Note: This fanfiction was idea I came with after listening to Rainbow Factory while playing L4D2 the other night. If there are any inconsistencies with the original Rainbow Factory and this unofficial sequel, please don’t hesitate to point them out. This takes place a few months after Scootaloo’s death.

Rainbow Factory RE:visited

By: GVirusInfectee

Not long after Scootaloo’s death at the hands of Rainbow Dash, the dead began to rise. The countless years of being washed with the bits of Spectra that fell from rainbows had finally accumulated to levels great enough to wake the dead from their “eternal” slumber. The two princesses kept the matter secret, and every town consumed and overrun was never spoken of again. Celestia ordered the workers at the Rainbow Factory’s top floor to explain how Spectra was really made. The answer made everything clear. The residual anger and pain in the Spectra from all of the ground-up pegasi had seeped into corpses all over Equestria, manifesting itself as a ravenous hunger for pony flesh. Celestia was horrified that such barbaric events had occurred under her nose, and ordered such methods of Spectra production to be abandoned at once. Research on new methods began immediately, with Dr. Atmosphere at the head of the team. He answered directly to the production manager, Rainbow Dash. It was soon discovered that, like all other forms of energy, Spectra was neither created nor destroyed, but rather transmitted itself from one form to another. It was proposed that, since the residual energies in the Spectra would never fade, the zombies be rounded up and ground up for the excess Spectra, which would seep into more corpses, which would be rounded up as well, completing the cycle. Celestia agreed that this was a much better, if only slightly different method, of producing the valuable Spectra needed for rainbows. The first group was rounded up a week later, with Rainbow Dash personally leading the retrieval team.

The members of the First Cloudsdale Retrieval Team fell in line facing their leader. The cyan pegasus paced for several seconds before finally addressing her subordinates.

“Men,” she said. “We are going to be producing Spectra a bit differently from now on. We will no longer be grinding up those who fail the flight test.” She felt a sudden pang of guilt, but brushed it off; there was work to be done. “Instead, we will be capturing and grinding up groups of zombies. They contain more than enough Spectra to produce Equestria’s rainbows for a long time.” She passed out a prod and rope to each squad member. “These are your tools of capture. Tie them up and signal for a pickup. The prod is only to be used if a problem arises. Godspeed, gentlecolts.” The squad saluted and sped off in several different directions. Only she and the pegasus directly underneath her rank remained.

Rainbow Dash sank to the ground as her feelings of guilt came flooding back. She kept hearing Scootaloo’s dying screams, a phantom echo in her ears.

“How could I have killed her?” she whispered to herself.

“She failed the test,” replied the other officer, entering the one-sided conversation uninvited. “You were only following the rules of Cloudsdale. You have no reason to feel guilt.” But all Dash could picture was Scootaloo’s last moments before being fed into the machine.

“She was like a little sister to me,” Dash muttered. “She was like the sister I never had, and I allowed her to turn into a rainbow. No, worse yet, I’m the one who fed her in. I betrayed her trust…”

“Then honor her memory!” shouted the other officer suddenly. “Show her soul that we have a better way of doing things now! Allow her spirit to see that it took her to bring about the change! Better to do that than to sit and wallow about it! For god’s sake, you’re a fucking pegasus, not some damned no-count worthless mare!” Rainbow stared at the officer, her shock becoming masked by the cold shell she had built up after years of watching young ponies being violently murdered.

“How dare you talk to your commander like that, Firebug!” Dash got into his face, her cold stare forcing him to shrink back. “Any more slips like that, and I may ‘accidentally’ tag you as a zombie!”

“Yes sir,” Firebug mumbled. Just then, a call for pickup came in.

“Go fucking get them,” Dash said icily. Firebug, wanting away from his suddenly terrifying commander, complied without a fight. After he left, Dash buried her face in her front legs and wept.

Several hours later, the last of that day’s quota was rounded up. The squad flew back to the Rainbow Factory for processing and decontamination. Dash stayed behind, not wanting to see the machine by which Scootaloo had met her end.

“Scoots, I’m so sorry,” she whispered as a tear fell down her face.

“Why are you sorry to Scootaloo?” asked a small voice behind her. Dash whipped her head around in alarm, but relaxed when she saw Fluttershy standing there.

It struck Dash then; Fluttershy was a Cloudsdalean pegasus. She knew about the test and the exile, because it had been Dash’s fault that she had failed.

“Fluttershy,” started the cyan pegasus tentatively. “Do you remember the Junior Flyer’s Exam back when we were fillies?”

“Oh yes,” nodded Fluttershy. “You knocked me down here. Because of that, I failed the test, but I also got my cutie mark.”

“Well,” said Dash. “After that I was initiated into the Rainbow Factory.” Fluttershy’s stare revealed ignorance to the connection; that was to be expected. So, Rainbow Dash plowed ahead. “That’s also where the failures are taken to. Where you would’ve ended up. They grind the failures in a machine in order to extract the Spectra used to make rainbows, and I…oh, Celestia, I was forced to take part in it or they would’ve killed me!” Fluttershy looked at her friend with a mixture of horror and sympathy.

“You had to feed in Scootaloo?” she guessed. Rainbow Dash burst into tears as she nodded.

“She was like a sister,” she sobbed. “I killed her, Fluttershy! Oh, god! They made me the boss, and when Scoots tried to escape, I fed her in!” She turned and sped away towards her home, her tears and sobs trailing behind her. Fluttershy wanted to follow her friend, to comfort her, but she sensed that it was best to leave her be for a while. She flew away, sorry for her friend and determined to not let the others find out what Dash had done. They wouldn’t understand.

That night, Dash was plagued by the recurring nightmares that had plagued her since the week after Scootaloo’s death. When she woke up, her pillow was again wet with tears. She walked into her living room, staring at Blue Devil, which lay in a corner on its side. Dash tore her gaze away from the scooter, a painful reminder of what she had done. As she took a shot of apple whiskey to calm herself, a knock came at the door. Dash walked over and opened it to find a fellow manager staring her coldly in the face.

“Great,” Dash muttered under her breath. “Minty, what the hell do you want so early?” She silently hoped to herself that she wasn’t needed in the killing room, but luck was not on her side.

“You’re needed in the killing room to oversee the grinding of the zombies,” Minty replied coolly. “After all, you’ve been at this for a long time, and after murdering your ‘little sister’ you should be able to take anything, right?” He grinned cruelly, but his smile was wiped away as Rainbow Dash pinned him to the wall.

“How fucking dare you!” she shouted in his face, her rage unleashed upon the unfortunate worker. “You just earned yourself the week as Cold Steel’s personal fucking servant! Now get the fuck out!” Minty fled the area, cursing himself for his stupidity. Everyone knew Cold Steel was the most sadistic pony in the factory, and nobody wanted to work for him because of it. So began his long, hard week.

Rainbow Dash stormed into the killing room and took her place on the catwalk overhead. One of the guards almost commented on her entrance, but a glare silenced him. Below the scaffold, the moans of zombies could be heard. One was forced into the machine, which made a crunching, ripping sound as the grinders tore apart the corpse. Rainbow shuddered, recalling the sound it had made when…

“No,” she said forcibly, drawing looks from the guards. “I can’t think about her. Not here.” But still, she found her mind wandering back to a sleepover where Scootaloo had come over. The two had spent the night talking and laughing and Rainbow Dash had found herself marveling at how much like a little sister Scootaloo was to her.

“Y’know Scoots,” Dash was saying. “You remind me a lot of you when I was your age.” Scootaloo looked up at her idol.

“Really? But you’re so cool,” Scootaloo said. “And you’re such a good flier, too. I’m nowhere near as cool as you.”

“Scoots, I mean in spirit. You’ve got the same fire in you that I had as a filly. And as for the flying, I can train you if you want.” Dash smiled warmly. “You have potential; I can see it in you. Together, I think we can utilize it.”

“You really think so?” Scootaloo beamed proudly.

“I know so,” corrected Dash. “And we’ll need to start training tomorrow, so you can pass that test.”

Scootaloo cheered, but Dash suddenly grew serious.

“I mean it, Scoots,” she said gravely. “You don’t want to fail the Junior Flyer’s Exam. Promise me you’ll pass it, Scoots; promise?”

“I promise,” nodded Scootaloo sagely.

“Good,” answered Rainbow Dash happily. “Now what should we do next?”

Dash found that tears were flowing freely down her face at the memory. In the end, Scootaloo had failed to keep her promise. The day Dash had feared had come, and she had done the thing she had promised herself she wouldn’t; she had killed the young filly, who had never received her cutie mark. Dash hated herself for allowing her job to override her personal feelings.

She had to find a way to manage the guilt and sadness that whirled within her. She could feel herself coming apart at the seams, and she desperately needed to pull it together. If she was to survive here, she needed to get a grip on her feelings.

A guard walked over and relieved her of her post. Thanking him, Dash sped out of the room, back to her house, and cried for hours.

Next Chapter: Chapter 2 Estimated time remaining: 11 Minutes