It was a stormy night, and it was dark and cold. Scootaloo was shifting side-to-side on her bed. She was having nightmares about her exam in flight school, and about the rainbow factory.
Creepy melodies sang in her head 'Now a rainbow's tale isn’t quite as nice, as the story we knew about sugar and spice…’
She was screaming and shouting in her dreams, she cried… hard.
"Rainbow Factory, where dreams and horrors come true… Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through…’
Her mind was exploding with gory pictures of her getting killed by Rainbow Dash, her one and only idol.
‘How, you ask, are they up to the task... to which the answer is in a simple facility…’
Scootaloo was scared. She shouted, she screamed for mercy… and then, she woke up. She gasped for air and then looked around the room; it was dark and hard to make out anything. She dropped herself back to bed and wiped her tears.
“That nightmare… again.” Scootaloo shut her eyes and tried her best to fall asleep.
These nightmares had been haunting her since she became the president of the ‘Rainbow Dash Fan Club’. She was now more grown-up than filly, and those nightmares meant nothing to her... until she was told about passing flight school. The exam was in two weeks and Rainbow Dash was training Scootaloo with huge passion, just like in the dream.
“Come on Scootaloo, flap those wings!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Rainbow Dash relied on Scootaloo’s winning, as if she knew that Scootaloo was gonna die if she failed.
Scootaloo still tried her best to ignore these nightmares, and thought that as soon as she will pass the test, those nightmares will end… or even earlier, she won’t care. But they didn't. Everyday they got worse and worse, creepier and scarier by night.
Scootaloo’s worst nightmare was before the actual test:
“C’mon, Orion! We’re gonna be late for our final test!” Scootaloo called to a friend of hers. Scootaloo moved a little to the side as Orion, a tall, yet fairly skinny pony, settled next to her. He fluffed his light brown feathers and gave a worried attempt at a smile as he stared around where he sat. They were sitting and staring at the contestants getting ready.
“Hey Scoot’s, what do you think will happen if we fail?” Orion asked her. She looked at a cloud factory next to her. With a shudder, she realized it was the rainbow factory. She gulped and thought for a second; she did not want to tell her friend about her dreams.
“I don’t know and I don’t want to find out” She said to her friend giving him a fake smile. “We won’t fail” She said trying to cheer. She gulped once again and looked the other direction.
“Are you all right?” A yellow Pegasus sitting next to Scootaloo asked rather amused than worried. Her name was Aurora Dawn.
“Yes, I’m fine, you are the one who should be worried; you haven’t been in flight school for a month!” Scootaloo said colder and sharper than she ever spoke with anypony. The Pegasus started laughing, not in amusement, from craziness. Scootaloo didn’t pay much attention to her.
A white Pegasus trainer started explaining the rules. “We’re going to do this by name. Your adjudicators are on the east side of the field. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, fly too far west. If they lose sight of you for any reason, you’ll be failed, immediately. Take deep breaths. Stretch your wings one last time. The test will consist of three sections. Weather clearing, Agility, and finally Recovery. Clear the clouds, fly through the hoops, and then fly to the marked elevation. Close your wings for at least three seconds. Any less and you’ll fail, but keep in mind there’s no ‘extra points’ for extra seconds. Finally, recover before you hit the cloud floor.” Scootaloo looked around once again and saw how the Judges were already calling Scootaloo.
“Clear, Fly, Fall, Complete” One of them said. Scootaloo stretched her wings and was ready to take off; she looked at the judges expecting them to nod. Instead they pointed down with their hooves, shaking their heads.
“No.” Scootaloo gulped; she didn't even start and she failed! She looked around not knowing what to do. She saw all of her friends laughing at her, especially Aurora. She then saw Rainbow Dash flying at her wearing a bright-red mask of blood. She started singing.
“In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true; In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through!” Rainbow Dash looked straight at Scootaloo with a crazy grin behind her blood mask. Her velvet eyes were shining in madness “HAHAHAHAHAHA!" She laughed crazily. “Thought you’d get away, didn’t you?” Rainbow Dash grinned and took out some dreadful chains. She quickly tied them around Scootaloo’s wings.
Scootaloo tried to get out of her chains but couldn't. Every single second she moved, blood spurted out as the chains ripped her flesh out. Scootaloo shouted in pain and Rainbow Dash laughed.
“Die!” She evilly shouted.
The cloud Scootaloo was standing on vanished and she fell into the darkness.
“1, 2, 3!”
She heard Rainbow Dash counting up above. She then saw a rainbow rising. Rainbow Dash laughed one more time and Scootaloo woke up.
Scootaloo gasped, she looked around the room. The sunlight was beaming straight into Scootaloo’s eyes. She opened her eyes wide, and looked to check the time. Scootaloo was going to be late for her test! Scootaloo rushed to the arena where the test was. She looked around. Millions of Pegasus from different lands were sitting in the arena seats around the field and cheering for the young Pegasus ponies. Scootaloo looked to her side and saw Rainbow Dash waving to her; she waved back and gulped deeply as if something was stuck inside her throat.
She looked everywhere to find her friend, Orion. She only saw Aurora sitting next to the other Pegasus ponies. “He must be late.” She said to herself. She heard how the judges were calling for Aurora to step into the field. Scootaloo looked at how Aurora took off into the air and how she cleared the skies and glided down. Aurora closed her wings and Scootaloo started counting. “One…Two…Three…”
Aurora successfully passed her exam and Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. In her dreams, Aurora never passed, and now she did! So the dream must be just a wrong nightmare… right? Scootaloo gulped as she heard her name, she came to the start line and didn't listen to the instructions since she already knew them. But the last sentence caught her attention
“Clear, Fly, Fall, Complete, go!” The coach shouted.
Scootaloo froze; it was the same thing she heard in her dream. She looked at the judges, they nodded. She gulped again. She tried to move but the fright in the small Pegasus kept her wings shut, she was not able to move. Then she heard a familiar voice shout.
“Go, or you’ll fail!” It was Orion. She smiled; she was happy that her friend was there. She used up all her confidence, wriggled her wings and she took off.
She flew, easily clearing the clouds, she flew through the rings and then - the final made her very nervous, but she made it! She closed her wings.
“One…two…three!” She happily exclaimed to herself, and recovered, flying up into the sky! But before she reached the finish line, something knocked her over. She closed her eyes and fell on the solid ground, unconscious.
“Scootaloo… are you all right?” a familiar voice called out. Scootaloo woke up and shot straight like an arrow. She looked around nervously and saw Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow Dash?” The orange Pegasus asked as if she didn’t believe in what happened “D-did I fail?” Rainbow Dash smiled.
“No, some cross-eyed mare knocked you out with a muffin and you fell. The judges will let you do a retest tomorrow.” Rainbow Dash said happily. Scootaloo sighed but there was something on her mind.
“D-did Orion pass?” She asked. Rainbow Dash looked at the orange pony and shook her head.
“Nope, he failed on the rings.” She said. Scootaloo’s heart sank. What happened to Orion?
“W-What will happen to him? Will he be taken away? YOU KILLED HIM!” Scootaloo shouted nervously. Rainbow Dash stared for a moment and then laughed.
“Y-You really think so? HAHA, he was just sent back a grade!” Rainbow Dash mused.
But Scootaloo did not believe the rainbow Pegasus. Something in her heart told her to kill Rainbow Dash.
Kill her and everypony else will be safe.
The other side told her to believe her idol. That was just a nightmare, Scootaloo… she can’t be a bad pony
Scootaloo was going mad, voices pounding in her skull. Kill her…
NO! Don’t kill her!
She was going insane, to kill or not to kill? What to do? Scootaloo snapped.
“Rainbow Dash…” she said, “I don’t believe you…” Scootaloo jumped on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was shocked by the attack, but she was stronger.
“W-what are you doing, squirt?” Rainbow Dash said, throwing Scootaloo away.
Scootaloo growled and screamed. “I hope I never see you again, Rainbow Crash!”
She looked away and stomped out, realizing she couldn't kill Rainbow Dash. She won’t go down to her level. Instead, she could stop obsessing over her. Scootaloo felt bad at the depths of her heart, but dreams don’t come for nothing if they repeat… but she still never thought she would ever say that to Rainbow Dash.
As Scootaloo flew to her house, she bumped into somepony. At first; she was shocked; it was Orion. The thrills in Scootaloo’s heart made her jump right to Orion and hug him. “You are safe!” she squealed in delight. Orion laughed.
“Of course! And you have hit your head hard enough” he mused. Scootaloo laughed but then lowered her head. “What’s wrong?” Scootaloo just shook her head
“Nothing” she looked at Orion and tried to change the subject “You have failed and you were sent back a grade?” She asked. He nodded and then something blew into his head.
“Scootaloo… I have to tell you something…” He said “I…” Scootaloo already flew off and Orion shook his head and sighed. He was very upset.
Scootaloo had something haunting her in her sleep again, but it was not nightmares anymore, more like dreams. She had dreams of her and Rainbow Dash flying in the skies together, laughing and having races. That had actually happened when they were training together. It was a very nice and a very delightful moment, Rainbow Dash has spent most of her precious time training Scootaloo… and now Scootaloo has abandoned Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo woke up. She started crying. “It-it was just a dream…” Tears flooded her orange cheeks as Scootaloo whispered to herself. “And now she’s gone… gone for nothing, in my doubt.” Scootaloo cried hard and even hit her pillow. She got up slowly, got ready and flew to the arena to take her test.
She was ready, but Rainbow Dash was not there to see her pass. Scootaloo sighed and told herself to focus. She got her wings ready and flapped them into the air, she took off, feeling the breeze, the tension, the adrenaline, and it was so much fun, just like Rainbow Dash told her. Scootaloo past the rings and went on to the gliding, she closed her wings for three seconds flat and took off into the air again. She past the finish line and happily gazed at the judges as they nodded. She jumped up and down happily and as she did that, she bumped into a Pegasus. It was somepony she never expected to meet again.
“I’m proud of you, squirt.” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo jumped on Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow Dash!” She squealed. “I-I’m sorry about yesterday…” She lowered trailed off and looked away. Rainbow Dash smiled at her
“Its okay, Scoots.” She never called her Scoots, she always called her Pipsqueak or Squirt and now… Scootaloo teared up and hugged Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo, she was not fully happy.
“What’s the matter, Scoots?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I have to do… one more thing!” Scootaloo replied and rushed away.
The next day, Orion woke up. He was surprised. There in front of him stood Scootaloo with a note in her mouth. I love you too.