The Rainbow Factory: Fall from Grace

What are you doing you idiot, you have to kill her.

What?! NO!

She FAILED HER flight test, she has to die and you know it.

No.. Im not that way... IM NOT YOU. The blue pegasus screamed within the confines of her own mind.

Yes YOU ARE. You have a duty to uphold, Loyalty, and an OBLIGATION to do what's best for Equestria, for CLOUDSDALE!

SHUT UP! Rainbow Dash repeated secretly to herself. If anypony else had been witness to this internal struggle, they'd be able to tell that it was taking its toll on the fastest pegasus in Equestria. Rainbow Dash didn't want anypony, not even her friends, to be aware of what was taking place in the recesses of her own mind. Of the struggle with this 'other Rainbow Dash' that was manifesting in her mind. It was like some other worldly force was tearing her conscience apart.

IT was like her mind had created an altered ego to cope with what was going on. When Rainbow looked in the mirror she didn't see herself. She saw a grey pegasus with a blackened mane similar to hers only it had a grey streak or two running through the middle of it. The cutie mark had slash marks through it.

"You are truly pathetic," the reflection spat back at her," protecting that filly as if she's your own flesh and blood even after she failed her flight test. All that prepping we did for her and she still crashed and burned."Rainbow tried to look away but it was like some otherworldly force was holding her gaze to the mirror. She wanted to break the glass so she wouldn't be forced to keep staring.

You can't get rid of me Rainbow Dash. I.. am.. YOU. Everything you'd be if you took your dam job at the Factory seriously. You should of ran that place permanently. It was the very definition of orderly and efficient when you were in charge and you know IT. Everypony there obeyed because they feared you. You were strict, disciplined, and you knew how to get things done on time.

"No you're not,"RD muttered,"Your not real, your just an illusion,"she was so sure of herself when she said that. She watched in horror as her own left hoof clenched itself into a ball and smacked her head.

"If I'm just an illusion Rainbow then what do you call that just now?"a bad feeling started to enter the mare's mind. Was this split personality trying to take control of her body?

"I can do this all night Dashie,"the voice said as her left hoof once again slammed itself into her face. She was horrified to think that this might be why she had found sleep walking in town a few times. This thing had the power to take control of her body and interact with others.

"And by the way, no one will believe you if your try to snitch on any of this. Maybe one pony might, but you and I both know how drunk we'd have to get our dear Twilight to believe you have a split personality. You may be the one she's "dating" but Im the one that's been ravishing that flank of hers every night and kept her coming back for more." Rainbow almost balked at what was just said. Twilight would have mentioned something like that to her. Some mention of them spending that kind of time together. Rainbow started to wonder if she had blacked out during sex with Twilight and her other personality would take the reigns to keep up appearances.

Rainbow Dash clutched her hooves to her head and slowly felt herself slipping into madness each time that damned voice in her head spoke. If she could of forced it out into the world and fight it, she would of. She'd show this shadow of herself that she wasn't going to just kill Scootaloo. She loved her like a sister. But that forsaken voice wouldn't leave her alone tonight. She could see it in the mirror. That Crazed mare smiling back and taunting her, laughing at her now.

She could feel it in her bones even now as her other self stared back at her, still laughing at the Rainbow maned Pegasus.

Poor, poor Dash, can't handle being laughed at still? What was that knickname those bullies gave us back at Junior Speedsters Flight Camp? Oh thats right, RAINBOW CRASH? I can still understand defending FLutters back then, but this brat now is nowhere near her level, or yours. Why do you keep defending her hmm? She's not worth the effort Dashie, unlike her you passed your FLIGHT TEST.

WHY CANT YOU GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD, SHE NEEDS TO DIE. SHE'S A DISGRACE TO ALL PEGASI AND YOU KNOW IT.

Rainbow Dash was not going to let herself cave under the pressure. She couldn't abandon Scootaloo. Her other personality was forgetting what they went through as a foal, forgetting how Dash's own mother up and left her and her dad. Nopony even knew her mom's identity at all. Some thought it was the Wonderbolts choreographer Colonel Firefly, others thought it may even of been A.K. Yearling when she was younger and just begun writing her adventures.

Only her dad knew the truth, and she'd discover it soon.

She'd fight to protect Scootaloo no matter what. Even if she had to lock herself away if need be. She would'nt let her other half even come close to attempting anything dangerous.

In the Rainbow Factory.....

Rainbow just lay to one side , watching Scoots chest heave up and down as she was entranced in a deep and blissful slumber. The Rainbow Maned Pegasus could just picture what her adopted sister, and soon to be adopted daughter , was dreaming of. It wasnt anything pleasant that night. She was dreaming of being back 'there'. Back in the Factory, Dash towering over her trembling body, laughing as she fell through the blackness that started to engulf her small orange and tan frame. Her wings flapping to no avail.

Where not a single soul gets through....

There were times in that place that she nearly felt dead inside. She didn't feel like the brash speedster that everypony knew her as, she felt like a ghost. Like she was staring at herself through a looking glass, and there were times it scared her to death at what she saw looking back. The visage of a crazed mare with ruffled fur and dead eyes, glazed over and broken from all the horrors that she, Rainbow Dash, had witnessed while working in the forsaken building.

When you stand next to a legend you dont even Compare...

It scared her to bits at times. To see her own corpse falling into a black vat full of dead Rainbows, and whats more, hooves and half decayed limbs crawling out of the black ooze, clamoring to pull her in. The last time she had a nightmare like that, it was when she had thought her friend Pinkie was going to butcher her and turn her into cupcakes. It hadnt helped that the cupcakes that Pinkie did give her had Rainbow colored icing. With Twilight's help they got over it.

Phantom screams echo throughout the facility....

It was the same every night, even as Scootaloo slept at Rainbow Dash's cloud home. The Nightmare was the same each and every time. Rainbow Dash could only sit up in bed for fear that the image would come flooding back into her subconscious. Instead of yelling at Scootaloo, she found herself sacrificing herself into a black vat of dead rainbows. Her mind wandered to how Twilight was doing. Trixie had unfortunately underestimated Twilight's abilities as an ALicorn, even with the Alicorn amulet boosting her power, it still wasn't enough to beat Twilight in a straight fight. Trixie was arrested by Luna and thrown into the Canterlot dungeons, but only after relinquishing the Alicorn amulet.

RD decided to stop by Twilight's Castle in the morning to see how she was faring after the fight. She looked at Scootaloo and just smiled as the filly was actually sound asleep, with no nightmares troubling her at all that night.

Rainbow Dash was alot of things. She could be loyal to a fault, steadfast, coy, brash, and even a tad bit arrogant. But one thing she wasnt was dishonest, for lack of a better word. Twilight found out about her past on their second date. The cyan coated pegasus have never told anyone outside of her family what her foalhood had been like. Twilight was the one only she trusted enough now to enlighten. She knew Twi would never betray her confidence.

"My mother abandoned me and dad when i was barely a week old," She had told her marefriend and lover.

"Wha.. what?," Twilight had responded with shock and sadness laced in her voice that night. She wasn't sure how to respond back, until it dawned on her. Maybe this is why Dash had taken in Scootaloo. She didn't want that filly to suffer the way she had. No one knew anything about Scootaloo's parents. It had been shown that she was living in a house by herself, it was discovered later though that the house had been given to her by the Ponyville orphanage as to clear up room in the half way house.

All the Failures have to fuel Sucess.....

Those words rung in RD's head in the morning as she flew to Twi's castle as soon as she had made breakfast for Scootaloo. She tried not to let it show when show got there. But Twilight could read her face no matter what the cyan blue pegasus tried to hide from her. She could read Rainbow Dash like a book, pardon the pun. They talked about her recent dreams over hay pancakes and coffee. Yes coffee. It was rare but known to grow in the Zebra and tropical parts of Equestria. It became an important staple in recent years. Ponies realized the benefits that it gave on work weeks.

One thing that Scootaloo had mentioned about one of the nightmares was a name that she had been given by 2 pegasus foals that werent trying to escape the Rainbow Factory in her nightmare. One word, Absentia. Twilight knew that word well. It was anicent Unicorn for 'Lost'. Rainbow Dash looked as if she was going to start crying again. Twilight put a wing around her and pulled her close. The embrace between the two last well into the late afternoon. She had nothing to really do for Princess duties, so she stayed with Rainbow until she felt safe enough to return home to Scootaloo. She told Twilight that she had adopted her. So if they two of them ever lived together, they would technically have a kid to raise. Twilight told Rainbow she'd give it some thought. Two parents would give Scootaloo a secure home life, and a stable platform to gain the confidence to be able perform well in Equestrian Society.

Rainbow told Twi that it was herself that gave Scoots that name, and she had used a memory spell to temporarily erase the filly's memory. She did it under the pretense that she didn't want Scootaloo to remember her for working at that god awful factory. She wanted a better life for her, that was the driving reason for her going forward with the adoption. She told twilight that she could still hear the screams of the other pegasus fillies and sounds of bones being crushed. She tried to forget about the smells of dead flesh and the spectra pouring into the vats. It was enough to make her cringe at the recollection of it all.

In the Rainbow Factory...
Where Failures pay their toll...
now I've Awoken...
And I'm taking back control...

I told you that you'd never be rid of me. She's a failure to all Pegasi, you know that. She failed her test. That doesn't mean you can quit and live a happy life. YOu have an obligation to Cloudsdale to make an example of her for all to see.

I told you, shut up and leave me alone, Rainbow Dash thought to herself. That damned voice refused to give her any peace.

Poor Dash cant handle the truth now can she? Your not related by Blood. There's no need to defend her anymore. Finish it and be done. I'm sure they'll understand. She was killed in a fit of jealous rage sounds good.

Why wouldnt the voice in her head shut up. There was no way in the name of all that was holy that she'd even regard the thought of killing Scootaloo, not now, not ever. And yet it kept on taunting her with the thought. That act would shatter her world more than anything. IT could also tear apart the friendships she had with the others. Her heart wasnt that cold or petrified like her insanity made it to be. There were times Dash would look in the mirror and see her reflection come to life and openly taunt her with a crazed, insanity stricken look in it's eyes. She could also tell that her coat was dull, almost grey in color. It reminded her all to painfully of when Discord was wreaking havoc on Ponyville and had disharmonized her and her friends. All these years later though and she could still feel that taint. Now it was like it had gained a life or will of its own.

That damn voice started taunting her again.

How can you just let her cling to you like that, it asked again.

I thought i told you to shut it? Rainbow responded.

That was when she realized that she was openly talking to herself in front of her friends, in Twilight's castle no less. They all looked at her like she was on drugs or something. Twilight herself just stared at Rainbow Dash wondering what in the hay was going on with her marefriend. It took everything she could muster to resist from telling them what exactly was running through her mind right now. Would they understand? Oh hey guys, dont mind me i'm just talking to my split personality. Of course not, they'd think she had gone crazy and ask her to check herself in at the funny farm or something.

She couldn't tell them, not yet anyway. At least not until she figured this out for herself. But the way Twi was looking at her gave her an idea. She could at least tell her, Rainbow Dash decided. Twilight had been there for her at the factory, she knew she'd understand what was going on and that she'd be there to console her even now. While she was thinking about that, Pinkie Pie stared the other way to what seemed like nothing. Then the pink mare reached through the computer screen and scolded the guy sitting at his computer writing this story for even mentioning the fan fic Cupcakes in any of his other stories. O_O. ( and for not sharing his ice cream topped Cheesecake with her ).

She could feel her sanity starting to break again. She had slammed her hoof into her bathroom mirror, shattering the glass and sending it crashing to the floor. When she looked back into the shattered mirror, she swore she could see her split persona smiling back at her and laughing maniacally in the process. She wanted to smash the rest of the mirror just so she wouldn't be forced to confront her alternate self. She wrapped her hoof in some Gauss that she kept in the bathroom. If anypony asked what happened she felt she'd have to lie and tell them she cut herself while cooking breakfast.

Most might believe that. She wasn't the best cook in the world, Twilight knew that better then anypony when the two of them started dating years ago.