're just trying to get us to learn more about each other. Maybe it'll be a fun time for me.

The air in the factory smelled of new machines, but felt like it was more intense than usual. I was sort of hoping that the air in here would be a little more fresh every day we wake up, but no. There's no windows, and there's probably no air filters throughout the factory. I just hope no one collapsed on the job yet. Eventually, I made my way down to the mess hall on the bottom floor. There's only 3 floors on this factory, and it's quite a small one. The top floor is the one where everyone in their shifts work. That is also where Rainbow Dash's office resides. Though no one ever goes in there. The floor below that is where the living quarters are. And then the bottom floor. That's where the main facilities for everyone needs is there. The bathrooms and an arcade for the gaming type of people. But I'm more of a book person. I don't like the light the games make. Nor the violence some games have.

The mess hall was packed. It almost felt like no seats were left for anyone. I thought I wouldn't even find Elena in the crowd of people. I just headed for a random table and waited for the food to come. Soon enough, I found a table and then Rainbow Dash flew in and stood on a table. "Good evening everyone! I just wanted to say that it's a pleasure that lots of you decided to join today. I have a few things I want to get out of the way. First thing, I want everyone to know that I arranged this so that we can all get along a little more. I've been noticing that some people here have been fighting over a few... small... matters." She then makes a little scowl at the crowd. "You know who you are."

"Secondly." she states, standing a little more firmer. "We have now reached our final milestone for the company as well. We finally pushed our company's sales all the way to the ends of Equestria! We now sell products everywhere! Soon enough, everyone's lives will be much more easier than before." At that, everyone stood up and cheered. I looked around to see if Elena was around me. I sighed, until I felt a poke at my shoulder. I turned to look at a familiar face smiling at me.

"Elena! It's you! I was wondering where you were!" She laughed. Oh, I just got a little bit lost. I just walked in when everyone cheered and then I found you looking down and sad n' stuff." She hugs me and sits down next to me. "Come on! I want to hear the rest of what the boss has to say!" She points to Rainbow Dash and I looked to whom she was pointing too.

"Lastly! I want everyone to have fun and say hello to our new employees, Taylor and Elena, whom have done such an amazing job lately! They've made more machines than one pony could make in three days! That means we can produce our products three times faster with these two. I would also like to point out that they are our new Employees of the Month and hopefully, many more to come!" They whole mess hall stood up cheering again, and a couple of strong people picked both of us up and everyone cheered louder and louder. Then the food comes out and on the tables. And Rainbow Dash raises her arms into the air and shouts out, "Everyone, eat up! We have a lot of work to do tomorrow!"