Escape Insanity & Operation: Crimson Rainbow (The Rainbow Factory Chapters 2&3)

by LCpl Azure Blaze

Part 4: Crimson Rainbow

The entire squad ran out of the room, following the trail of blood left on the floor, keeping in their group, and staying alert to all of their surroundings. Every so often, they would hear the rattling of metal or pounding, to which they stopped and scanned their area to be sure that there were not any hostiles. Each time they stopped, they failed to locate where the sound came from, and so each time they continued to follow the trail of blood down hall after hall.

"Hold up guys," said Nightwing. "Something is off- I know this feeling. I think we're being watched." Immediately, Scarlet Blade began to vigorously scan the area, as if he had seen something.

"What's the matter, Scarlet?" asked Violet Light. "You see anything?"

"One thing I have learned from surviving the Griffon War with Nightwing; it's that when he has a feeling that you're being watched, you're being watched," replied Scarlet Blade, continuing to scan the hallways. "It would probably be wise if you all helped find what is watching us."

Violet Light and Azure Blaze looked at each other in slight confusion and then lifted their weapons to scan the area with their flashlights. All four ponies scanned the hallway that they were in thoroughly. They made sure that nothing was behind them or in front of them in the halls. They were about to call off the search when Violet Light noticed a liquid drip from the ceiling, followed by some rattling of metal. Violet Light lifted his weapon's flashlight up and shown on the ceiling. There, flying upside down on the ceiling was a purple clone, staring back down at him with foam coming from its mouth.

The clone hissed at Violet Light and pounced on him, pinning him to the floor and causing him to drop his weapon. The clone then began to relentlessly bite and scratch him until finally Scarlet Blade whacked it off of him with the stock of his weapon and proceeded to light it up until Azure Blaze stepped up and stopped him. The clone stood there with a blank stare on its face as blood began to trickle out of its many bullet wounds. The clone then fell to the floor with a thud and laid there motionless in a pool of its own blood.

The four ponies sat there for a while, looking at each other in silence. "Are you okay, Violet?" asked Scarlet Blade, picking Violet Light off the floor.

"As long as it isn't going to come back, I am fine," answered Violet Light.

"Don't you worry, I pumped that little Hell-hound so full of lead, I don't think 'it' will ever be coming back."

"Scarlet Blade, you fool!" shouted Nightwing. "After all of this time working together, you still haven't learned?"

"What did I do?" questioned Scarlet Blade.

"You may have doomed us all," responded Nightwing. "Listen carefully, for our undoing approaches."

The group fell silent and they heard faint growls coming the hallway behind them, followed by the stomping of many hooves on the floor.

"They're coming," Said Violet Light. "And by the sound of it, we are probably outnumbered."

"The gunfire must have attracted them," said Azure Blaze. "We've got to get out of here! Run! Follow the blood trail!"

The squad of ponies turned and began running down the halls, following the trail of blood that they had been following before. The growls and hoof stomps kept getting louder and closer, following behind them. Not before long, they could see the faces of clones charging behind them in the darkness.

"We better find the room this trail leads to soon, or we're dead," said Violet Light.

Coming up in front of them was a fork in the hallway with the blood trail leading off to the left. When the squad had come to it, they all went left, following the trail, except for Scarlet Blade, who stopped and turned around to face the clones.

"What are you doing, Scarlet!?" yelled Azure Blaze. "Come on, get out of there!"

"No," Responded Scarlet Blade, lighting a flare, "I put you guys in danger and I'm going to get you guys out of it, too." With that, the pony put the flare in his mouth and began running down the right hallway firing his weapon into the air. The rest of the squad stood there quietly, as they watched one of their newest friends run away from them, down the hallway opposite of them. Not long after, the horde of clones charged by down the hallway after him. The light from Scarlet Blade's flare died in the flood of bodies, which had overtaken him.

Scarlet Blade had fallen.

Nightwing sat there with his mouth wide-open, watching as his lifelong companion, who accompanied him through the Griffon War was being mauled. The sounds of his screams and the breaking of his bones left Nightwing paralyzed. Violet Light came up behind him and pulled him off into the darkness of the hallway. As Violet Light was dragging him, however, Nightwing began to fight him.

"Let me go!" he said. "It wasn't supposed end like this! I won't let it end like this!"

"Scarlet Blade sacrificed himself for you, Nightwing!" said Violet Light, "If you go back in and die, he would have died in vain!"

"He was my partner and greatest friend through an entire war! I could always count on him to have my back, and now I need to cover his! If I just let him die like this, I would die in vain!"

Violet Light continued to hold him back a while longer, before finally making the decision to let him go. Nightwing trotted forward slightly, turned back and said, "Forgive me for leaving you, but this is personal. I'll make sure there aren't any left to follow you." Nightwing then turned to face the hallway Scarlet Blade was in.

"Alright you little rat bastards," he said, lighting a flare and sticking it in his mouth. The light of the flare fell upon the faces of the clones, who turned to see the light with their faces covered in blood. "Come get some!"

Violet Light then charged towards the group of monstrosities, unloading a clip from his rifle into the group. Once his rifle was out of ammo, he threw it aside and switched to his sidearm, which was an M9 pistol, and began to shoot individual clones dead in the forehead as they came closer and closer. One clone leaped ahead of the group, to which Nightwing extended his hoof, which then connected with the clones throat. Nightwing spun slightly and slammed the clone to the ground pulling out his knife and stabbing it in the throat. Nightwing was then tackled by another clone, pinning him to the ground. The clone got up close and snarled in Nightwing's face, so he took the flare he had in his mouth and used it to burn the clone's face. The clone revolted and threw itself back, holding its face in pain, giving Nightwing just enough time to slit the clone's throat.

"What are you doing? Just standing there, watching?" said Nightwing. "Go! Get back to Blaze, find Wind Lance, and end this madness!"

Violet Light turned and ran down the hallway, following the blood trail, being careful not to look back at Nightwing. He didn't want to get caught up with the same righteous reason to go back that Nightwing went back to save Scarlet Blade for. He thought to himself about his relationship with Azure Blaze and everything they had been through together, and it made him run faster. When he came up on the door the blood trail lead to, he saw Azure Blaze leaning against the wall with his weapon raised in defense.

"What took you so long? I hate being in this place alone," he said. Violet Light just stood there in silence.

"The door's locked, so we'll have to take a chance with another breaching charge," said Azure Blaze. He looked behind Violet Light and noticed that Nightwing wasn't with him. "Where's Nightwing?" he asked.

"He went back to try and save Scarlet Blade. He just couldn't stand to see his lifelong partner dying like that, and he had to do something. I-I tried to stop him, but... His words got to me."

Azure Blaze stood there in silence a while longer. "You made the right decision letting him go," he said, "I know it may not seem like it was, but when you look at it; at least he's at peace."

"Blaze," said Violet Light, "I want you to know that I would've done the same thing for you... That's why I let him go."

Azure Blaze stared into the eyes of Violet Light and saw the seriousness of what he just said. He had never heard anypony say something like that to him before, and he didn't know how to respond to it. Eventually, he said, "Right then; looks like it's just us now."

Violet Light nodded at him in affirmation and turned to the door. "Wait a minute," he said. "Remember that all level access key card that clone gave us?"

"Yeah," said Azure Blaze, "you still have it?"

"It's right here," ,aid Violet Light, holding up the key card, "Look for a place to put it. Maybe we can use it instead of the breaching charge. You know, cause less noise."

"Right," said Azure Blaze. "Give it here I think I see a place to put it."

Violet Light gave Azure Blaze the key card and Azure Blaze put it into a slot by the door, underneath a glowing red light, and quickly removed it. The light above the slot turned green and the door popped open slightly. Both ponies then carefully entered the room and shut the door behind them, locking itself again afterwards. They looked around the room and found that they had indeed made their way around the factory in a giant circle. They were in the room with the rainbow machine in it, but one thing was different. In the middle of the room, in a ring of light supplied by one single light bulb, sat a sky-blue pony and a cyan-colored pony with no hair, both tied to two separate chairs with their backs to each other bloodied, blindfolded, and gagged, hanging their heads.

"Wind Lance!" shouted Violet Light, lowering his guard and running towards the two ponies who were tied together. Upon hearing the friendly voice, both ponies' ears perked up and they began struggling in their chairs.

"Wait!" yelled Azure Blaze, who was now far behind him, "It could be a-" At that moment, a loud bang rang out throughout the room. Violet Light had just finished taking the blindfolds off of the ponies in the chairs, and all three of the ponies turned to see what the noise was.

They saw Azure Blaze standing there with his head lowered. As he lifted his head, they saw that he had blood dripping from his mouth. He had been shot in the back and the bullet had penetrated his lungs. The three ponies all watched as Azure Blaze slumped down to the floor, revealing a dark red colt dressed in a lab coat standing behind him, holding a revolver.

"NO!" screamed Violet Light in agony, drawing his M9 from its holster and pointing it at the red colt.

"Now, now, now, sergeant," the red pony said with a smile. "Aren't your orders to 'take me alive,' hm? It would be a shame if you brought my head to your superiors on a stick, eh?"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," growled Violet Light.

"Because of your friend here," said the red pony, pointing his revolver at Azure Blaze, who was lying on the floor. "Looks like he may be in some pain huh? He might even be dead eh? But no. He's not dead. Not just yet. In fact he may even be able to live with the proper medical care. But of course if you wanted me to change that I would be happy to just..."

"No!" barked Violet Light.

"That's better," said the red pony. "Now, just drop the gun and slide it away. It doesn't matter which direction you slide it; just as long as you can't reach it."

The purple pony did as the red pony commanded and slid his gun off to the far wall of the room. "Why don't you just kill all of us?" he questioned, "After all, isn't that what you're going to do anyway?"

"Well, I need a way out of this facility, don't I?" said the red pony. "And with all of those rancid clones tracking through the hallways out there, I'm going to need a distraction right? Don't worry I'll leave you armed; just not til I leave. Oh, and one more thing..."

The red pony was interrupted by a flash of red that blurred across the front of him, knocking his gun clean out of his hoof, to which the red pony revolted in pain. The red flash then came back, grabbed the red pony by the collar of his lab coat and lifted him off of the floor. The flash was the same red clone they had seen in that room when they first entered the factory. The clone snarled in the red colt's face and then slammed him to the ground and kept him pinned on the floor.

"What are you doing?" questioned the red colt. "Don't you know your master when you see him? I am Dr. Atmosphere, your creator, and I demand that you..."

"SHUT UP!" yelled the clone. "You may have created us, but you are by no means our master! We are slaves to NO ONE!"

Dr. Atmosphere just laid there silently underneath the clone's hoof in fear. The clone turned to Violet Light and said, "Go! Attend to your fallen brother."

Violet Light stood there a while longer in shock at the fact that the clone had a sense of common knowledge; let alone the ability to speak understandably, but after a while he snapped out of his trance and ran to Azure Blaze and dragged him into the light with the other two ponies. He could tell that as he dragged him, Azure Blaze was in a lot of pain, but it seemed like most of his stress subsided when he came to a stop and laid on the floor. Violet Light proceeded to untie Wind Lance, who then slumped down to the floor. He was also in pain.

"Are you okay?" questioned Violet Light.

"When he found us in the storage room, he shot me in the leg," said Wind Lance, "I don't think I'll be able to walk, but don't worry about me go free Rainbow Dash. She's the pony in the other chair."

Violet Light then went to the other pony, who was tied up in the chair who had fainted from too much shock, stress, and blood-loss, and cut her loose. She looked absolutely horrible and like she was just barely hanging on to her life. All of her hair had been ripped from her head and tail, and the only way she could be identified was by the her cutie mark of a thundercloud producing a rainbow thunderbolt. When Violet Light saw that, he knew he had found Rainbow Dash.

"Now back to you my, master," said the clone, turning back toward Dr. Atmosphere.

"Do your worst," said Dr. Atmosphere. "What could one clone possibly do to hurt me?"

The clone delivered a swift hoof to Dr. Atmosphere's face. "That," the clone said with a smile. The clone then flew up to a scaffolding overlooking the room and flipped a switch on the wall. Immediately, the entire room lit up. Chains started clinking and gears started grinding, and not before long the machine in the room came back to life. The clone then flew back down to Dr. Atmosphere who was trying to crawl away. The clone grabbed a hold of the back of his lab coat and flew up above the opening of the machine grinding below them both.

"No. No no no," said Dr. Atmosphere, "Don't do this! I'll give you anything you want. Just please."

"You arrogant fool!" said the clone. "You are nothing, now. You have nothing. Nothing left to give. Even if you had everything in the world I still wouldn't listen to you. You forced my existence in this world: A world I am not supposed to be in and therefore, I must remove myself from it with you. What better way than to watch you suffer for all of your past atrocities. Now, what was that saying again? 'The machine works better when your ribs are broken' I do believe it was." The clone then took Dr. Atmosphere with both of it's hooves and slammed his chest as hard as it could across a railing beside her. Upon his contact with the rail, the ponies heard the cracking of bones, followed by a wail of pain coming from Dr. Atmosphere. He then hung there in the clones grasps in defeat and immense pain, coughing up blood every now and then.

"As for the rest of you," said the clone, turning towards the group of ponies still on the floor. "I must personally thank you for leading this filth right into my hooves. However, my brethren did not develop with a right mind, such as mine. I can tell you that, as of this time, they are coming for you. I suggest that you finish your deeds here and get out before they arrive. That is all I have to say. For now, this is farewell." After the clone had finished speaking, it stopped flapping its wings and both Dr. Atmosphere and the clone fell in. There was a grinding sound following shortly after, and bright red spectra began flowing into the huge vat on the side of the machine.

Violet Light quickly sat beside Azure Blaze and took his hoof in his own. "Staff Sergeant Blaze," he said, "I'm sorry; I let this happen to you. Even after what I said."

"You shut up," said Azure Blaze in a weak voice, "It was Dr. Atmosphere's fault, not yours."

Wind Lance crawled up next to Azure Blaze, "Are you thinking what I am thinking, Staff Sergeant?"

Azure Blaze nodded at him. "Well, Violet Light, here we are. There are three of us here who can't walk on their own, and I'm pretty sure you can only carry one of us out of here and well... I think we all know who that's going to be." The three ponies looked over at Rainbow Dash who was still out cold laying on the floor through all the chaos.

Violet Light blinked and a tears started to drip out of his eyes. "After all we've been though, I never thought it would have to end like this." he said.

"And I never thought it would end. But, it doesn't have to." said Azure Blaze, grabbing his chest and giving a hard yank, removed his dogtags. "Take these with you, and remember: I'll always be with you. Both watching from the clouds above Cloudsdale or, when the time comes, charging with you on the front lines of battle."

"Here," said Wind Lance, holding out a picture of him and a pink mare with silky gold hair in his hoof. "It may be asking for much but, could you give this back to my marefriend? Me leaving her and all is probably going to be hard on her. Just tell her I kept it safe in my helmet to the very end, and that I love her. Oh, and maybe tell her some of the stuff Staff Sergeant said. He's a real poet."

The three ponies looked at each other and shared one final chuckle with each other.

Violet Light looked at Wind Lance with his teary eyes and nodded his head.

"Now what are you doing? Just sitting there? Go get my rifle and leave the bomb with us; we'll take good care of it," said Azure Blaze.

Without hesitation, Violet Light got up and ran to the spot where Azure Blaze had been shot by the door to retrieve his rifle. When he got there to pick it up, he heard a substantial amount of banging on the door. He knew it wouldn't be long before the clones on the other side busted it open. Once he had the rifle he ran back to Azure Blaze and gave it to him along with a saddlebag he had been keeping on his back. "There's the bomb," he said reaching into the saddle bag, "and here's the detonator."

"We'll hold out as long as we can and give you time to get out of here," said Azure Blaze, "Now, take the mare and get out. Go! Hurry."

As Violet Light ran over to get Rainbow Dash up on his back, he heard Azure Blaze say to Wind Lance behind him, "How does it feel to die a hero?"

He then heard Wind Lance answer, "Not as good as dying with a friend." Which made his eyes tear up even more as he began running through the opposite door of the room, which no clones were at, and into the main hallway. When he was almost out of the factory door he heard a voice come on over the radio saying, "Hey Violet Light, Wind Lance finally got his cutie mark. It's the medal of honor." to which he smiled slightly to himself. The light of the entrance was now within reach and when he entered it he felt relief.

Violet Light was greeted by the same Equestrian law enforcers that were there when they entered and one angry commander.

"Violet Light!" yelled commander Phoenix, "What the hell happened? We lost radio contact with you almost half an hour ago. Where's the rest of your squad, where is Dr. Atmosphere, and where is the bomb?"

"The bomb," Violet Light whispered to himself. Through all of the fog of war, he had almost forgotten that the bomb was going to detonate at any second. "Everypony get down!" he yelled, but as he yelled that, there was a enormous bang, followed by an explosion that enveloped the factory right behind Violet Light and the shaking of clouds underneath their feet. The factory began to disintegrate and the clouds underneath Violet Light's hooves disappeared, causing both him and an unconscious Rainbow Dash to enter a free fall state. Violet Light began trying to flap his wings, but the extra weight from his equipment was too much for him to handle so he began to rip off his body armor. After he got all of his equipment off, he caught sight of Rainbow Dash, who had fallen at almost twice the rate that he was falling at, diving headfirst towards the ground. Violet Light angled his body just right towards the ground and began to catch up to her as she was falling.

They were getting closer and closer to the ground. By the time he had caught up to her, they were both about 350 meters from the ground. Violet Light grabbed a hold of Rainbow Dash and flipped so that he was parallel with the ground and underneath her. He then stretched out his wings in order to slow their fall as much as he could, just in time for them to hit the canopy of a small forest waiting for them below. Violet Light had hit his head on a branch, causing him to blackout.

When he came to, he could hear the voices of a rescue team and turned to the side to see Rainbow Dash being carried away on a stretcher.

"He's awake," he heard somepony say, to which his response was, "Is she going to make it?"

"She's been hurt pretty badly and most of her blood has been drained, but with the proper care, I think she will make it, Sergeant Light," he heard the pony say. Violet Light gave out a sigh of relief and looked back up to the sky. To his surprise, he saw a rainbow made completely out of red spectra. Only he knew where it came from and he wanted to keep that story a secret to himself and those he thought had a right to know. He then gave another sigh of relief, and whispered to himself,

"It's over... It's all over."

Author's Note:

It's over... It's finally done.
UPDATE: Chapter has successfully been peer edited.

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[LCpl Azure Blaze]

Epilogue comes out tomorrow.