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

	"It felt like forever preparing for the mission we were about to embark on, and I could tell Azure Blaze had a lot of stress on his shoulders; especially since that day, my other two squad members, Emerald Apple and Crimson Dawn, had acted-up like they did, and Commander Phoenix came down on him, as always, because we had to pull out of our mission early. Commander Phoenix never was a 'good' commander to anyone, even though all of the stress Azure Blaze still kept his head, he was a very strong leader. I would've followed him to the grave... He would do the same for me, as well.
"After a while of deep consideration, he had finally come up with his team that he would take into the factory. Of course, I was his first choice to go in with him. His second choice was a black colt named Nightwing. He had served a couple years ago in the Griffon War between the pegasi and the griffons. He was a stealth operative who naturally blended into the night. So well, in fact, that he had to wear reflective tape when behind friendly lines to avoid friendly fire. He had a cutie mark, but it was barely visible and just as hard to identify as he was in the darkness. Fit his talent very well.
"His next pick was Nightwing's squad leader, Scarlet Blade, who had also served with him in the Griffon war: A red pony with black zebra stripes on his body, as he was a hybrid between a pegasi and a zebra. During the war, whenever Nightwing was either about to get caught or needed a distraction, he wasn't afraid to go in guns-a-blazing. When he did that, all that was left behind him would be a pile of dead bodies. For some reason he would always purposely let one of his enemy run off, unharmed, back to his superiors; probably to give them a reason to fear his name even more.
"Next was a sky-blue pony named Cool Breeze. This guy was the ace of the sky; nopony could touch him up there. He was known for taking a rifle with him into the sky with two additional magazines, and when he was out of ammo he dropped the rifle and resorted to 'hoof-to-claw' combat using his speed and agility to maneuver the skies to take out his enemies. He was just as efficient that way as when he had a rifle in his hooves- some would say he was better.
"Now, his last choice was quite interesting. It was another young sky blue colt named Wind Lance who, despite having made his way into E.S.O.D, had failed to acquire his cutie mark yet. He didn't have much combat experience either, but he was motivated. I didn't know much about him then, but after everything that happened on that accursed mission, I realized he was the bravest of all of us. Maybe Staff Sargent Blaze knew that.
"We arrived at Cloudsdale Weather factory at 1400 hours, the entire place was swarming with Royal Guard and SWAT securing the area and evacuating all of the 'outside' workers. The gate to the inner factory was locked down, however the SWAT teams had strategically placed explosives  all around the door  to deal with that problem though. We had gotten all geared up and were waiting for the green light to start the mission. We took this time to get to know each other a bit more. We blended together almost perfectly; it was like having a second family and was quite the change from our normal squad.
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AUGUST 09, 2012: 1423 HOURS
CLOUDSDALE WEATHER FACTORY, CLOUDSDALE, EQUESTRIA
"Phoenix nest to slayer actual," the voice of Commander Phoenix came over the radio.
"This is slayer actual, send traffic," replied Azure Blaze over the radio.
"It's time. Get your stallions into position. We are about to breach the factory's gate and get this mission started."
"Got it sir. We are moving out."
"Don't screw this one up Blaze," Commander Phoenix said once more. "This one counts. You need to listen to and obey all commands from me and this should be as quick and painless as possible."
"Understood, sir. Failure won't happen again." Azure Blaze turned to the rest of his squad and said to them, "All right everypony, we are on standby for Operation: Windbreaker. Grab your gear and follow me to our staging area."
Immediately, the five ponies that were waiting behind him got up, threw the slings of their weapons around their necks, and followed right behind Azure Blaze. Following right behind Azure Blaze was Violet Light, who was carrying his M4A1 rifle. Behind him was Wind Lance, who was also carrying a M4A1 and had taken a special liking to Violet Light. Before the mission started, they were talking to each other nonstop. Violet Light would tell stories of past missions while Wind Lance would talk about what kind of hobbies he enjoyed and which ones, he thought, had a chance at becoming his cutie mark.
Next came Cool Breeze, carrying his famed MK11 MOD O. Before the mission, he went on, talking about his family back home in the little town of Ponyville. He had a wife and a son who recently went on vacation to Manehattan to see the Statue of Equinity and sent him back a toy souvenir of the statue, which he kept secured in one of his empty mag pouches.
Following him was Scarlet Blade with his M249 and Nightwing with his SCAR-H. They were the silent ones of the group, but what they lacked for words they made up for with attentiveness. When they did eventually talk, it was normally between each other about events they had witnessed in the war of Griffons and Ponies.
Together, they had all headed towards their positions safely outside of the blast radius of the explosive charges which were set on the factory's main gate.
"Okay everypony, just like we went over in our briefing," said Azure Blaze when they had arrived at their positions. "When the charges blow we will be given the green light for mission go: That's when we charge the gate's entrance and secure the area until all of the debris settles and we can identify the area as clear of all hostiles. Then, we move into the main factory. Our primary objectives are to rescue a mare named Rainbow Dash- easily identified by her rainbow mane and her rainbow lightning bolt for a cutie mark, locate and capture a colt by the name of Dr. Atmosphere- identified as dark-red and probably wearing a lab coat, and to place and arm the cloud-buster charge Violet Light is carrying in the facility's main room; in that order of importance. Everyone got it?"
Azure Blaze looked behind him to see the five ponies who were following him, nod back in affirmation.
"Anypony else have any idea this part of the factory even existed?" asked Cool Breeze, "I know briefing was the first time I even heard about it and I grew up here. I even remember taking the tour as a little filly."
"This Dr. Atmosphere character has done an excellent job of keeping this factory undetected all of this time. It makes you wonder how he let a little filly escape to tell the world," said Nightwing.
"Do you think maybe he let it happen on purpose? Maybe this could be a trap," said Scarlet Blade.
"Possibly, but I have a feeling that even if he planned any of this, something had to have gone wrong for him," said Violet Light.
"I just can't shake the feeling that we are doing exactly what he wants us to be doing right now," said Scarlet Blade.
"That's just all the more reason to be more careful," said Violet Light. "Don't worry, we'll make it through this. It's probably just another small rebellion equipped with poor armor and weapons."
"Don't underestimate the enemy just so soon," said Azure Blaze, "We don't know what exactly is in there yet."
"Slayer Squad, are you ready?" a voice came over the radio.
"Slayer Squad is in position and waiting for charge to blow," answered Azure Blaze.
"All units, stand by. Charge blowing in ten... nine... eight..."
The squad readied themselves to charge to facility.
"Five... four... three... two... one."
The charges set around the door blew and mist from the clouds filled the air, making visibility levels extremely low. The six ponies ran into the mist to where the factory's door used to stand and waited for signs of hostility. It was a long and quiet wait and there were no signs of life beyond the door they had just blown in.
Once the mist had cleared they saw two ponies, one being  dragged on the ground by the other and both bearing extensive wounds composed of both bites and scratches. "Halt!" yelled Azure Blaze with his weapon pointed at them. The two ponies immediately stopped and fell to the ground. The squad then walked up to examine them.
They were both guards of the factory and the one that was being dragged was lying unconscious next to the pony who dragged him. The one that was still conscious looked up at the squad and said, "H-he did it. He saw you coming for h-him and," the pony gasped for air, "h-he did it."
"What did 'he' do! Tell us!" shouted Scarlet Blade at the pony.
"H-he- Dr. Atmosphere- He released the clones. The scientists... They said they still weren't mature enough." The pony coughed and a bit of blood trickled down out of his mouth. "They said that if he set them lose they wouldn't listen to anyone- they would just kill aimlessly."
Two members of the royal guard came up and began to drag them away.
"W-wait!" screamed the conscious pony. "Their sight is based on sound and light. They can only see ponies the same color as they are. Once they do, they are fast: Almost impossible to follow with your own eyes. If you're going in there be careful, while the blue ones seem more timid, the red ones seem more aggressive. They look like they are searching for something or someone- I don't know! If you see anyone like us please save them."
"Do you know where this mare is?" questioned Azure Blaze, holding up a picture of Rainbow Dash to the pony.
"R-Rainbow Dash?" said the pony. "Celestia forbid what Dr. Atmosphere did to her. He never told us where he took her but one thing's for sure, she IS alive and she IS in great pain. You'll have to hurry if your going to save her before... who knows what?"
"Thank you for the information," said Azure Blaze. "If it brings you peace, I will state the fact that you willingly helped us during your later judgement."
"We all deserve to feel the full wrath of Celestia for what we have done. Maybe the clones revolting was just a down payment and those who lived through it deserve more," said the pony as he was dragged away by the Royal Guard.
"Well, I at least admire his honesty," said Scarlet Blade.
"Something really bad must have happened for him to have told us all that information," said Wind Lance.
"We're still going in; let's move." said Azure Blaze as he walked through the massive door which had been destroyed, followed by his team.
The factory was dark except for a couple of places on the walls which were lit by dim red emergency lights, and the light coming in through the, now destroyed door, so the squad turned on their lights. Immediately, Wind Lance's light fell on a completely blue pegasus mare standing over top of a lifeless pony's body. The blue pony quickly looked up and showed it's hideous face, covered in blood, and began to snarl at the light. Without thinking, Wind Lace squeezed the trigger of his weapon and fired off two rounds. One of the rounds whizzed past the pony's right and the other was dodged by the pony's wicked, fast reflexes. The blue pony then rapidly took off down the hallway at an impressive pace, and it wasn't long before it turned a corner and went out of sight.
"Hold your fire!" yelled Azure Blaze. "Our position will be compromised and maybe some more aggressive one's will come check out the sound."
"Sorry, sir. It just startled me into action is all," replied Wind Lance.
"In his defense, that was quite startling," said Cool Breeze, "I almost fired off a few rounds myself."
Azure Blaze began to look around at his surroundings to plan his squad's next plan of action. As he observed, he found a large amount of what looked like guards that had been mauled to death lining the hallway that they were in. It looked as if they were killed trying to make it to the door, and some seemed to have been killed running away from the door, probably because they found it impossible to open. the main hallway they were in was filled with doors and branched off into two other hallways, which also had many doors lining their sides.
Alright gentlecolts," said Azure Blaze, "as much as I hate to say this, we are going to have to split up in order to get this mission done as fast as possible- I don't want to be in here any longer than we have to be. So, here's the plan: We are going to split up into three groups of two. Wind Lance and Cool Breeze you guys are covering the hallway to our left. Scarlet Blade, Nightwing, you guys stay in the main hallway, check the doors on the sides. Violet Light, you're with me in the right hallway. Check for unlocked rooms first. If the rooms are locked, come back to them after you are done checking the unlocked ones, and find a way to get into them. If you encounter 'opposition', you are weapons free just make sure you're not shooting the hostage we are trying to rescue. As far was we know, our enemy looks extremely similar to those that are attacking us. If you do happen to fire your weapon, make sure you roger up to the rest of us, so we know nothing is wrong. If something does go wrong we are to meet back up here in the main hallway. Everypony know what they are doing?" He looked around and each of the ponies nodded to each other, going in their separate directions.
When Violet Light and Azure Blaze turned the corner to their hallway, not much was different from the main hallway- there were many bodies and the dim red emergency light still faintly glowed on the walls here and there. One thing was different, however. They noticed that the bodies lying on the floor had streaks of blood indicating, that a few bodies had been dragged. Violet Light looked at Azure Blaze out of curiosity. Azure Blaze looked back at Violet Light and knowing each others thoughts on the matter, nodded at him and both ponies began following the blood trails.
All of the trails in the hallway led up to the door at the end of the hallway, which had been left slightly cracked open. Both of the ponies walked up to it and got ready to face what was on the other side. Slowly, Azure Blaze pushed the door and it began to open with a loud and crisp squeak.  Azure Blaze raised his weapon slowly to scan the room with it's flashlight. As the light crept up the floor, it fell upon a red pony, nudging a lifeless corpse on the ground with it's muzzle. Immediately, Violet Light raised his weapon and was about to fire, but was stopped by Azure Blaze, putting a hoof on his weapon.
"Identify yourself!" Azure Blaze commanded.
The pony rose it's head slowly to reveal that it was, in fact, one of the red versions of the clones, and it was holding something in its mouth. After the clone stood there staring at them for a while, it dropped the item in it's mouth and slid it across the floor towards them with it's front hoof.
At that moment, a series of gunshots rang out through the hallways, catching both ponies off-guard and making them turn around to investigate the sound. Once the gunshots had stopped and the two identified that the immediate threat was not anywhere around them, they turned back towards where they saw the clone, but it was nowhere to be seen. The two began to frantically search the area with their flashlights for the clone.
"Where'd it go?" said Violet Light.
"I don't know. I didn't see it," replied Azure Blaze. "Slayer Squad, report in. What happened?" He began broadcasting over the radio as Violet Light began investigating the item the clone slid toward them. It was an ID card that seemed to be used as an all level access key card. After he had identified what the clone had dropped he looked up and then he saw it.
"Uh, Blaze," Violet Light called out in a worried tone, "I think you need to see this."
Azure Blaze walked over towards Violet Light and while he was walking, he saw it too. "Mother of Celestia, this is it. This is where they did it." Both ponies' flashlights landed upon a giant, rusty, blood-stained, machine towards the center of the back wall of the room. Suddenly, both ponies were struck with the feelings of overwhelming awe and sadness at the same time. They looked around and saw all of the blood-stained equipment and corpses of filly pegasi who seemed to have also been overpowered by the clones.
"What kind of monsters could do this to the children of their own kind?" said Azure Blaze.
At that moment, a voice came on the radio.
"Blaze! This is Nightwing. The gunshots came from the left hallway where Wind Lance and Cool Breeze were. Both failed to report in afterwards and me and Scarlet Blade are over here looking for them, but the last door we haven't checked is locked and they aren't in any of the other rooms. We need help!"
"Hang in there, Nightwing, Violet Light and I are on the way with a breaching charge," responded Azure Blaze. He then turned to Violet Light and said, "This is exactly what I feared would happen." Both ponies then sped off down their hallway and in the direction of the hallway Cool Breeze and Wind Lance were supposed to clear.
When they had arrived, they had found Scarlet Blade and Nightwing  pounding on the door with the stocks of their weapons.
"Whoa, whoa, cut it out; you're attracting more attention than necessary," said Azure Blaze. "Now here's what is going to happen: We are going to crack this door with a breaching charge and after that, we are going to search the room for Cool Breeze and Wind Lance as fast as possible. The charge is bound to attract something, so we need to make it as quick as possible and get out before it comes, got it?"
"Roger," said Nightwing who was now calming down a bit. Violet Light stepped forward and placed an breaching charge on the door. Then, each of the ponies stepped to the sides of the door and waited until Violet Light shouted.
"Fire in the hole!"
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"They knew what would happen next from the very beginning. They knew and they didn't tell us. But it had to be that way- there was no avoiding it. The future is the future and we are all just waiting to meet with it. That's what fate is: A never-ending train traveling down the tracks of life into the future. We are all passengers and nopony dares jump off of it, or else he might come to a gruesome end. But maybe, maybe it is all an illusion. Maybe if one were to leave the tracks of fate, it would not be completely disastrous. Maybe it would hurt for a while, but in the end lead to a newer, better life. Still, it is a chance that some ponies take.
When we went in, we found Cool Breeze dead and Wind Lance missing in action. Command told us to finish our job and get out. We had other plans, though. Besides, I had a feeling if we found Wind Lance, we would find Dr. Atmosphere and the hostage, Rainbow Dash. It was only a feeling, though. I have a talent for these feelings coming true, however."