Under The Rainbow

by CommissarVulpin

Chapter 1

Cloudsdale Weather Facility
Rainbow Factory
11:42 PM

“Ugh. What a night. I hate working night shift.”

“Quit your whining. Working as a night guard is the easiest damn job I’ve ever had. Nothing to do but stretch out and relax. Besides, who in their right mind would want to break into a rainbow factory? Come on.”

A pegasus pony dressed from head to toe in black listened to the conversation between the two guards from a displaced roof panel. He watched them intently from above as they casually strolled down the hall and around the corner. Once they were out of sight, he slung an empty bag over his shoulder, hooked a cable to a roof strut and silently rappelled down the wall.

Working from memory of the map he had studied, he navigated the hallways of the factory, slipping past a few more bored guards and a sleeping technician. He made his way towards the center of the factory, stopping at a heavy, imposing door that bore a large ‘NO UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY’ decal. Ignoring it, he pressed a small device up to the keypad next to the door and pressed a button. With a quiet beep, a few sparks, and a plume of blue smoke, the door opened with a hiss and retracted into the wall.

The small room beyond featured a maze of pipes filled with glittering, glowing, multicolored liquids. This room was where Pigment, the very heart and soul of the beautiful rainbows, was produced. From here the Pigment was piped to the distillation pools and then to the emitters, which would launch the rainbows in their great arches across the skies of Equestria.

At the heart of the tangle of pipes lay a large cylindrical canister, made of sturdy materials, which hummed and glowed with magical energy. Manufactured of a special enchanted steel and held together with countless bolts, the canister was what provided the Pigment for the rainbows that left the facility. This canister was the source for every rainbow in Equestria.

And he was going to steal it.

Carefully turning valves and unhooking hoses, the stealth pony removed the canister from its nest. Through a small glass window on its side no larger than a peephole, he could see the roiling, churning maelstrom of colors contained within.

Within seconds, the automatic monitoring systems detected that the supply of Pigment had suddenly stopped. Alarms blared and red lights sprung up everywhere. Quickly shoving the canister in his bag, he darted behind a stack of crates against the wall. He readied a silenced pistol and waited. Before long, frantic hoofsteps marked the entry of several guards and technicians.

“It’s gone!”

“What?”

“Look! It’s just… gone!”

“Alright, spread out! The thief is bound to be here somewhere.”

One by one, the guards fanned out in several directions. One of them stayed behind and began to search the room.

As soon as he passed behind the crates, the stealth pony grabbed him, put a hoof over his mouth, and shot him twice in the back. The other guards, hearing the commotion, spun around.

“What was that?”

The stealth pony swiftly tossed a small black device into the center of the floor. It promptly exploded, tearing a jagged hole in the floor. Using the smoke as cover, he darted over to the circle of exposed cloud beneath.

As the smoke cleared, he waved to the befuddled guards and dove down the hole, disappearing through the clouds. Once through, he freefell through the night air beneath Cloudsdale for a few seconds, then spread his wings and glided safely down to a waiting truck.

“How was it?” Asked the driver.

“Too easy.”