Into the Rainbow Factory

by Ractrin

Section 8: The Belly of the Beast

“You stupid failures are probably wondering where you are, huh?” the red stallion said, grinning maliciously at Scootaloo particularly. After a few moments of an awkward silence, his vision then danced to the other two. “You’re in Cloudsdale!” he exclaimed happily as he turned and took a step away from the carriage. “Allow me to…show you around.” he began to walk forward, but none of the three foals moved, either from fear or defiance, Raptor couldn’t tell which. The red stallion sighed, and made a motion with his hoof. One of the guards hit Orion across the head with a cattle prod, making sure the electricity was active upon impact. A low zapping noise was heard, followed by a yelp from the teenage colt. Scootaloo and Aurora gasped at the attack and leapt into motion, following the red pony.
“If you expect us to be slaves-” Scootaloo started, defiance clear in her tone.
“Slaves?” the red pony interrupted, a small chuckle in his tone. “No, no worries about that. Besides, if you were going to refuse…well, you don’t have much of a choice do you?” he faced them and then motioned to all the guards standing around, each holding an electrified cattle prod. “Oh and my apologies, where are my manners. I’m Dr. Atmosphere. Don’t worry about my degree, it’s in engineering, not biology or some other revolting medical field. I know how some of you failures can be.” the three degenerates just stared coldly at him, caring very little for what he was saying. He rolled his eyes and turned back towards the factory.

Raptor looked at the pipe he was standing next to and noticed a ladder leading up to the top of it. “Why do flying horses need ladders?” he thought to himself as he examined the structure’s security. After verifying it would hold up his weight, he pushed all questions to the back of his mind and climbed up the piping. Upon reaching the top of the ladder he saw a catwalk ran the expanse of the entire room, allowing anyone to just walk above the commotion of ponies flurrying about below. He looked left, then right, making sure there was no one capable of seeing him. With the coast clear, he pulled himself up onto the catwalk and peered over it’s edge till he found Scootaloo and her companions. They were slowly following Atmosphere as he described the room, gleefully. Careful to not make to much noise, Raptor walked above them, pulling out his G36 to ensure the safety of at least Scootaloo and Orion. He shouldered the rifle and aimed it at Atmosphere, looking through it’s two times zoom ACOG scope. After a second of aiming, he found himself cussing his decision to throw his backpack when he was at the coliseum. The scope was turned a little, throwing off the aim.

“You three may have noticed the metal walls lining this facility and may be wondering how it is that metal is here in these clouds.” Atmosphere said, stopping the precession in the middle of the massive expanse. “You see, just over one thousand years ago one of the ponies that was helping design this facility knew that pegasi breaking into this secret area was going to be a problem, with all of them being able to move clouds and such. So, he took some ebony steel, melted it down, and had unicorns enchant the melted ore with their magic.. The spell used created a magical metal that is not only lighter than our feathers, but is capable of resting on these clouds in the same manner as us.” Atmosphere beamed with pride as he talked; either unaware, or uncaring that all three foals held a look of a thousand daggers.

“Now….all three of you have had the tour of our lower facility right?” his eyes danced across all three faces that were slowly and unsurely nodding. “Good good, now who can tell me where that particular tour starts?”
“Where the spectra comes from upstairs and is mixed…” Orion spoke up, his voice raspy from the lack of water and his adrenalin peaked.
“Hmm, to bad you’re so worthless, you would have been such a smart one.” Atmosphere said, letting a hoof carelessly clop down onto the knot forming on the brown colt’s head. Orion moved his head hurriedly from Atmosphere’s hoof and glared at him while rubbing the sore spot there. The red stallion just made a sadistic grin and turned back into the facility. “Now, we’re in the Upper Facility, so please stay close to me, or you’ll be …encouraged to do so.” he gave a subtle nod to the guards following them. Three from the group leaned in and pressed the electrically charged tips of their batons to the foals flanks, causing each of them to lose control of themselves until they were heaps on the cloud floor. Atmosphere let out a low chuckle that grew into a small laugh as the three degenerates picked themselves off the floor, one leaving a pool of yellow clouds.

Raptor tightened his hand around the pistol grip of his rifle, his knuckles becoming white. The torture he witnessed, while small, was beyond anything he considered humane. He reserved himself to just simply keep himself hidden. While he knew he had the element of surprise, and could end this at any time, he had to find out what this place was so that he could tell Celestia. He lowered the rifle to a more comfortable position and continued to follow the black parade as it continued deeper into the large cavernous room.

“Be careful in here, as there are many things in which could harm you…or…worse.” he made a small malicious smile over his shoulder at his three young followers. “And we don’t want that. After all, you’re hopeless as it is, anymore so and even we couldn’t use you.” he continued to walk and talk, describing the use of this pipe, the use for that hose. Only stopping every so often to describe a workstation’s purpose. Every time he stopped to show them a pony, the expression on that particular pony seemed a bit more frantic than the last. A little more of their mind seemed to be missing. Maybe it was because they were closer to the screams?

Raptor’s luck seemed to drawing to a close. The closer to the other side of the room they got, the less catwalk he had. The catwalk ended a good four or five meters from the wall, and worse still, there was a pony standing there, looking down into the room. If Raptor hadn’t looked up when he had, he might have alerted the guard to his presence. Looking behind him, he saw a series of pipes that ran perpendicular to the catwalk’s walkway in the sense of forming a wall, allowing for a good hiding place, especially since there were pipes on the other side that were parallel to the catwalk. Not wanting to risk anything, the sneaking human ducked into the piping, praying that it would hold his weight and not make any noise. Other than drooping under him, the pipes made no other complaints. He sighed and began following them, no longer capable of seeing his friends.

As he crept down the not-so-regular walkway, he found that the piping abruptly turned a ninety degrees and ended into the wall. He sighed and poked his head out from the piping to see the guard right in front of him. “Well that way isn’t going to work.” he thought as he tried to peer over the railing in attempts at seeing his friends. Catching sight of Aurora, he watched as Atmosphere corralled them into a large metal door, that once the yellow filly had passed through, slammed shut, leaving only Atmosphere to turn and walk away.

Looking up, Raptor took noticed that the metal ceiling was formed into panels that hung in place like the cardboard ceilings he knew from Earth. He leaned back behind the pipe-like wall and pushed up on the panel just above him. A sense of relief swept over him that it even moved. He put his rifle back onto his back and carefully climbed up into the ceiling, using the piping as a makeshift ladder.

The area was dark, and not very well lit, the only light capable of being seen was filtering through the thunder clouds just above Raptor’s head. Careful not to touch one, he crawled in the presumed direction that the door Scootaloo and the other two had passed through was in. Upon reaching the spot he figured was above the doorway, he pushed aside the panel to find a dimly lit hallway. Confused he dropped his head down into it to attempt at getting some sort of bearings. The hallway was void of any ponies, and was just a straight shot in the direction he was facing. He sat up and scratched his head. Looking back Raptor spotted the panel he had climbed up in by seeing a light a good distance away. “Did I crawl to far?” he pondered as he dropped his head in again. This time he looked the other way and saw a security door there. He dropped into the hallway feet first, making sure to fall into a crouching position to lessen the noise from his decent. Once he was sure that no one had heard his subtle drop in altitude, he pulled out his rifle again and aimed it down the hallway. Very carefully and quietly he walked backwards, glancing over his shoulder occasionally to see how far away the door was. Once his back touched the cold metal surface he leaned against it in a ready position should anyone walk through.

He analyzed the door. It was a regular steel looking door. Nothing particular about it, except for the annoying fact that it was a sliding door. If he pushed the button on the wall to open it he was sure whoever on the other side would be alerted to his presence by the noise of the door opening. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew that whatever room his friends had been lead into was on the others side of this door, and he also knew that he couldn’t remain hidden forever. Propping himself in a breach position next to the switch, he readied his hand over it. Holding his rifle tight to his shoulder with his left hand, he smashed the door switch and quickly raised his rifle around the corner, ready to stop anything that may try to attack him.

Instead of another room with ponies, he was greeted by a vacant catwalk that couldn’t be any longer than maybe twenty or so meters to the door on the other side of the expanse it bridged. Surprised, he lowered his rifle and stepped out onto the catwalk. Looking around, he noted that the entire room was made of metal, not a single cloud to be seen.

The deafening noise of chattering and conversation broke his concentration. He looked down through the porous metal grating and saw hordes of ponies below, none any older than Scootaloo or Orion. His eyes widened and he moved quickly to the railing to get a better view. Directly below the catwalk sat a stage that loomed over the ponies who seemed to be down in a pit of some sort. Behind the stage sat six monolithic vats that lead up to manifold higher up than Raptor was standing. He looked at the monstrosity, greatly curious. “Now what does THAT do?” he questioned in his mind.

A door below slid open and then shut, causing Raptor to strain to see who it was and the foals in the pit became silent. There was no way he could see the stage from this angle very well. Scouring the room, he looked for a silent way down to the floor. As he searched the part of the room that was level with him, however, he spotted an outcropping that seemed to have some ragged cloth on it. It wasn’t but a couple meters away, he could make the jump. He stepped up onto the railing and pushed off in one motion, propelling his body out over the expanse. He rolled in mid air, allowing his feet to make contact first. The only problem was, he had given himself to much momentum and he landed on the bedding. It’s friction with the metal surface was no where near enough to stop his forward motion as it slipped from under his feet, making him land back first and slide to the massive wall.

For a moment he was certain he had been caught; he had exposed himself to the ponies below. However, when he opened his eyes, he was relived to see that no pony was standing there ready to try and take him away. He flipped over onto his stomach and crawled to the edge of the outcropping, where he peered over to get a look at the stage.

Commander Velocity landed on the balcony outside the princess’ throne room. The very same balcony Celestia had shown Raptor all of the visible regions of Equestria from. He shook his wings closed, making sure every feather was in place and not out of order. He shook his mane, attempting at getting the mess out of it made by the wind from his flight. He made a smug grin and puffed up his chest.

He had everything thought out, he was going to tell the princesses that Raptor and Black had been killed by an accident at the Weather Factory. He was chancellor to Canterlot now, they would have to believe his story. Why, with him being chief of Cloudsdale’s police force prior to this promotion, why wouldn’t they believe him?

Using a wing to create a gust of wind, he opened the throne room door. His cranium held high and his trot that of royalty, he entered the room with the presence of mind that he was the most important stallion there. His crush on Celestia might have not helped with his self-centeredness. All the guards in the room looked at him, not really in awe, but at least somewhat bemused. Only Celestia and Luna were unimpressed by his awe inspiring entrance. Celestia was glad the sun wasn’t any lower, or it might have appeared as if it was highlighting his show.

“Commander Velocity, why are you here?” Luna asked, standing in order to enforce her superiority to him.
“Ah Princess Luna, it’s been to long” he said coolly as he approached the thrones. Upon reaching the base of the steps, he knelt before them. Raising back up, he did a subtle wink to Celestia. His flirtatious gesture only received a sneer. “To answer your question, my grace,” he said looking back at Princess Luna, “I am here to replace Black as chancellor to Canterlot.” This caused Celestia to stand, suspicion written on her face.

“Chancellor Velocity, may I ask what happened to Black?” Celestia asked, stepping forward. Her action indicated she was taking over the situation, which Luna simply sat back down to show her relinquish.
“He was killed in an experiment in the Weather Factory your highness.” Velocity said with a subtle, but yet noticeable malefic grin. His statement, after all, wasn’t entirely false; Black had indeed been killed in the Weather Factory.
“That’s not the entirety of his demise, Velocity.” she said, a little bit more eager than before.
“Ma’am?” he was confused by her statement. He wasn’t sure if she had caught on, or was implying that there was more behind it. Which he knew she had nothing to do with his death. Though with her curious reactions, he now knew why it was not an easy job to be chancellor.
“You are Cloudsdale’s fifth chancellor in three years. This has never happened before in almost seven hundred years. And the fact that it has now happened twice…” as she was speaking she was walking down the steps towards Velocity, a malcontent glare written across her face. This caused him to cower a little, bending to her superiority and begin to walk backwards as she drew closer. She approached faster than he could recede, and she finally got her face exceptionally close to his, anger written in her eyes. “…what are you pegasi doing in Cloudsdale?”
“W-we’re making weather ma’am. As we always have.” Velocity was embarrassed, never had he backed down to anypony before. That’s why he had become chief of police, and then chancellor. However, this was Celestia bearing down on him, his ruler! How could he combat her!?

“Just weather?” she stepped back, curious befuddlement present. Without a word, Velocity nodded.

Celestia looked out at the setting sun that was falling behind the mountains near Cloudsdale. Her vision dancing across the white puffy structures of the majestic cloud city. Then she looked at the rocky surface of the nearby mountains. Jagged and brutal. Oh how the city lingered so near immanent demise should it only be moved a few hundred meters. Her horn lit with a yellow hue, her eyes began to glow amber, and a ring of magic appeared around Velocity’s throat.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN CLOUDSDALE!? WHERE ARE THE FAILURES GOING!?” she shouted, the magic tightening around Velocities jugular, nearly cutting off his air flow. Her magic began to wrap around the frightened pegasus, entangling his wings and closing his appendages close to his body. She slowly began to lift him upwards into the air, tightening her hold.
“CLESTIA!” Luna shouted. “CELESTIA STOP!” but her shouts went unnoticed as Celestia’s rage built. Her anger began to become visible as bands of magic started to emit from her wings and hooves. The throne room began to shake as Celestia’s voce seemed as if it was echoing upon itself as she spoke,
“Tell me! What are you doing to my subjects!” she yelled, the echo resounding through the shaking building. Velocity tried to speak, but the magic around his throat dampened his voice. That being the case she pulled him in close to her, and noticed his eyes beginning to glaze over from lack of oxygen.
“Go….fuck….yo-….yourself” he spat. Celestia’s rage boiled. All of the strands of magic around his body twisted, crushing him inwards. Blood sprayed from his snout and anus, covering the floor and some of it tainted her white fur

Emotionless, with very little apparent care for what she had done, Celestia lowered Velocity’s broken corpse down into the pile of blood that had formed under him. She released it of magic and turned to her sister. Luna was standing at the top most step, her jaw agape. Never had she seen such manner of behavior from her sister. The magic glow in Celestia’s eyes remained, her teeth gritting with hatred. “You…killed him Celestia…” Luna said, a slight hush to her tone.
“I am SICK of them hiding from me what is really going on in that city!” Celestia’s hating glare jolted over to Cloudsdale. “Let’s go sister. I’m tired of waiting for Raptor to-” suddenly, just as Celestia had opened her wings. A large eruption tore through the Weather Factory of Cloudsdale.
“What was that!?” a guard yelled as he ran to the balcony. The sound wave finally reached them, and it sounded nothing like a weapon.
“That sounded like…magic…” Luna said, standing next to her sister as they both peered at the now smoking city. Celestia, her rage abruptly gone due to curiosity, looked at her sibling.
“Let us go sister.” without hesitation, Luna nodded. Both regal alicorns leapt into the air, and with a pop, were gone.