Scream

AN:so this is my first actually completed fanfiction, and I apoligize in advance for any inaccuracies as far as how Rainbow Factory was written and how I wrote my story, it has been a while since I've read Rainbow Factory.

Scream

“I tried my best to block out the screams, but they’re haunting me in my dreams.”

-“Awoken”

“We’re getting in the next few failures today.” The cold, unforgiving voice of my boss Rainbow Dash called out over the intercom. I never have and never will understand how someone can act so normal and heroic in public, winning over the hearts of thousands of little fillies, then run a sadistic, evil place like this where everypony hates her in private. “Sonic Flare, it’s your turn to give them the welcome speech.” I felt all the eyes of my coworkers burning holes in my body. This was the worst part of working here in the Rainbow Factory. Seeing those faces, maybe of somepony you knew before you came to work here. Knowing they wouldn’t live much longer. The worst part is knowing it is YOU who kills them.

You see, it’s Cloudsdale’s responsibility to create rainbows. And that’s exactly what we do here in the Rainbow Factory. But rainbows aren’t just created. They require our blood, the very thing that gives us all of our different colors. It is a horrible, disgusting, twisted way to create something so beautiful, but it must be done. Each year, those who are going to graduate from our school in Cloudsdale must pass a test to graduate, and those who fail…well…they’re sent here. Once they come here, they don’t leave unless it’s in a wooden box. Nopony ever leaves the Rainbow Factory alive. Not even those who work here. If we leave, we might tell somepony what goes on here. That can’t happen.

I stopped what I was doing and made my way to the elevator that would take me to the main floor. A song about lying in an open field and staring up at the sun softly played from the radio station the Factory always played. I felt as if it were playing to mock those trapped here. ‘Look, I’m free and you aren’t.’ The elevator stopped on the ‘Killing Floor’ (as I liked to call it) and opened for me to exit. I crossed over to the bloodstained floor and looked at the wide-eyed ponies that had been here for the past year or more. They were separated from me by huge metal bars, the floor around them covered in more tears than blood. Sometimes I think dying as soon as possible is better than waiting around for the inevitable to happen.

“Let us go! Please!” somepony begged. Tears came to my eyes, and I thanked Celestia I had actually remembered to wear my goggles today. If they saw that I cared about their misery, they might get me put in the same position as them.

“What time do this year’s failures get here?” I asked one of the ponies who guarded the locked door that opened the cell.

“Any minute now.” He replied, “Be careful. I heard there’s a fighter this year.”

I nodded, thanking him for the warning and making my way to the entrance, where I waited for about ten minutes for the carriage filled with seven or eight ‘failures’ to arrive. This was actually a lot more than normal. Good for the Factory, I suppose.

“You won’t kill me! I’ll fight you all to my last dying breath!” a familiar voice shouted.  My heart sank. I’d know that voice anywhere. It was the voice of my younger sister, SunSpot. I looked at her in shock, removing my goggles. “Flare…” She said, her eyes beginning to water. Something told me she knew exactly what this place was, and what would happen to her.

“This is your sister?” I heard my boss ask from behind me.

“Rainbow Dash?” My sister had IDOLIZED Rainbow Dash when she was younger. I couldn’t decide which was worse for her, finding out her sister was a murderer or her idol was in charge of the whole operation. Her sadness quickly turned to anger. “You won’t get away with this.”

“I have for years now. I murdered the very pegasus that I tried so hard to keep out of this place, what makes you think you could ever escape me alive?” Rainbow Dash replied. She turned to one of the nearby guards. “Why don’t we demonstrate to the others what we do here at the Rainbow Factory.” The guard grabbed my sister by her wing.

“Let go!” She screamed. It took me a couple of seconds to realize what was going on.

“No…” I said, my eyes widening.

“And…you run the machines.” Rainbow Dash said, pointing at me. I nodded, my heart beating quicker than it should. I ran over to the elevator, which took all too long to come. Rainbow Dash followed behind, to make sure I got the job done. When I reached the second floor, I hurried over to the machines. I had to think of something. I’ve seen some horrible things in my three years at the Rainbow Factory, but being ordered to kill my own sister was just…sick.

I took the controls of the machine, pressing a button and having the restraints lower down and grasp my sister, tightening around her small body and tying her to the metal bloodstained flat surface that I had seen so many others die on in the past. A knife was lowered down to her. It stopped right in front of her heart. I saw tears begin to run down her cheeks.

“Flare!” She cried, her eyes locked on the knife. It rushed toward her. I looked away, and before I knew what I was doing, slammed my hoof down on the ‘Stop’ button. The knife stopped inches away from her heart.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Rainbow Dash growled. I was frozen in place, unsure of what I had just done or what to do next. “Get her!”

Everypony who worked in that factory immediately turned to me. “We can save them!” I shouted, “And keep our lives!” Three years I had worked at this factory, and I never could even dream of having half the courage I was able to hold together at that moment. I looked back over at the controls to the machine that my sister was trapped in, and pressed the button that would release her. She fell to the floor, and then charged forward towards the guard nearest to her, knocking him on his flank before he had time to register what just happened.

“They can’t take us all at once!” She said to the other captives. “You!” she pointed at a pink and white pegasus. “Your special talent is picking locks, right? Get those ponies out of there. Quickly!” The pegasus rushed over to the lock, and within seconds it had fallen to the floor. The guard didn’t even try to stop her.

“What do you all think you’re doing!?” Rainbow Dash hissed. Nopony moved, except for the ones on the main floor. “Fine! I’ll finish this myself!” She lunged at me, but before she had the chance to do anything, I raised up on my front hooves and kicked her square in the chest. She crumbled to the floor, desperately trying to find her breath. A blue and black colored stallion standing next to me found this to be the perfect opportunity to kick her down into the prison cell she kept all her captives in. When she hit the ground, my sister locked the door.

“It’s time to end this.” I said, taking the controls of the machine once again. The entire factory grew silent, other than Rainbow Dash’s screams for mercy.

“You told us for so long to block out their screams, Dash.” The stallion who had pushed her down into the cell said, “Now it’s time we block out yours.” He looked over at me and nodded. I pressed the green button that caused the machines of the Rainbow Factory to come to life. The restraints took hold of Dash, as she struggled, cried, begged and screamed for us to show mercy. Nopony did. I pulled the lever that would activate the knife, and within seconds the nightmare of the Rainbow Factory came to an end with one last push of a button. The former prisoners of the Factory cheered, both worker and ‘failure’ alike.

“We did it. I can’t believe…I can’t believe it’s over.” I said to myself as the crowd of ponies made their way out of the Factory. We agreed never to tell anypony of what happened here, in fear that it would happen again, but it would never be forgotten in our hearts. Some of the captives began calling me a hero, but I don’t think of myself as one. I killed their friends for money I couldn’t leave the Factory to spend. But all of that was over now, and it would never happen again. Rainbow Dash was dead, along with her bloody nightmare of a Factory. Nopony would ever have to suffer at her hand again.

“Now I’ve awoken, and I’m taking back control.”