Chain of Dreams

by Hippocrene Artifex

Chapter 3: Azure

In the city of Cloudsdale, high in the sky, one pegasus sighed. The monotonous clinking sound all around him was nothing less than a proper sign that every pegasus was doing their job well in the snowflake facility of the weather factory.

“Another day, and another Bit.” Azure, a light blue pegasus with a triad of color-coordinated snowflakes for a cutie mark, sighed lazily again as he planned what he would do for the rest of the night.

As one of the pegasi of the snowflake facility, it was his job to make sure that every snowflake he crafted was unique and mystifying in its own way. No two snowflakes would ever be alike on his watch and, with the winter months just around the corner, a few months in fact, he was working twice as hard, just like everypony else, to make sure the demands by the weather teams all over Equestria were met . Of course, this never discouraged him from his job; quite the contrary, it merely spurred him on to work even harder. All things snow-related were his special talent after all.

A few steps echoed behind the colt and a voice, one Azure would recognize anywhere, spoke, “Hey there, Azure!”

It was his best friend, Frosty Mist that had called out to him just as he entered the main lobby of the Weather Factory. Frosty Mist was the first to befriend the azure-coated stallion since he left his home to work in Cloudsdale and Azure was always glad to catch up with Frosty after work to discuss their day. He was a pegasus stallion that worked in the R&D department of the Weather Factory, a fact that Azure felt quite a bit jealous of as it meant that Frosty had the chance and access to check out and examine all the latest weather innovations first hoof. However, best friends as they were, Frosty Mist always let Azure in on a sneak peek on whatever he was working on just for fun.

“Hiya, Frosty.” Azure turned to welcome his friend but the stallion nickered and complained, “Dude, I keep tellin’ ya to call me ‘Mist’! ‘Frosty’ just sounds too... marely!”

But, with a mischievous glint to his yellow eyes, Azure replied in an offhoof manner, “Oh, well, ok then... Misty.” He had to bite his lip to keep himself from falling to floor laughing when he saw the horror reflected on his friend’s twitching eye.

The stallion, however, recovered and taunted back, “Fine, then. See who lets you get a glimpse at the new cloud-seeding harnesses the department will be issuing next spring.”

“Okay-okay; fine. Ahem; Mist, how are you doing today?” Azure replied hastily and tried his hardest to keep a straight face, as much fun as it was to taunt his friend on his exuberant name. Still, he felt the corners of his mouth twitch uncontrollably as Mist eyed him with a scowl and, somehow, Azure knew that he was going have to do a little more apple-polishing to get that sneak peek Mist promised.

“Doing good.” Mist replied with swagger, “Like I said, the department is working on a new harness system for the Appleloosa basin weather teams to seed the clouds in their area more efficiently. So far, the alpha trials are looking good so we’re banking on having them ready by the beginning of the spring. Of course, this will mean more time flying there, but the weather teams there won’t have to even break a sweat”

“Wow!” Azure replied enthusiastically, “Sounds awesome. Does this mean they’ll finally be able to expand beyond the basin and make better negotiations with the Buffalos?”

But Mist shook his head, then, a little downcast, “We’re not sure, the cloud seeding isn’t the only problem. They still need to find fertile ground in order for the apple orchards to grow, otherwise they might as well be planting the saplings in the middle of a big ol’ sandbox.”

Mist, never the one to care much of politics, did not want to stay on the topic for much longer and so he decided to switch it up, “So anyways, what are ya doin’ tonight, Azure?”

Azure took a moment to ponder his response, “Well…I’m not really sure, I’ve been too busy today to really decide.”

Mist smiled cheerfully, then, and suggested, “Alright then, let’s go hit up the Echoing Feather! First round of drinks are on me! Who knows, you might meet a mare to spend some time with... somepony to twirl around,if ya’ know what I mean.”

Though of a blue complexion, Azure’s face turned bright red at the words Mist so casually, and purposely, threw accompanied by a meaningful glance at a few mares not far from them. The subtlety of the comment hadn’t escaped Azure’s notice, since the first day he met Mist, that his friend had this overly-confident airs around him. It was not in any way arrogant, or else Azure would not have befriended him; quite the contrary, Azure greatly admired his friend’s character: how he talked big, how he moved with proud steps and his overly-charming antics, especially when there were pretty mares around... A fact Frosty Mist always admonished his introvert friend and never tired for a day to remind him that he, too, was quite the handsome gentlecolt and that any mare would sure welcome his advances if only he paid more attention to those who batted their eyelashes at him.

Azure, on the other hoof, was quite the shy colt and such adventures, as he preferred to describe them, were what he always thought of as out of his league. Yet what really made him gulp now was the fact that Mist, after two years of persuasion, finally managed to extract a promise from Azure, the last time they met, to make all the effort there was to land himself in a date and so, with another gulp, Azure stuttered, “S-sure, why not. Let me just…Oh shoot.”

“Something wrong?” Mist asked as he eyed his friend suspiciously.

Azure was fumbling around with his weather factory uniform, turning out every pocket he had and becoming more distraught by the second with the many thoughts that battled within his mind. Ripping the coat away, Azure shook it with all his might and sunk back with a groan, “I think I left my wallet in the snowflake plant.”

“Oh, really?” Asked mist with a twitching lip as he guessed at the direction Azure’s thoughts turned, “Again?! Jeez, that’s the second time this week.”

Azure sincerely replied, “Ok look, I’ll just slip back to the snowflake plant and grab it before somepony picks it up on the night shift. You go ahead and I’ll meet you at the bar.”

Mist rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics and sighed, “Alright, fine. See you at the Echoing Feather, then!”

Azure nodded in return. Contrary to Frosty Mist’s belief, the wallet excuse was not a lie but Azure could still see the doubt in his eyes about the less-than-subtle escape attempt. Azure was more likely going to have to buy the first round of drinks now to get back on his friend’s good side. Still, he needed the time to think of his choices; both current and past, his life, and what might happen when he does accompany his friend to the club.

With all that, and more, on his mind, Azure wasted no time getting back to snowflake plant and quickly searched every inch of the place in the time he had before the evening shift arrived but still he was careful not to disturb anyone’s hard work and possibly cause a winter drought. “Come on, where have you gone?” Azure groaned in frustration as every place he searched yielded no result in his hunt for his wallet. “Dang, I can’t lose that thing! I still have my flying license in there... and a good twenty Bits!”

Still no sign of the object in question was found in the next ten minutes and Azure was just about lose hope and call the Lost and Found when he lifted his head out from under the desk he was currently searching. A quick red blush of annoyance crossed his features as he came face to face with a certain cyan-colored money holder but more annoyingly was the fact that the wallet was laying atop of his own workstation amidst a few unfinished snowflakes he had not had time to finish before the end of his shift. He ignored the snowflakes and picked up the stress-inducing wallet and stuffed it in his saddle bags while he mumbled to himself, “I’ve really got to stop leaving this thing out while I’m working. The chief wouldn’t be too happy to see this just lying about in the work center. In any case, better get going or else Frosty is going to start the first round without me.”

That was his plan. Many others had plans for that night: some were for fun, some for romance, while a few others had plans for a leisurely passing of time. Yet all were ruined when an ear-piercing shriek caused Azure to jump almost completely out of his coat. The scream did not sound all that far away but, for a reason that was lost on Azure, somepony was in fright.

Not a moment later, a crashing sound followed that brought Azure to his hooves and barely upsetting his work bench, “That didn’t sound good. What’s going on?” Azure asked himself and headed for the exit to see what was going on. More and more sounds broke out before he reached the exit and, soon, alarms broke out in his mind; something was not right. He carefully cracked the door before him, opening it to just a slit, and immediately regretted the curiosity that drove him to look in the first place: Co-workers he knew ran and flew in terror from what looked like insectoid-like creatures that chased them down like cats chasing mice. Occasionally one would be swept up and carried away by the creatures, screaming and hollering to be freed. Azure backed away, letting the door swing close and shutting away the horror from the other side. “What are those things?!”Azure thought, his panic rising fast, “Why are they ponynapping everyone?!? Will they... find me?’”

With the only exit out of the factory blocked, it was only a matter of time before that question was answered and Azure needed to find a way to keep that from happening. Only a moment later, however, the swing doors opened with a loud bang for a group of terrified ponies to enter. Azure stood petrified but they did not stand idly by to notice the other occupant and started to flint anything and everything within reach at the door to make into a blockade. Azure was too stunned to move as he watched the ponies work; thinking that those demonic creatures had found him instead. Indeed, they have been too hard in their effort to stop the incomers that they must have not noticed, at first but it was not long before one of them finally turned and looked directly at him. The mare froze causing the other two to do the same and stare at the petrified pony across the room from them.

The new-comers gazed sideways at each other and muttered between themselves. Unease was the most apparent feature etched on all of their faces as their eyes held the terrified colt across the room. It was for some time that silence prevailed until the stallion among them asked, “You there! You’re not one of them, are you?!”

Azure had to take a moment to process what was said but eventually, he gained the power of speech once again, “What?! No, I don’t even know what those things are. I have been here ever since all the commotion started!”

The three ponies, however, eyed him with cautious stares, waiting to see what Azure would do next. Admittedly, Azure was doing just the same hoping that they too were not those mysterious creatures that he had just seen scooping up ponies like candy on Nightmare Night. “Um, my name is Azure. I’m a snowflake maker for the Weather Factory.”

None of the other ponies, however, spoke, making Azure even more uncomfortable and wishing that he could just run for the exit but his apparent discomfort did not go unnoticed, for one of them spoke out, “I’m Rainy Days.”

“Rainy, don’t talk to him, he could be one of them!” the other mare spoke up and eyed Azure again with a look of unease. Azure felt a little offended by this but held his anger at bay so as not to upset the survivors of the ongoing attack. Still, the silence stretched and Azure had no desire to remain in this state for long so he volunteered his thoughts.

“I’m not one of those things, whatever they are. I only ended up here because I came back for my wallet. This is where I work and that’s my station.” And then he produced the said wallet and held it up as proof. The stallion took a step forward as Azure opened his wallet to show his flying license, which had a picture of himself, and looked from the license to the colt that held it a couple of times before giving an approving nod but he then spoke in an unnecessarily gruff voice of warning, “Ok, so maybe you’re not one of them but don’t think I’m not gonna keep an eye on you.”

Despite the odd comment the stallion made, now that it was proved that he was not one of those creatures, Azure was glad he was not being left alone to fend for himself for the moment. “Who are you? And what in the name of both the Princesses are those things that attack us?!”

From outside the room, the terrified screams of helpless victims were dying down. The silence did not in any way provide Azure with any sense of ease but the answer he received made him even more terrified when the mare named Rainy Days squeaked, “They’re called Changelings... they’re creatures that feed on emotional energy. My sister...she studied them and-” The mare fell into silent sobs again, obviously too scared to continue her explanation. Azure, now armed with a general knowledge, was now fully aware of what she was saying. He could finally, despite his need to deny, put a name to the creatures: Changelings.

“But how did they get inside the factory, or for that matter, Cloudsdale?” Azure asked. “Next to Canterlot, Cloudsdale is supposed to be one of the most secure places in Equestria.”

Rainy Days, who appeared to be the most scared out of them all, looked like she was on the verge of tears as she once again answered, “That’s the thing. They’re called Changelings for a reason: they take on the form of another and replace that pony and feed off the emotional energy that surrounds it. They could hide in plain sight and nopony would suspect a thing. I...Oh, Raindrops, I’m so sorry.” She broken down completely into tears and openly sobbed. The other mare came over and offered her shoulder to cry on as comfort.

It was the other mare’s turn to speak, “The Changelings had been most likely amassing in Cloudsdale for years. Slowly replacing one pony at a time. They must have planned this for a long time and are now beginning their full scale invasion. I just hope this is only happening in Cloudsdale.”

‘Oh, Sweet Celestia!’ Azure thought as he started to pace around, “What if this is happening all over Equestria?!” Azure realized, “Have they invaded Canterlot? I have to get out of here. If we warn the Princesses, maybe they can stop this.”

“Hey, what are you doing?” the stallion asked him as Azure paced. Azure was too deep in thought to hear him and kept on pacing, occasionally looking around the room for anything useful. There was everypony’s workstations, stacked with hoof-made snowflakes, the main water dispenser for the snowflakes, the chief’s office next to the exit, and the industrial cooling system to keep the snowflakes from melting. Azure looked at everything at least twice and thought more... and then an idea hit.

The other ponies noticed as Azure stopped mid-pace and smiled slightly. “What are you smiling about?” The stallion asked with increasing annoyance but Azure heard him this time.

“I think I may have an idea of how to get out of here,” and he immediately set to work grabbing everything he would need for his plan.

Rainy Days collected her composure enough to speak again, “Y-you do?”

“Yes, but it might be a little dangerous,” Azure turned and answered her.

The other mare, looking at him with discomfort and asked, “Wait, what do you mean by ‘dangerous’?”

The last comment was lost as Azure was too deep in thought to answer her at the moment. Indeed, his idea took him to a time when he saved a season’s supply of snowflakes a couple of years back. Picking up one last basket of snowflakes, he trotted over to the industrial cooling system to set up his work. The industrial cooling system was a great innovation for the Winter Section of the Weather Factory for they no longer had to chill the section with wing power alone. Technology however, always had its drawbacks; just last year when the cooling system had malfunctioned, instead of keeping things to a chilly temperature, it was heating everything up. It turned out that the main water dispenser piping that ran just above the cooling system had cracked, causing a leak. Water from the cracked pipe started to seep into the cooling system and short circuited the venting subsystem within. Soon enough, the cooling system was heating up along with everything in the room and was soon found out that if the system was not fixed, it would have blown the entire snowflake plant sky high.

What Azure had in mind now was to try recreating the same events that would, with hope, result in the same blast that was expected back then to create a distraction for the group to escape. Though he could not do that alone and so he ordered the other three ponies in the room, astonishing even himself, “Hey, you there! Help me move these workstations in front of the cooling system.”

The workstations were not required for the effects that would bring around the blast but were quite heavy nonetheless; a fact that gave Azure another idea that they might work, once combined, as a barricade against the blast. The other ponies, taking sideway glances at themselves, knew that Azure meant business and so they got up to help him move the workstations in front of the chief’s office where they would make their impromptu bunker. With the makeshift bunker in place, Azure trotted back over to the cooling system and worked his other materials into what he would need.

Thanks to the incident a couple years back, the piping had been shifted to run along the opposite wall as far away from the cooling system as possible and so, Azure had to come up with a different way to short circuit the entire construct in a matter of minutes. Indeed, that is what the other materials were meant for and so he set out to work. He crushed two baskets full of snowflakes into powder and dropped it into the vents up top where it would not take long to melt inside, where the heat escaped. Next was the weather uniform he still wore, that was placed carefully over the powdered snow to clog up the vents. After that, with a roll of duct tape, he sealed the top effectively turning the entire construct into a pressure cooker.

The plan might have taken too long for its effect to start but Azure planned for this and popped open a panel on the side to reveal electrical cables galore. Having had to fix the machine up a few times, and contribute in its preventive maintenance, gave him the knowledge he needed to what and where the essential components were; which he now ripped and unplugged a few wires from them and replaced them in different sockets. The way the power was running now guaranteed that the system would run full blast and speed up the pressure build up within. He galloped back to the bunker and took his cover with the others and waited for what they expected to be a way to escape.

“Hey, snowflakes pony!” the stallion said, getting Azure’s attention, “What exactly did you do to get us out of here? And why are we taking cover?”

Even though it annoyed Azure that the Stallion had not remembered his name, he decided not to pursue that and move on, “You saw that big old machine that I was working on?” As the stallion nodded, Azure continued, “I rigged it up to explode.”

“YOU WHAT?!” The one mare whose name he didn’t know shrieked.

The stallion also joined in on the verbal lashing, “How do expect this to not end with us splattered up against the wall?!”

“That’s why I had us make this bunker,” Azure replied with an uncertain tone to his voice, “You see, it’ll put a gaping hole in the wall which we can escape through, and it’ll cause such a big distraction that they probably won’t even notice us. We should be safe... I think.”

The stallion looked like he had a few choice words for Azure to hear when, suddenly, a high pitched whine filled the room. If that was not enough of a warning for what was about to happen, Azure did not know what was. Steadily, the whine started to get higher in pitch to the point where he was starting to have second thoughts about the whole idea of using the cooling system explosion as a distraction. That thought, however, along with any other thought, was squashed as a massive decompression of air ripped his world apart.

For many years to come, Azure could never for the life of him figure out nor imagine what must have possessed him to make such a rash decision as to blow up the weather factory. What he could guess at, though, was that the shock wave must have been more powerful than he had calculated because the next thing he remembered after that last hazy moment in the facility was seeing a charcoal pegasus with dirty red mane and nothing more than a stick between his jaws.

Comments

[Perteks]

Now changeling perspective!