The Bureau: Wretched Machines

Six days.

Six days until Rainbow Dash murdered Scootaloo. That is what would happen, right? History would change and Rainbow Dash would murder her beloved daughter. Yes, that’s what would happen. Another terror happened. Rainbow Dash killed Orion.

Right now, life was filled with uncertainties for Rainbow Dash. What would happen? Will we run out of time? Will I…will I kill my daughter? Will I be okay?

Five days left.

What will happen to the Doctor? What about Soarin? How about Frostbite? Another terror. Rainbow Dash killed Aurora.

Four days.

Will Scootaloo come with us? If she does, will she be safe? Another terror. She called Scootaloo worthless.

Three days.

Shouldn’t we be ready to go by now? What’s the holdup? Another terror. Rainbow Dash explained the purpose of the factory.

Two days.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fucking…what’s taking so long? We don’t have much time! Another terror. It was the same as the first one she had, with her killing Scootaloo.

One day.

Where are they? No terror tonight.

Twenty hours.

Someone knocked on Rainbow Dash’s door. She opened the door, and in front of her was Frostbite. “Let’s go. We don’t have much time.”

“You’re telling me? I’ve been waiting all week for you guys!”

“Sorry. The Doctor’s system crashed, and we had to reboot and reload all the programs, and then code a few more add-ons. Follow me.”

Scootaloo was with Soarin for the day, so Dash could follow without hesitation, which she gladly did.

Frostbite led Rainbow Dash down into Ponyville. Eventually, they ended up in an alleyway next to Sugarcube Corner. A blue box resided at the back. It was pretty small, only a few feet wide. Frostbite opened the door to the box, and motioned Rainbow inside.

This was fucking impossible. The thing was bigger on the inside. What the hell was this thing?

“It’s a TARDIS, my dear,” said Doctor Whooves, picking his head up from under an operating table inside the TARDIS. Whatever that was. “It stands for Time and Relative Dimension In Space. TARDIS.”

“What does it do?”

“It lets me get from Point A to Point B. I probably shouldn’t talk about it that much, since we’re losing time. Frostbite knows what I’m talking about.”

“How?”

Frostbite looked at Rainbow. “The Doctor and used to be partners on the major case squad in Manehattan. We saw some shit there, huh, Doc?”

“I’d prefer not to talk about it.”

Rainbow looked interested. “Why not?”

“I saw some…terrible things in Manehattan. Terrible things.”

“Like what?”

“Things that made Frostbite an alcoholic. He’s Frostbite, so that’s some…some bad things.”

“Like what?” Her tone was descending to the grey area between whiny and inquisitive.

“Frostbite, would you like to tell Rainbow Dash what happened that day?”

He pulled a flask out and took a sip. “Sure, why not? But not now. We need to leave. We have no time for stories. Maybe, when we come back, you can hold me an intervention and I can tell everypony there. I’ve always been a sucker for drama.”

“Please tell me? Please! I wanna know!”

“Later. I promise. Okay?”

“Fine. Doctor, what’s gonna happen?”

He looked up and took a wrench out of his mouth. “Well, I’m going to hook you both up using some tubes to the TARDIS. Then, I’ll flip a switch and you’ll be inside Rainbow Dash’s subconscious. You’ll ‘spawn’, I suppose, here, in this alleyway. Luckily, you’re both pegasi, so you can fly upwards to Cloudsdale, and, in turn, the Rainbow Fac-“

He was cut off by the sound of a door slamming open.

It was Soarin.

“Soarin!?” Rainbow Dash prodded. “What are you doing here? Where’s Scootaloo?”

“I left her with Applejack. Apple Bloom was having a sleepover.”

“Oh. That’s better than bringing her here. Why’d you come?”

“Well, I came to help. I am Scootaloo’s ‘dad’, after all. I care about her, Dash.”

“I guess…but can you even come inside my subconscious? I’m still trying to mull all this over, so ask the Doctor.”

The good doctor looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, I can fit up to four people in this thing. No worries at all. If you’re ready, we can start now. We don’t have much time to waste.”

“I’m ready when you are,” said Frostbite.

“Me too,” agreed Soarin.

“Let’s go kick some homicidal ass,” said Rainbow Dash, who was met by confused looks from everypony else there. “What? I’m trying to lighten the mood.”

“Let’s go,” said Frostbite, rolling his grey eyes. “We’re burning daylight!”

“That’s John Mane, right?”

“Yeah. Pretty cool guy. Had a few good quotes.”

“Comrades?” interrupted the Doctor. “We need to get moving. I approximate you have about 19 hours to finish, and getting inside takes about five hours. The flight to Cloudsdale is another five, and getting through the border patrol takes about three or four. That leaves you with about five hours to neutralize Rainbow Dash, Doctor Atmosphere, and the overseer of Cloudsdale and his cabinet, as well as every scientist in the facility. You must also prevent the deaths of Orion, Aurora, and Scootaloo and destroy the Rainbow Factory. Dash, I would suggest using your identity to say that Soarin and Frostbite are your friends or new employees. Make them belong inside. Once there, find and kill everyone there who’s not a filly. No mercy. Understand?”

“Gotcha. Let’s go.”

The Doctor smiled and attached small wires to the temples of Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Frostbite. He regarded his comrades. “Good luck,” he said, flipping a switch and sending them to Dash's subconscious.