Line #28 FanFic/RainbowFactory


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7	->''Now a rainbow's tale isn't quite as nice\
8	As the story we knew of sugar and spice\
9	But a rainbow's easy once you get to know it\
10	With the help of the magic of a Pegasus Device...''
11
12	A pair of young pegasus ponies, Scootaloo and Orion, are getting ready for their final flight exam, which will either make their lives if they succeed, or break them if they fail. But during the exam, a pony twists her wings and catastrophically crashes before their eyes. A chain of events leads to all ''three'' of them failing the exam and being taken somewhere unknown, where the glorious city of Cloudsdale won't have to suffer failures such as them.
13
14	But the exile turns out to be even worse than expected... Instead of being deported to some unknown land, the three find themselves inside the Rainbow Factory. Barely anything is known about the workings of this place, besides the fact that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin it produces rainbows]]. But now, the three are finally about to find out where those beautiful rainbows gracing Equestria ''[[HumanResources really]]'' [[HumanResources come from]]... and to discover the horrifying truth behind Scootaloo's mentor, friend and hero... [[AxCrazy Rainbow Dash]].
15
16	And Celestia help them all.
17
18	''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/5381/rainbow-factory Rainbow Factory]]'' was first written as a ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic]]''-themed song by renowned [[FanCommunityNickname brony]] musician Glaze, aka Music/WoodenToaster. While it clearly suggests the cheerful Rainbow Factory depicted in the show is [[DarkerAndEdgier not all it seems]], it leaves the actual details [[NothingIsScarier to one's imagination]]. Aurora Dawn later wrote a fanfiction based on the song. This contains canon character [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation reinterpretation]] (as well as [[DeathFic death]]) and is very grimdark.
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20	Find the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRx_iXgLAyw here]] and the fanfic [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1td5r9BGGA7l2-rnlFTnVrJN2NdZclcVWUMoCqaSujnM/edit?hl=en_GB&pli=1 here.]] Much like ''Fanfic/CupcakesSergeantSprinkles'' before it, there's also a dose of NightmareRetardant in a parody [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7HrijDkfHc&feature=g-all-a&list=PL92BE27F054BDAA36&context=G2958739FAAAAAAAAAAA here,]] courtesy of ''WebVideo/MyLittlePonyTheMentallyAdvancedSeries''.
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22	Aurora Dawn wrote a sequel to Rainbow Factory, ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/68356/pegasus-device Pegasus Device,]]'' about a duo of foals trying to escape the factory as things begin to go wrong in there. The sequel is arguably LighterAndSofter than ''Rainbow Factory'' was, and adds a degree of philosophical depth to many of the antagonists.
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24	Also inspired a number of Blog/AskAPony tumblrs, [[http://ask-factory-scootaloo.tumblr.com/ Ask Rainbow Factory Worker Scootaloo]] set in an AlternateUniverse where Scootaloo passed the exam and got a job at the factory, [[http://rainbowfactorydash.tumblr.com/ Ask Rainbow Factory Dash,]] a blog about the manager of the factory in the same continuity as the Scootaloo blog, and [[http://ask-frenzy.tumblr.com/ Frenzy of the Rainbow Factory]], an OC blog in continuity with the previous two. [[http://ask-ghostlyscootaloo.tumblr.com/ Ask Ghostly Scootaloo]] is revealed to follow an ending where Scootaloo is killed immediately, rather than being imprisoned. In a crossover between Ghostly and Factory Scootaloo, they end up in what could probably be defined as the "Alpha" universe with the imprisoned version of Scootaloo from Rainbow Factory canon.
25
26	[[https://waffleironstudios.com/index.php/scoot-hard-dx/ Scoot Hard DX]] is a {{VideoGame/Doom}} mod where you control Scootaloo trying to escape the rainbow factory.
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28	----
29	!!Tropes:
30
31	* AchievementTestOfDestiny: In Cloudsdale, all pegasus foals have to take a mandatory athletics test assessing their flight capabilities. Passing this test allows them to become a citizen of Cloudsdale, failing it gets them ReleasedToElsewhere [[spoiler:and ground up into the raw material that makes rainbows]].
32	* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash as ANaziByAnyOtherName CorruptCorporateExecutive.]]
33	* ArtEvolution: The animation, models and special effects of the PMV for "Awoken" have improved considerably from the "Rainbow Factory" video. Of note, the shape of Wooden Toaster's mane is refined, the animation is made smoother, and new (gorgeous!) lighting effects are added.
34	* ArtificialLimbs: The factory worker in the "Awoken" PMV, H8_Seed's avatar, is drawn with mechanical wings.
35	** TheStinger implies that he's actually a robot. H8_Seed [[WordOfGod has confirmed this]].
36	* AlternateUniverse: Some of the Tumblrs have a universe where Scootaloo passes her exam and is hired to work at the factory. In a crossover with Blog/AskSeriousRainbow, they went to a universe where [[spoiler: Rainbow Dash is Absentia, and an AxCrazy Scootaloo is the one running the factory.]]
37	* AuthorAvatar: The pegasus Aurora Dawn shares the name of the author [=AuroraDawn=]. She is one of the three main protagonists.
38	* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash is completely and murderously out of her mind.]]
39	* BittersweetEnding: The video for "Awoken". The robotic worker escapes the Rainbow Factory and it's implied he'll be able to build a life outside of it with his friend, but the Factory is still operational and killing ponies for Spectra. They're not even affected by losing him, as TheStinger shows another version of him being built as a replacement.
40	* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler: Rainbow Dash is ''definitely'' this to Scootaloo when her role in the factory is revealed]].
41	* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler:As Rainbow Dash calmly informs the victims, the Pegasus Device works better if the pony gets his/her ribs broken beforehand.]]
42	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Pretty much the entirety of the upper-rank Factory officials... [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash mostly.]]
43	* CreatorCameo: Wooden Toaster and Brony Dance Party, the song writer and PMV animator, appear as pony factory workers in the original Rainbow Factory video. "Awoken" adds H8_Seed and A Blu Skittle to the mix.
44	* DarkerAndEdgier: The fanfic itself to the show, big time.
45	** One "alternate ending" is even darker than the fanfic itself--in it, [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash is revealed to still have a [[SplitPersonality side of her personality]] that still cares for Scootaloo...and the struggle between it and her insane enraged side gets her tangled up in chains and shackles, until she herself [[DeathByIrony falls into the Pegasus Device and dies]]. Scootaloo? She's [[ShootTheShaggyDog still killed by Dr. Atmosphere anyways]].]]
46	* DarkFic: If you've read this far, you know that this fic is anything but OriginalFlavor.
47	* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler: Rainbow Dash is very disappointed that Scootaloo failed her flight test despite all the help Dash tried to give her... so she's determined to give Scootaloo a horribly torturous death]].
48	--> '''[[spoiler: Rainbow Dash]]''': ''You deserve this, you worthless whore of a foal!''
49	* DownerEnding:
50	** [[spoiler:Scootaloo fails to escape, is implied to have been killed, and the Rainbow Factory is allowed to remain operational.]]
51	** [[spoiler: ''Pegasus Device'' shows that Scootaloo is not dead, however she has instead been held captive in the factory for so long that she has been driven insane to the point of forgetting her own name.]]
52	* DrillSergeantNasty: The pegasus who oversees the flight test is insulting and abrasive, threatening to fail fliers for the slightest infraction.
53	* DrivenToSuicide: In ''Pegasus Device'', [[spoiler:Scootaloo kills herself in front of Rainbow Dash, just so she can fly again. It snaps Dash out of her villainy, so it doubles as HeroicSacrifice.]]
54	* DrivenToVillainy: [[spoiler:WordOfGod says Rainbow Dash went insane after years of pressure to keep the goings on at the facility a secret.]]
55	* DystopianEdict: The test itself, considering [[spoiler: it's a front for a secret [[TheSocialDarwinist eugenics program.]]]]
56	* EldritchLocation: [[spoiler:''Pegasus Device'' seems to imply that the Weather Factory itself became one because of all the suffering and death that went on inside it. The ghostly screams of thousands of dying foals can be heard when somepony touches the doorknob that leads to a certain room, and every worker who is told about the secret of harvesting Spectra [[GoMadFromTheRevelation goes murderously insane]], with Gentle Butterwing snapping after only three days. Contrail believes that something about the Factory traps or steals ponies' souls.]]
57	* EquivalentExchange: [[spoiler:To spare a foal who failed their flight test from being turned into rainbows, a factory worker has to volunteer to take their place.]]
58	* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler: Scootaloo is essentially being betrayed by someone she looked up to.]]
59	* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: HaHaHaNo.
60	* ExhaustedEyeBags: The pegasus worker in "Awoken". Fitting, considering how much he hates his job.
61	* FacingTheBulletsOneliner: [[spoiler: Scootaloo's last words when cornered by Rainbow Dash]]: "You have beautiful eyes..."
62	* FantasticRacism: More like fantastic ''ableism''; Cloudsdale society is extremely prejudiced about poor fliers - so much that pegasi who fail their final flight test are exiled somewhere so as to not shame the city. [[spoiler:They're actually killed to make rainbows out of them, but the population doesn't know ''that''.]]
63	* FirstTimeInTheSun: [[spoiler: At least in a while for H8_Seed's OC at the end of the PMV for Awoken.]]
64	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Aurora]] sacrifices herself so [[spoiler:Scootaloo]] can escape. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]
65	** [[spoiler:In the ''Pegasus Device'', this is the only way for sympathetic workers to save failures. Two such sacrifices saved Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves, explaining how canonically pathetic fliers could survive in a society that persecutes them.]]
66	** [[spoiler: Scootaloo herself does this in Pegasus Device, killing herself to snap Dash out of her villainous ways.]]
67	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Everypony who works at the Factory has been driven insane by the process of harvesting spectra.
68	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Dr. Atmosphere in ''Pegasus Device'' as he doubts more and more of Rainbow Dash's extreme corruption.]]
69	** The worker that "Awoken" revolves around.
70	* HumanResources: [[spoiler:or rather ''Pony Resources''...]]
71	* ItsAllAboutMe: [[spoiler:All Rainbow Dash is concerned with is how disappointed she is by Scootaloo's failure to pass her flight test after all her advice, as opposed to the fact that ''Scootaloo is about to die a horrible death''.]]
72	* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: [[spoiler:This is what seals the deal for poor Orion when he tried to comfort Scootaloo.]]
73	-->You can’t have happiness. You ''ruined'' me. Now I’ll ruin you. Workers! The brown one, there! Him first!
74	* JumpScare: [[SchmuckBait Go ahead,]] click the link and scroll all the way to the bottom. [[spoiler: If you do, you'll be met with an EXTREME close-up of Rainbow Dash's piercing [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]] eyes, her face splattered with blood (some of which [[FridgeHorror possibly belonging to Scootaloo]])]].
75	* KarmicDeath: Brony Dance Party in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwW9slmrKXo sequel to the original song.]]
76	* KillTheOnesYouLove: [[spoiler:What happens with Rainbow Dash to Scootaloo.]]
77	* LackOfEmpathy: When Aurora Dawn is horribly injured during the flight test, the instructor and judges don't even bother to help her, and fail her on the spot. They even fail Orion for going to help her.
78	* LighterAndSofter: [[spoiler: The sequel, ''Pegasus Device'', is this in comparison. Of course, lighter and softer than ''this'' does not necessarily mean light and soft.]]
79	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwW9slmrKXo "Awoken"]] is this to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PjIhs72l0A original song.]]
80	* ManOfWealthAndTaste: The manager of the Factory, [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash]], wears a suit. Most Factory workers, even the lower-end ones, do as well, though.
81	* MadnessMakeover: [[spoiler:Though it's justified by her having been in a fight, Rainbow Dash starts out as prim in a strict suit, and by the end of the story her mane is messed up and she's all covered in blood and wounds so her colors can hardly be seen.]]
82	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: ''Pegasus Device: Components'' reveals that this was the fate of [[spoiler:Scootaloos' parents and the other five Element Bearers]], with Rainbow Dash covering up her tracks due to issuing severe thunderstorms into the areas before the time of their deaths.
83	* MeaningfulName: In "[[{{Sequel}} Pegasus Device]]", Scootaloo has [[FateWorseThanDeath been kept alive, imprisoned in the bowels of the Factory, and lost the memory of her past, her friends, and her very identity.]] The protagonist Cloud Cover—an escaped failure—gives her a fitting name: Absentia.
84	* MegaCorp: Cloudsdale Weather Corporation doubles as both this and [[TheSocialDarwinist Nazis]].
85	* MoralityChain: [[spoiler:Working inside the Factory and seeing, even commanding the cold-blooded slaughter of many innocent ponies, Rainbow Dash had only one thing that prevented her from falling into complete insanity - Scootaloo. Once Scootaloo seals her fate by failing her flight exam, Rainbow Dash [[AxCrazy plunges right into the deep end]].]]
86	* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Atmosphere, arguably. He's not exactly an evil genius, but he's got an eerie vibe about him.
87	* MultipleEndings: Though ultimately scrapped, [=AuroraDawn=] wrote three different endings, [[spoiler:though they're all still {{Downer Ending}}s in their own right]].
88	** First ending: [[spoiler:Dash starts beating Scootaloo to death when Scootaloo manages to break through to her, causing Dash to develop a SplitPersonality: [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone one side of her is horrified with herself for trying to kill her "little sister"]], while the other remains resentful of Scootaloo and keeps trying to kill her. Dash ends up struggling with herself before falling into her own machine, [[DyingAsYourself though her kind self wins over and apologizes to Scootaloo]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath before being ripped to shreds]]. Sadly, [[ShootTheShaggyDog Dr. Atmosphere shows up, murders Scootaloo, and manages to cover up the whole incident]].]]
89	** Second ending: [[spoiler:Same as the first, except Scootaloo survives and the horrors of the Rainbow Facility have been exposed. However, [[BrokenBird Scootaloo is left thoroughly broken over the deaths of three of her friends]].]]
90	** Third ending: [[spoiler:Similar to the first and second, except Scootaloo becomes a loner and never reveals the truth of the facility to the public since she is more or less implied to be forced to keep her mouth shut.]]
91	* MurderInc: The Rainbow Factory is this.
92	* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Cloudsdale is described as being 'nationalist'. Pegasi who fail their flight tests are ushered away to create the image that Cloudsdale does not produce failures. The failures are often referred to as being less than pony, and the Rainbow Factory can be seen as analogous to a certain facility the Nazis employed.
93	* NothingIsScarier: In the original song, the evils of the Factory are left to the listener's imagination...
94	** We get more details in the [[BSODSong sequel]] [[SanitySlippageSong song]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwW9slmrKXo "Awoken"]], which involves an [[VillainousBSOD exhausted worker]] having a HeelFaceTurn.
95	* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Dr. Atmosphere explicitly states he's not a medical doctor--he has a degree in engineering, and tells the group that he won't conduct any evil experiments on them. [[spoiler:Indeed, they [[SarcasmMode merely]] get killed to make rainbows out of them.]]
96	* OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding: The end of the original song's sequel, "Awoken". [[ADayInTheSlimeLight The worker]] [[HeelFaceTurn the song revolves around]] escapes the factory to be met by a friend outside, and even gives [[TheDragon Brony]] [[SlasherSmile Dance Party]] a KarmicDeath, in the process. Too bad the factory is still being run by [[TheDragon Wooden]] [[EvilGloating Toaster]], though.
97	** And if that's not enough, the main worker gets replaced by an android version of himself in TheStinger, meaning that [[ShootTheShaggyDog all of his efforts to escape were for nothing]].
98	* PowderKegCrowd: [[spoiler:Eventually the captured ponies lash out against their tormentors... Sadly, it's all for naught.]]
99	* PoweredByAForsakenChild: [[spoiler:Rainbows are made out of young pegasi who fail the final flight test.]]
100	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Orion gives one to his heartless instructor for not caring about Aurora's injury.
101	* ReleasedToElsewhere: All the ponies think the flight test failures are exiled to another country, while the reality is quite different...
102	** [[spoiler:Though Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves really were released to elsewhere (i.e. Ponyville), though not without the sacrifice of volunteer workers in return.]]
103	* RevisedEnding: Being the NightmareRetardant parody it is, the ''Rainbow Dash Presents'' version ends with [[spoiler:them learning they never ''actually'' needed to kill foals, they had only needed crayons and pictures of families to make rainbows. While Surprise laments that they're going to pony hell for nothing, the foals happily go home and take pictures with their families to donate to the factory.]]
104	* RiggedContest: Rainbow Dash in the sequel remarks to Dr. Atmosphere that a few of the instructors were told to ''intentionally'' fail many of the fillies and colts that take part in the Flight Exam in order to keep up their Rainbow quota.
105	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash completely loses it when the pony victims rebel and Scootaloo attempts to escape.]]
106	* {{Room 101}}: [[spoiler: The Rainbow Factory is this]].
107	* SadisticChoice:
108	** [[spoiler: Pegasi chosen to work in the factory itself, once they find out the truth about what they do, are given a choice. Keep their mouth shut and be party to the murder of countless foals, or spare one of them but the worker must take the foal's place. Only two foals have ever been spared -- Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves.]]
109	** When Aurora Dawn gets hurt during the flight test, Orion and Scootaloo really want to help her, but going onto the field without permission is an automatic failure. Orion does it anyway, sacrificing his chance at passing, while Scootaloo watches helplessly. It's even more tragic when you consider that Scootaloo's guilt over this may have subconsciously led to her accident when her turn comes.
110	* SettingAsACharacter: Fanart, RecursiveFanfiction, and FilkSong will often depict the titular factory (or the Pegasus Device inside) as a character, although how literal that may be is DependingOnTheAuthor. Sometimes its seen InUniverse as a monstrous creature by workers because of the many horrors that are perpetuated within, and sometimes its implied to be a literal GeniusLoci that eagerly encourages death to be carried out inside itself. Slyphstorm's song ''Pegasus Device'' deliberately blurs this line;
111	-->''A mighty machine built within the wake,\
112	Of a long dead dream, little demon awake,\
113	The citizens sleep, never quite knowing when\
114	The device will reawaken, hungry again''.
115	* SlasherSmile: Brony Dance Party, animator of the music videos to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PjIhs72l0A original song]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwW9slmrKXo its sequel]], dawns one throughout most of both videos, while acting as the quieter of Rainbow Dash's two [[TheDragon head asssistants]].
116	* TheSocialDarwinist: [[spoiler: Rainbow Dash]] is a type two.
117	* SurvivalMantra: Scootaloo has one during her flight test: "Pass the test. Fly to the gate. Live a happy life."
118	* UriahGambit: It is revealed that the events of Pegasus Device [[spoiler:were all caused by Dr. Atmosphere in order to have Rainbow Dash removed from power, knowing full well that should any children managed to escape from the main theater Rainbow would dedicate as many measures as possible to recapturing them that she would be left in the dark when Atmosphere goes blow the whistle on the [=CWCs=]' activities to the authorities in order to have Dash removed from power as the Director so he could install himself and switch over Rainbow production methods to something more humane via a blood drive. All the more sweeter should the foals be crafty and clever enough to cause telltale destruction to the facility that several important Factory Employees wind up dying which would remove any of Rainbow Dash's sycophants that would get in his way.]]
119	* WellIntentionedExtremist: The workers will [[spoiler:kill children]] to make rainbows. Though it's debatable whether or not that's just [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide their way of covering up their real intentions]].
120	* WhamEpisode: Chapter 3 of "Pegasus Device": [[spoiler: Scootaloo is still alive.]]
121	* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises: [=BronyDanceParty=]'s avatar in the music videos of both "Rainbow Factory" and "Awoken", used to convey insanity rather than fear. [[spoiler:His eyes return to their normal state near the end of "Awoken", [[OhCrap as he realizes he's about to be killed by Wooden Toaster.]]]]
122	* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash comes to believe Scootaloo deserves her atrocious fate for having failed her flight test, despite all of Dash's tips and pointers. Even though her failure was not really her fault.]]
123	** It is implied in the "Awoken" PMV [[spoiler:that Wooden Toaster kills Brony Dance Party for allowing H8_Seed to escape]].
124
125	----
126	->''"You have beautiful eyes..."''

Context FanFic / RainbowFactory