Taylor and Elena go into the work force of The Machine Factory and try to find the truth behind it's closed doors.
Taylor and Elena, both high schoolers, get forced to work in the Machine Factory, only to find out that there's a dark secret behind it's doors, and blinded by the public. Now It's up to Taylor to stop the massive brainwashing by putting an end to the pollution of the machines.
You ever go to school and just look around at how people seem different to you? It makes you think that you could make a day yours, by making things seem quite unusual. That's how I felt after what I went through.
My name is Taylor. I know I might seem like the typical high school nerd, or whatever, but I really just spend a lot of my time playing video games at home.
So I was spending time with my friend Elena, and we decided to go walk around the school for a bit. We wanted to walk to the gym first and watch the girls practice for the upcoming basketball tournament this month. I heard that they won't be back for a whole month because the teams all play in a stadium far away, so the girls get to skip out on school for a whole month.
After about an hour went by watching, we decided to run over to our school's lobby and open up some snacks that we brought from home. Once we sat down and started to open them from our bags, we saw someone walking up to us with their hoodie up so we couldn't see their face. Though I do remember seeing that she had some red hair dyed in and then all of a sudden...
We just blacked out in that second, and the next thing I know, I woke up in a dark room. Not tied to anything. No lights, and no memory of what happened.
"Ugh... My head..." I said, opening my eyes. Whatever happened to me? I wouldn't be able to figure that out, but all I know, was that I was in a dark room, and I couldn't find the door out. "Where am I?" Honestly, I can't even understand how I got here in the first place.
I managed to find the wall without tripping over anything and I kept following it, eventually finding a door. I opened it and walked out, dazed by the light sweeping into the dark room I was placed suddenly. i looked around and on me. I was wearing a white lab coat instead of my normal clothes. Instead of waking inside a small building, I looked down to the ground and found a ton of machinery.
What I woke up in was a big factory. Making what seemed like just everyday items to makes people's lives more simple and many more items I wouldn't recognize. Steam arose from the machines below and I started coughing at the fumes flowing through the air around me.
Then the odd part was when I saw the walls. The walls looked like they were either made out of cloud, or just built in cloud shaped. "First, a factory to look like it's made out of clouds. What's next, people that can fly?" And as I said that, a blue skinned person zipped by me and flew straight into the air.
I gazed at the flying person as they slowly turned and landed softly in front of me. The person was a light blue skinned, rosy eyed and rainbow haired hair. "Howdy!" she says at me, with a hand to her chest and a boastful smile. "My name's Rainbow Dash. Head of this factory. I was wondering where you went to. I want you to come to my office. Your friend is waiting for you there."
She grabs my hand and starts running up some stairs and into a small room with two chairs, and a desk behind them. One of them had Elena sitting in one of them and she turns around at me. "Taylor!" She jumps up and runs to me with a power hug. Rainbow Dash steps aside from us and sits down in the chair behind the desk.
"So, I bet you two are wondering why you're here. Well, I found out that you two would be really helpful in helping out my home with certain things to make things much more easier here. I'm sure you two also learned that we here can fly without a plane or something. My race in my home is able to fly without that, so we won't be making those things. It makes a bad statement on our flight school here."
"Anyways, I digress. I just wanted to help you two take a small tour of our factory and I'll help you get to your rooms." Rainbow Dash sets her hand on a PA button and an spoke into the microphone. "Attention worker! We have two new recruits from the outside that volunteered to work at our new Machine Factory! Please give Elena and Taylor a nice welcome to the factory." Then she let go of it and it clicked off.
I walk toward the desk in a bit of anger. "Now wait a minute! What made you say that we volunteered to work here?!" Elena gasps in shock at my sudden outburst. Rainbow Dash reaches into her desk and pulls out two pieces of paper. "It's all right here in this contract and waiver form. You both signed one freely and with full acceptance of the circumstances."
"And those are?!" I raised my voice louder to a yell. Rainbow Dash pulled out a video feed of me on the screen and it showed me talking to Rainbow Dash.
"You need to know that when you work here, you are going to have to live here for the rest of your life. Your parents at home all accepted the situation and will give consent for you to work here with me. All I need now is your approval and we can get to work soon." The Rainbow Dash on the video feed handed me a paper and I just started signing it, and when I finished, a person from the side hands me a lab coat with my name and the factory logo on it. "Welcome to the factory Taylor." Rainbow Dash said on the feed and then it clicked out.
"You see, you both approved yourselves to live here and work here. Don't worry about payment. Since you aren't allowed to leave, you can be payed in the smiles of our customers." Then she smiles at me, and two buff people dressed like guards approach us and escort us out of the room. I looked behind me before I left the room and Rainbow Dash waved us goodbye.
"Come with me you two." The guard in front of me and Elena said. He was quite muscular and wore a blue labcoat, other than Rainbow Dash and some other ones that were walking by us. I could hear them whispering to themselves as they eyeballed us.
"Are those the new recruits?"
"Man, I heard there names and they both are girl names. Why is he here?"
"How come they bring people from below up here?"
"I wonder if they'll blow up something like the last recruit did last week."
Blow something up? Would something like that even possible? I pushed that thought out of my head. I look ahead of me and try not to listen to the voices around me.
Soon enough, I was stopped in front of a room and without hesitation, I walked right in. I assumed that it was supposed to be my room. I did see that there was a nameplate on the door as well, so that would make more sense that it's my room. I left the door open and turned around to close it, and I saw Elena walking past me. "Hey Elena."
She turns and looks at me. "Oh, hi Taylor. I was wondering how long it was going to take to talk to each other without these people around us." She gives off a light smile and a giggle with her mouth closed. I smile back. "Naturally."
I waved goodbye to her for now and then I close the door. I take a small examination of my room. First off, there's only just a single dangling light bulb from the roof. The bed was not broken, but handled with little care. Holes in the sheets and a few parts of the bed was ripped out. There was at least a fridge, which was nice. It had a nice little area for eating and cooking. I checked to see if everything was working, and it was. I then walked into the bathroom, and it looked quite nice. But when I turned on the shower, it wouldn't turn on the water, so it was going to be hard to take a shower. At least the sink was working, so I at least had a source of water.
I hum a little tune to myself and lay down on the bed. I lay down on the bed for about a minute until I hear a knock on the door. I get up and answer the door and find Elena standing at the door. "Oh, it's you. I had something to ask you." In my mind, I had a feeling that she might remember something about what happened before we arrived here.
"What is it Taylor?" She asks me with a small concerning look in her eyes. I gesture her to follow me inside. "I was wondering if you remember anything before we got here." She nods, understanding the situation. "Well, what I remember was that we were in a room together decided on whether we would want to work in a factory to help make other people's lives more easier and we both said yes."
I kinda bite my lip a bit. That's not how I remember it at all. "Okay. I guess that's what happened." At this point, anything could happen if I tried to disagree with her. I guess it's just best we play this game and go along with this factories rules. I give a light chuckle and smile. "Yeah, I thought that's what happened. My memory's a bit fuzzy right now." I kinda close my eyes and laugh a bit louder. She smiled at me and I looked closely at it. It felt a little odd to me. Her smile usually brings joy to her friends. But all it shown was abandonment. I can't trust that smile.
I wave Elena goodbye for now and I sit down on my bed. I take a little breather to calm myself down. Soon, I got up and I went over to the dresser to look through my clothes. All I see are white uniforms with the same logo on the same side. I breathe a sigh of relief. At least I know one thing that's still the same. But what bugs me is that Elena... Is kind of acting a bit strange.
An announcement came on. I figured it was Rainbow Dash. I bet it had to do with my encounter with Elena. If so, they must have been watching me somehow. "That's it for today everybody! Now you can all take a big relaxing break for a while and then you can all go to your rooms at 10:30 PM. Please make notice that work starts in 2 in the morning as per usual. Good night everyone!" Then the announcement clicked off once more as it ended.
I sigh. 2 AM? That's just crazy. All I had on my mind was a few things. What time is it, since I hardly found any clocks anywhere else other than Rainbow Dash's office. But no one would be able to think and count out each second to keep track of time.
The next thing on my mind was what is the secret behind this place. But most importantly... Where on earth an I?
1:55 AM
I had a nightmare... I had a dream of a person dragging me on the floor out of a fiery room. I couldn't remember their face, or even their voice, but what I remember was that they said, "We got to get out of here! Wake up!" It took me a while to relax and settle myself down, so I got up and walked around my crappy room. Then an announcement came on.
"Good morning everybody! Hope you had a nice rest! We have a big day ahead of us, so let's make it a good one! To the new recruits, Elena and Taylor, you need your slip passes to clock in for work. I have sent yours to you last night, so make sure you bring them. Have a good day everybody!" The announcement clicked off again.
I walked to my door and picked up the small piece of paper. It was just a small card that contained my information, really. So it was more like an I.D. card. I walked to a place where there was a clock and a slot underneath it. I assumed that I had to put my card through the slot, so I did.
I walked to this big machine that looks like it's building a TV. Rainbow Dash calls for me and I walk up to her via the scaffolding nearby. "Listen up Taylor. I need you to understand the buttons. All I need you to do is push the right ones in order. I'm giving you this book which will tell you what they each do. And since you're new, I'm not expecting high production today. Just do you best." She gives me a light pat on the shoulder and she flies off. Literally.
I sigh and open up the book. Apparently there a lot of complicated buttons, so it seemed quite overwhelming. I try my best to understand it by reading it twice and eventually, I figured out what to do.
About 8 hours later
The announcement for work to end rang around the factory and ends the same way as the rest do. Then the ambience of the factory filled the air again. I returned to my room and sat down on the bed and sighed. Today may have been okay. I breathed deeply and managed to relax for a few hours. I eventually drifted to sleep.
I soon awoke to the sound of another announcement and it said that the afternoon group was to report to their line of work. Which reminds me... I was assigned to the morning, and I didn't get to see Elena at all Maybe she was put in the afternoon group? I got up and decided to get some food to eat. There wasn't much I could take because a lot of the morning group here took so much because it was really early. I didn't get much because I didn't get any beforehand.
I grabbed a couple of sandwiches that were left over and started eating. I tried to relax a bit more as I ate, but I just couldn't help feel more uneasy. After I finished, I wandered around the factory for something to do as I waited because our rooms don't have much in them to begin with. Soon enough, I found this odd room that was different from the rest and it read, "The Archives" Just as I was about to turn around and leave, since I felt I shouldn't be here in the first place, Rainbow Dash turned the corner in front of me and saw me standing there.
"Hey Taylor. What are you doing around here?" She gave off an unsettling vibe that screams suspicion. I bite my lip nervously. "I-I was just looking for something to do, like read a book or something." Rainbow Dash nodded her head and turned, pointing in the direction of the library. "It's just down this corridor and to the right." I walk past her and look down the corridor she pointed at. "Thanks Boss." I look back at her. "Please, just call me Rainbow Dash, or just Rainbow's fine."
I smiled and waved goodbye as I walked towards the library and picked out a few books to read. I didn't have a place to put them, but I guess I could leave them on my bed or maybe on the floor. Either way, I could at least work something out. I took out an action book and another that looked like you had to read it backwards and it was mostly just pictures. I left and headed to my room. It's kinda nice that I can just take a book and leave. I should ask how to return them without looking for the library and I decided to figure it out on my own.
I read for a little while and then the announcement for the afternoon group to finish their work for the day, and a special announcement. "Hello everyone. I decided that since we've been doing so well lately, we hold a feast for the newcomers and for everyone else that did a lot of hard work. I hope to see everyone there." And once again. It clicked off. I sighed and decided to go. I didn't think they were asking for much. Maybe, just maybe, they're just trying to get us to learn more about each other. Maybe it'll be a fun time for me.
The air in the factory smelled of new machines, but felt like it was more intense than usual. I was sort of hoping that the air in here would be a little more fresh every day we wake up, but no. There's no windows, and there's probably no air filters throughout the factory. I just hope no one collapsed on the job yet. Eventually, I made my way down to the mess hall on the bottom floor. There's only 3 floors on this factory, and it's quite a small one. The top floor is the one where everyone in their shifts work. That is also where Rainbow Dash's office resides. Though no one ever goes in there. The floor below that is where the living quarters are. And then the bottom floor. That's where the main facilities for everyone needs is there. The bathrooms and an arcade for the gaming type of people. But I'm more of a book person. I don't like the light the games make. Nor the violence some games have.
The mess hall was packed. It almost felt like no seats were left for anyone. I thought I wouldn't even find Elena in the crowd of people. I just headed for a random table and waited for the food to come. Soon enough, I found a table and then Rainbow Dash flew in and stood on a table. "Good evening everyone! I just wanted to say that it's a pleasure that lots of you decided to join today. I have a few things I want to get out of the way. First thing, I want everyone to know that I arranged this so that we can all get along a little more. I've been noticing that some people here have been fighting over a few... small... matters." She then makes a little scowl at the crowd. "You know who you are."
"Secondly." she states, standing a little more firmer. "We have now reached our final milestone for the company as well. We finally pushed our company's sales all the way to the ends of Equestria! We now sell products everywhere! Soon enough, everyone's lives will be much more easier than before." At that, everyone stood up and cheered. I looked around to see if Elena was around me. I sighed, until I felt a poke at my shoulder. I turned to look at a familiar face smiling at me.
"Elena! It's you! I was wondering where you were!" She laughed. Oh, I just got a little bit lost. I just walked in when everyone cheered and then I found you looking down and sad n' stuff." She hugs me and sits down next to me. "Come on! I want to hear the rest of what the boss has to say!" She points to Rainbow Dash and I looked to whom she was pointing too.
"Lastly! I want everyone to have fun and say hello to our new employees, Taylor and Elena, whom have done such an amazing job lately! They've made more machines than one pony could make in three days! That means we can produce our products three times faster with these two. I would also like to point out that they are our new Employees of the Month and hopefully, many more to come!" They whole mess hall stood up cheering again, and a couple of strong people picked both of us up and everyone cheered louder and louder. Then the food comes out and on the tables. And Rainbow Dash raises her arms into the air and shouts out, "Everyone, eat up! We have a lot of work to do tomorrow!"
I was tired. I headed to the second floor to go to bed. I couldn't even tell what time it was and I didn't feel like heading to Rainbow Dash's office to find out. Once I got inside my room, I just plopped down and instantly fell asleep. I couldn't take anymore walking. Or cheering. There was just so much going on in one day, I just wanted to sleep.
I had another dream. I was by a room somewhere in the factory, it was outside The Archives. I went inside and way in the back I found a file that had information of me and Elena. About how we got here and what happened to us, why we're here. I was then found by a guard that usually works on the second floor. They said that they know what I'm doing and that if I wanted to find a way out, I have to listen to them.
The morning was the same as usual. Work, then a sandwich, some light reading and then the afternoon rolled by. I sighed. Maybe I should check out the Archives in my dream. I wonder if it that file even exists.
I got to the Archives. I checked both sides. Rainbow Dash wasn't anywhere nearby. I took a deep breath, then opened the door slowly. I was nervous. I was hoping that whatever was on that file was something good. Any good reason why I was here. Why I have to stay in this factory for the rest of my life. I wanted to know badly. I decided that if I didn't want to be caught, I should close the door. As I was walking there, I heard Rainbow Dash walking by. I panicked. I had to get whatever that file was and get out, but I should just close the door. Hoping that she wouldn't hear me. I slowly closed the door and waited.
"Just so you know, we need to ready that serum again. Elena's could be wearing out anytime soon and we need to try and make a stronger one for Taylor. He might find out what we're doing here and go prowling around for clues why we're doing this. I don't want him to know what's really going on. I still want to rule Equestria with this factory and I can't have him ruining everything like last time..."
Rule Equestria? Serum? What is she talking about? Maybe if I try and find that file, maybe there's some answers. I found it in a little folder in the 'E' section. The folder said "Experimental" and had only two files. One for me and Elena. What they said was that we were drugged, but I wasn't affected by the serum that Rainbow Dash was talking about. What this serum was supposed to do was that it made us oblivious to the bad things that are apparently going on around this factory and to prevent us from learning the true meaning of the factory's rebirth. I assumed it was talking about when Rainbow Dash said, "And I can't have him ruining everything like last time..."
Suddenly, the door opened and there was a guard standing there, just staring at me. I turned towards him and waited, knowing that my dream is falling into place, and that he'll just help me. He approaches me and I try and calm down a bit. He looks me in the eye and says, "You want out, don't you?" I nod in reply. He looks at the files in my hand. "You should follow me. Give those files to me. You can trust me. I know what's going on here too and I don't want to be a part of it either." I slowly give him the files and look him in the eyes. "What are you going to do to me?"
He doesn't answer me and he waves me to leave the room. I do as he says and walk out the room. He then starts running towards the stairs down and I run after him. I don't bother trying to ask why we're doing this, because doing so would attract more attention at us. People around us are already staring at us. I don't have the time to think about it, so I just keep running with him.
We eventually reach a stop at a dead end. I look around for a clue to an exit. Then the guy was feeling the wall looking for something. "What are you doing?" I ask him. He looks at me. "Quick, feel the wall for something hollow and then push on it! We don't have much time!" He then points to the people starting to head in our direction. I start doing as he says and then an alarm sounds and then I finally push the hollow part of the wall.
A few seconds later, the wall started opening and then Rainbow Dash enters the dead end, with Elena by her side. I take a quick glance at Elena and notice that she's all dead eyed and holding a gun at me and the guard. Rainbow Dash yells, "Stop it, you two! You have no clue what you're doing!" I look at the guard, then back at Elena. "Elena, wake up! You're not you!" Then the door opened fully. The guard says to me, "Whatever happens, just go through this door and don't dare turn back. Trust me, you'll be fine! Just jump out and someone will help you get down to the ground safely."
I look towards Elena once more, shocked. Rainbow Dash points at us. "You better not go through that door or else you'll regret it!" Suddenly, a lot more guards appear behind Rainbow Dash with just spears and points them at us. I take a small step back. "Elena! Come back to me!" She just looks at me with her grey, lifeless eyes. The guard yells at me, "Just go!" He then throws me the files of me and Elena. I catch them.
I then turn around to run, but I take a small look back behind me. Rainbow Dash points at me, then Elena takes a shot at me. But the guard jumps in the direction of the shot and falls to the ground bleeding out. Then the guards behind Rainbow Dash then start to chase me. The last thing I saw was that the door closed behind me, and I heard Rainbow Dash say to them, "Don't! There's no way we will find him. I'll get my friends to deal with him. They'll know what to do."
Once I got outside, I saw two people standing by a van wearing the guard outfits waiting. The one on the left was pink and had a blue pigtail coming from behind her head. The guy on the left was a grey, tall guy with a green bowl cut and smoking a cigarette as well. The girl looks at me and my clothes, and he jaw drops. "I don't believe it..." The guy next to her does the same and stares. "The guy managed to pull it off. Where is he?" I look down at my hands and back at the door. "He's still back there... but I don't think he'll be joining us..."
They both look down at the ground. "He's gone..." I said to them. "I'm sorry... I couldn't do anything about it..." They open up the back of the van. "Just get in. He said that we're going to get whoever he said would get out. So we're here to help you." I smile a little and then I do as they say and get inside the van. The girl sits across from me and hands me some clothes. "Here. Put these on. Don't worry about if I look or not." I turn around and do as she says.
"By the way, what's your name?" The guy, who started driving asks. I sat down once I finished getting the new clothes on and I showed him the file. He read it and sighed. "So you were under the drug as well. I see." The girl grabs the file out of my hand and then reads it. "Taylor huh? Isn't that usually a girl's name?"
"My dad wanted me to be named after my mother. There's really not much else to it. What are your names?" The girl hands me the file back and then she says, "I'm Upi and he's Tsaingein. We're brother and sister. Our last name is Eq. We're friends of that guy that told us to help you." She smiles and then decides to sit next to me and hugs me. "I'm sure that we'll find someone that can help you around town." I try and look out the window to see where we're going, but Upi tells me instead. "We're going to Ponyville. It's a friendly town. And there's a lot of people too. You'll be able to make at least a friend a day in that town!" She then giggles and looks out the window.
A friend, huh? At this point, a friend that'll help me wouldn't sound so bad. I needed some people to trust. Like that guard that protected me from Elena, and Upi and Tsaingein. They both seem like nice people. I needed people like them around me. I haven't had a friend for a long time during high school. Until I met Elena when she had her first day at my school. I was a junior at the time, so it was nice to meet her. She was so cheery and gleeful all the time. And now we're stuck like enemies for god knows how long. All I could think about was how I was going to get out of this situation and live a normal life again.
Tsaingein stops the van by a forest. "We're here." He says. I was glad that the ride was over. I was starting to develop a headache. I got out of the van and then I looked around me. "Huh? Why is the sky so yellowish?" Upi taps my shoulder and I turn to her. "Apparently, the factory that you escaped made such bad machines that the air started to get polluted and it also made that drug you were under spread by air and that's why we're helping you, because we need your help! I have a friend who is sad and needs our help too. That's why we stopped at the edge of the forest because that's where she lives."
Upi grabs my hand and then she drags me to the cottage that she was talking about and calls out. "Fluttershy! We're back!" Then she lets go of my hand and then a person with pale yellow skin and long, curvy pink hair comes out and runs to us. "Upi!" she says and they both hug each other. "I was so worried. I tried calling you yesterday, but you never answered and I went to your house and you still didn't answer and-"
Tsaingein interrupts and says, "We both got a phone call from a friend that needed our help about the pollution going on." Fluttershy looks at Tsaingein and looks at me. She then gets behind Upi and then shivers. "Is... She okay?" Tsaingein says, "She's a shy person. She's scared meeting others at times. She mostly comes out to her friends, but since she doesn't know you, she acts like this. Don't take it too personally." I try and approach Fluttershy and give her a handshake. "Hi. My name is Taylor. You're Fluttershy, right?" She turns a little bit away from me and then grabs my hand, and I shake it lightly.
"I-I'm F-Fluttershy..." she says, nervously. I calmly smile and let go of her hand. "It's okay. Upi and Tsaingein both helped me get here. So you can trust me. They both say that I'm supposed to do something about this pollution." Fluttershy looks directly in my eyes and then stops hiding and says, "I have an idea! Maybe my friend Twilight could help us out! She knows what to do at a time like this. She's the smartest person I know in Ponyville." I smile at her. "Thank you Fluttershy."
Upi and Tsaingein both get in the van and leave. Upi opens the window and calls out to us, "Good luck Taylor!" And then they're gone. "You're name is Taylor? That's an odd name for a boy." I look at her and then she yelps, hiding behind her long hair. "I-I mean... I-It seems fitting for you..." I smile. "It's okay. I was named after my mother, because my dad was a little weird like that."
Fluttershy then heads off and I follow her into town. "Where are we going?" I ask her. "We're going to see Twilight. You know, that person that I was telling you about. She'll definitely help us with this." I smile. I had high hopes for this plan to work. I just didn't want to be attacked out of nowhere and then get forced to die in some slow way.
Soon enough, we get to a tree. "Umm, Fluttershy? Why are we at this tree? This doesn't make sense..." She looks at me. "Oh, this is the library. It's called Golden Oaks. It's supposed to be like this. Twilight lives in here because she likes to read a lot and study on the magic of friendship." She then opens the door and there are four people talking to each other. There was a purple person with long purple hair and a pink streak in her hair, an orange person with a long yellow pony tail, much like Upi's, a pale white person with darker purple hair than the purple person's and a pink colored one with very puffy, curly, pink hair. They all turned to look at us.
"Taylor, I would like you to meet Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight, the one I told you about." She points to the orange person, then the white one, pink and then the purple one. They all glare at me, like they hate me. "Umm... Why are they looking at me like that?" I look at Fluttershy to see if she could answer, but she just looks back at me and shrugs. I look back at Twilight and the rest, and wait. I take a note at the horns posted on their heads. "Umm... Hello? My name's-" I start off, but then Rarity's horn starts glowing and then my mouth is suddenly shut.
Fluttershy then gasps and tells her to stop. "Why would we stop, darling? Rainbow Dash put a high bounty on whoever turns him in." The rest nod in confirmation. Twilight's horn then glows and some rope and duct tape floats towards me. The duct tape is then taped around my mouth so I could be quiet. I try and reach for it, but then Rarity's horn glows brighter and then my hands are flung behind my back and I just stand there waiting.
"Trust me, sugarcube," Applejack says. "This is for your own good." Twilight then wraps the rope around my hands and ties it very tightly. Applejack then runs up to me and then kicks her feet into my face and I fall down to the ground hard. The last thing I heard before going unconscious was a high pitched laughter, which I assumed was Pinkie's, since I haven't heard her voice yet.
"G-Girls! Why would you do that?" Fluttershy says. Her legs are shivering, scared of her friends. Twilight picks me up and drags me away to another room. Applejack then approaches Fluttershy. "Ah' should thank you, sugarcube. I'm sure that you had nice intentions to return the traitor." The group then leaves the tree and Fluttershy stays, not knowing what to do after that scene.
Twilight returns and puts her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you did the right thing. Besides, we're just going to give the bounty money to Applejack's family anyways." Twilight then leaves the house, gets in her car and drives off. Fluttershy just stands there and looks around for anything that could be a lead to a secret door or anything.
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I woke up to a cold, stone room with a single window at the top. I could see the factory from here. I try and get up, but I'm too tired to stand. "Man... what's going on? Why is everything just hell?" I could swear that I heard something falling down and breaking. Or at least making a lot of noise. I turn back to the window and think. "I'm not going to give up this fight." I smile at myself. "I know I can make a change here." I could spot a purple car suddenly driving towards the factory. I squint my eyes and lean in a bit closer. "Twilight..." Judging Twilight, she's off to go turn in that bounty that Rarity was talking about.
The door in front of me then opens and Fluttershy stands there. "Taylor!" I turn and look at her with a smile on her face. "I was so worried! I didn't know that they were going to do that to you! I thought they were going to help us!" Fluttershy then hides behind her hair and holds her hands in front of her face, no noticing that I'm chained to the wall behind me.
"Y-You're not going to hurt me...?" she asks nervously, yet quiet. "I can't. I'm chained to this wall." I give a little chuckle. "I'm not mad at you either. I've had worse, to be honest." I give her a small smile. "We'll fix this. You can trust me. I'm sure that I'll help your little town and the rest of this world." She looks around and tries to tug on the chains. "Fluttershy, calm down." I try and tug myself. "These need a key to get off." She shakes her head at me. "No, there's got to be an easier way." She then grabs the chain's end on the wall to one of my arms, and then pulls as hard as she can. The brick holding me back then falls off and then breaks.
"Wow. I wasn't expecting that to happen." I then turn around as best as I can and then I try and do the same to my other arm. The brick falls and breaks just like the last one. "These must be old bricks." Fluttershy and I then pull on the legs of my chains. We had to pick up the bricks and make them fall since they were on the ground.
Once I got the links broken, I ran out the door and went to go look for a key somewhere in the library. "Help me look for a key, so that I can get these stupid chains off." I say to Fluttershy. She nods her head and then goes up some stairs. I stay downstairs and just look behind all of the books in the shelves. After a while, I ended up with no luck.
Fluttershy runs down the stairs calling out my name. "Taylor! I think i found the key to your chains!" She then holds out a key and then inserts the key into the hole and turns, the chain coming off successfully. I smiled. "Great job Fluttershy! We should hurry though. I saw Twilight leave to the factory. No doubt that she's telling Rainbow Dash about that bounty."
"That's terrible... I don't want you to go back there. I want you safe with me..." She looks down after taking off my chains. I hold her chin and make her look at me. "But I have to go back. There's someone there I can't leave behind." I look deeply into Fluttershy's eyes. She nods her head nervously, and I let go of her chin. "How are we going to get back to the factory if I can't fly up there?" I look at her to see if she knew any answer. "We should head to Tsaingein and Upi. They're the only one's left I know that can drive a car." I start to head out of the room as Fluttershy follows me outside the library house.
"Where do they live? And what else can they do that could help me get my friend back?" I start running. Fluttershy flies ahead of me and replies, "I know Tsaingein is a wizard with computers. I do remember he was the one who helped make computers a reality for us. Why do you ask?" She looks behind me and I nod back in reply. "That's perfect. That might be enough to get this whole plan working together."
"What plan?" she asks. I keep myself silent until we arrive at their house. I knock lightly and wait. "I'll tell you the plan once we get them to agree to help me. You can go now." I pet her head lightly. "You've done enough to help me today. You can trust that I'll make it through this okay." I stop petting and she flies away. The door in front of me opens and it's Upi. "Hey Upi. i need your brother's help. It's important."
Upi opens the door and invites me inside. "Would you like anything to drink while you're here?" I shake my head. "I won't have enough time for light chatter. We need to do this fast. I have a plan to get rid of the factory once and for all." I sit down on the couch and look at Upi. "Did you say, 'once and for all'?" said a gruff pony. I turned to the voice and it was Tsaingein standing by the doorway to the kitchen.
"Yes. I think I know what we need to do. Fluttershy told me that you helped invent computers, so you're technically a wizard with them." I stand up and approach him. "I know that you two don't like the factory as much as I do. But there's someone in there that I need to get back on our side, and only I can do that. And I know that you can help me." Tsaingein crosses his arms. "I don't know... Going back to that factory is almost like a suicide mission. Besides, I should know. I heard that there was a bounty on your head for your return. Either dead or alive."
I grab his shoulder. "There's a serum that's been controlling everyone since the factory started to mass produce their merchandise. I believe that this serum is also made by machine. Maybe if we find a way to stop control of the machine, we could have everyone for the factory go against Rainbow Dash and hopefully we'll have enough time to destroy the factory. And then the world would be saved."
Tsaingein and Upi both look at me with jaws dropped. "That... might work." Tsaingein says. "Alright. I'll help you. Upi can be a lookout." Upi gets up and stands behind me. "I never told anyone this, but I'm also and escapee. I left on the first day and no one even noticed."
We get ourselves inside the van. Tsaingein gathers all of his computer stuff for his hacking part of the mission. Upi just gets on her old factory uniform. "This old thing hasn't been out for a year now." I examine her in her new clothes and shudder. There was a hole in front of both her knees. Her shirt looked like it lost a battle with a lawnmower and survived.
"Everyone ready?" Tsaingein calls from the drivers seat. I look down at myself and think about what might happen while I'm back in that factory. "I'm a little nervous about this... How are we going to sneak back inside without getting killed?" I said to myself as we were getting inside the van. Upi taps my shoulder and says, "Lucky for you, I remember the schedule of the times of the factory. It doesn't run 24/7. It does have a time it stops operating so that the workers could get some sleep. I was only there for a few days, I was able to remember the timing of everything. And the guards usually patrol around the building to make sure that everyone's asleep and not out trying to learn anything they shouldn't."
I gulp at that statement. "So you're saying to get inside during the night? But it's still the afternoon!" I point to the sun out of the window of the van. Judging by the distance of the sun is from the ground, it might be around 3:00.
"I know that. But the thing is, we can't get in from the outside during the night because there's another security measure that's only active at night. It's how me and Tsaingein were able to pick you up when you escaped. They weren't active at the time."
"What is this security measure that they use?" I ask Upi. She turns around and hands me a pistol. "You know how to use one of these?" I hold the pistol in my hands and stare at it. "Only in a video game... But I can still try." Upi gives me a slight smile. "They have turrets all around the building at night. They also have guards patrolling the air so that no vehicles could enter without permission. So we have to sneak in NOW. I do know of a secret passage that might help."
After we were done talking, there was a car that passes us as we were heading to the factory. I looked at the car and gasp. "We need to hurry Tsaingein! That was Twilight! She's trying to get me killed." I point out the window so that Upi could look as well. "Don't worry buddy. I got this truck re-painted to look like an ordinary delivery truck for the factory. And the window's tinted. They can't see what's inside."
I breathe a sigh of relief. If they could see me and Upi, they would have probably shot both of us down and that'll be the end of that story. "I just hope that Elena's okay..." Upi pats my shoulder. "I'm sure she'll be fine. She's under the serum's spell, right?" I nod back in reply. "Then once my brother destroys the machine from inside, then you can snap her out of it. Hopefully this all goes as planned."
"I hope so too." I look out the window and watch as Twilight's car disappears in the distance. "I just don't want to die..."
It's time. This is the hour we save this world from it polluted tyranny. The van stopped at the same entrance that I left. Me and Upi climb out of the van and we meet Tsaingein at the front. "Alright Upi. Where's this secret entrance?" She takes out and assault rifle from behind and points it to the wall. "It's actually close to where you left the first time." She walks towards that entrance and stops in front of it. She places a hand on the wall to our right and it pushes inwards. We all decide to delve ourselves deeper into this area.
All I could think now was Elena. I couldn't stop thinking that this might not work, that all of this could go wrong at any point. And it's true. We could all either die, or we'll be forced to stay in here until the day we expire. I would never want to go that way. I'd rather live a peaceful life instead of ruining it for everyone around me.
Upi lead the way, pointing her gun towards the darkness with a flashlight attached to it. The light shines far into the darkness, the dust flying around the light. We kept moving forward, knowing that we couldn't stop now, and that we needed to finish our little mission. I had to keep moving forward, no matter what. As long as I know that my friends will make it out of this alive and well.
Upi turns her head to look behind her for a second and saw the determination on my face. She gave a light smirk and kept going forward. "Just remember, if anything goes wrong, it's all our faults. We all need to work together on this. Teams got to stick together."
I nodded to her small spiel. And she's right. If anything goes wrong, it's all our faults. But inside, I feel that it'll be just my fault the whole time. I was the one that got these two to help out. If only I had the ability to do this all myself, then I wouldn't have to put anyone else in danger.
We all kept going through the tunnel that led into the factory. Luckily, we managed to get inside without any trouble. The bad thing is, we weren't alone when we got out of the tunnel. We ended up at a door in a small corridor and we could hear someone on the other side yelling at someone.
I got ahead of Upi and put my ear onto the entrance of the room and listened closely. I could hear two people on the other side talking to each other. One of the voices was muffled, so I couldn't manage to hear their voice. But the other voice I know was Rainbow Dash saying, "Why did you help him?". I assumed that she was talking about me.
"Why did you help him?" Rainbow Dash said to the pony for the second time, after the muffled voice didn't answer. This time, they answered and said something about not liking it here.
"Then why didn't you leave then? Since you hated it here so much?"
"Because I didn't want to lose my life... at least not yet..."
"You certainly will if you don't answer my questions! So why did you think of trying to escape now?"
"I knew what was going to happen, so I decided to get HIM to escape instead... I'd rather have him go then let you take any more lives like you did before!"
"I keep telling you to forget about that! We're not about that life anymore! We're here to make Equestria a more simple life!"
"What you're doing is polluting the world! Your machines are killing more than what you're making!"
"So you know what our goal is then?"
"Yes. I know what you're trying to do here. And I know he won't allow that either. Nor will my friends from the outside. I know that they'll come to rescue me."
"If it comes to that, I will make sure that they will suffer through their execution."
That was the last thing I heard before Rainbow Dash, assuming that, she left the room. The muffled voice inside then made a small sigh and said quietly, but I managed to hear him say, "I just know that they're here."
I turned my head to Upi and Tsaingein and nodded, telling them that I'm going to open the door. "Who's there?" I said once popped my head inside. "Huh?" the muffled voice said, turning to me. I noticed that he had a blindfold on, a gag in his mouth and tied to a chair. I opened the door more fully so that Upi and Tsaingein could get in and then I helped him get untied from the chair. Upi getting his gag out and Tsaingein getting the blindfold off.
"Upi? Tsaingein? You're here?" the person in the chair got up and stared at them both. "I can't believe it! You're here to rescue me!" Upi pointed at me and she said, "Actually, we're here to fix things so that HE can get his friend back." The person that was sitting turned and saw me. "It's you! You came back as well I see. I'm surprised that you're still in one piece. How did you do that?"
Upi smiled brightly. "I knew of a secret passage that I'm sure that none of the guards here know!" I nodded in confirmation. "It's true." I pointed to the door that we left open. "We should probably close it so that none of the guards will see once anyone gets back."
"I'm glad... I was worried that I was going to die. I just knew that Rainbow Dash was beginning to go crazy again. Like last time..." He looked down and made a gloomy face. "It's no trouble. I have a plan that will fix things. Trust me." He nodded and smiled. "By the way, my name is Kaitsuo. It's nice to be escape buddies." He smiled and laughed at his line. "Same." I reply back.
I go to close the door that we came in and made sure that it wouldn't make too much noise. Upi opened the door to see if there were any guards around. "I'll do whatever I can do to help." Kaitsuo said proudly. "I do owe you for helping me out anyways." I smiled. "Since that me and Tasingein both have two different jobs, we both still need a lookout. Upi can be with Tsaingein, and you can be with me."
"Oh, I can't believe that I forgot to give you this." Kaitsuo reached behind him to grab two walkie talkies from his pocket. "We can use this to tell each other if anything goes wrong." Kaitsuo turned and handed one to Tsaingein and changed the channel to one not used by the guards. "The guards use channel 3 to talk to each other. We're going to be using channel 1. Got it?"
"Got it." Me, Upi and Tsaingein said in unison. "Let's move." I said, walking to the door and opening it slowly. Upi grabs me by the shoulder and yanks me back inside. "We can't go out now. We'll have too many people roaming the factory. You'll be caught or possibly shot on the spot."
"She's right, you know." Kaitsuo sat back down in his chair. "But there is one way to get around the factory with a little less risk."
Upi stands up tall and proud and says, "Since everyone still needs to sleep before it's time to work, only the guards will be roaming around, but not just the normal guards." Kaitsuo interrupts. "There are actually two different guard shifts. Right now, they have the day guards up and around. Once the time for the day to end, the night guards wake up and take over. And there's even less people in that shift."
Upi does a cute little pose. "You can thank me later." She points to me and smiles. Tsaingein sits down and Upi sits next to him. I decided that now should be a time to talk with them.
"Tsaingein, did you ever work here with your sister did?" I looked at him and cocked my head to the side a little. "Not exactly. But I did work here before."
"What do you mean? This factory's supposed to be new. And I never saw you around here." Kaitsuo said, leaning forward in his chair.
"That's why I said, 'not exactly' This factory wasn't always about making machines, you know."
"It wasn't?"
"No. This place was meant to make rainbows before."
"Why did it change?" I asked him.
"Because there was a big controversy going on about the factory that was leaked to the public from one of it's own workers."
"So there was a big secret that they were trying to hide?"
"Right. I even knew what it was. The man who leaked it was found and was never seen again." He makes a little look of sadness. "Sort of..."
"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" Upi held his arm, Kaitsuo picking up his chair and moving closer to him.
"I saw him get murdered..."
"What did they do to him?"
"The way they make their rainbows."
"How do they make their rainbows?"
"They put him onto a table, raise it high above a big grinder. Then they have this needle attached to a big metal-like arm, and stuck it in his stomach. Then the needle drained his blood dry out of his body. Finally, he turned gray and all of his colors were transferred into a machine that held the colors of the rainbow. And when they were done with his body, they dropped it into the grinder, and shredded his body apart."
Upi covers her mouth and held her breath. "Th-That's horrible..." I sat down next to Kaitsuo and looked at every one's face. I took a note of their looks, that all had one word to describe their emotions. Despair. "What made them change to machines and taking over 'Equestria' by pollution?"
"First, I need to explain how they managed to keep making rainbows. They take the kids that fail the flight tests. But one group managed to escape and released this secret to the public and that was the end of the Rainbow Factory. A few years later, they now undergo a different name. The Machine Factory."
"That's the factory that we're in right now." Kaitsuo pointed out the obvious.
"What about the parent's of those children? What did the factory say about their kids ending up being murdered?"
Tsaingein looked at me with even bigger despair than before. It's almost big enough to see. "I have no clue..."
"Well, we shouldn't be thinking about the past now. We're going to finish Rainbow Dash's quest for power and blood lust. We'll make sure of it." I turn to Kaitsuo, who was looking down in his cupped hands. "I do have one small question before we do this." He looks at me and asks. "What is it?"
"What happened to you when I escaped?"
"Well, they first patched me up because that's the only nice thing Rainbow Dash can really do. Then they put me here and you kinda know the rest."
"I see. Well, what are we going to do now?" I look at everyone else. I saw Tsaingein with his head down and Upi on his lap. It looks like they fell asleep. Kaitsuo and I shrugged, so I sat by the wall and Kaitsuo slept in the chair. I did have to give it to him, managing to sleep on that small chair. Not many people can sleep on that without falling. I sigh to myself. "Night everyone. When we wake up, we'll finish this." I smiled and fell asleep.
Once the announcement for everyone to go to sleep went on, we all shot straight up. "It's time." Upi said. I walked up to the rest of my group and smiled. "Let's move." I was ready for anything that was going to happen. "Remember, we're going to be using channel 1. The guards in the place are going to use channel 3. Don't talk into them on that channel or else we'll have the guards on us."
"Right!" The others said in unison. I proceeded to open the door and looked both ways. Nothing was coming our direction. "Let's go. Upi, you lead the way. You know about this factory's secrets. You take your brother to the control room where he'll start hacking and try to stop the machine. I'll be at the machine to protect it in case. That's where you come in Kaitsuo. I need you to lead me to that machine." They all nod in agreement with my plan and Upi leaves, going to the control room. I turn my walkie talkie to channel 1. "Let's go Kaitsuo. We got to do this right." Kaitsuo then walked the opposite way of Upi and I followed him.
Kaitsuo was really good at navigating the place. Even though he can't fly, he's really good at getting to high places easily. The machine was on a secret floor that can only be accessed by guards and anybody who was smart enough to know where to look. Eventually we reached a room that didn't even have a name on it, but Kiatsuo said that the machine controlling the serum was behind that door. I turned on the walkie talkie and spoke into it. "Upi, me and Kaitsuo are at the machine's room. Are you at the control room yet?"
"Copy that." She did a giggle after saying that. "Yeah, we're at the control room. We're trying to find a way to unlock the door for you now. Be back in a few minutes." I clicked the talk button and changed the channel to 3 to listen to any guards coming our direction. So far, nothing was a threat just yet.
"Report." One guard said into the radio. "The prisoner is missing. He's escaped and he must be somewhere in this factory. Keep an eye out everyone." I look at Kaitsuo. "You have any weapon on you?" He reached behind him and pulled out a fine pistol and cocked it. "I've had this since I was promoted. Never lost it and I never will."
I turned the channel back to 1 and spoke into it. "Guys, we need you to hurry up. We just got a report that they found Kaitsuo missing."
"Yeah, we got that part. We're almost done..." Tsaingein spoke a distance away from the speaker. "Done!" And the door clicked open and we went inside, and then closed. "We're starting to hack the machine now. Don't worry about the guards." I make a small look. "Remember Upi, you're Tsaingein's lookout. So if you see a guard, you make sure that he doesn't get caught."
"Don't worry Taylor. I got a trick that will work." I gulp at that statement. I just had a feeling that she'll screw up on accident. I turn the channel back to 3 to listen to the guards patrolling reports. Nothing interesting was happening. No one came up to the door me and Kaitsuo came through, and then the machine started to power down a little. I channel back to Upi and ask, and stop once I hear a familiar voice speak suddenly. I put a finger to my lips to tell Kaitsuo to be quiet.
"Hello Upi." I recognized that voice to be Rainbow Dash. "Why are you guarding the control room door?"
"I have a technician inside."
"Why are you standing guard then? It's just a technician. We have plenty of them to spare."
"In case the prisoner came by so that I can catch him."
"Good idea. We should hire more people like you. What's wrong in the control room?"
"I heard reports about the plumbing. So he told me that he was going to fix it."
"Got it. Keep up the good work." The last thing I heard was Rainbow Dash's footsteps walking away. I breathe a sigh of relief and wait until it gets quiet. "Upi?"
"Yeah Taylor?" I heard a door open and then close. I assumed she went back inside with her brother. "The machine powered down. What should we do now?"
I heard Tsaingein's voice speak. "You'll find a tube that's filled with a green liquid. Take it out and smash it." Kaitsuo then does as he says, and the glass breaks loudly and the liquid flows around the floor at our feet. "Now all we need to do is wait." I smile brightly. That was actually an easy mission. "I'm glad we managed to fix this. But there's still something I need to do." I clench my fists. "I still have to find my friend Elena."
Suddenly the door opened and a shot rang out by my head and I dive to the floor. "Guys?" Tsaingein said into the radio speaker. "What's going on?!" Then another shot rang out and breaks the walkie talkie that I dropped. And then a gun pointed straight to my head. I look behind the gun and see Elena standing before me, her lifeless eyes staring down at me. "E-Elena? Are you alright?"
Rainbow Dash laughs evilly behind her. "I gave her an injected dose of the serum we made. We still have plenty more to come by, you know. You should have thought a little bit deeper into this little plan of your's Taylor."
"I should have known that you helped Kaitsuo escape that little room we had for him." Rainbow Dash steps in front of me and motions Elena to move back and wait. "You of all people should know better that it's safer to just admit defeat and turn yourself in." She raised her foot and kicked me in the face and breaking a tooth off. I manage another look at her face. "You'll never get away with this..."
"Oh, don't you worry." Rainbow Dash smiled and raised her foot, poised to slam it down on my head. "I already have." I close my eyes and wait for the impact. All I hear after that was a loud grunting sound and a loud slam. Like if someone tackled another person into a wall of metal.
I get up and realize that that's what happened. What I saw was an unconscious Rainbow Dash into the dented serum machine and bleeding from all around her body. I look at Elena, and her eyes were staring at Rainbow Dash in shock. I get up and hold her, shaking her. "Elena! Snap out of it! You don't know what you're doing here! It's all a lie! There's no point in being here!"
Suddenly, the life in her eyes came back and she dropped the gun, looking around. I smile, hugging her. "Oh my goodness..." She said, resting her head on my shoulder. Upi and Tsaingein helped get Rainbow Dash out of the machine and Kaitsuo inspected the damage. "It'll take some time for the machine to be fixed. But we need to break it some more to make sure that it will buy us more time to tell Princess Celestia about this."
"I-I think I could help..." I turn to the door and smile, seeing a familiar pink haired girl standing there. "Fluttershy! I'm so glad you came to help."
"I had to come... My friends were coming to find you, and I followed them. They didn't know that I'm not going to work with them. We can go to Celestia to help get you and your friend back home once this world is back to normal."
We all turn our attention to the machine and start tearing away at whatever we could, and used that to break it more. Once we thought we've done enough damage, we all rushed out to the exit Kiatsuo showed me. Luckily, with us smashing the machine, everyone seemed to wake up and no one stopped us from leaving, since they all realized what was really going on. They decided to get out of there as much as I did when I started working here.
"I guess that's the end of this story, right?" I turn to look at Fluttershy, who was standing with her friends. The nicer versions of them, that WON'T be attacking me any time soon. Twilight, the purple haired girl approached me and said, "I sent a letter to Princess Celestia about what has been going on here. I even told her that you're a human from another world, and that she'll help you and your friend to get back home."
I smile at Twilight and thank her. We get outside and Upi gets me and Elena inside the van, with Tsaingein driving again. "Let's get you home, you kids." He smiles at us and drives us to a town in the mountains. Apparently the town is called Canterlot and that's where I'm to meet Princess Celestia and head back home. I smile at Elena and gave her a hug, and then Upi hugs me and Elena even harder. "I'm glad that this nightmare is all over."
Once we get inside Princess Celestia's throne room, I look around at how big it is inside. "This is some castle. I like it here." I kept walking until I was face to face with Princess Celestia. I smile and stand there, not quite knowing what I'm supposed to do when meeting royalty here. I just give her a nice wave of my hand and she just smiles at me. "I believe that you are Taylor. The human Twilight told me about, yes?"
"Yes, your majesty." I lightly bowed, assuming that was the polite thing to do. She gave me a nice chuckle. "It's alright, my friend. You can address me as Celestia." She approached me. "I would love to hear all about your story if you have the time. Since you have stopped Rainbow Dash, you even helped clear the pollution for me and my sister." She points out the window to Ponyville and I watch as how the yellow-brown sky starts to clear out and turn into a nice beautiful blue color, like it always should be.
"I just did what I believed was the right thing." I smiled at her. "And of course, I wouldn't mind telling you everything." I sat down on my knees because I thought I'd just relax a little.
I spent an entire hour talking to her, telling her everything about how the factory was, how they were taking over with some type of serum that makes people think against the bad things. She nods. "That might explain how there were a lot of criminals doing a lot of bad things going on." I then explained how some of the people here were immune to the serum. "So we all teamed up to destroy the machine and help make everyone see what was really going on."
"Well, I'm glad that you've helped me and my subjects. I'm quite impressed, actually. I never thought that I'd manage to meet such a kind human that would go out of his way to help those not of their kind." She gave me a nice smile, and bowed. Her long flowing hair getting in front of her face seemed kinda funny.
"I guess it's time I should help you and your friend back home." She then gave a wave of her hand and summoned a portal. Elena got up and jumped through. I followed her slowly, and stood at the edge. I turned back to everyone that helped me and said, "Thank you... for everything guys." I smiled, waved goodbye and went through the portal. The last thing I was was smiles upon everyone's face, with them waving back and saying goodbye. And that was the end of my little adventure in Equestia.