Equestria: The BEN Chronicles

by HylianJuggalo

Chapter XIII: Where Your Fears And Horrors Come True

7:00 PM

Angry and spiteful, I went down into the apple cellar. Here, clear visions of my arrival here, and memories of my first tastes of a living hell greeted me once more. In my mind, I watched this wicked memory replay again and again - how I lost my eye, and nearly my life, going into a fight with no combat experience. If things were different, and had I faced Big Mac now, I was certain I would be able to handle him much more easily. The memories subsided, and I picked up the broken, smashed objects that were, at one point, my glasses many months ago. This cellar brought nothing but terrible memories to me. I threw the destroyed brass frames to the ground.

So why was I here? I needed something: a bottle - no, TWO bottles of water.

Grabbing them from the ice chest, I tore off the cap and dumped the contents of the first out among the grey concrete floor, which was still covered with dry blood stains, and the whole area smelled rotten, an aroma of fermenting bodily wastes. With one hand, I took my knife, and with another, cut the bottom out of the water bottle. I set my gun on safety and emptied the magazine and chamber, grabbing a roll of duct tape that was sitting on one of the broken shelves hanging on the walls. Tearing a long strip, I tightly and quickly wrapped the neck of the bottle around the barrel of my gun. After about two minutes of work, I loaded my gun and fired a shot, which went flying through the wooden steps; nearly absolute silence upon pulling the trigger.

Silenced pistol? Check.

I then cut out the bottom of the second water bottle, its liquid gushing out onto the floor in a heavy stream. I then placed the bottle on the nearby bench, and took my crossbow, setting it down. Bringing the plastic tube to the top of the weapon, I worked some duct tape around it, setting the bottle on the top of the crossbow. I picked up my glasses, and took the remaining lens out, pushing it away with a finger. I broke it in half, and placed it into the mouth of the bottle, and grabbed some super glue that was sitting in the toolbox next to me. I then set the lens in place, and lifted the crossbow to my face, looking down the back end of the water bottle.

Sniper rifle? Check.

Satisfied and seeking vengeance, I stormed out of the apple cellar, noting my friends had extra equipment with them, as well as stealth suits from previous episodes, such as It’s About Time. Heh. Episodes. I wish I could say that, and pretend this was all a dream. I just wanted to go home, forget this whole nightmare ever happened.

“Nick, there’s two ways you can get to Cloudsdale.”

“Wings or cloud walking, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Like I told Applejack and the Crusaders, YOUR world exists on this device we call a television. You’re just as fictional to us as we are to you - I know ALL about your personal lives, for better or worse. Once I get inside of a structure, I don’t have to worry about falling through the floor, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“If we show up in a big-ass balloon, we’re sure to be spotted, so Pinkie’s ride is out of the question.”

“What in thunderation are we supposed ta do then?” Applejack asked, checking her saddlebags to make sure she had the equipment she needed. I stopped and thought on a solution to the issue, then an idea suddenly hit.

“Twilight, if you give me wings, I can carry one land pony, and they can carry Spike and Applebloom. That leaves three land ponies, and two free pegasi. One pegasus carries one, the other carries two. It’s not perfect and it is riskier, but it’s definitely more stealthy than a giant hot air balloon. Plus, I’m NOT stopping at anything until Scootaloo is back in my arms, that I swear to you, and you have to be willing to take that risk with me.”

“Alright. Let’s get to it then.” Twilight said, a purple aura surrounding her horn, then encasing me. The magical grip carried a warm, tingly sensation, but that soon stopped as I heard a loud cracking noise, then a sharp pain in my left shoulder blade. First I felt my own blade split in half, nearly five times more painful than my breaking arm or ribs. The nerve endings in my back caught hold of the newly forming bone, and I could feel every little extension it made, stretching and contorting the muscles surrounding it. I screamed.

“You wanted to do this! Don’t go crying to me.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that it - HUUUURRRRRTS!”

My skin then broke as the bone continued to push its way through my flesh violently. Finally, the pain subsided, but soon after, the excruciating pain repeated itself as the same happened to my right shoulder. I fell to my knees in anguish.

“Oh dear god, that hurts so much...”

Fluttershy rushed to my side.

“Oooh, are you okay?”

I stood, turning my attention to the snuggly, pink-maned pegasus as the pain slowly faded away.

“I’m-I’m doing well. Ow.”

“Okay... well... um... the first thing about flying is, you have to... uh... find, you know... the muscles that move your wings. Try and get a feel for them, okay? I-I mean, if you want to.”

I did as she instructed, attempting to flex some muscles in my back. No success; those weren’t the ones. I tried again, and again, until finally, I felt both of them, my wings, which, in design, were a classic, angelic style, a pure white tone about them, flap together once.

“That’s great! Now give me a few more flaps, okay?” the squeaky little mare asked, peacefully coaching me through the basics of wing movement. While, I won’t lie, I was becoming increasingly frustrated with my failures, I couldn’t get mad at Fluttershy no matter how much I wanted to; she was being far too kind and patient about the flight lessons. After some time more, getting the wing movement down pat, she went into takeoff basics.

“The goal is to take off by... well, using your weight. Push out while you jump up and... gently move your wings. Don’t... you know, flap like crazy; that’s never good.”

I jumped upwards while shifting my bodily weight, slowly flapping my newfound wings once and collecting a burst of air that sent me skyward.

“WOO-HOO!”

“Now, um, to hover, you need to keep, um, all your weight at the top of your body... um... yeah. *eep*”

“Okay, Fluttershy. How do I change my attitude?” I asked, idly flapping my wings to keep me suspended. This wasn’t nearly as hard as I’d predicted, and damn it, it was fun! I was a human, flying without a plane or a chopper! The immense amount of freedom I felt at this point was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. Alas, I couldn’t get too carried away - we had a job to take care of.

“Um, okay... so the last part about flying is... you need to... use heated, um, air currents to go higher - you don’t use your, uh, body weight to push you up or down.”

I did as instructed, catching a wave of warm air and flying upwards and over the farmhouse. God, this was easy! I circled around the building and flew up again, before landing on top of the barn roof.

“How was that?”

“You learn fast, Nick.” The timid pony said. Or, well, at least I THINK that’s what she said; I was halfway across the farm, and I could only read her lips. I jumped off the roof, and slowly hovered down, holstering my silenced gun. I needed a place to put my crossbow so it wouldn’t get in the way of my wings. I eventually said screw it, and strapped it over the front of my chest. I kept the quiver, filled with fifteen bolts, strapped to my leg. So, one last equipment check.

Handgun with three and a half magazines, forty-six rounds total, and makeshift silencer.
Smartphone and charger.
Music CD.
Wallet with fifty-six dollars, JCCC student ID, driver's license, Visa, and Carry and Conceal license.
Journal.
Associate’s degree, video game development.
Semi-automatic crossbow with makeshift scope, and fifteen bolts.
Chef’s knife.

8:00 PM

“Does everyone have the equipment they want and need? We are NOT coming back.”

“Party cannon, icing gun, and balloons with laughing gas!” Pinkie Pie cried, strapping up her saddlebags.

“Binoculars, scalpel, notebook, and my magic.” Twilight confidently replied.

“Scissors, a hoof file, and magic for me, dear!”

“five lassos, small pitchfork, an’ an ‘lectric prod, sugarcube.”

“Um.... I... don’t have anything...”

“Fluttershy, I’ve seen what you can do to bears with no equipment at all.”

“How... how did you know that?”

“Like I said, television. I KNOW you can handle yourself, Fluttershy. What about you, Derpy?”

“Chinese fighting muffins!” The wall-eyed mare exclaimed proudly.

“Chinese fi- actually, you know what, nevermind, just fuck it. We ready to go?”

“Ready!” they all screamed aloud.

“Let’s roll!”

“Sugarcube, one last thing?”

“Yeah? What?”

Applejack jumped up, and wrapped her hooves around my neck for a moment, giving me a kiss. My wings abruptly flew open with a ‘pomf’ noise, and I blushed.

“Just in case we don’t get out of this.”

“Glad to see you two resolved your differences.”

“Sis, get a room.”

I grabbed Applejack, bear hugging her with my arms by the waistline. She took Applebloom in one hoof, strapped up her saddlebags, and put Spike in the other hoof. Pinkie and Rarity hopped up on Derpy’s back, and Fluttershy picked up Twilight, and together, we all took off for the Rainbow Factory.

9:00 PM

Scootaloo was violently thrown into a compact metal cage, her face hitting the back of the tiny cell. She stood up, putting her hooves on the bars as they closed around her.

“I demand to know why I’m being held! Who are you!?”

She didn’t get the pleasure of an answer from the two individuals who had thrown her away like a piece of meat before they left the room. Instead, she was answered by a completely different voice, which belonged to an elderly pegasus in a cage across the room. Next to him, were another two cages, as well as several stacked on top of him, and more to the sides of those, each with ponies of varying kinds, be they pegasus, earth, or unicorn. Some were sickly looking. Others were young foals that clearly knew not their skills, much like her. Many of these were crying for their parents, wondering where they were and how they ended up here. A small handful appeared to have various handicaps, be they mental or physical, from blindness to down’s syndrome. Others still, had various injuries, be they permanent, life changing disabilities or small, easily recoverable wounds. In the end, everypony here had some kind of a personal limitation.

“Darlin’, it’s no good askin’ what they want with you. We all tried that, and nopony will give us answers.”

Scoots turned her attention to the old stallion across from her at his sudden voice.

“Wha- what DO they do here?”

“Well, I’ve been here for three months, sweetheart, and I can say, what they do here, is definitely something vile. Rumors go around this room like wildfire, but us older ones do our best to keep the young’uns calm before they’re eventually dragged out of here, kicking and screaming; most of the adults here try to make their last moments a bit more enjoyable.”

Scootaloo began to sweat, swallowing the intense fear building in her.

“What do they do, though?”

A second voice cut in at Scoot’s question. He was a young stallion, a unicorn, perhaps, in human terms, his mid 20’s.

“I used to work here about four and a half months ago, when this place got started. The lady that founded this place is OBSESSED with perfection, and can’t stand to see failure. When we got started, she dedicated her time to the elimination of flight school dropouts and graduation exam failures. Lately though, she’s been talking to this griffin and strange lookin’ statue, and alluva sudden, she gets even MORE uptight with her standards; she’s been bringing in foals that can’t even fly yet, mentally handicapped, sick, wounded, old, all KINDS of ponies! Lately, she’s been gettin’ hold of ones from other races, each with some kind of personal setback.”

Scootaloo couldn’t believe her ears. This place was a death sentence, and whoever was running this place, The thought of it left a black pit in her stomach.

“I want my dad... I want Rainbow Dash. They could both save us.

A sudden tremor of discontent filled the room at the annunciation of ‘Rainbow Dash’. Scoots didn’t understand why it bothered everypony, but before she could ask why such a name was so upsetting, she was interrupted by another voice.

“Nopony’s coming to save us, dear.” another pony suddenly spoke up amidst the screams and tears of various others. “Even if somepony got into this place, they’d be torn apart in an instant; ever since the statue showed up, they’ve increased security around here tenfold.” the third voice finished, before pointing to the security cameras in the corners of the room, and gun turret in the center. Scootaloo turned her attention back to the unicorn.

“You said you used to work here, right? How’d you end up a prisoner?”

“Last week, got in a fight and my leg got broken. Boss lady called me unfit, and even though I told her it would heal if I stayed off it for a few months, she said ‘any physical injury constitutes as failure’ and had a bunch of guards throw me in here.”

10:00 PM

En route to Cloudsdale, I took a good look at Ponyville from the sky. There appeared to be another riot occurring on the streets tonight. This one, however, was a bit odd. Where there were normally large groups of civilians fighting the military due to the the martial law, here, there appeared to be civilians fighting civilians, civilians fighting soldiers, and civilians fighting WITH soldiers against other civilians and soldiers. Hands down, the strangest thing, was that some ponies...

...were eating others.

Fluttershy was crying, looking down at the carnage that ran through the streets. I turned down to the scene that the young pegasus was watching, and saw a middle-aged mare trapped inside of a taxi. Ponies, be they citizens or soldiers clad in armor, surrounded the taxi and started viciously pushing on the carriage, attempting to tip it over. Inside, the mare was holding a young colt, not too much older than Applebloom. He was grey, a pegasus, and a bit overweight. The mare threw him outside of the carriage, just over the crowd of ponies converging on her. Amidst all the screams, yells, and combat that polluted the sound barrier, I could hear the conversation relatively well.

“Mom!”

“GO! GET OUT OF HERE! RUN BEFORE THEY GET YOU!”

“No! I’m not letting them take you away!”

The mare stared in disbelief at her son as he foolishly tried to tear his way through the group of rampant ponies, but had no such luck before the assailants forcibly pulled her from the carriage and towered over her. I flew over to Fluttershy.

“RUN!”

“Twilight, give me your binoculars.”

the studious lavender mare reached into her saddlebags and produced the lenses I asked for. I held Applejack tighter with my mechanical arm, and took the scopes with my flesh one, putting the left lens to my eye. What I saw down there, was something I’d never thought I’d see. The mare that was torn from the taxi was being assaulted by various ponies, all of which had some fatal wound or another on them, and their eyes were solid white, lacking pupils or irises. The group of bizarre looking ponies dove towards the mare, first biting her neck, then tearing open her stomach and pulling out and chewing on her intestinal tract, the lady releasing a blood-curdling cry.

“DEAR CELESTIA! MOM!”

“G-get out of...!”

“What. The. Fuck.”

“What in tarnation is goin’ on down there, Nick!?”

“Applebloom, Spike, close your eyes.”

Ponies eating other ponies... what the FUCK was going on down there?

“Oh. My. God. The graveyard...”

I turned to Pinkie Pie for a second, a bead of sweat running across my face.

“Um... so, about those ‘zombie ponies’ you were talking about on TV...”

11:00 PM

The unnerving flight over Ponyville had gotten us all worked up and frightened. In all honesty, I felt like an asshole for not going to help, but NOTHING is more important that the safety of the Crusaders to me; we were saving Scoots before anything else. We landed on the roof of a structure a good mile away from the Rainbow Factory. I took Twi’s binoculars again, and took a look at the towering building. This was a FACTORY? It looked more like a citadel. On top of that, this thing looked NOTHING like I expected. From the view of the binoculars, I could tell this place had high, and I mean HIGH level security, using technologies I didn’t even think Equestria had. Starting from the outside, there was a large, thirty foot high stone wall, lined with spikes and barbed wire. in each corner of the building itself were clusters of what looked like automated gun turrets. A laser grid of some kind ran over top of the wall, creating an artificial ceiling, preventing an aerial landing inside the walls. Even if, for some reason, you were able to slip through the lasers, the gun turrets lining the walls would chew you to shreds. In each corner of the defensive wall sat two spotlights, eight in total. One kept a ninety degree watch on the outside, while another kept a ninety degree watch on the inside. There were two guards standing at the gate, and another four standing at the main entrance. A squadron of sixteen ponies ran a constant patrol around the perimeter of the building, and this was only the front we were looking at. Upon inspection, the guards were decked out with pretty high tech weaponry. In fact, most of them, believe it or not, had guns and kevlar vests. Where the fuck did they get all this equipment from? The Equestrian military still uses old fashioned blades and bows, but this place looked like a human PMC.

“I’ll be right back. Hold tight, guys.”

I left the others on the rooftop, and took off, flying to another building, a small house, which overlooked the left side of the building. There were no turrets covering the walls here, but the entirety of this face of the building was perfectly smooth, with no way to scale it. On top of that, the entire side was lined with windows, which meant, no matter what, SOMEBODY was watching us - no way to get in from this side. It was safe to assume that the other side of the structure was the exact same. I flew over to one last building, which fortunately gave clear sight of the back end of the fortress. Here, things looked a bit more promising. There was a large vent shaft, with a quickly rotating fan. It was above the laser grid, but under constant watch by two automated searchlights. On top of that, the power line to the vent system was protected by an electric fence, which sat underneath the laser grid. God damn it, there had to be SOMETHING we could do. I-

Hold on...

I saw a strange looking carriage land inside of the walls. I quickly flew closer, trying to get a better view. It looked like a supply cart of some kind or another. It had a large tarp over top of it, and the pony at the reigns unhooked himself as a small group of armed guards came out of a small door in the back. They were conversing for a few moments, then the driver went around the back of his cart and pulled out a crate. I swooped down to a small blind spot in the outer walls, and put my ear to it, trying to hear the conversation.

“...so this is the last shipment; our supplier was killed a few months back.”

“Your supplier called this an 'M16’, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Bitch was obsessed with humans, but I never knew she was a fan of their technology.”

“Well, thanks a million, brother. Boss lady has been waiting for the new batch of equipment for quite a while.”

“Just watch yourself with that stuff; VERY unstable technology, that is.”

“Yeah, no shit. Just imagine what that bucking human that showed up would be capable of if he got his hoo- hands on all this.”

“Which is why I’m giving it to YOU. Your place wants security stepped up, I gave it to you. Now, where the buck’s my end of the deal? I wanna see bits for risking my flank in that apocalyptic hayhole of a town!”

“We don’t gotta give you shit.”

"Oh, you think you can just buckin'-"

“We’re the ones with the guns, plotwipe. Not you. Rest of you buckers, get this equipment up to the processing room while I throw this body to the freaks down on the surface!”

“Sir, yes sir!”

Judas H... so someone was creating these weapons for the Rainbow Factory. I tucked the binoculars under my shirt and flew back to the team.

“There’s ONE promising way in the back, but it’s gonna be one hell of a risk if we don’t shut it down first.”

“What’s over there?” Spike asked.

“Giant vent shaft. One problem though, is the power box that controls it is under the laser grid, and behind a fence at that.

“Let me get a look at it, dear.” Rarity suddenly chimed in.

“What the hell do you expect to do?”

“Honestly, you’ve been here four months, and you still don’t understand that we use magic?”

“Magic doesn’t exist in my world, so you’ll excuse me if I’m skeptical.”

“Well, darling, you best start believing.” Rarity finished, hopping onto Derpy’s back. “Let’s get to it.”

Our team went to the back, and landed on the roof overlooking the rear of the factory. I took another look at the security measures here. The laser grid that ran over top of the wall was spaced out two inches per line. The electric fence had no roofing, and the lights watching the vent shaft had their power connected together by a small wire that ran between them directly.

“Rarity, how far can you drag a levitation spell?”

“Not too far dear. Only about thirty feet, I’d say.”

“Son of a bitch... Derpy, what are these ‘fighting muffins’ you have?

“Oh, these? Well, they’re a bad batch of muffins I let go stale. They’re super hard by now; I always keep a few with me for self defense.”

“hit me with one.”

“Um... are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure. I want to see what they can do - I have an idea.”

Derpy didn’t abide by my request. Instead, she violently threw the muffin to the roof, which left a small, yet sizeable crater in the concrete roofing. Damn.

“How good’s your aim?”

“Well, it’s a little hard to aim straight with my messy eyes, but I’ll try.

I gave Twilight her binoculars back, and Derpy picked up the muffin.

“Alright, here’s the plan. There’s no gun turret over here, but if we fly in directly, we’re sure to get spotted by the guards and search lights. Derpy, do you see that power box behind that fence?

“Uh-huh.”

“Alright. I want you to take two ponies with you, and one of the kids. Fluttershy, same with you. I’m going to fly OVER the two searchlights watching the fan and cut the power cable to them. As SOON as I do that, Derpy, you and your team fly over top the laser grid, and drop one of your muffins through it, on top of the power box. As soon as that’s done, and the fan shuts off, we make a break for the opening. Let’s wait until the patrol passes around to the other side. On my mark.”

“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
“Go!””

My squadmates took their position, and as the patrol passed out of view, I swooshed down to the search lights, and drew my knife. I sliced the cable, which gave a clear signal for my teams to get to work. A shadowy figure, obviously Derpy, flew over top of the lasers, and soon, dropped a shady object through the red bars. It landed exactly where we wanted, right on top of the fuse box. The muffin itself tore a hole through the metal cover, knocking the door off, and sending sparks flying every which way. It was messy and gave clear indication someone was here, but as it stood, we had no other choice. I flew through the vent shaft as the fan died out, the others quickly following suit. We were in, now it was time to get what we came for. What was going on in here, I wanted to know, but I was certain these questions would be answered when we found Scootaloo. We all got inside, and the area we were in looked like a fairly large maintenance basement.

“Okay, I wanna run over some things. There has been far too much death in Equestria. I want this operation to be as smooth and blood free as is possible. We are not here to kill, we are here to bust a friend out.”

“Never thought I’d hear them words comin’ out your mouth, sugarcube. Ya sure have changed since ah met ya.”

“Well, Applejack, through all the pain and hardship that your world has faced, I learned that acting on your emotions is never safe. Your thirst for vengance or anger can cloud your judgement; you saw what I did to Carrot and Flim, and what I did to the ponies at the botique. I do NOT intend to make that mistake again. If we want to stop BEN, we need to come together, not fight eachother. Keep killing to an absoloute minimum, okay? Knock out the guards if you must, but for the love of god, try not to kill; there’s been too many deaths.”

“Got it.”

“Sure thing, darling.

“O...okay.”

“Ready and waiting, sugar.”

“Alright. The kids are coming with me. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight, you’re team one. Derpy, Rarity, and Pinkie, team two.”

“That’s another thing ah love about ya, Sugarcube - ya can take charge in a situation when it calls for one. Ah admire ya for that.”

“I just fight to survive, AJ. I do what I know will keep me alive. If the situation weren’t so dire, and if this whole thing never happened, I would be relaxing in my apartment playing Splinter Cell. Anyway, we ready to go?”

“Not yet, we should take these to keep in touch.”

Out of thin air, Pinkie Pie reached into her saddlebags and procured three walkie talkies. I was about to question where they came from, but of course, we were going off of Pinkie Pie logic here; if she said she had her party cannon with her, It was best to bellieve she did, even if I couldn’t see it. Wherever she got these, she had her ways.

“Alright. Everyone turn your radios to channel five. I’ll take the stairwell here, team one, you take the small vent shaft to the left over there. team two, you go down that hallway.”

At that, we split. I took Applebloom and Spike, hoisting them onto my back. As I made my way up the rusted iron staircase here, The first thing I noticed was a small security camera. With no blind spot here, I decided to shoot it. The wispering bullet flew out of my firearm and through the camera. I moved on and we came to a door. Setting the two down, I peeked underneath. It was a small office room, and the lights were off. I slowly pushed the door open, keeping my weapon at the ready. I pulled out my radio.

“Team one, where are you?”

“Perfectly fine, sugarcube. We’re at th’ end of th’ vent. Ah can see the main lobby down ‘chere.”

“Roger that. I want you holding position. Team two, give me a sitrep.”

“We have a camera in the way, dear. I’m going to try to sabatoge it with my scissors.”

“Be careful. If that thing spots you, this mission’s over before it begins. Going silent.”

---

Rarity took her scissors out of her saddlebag with some magic, and slowly levitated them over towards the camera, keeping the sharp objects along the wall, in the shadows.
“Steady... utmost precision...”

The finely-maned fashionista quicly ran the blades underneath the camera and cut both of the cables below the casing. A small electrical spark flew from the device, before losing its connections and sowly tilting downwards.

12:00 AM

I slowly opened the office door, only to be greeted with the main lobby. Shadows here were few and far between, and there were three guards patroling this hallway. Another was sitting at the reception desk, and another was standing in a security room behind the desk. The pony in the security room lifted a radio to his mouth. I flipped through the channels on mine, hoping to pick up his signal, which, after some time, I did.

“Looks like we just lost a couple of camera feeds in the basement level. I need somepony to check it out.”

“Roger. I’ll send a maintence crew down there immediately. Would you like an armed escort?”

“Yeah, send some extra muscle with them.”

I took my group and slowly crawled out of the office. I hid in the corner of the lobby, which, fortunately, was completely dark. I switched my radio back to our local channel, and drew a bead on one of the guards patroling.

“Applejack, I’m in the lobby. Jump down and keep an eye out for the guards.”

Team one hopped into the lobby, landing in a spot that was conveinently shadowed.

“Team two, where are you?”

“In a small office, dear. Looks like the door leads into a large lobby.”

“That’s where we are. Find some cover and hold your position. I’ll come to you.”

A door on the opposite end of the hallway opened, and out came three shadowy figures with saddlebags. This main atrium was mostly made of marble, and divided into three sections, seperated by two rows of pillars. Down the length of each patroled one guard. These ponies wore light armor, and carried with them, small machine pistols. It was so freakishly unnerving to see Equestria have this kind of techonology. I hoped I would get answers as to where it came from. I pulled up my radio again.

“Here’s the plan. Twilight, Rarity, I want you to take positions at the far ends of the hallway. I’ll take the middle column. See how the guards patrol, the two on the side going one direction while the one in the middle goes the other way?”

“Yes.”

“We do.”

“Good. I’m going to take the guard in the middle and choke him out. When the other two come this direction to search for him, you both choke them with your magic and knock them out. Understood?”

“Wh... what about, um, the pony at the desk and the one in the room over there?” Fluttershy interruped over the airwaves.

“That’s where Applejack and Pinkie come in. AJ, I want you hugging the wall, and try to get in as close to the desk as you can while staying in the shadows. As soon as you’re in position, I’ll take my guard, the others will take theirs, and you lasso him down. Pinkie, I want you keeping quiet while you approach from the OTHER wall. Do you see the open window in that room?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I want you throwing a gas balloon in there to knock him out as SOON as Applejack takes out her target.”

“Okie-dokie-lokie.”

“One. Two. Three.”

As the guard I was facing approached us and the other two turned away, I slowly snuck up to the stallion and gripped him by the head. He attempted to scream, and shoot me, but I pulled the weapon from his hoof and let it drop to the ground. I pulled the man back into the shadows and drew my knife, holding it to his throat. Now, it was time for the others.

“Axel, where’d you go? Axel?”

“You make a sound, and I cut you a second smile, motherfucker.”

The other two guards came searching for their lost friend, just as predicted. As they came closer, two magical auras gripped hold of the stallions by the neck and pulled them into the shadows, with barely a sound escaping them. They fell, and I smacked the guard I was holding with my robotic arm. He passed out instantly, and I drug the body into a darkened corner, Spike and Applebloom still on my back, holding my wings. As soon as that was done, Applejack drew a lasso and threw it at the stallion sleeping in the wheeled desk chair. He came flying off of it with a yelp, but Applejack jumped over the desk and tied him down. Unfortuantely, this caught the attention of the pony standing the adjacent security room.

“Hey! You’re not supposed to be in here!”

The stallion behind the room drew a pistol from a holster on his side, and aimed it at us as he pulled out his radio, both with magic.

“I’ve got an intruder in the main lobby! I need back- Ackkk...augh...”

Pinkie Pie had followed through with her part of the plan, and threw a baloon through the window. The red latex bubble exploded, filling the room with gaseous fumes. The security trooper sputtered and choked, trying to regain his breath as he dropped his equipment, and not too long after, fell to the floor.

“What’s happened? Respond! Lobby, respond!”

I quickly flipped to the comms channel and tried desperately to do a mock-up impression of the guard.

“Everything’s kosher here. We had a weapons misfire.”

“What was this you were screaming about an intruder?”

Shit... I had to come up with something, and something fast.

“Aw, nothin, you know how my eyes play tricks on me, bro. You know how I take meds for it.”

“Yeah, and I know how it gets worse for you every day ‘cause you had to stop taking them, what with the boss lady saying anypony that needs to take medicine to fix a personal problem is unfit and whatnot.”

Medicine makes you ‘unfit’? What the fuck is going on in this place?

“Keep the buckin’ channel clear you fools!”

Woah, wasn’t expecting that...

“Yes sir!”

“Understood, sir!”

“Oh yeah, by the way, don’t sent the maintence team down this way; the camera feeds came back on.”

“Copy that.”

Woah. That was one hell of a close call; we nearly blew the mission with that mistake.

“Everyone, rally up, get the bodies, let’s hide them.”

We did so, hiding the unconcious away, and went deeper into the facility. I reloaded my gun, and checked the chamber.

“Don’t worry, Scootaloo. Dad’s coming.”

1:00 AM

A pair of tallons and hooves clad in a black uniform were walking together along a catwalk. Here, both beings looked down, watching another waste of life get thrown into their favorite device, the grinder. With a hellacious scream and an explosive display of crimson, both creatures laughed from atop their high-and-mighty viewpoint, until both continued their walk. Eventually, one of the sets of legs spoke.

“I’ve got to say, girl, you sure have stepped up your game! I’m so glad you finally ditched those dweebs you even bothered to call friends.”

“Well, it’s all thanks to you and the statue for opening my eyes.”

“Hey, I only told you to drop the dweebs. HE gave you the idea to make this brilliant cleansing place.”

“And the best part is, This front as a rainbow factory makes sure nopony gets suscpicious. Even if they do, thanks to the statue, we’ve been able to turn this place into a high-tech fortress with all kinds of technologies from his world, thanks to our supplier, rest her soul. This place just got twenty - no, a hundred percent cooler!”

“Let’s go see the two new captures the troops made tonight.”

“Aww, yeah! I wonder what kind of worthless scum they brought in today. Probably another retard and a cripple.”

---

Scoots was on the verge of hysterics. She needed to find a way out of here. Ideas were tossed around in her head like a rampant ragdoll, but nothing came to her. Two ponies had come in to drag a young foal away an hour ago, and she remembered vividly the child screaming, crying and clawing at the guards, only to be pulled away and led out the nearby metallic door. Never before had she heard a foal cry that loudly, that bloodily. The sound would haunt her forever, the scream of clear death, many feet behind the steel door that sat to her left. Scoots closed her eyes, and put her hooves together.

“When I die,”
“Show no pitty,”
“Send my soul to Juggalo City.”
“Dig my grave six feet deep,”
“Put two matches by my hooves,”
“Put two hatchets on my chest,”
“And tell my homies I did my best.”

At that exact moment, the metal door lifted, and in stepped...

“Nick?”

“Who in the buck is Nick, you foal!?”

Scootaloo was immediately stepped in front of by two masked beings, one a pony, another a griffin, by the looks of things. Whoever they were, Scootaloo didn’t recognize them, as, much like her former captors, they were dressed in pure black, with the same strangely designed gas masks.

“Let me out!”

“Aw, isn’t that cute, it’s widdle baby Scootawoo!” the suited pony taunted, poking the young filly through the bars with her hoof.

“What do you want with me!?”

“We wouldn’t want anything from you had you learned to fly sooner, dweeb.” The griffin abruptly responded, smacking Scootaloo upside the face with her claw.

“Let me go! Just wait till Rainbow Dash and Nick hear about this!”

“Rainbow Dash, you say?” The suited pony asked with mild amusement, still playfully poking at the caged pegasus.

“And what do we have here? Another dweeb?” The griffin asked, approaching a crying unicorn filly in a cage. This particular one had a light, purpleilsh grey coat, golden eyes, and blonde mane.

“I want mom...”

“Well, if you didn’t run the risk of spreading your inferior genes, loser, we wouldn’t have taken you. It’s your mother’s patheticly ruined eyes that brought you here. She put up one hay of a fight to protect you, I hear. But don’t you worry, we’ll come back to get her.”

“You leave Dinky alone!” a frightened, yet confident Scootaloo managed to yell, trying to reach her hooves through the bars.

“You shut up, chicken!” The masked pony yelled as she backhooved the orange filly.

“Who are you!? Why are you doing this?!”

At that question, the demented song of unhealing played in the air. The mask salesman giggled, running a feeling like ice down the young girl’s spine.

And then... the suited pony removed her mask.

“No!”

Scootaloo fell to her knees and cried, her world shattering around her, the skull kid laughing maniaclly in the air. Scoots didn’t put up a fight, she was far too broken inside, and fell limp as she was forcibly pulled from her cage, along with Dinky, and drug down the hallway.

“Pound Cake learned to fly in a month, dweeb. You’re nearly ten years old and you STILL haven’t learned how to fly. Pathetic!”

“Dad, help...”

2:00 AM

We, as a team, had gone through most of the facility, and were now on the fifth floor. Dodging and destroying cameras, sneaking past guards, crawling through vent shafts... this place was a locked-down fortress, and, fortunately, our cover was not yet blown. I’ve been wanting answers as to why this place has gotten hold of such advanced technology, but I fear I won’t get those answers. All I know is, I never asked or wanted to come here. I’ve been searching for a way to get home, but the only person here that may even have the remote ability to do that is Princess Celestia, and for four months, she’s been nowhere to be found. I honestly expected them to arrest me and interrogate me upon arriving here, but it never happened. Perhaps though, that’s because of all the shit the country’s been dealing with - she’s found no time, or doesn’t consider me a priority, which, frankly, I wouldn’t blame her - Equestria is straight fubar, what with all the ass-backwards corruption that’s plagued this place since BEN showed up. We’re still no closer to solving this mystery; how BEN got his powers, what he wants, or anything. The only thing we know for certain is that people are dying on a daily basis, be it from drugs, murder, starvation, or the daily riots to regain freedom that torment the streets. On top of that, those... zombies, were they? No... zombies aren't scientifically possible. It had to be a bunch of dranged cannibals. We came to a small break room with a soda machine and a cafeteria table. The area was clear of guards. Nobody in our team bothered to take any weapons, to avoid arousing suspcion, but, thinking back, we probably should have. I took two bits and selected a cola from the vendor, setting Spike and Applebloom down on the floor. The break room itself was a small one, in the corner of the hallway. It itself, aside from the small walls that formed a little entryway, was a three walled room,made entirely of windows. I took a look outside, staring at the moon, with its child-crushing face gazing right back at me, and...

Holy shit.

It WAS getting closer.

“No. It’s just a game. It’s. Just. A. Game. It’s. Not. Real.”

I wish I could keep telling myself that, but as soon as I said those words, the skull kid giggled. This wasn’t a game. This was life or death. That moon was really going to fall, and knowing my history with a similar incident, we only had about two days left. I threw my soda to the ground, and switched to the public radio channel. As soon as I did, I head a converstaion I didn’t want to hear.

“Ma’am, it looks like somepony destroyed the fuse box to the air conditioner...”

The second voice was one I swore I recognized. It was a woman.

“Well, get a maintenance crew out there! I’m taking a flightless failure to the grinding machine!”

Another voice kicked on.

“Ma’am, we’ve lost about seven camera feeds; two in the basement, three on floor four, and another two on the second.”

“Buckin’ hay, why are you reporting to me!? Get a repair unit on the job!”

“Holy shit! Ma’am, I’ve found three unconscious bodies on floor two!”

“Celestia damn it, I told you buckers to stop bothering me! Hit the alarm!”

“Roger that. Teams Delta, Foxtrot, Tango, Hotel, Romeo and Charlie, tighten security at your posts imediately; we have an intruder! Alpha, X-ray, Zulu and Golf, report to the armory ASAP!”

An alarm sounded. Fucking perfect; they knew we were here. We should have gotten weapons. I drew mine.

“Everybody, stay with me and do what I do. We’re going in guns blazing.”

“Nick, that isn’t safe!” Pinkie announced, taking a few steps back.

“What other choice do we have? We are NOT leaving without Scootaloo.”

“And Dinky!”

Everyone stopped to turn to the sound of an abrubly crying Derpy. She was leaning against the vending machine, the facility’s alarm system blaring. The grey pegasus tried to speak up above it.

“When you found me, I was doing all those nasty things that I had been selling to ponies all around the country. But you know WHY I started? Two days before you found me, a bunch of ponies, just like the ones at the farm, broke into my house and stole my little Dinky right out of my hooves! They told me she was going away to a ‘better place’, and I tried to fight back, but I couldn’t. They were too strong! Then... I fell into depression and started using my own products...”

I helped the stunned pegasus stand, and wiped her tears, the deafening alarm chewing away at my eardrums.

“We’ll get her back, Derpy, but now? Now is a time to fight, not morun. Everybody, grab your weapons. We’re going to find those girls.”

And so we did. Steath was no longer an option, and deaths were certain to occur now. I didn’t want it to end like this, there had been far too much death; since leaving the milk bar, Ponyville had nearly become a ghost town, with far more than half of the population deceased. As we made our way farther into the facility, we were soon held at gunpoint by a small fireteam of ponies. They had automated weapons in their hooves. There were about twelve of them, and where we stood, was in a hallway, just in front of an opeing that held a large atrium with an iron catwalk, right behind the men that were holding us up. They were spread in tactical formation, six crouched, and six standing in the back.

“Drop your weapons!”

“Get on the bucking ground!”

“Drop your shit, all of you!”

I threw my arms up, my gun still in my hand. The others did the same, Spike and Applebloom hiding behind me. I took a breath, and time seemed, once again, to slow as I analyzed my situation.

“Drop the gun, human!”

Each soldier had a set of modern day human armor, as well as automated weapons, ranging from AK-47’s to MP5’s, MAC 10’s to G36C’s. The hallway itself was rather long, about fifty meters in length. Both of our teams were standing at the very end, next to the exit, about fifteen meters apart. Above us sat three lights, which illuminated the hallway.

“You think those guns are supposed to scare me? I had an uzi put to the back of my head when I was only a year old. Now blades... those are scary.”

“DROP THE GUN, OR WE SHOOT!”

“Just like a dog, humans have a tendancy to react to sharp noises, like wistles. Noises like that stimulate the brain, allowing for open thought in dire moments. If you ever come to a situation involving several individuals, make that noise, and watch the magic happen.”

That fucking voice. I KNOW I’ve heard it before!

I put my gun on the ground as ordered, and got on my knees, my arms still in the air.

“The rest of you, get down!”

“When I die,”
“Show no pitty,”
“Send my soul to Juggalo City.”
“Dig my grave six feet deep,”
“Put two matches by my feet,”
“Put two hatchets on my chest,”
“And tell my homies I did my best.”

After I said this, I gave a sharp wistle. As soon as that was done, Derpy pulled out three muffins, and held them out.

“Could I offer you gentlecolts some delicious muffins?”

“Drop the muffins, lady!”

“As you wish.”

Derpy suddenly took her muffins, and threw them into the air, towards the lights. Upon contact, the glass of said bulbs fractured, and the room went pitch black, accompanied by gunfire. We could see them now, but they couldn’t see us, apart from the very seldom red flashes that came with the alarm system. Now, it was my teams time to shine. Let’s see what they can do.

“I’m running blind!”

“I can’t see a thing!”

“Keep firing!”

“Need backup! There’s so much blood!”

There were screams, gunshots, and metallic pings flying through my ears. The sight of death was scarce, apart from the red, and bright white flashes that allowed such a viewing. Once all subsided, I pulled out my phone to view what had transpired. I turned on the flashlight, but kept it on low to accomidate for the fifty percent battery. One body had a thick slice across the neck. Signs pointed that this was the work of Rarity’s scissors. Three corspes were covered in blue icing, and another four were doused in confetti and streamers. Obviously, this was Pinkie Pie’s work. Two more bodies had their necks broken, but by them, sat stray yellow feathers. No need for explanation there. One had a stab in the gut, with four holes, profusely bleeding across the floor. Applejack killed this one with her pitchfork. The last body had a scalpel sticking out of its skull, and a fractured forehoof, with a muffin sitting next to it. Derpy and Twi had doubleteamed this one.

“Is everyone alright?”

I was instatnly swarmed in a hug by several barely visible figures, but everyone was here, and that’s all I cared about. I picked up an M4, plus some magazines off of one of the dead guards. I would have taken body armor with me, but there wasn’t a way to put it on with my wings. We stepped over the boides of the guards, and came out onto a catwalk. Here, we had a perfect view of what looked like some kind of product processing room, as evidenced by the machine hanging on the far wall. It was a rusty iron contraption, the top of which looked like a dumpster. It then funneled down to a dispenser, which then slinked down into three tanks, filled with colors of pure red, blue, and green. Obviously, this was the Rainbow processor, and beleive me, I read the story; I know ALL about this place, but it doesn’t explain why they would take Dinky, who wasn’t even a flight school failure, or how they got all this technology. It was a no brainer, at least to me, that Dash was behind this; each of the six so far had been corrupted in some way shape or form, plus, as I said, Rainbow Factory already told the story back home. I just couldn’t beleive, like Cupcakes, it was real. Well, honestly, how was ANY of this real? I hoped to get answers soon.

3:00 AM

We continued along the upper catwalks in this room. Below us were what appeared to be several workers, trying desperately to keep other pancking ponies in place. One, a tan pony, with green and yellow in its mane, and a cutie mark that looked somewhat like a toaster from here, was picking up a small, brown pegasus colt, who was screaming and kicking at his captor. The little pegasus was then given a collar with a large industrial ring on the back end, and hooked onto a crane-like device. The tan pony pushed a button on a neighboring control pannel, followed by a loud beep. The crane then lifted up, passed over the catwalks we were standing on (the pegasus didn’t see us, he was facing the other direction, though he WAS screaming and crying for help), and slowly moved overtop of the processing macine. I knew what was going to happen next.

“Kids, Fluttershy, turn away. Now.”

And then, the most hellasciously vile scream I had ever heard filled my ears, even topping the alarm system. You know how a baby shrieks and you just feel awful, holding a feeling like: ‘Aw, poor thing, I should give them a toy or a bottle’? Yeah, THAT scream. But not just that scream, a scream like that, mixed with spoken cries of ‘help’ or ‘save me’, slowly growing distored as the crier’s own body is torn apart visciously...

I’ll never forget that scream to this day.

“There they are! Stop them!”

I looked down to the cries that were clearly directed at us. There was a pony and a griffin, suited in black, with masks on. They had two young children in their grasp.

“SCOOTALOO!”

“DAD!”

“DINKY!”

“MOM!”

“Ma’am, security team Bravo is down!”

“Send another team up there and kill them!”

“Right away!”

I readied my M4 as a team of ponies came rushing out of a door on the ground floor, and disappeared down a hallway. I opened fire from above, killing five. They were obviously coming up here to intercept us. the suited pony chained Scootaloo up to the crane as it came back down to ground level.

“HELP! DEAR CELESTIA! DAD, HELP!”

“I’m coming!”

“Oh no you don’t, dweeb!”

Suddenly, the griffin came flying up to the catwalks and tackled me to the floor. She picked me up by the neck, sceeching into my face as she set me against the support rail, holding me over the grinder just beneath us.

“So, YOU’RE the human everypony can’t seem to shut up about!”

“Everyone, go after the security team! I’ll take care of bird-lady here!”

I punched the griffin in the face, still holding onto the rifle with my other hand, by the foregrip. Her head twisted sideways with a yelp, but she came back and backhanded me with her claw, tearing my cheek open with her sharp talons.

“How DARE you try to stop one of the finest moments in Equestrian history, human!”

I spat in her face.

“How ‘bout you take that fucking mask off so I can see your cowardly face?” I tried to say as the griffon’s tallons slowly dug into my windpipe, cutting up my neck.

“As you wish, dweeb...”

She removed her mask, and frankly, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“Hi, Gilda.”

“How in the BUCK do you know who I am!?”

With that small moment of emotional vulnerability, I took my rifle with both hands, and slammed it up against Gilda’s neck, barring us from each other, her holding me on one end of the catwalk, just over the grinding machine, and her on the other, leaning over the ground floor with hundreds of workers watching us. Scootaloo came up behind us, the crane a good fifty meters away. She was struggling and pulling wildly, trying to break loose. From a distance, I heard gunfire and screams; the rest were in combat.

“I see you have wings, kid. Where’d you get those?”

I smacked Gilda in the face with the butt stock, and with her spare talon, she tore it from me and threw my rifle off the ledge.

“Magic. What is this about Equestrian history, you whore?”

“You’re trying to stop what we at the factory here, like to call the ‘Great Purge of Failure. It will be a landmark acheivment in the history books, let me tell you. In fact, our work is based off of one of the nightmare stories of your kind!”

“WHAT?”

“Oh, well...” Gilda chuckled under her breath, pushing me farther off the edge, into the whirring saw blades beneath me. “You never read one of the foal’s nightmare stories? They're quite interesting. The one we based our fine work off of comes from a human that lived in this mystical place called Germ-”

“I get it, bitch.”

“Really, dweeb, do you now? Becasue I think-”

“That you should duck?”

“What?”

At that, Gilda was hit in the back of the head with the crane and oncoming Scootaloo. She got sent flying forward, and tripped over me, sending her reeling off the edge of the catwalk...

and STRAIGHT into the processor, screaming and sqawking as she was slowly ground to pieces, fresh blood flying everywhere. That wasn’t rust on the machine... it was dried blood from victims past. Scootaloo was almost over the grinder. I took off into the air and hovered next to the crane, unhooking the orange pegasus from the device and snuggly wrapping her in my arms as I sat in the air.

“Don’t worry. You aren’t going anywhAUUUUGH!”

I was clipped through the right wing with a bullet. I lost any feeling or motion in it, and we both fell down, heading into the active grinder. Scootaloo and I were going to die...

...but not today.

“Hang on!”

As we fell closer and down into the funnel, I threw my mechanical arm outwards, just grabbing the edge of the machine with my steel fingers. With my flesh arm, I took Scootaloo and hoisted her over the edge.

“Run! Run, Scootaloo!”

“D-dad...!”

“Stop arguing with me and run far the fuck away from this place!”

“Scoots hopped over the edge of the machine, wrapping one hoof around it to look at me.
“I’ll be back for you, dad. I swear on it, or I’m not a Juggalo.”

“Well, you’d be a juggalette, silly.” I said with a smile, trying to shed light on the grim situation for the little pegasus. At that, the orange filly let go and fell. Soon after that, there came the masked pony, looking down at me, inside of the grinder. She was holding my M4; SHE was the one that shot my wing. I put my other arm on the ledge.

“Let’s cut to the chase. I know who you are, Rainbow Dash. Why would you do this? Did BEN make you?”

“Dash removed her mask, revealing her cyan blue face. Like all the others, her eyes were blood red.

“So, you’re the human everypony’s talking about. You know, our buddy, the statue, wants me to finish you here and now.”

“Then do it, you cunt.”

“I think not. You see, just letting you fall into the grinder would be enjoyable, but you would gunk up the machine, so there’s no point in letting you die this way. I see you’re one that wants answers though. Very well...”

Dash threw the M4 to the ground and flew over to me, hospitably picking me up out of the grinding machine, and saving my life. I didn’t know what to say, and I didn’t know if I should be kissing her hooves in gracious thanks, or kicking her ass. Blood gently flowed out of my neck, and onto my already red shirt, bathing it in an even darker crimson, as I struggled to breathe with the wounds in my esophagus. I could still hear gunfire and yells across the hallway, but then they suddenly stopped. I looked down to the ground floor, to see a crying Dinky Hooves.

“Dinky! Run away! Run with Scootaloo!”

Dash hit me with her hoof.

“You cost me the removal of two failures tonight, human.”

The radio chimed in.

“Ma’am, we got the human’s friends.”

Dear god... they were dead... I... I passed out after hearing that.

“Good. Bring them to Atomosphere’s lab. Keep an eye out for the two escaped fillies.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“And kill that alarm!”

---

The skull kid screamed, filling the early morning sky as the once innocent Ponyville collapsed in flames, screams, and death. A young satallion fell down in a panic, right next to a pair of brown boots on a mahogany stand. He screamed and tried to pull away, but was soon jumped upon by three rabid ponies, blood flying every which way, and spattering the wooden stand next to him as his yells soon fell into a soft gurgle, then scilence.

“If you hadn’t had done what you did to me, Jad, I would never have brought you here. You fail to understand what I’ve always wanted.”

Amidst all the screams, yells, and combat that filled the earth, a musical tune seemed to fill the early morning air, which reeked of death.

"You see, Jadusable..."

“We’re not new to this game.”
“You know the rules, and so do I.”
“You chose to play, and now you will be slain.”
“I’ll crush your spirit, and make you wince and cry!”

“When we meet atop the Clock Town tower,”
“I’ll make sure that you’re in pain!”

“And I’m gonna pick you up, never gonna let you down,”
“Then I’m gonna break your bones and ignite you!”
“Gonna make your screams acute, then I will electrocute -”
“Yeah, I’m gonna kill, destroy, crush and blight you, blight you!”

“I had been caught here for so long...”
“Now that you’re here, I can take it out on you!”
“I will invade your dreams and play the song.”
“I know your nightmares, and I’ll make them all come true!”

“I just wanna ask you what you’re fearing,”
“Cause I’ll have to reprimand you!”

“And I’m gonna pick you up, never gonna let you down,”
“Then I’m gonna break your bones and ignite you!”
“Gonna make your screams acute, then I will electrocute -”
“Yeah, I’m gonna kill, destroy, crush and blight you, blight you!”

“And I’m gonna pick you up, never gonna let you down,”
“Then I’m gonna break your bones and ignite you!”
“Gonna make your screams acute, then I will electrocute -”
“Yeah, I’m gonna kill, destroy, crush and blight you!”

“O father, I pledge to you.”
“O mother, I give myself a hundred times.”
“May the moon illuminate our path.”
“We bare our souls to you,”
“To that which will bring the end.”
“Empower us with your infinite grace,”
“May we receive the greatest glory of all:”
“May we ascend to the heavens themselves!”
“We are the moon’s children;”
“We are mortal angels.”

“I had been caught here for so long...”
“Now that you’re here, I can take it out on you!”
“I will invade your dreams and play the song.”
“I know your nightmares, and I’ll make them all come true!”

“I just wanna ask you what you’re fearing,”
“Cause I’ll have to reprimand you!”

“And I’m gonna pick you up, never gonna let you down,”
“Then I’m gonna break your bones and ignite you!”
“Gonna make your screams acute, then I will electrocute -”
“Yeah, I’m gonna kill, destroy, crush and blight you!”

“And I’m gonna pick you up, never gonna let you down,”
“Then I’m gonna break your bones and ignite you!”
“Gonna make your screams acute, then I will electrocute -”
“Yeah, I’m gonna kill, destroy, crush and blight you, blight you!”

"Oh, I do so love a good Rickrolling..."

---

4:00 AM

“Dinky!”

“Scootaloo!”

The two fillies hugged eachother, Dinky crying into Scootaloo’s hooves.

“Where’s everypony else, Scoots?”

“They went to go stop security. I need to find my dad.”

“I-I don’t think this is the best time to go searching for a father you haven’t seen in-”

“No, the human, Nick!”

“...Is your father?”

“No... well, yeah... no, he... he’s the closest thing to a father I’ve ever had, and if I don’t do something, he’s going to die! I can’t affort to lose somepony that I’ve spent four months with, who’s had nothing more than mine and Applebloom’s best interest at heart!”

“I hope my mom’s okay...”

“I hope so too, Dinky. Come on! We need to go back for Nick!”

“Okay! Let’s go!”

The two fillies successfully made their way back to the catwalks without running into any resistance. Scoots peered down into the grinding machine. Nopony was there, and that meant one of two things - either Nick was dead, or he had escaped.

“Dear Celestia, please let him be alive...”

Comments

[Solarius Shield]

good sir i give you this for the good story

[HylianJuggalo]

984118 Glad you enjoyed; more to come!

[xXOverWorkedXx]

DAMN IT! I'm getting so confused with my favorites that are updating :C I need a life x3

[Gizmo Hibiki]

Had a little Han Solo moment their with the "misfire". XD

[idk12345678910]

Darn it! I just HAD to come along when the story had gotten to this point and no further.
Regardless, this is a very good story, and you should feel good about it. You've earned another follower.

[exitdoesnotexist]

I Really got rickrolled in a MLP fanfiction?
That means I've been rickrolled across a dimension...