Rainbow Factory - The Closure

Chapter 6 - The Closure

Codi had brought me to my senses through his sacrifice. If there was anyone in Equestria Rainbow would be vulnerable to, it would be Scootaloo. Though she treated her terribly, Rainbow hadn't killed her yet. In fact, she hadn't killed a pony herself in a long time. I suspected that somewhere deep underneath her insane, twisted mind, she was afraid of killing a pony herself. And with Scootaloo I should be able to put her in the same condition.

So I had to be able to get Rainbow into the same situation she put me in. The only way to do that was to...kill Scootaloo. It broke my heart to sacrifice another innocent pony to this sick factory, but that would make her the last pony that would have to die here senselessly. I looked at the buttons and switches as I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the old note that I had been carrying in my pocket since day one and had forgotten to put it out. I went to the line where her name was and checked the symbols on the prison cells. Bull's-eye! A prison cell had the same symbols as the one next to her name.

There were other symbols on the key, possibly several ponies sitting in one cell. I thought about releasing them all. So in the chaos at least a few would have the possibility to escape to freedom. I hesitated briefly before I opened all the cell doors. If I did that now, there would be no turning back. I had to go through with it, without restraint, without regard for loss. I didn't care about the fate of the other prisoners or the staff...I just wanted to see Rainbow suffer.

I glanced briefly at the skylights on top of the facility before pressing the cell door button. It was late at night, so hopefully the prisoners wouldn't notice until tomorrow that the bars would open. Until then I could get some sleep myself after that day. I didn't know if this was the right decision, but after I had to kill Codi I was just desperate.

While switching I noticed that the color of the keys changed from green to red. The strange thing was that certain keys next to it were red as well. The strange thing was that certain keys next to it were also red. Someone else must have opened the cell doors. My colleagues were probably being held prisoner inside them, otherwise they could not have escaped. It could only have been Glaze, she was the only one in the room besides me at that time. Why had she done that? And I had defended her! I thought for a moment whether I should change the plan and escape through the sluice gates, then Glaze would have to stand trial. But then I would withdraw from my responsibility, I just could not do that. I put the note back in my pocket and turned back to the control panel one last time before I left the room.

"I'm sorry, Scoot..." I whispered softly.

The next morning was dawning and I had slept very badly. I sat at my desk and examined the syringe, the vial of which was filled with Codi's Spectra. I knew exactly what would happen today. I also knew that it could not be reversed now. Glaze came by early in the morning, probably to see how I was doing after the murder of Codi. I couldn't remember how many bottles of cider I had drunk since yesterday, but it seemed that it wasn't enough. Meanwhile I poured myself another glass while she started talking to me.

"Stop it! This guzzling is pointless!" she yelled at me.

I showed her a certain finger, which, from the look on her face, seemed to be understood even here in Equestria. I was not capable of more, I would probably have puked when trying to scream.

"I'm sorry about what happened. It wasn't right what Rainbow did to your employees. They didn't do anything bad. They just wanted their freedom and paid the price with their lives. But only because you had to challenge her! Why did you do that?" Glaze asked me reproachfully.

"You tell me," I said dryly to her as I took another sip from the glass.

"Rainbow was always the only boss here, even when Hide was still alive. But now I'm not sure about that either, I think the rest of the staff feels the same way...after what happened yesterday. If only I could think of a solution."

"It will come...and the solution will be final," I said, waving Glaze out of my office.

"Please do not do anything rash. Talk to me if you feel like it, maybe I can help. Maybe we can all... help each other," said.

Before she left the office, I called after her.

"Oh yes, you wouldn't happen to know who opened the jail cells and helped the prisoners escape, would you?" I asked quietly and took the last sip from the glass.

"No, I don't know that. But I thank you for defending me," she said and ran a little slower.

Of course I knew she was lying at that moment, who else would have had access to the prison doors? But I didn't understand the reason why she had done it. I poured myself another glass of cider while Glaze looked at me questioningly.

"Anyway, what does it matter? It's too late for that now, my dear."

Glaze seemed to think I was talking crazy, but I was far from it by now. I saw things as they were and tried to keep up the appearance of a defenseless co-manager until the end. But this time things would be different. This time it would be according to my rules.

I was just waiting for the prisoners to break out and sound the alarm. Meanwhile I had emptied the bottle and enjoyed the last glass of cider while watching the midday sun through the big window wall. I remembered back to the first day when I looked through those windows. Only now I had nothing to lose, one way or another I would never see my family again. So all I could do was win.

I still couldn't believe myself that after all Rainbow did I would put an end to it. Despite the alcohol I was completely clear in my head again and knew exactly what I wanted to do. First I would kill Scootaloo in front of her eyes, then I would take her job as manager. For that she would probably try to kill me, but I did not plan to die today.

But what could I do if things didn't go the way I planned? I lost myself in the plan I had to save her. When I still had hope that she could be saved. But something was still bothering me. It was the possibility that through Scootaloo's sacrifice Rainbow could come into a state where she could remember her old self again. Was there a small chance that she could eventually return to the way I remembered her?

Why did she become what she is now back then? I started thinking again. Even though she had explained it all to me, I could not understand how it could have come to this. I just couldn't understand how this could happen with Rainbow Dash. I started to question my plan, it wasn't too late after all. I could still...

A deafening alarm ripped me from my thoughts at that moment.

"Boss! Follow me!" cried Glaze, totally hounded.

"What happened?" I asked, playing ignorant.

"General alarm in the detention block! The worthless ponies are going to break out! Rainbow needs our help!" she called and waved me frantically to her.

That was my chance, now the moment had come. And this time I would not fail.

"Don't worry, Glaze. She'll get my... help... Take me to her!" I said and put my empty glass on the table to grab my Spectra syringe.

I walked with Glaze through the complex to the production hall. The noise of the alarm echoed through the entire facility, just like it did yesterday. All personnel were on their way to the lowest levels to lock the prisoners back in. In the middle of the production hall, I could see Rainbow in black robes flying around with a couple of other ponies, stopping the ponies as they tried to climb over the railings to the middle level. Apparently some were trying to break through the roofs of the production hall, but Rainbow was trying to stop them. She lunged at the ponies like a harpy at her food. She bit the ponies so hard in the neck, others broke their wings as they flew, causing them to fall to the ground, paralyzed. No wonder Codi didn't stand a chance against her.

"What do we do, Chief?" asked Glaze desperately.

"This is just a little riot, nothing more. Let's see if Rainbow can do it," I said, watching her kamikaze maneuvers.

"What do you mean? We must help her," stammered Glaze.

When Glaze noticed I wasn't doing anything, she guessed what I was getting at.

"Wait...that's your solution? This escape attempt could injure employees! Do you want to risk that just because of your wrestling for the manager's position?"

At that moment, an ordinary worker pony flew in.

"We... we have located the pony who is responsible for this escape attempt, but it is still alive. I think there's something wrong with Rainbow. She's acting strange. She's at the Pegasus Device right now... follow me!" said the pony out of breath.

Before we followed the pony, Glaze turned to me in astonishment.

"I told you it'd come," I said with a grin, and she gave me a wry look.

When we arrived on the middle floor I could hear Rainbow screaming a little, but the noise made it too indistinct. She seemed to be chasing someone. The fight at the factory went on, but the screams became less. Apparently the uprising was slowly being quelled by the workers. Looking closely, I could see Rainbow and a bodyguard of workers.

We slowly walked to the middle floor of the production hall where the Pegasus Device was located. Rainbow was already back and you could see that she had suffered greatly from the chase.

"Any final words, you miserable worthless whore of a foal?" she shouted and puffed deeply several times.

Now I could see who was hanging in chains before her. It was Scootaloo! I knew that if Rainbow would blame anyone for the escape attempt, it would only be Scootaloo. It was all about her from now on.

Scootaloo brought her chin high, still demanding even the tiniest fraction of dignity.

“You have beautiful eyes,” she cooed, soft, yet clearly.

Rainbow didn't know what to do at that moment. She was confused by that statement. And as if the timing couldn't have been better, I intervened.

"Ah, there's the scapegoat," I joked.

"YOU! HOW? HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?" Rainbow Dash yelled at me.

I shrugged my shoulders and pretended not to blame. As Rainbow Dash snarled her teeth, Glaze stepped in.

"He had nothing to do with this. Do you think he was capable of anything after the execution yesterday? Besides, he would have to know how to use the control panel and he can't." she said.

"Really? Are you sure about that?" Rainbow looked at her with a closed eye.

Glaze had to swallow briefly because she wasn't sure if I had broken the code. But she also knew that I could get her killed for it. She affirmed Rainbow's question with a reserved nod.

"That damn technique! No sooner are you proud to have unicorns as innovative employees than they ruin everything! BAH! Never mind," she said and went back to Scootaloo with a snort.

"Hehe, you could have chosen your last words more wisely. You probably still expect me to thank you for this completely meaningless compliment. You thought wrong! And now, die!" she said and was about to have her colleagues put her on the Pegasus Device.

I cleared my throat briefly to get her attention.

"WHAT?" snorted Rainbow.

"I don't want to seem indelicate right now, but shouldn't you be doing this yourself?" I said.

"What the hell are you talking about? She's an escaped prisoner and she's gonna be executed for it." Rainbow tried to justify himself.

"But not by you. Why?" I kept going.

"What difference would it make?" she wanted to know.

"Well, I could do it," I said, pulling out her Spectra syringe from under my jacket.

"Wait, what are you up to?" Rainbow Dash asked me.

Then the worker pony who had accompanied us here stood up to me.

"Mrs. Dash, why haven't you killed this prisoner yet?" wanted to know.

"None of your damn business! Now, do your job!"

The ponies stopped at my place and didn't move.

"DIDN’T YOU HEAR?" she shouted, but nobody moved.

I walked slowly towards her and stopped in front of her.

"Oh, they heard you, but I think they noticed that you had to prove your position again. And I think it's just a neck stitch away," I said with a grin and threw the Spectra syringe at her.

"Seriously? Do you know how many ponies I've killed with it so far?" she asked me with a sinister look.

"But you haven't killed her! We know that you know her. But you also asked him to kill Codi and he did. Then it shouldn't be a problem for you, should it?"

"Why do I have to prove that to you? I'm YOUR BOSS!"

"Then just kill her and all is forgiven and forgotten, remember?" I quoted her with a grin on my face.

She realized the longer she put the discussion off, the worse she made it. With a sinister look she looked at me and the staff and hastily took the Spectra syringe in her wing. She did not want to show any weakness and wanted to show us her strength. She also knew that she had no choice. She had demanded the same from me and now she had to prove herself, even if it meant erasing a part of her old past. Only for the staff it was nothing more than another worthless foal. Something that Rainbow would easily manage.

She approached Scootaloo with the syringe and started at the chest. The foal started shaking at the sight of the sharp object. Rainbow looked back at us again with an angry look before she sticked the syringe so far in that some blood ran out of Scootaloo's fur. She began to cry in pain, but suppressed her screams. We noticed how hard it was for Rainbow to push the syringe further in.

"Do it!" I yelled over to her.

Then Rainbow looked at me angrily and squeezed her eyes together. She had to concentrate hard on pulling it off. She started wheezing but couldn't bring herself to do it. Again and again she tried to stick the syringe further in with one stroke, but she couldn't do it. She cried out and Rainbow pulled the syringe out again. She threw it in our direction and tore her bloodshot eyes wide open.

"I CAN'T DO IT! OK? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED? YOU WANT THE JOB, YOU HAVE IT!" she yelled.

Then she turned away, ran to the next window and looked out, panting and sniffing. Now the time had finally come. I had broken her by beating her in her own chess game. So I ran forward and lifted the Spectra syringe. I went on Scootaloo and stopped right in front of the orange foal with the purple mane. She had lowered her head and did not look at me. Apparently, to her, I was just another Rainbow Factory creature who wanted to kill her. Nevertheless, I felt it was my duty to show my gratitude for her sacrifice.

“Thank you." I whispered softly into her ear and stabbed her in the chest wound where Rainbow had already set in.

She jumped up and tried to catch her breath, which was difficult because of the blood running into her lungs at that moment. She was panting and jerking back and forth on the chains. Through the injection I could feel her pulse beat, it was a very intense feeling. And it felt good to finish Rainbow off. And not only that, in this position where you could decide who should live or die, I felt...powerful.

Rainbow turned scared and saw what I was doing to Scootaloo. That was good, she should see everything. I pulled back the plunger of the vial and sucked out as much Spectra as the vial could hold. I was amazed how much blood flowed in such a small pony body, yet the ampoule was only half full. When I pulled the Spectra syringe out of the grey Scootaloo and turned around I could see Rainbow Dash's face freezing like in shock. She looked at me stunned.

Outwardly I seemed cold, but inwardly my emotions began to sway as I looked at Rainbow Dash's face. She had lost that look of hatred, her eyes were widened and it seemed as if I could see her true feelings for the first time. This time she was not pretending, she was completely herself. As she slowly realized what I had done she stood up and fixed me with a look that was anything but pleasant. But this time it was not an evil look, but an angry one. She was angry... very angry.

"Tell me, how dare you kill her? How dare you KILL SCOOTALOO?"

The staff slowly gathered around Rainbow.

Even though I actually started to feel sorry for her at that moment, I had to play the game now and checkmate her.

"Well, Rainbow. It looks like you're showing emotion," I said to her.

"Watch your mouth or you'll regret it." she narrowed her eyes.

"He's right, we have a big responsibility and we can't just let our feelings get in the way of doing things that will hurt our cause," said Glaze.

"Yes! If you are no longer able to do your job you are no longer our manager!" said one of the worker ponies next to me, which was loudly supported by other ponies.

Now it was up to me to put my foot down.

"That's enough...all of you! Mrs. Dash..."

I slowly went back into the crowd to prepare for all eventualities.

"...I am relieving you of your position as manager of the Rainbow Factory!"

"Say...that...again, co-manager!" she hissed angrily.

"You're fired, Dashie!" I said with a grin on my face.

"Bad mistake!" Rainbow Dash growled as she slowly walked towards me with her hump up and her head down.

As I walked back, the staff stood protectively in front of me.

"SO, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? YOU STAY HERE, SO WE CAN FINISH THIS PROPERLY," she cried manically.

"Leave it! It's over, Rainbow. The senseless bloodshed is over!" Glaze shouted.

"It will be, after I killed HIM!" she yelled.

The employees initially managed to hold her back. Glaze feared that I was in danger and considered taking me to safety until Rainbow would calm down again.

"Run to the control room and lock the door! You'll be safe in there until we get things back under control.”

I realized how urgent the situation was and ran across the stairwell to the upper part of the production hall. Below me I could hear Rainbow screeching like a banshee, from above I could hear the prisoners still trying to escape. I was running up the stairs when suddenly many ponies started screaming behind me. Accompanied by Rainbow's manic laughter, I could hear what was happening. She seemed to be killing the employees, one by one. I started to get weak in the knees when I heard the death cries of the employees...and how pony after pony fell silent.

I arrived at the top of the bridge that led to the control room. The Pegasus Device kept on running and I dodged the steam jets that came out of the pipes here and there with a hiss. I had to hurry, maybe Rainbow was already on his way to me. It was only a few meters to the control room. The room had a massive door through which Rainbow would not get through. The windows were also reinforced due to the proximity of the Pegasus Device, so bone splinters or something similar could not damage the glass. I ran the last few meters and noticed something falling on me with full force. The Spectra syringe flew out of my hand and slipped on the grille, so I couldn't reach it anymore.

I fell painfully onto the grating and was pushed to the ground by Rainbow, so that I could look her straight in the eyes. Her whole face was covered with blood, and the corner of her mouth was covered with a piece of torn fur from another pony. It probably came from one of the staff members who tried to stop her. Her eyes were wide open, she had bared her teeth and tears were running from her eyes. Her face was marked by madness.

"Gotcha! And now we end this story once and for all..."

Before Rainbow could do anything to me, another pony pushed her off me. It was Glaze, but her body was bleeding badly and one wing looked half torn off. When Rainbow picked herself up, Glaze stood in front of me, protecting me. I picked myself up and took my shot again.

"Go on, go on! I'll hold her off," she cried and turned to Rainbow.

"Get out of the way, Glaze!" she said hissing.

"You have nothing to say to me. To get to him, you'll have to get past me first," she said.

And Rainbow suddenly started laughing like a madwoman. Glaze just didn't know why. I used the moment to safely enter the control room and stand next to the door switch so I could close the door behind Glaze in case she wanted to withdraw.

"Sorry, I'm just remembering something. This is where Hide was standing just before he died! Do you still remember the last thing I said to him?"

She crept up like a cat in an attack on Glaze until she was standing right in front of her.

"Long live the Rainbow Factory!" shouted Rainbow and threw herself on Glaze, just as she had done to me.

I wanted to go and help her, but it was already too late. Glaze tried to wriggle free, but Rainbow Dash kicked her face several times with full force until it was just blood red. Glaze cried out, but the bruises made it more and more like a choked murmur. She tugged at her bent wing until it detached from her body with a disgusting cracking sound and you could see the muscle fibres tearing apart. Rainbow pulled her by the mane and pushed her under the railing of the grating, causing Glaze to fall into the abyss.

I was surprised that Rainbow was actually capable of killing ponies in her hatred. She must have been like that at the beginning of all this and now I had rekindled that fire. I heard Rainbow coming closer and held the Spectra Syringe behind me. There was no other way, I had to face it and stopped in the doorway.

"Rainbow, just accept it! You never could have killed Scootaloo! I could!"

She started to hover slowly and flew in my direction with a tremendous wing dive while she started screaming. When she was about to hit me head-on, I aimed with the Spectra syringe. She tried to slow down, but I hit her in the pelvis. She screamed loudly and the force of her impact ripped the syringe out of my hand, crashing violently against the wall in the control room and dropping to the floor. I ran to her and wanted to finish it. I pulled the ampoule to suck off her Spectra, but it didn't go back far enough because Scootaloo had already filled half the ampoule. And the plunger could not be moved back to push the Spectra out of the ampoule. Probably there was a mechanism to do this, but at that moment I couldn't lose any thought about it.

Rainbow was writhing back and forth on the floor until I pulled out the syringe. You could see her shining rainbow mane fading a little, just like the fur. But it wasn't as bad as with the ponies who had had their Spectra completely sucked out.

"You... dare...use that syringe against me? You are truly...a monster." she gasped softly and started coughing up blood.

I noticed that her Spectra in the vial glowed much brighter than anything I had ever seen. At that moment, something happened inside me. I... I started to feel her pain. I could feel Rainbow suffering.

"I'm not the monster here, you left me no choice! I had to do it!" I snarled at her.

"Then do it! Finish it and kill me! GO ON!" she shouted at me.

At that moment I began to see something in her eyes. It was pure desperation, obviously she really didn't want to live anymore. I had obviously taken more from her with Scootaloo than I had thought. She had given up on herself completely and now wanted me to put her out of her misery. But I was not quite sure, so I tried to talk to her. But not like the Rainbow Factory manager, but like Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash? Why did you do all this? Why did you need someone from Earth? Why did you choose me of all people?" I cried as tears slowly streamed from my eyes.

She looked at me with horrified eyes, I could see that her pupils were also losing colour.

“Because I was looking for somepony...someone to take that load off me..." she said.

I knew that at that moment she was not only talking about the factory. She literally wanted someone to take it it off her...her Spectra. To finally save her from this horror. She wanted to be saved. I really didn't see that coming. I recovered the thought I had before the alarm went off. She wanted to be saved and she was still alive. So I still had a chance to make it up to her.

"I'd say you found someone. And I'm gonna finish this story... once and for all," I said calmly.

Rainbow was waiting for me to kill her any moment. But I ran to the control panel and pulled all the red levers I could see. Various red lights came on on the control panel and the sirens of the opening sluice gates echoed up into the production hall.

"Wait! Why... why did you do that?" Rainbow gasped exhausted.

"I'm going to destroy the Rainbow Factory!"

"What? You can't do that. How will Equestria survive without Spectra?"

"I never intended to save Equestria. I only intended to save you."

At that moment, I saw something new in her eyes. Despite the almost gray pupils, I could see a rainbow glimmer flashing in them, her facial expressions suddenly seemed more relaxed too. A light smile slipped from her face, followed by tears flowing from her almost grey eyes. At that moment a pony flew into the control room. It was Ampere. He entered the control room and his robot eyes fixed me. I noticed that they were suddenly glowed blue.

"The maker! Thank Celestia I found you! Come with me, this facility will soon be destroyed," the robot said before turning around to capture Rainbow Dash. His eyes changed colour from blue to red, just as I knew it from my nightmare.

“Wait, the factory will be WHAT?” I said confused, but I got no answer.

"Hello Rainbow Dash, it's nice to meet you," he said, and his hooves began to beat blue arcs. He was about to execute them.

"No, Ampere. Abort! Abort! Do not execute the order."

"It's not possible, it's the final order I have to execute."

"No, you don't! I'm giving you a new order to save her and get her out of here!"

He switched back down and his eyes were glowing yellow again. Then he turned to me.

"You didn't understand me. I no longer take orders, I execute them. Ever since you put that spectra core in me, it's been giving my circuits strange overloads and adding dozens of variables to my primary programming. I started thinking for myself. And I realized what we were doing here-- what I was doing here. So I decided to do something about it. Your final order just showed me what I had to do."

"Because of your hasty escape, innocent ponies died, Ampere! If you had just followed my orders, they would still be alive! Codi would still be alive!"

"The escape was planned, but I could not carry it out without support. So I analyzed which ponies I could trust and discovered the ponies in the prisoner wing that were involved in my development. After I had released them by remote control to escape with them, unfortunately not all of them made it. I am sorry Codi was among the victims, an unfortunate loss."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"We should hurry, we are expected by a large number of ponies that I have gathered to destroy this factory. We will find an alternative way to maintain weather stability in Equestria. The vial of Spectra you carry with you will be of use to us. But first, I will execute my final order to be free."

When I realized what he had just told me, my answer was clear:

"NO!"

"Excuse me?" Ampere asked.

"You won't kill her!"

"I realize that you are emotionally concerned about her. However, based on her vital signs and the size of her pupils, I realize that she will not live much longer anyway. So an accelerated bringing about of this event would even equate to mercy if that makes you morally better," Ampere said.

"You will stay away from her, you understand?" I said to him.

"If you stand against me, I'll stand against you. I don't think Codi would have wanted that." he tried to psychologically talk me into it.

"I'm not Codi!" I said to him loud and clear, holding the Spectra syringe in front of me.

His yellow eyes lit up red and his metal hooves started to conduct electricity again. I only had my Spectra Syringe and was trying to fight back when Ampere gave me a mechanical slash and knocked the syringe out of my hand in Rainbow Dash's direction. Then he braced himself against me with a mechanical blow and through the discharge like a defibrillator I flew to the front door of the control room. My head was spinning and I got a little dizzy. When I felt something wet on my head I saw that it was blood. Fortunately it was only a laceration on the back of my head and I slowly got up again and tried to find something to fight Ampere with. But I couldn't concentrate anymore because of the blow. I could see Ampere standing in front of me and assessing my injuries.

"I wanted to cooperate with you, how terribly misguided. But the only thing you deserve now is death. And now die...die...die..." he stuttered and bet on the final blow that would guarantee me death.

Ampere suddenly started to twitch. Various lightning bolts shot across his body and his eyes started to flicker. Looking closer, I could see exactly what had happened. Under him my syringe was stuck in his lower body, from which a few drops of Spectra flowed. Rainbow Dash had dragged herself up to Ampere and put the Spectra syringe into his unarmored lower body between the metal plates. Rainbow's Spectra was apparently so strong that Ampere's circuits shorted out and his eyes even caught fire from the massive overload. He burned out from the inside.

Rainbow Dash fell to the ground exhausted like Ampere's broken body. Her breathing was very shallow. She had saved me, but for that she had to sacrifice the Spectra in the syringe. I thought about what I should do at that moment. I had only just brought her back, she could not die now. It could be my head injury, but I had to do something to keep her alive. The syringe was empty, so it wasn’t of any use to me now. Then I remembered the ampoule with Codi's Spectra, which was in my office. I had to take Rainbow Dash there as quickly as possible and inject it into her. So I took her piggyback, grabbed the empty Spectra syringe in one hand and dragged myself from the control room towards the top level.

The factory was still in chaos. The prisoners were now escaping through the lowest level into the open. The workers probably tried to leave the building as well, but they would surely meet the resistance that Ampere had mentioned. They certainly would make sure that no employee would leave this factory alive. It was doubtful they would spare me, as Ampere was destroyed.

I grabbed Rainbow Dash and put her over my shoulders. Before I left the control room with her, I pulled the empty syringe from Ampere's rigid body. Behind the control room, I climbed the stairs panting as fast as I could, not knowing how much time she would have left. On the way up the stairs, other staff flew towards us and gave us only a fleeting glance. It seemed that they were only interested in bare survival. But now it became clear how they really were. No pony stopped to help me or looked at me long enough to see that Rainbow Dash was in need. But you couldn't blame the staff, Rainbow hadn't made herself very likable. As we arrived at the upper level, I noticed Rainbow Dash's breaths becoming weaker and slower.

"We're almost there! Just a little bit longer, please, just a little bit longer," I begged her.

We arrived at the top floor where I rushed to my office. As I stood in front of the large wooden doors, I took my elbow and pushed the door open. I ran towards the desk where Codi's Spectra was. It was glowing through the incoming evening sun, which shone through the large windows.

I laid her down on the large carpet that was spreaded on the floor in front of the desk, adorned with the Rainbow Factory logo. I could see that Rainbow Dash was now completely gray. She just looked up rigidly and seemed to stop breathing. I could not let her die just before the finish line. I panicked and tears started to run from my eyes. In a matter of seconds I managed to pull the empty vial out of the syringe, put the other vial of Codi's Spectra in and stabbed her in the same spot where I had extracted the Spectra.

I pushed all the Spectra into her and her fur around the puncture wound got colour again. I hoped that it was not too late when her mane started to get colour again, too. When she was completely covered in colour again, she suddenly took a final deep breath in and out. Her eyes, now pink again, were as open as her mouth and stared lifelessly into the air.

"Please Rainbow Dash, you can't die now!" I cried and put my hand on her pleura to feel a heartbeat.

But there was nothing. I could not find a pulse or breathing. I despaired and started to shake her, hoping that it would help.

"Damn it! I have promised to save you!" I said and hit her chest in rage with a clenched fist.

Then she gave a deep puff and started to cough. She was really still alive! I couldn't believe how much luck you can have in misfortune!

"Rainbow Dash! Thank God you're alive!"

It took her a few moments to clear her airway. But when she regained consciousness, she looked at me with eyes completely different from the ones I had seen before.

"I...am alive! You have saved me! Why..." she looked at me in amazement, while she was still lying on the floor dazed.

"I told you I would. It wasn't an easy promise, it was a pinkie promise!" I said jokingly.

She smiled at me briefly and I helped her to get up.

"We have to get out of here as fast as possible, the whole building is surrounded and they want to destroy the factory! We don't have much time left."

"What? Who?" she looked at me confused and her expression became slightly frightened, which I could tell by the way her ears were set back.

"Ampere spoke of resistance, possibly including my former work colleagues. But don't worry, I still have a good reputation with them. You and I will get out of here safely... both of us." I promised her.

"But the sluice gates are definitely blocked from the outside, we can't get out there. The only way out is the old main entrance, but we'll never make it down there in time."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" she said and shook herself.

"Hop on!" she added and turned her back to me, spreading her wings wide open.

"Wait, are you sure? You're much smaller than me and your wings..." I said, looking at the slightly tattered plumage of her.

"Don't worry, I only need them to guide me, magic does the rest. Come on, your boss is ordering you!" she said to me with a grin.

I was a bit suspicious but she seemed very convincing. So I slowly climbed on her back and wrapped my arms around her neck. She made a quick check to see if I was ready and bombed along forward. I had to hold on tight and clung around her neck. She didn't seem to mind the extra weight despite her broken wings, she seemed to be really strong. No wonder she often competes against Applejack in competitions.

She hurtled down almost in free fall, but even further above the lowest level where still numerous ponies were looking for a way out of this hell. But when we flew into the areas of the old complex, we saw no more ponies. Apparently many did not know this area or had not been here for a long time. It was spooky to hear the distant screams far away from the old entrance hall. As she dropped me off we wondered what would be waiting for us on the other side of the gate. Rainbow Dash unlocked the massive gate with a lever on the side and opened the gate through which I had first entered the Rainbow Factory.

We looked out at the vast horizon, which turned orange in the evening sun. Above our path the screaming of several dozen ponies could be heard, but I could not tell whether it came from my former employees or the factory staff. Carefully I set one foot from the stone slab on the cloud cover. It held, I had apparently been put under a permanent spell, which also amazed Rainbow Dash. Just as we were about to continue walking on the cloud cover, three Pegasi flew in from the upper part of the cloud cover. One of them, which was heading directly towards us, had white fur and a three-coloured mane and tail colour of orange, light and dark blue.

"Stop, don't move!" said the pony and landed with the others in front of us.

"Hey, you may not know me, but I'm with Ampere. I built him," I tried to explain.

"And where is he now?" the pony asked suspiciously.

"Destroyed. He tried to kill us, we barely escaped."

"And I'm sure he had a good reason for that. You two are the ones who run this place! Ampere and the escaped ponies told me about you! Yeah, the blue pegasus with the rainbow mane and the creature from another world! My name is Blu Skittle, and I just have one question for you: How many ponies have had to die before we found out about it by Ampere," said the pony, looking at me sadly.

"He has killed just as many ponies and is just as guilty as we are," I said.

"Guilty? He was a robot, he was just following your orders! When he visited me and other ponies yesterday to tell us the truth about this place, The tears of the broken ones washed my soul away with time. Yes, he’s the one who also stoked the fire, but he had seen more pain than you could possibly know."

"Those were MY words I programmed into him, not his own!" I declared.

"Wait, what do you mean, your words?" Rainbow Dash asked worriedly.

"He should tell you these words before he was to execute his final order," I said to her, feeling very guilty at that moment. But Rainbow Dash knew what I was talking about and left it at that.

"But he disregarded this one and instead carried out a daring escape action that cost many of my ponies their lives! They were your former colleagues!" I said, looking at the two ponies that stood next to Blue Skittle and lowered their heads.

"It may be that his method was a bit extreme, but by escaping he showed us that there was something in our society that we never thought possible. And we decided to support him and the other ponies to put an end to this horror as fast as we could! For the good of Equestria!"

At that moment I realized that the pony was fighting for the same cause I had long ago.

"But that's exactly what we did! We have always served Equestria faithfully, protecting and preserving it! Without the Spectra there would be total weather chaos here! Animals would drown, die of thirst or be struck by lightning. The whole balance of Equestria would collapse. This element around my neck I got to protect Equestria and that's exactly what I did...as sure as my name is Rainbow Dash!" she said.

"You're not Rainbow Dash, you're a monster. I knew Rainbow Dash. She was a legend in Cloudsdale, a righteous mare! Her story may not be quite as nice, but it will have a happy ending. Like every happy ending, when the monster dies."

"So what are you gonna do with us?" I said, looking at him with a reproachful look.

"Oh no, you'll be all right. I know your story and would like you to come with us, but unfortunately you won't be able to stay in Equestria under these circumstances. We will bring you back to earth where your kind belong," said the pony, looking at Rainbow Dash. "As for you...if you really intend to continue to protect and preserve Equestria, you'll go back where you came from. Your story will be buried with the rest under the ashes. I'm sorry, but you have no choice."

"I'll show you what choice I have," Rainbow Dash started, and her element turned red again. I knew she wanted to go for the pony, but I held her back.

"No Rainbow. If that's what he thinks is right, then so be it," I said.

Before the pony could say anything further, I shut the entrance door with a big slam in front of him. I knew in that moment that there was no way out for me now either. I knew that I had not only closed the doors. It was the closure of the Rainbow Factory.

"Why did you do that?" Rainbow Dash looked at me.

"If I can't save you, then all I've done for you has been pointless."

"But they will kill us! They will destroy everything and the weather stability will collapse!"

"And they are right. Honestly, Rainbow. After all we did to those ponies for Equestria, mother nature couldn't do any worse. And the planet will keep on turning...even without us.

She realized how hopeless it was, and for the first time she started crying in front of me. It was the first time in a long time that she could show her real feelings again. She was terribly sorry for everything and she would like to undo the time, but now was the time when she had to pay for her sins...but she was not alone. Circumstances did not stop me from smiling at her. After she wiped the tears from her eyes, she returned the smile. Apparently she was just as happy that I was with her to the bitter end.

When the first magic spells were cast from outside, we noticed the floor of the building start to vibrate. As long as the foundation of the factory still held, we decided to walk up to the main corridor of the executive floor one last time to have some more time together. Rainbow Dash and I walked side by side, but no longer as manager and co-manager, but as friends. I freed her from her madness, that's all I cared about at that moment. That was all I could do, also because I knew that we would die any moment.

Below us we could hear the powerful spells the unicorns cast. They apparently tried to compromise the structural integrity of the building so that the entire complex would fall out of the clouds. As we passed the middle level, we could see that the vibrations from the ceiling were causing debris to fall onto the steam engines and robots, damaging them. Nevertheless, they continued to run tirelessly. Hot steam was escaping and some of the other employees had returned to the production hall and tried to release pressure through the valves to prevent them from exploding. Even in the face of death they still tried to keep the factory running. There must have been many employees who wanted to stop here in the past, but then fell into eternal madness.

So that was it, we would all die in the place where so much pain and death had happened. It was only a matter of time before the building would fall down, but Rainbow and I felt as if we were walking through the hallways for hours. Old memories came up. But behind all those dark thoughts, there were actually beautiful memories. I remembered how I had met Glaze. She had introduced me to Rainbow Dash. And without Rainbow Dash, I never would have had a chance to come to Equestria.

When we passed the middle level we could see that the pipes on the wooden walls were glowing because of the heat of the steam and the wooden walls started to braise. There was a lot of wood on the executive floor, so a fire would spread very quickly. But the smoke would escape through the broken windows above the production hall, through which some light from the setting sun shone outside into the factory.

When we arrived on the upper floor, we walked a few meters past my office. I could feel a strong heat through the open doors and could see that the walls had caught fire from the hot steam pipes and the book shelves were burning brightly. The high glass windows had cracked and were deformed by the heat. There was certainly nothing left of my mementos from the earth in the next room, my old life was now finally extinguished.

Rainbow went with me into the crossway and soon we stopped in front of another wooden door. When she opened the doors, I realized where we were. We were in her office, which seemed to be closer to my office than it always seemed to me.

As we entered and Rainbow Dash's gaze wandered, the first flames were already blazing on the doors above which the portraits of the princesses were hanging. Now I understood where those doors were going, I just had never noticed it before. On the other side of the door was my office! Although I noticed these doors when I first entered Hide's office, but they were locked. I was only one door away from Rainbow Dash the whole time.

The office itself still looked better than mine. Despite the fire and smoke under the ceiling, the painting with its cutie mark over the fireplace was still visible. But it wouldn't be long before her memories would burn to ashes as well, the doors couldn't withstand the fire for long and the flames spread to the wall. The last thing I saw was a picture hanging on the wall to the right of the room. It was the picture with her friends, which was always shown on TV at the beginning of each episode. When Rainbow Dash saw it also catch fire, she turned away and we left the office.

We walked back down the main hallway until we stopped in front of another wooden door, and I knew exactly what was behind it. We opened it, entered the gallery and looked at the paintings of all the employees. This room had not yet been attacked by the fire, probably there were no wires running through the walls or it was just fate that the very place was the only one left where I had finally found out the truth about this place. For the first time I could walk past the paintings in full contemplation without losing my mind. Glaze, Pony Joe and even Dr. Hide Atmosphere...in these paintings they all looked normal. Probably from the time when they did not yet know how their experiment would develop.

Rainbow Dash closed the door of the gallery because she suspected that we would probably never leave this room again. When we looked to the other end of the gallery, I noticed that there was a new large painting hanging on the wall next to her painting. Underneath it said:

Co-manager of the Rainbow Factory...
I was in that painting.

"I had it hung up when we first met here," said Rainbow Dash as she looked at the painting of me.

"That someone will decide the future of the Rainbow Factory,' I said to you that day. "

Then Rainbow Dash turned to me and started to smile.

"I guess you did."

I couldn't help but smile a little, but her face became sadder.

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this. If only we had met as friends," she said and sat down right in front of me.

"But Dashie. We're friends now." I said, stroking her shaggy mane, which, thanks to Codis Spectra, shone in all the colours of the rainbow again.

Rainbow Dash nodded contentedly as we hugged each other firmly. If we were going to die, we had to die together. One last tear left her eyes before there was a big bang from the direction of the production hall. Apparently the machines had exploded due to the overpressure and the shock would cause the whole building to collapse.

Then everything around us became silent. I closed my eyes and could still feel the floor below us moving and dust trickling from the yielding ceiling onto my shoulders. Thunderous applause echoed from outside through the crumbling walls into my ears. But the applause was not for us. We were dead.

Epilogue:

This is probably not the ending you would expect from a regular CreepyPasta, but there is a reason for that. When I first got to know Rainbow Factory I had just become a new fan of the series and was reading a sequel to "My Little Dashie". I didn't know what it was about and started to research. Then years ago I came across the CreepyPasta by Aurora Dawn, which is based on the song of the same name by WoodenToaster.

I started to get interested in the story because it had something adult about it as opposed to the harmless series, which was meant for children. At first I found it fascinating how much you could interpret into the mystery of rainbows. But in retrospect I realized that it only contained exaggerated violence, it was not even scary for a CreepyPasta. So I set out to write my own story. A story that would not only trump the original but also destroy it at the same time. That the face of the show, which I love as much as it is, is defaced by such reprehensible fanfictions, just to make it look 'cool'...

...and there is a simple and series-appropriate explanation of how rainbows are made in Cloudsdale...Zap Apples...mixed with sugar and spices. That's all. Seriously, you could also come up with it yourself if you are a fan of a show and just focus a little bit more on...well...the show.