Chapter One: The Best Friendship Makes The Worst Enemies When Broken.

“Little bit more, come on, I hate doing this, but it’ll be worth it in the end.”

Pinkamena was sitting on a stool in her basement, with Rainbow’s body sprawled out in front of her on a table. After cutting her open, pulling out all her organs, effectively killing her, she had the idea of stuffing and stitching her up, basically taxidermy, but with a pony. She wasn’t doing this because she had any real connection to Rainbow Dash, any form of joy or glee Pinkamena seemed to express to Dash when she wasn’t torturing ponies, was nothing more than an act.

She only acted that way when she was torturing her ex-friend because she wanted to get the maximum amount of pain out of her, both physical and mental. She was going to do the same to the rest of her fake friends, both the act and the taxidermy. She only wanted to stuff the ponies she considered achievements, such as royalty, embodiments, powerful Unicorns, fast Pegasi, or other species, griffons would be a good example. Though she stuffed Gilda for financial reasons, griffons don’t die outside of their village often, as griffons are very territorial, so a griffon body is worth a lot of money on the black market, but she made a deal and kept the head.

“Ow! Dammit, what is wrong with me today?”

Usually, Pinkamena was very skilled and flawless when it came to these things, both from years of experience, and trial and error. But, ever since she killed Rainbow Dash the previous night, things have been different. She’s had this weird feeling in her stomach; it was tolerable to a point until she started on the body in front of her.

Then, the feeling got a lot worse, she couldn’t concentrate on anything, and her hooves became extremely shaky. She checked in with a doctor, but he said that there was nothing physically wrong with her, and while she knew she wasn’t anywhere near mentally healthy, she’s never felt something like this.

“Maybe I should wait for Bramble; he might know what’s wrong with me and how to fix it.”

Bramble Muk was a friend/associate of Pinkamena, about once a week, he would bring some supplies she ordered from the U.S.C, the Underground Supplies Center. If she wanted to keep doing what she was doing efficiently and quietly, she was going to need certain things. Cleaning supplies and such to keep the room and the tools clean and at their best, she would also need new devices every now and again, as her toys would try to break free and occasionally break them. And, of course, she would need parts to keep the number machine running. And last, but not least, she would need plaques for her trophies.

“Miss Pie? Can you let me in? I’m not a fan of the dark or tight spaces.”

Pinkamena had a secret entrance in her little dungeon; it would raise too many questions if all her visitors came into the basement the Cakes didn’t even know they had. It took about three months, and it was made mainly as an emergency exit situation, but it was well hidden.

She dug her hole from her basement all the way to the Everfree Forest, which she hid with a very cleverly placed tree, where it just looked like there was an owl or a squirrel's hole in the tree. When in reality, there was a button that activated a switch, which opened the ground colored tarp under some bushes. So far, the only ponies who know about it are her and her underground associates.

It started off as a simple escape hole, but then, after Pinkamena discovered the secret community, she decided it would be a good idea for her associates to come through that hole, and which they do.

Anything but the tarp didn't guard the hole, but at the end of the tunnel was a wooden door that could only be opened from her side, in case a wild animal or a pony discovered the hole, they wouldn’t be able to get in. Eventually, though, she wanted to replace it with a steel door, so if she ever did need to use it for escape, the cops couldn’t bust it down for a while and chase her.

“Yeah, hold on, Bramble, just let me get off these gloves.”

Pinkamena unlocked and opened the door, revealing the flank of a particular pony.

“Why Bramble, I didn’t realize you were so bold. All you had to do was ask.”

Pinkamena said in a sarcastic tone, as this wasn’t the first time something like this has happened. Bramble was a cute fellow, he had a brown mane, which was usually wavy if he didn’t have it combed back. He had a dark yellow coat and purple eyes; his cutie mark was a brown storage box being pushed onto another brown storage box. He was very skilled at lifting and carrying storage, he had a yellow horn, matching his coat. From what she had heard, both of Bramble's parents died in a car accident. When he got into the orphanage, he was assigned the job of putting things into boxes and taking them to their owners, ironically, that was his unique talent.

He later grew up to work at a nearby post office, which he spent most of his life until it was robbed. Then Bramble unintentionally helped them by telling them a better place to rob and a better way to do it; he grew up in a rough neighborhood where he both participated in and was the victim of many robberies. The gang liked the kid and decided to take him back to The Underground base, which, even though he knew it was bad, he couldn’t help but like it, and eventually he grew on it, and it grew on him. He never told the gang he didn’t mean to help them, but he grew to like them too, nonetheless.

He mainly just did the same kind of jobs he did before he joined the gang, but occasionally, he would come with gangs in robberies and muggings. Despite him appearing innocent and shy, if push came to shove, he can be quite the opposite.

“Oh! I-I’m sorry, Miss Pie, I didn’t mean to, please forgive me!”

He turned around from dragging the box behind him with a flustered face, which Pinkamena returned with a slight laugh.

"It’s fine, Bramble, just bring in the stuff I ordered. On a serious note though, I’d be more than happy to buck anytime you’d like.”

His face seemed to get even more flustered and red at that, which made Pinkamena’s smile widened even further, she was half serious. He began to stutter and babble as he tried to think of a response, he didn’t. He decided it would have been smarter just to shut up and bring in the box.

He couldn’t seem to get it through the door, as there was a lot of stuff in there, usually he could, but Pinkamena had ordered a bunch of things this time because she went a bit far with Rainbow than she first intended, which broke some of the tools, and may have started a slight fire when she used the electric switch for the first time in years. The fire didn’t start until an hour later though, the wires being so old and underused caused it to take longer to go through, but when it did, it created a bunch of problems.

“C’mon kid! I want to see what’s new this week! Here, let me help!”

The box was suddenly pushed straight through the door, making it stop when it hit the wall. Then came through the door a tall, buff stallion that Pinkamena can’t tell how she feels about, Grutch. She didn’t know his last name as he’s never mentioned it to anyone, or he just didn't have one. He had a blue mane with a red coat and green eyes, what made her hate him the most was that he always had his hair spiked up in the douche baggiest way possible. He was a very handsome looking stallion, as he had a perfectly curved chin and nice facial details, his cutie mark was a pony bench pressing one hundred and twenty pounds, oddly enough.

If it wasn’t for his personality and his 'dreadful' mane as Rarity would put it, Pinkamena would consider dating him, and she doesn’t think that of anypony. He was one of those weirdos that were obsessed with working out, which showed as he had huge leg and arm muscles, beyond the point of attractiveness. Pinkamena was strong, as she wanted to keep a daily workout routine, but even she would lose in a pure strength battle. Since the secret entrance was in the Everfree Forest, The Underground sent him as an escort to make sure nothing goes wrong.

“Grutch! How many times have I told you not to do that! You could have broken some of the supplies or broke something here, what if you had woken the Cakes! Then they would find out about this, and we’d all be bucked!”

Bramble's face got red for a different reason this time; he takes his job very seriously. Grutch may have been one of the strongest ponies in The Underground, but seeing Bramble that angry at him was one of the few things that made him scared, even though Bramble couldn’t really do anything to him. This made Pinkamena chuckle, as despite how they seem to dislike each other, they actually got along quite well.

“Has anypony told you that you look cute when you're angry?”

Pinkamena said as she playfully kissed Bramble on the cheek, completely changing the tension in the room. Making Bramble's face flustered again and Grutch suddenly bursting into laughter, no pony would have guessed all these ponies were complete monsters. Grutch stopped laughing and started to wander around the room, and Bramble went over to check on the storage box to try to avoid the awkwardness.

“Pinkamena, I’m going to go ahead and check out what’s new. I’ll stay out of your mane for now, but tell me if you need a big, strong stallion to help carry the heavy stuff.”

Grutch had a morbid interest in Pinkamena’s trophies; he likes to walk around her basement and examine her victims, her tools, and everything that’s involved in her torture. But Pinkamena wanted to go over to Bramble, not because she thinks he needs help, but because she wanted to talk to him about the feeling in her stomach. She would ask Grutch, but then he would think she was weak and spread that around The Underground, basically destroying her reputation.

Bramble would understand more, and he probably knew more about it with his past. When Pinkamena walked up to Bramble, he was doing what he usually does. He was picking up the tools and such and putting them in their place and doing the same thing with the other stuff. Pinkamena went over to the other side of the box and began doing the same thing; she only ever acted friendly to members of The Underground. She could treat them the same way she treats everypony else, but she wanted to stay good with them. Bramble was different, she genuinely liked him, platonically. She only flirted with him for the buck of it, but she wouldn't mind bucking him.

“Hey, Bramble? I’m going to ask you something, and I don’t want you to tell anypony else, can you do that for me?”

He stopped for a moment and looked at her in disbelief, which she responded with a nod confirming she was serious. He nodded back and waited for her to start, continuing the picking up and placing of objects from the storage box.

“Recently, after I killed one of my victims, I began to feel this weird sinking feeling in my stomach. Like I was hungry, but I was full at the same time, it made me feel like shit. And whenever I started on the body, it got worse, a lot worse. My hooves were shaking; I couldn’t concentrate, I felt like I was going to puke all the time, but never did. I went to the doctor, but they just said there was nothing physically wrong with me, so I came to you, what do you think is wrong with me? I mean, other than being a mass murdering psychopath.”

For the longest time, he just stood there, frozen, as if he had just gotten news that he had cancer. He had a sad, pale look on his face as he had just been scared shitless, then he looked at her with eyes full of sadness, and anger.

“Wow, I knew you were messed up, but I didn’t think it was this bad. To answer your question, you’re feeling grief. You feel horrible because you had some connection with whoever it is you killed, you’re probably feeling guilty because you caused it. I really can’t believe you’ve never felt grief before, sometimes, I wonder how some of you are even ponies.”

Pinkamena had long stopped caring what other ponies thought of her; she didn’t even care about Bramble's opinion. What even remotely bothered her was that there was a chance that she felt something for Rainbow was stupid, she’s never felt anything for anyone before, but she'll indulge the thought.

“How do I stop it?”

His face seemed to get even sadder, as he appeared to recall sad memories from his colt hood.

The days on the streets, the years without parents, the countless nights of crying and suffering knowing that he will never see his parents again. All the horrible feelings nobody his age should have felt; all came rushing back from whatever emotional jar he had them in.

“No, you dumbass! There is no way to make it stop! You killed somepony that you had a connection with, a real connection! Something monsters like you don’t deserve to have; you probably haven’t felt grief before because you don’t have the mental capability to care about anypony but yourself! So, if somepony like me, who lost their parents before I even really got to know them. Didn’t get to stop the suffering of grief and pain, what makes you think a serial killer as you deserve to!?”

By the end of his outburst, he was nearly crying as the pain he once felt resurfaced, making him relieve the pain he hoped never to feel again. Tears threatening to come out the corners of his eyes, a look of anger and hurt in his eyes, something Pinkamena has never seen in his eyes before, yet seems so familiar to her. Grutch stopped his gazing and glanced over at them, but decided just to let them fight whatever it was they were fighting about, wasn’t his fight, wasn’t his problem.

“Bramble, I asked a simple question. I don’t need a recap of your life story or how you feel. Now, I apologize for bringing up your parents, but I’m not sorry, I got my answer. I’ll let you off this time, but the next time you yell at me like that, I’ll show you I’m no monster, I’ve fought monsters, and I’ve killed one. Remember Nightmare Moon? The monster that terrorized Equestria for centuries? I killed that bitch; I’m worse than any monster, I'm a demon."

It wasn’t entirely a lie, in a way, she did kill Nightmare Moon, sort of. It was more like she purged Luna of Nightmare Moon, which was the same as killing, right? Bramble’s eyes went from a look of anger to a look of fear, his brain going into instinct mode as his basic genetic code gave him the option of fight or flight, he chose flight. He got on the floor with his muzzle to the ground, sobbing and begging for forgiveness, saying he was sorry over and over again, it made Pinkamena feel like royalty, now she knew why Blueblood was so snobby.

“Buck me, is that who I think it is? Ah shit! The boys are going to freak when they hear this! Hey, Bramble! Quit your bowing and come over here, you’re going to want to see this.”

Grutch's wandering had eventually got him to Pinkamena’s current project, which is what caused his outburst. Her body was in the same place it was left: with both her arms laying down beside her hindquarters, her head slightly turned to the left and her mouth agape, her body remaining as lifeless as her eyes. It still frustrated the buck out of her that she didn’t get to finish, her body still cut open as hooks kept it that way.

Bramble did as Grutch said, getting up from his position in front of Pinkamena, no longer afraid or even angry. At the sight of what Grutch was looking, he had gotten straight up and run over faster than Pinkamena thought he could, then he stopped in front of the body to the left of Grutch.

“You know what that means right, Grutch? You owe me one-hundred bits! I told you that she would win, I can’t wait to brag about it to the rest of the guys who betted against her when we get back!”

Grutch grunted out of frustration, but turned his head around to a satchel tied to his side, and pulled out four bits, each worth about twenty-five each. Hesitantly dropping them into Bramble’s eager hooves, which after being dropped into his hooves, he put into a pouch on his left side.

“I just don’t get it though; she had an entire army at her beck and call! How did Pinkamena even get her out of The Factory? No employee is allowed out for any reason, plus she always had a bodyguard or two around her. This just doesn’t make any sense; it doesn’t matter. When Dr. Atmosphere and the rest hear about this, they won’t stop until she’s dead and you know that!”

Grutch pointed a hoof at Bramble, annoyed at his joyful face.

“Oh yeah I know, and I agree with you, this doesn’t make any sense. But that doesn’t matter because that wasn’t the bet! The bet was: if Pinkamena won than everyone who bet she would get the money from the ones who betted against her. It doesn’t matter if The Factory does kill her or not, she won, and that’s what matters!”

Bramble’s smile got even wider, while Grinch's face got even more annoyed and frustrated. Pinkamena, paying attention to the conversation as it involved one of her projects, had a perplexed look on her face, as she had no idea what they were talking about. The Factory? Dr. Atmosphere? She’s never heard of these before, was it some kind of underground slang? They certainly didn't sound like real names.

“Ok, what the Tartarus are you two talking about?”

They both shared a look of worry as they glanced at each other, not sure whether they should tell her or not. They then relaxed as they both agreed through nods that there was no harm telling her now, considering that one of the ponies they bet on was now dead.

“Ah, what the Tartarus, what’s the harm? So a few months ago, a few of the guys and I got drunk and started talking about things. Which whores were the best, the best fights we’ve been in, you know, those kinds of things. Then one of them started talking about who would win in a fight between you and Rainbow Dash with a reputation like hers, and that’s when it started. It spread all the way throughout The Underground, then the bets started. After everyone realized that eventually you two were going to have a standoff with the kind of relationship you two had, and then after only a week, almost the entire Underground had bet on one of you two. Nothing personal, but a lot more ponies bet on Rainbow Dash, considering what she had at her disposal and what you had, no offense.”

As he said that, he was rubbing the back of his head in either shame or embarrassment, while Bramble was sitting there quietly, ready to run in case she took him betting against her an act of betrayal and takes it out on both of them. But, instead of a look of anger or understanding on her face, the look of confusion just seemed to increase. This made the feeling of worry come back to their faces; this wasn’t any of the reactions they were expecting.

“Reputation? What are you talking about? Why would me and Rainbow fight? I killed her because her number came up, nothing more, nothing less. I have no idea what the buck you’re talking about.”

They both shared a look of realization as those words left her mouth, at that point, they knew, they bucked up. They assumed when Pinkamena joined The Underground, that someone would have told her about Rainbow, considering their relationship. But nobody had, it’s a miracle that considering the kind of reputation she had in The Underground, she hadn’t overheard it in a conversation. Either way, she’s going to know now.

“Pinkamena, nopony told you about The Rainbow Factory? I mean, it would make sense, considering you’re an Earth pony. But, I thought ever since you joined our little organization, someone would tell you. Rainbow Dash was a killer, she killed foals daily and turned them into rainbows. She was famous for the amount of brutality she had; she would occasionally hire some guys from The Underground to help keep the failures under watch. And I have to say, I’ve been there, it’s more bucked up than anything you’ve done here Pinkamena. Not because of the way they do it, but because of the industrialized process, they have it down to. ”

“But, I still bet on you! Despite literally everypony at The Rainbow Factory is completely insane, I knew you could still handle them with your experience. So, please don’t be angry with me.”

Pinkamena didn’t know how to react; there’s no way this was true, right? But then, when she was dying, Rainbow did say something about revenge despite being on her deathbed, though that could have just been her being angry. Could this be true? Could Pinkamena have killed the top dog in an operation that’s been going on like this? Was Rainbow secretly a killer, like her? And nobody told her! The feeling of grief, she’s learned to call it, left her stomach, and was replaced with a much more welcomed and familiar feeling, rage. It was mixed in with something else though, another familiar feeling that she’s only felt twice in her life, betrayal. The rage was stronger though, so she focused on that instead.

“YOU MOTHER BUCKER!”

Pinkamena rammed into Grutch, he was unprepared for this and was caught off balance, his back up against the table, with Pinkamena in front of him. Her left on his neck with her right hoof pushing his testicles against the table, not giving enough pressure to do anything permanent, but enough to let Grutch know she was serious. Bramble was slowly trying to back away while Pinkamena was distracted with Grutch, but she noticed this. She quickly picked up the scalpel with her mouth she had left on the table and threw it towards Bramble’s head, barely missing by inches and hitting the wall to the right of him, cutting a few pieces of his combed back hair.

“Next one won’t miss, you won’t get it as bad since you bet I would win, but you still didn’t tell me shit! So, when I’m done with this bucker, you better hope I change my mind. Now, let’s talk, shall we?”

She put a little bit more pressure on both his neck and his balls, making him whimper and too afraid to do anything.

“You knew! You bucking knew that she was doing this for probably longer than I’ve been in The Underground, and yet you did nothing! In fact, you probably started the bet and told Rainbow about my little pass time for your bucking entertainment; you’d probably get off on watching us kill each other, wouldn’t you? Well, by the time I’m done with you, you won’t be getting off on anything, it’ll make what I do to my usual victims look like I’m doing a bucking jigsaw puzzle!”

“Wait! Calm down! I can explain! Yes, I did spread the bet, and yes, I did it because I thought it would be badass, but not for the reasons you think! Until we started talking about who would win between you two, I didn’t even know you knew her! Whenever we worked for her, other than orders, she never really talked about anything else. I swear! And I was going to tell you and Rainbow about the bet and everything, but whenever word reached about the bet to Dutch, he told everypony not to tell either of you because he already had! I swear that’s what he said, ask anyone, they can back me up on this! So please, let me go?"

Pinkamena released some of the pressure, but just enough to where he couldn’t escape if he tried. She looked over at Bramble, who was nodding frantically as if to back up his story. With the way Dutch was and how he see’s things, it was possible for him to do that. Either way, she couldn’t take out her rage on them with the possibility that they were telling the truth so that she would let them off, for now.

Pinkamena backed up and let Grutch go, letting him getting back on his legs and rubbing his back. She then started to walk over to Bramble, who whenever he saw her coming towards him, began getting into a familiar bowing position and began to tremble. Then Pinkamena pulled the scalpel out of the wall beside him and tossed it back on the table, she then walked over to the door and began to walk out.

“Who the buck do you think you are!?”

Grutch had tried to sneak up behind her, standing up on his hind legs and started throwing down his left hoof in her direction. Pinkamena moved her head to the left and grabbed the bottom of his arm, and did a backflip over him while still holding on to his arm. When she landed, she jumped forward, ramming into his back, ending up with her on top of his back with his arm bent behind him. She then pulled it a little more, gaining a grunt of pain from Grutch, giving her a sadistic smile she always has when playing.

“You bucking idiot, pay attention muscle for brains. You may be stronger than me, but I’m faster, smarter, more experienced, and better at fighting than you. Now, you may be a mercenary, but I’ve fought, killed, and tortured in more ways and numbers than you ever will. Learn your place and don’t even consider trying to kill me, you’ll fail. I’m going to go and talk to Dutch, and if I find out your story is a lie, then you better hope timberwolves eat me because you certainly won’t be eating anything. I would break your arm, but I want you to do something for me. Since you’re so interested in my project, I want you to finish it for me. Make sure there’s nothing abnormal on or in the body, there are books on the bookshelf over there on the pony body and taxidermy if there’s anything you need to know. When you’re done, put everything back where you found it and leave the body there, if I find anything missing or destroyed, I will find you, and make you wish I'd killed you.”

Pinkamena got off of Grutch, releasing his arm in the process. He got up and began to rub his arm in a similar way he did his back. For a split second, he considered grabbing the scalpel and just slicing her up, but even if he did kill her, Dutch wouldn’t take it too well. So, he just went over to the table and sat on the stool and began to work on the body, mumbling things Pinkamena could barely hear.

“Stupid bitch……….. calling me slow……..buck her up.”

Pinkamena started to walk out the door, but stopped and looked over to the still shivering Bramble.

“You’re not off the hook, Bramble, I trust you more than I do Grutch, despite your opinion of me. I want you to stay here and make sure this incompetent dick doesn’t buck anything up. But if something does happen, it’ll be as much your fault as his.”

With that she left Grutch to his mumbling and Bramble to his trembling, Pinkamena was Tartarus bent on getting to Dutch and getting some answers, anyway she might have to.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Underground base, or more specifically, it’s disguise, was in multiple locations. The disguise was a somewhat typical looking bar, The Purple Star. There was one of these in each major town or city all across Equestria, in case a job or something is far away, it provides faster travel. It was an ordinary one-story brick building, with a wooden door and a purple neon sign for the title. There was no need for an open/close sign since the place stays open twenty-four seven. For both the bar and the customers. The main base though was in Canterlot, which is where Pinkamena had gone.

Pinkamena walked into the bar, gaining the attention of both new and old customers, the ones that weren’t passed out. None of them said anything though, as either the old ones knew the consequences of annoying her, and the new ones either heard or were told by the old ones what happens if they do. The bar was as big inside as it looked outside, the inside wall was the same kind of brick as the outside. There were a total of seven stools on the other side of the counter, which had three customers in them this night. On the other side of the counter, was a few shelves that were lined with bottles of alcohol, many Pinkamena couldn’t see the labels from where she was, but it was probably just the usual stuff.

The bartender was an old stallion that went by the name of Mack, the thing about him was, despite his age, he was always smiling. His face was the only place that didn’t have wrinkles, he always wore a white and blue shirt on, which made him look as old as he was. He almost never talked unless someone asked for a drink, or if he was just in a chatty mood. He had a blue mane with a charcoal black coat; his eyes were the same color as his hair, which he always kept combed forward. His cutie mark was a bottle and glass, but that was just a disguise used by the skilled unicorns The Underground had. It was a gun being shot and hitting the bull's eye; this would have been allowed if guns hadn’t been banned, this would have aroused questions.

He always kept a double barrel shotgun under the counter in case things got rough, but usually, they didn’t. Guns had long been banned in Equestria due to the guards and the populace not believing in the killing of other ponies, but that didn’t mean they weren’t used. The Underground knew both how to acquire and make guns, but they usually didn’t use them unless needed.

Pinkamena didn’t usually use guns; she never needed to. But, she knew how to use most kinds, and she was a good shot with them. She kept a desert eagle hidden in her basement as a desperate measure if times called for it, but she seriously doubted it would. In the daytime, there would usually be tables and waitresses, but they had left, plus they didn’t get as much service at night as they did in the day, so they didn’t usually need the tables. The tables, along with some extra stools, were all stored in a closet in the right corner, along with the waitress uniforms.

To the right as soon as coming in, was both the stallions and the mares bathrooms, which unbeknownst to most, is the entrance to The Underground. Pinkamena began to walk to the door, pushing it open some before Mack spoke.

“I heard what happened you know, don’t bother asking how because you know I won’t tell you. I think you’re going to want a drink because you won’t like the answers your questions are going to get you. Don’t worry about these guys; I spiked their drinks so they wouldn't remember the last five hours, then they'll pass out. On the chance your reckless ass came in here guns blazing. I’m old, not stupid.”

Pinkamena smiled to herself, not a sadistic or malicious smile like she usually gave. This was a genuine smile, like Bramble, Mack was one of the few ponies she actually liked, despite how much of an asshole he can be.

“Na, you know how I get when I’m drunk Mack. I appreciate the gesture, but I’m here for business, not pleasure. Though sometimes I get them mixed up, nothing wrong with taking pleasure in your business, am I right, Gunner?”

Gunner was Mack’s nickname when he was younger, Pinkamena didn’t know him back then, but she heard about it from stories. Apparently, when he was younger, he was a very skilled mercenary. He would only ever take jobs when it permitted the use of guns; he didn’t care whether or not the pay was well. He also had a reputation of never getting shot or injured in any way, but that’s not where he got the name.

He got his name from his talent with guns; he used every kind of gun from pistols to sniper rifles. He never used the same one twice; he always used a different gun for every job. There were rumors that he even made his own bullets, and that he never missed. He got his name from his marksmanship and efficiency with guns, both with his horn and his hooves, and how badass he was with them, Pinkamena just wishes she could have been there to see it.

“If you’re going to call me that, then shouldn’t I get to call you by your nickname, Cupcake Killer?”

“Touché, it's reasoning like this I like you Mack, but I got to go, and you need to make sure those drunks stay passed out. I may not have come in guns blazing, but I might leave that way, depending on what happens down there.”

Pinkamena pushed the door all the way open, going into the bathroom with a smile on both her and Mack’s face. It was a normal bathroom, with white tiles covering the floor, a line of sinks and mirrors opposite from the stalls. To the left of the stalls were several urinals, and the ceiling was a simple grayish roof.

“Miss Pie, I take it you’re not in here to actually do business?”

In every underground bathroom bar, was a bathroom attendant that both was and wasn’t what their job said they were. To normal ponies, they would act like a normal attendant. But if it’s a new underground associate, then a password was given to them. Both the password and the attendant were changed every day, in case of the scenario that somepony was secretly investigating them.

But each one was given a list of names that don’t need a password, these names either earned their way on there or just have been apart of the underground for a long time, she was the former. This attendant had a jet black mane which was combed back, his eyes were a dark red, while his coat was green. He wore a black and white suit, which made him look more like a butler than an attendant. She couldn’t tell what his cutie mark was since the suit had covered it.

“Clever, I’m here to see Dutch, let me in.”

“Very well, a please wouldn’t kill you, then again, a lot of things wouldn’t kill you. From your reputation, you’re ‘ a tough motherbucker to put down’ as many have said.”

He went over to one of the urinals and pulled the lever, doing the same to three others, which seemed to have no order. Most likely, it was morse code, and if the levers were pulled in a certain order, then somepony on the other side opened the door, which is exactly what happened. A few seconds after the attendant pulled the levers, the wall across from her seemed to go back in time as the bricked pushed backward, revealing an ancient looking wooden door.

Pinkamena opened the wooden door, which revealed a very long flight of stairs that appeared to have no end. It had lights every now and again to allow whoever was traveling to see where they were going, but it was a very long walk as The Underground was called The Underground for multiple reasons, the main being it’s main base is deep underground.

“Here, hold this watch, tell me how long I’m down there for, I’m curious how deep underground this place is exactly. Over the years, I’ve gone down plenty of times, but I’ve never actually figured out how deep it is.”

With that, Pinkamena started her long walked down a seemingly endless journey; she had the watch on her from earlier when she wanted to time how long it would take for her to finish with Dash, she never got to find out. It took a lot of effort to hold all the anger she was feeling up to this point, she really just wanted to kill the next pony she sees, but if she wanted answers, she couldn’t do that. What took even more effort was getting down all the stairs, which took longer than she thought. She wasn’t counting, but if she had to guess, it took about one hour to get to The Underground.

At the bottom of the stairs was two large double doors, which could be both pulled and pushed open. Unlike the first entrance, no guards were making sure no regular ponies got in. Because even if there was, it was doubtful they’d get this far without any of them knowing. Pinkamena quickly pushed open the doors, that rage she had been trying to conceal starting to resurface.

The Underground was the opposite of the bar, in the nighttime, there were tons of ponies here. Some drinking, others trading gear and weapons with each other, some even fighting just for the buck of it. In the daytime, almost nobody was here, they were either out on jobs or dealing with personal affairs. The room was almost twice the size of the bar, with a much bigger counter on the opposite side of the room from the entrance. It had a lot more varieties of drinks and options, which was matched with the number of stools in front of it.

The room was littered with wooden tables that each had six matching chairs in them; some had ponies in them drinking their hearts out, some of them tossed over as fights had started for a variety of reasons. There were several waiters and waitresses around the room either taking and delivering orders or trying to stop some of the fights. It was like this almost every night, so they had long gotten accustomed to these kinds of things, most fights were just scraps, so nopony really got hurt. But if it got life and death serious, they were told to take it somewhere else, which they usually did.

The wall was a tough stone that was painted a dark red, which matched with the floor. The bartender down here was much younger than Mack, but she was also less experienced. She was a yellow mare with a blue and black mane, which looked like she spent most of the day with a curling iron. She was a pegasus, as her wings were spread out as she had to fly up to get one of the higher bottles. Her name was Butterdrop; her cutie mark was covered with the clothes she was wearing, probably didn’t want every stallion staring at her. Other than the bathrooms on both sides of the counter, there were many rooms in the base. There was the traveling room, which led to a room with multiple tunnels, each tunnel having a wagon, which was pulled by four Pegasi, each of them was very fast, as they can prove.

Then there was the armory, which was used to store weapons and armor and such, this was also where customers put their weapons if they didn't want to trade. Then there was the workroom, where in the daytime, there were clients, papers on the walls offering jobs, and a few TVs kept on the news channels in case something happened in Equestria that was related to a job they needed to know about. There were also multiple ponies in there that had details and information on multiple jobs, in case one wanted to know more, these ponies also watched over the clients.

Then there was the prep room, where ponies went before jobs the make sure they had the proper guns and equipment; they changed into clothes if necessary. They cleaned and practiced with their guns, and found other ponies who may want to go with them on jobs. This room is directly connected to the armory, in case what they need was left in there. There were also rooms for anypony that didn’t feel like going home that night or had a ‘friend’ with them, but those were rarely used.

Then there was Dutch’s office, which was exactly where Pinkamena wanted to go. It had the same door as the other doors did, except this one had the word Dutch carved in large letters on it. Like the other rooms, there was no way to tell whether or not someone was in there, as there were no windows or do not disturb signs. There wasn’t even any way for her to tell if he was at The Underground, she was just entirely assuming.

Pinkamena walked towards the bartender, ignoring the whooping and shouting, both towards her and around her. She was attractive, she knew it, it was obvious with all the attention she got from both mares and stallions. These ponies knew the same thing the ponies in the bar knew that they get bucked up if they bother her. But what made these ponies take their chances is what Pinkamena did every month. Once every month, Pinkamena would come down to here and choose a stallion or a mare, whatever she was in the mood for.

She wasn’t a whore or anything like that; she just did it because she enjoyed sex, a lot. Her urge for sex was as strong and abnormal as her urge for blood. She assumed she was good, as she could go for a good three hours, and she usually left whoever her partner was passed out when she was done. She couldn’t usually find anyone who could keep up with her, but when she did, she usually lost track of time.

“Where’s Dutch?!”

Pinkamena said blatantly, making the bartender bump her head as she seemed to be getting glasses for one of her customers. Making her rub her head whenever she lifted it up from the counter, then her eyes shrank back in fear when she saw who it was.

“Oh! P-Pinkamena! I didn’t see you there, would you like a drink or something?”

Before Pinkamena could say anything, a stallion sitting on the stool to the right of her spoke up. He had a gray coat with a purple mane and yellow eyes, his cutie mark was what looked like a purple rock and a bomb, probably a demolitionist, he was an Earth pony. He reminded her of her father, which made her even more pissed off.

“Hey girly! Somepony else is here, so wait for your bucking turn.”

He said rather rudely, though he was drunk so Pinkamena didn’t pay much attention to him.

“Look, I’ve already had to deal with one asshole today, so why don’t you get your drunk ass out of here before I get you out.”

He was both frustrated and drunk from a long day at work, so he didn’t take that insult very well.

“Why you arrogant little slut!”

He jumped up out of his stool and went to hit her; she wasn’t expecting this, she just wanted to talk to Dutch. When she saw the blood dripping from her muzzle, all that rage she was keeping bottled up, it all came out at that moment. He went to hit her again, but she grabbed his arm and put one hoof on his shoulder and swung him around, slamming him into the counter. She grabbed the nearby bottle Butterdrop had pulled out, and slammed it against his head, shattering it into tons of pieces that went everywhere.

She then slit his throat with the remaining parts of the bottle and threw his body onto a nearby table. She didn’t usually kill outside of her basement, but this time was an exception. At this point, everypony in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at her, as she was panting from the rush and pleasure that gave her, she noticed this and turned towards them.

“Well!? Any other volunteers wanna buck with me today!?”

Everybody went back to what they were doing, too terrified to say anything to her. Then she turned back around to a petrified Butterdrop, looking like she was on the verge of pissing herself.

“Where’s. Dutch?”

Butterdrop's mouth opened and closed as she tried to say something, anything. But she was too scared to get anything out but a squeak, so she just pointed her hoof at his office. She went over to the door of his office without hesitation and kicked it down rather loudly, and nobody said a word to her.

“No, please, come on in Pinkamena, it’s not like you had to ask or anything.”

Dutch wasn’t the leader of The Underground; they didn’t have a leader. He was the guy who kept things working and organized, and occasionally, he would call a bunch of ponies together and talk about a problem that may have been going on. He had a bright red coat with a dark gray mane; he wasn’t old, he just had natural gray hair, which was always wavy. He almost always wore a hat, which currently he was. He was a unicorn; he wasn’t very good at spells, he was better at moving multiple or heavy objects if he needed to. She’s never seen him in combat, gun or hoof to hoof, but from what she can assume, he had some experience, or he wouldn’t have gotten where he was. His cutie mark was a clipboard and a pen, she had no idea if that was his actual cutie mark or not.

His office looked fairly normal, it was about the size of two bathrooms and was in the shape of a rectangle, with his desk at the end. The walls were darker gray than his hair, while the roof and floor were both dark blue. To the right was a shelf full of books, to the left of the shelf was three or four filing cabinets that each had five drawers. To the left of that was a collection on his wall, his favorite weapons such as a sword and an assault rifle, a few diplomas he most likely stole, and a picture of him and his family, the one he didn’t have. They had died a long time ago; he just wanted to keep the picture for sentimental reasons, despite him having scratched out their faces.

At the end of the room was his desk, which he was sitting behind in his black leather chair, which surprisingly didn’t make any noise when he moved in it unless he tried. On the left was a desk lamp, which had a pencil cup in front of it, to the right of that was a sign made out of glass and a no smoking sign. It had a quote on it that Pinkamena couldn’t tell who the quote was from, as it didn’t say who said it. ‘If violence is never the answer, then why to make guns?’, this quote obviously happened after they banned guns. In the middle was a black book, which he used to read when he was bored, among other things. He was currently closing it and putting in one of the many of the desk drawers, he probably knew of Pinkamena’s destructive reputation both by rumor and experience, this isn’t their first encounter with one of them angry.

“I am going to tie you up, cut open your stomach, and fill you with rats, so they eat you from the inside out you piece of shit! I thought we set conditions for when I joined, no assassination attempts, no hits, no orders, no giving out my information to anyone, and no lying! You broke the agreement you buck!”

Pinkamena slammed her hooves onto Dutch’s desk, making the pencils bounce out of their cup and back in. Dutch’s face still had the smile on his face he always has, that smile that makes it seem like he knew something nobody else did.

“Technically, I didn’t lie. You never asked me,’Hey Dutch, is my best friend a part of a top-secret organization that has been an ongoing conspiracy for years, and that anyone outside of it knowing about it but a select few could cause a mass murder?' No, you didn’t, so I never lied.”

He said, with an ever so sultry and sarcastic voice, one Pinkamena quickly learned to hate. She knocked over his pencil cup, making the pencils toss in multiple directions over around the room. His face remains the same, not even flinching at what Pinkamena did, which infuriated her further.

"Don’t pull that bullshit with me, Dutch! Knowing something like this and not telling me is just as bad as lying! So if you don’t bucking tell me everything right now, you can consider this little relationship we have over!”

The smile on Dutch’s face was replaced with a grim look; he realized that if he didn’t take this seriously, it could prove to be a serious problem shortly. He put his hooves under his chin, as the tension in the room suddenly became much more intense.

“Fine, you want the story? Since Rainbow is dead now, I don’t see a problem with it. But I’ll warn you now, if you tell anyone even one slight detail from what I’m about to tell you, we’ll go public with your reputation, got it?”

Pinkamena nodded her head, not wanting to say anything at the chance she might unintentionally change his mind, then this would have to get quite violent.

“One thousand years ago, when Celestia banished Luna to the moon, she encountered a problem. Since Celestia had to be both the princess of the sun and the moon, she didn’t have time for such things as assisting with weather production or crime control. But the issue was, back then, the ponies at the weather factory didn’t know how to make certain weather, such as rainbows, which was something not required, but just among the many things they couldn’t produce. They had all the right training, tools, numbers, intelligence, everything they needed, except for one thing, Spectra. As you know, magic isn’t restricted to Unicorns, both Earth and Pegasus ponies have magic. Earth ponies use their magic for physical abilities and farming, while Pegasus use their magic for a multitude of things. It’s how they fly, stand on clouds, how they manipulate weather, how they build things out of clouds, they use it for basically everything they do, this came to be known as Spectra. After a few months of research, they discovered the only way they could make the weather they usually did was to use Spectra.

At the time, there was no way to remove Spectra safely from Pegasi, except killing the pegasus. The way they made it before was Celestia would give a certain amount of Spectra while remaining unaffected, with her being an Alicorn and all. After realizing this, the ponies knew that it was either sacrifice Equestria for ponies or sacrifice ponies for Equestria. During those days, any Pegasus that failed the flying test, had their wings removed and were banished from Cloudsdale. This caused crime, as most of the failures grew disturbed and were mentally traumatized from the experience, the hate and pain festering in them as they grew, turning them into monsters, causing an increase in gangs, rape, murder, robberies, and many other crimes. So, they made a deal with Celestia, if they were allowed to ‘use’ the failures to make the weather Equestria needed, it would effectively lower the amount of crime in Equestria, saving thousands. She then came to the same conclusion they had, sacrifice the minority for the majority, or sacrifice nothing and lose everything; she came to the same decision they did.

A device was then started on later that day, one they already had schematics for. It was called The Pegasus Device, it was used to extract Spectra, and it works to this day. This conspiracy has been going on for a very long time, so long it’s not even known if Luna is aware of it with her recent return. Celestia can’t go back to producing the weather because this has been going on far too long to stop it now, so, she allows it to continue knowing that stopping it would also cause another age of crime that may not end. The reason it’s called The Rainbow Factory is that Spectra is the same color as rainbows, also because it’s the name that fit the best. Every employee that unintentionally signs up with this conspiracy is forced to give up any life they have, and not allowed to leave, ever. Except for Rainbow, considering she is-was an Element of Harmony, they didn’t really have much choice. If they can’t handle the bloodshed or necessary murder, they’re forced to work to the point of insanity. Not a single one of them is sane, and if they are they won’t be for long.

Rainbow Dash is the craziest, which is partly why she’s their manager. She would even occasionally throw in a failure into the Pegasus Device voluntarily, but she’s been insane long before she was their leader. Not too long ago, there was a doctor, don’t really remember his name. But he found a way to extract Spectra without harming the Pegasus safely; he was rewarded with his hooves being cut off. She said that if anypony tried to tell Celestia the news, they would receive the same punishment. They haven’t had a single escape or incident in or including an employee of the Factory ever since it started, until now apparently. And that’s it, that’s the story you wanted! The story of how your best friend had been lying to you longer than she knew you, the story of how incredibly you’ve bucked yourself by killing the leader of the oldest organization out there. What’s that thing you said to me? ‘Not telling you about something as big as this was just as bad as lying.' Well, Rainbow Dash did exactly just that for much longer than I did, so what are you going to do? Kill her? Oh wait, you already did!”

Dutch began laughing hysterically, for no real reason. Mainly just to buck with his favorite pony to mess with, which didn’t work. Pinkamena just sat there, with no look on her face. She was staring at a spot in the middle of the desk, not so much as flinching. Her eyes were not moving except for the occasional blink, not showing emotions of any kind. Eventually, Dutch noticed the awkward silence and stopped laughing. Looking at Pinkamena with a look of confusion and worry, she’s never stayed this quiet for any amount of time as long as he’s known her.

“Pinkamena? What’s wro-“

“I’m…going to go now, I think I need some time off, don’t bother me for a bit.”

Her voice was raspy and hoarse like she was trying her hardest not to let out all her emotions right then and there. She got out of the chair and slowly walked to the door, the lifeless look on her face still there. Dutch didn’t say anything, as he didn’t understand what she was feeling. For as long as Dutch has known Pinkamena, she never showed that she even felt emotions. She never expressed guilt or regret, never showed grief, as it seemed there was nopony she cared about. As far as he knew, the only emotion she ever showed was anger.

He’s felt grief before, and he knows the kind of pain it can cause. But he wasn’t like this when he was grieving; he very much showed his emotions. There were five stages to grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, they aren’t always experienced in that order or over a specific amount of time, but eventually, they’re bound to happen.

If Pinkamena was experiencing grief, which was incredibly unlikely considering the kind of pony she was. Most likely, she’s going to feel anger first. It’s possible to experience some of the stages at the same time, but when she does feel anger, Celestia helps anyone around her. Considering how angry she is on a daily basis, if other emotions are mixed into it, it would take the entire Canterlot Royal Guard to stop her.

“Dutch?”

Dutch raised out of his seat, not noticing Pinkamena had left the door open, which she most likely didn’t do on purpose. Butterdrop was in the open doorway, with a letter in her mouth.

“Yes, what is it?”

Butterdrop walked into the office, dropping the letter onto his desk. It was an ordinary white letter, except it didn’t have any return address on it. It only had a cloud with a rainbow coming out of it, which immediately caught his attention.

“There was a courier here when you were talking to Pinkamena; he said for this message to be only read by you and you only. Didn’t say who it was from or anything, he just dropped it and left.”

Dutch’s eyes turned to pinpricks; this could only mean one thing, which was impossible.

“Thanks, please shut the door when you leave, and make sure no one bothers me, I’ll be busy for the rest of the night.”

Butterdrop did what he asked and shut the door as she left, with a confused look on her face as she wondered what caused such a mood swing. He almost never rushed anyone out, unless he had a ‘guest.' And sometimes not even then, there aren’t a lot of things that could cause him to be like that, except…her.

Butterdrop got a chill down her neck, that mare terrified her. But she had orders to dish out and fights to stop, so she pushed the thoughts of that terrifying mare to the back of her head, not knowing how close her assumption was to the truth.

Dutch sat down slowly, his mind running a million miles an hour trying to think of ways this was possible. The only time letters were sent from The Factory is if Rainbow Dash wanted something, and only she could write them. That was the agreement they came upon, if The Underground was to be destroyed and Dutch was the only survivor, he wouldn’t be allowed to contact The Factory in any way.

The same goes if The Factory were to be destroyed, or if Rainbow were to die, as it would be at that point mistrust would begin. Rainbow Dash made sure if she were to die, that nobody would even try to communicate with The Underground in any way, she had ways of convincing. But how did this letter get sent? Did she write it beforehand and have it sent to Dutch if she died? No, she would have no gain from that, at least none he could think of.

He decided just to stop confusing himself and read the letter, which he did very slowly. As he unfolded the paper slowly and began to read it, his eyes began to dilate slowly as they went back and forth reading the paper. His mouth was slowly becoming agape with every word he read, a response to the shock the words were giving. After he finished reading the letter, he slowly put it down and leaned back. He had a blank look on his face, as he was trying to process what he just read. Then when he did, the room was then filled with laughter once again, but for a different reason this time. The first time was just to change the tension in the room; this time was just for the pure admiration of the genius he just read.

“That crazy bitch! I can’t believe she’d pull a stunt like this! Damn, it really will be anyone’s guess who’ll win this. Well, I’m just glad we don’t have to choose a side, she probably wants to do this on her own because of her pride or something stupid like that. This is going to be great; I can’t wait to see how this turns out. I’ll tell a select few just in case things go haywire, but if Pinkamena finds out about this…”

Dutch leaned forward and focused his attention on the letter, and realized he had to get rid of it before anyone wanders into his office and starts asking questions like a certain mare did. He picked up the letter and tossed it into a shredder he kept beside his trashcan, and began to put the scraps into the trashcan and then covered them with trash. He then put his hooves behind his head, tipped his hat over his eyes, and went to sleep knowing something only him and one other know about, and the joy of knowing the showdown ponies have been dying to see for the last few months was going to happen.

Pinkamena had finally reached the top of the staircase, but she had not really been paying attention to how long it took. Her face hadn’t changed from when she left Dutch’s office; she didn’t know how long she was going to feel like this.

“Ah! Miss Pie! I held on to your watch as you said, you were down there for three hours, ten minutes and eleven seconds!”

She stopped her trudging a little in front of him, not really caring in the slightest how long she had been down there. She slightly turned her head in his direction, and spoke with a voice that held no emotion.

“Not my watch, took it from one of my ingredients, you can keep it.”

She walked out of the bathroom, leaving the attendant with a confused look on his face. The bar was still basically the same as she left it, except everypony was asleep but Mack, he still had that smile on his face. He said nothing as Pinkamena slowly began to walk out of the bar, staring at the ground not looking up a single time, sometime through this Mack had lost the signature smile on his face. When Pinkamena walked out of the bar, she immediately noticed that sometime when she was inside, it had started raining really badly. So bad there were puddles on the ground that splashed passersby when a chariot ran over it, just another day in the streets of Canterlot.

The rain was getting more and more intense as nearby ponies had umbrellas, and there were lots of chariots going through the streets, not wanting to deal with the traffic or wanting to be seen at all, Pinkamena decided to go through the alleyway to the left of the bar. It led to a series of alleyways that if traveled right, led to the train station. All Pinkamena wanted to do was go home, make sure those two idiots didn’t mess anything up, and try to figure out just what she was feeling. She wasn’t really feeling anything right then, she just felt… empty. No rage, no sadness, no grief, nothing, just numb.

As Pinkamena was walking through the alleyway in thought, she didn’t notice the sound of hoof steps in nearby puddles. It wasn’t until she could see something move out of the corner of her eye did she notice that she was being surrounded, there were two ponies in front of her and one behind, blocking both ways of the alleyway. All of them were wearing the same thing, black tights that seemed to cover everywhere on their body, except for their eyes. Their eyes were blocked by what looked like a mask inside the costume; there were tiny holes so they could see, but not very well. What made Pinkamena confused, is that all of them were Pegasi, all of their tights had an outline of wings on each side.

All of them slowly started to close in on her, their bodies tense as they were prepared to jump her any moment.

“Look, I know what’s going on here. So why don’t you just tell me who sent you so we can talk this out, this has been a terrible day for me, so I would recommend you stop.”

They didn’t; they didn’t even flinch when Pinkamena threatened them. They suddenly stopped a few inches ahead of her, and they didn’t say anything as they just sat there. The silence seemed to last for hours, but most likely was just a few seconds, the tension in the area increased by the second. Pinkamena stayed on her guard, as did the other three ponies. Then the one on her left suddenly sprang forward, not using his wings as the area was too enclosed to be able to fly properly. He tried to ram into her, but she had moved to the left and kicked his hoof, making him fall and smash into the dumpster.

The one beside him had taken this opportunity to perform a sneak attack, which almost would have worked if there wasn’t a puddle right under Pinkamena. She elbowed him in the face which caused him to stumble back, but he sprang back quickly and kicked Pinkamena in her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and making her clutch her stomach. The one that came in from behind had tried to tackle her, he succeeded and began to hit her. He continuously tried to hit her face, but he only got two tries. Pinkamena had picked up a bottle right beside her and hit him in the face with it, effectively getting him off her.

As he sat there clutching the side of his head, the one she kicked into the dumpster got up and began to run towards her, as the one that had hit her came up behind her when she got up and was keeping her in place. He had started to fly, as he thought if he flew straight he wouldn’t crash into anything, but Pinkamena knew a way out of this. She had forced her body down to the ground, smashing the head of the one that was holding her. She picked him up and threw his body towards the one that was flying towards her; all this happened too fast for him to see, so he had no time to stop. The body slammed into him, making him slam into a nearby wall, crippling both of his wings. She turned her attention to the one beside her who was trying to crawl away. She got on top of his back and put her hooves around his neck, and then snapped it, making his body stop and stay on the ground. Through all this, Pinkamena’s face didn’t change once, not smile when she killed him, or a look of anger at being hit, she just had on the same face she had when she came in.

She slowly walked over to the pony who was groaning, as both his wings were crippled and he couldn’t move with his colleague's unconscious body on top of him. She moved the body off of him, and got on top of him herself. She pushed his body against the wall and broke off his right wing, nearly making him scream if she hadn’t put her hoof on his neck.

“Now, I’m going to ask this one time before I rip off the other one, who sent you?”

After a few seconds of him groaning in pain, he began to laugh, and seemed to be smiling as he looked at Pinkamena.

“Go ahead, rip off my other wing, won’t make any difference. Nothing you can do can match what she does to us on a daily basis, so go right ahead. Beat me until you can’t move your hooves anymore, torture me any way you like. But nothing you can do to me, to US, will make us tell you shit!”

She didn’t like that answer very much, so she took his advice and began to beat him. Over and over again, not even taking a break to ask questions. That’s when they started, the flashes and emotions. She didn’t know why, but she began to remember times she spent with Rainbow, when she was putting on her act.

“Hey Rainbow, before we can be friends, we need to have trust! After all, you can’t have friendship without trust, or it wouldn’t be a friendship! So how about we tell each other our secrets, mine is I have a bunch of party stuff hidden in multiple places in Ponyville! Just in case an emergency party or something, what’s yours?”

Pinkie and Rainbow were in a field; they had begun talking recently whenever Rainbow had come into Ponyville, they had seemed to get along really well.

“Well, the only secret I have is that I have a secret love for pets, other than that I’m secret free!”

“Really? Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Rainbow did the gestures required for a Pinkie promise, which made Pinkie smile. They continued with their conversation, the memory slowly fading away. Pinkamena’s hits had gotten stronger, as did the rain. Her face suddenly became wet as water started coming down from her face, not all of it was from the rain. She wished she had still felt empty, as Pinkamena was suddenly overcome with grief and anger. Then another memory started, a very recent one.

Rainbow was strapped to the table, as Pinkie had started cutting her flanks.

“AHHHH! W-why are you doing this? I thought we were friends!”

Pinkie had stopped her cutting and looked at Rainbow, with one of the biggest smiles on her face Rainbow had ever seen.

“We are! That’s why I’m doing this! Dash, you’re my friend, and nothing either of us could say or do is going to change that. You should be glad; I’m going to turn you into one of the best cupcakes this town has ever seen! Your death is going to bring countless smiles to lots of ponies faces! For the rest of my life, I’ll remember you Dash; sadly you can’t say the same.”

“Y-you’re a monster!”

Rainbow said with tears of anger and pain rolling down her face, which just made Pinkie smile wider and continue her work. Pinkamena had stopped hitting the body in front of her; she had killed him long ago. His body was just a mush of blood and bones; she had just continued hitting him to try to let out all her emotions. She was overcome with so many emotions, rage, hate, betrayal, guilt, depression, but most of all, she felt grief. She’s never felt pain this intense before, neither physical nor mental.

It was impossible to take; it was just too much for her. This was the reason she felt so empty before, because it took her a while to process all these emotions. Pinkamena stood on her hind legs and looked straight into the sky. Tears were rolling down her face faster than she could count, she couldn’t tell if her face had more tears or rain on it. She let out a loud primal scream of pain; she didn’t care who heard it or if anyone found her. She just wanted to let it all out, but the screaming didn’t help. Nopony heard her as thunder had covered the sound of her scream of emotional pain, nopony knew the horrible thing that happened just a block away from them. Pinkamena just stood there for a while, until she put the still alive pony into the dumpster and walked out of the alleyway.

The bar was exactly as she had left it a few seconds ago, with all the occupants passed out except for the bartender. Pinkamena sat on one of the empty stools, covered in tears, water, and blood. She had a face that didn’t even show a fraction of what she was feeling, but any passerby could tell she was grieving. Mack didn’t say anything as he didn’t want to bother her, he just stood there with the smile still absent on his face. Pinkamena spoke with a voice full of pain and an unrecognizable tone.

"I-I, I think I’ll take that drink now, Mack.”

Chapter Two: Not So Emotionless.

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It had been ten minutes after Pinkamena’s little encounter in the alleyway, which left two dead and one unconscious. In those ten minutes, Pinkamena had been drinking in the bar, having a conversation with Mack.

"I mean, there’s no way she could have been like that! Why would the elements choose someone like her for the Element of Loyalty, when she’s been lying to everyone for so long?”

Currently, she was going through the five stages of grief. She had already gone through anger, as the bodies in the alley will show. But now, she was going through denial, trying to think of any and all reason why she couldn’t be what they say she was. Mack was the only one listening to her, and he wasn’t going to let her try to deny what her friend was. He had only met her once, but she was just as bad, if not worse than Pinkamena. Mack had grieved once, a very long time ago.

When his partner had betrayed him, and he was forced to kill him. For years, he was stuck in the stage of denial, until he was snapped out of it by Dutch. When he was, it made accepting it so much worse. He didn’t want Pinkamena going through that; he didn’t want anyone going through that. He was going to help her accept it, no matter how much it might hurt her.

“Why would the elements choose you to be the Element of Laughter, when the true you only causes evil and dark laughter?”

Pinkamena said nothing, and just took another drink of bourbon from her glass. She had no retort for that. Usually, she would, but her emotions were affecting her thought process. Never once in her life has she felt anything like this, she’s never had a connection with another being before. She’s never cared for anyone but herself, and certainly never enough to grieve.

“Besides, who said she had to be loyal to a specific pony? While it’s twisted and different, her loyalty to The Factory is true. Likewise for your laughter, while it’s dark and sadistic, it’s still laughter. While both of you were much darker than most knew about, your elements were true.”

Pinkamena sat there, not knowing what to say or think. She was trying her hardest to think of any reason why this was all a lie, and Rainbow couldn’t have had anything to do with The Factory. But, it all lines up. What she said when Pinkamena was torturing her, the unusual disappearances of the foals who failed the flying test, Rainbow always being so tired and saying she was busy with work when she was already done kicking and moving around clouds, it all made sense.

She wanted to scream and cry, she wanted to beat someone again, but she couldn’t. She had to keep face; she couldn’t let anyone know how she felt. She was a mass murdering serial killer; she wasn’t supposed to be able to feel emotions like this.

“So, why?”

Pinkamena slammed her hoof against the counter, getting a look of confusion from Mack.

“Why do I feel like this? I’ve killed hundreds of ponies who I pretended to be friends with, in much more gruesome ways. I’ve killed mothers and children, tortured in ways that put them through unimaginable pain, destroyed lives! So then why do I grieve for one pony who was on my web of lies? Who I pretended to be friends with, just to kill her? Who was lying to me just as much as I was lying to her? Why do I grieve for such a pony?”

Pinkamena was on the verge of crying, dealing with emotions that hurt her inside. Mack looked down at her, with a face of understanding at what she was feeling.

“Maybe, somewhere along the line, it was more than just an act. Maybe, while you were pretending to like her, you saw her qualities. You saw the good parts of her, and liking her was no longer an act. Through your adventures with her, you slowly learned to genuinely like this pony. And while you may never learn how she felt, and know you know she was also acting, she was still your friend.”

Pinkamena was about to reply but noticed the customers around her were beginning to wake up. Mack saw this and decided to start cleaning up the bar to make it seem like nothing happened. While Mack was doing that, Pinkamena threw some bits on the counter and began to walk out, having things to do and places to be. While she was opening the door, she stopped midway, having one last thing to say.

“Well, I better get out of your hair then. I’m covered in dirt and blood, got an unconscious pony to drag home and interrogate, and I haven’t slept all night, so I'm going to be busy and tired. But, thanks for the talk. It… helped.”

Pinkamena left, neither showing or voicing whatever emotions she was feeling. While Mack had a huge grin on his face, happy, he’d done his job.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It took a lot of effort and patience, but Pinkamena had successfully gotten both the bodies and the pony back to her basement. It was tough since they each weighed a lot, but with the help of a few stallions who she bribed with sex, and the wrapping of the bodies to where they looked like baggage, she got them back to Ponyville. Though, she wasn’t particularly in the mood for a threesome, so she just knocked them out and left them at the train station.

Though with the stallions knocked out, she had to drag the ‘luggage’ through the town. But it was very early when she got back, meaning almost no one was awake, so she got them to the basement with no real trouble. By the time she did, the cakes had begun to wake up, meaning her shift was going to start soon. Luckily, she had just enough time to wrap up the unconscious one to where he wouldn’t get loose when he woke up, and the bodies in the in-progress projects room.

Nothing exhilarating had happened during her shift, the most interesting thing was Fluttershy and Applejack coming to ask if she knew where Rainbow was, she said no, of course. And since she had so much trust in the others, they believed her. Then, after having a short conversation with them, they left to look for Rainbow.

The strange thing was, she had this feeling she was being watched. She couldn’t pinpoint who or where from, but she could feel eyes on her. She didn’t know if someone was suspicious of her, or it was more ponies sent to kill her, but she knew someone was watching her. Though, when she was off her shift, she made sure to lose whoever they were. She went into The Everfree, making sure to get into the most dangerous parts possible, and used her Pinkie sense to get through.

She went as deep as she could until she felt she was no longer being watched. Then, she guided herself back home, making sure not to use the same path, as there was a chance she would run into whoever was following her. When she got back, she was exhausted and would have loved to go to sleep. But she had parties to host and an alibi to make for last night, and after all of that it’ll probably be night, and she still had to interrogate her attacker and bake his friends.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I’m so tired!”

Pinkamena had just gotten done with her fifth party, and she felt like she was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion. Usually, she was just tired, as she had an abnormal amount of energy. But, with all her recent physical and emotional experiences, she felt she could sleep for days, and she really wanted to. But, she had some questions, and her friend in the basement had the answers.

Luckily though, there was nothing she could do until the cakes were asleep. Not that they’d hear them, the room was silent. But there was always the slight chance one of them could come down at the wrong time; then they would see her secret basement, and then she’d have to kill them. She would prefer if that didn’t happen, mostly because it would be annoying to deal with, and there was really no use for foals. They’re too small to make cupcakes, and their bones are too small to be used in any creations, that’s why her limit is children because they're neutral on the whole thing.

Usually, Pinkamena would sit in her room thinking until Gummy gave her the news that they were asleep. But, being as tired as she is, decided to sleep instead. Sadly for her, Gummy came back almost immediately, meaning they were already asleep.

“Well, isn’t that bucking perfect.”

Pinkamena got back up, somehow feeling more tired than she was before. She lazily shuffled down to the kitchen, pressing the button and going into her basement. Welcoming her, was the familiar stench of death and decay that always made her happy, sadly, she was too tired to enjoy it really.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

Pinkamena genuinely smiled for the first time today, finally glad she has something exciting to do. It would seem her plaything was awake and eager.

“Oh no, it’s just little old me, Pinkamena.”

He seemed to flinch at that but didn’t show any signs of fear. He simply just sat there, unmoving, strapped to the table, giving Pinkamena a strange sense of….guilt. But, she blocked it out with the feeling of bloodlust and excitement.

“So, where are the guys that were with me?”

He said, with nothing but curiosity in his voice. Which intrigued her, almost everyone she brought in here either asked what she was going to do to them or to let them go. And when they do, their voice is usually full of fear, or at least they stutter. So when she said nothing and walked in front of him, she had a slight look of annoyance on her face, she enjoys the fear. After all, emotional and mental pain is much worse than anything you can do physically, wounds heal, trauma doesn’t, she would know.

“Well, after I got their bodies back here, I put them in there.”

She pointed towards a door in the back, which he looked towards and shrugged. He looked back at her, and just sat there, waiting to die. While she stared at him, expecting some kind of response at the realization of his friend’s death, like screaming or insults. But no, he just sat there, with his eyes closed in thought. While she was thinking of why he wasn’t scared, she realized something was missing.

“Wait here; I have to go get something. While I’m gone, look around the room and tell me what you think! And remember, don’t move!”

She walked away with a smile, while he hadn’t moved an inch. She liked to act happy around her victims occasionally, because a serial killer who acts happy and joyful, is much more terrifying than the stereotypical one. While he just shrugged and looked around the room, not really interested in the décor, but not really having anything better to do.

“I’m back!”

After a few minutes of looking around the room, Pinkamena came back, with her signature outfit.

“So? What do you think?”

She was wearing what could only be identified as a serial killer’s Halloween costume. It had wings on both sides of it, three left and three on the right, making six. While around her neck was a necklace, but instead of jewelry, it was horns. But what really made the costume was around her body, it looked like she was wearing a very comfortable rug, with patches of cutie marks covering it. This made him raise his eyebrows, which wasn’t the reaction she was expecting, putting an annoyed look on her face.

“Well, for starters, it’s messy and unorganized, the wings look like they're barely stitched on, the horns have no pattern or colors that go well together in any order, and the cutie marks look like they were stitched together by an old mare, who’s blind. Overall, it looks like the kind of thing you’d put on the front of a refrigerator.”

Pinkamena had a look of anger on her face, while he just had a smug look on his. Never once, in all of her years of killing, has anyone insulted her or her work while they’ve been in her basement. She was about to kill him right then and there, but, she needed answers, and the dead don’t talk.

“Well, I appreciate the criticism, but you’re going to die. So, your opinion doesn’t really matter. But, I’d still like to know what you think of the room!”

Before answering, he looked around the room, paying attention to every detail. The life is a party sign, the skulls around the room with party hats, the intestines hanging from the ceiling like streamers, and the variety of torture tools spread throughout the room; it was very…creative.

“I like your imagination, what you did with the streamers and the skulls, and especially all the mounted heads. But, I think you have too much of one color. Red is a nice color, but there’s too much of it. Maybe add more colors that go with red? Like blue or yellow, or even black.”

Pinkamena felt proud, but also confused. At first, she thought he was just trying to insult her. But then he complimented her room and even advised against it.

“I’ll…think about it, but, let’s move on. Usually, I would use a few scare tactics and cut right into you. But, since you’re one of the first people who had the balls to attack me, you’re going to be treated quite differently. But first,”

Pinkamena walked up to him, the sound of her hoofs and the horns clanking filled the room. Then, without warning, she ripped off what he was wearing. He tried to stop her, but he was completely strapped down to the table. She was tearing into him like a foal into a wrapped present, ripping apart the fabric and pieces, making them go all over the room.

It took a few minutes to get it completely off, since the suit was very well made, and was intended not to come off unless the owner willingly took it off, which is why she was getting it off so aggressively. When she first tried to get them off the bodies, she couldn’t. There was no zipper or anything that showed how to get it off; she tried for nearly an hour before she gave up, not wanting to damage the bodies. She decided just to add how to open the suits to her lists of questions when she interrogates him, but that frustration was still very much there.

She wanted just to burn the suits and never look at them again, but, she needed them. No matter how much she might hate them, they worked. They completely concealed your body and face, and seemed extremely stretchable, which meant they were good to wear. She wanted one, the color pink stands out, and leaves her with a higher chance of being caught. But if she wore this, then even if she’s seen dragging a pony back to her basement, they’d never know it was her.

“There…done.”

Pinkamena was out of breath; those suits really were made well. But, it took a lot of ripping and tearing, she got it off in one piece, mostly. There were a few holes or spots that were obviously ripped, but it was still wearable. But now, she was able to see the pony underneath, and she much preferred that.

He was a stallion, and as she assumed, a Pegasus. He was well built, with decent sized muscles and a well-toned body, but he seemed... off. While his body seemed healthy, he was pale and had rings under his eyes, but who was Pinkamena to talk about health? His coat was a light blue, while his mane a dark blue. His eyes were a greenish yellow, and his cutie mark seemed to be a cloud raining. He seemed to be apart of The Weather Team, or at least was.

After she examined him, which he either didn’t pay attention to or didn’t care, as he seemed to be paying more attention to the floor than her, she went to examine the suit. It was the same color black on the inside as it was outside, and the mask wasn’t the second part, it was attached to the inside of the face part of the costume. She then began to look around the inside of it, looking for anything that might hint how it’s taken off. She paid attention to every detail, any pattern of color, any wrinkles that signaled how it was put on, anything.

But this thing was made both well and kept clean, Rarity herself couldn’t make something like this. But then, it was slight, but she noticed something. While paying attention to the color pattern, she saw there was a part to the left that was a slightly darker shade of black then the rest. And now that she paid more attention to it, the color seemed to go down in a line, stopping when it hit the point where the stomach should be. Then she turned it around and put her hoof at the bottom and began to follow it up when her hoof reached the top; she found something that made her smile out of satisfaction. It was a zipper.

It seemed whoever designed this had put a zipper on it, but thought it would be obvious and painted it black. But either the color of black was slightly different, or it was faded from age, she found it. But, she wasn’t done yet, there was still more. She may have found out how to put it on and off, but there was still one thing she needed to know, who manufactured it.

She turned it back around and looked through it, the same way she had before. Usually, no matter how secret they are, all suits and costumes have some kind of mark to show who made it. The main reason for this, even if it belongs to a secret organization, was to make sure their enemies didn’t get it. For example: if the enemy were to kill an employee, steal their suit and use it for their own, then if the one who stole it was to be killed, and the organization were feared, it would be returned to them. But Pinkamena doesn’t fear anyone, so that’s not a problem for her.

She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a small white tag in the back of it. It was small and hard to read, but it was there. When she read it the first time, she couldn’t believe it, so she reread it, out loud.

“‘Property of The Cloudsdale Rainbow Factory.’ “

The room was silent for a few moments, as Pinkamena was trying to process what she just read, and the stallion strapped to the table, smiling as he knew she was slowly filling with fear. Then, the unexpected happened, she began to laugh, loudly. This confused him; this was not the response he was expecting. Then, she turned towards him, dropping the costume she was holding in her hooves, with a huge smile on her face.

“That’s who sent you? The Rainbow Factory? Oh, that’s hilarious. What, are you guys flank hurt that I killed your leader? Well, don’t worry, you’ll be meeting her and your friends very soon.”

She was still snickering, but her threat was severe. Now, instead of being confused, he was angry. For years, the mere name of The Factory put fear in any lowlife that was unfortunate enough to hear it. But this mare, not only was she not afraid, but she was making fun of them!

Did she not understand that she’d pissed off quite literally the biggest organization in Equestria? That they will relentlessly send squads after her until she’s dead? That they outnumber her one thousand to one? That she is by herself and has no chance of beating them? If she does, and she simply doesn’t care, this mare was more insane then they were told.

“Why aren’t you scared? You’re going to be tortured far more than anything you’ve done! Don’t you have any sense of self-preservation?”

Her smile simply just stretched further, showing just how truly insane she was. She put her hooves on both sides of his head, and looked deep into his eyes, with a huge smile stretched across her face. And for the first time in his life, after he lost his sanity in The Factory, after all the ponies he killed, he felt true fear.

“Self-preservation? Do you think after all things I’ve done and planned to do, I give two shits whether I live or die? Because I don’t, I’ve killed so many at this point, that if you somehow broke free and killed me right now, I’d die happy. You see, the main difference between you and me, and the rest of your Pegasi friends, is I don’t care! You guys have a sense of pride and honor; you’re doing this because you want to help Equestria, even if it costs you your life. But for me, I’m very different. I’m not doing this because I have some kind of noble ulterior motive, or because I’m being told by someone it’s for the greater good. I’m doing this because I want to!

I love the thrill of cutting into flesh, and hearing the screams and begging of my victims! I love using every part of their body, their meat and organs for food, their bones for decorations, I love all of it! But most of all, what I love the most, is the rush of battle! So go ahead, send as many of your friends as you want. I may die, but I’ll die happy knowing I’ve taken as many as you as with me as possible!”

If possible, her eyes and smile got wider, looking the happiest she’s ever been. While the fear in him was rising, making him want to look away, but he couldn’t. All he could do was look in her eyes, her insane eyes. They reminded him of his leader, and he smiled. This was nothing, compared to what’s done to him daily at The Factory, this was nothing. Then, he looked back at her, with a huge smile. Which made her smile falter, but, she ignored it.

“Anyway, enough about that. Let’s begin, shall we?”

Then she walked towards a tray, grabbing a scalpel. Deciding it would be a pain to walk back and forth, she brought the tray back with her. She put it on the table near them, not too far from her, but not too close to him. She went to the left of him and put her scalpel right in front of his cutie mark.

“You wanna know something cool? This is the same scalpel I used on Rainbow Dash. I used it on five ponies before her. Usually, I would get a new one after six. But, I have some sense of sentimentality. So I’m going to use this one for as long as I can, polishing it and making sure it’s always sharp.”

Then, without warning, she stabbed into the spot beside his cutie mark. But strangely, he didn’t seem to notice. He simply just stared at a spot on the wall, not paying any attention to her. This made her hesitate; this has never happened before. But, she continued, cutting a very straight circle around his cutie mark. Until it was all the way around his cutie mark, which easily came off of his flank. But there was yet to be a reaction, and this deeply confused her.

She then moved around to the other side and did the same to his other cutie mark. But this time, she did it much rougher and harder, hoping to get a reaction out of him. But he didn’t even flinch, but he did move his head toward her. He looked at her with a look she had never seen before, especially in her basement. He had a look of…boredom.

“You think that hurts? Do you really think pain like that is enough to make me scream? Do you have any idea the kind of pain I go through every single day? If you did, then you would know pain like this is nothing compared to it.”

She said nothing and just looked at him. She was amazed, never in her wildest dreams did she ever imagine that any organization could discipline and train their soldiers to such an extent, it made her even more excited. She was extremely eager to test out just what the limit of their endurance was, so eager in fact, she nearly messed up on the cutie mark. But, she noticed what she was doing, and slowed down.

After putting the cutie marks on the table, she walked in front of him. Usually, she would be much more sadistic and bloodthirsty, but she had to be serious. She had questions to ask, and if she got carried away and killed him, she wouldn’t get her answers.

“Now, I’m not going to ask your name, because there’s both no point, and you probably wouldn’t tell me. So, I’ll start with a simple question, who’s your current leader with Dash dead?”

He looked at her with angry eyes, and spit at her. But, she expected this and wiped it off with a napkin she had on the table.

“Buck you!”

But, she simply smiled. Glad she now had a reason to test out her new torture method. She moved over to her tray, which he couldn’t see from where he was. She picked something up, and walked back towards him, holding whatever it was she got behind her back.

“Tada! What do you think I’m gonna do with this?”

She pulled out a cheese grater from behind her back, which looked fairly new. It was silver and shiny and looked like it was recently bought. He raised his eyebrows, not having even the slightest idea what she planned on doing with it.

“Shove it up my ass?”

“Close!”

She walked in front of him, with a smile on her face and the cheese grater in her hand. Then, without warning, she grabbed between his legs, getting a grip on his penis, making him whimper.

“Ooh! You’re big, shame you’re never going to use it.”

He didn’t know how to react; this mare was completely unpredictable. She wasn’t gripping very hard, but she could have if she really wanted to. She moved it up, holding it vertically. He would have gotten an erection, but he was too scared, as he had no idea what she planned to do.

“Now, I’m only going to be doing this for five seconds, as I don’t want you to bleed out just yet. And I won’t be doing it very hard since I can’t start off like that, but, it’s made out of sponge, so there’s only so much I can do. I suggest you prepare yourself, nothing they did to you is gonna prepare yourself for this.”

She said with a huge smile, giving him a few seconds. Then he realized exactly what it was she was going to do and was filled with more fear than any of her victims before had been.

“No! wait! Please I’ll AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Before he could get out his plea, Pinkamena had already begun. She had quickly pushed the cheese grater against his stallion hood. She was still holding it vertical, so every part but the balls was getting pushed against it. Like she had said, she wasn’t pushing very hard. But considering how sharp a cheese grater is, and how soft something mostly made out of sponge is, it was tearing it apart.

For those five seconds, he was screaming at the top of his lungs. He was feeling more pain than he ever thought possible. He could feel the cheese grater scraping against his dick, cutting everything it touched. And every single second she was destroying his sex organ, she had a huge smile on her face. Even after the five seconds were up, and she had pulled away the grater, the pain didn’t leave. His penis looked like it had gone through a broken wood chipper, cuts and holes everywhere on it. If by somehow he got out of here, he would never have sex again.

“I’ll give you a little something to help dull the pain and stop you bleeding out as fast, but it only works for a few minutes. Not because I’m giving you mercy, believe me, I’d love to sit here and watch you suffer. But too much pain is going to distract you, and you probably won’t be able to answer me.

Despite her serious tone, she had a huge smile on her face. She was thrilled her new method was more effective than she could have expected it would be, and probably more painful. Sadly, this would only work on stallions. For obvious reasons, this torture method wouldn’t work on mares. She’ll have to create a special one for them, and she was VERY creative.

As she promised, she put the now blood covered grater on the table, and went to get a syringe. While he sat there, groaning in pain. He wanted to scream and cry with all the pain he’s feeling, but he couldn’t. If he did, then she’d be happy, and he couldn’t give that to her. He did everything he could stop himself from screaming, as blood pooled under him and his body entered shock.

After putting the syringe in a small bottle, she brought it back with her when she started walking back. As soon as she got back to him, she stabbed the syringe as hard as she could into his right arm. Which hurt and drew blood, but he was too focused on the pain in between his legs to pay attention to anything else.

Then, after injecting the syringe into him, she sat down in one of the chairs beside the table. Most likely, it was one of those drugs that took time to spread through the body. So she sat on the table, with a bored face and playing with one of the skulls. The only sound was the dripping of the blood on the floor below him, making a small puddle with spots of blood around it right below him.

“So, the drug take effect yet?”

For a few seconds he said nothing, then, without looking up, he answered quietly.

“No, wait a few more minutes.”

Then she sighed, but this wasn’t a sigh of frustration or anything, but one of…disappointment. She walked in front of him, and just looked at him with eyes full of expectancy. He noticed this, but still didn’t say anything, her eyes were now full of anger.

She suddenly hit him in the face, no change in her facial expression. The punch caused a tooth to come out of his mouth, along with some blood. She liked this, being aggressive. She would be way more sadistic and aggressive, and not so reluctant. But, she couldn't. As much as she wanted to, she had to hold herself back. She had to act somewhat nice, but show she was still very much willing to hurt him. It was a good cop bad cop act, but by herself.

“Wh-what the buck!?”

He didn’t really pay much attention to the pain, more focused on the sudden attack. She looked back at him, with annoyance riddled on her face.

“Do you think I’m stupid? I have been doing this for years, do you really think I wouldn’t know when the drug I have injected into hundreds of ponies would take effect?”

He was confused for a few seconds, until he realized what she meant. He shouldn’t have tried to lie to her when he was strapped to the table, but she was right, pain does change how you think.

“Then why would you ask me if you already knew?”

“Because I wanted to know if you would lie if you got the chance, it was a test. And, obviously, you failed. So, to show you what would happen if I caught you in a lie, I hit you. But, since that was a warning, I didn’t hit very hard, though I very much could have. There was a bonus though, you know the thing with poker, where they have a sign, called a tale when they have a bad hand? Well, this also accounts for liars. Unless a liar practices avoiding showing any signs, their body will react in some way to a lie. Luckily, you haven’t. You have a tale, and I now know what it is. So, I’ll be able to tell when you’re lying, and when you’re not.”

His eyes widened in shock, not even knowing he had a tale. But, he was also curious.

“What is it?”

She didn’t respond, simply just walked up to him and looked into his eyes, thinking what to ask first.

“If I told you, you’d just try to cover it up. But, enough with the small talk, let’s start with the questions, shall we? Not counting that one, of course.”

She looked deep into his eyes, and he looked into hers, not being able to look away. There was something…alluring about them, something in them that just made you unable to look away, but terrified you at the same time. The feeling he was getting was familiar, it felt like he was looking back into the eyes of his old boss, and that scared him.

“First question, since dear old Dash is dead, who’s in charge now?”

He hesitated, feeling anger rise in him from the lack of respect in her voice. But he pushed it back, knowing it would do nothing good.

“Well, currently, we don’t really have one. The higher ups still keep things quiet, and we employees still do our job. But, if you mean who’s giving out orders and making sure everything is organized, I would have to say Dr. Atmosphere.”

Pinkamena didn’t say anything, as she wanted to keep all her thoughts in her brain. Dr. Atmosphere, Grutch, and Bramble were talking about him before. Whoever he was, he seemed to be quite important if he’s a replacement for Rainbow Dash. She’d have to gather some information on him when she gets the chance, if she was going to fight against him, she needed to know him.

“Higher-ups? What do they do? Can you give me names?”

Again, he hesitated, hating how carefree her attitude was.

“No, I can’t. No one knows who they are. They’re randomly chosen by Rainbow Dash, or I guess Atmosphere is choosing them now. They usually choose the smartest among each generation and erase any trace of their existence. Name, family, friends, anyone outside of The Factory who knew them is killed. Anypony inside The Factory has a unicorn dissect their brain, and removes any memory relating to them.”

She didn’t say anything, but her body language was giving away her frustration. She was obviously sick of dealing with all the secrecy and lack of real answers. Sure, she’s got a name, but who’s to say that’s his real name? It’s not hard to create a false name, and there’s plenty of reason to in this kind of life.

“I would ask why you’re so easily giving away answers, but then I realize just what your situation is. Okay, next question. Outside of The Factory, who knows what really goes on there?"

He hesitated again, but this time for a different reason. He had to think on this; all employees are given basic information, the rest is gathered or rumors. There were plenty of things they didn’t fully know about; this was one of them.

“That’s…a tough one. I’m sure you’re aware Princess Celestia knows, but as for the other princesses, that’s unknown. We don’t have the slightest idea if she’s told others, as it’s not exactly something you just bring up in a situation. And, obviously, Rainbow Dash knew. Other than that, no. Well, except for the Exceptions.”

This made her curious, as she had thought Rainbow Dash was the only exception.

“Exceptions? What do you mean? Were there others who are allowed to leave due to special circumstances temporarily?”

He flinched, not out of fear, but out of rage for them.

“No, these ones don’t get to have the pleasure of working in The Factory! Those pussies were too scared to dirty their bucking hooves! So, somepony else volunteered in their place, so they didn’t have too, while the rest of us are working our asses off for Equestria! I wish I knew their names, so that I could kill them myself!”

He spoke with anger and spite, but frustrated he didn’t have anything specific to put it on. Pinkamena didn’t really respond, other than a slight movement at the spit coming to her direction from his screaming. She ignored his little outburst, not really caring about his emotional problems, and asked the next question.

“Anyway, moving on. Next question, in the last ten years, how many foals have been killed?”

“Failures! They’re failures! They’re not good enough to even be considered beings!”

He screamed once again, with just as much, maybe more anger and spite as last time.

“Ok, how many failures have been killed in the last ten years?”

He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, and neither did she. She understood this would take some time to get down to an exact number, or at least an estimate. Doing what she does as long as she has, she’s grown to be patient. Then, after three minutes, he finally spoke.

“About twenty are killed in a month, twenty times twelve is two hundred and forty. Multiply that by ten, and that’s twenty-four hundred.”

He said, emotionlessly, as if he was doing a simple math equation. Pinkamena said nothing, simply astonished at the sheer numbers. Pinkamena had been doing this for a long time and been doing it in very creative ways. And in all that time, she hadn’t come even close to that number, she counts. But, she pushed her feelings aside, she still had more questions to ask.

“How many of those were under Rainbow’s watch?”

He didn’t say anything, as he again had to think. But Pinkamena’s patience had been running out; she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold herself back. Luckily, he answered much quicker this time.

“Seventy-two percent.”

He responded just as emotionless as last time, not a single care that this was lives he was talking about. Pinkamena said nothing, didn’t need to ask how much that was. She was a smart pony; she could do simple math. Seventeen hundred and twenty-eight, Rainbow Dash had been responsible for seventeen hundred and twenty-eight lives. If Scootaloo knew, she would consider her the opposite of a hero.

Pinkamena felt the familiar feeling of betrayal and rage. She was somewhere in-between taking her rage out on the stallion in front of her, and breaking down right then and there, and she hated it! She hated these emotions she had to deal with! She just wanted them to stop! But, there was too much at stake. She couldn’t let her emotions overcome her, not here, not now. She had to keep herself preoccupied; she had to ask the next question.

“Where is-“

Before she could get her answers out, a clock on the other side of the room rang, startling them both. Pinkamena had an internal clock of sorts, with her sleeping pattern the way it is, she had to take certain…countermeasures. So, unconsciously, she counted every hour of sleep she would need to replenish the energy she spent throughout the day. She counts in other factors too, like lack of sleep or having too much energy. So, if she is busy with something, like business or pleasure. She sets the clock to the time she needs to sleep, so she can have enough energy to make it through tomorrow.

Occasionally, she’d get caught up in whatever it was she was doing, and forget it was there. While Pinkamena was a smart pony, she was also a forgetful one; her memory wasn’t always the best. She then turned away from him, picked up the cheese grater, and walked towards the sink in the room, leaving him confused.

“What was that? What? Lost your nerve?”

Pinkamena ignored him, and simply tossed the cheese grater into the sink, planning on cleaning it tomorrow. Then she began to walk behind him, seeming to be looking for something.

“That,”

She said, there was a pause in her voice as she seemed to find what she was looking for.

“was the sign that I don’t have time to play with you anymore.”

She appeared again in front of him, with a look of disappointment and boredom on her face. Disappointment because she couldn’t get the answers she wanted, and boredom because there wasn’t really anything exciting to look forward to for the rest of the night. But it wasn’t her face he was focused on, it was what was in her hooves.

It was a gun, a small, silver pistol, with the bottom part of it being black. It had a black strap attached to the bottom, which led back to a black cloth circle, which was around Pinkamena’s hoof. That circle was attached to a small line, similar to that of a trip wire. This line was wrapped around the trigger several times but was barely noticeable.

He had never seen a gun before, as neither he nor anypony at The Factory needed one. But, being as connected to The Underground as they are, of course, heard of them. The strap that was attached to the gun, which was named a Gun Ring, was used to help Pegasi and Earth ponies shoot guns. He knew that they were fast and effective, and a pistol may be the least dangerous, could kill anything just the same.

But strangely, he felt happy. While he had experienced pain, that had been dulled. Now, he was going to be killed with a gun, no pain, no suffering. Though he felt happy, he didn’t smile. That might have changed her mind, and though he had been through immense pain at The Factory, he had a feeling she would make his last moments far more agonizing.

He simply watched as she raised the gun up to his head, meeting her eyes as that signature sadistic smile came on her face. Then, as he closed his eyes, preparing for the shot he felt the gun move slightly away from his forehead, but he still felt it’s presence.

“Why aren’t you begging? I’m about to kill you and bake you and your friends into pastries, shouldn’t you be mad or afraid. Why aren’t you insulting and threatening me, or begging me to spare you?”

For a short while, that felt much longer than it was, he just stared at her, looking into her eyes. Then he smiled as if he was talking to an old friend. And for a moment, she wasn’t sure whether she broke him, or if he was already broken and just now realized it.

“Because I know ponies like you. You enjoy seeing others suffer and beg for mercy; you enjoy inflicting both physical and mental pain. You’re an insane pony with no sense of morality or empathy. So, I won’t give you the pleasure of seeing me beg or be angry at you; you’re not worth that kind of effort. Truly though, it’s a shame that you and my old boss didn’t have a true showdown. A battle between a psychotic sadist like you, and an insane monster like her, would have been…interesting to see.”

He said nothing else as he looked into her eyes, with a huge, smug smile on his face. And for once, in a situation like this, Pinkamena didn’t. She simply had a look of annoyance on hers, she was sick of everyone wanting to see them fight, but she was also slightly interested how it would have gone down if both were on equal ground.

“You know, I’ve heard that a lot lately. And as sick of it, as I am, I too would like to have seen how that would have gone down. But, I murdered her, no, I destroyed her. Your pathetic leader cried on the table you’re strapped to, as I tortured, ripped her apart and open, and broke her, physically and mentally. So, I win, you lose.”

His face contorted to that of rage, his face going red and eyes bulging out of anger. But before he had a chance to have another outburst, she shot him between the eyes. His body falling flat on the table, no longer moving. Pinkamena then sat the gun on the table and walked upstairs. She would have begun to cut straight into them and begin baking, but she was on a tight schedule. His friends were still in the cooler she had put them in, so they’d be fine. He was recently killed so that he won’t be decomposing anytime soon.

The second she got into her room, she let her body fall onto the bed. As soon as her body touched the bed, all the adrenaline, and bloodlust that was keeping her going through the day vanished. She felt exhausted; she probably couldn’t get up if she wanted to. She didn’t even bother to turn over and sleep properly, she just lied there, with her straight hair spread around the bed.

She would need all the sleep she could get, for tomorrow, she would understand exactly what she was up against, the hard way.

Chapter Three: Amicicide

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When Pinkamena woke up the next day, after very pleasurable dreams from last night, she woke up with a smile. She had lots of plans today, and she no doubt was going to have to deal with more thugs, she was hoping for it. She still felt disappointed that she wasn’t able to fully torture him last night, and that she wasn’t able to get her answers. Her mind was going into overdrive thinking of how to torture them; she was going to have to think of new ways since these guys are a bit more tolerant than her previous victims. Honestly, she loved it. She’s never had to think of new ways before, never had to use her creativity and imagination like this, it excited her.

But she couldn’t just sit in bed and think about it all day, no, it was daytime, which meant she was still Pinkie. She had a shift to get to, ponies to serve, names to know, and make sure to keep her act up. After all, ‘Pinkie’ wouldn’t miss a day of work, even if she were sick, she would push herself beyond her limits just to make other ponies happy. As much as it sickened her to act like such a child, she needed to. She couldn’t stop the act now; it’s been too long. Besides, it helped her stay hidden. No one would suspect a child of murder, even if said child had the knife in their hoofs. The advantage of such an act is just too good to give up, and it completely shocks her victims, making the act worth it. There’s no greater reaction than finding out the most innocent, childlike, trustworthy person torture you to death; it was…orgasmic.

“Pinkie! Are you awake yet? Your shifts about to start!”

Mrs. Cake knocked on her door suddenly, startling Pinkamena. She hadn’t realized she had woken up so late; she usually wakes up an hour or two before her shift. Maybe last night had taken more out of her than she thought? Either way, she had to hurry, Pinkie was never late.

“Sorry, Mrs. Cake! I got busy playing with Gummy and lost track of time; I’ll be down in a minute!”

Pinkamena said in her sickly sweet voice, the same one she’s been using for years to trick so many, perfecting it. It was really quite amazing how well she’s able to trick others, manipulating them, making them think and act the way she wanted. Sometimes, she honestly thought she was a better actor than some changelings, and acting was one of the things changelings were best at. To be able to trick and act better than a changeling, that takes an unnatural amount of talent, and Pinkamena was extremely proud of it.

But, enough thinking about useless things, she had to get ready for her shift. So, after hearing Mrs. Cake walking back down the stairs, Pinkamena did just that. She went into her bathroom, did her normal morning routine: Brushing her teeth, washing off any blood or other fluids she might have missed from last night, made sure to put makeup on any noticeable bruises, and used her brush to curl up her hair in the normal Pinkie fashion. Then, her favorite part was the smile. She couldn’t just smile any smile though; this had to be a childlike, innocent, genuine smile. Any less, then ponies will start to suspect something was wrong, and she couldn’t have that. It would cause…problems, and she had plenty of those right now.

But the secret to the smile wasn’t just to think candy and rainbows; it wasn’t that simple. You had to think of the happiest moment in your life, a moment that no matter how many times you think about it, it always brings a smile to your face. And keep that moment in your head, no matter what. That was the only way to keep a real smile on her face, and it’s worked so far. That moment for Pinkamena, was her first time. Which was also the same time she lost her virginity, it was the best night of her life, without a doubt.

His name was Sparkling Stream, and he was both her first, and last crush. She stopped having romantic feelings for anyone after him; she stopped feeling and doing a lot of things after him. Both of them were teenagers when it happened, the prime of their lives, but only one of them lived on to enjoy it. He was tall and strong, at least as a teenager. He had average looks and intelligence; he was a normal pony. He had a brown coat and mane, his green eyes sticking out because of this. He had a very bold face, with his sharp chin and strong nose, matching his personality. His cutie mark was a hoof ball, something he had discovered while playing sports. He later joined the team, becoming one of the best players in the school. What caught Pinkamena’s eye though, was his personality.

He was a very nice pony, and something about the way he talked and acted just made him so alluring and interesting. But, for whatever reason, he had taken an interest in her. They had begun to talk almost every day, becoming friends. This was when Pinkamena had come back from her journey to see the world; she wanted to spend more time with her family, though this was temporary. While this was the main reason, it wasn’t the only one. This was in her more…innocent days, where she thought killing and such was wrong, it’s almost laughable now. Her bloodlust was already there before, but she hadn’t killed yet, so it wasn’t as strong. For years, she was able to keep it tamed with animals and such, as much as it pained her. But when she got into her teens, her hormones had started. Bloodlust and hormones combined was a terrible combination, almost as bad as emotions. So when they started hitting her, not only did her already crazy sexual urge increase, so did her bloodlust. She was slowly starting to lose control of herself, which, eventually, she did, becoming what she is today. So, to control herself, she moved back with her family. After all, it’s easier to kill someone you don’t know, than someone who loves you. It did help, for a while. Then, she met Sparkling, making self-control a fading idea. Pinkamena never did have that much self-control, at least not back then. But her innocence and morals held her back, but not forever. It wasn’t one big event or anything like that made her lose control, it was something that happened over time. It was much like leaving the water on with a cup under it, slowly, the water filled up the cup. Every single day, filling up more and more, pushing it closer to its limit. Until one day, the cup either overflows or breaks. In this scenario, the cup broke after being overflown.

One day, at school, Pinkamena exploded. She saw him that day, and she just couldn’t take it anymore. So, she seduced him into the janitor's closet and did it there. He resisted at first, but he eventually gave in. They bucked for nearly an hour, both to the point of exhaustion. She never said anything, the only sounds coming out of her were moans, no words. But when they finished, she only acted exhausted. She didn’t intend to just sleep with him; she was going to kill him. Without any warning, she pulled a knife she had always kept on her and stabbed him. But it didn’t kill him; she didn’t want it too.

She instead stabbed him in the stomach, as Pinkamena knew that being stabbed in the stomach was one of the most painful deaths there was. It was slow and painful; it could take up to hours before finally bleeding out, not from experience, just from movies and books. His face wasn’t that of pain though, despite there no doubt he was in an immense amount of it. Instead, his face showed betrayal and disbelief. His pupils were dilated, his breathing was erratic as he sweat profusely, he said nothing. He simply just looked her in the eyes, no fear, no rage, nothing. Pinkamena, on the other hand, felt quite different. She was also looking into his eyes, with a huge smile on her face. A huge, malicious, sadistic smile, which stretched from one side of her face to the other. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth, licking the blood off of the knife, every last drop. She felt joyful and relieved. Relieved that she finally released, making her feel relaxed.

For who knows how long, they just stared at each other, neither saying anything. But, finally, when Sparkling realized his time was almost up, he said something. He said three words, words that took all of the emotion out of her, three words that broke her.

“I love you.”

Those were his final breaths, his final words, his final anything. After that, Pinkamena just laughed, not caring if anyone heard her or not. But, she got lucky, no one had. So, after successfully hiding his body, she started what she was doing today. The torturing and cannibalism is something that developed later on when she had decided to start experimenting. But no matter what she’s done or will do, that memory will always stay her favorite and the one that will always make her smile.

So, after her perfect fake smile came on, and remembering where she was and what she was doing, she nearly ran out the door. Luckily, she didn’t spend too long in nostalgia; the store hadn’t opened yet. She quickly walked towards the door, opening it, and began to walk out. But before she could, something happened, something bad. Her entire body shook violently; the entire world seemed to shake, it was worse than an earthquake. It only lasted a few seconds, but the effect was still there.

Pinkamena then filled with fear and some anxiety. What she just experienced was a doozy, and it meant something big was going to happen, something bad. She doesn’t have doozies often, but when she does, it’s usually something life-threatening, sometimes even worse. Which meant it was either going to happen to her, or someone in Ponyville, most likely someone in Ponyville. Considering how much Ponyville comes under attack or is in danger, it’s probably another monster attack or something. Then again, monster attacks have happened before without a doozy, so why would this time be any different? Whatever it was, Pinkamena didn’t have time to think about it; she had a job to get to.

Pinkamena ran out of the room, bouncing her way down the stairs, acting normal. She didn’t want to worry about it, all it would do was make her anxious. She decided to just go through her day normally; she had enough to worry about already without worrying about the future. She was determined not to let it bother her; she had to be carefree, she had to be happy, she had to be Pinkie.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For whatever reason, it was a pretty slow business day. There were usually tons of ponies that came to Sugarcube Corner every day, either to see Pinkie or because of their pastries. But today, it was very slow. It was so slow, Pinkamena wondered if this was the doozy. That this would happen from now on, and Sugarcube Corner would go out of business. But, she decided that couldn’t be it, the Pinkie Sense was never that simple.

The worst part about it though was the boredom. Pinkamena may have hated a lot of things, but boredom was by far one of the worst. Sure, it was annoying pretending to be an immature child, but at least she was entertained. But with boredom, she was left with her thoughts. She didn’t like that, not one bit. The voices were there, waiting for her, wanting her. Sure, she liked to talk them about various things, when she was working. But when she was alone or bored, they changed. They were more…disturbed, detailed, demonic. It was one of the few times she was ever scared, that’s why she didn’t like not to be working, or be alone.

Then, to Pinkamena’s joy, the bell to the bakery rang. Making her snap out of her thoughts quickly, putting on her smile once again. But the customers made her smile leave her face, her hair nearly going fully flat right then and there. Her emotions were bouncing all over the place; she was shaken to the core. The first customer who came in was one of her ‘friends,’ Fluttershy. Surprisingly, considering her personality, she seemed happy. A smile on her face, which would usually be hard to see because she hid it behind her hair. But she was eagerly speaking to the pony beside her, which was probably why she was happy. But what shook her wasn’t Fluttershy’s personality, it was who she was talking to. She was talking to a ghost, someone who shouldn’t be here, someone who shouldn’t be anywhere. Rainbow Dash.

She was normal, happy, even. She seemed to be laughing at something, probably a foal hood story only her and Fluttershy would know. There were no scratches or wounds on her body, nothing even remotely indicating she’d been tortured. Her wings were still intact, her cutie mark unharmed and still on her flank. Everything about her seemed normal, like nothing happened, like their party never happen. And that both shook, and enraged Pinkamena. For once, she had no words or jokes. She had nothing to say or do, she could do nothing but stare.

Pinkamena did nothing, her body slowly losing the look of joy and laughter, morphing into its normal self, it’s real self. She wasn’t losing her entire joyful appearance; she was still partially aware of her surroundings. She tried her hardest to keep up her look, but it just wasn’t working. Her hair was deflated, her smile was obviously fake, her colors were darker, but not faded. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t. Her mask was slipping, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

As Fluttershy and Rainbow approached, Pinkamena got more and more anxious. Fluttershy’s face slowly changed from happy to worried the closer she got, while Rainbow remained smiling, but differently. It was more malicious, sadistic, dark; it was the smile of a knowing killer. It enraged her even further; it was getting harder and harder to hold herself back. Her face was getting angrier now, despite how much she tried otherwise.

“P-pinkie? Are you okay? You seem…bothered by something.”

Fluttershy said softly, Pinkamena barely noticing, as she was keeping eye contact with Dash. Fluttershy shivered, the tension in the room was immense. It was heavy and thick, making the once joyful atmosphere feel menacing. The tension in the room was so intense, the few ponies in the bakery could feel it from the other side, making them feel uncomfortable and scared. It wasn't just the tension either, it was the look on their faces, though only Fluttershy could see them. Rainbow had a wide, confident, malicious smile on her face, which would have intimidated anyone. Pinkie seemed like she was experiencing a lot of emotions, her face was contorted into a very stressed and angry face. Her smile was obviously fake, her eyes focused on Rainbow, a look in her eyes Fluttershy couldn't pinpoint. What scared her the most though, wasn't the tension, or the look on their faces, it was them. Those looks were coming from her foal hood friend and the most innocent pony she knew, that's what terrified her.

“I-I’m f-fine Fluttershy, j-just had a bad cupcake, that’s all.”

Pinkamena could barely speak properly, the emotions swirling inside her making it hard to concentrate. Even if she could, she doubted she could talk like Pinkie. Pinkie usually talked randomly and in a high pitch, joyful, random voice. But Pinkamena was too distracted to even think of anything to say, and she was creative. She was sure the act was failing, considering what happened last time her mask fell, that was a horrible thing. She needed to go, now. If she didn’t, she would surely break, and that would cause unforeseeable problems.

“Really? But Pinkie, I thought you were really good at making cupcakes. I mean, when I came over the other day to help you make cupcakes, you seemed to enjoy making them. You had a huge smile on your face, and we did so many fun things! And the cupcakes we made turned out great! I hope we can make cupcakes together again.”

Pinkamena couldn’t hold herself back anymore; her smile had dropped, her act had dropped. This didn’t seem to intimidate her at all, if anything, it seemed to make her happier. Her smile stretched farther, her eyes expanding, making her smile seem less innocent. This just made Pinkamena angrier, it took every ounce of will and self-control not to slice her throat right then and there, and she was a very controlled mare. Pinkamena couldn’t decide what angered her more, the look on Rainbow’s face, or not knowing how and why she was still alive.

Poor Fluttershy couldn’t do anything; she was far too shy and ignorant of the situation to know what to do. Fluttershy wasn’t a pony person; she wasn’t good at socializing or dealing with two friends fighting. She couldn’t do anything right now, all she could do was hope nothing would happen. She wanted to stop them, to see what the problem was and get them to stop fighting, to make them friends again. But she couldn’t, that was more like something Twilight would do, not her. The best thing she could do right now got what she came for and went, and to ask Twilight for help. If she wasn’t too busy, that is.

“P-Pinkie? If it’s not too much trouble, do you think you could make a carrot cake for me? Angel’s birthday is coming soon, and I know how much he likes carrots, so I just thought he might like a cake made out of them if that's not too much trouble.”

In the middle of her sentence, Pinkamena had slowly begun to look at her, her face showing nothing but annoyance. This scared Fluttershy even further, she had never seen a look like that on Pinkie’s face, especially not directed towards her. It scared and intimidated her so badly; she had tried to hide her face in her hair, her speaking beginning to slow down and become quieter. She eventually crouched onto the floor under Pinkamena’s gaze, using her hooves to cover her head. Pinkamena said nothing; she couldn’t say anything. If she said anything, just one thing, she might explode.

“Pinkie, what’s with that look? You seem annoyed, is it all that much to ask? I mean, if it helps you need, I’d be happy to put some blood and sweat to help you. C’mon, help a mare out. I’d hate for you to deny poor little Fluttershy, it would hurt her feelings. And you wouldn’t want to hurt anyone, would you?”

Fluttershy was more confused; she had never seen Rainbow act like this. Rainbow was always brash, confident, and straightforward. She would have been angry at Pinkie for treating her like that, maybe even instigating a fight. But the way she was acting now, was in contrast to how she usually was. She seemed calm, calculating like she knew something nopony else knew, she was acting like Discord. Pinkie was acting differently too, but she hadn’t talked yet, so Fluttershy wasn’t sure how. But she was getting more and more anxious, the tension was growing every second, it was starting to get suffocating.

Pinkamena had seemed to get even angrier if that was possible. She began to grind her teeth, seeming barely able to hold herself back. She seemed to be on the very edge, and anything can push her off. But, surprisingly, she spoke.

“Sure! I’d love to make you a carrot cake, Fluttershy! We’re low on carrots right now though, so it might take a few days before we can make you one. Is that okay?”

Her voice was perfect; it sounded exactly like Pinkie, it was scary. Despite her angered face and body language, and the immense amount of tension still in the room, she still sounded like Pinkie. Which made Fluttershy think, if she could sound like that while like this, how many times has she pretended to be okay? In her confusion and terror, she almost forgot to answer.

“Um, yeah, t-that’s fine. I’d like to pay for it whenever it’s made instead of early if that’s okay with you?”

Fluttershy could barely speak, too afraid to look at her directly.

“Okey Dokey Lokey, what about you, Dash? Did you want anything?”

Rainbow didn’t say anything for a few seconds; she seemed to be thinking about something. She was surprised; she had been fully expecting Pinkie to lash out at her, at least, that was the plan. But she seemed to have underestimated Pinkie’s tolerance, that’s fine, Rainbow had planned for this, she always kept backup plans.

“Nah, I just came to see if you needed help making cupcakes again. But if you don’t, I got to go; I promised to help Scootaloo with some stunts. Make sure to call me if you change your mind though; I’ll be here in a heartbeat.”

With that Rainbow flew out of the bakery, Fluttershy doing the same, but much slower, and didn’t actually fly. Pinkie though didn’t move, not yet anyway. No, she waited, and waited, and waited. She waited until everypony in the bakery had left, mostly because the remaining tension still in the room made the atmosphere very uncomfortable. The second the last pony left, she blasted to the door, locking and flipping the sign to close. She then wrote a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Cake about Fluttershy’s request; they had gone to get some ingredients that they needed.

She then pressed the button hidden under a loose board, unlocking the basement, which she rushed to get into, nearly forgetting to press the button on the other side of it that closed the door. She was too busy thinking, her emotions already distracting her enough. Her face represented her emotions perfectly, but no one was around to see it. Rage, disbelief, annoyance, despair, and strangely, joy, she didn’t really understand the last one. But didn’t really have time to think, she needed to check something, something important.

She didn’t pay any attention to anything in her basement; she had a higher priority. Instead, she focused on a door to the left of the room, where she kept her projects. It was a white door, with a bronze doorknob, about half the size of the roof. It had a small white sign on it, which said ‘ In progress projects.’ Which was exactly what it was, a bunch of projects and ideas Pinkamena has had over the years, though she rarely has time to work on them.

She quickly opened the door and ran in, looking around for something in specific. When she couldn’t find it, despite everything being incredibly organized, she began to toss things around in search of it.

“Where is it!? Where did he put it? That buck probably took it with him to show to his guy friends! I swear, I’m going to castrate that piece of shit the next time I see him!”

She growled, hoping that was the reason she couldn’t find it. Her frustration grew every second she couldn’t find it, feeding her anger, making her mood worse. After a few minutes of completely tearing apart the room, resulting in multiple toys, tools, weapons, and many other things, she gave up. She had searched every single inch of space in this room, and it wasn’t a huge room. She couldn’t find it; she just could find Rainbow’s body. She was about to walk out of the room and find Grutch. Until suddenly, she saw something out of the corner of her eye, something that didn’t belong. It was a small, clean, white piece of paper. It seemed to have something written on it, which wasn’t in Pinkamena’s hoof writing.

What made this strange wasn’t what it was, but where it was. Other than the sign on the door, there weren’t any pieces of paper in the basement. Especially not in here, Pinkamena had near perfect memory, she didn’t need notes or journals. So, curiosity replacing her anger and frustration, she walked over to the piece of paper. From the way it was written, it seemed to be a letter.

Dear Pinkamena.

Hi! It’s your best friend, Rainbow Dash! I appreciate you taking such good care of me, but, as you can see, I had to go. As much as I enjoyed our time together, I couldn’t stay. As leader of The Rainbow Factory, I have many responsibilities and things to do; I’m sure you’d understand. Also, don’t blame Grutch or Bramble for this, they were outnumbered, they didn’t have much of choice. Don’t worry about them though; they’re still alive, I made a promise to The Underground not to involve them in this. This isn’t over; I hope you realize that you’ve started a war. Who am I kidding? It’ll be a massacre! You’re completely by yourself! You may be good in combat and with weapons, but I like to think anything can be outnumbered. So Pinkie, I recommend you find yourself some allies. I’m only giving you advice as an old friend, also because you’re the first threat we’ve had in awhile, I’d hate for you to be a disappointment. So, please, entertain me.

Love, Rainbow Dash

Pinkamena said nothing as she read the letter, she just stood there, feeling nothing, thinking nothing, just standing. Then, a smile stretched across her face. It was wider than any smile she’s had before; she’s never felt such joy. She then began to laugh maniacally, as the letter dropped from her hooves. Her eyes were dilated, her body shaking with absolute excitement.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash! I love you! Not only do you make puns about your torture, but you brag and toy with me like a predator with its food! I’ve only dreamed of meeting someone like you! This is going to be wonderful! I can’t wait to rip apart your henchman piece by piece! To watch the fear in their eyes as I torture them to death! But you! You I’ll let live! I’ll let you watch as I rip apart your precious factory! I’ll make sure to break you and build you back up, just to break you again! I’m going to make you my bitch!”

Pinkamena screamed at nopony in particular, no longer able to hold herself back. She began to laugh again, feeling her body overcome with emotions. The war everyone had anticipated was going to happen, and it started here.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow hadn’t flown far from Sugarcube corner; she just flew fast to make it seem like she was. Instead, she had flew onto the roof of a nearby building, with a grim look on her face. On the roof waiting for her were three ponies, all in the same suits of the ponies that had attacked Pinkamena. They had hidden behind a chimney crown, wide enough to hide all three of them. They were able to see the bakery from where they were, which is why that spot was chosen. When Rainbow had landed on the roof, they had slowly come out from the crown, going into a line in front of her.

“Ms. Dash, what happened to the plan?”

One of them said, worry in their voice. The others said nothing, waiting for her response.

“It seems I miscalculated; she didn’t lunge at me like I thought she would. No matter, I called it plan A for a reason. There are twenty-five other letters of the alphabet, but we’ll only need one, B.”

The others looked at each other in confusion; they hadn’t discussed a plan B, they usually don’t need to.

“And what is plan B, Ms. Dash?”

Rainbow turned around and looked at the bakery, a smile stretching across her face.

“We wait, we can’t do this in the day, secrecy still takes top priority. So, we wait. It will only be a few hours until night time; then we’ll strike. I’ve taken precautions to make sure the Cakes will be gone for a few more hours than expected, but we’ll only be in there for a few minutes. I’m still not positive she’s alone; I don’t like taking chances. Then, like the first plan, we’ll take her to The Factory. We’ll ask her some questions, attempt to convert her if possible. But, if we can’t, we let her go. We have to learn if she’s truly alone or not, by letting her go, we’ll know. When we have, we’ll kill her and any possible allies she may have. You can hurt her, just nothing fatal, understood?”

The three ponies behind her nodded their heads, confirming they understood. Though, they didn’t realize they were being lied to. Well, not really lied to, more like half-truths. Rainbow knew Pinkamena was alone in this; she knew her type, she didn’t trust anyone. But she’ll have to make allies now, whether she liked it or not. Rainbow didn’t like to take chances, that was true. But, because of all the things they’ve been through together, she was going to make an exception. Everything else she had told them was true; she didn’t like to lie to her coworkers.

Even if she didn’t know, she’d still let her live. She should have read the letter by now, which meant she was preparing. But she wouldn’t try to get allies until tomorrow after she knew exactly what she was getting into. Rainbow wanted a challenge, something to excite her, to push her, to make her heart pump, she wanted an enemy. That part wasn’t an act; this was going to the most fun she’s had in a long time.

Chapter Four: The Monster And The Devil.

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It had been three hours since Rainbow Dash had told her underlings to wait, glad her discipline tactics were working. As effective as they are at being discreet with these things, Rainbow wasn’t stupid. This was an enemy that was probably expecting them; they knew little to nothing about her, she was a highly known social figure, and, while almost positive, she wasn’t sure she was alone.

Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t wait until night to strike. But considering everything, they needed every single advantage they could get, numbers may not be enough against this specific opponent. It was more than just being sure though; this situation was personal to her. Yes, she had lied to all of her friends, but that wasn’t her being disloyal. She had no choice in telling them, so she could do nothing else but protect them. Other than that, she was nothing but loyal to them. While her behavior was fake, her actions were not. On some level, she did care about all of them. Especially Fluttershy and Pinkie, she cared for those two more than the rest.

But now, she had been betrayed. By Laughter, no less. There were only two people she truly cared about, two people she had called friends. And one of them tortured and killed her, despite everything. Being the Element of Loyalty, she saw betrayal as one of the worst sins that can be committed. It filled her with rage and loathing, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. She was going to use every ounce of power she had to make Pinkie suffer. But, to do that she needed patience.

“Ma’am, the open sign has been changed to close, the street lights have been turned out, and it’s nearly curfew. I believe now would be the time to strike, but if you disagree, we will wait for further instructions.”

Rainbow Dash had been leaning against a chimney on top of the roof they were waiting on, her arms were crossed, and her eyes were closed in thought. She was wearing the same kind of clothing her coworkers were, as blue wasn’t exactly a hard to see color. It covered every inch of her body; the only difference was that her eyes were more visible. She had told them to wait until night, but she hadn’t honestly expected them to be so eager. Then again, it has been a long time since The Factory has had a real enemy. Something that posed a real threat, that had killed one of their own. If she were in the position she was, she’d probably be excited too.

But, since this was technically her fault for trusting someone, she had to handle it quickly and quietly. Besides, she wasn’t expecting much. Most killers who tie down and torture their victims, either don’t like to fight, or can’t. She didn’t think that Pinkie would put up much of a fight, the ponies with her were really just a precaution, can never be too careful.

“No, you’re right, there’s no need. Attacking now would make the most sense, good work. Now, here’s the plan:”

Rainbow lazily got up, shaking her body a bit, as her body was somewhat stiff. She began to walk to the edge of the roof, looking down at Sugarcube Corner as the final lights began to turn off.

“She’s most likely not in her room, or really anywhere in there. There’s a hidden basement in there somewhere, that’s where she took me. But I was drugged when she took me, so I haven’t the slightest idea where it is exactly. It was the middle of the day when she drugged me, and Pinkie’s not stupid, she wouldn’t try to drag an unconscious Pegasus through Ponyville, so the basement must be in there somewhere.

The plan is straightforward, I will go through the main entrance, in case she’s waiting for me. She thinks I’m alone, and that’s where you guys come in. As I said before, it would be better if I don’t personally know your identities. But, since you’re all employees, you already know who I am. So, I will address you with numbers.”

Her voice was strong and commanding, the voice of a leader with years of experience. She turned around and pointed her hoof towards the closest one, making them startle. The way the suits are made, they completely cover any and all size or physical differences. Using certain alteration spells, it made the wearer the size of the average pony. The only things allowed were wings and horns so that users won’t be an issue.

There were three of them in total, all of them were standing in a line behind her, the discipline they’d gone through showing results. The suits had been the same ones used on the ponies sent after Pinkie, with black cloth effectively covering their bodies, making it near impossible to identify them. There was mask inside the suit for further protection, with holes in the mask so they could see.

“You will be number one, the one besides you will be two, and the one besides you will be three. Remember your numbers, as that’s what I’ll call you for the remainder of this mission.”

After being startled the first time, they hadn’t responded in any other way. Other than the nod from each of them when she gave them their numbers, they stayed completely still. They were trained not to show emotions of any kind because emotions were weakness, and weakness wasn’t tolerated.

“Number one, I want you to go through a window on the highest floor. But don’t break it, we can’t leave any traces. Make sure to find the stairs and hide in them, don’t come out until I tell you. There’s a slight chance she’ll be sleeping in her room, if she is, make sure she stays asleep. But don’t kill her, there are still things she has to answer for.

Number two, I want you to go in through the kitchen. Pinkie could be in the kitchen getting a snack or something, if she is, take her down. You’re also responsible in case she tries to run through the backdoor in the kitchen, which is how you’ll be entering.

Number three, you’ll be the reserves. I want you to wait near the entrance, in case she tries to run away, which I expect. In the scenario we all fail, which is practically impossible, you’ll come in. I don’t want you to attack immediately; she’d still be on guard. Wait until she starts dragging us somewhere else, and when she does, strike. She’ll both be tired from fighting, and not expect to be attacked again. But, don’t worry, that scenario won’t happen. Pinkie is the kind of killer who fights, as she ties down all her victims. She won’t want to fight; she’ll be too afraid. Now, do all of you understand your roles?”

All of them nodded in response, each understanding their individual role in every scenario, prepared to complete the mission no matter what happens.

“Good. Now, on the count of three, I want all of you to do what I told you, while I’ll go through the front entrance. One,”

Rainbow Dash quickly turned around, facing Sugarcube Corner.

“Two,”

Rainbow began to slowly lower herself down, looking like a predator ready to pounce. Her wings were slowly beginning to stretch out as she prepared to take off, the ponies behind her doing the same thing.

“Three!”

On cue, all of them split off in their own directions. Each going to their specified location, doing so as quickly as possible. Rainbow went straight towards the entrance, her body going almost too fast to see. She needed this mission to go smoothly. But, some part of her wanted Pinkie to fight. She wanted a challenge; she wanted something that could be a real threat, she wanted to feel the rush of not knowing whether you’ll come out on top or not. She knew it was unlikely that Pinkie would put up any fight, but the idea put a smile on her face.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow slowly opened the doors to the bakery, making sure not to let the bell ring. It took a lot of effort, considering how sensitive the bell was, but she managed. She quickly slipped her body past the door, making little to no sound as she did so. She wasn’t very experienced in infiltration missions, but she did know how to get in and out of places quickly.

The first thing she noticed about the place is how dark it was, she’s been here after hours before, and it wasn’t usually this dark. Though, it did work to their advantage, which didn’t make it any less suspicious. It was almost too dark to see, she was only able to make out big objects from a distance, and it was mostly their outlines. And while she and the other could adjust, they’re vulnerable until they do. Rainbow hated being vulnerable.

She stopped moving for a few minutes, wanting to wait until she adjusted before she bumped into something and gave away her location. She hoped the others would do the same; it would suck to lose them to such a stupid mistake. This wasn’t their first mission, nor would it be their last. But this was the first time they’d had orders to kill another pony, one that wasn’t a Pegasus. While they had been told just to incapacitate her, they knew she was going to die. Nothing that isn’t a Pegasus ever leaves The Factory alive, especially not an enemy that killed one of their own. She was going to die, one way or another.

After adjusting to the dark, Rainbow took a look around. Everything seemed normal; the chairs were stacked on the tables, all of the candy was on the shelves behind the counters, it all seemed normal, which was the exact issue. Rainbow was expecting Pinkie to be hiding in the dark waiting to pounce, or maybe even under one of the tables or behind one of the counters. But this complete silence in the room was something she wasn’t expecting; it was almost disturbing. Killers like her tend to use things like the dark to their advantage; her entire plan was based on Pinkie being here.

Rainbow checked every possible hiding place, and even some impossible, this was Pinkie Pie, after all. She had to be sure she wasn’t here, because if she was, and they started looking somewhere else, it would be too easy for her to kill them one by one. She had to be positive Pinkie wasn’t in here, because if she didn’t, it could mean the lives of her and her team.

As Rainbow was walking in the dark, her hoof hit something on the ground. It was hard and cold; it felt like it was sticking out. She lowered her head to try to see where and what it was, it was dark, so she needed to get close to see it. What she found, was one of the floorboards protruding from the floor, it would be entirely noticeable in the daylight.

It wasn’t just a random board either, the closer she looked at it, the more she noticed there was something under it. She couldn’t make out what it was, it was small and round, and seemed to be embedded into the floor under the board. She slowly began to move her hoof towards it; she needed to know what it was, she didn’t take risk.

As soon as she touched it, it quickly lowered down, and then rose up again. This made her retract her hoof, as the sudden movement triggered her reflexes.

“It seems like a button or switch of some kind, and I just pressed it. It doesn’t seem to be a trap, since it would have activated by now. Then what does it do?”

She said in a silent voice, almost quizzically. As soon as she said that, she heard a shifting noise nearby. It seemed to be coming from behind the counter, the sudden noise had startled her, but she somewhat expected it. She peered into the darkness to see what it was, and her eyes widened when she saw it.

The cabinets behind the counter that held the candy began to move away from each other, making a lot of noise while doing it. It took a few minutes before they stopped, but when they did, they revealed a wooden door in the area they were moving away from. This amazed her; she hadn’t seen a hidden door this well hidden for a while.

“So, that’s where your secret basement is, Pinkie. Well done.”

She said in a somewhat louder voice, now confident Pinkie wasn’t in here, she was down there. She was most likely preparing for them and wasn’t expecting them to be here already. She suspected her team had heard the noises, but they were given orders not to do anything until she said so, so, they were probably waiting for her.

She walked toward the counter in front of her; then she tapped on it with her hoof a few times. Everyone in The Factory was taught morse code, in the scenario they couldn’t talk for some reason. She just used morse code to tell them it was okay to come out, she could have just said so, but she wanted to test them.

Like moths to a flame, they all began coming to her. It was hard to make them out in the dark, but since she knew where they were coming from, she only had to pay attention. The first one to get to her first was number three from outside, number two from the kitchen, and then number one from the stairs. When they all came together, she could guess they were probably confused. Before they asked any questions, she pointed towards the door. They quickly understood and waited for her orders.

“This does change the plan somewhat, I thought she just had a basement around here I hadn’t seen before, I wasn’t expecting it to be hidden like this. If we go in there, there will be only one way out. Which means she could easily trap us in. But if she doesn’t, and she tries to run, we may not be able to block the entrance in time. Either way, this is in her favor.

The best scenario I can see going for us would be to leave one of us out here, so they could reopen it in case we get trapped, or stop Pinkie from escaping.”

She then shifted her gaze to the pony on her left, which was number three.

“Number three, since that was originally your job, I’ll give you this one. Somewhere around there is a piece of the floorboard that’s sticking out, walk around there and you should find it eventually. Under it is a button, pressing it will make the cabinets slowly open.”

She pointed her hoof to an area a few feet from her, looking at number three as she did so.

“Also, there was a third scenario, same as before. There’s a slight chance she could somehow kill us, but since you’re out here, you would have no way of knowing. So, I’ll set a time. It shouldn’t take us longer than fifteen minutes. As soon as the fifteen minutes are up, I want you to come down slowly and assume the worst. But since she’s most likely not a fighter, that scenario won’t happen. Do you understand your role?”

The pony known as number three slowly shook their head, knowing full well just how important their part was. Rainbow then looked at the ponies in front of her, using her head to gesture them towards the door, understanding she wanted them to go first. They nodded towards her and began to walk towards it, Rainbow following behind them. When they got to the door, they still kept formation. Number one slowly opened the door, with number two behind him, prepared for the chance of something being on the other side. Rainbow Dash had decided to stay a few feet behind; there was no such thing as too safe. After waiting a few seconds to make sure, Rainbow made a gesture for them to look in.

Slowly and cautiously, they did. And what they saw down there looked like something out of a horror movie, it was almost cliché. The first thing they saw when they looked was stairs, lots of stairs. From the top, it seemed to be an endless amount of gray, stone stairs going down. It wasn’t entirely dark though, every few feet down, there seemed to be a torch, which just made it more cliché.

Rainbow walked toward them, herself curious what was behind the door. When she saw what was on the other side, for a split second, she nearly chuckled. This was exactly something Pinkie Pie would do; it was almost comedic. But then she remembered why she was there, which made her boiling rage resurface.

She shoved number one, being a bit more forceful than she meant, the spike of rage she felt making her push harder. He grunted as he tumbled toward, barely able to catch himself. One looked back at her for a few seconds, but said nothing, knowing better. One began to walk down the stairs, number two following behind.

Rainbow waited a few seconds after they went down, she couldn’t mark out the possibility of traps. After they seemed to travel down the stairs safely, she suppressed her rage, calmed herself down, and began to follow behind.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The stairs were actually a lot shorter than she expected it to be, it looked a lot longer than it actually was. It was probably some optical trick with the torches, or maybe something with the stairs. Whatever it was, it worked. It only took about two minutes to get to the bottom, and they weren’t going fast either. At the bottom of the stairs was pretty much what she expected, a wooden door similar to the one at the top of the stairs, except the pattern on the front was a bit different. Instead of the curvy lines on the front like the one at the top, this one had three vertical lines going down it. Like the door up top, they carefully opened the door. With number one slowly opening the door and number two hovering behind, Rainbow Dash still on the stairs being cautious.

Like the door on top, nothing was behind, no traps, no corrupt laughter, nothing. This was actually starting to worry her; the tension was seriously bothering her.

“Move in slowly and carefully, she has to be in here; there’s nowhere else she could be. Traps are still possible, so watch where you walk.” Rainbow said diligently, knowing any minute know, Pinkie would appear.

They nodded in response and began to enter the room. The room was bigger than it looked, which wasn’t really surprising considering this was Pinkie Pie. Walking in, the first thing anyone would see is the torture table. It was immensely clean, no blood stains or fur on it anywhere. The table was spotless; the straps seemed brand new, it didn’t seem like it was used at all. It was clean, even by The Factory’s standards.

Rainbow stared at the table for a bit; memories began to flood back. The feeling of her wings getting ripped off, being electrocuted, seeing her insides, the immense pain, everything.

“No,” Rainbow quickly turned her head the other direction, as she whispered quickly to herself. “Focus on the present, not the past. You haven’t thought about it yet, with everything going on, and you will later. But now is not the time, focus Dash!” She said to herself quietly, trying to convince herself.

The others didn’t seem to notice, as they were too busy studying the room around them. Number one had gone to the right side of the room, where dozens of heads were mounted on the walls like trophies. One was walking along beside them, looking up and studying each one. It didn’t seem to be just ponies either; there were Timberwolves, changelings, a griffon and a minotaur, and numerous other things. This astonished One, this wasn’t the work of just some pony gone mad, this was the work of a professional.

The amount of detail on each one, the placing, even the cleanness! It would take years of experience and trial and error to kill these many creatures and do all this; Pinkie wasn’t just some amateur, she has been doing this for a long time. One was seriously beginning to think there was a story behind all this; there’s no way she could have gotten all the supplies to do these things herself, she would have needed tools, the plaques, cleaning supplies, and so many other various things that would raise suspicion if one pony bought. There had to be someone else; there’s no way she could have gotten all these supplies on her own.

One considered telling Rainbow their thoughts, but realized now wouldn’t have been the time, considering the situation. One made sure to tell her later, it was something too important not to mention. They decided to continue looking at the heads, seeing if any missing Pegasi were among them, for Pinkie’s sake, there better not be.

Two had gone to the left side of the room, noticing something gleaming in the dark. The room was fairly well lit, but, for whatever reason, that area of the room was darker than the rest. Considering the detail of the room, there was bound to be a lamp of some sort around somewhere. Two fumbled their hooves around in the dark area in front of them, hitting something hard. The first time they hit it, they pulled back, but after realizing they had hit an object, they began to fumble again. Suddenly, they hit something else. It felt different than the table, it was made out of a smaller material and was round. Two began to rub their hooves over the object, trying to figure out what it was. Unexpectedly, they pressed a button on it. After making a clicking noise, light exploded from the object they were just touching, causing their pupils to dilate and hoofs to retract.

After blinking their eyes a few times, they looked at the object again. Like they had suspected, it was a lamp. The base was round and blue, while the shade was like a curtain and pink. There was a bright lightbulb under the shade, looking clean and brand new. The button they had pressed was right under the shade, which was a pretty small button. Looking around the table, they realized this wasn’t just some random wooden table.

In the top left corner, beside the lamp, there was a small, yellow alarm clock. It seemed to be set on something, the small hand was on twelve, while the long hand was on the three. It wasn’t that late, so, it had to be on a timer for something. But for what? There wasn’t anything around there that looked like it needed a timer, it didn’t make any sense. Two decided not to think about it too much; there were other things on the table to look at.

In the middle of the table, was a sink. At first, it didn’t make any sense why there was a sink. But after noticing just how clean everything in the room was, they realized if Pinkie liked to keep her environment clean, then she probably wanted to stay clean herself. The sink had a bar on top of the faucet, with little inscriptions in it that told which way to turn for cold or hot water. The sink parts itself was white and spotless, like everything else in here, it seemed brand new.

On the right of the table, which was the biggest part of the table, seemed to be the working area. The left side of the table and the sink were like squares, while the right side was like a big rectangle. It looked big enough to hold a pony body, with a little bit of space left. There seemed to be drawers right under that part of the table, three, to be exact. Out of curiosity, Two decided to open each one individually.

The first drawer had knives in them; lot’s of knives. That’s all that was in there, knives of all shapes and sizes, all put in some kind of order that Two couldn’t tell. It wasn’t all just one kind of knife either, kitchen knives, butcher knives, carving knives, even some surgical scalpels, no idea how she managed to get those. The knives looked very well sharpened, to the point where it seemed dangerous just to touch, Pinkie really did take care of her things. If only she took care of her friends the same, maybe she wouldn’t be in this situation.

The second drawer was filled with something else entirely, syringes and medicine bottles. Five or six of them, with bottles for each one. The smallest one was on top, while the largest one was on the bottom, organized like the knives. Each syringe had a label on it, presumably for which kind of victim. The first was a pony; a second was a changeling, third was griffon, fourth was a minotaur, fifth just said emergency on it. If Two had to guess, these weren’t meant for just those specifically. They have probably meant for things that size, but those names were given as examples. But since Changelings and ponies were the same sizes, it was probably only different because of their natural toxin resistant.

Each of the bottles had different medical names on them, but two wasn’t even going to attempt to pronounce them, the length and amount of words were intimidating. The syringes, expectedly, were extremely clean. The medicine even seemed freshly bought, as the liquid that can be seen in the bottle was near the top.

The third drawer was full of a variety of things, likely tools for projects. There was a hammer, a screwdriver, a box of nails and a box of screws, a sewing needle, and thread, even a magnifying glass. Some of these tools had obvious uses, while others had less obvious uses. The scariest thing of all of this was how well organized and professional everything was.

Two pulled away from the drawers, both terrified and impressed. From the file they had on Pinkie because The Factory likes to keep files on everyone high in social status, this was wrong. Pinkie was a happy, childlike, innocent pony. And while there was a recent revelation, it didn’t change the file too much. Rainbow gave an analysis on Pinkie afterward, she was a coward, a killer who has to drug and tie down their victims and torture, because they don’t have the strength or will to get their victims themselves. It was assumed Pinkie was like this because of her childhood environment, someone in her family probably molested her or something.

But this was something else entirely, this was evidence of a cold, calculating, heartless, professional killer. Dozens of victims, hundreds of ways to torture, no hesitation to act like somepony else to get what she wanted, or who she wanted. The Factory has never been wrong on something like this before, but these were particular circumstances. Two had never doubted them before, but this might be the first time that they did. Now wasn’t the time for idle thought, there were still things that they needed to look through. Two moved back to the table and began to look through everything on and in the table.

Rainbow, noticing both One and Two were looking around, began to do the same. This room was the same as she remembered it, with the heads on the wall, the dim lighting of the room, the smell of death and carnage. She even noticed the lack of certain things, the ‘life is a party’ sign was missing, as was the table with skulls on it, maybe those were only there for effect? She probably liked to inflict mental and emotional damage as well ass physical, the sign and skulls were probably stored somewhere, which reminds her.

When Rainbow was in here, after the lights first came on and she saw all the ‘decorations,’ there was one thing that intrigued her. On the other side of the room from the torture chair, there was a door. It was hard to see in the dark, even dimly lit, but she knew where it was. She trotted toward the silhouette of the door, the door slowly becoming more visible. The door was the same color of the wall and roof, dark gray. Without the black lines along it, it would be near impossible to see.

It was on the opposite side of the room of the other room, the one full of Pinkie’s projects. When Dash came in here to retrieve something, she didn’t exactly have time to explore. The only reason she got in is that The Factory has some very powerful unicorns at their disposal. But, surprisingly, Pinkie somehow managed to get wards in her basement. It took the most powerful unicorns they hard to teleport her in there, even then, it was only for a few minutes before the wards become too much. She barely had enough to time to get what she needed.

Rainbow still firmly believed Pinkie was alone, but that didn’t mean someone wasn’t helping her. As strange as Pinkie was, she was still an earth pony. Only unicorns and alicorns can produce wards that powerful, and especially that many. She had a pretty good idea who, or more specifically, what was helping her. She intended to deal with them later, but that was then, this was now.

She tried opening the door, but, as she expected, it was locked. The door didn’t have any signs on it as the other did, so there’s no telling what it was. But if she had to guess, it was an emergency escape route. From what she can tell from everything, Pinkie seemed like the type who would have something for every scenario. Somepony who was very cautious and paranoid, and had a plan for any scenario that could go down, just like her.

She decided to leave the door alone, as there was no real point in bothering with it anymore. She went to check on the others, see if they made any progress. She walked over to Two, noticing how nice of a plot they had. With everything going on lately, she hasn’t exactly had the time to get any ‘release,’ and it was seriously starting to catch up with her. But now wasn’t the time for that, she could deal with it later.

She looked over their shoulder, noticing the mass of random tools spread out on the table they were looking through. It seemed to be a variety of tools, some things she recognized, others seem to be of custom design. Which was actually quite impressive, it took a lot of creativity and intelligence to custom make a tool, then again, this was Pinkie Pie. Among other things, Pinkie is known for her creativeness. Then again, that was before everything happened. Now, she wasn’t sure what was true and what wasn’t.

She was about to join Two, wanting to satisfy her curiosity. But, there was a sudden noise on the other side of the room, sounding like a dart quickly going across the room. It made both of them quickly turn their head towards the direction of the sound; it seemed to come from the wall of heads, which is where One was. Two nodded at her and began to go around the long way around the room, staying in the dark and intending to flank. She understood and began to move toward the source of the sound herself.

She was slowly moving towards the source, being as cautious as possible. For the first few seconds, it didn’t seem like anything was out of place. All the heads on the wall were still there, seeming to stare at her, but still there. She looked into the darkness to make sure Pinkie wasn’t hiding in there, making sure to pay attention to every single detail. In doing so, she noticed One in the darkness. Their back was turned toward her, looking up at the heads above them.

They didn’t seem to move, they just stayed there, looking at the heads. She moved towards him, making quiet grunting noises only ponies close enough would be able to hear. She had gotten right behind him, grunting all the while, but they did nothing in response. Getting frustrated, she started to tap him with her hoof. Still, no response. She was about to do it again out of frustration, but then she heard a dripping sound, making her stop. It seemed to be coming from right in front of her, but she couldn’t see where exactly. The frustration had left her, worry overcoming it. She followed the dripping, which seemed to be coming from One. Slowly, she began to walk around him, extremely paranoid. Then, she saw it.

It was tiny, but she could see a droplet. Then another, and another. Tracing the source with her eyes, she began to follow it up. The farther up she went, the more worried she became, then she realized, One hadn’t done anything this entire time. The dripping sound had been blood coming from One, the puddle she stepped in had been a puddle of blood.

One had been staring up towards the wall for a reason because that’s where they were looking when they died. There was a small knife lodged in their face, penetrating the area right between the eyes. The gash it made was fairly large, going from in between their eyes, down to the tip of the muzzle. But it wasn’t a vast cut, so the blood wasn’t just gushing out. The knife most likely hit the brain instantly, causing little to no pain. The body seemed to be leaning forward, but the table had stopped it, which is why it didn’t just fall on the ground.

The death didn’t really bother her; she knew from the beginning that there was a possibility that somepony would die, that’s how it is for every mission. The only thing that bothered her was how they died, the how was always important, especially against an unknown enemy. The knife came from in front, which didn’t make any sense. The only thing in front was the wall of heads, so, unless one of the heads came back to life and threw a knife, that wasn’t a possibility.

“Maybe Pinkie came behind him and stabbed him in the face?” Rainbow rubbed her chin in thought, then shook her head dismissively. “No, that wouldn’t make any sense. Not even from behind could she penetrate their skull that much so quick, especially without causing some sort of loud noise. So, how?”

Rainbow grunted out of frustration, trying to figure out how Pinkie killed him so efficiently and quickly, without making hardly any sound. In her frustration, she nearly forgot about Two, who was supposed to be flanking around. Luckily, she noticed Two in the dark, barely able to see her. Two seemed to be looking at her questioningly, probably wanting to know what happened. She was about to whisper for her to come over, but, she noticed something behind her.

At first, it was just a slight glimmer in the dark. But then, in a matter of seconds, a knife was around Two’s throat, being held by pink hooves. Pinkie’s face slowly came out of the darkness, a smile on her face. Her hair was long and straight; something Rainbow couldn’t imagine on Pinkie until now. But her eyes, they were the first thing anyone would notice. They were dilated and dark, they were still the same color of blue, but the look of pure madness behind her eyes, the look of lust and ecstasy, it was…breathtaking.

Before Rainbow could do or say anything, Pinkie slit Two’s throat, causing blood to splatter to the right of them, some of it hitting Pinkie’s face. But that didn’t seem to bother her; it didn’t make her flinch. It only seemed to make her smile widen, causing it to stretch from ear to ear. And, if possible, her eyes seemed to dilate even more. Dash could do nothing but watch, as Two put their hooves up to their neck to stop the bleeding. But, that didn’t matter, Pinkie cut deep and quick, nothing could have helped them now.

Somehow, Pinkie had slipped back into the darkness. She had no idea how someone with colors that bright could hide so well, but, she didn’t exactly have easy to hide colors either. She tried to ignore the gurgling sound of Two, knowing focusing on trying to find Pinkie was far more important. She tried to focus on any sound in the darkness, ignoring the dripping blood of One and the gurgling sounds of Two. Trying to hear anything, breathing, hoof steps, body movement, anything. But, there was nothing. Pinkie was good at hiding and sneaking around, as not a single sound could be heard from the darkness.

Except for one thing, laughter. Pinkie’s laughter, no doubt. It sounded just like her laugh, but, somehow, it was darker. There was malice and madness behind the laughter, and something else, something evil. She looked to the left, that’s where the laughter came from first. Then, it came from behind her. She turned around, but there was nothing there. Once again, it came from her left, then her right, it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. Rainbow turned her head every time laughter came from somewhere, trying to keep up so Pinkie wouldn’t get her. But she just couldn’t keep up! It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once like there was some sort of echo or something.

She was becoming anxious, in less than five minutes, she had killed both One and Two silently and quickly, and now she was taunting her. Pinkie could attack her at any moment, and with all this laughter that seemed to be coming from all around her, there was no way for her to tell where Pinkie would be coming from.

“Where are you, Pinkie?! Why don’t you come out of the dark and fight me, or are you really that much of a coward?”

Rainbow yelled into the darkness around her, not in any specific direction. Her teeth were bare, and her eyes were wide, the rage was beginning to overtake the anxiety. She looked around eagerly, as the memories from before slowly began to resurface. She wanted to hurt Pinkie, wanted to kill her for what she did to her, and she intended to after they got all of the questions out of the way. She hadn’t thought about how she was going to kill her, but she was going to make it agonizing!

Rainbow’s threat just seemed to make the laughter worse, as it got louder and more malicious. She looked around and tried to pinpoint the source, but, she just couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. While looking around, she noticed something. In the pool of blood under her from One, there seemed to be something in the reflection. She moved her head closer to the puddle and squinted her eyes, trying to make out what it was. It was hard to tell since the puddle wasn’t very big or clear. It seemed to be somewhat big, and pink. She could see her own reflection, and whatever it was, was above her.

Then, it hit her. Realizing what it was, Rainbow’s eyes widened, and she quickly looked up, nearly giving herself whiplash. And, as she suspected, Pinkie was up there. Rainbow had no idea how she got up there, or how she was staying up there, but she was. Pinkie was on the ceiling right above her, looking down at her with those same dilated, insane eyes. Her smile slowly began to widen as soon Rainbow saw her, but it wasn’t as wide as before, as her knife was in her mouth.

Suddenly, she opened her mouth, dropping the knife. Shortly after, she began to drop down herself. This confused Rainbow, she didn’t see why she was doing this. But then, using both her hooves, Pinkie caught the hilt of the knife in mid-air! Pointing the blade at her, and she was coming down quick! Rainbow’s eyes widened after seeing this; she quickly used her hooves to jump to the left, trying to dodge the attack. Pinkie noticed this but didn’t try to do anything.

She landed on the ground, but on all four hooves. Before she hit the ground, she had quickly put the knife back in her mouth. Which had cut her muzzle in some places, but that didn’t stop her. As soon as her hooves touched the ground, she jumped towards Rainbow, bloodlust in her eyes. She did it quickly, with the nimbleness and flexibility of an acrobat. Dash had barely landed, so she couldn’t dodge this one.

Pinkie took a swipe at her, Rainbow moved as quickly as she could, but she still got cut. She couldn’t believe this! She was a Pegasus, the fastest of the three tribes, and she was being beaten by an earth pony! Before Pinkie had the chance to take another swipe, she punched Pinkie in the right side of her face, causing her to spit out the knife. But this didn’t seem to make her angry, in fact, this seemed to make her smile wider. Pinkie suddenly punched her in the face with her right hoof, hitting a lot harder than the blue pegasus expected.

“Alright, Dash! Now that things are fair, let’s see what you got!”

Her voice was loud and booming; she sounded excited. She hit Rainbow again, this time in the stomach. She tried to hit her again, this time, in her ribs. But Rainbow had been hit hard before; she’s been in plenty of fights.

“It’s going to take more than a few well-placed hits to take me down, Pinkie!”

Rainbow practically screamed in her face, she then grabbed Pinkie’s arm and slammed her against the wall. Pinkie grunted after being slammed, but only for a moment. That signature smile of hers returned, as she looked into Rainbow’s eyes, defiantly and daringly. Rainbow tried to hit her face, but she went under and hit Rainbow’s elbow, causing her left arm to go numb and unusable for a few seconds. Pinkie took this time to tackle Rainbow to the ground, leaving her on top.

But Rainbow thought she would do something like this, so, despite knowing it would come back to bite her later, she opened her wings against the solid ground. It hurt her wings immensely, and she knew she was going to be incredibly sore later, but it did its job. It pushed her body up, knocking Pinkie off. Rainbow made sure to take advantage, she pushed Pinkie onto the ground, with her on top, reversing the situation from before.

But Pinkie’s face didn’t change; there was no anger or surprise, nothing changed. She was just looking up at her, with that wide, demonic smile. And those borderline green eyes dilated to unimaginable levels. Her hair was spread out around her, some on her face, but most on the floor.

“Go on, Dash, you don’t want to leave me wanting, do you?”

Her voice was sultry and sadistic, the smile seems to widen as she talked. That set Rainbow off, all that rage, all the pain, everything, she let it all out in her punches. She hit Pinkie in the face as hard as she could, each hit making Pinkie’s body thump against the ground. Rainbow grunted with each hit, the pain in her hooves getting worse with each punch. But she didn’t care; she ignored it, she’s tolerated worse. But Pinkie made no noises; she didn’t even try to resist. She sat there, unmoving, looking up at Rainbow with a huge smile on her face.

Minutes seemed to pass by, Rainbow’s hit’s got slower and hurt less, but she kept going. She kept hitting Pinkie until she couldn’t move her arms anymore, until she was more out of breath than she was after a flying session. But her rage was unsatisfied; she was unsatisfied. There was blood on her hooves, both from Pinkie’s face, and her own. Pinkie’s face was covered in blood, bruises, and other injuries. There was no part of her face untouched, some teeth were missing, blood was going into her eyes, but they were untouched, Rainbow wanted her to be able to see what she does.

But despite the tremendous pain she must be in, she just looked up at Rainbow and smiled, the look in her eyes never changed.

“That all you got?”

Despite everything, there was still that tone of sadism and sultry, still defiance and eagerness in her eyes. When Rainbow didn’t respond, Pinkie’s smile widened further. Somehow still having energy, and Dash having none, she pushed Rainbow under her and put herself on top. Pinkie looked into Rainbow’s eyes; she had the same look she had when she killed Two. Lust, ecstasy, eagerness, and absolute insanity. Her smile stretched to the farthest she’s ever seen, it didn’t look like the smile of a pony, it looked like the smile of a demon.

For the first time in a long time, Rainbow felt fear, real fear. That look in her eyes, that lack of hesitation, that killing skill. Rainbow was wrong; she wasn’t a coward, she wasn’t even a pony, she was a monster! Rainbow’s eyes shrank, her breathing became erratic, borderline hyperventilation. She was terrified, Pinkie noticed this, but it only made her smile widen.

“You know, Dash, in my entire time of knowing you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you afraid. And to think, it would be because of me! Oh, Dashie! You have no idea what fear is! Here, let me show you!”

Pinkie said in the same voice she always did in the day, full of energy and joyful. But, it was different. There was darkness behind it, insanity, madness. She raised her right arm behind her head, preparing to beat her into nothingness.

“Oh, and one more thing! My names Pinkamena Diane Pie, and for the rest of your life, you’ll never forget it, I’ll make sure of it. So, just call me Pinkamena for short.”

Pinkamena giggled as she raised her arm a little more, enjoying every second of this.

“Now, let’s have some fun-“

The alarm clock from the table was hit over the back of Pinkamena’s head, knocking her out cold. The holder of the clock was Three, who, like told, had come down to the basement after fifteen minutes. And, noticing the situation, grabbed the nearest blunt object, and gently hit Pinkamena over the back of the head. The clock was now broken, the glass coming off and one of the hands were gone. It was such a waste too; it looked expensive. Three threw the clock in a random direction, having higher concerns at the moment.

They offered their hoof to Rainbow, who ignored it and got up on their own. Neither said anything about the state Rainbow was just in, it was an unspoken rule that neither would say anything about what happens on missions. Rainbow stood beside Pinkamena’s unconscious body, crouching down and examining her face.

“You handle the bodies; I’ll make sure she gets to The Factory safely. She has a lot to answer for.”

Chapter Five: Internal Problems.

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Rainbow was in the locker room of The Factory, but not because of a spill or anything. After Pinkamena had been captured, they immediately took her, and the bodies of other employees, back to The Factory. Like the rest of the bodies of previous employees, they were disposed of in the backup Pegasus Device, since the first one is still being upgraded. This way, no death is a waste. The remaining employee was told to say nothing about the details of the mission to prevent a panic and to go on standby until further orders.

Pinkamena was put into a special holding cell, mostly used for isolation if some employees were harder to break than others. Being completely alone, no one to talk to, left alone in a dark, cold room for an extended period, that would break anypony. But she wasn’t put in there to break; there was just nowhere else to put her. She wasn’t a Pegasus so she couldn’t be placed with the failures. They got prisoners like her few and far between; it didn’t happen common enough for them to make room for it. To make sure she stayed asleep, she was injected with some sleeping medicine. She would be out cold for a while.

Rainbow had sustained a considerable amount of injuries, but, surprisingly, nothing lethal. There wasn’t a single injury on her that was fatal, and from what she could guess about Pinkie, she did this on purpose. She probably wanted to mess with her, and then knock her out and torture her. Rainbow was extremely lucky she had planned for a similar scenario, or she might not have made it out of there alive. Not only had they far underestimated Pinkie, but they had also walked straight into the lion’s den without expecting a fight, and that was the biggest reason they failed.

Now, she had taken a shower to wash off the blood, both hers, and Pinkies. She had gone into the locker room, to patch herself up. She was now standing in front of her open locker, her black combat suit in her locker, beside her lab coat. A first aid kit laid open beside her, as she looked into the mirror. Injuries were all over her body, some she wasn’t even aware of until she was out of the blood covered suit. Cuts, bruises, and a few other lacerations. Some seemed minor, while others would take weeks to heal.

But the most injured part of her body were her hooves; those would probably take months to heal. She knew she went overboard, she knew it when she was beating her, but she couldn’t stop. Rage was pumping through, there were other emotions, but rage was the most evident. She let her emotions consume her, and now she would pay the price for it. But. even now, as she looked at the injuries all over her face, she could still feel the rage boiling through. Rage that someone would dare do this to her, rage that somepony would kill her employees, but she felt something else too, excitement.

It was true when she passed her flight exam all those years ago, that The Factory had broken her and rebuilt her into something better. But there was one thing they couldn’t get rid of, something that made her, her: Her nature to look for a challenge. She lived for the thrill, the rush of doing something hard, or fighting a tough fight! But in here, she didn’t get to fight nearly as much as she’d like. But now, there was an enemy! Not just that, but she wasn’t just some pushover! She was a threat, someone who had the potential to kill a lot of ponies by herself! But, that was the biggest letdown, she was by herself.

Sure, by herself, she could kill a lot of employees. But that didn’t mean anything; they had numbers, huge numbers. At best, she was an annoyance, but there was no chance she would be able to take down the entire factory. But, in the meantime, she would be a perfect distraction! She wanted to fight her on equal terms, no advantage for either side! She wanted to see who was truly better, who would win, who would lose, and what it would take to break her! It excited her to no end!

As she was rubbing alcohol on her wounds and bandaging them, a smile slowly grew on her face at her thoughts. Her excitement was becoming too much to contain, her hooves were practically shaking. Her wings were expanded outwards, barely able to hold herself back!

“RAINBOW! YOU HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!”

And just like that, her wingboner was gone. The sadistic smile on her face was quickly replaced by a scowl, her wings quickly going limp and retracting. She put the gauze and rubbing alcohol back down in the kit, the scowl never leaving her face as she did. She barely had time to start patching herself up; her coat was still wet from the shower, she really didn’t want to have to deal with this so soon. She slowly turned around, really not in the mood to deal with him right now.

Like she had expected, Dr. Atmosphere was standing in front of the door, looking absolutely livid. His wings were extended out to his sides, probably in anger. His usually black mane and tail had streaks of gray in them, his beard was the opposite, gray with streaks of black. Whether it was from age, stress, or both, she had no idea. He seemed to be breathing heavily, either from anger or from him running over here, she wasn’t sure. The look on his face matched the rest of his coat, red. His glasses were absent, he was either in such a rush he forgot to put them on, or he was afraid she'd hit him. Which, admittedly, was a slight possibility. Not having his glasses was clearly affecting his vision, he seemed to be squinting at her across the room. Yeah, she expected this sooner or later.

“What’s up, doc?”

Rainbow asked sarcastically, a smirk now replacing the scowl. At that, Atmosphere seemed to get angrier. He stomped over to Rainbow Dash, to the point of getting to her face.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE!”

He screamed in her face, but she didn’t even flinch.

“Captured someone who’s killed multiple of our employees?”

That just seemed to make him angrier, this couldn't be good for his heart.

“Not only did you kidnap one of the most important figures of Equestria from their home, but you also did so in such a way, it would be strange if it didn’t raise suspicion! You left so much evidence behind that could lead back to us!”

While that was true, that wasn’t really her fault. Most of the evidence was left behind was because of the others, not her. But, since she was commanding the squad, it was, by connection, her fault.

“Maybe, but it got resu-“

“YOU LOST TWO EMPLOYEES!”

He yelled in her face, filling the entire locker room with his yelling.

“SHE KILLED FIVE!”

Rainbow yelled back at him, louder and angrier than him. She was already getting sick of being yelled at.

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER! If you had let Barricade handle things like you were first told, we wouldn’t have lost any!”

Barricade was the one who handles all safety stuff in The Factory, so, any infiltration, escapes, or outside ponies who killed employees, was his area to handle.

“You were already pushing it with your little pet project with The Device, and the counsel only let you handle this because it was your fault it happened in the first place! But now, when I tell them that you let two ponies die, you’d be lucky if they just fire you!”

Atmosphere screamed in her face again; she could already feel a headache coming on. They wouldn’t fire her; she was too much of an asset, she would have to do something seriously stupid to get fired. And this wasn’t that thing, probably. He just didn’t like her, like, at all. He has been trying for years to get her fired, and he wasn’t the only one. She has done some…questionable things in her time, and even more things that pissed off ponies in charge. If Rainbow hadn’t been as good at her job as she was, she definitely would have been fired by now.

“Yeah, sure, and Pinkie is going to escape from here while killing dozens of ponies! I’m never getting fired from this place, Hide, so you might as well stop trying. So, why don’t you take your attitude and complaints to somepony who actually cares, and get the buck out of my face.”

Rainbow said aggressively, her words sounding more like a threat than a suggestion. Atmosphere said nothing in return, his anger was slowly being replaced by fear, he knew she had a temper, but she had never actually hurt him. Now, as he looked at her face, he realized, she was far angrier than he originally thought she would be. He quickly ran out of the room, Rainbow looking at him as he did, smiling all the way.

Her smile kept until he left, then her face returned to normal. She turned back around and picked up the gauze and rubbing alcohol; then she continued to put the bandages on her face. After all, she had somepony to meet in a few hours.

Chapter Six: The Factory.

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Pinkamena slowly began to wake up, but somewhat wished she hadn’t. Her body ached immensely, probably from the numerous bruises and such on it. She had a horrible headache that felt more like a migraine, and, despite her just waking up, she felt exhausted. After opening her eyes, she questioned if she was really awake. The room she was in was pitch black; she couldn’t see anything. She tried to move her hooves, but she couldn’t, it seemed they tied her front and back hooves. They used shackles to keep them tied together, which was slightly overkill. She could maneuver enough to walk, uncomfortably, but not really much else.

She moved around slowly, trying to get an idea of her surroundings. She moved her hooves slowly across the ground, both to help move around, and because her shackles prevented her from moving any faster. She closed her eyes as to improve her sense of touch and focus, and to give her eyes time to adjust. Eventually, she ran into a wall. The room was tiny, maybe the size of a jail cell? The floor and wall were both made out of concrete, she could tell by the texture and coldness of it, the roof was probably also concrete.

It didn’t take long for her to scope out the rest of the room, it was smaller than she thought, barely the size of a small bathroom. Her eyes adjusted so she could see better, but the room was still very dark. There was nothing on the walls or floors, not even a bed or bucket. The room was empty, the only slight difference in the room was the steel door, she couldn’t see it that well, but she knew it was there from how different it felt from the rest. She realized she was probably in some sort of isolation room, she’s seen rooms like this in asylums before, and this is usually how they are. Except ones in asylums have walls and floors made of cushions, not concrete. They also have basic appliances, like a bed or toilet, this had nothing.

Realizing this is most likely where they locked her up after they knocked her out, Pinkamena sat on the floor and relaxed, having nothing better to do than wait patiently. They probably locked her up here while they decide exactly what to do with her, that was her guess, anyway. She didn’t even know these guys existed until two days ago; she could only assume from what she’s heard about them so far. Then, as her body slowly relaxed, she began to realize how weak she was. She was hungry and dehydrated; it suddenly felt tough to move her body again. How long has she been in here? A few hours? A few days? If they kept pumping her full of medicine to prevent her from waking up, there’s no telling how long she’s been here.

But, this isn’t the first time a situation like this has happened. Of course, it hasn’t been by an organization this big and powerful. But she had been captured and sedated like this before, and she’s gotten out of it. The best thing she could do now was wait, the only thing she could do really. But, that was if she was unharmed. In this scenario, her body needed rest. But sleep wasn’t an option; she had to be aware. So, taking a trick she learned from Zecora, she was going to go into a semi-meditation state. Her body will still be able to rest as if she was sleeping, but vastly slower. She would still appear to be normal and still be conscious. But, she would still be very vulnerable. She would have to relax herself completely, both mind and body, it’s the main reason why she doesn’t like to do it.

There was nothing she could do about the hunger and dehydration, that’s something she’d just have to ignore. Pinkamena relaxed her body and entered a catatonic-like state, her mind becoming empty as her body relaxed. She lied on her back on the concrete floor, staring at the roof. Time seemed to pass faster for her then, either that, or she just lost track of it. To enter this state of mind, you must be able to completely rid your mind of any kind of thoughts, to allow your mind and body to enter a state of equilibrium, to completely let go.

She could feel her wounds healing, her body regaining energy, it felt good. But, it was cut off by the sound of a door opening. She quickly jolted upwards, her state of tranquility quickly ending. The door was opened by two ponies dressed in the same kind of black as the ones she killed, which meant they were factory employees.

“Come out, slowly; I won’t ask again.”

It sounded like a stallion’s voice, but there could be some kind of voice spell on the suit, so there’s no real way to tell. She considered giving a smart remark, but that might have been an overall bad decision. Yes, she’s given smart remarks in dangerous situations before, but this was very different from any of those. This was personal, this was way more dangerous than anything she’s been in before, and it was going to be too fun to mess up.

Pinkamena slowly got up on her hooves and walked towards them with a neutral look on her face. She decided it would be better not to say anything at all; she wasn’t sure exactly what would set them off. When she got closer to them, she noticed neither was armed. Which could be a good or a bad thing, good because they’d be easier to kill. Bad because it could mean they were confident in their abilities, or there were more of them than what she could see.

They stepped aside when she got to them, wanting her to go in front, which was reasonable. But when the one on the left stepped aside, it revealed a bright light behind them they were covering. Since her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room she was in before; the sudden bright light was extremely painful to look at. Since she couldn’t move her hooves in front of her face to block it, she had to clench her eyes and quickly whip her head to the left. But, light was a lot easier to adjust to than the dark. She had to take a few peeks before she could see clearly, but when she did, she nearly gasped.

Before her was a factory, well, obviously, it was named The Rainbow Factory. But she’s been to factories before; this was nothing like them. In front of her were machines and gear of many varieties, the basics of a factory. Industrial lines were going through each of the machines, each one seeming to have a different function. But what was on them wasn’t some sort of product, it was live ponies! It only seemed to be young Pegasi, probably the failures she’s heard so much about. They were tied down with shackles to the conveyor belt and had gagges on their muzzles to keep them quiet; they had no way of breaking free or resisting. There were dozens of them, each barely a foot apart from each other on the belt. It ran through numerous things until it came to a stop, something else entirely. It was a giant meat grinder, like the kind you might see at a butcher shop. It had sharp metal spikes attached to it in numerous amounts; this was made for the bodies. Hopefully, whatever they're put through, it would kill them.

Under the grinder seemed to be some sort of giant container, but, surprisingly, there weren’t any body parts. Then she remembered what Dutch told her, that they ‘extracted’ the spectra. That’s probably what this whole process was for, to extract the spectra. The container had four tubes connected to it, leading to four other containers in the back of the room. They had a surface of glass, revealing some sort of rainbow-colored liquid inside, which she guessed is what spectra looked like. The top and bottom of the containers were black, probably to provide stability. But the conveyer belt and containers weren't run by just machines, there were ponies too, lots of them.

All of them were Pegasi, of course, but their numbers were still intimidating. They stood by the belts and containers as if to manage them; some had insane smiles on their faces, others had looks of horror. The sounds of laughter, screams of horror, and cries of pain filled The Factory. The light source from earlier was massive spotlights coming from above, behind them were a number of ponies. Some in the black suits, others in lab coats. They were also Pegasi, and if she had to guess, they were higher management and watched over things. This wasn’t just some factory making products, the blood, the pain, the torture, this was industrialized mass murder!

“This is…bea-“

Pinkamena was about to speak, a psychotic look on her face. But one of the ponies beside her noticed she was about to talk, and violently hit her on the back of the head, knocking her down to the ground.

“YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK UNLESS SPOKEN TO! DON’T EVER ACT WITHOUT PERMISSION AGAIN! OR YOU’LL WISH WE’D KILL YOU.”

They barked, screaming right above her. This was the other pony, the one that didn’t speak. It was obvious they weren’t mad at her because she talked, they were enraged at her because she killed fellow employees, she could understand that. Usually, she’d feel angry at this. But there wouldn’t have been a point, killing them wouldn’t do anything. She was being watched; she would just get caught and probably beat to death. And in her current state, she wouldn’t be able to fight for long. She ground her teeth and held in her rage; she would save it for when it would be necessary.

She slowly got up, making sure not to make any sudden moves that would set them off. As soon as she got up on all four hooves, she was shoved forward by one of the two; she wasn’t sure which one.

“Move! Now!”

They yelled at her, again, less violently this time. She obliged, hesitantly, glaring at them before she did. She slowly began to walk forward, as they followed behind. As she walked on the rails, the Pegasi on the floor below looked up at her, at least, the ones that weren’t crying or screaming. Some looked up curiously, others with those smiles still on their face. The escorts behind her didn’t notice it, but she gave them an insane smile of her own.

The rails lead to a door, which was opened by another pony in black. It leads to an area more like a hospital, the roof was white and the walls blue, with the floor a white tile color. It wasn’t very crowded, with only the occasional pony passing by. But when they did, they always glared at her. There weren’t many doors; it seemed to be more of a hallway just to connect all the places. But the few doors that did lead somewhere, which was few and far between, had black card readers on them. There didn't have number pads like most she'd seen, they seemed to just need cards to open the doors. She assumed cells containing prisoners were the same, but the guards didn't give her time to look at her cell to confirm this. She tried to memorize the hallways, but there were so many turns and different places, and the ponies kept rushing her and not giving her any breaks. It was seriously starting to make her frustrated, and frustration leads to anger.

But, eventually, the hallways lead to a dead end. Well, not really a dead end, there was a door. Like the rest, it was also white with a brass doorknob. Unlike the others, there wasn’t sign on top of the door labeling what it is. Which was strange, while she couldn’t always read them, all the previous doors had signs on them. But this one didn’t, which meant it was special in some way. One of the ponies escorting her walked forward and opened the door, gesturing her inside. Her curiosity slowly becoming stronger, she walked in.

Chapter Seven: Confrontation.

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The room was dark, the only light was coming from behind her, but that was leaving as the door slowly shut behind her. As soon as it did, lights in the room turned on, blinding her for a few seconds, but she could see what was inside. Surprisingly, it looked like the interrogation rooms police stations would have. She’s never been in one herself, never been stupid enough to get caught with anything. But from the crime movies and documentaries she’s seen, this was practically a replica. Honestly, it was disappointing for her. She was expecting something amazing, or perhaps a torture chamber, not the cliché interrogation room.

It was the normal eight by ten room, with the dim gray colors of the walls and roof. The only thing in the room was a medium sized wooden table, with a wooden chair on each side. The only light source was a hanging lamp above the table, it only gave off a very dim light, enough to see around the table, but the rest of the room was hard to make out. From what she could tell, there weren’t any windows that people from the other side would see through. But, these days, spells could hide the window from the interrogee, or it could be an optical illusion.

She was slowly becoming more and more annoyed, the shackles around her legs were making walking annoying, her body was sore, she was hungry and dehydrated, and she had literally dozens of questions. And somehow, she felt like things were going to get much worse. But, as much as didn’t want to, she was going to indulge them. She needed to conserve her energy for when she was going to escape, and while her pain tolerance was far higher than normal, her body could only take so many injuries. She needed to avoid violence until her body was in better condition. Besides, she was less likely to get answers if she resisted.

Slowly, both because she didn’t want to, and because of the shackles, she sat in the wooden chair on her side. It took longer to get comfortable than it did for her to examine the room, the only way she could get comfortable, was by putting her front hooves under the table, and her bottom hooves almost too close together to move. But that was probably what they planned in the first place, sitting like this meant it would be challenging to attack somepony. But these kinds of precautions and preparations, it excited her. She liked to be challenged like this, to be pushed into situations where she wasn’t sure if she could get out of them. Moments like these were part of why she lived; she loved the thrill, the adrenaline! It was ecstatic!

“Must be thinking of something pretty funny if you can smile like that in your situation.”

A familiar female voice came from darkness, an unidentifiable tone in it. The smile on her face left, surprise replacing it. Pinkamena was a master of stealth and deception, something she’s gained over her years of experience. No one could escape her detection, until now, it seemed. Then again, she wasn’t in the best condition, her sense of perception may be dulled. But still! There must have been some sort of secret entrance or something in the dark, something she couldn’t see.

But the smile returned, as she realized who the voice belonged to.

“Nah, it was just a dash of humor, you wouldn’t get it.”

Pinkamena said sarcastically, the smile on her face spreading wider, as she looked into the corner on her left. And just like Pinkamena suspected from the direction of the voice, Rainbow Dash came out of the darkness of the corner Pinkamena was looking at. And as Pinkamena suspected, she was covered head to hoof in bandages, which was better treatment than she had got. But the most notable feature was what she was wearing, a lab coat. On the normal eccentric Rainbow, this would have looked very strange, almost wrong. But her demeanor was different; she had a different attitude.

Her body language was extremely different; it was more serious and businesslike, similar to a few politicians Pinkamena has met, none she had liked. There may have been a smile on her face, but that look in her eyes, she was livid.

"Come on, Pinkie! We’ve known each other for a long time; I’m sure I could understand your sense of humor by now.”

She was standing behind the chair on the other side of the table; her front hooves were on the back on the chair as she looked down at Pinkamena with a wide grin, Pinkamena looked back with an even bigger one.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting you to be the one to try to interrogate me. I thought you, being the prideful one, would be sulking somewhere licking your wounds.”

Pinkamena said mockingly, hoping to get her to show some of that anger in her eyes. But she didn’t. Instead, she pulled back the chair and sat down in it, keeping eye contact all the while.

“In normal conditions, probably. But, I both don’t have the time or want. These past few days have been…interesting, to say the least. I don’t want to be sulking somewhere while all the fun stuff was happening, so, I insisted I be the one to do it.”

Rainbow replied, the sultriness in her voice almost matching Pinkamena’s. Which only made Pinkamena smile further, Rainbow doing the same in response.

“Well, I’ve gotta say,”

Pinkamena leaned forward, getting closer to Rainbow’s face, but she didn’t flinch.

“I’m glad you did. It’s going to be so much more fun this way; it’ll be way more interesting to see you get all frustrated when you try to get your answers out of me, than if it was just some random lackey.”

Pinkamena sadistically said, an amount of cockiness in her voice Rainbow both wasn’t used to, and didn’t like. But, she still smiled, she had something up her sleeve.

“Actually, I have an offer for you, one I don’t think you’ll refuse.”

Rainbow said, a smug smile on her face.

“An offer? Ha! What could you have that I could want?”

Pinkamena scoffed as she leaned back in her chair, looking at Rainbow curiously. This time, it was Rainbow’s turn to lean forward.

“Despite everything that’s happened between us, I still think we have quite a few things in common. And after looking into you and your reputation, I believe that even more. And if there’s one thing I want above most, it answers.”

Pinkamena’s eyebrows raised in curiosity, as she leaned forward once again, their faces now inches apart, the tension in the room was skyrocketing by the second.

“And after everything that’s happened, I’m sure you have some questions you’d like answered, and so do we. So, why don’t we make this into a game? Think of it as truth or dare, but with only truth. I’ll ask a question, and you’ll answer it, then you’ll ask a question, and I’ll answer it, understand?”

Rainbow asked curiously, the sadism in her voice sending chills down Pinkamena’s back. Rainbow had thought this through, after what happened, she looked into Pinkamena like a detective. Talking to members of the underground, looking at records, even going as far as to track down her family. So far, everything she had deducted from her was correct, except for the coward part, she was wrong about that.

The smile on Pinkamena’s face left, being replaced with a more serious one.

“How do I know you won’t lie to me? It's not like you haven’t done it before.”

Pinkamena’s tone took a major shift, going from cocky and seductive, to spiteful and threatening. Rainbow flinched, but only for a second.

“Like you have any room to talk. Besides, it’s the same both ways. How do I know you won’t be lying? Well, here’s the solution to that. Try to tell a lie, and you’ll see.”

Pinkamena’s eyebrows raised in doubt, but, she’ll indulge.

“Ok, I’m a giant flying timberw-“

Pinkamena’s head suddenly lunged forward, blood coming out of her eyes and nose. The pain was all over her body; she could feel her body screaming at her. But, she could take it, she’s had worse. Rainbow looked at her with a smug smile on her face, a look of satisfaction in her eyes.

“This room was made to questions employees whose loyalties were shifting or might be holding secrets, it was designed to look like a police interrogation because it was the easiest to make. But, considering who the employees work for, torture may not be the best method. So, we involved just a bit of magic.”

Pinkamena looked up at Dash defiantly, the blood had stopped coming from her orifices, but the pain, while fading, was still there.

“There are some wards in this room this that make blood come out of your body when you lie. But, that’s painless. So, in the area around this table, there’s a spell known as The Circle of Truth. It’s visible only to unicorns, with a few other exceptions. When someone inside it lies, in normal terms, it makes your body feel like your organs are imploding, bones are being crushed, muscles are being torn, etc. But the pain isn’t entirely impossible to ignore, or, at least, not show. Which is the purpose of the blood, in case of an extreme pain tolerance. So, understand? In this room, it’s impossible to lie without the other knowing.”

Pinkamena sat up, her head facing the roof, her chest rapidly contracting as she was breathing heavily. But still, she kept eye contact, anger still in her eyes.

“There’s…. a loophole.”

Pinkamena gasped out, barely able to say anything, her body was still recovering, and what just happened didn’t help. Usually, if there were a loophole, she wouldn’t say anything. But telling about this loophole won’t be able to change anything.

“Oh? And what’s that?”

Rainbow asked quizzically, the smug look on her face never leaving.

“I could simply just not answer, and that wouldn’t be lying.”

Pinkamena said confidently, her head now facing Rainbow, and her chest was now to a more normal breathing rate.

Rainbow smirked.

“Well, yes, you could do that. But if it were an employee, it would just make them look more suspicious, which would force us to do other methods. But, in your case?”

Rainbow leaned back, putting her hooves behind her head, looking daringly at Pinkamena.

“I don’t think you’ll do that; you’d be missing out on too many answers. So, what do you say, want to play a game?”

Pinkamena was silent, she looked into Rainbow’s eyes, seeing a familiar look of daring and anger, she liked it. She smiled and leaned forward again, Rainbow doing the same in response. Once again, they were inches apart from each other, smiles on their faces, with a thick tension in the room.

“Let’s play.”

Chapter Eight: Answers.

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Pinkamena and Rainbow Dash had an intense staring contest, inches away from each other’s face. Pinkamena had dried blood on her face, an insane smile, a daring look in her eyes. Rainbow looked the same, minus the blood. Neither seemed to be budging, the tension in the room was thick. Until Pinkamena scoffed, leaning back in her chair away from Rainbow as if she was uninterested.

“So, who’s going to be asking the first question?”

Pinkamena asked curiously, hoping that didn’t count as the first question. Rainbow didn’t flinch, expecting that response.

“Well, since I’m in a generous mood, I’ll let you ask the first question. Also, because I figured you wouldn’t find it fair if I’d go first so that you can go.”

Rainbow said sadistically, almost as if she knew exactly what she was going to ask.

Pinkamena leaned forward again, her eyebrows furrowing and the smile her face disappearing, being replaced by a look of seriousness and anger.

“how are you alive?!”

Her words were filled with venom, practically spitting her words.

“Yeah, figured that would be the first thing you’d ask. It would be the same for me in your position, but since I’m not, mine would be quite different.”

Rainbow looked into Pinkamena’s eyes, noticing the anger burning inside her, it made her smile widen.

“Do you remember The Mirror Pool?”

Pinkamena was taken back, the sudden calmness of her voice was…unsettling.

“The thing I used to clone myself? Didn’t Twilight block that off? What does that have to do with anything?”

The face Pinkamena had shown her confusion, as she was trying to put together the pieces in her head. She had used the pool to clone herself, that way she could make an alibi, or be able to play with her toys all she wanted. But then things got out of hand, and she was forced to ask Twilight and the others for help. She had learned from that point on not to rely on unpredictable magical stuff she finds in the woods.

Rainbow leaned back, smirking, further enraging Pinkamena.

“More than you think, that pool can clone any individual an infinite amount of times, making it extremely useful. There are millions of ways you could use that, one of them, might even be faking your death.”

Rainbow said suggestively, as if she wanted Pinkamena to guess the answer. And, after a few seconds, Pinkamena had a look of realization on her face.

“You cloned yourself!”

Pinkamena declared, Rainbow only looking at her smugly in response.

“Correct, good job, then again, wasn’t that hard to figure out. But yeah, that’s what happened. Originally, they were just going to make me stay in The Factory like everypony else. But, when I was sent to The Summer Sun Celebration as the representative, the whole Nightmare Moon incident happened, and I became The Element of Loyalty. So, they had to compromise. Using the Mirror Pool, we made a clone of me to stand in as The Element of Loyalty. She had all my memories and knowledge but had a different job. Then, well, you know the rest.”

Rainbow’s explanation was calm and thought out as if it was so simple to her. But that cocky look in her eyes and that smug smile never left, it irritated Pinkamena more and more every second. But, she had to admit, she was slightly impressed. It was a smart plan, using a clone like that, something she could do. But somehow, if she did that, killing her friends would be less enjoyable. Still, there was one thing that didn’t make sense.

“Ok, that explains how you’re here. But, that doesn’t explain why you knew it was me that killed you. If your clone just stopped reporting to you, there could be dozens of explanations of what could have happened to them.”

While Pinkamena was somewhat satisfied now that she had an explanation, she was also disappointed. Since it was her clone who she played with, Rainbow wouldn’t have the memories of the fun they shared.

At Pinkamena’s question, for the first time, Rainbow flinched. The smile on her face disappeared, being replaced by a frown. The cocky look in her eyes left, being replaced by something, something familiar. She looked different, like she recalled something, like she was traumatized. There was a look in her eyes, something Pinkamena recognized; it almost looked like fear.

“Well, you see, that’s the thing about clones.”

Her tone was different from before; it wasn't calm like before, it sounded like she was frightened. Like she recalled a memory, or trauma.

“You wouldn’t know this, since your clones didn’t technically die, they were sent back. But, when a clone dies, their memories are sent to the original. Meaning, everyone they met, everything they did, and…everything that was done to them, goes to the owner. So, when yo-“

“You remember then!?”

Pinkamena interrupted her, her excitement overcoming her. She had leaped forward, and eager smile on her face. But this time, Rainbow didn’t have one on hers. She was almost stammering, practically sweating, as she recalled the events of that night. She’s done things to other ponies, killed dozens. But never as gruesome like that, having it done to her, being in fear like that, at the mercy of someone she thought was a friend. Not even she could be unfazed after something like that, but she would try her hardest not to show it, she was stronger than that.

“Yes, I do. Now, on-

“That’s amazing! I was so worried you wouldn’t remember, we had so much fun together! And you made such good cupcakes too! And that look on your face, when you realized your ‘best friend’ was about to murder you? Priceless! Ooh! What was your favorite part? The electrocution? The maiming? What about when I cut you open and pulled out your-“

“NEXT QUESTION!”

Pinkamena had been behaving erratically, asking questions about the event like it was a party, subject aside, she was acting like Pinkie. Combined with her still dealing with the trauma, her acting like the Pinkie that was once her friend, enraged her.

“Someone’s touchy, fine, ruin my fun.”

Pinkamena’s excitement left her, as she disappointingly sat back down in the chair, her arms crossed. Though, she was immensely satisfied. Not only did she now know Rainbow remembered everything, but for the first time since she killed her, that was the first time she’s ever seen Rainbow angry, truly angry. Their fun together had obviously affected her, but she’d never show it. Either because of some tough pony complex, or just not to give Pinkamena the satisfaction. But, this was good, this meant she could be hurt. And if it can be damaged, it can be broken.

“Since you went, it’s my turn. Now, how long have you been doing this?”

Rainbow asked, her anger and fear seem to completely disappear. Her composure returning, but, the damage had been done, she had lost her cool. She had to focus; she couldn’t let this get personal. If she did, Pinkamena might not make it out of this room.

“Really? That’s your first question? Bit cliché, don’t you think?”

Pinkamena’s arms were still crossed childishly, but her face was now more serious.

“Ever since I was a filly, I was curious what it would be like to take a life, to watch the life leave their eyes. So, my first time was in high school, same time as my first kill, if you know what I mean. Got a taste of it ever since, luckily, ponies are far too stupid and trusting for me to have ever get caught. Allowed me to get proper experience and learn, it took a few years before I was as good as I am, and now, we’re here.”

She said nonchalantly, as if the subject meant nothing to her, or she’s been asked that question multiple times before. Rainbow seemed…unsatisfied, there had to be some sort of trauma, some event that damaged her, something. Ponies aren’t born evil; she didn’t believe that.

“That’s it? You killed out of curiosity? There wasn’t something that traumatized you? You weren’t raped by your dad, kidnapped by some serial killer, someone was killed in front of you? Nothing traumatizing at all?”

Rainbow asked demandingly, she was sure there must have been something. But, Pinkamena just smiled at her.

“Sorry to disappoint, but no, daddy didn’t have the balls to touch me, we didn’t have serial killers where I lived, and no pony’s been killed in front of me. I was just born like this; I’m one hundred percent natural! Now, onto my question:”

Pinkamena sadistically leaned forward, looking into Rainbow’s eye, a smile on her face.

“Why did you start killing? I’m sure it was because of whatever system this place has, but still, I want to know how you became who you are today.”

Her tone was filled with a morbid curiosity; something Rainbow Dash shouldn’t have been surprised at.

“Well, I can’t tell you how the exactly they decide on who’s good enough, sort of confidential. But, I’ll tell you what I can. How members are initiated are simple, after passing the basic flying test, the higher ups look at your results. And if they’re good enough, they look at your record. If they think you have potential, then they lock you up with the rest of the failures. Failures, are the ones who couldn’t even pass the basic flying test, and aren’t even considered Pegasi if they’re that pathetic.

When they lock you up with the rest, after a few days, they take you out, and one other pony. Preferably one who you’ve made friends with, but if not, just any random pony. Then, they tell you to kill them in the name of Pegasi. I was stubborn then, and had my innocence, so I refused. But, eventually, I did. I felt regret for months, but, after they taught me that failures like them meant nothing, and that I should be proud, I became one of them.

And, through years of climbing the ladder of power, I’m now one of the highest ranks possible. Does that answer satisfy you?”

Rainbow’s explanation sounded more like a rant; she didn’t have her usual tone of calmness. It sounded more angry and spiteful, like it was something that bothered her. But, Pinkamena wouldn’t dwell on it, it probably wasn’t that important.

“Well, I was hoping for more detail on how you killed, like beat them to death, choke them, etc. but, I got what I wanted from that. Now, go on, ask your question. From that look on your face, there’s something you really want to ask me. But that’s okay, because I have something I want to ask you, and you’re not going to like it.”

Rainbow’s face changed, it was no longer sadistic and playful, it was anger.

“This is more like two questions, but I’m sure you don’t mind answering. How many have you killed, and did you plan on killing Twilight and the others?”

Her voice was filled with hate, practically oozing from her voice. Pinkamena noticed this, and began to question what was really an act or not. What was really Rainbow, and what was an act. Her behavior was erratic and unpredictable. It was beginning to be hard to tell what she was really feeling and thinking, but soon, with just a little bit of emotional manipulation, she can find out.

Pinkamena looked at her curiously, that signature sadistic smile on her face.

“Ooh, I can hear the venom dripping from your voice, somepony’s angry. Well, if we’re talking about just ponies, one hundred and seven. Only twelve with any kind of high social status, and a few that might cause some international problems. But if we’re talking everything? Every species, hybrid, animal, even a few anomalies, three hundred and twenty-two. And as for Twilight and the others?”

She spoke with twisted pride, as if she was proud of the numbers. Her smile widened, her head tilted slightly to the left.

“They were just challenges for me, something I wanted to strive to achieve. I enjoy killing, but just picking random ponies wasn’t as exciting as it used to be. So, I decided to strive for more. Important ponies, ones who would be harder to get, and more fun to kill. Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, you. Even Celestia and Luna, I’m going to kill them, even if it means killing gods. You see, this is all just a game for me. I’m the player, and you and the others are enemies I need to beat, well, not need. More like optional enemies, and ones all the more fun to kill. So, to answer your question, yes. I have plans to kill them all, and contingencies if they fail. You were just the easiest, since you trusted me the most. Would you like to know my plans? I’m sure the details would sur-“

“ENOUGH! That’s…enough. We’re done today, get out.”

Rainbow declared loudly and violently, suddenly jumping up and slamming her hooves on the table. Her head was turned to the left; she couldn’t look at her face anymore, it was too much.

“Done? What do you mean? Don’t you have questions to ask me, things you need to know? Because I have plenty of things I want to ask you, like how Scootaloo would think if she found ou-“

“SHUT UP! We figured there’d be too many questions that could be asked in one day; it’ll take at least a week to get through everything. We’re going to ask you more than just your plans to kill, we’re going to have you look at every case of missing ponies, both in Equestria, and some Pegasi. So, GET OUT!”

Rainbow screamed at her; her face was impossible to see, it was turned in another direction and covered by her hair. Pinkamena was enjoying this; this was proving to be both very easy, and very entertaining, almost enough reason to stay.

“Wow, disappointing. Oh well, guess I’ll be going. It’s been fun playing with you, see you tomorrow!”

Pinkamena shuffled out of the room, almost forgetting she had shackles on for a moment. She left the room with a huge smile on her face, leaving Rainbow alone in the room, looking like she was close to sobbing.

The guards out of the room were still there, and they still seemed pissed at her, the smile didn’t help. Then they begin to escort her, to where? She doesn’t know. But, as fun as it would be playing with her dear rainbow maned friend, it wasn’t worth staying in this place. Soon, she was going to escape.

Chapter Nine: Integral Planning.

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"What do you mean she isn't here? Where else would she be?"

Twilight asked Mrs. Cake in an almost panicked tone, making Mrs. Cake flinch. They were in Sugarcube Corner, Mrs. Cake behind the register, her hair was a mess and she seemed tired. Twilight was on the other side of the counter, a worried and scared look on her face.

"I mean she isn't *yawn* here, I went to her room to wake her up, which is already unusual since she's always been up before me. But when I went in, she wasn't there! I checked, everywhere in her room and this building, but I couldn't find her. I would've searched more, but the store was about to open and I had to cover her shift. Poor Carrot has to cook everything himself! I hope nothing bad happened to her."

Mrs. Cake said worryingly, she was exhausted from both working nonstop, and worrying about Pinkie's safety.

"But that just can't be true! Pinkie would never jus-

"Twilight, I would love to help you, but I simply don't have the time. You're holding up the line, so can you please go look for her somewhere else?"

Mrs. Cake asked desperately, wanting to look for Pinkie herself, but unable to. Twilight looked behind her, and she was indeed holding up the line. There were several ponies behind her, waiting impatiently for her to be done. Twilight looked at Mrs. Cake, wanting to say more, but realizing it wouldn't get her anywhere. She dejectedly walked out, leaving Mrs. Cake to her work.

"Yes, I'd like to have two donuts, one with sprinkles, and a strawberry milkshake."

A pony ordered, pushing forward a few bits. Mrs. Cake smiles and puts the bits in the register.

"Of course!"

She turned around and began to walk to the kitchen, lowering her head as she did so, her smile falling for a second.

"How do you do it Pinkie? I hope you're safe, wherever you are."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"This is where you'll be staying, food will be brought to you soon. We've been given permission to stop you if you try to escape, so please, try."

The door to her new home slammed, leaving Pinkamena alone. It was the same room she woke up in, looking exactly the same as she left it. She began to pick herself off the ground, the guard had pushed her in roughly when he opened the door, she could feel a headache coming on.

"He'll die first, if I have the choice. Speaking of escape..."

Pinkamena looked at the room around her, her eyes already readjusting to the darkness. Honestly, escape was going to be somewhat difficult. On the way back here, she was going to see if there were any weakness, anything she could exploit. But, considering all the 'failures' they had locked up, this place probably got escape attempts daily, nearly none successful. The place was nearly a fortress, but, it wasn't impossible.

"I'm going to be here for a while, might as well work out a plan."

Pinkamena pulled out a small piece of chalk from her mane, something she always keeps on her, among other things. The shackles made it quite difficult to get it, she had to lower her head down to her hooves. But when she did, she managed to hold the chalk in her mouth quite easily. She walked to the to the nearest wall, and began to draw on it with the chalk.

Her basement was almost always dark when she wasn't playing with someone, so adjusting to near pitch black after being in the light for hours was something she was used to. It probably wasn't that good for her eyesight, but she could see in the dark better than most. Plus it was bright pink chalk, her favorite color, so it showed up easily in the dark.

She began to draw The Rainbow Factory on the wall, at least, what she's seen of it so far. It took longer to draw it with the shackles crippling her movements, as she had to put her hooves against the wall multiple times for balance, but she sort of needed to do this. Her plans are a lot better when she has some kind of physical blueprint, something she can look at, isn't really something you can't do if it's just a mental image.

Fifteen minutes passed by before she was done, the work before her took more effort than she liked. But when she was done, she smiled satisfyingly.

"And...there!"

The drawing was large, covering almost the entire wall. There was a huge outline, in the shape of a square with tubes coming out the top. Inside were numerous shapes that had lots of meanings, little and large squares were also inside, representing rooms. Some of it was the rooms she's the parts she's seen, but most of it was conjecture. Other than the parts she's seen herself, she had to rely on the few times she's seen the outside of The Factory, any schematics she's seen of other factories, and just common architectural sense. But this could be completely different from anything she's ever seen, there was almost no way to tell. But, there wasn't much else she could do.

"Let's see, first an overview of everything."

She looked at each of the shapes, something she came up with to preserve space. Each shape was a symbol of something else.

"Shaded in dots are ponies, open dots are the failures/workers. I don't know how they take to non-pegasi, so avoiding them unless I can tell if they're friendly would be preferable. There are two ponies who escort me out of my cell, and since mine leads directly to the industrial part of The Factory, which I assume is one of many, they won't be right outside my door.

But when I went out there, there were a lot of sentinels out there watching the workers down below, which there were a lot of. If they weren't so thoroughly terrified, I would consider inciting a riot. Which is something I don't understand that well, solitary confinement I get, that works when it comes to breaking minds, they probably have a place with dozens of cells. But then why is mine here? Why do I get my own special cell here of all places? it doesn't make much sense, at least not to me.

Anyway, back to the guards. They're focused on watching the failures work and making sure no escape attempts result in success, no matter how disciplined they may be, it won't be that easy for them to adjust to watching somewhere else as intently, not when they've been so used to watching ponies they have such burning hatred for. So sneaking past them wouldn't be impossible, assuming none of the workers see me. Good, I like the challenge."

Pinkamena drew an arrow from her cell past both shaded and open dots, moving past them and into another door.

"Assuming I get past them and into the hallway, there are two other guards in there at all times, and passerbys that could come out at any moment. I'll have to scope the place out until I can figure out if there's anything there that can help me."

Pinkamena put a question mark at the beginning of the hallway, a possibility of escape she'll have to work on.

"Now, for the possible escape routes, the food has to come from-"

A loud knocking came from the door, causing Pinkamena to quickly turn around.

"Food!"

A voice said from the other side, a tray near the bottom of the door opened and a tray slid through, the tray closing behind it. The food didn't look very appetizing, it was just a bowl of gray mush inside of it, a small bottle of water next to it, and all of these things on a small, plastic tray.

"This doesn't look that nutritional, but I need to eat it, later. I'm not that hungry right now."

Pinkamena picked the tray up and put it in a corner beside the drawing, something she'll eat eventually.

"Now, as I was saying. The food has to come in from somewhere, you can't grow food on clouds. So I need to..."

Pinkamena's planning lasted for hours, thinking of every way possible way to escape. At some point, she had eaten the gray mush left for her. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either, it was like stale oatmeal. Over the time of her planning, time seemed to fly, as she focused on her planning and ignored her surroundings.

"Wow, that was...interesting."

Pinkamena said as she stepped back, looking at her markings. There were now dozens of markings, all of them related to either failed, or potential escape plans. There were several x's on the map, meaning there was no way those would work, for one reason or another. But there were two rooms that hard large circles around them, the waste room, and whatever room they store the spectra in.

"Now the waste room would be the easiest to get to and escape from, in terms of actually maneuvering in, I'd still have to deal with numerous guards. But wherever they keep the spectra, I'd have to-"

The sound of the door unlocking came from behind her, causing her to panic. She quickly began wiping the wall, erasing the pink drawing easily. As soon as the door began to open, Pinkamena finished with the drawing and sat on the floor, facing away from the door.

"Wake up and get up! You've got plenty more questions to answer before we're done with you, so cooperate, and we might make your death painless!"

Slowly, she stood up, resisting her urge to kill them for ordering her around like a dog. When she turned around, she noticed it was the same two guards from before. This was something she could use to her advantage, since these two seem to be prone to violence.

"Okay, but what about bathroom privileges? I can't exactly concentrate when I have to pee."

That was a lie, she could concentrate fine. This was mostly to test her flexibility, and how easily she could trick them.

"You get one bathroom break a day, that's it. Sure you wanna use it now?"

He asked almost sadistically, she somehow felt he was lying about how many breaks she got. But it didn't matter, she could deal with just one.

"Positive, gotta go when you gotta go, right?"

He didn't say anything after that, he just grimaced. Both of them moved to the side, allowing her to go through the door. Most of the trip went the same as last time, except the sentries above barely even noticed her. They were focused on the workers, looking for any excuse they could to go down there and beat one to near death. Which is what she had hoped for, sneaking past them would be pathetically easy. The workers looked up at her, some curiously, others beggingly, wanting her to save them. But she barely glanced at them, none of her plans involved saving anyone but herself.

When they got to the labyrinth that was the hallway, they took a different turn. She was making a mental map as they went, which was somewhat difficult since all the hallways were the same dull white, she'll just have to take note of turns instead of differences. She was trying to read the signs above each door, a few of them she was able to, but it was hard to tell the difference since all signs were the same than the rest. For a while, that's all she could do. But suddenly, something changed. The walls remained they're dull white, but there was a door on the left that was different, it was a darker shade, and it was open.

In the few seconds she passed by, she looked inside the room. There were guards, dozens of them. A few of them were at a table playing cards, others eating, there was even a mini-bar in there. This must have been the barracks, which is surprising since this place had a lot of guards and sentinels, she figured it would need an adjacent building to hold them all. Or a bunch of rooms, that could work too. This was somewhere she should take note of, there might be something in there she could use, like a map of this place. If not, the alcohol might be reason enough. But getting in there without all of them noticing her? That'll be something she can plan out later.

The bathroom was, like every other room in this place, extremely clean. She did decide to use the bathroom, since it would be better to do it while she was here. She had intended to wash up a bit, wanting to look nice for her 'date' with Rainbow Dash. But the guards gave her almost no time to, they were doing their best to make this hard for her. But, she was on her best behavior, not wanting to give them any excuse. Not that that would bother her, it's more she'd prefer them not to beat her, she may not be able to subdue her need to kill if they were to make a habit of that.

She had two places of interest, The barracks, and isolation. One of the signs said isolation on it, which could mean a lot of things. But since they keep her in a solitary confinement cell, it was possible they were keeping prisoners like her in there, it was worth checking out. Problem is, she isn't sure about how the keys worked. There could be a master key that opens all cells, or each cell has a key that only opens that cell, that would be problematic if that were true.

"Hey! Are you listening to me? I said go in, now!"

The guard shouted at her aggressively, snapping her out of her trance. It seems she became lost in her thoughts, like usual, really bad habit. It seems that they had made it to the interrogation room, the guards opened the door and waited for her to enter. And when she didn't enter, they got angry.

Before they tried to beat her, and she ended up killing them, she entered the room, the door shutting quickly behind.

"Hello Pinkamena, got something on your mind?"

Rainbow asked, looking at Pinkamena almost curiously. Pinkamena couldn't help but smile, after everything that's happened, something about Rainbow's voice just made her so...ecstatic.

"Just planning my escape, takes a lot of thought."

Pinkamena sat in the chair across from Rainbow, with noticeable struggle, the shackles made any form of movement difficult.

"What's in the folder, got some paperwork for all the dead ponies?

Pinkamena said, noticing the folder on the table beside Dash. She smiled as she moved the folder in front of her, opening it.

"Today, instead of asking each other questions,"

Inside the folder, were missing reports of ponies stacked on top of each other. Along with other kinds of papers Pinkamena didn't recognize.

"These are missing reports, and our own personal papers, on every Pegasi in Equestria. For every five you identify as yours, you get to ask one question."

Pinkamena leaned forward, looking down at the first one.

"Would you like detail about how I got them and how they died? Or do you just want to say mine?"

Chapter Nine: Integral Planning: Part Two.

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“There are over three hundred reports of missing pegasi all over Equestria here, and you’re telling me you’re responsible for over half!”

Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves on the table in front of her, making the files with pictures of various Pegasi on them bounce, some of them falling off the table. She looked down at Pinkamena angrily, grinding her teeth in frustration and anger, her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes widened as she was barely able to hold herself back from killing Pinkamena right then and there. She had considerably fewer bandages than before, whether that be because they had unicorns with healing magic, or some kind of treatment. But, she still had quite a few bandages, some of them began to bleed as she slammed the table. That lab coat still looked strange on her, but Pinkamena was getting used to it.

“Yes.”

Pinkamena, on the other hoof, couldn’t be enjoying this more. She sat in her seat, with her chains and shackles, composed as can be. Her malicious smile stretched across her face as she looked up at her, that smug look wasn’t helping Rainbow’s self-control. Pinkamena wanted her to attack, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to fight back, but if she could just provoke her into losing control, that would be a victory for her.

“That's-I can’t...it shouldn’t be...How!?”

The last hour and a half had been enraging, for Rainbow Dash, at least. For Pinkamena, it had been a moment she had dreamed of! For one of her friends to find out what she is, and for her to sit down and tell her every detail of every victim she’s ever killed, and to watch them crumble. But, in her fantasy, she wasn’t chained up in an interrogation room, and her friend wasn’t a part of a massive secret murder factory. And she couldn’t go into nearly as much detail as she wanted, since ‘little miss organization’ wanted to get through each one as fast as possible, so it had to be reduced to a date, method, and place. But, still, this was probably the closest she’d ever get, she’d have to settle.

“I’ve been doing this for...seven years now? Eight? Could be ten, not really sure, I just know I started pretty young. And, with trial and error, common sense, luck, and a lot of patience! I’ve gotten it down to a precise method, everything has a thought out plan, backup plan, and a backup for the backup plan! I pick the ponies out at random with a number dispenser, have multiple books kept for each pony with notes for them to help get them, and know how to keep suspicion away. It took you guys, what? A few decades to get mass murder down to an industrialized process? I don’t know how it works for you, but it took a psychopathic filly a few years to make one. So, it makes sense I’d-”

“Ok! I bucking get it! You’re a genius! Just stop talking! The sound of your voice makes me want to scratch nails against a board just to drown it out!”

Rainbow put her hooves against her ears, clenching her eyes shut tight, it was nice to see her lose composure like this, what would happen if this were to happen in front of her superiors? Or people below who respect her? She more than likely wouldn’t, but it was an idea to toy with. Then again, there was always the chance Rainbow was just pretending to lose composure to give Pinkamena a false sense of security. Which is what Pinkamena was betting on, it made the most sense. It’s not what she’d do, she preferred to be more...creative. But, she didn’t fully understand her yet, but from what she’s seen of her and this place, it’s the first strategy they’d use in this situation. But, she’d indulge, it just makes the real thing so much better.

“How...how can you handle the guilt? All the lives you’ve destroyed?”

Pinkamena couldn’t help but giggle, this was definitely an act, a very bad one. Was she even trying at this point? Or was she trying to make this option fail so they could move on to one she preferred? The answers would only be known to her. After regaining her composure from her slight giggle fit, Pinkamena looked at the expectant Rainbow Dash, a number coming to mind.

“Don’t know, how do you live with the lives of seventeen hundred and eight foals?!”

Rainbow’s composure returned like it was never gone in the first place. She looked straight into Pinkamena’s eyes, her serious gaze seeming to pierce into her soul.

“How did you get that number?”

“You should really keep a tighter leash on your assassins, they’re not nearly as tight-lipped as you think they are. I don’t mean to brag, but I’ve been torturing ponies for fun for nearly a decade, getting them to talk isn’t too difficult.”

Ok, that was a lie, she entirely meant to brag. But, instead of being surprised or angry, she only smiled.

“Wow, I must admit, I am impressed. But those weren’t assassins, you haven’t seen those yet. No, those were just low tier thugs sent to capture you and bring you here, they were never meant to kill. But, they were extremely prepared to be tortured for information, so the fact that you were still able to get at least one of them to talk shows how much I’ve underestimated you.”

Rainbow calmly sat in the chair before her, smiling at Pinkie almost approvingly. Pinkamena’s smile turned into a frown, this was unsettling.

“Are you saying you wanted me to torture the information out of them? Just to see if I could?”

Rainbow’s smile stretched a little farther, her eyelids drooped over her eyelids, almost as if she was falling asleep. Her hooves crossed in front of her on the table, laying on the many files spread out on it.

“Perhaps. Or maybe they were just a ploy? Something to keep you busy while I organized things? Does it matter? You’re here alive, I’m here to ask you questions, everything thing has worked out for the best. Now, as for the rest, why don-

“How do you keep track of your guards?”

Rainbow flinched, grinding her teeth again, she did not like being interrupted.

“Why do you ask?”

Rainbow asked suspiciously, this was not a question she’d like to answer. But, Pinkamena remained quiet, she wasn’t going to answer. She sighed to herself, she was going to regret this.

“The guards are on shift, there is always two roaming the hallways. Every two hours they switch out, and it just goes from there. Every pegasus in this factory has an implant that keeps track of their vitals, if one is killed, we’ll know when, how, and where. But every guard is extremely well trained, they get attacked by a prisoner every other day. They also have radios that link to each other, they do check-ins every half hour, if one doesn’t respond, they are presumed dead and three or more are sent to investigate. They have tasers, and guns if it becomes necessary.”

Rainbow’s explanation was calm and detailed, like this was something she expected to be asked. Rainbow snickered and looked at Pinkamena, almost like there was some huge joke and she knew.

“You’re trying to plan an escape, right? Well, let me just explain to you how hopeless that is for you!”

She suddenly jumped out of the chair, and faster than Pinkamena could react, grabbed her by her mane and slammed her against the table, her face pressing against the cold metal table.

“Even if by some bucking miracle you manage to take out a guard as chained up as you are, it won’t matter! There’s not some master keycard that opens every door, that would be too easy. No, each cell has a keycard that can open that prisoners and one other. It is specially made to only work on yours and another prisoner. They are randomly assigned to each guard, so, chances are, yours belongs to a guard on the other side of the factory! You know what? Buck it, I’ll indulge you!”

Pinkamena tried to push herself up, but the shackles made that practically impossible to do. She managed to push herself up a little, but Rainbow just smiled as she slammed her head on the table again.

“What do you think this place is built on? Clouds! Not dirt or concrete, clouds! So even if you could navigate a way out of here, where are you going to go? You don’t have wings, so you can’t fly! There aren’t any unicorns around here who will help you by casting a cloud walking spell, so you’ll just fall thousands of feet and die! Any nearby places like Cloudsdale are miles away, and are full of Pegasi, so you’ll just be brought right back here! Oh! And one more thing. Those chains and shackles you’re wearing? Not like any of the ones we put on the failures, those shock them whenever we press a button or they go to certain areas without permission. No, yours doesn’t shock, but it’s so old, we don’t even have the key to it! So good luck getting around or taking down guards wit-”

In a second, Pinkamena pushed herself forward, knocking the table down, spilling the files everywhere. This caused both her and Rainbow Dash to begin falling to the floor, except Pinkamena caught herself with her front hooves, nearly breaking them from the strain that took with the shackles. But since her legs were lunged forward, she decided to lean them somewhere they’d be useful, in Dash’s face. Rainbow’s surprised expression was replaced by a pained one as she was kicked by two hooves, quickly putting her on the ground beside Pinkamena. Before she could react, Pinkamena was on top of her, the chains for her front hooves around her neck, a smug and sadistic grin on her face.

“Wow, your reflexes su-”

Before Pinkamena could finish, Rainbow Dash headbutted her, causing her chains to tightly push against her throat, but not enough to stop her. Rainbow’s wings stretched to her sides as she flew forward, wrapping her hooves around Pinkamena to take her with her. Pinkamena tried to tighten the grip of the chains, but she was then slammed against a wall. Rainbow pinned her back to the wall, using one hoof to pin her there by her neck, and the other to quickly move Pinkamena’s hooves upwards, pinning them above her head, pushing the chains away from her throat. Rainbow stood on her back hooves, something strange for a pony to do. Her wings stretched out behind her, her lab coat fell off at some point, laying on the floor among the missing pegasi reports. Bandages were all over her body, bruises could be seen on the parts that weren’t. All were places Pinkamena hit or cut her, multiple times.

Most of the bandages were bleeding, the sudden violence and activity weren’t helping her healing process. But she either didn’t notice, or didn’t care. No, she was focused entirely on the mare she had pinned up to the wall. She was inches away from Pinkamena’s face, her pupils constricted, and this time, she was the one with the sadistic smile on her face. Pinkamena, on the other hoof, just stared back, a similar smile on her face.

The door swung open, the guards had heard the table being pushed over. They were about to rush in, but Rainbow gave them a look that kept them there.

“You have them whipped, I wonder, what did you do to earn such respect? Or fear? I bet there are some stories about you.”

Rainbow looked back at her, no anger or hatred in her eyes. She seemed to be torn between killing her, letting the guards beat her, or finding a way to get those shackles off and having round two. Instead, she settled on asking a question.

“You know, I have to ask, why didn’t you try to kill me? It wouldn’t have worked, but you could have started choking me, I would have gotten you off or gotten out somehow, or maybe even the guards would have come in time, but you didn’t even try to. Why? Or is it just in your nature to boast?”

Pinkamena’s smile widened, a pregnant silence filled the room for a few seconds. Then, to the surprise of everyone else, Pinkamena kissed Rainbow Dash. She kept her eyes open when she did, staring straight into Rainbow’s as they widened, the smile leaving her face. Rainbow was too shocked to respond, she was so shocked, that when she pulled away, her hooves did too, releasing Pinkamena from the wall. She dropped almost happily, watching Rainbow look back surprised and shocked.

“Because, I want you to live. I want you to watch as I escape from your ‘inescapable factory,’ because I will. I’ll be leaving now, I think we can both agree that that’s enough for today.”

Pinkamena began to walk to the entrance, but not before leaning into Rainbow’s ear first.

“You can consider that a goodbye kiss.”

Pinkamena then licked her ear, causing Rainbow to flinch back. Pinkamena walked out the door with a smug smile on her face, swinging her hips back and forth almost mockingly. Rainbow could do nothing but watch as she walked between the guards, she began to realize just how unpredictable and sadistic this mare was.

“Hey, you owe me five bits, hand them over!”

One of the guards said to the other excitedly, holding his hoof out expectantly. The other huffed as he pulled a small bag from one of the pockets from his armor. He pulled out five bits from it and put it in the hoof of the other guard, who put it in a pocket it in his armor. Rainbow turned to them confusedly.

“Did you two...bet on her kissing me?”

Rainbow asked, and the guards seemed to hesitate in answering. Then the one on the left, the one who won bet and seemed to be happy about it, answered.

“No, us, and a bunch of other guards, bet that you were into mares. And you just got kissed by a mare, I’d say that was close enough.”

Rainbow then proceeded to facehoof, the immaturity of some of these guards...Well, I guess some of them had to do things like this as a coping mechanism, it made sense, so she couldn’t be that mad.

“Just..escort her back to her cell, before I castrate both of you.”

The guards, not sure whether she was joking or not, did as she said. As soon as she left, she proceeded to put her lab coat back, doing so as gently as possible, she had already exerted herself enough today, she was going to have to be careful the rest of the day, if she kept this up, it would take weeks to fully heal. As she put on the lab coat and began to clean up the files, she couldn’t shake this feeling she had, that something was wrong. But what?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Celestia damn it! That won’t work either!”

Pinkamena threw her chalk against the wall in frustration, flinching slightly as she did, her body was still sore in some places. Her shouts filling the cell, but couldn’t be heard outside. On the wall before her, was the same pink drawing of The Factory, but with even more marks. Arrows with question marks, tiny doors representing the rooms she saw in the hallway, everything she had seen and known of from here to the interrogation room. When she was escorted back to the cell by the guards, she immediately began adjusting her plan to the information she had gained. At first, she assumed she’d find a way to still escape, partly not wanting to admit defeat. But, as she soon came to find out, this was place was practically made for ponies like her. If her memory of the map of Equestria was serving her right, the closest city to where this supposedly was, is Cloudsdale. Sure, she had a few friends in Cloudsdale, but none who she could say for certain weren’t apart of The Rainbow Factory.

That wasn’t the only part that made her angry though, it was everything about this place! Taking down a guard by herself isn’t that difficult, but how could she get away before being caught? And how would she know which guard to take down? Or which keycard was hers? She didn’t even know her cell number!

“Buck this place! The keycards alone are a huge problem! But even If I get lucky and find mine, how am I supposed to leave? I don’t know for sure where anywhere goes, all of it is just speculation!”

She shouted to herself, shaking her shackles at the ceiling as if someone else was listening. She bit at the shackles, as if she could bite through them or eat them. But, all she got out of it were sore jaws.

“And these bucking chains! These are so bucking uncomfortable! Getting out of these is going to be a bitch! But, I could do it, breaking my hoof is one way for it to work. But I need a bobby pin first, or something! But I can’t find so much as a bit on the ground in this place, how do they keep it so clean!?”

Pinkamena then spat on the floor of her cell, as if to spite the factory itself for being so clean. But, of course, it was pointless. How long had she been here? Two days? A week? Her injuries weren’t even close to done healing, but they were getting better, who knows what they’d be like if she didn’t keep exerting herself? But how long had she spent making plans that wouldn’t work? Hours? A day? Being locked up and isolated like this was something she was used to, but when she was locked up like this, she was usually taken out occasionally, or had a window or something. But without any of those things, she wasn’t able to tell what time of day it was, or if it was even day! Eventually, she would lose track of time itself, not something she wants to experience. And this isolation was beginning to...mess with her, which was something difficult on its own. Voices in her head or whispers weren’t something she was entirely unfamiliar with, neither were hallucinations, Discord being a prime example. But ever since she was locked up here, they were becoming more and more common.

Whispers from behind her, seeing black figures out of the corners of her eyes, very similar to side effects of sleep deprivation, something she was far too familiar with. Except these were more...real, like they’re right there. Then again, there was a massive amount of death in this place, so ghost haunting the living as some sort of vengeance wouldn’t be too surprising. Or maybe there was some kind of speaker installed in here by Rainbow Dash to mess with her? Who knows, this place was full of mysteries, frustrating mysteries. Pinkamena was always good at planning, but she preferred acting, the thrill of not knowing what was going to happen was always better than a plan going exactly as intended, at least for her. But she had been exhausted, physically and emotionally, she was also trying to work out the best way to get answers out of a certain cyan pegasus, and basing her escape plan on what she’s seen so far and speculation. And considering how old this place is, it probably doesn’t follow the same design as other factories!

“Buck you Rainbow Dash! And your paranoia! Why can’t someone just give me a little nudge! Just a little help wou-”

Suddenly, there was a light knocking on the door, causing Pinkamena to stop her rant. In the span of a few seconds, she picked up the chalk she threw against the wall, putting it back in her mane. She then wiped the drawing of The Rainbow Factory and all the markings on it, they probably figured she was already planning an escape, but they didn’t need to know to what extent. After erasing her drawing, she lay horizontally on the floor, her back facing the door.

What felt like an eternity passed, and nothing happened. The door didn’t open, there was no more knocking, nothing. She was beginning to suspect there was no knocking in the first place, when a different sound came from the door. The sound of paper sliding under the door, like a letter or a note, was the first thing she heard. Then the sound of hooves clacking became more and more distant as the owner walked away, and...snickering? That was either a really good sign, or a really bad one. She waited several minutes before moving, waiting to see if anything else was going to happen. When nothing did, cautiously, she walked towards the door, half expecting guards to bust through it and begin to beat her. When they didn’t, she leaned down and picked up the piece of paper.

It was a letter, not a very large one, as it was slightly smaller than her hoof. But the letters on it were written small, in a way where a lot could be said, even on this small of a letter. But something that really surprised her, was how it was written. The letters were written in rainbow, and they glowed! It was written quite neatly too, Pinkamena’s heard of a lot of things, but not rainbow ink that glowed! That was awesome! After getting past her bafflement about the glowing letters, she read the letter.

Dear Pinkamena,

Or do you prefer Pinkie? I’ve heard you go by both, but I’m not sure which you prefer, so I’ll just call you Pinkamena for now. As for who I am? Well, If you successfully escape this place, I’ll find you, and we’ll have a long discussion. All you need to know, is that we have a mutual enemy, and as the saying goes, ‘The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend.’ While we’re not friends, we can at least help each other out. So, I’ll help you escape, and when you get out, we can talk terms. And if you don’t want my help, which you really should take, then you can just slide this right back under the door, and try escaping yourself. Either way, try to avoid killing as many as you can, while nobody here is exactly good, not all of them are that bad. Whatever your decision is, good luck!

P.S. Check the back of this letter, I gave you something that should make things easier.

P.P.S. I left the door unlocked, and caused a distraction that should make it easy for you to sneak around the guards. So if you have any escape plans, now would be a good time to enact them. My advice would be to go to the barracks, find your keycard, get it, and then go to the cell connected to yours, there might be something useful in there. Also, it’s card night, so sneaking past them should be easy.

Sincerely, a friend.

Pinkamena flipped the letter, smiling at what was taped on the back, a bobby pin! She eagerly tore it from the tape, putting it in her hair to use later. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t use it yet, she wasn’t sure how long this ‘distraction’ was going to last. She didn’t like owing people, especially not ones she didn’t know. But if she didn’t get out of here soon, she would die. Either the guards would kill her, or Rainbow would. Besides, if this person asked for her to do something ridiculous or that she didn’t like, she could always just kill them.

She took the letter with her, stuffing it between the shackles, she wasn’t sure if she could comfortably put it in her hair, she wasn’t going to try. Taking a deep breath, Pinkamena opened the door, hoping this wasn’t a trap or something. Since she wasn't immediately attacked by guards as soon as the door was opened, she assumed it wasn’t. She then walked outside of her cell, this being the first time she’s done so without guards escorting her.

Walking out, the sight of the death machine before her was still quite astonishing. Though she wasn’t sure how much time she had, she still wanted to just look at the industrialized death before her. But, this time, her attention was elsewhere. Down below, where the workers usually were, there was a riot. Not all of them were rioting, some of them were still at their spots on the industrial line, not even seeming to notice what was happening. The workers had, for some reason, started killing each other. Their bodies spread out on the dirty concrete floor, most died from blunt force trauma, but some had been strangled. The workers weren’t the only ones fighting, some of the guards, noticeably the ones who usually escorted her out of her cell, were down ‘crowd controlling.’ They were wearing riot armor, dark black fiber armor, the words “Factory Security” written on the side of it in bright blue letters. They were also wearing a similar black helmet, a plastic shield attached to it was protecting their faces.

The guards were beating them eagerly with batons, blood splattering on the face shields, she could only see the face of one of them, but he seemed to be smiling sadistically, these guards really hated failures, a hatred she may not ever understand. Not all of the guards were participating, it would seem. No, many were pressed against their post and railings, cheering on the beatings as if it were a hoofball game. The scientist/observers seemed to be disgusted, but they didn’t look away, nor did they try to stop it. This must have been the distraction whoever left that note was talking about, but how did they get this started? Was there already a riot about to happen? Or did he provoke a guard into hitting one of them and it just started from there? Honestly, she didn’t care, as long as it worked.

Which, it did. Sneaking past them was easier than she expected it to be, they didn’t even notice her once. Now she was in the hallways, and there was a lot of things she could do, exploring was pretty high on that list. But, if her mysterious helper was right, and tonight was card night for the guards, going to the barracks would be her first priority. Using the mental map she made of the place, and trying her hardest to make as little sound as possible, she navigated the hallways. There were a few patrols she had to deal with, but making a few scratching sounds against the walls with her shackles and then hobbling away, made misleading them and getting around them somewhat easy. At least, it was the first two times. But these guards took their jobs seriously, she scratched against the wall for several minutes, but they didn’t come to investigate.

The guards patrolling the hallway to her left, while they noticed the sound, did not come to investigate. Luckily for her, she was not a one trick pony. Across from her was another door, that said “Janitor’s Closet.” Guess even they needed janitors. She walked up to it and tried to open it, but it was locked. She may have only had one bobby pin, but she was good enough to open a janitor’s closet without breaking it. After opening it, she didn’t bother looking inside, that wasn’t what she needed to open the door for. She shut the door again, and violently pulled it open, the door slammed against the wall, the sound echoing throughout the hallways and startled the guards.

“YOU BUCKING IDIOTS BETTER GET DOWN THERE AND HELP WITH THE RIOT RIGHT NOW! OR SO HELP ME, I WILL GELD THE BOTH OF YOU!”

Impressions of other ponies was a party joke every entertainer knew, every good one, anyway. As Pinkie Pie, she had a lot of experience doing impressions of her friends, and other important ponies like Celestia. But other than to make people laugh, it never had a use, until now. She may have had to adjust it a bit, but it seemed to work. The guards, moving faster than she’s seen any of the guards here move, began to rush down the hallway. She barely had time to hop into the janitor’s closet, banging her head against a broom. She shut the door behind her quickly, hoping they didn’t notice it, which they didn’t.

After waiting for the sound of desperate hoofsteps to stop, she left the closet, rubbing her head slightly from a headache, did they make those things out of hardwood?! Luckily, other than it being annoying, she can deal with a headache. After that, she got to the guard’s barracks with ease, seems those two were the last guards she had to get past for her intended location. The door to the guard’s barracks was open, and this time, there weren’t any guards hovering over her shoulders. She walked in, the room being extremely dark and quiet. First entering the room, she assumed this was the bunkroom. She couldn’t see that well in here, but she could vaguely make out bunk beds in lines on both sides of her. In height, they were almost twice her size, which made sense since they were bunk beds. She could also make out shapes in them, which meant there were a few guards here sleeping, she had to be extra sneaky. Not many though, maybe two or three, was the riot really taking up that many of the guards? Or was there more than one riot? She didn’t know the extent of this person’s influence, so she couldn’t really say it was impossible.

Moving forward, there were three doors in front of her. Directly in front of her, seemed to be the recreational room. The first thing she saw was a large, circular, dark wood table, several guards in chairs were around it. The table had one long peg under it, it seemed to be attached to the ground with some kind of clasp around it. They all had cards before them, with pieces of wood big enough to cover their hands. There were tons of chips on the table, some beside their cards, but most in the center of the table. Some had cigars in their mouths as they looked down at their hands thoughtfully, some even had glasses of alcohol beside them, seems they were playing poker for card night tonight, might as well not bother them. Looking in, it seemed the room had other things. She could see a comfortable looking green couch pushed up to the wall behind them, to the left was a dartboard with a picture of Rainbow Dash to it, three darts stuck to her face, she would not like that. And to the right...a minibar? They had a minibar?! That wasn’t fair! Not even she had a minibar! She wanted to kill them right then and there just for that! But, decided against it, the drinks were probably shitty anyway.

To her left, was where they seemed to keep all their weapons and armor. Looking in it, she could see the wall was lined up with armor, batons, tasers, and guns. Though, she wasn’t really sure why’d they’d need guns, the failures together couldn’t put up that much of a fight. Rainbow said they were necessary, but did they need guns for what batons and tasers couldn’t do? She would go in there and get something, but she didn’t have anywhere to keep them, and she doubted she’d even be able to use any of it properly with these shackles. And as for the armor, it would be near impossible and extremely uncomfortable to try to wear that with her shackles, and she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get it off.

To her right, was where she needed to go. It was the room, she guessed, they used to keep a map of the place and keycards. Considering how big this place was, it made sense that they would want to keep a map for the guards in case patrols needed to be updated, if they needed to guard a place they hadn’t been before, and various other reasons. And since this place was usually full of guards, and the typical escaped prisoner wouldn’t be able to get past the patrols and get this far anyway. But, there was a riot, maybe more than one, going on right now, so there were considerably fewer guards. And Pinkamena wasn’t the typical prisoner, this was probably the first time any prisoner has gotten this far, especially without them even knowing she’d escaped her cell. Walking into the room, the first thing in front of her was a table, just a table, no map, no ponies playing cards, just a table.

It was a large, metal, grey rectangular table. It seemed to be like a desk in the sense it had no pegs keeping it up, it just seemed to be a big metal table on the ground, no idea how they got it in, probably unicorns and teleportation. In the back of the room, were several filing cabinets, little black signs on each of them of the alphabet. The first one had A-C on it, the last had X-Z. If she had to guess, those were the keycards. But right now, until she knew her cell number, those were useless. To the far left, were several monitors, connected to cameras in rooms she’s never been. They must have been very well hidden, most of these were placed in rooms she’s been, but she’s never noticed them.

Each monitor seemed to be connected to multiple cameras, because each one flashed to a different location, a hallway with guards patrolling, other parts of the factory where there were no riots, even the interrogation room she’d grown to like so much. But the cameras also revealed that there were riots in other parts of the factory, two others, from what she’s seen. One seems to be doing about as well as the one near her cell, but other they seemed to be putting up a decent fight. They seemed to outnumber the guards five to one, and there were only three guards. Were these riots the doing of her mysterious friend? Or just good timing? It didn’t matter, she was going to take advantage of it either way.

One thing she didn’t see on the cameras, was her cell. She saw multiple other cells lined up in the hallways, or some like hers that were isolated with nothing else around them. But she hadn’t seen a cell connected by a catwalk to a room with an industrial line of death, she had been paying attention for that. Had her helpful ally disabled the camera? Or had her cell not had a camera? Considering the security of this place, the thought of her cell not having a camera was doubtful. Pinkamena walked into the room, walking around the metal table. As she did, she noticed there was a button on the other side of it. It wasn’t a button for some kind of alarm, it was too big for that and the placement was off. So, out of curiosity, she pressed it. Then the table came to life, blue lights exploding from the surface. Pinkamena jumped back, the sudden lights startled her. But when she looked back at them, she noticed they were forming shapes.

Soon, a hologram of The Rainbow Factory was on the table, covering most of it. Every detail was there, from the rainbows coming out of tubes on the side, to little pegasi floating around it. It even had a cloud it was on, pipes came out of the top of the factory, puffing out constant clouds. Rainbow waterfalls coming out of the sides, even the pillars supporting other buildings in the background were added. Pinkamena touched it with her hoof cautiously, it flickered, but didn’t disappear. She pulled her hoof back, then touched it again, a smile of astonishment growing on her face.

“They have holograms? That’s so bucking cool!”

Pinkamena whispered to herself, staying quiet so she didn’t alert any of the guards. The hologram began to change, and Pinkamena quickly pulled back her hoof. Touching the hologram caused it to zoom into the interior, right where she was. It now showed floor by floor levels of the factory, a bright white dot that was indicating where she was. And several other dots indicating the guards, which were on the other side of a bright blue wall. Pinkamena examined the hologram, looking through what the hologram was showing her. She avoided touching it, not sure what else that might do.

“Well, my layout wasn’t off that much. I got the majority right, but some areas don’t follow the typical factory architecture at all! If I hadn’t seen this, odds are, I would’ve gotten lost. But now that I have the layout, let’s see if…”

Pinkamena scrolled her hoof through the hallways, being gentle as she wasn’t sure how this hologram works yet. Using her mental map, she navigated through the hallways to her cell, noticing white dots, the guards she had snuck by earlier. Luckily, she seemed to get to her cell with no problem. And it seemed the riot was still happening, there were a lot of blue dots, and a lot of red. She assumed the red represented the failures, and they were blinking out fast. Which meant they were unconscious, or dead. And from how the numbers were going, it seemed that riot would be ending soon. Which meant the guards were going to soon discover she was gone, eventually, she might still have a lot of time. Speaking of her cell...

“My cell number is E-2, ok, now I can find the keycard. But how do I…”

Pinkamena clicked on the cell number, which was hovering letters above the cell. It then changed fast to another cell in the hallways, with the letters B-4 hovering above it, this was the cell connected to hers, probably. It wasn’t that far away from here, maybe five minutes or so? The mysterious helping person told her to go there because there was something useful, or it was a trap. She didn’t see the point in helping her get this far just to trap her, but she didn’t know that much about this place or the ponies inside it, she had to play things safe. She was going to go, but accept the possibility it was a trap, which meant she might need to fight.

“To do that, I’m going to need to get out of these shackles. This is going to hurt like a bitch!”

Pinkamena put her left hoof around her right, biting her lip as she did. She couldn't use the bobby pin, not when she only had the one. It would have been better to break out of her shackles without it in case she needed it later, she couldn't risk breaking it just yet. Then, swiftly, she twisted her hoof completely around, making a loud snapping noise as her hoof broke. She grunted loudly and bit her lip hard enough for blood to drip down, but at least now she was free. Slowly and carefully, she pulled her broken hoof from the shackle, now she’d be able to unlock it without making a lot of noise and breaking her neck. If she had tried it before, odds were, she wouldn’t have been able to pick it properly. She pulled the bobby pin out of her mane, avoiding putting her hoof on the ground to prevent further damage. She put the shackle that didn’t have a hoof in it on the metal table, bringing another shackle that did with it. She then began to pick the lock, making slight clicking noises as the bobby pin unlocked it. Within about two minutes, she had unlocked all the shackles. She carefully took them off, putting them on the ground as quietly as she could. She then looked down at her hoof pensively, slightly angry at Rainbow Dash for forcing her to do this, there was no other way for her to get out.

“I’m going to have to pay a fortune to get this fixed when I get out of here! Celestia, I hate this place!”

She silently shouted to herself, she really hated breaking limbs, but at least she did it to herself this time. Without another word, she walked over to the file cabinets, having to limp since she had to hold her hoof up as she walked. But she’s had to walk with a broken hoof before, so she could walk almost as fast as she normally could, and fight just as well. She went to the second filing cabinet, the one marked E-H. Pulling open one of the drawers, dozens of small key cards were revealed. They were in the shape of rectangles and small enough to where one could just sit on her hoof, they were mostly green, except the end that went into the reader, that was blue. Pinkamena pulled it out of its spot and put it in her mane, gently shutting the drawer. She turned around and began to walk out the door, the hologram seemed to turn itself off.

“Alright, now I just need to go to the cell connected to mine, maybe whoever's in there could be helpful. As long as I can get out of here without getting caught, everything should be-”

Before her, standing right outside the doorway, was a guard. Maybe it had been one of the ones that had been sleeping who had just woken up and decided to join the guards, or one that returned from his patrol and wanted to get a drink, or just a stallion who happened to walk by just then. It didn’t matter why, but there was a now a white stallion looking directly at her, looking first at the shackles, then at her broken hoof, then at her, his eyes widening in comprehension.

“Uh...Don’t suppose I can convince you to pretend you didn’t see me, right?”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Shit! Those tasers bucking hurt!”

The answer to that question was no, they did not seem to be in a convincing mood. The second the guard realized there was an escaped prisoner, he panicked, or maybe he was following protocol panickedly? He screamed that a prisoner had escaped and for them to check all prisoners, which made sense, if one had escaped, checking the others to make sure none of them had was a sensible thing to do in a place like this. The other guards who were awake, who didn’t like having to stop their card game, came to see what the fuss was about. When they saw her, they too panicked at the fact that a prisoner managed to escape, and they proceeded to grab batons and tasers from the room across from them.

Pinkamena took way too long to react, and gave them a lot more time than she’d like. While they were getting their batons and tasers, she ran past the first stallion, knocking him to the ground. The guards were slow to react, they hadn’t expected a mare with a broken hoof to move so fast! While it was a struggle for her, navigating her way to the cell connected to hers with only a brief mental map while trying to lose two guards was more of a struggle. But the guards were in way better shape than her, and they were better prepared than her. Three guards were soon after her, one with a taser, one with a baton, and the last one didn’t seem to like to wait, as he came out with nothing.

The one with the taser was fast! Before she knew it, they were right behind her! With a gasp she was shocked with it, causing her to leap forward and pick up her pace, they were having a harder time catching up to her now. Since there were only three, she assumed one went to alert others, and the rest were checking other cells to see if any other prisoners had escaped.

“Three? Yeah, I can handle three.”

Pinkamena said as she maneuvered quickly, taking a left down a hallway. She wasn’t sure if they were drunk, or if she was just that faster than them, but she was slowly losing them. They had probably assumed she would eventually get lost, but they didn’t know she had a mental map of this place. She was doing her best to lose them, she really wanted to avoid fighting when other guards could be around, at least until she had to. In order to lose them, she had to purposely slow down so they’d catch up, then she kicked one in his hoof, causing him to fall over and face plant. That wouldn’t work again. But it wouldn’t have to, the one with the baton tried leaping at her, but she expected that and easily sidestepped him, causing him to hit the wall. The third one stopped, about to attack, but she spit in his eyes! It temporarily blinded him, and she took the opportunity. She turned around and began to run, almost as surprised as they were.

“The fact that that worked means these guards are either really stupid, or Discord himself is looking down on me giving me luck. I mean, it could be that their new and don’t have much experience.”

Sure, ponies don’t expect the pony they’re chasing to suddenly stop, but she figured they’d have better reflexes than that! Maybe they really were drunk! Pinkamena shook her head, Rainbow was going to be pissed when she hears about this, she almost felt bad for them. After several minutes of navigating through the halls and expecting the guards to show up any moment, she stopped, leaning against the wall panting, looking down at her broken hoof. She had managed to hold it up while she was running, while it caused her to limp, she was able to keep off it. But that put some strain on her three other hooves, kicking somepony certainly didn’t help. Neither did barely getting any sleep and her body still being sore beforehand, she was going to sleep for days when she got out of here.

“Now...let’s see...looking for B-4...it should actually be around here. Unless I took a wrong turn somewhere.”

Pinkamena began scanning the room while resting against the wall, slowly getting her breath back. There were several doors in front of her, but none of them were cell doors. She got off the wall, holding her broken hoof up as she walked forward, turning around to see if it was on the wall behind her. And, to her surprise, it had been the wall she was leaning on! The door was the size of the wall, it was dark black and made out of metal, and didn’t have any windows or anything to see in it with. She looked to the right of it, and there was the card reader, just waiting for her! She pulled out the keycard from her mane, and swiped it in the reader. She had expected it to take a few tries, but no, it beeped and a green light emitted from it as the door popped open.

She put the keycard back in her mane, in case she needed it for something later. She waited a few seconds, expecting whoever was in there to notice the cell door was slightly ajar and to open it, but no one did. Curious, Pinkamena slightly opened the door and slipped herself inside. The inside was just like hers, small, dark, and nothing in the room, no bed or anything, except hers at least had a bucket, though they were relucant to give it to her. She couldn’t make out any figures in the dark, but she could hear breathing, though it was strained and she couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“Hello? Are you there? I’m here to break you free!”

Pinkamena said in the darkness, waiting for a response. Suddenly, the sound of chains being pulled at came from some part of the room, as a black figure came out from the darkness towards here. It was her size, maybe a little smaller. It had a black body like an exoskeleton with holes in its legs, but its body seemed pale, weak, like it hadn’t eaten in days. It had little wings on its sides, they were bright white, almost see through. It slowly opened its bright green eyes, shutting them again as it hadn’t seen direct light in days. After he adjusted, he looked at her, straining to keep his eyes open. Pinkamena’s eyes widened in surprise, almost like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Holy shit! You’re a changeling!”

Chapter Ten: Escape, Part One.

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“So, let me get this straight…”

Pinkamena and the changeling were sitting in the center of the room, the only light source being a flashlight Pinkamena stole from the barracks on her way out, having snatched it off the guard that was in the doorway, which was facing the roof of the room. The door to cell had been closed, so any of the guards coming by wouldn’t think she had come into this cell. The changeling, who had been chained to the wall and had more shackles on him then she did, was sitting down on the ground across from her, though it seemed the way he had to sit due to the chains was making him uncomfortable.

Pinkamena was sitting down on the other side of the flashlight, her broken right hoof being held close to her chest, her other hoof laying on her leg. She looked back at the changeling, his green eyes shutting repeatedly as he seemed to struggle to stay awake. Though she seemed to be looking at him vacantly, lost in her thoughts as she was piecing together what she was told.

“Chrysalis felt a strong source of love here, or at least something close to it. But, being so close to Canterlot, and so recent after The Canterlot Invasion, she couldn’t risk assaulting it. And since most of the changelings were still recovering, she couldn’t send a squad for reconnaissance. You were the best at spying and infiltration available, so you were sent to see what this source of love was. You came to Cloudsdale disguised to investigate, but they saw through it somehow. And, to make a short story shorter, you got the shit beat out of you.”

The changeling seemed to scowl, though not just at Pinkamena, he seemed to be angry at himself for failing. “The ponies here are more...vicious, than what we’re used to. Besides, that wasn’t the only reason. The second I entered this cursed place, I lost connection to the hive mind, which was...unpleasant, to say the least.” He spoke slowly and hesitantly, as if just speaking was a struggle.

“Wow, being away from mommy for too long makes you weak, sounds like a toxic relationship if I’ve ever heard of one. And I should know, I’ve seen far too many.”

The changelings just scoffed, closing his eyes in annoyance. She wasn’t sure if that meant he didn’t have the energy to respond, or he didn’t think she was worth it.

“Right, anyway. So, when they interrogated you and you still wouldn’t talk, they locked you up. Wouldn’t feed you, wouldn’t let you out, and from what I can see, wouldn’t let you sleep either. I’m actually more surprised they haven’t done that to me yet. And, since you’re so weak, you are unable to change form, or even move without straining yourself. But what I don’t understand,” Pinkamena lifted her hoof up, moving it closer to the changelings. The bone had been more or less set back in place, but the blood had only just recently dried. “Why can’t you feed off of me?” She asked confusedly, causing him to open his eyes and look at her arm.

“Because, I don’t know why, but I can’t detect a trace of love in you. And even if I could,” He leaned forward slowly, licking a bit of the dried blood with his long, snake-like tongue. He suddenly cringed and recoiled, his tongue going back into his mouth rather quickly, seemed he didn’t like the taste of her blood. “Bitter, ew. Anyway, the amount I would have to take out of you to make me strong enough to break out of here, would kill you. I just met you, so it wouldn’t be a loss to me. But, I’m too weak to force you, and I doubt you’d even let me. Plus, you were able to escape out of your own cell and get here, so you’re obviously more useful than you seem.” He said as he rested his head on his hooves, closing his eyes.

“Gee, thanks. But a source of love? Here? This is probably the place in Equestria with the least amount of love, what could possibly be here that-” Pinkamena was interrupted by the changelings groaning, or as much of a groan he could manage. “Do all ponies enjoy repeating what they already know? If so, then I can see why we usually just put them to sleep before feeding.”

“No, I do it because it helps me think and process things, it doe- wait a minute.” She suddenly stopped talking, as if coming to some sort of realization. The word ‘process’ made her think back to the giant tubes filled with the rainbow-like liquid, then the word ‘Spectra’ coming to mind after her talk with Dutch. Then she thought of the changelings, how they need to extract love from ponies to survive, or at least what they called love, but what if it wasn’t love at all?

There was a click in Pinkamena’s mind as she realized something, a small smirk of satisfaction on her face. The changeling slightly opened his eyes, looking up at the pink pony before him curiously. Both at why she suddenly stopped talking, and why she had that smile on her face. “What?”

“If you were able to feed, you’d be able to bust us out of this place by turning into a pegasus, right?” Pinkamena asked eagerly, forming a plan within her mind.

“Easier said than done, but yes.” He replied as he raised his head, looking now more confused than curious.

“And if we can bust out of this place, you can report back to Chrysalis about this place, right?”

“Why are you asking me these questions?”

Pinkamena suddenly stood up, though flinching as if she forgot her hoof was broken. “I think I know what the source of love in this place is, and I might be able to get some for you, more than what you’d need. And if I can, we can get out of here.”

For a moment, he looked hopeful. But then he looked at her in disbelief, though it was hard to tell since he seemed to struggle to keep his head up. “That’s great and all, but you’re just one pony with a broken hoof, and everyone in this place is probably looking for you. It was just dumb luck that you managed to get here with only a broken hoof, there’s no way you could get the amount I would need.” He rested his head back on his hooves defeatedly, though more out of exhaustion than anything else, though his gaze never left her.

“Do you have a better idea? It’s not like you can get up and do anything yourself.”

He looked at her angrily, but then sighed, seeing this was most likely his only chance. “Fine, let’s say you can. What’s your big plan after that? How are you going to get me out of these chains, past all the guards, and to an exit, all with your broken hoof?”

“You let me worry about that, first I need to focus on getting the spectra.” She said as she leaned down, picking the flashlight up off the ground and just barely being able to hold it in her hoof, she wouldn’t have been able to if there wasn’t a handle on the side for hooves. She then proceeded to limp over to the door, pushing on it lightly to leave it slightly open. She proceeded to peek out the door, looking for any guards nearby.

“Now that I think about it, I don’t even know your name, though I doubt I would even be able to pronounce it,” Pinkamena said as she continued to keep her focus on scanning the hallway, missing just a single guard could be fatal.

“My name is long, at least by pony standards. I’ll tell you the name I go by when I’m undercover as one of you, Brick. You?”

Pinkamena hesitated, she couldn’t tell him she was one of the mane six, he wouldn’t trust her then. And even if he did, it wouldn’t be until after a lot of explanation, and she didn’t have the time or patience for that. She would have to give him a fake name, though going under a different alias wasn’t something she was unfamiliar with. The problem was, there was the chance one of the guards or something would shout her name when she was with him, but that was a ‘cross that bridge when she got to it’ kind of situation.

“Brick, huh? Very creative. My name is Marshmallow Leaf, but most just call me Marsh for short.”

*********************************************************************************************

Since the only place she’s been where there was spectra was where she was locked up, that’s where she was going to go. The way back was a lot longer than the way in, mostly because her broken hoof slowed her down, and because since the guards seemed to be more active in tracking her down, she had to be more careful and patient in avoiding them. Not just that, but she couldn’t leave her broken hoof like it was. So she stopped by the janitor’s closet, and made a makeshift sling out of rags and paper towels, which was barely holding together. But, it was better than nothing. She also put the flashlight in the sling, which was hard since it was quite a tight fit, but at least now walking would be easier. Besides, she was already here.

Before entering, she barely opened the door, peeking through it to see what there was. There were only three guards in the room, which was tiny compared to how many there were before. There could have been multiple reasons why, some were sent to help with other riots, or sent to help search for her, try to get any stragglers that may have run into other parts in the factory, or maybe even a few of the guards actually got killed in the riot.

There was one guard standing on the other side of the door she was peeking through, their back facing it, which made sense considering this was the only exit. The other two were on the bottom floor where most of the slaves were, carrying out the bodies, which there were a lot of.

The only other ponies in the room were maybe a dozen slaves running the industrial line, but they seemed rather stressed since there were a lot fewer ponies working on this than what was needed, meaning they had to do the job of multiple ponies. But, there was still something bothering Pinkamena. Yes, she understood why there were so little guards compared to what was usually in here. But three? Rainbow Dash is far too paranoid to allow such a small number, there would need to be twice that to even watch all the slaves properly.

“So then why three?” Pinkamena mumbled to herself, speaking her mind.

“Oh, you mean the guards? Oh, that would be because of me.” A voice said behind her, barely louder than a whisper.

She quickly but silently shut the door, and just as quickly and silently turned around, slamming the pony behind her against the wall with her good hoof against his neck. He made a grunting sound when he hit the wall, but otherwise remained silent.

He, like most here, was a pegasus. His coat a bright red, similar to the color of blood. His mane and tail were a bright white with streaks of grey, seeming to be spiked up at the ends. He also had a goatee, it was zigzagged under his chin, looking identical to lightning. Almost his entire body except for the tips of his hooves was covered in a lab coat, making it impossible to see his cutie mark. He had a pair of clear, bright white glasses at the end of his muzzle, allowing her to see the amber eyes looking down at her. Instead of being afraid or angry like she expected, he seemed completely calm, even having a composed smile on his face.

“Who the Tartarus are you?” Pinkamena asked angrily as she put a little more pressure on his neck, but he didn’t seem to lose his composure at all.

“I’m the one who’s been helping you.”

That caused Pinkamena to let up a little, but only a little.

“Prove it.”

He looked like he was about to sigh, but decided against it, and settled on just frowning at her. “Would you like me to recite the entire letter I pushed under your door after I unlocked it? Besides, I have something you’ll need if you want to get Spectra to that changeling.”

Pinkamena was surprised he knew her plan, but kept her composure. Hesitantly, she pulled away from him, but was still ready to pounce on him at any moment if need be. He began rubbing his neck where she was pushing against him, but other than that he was completely composed.

“How did you know that I was planning to do that?”

He scoffed as he lowered his hoof from his neck, as if it was the easiest question anyone's ever asked him. “Who do you think was the one that put you in the cell connected to the changeling? I knew even if I hadn’t told you to, you would have ended up in that cell sooner or later. And I assumed you were smart enough to put together that this source of ‘love’ he was trying to get to was the spectra here, and you were going to come back here and try to get some so the changeling would help you, you being here just proves I was right.” He said as he pushed his glasses closer to his eyes, that smug smile on his face.

This left Pinkamena slightly dumbfounded, he had correctly predicted what had happened in the last thirty minutes or so. But, that also made her a lot more suspicious. “Who are you?”

“My name is not important, besides we don’t have the time for idle chatter.” He said as he pulled a small vial out of his lab pocket, tossing it towards her. She was a little surprised, but she was able to catch it in her mouth. “I’ll go ahead and summarize things up for you, since I know you won’t listen to me if I don’t tell you something. Basically, I’ve been planning this out since I’ve heard of you. Your escape would benefit me, in more ways than you’d think. Like I said, I’m the one who arranged to have you put in the cell connected to the one with the changeling, since a changeling would be one of the few things that could leave and enter this place other than a pegasus. I’ve also been helping out in other ways, putting fresh, and ignorant, guards in the barracks and the three guards out there are also new. Unlocking your door and giving you that bobby pin,”

He looked at Pinkamena’s broken hoof, raising his eyebrow slightly as he realized why it was broken. “Which I noticed you didn’t use on your own shackles, I assume you still have it then? Good, that means you can use it to unlock the changeling's shackles and I don’t have the get the key, that would have been a pain. Anyway, that vial I gave you?” He said as he pointed at it, causing her to gently put it in her hoof. “Very special. Spectra can only be contained in one of two ways. In an very carefully made glass, which is what that vial is made out of. Or in a pony’s body, but, well, let’s just say a normal pony drinking spectra would have,” He seemed to flinch when he said that, his smile disappearing as he remembered something unpleasant. “Unpredictable results.”

She glanced down at the vial in her hoof, but quickly looked back at him, not sure if she could trust him just yet. She then put the vial in her sling, wincing a little as it touched her hoof. The sling she been made was completly made out of toilet paper, having stopped by the bathroom on the way here. It was shitty, but it would have to do. “That’s cool and all, but this is a rather small vial. He’s been starved for days, you sure this is going to be enough to give him the charge he needs?” She asked as she glared at him, something about this guy just put her on edge, or maybe that was just the place?

When she got out of here, she was going to come back and burn this place to the ground, even if it kills her, which it probably will.

“Of course.” He glared at her back, but unlike most in this place, there was no anger, just annoyance. “Pure spectra is very potent, when a changeling feeds on a pony, they get maybe a fraction of what that vial can contain, which is the equivalent to how much spectra is in a small colts body. If you fill that vial full and feed it to him, he’ll be filled for weeks before he’s hungry again. Speaking of that, I forgot to give you this.” He said as he once again pulled something out of his lab coat, but deciding to walk forward and hand it to her. She looks down at it with a confused expression on her face, this wasn’t something she’d seen before.

“What is this?” She asked as she moved it around in her hooves, but wasn’t any closer to discovering its purpose.

“Spectra is mildly radioactive in its pure form, so, stored in the massive amounts we need, it would eventually destroy anything it was being stored in. To solve this problem, that glass has been enhanced to fix itself almost instantaneously with even the slightest of fractures. There are only two ways to safely extract the spectra from those tubes, the first would be opening the latches on the top, which isn’t an option since you’re not a pegasus. The other,” He pointed his hoof towards the metal object. “Is to use a metal spile.”

The spile was maybe three inches long, one end of it was sharp and had a hole in it, which was the part she was supposed to stab into the object she wants to sap. The other end had a small, pipelike bar, which is where the spectra was going to be coming from. There was also a small valve on it, which was used to help control how much was coming out.

“You’re an earth pony, so I assume you know how to use that. Word of advice, you’re going to wanna stab it really hard, that glass is thicker than it looks. Well, I’ll be taking my leave now.” He turned around and began walking down the hallway, not even glancing back at her.

“Wait.” She suddenly said, as she put the spile in her sling.

He stopped where he was, turning his head a little bit to the right to look at her with his right eye.

“Why are you helping me?”

For a few seconds he just stared at her, then his face stretched into a grin, a quiet chuckle escaping his lips.

“Let’s just say I’ve been looking for a chance to screw over Rainbow Dash, and you’re the perfect opportunity.”

*********************************************************************************************

Getting the spectra was easier than she thought.

Taking down the guard on the other side of the door was rather simple, even with her broken hoof. It seems the back of their legs weren’t as well protected as they should be, at least not with the armor they were wearing. One swift kick to the back of their knee knocked them down enough to where she could get her good hoof around their neck, snapping it. She wasn’t used to doing with one hoof, so it was harder than she was used to. But, it worked, so it’s fine.

She also knew that that stallion asked she avoided killing them, but until he stopped being vague with his answers, buck him.

The other two guards were still hauling bodies out, though there only seemed to be two left. As for the slaves in the room? Most didn’t notice, the ones that did didn’t seem to care. And since the guards seem busy taking the bodies wherever they were, she was able to climb down to the bottom floor, where the spectra was. Though it took her a lot longer than it normally would, she was lucky the guards didn’t come back too soon.

But when she touched the ground, there was no way they’d catch her. The bottom got the least light out of anywhere else in this room, and with her years of hiding in the dark and deceiving ponies came experience, she knew how to lie, how to stay hidden, she wouldn’t get caught.

She snuck over to the tubes of spectra, only stopping when the guards came in to get the last body. When their focus was on lifting and taking the body away, she moved closer to the tubes. When she got to the tubes, she nearly had to close her eyes due to the brightness of it, it was a lot brighter up close than at a distance. But, once she adjusted, she reached into her sling, pulling out the spile and slammed it into the tube with her mouth.

There were small cracks to the left and right of where she inserted the spile, then she watched in slight amazement as they repaired themselves before her eyes, she could think of dozens of ideas for material like that. She then reached back into the sling, pulling out the vial and popping the cork off of it, holding it under the vial after turning the small valve. Two seconds later, there was a steady dripping of spectra into the vial, which was quickly filling it up.

“Are you here to rescue us?”

Pinkamena quickly turned her head to her left, noticing a little filly had somehow managed to sneak up to her. She was young, the size of Applebloom. She was covered in grime and blood, making it hard to tell what color her coat and mane were, or if she even had a cutie mark. She could tell she had a pair of wings, signaling she was a pegasus, and if she was here, a failure. She could also see she had a pair of bright green eyes that were looking up at her pleadingly, as if begging to be saved.

“Um…” Pinkamena glanced back at the vial, it was halfway full, and quickly filling up. She turned back to the filly, who was still staring up at her. Celestia, did she hate foals.

“No, sorry kid, I’m only here to help myself.”

The hope in her eyes seemed to leave as Pinkamena said that, her head lowering as she looked at the ground. “Oh, ok. It’s just…” She turned back to where the guards were taking the body, as if afraid they’d come back at any moment, then she glanced back at Pinkamena.

“My mommy told me that we would be saved, that somepony would come and take us away, take us home. And that I just needed to hold on, that we would be rescued! A-and, that’s the last thing she t-told me b-before…” Tears began rolling down her cheeks as she sniffled, Pinkamena only groaned in response. “Before the mean ponies took her away, I haven’t seen her since. I miss her so much!” She sat down on the dirty floor and began sobbing, but thanks to the sounds of the machinery and the screaming from the ponies being slaughtered on the industrial lines, it could barely be heard.

“Mother? I thought they only killed foals?” Pinkamena asked curiously, not sure whether or not she could trust this filly.

“W-when I was really young, some men from The Factory told her it was her time, and I didn’t see her again. Then they took me here, and she was working here with the bad ponies, against her will! Then she tried to set me free, b-but we got caught, and that was when they took her!”

Pinkamena turned back to the vial when she felt drops on her hoof. The vial was full and was now having little drops coming out the top of it. She quickly pulled the vial back and put the cork back in it slipping it back in her sling. She then pulled the spile out of the tube and put in her sling, but not before a few drops hit the floor.

“Listen kid,” Pinkamena said as she turned to the filly, causing her to look up at her, tears still rolling down her cheeks. “I don’t care about your sob story, or how your mom's dead, ok? I only care about me, I don’t belong here. I need to escape, I’m not here to rescue you, or anypony else in this Celestia forsaken place.” Pinkamena turned around and began walking towards the rails, where she climbed down here in the first place. “So unless you can really pull your weight and help me escape this place, I have no use for you.” She said as she began climbing up, not even glancing back at the sobbing filly.

“I can bring you to where they brought us in!” The young filly shouted desperately, only barely heard by Pinkamena over the sounds of murder and machines.

Pinkamena stopped where she was, turning back around towards the filly skeptically. She walked back up to the filly, looking down at her as she contemplated something.

“Ok, I’ll bite. How?”

“Well…” The filly wiped her face, some of the grime coming off her, but still not enough to see very much underneath. “After failing the test, they gave us candy, as a treat for trying! But, after taking a bite, I don’t remember much. I do remember later waking up in a strange room with a bunch of other foals, it was really dark. But, I guess I woke up earlier than most, but I decided to still pretend I was asleep! They just brought us into this room through a huge pipe, pulling us out of little crates that could hold maybe five of us. Then, after most of us were awake,” She turned around, pointing towards the room the guards were taking the bodies into, luckily they hadn’t come back yet. "They took us back there and put us in a cell, like prisoners, dozens of us were just crammed in there! They give us food once every three days, and take a few of us with them, but that’s it. Right outside of the room is a huge hole in the ground where they put all the...d-dead ponies, it’s so cold and wet in there.”

Pinkamena looked into the room, then back down at the filly, who was rubbing her shoulder that looked to have a bruise on it. She was having doubts, she knew very little about this place, this filly very well could have been a trick, but she didn’t seem to be lying. Pinkamena, on the other hoof, was very good at lying, and being able to tell when someone else was lying. This filly was either really good, or was being genuine. But this might have been her only chance at getting out, at least a lot safer than running around lost looking for something that looks like an exit.

“Then why are you out here, if they always keep you in that cell?”

The filly stopped rubbing her shoulder and turned around to face Pinkamena, shaking slightly out of fear. “After the big fight between some of the workers and the bad ponies, a lot of workers died. Some of the bad ponies came in and pulled some of us out, telling us that we needed to take their place.”

That made sense, considering how she saw things going before she left, she figured a lot of them died. And looking down at the filly now, seeing how traumatized and terrified she was, it would have been slightly difficult to believe this was a trick. But then she remembered how she was as a filly, and it suddenly became more plausible.

Pinkamena looked down at the filly, then looked around the factory, and sighed. Might as well, it’s not like she had many options, and she certainly wasn’t a stranger to risk.

“What’s your name?”

The filly looked up at her blinking confusedly, as if she didn’t quite understand what she was asked.

“What?”

“Your name.”

“Oh! Sorry, It’s just,” She had a moment of slight embarrassment as she looked up at Pinkamena, a sheepish smile on her face. “They don’t call us by our names, just numbers. Anyway, mines Flitter! What’s you-”

“Flitter,” Pinkamena said sharply, lowering herself down to Flitter and keeping eye contact with her, her gaze seeming to pierce through her. “Can you lead me back to the room they brought you into? The one with the big pipe?”

Flitter suddenly looked nervous, raised her hoof slightly as if she intended to run away, but she somehow felt like she wouldn’t get far. “Um, yes, I can. But-”

“Good, now I want you to listen to me closely.” Pinkamena put her hoof on Flitter’s shoulder where the bruise was, planting her grip firmly on it and making sure Flitter couldn’t escape. “I need to go and get someone, since you failed the test, that means you can’t fly, at least not very well. We need him to fly out of here, so while I’m getting him, I want you to hide behind these tubes and wait for me to get back, which will be soon. Can you do that?”

Flitter didn’t say anything, she only nodded as she bit her lip in fear.

“Ok, one more thing. If this turns out to be a trap, or you’re lying to me, or anything!” She squeezed the bruise on Flitter, causing her to whimper in pain. She brought her hoof up to Pinkamena’s to try to pry it off, but it didn’t budge. “I’ll make what they do here look like an bucking joke!”

*********************************************************************************************

Pinkamena walked back into the cell containing Brick, slowly shutting the door behind her. She then pulled the flashlight out, turning it on and pointing it where he was. He was laying on the ground with his head resting on his hooves sleeping, he looked almost peaceful

“Hey, bitch, wake up,” Pinkamena said as she slapped him, it wasn’t very hard, but hard enough to make an audible slapping noise.

He groggily looked up at her, squinting his eyes at the light being shined in his face, looking more annoyed than angry.

“That’s not my na-”

He was interrupted by the feeling of something cylindrical and glass being shoved in his mouth, then the most delicious liquid he’d ever tasted coming from it.

“I don’t care, shut up and drink your milk, you big baby.” Pinkamena said as she let go of the vial, as he had no problem holding the vial in his hooves chugging the spectra within. She then moved behind him, pulling the flashlight out and pointing them at the shackles as she pulled the bobby pin out of her hair and got to work.

After five minutes, he was free of his shackles. Pinkamena stepped back and looked at him, as he stuck his long, split in two parts changeling tongue in the vial to try and get every last spark of spectra. She admitted she had some...lewd thoughts of the capabilities of a tongue like that, to say the least.

“So, you got the charge you need?”

There was a loud popping noise as he pulled his tongue out of the vial, dropping it to the ground, though it didn’t break. He then shook the shackles, and began flexing his limbs a little. Then a smile stretched on his face as a bright, burning green fire suddenly overcame his body. Within seconds, there now stood a dark brown stallion before her. There was no cutie mark, though she expected that was because he didn’t see the point in one right now. He had a blue mane and coat that were ruffled and messy, as if he hadn’t had a bath in weeks. He turned to her with a confident smile on his face, revealing a pair of dark aquamarine eyes. His grin only widened when he stretched his wings to his sides.

“Oh yeah, I’m more than ready, I’m bucking pumped.”

Pinkamena chuckled a little bit as she walked up to him. “Calm down there Mr macho, there’s a bit of a change of plans.” Pinkamena’s face then turned serious, glaring at the pegasus in front of her. “We need to take a filly with us.”

*********************************************************************************************

It was the middle of the day in Ponyville, and things were more or less normal. There was some distress in the small town, mostly due to worry of their friendly neighborhood party planner being missing. And thanks to her being missing, Sugarcube Corner has been having business problems since they are down one pony. They are stressed and it’s harder for them to run it the same as before, but they are managing.

But there was one pony specifically that was more distressed than the others, the only one that had been looking endlessly for this pony. This pony was Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie had many friends, but she was one of her closest. Or, at least, she liked to think so. Twilight was worried for her friends sudden disappearance, this was something unusual, even for Pinkie. And having absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she had reading a few detective books recently, she decided to do some investigating. She's been going around town, checking her usual hangout locations, and talking to everyone who knew her.

The problem was: that was everyone in this town.

It took a lot of walking and sore hooves, but she did eventually ask everypony in town if they knew where she was. And, frustratingly, she had yet to get a breakthrough.

That is, until she talked to Fluttershy.

“But why would she leave so suddenly? She’s impulsive, sure, but this still just doesn’t seem like her.”

Twilight and Fluttershy were currently at Fluttershy’s tree house, Fluttershy had been having some tea when Twilight came knocking on her door. There were many animals around the treehouse, all of them frolicking and playing like normal.

Except this time there wasn’t any sound from inside the treehouse, as if there weren’t any animals in there.

Twilight found this strange, but she was more concerned with Pinkie right now.

“Well, like I said before, she had received news that one of her family members had died, Granny Pie, I believe. She seemed to be so distraught and sad, I felt so bad for the poor thing! Before she left, she told me what was happening and said I should tell everypony else. I guess I just got so caught up with my animals, that It just slipped my mind! I’m so sorry Twilight, I really didn’t mean to make you so upset!”

Twilight was currently standing on the outside of Fluttershy’s door, talking to Fluttershy. Who currently only had the door partly open, her head poking out as her long mane hung down, she was evidently upset when she apologized. Her lips were quivering and she looked at Twilight apologetically.

“Well, yes, that makes sense, and certainly explains why she left so suddenly. But what I don’t understand is why she’d tell you? You live on the outskirts of Ponyville, anypony else would have been a lot closer. It would have made the most sense to tell the cakes, or at least leave some kind of note. Bu-”

Suddenly, there was a sharp rapping noise from with her house, as if someone was hitting a wooden surface lightly but rapidly. When Fluttershy heard this, she went from sad to nervous, glancing back behind her door.

“Sorry Twilight! But Angel gets really upset when I make him wait too long for his food, I gotta go!”

“But I-”

Before Twilight could say anything else, Fluttershy slammed the door in her face. This left her quite surprised and shocked, her mouth slightly agape.

“Did Fluttershy just shut the door on me? Fluttershy!?” Twilight said in disbelief, this was extremely odd behavior. Not just that, but something that important just slipping her mind? Fluttershy was a lot of things, but she wasn’t forgetful.

“Why would she say that? Fluttershy wouldn’t lie to me, right?” Twilight asked herself as she walked away from Fluttershy’s, making her way back to Ponyville. She looked down at the ground sadly, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion as she frowned.

“But then, why can’t I shake this feeling something else is going on here?”

Meanwhile, inside of Fluttershy’s Treehouse.

“How’s the tea?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly, shaking her hooves as she sat the teacup down. The inside of her house was quiet, not a single animal to be seen or heard. Not just that, but it was also a lot darker than usual. All the shades for the windows had been closed, stopping any sunlight from getting in.

In the middle of the room, Fluttershy sat at her wooden, light brown tea table. In front of her was her teacup filled with green tea, a white kettle with purple stripes sat in the middle that matched the cups, and another teacup that had barely been touched. In a wooden chair that matched the table, sat a pony. They could not be seen in the dark, and they remained quiet, watching Fluttershy.

Fluttershy sighed quietly, setting the teacup in her hooves down slowly, still slightly shaking. “Do you really have to kill her? Is there nothing you can do to make them spare her?” she asked desperately, her eyes pleading with the pony across from her.

This pony leaned forward, putting themselves into the light, revealing who they were. Rainbow Dash smiled at Fluttershy, but it wasn’t one of her fake ones. This was a genuine, gentle, caring smile. She laid her hoof on Fluttershy’s, rubbing it comfortingly as her smile changed to a grim frown.

“I’ve tried Shy, but they won’t listen. Besides, she’s killed dozens of pegasi, and maybe even hundreds of ponies. I think...I think she’s beyond saving, I’m sorry.”

Fluttershy sniffled, her eyes began tearing up. “I know, I know! I-i just, I can’t lose another friend to that place, even if their a monster!” Fluttershy began to sob into her hooves loudly, causing Rainbow Dash to get up and embrace her, rubbing the back of her head as Fluttershy cried into her shoulder.

But since Fluttershy was crying, she didn't notice the manic smile stretch onto her friends face.

Chapter Ten: Escape, Part Two.

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Something wasn’t right.

Rainbow Dash sat in her office, her usual place to be when she had things to think about or she needed to be alone. It wasn’t very big, about the same size as the interrogation room. Like the interrogation room, there was barely anything in it. She wasn’t in here enough to need many things, so all she really needed was her desk. The walls, roof, and floor were the same metal as the rest as the factory, the room was quite bland, even by the factories standards.

The desk was in the center of the room, made out of the same metal a lot of things in The Factory were made of. Her desk had nothing on it, at least it didn’t normally. The only exception to that was a picture she kept on the corner of her desk of her and the mane six, a picture they had taken together after they had defeated Nightmare Moon.

After recent events, Pinkie had been cut out of the picture.

Now, after her frustrating interrogation with Pinkie, she had a pile of files on her desk of all the pegasi she had admitted to killing. Now, Rainbow had to sit down and make a list of all the families to notify, which was a pain.

And a few hours ago, all Tartarus seemed to break loose.

One riot wasn’t that strange, though they were few and far between. But three around the same time? That’s never happened before, not as far as she knows.

Not just that, but these riots seemed...more organized than previous ones. And it wasn’t just a couple of them either, almost all the failures in each area besides the children were included in the riot, which was strange since they usually would be too afraid to do so.

It didn’t make sense either where the riots occurred, the three parts of the factory they happened at were fairly far away from each other, so much so that none of the failures should have had contact with each other. Luckily, each area has its own barracks of guards, so each area could handle it. Though that would mean there were fewer ponies to watch the cameras, which might have left some places unwatched.

“But who would gain from that?” Rainbow Dash mumbled to herself as she leaned back in her wooden chair, rubbing the bottom of her chin in thought as she did.

Something was very wrong.

She reached down to one of the cabinets of the desk, pulling out a map of the factory. As much as she would have preferred a hologram, she wasn’t in her office enough to need one.

She lay the map out on her desk, looking for something specific. She had a hunch about something, and her hunches were usually right.

Out of the three areas that there were riots, only one of them had an isolation cell, which was cell E-2, which was connected to B-4.

She didn’t know why, but reading those made her stomach drop.

“You called for me, Rainbow?” A deep, male voice asked as the door to her office opened, a stallion walking in.

“Yes Barricade, I had some questions for you. Shut the door please,” Rainbow replied.

Barricade was a behemoth of a stallion, up there with Big Macintosh with some of the biggest ponies she knew. In comparison to alicorns like Celestia, he could likely stand slightly taller than her neck, putting him quite a bit taller than most ponies. Though he was an earth pony, he was treated like any other Pegasus here. He was also rather bulky, using almost all of his free time to work out. More or less because he didn’t have much to do otherwise, with the lack of successful escape attempts.

On top of how massive of a pony he was, he stood out more than most due to his colors. His coat was a bright white, to the point where it could be difficult to see him in snow. His mane and tail were also white, his eyes being a bright red, almost pink. The doctors had diagnosed him was something called albinism. Though other than having some eyesight problems, he seemed to function like every other pony.

He even had a normal cutie mark, which was a hammer, nails, and a window with some boards nailed over it, hence the name Barricade.

Like she had asked, he shut the door behind him, walking up to her desk after he did. There were no other chairs in the room besides hers, something she had decided since she was rarely in her office, and even rarer did she have someone in there with her. She sat in her chair and looked up at him, then back down at the map, causing him too to look down at it.

“I need to ask you a few security questions, so answer them to the best of your ability, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the punishment for lying.”

As she said this, she brought her hoof on the map and pointed it at the only cell that was in one of the places that were in an area of one of the riots, E-2.

“Is this cell occupied? If so, by who?”

Rainbow Dash had this really bad hunch that she already knew who was in that cell, but she really hoped she was wrong.

Barricade looked at the cell on the map, seeming a bit confused about why she was asking these questions.

“The earth pony mare, the pink one you brought in a little while ago.”

“Of course it is. Is there anything about that cell that makes it different than the others? Anything special about its lock or anything?”

He did not take his gaze off the cell, whether he was thinking, or he just did not want to look at her, she didn’t know.

“It doesn’t lock.”

Her head slowly rose up as she looked at him, her face forming into a concerned and confused scowl.

“What do you mean it doesn’t lock?”

He looked up from the map at her, he kept a stoic expression, but it was clear he was trying his best not to piss her off.

“That cell is one of the older designs, those ones could not lock. Instead, they can only be opened from the outside, not the inside.”

She looked back down at the cell, noticing that it was connected to a catwalk. And assuming they followed protocol, there were two guards on that catwalk. Though that was normal, in situations of a riot, all guards in the area are to help deal with it, which meant….

“But that cell was in an area where a riot occurred, what if one of the failures had climbed up there and opened the cell?”

She asked all this in a very condescending tone, but her eyes did not leave the map, she seemed to be looking for something.

“Not possible ma'am, none of the guards reported any of the failures getting up on the catwalk, they were never given the chance.”

As he said that, Rainbow’s eyes landed on the nearest barracks.

“This...tell me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this barracks where all the new and incompetent recruits are sent?”

She could have sworn she saw him gulp.

“Well, yes. It is, bu-”

“And, isn’t it in each barracks, the keys for each cell are in there?”

“Yes, but that is quite a distance for somepony to travel without getting caught. Even assuming they were skilled enough to move around without getting caught in those shackles, that earth pony has only been out once or twice, she would have to have photographic memory to be able to go straight to that barracks right after the riot.”

Rainbow knew, Pinkie did have photographic memory.

“Tell me something Barracks, did any of the off duty guards report seeing any escaped prisoners?”

He opened his mouth, but then quickly shut it again, looking away from her as he did, as if he was thinking of the best way to answer.

“Yes, the guards said it was a mare with a pink coat and mane, but it couldn’t possi-”

“And where was this escaped prisoner when she was found?”

Rainbow interrupted him sharply as she looked up at him, her empty, cold eyes seeming to pierce his very soul.

“She...was in the room with the keys and the hologram map of the factory. She seemed to have…..broken one of her hooves and slipped out of her shackles, and she seemed to avoid being captured, patrols have been told to look out for her.”

Rainbow should be surprised that Pinkie was willing to break her hoof to get free, but she really wasn’t.

What she was, was currently grinding her teeth in anger. Her hooves were slightly shaking as she crossed them, trying not to show her anger.

“I also noticed that cell E-2, the one connected to hers, is fairly close to that barracks. Tell me, who is being kept in that cell?”

She noticed him begin to fidget nervously, Barracks always was terrible at keeping composure.

“The...the changeling intruder, ma'am.”

*No.* She thought to herself, slowly beginning to piece together what happened.

“You’re telling me that she was connected to a cell that would allow her access to one of the only things in all of Equestria that would actually allow her to leave this place, while she was in a cell that anyone could have opened during a riot!”

She screamed at him as she suddenly stood up, knocking her chair behind her. He backed up a bit from the desk, despite his size, he was right to be afraid of her.

“But it doesn’t matter! That changeling is love-starved and extremely weak, and she has a broken hoof! Even if they managed to get past the patrols, where are they going to go?”

She had to admit, he had a point. That changeling had been starved for days, and Pinkamena was crippled. And the nearest place they could even leave the tunnel was…

She looked at the map, searching for the closest place to that barracks that could be used as a place to leave.

She felt her heart stop beating for a few seconds when she saw it, then she felt it begin to beat again, faster this time, filled with rage.

“Oh I don’t know Barricade, maybe one of the weather pipes that are also used to bring in failures. Like the one that’s in the same place as her cell, which currently has nothing going through it because we’re expecting another shipment of failures soon!”

She yelled at Barracks as slammed her hooves against the desk, causing the picture on her desk to bounce off the desk. She was wearing her lab coat still, so he couldn’t see some of her bandages start to bleed as she opened some of her still recovering wounds, she barely even noticed the pain.

“What was going through your bucking mind when you decided to put one of our most dangerous prisoners in a cell that doesn’t lock, which was in a room with a weather pipe when we’re expecting a shipment of failures, beside a barracks full of guards who don’t know how to do their job, and connected to a cell with a motherbucking changeling?!”

Rainbow was screaming at him by this point, the veins on her neck popping as she was no longer able to contain her rage. Anyone who was just outside of her office would easily be able to hear it, and ones who have experienced her rage would know to feel pity for Barricade.

“I-i’m not the one who d-decides what cells the prisoners stay in, ma'am.” He stuttered out fearfully, visibly shaking and sweating as he closed his eyes and turned his head away from her.

Her eyes widened a bit in surprise as he said that, she had always assumed the head of security for The Rainbow Factory would be the one who decides what prisoners go in what cells, it just made the most sense to her.

“Then who does?” She asked as she looked down at him, still hovering over her desk and looking down at him.

“Dr. Atmosphere, ma'am.”

*Of bucking course he is, and he never does anything without a purpose. What could that cunt possibly gain from this?*

She sat back down in her seat, rubbing her temples as she did.

“I’ll deal with him later then. Listen, I need you to get as many guards as you can and send them to that cell unti-”

“We have none to spare ma'am.” He said nervously, seeming to prefer to keep his gaze on the floor rather than her.

“And why not?”

He glanced up at her for a second, but after seeing that still angry look on her face, quickly looked back on the map.

“P-protocol requires that in the scenario of multiple riots, as many guards as possible are to patrol the entire factory while checking all prisoner cells. The rest are used to clean up the mess made by the riots, which includes piling up all the bodies of the failures so they can be counted and put into The Pegasus Device. While the bodies of any staff are cleaned and prepared to be sent back to their families. There was a surprising amount of casualties on our side, so we have no guards to spare.”

Rainbow’s right eye twitched as he said that, she knew it was irrational, but some part of her thought that Atmosphere was somehow behind this.

“Bucking protocol, nothing pisses me off more than reason. So, how many guards are there currently in the room with that cell? There must be some guards in there since that was one of the places where a riot occurred, right?”

He took longer to respond than she liked.

“T-three, ma'am.”

There was an awkward silence in the room for a few moments, Barricade was too afraid to break it.

“Excuse me?”

That time, she knew she could hear and see him gulp.

“Dr. Atmosphere told u-”

“I don’t give a buck what that red bitch said!”

She screamed in anger as she jumped out of her seat, this time throwing the map off the desk.

“Do you just not have a bucking brain in that head of yours? Or can you just not comprehend how bucking dangerous that mare is? She’s killed multiple ponies by herself before, do you really think a broken hoof can stop her? And she has the help of a bucking changeling! I swear, everyone in this Celestia forsaken place has either gone completely insane, or bucking stupid!”

She screamed as she knocked over her wooden chair in anger, ignoring the amount of bleeding her wounds were doing at this point as they opened one after another.

After knocking over the chair, she took off her lab coat, tossing it to the side carelessly. She aggressively pulled open one of the cabinets in her desk, pulling something out of it and then slamming it shut.

Barricade noticed how injured she had been, it was clear she had been healing pretty well, but her fight with that pink mare had seriously damaged her body. Some parts of her body were bruised gross colors of brown and purple, others had cuts on her body that had once been deep gashes, most of them were going to be permanent scars. Her wings were also slightly bruised, which must have been excruciating considering how sensitive wings were to a pegasus.

Any spot that wasn’t visible was covered in bandages of some kind, most of the bandages were stained red with old or new blood.

She began to unfold the thing she pulled out of her desk, Barricade noticed it was one of The Factories combat suits. They were meant for emergencies only, if the changelings were to invade, for example. Every major pony in The Rainbow Factory had one just for them, and there was some kept in the arsenal part of each barracks.

Like the stealth suits, it was a dark black, and that was the only color it had. But that was where the similarities with the stealth suit stopped. Nothing about the combat suit was subtle. It was quite large, it could make the pony appear sometimes twice they were. The surface of the suit was made out of Sorbothane, a material that excels at absorbing shock while looking and feeling like a normal fiber, the same material the stealth suits were made out of. While the bulky stuff underneath was made out of stuff that would be used in armor, it was made out of a metal known as poly-laminate composite. Though this version had been quite chipped down, both so a pony could fit in it, and because it would normally be too heavy to fly in. But since these versions were made for Pegasi, many adjustments had been made to accommodate.

Not just that, but while the fiber part of the suit had covered almost all of the body, the metal did not. It covered the front of the torso, and the limbs up to the hoof, nothing else. Any other parts being covered would be too heavy for any chance of flight. Though the parts it did cover would make it seem like it covered the whole body, up close it would be obvious that it did not.

While the suit did not provide enhanced strength, its durability makes up for that. Anyone wearing the suit would be considerably slower, both due to its weight, and how rigid it was. One of the best, and worst, things about the combat suit was the effect it had on the wearer. The suit had a special storage tank in it filled with some of the best painkilling drugs and spells known to Equestria, though none that could actually heal any. The metal parts of the suit had IVs built into it that injected themselves directly into the wearer when put on, injecting the drugs almost immediately. While the outer part of the suit had several invisible wards that activated upon being worn, which effectively negated pain from outside attacks as much as possible, though neither the drugs nor the wards prevent any damage done, it just helps the user push through it.

The problem with that is the user does not know just how much damage their body has taken, they could break their hoof and not know it until they noticed they couldn’t move it properly. It was just as much of a problem as it was beneficial.

Anyone given a personal combat suit was put through extensive and frequent drills and training until they know how to properly use the suit, and how to put it on and activate it as fast as possible.

In less than a minute, she had the entire suit on, he even heard the startup sounds of the drugs pumping through her. She seemed to moan in relief as they did, glad that the pain and soreness were now gone. The suit covered almost her entire body, her rainbow tail poking out a hole in the back, and her wings were moving around slightly as they adjusted. It stopped at her neck, leaving her entire head still clear to see.

She suddenly turned towards him, but look past him and she walked around the desk towards the door.

“What a-”

“Since I’m the only competent bucking pony in this whole place, I guess I have to go stop her myself. Come with me, you’re already here, so might as well help.”

She said as she walked past him towards the door, not even taking a second to look at him.

“But ma'am, my p-” He tried to say as she opened the door, but stopped when she glared over her shoulder at him.

“That wasn’t a request, you were being ordered by your superior. I can assure you Barracks, this prisoner takes priority over any of the others.”

Without another word, she opened the door and walked out of the office, not even waiting for his response. Barracks, knowing what happens to those that defy their superiors in this place, followed after her, quickly shutting the office door behind him.

Dash’s office, despite having little in it, was left somewhat of a mess. The map on her desk was now on the floor crumpled up, the picture of her and the mane six had cracked when it fell to the floor.

Though, strangely, the crack did not really affect the picture. It only affected one pony, Rainbow Dash. The crack had only gone to her face, but seemed to go down the middle, splitting her face in two.

Strangely enough, the crack almost looked like a lightning bolt.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Alright, we’ve been sneaking around for ten minutes and haven’t encountered any guards, I think we’re safe. Can you explain to me why we have to take a filly with us now?”

Brick asked as he turned around towards Pinkamena, causing her to stare at him with an annoyed glare.

After giving him the spectra, Pinkamena and Brick had started making their way back to the room where her cell was. She had told Brick just to listen to her because she had a plan and he didn’t really have any other option, and he had reluctantly listened.

Since Brick didn’t have a broken hoof, he was leading the way, with Pinkamena giving him directions since she actually knew the layout of the place. Whether due to that strange stallion that had been helping her, or just dumb luck, they had yet to even encounter a single patrol. Though Pinkamena had the slightest feeling her Pinkie Sense was somehow at work here, it has helped her in stranger ways before.

Pinkamena had been working through a plan in her mind as they moved, she already had one ready, but she kept going through it just in case she found any issues or possible problems. So far, she hadn’t.

But, Brick’s patience had run out, and he wanted answers.

“Because, my irritable changeling comrade, I may have a layout of this place memorized, but the place we’re going will be the first time I’ve been there. So, I’d much rather have a guide who has actually been to the place. If you’re that worried about her, we can kill her and I can get rid of the body after we’re out of here.” Pinkamena said nonchalantly as she continued on, walking past Brick without even glancing at him.

Brick’s mouth opened slightly when she said that, looking at her in surprise and disbelief as his eyes widened.

“W-what? What did you just say?”

He asked as he turned to her, some part of him hoping he had misheard her.

She glanced back at him over her shoulder with an evident scowl on her face, seeming annoyed that she had to repeat herself.

“I said, if you’re that bothered by having to take her along, we can kill her afterwards and I-”

Before she got the chance to finish her sentence, Brick suddenly jumped forward, slamming her against the wall. She grunted when she hit the wall, her eyes closing for a brief second, though more out of surprise than actual pain. He quickly pinned her there, standing on his hind legs with his arms against the wall on both sides of her head, his wings spread out to the side angrily. His eyes were constricted and wide as he looked into hers, his face etched to one of anger. Even his teeth were showing, like he was ready to bite her head off any second.

When her eyes opened and she looked back at him, the scowl quickly returned to her face. She wasn’t angry or scared, she just looked like she was annoyed to have to deal with this. Somehow, this just further pissed off Brick.

“I don’t think I need to explain why we don’t have the time fo-”

“Who the buck are you!?”

He screamed in her face, drops of saliva landing on her face as he did, which she casually wiped off.

Luckily for both of them, there weren’t any guards close enough to hear him.

*Great, I was really hoping not to have to deal with this until later.*

“I already told you, my name is M-”

“That’s a fake name.”

Her words caught in her throat, she hadn’t expected him to figure that out. Perhaps this changeling was smarter than she thought, which could prove to be an issue depending on how she handled this.

She only stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to clarify.

“There might be a pony named Marshmallow Leaf, but you aren’t her.”

He was right, Marshmallow Leaf was one of the many ponies she had played with. A mare in Fillydelphia who used far too much makeup on others, and never enough on herself. And oh boy, was she a screamer. She made some peculiar tasting cupcakes, but not necessarily bad ones.

“Oh? Is that so? Then, who am I?”

She asked sarcastically with a sneer, which made Brick grind his teeth in anger.

“You’re not a Pegasus, so you can’t be from Cloudsdale. You don’t strike me as somepony from Canterlot, and you don’t have any accents like somepony from Manehattan or Trottingham. If I had to guess, I’d say you’re from some small town place like Ponyville, plus Ponyville is close to here. The only problem, is everypony in Ponyville is so innocent and pure it’s sickening. But you,”

He looked at her in disgust, slightly cringing.

“You casually suggest killing a foal, you don’t have an ounce of love in you, and your blood is disgusting. You seem sadistic and clever, which is a very dangerous combo. I don’t even wanna think about the things you’ve done since you’ve been here, and you have the willpower to break your own hoof to get out of your shackles. Not only that, but you managed to deceive me, even if for just an hour or so. You were able to lie so well and easily, as if it were second nature to you, which isn’t something I’ve ever heard of a pony doing. So, I’ll ask you one more time.”

He got closer to her, seeming even angrier than before as their mouths were inches apart, she could hear how heavy his breathing was. She only smiled back, almost gleefully, as if she were proud of the things he said about her.

“Who are you?!” He angrily asked again, though this time with less spit and more clenched teeth.

For a few moments, there was just silence as they stared at each other. The smile on Pinkamena’s face was now gone, replaced by a more brooding look as she contemplated her options. She really wanted to just not say anything, curious how this changeling might try to get her to talk. Sadly, she knew she didn’t have that kind of time.

Time, something everyone had endless supplies of, and yet never enough.

Pinkamena sighed reluctantly, she really hated this place.

“If I told you who I was, you wouldn’t believe me. And even If you did, you would kill me immediately.”

Her words seemed to surprise him, for a moment the anger left his face and was replaced by confusion. He calmed down some, pulling away from her a bit and his breathing seemed to calm down.

“What do you mean? Why would I kill you? That would most certainly mean my death.”

As his anger began to fade away, his wings slowly began to lower themselves, even his breathing was starting to get back to normal.

“Killing me would be more important to you and your race than your life, I am one of the most influential ponies in Equestria.”

He chuckled after she said that, expecting her to start laughing or something.

There was only awkward silence after he stopped chuckling, noticing how serious she was. She only stared at him blankly, her face not even twitching slightly as if she were about to smile.

“You’re….You’re serious?”

He asked quizzically as he began to back away from her, going back to standing on all fours as his face dropped into a frown.

“Very.” She said bluntly as she looked down at her sling, readjusting it as it had gotten loose.

Brick watched her skeptically, questioning whether she was telling the truth this time or not.

“Ok, let’s say I believe you this time. How did a psychopath like you get in a position like that? You’re not enough of a snob to have been born into a rich family or anything like that. So what, are you royalty or something?”

She audibly snorted at that as her mouth morphed into a grin, finding the idea of her being royalty funny.

There was silence for a few seconds as she thought about her response, she needed to phrase this in a way that wouldn’t reveal what she was.

“I was...chosen, I guess you could say? Me and a couple of others were chosen, though I’m not sure I’d call them ‘friends’ exactly.” She said as she walked past Brick, looking around the corner as she tried to remember where to go.

Brick turned around, being far too paranoid to let her out of his sight for too long.

“Uh huh, and what are you doing in a place like this?”

As he asked that, she began to move forward, the limp in her broken hoof practically gone at this point. Knowing that they had to move as soon as possible, Brick reluctantly followed her. Though he was ready to start flying the second she tried to run, or if a patrol of security showed up or something.

“Killed and pissed off the wrong ponies, now I’ve got to get out of here and kill the right ones this time.” She mumbled as she kept moving, not even glancing back at Brick as she did. She just kept moving her body around thoughtlessly as she seemed to be thinking about something, he somehow felt like her mind was in an entirely different place.

He could never trust this pony.

Compared to all the other ponies he has ever met, she wasn’t like any of them. Her personality was more like a griffon’s, but even then griffion’s wouldn’t casually suggest killing a child. And she didn’t seem as aggressive like any griffon he’s ever met, she was cold, calm, and calculating. She knew how to use all the right words and how to get others to do what she wants them to, no doubt able to make them think it was their idea. She always kept composure and didn’t seem prone to emotions like most ponies, she seemed to think everything through and everything she said and did had some kind of meaning.

She would be a perfect changeling queen, if it wasn’t for the ‘mysterious pony’ act she seemed so fond of.

“Are all ponies this unnecessarily cryptic?” He asked as he walked up beside her, noticing she had stopped in front of a metal door.

“Only the ones like me who have things to hide, and enjoy bucking with others. How much of this place have you seen?” She asked as she looked back at him, slightly opening the door in front of her.

“Besides the inside of my cell? The entrance, and that’s about as far as I got before my connection with the hive mind was cut off and they ‘beat the shit out of me’, as you put it.” He said as he slightly winced, the memory of being beat to the point of unconsciousness was not a pleasant one.

“Well, I’m not sure how the process of feeding on ponies works for changelings, but this is likely to be the most carnage you’ve ever seen. So, when you throw up, please don’t do so on me.” She joked as she opened the door, walking into the room almost eagerly, Brick following behind her.

Then she was filled with confusion and disappointment.

All the bodies and bloodstains from the riots were gone, having been thoroughly cleaned as if they were never there. All the machines seemed to have stopped, having been turned off and not making any of the sounds that indicated they were doing anything. The same went for the industrial lines, they were no longer moving as they went through the industrial process, just staying still as if someone had pressed the off button.

Not just that, but there wasn’t a single pony in sight. There weren’t any failures tied down to the industrial lines, nor were there any deranged Pegasi working them. Even the usual Pegasi watching from above were gone, along with the two Pegasi below that had been moving the bodies earlier. There wasn’t a single pony in sight, she’d think the place was abandoned if it wasn’t so damn clean.

The giant containers in the back were still brightly glowing with the spectra they were filled with, everything looked untouched.

“I don’t see any carnage here, just another factory. What do they make here?” Brick asked as he began to walk around, looking around at all the machines. He looked over at the containers full of spectra, feeling a sort of tug towards it, almost like it was pulling him.

“Rainbows.” Pinkamena answered as she looked over the railing at the ground below, scanning the area below for any bloodstains they might have missed or anything, some part of her almost admired the cleaning job they did.

“No, seriously.” He said as he turned to her, following her gaze to the ground, wondering what she was looking at.

“Seriously, they make rainbows here. Follow me.” She said as she started climbing down to the bottom floor, having to be extra careful since she only had three hooves.

He looked at her like she had just said something impossible, then he shook his head slightly and rubbed his temples. He was beginning to realize that this pony may have been more bizarre than anything he’s encountered before, and everything she said was either genius or made no sense, it was starting to give him a headache.

Then he spread his wings and flew down to the bottom level, landing right beside her. She began to walk towards the giant containers full of the rainbow liquid, which seemed to get brighter the closer they got to it.

“What...is that stuff?” Brick asked as he looked up at the container, licking his lips as he remembered the delicious taste of it.

“Spectra. And, if my theory is correct, what you changelings have been mistaking for love.” She said as she walked up to one of the containers, reaching into her sling and pulling out the metal spiel and the vial.

She then violently stabbed the spiel into one of the containers, making a loud cracking sound as it stabbed into the glass. She then put the vial underneath the spiel after uncorking it, which began to quickly fill up with Spectra.

“What are you doing?” Brick asked suspiciously as he watched her do this from behind, remembering to ask her later where she even got those.

“If I told you I was getting you a snack for later, would you believe me?” She asked him jokingly, not even removing her eyes off the vial, which had already reached the point of being half full.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her skeptically, did this pony enjoy being difficult?

“No.” He said bluntly.

“This stuff interests me, I’m taking some of it home because I want to play with it a little when I get home. That’s it, really.” She said as she saw the vial was filled already, she quickly pulled the vial out, put the cork in it, and put it in her sling. She also quickly pulled out the metal spiel and put that in her sling, causing the glass the container was made out of to quickly repair itself.

Brick watched this in amazement, having never seen glass before that was able to repair itself so quickly and efficiently. Were ponies really capable of such feats? Perhaps that’s why they truly lost at Canterlot, they had far underestimated them.

“That’s...amazing.” He said as he watched the glass repair itself, Pinkamena looking at it with him. Though since she’d already seen it, she wasn’t as impressed.

“Listen, I told the filly to wait around here, help me look for her. She’s covered in grime, but she told me her names Flitter. So-”

“Oh! You’re back!” Said a high pitched voice from a few feet to their left, followed by the sound of her hooves frantically hitting the floor as she ran towards them.

She looked exactly the same as Pinkamena had left her, covered in grime to the point where it was almost impossible to tell any defining features of the poor filly. Brick seemed to cringe when he saw her, disgusted by how dirty she was.

“And you brought your friend! Hello there, I’m Flitter! What’s your name?” She asked eagerly as she beamed, getting up in his face. He recoiled back slightly, not because he was against the affection, he appreciated the love and affection, even if it was just a little. But he’s always been kind of a neat freak, dirt and stuff like that has always kind of made him uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, he tried to avoid showing how tense he was, and tried to be nice to the filly.

“Uh, My name’s Brick. Nice to-”

“Flitter, what happened while I was gone?” Pinkamena asked bluntly as she walked up to Flitter, ignoring Brick entirely.

Brick wasn’t sure whether to be pissed or thank her. Flitter turned toward her, her smile turning into a frown as she did. It seemed in the brief moment Pinkamena had talked to her before this, she had already made the poor filly terrified of her. She was clearly shaking slightly and seemed to do everything she could to avoid eye contact.

“Well, uh, two ponies came in. They made all the workers leave and stuff, having them clean the bodies and stuff. And they turned off the machines, and sent everypony somewhere else, and, t-they,” She began to stutter as Pinkamena glared at her coldly, lowering herself to the ground as her shaking became more violent.

“T-they w-went to the p-place I was g-going to take you, and that’s where t-they are now.” She nervously said as Pinkamena kept glaring at her, feeling her ice-cold stare on her.

“Did one of these ponies have a rainbow colored mane?"

Flitter lay on the now clean floor of The Factory, her hooves shielding her head and covering her eyes. Flitter lay there, shaking in terror as she felt Pinkamena’s hollow glare staring down at her. She was too scared to even speak; she could only nod and hope Pinkamena saw it.

For a few moments there was only silence, a deathly silence. There was always noise in this room; whether it be the sounds of the machines, the conversations of the guards, the insane ramblings of the failures, or the screams of the damned.

Brick watched rigidly, keeping his composure as he saw what was happening before him. He wasn’t sure what had happened before, but it was clear through whatever short interaction happened between them, had made the filly terrified of Pinkamena.

Part of him wanted to intervene, to protect the filly, more because she was a large source of love than anything. But he couldn’t, he needed to observe, for now. He needed to know how she would handle this situation; he still didn’t have a good understanding of just who this pony was.

Pinkamena’s lips slowly curved into a wide smile, her icy cold glare from before seeming to completely disappear, though she never took her eyes off Flitter.

That look of pure sadism and ecstasy in her eyes...it sent a chill down his spine and filled him with something no pony has ever before, fear.

“Good, this will be fun. Flitter, get up, I promise I won’t hurt you.” she whispered in a sickeningly sweet tone, one that sounded disturbingly genuine.

As soon as she did, her expression changed with it. She still had a smile on her face, but it was a warm and a kind smile. Her eyes had changed too, no longer showing that overwhelming killing intent or lifelessness, but now resembled that of someone who only had good intentions.

Flitter slowly lifted her hooves off her head, revealing her eyes as she hesitantly looked up at her.

“R-really? But, you said earlier tha-”

“I know what I said, and I’m sorry for scaring you. But, after talking with my friend here, I’ve realized how wrong I was. So, I promise, if you just help my friend and I leave this place, we’ll take you home. And don’t worry about the two mean ponies waiting there for us, we can handle them.” Her words were filled with false kindness, but they sounded so real and comforting, for a moment even Brick was convinced they were real.

As she said this, she leaned down to Flitter, bringing her hoof to the side of her face. She flinched when she felt the cold touch of her hoof, but she didn’t pull away. Pinkamena began to gently caress her cheek, making Flitter feel calmer and comfortable. The fear in her was slowly fading away, along with her shaking, due to the false feeling of safety Pinkamena was providing her. Not just because of how convincing it was, but also because it reminded her of her mother, who she had missed dearly and felt lonely without.

In moments, Flitter was back to the way she was before, her terror seeming completely gone. She eagerly got back up on her hooves, that innocent, gleeful grin quickly returning. She looked up to Pinkamena eagerly, the light in her eyes seemed to almost sparkle. She then quickly turned to the right, facing the room the ponies had taken the bodies too.

“Then follow me!” She said excitedly, going towards it. The entrance to the room itself essentially just being a very dark corridor, darker than the rest of this place. If the changelings didn’t have night vision, and Pinkamena and Flitter hadn’t been here long enough to adjust to the darkness, it was lucky none of them would have noticed it.

Pinkamena got back up on all fours again, the warm smile on her face quickly disappearing as she dropped the act. A scowl quickly formed on her face as she mumbled something to herself Brick couldn’t hear, then she glanced towards Brick for a second, like she forgot he was even there.

When she looked at him with those cold, shrewd eyes, he felt a chill go down his spine as it filled him with something he never though a pony could ever fill him with, fear. This pony was more than just a clever psychopath; she was dangerous.

She then dismissively looked away from him, turning towards Flitter and followed her, flicking her tail at him as she did, almost as if she were signaling him to follow her. Brick shook himself out of his catatonic state, dismissing his fear as surprise and quickly catching up to Pinkamena. Thanks to his wings, he could walk beside her in seconds. Though she was walking at a fairly calm pace, it was clear her mind was in a different place entirely.

Even as he walked alongside her, Brick could not take his eyes off of her. Both because he knew he couldn’t afford to let his guard down, and it still baffled him at what happened moments prior. He kept a stoic look on his face; knowing keeping composure was very important here, he couldn’t afford another outburst. But he did not take his eyes off her for a second.

Her scowl from before was gone, along with any other distinct expression on her face. Her face was completely blank, almost like a doll. She kept her gaze on Flitter’s back as they followed her, seeming interested in nothing else. What was going on in her head?

“What?” She asked sharply as she suddenly glared at him, her scowl coming back quickly. Though her pace did not change.

So, she did notice he was watching her.

“How did you do that?” Brick asked hesitantly, noting how observant she was.

“Do what?” She asked as she looked away from him, returning her sight to Flitter.

That had gotten slightly deeper into the room, noticing the deeper they got, the less dark it soon became. Flitter kept a steady pace, allowing Pinkamena and Brick to easily keep up.

“I don’t know what you did to that filly before, but she was completely terrified of you! And yet, you change your entire personality drastically, and it was convincing enough to make her completely trust you. I’ve never seen a pony that can do that. Where did you get a skill like that?”

Even as he talked to her, she seemed intent on avoiding looking at him. Most would think it was because she didn’t trust the filly not to run, but Brick somehow felt like it was because of something else. He didn’t know this pony well and understood her even less so. But she seemed like the type to always have something on their mind, not a single thought being an idle one.

“Isn’t that what you changelings are born to do? Pretend to be someone else, able to change that act at the drop of a hat, so you can lie to and deceive ponies into getting what you need? Is it difficult for you to comprehend that a pony is just as capable as doing it as changelings?” She asked skeptically, keeping her gaze locked on Flitter.

Brick shook his head dismissively, realizing that the more he learned about this mare, the less he truly understood her.

“No, that’s not how we work. When we assume the identity of someone, we gain their memories. It is more like we’re gaining their personality rather than changing our own. Even then, we can’t just switch to another identity in an instant, it takes time. What you’re doing….is very different. You stay the same, and yet you become vastly different. We pretend to be others, but what you do...it’s more like you are becoming someone else. And it seems so easy for you, like second nature. A skill like that…..even for changelings, it would be a one in a million, and invaluable. It is not a something just anyone can pick up or learn, if it was, do you really think changelings would be in the situation we’re in?”

There was silence for a few seconds, as Brick patiently waited for Pinkamena to respond. Before she could, however, there was suddenly a shriek of terror from Flitter. Though Pinkamena did not increase her pace at all, she just continued to move forward to where Flitter was. Brick on the other hoof, reacted immediately. He ran forward to her, worried at what the source of her screaming might have been.

The pure shock of what he saw prevented him from doing the same.

“I can’t lie, I’m a little disappointed. With how the rest of this place seems to do things, I figured they’d have a more, I don’t know, meticulous way of doing it, I guess? But this?” Pinkamena said as she looked down, a look of disgust on her face.

The room they had entered was where the failures had been kept, though it was just as dark as the corridor from before. There were very simple jail cells in this room, though it didn’t seem there were any failures in them. There was absolutely no lighting, so it was likely whenever somepony came to collect the failures, they had to bring some kind of light source. On the other side of the room seemed to be another corridor, that was just as dark as the one before. And, if Pinkamena had to guess, was where Flitter would be leading them.

That wasn’t what any of them were looking at.

In the center of the room, there was a somewhat deep hole. It seemed to have either been carved, or they built the concrete around it, it was too old to tell. The hole, like the rest of the room, was incredibly dark. Though; they didn’t need much light to see what was down there.

Bodies.

This is where they took the bodies of all the failures that died during the riot, piled up like trash. There had to be at least two dozen, maybe even more, all at the bottom of that hole. They had various injuries, causing both them and the ground they were in to be stained in blood. She could also tell there wasn’t a single body in there that belonged to one of the security that died during the riot, they were likely taken somewhere else. The stench was horrid, though the smell of death and decay was one Pinkamena had become so used to, she couldn’t even smell it anymore.

Brick didn’t have such a privilege, the sight and smell made him vomit. But since he barely had any actual food in his stomach, it barely resulted in little more than a brown spot on the floor. Flitter, after releasing her initial shriek of terror, seemed to be completely quiet. Her mouth was still agape after her scream, but she could only stand there in shock as she stared at the pile of butchered bodies before her.

“Wasteful. Then again, there could just be a better way they normally do this. But thanks to the three riots, and who knows whatever chaos I caused, they likely just had to dump them and rush something else. Whatever, come on, let’s go.” Pinkamena commanded as she turned away from the hole, having completely lost interest in them.

Brick had just finished emptying his stomach when she said that, tears at the corners of his eyes. He glanced at the bodies, but quickly turned his head away from them.

“How….how could anything do this?!” He screamed, barely able to stop himself from gagging due to the stench.

“With brainwashing, fear, lots of Pegasi, and the machines in the previous room. Now stop asking stupid questions and let’s go, we have some very important ponies waiting for us.”

She began to walk down the corridor, Brick couldn’t tell whether she was impatient or just not interested. He wasn’t sure which one of those terrified him more.

He should have been surprised, it was clear this mare had a lot of experience with dead bodies. She didn’t even flinch at the sight of them, nor did she react at all to the foul stench. What kind of pony had the experiences that would make them like that?

But he wasn’t surprised, he couldn’t be. He needed to accept that this mare wasn’t like any pony he’d ever met, no, any creature he’d ever met. She was an anomaly, something that threatened the life of anyone she was involved with. He couldn’t understand her, and for a changeling, who has a nature of understanding ponies, so they could pretend to be them, baffling and infuriating.

He began to follow Pinkamena, glad she was taking a slow enough pace for him to follow her. The sound of her near silent hoof steps being the only sound in the room, seeming to echo throughout.

Then he remembered Flitter, cursing to himself that he forgot her for even a second.

He turned back to look at her, noticing she was standing in the same spot. She was still staring at the pile of bodies before her, that look of shock on her face still clear. Her mouth was still agape, her eyes wide and pupils constricted, seeming unable to take her eyes off the carnage before her.

“Hey, Flitter, come one, we have to go.” Brick said in a hushed tone, trying his hardest not to glance at the pile of bodies. He knew that image would be burned into him for the rest of his life, he’d never forget it.

Still, she did not move. Her mouth closed and her body relaxed a bit, but she didn’t move or say a word.

Brick waited a few more seconds, hoping she’d snap out of whatever trance she seemed to be in.

But, she didn’t.

Brick shook his head disappointingly, she needed comfort, but he couldn’t provide it for her. He wasn’t good with ponies, he was even worse with foals.

“That’s…...my mother.”

It was barely louder than a whisper, but even from that, he could hear how much she was trying not to break down by the strain in her voice.

He felt his blood run cold when she said that, anything he was about to say to her caught in her throat. He may not like ponies, but he understood the relationship between a child and their mother. It was one of love and cherishment, it was some of the best love a changeling could ever taste.

And, just like ponies, changelings too had a mother. Their mother may have also been their queen, but that changes nothing. It wasn’t love that they could feed off of, but it was still real love him and the rest of his hive felt for her.

The thought of ever finding Chrysalis’ body, especially like this, knowing she likely experienced an agonizing and slow death, just to be thrown away like common trash………..it filled him with a deep terror, deeper than any terror that pink mare ever could.

He followed Flitter’s gaze, trying to avoid looking at the pile of bodies any longer than he had to. She was staring at a body in the middle of the pile, one of the few ones where their entire face could be seen. She seemed to have a dark purple coat with a mane almost pewter gray. Though she was covered in blood and dirt, some of it seeming deep enough in her coat to suggest it was in there long before she was thrown in here.

It was her face that caught his and Flitter’s attention.

Her face was covered in dirt and blood like the rest of her body, but seemed to be far more bruised and beaten up. He wouldn’t say this, but considering how the ponies in this place seemed to be, Brick suspected that these ponies weren’t above rape and beating, as disgusted the idea made him. Even her mouth seemed to be swollen, making it hard to tell what expression was on her face before she died.

It was her eyes that would haunt him, and that likely traumatized Flitter.

They were a dim green, or, at least, they used to be. But now, they were completely lifeless, to the point of almost looking gray. Even so, they seemed to be looking straight at him, her haunting gaze piercing into his soul.

He had heard the eyes were the windows to the soul of someone, allowing anyone who looks into their eyes to them as who they really were. But looking at the eyes of this dead mare, seeing the gruesome death she must have experienced as he lifeless gaze seemed to glare into him, he didn’t understand until now just how true that statement was, until he saw what the eyes looked like when the soul was gone.

He quickly turned his head away from her as he gagged, almost throwing up again. The smell of this place was absolutely rancid, almost impossible to tolerate.

“No...she….why would they do this to her?” Flitter barely whispered as tears began to run down her face as she collapsed to the floor, sobbing into her hooves as grief overtook her.

Brick walked up behind her and tried to comfort her, but he had little experience in terms of foals, and even less when it came to dealing with the death of a loved one, that wasn’t something very common in Equestria.

“Flitter, It’s ok, just..come one, we need to go, your mother would want you to leave this place as soon as possible.”

He said as gently as he could, though he avoided actually touching, he wasn’t sure whether or not that would help. But she didn’t respond at all, like she couldn’t even hear him. Her sobbing seemed to just get worse, tears quickly rolling down her face and hitting the floor.

Despite her wails of anguish being mostly muffled by her hooves, they were still loud enough to be heard by Pinkamena. Who had barely been paying attention to her surroundings, being nearly lost in thought as she seemed to be concentrating on something. When she heard Flitter’s crying, she stopped going down the hallway, glancing back as a scowl quickly formed on her face as she saw her on the ground crying into her hooves.

She turned her head forward again, peering into the darkness ahead of her as she considered just leaving both of them. Then she glanced down at the sling with her broken hoof, reminding her just how much she hated this place. Dealing with Rainbow Dash would be hard, but since she wasn’t used to fighting with various injuries like Pinkamena was, it wouldn’t be impossible. But, assuming Flitter wasn’t lying, there was a second pony with her. So she needed Brick to deal with them, and it didn’t seem like he’d be going with her without Flitter.

Pinkamena looked back once more, seeing Flitter sobbing on the floor in front of the pile of corpses, Brick trying and failing to comfort her. Pinkamena lowered her head and sighed frustratedly as she turned around, walking towards the two of them.

“Bucking hate foals.” She mumbled to herself, not loud enough for Brick or Flitter to hear her.

Brick saw her out of the corner of his eye, slightly worried at what she might do. But before he could say or do anything, she pushed him to the side with disturbing ease.

“Move, your attempt at counseling is pissing me off.” She said aggressively as she glared at him, quickly turning her attention to Flitter.

Brick was about to say something, but he realized nothing he could have said or done would have helped.

Flitter hadn’t seem to even notice Pinkamena, almost like she was ignoring the world around her. Pinkamena closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, her entire body relaxing. She just stood there and remained quiet for a few moments, as if mentally preparing herself for something. Seconds later, like before, she seemed to become someone else.

She slowly opened her eyes as she exhaled, the emptiness and hatred behind her eyes quickly being replaced by a light that seemed to shine in the room. Her frown quickly changed into a huge smile as she beamed at Flitter, the warmth and kindness that smile showed, like last time, was disturbingly genuine.

“Shh...it’s ok sweetie, I’m here, I’m right here.” She said in that same sickeningly sweet tone as before, that seemed to flow out of her mouth with ease.

She lowered her body to the floor and got on her knees beside Flitter, wrapping her hooves around her and pulling her into her chest. Though she could only actually wrap one hoof around her, the other one just stayed her side in the sling. Flitter completely tensed up, slightly lowering her hooves and looking up at whoever had pulled her into this embrace. She could see it was Pinkamena, but she couldn’t see her face due to the way her head was over hers.

As Flitter’s head was pressed against Pinkamena’s chest, she couldn’t help but hear her heartbeat. It was calm and rhythmic, but something about it was somewhat...soothing. Not just that, but Pinkamena’s entire body felt so warm, the kind of warmth that was in The Rainbow Factory. Flitter had gotten so used to the cold of both The Factory and the way they treated her, she had nearly forgotten what warmth like this felt like. The only thing that had kept her going and given her hope was her mother, who had made her feel safe.

But now her mother was gone. She knew that they had taken her away to kill her, but the reality of that didn’t really hit her until she had seen her body. She hadn’t realized that she’d never talk to her mother again, never be able to eat her cooking or see her smile. That she’d never experience her mother embracing her, the warmth and kindness that would irradiate from her body would comfort her and just melt away all of her problems, as she ran her hoof down the back of her head and told her that everything would be all right.

The warmth she felt from Pinkamena, the aura of kindness and love that came off of her, reminded her of her mother.

Pinkamena brought her left hoof, the not broken one, up from Flitter’s back and placed it on top of Flitter’s mane, before slowly running her hoof through her mane down to her back gently, sending a pleasant sensation down her back as she did. Pinkamena hugged her a little tighter, and yet was being as gentle with her as she could.

“It’s going to be all right, everything will be all right. I know what you’re feeling right now, I lost my mother too when I was your age. But I kept it all bottled up because I couldn’t comprehend it, I just couldn’t understand that the person who brought me into this world and loved me with all her heart was gone. I needed someone else who understood helping me, but there wasn’t. Now, I’m here for you, I can help you through this. But first, we need to escape this place, your mother would want you to live a long, happy life. If you need to cry, then cry. It’s okay, just let it all out.”

She cooed as she continued to comfort Flitter, still trying to hold her in an embrace. The warmth of her body, the kindness and comfort of her words, how gentle she was as she stroked her mane and hugged her,

It was just like her mother.

“I-i miss my mommy!” Flitter whimpered as she wrapped her hooves around Pinkamena, crying into her chest. Tears and snot ran down her face and into Pinkamena’s coat as she bawled, unable to hold back her feelings anymore.

Flitter couldn’t see it, but Brick noticed Pinkamena’s face etch into a disgusted scowl as Flitter got snot and tears. But she didn’t push her away or stop stroking her mane, no matter how much she might have wanted to.

*Really bucking hate foals, and this place, I need a vacation.*

For a minute or two, the only sound in the room was the sound of Flitter crying into Pinkamena’s chest as she grieved for her mother. Though Pinkamena didn’t let go of Flitter or stop stroking her mane, the scowl on her face that only Brick could see made it evident that she wanted this to end as soon as possible.

Throughout this whole ordeal, Brick only watched in slight astonishment. Once again, this mare had completely changed her outward appearance to someone with an almost motherlike personality. A change so drastic and convincing that it surprised even him, a changeling. But he wouldn’t be fooled this time, he knew this mares true nature. She couldn’t be trusted no matter what, this mare, whoever she was, is dangerous.

Eventually, Flitter’s bawling had slowly become sniffling, until she no longer cried at all. A few moments later, she slowly pushed herself away from Pinkamena and stood up on her own, rubbing her eyes as she did. Pinkamena also stood up, though much more slowly since one of her arms were broken. She covered her face with her mane for a few seconds so Flitter wouldn’t see her scowl. There were a few seconds that passed before she showed her face, that same warm smile on it again.

Before Pinkamena got the chance to say anything, Flitter asked a question that left both Pinkamena and Brick shocked.

“Will you be my new mommy?” She asked innocently, not understanding the weight of what she was asking.

Pinkamena looked just as shocked as Brick did, neither of them having expected such an answer. For a moment, her act dropped, the smile from her face dropping as her eyes widened. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to prevent her jaw from hitting the floor, which was still filthy.

Flitter saw this reaction, and seemed to get slightly flustered. She looked away from Pinkamena, but didn’t seem to still be upset.

“I’m sorry, it’s just….my mommy never told me about my daddy, I never met him. We lived alone in a house in Ponyville, I don’t think I have any relatives. So, even if we get out of here, I’ll…..be all alone. So, please, will you be my new mommy? I….really don’t want to be alone.” She almost whispered as she lowered her head, looking like she was on the verge of crying again.

Ponyville, this filly was from Ponyville. That changed everything.

If this filly was from Ponyville, then she knew Pinkie, Pinkie knew everypony in Ponyville. There were two or three ponies in Ponyville who were named Flitter, remembering her by name wouldn’t have been reliable. It was too dark and this filly was covered in too much grime to be able to tell if it was somepony she had met before, it was likely she did.

The reasons why she didn’t recognize Pinkamena were easy, even if some of it were just lucky. She had never seen Pinkie with her hair straight instead of curly, never seen her without a constant smile or with an extremely childish and energetic personality. The fact that she’s only ever seen her in the dark so far, and that she had several small bruises and cuts from the beating Rainbow gave her certainly helped in her favor.

As for motherhood, that was a definite no. She had never even considered being a mother, nor would she ever be. Being an Element of Harmony, a busy party planner, and a cannibalistic serial killer who’s affiliated with an underground association of bloodthirsty, barbaric criminals put her in no position to be a parent. Plus she hated foals, dealing with Pumpkin and Pound on an almost daily basis filicide.

But that’s where the real problem came from.

When they get out of this place, even if it’s the middle of the night, there will be more light and Flitter will be able to see her more clearly. While she may seem blissfully innocent, she didn’t seem dumb. She’d be able to piece together who she was, and then she’d know her secret. Even if Flitter told Brick, and Brick didn’t just outright kill her immediately, that would still leave on pony who lived in Ponyville that knew her secret. That was risky, too risky, even for her.

She had to kill Flitter, there was no other option.

But first, she needed to get out of this place. And for that, she would need Flitter. For now, she’d keep being nice to her. At least, until she wasn’t useful anymore. The real problem would be killing her without Brick finding out, she’d manage that somehow, she usually did.

“I….can’t answer that right now, I’m sorry. How about we just focus on getting out of this place first, okay?”

Pinkamena said bluntly, feeling Brick glaring at her as she did.

“Oh, ok.” Flitter said disappointedly as she lowered her head, slowly picking herself off the ground. She walked forward, moving past Pinkamena towards the corridor behind her. She avoided eye contact with both her and Brick, keeping her gaze locked on the ground. “It’s this way, shouldn’t be that far.” She said dejectedly, her voice barely above a whisper.

She slowly walked into the corridor, not even looking back to see if they were following her. Brick snorted before tearing his gaze away from Pinkamena, moving towards the corridor and beginning to follow her.

“I don’t think it’s possible for this day to get worse, Buck you Rainbow Dash.” Pinkamena mumbled to herself, rubbing the side of her head as she did, she was getting a headache.

She slowly got up and turned around, barely giving the pile of bodies another glance. She soon caught up with Brick and Flitter, Brick keeping his eyes on Flitter out of concern.

“So, you grieved for your mom, huh? I guess even you are capable of caring.” Brick said condensendingly, his gaze not seeming to leave Flitter, who didn’t seem to hear him.

Pinkamena snorted when he said that, a slight smirk on her face as she did.

“No, of course not. I’ve never grieved for-”

To answer your question, you’re feeling grief.

Bramble’s words came to mind before she could finish her sentence, her words catching in her throat. Brick noticed this, his eyes glancing over at her for a moment, before going back to looking at Flitter.

“My mother, along with the rest of my family, is alive. I’ve never lost anyone I cared about, because I’ve never cared about anyone.” She said bluntly, lowering her voice enough to where Flitter wouldn’t hear, but Brick still could.

Brick seemed to mumble something, but Pinkamena couldn’t hear. A few more moments pass in silence. The dark corridor, instead of getting darker, seemed to be getting slightly brighter. There were some lights on the walls in the distance, small, but noticeable.

Pinkamena, on the other hand, was quite focused on something.

Killing Rainbow Dash would be a challenge, but she would manage, she always did. The real issue, was knowing whether she would be killing the real Rainbow Dash. There was no doubt in her mind that the Rainbow Dash in the room ahead of them was the real one, she knew it for sure. Even if Rainbow Dash may have been pretending to be someone else, Pinkamena knew who she really was now.

If there was one trait that defined Rainbow Dash, it was egotistical. Rainbow brought Pinkamena in, and now she had escaped, more or less. She would want to come down and take care of this herself, she wouldn’t want anyone else to do it. It had to be her. And, as much as she wanted to, she would not kill Rainbow in this fight. She didn’t have the time, nor could she afford to push her body right now, she needed rest.

It was that Celestia damned Mirror Pool that was the real issue.

If Rainbow Dash was smart, she would have a back up clone for emergencies, like in the case of her death. But how would Pinkamena know she was talking to the real Rainbow Dash? Or when she kills her, would she be killing the real Rainbow Dash? She would only know because of the bruises and cuts on her body right now. But those could both be covered up, and weren’t a long term solution. She needed some way to know whether it was the real one, or just another clone.

Pinkamena glanced over at Brick, wondering if changelings ever had a similar issue. When changelings are in their normal forms, surely some of them look similar to each other, right?

“Hey Brick, mind if I ask you a changeling question?”

He remained quiet for a few seconds, not even looking over at her, as if debating with himself whether he should just pretend he didn’t hear her. Then, with a reluctant sigh, he nodded, knowing she was looking at him as she awaited a response.

“So, say changeling twins are born. They look exactly the same, and it is near impossible to tell the difference between the two. How does the rest of the hive distinguish between them?”

She wasn’t entirely sure whether she would actually get an answer from him or not, the relationship between changelings and ponies isn’t exactly good. Nor would changelings be open to telling their enemies how they work and any information about them, the fact that he just straight up didn’t seem to like her didn’t help.

After a few moments of silence, he answered.

“Twins are very rare with changelings, even more so if they’re allowed to live. But if they do, and being able to tell which one of them is which becomes a genuine issue, they get...branded.” He said quietly, almost like he was ashamed to say it.

“Branded? Like, hot metal burning the flesh kind of branding?”

Pinkamena had a bit of experience when it came with hot metal and flesh, but she never had a particular reason to brand her toys. No one would ever see their bodies. Though the smell of their flesh being scorched, mixed with the sounds of their bloodcurdling screams was always fun.

“No, it is very difficult to burn a changelings outer shell, even with fire magic. We’ve found it was easier to put symbols on them. For twins, we usually put the symbol for mirror somewhere on them using changeling magic. I won’t tell you where, but only changelings can see it. Wh-”

Before Brick could ask her why she wanted to know, he was interrupted when Flitter suddenly stopped moving, giving a frightened gasp as she did. Brick and Pinkamena didn’t increase their pace, since they weren’t that far behind her. They were soon now standing behind Flitter, looking into the room in front of them.

It wasn’t actually that large, maybe slightly smaller than the barracks Pinkamena was in earlier? It was certainly brighter than most of the places they had been in before, several large spotlights connected to the walls ensured this. There didn’t actually seem to be very much in the room, other than the multiple large, wooden crates that were spread out the room, anyway. Some of them were tipped over to their sides on the floor, the top open revealing that there was nothing in them. While others were still closed and pressed against the wall, a few even being stacked on top of each other If Pinkamena had to guess, these were the crates they would bring all the failures in with, they were certainly large enough for it, though she immensely doubted there were any in them right now.

The strange thing was, all of these crates seemed to have been pushed against the walls, as if to make room for something. The area in front of them, which was the center of the room, was practically completely empty.

One of the things that really stuck out about the room was a rather large pipe on the other side of the room, which was about twice the size it would need to be for those crates to fit through. It seemed to be connected to some kind of large weather machine to the left of it, the machine bigger than the pipe and seemed to move to it when turned on, a tube that came out of the machine looked like it would fit over the pipe when it did. And judging from the container on top of the machine filled with spectra, this was likely one of the weather pipes of The Rainbow Factory, Pinkamena never would have guess that it was used to transport foals to be killed when it was off.

The ponies who moved the crates, and were the point of interest in the room, were standing right across from them. Standing right in front of their exit, guarding it.

Rainbow Dash stood valiantly across from them, her back straight and her chest puffed out arrogantly. She was wearing something similar to the stealth suit Pinkamena had seen her in before, but it was noticeably different. It was a lot bulkier, making Rainbow Dash seem significantly bigger than what she actually was. There was likely some kind of padding of metal beneath the first layer of the fiber, it was likely considerably healthier than its stealth suit variant. But, knowing Rainbow Dash, she was stubborn and strong enough to be able to, likely not for very long. It looked like it covered the entire body like the stealth suit did, but Pinkamena wasn’t stupid, she knew it didn’t. Pinkamena was confident that the back wasn’t covered at all, making it the best part on her body to attack. Well, that one her face, since the suit only reached up to just under her chin, leaving her face unprotected.

There was another pony standing beside her, an earth pony, the first one she’s seen in this place. And he was massive, reminding her of Big Macintosh. Even in a combat suit, he still stood almost half a foot taller than Rainbow. His legs resembled logs more than limbs, he actually reminded her a lot of Grutch, just a lot bigger. She noticed he was completely white except for his eyes, which were a Desire red. He must have been an albino, something Pinkamena had come across once or twice. That meant he had eyesight problems, good.

Rainbow noticed them, briefly glancing at Brick before her gaze moved to Pinkamena. An enraged scowl quickly formed when they made eye contact, it was clear she was also grinding her teeth. The other pony seemed to keep his gaze locked on Brick, though his expression remained blank.

Flitter quickly ran behind Brick and Pinkamena, hiding behind them and hoping she hadn’t been noticed.

“Friends of yours?” Brick asked sardonically, though he didn’t take his gaze off of either of them.

“That’s...complicated.” She said hesitantly, hoping he wouldn’t start asking questions again. “Remember the ponies I told you about earlier, the ones I pissed off? These are them.”

Brick glanced at Rainbow Dash, recognizing her immediately as one of The Elements of Harmony. Loyalty, to be specific. His eyes widened in surprise, not expecting that an Element of Harmony would be involved in all this.

“What in Tartarus did you do to piss off an Element of Harmony? Did you even know she was a part of all this?” He asked angrily as he turned to her, but she seemed determined to keep her staring contest with Rainbow, a glowering look on her face as she did.

She didn’t answer him, some part of him knew she wouldn’t. Brick turned back around, lowering his head as he prepared to attack. His instincts were screaming at him to kill her, even disconnected from the hive mind, he knew the queen would make killing her a top priority. More important than his life, almost as important as the source of love hear. If he could kill just one Element of Harmony, not only would he be getting revenge for Canterlot, but he would be getting rid of one of the biggest threats to his species. He would be considered a hero, he would be remembered in changeling history for generations.

Brick’s wings spread out as he prepared to launch himself forward, before being stopped by a pink hoof. Pinkamena had extended her hoof in front of him, stopping him from leaping forward. Though neither her nor Rainbow took their eyes off each other, the pony with Rainbow tensed up, his gaze now fixated on Brick.

Brick stood straight up and turned to her angrily, his wings still spread out to his sides.

“Why did you-”

“She’s mine.” She said coldly, her cocky demanor from before completely gone.

He looked at her skeptically, looking down at her broken hoof, then over at Rainbow Dash, then back at her. “Are you kidding me? You can barely walk straight, so much as fight her. I’ve seen her fight dozens of changelings at once! You can’t beat her!” He screamed, loud enough for Rainbow Dash and the pony beside her to hear.

“Don’t worry about me, I can handle her. You can have the big one, with how hopped up you are on spectra, you’ve got a better chance at beating him then I would.” She pulled her hoof back as she said this, trusting that Brick wouldn’t lung forward.

Brick looked over at the other pony, sure he was big and muscular, but that also meant he was likely slow. He was also an earth pony, and Brick was a pegasus. Outmaneuvering him would be easy, but not so much for her. She would have to stay on the ground, and she couldn’t move very fast because of her hoof.

He hated to admit it, but she was right.

“Are you sure you can handle her?” Brick asked with a sigh, making eye contact with the pony beside Rainbow.

“Do you trust me?”

“No.”

Some part of her expected him to at least hesitate, though she couldn’t help but smirk slightly at his answer.

“That’s good, you really shouldn’t. I’ll beat her, you focus on him.”

Without another second of hesitation, Brick flew forward, going straight towards Barracks. With that, the battle began.

The Rainbow Factory vs Cupcakes.

by Perfectly Insane

Chapter One: The Best Friendship Makes The Worst Enemies When Broken.

Chapter Two: Not So Emotionless.

Chapter Three: Amicicide

Chapter Four: The Monster And The Devil.

Chapter Five: Internal Problems.

Chapter Six: The Factory.

Chapter Seven: Confrontation.

Chapter Eight: Answers.

Chapter Nine: Integral Planning.

Chapter Nine: Integral Planning: Part Two.

Chapter Ten: Escape, Part One.

Chapter Ten: Escape, Part Two.