NOTE

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

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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.

Next Chapter: The First Day on the Upper Floors and The Cutie Mark Estimated time remaining: 16 Minutes