I think the same question was going through our heads as we walked. What now?

We escaped, but now what? The Rainbow Factory was our home. There's nowhere for us to go. Toaster is right, we can't go back now, they'll kill us. I don't have a home to go back to. My parents are both dead.

I glanced over at Amber. "Where do you live? We can take you back there if you want."

She shook her head. "I don't want to go back."

"Why?"

"My mom died from cancer last June. My father hates me. He gives all his attention to my older sister, who's a wonderbolt-in-training, and my younger sister, who's only 4 months old. It's hard being the middle child. Nopony cares about me. I bet they wouldn't even notice that I was gone..." She averted he gaze to the ground.

I sighed. "I know exactly how you feel."

She looked up. "Huh?"

"Nopony cared about me either. My parents were both killed in a fire. I had no friends, and everypony seemed to hate me cause I couldn't fly. Praise the flock and all that. None of them knew the truth."

"What was the tr-"

"I don't like to talk about it," I snapped, ending the conversation.

She quickly dropped her eyes back to the ground. "Sorry..."

We walked in silence for a few minutes before I remembered her cries for help in The Factory. I can fly! Really! I was just too full of myself! I just need a second chance!

"How'd you fail your flight exam?" I finally asked.

She glared at me. "I don't like to talk about it."

"Fine, suit yourself," I said, annoyed that she was mimicking me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught her glanced over and sigh. "I was too confident. I was always a great flier, and I knew I would ace my flight test. I executed the first two sections perfectly. Clear and fly. Fall... That was where I screwed up. I thought I could do better than all of the other ponies that passed. I knew there were no extra points for keep my wings closed for longer, but I wanted to show off... I did it anyways. I fell for one second longer than was required, and when I tried to pull up... Both my wings snapped. I don't know what was worse, the pain from my broken wings, or the fact that I had failed my exam all because of one stupid mistake that was all my own fault. As you've probably guessed, I never reached complete..."

I nodded slowly, understanding. Clear, fly, fall, complete. Basically the whole flight exam. Clear the clouds, fly through the hoops, close your wings and fall then pull up before you hit the ground, then fly to the gates and complete your test, becoming a full member of the flock.

However, this filly's "not being given a chance" wasn't quite what I had expected. She was given a chance. She just didn't use it well. It was her own fault that she failed. Flying wasn't about how athletic you are. You also have to be a quick, smart, thinker. Which obviously Amber was not. I should have just left her back at the factory.

"I see." I said, trying to keep my anger under control.

I stopped walking as a town came into view. "There's a village over here!" I called to Toaster, who was still following a ways behind us at he bottom of the hill.

He didn't answer, just growled at us.

"Well somepony's not happy," I muttered, rolling my eyes. We began to walk down the opposite side of the hill, towards the town.

"Why is he even here if he hates you so much?"

I shrugged. "He has nowhere else to go. That pony has worked at The Factory longer than I have. From what I remember, his whole family thinks he's dead. He can't go back to the Rainbow Factory, he can't go home... What other choice does he have?"

She nodded slowly. "Alright, let me re-state the question. Why are you letting him come if you hate him so much?"

I stopped walking. "That's a good question. It's not like he'll die if we leave him alone. He's perfectly capable of fending for himself. You know what? We can probably drop him off in this town, and he can figure out what to do with himself from there."

Amber nodded. "Oh, by the way... I never caught your name."

"Mystery," I said. "Moonlight Mystery."

She nodded again and we walked the rest of the way in silence. It was approaching dawn now. Great. Just great. There goes my advantage.

I can't wait to get to that town now. Hopefully we can get some hot cocoa or something to warm us up, I'm going to get hypothermia if I stay out here any longer, all thanks to Toaster making me take a dip in that freezing cold water. And for what? For him to get mad at me for saving his life!

Judging from the sun, it was about 8:00 before we finally reached the town. The first thing I noticed was the bustle of activity. Ponies were running around in every direction, gathering supplies.

"What are they doing?" I wondered allowed. I watched a purple unicorn... Wait no... Alicorn, yell out at the group, directing ponies this way and that, writing things down on her clipboard every few seconds.

Ambers eyes brightened up. "Winter Wrap up!"

"You're kidding me right?" I sighed. Just my luck, the day that I escape from the Rainbow Factory, turns out to be one of the busiest days of the year. No chance in getting a mug of cocoa now, everypony will be far too busy.

I took a step towards the town.

"Err... Mystery?" Amber stopped me.

"Hmm?"

"Don't you think ponies will be a little suspicious if you walk in there wearing... That?"

My eyes widened as I finally remembered my labcoat. My very... Bloodstained labcoat. Yeah, that wouldn't be good. Maybe the water had washed the blood off of my fur, but it didn't get out the years of stains on the white fabric.

I took it off, shivering at the sudden cold."What exactly should I do with it?"

Amber shrugged. "You could bury it."

I gave her an are you serious look. "In the snow? I don't know if you've noticed, but they're clearing the snow..."

"Oh... Right."

"What's going on?" Asked Toaster, who had finally caught up to us.

"Winter Wrap Up," I said without even looking in his direction. "You're going to have to take off your labcoat."

"What?!" He exclaimed. "No way!"

"Do you want them to be suspicious? If word that we've been in this town gets to Dash, she'll be after us. Do you really want that?"

He glared at me, then slowly took off his coat. "What do I do with it."

"That's what we're trying to figure out." I looked around. "If we can find a bush or something..."

"What about there?" Amber pointed to a grove of trees a few meters away.

I shrugged. "That'll work for now."

I stashed my labcoat in the dead-looking underbrush. "Shall we go?"

We began to walk towards the town.

"Do you think they'll let us help out? I love Winter Wrap Up!" Exclaimed Amber excitedly.

I sighed. "I hope not."

I had never helped out with Winter Wrap Up before. As a filly, I had never had to. Any foal under the age of 10 has a choice. I was never good at any of the jobs, so I just sat out while all the other foals helped the adults because they thought it was fun. I always thought that I would just get in the way.

As we approached the bridge, the purple alicorn spotted us and trotted over.

"Where are your vests? Come on, we have to get working if we're going to wrap up winter by sunset!"

"Umm... We kinda just got here from..."

What do I say? Oh, we just escaped a factory where we kill ponies to make rainbows! Yeah, that would go over well.

"Cloudsdale!" Amber covered for me quickly. "We're from Cloudsdale."

The other pony nodded. "That's ok. I know you just got here, but do you mind helping out a bit? We're a little behind schedule."

Amber began jumping up and down excitedly. "Oh, please can we?!"

Before I could protest, the alicorn started scribbling on her clipboard. "Great! I just need your names now."

"Amber Strike!" Amber called out quickly.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Do I have a choice? "Moonlight Mystery." I nodded behind me. "That's WoodenToaster. He might not do much, he's pretty grumpy today."

She laughed. "Perfect! You probably already know who I am, but in case not, I'm Twilight Sparkle."

Oh! Of course. Twilight Sparkle. Princess Twilight Sparkle to be exact. I've never actually seen her, only heard about her from Rainbow Dash. She became a princess long after I was employed at The Factory.

Twilight glanced down at her checklist again. "Are all of you good for the Weather team?"

"Well, if you haven't already noticed, Amber can't fly, and-"

"Oh, that's perfectly fine," said Twilight, cutting me off. "She can help clear the ice of the ponds." She pointed over to a bright pink mare who was handing out ice skates. "Just head over to Pinkie Pie there, and she'll give you a vest and a pair of skates."

Amber nodded and trotted off.

"As for you two..." Twilight continued, her horn glowing with magic as she levitated two blue garments over to us. "Here are your vests. Now chop chop, we have lots of work to do!"

"Wait!" I called, but the busy purple alicorn had already trotted off in another direction. "I can't... Fly... Either..." I finished, pointlessly.

"Hurry up Mystery! You heard the princess!"

I looked up, and the pony who called down at me, surprisingly was WoodenToaster. He already had his vest on and was flying through the air, helping clear the clouds.

I glanced over at Amber, who was happily skating across the lake, the ice cutting into squares behind her. I sighed. I'll fall on my face if I try to skate.

I reluctantly took off and flew up to the cloud layer, bucking at a cloud, which instantly dissolved with a poof. I moved onto the next. Poof. Next cloud. Poof.

I watched as the other Pegasi darted around me, clearing 3 clouds to my one. I sighed. I'm so... Slow...

I continued to buck the clouds, slowly but surely. Poof. Poof. Poof.

I stopped in the middle of my buck. Toaster was standing on my cloud.

"Move, Toaster."

"Are you even trying?"

"I said, move."

He didn't budge. "Don't you think you can pick up the pace a little?"

"Why do you care? What made you so helpful all of a sudden?!" I said angrily.

He grinned. "Maybe I'm not the kindest pony in the world, but I do love Winter Wrap Up. Now answer my question. Are you even trying?"

I glared at him. "Toaster. I. Can't. Fly." I said through clenched teeth.

"Oh right, it's daytime." He rolled his eyes. "You could still try though... Whatever, continue to be slow. You'll just get in the way."

I did my best to stay expressionless at that moment. I knew it. I'm no help. I just get in the way of things.

"Oh," he turned back. "And stop calling me Toaster. It's annoying. Always has been."

"Then what am I suppose to call you?!" I growled suspiciously.

"If you're going to call me at all," he answered. "Which I wish you wouldn't," he added as an annoying side note. "Call me Glaze."

He zoomed off to clear more clouds, but not before bucking the one he had been standing on.

"Show off," I muttered. I'm defiantly going to have to ditch him here if I'm not to go crazy.

I turned back to my work, kicking another cloud. Poof.

Then suddenly I was caught off guard by Twilight's voice.

"Rainbow Dash! Why are you late?! The Weather Team really needs your help!"

A familiar voice answered back. "Sorry Twilight. I slept in a bit late. Anyways, I'm looking for two or three ponies that might have come through here. One or two might have been wearing labcoats?"

I gasped and ducked behind a cloud, peering overtop of it to try and make out the two shapes below.

"Labcoats? Don't think I've seen them. Three ponies did come to Ponyville though, a mare, stallion and a filly. Do think they're the ones?" Twilight replied, completely unaware that she was helping the enemy.

Rainbow Dash frowned. "Sounds exactly like who I'm looking for. Where can I find these ponies?"

I didn't need to hear any more. I had to warn the others. We have to get out of here!