We all know how "The Rainbow Factory" ended... Or do we? This is the story of what happened after the ending. When Rainbow Dash comes to her senses after she loses her mind trying to catch Scootaloo. Now they must fight to get out alive.
Escape Insanity: We all know how "The Rainbow Factory" ended... Or do we? This is the story of what happened after the ending. When Rainbow Dash comes to her senses after she loses her mind trying to catch Scootaloo. Now they must fight to get out alive. (Read "The Rainbow Factory" first if you haven't yet.) Operation: Crimson Rainbow: Upon learning of the secret facility of the Rainbow Factory and what happens inside it's walls, Princess Luna dispatches a special task force to shut the facility down... For good. (SPECIAL THANKS TO: DJSaltine for proofing this story!)
Chapter 2: Escape Insanity, Part 1: Don't Look Back
The Rainbow Factory Chapter: 2 Escape Insanity By: Azure Blaze
“You have Beautiful eyes.” said Scootaloo as she hung her head low again in defeat. But after she said that, thoughts started to run through Rainbow Dash’s mind again. She remembered all the good times she had with Scootaloo. She remembered watching the meteor shower with her, the Rainbow Dash fan club she had made, and the camping trip they went on while she was still a filly, the day when she took her under her wing. Tears started to form at the edges of her eyes and the darkness that surrounded her mind began to lift. She had returned to her old caring self and not the raging monster that she was moments ago.
With four swift kicks she bucked the chains to the shackles’ binding Scootaloo, disconnecting the chains from the cuffs. Scootaloo fell to the floor but showed no signs of getting back up. She was in so much pain it hurt her to even lift a wing.
The guards that were overseeing the whole process were shocked and did not know what to do as they watched Rainbow Dash bend over and slide Scootaloo’s aching body onto her back keeping her wings spread to keep Scootaloo from falling off.
Then a voice came from the scaffolding yelling “Rainbow Dash! What are you doing? Why have you not yet thrown that worthless foal into the rainbow machine?”
Rainbow Dash knew it was Dr. Atmosphere by the sound of his voice and replied saying “I quit! I don’t want to do this anymore! I’m leaving and I’m taking her with me!”
“That’s a shame,” said Dr. Atmosphere as he walked to the edge of the scaffolding so that he was now fully visible. “Nopony can quit their job at the Rainbow Factory. Why would you even think of that option?”
“Because what you do here is wrong. You should never have to torment other ponies’ lives like this even if they didn’t pass their flight test! They are still ponies like you and me!” Rainbow Dash replied. She knew exactly what she was getting into and she remembered the countless screams from the ponies she watched get thrown into the rainbow machine. They echoed through her head like screams coming from an abyss. She had wanted to quit from the start but never had a reason to until now.
“What we do here is for the good of all Equestria. We work for the Princess. She appointed us to the task of making rainbows and we will make sure we do our best to make the highest quality rainbows possible, even if it means sacrificing some lesser pony lives. They would be doing Equestria a great service.” said Dr. Atmosphere, trying to regain control of Rainbow Dash
“Princess Celestia would never tolerate what you do here! She may have given us the task but she never had in mind that we would do this to her subjects!” Rainbow Dash yelled out in rage. Her eyes started to water up as she remembered all of the horrible things she let happen in this factory. “I quit. I can’t work here anymore.” She repeated to herself as she hung her head low.
Rainbow Dash started to hear the movement of hoofsteps in front of her so she raised her head to find that the two guards that had been watching started closing in on her.
“What are you doing?” questioned Rainbow Dash as she backed away.
“Nopony leaves the rainbow factory.” said Dr. Atmosphere in a dark voice with a mischievous smile on his face.
Rainbow Dash kept backing up until she was against the wall. “I have to get out of here.” She thought to herself “If I fly, I risk Scootaloo falling off my back. My only other option is to run. But to where?” Rainbow dash started to frantically look around for an escape. She saw the door they bring the test failiees in through but she knew that they locked it when they lead their victims in through it and she didn't have a key. Then she noticed that on the right guard’s belt there was a key to that door.
As the guards came in closer and closer she turned her head to Scootaloo and said “I’m going to get you out of here but first you need to hold on, this is going to get rough.” Rainbow Dash felt Scootaloo’s grip on her increase in acknowledgement to what she just said.
The guard on the left’s taser started to buzz with electricity. When Rainbow Dash heard that noise she leaped forward, grabbed the left guard’s hoof that held the taser, and hit the joint area in his arm making the taser come up and shock his head instantly blacking him out. She then reached down, took that guards taser, and tased the other guard until there was no sign of retaliation.
She reached down and grabbed the keys then looked up and saw that Dr. Atmosphere was gone. Although Rainbow thought it would have been nice to know where he had gone, she knew that wasn't her primary objective. Now she had to focus on escaping with Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash ran and unlocked the door, but as soon as she did alarms started sounding off. Rainbow Dash quickly jumped through the door narrowly evading a giant metal wall that came down and sealed the doorway shut. Rainbow Dash started running down hall after hall, barely jumping through doorways as they sealed. Sometimes she was too slow to get through the doorway of her choice and was forced to take an alternate route but she always knew where she was going. All those long years of working in the factory helped her get to know the hallways and what rooms were where. Scootaloo, still clinging to Rainbow Dash’s back lifted her head slightly and asked “What’s going on? Where are we going?”
“The factory is going into lockdown.” Said Rainbow Dash “I’m trying to find a safe hiding spot so we can make an escape plan. Just hang in there, I promise I will get you out of here.”
By this time Rainbow Dash could feel Scootaloo’s grip on her start to weaken and knew she couldn't hold on much longer. She had to find a good hiding space and fast. She finally thought of the storage room. It was the room they stored the spectra in before they shipped it out to the outer factory. There was only one way in and one way out but it had lots of hiding spots if they decided to come looking for them. Rainbow Dash started to make her way to the room hopping that it hadn't been shut off yet. Her hooves started to travel faster and faster with every step. Her hooves started aching after a while of really hard running but she had just brushed the feeling aside because her mind was set on one thing: get Scootaloo to safety. She rounded the last corner and saw that the door to the storage room. It was still open. Quickly Rainbow dash ran down the hallway and entered the storage room just as another giant wall came down and sealed them in the room.
The storage room was dark. Their only sources of light were the glowing crates of spectra they had recently harvested. The room was very large and full of crates of spectra of various colors. Rainbow Dash began exploring the room, being one of the managers she had seen inventory of the room but was never really in it much. As she was going down the rows of spectra she remembered every single pony that they belonged to and heard the exact screams that they made when they were getting mangled by the rainbow machine. When she finally got to the back of the room she saw three crates. One had green and red in it, another had green and yellow in it, and the last one was empty. At this sight Rainbow Dash fell to the ground and started to cry. When she had fallen, Scootaloo had rolled off her back onto the floor, after a moment regained her strength, and got up to see her lifelong role model weeping on the floor in front of the colorful spectra of her now lost friends.
“It wasn’t your fault,” said Scootaloo “you weren’t in your right mind. I know you wouldn’t have done it if you were.”
“But I still did it.” Said Rainbow Dash “I’m a monster. I’m sorry Scoots.” Scootaloo was about to say something but Rainbow Dash stopped her and said “when I first came here I never thought I would be doing this.” She raised her head off the floor. “After I performed the Sonic Rainboom when I was a filly, Dr. Atmosphere himself approached me and asked if I could help him with a certain task. He asked me if I could help him make rainbows, and I being fascinated with the subject and accepted his request. When I arrived here he gave me a grand tour of the factory. What he failed to tell me, however, were his plans for me. While he was leading me on this ‘tour’ of his, he brought me into a room with an examination table in the middle along with four other ponies wearing lab coats and protective goggles. Dr. Atmosphere closed the door behind us and signaled to the other ponies. Immediately the four ponies closed in and seized me I tried to fight them off but they were too strong and I was still just a filly. They brought me over to the examination table and strapped me down to it. I kept on screaming ‘What’s going on?! What are you doing to me?! I didn't agree to this’ hay since I was so young they even managed to get an ‘I want my mommy!’ out of me. Can you ever imagine me saying that?” Rainbow dash paused for a second to regain her emotions before going on to say “One of the ponies rolled in a cart full of test tubes and needles. Dr. Atmosphere came close to the table and said that I was a very special Pegasus, that there were not many like me found in Equestria. A Pegasus capable of making her own rainbow out of nothing but speed. It was unheard of. He said that he wanted to find out how I could do it. They ripped strands of hair from each of the colors of my mane and put them into separate vials on the cart. They drew blood from me, tested that, and did many more painful experiments on my body. At the end of all the testing they still had no reason for why I could do what I could do, so they decided to put me to work in the factory in a less important spot, still able to leave. I was told only one thing: never go through the door on the far south side of the factory. Time went on and one day I found myself passing by that door. As I was passing by I heard somepony screaming for help and ran through the door to see what was wrong. I found myself on the scaffolding and to my horror,” Rainbow Dash stood up with her head hung low and tears still rolling down her cheek and dropping onto the floor. “To my horror I saw a pony getting torn to pieces and put in the rainbow machine. After I saw that I was shocked, I couldn't move. That’s when the factory started getting to me. Dr. Atmosphere, as my punishment for going through the door, forbid me from leaving the factory for a while and made me work in the rainbow machine room. The more I worked in the rainbow machine room, the more the screams became part of my daily life. My heart started to harden. After a while of good work Dr. Atmosphere decided to let me go outside again to help with making rainbows just on my own. He later put enough trust in me to make me a manager of the factory once one of the older workers passed away. While I was outside I was really good and friendly but when I entered the factory I had no care what so ever for the other lives of ponies because of the fact that I was brought up working here. But then you came. You snapped me out of that trance I was in. I will never go back to the way I was living. We are getting out of here Scootaloo and when we do we will tell princess Celestia. She will take care of this problem.” Rainbow Dash had stopped crying and was now standing up with pride in her eyes and Scootaloo had a feeling of joy in seeing her lifelong role model back to the way she knew her and on her side again.
“I forgive you for what you have done.” Said Scootaloo “I’m just happy your back Dash.”
“I am too kid.” said Rainbow Dash “But now isn't a time to party about it we still need to get out of here. They’ll be looking for us soon and we need an escape plan.
“I’m leaving this one to you.” Said Scootaloo “obviously I don’t have any sense of direction in this factory.”
“There are special passcodes to the doors that have been entrusted to me.” Said Rainbow Dash “So the doors aren't a problem. However the guards are. By the looks of things the factory went into level four lock down which is the second highest lockdown the factory has. This makes it much more difficult for us because in level four lock down when we open doors it alerts the administrator and it takes a minute to open. Level four lock down also permits guards the use of lethal weapons.”
“So what will we do?” asked Scootaloo aware of the increased danger.
“First I have to ask you this.” said Rainbow Dash “Can you still fly?”
Scootaloo started flapping her wings. She didn’t get too high before coming back down to the floor.
“I can still fly.” she said “but I can’t maneuver as well as when you were chasing me.”
“As long as you can fly fast and in a straight line you’ll be fine.” said Rainbow Dash “these hallways are for the most part strait and the path we are going to take doesn’t have many turns.”
Rainbow Dash looked around for something to write with but only found spectra. Reluctantly she dipped her hoof in one of the crates of yellow spectra and began making a map of their escape route on the floor. When she had finished making a rough blueprint of the factory she put an “X” in one of the squares.
“This is where we are.” Said Rainbow Dash pointing to the square with the “X” in it. “The storage room on the far east side of the factory.” Then she pointed to a gap in the blueprint’s perimeter. “This is the doorway out on the north side of the factory; it is probably the most guarded and locked. It is not like the other doors however; the only way we are going to unlock it is a trip to the administrator’s room here.” Rainbow pointed to a room adjacent to the gap in the blueprint. “Once I put in the exit code we will have thirty seconds to get out before it closes again. And you best believe the entire security system will be on us as soon as we do that.”
“Just thirty seconds?” asked Scootaloo. “Can we make it out in time?”
“I’m fast enough.” Said Rainbow Dash “I can carry you.”
“So how are we even going to get to the door?” questioned Scootaloo looking over the rough blueprint that had been drawn on the floor in a bright glowing yellow spectra.
“See this hallway?” said Rainbow Dash pointing to a large strait line leading up to the doorway and going straight down the center of the factory map. “This is the main hallway. All of the rooms in this factory are connected to it somehow. We need to find a way to get to it and we will be able to get to the front door very easily from there.” Rainbow Dash pointed to a smaller line coming out of the storage rooms only exit and going up and over before leading straight into the bigger line going through the center. “This looks like the path we should take.” Said Rainbow Dash “it has a lot of rooms connected straight to it on the way out so we can hide from patrols in them.”
“What’s that room?” asked Scootaloo pointing to a square with a question mark in the middle of it.
“I don’t know.” Said Rainbow Dash “Only Dr. Atmosphere and a select few have been seen going into that room and nopony else is permitted entry.”
“Do you think we should give it a visit?” questioned Scootaloo who was getting more and more intrigued with the lore that surrounded the factory and that there was lore among the workers inside it. “Curiosity killed the cat Scoots.” Said Rainbow Dash “But I don’t see why not. It’s on our way to the door, and it would be nice to know what kinds of secrets they are keeping in this horrible place.”
“Yeah it would.” Said Scootaloo as she stared to yawn.
“You should rest a bit Scoot; it’s been a long and hard time for you.” Said Rainbow Dash “Don’t worry I’ll stay awake and keep watch. As soon as they come I’ll wake you up for that is when we move.”
“Thank you Rainbow.” Said Scootaloo, laying down beside Rainbow Dash “Thanks for everything.”
“No problem kid.” Said Rainbow Dash as she laid down beside Scootaloo and put a wing around her. It was the first time in a while Scootaloo had a sense of safety and she was calmed by that feeling. She had many thoughts and questions running through her head, but when Rainbow had laid down beside her and put a wing around her all of those thoughts were replaced by the thought of “everything is going to be all right” and found herself in a deep sleep.
Scootaloo woke up in the same place as when she went to sleep in the storage room. Quickly she noticed that Rainbow Dash was no longer at her side. She immediately got up and started to franticly look around for Rainbow Dash, calling out her name. “Rainbow!” she said “Rainbow Dash! Where are you?” But only echoes returned. She started running around the room still calling out for Rainbow Dash but still only answered by her own voice asking the same question. “Where are you!?” she yelled out as a last chance to locate Rainbow Dash. There was no response. Not even her own echo answered this time, which she thought was out of the normal. She slowly walked back to the back of the room where the map of the factory was made on the floor. When she got there she was terrified. On the floor the map to the factory had been smudged to the point of which it no longer looked like a map and in the glowing yellow spectra stain on the floor written in dark red blood were the words "THEY ARE COMING FOR YOU" along with a track of smeared blood leading out the door. It looked like someone had been shot and then dragged out of the room.
Scootaloo's mind automatically went to Rainbow Dash and she began to worry. She thought "How could I let this happen? I was sleeping right next to her. Why didn't they take me too? Then there was pounding at the door so Scootaloo quickly ran and hid behind a stack of crates. The pounding continued to get louder and louder until it finally stopped. Scootaloo began sticking her head out to examine her surroundings. Whoever was pounding on the door was still outside talking to another pony. Scootaloo tried listening in from a distance make anything out until she heard one of them yell "Fire in the hole!" Immediately after the room was lit up with a giant flash of light and a loud explosion bounced off the walls. The door to the room flew several feet down the center pathway of the room. When the smoke from the explosion had cleared, Scootaloo saw four ponies standing there in the doorway. They were dressed in digital camouflage and had weapons drawn. One was a deep shade of blue carrying a M4A1, another was as black as night with a SCAR-H, still another had red and black stripes and was carrying a M249, and the last one was dark purple and also had a M4A1. They all had flashlights on their weapons and were wearing helmets.
"Scan the area." said the blue pony and at that command the others started to carefully search the room. The blue pony started to walk closer and closer toward Scootaloo but then he turned to look at the blood stains on the floor. Suddenly Scootaloo felt a hoof on her shoulder followed by another one coming around her mouth pulling her back into the darkness. She tried resisting but she wasn't strong enough. She thought to herself that this was the end, that she was dead meat for sure this time. Finally when the hooves had stopped dragging her back she heard the pony who dragged her whisper "I am going to let you go now, but you have to promise me that you won't say anything loud." Scootaloo knew the voice and calmly nodded her head up and down. The hooves retreated and Scootaloo turned around to see it was just the pony she was thinking it was.
"Princess Luna!" Exclaimed Scootaloo in excitement.
Luna covered Scootaloo's mouth again and said "Shh what did I tell you?
"Sorry." said Scootaloo "I'm just so happy to see you right now."
"It's ok." said Luna "It doesn't look like they heard of anything. What is this place?"
"This is the Rainbow Factory." said Scootaloo "This is where a group of pegasi lead by a colt named Dr. Atmosphere make spectra by killing other pegasi, who have failed their flight test, and harvest their colors."
"What!?" Luna whispered in a harsh tone, "How come I never heard that they were doing this."
"I don't know." said Scootaloo, "Are you going to help me get out of here?"
"I can't help, you're just dreaming." answered Luna, "A very special dream. This type of dream lets you see the future. Although the ponies in these dreams can't see you or touch you they can still hear you."
"This is a dream about the future?" asked Scootaloo.
"Yes," answered Luna, "and I am sharing it with you. When I first entered this dream I could feel its power. Normally unicorns are the ones that have these types of dreams which is strange since you are a pegasus."
Scootaloo looked up at the blue pony. He was still studying the blood stains on the floor. "Who are they?" she asked.
Luna poked her head out beside Scootaloo's. "It looks like they are members of Equestria's E.S.O.D division. They are the top picks of the Equestrian military. I don't know who the others were but this one right here, I know him, we've even met face to face before. He's one of the best we have. His name is Staff Sergeant Azure Blaze. Just recently we assigned him and a small squad of ponies to the bog to fix Equestria's 'Hydra' problem. Members of E.S.O.D are trained to hold two handed weapons while only standing on their back legs. Most ponies take weeks to finish their training; he finished it in three days. He's pretty amazing." Luna's blue face blushed slightly.
"Look!" said Scootaloo, "Here comes one of the others."
The red pony with black stripes ran up to Azure Blaze. "Staff Sergeant Blaze." he said, "You better take a look at this." Then they both ran off one following the other.
"Come," said Luna, "let us go see what they have found." Both Scootaloo and Luna ran off following the other two ponies. When the ponies they were pursuing stopped they saw in the corner of the room was the corpse of another pegasi dressed like one of them but not one of the original four that entered the room at first. He was of a lighter blue color than Azure Blaze and his name patch read "SGT.COOL BREEZE."
"What's his status?" asked Azure Blaze. The red and black pony started to examine the lifeless pony. Meanwhile the other two ponies that were searching the room came over.
"There was no sign of life." said the black one.
When the pony who was examining the body was finished he turned to Azure Blaze and said, "He is dead sir."
Azure Blaze sighed and closed the dead pony's eyes, and then he put his hoof up to his ear and started talking into the mic of the headset he was wearing. "Phoenix nest come in, this is Staff Sergeant Azure Blaze." he said.
"This is Phoenix nest; we hear you loud and clear go ahead and send traffic." A voice in the radio said.
"We have a KIA," said Azure Blaze back into the mic, "and one MIA."
"What?!" the voice on the radio said, "Who is the KIA?"
"Cool Breeze is," said Azure Blaze, "and the MIA is Sergeant Wind Lance
There was silence over the radio for a while until it was broken by different voice on the other end of the radio saying, "Carry out primary mission objectives. Do not, I repeat, do not search for the MIA, it is too risky and Sergeant Lance is not as valuable as the rest of the team."
"What?!" said Azure Blaze "No we are not leaving a pony behind. Sergeant Wind Lance is just as valuable as I am."
"Listen to me Staff Sergeant." the voice on the radio said in a disrespectful tone, "Who is really in charge here?"
"You are sir." said Azure Blaze.
"Then leave Wind Lance and go secure the target HVT. Phoenix nest out." Azure Blaze lowered his hoof and stood silent and still.
"So," said the black pony, "what are we going to do now?"
Scootaloo looked away from the scene and at Luna. Scootaloo saw her eyes watering up, so she took Luna's hoof in her own. Luna looked down at Scootaloo and smiled with a couple of tears trickling down her cheek then again to watch.
"Let's go." said Azure Blaze, "Primary mission objective is our priority."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." said the dark purple pony, "So we are just going to leave Wind Lance behind like this?"
"What are we going to do?" said Azure Blaze, "Command won't let us."
"Screw command." said the red and black pony, "I don't know about you guys but I am going to go get Wind Lance back with or without your help." The pony started walking off by himself when the black pony stopped him by saying, "Wait I'm coming with you. He may be the least trained of us all, but he's still one of us. Nopony left behind." The dark purple pony stepped up as well and said, "Me too, nopony left behind." They all turned their heads to Azure Blaze. "What about you Staff Sergeant?" asked the red and black pony, "Are you with us?" Azure Blaze stood there. Luna walked up to him, whispered something in his ear, and then backed away. Azure Blaze stood there a while longer before looking up, cocking his M4 and saying "Nopony left behind." in a deep voice. Then the entire squad ran out and followed the trail of blood left on the floor.
Scootaloo turned to Luna and said, "What did you say to him?"
"I told him to be safe." replied Luna, "I must go now, your dream is ending. I will inform my sister of the situation that you are in."
"Thank you." said Scootaloo.
"Go now," said Luna, "somepony is trying to wake you up." Then Scootaloo saw nothing but darkness and heard, "Scootaloo, wake up, they are here, wake up!" Scootaloo blinked and when she opened her eyes again she was in the storage room with Rainbow Dash by her side and voices coming from the other side of the door.
"Rainbow Dash." said Scootaloo in a hushed tone as she awoke from her slumber, "Princess Luna visited me in my dream. She said she would talk to Princess Celestia and get help."
"That's good," said Rainbow Dash, "But right now we need to focus on getting out of here by ourselves. Something tells me we won't be getting help anytime soon."
"So what's the plan then?" asked Scootaloo.
"The guards travel in groups of two or more in lockdown," said Rainbow Dash. "We need to find a way around them when they open the door. If we do manage to get a chance to take a guard out without the others knowing, we should take it. We can take his weapon along with us afterward but we should be careful about when we use it. These halls will echo any noise we make to the ears of everypony out to get us in this factory, so we should only use the weapon as a last resort. Come on, let's hide now and wait for our chance to get out of here." Both of the pegasi ran to a large stack of spectra crates that were stacked neatly a couple of rows away from the door. The door opened and in walked three guards, each with armed with a pistol on their utility belt. Two of them walked off in the opposite direction of where the pegasi were hiding leaving one at the door facing inward to make sure nothing ran out on them while the others searched.
"Looks like luck is on our side, Scoots," whispered Rainbow Dash. "If this works out, we will only have to take out the guard guarding the door."
"Wait," said Scootaloo. "What if they find the map you drew? Then they will know where we are heading."
"They won't," said Rainbow Dash. "I smeared it. Now it only looks like a spill." Scootaloo looked back at the place where the map was drawn and saw that it looked exactly like the smear in her dream, meaning that what Luna had said in her dream was true. She really did dream about the future.
"We need to find a way to direct the guard at the door's attention away from inside the room." said Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo looked around until she found a large bolt. She picked it up and threw it out the doorway, past the guard, and into the hallway. The bolt landed and made a heavy metal-to-metal sound that made the guard turn around to see what was going on. Quickly, Rainbow Dash seized the opportunity to strike, sneaked up on the guard, covered his mouth to muffle the noise and snapped his neck, killing him instantly. She then dragged his body back behind the crates they were hiding behind and took the pistol off the guards belt. she put it on the inside of her right wing to make a make-shift holster for it and turned to Scootaloo. "Let's go." she said to Scootaloo and they both ran out the door and down the hallway.
The hallway was dead silent . The only sounds that could be heard were the clops of the two ponies' hooves on the floor and the occasional dripping of condensed moisture falling from pipes which ran overhead. Because of the lockdown, the only lights that remained on were the dim red emergency lights on the walls which gave off an eerie shade of red. The two ponies constantly scanned the area around them for signs of trouble as they headed down the hall towards the mysterious door at the end which they didn't know what was behind. Scootaloo began to worry if she could still trust Rainbow Dash. 'What if she decides to turn on me suddenly again?' she questioned herself, 'And how can I ever forget about what she did to my friends?' These questions raced through her mind constantly until she finally got them out of her head by saying to herself, 'This facility really does get to you doesn't it. Its the atmosphere. It makes you worry too much. I don't like it; no wonder Rainbow Dash wants to get out after all of this time working here. I understand now how I made her snap out of her confusion. It was because I was the first sign of actual sanity she has seen in this place for years.'
When they got to the doorway at the end of the hallway they stopped. There was another hallway to their left that led to the main hallway which then led out of the factory.
Rainbow Dash turned to Scootaloo and asked, "Are you ready to see what is behind this door?"
Scootaloo nodded. "Yes." she replied hesitantly. The idea of finding out what was behind the door was dangerous but they had to know what Dr. Atmosphere was planning behind the door and do their best to stop it.
Rainbow Dash turned and entered the lock down override code for the door on the keypad to the right of the door. A voice came out of the panel after Rainbow Dash had entered the code saying "Manual override accepted. Please standby."
"Now we wait." said Rainbow Dash, "Keep a lookout for guards. We don't want to get caught now." Both of the pegasi sat down in the doorway quietly and waited.
"So," said Rainbow Dash, "How are Sweetybell and Applebloom doing? Have they found their cutie marks yet?"
"They're fine." said Scootaloo, "None of us have found our cutie marks yet." Scootaloo hung her head low. I wonder what they will do without me if I don't get out of this factory or if they will even miss me."
Rainbow Dash looked over at Scootaloo and said, "Hey now don't talk like that. I'll get you out of here even if it means I won't myself." Scootaloo looked back up to lock eyes with Rainbow Dash and both of them smiled at each other. At that time they heard the door behind them unlock and open slightly. "Well," said Rainbow Dash, "The moment of truth. I'll go in first."
Rainbow Dash entered the room first followed by Scootaloo. The room was extremely dark. There were no lights in the room whatsoever but the glow of six giant tanks in a row right in front of them. Each one containing one of the colors of the rainbow in spectra. The glass on the tanks were so dusty they couldn't see what was in them so Rainbow Dash trotted up to the yellow one and wiped the dust off. To her horror she saw and exact copy of herself in the tank hooked up to a series of tubes. "Wh-what is this!?" she said in a loud voice. She frantically ran down the line of tanks and wiped the dust off of each one to reveal an exact copy of her in correlation to the color of spectra the tank contained. Scootaloo followed along just as shocked as Rainbow Dash at the sight of exact copies of her lifelong roll model. when they came to the red tank at last they saw the same thing as the other 5 tanks but this one opened its eyes at the two ponies and gave them an angry look.
At that moment a pegasi guard that had been secretly watching them up by the ceiling swooped down and grabbed a hold of Scootaloo and flew off. Scootaloo let out a terrifying yell as she was carried off and Rainbow Dash pulled out the pistol she had obtained and frantically search around for the small pegasi yelling "Give her back!"
"Beautiful aren't they?" Dr. Atmosphere's voice echoed through the room. The lights turned on and Dr. Atmosphere was there standing in front of Rainbow Dash smiling along with the pegasi guard that had captured Scootaloo holding the struggling filly next to him with his pistol against her head and twelve other pegasi guards who had surrounded her as well. "Drop the weapon Dash or I will order them to kill both of you." said Dr. Atmosphere. Rainbow Dash looked around and after a while reluctantly dropped her weapon to the floor in defeat. "That's better." said Dr. Atmosphere, "Now you're probably wondering what these beauties are. They are clones we made of you from the DNA you so graciously donated to us on your first day here and no there aren't just six of them." Dr. Atmosphere trotted over to a button on the wall and hit it. The back wall of the room lifted off of the ground and retracted into the ceiling revealing and entire room filled with thousands of tanks exactly like the six they had found at the front of the room. "This is my army." he said, "With these clones I will take over Equestria and never have to work for Princess Celestia again. There is one small problem however and this is the reason why I have not killed you and your friend yet. You see they need the DNA of their host to grow to their full size. Without their DNA they will die and put all of these years to waste which is why I have a deal to propose to you. If you willingly stay here and give us your DNA I will let your friend go. If you don't I will gladly start this experiment over from scratch with my own DNA and continue harvesting spectra from little fillies. The choice is yours."
"Don't do it Rainbow!" shouted Scootaloo, "Luna sa..." her voice was muffled by the guard holding her saying "Shut up you pest."
Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo still struggling then drooped her head down low in defeat "You win Atmosphere. Just let her go."
"I knew we could come to an agreement." said Dr. Atmosphere, "Guard please be sure to see this young filly out just as I have told you to." The guard holding Scootaloo hit her on the back of the head with his pistol to try and knock her out but the blow wasn't hard enough. The young filly fell onto the floor half unconcious crying in pain. Her sight was blurry and she could barely make out what she heard.
"I thought you said you wouldn't hurt her!" yelled Rainbow Dash.
"I said I would let her go. I never said I wouldn't hurt her." Said Dr. Atmosphere.
The guard that hit Scootaloo came over and hit her once more in the head this time successfully knocking her out. Scootaloo's vision went black.
Scootaloo's vision came back a while later when the sun had started to set. She was left alone in Froggy Bottom Bog with no sense of direction and an aching head. She was alone and had to find her way back to Canterlot herself. At least she was finally out of the factory.
To Be Continued In: The Rainbow Factory Chapter 3: Operation Crimson Rainbow...
Chapter 3: Operation: Crimson Rainbow, Part 1: Hydra Hunting
"Him? Yeah I know him. Not only that but I owe my life to him. If it wasn't for him I would be dead. The real question though is, how did you come to know his name? You've never seen him before and ever since that one mission, almost everypony has forgotten all about him. Everypony except me, of course. The mission was technically called Operation: Windbreaker, although we called it something else. We being me and him. We called it Operation: Crimson Rainbow. So, you want to know more about it, eh? Well then, take a seat and make sure your comfortable, this may take a while.
"It all started on that fateful day in Froggy Bottom Bog. It was a hot and humid night and the mosquitoes were biting. The slimy water we were forced to walk through was thick, warm, and full of leeches. We were assigned a mission to take care of Equestria's 'hydra' problem. We had been trekking through the bog for almost four and a half hours looking for a hydra that was on the loose so that they might capture it and send it to the Gates of Tartarus so that it wouldn't bother the citizens of Equestria again. That's when we found her..." ________________________________________________________________________________ AUGUST, 09, 2012, 0027 HOURS FROGGY BOTTOM BOG, EQUESTRIA
"Violet Light, do you have any idea where we are?" asked a dark-red earth pony colt with an even darker shade of red for hair and a red sun rising as a cutie mark.
"I have no idea, Crimson Dawn," said Violet Light as he held a flashlight up to a rough layout of Froggy Bottom Bog. Violet Light was a dark-purple pegasus colt with even darker purple hair and a purple lantern as his cutie mark.
"Great, just like I thought, we are completely lost in Froggy Bottom Bog and these mosquitoes won't stop eating me alive," said Crimson Dawn.
"Quit complaining, Crimson. It could be worse," said a dark-green unicorn colt with dark-blue hair, a apple shaped emerald as a cutie mark, and a dim light blue light illuminating from his horn. He was holding a thermal imaging device and scanning the area with it.
"That's easy for you to say, Emerald Apple. You practically grew up in this kind of heat living in Apploosa all of this time," said Crimson Dawn.
"Are you saying Apploosa is no different from Froggy Bottom Bog?" Emerald Apple questioned in a harsh tone of voice.
"N-No I was just saying that..." said Crimson Dawn just before a dark-blue pegasus colt with light blue hair and a light blue lightning bolt coming from a black thunder cloud as a cutie mark interrupted.
"Will you all just shut up. We are in the right place, I'm certain of it. Sergeant Apple, keep scanning the area with that camera let us know if you see anything unusual," said the dark-blue pegasus.
"Yes, Staff-Sergeant Azure Blaze," said Emerald Apple. "I'm doing my best, but there seems to be interference coming from the massive amount of hot air Crimson Dawn seems to be emitting from his mouth."
Crimson Dawn was about to open his mouth again but stopped when he saw Azure Blaze scowling at him; so the dark-red pony just sat there with a pout on his face. All four ponies were dressed in woodland digital military uniforms and carrying extremely large saddle bags filled with various equipment. The saddle bags themselves were so heavy that they prevented the pegasi from flying very long. All four ponies had coyote-brown plate carriers with various pouches attached to them and kevlar helmets on. Azure Blaze and Violet Light were armed with M4 assault rifles and Emerald Apple and Crimson Dawn were armed with M16A3 assault rifles. The squad of ponies had been navigating their way through dense bog for a while and had stopped on a dry patch of land to rest up and search for the hydra they were looking for.
"Hey, Blaze," whispered Violet Light. "Even if we do find this hydra, what are we going to do to catch it?"
"We are to lead the beast south towards Phoenix Nest," answered Azure Blaze. "There are about two dozen unicorn operatives down there waiting for us to get there. Once we get there, they will cast a containing spell and do as the Equestrian government pleases with it."
"Oh," replied Violet Light. "What do you think they will do with it?"
"From what I have heard they are going to lock it up behind the gates of Tartarus, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did some testing on it. After all, it is the only one in Equestria."
"I hope they don't hurt it too much," said Violet Light. "Even hydra's have feelings." He then sat quiet, still studying the map in hopes of finding out where exactly they were at.
As Emerald Apple was scanning the area with his thermal camera, he came across an unusual spike of thermal energy. Upon closer inspection he saw that it was moving slowly, but he couldn't identify what it was. It was too small to be a hydra but too large to be any other animal native to the bog. "Uh Staff-Sergeant Blaze, you need to take a look at this," he said leaning toward Azure Blaze to show him what he had found.
"What is it?" asked Azure Blaze.
"I don't know but I haven't seen anything like it," said Emerald Apple.
"Kill the lights and get your night vision out," said Azure Blaze. "Let's see if we cant sneak up on it and find out."
Emerald Apple's dim light vanished and Violet Light turned his flashlight off. All four ponies reached into their saddle bags, retrieved their night vision goggles, and attached them to the helmets they were wearing as they closed in on the unknown being. The group carefully chose where to put their hooves so as to make no sound. As they came up closer on the figure, its shape started to become more defined until they were able to finally make out what it was they had seen. It was a young, orange filly pegasus with red hair crawling on her stomach aimlessly through the bog. By her appearance, it was obvious to the others that she had been badly beaten. As soon as Azure Blaze was able to make out what she was, he started to run towards her, shouting, "Its a filly! Its a filly! Stand down!" As soon as he shouted, the rest of the squad started to run in with him and the young filly was startled. She rolled onto her back and started prone away until she ran into a tree then she shielded herself as if she knew that the ponies that had found her were going to harm her in some way. Once Azure Blaze reached her, he said, "Don't worry, we aren't going to hurt you. Whats your name?" Azure Blaze put a hoof behind the fillies head, propped it up and said, "Come on, stay with me! You need to answer my questions or else I can't help you!" By this time the rest of Azure Blaze's squad had caught up to him and was looking down on the tired, wounded pony. She seemed too tired to speak.
"M-My name is..." the filly stuttered, partially because of fear and partially because of fatigue. "S-Scootaloo."
"Scootaloo?" said Azure Blaze. "My name is Staff-Sergeant Azure Blaze, I am with Equestria's E.S.O.D. What are you doing out here like this?"
The filly's eyes started to close as she faintly said, "I-I was..."
"She has lost consciousness," said Violet Light. "We need to get her some medical support now or else we will lose her."
"Emerald Apple, report this to Phoenix Nest and request for an extraction," said Azure Blaze. "Crimson Dawn, reach into Emerald's bag and prep a flare to signal the chopper. Violet Light, help me keep her stable until help comes."
The three ponies followed Azure Blaze's order and went right to work. Azure Blaze turned to Violet Light, who was wrapping the filly's wounds and said, "Check her temperature." Violet Light put his hoof up against Scootaloo's head.
"Shes burning up; we need something to cool her off. She may also need water so keep it close in case she wakes up again so we can give it to her." Azure Blaze went through his saddle bag and took out a boonie hat he was carrying and began fanning the young filly.
"This will have to do; we don't have anything else to cool her off with other than water," said Azure Blaze. After a couple of minutes they could hear the extraction chopper in the air and Crimson Dawn lit the flare. The flare surrounded the group with dim, red light, and Scootaloo woke up. When she saw the color of light the flare was giving off she panicked. She began kicking and screaming. "Let me go!" she yelled. "I don't want to go back!"
"Quit struggling we are trying to help you," said Violet Light as both pegasi were trying to hold her down. After a while, she fainted again. "What do you think she was talking about Blaze?" asked Violet Light.
"I have no idea," said Azure Blaze. "But whatever she is talking about can't be good."
Azure Blaze turned to see the chopper pass by the clearing they were in and set down in a safe opening a little ways north. "Come on, help me get her on my back," said Azure Blaze. Violet Light helped to get Scootaloo secure onto Azure Blaze's back. Once Scootaloo was secure, the four ponies ran off in the direction of the chopper. Once they got to the chopper, they took off for Canterlot. ________________________________________________________________________________
"When we got to the chopper, we fastened her down to a stretcher. She never showed any sign of waking up the whole trip. Before we knew it, we were back at Canterlot, and the young filly we had found was in the intensive care unit being treated for dehydration. After we got debriefed, we went and visited her in her room. Both of us stood there at her side the entire night. It was a long night, but we kept each other company by entertaining each other with our war stories. She kept mumbling while she was still unconscious for some reason but all we could understand was something about a Rainbow Factory and a pegasi named Rainbow Dash. I didn't know what to think of it at the time. I had never heard of either of them. Little did I know that both the Rainbow Factory and Rainbow Dash were going to change my life. Heck, they were going to change many lives."
AUGUST 09, 2012: 0743 HOURS CANTERLOT MEDICAL WING, CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA
"How much longer are we going to stay here watching her, Staff Sergeant Blaze?" asked Violet Light. Both Violet Light and Azure Blaze were in the intensive care unit with Scootaloo who was sleeping on the bed in front of them. They had stayed in the room overnight, watching her to be sure that she was okay. Scootaloo was wrapped in bandages and had about a dozen hoses hooked up to her, feeding her the necessities so that she may recover from the current state she was in. There was a heartbeat monitor on the right side of the bed beeping with every heartbeat Scootaloo had, and the rest of the room was also filled with medical equipment.
"If you want to go, go ahead. I'm staying with her until she wakes up," said Azure Blaze in response to Violet Light's question.
"We have been here since midnight," said Violet Light. "We should just leave her to rest alone."
Scootaloo started to groan and tighten her eyes. "Quiet," said Azure Blaze."She is waking up." Slowly, Scootaloo's eyes started to open. Once her eyes were open, she quickly sat up in her bed and began frantically looking around. Her heartbeat monitor began to race.
"Ah!" she yelled. "I'm in the factory again! Get me out of here."
Azure Blaze jumped up and restrained her from moving so that she wouldn't disturb the medical equipment that was attached to her, saying, "No you're not. You're in Canterlot's medical wing. Calm down or you won't recover." Scootaloo slowed down and looked back up at Azure Blaze, who was holding her down. The heartbeat monitor's beeps became less frequent and Scootaloo began to relax.
"W-What happened to me?" she asked.
"We found you in Froggy Bottom Bog," said Violet Light. "You were pretty beat up and dehydrated. You're lucky we found you or else you might not have lived to see the morning. What were you doing there anyways? What happened to you?" Before Scootaloo could open her mouth to answer, there was a knock at the door. A moment after, the doctor opened the door to reveal Princess Luna with two body guards standing by her side. Immediately, both of the pegasi at the side of Scootaloo's bed bowed before her, but she raised her hoof, signaling to them that it was ok to rise.
"Princess Luna!" Scootaloo shouted with excitement.
"Greetings, Scootaloo," Luna responded, walking over to the left side of the bed. "I see you are recovering just fine."
Scootaloo reached over and hugged the alicorn. "I thought I would never see you again, or anybody for that matter."
"Well if it wasn't for these two over here and their squad, we wouldn't be together here right now," replied Luna.
"We were only doing our jobs to keep Equestria safe." replied Azure Blaze.
Scootaloo looked over at the two pegasi and studied them for a moment before turning back to Luna and whispered in her ear. "Aren't those two of the ponies I saw in my dream?"
Luna replied "Yes they are. The blue one is Staff Sergeant Azure Blaze as I have already told you and the other one is Sergeant Violet Light. Do not mention the fact that they were in your dream to them, however. It is best that they do not know." Scootaloo nodded her head agreeing with Luna. "Now." said Luna. "Would you care to inform all of us as to how you ended up in Froggy Bottom Bog?"
"It was horrible." said Scootaloo. "While me and Rainbow Dash were trying to escape from the factory on our own we entered a room and..."
Luna cut Scootaloo off, turned to the other two ponies in the room and said "I think it is best if you two leave us so that we may talk about this subject in privet. I will inform you myself on what is occurring later."
Both Azure Blaze and Violet Light bowed, said "As you wish your highness." and left the room. They began walking down the hall toward Canterlot's military district, which was hidden inside the mountain that Canterlot castle was built on, to meet up with the rest of their squad that had accompanied them in Froggy Bottom Bog.
"What do you think is happening Staff Sergeant?" asked Violet Light.
"I told you already." said Azure Blaze. "I have no idea what is going on and I'm pretty sure nopony else other than Princess Luna and that filly knows what is going on. Now just get that question out of your head and relax. The princess said she would tell us later. Now come on, lets go find Crimson Dawn and Emerald Apple. I'm sure they are going off on each other again. Besides, we have nothing better to do. I'm sure we could find something fun to do with those two numskulls."
After Azure Blaze finished talking the two ponies found themselves at the top of a spiral staircase leading down into the mountain. The two pegasi began descending the stairs.
"Still Staff Sergeant, I can't help but worry." said Violet Light. "Didn't you see how badly she was beaten."
Azure Blaze stopped and sighed. "Look." he said. "If it makes you feel any better, if anything comes up because of this I promise I will request that you and I both get the mission." They continued down the stairs. "Because we were the ones who found her in the bog, they will more than likely honor our decision and give us the mission. Now does that make you feel better?"
"I guess so," replied Violet Light. When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs they were at a giant steel gate with two armed guards in front of it. At the sight of the two pegasi one of the guards stepped forward and said, "Identification please." The two pegasi reached into one of their uniform's front pockets, pulled out their military identification cards and handed them over to the guard. The guard looked over them for a while before lifting his head and saying, "Well if it isn't the world famous Staff-Sergeant, Azure Blaze. How was the mission last night?"
"The mission last night was cut short for certain reasons." replied Azure Blaze. "Besides that there was no hydra sightings last night."
"That's a shame." said the guard. "Better luck next time. If anyone here is capable of taking that beast to town it's you."
"I'm sure we'll get it one of these time," responded Azure Blaze. Both the guard and Azure Blaze began to chuckle then the guard shook Azure Blaze's hoof and said "I'm sure you will, go ahead in."
After the guard said this the giant steel wall behind him started to open up revealing an enormous military base filled with ponies hard at work with maintaining their war machines. The base itself was located inside of the hallow mountain that the city of Canterlot was built on. The ceiling was full of industrial sized lights and the walls had doors all around them leading into other rooms and squad bays. The far wall had a giant insignia on it which was shaped like a shield and had a horseshoe with wings along with a unicorn horn sticking up through the center of it dividing it in half. One half was orange and had a sun in it and the other half way navy blue and had a crescent moon in it. Across the bottom of the insignia read "Equestrian Special Operations Division." There were tanks and choppers parked in rows while ponies worked on them. Azure Blaze and Violet Light started to walk toward their squad bay on the west side of the base. They trotted down the line of doors belonging to other squads along the wall until they came to a door with masking tape reading "Slayer Squad."
As they approached the door they could hear the voices of Crimson Dawn and Emerald Apple arguing inside. "That's just great," said Azure Blaze. "They are at it again. Why can't they just get along for once?"
"I think its because of where they are from," responded Violet Light "Since one is from right here in Canterlot and the other is from the more distant town of Apploosa it causes their ways of life to clash together and also makes them very competitive."
"They need to learn to put that behind them," said Azure Blaze. "They have joined the brotherhood together that means they should start acting like they are brothers." After he finished talking he opened the door to find what they had expected. Both ponies were arguing at the same time making it nearly impossible to understand what either of them were even saying.
"QUIET!" yelled Azure Blaze in an extremely loud voice. Both of the ponies stopped arguing immediately and turned their attention to him partially in respect and partially in fear while Violet Light went and stood in the corner of the room. "What are you two arguing about this time?!" he continued.
The two ponies just stood there with their ears slanted back. They knew that their leader did not approve of what they had been caught doing. After a while Crimson Dawn got up the courage in him to answer the blue pegasi but as soon as he opened his mouth he was interrupted again by a very loud voice. "I don't even want to know anymore!" After Azure Blaze had said this he calmed down slightly and began talking at a more normal volume. "I know you two are relatively new to this organization and you have your differences but here we are all united, like a family." Azure Blaze put his hoof on his face. "I can't deal with this anymore'" he said. "Your actions are potentially dangerous to your fellow soldiers and for that reason I can't allow you to come on operations with us anymore."
Both of the ponies eyes widened at what they had just heard. "B-but Staff Sergeant," said Emerald Apple, "You can't just leave us here alone can you?"
"Until you are able to start cooperating together I don't have a choice," responded Azure Blaze. "You two have brought this upon yourselves. You need to fix whatever it is between you two so that you can work together again. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir." both of the other ponies moaned while hanging their heads low with broken hearts.
Just then there came a loud knock on the door followed by a loud voice saying, "Commander on deck!" The door busted open within seconds and in came a orange pegasi with a red and yellow mane and a phoenix being reborn as a cutie mark dressed in an officer's uniform with many medals hanging on his front left shoulder. He was followed by two other pegasi dressed up as his guards. Azure Blaze and the rest of his squad stood at attention at the sight of him.
"Commander Pheonix, sir!" said Azure Blaze. Commander Phoenix went down the line of ponies standing directly in front of each one individually with a dreadful scowel on his face while staring into each one's eyes so close he almost touches his nose to their's. It was as if he could sense the fear in each one's soul as he went down the line of ponies until he came to Azure Blaze. He stopped at Azure Blaze for a while longer than the others and attempted to make his scowl more threatening to him but to no avail.
Commander Phoenix backed off slightly and said, "At ease." There was a deep exhale coming from the ponies in the line. "Staff Sergeant Blaze," he continued.
"Sir?" replied Azure Blaze.
"You failed you're mission last night," answered Commander Phoenix.
"There was an emergency sir," said Azure Blaze, "We found a filly dying of dehydration and-"
"You failed the mission," Commander Phoenix interrupted in a slow harsh tone. "This is going on your record regardless."
"I understand sir," Azure Blaze answered.
"However, that is not the reason I am here," said Commander Phoenix, "I am here under a direct order from Princess Luna to tell you she requires an audience with you and the pony who was with you this morning in the Canterlot Medical Wing. She is waiting for you in the ICU room with the purple and orange filly. She said you should know what I mean by that."
"Understood sir," replied Azure Blaze.
"Try not to make a fool of this division in front of her," said Commander Phoenix leaving the room, "Dismissed." The door slammed behind him as he left.
The four ponies stood there a while to be sure that he was gone then Azure Blaze said, "Violet Light, you're with me and you two," he said to Crimson Dawn and Emerald Apple, "Try not to destroy the place again." Both of the ponies nodded their heads and said, "Yes Staff Sergeant," as Azure Blaze and Violet Light left the room and began to walk back to the ICU room.
"Who was that?" asked Violet Light.
"That was Commander Phoenix," answered Azure Blaze. "He is in charge of the pegasi division of E.S.O.D. He likes to make himself seem bigger than he actually is."
"But he's the Commander. That means he really is pretty big," said Violet Light.
"Exactly," said Azure Blaze, "He likes to make you think he could pull your plug in a seconds notice. Just follow regulation and you'll be fine. He's just one of those ponies who plays by the book and doesn't like rebellions even if they are a good thing."
Azure Blaze and Violet Light continued to trace their footsteps back to Scootaloo's ICU room. When they had arrived at the door they found two of Princess Luna's royal guard standing outside of the door keeping watch. When the guards saw the two ponies approach they immediately got out of the way and allowed them to enter the room. When they had entered the room they found almost everything exactly they way they left it. Princess Luna was still sitting by Scootaloo and Scootaloo was still lying in bed still connected to all of her IVs getting treated for dehydration. The only difference was that Scootaloo had a smile on her face.
"Welcome Azure Blaze and Violet Light," Luna said, "Come in I wish to speak to you about something." The two pegasi drew in closer to listen to what Luna had to say to them. "I have an important mission for you Azure Blaze," she continued, "Have you ever heard about a place called the Rainbow Factory?"
"No your highness," replied Azure Blaze, "I can't say that I have."
"Good because nopony else has," replied Luna, "You may want to take a seat this may take a while to explain." ___________________________________________________________________________________
"That's when she told us about the Rainbow Factory. It was a shock to both of us. We couldn't bear to hear about what they were doing to innocent fillies behind that metal door. She gave us the mission of going in and doing three things. Locate and capture a high value target named Dr. Atmosphere, safely escort a prisoner named Rainbow Dash, and destroy the facility. She told Azure Blaze to assemble a squad of the six best pegasi warriors we had including him. I was his first choice of course but when he said he was taking me with him Luna looked concerned. Anyways, the day had come for the mission. Luna had our gear transported up to Cloudsdale Weather Factory before we got there so we could gear up there. The name of the operation was Operation: Windbreaker, but like I said we call it by another name now. Even thinking of that day now makes the screams echo in my head. Just like the screams we heard echoing in that factory. That was a bad day... a really bad day..."
"How much longer are we going to stay here watching her, Staff Sergeant Blaze?" Scootaloo could faintly hear the voices of other ponies in the room she was in. She tried to open her eyes but everything was blurry and dark and she couldn't identify a single thing before she closed her eyes once more.
"If you want to go, go ahead; I'm staying with her until she wakes up," said another pony in the room with her. She tried to open her eyes again. This time it was slightly clearer, a bright light shining down on her from the ceiling. She looked over to her right to see a machine with many different lights on it. She blinked slowly and when she opened her eyes again, she was alarmed to see a rusty wall with blood spattered all over it and a dim red light shining. She quickly closed her eyes tightly out of fear of the scene.
"We have been here since midnight, we should just leave her to rest alone," she heard the first pony say. Scootaloo groaned and tightened her eyes in a last attempt to open her eyes up and see the world around her clearly.
"Quiet, she is waking up," the second pony said. Scootaloo opened her eyes to a horrible sight: She was in the Rainbow Factory again on a bloodied examination table with tubes coming out of her body carrying her spectra into a small bag hanging above her. There were two silhouettes of ponies with sharp teeth off to her left side, staring and smiling at her with evil intent. She immediately let out a shriek and yelled, "I'm in the factory again! Get me out of here!" She attempted to remove the hoses but before she could touch them one of the malicious-looking ponies jumped up on top of her and held her down so that she couldn't move.
"No, you're not," said the figure, "You're in Canterlot's medical wing. Calm down or you won't recover."
Scootaloo blinked once and when she opened her eyes she was in a different room that looked like an emergency room. She looked back up at the silhouette to find that it was actually a blue-colored pegasi in a military uniform who looked a lot friendlier than the image she had seen before so she calmed down. "W-What happened to me?" she asked.
"We found you in Froggy Bottom Bog," said the other pony in the room, "You were pretty beat up and dehydrated. You're lucky we found you or else you might not have lived to see the morning. What were you doing there anyways? What happened to you?"
At that moment, there was a knock at the door, followed by a doctor opening the door to reveal Princess Luna standing in the doorway, guarded by two guards.
"Princess Luna!" shouted Scootaloo.
"Greetings, Scootaloo," Luna responded, walking over beside Scootaloo's bed. "I see you are recovering just fine." As soon as she came within range of Scootaloo's arms they wrapped around her in a loving embrace.
"I thought I would never see you again, or anybody for that matter." said Scootaloo.
"Well, if it wasn't for these two over here and their squad, we wouldn't be together here right now," replied Luna.
"We were only doing our jobs to keep Equestria safe," replied Azure Blaze.
Scootaloo studied the two ponies standing before her, and as she did, voices started running through her head.
"Let's go. Primary mission objective is our priority."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. So we are just going to leave Wind Lance behind like this?"
"What are we going to do? Command won't let us."
"Screw command. I don't know about you guys but I am going to go get Wind Lance back with or without your help."
Scootaloo's eyes widened. Quickly, she turned to Princess Luna and whispered, "Aren't those two of the ponies I saw in my dream?"
Luna replied "Yes, they are. The blue one is Staff Sergeant Azure Blaze, as I have already told you, and the other one is Sergeant Violet Light. Do not mention the fact that they were in your dream to them, however; I think it is best that they do not know."
Scootaloo nodded back at Luna to show her understanding.
"Now," said Luna. "Would you care to inform all of us as to how you ended up in Froggy Bottom Bog?"
"It was horrible," said Scootaloo. "While me and Rainbow Dash were trying to escape from the factory on our own, we entered a room and..."
Before she could continue Luna cut her off and turned to the other ponies in the room and said, "I think it is best if you two leave us so that we may talk about this subject in private. I will inform you myself on what is occurring later."
Both of the other ponies bowed and said, "As you wish your highness." They immediately left the room shortly after and Scootaloo and Luna were left alone to discuss what had happened to Scootaloo.
"Now then, as you were saying."
Scootaloo continued telling her story. "While me and Rainbow Dash were trying to escape, we decided to check this one room out. She said she had never seen the inside of it and that it was secret within a select few. When we entered the room, we found six tanks of spectra with clones of Rainbow Dash in each of the tanks."
"Clones?" said Luna in a very surprised tone. "Are you sure? That kind of technology has not yet been discovered in Equestria."
"I know what we saw Princess Luna," said Scootaloo. "I didn't like what we saw, but we saw it nonetheless. What's worse is that there weren't just six of them. Dr. Atmosphere captured us and showed us the rest. It was an army too big to count. He said he was going to use them to take over Equestria!"
"This is very bad news to be hearing," said Luna hanging her head low. After a while, she brought her head back up and said, "You said you were both captured. Did Rainbow Dash manage to escape as well?"
Scootaloo was deeply saddened by this question because it brought the memory of Rainbow Dash being hauled off to have her DNA harvested against her will. "She made a deal with Dr. Atmosphere," she said in a saddened tone. "He said he would let me go if she agreed to stay and 'donate' her DNA to feed the clones. After that, they hit the back of my head and made me blackout. I don't remember much after that." She sat there a while longer, hanging her head low in sadness before raising her head again and saying, "We have got to save her. I know she has made a couple of bad choices before, but deep down, I know she is still the same Rainbow Dash that I came to know and love."
"We will do our very finest to ensure the safety of Rainbow Dash," replied Luna. "Of course the Equestrian government will have to question her on her deeds but I will make sure to speak on her behalf. She will be fine. Is that all you can remember? Tell me what happened in the bog."
Scootaloo began to tell her story. "I was coming in and out of consciousness as they were taking me there. All I could remember was..." ________________________________________________________________________________________
"What do you think the boss man is doing?" Scootaloo heard one of her captors saying. She was still groggy from losing consciousness and couldn't see much of anything. "I mean, letting this filly out of the factory is a huge compromise. If she does happen to survive the swamps and somehow makes it to tell the authorities, or even worse the Princess, they'll pull the plug on use for sure."
"She's not going to survive; that's what you and I are for," said another pony. "Dr. Atmosphere told us to make her suffer before eliminating the compromise. What better a way to do it than to dump her in a super humid bog. All we have to do is keep an eye on her until she croaks; maybe even speed up the process if you know what I mean! Haha!"
"Yeah, I understand," the first pony said. "I just... never mind. Let's just get this over with."
Scootaloo lost her consciousness once more for a while before coming to as she was being harshly thrown into a moist and muddy swamp, followed by a swift kick to the forehead which dazed her a while longer. When her vision became much clearer, she lifted her head slowly and saw a pool of her blood which was dripping from her head and mixing with the mud of the swamp. She then rolled on her back and looked up at her captures. It was a pair of stallions with ski masks covering their faces. One had a yellow-green colored body and the other had a light purple body with a utility belt.
"Here we are!" said the purple one. "Outside that damned factory at last. You must be happy. Overjoyed even. Aren't you?" he said, walking up to Scootaloo, grabbing her neck and looking her straight in the eyes. "You don't seem to be. After all, you aren't smiling." He then slammed Scootaloo's head down into the muddy swamp. "I know I'm happy to be out." He then put his hoof on top of Scootaloo's head and began to force it down into the ground with great force. Scootaloo began to scream out in pain while trying to keep her head above the mud to breathe, but her attempts were to no avail. After a short time, her mouth and nose had gone under and she could no longer lift her head back up to get air. She could feel her lungs shrivel, and just before she had lost all hope, she heard the other pony shout, "STOP!"
The hoof on Scootaloo's head lifted and Scootaloo came back up coughing and gasping for air. The purple pony looked back at the yellow-green pony.
"Please, at least have the common decency to give her a swift death: This is inhuman."
The purple pony stood there a while, and then chuckled to himself. "If it bothers you so much," he said reaching into his utility belt, pulling out a revolver, and extending it in his hoof with the handle facing the yellow-green pony. "Then you can have the honors." Both ponies stood there in silence a while as the yellow-green pony stared at the handle of the gun he was being offered. After a while, the yellow-green pony advanced and took the gun in his hoof. He walked over to Scootaloo, still laying in the marsh with her face up, blood trickling down her face, which was also covered with mud.
"I'm sorry," said the yellow-green pony, beginning to point the barrel straight at Scootaloo's head. "But I can't do this!" He continued as he rapidly turned around and attempted to shoot the purple pony. But before he could, the purple pony blocked his arm from swinging all the way around and gave the yellow-green pony a swift and hard punch to the face, causing him to drop the gun and fall flat on his back right next to Scootaloo.
"I knew it," said the purple pony picking up the gun and starting to rapidly pace back and forth in anger, "I knew you were a traitor. You thought you were going to live like a hero didn't you? Well guess what!" the purple pony raised the gun and pointed it at the yellow-green pony, "You're going to die just like the scum that you're laying in and with this useless filly that doesn't even deserve to be called a pegasi that you tried to save." The yellow-green pony laid his head back, ready to accept his fate when suddenly out of nowhere one of the heads of a hydra came bursting out of the bog and caught the purple pony by the lower half of his body and raised him up in the air. Soon after two other heads followed it and the three heads began to fight over the now defenseless pony's body.
Quickly, the yellow-green pony got up, lifted Scootaloo onto his shoulders and ran behind a tree to hide from the monster. He set her down and leaned her against the tree. "Boy," he said, "aren't we a lucky bunch." He then peaked out from the side of the tree to look at the monster. "It won't be long before he finishes his meal and comes looking for us." He then came back around the tree, took off his ski mask, revealing his green and yellow mane, which had been hidden by his mask until now, and looked Scootaloo in the eyes. "Okay, here's what we are going to do: The closest form of civilization is in that direction," he said pointing off into the distance. "Try to make your way out of the bog while I lead the hydra in the opposite direction. When you make it to civilization, tell them everything. Every single thing you have seen in the last day. But most of all, tell them there are more like me. Ponies who are being forced to work in the factory that wish to stop this madness. Now go!"
The green and yellow pony began to run off to distract the beast, but before he could, Scootaloo stopped him saying, "W-wait." The pony stopped and turned around when he heard her voice. "W-who are you?"
"My name is not of any importance, now," replied the pony, "I have no respect for the pony I used to be. I only hope that the deed I have done this day is enough to forgive myself for my past actions. I do not plan on returning from this dangerous task, but if for some reason, I do, and you happen to see me once more, know that my name is... ________________________________________________________________________________________
"What was his name?" asked Luna.
"H-his name was... His name was..." said Scootaloo, holding a hoof to her head in a state of confusion. "Why can't I remember his name?"
"It's okay if you can't remember, young Scootaloo," said Luna. "What happened afterwards?"
"After that, he took off and the monster left chasing after him. I started to crawl off in the direction he told me to. I was out there for hours wallowing in the hot, muggy swamp. After a while, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. I felt like I was on my last leg. I think that is when those soldiers found me."
"I see," said Luna. "Is that the end of your story?"
"Yes, your highness."
"Very well. I will have Staff Sergeant Blaze put together a team of the most highly-trained professional pegasi operatives to enter the factory, retrieve Rainbow Dash, capture Dr. Atmosphere, and destroy the facility. Know that the situation is in good hands now, Scootaloo."
"Where is Princess Celestia?" asked Scootaloo. "Does she know what is going on?"
"My sister has been out on diplomatic duties in Saddle Arabia. She has been informed of the situation through a letter and is on her way back, but until she arrives, she has trusted me to handle the situation myself. As I have said, you need not worry, Scootaloo, we will retrieve your friend and handle the situation. For now, you must rest and recover. I must go speak to Azure Blaze." After Luna said this, she gave Scootaloo one final hug, saying, "We are extremely happy to see you safe," and left the room, saying, "Get better soon, Scootaloo."
After Luna left, Scootaloo was left in the hospital room all alone. She laid back in her bed, let out a sigh of relief, and closed her eyes.
"It felt like forever preparing for the mission we were about to embark on, and I could tell Azure Blaze had a lot of stress on his shoulders; especially since that day, my other two squad members, Emerald Apple and Crimson Dawn, had acted-up like they did, and Commander Phoenix came down on him, as always, because we had to pull out of our mission early. Commander Phoenix never was a 'good' commander to anyone, even though all of the stress Azure Blaze still kept his head, he was a very strong leader. I would've followed him to the grave... He would do the same for me, as well.
"After a while of deep consideration, he had finally come up with his team that he would take into the factory. Of course, I was his first choice to go in with him. His second choice was a black colt named Nightwing. He had served a couple years ago in the Griffon War between the pegasi and the griffons. He was a stealth operative who naturally blended into the night. So well, in fact, that he had to wear reflective tape when behind friendly lines to avoid friendly fire. He had a cutie mark, but it was barely visible and just as hard to identify as he was in the darkness. Fit his talent very well.
"His next pick was Nightwing's squad leader, Scarlet Blade, who had also served with him in the Griffon war: A red pony with black zebra stripes on his body, as he was a hybrid between a pegasi and a zebra. During the war, whenever Nightwing was either about to get caught or needed a distraction, he wasn't afraid to go in guns-a-blazing. When he did that, all that was left behind him would be a pile of dead bodies. For some reason he would always purposely let one of his enemy run off, unharmed, back to his superiors; probably to give them a reason to fear his name even more.
"Next was a sky-blue pony named Cool Breeze. This guy was the ace of the sky; nopony could touch him up there. He was known for taking a rifle with him into the sky with two additional magazines, and when he was out of ammo he dropped the rifle and resorted to 'hoof-to-claw' combat using his speed and agility to maneuver the skies to take out his enemies. He was just as efficient that way as when he had a rifle in his hooves- some would say he was better.
"Now, his last choice was quite interesting. It was another young sky blue colt named Wind Lance who, despite having made his way into E.S.O.D, had failed to acquire his cutie mark yet. He didn't have much combat experience either, but he was motivated. I didn't know much about him then, but after everything that happened on that accursed mission, I realized he was the bravest of all of us. Maybe Staff Sargent Blaze knew that.
"We arrived at Cloudsdale Weather factory at 1400 hours, the entire place was swarming with Royal Guard and SWAT securing the area and evacuating all of the 'outside' workers. The gate to the inner factory was locked down, however the SWAT teams had strategically placed explosives all around the door to deal with that problem though. We had gotten all geared up and were waiting for the green light to start the mission. We took this time to get to know each other a bit more. We blended together almost perfectly; it was like having a second family and was quite the change from our normal squad. _________________________________________________________________________________________ AUGUST 09, 2012: 1423 HOURS CLOUDSDALE WEATHER FACTORY, CLOUDSDALE, EQUESTRIA
"Phoenix nest to slayer actual," the voice of Commander Phoenix came over the radio.
"This is slayer actual, send traffic," replied Azure Blaze over the radio.
"It's time. Get your stallions into position. We are about to breach the factory's gate and get this mission started."
"Got it sir. We are moving out."
"Don't screw this one up Blaze," Commander Phoenix said once more. "This one counts. You need to listen to and obey all commands from me and this should be as quick and painless as possible."
"Understood, sir. Failure won't happen again." Azure Blaze turned to the rest of his squad and said to them, "All right everypony, we are on standby for Operation: Windbreaker. Grab your gear and follow me to our staging area."
Immediately, the five ponies that were waiting behind him got up, threw the slings of their weapons around their necks, and followed right behind Azure Blaze. Following right behind Azure Blaze was Violet Light, who was carrying his M4A1 rifle. Behind him was Wind Lance, who was also carrying a M4A1 and had taken a special liking to Violet Light. Before the mission started, they were talking to each other nonstop. Violet Light would tell stories of past missions while Wind Lance would talk about what kind of hobbies he enjoyed and which ones, he thought, had a chance at becoming his cutie mark.
Next came Cool Breeze, carrying his famed MK11 MOD O. Before the mission, he went on, talking about his family back home in the little town of Ponyville. He had a wife and a son who recently went on vacation to Manehattan to see the Statue of Equinity and sent him back a toy souvenir of the statue, which he kept secured in one of his empty mag pouches.
Following him was Scarlet Blade with his M249 and Nightwing with his SCAR-H. They were the silent ones of the group, but what they lacked for words they made up for with attentiveness. When they did eventually talk, it was normally between each other about events they had witnessed in the war of Griffons and Ponies.
Together, they had all headed towards their positions safely outside of the blast radius of the explosive charges which were set on the factory's main gate.
"Okay everypony, just like we went over in our briefing," said Azure Blaze when they had arrived at their positions. "When the charges blow we will be given the green light for mission go: That's when we charge the gate's entrance and secure the area until all of the debris settles and we can identify the area as clear of all hostiles. Then, we move into the main factory. Our primary objectives are to rescue a mare named Rainbow Dash- easily identified by her rainbow mane and her rainbow lightning bolt for a cutie mark, locate and capture a colt by the name of Dr. Atmosphere- identified as dark-red and probably wearing a lab coat, and to place and arm the cloud-buster charge Violet Light is carrying in the facility's main room; in that order of importance. Everyone got it?"
Azure Blaze looked behind him to see the five ponies who were following him, nod back in affirmation.
"Anypony else have any idea this part of the factory even existed?" asked Cool Breeze, "I know briefing was the first time I even heard about it and I grew up here. I even remember taking the tour as a little filly."
"This Dr. Atmosphere character has done an excellent job of keeping this factory undetected all of this time. It makes you wonder how he let a little filly escape to tell the world," said Nightwing.
"Do you think maybe he let it happen on purpose? Maybe this could be a trap," said Scarlet Blade.
"Possibly, but I have a feeling that even if he planned any of this, something had to have gone wrong for him," said Violet Light.
"I just can't shake the feeling that we are doing exactly what he wants us to be doing right now," said Scarlet Blade.
"That's just all the more reason to be more careful," said Violet Light. "Don't worry, we'll make it through this. It's probably just another small rebellion equipped with poor armor and weapons."
"Don't underestimate the enemy just so soon," said Azure Blaze, "We don't know what exactly is in there yet."
"Slayer Squad, are you ready?" a voice came over the radio.
"Slayer Squad is in position and waiting for charge to blow," answered Azure Blaze.
"All units, stand by. Charge blowing in ten... nine... eight..."
The squad readied themselves to charge to facility.
"Five... four... three... two... one."
The charges set around the door blew and mist from the clouds filled the air, making visibility levels extremely low. The six ponies ran into the mist to where the factory's door used to stand and waited for signs of hostility. It was a long and quiet wait and there were no signs of life beyond the door they had just blown in.
Once the mist had cleared they saw two ponies, one being dragged on the ground by the other and both bearing extensive wounds composed of both bites and scratches. "Halt!" yelled Azure Blaze with his weapon pointed at them. The two ponies immediately stopped and fell to the ground. The squad then walked up to examine them.
They were both guards of the factory and the one that was being dragged was lying unconscious next to the pony who dragged him. The one that was still conscious looked up at the squad and said, "H-he did it. He saw you coming for h-him and," the pony gasped for air, "h-he did it."
"What did 'he' do! Tell us!" shouted Scarlet Blade at the pony.
"H-he- Dr. Atmosphere- He released the clones. The scientists... They said they still weren't mature enough." The pony coughed and a bit of blood trickled down out of his mouth. "They said that if he set them lose they wouldn't listen to anyone- they would just kill aimlessly."
Two members of the royal guard came up and began to drag them away.
"W-wait!" screamed the conscious pony. "Their sight is based on sound and light. They can only see ponies the same color as they are. Once they do, they are fast: Almost impossible to follow with your own eyes. If you're going in there be careful, while the blue ones seem more timid, the red ones seem more aggressive. They look like they are searching for something or someone- I don't know! If you see anyone like us please save them."
"Do you know where this mare is?" questioned Azure Blaze, holding up a picture of Rainbow Dash to the pony.
"R-Rainbow Dash?" said the pony. "Celestia forbid what Dr. Atmosphere did to her. He never told us where he took her but one thing's for sure, she IS alive and she IS in great pain. You'll have to hurry if your going to save her before... who knows what?"
"Thank you for the information," said Azure Blaze. "If it brings you peace, I will state the fact that you willingly helped us during your later judgement."
"We all deserve to feel the full wrath of Celestia for what we have done. Maybe the clones revolting was just a down payment and those who lived through it deserve more," said the pony as he was dragged away by the Royal Guard.
"Well, I at least admire his honesty," said Scarlet Blade.
"Something really bad must have happened for him to have told us all that information," said Wind Lance.
"We're still going in; let's move." said Azure Blaze as he walked through the massive door which had been destroyed, followed by his team.
The factory was dark except for a couple of places on the walls which were lit by dim red emergency lights, and the light coming in through the, now destroyed door, so the squad turned on their lights. Immediately, Wind Lance's light fell on a completely blue pegasus mare standing over top of a lifeless pony's body. The blue pony quickly looked up and showed it's hideous face, covered in blood, and began to snarl at the light. Without thinking, Wind Lace squeezed the trigger of his weapon and fired off two rounds. One of the rounds whizzed past the pony's right and the other was dodged by the pony's wicked, fast reflexes. The blue pony then rapidly took off down the hallway at an impressive pace, and it wasn't long before it turned a corner and went out of sight.
"Hold your fire!" yelled Azure Blaze. "Our position will be compromised and maybe some more aggressive one's will come check out the sound."
"Sorry, sir. It just startled me into action is all," replied Wind Lance.
"In his defense, that was quite startling," said Cool Breeze, "I almost fired off a few rounds myself."
Azure Blaze began to look around at his surroundings to plan his squad's next plan of action. As he observed, he found a large amount of what looked like guards that had been mauled to death lining the hallway that they were in. It looked as if they were killed trying to make it to the door, and some seemed to have been killed running away from the door, probably because they found it impossible to open. the main hallway they were in was filled with doors and branched off into two other hallways, which also had many doors lining their sides.
Alright gentlecolts," said Azure Blaze, "as much as I hate to say this, we are going to have to split up in order to get this mission done as fast as possible- I don't want to be in here any longer than we have to be. So, here's the plan: We are going to split up into three groups of two. Wind Lance and Cool Breeze you guys are covering the hallway to our left. Scarlet Blade, Nightwing, you guys stay in the main hallway, check the doors on the sides. Violet Light, you're with me in the right hallway. Check for unlocked rooms first. If the rooms are locked, come back to them after you are done checking the unlocked ones, and find a way to get into them. If you encounter 'opposition', you are weapons free just make sure you're not shooting the hostage we are trying to rescue. As far was we know, our enemy looks extremely similar to those that are attacking us. If you do happen to fire your weapon, make sure you roger up to the rest of us, so we know nothing is wrong. If something does go wrong we are to meet back up here in the main hallway. Everypony know what they are doing?" He looked around and each of the ponies nodded to each other, going in their separate directions.
When Violet Light and Azure Blaze turned the corner to their hallway, not much was different from the main hallway- there were many bodies and the dim red emergency light still faintly glowed on the walls here and there. One thing was different, however. They noticed that the bodies lying on the floor had streaks of blood indicating, that a few bodies had been dragged. Violet Light looked at Azure Blaze out of curiosity. Azure Blaze looked back at Violet Light and knowing each others thoughts on the matter, nodded at him and both ponies began following the blood trails.
All of the trails in the hallway led up to the door at the end of the hallway, which had been left slightly cracked open. Both of the ponies walked up to it and got ready to face what was on the other side. Slowly, Azure Blaze pushed the door and it began to open with a loud and crisp squeak. Azure Blaze raised his weapon slowly to scan the room with it's flashlight. As the light crept up the floor, it fell upon a red pony, nudging a lifeless corpse on the ground with it's muzzle. Immediately, Violet Light raised his weapon and was about to fire, but was stopped by Azure Blaze, putting a hoof on his weapon.
"Identify yourself!" Azure Blaze commanded.
The pony rose it's head slowly to reveal that it was, in fact, one of the red versions of the clones, and it was holding something in its mouth. After the clone stood there staring at them for a while, it dropped the item in it's mouth and slid it across the floor towards them with it's front hoof.
At that moment, a series of gunshots rang out through the hallways, catching both ponies off-guard and making them turn around to investigate the sound. Once the gunshots had stopped and the two identified that the immediate threat was not anywhere around them, they turned back towards where they saw the clone, but it was nowhere to be seen. The two began to frantically search the area with their flashlights for the clone.
"Where'd it go?" said Violet Light.
"I don't know. I didn't see it," replied Azure Blaze. "Slayer Squad, report in. What happened?" He began broadcasting over the radio as Violet Light began investigating the item the clone slid toward them. It was an ID card that seemed to be used as an all level access key card. After he had identified what the clone had dropped he looked up and then he saw it.
"Uh, Blaze," Violet Light called out in a worried tone, "I think you need to see this."
Azure Blaze walked over towards Violet Light and while he was walking, he saw it too. "Mother of Celestia, this is it. This is where they did it." Both ponies' flashlights landed upon a giant, rusty, blood-stained, machine towards the center of the back wall of the room. Suddenly, both ponies were struck with the feelings of overwhelming awe and sadness at the same time. They looked around and saw all of the blood-stained equipment and corpses of filly pegasi who seemed to have also been overpowered by the clones.
"What kind of monsters could do this to the children of their own kind?" said Azure Blaze.
At that moment, a voice came on the radio.
"Blaze! This is Nightwing. The gunshots came from the left hallway where Wind Lance and Cool Breeze were. Both failed to report in afterwards and me and Scarlet Blade are over here looking for them, but the last door we haven't checked is locked and they aren't in any of the other rooms. We need help!"
"Hang in there, Nightwing, Violet Light and I are on the way with a breaching charge," responded Azure Blaze. He then turned to Violet Light and said, "This is exactly what I feared would happen." Both ponies then sped off down their hallway and in the direction of the hallway Cool Breeze and Wind Lance were supposed to clear.
When they had arrived, they had found Scarlet Blade and Nightwing pounding on the door with the stocks of their weapons.
"Whoa, whoa, cut it out; you're attracting more attention than necessary," said Azure Blaze. "Now here's what is going to happen: We are going to crack this door with a breaching charge and after that, we are going to search the room for Cool Breeze and Wind Lance as fast as possible. The charge is bound to attract something, so we need to make it as quick as possible and get out before it comes, got it?"
"Roger," said Nightwing who was now calming down a bit. Violet Light stepped forward and placed an breaching charge on the door. Then, each of the ponies stepped to the sides of the door and waited until Violet Light shouted.
"Fire in the hole!" _______________________________________________________________________________________________
"They knew what would happen next from the very beginning. They knew and they didn't tell us. But it had to be that way- there was no avoiding it. The future is the future and we are all just waiting to meet with it. That's what fate is: A never-ending train traveling down the tracks of life into the future. We are all passengers and nopony dares jump off of it, or else he might come to a gruesome end. But maybe, maybe it is all an illusion. Maybe if one were to leave the tracks of fate, it would not be completely disastrous. Maybe it would hurt for a while, but in the end lead to a newer, better life. Still, it is a chance that some ponies take.
When we went in, we found Cool Breeze dead and Wind Lance missing in action. Command told us to finish our job and get out. We had other plans, though. Besides, I had a feeling if we found Wind Lance, we would find Dr. Atmosphere and the hostage, Rainbow Dash. It was only a feeling, though. I have a talent for these feelings coming true, however."
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,
"All of that really happened?" said a younger pony in her mid-teenage years, sitting on the floor in front of another older pony, sitting in a very comfy-looking rocking chair. Both ponies were in a room with a nice warm fire lit in the fireplace. Outside the window, the moon glowed, accompanied by the light of many stars in the sky.
"Yes, and I have only retold the story to a select few that I feel have the right to hear. You are one of them."
"I still have a hard time believing that a normal pony like you was involved in all of that action. Are you sure you didn't just make all of that up?" said the younger pony in a taunting manner.
"Fine then," said the older pony, "come with me; I have something to show you."
The older pony got up from his chair and trotted out of the room, followed by the younger pony to a door. The older pony opened up the door to reveal a stairway leading down into darkness. The older pony started down the stairs first, and the younger pony, hesitant because of the darkness and his unfamiliarity, followed along. When the older pony got to the bottom of the stairway, he lit a match and used it to light a lamp hanging from the ceiling, illuminating the entire room.
The room was very old, cold, and filled with spiderwebs and dust, however there were signs that at one point in time, it was used as a sort of trophy room, but now, most of the room was littered with junk and old artifacts from a more ancient time. The older pony moved towards an old windowed cabinet against the back wall that was filled with medals and pictures. The photos were mostly of a group of ponies smiling, laughing, and having fun in a uniform, implying they were in the military. In the center of the cabinet, there was another photo but different than the others. It was of only two ponies, one was blue the other purple, both with their arms around each other, smiling as happy as a pony can be, dressed in a fancy dress uniform with a massive city of clouds behind them. One of the ponies in the picture closely resembled the older pony. Below the picture rested two silver medals, which the older pony reached in to pick up.
The older pony then turned around to the younger pony and flashed the medals in her face. They were dog tags which read:
LIGHT, VIOLET E.S.O.D O NEG PEGASUS
"I've kept them safe all this time," said the older pony. "Sometimes, I like to take them out and hold them in my hoof for a while. It lets me talk to him; gives me peace."
At that moment, there came a loud knock at the the door upstairs. The older pony looked up the stairs behind them.
"They're here," he said. "You have to go back to your mother; I've kept you for far too long. Tell her to stay indoors tonight and that I'll be around. Most importantly, tell her to not open the door for anyone but me. Got it?"
"Mhmm," answered the younger pony.
"Alright, let's go," said the older pony, leading the younger pony upstairs. "You're going to have to sneak out the backdoor. Make sure my 'visitors' don't see you. As a matter of fact, don't let anyone see you on your way to your mother's."
"Why? What's happening?" questioned the young pony.
"Just do as I have told you and you will find out soon enough." The knocking at the door came once more. "In a minute!" the older pony yelled.
They arrived at the backdoor. "Here," said the older pony, opening the door. "Stick to the shadows and make sure you make it back to your mother; she is probably worried sick about you."
The younger pony nodded and then ran off into the night. The older pony shut the door behind her and ran to the front door, picking up a handgun off of the end table next to his rocking chair on his way. He reached the door just in time for the third set of knocks and asked, "Who are you and what do you want?"
"Come now, Staff Sergeant Blaze, is this how you would treat your princess?" said the voice behind the door. Azure Blaze's ears twitched. He knew that voice. He opened the door to reveal Princess Luna along with four other ponies, Crimson Dawn, Emerald Apple, Scarlet Blade, and Nightwing, at her side, standing clad in their military attire.
"Well, looks like you brought the whole gang on over, princess," Said Azure Blaze. "Come in. Sorry for the mess; I would have cleaned up a bit if I had known you were coming."
"That won't be necessary," said Nightwing. "You know very well why we are here. Why don't you put the gun down?"
Azure Blaze hung his head and put his gun down on a small table he had by the door.
"It's time to make your decision, Staff Sergeant," said Crimson Dawn.
"We're all in this together. All of us, but you, Staff Sergeant," said Emerald Apple.
"The New Lunar Republic marches tonight, Blaze," said Princess Luna. "It is the most opportune time. Celestia is currently taken up by world issues. There will be no better time. Are you in?"
Azure Blaze stared at the ground a while longer.
"Staff Sergeant," said Crimson Dawn, "It's what Violet Light would've wanted."
Azure Blaze looked up and then turned around. He lifted up his hoof, in it remained his old companion's dogtags. "Is it what you would've wanted?" he whispered to himself.
A strong gust of wind came blowing through his open door. Powerful enough to cause chaos among the unsecured papers and paintings on the wall. Azure Blaze stood there paying close attention to the area in front of him. Out of nowhere, he saw a figure develop in front of him. It was Violet Light. Azure Blaze watched as the figure walked up to him, smiled, and Azure Blaze remembered what he had said years before. "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." The figure then vanished just as fast as it appeared, along with the wind.
Azure Blaze looked around a while longer, then turned back around to Princess Luna and the others, and said, "I'm in."
The entire group smiled at him and welcomed back their old squad leader. "Come now," said Luna, "There is little time to waste and we still have to get you properly equipped. Tonight will be one of the longest nights of your life."
The group began to walk away from the house, but Azure Blaze had stopped to say goodbye to what he had. He had lived a peaceful life after the events at the Rainbow Factory, and he was going to miss it but he was now going to fight for what he believed once more and that along with the dog tags of his fallen partner was all the peace he needed. Azure Blaze fastened Violet Light's dog tags behind his neck and shut the door of his house. It felt like he was shutting the door to his past. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Mom! I'm home!"said the young pony, entering her house through the front door.
"Where have you been?" said Rainbow Dash, coming down from upstairs. "Scootaloo and I have been worried sick trying to find out where you went."
It had been a couple of years since the incidents at the Rainbow Factory and since then, Rainbow Dash grew her hair back and had a child of her own. Nopony knew who the father was but for those that knew about what happened, they assumed it was aftermath. After all, her daughter, Prism, looked almost exactly like she did at her age. Not only that, but Rainbow Dash also took on Scootaloo as a roommate, living in harmony up until this night.
"I was out visiting Violet Light again," said Prism. "He told me the story of a place called the Rainbow Factory, and how he saved both you and Scootaloo."
"You were just at Violet Light's?" questioned Scootaloo, peeking around the corner of another room. "What did he say? Is it happening tonight?"
"All he told me was to get back here and tell mom not to open the door to anyone but him," said Prism. "He said he was going to visit."
Scootaloo quickly shifted her gaze to Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash said, "That means it's happening."
"What is happening?" asked Prism.
"The civil war," said Rainbow Dash. "It will start and hopefully end tonight. Violet Light is probably coming to take us to a safe spot. Don't worry, Prism, we should be fine."
All three ponies then flocked to the window and began to see lights coming over the horizon heading towards Canterlot.
"Mom, is Violet Light's story true?" asked Prism. "When he showed me Azure Blaze's dog tags they were his own; and why do they call him 'Violet' Light if he is blue?"
"Because 'Violet Light' is actually Azure Blaze," answered Rainbow Dash. "He calls himself by his fallen partner's name because he wishes what happened to the real Violet Light actually happened to him. At that time, I wished it happened to me instead. I didn't deserve to live, but by the grace of some higher power, I was allowed to and I am grateful for it and what he did to let me live: What they all did."
"So what... Azure Blaze... What he said was all true?" asked Prism.
