Twilight and the group arrived at the Rock Labs. It was a giant city of laboratories that covered the entirety of what was the Pie family farm in her timeline. But in this timeline it was pure machinery. They used ‘F’s illusion spell to hide themselves as they entered the city.

Inside were several buildings. ‘F’ led them to the tallest building. The build stood about sixty stories and was surrounded by guards. “So this is where Pinkie Pie lives?” Twilight questioned.

“Yes. The place is run by an overbearing boss known as the Big Cheese. If I remember correctly, Pinkie Pie is his secretary,” answered ‘F’. “Only she doesn’t go by Pinkie Pie. Her name here is Diane Pie.”

The four looked for a way in, but they couldn’t spot one. Soon they saw a gray earth pony mare walking out of the building. “Hmm, isn’t that Pinkie Pie’s sister, Marble Pie?” questioned Twilight.

“Possibly.”

Suddenly an idea pop into Twilight’s head. A cruel idea, but it was the only one they had. She turned to Big Macintosh. “I got an idea. Although you might not like it, Big Mac.”

To that Big Macintosh’s eyes widened as he had a distinct ‘Uh, oh’ face.

******

Meanwhile, miles away in the ruins of Cloudsdale, Flash charged head on as he sent a barrage of punches. Nexus Star flew backward as he tried to dodge Flash’s lightning fast movement. The two raced across the ruins, dodging and sending attacks.

Flash dodged several laser attacks, each one barely missing as he flew closer and closer. He was filled with rage. Rainbow Dash was a friend, and now she was gone. As soon as he was close enough he kept sending several more punches and kicks.

As they continued to fight, the titan airship landed. The Doctor and Derpy got out. They looked up to see Soarin and Spitfire. “Soarin, Spitfire, down here!”

The two looked and saw them. Spitfire flew over and landed. “Doctor, do you have Soarin’s spare wheelchair?”

He saw that Soarin didn’t have his chair. “Oh, yeah, it in the ship, Derpy go get it.” He walked over behind some rubble and grabbed out a strange looking, small stick. He pressed a button and the end glowed as he scanned Nexus Star’s armor.

Derpy ran back into the ship and grabbed out the spare wheelchair they had. As she did so, she noticed a video screen started blinking on and off. She walked over and tapped on it. Suddenly a voice could be heard, as well as a vague image of a unicorn mare appeared. She tried to figure out what was going on when she heard Doctor Whooves’s voice calling for her.

She decided to ignore the video message and go outside, not knowing the importance of who was trying to contact them. Once she got outside, she opened up the wheelchair for Soarin and then walked over to the Doctor. “So what is the sonic screwdriver telling you?”

“It’s showing that the gauntlets actually have two settings, which is the good news.”

“Which means what good news?” asked Soarin as he rolled up.

“Which means Rainbow Dash might actually be alive.” He lifted up the sonic screwdriver and tried to scan the gauntlets again. “Oh, but there is bad news. I can’t tell without getting closer whether he used the teleport setting or the kill setting.”

Soarin cleared his tears and looked at the fight while talking. “Well, how close do you need to get?”

“That is the crazier news. In order for me to get a proper scan, I’m going to have to get right next to his armor.”

“Why does it always have to be three news flashes with you?” said Derpy. “Good, bad and crazy?”

Soon Spitfire turned and pulled out a gem. She smashed it on the ground and a shield spell rose over them. She had perfect timing as the Alphabolts proceeded to shoot at them. Soon they were surround. “Great, now we are surrounded by these cyberdized ponies,” said the Doctor. “And yet I’m getting a certain feeling of deja vu out of this.”

“What are we going to do, Doctor?”

“Oh come on, Derpy. You know I’ve always got a plan.”

“That’s what I am worried about.”

******

Meanwhile in an unknown place sat an unknown unicorn mare typing on a control station. She sat on a most comfortable cushion and was typing really fast as an orange stallion walked up to her and asked, “Would you like some tea?”

“Not right now. I’m busy,” she said as she continued to type. “Oh, why do they keep ignoring me? I’ve already tried twice and they still won’t answer!”

Suddenly the room began to shake as a roar could be heard. “Oh, darn it! That giant beast has woken up again!” She got up from her cushion and walked over to the wall. She hit the wall and screamed. “Hey, quiet down! I’m trying to work here!”

“ALICORNS!” yelled the beast in a deep, demonic voice.

“Yeah, yeah, alicorns,” she mocked him as she went back to her spot. “Sheesh, what is it with him and alicorns?”

After she was done mocking the beast, she slouched down as tears began to fall. “We are never going to get out of here are we?”

The orange stallion looked at her. “Are you really giving up?”

“No!” she said as she threw a book at him. He took the hit like it was nothing. He walked over and kneeled down to her. She continued to let the tears fall, as he wrapped his arms around her. “I just want to see my mom and dad again.”

The stallion held her in his arms until she calmed down. Suddenly the tender moment was interrupted by a voice coming from a speaker on the ceiling of the room.

“Okay, my prisoners, time for inspection,” came another mare's voice.

The stallion turned his head and spoke. “Princess Burning Star is doing her rounds. I better get hidden.”

“Yes. You're right,” he turned his head back to her as she spoke. “I can’t give up. I am Radiant Hope.”

“That’s right you are Radiant Hope,” He answered. She was the only hope for creatures locked in here. Their only hope of escaping Tartarus.

“Don’t worry. I just got another plan.”

******

Back at the Rock Labs, Twilight was about to put her plan into action, but there was a problem. “No, I won’t do it,” Big Macintosh spoke up in defiance.

“Come on, we need a way in. And if I recall correctly, Marble actually had a thing for you in my timeline, though Pinkie Pie never told me if it went anywhere.” Twilight tried her best persuasion tactics, but it didn’t work.

“No, I will not. Such a thing is completely wrong on the highest level.”

The two continued to argue while Discord leaned down to ‘F’ and whispered.

“I assume she never noticed the locket?”

“Oh, she has, but she has yet to figure it out,” he whispered.

“Don’t worry, I've got my own idea,” he whispered back as he began to shapeshift while they still argued. Afterward, he walked off. Meanwhile ‘F’ used a small spell to silence them. They soon noticed their voices were gone and both quickly turned to ‘F’ in annoyance when they noticed a tall, red stallion walking over to the mare. “Hello lovely,” he said.

“Why, hello,” she said blushing. Soon the two were talking quite a bit.

The other two dropped their jaw as they quickly realized it was Discord. “Hmm, Don’t tell me this is the first time you seen SS act,” said ‘F’.

******

Back at the ruins of Cloudsdale, the Doctor formulated a plan. They waited until the Alphabolts got close enough, then Spitfire dropped a smoke pellet around them. The Alphabolts were sent in confusion when all of the sudden Spitfire shot out into the sky.

Soon Derpy jumped out in the other direction while they were distracted. She ran over and grabbed a nearby machine gun and shot the ground, creating more of a distraction. With all the Alphabolts now facing away from the Doctor, he could use his sonic to cause their flight controls to malfunction. This sent them flying about in all different directions while the group took cover. The Doctor took this chance go to the second phase of the plan.

******

“This might actually work,” said Twilight as they watched. Discord had barely gotten done talking to the mare and was heading back to them. At the same time, the mare left with the happiest smile.

“Well, how did it go?” Twilight questioned him.

“Well, I’ve got good news, bad news, and ridiculous news.”

“Uh oh.”

“Uh oh is right,” He answered back. “The good news I found us a way in.”

“That's good.”

“But then there is the bad news. I manage to ask her if she knew anything about the Flim Flam Farms. And she said they recently fired Applejack and now she has gone missing.”

“Oh great. Now we got to worry about that,” she said in annoyance.

“Oh, that isn’t the ridiculous part. This 'shy' mare, ask me out. And I thought you said she was the shy one.”

“I thought she was.” She looked back over to the mare and that’s when it hit her like a slap to the face. The mare had a short mane. “Oh great, that’s not Marble. That’s Limestone, the aggressive one.”

******

Back at the ruins of Cloudsdale, Nexus Star grabbed Flash by the arm, but he spun around and charged light magic into his foot, clashing it head on into the armor. The attack cracked the armor. The prince ended up letting go as Flash flew backward. As he did he saw the Doctor getting into position. Seeing what the Doctor was up to he charged back forward, pushing the prince into a wall. Doctor Whooves jumped off a cliff behind the prince and landed on him. The prince flew into the air with him hanging on.

“Just need to hold on as best as I can,” said Doctor Whooves as he grabbed out his sonic screwdriver.

“Be careful, Doctor,” said Derpy.

“What is he planning?” questioned Flash.

The Doctor held on for as long as he could as he continued to scan. Meanwhile, the Andross was receiving a message. The ship relayed it back down to Nexus Star.

“What is it now?” he questioned while he was still flying.

“Back to base now, my son.”

His eyes widened upon hearing that voice. “Yes, Mother.”

Instantly he teleported, leaving the Doctor right in the air. The Doctor started to fall but was quickly grabbed by Flash. Meanwhile, the Andross took its leave. “Well did you get the Intel that you nearly died for?” deadpanned Flash.

“Yes, I did,” he said as he held out the sonic screwdriver. “Let’s see. Hmm, well I seemed to have found a list. Rainbow Dash’s name is on it. As well as Fleetfoot's.” They cheered up upon hearing that. “Well, that’s strange. According to the time slots, Rainbow Dash’s name was on this list from the very beginning, but Fleetfoot’s name was added right during the battle.”

“Okay, I don’t think that matters right now, Doc. Where did Jack send them?” asked Flash.

“Okay, okay. I guess it's a question for another day.” He looked through the scans more and continued as his eyes widened. “You're not going to like this.”

“What do you mean?” asked Soarin in a worried tone.

“He sent her to the one place we just can’t go.”

******

In a large laboratory, a rainbow-maned mare slowly started to wake up. “Where am I?” She quickly noticed the pain from her broken arms were gone. She looked to see her arms were healed but in chains.

She tried to struggle as she saw the chains. “Now I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a voice.

She looked around as she heard it, but all she could see was darkness. “Where are you? Who are you?” she demanded.

“Oh, there is no reason to be hateful, Rainbow Dash. Lights!”

The lights came on to reveal a big room covered in clean, white steel walls. Rainbow Dash saw she was chained to a sideways table. Soon an opening appeared at the wall on the other side of her. Walking through the opening was a middle aged dark purple batpony with a gray mane. He wore a lab coat and had on his own version of gauntlets with needles at the end of the fingertips. These gauntlets seemed to be based more on examining bodies rather than fighting.

“Hello, I am Night Fright. I would like to welcome you to my Rainbow Factory.”

Upon that a zoom out revealed that the room she was in was one of thousands where ponies were being tortured and experimented on. Further out reveal, the place lay deep in the empire. In fact, it lay just miles from Nightmare Spire.

******

Meanwhile in the Rock Labs, “Darn it, what are we going to do?” Twilight questioned as she tried to think of where Applejack might be. Soon the gem that the Doctor had gave her began to vibrate. “What?” she questioned as she grabbed it.

“It seems Doctor Whooves has got some news for us,” said ‘F’ as he walked over. “Just use your dark magic on it.”

She looked at it. “Hmm, okay.” Using dark magic on it the gem sent up a square shaped hologram. The video it sent was so fussy, though, it was hard to tell who it was.

“Doctor what's happening? Are the Cloud Rebels okay? Hello?” she asked.

“Doctor? Doctor who? Look I don’t who this Doctor fellow is, or even what you are talking about.” They looked in confusion upon hearing a mare’s voice. It was a voice they didn’t recognize and yet it sounded familiar to Twilight somehow. “Anyway, my name is Radiant Hope. I heard you are looking for a mare named Applejack.”

“What? How did you know that?”

“Well, I’ve had my spies watching you since you arrived in this timeline, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “How? Where?” she asked as she span around.

“That's kind of harder to explain, but that doesn’t matter right now. I know where she is at.”

“Where?” she tried to ask, but then she heard ‘F’s voice.

“And how can we trust you? We can’t even tell what you look like.” ‘F’ had a distinct feeling he had heard this voice before and he didn’t trust her.

“Look that doesn’t matter. I know where Applejack is. She is in Tartarus.” All their eyes widened.

******

Hours later, several miles away in the rainbow factory, Night Fright walked over to another room, ‘That rainbow-mane mare is pretty tough. All that torture and she still won’t give up.’ Inside was a turquoise pegasus mare with a white mane. She was chained up much more tightly than Rainbow Dash was and it seemed that she had already suffered quite a bit more torture than her.

Night Fright walked up to one of his personal Alphabolts. “Oh, so we have found another one of these fakes. These look-alikes.” He turned to the Alphabolt. “So has it taken its true form yet?”

“No, sir. It still refuses,” said the Alphabolt in a robotic like voice.

“Hmm, whatever these things are they’re certainly durable.” He lifted his hand to his chin. “Has it revealed where the real mare it replaced is at?”

“No, not yet.”

He placed his hand down and continued. “Continue torturing it. These fakes have to have a breaking point.”

He turned to take his leave when the Alphabolt asked, “Shall I make sure no information on this one is found on the records too.”

He turned his head back and spoke. “Yes. Of course, I’m not quite ready to tell those foolish rulers yet.” After he was done talking, he walked off.

He didn’t notice a pair of reptilian-like eyes watching through a ventilation shaft. An all too familiar demonic voice spoke. “Hmm, it seems like a few of my former employers might have some problems.”

******

Author's Notes:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a mean ass. You all thought I killed Rainbow Dash. So Night Fright control the Rainbow Factory, wow. I seriously could see him doing that. And yes the real Fleetfoot has been long dead, though what replaced her? Plus as I said, we got some more info on the mysterious unicorn. What? Her name is Radiant Hope? What could she possibly be doing in this story? Read the next chapter and find out.

Anyway, next part Twilight enters Tartarus.

Oh and i'm sorry, Spoilers we won't be getting much on Pinkie Pie and Applejack in character wise. In fact I think Applejack gets like only a few lines in the entire story. This mostly do to me running out of ideas for these alternate mane six to be like. Again I am sorry. Though I do have something planned that might fix that at the end of the entire story. You will know when you see it.