Agent Con Mane in Nightfeather (to be rewritten)

by Fairytail

Chapter 10: A Pressing Engagement

“Such a pity you chose not to remain with the others, Mr. Solo.” said Nightfeather as he chaperoned Solo Venture out of his mansion. A coach was parked in the circular driveway just outside. The trunk was open and Larry, with his cloudy paws, was loading it with three nondescript leather bags that added significant weight to the coach.

Solo silently trotted past Nightfeather and approached his trunk. He gave a tug at the rope and opened one of the bags. The bag was loaded with diamonds, sparkling and perfect. Solo smiled with greed as he ran his hoof through the stones like a child with beach sand. He held up one of the stones and inspected it carefully. Satisfied, he returned the stone, tied the bag taught and slammed his trunk.

He turned towards Nightfeather, who bowed politely, and adjusted the collar of his red shirt with a chip of disdain. Eager to leave, Solo soured at the sight of two ponies trotting towards him and Nightfeather.

“Ah, Mr. Mane!” Nightfeather announced excitedly, “I thought you were resting in your quarters?”

Joe approached Nightfeather side by side with Spitfire. She gave him plenty of space and to any outsider looking, it would never be obvious that Joe was her captive. He had the ample opportunity to make a run for it, but he knew that he would be no match for Spitfire’s athleticism. Not to mention he couldn't leave the cloud and besides, Joe had no reason or desire to escape.

“Well as comfortable as they are,” Joe answered casually, “it’s far too nice a night out to stay indoors. I ran into Lt. Spitfire and she suggested we join you.” Joe smiled at Spitfire, interested in seeing rather or not she would play along with the harmless ploy. To his surprised a warm smile crossed her face.

Nightfeather’s friendly hoof guided Solo closer to the rest of the party. “Solo Venture, Con Mane, another one of my extinguished guests.”

“Hello.” Solo said with haste and disinterest.

Joe noticed that Solo was practically dancing on his hooves and kept looking back towards the coach. “Leaving us so soon, Mr. Venture?”

“I’m afraid Mr. Venture has a pressing engagement.” said Nightfeather.

“Yeah, and I’d like to get started, Nightfeather!”

“Well, when you gotta go, you gotta go.”

“My servant, Larry, will get you to the airdock on time along with all your excess luggage.”

Larry glided to the coach’s door and opened it, motioning for Solo to take a seat. Solo was about to dash into the coach with great haste, but he was stopped by a sudden tug of his hoof. Joe grasped Solo’s hoof with both of his and shook it heartily.

“Goodbye, Solo. It was nice meeting yo-- Woah!”

Joe teetered on his hind legs and fell forward into Solo. He wrapped his arms around the Pegasus to catch himself and Solo wobbled under the weight of the hefty Unicorn. He fought and wrestled against the toppling pony and was finally able to push him off.

“Be careful you clumsy idiot! You nearly knocked me to the floor!”

“Sorry!” Joe was red with embarrassment, “Not used to walking on clouds, yeah. My hooves can be a bit off at times. Here let me dust you off.”

Joe reached in and vigorously patted down Solo’s shirt. Solo was visibly peeved by the contact and tried to bat away Joe’s hooves. The display turned into an awkward mess of flailing hooves. Joe finally backed off, leaving Solo’s face flushed with irritation.

“Stop touching me you fat slob!”

“Alright, alright. No need to be touchy. Happy landings.”

“Goodbye Mr. Venture.” Nightfeather said with a chuckle.

Solo Venture climbed into the coach and slammed the door hard while Larry took position to draw the coach himself. Despite the extra weight in the trunk, Larry effortless lifted the coach into the sky and disappeared into the eternal night.

Joe was left alone with Spitfire and Nightfeather. He instantly felt the friendly facade slip away. Nightfeather’s cold, cruel eyes weighed down upon Joe.

“I found him under the model, Captain.” Spitfire reported.

Joe smiled and did not let up his confident stare. There was little point in lying now. It was a bizarre relationship that existed between captive and captor. There was something almost familial about it. Joe had no information to give to Nightfeather and so further torture was not needed. The one with the answers was the one in control and so long as the patriarch of the family was satisfied, so would the rest of the household. With that in mind Joe said, “Operation: Moonfall, huh? I did enjoy your briefing.”

Nightfeather stared at him blankly. Joe sensed that Nightfeather was also attuned to the nature of their relationship. He stammered a bit, trying to find the right words until he smiled and nodded. “So did I.” he said. The two ponies stared at each other with the most hate filled of friendly smiles.

Nightfeather waved a hoof to motion Joe to walk, and Joe was politely escorted back to his cell. His mind raced with turbulent thoughts regarding what he had heard though the model. He silently pleaded that he wasn't too late. At least now there was a chance, he thought. Joe was successful in slipping his message and homing device into Solo Venture’s pocket. Now it was all up to Sky finding the note, and warning the Princess in time.

Sky Blazer watched the radar screen intently. After being stationary within the confines of Nightfeather Manor for so long, Con Mane’s homing signal was once again moving through the cloudscape at chariot speeds.

“Do you have visual yet?” Sky said into his headset.

“Negative, sir.” said the voice of Agent Ambush on the other end. “Are you sure this the right heading?”

“Confirmed, signal is travelling North by Northeast at an incline of point eight.”

“If you say so. This is a pretty sketchy part of the clouds. And why would he be flying higher? There’s nothing up there but--”

“He must have a reason. Our orders are only to keep an eye on him. We’re only to interfere as a last resort. So keep yourself scarce and don’t crowd him.”

“Understood sir.”

The beeping dot on Sky’s radar continued to climb in altitude. Ambush was right. Where the signal was going was not the kind of place even sane Pegasi typically chose to go. Every ounce of Sky’s intuition told him that something was wrong. Still, he kept firm to his orders and patience.

“Sir,” Ambush reported, “I have visual on the coach. It’s being driven by that cloud creature thing. I can confirm it is heading where we think it’s heading.”

“How close can you get?”

“I’m approaching the boundary line. Cloudsdale law prohibits flying any higher than this without a permit or warrant. Couldn't you…?”

“Too risky!” Sky said immediately, “If we go through the proper channels it will just alert Nightfeather to us. Get as high as you can, perch yourself on a cloud and scout the facility with your binoculars. I’ll let you know if he starts to move again.”

“Understood. But I still don’t understand, sir. Why’s this old pal of yours heading for a rainbow factory?”

“I betcha ten to one it’s either a snack or a mare.”

The factory floated high above the floating city of Cloudsdale. The twisted bizarre shape of the natural clouds commingled with the artificial machinery in a way nearly identical to the abandoned factory that Joe had visited earlier. The difference was that this beast was still alive. The outer machinery, the turning gears and rising pistons, breathed before the backdrop of the moon eternal. Fresh clouds were exhaled out of the smokestacks. Collected rain water pumped through the factory veins. And out of the spouts excreted newly brewed, liquid rainbow.

Security was alerted immediately to the coach that violated their private airspace. Several Pegasi in security uniforms and even some of the factory workers in their snow white outfits lined at the gate to greet the trespassers. But when they saw the creature that drew the coach, those in attendance gulped in unison. The gates were opened and the coach was allowed to land.

Everypony kept their distance. The sight of the Nightling shuddered them to the bone. The Factory Director, Rainbowshine, who was alerted to Larry’s arrival, dropped her duties and flew out to meet the coach. Larry watched Rainbowshine with his beady yellow eyes as she cautiously approached the coach. Rainbowshine assumed that within the coach sat Larry’s employer. She ran through her head any possible reason why such an influential pony would arrive at her factory without prior notice, but she knew that turning him away was not an option.

Having steeled herself and ready to greet the pony with a smile, Rainbowshine opened the door of the coach. “What an unexpected surprise. Welcome to the rainbow factory, Captain--” She let out a frightening scream when the lifeless body of a Pegasus sprawled out on the seat. The body was not Stellar Nightfeather, but instead a cinnamon colored stallion wearing a red shirt. His face was frozen in contorted terror and his wide, lifeless eyes were blue with thin slit pupils.

All of the surrounding ponies backed away in silent disgust. The factory workers pretended to have not seen anything and went back to their work.

“I don’t understand. What is the meaning of…”

“Dissspossse…” Larry hissed. Rainbowshine gulped loudly. Her knees wobbled in their weakness.

“I appreciate Captain Nightfeather donating his old coaches and chariot to provide fuel for the machinery, but this… this body…”

“Dissspossse…” Larry repeated.

Rainbowshine’s gaze darted between Larry and the body in panic. Eventually she sighed with a weak voice that was very near a cry. “Yes, sir.” She turned to the Pegasi guards that still stood by. Their faces were just as pale as hers and they were as still as statues. “You heard him boys. Grind it up.”

Rainbowshine slammed the door of the coach with the body still inside. Larry unbuckle himself and distanced himself from the coach. With a loud mechanical grind, a long crane with a claw attached lowered itself and the claw clamped around the frame of the coach. The wood splintered and shattered as the claw took hold. The coach was lifted into the air and brought over to a large tub shaped machine.

The claw released and allowed the coach to fall unceremoniously into the tub. The sides of the tub then rose and then came down over the coach. The machine work crammed the shattering body of the coach deeper into the basin. The more the machine pressed the more distorted the crunching sounds became.

Before long the coach could no longer be seen as it has been completely engulfed by the machine. But still the churning, crunching and grinding could be heard within. For a split second the crunching noises sounded more wet and squishy. Several of the nearby factory workers turned their heads and tried to will the sound out of their minds. Some of them even gagged and left the room.

The crunching ceased and a humming could be heard flowing through the pipework that led out of the tub and towards a series of vats. Rainbowshine grabbed an empty glass mason jar and placed it in a small receptacle that was stained with several colors of corroded rainbow residue. With a shaking hoof, she pulled a lever and a liquid rainbow poured out of the spout. The rainbow filled the mason jar, all the colors remaining separated as they should be. However, the red band seemed a bit wider than usual.

Rainbowshine steeled her nerves, swallowed her sick and capped the jar which she hooved to Larry. “Here’s your, erm, rainbow, sir.”

Larry held the jar in his cloudy paws up to his face and admired it. He swished around the contents. a distinct collection of sparkling specks could be seen wafting within the colored bands. “Pretty…”

Larry held the jar close to his body and then flew out of the factory and back towards the direction of the mansion. One of the security guards approached Rainbowshine and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Ma’am. Are you sure this is ok?”

“What choice do we have. You know what may happen if we disobey. Let’s just hope we never have to do anything like this again. And not a word of this to anypony. I don’t want the factory getting a bad rep because of some dark rumors.”

“Yeah, I getcha. And what about the latest report?”

Rainbowshine sighed, “Another five kilos have been reported missing. This is getting out of hoof. If we don’t find out who has been smuggling these rainbows soon, We may have to call upon Equestria for help. Alright, everypony. Back to work.”

Back at the weather patrol outpost, Sky Blazer banged on his monitor. The transmission of the homing beacon suddenly stopped while it was parked in the rainbow factory.

“Maybe a mechanical failure?” Agent Ambush tried to help over the comm.

Sky ran his hooves down his face in frustration. He knew he should have listened to his instincts to chase after the signal himself and cursed his orders. He calmed himself with a sigh and gave his orders to Ambush.

“Fly back to the manor. It’s all we can do.”