//------------------------------//
// Introduction 
// Story: Shattered Worlds: The Cataclysm 
// by Puppeteer 
//------------------------------//

It was a fairly normal day in Cloudsdale, and everything was just the way that it was supposed to be. The clouds were light and puffy, the air was cold and crisp with altitude, and the Pegasi went about their business with the same mechanical indifference that had become the norm for the industrial city in the sky. Despite all this, something seemed distinctly off. An ominous mood had drifted over the ponies of Cloudsdale. Its affect was thick and tangible, yet invisible to the naked eye. It would be difficult to find a specific reason for the off-putting ambience, but it was most definitely there; that odd and untraceable feeling in the pit of your stomach that something is wrong.

On this particular day, a few may have noticed a single stallion that stood out from those around him. He had white fur, a blue Weather Factory uniform, and a short black mane which was neatly combed to the side. He was rather well groomed for a Weather Factory worker, but other than that he didn't have any major traits that should have made him stand out as he did. The details that really made him stand out were the sly grin on his face and his bright blue eyes. The eyes were a bright, beautiful shade of blue laced with specks of white. They practically glowed in both a deceptive and captivating manner. His demeanor contrasted with the surrounding atmosphere in such a way that it was almost unsettling; as if he were either oblivious or completely indifferent to the world around him.

He was completely focused on the weather factory which loomed up before him, and he payed little mind to anypony around him. He trotted through the main arch of the Weather Factory which served as an entrance to the facility and continued through a small door in the back which was accessible only to staff of the Rainbow Factory. After fiddling with a key in his mouth and ascending a tediously slow elevator, he finally reached his destination and the elevator doors slid open to reveal a unicorn who was already awaiting his arrival in the steel corridor of the Rainbow Factory. She was also white, but with a long messy purple mane. Her name was Dr. Blank.
‘’Hello Chrome’’, said Dr. Blank.
‘’I have anxiously awaited your arrival and report, although I still don’t see why you couldn’t simply send somepony lower down in the ranking system to deal with simple reconnaissance. After all, it would be anarchy here if we lost you as well as Rainbow Dash.’’
‘’No’’, Chrome responded. ’’This was a very important task. It was only fitting that I attended to it personally. Besides, I had to see Ponyville myself, what with all the recent... developments. I'm not sure I would have believed the extent of the damage had I not seen it with my own eyes.’’
‘’Very well. So have you learned the whereabouts of our leader, Rainbow Dash?’’ Chrome smiled politely. 
‘’I have.’’
‘’Have you also learned about the madness that has recently spread throughout Ponyville?’’, she asked. 
‘’I have done this also’’, Chrome responded again. ‘’But as events have decided to align themselves, that will have to come later in my report.’’
Several ponies had gathered about to hear what Chrome had to say, by this point. 
‘’Mares and gentlecolts!’’ Chrome began his speech in an eccentric tone. 

"As you all know, four days ago, I, Chrome, departed on a very important information retrieval mission regarding our previously missing commander, Rainbow Dash, here at the Rainbow Factory. As you all know, she failed to check in with command precisely six days before today."
Dr. Blank nodded. 
"I am happy to inform you that the whereabouts of Rainbow Dash have been confirmed, along with the reasons behind the madness that has taken Ponyville recently." Chrome smiled proudly.
"I reviewed the tapes from our hidden security cameras placed in Ponyville, and uncovered several interesting tidbits of information. Although I would like to get straight to Rainbow Dash, there are several things that must be explained first." Chrome glanced about the small group of ponies.
"You in the back." Chrome said. 
"Document this for later review." A white unicorn in the back reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small notebook to write down what Chrome said, and with that, Chrome began his report.

"This whole incident begins roughly three weeks ago. At that time ponies began to rapidly disappear, seemingly at random. The disappearances occurred at a steady rate, which is how we deduced that the were intentional. It did not seem important enough to look into at the time so we disregarded it. I have come to the knowledge recently, that these disappearances were caused mainly, if not entirely, by a pony with the full birth name of Pinkamena Diane Pie. She abducted these ponies, tortured them in horrific ways and baked their blood and organs into cupcakes. This particular pony would have been declared criminally insane at the time, but so much has changed over the past few weeks that I seriously doubt it really matters anymore. What does matter is that over the years, Rainbow Dash was exposed to large amounts of liquid Rainbow souls from our experiments here, which caused her to gain the ability to bond souls with another pony temporarily."
"Wait" Dr Blank interrupted.
"Bond souls? We have theorized about the idea, but never successfully achieved this state with any of our specimens. Could you please go into more detail about the effects she experienced?" Chrome smiled politely and began to elaborate. 

"Of course. The bonding between Rainbow Dash’s soul, and another pony’s soul only happened when she was was in a state of unconsciousness and was limited to ponies that she interacted with frequently. The fragments of souls she absorbed over the years somehow were able to create a temporary link to the soul of another pony. In this case Pinkamena Diane Pie, or as she was more commonly referred to, Pinkie Pie. As you may have guessed, bonding souls with such a pony in a dream-state would not be a very pleasant experience. In fact, they were less dreams than they were nightmares. There is no way to ever know exactly what Dash saw during the time that their souls were bonded, but I do know that they made her very paranoid and unstable. Eventually, in a bakery on Sugarcube Corner, the fear and pressure got to her and she stabbed Pinkamena down in cold blood with a kitchen knife. Unfortunately, at the time, Rainbow Dash did not understand that her nightmares were actually a twisted vision of reality and because of this she was unable to finish her friend off. Instead, she alerted others to the injury and Pinkamena was able to survive. Afterwards, she pretended to have no recollection of being stabbed, and everypony assumed that she had accidentally injured herself. Everything seemed to return to normal but Pinkamena was secretly planning her revenge. She wanted to make Rainbow Dash feel the same pain that she had in the method she was most familiar with. I am sorry to say that she was successful. The next day she was able to successfully drug, abduct and torture Rainbow Dash in a hidden basement beneath Sugarcube Corner. Nopony will ever know exactly what happened during that period of time, but I can tell you that afterwards, Pinkamena stitched the lifeless body of her latest victim back together for her own entertainment."

The pony in the back stopped writing, and Dr. Blank grimaced, and looked down at her hooves. 
"What a terrible way to die." she whispered to nopony in particular. 
"Being forced to live out your worst nightmare."
"Yes, yes of course.’’ Chrome replied nonchalantly. ‘’But really that was just the beginning! Shortly after that, using a loan from a friend who happened to be a fairly successful fashion designer, Pinkamena Diane Pie was able to open a small factory on the hillside above Ponyville to produce, and sell cupcakes. Of course, she would use the organs that she had been harvesting over the years in all of the cupcakes produced." Chrome paused to look directly at Dr. Blank. 
"Dr, Blank, can you recall the recent tests on pony blood?"
"Why yes I can." Dr Blank stated proudly.
"Test results clearly indicate that the consuming even a small amount of anypony else’s blood, can severely affect the consumer’s sanity."
"Good. You were paying attention. Now do you also remember the main ingredient in the cupcakes from the factory?"
"Good lord of harmony." Blank again whispered to nopony in particular. 
"If even one of these cupcakes were eaten, they could easily drive the consumer to insanity."
"Of course." Chrome responded evenly. 

"But that’s still not the main problem. The cupcake incident itself could have been easily contained. The real problem is the exhaust from the factory. When the cupcakes are put into the main furnace in the center of the factory, the blood from the organs inside evaporates, and the cells and plasma become mixed in with the steam and exhaust fumes of the factory. Because of the factory’s location, this gas flowed directly into Ponyville." This aroused several murmurs from the crowd of ponies, as they realized what that implied. 
"I have nicknamed this gas form of pony blood insanity vapor, due to it’s particular effect on ponies. After the gas began to flow into Ponyville, it’s effects were immediately prevalent. At first the only notable piece of information was strange behavior, but it only took 26 hours for the murders to start. Ponies were being murdered in broad daylight only about twelve days ago. Over the past week, things have been completely out of control. The ponies taken by insanity began to organize themselves, and formed an organisation, who for some reason called themselves Cyv, led by the infamous Pinkamena Diane Pie. They went on a bloody rampage through the town, slaughtering any survivors they came across." 

Dr Blank took a step forward. 	
"How could this have happened? Wouldn't there be precautions against a disaster of this magnitude?"
"Remember your rank Miss Blank. Try not to speak out of turn from now on." Chrome exclaimed suddenly. "Nopony could have predicted something like this. It all happened so fast that even we could not have prevented it. Besides, there is a silver lining. Not all of the survivors were wiped out. A pony by the name of Twilight Sparkle was somehow able to notice the harmful changes to the air, and took action against it. She supplied herself, and as many ponies as she could gather with some type of makeshift gas-masks and rebreathers. Over the past week they have built a massive dome fortress and secured the area around it with traps. They have grown in numbers immensely, and have a complete armory at their disposal. I was not able to get inside the dome, but I do know that the inhabitants have taken to calling themselves the Sisterhood, and could potentially be a threat. As of now they are not a problem."  Dr Blank thought for a moment. 
"’Shouldn’t we try to negotiate with them before deciding anything?" She asked. 
"Perhaps, but there are more pressing matters currently at hand. After Diane finished stitching Rainbow Dash’s corpse back together, I was able to retrieve it and had it shipped back here to the factory." This aroused several nervous murmurs from the crowd of ponies. 
"Why in Celestia's name would you do something like that?" Dr Blank asked a bit too loudly.
"Remember not to speak out of turn." Chrome stated intimidatingly while glaring daggers at Dr Blank. He soon directed his attention back at the crowd.

"You may be wondering what relevance this has. To answer your questions, I will remind you all of another past research project. According to the record, if an object which was once animate but long since dead were to be submerged in liquid pony souls for an extended period of time it would slowly achieve a state or reanimation and regain sentience." Chrome grinned as Dr blank realized what he was implying. 
"But Chrome!" She yelled, obviously startled. "With all due respect, we only tested that on small forest animals, and even then their behavior was aggressive and erratic! I’m sure that we would all love to have our leader back, but if you try this there is no telling how it could end!" Chrome's left eye twitched. Blank had noticed that he was acting strangely, but she didn't expect him to lose his cool so easily.
"In case you have forgotten, Miss Blank, I was second in command to Rainbow Dash prior to her disappearance. I am in charge here! I get to decide what we do and what we don't! Not you, Dr Blank; I do. So if you would be so kind as to shut up and let me talk, I would be very much obliged."

Dr Blank was shocked by Chrome’s sudden outburst, and so there was a long moment of silence while Chrome recomposed himself. 
"Please Chrome..." Dr Blank spoke quietly, but with determination. "I don’t want to upset you, but to try something like this without the proper knowledge beforehand...it’s..it’s..." 
"It’s what exactly? Or do you just plan to sit there stuttering?" Chrome said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. 
"It’s insane!" Dr Blank yelled out, stamping her hoof to emphasize her point. "You went to Ponyville unprotected! you have clearly been effected by your so called Insanity Vapor. You are acting insane.''
"Well..’’ Chrome replied grinning slowly.  ‘’I guess that you could say insanity is in the air today. And I mean that very literally." 
"Chrome." Dr Blank said calmly despite the seriousness of the situation.
"I am afraid that I must ask you to relinquish you’re command immediately. You are in an unstable state of mind and are therefore unfit to command this unit."  Chrome just grinned. 
"Excuse me guards, would you be so kind as to dispose of this riffraff? I am growing tired of listening to her ramble on."
Suddenly two muscular colts dressed in black suits and masks stepped out of the crowd of ponies behind Dr. Blank and grabbed her from behind. 
"What?", she exclaimed.  ‘’You can’t do this! I am only following standard protocol!!’’
"Protocol can be overridden by the commanding officer. Go throw her into the machine or something." The guards began to drag Dr Blank down the hallway to the left. 
"I'll see you in hell, Chrome!"
"Can’t wait!" he yelled back. ‘’Now somepony prepare me a large vat of liquid rainbows in section C12. We have a friend to make.’’