//------------------------------//
// Part 2a: Lifting The Veil 
// Story: Escape Insanity & Operation: Crimson Rainbow (The Rainbow Factory Chapters 2&3) 
// by LCpl Azure Blaze 
//------------------------------//

AUGUST 09, 2012: 0743 HOURS
CANTERLOT MEDICAL WING, CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA
"How much longer are we going to stay here watching her, Staff Sergeant Blaze?" asked Violet Light. Both Violet Light and Azure Blaze were in the intensive care unit with Scootaloo who was sleeping on the bed in front of them. They had stayed in the room overnight, watching her to be sure that she was okay. Scootaloo was wrapped in bandages and had about a dozen hoses hooked up to her, feeding her the necessities so that she may recover from the current state she was in. There was a heartbeat monitor on the right side of the bed beeping with every heartbeat Scootaloo had, and the rest of the room was also filled with medical equipment.
"If you want to go, go ahead. I'm staying with her until she wakes up," said Azure Blaze in response to Violet Light's question.
"We have been here since midnight," said Violet Light. "We should just leave her to rest alone."
Scootaloo started to groan and tighten her eyes. "Quiet," said Azure Blaze."She is waking up." Slowly, Scootaloo's eyes started to open. Once her eyes were open, she quickly sat up in her bed and began frantically looking around. Her heartbeat monitor began to race.
"Ah!" she yelled. "I'm in the factory again! Get me out of here."
Azure Blaze jumped up and restrained her from moving so that she wouldn't disturb the medical equipment that was attached to her, saying, "No you're not. You're in Canterlot's medical wing. Calm down or you won't recover." Scootaloo slowed down and looked back up at Azure Blaze, who was holding her down. The heartbeat monitor's beeps became less frequent and Scootaloo began to relax.
"W-What happened to me?" she asked.
"We found you in Froggy Bottom Bog," said Violet Light. "You were pretty beat up and dehydrated. You're lucky we found you or else you might not have lived to see the morning. What were you doing there anyways? What happened to you?" Before Scootaloo could open her mouth to answer, there was a knock at the door. A moment after, the doctor opened the door to reveal Princess Luna with two body guards standing by her side. Immediately, both of the pegasi at the side of Scootaloo's bed bowed before her, but she raised her hoof, signaling to them that it was ok to rise.
"Princess Luna!" Scootaloo shouted with excitement.
"Greetings, Scootaloo," Luna responded, walking over to the left side of the bed. "I see you are recovering just fine."
Scootaloo reached over and hugged the alicorn. "I thought I would never see you again, or anybody for that matter."
"Well if it wasn't for these two over here and their squad, we wouldn't be together here right now," replied Luna.
"We were only doing our jobs to keep Equestria safe." replied Azure Blaze.
Scootaloo looked over at the two pegasi and studied them for a moment before turning back to Luna and whispered in her ear. "Aren't those two of the ponies I saw in my dream?"
Luna replied "Yes they are. The blue one is Staff Sergeant Azure Blaze as I have already told you and the other one is Sergeant Violet Light. Do not mention the fact that they were in your dream to them, however. It is best that they do not know." Scootaloo nodded her head agreeing with Luna. "Now." said Luna. "Would you care to inform all of us as to how you ended up in Froggy Bottom Bog?"
"It was horrible." said Scootaloo. "While me and Rainbow Dash were trying to escape from the factory on our own we entered a room and..."
Luna cut Scootaloo off, turned to the other two ponies in the room and said "I think it is best if you two leave us so that we may talk about this subject in privet. I will inform you myself on what is occurring later."
Both Azure Blaze and Violet Light bowed, said "As you wish your highness." and left the room. They began walking down the hall toward Canterlot's military district, which was hidden inside the mountain that Canterlot castle was built on, to meet up with the rest of their squad that had accompanied them in Froggy Bottom Bog.
"What do you think is happening Staff Sergeant?" asked Violet Light.
"I told you already." said Azure Blaze. "I have no idea what is going on and I'm pretty sure nopony else other than Princess Luna and that filly knows what is going on. Now just get that question out of your head and relax. The princess said she would tell us later. Now come on, lets go find Crimson Dawn and Emerald Apple. I'm sure they are going off on each other again. Besides, we have nothing better to do. I'm sure we could find something fun to do with those two numskulls."
After Azure Blaze finished talking the two ponies found themselves at the top of a spiral staircase leading down into the mountain. The two pegasi began descending the stairs.
"Still Staff Sergeant, I can't help but worry." said Violet Light. "Didn't you see how badly she was beaten."
Azure Blaze stopped and sighed. "Look." he said. "If it makes you feel any better, if anything comes up because of this I promise I will request that you and I both get the mission." They continued down the stairs. "Because we were the ones who found her in the bog, they will more than likely honor our decision and give us the mission. Now does that make you feel better?"
"I guess so," replied Violet Light. When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs they were at a giant steel gate with two armed guards in front of it. At the sight of the two pegasi one of the guards stepped forward and said, "Identification please." The two pegasi reached into one of their uniform's front pockets, pulled out their military identification cards and handed them over to the guard. The guard looked over them for a while before lifting his head and saying, "Well if it isn't the world famous Staff-Sergeant, Azure Blaze. How was the mission last night?"
"The mission last night was cut short for certain reasons." replied Azure Blaze. "Besides that there was no hydra sightings last night."
"That's a shame." said the guard. "Better luck next time. If anyone here is capable of taking that beast to town it's you."
"I'm sure we'll get it one of these time," responded Azure Blaze. Both the guard and Azure Blaze began to chuckle then the guard shook Azure Blaze's hoof and said "I'm sure you will, go ahead in."
After the guard said this the giant steel wall behind him started to open up revealing an enormous military base filled with ponies hard at work with maintaining their war machines. The base itself was located inside of the hallow mountain that the city of Canterlot was built on. The ceiling was full of industrial sized lights and the walls had doors all around them leading into other rooms and squad bays. The far wall had a giant insignia on it which was shaped like a shield and had a horseshoe with wings along with a unicorn horn sticking up through the center of it dividing it in half. One half was orange and had a sun in it and the other half way navy blue and had a crescent moon in it. Across the bottom of the insignia read "Equestrian Special Operations Division." There were tanks and choppers parked in rows while ponies worked on them. Azure Blaze and Violet Light started to walk toward their squad bay on the west side of the base. They trotted down the line of doors belonging to other squads along the wall until they came to a door with masking tape reading "Slayer Squad."
As they approached the door they could hear the voices of Crimson Dawn and Emerald Apple arguing inside. "That's just great," said Azure Blaze. "They are at it again. Why can't they just get along for once?"
"I think its because of where they are from," responded Violet Light "Since one is from right here in Canterlot and the other is from the more distant town of Apploosa it causes their ways of life to clash together and also makes them very competitive."
"They need to learn to put that behind them," said Azure Blaze. "They have joined the brotherhood together that means they should start acting like they are brothers." After he finished talking he opened the door to find what they had expected. Both ponies were arguing at the same time making it nearly impossible to understand what either of them were even saying.
"QUIET!" yelled Azure Blaze in an extremely loud voice. Both of the ponies stopped arguing immediately and turned their attention to him partially in respect and partially in fear while Violet Light went and stood in the corner of the room. "What are you two arguing about this time?!" he continued. 
The two ponies just stood there with their ears slanted back. They knew that their leader did not approve of what they had been caught doing. After a while Crimson Dawn got up the courage in him to answer the blue pegasi but as soon as he opened his mouth he was interrupted again by a very loud voice. "I don't even want to know anymore!" After Azure Blaze had said this he calmed down slightly and began talking at a more normal volume. "I know you two are relatively new to this organization and you have your differences but here we are all united, like a family." Azure Blaze put his hoof on his face. "I can't deal with this anymore'" he said. "Your actions are potentially dangerous to your fellow soldiers and for that reason I can't allow you to come on operations with us anymore."
Both of the ponies eyes widened at what they had just heard. "B-but Staff Sergeant," said Emerald Apple, "You can't just leave us here alone can you?"
"Until you are able to start cooperating together I don't have a choice," responded Azure Blaze. "You two have brought this upon yourselves. You need to fix whatever it is between you two so that you can work together again. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir." both of the other ponies moaned while hanging their heads low with broken hearts.
Just then there came a loud knock on the door followed by a loud voice saying, "Commander on deck!" The door busted open within seconds and in came a orange pegasi with a red and yellow mane and a phoenix being reborn as a cutie mark dressed in an officer's uniform with many medals hanging on his front left shoulder. He was followed by two other pegasi dressed up as his guards. Azure Blaze and the rest of his squad stood at attention at the sight of him.
"Commander Pheonix, sir!" said Azure Blaze. Commander Phoenix went down the line of ponies standing directly in front of each one individually with a dreadful scowel on his face while staring into each one's eyes so close he almost touches his nose to their's. It was as if he could sense the fear in each one's soul as he went down the line of ponies until he came to Azure Blaze. He stopped at Azure Blaze for a while longer than the others and attempted to make his scowl more threatening to him but to no avail. 
Commander Phoenix backed off slightly and said, "At ease." There was a deep exhale coming from the ponies in the line. "Staff Sergeant Blaze," he continued.
"Sir?" replied Azure Blaze.
"You failed you're mission last night," answered Commander Phoenix.
"There was an emergency sir," said Azure Blaze, "We found a filly dying of dehydration and-"
"You failed the mission," Commander Phoenix interrupted in a slow harsh tone. "This is going on your record regardless."
"I understand sir," Azure Blaze answered.
"However, that is not the reason I am here," said Commander Phoenix, "I am here under a direct order from Princess Luna to tell you she requires an audience with you and the pony who was with you this morning in the Canterlot Medical Wing. She is waiting for you in the ICU room with the purple and orange filly. She said you should know what I mean by that."
"Understood sir," replied Azure Blaze.
"Try not to make a fool of this division in front of her," said Commander Phoenix leaving the room, "Dismissed." The door slammed behind him as he left.
The four ponies stood there a while to be sure that he was gone then Azure Blaze said, "Violet Light, you're with me and you two," he said to Crimson Dawn and Emerald Apple, "Try not to destroy the place again." Both of the ponies nodded their heads and said, "Yes Staff Sergeant," as Azure Blaze and Violet Light left the room and began to walk back to the ICU room.
"Who was that?" asked Violet Light.
"That was Commander Phoenix," answered Azure Blaze. "He is in charge of the pegasi division of E.S.O.D. He likes to make himself seem bigger than he actually is."
"But he's the Commander. That means he really is pretty big," said Violet Light.
"Exactly," said Azure Blaze, "He likes to make you think he could pull your plug in a seconds notice. Just follow regulation and you'll be fine. He's just one of those ponies who plays by the book and doesn't like rebellions even if they are a good thing."
Azure Blaze and Violet Light continued to trace their footsteps back to Scootaloo's ICU room. When they had arrived at the door they found two of Princess Luna's royal guard standing outside of the door keeping watch. When the guards saw the two ponies approach they immediately got out of the way and allowed them to enter the room. When they had entered the room they found almost everything exactly they way they left it. Princess Luna was still sitting by Scootaloo and Scootaloo was still lying in bed still connected to all of her IVs getting treated for dehydration. The only difference was that Scootaloo had a smile on her face.
"Welcome Azure Blaze and Violet Light," Luna said, "Come in I wish to speak to you about something." The two pegasi drew in closer to listen to what Luna had to say to them. "I have an important mission for you Azure Blaze," she continued, "Have you ever heard about a place called the Rainbow Factory?"
"No your highness," replied Azure Blaze, "I can't say that I have."
"Good because nopony else has," replied Luna, "You may want to take a seat this may take a while to explain."
___________________________________________________________________________________
"That's when she told us about the Rainbow Factory. It was a shock to both of us. We couldn't bear to hear about what they were doing to innocent fillies behind that metal door. She gave us the mission of going in and doing three things. Locate and capture a high value target named Dr. Atmosphere, safely escort a prisoner named Rainbow Dash, and destroy the facility. She told Azure Blaze to assemble a squad of the six best pegasi warriors we had including him. I was his first choice of course but when he said he was taking me with him Luna looked concerned. Anyways, the day had come for the mission. Luna had our gear transported up to Cloudsdale Weather Factory before we got there so we could gear up there. The name of the operation was Operation: Windbreaker, but like I said we call it by another name now. Even thinking of that day now makes the screams echo in my head. Just like the screams we heard echoing in that factory. That was a bad day... a really bad day..."