Rainbow Factory

> *"In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true. In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through."*
>
>

***Rainbow Factory*** is a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Grimdark-"Gluefic" written by AuroraDawn on 19th August 2011. It is based on the song of the same name by WoodenToaster. It's the first story in the Factoryverse.

## Rainbow Factory

### Published on

19th August 2011
27th December 2011 (FiMFiction)
08th September 2014 (Paperback)
16th February 2021 (The Pegasus Device; Paperback Collection)
17th February 2021 (Edited FiMFiction)

### Publisher

FiMFiction
 lulu (Paperback)

## Plot

It's the day of Scootaloo's flight school graduation test. She is among three ponies who do not pass the test: a filly with the name of Aurora Dawn dislocates her wings during a dangerous stunt; the colt Orion Solstice is disqualified for trying to help Aurora instead of completing his maneuvers; and Scootaloo herself is distracted watching the two and does not stick the landing.

Disgraced, the three are taken away in a windowless carriage. Their mysterious destination turns out to be "The Factory", the place where the weather is made. Specifically, they are in the Rainbow Facility, a section of the factory off-limits to visitors, which has led to many rumors about how exactly the Spectra, the colors of the rainbow, are manufactured.

A stallion named Dr. Atmosphere orders guards with tazers to prod Scootaloo, Aurora, and Orion into a room with chains hanging from the ceiling. A large piece of machinery occupies one end of the room; the machine has a wide opening at the top and tubes that lead from the device to several tubs on the floor. The tubs contain pure Spectra. There are other ponies in the room, ponies who have also failed their flight tests.

Not long after Scootaloo's arrival, several older ponies appear on scaffolding above the machine and announce that while the flight school rejects are "worthless" to Cloudsdale, they are still going to serve a purpose. As a masked pony explains: when Luna was banished a thousand years before and Celestia had to take on raising the moon as well the sun, she outsourced the creation of rainbows to the Pegasi of Cloudsdale. They soon found a way to do so without the help of unicorn magic: by harvesting ponies to extract the Spectra directly. The graduation tests therefore serve the dual purpose of ridding Cloudsdale of "the weak" and ensuring the supply of Spectra with ponies whose disappearance won't be questioned.

The masked speaker turns out to be Rainbow Dash, the current manager of the Rainbow Facility. A shocked Scootaloo confronts her, but elicits only disgust; because she failed her test, she also failed her mentor Rainbow Dash, and thus deserves to be punished. Guards tie Orion to a chain, which lifts him up and into the machine, killing him.

Scootaloo passes out briefly, but recovers quickly and relays a plan to Aurora and some of the other nearby ponies while the guards are slowly approaching their position. They take off and try to reach the unguarded catwalks above them. Because both Rainbow Dash and the guards are unused to resistance, Scootaloo does manage to get to a door and escape, but at a price: none of the other young ponies make it out of the room alive. Aurora, who has a chance to come with Scootaloo but knows she would never make it because of her damaged wings, is killed by Rainbow Dash personally when she blocks the door frame to buy Scootaloo some time.

Scootaloo flies down a corridor, with Rainbow Dash in hot pursuit. She spies a narrow chute which she hopes leads outside the Factory. Rainbow Dash is too big to follow her, but makes no attempts to even try or call others to go after her. Scootaloo soon realizes why: the chute does not lead outside after all, but back to the killing room. She is captured and subdued, and eventually Rainbow Dash arrives to finish the job. Before she can do so, she asks Scootaloo if she has any last words. The story ends when Scootaloo says: "You have beautiful eyes"

## Characters

### New Characters

* Scootaloo
* Orion Solstice
* Aurora Dawn
* Rainbow Dash
* Dr. Atmosphere
* Daisy Fields
* Faraday Spots
* Holiday Shine
* Princess Celestia (Mentioned)
* Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon (Mentioned)
* Zecora (Mentioned)
* The Instructor
* The Three "Imposing" Ponies
* The Boss

## Locations

* Equestria
	+ Cloudsdale
		- Cloudsdale Flight School
		- Cloudsdale Weather Factory

* Levitating Acres Private School
* Africa (Indirectly Mentioned)
* Tartarus (Mentioned)

## Songs

* Rainbow Factory - WoodenToaster
* Broken WIngs - Mumble Etc.
* A Flight That Never Comes - TheLostNarrator

## Alternate Endings

AuroraDawn (the writer) and a co-author, B.X.S, have also published a 1,600-word rough draft (including some author commentary) of a coda to the original story. It sets in where the story left off and offers three possible endings.

In one, Rainbow Dash complains to Scootaloo about how she just messed up her quota, and starts to beat her to death. The younger pony tries once again to reach out to her, and this time seems to succeed, triggering a psychotic break. Rainbow Dash shifts between horror at what she has done and hatred that Scootaloo "betrayed" her, loudly arguing with separate sides of her personality. Her jerky movements entangle her in the chains hanging from the ceiling and eventually cause her to fall into the machine. Her last words before she dies are an apology to Scootaloo. Scootaloo herself is not freed at this point; Dr. Atmosphere comes in, murders her, and orders the other workers to cover up the whole incident so the Rainbow Facility can start producing again as soon as possible.

In the second alternate ending, Rainbow Dash still dies but Scootaloo does not. In a manner that is not specified, the authorities are informed of what used to happen at the Rainbow Facility. Dr. Atmosphere is demoted and that particular wing of the weather factory is demolished. Yet Scootaloo cannot find peace, missing Orion, Aurora, and Rainbow Dash. Her soul died that day even if her body did not, an idea reinforced by the fact that this ending closes with a partial quote of the final verse of the song.

The third, and final, alternate ending is a variant of the first in which Scootaloo becomes a loner and never tells anyone the truth. It is implied that she is shadowed by agents who make sure she keeps her mouth shut, because the Rainbow Facility continues to operate, "the source of pride for almost all of Cloudsdale, save one".

All three endings were nullified in "Pegasus Device".

## In Other Languages

* Brazilian Portoguese - **Fábrica de Arco-Íris**
* Chinese - **彩虹工厂**
* Dutch - **Regnbuefabrik**
* French - **Usine Arc-En-Ciel**
* German - **Die Regenbogen Fabrik**
* Italian - **Fabbrica Arcobaleno**
* Korean - **무지개 공장**
* Polish - **Fabryka Tęczy**
* Russian - **Фабрика Радуг**
* Spanish - **La fábrica de Arcoíris**
* Ukrainian - **Фабрика Веселка**

## Trivia

* This story takes place in 1010 a. N. (after Nightmare Moon)
* This story is based on the song of the same name by WoodenToaster.
* This story was written in one day.
* Aurora Dawn was terribly sick with fever while writing Rainbow Factory.
* WoodenToaster's Rainbow Factory was playing on repeat while Aurora Down wrote the story.
* This story helped Aurora Dawn fall in love with a girl.
* Rainbow Dash's change of personality is explained as the result of years of pressure to keep the goings-on in the Rainbow Facility secret, having been first initiated after her first sonic rainboom.
* Aurora Dawn has confirmed that the "pegasus device" is officially named "The Super Speedy Filly Squeezy 6000" in the Google Documents file of the story. This is a play on "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000," the cider-making machine used by the Flim Flam Brothers in the episode of the same name.
* The pegasus Aurora Dawn shares the name of the author AuroraDawn.
* A surprisingly large number of people knew about this fic through the Rainbow Dash Presents parody, to the point of thinking Aurora Dawn was ripping off "Captain Hook the Biker Gorilla". The creators of the latter attempted to rectify this by crediting Aurora Dawn every time his characters were used in other videos and linking to the original fic on his blog.
* The BronyDanceParty Filk Song has over 11 million views, making it more viewed than the original fic. It's especially this amongst younger fans who used Youtube but didn't read fanfics.
* Many businesses in real life use Rainbow Factory as their name, most notably, a sandal store in San Clemente, California.
* In May 2022, YouTube videos with the FiMFiction Link to Rainbow Factory were flagged as "violating Youtube’s “Sex and Nudity” content policy".

## Links

* FiMFiction
* Google Docs
* Buy the Book
* Buy the Book Collection
* TVTropes
* My Little Pony Fan Labor Wiki

## Videos

WoodenToaster - Rainbow FactoryRainbow Factory - WoodenToaster-PMV- Rainbow Factory Music Video - BronyDancePartyBronyDanceParty PMVRainbow Factory (Remix) - WoodenToasterThe Living Tombstone RemixRainbow Dash Sings - The Rainbow Factory - by PurpleRoselynRainbow Dash CoverRainbow Dash Presents- Captain Hook the Biker GorillaRainbow Dash Presents: Captain Hook the Gorilla BikerRainbow Factory -MLP Fanfic Reading- (Grimdark)The Lost Narrator's Dramatic ReadingRainbow FactoryPristine Lavender Cover(Month Of Macabre 2021) The Rainbow FactoryGrim Narrator's Dramatic Reading