WARNING: The following chapter contains the fictious depiction of a eugenicist, a practitioner of a political ideology The Madwomen find abhorrent and immoral. It is not detailed, but the themes are present. Viewer discretion is advised.

"So that was you, but with a different face," Rainbow said, half-asking.

"Precisely" was the Doctor's simple reply. He was well-composed, but the way he had talked about what he saw showed he was clearly shaken. Still, the Doctor wasn't the type to let horrifying things leave him speechless and unhelpful, at least for this regeneration.

"OK," Rainbow continued, "but he was still acting really different from you."

"Oh, there's a good reason for that," Pinkie chimed in. "When your body changes, so does your brain. You're still the same person, but you could have different thought processes which can affect how you act. Like I used to be a big ol' grumpypants who was serious and mean all the time, but now I'm Pinkie Pie!"

There was a bit of an internal cringe amongst the non-Time Lords present. The idea that their friends could become almost a different person if things went wrong...

"Yes, yes, all well and good," Rarity said, "although I should say that he seemed... Quite sorrowful in his recklessness."

The Doctor nodded. "Only the grieving would do something so drastic."

Twilight was flying overhead. She was scouting out the place for any monsters, maniacal villains, or foalnapped DJs since she was comparatively safe, being an immortal and all. Thus far, there was next to nothing left to explore. "OK girls, we still need to find out where Vinyl could be. We know that she can't have been trapped within the show, since we all went in and out of the stage fine. That being said, I have a theory, and it's one none of us are going to like."

This resulted in Rainbow groaning. "What is it, Twi?"

Twilight grinned anxiously. "I was thinking that maybe some features would only be visible if one of us was holding the mask. It's likely that what would be performed on stage would go on without any interference, and since all the 'performances' were some sort of worst case scenario, I suggest we all stay back and let it continue without us getting on stage so that we can avoid traumatic experi-" She was interrupted by a line of colors racing past her. She turned to see Rainbow on stage, in a position gearing for a fight.

"Hey Doc," Rainbow shouted, "wanna try out some Venusian karate against an evil me?" Twilight facehoofed. Right, she thought to herself. She literally dreams of fighting a horde of villains every night. Of course she would want to fight some evil version of herself, since that gives her a challenge.

The Doctor thought for a moment, before giving a sly grin. "Well, I suppose you could need a practical test on your abilities." Pinkie was the one to facehoof this time. Pinkie, you silly-billy, she thought. He's only on his third regeneration, and the Doctor always told me that version of him was an adrenaline junkie. No matter how much older he looks, he's still younger than when I met him.

The Doctor used a teleportation spell to appear right next to Rainbow, as Twilight gestured Pinkie to follow her in exploration. This left Rarity alone in the audience. Well, she thought, at least I get to see a show. With Rainbow and the Doctor working together, perhaps this won't be nearly as emotionally devastating as... Well, the other three.

Rainbow turned towards the Doctor. "Alright Doc, think you can teleport the mask here without activating it?" The Doctor smiled. "Let's find out. However, if we end up in a production that has me playing the part of Davros or something similarly horrible because of this, I shall blame you."

"No idea who that is," Rainbow admitted, "but sure. I just hope the other me isn't a Sombra equivalent or some shit like that."

"I similarly don't know who that is, Miss Dash, but I'll take your word on it."

"He was an evil dictator that brainwashed and enslaved an entire empire, with his eyes set on making all of Gaea his puppets. Your guy?"

"Created the Daleks, a species that can only feel hatred for other species and routinely commit genocide."

"OK, your guy wins in the evil competition, but not by a lot."

"Well, it certainly isn't neck-and-neck."

With that, the Doctor cast a spell on the mask that took it from the seat to in front of Rainbow. He was quite proud of how far he had come as a magic-user, although he still believed there was some sort of scientific explanation to it all. Starlight made a startlingly good teacher, to the point where the Doctor thought she would work best in a schooling environment. In response to the spell, the curtain twitched for a moment before returning to its original position.

Rainbow took a deep breath. "Alright, let's kick some flank."

She picked up the mask, putting it on top of her head like a hat so that she couldn't drop it in any altercations. As she did, the curtains opened, and the stage transformed around her and the Doctor. The dark wood of the venue faded, replaced by cold, dark machinery. The room was lit only by some colored tubes of liquid, thick in consistency. The containers each glowed with a unique color, each a color of the rainbow and larger than some adult dragons. The red tube in particular unnerved both adventurers, as the texture and color was disturbingly similar to blood.

"Miss Dash," the Doctor said, "have you the slightest indication of where we are?"

Rainbow nodded. "I think we might be in some dark version of the rainbow factory in Cloudsdale. It doesn't feel like it's the real deal, but more like the scary stories ponies tell around campfires about it."

"Could you elaborate?"

Rainbow scoffed. "Apparently they drain flight school dropouts of the color in their mane and coat, leaving them for dead. I wouldn't be surprised if the story was made up by parents trying to scare their pegasus foals into getting passing grades. It's a bit ridiculous if you think too hard about it, but it's bucking cool and scary if you take it at face value."

"And what," said a cold, calculating echo of a voice, "is so ridiculous about our factory's work?"

Both turned to see another mirror image of a mare wearing a lab coat, although instead of a purple unicorn it was a cyan pegasus. Her expression would have been emotionless if not for the fact that her brow was furrowed, and there were small splatters of color on her lab coat and cheek. Red, of course, was the most prominent.

Now, while Rainbow Dash may be impulsive and ready for action, she is not an idiot. She met the far-future version of Twilight, and although this double's opening line indicated the contrary, perhaps there was more going on. She could have been putting on a facade in case others were listening. As such, conversation was a good opener, and THEN she could kick some flank if things went south.

"Well, for one thing, it's eugenicist garbage," she said. "Also, there's only like 9 to 10 dropouts every year. Not enough for a year's worth of rainbows. Can't you just use fruits or paints?"

"Paint does not have the magical qualities of organic material," the imposter replied as quick as a whip. "Mammals can produce the most of their color, and equines have the largest variety of colors. Even a single foal could give us a year's worth of their signature colors. Logically, then, it's the most practical and efficient method."

"You don't seem perturbed," the Doctor piped in, "for a mare encountering someone who looks exactly like her."

The double smiled, but only with her mouth. "I've had training since I was a foal. I applied to the factory from a young age, and management made sure I was a perfect worker, and now I run the factory. What that means is nothing can truly shock me anymore. My best guess is you're a changeling."

"And let me guess," Rainbow said, "it also made you bigoted as buck?"

The double's face soured. "If you mean to ask if I can see reality as it is, then yes."

The Doctor stepped forward as he noticed two other workers creeping up towards them. "How in the blazes do you think you can get away with killing innocent lives? The moment word gets out, your entire institution will rightfully crumble."

The double gave an empty laugh. "The masses may be deluded into thinking even our cover story of exile is too extreme, and wonder about our intentions, but they don't know anything about the cost of their little luxuries. Somepony needs to go to Tartarus with good intentions, so to Tartarus is where I'll go. And, of course, even if they were to discover the source of rainbows, what could any of them do about it? The factory may be a private venture, but we have our hooves in so much of Equestria's infrastructure that taking us down is impossible without taking down all of Equestria in the process. Even if what I'm saying was revealed to the public today, nothing would fundamentally change. This confession is worth nothing."

Rainbow scowled. She could feel her want for action change into morality-fueled rage at that. As she saw two strikingly familiar goons approach, she decided to give one more chance to this sociopathic monster, despite herself. "And what about Scootaloo?"

Rainbow could hear but not really remember what the double said next, exactly, but she got the gist of it. Something something "disappointment," something something "failed the exam," something something ableist slur, and then...

"I'm sure our orange and purple reserves will be supplied for the time being."

Rainbow pounced.

Pinkie and Twilight, thankfully, were not listening to the whole affair. Rarity was, however, and she stared dumbstruck at the stage, horrified beyond belief. However, more than that, it was... Odd, strangely enough. There were a lot of things that most people would have ignored, but Rarity had a marvelous eye for detail, so she was able to notice just the slightest things that were... Off.

She knew Rainbow was not faking the fight. Of course she wouldn't be. But the fight felt... Strangely choreographed. Each movement seemed perfectly able to be faked. When Rainbow went for the initial tackle, the double's wings seemed prepared for a strike the ground, as if to mitigate the impact. The hoof that hit the double's muzzle seemed like it was only a centimeter away from an actual punch. When the double held her face, red string in an imitation of blood fell out of her hoof.

It was hard to say which one was winning the fight. The real Rainbow Dash was clearly better trained. Between her knowledge of regular karate, her recent training in Venusian karate, and her general athletic abilities, she was certainly no slouch. However, the double was more disciplined. The fake moved with almost mechanical efficiency, expertly dodging most attempts at a blow.

The Doctor, for his part, was now being attacking by two stallions in similar lab coats to the imposter. Rarity noted how the two stallions looked eerily similar to two stallions who worked at the actual factory, foalhood bullies of Fluttershy and Rainbow. The Doctor was handling the two brutes well enough. After all, a 2-to-1 fight against the Doctor was unfair to the two. In any case, the fight still looked as choreographed as Dashie's. Each strike seemed to be the shortest possible distance away from an impact.

The strangest moment when it came to the Doctor, however, was when he brought out his rapier from the group's first adventure. Now, the Doctor had a little trick he would sometimes do, one which baffled Twilight and almost everyone else to no end, aside from Pinkie who was... Well, Pinkie, but also a Time Lord. What he would do is simply materialize it from nothing, or at least seemingly so, with no magic whatsoever. Strange how science and magic seem indistinguishable at times.

However, he did something that was clearly supposed to be that trick, but wasn't. Rather, it was tossed towards him from offstage. This was somehow even more baffling than the trick. Rarity knew Twilight checked backstage to the sight of nothing, and she and pinkie were searching around the building at that very moment. They definitely would have mentioned a contraption, a living being, or even a strange source of magic in the back. Instead, a sword appeared out of nowhere, being tossed to the Doctor, who was not even aware of what just happened.

It was one thing when it was dialogue, because any play could replicate that. However, when complex movement was involved, it felt... Fake. Like a show. Which definitely didn't make sense, considering she knew at least two of the people on the stage were actual people fighting for their lives. Maybe it was an advanced form of illusion magic, but a part of her wondered... Were there any actors present? Normally, a play was actors playing characters. But Rainbow Dash and the Doctor were not actors. Since they were technically a part of the performance, they were characters. But how can a play have characters without any actors? What if, instead of actors playing characters, it was characters unknowingly playing actors? It was as if she was having suspension of belief, rather than disbelief, like the stage was doing its damnedest to convince you what was happening wasn't real. It all sounded ridiculous, but she just couldn't shake that thought no matter how hard she tried.

On top of that, Rainbow's double said something to Rainbow that, for most people, would appear to just be generic "evil villain" dialogue. However, for Rarity, it sounded familiar somehow, in a way she couldn't explain.

"You imbecile! You have signed your death warrant!"

Poof

Pinkie decided to ignore her Pinkie sense for now. She knew Rarity did something weird, but that was useless at the moment. She and Twilight were searching the entire building, starting from the front, checking the foyer and bar, and now they were about to head upstairs into the sound room. On the way there, they noticed Rainbow and the Doctor fighting on the stage. Since this was what Rainbow and the Doctor set out to do, they falsely assumed the pair was happy, or at least weren't absolutely enraged at the monster they were fighting. Pinkie shouted out "yeah, you get 'em, Dashie!" Then, they headed up.

When they entered the sound room, they were greeted with old audio equipment and the sounds of the fighting grunts of Rainbow, the Doctor and... Well, kind of Rainbow. Pinkie immediately noticed something on the desk facing towards the stage.

"Hey Twily," Pinkie said, "what's the difference between anxiety and dread?"

Twilight's brain immediately went into scholar mode. "Anxiety is worrying about the many ways a situation could go wrong, like if you were worried about the many ways a date could go south. Dread is when you know something is bad, but you don't know how, like when you--" Twilight stopped. "Wait, why are you asking me this?"

Pinkie grinned. "Because of this screen, silly. It's measuring those and a few other emotions."

Twilight blinked. "I'm sorry, did you say a screen?" Twilight did know what a screen was thanks to the mirror world where Sunset lived, basically just technology-based magic mirrors, which meant she also knew they shouldn't exist in Equestria. "Here? How? I checked this room earlier and didn't see anything." She trotted up to the display Pinkie was pointing towards. It was a black screen with a green text overlay, and there were two segments of a retracted latch, showing how the screen managed to hide itself, which caused Twilight to theorize that it needed a performance in order to come out of hiding. It read...

Fear: 58% required
Anger: 108% required
Anxiety: 34% required
Dread: 87% required
Shock: 56% required
Conclusion: Insufficient emotional input. Please stand by.

Twilight pondered this for a moment, noticing dread in particular was rising while shock was lowering. "They're all negative emotions..." She thought back to the mirror world. "Sirens? They feed off of negative emotions, but I don't think they could even develop electronics due to living primarily in water, and the Dazzlings wouldn't be able to bring over human tech without it turning into something else. Maybe it's an extraterrestrial equivalent to sirens? Sontarans are like ponies in a way."

Pinkie used her sonic. "My sonic can't do anything with it. All this is is a display. Whoever set this up covered up their tracks super-duper well. No evidence of internet, either. Really, it shouldn't even have a real power source, which is weeeeeiiiiiiirrrrrd."

Twilight gasped slightly. "What if they're using magic to connect it to the main machine? We just have to find where it leads, and we'll be set! Are you able to track it?"

Pinkie used her sonic again, this time analyzing the box itself. "No opening," she frowned, "and no magic trail either. I think there might be a camouflage spell on this thing, and I haven't had a chance to study those kinds of spells. I mean, the source is still probably in the building somewhere, but that's all the info I got. Sorry, Twily."

Twilight looked down in disappointment and thought. Suddenly, both turned towards the sound of a speaker with Rainbow's voice. "LISTEN HERE, YOU BUCKING MONSTER," came the scream, "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THEM!"

A much colder version of her voice replied "I AM SIMPLY DOING MY JOB, AND THE LITTLE BRATS YOU HOLD SO DEAR ARE PART OF THAT!"

Twilight and Pinkie looked out the sound room window and onto the stage. The real Rainbow, the one with the mask, had the double pinned. However, the double broke one foreleg free, bringing a hoof straight across the real one's right eye. This in turn, sent the mask flying off the stage, past the closing curtains, and into Rarity's magic before it could hit her face directly.

This, of course, resulted in the two marefriends leaving the sound room... Not noticing how the percentages in each category on the screen were starting to rise.

Rainbow's eye was a wreck. She just knew it would become a black eye soon enough. She thought it was poetic, really. She did something impulsive and reckless, and that resulted in her being incredibly pissed off with and injuring herself. She would find it funny, if it weren't for the harrowing experience that caused the injury. She hoped what just happened was just illusion magic or something like that. She didn't want to even entertain the notion that anyone could be capable of being that hateful, ableist murderer, least of all herself. She took no joy or catharsis in the fight like she thought she would. Such a potential revelation dampened the mood on things, it turned out.

The Doctor, meanwhile, was analyzing their new surroundings. His two assailants and Rainbow's doppelganger were all gone, but it also seemed like most of the landscape was as well. It was almost a desert of sorts, like a massive catastrophe had struck. There was also a strange, haunting melody permeating through the air, its source unknown... Where ever or whenever this was, the calamity left nothing behind but an oppressively sunny sky and piles of rubble.

Then he heard Rainbow screaming.

The Doctor rushed over to see Rainbow on her back, looking at the corpse of a purple pegasus with a Cutie Mark of a top hat on her flank. "Calm down, Miss Dash," he said. "I understand it was-"

Just then, a hoof sprung out of some of the rubble, grabbing the Doctor's hindleg.

"What in the Devil?" The Doctor didn't struggle too much when shaking it loose, but the fright it caused let it latch on about 1.1843 seconds longer than it otherwise would have. Rainbow heard the commotion and quickly trotted over to it. Looking at the leg sticking out, it was a stained marshmallow white. Rainbow immediately sprang into action, helping the pony out of the debris. The Doctor quickly joined in. Once they had dragged the mare out of the rubble, just as they expected, Rarity stood before them. Or, at least, a facsimile of her did. However, something in her eyes told the pair that she wasn't exactly all there... If she was there at all. Perhaps it was the fact that they were now a sickening shade of yellow.

"The gladiators," the other Rarity gasped. "The playwright, the musician, the historian... The Author..."

Rainbow just stared. "Uhhhhhhhh-"

"I have seen a different past," she said, "yours. Mine is long gone now. Mine is gone..."

She stared into nothing for a moment before continuing. "The Relief will fight art, and she shall be the protagonist for the fifth."

Rainbow was just plain confused. "The fifth of when? Who the buck is the Relief? What the flying buck are you talking about?"

The Doctor stepped closed. "Allow me, miss Dash. Have you any idea what happened here?"

"The third went solo, Doctor." She stared at him, directly. "The fourth will be a familiar face, the Relief and the Prodigy are the first, and you have met the second." Then she stared into space again.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Yes, well, do you mind telling us who the Relief or the Prodigy is? Or give us a hint?"

The other Rarity stared into space. "look into my eyes, and you tell me."

The Doctor paused, gaining a worried expression. "I see. So you are of no further help to us?"

A long period of silence followed that question. She trotted past the pair to stare further into nothing... Seemingly nothing. She stared in a specific direction. "Make not the same mistake as I," she said. "Open the heirloom. Face yourself."

Poof

She turned back to the pair. "My puppeteer's mother will take the stage, she of a thousand faces. When she does, the puppets shall follow, and they shall try to turn Gaea to cinders. Be wary, Doctor, for you can only deal with the puppets. With that, my time has come." She turned back to the nothing she was staring at. She bowed... And collapsed.

It was only then Rarity dropped the mask out of sheer terror, allowing the other Rarity and her environment to disappear and sending the Doctor and Rainbow back to the theater... Only to realize the other Rarity was staring in the direction of the curtain.

Fear: 126% required
Anger: 64% required
Anxiety: 64% required
Dread: 98% required
Shock: 73% required
Conclusion: Insufficient emotional input. Please stand by.

Author's Note

Hey! We decided to link our Cashapp here because we haven't been doing so hot, and so if you'd like to tip us and support what we do, here ya go! Thanks!
$TheMadwomen5813
(Expect to see this under every chapter. If you don't, assume we're being held hostage /joke)