When a Rainbow's Tale Isn't Quite as Nice

But Rainbow's Easy Once You Get to Know Her

Morning came rolling around like it does everyday. The sunlight poured into my window and onto my bed screaming for me to wake up. I lazily rolled over, using my own body to shield my eyes from the light so I could go back to a peaceful world of fanasty, but it was too late. I was already awake.

Yawning, I sat up in bed, my back facing the window. I stretched out my arms and wings, flapping them a bit. My eyelids wouldn't stay open for long and begged me to just go back to bed, but my mind was already awake and wanting to move on to the next thing. I hoped off my bed and made it over to my kitchen to grab some breakfast before heading to work.

I trotted slowly, keeping my head low to avoid the sunlight.

'Wow, it's really bright. What time is it?' I thought. I looked around the room until I found a clock. My eyes widened as I read the time.

"10:47?!?!" I exclaimed. I had gotten home late last night, but I didn't expect to sleep that long. There was something nagging me at the back of my mind, but I instantly dismissed it and flew straight out the cloud door. More like straight through it. I really needed to stop doing that. With cloud doors, if you fly through them, they instantly repair themselves, but with wooden ones, they leave you with a headache and a door to repair.

I zoomed through Cloudsdale muttering the same though over and over again.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late-"

"Hey, Dashie!" a voice stopped me. I spread out my wings and skidded to a stop in midair. "Whatcha doin'?" Pinkie asked.

I turned to face her. She was hovering 200 feet in the air, kept afloat by a bundle of balloons.

"Ah, just going to, uh, work." I stammered. What was wrong with me today! I had done this millions of times, why was I so nervous about lying about this?

"Cool! But, I thought you didn't have work on Tuesdays?" she said with the tone of a question. I blinked in confusion.

"It's Tuesday!" I exclaimed.

"Well I'm pretty sure that Tuesday comes after Monday! I'll have to check that!" Pinkie laughed. "Anyways, do you have to go to work?"

"Uh, no. I guess not." I said, a bit relieved.

"Great! Could you help me? I'm kinda stuck here!" Pinkie giggled as she spoke.

"Uh...yeah! Of course!" I said. Something was wrong with me today. I couldn't focus. I flew up beside Pinkie and untied a few of her balloons. She began to slowly descend and I carefully followed her all the way down to the ground.

"Thanks Dashie! I knew I could count on you!" Pinkie said.

"Yeah, well I AM the element of loyalty. You can always trust me." I said. The words came from out of no where and I instantly felt ashamed after saying that. Was my subconscious trying to tell me something or was I going completely mad?

"Hey, Dashie, are you okay?" Pinkie Pie asked, concerned.

"Hm?-yeah, I'm fine." I replied quickly. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, you don't seem like yourself today." Pinkie said, then she shrugged. "Oh well, bye!"

She began to trot off, and her hooves slowly began to rise until she was off the ground and still trotting. I zipped over to her and pushed her back down.

"Whoa! Might need to untie another balloon." I said with a laugh.

"Hee, hee! Yeah!" Pinkie giggled as I took off another balloon. "Thanks! See you later!"

"Bye." I said. I was watching her trot off when something accrued to me. "Hey, Pinkie!"

She stopped and turned to me.

"I never told you I take Tuesdays off, how did you know?"

"Hee, hee, Silly! I know a lot of things that you don't know thatI know but I know that you don't know that I know but then I know that if you know that I know that you DON'T know that I KNOW than if I tell you that I know that you don't know that I know then you'll know that I know, makes sense?"

I paused for a moment before I could formulate an answer.

"Right." Wait did that mean that she knew? Or, wait, I don't know, it's confusing. I hoped it was just Pinkie being Pinkie.

"Was that all?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Ok! Bye, again! Wow, that's like the third time I've said bye to you! I wait I said bye again, and then again so like five times! Anyways, bye! Six!" Pinkie said, her voice fading.

I watched her happily trot away, slightly elevated by three balloon, two blue and one yellow.

My mind made one last connection before she trotted over the hill. The balloons were in the exact position as her cutie mark. I smiled and opened back up my wings and took off into the air in the direction of my house. Fate can be cruel, but it can throw in something nice every know and then.

Cutie marks had always fascinated me. A single mark could tell your whole life's story. With most ponies, you could tell what they do by their cutie mark. Apple Jack has a trio of apples and she works on a apple farm. Fluttershy takes care of animals and she has butterflies. Sometimes, it's not an exact picture of their lives, like with Rarity. She 's a clothes designer, but has diamonds as a cutie mark, but most of her outfits include gems and sparkles. Pinkie Pie is a baker, but she always throws parties and makes you happy.

Me-

I looked at my own cutie mark. You think it must be a fake or something considering what I do for a living. I sighed. Cutie marks can be interpreted in many ways. Mine could mean I can control lightning better than normal pegasi. With my job, it could mean I make the rainbows for all of Equestria as quick as lightning. But I always felt like my cutie mark didn't represent me very well. It should have been something da

I guess it's how I got it that defines it. No one in the factory believes me when I told them I won it in a race. The one pony I told at the factory just laughed at me saying:

"Oh yes, the great and sadistic Rainbow Death special talent is flying fast and she won it in a race where she preformed a sonic Rainboom! Haha! priceless."

Yep, fed straight to the machine that one. Of course, not for that comment. She tried to escape. I actually trusted her. She was going to be my successor, little Dust Light.

She used to call me Rainbow Death instead of Rainbow Dash, claiming it was "too stupid of a name for a god like you. Rainbow Death suits you better."

The truth is, the was right. But I hated the idea of being called Rainbow Death. It did suit me though. She said it was like Death by Rainbows because I turned ponies into rainbows and no matter how many times I told her that I never directly fed anyone to the machine, she still insisted it was my fault since I gave the order.

I slowed down a bit when I realized something. Scootaloo was the first pony I had ever directly fed to the machine. Dust always teased me about it, always calling me a softy. I guess she really was though.

I remember that night, the fateful night when she died.

It was time for me to leave the factory. There is only two ways in and  out of the building. One is the door when the fillies come through which is always locked. The only pony with the key is me, one of my very one feathers. The other is the balcony on the top floor of the factory, which only I can enter, and Dust Light. Most ponies don't even know the floor exists. The only way to get it is through the elevator, using one of my feathers.

Dust Light followed me to my loft that. I hadn't noticed her until I opened the door to the balcony, stepped out, and was about to fly off. Her voice stopped me.

"What's it like." she asked softly. I spun around to face her with an angry look. She was standing in the doorway looking at the sky with a longing look on her face.

"Dust! You're not allowed to be on the balcony." I snapped, but she ignored me.

"I haven't seen a sunset in so long." She said sadly. "What's it like."

"The sunset?"

"No. Getting the honor of living out there with all the normal ponies but having to fight to keep your secret." She looked back at me. "Do you have close friends? Or do you keep your distance from everypony."

"Six." I muttered.

"What?" She asked.

"Six, I have six close friends." I repeated.

"Do they know?"

I didn't reply. I turned my head to face the sunset and sighed.

"Of course not." she said. "I guess your not that close."

"No! We are!"

"Then why don't you tell them?"

"Maybe because I want to keep this factory safe, and telling an alicorn, princess, who is also the star student of Celestia herself might cause problems." I angerly shouted.

"Why do you have to keep this company safe?"

I looked at her in shock.

"What do you mean? The world needs rainbows, the world needs us, the world needs me."

"I'm sure the world can find another way!" she said with determination. She flew up above me and began to hover there. "Come on, we can go out there together, tell the whole world about this place! No one else has to die! Luna's back, right? Maybe Celestia can take back her duty of rainbows and we don't have to live like this anymore!" She had tears in her eyes and was screaming, pleading.

The argument was convincing. Every word made a crack in my sheild, threatening to shatter it completely. I wanted to go with her. I honestly did. My heart scream at me to go with her. I wouldn't have to do this anymore, I didn't have to be Rainbow Death, I didn't have to be the devil. I could just go with her, tell Celestia everything. But then something happened. A fierce need to protect the company came upon me.

"No!" I yelled. Her eyes widened, in shock. "How dare you say something like that! We must protect the company; I can't abandon it!"

Her look of determination came back, but a hint of fear was hidden behind it.

"Well if you won't, I WILL!" I with that final word she took off into the air. I watched as the flew higher until she slammed into an invisible wall, and electricity flowed through her body. She fell back onto the balcony right beside me, barely conscious. I shook my head and sighed.

"I am very disappointed in you, Dust Light." I said. "I thought you were going to take my place when my time came. Might I mention there is an invisible electric field automatically surrounds this place if a pony other than myself steps onto this balcony. Such a shame too. Now I'll have to turn you into a rainbow."

She coughed and looked at me with hatred, but I noticed she wasn't looking at my eyes, she was looking at my neck. I looked down and couldn't believe what I saw.

"My element." I whispered. Upon my neck was the golden necklace with the red lightning symbol redecorating the center. It had just appeared there, I had no idea how.

"I read about those once. Element of harmony. The lightning represents loyalty." She laughed weakly. "Figures."

"I'll always be loyal to the company." I said fiercely.

"Even if it hurts the ones you love." She looked me in the eyes with pity.

"You really are a monster, Rainbow Death." then she blacked out.