Rainbow Dash laid lazily on a cloud a few feet off the ground, black sunglasses over her eyes while she held a glass of cold cider next to her, a content smile on her face.
Yeah, this was the life. She was the coolest Pegasus in all of Equestria, her parents… well, still had some problems with boundaries but they were getting better (her mom was starting to nag her about grandfoals though...), and Squirt was getting a lot better with her flying.
She had hovered two feet off the ground for one minute! She didn’t even need help from Rainbow this time, she took to the air by herself!
At this rate she’ll be a natural born flier in no ti-
“Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow's thoughts were interrupted by Applejack yelling at her.
Great, what did she do this time?
“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack yelled impatiently, causing Rainbow to roll her eyes.
She took her glasses off and peaked her head over the cloud. “Yeah? Kinda in the middle of something.”
“A light rain was scheduled over my farm today.”
“So?”
“So, yah were scheduled to do it, Ah checked with the Ponyville Weather Service.”
Crap, was she working today? She totally forgot to check, it’s a wonder she hasn’t been fired yet. Though, it’s not like they had enough Pegasi in town to afford firing any of them… “Can’t you get somepony else?”
“No! Everypony that works today is scheduled to do something else. Now, get off yer lazy flank and whip up a storm before the crops die!”
“Alright, alright! Jeez, just let me finish up here.” Rainbow huffed in annoyance, grabbing her cider and gulping it down before she flew up into the air.
Rainbow Dash looked over her handiwork. She had gathered enough clouds to cover the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres, making sure they were thin enough to eventually dissipate without interference. A part of her wanted to be lazy and leave it incomplete, hoping the wind might push the storm over the rest of Sweet Apple Acres.
But knowing her luck, that probably wouldn’t happen and AJ would get angry with her again.
She sighed and flew back up into the air, scouting for clouds. She stopped suddenly when she saw a solitary black cloud, rain pouring out of it incessantly.
She groaned in annoyance. Great, a defect, and one she couldn’t just ignore or slyly use in the storm. She’d have to be careful when transporting it to the Weather Service, these clouds could shock you and make you fall to the ground .
Rainbow Dash flew towards the cloud and looked over it, slowly reaching her hooves toward it, holding her breath to concentrate. She breathed a sigh of relief when she wasn’t shocked, a triumphant smile on her face.
Her smile dropped when the cloud began glowing. She looked closer and saw that the middle of the cloud was glowing a brilliant prism of colors, much like a rainbow.
“How is a cloud this defective?” Rainbow asked no one in particular, wondering how someone could be so irresponsible and negligent as to not notice a cloud like this and let it go. It looked to be about three days old, she’d have to look over the schedule to see who was stationed at the Cloud Maker that day.
Wait, wasn’t she stationed at the Cloud Maker three days ago?
Her thoughts were interrupted when the rainbow glowed brighter, Rainbow Dash squinting her eyes. She tried to pull away, but the cloud was stuck on her hooves!
She tried desperately to shake it off her as the rainbow continued to glow, forcing Rainbow Dash to close her eyes due to its intensity. A painful burning spread over her hooves and up her legs.
Rainbow yelled for help, hoping somebody was nearby as the burning spread over the entirety of her body.
Then, it stopped.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, finding she was within a dimly lit and drab industrial corridor.
“Am I dead?” She mused to herself. This wasn’t her idea of an afterlife, but maybe even afterlives had waiting rooms?
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard hooves coming toward her. She looked over and saw a Pegasus wearing a black cloak and a black mask. They stopped suddenly when they saw Rainbow Dash.
“Uh, are you an angel?” Rainbow asked, not entirely unconvinced she wasn’t dead.
“What? Rainbow, what are you doing?” The Pegasus asked, trotting towards her. “Why aren’t you at your post? Where is your uniform?”
“Post? Uniform? What are you talking about?”
She could practically feel the Pegasus rolling their eyes at her. “Enough jokes Rainbow Dash. You need to get back to work, we have a new shipment coming in.” They put a wing over Rainbow's back and led her out the corridor.
“I don’t… where am I?”
“You aren’t letting up are you? Fine, I’ll play along.” The Pegasus cleared their throat. “You’re in the Rainbow Factory.”
It had been an hour since Rainbow Dash had gotten her… well, cult clothes was pretty much the only way she could describe them. Thank Faust Rarity wasn’t here, she’d probably faint at the sight of the uniforms.
It seemed that the defective cloud was super defective because it transported her all the way to Cloudsdale. She had no idea how she had accomplished that while at the Cloud Maker.
“Next time, I’m going to pay attention to what comes out of the Cloud Maker.” She grumbled to herself, realizing she’d have to take that rather cushy job seriously from now on.
What she didn’t understand was why the uniforms were so different. It hadn’t been that long since she had worked at the Cloudsdale Weather Authority, and these cult clothes weren’t suitable for a factory.
She also wasn’t sure why that Pegasus from earlier acted like she was supposed to be working. Rainbow hadn’t been to the Weather Authority for years now and she definitely wasn’t stationed in the Rainbow Factory.
Maybe they transferred her? But that didn’t make any sense, they needed her permission to do that and her duties as an Element Bearer meant she needed to be close to her friends.
She’d have to find the factory supervisor and find out what was going on. Or better yet, an exit.
“You have beautiful eyes.”
She stopped suddenly, her head swiveling to the side. “Scootaloo?” It… sounded like Scootaloo. But what would Scootaloo be doing in the Rainbow Factory?
She was probably just hearing things. To prove it, she turned around and trotted to where she heard the voice. To her surprise, she saw Scootaloo when she rounded a corner.
She was… chained up? And a red mare was smiling at her. She watched as the red mare turned and walked away.
Rainbow decided to find out what was going on and took to the air, flying towards Scootaloo. Perhaps she’d have an idea of what was happening.
Suddenly, the chains began twisting and Scootaloo began screaming in pain. Rainbow stopped in horror, wondering what was going on. She heard a sickening crack, and before she knew it, Rainbow had flown forward and severed the chains.