The Thunderstorm Cloud Factory

by NightDrawn

Chapter 3: The Incident

The Thunderstorm Cloud Factory

By NightDrawn Fics

Shade Blade pulled off his foggy gas mask, dropping it on the floor next to him. He looked across the room, surveying its carcass covered floors for any ponies still left alive. With further inspection he found none, and he turned back to Rainbow Dash.

“Ha! Not a single damned worker is left! Such an effective machine you have there Rainbow!”

Rainbow Dash grimaced at the tall, striking stallion, “Yeah. Very effective isn’t it? Killed all my bucking workers also! How do you expect me to fix this?!”

“Fix it? You expect me to fix your problem? All I did was promise to send the blood back. I’m sure you’ll get a good amount of rainbows out of it”

“You really are ignorant, aren’t you?” Rainbow yelled. “Do you even know how hard it is to get workers?! This factory will fall apart before you can even get the damn blood sent back!”

“Ok, calm down Rainbow. All will be fine. The cloud I designed is able to ship anything within ten minutes. The removal of the blood should take a good…fifteen minutes or so since the factory is ready, and you’ll be back to making rainbows in no time. Why don’t you worry about finding some new workers to promote now, how about that?”

“Just shut up already! You’re not helping! I’ll be up in my office trying to find some new workers that YOU had to kill!”

Rainbow Dash grunted and took off, flying towards the dark, omnipotent office that overlooked and controlled the entire factory. The heavy black cloud door slammed shut and the lights flickered on, and the wardens who had survived through the gassing pulled off their gas masks, returning to their normal locations.

Shade Blade looked back at the mess of dead ponies left on the cracked and blood stained concrete floor.

Hmmm. Wasn’t really my fault that Rainbow chose to kill her own workers. She does have a group of ponies waiting to be made into rainbows. I wonder why she didn’t want to use them. Beats me.

As the large rickety pipes transferred spectra to the immense rusty vats below, Shade Blade guided a group of workers lugging a humongous square-cut cloud towards the theater room. A thick, titanium container sat on top of it, secured tightly and guarded by an electric wiring.

“Keep it coming! We haven’t got all day you know! All capitals, towns, cities, and even villes are demanding thunderstorms today! We have to live up to that standard!”

“But sir! The machines aren’t programmed or prepped for use!” a worried scientist accompanying Shade Blade exclaimed.

“Prepped?! Programmed?! You really think that matters?! All I need are those hunks of metal to grind up the failures and spit them out as thunderstorm clouds!”

“B-But there’s more to it than that sir! The machines need to extract any blood left, stabilize the remains with chemicals and-”

“If you don’t shut up right now, Doctor Test Tube, I’ll extract the blood from you!”

“S-Sorry sir. Continue on”

“Now where was I…oh yes! Unlock the unit!”

The electric wiring around the shiny metal box stopped sparking and a worker punched the four digit code into a secure keypad lock that held the lid of the container on tightly. It clicked open and the lid rose, allowing the workers to start heaving the dead ponies’ bodies into it. The area around the cloud began to clear itself of pony carcasses as workers filled the unit up.

“Good work! Keep this up and you’ll all earn promotions!”

“Uh…sir?” Test Tube asked cautiously, trying to get Shade Blade’s attention.

“What now Test Tube?”

“Well I wanted to let you know that I’m going to go prep and program the machinery now. It should be done by the time this shipment arrives.”

“Ugh, whatever, if you care that much take one of the damn key cards!” Shade Blade shoved a shiny silver key card at Test Tube baring the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation logo. It also included various numbers and letters providing information about the factory’s location and other info.

“Th-Thanks sir! I’ll be sure to keep this key card safe!” Test Tube slid the key card into the front pocket of his lab coat and took off, flying out an exit for employees of the Rainbow Factory only.

Shade Blade turned back to the group of workers and continued to keep check on them while they stuffed dead mares and colts into the gaping mouth of the shiny titanium transport unit. Colorful spectra continued to flow through the pipes, snaps, cracks, screams lingered throughout the factory’s atmosphere, and Pegasus Device continued to maintain its life while extracting the precious spectra from its hosts.

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Test Tube swooped through the fresh air laughing, overjoyed that he could finally get out of that muggy, stuffy facility filled with horrid smells and sights.

“Finally! Ha! Fresh air! What a wonderful gift we have! It’s amazing!!!”

Pegasi flying past the delighted scientist gave him weird looks, as if he was different and out of the ordinary to them.

Test Tube lowered his head and continued flying, embarrassed at making the scene. He was taught and enforced upon to keep a low profile while in public, and currently he wasn’t living up to that standard.

It’s just such a great thing though! I never get to experience this! Might as well enjoy it while I can, because I have another factory to attend to.

Test Tube looked at the gigantic new Thunderstorm Cloud factory ahead of him, and a large, bright thunderbolt zapped and cracked from a group of thunderstorm clouds floating above the factory made of broad, black clouds as tough as a Changeling’s exoskeleton.

“Oh wow! It’s such a beauty! How did Shade get such good quality materials for the factory?! It must have cost a million bits for the facility alone!”

As Test Tube neared the special, employee-only entrance through the back of the immense factory, he pulled out the rare key card he received from Shade Blade himself. To him, it felt like an honor to have the ability to access the great, new factory Shade Blade invented that would save all of Equestria from its endless drought it had been having for many months now.

“Oh my Celestia! This is extraordinary!” Test Tube proclaimed as the heavy, black cloud door hissed and retracted, sliding open to reveal the spacious production line inside.

The production line was split up throughout five different rooms, or “Sectors” as the capital letters read out on each room’s wall. Test Tube flew through the doorway and landed on a mesh platform made of dull steel mined from the depths of the caverns in Ghastly Gorge.

Test Tube looked to his left and saw the side of a huge, cube shaped machine with a funnel built into the top of it. The massive machine was positioned under an opening in the wall that had been blocked off by metal plating.

That must be the opening for where the dumping mechanism dumps the bodies into the…Splitting Machine!

As Test Tube trotted farther, he turned to get a view of the front of the large hunk of steel. The machine’s half-circle shaped meter had its pointer positioned in between the male and female symbol, signaling it had no bodies to identify.

So this is where the stallions and mares get split up separately to go to their correct assembly line. I heard that Shade said this was because males make more powerful thunderstorms, and the females make less powerful, but longer lasting ones.

He looked farther down and saw the two large conveyor belts leading out of the machine, stretching on off to the next sector. Test Tube could see where the female’s conveyor belt lead, but the male’s conveyor belt curved off to a different direction, bending around another room.

Test Tube turned to his right and saw more rooms. The nearest room was a small interrogation room, most likely to be used for checking, choosing, and more commonly killing workers. This new factory did fall under Rainbow Factory standards after all, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the room was solely used for murdering. It’s thick, sound-proof walls could keep in any noise, no matter how loud, and clean ups inside it would be a breeze.

Behind the Interrogation Room, Test Tube discovered that a humongous room lay there, taking up the whole corner of the facility. The largest pipe in the factory lead right into it, curving from yet another room, where the mesh walkway, on which Test Tube was standing, broke off into.

While Test Tube journeyed towards the front of the complex he came up to the next grand sector, the dastardly Grinding Area. All he could see currently was the female production line, since the male production line had enveloped itself into the darkness. The lengthy conveyor belt broke off over the maw of a fail-safe grinding machine.

There were five of these precarious machines lined up, interconnected with one another all the way down to the end, where it connected to the next sector of the assembly line. Test Tube examined one of these new machines, and found it had a precious yet deadly way of prepping the cloud’s main ingredient. The perilous drum shaped machine stood majestically, and its precut window revealed massive black, curved blades. The blades looked razor sharp, as if they could slice through an Alicorn’s magical barrier.

Amazing! Shade chose to manufacture these blades out of igneous metal from Mount Ponytubo in the Fillyppines! I heard the metal mined from there is one of the rarest and most expensive metals in the entire world! This factory’s going to be a huge success, and I’m going to be working in the Chemicalization Station!

Before he checked out the next sector, Test Tube ensured that all five grinding machines for the female production line were up and running, functional, and ready for their endless vice. After he confirmed that, he trotted towards the next sector, the Pressurization Station, where he saw two monstrous vats, ten times the size of one of the spectra vats in the Rainbow Factory. He focused on the female production line’s vat and positioned above it was an enormous rod with a dish shaped plate connected that divulged five more small rods.

Oh, I see now! So when the vat fills enough, the rod presses and pressurizes the ground up remains, pushing it through the pipes to my station! And I guess those five rods are to extract any blood left! Makes a good and fair payment for the Rainbow Factory. They get blood they need to make spectra, and we get the bodies we need to make thunderstorm clouds!

He followed the transportation pipes that supervened from both vats to the next sector, the Chemicalization Station, where he would start work at soon. As he slid the key card through the scanner on the thick, secure door, pneumatic pipe valves on the transportation pipes started to hiss and burst open.

“Oh shit!” Test Tube reacted as a valve flew at his direction. He dodged the valve, swooping back over to the door he had unlocked with his special key card. A red warning light flashed on the chemicalization machine, and a computer monitor that contained the machine’s information displayed an important warning on the situation.

Test Tube rushed over to the computer, smashing a button which triggered an automated computer voice to read out,

“ATTENTION! The following units have been breached or damaged:

/:TCFROOT:DEVICE(TRM:24)/~>PneumaticValveClusterA (74%)

/:TCFROOT:DEVICE(TRM:25)/~>PressurizedPipeline01312001[Female] (87%)

/:TCFROOT:DEVICE(TRM:26)/~>ChemicalCombuster10021310 (999999999%)

At any moment in time, the Chemicalization Station could compromise and Sectors 2, 3, 5, and 7 will be at maximum risk. Procedures such as evacuating these Sectors and distributing gas masks are highly recommended.”

“THEN WHAT THE BUCK CAN I DO TO FIX IT?!” Test Tube screamed at the computer smashing the already cracked button with brute force.

The automated computer voice read out once again,

“The recommended procedure is to evacuate the Sectors 2, 3, 5, and 7 and—”

“I DON’T WANT TO EVACUATE THE DAMN AREA! TELL ME HOW TO FIX THIS BUCKING MACHINE!”

“So in this circumstance, would you like to abort to recommended procedure?”

“YES! NOW TELL ME THE SECOND PROCEDURE!”

“Procedure two refers to the impending doom and possible death of the engineer. Would you be willing to sacrifice one engineer to possibly save Sectors 2, 3, 5, and 7?”

“Engineer?! Oh sweet mother of Celestia I’m doomed! Ok I’ll sacrifice one engineer to save the Sectors!”

“Commencing procedure two…procedure two now in activation”

A list of steps opened up on the computer monitor explaining to Test Tube how to fix the pipe valves that had burst open due to the high pressure stressed on the valves. The cause apparently seemed to be that the chemical combustion chamber had been filled too much by a worker, and since cloud production had not started yet, the extra chemicals had nowhere to go. So instead they just sat there, building up pressure and stressing the pipelines to their bursting points.

“So I get the toolbox in here…” He looked around and spotted a shiny new toolbox in the corner of the room. He galloped over to it and picked it up rushing back to the monitor.

“And there should be extra valves in here…” he examined inside and found two extra pneumatic pipe valves ready for use, “There they are! Now it says I need to release some of the extra chemicals…”

Test Tube pulled a lever on the cubical machine and a stream of green fluid burst from a spout, splattering all over the inside of the fatal machine.

“Ugh! I guess it really was overfilled! That will need a rinsing later. Anyways now what do I do?” while he was reading the next step, the main doors at the front of the factory started to clank open, unlocked by the owner himself, Shade Blade.

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Shade Blade entered into the Main Control Room and Welcome Center with his group of new workers, unaware of what had currently been happening in the Chemicalization Station. As he guided them in he boasted, “I’d like to welcome you on my behalf to the Thunderstorm Cloud Factory! You have chosen to spend most of your life working here, and it’s up to me to ensure you have a great, worker-friendly environment, even though our ways have drastically changed since the last factory. I’m sure you have all read up on it before you chose to employ yourselves here, right?”

One of the new workers slowly raised a hoof in the air, pointing it at a large monitor hanging above the main control room's office. He looked as if a thousand volts of energy shocked him, and as his hoof shook in the air, more workers started to notice and react the same way.

“What’s wrong everypony? You like the new monitor?” Shade casually said as he took a closer look at it. “Wait a second…WHAT IN TARTARUS?!”

The bright monitor displayed the detailed layout of the factory, but it was rapidly flashing red warning symbols over sectors two, three, four, five, and seven while also highlighting the transportation pipes in an opaque yellow. The computer was also running diagnostics in the background, determining the cause had been a high pressure pipe leakage.

“Get engineers over there at once! Hurry up! This breach won’t withstand itself much longer!”

Two perturbed engineers galloped out of the crowd of new workers, lugging heavy wooden toolboxes. “Wh-Where do we go sir?!” they said in unison.

“The damage seems to be two pneumatic pipe valves that burst on the transportation pipes! You need to get there at once and repair them! I’m printing you out a map right now…”

Steam rose in huge clouds out of the vents from the Chemicalization Station, while the pipes surrounding it swayed at unreal lengths. With little time left, Shade tore the half printed map out of the shiny new printer and shoved it in one of the worried worker’s hooves. He galloped over to the control office and pressed a button, unlocking the heavy, black cloud door, which gave them access to the factory’s mesh walkway.

“Use your key card to get into the Chemicalization Station! Find out what’s going on from there!” Shade shouted while biting his nails in nervousness.

The engineers scrambled over each other hurrying down to the Chemicalization Station, swiping the key card through the large metal door, causing its bolt to slide open. They rushed in frantically, to find a pegasus calmly typing away on a computer, monitoring the Chemicalization Station’s chemical levels.

One of the engineers, an amber mare named Grease stepped forward, giving a concerned look towards Test Tube, “What are you doing here?! We are in a dire emergency as you can see!”

“Emergency?” Test Tube replied calmly, “What emergency are you talking about? Everything is just fine.

“No it’s not! The pressure levels are too high and this place might explode! Now let us through to fix the valves!”

“Ok,” Test Tube clicked on a command with his mouse, unbolting the second door that lead out of the station. “Take a look at the pipes yourselves!”

Leaving a cloud of dust behind them, the engineers dashed out of the room to tend to the pipes. But when they looked, the pipes were already fixed! The transportation pipes had both respective pneumatic pipe valves repaired and the rapid swaying had ceased.

“What in all of Equestria?!” the two engineers exclaimed out loud, “Did that pegasus fix this?”

Shade Blade rushed out of the Chemicalization Station, finding the two engineers stumped at the sight of the sparkling new valves.

“What are you doing?! Fix the damn valves!”

Screwdriver, a light brown stallion who was accompanying Grease, dropped his toolbox, bewildered while glancing back at Shade Blade and the shiny new pipe valve. “S-Sir the valve! It’s been fixed!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Shade shouted.

Grease took a step forward, defending Screwdriver from any possible danger. “Sir, please calm yourself! That pegasus in the Chemicalization Station saved us by repairing the valve himself! We wouldn’t have made it in time! Screwdriver is right!”

Shade Blade stomped his hoof on the mesh walkway, sending vibrations up the two relieved pegasus’s hooves, quickly changing their relieved expressions into fearful ones. “Are you telling me, your boss, to calm down?! Telling me to act as if this incident never happened in the first place?! MY DAMN FACTORY ALMOST EXPLODED ON THE FIRST DAY!”

Grease took another step forward, now face to face with Shade Blade, “No, I'm not, but you should at least treat your workers with some level of respect, Shade!”

“Excuse me? Did you just tell me how to act? And call me by first name? Do you have any sense of who’s in charge here?!”

A mechanical arm stretched down from the ceiling, its large claw cranking open. The arm extended and positioned itself over Grease, slowly advancing towards the now confused mare.

The mare’s brown, glassy eyes quickly widened as the mechanical arm inched closer to her. “What are you doing?! Are you seriously going to scoop me up with that thing?!” Grease said angrily as the claws of the perfunctory arm clicked shut around her scrawny body.

Shade's expression turned to a shocked yet stern one as the mare continued to challenge him in her situation, "Wow! You are quite the rambunctious one! I was going to show you what would become of you if you disrespected me again, but I think I'll just make you one now."

The frustrated mare looked around her as the mechanical arm lifted her up, and realizing what Shade Blade referred to, her expression quickly turned to a terrified one, “Ugh, Shade buddy, can we discuss this in less threatening conditions? There's some changes to my attitude that I'd like to make after this and would like you to hear them.”

Grinning, Shade shot a bolt of magic at the arm holding the amber mare, stopping its movement, "Buddy you say? Ha! What a joke that is, Grease. I'll have you know that you're no 'buddy' of mine, and we're far from discussing your attitude."

As Shade's magic was released from the arm, letting it to continue to its dreaded position, Grease’s eyes widened, full of fear, and she struggled to free herself from the arm's claws beating her wings to push the claws open. As Screwdriver realized what would happen to Grease, he quickly grabbed his bulky toolbox and took off, soaring off back to the main control room. Shade Blade smiled at Grease's attempt to escape her doom, and shooting another bolt of red and green magic at the claws of the arm, they tightened, stressing on the mare’s long, pointed wings. With more magic force the creaking claws smashed shut, snapping Grease's fragile wings.

The mare let out a shriek as her wings popped from their sockets, tearing some of the bright amber flesh, which in turn started to spray sanguineous blood. Her wings fell, bent at awkward angles, being held on only by pink, stringy tendons.

“Well, a marvelous escape attempt, and smart one too, but since you can’t fly your way out of here now, let’s test our factory’s new machinery out! Test Tube! Are the chemical levels stable now!?”

A cheerful voice burst through a loudspeaker above the door into the Chemicalization Station, ringing into Shade’s ears, “Yes sir! Shall I commence the cloud production sequence?”

“Oh yes! I can’t wait to see my success! Go on!”

The arm’s apparatus shifted, twisting and turning while cautiously positioning the mare over the maw of the female assembly line’s first grinding machine. Grease wailed as the claws loosened over of huge, shiny black blades, spinning at speeds almost as fast as light.

“Please! I'm sorry Shade! I don’t want to die! Give me a second chance! I promise I’ll benefit Cloudsdale!”

Shade Blade laughed and trotted down the long walkway until reaching the first grinding machine. “Second chance? I am giving you a second chance! You’re benefiting Cloudsdale by watering some faraway location in Equestria as a thunderstorm!”

“NO, PLEASE SPARE ME!” the mare bellowed as she squirmed in the claw’s arms, “I SWEAR I WON’T EVER TALK BACK TO YOU AGAIN!”

“It’s simply too late,” Shade calmly replied, looking up at the limp amber mare.

“SHADE PLEASE YOU CAN FIX THIS ALL RIGHT NOW!”

“Enjoy being ground up into a cloud! Oh, and nice try trying to destroy this factory before its great success! Overfilling the chemical amount!” Shade Blade laughed again, changing his tone of voice into a sarcastic one. “Never suspected that! I’m honored to have an engineer who’s sooooo smart!”

The mare’s expression went blank, and she stared down at Shade Blade, amazed at his ability to see through her plans. She stopped crying, asking in a very soft voice, “H-How did you know?”

Shade grinned once again, confirming for himself that he was right, “Oh trust me, Grease. I always know.”

The claws of the creaking doomed arm ripped apart, dropping the screaming mare down into the depths of the deadly grinding machine.

Comments

[Dimitri2278]

Meanwhile...

Date: Oct 23rd, 2030
Dimension: 1-1
Location: Palace of the Soviets, Novy Stalliongrad, Greater Equestrian SSR, USSER
Time: 1200 hours

A man in a uniform and peaked cap walked briskly through the many hallways of the capital building. In his hand, he carried a file folder filled with top secret information. This will not end well. He then made his way up to a door with the words: Office of the Premier of the Soviet Union written on the door plate. Before giving it a hard knock.

"Come in." Replied the muffled feminine voice on the other side of the door. As the doorknob was envolped in a crimson aura. Before it turned and opened. He then took a deep breath, before he made his way inside.

Once he was in the room, he saw her. For standing in the left corner on the far wall looking out of the giant window. Was the Premier of the Soviet Union: Sovetska Malashenka. "Well don't just stand there." And as the crimson, acid yellow, blood orange, and black haired woman turned to face him. He could feel her glowing crimson eyes scrutinizing him, almost as if peering straight through his very soul. With her huge black wings folded tightly together on her back, her left arm sliding underneath them. And the other, gesturing at a dark oak chair that sat in front of the desk. "Take a seat."

"Yes Comrade Premier." He did as ordered and sat down.

"Now," Sovetska began as she walked over to her side of the desk, before she did the same. "What information do you have for me today?" She asked unemotionally.

The man, who (as an agent of the 9th Directorate) was trained to not to fear anything always found her to be...unsettling in person. "Here you are Comrade." He handed her the folder. As he attempted to mimic her emotionless tone, but only partially succeeded.

Her hand was envolped in a red aura and, soon afterwards, so was the file. Which then proceeded to float over to her. "Thank you." She said, as she carefully took possession of it. Then, the Premier opened the folder, carefully reading it over. As she did so, her eyes started to glow ever more crimson.

And when she was finished, he could see nothing but pure rage written all over her face. (Which had become as red as the blood red banner of the Union.) This is exactly what I knew was going to happen. But then, she did something wholly unexpected. Her face seemed to calm down and the ire slowly drained out of her eyes. It was then replaced with nothing short of pure fire. She chuckled darkly, as a smirk came to her face. "So, she thinks she can just dispose of the proletariat, does she? Well, I think I'm going to pay my sister a little visit." She chuckled again, which grew and grew, until she was completely hysterical! "Why yes! Why not give her punishment!?" She stopped laughing and became dead serious. "After all, being a control freak myself. I know that the greatest punishment of all...is to have no control, what so ever. And, while she may be my sister, I will make her understand what she has done."

Having completely forgotten he was in the room, the agent quickly made his presence felt as he stood up. "Uh, Comrade. You seem to have forgotten about Shade Blade."

She looked at him with a stare that could have slaughtered millions. "Oh yes. Him." She paused dramatically before continuing. "I will make him regret the day he was born."