LUNA LIVES!!!! Would there by chance be a sequel? Or at least a bonus chapter where the Reckoning comes to an end and the Pegasai to the world they'd hoped to conquer only to find a vengeful army waiting for them?

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There are plans for a sequel, a sort of capstone to the series, but I can’t in good conscience tell you that everything will be resolved in the end.

That would be too predictable, wouldn’t it? 😁

I’m really glad you enjoyed the series! Thanks for all your comments and support!

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The Rainbow Factory has eared it's status as the most popular and memorable Grimdark MLP fanfic. I and my MLP40K crossovers can only fight for scraps of glory in your glorious shadow.

Also, props to Stormy for remembering his humanity.(equinity?) This was the song playing in my mind's ear that exchange.

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Even after all these years, you haven't lost a single step when it come to captivating your audience and allowing us to mentally picture the scenes and have us actually feel the characters' emotions.

A splendid job for a veteran mare, keep up the great work.

Perhaps some souls can actually make it through...

To see the Rainbow Factory saga continuing all these years later has been an immense pleasure. Thank you for another wonderful chapter in its bloody, Spectra-stained legacy. It truly is a beauty that only destruction can bring...
I eagerly await whatever is next. Cheers!

And another piece of the puzzle finished. I had a thrill. Whatever you have in mind for a sequel, I'm sure it'll turn out fantastic, if bittersweet, knowing you.

Man that was a ride.

Still not exactly sure WHAT happened in it, but I think I get the gist.

And we've reached the end of the story. I had a lot of fun reading throught it. Thank you for giving us another adventure. I'm suprised how you've managed to finish the story with one chapter, where a week ago I'd guess we were around the middle of the story. I feel there were too many hints at luna, I got tired of them after a few.

Oh, and the shower scene was perfect.
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Hey, thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun writing it too so it's doubly nice to see it's appreciated

Oh, and the shower scene was perfect.

I am super happy to see this. I put a lot of effort into that scene; I really wanted to just sort of capture that feeling of her being unclean and the effort involved in scrubbing herself of what she's seen. I was hoping at least one person would comment on it. ^_^

Very much well done. I had to mull about how the ending to this made me feel, and now I can say it's a feeling of contentment. For as melancholic the story is, I felt an underlying sense of purpose, completeness and wholeness for both the story itself, and for the two previous stories as well. The story of the Rainbow Factory as we've known for the past nine years (wow, talk about time flying by!) finally resolved itself, and turned the page onto a new story. And it gives an ending that's right where it'd ought to be, where it just be left there in perpetuity, or continued on at any point.
I look forward to the next entry in this series!

I loved Pegasus Device, even made it into my favorites.

I have to say that this entire story, especially this ending scene, is just as good if not better.

In a different way, I suppose, but it’s still certainly great.

I didn't notice the story was marked as complete until I saw discussion of a sequel in the comments.

The story is good. It's a major improvement over the previous installments, and your skills as an author have definitely increased in the seven years since Pegasus Device was written. That's one Hell of place to end it, though.

There's been a notable trajectory for the series. Rainbow Factory ended with utter failure. Nothing changed, nothing improved, rocks fall: everybody dies. Pegasus Device had the bad guys winning too, but the main characters survived and (at least temporarily) foals were no longer being shoved in the meat grinder. It wasn't a happy ending by any stretch of the imagination, and Hide Atmosphere made it clear that Pegasus supremacy was being furthered rather than hindered, but two kids made it out, and there was a faint glimmer of hope there.

This story has continued the trend of "The bad guys win", and taken it up a notch with the pony-Nazis having wiped out the government and much of the rest of the world, but the hope here is more palpable. Luna is guiding Cloud Cover, the restless souls of the murdered foals are active and, if Cloud Cover's salvation is any indication, are interested in more than just vengeance, and it is - at best - unlikely that the CWC will be able to fast talk their way out of a response to this genocide the way that they escaped justice at the end of Pegasus Device.

Even as most of the world has been killed off, the endings of these stories have been getting more positive.

(Part of that, of course, comes down to the fact that the Reckoning hit in the middle of the story, so the devastation it caused doesn't count against the ending.)

I didn't comment on this story as often as I'd have liked, mostly due to a lack of time, but I did still read it all. I wasn't sure if I would go back to comment on it, it's been a bit since I finished it, but something occurred to me today. In particular, one bit I remembered from the previous story.

If you choose to offer yourself up as a volunteer to produce Spectra, we’ll allow one test failure to go free.

I don't know if it's what you were going for, and I don't know if it's how I want to read it either, but it certainly works as a valid interpretation of the events to say that Gentle did take that sacrifice, and that is why Cloud made it through. She just waited a while before paying her part of the deal.

Aside from that and more onto the story. We did get mentions of Corona, even if not the kind I'd thought we would. Foresight was a nice addition to the Factory Mythos, and it was nice seeing Contrail again both in and out of his jar. A tiny bit disappointed we never saw Hide again, he always was a personal favourite. It's nice to know Luna is maybe still around in some form.

A fun read, all in all. It went places I wouldn't have expected a PD sequel to go, but still it was pretty interesting to see. I look forward to whatever you end up writing next both with and without this setting (and I really need to get to all those other stories you've put out in the meantime).

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I often find myself being presented with ideas and interpretations from readers that make me stand back and marvel at how meaning can be found in fiction. I'm sure we're all familiar with the high school language classes where the teacher would demand we find some inherent philosophy or metaphor or symbolism in a work that by all rights never existed from the original author's intent.

I had absolutely no consideration towards that death being interpreted as such. However, if anyone asks in the future, I am absolutely going to tell them it was on purpose. I love it when people make me sound smarter or more clever than I actually am 😋

On a more serious note, thanks for your comment. It's thought provoking, and lovely to see these sorts of things identified (whether they be intended or not). I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it!

Dang, I missed reading this when it was still incomplete. Wish I'd have seen it sooner. As always, well done. I especially appreciate that your stories tend not to end in an "everything is going to be okay" manner. Maybe that's fine for a lot of other stories, but it's nice to have a break from that norm every once in awhile. That doesn't mean that everything is required to be hopeless, and I feel that you manage to do that perfectly here. Things are fucked, but there's at least something to look towards. The fact that this series is getting updates all these years later is, frankly, something I never thought I'd see. Can't wait to see what you come up with next :)

I first finished this like two weeks ago, and have even re-read this (as well as Rainbow Factory and Pegasus Device. Honestly regret doing so because going from Reconing to Rainbow Factory...well, it really highlights how much you've grown in the past 8 years as an author. Which is good! Just makes older stuff show its age more, ya know?), and I'm still not really sure what to say. I was in school recently enough that I can still at least kind of remember how I'm supposed to analyze literature and "find the author's message" and all that jazz. Thing is, I don't think you were really trying to comment on society and current events. There are many vehicles besides satire for social commentary, but horror, or whatever genre this falls under, is not what I'd consider well-suited to doing so. At least, I assume based on your reply to PolyChromatic, I don't think I'm not giving you enough credit. Either way, I doubt you really want someone to write an essay and, with full confidence in its accuracy, talk about either a message you probably felt was pretty obvious since if you're trying to make a point with fiction you tend not to obscure it very much, or a message that's wildly different from what you had in mind.

Also I'm not entirely sure how the ending, as well as the story overall, makes me feel. It was most certainly good writing. The dramatic irony with Cloud Cover is both great and horrible. Great in that it's really well done, but damn I felt bad for her.

So here's stuff that I wrote. I guess it's what I think was going on?

I can't help but feel that Gentle never really regained her sanity. Sure, the ship she ran was tighter and more methodical and logical than when Rainbow was in charge, but you don't make the sort of plans she did, especially stuff like having herself thrown in the OG Pegasus Device if you're playing with a full deck. Now how all this plays out still remains to be seen, obviously, but I can't help but be reminded:

In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true
In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through
In the Rainbow Factory, where failures pay their toll
Now I'm awoken, and I'm taking back control

The last line doesn't really fit (except maybe in the sense that Cloud Cover, by and large, took control of her life back after the events of Pegasus Device), I'll admit, but that's not why I bring it up. The Rainbow Factory is where failures pay their toll. They're told that they deserve this, because their failure to pass such an easy test means they're weak, and The Flock does not tolerate weakness or ineptitude. But this goes both ways.

It’s that failure that puts the Rainbow Factory’s curse unto you. Or, rather, it’s that failure that gets the attention of an untold number of souls. Don’t know ‘bout the rest of y’all but it makes sense in my head and when I say it out loud that even if only a small percent (and it seems like it’s actually a pretty large percent) of the likely millions of colts and fillies that were murdered by the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation, that’s still a tens of thousands of souls that have it out for you. That’s where the curse comes from. I figure the saying must also be relatively recent, since songs and phrases common enough to be sung while playing with a jump rope would reach important, non-pegasus ears eventually and the chorus of Rainbow Factory basically screams “investigate me,” and then we’d get the ending of Pegasus Device but entirely involuntarily. Back to failures. Dash, Gentle, Pipe Wrench, Contrail-they all failed. What test could possibly be easier than “Do children who failed an arbitrary assessment of physical fitness and competency deserve to be murdered in the most agonizing way imaginable?”

(As an aside, the whole thought process with “failures” and how Cloudsdale, even before the Pegasus Device, is stupid and self-destructive. And, you know, unimaginably cruel and inhuman. Since Pegasi, or at least Cloudsdale, doesn’t care about that last one I’ll ignore it. It’d be pretty easy to make weak fliers stay in the sky and out of sight. They’d be able to do stuff that didn’t require much, or any, physical fitness or skill at flying. Which would be good, since having overqualified people working as pencil pushers or other pretty menial jobs is wasteful and inefficient. The Spartans probably didn’t actually kill crippled infants: there’s evidence that suggests it was anti-Sparta propaganda from Athens or another rival city-state. Even if they did, killing an infant that won’t be able to be a warrior, or almost anything useful because of their disability, is extremely cruel but practical, especially since infant mortality was rather high anyway. Killing an 8 or 10 year old doesn’t make sense. You’ve already invested 8 or 10 years of feeding them and teaching them and growing emotionally attached. They’re probably going to live to adulthood and into old age. This is especially true for a physical test. You can build up muscle, get into shape, acquire muscle memory. This isn’t strictly a criticism of the world building on your part, necessarily. Cloudsdale natives aren’t taught nor are they encouraged to question precedent, tradition, or authority. They’d be doing all three by questioning or criticizing the testing/Failures system, and after a millennia of using it to get rainbows the CWC wouldn’t go back to relying on unicorns or other non-Pegasus sources. Additionally, they see “Failures'' as being less than worthless, not even ponies, and thus would never find uses for them other than “Go away” or “Die.” Ok, aside over, now where were we?)

Literally everyone who wasn’t a fucking psycho would pass that test without a second thought, and then probably start asking some extremely pointed questions, since that’s not an innocent question. They, and all of the workers in the Upper Factory failed that test. Contrary to what Contrail told himself, being the knowing and willing cog in a murder machine means you’re guilty and cupable too. Pushing colts and fillies into the Pegasus Device means you’re more guilty, sure, but maintaining the machine makes you guilty too. Auschwitz guards weren’t hung, but they were sent to prison. However, it doesn’t stop there.

Celestia failed her test. She had 1000 years to play the long game and get Cloudsdale to stop exiling below-average fliers. More importantly, she failed to hold the monsters in pony form accountable. Giving Rainbow Dash, at least once a major, if not vital, national security asset, a free pass, ok, maybe, though good luck getting the other five elements to work with her. Everyone else? Keep them around just long enough to make sure you know how all those other machines work and have non-murderous or complicit-in-murder personnel trained, then toss them in jail or the electric chair. At. Least. It’d be worth considering dismantling the factory/CWC and starting fresh. Hell, Luna’s back, strip  Cloudsdale of its weather responsibilities. Give it to literally any other place. Luna gets a pass because there’s nothing to indicate that she had any participation in or oversight of the Royal Survey, and trusted Celestia enough to assume she’d handle it appropriately and between her duties and catching up on 1,000 years of history and culture shock, not following up with Celestia on how she handled it isn’t out of the question.

Cloudsdale, of course, failed. At least as a whole, obviously Cloud Cover, and her boss, and other exceptions exist. Ignorance is one thing. To show an utter lack of remorse for over a millenia of organized murder of children when the whole country, maybe even the whole world, was watching is not only pretty stupid, but shows that extremely drastic measure need to be taken to address an utterly unacceptable attitude. (IMO, this is also on Celestia. And assuming it reached her ears, and Celestia didn’t mostly “protect” Luna from the whole thing, Luna as well).

The rest of Equestria failed, too. It’s not like the whole thing was kept secret, just the opposite. There was an outcry, but short lived. They did not demand change, did not demand accountability, did not demand anything except the same reliable weather the CWC and Cloudsdale had provided for a millenia. While a harder test than the previous ones, it’s still an embarrassing low bar than should’ve been cleared with ease. This wasn’t done to some insignificant minority in a far-away place. This was done to ponies little more than foals, in the heart of Equestria. 

In failing these tests, failures set themselves a debt, a toll they’d have to pay sooner or later. Thanks to the CWC and the world itself made sure that it was paid, with significant interest. Which is also how Cloud Cover manages to survive outside each time. She passed. She didn’t sell her soul, her morals. First as a foal, though there were many that helped her. Even after, living in a city that hated her and that would do everything in its power to make her fail and force her to leave. They succeeded in doing so to her one friend, who like her, passed. They forced him to leave in a Pine box. Then as an adult, she faced the factory alone, and did the same. Cloudsdale and the CWC had planned for her for 20 years, and so they finally had their wish. 

She left. 

They won, and in doing so lost the one pony left who was blackened with the blood and grime of the Rainbow Factory, but left with a clean conscious, and an untainted soul.

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You called it at the beginning of your comment when you wrote that your interpretation is not likely what was intended when written. But as I said to Polychromatic, I love to see in-depth analysis like these. This is an utterly fascinating take on the series, and just because I didn't have it in mind when I wrote it doesn't mean it isn't a correct interpretation.

This was super enjoyable to read. I fear my response doesn't quite adequately express my appreciation towards you not only reading the stories (thank you), but really thinking about them, examining it so finely so as to be able to come up with your theory. That is incredibly meaningful for me to see, and I'm so glad you shared it with me!

I found myself sitting back feeling a bit mind blown. Forgive me for sort of extrapolating from your comment here into something self-congratulatory, but to see that my series could have such depth to it—or even just being of enough quality that depth can be implied or inferred from it—is something special. Makes me feel like maybe I'm doing something right, that I might actually be alright at this whole "Telling Stories" thing.

Thanks again~

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This is an utterly fascinating take on the series, and just because I didn't have it in mind when I wrote it doesn't mean it isn't a correct interpretation.

This was super enjoyable to read. I fear my response doesn't quite adequately express my appreciation towards you not only reading the stories (thank you), but really thinking about them, examining it so finely so as to be able to come up with your theory. That is incredibly meaningful for me to see, and I'm so glad you shared it with me!

I found myself sitting back feeling a bit mind blown. Forgive me for sort of extrapolating from your comment here into something self-congratulatory, but to see that my series could have such depth to it—or even just being of enough quality that depth can be implied or inferred from it—is something special. Makes me feel like maybe I'm doing something right, that I might actually be alright at this whole "Telling Stories" thing.

I cannot properly articulate how warm and fuzzy this makes me feel. I honestly did not intend for the comment to get as long as it did, I was just kind of having stream-of-consciousness going on but as I thought about it, what I was saying actually started to make a lot of sense. So I decided to keep following that stream of consciousness and see where it lead.

I must admit, I owe chris the cynic a thank you. 10647972 His comment here is what kick-started my whole train of thought on the matter.

In addition, I believe I remember seeing you talk about what you were up to for the *checks notes* seven and a half years you were, if not gone from the fandom, not publishing stories. You spend most of that time struggling with depression, if I recall correctly. As someone who was fairly recently diagnosed with Persistent Depressive Disorder as well as General Anxiety Disorder, my heart goes out to you. While chronic, the depression symptoms and their severity from PDD are typically less severe than other forms of depression. I do not envy you. Even now I have a hard time taking any satisfaction from finishing a chore or assignment. I have a hard time getting started. I could enjoy doing a certain task or assignment, and still find myself not doing it. I don't want to imagine what dealing with stuff like that, but worse, would be like.

just because I didn't have it in mind when I wrote it doesn't mean it isn't a correct interpretation.

Fair enough. Frankenstein was supposed to be a cautionary tale sort of thing about playing God and science/technology going too far. When we read it in AP lit (and pursuing certain parts of the internet where it came up implies to me most readers today feel similarly), we mostly focused on how Frankenstein was really shitty and abusive towards his creation and that if he hadn't acted like an asshole, moron, spineless pussy, and narcissist at different times throughout the novel basically nothing bad would've happened. So it instead becomes all about how, idk, you gotta raise people in the right environment and love and nurture them.

Forgive me for sort of extrapolating from your comment here into something self-congratulatory, but to see that my series could have such depth to it—or even just being of enough quality that depth can be implied or inferred from it—is something special. Makes me feel like maybe I'm doing something right, that I might actually be alright at this whole "Telling Stories" thing.

Thanks again~

You're not coming off as something self-congratulatory, trust me. I'm extremely flattered to hear you say you're "Mind blown" from my comment/theory. (Like I said, the whole thing was basically stream-of-thought. From my end I feel like you're giving me too much credit. I just read someone's comment, and kinda liked what they had to say, then spent entirely more time than I intended to speculating along that line of thought and trying to be internally consistent. I'm pretty sure it's the depression talking there, what with how I'm downplaying myself for no reason, even though I can't compare it to something my brother would've come up with and it's 3 in the morning so even if the antidepressants are working like they're supposed to (and not sure they are, I haven't really been on them long enough to say) they wouldn't be, so it can go fuck itself.)

I'm of the opinion that you're a better author than just "alright" and you're better than just "alright" at telling stories. If only because, as the internet's shown, most people are pretty terrible writers, it's just that pre-internet they never got published anywhere.* Like I've said other places, rereading Rainbow Factory is...hard. It's full of grammatical and spelling errors, has some janky or just plain mediocre sentences and, of course, is edgier than a 14-year-old's razorblade (that they're too baby-faced to use).

However, it in at least some way contributed to follow-up songs to the original original Rainbow Factory, and the songs Pegasus Device and Awoken are fine examples of brony music. In addition, while it probably inspired its fair share of other super edgy and bad fanfics, it also inspired or prompted some extremely good fics, such as Awoken(ish), or Absentia. There's also one I can't find where Scootaloo had Rainbow Factory as a nightmare and it's kind of a rebuke for Rainbow's characterization (which, again, super edgy, shouldn't take it that seriously but hey we got a good fic out of it).

*(I'm looking at you, Twilight chronics, 50 Shades of Grey, and other shitty books that are of a lower quality than the upper percentiles of MLP fanfiction.)

Moving on to Pegasus Device, there's a great deal of improvement. It's a genuinely good piece of fiction.

As for Reckoning-well, I've already cover that, now haven't I?

Trust me, you're more than just an "ok" or "alright" at telling stories. You're doing things very right.

You're welcome. And thank you for writing all of these wonderful and/or get-other-people's-creativity-going stories.

I read Pegasus Device all those years ago. Its been so long. I NEVER thought i'd see another one of these and this shows me
just how alive the fandom is. Nostalgia is real! Now i need to read it!

I enjoyed this. I really did. However, and this isn't a knock, it just... didn't feel like a Rainbow Factory story. Maybe that's because so much of it took place outside of the CWC and everything was cleaner and more organized, but... I dunno. I have a hard time putting my finger on it. It just felt like a story from a completely different series. A good series, but a different one. Maybe it's just because it lacks the grit of the other two. I was worried that the Corporation was going to get so powerful and cartoonishly evil that I had to roll my eyes, but for the most part, you avoid that. This is something they've been planning for a long time. It's interesting how fast you killed Celestia and Luna(?) off. Guess they had to be dead for anything to actually happen. Dunno. It had all of the pieces to feel like a RF story (supremacist pegasi, failures, the CWC, Pegasus Devices) but it just... didn't have that same atmosphere (no pun intended) to it.

Still a great story, though. Glad I read it.

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Oh, for sure, that’s a perfectly reasonable assessment. It’s definitely a different style of story; like Aliens to Alien, if that makes any sense. I’m glad you enjoyed it, despite it not having the same flavour.

Have you checked out The Weather Worker’s Song? I just recently did that one and it is very much a Rainbow Factory story. Might scratch that itch for you!

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I did. Much closer. Enjoyed them both.

Well now this needs a sequel. 9/10 Excellent story.

Well I must say I enjoyed RF and Pegasus device much more than I did this one. Kinda a weird end of the world scenario. Rainbow was absent, Corona offed himself which sucks cuz he’s the only one I got attached to. And cloud cover became surprisingly nonchalant about killing. It was just a bit odd. And the ghosts saving her at the climax was DEATHLY haunting. Probably the best part lol. Though I certainly wasn’t expecting references to sexual favors let alone it be a joke.

As for the story itself, it works but doesn’t feel completely like Rainbow Factory or Pegasus Device did. It’s an okay story but in my opinion this doesn’t hold a candle to the first 2. That being said it’s not bad it’s just.. a strange way for an RF story to go because like.. ghosts, end of the world, princesses get killed off so quickly and uneventfully. And now weather is so inconsistent that it changes more frequently than it does in real life. I think I can say keep up the good work but I’m not 100% certain. Still, keep up the good work. XD

She looked much more now like she remembered herself normally looking like, but at the same time she didn’t seem to recognize the eyes staring back at her from the mirror. She tried on a smile, and took it off in disgust.

Not a single soul gets through?

As the sun finally broke above the sieging storms, so too did Cloud Cover.

Oh.

Aurora what the fuck. Did she die? Maybe it's cause I'm beyond stressed about work and its 1:30am but wtf. Anyway, a good read for sure. I definitely liked PD more, but that's not to say this one was bad, not at all. I'm glad I finally read these wtf

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Did the main character die at the end or did she make it?

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She’s alive.

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Oh okay applejack of fall trades asked you that question.

Don't read this until you read the story.

Stormy Night. A decent pony stuck in a terrible machine. Maybe he can help things change. But probably not.

Damn Aurora. You leave us with hope but no conclusion. This is good stuff.

My mind is reeling. Cloud is making her way to Canterlot, possibly being summoned by Luna. But probably not.

Gentle knew there wasn't time for contingency A. Contingency A should have started back when Cloud was still a filly, at the latest. As fucked as the whole thing was, it really did save as many as possible. And she also knew she couldn't live with herself anymore. She damn near redeemed herself in my book.

I cannot say how much I enjoyed this. The world expanded so far beyond Rainbow Factory. And it's amazing.

Hi Aurora, I just have two questions
First, could the Corona survive the Reckoning, or is it already dead and we won't see it
Second, will we be able to see Gentle in the form of a spirit who will constantly convince Cloud that she will achieve nothing, or is her story already over forever?
I did not ask a question about Absentia, since it has its own worthy ending, and even though I would like to see her again, I understand that her story is over
I hope to get answers to these questions

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Corona committed suicide long before this story.

Hard to say for Gentle; the ghosts that do remain in the factory are typically confined to the Main Theatre Room.

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Okay, a couple more questions
Where did Rainbow Dash go after the events of the Pegasus Device? As I understand it, after these events she began to go to a psychologist, but where exactly did she disappear and what is she doing?
Could Rainbow Dash and Hide survive Reckoning or not?
Will we see Rainbow Dash again? I say because in the ending of the Pegasus Device there is clearly a hint that Rainbow did not come to terms with everything that happened, singing a line from the song, and that she will come back

After finally processing the trilogy, I think it's safe to say that indeed the Rainbow Factory-verse is set in a timeline without a Princess Cadence in it. Without her, there's no chance for the Crystal Heart to be restored to the Central Spire causing the Crystal Empire to collapse once it actually re-emerges; taking with it that distinct safety measure that the Equestria in the main timeline possessed.

My friend told me about this series and I created an account just to let you know how much I love it. Thank you for writing it.

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Wow, I'm beyond touched to hear that! Thank you so much! I'm very glad you've enjoyed them.

With a massive worldview like this, this series has the potential to be the next FO:E.
I wish for an epic adventure.
Thank you immensely for this.
That is all I have to say.

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Thank you so much! I have some pretty ambitious plans for the next story and I’ve had some people tell me the ideas were a little similar in scope with FO:E.

Hopefully someday soon I’ll have the time and energy to get to it. Comments like yours definitely help. Thank you again.

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It is certainly nice to hear! Good luck writing!
Also, just remembered the environment of your story's ending reminds me of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp84VMazTRA

I wanted to say so many things by the end of this but most of it has already been said by other people!
I guess I just have to say that I enjoyed EVERY SECOND of this journey and I‘m REALLY looking foreward to the sequel to this!

Where is the sun?

Im tired of the dismal mood, have a happy song.

Most nights of Cloud Cover’s life, her dreams did not stay with her. She hardly even remembered the nightmares any more, knowing she had dreamt them only because she woke up with damp fur and aching heart. And so, it had surprised her when she remembered this one particularly well--so well, in fact, that she knew exactly where the village was, and where the house would be.

Thank you, Luna

Jeez, the world is watching. You need to make a sequel fast!

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brilliant thought! It makes me think about Fluttershy in new light. She also was spared by a sacrifice of an unknown worker and she also managed to live a happy and fulfilling life. Seems like the only way one can escape the factory's curse is by being paid for with another life

My first thought upon finishing this? Other than "that was awesome?!"
The Crystal Empire would have been fine. They have a magical macguffin literally designed to fend off deadly weather conditions.

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10669929
Well. It’s certainly been a bit. I don’t have a lot to add, though I do hope your mental health is still improving, or at the very least remaining stable.

That being said, I wish I’d read this before I wrote that whole comment, mainly because I think there are some extremely apt parallels one could draw between the two, which is made even stronger by it being completely accidental.

To give a very brief summary, unlike what 300 and the modern memory of Sparta would have you think, Sparta was…not a good place to live, nor was it a good society. Because of its structure, it was the architect of its own collapse; it was a slaver state, with around 90% ( 9 0 % ! ! ) of the population enslaved (half the reason the women also got to learn how to use weapons was to help prevent and put down slave revolts); its leaders demonstrated a complete lack of tactical creativity or strategic understanding; it produced no great art, music, or poetry—everything we know about Sparta is from what other people wrote, and archeology; they were only slightly above-average in actually fighting (Greek Hoplight armies were by design very low-skill and as much a battle of morale—who’s gonna run away first—as anything else); and more. It’s a 7-part series and I’d highly recommend reading it, but overall it has scathing criticism of Sparta and its society.

Most importantly, however, is that the agoge is, upon inspection, less a badass warrior school and more an indoctrination camp like you see used in places that have child soldiers. Most importantly, it’s structured so that if one ever started to question it, or Spartan society more generally, they must also re-frame a core childhood experience that was normally viewed with pride and positivity as being really fucked up. Thus, more than anything else, the author concludes, the agoge was an insidious poison that made Sparta inflexible, pointlessly violent, and self-destructive.

While it doesn’t perfectly line up (since, you know, it was entirely unintentional), I still think there’s a lot of potential for intentionally doing something with this.

I would like to ask if it is possible to post your fanfic translation into Russian? I will definitely indicate a link to the original

11588737
Go right ahead! Please make sure to link me the translation so I can add it to the masterpost ^_^

Thanks!

So I just finished reading all of the Rainbow Factory works, and wow, what a rush. To be sure, there's a marked improvement in writing quality over time, but I have to congratulate you on what is consistntly the best part of these stories, the atmosphere. These fics are characterized by the most oppressive of atmospheres, heavy metal industry and gears that rip the humanity both literally and metaphorically out of the ponies involved in them. It's a setting so ghastly that I can believe how Rainbow Dash would end up the way she does. It's telling that the scariest part of the factory isn't even the horde of vengeful ghosts, but rather the sheer artificiality of it all. Seen in that light, the ghosts are almost a beacon of hope within it that no matter how hard the factory tries, its sins cannot be forgotten and have poisoned and destroyed Cloudsdale from the inside out. It is something that the factory cannot control, much as Rainbow Dash, for all of her efforts, was incapable of controlling Scootaloo in the end. Something similar occurs in this story, that the weather they felt so proud of controlling would ultimately rebel against them fits in perfectly with the themes of the Rainbow Factory as a whole. And it is just as predictable that Cloudsdale's response to this is, rather than admit a mistake, to destroy the world and rule over what's left because it's what this soulless, mechanical beast of rapacious greed demands for its own self-sustainment. I miss the Rainbow Factory itself as this claustrophobic, filthy setting in this story, but it must be said that it's good to show that even after becoming sparkly clean, its aftereffects spill elsewhere. Though I wish to return to the grunge and industry of the factory someday too!

When reading Pegasus Device, I was somewhat concerned about the presentation of Contrail and his ilk's arguments justifying themselves. It seemed to me at the time that the narrative was siding with him with Corona unable to articulate a reply. I am particularly glad that Contrail's horrible arguments in Pegasus Device are fully shut down here by literally dying to his past sins; yes, it's true that Cloudsdale society led to this outcome, but that does not mean that the victims of its abuse are remotely as morally culpable as the executors of thousands. Because by partaking in the slaughter, they perpetuate it to continue and worsen. The apocalypse in this story is the natural conclusion of this. I hate to Godwin's Law this, but the whole thing does feel very similar to a certain ideology that constantly frothed at the mouth about survival of the fittest and had a grotesque obsession with race wars where the world had to be embroiled in disaster for glory (not to mention carted people "unworthy of life" off to die). But of course, all the Cloudsdale elite would have done their best to justify it all in their own ways. I think in Pegasus Device the age of the writing shows a little bit, but the broad concepts therein that then show up here and ESPECIALLY in Rainbow's Factory and Weather Worker's song are an amazing example of how someone who is ordinary, even good, can be slowly corrupted by this until they're unrecognizable.

At the same time, despite the horror, I found this last chapter one of the most hopeful pieces of writing in a fanfic I've ever seen. Cloud Cover struggling out into the ravaged wasteland with nothing but faith on her side, and being able to finally make one CWC worker actually have doubts is a true coup. You mentioned being proud of the shower scene, and with good reason. It's a knife's edge of tension to read it, thinking of what her decision is, if she's purifying herself for death or washing away the stain of the Rainbow Factory on herself. And what a relief when it's the latter.

I can't wait for more.

Rainbow Factory

Cloudsdale Weather Company

Rainbow Factory
Manager Rainbow Dash (Formerly) (Unknown)
Executive Director of Rainbow Production Gentle Butterwing (Deceased)
Executive Director of Rainbow Production Foresight
Director of Air Production Blue Note
Director of Lightning Production Sapphire
Director of Water Production Silver Linings
Director of Water Production Snow Quill (Formerly)
Director of Lightning Production Hide Atmosphere (Formerly) (Deceased)
Director of Rainbow Production Cirrus (Formerly)
Director River
Doctor Test Tube
Engineer Gauge
Engineer Contrail (Deceased)
Engineer Pipe Wrench (Deceased)
Security Guard Tulip
Security Guard Chaser (Deceased)
Worker Melody (Deceased)
Worker Blaze
Worker Runt
Researcher Big Brain (Formerly) (Deceased)

Thirteenth Primary
Colonel Sundown
Squadron Five leader Stormy Night
Hawk

Carriage Drivers
Boss
Patches

Failures
Scootaloo/Absentia (Deceased)
Aurora Dawn (Deceased)
Orion Solstice (Deceased)
Cloud Cover (Formerly)
Corona (Formerly)

Blankies
Snowflake (Deceased)
Inversion (Deceased)
Elite (Button Mash)

Successes
Daisy Fields
Faraday Spots
Holiday Shine

Unknown
Snow Crystal

Cloudsdale at Seven
Pop Screen (Formerly)
Cloud Cover ‘The Eye in the Sky’ (Formerly)

Wonderbolts
Afterburn

Canterlot
Princess Celestia (Deceased)
Princess Luna

Shade’s End
Mayor Eloquent (Deceased)
Oaktree
Pastry Keen (Deceased)
Colton (Deceased)

Miscellaneous
Cloud Cover
Corona (Deceased)
Rainbow Dash (Unknown)
Hide Atmosphere (Deceased)
Cirrus
Snow Quill
Big Brain (Deceased)
Pop Screen
Farmer Shetland
Celtic

Order
The Weather Workers Song
Rainbow Factory
Rainbows Factory
Pegasus Device
Pegasus Device Reckoning

I think the most crushing, grizzly aspect of the Rainbow Factory series as a whole is that, with or without Rainbow, Scootaloo, or the events of the original story, the world was doomed anyway. Truely a grimdark-verse.