The Beginnings of Fear (Prologue)
I walk among the lonely road,
The colorless sky leading me astray...
A pony shrouded in black was walking among a gravel path through a small town, the construction of it only just beginning. Many "handy"-ponies were helping out, those that were not unicorns carrying large objects on their backs. They seemed to talk to each other, but out came no noise in the ears of this pony. Their gaze stayed up at the grayish-blue sky and the soft clouds drifting slowly in the wind. This pony ignored all others, keeping focused on the path. Her thoughts seemed off, as she would keep drifting away from her current reality.
And what once was my humble abode
Has now been scorched away...
Only once did this pony glare backwards, the faint sight of smoke being in the distance... in the pony's mind. Years ago did her house burn to the ground, taking the life of their dear father, whom was always there. 'Daddy, where are you?! Daddy! Help me! Daddy!..' The voices rang inside the pony's head, memories of the atrocity returning in the form of sharp pains. The pony urged on, tears falling down to the ground where the pony walked. They seemed to pave a new path for her to tread on as she started to wander off the path, only to come back to it.
I keep on taking the wrong way,
And I can never do anything right...
Down to their knees the pony fell, overwhelmed with tears of sadness and frustration. "Why did you have to leave me, dad?! Just why?!" Their voice brought about the notion of being a mare just before reaching marehood. Tears were streaming down her anguish filled cheeks, and she was unable to open her eyes. "Why did you have to go and die?! I could've saved you!" Her conscious mind begged for redemption of her worst sin: letting her father disappear into the blazing establishment. She could've saved him... she knew that they were there... she was just so scared she couldn't move her little filly legs, almost paralyzed...
But I will make my redemption today;
Then maybe I'll see him in the light...
She gripped back control without remorse, though she still was weeping in unending grief. She knew what had really happened that day... 'Here's the guy's house... you remember our battle plan, right?' The voices outside of her window replayed in her mind, and a vivid memory of looking out her window of her fillyhood home, and seeing three strange ponies standing outside of it. She only wept heavier as she thought about it more. Still she pressed on, determined to stay moving, even in the midst of her father's memory coming back to her at such a time: the exact day he was killed 5 whole years ago...
Memories are aches that stay with oneself,
Love is something that one should cherish...
"I love you, daddy... I'll come and get you someday..." Her voice was but a whisper as she exited the final set of homes being constructed, the noise of hoof-operated drills fully at work. Still she walked; what was she walking to? Her memories were buzzing around her mind all at once, tearing at her emotions... until they all came to a complete halt. She thought of something... a sentence... a goal... a mission. She focused her mind on this solitary thought... "Treat other ponies like they would treat you..." Ideas rushed into her head, all leading to the same conclusive answer...
But if you hurt somepony else,
Then you are most certain to perish...
She knew what she had to do... in vengeance of her father. The ponies from that day were all guilty of ruining her life and ending that of her dad's. They had ended her father's... and now she would end them just as they did... no, something different... as she glanced to the skies, she again acknowledged its lack of quality color. Whenever rainbows showed up, the sky became florescent and beautiful... and her father always loved them; they were a reminder of his late, very caring wife, to whom he gave his heart.
The rainbow's tale wasn't all that known,
And it was something not easily cloned...
Her emotions were shattered, pieces on the ground that was her subconscience. She bared a glare filled with hatred... and insanity. They all killed her father... and soon... they'd be a message to him from beyond. Pegasi began moving stormclouds, all packed with rain, setting them in place and beginning the showers. Her smile came across as creepy as she laughed to her psychotic little self. "I'll make them the one thing my father so loved... I'll make them rainbows..."
The rainbow's tale won't be known quite as nice
As the story it bared of sugar and spice...
Her insanity spiralled out of control, new tears forming as she smiled wider than is pleasant. She laughed to herself, knowing what exactly she must do to avenge her father in all its details... the only remaining question being how... and as she turned, destiny showed its face... an abandoned factory that was still sitting on its cloud, once being for weather and cloud-making, and of large size... this is where she would begin. The only thing she needed was the name of her devious plan. In a surge of the moment, a memory quickly flashed by her, being only a single image: the three culprits visibly having wings... but it was enough to give her plot and special factory a name... "The Rainbow Factory... yes, yes, perfect..." And as she thought to herself, she saw a vision of the three ponies, helpless, writhing in pain... she played out the scene in her mind...
"Now accept your fate and die..."
And the luxury of rainbows come with a price,
So accept your fate...
"...in the Pegasus Device..."
The mare's eye twitched, insanity flowing through her bones and all the stems of her brain. She stood in the rain, staring right up at the blackness of the storm clouds, thunder now crashing down as lightning beamed its sounded hatred upon the land of the living. She feared nothing, she forgot everything else, and only knew one thought... one familiar jingle she had heard since she was a filly, that her father had used to lull her to sleep.
In the Rainbow Factory,
Where dreams and hopes are made.
In the Rainbow Factory,
Where brightness is no masquerade.
In the Rainbow Factory,
Where the light of rainbows will shine through.
In the Rainbow Factory,
Where your happiness will surely come true.
So sing along with me the tale of rainbow's light...
So come and be with me, and we will sing through the night...
Of the Rainbow's Tale, being of sugar, spice, and things we love...
As we watch them up in the sky above...
She was crying, but she could not stop smiling like the psychotic mare she had become. Each and every memory she shared with her father raced through her mind in a neverending storm, spinning and spinning just like a hurricane, only growing faster with each second as it plowed through the empty fields that covered her mind. Every other memory was of the jingle, one singular word each time it passed, and soon, it went between the sight of the fire, for she had stroked it, seeing more pain than any pony could ever know, and the jingle of which her father had taught her, and soon, the thoughts came together, and the words came to her like they had been implanted in her mind for all her life, her only just remembering them for what they truly were...
Now a Rainbow's Tale isn't quite as nice...
The image of the fire blared through her head.
As the story we knew of sugar and spice...
She could just imagine the sight of her father burning alive, unable to be helped, crying out in agony for anypony to save him.
But a Rainbow is easy once you get to know it...
Her mind went over to the three ponies who had brought an early end to her father's life, just outside her fillyhood home window.
With the help...
She pictured the device... the ultimate judgement... holding the three ponies where they could not be saved.
...of the magic...
She saw them shaking, trembling, trying to break free, pleaing and begging for forgiveness, even when they knew they would not recieve it.
...of the Pegasus Device.
Her mind went to the thought of them being pierced straight through their hearts, for which were metaphorically black; the blood dripped from their irreversable wounds, and the color draining from their soon-to-be-lifeless bodies, the light flowing through the device, and over to small capsules that held the color of them all, each in a color of the rainbow's spectrum. Red, for all the love they held in their hearts, one thing that they had truly lacked the day they murdered her father. Orange, for all the rage they had made it through, that they had burned so brightly with on the day they let it all out on the mare's father. Yellow, for all the fears they whence had, glowing the brightest, projecting the feelings they felt when being greeted by the device's grip in vengeance of what they had done to the mare's father.. Green, for the joy they felt throughout their days, something they had experienced after the death of one stallion who's death would be their downfall.. Blue, for all the times they were sad, being much dimmer than the rest, reflecting the feeling they felt after what they did, not mattering to the daughter of the one that they had killed.. Finally, Purple, for the evil nature they had contained, which they had used all of on that day, five years ago, in which they ended the life of one mister Rainboom... the father of Rainbow Dash, the most talented, young pegasus mare that would have soon achieved her dreams of becoming an expert flyer. Each glowed, sloshing in tubes, being poured into a line in the perfect way to make a rainbow, turning now in perfect harmony, side by side, like the friends that Rainbow Dash would soon make. The line came to its end, and from an exiting point within the device's infrastructure, it was launched into the world, gleaming with its beauty to all the fillies, mares, colts, stallions, griffons, changelings, yaks and animals alike. The only thing they didn't know of was its origin... and they would never know for sure.
Soon, as the end of this vision stopped going through the head of Rainbow Dash, it became apparent to her...
...that it was no longer a vision, but a clear reality.
She hungered for more... the feeling she got was exhilerating... and she would be doing it for a cause greater than anypony could know.
Now let's delve deeper into rainbow philosophy...
Far beyond that of Cloudsdale's mythology...
The device would remain a mystery to those who had not heard about it, in which the amount was almost none, except for those who were making their sacrifices to the device, their god.
It's easy to misjudge that floating city...
With its story they call... its "social psychology"...
Through many harsh days, and through many days so calm, it ran, spreading happiness to the outside world and suffering to those that were inside of the device's inescapable bringing of death.
But with all great things comes a great responsibility...
That of Cloudsdale's being weather stability...
The Weather Factory at Cloudsdale was more than good cover for their factory... it was means of keeping it a complete secret from all those who had not known of their doings. None of them thought of it as evil... to them, the Pegasus Device was their god, and sacrificing those who were deemed unworthy was not seen as crime to them...
How you ask, are they up to the task..?
And then came the day... Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, became aware of the factory... Rainbow Dash did her best to cover it up, but to no avail... she knew, she would always know, and soon she would tell about it to the other princesses, bringing an end to their god's reign...
In which the answer is in...
"Not if I can help it!"
...a simple facility.
The First Chapter: A New Age
Rainbow Dash had done it… one of her closest friends was now tranquilized and lying on the floor, a syringe jabbed into her neck forcefully enough that the area bled. A different kind of feeling than what was normal shot through the mare, a feeling of slight dread. After all, Twilight was one of her best friends, and one of her fellow Elements of Harmony, which bound them as friends either way. She had not wanted to do this to her, but was given no choice… the Rainbow Factory and the Pegasus Device were not to be let out into the world so… publicly. It was an experience that should be sacred; being a sacrifice to the Factory and the Pegasus Device was a great honor, below helping the Device feed off of the pony souls.
I believed what we had would last forever...
Rainbow Dash never truly understood Twilight… she was ambitious, but also cautious. She was brave, but also fearful. She was silent, but also talkative. She was kind… but also crude. Twilight was the kind of pony that would help out her friends, and yet here she was, about to reveal the biggest secret Dash had hidden away to the world for all to hear. There was no choice but to stop her, despite how close they had become. Rainbow Dash grabbed hold of Twilight's limp body, lugging it over her back, having some trouble keeping the both of them up at the same time. They were still at the Factory, quite luckily, which made Rainbow Dash's first option to take her inside, and her first decision at that. Her movements were slow, and she slowly but surely made it in.
After all the moments we spent together...
The rainbow-maned mare threw Twilight down on an operating bench with no real care of the pony's safety; she did just tranquilize her, after all. Her twisted mindset was returning, and she could feel her urge to satisfy it, watching the device feed off the energy that the pony contained… but it took all her might to resist when it came to the Princess of Friendship. This was no ordinary operating bench, in terms of equipment, as it had straps to lock down a pony firmly: two around the hooves each, two around the wings each, one around the neck, and three around their chest area. They were each locked into place after Twilight was successfully positioned to fit each of the locks.
Were they meaningless in the end..?
Around the room Twilight was placed in were many tools that doctors ordinarily used, including scalpels and even some knives, upped to a very excessive amount. The bench in which Twilight lay was turned to face more at the walls rather than the ceiling and lights above. Rainbow Dash was indeed the only pony in the room, the doors being locked and sound-proofing measures already being taken. She grabbed a nearby syringe, going to a large cabinet stored in this very strange, absurdly large room, filled to the brim with supplies used in the Factory. Filling the syringe with some liquid adrenaline, she took no precaution injecting it into Twilight's neck in almost the exact same spot in which she used the tranquilizer.
If friendship is supposed to be magic...
Twilight woke with an exasperated, loud and throat-numbing cough. She was obviously only now beginning to gain her consciousness after hours of tranquilization, and was slowly regaining her ability to see. "W-Who's there..?" she called out, still having to cough. She tried to sit up, but was greeted by the painful clang of the restraints.
"You don't recognize your friend, Twilight..?" Rainbow Dash's voice almost sounded displeased, as if expecting Twilight to know that it was her, even though it was clear she couldn't see properly yet.
"Rainbow D-Dash..? It's you..? Why am I all--" Twilight was hastily interrupted by a very unnatural state Rainbow Dash portrayed. She bared an expression that mimicked one trying to be almost seductive, making Rainbow Dash seem less like a pony and more like a succubus, preparing to begin her feast. Lucky for Rainbow Dash, Twilight's eyesight had fully returned just moments earlier, which is what made her stop dead in her tracks.
"Oh, Twilight… do you really think I can tell you all that? You know too much… about the Factory… about the Device… about the secrets I've been keeping… everything, really… and you were about to betray a very dear friend, about to tell the world of the Device… the Factory… and me? I couldn't allow that…"
Then why has ours become so tragic..?
Twilight's eyes began welling with forming tears all ready. "Why would you do this?! All these ponies are innocent, they had nothing to do with this! I thought we were supposed to protect Equestria, every pony in it, and friendship! Yet you do this! Tell me, Rainbow Dash! Why?! Why are you doing this?!" She was not only crying of the pain of having a bone nearly broken, but also because she felt betrayed from one of her best friends.
Rainbow Dash became enraged, furious, slamming her hoof right onto one of Twilight's. She had grown very strong since then, working with Bulk Biceps to keep in shape, and had nearly crushed Twilight's already weakened hoof, the sound of Twilight's crying having no meaning to the mare. "You think that you can go judging me when I know that you've been doing some dark magic behind the backs of the princesses?! Don't think that I didn't notice! Trying to open up a portal to Tartarus?! Trying to revive King Sombra?! You have your own demons!"
"How did you know about that?! I kept that behind closed doors! I even made sure no pony got in!"
"You're here, what do you think?!" The rainbow-maned pegasus only grew more profoundly angry, her sense of rationality being long-gone. Her voice had grown so dominant compared to Twilight's that the violet-maned alicorn drew back in cowardice. "You think that your pretty-little Princess of Friendship act means you can go and do whatever the Hell you want!" Rainbow Dash roared, now asserting her insanity-driven dominance over Twilight, whom didn't even have a block on her magic at the time, completely just overwhelmed by fear.
I'm no longer proud to call you my friend...
"I don't think you'll be going anywhere, Twilight… I will break you… I will make sure that you're completely in my control… and there's nothing you can do to avoid it now…"
Rainbow Dash's complete psychopathic mind drove her to put an anti-magic ring over her horn, a blindfold over her eyes, and tighteners on the restraints. The hours flew by of Rainbow Dash's highly complex and successful methods of breaking the poor Twilight's mind, and then in the passing couple of days, to the brink of insanity… and with no warning, it happened again; just as Rainbow Dash thought that she was in control of her life, the was in a completely different time than she was before, now being in a dark, empty room, with Princess Luna staring her down, the look in her eyes being of utmost disappointment, but they did not look as they should have in this situation… "I would like you to know that your precious Factory was destroyed… and with it, the Device disappeared. We were unable to find Princess Twilight Sparkle around the area, or anywhere else, me and Princess Celestia being certain that you have taken too much of a toll on the land of Equestria. But there is one more thing…"
And with a simple six words, the fate of Equestria went from questionable to flat-out uncertain. For the next few years to come, Equestria would only balance on the wings of Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence. The tone in Princess Luna's voice changed drastically, and it went down to a low whisper. She drew close to Rainbow Dash, up to her ear in fact, out of any trajectory that could have the Princess of the Sun listening in. These six words would rattle all of existence even past what would soon come. Many truths would come from this sentence, and no pony would ever hear the words spoken. These were the words that would change the world forever… While holding a simple photo of Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of the Night asked with a voice of clouded emotion to Rainbow Dash...
"Have you done as I've asked?"