//------------------------------// // The answer to which, is a simple facility // Story: Loyalty and the Pegasus Device // by General Alduin //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash turned and tried her best to get the chains off of Scootaloo, not noticing Scootaloo's expression of fear and confusion. Over a dozen Pegasi took to the air and flew towards her, Rainbow Dash picking Scootaloo up, holding her close to her chest, and immediately flew up and dodged each Pegasus. She zipped around the room in an attempt to throw them off and find someplace to hide. “Get off of me!” Which was made unnecessarily hard by the squirming and kicking Scootaloo. “Let me go!” She didn’t understand why Scootaloo was acting like this. She just saved her life! Or… did she totally misread the situation? Did she fuck up again? But wait, she definitely heard something of Scootaloo's break, what could she misinterpret? “Let me go!” Scootaloo kicked Rainbow Dash in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She couldn’t focus on flying, analyzing, and Scootaloo kicking her at the same time, so she flew up to a far away catwalk and landed. Scootaloo immediately jumped out of her grip and made her way to the side of the catwalk, trying to climb over it “Hey!” Rainbow’s eyes widened and she immediately pulled her back. “What are you doing?!” “Getting away from you!” “You can’t fly yet and you’re injured, you’ll fall to the ground and die!” “And that’s exactly what you want right!?” Scootaloo pushed Rainbow Dash's hooves off her. “Or do you want me to suffer more!?” “What?” Rainbow didn’t understand, why was Scootaloo acting like this? “I just saved you!” “I don’t know what kind of bucked up trick this is or how you got clean so fast, but I’m not falling for it!” Scootaloo tried once again to climb over the railings, only to be stopped by Rainbow Dash. “You were my sister! I-I thought you loved me!” “I do love you! I love you more than anything!” Wait, did she ever tell Scootaloo she loved her? She should probably say it more if she isn’t even sure. “What’s going on with you? Why are you acting like this?Why are you in the Rainbow Factory?” Scootaloo growled, opening her mouth to speak, when suddenly she doubled over in pain.  Rainbow immediately set her down and looked her over. No visible wounds, but that may have been more a curse than a blessing. “Where does it hurt?” “You already know that!” “Then pretend I don’t!” Rainbow snapped, having grown impatient with Scootaloo's attitude. “Just tell me where it hurts!” Scootaloo glared at her hatefully, moving her hoof over her right rib cage. “You tried to break my ribs, you psychopath. You said it makes gathering Spectrum easier.” “What are you talking about? I’ve only been here for an hour!”  The two were going to continue arguing before a sudden thump on the catwalk caught their attention. A little ways away, the red mare from earlier looked at the two of them with malice in her eyes. “W-what?” Scootaloo's anger dropped and she looked between the two. “I don’t-” Rainbow immediately walked forward and hid Scootaloo beneath her. “You won’t touch her.” “Odd that a Changeling is so protective of a filly.” The red mare smiled. “Your information is out of date if you’re trying to impersonate me, I no longer love that parasite.” Scootaloo whimpered and retreated into herself. Rainbow Dash ignored the red mare, not sure what she was talking about. “Why are you trying to hurt Scootaloo? What happened to the Rainbow Factory? Who are you?” “I know I’m dumb, but I’m not that dumb.” The red mare responded. “I’m not revealing everything to a filthy Changeling.” Filthy? Changelings were good now or something! Did she somehow not know, or was she a racist? Didn’t matter. She was trying to hurt Scootaloo, and she’d never let that happen. It was then that Rainbow noticed that the red mare was halfway towards her, having flown forward while Rainbow was distracted. She quickly took to the air and countered the red mare, kicking, biting, and punching however and whenever she could. The two struggled in the air for a few seconds, Rainbow Dash eventually overpowering the red mare and bringing her to the ground. She delivered four blows in quick succession, stopping midway through the fifth. Now that she was closer, she could see that the mare didn’t have a red coat, she was just drenched in blood. Her real coat color was cyan. Looking further, she found splotches of color in her mane. A rainbow mane. Her eyes darted to the mare's own, realizing she had magenta eyes. ‘Just like me…’ Rainbow recoiled as she realized exactly who she was fighting, allowing her doppelgänger to kick her in the stomach and push her off. Rainbow quickly got up and stood face to face with… uh, herself. ‘Rainbow Factory Dash, that’s what I’ll call her.’ Rainbow thought inwardly. It was all starting to make sense: a rogue changeling brought over its friends, assumed her identity, kidnapped Scootaloo by making her think she was the real Rainbow Dash, and was going to kill Scootaloo to get back at Rainbow. This probably wasn’t even the real Rainbow Factory. “I see what you did.” Rainbow smirked. “You impersonated me to foalnap Scootaloo, then you were going to kill her to get revenge on me.” Perhaps it was a good thing she messed up with that cloud. “Once I get out of here, me and all my friends are gonna beat your ass into the floor and ship you off to prison!” Rainbow Factory Dash merely laughed maniacally, which wasn’t what Rainbow wanted to hear. “Either you’re stupid or you’re committed. You’re the Changeling impersonating me to find out how the Rainbow Factory works and report to Queen Chrysalis.” She smirked evilly. “What were you going to do? Expose our operation? Blackmail us? Make rainbows yourself?” She scoffed. “Doesn’t matter. Once I kill you, I’m feeding your body to the machine and finishing with that bitch behind me.” Rainbow immediately flew forward and bashed her hoof into her doppelgängers face, a tooth flying out and clattering to the floor. “Nopony. calls. Scootaloo. a. bitch!” She punched her doppelgänger in the face with each word, only stopping when she saw a dozen more Pegasi flying towards them. Rainbow got off Rainbow Factory Dash, falling to the floor when her doppelgänger grabbed her back leg and bit hard. Rainbow yelped in pain, rolling onto her back to get a good look as she bucked her hoof into her doppelgängers nose, causing her to let go.   Rainbow recovered and flapped her wings, grabbing Scootaloo mid flight. “S-so she’s a Changeling? A-and you’re the real Rainbow?” “Of course I am!” Rainbow yelled as she zipped around the factory. “Did you really think I could do that to you? You’re my sister! I’d never hurt you.” “B-but why do you think I was foalnapped?” “That’s how she got you here right?” Rainbow kicked a Pegasus in the face. “She made you think you were doing flight practice, then knocked you out and brought you here?” “No, not at all.” Scootaloo protested. “I failed my flying test and was exiled. Turns out this is where they bring those that fail.” What was she talking about? There wasn’t a flying test, and nobody would ever be exiled for dialing if there was, who would allow that? And what did she mean by ‘this is where they bring those that fail’? It didn’t make any sense, no way could a Changeling do all of this without anyone getting suspicious, even if they were impersonating her.  “Flying test? What flying test?” “The one every Pegasus foal takes when they’re old enough. If they fail they get exiled.” Scootaloo gave her a weird look. “Are you sure you’re not a Changeling?” ‘No, but now I’m not so sure you aren’t one.’ Rainbow was pulled from her thoughts when she saw dozens of corpses of dead foals laying about, stopping to investigate the grizzly scene. It was a massacre, blood everywhere. “Were… were these the other foals that didn’t-” “Yes.” Scootaloo answered solemnly. “They said we were worthless, but we could redeem ourselves by being harvested for our Spectra.” Rainbows brows knitted together. This... this was.... this was pure evil. “... Scootaloo.” Scootaloo looked to Rainbow Dash. “I don’t know what’s going on, or honestly where I am, but I will end this. I promise.” And she could start by destroying this damned machine. She flew to a set of controls and smashed it repeatedly, taking to the air when other Pegasi spotted her. She started kicking and smashing anything that looked important or hard to fix, Spectra, gasoline, and oil pooling together “Stop her! Seize her!” A Pegasus yelled as Rainbow wreaked havoc on the machine. She realized it would only be a matter of time before she was overwhelmed, she needed a distraction. Flickering live wires caught her attention, Rainbow flying towards them and grabbing them safely with her mouth. She pulled the exposed wires over to a pool of Spectra and oil. “No!” A Pegasus yelled. A second later, a spark fell to the floor and the concoction caught fire, the fire raging in a flicker of different colors like a rainbow. Rainbow Dash let go of the wires and flew away, delving into the next wing, intent on causing havoc to the machine further. What she saw however stopped her dead in her tracks. It was much, much worse then the slaughtered foals from the room over. Corpses. Hundreds of corpses of children, many without their Cutie Mark, all drained of their color and mangled beyond belief. It looked like they were just dumped in a garbage pit as if they were industrial waste. Rainbow put a hoof on Scootaloo's head and forced her against her chest, not wanting her to see this.  Rainbow Dash shook. This didn’t… this didn’t make any sense. There was no way a Changeling could… someone would’ve noticed. What were they… what Scootalooo said about the flight test, that didn’t… But that other Rainbow, evil Rainbow. She knew she was Rainbow Dash. But there was no way anyone could do this if she wasn’t… ‘Am I in another dimension?’ It was the only thing that made sense: people knowing her in the factory, the process of making rainbows being different, the flight test, etc. But that couldn’t be her counterpart! She’d never hurt Scootaloo, not in any wor- She didn’t get to think any further when something knocked her in the head, Rainbow's vision going white and falling into the pit of corpses. She pulled herself up, realizing she had lost Scootaloo. She scrambled trying to look for her, digging through the corpses to find her. “You’re going to pay for that.” Rainbow looked up to see her counterpart glowering down at her. “You’ve set us back weeks after what you did.” “Wait!” Rainbow pleaded. “I’m not a Changeling! I’m from another dimension!” “I already figured that out.” Rainbow Factory Dash replied. “You’re as fast as I am and did everything I would, no amount of studying would be able to impersonate me so effectively. I don’t know how you got here or why, but I will not allow you to continue to interfere.” “Why are you doing this!?” Rainbow growled. “Why are you trying to kill Scootaloo!? Why are you killing these kids!?” “Parasites, not kids.” Rainbow Factory Dash snapped back. “They couldn’t fly, and so would be a drain on our resources, staining Cloudsdale good name. I repurposed them so they’d be of use to Equestria. Scootaloo failed her exam and so failed me.” “If Scootaloo couldn’t fly, then that’s your fault, not hers! You were supposed to teach her!” “I did! I tried so hard to help her fly! And she- she betrayed me!” “You tried to kill her!” Rainbow screamed back. “You betrayed her!” “Enough! I’ll be doing both our worlds a favor by getting rid of you.” Rainbow Factory Dash flew over to a lever. “What are you doing?” Rainbow asked, eying the lever anxiously. “We can’t just leave hundreds of corpses for the authorities to find, these foals have all been exiled after all. ” Rainbow Factory Dash smiled evilly, chuckling. “So, we’re going to give them a purpose even beyond death. As fertilizer.” She pulled the lever and the room whirred to life. The pile began to lower as the corpses were grounded up, filing into the middle of the pit. Rainbow Dash redoubled her efforts in trying to find Scootaloo, refusing to to escape without her. “Rainbow!” Rainbow moved her head up towards the sound of the voice. “Rainbow!” She finally spotted Scootaloo, a single dot of orange in a sea of gray. She was far closer to the shredder then Rainbow would’ve liked, taking to the air and flying to Scootaloo to grab her. However, she was grabbed from behind, Rainbow struggling with her assailant for a few seconds. “Nuh uh uh! Since you’ve caused so many problems, you get to watch her die in front of you!” “No!” Rainbow's eyes widened and she tried desperately to escape her doppelgängers grip. “Scootaloo!” “Rainbow Dash! Help!” Scootaloo cried desperately as she was pulled beneath the sea of bodies. “Rainbow Dash!”