Rainbow Factory Twisted

Crunch wakes up the next morning, and sees an empty space next to him where the dead pony used to sit. Crunch sighs to himself, “He was a nice pony, but in the end, he was weak... I needed to do what I needed to do.” Crunch says. “I can’t fall behind now, or else I will be just like him... I can’t let that happen to me...” Crunch says to himself determined as he goes to get up. Crunch looks around and sees that all of the other workponies are already at their job. “I have to get moving because I’m sure they’re waiting for me.”

Crunch puts on his equipment and forces a smile, following the other workers to the Rainbow Factory. “I won’t let what happened to that poor pony yesterday happen to me,” he says to himself.

“Alright, let’s get to work!” Dr. Atmosphere calls out to everyone. “You know what happens to anyone who slows down so don’t bother.”

Everyone nods while Crunch walks over to the machine. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “You can do this Crunch,” he says to himself. “Just don’t slow down, and you will be fine.” He opens his eyes and grabs the handles of the machine. “Ok, here I come, Spectra... Bring it on.”

He slowly works the machine, learning how to do it step, by step. But his thoughts are interrupted by somepony shouting at him, “Hey you!”

“Yeah?” Crunch looks back at the pony, who is pointing at him.

“I need someone to bully, so come over here!” The pony said, sternly looking at him.

“Couldn’t you umm, pick someone else?” Crunch said, standing his ground.

“Nope. I pick you, so get over here.” The pony says menacingly. “You think you can talk back to me?”

Crunch sighs, knowing that there is no way to get out of this, “Alright...” He says defeated walking over to the pony.

Dr. Atmosphere comes over to see what the commotion is about. “What’s the problem here?” She asks.

“He was talking back to me,” the pony says.

“Is that true?” Dr. Atmosphere asks while looking at Crunch.

“No, she’s just acting like a brat.” Crunch responds back.

Dr. Atmosphere sighs, “Alright everyone, get back to work.” she says tired and annoyed as she walks away. “I swear, the new recruits just don’t act like what they used to,” she says under her breath.

“Ha, ha!” The pony said. “I don’t get to work, unlike you.”

“Who even are you?” Crunch asked.

“My name is Jade, Jade Specter. I’m like Dr. Atmosphere’s right-hand pony, so she doesn’t care about anything I do, basically.”

“So what, does that mean I’m supposed to give you special treatment then?” Crunch asks. “Because you’re ‘special?’” He says mockingly, “If you’re so special why are you here?” Crunch asks the pony.

“Because I like to bully other ponies...” Jade replies.

“Oh, and why’s that? Got nothing better to do?” Crunch says back smugly.

“Because I can,” Jade replies, “And what are you gonna do about it?” She says, giving him a sinister look.

“HEY!” The guard interrupts us. “No fighting, or else you both will get taken to the machine!”

Jade Specter turns to the guard with a smug expression and says in a very sarcastic tone: “Oh, I’m sorry!” She says in a mocking tone. She scoffs and walks off with her nose up in the air.

The guard then looks at Crunch with an annoyed expression. " I would suggest you be more careful next time... She gets very angry, very easily...” They warn him.

“How come she hasn’t been taken to the machine with that attitude?” Crunch questions himself.

“Well... Let’s just say she has connections,” the guard says, winking suggestively. Their smile turns into a sinister grin. “She’s almost like Doctor Atmosphere’s right-hand pony, you see.” They whisper to Crunch in a soft, menacing voice.

“And that means she can get away with anything, as long as she doesn’t slow down or get in the way of The Factory...” The guard adds with a smirk.

Crunch nods, “Yeah, I get it.” He says. “So, she’s the boss’s favorite pony. I won’t let it get to me.” Crunch says as he walks away, knowing that there’s nothing he can do to fight back at this point without risking his own safety.

He sees Jade standing by a nearby machine, watching him closely as he works. Crunch tries to ignore her and keeps working, but after a while, Jade speaks up. “You’re not special, you know,” she says coldly, “Just another pony like the rest of us.”

Crunch feels offended by what Jade has said, but he tries to ignore her and keeps working. But after a while, her insults start to get to him, and he decides he’s had enough. He stops his machine and faces her and says, “Fine if you’re so much better than me, do you mind telling me what exactly you do here? You just stand around and do nothing, but act like you’re important.” Crunch says. “But from where I’m standing, it looks like you’re just as much of a workpony as the rest of us.” He ends.

Jade is taken aback by Crunch’s sudden outburst, but quickly recovers and snaps back at him, “I already told you, I’m more important because I’m Doctor Atmosphere’s right-hand pony.” She said with her nose still up in the air.

Crunch rolls his eyes, “So you’re just a glorified boss’s pet.” He replies, trying to hide his growing anger at her haughty attitude.

“Yeah, you could say that,” she says smugly. “At least I’m special, unlike you...” she adds, clearly enjoying provoking him.

Crunch feels himself lose control. Before he can stop himself, he grabs the closest object, a wrench, that is in front of him, and he throws it at Jade, hitting her right in the face. Crunch immediately realizes what he has done. He stands in shock as the other ponies’ eyes go wide with surprise, while Jade stares at him, a mix of shock and anger on her face.

“You- you hit me!” Jade exclaims, clutching at her cheek, “You can’t just hit me like that!” She says, her voice tremulous with anger, “Who do you think you are?!”

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t... I didn’t know what got into me.” Crunch said.

“What do you mean you didn’t know what got into you?!” Jade shouts. “You did that on purpose! You could have killed me!” She screams, still clutching her face, and the other ponies all gasp in surprise as Jade points toward him accusingly. Crunch can tell that he’s in trouble.

Crunch can feel sweat starting to bead on his brow as Dr. Atmosphere comes over to investigate. “What on earth is going on here?” she asks sternly.

“He- he attacked me!” says Jade.

“Is that true?” Dr. Atmosphere asks. “Did you attack Jade?”

Crunch feels himself freeze up. He doesn’t know what to say and is scared of telling the truth. “I...” he stutters before Jade cuts him off.

“Of course it’s true!” she says with a furious look. “How else would I get hit?”

“STOP OVERREACTING, YOU DUMB BITCH!” Crunch yells out all of a sudden, covering his mouth.

The other ponies all gasp at the sudden outburst even Jade is stunned in sheer shock. Crunch can see the look of pure fury on her face as she stares at him with an even stronger force of anger.

Dr. Atmosphere sighs and puts her head in her hooves, shaking her head before looking at Crunch and saying, “What is wrong with you?!”

Crunch just stays silent, his mouth agape as he can’t bring himself to say anything as he waits for what is going to happen to him now that he has completely screwed up.

“Just follow me.” Dr. Atmosphere says, sternly looking at Crunch.

“Yes ma’am,” Crunch says, sounding a little frightened as he follows Dr. Atmosphere. He isn’t sure what she is going to do to him and for a second, he wonders if he should try to get away, but the other ponies are still watching, so he decides to do as he is told. Crunch has no idea how bad this day could get.

Crunch follows her to a solitary cell, presumably for him. “Inside. Now!” Dr. Atmosphere says sternly, pointing at the cell before locking the door behind him.

Crunch looks around the small, cramped cell, realizing that he is trapped inside by himself. Dr. Atmosphere gives him a smug look of satisfaction once she sees him locked away, and she walks away, probably happy to be rid of him for at least a little while. Crunch can only stare after her as he is left alone to think about what has happened, and what is likely to happen to him next...

Why did he burst out all of a sudden? He questioned himself. He really didn’t know. Crunch thinks to himself, He just snapped. He had no control over his emotions. And now he’s paying the price for it.

But was it worth it? Was it worth losing control and attacking Jade? It felt good to stand up to her for once, to show her what he thought of her, but it just lead to more troubles.

Crunch sighs, thinking about the mess he is in now just because of his sudden outburst...

But he is interrupted by a slamming noise, who could that be? He looks outside the tiny window and sees a pegasus coming towards his door. Scared that it might be Jade, he hides so she can’t see him.

“Hello?” The pegasus asked, which seemed to not be Jade’s voice, so he peeked into the window and it was a robot pegasus looking back at him. “Oh, you’re one of Jade’s victims huh? Here, let me help you.”

His heart starts to race as the robot pegasus opens the cell door. Crunch looks at the robot, still cautious. Is this another trap?

What’s the catch... Who put this robot here to help me? But he doesn’t have time to question it as the robot pegasus is standing at the open door, waiting for him to make a move. Crunch hesitates for a moment before stepping out of the cell.

“Ok... I’ll trust you... But just to make sure, what’s your name?” Crunch asks the robot.

“Sky. Helper of all people who fall to Jade’s traps.” The robot says.

Crunch nods, “Ok, Sky... What’s your purpose here? Are you just here to help me, or is there more to it than that?” Crunch asks, still cautious, but he is trying really hard to be reasonable and trust that this robot is actually on his side.

“Jeez, you’re a talkable one, aren’t you? Relax, I’m not here to kill you. Jade used to be a friend of mine, but we umm... Aren’t friends anymore, ok I don’t know why I just told you that.” Sky said, awkwardly.

Crunch can’t help but smile for a second in confusion at the robot pegasus reply, Does this robot know how odd he is acting?

“Ok... So what happened if you don’t mind me asking?” Crunch asks, “What changed between you and Jade?”

“No questions, now let’s just get out of here before the guards come to check on you,” Sky says, already walking over to the exit.

“No questions? Wait... Is this robot working for Dr. Atmosphere too?” Crunch thinks, “I need to know if I’m walking into a trap!”

But... Sky saved me from that cell for some reason... Maybe I really can trust him... Crunch sighs, “Ok... No questions, I’m just gonna follow you.” Crunch says with a small nod, falling in line behind the robot as they start to make their way out of the Factory.

Before they can get out of the Factory though, they are stopped by two guards with tasers. “Is there a problem here?” The first guard says, clearly threatening them both.

“Umm, no! I’m just taking him back to his sector, I g-got lost.” Sky says.

Oh, come on... Crunch thinks, Is this really gonna happen? Is Sky just gonna turn on me that easily?

A million questions are being asked in Crunch’s mind but only one seems to matter at the moment...

How do I know if I can trust him? How do I know he’s not just going to sell me out to Dr. Atmosphere again? He can’t go against his programming... Can he?

“Ok, so I may have a... Toggle for killing people. I can’t kill people unless it’s toggled on, but it’s not toggling on!” Sky quickly whispers to Crunch.

A toggle for killing people...? That’s a really convenient piece of code... Crunch thinks to himself.

“Am I supposed to just believe him? Why would they even program something like that into him? It doesn’t make any sense...” Crunch thinks to himself as he is left speechless by the robot’s statement the two guards just stare at him waiting for an answer... What if it’s a bluff to trick me into following him?

But it could also be true... Do I really trust this robot..? Or do I take my chances by going it alone...

The guards start to raise their eyebrows, getting suspicious.

“Ok, you know what, just follow me back to the sector and when I get back, I’ll help you later, I promise,” Sky whispers to Crunch.

Crunch looks from Sky to the two guards, clearly conflicted. There’s no way the guards are just going to let me go just like that, right?

It seems that Sky is my only chance now... Crunch thinks to himself as he tries to stay calm.

“Alright...” Crunch says finally. “I’ll trust you. But if you double-cross me... I’m going to find a way to make you hurt, ok?” he says to Sky, before taking a deep breath and walking out of the room, following the robot down the halls.

“I reassure you, I’m not evil,” Sky says, walking down the halls while Crunch followed him. Eventually, they got back to his sector. “I guess this is goodbye for now,” Sky says, smiling.

After all of this, he’s just going to dump me off as if nothing happened!? He thinks to himself as he stares at Sky, his anger starting to build up inside of him again, but this time he keeps a lid on it, just barely. He has a feeling there isn’t any other choice... As much as he hates to admit it, Sky had the upper hand and held all the cards now...

“Alright, see ya!” Sky says, leaving the sector that Crunch is in.

He starts working the machine again, but his thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a whistle, indicating the start of their workday. While he’s distracted, a cart full of dead ponies rolls down to him, scaring him.

“It’s you again... I thought you were still in there.” A voice from behind says. Wait, is that Jade Specter?

Crunch’s fears are instantly confirmed as it is indeed Jade Specter standing next to him, with a very sinister look in her eyes.

“You must be Crunch, right?” Jade Specter says with a sinister smile on her face. “I heard that you have a special test today...” Jade Specter adds a sinister tone to her voice. “Follow me.”

Crunch gulps, the thought of this special test already beginning to fill his mind with an immense feeling of fear...