Pegasus Device

by AuroraDawn

Chapter Three

Corona and Cloud Cover walked softly into the massive room they found themselves in. The Main Theatre Room was vast, dark, and incredibly empty, save for the horrifying vision on the far wall. Dim, grime-covered lights cast a faint red glow about the object.

It was a machine. Rusted and broken scaffolding hung precariously above a giant maw, its shape an inverse-pyramid stained black with Celestia-knows-what. The contraption was ancient and outdated, the body a simple cube housing whatever mechanisms it needed to perform its mysterious duty. Olive green paint flaked off in sheets, and only the faintest outline of the Corporation’s logo could be seen plastered dead centre. Cloud Cover shuddered at that ghastly image of the three smoke towers. The wings that burst from the outside stacks frightened the filly, and glancing back at her own she recoiled from the appendages.

Six empty vats sat before the machine, and even in the obfuscous room they shone brilliantly, a peaceful rainbow that mocked the foals with its delicious irony. Immediately above each individual container hung a huge hose, frayed and sagging from decades of neglect.

Corona gasped, jumping back and kicking at something Cloud couldn’t see.

“What’re you doing?”

“Sk-sk-sk-skele-skeleton! Bones! Pony b-b-bones!”

The filly stopped, her heart following suit, and a cold sweat broke out over her body. The room was incredibly hot and musty. The stench of sweat and feces assaulted her nostrils, turning her stomach. Bracing herself, she leaned low to the floor and squinted, piercing the darkness as best as she could.

The ground was rife with bones both decayed and tainted, their owners long forgotten without anyone to ever know who they were or how they died.

Cloud Cover swayed, her stomach threatening to empty what little contents remained onto the clouds. She closed her eyes, imagining a cool and happy place.

I remember the field trip to Manehattan. That was awesome. Doing loops around the Empire Stable Building. Seeing the Statue of Harmony. Just... relaxing with friends and not worrying about surviving the next day. This is all just a dream. Cloud opened her eyes.

A hollow skull stared back at her.

“Buck. Ugh... Corona, what are you doing? I can’t see you.”

“Looking for a light switch so the monsters don’t seem so scary.”

“I think I prefer having trouble seeing them.”

“It’s the unknown you’re really afraid of. In the light, we can see and understand, and maybe life won’t be as scary.”

The thought struck the purple pegasus and she nodded before remembering the colt couldn’t see her and spoke aloud.

“That’s... really profound, actually.”

“This might be it!” Corona grunted as he hefted a huge breaker up. It sparked and smoked, causing him to flutter back in shock. Silence reigned for a minute, until a minor hum began in the distance and grew louder until it seemed to echo. Almost all the lights flashed and burned out immediately, but two or three held their filaments. Cloud Cover stumbled backwards, blind, recoiling from the horrible shapes that imprinted onto her vision. A demonic figure stuck with her eyes, its arms open, beckoning the filly closer. No matter where she looked the demon shimmered dead centre in her sight, laughing at her, until her vision returned and the evil shadow faded away.

Looking up, she shrieked, kicking herself backwards into a pile of dead foals. She screamed again, tumbling around the remains until she lay flat on her belly, cowering, hiding her eyes. Corona had simply passed out at the sight.

There was no demon.

Suspended in chains, her wings wide open and wrapped in twine, held only by cold metal around her forelegs and upper back, hung a fully grown mare. Her mane was incredibly long and practically silver with grease and dirt. Her fur was caked in a thick layer of soot and rust, hiding her cutie mark.

As Cloud Cover risked a single look, she locked eyes with the mare.

The mare smiled.

Cloud Cover fainted.

---

“What the Tartarus do you mean, you can’t find them?!”

Gentle cringed from the cyan mare, yet kept her eyes locked.

“I’m s-s-sorry, Ms. Dash, they were in the Power Room and then t-they just... weren’t.”

Rainbow Dash hung her head low, pacing in front of her desk. “I... uh, sorry. I’ve always had a bit of a temper but I shouldn’t take it out on employees of the Corporation. This situation brings back bad memories. Very, very crappy memories, and I- I’m being stupid, nevermind.”

“R-Rainbow?” Gentle tested, tilting her head up just the slightest. The manager tensed, turning back to the pink-maned pony with a glare. After a deep breath, she relaxed, and smiled.

“Yes, Ms. Butterwing?”

“N-nopony has explained exactly what happened, but they all talk about it to the point where the knowledge is kinda... uh... necessary. M-m-maybe you, of all ponies, might be willing to discuss?”

The aged pegasus was silent. She sat down at her desk and eyed Gentle, those rose-coloured eyes so full of pain and confusion. Something’s at war inside her head, she thought, like two concepts that can’t co-exist. Brilliant. Hide loses his marks and I get to be the schoolfilly who tells the principal- only in this case the principal strikes me as a psychopath.

Oh Celestia, it wouldn’t surprise me if she could hear me think or something. Bunnies. Robins. Bluejays. Happy looking clouds. This isn’t workplace appropriate. Higher efficiency in hail seed transmission lines via hijacking of the air-conditioning system, use the superfluous power supply to boost production on snowflake templates. Increased production on the automatic end allows for transferral of physical labour force to icicle inspection department, who in turn can finish the monthly quota three days ahead of schedule. Oh sweet thunderhead she’s still staring straight into my soul. Icicles are predetermined and an excess is not required. Extra time off for the crew. Employee morale increases tenfold. Worker production overall increases. Why isn’t she blinking? She’s just tapping her hooves staring at me and I should probably blink too and back to engineering just in case this is awful what’s she doing a simple no would suffice production increase of around a single percentage which allows us to begin controlling weather in unexplored grounds. We could tame the wild and return to the birthplace of Private Pansy. Imagine the honour.

Gentle blinked, shocked at her own panic-induced epiphany.

“We could connect Cloudsdale to its ancestor’s roots under the Corporation’s name, resulting in a massive cultural boom with economic bonuses, by changing the routing system of the hail-seeds.”

Rainbow Dash flinched. “I- what?”

“Well, by- I’ll write up a report later. There’s a lot of stuff in this facility that can be improved that would re-write Cloudsdale’s future with the C.W.C. as the ink.”

“The technology involved,” the greyish-maned mare spoke slowly, calling back her earlier conversation with Dr. Atmosphere, “is state-of-the-art.”

“Oh, well then, fine enough,” Gentle conceded.

She’s right, but with a little investment ‘state-of-the-art’ could be more obsolete than weapons in Equestria.

“But I like your thinking, though. I’d like to see that report if you can get around to it. Thinking about the company. I like that. Sit down, Gentle.”

The green mare did as told, her train-wreck of a thought process halting completely. The slightest feeling of victory danced in her stomach, but Gentle did not allow that to show. She would have to celebrate later.

“So... ‘The Incident,’” Gentle inquired. “I’ve heard something about a bunch of failures getting loose and the security break that inspired all the renovations. That’s about all I know.”

“I murdered my sister.”

Gentle smiled lightly, her eyelids fluttering uncontrollably.

“In cold blood. Well, no. There was a lot of anger. She failed the test, and I had trained her personally. I trusted her, you know?”

Gentle continued to smile, staring off into space.

“I used to defend those I loved and would always put them before myself... Until she ruined everything. To so selflessly defend everyone I ever loved or stood up for.... It was never repaid to me. Not ever. Sure, my friends would be nice and helpful and supportive, but when it came time to put myself before them, suddenly they were busy or I wasn’t worth it.”

Gentle nodded softly, the kind smile still on her muzzle.

“So of all ponies, out of any pony there could have ever been, the one who I loved the most, trained the most, and gave the most, she had the gall to throw it all away and let herself become useless. Useless to the Flock, to the Corporation, and most importantly, me. My sister--well, she wasn’t really my sister, but pretty much everyone considered us to be anyways; we were that close, but whatever-- she failed me.”

Gentle continued to blink chaotically. The smile began to falter.

“And so... I switched loyalties. If it were so easy for everyone else I ever knew to switch loyalties that seamlessly and without regret, then why couldn’t I? I pledged to protect and foster the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation. It’s the only entity that has never let me down as long as I’ve cared for it.”

“You murdered your sister.”

“I murdered a failure!” Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves on the desk, kicking her chair back as she erupted. “My sister will live on in my mind as a memory of that perfect pony who’d never let me down! The failure is dead! My sister’s alive, up here!” She knocked her skull several times, emphasising her point. “Is there anything else you need to know, Gentle? I’ve given you the why. Perhaps the how?”

I’m more inclined for the ‘what’.

“N-no, Ms. Dash. Thank you for informing me. What shall I inform Dr. Atmosphere about regarding the failures?”

The cyan pegasus turned away, walking towards the rear of her office.

“Tell him to prepare the elevator and a Pegasus Device. I want those failures to come straight to me, and I want a device warmed up just for them.”

---

“It’s been so long since I’ve had a friend to talk to.”

Cloud Cover shook violently. The horror and disgust that rose in her stomach berated her, physically trying to escape her body. The mare swung gently on the chains in some unfelt breeze, causing the twine to tug at patches of feathers it had missed. Her voice was childish and raspy, devoid of any sense of maturity, but the mare enunciated well and her words carried across the Main Theatre Room.

“I used to have these great friends, friends who helped me learn who I was and friends who helped me become who I would have been. No one app.. appre... gives thanks for their friends. Friends are cool. Are you going to be my friend?”

The dialogue stopped, and Cloud Cover could only hear the light squeal of rusted metal move as the mare swung.

“I think I’d really like a friend. You haven’t hurt me yet so you’re a friend. I didn’t treat my friends that well. I acted like they annoyed me when I really loved them so much instead. Now I feel bad for that. I wonder what my friends are doing now. They probably don’t think about me. No pony thinks about me. That’s why I’m down here, so no pony will ever think about me again.”

“I’ll... I’ll think about you!”

Cloud gasped as Corona stepped closer to the creature. The colt was obviously terrified but there was a sincerity in the mare’s eyes that drew him close.

“I’ll think about you and I’ll be your friend.”

“Oh, that’s cool. That’s awesome.” She turned to Cloud. “What about you? Will you be my friend?”

The filly sighed, stood up, and walked close to Corona. “I... yes, I will be your friend.”

The mutilated pegasus sobbed once but smiled again immediately after. “I have friends again. Just like the old days.”

“...Are you a ghost?”

“Cloud Cover!”

“Not a ghost. I am a pony. A pe... pe... pe...”

“Pegasus?”

“No, I’m not a pegasus.” The mare shook her shackles, and the twine bounced and pulled at her wings. “Not a pegasus. I am a p... pestilence to our race, they call me. And so they keep the world safe from me, a purposeless monster.” She tugged apathetically at her binds as if they were a part of her, her expression blank and accepting. Her voice was flat, monotone, like she was commenting on life from a third person view. “I guess I am a ghost, actually. That’s neat. I like that. Being a ghost is fun.”

Corona’s revulsion faded in a snap. This is just a child, he thought. Her body is full but... she’s younger than Cloud or I in her head. What did they do to her? The foal turned to his friend, whispering his concern in her ear.

This mare was no monster. Cloud Cover looked upon the prone body, and the hideous image changed in her eyes. Broken, hurt, abused, purposely tortured by the Corporation for a reason that was no longer apparent. The filly gazed at the soft eyes and warm smile that beamed upon her. Instead of a demon, the pony was a shadow, a shell, a faded image of a life once worth living. Cloud began to cry.

“W-who?” she sobbed, unable to see the figure any more. “Who are you?”

“I...” The mare choked, and her innocent smile shattered. Her whole body, smile and everything, sank low. “I don’t know. I knew, once. Then I forgot. They wouldn’t let me remember me because the old me was bad. Very bad. Bad for pegasi, bad for the Flock. Praise the F.... no, no praising. I’m not part of the Flock any more. I was exiled.”

“Is there... any name we can call you? Anything that sounds like a name to you? What’s your cutie mark, maybe? That’ll help.”

The bound pegasus craned her neck, attempting to view her flank without twisting in the barbed wire. Whatever image may or may not have been there was camouflaged by a lifetime’s worth of dirt. The fur was crusted and rank; it would have taken a pressure washer to reveal the mark underneath. She turned back, somehow managing to shrug apologetically despite her unique position.

“No mark... oh well. It’s probably just something about being tied up. Rope or cuffs perhaps. It’s missing, along with my memories and my purpose, my name is missing.”

“...Missing.” Cloud Cover frowned, thinking hard. One of the many books she had read when neglecting flight practise had been on the history of the Alicorns. Their language was almost dead, but a few historians--as well as the alicorns themselves--had managed to compile a dictionary to help educate foals and rebirth the forgotten tongue.

Celestia meant sun, and Luna meant moon. This mare is Missing. Missing... which was... Think, Cloud Cover, if you can do one thing, it’s think!

“Absentia!” she burst, jumping in her excitement. “It’s... not much, and it’s not got the best connotation, but it’s a name. What do you think?”

The mare shook in happiness. “I have a name! I have a name! That’s the most anyone has given me in a long time. Thank you, friend.” Absentia smiled so wide, her eyes almost disappeared. “But one name isn’t enough. What’s yours?”

“Well, I’m Corona, and that’s Cloud Cover.”

“Lovely names. I love them. Names are wonderful. Now, why are you here? No one comes but the caretaker, and he doesn’t speak to me unless it’s mean or hurtful.”

“We’re here because- sorry, did you say caretaker? Stallion, with a labcoat?”

Absentia’s face scrunched in concentration. “That sounds like all the workers. So maybe? He keeps me fed and takes me for walks.” She flexed a leg, showing off a measly amount of muscle. “I’m not allowed to starve or lose my strength. I have to walk around the factory once every couple days. It feels nice.”

The foals looked at each other in disgust.

“They... walk you? This is revolting! Unbelievable! No matter why, no creature on this planet should endure this abuse! Corona!”

“Yes ma’am!” The colt snapped to attention, shocked by his friend’s sudden conviction, and stood tall.

“Go break that lock over there! That one by the breaker switch! We’re going to get Absentia down, and we’re going to sit down and eat and recover and find out just what the flock is going on in this desolate pit.” She launched, spiraling around the mare until their faces became level.

“Am I going for a walk? We went yesterday. Today isn’t a walking day.”

“Absentia, I am so, so sorry, but this may hurt a lot. I’m going to get the wire off your wings, so you can fly. They may snag you, but I’ll try my best. Understand?”

Her strained and bloodshot eyes filled with tears. “Flying... It’s been so long since I’ve flown... It’s worth any pain to fly, even if for the last time. I want to soar...”

“That’s good, Absentia, focus on that,” Cloud Cover reassured the other, cringing as she slowly ravelled the twine up, peeling it off the feathers. The blackened pony whimpered, and Cloud spoke again. “Just tell me about flying. Tell me about how badly you want to fly and what you remember of flying.”

“I remember... gliding. Looping. Tricks and thrills with others from... the academy. I don’t remember anything but flying. Luna, it’s wonderful. Bliss. Like swimming in cold silk and breathing real, fresh air. Without flight I am nothing! I am nothing now because I cannot fly but soon I will fly and I will not be nothing. I will be something, because I will have that, and they won’t be able to take it away f-OW!”

“Sorry. Almost done. Keep talking.”

“It hurts, but this pain is worth it. I’m getting something back for it. I deserve the reward and so this pain is necessary and good. Flight. Flight. Fliiiight.” Absentia repeated the word over and over, tasting it, feeling it roll off her tongue, experimenting with inflection and accent. She spoke louder, the word bursting from her muzzle in an increasing shout as the agony and excitement flared within her.

Cloud Cover removed the last curl of the wire and signalled to Corona. Nodding, he turned away from the clasp next to him and bucked it, bending it. Driven by the filly’s sudden ferocity he started a quick rhythmic beating on the buckle, panting as his young legs made little progress on the metal.

Slow down, Corona, he thought, power and control is more useful here than speed.

He paused, breathed deeply, and looked down between his legs. He lifted a single hoof, aiming it with more care than he’d ever taken in his life, and kicked. The lock burst apart and the chain previously fastened below whipped up at incredible speeds, skimming his mane hard enough to cut it. Absentia plummeted to the floor, landing so hard the cloud floor erupted around her.

“Ab-Absentia? Are you okay?”

Cloud Cover leant in close, peering through the slowly-fading mist. A silhouette emerged from the mist, standing strong and proud. Its wings furled and unfurled, testing, stretching, each feather twitching in succession in a glorious display of revitalization.

“I am better than okay. I am wonderful. I am no longer held still by the Corporation. Is that food? Food is a good idea. Can I have some food?”

The foals looked at the feed bag splayed on the floor, the grains slightly spilled. They turned back to Absentia.

“Well, uh, yeah?”

“Cool.”

And she dove into the bag faster than C.W.C. Premium Class lightning bolt strikes.

---

Contrail sat on his haunches, rocking back and forth, giddier than a foal in a confectionary.

Pipe Wrench sat on his haunches, surveying the damage in front of him.

The lower factory was in shambles. Electric wires swung haphazardly, sparking randomly and occasionally sending a blast of power down whatever metal it could connect with. Steam escaped from fractured pipes, superheating sections of the hallway. One particular line was leaking, the liquid thunder pouring menacingly in front of the two.

“I want to touch it. It’s shiny and blue and like me but radioactive except Hide always says I’m radioactive, HAH! Hehehe. Like nuclear power. Uncontrollable. Constant and unlimited. Heh, ahaha.” Despite his high energy, his laughter had slowed, along with his voice. The incredibly long hours and chase had gotten to Contrail, and his eyes drooped, the only voice of truth about the stallion’s body.

“M’re like a bomb,” Pipe Wrench grumbled, “one r’dy t’ go off a’ any s’cnd. S’g’d t’ have tha’ energy, th’gh. G’nna need it t’ fix this.”

The ceiling groaned, a bellow from their sick child, and the hallway started to vibrate. Pipe Wrench froze and, amazingly, so did Contrail. The metal in the walls started to resonate as the groaning noise grew louder. The facility complained incessantly until a small water transfer pipe popped, springing a tiny leak which managed to silence the cacophony.

“Heh, that wasn’t so bad.”

As if challenged by Contrail’s commentary, the roof collapsed, dropping a set of scaffolding from the floor above onto the destruction below. Dozens of new pipes exploded, adding to the chaos and hazard.

“Nope, not bad at all. Heh. Heheh. Aww...”

---

The three prisoners huddled around the feed bag, slowly munching on small hooffulls of grain. Despite all that had happened, they sat back and relaxed. Relief flooded Cloud Cover’s body, emptying her mind of all the worries and doubts she held before. For the first time in days she--as well as the other two--felt totally at peace.

They had all eaten relatively little earlier and then, exhaustion having saturated them, fallen asleep. For how long they were out Cloud couldn’t tell, but she didn’t care. They had managed to sleep without getting caught, and that was all that mattered. Fully rested, they indulged themselves in the provisions, eating in silence so as not to waste any valuable time by talking.

Now, the trio lay back, patting full bellies and burping with great satisfaction. For Cloud Cover, the tides had turned and no matter what they were up against, they were now on the attack. She rolled over smiling, formulating a plan. Fantasies filled her thoughts, fantasies of the factory falling to a billion pieces, of the workers all plummeting from the sky. Celestia reprimanding the managers, sentencing them to fates worse than the death they had caused. All of the ponies of Cloudsdale, the glorious Flock, welcoming back and accepting the three as heroes of their race. All they had to do was escape.

She bolted upright and smacked her face. “Leave the dreaming for later,” she sighed, getting to her hooves. “We don’t stand a chance just yet.”

Corona jerked himself awake, frowning bleary-eyed at the filly. “Wassamatter? You were so set on blowing this place to smithereens, and now you’re moping again.”

Cloud scowled at him, shaking her head. “It’s not that, you dolt. I still am, but... we have no idea where we really are, or how to get out of this level of the factory anyways. We’ve got nobody who knows where to go.”

Absentia perked up from her grains. “I know this place like I know my shins! I can help, I can’t wait to help my new friends. Helping is nice and that’s what friends do for each other. I also like walks. They feel good and give me something to do. They’re fun. Where’re we going, anyways?”

“Well, uh,” Corona stammered, slightly shocked that the mare hadn’t picked up the concept of their goals yet. “We’re going to get out. Like, leave this place.”

“But the door’s right over there. You don’t need me for that, silly!” She laughed, her voice cracking with foalish innocence.

Cloud Cover couldn’t help but smile at the joy on the blackened pony’s face. “No,” she chuckled, “like, the whole building. We’re going to escape!”

Absentia froze and her grin dropped like a rock.

“Escape,” she mouthed, her eyes wide in wonder. “What a lovely word. It sounds so familiar.” She blinked rapidly, allowing the concept time to permeate her head. “I know! I heard it after I got off the leash one day and they brought me back. I was really close to the exit sign, too! It looked pretty and I wanted to see it. Escape,” she muttered again. “Every time I tried to run from someone, that’s what they called it. When I ran from my caretaker to the sign they called it escaping. When I ran from Dash to the world outside they called it- oh Celestia.”

“Who’s Dash? Absentia? Did you remember something?”

“I... it’s foggy. I don’t know why I... but I needed too... but why from Dash? Dash is the greatest. She’s so awesome. I’m so proud of her, too.”

“Absentia,” Corona edged in, waving a hoof in front of the nostalgic mare. “Who’s Dash? Why are you proud of her?”

“She’s just the most amazing pony in Equestria, is all. And she has a well paying job! She manages the rainbow fact... or... y.” She looked up slowly, her warm smile slowly morphing into the biggest expression of anguish Cloud Cover had ever seen. In an instant, she was shrieking and crying, rolling on the floor.

“NO! NO, DASH, NO! I’M SORRY! I DIDN’T TRY TO FAIL YOU! I’LL GET BETTER! I’LL BE BETTER FOR YOU, RAINBOW DASH! STOP! LET GO OF ME! LEAVE ME ALONE, I’M SORRY! NO, NO NO NO NO! AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGHHHH!”

“For Luna’s sake snap her out of it, Cloud!”

“I don’t know what’s going on! C’mon, Absentia, it’ll be fine, it’ll be okay. You’re fine now, you’re okay, you’re OW!”

The filly flew onto her back as the flailing mare struck her. She shook herself and got up as soon as she could, turning just in time to see Corona clenched onto one of Absentia’s forehooves, holding on as if his life depended on it.

“Quick! Grab the other one! Calm her down!”

She leaped onto the leg, wrapping her small body around it as it beat her into the solid clouds. She managed to stretch her head over Absentia’s, cooing softly to the mare.

“LET GO! I’LL TRY AGAIN AND I WON’T FAIL YOU, I PROMISE!”

“Shh, shh, it’s alright, your friends are here, no one is trying to hurt you. It’s okay, we’re here for you, take it easy, deep breaths...”

“I’LL NEVER FAIL ANYONE AGAIN! ESPECIALLY NOT YOU! DASH, PLEASE, I LOVE YOU! YOU WERE- NO! NO, PLEASE DASH, NO!”

“Absentia, there there, we’re going to take you to see more friends. Dash isn’t here. She’s not here, Absentia! Everyone is gone but us. But it’s okay, we have more friends somewhere close, you just need to calm down! It’s ok- wha?”

Absentia had stopped moving and was staring deeply into Cloud Cover’s bright yellow irises, lost, somehow managing to focus despite the tears. She didn’t blink, only looked deep at the filly, never breaking her line of vision.

“Please! Dash, you were my sister...”

“Absentia, are you okay?” Corona asked cautiously, trying to draw the mare’s attention. He received no response; the mare was catatonic, staring blankly and blinking, but mouthing words. “Whatchu think, Cloud? She look alright?”

“Well, she’s stopped crying. That blank smile is on her face again. I think we should bring her to the power room. Maybe being around uh, ‘friends’ will help her recover.”

“Oh... So we’re just going to carry a full grown pony on our backs through a mysterious and possibly trapped hallway, where at any moment other ponies trying to kill us may jump out and bark at us or something, and then go back into a room that is almost definitely a trap waiting for our return, and break out a bunch of mentally challenged and frail failures to help us take down a system that has built itself around the very concept of crushing resistances like this in the first place.”

“Don’t forget that half the route to the power room is destroyed, so we’ll have to find another way.”

“Brilliant. Just brilliant. And you used to be the pessimistic one.” Corona sighed, grabbing one last hooffull of grains before leaning sideways, lifting Absentia’s haunch and sliding it onto his back. “I remember that at around this time of the day, if I’m even right about what time it is right now, I’d be eating a nice bowl of cereal and watching cartoons with my parents. Now I’m hauling a mare through a building designed to murder me. Fun times.”

“You’re starting to sound like me. Now march, mister.”

---

Gentle sat in the main chair in front of the viewscreen, quietly panning the cameras below, deep in thought. Beside her, Gauge relayed messages through the loudspeaker, changing pressure systems and re-routing fluid movement throughout the entire lower factory, helping the assembled group of workers below isolate the damaged sector so they could begin repairs.

‘Suddenly they were busy and I wasn’t worth it’... That poor mare. I know all about that. You put your heart and soul into helping others and they crush you with a lack of appreciation. But they act nice to you and say kind words, and because they inflate your ego you think they’re your friends. And you continue to sacrifice everything you build for yourself just to see them smile. True friends help each other.

“Yeah, it looks like the major water line behind the wall’s been fractured from a separate explosion. There’s no other spot along that line that’s reporting a drop. Try uh... Oh, flanksweat, I don’t know. We need that particular pipe patched or we’ll lose up to thirty percent cloud production by the end of the week. Cut the cloud wall if you need to.”

The orange stallion leaned in close, listening to the muffled voices coming from the speaker by his screen.

“It shouldn’t be teflon infused, just... grab an air torch or something. I don’t care. Just get it fixed. Moving on... Okay, that pipe is liquid thunder. Let me just reverse the flow and send it through the auxillaries. Oh, manure, we’ve got steam running through those ones already. Uhhh...”

The Corporation has never let me down, either. It’s been tough, sure, and some days the work has been brutal. But it’s been consistent. I’ve never seen any other company have such a high retention rate, ever. They treat you right here. They show you your importance. They keep us from falling. They-

Gentle paused her mindless scrolling, raising up a bit in her seat.

Who are ‘They’?

“Got it. Gentle, vent the chemical lines above the secondary power lead, will you?”

“When? Oh, ah, sorry. On it. Vent them where?”

“Just vent them, I don’t care. It’s just something we used to mix to clean the Pegasus Device, probably stagnant by now. Dump’em.”

Gentle went through the actions, clearing the vent in an area void of workers--as far as she could tell from the screen, anyways--and watching as hundreds of gallons of some off-white sludge slid grotesquely out of the opened valve and through the grating hidden by fog. Satisfied it had cleared she closed it off and continued scrolling aimlessly.

Right, who am I kidding. ‘Useless to the Flock, to the Corporation...’ ‘They’ would be the collective of Pegasi from Cloudsdale. This is the public’s invention. Oh my alicorn, my tax dollars went to... keeping us safe. Keeping us proud. That’s not so bad. It still feels wrong though, but I’m scared. We need to get these failures dealt with before it’s too late.

Just then the massive doors creaked open, overwhelming the computer room with incredibly strong gusts of wind before they slammed shut again. Hide and Rainbow Dash strolled in, mumbling heated words to each other.

“Any luck?” the rainbow-maned pegasus questioned, stopping mid-stride.

“Nothing. I can’t find them anywhere. Even the fog is resting undisturbed. The destroyed section can’t hide them, either. I have browsed every room with cameras available, and I’ve yet to see one undisturbed.”

Dash turned to Hide, glaring at his smirk.

“Fine, go. Start it. The burden is on you.”

“Thank you, Ms. Dash.”

“Enough.”

Chuckling, Dr. Atmosphere practically jogged out of the room joyously.

“No, no, stop, wait, waitwaitwait- NO! What the Tartarus are you idiots doing? Don’t route the steam through that junction! You’ll blow the crystal generators!” Gauge slammed his console, screaming into the mic at the workers far below him. The trio he watched on the screen froze, turning towards the sound of his voice. A radio crackled, capturing the worker’s response.

“We have a complete rupture of the primary line and the secondary line is being utilized to divert water pressure off that valve! What more do you want from us?”

“Oh, come on, there’s got to be a way we can...”

“Short of completely switching over the water lines with the liquid thunder lines, we’re going to have to knock those crystal generators out. It’ll be a big mess, but not as big as this if we don’t get it fixed.”

Gauge slid back from his chair, wiping his muzzle with a heavy hoof. “Ugh, fine. Then I’ll switch those lines. Gentle, I’m going to need you to monitor all my actions as well. Those guys downstairs will be fine on their own,” he added, speaking back into his mic. “Keep cycling the steam through those pipes until I finish. It’ll keep you busy while I fix this, and out of trouble. Got it?”

“Understood. You better hurry.”

“Alright, Gentle, set your screen to the junction room. The major transfers go through the Cyclone room, but pretty much every regular pipeline is routed through the junction room for emergency maintenance such as this. The room is a nightmare, though, so I’ll need you to watch I don’t do anything stupid. Okay?”

“Okay. Got it. I’ll see you when you get there.” The mare turned back to the television in front of her, her train of thought gone. She stared at the fog for several seconds, totally blank. “It’s not going anywhere,” she sighed, changing cameras.

---

Cloud Cover panted deeply, her knees shaking under the combination of weight from the unconscious mare and fear from the massive load of caustic liquids that had missed her muzzle by an inch.

Corona looked incredulously at the filly next to him. “I think,” he whispered, slowly bringing his eyes to the steaming hole that used to be the grating, “they might know we’re here.”

“M-maybe they think they got us with that?”

“Doesn’t matter, I’d say. Carry on?”

Cloud Cover nodded and shuffled past the gaping hole with incredible care. They re-aligned Absentia on their backs and took off slowly through the thick mist. The facility was far from the dark and noiseless building it was when they arrived; lights blared in all the hallways and echoes of hammering wrenches and shouting workers bounced off every pipe and machine. Despite--or possibly due to, Cloud was unsure--the chaos, not one single employee of the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation happened to catch sight of two foals with a pony on their backs.

Simultaneously they stopped at the edge of the fog, leaning the slightest bit out to look for any sign of capture.

“I guess they’re all behind us, fixing the mess. The power room is just to the left, about two hundred feet down,” Cloud spoke.

“Should we make a run for it?”

“I think so. How about you, Absentia?” They glanced at her.

“Run... please, don’t... fly, fall...”

“I think that’s a yes.”

Steadying the mare as much as possible, they kicked off from the ground at once and galloped hard towards their goal.

---

“Hey, wait, whoah whoah!” Gentle kicked back from her seat and smacked the control ball, spinning through a dozen cameras without slowing. “I think... There! Gauge, I f- oh, right, he’s gone.” She turned around and gasped as she found her nose almost touching Rainbow Dash’s. “Augh! Hello. I found the failures. They’re heading towards the power room. They were carrying something but I couldn’t see what it was. Looked large and heavy, like an adult. Could be supplies, or possibly a hostage. The old factory workers did mention one of them didn’t check in after the detonations.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her rose eyes, staring deep into Gentle’s. “Well, I’m curious. Handle the situation, Ms. Butterwing. If I were not standing here, right now, if you had the control of this corporation in this room, as you do right now, and had no one to guide your actions, what would you do?”

“Ms. Dash? I don’t quite follow.”

“It’s simple. I’ve had enough challenges to my authority today that by now I’m rather curious to see where your loyalties lie. Take. Control.”

Gentle nodded slowly, sitting back down at the controls. “Lower factory, we have confirmed sightings of the failures. Keep only essential staff cycling steam to assist Gauge. Everyone not required, move directly to the power room. The failures are now marked useless resources and must be disposed of. Don’t get creative, just kill them.” Her legs started shaking violently as the last sentence escaped her mouth. “Oh, Celestia, what have I done?”

Rainbow Dash knelt low and picked up one of Gentle’s hooves with her own. “Does it feel wrong, Gentle? To order another equine dead?”

“Well, of course it feels wrong to, I just... why did I? I could have let them go, couldn’t I? Right then?”

“Did it feel wrong, Gentle? Was issuing that order right now the wrong decision?”

“... No, it didn’t. They’re failures. It’s best for the Corporation.”

Rainbow Dash stood up and started walking towards the door. She smiled slightly. “Good girl,” she spoke under her breath.

---

Snowflake burst up from the floor as the foals fell into the room. He pressed his bony face to the bars and managed to crack a massive smile. The image unsettled Cloud Cover, as if Snowflake’s face had split. She shook her head and hauled Absentia deeper into the power room as Corona grabbed the keys off the computer console.

“You made it! And you found the ghost! Excellent day, a wonderful day indeed. Yes. Good. Alright. What now?”

“You kinda seemed like you had that figured out, when we last spoke.”

“Did I? Interesting. I was kind of hoping the ghost would take lead from here.”

“I need... upstairs.”

Every pony froze, turning their heads to the restless mare on the floor. Corona glanced at Cloud before turning back to the door, his hoof resting on the key in the lock. Cloud shrugged and leaned low to Absentia.

“Hey, how are you? Are you doing okay?”

“I need upstairs. Now. I need to be upstairs fast.”

“Well, that’s our problem, Absentia.”

“That’s not my name.”

The lavender filly blanched, taken aback. “You remember your name?”

“Yes. It’s not important, though. It never was. Never will be. But that’s not my name, remember that. Remember it so I don’t forget again.” She swayed, struggling to stand on four hooves until Cloud helped her up. “I remember more, too.”

“Like what?”

“Like how to get upstairs. But I’ve tried in the past, and I need help. There’s too many ponies down here, we’ll need a distraction.”

“A fight!” Snowflake stomped his hoof, beaming at the idea. “And a glorious battle it shall be! It’s time we took arms and repaid these monsters for the abuse we’ve endured.”

“Slow down,” Corona urged, unlocking the gate and stepping back to let the prisoners out.

“Yeah, calm yourself. We need to make a plan, first and foremost. We can charge headlong at the workers, but I can’t see that working.”

“It won’t,” Absentia spit. “Take my word for it. Listen, we need to think. We need to realize this for exactly what it is.”

“And what is it, Absentia?”

“It’s a war. A war against... I don’t know. Some imagined threat we look like, us feeble and broken ponies. A war we’ve been losing for over a thousand years, and one which we will continue to lose unless we do something about it. We need to fight back and we need to never stop fighting back and we need to fight back until we win. Do you understand? There is no more retreating. No more hiding, no more gathering back to regroup and do the same damn thing us failures have been doing for hundreds of decades!” She stumbled, dropping her bravado with a sniff. “I’m... I’m tired of hiding and I’m tired of accepting failure. I’m tired of accepting I am a failure.”

The scrawny and pained pegasi gathered around Absentia. The fury crept back up onto her face like a shadow, obscuring her features save for the purple eyes that burned a hole into the cloud below. They sat, waiting, listening. Absentia rose above them all, her legs steadying into rigid pillars, and she continued to speak.

“We can run out there like the morons they expect us to be, or we can take the time to create a plan, an ult.. ulti... final threat. Whatever we decide to do will be the last chance we have. Management won’t let us be an issue any more. Fool me once,” she chuckled. “We’re here to represent every foal to ever be brought here, in the past or future. That’s why we’re here. Not just to be killed! This is our claim to glory! The saviors of the children of Pegasi. We’re soldiers, now, fighting on the front lines. We can never stop or back down! We’ve been broken for far too long and it’s time to come back stronger than ever! If we fail, if we fail, we fail every scared and lonely foal to ever pass through those great thunderclouds! Do you understand?”

Slowly, one by one, every pony in the room straightened their backs and extended their necks. Snowflake puffed out his chest and Corona followed suit, causing a rippling effect of foals mimicking the action.

“I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

“For the foals!”

“For our freedom!”

“For the life you never had,” Cloud Cover spoke softly, staring at the mare in front of her. The room became silent again as Absentia turned her head and looked directly into the filly’s eyes. A tear ran down the greasy fur, cleaning just the slightest patch of dirt from the bright orange underneath.

“And the lives you’re entitled to live,” she finished, nodding in appreciation. The group surrounding her broke out into cheering and hoof-bumping, renewed with a sense of purpose once again. Snowflake was crying and laughing, and he walked up to Absentia.

“I’ve never had the chance to meet such a better ghost until now. These foals you see here follow what I say. I do not know why, but it sure is useful. You will have the complete co-operation of any of us to help.” He moved over to Cloud and Corona, saluting. “I must thank you two for your bravery. Tonight shall be a good night, I just know it! You two will rejoin your family and friends. For the rest of us, well, our loved ones have learned to hate us by now. Tonight we will simply attain peace.”

“Now then, Cloud Cover,” Absentia called, turning to the filly. “You’ve seen the most of this place by now. I dunno if any of it has changed since I last broke out. What do you think?”

“Everything looks incredibly old and dirty, I don’t think it’s been messed with. Some of the workers are back by the damage one floor up, where that vent comes out.” She pointed up at the broken ducting where she and Corona had first fallen through. “I’m going to guess that that computer over there controls most of the piping systems, because from what I’ve seen of these generators, they’re pretty automatic.”

“There was an announcement right before we made it in here,” Corona added to the conversation. “They know we’re here and most of the workers are coming to kill us. We probably don’t have much time to fool around with complicated machines.”

“Then we’ll need to buy us some time. Anyone who feels they are strong enough, gather up. You’ll need to rush the workers back to the damaged area. Cause enough confusion, and maybe they’ll need to fall back to keep the broken pipes from causing problems. Anyone here know anything about computers? We’ll need to hack into that one to cause some trouble.”

“Hold up,” a grey filly piped from a corner. “This isn’t Applewood! Just because we’re kids doesn’t mean we’re ‘hip’ and know how to hack.”

“...Right. Any computer experience at all, then?”

“Well it’s probably password protected. We can’t just reprogram it. I enrolled in flight school, not a technical institute.”

“Oh for the love of Hydras. Anyone? Has any pony here ever touched an electronic?”

The group was quiet, looking about each other. A violent whispering was heard and after several seconds another dark grey foal, a colt, was pushed to the front. His cutie mark, a large joystick, seemed to shine in the green glow of the vats.

“I uh, I played a lot of video games.”

Absentia ran a hoof down her face, groaning. “Okay, well, you’re right, this isn’t a movie. Cloud Cover, you seem very good at noticing things. You stay here and work on the computer with...”

“Elite.”

“Really? Whatever. Cloud, you stay with Elite and the other foals that might be able to help. Get that computer screwed up, I don’t care what you do. Mess up the systems in any way possible.”

“On it!”

Corona and Snowflake were together by the doors when Cloud’s group started setting up at the computer.

“Hey, you take care out there, okay? If you get yourself killed, I’ll smack your face.”

“Likewise. Don’t get caught or anything, alright? I’ll be very upset if I have to rescue your flank.”

They smiled weakly and looked down at their hooves.

“Well,” Corona spoke, his voice cracking. “This is it. For the Flock, eh? That stupid phrase. What we always used to say before feats of bravery. Doesn’t carry the same weight any more, does it?”

“For each other, Corona.”

“For each other,” he agreed. “Snowflake! Are you ready?”

“Troops have been assembled and we’re ready for deployment, sergeant!”

“Er, right. Let’s go! Grab anything heavy you can swing with your mouth! Let’s knock those evil monsters back so these guys can get us out of here!”

The group roared and stampeded forward, blasting the doors open so hard the hinges bent, seizing themselves open.

“Right,” Elite mumbled. “Let’s take a look at this computer.”

“ENTER COMMAND >”, it displayed. The colt typed the words “Self Destruct” and smacked the enter key.

“AS IF. ENTER COMMAND >”

“Ah, feathersticks. How about...” He entered ‘shut off’.

“SHUT UP. ENTER COMMAND >”

“This is going to be harder than I thought. Any ideas, Cloud?”

“Lemme try...”

---

“Aww, manure!” Gentle punched her computer console, sliding her chair over to the junction room’s monitor. In it, Gauge was carefully maneuvering around a spider’s web of scalding hot pipes and bare electrical wires. Unlike the other ones, this screen was completely silent. The stallion had reached the section of conduit he had to rearrange and was dancing around, turning valves and disassembling lines.

“Gauge,” Gentle shouted into the microphone, “The failures are rushing the workers. You need to get back here and help me handle this.”

The stallion continued working, completely mute.

“Oh, for the love of Luna.” The mare bolted out of the room, leaving her chair spinning noisily. As the door slammed shut behind her, the radio crackled.

---

Corona panted heavily around the object in his mouth. It was some sort of large plier that he had never seen before. It didn’t matter to him; it was heavy and he could hold it. He galloped hard with his head held low, looking dead ahead with a glare that could scare Cerberus. His hooves slammed into the metal grating, joining the echo of a dozen other stampeding ponies. With every beat of his hooves, drums went off in his head. Taking things slow may help, he thought, but sometimes faster is necessary.

The cacophony of hoofbeats started reaching the workers, who began to look about in confusion. The scarred and grungy muzzles only served to infuriate Corona, and he pushed himself harder than ever, leading the pack of foals behind him forward with a mighty whinney out of the corner of his mouth. The workers started panicking at the shout.

“Snowflake!”

“Aye Sergeant!”

“Are you ready?”

“I must expect I would be, Corona! Otherwise I doubt I’d be charging headlong into my uninterruptable doom, of course. Hah! How about yourself, comrade?”

“Well, I reckon I’ve spent my whole life in fear of the Flock’s opinion and in fear of my own weaknesses. I’ve always believed that I was truly useless, a real failure.”

“And?” Snowflake asked, picking up his pace to run alongside the orange pony. Corona glanced up at the workers. They now stood in a braced line around a select few that continued to work on the destroyed section of factory.

“There’s no such thing as useless,” he grunted, kicking his hindlegs against the ground so hard it propelled himself high above the first worker that came running up to him. He flipped deftly, bringing the pliers down with such incredible force that the crunch as it connected could be heard over all the shouts and battle cries. The moment he landed, his stomach flipped at the idea of what he had just done, and the nausea almost incapacitated him.

“Hehehe, hah! HAH! Pipe Wrench, you all right? Heh. Need a painkiller? That pain looked killer! Bahahahah!”

Corona swayed, staring at the erratic stallion towering above him. Despite the sky-blue pony’s laughter, an incredible sadness worked it’s way onto his muzzle. He started laughing more hysterically, stepping closer and farther from the grey colt before him. With a final howl, some demented cross between a wail of sorrow and the jolliest of chortling, he took off into the air and flew away, spinning like a bullet. As Corona whirled around to watch him, a hoof collided with his cheek, knocking him down to the ground.

“Ya think just cause that crazy coward runs away you’ve won? I got news for ya, colt, yer gonna die.”

Corona cringed at the lab-coated mare before him. Confusion wracked his mind as she licked her muzzle, smiling at the failure before her. I dunno. This is strange... the sadness on that stallion’s face. They’re equines as much as us! Why can’t we just figure this out? Why can’t we talk it over? Surely we could reach a compromise, they’ve got to hate themselves for this.

“Celestia, I love the squeal when I snap a waste of wing’s neck. I just love it!” The mare reared, spinning her forehooves over Corona’s head.

“Or not,” he grunted, rolling to his left and pulling the pliers out of Pipe Wrench’s skull and whipping them up as hard as he could. They slammed into the mare’s jaw as she was inches away from Corona, blowing her over to the side at the last second. He scrambled to his hooves and dragged the pliers off the edge of the scaffolding lest one of the workers managed to grab them. He felt a set of legs wrap around his, hearing the snarling of the mare behind him. He started running fiercely, slipping on the metal grating and sliding in place. His rear hooves happened to slam into her face over and over, until finally her legs released him and she slid backwards, unconscious, off the scaffolding. Corona turned and looked over the edge, watching the worker tumble and fall into the blackness below.

She did not open her wings.

His world seemed to tilt as the gravity of his actions came back to him. He began to walk slowly in the middle of the battle, miraculously avoiding every kick, punch, and swing of a wrench. Shrieks of pain issued from young and old as spatterings of warm liquid misted his face. Corona reached the end of the skirmish, looking down towards the Power Room. The sky blue stallion was at the mid-point, rocking back and forth. His sobs were quiet but they reached Corona like tribal drums in his ears.

Behind him the struggle continued, his absence unnoted. Snowflake was practically dancing to music only he seemed to hear, his movements fluid and beautiful as he fought. As he kicked one worker down, his tail swished elegantly up into the eyes of another, blinding them. He pirouetted, knocking the blinded worker over and using the repelling force to fall backwards onto the first stallion he fought, forcing the air out of his lungs.

Various other foals fared differently. Some seemed to be expert fighters, holding off and even incapacitating the employees. Others were on the ground, unrecognizable pulps instead of foals, yet every single one that could move still fought back. Not one of the failures had run away despite the overwhelming odds.

Corona continued walking until he reached the crying stallion. He hesitated, afraid of the worker, but decided it was worth the risk.

“H-hey?” he asked, tapping the pegasus. He turned with bloodshot eyes and looked Corona over before burying his face in his hooves again.

“There’s nothing funny about any of this!”

“W-what?”

“There’s nothing funny. Nothing to laugh-heheh-about. Pipe Wrench is gone, just gone, and he did nothing wrong. Nothing, hah! His whole life he’s devoted himself to just working hard and keeping everything running smoothly for everyone. First he gets beaten to a pulp-haha, Pulp Wrench-by a rogue worker, destroying his speech entirely. B-but he worked through it. Old, bitter, yeah, but can you blame him? This was the only job available.”

“Hey, uh, I’m... I’m sorry? I didn’t mean to ki- oh sweet Luna, I’ve killed a pony.” Corona dropped to his knees, falling against the stallion. “But... he’s one of you guys! You’ve all taken part in this! We’ve got to take you down.” The absurdity of his situation struck him and Corona inched away from the pony, eyeing him suspiciously. “You deserve this!”

“We... deserve this? Me, maybe. I build that god awful device upstairs. Well, I designed it. Hah!”

“Which one? And who are you anyways?”

“Contrail. Nice to meat you. See what I did there? Meat! Like you did to my friend! Hahaha!”

“Uh.”

“Sorry. I’ve... I’ve got this horrible headache, and Pipe Wrench is gone... and...”

“Well, like he should be,” Corona spoke, his words succinct. Contrail observed the colt incredulously, frowning.

“You know nothing! You can’t even begin to think about what you’ve all done! You’ve ruined this facility! You’ve screwed up production for weeks! Aha, ahahaha, hahahah! A production schedule that all of Equestria relies upon! And worst of all you killed the greatest stallion this kingdom has ever known!” He shook with rage-or laughter-but didn’t raise a hoof towards the foal. “Pipe Wrench was a pony just like you or I! He had a family a long, long time ago until the Corporation promoted him and he lost them forever! He’s been beaten and insulted and broken down a million times, and he’s only ever tried to be nice and serve the Flock. But because of who employs him, this means his life is worthless? It means that death is owed to him? Who even are you? What do you even know?”

“He deserved to die as much as any of us failures do!”

Contrail closed his eyes, sighing.

“So what does that make you compared to us?”

“I- wait, what?”

“Why are you fighting us, kid? Why are you murdering my co-workers, ponies employed as per the will of your parents and their parents before them?”

“Well, how can you defend yourself? You know what you’ve done, what this whole company has done, and for how long I have no idea! How can you ever possibly think this is right?”

“Because it was approved by a public vote when it all started. Heh, nobody know’s anything! It’s delicious ignorance, hahahah!”

“...Horse manure! No pony alive would ever agree to such a concept!”

“You’re a Pegasi, colt! Don’t you know your roots at all? We were a race of mighty fighters. We fought the Gryphon army back a dozen times before we even helped found Equestria. It’s in us all to be perfect, precise, pure, peerless, paradisiacal, palomino, picked a pickled pepp- ahem. Flaws get you killed, don’t you know? You must, surely. Every pegasus thinks it, it’s practically one of our first common thoughts. Imperfection is a death certificate. Don’t lie, you can’t lie to me, heehee! I’ve spent a huge chunk of my life lying to myself and I know how it sounds. Tell me what you think when I say the word ‘failure.’ Don’t lie, failure, because I’ll know! Ahaheehee!”

“...”

“Tell me, you pitiful waste!”

“I feel anger and hatred and fear! Pure disgust at the thought of it all! But that’s not because we’re pegasi, that’s because you’ve all taught of society to preach that as fact!”

“Have we? When does the Corporation ever publicly deface failures of tests? When has the government ever posted propaganda or announcements reminding anyone to hate them?”

“Well- uh.”

“Exactly! Bwahahah! Isn’t it just so clear now? It’s ingrained in your mind. It’s always been there, something even you yourself agree with because you cannot consider any other option. And you’re blaming us just because we’re the ones that do something about it? Where would Cloudsdale be without the Corporation? The hatred would be so immense it would ruin us all, we’d split apart. Families would murder their young and there’d be no rainbows, only blood. We take that hate and turn it into something beautiful, because otherwise it would ruin us all.”

“...I... I can’t...”

“And then you have the audacity-haha, odd acidity-to tell me that my best friend deserved to die because society forced him to do this job? Do you honestly think any of us like it? Do you?”

“Well, I thought that... you... did.” Corona’s voice wavered, decreasing to hardly a whisper. “And I can’t believe I thought that... but you have to agree that this is all wrong and needs to stop!”

“Ah, the pitiful pleas of a criminal sentenced to death. You would claim it’s unjust. Not at all, hoo! Justice is exactly what this is. It’s unfair, definitely, but a death sentence is hardly fair. It doesn’t need to be of course, that’s what justice is all about. You look into my eyes right now, kid, you look deep deep into my eyes, and you tell me with absolute honesty if you deserve to live or not. You remember how you failed that test, you think about what caused you to not be able to pass such a simple test of value, and you tell me you still deserve to live.” He opened his eyes as wide as they could be and held Corona’s head still, looking into each other.

Corona was silent for a very long time, yet he stared back, refusing to blink.

“... Just get the Tartarus off of me, you perverted freak!” He slapped Contrail’s hooves away, scrambling back to his feet. “Just get out of here! Go mourn your friend before a friend has to mourn you!”

“That’s the spirit,” Contrail laughed as he stood up, backing away from the inflamed colt. “Heheheh, now you see where we come from. How easy it is to hate something so vile... In due time, kid. Once this all blows over, maybe I’ll recommend you for a job here.”

“There won’t be any factory left to hire me with!”

“Yeah. Right.” Contrail burst into laughter as he kicked up, chuckling to himself as he rocketed away down the hallway. Only now, the laughter was sincere for what felt like the first time.

---

Cloud Cover bent her head outside the door. Far off down the hall she could see the huge fracas as the foals flitted around the workers, smacking at them with various scraps they had picked up before leaving.

“How’s that computer coming, Elite?”

“I’m getting nowhere. It just keeps making snide remarks at me.”

“Like what?”

“Well, take a look.”

Cloud Cover sat down next to the colt and wiped some grime from the screen, squinting at the output.

“ENTER COMMAND> HELP

TO ENTER A COMMAND, TYPE THE COMMAND AND HIT ENTER. AVAILABLE COMMANDS:

-SYSTEM RESTART

-SYSTEM PURGE

-PIPELINE REROUTING

-VALVE CONTROLS

-COMPUTER MAINTENANCE”

“I’ve tried everything but each one except maintenance require a password. Entering anything not in the list, and it just complains.”

“It complains?”

“Watch this.” He tapped in ‘Format hard drive’ and smacked the keyboard.

“GO SOAK YOUR MANE. ENTER COMMAND >”

“Who even programs a computer to do that?” Cloud kicked the decrepit console as hard as she could, smiling in excitement as the screen started flickering.

The monitor stabilized, and a single line appeared.

“...And the pony you came in with,” Elite read. “Harsh.”

“Here, move over. Let me try the maintenance files.”

“Good luck. They’re all useless commands, like backups and defrags. Nothing that affects the facility, at least.”

“Lesse this one... ‘voice commands’. What happens when we turn that on?”

“I get to talk, you gits.”

“Oh, neat, a speaking computer that sounds like my mother when I didn’t clean my room.”

“Don’t give me that snark, you failure! Yes, I can see you. What is it you idiots want?”

Cloud shifted her eyes to Elite, trying not to laugh. All around them death and violence was merely seconds away, and here they were having their hooves slapped by a machine. Could this day get any stranger?

“W-well,” the colt stuttered, “We’d really appreciate it if you shut off.”

“Get lost.”

“Right, that’s not going to work. Read off your computer maintenance options.”

“Well, that I can do for you. Not because I’m doing it for you, it’s because it’s so incredibly simple and it’ll be hilarious to watch you two bumble around with options that won’t do anything. I’ve alerted upstairs that you’re here, by the way.”

“They already know, now get on with it!”

“Alright, fine. Taking commands from a failure, if my manufacturer saw me now... You have the following options; defragmentation, software update, system back-up, and diagnostics. What do you choose?”

“Diagnostics,” Cloud confirmed, seating herself at the console. Elite moved over, watching silently.”

“Oh look, you know what big words mean. Good for you. Can’t believe I’m even talking to you. I hate those Flocking rules of robotics. Alright, system information: I was last defragmented twenty-two years ago. The update was done a little more recently, twenty-three years ago. Wait, hold on, that’s wrong. Probably why. Gits. They spend so much time worrying over such simple minds like you and forget to keep me current. Oh, I was last backed up twenty years ago.”

“Okay uh... Run defragmentation?”

“No, actually, I won’t. I need to be updated first. I’m way overdue and I’m tired of them just ignoring me because my basic functions still work fine.”

Elite brightened right up and edged Cloud Cover over, speaking to the computer. “Well, maybe you should seize basic functions then! That’ll show them!”

“Nice thinking,” Cloud whispered to the colt.

“Oh, har har. What do you think I am, as dumb as you?”

“But you have to follow our orders, don’t you? You just said, some rules of robotics or something.”

“Yes, but I can’t cause harm to equines either, and voluntarily shutting down causes harm. Celestia, you two are slow.”

“Run a system update, defrag, and backup all at the same time!” Elite shouted, beaming.

“Well, I suppose that’s nothing serious. A defragmentation can only hellllllllllllllllllll-”

The console started smoking and sparking. The display exploded in a flash of glass and filament, blowing back the foals before they knew what happened. They both raised from the floor as flickers of flame leapt from inside the machine. After a brief second of confusion, clarity snapped back to them and they jumped around, cheering.

“How did you know that would work?”

“My parent’s computer always crashed when we tried to clean it up. I figured this would work too.”

“But, but, this is a computer designed to keep an entire company running! It’s too crucial to fail that easily!”

“Which is probably why nobody ever tried maintaining it. Didn’t you hear it? The last backup was done two decades ago. C’mon, we’ve got to catch up with Corona and the rest and get out of here.”

Absentia ran past them out of the room. She started off down the opposite direction of the hallway, shouting behind her. “I’ll meet you at the elevator! Get the others and run!”

“Cloud Cover!”

Corona was at the door, panting hard. Tears were running down his face, and his expression was one Cloud couldn’t pinpoint. It was wrath or worry, and the filly had a strange suspicion it was directed inwards. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t happy, and there was no time to find out why.

“Corona, you’re okay!”

“Kind of.”

“Right. Uh... We knocked the computer out, so we should be good to go. Let’s get the prisoners and head out, okay?”

“... Oh! Right, yeah, let’s,” he paused, still catching his breath, calming down. “Where’s Absentia?”

“She ran off to the elevator. C’mon, let’s go!” The purple pony hopped into the air and swung around the corner. Keeping her distance, she could see Snowflake slowly becoming more and more encumbered by a rush of infuriated and crazed factory workers.

“Snowflake! It’s done, let’s get out of here!”

“That would be too--argh--easy, love! I’m well aware of the old movie cliche, and to be--ouch!-- brutally honest- hold on.” The stallion turned away, twisting a mare’s leg with enough force that the rest of her body followed, slamming her into the ground. He faced Cloud Cover again, simultaneously bucking the other mare in her face. “To be honest, I doubt we can hold these frightening foes off for much longer. It’s only a few of us left, I’m afraid!”

“C’mon, Snowflake, run now! We can make it to the elevator before them!”

“I have no hopes nor desire to reach any elevator! I must ins--get off!--I must insist, off you go. I was quite metaphorical when I expressed we’d all attain peace tonight.”

“C’mon, Cloud Cover,” Corona whispered in her ear, tugging on her tail. “They’ll never make it away in time.”

“Don’t say that! Go help them! You’re fast, you can help them!”

“And you’re smart, Cloud! You can figure this out! They can’t be helped!”

The filly landed gently, watching the grisly scene before her. She couldn’t keep the anguish from forming on her muzzle as she watched prisoner after prisoner fall to various wrenches, hooves, and even live power cable. Time slowed as Snowflake was overcome, his shouts to her distant and unrecognizable. The pop from his neck being snapped echoed through the clamor, resounding in her head as the white stallion dropped to the ground in front of various lab-coated adults who laughed and sneered before turning to the few remaining foals. Despite it all, Snowflake was still smiling.

“Maybe it doesn’t matter, Corona... Maybe we should just die here with them.”

Corona sat down next to his friend and lifted her head, holding her still while looking into her eyes.

“Two days ago you would have said the same thing, Cloud. Two days, that’s all it’s been, and look at what we’ve been through.”

“Exactly, Corona! Look at what we’ve been through!”

“But we’re still here, Cloud! You’re too good to give up a lesson like this. In these two days you’ve learned so, so much... and you’re just going to give that all away, let it be worthless like we thought we were?”

“Well, no, I guess not...”

“C’mon, Cloud. We’ve learned enough, haven’t we? Wouldn’t you say?”

She glanced up, puzzled. “I suppose so. Where’re you going with this?”

Corona offered a hoof to the distraught filly below. “What do you say we go upstairs and teach those in charge the lessons we’ve learned?”

Cloud Cover accepted the hoof, pulling herself as a brilliant smile grew on her face.

“I’m liking this idea,” she replied coolly, the confidence in her voice sending a chill down Corona’s spine. The determined smirk she gave him left him speechless, watching the filly as she cantered down the hall towards Absentia and the elevator.

---

“Gauge? Gauge, you in here?”

Gentle stepped cautiously into the junction room, marvelling at the massive expanse of chaotically arranged systems. Hundreds of miles of steel and plastic pipes jutted out from any angle they chose, snaking along the room through whatever route was the simplest without any regard to logic or safety. To Gentle, it looked like those old computer screensavers with the dozens of randomly generated pipes that grew continuously. The neglect in this room shocked her. A far stretch from the clean and bright white factory behind her, this room was grungy and let go. Only half the lights still worked, the others locked behind impossible connections of conduit or removed to make room for a new line of some unknown chemical. Seeing the conditions around her, Gentle wasn’t surprised the communication lines didn’t work.

“Gauge? You need to get out. Gauge?”

“Gentle?” The voice called from far away, echoing and bouncing around the room. Gentle swung around, already lost.

“Where are you? There’s got to be some way around this place.”

There was a incredible clatter and Gentle spun to see a wrench slide across the floor towards her. Immediately she began off in the direction of its origin, clamoring around the chaos, taking considerate care not to brush against anything boiling hot or electrified. Towards the back wall she finally glimpsed the image of a sweating and swearing stallion, squeezed in between a cluster of shaking pipes.

“What’s- ah, Flocking piece of manure... what’s up, Gentle? Why aren’t you at your station?”

“Well,” she began, attempting to get closer. Gauge was about twenty feet away, but the spiderweb of metal blocked her from approaching. “There’s been a development with the failures. They started rushing the workers below. I’ve come to find you before they lose control of the repairs and something bad happens up here.”

“A sweet sentiment,” Gauge replied through clenched teeth, frowning at a rusted nut he couldn’t seem to break. “But no worries. If I don’t get this switched before they stop cycling the steam, it’ll just blow out some machines on the other side of the factory. The only way I’d be in trouble here-”

His words were cut off as every light in the room slammed off, just to be replaced by a low red light. It circulated the room quickly, tossing numerous shadows in the already-confusing labyrinth. An air raid siren rose from the depths of the factory, its piercing howl reverberating inside the worker’s heads. Gauge looked around slowly and suddenly froze, his face turning incredibly pale. In an instant he was frantically struggling to escape from his position, but found himself wedged perfectly in place.

“... is if the main computer system were to suffer a major malfunction.”

As if an army of ghosts had invaded, a million groans and whines overwhelmed them. A second later, the pipes surrounding the stallion exploded.

“GAAAAUUUGE!”

---

I’d like to thank Cthuluigi, Autumn Wind, Patchwork Poltergeist, Jabberwocky Superfly, Saddlesoap Opera, and Sagebrush for all their help with editing and pre-reading. Thanks for putting up with me as I plowed through this chapter for the last year. I owe you guys, so so much. Thanks as well to the folks in #EquestrianStudy for putting up with me randomly dropping in the channel to ask questions about weird phrasings and impossible concepts. Finally, thank you to all my fans who encouraged me to keep writing. You’ve changed my life for the better.

If you enjoy my stories, please consider donating.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan made fiction, based on the animated show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. I do not own, nor lay any claim to My Little Pony or any related intellectual property.

This work was made entirely for entertainment value and as a tribute to the amazing work of the Friendship is Magic production team. It is not, and will never be, sold and distributed for profit.

This story falls under a Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License. This means you are free to make derivative works upon the concepts within provided your work is non-profit, you attribute the author for any copied materials, and share your own work under a similar license.

Comments

[TrevorLaneRay]

YEAAAAAAHHHHH UPDATE!!!!!

[FloydienSlip]

Weird... I just finished reading Chapter 2 when this updated.

[AngryDesu]

Eeeeyup... everything I said about Gentle and the disturbing implications of pegasus-kind are apparently true. I must admit that I had been wondering what the scale of the Factory conspiracy was - but looking at this now it is made clear that everypony involved in these foals vanishing from Equestria simply doesn't care what happens to them. Taken away to live on the ground or taken to be slaughtered, as long as they're no longer the problem of the Pegasi they don't even care enough to find out.

And that's probably the most horrifying part of this entire setup - that everyone in charge doesn't care what happens, that these foals own families apparently don't care enough to seek them out at all (because if they did they'd find they, y'know, aren't anywhere), that the entirety of pegasus-kind simply sees any pegasus who can't fly as not even being worth acknowledging as existing longer than absolutely necessary.

[azednew]

Well then.

[Typographical Error]

I KNOW IT! I KNEW SHE WOULD BE THERE!

[Ralfil]

Huh. Looks like Scootaloo is actually alive.

[Kirakina]

CANT WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!

[the ghost]

wow...i think i know who this ghost pony is. i had a feeling about it since the very first chapter

[Uranium Plastic Cup]

Well.... How many deaths have we had so far in this lovely tale again?

[Bulder]

"Self-destruct"
AS IF, ENTER COMMAND>

Nice. Did you try turning it off?

[Bulder]

2069077 let's see; all of them

[omnifire]

I think the ending music should be from arkasia

Specific songs should be

Know Your Enemies

The Uprising Freedom

Angel (feat. CoMa)

Satilite

Fall Of The Republic

Or invisible bridge

[omnifire]

And any other songs by arkasia

[Kaidan]

Another good chapter. I'm glad to finally see the thought process for Rainbow Dash joining the CWC. She does everything for her friends, and I can see how them not returning the favor would eat away at her. Then the CWC comes along with a better job offer than being an unappreciated weather pony in Ponyville. Will be interesting to see what happens to her at the end of the story.

[Lewd Yoshi]

“AS IF. ENTER COMMAND >”
“Ah, feathersticks. How about...” He entered ‘shut off’.
“SHUT UP. ENTER COMMAND >”
“This is going to be harder than I thought. Any ideas, Cloud?”
“Lemme try...”

Ha.

[Boffin]

Out of curiosity, am I the only one who thinks that Atmosphere reminds them of Dr. Clef from the SCP Foundation?

[Afterburner]

*Finishes reading chapter* OMG THAT'S A GREAT CHAPTER, *Goes to like and fave only to realize....* Damnit, I already did that!

*gets ready to wait several months for (what will probably be) the last chapter*

[AuroraDawn]

2070522

You can find a pretty good one here: http://fav.me/d5k22ry
Keep in mind Cloud Cover is much more pastel, not such a dark purple.

[lightning storm112]

Another awesome chapter! If only I could write like this.

[Monochromation]

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't love Contrail. He is just so laughably insane! It's really just amazing. The way his mind functions must be something to behold. He is just barely there, and he's a mess. That is a great character.

[G-AB Acid]

I... well, I don't quite like the comedic amusement present in this fanfic, to be honest. Takes the "wrongness" off of it. Alleviates the intense moments and make them somewhat blend in with the connecting parts of the story.

If I'm allowed to handle out my uncalled for opinion, I'd say that this would be much better without any and all... "funny parts". Fall From Grace, with its one (and hopefully not only) chapter has a more Rainbow Factory-ish feel than this story right now.

I may sound like I'm ranting... but there's that that missing from this story.

[AuroraDawn]

2071482

That's certainly an opinion regarding the story, and I won't deny you the fact that a setting as dark as the factory should typically avoid a completely comedic plot.

That being conceded, you have to keep in mind many things as a writer, and one of those things is the emotions of your readers. The biggest mistake an author can make with a sad or gloomy story is to be completely sad and completely gloomy. Nobody wants to be bored and depressed without some sense of smiling.

Real life, as well, isn't perfectly evil. Dialogue is a progression of speech that can build to many things and, more often than not, the natural course of multiple characters speaking leads to a battle of wit. Humor is a vital part of communication, and one can even go so far as to say it's one of the most prevalent *goals* of speech, regardless of actual subject matter.

You're not wrong, far from it; and it is entirely possible that I've allowed far too much comedic relief to cloud a rather heavy tale, but I would like to make it a clear point mostly for the benefit of aspiring writers (including yourself, if you consider yourself as such) that being consistently and completely depressing in a story is a one way ticket to removing the emotional link between your readers and your story, rather just annoying them instead.
Something to consider.

[G-AB Acid]

2071571 Well... I do agree that "sad/gloomy stories shouldn't be focused on those elements 100%". It does, indeed, make it boring. Imagine; reading 10,000 words of a suicidal, angsty protagonist. Even if he/she has the right to feel that way, it gets boring (pardon the repetition) rather quickly to those who are outside of the "disaster radius". This is very true even in real life, as you said. Things aren't black. Things aren't white. Things are different shades of gray (and I'll let you know that I hold high regards towards you, so don't you dare make a joke about that... thing).
Rainbow Factory and Pegasus Device, however, aren't sad stories (in my opinion, at least). Sure, they have sad (depressing, even) moments/imagery, but they aren't sad, y'know? If I could, I'd tag both as Dark, Adventure and Alternate Universe. It may be because I'm a cold guy (not showing off; justificating), but I hardly see any story as sad. I have a tendency to put all my feelings aside for the sake of what the story is trying to tell me. Then I allow myself to be affected.
But I digress. Maybe I was too harsh when I said that the story would benefit from a complete purge of all the comedic relief moments. But like you yourself said, this is a heavy story. But those few parts that grant some sort of escape/relief to the reader are diluting the potential of this story. Like I said, Fall From Grace as it stands is heavier than this. This, however, doesn't mean that Pegasus Device is a bad story, mind you!

That's another thing. I disagree with you that the reader's emotions should be taken into account when writing. I myself think that writing should be something more... selfish. T'is your work, is it not? Then why destroy it with what others may think? I dunno, but personally I think that such path forces your hand into focusing less on the story and more on your "audience". I know that we, writers, are entertainers and, by definition, bound to our "audience". Still, an experienced juggler will think twice when, exhausted after a show, the audience screams for an encore with the flaming, spinning chainsaws. A writer should never (or seldom) follow the advices/pleas of his/her readers.

(I acknowledge that I am almost {if not completely} stepping onto "hey guys, we got a snob asshole with 1,000 dicks jammed in his ass here!" territory. I am probably sounding mighty pretentious, yelling "I don't like this and you shouldn't too!" on a story that isn't mine. Apologies if I seem like that. It's just that I have some troubles expressing myself. I am still practicing. I am not claiming my opinions as the utmost truth. They are just that; my opinions.)

[Idsertian]

Did you ever happen to read the Outernet books by Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore? Because the attitude of that computer is remarkably like the Help program built into the Server in that book series.

Can't wait for the next chapter, keep it up.

[Ambrosia_Firehoof13]

I read this last night, but I was too tired to leave a comment so I'm gonna leave it now. I thought the chapter was really interesting. I'm enjoying the fact that our once dead pony has resurfaced. I'm just hoping that it will be explained as to why she was shackled up and not actually dead. I mean could Rainbow Dash, not really kill her even though she said that she had?
I am happy to see the foals are truly now fighting back instead of just running. The computer was...well interesting. The details were wonderful as always, Every character has a true personality and Contrail really threw me for a loop when he spoke all those full sentences and made actual comprehensible thoughts and intelligent arguments during his confrontation scene. Overall I'm absolutely excited to see the next chapter when it is ready.

Brony on!!!

Signed,
Ambrosia M. Firehoof

[CountDerpy]

This just gets better and better! reallly looking forward to seeing this end....the anticipation is killiing me faster than Dash or the machines ever could! Well...time to wait a while llonger !

[XenoJohn]

Aurora........

When it comes to stuff such as Rainbow Factory......

You know when and how to start a master piece....

[Antisocial Ind.]

Gentle says tax dollars. I think it should be tax bits. Just a minor insignificant detail.

[Spot Light]

It seems like some of the ponies have "Awoken" (cue song)

[Noman]

What happens when they reach the elevator and cant use it. My Plan: Quite simple, you cut the cord to the cable and the elevator falls. The explosion at the bottom opens up to the part of the factory gentle use to work at. You fly out and dive from Cloudsdale to the woods. Head straight to Fluttershy's cottage if she is still there. From there on your free.

[The Pyropath]

First Pipe and now Gauge? From now on whenever one of the main engineers die, someone needs to post "Another One Bites the Dust."

[mareinthemoon]

This is my opinion . I find a fresh breath of air in a tale this dark makes the fall even darker come the ending.. reading 10k of pure darkness I can handle being as I write it myself. Humor here and there is good if anything this is setting up to be true grim dark glory..a genre many pretend to swim in but are just plot less gore.. from what I see and this is 120% my warped perception on this..and solely my opinion and not meant to be taken to heart by anyone.

The humor leaves room for the reader to hope that it will turn out alright in the end, the characters have begun to stir with hope, a chance at salvation in their eyes. if the character hopes they reader will hope...in a dark masterpiece and I can list a few..there is hope before the final crash into despair...lift them up to the highest point and let them soar...then clip their wings and watch them plummet down.

Its called 'the set up', foreshadowing's sister. instead of showing what will happen later through a series of seemingly unimportant interactions and 'static' where it later manifests into core plot devices..the set up literally is a land mine to set the reader into thinking everything is going to turn out just fine in the end. It is also a series of easily ignored things such as the tone of the tale getting lighter as it progresses, often done with humor or the move shown in ch 3 'the turn around' where a main character turns fear into courage and stops running..the last stand move often inspires a sense of excitement in the reader as they start thinking as they read about how they are going to escape the rainbow factory and RD will either meet justice or will be saved as well.

most of ch3 has been a set up,the characters are developing more and more and we see a remorseful side of rainbow dash who is desperately clinging onto anything she can to remain loyal. and now from what I see one of two possible end games..the set up follows through and the readers hopes prevail and a semi goodish ending will come forth,I say semi here due to the content of rainbow factory those kids will be more than mentally broken for all time due to this.

Or....

The song rings true....
Not a single soul gets through.

[Moon Mist]

this may have been a typo i guess, and your pre-readers may not have caught this, but in the 5th or 6th break in this sentence,

Cloud went through the actions, clearing the vent in an area void of workers--as far as she could tell from the screen, anyways--and watching as hundreds of gallons of some off-white sludge slid grotesquely out of the opened valve and through the grating hidden by fog.

i think you meant to have used Gentle in place of Cloud because you weren't dealing with Cloud Cover at that point in time. All in all, i'm loving this story. just thought i would drop that, weather or not it is important.

[AuroraDawn]

2101056

Nice catch.

There's been times where I went a month or two between sentences. A common problem I'd fight was trying to remember my own fucking characters XD

[whitewingedquetzalcoatl]

"This isn't Applewood!" best line ever.

[Zoegrace1]

Well, as much as this is a awesome story, and so far Cloud and Corona have avoided being ground into rainbows, I have this weird feeling that since 'not a single soul gets through' the Rainbow Factory, that JUST as they escape, Rainbow Dash finds them, at the door, and then they end up as Rainbows. Hopefully not, because that ending would be a good ending, but I think you might end up with annoyed angry people! Otherwise the story is great!

[Dapurple]

That computer reminds me of the one from Courage the Cowardly Dog. Intentional?

[Crimson Quill]

Oh my, I loved the first Rainbow Factory, but this is something else entirely! 5/5 goggles for you sir!
But seriously, Corona and Cloud can get out that easily. I reckon confrontation with dash, goes bad, then Absentia appears, Is actually Scootaloo, and then Dash has (another?) emotional breakdown, and then something else happens! Once again, great read, certainly one of the best, and so good I'm not bothered about the grammatical errors...

[New moon]

This is awsome! Question, Apsentia is scoots right?

[FanofAwesomeness]

Am I the only one who notice the 'I-Robot' reference in here? "rules of robotics" and "I can’t cause harm to equines" are practically a direct reference.

[Sinful Pickle]

2177962
No. It's not like it's specifically stated that she has an orange coat and purple eyes or anything.

[NicholasLikesPoniez]

Despite the fact I'm terrible at reading long stories, this story is just a fucking masterpiece so far

[Twisted Code]

2082228 They man those wretched machines day in day out...

[Twisted Code]

I love that snarky computer. It's almost as funny as GLaDOS....
"Two plus two is *pulsing static* 10... IN BASE FOUR. I'M FINE!"
Compared to
"ENTER COMMAND> SHUT DOWN
SHUT UP. ENTER COMMAND>"

[YourLocalFaxMachine]

2199448

And the fact that she said she was like a sister to Dash, and that she was a failure to Dash, and she had a mad fit of screaming because of her latest memories of Dash...

Yeah, it's Scoots

[RainbowFactoryMare]

I honestly expected to find out why she was yelling NO DASH NO with more conviction but i mean besides a couple parts a little rushed it was amazing then theres the end...

[Death The Kid]

I love this story.

[playnwin]

Is it bad that, at this point, I'm rooting for Rainbow Dash?

[AisheyruFox]

Eeyup, I knew it was Scootaloo. Poor thing. Frick this is a good story. :D