Seeing Scoot's body, suspended above the machine, hopelessly mangled, should have made Rainbow Dash feel something. It didn't. She saw the exposed ribs, the blood. It made her feel nothing. The pride in Cloudsdale she should have felt had evaporated, the power high she always got when she drained a Pegasi was gone.
Over the many years she had worked at the factory, she learned to stop her emotions from boiling over, after all, if she cried every time someone died, she would be killed. With no second thoughts. She remembered the look on Scootaloo's face when she first saw her at the factory. She knew then how far gone she was. She saw those faces everyday, ones of ponies who were fated. How could a pony do such a thing?
She could. She liked it.
She stepped back, her lab coat dragged behind her, spattered with the blood of her once-friend.
"Sir!," A voice echoed from behind, "We lost nearly 10 Pegasi in the brawl. They are unusable for rainbow material." Rainbow took a breath and turned around to face her assistant, Stormy Ride. The fight. Oh, the fight. She had a memory of each second, each time it hit her that she was the one shoving the ponies off Cloudsdale like bowling pins. Every single murder was like that. The huge jolt of power, the looks of ponies seeing not her, Rainbow Dash, just a monster with her face. The face of a hero. The face of one who had saved Equestria.
"We will just have to rigorize the testing procedures in Fillydelphia, so we have more failees to work with. We've had some pretty bad flyers around here, anyway." Rainbow Dash replied. She couldn't even comprehend anymore. Only the thrill of power enticed her to keep living this nightmare.
She looked at the bloodstains on the wall. Thinking back to her first days at the factory, when she still felt fear, and the heavy weight of guilt hung on her, a constant companion. She had hid her eyes from the horrors. She had so many nightmares. She tried to prepare Scoot for the raw fear she would feel as a Factory worker. This wasn't supposed to happen. If only she had taught her better. If only she could have let her go. If only she could show mercy.
The only thing that she could feel now came from the suffering of others. The power, the raw power she felt from the screams, the pleading. That was what she lived for. The only thing she could feel anymore. She knew the feeling, and even as she sat in the dark, bloody room, she remembered the feeling. High off power, drunk off the suffering of other ponies.
The only problem was, she was addicted.
"But sir, even then, the mistake on your part-," Stormy said, taking her back into the dimly lit chamber.
"I'm sorry?," Rainbow turned, "What did I just hear?" Her voice said it all. The look on Stormy's face showed that he saw his mistake all too clearly. Rainbow stepped closer. She felt her control melt away, her guilt evaporate. She needed to feel something, anything.
"Did you say... production was down?, " Rainbow whispered in a deadly tone, "Ah, I see. Well, I know a way to remedy that." She grabbed his neck with her hoof, digging her horseshoes into his skin.
"Move," she whispered, "we wouldn't want any of your friends to get hurt now, would we?" She added a smile for the effect. His look of pure terror was what she lived for. The stallion started walking slowly towards the Pegasus Machine, past each Spectra pool, the metal floor clanking under his feet, clanking with the sound of Pegasi being torn and cut, their guts being churned into the rainbows that would light up Equestria. The fear in his eyes, the power she so obviously held over him made her feel something, a electrified feeling.
She shoved him closer to the churning blades, and started strapping him in. Each strap had fresh blood on it. It was probably Scootaloo's. Rainbow tried to forget about that. Her death had been the only one that hadn't made her feel power. It only made her feel less.
He cried out. Pitiful, really, showing weakness. He would only bring dishonor on his memory. The last bloody strap done up, Rainbow stepped back and walked over to the control panel, the refreshing feeling of power overwhelming her reason, gripping her thoughts.
The metal control panel looked up at her, the way to power. Each button hummed and glowed in a almost eerily comforting way. She reached her blood-spattered hoof towards to red lever, and looked up at Stormy.
"Well, to lend to the cliche, any last words?"
"You-I-I'm sorry. To all the lives I cut short," Stormy sobbed, his jacket ripped and torn all over, "I'm so sorry."
If he meant to be remembered a a sniveling brat, he was doing a great job. God, she hated him. A turncoat. Betrayer of all Pegasi.
"Ah," Rainbow crooned, "well, you'll be joining them soon-or will you? Remind me how many you killed? Have a fun time in hell." She grinned at the look on his face, one of shock and sorrow, savoring the jolt of emotion, then she shoved the lever as far as it would go. Stormy Ride convulsed as his ribs cracked, the sharp, bloody edges protruding from his midsection. He screamed in pain, blood streaming down his legs. His guts were being smushed and twisted together inside his belly. Rainbow admired her work for a minute, then let the broken pegasus down into the Machine. It was best if they were alive for as much of the procedure as possible. Stormy Ride's screams pierced the air for a quick minute, then quieted. It was likely he had blacked out from the pain. Pegasi usually lasted much longer than that. Such a sniveling brat. Scoot even did better than that.
Rainbow turned, and watched as the Spectri drizzled from pipes into the basins, admiring the bright colors.
Author's Note
Hiiii I really appreciate you reading any of this! I know it's not very good, but hopefully it'll get better.
Rainbow Dash had been called in to her boss's office. Why?, she had no idea. She had done nothing wrong.
Well, in terms of the Factory.
The only reason she could have gotten caught was if someone found out about the scandal last week. Honestly, she hadn't meant to shove all those ponies off the side of Cloudsdale. She only needed to punish Scootaloo. Nothing else had mattered at that moment. Her freshly starched coat felt rough against her fur. She gingerly brushed the door to the office open. She had never even learned the name of her boss.
The door was yanked open-seemingly be no one. Rainbow gasped a bit. This meant a unicorn ruled the factory-then she inhaled sharply. A chill ran down her spine.
Not a unicorn-an allicorn.
Which princess? Luna? Celestia? Cadence? Or-dare she guess-Twilight? All seemed just as unlikely as the others. She walked in, holding her breath.
To no surprise, the pony had chosen to wear a hood over her face, thus concealing her face. Rainbow noted she was too small to be Celestia. Luna would be her first guess, especially with her past, but she would have no reason to be doing this. Pegasi proved no opposition to her plans, plus she was much larger as Nightmare Moon, which would be her form if she was here. Cadence seemed a unlikely pony to try to kill massive amounts of ponies, but she had been a pegasus (not common knowledge, it had taken hours of searching through all the old flight test records, an old assignment of hers when she was still scared of the blood in the deeper parts of the factory). Twilight was the option Rainbow had the hardest even considering. How could such a innocent, diehard student blatantly oppose Equestria, committing high treason? Not to mention she hated blood. The only guts she could read about were fictional (to be fair, the books she read on a daily basis gave even Rainbow chills). But she couldn't even comprehend that. The pony that was one of her first, and best, friends, betray her?
"Ah, shocked yet Rainbow?," the hooded figure said, "and yes, I am a allicorn" The clever pony had used a disguise for her voice. Rainbow took a step forward. The hooded figure looked up, then spoke.
"Oh, Rainbow. I can't even tell you how good it is to have you here," she said, as if she wasn't a murderer, as if she had no barrier between the fiction of her outside life and the one in the factory. She pulled her head up, and looked Rainbow right in the eye.
Purple eyes.
She knew those eyes. Only one pony with them.
Twilight Sparkle, princess of friendship.
Mastermind behind the Rainbow Factory.