NOTE

This story never has or will belong to me. Just to make that clear to everypony. Happy? Good. Then I'll begin.

******

The mysterious pony whipped off her mask, unveiling more than her rose eyes. Her skin was a light cyan, and her mane was a gorgeous rainbow. Several of the fillies gasped; Scootaloo’s knees weakened as it hit her. It was Rainbow Dash. But Rainbow, the pony underneath, wasn’t smiling. Her face was weary, as if she knew what was about to happen and was tired of everything. Her rose eyes wandered over the unfortunate foals until they passed over Scootaloo. Then she did a double take.

“Scoots? What are you doing here? You didn’t fail the exam, after all the work I put into helping you pass?”

Dash ran forward, reaching out to nuzzle the filly. Everypony was staring; it was an uncomfortable moment. It was considered a great embarrassment to even touch a Pegasus who had failed their exam. And yet here was the great Rainbow Dash herself nuzzling a Pegasus who couldn’t even fly properly, according to her examiners.

One of the workers coughed.

“Shut up,” Rainbow snapped. “Scoots, come on out of here, this is wrong, all wrong. You can fly. You nearly did a Sonic Rainboom in our training. Come on with me.”

Everything was getting too much for Scootaloo. The confusion – why was Rainbow saving her but leaving her friends to whatever fate was held for them? And why save her if she was a useless Pegasus? Orion was unsmiling, but he lifted his hoof towards the doorway of the room. Aurora Dawn was looking at the floor.

“I can’t leave my friends,” Scootaloo whispered.

With a sigh, Orion pushed Scootaloo towards the door. Dashie was surprised by this. Usually the ponies would fight tooth and nail to keep loved ones by their sides, and here was one of the youngest stallions she had seen in the factory giving up his chance of happiness in a dangerous place.

“Thanks… urm…”

“It’s Orion. You take Scoots and care for her, you hear? I’ve got nopony left for me anymore. My mother died years ago and my father never cared. Scoots? “

"Yeah?"

"Live well for me. Don't forget your old pal."

"Never. Not even if the world explodes will I forget you."

The other ponies saw that there was no way out and sat resolutely as the workers picked out the first few. This was the last Scootaloo ever saw of Orion. The door shut just as he walked slowly up to the machines and allowed himself to be grabbed by two Pegasi.

There was a short silence as the coloured mare and terrified filly stood and stared at one another. Suddenly, Rainbow burst into tears, salt water flowing from her eyes, and wetting Scootaloo’s mane as she pulled her close into a hug. A cyan hoof found its way up into Scoot’s shockingly violet mane and ran through it as Rainbow sang a quiet hymn to block out the noise of the machines.

“Little child, worry not, for I am here,
You’re safe and at home, as long as I’m near,
Now forget all your problems and hold me tight,
There’s no evil or hatred in your life tonight.
Though the world seems dark and your friends are all gone,
I promise to you that you’re never alone,
The stars have gone out and the moon has gone dark,
But I’ll keep you alight with the love from my heart.”

“R-Rainbow?”

“Yes, Scoots?”

Scootaloo wiped away the water from her eyes and gasped slightly. Her mane was messed up and sodden, but she didn’t much care for that. All that was going through her mind was the machines in the room close by and her near future.

“What happened to the other ponies?”

Rainbow hesitated.

“We-ell… You know about Spectra, right?”

Scootaloo nodded. She and her peers had learned about it in work studies. It was the colours that made up the rainbow.

“Somepony found out how to harvest Spectra. But the twisted thing is, the brightest colours come from ponies, where Spectra lives alongside magic. So this stallion invented a way to get it, using the machines and all the foals that failed their main exam. They kill the children and take the colour.”

There was a loud ‘FOOM!’ as a colourful light burst into being outside the window. A beautiful rainbow was dancing outside the sky.

“I’m so sorry. I hid the truth of the rainbows from everyone for years. I had to, or the pegasi would have killed me along with the others. But now it’s too late. I’m in it too deep. Actually, I’m one of the main ponies here.”

Rainbow’s rose – coloured eyes lingered on her namesake outside. There was no happiness within, just a cold emptiness. It was obvious that the pain of seeing so much murder was driving the young mare insane. So many foals passed through the factory every month. The beauty of what the evil created was no help to the conscience. In fact it made it worse. It was almost like they found the pain humorous. In fact, there was little doubt the higher ponies did.

“You wanna work for me, squirt, as a trainee?”

“I would do anything to stay out of the rainbow,” Scootaloo whispered.

“Ahem…”

A stallion, face lined with cruelty and age, trotted up. His disapproval was pronounced in every hoofstep, and his mane seemed to lose a shade of colour with every second, until it was a deathly white. His skin was silvery; it was almost like unpolished steel. His cutie mark was a knife. Scootaloo stared at it with envy; it was common knowledge that every blank flank in Equestria would fawn over any special talent. Even if it was an awful one, like butchering.

“Cold Stone, so glad you could join us,” Rainbow drawled, sarcasm dripping from every word.

“Delighted, Rainbow. Now who is this worthless blank flank?”

“My understudy, sir. She’s known as Scootaloo, and she’s personal favourite of mine. I would treat her with respect, sir, if I were you. “

The two ponies stared at each other for what seemed an age, as Scootaloo writhed in embarrassment. Neither wanted to break their gaze before the other, but eventually Cold Stone turned away, snorting.

“Fine. If you want some stupid sidekick, then have one. Listen to this, though - one hoof out of line, just one, and she’s in the machine. I’m sure your friend would make a dazzling rainbow.”

“Jerk,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she and Scootaloo moved away, leaving Cold Stone to stare out of the window at the fading colours adorning the skies. “You ignore him, Scoots. He wouldn’t dare lay so much as a feather on you. Though he is right, you would make a dazzling me!”

The colourful pair walked into a beautiful study room.

“This is mine. My study. I got it a couple of years ago, after the Sonic Rainboom. I know, awesome huh?”

Every wall was painted in a different colour. There were seven; one for red, one for orange, yellow etc. In the middle was a large statue of the Factory. It looked so magnificent, but it only reminded Scootaloo of how awful her prison was. Suddenly Rainbow pulled up a chair and signalled for Scootaloo to sit.

“Now listen up, squirt. This place is more heavily guarded than Fort Trots, I assure you. You can’t leave now. They only let me out because I signed an agreement saying that I wouldn’t breathe a word of what happens in here. I could get them to let you sign one too, but I’m gonna try keep you a bit more secret. If they find out about the exam, they’ll put you in the machine for sure. I can’t promise that they won’t anyway. Keep your head down. Ponies will be jerks. They’ll shove you around. Once they know you, they’ll leave off. Just… try keep out of trouble, squirt.”

Ruffling her magenta mane with a tired hoof, Scootaloo yawned.

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow laughed. “You’ll be living with me. My house moves, so I can latch it onto here. That way you don’t have to leave.”

That night, Scootaloo went to sleep in a room directly beside that of her hero. I say ‘went to sleep’. Yet the poor filly was awake nearly the whole night, seeing her friends being torn limb from limb. Only Dash had saved her from the same cruel fate. Maybe Dash hadn’t even really done that, just stalled it for a while. At least now she had a future.

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders Murderers, yay!” she whispered to the moon.

Somewhere in the darkness, Luna heard this and pondered its meaning.

‘FOOM!’

Scootaloo jumped up in her bed, startled by the sudden noise that had awoken her from the only safe place she knew – the land of sleep.

Looking out of her window, she watched as the rainbow arced through the sky with surprising grace, considering what it was made of; the mangled bodies of her friends. Her stomach churned almost audibly and she clamped the two halves of her jaw down out of habit, forcing anything coming up to stay in her mouth. With the agility of a Wonderbolt she sped into the bathroom and vomited into the toilet.

In the opposite room, Dash was hearing everything. Stretching, she picked herself up from her comfortable position and flew, body sagging, to the bathroom, where Scootaloo sat shivering. It was cold and damp, but the pair of them ignored the temperature as they went up to the kitchen to find some medicine.

“Silly filly,” Rainbow yawned as she poured some Coco Ponies into a bowl. “You need to keep hold of yourself, squirt, or you’ll find a fate worse than rainbows. They put the ill pegasi into an interrogation room, to find out where they got the illness from. In case you’ve been outside, see.”

“Yeah, I see.”

Scootaloo could still taste the rancid bile in her mouth as she gulped down glass after glass of milk. It just wasn’t going away.

“Why are you feeling ill anyway?”

Thinking, Scootaloo frowned.

“I think it’s the rainbows. Every time I think about it, I just wanna go hide away from everything. From the stupid people I call my relatives and ancestors. Those stuck up Cloudsdalians waking up beneath us right now.”

“I know the feeling.”

As Rainbow got her morning shot of Espresso ready, Scootaloo decided to take a proper look around the house. It was all blue and white, needless to say, and didn’t contain exactly the finest in furniture design, but it was nice enough and much nicer than anything Scoots had ever lived in before. Wandering into the front room, she gasped.

Every reachable surface (of which there was many) was covered in Wonderbolt merchandise and posters. The walls were adorned with Spitfire’s face many times over. Soarin’ stood tall on every mug. There were flags and streamers and balloons. There were plushies and working models and limited edition group photos. There were even photoshopped pictures of Dash flying alongside her heroes. And do you know what?

It was really, really sad.

“Stupid, aren’t I?”

Scootaloo felt a hoof press lightly on her head, which she pulled down and hugged.

“No. You’ve just got yourself stuck in a bad place. That’s all.”

“Scoots, I’ve got your scooter out here if you want to use it.”

“Blue Devil!”

A blur of orange streaked out of the doorway to reunite itself with the blue and red scooter outside, shouting a constant undecipherable stream of ‘OMYGOSHTHANKYOU!’s and ‘ILOVEYOUDASH!’s. Dash’s cyan hoof shut the door as she smiled to herself.
***
Scootaloo had an awful, nerve-racking morning. Firstly Dash sent her out on some errands around the top floor. Mainly sending messages in a funny code the workers used. She shot around at top speed on her scooter to her first destination; the spectra colour sorting room. There were a lot of dull stallions working together to split apart the differently coloured strands of spectra. One stallion, a pony known as Midnight Loom, came forward to receive his message. His hooves were covered in yellow and blue.

“That’s for me – hand over.”

Sure enough it was indeed for him, and Scootaloo ‘handed it over’ with no reluctance.

“Runt,” he grunted as he moved back to his seat, causing a couple of workers to chuckle cruelly. “Go on then, runt; shove off, before I MAKE YA, you worthless piece of rainbow-to-be.”

The room exploded with laughter and the sound of hoofbumps. Sniffing quietly, Scootaloo pushed off with her hind leg and rushed down the corridor, checking where she was going next. To her terror, it was the machine room. Thank goodness she was wearing her uniform. Otherwise one of the workers might turn her into rainbows, mistaking her for one of the foals condemned. The snide voice of Cold Stone came from round the corner, along with the sound of many ponies travelling at once. Slowing, she snuck a peek at the area where the voice was coming from. In a large group stood many colourful foals, listening as Cold Stone spoke about spectra. Then they went into the room; the room where they would die.

For a little while Scootaloo stood, frozen in horror as screams and whinnies filled her ears. But she gradually moved towards the door. A red pony stepped out, dripping wet. How could he possibly get wet, in a room with no water? Then it became apparent. He wasn’t red. He was green. And he was dripping with blood.

One of his colleagues came out from the room behind and handed the sodden stallion a towel. She was a pretty pink colour, not at all the type to work in such a place, but her eyes were filled with malice.

“Stupid foals,” she seethed as her friend dried off. “They’re foolish little children who can’t understand the basic principles of life. Yes, that is a knife dear. Yes, they are about to kill you.”

Frowning, the mare wandered down the corridor. The green stallion saw Scootaloo and smiled.
“Hello darling. Is there a message for me in there? I’m Organic Leaf.”

Stuttering slightly, Scootaloo pulled out a heavily scented letter in a shade of green. She held it out for him to take, which he did, and he read it straightaway. His expression softened with every word. It must have been a love letter from his girlfriend or something.
“You’re a good filly,” he said, bringing Scoots closer and ruffling her mane. “You understand what it means to be a Pegasus. That’s why you work here. I hope you send me another letter soon, darling.”

A loud ‘FOOM’ sang out as another rainbow burst from the side of the factory. There were so many it was actually nauseating to think about it. As the orange foal sped away from the stallion she remembered just how close she had come to actually being one herself.

***
Lunch was a loud and unhappy affair. As Dash was out in the world playing with her friends as she did most days, Scootaloo was forced to eat in the canteen. No table would take her; the stallions kicked her and the mares made snide remarks. So she was shunted perpetually around the room until she found herself on the floor. Crawling, she found a corner, and ate there. The shouts of the angry caterers and the flirting workers were deafening. The food was terrible. Usually it was better, Organic Leaf had told her in passing, but today just happened to be the day no new food came in.

The intermittent blasts of the rainbow cannons had slowed to a near halt. It was no surprise as nearly everyone was too busy eating to be bothered working them. Yet one would go off occasionally, making everyone jump and swear loudly. That was the only thing Scootaloo delighted in. She learned a lot of new words that day.

After poking at her food for an hour she decided to get up and about. Leaving her tray in the middle of the floor for workers to stand on, she trotted to Blue Devil and mounted her scooter. Checking her errand list, she found one errand that she most definitely would enjoy…

Heading downwards to the lower levels, Scoots smiled to herself for the first time all day. Her mouth found it hard to take on this unfamiliar shape after hours of indifferent frowning. However she smiled as hard as she could and chuckled as the left the lift to see a blushing mare and stallion enter. There was an evident kiss mark on the stallion’s cheek, in a shade of crimson that could only come from that mare’s lipstick.

One short ride, and then Scoots was there.

The skate park. Her home from home.

Her note from Dash told her to give yet another message out, but also to enjoy herself and spend some time using that scooter of hers. So she gave the letter to the intended recipient and enjoyed herself.

There were three smaller ramps of varying sizes. They stood in a row, grinding bars separating them from one another. Two medium ramps lived behind. These were brightly painted in a sort of Pinkie Pie style colour mix. Only four ponies dared to use them. Scootaloo only had eyes for the biggest ramp of them all. She flipped upwards and back-flipped and grinded and flew. The whole room stood and watched as she owned the stage for the second time in her life. She loved it more than anything. Her smile grew until it could become no wider.

As she landed neatly on the floor after performing the latest Wonderbolt trick, with the scooter added into it, a huge round of applause went up. So many ponies had been watching! It felt like she’d been made to do this all her life. Her whole body blazed with heat for a moment, and pride surged through her, making her feel like she was flying through the sun itself and somehow living.

“Hey, look at her flank!”

Sadly Scootaloo looked at her back. Trust somepony to mention her blank flank. But to her surprise an amazing picture of a scooter, helmet and star adorned her sides. She grinned as people came up to admire her talent. Never in a million years would she have thought that her scooter would be what made her special. Yet now it all seemed rather obvious.

“Silly me,” she muttered.

***
“Dash!”

The door slammed.

“DASH!”

A cyan head poked round the door, looking at the excited filly.

“Hey squirt. What’s up?”

“Look, I got my cutie mark, LOOK LOOK LOOK!”

Dash admired Scootaloo’s new cutie mark. It was just as cool as she hoped it’d be.

“I knew that you’d get it, buster,” she said, smiling. “Why do you think I told you to stay and have fun?”

Scootaloo sat at her chair in the kitchen and rolled off the events of the day. When she spoke about the stallions in the spectra colour sorting room, Dash swore and muttered about beating somepony with a hammer. It seemed that she knew Organic Leaf, for she commented on his good nature and kind heart.

“He’s the nicest pony around here. I mean, he’s totally mental, bloodthirsty even, but very, very nice.”

This made them both chuckle.

When the subject of lunch came around, Dash shuddered and held her hoof to Scoot’s muzzle.

“Don’t talk about lunch. I had an awful one today. I went out to a restaurant with Rarity, and she talked about fashion for so long I fell asleep in my coffee! It wasn’t nice coffee, but still, what a waste of energy drink. And AJ laughed at me for it too. If there’s anypony I hate getting laughed at by, it’s AJ. Twilight found it funny in a different way. I think she found it hilarious that Rarity didn’t notice I was asleep for about an hour.”

Scootaloo’s face fell. She wished she could see her friends, and feel the wind on her face. It was claustrophobic in the factory corridors and rooms. It was like you were getting compressed by an invisible force.

“Come on, I’m shattered,” Dash yawned widely. “And if I’m shattered, you must be half asleep Scoots. To bed with you!”

That night sleep fell on the foal a little easier, as she revelled in the coolness of her new cutie mark. It comforted her to know that her friends might be feeling the same.

Celestia’s white muzzle was glowing in the moonlight as she surveyed the night sky from her gardens. It was indeed a sight to remember-the stars were pulsating softly and swirls of greys and deep blues danced their way around the black. Her sister’s moon shone almost as brightly as the sun. It dappled the fields below. But despite all this Celestia was deeply troubled.
Something was wrong – all wrong. Pegasi foals kept disappearing from the face of Equestria.

“They have for years, yet never in such droves as these.”

“Indeed.”

The white goddess jumped and turned around to see her unsmiling sister staring at her. Luna always seemed to appear suddenly, without any warning, and Celestia would always get the fright of her life when her sister crept up on her.

“Lulu, I called for you a good 15 minutes ago.”

“Sorry Celly…” Luna’s blue cheeks turned a violent shade of red. “I was watching the new episode of ‘My Little Human’. The plots are so good, and I really connect with-“

Chuckling, Celestia brought her hoof to her sister’s lips. Smiling gratefully, the blue alicorn took the hint and shut up.
“Lulu, please sit down. I wish to speak to you of an unsettling matter.”

“It’s the Pegasi, isn’t it? Every month about a hundred foals fail their tests. Some ponies say those that fail are taken away to new countries. I know that’s not true. I can tell where any pony is at any time. These ponies though…”

With a grimace, Luna sat on the grass and looked up. Her eyes widened and took in her domain as she thought deeply. A silent tear slipped down her muzzle and hit the ground. How she regretted her foolish actions earlier in life. She’d missed so much. Now the world moved without her help and something evil was ahoof, but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

“Celly?”

“Yes?”

“Are you as confused as I am?”

Slowly, the white mare raised a hoof to the skies.

“See that star covered by a cloud?”

“Of course I can’t. It’s covered. Sister, do not fool about. Explain things to me simply.”

Tutting, Celestia pulled Luna towards her and held her close.

“This is as simple as I can make it. So, you cannot see the star. It is covered, as you say. Yet, as time passes, the cloud will move slowly aside, revealing the object behind. Your confusion is like that. We must wait, think, and the answer will become apparent. If we are patient then we will find out where our little foals are going to.”

“You always did make things sound so fanciful.”

Celestia laughed loudly, head thrown back, eyes closed.

“Lulu, you always say things so bluntly. It’s rather hilarious, you know.”

Cuddling one another close, the two mares watched the night turn slowly to day. The sky turned from a pitch black to a remarkable hue of dark blue, to a stunning rose. As the sun broke forth from its slumber a rainbow flew across the sky.

****

‘FOOM!’

Grumbling, Scootaloo pulled herself from her comfy bed and stretched her hooves skywards. She yawned as she made her way to her wardrobe and pulled out her new outfit – a mint green outfit with a rose tail and a rose cutie mark to match. Scoots was posing as Dash’s daughter whenever a new group of foals came in.

“Mornin’ Shcootaloo,” Dash slurred as she tumbled into the bathroom.

“Dash, just how many drinks did you have last night?”

A pink head peered into her room. Dash had her costume on.

“Jusht a few. Appleshjack had her shcider and Rares had her ‘Bordeaux’ thingshmebob…”

The orange filly rolled her eyes as her ‘mother’ began to sing ‘Equestria Gurlz’ at a deafening volume. With a slight sigh she began to cram her way into the green suit, juddering at the unfamiliar feel of the material as it clung to her hind legs. Once she had shed her orange for green she rammed on the matching mask and ran to the mirror. It was so strange for her to look at the pony reflected in shiny surface. The only remaining feature of her past look was the purple irises that surrounded her black pupils.

“Yoush look peeeeerfeect. Jusht like me.”

Staring at Dash, the now-mint-green-pony-that-was-really-orange decided it was time to get her ‘mother’ sobered up.

****
Two ponies were stood on a platform above the machines.

Rainbow couldn’t get the taste of coffee out of her mouth. For all she had been absolutely intoxicated earlier, two full packets of raw coffee beans had brought her back to full sanity. Or as sane as you can get it you work in the Rainbow Factory. ‘Rosie Thorn’, or rather the newly named Scootaloo, was stood behind her as she looked down on the foals below. It was plain that ‘Rosie’ was pale and shaking underneath her green mask.

“I’m not doing the speeches today Scoots,” Dash whispered. “I’m overseeing the… process.”

All she got in reply was a high pitched whimper.

The story of spectra was told. Rainbow felt that her explanation was always far superior to those of the other workers. Scoots agreed; she’d only been here two weeks and yet she was getting to grips with the timetable and her jobs remarkably fast. Being new was not easy for the cyan Pegasus when she had first arrived, even if she had performed the famous Sonic Rainboom and won some self-respect. Only her friends back home kept her sane. They still did.

All of a sudden Rainbow became aware of a small body at her side. Her protégée had moved beside her as soon as the time came for the spectra collection. Scoots’ pupils dilated in horror as the screaming children were murdered and thrown in the machines by several crazed mares.

“Who are they?”

Scootaloo was now staring ahead in a sort of empty sadness that most ponies know.

“They are the ‘fury squad’. Lunatic mares that tear the condemned limb from limb if the foals fight back.”

“Oh.”

A red stallion with his mane flopping over his eyes flew onto the platform.

“Urm, hey Pansy, Rosie, you can come down now. I think we’re done for today.”

“Thanks Odd Job. We’ll get going. When’s dinner?”

“Twelve thirty!” Odd shouted over his shoulder as he flew off again.

With a flap of the wings, Dash jumped off the balcony and soared out of the door. Scootaloo watched the cleaners clear up the blood for a moment before following suit.

****

From her window Scootaloo had a magnificent view.

The rainbows would rocket from the sides of the cloud-building every once in a while, colouring the skies with a vivid arc. Sometimes this arc would end up miles away. Occasionally it would land directly beneath the factory. When this happened the red would reflect on the underneath of the clouds above, creating a layer of red clouds that took your breath away.

On the ground strips of green and turquoise were clearly visible. Pink and yellow meadows lined the sides of these, and once a week a light yellow mare would walk across these meadows with her rabbit, blending in with the superb daffodils. Far off in the distance one could occasionally see a strip of deep blue. Dashie claimed it was the sea. Scootaloo had heard of it in her classes – ‘a wide expanse of water’ Miss Cheerilee had said. When the fog rolled in waves around the land it was removed from sight. Even then the amazing scene was not hindered as the light turned the fog into a screen of smoke that seemed to emit a light of its own.

Scootaloo was admiring this startling tableau when the doorbell rang.

“I’m coming!”

Cantering at a leisurely pace the now-orange pony wondered about who could possibly want to see her during the evening. Everypony made the most of their spare time and it was very strange to see a pony travelling around the factory past seven pm.
Right hoof out, Scoots opened the door and whimpered.

A grey stallion stood before her. He spat at the sight of Scoots, lowering his head and making certain that the saliva hit the floor at her hooves.

“Mr Cold Stone, sir.”

“Oh look, the worthless blank flank.”

“Not any more sir. I received my cutie mark about two weeks ago as a matter of fact.”

Cold Stone snorted derisively. Shoving Scoots aside, he trotted in and opened a jet black saddle bag with his mouth.

“Rainbow Dash! RAINBOW DASH! Get here now you lazy dirtbag!”

“What did you let him in for?” Rainbow asked as she walked into the hallway.

“Rainbow Dash,” Stone murmured.

“Cold Stone,” she replied.

The pair both strained to smile at one another. A crackle of electricity snapped the air as they both stared one another out. The fight for supremacy lasted a long time; neither wanted to show weakness. Scootaloo asked herself whether the two of them always did this.

Stone snapped. Dash grinned in triumph as he went into his saddlebags and brought out a rolled up document. He carefully unrolled it and held it in his mouth; it was an exam paper. In fact, it was the main exam paper of some foal, the one containing all of the grades achieved by a Pegasus. This paper was excellent. Every box but one was ticked with enthusiasm, except for the last.

“Miss Dash, this poor pony appears to have failed their final exam.”

“A lot of Pegasi do.”

“Yes, but this is different. As this pony…” Stone lay the paper on the floor so the name was visible. Scootaloo, it read. ”…is young worthless stupid flank here. Can you explain why your little pet didn’t get put in the machine with the others?”

“No.”

“You saved her you snivelling ninny. Now you need to listen to me. If you want to last on this place for any more than a day then you toe the line. You must do exactly as I say, or we have an extra rainbow on schedule. If you do so much as one thing wrong, just one, then I put BOTH of you in that machine. I don’t care if it’s legal. Am I understood?”

Nodding, Rainbow opened the front door and watched as Cold Stone walked out. Then she just sat with the exam paper and cried.