//------------------------------// // PROLOUGE // Story: The Leaving of Cloudsdale // by Owlor //------------------------------// "Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized." -- Ly Tin Wheedle Rainbowshine was a factory pony. She lived her life as a small cog in the large clinical machine that was Cloudsdale's Weather Factory. Every day at nine, she arrived at her station in the Snowflake room where she hoof-carved snowflakes for ten hours. There was no creativity or personal expression involved, just an endless struggle to never repeat patterns. Twice during the day, a cart would arrive with tea, coffee or hot chocolate and a chocolate chip cookie. Rainbowshine would usually have coffee, with a dash of hot chocolate to give it flavor and to mask the dull aftertaste of the processed coffee. She couldn't complain about the cookie tough. It could cheer you up on even the most monotonous days at the factory. Lunch was served in a large hall with windows that reached from the floor to the ceiling. It was always some variety of vegetable stew with a cube of gelatin as desert. The factory had its cliques and Rainbowshine's group was mostly made up of chatty young mares who spent lunchtime talking about the latest flying competition, little anecdotes from their part of the factory. Sometimes even about what they did during that tiny sliver of time where they wasn't at work or resting after a hard day at work. Next to her, a young mare called Medley would sit, regular as clockwork. Rainbowshine was grateful whenever the other mares at the table could keep the conversation going, because whenever there was a lull in the conversation, she had to fight the urge to invite Medley home to her apartment for tea or something. She didn't trust her own tongue, would the words come off as a bit too insistent? Every day she gathered courage, and every day, her courage failed her. After lunch, the second verse was the same as the first until around five when a loud whistle signaled the end of another day. Rainbowshine went home alone to her apartment. She made herself a simple meal out of carrots and potatoes, garnished with a flower. Then she picked up a Con Mane book and spent the evening surrounded by tuxedos, martinis and intrigue. One day, her routine was interrupted by a grey mare that caused untold amount of chaos. There was clear signs up about not flying too high, but either the mare didn’t read them or she simply had no control over her flight pattern. The first thing she did was to fly straight up into the largest and most elaborate snowflake, which promptly broke apart with the same heartbreaking sound as shattered glass. She circled down and caused winds that made half a days worth of work dance around the room. Then the grey mare went up to Rainbowshine once she finally managed to gather her snowflakes and tools again. “I got a letter for you,” she said. “That's nice,” Rainbowshine said, not in the mood to handle the clumsy mare. She tried to avoid her crosseyed gaze but... was the mare winking at her? * * * The elderly unicorn nearly fell through the cloud as the door of the sanctuary burst open. A grey mare flew in, flailing her hoofs. “Mr. Ampersand, Mr. Ampersand? I delivered the letter like you asked me to,” she said. “Good,” the blue uncorn replied. “Now, once Rainbowheart reads it, we have exactly five weeks until...” “Uhm, did you say RainbowHEART, I thought you said RainbowSHINE.” Ampersands eye became a bit wider. “Oh for goodenss sake Derpy, don't tell me you...” Derpy looked sheepish and scratched the back of her head. “Ooops,” she said. * * * It was getting late. Ampersand felt the cloud-walking spell fading. He sighed and went up to the spell-book he had spread out on the desk. The horn sputtered and the magic emerged with the sound of a sickly cough. need to get back to my own place soon, or I'll fall straight trough the cloud! he thought. After a lot of planning, he managed to find a way to let Rainbowheart know about the plan without using Derpy as a courier. A few dates had to be rescheduled and informing everypony would be a pain in the flank. But he had at least done enough work so that maybe the commander would be less inclined to panic by the news of the wayward letter. He had planned to inform his leader of it... tomorrow. “AMPERSAND!” It was almost as if you could summon the commander just by thinking about him. The unicorn put his pen down and looked out of his office. The commander was standing before him wearing a purple pajamas and bunny slippers. He was an earth pony, but under the effect of the same spell as Ampersand. “Yes Greyface?” the old unicorn replied. The commander shot him a piercing stare. “Don't use that name!” he cautioned. “Yes, sir...” Ampersand replied wearily. “My name isn't 'sir'.” the commander said. “It is 'Lacuna', and I don't have to remind you of my full title. Anyway, I have decided that it is better for our operations to abandon our secondary base in the Everfree forest and focus only on Cloudsdale. Hence why I am in my night-wear right now.” “But Grey... I mean Lacuna, If I have to go any longer concentrating on TWO cloud-walk spells, I'll pass out for sure and we’ll be ground-pancakes!”. Lacuna responded with a smug smile. “I believe I have found the perfect solution to that. Hammocks!” The thought of having only a piece of fabric between him an a several mile long fall did not appeal to the unicorn. “Can I refuse?” He asked. “No,” Lacuna said. “Think of the mission. Now, why are you up this late in the first place? I was sure I'd have to tell you this tomorrow.” “Were you planning on letting the cloud-walk spell fade and hope I found you the next morning?” Ampersand asked. “Yes,” Lacuna replied. “But you usually come to my office first thing in the morning anyway, it wouldn't have been a problem. So, what are you doing working overtime?” The unicorn shuddered, but couldn't avoid the quesition. “Well... Derpy accidentally delivered a message to the wrong pony, and I've been working on how to make up for it given the time schedule...” Just as he was afraid of, panic was bubbling up in Lacunas eyes. “She WHAT?!” he yelled.