Entering the room turned out to be a huge mistake; instead of an exit (or clever hiding space), Hikari and Valiant found themselves completely enveloped in darkness. Valiant, the bravest colt in their class, shuddered a little, for as brave as he was, he still felt uncomfortable in dark spaces. The only thing gave him comfort was knowing that his favorite filly was beside him, and it was too dark for her to see him shaking in his horseshoes.
"I ch-changed my m-m-mind." Said Valiant, failing to hide the quiver in his voice. "I think I’ll just read my books, or copy off of you."
"Oh no you won't." Said Hikrai. Unlike the quivering colt next to her, Hikari had no problem with the dark. But, she couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy; she couldn’t put her hoof on it, but there was something eerie about the room they were in.
"Whatever, can we just get out of here now? Please?"
"Yeah. That might be a good idea.” Hikari turned back to the wall. “Hey, Val, help me find the door knob." The two ponies felt their way along the wall, but they couldn't find the door. Hikari suddenly stopped; she could have sworn she heard a rustling sound coming from somewhere close behind her. “Stop, did you hear that?” The two ponies stopped searching for the door and listened closely. Sure enough, Hikari and Valiant heard the sound of something moving slowly and clumsily just a few feet from where they were standing; it became clear that they were not alone in the room.
Hikari was scared now. "Oh Celestia, where's the door." She reached a hoof up and was relieved when it landed on something other than wall. Without hesitating, she gave the object a twist with her hoof. But it wasn't a doorknob; it was a light switch. From the other end of the room they could see lights slowly coming to life with a faint, warm, humming noise. Within seconds the room was full of a dim, yellow, light, just strong enough to illuminate their surroundings.
What lay before them was the most horrific sight the young ponies had ever seen; instead of a room, the two had wandered into another hall, much larger than the rainbow packaging plant. Valiant looked down the hall; it seemed to stretch out from under the main factory building to beneath the streets of Cloudsdale, and lining the entire length of the hall were hundreds of metal cages, each one containing a pegasus.
"Celestia, no." Said Hikari, as all four of her legs buckled. As she fell to the floor, Hikari felt herself overcome by a wave of nausea; she thought she was going to be sick.
"What is this?" Valiant choked out. "Why are all these pegasi being kept here?" Valiant stepped towards one of the cages, his legs moved slowly, weighed down by fear. Inside the cage was a young filly, crumpled in a heap and whimpering in a corner of the cage. Her wings hung lifelessly off her back and down the side of her torso, and there were large patches on her wings that were missing feathers. Whatever feathers remained were ruffled and bent in such a way that they would never heal; there was no chance that she would never fly again.
Valiant continued examining the filly’s body and saw that it wasn't in any better shape. It looked as if somepony had beaten her repeatedly without mercy; one of her eyes was swollen shut, and there were several hoof sized bruises that left dark black splotches all along the length of her light green body. Further down her body, just around the cutie mark, there were three fresh, deep wounds made from some sort of blade. Valiant could just make out several small trails of blood that had left red streaks down her flank.
"What happened to you?" Valiant whispered to the filly. As soon as she heard the voice, she started quivering.
"It's alright," Said Valiant reassuringly. "We haven't come to harm you, we had no idea you were even down here." The filly struggled to stand, but her legs were shaking so violently that she fell and crashed against the front of the cage. "Are you ok?" she shook her head. "Can you speak?" She shook her head again. "Why not?" The filly took Valiant’s hoof in her’s and weakly lifted it to her face. A small whimper escaped her as she pressed Valiant’s hoof to her cheek; that’s when the colt understood. "Has somepony been hurting you?” The filly nodded, then, her hoof dropped from Valiant’s; she had passed out. Valint could do nothing more then stare sadly at the pathetic form “Oh Celestia."
"What is it?" Asked Hikari, returning to her senses. Valiant turned to her, his eyes filled with sorrow.
"She can't talk…her jaw’s been broken."
Hikari couldn't hold back anymore; without warning she threw up all over the floor of the large hall.
"Kari," Valiant rushed over to his friend, concern flooding his face. "Come on let's get out of here. We need to report thi…" Valiant didn't get a chance to finish. Just on the other side of the door came the sound of hooves approaching the hall they were in. Valiant turned the filly. There was no hiding it now; he was terrified. "Run." He shouted. Hikari, her stomach still aching, staggered forward, struggling to regain her balance.
The two pegasi took off running between the two rows of cages; they didn't dare look in to see if any of the pegasi were ok. At the other end of the hall, they found themselves in front of yet another door.
“Get in.” said Valiant hurriedly. Hikari shook her head.
"I don't want to go in there." She said through her muffled sobs. "This is too horrible. I just want to go home."
"If we just wait here, we'll get caught." Valiant snapped. "You saw those ponies out there; somepony is torturing them. Just imagine what they’ll do if they catch us out here. Do you want to be locked in a cage?" Hikari shook her head. Valiant put a hoof on her shoulder, “Don't worry, I'm here, and I promise you I will not let them touch a single hair in you mane." Hikari hesitated, but, after weighing her options, she slowly pushed the door open and walked into the room. Valiant follow behind her, closing the door slowly, just as they heard the faint echo of hooves as somepony entered the hall.
The two ponies held their breath as they pressed their ears to the door, listening for the hoof beats whose owner they were sure was going to be making some sort of rounds through the hall. But there were none. The only sound they could hear was the rapid beatings of their own hearts. But there was something else; a faint beeping sound was coming from somewhere behind them. Hikari slowly turned her head and had to stick a sweat and vomit-soaked hoof in her mouth to muffle the scream that tried to escape. Lying on a bed, just on the other side of the room was the greatest flier to come out of Cloudsdale, and Hikari's idol, the one and only Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash was spread out on the bed, each one of her hooves chained to the bed as if to restrain her and her torso was bound tightly, preventing her from opening her wings. The bed was surrounded by several machines that neither Hikari nor Valiant had ever seen before, but they could guess what they were doing; they were keeping her alive.
"Rainbow Dash." Hikari whispered as she ran over to her idol's side. "What happened to you?" Rainbow Dash did not respond, instead, she just stared blankly at the little filly.
"She looks…dead." Said Valiant joining Hikari at the bedside. He waved a hoof in front of Rainbow's face. Though there wasn’t any sign of life in them, Rainbow Dash’s eyes followed the motions of the colt's hoof.
"I don't understand. I just saw her yesterday. She gave me some pointers on flying and she even showed me her Sonic Rain…Oh sweet Celestia, look at her mane." She pointed to Rainbow's head. The usually vibrant, multicolored locks where a solid shade of gray, as if somepony had sucked the color right out of it. "Val, I'm scared. What if they're hurting her? What if they're keeping her here against her will like the rest of those pegasi? We need to get her out of here.”
"Right," Valiant nodded in agreement. "Here, help me with these chains."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Came a calm voice from behind them. Valiant and Hikari froze; they hadn't even heard the door open, but when they spun around, there stood before them a light brown pegasus wearing a lab coat. "Yes, she does look quite sedate, but let me tell you, she can be quite the handful. Especially just before her infusion." The pegasus laughed as he walked over and started checking one of the monitors that was hooked up to Rainbow Dash. "It's almost as if she doesn't want to continue living."
"What are you doing to her?" Hikari shouted, a fiery rage replacing the fear she had been feeling.
"More importantly; what are two little ponies such as yourselves doing in a place like this?" Before Hikari could continue shouting, Valiant stood in front of her and placed a hoof over her mouth.
"We're sorry," he said, trying to look deeply apologetic. "We were on a field trip through the Weather Factory with our class, you see, and, well, I'm afraid that we got lost."
"Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah, silly feather brain here," Valiant pointed at Hikari, "she wandered off looking for the bathroom and I had to come looking for her, that's when we ended up down here."
"Well, it sounds like you two have had quite the adventure. I bet you must be quite scared and confused by everything that you've seen." The stallion stepped towards Valiant and lowered his head so it was just inches away from the colts face.
"I'm sure there must be a g-g-good r-r-reason for this all." Stammered Valiant as his courage once again failing him.
"Oh there is. And it's quite the thrilling story really. Would you like to hear it?" Valiant looked at Hikari who gulped and nodded her head slowly. She was determined to get to the bottom of this.
"Very well." The stallion walked over to the door, opened it and started talking to somepony on the other side. "Nurse Candy Striper would come in here and assist me with our visitors."
The mysterious stallion walked back into the room followed by a cream colored mare wearing a nurse’s uniform. The first thing the little ponies noticed when Candy Striper walked in was her vacant expression; she had cold, lifeless eyes similar to Rainbow Dash's, and her face showed no trace of emotion. Her mane was white with a single red stripe running through it, and it was pulled back and tied in a tight bun to keep it from falling in her face. She walked over to the stallion and stood next to him, staring down at the two frightened pegasi, causing a cold sweat to start trickling down the backs of their necks.
"Yes, doctor," Said Candy Striper, in a dry, melancholy voice. "How may I be of assistance?"
"Would you be so kind as to help these foals into a couple of wheelchairs?”
"Wait," said Hikari, feeling concerned. "We can walk on our own, we don't need wheelchairs."
"Oh, I'm afraid you do. See it will be faster for us to finish your tour if you two are on wheels. I mean, it would be so inefficient to have to drag you around.”
"What?" Hikari's eyes grew wide with fear. "Ouch." She felt a sharp pinch in her flank. She turned to see Candy Striper removing an empty syringe from her backside. A wave of wooziness swept over Hikari. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out; she didn't seem to have control over her body anymore. As she started to fall forward, she felt somepony wrap their hooves around her limp form and lift her off of the floor and into a wheelchair.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY GIRLFRIEND!!!" shouted a furious Valiant."
"It's nothing, just a mild sedative to keep her from behaving…irrationally. And I'm afraid we'll have to do the same for you." The doctor reached out to restrain the colt.
"Like hell you are!" Valiant opened his wings and flew out of the doctor's reach. He dove towards Hikari. "Don't worry Kari, I'll get you out of here."
"Val," Hikari muttered, trying her hardest to focus on the colt in front of her. "Go, get out of here."
"No Kari. You're my special somepony remember? There's no way I'm leaving witho..." Valiant felt the needle as it broke the skin just above his cutie mark.
"My, aren't you the chivalrous young colt." Said the doctor, removing the syringe. "Don't worry I'll try to make this as painless as possible." The doctor smiled at Valiant. “Emphasis on the try.”
Candy Striper picked up the limp colt and set him in the other wheelchair. Valiant's eyes shifted lazily to one of his forelegs as he felt pressure being applied; he was being strapped in.
"Alright," said the doctor positioning himself behind Valiant's chair. "It's time you two finished your tour."