Rainbow Factory: The Tour

by Barrobroadcaster

Lying on Your Resume

Booster walked with Quarterly to another office just a few doors down from the hall from the one Hazey was in. Quarterly opened the door and as before, Booster followed the yellow pegasus inside. The yellow pegasus took off his labcoat and hung it on a nearby coatrack. This office was a little bit larger than the ones he'd already seen but more of the space was occupied. Booster took a seat in front of a desk, the third time he'd done so today. Quarterly walked around the desk to a filing cabinet, opened a drawer and began flipping through a series of envelopes.

"So, we have a few positions open. Security, maintenance, and the like. After the downsizing recently, every department's pushing hard, trying to get back on schedule." Quarterly said, his eyes fixed on the files as he went through them.

"Hazey said something about that. What happened exactly?" Booster asked, hoping to get a little more information.

"You know how many colors there are in a rainbow, Booster?" Quarterly asked, not answering the question. Booster didn't know if he was ignored or if it was part of his answer.

"Not really. I never really thought about it."

"Seven." Quarterly stated flatly. "Seven colors. Do you know how many different colors of ponies there are?"

Booster didn't know where he was going with this line of questioning but he answered. "Um, more than seven?"

"A lot more than seven. Millions. Hundreds of millions in different shades, hues and tones of the same similar colors. And we have to harvest them all evenly. You know hard that is? Trying to take samples of such a diverse population?"

"I would assume it's pretty-"

"It's exhausting in the extreme. You think siphoning all that pigment is the hard part? Try examining the background of each and every family, trying to get the colors we need. Black, white, brown. You ever see brown in a rainbow? No, because there isn't any. Yet we have to harvest evenly to get pure colors. Seven pure colors." Quarterly said.

Booster was beginning to feel uncomfortable. He folded his wings tightly against his sides. Quarterly got up abruptly and closed the filing cabinet. Booster watched as the yellow pegasus turned to him slowly.

"We ran out of green recently. Would you believe we just couldn't FIND green mares and stallions? Don't know what happened, there just seems to not be enough. So in order to meet the quota, we had to MAKE green. And how do we make green?"

He felt the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Ye-yellow-"

"Yellow and blue." Quarterly replied. He held a syringe in his hoof and stood behind the desk. Booster was tempted to just get up and try to fly out as fast as he could. Something froze him, kept him seated as his heart pounded in fear. His eyes were drawn to the needle as the yellow pegasus held it high.

"Your background check revealed something very interesting. You're 98% pure blue pegasus. With just a hint of robin's egg and sky blue on your mother's side. That's very blue, da ba dee, da ba die." Quarterly said, walking over to him.

Booster started to get up as the yellow pegasus approached. "I uh, I-" he started to say.

"We have a very specific position for you, Booster. Blue-42, a very crucial element to our rainbow system," Quarterly looked at the syringe for a moment. "I'm sorry we have to do this, really I am. But if we don't, the only color you'll see on Equestria is gray."

Booster put his back to the wall as Quarterly got closer to him. "You don't have to do this," he said.

"Necessary sacrifice, Booster. You're so pure, you're going to make a beautiful blue." Quarterly stepped forward.

That was when Booster took his chance. Tucked amongst the feathers of his right wing was a syringe of his own, probably a similar sedative to the one Quarterly was about to use on him. He turned to the left sharply and swiped the yellow pegasus with his right wing. Quarterly was too close to dodge and the movement surpised him, the needle jammed right into his neck. In an instant, Quarterly dropped the needle he'd been holding, a look of surprise frozen on his face as he brought his hoof to the side of his neck where the syringe was lodged.

"I'll be needing your glasses." Quarterly stumbled backwards and collapsed against the other wall. Booster reached down and took the glasses off Quarterly, who sat their gasping. Booster took the labcoat, checked the pocket for an ID card and then put it on. As he put on the glasses, Booster's color started to change. Quarterly's shock continued as he watched Booster change from a dark-blue to bright yellow.

"Cha-...cha-...cha-" Quarterly tried to form the word between breaths.

"Change in management, Mr. Quarterly." Booster said, finishing his sentence. He brought his hooves to his head and started fixing his mane to make it look more like Quarterly's. "And I'm only half-changling, I can only change my color. You should see my sister; her color changes with warm and icy water."

Booster buttoned the coat quickly. He now looked exactly like the yellow pegasus in front of him who gasped in disbelief.

"Come now, Quarterly. I'm sure I'm not the first pony to lie on their resume." He removed the syringe from Quarterly's neck and the yellow pegasus' head began to droop. "Enjoy your break, I'll see myself out," Booster said as he opened the door and exited. The door closed behind him but he opened it again and switched the light out. Saving electricity is everypony's responsibility.

Comments

[bahatumay]

Now that I did not see coming.
Oh. And now that song is stuck in my head.

[Barrobroadcaster]

2563518 Seriously, who honestly thought I was going to write a generic Rainbow Factory fic? And which song, Rainbow Factory or I guess that's why they call it the blues?

[bahatumay]

2563583
Blue by Eiffel 65

[Barrobroadcaster]

2563664Ah, forgot about that reference. Yeah, that's one that gets stuck in my head every now and then. I love how it fits in there though.

[bahatumay]

2563702
Especially the "Da ba die" part. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or facepalm.

[Barrobroadcaster]

2563734 Both.

[ShadowBrony]

Finally found an internet connection on the roof of the place I work at. Anyways good to see you have a new chapter out. This one was awesome! it has me really excited for the next chapter. Sorry but I won't be able to read these right when they come out any more. I am currently working up north and getting an internet connection can be tricky. I will do my best to get on whenever I can. The good news is however that I have a bit more time on my hands so I am really pumping on the writing aspect. Anyways (sorry about the rant) hope you get the next chapter out soon!

[Barrobroadcaster]

2571794 Should be out soon. Looking forward to working on Fluttersized and a couple surprises soon. Should be just as 'controversial' as this fic.

[Barrobroadcaster]

2571794
Also, next chapter is the darkest one by far. Beware.

[Nightspawn]

"Change in management, Mr. Quarterly." Booster said, finishing his sentence. He brought his hooves to his head and started fixing his mane to make it look more like Quarterly's. "And I'm only half-changling, I can only change my color. You should see my sister; her color changes with warm and icy water."

I was just thinking, How much a changeling could Expose the Factory