Equestria: The Fallen Utopia

Before Pinkie had been revived, Ponyville had been pretty gloomy without her parties to keep the place happy. Now that she was back, the small town became happier than ever. I was in my house, organizing, about three years after Pinkie's revival. I had kept the jar with the dreadful memory in it on a low shelf, for safety precautions. I had to live with the danger of having the thing break open, releasing the memory back into Pinkie’s mind. I couldn’t let that happen. I started looking through the spell book I had. I found a simple spell that could destroy anything permanently, and it was an easy one too. I charged up the spell and sent the memory to nothingness.

“Well, that’s that,” I said. I left my house and decided to pay a visit to Rainbow Dash’s place. I flew over there and knocked on the door. No answer. I saw a dark shape fly behind the house out of the corner of my eye. I looked behind me, then behind the house. I saw the black carriage from the Rainbow Factory.

“Ah shit,” I said. “Not again.” Determined to end the factory's madness, I followed the carriage again to the dreaded Rainbow Factory. When I reached the facility, I made my way through through the vents again. They had been upgraded to withstand other intruders, but I didn’t know magic on my first visit. I was prepared this time. I used magic to silently open the increased number of reinforced grates in the vents and gain access to the interior. The factory was still in full swing. I looked toward the pit where the captive Pegasi were kept. The stallion I had spoken to on my first visit was gone. A small light began to move my way. I hid. The light passed me and turned off. Cameras had been set up for further security.

“This will make my job a lot harder,” I said to myself. I thought of ways to rescue the captives in the pit. The only possible way of doing that was to cripple basic factory functions, such as lights, cameras, and machines. I inspected the factory further, trying to stay out of sight. When I finished my calculations, I entered back into the air vents. I then sprung my plan. I manually shattered the lens of the security cameras using magic. The camerapony went into a panic. He alerted the tan and the blue Pegasus stallions. They inspected the cameras, then went back to work, only more observant. With the factory limited to a strictly visual perception, I executed the next step. I overloaded the factory lights using an electric spell, causing the bulbs to shatter. The only other light came from the harvested Spectra, which was limited. The factory workers started to panic. The managers started to run around, trying to fix the factory, and they were pissed. Only the robot workers could see, but there were few of them, and the rest of the workers were stumbling over the equipment and themselves. The factory was turning chaotic.

“Discord would be proud of this madness,” I said to myself. I made my move with the next step. I teleported to the main control panel. I shut off the factory machines, then busted the panel. Every backup light in the factory went out, shrouding the facility in near blackness. Only the light from the Spectra remained, which was the key to my last step. Using a special spell, I removed the color from the exposed Spectra and destroyed it. This made the factory go into utter darkness. Only I could see, using my own night vision spell. I flew into the pit. The factory was filled with hollers of searching, so the workers couldn’t hear my commands to the captive Pegasus Ponies.

“Let’s go!” I yelled. “I’m getting you out of here! Come on! Into the vents! Move! Move!! MOVE!!!” The Pegasi flew to the vents as I cast the night vision spell on them. None of the workers noticed the breakout. I saw one pony that didn’t take flight. I flew down to her. She was a Unicorn filly, severely drained of magic. I picked her up myself and threw her onto my back. I flew behind the fleeing Pegasi with the drained filly on my back. I told some of the Pegasi to get her to my home in Canterlot. As the Pegasi flew away with her, a Pegasus worker tackled me through the vent. It was the Pegasus with the black cloak and mask. I wrestled with the Pegasus for a while before ripping the mask off. I gasped in shock and dropped the mask. It was Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash?!” I cried out. “You work in this blasted factory?!” I quickly acted before Rainbow Dash could escape. I hit her hard with my robotic leg and knocked her unconscious. I dragged her out of the vents with the escapees. When all of the Pegasi had escaped the factory, I summoned a remote detonated bomb, a compressed nuke actually, and set it. I threw it back into the factory and flew away, Rainbow Dash in tow.

Back at my house, I tied the unconscious Rainbow Dash to a chair. Tight. I used superglue to seal the chair to the floor, preventing any kind of escape. I walked over to the single Unicorn that was captured. I had given her some food earlier and a place to rest. She was asleep on the couch. I carefully picked her up and carried her to my bed. I laid her down and put the blankets over her. I straightened her mane. It was white with streaks of red and orange. Her fur was a dark, dark blue, almost black. I checked for other injuries. When I found none, I left the room, closed the door, and walked back to the main room, where Rainbow Dash was. She was still unconscious. I took a glass of cold water and dumped it on her head. Rainbow Dash abruptly woke up.

“What’s going on?” she asked. I had turned off the lights in the room, so Rainbow Dash couldn’t see. I turned on a flashlight and shined it in her eyes.

“Hello there,” I said, startling Rainbow Dash.

“Braveheart?” Rainbow asked. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

“In my home,” I said. “Enjoy your stay, because you’ll be here for a while.” I turned on a single light focused on Rainbow Dash. I slowly walked up to her, glaring, trying to stare into her soul. Rainbow Dash began to get nervous. I stopped, inches from her face, and looked her straight in the eyes.

“What do you want from me?” Rainbow Dash calmly asked. I waited a moment before responding. Rainbow Dash looked back at me, waiting. We were both silent for a time.

“Answers,” I finally said, firmly. “That’s what I want. Answers as to why you work in that hell hole, crawling with despair and death, disguised by bright color. I want to know why you work in the Rainbow Factory.”

“I don’t just work there,” Rainbow Dash retorted. “I manage the place. I’m the factory’s manager. Have been for quite some time. After Rarity gained so much attention in the Young Flyers Competition, I decided I had enough.”

“But you won,” I said. “Celestia crowned you the Best Young Flyer.”

“Don’t care,” Rainbow Dash said. “I should have gained more attention, because I was the Best Young Flyer. I got employed in the factory to work off my anger. I worked my way up, and eventually got promoted to manager.” I was furious. I turned away and mentally cursed at Rainbow Dash. I turned back, realizing something.

“There's something that I've noticed,” I said. “You do know the CMC, right? The Cutie Mark Crusaders? Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo? Back when I was about to take my flight test, I saw Scootaloo say goodbye to the others to take her flight test. After my “incident,” I never saw Scootaloo come back.” I stopped to let the words sink in. “What happened to her?” Rainbow Dash started to sweat. I narrowed my eyes, hardening my glare. Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Scootaloo is alive,” she said firmly. “I was going to kill her, but I didn’t. She is still in the factory, hidden away, where nopony can find her.” I looked toward the factory, then back at Rainbow Dash.

“Where is she?” I demanded. I was going to get every innocent Pegasus out of that facility. Alive.

“Hidden away in the prison area,” Rainbow Dash said. “In a hidden room blocked by an iron wall. Two feet thick. Nopony can get in or out, except through very small ventilation shafts. You’d never fit.” I straightened up and backed away from Rainbow Dash. I took up my remote detonator and flew back to the disabled Rainbow Factory, leaving Rainbow Dash alone.