> The Factory > by The Dashie > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 1. The Wish > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anyone who knows me knows that I like the My Little Pony franchise. They still make fun of me though. Even my best friend, Pinkroluei, or Pineh as we call him, still gives me a hard time about it. What’s weird is, he’s from Africa and somehow he’s a brony too. Why he gives me a hard time I don’t know, but anyway. It had been a year and a half since I became a brony and people still give me a really hard time about it. My parents were no different. They sent me to seminars about how to “man up” and how to “fight against your girly nature”. I’m 17; I don’t need to be told that I need to man up. So what if I like a show that was originally designed for girls. So what if it’s considered “un-manly” to watch a show about talking ponies that discover the great lessons of how to treat others or how to be a better person. Does that make me “un-manly” to want to learn how to be a better person? Anyway, my name is Dash, which doesn’t help my standpoint because of the fact that one of the main characters of the show is named Rainbow Dash. Most people just call me “Rainbow” now. Before everyone knew I was a brony, my life was the best: I had the best grades in my class, I was starting QB of the school’s varsity team, and I had a beautiful girlfriend; pretty much the American adolescent boy dream. Then my little sister, Susie, or as I would know her, Scootabrat, because she was always getting on my nerves, found me watching the show one night and decided to go and leak it on Facebook. Everything went downhill from there: I was kicked off the team, my girlfriend broke up with me, and everyone started to tease me, which caused my grades to drop severely. However, I was able to meet some guys who shared my interest for the show, and in the most coincidental way possible, they all had names that sounded like the name from the characters of the show. There was Pineh (Pinkie Pie), as was previously mentioned, and then there was Jack (Applejack), Twymond (Twilight Sparkle), Raferty (Rarity), and Malisty (Fluttershy), and what makes it even crazier was that they even had personalities almost identical to the characters: Pineh was a party animal, Jack was a “Honest Abe”, Twymond was a complete book worm, but my superior in academics, Raferty was a snob, but very giving of himself, and Malisty was the shy guy in the corner, but was a volunteer at the animal hospital down the street from his house. Somehow, even though I had teased the people who had openly admitted to being bronies until I became one myself, they still hung out with me, and I, along with my friends and Malisty’s parents, are the only ones who know what Malisty’s voice sounds like since we are the only guys he talks to. Anyway, that’s the basics of my life. There is one day that sticks out in my mind and that’s the day that everything changed. It was a normal old Monday morning; nothing special right? It was math and elective day so it would have been a very easy day for me: I would cruise through SAT Math, breeze through Calculus I, have fun arguing in Debate and blast through tutorials and I was home free. Well, it didn’t work that way. We had gotten a new student named Reingo. Anyone with a pulse and at least two brains cells could tell that he was not exactly the most social of people or the best looking for that matter; he always wore a hood, he had one seriously deformed back, he had the creepiest voice, and on the top of the cake, he would sometimes walk on all fours like it was normal, and when someone saw him do it, he would simply get upright and walk right again. I had a lot of suspicions of this guy, but so did everyone else, so I didn’t do anything rash. The thing that got me though was that he would always want to sit next to me at lunch, in class, in study hall; if there were seats, he wanted the ones next to mine. He would always just stare at me, or at least I think he was because he could have been staring into outer space, and then start to take notes. He would sometimes fumble the pencil or pen he was using, and on one occasion I caught him using his mouth to write. I may have done some weird stuff, but that doesn’t even seem possible, if you ask me. Anyway, that one Monday morning, he was up to his old antics again; the usual staring at me, taking notes about me, sitting next to me thing, but he had drawn the attention of Lance, the new starting QB for the school’s varsity team, and apparently Lance wanted to stir some fire. He came up to me during lunch and said, “Hey Rainbow, why don’t you tell that loser to get lost, or do you like the attention of losers?” “I don’t care if he sits by me and takes notes about me as long as he doesn’t bother me, which he hasn’t.” I replied back, but then he really got me by saying, “Maybe you should just go to Oquestmia, or whatever that place is called and be with your little pony friends there.” Now I may be tough, but Lance was definitely stronger than me. I, however, didn’t care and landed one right on his cheek. That lit his flame and he charged me up like a bull. My friends had seen what happened and attempted to come to my aid, but without missing a beat, Reingo comes in and stops them, and basically leaves Lance to do as he pleased. I got good two or three licks before a teacher came and stopped the fight. I got three-days suspension because I made the first strike and Lance got two days for retaliating. I went through the rest of the day and was on my way home, when out of nowhere came Reingo. He came up and looked like he wanted to talk but I didn’t so I pushed him aside. The freakiest thing occurred at that moment; I had shoved him at least 3 feet in the opposite direction then started sprinting, but in some miraculous way he jumped up at least fifteen feet in the air after making one of the most realistic horse neighs and landed on all fours right in front of me and stood up. How that was even possible, I couldn’t discern, but it just didn’t seem possible. He had a look of horror on his face like he did something he wasn’t supposed to. He didn’t say anything but just started walking away. I went home that night with more and more questions about that Reingo character. Some included, “How the heck could this guy jump fifteen feet in the air, land on all fours, and not be dead or alien?”and “If he is actually able to do that and I wasn’t just imagining the whole ordeal, what is he taking or doing to where he is able to do that?” These questions just racked my brain and the more I thought of it, the more it seemed like Reingo might not be all that human. I decided to confront him about it tomorrow because I still had a lot on my mind as it is: I had to tell my parents that I had gotten suspended for three days for starting a fight and I know that wouldn’t be very happy that I had started a fight. As soon as I got home, I told them and at first they started to yell at me, but then they started acting nice and my dad said, “Well at least your growing out of that girly phase of yours, and three days could get you some needed relaxation time or if you wanted you could come help me at the shop.” (Dad was a gun shop owner). I declined his offer to work at his shop and said that I just wanted to be alone. At least I got the suspension thing off my mind. Now I have three days to think about Reingo. I went out of my window to my little private place of the roof. I usually do all my thinking and planning here, and me and my friends sometimes come up here when we hang out. Well I was thinking long and hard about Reingo, and about my life as it stands, and about what Lance had said at lunch. “Maybe you should just go to Oquestmia, or whatever that place is called and be with your little pony friends there.” If only it was that easy. It would be better to just go to the great land of Equestria and just live in harmony with all the ponies there and never have to worry about criticism, but seeing as that would be virtually impossible because of the fact that Equestria is a fictional place, I would have to deal with it. It was after a little while that I remembered that there was going to a meteor shower that night. I went inside and got my snacks, and sat there for about an hour or so. When it finally got dark, I saw a single star go by, then three more, then a whole river of stars went hurtling by like the sky was on big race track and the stars were having some sort of celestial 5k run. It was beautiful, but then I thought, “Hey, it wouldn’t hurt to wish.” I wished that I could go to the land of Equestria and not have to worry about people putting me down because of the fact that I’m a brony. I knew it wouldn’t mean much, but at least I have something to keep me going. It was about 11:30 when the shower ended, so I just took a quick shower of my own and went to bed. I had the weirdest dream that night: I was walking around in some random open field; nothing in sight for miles and miles except open field. No hills either just plain flat field. Then out of the sky Reingo and about three other guys that looked like Reingo came falling down on the ground, landed on all fours and stood up. Then in unison started singing, “Now a rainbow's tale isn't quite as nice as the story we knew of sugar and spice, but a rainbow's easy once you get to know it with the help of the magic of a pegasus device. Let's delve deeper into rainbow philosophy far beyond that of Cloudsdale’s mythology. It's easy to misjudge that floating city with its alluring decor and social psychology, but with all great things comes a great responsibility, that of Cloudsdale's being weather stability. ‘How’, you ask, ‘are they up to the task?’ To which the answer is in a simple facility. In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true, in the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through.” While they are singing this I’m running for my life, but while I’m running I look back and see Reingo and his doppelgangers are growing wings, with which they use to follow me with. I was running and running for what seemed like forever and all the while the flying Reingos were singing their song about something called a Rainbow Factory and that apparently it was a horror house because your fears came true and “not a single soul gets through”. When they finally finish their song, I woke up in a random park, and from the sun I can tell it’s about 7:30. I wonder to myself if I might have sleep walked all the way to a park, but that wasn’t my main thought. My main thought was why I couldn’t recognize the park I was in when I woke up. I looked around for some street lights or something, but there was nothing in sight but some trees and a road that led through the park. It was weird that I couldn’t recognize the park because even if I had sleep walked all the way to a park, I could pretty much map out the town around my house for about 50 miles. All the parks in my mental map did not have any resemblance to the one I was currently in. The only thing I could do was follow the road and see where it went. As I followed the road, I began to see houses and farms and such. I also started to see some horses with very big eyes walking around, as if they were animated in real life, and I had some suspicions when I thought I heard one talk. As I continued on the road, there were more houses and horses with huge anime eyes, and now some had horns and some had wings. I thought I might still be dreaming because it was almost like Equestria with unicorns and pegasi. I went along with the thought that I was dreaming so that when I heard some quiet whispers, I wouldn’t take notice to them since I was dreaming. I thought since this was a dream, I would visit Twilight’s place because, hey, what brony wouldn’t? I kept walking through town and finally found the library where Twilight lives. I politely knocked on the door, and when she came to the door, she flipped out, rushed me in and started to ask questions like, “What are you?”, “Where are you from?”, “How come I’ve never seen your species before?”, etc. I gladly answered all her questions to the best of my ability, because she asked some very specific questions such as, “If you’re a human and I’ve never seen your kind before, how is it that you are able to stand on two hooves, or hands in your case?” Needless to say I could only tell her that as babies, humans learn to walk of two feet, not hands, and then start to learn to run and so on. She was very fascinated by my answers because after each question I answered, she would jot something down then look at me with awe, then ask me her next question. This process went by for what seemed like hours, and at the end of it, I told her goodbye, since I still thought this was a dream. She said, “If this really is just a dream to you, then let’s preform an experiment.” Then out of nowhere she hit me in the arm with her hoof, to which flinched and asked what she did that for. She then concluded that since I had felt pain that I was not dreaming. I had a similar plan and pinched her. She asked why I did that, and I concluded that if I had been dreaming that she would melt away. She nodded and agreed, but I didn’t care, because I had one small predicament I had at the moment. I WAS IN EQUESTRIA TALKING TO TWILIGHT SPARKLE! All the bronies in the world would give an arm and a leg and maybe even more just to be in the position I was in for even ten minutes! I was in the land that bronies dreamed of and I thought I was following suite by dreaming of it, but no, I’m actually in Equestria. I tried my hardest not to show it, but I was flipping out in my head. I mean, ya I’m a normally serious guy, but come on. Who wouldn’t be totally stoked that they were standing not only in front of a fictional character, but a fictional character of a mass cult to which some of the followers are brainless idiots over. This was probably the only moment in history both past and future where a human being was able to go to a mystical land that shouldn’t even exist. Even if you were to think of the multiverse theory that states that there might be other universes, how would I be able to get from mine to that of the My Little Pony universe? It would take millions upon millions of millennia just to find even one other universe if more than one even existed. Anyway, though this was running in my head, I thought it would be nice to introduce myself. “I’m Dash, and I’m from a place called Earth. No need to introduce yourself, Twilight Sparkle, personal protégé to the great Princess Celestia and representative of the element of magic.” She had her mouth open by the end of it and asked how I knew so much about her, and I said that from my world, there is a television show about her and her friends as they discover the magics of friendship. She then asked what a television was, and for about 3 hours I was explaining pretty much everything that I knew about the history of humans, and later in about the show itself. She seemed fascinated when I got to the part about how the “audience” of the show knew almost everything about all of her friends and of the other ponies in Equestria. She would jot down more notes and just look in awe with the vast amount of knowledge I knew of Equestria. She quizzed me at the end of pretty much anything having to do with her friends, and I’m 100 percent sure some of those questions were for personal gain. At the end, she told me if I needed a place to stay, that I was welcome in the library. As if on cue, Pinkie Pie just barged in and started to ask Twilight if she would mind organizing a birthday party for Rainbow Dash, when she suddenly saw me, and did her trademark gasp, and ran off. I knew what was gonna happen, and I knew it would be good. Twilight knew this too as she started to talk about how Pinkie Pie was gonna throw a big party for me because I was new to Ponyville, and she wanted me to have lots of friends, to which I stopped her and told her I already knew. I thought of where the party would be, and Twilight must have had the same thought and we both decided that it might as well be at Sugar Cube Corner. We went outside and saw it was dark, so we didn’t take our time in getting over to the shop. As soon as we walked in the door, “Surprise!”, and there I see Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, who didn’t seem to notice me come in, and all the ponies in Ponyville or the ones who cared to be out this late at night. Everyone was just staring at me with blank faces and everything was silent for a good 5 seconds, then Pinkie Pie said, “Welcome to Ponyville! I’ve never seen anything like you so I thought, ‘maybe that thing doesn’t have any friends’ and that’s I went ‘hhhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuu’ which was when I came here and started to make a really awesome party for you so that you wouldn’t feel all lonely. I should probably introduce you to my friends. You probably know Twilight since you were in her library with her, but here’s…”, but I stopped her and named her friends and their elements, including Pinkie Pie’s. That again caused silence, but after a while she wanted to know how I knew all of those things, to which Twilight gave a basic summarization of what I told her that took about 10 minutes to describe, and while she told the summarization, all the ponies in the store came around me and Twilight to listen and hear more about who I was and where I came from, and how I knew so much about everybody. I was just looking around and seeing all the faces with their eyes on me with awe, when I then saw Rainbow Dash just sitting alone in the corner, or floating as it would be, and as soon as Twilight had finished her summery, before any questions were asked to me, I gently walked over to her and said hello. The moment she saw my face, she…flipped…out. The look on her face was like I was the man about to kill her and she had no way of defending herself. She screamed at the top of her lungs, “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here! How did you get here? Look, I know you probably hate me, but it was just what I was told to do, Dash.” “Hate you? Why would I hate you? In fact you’re probably my favorite of all your friends and… Wait I didn’t introduce myself yet to you.” She looked serious for a second, and then said, “You haven’t figured it out yet have you? Well I can add awesome impersonator to my list of things I’m good at.” “What do you mean?” She looked almost amused. “You seriously don’t recognize me? You don’t remember me jumping at least fifteen feet in the air after giving that neigh. You don’t remember me holding your friends back while I let Lance beat you to a pulp. Dash, lemme tell ya something you might find a shock: You might call me Rainbow Dash, but you would better know me as Reingo.” A little spark went off in my brain and in the timespan of about five seconds, it all came together. The deformed back, the antisocialism, the walking on all fours, the neigh, the jump: it was her and I didn’t even know. That spark, however, turned into a fire aimed at Rainbow Dash. “How could you? Even after I stuck up for you after Lance called you a loser, even when it really bothered me when you would always sit right next to me, even when you would stare at me and take notes, which embarrassed me to new heights because everyone thought you were stalking me. How could you do that to me?!” It was then that I charged head long at her, pinned her against the wall and held her there. Twilight intervened and said, “Dash, Rainbow Dash, what is going on between you two? Have you two met before?” Rainbow Dash was the first to the first stab at that one. “Ya I knew him before he even got here. Ya see, I had gotten some orders from my boss at the weather factory to take a survey on humans. He told me they were on a planet called Earth. I didn’t know what they were, but I gladly took the task. I didn’t know how to get there so I got asked for help from some of the guys in Cloudsdale to help me get to the planet Earth, which was wayyyyyy across the universe, according to my boss. Apparently, the only way there without having to cross a lot of ground was through magic. Now as everypony knows, pegasi can’t use magic. Well I got one of the guys to order a magic amulet that allows anypony to teleport to wherever they wanted to and back but only got to spend one month in the place they went to. Well I used it to get to earth, and I then made a disguise of a human teenage boy, and went to the high school that Dash went to. I heard about Dash and thought to myself, ‘Let’s see if this Dash is like The Dash.’ From what I saw, he was a lot like me: a great athlete, loyal to his friends, willing to stand up against those of greater power. He was my equal in human form. It was until he got to be labeled as something called a “brony” that he started to change. He didn’t play football anymore, he didn’t have his friend around, that by the way, spent a lot of time together (she was referring to my girlfriend), he was being teased about being a brony, whatever that is, and I even heard some people call him “Rainbow”. I didn’t understand why they did this, until I secretly snuck into one of the meetings he had with his friends. They were talking about us, guys. They were talking about how each of us had certain personalities and greatnesses, and other stuff like that. It was amazing how much they knew about us. That’s about the time when poor old Dash got picked on by Lance at lunch, and when he started to fight Lance, and when I stopped his friends from helping him. Dash, I know you must hate me for doing that, but I had to survey everything about humans, and that was too important not to see: The physical violence you showed towards each other. I wanted so bad to just shove my hind hooves in that guys face, then run back home, but I had my job to do. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt you, which is why, on the day I was to go home, I was going to tell you who I was, but you pushed me away. I was so mad at myself I couldn’t help but let out a neigh and jump to confront you, but I couldn’t. Not after what I had done to you. So I just left you alone. It was about 10:30 that I saw the meteor shower. It was beautiful. I mean we have meteor showers here, don’t get me wrong, but they are nothing compared to the one of your world. In ours, it’s only in one section in the sky and only last for about 15 minutes, but yours was all over the sky and it lasted for about an hour. It was marvelous and I could feel my heart racing, yearning to join those stars in their race across the sky, but I couldn’t. It was in the middle of the shower that I went by your house where you sometimes hang out with your friends. I saw how you looked at the sky the same way I did and I heard you wish upon the stars of wanting to come to Equestria and wanting to escape the criticism for being a brony. I knew how you felt and how it must hurt to be criticized for being a brony, whatever that might be. I knew that the pain of also being beaten up in front of a large crowd. I wanted to take away your pain. I wanted to tell you everything but then my amulet started acting up and took me home. When I got home, my boss questioned me about what happened, and I told him about you. After that is a blur, but I somehow was at my house in Cloudsdale and then today happened. Please forgive me Dash; I’m so sorry I did what I did.” The story was a lot to sink in. I had been watched by my favorite of all the ponies, and I didn’t even know it. I was being surveyed and didn’t have a clue about it. I was sitting by the pony I most represented as her, ”equal in human form”, and only saw her as an antisocial human teenage boy. It was such a shock to me, and I’m sure to Twilight and everyone else in the room. It was both nullified my anger at Rainbow Dash and made me wonder why her boss would want me surveyed. It didn’t make sense, but I didn’t want a perfectly good party to go to waste, so I simply said, “Rainbow Dash, I forgive you. Now isn’t this supposed to be a party? Let’s have some fun!” At this Pinkie Pie brought out Vinyl Scratch, a pony who was supposed to be the DJ of the party, and the party livened up. I got to have chats with all of Twilight’s friends: With Rarity, I got to talk about the elegance of America and all the other countries on Earth, and she seemed drawn into every word I said. She asked if she could make me a suit, and not willing to look a gift horse, or in this case, pony, in the mouth, I accepted her offer. I got to talk about parties with Pinkie Pie and how they were sometimes very wild on Earth. She asked me for tips, and I gave my party dude’s motto: If I spike the punch, you’ll lose your lunch, but spike me back, then the party is whack. She seemed to love my motto and started telling everyone about it. Applejack told me all about Sweet Apple Acres and how she would work for all the apples in Ponyville. I told her that I had to work to keep good grades. She didn’t seem to care till I mentioned football. Man, was she into football. It took me about 20 minutes just to explain the game to her. At the end she asked me if I would be willing to show her how to play it, to which I gave the old spit-shake to acknowledge that I would. My talk with Fluttershy was longer than I expected because if I know anything on Fluttershy, it’s that she’s , well, shy. However, she took the initiative to learn more about me and what kinds of animals there were in my world. I told her of birds and lions and tigers and all sorts of animals. When I got to horses, she seemed a bit intrigued that there were ponies that couldn’t speak, use magic, or fly. I had a good time talking to her because she was the nicest about me being human. If I had to have my guess, it seemed like she liked me a lot, which I thought was nice. I had talked more with Twilight because she wanted to know if there were any types of magic in my world. I told her that any magic we had was mainly smoke and mirrors, but that nature itself seemed kind of magical. She asked who raised the sun and moon. I told her that the Earth rotates around the Sun and the moon is a satellite to the Earth and that nobody raised it; it just came as the Earth turned towards the Sun. She didn’t seem to believe me and said that there must be someone else behind the Sun’s rise and fall, but she didn’t press the matter. Finally, I got to Rainbow Dash. She didn’t seem to want to even look at me, she felt so ashamed, or so I guessed. I told her that I forgave her and it was probably for the best that she didn’t reveal herself to me. That seemed to get her attention. She told me, “Hey, you know something Dash? Your one pretty cool guy. Tell ya what? I’ll take you on a tour through Cloudsdale and the weather factory where I work. How’s that sound?” I gladly accepted and asked when we would go. She said after everyone left. I told her that was cool and then enjoyed the best party of my life. I taught the ponies how to shuffle, how to do the cat-daddy, how to dougie, and more. The party got even crazier when Pinkie had decided to take my advice, and spike the punch with some sort of potion she got from Twilight. Everyone was all happy all of the sudden and that’s where I blacked out. After about 5 hours of sleep, it was about 6 in the morning and Rainbow Dash was knocked out cold. I thought I would wake her up so she could take me to Cloudsdale. When I woke her up, she seemed a little too groggy for just a night of partying. It looked like she was like a zombie: Only able to talk in grunts, but after a while she came to and she agreed to take me to Cloudsdale. On our way there, she started talking in a quiet voice about how great Cloudsdale was and how prestigious it was. After a while, she got quiet and I asked about the weather factory and what it was like. She seemed to flinch at the question but she said it was a great place. She told me she was sorry. I was asking her why she was sorry, but I had a sudden sharp pain to my head, and I saw only darkness. > 2. The Factory > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When I wake up I have no idea where I am. All I know is that wherever I was it was dark and damp and very ominous. Then around me I hear booms and hissing and screaming, but the worst part of all, is I hear that retched song from my dreams: the song about the Rainbow Factory. I then hear some screams and crying and begging, “Please let me go, I’ll try better next time, but please let me go” to which I then hear a slicing sound and then silence except for the sound of the booms and hissing. Then it repeats again and again and again for about 20 minutes, and the whole time, somebody is singing that dreadful song. I look around to see that my eyes have better adjusted to the dark, and as I look around, I feel like I’m in a horror movie and I’m the helpless civilian who is about to be murdered. I see blood everywhere, posters that were advertising the Rainbow Factory, but were changed by what I guessed as one of the victims to where it originally said, “The Rainbow Factory; Everypony can help us” to which it now it only said, ”Help us.” This was so freaky and I was about to start calling for help, when a bright light shined down on me. I didn’t know who it was from, but obviously, they wanted me to be known to another person above them. When I looked a little closer, I saw that the person holding the light was a pegasus who was accompanied by a pegasus that looked like a mad scientist and, to my greatest horror, Rainbow Dash. She looked like she had been hit with water, but the water was rainbow-dyed. I didn’t know how to explain this, but I had more on my mind at the time. Why was Rainbow Dash with these crazy pegasi who were killing innocent ponies for no reason? She was just standing there on the platform like she was amongst friends. “Run, Rainbow Dash, before they get you too. I don’t care what happens to me, just save yourself.” She didn’t even flinch at that plea. She didn’t move a muscle. “What are you waiting for? Run!” At this the Einstein of pegasi started to laugh. “She isn’t your friend anymore. She is under my control now.” I yelled back, “Who are you and what have you done to Rainbow Dash? For that matter, why am I in the Rainbow Factory and why are you chopping up innocent ponies for no reason?” He laughed again and said,” Well, well, well. Isn’t someone a little rash? Ok I’ll tell, but it won’t matter anyway. The person I am currently impersonating is Dr. Atmosphere, but you, Mr. Dash, might know me as Discord, god of chaos. When it comes to Rainbow Dash, I simply hypnotized her into doing my will. You see in her story to you, do you remember that after she got back was a blur? Well that was when I killed Dr. Atmosphere, and Rainbow Dash had seen me do it. She charged at me but to no avail. I simply captured her before she reached me and gave her the order to meet you at Ponyville, and while you were walking on the path towards Cloudsdale, I told her to bring you to the Rainbow Factory. On that note, how is it that you came to know of the Rainbow Factory?” I told him, “ I had once had a dream in which Rainbow Dash, when she was disguised as a teenage boy, had four copies of herself dropping from the sky and started singing about a place called the Rainbow Factory and that its where your fears and horrors come true and that not a single soul get through.” He smiled then said, “Oh that little jingle. I wrote that myself. Do you like it because I think it could use a little more death involved instead of just the basics of the factory.” “I think you’re out of your mind, which comes to the fact that you haven’t answered my last question. Why are you chopping up innocent ponies for no reason?” he smiled then laughed then answered,” Well, I won’t deny that we chop up ponies, but it isn’t for no reason. In your world, rainbows are explained as refraction of light through water in the sky, but in Equestria, we have different rules. However, that is a story I want to explain with visual sights and proofs. I would like you to see the factory, whether you want to or not. I want you to see every gruesome aspect of this establishment and I want you to be the first human to see it with their own eyes.” As we walked by, he showed me every single aspect of the factory, from where the rainbows are made, to where they slice into the ponies and harvested some rainbow like fluid, which I’m guessing was what Rainbow Dash was splotched with. He then went on to show me where this liquid is produced and that is was called spectra. He then went on to tell me that it was the essence of the rainbow, or that curtain ingredient that makes rainbows colorful instead of plain boring black and white and that the only way to obtain it was through ponies and the emotions they have, “because,” and he stressed this, “spectra was the emotions of ponies but in a beautiful assortment.” Apparently, red represented anger, orange represented pride, yellow represented fear, green represented happiness, blue represented sadness, and purple represented greed. He went on to mention that in a most recent time, while he was alive, Dr. Atmosphere had discovered that humans could produce 3 times the amounts ponies could because of the resources they had around them, as he had learned under Discord’s control. “Then why did you kill him if he was doing exactly what you wanted him to?” I said in the middle of his explanation. He simply smiled and said, “Because he had found a way to resist my spell. You see Dash I can keep a man under my spell indefinitely and they can see what going on around them but only when I can entice them with a certain motive. For Dr. Atmosphere, that was the continuation of the success of the weather factory. He wanted the weather factory to be more than what it was. The previous method was gathering certain things that had the colors of the rainbow, but it was not giving the result he wanted. He would sometimes to go out into the field and help with the gathering of the materials himself. He would be spending days upon weeks and months to find a faster way to create rainbows, at which time I then proceeded to control his mind. It was only until Dr. Atmosphere resisted against it that I had to kill him since he was resisting. You see I can only hold the spell as long as the person is satisfied with what I am doing with their bodies and words. He didn’t like what I was doing so naturally I had to kill him so he wouldn’t leek about me controlling him. I know what you are thinking and the only reason Rainbow Dash isn’t out of my spell is because I told her I would kill you if she resisted.” I was curious to push that point. “So if she was under your spell, why did she need you?” “Oh I don’t know, she just loved this one human boy.” I was shocked. “What?” “Throw him away!” I was then carried away by Rainbow Dash, who, on a closer speculation, had cried a single rainbow colored tear. > 3. The Friendship > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Screw it. Finished the chapter just now, hope you guys love it. I couldn’t believe it. Rainbow Dash liked me. No, not like, love; she loved me! It was inconceivable. A pony from a mystical land loved an ordinary old human that couldn’t fly, use magic, or walk on all fours. I was having this thought racing in my mind when I found that I was not alone. Across the cell I was in was the flyer of the Cutie Mark Crusaders; the rebellious Scootaloo. If I was Rainbow Dash’s number one fan, then Scootaloo was the hipster for Rainbow Dash, the person who liked her before she was popular. Scootaloo was Rainbow Dash’s pony number one fan, but as I saw her she looked like she would rather avoid me at all possible intervals. In fact, she looked like she wanted to avoid any contact with anyone or anything. I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t fighting against the evil that imprisoned her and trying to escape. I went to talk to her, but she only avoided me and went deeper into the corner with every step I took towards her. “You don’t need to fear me, Scootaloo. I’m not gonna hurt you. My name is Dash.” She replied in a mildly-aggressive tone, “H-how did you know my name?” I took pity on her and sat where I was. “I’m from a place called earth and I know about you and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and everyone else from Ponyville. I know that you are very rebellious, which reminds me, why do you not fight against this imprisonment and try to escape?” She replied in a very sober manner,” Because I would eventually run into Rainbow Dash, and I don’t want to fight her. She was my couch for a flight test we have here in Cloudsdale.” “Flight test? What does that test serve?” I asked her. “It has two purposes; the first is to show how good a flier you are, but it also tells if you will contribute to Cloudsdale in a positive manner. If you fail the test you get sent here to learn your lesson. The only thing is nopony knows that the lesson we learn here is how to choose last words to where they mean something. They think we come here to learn how to contribute to Cloudsdale’s society and if we can’t, we are then forced to work in the factory so that we can contribute to society in a way that doesn’t involve flying or other tasks they think might be strenuous to us. The only one to escape this fate was Fluttershy, and that’s because she never came to take her test and decided to live in Ponyville. Everypony in Cloudsdale knows that if she had come to take her test; she would have been in a rainbow by now.” “Wait, Fluttershy herself would be in a rainbow? I thought that they only extract it through cutting them only and drained the spectra from them.” She looked grim in her answer. “Well in most cases, but if the pony is too much of one of the types of spectra, they just put you in a grinder and get the full thing from each color. Fluttershy would have too much fear in her, so they would have to grind her in order to get the full thing.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I can somewhat understand slicing and harvesting, but grinding? That’s total mutilation! It’s downright barbaric, if not psychotic, and to think that I used to envy the rainbows in Equestria because they looked so much fuller and brighter. I wouldn’t want to even look at a rainbow in Equestria after this. I actually would be sick if I looked at any rainbow now. I asked her how long she had been here. “I’ve been here a month and a half, according to Discord.” She chuckled then finished, “but it doesn’t matter. I probably won’t get killed but I will be imprisoned here till I die. I wonder why they have you though.” I had a questioning feeling about what she said. “So wait you have been here for a month and a half and you still haven’t been chopped up or grinded. Why is it they haven’t gotten you?” “It’s because of Discord’s spell. Rainbow Dash would fight the spell if it was that I died. She and I had a special relationship before I failed my test: She was my couch for the test, and she drilled me every day on the essential skills needed to pass the test, but in the end I failed her. I was taken to the factory, which was about when Discord got control of her. Rainbow Dash didn’t want me to die. So Discord took that as an advantage and got control of her and here I am, being a weapon against my best friend and mentor.” “Wait, Discord told me that it was because of me that she was not resisting. He told me that she loved me, and not in a protective way. I mean real love, like true love.” She seemed shocked at this. “Rainbow Dash loves you? That doesn’t even seem possible, no offense.” “None taken and I thought the same thing. How, or for that point, why would the best pegasus in the world love a human that couldn’t fly, use magic, or for the least of reason, that isn’t a pony?” She nodded in agreement. “She is the best and it is true that you are just a normal human. Well anyway all that awaits us is to sit here and become a hold point for Discord to use.” It was about that point that a hook grabbed me and took me away. “Dash, no!” I was about to say I’ll be alright, but then I thought it wouldn’t make her feel any better, and at that moment I was strapped up to a table and below me I see the dead remains of all the ponies that had the spectra cut out of them. It was horrible because they were all grey and colorless. It looked like any color besides grey had been drained from them. The air was permeated with the laughter of Discord. “Well here we are. Now we get to see if the theory was right. We will get to try a smaller knife to get the spectra from your veins. Imagine this as one of your normal checkups, except instead of needle, we’re using a magic knife, and instead of a little prick, it will hurt like nothing else.” I then see a knife come towards my arm. It comes in direct contact with my arm, and the visions that ensued were like nothing that anyone had ever experienced, except for the ponies that have been through this before they died. I heard Discord’s voice saying that they wouldn’t kill me, just get spectra to the point right before I would die. The visions were horrifying. I could see the countless ponies’ point of view right before they were cut by a similar knife. They all had screams and shrieks of pain and horror, it was unbearable. I wanted to die just so it would end, but the visions soon ended and the pain started to subside. “I’ll never submit again. I’ll show pure anger towards you. You’ll have to grind me in order to get anything out of me, and then Rainbow Dash will kick your ass!” He laughed maniacally, and then stopped suddenly, but with a big smile on his face. “Well it seems the theory was wrong. From what we got from you, you could produce enough spectra to replace 50 ponies, and we only got it from your arm! You truly are special Dash. The good thing is we won’t have to harvest from you for about a month at a time, so you’ll get used to it.” I was amused at his ignorance. “You don’t get it do you? I…Won’t…Submit! You will have to grind me to get anything out of me!” He laughed that same crazy man’s laughter. “Oh I think you will, because I can still butcher little old Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash still won’t resist because of her love for you. It quiet sad really; I could kill either one of you and poor Rainbow Dash would have to see you die, but of course she wouldn’t resist because she would want the other to live. Well if I let anyone live, it’ll be you because of the fact that when it comes to productivity, you are worth her a thousand times over. That and Rainbow Dash has deeper feelings for you. So sad really, that one of you has to die, but I’ll make it a bit more even for you. How about this: If you give me the spectra I need, I won’t kill Scootaloo.” I couldn’t resist throwing up in my mouth a little then swallowing it.”You’re a monster, you know that Discord? You are truly the stain on Life’s perfect record.” He smiled and chuckled to himself. “Well, my name is Discord. What did you expect?” He then told the pegasus operating the crank to put me back in the cage with Scootaloo in it. I swore at him to the point of being a sailor and he seemed shocked by that. Once I was back in my cage with Scootaloo, she came up to me. “What happened? What did he do to you?” I didn’t know if I looked grim, but I didn’t care; I felt grim “He first sliced my arm and took some spectra. I saw some really jacked up stuff while that knife was at my arm, taking the spectra out of my body. Here is where they got…” I looked at my arm and it looked horrible. It looked grey and very shriveled. It looked like someone had taken the part of arm that got cut open and replaced it with that of an old man. It was crazy. She seemed to think so too. “I’ve seen raisins and Dash, your arm looks as close to one as I’ve ever seen.” I thought so too, considering it was shriveled. “Well anyway, he also made me a deal I normally wouldn’t refuse.” “What was it?” I replied as serious as possible. “He said that if I gave him the spectra he wanted, he wouldn’t kill you.” I couldn’t help smile because I had thought of a plan. “But I won’t give him the spectra.” She seemed shocked, which quickly turned to anger. “So you’re just going to let him kill me?!” I knew she was mad because she charged at me like she was meaning to kill, even though if she did kill me, she might have been killed by Discord out of rage. “How could you just betray me like that? I thought we were friends!” I couldn’t help smiling. “You didn’t let me finish. I’m not giving him the spectra because you and me are gonna bust out of here.” > 4. The Little Flyer > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This chapter is from the view point of Scootaloo The past few months are leading up to this day. All the training and hard work are about to be tested right now. It will determine whether I become a fit member of society. “Good luck, I hope you can do well on this test.” This was what I was told by my mentor and idol, Rainbow Dash. She had been drilling me on techniques that were used to strengthen my wings, my mind, and my courage. I knew I wouldn’t let her down, even if I was nervous. I knew that I could ace this test and make Rainbow Dash proud. I was called to the starting line, and Rainbow Dash gave a wink for good luck. I came up to the starting line. “3…2…1…GO!” I went flying straight through the sky, faster than even in my practice sessions. The obstacle course was coming up and it looked hard. I got really nervous and couldn’t make it through in the way I had to. On the part we had to do a loop-de-loop to where it made a perfect circle, I made an oval. The part where we had to weave through hardened clouds without bumping them, I bumped into every single one. The final part was a final speed test, so I tried to pick up speed, but I just couldn’t see the point, so I crossed the finish line as fast as I could. When I finished, there were three judges, Dr. Atmosphere, Mayor Flashbang, and Rainbow Dash herself. I got a hoof-down from Dr. Atmosphere, but I got a hoof-up from Rainbow Dash. However it wasn’t enough, because Mayor Flashbang gave me the deciding hoof-down. It was then decided that I would go to work in the weather factory. I met with Rainbow Dash shortly after the test was over. I tried to tell her I was sorry, but she only yelled the reply, “Sorry? You’re sorry?! You complete waste of wings. Do you realize what you’ve done? You’ve just wasted all that hard work I put into you, and to think that I thought that you could have passed that test. I never should have been too overenthusiastic. I never want to see you again, Scootaloo. I never loved you.” and with that, she flew out, crying. I felt so horrible that I had made Rainbow Dash so mad at me. After about 3 days, the workers from the weather factory came and helped me move my stuff. When we came close to the weather factory, however, I saw them throw my stuff down and let it plummet towards the ground. I went to go get it, but then the two workers grabbed me out of the sudden and dragged me all the way to the factory. I screamed for help, but no one answered or came rushing in to save me and they then knocked me out. When I woke up, I was in a dark cage and my wings were restrained. I was stuck in the cage with no one around and no one to keep me company. Then out of the blue I hear a very similar voice, but it had a very demented tone to it: “Hello, little Scootaloo. How are you enjoying the factory?” It seemed too soft to be who I thought it was, but then I saw… her: Rainbow Dash with a freakish smile on her face. She came in and just looked at me as if waiting for me to respond.” I thought you didn’t want to see me ever again.” She tilted her head ever so slightly. “Why what do you mean, Scootaloo? I love everypony, because everypony can help in my master’s work.” “Your master?” It was at that moment I felt like all was bad.” I know this feeling, but it was only when…” I was thinking to myself but then I remembered. Sin had entered the room. “Yes, her master. Oh but master is not a name. You, little one, may call me Discord.” I knew it. “Discord, what did you do to Rainbow Dash?” he laughed like a crazy person for a minute then said,” Well, well, well, Miss Scootaloo. Always wanted to know things when she wants to know them. I will tell you but you might not like it. I have put Rainbow Dash under my spell. I’ve put her into a little trance, but I can’t keep her from resisting against it.” I thought about that for a second. “Then how come she’s still under your spell?” “Because in order for me to hypnotize somepony, they must have something they want to either get or keep. Rainbow knew of the weather factory and that when you failed you test, she wouldn’t be able to see you at all. It tore at her from the depths of her. So I took that as my opening to enforce my spell. I took her want for your safety to enforce my spell. She at one time took control of it and was able to side wind around it by thinking of her job here at the weather factory. However, I had taken control of her boss, Dr. Atmosphere, and I know what you thinking and yes, that is why he gave you a hoof-down at the test. He had been under my control for a long time, even before Rainbow Dash began to work at the factory. It was right after the test that Dr. Atmosphere began to resist my spell. Through him I sent Rainbow Dash to observe humans, which are a species unknown to the ponies, but I know of them almost too well. I had a theory I needed to be tested. I knew humans were special, but just how special I didn’t know. So when Rainbow Dash got back and she turned in her work, I picked the human she studied the most. From Rainbow Dash’s report, I gathered that humans had a very wide variety of emotions that they could display, so I thought why not bring a human to the Rainbow Factory and see how much I can get out of him, which reminds me. Rainbow Dash, can you mosey on down to Sugar Cube Corner and greet our friend Dash. Rainbow Dash, be sure to show surprise when you get there, though. When you arrive at the party I will allow you to be free of mind, but not of my spell. Understood?” “Yes, sir” Rainbow Dash left after this. “Wait, hold on.I don’t understand. I know it’s your nature to leave people hanging to wreak havoc amongst themselves, but I need to know. What is the Rainbow Factory, why am I in it, what is a human, what happened to Dr. Atmosphere, and low long have I been here?” He seemed serious and unwilling to tell me, but then he said,” Well if those questions are wracking your brain, then I guess it wouldn’t hurt to answer them, to an extent, of course. You’ve been out cold for a month and a half due to my magic. For your other three questions, the Rainbow Factory is a place where we take those who failed the test and make sure they help Cloudsdale maintain its rainbow production. We do this by cutting open a pegasus and harvesting a liquid called spectra which is what makes the rainbow colorful, and if they have too much of a certain emotion we grind them so they won’t be able to change during the extraction. The spectra is the concentration of emotions, so where best to get it than a living organism that can feel emotions. If you are wondering why I haven’t put you out of your misery, it’s because without you, I wouldn’t have Rainbow Dash, and without Rainbow Dash, I wouldn’t have Dash. Do you see know where you play into this? Oh and by the way, Dash will be here in a few hours. Just so you two wont plan to break out, I think I’ll give you something to mull over in your mind.” He seemed to be casting a spell, and the next thing I knew everything was cold. Nothing mattered. I felt scared of everything. Everything was scary. My own shadow looked like a monster. I didn’t know how but either he had made me like Fluttershy or he made everything else in the world scary. I went to the corner of the cage and started to ball myself up because that was the only way for me to comfort myself. A few hours later, I hear some talking and yelling then more talking. Then after about twenty minutes I heard the flapping of wings and I shove myself deeper in my corner for comfort. The next thing I know is that a tall, small-faced horse that can stand on two legs is standing right in front of me. He looked very scary and then he looked at me with curiosity. I went deeper in my corner. Then he started coming towards me. I thought they had sent this thing to kill me, but then it said in a manly voice, “You don’t have to fear me, Scootaloo. I’m not gonna hurt you. My name is Dash.” I couldn’t control my voice. “H-How do you know my name?” It came out more aggressive than simply just wanting to know the answer. He replied,”I’m from a place called Earth and I know about you and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and everyone else from Ponyville. I know that you are very rebellious, which reminds me, why do you not fight against this imprisonment and try to escape?” So this is the human that Discord mentioned. After he said what he said, it was as if life became less scary. It was like life had turned its dial back to normal. I answered his question as seriously as I could. ” Because I would eventually run into Rainbow Dash, and I don’t want to fight her. She was my couch for a flight test we have here in Cloudsdale.” He looked puzzled. “Flight test? What does that test serve?” “It has two purposes; the first is to show how good a flier you are, but it also tells if you will contribute to Cloudsdale in a positive manner. If you fail the test you get sent here to learn your lesson. The only thing is nopony knows that the lesson we learn here is how to choose last words to where they mean something. They think we come here to learn how to contribute to Cloudsdale’s society and if we can’t, we are then forced to work in the factory so that we can contribute to society in a way that doesn’t involve flying or other tasks they think might be strenuous to us. The only one to escape this fate was Fluttershy, and that’s because she never came to take her test and decided to live in Ponyville. Everypony in Cloudsdale knows that if she had come to take her test; she would have been in a rainbow by now.” He again looked puzzled. “Wait, Fluttershy herself would be in a rainbow. I thought that they only extract it through cutting them only and drained the spectra from them.” I couldn’t help but put on a frown.“Well in most cases, but if the pony is too much of one of the types of spectra, they just put you in a grinder and get the full thing from each color. Fluttershy would have too much fear in her, so they would have to grind her in order to get the full thing.” The look that came over his face was that of one who saw a murder. After a while, he asked me how long I’ve been here. “I’ve been here for about a month and a half, according to Discord, but it doesn’t matter. I probably won’t get killed but I will be imprisoned here till I die. I wonder why they have you though.” He still had a puzzled look on his face. “So wait you have been here for a month and a half and you still haven’t been chopped up or grinded. Why is it they haven’t gotten you?” “It’s because of Discord’s spell. Rainbow Dash would fight the spell if it was that I died. She and I had a special relationship before I failed my test: She was my couch for the test, and she drilled me every day on the essential skills needed to pass the test, but in the end I failed her. I was taken to the factory, which was about when Discord got control of her. Rainbow Dash didn’t want me to die. So Discord took that as an advantage and got control of her and here I am, being a weapon against my best friend and mentor.” The puzzled look didn’t change. “Wait, Discord told me that it was because of me that she was not resisting. He told me that she loved me, and not in a protective way. I mean real love, like true love.” That took me way off guard. At first, I thought he was lying. “Rainbow Dash loves you? That doesn’t even seem possible, no offense.” “None taken and I thought the same thing. How, or for that point, why would the best pegasus in the world love a human that couldn’t fly, use magic, or for the least of reasons, that isn’t a pony?” I nodded in agreement. “She is the best and it is true that you are just a normal human. Well anyway all that awaits us is to sit here and become a hold point for Discord to use.” It was then that a hook grabbed Dash and took him away. I didn’t want him to get taken away; he was the only friend I had there that wasn’t a slave to a monster. I screamed, “Dash, no!” but it was pointless. I had just lost my only human friend, and even though it wasn’t the right time to be thinking about being the only pony in Ponyville to have a human friend, but it was important to me. I started hearing talking and then all of the sudden I hear a slice and a loud yell. After a while, I hear talking again. The phrase that stuck out in my mind was that Dash was gonna die so that Rainbow Dash would kick Discord’s ass. At first, I laughed at the phrase since I didn’t know what it meant, and then I was confused because I didn’t know what the word meant and I was racking my brain to figure out what it meant. Even a few seconds after that he was saying a lot of words that I didn’t know the meaning to,but I was sure had very bad meanings. A little bit afterward, he came back to our cell and you better believe I went full speed to greet and comfort him. “What happened? What did he do to you?” He looked like he had seen a ghost and that ghost made him lose his lunch “He first sliced my arm and took some spectra. I saw some really jacked up stuff while that knife was at my arm, taking the spectra out of my body. Here is where they got…” I looked at his arm and it looked horrible. It looked grey and very shriveled. It looked like someone had taken the part of his arm that got cut open and replaced it with a grey raisin. I could tell even he was surprised at this. “I’ve seen raisins and Dash, your arm looks as close to one as I’ve ever seen.” “Well anyway, he also made me a deal I normally wouldn’t refuse.” I could only ask what it might have been “What was it?” He replied as serious as possible. “He said that if I gave him the spectra he wanted, he wouldn’t kill you.” He started to smile, which I thought was weird. “But I won’t give him the spectra.” At first I was shocked, and then I realized that I would be killed. “So you’re just going to let him kill me?!” I was mad as a hornet. I charged right at him and pinned him against the wall. “How could you just betray me like that? I thought we were friends!” He gave that same smile again. “You didn’t let me finish. I’m not giving him the spectra because you and me are gonna bust out of here.” At this I let him go and we set to work planning our escape. > 5. The Realization > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It took me and Scootaloo about 2 weeks to get all the information we needed in order to escape. We had to get plans from some guys, tips from the sane ponies who didn’t want anything to do with the factory, and some tactical phrases for when we escaped for certain actions that Scootaloo would have to perform. Scootaloo was to let me ride on her back and I was to give Scootaloo directions and protection. I had found a discarded pipe which could be used for bashing some heads in case we needed to. I knew Scootaloo was very nervous about going through with this because if we ran into Rainbow Dash, she might not be able to go against her, but I reassured her that I had a plan for that. I couldn’t tell her what it was because then she wouldn’t slow down. I knew we would run in to Rainbow Dash, and I planned to save her. It was about two or so I was told by a pony named BraveWing tipped me off when we decided to execute our escape. BraveWing had brought us a key to unlock Scootaloo’s wing cuffs, so we were able to lift out of the cage and move out through the factory. I had told him to meet us at Twilight’s house at about five, if we had escaped. We knew we were going to escape, but on the downside that we didn’t or if Rainbow Dash didn’t make it, we didn’t want him getting killed for us. He didn’t mind but we had to convince him not to do anything rash until we had gotten to Twilight’s. After me and Scootaloo said our good-byes we started to fly off, and almost immediately the alarms went off and ponies were flying full speed at us with giant knives. I of course got to bash at some of them, but I got Scootaloo to fly off so we could get out before they could close the doors. Scootaloo had told me all about her test and the aspects of the test, and as I looked at the plans of the factory, it was as if they had modeled it exactly after the test. First obstacle in the way was a dead end, except for the air duct right before the end. “Pull up!” She pulled up right into the duct. I kept telling her “Hold it, hold it, hold it. Now!” She then made a perfect circle and went out the other end of the duct. The next obstacle was faced was some boilers were sticking out in a rhythmic fashion in the aspect of I could think of a beat for Scootaloo to follow in order to weave in between them. As soon as I had got the beat I started chanting,”Right,left,right,left,right,left,right,left” and after about a minute we were out of that mess. The last obstacle we faced was a closing door. The last part of Scootaloo’s test was a dead on sprint, and she said she wimped out, but I knew she could make it,because she had something she did have the first time:Someone to do it with her. “We almost there Scootaloo. We’re almost there. Just a little bit more…” We got out with a second to spare to which we then flew straight into what I guessed was the front lobby. We were about to congratulate each other, when we saw the person we were expecting to see: Rainbow Dash. “Halt, you are not allowed to leave this area. Report back to your cell or I will be forced to report this to Discord.” Scootaloo looked nervous, but I patted her head and stepped forward. To be completely honest, I didn’t know if this would work either, but I had to try. “Rainbow Dash, it’s me and Scootaloo. The pony and person you care about. We are trying to escape, and if you come with us you won’t have to be under Discord’s spell anymore. We can get Celestia and all the other ponies to help us defeat Discord and then…I don’t know I might stay here with you. Please Rainbow Dash. I know you can hear me from inside. We can end this madness, but I won’t leave without you.” She looked like she was ready to break the spell, but then the laughter of a crazed man permeated the room. “Truly touching really. You thought that just because you and Scootaloo were breaking out that Rainbow Dash would instantly go to your side because she would want to protect the two most important beings to her? Ha! You truly are like Rainbow Dash: bold and daring, but level-headed and you don’t think things entirely through. I’ll admit, my spell on her is weakened due to your plight, but there is one little barrier she can’t break yet.” “And what would that be, Captain Crazy?” He simply chuckled at the insult and said, “She can’t get over her feelings for you. She loves you, yes, but her problem is she doesn’t know how she would express that love. She’s a pony and you’re a human; I’m sure you can figure it out.” I knew what he meant, but I didn’t care. “Ok so if I were to stay here, who says that we can’t take a pleasant stroll or fool around, or fly around together with her holding me and me just staring in awe of the sights? I don’t care if I can’t show my love in the extremes, but I can at least show love. I love her in the fact that I wouldn’t want any harm to come to her. Back on earth, I was in a club who talked about Equestria’s beauties, and everyone in that club represented one of Rainbow Dash’s friends in Ponyville. I knew from the time I liked this new world I had heard of, I was the human embodiment of Rainbow Dash: athletic, loyal, free-spirited, awesome in every way. I know that if I was to stay here, I wouldn’t be able to see my friends, but if it means I’m able to get Rainbow Dash out of this hellhole, then I’ll stay here forever!” Silence reigned for about a minute then Discord just laughed. “You are too much Dash. Do you really think that because you might stay forever that that will free Rainbow Dash of my spell? I would think that you would either have to be turned into a pony or turn her into a human for her to even get through that barrier of love, but sadly, I’m afraid, it is impossible to preform, even for Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle combined, but I grow tired of this. Rainbow Dash, take Dash and Scootaloo back to their cell.” The next part was scary at first because she said, “Yes, sir” without blinking an eye, then she winked at me, and I knew we, I mean, I had freed Rainbow Dash of her trance and that we were busting out of here because the next thing she said was, “But, master, may I say one thing before I do?” “Sure go on. It couldn’t hurt anything anyway.” I and Rainbow Dash must have been thinking the same thing because we said the next phrase at the same time. “SEE YA LATER!” She grabbed me and we bust through the door and Scootaloo tagged along right behind this. Discord was yelling bloody murder after us. “YOU THINK YOU’RE GETTING AWAY?! HA! ILL COME LOOKING FOR YOU, AND WHEN I DO, YOU WILL DIE!” Rainbow Dash looked at me with a smug look and said, “So what now Mr. Dash?” I thought of a good strategy and then I told both of them what it was. “Scootaloo, go into Ponyville and get everyone ready. Tell them to get ready for a rumble. Rainbow Dash and I are going to tell Princess Celestia about the Rainbow Factory and hopefully get some support. Meet back in Ponyville.” She flew away and I knew one thing: There was gonna be war and it wasn’t going to be pretty. > 6.The Finale > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash and I went as fast as we could to the Canterlot city gates and told the guards that we needed to see Princess Celestia and that it was of grave importance that we did. They said she had been expecting me. The Princess was expecting me? How…cool and coincidental. We sped straight to the castle and into the throne room where there sat the ruler of Equestria: Princess Celestia and on a second chair sat Princess Luna. They were the sun and moon in Equestria, but they ruled with compassion and grace. “It is a good thing you were able to make it, Dash. My sister has foreseen the events that are currently happening because of the alignment in the stars. They foretell of great bloodshed and death, which was what was happening in Cloudsdale. The only reason we didn’t enforce anything was that they had Rainbow Dash, as well as hundreds of innocent ponies. Now we have Rainbow Dash as well as you to help us in our plight. I know that some ponies will die in this, but it will be less than if this was to continue. Dash, will you be my leading general in this war? We need your leadership and experience in battle. In Equestria, we don’t have wars, so one of your race will be the perfect general in this war. I would like to give you this.” She used her horn to move a little trinket to me. It looked like a little model of a galaxy but on a necklace. “What is this Princess?” She smiled. “It is your equivalent of a horn. It will allow you to use magic on the field and all you have to do is think it, but it will only work once, so use it to destroy Discord.” I thought of how I could use the spell another way, and then I told Princess Celestia and she just said, “That seems like a very good use of a spell, but I think that I could do that.” Her horn started to glow as well as Luna’s and after a awhile, there was a small dome, and then a flash and there stood my 5 friends. They looked dazed but once they looked around they started freaking out. Then they saw me and they ran towards me and gave me one huge bear hug. “Dash, you son of a gun, where were you man? We were worried sick.” “Dash please don’t do that again. I wouldn’t want you to be hurt.” “Well at least you’re ok. Oh I would have been in a better attire if I knew I was going to see you again.” “Well all the formalities aside where are we and by what are we here?” They all looked happy, but I needed them to be at my side in war. “Ok you guys you all need to focus through what I am going to say. Can you promise me you’ll listen through everything?” “Yes, now get on with it!” they all said almost in unison, even Malisty. “Ok” and I proceeded to tell them pretty much everything. I told them about coming here and meeting all the Mane 6. I told them of how Reingo was really Rainbow Dash, who I then pointed to, and she said, “What’s up?” They all waved at her then refocused on me. I told them about the Rainbow Factory and what happened here and what I had experienced. I finished with the fact that Discord was coming with an army of deranged pegasi and that I needed their help. It was silent for a moment then Pineh stepped up and said, “Then what are we doing here? Let’s get ready to rumble!” and all the others yelled in agreement. I couldn’t help smiling. “Thank you guys. There’s no one I would rather fight with.” “Except your little crush, Mr. Dash.” I smacked Pineh’s head for that comment. He just laughed. “Ok let’s go meet up with Scootaloo in Ponyville. Princess Celestia, do we need to run all the way back to Ponyville?” “No I think I can handle that.” Her horn lit up and the next thing I know we are all smack dab in the middle of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash’s friends started to rush towards both me and Rainbow Dash. They were hugging us and talking to us when they started seeing my friends and my friends were seeing them. They went closer to each other and then as if they knew each other, my friends met with the pony they represented: Jack met with Applejack, Twymond met with Twilight, Raferty met Rarity, Pineh met with Pinkie Pie, and Malisty met with Fluttershy. They started talking about where they’re from and the whole inter-species communication things then it went to individual stuff, such as the specific things each pair might want to talk about. Me, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were planning while they were doing this. I asked Scootaloo to go find Spike, and as she flew away I got all my friends together and told my plans to them. They all agreed and went to work doing what needed to be done but I held back Twilight and Twymond, because I needed Twilight to teach me how to use magic even though I wasn’t a unicorn. She told me to look deep inside myself for a great will and let it course through a point in my body that the will could escape from. I chose my finger and pointed it at the sky. Nothing was happening then Twilight whispered something to Rainbow Dash, and then she told me to try again. I tried again, but in the middle of it, Rainbow Dash hugged me, and then I felt it. This great will. It was that I wanted to keep everyone, especially Rainbow Dash, safe. It filled me and I had to let it go. I felt it move to my finger, and my finger started to glow very bright with some sort of sparks coming out of it. I pointed at the sky and I just let go all of that pressure. I didn’t see what happened,but it sounded awesome because it felt like a blast of energy like the ones you see in anime shows, but this was one that was unfocused. It was almost like a fire torrent rushing towards the sky and it was not too hot to touch, but if I didn’t like you then it was like lava: able to burn you to nothing but a memory. Once all the built up energy left me, Twilight came up to me in awe. “I’ve never seen anything like that. Even when I couldn’t control myself during my entrance exam into Princess Celestia’s school, I didn’t do anything as powerful as that. If it was possible, you could maybe, just maybe, become Celestia’s equal as a unicorn.” It was about that time that Scootaloo arrived with Spike. I asked Spike if he would be up to the task of helping me communicate with Princess Celestia. He said, “Well I’ve been doing it for Twilight for about 7 years now, so one day isn’t too bad. Sure.” I thanked him and then I looked out and saw that Cloudsdale had turned a deep red. No doubt Discord had something to do with it. I told Rainbow Dash that I was going to use my spell on my trinket to make it where I could fly, that way she would have more fighting ability. She nodded and I thought of me flying and the trinket flashed and broke into pieces. I knew I was on my own magic now, but thanks to Twilight, I can use it by thinking about my friends here. It was about that time that Spike got a letter from Celestia and he handed it to me. It read, “Dash, my guards are waiting for your signal again, which was the rainbow colored flare. I will be in my castle giving out orders, but I will be with you in heart. All of Equestria is with you. P.C.” I thought that she might be stressed due to the war effort, but I had to try. I looked inside myself and looked for that will I had before. I found it, but it was different. It was not only Rainbow Dash anymore; it was everypony in Equestria calling out to me to show they had my support. It was amazing. I channeled that energy to my finger and let off the rainbow flare. It was then that me, Rainbow Dash and about two hundred other brave pegasi that had escaped Cloudsdale got armored up. I couldn’t put Fluttershy in a position to fight, so I let her stay with Malisty. We all got suited up and got weapons that Celestia had recently brought there. I grabbed a bat because if I wanted to show peace as a general, I needed to make sure I didn’t kill anyone but Discord. I told Rainbow Dash to get Twilight for me. She zoomed off and a few moments later, Twilight came. I asked her to help me get the Elements of Harmony to each of our friends. She said she couldn’t get them because they were in a vault in Canterlot castle. I asked Spike to send a letter to Celestia to ask that she sent the Elements. He sent it and not two seconds later, I get a letter and a package containing all six Elements. Twilight said that we could get it to them faster if we split up. I took Rainbow Dash’s, Fluttershy’s and Applejack’s necklace and Twilight put her tiara on and took Rarity’s and Pinkie Pie’s. I got to Applejack first because she wanted to get a weapon too. I gave her hers and told her to use it when I drew Discord close enough. I went on to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy because they were talking to the other pegasi. I gave Fluttershy hers and I put Rainbow Dash’s on for her. She smiled and hugged me. “So what does the Great General Dash have planned for today?” I couldn’t help chuckling. “Oh nothing, just save Equestria from a monster.” I used my magic to send off a sound of a trumpet in a manner that it meant, “CHARGE!” All of us fliers made a straight course for Cloudsdale. I told them don’t kill anyone unless necessary and that challenging Discord was prohibited. I then winked at Rainbow Dash and she nudged me a little. We neared Cloudsdale and their meeting parade. We were about to clash right at them when about 10 to 12 pegasi in golden armor came rushing in and beat us to the punch. Now I wasn’t gonna let my guys not have any fun, so we just joined in the party. The next thirty minutes or so blur in my memory. I was whacking heads here and saving other ponies there and rushing to Rainbow Dash’s side to make sure she was ok. It took a toll on everyone fighting because, thanks to BraveWing, all of the Factory’s weapons had ‘mysteriously’ disappeared and they were fighting with bare hooves. However they had more ferocity than that of the pegasi from Ponyville so they had more fighting strength. It was not necessarily a bloody battle but it was a painful one. It was like a small scale war but I still saw pain and suffering. Some of the factory pegasi had gotten some of our weapons and were using them against us. I may have seen movies like this and I know some battles were worse than this, but it was horrible: Bats being used to bash skulls in. I used a bat, but I only used it to knock ponies out, never to bash ones skull in. The factory workers also had little pen things that they would put in a hole they would make in their victim. Out of the pens came a certain liquid I had hoped to forget: Spectra. They were harvesting even on the battlefield! I got so mad I couldn’t control my magical abilities and I just let loose a rainbow flare on them. What happened to the factory pegasi was both beautiful and scary. The bodies of these pegasi split in two and formed a good and bad version of them. The bad form was obliterated and the good form remained and became the new version of that pegasi. It was then I gave the order to retreat, except for Rainbow Dash. I tried to gather all my energy together, and in a very familiar way, I was able to gather energy from those who were supporting me and counting on me. I took all this energy and released it into what I call a Mega Rainbow Flare. It went straight towards the factory pegasi and the same process happened again. After the separation was done they all fled to either Ponyville or Canterlot. “NO! YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT DASH!” Discord came out of Cloudsdale like a cloud of smoke and formed right in front of me and Rainbow Dash. Well knowing that just shooting a rainbow flare at him wouldn’t really rid us of the problem. He would just vanish in a cloud of smoke, and then come back again. If we wanted to stop this, we would need to lead Discord into Ponyville and get the elements to turn him to stone. Then I could rainbow flare him. I told Rainbow Dash my plan and as soon as I finished we raced towards Ponyville. Like a fly to a trap, he followed us. “YOU THINK THIS LITTLE CHASE WILL CHANGE ANYTHING? I WILL END YOU DASH. STOP DELAYING THE INEVIDABLE!” As soon as we got close to Ponyville I yelled,” Come forth Harbingers of Harmony! I acquire your aid to vanquish Discord!” My friends rode in on the ponies they most embodied. We all gathered together and I felt for that will. It came as soon as I looked for it. For the duration of the time I was doing the enchantment for the elements, I could only see white. I’m guessing that meant my eyes were glowing, but the thing I could see was Discord, looking shocked. He tried to leave, but then Celestia and about twenty of her guard put up a magical boundary around him so that he couldn’t escape the justice that was due to him. I focused all our energies upon him and I felt us at the same time release the awesome power of the elements going to entomb Discord. All I heard afterward was yelling and then complete silence. I could see right after a while, and I saw Discord’s stone format lying on the ground. I then looked for the Rainbow Flare and as if by coincidence, it came as soon as I looked. I aimed right at Discord’s petrified body and it broke into a million tiny shards. Everypony was cheering and screaming, when I heard his voice in a ghostly tone. “You may have killed me, but if I must fall, then I’ll take you down with me!” The following seconds are still blurry to me. I see a spear made out of the shards coming at me at a very fast speed, Rainbow Dash screaming, “NO!” a powerful shove and a blood-curdling scream. I looked around and I noticed I was still alive, but everypony was screaming and crying. Why is everyone crying? I was still alive, but that was before I looked around and found that in his last assault, his attack had made its mark. A rend at her side and a faint look in her eyes, Rainbow Dash had taken the bullet for me. I ran to her side and in a soft voice, she said “Hehe. Looks like you needed me more than you thought. Too bad I can’t safe your butt any more, huh?” “No. I won’t let you die Rainbow Dash. I will give my arms and legs just so you can live. I can’t live know that my hero died for me.” She looked surprised. “Me, your hero?” She stared crying. By this time, everyone was gathering around and watching this ordeal go down. “Well then heroes can be heroes for each other, because, Dash: You’re my hero.” It was then that she closed her eyes and went to where I guess ponies called Heaven. “No, Rainbow Dash, don’t leave me. Please. No. RAINBOW DASH!” I was so mad with Discord for killing the one inspiration I had in my life, for killing the one entity I could share reference with. I was mad at myself for allowing Rainbow Dash to take the bullet for me. I was mad because of that stupid wish, because, even though she would be Discord’s prisoner, she would still be alive if only I hadn’t come to Equestria. The angrier I got the more I started to lose control of the magic. I guess I started to show it when everypony was running and screaming things like, “He’s going to destroy the town” and “The town? He might end up destroying Equestria at this rate.” Even Princess Celestia seemed to flee. Then I heard a voice of conscience. “Dash, I know you’re hurting. We all are, but would Rainbow Dash want you to become this angry? If you don’t stop you’ll hurt innocent ponies that had nothing to do with her death. Please, let it go.” Let it go? How could I let that go?! I rejected the thought, but I had a crazy idea. I shouted, “No I will not let it go” Everyone seemed to cower at this. Then I finished, “Because I won’t have to!” This put a concerned look on everyone’s face, even Celestia’s. I focused my anger towards the power of life and focused it on one particular pony: Rainbow Dash. I called upon all my anger and all my strength to bring Rainbow Dash back. While I was doing this, I went to where I guessed was heaven and I saw Rainbow Dash there. “What are you doing here, Dash? Can you literally not live without me?” I explained how I was there and why I was there. She smiled and teared up. “Well, I wouldn’t want you crying over me being gone.” Even while she’s dead, she had a lively aspect of cockiness. I told her to take my hand and she did graciously. We seemed to almost float back down to the ground and I saw myself and Rainbow Dash’s body and we both flew into my body. I opened my eyes and sent Rainbow Dash back into her body. It must have looked amazing because even though I couldn’t see it, everyone was wooing of how it looked. After that, I couldn’t feel everything and I blacked out. I woke up after what felt like a long sleep. I was in what looked like a hospital. The first thing a wondered was whether the whole ordeal in Equestria was just a dream. Then everyone except Rainbow Dash came in, which then shattered my dream theory. “Hey man, that was some awesome magic out there.” “I agree. I may be the best in Ponyville, but after what you did, I think even Celestia gives you respect for what you did.” Everyone was coming up and hugging me and smiling at me. I could only think of one thing. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?” “She’s in room 214, but the doc told us to…” I didn’t let them finish and I didn’t give them time to react. I was out of that bed and running down to room 214. I opened the door ever so slowly, and she seemed to be asleep. I tiptoed in right beside her and she looked ok. I looked at where she had gotten hit and it seemed all patched up, not with stitches but by some other cause. It must have been a side effect to my spell. She woke up after a while. I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine. She smiled and we hugged a good hug. The others came up and good old Pineh just had to say, “Well hello Mr. and Mrs. Dash!” It caught both of us by surprise and when we looked around everyone was crowding around us and laughing. Me and Rainbow Dash looked at each other looked at each other and it was almost as if we had the same idea. I picked her up and flew out of the window in her room. “Hey, that’s not cool man.” I just laughed and Rainbow Dash followed suite. “So, now that you’ve kidnapped me, what happens now?” I couldn’t think about it. As both me and Rainbow Dash knew, nothing special could happen between us besides a hug. I couldn’t kiss her because it would be an awkward ordeal for obvious reasons. I was trumped. I had a crazy idea, but I would need help for it. I told her to wait here for a second. She went along with it and she waited there. I then rushed back to the hospital. As soon as I was in sight, everyone was either absolutely furious with me or impressed, but I told that I had a crazy idea for Rainbow Dash’s happiness, and that quieted everyone. I told Rarity that I would need clothes just like mine that would fit Rainbow Dash’s personality. She asked where to meet when she had finished and I told her in Ponyville. Raferty went along so that he could help and before he left, I told him to tell Rarity how to make girl’s clothes. He nodded and went to catch up with Rarity. I asked Twilight to accompany Rarity and go to Ponyville and wait for my return. She nodded and her and Twymond went out. I told everyone else to just meet in Ponyville, and one by one they all left to ponder what I had planned. I asked Spike, however to take a note to send to the Princess. He gladly stopped and pulled out paper and quill. I told Spike to write, “Dear Princess Celestia, I would be most honored if you were to assist me in a magical endeavor by meeting in Ponyville where you, Twilight Sparkle and myself may overcome this endeavor. Your Human General, Dash.” As soon as I finished, Spike asked me what exactly this endeavor was. I told him it was a surprise. A letter came from Celestia saying she would be there momentarily. I was so excited that I screamed with joy and did a flip in midair. I then flew off to retrieve Rainbow Dash. As soon as I got there, she had a question for me. “Ok, so I wait here and then you fly off and I see my friends and your friends head towards Ponyville. What is going on here, Dash?” I could only smile and ask her to take my hand. She did and we flew towards Ponyville and all I could do was smile at her. She smiled back, but I know for a fact that she wasn’t smiling as big as me. We arrived in Ponyville and everyone was there. Rarity and Raferty had the clothes ready, Twilight and Princess Celestia were ready to help me and everyone was there. I led Rainbow Dash to the center of it all. I whispered in both Twilight’s and Celestia’s ears. “Are you sure it will work Dash?” said Twilight. Celestia only smiled and said, “Well I think it’s very admirable to attempt such a thing. Though I will miss her, she will be very happy.” I start to focus on Rainbow Dash and Twilight and Celestia joined in. I could see Rainbow Dash being lifted up. “Hey. What’s going on Dash?” I smiled and told her,” Do you love me?” “Well ya, but what’s going on?” I smiled my biggest smile and said, “We are trying to turn you human.” Everyone gasped and looked surprised except Rainbow Dash who just closed her eyes and said,” Then make me beautiful.” I started focusing again and now instead of just Twilight and Celestia, every unicorn in Ponyville began to chime in. It was amazing. The will of every unicorn in Ponyville made the spell look like a first grade lesson. My mind turned into a basic assembly factory where I could choose what I wanted her to look like and what I wanted her to be able to do. I wanted her to have her hair: rainbow colored. I wanted her to retain her flying ability, which I knew we could hide with a nice jacket. I wanted her to be athletic and independent. I kept her personality in check but I just poured that into a human body. I put wings on the body so she could fly. Then came the part of showing her what I put. She accepted and then the magic started. I didn’t get to see it, but from what I heard my friends saying, I knew the transformation was taking place. I heard magical whirring and sounds of that sort of nature, and then I heard it come to a rest. I opened my eyes and I saw my friends dressing Rainbow Dash, careful not to invade any personal areas that didn’t need to be touched. When she was dressed, I went over to her. She looked beautiful. Her hair was rainbow hued, her legs were strong, her wings looked majestic, even more so than her other wings. She opened her eyes and looked around. She stared right at me and asked in one of the calmest voices I heard her speak in, “Dash, did it work?” “Yes, yes it did” and I did the thing both her and myself longed for: we kissed. Everything seemed to melt away and it was just me and her. When we finally separated, everyone was crying with joy and just crowding around me patting me on the back and hugging me and everything of the sort. I then helped Rainbow Dash up and knowing she had had some practice walking on two legs, she only needed the firm ground by which to get up. Celestia came up to us and said, “Today you both can finally can be happy, and I will miss you both. I want you both to have one of these” and she brought out two little trinkets. “These will allow you to come to Equestria whenever you want to visit and I will be sending with you a device that can send letters back and forth between Earth and myself. Spike, take a note.” He got out his stuff and Celestia decreed, “I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the humans Dash and Rainbow Dash are under the protection of the Rulers of Equestria, and anyone who tries to ruin their happiness will be punished for attempting to break the bond they share.” Me and Rainbow Dash thanked her for this, and then the sad part about leaving came: the good-byes. All of Rainbow Dash’s friends were gathering around her and saying good-bye wouldn’t be forever and that she would come back to visit. I gathered my friends after they said good-bye and I told everypony, “We will be sure to come back and visit. Tell Spike to send any letters you need to me, just don’t overwork him please.” And with that I thought of home and that we wanted to go there. I took one last look around and then we were off. We landed right in front of my house, and after saying our good-byes I took Rainbow Dash into my house. My parents came up to me and looked downright furious. They were asking where I had been and why didn’t I tell them where I was going, but then they saw Rainbow Dash and asked who she was. I already had a lie made up about that and told them that she was a friend from school who needed a home because her parents had left her behind. They pitied her and said she could stay here for as long as she liked. Me and her went upstairs and saw the device that Celestia had talked about. I didn’t really feel like using it at the moment because of the fact that I still had so much to teach Rainbow Dash. I had to teach her how to do things such as read and write English and how to do math and all sorts of stuff she would need to know. It was through that time we really found our relationship. We felt like even though we had seen a lot and Rainbow Dash was indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of ponies that she was still the loyal caring pony, now person underneath. I knew that I would get a lot of questions from school like “Where were you, man?” and “What were you doing?”, but the one I thought I would hear the most would be “Dude, who’s that new hot chick?” I could tell them it was Rainbow Dash and then tell my whole story, but then either no one would believe me and think that Rainbow Dash was just a new girl who happened to suddenly like me or everyone would believe me and people would spread it around and who knows? Maybe the government will want to take her and experiment on her. I didn’t know or care for that matter. I was just happy to be with Rainbow Dash. After a few months, Rainbow Dash and I were chilling in my room during summer break, when we both looked at the device Princess Celestia had sent for us so that we can give letters to and from Equestria. I knew Princess Celestia would want to hear from us and I thought I would test it and started writing a letter about how I had survived the Rainbow Factory, where my dreams and happiness came true and where three single souls got through. When I finished I put it in a slot, pushed a button, and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Me and Rainbow Dash just waited around to see what the Princess would write back, and when we finally got a letter back, it was a very big surprise. In the letter, she described how, apparently, after me and Rainbow Dash had left, Scootaloo had gone missing. Nopony knew where she had gone, not even Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. They had looked everywhere and even thought she might have come back to Earth with us, but she wrote that we would have already noticed. She wrote that not even her and Luna could find her, even with the guards looking for her 24/7. They even looked in Cloudsdale, but avoided the Rainbow Factory, due to the fact it was under investigation. She told us that we needed to come back to Equestria, because, through us, Scootaloo might reveal her whereabouts, and come out to see us. She told us to bring anybody we needed to help us. As soon as I finished reciting the letter, Rainbow Dash looked stern and said, “Classic Scootaloo; always causing trouble.” I got to thinking why it was that Scootaloo might go missing, and to a greater extent, why wouldn’t she come out after a while. It seemed crazier and crazier the more I thought about it. One thing was clear though: we needed to go back, but I also needed to tell my parents the truth about everything. I took Rainbow Dash’s hand and we went down to the living room. I told her my plan before we got downstairs, and midway, she stopped me, looked at me with a pitiful face and said, “Wait. What if they don’t approve of me when you tell them I used to be a pegasus?” “Then you and I can start a new life somewhere else.” I hugged her, making sure not to crush her wings, and we walked downstairs and I told my parents everything and I mean everything. They seemed confused at first, but they simply gave us their blessing in all we had to do. After that ordeal was over I ran right upstairs got my phone and started calling all my friends. Being my friends, I knew they would be willing to help. I needed them to help me in the effort of finding Scootaloo in what I would later call The Pegasearch.