Rainbow Dash exited the shower, drying herself off with a towel. She took a shower before leaving the factory for the day but somehow she felt it wasn't enough. she threw the towel towards her bed as she stood in front of the mirror to fix her mane but stopped in the process. Instead she just froze there looking at her own eyes. Last thing Scootaloo told her was that her eyes were beautiful.

She shook her head. Why was she thinking back at the dying ramblings of a useless failure?! Scootaloo had what was coming to her. She deserved it. Otherwise she would have passed that test and all would have been fine. But she failed and as so she needed to be put away. All she was good for was to make colors. And to think Rainbow thought she had potential in her. Guess she was simply delusional. But what does she care. She was a nobody. She wasn't even her real sister. She was just a failure. Meanwhile this was her job. Her duty. She had to do this in order to keep Cloudsdale clean from failures and to keep the supply of rainbows up. This was certainly more important than some worthless filly who couldn't even pass a test.

But then why did it bother her?

Tears started to flow from her eyes. Her face contorted with rage and her breathing got heavy. Her gaze turned towards a picture of her and Scootaloo that was put on her mirror. She took it and ripped it to pieces. Then she started punching the mirror, breaking it into shards all while snarling like a wild animal. She started attacking any object she could find on her room and scream to the top of her lungs.

"WHY?!!" She yelled "WHY COULDN'T YOU PASS ONE STUPID TEST?!" she kicked her collection of Daring Do books and punched a whole through her closet door "YOU MADE ME DO IT!! YOU DID!! IT'S YOUR FAULT!! YOURS!!!"

After there were no more stuff for her to break she just stood there screaming at nothing as if she was possessed by a demon. Tears ran like waterfalls from her eyes but she wasn't sure if she was feeling sad or just extremely rageful. Years working on the factory had messed her up to the point she couldn't understand anymore. But she knew one thing. She was mad. Clearly, Scootaloo died because they hadn't done a proper job of cleansing failures out of Cloudsdale. Had they done it properly they'd be less failures like Scootaloo and maybe she wouldn't even had been one to begin with. Things needed to get rougher and stricter from now on. To make sure nopony else in the future experienced the same thing as she.

She took a pillow and buried her face in it, continuing to scream although it was more muffled right now thanks to the pillow. She kept screaming like that for a while until she finally collapsed and fell to the ground, letting her mind melt into unconsciousness.

hours later elsewhere

Scootaloo groaned. Her whole being felt sore. She felt warm sunlight on her face and could hear birds singing. She slowly opened her eyes to be met with light and as she started waking up she could tell she was in some sort of forest based on the trees around. The landscape felt familiar and then after a few minutes of confusion she realized she was in Winsome Falls. She had been here camping with Rainbow Dash and her friends years ago. What was she doing here?

Soon after her memory started coming back. The factory. Rainbow. She died. God. The Voice brought her back. She tried to get up but her legs felt weak and her head got dizzy so she feel back down.

'Careful now kid' the Voice was heard again 'I know you equines are usually ready to walk fresh out of the womb but trust me you don't want to stress your body too much after i literally put you back atom by atom.'

Scootaloo looked around for the source of the voice but found nothing.

'I'm not here physically you silly, I'm in your head. Careful when you're talking to me in public so others don't think you're too crazy' the Voice giggled

"In... my head?" Scootaloo asked, her confusion visible.

'Yeah. It's like when you were dead. I'm talking you you in your mind. Although I'm currently on a whole other planet.'

"Other planet?"

'Business meeting, nothing important. Now listen. I will be keeping in touch with you through our mental connection. Now here's the plan. To the factory you're thought as dead. It's better we keep it that way. Your enemy doesn't expect you when they don't know you're alive.'

"Wait. What do you mean by that?" Scootaloo borrowed her brow

'It means you must stay hidden. Nobody should know you're alive'

"What?! Well how am i supposed to tell others about the factory then? What about my friends?" she protested in response to what the Voice was suggesting.

'You think the factory wouldn't kill you on sight and then everyone you told about them once they found out? They have spies in places. They may be barbaric but they're not stupid.'

Scootaloo paused. She had no reply to that. It did make sense they would have spies. You can't just slaughter countless ponies and not make sure the secrecy is kept. And she didn't want to put her friends in danger. They were all she had now.

'To make sure you're not immediately noticed I've made some changes to you as well. Open that bag besides you'

"Wha-" Scootaloo looked to her left and saw a saddle bag that was rather big for her to carry. She reached out for it and in doing so she noticed her hoof was gray and froze from confusion.

'Open the bag.'

She decided to do as told and grabbed the bag. As she opened it she found some bread, water and other supplies inside including a mirror.

'Pick up the mirror.'

She did so and brought the mirror her face, only to gasp in shock. Her coat and mane had lost their color. Her orange coat was turned gray entirely and her mane too had lost its purple color and had turned grayish.

'Considering the situation in which you died i thought it'd be rather fitting' the Voice said with a chuckle 'This way people won't recognize you from afar'

Scootaloo would have yelled. But right now she didn't feel the will to do so. Considering what she went through, having turned gray was the least thing that could make her panic on this moment.

'You also will have a helper.'

"Wha-" this grabbed Scootaloo's attention away from her reflection "A helper? What do you mean?"

Hoof steps were heard from nearby. Scootaloo turned her head and saw a silhouette appear from between the trees and approaching towards her. At first she couldn't quite make it out but slowly the silhouette became much clearer. The pony had a pitch black coat with a wavy tail of the same color and a tall body, resembling that of princess Luna or Celestia with the exception it didn't have wings. However wings were not the only part it was lacking, because as it got close Scootaloo realized it didn't have a head. Her eyes got wide in terror as the headless pony approached. She recognized it. The Headless Horse. But she thought it didn't exist? She yelled in fear and started backing away.

'Fear not my dear, it means no harm.'

"I-it-it's" Scootaloo stammered " I-it's the headless horse!"

'Oh would you please stop yelling i told you it doesn't mean any harm' the Voice spoke in annoyance 'It's your helper'

"My... What?" she said in confusion

'Ugh do i have to spell everything out for you mortals? That there is your helper. It is going to be assisting you on your mission and also be your guardian and caretaker.'

"That thing is going to take care of me" Scootaloo spoke in a mix of shock and confusion.

'Hey it has feelings too, you know?'

The headless horse stoped right in front of Scootaloo, seeming to look at her.

"But i thought headless horse wasn't real" Scootaloo mentioned

'It wasn't' the Voice replied 'This is just a tulpa i created to take care of you given my physical absence.'

"You made it?" Scootaloo asked in awe

'Yes. It'll be looking after you. Don't let it's lack of eyes make you think it can't look after you.'

She spent a good minute just looking at the headless horse while it looked back. Or at least appeared to. It still scared her. But knowing it didn't mean any harm calmed her a bit.

'It'll do anything you tell it to do'

"Really?" This git Scootaloo interested "Can you find me a place to sit please?"

On que, the headless horse picked Scootaloo up and brought her to a nearby log. It put her down and helped her sit.

'See? Told you it wasn't that bad'

"Why headless horse?" Scootaloo asked, confused as to why specifically this creature was chosen to take care of her

'No particular reason, just thought it fitting. Also it'll scare off unwanted ponies should someone get too close your location.'

"That's cool!" Scootaloo said outloud "So what now"

'Now you and Lady No head stay in here and make a camp. That should do for now. I will inform you on when it's safe to start roaming back to civilization. Remember, you are dead. Don't let anyone discover you're alive. I'll have to go now. Wait for my call. Buy for now!" and then the Voice went silent.'

"Voice?" Scootaloo called but got no response. She looked at the headless horse. It just seemed to stand there. Then all of a sudden a chalkboard teleported in front off them and got engulfed by a black aura, seemingly coming from the headless horse who started writing something on it. Once done writing it showed it to Scootaloo.

'What do we do now?'

Scootaloo looked back at it. Seems like it was going to be her conversation friend as well. She smiled. She may not be able to talk to ger friends yet but at least she won't be lonely.

"Well we need to set a camp. Go find some fire wood while i catch up my strength"

Following her orders, the headless horse trotted away towards the trees. Scootaloo simply stayed there, thinking how things will go on from now on.

Author's Note

With the voice of god in her head and a headless horse by her side, Scootaloo sets on the mission to bring down the factory. Meanwhile Rainbow isn't doing all to well psychologically speaking.

I thought bringing the headless horse as Scootaloo's caretaker would be a nice contrast to the episode Sleepless in Ponyville where the headless horse was the monster and Rainbow was seen as Scootaloo's guardian while here roles are swapped with headless horse as the guardian and Rainbow Dash as the monster.
Also I'm having Scootaloo name the headless horse next chapter so if you have any name suggestions leave them in the comments. Headless horse is canonically a mare so I'm making them female as well.
Stay tuned!