Rainbow Factory Condemned

by LordCarn


Chapter 23

The primary monitor displays the room where you found Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash and an unknown red pegasus appear to be preparing for something. On a small side monitor, you can see two fillies, who appear to be slightly older than you, standing in the middle of the hall leading into the same room with Dash and the other Pegasus. A familiar pair of violet eyes join them at the hall’s entrance. They converse for a few seconds and then, the two fillies approach the open door at the end of the hall. The red pegasus conceals himself behind the large machinery and as he’s doing so, you are able to read the nameplate on his lab coat. “Dr. Atmosphere.” The two fillies bust through the door and seem to be caught off guard when they see nopony was there. Rainbow Dash flies in from the ceiling and forcefully lands on a suspended catwalk, causing it to shake violently. She seems to go on a long rant about… well, you don’t really know because you can’t hear anything. She approaches a nearby valve and places both of her front hooves upon it. She turns and appears to address the foals below her. Even seeing it happen on the monitor sent chills down your spine. She quickly turns the valve, releasing a continues stream of a neon blue liquid. One of the foals ducked for cover and the other flew above it.

Dr. Atmosphere exploded from behind the machine and swatted the one filly out of the air, and pinned her to the ground. Rainbow Dash seemed to remark on the incident, take off from the platform and launch herself at the other filly, hitting him in the head, knocking him unconscious. The unconscious filly was then carried over to the large machine and placed upon a conveyor belt that lead into the maw of the machine. Both the Dr. and Rainbow Dash have a short burst of laughter before proceeding over to the machines controls. Looking back at the hallway monitor, you can still see Scootaloo looking cautiously into the room, her eyes searching for a way to save what you assume are her friends. Her eyes fall upon the valve at the top of the catwalk. Her eyes harden in determination, and she flies up to the valve. She yells at the top of her lungs and everything seems to stop. The conveyor belt stopped, the machine stopped churning it gears, and Rainbow Dash’s eyes swelled up with tears. The Dr. seems to be shocked as well and attempted to convince her to ignore Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash quickly brushed him off and refocused her attention on Scootaloo with disbelieving eyes. A smile spread across her face. Scootaloo began talking again and what she said must have caught Rainbow dash off guard for her face turned sour. She stomped her hoof in frustration and yelled toward Scootaloo. Scootaloo placed her hooves on a higher valve and turned it, releasing the pipes entire storage of the strange blue liquid right on top of her. She spread her wings, and then started to fall toward the floor. Rainbow Dash dove to catch her but, landed short and her body disappeared through the cloud floor.

The Dr. confidently approaches Rainbow Dash. His face only displayed pity toward the old mare in front of him. He spoke a few words and Dash’s face lit up with comprehension. She stood and seemed to begin to question the Dr. He calmly responded to every question she asked. Rainbow’s eyes widened for a moment and then stared accusingly at Atmosphere. Rainbow began to say something, but was cut off by Dr. Atmosphere’s foreleg slamming into her cranium, knocking her unconscious. He stands there for a moment before taking in a deep sigh and turning back to the two fillies they subdued earlier, he calmly collect both of them and leads them out of the room to the elevator. All of the side monitors turn off leaving the main monitor alone. Rainbow Dash remains unconscious on the floor. Two horns rise from the cloud floor below, slowly revealing their owner. Discord rose above the cloud floor, his eyes full of pity. You hear a small speaker spring to life, filling the room with a faint hum. “You poor, poor pony. You’ve lost so much in such a small time.” Rainbow’s eyelids flickered to life, revealing her dilated pupils. She attempted to rise on shaking hooves, but failed to do so. “But I’m afraid you journey is not done, there is one more task you must complete.” Discord snaps his claws and the body of Scootaloo appeared in his outstretched paw. “She is not dead… yet.” Discord casually tossed Scootaloo’s body into Dash’s outstretched hooves. Dash stared blankly at the… ‘gift’ given to her. “She needs medical attention immediately, I suggest you hurry.” Dash stared blankly into the distance for a few seconds, then quickly stood on her back hooves, and took off flying. The other monitors spring back to life and the recording begins fast forwarding. You can still make out what’s happening, ponies are cleaning up a few messes, devices are being dismantled, Rainbow Dash and Dr. Atmosphere appear to be escorting Princess Celestia on a tour of the fa... wait… you knew the princess had condemned the place, but why was she now wandering… The other monitors shut off once more. The central monitor changes its view to a security surveillance room. After examining your surroundings, you determine the monitor displays the room you are currently in. You could hear their voices before they entered the room. “Well that went better than I originally expected.”

“Better? She nearly lost her stomach several times before we actually entered the device’s room!”

“True, but Ms. Dash, you must remember, most ponies are not accustomed to the whole ‘killing little fillies to make rainbows’ thing. Even if she is the Princess, I’m sure she hasn’t seen something of this magnitude in her lifetime.” The door to the room is pushed open and both Rainbow Dash and Dr. Atmosphere enter the room. “The Princess wants us to clean up our own mess so we might as well start here in the control room. I’ll start over here, if you could sort out the ones over in the corner that would be great.”

“What exactly are we supposed to do with these files anyway?”

“Get rid of them. Burn them, it doesn't matter, we just need to dispose of them. Just be sure you don’t throw out anything about any expansions or changes we’ve made to the factory.” The two silently begin shuffling through filling cabinets. As Rainbow Dash casually flips through them, one folder catches her eye. It had her name on it and had a small sub-folder inside it labeled Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash cautiously glances over her shoulder at the Dr. to ensure he was occupied. After seeing he was, she pulls out a familiar looking document and begins reading it. The farther she gets in the log, the lower her ears droop. Her mouth stood slightly ajar as she mouthed the words written on the page. She struggles to keep hold of the paper in her trembling hooves. As she finishes reading it, Dr. Atmosphere casually glances over his shoulder to check on Rainbow Dash and as he notices what she’s reading, his eyes widen in terror. Rainbow dash silently placed the document on a nearby table. A long period of silence brewed within the room. Rainbow Dash was the first to break the silence, her voice was shaking with rage.
“You… you planned this… from the very beginning. You forced Scootaloo to fail. You forced her to come here. You’re the reason she’s paralyzed…”

“Now Rainbow Dash…”

“You’re the reason I was forced to kill all those defenseless fillies.”

“Don’t do anything you might regret in the future…”

“You’re the reason I was forced to come to the factory.”

“Please Rainbow Dash, you have to understand that I did all of this for the betterment of the…”

“You’re the reason I gave up on all my friends” Dr. Atmosphere slowly backs away from Rainbow Dash toward the door, when a familiar maniacal chuckle fills the room. The door slammed shut and locked itself. The Dr. rushed over to the door and began trying to unlock it to no avail. It appeared to be jammed. Rainbow Dash slowly extended her wings. “You once told me that loyalties can change. How wrong I thought you were at the time. But now, actually realizing such a change has occurred, I can say with a strong belief that you were right. But no matter how right you were, and no matter how well you ran this facility…” In an instant, Rainbow Dash flew across the room and pinned Dr. Atmosphere, by the neck, to the door, with her foreleg. “it does not give you…” Her wings flapped again dragging the Dr. with her. “The right…” She flew higher and higher, dragging the red pegasus along the concrete like cloud, scrapping the skin off of his back the higher they went. “to toy…” Rainbow Dash slammed her back hooves into the Dr.’s wings, crushing them between the wall, and her seething hatred. “WITH MY FEELINGS!!!!” Rainbow Dash grabbed the Dr. and pulled him off the wall and into the air. When she reached the highest point in the room, she threw him at full force straight at the ground. As he fell, his mouth was ajar from inexplicable pain or sheer terror, you could not tell. He tried desperately to spread his wings so he could glide to safety, but was unable to do so. The Dr.’s eyes continued to search for some form of salvation but could find none. As he approached the ground, he finally accepted his fate and closed his eyes. A sickening thud echoes through the room. The Dr., somehow managing to survive the fall, struggled for air as he coughed up the blood that was blocking his airways.

Rainbow Dash flew down and landed in front of his crumpled form. “You’ve taken so much from me; my friends, my home, my conscience, my sanity…” She places a hoof on his shoulder. “My family. I had a pretty good life. And then you showed up. You heartless, cruel, selfish monster. I couldn’t live the rest of my life knowing such a colt was still alive, playing with other ponies lives.” Her expression turns sour as she lifts the Dr. off the ground and dragged him to a nearby, small, personal belongings locker and began stuffing the shell that was once Dr. Atmosphere, inside. Bones cracked sending chills down your spine. Yelps of pain emerged from the locker until one final ‘Snap.’ The cries of pain ceased, but Rainbow Dash continued trying to fit him into the small cubic storage space. Blood dripped from the bottom of the locker unto the floor. She still continued to kick the corpse inside the locker until it seemed there was no recognizable thing to kick. She slammed the locker door which bounced off the lock and swung back open. Rainbow Dash turned her back on the locker and stood in the middle of the room. The door leading into the room shimmered slightly as a long and tall figure entered the room. Discord looked precariously into the locker.

“Tsk, tsk, Rainbow Dash, I don’t believe a pony’s spine is supposed to bend THAT way.” Rainbow Dash remained silent. “Such a long way you have come, so many lessons have been learned. I do believe my job here is done.”
I know you don’t want this to end Discord. We can help each other out. You need a way to release your chaotic energy without the little miss goody two shoes Princess finding out and I need an excuse to keep Scootaloo on life support.” Discord only raised an eyebrow, “They’re going to let her go… the only family I have left. I ask this of you now Discord, help me accomplish this task, and you won’t have to keep all that energy pent up inside your horrendous form.”

“Ahem, I don’t particularly like being called such downgrading names… but you offer intrigues me. Alright Rainbow Dash, I’ll play along, as long as I can keep that overbearing ‘Princess Celestia’ off my back, she’s always pestering me! Fix this, fix that UGH what a drag.” Rainbow Dash’s face remained calm and collected as she chose her next words carefully.
“Of course, if we want to successfully pull this off we're going to need HER help.” One of Discord’s eyebrows raises to form a question. Rainbow Dash doesn’t move, nor give any hint as to whom she is talking about when Discord’s eyes widen in realization.
“OH NO NO NO NO NO NO, I will NOT go to her for help. She’s just so… serious.”
“Well, who else could accomplish what she can?” Discord searches for an answer before finally admitting defeat.
“Only her… But if she says anything about my horns were going to have to find somepony else.”
The recording stops and all of the screens fuzz out. You return your attention to the door you were about to open.