[Psychological Grimdark]

This story was directly based off 'Awoken': Wooden Toaster and H8 seed's spirited successor to the Rainbow Factory.

Food for thought, folks. I wrote this story on my own time and Obab later added extra material, three years later, when she converted the story into her audio production. She did not participate in the original production (if that was not clear already). If you read the story below you'll see the original, untampered text!

***

The decline into darkness had been easy enough... but when a high ranking Rainbow Factory employee begins to loose faith in the program and attempts to leave, things get out of hoof.

Having lived the majority of his life in the twisted building known as the Rainbow Factory-climbing up the brutal ladder and eventually becoming an Orchestrator-a lone colt finds the atrocity's he's committed in his past coming back to haunt him in his waking hours.

Driven by the need to return to normal society and the thought of redemption, he devises a risky plan that will ultimately decide the very fate of the Rainbow Factory as it's come to be known.

***
A long list of special thanks and mentions...

Thanks to Aurora Dawn for essentially creating the world I based this story in.

Thanks to Wooden Toaster and H8 Seed for the awesome song
Thanks to Fiasko0 on Deviant art for making the picture for the song (which I snatched)
Thanks to xzenocrimzie (Starlight Sparkle) for working with me to get the story out and into public
Thanks to wandered D for the tech support (he knows what I'm talking about)
Thanks to SrPeachFuzz on YouTube for accidentally bringing the story to everyone's attention
Thanks to my brony friend Josh for helping me get the story from my head, and into an outline
Thanks to both Truesoul116 and OhOhJackarias on YouTube for their excellent readings
Most importantly, every brony out there that has read, liked, faved or commented! Without you all, this would of never happened!

*Audio books are up!

Another really great dramatic reading!

If you're looking for a dramatic reading

If you're looking for a clear and professional reading

All three of these readers were totally awesome! Thanks guys.

Now translated into:
Polish by Dolar84
Spanish by Moonlight Fan

This is a fan-made, alternative ending to AuroraDawn's "Rainbow Factory". All credit for the original story, and the source of my inspiration, goes fully to her.

It was supposed to be a fun day, but then everything changed when the spirit of an enemy passed traps Fluttershy, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetiebelle, and Dinky Hooves in a haunted pizzeria. Now the five have to survive until their friends figure out a way to get them out of the messed up hell hole.

Community Collab
Chapter one, two, five, seven, and nine by Fossil-Dragon-messiah
Chapter three, four, six, eight, and ten by TheMusicalBoy93
Chapter 11 by both of us
Cover art by Keam

King Sombra survived his defeat, but just. By the time he returned to form, Twilight became the newest princess of Equestria and the Crystal Empire was restored to its former glory.

He cannot take over Equestria the same way he tried before, but he has a card up his sleeve. Twilight won't see it coming, and Sombra might gain a powerful ally in the process.

And it will all begin...with a book.

Edits on Chapter 1 done with the help of TempesttheDragnix.

Major props to InuHoshi-to-DarkPen for letting me use this. That artist is really good.

Several days after having a terrible nightmare, Scootaloo takes her final exam at the Cloudsdale Flight Academy, and with the help of Rainbow Dash gains insight into the nature of her own character as well as knowledge of the deepest secrets of the Rainbow Factory.
Upd: YouTube reading by linksbro1: link

After school, Scootaloo is approached by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Rather than the usual comments about her lack of cutie mark, however, Diamond Tiara gets much more personal and hateful with her insults towards the young pegasus. So much so that to everyone's surprise, herself included, Scootaloo reacts with violence.

PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE: DEAD AT 18

TELEPORTATION INVARIABLY FATAL, WARNS LEADING SCHOLAR

One look at the headline of the Canterlot Times and Twilight knew that she should have slept in today. But at least none of her friends would be silly enough to believe she was killing herself every time she teleported, right?

There is now a Spanish translation of this story, courtesy of Spaniard Kiwi

Isolated from her friends and taken prisoner in the middle of a war, Twilight must deal with the very real dangers of being percieved as an enemy as well as the nightmares of her arrival on 'Earth'. Can she overcome her own fears and the fears of her captors? Will the wayward unicorn's assistance be a boon or a curse to the 'humans?' Most importantly, will she ever find her way home?

"In short, it's a story of friendship and plasma rifles, with the emphasis on the friendship. The characters are well written, the XCOM setting is fleshed out very well, and the story is compelling. If you love XCOM, you'll love the story, but even if you've never heard of it, it's more than worth giving the first 3 chapters a read.

There's excellent action later on, but the real strength lies in the collision between the friendly and naive world of Twilight Sparkle and the desperate world of humans fighting a losing war for survival and willing to do anything to turn the tide."

--Arzoo

(XCOM/FiM crossover)
(Cover art commissioned by a friend and created by the magnificent FoxInShadow!)
(Original cover art by the amazing Carnelian can be viewed here!)
(Gore tag for blood and some violence)
(Many thanks to the studius OminousTen, Arzoo, xXFluttershyForeverXx and finally Setokaiva for giving my rambles a once-over)
(Now with it's own TV Tropes page! Get to tropin' folks!)

Crossover of MLP/FNaF. Years ago as a filly, Twilight saw something at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza that is so terrifying, she doesn't want to talk about it ever! In the present, now a grown-up mare and a princess, she and her friends must oversee a week at the place, staying the night as the restaurant is in its final year. As Twilight faces her nightmares and fears, she and her friends must survive against Freddy Fazbear and his animatonic crew, who for some reason wants the new princess dead.

This story has nothing to do with the ones I'm working on in my regular MLP timeline, so it's a separated timeline.

A GoldenVerse story

After his reform by none other than Discord's first true friend, Fluttershy. He's been doubting if the other Element Bearer's are his friends or not. So when the perfect opportunity came to get Twilight to finally join one of his and Fluttershy's special picnics who was he to pass it up?

Now Twilight has to deal with facing the very epitome of chaos, the very anti-thesis of her logical, structured existence. Not as a mortal enemy, but as a friend ... or go insane trying.

To catch you up on things you might not get in this AU that pop up here:

-Scootaloo was found as an Orphan by Raindrops, and durring Scootaloo's physical found out she had a block in her wings meridians.

-They were recommended by the doctor to see Twilight who has the machines to deal with that problem [Ponyville being an Earth Pony majority village, not much need of expensive tools for rare unicorn problems, and even more rare for pegasi].

-When the problem was fixed. Scootaloo turned out to be a Mage and wing / hoof cast spells chaottically as years of backed up magic expelled forth from her body.

-Discord popped into help if Twilight would finally accept the invitation to go to one of Flutters and his picnics that Twilight and the others have been avoiding.

- On the date of the picnic. Spike left for Canterlot to discover who he is as an individual. Which made Twilight loose it on the mare who she blamed for hurting Spike [whom she just figured out saw her as a mother figure].

And with that you have the gist of what's happening. To see more, read:

Golden Wings

and / or

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/212009/types-of-love

Editor: The always awesome kingtiger666

Coverart: From the show, couldn't find a good Discord with a tophat pic that would link to it's makers page.