Rainbow Factory Twisted

Crunch groans as he seemly wakes up in a black void. “Wh-what just happened? Am I dead?” His head starts to hurt as he tries to make sense of it all.

“I must be... This all must be some kind of hell... Or... The after-life...” Crunch mumbles, their words coming out in a small, hushed, and scared tone. He walks around, looking for some sort of clue.

Crunch finds what they’ve been looking for almost immediately... His eyes spot a door with a large sign above it that says “EXIT” in big, bold red lettering.

But... Crunch’s fears get the best of them... He is afraid to go through the door... It feels like the door will just lead him deeper into hell... The exit seems suspicious... But he has to escape... So he takes a deep breath... And he opens the door.

Crunch immediately regrets that decision as he is pushed back by a huge hoove, making him fall. He gets up and looks at the monster that beholds him and gasps.

The beast in front of Crunch is nothing short of nightmarish as the beast stares down at him. He tries to scream. This is it... They’re going to die here ... They should have never done the test in the first place.

The beast is made out of dead ponies, who are assumed to be the victims of the Rainbow Factory. Crunch shakes in fear as he cries, looking straight at the monster with remorse in his eyes.

“You can not hide from me, Crunch.” Says a raspy voice from behind Crunch’s shoulder... The beast appears to have appeared behind him in an instant and now towers over him. He tries to get up and run for the door... But he is stopped by the beast’s sharp claws which rip into his back.

“AGH! God damn it...” He coughs out blood, laying there hopelessly. He closes his eyes until he hears a scream from the beast, and as he opens his eyes, he saw the ghost in his vision when he went into the pool of mercury spectra. The beast lies on the ground, still screaming. The ghost is standing there, who just beat the beast. “S-Scoot, is that you? I cough couldn’t hear your name last time we cough, cough met.”

“Don’t... Call me... That...” The ghost replies in a raspy voice... As they have just been through a terrible ordeal.

“I... Am... Scootaloo...” The ghost adds as they look down at Crunch.

“How... Did you do that?” Crunch asks, and the fear in his voice is clear.

Scootaloo lets out a long sigh after hearing Crunch’s question... Like they are exhausted. “My wings...” Scootaloo says with a deep sigh... “They... They have been... Corrupted...”

Scootaloo then looks down at Crunch...

“Like yours...” Scootaloo replies... “You must come with me...”

“Where... Where are we going?” Crunch asks, confused.

“We’re in a black void, figure it out,” Scootaloo answers in a calm, serious tone, looking straight ahead, but there is something unnatural about her, her attitude, and her coldness.

“It is here... That you will die...” Scootaloo replies after a long silent period.

“WHAT?!” Crunch stopped. “I’m not dying, not yet! My story is not over yet... Right?”

“Don’t fool yourself...” Scootaloo replies in a raspy voice once again... “You are here for one reason... To die...”

“You are weak... And worthless...” Scootaloo adds.

“You aren’t the Scootaloo I once heard about. You were energetic and was fun and all that stuff, what the hell happened?” Crunch said, concerned.

“What makes you think you are so special...” Scootaloo replies, stopping and turning toward Crunch in an instant.

“You’re not her, aren’t you? You’re just a fake!” Crunch runs towards her, punching her in the face.

“Oh... You... Want to fight, do you?” Scootaloo replies. Her eyes then light up with an evil flame. “Well, then...” Scootaloo says in a voice that sounds similar to Jade Specter.

And in one fluid movement, Scootaloo punches Crunch, making him hit an invisible wall of sorts.

“What’s wrong?” Scootaloo says as she laughed. “Are you too weak to fight me? How unfortunate...”

Crunch grins. “No, I’m not, I’m just gathering some energy.” He spread his wings and flew the fastest he could, hitting Scootaloo back very hard.

“Is that all you’ve got!?” Scootaloo says with that same cold, uncaring tone in their voice... The tone sounds almost like a taunt... The tone that makes his skin crawl...

Scootaloo then spreads her wings in return and charges straight toward Crunch, a fight between him and her erupts as the two race through the black void at a fast speed.

The speed was so fast that Crunch is sent spinning out into the black void as his vision is blurred for a second... An overwhelming feeling of pain washes over him.

“You are weak...” Scootaloo says with a laugh but as Crunch attempts to get back up, Scootaloo transforms into Jade Specter, smirking. “You are not using your full potential... You USELESS, weak stallion. You play like a filly.” She scoffs. “You knew it wasn’t me, so good job on that. At least you’re not completely dumb.”

Crunch is immediately taken back to reality, where he is wrapped around and on a table, a VR headset right next to him.

“Huh? Where the hell am I?!” Crunch says with a gasp, his head spinning as he attempts to gain his senses.

“Pfff, stop overreacting Crunch, does it look like something bad is happening to you?” She walks over to him, grinning. “I don’t know where that beast came from though, maybe just a glitch.”

The white-hooded pony pushes Jade out of the way before she can belittle Crunch with insults, sinisterly smiling. “Hello, Crunch. It seems like you’re not ready yet.” They said. “I will have to remind you if you’re not ready yet, we might have to throw you away with the other... Useless experiments.”

“What?! No, I don’t want to be thrown away, but I don’t want to do whatever I’m getting ready for.” Crunch says, shaking. “But all of that feeling that Scootaloo or Jade said felt so... Real.”

“Then good for her acting career. But you... You need practice.” The white-hooded pony says, disappointed.

“Where is the real Scootaloo?!” Crunch demands. “Did I make all of that up in some kind of weird dream?!”

“SILENT!” The white-hooded pony shouts, making the room go immediately quiet. “You WILL be ready, even if it ends up in your death!” They say, stomping with their hooves.

“Who are you?!” Crunch finally manages to stammer out in a quiet, hushed voice.

The strange white-hooded pony laughs and looks at Crunch with an aloof and arrogant expression on their face...

“Who am I?” the strange white-hooded pony repeats with that same arrogant smile on their face...

“You’ll see...” the strange white-hooded pony adds with a hint of an unhinged giggle in their voice...

“Soooon...” the strange white-hooded pony whispers as their eyes turn pure black.

“Boss, there’s an umm... P-problem,” Jade says, even scared of them.

“WHAT. IS. IT?!” The white-hooded pony looks sternly at Jade.

“Something is flying towards these doors, really fast...” Jade says, peeking through the window. “Oh wait, it’s just Sky-” She is interrupted as the doors are knocked down and she is hit back towards the wall, hitting it, and making her unconscious.

“Who are you?” The white-hooded pony looks straight at the pegasus who just knocked down the door.

“My name is Sky, and I can not let you hurt him.” Without a moment’s glance, Sky kicks the white-hooded pony into the wall, making him fortunately unconscious too. “Now, you. We have to talk, but not right now.” Sky unwraps Crunch making him free.

“Oh thank god, it’s you Sky!” Crunch says, relieved.

“Yep it’s me, now get out of here before...” The alarms already are sounding. “That! Go, go, go! That stupid hooded pony called the emergency alarm before I could get him unconscious.” Sky gestures towards the exit, nodding for him to go.

Crunch nods back, preparing his wings, and flew out the door, leaving a trail of fire behind. He goes through the hallway, trying to find an exit.

Can Crunch find an exit, or will he be captured once again?