Chapter Four
The elevator dinged quietly, the irony of the gentle chime amidst the pandemonium not escaping Cloud Cover. The lift was a brilliant white cloud, the cleanliness striking the filly as incredibly odd. Chills ran down her back as the new setting reminded her of just a couple days ago when she was escorted from the run-down carriage into the shiny architecture of the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation. She ran a hoof down the flawless wall, hesitating above the ‘Open Door’ button.
It could be anything past that door. It could be the monsters who started this, ready with tasers and weapons. It could be a trap, a simple device set up to kill us quickly. Or hey, maybe it could be nothing.
The purple filly turned to the two ponies behind her. Absentia nodded, her face set in rigid determination. Corona pawed at the floor, smiling at Cloud Cover. “Do it,” he spoke.
Gulping, she punched the button and stood back, bracing herself for whatever lay beyond. As the solid doors slid open slowly with a sigh, she shivered.
“Ah, good, I was wondering when you’d show up. Who’re your friends?”
Corona jumped forward snorting, pressing Cloud Cover back and standing in front of the females. He pawed again, leaning now and snorting so hard that steam escaped from his nostrils.
“What’s the matter, kid? Afraid of me? Don’t be, I won’t stoop to your level. I don’t think I caught your name.” The sky blue pegasus stepped closer and Corona bit at him, holding him back.
“What do you want, Contrail? Gonna capture us and take all the glory, eh? That’s what you told me about, right, the need for glory? Well, what are you waiting for?”
“What’s his name?” He ignored the colt, looking to Cloud Cover with a raised eyebrow. “C’mon, you’re probably the smart one, you weren’t fighting. If I were to kill you right now, what possible benefit could I gain by waiting?”
“Surprise, enjoyment, perhaps pass off some perverted moral via a dramatic line delivered suddenly while we perish at the hooves of an evil stallion.”
“Okay, fair point, but you’re not getting past me until I get his name. What is it?”
“It’s Corona,” the colt spit, still ready to pounce at the pegasus before them. “Get to your point, we’ve a factory to destroy.”
Contrail walked in idly, chuckling quietly as the failures backed up against the wall. Corona shook violently but the other two only moved cautiously. Absentia refused to take her eyes off the stallion, glaring and breathing deeply, yet remaining silent. He sat down by the controls, tapping the “Door Close” button but not hitting any floor.
“This elevator is on the top level. You can move down, but only a couple floors before it’ll lock in place. If you want to waste your time checking them out, go ahead, but if you choose to trust me listen when I tell you there’s nothing even remotely useful on those floors. Some horrific things, of course, maybe a couple dorm rooms. If you want to hide and sleep before you’re captured, that’s fine. The only route which leads to progress is out those doors beyond.”
“And just why should we trust you?”
“Because little Corona over here finds it a lot easier to be violent and merciless than any of us really do. I figure perhaps a lesson in humility might keep him from becoming as much of a monster as he accuses me of being.”
Cloud Cover turned curiously. “Contrail? What’s he talking about?”
The orange pony stood still, fuming. He avoided looking into his friend’s eyes.
“Oh, come now! It’s really quite funny when you look at it. Hehehe. Hah!” He giggled rapidly for a moment before coughing, embarrassed. “Ehm... Sorry. Old habits die hard. But honest, it is! You bring something sharp into an equine’s brains and you can just see the life drain out of their eyes. Sounds awful, of course, because it is. But that’s where the humor comes in! Nature makes it so easy to murder one another and then abhors the act of doing so. Who would have thought it? Maybe we’re the ones who abhor something nature has provided the means to do. And maybe I’m being a monster.”
Corona sighed, releasing his anger as he flopped onto his haunches. “I get it, I get your point. I’m... sorry. I’m sorry I killed your friend.”
“Corona!”
“What?”
Absentia broke her silence, sliding away from the ashamed colt with an outburst of disgust. “How... how could you?”
“How could I what? You were the one who riled us up into an army! You were the one preaching the death of your tormentors! How can you blame any of this on just one individual, especially one trying to help you?”
She looked down, speechless.
“I don’t know... I think it was the concept of... losing a friend.”
Corona’s heart panged at the sorrow in her voice, and he looked down in sympathy.
“Hurts to lose someone you love, doesn’t it?” Contrail inspected a hoof, blowing gently on it. “How does it make you feel to realize that we’re all Equines here, ponies with loves and lives, stories of our own? What does that make you?”
“And who does it make you to judge our mistakes when they simply mirror your own?” Cloud spoke, walking close and jabbing a hoof at the mysterious worker before her.
“Me? Oh, it doesn’t make me anybody. I’m just wondering what is the point of assigning ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ to a scale when every action can be considered either.”
“This is horse manure!” Cloud shouted, slamming her forehooves onto the stallion. He started laughing, chuckling maniacally at the aggravated filly hitting him.
“And what do you plan to do? Kill me too because you disagree with me? You don’t have to accept what we’ve done. I certainly don’t. But what authority are you to determine the death of a fellow being?”
There was an incredible lull in the elevator as Cloud Cover looked deep into Contrail’s eyes, panting in anger. Nobody spoke, nobody moved. Contrail simply grinned.
“... Which way to the exit?”
“Why, this very elevator. But you’ll need the access code from a manager, either Rainbow Dash or Hide. Chances are they’ll both be headed towards the control room because if you hadn’t noticed-” His words were cut short as a dull ‘boom’ shook the lift, knocking Absentia onto her back. “The facility has begun experiencing some technical difficulties.”
“Yeah, it’s exploding!” Corona exclaimed, proud.
“Hardly. Some pipes and transfer systems failing, yes, power surges and the occasional machine malfunction. Hardly an explosion, just a month of repairs. We can get it under control soon enough, which is why those two will be in the control room. You’ll see the signs, just follow them to the ‘Cyclone Room’.”
“And what about you, after this?”
“Back to work. There’re repairs to be done. Systems to be fixed. Clarity is something I haven’t experienced in a very long time and there’s so much that I realize I must get done.”
“... You’re just going to go back to work after all of this. No worries about the future of your job?”
“Not a one.” He smiled, tapping the ‘Door Open’. “Shoo, out now. You’ve nowhere to go but forwards. Good luck, make pretty rainbows, whatever your fate is I hope it works out well for everyone. And remember,” he giggled, choosing a lower floor as the foals walked out, “no one is better than anyone else.”
The door shut, and the three turned around to examine their surroundings.
Cloud Cover’s first impression was that everything was very red. Rotating beacons spread their ruby light across every inch of the once-pure white walls, filling her with a deep sense of foreboding. Sirens howled around them, their orchestra of noise playing for anyone who cared to listen. Dull pops and rumbles accompanied every shock wave that hit them, the violent vibrations shifting the floor under their hooves and causing fluffs of cloud to separate from the roof. Cloud was hit with a sudden image of Hearth’s Warming Eve at home, the dropping clouds reminding her of the gentle snowfall on a cold day spent tucked into bed with a mug of hot chocolate. The memory inspired her, and she snapped into action, walking down the bland hallway.
---
“Gauge! Gauge, can you hear me? Are you still there? Oh Celestia, Gauge, answer me, please, oh no, oh no, oh no...”
Gentle was hyperventilating in the dark. A series of pipes had burst in rapid succession, spraying a multitude of hazardous chemical waste around the room. She had been blown back from the initial explosion and had cracked her skull on a valve. When she had come to, her world lay in chaos. The alarms continued incessantly, echoing off every bend and crevice of conduit until they lost all sense of cohesion. The rotating lights burned Gentle’s eyes, the soft red flashes phased through the spiderweb of jagged and warped steel to drive blades into her concussed brain. She stumbled across a jungle of torn cables, panicking like a filly when the severed wires sparked and jumped.
For the moment, the incredible danger around her hardly registered. An infinitesimal voice of logic whispered from the depths of her mind--almost drowned out by the thoughts of fear, but somehow it managed to be heard all the same.
The majority of the pipes are still stable and in good condition.
She clambered over a valve larger than her head, careful not to disturb its setting, and sat down next to it.
Almost all lines of conduit are properly insulated and will not burn you.
She swayed in place, struggling to focus on anything as she surveyed the room.
The most dangerous substances are the most easily identified.
Liquid thunder sprayed forcefully on the other side of the room, the electric blue substance clearly visible in the darkness. Under the cacophony Gentle could hear the rumbles and booms as it evaporated. She looked to the steel floor, rubbing her temples.
Find Gauge.
She called for her co-worker, her voice cracking. She sobbed, rocking gently, closing her eyes to the hell around her.
Mourn.
“Gentle?”
Nevermind.
“G-Gauge? Oh, Celestia, you’re okay! Where are you? I can’t see you anywhere.”
“Heh... ‘okay’. Yeah. Sure.”
“C’mon, where are you?”
“I should ask the same thing. Look for a landmark and I can tell you how to get from there to here.”
“Well, there’s some pipes nearby.” She smiled softly, fighting a wave of sickness with a laugh.
“Oh, right, perfect. You’ll want to stand up, walk ten paces forward, and go suck a lemon. Seriously now, what do you see?”
Well, he must be in fairly good condition then. His sarcasm hasn’t been hurt at all. The disorientated mare stood on the ground. Vibrations shook her hooves and numbed her legs as she walked about slowly. More pipes. More wires. More steam, more oil, more flashing lights, more manes, more valves, mo- Mane? Glancing back, Gentle spotted a tuft of blonde hair sticking out of a mass of scrap iron. She tugged gingerly on it, eliciting a yelp of pain from the carnage.
“Sombra’s beard! Watch what you’re doing, you crazy mare.”
“Stop making up weird insults and tell me what it’s like in there,” she spoke, ducking a shard of steel from another exploding pipe. “I’ve got a feeling if we don’t do something soon, things will get worse. I don’t want to accidentally crush you or something.”
“I dunno, this is fairly comfortable.”
“Gauge!”
“Okay, Celestia, calm down. Things aren’t going to be as easy as we’d like, and you’re going to need a clear head.”
The room jostled again, once again bringing the green pony to her knees. A banshee’s screech penetrated her ears like a well-kept blade and she looked up, curious. A variety of fractured conduits on the roof were assaulting a segment of scaffolding. Concentrated jets of steam were melting the cheap chains while a high pressure barrage of ice chunks knocked and rattled the security lines. The walkway screamed as it twisted and melted, and with one final howl it gave way from the ceiling.
Gentle found herself unable to move, unable to do anything but watch, as the dead weight plummeted towards her. Time halted, giving her adrenaline-pumped brain a moment to review just what series of coincidences and decisions had brought her here.
The scrawny filly walked quietly outside, careful not to wake her parents. Most Pegasi remained asleep at this hour, but this particular pony wouldn’t miss this for the world. She was so young she could hardly fly- not that bothered her. She had started walking before most other foals her age, and her development didn’t matter to her anyways. It was something her parents worried about occasionally, much to the filly’s confusion. None of that entered her mind as she trekked across the rolling clouds towards her destination. Behind her, the Coliseum lorded over the backdrop as usual. Something important was happening there today, and tiny specks of Pegasi could be seen setting up clouds and rings of vapor. The filly continued on.
She stopped at the very edge of the city, and looked down nervously. An incredible distance away, the strange fields beneath the city could be seen. At midday, these fields would be submerged in the shadow of Cloudsdale. A twinge of pride made the filly smile, though she wasn’t sure why. A segment of cloud broke away and she leaped back, chuckling anxiously.
Further away from beneath her, the lands of Equestria stretched to the horizon. Small chunks of cloud drifted far away, either pieces eroded from the city in the sky, or houses of Pegasi who had wished to live a distance from the floating metropolis. The ground was dark despite the orange and purples that danced in the horizon, a contrast that inspired the foal. Ideas roiled in her mind, but she pushed them away. Now was not the time to be distracted. The sun was rising, and it was for this the filly had left the comfort and warmth of her bed to walk across the city.
As the first rays of the celestial body broke past the edge of the world, she sat down. The sun lifted from the ground with deliberate care. Celestia was doing an incredible job, the filly mused, and with good reason. Today was the day the sun would align with the Crystal Empire as it rose. Not too many had bothered to figure that fact out, but the pegasus on the edge of her world wouldn’t miss this for all the glory of the Flock.
There. The sun paused--only for a second, for that was all that could be allowed--and the Kingdom of Equestria basked in crystalline light for that moment. The world’s already vibrant colours glistened and shined as if the whole planet had been carved from diamond.
The filly sat for a very long while, soaking the sun’s warmth as a defense against the coming winter cold. It was only when a shadow fell over her that she returned to reality. Thinking she should be home for breakfast before her parents started worrying, the filly turned her back to the complex that orbited the city and rushed home.
An orchestra of devastation played above Gentle, the scaffolding writing a hellish piece allegrissimo in its descent. Rows of infrastructure buckled and snapped as if the iron fittings were made of glass. Her disorientation spun the room around, melding the flames and falling shrapnel into a vibrant canvas of modern art. All that remained in focus was the walkway, blaring like a freight train out of hell. Boiling water, liquid thunder, shards of ice, and fragments of the conduit all rained down around her.
“You’re going to be an engineer, Gentle, and that’s final.”
“But father-”
“Listen, Gentle. I understand there’s an unlimited realm of possibilities for your specialty. But Butterwing family members have always ended up with some form of a protractor on their flanks!”
“Yours is a graphing calculator.”
“Don’t change the subject. On the off chance you end up getting a cutie mark in some other field, then your mother and I will help you pursue that career no matter what. But we want you studying engineering now so on the high chance you enjoy and are proficient at it, you’ll be prepared!”
“How do you know that I won’t get a cutie mark in engineering despite the fact it’ll be all I spend my time on? I can’t experience Equestria’s riches properly if I’m stuck inside with my muzzle in a book, father.”
The stallion stomped a hoof on the floor, kicking back from the simple looking table. He stormed around the modest kitchen, slamming cabinet doors shut so hard they puffed into vapor. Sighing, the filly stood from her own seat and followed the infuriated pegasus, calmly shaping the cabinets back to place.
“And get off the counter. I’ll fix that later.”
“Sorry, father.” She continued to hop around the kitchen, rebuilding the cloud fixtures. With a hoof outstretched in front of her and her tongue sticking out to the side, she edged one of the cases to the side. “Hmmm,” she mused, tapping her other forehoof to her mouth, thinking. With an ‘aha’ she dropped the window several inches and quickly fashioned a drawer over top of it.
Her father continued making his argument with his back to the filly, oblivious to her changes. “You don’t get a cutie mark if you’re not supposed to do it! That’s the way it goes and the way it’s always been!”
“That’s never been tested. Almost every pony tries a myriad of activities before they find what they’re made for,” she countered, decreasing the depth of the upper cabinets. “They’ve never checked to see if a pony made to do a single activity for most of their puberty ends up being ‘made’ for that particular subject, father. I don’t want to be the one to find that out.”
“That’s horse manure and you- Gentle, for Luna’s sake, stop rebuilding the kitchen.”
The mature filly sighed, halfway between switching the sink and the oven. Kicking a scrap cloud from her work, she quickly placed the two back to their original positions.
“It’s so impractical though! You spend half your time cooking just moving from one end to the other. With a little change, you could make this room really efficient.”
“You’re not thinking about the logistics of the matter. The plumbing is in line with the washroom upstairs and closer to the boiler room. Less heat loss and more utilization of gravity. Not to mention the problem with moving the oven. Now you’ve got even more plumbing and wiring all jumbled up in the walls and it’s a nightmare to build. This is why you need to study! You don’t understand a thing about proper engineering, Gentle!”
“I don’t want to know a thing about engineering, father! I don’t want to work at your cruddy factory!”
“Excu-”
“Haven’t you walked through the city and just... taken it all in? Isn’t that what Cloudsdale pride is all about?” She pranced past her flustered parent, taking no notice to his clenching muscles as she spoke. She jumped and fluttered back to her seat, continuing her story with an air of pure awe. “It thrills me, father. The columns, and the intricate art and tales carved into every single one! Not only the history, though. Those massive pillars hold up structures that don’t give a hoot about your ‘logistics’. They’re there to impress, support, and intimidate. With a building alone, the architects have managed to capture the spirit of the Flock and announce it to the world.”
“And every time some new enemy attacks Equestria and throws the weather system astray, those ‘brilliant’ pillars collapse and we have to stack them together again! A properly designed building should focus solely on being sound and simple. Who gives a damn about how pretty it is or any poetic purpose it’s suppose to hold? If I had my way, this city would be a cube in the sky, built around housing Pegasi and making production for the Corporation as cheap as possible.”
“Blahbedy blah blah Corporation. You mean that black smudge in the sky that blocks the view?”
The stallion stomped his hoof down so hard the floor tilted.
“Cloudsdale Weather has done nothing but good for this family! It feeds us. It feeds you. It gives you the dresses you wear when you go out with your friends on special nights. It gives you the comfort and safety of this house from the storms and rain it makes. It keeps the whole country running, Gentle! I will not hear foul words about my workplace from you again, do you understand?”
“You’re part of the machine, father. That’s all.”
“I- You- Don’t-”
“The cogs grind and I can hear the squeals of rusted and grimy parts and workers as that... damned factory circles Cloudsdale like a prison warden. You’ve become used to the rumble of industrialization, father, and I won’t stand to be a part of it. I don’t want to become just another nut and bolt in the system.”
“Teenagers,” he dismissed her.
“I am still talking, father.” She stood up, unwavering as a blood vessel seemed to burst in the stallion’s eye.
“How... how dare you spea-”
“I have trotted around this city a million times and there is always more to see than your Flocking Corporation! I’ve seen foals playing and parents building and selling and educators teaching and learning at the same time! I’ve seen the economy as it moves, from the Crown to the Corporation to the workers to the artisans and the families. I don’t care if the pay is minor compared to a factory employee! I refuse to sacrifice my freedom of creativity for a few extra bits a month. The streets are paved with aurora, and you trot around with oil on your hooves. I want to create! I want to live, I want to be!”
She hopped into the air, wings aflutter with rage and rebellion. Without another word, she erupted out of the door, leaving her stuttering father to fume.
“Blasted child! Only focused on her imagination, and not on surviving happily.” He sighed slowly, and turned towards the kitchen. “A nice hard cider, I think. There’s no changing that stubborn filly’s mind.” He reached towards a cabinet to grab a glass, and paused as he found his hoof reached the door perfectly, rather than smacking into it as usual.
He slammed it shut, vaporizing it once again.
“And yet, here I am,” Gentle muttered, completely forgetting about the mass of fluids and metal as it shredded the air towards her. She snapped out of her thoughts as the world around her crashed and shrieked in agony, and when she opened her eyes she found that the scaffolding had landed on a stray I-beam, balancing precariously above her.
“...Gentle? Are you still alive?”
“I uh... yes. Yes, I’m alive. Let’s get you out of there before that stuff collapses again. How are you stuck?” she asked, managing to slide through the pipes that had blocked her way. “Any particular place you need a hand getting unpinned?”
As she rounded the corner to face the stallion, she blanched. There was a two foot stretch of steel completely embedded in Gauge’s lower left calf, one end bare and glistening with red, the other bolted to the steel plate he now lay upon, chuckling softly to himself.
“I think the crystal generators are whooped,” he said.
“How... are you even capable... of speaking?” Gentle reached up to touch the pipe, and then Gauge’s leg, and then the pipe again, before she placed her hoof down and simply blinked.
“You’ll have to undo that bolt there, on the steel. And then carry me out. Luckily,” he paused, rolling his head to the left and indicating with a shrug, “there is now a convenient hole towards the hallway not ten feet away. I think...” he paused, eyes squinting in concentration, as Gentle grabbed the wrench Gauge had been using. As she started twisting the nuts, struggling not to look at the gore of the ruined leg inches away from her, Gauge continued. “Yeah. You’re going to have to carry me. Shouldn’t be too hard. At least it’s not bleeding.”
“I’m a little curious,” Gentle mouthed around the wrench, “as to how you’re not in uncontrollable pain right now. You’re... broken.”
“It’s because I’ve gone into shock.”
Gauge collapsed then, right as the last nut popped off the sheeting. The stallion slumped forward onto the bent over and unsuspecting mare, knocking the wind out her. Her legs shook under the effort but she stood tall, and slowly trekked towards the absence of cloud wall her friend had just pointed out.
---
“There’s no one here.”
“Thank you, Corona, for your astounding observation.”
The three escapees stood just inside the Control Room, sheltering from the ungodly wind of the Cyclone Room beyond. One of the massive pipes had fractured from the explosions, and the area outside had become a hazardous cavern full of hail seeds spinning at deadly speeds. The safety railing was completely obliterated by the shrapnel, essentially turning the room into an incredible funnel leading to a series of uncontrolled fan blades. Cloud Cover had been wary traversing the hallway into the control room. It was the perfect place for an angry management to quickly dispose of some troublesome failures, yet nothing had come of it.
“Corona’s right, though,” Absentia spoke softly. “Shouldn’t someone be here? Shouldn’t someone be trying to fix... well, this?” She lifted her forehoof, pointing at the constantly changing camera screens before them.
The devastation to the factory was exactly as Contrail had explained it. Every camera shot showcased some sort of broken pipe or sparking wire, even a missing wall or floor occasionally, but there was no universal disintegration or total annihilation to be seen. The biggest issue, as far as Cloud Cover considered, was that there didn’t seem to be a single worker trying to stop or handle anything.
“Did we kill them all?” Corona whimpered, apparently noticing what Cloud just had. “Where’s this supposed ‘Management’, anyways? Where’s uh... Rainbow Dash?”
Absentia squeaked, stepping backwards instinctively. Within a second her expression changed from giddiness, to hope, to fear, to shame. She shuddered and whispered to the foals.
“I can’t do it. I can’t face her...”
“Wait, but... you were pretty dead set on being the one to meet her first,” Cloud questioned. “What changed?”
“I just can’t do it, alright? There’s... it’s complicated. Just thinking of it makes my mind all gooey! If I were to actually face her, I’d probably just screw it all up. Again.”
On her final word the foals looked at each other and shrugged. It didn’t much matter to either of them. In fact, not letting a grudge get in the way could make things simpler, Cloud hoped. She nodded and hugged Absentia, speaking. “It’s okay. You don’t need any excuses. Not any more. Besides, Corona and I are more than qualified to handle this bit-”
“To the failures who are most certainly tainting my flawless control room,” came a smooth yet erratic voice over the intercom. The three Pegasi froze, listening without a word. “I would like to first of all, despite how much it pains me, congratulate you! You slipped past all of our state-of-the-art security systems, a horde of bloodthirsty drones, and have managed to cause confusion and, well, just overall done terribly naughty things to our poor, poor facility. It’s been twenty years since this last occurred and, frankly, I was in need of some good entertainment around here.” The voice broke into laughter, a laughter built from true joy and excitement at the splendid show it had been given. It was an old laugh, the ‘hah’s gravelly and deep, but there was a depth and heartiness that chilled, not warmed, the souls of the foals. “Regardless! I do so love to chat with those who are about to die, and I’m not entirely sure why. It’s been policy to not do such a thing, but I’m glad I get the chance now. It puts me in just the most excellent of moods.
“The purpose, however, of my speech, is not to simply congratulate you. That is a courtesy provided by myself alone- oh, Elements, I never even introduced myself. Another policy, see, one that prevented me from doing what I am doing now for such a long time. My name is Doctor Atmosphere. Not that kind of doctor, it’s an engineering degree, and- I digress. The purpose of my speech here is to get the two of you to stand perfectly still while the catalyst is warmed up and dispersed.”
Six small tubes erupted from the control panels around the foals, ejecting a thick white gas that roiled and slipped around the room like a suspended oil slick, submerging them within a second.
“Coro-cough-Corona! What’s-”
“I know about--I can’t breathe--as much as you do, Cloud! Absentia! W-ugh, ack!-Where are-”
“The door!” A raspy voice was heard through the din, struggling to make its deep yet childlike tones heard. “We’ve got to open...”
Corona turned to where he remembered the entrance being and pawed at the ground once, focusing. He kicked off, almost soaring, and braced for whatever he might hit. There was a feeling of something heavy, then hot as pain spread down his side, then incredibly cold as a hurricane sucked the door from Corona’s side. The colt collapsed as the smog was siphoned from the room to the cyclone beyond.
“Well,” Absentia croaked, pulling Corona up to his hooves, “I think that Contrail guy was dumb.”
“He, uh, I think he certainly has the capability to not think clearly. Anyone know what that stuff was?” The colt craned his neck, searching for an answer. Cloud Cover dusted herself off and sat next to the others, shrugging.
Whatever it was, it didn’t work. So we’re still ahead. What a turn of events. Now we just need to find where Dash is so we can-
“So, uh, what’s the plan again? Ask this Rainbow Dash to open the elevator, if she could kindly, and then shake hooves and leave whistling Dixie?”
“Uh.” Corona scratched at his mane, staring into nothing.
Absentia sat next to Cloud Cover, and began speaking softly. The strong determination that had overcome her before had vanished again, leaving behind the simple speech of a foal to emanate from the scuffed and broken shell of a mare.
“Dash and I... we used to be close. Not like, fillyfriends or stuff. Like family. More of a family than most Pegasi have, you know? I used to look up to her, and wanted nothing more than for her to notice me.” She shuffled, tapping her forehooves together. “Just to be noticed...
“She taught me a lot, Dash, more than I expected. I was so blinded by how great she is that I remembered, but I never learned. Well, then...” Absentia dropped her head into her hooves, shaking slowly. Cloud Cover reached a leg up, holding the mare close. “Then,” Absentia continued hoarsely, “then she noticed me.”
Absentia kicked up, smashing the railing in front of them, wildly kicking and stomping at invisible swarms.
“And I’ve never been noticed by any pony since!” She turned around and smashed the wall before sliding to her haunches, sobbing. “I devoted myself to her, and asked nothing but a glance in return! Loyalty is a false concept, a broken element! It can be switched, changed, challenged, and even used as an excuse to hurt the ones it’s for. What’s the loyalty of a foal like me to a goddess like Rainbow?”
“What’s a deity to those that don’t believe?”
Absentia looked up to the mauve filly with glistening eyes. Their eyes locked, and in that stare hope was born.
“I still can’t help, though. It hurts too much, Cloud. I don’t want to be noticed by Rainbow, not ever, ever a-again. And if two strong, intelligent foals can’t stand up to her, what could a broken mare do?”
“Give us reason, Absentia. Before you, there was no reason to get out of here. We could leave this hell to a purgatory, but why? It would have been easier for us to give up. And then there you were, stripped of all dignity and meaning, yet there all the same. You were trapped in your own purgatory, and from there you can only rise, Absentia. From here we can fly.”
“Fly,” Corona muttered, breaking his silence. All three of them turned then and rested, hung on the railing, staring into the gaping void before them.
The Factory was a sight to behold, Cloud thought. Every brilliant white wall of clouds had been put there by a pony, shaped and moulded by hooves exactly like hers. She stared blankly at the swinging electrical cables that shrieked and flashed, shorting out any conductive object their tendrils could wrap around. Sparks flew and energy surged around them, blowing tubes of steel to shrapnel and igniting hazardous-albeit colourful, she noticed-chemicals.
I’ve never seen a cloud burn before.
The giant pipes that lived in the Cyclone Room were damaged and scuffed, groaning louder than the wind to indicate their displeasure at being so inexcusably abused. Still though, they continued to work, pumping their goods to lower levels, humming along. Cloudsdale Weather Corporation had not shut down yet, and the gears would continue to turn until the last tooth had been sheared.
“Do you think they even know something’s happening?” Corona mused, turning to the female ponies. “Like, downstairs. The regular workers, the ones we, er, Cloudsdale, sees. Do you think they have any idea that the upper factory is melting down?”
“Oh, absolutely, you pitiful freak! They’ll know something’s wrong, for sure. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the immense changes in fluid movements and electrical surges have maimed or killed my friends.”
Corona, Cloud, and Absentia all slowly turned their heads left, eyes wide, towards the light green mare who sat on the railing, her rear legs hanging loosely, steadying herself only by her forehooves on the rail. Her short pink mane bristled in the wind. A strong gust ruffled her wing feathers, as if giving a warning to the pegasus that should she fall, there would be no floor to catch her. She continued speaking, ignoring the fact that she was mere feet away from her mark. The foals were prisoners caught next to a warden waxing poetic.
“Not that I’ll find out, of course. Not allowed to leave here! Never leaving. That’s fine, this place is beautiful.” A segment of steel whipped past her head, skimming the mane. Gentle wobbled slightly but took no note of it. “Well, it used to be. It was. Still is and can be... just needs a little fixing. Everything needs fixing. The walls, the pipes, the management. His leg, too,” she indicated, pointing to the dark-orange stallion laying on the ground, and the shard of metal embedded inside him. “Everything needs fixing.”
There was silence for a very long time.
“Everything,” Gentle concluded.
Before another silence could step in between them, Cloud Cover ventured a word, unsure of what was about to happen.
“H-hello?”
“Everything needs fixing! Gotta fix it all! Gotta fix Gauge, gotta fix you! You’re all broken! Broken parts seize the system! Must remove the broken parts. How come you’re broken? Why do you need fixing?”
“I-I-I don’t understand,” Cloud Cover said, slowly stepping back. Her friends followed suit, remaining level with the filly yet staying silent.
“HOW’D YOU BREAK, FAILURE?! HOW’D YOU FAIL THE TEST?!”
“I closed my wings too soon!”
“Broken! You’re broken and I have to fix you! So much work to do, so much breaking to fix! Ahahaha! It’s funny, you see?”
“What-”
“It’s just so Flocking FUNNY! It’s hilarious! Ahahahahahaha!” She threw her head back in an explosion of mirth, toppling her balance and rotating over the railing. She fell into the Cyclone, her laughter echoing even over the howling room. Cloud watched as the mare went further and further below, plummeting, before finally her wings burst open seconds before contact with one of the rapidly spinning fans below. Gentle soared up in circles, flowing with the wing, and rocketed high towards the roof, cackling all the way.
“It’s just so funny, do you know why? Do you know why this is just so funny?”
Cloud froze, trying to track the mare. Gentle turned and locked a wild eye onto the foal’s location, and dive bombed, the air screaming by her wing tips. She landed on all her hooves without slowing, sending a ripple through the clouds. She had knocked Cloud back against the wall, separating her from her friends.
“WELL?! DO YOU?!”
“I-I-I no I don’t, please, I’m sorry, why is it funny, why?”
Gentle leaned her head in close, an inch away from the filly, breathing so hard Cloud’s could feel her chest warming up. Gentle tilted her head, not blinking, only chuckingly, until their noses touched.
“It’s so funny because now,” she paused, staring at Cloud. A minute passed, and no pony moved a single inch. Cloud blinked, and Gentle continued. “I think I’m broken, too. Isn’t that funny?”
“I...”
“Why did you break me, child?”
“I.. Sorry?”
“Why did you break me? Why am I broken? I was fine. Don’t broke what isn’t fixen. Hehehe. Hah! You’re dangerous. Everything needs to be fixed. Why is am I broken? No,” she turned her head and spoke to herself. “That’s too broken. Scale it back a bit. Speak coherently. Ha! Haha! SPEAK! Broken. Fix. Broken. Fix. Broken. Fix. Broken.”
Gentle repeated those two words incessantly, fixated on them, breaking the combo only with various bursts of laughter before diving right back into her pattern. Absentia reached out to Cloud Cover and ever so gently tugged on her side, urging her to move. The light purple pegasus slid out from under the green mare, eliciting absolutely no change to her. Freed from the pony, they started backing away from her, unable to turn their eyes from the sight of a grown mare assuming a perfectly fine wall of being broken. As they finally turned from Gentle, Corona gasped.
“Leggo!”
They had started to pass the orange stallion who, upon the colt’s outburst, they realized was very much alive. His hoof had limply connected with Corona’s leg, and he coughed.
“Why?” he croaked, his voice dry and pained. “Why hurt?”
I have had enough of this conversation today, Corona thought, looking to Cloud to answer the stallion.
“Why hurt?” the question came again.
Cloud Cover stepped gingerly around Gauge and brought her face down level with his. He was panting, the light drained from his eyes, and he asked one more time.
“Why hurt?” Cloud Cover repeated. There was no bitterness to her voice. This was no triumphant victory. The stallion had only done what he thought was right, hadn’t he? And now he, like all the failures that he had dealt with, lay confused and in pain. All he needs is perspective, she reasoned. “Why hurt?” she asked again, looking Gauge in the eyes.
Gauge sighed and dropped his head, letting all of his tension go with an exhale. Pain had been the final straw to him. There was nothing he could do any more, no more fighting insanity. Insanity was all around him. His worst fears were coming true, and instead of panic he found himself in full acceptance of it. He licked his lips again and tilted his neck, looking to Cloud again.
“Can’t fall. Can’t fall. Falling...”
“Why hurt?” Cloud repeated, waiting for a completed answer.
“Falling... is not... the same as... flying,” Gauge said, his head shaking now as he held it up. Sweat rolled off his muzzle, soaking his fur and cleaning it of the dirt that had built up over years.
Cloud Cover shuddered instinctively. Upon Gauge’s words, her superior mentality evaporated to make room for fear.
“What sort of a sorry excuse is that? That’s disgusting! That’s comple-”
Cloud held a hoof up, silencing Corona. She still looked into Gauge’s eyes, fighting the horror his statement had created inside her. “Will you die?”
Despite the violent shaking now, Gauge shook his head. “No. Will get better. Will...” he trailed, turning to stare at Gentle. “Will get fixed,” he coughed, finally dropping his head to allow a soft laugh. “Good luck,” he said to the ceiling.
As Cloud Cover walked away without a reply, her friends following quietly, she could not decide if he was being sincere or mocking.
---
“Well?”
Rainbow Dash glanced sideways at Hide and jerked her head, dropping the safety glasses that sat on her mane onto her muzzle. The tinted glasses hid her tired eyes, and for a moment Hide swore she looked just like she did when she first began her career at Cloudsdale Weather. She worked while waiting for his response, walking slowly around the machine in the center of the room. It was twice as tall as her and resembled a rather modern looking cube. She ran a hoof over the soft plastic exterior and shuddered, allowing her awe to overcome her for only a moment. She couldn’t help it, and never intended to. After all, she figured, the Pegasus Device was just so cool.
Rainbow Dash continued inspecting the Device, flicking specks of dirt off the sparkling body and changing dials and settings on flat panels situated inside the shell.
“Well, I’m a little curious that you’re still intent on harvesting those failures. I mean, after everything, isn’t it a little cliche to pull the ‘haha I’m an evil villain and here’s how I intend to make your last moments drag on forever and suffer instead of just killing you immediately and not worrying about my plans being overcome’ gig?”
“Come now, Hide. It’s the last opportunity we’ll get to run the Device for a long time, I suspect.” She leaned in close, hugging the machine of malice. “It’s more for the Corporation than for me. Besides, the catalyst should have triggered the toxin. I hate to be the character that says ‘it can’t get worse’ before the rain, but they’ve probably died by now.”
Immediately following the mare’s words, a small intercom beeped in the room.
“Dash. Atmo.”
“My name is Ms. Dash, and my collegue is to be referred to as Doctor Hide Atmosphere, Gauge. You have no right to call-”
“Foals... heading. To you.”
“Oh, great. What’s wrong with your talking?”
“Leg’s broken. Teeny bit... of pain.”
“Well, put Gentle on, then.” Atmosphere rolled his eyes. “I’d like to know what’s happening before the failures are suddenly here.”
There was a scuffle over the radio, and then silence for a moment. Ten seconds later, another voice sparked into the room.
“Broken. Everything broken. Broken leg, broken wings, broken mind. Fix fix fix lah de lah de dah. Hahahaha, Gauge! Gouge. Gauge’s gouged. Gosh. Ahahaha!”
“Okay, okay, fantastic. What about the failures, then, Gauge?”
“On your... way. Work fast. Need rest. Bye.”
The radio clicked off before either Dash or Hide could get another word in. The two shrugged and turned back to their work. Several minutes of uncomfortable silence later, Rainbow finally spoke.
“Right, okay, so maybe I’m panicking a little here and have no idea how I’m going to get those little cow-pies into this flipping machine without chancing that myself or you go the way of Gauge or Gentle. Maybe all I know is that the Corporation is in trouble and I have to help it. Maybe I don’t know what to do.”
“And maybe I do?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you didn’t say I don’t, either.”
“Do you?”
Again, Hide left his manager to her own thoughts as he concentrated on his own job.
“And what are you doing, anyways?” Rainbow asked, frustrated.
“What I need to, Ms. Dash. Perhaps we won’t use the Pegasus Device. Perhaps we can just end this whole shebang.”
The room rocked with a violent-yet-distant explosion, causing the light to swing with the other various fixtures above the ponies. Hide watched with apprehension as the bulb swung dangerously close to the liquid thunder transfer above his head.
“Right, well, I think that’s clearly enough of that,” he spoke, stepping away from the door.
---
Absentia, Corona, and Cloud Cover all sat at the opening to a very long and plain hallway. The lights had mostly gone out, leaving the corridor dark and, in Cloud’s view, rather forlorn. At the very end, about two hundred feet down, a single door was wide open, spilling illumination onto the shadows.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Corona said, running a tired hoof through his mane. “Who do they think we are?”
“A bunch of tired and scared foals with no other place to go,” Absentia said, more towards no one in particular than Corona. She was glaring at the door with intense apprehension. “I think that once you’re through that door there’s probably nothing I can do to help. I’ll stick behind and watch, and if there’s anything that’ll help you I’ll try and do it.”
Cloud nodded and then stretched her wings.
“So, Cloud, seeing as there’s no way to surprise them by going in there, think there’s any sort of fashion we could bumble in? Maybe be so silly it surprises them?”
“Doesn’t look like it. We’ve got a door, and then fate beyond it. We could jump in dressed up as clowns and it wouldn’t make much difference, I suspect.” She grimaced. “I’d rather die with dignity.”
“So,” Corona scrunched his muzzle, thinking. “How do we plan on taking these guys, anyways?”
“Shove them into that rainbow device. Basically, they probably have it set up to work as soon as we’re there. Failing that, knock them out, and then drag one to the elevator to make them let us go.”
“Got it. Freak out and hope someone who isn’t us dies in the process.”
“Pretty much.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Absentia muttered, “My first escape plan involved multiple failures trying to perform the same actions of the flight test we couldn’t pass in the first place.”
Cloud Cover turned, shocked. “Really?”
“It almost worked, too, so anything better than that might actually stand a chance.”
“Well, here we go then.”
Corona and Cloud Cover started forward, keeping a steady pace towards the door. The distance was short, but agonizing. At the threshold they stopped, took one last look at the hopeful Absentia, and stepped through.
Suddenly, they were still alive. The room was fairly plain, boasting only a large machine in the middle and several other miscellaneous objects, such as containers and other computers and instruments that must have been used with it. Asides from the contraptions, a single run of scaffolding ran high above the door. It met with a row of large pipes, all shaking unnaturally as the infrastructure of Cloudsdale Weather struggled to remain functional.
“Okay, so much for some climactic fight,” Corona spoke.
“Why fight when we can just end this right now?”
Rainbow Dash burst up from behind the Pegasus Device, spinning expertly as she soared over the foals and landed heavily onto the scaffolding. She walked slowly along the shaking platform, continuing to talk.
“Frankly I’m a little shocked that you see this as some sort of fight, you know? Where’s your sense of harmony?”
Cloud Cover scowled at the mare. “What do you even know about harmony?”
Rainbow Dash continued to walk along the grating with determination, the filly just part of the background to her. “I know harmony is seeking compromise. Laughing at what scares you. Putting yourself before others and never giving up on what matters to you. We compromised with the ponies of Equestria, providing everyone’s means to live while culling our own kind. We laugh at the darkness in these halls. We volunteered ourselves to deal with the grief and pain in order to keep the weather running, and to keep Cloudsdale from being a mockery of our great race. And we have never, ever given up on those goals. What have you done?”
Cloud said nothing while Corona paced slowly, constantly keeping Dash in view.
“You immediately decided to destroy the one facility in the country that would leave the planet to rot in its absence. You screamed and ran, and now blindly claw at what you’re afraid of. Instead of allowing yourself to die for the good of the world, you demand you get to stay alive even if it means the plants die and the rivers dry up.
“Tell me, you failures, what do you know of harmony? Your entitlement kills me, truly.”
“Isn’t there a better way, then?” Corona had spoken, shocking Cloud.
What is he doing?
“A way to make rainbows, to keep the weather going, without torturing us? A humane process to keep the skies flowing well? Why the pain, why the living hell?”
“Oh, well, I suppose that’s a fair question,” Dash allowed, reaching the end of the scaffolding. She lifted her hooves onto a large valve, letting them sit for a moment. Finally, she turned and addressed the foals, sending shivers down Cloud’s spine as their eyes locked. “It’s really a matter of efficiency. No offense.” She cranked her hooves to the side, opening the valve completely. The rows of pipes over the room all started springing leaks, violently spraying liquid thunder around the room. Cloud Cover dived for cover, hiding in the only covered spot she could see, while Corona propelled himself upwards to the ceiling, hovering away from the dangerous chemical.
“Well, it’s nice that one of you is capable of thinking smartly,” a new voice announced, it’s deep tone gravely and condescending. Cloud turned to its source before a hoof connected with her skull, knocking her to the clouds while stars assaulted her brain. She struggled to jump back to her hooves but a thick, dark red leg slammed onto her wing, pinning her to the ground.
“Struggle all you want,” Dr. Atmosphere continued, “I’m well experienced in containing rogue resources.” He erupted into laughter, grinding his hoof into Cloud’s feathers. She tried not to whimper as her primaries were slowly pulled from her wing, and instead simply shook with pain.
“Cloud!”
Rainbow Dash smiled and took off again, kicking the valve closed with an air of practised style. She bent her rear legs against the massive central pipe and extended, rocketing forwards. At the last second she spun around, cracking Corona’s skull before he knew what to do. The colt dropped onto the cloud floor, spitting up white puffy bits with his impact.
“I told you,” Atmosphere spoke around a length of rope, tying Cloud Cover’s legs together, “that this would be simpler. Good old liquid thunder!”
“Well, I was lucky. I still get to use them in the device. Good old survival instincts!” She chuckled at her echo, dragging the unconscious colt towards the device.
---
Absentia mewled by the door, watching her friends fail so quickly.
I ignored my last friends. And then I lost them. They didn’t know I cared for them. But now I’m losing my new friends. But Dash is there! She’s so cool. Stop it! No! No she’s not! She’s nothing like cool!
The mare looked at the series of valves above her adversaries. She knew what liquid thunder did. She had heard of it, heard of others who had fell by its lethal power. She could use it, but gain nothing. Her friends would fall with her enemies.
Her wings were so weak and sore. She could fly, but not very well. She wanted to fly. Flying was good. Absentia smiled before she remembered what she was doing. Perhaps she could fly and knock Rainbow into the machine. No, she’d fumble the downbeat and throw her friend in instead. Maybe if she held Atmosphere hostage. He’d overpower her. She couldn’t hurt her foes without hurting her friends.
Did she have to hurt her foes? She looked back to the valve.
She really wanted to fly.
She really, really wanted to fly.
---
“Everybody wins,” Dash announced with pride, hefting Corona onto the conveyor belt. The orange pony groaned, stirring, but Dash ignored him and walked towards the controls. Atmosphere grinned and stood next to her, helping her do the final set up before the Device could run.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Huh?”
Dash turned in shock, staring at the strange mare standing on the scaffolding. Her rose eyes connected with the dusty purple ones of the stranger, and her heart stopped.
“Sc... ?”
“You let my friends go or I’ll open this valve!”
Dash couldn’t speak. She could only look in stunned silence, her body quivering. Eventually, Dr. Atmosphere stepped forward, chuckling nervously.
“N-now, you won’t do that. There’s no point, you see. You’ll take us out, yes, but your friends with us. And without Dash or myself,” he continued, gaining confidence, “you’ll never be able to get out of this factory! So, what now, you foolish filly? What could you possibly hope to do?”
Absentia ignored Hide, still looking into Rainbow’s eyes. She had had a future, once. Cloud Cover had tried to explain that once they were out, Absentia too could have a future of her own. I don’t care about a future, she figured. I just want to fly.
“I killed you! You’re dead!”
Rainbow broke her bewilderment, shouting. This is all too familiar nagged at her mind, the thought incessantly bugging her but never sinking in. A migraine instantly flared in her head, throbbing as she tried to understand.
“I killed the failure that let me down! I know it, I remember it so clearly... How can you be alive?”
“I’m not the failure, Rainbow Dash.” Absentia placed her hooves on a higher valve, speaking louder than she had done in twenty years. “I’m not the one who let you down. I’m your sister, Dash.”
“Sister...”
“Rainbow, don’t listen to her! She’s just a crazy ma-”
“Shut up, Hide! Shut up with your cool voice! You can’t handle every situation! You don’t know! I’m tired of your constant attempts to wrestle control of this factory from me! I swore I’d protect Cloudsdale Weather! It’s all I have. Only the CWC and... and my sister.” She looked up to Absentia with tears in her eyes. “My beautiful little sister...”
“I’m not your sister.”
“I... what?”
“I’m not your sister. I’m the failure that let you down.”
“But... but you just said...”
“Rainbow Dash, I am two ponies.”
Rainbow punched the ground and then bucked, roaring mad. “Well then who are you, then?!”
“I am the failure that you wanted to kill, and your sister that you could never harm.”
“But..!”
“And I am here to take both of those away from you.”
Absentia opened the valve and closed her eyes, feeling time come to a complete stop. The pipe above her yielded instantly, dropping its entire payload of liquid thunder onto the mare. She felt electricity surge through her body, a buzzing fire that burned along every single lead of nerve and tissue in her body. Her brain seem to boil, her hooves seem to vibrate, and her muscles danced and gyrated to the symphony sent to by the chemical all in a fraction of a millisecond. She had just enough time to spread her wings before all control of her body was lost, and she fell backwards over the rail.
Rainbow Dash dove for her, but grief seemed to glue her to the clouds. She landed a foot short, sliding and pushing up the floor in front of her, and watched as Absentia’s tail vanished through the ground before her.
---
Absentia had never been happier. Her wings sliced through the air, rigid now as wind stripped dirt and grease from her bright orange fur. Her primaries and secondaries were numb, but she could still feel the slightest tingles of intense pleasure they were trying to report. She shivered, not from the cold, but from the extraordinary feeling of soaring through the air, a right she had not been granted since she was just the smallest of fillies.
This isn’t so bad, she figured. After all, falling is just the same as flying, right?
The question would never be answered.
---
“Scootaloo...” Rainbow whispered to the floor. She felt a vibration and looked over, seeing Dr. Atmosphere stand high above her. He looked down on her with sorrow. There was no malice, no show of accomplishment or smugness, simply pity.
“Hide, she... I don’t...”
“Enough ponies have died for the sake of this facility, Rainbow. That was one too many. Don’t you agree? Can’t you see it now? The pain that death causes? The pain we no longer need to utilize to work?”
“Hide?”
“I’m tired, Rainbow. I’m very tired. But now we can improve our equipment with Test Tube’s procedures. We can change the world. And then,” he paused, filling his demeanor with pride, “we can rule it.”
Rainbow slowly began comprehending her reality. It makes sense... but now? Why now?
“You’re taking advantage of this mess? Now?” She paused, hearing yet another far-off crash, listening as metal ground upon metal and the millions of pipes around groaned in complaint of yet another change. “My facility... My poor, poor Corporation... You did this, Hide.”
“I simply allowed the technology to fail, Dash.”
“This technology was state of the a-!” Her rebuttal was cut short as Hide brought his foreleg forward with a snap, knocking her out. He stood there for a long time, breathing deeply over the limp body of his manager. He would catch hell for it later, but the reprimand would be worth it. She would keep him, of course. He was the only one who could guide the Corporation in its new era.
The era of the Pegasi, he thought, testing the phrase in his mind. Hide finally took a moment to relax, ignoring the chaos before him, his chaos, his artwork. Discord couldn’t hold a candle to him. And then he heard the sob.
The two tied foals had shuffled off the conveyor belt and were shivering behind it. Hide walked around, quizzical. “Don’t worry,” he cooed, slowly untying the filly first. “Although I must understand why you might, I’m also going to ask you to refrain from knocking me unconscious. You’re both free to go.”
Cloud Cover rubbed her hooves, stepping back from the stallion. “Yeah, right.”
“Honest. I’ll walk you to the elevator myself.”
“But... why?” Corona walked back as well, hugging Cloud Cover with a wing.
“Because you’ve accomplished everything I needed you too, and put on a Tartarus of a show while at it!”
He burst into laughter, walking out into the hallway. Cloud Cover looked to Corona, trying to organize her feelings. Victory was suppressed by outrage and disgust. He used us? For what? And what now?
Corona just shrugged and walked out behind the doctor, albeit with apprehension.
“Well, Cloud? Ready to take on the world?”
---
The world beyond the elevator doors was empty, and Cloud Cover was having a hard time deciding if she should be euphoric or worried. After everything, she was just let go. After seeing the hell, the torture, the living epitome of death itself, she was being walked out the front door of the Lower Factory, free to jump to her wings and announce to the world what lay behind her, behind the black cloud that hid the Corporation, behind all the secrets and lies.
And she was being led out to do it.
Cloud Cover stopped, causing Corona and Hide to stumble before checking back.
“Little filly, what’s the matter?”
“Why are you doing this? What’s the trick?”
“The trick,” Atmosphere explained softly, “is that with the changes I’m bringing, none of it will matter.”
Cloud narrowed her eyes. Corona simply looked back and forth, nervous, before leaning to his friend and whispering.
“What are you doing? Don’t convince him that his ego is wrong. He’s letting us go! Even if there’s some trick, we can get far away from here. Far, far away,” he trailed, looking to the great pools of rainbow surrounding him.
“If you two children are finished questioning my sanity, you’re surrounded by windows. Shoo, off with the lot of you. Get.”
Cloud walked towards a window, looking back. Atmosphere was waving goodbye with a goofy grin. With a final glance to Corona, she took off with him following.
Everything felt wrong. She should not be flying. There was no orgasmic surge, no instant relief. This is what I had wanted, right? Then why do I just feel queasy?
“You okay, Cloud?”
“And where is everyone, anyways? Why is the industrial complex so deserted?”
“I think I see a bunch of ponies near the town square, and a lot in the shopping complex. Something must be happening.”
Cloud looked about. The city hall was surrounded by pegasi and newsponies. It was not uncommon for the entire town to gather around the mayor for minor reasons; Cloudsdale was very much communal and an announcement that the cloud alleyways would be resurfaced would have been enough to draw a crowd that large.
“Let’s go to the shops, there’s fewer ponies there and we could probably sneak up to a television. Besides, we’ll have a much better chance at getting word out amongst a smaller crowd.”
“Alright,” Corona said, tilting left and soaring out of Cloud’s vision incredibly fast. Within a minute, he had landed by the group, several seconds before Cloud. She came in hot, already shouting before she had touched down.
“Everyone! Everyone listen! Something horrible is going on at the Cloudsdale Weather Corp! They’re doing awful awful things and we-”
“Yes, yes, you little filly! Shush up, we’re trying to listen.”
“Yeah, hold your muzzle, kid. I can’t hear.”
Cloud Cover reeled. “But, it’s not a joke, they’re-”
A set of ‘shh!’s silenced her, causing her confusion to triple.
“Cloud,” Corona croaked, his voice seemingly caught in his throat, “You need to look at this.”
She walked next to the orange colt, and watched the television set in the window he had indicated. On it, a formally dressed mare was reading notes, struggling to keep a neutral tone over her obvious distress.
“...Canterlot officials have not yet released anything concrete, stating only that discussion on reparations will be top priority. In the meantime, CWKN News will be returning to the press release from Cloudsdale Weather earlier this morning.”
The image switched to Doctor Atmosphere, causing the foals to jump back in alarm. He did not seem as tired, nor as dirty as when they had left him. The background was a clean white wall, void of any shaking or leaking pipes and wires.
“I’m sure it will come as an immense shock to the citizens of Cloudsdale, and the Kingdom of Equestria. Never did we intend to keep such dangerous and dark secrets, only to do as our ancestors did before us. The horrors I have described earlier in this statement are not overplayed or exaggerated, and the Corporation understands that there is no valid excuse to our actions, nor will there ever be. We hope, however, that our consistent and never ending drive to beat the limitations, to create new technology, technology decades ahead of the medieval and torturous machinations we used as a last resort, will act as some sense of atonement for the terrible misdeeds we’ve done.
“While this press release comes first and foremost as an honest announcement that our ponies deserve to hear, to know, it could not be expected of us to disregard any attempt at defence. Our forefathers, and those before them, knew that the weather must always work, must always grind in the metaphorical sense, must never ever slip, or the world as we knew it would be destroyed. The only way we--rather, they--could guarantee Equestria’s continued survival would be to harvest the component Spectra from living specimens. They had announced this- and we have records, public records that could be found by any pony curious- and were assured that the weather was more important, as it were considered greater than even our own egos, and must be consistent even at the cost of a life.
“They attempted a volunteer process, but there were no pegasi willing to sacrifice their lives for the good of the whole, and we, as caretakers of the sky, could never bring ourselves to request the lives of ponies who do not understand, Earth Ponies and Unicorns, just how important the sky truly is. Eventually, our ancestors arrived at a solution. The Flight Test failees were already being exported from Equestra, a tradition that transferred from our homeland pre-Equestria, and was allowed to continue as an immense part of Pegasi heritage. The Corporation decided that rather than leave those failures to lives filled with terror, shame, and disgrace, they would use them for the greater good.
“The foals we’ve processed in this company are the heroes of Cloudsdale Weather Corporation’s story. We shall never attempt to paint ourselves as anything but the villains, despite how all our work was dedicated to working past this monstrous job, or rather, responsibility. And that brings me to the secondary purpose of this press release.”
Dr. Atmosphere paused on the screen, leaning to a small jug of water for a drink. The video cut back to the dressed up mare, leaving the after image of the red stallion burned into Cloud’s and Corona’s eyes.
“The Corporation also announced today, in rather technical detail, a new system of harvesting spectra via a new sort of blood drives. They discussed the various technological blocks, as well as advancements they had made, over the last couple eons in development of the system. The details can be found by anypony interested at our headquarters on Circumnumbulous Avenue...”
“I can’t BLOODY believe it!” Corona screamed, kicking at the ground. “This is prepos- hey, Cloud, where’re you going?”
The purple filly was walking away, through the crowd of now disinterested ponies, allowing herself to be knocked around.
“Cloud?”
She sat at the very edge of the street, where the city reached a limit, and looked down. Far beneath the floating city, and all it’s alluring decor and social psychology, was the barren and dark ground.
“C’mon, Cloud, what’re you doing?”
The filly turned to Corona, tears in her eyes.
“I’m going home,” she said, lazily pushing off from the edge as she unfolded her wings. “Wherever that is.”
Corona watched her slowly glide in circles towards the earth, feeling himself suddenly very alone in the crowded area. He stayed there for a long time, never breaking sight of the forlorn filly flying below. He glanced behind himself, staring at the city of Cloudsdale and the shrouded factory behind it. He turned forward, into the despair before him. Yet beyond that, he realized, there was hope.
And so he dived too, falling towards his friend.
Or was it flying?
---
I’d like to thank Cthuluigi, Autumn Wind, Patchwork Poltergeist, Jabberwocky Superfly, Saddlesoap Opera, and Sagebrush for all their help with editing and pre-reading. Thanks for putting up with me as I plowed through this chapter for the last year. I owe you guys, so so much. Thanks as well to the folks in #EquestrianStudy for putting up with me randomly dropping in the channel to ask questions about weird phrasings and impossible concepts. Finally, thank you to all my fans who encouraged me to keep writing. You’ve changed my life for the better.
If you enjoy my stories, please consider donating.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan made fiction, based on the animated show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. I do not own, nor lay any claim to My Little Pony or any related intellectual property.
This work was made entirely for entertainment value and as a tribute to the amazing work of the Friendship is Magic production team. It is not, and will never be, sold and distributed for profit.
This story falls under a Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License. This means you are free to make derivative works upon the concepts within provided your work is non-profit, you attribute the author for any copied materials, and share your own work under a similar license.
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The feels, Aurora...
Masterfully written. Great job, and so deep even Pinkie can't bounce out of it.
"posted at 17, February, 2013" lol is still 16 over here!
i agree with floydien I was in so much suspense that i put off reading this for about a month.
Can you some up what happened I don't get it? Dr. Atmospher should have got what's coming to him
Well, that was amazing. Bit disappointed at the end though
Kinda hoping that they got killed to be honest, you know just because I wanted the CWC to continue for the sake of escaping being a lost cause. Ya know "where not a single soul gets through"
This, this right here. That was clever.
This was an excellent story. Well done.
Okay, I just finished re-reading parts of this chapters, and I need to bring this up. How is it possible that Rainbow Dash did not know that Scootaloo was alive? We don't know what Rainbow Dash ended up doing to Scootaloo after the ending of the first story, but apparently RD thinks she killed her, so the fact that Scootaloo has been secretly kept alive inside the factory that Rainbow Dash managed for ~20 years seems pretty far-fetched.
Another thing I don't get is why Rainbow Dash suddenly cares about Scootaloo again.
Well, to say the least, this touched me. I will be honest, this wasn't the best written story I've seen on the site, nor is it the most involved and attached. There are several instances where the ponies no longer sound like they are talking, but more as if they are reading from a script, and other anomalous entities throughout the chapter. But no one is perfect, and I feel that you, sir have drawn me to liking and loving your characters more than any author ever has, aside from, say, Erin Hunter and J.R.R. Tolkien, and that is no modest feat. The characters feel lost, in a touching and hopeless way that I have always strived to create, but this...this is not an attempt, this, friend, is an example, and a stellar one at that.
Sir, never ever stop writing. No matter what may come about, you have a talent, a way not only to write characters, to design instances, to create plots, but to bring them to life. That is a talent that should not be wasted, and I believe that you can and will put it to good use in the future, and I assure you, I will be reading.
2133685
'This monstrous job, or responsibility' gave me the same feeling.
I can't even find the words to express how amazing this story is...
The Last of Scootaloo and the ending brought tears t o my eyes...
Excellent story! This has been one of the only stories that has ever given me "the feels," and by far, is one of my favorite stories. I really enjoyed the mental break down of gentle, especially since I expected that she would end up helping the failures. Thank you for writing these wonderful stories, and I hope you will be able to continue!
"Gentle repeated those two words incessantly, fixated on them, breaking the combo only with various bursts of laughter before diving right back into her pattern."
*repeats "fixated breaking fixated breaking fixated breaking..."*
"Far beneath the floating city, and all its alluring decor and social psychology"
Gotta stick one last reference to the song in there, don't ya?
This fic was awesome. Now for the epilogue...
this was incredible...
i think i just realized after absentia saying she was all idolizing dash and all,that absentia...IS SCOOTALOO!!!!!!
wow this was great,but why did you kill scoots,did she fall and squish her head,rather,heh,fall to her doom?
Great story. BUT why did you kill scoot why damn you why
I nearly cried. At the beginning of this chapter, I was thinking about writing something like, "the feels," but that's just inappropriate. Oh my god, why?! I have come to pity and love Scootaloo so much more than I ever did.
May she rest in peace forever.
I can't even look at the pony faces on the side of the comment box. They make me want to cry even more.
I now like Hide Atmosphere.
In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets throuh
In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true
This was ecoing in my head for 90% of the chapter.
And farwell Absentia, you will be missed.
Necessary?
Oh, don't give me that "moral relativism renders everything meaningless" crap. Nopony actually believes that anyway; some ponies just use it as an excuse. The existence of multiple formulations of ethics does not render the concept of good and evil meaningless. In most situations, basically every reasonable system will agree on whether an action was right or wrong. Just because you've been trapped for a while in a zone of ethical contention does not change this. Even if ethics didn't correlate, there are plenty of qualities that are assigned by opinion, and does anypony argue that those concepts are meaningless?
In fact, I think an analogy to, say, taste in food would be rather close. I'm not going to like the exact same set of things you are, but at the core, we are both compelled by evolution to generally prefer foods that would have aided our survival before the rise of civilization (that having happened too recently for there to have been any significant evolution since then). And we have some differing opinions about ethics, but ultimately we both instinctively tend to choose what would have served the survival of the group, as that in turn serves our own survival. And so we speak of "delicious" and "disgusting," and so we speak of "good" and "bad."
Seriously, your moral disingenuousness disgusts me. I cannot reasonably expect you to always act according to my convictions, but I can and do expect you to act according to yours.
A sapient and (theoretically) rational actor, of course. What other authority is there?
Exactly. And that is why one may not be allowed to kill two, unless the two would have killed three.
Precisely. And that is why the slaughter of so-called failures is reprehensible.
Yes. And that is why killing in self-defense is, in and of itself, morally neutral.
Seriously, how are we supposed to take Contrail's words? His moral opinions are like tissue paper when you examine them.
I'm sorry. I realize it can be hard sometimes to work with a reader of strong ethical convictions.
Well that's what you get for building your walkways out of plastic. Maybe next time you'll use steel like normal ponies.
Wow, Dashie really is getting old if she's employing ponies who grew up with the Crystal Empire extant.
Perhaps this is a bit much.
That first sentence. You have sentenced wrong. It's not saying what you want it to.
Gentle, if you're going to be Cloud Kicker, you could at least do it in a story where there isn't already a Cloud. Really, have some consideration.
You're more right than you know. I assume.
I don't remember there being Spectra in the streets . . .
What, you wanted to motivate a flashback but you didn't want to deal with whatever motivated it? This looks like lazy writing to me.
You must realize, Hide, that if this works out with the Corporation still existing and you not running it, that with all the disloyalty you've been showing you will very much be fired. And I know you know what that means.
Oh, I get it now. The factory is home to insanity demons. And with recent events, many have found themselves homeless, and the luckier among them have found and possessed Gentle (it's a little-known fact that insanity demons are bosonic, not fermionic). That's how ponies change so quickly in here. It all makes sense.
Are those words even meaningful for the insane?
Somepony's been watching Rainbow Dash Presents.
This writing is either terrible or brilliant.
Ever talked to Littlepip in your time off? I mean, sure she's a pretty big-name actress, starred in an insanely popular story and all, but she might not be completely haughty and aloof. And if you do get a chance to talk with her, I'm sure she'd have a thing or two to say about that. She'd probably deliver an entire speech about corrupted virtues that she made up on the spot.
Well, Hide? You saved her. You maintained her. How sane do you think she is? Would she kill you out of spite? And where is your plan for her now?
Symbolism.
Maybe I'll pick it apart tomorrow. For now, I'm just recognizing abstract symbolism.
The pain you enjoy?
I know what you're doing. Don't think I can't see. You've filled your story with OCs and avoided giving them too much characterization. We don't have a clear idea of how these characters are supposed to act, so you can fiddle with them at will. Well, I'm on to you.
It's nice how the primaries she lost to Hide's hoof weren't actually necessary to flight. They're basically just decorative.
Not somewhere you're not wanted, at least.
I just re read this after a year of other things, and...HOLY HELL!!!! I'm seriously gonna have a hard time destroying the factory in one of my upcoming stories
THIS. IS. AMAZING!!! I'm going to favourite this! I didn't even think that I might favourite it, but it's SO AWESOME!!!
*Creates headstone for Scoots*
R.I.P.
Scootaloo "Scoots" ???
???-2014
You will forever be remembered as the Scooter Master
Can`t forget Absentia! *creates one for Scoots` alter ego*
R.I.P.
Absentia ???
???-2014
You sacrificed yourself for others, and that will never be forgotten
Wait...DID CLOUD DIE!? AN CORONA!? and....SO MUC ONFUSION! But, it was awsoe and wel written
This story is deep and well written with a lesson hidden in it.
Cannot express my emotion at this. I'm happy they are free, pissed at Atmosphere for being so brilliant, pissed at Rainbow for Scootaloo dying and just about everything else she did, and sad for what I said in the spoiler.
Ponies need rainbows?
Is that a challenge?
Wow. Saying this was good would be a huge understatement. I loved this story SO much!
#love
Lies! Lies! You are a monster Atmosphere! You and all those EVIL pegasai are nothing but heartless cold hearted demons! You murdered innocent lives! You knew what you were doing was wrong and you did it anyway! You should all be excuted or banished from equestria for for evil deeds!
I love it :-)
Inspiring I must say!
Thank you Aurora!
3211428
Absentia's not really dead
Hester:
Hazel: WHAT?!
Hester: Well, why else do you think that there are photos of her everywhere and that the song "Pegasus Device" was born?
Hazel: But, we're reading directly from the author! Hester, what are you saying?
5384134 I agree with you THAT FUCKING FACTORY WILL BURN IN HELL ALONG WITH ANYPONY WHO KNEW OF IT OR WORKED IN IT
8015774
I'm forced to work there. Don't count me.
5384134
Quote from Atmosphere
“We will not try to paint ourselves as anything but the villans...”
That was hilarious.
Me.
Oh... No... Why Loo? Why did you have to start thinking that way, when you were doing so well.
This has caused me to make the following predictions. The first one is my main prediction. I have almost complete confidence in it being true. The second, third, and fourth are exclusive. It's one or the other, not both.
1: Loo will take over the Factory, instead of destroying it. This involves Rainbow becoming rainbows.
2: Loo will make the "qualifications" more lenient as to who is harvested. Fillys and colts who failed their flight tests won't be the only resources anymore. (Worst case scenario)
3: Loo will change the "qualifications," making it pegasi like Rainbow who are harvested, instead of fillys and colts like Loo, Orion, and Aurora. (Second Worst Case Scenario)
4: Loo will begin harvesting Factory workers, or perhas just Corporation workers in general, instead of fillys and colts like her. (Best Case Scenario - Still pretty bad, though.)
Notice that there isn't a good prediction on there.
Oh, Gentle. You had such potential. And to waste it all, by going mental?
Poor mare...
In other words, you'll watch as they get either harvested or simply killed normally, and end up harvesting the rainbow from Rainbow and becoming the new Rainbow Director.
Sounds like something AI Dungeon would make up.
If you don't know what that is, look it up. If you actually care, anyway.
Oh... Oh no...
I was wrong. Loo isn't going to take over the Factory...
She was in control of the Factory the whole time...
Wait, what?
I am so, so very confused... And I like it. It is rare that stories have something that is so far from what I expect that I end up confused.
In fact, it isn't simply rare. It's never happened before.
And I love it.
I honestly can't tell whether this was (Morally at least. Story wise it was amazing.) a good or bad ending to the main chapters. However, I do know one thing.
Whatever Atmo says, the killings are not over.
Oh my fucking god dialogue and forced moral dilemmas used to be so bad in this series
"So how was school today?"
i really enjoyed this fanfic but cant help feeling dissatisfied with the ending. it felt rushed and super anticlimactic especially in comparison to the events leading up to it. things just seemed forced and the character's personalities change on a whim with no further questions asked. there was so much room for more and i feel like it just wasnt properly deilvered. but this was a really good read either way-i can appreciate the moral standpoints and the delivery of details throughout was super well done. i can see why this fic is so popular
Goodbye Gentle, it was nice
Knowing you