Chapters Chapter 1
“Ready… go!” you hear a female’s voice on the intercom.
Right on cue, you press the button and pull down the lever.
“Wonderful job, Anonymous!” you hear the voice once again after a few moments of silence, save for the sound of steam and machinery at work.
Another job well done. She’ll be so proud of you.
You see the bright, glowing excrement from the machine drip down the chutes into a large vat, filled with every color you could imagine. You’ve always wondered where the colors come from, but it’s probably a pegasus thing. You’d probably not understand.
“Next up, we’ll have an orange source!” you hear her speak on the intercom once again. “This should be enough to even out the colors. Ready, Anonymous?”
You smile, pressing your lips to the long, winding microphone next to you. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Go!” she exclaims, and you repeat the same process, and watch as a glowing orange slowly winds its way down through the chutes and into the churning vat below.
It was so convenient that Princess Celestia cast a permanent cloud-walking spell for you. You were going to make sure that you paid her back for it in full one day. But first…
“Alright, we’ve got a blue one coming up, Anonymous! You ready?”
You were going to make sure you did your job perfectly.
You are Anonymous.
And you work in the Rainbow Factory, alongside your closest childhood friend, Rainbow Dash.
How did this all come to pass?
Let’s start from the beginning…
You are Anonymous, a human child that somehow ended up in the middle of Ponyville one day. You have no prior memory of your life on Earth, either by suppression or by amnesia, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
Your life here is perfect; you stay with Fluttershy, a young filly staying on the outskirts of town. And seeing as she knows more about taking care of various animals than any other pony in the town, she was the perfect caretaker and friend for you.
Every day, you wake up bright and early and join her and the animals for breakfast. Seeing as you’re more sentient than the rest (being able to speak is a plus when it comes to social interactions), she allows you to eat up at the table with her.
You were a bit hesitant at first, but eventually you started warming up to the idea of a more vegan diet.
Ponies didn’t think too fondly of the consumption of meat, after all. Especially by sentient beings like yourself.
Your desire to not disappoint Fluttershy also had something to do with it.
“So, today you have your first day of school,” Fluttershy says one morning. “You ready?”
“Yup!”
You grin proudly at her. You wondered why she didn’t have to go to school either, but you knew it was rude to ask questions like that. You, on the other hand, were old enough to go to the local schoolhouse. “You won’t miss me while I’m gone, will you?”
You smile at her, and she giggles a bit. “Oh, don’t worry about me; I’ll have plenty of animals to keep me company while you’re away. We’ll go play by the tree outside when you get back, mkay?”
“Heehee! Alright, sounds like a plan!” The tree was awesome; it was the biggest you’ve ever seen, probably the biggest in all of Equestria, and overlooked a nice little pond in the distance.
You grin happily and hold your fist up to her, and she taps it with her hoof. Both of you share a laugh, and you finish up your breakfast. “Alright, I’m off!”
You take your first steps out of Fluttershy’s cottage, on your way to the schoolhouse.
You are Anonymous, and you’re five years old.
Class was fun today; the teacher even let you kids do games and get to know each other!
You met an awesome filly there; she said her name was Cheerilee. She had a really nice-looking mane. It almost reminded you of Fluttershy’s, but Cheerilee didn’t keep part of it covering her face.
But all of that was behind you for today; right now, you were looking forward to playing with Fluttershy out by the big tree in her backyard. She and you always played together there; it was almost like a secret hideout for the two of you.
You’re running now, you’re so excited and anxious to get home to play with her. “Fluttershy!”
You reach the bridge in front of her cottage, when you notice something… different.
She’s not coming out to see you.
You run up to the door, knocking on it.
“Fluttershy?”
You pull the door open and walk inside to a fairly empty house, save for one or two animals here and there.
A bunny, one of the smallest, scurries over to you.
You smile down at him, kneeling down and setting your backpack against the wall.
“Hey, Angel; do you know where Fluttershy went?
He tilts his head for a moment, but seems to understand when you said “Fluttershy”; he turned his head around, facing towards the backyard.
“Outside?”
He scurries off once again, and you stand up.
“…Maybe she just wanted to wait outside for me?” You walk through the house, opening the back door and closing it behind you.
There she is!
Under the big tree, she’s sitting down in the shade, a content smile on her face as she lets the wind blow through her young, yet long, pink mane.
You run through the trail in her garden, out into the backyard and up to the tree. “Hey Fluttershy, you didn’t wait up for me!”
She opens her eyes wide in surprise, but smiles and stands up when she realizes it was just you. “Oh, Anonymous, it’s you!” she exclaims quietly, but happily, floating over to you. “So, how was your first day?” she asks, embracing you.
“It was awesome! I met a bunch of cool new ponies there! One of them had a really curly mane, and one had a pink one like yours, and one had a-”
She cuts you off with a hoof, and giggles. “Well that’s good. Do you know what I did today?”
You tilt and scratch the back of your head. “Um… played with the animals?”
She giggles and shakes her head. “Not quite. Do you know about Cloudsdale?”
“Yeah… that’s the city where the pegasi live, right?”
“Mhm. Well, when I was in flight school, I met a nice filly there. She and I became very good friends, but after… well, a bad accident, I haven’t seen her since,” she says, smiling up at you, and then to the sky. “Until now.”
You turn your head to look to the sky as well.
In the distance, you can make out the smallest speck of…
…Rainbow?
A few more seconds pass, and you see the shape of a young blue filly take shape.
…And she’s coming right at the two of you!
Your eyes widen as you can clearly see the filly now, and she has her eyes locked on both of you.
Her mane is every color of the rainbow, and…
…Is that a cloud with rainbow lightning for her cutie mark?
You barely have time to consider this, because she’s just a few meters away from you and you can already feel the wind whipping in the air as she grows nearer.
“Check this out, Fluttershy!” you hear her yell, and at the absolute last second she pulls up in a huge, rainbow-colored arc, before slowing down and landing right in front of the two of you.
You’re speechless.
She grins at you. “Heya! You must be that monkey that Fluttershy was telling me about.”
“I’m… not a monkey! My name’s Anonymous, and I’m a human!” A monkey, how crazy is that? You may like bananas, but monkeys are hairy and gross! Besides, you can’t swing from tree to tree with your feet like they can.
She laughs. “Well, I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest filly in all of Cloudsdale!” she exclaims proudly, striking a heroic pose.
You grin at her.
“Cool! I’m… I’m kinda fast, too!”
She opens one eye and looks at you. “Oh? That so?” she grins, getting down on all fours. “Wanna prove that, monkey-boy?”
You get down on all fours as well. “I can outrun any filly in all of Equestria!”
“Oh, it’s on, now. Fluttershy, you start the countdown. First one to the lake wins,” she says, turning to Fluttershy, her magenta eyes filled with confidence.
Fluttershy gasps a bit, but nods. “Alright, um… On your marks…”
Both of you get into position, the lake clearly in view.
“Get set…”
Rainbow Dash licks her lips, before grinning and locking her eyes on the lake below.
“Um… go…”
Both of you speed off, leaving Fluttershy in the dust as you bolt off towards the lake.
The lake is downhill from the tree, giving you an early advantage from gravity as you speed down to the lake, your little legs burning down the hill.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, has no gravity to help her in her speeding, so she just barely manages to keep up with you in her flight.
As you get closer and closer to the lake, however, the hill starts to level out, and Rainbow begins to gain on you in the final stretch.
The two of you are neck and neck…
You hear the first step of mud as you pass into the shallows of the lake, just before Rainbow Dash whizzes past you.
“Haha! I win! I win!”
You jump around in the mud, laughing happily and pumping your fist proudly into the air.
“I don’t… believe it…” she mutters, her jaw dropped as she floats in the air above the lake, gawking at you as she realizes that she lost.
You dance around in the mud as Fluttershy hovers over to the two of you, smiling and giggling as she watches you.
”R… rematch! I want a rematch!” Rainbow Dash exclaims after a few moments of your cheering.
You turn around and grin at her. “No take-backs!”
You stick your tongue out at her.
She pouts, floating over and landing on the grass, folding her hooves while looking at you with the sourest face you’ve ever seen on a pony.
It kind of looks like she just sucked on a bunch of lemons and is trying to keep them in her mouth.
It’s pretty funny.
You laugh, shaking what mud you could get off your legs and shorts, before walking over to Rainbow and sitting with her, Fluttershy joining the two of you.
The three of you exchange glances, before bursting out into fits of giggles and laughs, before falling onto your backs in the field, staring up at the big, blue sky above you.
“Hey. Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah?” the blue pegasus turns to look at you.
“You gonna be hanging around here more often?”
“Mhm. I’m gonna be free every afternoon after flight school ends, so you’ll see me around.”
“Awesome! Can she come over every day and hang out with us, Fluttershy?”
You turn and smile at her.
Fluttershy giggles. “As if you had to ask.”
“Yay!”
And so begins the tale of two of the closest bros that Equestria has ever known.
End: Chapter 1
Chapter 2
“…Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth… the night… will last… forever! AHAHAHA!!” the black alicorn cackles atop the balcony, her mane an ethereal blue as it engulfs the air above her in a swirling dark mist.
This was supposed to be Princess Celestia’s first visit to Ponyville in years… you were so anxious to meet her.
You are Anonymous, the human living in Ponyville, and you are twelve years old.
You and Rainbow, or as you’ve come to call her, “Rainbro”, have stayed the best of friends ever since that day she appeared to you and Fluttershy.
The two of you have both had many races since that day, the victor changing each time. It’s good that she keeps both of you in good shape, even though she ended up dropping out of flight school a few weeks after you two met.
You never understood why; she wouldn’t like to talk about it much…
Anyway, you’ve lost count on how many races the two of you have won, though you think that you’re ahead right now, because you’ve won both of the last three races the two of you have had together.
You’ve grown quite a bit since then; your legs are much longer now from exercising with Rainbro, and now you are easily taller than mares and even some colts that you come along through the town.
Biff Thunderskins is still larger than you, however; that stallion has muscles the size of watermelons, you swear.
His wings are tiny little things, but still, in a bodybuilding or hoof-wrestling contest, he’d easily wipe the floor with you.
As for Fluttershy, she’s grown taller as well, and her mane’s grown to the point where it flows down to just above her hooves.
You have to say that out of all the mares you’ve met in Ponyville, none of them have acted more like… a mother.
As much of a mother as you would have imagined, seeing young fillies and colts with their parents while walking through town.
Sure, you two are relatively the same age, but Fluttershy always seemed to have… a caring personality. She never let anything bad happen to you if she could help it. And even if she couldn’t, she was always there to take care of you.
Could Fluttershy… be the mother figure that you’ve been aching for?
Now’s not the time to worry about that, though; you have bigger fish to fry.
The black alicorn has since escaped the guards, and fled in a dark mist through the main doors of the building. Rainbow Dash has gone off after her, along with some new purple unicorn in town.
“Anonymous, you need to get out of here, quickly!” Fluttershy exclaims, floating over to you and landing with a worried expression on her face. “It’s not safe here!”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine, you just worry about yourself,” she says, smiling at you. “I’m going with Rainbow Dash to see what’s going on.”
“No way; what if something happens to you? You saw what that pony did to the guards-”
“And that’s exactly why I need to go help Rainbow Dash. What if something happened to her, hm?”
“Then I… er-”
“Exactly. Now you go on home,” she says, floating up into the air once again. “I’ll be back later tonight. Don’t stay up too late now,” she winks before flying off, following behind Rainbow Dash and that strange unicorn from earlier that day.
You sigh… Perhaps she’s too much like a mother to you.
What if she needs you? What if she got into trouble? You saw her, along with Rainbro and four other ponies from town head into the forest. One of them was that strange new purple unicorn that came into town today. You still weren’t sure who she was, or where she was from, but she definitely seemed to be leading the group…
But, obedient as you are, you didn’t leave the cottage… idiot. That was the Everfree Forest you saw them walk into! Fluttershy always said for you to NEVER go in there, no matter what the circumstances were!
And so here you are, lying in your bed, going over everything that had happened that night in your head.
…
…You can’t just sit here and do nothing. Fluttershy’s gonna need your help, whether she wants it or not.
Time to prepare.
Step one: Resources.
You quickly scurry around and through the cottage, collecting various objects and tools, and gather them together upstairs in your room.
Rocks from the flowerbed, thread and a knife from the kitchen, a thick piece of cloth, and a wishbone-shaped branch from atop the big tree in the backyard, kept in a pile safe inside a drawer in your dresser.
You had a habit of collecting interesting-looking branches when you were younger, and bringing them into your room, storing them in the dresser. You planned on creating a collection and one day putting them up for display. Looks like the wishbone wasn’t going to be displayed anytime soon…
You sit, cross-legged, on the floor of your room, the materials all lined up in front of you.
Step two: Craftsmanship.
You pick up the knife in one hand, the wishbone-shaped branch in the other hand, and slowly, carefully, you begin whetting away at the imperfections along the branch. Twigs, leaves… they had no place for what you had planned. After about an hour, you waved the branch in your hand; it wasn’t perfect, but it was smooth enough to grip properly.
Next up, the thread…
You take the knife and place its pointed-end into one side of the wishbone, twisting it and slowly drilling a hole into the branch to weave the thread through. Being with Fluttershy for upwards of seven years, you’ve learned how to be fairly delicate with your hands, so this only takes about ten minutes.
The next part, on the other hand… that’s going to take much longer…
You wet the tip of the thread in your mouth, and slowly weave it through each hole on opposite ends of the branch. As you do this, you also weave the cloth in with the thread to keep it in place. You repeat this multiple times until you feel that it’s taught enough for you to be able to pull it back and not break.
Dang… that took nearly two hours… But it’s finally done.
You hold up your homemade slingshot proudly.
You swear you hear a “Da na na NAAAA!!” come from somewhere, but you dismiss it as completely ridiculous. Now that your weapon is ready, time to gather the rest of your gear. You and Fluttershy used to do make-believe safari expeditions when you were younger; you quickly go through your closet, looking for it…
Aha! Found it.
You reach in and pull out a fairly small camouflage outfit from the closet. It’s a bit of a stretch, but you’re sure you’ll fit in it. You slip the pants on, and you can barely button and zip up the fly, you’ve grown so much. The pants only barely cover past your knees. The jacket and vest, on the other hand, were a bit easier to get on, but only cover to your belly-button, leaving a small bit of skin exposed underneath. Luckily, you had a plan for that.
Stretching.
You do a few basic upper-body stretches, working the sleeves to where they would expand to your larger size. It worked, but only slightly; the sleeves barely reach your wrists. You didn’t bother stretching the vest; it was only hanging on your torso. Once you finish your upper-body stretches, time to break-in the pants. You do some squats, followed by reaching down to touch your toes.
Stretching after exercising with Rainbro really helped out after all this-
RRRRRIIIIIIIIP.
…
Oh no.
They ripped.
…
…No problem, you were only going to be wearing these for one night, nopony is going to notice.
…
You hope.
You quickly gather your slingshot and stones, sticking the stones into your pockets and walking to the window. You look outside; the sun’s barely peaking over the horizon.
…Didn’t that alicorn say that the “night will last forever” or something?
No time for that, you have a town to save. You are Anonymous, the Savior of Ponyville!
You open the window, and leap out into a nearby bush.
The bush tears the knees of your pants a bit, but no time to worry about that! You sneak through the bushes, slipping behind trees and benches on your way to town. You would make your appearance there; let ponies know what you were doing, and then head to the forest to save them.
As you get closer, however, you see that there’s already a crowd gathered…
What could be going on?
You turn and see a nearby tree; perfect. You climb up the trunk like a squirrel, and leap from a branch onto the roof of a nearby building, nearly tripping as you land on the shingles.
…Alright, time to get a closer-
What? They’re already back?
And they’ve brought that alicorn with them! No time to go over this in your head, Anonymous! It’s time to act!
“I WILL BE THE SAVIOR OF MY PEOPLE! I WILL FULFILL MY DESTINY!” You whip out the slingshot and load it with a stone. “LEEDLEEDLEEDLEEDLEEDLEEDLEE!!” you bark out your war cry as you instinctively leap from the building’s roof, keeping your aim on the alicorn as you fire your weapon of mass destruction.
…
You’re floating.
You look around; your shot has quite obviously not connected, seeing as she’s still alive…
You look at yourself, and notice that you have a golden aura around you.
…
“I HAVE TRANSCENDED THIS MORTAL BODY, AND WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE RAIN DOWN UPON YOU, ALICORN!”
The dark-colored alicorn is simply staring at you with the most horrified expression you can imagine. Perfect; you’ve instilled the feelings of pure despair within her. Time to-
“Anonymous, what’re you doing? And why are you wearing that?”
You look around for the voice, and finally pinpoint her location.
“Ah, Rainbro; come to assist me in my rain of vengeance?”
“Um… no, and that’s not Nightmare Moon anymore, Anonymous…” she says, scratching the back of her head with her hoof. “That’s Princess Luna…”
You point a finger dramatically at the princess. “Aha! So you have revealed yourself in order to lull us into a false sense of security so that you may dethrone the white tyrant!”
You suddenly feel a great pressure weighing down on every muscle fiber in your body, it’s as if a ton of bricks were just smashed down on your body, followed by a massive explosion, yet you suffered no physical damage from it. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SPIRIT, YOU FIEND?!”
You struggle in the air, yet it’s no use; you can’t reach the dark alicorn to exact your revenge.
“You are still alive, Anonymous, and I do not like the ‘white tyrant’ remark you made,” a calmer voice comes from the pony next to her.
You swear you’ve recognized that figure before.
…
Oh man.
You dun goofed.
That’s Princess Celestia.
All this time, you’ve been focused on the darker alicorn, when all along it was her!
“SO IT’S YOU THAT’S DOING THIS TO ME! HAVE AT THEE, KNAVE!” You swing punch after punch, kick after kick, anything you can do at the white alicorn, once again to no avail.
”Anonymous, I suggest that you stop this behavior right now, or-”
“Or what? You’ll throw me in the dungeon? Banish me to the Everfree Forest? Throw me in a dungeon inside the Everfree Forest?!”
The white princess shakes her head, giggling a bit.
“No, you did NOT just giggle at that, I’m being serious here!”
She nods. “As am I. Now calm down, you’re making a fool of yourself…” she says, looking around at the crowd that was gathered.
You stop your struggling, and look around as well. All of the ponies… They were staring at you.
…
Or, more specifically, the huge rip in your pants.
You hear a filly try to stifle a giggle, before the whole crowd, stallions and mares, start cracking up at seeing the rip in your pants. Your eyes widen, and you try to cover it, but the damage has already been done. Even Rainbro’s barely able to keep herself from laughing.
Some bro, huh?
Princess Celestia releases her magical hold on you, and you plop down onto your butt, right in front of the two alicorn princesses. Heh, you never noticed, but… they are much bigger than you.
…Like, nearly 2 feet taller than you.
You’re gonna need more stones for this.
“Anonymous, how could you do that?” Fluttershy exclaimed after the two of you made it back home. The walk back was completely silent, save for a few glances exchanged between the two of you.
…Hers were always angry glares. You didn’t like that.
“I couldn’t just leave you out there like that, I saw you go into the Everfree Forest! You told me yourself that we’re not allowed in there!”
She huffs, folding her hooves across her front as she floats in the air in front of you. You’re sitting, hands folded in your lap, a guilty conscience on your mind. “And you thought I couldn’t handle myself? Anonymous, I know it’s not quite what you want, but we’re not kids anymore!” she exclaims. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions, and so are you. But when you do something stupid like this, it…” she trails off.
“It what? What does it do, Fluttershy?!”
“It makes me think you’re still a kid!” she retorts angrily. “An immature kid!”
You’ve noticed that these arguments are starting to get more and more frequent as you get older. While you’re busy with Rainbro and adding to your collection of strangely-shaped branches, Fluttershy has been caretaking for all of the creatures that she comes across.
…Even you…
“…Sorry.”
…
Silence. It’s agonizing.
Finally, a sigh from Fluttershy after a few moments. “I’m going to talk with the Princess in the morning about getting you something to do around town to make you learn responsibility,” she says, turning her back towards you. “Maybe then you’ll understand that life isn’t all fun and games. Sometimes, you have to do something, even if you don’t want to.” And with that, she leaves you to go upstairs.
You’re sitting on the sofa, staring down at your hands. Out of all of the creatures you’ve seen in Equestria… you’re the only one with hands. One of a kind.
…
Who could possibly have use for you when you don’t have hooves, magic, or wings?
That was four years ago.
End Chapter 2
Chapter 3
“Ready… go!” you hear a female’s voice on the intercom.
Right on cue, you press the button and pull down the lever.
“Wonderful job, Anonymous!” you hear the voice once again after a few moments of silence, save for the sound of steam and machinery at work.
Another job well done. She’ll be so proud of you.
You see the bright, glowing excrement from the machine drip down the chutes into a large vat, filled with every color you could imagine. You’ve always wondered where the colors come from, but it’s probably a pegasus thing. You’d probably not understand.
“Next up, we’ll have an orange source!” you hear her speak on the intercom once again. “This should be enough to even out the colors. Ready, Anonymous?”
You smile, pressing your lips to the long, winding microphone next to you. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Go!” she exclaims, and you repeat the same process, and watch as a glowing orange slowly winds its way down through the chutes and into the churning vat below.
It was so convenient that Princess Celestia cast a permanent cloud-walking spell for you. You were going to make sure that you paid her back for it in full one day. But first…
“Alright, we’ve got a blue one coming up, Anonymous! You ready?”
You were going to make sure you did your job perfectly.
You are Anonymous.
And you work in the Rainbow Factory, alongside your closest childhood friend, Rainbow Dash.
You couldn’t ask for anything else.
…Except for a nice, refreshing cup of apple cider.
“Ready!”
“Alright, go!” she exclaims, and you press the button and pull the lever.
In the four years since you started working here, Equestria has gone through quite a few technological changes.
The Flim-Flam Brothers were major players in the field of technology and innovation, and when ponies saw how profitable it could be, immediately they began working hard to bring Ponyville and the outlying areas into a new technologically-advanced society.
Cloudsdale had already been taking steps in that direction; it just required a small amount of communication between it and Ponyville to help Cloudsdale advance as well.
As you wait for the call from Rainbro for the next source, you take a look at yourself.
Sixteen years old, a well-paying job, and they even supplied you with your own lab outfit! You grin happily, looking at the black gloves and white doctor’s robes. You can tell the manufacturer had a hard time making the fingers, but they still did their job perfectly, giving your fingers just enough flexibility and comfort.
But no time for that now. “Get ready, Anonymous! This one’s a red one!”
Ooh, red. You’ve not seen that color show up in a while.
“Ready when you are!”
“Go!” you hear over the intercom, and you perform your daily routine of button-pressing and lever-pulling, and watch as the bright red makes its way down into the vat of color.
A buzzer sounds, and you hear the sound of steam firing off as the machine begins slowing down.
Awesome. Shift’s over.
You breathe a sigh of relief, wiping your brow. One drawback of your work outfit was that it was ungodly-hot in there. You’re in the very heart of the machine, after all; no wonder it’s so hot.
You slip out of your work outfit and hang it on a hook near the door, and then slip out, locking the door behind you.
“Anonymous!” you hear a voice come from behind you as you walk down the halls into the workers’ lounge.
It’s Rainbro; perfect. Both of you rush at each other and you leap into the air, charging at her with a fist curled up behind you.
You slam it against her hoof, shattering the very fabric of reality with your brofist.
At least, that’s what it felt like to you.
“Haha! What’s up, Rainbro?”
“Not much; business as usual, like always,” she says, grinning up at you. You have to admit, the lab coat never really fit her, though you did like it whenever she came to visit you during work hours. “You looking forward to tonight?”
“Yep! Apple cider and movies all night long!”
You pump your fist into the air excitedly before retracting it, the heads of various pegasi poking out into the hallway. Rainbro chuckles, beckoning you to follow her. “So when do you want me to show up, Anon?” she asks, smiling at you.
“Hm… how does 9:00PM sound? Should give ya enough time to relax before more relaxing, huh?”
She grins, nodding. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Excuse me, I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” a low, powerful male voice comes from behind you.
“Oh, Doctor Atmosphere! I didn’t expect to see you here,” she says, smiling at him.
He grins, his dark red coat and silvery-grey mane colored richly under his lab coat. His eyes were sleek-looking behind his glasses, the kind of eyes that you only saw on the most knowledgeable of pegasi. He wasn’t a medical doctor, of course; his degree was in engineering, as one of the Forecolts of the factory. “I apologize for the intrusion,” he says, casting a glance to the two of you. “Miss Rainbow Dash, if you would come with me, please; there are a few matters we need to discuss.”
“Sure, I’ll be right behind ya,” she says, nodding at him and then turning to look up at you. “See you at 9, then,” she gives you a final brofist, before flying off behind the doctor.
He was a bit strange, but hey; he’s been in the factory for even longer than you’ve been in Equestria. You didn’t expect him to be very sociable to begin with. Guess he’s not too bad.
Anyway, there’s no time to be dwelling on that; time to head home and prepare for the most awesome night of the week.
Tonight’s gonna be so awesome; you have an entire library of movies lined up for the night. She’s a huge fan of Daring Do, so being the awesome bro that you are, you rented the entire movie adaptation.
When you reach the door to the outside world, you grab a backpack from the wall. Something new that they implemented after you started working there.
As you exit the Weather Facility, you cautiously take one step onto a cloud, before moving forward. You’ve made a habit of this, making sure that the spell that Celestia cast on you never wears off.
The feeling of the clouds under your feet was like the feeling of splashing into the lake in Fluttershy’s backyard, only instead of falling under the waves you stayed above the surface, a thin film of water the only thing holding you up.
Fluttershy…
…She never really looked at you the same way after that night…
The two of you had some sort of falling-out, where you ended all forms of conversation. You’ve hardly exchanged any words with her since then, outside of the occasional passing “hello” on your way to the Factory.
Maybe tomorrow you should stop by and see how she’s doing.
You breathe in deep as you reach the edge of the floating city, and breathe out calmly as you lean forward, falling off of the edge.
…Seven… Eight… Nine… Ten!
Your eyes flare open and you pull the string on the backpack, revealing a pair of mechanical bat-like wings, slowing your fall to more of a glide as you pull up from your dive, skimming along the ground at the peak of the arch.
All around, ponies watch as you zoom through the city on the wings, heading towards your house. As you get closer, however, you pull a second string, retracting the wings and launching a series of small parachutes out of the backpack, slowing your landing to a jog as you reach your house.
Such was your normal commute home. Nothing special, though you did love the look and feel of the gliders as you zoomed through the air. This must be how Rainbro feels every moment of the day.
…Fluttershy, too…
…Ugh, snap out of it, Anon! Your bro’s coming over for movies and cider tonight, time to prepare!
You quickly rush inside, turning on the lights. Rather than run on electricity like Earth, the ponies have come up with their own ways of powering lights using magic. You close the door behind you, and immediately go to work preparing everything for the night planned.
A knock at the door comes a few hours later. You’ve got the drinks and movies set up on the table in the living room, in front of the couch and the television set. You smile down at the table of supplies, before walking to the door and turning the knob.
The scene that strikes you gives you the feeling of having the wind knocked right out of your lungs.
It’s raining outside. Huge thunderstorm.
And Rainbro’s standing out there in the cold, mane dripping wet and fur matted and soaked. She’s shivering, standing in the doorway.
You collect yourself, and immediately bring her inside, having her stand at the door as you bring her a towel to dry off with. “Rainbro? What happened out there?”
“Sorry,” she says, “Had a last-minute thing that Dr. Atmosphere needed me for. Taken care of, though.”
You nod. Work related issue, you understand.
She rubs her head against your hands, the towel quickly drying off her mane, before you wrap it around her body and pick her up, carrying her over to the couch. “Hey dude? What d’ya think you’re doing, carrying me like this?” she asks.
You grin at her. “So you don’t want to be set down gently, I assume?”
Her eyes widen for a split second, and she barely has time to react before you tackle her down to the couch.
You always enjoyed these little bouts between the two of you. Best part is you’d always be the one to initiate it, so she’d never see it coming.
“Hah! C’mon Anon, cut it out! Ack!” she exclaims, wrestling with you on the couch, before you finally manage to pin her. “No fair, you’ve got hands to grab with!” she laughs.
“That’s never stopped you before!”
It’s true, it hadn’t; many times she’s managed to get out and pin you down as well. And this time is no different; with quick success, she manages to squirm her way out of your grip, before pinning you down under her hooves. Rainbro, while fairly light, is easily able to hold her own in wrestling against you.
The wrestling continues for a good five minutes or so, before both of you decide to call it a draw.
“Only because you’re my bro.”
She laughs, holding a hoof up to you, and you bump it, before grabbing and opening two bottles of cider for both of you, handing her one.
“To being bros ‘till the end!”
You hold up the bottle to her. She grins and clanks it without hesitation, before taking a huge swig of the drink and wiping the foam off with her hoof.
”Bros ‘till the very end.”
End Chapter 3
Chapter 4
”Did you see that?! That was awesome!” Rainbro exclaims, thrusting her hoof into the air, before falling back into the couch. For many hours the two of you have watched movie, after movie, after movie… and the stack of movies you had stockpiled to watch didn’t show hardly a dent in the pile made.
…And it had already been six hours. It’s nearly three in the morning.
“Hey bro, how ‘bout we call it a night after this one? It’s pretty late and I’m about to crash…”
Her eyes hover over to you, and she nods. “Eh, alright… but there’s still a storm outside…” she says, looking out. “Don’t know if I’ll be able to fly through it all…”
She’s had a lot of cider; that statement’s probably truer than you want to admit. “Alright, why don’t you stay here tonight? I’ve got more than enough room.”
She smiles up at you. “Really? Aw dude, thanks a bunch!” she exclaims, bumping your shoulder with her hoof.
You smile back at her, nodding. “No prob; can’t let a bro go without a place to crash for the night. Besides, it’s just one night, can’t hurt.”
“Haha, it’ll be just like a sleepover!” she exclaims, pumping her hoof into the air. “Man, we haven’t done anything like that in years, haven’t we?”
Yeah, come to think of it, she’s right… the last time the two of you had a sleepover was when the two of you were still young, Rainbro came down and spent the night with you…
…And Fluttershy…
Ugh, damn it Anon, stop dwelling on that!
That’s it; you’re going to Fluttershy’s house tomorrow to try and patch things up.
First things first, though; sleepover with Rainbro.
Yeah… this is gonna be awesome.
Last night was awesome. Cider and movies as long as your bodies could last before crashing on the couch.
You awaken to the bright light shining directly through the window onto your eyelids, piercing through them and into the retina of your eyes. Damn, it was like every receptor inside was screaming out at you to move out of the light, but your brain couldn’t form the correct function command to the right muscles.
Ah, there we go… time to move!
WAIT NO, NOT YOUR EYELIDS YOU FUCKTARD!
The sun, it burns us!
You struggle a bit, flailing your arms around helplessly before falling off the sofa and onto the hard floor, smacking the back of your head against it. “Ow…”
That’s when you hear it.
The sound of hooves clopping along the floor.
“Heh! Finally awake, huh?” you hear Rainbro’s voice as she trots casually over to you, peering down from above you.
You don’t respond.
“…Yo, Anon… you alright?”
She taps your forehead lightly with her hoof.
Now is the time to strike.
You reach up quickly, taking hold of her hoof, and pull her out from under her hooves, causing her to almost fall to the ground.
Almost.
She anticipated your strike this time, and flapped her wings, allowing her to levitate above the ground without falling victim to your clever ruse.
“Heh, saw that one comin’. You’ll have to do better than that, Anon,” she grins down at you.
Oh, that sly little…
“Forgot about one thing.” You continue to have a grip of her hoof.
…
“Uh oh.”
“‘Uh oh’ is right.”
You grin up at her, before rolling over and getting to your feet, keeping hold on her hoof as you once again repeat the process from the night before, slamming her down once again onto the couch, pinning her. She gasps, squirming around a bit like the night before, but this time you were prepared; she is unable to break free of your grip this time around. “Haha, c’mon Anon, cut it out!” she laughs, continuing to wriggle around, trying her best to get out from under you. “It’s nearly mid-day, c’mon dude!”
“Mmm… nope.”
You grin down at her, and immediately her eyes widen and her pupils shrink to the size of pinpricks. “No… No, not that…”
“Mmm… yep.”
“N-no, stop!” she yelps out, unable to control her laughter.
“Say it!”
You snicker, before once again pressing your lips against her belly, blowing hard and causing her to squirm around helplessly.
“Ack! C’mon Anon, quit it!” she manages to get out between uncontrolled guffaws.
“Say it, and I’ll stop!”
You repeat it, and this time she finally cracks under the pressure. “A-Alright, fine! I’ll say it…”
She looks you square in the eye, with the most serious expression you’ve seen on her in days. “Anon…” she begins, before muttering something inaudible to you.
“Oh, I’m sorry… what was that?” You smirk, before once more blowing on her belly, causing her to yelp out again.
“Anon got the jump on me and he’s the best-most-awesomest-bro-in-all-of-Equestria now let me go!” she quickly exclaims, wriggling around, trying to get free.
“Haha! Now you have to tell all of the people you work with.”
“What?! No way!” she exclaims, her eyes widening. “That wasn’t part of the deal!”
“I have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further…” you grin, speaking in the deepest, grittiest voice possible. For some reason, it seemed fitting…
“F-fine…” she mutters in defeat, sighing. “Now will ya let me go?”
You laugh, before letting her go. “Alright, so it’s…”
You turn and look at the clock.
“Two in the afternoon. Probably should be getting up right about now.”
She snickers and nods, pushing herself up off of the couch and into the air. “And dude? You should really get a shower,” she laughs, pressing her hoof to her nose.
You sigh, chuckling a bit.
“Alright, fair enough. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
She nods. “I’ll see if you have any food I can eat.”
You smirk before heading up the stairs. Knowing her, she’s gonna empty your fridge. You let out a sigh, closing the door to your bathroom, and slip out of your clothes.
The bathroom itself is fairly small; they only built it a few years ago, before you had your growth spurt of nearly a foot and a half. Now, you can barely move around in the shower without smacking your elbow or head on a wall or the shower nozzle.
You stretch, grinning before walking inside the small shower area, closing the sliding glass door behind you. Ponies, despite being a different species, had very good craftsmanship, and managed to create a fully-operable shower system for you.
You flip a lever and turn a knob to the desired heat that you would like, and stand for a few seconds in there before the warm water began spraying down from the shower nozzle. It was relaxing, especially after the events of the night before. You don’t think you’ve ever had so much Applejack Daniels before…
Your relaxing moment in the shower was short-lived, though; you remembered that Rainbro was still in your kitchen, which meant you had to move quickly.
You quickly wash up, making sure to get behind your ears. You’re not entirely sure why, though; it’s as if it had been drilled into your head for as long as you can remember, and maybe even before that.
You weren’t from Equestria, after all; you knew that much. You’d not seen another one of your kind before, and the closest resemblance they had were minotaur, and even then you didn’t have any horns or hooves for feet.
Nonetheless, you’ve not allowed this to hold you back; thanks to your bro, you managed to get a position in the Rainbow Factory, which was essential for the pegasi to create the weather all around Equestria.
They would bring the ingredients in, which they called “sources”, and they’d announce the color. You’d push the corresponding button to said color, pull the lever, and voila; color would run down the chutes into a vat of what they called “Spectra”, which would power the rest of the weather devices all around Cloudsdale.
In your eyes, you had the most important job in all of Cloudsdale. No, in all of Equestria; without you behind the wheels at the Factory, the ponies wouldn’t be able to control the weather, which would mean crops wouldn’t grow, which meant ponies would have no food.
You were the one providing for all of them. Everything kept going because of you working the Machine.
You grin proudly as you get dressed; because of your having a job, you were able to buy your own clothes from Rarity’s Boutique. She was such a generous unicorn, and swore that she’d let you take as many clothes as you’d like as long as you did modeling for her. You did, on occasion, but you preferred being able to earn your own clothes through your own hard work.
She was actually the one that modified the ponies’ lab coat for your measurements; there weren’t any other pegasi that was quite as large as you were, so the longer lab outfit definitely gave you a lot more class than you had expected. She even split the back a bit so the bottom wouldn’t get in the way if you were moving quickly.
You looked at yourself in the glass mirror for a few moments, checking your face. You were starting to get a bit of shadow going on down your jaw and chin, but you didn’t mind. You’d shave it tomorrow morning. Today was your day off, time to chill out.
You speed down the stairs and leap over the railing at around halfway down, landing on your feet with a loud thudding noise. “Hey bro, you’d better not have eaten all my stuff!”
You laugh as you head into the kitchen, and sure enough, Rainbro’s got roughly three days worth of food stacked up onto the table. She turns and looks at you with a grin. “I was wondering when you’d get here; I didn’t want to eat all of this by myself.”
You smirk, walking over and scraggling her mane before sitting down across from her, the two of you scarfing down food left and right. You were starving after last night, and the food set out before you was more than appetizing for your tastes.
“So hey, I was thinking we could stop by Fluttershy’s place today, see how she’s doing.”
Rainbro’s eyes widen, and she looks up at you, swallowing the bite she was chewing on. “You sure, Anon? I mean, you two haven’t exactly been talking to each other lately, have you?”
You shake your head, sitting up in your chair. “No, we haven’t. But I feel like we can put aside our differences for the time being and really start to get to know each other after all this time. Reconnect, y’know?”
She hesitates for a moment, then nods. “Yeah, I can see that,” she says, smiling at you. “Hey, why don’t I come with ya, too? I’ve not seen Flutters in a while. It’d probably be good for both of us.”
She hops out of her chair as soon as she finishes her plate, and floats over to you. “Think of me being your wingpony,” she winks at you, and you grin back, scratching her head again before finishing up your plate as well, bringing both over to the sink.
“Alright, let’s head out.”
As you walk outside, you take notice of how sunny it was compared to the night before. Looks like the pegasi managed to clear the skies for today.
Perfect, just what you needed.
“You didn’t arrange for a beautiful sky like this, did you?”
You turn to Rainbro, and she gives you a sly grin. “I may have had some word in it…”
This fucking mare, dude. This mare right here. She’s always got your back. You chuckle, reaching down to tousle her mane, getting a mix of a laugh and an annoyed groan from her.
“Let’s go.”
You stretch a bit, before sprinting off towards Fluttershy’s cottage, your bro flying alongside you, a rainbow streak trailing behind her as she speeds off past you.
Oh no she doesn’t.
You pick up your speed, and eventually the two of you are neck and neck once again. Just like your childhood days. Man, this brings you back…
…And with you distracted from nostalgia, Rainbro manages to speed off once again, closing the distance between her and Fluttershy’s cottage even faster than before.
Just as she’s about to make it to the cottage, however, you hear a whistle sound from above. Rainbro immediately stops, and turns her head to the sky. You take this opportunity to speed past her and claim your flawless victory as first to reach the cottage.
“Hah! I win, I-”
You turn, and see Rainbro talking with a masked pony in a lab coat. He hands her a package and nods, saluting to her with his hoof before speeding off towards Cloudsdale.
You already knew that some ponies at the Factory would wear strange outfits, but you’ve never seen an outfit like that before.
After a few moments of staring at the package, she walks up to you.
“Hey, what was that all about?”
She seems a bit distant for a moment, but then snaps back to reality. “O-oh! Sorry, nothing,” she says, looking up at you.
“Who was that? I don’t think I’ve seen a pony dressed like that before.”
“Oh, he’s one of Dr. Atmosphere’s employees. They work on fixing the machine in case any problems happen, so they’re always wearing those masks to protect themselves,” she says, smiling at you.
Huh. Seems legit.
Back to re-befriending Fluttershy, Anon!
You walk up to the door, and knock three times, just like you always did while growing up. That should get her attention. Hopefully…
You wait a few moments, before knocking again. Still, no answer.
“Fluttershy? You there?”
As you wait, Rainbro starts opening the package. Inside, there’s a book.
Huh. Didn’t know she read. “What’s it called?”
She looks at both covers, shrugs, and opens it. “Dunno yet. Guess I’ve gotta read to find out.”
While the two of you wait outside Fluttershy’s cottage, she begins reading the story. After around three minutes, her eyes widen.
“Hm? What happened?”
She shoots her eyes up at you, then back to the book, then repeats the process two more times, before looking side to side, her wings shooting up.
…Oh boy. You knew what that meant.
You’d seen and heard about it while in the break room.
You had a keyword for it that you never shared with anyone; wingboner. And it was perfectly fitting for the situation.
“Um… I uh… I gotta go,” she says, speeding off into the distance, towards Cloudsdale, carrying the book with her. As she flies away, you can’t help but unwillingly catch a glimpse of her nethers as she flies off. As you expected, they were rosy with arousal.
Well, suppose she has to take care of it one way or another.
She’s your bro, so you don’t mind her heading off to take care of some pent-up stress. The two of you had an understanding.
“Is… is that you, Anon?”
…Oh yeah. The reason you came here.
You turn to the door, and on the inside you’re horrified, but you manage to keep your composure on the outside, and even smile.
“Hey Fluttershy, long time no see.”
Her long, pink mane is completely disheveled, and her body seems a bit frailer than you remembered her being.
What could have happened?
“It’s so nice to see you, Anon…”
End Chapter 4
Chapter 5
“Fluttershy? What happened to you?” Your expression is full of concern; what could have possibly happened to her?
“Oh, it’s nothing, really it’s not…” she mutters, looking down at herself. “P-please, come in,” she says, stepping back and allowing you to walk inside.
The entire cottage was in the same arrangement that it had been in when you left all those years ago. The sofa, the lamp, the flower vase… all in the same place. It looks as if not a day had passed since you had left, save for a thin layer of dust covering everything.
“Where are all of the animals, Fluttershy?” You look around as you walk inside, and to your surprise no animals are scurrying about like you had expected. In fact, the entire cottage seemed rather… empty.
“Oh, um…” she mutters quietly, closing the door. “It’s really a long story, but…” she floats over to you, landing softly on the sofa, “After you left, everything just kind of… fell apart…” she looks up at the ceiling, an almost distant expression on her face.
Damn. Did you really cause all of this? “But… but what about Angel? And the rest of the animals?”
“They’re…” she pauses for a moment, tilting her head down and staring at the cushions of the sofa. “They’re not here anymore, Anon.”
You walk over and sit next to her. She lifts her head and looks at you with widened, surprised eyes, but they slowly return to their normal, though still large, size. “What happened, really? You’re not telling me the whole story, I can tell.”
“Anon, they…” she trails off for a moment, hesitating before continuing. “They’re coming for me.”
“What? Who? Who’s coming for you?”
She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it, Anon. It’s not something you should get yourself wrapped up in…” she mutters, smiling warmly at you.
That same smile she gave you, all those years ago…
“Fluttershy, you can’t just expect me to sit back like this; who or what is coming after you?”
“I can’t say…” she says, lowering her head. “I see them at night, watching… I see movement in the bushes, in the skies… I’ve even caught one peeking in my bedroom window as I faked sleeping…” she whispers, slowly lowering her head onto your lap. You can feel her quivering against it. She’s quite obviously not been taking care of herself lately. She’s as fragile as a baby foal…
“Come on. We’re going to get you taken care of.”
“Wh-what?” she gasps, looking up at you. “It… it can’t be that bad-” You shake your head. No arguments from her today.
“You helped raise me and nurture me throughout my life, Fluttershy. It’s time I returned the favor after putting you through all of this trouble.” She’s still looking up at you with widened, surprised eyes. You smile and wrap your arms around her neck, embracing her in a hug.
She’s still.
But, ever so slowly, she begins to lift her hooves, trembling a bit at first, but they finally find their way under your arms, the two of you staying in that embrace for a long time. Finally, you decide it’s time you get her some food; she’s too frail to be worrying about anyone or anything at this point in time. “C’mon Fluttershy, let’s get you something to eat. What would you like?”
“Um… R-really, Anon, you don’t have to do this…” she mutters as you sit her up at the kitchen table.
You shake your head. “Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy; it’s the least I can do,” you say, walking over to the counter and proceed to go through her cabinets, collecting all sorts of different ingredients. If you’ve learned anything from living in Equestria, it’s how to make a salad. And you just so happen to have just enough to make two for the both of you.
That’s good; your late breakfast was starting to wear off, anyway. You quickly whip up two large bowls of salad for both of you. You remembered when she learned that you liked to eat meat; you didn’t want to put her through that scene again.
Instead, you smile and bring the two bowls over to her, setting one down in front of her, then placing a second bowl down and sitting next to her at the table.
“Oh my…” she mutters, her eyes lighting up at the food in front of her. “This is quite a lot…”
“A growing pony needs her nourishment. Isn’t that what you used to always tell me when I wouldn’t eat?”
You smile at each other, and she nods before taking a bite, savoring the taste. “Mmm… Anon, this is delicious!” she exclaims, looking to you, “Where did you learn to make food like this?”
“Living on your own gives you the chance to experiment.” You take a bite out of your own salad, leaning back as you chew. You’d put in some extra fruit in yours for extra sweetness. “Though, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss living here…”
Her eyes widen a bit and she blushes, before returning to eating. You have to say, it’s pretty cute.
Wait… Anon, what are you doing? Stop thinking like that!
This is Fluttershy, she’s like a…
…Mother…
“Hey, Fluttershy?”
She looks up at you, chewing on the salad in her mouth before swallowing. “Yes, Anon?”
“You ever wonder what happened to us? Why we lost touch?”
She ponders this for a moment, before smiling, her gaze lowering back down. “I suppose… we both just got so caught up in our own lives, we never made time for each other.”
You shake your head. The two of you used to be the best of friends, even when Rainbro came to visit. Friendships, while fun, are strange things…
She finishes her salad, and notices that you’ve barely touched yours. “Something on your mind, Anon?” she asks, tilting her head in curiosity as she pushes the bowl to the side, away from the two of you.
You sigh, before taking another bite. “It’s just… I don’t understand. Despite everything that’s happened the past four years, the fact that we’ve had hardly any communication… we still act as if nothing happened, we act like nothing is wrong between the two of us…” You’re gripping the utensils you’ve been using to eat the salad tighter than before, your hands are trembling.
You remember what happened; you see it clearly in your head, even after all this time.
The night you left, all those years ago. The night everything between the two of you changed.
You had just gotten the job part-time at the Factory. You were so proud of yourself. You were, as they said, on cloud nine. Not sure what the pegasi meant by that, but damn, you were pretty happy.
And now, you were on your way to Fluttershy’s cottage to let her know the good news. She was so worried about you; she made sure that you brushed your teeth twice before even walking out the door this morning.
You knock on the door briefly before opening it. “Fluttershy! I did it, I got the jo-”
What lay before you was… well, it was mentally horrifying.
“A-Anon?!” she gasps, quickly scurrying up from her laying position.
W-Was she just…?
“Fluttershy, what… what were you doing?”
She squeaks, standing up onto all fours, but swaying a bit due to lightheadedness. Not to mention, a small pool of fluids right under her flank…
And her wings are fully extended to lengths you’d never seen on her before. “N-n-nothing, Anon! Nothing at all!” she exclaims quietly, her tail flicking down to hide her nether-regions from your sight.
You’re just standing there, completely dumbfounded at what has occurred.
“W-well aren’t you going to come in?” she asks, smiling despite her hind legs barely being able to support her now. “Tell me all about it!”
It takes you a few seconds to react. “Oh! Well, um, Doctor Atmosphere said that he has the perfect job for me, and says I can start as early as tomorrow!” You walk over into the main living area and sit on a chair across from her sofa, double-checking to make sure it wasn’t covered in her fluids as well.
“That’s wonderful!” she exclaims, floating up onto the sofa, taking great care to hide her sensitive areas from you now. “So as early as tomorrow, huh? That’s really something. Do you know what you’ll be doing there?”
You shake your head. “He didn’t say. But he -did- say that he would pay well, and that’s good enough reason for me!”
You grin happily, and she smiles. “Well, I’m very happy for you. Now, you should probably get some sleep, Anon; you have a big day tomorrow, after all.”
You nod. Well, hopefully a good night’s sleep would get rid of this brain bleach-needed situation…
It didn’t.
That night, you woke up to the sounds of heavy panting and moaning from down the hallway. You had an idea of what the source of the sound was from, but what you weren’t prepared for was what came next.
“Ah~! A-Anon~!!” you hear her let out a squeal from down the hallway that causes your eyes to shoot open and pupils to shrink.
…She’s fantasizing about you.
Damn… you really hate to do this. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. But I’m not going to take that risk,” you mutter softly as you hear the panting slowly pick up a second time, growing in a crescendo.
You go around your room, packing a small bag of everything you knew was essential to your well-being. You weren’t going to put yourself into that position. You loved Fluttershy, you really did. But not like that.
And so, in using her cries of pleasure from the other room as cover, you steal away into the darkness that is Ponyville at night.
You stayed at the purple unicorn’s home that night, despite barely knowing her outside of seeing Fluttershy spending time with her.
The following morning, Rainbro had conveniently come to Twilight’s to check out a book, and ran into you along the way. You decided that staying at your bro’s house would be much easier than at the home of a unicorn you barely knew.
So, Rainbro got Twilight to use a temporary cloud-walking spell on you, and she brought you up to Cloudsdale to stay with her. The two of you had such an awesome time. You had to stay next to her at all times, though, in case the spell wore off.
That wasn’t too hard, either way. That day, the two of you stopped by the factory. On your way to meet with Doctor Atmosphere again, you close your eyes as the two of you walk in silence through the halls, taking in the sounds of the machine hard at work.
Though, in the faint distance, you hear a strange melody playing…
As the two of you walk down the hallway, the sound gets fairly louder, before you open the large, metal door to the source.
Inside, there’s a strange music-player box next to the desk of a certain dark-red pegasus with his silver mane. He’s humming along to the song’s melody…
“In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through…”
“Doctor?” Rainbro announces your arrival, tapping on his desk.
He swerves around in his chair, his gaze meeting yours. “Oh, Anonymous; just the man I was looking for…”
End Chapter 5
Chapter 6
“What do you need me to do, sir?” you ask with an enthusiastic tone. This was your first day really meeting with him personally, and he seemed like a pretty nice guy.
He smiles, standing up out of his chair and walking around his desk. “Walk with Rainbow and I for a while, Anonymous,” he says, beckoning you with a hoof as he and Rainbro both walk out of the office.
“Tell me, do you know what we do here, Anonymous?” he asks after a few moments of walking. His lab outfit was similar to Rainbro’s, however it was a lighter gray color, rather than the typical white you had seen on the other employees. His tone-of-voice was also surprising as well; you expected an engineer to have a grittier voice, but his voice had a more… soothing aspect to it.
You shake your head, following behind the two of them. “Not entirely. But I know that you fuel the rest of Cloudsdale with the power needed to run the weather facilities.”
He closes his eyes for a moment and nods, before opening them again, staring forward. “This facility is the Rainbow Factory. We supply the essence known as Spectra, used to power the rest of Cloudsdale. And though our setting seems a bit less… prestigious-looking than the rest of Cloudsdale, I can guarantee you it is just as important as the rest,” he says, turning to look at you. “Do you know how Spectra is made, Anonymous?” he asks, and you shake your head once again.
He nods, facing forward. Rainbro casts a quick glance at him, before returning her gaze forward as well. “Spectra is the purest essence of rainbow, Anonymous. During the years before the rise of Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia and Luna controlled both the sun and the moon. You know of this story, correct, Anonymous?”
You nod silently. You, of course, never knew about this story due to never paying attention in your Equestrian History class, but he seems to be going somewhere with this.
“Indeed. However, after the banishment of Princess Luna to the moon, Celestia had to take on the colossal task of raising both the sun and the moon. Now, as you can imagine, this can be very taxing on the Princess, having to do this,” he says, holding a hoof up as he walks, running it through his silvery mane.
“I can’t imagine how hard it would be,” you say. Moving both the sun and moon, AND changing the weather? That’s insane amounts of power right there.
“Quite; now, with this in mind, take into account that before all of this, not only did the alicorn princesses control the day and night, but the weather as well?”
Your eyes widen. You hadn’t even heard about this, not even in passing talk or stories. “I hadn’t known that.”
The three of you turn at a hallway, and you see two masked pegasi fly by, banking to the left and right of the three of you as to not be in your way. “I am not surprised, Anonymous; this story is fairly unknown, even among pegasi. Only those that work in the Rainbow Factory know of this.”
You nod. Makes about as much sense as anything else around here.
“Now, having a princess raise both sun and moon, as well as control the weather all across Equestria, is a nigh-impossible job, wouldn’t you agree? Even alicorns have limits in their power,” Dr. Atmosphere turns to look up at you. “You remember the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, correct? The princess, at that point, was unable to defend against the power of the Queen Changeling. This is an example of how limited the power of an alicorn is.”
Your eyes widen. You remember that day; it was chaotic everywhere you looked. “But, how does this play into your story?”
“Because when the Princess couldn’t do all three by herself, she outsourced the creation and control of the weather patterns across Equestria to the pegasi of Cloudsdale,” Rainbro cuts in. Wow, you’ve not seen her act so professionally before. Or use that kind of vocabulary.
“Exactly as Miss Dash said, she was unable to perform all three consistently with success,” Dr. Atmosphere smiles. “So she put us in charge of weather.”
You smile, rolling your shoulders a bit as you walk. “So, we’re really where it all starts?”
Dr. Atmosphere nods. “Exactly! We are the source of all of the power of the weather facilities. Without us, the pegasi wouldn’t be able to control the weather. Crops would die, ponies would starve, and everything would fall into disorder… we’re, essentially, all that stands between us and complete extinction!”
Your eyes widen. He turns fully to look at you, lifting up onto two hind legs, placing a front hoof on your chest, balancing and staring you dead in the eyes.
“And you, Anonymous, will be at the heart of it all! Your role in the Factory will be nigh-essential to the creation of Spectra, and the powering of the weather facilities!” he exclaims, his eyes never leaving yours.
…Come to think of it, they were the same color as Rainbro’s…
You grin proudly, helping him down to the ground after his excited outburst. “You can count on me!”
“Excellent!” he laughs, stamping his hoof in glee. “We’ll have you start first thing tomorrow morning!”
You smile at him, and then to Rainbro. She looks up at you, grins, and holds up a hoof. Dr. Amosphere, after calming down looks to Rainbro, and then you, before chuckling and raising a hoof as well.
You grin, and slam your two fists into each hoof, the air around the three of you charged with pure, raw electricity from the contact of such bro-ism.
…At least, that’s what it felt like.
That was four years ago. And it was the proudest moment of your life.
But after that, you and Fluttershy never spoke actively ever again. You would occasionally exchange passing glances and hello’s, but for four, long years, the two of you never said a word to each other.
And you felt absolutely terrible for it.
“Well?” you ask once again. “Why did you and I stop talking, huh?”
Fluttershy remains silent. You grit your teeth a bit, before taking another swift bite out of your salad, chewing harshly on it.
“Anon, are you alright…? You’re getting awfully worked up-”
“Oh, me?! I’m fine, just fan-fucking tastic!”
She flinches a bit when you use that word, and you pick up your pace eating.
You continue this for a few moments, gradually getting more aggressive with your chewing. Eventually—and you don’t even notice for the first few moments until you taste a saltiness in your meal—you start crying, your tears running down your cheeks and into the salad. Fluttershy just sits there, silent and staring, as you continue your breakdown.
Or, what was left of it, at this point. The last two bites were agonizing for you, before you slammed the bowl angrily to the floor, shattering it against the tile and placing your head into your hands, gripping it tightly. “What was I thinking coming here?! This was a terrible idea to begin with!”
You’re covering your eyes and wiping the tears away. At this point, Fluttershy is completely stunned in shock, her eyes wide as she continues watching you.
You turn to her, an angry expression on your face. “What the fuck are YOU looking at?! You have no room to be judging me; you’re the one that was rubbing yourself to the thought of me all those years ago!!”
You stand up and kick your chair away before stomping out of the kitchen and into the living room, then eventually out into the open air. It’s at this time that Rainbro is just arriving back, her mane tousled and her cheeks bright red. “Hey bro, what’s up?” she asks, flying over next to you as you walk.
You take a long, heavy sigh, calming your tone before responding. “Nothing. Let’s go.”
You turn one final time to look at the cottage, and see that yellow pegasus staring at you as you walk away, tears streaming down her face.
You scowl, and return to your walking.
Fuck her.
Sleep didn’t come easy for you that night; you were plagued by old memories fashioned into nightmares.
“Oh, Anon~…”
That phrase, continuously repeated throughout your mind, was like horseshoes on a blackboard.
The following morning, you awaken to a knocking at your door. You quickly slip into some clothing and rush down the stairs, opening the door. Outside, it’s one of those masked pegasi. He looks up at you, his face and expression hidden behind the mask. “Anonymous?” he asks, his voice muffled a bit.
You nod, yawning and rubbing one eye. “What is it?”
He looks around a moment, before back to you. “Doctor Atmosphere has requested you come to the Factory immediately.”
“But… it’s the weekend, my day off…”
He nods. “He said it was a matter of great importance. You are expected to be there within two hours.”
And with that final word, he flies off. Damn… and you thought you were going to get some decent sleep today, Anon?
Fuck you too, world.
You stumble sleepily the Factory around three hours later, placing your hand along the wall for support as you made your way to your work area. As you walk inside, you slip hastily into your lab outfit, and put the gloves on as you get to your station.
You tap a few times on the microphone with your hand, before speaking. “Sorry I’m late. I’m ready to start now.”
“Anonymous, I must say, I’m disappointed; what took you so long?” a voice comes from the opposite side. Doctor Atmosphere.
“I apologize for my tardiness, though in fairness I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
You hear a chuckle on the other end. At least he wasn’t angry. You weren’t too keen on seeing him when he was angry. “It’s quite alright; however because you were an hour late, we must move quickly if we are to meet our quota. Startup the machine!” you hear him call out, and in quick succession you hear the sound of gears clicking against one another as the facility springs to life.
“Oh, where’s Rainbow today?”
“She woke up feeling a bit ill this morning, so she’s taking a sick day. I’m sure she’ll be alright within the next few days,” he says, as a buzzer sounds. “Alright, the first source is up! This one is orange! Are you ready, Anonymous?”
You smile. You always loved the color of orange; so warm, yet it had a sense of… passion, about it. “Ready when you are!”
“Begin!” he shouts, and you press the corresponding colored button and pull down the lever, watching intently as the colorful Spectra travels down the chute and into the open vat of rainbows below. Truly, it was a beautiful thing.
“Next, we have a blue one!” he exclaims, and you grin. Blue was such a calming color. Not to mention, it was the color of your bro’s fur.
“Ready!”
“Start!” he exclaims, and you repeat the process, watching as the glowing liquid-like substance travels down into the vat below.
“Beautiful job! Next up, is a yellow one!”
…Yellow.
The same color as Fluttershy.
Your expression wavers for a bit, but returns to a slightly-forced smile, if anything to keep your mood up. “Ready when you are.”
“Start!” he exclaims, and you press the yellow button and pull down the lever.
The Spectra travels down the chute, and into the vat of colors.
Beautiful. The scene of the colors flowing down into the vat calmed you a bit, and you lean back into your chair.
Wait… something else came down with it as well! You wouldn’t have noticed it if you weren’t thinking about Fluttershy and connecting the two with each other.
Right there, on the side of the yellow chute…
…Were three long, flowing pink locks of hair.
It takes you a second to realize this. Progress stops momentarily, and you hear Dr. Atmosphere’s voice getting progressively angrier on the intercom. You drown the voices, the sounds of the Factory, everything, out as you realize what just happened.
What you’ve been doing for the past four years…
Oh Celestia… what have you done?!
End Chapter 6
Chapter 7
What have you done?! The past four years… THIS is what you’ve been doing? You slowly come back to reality, and you hear Dr. Atmosphere’s angry voice on the microphone. “Anonymous! What in the name of Equestria is going on down there?!”
You grit your teeth, and place the microphone to your lips. “You. Me. Your office. Now.”
And with that, you swerve around to the door, slamming it open and walking down the halls, the sound of machines slowing down as you walk becoming music to your ears. You’re going to put a stop to this.
As you walk, two masked pegasi approach you, blocking your path. “Just where do you think you’re going?” one asks, its voice muffled by the mask. You growl angrily, clenching your fists at your sides.
“I’m in a bad mood right now, fellas. For your own safety, you don’t want to be in my way.”
They still don’t move. Damn shame, they could have listened.
With a swift movement of your leg, you slam your boot into the side of one’s head, sending it barreling into the other one. As they recover, however, you quickly grip them by the underside of their jaws, lifting them up into the air against the metal wall.
“Now. Stay out of my way.” These are the last words they comprehend before you slam the back of their heads against the metal wall, and then against each other, before tossing their now-unconscious bodies to each end of the hallway and moving on.
Strangely, no other ponies seem to impede you on your way to Dr. Atmosphere’s office. He must have something big planned for you. At last, you reach the large metal doors that began your career all those years ago. The nostalgia will have to wait. You grip the bars on the doors and pull them open with a wide arc from your arm.
You don’t even have time to retaliate as two prongs are plunged into your sides, and an electric shock is sent barreling through your body, causing you to collapse to your knees.
“My, my. That’s not what I was expecting from you, Anonymous,” the soothing voice of Dr. Atmosphere comes from behind you. The two pegasi who were carrying the prongs step two steps back from you, so as to allow complete focus to remain between you and the doctor. You turn your head, your eyes seething with hate for this pegasus. “To stop progress in the Factory… to bring production to a complete halt, all so suddenly… what came over you?” he asks, his sly grin and piercing magenta eyes never leaving your own.
You don’t respond. He scowls, taking this as an act of disrespect. He tilts his head to one of the pegasi, who nods back before jabbing you with the prong once again, causing you to let out a loud groan of pain as the electricity travels through your body. “Marvelous, aren’t they? These prongs are a new prototype we’ve developed in the Engineering department; they are equipped with a small discharge of raw lightning,” he says, walking over to take the prong from the pegasi, running his hoof along the head. “Of course, the power has been drastically reduced, otherwise it would have killed you on-contact… but I feel this works just as well to keep you subdued, wouldn’t you agree?” he asks, grinning down at you before prodding you himself, much harder than the other two pegasi had done.
You roll over onto your side, your arms and legs hanging limp; the electricity must have messed with your nerve endings somehow, they weren’t responding. “You… why didn’t you tell me we were harvesting other pegasi?!” you cough out; the shock must have affected your breathing as well.
He shakes his head. “It’s quite simple; you never asked.”
Your eyes widen, and you look up at him. That was it? THAT was the reason? “Are you serious? Are you FUCKING serious?!” You let out a loud roar of anger before using every fiber of your being to lunge at the doctor. Fuck the electricity, fuck the guards; you’re going to make sure this madman never sees the light of day again.
Of course, you fail in this regard; he slams the side of the prod against your head, creating a large gash along the side of your temple as you are sent plummeting to the ground once again. He scowls down at you, before he turns to the other pegasi guard. “Have him bound and brought into the lower levels. I plan on making sure he regrets his actions.”
These are the last words that you hear him say, before everything goes black.
“Wake up, you filthy monkey.”
A hoof strikes you in the gut, causing you to cough up phlegm, and you make sure it lands right in the face of the pegasus that hit you. It hit the mask, but regardless, it made you feel a bit better. He was lucky you were tied up; otherwise he wouldn’t be conscious right now. “You hit like a bunny.”
You can see the pegasus’s eyes underneath the mask. He’s pissed, and you love it. “C’mon. My grandmother could have hit harder than that, and I don’t even remember what she looks like.” He growls angrily, raising a hoof for a second strike.
“That’s quite enough, out of both of you,” you hear a calm voice come from your left. Your eyes follow the source of the voice, all the way to that dark red pegasus who brought you into this situation. The masked pegasus grunts, before lowering his hoof and walking away. “Such a shame that it had to be this way, Anonymous,” he says, walking up to you. “You had everything you ever wanted. A home, a well-paying job, a best friend…” he brings his hoof up to your chin, lifting your head to meet his gaze. “And then you threw it all away,” he hisses, swiftly turning and walking away. “Why did you do it?”
You spit on the ground in front of you. Red. A beautiful color, but not the best in this situation. “I saw… I saw proof. You… I should have known you were going to go after her!”
“Yet you didn’t raise a finger to stop it. Did you, Anonymous?” he mutters in quick succession, silencing you. “Tell me; if you had known that you would be harvesting pegasi, would you have continued if you knew it was for the better of Equestria as a whole?” he asks, turning around to face you. “Would you have sacrificed a life, for the continuation of order as a whole for the rest of the land?”
You are silent. He nods. “I thought as mu-”
“I would never do that. Not for something so selfish as the betterment of the land as a whole! Not when lives are sacrificed to maintain it!”
He sighs. “Still, you do not see as we do.” One of the pegasi walks over to the wall and pulls down a lever. Almost instantly, the lights switch on and blind you for a brief moment, before revealing the room to you.
You are in a large room with chains hanging from the ceiling, and masked ponies standing on the rafters above, observing everything transpiring within. On the far side of the room, you spot a large piece of machinery, with a wide opening at the top and chutes traveling from all directions, ending up into the machine itself.
You were just under your place of work. That was the vat of colors you loved staring into.
“Do you see this, Anonymous? This is the heart of the factory,” Dr. Atmosphere says, his grin never leaving his face. “This is all your own handiwork. Do you see?” You begin to take in everything around you now. All along the walls, the vats of color were lined up. Massive amounts of Spectra must have filled them…
The guard turns you around to face opposite the machine, and what you see horrifies you to no end. It’s that feeling you get whenever you want to vomit, but all that comes up is dry air.
Piled up to the height of two vats stacked on top of each other, were the corpses of pegasi.
“When Celestia first outsourced the control of weather to the pegasi, we originally used unicorn magic to assist in Spectra creation. However, it was quickly apparent that the magic wasn’t nearly enough to maintain a constant state of control over the weather. So we looked into… other means,” he says, walking to your side. “Our scientists made a discovery decades ago; by extracting the very essence of the Spectra directly from ponies, we could increase the production of Spectra ten-fold!” he exclaims, turning your chair back around himself. “And so, the Rainbow Factory was born; to extract the essence of Spectra from ponies themselves, for the sake of all of Equestria!”
You scowl at him. This stallion was insane. “And… Rainbow Dash?”
He turns to look at you, his eyes widening and his grin growing even wider. “Ah, and there’s the best part,” he says, lifting your chin once again with a hoof, “She’s the one that runs the whole thing… every pegasus, every drop of Spectra, everything is monitored by her…”
“So… so she knew?!” Your eyes widen in horror. The two of you and Fluttershy were the best of friends when you were younger! Why in the world would she want to do something like this? “But… why? Why Fluttershy?”
He lowers his hoof from your chin and presses it on your chest, the pressure causing the air to escape your lungs. “Because she never passed flight school. Her wingspeed is a mere 2.3! Pathetic!” he exclaims, pushing off of you and slamming his hoof down on the ground. “Cloudsdale has no place for pegasi that cannot perform their duty to the city. Those who are weak are put to use in ways that they won’t bring shame to our society!”
You spit blood on the ground again. “But… but she was an Element of Harmony! Why would Rainbow even consider it, being the Element of Loyalty?!”
Dr. Atmosphere lets out a heckling laugh. It sickens you. “Because times are changing, my dear boy! We are entering an age where the Elements are no longer needed to defend the kingdom!”
“You’re insane! What the hell kind of bullshit are you spouting?!”
His grin turns into an angry, almost maniacal scowl. “Bullshit is not what I spout. This is truth! And besides…” he says, slamming his hoof into your gut, “The Element itself is not destroyed. Merely the Wielder. The Element remains unharmed, and the Wielder can always be… replaced.”
You grit your teeth in anger, before letting out a roar. He steps back from this. “What in the name of Tartarus are you saying?! You can’t just replace one of the Elements of Harmony like it’s one of your playthings! If Princess Celestia heard about this, she’d-”
“Princess Celestia does not have power in this facility, Anonymous. Anything and everything that happens here is unknown to the public.”
“Don’t you think they would find out after the wielder of the Element of Kindness suddenly vanished from sight?!” you growl through gritted teeth. “You act like you know what you’re doing, like you can toy with lives while hiding behind the lie that it’s for the good of Equestria?! You’re a monster!”
“I’m a monster?” he asks, rubbing his chin with his hoof. “Hm… that’s a new one. But, then, what does that make you? I mean, after all, you ARE the one that killed all of them…”
You look down at the ground. “If I had known, I would have stopped it myself all those years ago…”
“As a twelve-year old child? Preposterous! Though, it would have made this job a lot easier for me; I was beginning to think you and I were going to get along wonderfully for years to come,” he says, grinning as your eyes meet his once again. “But, it seems our acquaintanceship has to come to an abrupt end. Goodbye, Anonymous; know in death that you assisted Cloudsdale in the culling of the weak and the unworthy, helping craft it into the beautiful city it is today.” And with that final word, he walks away, leaving you alone with the guards.
You look up at them, your body battered and beaten, as they close in all around you.
End Chapter 7
Author's Note: I truly am glad that you've stuck through it this far. Now, for something personal between me and you.
This story has multiple alternate endings; the original ending that I wrote will be posted first. As people create their own fan-endings of this story on 4Chan and send them to me, I may or may not include them here. It just depends on the quality of the ending itself.
So pay attention the next few weeks, my faithful readers; one ending may not be enough for this story.
~Wuten
Chapter 8
“Haha! That’s it, fight back for all the good it’ll do you!” a guard yells out, sending another hoof slamming into your chest.
Let’s take a step back, shall we? You are Anonymous, a human that came to Equestria as a child. Your best friend, your bro, the only pony you really confided everything into, was the one behind the mass murder of hundreds of pegasi for the greater good of Equestria.
And you were her tool.
And now that you’ve found out, you’ve been bound, gagged, and locked up in a room full of masked pegasi guards.
To think today was supposed to be your day off.
Let’s take a damage check; two teeth, a cracked rib, possibly a collapsed lung due to the blood spilling out of your mouth… Things just aren’t going your way today. You get a moment’s rest before another hoof slams into your chest. These guards just aren’t letting up, are they?
“Heh… what’re you waiting for…? Do it. I know you have it in you.” You continue to encourage them, but it only seems to make them angrier. Why the hell weren’t they finishing the job? You were no use to them anyway, what more could they possibly want out of you?
Your train of thought is interrupted as a hoof smacks the side of your head, throwing you for a loop. The only thing keeping you conscious at this point was the fact that you were standing, though still bound. Sheer willpower alone isn’t going to last you for too much longer, though.
“Hey boys, I wonder how long it’ll be before the monkey cracks under the pressure,” one of them says, “Then we’ll have our chance to have some REAL fun!”
Oh Celestia… that’s why they weren’t going to finish you off. They were going to take advantage of your vulnerable state in the vilest and disgusting way possible.
You remember your fifth year of school here, they explained in detail how ponies reproduce.
And now, they were going to use you as practice.
Well, that’s just fan-fucking-tastic.
One of them undoes the ropes holding you up, throwing you to the ground. “I think I’ll go first,” he says, turning to look at the others. “Anyone want to object?”
The others shake their heads. “We’ll all get a turn, in the end,” one says.
“Alright then,” he says, pulling off his mask. Well shit, it’s the one that was beating on you earlier before Dr. Atmosphere came in. The one that you royally pissed off. He was going first. You try to squirm away, but you only get so far before one of the guards stamps a hoof against your back, pinning you down.
The guard from earlier removes his outfit, his enormous schlong already prepped. Damn, he must have been thinking about this all day. Fucking hell. Another guard pulls your pants down to your knees, before walking around to your face. “Hey, y’know, he’s got another hole right here,” he says, lifting your chin a bit. “Yeah… that’ll work just fine,” he says, and he takes off his outfit as well.
Well gag reflex, it’s been nice knowing you. You too, working bowels. You were all troopers.
But now, you’re about to be double-teamed by two ponies until what you believe will be your death. Going out with dicks in your mouth and ass wasn’t exactly on your agenda.
Then again, neither was coming here today in the first place.
Agendas can change rather quickly, it seems.
“C’mon, gimme a smile,” the guard in front of you laughs, brining your head up. You don’t comply, so he smacks you upside the head once again. “I said GIMME A SMILE, BITCH!”
You recover, and when you do, you give him the biggest shit-eating grin you can make. “Fluttershy had bigger balls than both of you.” Not your best comeback, but certainly one that got to them.
“That’s it!” the one behind you shouted, slamming his hoof into your leg. You feel the bones inside it snap and break, and you let out a wailing scream, before everything becomes a blur and swirls around you as you black out from the pain.
You slowly begin to come to when you believe is a few hours later; your body, despite the pains you were already feeling, is in even more pain than it was in before.
…Well, it can’t get any worse. If you’re going out, you’re gonna go out on your own terms. You grit your teeth and push your body up with your forehead, finally managing to get to your knees. The pain was almost unbearable, but you push through it. You have to.
Okay, Anon, time to take in your surroundings. Are there any more guards watching? You look around; it’s too damn dark to see anything much farther than ten feet. Alright, you’re going to assume that someone’s at least watching you, even if they’re not actively participating in your captivity.
As you bring yourself to your feet, you make sure to pull your pants up. The least those guards could have done for you was put your clothes back on after they were finished. Then again, roughly 12 seconds of stamina per stallion doesn’t even compare to you. That makes you feel a little better; at least it didn’t last as long as you thought it did.
Your eyes, now completely glazed over and baggy from pain and lack-of-sleep, travel over to the chair you were in.
…You could really use a chair to sit down and rest right about now.
Without touching your binds, you shuffle your legs slowly, one step at a time, over to it. With each step, however, your body grows weaker and weaker. You probably should have had breakfast. But now isn’t exactly the best time to be worrying about that…
At last, you reach the chair, and pull yourself slowly into it. Damn, your body is a lot stiffer than you remembered it being before; probably due to the blood loss. You plant yourself onto the chair, chained hands in your lap, and simply close your eyes. All that mattered now was controlling your breathing. Yes, that will help. Breathe in the nose, out the mouth… in the nose, out the-
Your recovery is interrupted when the echoing sound of a door slamming open explodes throughout the room. So much for your time alone. Your vision is blurry when you open your eyes, but you can see a distinct silhouette in the doorway, defined features hidden by the light behind the figure.
“Anonymous.”
Your eyes widen. No…
The figure walks into the room, the features becoming more and more visible.
But that didn’t matter. You would recognize that voice anywhere.
“Rainbow Dash…”
Some bro she turned out to be. You’ve officially declared your bro relationship over. She finally enters the lighted area of the room, and the door slams shut behind her. Covered head-to-toe in her laboratory outfit, along with a few bloodied stains, she’s giving you the most anger-filled look you’ve ever seen from her.
“They said… you were out sick… for the day…” you grin, your eyes hovering up to meet hers.
“And they said you went and stopped production in the factory,” she says, her voice filled with malice. She turns her head upwards, to the rafters above. “Leave us! I will converse with him unmonitored, that is an order!” You hear the shuffling of hooves and the flapping of wings around the room as the ponies hidden in the shadows of the room leave, the doors slamming behind them. She glances around the room, making sure no one was around, before turning to you with a grin. “You sly son of a bitch.”
You smirk, giving a light chuckle before coughing a bit. “You know… being beaten, raped, and otherwise tortured… has taught me something…”
She walks up to you, closer. “What?”
You grunt, turning your head and spitting out another splatter of blood onto the floor of the room. “Sometimes, you have to do something… even if you don’t want to.”
Her eyes widen. “But… why, Anon? Why go through all this trouble? Don’t you know that all of Equestria would turn to chaos if it weren’t for what we’re doing here?” she exclaims, placing her hoof to her chest. “We’re doing this because we’ve done it for the longest time. It’s all we know, Anon. It’s all I know…”
You nod slowly. “I want to know… something, first. Before I…”
She holds up her hoof to your mouth. “No, Anon; you’re not going to. I’ll make sure of it; you’re not going to-”
“Rainbow, I’ve been beaten up… my body is hardly… worth saving. I’ve been… electrocuted… raped by multiple pegasi guards… and left to die here…” You smile, still breathing a bit heavily. “So I want to know… what made you do it? Why are you who you… are?”
She hesitates for a moment, looking down at the floor. “Doctor Atmosphere. He’s… he’s the one that brought me into this world. This terrible reality,” she says, her tone of voice both reflective and a bit somber. “When I performed a Sonic Rainboom, during flight academy… they brought me here. Showed me what really happened in Cloudsdale,” she grits her teeth in anger. “What happened to… my friends who didn’t pass…”
You are all ears now. So, it really was Dr. Atmosphere all along…
“I can’t blame him for it, though…” she mutters, looking up at you again. “They needed me here. Needed me to… observe. Make sure nothing went wrong…”
“And I guess… I fucked up, didn’t I?”
She smiles at you for a moment, a bit absent-mindedly, before looking down at the floor again, her smile fading. “Yeah… yeah, you did.”
Both of you are silent for a few moments, before you break it.
“I’m going to die… aren’t I, Dash?”
She continues her silence for a bit longer, before speaking. “Anon… I have to ask you something very important right now,” she says at last, her eyes hovering up to stare at yours again.
So it was true, after all. You really were going to die here. “I know what you’re gonna say, Dash. You don’t have to say it…”
“No, Anon, I do… I have to say it…” she interrupts you. “Anon, tell me… what want me to do. You want me to take you out of here? Just let you run away? See how far you could get before they got you?” she says, pointing her hoof to the door.
Your eyes widen a bit at this in surprise, and you look up at her. “…Why would you do such a thing?”
She’s silent once again. “On the day of my judgment, when I stand at the crossroads between suffering and paradise… when Celestia and Luna ask me why... did I... did I have you killed...” she chokes up a bit, “W-what am I going to say? That it was my job?”
You raise your hands slowly up to her face, cupping them around the sides of her head. “You tell them… it was a kindness you’d done for me...”
She looks up at you with her big, magenta eyes, tears slowly gathering in them. She’s at a complete loss for words.
You cough out some more blood, the red liquid trailing down the side of your face and to your chin. “I know you’re hurting, Dash… I can feel it. But you’ve gotta let it go…”
She’s silent, her face trembling a bit in your hands, the feeling of wet tears trickling down her cheeks landing on your thumbs.
“I want it to be done and over with. I do…” You cough up a small amount of blood, and she jumps a bit, wiping it away. She brings your head to her chest as well, cradling your head in her hooves as your hands drop to your lap. Despite all of the pain, you persevere… “I'm tired, boss.”
Her eyes widen; it’s the first time you’d ever called her that.
“I’m tired of hurting... I’m tired of making others hurt… because of my ignorance. I'm tired of being responsible for all that’s happened here.” A small tear hits your forehead. She places a hoof to your mouth briefly, trying to get you to stop, but you turn your head away from it, and continue. “…Mostly, I'm just tired of ponies being ugly to each other... I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear and see in the world... there's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?”
She buries your head against her chest, cradling it like a mother. “Yes, Anon… I think I understand…”
The two of you stay like that for the longest time, the feeling of Dash’s chest the only semblance of peacefulness you’ve felt all day.
However, your peaceful moment is interrupted when there is a banging on the door. Rainbow’s heart skips a beat, and she looks to the door, before easing your head off of her and setting you upright again as quickly and as gently as possible.
Eventually, the door opens, and a dark red pegasi floats in, landing next to Rainbow. “Well well, Anonymous, have you finally seen the error of your ways?” he laughs, walking forward to you. “Has my daughter shown you the light?”
Your eyes immediately widen and your pupils shrink to pinpricks. “…Daughter…?” You cast a look at Rainbow, who’s doing a marvelously convincing job of returning a hateful stare.
“Well, now, looks like the cat’s out of the bag!” the doctor lets out another horrifyingly joyous, maniacal laugh. “Rainbow Dash, your best friend, is not only the one that runs the Factory, but my daughter as well!”
…It all made sense to you now. Rainbow didn’t join up because she wanted to. She was forced to by her father, after she performed the Sonic Rainboom. Some father he turned out to be.
“So, let’s get this show on the road! Guards!” he looks up to the rafters, “Take Anonymous here to the Device! Let’s see if we can get anything out of him!”
Rainbow raises an eyebrow at him. “That’s idiotic; humans don’t have Spectra in them.”
The doctor’s eye twitches a moment, before he closes them. “Science demands that we at least try. He’s going to end up dying anyway, so might as well speed up the process, wouldn’t you agree?” he grins at Rainbow.
She scoffs. “Ridiculous...”
“Excellent! Bring him!” the doctor laughs, floating out of the room.
You and Rainbow exchange momentary glances, before you’re picked up, rather roughly, by two masked pegasi and carried out of the room behind Doctor Atmosphere, with Rainbow following close behind. They drag you down the hallways that you were so familiar with, so used to walking through each and every day… until you come to a door.
…Funny, you don’t remember this door being here before. Maybe this was a new hallway they’d dragged you through? All of the hallways looked the same in here…
They bring you into another large room, similar to the one you were in captivity in before. The difference here, however, was that the walls weren’t lined with vats of Spectra… but the room was filled with distraught pegasi, some barely old enough to be full-grown. “Your attention, please!” Doctor Atmosphere announces to them as he floats above to the rafters, “We have a very special guest with us tonight! Please, put your hooves together for a little demonstration of the Device!” he laughs, and the masked pegasi around the room give cheers and shouts, while the other, trapped pegasi, remain silent.
“This is a human. His name is Anonymous,” the doctor says, pointing a hoof at you. The two pegasi hoist you up into the air, for all to see. “He is a worker here in the Rainbow Factory. However, he did not perform his duty, so we’re going to show you all what happens to ANY creature that would ruin the natural balance of things!”
He motions to the two pegasi, and they chain you up, latching you by your wrists up onto one of the chains hanging from the ceiling.
“Anonymous was the one formerly working the Device, however because of his betrayal, one of the other pegasi will be performing his duty tonight,” Rainbow announces. “He was a close friend of mine… and then he turned against us. His actions will not be tolerated, and he will be punished as such!”
“Wonderful, dear!” Doctor Atmosphere smiles at Rainbow. She scowls back at him.
“Shut the hell up, or I’ll have you join him as well. You may be my father, but you will get no special treatment from me for acting out-of-line and taking charge in my absence,” she hisses at him, her eyes fierce with anger. “Everyone has their own role here, and they know how to do it. It has perfect capability to run on its own. Now, get out of my sight.”
Whoa. Way to channel that anger to someone that deserves it!
His eyes widen in surprise for a moment, before stepping back. “O-of course…” he mutters, before flying off, tail tucked between his legs.
Her eyes hover to you, hanging on the chain. “…Start it up,” she says, rather bluntly, to one of the masked pegasi. “And stop the machine before he enters. I wish to have a final word with him.”
The pegasus nods with a grunt, and then flies out of the room. After a few moments, you hear the hiss and groan of gears and steam moving, as you are dragged slowly across the room. When you finally reach the end of the line, the machine comes to a standstill, as per Rainbow’s orders.
She flies down, the masked pegasi escorting her while others hold the other, trapped pegasi back. She walks up to you, and you are lowered down to where you are barely hovering above the ground.
“Do you have any last words, you idiot?” she hisses, her eyes glaring at you with hate, thoroughly burying her true emotions underneath.
You give her one final smile, your gaze meeting hers. “Has anyone ever told you… you have beautiful eyes, Dashie…?”
She is silent, though her eyes say otherwise. You always loved their deep magenta color. They could never lie to you…
And with those last words, you are lifted into the machine, and the world fades to black around you.
End
I hope you enjoyed this story. Like I said previously, this story may end up having multiple endings, so don't count this as the only possible ending; this is merely the original ending, as it was posted weeks back.
~Wuten
Alternate Ending #2 by By123445: Avenge
Colors of a Rainbow
Alternate Ending - Avenge
“Has anyone ever told you… you have beautiful eyes, Dashie…?”
The machine closes around Anon.
“He... He thinks that I have beautiful eyes...”
A muffled voice could be heard from the machine.
“Fluttershy also thought it...” said the human.
Thoughts raced through Rainbow’s mind. Thoughts of a yellow friend, thoughts of a slender, tall figure, thoughts of a broken heart.
“Yes! YES! Work, my beautiful creation! GRIND HIM INTO DUST!” Atmosphere’s voice boomed through the room.
Rainbow felt something under her lab coat. It was a knife. She always had it with her, just in case some of the volunteers didn’t want to cooperate. She brought it to see Anon, even though she knew, deep inside her heart, that she would not need to use it. Anon would never harm her.
The machine started making its dreadful sounds. Every gear turning caused her heart to shrink. Every piston moving made her lungs lose air. She flew up to the rafters, landing next to Dr. Atmosphere.
“Dad... do you... love me?” A thin voice came out of Rainbow.
“Ms. Dash, keep it professional!!” Dr. Atmosphere scolded Ms. Dash coldly. “Those kind of questions do NOT have place here.”
Under the noise of the machine, nopony could hear the noise of a heart being broken.
Under the noise of the machine, nopony could hear the souls of the rainbows scream in despair.
Under the noise of the machine, nopony could hear a female voice.
“Everypony I’ve ever loved... Everyone who’s ever loved me... You killed them.”
Under the noise of the machine, nopony heard the sound of a knife being plunged in the brain of a Doctor.
Rainbow lost herself.
She no longer had who loved her.
She had only one feeling: Hate.
She had only one desire: Revenge.
She knew who hurt them.
The closest guard fell to the ground with a lifeless expression...
She knew what she must do.
The sound of prisoners being freed echoed through the building...
She knew what Anon would have done.
Masked pegasi tried to stop the riot, but they were powerless...
A blade faster than the sound flew across the rainbow factory, striking with hooves, tainted with blood of past crimes.
A riot formed behind the blade. Prisoners finishing off guards, breaking everything, not a single gear left in its place, not a single container of Spectra left standing.
_____________________________
A few hours later, there were groups of pegasi taking care of themselves, helping injured, moving machinery, trying to escape their nightmare.
A mare was alone. She had a rainbow mane, tainted red.
She was crying.
Suffering her agony, her loneliness.
She would be punished for her crimes.
But she didn’t care.
For once in her life, she was free.
She would tell everypony the story of the Rainbow Factory, what she had done during all those years, so that no one would do it again.
She just wanted to make her only love’s will true.
The end of the nightmare factory.
Alternate Ending #3 by E-Ranger: Reflect
Reflect
How long had she been there? How long had she been standing there, where she witnessed Anon die? Rainbow Dash stood as still as a statue, standing before the great machine in the darkness. Why would did she keep coming here? Was it the guilt of knowing that the countless lives of pegasi were lost in this machine by her own hoof? No. She came because she stood by and watched as the only one who truly cared for her was lost, lost to the Spectra creating machine. She could feel a pit form in her stomach, and her eyes leaked wet tears, similar to what she would do every night.
“Has anyone ever told you… you have beautiful eyes, Dashie…?”
She liked to play the tough one, the brave one, the cold one. It was all a facade. She just wanted to look strong in front of her friends, in front of Anon. She stamped her hoof down against the feathery cloud beneath her, a small dent in the structure of the cloud. Why did she need to be born into such a life? She often tried to convince herself that this was for the greater good of the others, but was that really it? Was that really an excuse? An excuse to not only sentence one of her friends to death, but two? She had her doubts before, but now she could not find any solid arguments in defense of the merciless killing. She wished dearly that she could see Anon again, to apologize. To apologize for all of it. A sob that had been working its way up her throat escaped the confines that held it back, and was released into the silent night. A sob that had been kept within her for all this time.
“Ready!” Anon said in proud excitement.
“Alright, go!” She exclaimed herself.
She collapsed against the cloud, her face dipping into it and muffling the relentless horde of wracking sobs and cries of pain. She just wanted him back. The memories did not help. Flashbacks taunted her, never letting her forget what she had done. Why? Why did this have to happen? Her body shook and trembled.
"D-Dad, what are you doing to them?"
"What needs to be done, and what you will soon be doing. Call me Doctor Atmosphere from now on, Miss Dash." He said coldly.
"Yes Da... Doctor Atmosphere."
Upon her tear streaked face, she managed to form a scowl.
That...
That...
That... bastard.
She screamed in anger and tossed a nearby chair into the cloud wall, watching it faze through and out of the vapor-constructed building. He was the reason why she was in this mess. Why she was forced to do all of these terrible things. There was no excuse. She didn't want forgiveness. She didn't want purity. She wanted him dead. She was never a daughter to him. She was a tool. She was used as a tool against those she loved. She did not volunteer for this. There was no choice.
After composing herself, she stood and unruffled her wings. After briefly gazing back to the machine with a heavy heart and misty eyes, she left the building, taking to the sky to Reflect.
View Online
Alternate Ending #4 by Ethesto: I Am the Law
This is the greatest possible ending I have received yet. Well done, Ethesto. Well done.
I Am the Law
Rainbow Dash stared at the machine, a growing sense of dread filling her adorable, little-pony belly as the sounds of gears and pistons grinding Anon’s corpse into a fine, red paste filled the room. It was a horrible sound, reminiscent of wet spaghetti splattering continuously into a hard surface. Such was a normal sound for the machine, however, so the guards paid it no mind as they began herding all the little fail Pegasi into a line. It would be their turns to get ground up next and the guards preferred to do it in an organized manner.
Their attention was pulled away from their jobs, though, as an ungodly squelching sound came from the machine and the gears slowly ground to a halt, as though caught on something. They all turned and fixed their stares on the machine, wondering what was going on.
Doctor Atmosphere flew down from his spot on the rafters despite having been shooed away by Rainbow Dash mere moments ago. He was far too curious about whether or not the human would actually produce spectrum to turn a blind eye. Besides, he was more worried about the well being of the machine than incurring the wrath of his daughter. He trotted forward, inspecting the shoot leading into the machine with a critical eye.
“It must be clogged,” he said, looking into the hopper for what was blocking the gears. He turned and motioned towards the nearest guard. “Don’t just stand around, get the plunger!”
The guard immediately ran into a supply closet as Doctor Atmosphere turned to where his daughter was standing. Her jaw was dropped in a mixture of shock and horror and some moisture could be seen in her eyes, threatening to spill out in the form of delicious, salty tears, as she stared at the machine. “All those ridiculous clothes he always wore probably got caught in the gears,” he said, either uncaring or completely oblivious of Rainbow’s current mental state.
A moment later the guard returned, now carrying a modified plunger and a bucket of highly-corrosive acid. The acid would eat through anything caught in the machine, but wouldn’t damage the magically protected metal parts. Then they would open the bottom part and use the plunger to help flush out the corroded meat stew.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get a chance to clean the machine out before it began groaning, as though under immense strain. Suddenly cracks began to appear on its metal-plated surface and there was a series of loud snaps as if something inside were breaking. Every pony in the room stared wide-eyed at it, unsure of what was going on as they took a few involuntary steps back.
Then, without warning, the whole thing exploded in a massive gout of fire. Metal pieces flew out in all directions but, thanks to the poorly defined powers of magic, didn’t hit any of the ponies. Then the room was filled with smoke and silence. Not a single pony dared even breathe, afraid that the smallest sound would cause something to happen.
After only a few moments, the smoke cleared, and the ponies were able to take a look at what remained of the machine. More importantly, they were able to see a humanoid figure kneeling in the middle of the wreckage.
Rainbow Dash was overcome with relief, thinking that Anon had somehow survive the machine. As she looked closer, though, it became apparent it wasn’t Anon. His face was all different, and he was wearing a skin-tight skin-suit, undoubtedly fastened together from the flesh of countless slain enemies and his feet were covered by a pair of socks made from the tears of previously mentioned enemies’ children. He slowly stood up, fixing his eyes on Doctor Atmosphere who cowered under his intense gaze.
“I am Nicolas Cage,” he said in a voice like warm root beer flowing across your ear drums. “And I am the law!”
He suddenly raised his arms in the air, using the powerful magic of humanity to summon a dozen tiny Judge Dredds who were each riding an equally tiny dinosaur. As they appeared, they repeated the phase ‘I am the law!’.
It became immediately apparent to the guards that shit was about to go down and the more cowardly of the lot attempted to flee. The less bitchy guards, however, brandished their lightning sticks, ready to show this guy what’s what. Unfortunately for them, Nicolas Cage had trained under both emperor Palpatine and the Fire lord, so he knew a thing or two about lightning.
Without even wasting time on witty banter, he raised his arms, forked lightning firing from the tips of each of his fingers and into the heads of every guard in the room. Within seconds, all that remained of each of them was a thoroughly charred corpse. In the meantime he never moved his gaze from Doctor Atmosphere who was now trembling on the floor.
“Wha-what a-are you?!”
Nicolas Cage looked around, gauging the reactions of every pony in the room. “I thought I made it clear. I am the law.” He looked back at Doctor Atmosphere, fury now burning in his green eyes. “And there is no justice in murder.”
The doctor was unable to respond to such a badly-used Tyrael quote, or even gasp out a startled cry as Mr. Cage suddenly rushed forward with the speed of two cheetahs tied together, which is to say, really fast, and kicked out with one leg. His foot broke the sound barrier as it connected with Doctor Atmosphere’s neck, severing his head in one clean swipe. This was followed by a jet of blood erupting from his open neck-hole, as is normal when performing fatalities.
He then turned and looked Rainbow Dash up and down, admiring her sexy pony ass. She didn’t seem scared of him at all. In fact, if the liquid dripping down her tail was any indication she was actually aroused. He smiled down at her, and reached out with one hand, ruffling her mane with his overly-muscular fingers.
Rainbow shuttered at his touch. It felt sooooo good. She instantly jumped on top of him, eager for a gratuitous amount of sex. Something he was more than willing and experienced enough to give. Without another word they got down to business, electing to do it right there on the floor next to the fresh corpses of the guards and Doctor Atmosphere as the group of young pegasi in the room who had failed their flight tests and the tiny judge Dredds were forced to watch the whole thing.
And they all lived happily ever after… The end.
Author's Note
THIS IS ART
DO YOU SEE THIS?
Alternate Ending #1: Spaghetti
Alternate Ending #1
As the gears grind and the screams of terror and pain are heard, Rainbow looks down, her eyes pinpricks. “H-he thinks my eyes are… beautiful…?” she mutters, trembling.
Suddenly, an alarm begins to sound. All of the ponies look up at the machine. Doctor Atmosphere lets out a cackling laugh, standing above the machine. “Yes! YES! Work, my beautiful creation! GRIND HIM INTO DUST!”
The machine, gears grinding and steam fizzling, continues pushing out red, bubbling liquid through its pipes. “No… Anon, what have I done?!” Rainbow cries out. “Why did you have to go and do that, you… you baka!”
Everyone in the room goes silent.
Almost instantly, a large crack begins to drag itself along the side of the machine, before bursting and spraying the red substance all over the pegasi. Rainbow screams out in sheer horror.
…And from opening her mouth, is involuntarily forced to taste the liquid.
Her cries stop, and she looks down in surprise. “I-is this… tomato sauce ?”
As if the realization was like the opening of the flood gates, the machine itself begins to ooze out a strange, meaty substance in addition to the sauce.
“Oh… oh my…” Doctor Atmosphere mutters, before he is caught in the eruption of sauce and meatballs, swept into the machine by the sheer amount of sauce.
The machine lets out spurts and puffs of various Italian substances at random intervals; at this point, all of the pegasi are panicking, unsure of what to do. Rainbow, however, just stands there, baffled by all of this.
And then… comes the noodles. The machine at this time has reached its breaking point, and is near to bursting forth with all of the spaghetti contained within.
“I guess…” she mutters as chaos erupts all around her, “Humans really are made of food…”
And then Rainbow was spaghetti.
Good end.
Written as a joke response to butthurt in the thread on 4Chan at the original ending. I hope you had a chuckle.
~Wuten
