• Published 29th May 2013
  • 1,279 Views, 40 Comments

Shadow Dash - lordcurly972



After a unknown mishap at The Rainbow Factory, Rainbow Dash is left with a lot of questions and perhaps a monster dwelling inside her.

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Down With Rainbow Run-Off


Over the course of my flight to Twilights my grew coat grew darker and darker. By the time I reached Sugar Cube Corner it was no longer its previous bright blue, but a light grey. My mane had lost all its color, instead of bright reds and yellows it was now grey and black. I no longer cared about the color of my coat and mane; they were the least of my worries. I was more worried about what I was feeling inside. Everywhere I looked I saw things I could destroy, things I wanted to destroy. I was trying so hard not to just take off towards the nearest house and tear it apart. My body was aching to cause mischief, so much so I started to shake. I flew up higher in hopes that not being able to see Ponyville will take my mind off of destruction. Finally, I reached the library. I touched down in front of the door; it took all the strength I had to just knock on it instead of kicking it in.

"Just a second," I heard Twilight call from inside the library.

"Please hurry, I desperately need your help," I called back to her, trying to keep my gaze off one object for too long.

She began to open the door, "Oh, hello Rainbow I've been meaning to...," she trailed off noticing the state I was in. "What in the name of Celestia happened to you!" she exclaimed covering her mouth with her hoof.

"I really don't know how to explain it, other than I can't seem to control these urges to destroy everything around me, my coat and mane have lost their color, and I think my body is just about ready to give out on it's self," I clambered, I thought it best not to mention the barn I had destroyed earlier in fear Twilight would give me a speech about self control, "now, please tell me you found something out about that strange goo, because I have a feeling that's what's causing this."

Twilight was speechless; it seemed she didn't know how to react to what was happening to me. Finally, she spoke," Um...yeah, I did actually find something out, come inside and I'll tell you all about it."

"Good, I don't know how much longer I can hang on," I exclaimed stepping through the doorway.

Twilight's house was in quite a state, stacks of books were everywhere. She must have been reading these books ever since I left her house earlier this morning, I probably would have given up the search after the first few pages. There was only one book that wasn't in a stack on the floor. It lay open on Twilight's desk. I closed it and read the title, Mare Made Rainbows and You.

"Why is this one out?" I asked flipping through a couple of pages.

"Well, come to find out, your strange goo is the byproduct of hoof made rainbows," she answered, taking the book from me and flipping it to a page with a picture of the rainbow factory on it.

"When the rainbows are made in the factory they produce that strange goo, also known as Anti-color,"
she stated, showing me various images of the process of making rainbows," it can be quite dangerous, as it drains color from anything it remains in contact with over extended periods of time."

"Well, you think!" I exclaimed," look what it's doing to me!"

"Now, see, this is where I'm puzzled," she said closing the book and placing it on the stack nearest to her," Anti-color is only dangerous when it remains in contact with something for too long, you say you washed it off within an hour of you finding it on your person."

She began to look me over," Do you mind if I get a blood sample, I may just have a hunch as to why this happening to you," she said, bending my foreleg.

"Sure, whatever you can do to help me," I responded.

Twilight walked into the bathroom and returned shortly with a rubber band and a needle.

"Do not worry, this will only pinch a bit," she said as she tied the rubber band around my leg.

"What, do you think I'm some little filly, I've gotten shots before!" I exclaimed.

I closed my eyes as she began to slide the needle in, I could hear her chuckle at me.

"I just don't like the sight of blood," I said nervously.

"There we're all done," she said reassuringly," now to test my theory."

She walked over to her desk, moved her lamp to the center and held the needle under the light.

"What are you doing?" I asked walking over to her to get a better look.

"I'm testing your blood for Anti-color, it's actually clear, but turns black when submitted to light," she said rotating the needle under the lamp.

I watched in awe as my blood turned from auburn to pitch black.

"Just as I figured," she said, disposing of the needle in toxic waste basket next to her desk," do you recall how long you sat in the tub when you washed the Anti-color off?"

"Um... a couple of minutes," I said, a bit confused,"why?"

"It appears that when you washed it off and remained in the tub with it, it was absorbed into your blood stream through you skin," she answered undoing the rubber band around my leg and then throwing it away as well.

"So... what does that mean?" I asked, I was beginning to think that all of this was just some weird dream; I really don't see how the left over stuff from rainbows was causing all of these changes in me.

"Well in theory, when the Anti-color came in contact with your blood stream, it began sapping your color, but it also started purging your energy," she said walking over to her chair and sitting down," it must have gained more energy than it needed, seeing as to how you're the most energetic pony in Ponyville behind Pinkie Pie, it started developing its own consciousness."

"I still don't understand my sudden destructiveness," I said trying to comprehend what Twilight was telling me.

"I suppose that when the Anti-color became its own entity it realized how powerful you truly were, and how much energy you use when adrenaline pumps through your body, so it sends signals to your brain to pump the same adrenaline you get when doing stunts but, instead when you have your bouts of destructiveness," Twilight stated rather as-a-matter-of-factly," it must truly be a rather evil substance."

"So what does that mean for me?" I asked with a huge lump in my throat, if I wasn't in the presence of Twilight I might have started to cry.

" I'm going to guess that if you continue to destroy things, the Anti-color will have the passage it needs to gain complete control over your body," she said, I think she was starting to tear up.

"Do you think you could make a cure?" I asked.

"Well, yes," she answered wearily," but I would need a fresh sample of Anti-color untainted by your blood and not submitted to light to find out its chemical balance to find the best way to rid your body of it."

"The only place to get that is at The Rainbow Factory," I stated," but it's still under construction, I don't even think it's operational at the moment."

"There's only one way to find out," she said gathering up her saddle bags and as many beakers and labels as it would carry.



It was sundown by the time we reached the factory. I was kind of glad; it felt like today would never end. I hovered over the area of cloud the factory was on and sat Twilight down. I had carried her all the way from her house; I don't know why she didn't just use the balloon. Maybe she did it to keep my mind off of destruction, because I could barely think about flying straight with a fifty pound horse in my grip let alone anything else.

Just as we began to walk up to the factory a group of construction workers walked over to us, there was no way they would let us just walk in and get samples of Anti-color.

"We're hooped," I whispered in Twilight's ear.

"Shhh...," she said out of the corner of her mouth," good evening sirs."

"And a fine evening to you to ma'am," the front construction worker replied tipping his hard hat to us," now, what can I do fer ya."

"We were just wondering, if the factory is operational of course, if we could get a few samples of Anti-color?" Twilight asked rather cheerfully.

"Well, most of the factory is still under construction, but it's your lucky day, the rainbow room is fully operational," one of the other workers began," and since you were so nice I'll give you thirty minutes to gather as many samples as you can."

"Thank you so very much," Twilight exclaimed shaking all of the workers hooves," thirty minutes is plenty of time, we will be out in a jiffy."


"You were rather chipper," I confronted Twilight inside the factory.

"If there is anything Fluttershy has taught me, is that it never hurts to show a little kindness," she said holding her head up high.

"Well, Ms. Kindness, let's hurry up and get those samples so we can find a cure for demon goo inside me," I stated
The construction worker outside wasn't lying about the factory still being under construction. Bits and pieces of cloud were missing from the walls and ceiling. There were ladders and power tools everywhere. And the entire factory smelled of adhesive. We walked into the rainbow room and sure enough, the machines were running at full capacity. I began to think, how cool would it be to make my own rainbow without having to surpass the speed of sound. I've always heard the tales about how they brought the fillies who failed their flight exams here and they were then ground into rainbows, there were even accusations that I was the one doing the grinding. I shuttered at the idea, I couldn't imagine doing that to those poor fillies. We walked over to the nearest construction worker and asked him if he could make a rainbow of us. He glared at us for a few seconds then replied he was to busy, but he would gladly tell us how to do it ourselves.

"First, you take the bottles of color from that shelf there and pour them into the funnel on top of the machine," he said pointing at the various bottles of color stacked neatly on the shelf across from us," it really doesn't matter which order you put them in, each of the colors viscosity is higher than the other, they pretty much form the rainbow themselves."

Next, flip this switch when it begins to flash red," he continued," and then the rainbows should come out of this end here and the Anti-color comes out of the vent in the back."

He didn't even wait for us to ask any questions, he just walked off as soon as he was done.

"I guess he trusts us enough to do this without supervision,"Twilight said with a shrug as she began to pour the bottles of color into the funnel.

"I guess so," I responded helping her pour the color in," maybe should put a bucket under the vent to catch the Anti-color because it appears that it comes out and just goes down the drain, I really don't want have to do this again."

"You're right; it would be just the worst possible thing to have to spend another five minutes pouring color into a funnel and pushing a flashing button a second time," Twilight retorted rather sarcastically moving a bucket under the vent.

I rolled my eyes and pushed the red flashing button. I watched as the machine began to shake and shutter. Liquid rainbow began to pour from the machine and into a vat on a floor below. Twilight and I walked to the back of the machine and watched the Anti-color come out. It was actually quite fascinating to see. It came out clear, but as soon as it came in contact with light, it immediately turned black.


After gathering at least twenty tubes of Anti-color Twilight and I were just about to head home when one of the construction workers from earlier stopped us.

"You know I just realized something," he said walking over to us.

This is it, he's going to want to know what we need the Anti-color for, and if I tell him the truth he will call Celestias royal guard and they will put me away for destruction of private property.

"She's not a pegasus," he said pointing at Twilight," how is it she can stand on the clouds?"

"Well, you see, I'm a unicorn," she said holding her head up high again," I used a magic spell that granted me the ability to stand on clouds for a short period of time."

"No foolin!" he exclaimed," can you cast that spell on any creature."

"I suppose so, I've never tried it, but i ima-," I cur her sentence short.

"I would really hate to cut this magic lesson short, but I have something evil dwelling inside me that we kind of need to get rid of," I said grabbing Twilights hoof to fly off.

"You must've had the Belly Buster from Taco Chime, I feel your pain sister," the worker called out after me.



It was at least ten at night by the time we finally made it back to Twilights, I was beginning to think the Anti-color had lost its control over me. I hadn't had the urge to destroy anything since I left for the rainbow factory that evening, might as well let Twilight make the cure anyways, just in case.

"Well," I said with a yawn," I'm beat."

"Yeah, me too," she said yawning as well," you head home, I should have the cure ready for you in the morning.

I nodded to her in agreement and walked out the door. Hopefully by morning I won't need it.


The next morning, I felt great. As if a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I raised up in bed to stretch then through the covers off of me and walked over to the mirror to look myself over. My coat was now black as pitch and my mane was dull of all luster it once held. The old me was now no more than a memory, and I was glad to be rid of her, she was holding me back. I let a fiendish smile creep onto my face, today was doing to be a great day for destruction.

Author's Note:

To all reasonably well vector artists out there, I was wondering if one of you would be kind enough to do a proper recreation of my cover image. I really don't have anything to offer you but a well deserved thank you. If you wish to do so you can find the image on deviantart under Shadow Dash cover, once complete you may email it back to me at scby972@gmail.com, many thanks, lordcurly972.