//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: A Week in the Rainbow Factory // by bahatumay //------------------------------// The outer door creaked open again. Some of the foals here had stopped jumping up at the sound. It was just part of life now, and they had accepted this. Octave wasn’t one of those yet, but he quickly came back to the front of the cage when he heard the other foals call out. “Raindrops!” “Hey, everypony,” Raindrops said quickly. “I’m technically on my break, but I came to say-” “You have more bread?” one asked hopefully. Raindrops winced and gestured to herself. She didn’t have any place to hide it. “In my locker. I’ll see what I can do later. I was going to say, I’m sorry you had to see that.” They didn’t need to ask to know what Raindrops was referring to. “I don’t like her,” one of the fillies said, and the others agreed. “Yeah, we’re all scared of her,” Raindrops said. “Ever since the Incident… I mean, she was unhinged before, but now, she’s ten pounds of crazy in a five pound sack.” She cracked a small smile. “She threatens Blizz with the Device at least once a week. Says she’s got enough spectra in her fat… uh, flank,” she said tactfully, “to bump an entire week of failures.” “What about you?” Octave had to ask. He didn’t want anything to happen to her. “She hates me,” Raindrops said easily. “But she hates everypony, and she can’t prove that I’m doing anything out of the ordinary, as much as she’d like to.” She smirked. “Believe me, I’m very good at covering my tracks.” “So what did happen in the Incident?” a braver filly asked.  Raindrops winced. “I really don’t…” She looked around and realized that everypony was looking expectantly at her. With a half-smile, she took a steadying breath. “Alright. Don’t go spreading this around, ok? This is secret stuff.” She sat down and scooted closer to the cages. “So every pegasus in Equestria has to take the flight test, right? Well, somepony she knew, somepony very close to her, ended up here, just like you. Long story short, she got put to a test of loyalty to the Factory, and she ended up Device-ing her herself; but I think she regrets doing it.” Raindrops pursed her lips. “And part of me wonders if she actually does know about what I do, and intentionally looks the other way.” She shook her head. “But you didn’t hear any of that from me,” she warned. She stood up and glanced down at her wrist and winced. “I’ve got to get going, but I’ll bring by more bread for you all later.” Octave waved goodbye as she left.  The more he thought about it, the more he hated this place. Maybe the rainbow-maned pony had been a good pony at one time. Maybe she’d had family, friends, maybe she could have five, or six good friends, because that’s how many colors she had in her mane. But that had been taken from her. And now, she struck terror in the heart of everypony else. Were rainbows really that important? The door creaked open again. Octave jumped. His cellmate seemed to be getting used to this, though. Her ears pinned, but she didn’t jump to her hooves anymore. He briefly wondered if that were a good thing or a bad thing. Another stallion and Blizz entered. “Come on, you lazy sacks,” he said, opening two cages. “Walk.” This part was familiar, now. Trudging along, not saying anything, making it around the circle without drawing any attention.  But this walk would be different. Octave noticed that the colt in front of him was looking to the side, looking over at the edge of the catwalk. Octave had thought it didn’t need rails because most pegasi could fly, but he quickly pieced together what he’d already figured out. With fewer in the group, there were fewer ponies guarding their walks. “Don’t do it,” one of his cellmates pleaded in a low whisper. The colt shook his head, but it was only to steady himself. With a quick glance at Blizz to make sure she wasn’t watching, he sprinted over and threw himself over the railing. Octave’s heart stopped. That had been horrifying, but at least he got to go out on his own t- And then his body was thrown back over. He hit the ground, still twitching.  “Alright! Two points!” crowed a mare as she flew back up, her shockstick still smoking. She stepped over him and angrily addressed the group at large. “Listen here, you useless sacks of horseapples. You belong to the Factory. You do not decide when you leave the Factory. The Factory decides, and there is only one. Way. Out.” She bit down on the nape of his neck and flew him up to one of the processing stations at the top of the Device. With a few quick movements, she’d strapped him to the table. “Hope we get that new order soon!” she called, loudly enough for the foals to hear. “Otherwise, you might be there a while!” She laughed at that thought. Nopony said anything else on the way back.   Octave chewed mechanically. His filly cagemate had split their tray evenly, and he was forcing himself to eat it. Really, if it hadn’t been for her, he probably wouldn’t have eaten anything.  Except Raindrops’ bread, that is. That was still just as good every time she brought it. The door creaked open again, and Raindrops entered, dragging a mop and a bucket. She seemed really happy to be doing cleanup work. “Hey, guys,” she said, hurriedly pulling the mop out and cleaning the cloud floor. It had been so compressed that it really was just like concrete, and a surprising amount of dirt came up as she cleaned. “Hey, Raindrops.” “Not today,” she said, preemptively answering the question. “I got called in, so I didn’t get to make any. I’m not technically on the schedule.” She grinned. “You’re looking really happy today,” one foal pointed out. “It’s a good day,” Raindrops said. “And I’m going to get one of you out,” she added. “With a mop bucket?” “You see a mop bucket. I see an escape route,” she whispered. Octave’s eyes widened. With the room more or less clean, Raindrops looked over, and her eyes fell on Octave. “Octave? You ready to get out of here?” Octave’s heart began racing. Freedom, finally within his grasp! He glanced over at his cellmate. The filly who had shared food, made him eat, helped keep him grounded, had helped him in so many ways. She’d even helped him sleep. She’d let him use her forelegs as a pillow when the floor got too hard, and that was the best sleep he’d gotten all... how long had he been in here? “No,” Octave said, almost surprising himself. “Take her.” Raindrops looked at him, then realized he was serious. She pursed her lips and nodded tightly. “You’re a good colt, Octave,” she said. “Indigo, you ready?” With a start, he realized that he’d never learned his cellmate’s name. He felt a little guilty about that. But that feeling went away when she darted over and wrapped her forelegs around him in a tight hug. Octave felt his cheeks start burning. Raindrops smiled.  Indigo climbed in the bucket, and crouched low, almost needing to submerse herself completely so she wouldn’t be seen. “We’re going to take it slow, ok?” Raindrops said. “Keep as still as you can, and I’ll do my best to not splash you. Just keep breathing.” Octave couldn’t help but smile. She was going to be ok, and that made everything ok.