Chapter 14: Wings of Blades
Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped as Lightning Dust led her into the cavernous distribution center. This is where the created clouds were assembled into full-sized storms before being shipped to towns and cities across the Cloudsdale Distribution Zone. Its presence accounted for the vast majority of the weather factory's size. However, having come from Cloudsdale, Rainbow had seen the distribution center before. It wasn't the size of the cavernous space that made her gape, it was what filled it.
The clouds above were far darker than any storm clouds she had ever seen, going being closer to pitch black than dark gray. Furthermore, their surfaces were smooth, devoid of the lumpy, puffy finish that marked most pegasus-made clouds. They had been shaped into numerous conical domed masses, each one the size of a small storm system all on its own. To her trained and practiced eye, they looked unnatural. There were a round dozen of them in all.
A flicker of movement drew her eye. Looking up and over, Rainbow saw a factory worker pushing a clump of clouds over from the distributor pipe, where they emerged from the weather forge. As he closed in with one of the dark domed clouds, his pace slowed to a crawl, inching ever closer to the cloud.
Gulping, Rainbow turned to Lightning Dust to ask what was going on, but paused at her companion's expression. Lightning's face was pale, her eyes fixed on the process going on above them. Looking around, Rainbow noticed that all activity on the floor had halted, with everypony, even the guards scattered around the chamber, looking up at the factory worker, who continued to push his load forward with deliberate slowness. To her surprise, none of the guards shouted anything up to the worker, no harassment, no urges to hurry his work. In fact, a few of them edged towards the facility's doors.
Rainbow followed their gaze back up to the factory worker, just as the cloud he was pushing made contact with the glassy surface of the large mass. It was then that his movements seemed to accelerate as he pressed his cloud into the larger mass, his wings pumping hard. In spite of that, he was still clearly moderating his pace so as not to change the speed. Rather, the effort seemed to be because the mass in front of him was incredibly dense, so much so that an enormous effort was needed to merge the cloud with the dome. Rainbow felt her muscles tighten as the last puffs of cloud disappeared into the dome sphere, pressed in by the worker's hooves. The tension around the space mounted, becoming almost unbearable. She crouched and waited...
Nothing happened. The worker slowly backed away to what he apparently deemed a safe distance before sweeping an arm across his forehead. The tension around the room evaporated and everypony returned to their jobs.
A tap on Rainbow's shoulder drew her attention back to Lightning, who looked as though the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. "Come on, before somepony spots us." She led them out of the chamber.
"What the hay were those?" demanded Rainbow, once they were in the hallway.
Lightning Dust gave her former wingpony an irritated glare. "The 'new management' call 'em artilleryheads. Apparently they're something that the pegasi from ancient times came up with during the period of strife between the three tribes. You know how the pegasus tribe tried to weaponize lightning right?"
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. They never got it to work."
"Part true," answered Lightning, "They figured out a workaround. They realized that if they could buck lightning out of clouds, then the best way to weaponize lightning would be to create clouds that were specifically designed to generate and discharge lightning."
"But that's..." Rainbow began to protest.
"Yeah, it wasn't easy. I heard that the pre-Equestrian pegasi never really figured out how to manage it beyond small thunderheads." Lightning Dust shrugged indifferently. "These guys must have figured it out. Those clouds are meant to be positioned over a target. When triggered, they unleash a powerful blast of lightning directly below." She shivered as she threw a look over her shoulder. "With that number, they could devastate a city or even wipe a small town off the map."
Rainbow's body froze up. A small town? Like Ponyville?
"Anyway," explained Lightning, unaware of Rainbow's thoughts, "Those things take a crazy amount of manufactured cloud to make. And then those clouds have to be assembled and compacted with fine precision. Even the smallest mistake could trigger an accidental discharge, which could lead to one of those monsters going off. If that happened in here, it could set off all the other ones as well."
Rainbow gulped, imagining the kind of damage those clouds could do to the weather factory if that happened. It certainly explained why that factory worker was treating the entire process like he was handling high explosives, as well as all the tension in the room.
So this was why the weather factory had stopped producing the storms that Ponyville's farms needed so desperately. The tribalists running the place needed every ounce of moisture they could get to assemble these artilleryheads. But this only left more questions. What in Celestia's name were they planning to do with such hideous weapons? If they were making them, then those crazy pegasi must have been planning on using them...but where? Against whom?
Rainbow's thoughts evaporated as she heard somepony approaching down the hallway. Looking up, she saw a young stallion...no...he only looks a little older than Dawn, she decided. He was an older colt, standing at the cusp of adulthood. His coat was a light cream color, with flecks of black dotting it. His mane and tail were a silvery blue color and he surveyed everything before him with intense yellow eyes that reminded Rainbow of a hawk looking for prey. She had seen some of Fluttershy's pet raptors with eyes just like that back in Ponyville. However, his most distinctive features were his wings, which were a gleaming silver.
"Horseapples!" snapped Lightning Dust under her breath as she saw the colt coming towards them.
"Who's that?" asked Rainbow.
"Bad news," answered Lightning, "Whatever you do, don't meet his eyes. Don't do anything that might draw his attention. Just pretend that we're on our way back to work." Suiting action to word, she lowered her eyes and proceeded forward.
Mimicking Lightning, Rainbow did the same, the two of them walking along, their gazes averted, opening up their walk so the colt could pass between them. Rainbow's heart hammered in her ears, drowning out the sound of all three sets of hooves. She didn't know the reason for Lightning's fear, but she shared it. The approaching colt set all the hairs in her coat on end and she wanted nothing more than to bolt past him and rush to freedom.
Come on, she admonished herself, Hold it together. You're almost there.
The colt seemed to take no notice of them as he drew level with them. His eyes sweeping across the two mares with a dismissive glance. It was all Rainbow could do to avoid blowing out a sigh of relief as he went past them, seemingly not noticing them at all.
And then the colt's silvery blue tail snapped like a whip, lashing directly for Rainbow's head. She ducked to avoid the blow, but the tail instead smacked into the helmet she wore, knocking it right off. The headgear clattered against the wall before falling to the floor. Freed from their confines, Rainbow's namesake mane fell loose around her head and neck, plain for all to see.
"Ponyfeathers," groaned Lightning Dust.
The colt had come to a complete halt and had turned back to face them. Gulping, Rainbow Dash did the same, turning around to look at the colt who intimidated her old partner and had exposed her identity.
"Well well," observed the colt, a teasing smirk hovering on his lips, "Rainbow Dash. I'm honestly surprised to see you here. You are equus non grata here in Cloudsdale after all. The higher ups were really unhappy with that stunt you pulled in Ponyville."
"Who are you?" asked Rainbow, "Since knowing who I am seems to be so important."
"Ah, where are my manners?" mused the colt, "My name is Perlin Bluestreak. But you can just call me Perlin."
This kid sure has a lot of attitude, thought Rainbow. "Nice to meet you. Well, since introductions are out of the way, I guess I'll just be going now." Giving Perlin a cheerful smile, she began to back up...
Only to freeze as one of his wings snapped open with the rasp of metal against metal. The leading edge of the furthest primary came to rest at Rainbow's throat. Rainbow didn't feel a feather though. Instead, she felt the edge of some sort of blade. Her instincts told her that if she so much as twitched, she'd be breathing out of her neck instead of her nose and mouth. Lowering her gaze as much as her eyes would allow, Rainbow took a closer look at the colt's wings.
Initially, she had assumed that the color of Perlin's feathers had been the result of some genetic quirk. But it seemed too metallic to be natural. She thought that he had maybe dyed his feathers silver. But now, up close, Rainbow Dash could tell that Perlin's feathers were metal, a gleaming silvery metal. She could also tell by sight and by the feel of the edge against her throat that each of those feathers was sharper than the finest razor.
Seeing her eyes glued to his wing, Perlin's smirk widened. "You like?" he asked, slowly pulling his wing away.
Rainbow gulped. Although the immediate threat of an improvised tracheotomy had been withdrawn, the colt had reacted with stunning speed, reading her intent to bolt and acting before she could actually move to escape. She was certain that in a straight race, she was way faster than the kid. Heck, if they started at the same time, she could have been thirty meters or more away before Perlin had started extending his wing. But none of that mattered. She could tell right now that he could see right through her. And that gave him just enough of an edge to keep her from getting away.
"I'm a little disappointed that you'd consider leaving so soon," said Perlin in mock sadness, "After all, I'm told that the boss had something special planned for you if you ever showed your face around here. We wouldn't want to disappoint her, now would we?"
He drew level with Rainbow and gave her a sidelong glance. "Why don't we go for a walk now?" The look in his eyes made it perfectly clear that this was not a request.
With a gulp, Rainbow turned to go with him. As Perlin began to lead her down the hallway, he turned to give Lightning Dust a quick glance, which she shied away from. "Thanks for giving Rainbow Dash the grand tour," he said, "You might as well move along."
With that, the two of them left Lightning Dust behind, Rainbow falling into step beside her new escort. Even as the anxiety of her situation threatened to overwhelm her, Rainbow couldn't help but feel a small degree of relief. "Thanks," she said softly.
"Oh?" Perlin raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"For not doing anything to Lightning Dust," said Rainbow. While she and her former partner from the Wonderbolt Academy had parted on less than pleasant terms, Rainbow would never truly wish her ill.
To her surprise, Perlin's smirk dissolved into a much more sincere-looking smile. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise. You certainly are a pony of substance, contrary to what the boss would have everypony think."
"Can I ask why?"
"Sure."
...
...
...
"...Why then?" deadpanned Rainbow, glaring at the colt, who looked like he was about to crack up.
After taking a moment to get his wits back together, Perlin answered. "Because there was no real point to doing anything about her."
"Huh?" Rainbow's expression became incredulous. "Seriously. She basically helped me infiltrate your little operation here and you don't care?"
Perlin raised an eyebrow again. "Nope. Why? Do you want me to do something about it?"
Rainbow blanched, earning a chuckle from the colt. "I'm sure it would be a big deal to the boss, but I couldn't care less. I don't care much about the whole pegasus supremacy thing or about putting the other tribes in their place etcetera etcetera..." Perlin waved his hoof airily.
"Then why are you here?" asked Rainbow.
Perlin's lips pulled back to show his teeth in a grin that chilled Rainbow's blood. She was fairly certain she could see a glint of madness in the colt's eyes. "To be the bad guy." The colt cast his eyes about to look at hallway around him. "This factory's pretty big, so it'll take us a while to get where we're going. So why don't I start at the beginning.
"You see, my parents are actually unicorns. Maybe you've heard of them, my dad anyway. He was kind of a big deal in Trottingham a few years ago. Ever heard of Duke Torchlight?"
Rainbow's eyes widened. In all honesty, Rainbow Dash was not a pony with a great deal of interest in current affairs if they didn't concern her directly (except if they concerned the Wonderbolts, which concerned her indirectly). But even she had heard of Trottingham's famous duke. Duke Torchlight was one of the few members of the Noble Court who didn't reside full time in Canterlot. Instead, he lived on his estate in Trottingham where he tended to his business interests, making him one of the wealthiest ponies in Equestria, standing on equal ground with magnates like Fancypants. Rainbow had even heard that the duke had supposedly sired a son before his wife died, but kept the foal inside on account of it having fragile health. Not long ago, she remembered hearing that Torchlight had passed away, technically leaving his fortune to his son, but leaving its management to the family physician until the foal came of age.
Rarity had gossiped endlessly about the whole thing, including the almost obligatory speculation that the family physician had arranged Duke Torchlight's death in a scheme to seize control of the family's wealth and how the not-so-good doctor must have been manipulating the poor duke's ill son as a puppet and how said foal would soon probably join his father in the grave and so on. The whole thing had just given the athletic mare headaches.
"So what?" prodded Rainbow, "Are you doing this as some elaborate plan against the doctor who killed your dad to take your money?"
Perlin ground to a halt, staring at Rainbow with wide eyes, completely flummoxed by her words. For a moment, Rainbow was filled with disbelief. Had her gossip-fueled jab been right on the mark after all?
And then the colt nearly collapsed guffawing until he could scarcely believe and Rainbow groaned inwardly. Yeah. Didn't think so. Geez, Rarity reads too many crime novels or something like that.
"Oh man," gasped Perlin, tears leaking from his eyes as he forced himself to stand up straight, "The doc was right. They really were throwing around that cliched rumor. Don't you realize that that kind of plot twist is so old that it's practically second nature to throw it up as a way to conceal the true culprit?"
"Uh...?" Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words, mostly because she was having a hard time decoding what Perlin was talking about.
"I guess I can tell you the truth though," said Perlin, "I was the one who killed my dad." Seeing Rainbow's horrified expression, he continued. "You see, my dad was a little too smart for his own good. He was actually one of those unicorn supremacist types. He was also one of the few ponies who figured out the little game Princess Celestia was playing with the Noble Court, namely slowly stripping them of their influence and power so they couldn't lord it over the commoners anymore.
"Of course, he was a few generations too late in figuring this out. His family used to own the entirety of Trottingham as their fiefdom. Little by little, his ancestors were tricked into selling their domain piecemeal to the serfs who worked it while, at the same time, the Princess was tricking the nobles into giving up their privilege to exercise their will over ponies who didn't live on their property. Of course, by the time dad came along and figured this out, the family estate was the only land that they still owned. Naturally, being tricked by Princess Celestia didn't sit well with him. Nor did he like the fact that his family's land had been sold to commoners, especially since a good number of them were earth ponies and pegasi.
"As you might expect, he was pretty pissed to find out his first-born son was a filthy pegasus, which meant, among other things, his wife's bloodline wasn't as pure as she had made it out to be. I don't really know if he killed her over it. I don't really care either."
"Oh no!" whispered Rainbow.
Perlin raised a hoof to calm her. "I know what you're thinking, but no, he didn't abuse me. Instead he got this brilliant idea. He would raise me to be the perfect weapon for his revenge against the Princess. As a bonus, I would be the perfect weapon against the pegasi as well, a pegasus raised to kill other pegasi. He sort of liked the irony in that. So he had me raised and trained to fight and kill. And what do you know?" He pointed a hoof at his flank. "I turned out to be really good at it."
Rainbow Dash finally turned her attention to Perlin's cutie mark, a knife being sharpened against a whetstone. Perlin shrugged at her nervous expression. "I still haven't quite figured out if that means my talent is to be like a blade myself or if I'm just really good at handling sharp objects.
"So I got an excellent education and the best training that money could buy. The fact that I enjoyed it so much actually seemed to make my dad happy he had sired me. Of course, he wouldn't even consider something as ridiculous as seeing me as his son or anything like that, but I guess I sorta grew on him. And then..." Perlin raised his wings, the feathers letting out a metallic rattle. "He gave me these babies. They were a birthday present from two years ago."
Rainbow gulped. The duke's death, along with all the lurid speculations that followed had occurred two years ago. She watched as Perlin's expression morphed into one of wistful remembrance.
"Well? Is it done?" Torchlight stood impatiently in the doorway, his eyes on the two other ponies in the room.
"See for yourself," said the physician, stepping away from the young pegasus. He had been hired under the pretense of treating Duke Torchlight's "severely ill" son for this purpose.
Perlin stood there, seemingly unsure of what to do. "Don't just stand there boy!" snapped the duke, "Show me."
Perlin slowly raised his wings, spreading their silvery feathers for his father to see. Duke Torchlight smiled coldly at the sight. "Brilliant," he whispered.
"As you can see, the feathers have been painstakingly crafted from pure mithril," explained the doctor, as though he were showing the foal off as his latest project to the medical board, "They are only slightly heavier than the originals. He will have to make some adjustments to fly properly, but there will be no measurable impairment. They function just as a pegasus' actual feathers would, their control linked to the same magic that controlled his original feathers. And of course..." The doctor lit his horn and pulled over a block of stone from a corner of the room and set it next to Perlin. "They are sharper and stronger than the finest blades produced by the royal smiths. Show him."
Not hesitating in the slightest, Perlin spun about, extending his wing and swinging it like a blade. The mithril feathers passed through the solid rock as though it had no tangible mass. A second later, the top half of the stone slid diagonally away, having been cut clean through.
"Unfortunately, he will require regular checkups as he grows. I cannot imbue metal with all the qualities of organic tissue. His wings will require frequent...adjustments to ensure that they keep up with his rate of growth to remain useful." The doctor was already jotting down notes in preparation for the first of these checkups.
"You will be rewarded handsomely for this," said Torchlight, grinning at the doctor. He turned his attention back to Perlin. "And you," he intoned dramatically, "Will be the blade that will allow me to restore my family to its rightful place."
"Of course," said Perlin. Without warning, his body blurred into motion. Before Torchlight could react, the colt had already flashed past him, his wing extended out, slicing clean trough the duke's belly. The sickening slithering sound preceded Duke Torchlight slumping through the ground. The once proud noble now lay prone, a pool of his own blood spreading slowly about him.
"What have you done?" gasped the duke, his voice gurgling as blood and bile rose in his throat.
"I've restored your family to its rightful place," answered Perlin, amused, "To dust."
"You..." Torchlight's voice died as the light left his eyes. The lifeless stallion slumped to the ground, never to rise again.
"Now then," said Perlin, turning his attention to the doctor, who had been backed up against the wall. The other unicorn knew that, if Perlin so decided, his life was at its end. The colt's training ensured that he could respond instantly to the first sign of magic. And in this confined space, there was no way the doctor would have the time to fire off a spell before Perlin's wing took his head.
Perlin began to walk steadily towards the doctor. As he did so, he flicked the wing he had used to kill his father, throwing the blood off of his feathers and leaving them as gleaming and unblemished as though they had never been used. The doctor shivered at the sight, his eyes fixed upon the terrible wings that he had created before directing a pleading gaze up at the pony who held his life in the balance.
"Please?" begged the stallion, "I...I had no choice! The duke forced me to do this!"
Perlin tilted his head to the side, looking surprisingly confused. "Um, no he didn't," said the colt, "I was here when he said it. It was just a few seconds ago. I know he's paying you a small fortune for this."
"Please don't kill me," whimpered the doctor.
Perlin blinked, somehow managing to look even more nonplussed. "Why would I do that?"
Now it was the doctor's turn to look baffled. "You...you're not angry about having your wings...mutilated."
"Mutilated?" Perlin lifted his wings up to inspect them. "These are beautiful I absolutely love them. Best. Birthday present. Ever! Why would I kill you over these?"
"You'll let me go then?" asked the doctor, his tone hopeful.
"Let you go?" Perlin lowered his wings. "Now that's ridiculous. I was right here while you were talking about these beauties earlier. I can't let you leave. I'll need you to stick around to provide those adjustments you were talking about."
The doctor paled. Perlin had already turned away and was stepping past the body of his father as he made his way to the door. "I know dad never made any amendments to his will. Everything will go to his eldest son, who happens to be me, since he never got around to producing any replacements. Of course, I'm much too young to manage my family's finances on my own."
Perlin turned to cast a look over his shoulder at the doctor, who was standing back up, the fear beginning to leave his face. "I suppose that I will need somepony, an adult, someone much more experienced in the ways of the world to manage my affairs until I come of age. You wouldn't happen to know anypony who could fit the bill, do you doctor?"
The doctor blinked, Perlin's proposition finally registering to his mind. "I...I believe I do," he said.
"Excellent," said Perlin, "Then you will be appointed my caretaker and charged with managing the affairs of my family and estate. I only require my usual upkeep and whatever these" he raised his wings again, "cost to maintain. The rest is yours. Do what you like with it. Is this arrangement satisfactory doctor?"
"I believe so," said the stallion. The two of them left together.
Rainbow stepped away from Perlin, pulling back until she hit the wall of the hallway. The colt's story made her sick to her stomach. Even worse was his expression throughout the whole thing, looking as though he were simply recalling an amusing anecdote. "You...y-you're sick. How could you do that?"
"Well it's simple. I just took my wing and..."
"Not that!" exclaimed Rainbow, going completely pale under her coat, "You murdered your own father and conspired with the doctor that gave you those...things to take his money. And for what?"
"For my amusement," replied Perlin, "I could care less about my father's ambitions, just as I can't bring myself to care about the tribalist cause championed by the ponies here. And neither of us ever even remotely saw the other as family. There's only one thing I really want to do."
"And that is?" asked Rainbow.
"I want to put these to use." Perlin extended his wings. "After all the expense my father went through to obtain them and all the money I've spent to maintain them, it seems a shame not to put them through their paces. You wonder why I'm hanging around these tribalists. I want to wield the power I've gained against strong enemies, so I can see how strong I've become.
"You see, Princess Celestia has all the really strong cards in her hooves; the Elements of Harmony, the Royal Guard, the Wonderbolts, the Knights. That's why I figured I'd become a bad guy. If I become a villain and stir up enough trouble, then eventually Princess Celestia will have no choice but to send her champions, her heroes, to stop me." Grinning, Perlin looked fondly at his wings. "And then I'll see how strong I really am."
Rainbow Dash felt sick to her stomach. There was no doubt that the colt beside her was insane. He talked of killing his father like it was nothing. He enjoyed the prospect of inviting bloodshed. And yet, at the same time, his attitude was eerily familiar. She expected him to be some sort of sick monster who liked killing for its own sake. But in reality, what she sensed was not dissimilar from her own nature. He had a powerfully competitive spirit. Rainbow relished in the opportunity to challenge others, to find the limits of her own abilities. It was almost the same as Perlin. The only difference was that any competition with this colt would end in death, either that of somepony else, or his own. And the truly terrifying thing was that he didn't seem to care which.
For a moment, their walk was filled with silence, save for Perlin's occasional humming and musings. "Hmm...let's see...two rights... left...straight on from here...ah! Here we are!"
Turning her attention back to their journey, Rainbow realized that they had wandered into the administrative section of the facility. Looking around, she saw doors that led to the offices that decided what weather got made when and sent where. They were now approaching one of the few doors that didn't have some title or job description laid on it. The sole sign of its significance was the presence of a pair of guards, just like the thugs wandering the factory below, positioned on either side of the door. They frowned when their eyes found her. However, the looks of scorn faded and were replaced with nervous apprehension when they saw that Perlin was standing next to her.
For his part, Perlin seemed completely oblivious to the guards' presence, waltzing between them as though they weren't even there. Rainbow even saw them step aside slightly to keep clear of his mithril-feather wings. It was obvious that these ponies were all too aware of how dangerous this colt could be. Perlin knocked casually on the door.
"What now!" snapped an angry-sounding voice from within.
"It's me boss," replied Perlin, "I've got a visitor from you. She's somepony you've been asking us to keep an eye out for."
There was a short pause before the pony on the other side of the door answered. "Enter."
Perlin pushed the door open and trotted a short way in before turning to look over his shoulder at Rainbow, smirking once again. "Shall we?"
Clenching her teeth, Rainbow took a deep breath to steady her nerves. As bad as things seemed, she still had a purpose here. Right now, she had to wait and look for her opportunity to get away from these madponies. Otherwise, her only other option was to wait and hope that Dawn and Storm Front were ready and waiting to help her should things take a change for the worst. Clinging tightly to her resolve, Rainbow stepped through the doorway.