//------------------------------//
// The Rainbow Factory 
// Story: Doctor Whooves Episode 9: Triple Rainbow 
// by Doctor Perseus 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 4: The Rainbow Factory


Outskirts of Feathersville Cemetery, Feathersville, The Griffin Kingdom, Gaia, Summer, 1021 C.E.

Rainbow Dash the elder trudged along the dark road until the outlines of the Doctor, Fluttershy, and Gilda emerged from the darkness. She wanted to smile upon seeing them but she couldn't bring herself to do so. The thought of what her past self was witnessing was too much for her to bear at the moment. She had tried to forget the memories related to the reality she had visited oh so long about. But now...it was happening again.
"You're okay!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"Where's the other Rainbow Dash?" Gilda asked.
"She's gone. She took off into the night. I know that we're going to come across her again pretty soon. We better head back to the others. I don't remember what my future self did, as in what I'm about to do, exactly but I do remember that the others are in danger as long as my dark twin is out," Rainbow replied.
"We better get going then!"
"Wait. Where's our Rainbow Dash?" the Doctor asked. 
"You, Twilight, and Derpy are going to need to take a trip in a little bit."
"A trip? A trip to where?"
"To the place where my past self is: an alternate reality."

The Rainbow Factory, Cloudsdale, Equestria, Gaia, Summer, 1002 C.E.

The 19-year-old Rainbow Dash groaned as the contractions on her body stopped. She was still unaware about what had just happened but she knew that she didn't like it.
"I think I'm going to be sick," she groaned as she felt her stomach set back into place. She opened her eyes, expecting to find herself lying next to the sofa in the old house, and found herself lying on the floor inside a large, empty office. She slowly stood up and examined the office. It was pretty quaint. A large, wooden desk sat at the far end of the office. It was covered in pictures of herself as well as ponies that she didn't recognize. One particular picture caught her eye. It was a picture of herself standing next to a pegasus stallion who had a light yellow coat, a light blue mane, and a pair of sharp, dark blue eyes. In the picture, Rainbow Dash was dressed in a black cloak and the stallion was wearing a billowing, white lab coat. Rainbow approached the picture and examined it closely. Both she and the stallion were smiling but it wasn't a friendly smile. It was a sadistic, proud, evil smile. She didn't like the picture very much. She then turned towards the wall and noticed a black suit and cloak hanging from the wall. Next to it, there hung a rod. The rod was made of metal with a rubber cover extending over all of it except the end, which looked like the prongs from an electrical plug. Rainbow didn't really want to know what the rod was used for. "Where the hell am I?"
Suddenly, the office door opened and in walked the stallion from the picture.
"Ah! There you are, Rainbow Dash!" the stallion exclaimed as he approached her. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you! The others have been very anxious to begin preparing the new batch of failures but we didn't want to start without you."
"I think there's a mistake here. I don't know you."
The stallion let out a crazy laugh before taking a few breaths to calm himself down.
"Good one, Rainbow Dash! You not knowing me! Your second-in-command and head engineer, Dr. Atmosphere!"
"That's a strange name."
"Funny. I remember you saying that to me the first time we met. That was a great day for all of us. Well, now's not the time to take a trip down memory lane! It's time to get dressed and take care of those ingrates!"
"I don't understand what's going on here!"
"Ha! You're a riot today, Rainbow Dash! That's funny. Normally you're not one known for her sense of humor. You haven't been since you became in charge of the factory. I'll see you in the Spectra Room, okay?"
Dr. Atmosphere left the room as he proceeded to whistle a happy tune. Rainbow turned towards the suit and rod. She carefully got dressed. It didn't feel right, the suit. It was tight and smelled like it had been lying in the emergency room at the hospital for hours on end. Rainbow then noticed that a black mask was hanging on a hook next to where the suit had been hanging. She finished clipping the cloak to her suit before placing the mask over her face. It didn't feel right either but she figured that it was all part of the expected uniform. She then grabbed the rod and made her way out of the office. 
Outside the office, there was a long, white hallway. She could hear the sounds of ponies talking emanating from behind some of the closed doors. She then noticed a sign that said Spectra Room This Way and an arrow next to it that pointed towards the left. Rainbow turned left and continued down the hallway.
Rainbow continued to follow a series of signs directing her towards the Spectra Room. The hallways started becoming darker and more rustic. She didn't like the new hallways. By the time she reached the door leading into the Spectra Room, she felt as though she were walking into a haunted boiler room. 
Through the door was a balcony that overlooked a large room. The room was dark and rustic, like the hallways. Six large vats stood far below: each was filled with one Spectra color of the rainbow. Long tubes led down from the ceiling and towards the vats. The tubes appeared to extend from what looked like a jumbled mess of gears, clogs, and chains that was situated at the top of the room. Dr. Atmosphere and a series of suited ponies with rods were standing with her on the balcony while a large crowd of suited ponies were sitting in what appeared to be theater seats far below. Rainbow then noticed something that made her stomach turn. Below, in a far corner of the room, was a group of young pegasi. Some were so young that they didn't even have their cutie marks yet. They all looked like they were scared, confused, and sad. Some were even crying. A door below opened and a pair of suited ponies pushed a trio of young pegasi into the room. The door then slammed shut with a loud click.
"Well?" Dr. Atmosphere asked as he turned towards Rainbow. "They're ready to hear your speech."
"My speech?" Rainbow gulped.
"Yes, your speech! The one you give to every new batch of failures when they arrive!"
"I...I seem to have...forgotten it."
"How could you have forgotten it?! You've said it nearly every day since you became the head of the factory!"
"I think I'm just...out of it."
"I guess I'll give it then. Though it won't be as powerful as when you give it."
"Thank you?"
Rainbow didn't know what to say. As Dr. Atmosphere prepared to speak, Rainbow got a feeling that she wasn't going to like what he was going to say.
"Hello, you little ingrates! Our manager seems a little bit out of it at the moment so I shall be the one to tell you about what the rest of your life is going to include! By now, you've all probably figured out that your punishment for failing your flight exams has nothing to do with exile! You are in the Rainbow Factory! You will never leave the Rainbow Factory! You shall remain here for the rest of your days, which really doesn't consist of much time! You are all useless and unworthy to become a part of the greater pony community at large! But, you all do have some amount of usage! So, you're all going help create beautiful rainbows for all the ponies in Equestria to see! Doesn't that excite you?!"
None of the colts or fillies down below looked particularly happy about what Dr. Atmosphere was telling them and Rainbow related with them completely. What was this place? The Rainbow Factory? This wasn't the Rainbow Factory! She had visited the Rainbow Factory multiple times during her foalhood and she had studied the process of rainbow making thoroughly when she had begun working as a weather pony, and there was no part in the making of rainbows that involved the slave labor of young ponies. Dr. Atmosphere continued. 
"I bet you all have your own little theories about what rainbows are made out of! Over a thousand years ago, Celestia was forced to hand down the job of rainbow making to us, the pegasi! At first we were forced to use artificial Spectra made by unicorns, but then we made a discovery! A brilliant and beautiful way to extract pure color pigment to use in the Spectra! The source of the pigment was, of course, live ponies!"
Several of the colts and fillies gasped, a few screamed, and some began to cry even harder. Rainbow couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was madness!
"It is only in live ponies that true pigment resides! That's where all of you come into play! We decided to make everypony in this world useful, even the useless ones like you! This is your destiny! You shall all help make this world a better, and more beautiful place with your skin, blood, tears, and life! Let us begin!"
The colts and fillies screamed as two suited ponies made their way over towards them. They grabbed a young filly and began dragging her off towards a series of chains that extended from the ground and up into the Spectra machine. 
"Angela!" cried a colt as he flew forward. One of the suited ponies proceeded to stun the young colt with a rod, which was revealed to be electrified. 
"I'll be okay, Davy! I'll be okay! It'll all be over soon!" Angela cried as tears rolled down her face. The suited ponies attached Angela to the chain pulley and gave the signal to pull her up, towards her death.
Rainbow couldn't stand to watch this anymore. She had to act. She tore off her mask and screamed, "STOP!"
Everypony in the room fell silent. Rainbow flew down towards the suited ponies surrounding Angela.
"Ms. Dash?" asked one of the suited ponies. "What's wrong? Have we not attached her the right way?"
Rainbow was angry. She jabbed her rod into the suited pony's side and screamed, "You sick bastard!"
The pony fell down like a lump of coal. The other pony attempted to stop Rainbow but she managed to stun him too. Rainbow then quickly unchained Angela from the pulley. 
"What's the meaning of this, Rainbow Dash?!" asked Dr. Atmosphere as he flew down. He was accompanied by a group of suited ponies. "What's gotten into you? You've been doing this for years! You killed Scootaloo just last month after she failed you! I thought you loved this job!"
"I'm not the Rainbow Dash that did those things!" Rainbow yelled as she pointed her rod at Dr. Atmosphere. This world was horrible. A world in which she was in charge of a factory designed to kill colts and fillies and turn their remains into Spectra. A world in which she had killed Scootaloo, all because she failed a stupid flight exam. This was it. This had to stop. "But I am still Rainbow Dash, and technically I'm the manager of this factory! As manager, I say that this ends here!"

Fly and Buy Inn, Feathersville, The Griffin Kingdom, Gaia, Summer, 1021 C.E.

Rainbow Dash the killer eyed her friends with a dirty look. She despised having to pretend being her happier double but the satisfaction of playing her double's friends' feelings was enough to make her trudge through her act. She eyed Scootaloo with a deep hatred. This Scootaloo had gone on to grow mature and happy. There was a world where Scootaloo was still alive. Sure, it had kind of hurt Rainbow on the inside to kill the filly she had spent so long to train but, in the end, that same filly had failed her. Now, in this alternate timeline, it killed Rainbow the killer to see that her failed victim was alive and well and was her assistant no less! She had to die. She was sure about that. Twilight and Pinkie Pie helped Rainbow into the inn and up to the top floor with help from Derpy and Scootaloo. Nopony else had returned yet.
"I wonder if the Doctor or the others have found the older Rainbow Dash yet," said Twilight.
"You three can go out and check. I'll watch over your Rainbow Dash," said Scootaloo.
"Okay. Are you sure that you're okay, Rainbow Dash?" Derpy asked.
"I'll be fine. However, I'll think I'll be sore for a little while," Rainbow replied with a forced laugh.
"We'll be back soon," said Twilight. 
"Don't strain yourself too much, Dashie!" said Pinkie Pie.
"Right! Be careful! That killer Rainbow Dash is still on the loose!" Scootaloo warned as Twilight, Derpy, and Pinkie headed downstairs. Rainbow the killer smiled gleefully in her mind. This was perfect. Now she could settle things. Scootaloo turned to face Rainbow and asked, "Do you need anything?"
"Yeah. Do you have any...tea?" Rainbow replied.
"Sure! Be back in a jiffy!"
Scootaloo happily walked into the kitchen. Rainbow silently followed behind her. She peaked into the kitchen to see that Scootaloo was now busy preparing a pot of tea over the stove. A collection of knives was displayed in a holder on a counter right next to the door. Rainbow smiled as she took hold of one of the blades. Scootaloo began whistling her own version of the Cutie Mark Crusaders theme as she continued making the tea. Rainbow quietly snuck up behind her. The knife was raised and at the ready. Scootaloo was completely unaware that her life was in danger. Rainbow smiled at the thought of it.
"Goodbye again, little failure," Rainbow whispered happily to herself as she brought the knife down, making sure to aim for the back of Scootaloo's neck.