//------------------------------// // Days Without an Accident // Story: Rainbow Factory: The Tour // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// "Any sign of him yet?" Rainbow Dash asked, still pacing while airborne. "I still don't see anything," Fluttershy answered, looking through the pair of binoculars at the factory entrance. It was starting to get late, they didn't know how much longer they could stay there undetected. They both knew they were taking a big risk but it was worth it; this had to end now. They were waiting for a signal from Booster Shot, a pegasus they'd met some time ago. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had learned about the Rainbow Factory through him, what all went on inside and how they'd been keeping it a secret from the princess. While there had been attempts in the past to get the truth out, claims had never been substantiated and hard evidence was never found. Now, they had the opportunity not only to get evidence but also to provide Equestria with an alternative, a safe way of making rainbows. "Wait! The door's opening!" Fluttershy said abruptly. Rainbow dashed over to her and grabbed a corner of the binoculars from Fluttershy. She closed an eye and looked through the right lens. In the distance, Rainbow saw the door to the factory opened and a yellow pegasus wearing glasses and a labcoat had stepped outside. She knew about Booster's "extra talent", the way he could change his color based on his mood. Using that, the plan was to infiltrate the factory, pose as one of workers and obtain access to the facility's equipment. Rainbow looked at the yellow pegasus and waited for his signal to see if the plan had worked. The yellow pegasus non-chalantly flexed his wings and looked around. He then spread out one and closed the other, a subtle right-left-right motion. That was the signal for 'all-clear'. "That must be him," Rainbow Dash said. The two pegasi shot from cover and flew quickly over to the factories entrance. The yellow pegasus turned around and led them inside. "Good to see you two," Booster said as they trotted quickly through the hallway. "Good to see you! What took so long?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It took them a while to process my application. What do you expect? They're short staffed." Booster said with a chuckle. "Do we have everything we need?" asked Fluttershy. "We should. All we have to do is get past security." Booster said. They reached the first set of double doors ar the end of the hallway and slowed down to a walk. Booster put a hoof on the door and opened it slow and carefully. The two pegasi gaurds were still there, standing at attention. He walked up to them and flashed Quarterly's ID badge. "What happened to the blue guy?" The security gaurd asked, examining the badge. "Oh, um, Hazey's taking care of him. We have a lot of applicants so I'm trying to move them through as quickly as possible." Booster hoped they bought it. "Yeah, don't wanna be stuck here all night," the gaurd remarked. He hooved the badge back to Booster without another word. Slowly, Booster led Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy through to the factory floor. The doors closed behind them and the three of them exhaled sighs of relief. "Okay, follow me." Booster said. He took off from the floor and flew up onto one of the catwalks on the other side of the room. Just as Quarterly had said, the instructions were clear and looked easy enough to use. Not that they had a choice anyway. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed him up to the catwalk and looked over his shoulder at the terminal that controlled one of the extractors. "All right," Booster began. "I'm going to strap myself in and you're going to begin the process. You're going to have to carefully guide the controls and only extract enough of my pigment for us to get a clear sample. Then, we collect enough evidence and get the buck out of here." Rainbow Dash nodded. Fluttershy was a bit too squeamish to perform this operation, even now her eyes were firmly shut. They both had to admire Booster's sacrifice. Using a sample of his unique pigment, they were going to create synthetic colors to use in rainbows. If their research was correct, they could create a new process to make rainbows using renewable resources rather than ponies. They could stop all this, change everything. They had to. Booster went over the controls with Rainbow Dash, carefully, they examined the functions of each piece. It was all too simple; as Quarterly had explained, most of the systems were automated and easy to use. They found the correct controls to perform the action they desired. Within a few short minutes, they were prepared and Booster changed back to his normal blue color and took off the coat and glasses. The extractor itself was a ring-shaped structure. Ponies were placed within the ring, their limbs bound as they were suspended in midair. The extractor then impaled them and drained the pigment directly out of them. The substance then traveled from the siphoning arm through pipes to areas in the factory where the colors were treated and seperated and then refined to make rainbows. All too simple and effecient for such a diabolical process. "You ready Rainbow Dash?" Booster asked as he strapped himself into the extractor. Rainbow nodded silently and put a pair of steady hooves on the controls. Booster took a deep breath. The clamps snapped shut on his limbs. They felt cold and smooth but held him tightly in place. His heart rate increased. How many other ponies had been held where he was and harvested for their colors? With luck, he would be the last one. "Okay... I'm ready," he said. Rainbow Dash pressed a button. The long, siphon-arm powered up. Booster's eyes followed the long needle on the end. Rainbow used the controls to carefully guide the arm into position in front of Booster. Booster took his eyes away from the needle, focusing on the wall ahead. He tried to take his mind off the procedure, like he told pateints at the clinic. It would all be over soon. A poster on the wall reading "DAYS WITHOUT AN ACCIDENT" hung next to a wall terminal. There was a large smudge underneath it where a number was supposed to go. Somepony had changed it recently. "Thank you... for doing this." Rainbow said. Behind her, Fluttershy trembled in a ball on the floor. Booster said nothing but gave a short nod and swallowed hard as was held. Rainbow pushed forward on a control stick and the large siphon's needle was inserted into Booster's front-left hoof. He winced; the process was NOT painless. They only needed a small amount of his pigment. In a few moments, it would all be over and the three of them would take his sample back to the clinic for analysis and then they could start a plan to synthisize color. Nopony would ever be sacrificed again. The siphon began. Fluid from his left hoof was drained into a long syringe and into two tubes on the sides of the siphon. Booster felt his hoof go cold as his pigment was siphoned. In a few seconds, the process was over and enough pigment had been drained. Rainbow pulled back on the control and the arm retracted. Booster winced again as the needle came out of his hoof. He gasped, momentarily out of breath and relieved the process was over. "Did... did it work?" Rainbow flew over the terminal and looked at the tubes holding the pigment. "Looks like it. This should be enough for us to take back and check ou-" a whip lashed out and struck Rainbow Dash mid-sentence. The pegasi yelped as she was shocked by a cord that struck her side, a taser. Fluttershy was hit next, two large pegasi flew over and subdued both of them. "Exactly what is going on here?" a voice asked from their side. Booster tried to see who it was but his vision was obscured by the extractor's side. He recognized the voice though and it made his heart sink. "Unauthorized access is strictly prohibited. The three of you are trespassing on private property." the voice said again. "Well, if it isn't our newest applicant," Quarterly said as he walked into view. He turned and smirked at Booster who hung like a piece of meat in front of him. "What are you three doing?" he asked. "This... this is necessary. We're creating an alternative to harvesting pigment from ponies. This will save so many-" "I will NOT have MY rainbows tainted by your changling blood! You half-breed, hybrid FILTH!" Quarterly burst into rage, his shouts echoed across the rooms. "Restrain them," he said. The two pegasi security gaurds, the two they'd just passed on the way in picked up Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and pressed them against the wall, holding them in place. "Quarterly, we have a plan. We can make this work!" Booster pleaded. "Silence. You disgusting abomination. It's your kind's fault that we have to maintain moral in such a way," Quarterly said as he approached the control terminal. "You lied on your resume, you lied to me. You attacked me, tried to steal company property and now you're trying to sabotage our rainbows!" "Please. We have an alternative," Booster continued to beg. He shook the shackles that held him in place. It was no good. He was helpless. "Oh, so you still want to make a contribution? Well, I think we can arrange something," Quarterly placed his hooves on the controls. The siphon, sitll containing Booster's pigment sample sprang to life again. Booster's heart started pounding as the needle darted back and fourth. "It's been a while since I've done this but I always did have a knack for these controls." Quarterly moved the arm closer to Booster. "Please, please no," Booster trembled. "You should've took the time to read the manual. Siphoning from the hoof? That's very ineffecient. You get a much greater yield if you..." Quarterly paused and tilted forward on the control stick sharply. The siphon's needle plunged into Booster's chest like a lance. "Ahhh, aaaaahhhh!!" Booster yelped in pain, a quieter scream as the arm impaled him. His body exploded with pain and it felt like he was going to pass out. His head leaned forward as he tried to recoil from the device that stuck in him. "Stop it! Stop it!!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "... go straight for center mass," Quarterly finished. Quarterly turned a wheel to the side, doing something to the needle. Booster felt like he was going to throw up. Blood formed around the wound in his chest, leaking out around the arm impaling him. "Ahh, ahhh, ahhhgh!!" he continued to yelp as the needle was locked into place. His head recoiled backwards now. It almost seemed like he could taste blood in his mouth. Quarterly pushed a button on the machine and Booster yelped again, a deathly, aching groan. Booster's eyes went wide with unworldly, excruciating pain. The siphon began extracting his pigment. "Since you're so determined to make a generous donation, I'll consider using your color. To paint the south wall; it's been needing a new coat." Quarterly said with a chuckle. The machine continued siphoning his pigment. Booster was in agony, he prayed for it to end but still it continued. Slowly, his whole body grew cold, very cold. "You want to know how I got my cutie mark?" Quarterly asked. "It was in this very room, actually. They had me working the siphons for a while. I prided myself on being able to drain the maximum amount of pigment out of subject. There's just so much color that normally goes missed. Like in the eyes, for example." As if on cue, Booster's world turned black and white. The yellow pegasus, grinning maliciously before him turned a dull gray. The entire world's color grew duller and duller until it looked like he was watching a black-and-white movie. Booster's eyes felt funny too but that was the least of his concerns and where he felt the least amount of pain. Tears started to stream down his face, his mouth hung open and now he was sure he tasted blood. "Using my siphoning techniques, the factory saw a point oh-oh-eight percent increase on their quarterly statement. Our stocks went up and soon after I was promoted to management. Not bad for somepony starting on the factory floor, don't you think?" Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy started to cry too as they saw their friend's color change. His body went from blue to pale white in an instant and his head hung low. The machine stopped abruptly and the arm withdrew from him. Booster's body was still as the syringe was removed. "I'm sorry we couldn't find a position for you Booster. But your contribution is appreciated and I do thank you for taking interest in the Rainbow Factory." Quarterly pushed more buttons on the controls. The larger mechanical arm plucked the pony from the extraction ring as the clamps released. The arm dumped the pegasus onto one of the conveyor belts below. Quarterly flipped another switch. The conveyor belt started moving, carrying Booster's pale body to the disposal unit. "So, who wants to go next? We are running low on green," Quarterly said with anothe chuckle. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other in shock and horror. Down below on the conveyor belt, Booster's vision blurred but he could see the heavy piston ahead of him. He felt the vibrations through the conveyor belt as it pounded. His limbs felt heavy and he felt some sort of liquid in his mouth. With his remaining strength, he tried to reach a hoof off the conveyor and pull himself out. It was too smooth and he was too weak to find any traction. He breathed heavily and clutched his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine something nicer, something happier, anything. Booster sought out one, last happy thought as he prepared to be crushed into oblivion.