This story is a sequel to Rainbow and the Factory
Rainbow Dash is dead.
Scootaloo saw it herself; an aerial stunt went horribly wrong and her adoptive big sister perished in front of her eyes. She grieved, and her friends - including the late Rainbow's friends - did their best to comfort her. Although, she did notice that Twilight seemed to react to the news... differently from the rest. She seemed to act as if nothing was wrong at all, like Rainbow was even still alive.
Time passes. One day Scootaloo receives a strange book, one that tears open her still-raw wounds and threatens to shatter her mind. Can the Cutie Mark Crusaders solve the mysteries behind the book, and make the pilgrimage to the place where the dead are given new life? Will they discover the truth behind Rainbow's ultimate fate?
More importantly... will they survive long enough to tell the tale?
Inspired by "Rainbow Factory".
If the prequel were anything to go by, this should be good.
Tracking.
Didn't know I needed a sequel to that story. But this is compelling. It is time for Scootaloo to fill her role in this alternate version of the factory. Also, darn that crash sounded horrific.
Edit: Never mind, I initially read over it. Even worse than I originally conceived.
9874313
Do you follow Formula 1? (Or more accurately, Formula 2)
It was based on Antoine Hubert's lethal crash. The video was brutal.
Oh I know a lot about Formula racing, I just don't look into it on a regular basis. Might check it out just to see the comparison. Should have expected gruesome description, I read the first story and the detail you put in was and is amazing.
9874734
Ah, thanks! I often worry it isn't enough.
That not being enough for you is a bit concerning, then again this a story about the Rainbow Factory and you're the author so its not my business.
Wait, we know that Twilight wanted to keep Rainbow's actual fate a secret. That was what the double was for. In that case, she wouldn't make a book marking that Dash was really still alive, and it's even less likely she would directly send that book to Scootaloo in secret. Some pony is hiding somewhere giving the clues behind all of the other characters here.
Let's see what happens next.
Ignore the lack of comments; you've got something better than most going here.
I'm not sure the tension is building as effectively as it did in the first story, but I'd put that down to the first story being a fresh canvas to work with — you had all the space in the world to cook a little horror. Here, however, the plot's a little more railed; confined to consistency with the prequel. We already know a dash of what's waiting for them — how you intend to work around that to maintain surprise and suspense is something i'm interested to see.
I love the little snippets at the beginning of each chapter with anonymous (but implied) speakers; that said, I think you're overdoing it with "She is still alive." It's been repeated many times, now. I understand it's there to show Scootaloo's motivation for journeying to Shrouded Mountain, but there's only so many times it'll work before its charm rusts.
Keep up the good work!
9955555
Thanks for the comment!
Yea, the repeated "She is still alive"s is meant to show that she's going a little bit nuts about the whole situation. It'll change very soon, we've just now gotten to the good parts.
As a reader who read the predecessor to this story, I think you three might want to rethink who you are going back to asking for help.
yeah be very very wary of Twilight.
I don't know whether I want another chapter in this story or not after the images it has put in my head. You've done a Great Terrible job writing this.