A Mare Named Lightning: Part 2

Alez didn't have the slightest idea what she was talking about. "I don't know where that is! Will you-"

"No. I'm not going anywhere near the place, and neither should you." She started to turn her back, but Alez grabbed her.

"No! You don't know how much this means to me! Please!"

"No."

"But-"

"Alez, this place gave me nightmares for years after I worked there! And I was a full-grown mare! You won't stand a chance."

Alez stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "Lightning's favorite quote was 'It's not about pushing yourself, it's about pushing yourself in the right direction.'"

"Couldn't live up to it, huh?"

"No, but I sure as hell can. Is it not a step in the right direction to save the only filly I've ever truly loved?"

Rainbow Dash stopped and sighed. "I'll take you inside the perimeter, but that's it! I'm not helping you face Spitfire, and I'm not going near Lightning Dust!"

"Oh, thank you so much! You're a real Samaritan Dashie."

"If she really is there, we won't have much time. C'mon Alez, you can't be late for this!"

The sun was just beginning to rise when the two travelers passed the tall spires of Canterlot. "We're not stopping here," Alez asked.

"No, no. It's far past Canterlot, in fact, some say it's not even part of Equestria."

The entire city of Canterlot passed by and disappeared before Rainbow Dash spoke again. "Kid, this is the last time I'm going to say this, but you've got a death wish trying to save Lightning Dust!"

Alez kept staring ahead, not looking back. "If I found out that she was being abused without my intervention, or if I...lost her, I would hurl myself off the highest tower in Canterlot. Without using my wings to fly."

"Does she really mean that much to you?"

Alez glared at her out of the corner of his eye, then smiled again. "Take a guess at how old I am. Go ahead!"

Rainbow Dash turned him around, and looked at him for awhile. "I'm guessing eighteen, maybe nineteen."

"Eighteen! Ha! Bit far of the mark there, Dashie!"

"What?! How old are you," Rainbow Dash said, annoyed.

"I'm fifteen: my birthday was three months ago!"

Dashie smirked, "happy belated birthday."

"Oh, shut up."

"So Lightning Dust is-"

"-fifteen. Her sixteenth birthday is in three days."

"Oh, well-"

"-I even made a pan of brownies, and cupcakes with green-and-yellow icing. They took an age-and-a-half to make!"

"Oh, wow. I'm so sorry that-"

"But now we'll never get to enjoy them because she made a few mistakes in life that caused her to be dragged out of her home and brought to this 'Rainbow Factory,' which you say still gives you nightmares, by the co-captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire, just because she was too humiliated by the fact that she let a 'failure-'" Alez did air-quotes with his hooves, "-into the academy!"

"Alez-"

"I even used to admire Spitfire! Before Lightning Dust, I thought Spitfire was cute, and of course she's an amazing athlete. I had Wonderbolts posters all over my walls! I even-" Alez suddenly stopped. "What in Equestria..."

Dashie flew up beside him. "We're not in Equestria anymore, Alez." She gestured at the black walls and smokestacks of a giant factory looming in front of them, "welcome to the Rainbow Factory, 'where your fears and horrors come true, and where not a single soul gets through.'"

Dashie directed Alez to a hill outside the black gates. After they had landed, Alez stretched his back and wings, which were sore from flying for two hours straight. Rainbow Dash produced a black suit and a dusty I.D. from her saddle bags. When Alez looked up at her again, she was looking off into the distance. "This is where they used to line them up," she finally said. "Most of them were fillies and colts no older than you, just out of flight school in Cloudsdale. But these few were different: they had failed the flight test."

She began to tear up as she told the story of a filly and her friend who had helped a classmate up after she hit an obstacle and broke her wing. All three of them were brought to the Rainbow Factory. "They never made it out, and no one knew why, except for the employees and me."

"...because you work here," Alez said pointing to the I.D.

"I used to work here. I gave up my position a few years ago."

"Why?"

Rainbow Dash sighed deeply, and looked at Alez with tears in her eyes. "Everypony talks about how stressful their jobs are, but the implications of working here...were..."

She paused for a moment to cry softly. Based on what she was saying, Alez was feeling less and less sure of himself. But whatever they did to those fillies and colts, he thought, they're going to do to Lightning Dust! I can't let that happen no matter what! "Sorry Dashie, but I have to do this."

"Then let's go. I don't want to linger here any longer than I have to."