Chapters Rainbow Factory: The Untold Story
Rainbow Dash landed softly on a small fluffy cloud after finishing her long and exhausting race with Hoops and Dumb-Bell. She had never flown that fast in her entire life! Hoops and Dumb-Bell didn’t even stand a chance against her. She hoped that she had taught them a lesson for picking on her friend Fluttershy.
A slight cool breeze blew through Rainbow’s mane as she laid down on the cloud for a nice long nap. She couldn’t wait to tell Fluttershy about how she had creamed those bullies in the race, but, because of the fact that she could barely stand at the moment, Rainbow Dash knew that she had to rest first. As Dash lay peacefully on the cottony white summer cloud she remembered that not only had she won the race, but had also earned her cutie mark. This was defiantly a day that she would always remember.
--Hours Pass--
Rainbow Dash suddenly jolted awake as a strong gust of wind almost blew her off of her cloud. She stretched before getting up and looking around. What time was it? The sun was setting and the slight summer breeze seemed to have drifted her a little ways away from Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash knew that if she didn’t get home soon it would be dark. She quickly leapt off of her cloud and into the cool night summer air. She enjoyed the warm summer wind on her face as she let herself freefall for a couple of seconds before catching herself with her wings and sailing back to the floating cloud city.
As she soared through the tranquil night sky she gazed fixedly at the large Weather Factory looming in the distance. Someday she wanted to work there, at Cloudsdale Weather Corporation. She wanted to be a weather pegasus when she grew up. She didn’t know which weather section she wanted to work in, but, to her it didn’t really matter, just as long as she got to work there someday.
As Rainbow Dash glided over Cloudsdale she stared down at all of the little cloud houses sitting serenely in the huge cloud city. Not very many ponies were outside, but the ones who were seemed to be older or adolescent.
“It must be late ,” thought Rainbow Dash as she continued to fly over the city.
Then, just as Rainbow Dash was approaching home, a light brown pegasus suddenly flew into her from out of nowhere.
“Oww… I-I am sooo sorry,” apologized Rainbow Dash rubbing her head.
While the brown pegasus recovered from the unexpected collision Rainbow Dash looked him over. His mane was a dark yellow and he was wearing a white metallic hard-hat. He was also wearing a white lab coat, and printed on it was the name ‘Star Runner’.
“I-It’s okay…” replied Star Runner adjusting his hard-hat, “I was just flying really fast because there usually aren’t that many pegasi out at this time of night. I just got done with my shift at the factory and…”
There was a moment of silence as Star Runner stared at Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, aren’t you that filly that won that race earlier today?” he asked with a smile.
“Yeah, that was me,” replied Dash with a grin, “The name’s Rainbow Dash, and not only did I win the race, but I also got my cutie mark!”
Rainbow watched as Star Runner mulled over something for a while as he hovered in the air.
Finally, he replied, “I would really like to get home right now, but I guess I could spare a few minutes and fly you over to the Weather Factory.”
Rainbow Dash could have sworn that she heard him wrong. Did he say that he was going to fly her to the Weather Factory, the place that she had always dreamed of working at someday?
“The Weather Factory?” she spoke confused, “But why do you want to take me there?”
Star Runner seemed to be shocked by this response. He quickly glanced behind him to make sure that nopony was around before he continued.
“You haven’t heard? You’ve been the talk of the town ever since that race.”
Rainbow Dash was surprised by this reply. She knew that she was awesome, but she didn’t know that she was that awesome! Besides, the race wasn’t even that special. It was just a small fillies’ race to stick up for her friend Fluttershy.
Star Runner could tell that Rainbow Dash was confused so he said, “Haven’t you ever heard of the legend of the Sonic Rainboom?”
“No…”
Star Runner motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow him while he explained everything. She followed him reluctantly, still unsure of why he was taking her to the Weather Factory.
“Okay… So the legend of the Sonic Rainboom,” sighed Star as they began to fly towards the brightly lit factory, “You see, in legend, if a pegasus is able to reach a certain theoretical speed he will create a Sonic Rainboom. A Sonic Rainboom is basically a sonic boom that shatters the visible light spectrum and creates a rainbow. Now, nopony in history has ever been known to reach this theoretical speed, but many ponies think that you might have been the first.”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was she really the first known pony in history to create one of these legendary sonic booms? This was just too cool! She knew that she had created a rainbow, and she knew that it had been awesome, but she didn’t know that it was this awesome!
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash excitedly, “This is great! But why are you taking me to the Weather Factory?”
Star Runner smiled before continuing, “Well, my boss would like to see you. Ever since you’ve created that sonic rainboom you’re all he’s talked about.”
Rainbow opened her mouth, about to ask Star why his boss was so interested in her, but was cut-short as they arrived at the factory. It appeared to be a lot bigger in the dark, and it was lit up beautifully. Steam puffed out of the many smokestacks running along the roof of the facility, and even from outside you could hear the loud clanging and banging of the weather machines from inside. Rainbow Dash was so excited; she had never been inside the facility before.
“Please, follow me,” ordered Star as he trotted up to the front gates of the factory.
Dash followed him as she looked around in wonder, the sun had finally set and the stars were just starting to become visible in the night sky. She watched Star as he tiredly walked up to the front gates of the factory. Two burly guards barred the entrance. They were holding small pikes and wore the official Canterlot armor. Star showed them some sort of identification before they opened the gates and welcomed him in. Before passing through Star Runner whispered something to one of the guards, who actually chuckled, before resuming his serious attitude. Rainbow Dash quickly followed Star through the tall shiny metal gates.
Dash waited until the guards were out of earshot before asking, “Why are there guards? This isn’t like a castle or anything.”
Star Runner replied calmly, “Truthfully, I don’t know. It’s only the two of them. I think they’re here just in case something ever goes wrong, and to make sure that unauthorized personnel don’t enter the facility. Anyway, everypony that works here gets to know them pretty well since we see them every day. In fact, they’re really nice once you get to know them.”
The two pegasi walked a little farther before they actually reached the entrance doors of the Weather Factory. Rainbow Dash watched excitedly as Star Runner scanned his ID card and opened them. As they both stepped inside she looked around in awe. They were in a huge atrium that was many stories high. The ceiling was made of glass, and the stars could be seen through it. Doors lined the walls, and each door had a label printed above it. Star seemed to not be aware of the beautiful cloud atrium with a fountain in the center. Instead, he just motioned for Rainbow Dash to follow him as he trotted up to one of the many doors leading out of the main room.
Rainbow Dash noticed that the label “Area 2” was printed above the large metallic door they were about to enter through. Rainbow Dash wondered just how many areas there were in this factory as she continued to follow Star down a long polished white tiled hallway. With likeness to the main room, doors also lined the walls of this hallway. Some of these doors were labeled with strange names such as, “Area 2: Sector 1.DH4E” while others had more normal names like, “Hail Freezing Center”. Dash also noticed that she saw very few ponies walking the halls. It was almost as if the facility was vacant.
Star soon stopped in front of an elevator placed conveniently half way down the long hall. He routinely punched the “up” button on the wall before pulling a small pocket watch out of the front pocket of his lab coat and studying it, sighed jadedly.
“Half past ten,” he said as the elevator doors opened slowly.
Rainbow Dash followed Star into the elevator and watched as he pressed the button for the third floor. As she sat in the polished elevator reality finally began to grip her once more. She had been so caught up in the sudden excitement and thrill of going to the Weather Factory that she had completely forgotten how late it was and how worried her parents might be if she didn’t return home.
“Uh… Star?” spoke Rainbow Dash quietly as the elevator opened on the third floor.
“Yes?” replied Star stepping out of the elevator and beginning down yet another hallway.
“I-I don’t know if this is such a good idea…” sighed Rainbow Dash as she followed him.
“And why not?” asked Star stopping in front of a door labeled “Dr. Snow’s Office”.
“Well… You see…” stuttered Rainbow Dash hesitantly.
Dash certainly did not want to go home, but she knew how badly she would be punished if she didn’t. Running off to the Weather Factory with a strange stallion at night was definitely a big no-no.
“…I think I should probably go home,” she finished sheepishly.
“You’ll be fine,” smiled Star.
He began knocking on the thick door forcefully. A loud thump thump thump echoed throughout the large white hall.
“I don’t think you understand…” argued Rainbow Dash unsure of what to do.
“Listen, kid,” sighed Star rubbing his temple, “I took time out of my evening to bring you here, and the last thing that I want to do after my shift is over is spend more time here. So please, don’t back out of this now. Trust me, I know how you feel. I was a little nervous too my first time in the Weather Factory, but you’ll soon learn that everypony here is really nice and that you have nothing to be worried or scared about.”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing; the daring and fearless Rainbow Dash scared? She only shook her head and was about to explain her real problem when an old cream colored pony suddenly answered the door.
“Yes?” inquired the old pony hoarsely before clearing his throat.
Star quickly explained who Rainbow Dash was to the old stallion. The doctor’s eyes lit up as Star finished his short explanation. He ushered them into his office before quickly shutting the door behind them. It was a picturesque office fashioned with older furniture. Rainbow Dash found a comfortable looking chair and sat down in front of the doctor’s big oak office desk. Star Runner and the doctor whispered something between themselves for awhile before Star Runner finally turned and, saying goodbye to Rainbow Dash, exited the room.
“So…” began Dr. Snow making his way over to his desk and taking a seat, “What is your name young filly?
“R-rainbow Dash,” replied Rainbow Dash a little timid.
“Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash, I am Dr. Snow. I assume that Star told you the reason that you are here, correct?” asked the doctor kindly.
“Not exactly,” answered Rainbow.
She had trouble keeping eye contact with the old pony. She felt a little uncomfortable now that Star Runner was gone, and she couldn’t help but think about what her parents were going to say.
“Well then,” smiled the doctor warmly, “I’ll explain right now. Today you did something that nopony has ever done before, and that is creating a sonic rainboom. You see, for years now our most experienced engineers have been searching for a more efficient way to make rainbows, and you might be the key.”
“How?” asked Rainbow Dash becoming more attentive.
The doctor stared out the large window wall to his right for awhile before responding.
“For century’s Cloudsdale has been making rainbows the same way. It is extremely expensive, time consuming, and, to a certain degree, dangerous. That’s where you come in; if we could somehow figure out how you created that sonic rainboom we may discover another way to produce rainbows.”
“Okay… So what do I have to do?” inquired Dash readily.
“You’ll need to be tested,” sighed the doctor pulling out a small medical kit from a drawer in his desk.
Dr. Snow then proceeded to take some hair, blood, and DNA samples from Rainbow Dash. Once finished he tucked everything back into the medical kit and laid it gently on his desk. He then used the intercom to call somebody who would arrive shortly to take the samples to a lab to be studied and examined.
“It shouldn’t be too long before we get the results back. I know it’s late, but you might as well just wait here.”
Rainbow Dash waited restlessly for a little while before asking, “So… how are rainbows currently made?”
Dr. Snow pondered this question for a while before answering, “Normally I wouldn’t do this for just anyone, but you’re a special guest so… come, follow me, and I’ll show you how they’re made.”
Excited, Rainbow Dash got up and followed Dr. Snow to the door of his office. The doctor proceeded to meander out the door and back down the long hallway that Rainbow Dash had just come. His hoofs clicked dully on the polished tile floor as he made his way to the closest elevator. Rainbow Dash trailed close behind, wondering how he was intending to show her. The elevator doors slid open silently revealing a young looking mare wearing a white lab coat. She nodded at the doctor in greeting before exchanging places on the elevator with him and Rainbow Dash. Dr. Snow then ensued to punch one of the many metallic elevator buttons before stepping back and facing Rainbow. The small room suddenly made a slight jolt upwards after the elevator doors had slid closed once more.
As the two pegasi stood in the rising elevator Rainbow Dash broke the short silence, “How come I’ve only seen a few other workers besides you and Star this entire time?”
The doctor sighed as he removed his spectacles. He huffed on them, wiped them clean of the condensation, and replied, “It’s in-between shifts at the moment. The day shift ends at 22:00 and the night shift begins promptly at 23:00. The entire factory is basically shutdown between those two hours, it’s the perfect time to let the machines cool down and do maintenance on them.”
“Oh, okay…” replied Dash as the elevator slowed to a stop.
The doors slid open revealing yet again another long hallway. The doctor hummed a little as he stepped out of the elevator with Rainbow Dash tailing close behind.
“Many pegasi have never seen what I’m about to show you, and, in fact, a filly of your age has never seen this before.”
“Seen what?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash curiously.
“The Rainbow Factory…” replied the doctor with a grin.
Rainbow’s eyes lit up. He was going to show her the Rainbow Factory. Just when she had thought that the day couldn’t get any better, she was wrong! Dash squealed in delight as the doctor came to a halt at the end of the lengthy hall. The only thing that stood in front of them was just one massive double sliding door. Above it read the words, “Area 2: Sector 5- Rainbow Facility”. The door was at least ten feet high and eight feet wide. It seemed to be made out of titanium and was sealed tightly shut. Five large metal bars were locked in place horizontally across the huge door making it even more secure. Dr. Snow ambled calmly up to a retina scanner built into the wall next to the imposing door. He scanned his eye before routinely punching a few buttons and stepping back. The massive door gave a jolt before the five metal bars disengaged and slid out of the way. The massive door then proceeded to slowly slide open before rumbling to a stop.
“Welcome to the Rainbow Factory Rainbow Dash, please follow me and don’t touch anything,” smiled the doctor as he motioned for her to follow him thought the opened doors.
Rainbow Dash followed Dr. Snow gleefully through the huge doors. Upon entering the facility she gazed around in awe. Massive industrial sized caldrons were filled with pools of swirling liquid rainbows. Large sturdy cloud pillars supported the room’s ceiling which was covered in a confusing maze of silvery pipes. The pipes ran along the ceiling and walls before stopping abruptly over the tops of the caldrons and water-falling their colorful liquid into them. Rainbow Dash continued to follow the doctor through yet another door that led out of this impressive main room.
“I’m taking you to the very back of the factory,” he explained, “From there, we’ll work our way up. I’ll show you exactly how rainbows are made and how you may be able to help us.”
“Alll right!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash jumping and hovering in the air a little.
After a few minutes of silence Dr. Snow opened one final door and proudly pronounced that they were at the beginning of the rainbow manufacturing process.
“This…” sighed the doctor, “Is where it all begins.”
Dash’s eyes widened at what she saw.
Rainbow Factory: The Untold Story
--Many years later--
Rainbow Dash walked slowly through the pure spectrum cooling area with a clipboard hung around her neck and a pen in her hoof. Factory workers buzzed around her as she did her daily task of inspecting the numerous columns of spectrum cooling containers lining both her right and left. She was a full grow mare now and also the chief rainbow manufacturing manager. She had made a full recovery after she had been released from the hospital those many years ago. Soon after she had been released she had begun determinedly striving towards her goal of one day working at the Weather Factory and figuring out a new way to create rainbows.
Once she had become old enough Dash signed up to work at C.W.C (Coudsdale Weather Corporation). After numerous years of hard work and undying willpower she soon became assistant rainbow manufacturing manager. The only pony that had had a higher position than her, in the rainbow sector, was Dr. Snow who was the chief rainbow manufacturing manager. They grew a strong friendship and made a great team together, yet Rainbow Dash could tell that deep down the doctor still felt guilty about what had happened to her those many years ago. Then, one day, it suddenly happened. Dr. Snow announced to the rainbow facility’s staff that he was retiring. The doctor appointed Rainbow Dash his job position, and from then on out she had been the rainbow facility’s head manager.
“...thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, and thirty-five,” counted Rainbow Dash as she jotted down some quick notes on her clipboard, “Seems like we’re running right on schedule today. We have thirty-five full containers of pure spectra. Good job everypony!”
Rainbow Dash sighed as she let go of the clipboard. It dangled around her neck as she turned to leave the cooling area. It was almost lunch time and she was starved. She had been in such a rush this morning that she hadn’t even had time to eat breakfast. As she made her way out the sliding doors and into the hallway she bumped into Star Runner who still worked at the facility.
“Hey, Miss. Dash, I was looking for you. You weren’t at your office so I decided to check here.”
“Yeah, I was inspecting the cool area. What is it?”
Over time Dash had become pretty good friends with Star Runner. He was, after all, the first factory worker that she had ever met.
“Well, uh, one of your engineers would like to have a word with you. I think he said that he’ll be waiting for you in the main room,” reported Star brushing his mane out of his eyes.
“Okay, thanks. Catchya later Star.”
Stopping in the main room wasn’t a problem for Rainbow Dash. She had to pass through it anyway to be able to get to her office for lunch. As she made her way down the hallway she greeted workers who walked by, either by smiling and saying ‘hi’ or by telling them to ‘keep up the good work’. Upon entering the main room Rainbow Dash began to scan the area, searching for the engineer who wanted to speak with her. Her eyes fell upon a dark red pegasus dressed in a white lab coat. He stood next to one of the massive spectrum caldrons used to stir the pure spectra and was fiddling with a pair of safety goggles that hung around his neck. As Rainbow Dash approached him she could tell that he seemed to be in his mid thirties.
Looking up the engineer noticed Rainbow Dash and greeted her in a quite calm and slick voice, “Why hello Miss. Dash, I am Dr. Atmosphere, one of your mechanical and biological engineers.”
“Hello Dr. Atmosphere…”
“Please, just call me Hide.”
“Okay, Hide , I was just about to go to my office to get some lunch. How about to tell me whatever it is that you want to tell me while we walk there?”
“Why of course Miss. Dash. I was going to suggest a more private location anyway.”
Hide followed Rainbow Dash through the main room and out the large titanium doors leading out of the rainbow facility before he began to speak.
“So, how long have you been chief manager now?”
“About six months,” replied Rainbow Dash with a grin, “It’s all gone by so fast. It feels like just yesterday that I was the assistant manager, and the day before that signing up to work here.”
“Yes, well, I noticed you the day that you signed up Miss. Dash. I saw greatness in you, and knew that someday you would become a great worker. I saw you mature over the years, and eventually become the mare you are today. After great consideration I finally decided that you’re ready to hear the truth,” proclaimed Hide as they got into an elevator.
“The truth? What are you talking about?” asked Rainbow Dash confused.
“Yes, the truth,” repeated Hide sternly as he pressed the up button, “Do you remember back when you were just a filly? When you were first brought to the Weather Factory?”
“Um, yeah. They brought me here because they thought I could revolutionize the way of creating rainbows.”
“And do you remember the test results?”
Hide’s question hit a soft spot for Dash. She remembered sitting in the hospital on the brink of tears vowing to herself that she would one day discover a new way to make rainbows since she wasn’t the key.
“Yes, I remember. They came back negative. What does this have to do with anything?”
“Everything, Miss. Dash. This has to do with everything,” replied Hide very calmly and seriously, “You see, I was the one who tested your samples.”
The elevator they were riding in came to a sudden stop and the doors slid open. The two ponies stepped out and walked a few paces down the hall before stopping in front of a door. It used to be Dr. Snow’s office, but it now belonged to Rainbow Dash.
“And?” asked Dash, pausing with her hoof on the door handle.
“I’ll tell you once we get inside,” replied Hide as he checked behind his shoulders to make sure that nopony was around.
Rainbow Dash shrugged and opened the door. The office was more contemporary now, compared to Dr. Snow’s old design. Warm sunlight poured through the polished glass wall to her left as Dash ambled over to her office desk.
“Like I was saying,” continued Hide, closing the door cautiously behind him, “I’m the one who tested your samples. Miss. Dash, I would like to inform you that they were positive.”
Dash coughed a little as she choked on the sandwich that she had just begun eating, “What!?”
“Yes, I found an alternate way of making rainbows that day Miss. Dash. Dr. Snow just never told you.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to say. All she could do was sit in her chair dumbfounded. She watched as Hide made his way over to a small abstract sculpture sitting in the corner of the room.
“Snow never told you because he was afraid of the truth. He’s the only one who currently knows about it besides me. He called me ‘sick’ for ever thinking up such a thing, and told me to forget about it. He said that as long as he was in charge ‘the rainbow facility would never stoop to such low and twisted levels’. But he was a fool,” seethed Hide as he studied the sculpture, “This truth will revolutionize everything!”
“What is it?” inquired Rainbow Dash enthralled by what Hide was saying.
Hide stole a quick glance at her before responding, “It turns out that pure spectrum runs within the blood of all ponies. It only has to be extracted.”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was better than she could have imagined! If pure spectrum really was inside of everypony then that would mean no more gems, no more extraction capsules, and no more reactor! Everything would be so much safer and cleaner, and it would cut the expenses of making rainbows by the thousands.
“This is wonderful! Why haven’t you told me sooner!?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash excitedly.
“Because of the way the spectrum is extracted…” replied Hide.
“And how is that?” asked Rainbow Dash leaning back in her chair.
Hide’s eyes widened at this question. He started to nervously tap the floor with his hoof as he hesitated for a moment.
“Ya know… that’s a very good question Miss. Dash,” chortled Hide somewhat hysterically.
Sweat began to form on the red stallion’s face and he started taking in quicker and shallower breaths. As he slowly turned to face Rainbow Dash she noticed that his eyes were dilated and he was leering at her in an uncanny way.
“When I found out how to extract the spectrum it almost drove me mad,” explained Hide, “The only way it can be extracted is by harvesting all of the flesh and blood from inside of the ponies. A simple grinder should do the trick. Then it’s only a matter of a time before the spectra separates from the dying flesh.”
Rainbow Dash’s stomach churned at Hide’s explanation and she almost vomited on the floor. He watched as she recovered from the sudden and unexpected convulsions.
“…disgusting…” stuttered Rainbow Dash holding her stomach, “How can you live with yourself?”
“Simple,” replied Hide regaining his calm and slick composure, “I told myself that it’s for the best of Cloudsdale…No, for the best of Equestria! I mean just think about it Miss. Dash. It would cut the costs of making Rainbows by nearly sixty-seven percent! No more company gem mining, no more raw spectrum. It would be so much cleaner and resourceful. With only a dozen ponies we could make more pure spectrum then with fifty gems!”
“That doesn’t change the fact that it’s murder!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash harshly.
She noticed that Hide took a few steps back at her sudden outburst. His surprised face changed into a wicked grin as he continued to stare at her.
“You don’t get it do you?” countered Hide slyly, “It would also be so much less dangerous than the current method. You, of all ponies, should know that! You witnessed the danger of the reactor firsthand.”
Rainbow Dash gasped as she suddenly remembered visiting the Weather Factory for the first time. She remembered being in the control room when the reactor malfunctioned, and how she had smashed her head into the viewing glass. She remembered…
“AAAHHHUUUGGG!” screamed Rainbow Dash as her head erupted in pain.
She still couldn’t remember what had happened to her after she had hit her head. Every time she tried to remember her head would always seem to explode with pain. Dr. Snow had always told her that she had breathed in raw spectrum, but Rainbow Dash just couldn’t remember. All she could remember was waking up in the hospital bed.
“Don’t you ever… talk to me about that experience again!” gasped Rainbow Dash as the tension in her head subsided.
“S-sorry,” stammered Hide shocked.
There was a moment of silence as both the ponies took a few minutes to calm down. Rainbow Dash could tell that Hide was in deep thought as he paced back and forth across her office.
“How about this?” asked Hide finally, “We wouldn’t kill just anypony. We’d kill criminals, the vermin of the world. And when we run out of them we could start knocking off failures, those idiot ponies that can’t do anything except stain Cloudsdale’s remarkable reputation.”
“You’re out of your mind!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash pointing at Hide, “Now get out of here before I decide to fire you!”
The two pegasi stared intensely at each other for a few seconds before Hide finally smirked and shook his head. Slowly, but surely, he made his way over to the office door and opened it.
Before stepping out he turned to face Rainbow Dash one more time and added, “I just don’t think you understand what you’re doing.”
“Don’t you ever bring up that sick idea again!” shouted Rainbow Dash as he shut the door, “I will fire you!”
Author's Note
I know, this chapter is short. That's because the next chapter was originally going to be part of this one. But I decided to just publish this part of it because it was taking so long to write. Anyways, the next chapter (or technically the second half of this one) will be published soon.
Rainbow Factory: The Untold Story
History Repeats
I'm pleased with how this chapter turned out. It has a good amount of action in it. I tried to add a little more descriptive elements into this chapter as well. Also, I would like to thank FireBlitz for proof reading it for me. I'm in need in need of editors/proof-readers, so if you would like to be one for me just leave a comment. xD
Chapter 4 History Repeats
Nimbos sat on a hard swivel chair as he intently watched the computer monitor placed before him. Why did he have to have the early morning shift? He would much rather be in bed at the moment than watching the stability of the rainbow reactor. Nevertheless, it was his job, and he was getting paid good money. So, in the long run, it defiantly outweighed sleeping in a few more hours. As Nimbos began typing a few commands into the control computer he heard Sunburst moan slightly.
“Poor Sunburst ,” thought Nimbos making a short sideways glace in his direction, “In all the years I’ve known him I’ve never seen him this depressed .”
Sunburst shifted in his seat before letting out another small moan. His blood shot eyes tiredly scanned his computer’s monitor. Nimbos caught a strong whiff of alcohol, which was emanating from his friend, as he drew in his next breath. From what Nimbos understood Sunburst’s mother had apparently just been in a bad flying accident and passed away recently. Ever since then Sunburst had never really been the same. At night he’d go to wild parties and drink unreasonably large amounts of fermented apple cider and then come to work the next morning with a head-splitting hangover.
A sudden blip on Nimbo’s monitor alerted him about a small function within the reactor that had to be dealt with. After only a few quick punches of buttons the blip disappeared and everything was quiet once more. Everything, except for the low muffled droning sound of the reactor and the occasional moan from Sunburst. Nimbos, having many years of experience in controlling and maintaining the reactor, knew that you always had to be very attentive when working this particular shift. The reactor could not support itself, and that is why it was up to the control staff to maintain it. Otherwise the core would most likely deteriorate to the point of collapse within only a few hours and there would be a devastating meltdown.
Nimbos glanced up at the wall clock as he laid back into his swivel chair and propped his hind legs up onto the table. It was half past six; still too early for his taste. As he lay back in his chair Nimbos began to look around indifferently. The room was the same as it had always been. The sturdy cloud walls were a creamy white color, but they appeared to be red in the glow of the heated reactor. Nimbos could see the heat waves rippling off of the surface of the reactor as it continued to pump and churn as if it was an enormous beating heart. Turning his head slightly he noticed that two more rows of tables sat in front of him, and directly to his right sat Sunburst. Two rows of tables were placed in front of his friend as well. Each table had a monitor on stand-by mode sitting on them and an empty swivel chair placed before them.
There was still space for four more workers in the room, but it was only him and Sunburst at the moment. Not like it was a surprise though, the reactor could technically be run by only two ponies. The only benefit of having more workers on duty was that it was more likely that they would catch functional errors within the system. Nimbos knew that his manager, Miss Dash, knew that he was an extremely experienced and knowledgeable worker in this field. She knew that he was fully capable of running the reactor with only the minimum help. So, instead of paying extra workers, she only assigned him and Sunburst for the morning shift.
As Nimbos continued to lay lazily in his swivel chair, an irksome fly buzzed around his head a couple of times before landing on the ceiling. He dreamily watched it crawl around on the ceiling for a while before a loud bleeping noise suddenly snapped him back into reality. It was coming from the main screen, which was placed directly above the reactor viewing window. Nimbos carefully studied the red warning sign flashing on the screen before nearly jumping out of his skin. The reactor was at dangerously high heat levels, any hotter and the core would start having trouble staying stable.
“W-what the hell!?” exclaimed Nimbos as the floor shook from a sudden rumble of the reactor, “What happened?”
Nimbos quickly jumped out of his chair and galloped over to his friend Sunburst who was rapidly typing on his keyboard.
“You were in charge of keeping the reactor’s heat level stable, what happened?” inquired Nimbos fretfully.
“I-I’m sorry…” replied Sunburst. His blood shot eyes formed into a squint as he studied the data on his monitor. The yellow colt kept blowing his orange mane out of his eyes as he continued to type, “My headache was terrible… and I was just soo tired. I think I fell asleep. I’m so sorry…”
“He fell asleep? HE FELL ASLEEP!? ” thought Nimbos as the realization hit him. If the matter on hoof at the moment wasn’t so serious he would have smacked his friend upside the head for doing such a stupid thing. This was one of the most important and dangerous jobs in the entire weather factory! Even if he had stayed up most of the night and had a terrible hangover that was no excuse for falling asleep. If he really was that tired he should have just called in sick or something. Miss Dash could have easily found another qualified worker to take his place for the day.
“I can’t control it,” exclaimed Sunburst as Nimbos watched him anxiously, “We’re going to have to cool it down manually!”
“What’s the temp?” shouted Nimbos as he ran over to the emergency closet and grabbed a gas mask along with a heat resistance suit.
“About ten thousand degrees,” replied Sunburst nervously.
“Ten thousand! How bucking long was he asleep! ” thought Nimbos as he quickly put on the shiny metallic looking suit. Only eight hundred more degrees and the core would start collapsing. At twelve thousand degrees there would be a complete rainbow meltdown!
As Nimbos galloped over to the elevator he securely tightened his safety goggles and put on the gas mask. Before the elevator doors closed, Nimbos caught a quick glimpse of Sunburst who had begun to sweat nervously and was still furiously typing on his keyboard. As the elevator moved down Nimbos put a small ear piece into his right ear that enabled him to communicate with Sunburst. Although it wasn’t exactly the right time to be thinking about it, Nimbos realized just how advanced the technology was in the weather factory compared to the rest of Cloudsdale, or even Equestria for that matter. Why did they have all of this tech that nopony else had, or probably even heard of before?
As the elevator door opened, Nimbos galloped out of it hurriedly before making a sharp right turn and opening the heavy airtight door leading into the reactor room itself. The second he opened the door a blast of heat hit him forcefully. Although the reactor was about ten thousand degrees, the rest of the room was probably only two or three thousand, thanks to the huge industrial sized air cooling systems. The heat suit he was wearing could withstand up to four thousand degrees before it began deteriorating. Freezing cold liquids pumped through the suit’s many veins as Nimbos inched his way closer to the reactor.
Nimbos scanned the room hastily before finally spotting what he was looking for. A red hot hose sat limply in the corner to his left. Galloping over to it, Nimbos uncoiled the hose before dragging the open end over to the massive reactor.
He could barely hear his friend shouting in his ear over the loud clanging of the machine, “I can’t turn on the water. Some idiot must have turned the valve shut!”
Although it wasn’t really water that flowed through this particular hose, Nimbos knew what his friend meant. Dashing back over to left corner of the room, he noticed a large metal wheel embedded into the wall next to the hose.
“Turn that wheel and the valve will open!” explained Sunburst through the ear piece, “I will then be able to flow the water (cooling chemicals) through the hose.”
Without a second thought Nimbos grabbed onto the wheel firmly before giving it a hard yank to the left. It didn’t budge. Anxiously, he tried again with the same results. Suddenly Nimbos let go of the valve wheel with a painfully loud yelp. The heat from the red hot metal had soaked through his heat gloves and burned his hooves.
“It’s almost at eleven thousand degrees!” cried Sunburst, “Either open that valve or get out of there now! The core is starting to collapse. We might have to evacuate!”
Determinedly Nimbos grabbed onto the wheel again and turned it with all of his might. He could feel the blistering heat soak through his gloves once more. He cried out in agony as the wheel finally turned to the left. Soon thereafter, he could hear the lovely sound of running liquid. Without giving him much time to relish in his success, a sudden rumble of the reactor threw him off balance. The jolt was so powerful that small cracks began to creep their ways along the walls and ceiling of the reactor room.
“Nimbos, get out of there now!”exclaimed his friend fearfully, “The core in deteriorating!”
Instead of listening to his friend, Nimbos ran over to the end of the hose, which was now spewing ‘water’, and aimed it at the reactor. A very loud and sharp hissing sound followed. A few more seconds went by before there was another terrible rumble, along with the sound of crunching metal. Raw spectrum of all colors began to fill the air as Nimbos continued to pour the cooling liquids onto the reactor. The cracks above his head suddenly widened dangerously.
Although he was in great peril only one thought was shooting through Nimbo’s mind, “I must cool down the reactor, even if it costs me my life! Otherwise, it will meltdown and many more ponies will die .”
At that moment a sudden forceful blast of air from the reactor blew Nimbos off of his hooves and slammed him into the wall adjacent to him. The blast also caused parts of the unstable ceiling to give way. Large chunks of blazing hot structural cloud ceiling fell onto the poor colt as he lay on the ground in a daze. The collision had damaged Nimbos gas mask, as well as shattering his safety goggles. He could hear his friend cry in panic as he attempted to get back up.
“AAAAUUUGGGHHH!” howled Nimbos as he struggled in the debris. Without the goggles to protect his eyes, and the gas mask damaged, the scorching hot air burned his face.
As Nimbos screamed in pain the world around him suddenly started to spin wildly. He must have breathed in some of the gaseous raw spectrum. He hardly noticed his burning face or hooves anymore as his brain began to fail due to the raw spectra intake.
The last thing he heard was Sunburst yelling into his ear, “I’m coming Nimbos, I’m coming to save you! Just hold on… just hold on…”
His friend’s desperate voice faded away as Nimbos drifted into unconsciousness.
--The next day--
Rainbow Dash sat on a padded wooden chair as she waited for her turn to speak. While she waited she began to look around the large cloud atrium, which was also known as the main room to everypony who worked at the factory. Everypony who worked at the weather factory was gathered in this single room. In front of them was the president of the factory who was giving a small speech at the moment. Dash watched his tail twitch nervously as he gripped the podium that he was standing behind. She hated acting all business like, but since she was the manager of the rainbow sector she had to act formal.
“Ew, formalness, ” she thought as she fidgeted restlessly in her chair, “It’s like being an egghead, like Twilight, or something. ”
“-so, without further to do, here is Miss Dash,” announced the weather factory’s president taking a step back from the podium.
Nervously, Rainbow Dash got up and slowly made her way over to where the president was. When she reached the podium she nervously looked around at all of the ponies watching her intently. It wasn’t like her to be nervous, but this speech was so important and serious that even her normally courageous and adventurous personality was uneasy.
“I would, um…er, like to inform you…”
Screw this formal talk. Talking normally would at least help with her nervousness a little.
“As you all should know, I am Rainbow Dash, head manager of the Rainbow Facility,” she announced a little more confidently, “It’s a really cool job. Anyways, I’m just here to tell you all about something that happened yesterday that wasn’t cool . You should all know, even if you don’t work in the rainbow sector, that rainbows are made by this awesome machine called the ‘rainbow reactor’. Unfortunately, a bad accident happened yesterday. And if it wasn’t for the braveness of Sunburst and Nimbos, we would’ve had a terrible meltdown on our hooves.”
At the word ‘meltdown’ a low murmur arose from the crowd. Rainbow Dash waited for it to die down before continuing with her speech.
“But, as many of you know, Nimbos was badly injured. If it wasn’t for the Sunburst, who awesomely saved him…”
“Stop!” exclaimed a voice near the front of the crowd, “This isn’t right.”
A yellow pegasus with an orange mane suddenly flew out of the multitude of technicolored ponies and landed next to Dash. Rainbow Dash realized that it was Sunburst as he took her place in front of the podium.
“All of the credit should go to Nimbos,” proclaimed Sunburst seriously, “He was the one who stopped the threatening meltdown. I’m the one who almost caused it!”
Some gasps were heard within the crowd at this comment. Rainbow Dash noticed that Sunburst’s eyes began to water before he continued his unexpected speech.
“I thought... I thought that he was going to die. I thought that one of my best friends was going to die because of my own idiocy. It’s a miracle that he survived. He got second and third degree burns, and he even breathed in some raw spectrum. He’s still in a semi-coma at the ponyville hospital now,” declared Sunburst with a few sobs, “The only thing that I did was save his life. He’s the one who stopped the meltdown.”
There was a moment of silence as Sunburst lowered his head and tried to regain control over his emotions again. Then, without warning, he suddenly turned to face the still shocked Rainbow Dash.
“I want you to fire me. I don’t deserve to work here anymore.”
Dash could tell that Sunburst felt extremely guilty for his actions. And, until yesterday, he had had a perfect record. Although, that was no excuse for what he did. If she didn’t fire him, then she was going to have to at least degrade him to a pure spectra stirrer, or a janitor, or something like that.
“Sunburst, I’m not going to fire you. You really screwed up, but you also saved Nimbo’s life. I’m going to degrade you to a pure spectra stirrer, and you are going to have to pay for all of the damage done to the factory and all of Nimbo’s hospital bills.”
After Rainbow Dash had finished speaking Sunburst made a face that she didn’t quite understand. Then, with a few flaps of his wings he thanked her for her generosity, and said that he was pleased with her verdict. Once he took his place back in the audience, Dash finished her speech by explaining how the rainbow sector would put into effect new safety precautions, and how future mistakes would not be tolerated.
--Meanwhile at Ponyville Hospital--
“He’s suffered large amounts of cranial damage due to the raw spectrum, and he has extremely serious burns to the face and hooves…”
“How is he even still alive?”
“I don’t know. It’s nothing short of a miracle.”
“Should we put him under restraints now? Just in case he’s violent when he eventually wakes up?”
“He’s in critical condition; I don’t think he’s going to be waking up anytime soon…”
Nimbos only caught bits and pieces of this conversation as part of his consciousness resurfaced for only a few short moments before he plunged even deeper into the darkness of a sedated sleep.
--One week later--
Nimbos eyes snapped open as he lay in the hospital bed. Where was he? What had happened?
“AAUUUGGHH!” he screamed in agony as his brain seemed to be being scrambled by an egg beater.
A nurse ran into the room at his sudden outbreak. She was a pretty little unicorn, probably no older than twenty. Instead of paying attention to her, Nimbos looked down at his grey body which was badly burned. Chunks of his fur and flesh were missing in certain places. His long blond mane was burnt and charred in many places as well. He also soon realized that he was unable to move because he was being held down by restraints.
“I can’t believe it, you’re awake!” exclaimed the nurse.
Nimbos was barely able to process any of this because his brain was still roaring like an ocean at high tide. Everything seemed to be getting lost in this new section of his mind that he never noticed before; it was almost like a black hole. This new found darkness seemed to twist and bend everything into something different, he could barely think at all. The only thing that kept continuously repeating in his head was, ‘Rainbows are EVIL ’. As Nimbos thrashed and struggled to break free from the restrains the nurse approached him cautiously.
“Hey, why don’t you let me outta here?” begged Nimbos. It almost seemed as if the darkness was speaking for him.
“I don’t think I’m allowed,” replied the young nurse somewhat timidly.
“Aw, it’s okay,” countered Nimbos as he stopped fighting the restraints. The longer he stayed awake the more it felt like his kind and normally cheerful personality where being sucked into the hole. Something else seemed to be surfacing.
“Other than the burns, I feel fine. I know you want to be careful because I breathed in raw spectrum, but my head doesn’t hurt much at all.”
That was a flat out lie! What was he doing? He couldn’t control himself anymore. Not only that, but the more he tried to fight the darkness the more it seemed to persuade him that it was right. It kept saying that rainbows were evil. But Nimbos didn’t think that they were. Or did he? He didn’t know anymore! Well, wait… were they? Yeah, yeah they were! How could he have been so blind?
After lots of convincing, Nimbos was finally able to convince the nurse to undo his restraints. What a naive fool! Once they were all unlatched Nimbos thanked her kindly before ripping out his IV and shoving the needle into her throat.
“Hahaha! What’s the matter?” chortled Nimbos manically, “Cat got your tongue?”
There was no response from the lifeless nurse lying on the floor.
“Or should I rephrase that to, needle got your throat!?”
Author's Note
So, what do you think of the story so far? Good? Bad? What about this chapter? Someday I would like to be a published author, so every little bit of feedback helps. Also, I would like to hear what you think about Nimbos, and what you think is going to happen next.
Rainbow Factory: The Untold Story
Rainbow Dash ran her hoof through her mane before sighing jadedly and resting her head on her office desk. It had been another hard day of work at the weather factory and she couldn’t wait to get home. She was going to meet Pinkie this evening at Sugercube Corner and they were going to pull a few pranks on their other friends. It had been a while since they had gotten together for some ‘fun’ time, and Rainbow Dash was looking quite forward to it.
Slowly, she slid her head onto its side and indifferently stared out the window wall to her right. Small and large cloud buildings obstructed her view of the ground below as she gazed around at the vastness of the city of Cloudsdale. Through the few small patches of air, where there was no cloud ground, she could see the rolling green hills of Equestria far below. Many pegasi were flying around, all of them carrying on with their own individual lives. Rainbow Dash noticed that there seemed to be an unusually large amount of pegasi clustering around the Cloudsdale Arena. Apparently, the annual flight tests were happening today. Every year the young fillies who had finished flight school would take the final flight test. It was kind of like a final exam. Rainbow Dash remembered that she had aced the test when she was a filly. It had hardly even been a challenge for her.
A few short quick knocks on her office door snapped Dash out of her day dream.
“Come in?”
The door swung open revealing a rather frustrated looking red pegasus. His safety goggles dangled around his neck as he trotted up to Rainbow Dash. A shiny golden pin on his chest read, “Dr. Atmosphere: Mechanical and Biological Engineer”.
“You again?” sighed Rainbow Dash lifting her head off of her desk, “This better be important, because I almost fired you last time.”
“This is important!” exclaimed the doctor slamming a newspaper down on Dash’s desk, “Look at the Headline!”
Curiously, Rainbow Dash picked up the newspaper and realized that is was an issue of Equestria Daily , the national newspaper of Equestria. Underneath the title banner was the headline, “Crazed Weather Worker Kills Nurse!”
“W-what?” stuttered Dash in surprise, “Who did this? When did it happen? It couldn’t have been one of our workers!”
“Oh, but it was,” replied Hide seriously, “When you ask? Yesterday! Who? Nimbos! That raw spectrum really messed him up. He’s a psychopath now. After he woke up from the accident that happened last week, the first thing he did was kill his nurse. Then, he jumped out one of the hospital’s windows and vanished. Nopony knows where he is. The few royal guards that are posted in Ponyville are most likely still searching for him now.”
“Poor Nimbos… he was such a nice guy.”
“Poor Nimbos? More like poor Cloudsdale! Do you have any idea what this does to our reputation!?”
Rainbow Dash could actually somewhat relate to Hide this time. Cloudsdale was an extremely prideful and nationalistic city. Keeping up the city’s near perfect reputation was extremely important to everypony who lived in it.
“This is the reason that I told you we should change the way we make rainbows,” sighed Hide knitting his eyebrows in distaste as he stared at the newspaper, “Raw spectrum is just too dangerous. If something like this were to ever happen again the weather factory would start losing credibility. Nopony is going to want to work here.”
Rainbow Dash tossed the newspaper back onto her desk before plunging into deep thought. There was a certain truth to what Hide was saying. They could not risk anymore accidents like this. Of course, Dash knew where he was going with this. He was going to suggest that they use his ‘improved’ method of making rainbows. However, that was certainly out of the question. Good reputation or not, Rainbow Dash would never stoop to such a low and sick level.
Hide coughed abruptly, drawing attention back to himself, “Like I said, the only way we can fix this problem is by changing the way we make rainbows, and I’ve already explained to you how.”
Dash did have to admit, Hide was extremely good with words. His voice was almost always calm and collected, and he could move his body in very slick and persuasive ways. Another contributor was that he usually seemed to say the right things at the right time, and would stop to let you ponder something at just the right moment. Almost everything about him screamed I’m right . Of course, no matter how persuasive he could be Rainbow Dash knew what her answer was.
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said no Hide.”
“Fine, do whatever you want. You’re the rainbow manager after all. I just wanted to give you something to think about. However, if you aren’t going to be using my idea, then what will you be doing?”
Dash got up from her office chair and casually walked over to the door, not even stopping to look at Hide, “Follow me and I’ll show you. I’m going to make some more safety rules.”
Although she wasn’t looking at Hide, Rainbow Dash was almost certain that he rolled his eyes at this remark. Reluctantly, he began to follow her down the long hallway leading to the rainbow sector of the weather factory. When they arrived at the massive titanium doors leading into the sector she could hear him mutter under his breath that ‘no matter how many rules and safety precautions she made there was always going to be a risk with raw spectrum’. Ignoring him, Dash entered into the main rainbow room and started to slowly fly down the passage that would lead her to the reactor room.
However, before they could reach their destination a loud banging sound echoed throughout the hallway. It sounded as if somepony had dropped multiple metal rods onto the hard tile floor. Stopping, to listen more closely, Rainbow Dash realized that the sound had emanated from a small musty passageway that branched off from the main hall. It was, in fact, the same passageway that Dr. Snow had taken her through when she had first been brought to the facility.
“We should probably check it out,” sighed Hide motioning towards the small corridor, “Not many ponies go back there. That passage is mostly just used for maintenance. It snakes behind and under many of the machines in this facility. It’s kind of dangerous in there because most of the electrical wires are exposed, and there is a lot of open machinery. The only thing good about it, in my opinion, is that it makes a great shortcut to almost anywhere in the rainbow facility. Anyways, like I was saying, we should check out what made that sound, to make sure that nopony got hurt.”
Nodding in agreement, Rainbow Dash flew over to the opening of the small passageway and yelled out, “Hey, is anypony in there? Are you okay?”
In response there was nothing but silence, only the faint sound of gears and pistons churning way off in the distance. After a few moments of quiet Dash called out again, but once more the only response was silence. Just as she was about to turn around and continue down the main hall, the sound of crunching metal echoed sharply from within the small passage. What in Equestria is making those sounds? Curious, Rainbow Dash began to slowly creep down the musty corridor. Hide trailed close behind her, still as calm and collected as ever.
“Who’s there?” asked Dash as she made her way around a slight bend, “Those sounds were obviously not coming from a machine. Are you okay?”
Still, there was no response.
Dash had to stop for a minute to let her eyes adjust before she crept deeper into the passageway. The only lighting seemed to be coming from the small glow of certain mechanical parts and the occasional light on the ceiling. Hissing pipes that ran along the ceiling and walls also let off some steam that only clouded her vision further. Yellow and orange electrical and chemical hazard signs spotted the walls as well.
Dash sometimes had to place her steps strategically in order to not step on the clusters of wires that often zigzagged across the floor.
“Watch your tail,” warned Hide ducting under a low hanging pipe, “Don’t let it get caught in any exposed gears.”
After about five minutes of playing hopscotch the passage suddenly branched off into three different directions. Rainbow Dash would have turned back at this junction if it hadn’t been for the small thing that she noticed out of the corner of her eye. Just a little ways down the far right branch there was a bright violet object. As she neared the object she realized that it was, in fact, a hoof.
“Hide, get over here now! I think somepony is hurt,” cried Rainbow Dash, “They must not have been answering me because they were unconscious.”
Besides the single hoof Dash couldn’t see any other parts of the poor pony’s body. It was hidden behind multiple metal pipes and other mechanical things. Finally, after a few more ducks and hops, the passage opened up into a somewhat small room-like area. Turning to her right, she could finally see the rest of the body. The normally cool and courageous Rainbow Dash vomited at the sight of it.
There, lying in a heap, was the bloody mess of a lifeless pony. From was Dash could make out it seemed to be a mare. Her body was mangled and distorted in sickening ways and blood was dripping out of her many wounds. Her open eyes were rolled back in her head and a greasy black cloth was tied around her mouth preventing her from screaming. Large metal rods were scattered all across the floor and a nearby ventilation grate was bent out of place. A trail of blood was splattered between the dead body and the metal grate.
“Looks like stab wounds,” informed Hide after recovering from the initial shock of seeing the body as well, “This was obviously a murder, and a brutal one at that.”
The smell of burning gore rose up from the corpse as some of the blood sizzled on exposed electrical wires. Doubling over, Rainbow Dash vomited for the second time.
“W-who could have done this?” she asked wiping the puke from her mouth, “Was it Nimbos? But how would he have gotten in the weather factory?”
“I don’t know,” replied Hide picking up a small piece of crumpled yellow paper from the ground, “But whoever it is they aren’t finished.”
Chills ran down Dash’s spine as she read the scratchy black letters printed on the paper:
All of thos~ who make rainbows must cert~~nly DIE
Cloudprancer made ra~~bows and now she is dead. But she wa~ nice! No she was evil
No, they were control~~ng her Does it matter? Wh~~ matters? It’s th~ DAMN rainb~~~
Some of the writing was illegible, but from what Rainbow Dash could read it looked almost as if whoever wrote the note was having an argument with themself. But the sentence that disturbed her the most was the first one. The one that read: “All of thos~ who make rainbows must cert~~nly DIE ”
Author's Note
I am currently looking for an editor to help me with this story. I just want somebody who will proof-read my chapters for me before I publish them. If you're interested pm me.
By the way, I would love some feedback for this chapter! :)
Rainbow Factory: The Untold Story
The room was filled with crates upon crates of gems! They came in every single color that Rainbow Dash could ever imagine, and they all glittered beautifully. Once she was able to finally tear her eyes away from the wonderful gems they refocused on another object that was sitting in the middle of the spectacular room. It was some sort of a machine. It was a silvery metallic color, and seven conveyer belts protruded out of it.
“This is the gem sorter,” explained the doctor, “Gems are continuously dumped in the mouth of this machine. The device then sorts the gems into the seven main color groups and places them onto the conveyer belts. Each conveyer belt transports a different color of gem.”
“For example, that’s the red belt, and that’s the green belt,” said the doctor as he pointed out two different conveyor belts, “The gems are then transferred on the belts into in next room which begins the next step of the rainbow making process.”
“So… rainbows are made out of gems?” asked Rainbow Dash somewhat puzzled, “But how do gems make rainbows? Do you grind them up or something?”
“I wish it was that easy,” chuckled the doctor, “The next room should answer most of your questions, but before we continue I highly suggest that you wear these. We wouldn’t want to ruin those pretty eyes of yours, after all.”
He then proceeded to hand Dash a pair of safety goggles which she put on without delay. He also put on a pair himself before they entered into the next room.
Rainbow Dash noticed that in this room each conveyor belt stopped above a large glass container. Each container was filled with a different color of gem. On the opposite side of the room were seven small capsule shaped machines. Each of them glowed a different color. Large metal pipes also led out of the capsule devices. The metal pipes snaked along the walls of the room before imbedding themselves deeply into the hard cloud walls and out of sight.
“This is the…”
Dr. Snow was cut off by a loud ringing noise that rang throughout the entire weather factory.
“What was that!?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash startled.
“What was what?” asked the doctor confused, “Oooooh, the bell. Sorry, I’m so used to hearing it that I barely even take notice of it anymore.”
“What does it mean?”
“Nothing special, it just means that the night shift has begun and everypony should report to their assigned duty.”
As he was speaking multiple pegasi dressed in white lab coats and safety goggles started to enter into the room. The conveyor belts above the large glass containers suddenly rumbled to life and the capsule machines started to glow more vibrantly.
“Anyway, like I was saying, this is the spectrum extraction room,” continued the doctor, “The conveyor belts empty their gems into separate containers. Each gem container is directly opposite of its designated extraction capsule. The gems are then scooped and dumped, by the bucket fulls, into the extraction capsules. For example, red gems go in the red capsule, blue in the blue, orange in the orange, and so on. Once the extraction capsules are full of gems they are then sealed tightly shut and powered on. The extraction capsules remove all of the spectrum from the gems. The extracted spectrum is then pumped through those pipes and into the next step of rainbow manufacturing.”
“What happens to the gems?”
“They become worthless and are discarded.”
Rainbow Dash watched as some of the pegasi finished filling the yellow extraction capsule. They quickly sealed it shut before flipping a switch. The machine hummed to life. After a few minutes the pipes leading out of the capsule began to glow bright yellow as the spectrum passed through them. The capsule then unlocked revealing dull and colorless gems.
“So, where does the color go?” asked Rainbow Dash inquisitively.
“Here, I’ll show you,” replied the doctor making his way out of the now busy room, “Oh, and it’s called spectrum, not ‘color’, more specifically, raw spectrum .”
“Raw spectrum?”
“Yes, raw spectrum is the substance that is extracted from gems. It’s extremely toxic and dangerous.”
Rainbow listened carefully as the two made their way out of the spectrum extraction room and into a short hallway. It seemed to be a secondary hall. Unlike the main ones it was unpolished and musty. Wires and pipes of all sizes crept along the walls and ceiling of the old corridor. Every so often one of the pipes would give off a hissing sound and release a large puff of steam. As the two pegasi made their way through the almost eerie mist Dr. Snow continued his explanation about raw spectrum.
“…that is why you are wearing those safety goggles. Raw Spectrum was so vibrant and colorful that it can cause seizures, or even blindness, to unprotected eyes. However, that isn’t even the worst part of it. Raw Spectrum also lets off an extremely damaging, invisible, and scentless gas that causes massive damage to the cerebrum and most often instant death if the exposure rate is too high. That’s why it is securely contained in those titanium pipes. Also, every room of the rainbow facility has a supply of emergency gas masks, just in case.”
“Woah, I never knew that making rainbows is so dangerous!”
“Well, it’s not too dangerous. There are very few raw spectrum leaks or safety hazards in this facility. I mean, we’ve been running it for more than millennia, right? No, more than anything making rainbows is just costly. That’s why we’re so interested in you. You were able to make a rainbow without gems. You might be the solution to a more efficient rainbow manufacturing process.”
Rainbow Dash smiled to herself as the two of them went through a door at the end of the old hallway. She noticed that they were now in a somewhat larger room with many doors and small passageways leading out of it. With likeness to the old corridor that they had just passed through this room was also cluttered with many wires and pipes. Gears and pistons clanged loudly overhead as Rainbow Dash carefully made her way through the room.
“Sorry, but we’re taking the back way to the next step of the rainbow process,” apologized the doctor as he ducked under a low hanging pipe, “It’s much faster than going the main way.”
Rainbow Dash continued to follow the doctor through many twists and turns until they finally reached an elevator labeled, “Reactor control room”. They quickly squeezed into it and rode it to the top.
“This…” exclaimed Dr. Snow as the elevator doors slid open, “Is the Rainbow Reactor Control Room! It is the most important step in all of the rainbow manufacturing process.”
The room was fairly small with a large glass wall overlooking some sort of a machine. There were at least half a dozen sophisticated looking computers in the room. Two massive computer monitors were hung above the glass wall. Smaller monitors were also scattered all throughout the hectic room. At each of the smaller computers a factory worker was sitting deeply engulfed in complicated work.
Dr. Snow walked Rainbow Dash over to the glass wall overlooking the strange machine, “This is the Rainbow Reactor. All of the pipes containing raw spectrum lead into it. It uses extreme heat, up to nine thousand degrees Fahrenheit, to purify the raw spectrum. The heat causes the liquid spectrum to vaporize into a gaseous state. The reactor is then able to separate the spectra from the poisonous gases. Once the spectrum is purified we call it pure spectrum because it is no longer a threat or safety hazard.”
Rainbow Dash watched as the reactor's many gears and pistons turned and pulsed reminding her of a gigantic heart. Every so often the machine would let off a large cloud of steam which got sucked out of the many air ducts in the reactor room.
“Okay, cool. Now may I ask a question?” asked Rainbow Dash as she continued to stare at the impressive machine in awe, her face practically plastered against the glass.
“Of course,” replied the doctor adjusting his safety goggles.
“What happens after this? Is the rainbow process over?”
“For the most part, yes, after the reactor the pure spectrum is transported to a cooling area where it becomes liquefied again. While it’s in its gaseous state spectra releases some of its color making the pure spectrum slightly less bright and vibrant and safe for unprotected eyes. After that it is stirred in those caldrons that you saw on your way in and then it’s ready to be painted into the sky.”
As Dr. Snow finished his explanation of the rainbow process one of the workers in the control room signaled him over to one of the many computers.
“I’ll be right back,” assured the doctor as he wondered over to the seemingly distressed employee.
Dash didn’t even seem to notice the doctor leave as she continued to watch the great machine. She couldn't quite tell but she thought she heard it making a small noise that it wasn’t making before. Meanwhile, the doctor was becoming more and more anxious with the employee. Without looking Rainbow Dash could tell that something was wrong. Dr. Snow hovered over the worker impatiently as he instructed him on things that Rainbow Dash didn’t understand. Just as the problem seemed to be resolving itself the worker suddenly winced as it he had forgotten something important. Slowly and hesitantly he whispered it to the doctor.
Suddenly, without warning, Dr. Snow burst out in unexpected anger, “What do you mean you didn’t switch the nano-shutters off! Don’t you remember the basic twelve to eight spectra load capacity of the reactor!?”
“I’m s-sorry I…”
“Don’t apologize now; fixing this mess should be your first priority! Re-stabilize the thrust carbon propulsion units and try to erasure the critical pressure obstruction in the green spectra transport conduit!”
Suddenly a low rumbling sound came from the reactor. Following it was a loud pop. All of the workers in the control room were now running around furiously and stealing uneasy glances at one another.
“I just…It won’t…I can’t!” sobbed the distraught worker not being able to think clearly.
“Pull yourself together and fix it!” exclaimed the doctor irately, “No, don’t do that… ugh, no wait… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?”
At that the already hysterical worker lost it and burst into tears, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry… It’s all my fault, I…”
Another deep rumbling sound from the reactor cut him off in mid-sentence. Pushing the worker aside the doctor quickly took his place in front of the control computer.
“I’ll do what I can, but you really messed this up!” huffed Dr. Snow, “Go get some gas masks from the emergency supply closet, just in case. Oh, and Rainbow Dash! Please step away from the gla-”
Suddenly the reactor rumbled so violently that it shook the entire control room. Rainbow Dash, who was still standing within inches of the glass wall, was thrown into it with immense force. Her head pounded against the glass wall with a dull thud before she fell backwards onto her back. The collision cracked the viewing glass as well as her safety goggles. As she lay sprawled on the ground Dash’s head throbbed with great pain. She could do little more than moan as the control room suddenly erupted into complete pandemonium. Everypony was scrambling wildly to get a gas mask, except the doctor who was still trying to fix the major problem. Then, there was another unexpected popping noise and the sound of leaking gas. Rainbow Dash though she heard one of the workers shout “The green raw spectrum transport pipe just burst because of the pressure build up” as she continued to lie dazed on the floor.
Just as she was regaining her senses Rainbow Dash noticed that the reactor room was filling up with a blindingly bright green gas. As she tried desperately to cover her eyes a fit of uncontrollable coughing suddenly overcame her. As Rainbow Dash gasped for air she felt as if her head was going to explode. Everything in the room began to spin wildly and her vision began to blur. The last thing she remembered seeing was one of the workers rushing towards her with a gas mask before everything went black and she passed-out.
--8 hours later: Ponyville Hospital--
Rainbow Dash groaned loudly as she started to shift around. Her head was on fire and her lungs felt as if they had been torn to pieces. Slowly, and with great effort, she opened her bloodshot eyes. She waited for them to focus before looking around at her surroundings. She seemed to be in a hospital room. The walls and floor were painted white and there was a small window to her right. Golden rays of sunlight poked through the closed blinds and into the bland room. A constant bleeping sound rung into Dash’s ears as a machine tracked her heart rate. An IV also hung from her upper leg, and to her left sat an old pony watching her intently.
“So, you’re finally awake?” sighed the pony with relief.
Rainbow Dash licked her lips trying to wet her dry mouth before responding weakly, “Where am I? What… happened?”
There was a pause as Dr. Snow called for one of the nurses. Upon arriving he instructed her to contacted Dash’s parents immediately and tell them that she was awake.
“You’re parents were just here about an hour ago but they left because they had no idea when you would wake up. The doctor said it could be days,” explained Dr. Snow solemnly.
Rainbow Dash sat quietly for awhile as she tried to remember what had happened. Gradually, it began to come back to her. She had been at the Weather Factory, in the Rainbow Reactor Control Room, and something had happened. The strange thing is she couldn’t remember what it was. The last thing she could remember was smashing her head into the viewing glass and falling onto the floor. She knew that something else had happened but she couldn’t remember what it was.
“What happened in the control room?” stuttered Rainbow Dash faintly.
“There was an extreme pressure build-up in one of the raw spectrum transport pipes,” explained Dr. Snow, “And don’t worry. That idiot who caused the mess was fired immediately and got charged over 25,000 bits. The pipe broke because of the pressure and filled the reactor room with raw spectrum. The crack you made in the viewing glass was just big enough for some of the spectrum to seep through. You weren’t wearing a gas mask so you breathed some of it in. That’s why you passed out and most likely have a terrible headache.”
Dash winced as a sudden pain shot through her head, “Yeah… my lungs hurt too.”
Dr. Snow nodded as if in agreement, “You’re very lucky. You are the only known pony to have survived breathing in raw spectrum. Not to mention that your goggles were broken. Thankfully, you breathed in very little and the doctor said that you should make a full recovery.”
“That’s right,” acknowledged a yellowish tan pony as he walked into the room.
His mane was a light brown and he was wearing a doctor’s coat. Around his neck was a stethoscope and on his face was a pair of oblong spectacles.
“We were pleased to find that you will have no pediment physical or psychological damage. As far as we can tell your brain is fully functional. That was definitely a surprising relief to all of us. Especially since the toxin in raw spectrum greatly affects the function and performance of the cerebrum in the brain, primarily the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe controls things such as reasoning, behavior, emotions, and personality. So, if you feel depressed, confused, homicidal or suicidal, and/or not yourself within the next few days please contact me right away. Of course, like I said, you show no signs of mental damage,” smiled the medical doctor reassuringly before being called out of the room for another critical patient.
Rainbow Dash stared at the wall distantly. She had a hard time focusing with her headache and it still bothered her that she couldn’t remember what had happened after she had hit her head in the control room. Every time she thought she started to remember a sharp shooting pain would fly through her head and she would forget again. With great effort she then rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes.
“What happened after I passed-out?” she muttered languorously.
“I cut off the raw spectrum flow through the pipes long enough to repair the damage. All of the raw spectrum was then safely vacuumed out of the room. After that we quickly rushed you to the hospital. By the way, do you need anything? Food, water, more pillows?”
“Maybe a glass of water… and one last question?”
“Yes?”
“Did I pass the test? Will I be able to help you make rainbows?”
Dr. Snow suddenly teared up at this question. Rainbow Dash could hear him choke under his breath that it was ‘all his fault that she got hurt for nothing’.
“Um… well I did get the results back a few hours ago.”
“And..?”
The doctor hesitated greatly before responding, “No. No you didn’t pass.”
“Why not?”
Instead of answering the doctor just got up and walked over to the open door, “I’ll come visit you again soon Rainbow Dash.”
With that Dr. Snow disappeared out the door leaving Rainbow Dash with nothing but her own thoughts. How did this happen? If only she hadn’t listened to Star. He was the one who brought her to the facility in the first place after all. Of course, it wasn’t his fault; he was just doing his job. Dr. Snow had also built up her hopes so much. Dash had pictured herself jumping with glee when the tests came back positive, being announced the hero of rainbow making, and getting appointed a great job at the Weather Factory. But instead she was lying in a hospital bed with her dreams shattered, a terrible headache, and other small injuries. She felt like she was on the brink of tears. She hoped her parents would arrive soon. She would give them a huge apology and give her mother a big hug. However, at the moment, she was alone, completely alone.
“No ,” thought Rainbow Dash in a sudden swing of attitude, “My dreams aren’t crushed unless I want them to be! I can still work towards them. Even though I might not be the key to revolutionizing the way of creating rainbows doesn’t mean I can’t still work at the Weather Factory. And my injuries? The doctor said that they would heal, right? Yes, when I grow up I’ll work at the Weather Factory. Better yet, I’ll work in the Rainbow Facility! I’ll be the best worker there ever was, and if I can’t be the key to a new source of rainbow manufacturing then I’ll make one .”
