Chapters --5 years in the future--
“I wonder what job position I’ll get!” thought Scootaloo excitedly, “Maybe she’ll put me in the thunderstorm sector, or I could make snowflakes, or maybe I’ll be one of the ponies that distributes the weather throughout Equestria!”
As Scootaloo thought about all of the different jobs she could possibly do she arrived at the rendezvous point where Rainbow Dash was waiting.
“Hey Scootaloo, I see you’re finally here!” called out Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, I got here as fast as I could,” Scootaloo replied.
She parked the scooter by a nearby tree and trotted up to Rainbow Dash.
“Ready to go?” asked Dash.
“Of course!” said Scootaloo cheerfully.
The two pegasi took off in the direction of Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash flew a lot slower than she normally would so Scootaloo could keep up with her. Scootaloo definitely wasn’t the best flier, but she was undoubtedly better then when she couldn’t fly at all five years ago.
“So, um, what job are you going to draft me into Rainbow Dash?” questioned Scootaloo.
“You’ll see…” said Rainbow Dash vaguely, “I think you’ll like it.”
“Ok then…”
Silence followed for a little while.
“What is your job exactly Rainbow Dash?”
“Well, lets just say that I’m higher up in management. I’m not totally in charge but I make a lot of decisions for the factory.”
“Nice! That’s cool!”
“Yeaaahhhh, it’s pretty awesome…”
The two friends were now in Cloudsdale and flying towards the weather factory. As they neared the tall iron gates blocking entrance into the facility they landed.
“Halt!” exclaimed two guards that stood on either sides of the gate.
“There are guards in the factory?” inquired Scootaloo.
“No, the only guards here are these two. For some reason Princess Celestia thought it was necessary to have the gate guarded.” answered Dash.
“Oh.”
“It’s me, Rainbow Dash, and a friend.” said Dash holding out an official looking badge to the guards.
“Ah, Rainbow Dash! Sorry, didn’t realize it was you! Of course go ahead in,” replied one of the guards and they both stepped aside.
The iron gate slowly opened and the two ponies walked into the factory. Inside of the factory was complete turmoil. Pegasi where galloping, walking, and flying in almost every direction.
“What’s going on Rainbow Dash?”
“The work day just started so everypony is reporting to their assigned sector of the facility.”
Scootaloo followed Rainbow Dash through the huge atrium until they soon came across a door labeled, “Area 2”. Dash opened the door and they both trotted through. A long white hallway stretched before them. Not nearly as many ponies are in this area noticed Scootaloo as they walked down the shiny white tiled floor. The hallway was lined with doors; some labeled with names like, “Area 2 Sector 1.DH4E” while others had more normal names like, “Hail Freezing Center”.
Unfortunately Rainbow Dash kept walking passed all of the doors. After what felt like ages they reached the end of the hallway.
“This is where you’ll be working Scootaloo,” informed Rainbow Dash with a smile.
She stepped aside so Scootaloo could see the door. But it wasn’t a normal door; it was a huge steel door with a printed sign above it that read, “Area 2 Sector 5- Rainbow Facility”.
“No way!” cried Scootaloo, “Out of all the things I would have guessed, I never would have thought about being able to work in the Rainbow Facility!”
“I had a feeling you would like it,” grinned Rainbow Dash.
Dash walked over to a screen embedded into the wall next to the massive door. She pressed her hoof against the monitor and it scanned it. Green words that read “Access Granted” appeared on the screen. The steel door gave a jolt and then began to slowly open. Some steam poured out through the opening and covered the floor in about an inch deep layer. Once the door had completely slid open Scootaloo’s eyes lit up!
“After you,” said Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo jumped inside looking in every direction. There were huge caldrons all throughout the room and rainbow colored spectrum was being poured into them. Pegasi wearing white lab coats and glasses stirred the spectrum constantly. The whole place seemed to shine with a dazzling light.
“I only assign my most trusted and experienced employees to rainbow duty,” commented Rainbow Dash as Scootaloo followed her through the amazing place.
“Why is that?”
“Because making rainbows is not a simple task,” replied Dash.
“So you’re assigning me a job here!? I have no experience what so ever!”
“Maybe not, but I have known you for a long time Scootaloo and I trust you a lot.”
“Still…”
“Besides you’ll be under my wing until you get the hang of it.”
“Okay”
Rainbow Dash glanced up at a clock on the wall, “Oh! I’m sorry Scootaloo but I have to go. Important business…”
Rainbow Dash called over a factory worker who looked a little higher up in rank than the normal workers.
“Scootaloo, this is Crafty Crate, and Crafty, this is Scootaloo. She’s a good friend of mine and I want you to give her a tour of the factory while I’m gone. When you’re finished with the tour teach her how to be a spectrum transferor. That’s right Scootaloo, you’re going to be transferring the pure spectrum to the caldrons.”
“Please, just call me Mr. Crate,” said Crafty in a gruff voice while holding out his hoof.
Scootaloo shook it and replied, “Lead the way! See you later Rainbow Dash…”
As Rainbow Dash flew away Scootaloo followed Mr. Crate through room after room until he finally stopped.
“Ok,” he said with a sigh, “Like all ponies you’re probably wondering how we create the spectrum. How you ask are we up to the task? Well, the answer is in this simply facility.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened when he opened the final door, “No way…”
Inevitable Disaster
Crafty smirked and said, “Here, let me show you from the beginning.”
He pointed over at a huge conveyer belt that had hundreds of gems traveling on it.
“First of all, pegasi have gemstone mines set up all over Equestria. The gems are brought here and put onto that beltway.”
He then pointed over to a huge machine that seemed to be sorting the gems by color.
“Then the gems are sorted. The beltway divides into seven smaller networks, each carrying a different colored gem group.”
The seven smaller conveyer belts led into a different room.
“Before we continue I highly advise that you wear these,” said Crafty handing Scootaloo a pair of safety glasses, “With all great things comes a great responsibility.”
They continued on into the next room as Scootaloo put on the glasses. In this room the seven belts ended leaving huge piles of gems of every color. Factory workers flew back and forth between the gem piles and seven different machines.
“The sorted jewels are piled here and then transferred to the color extraction capsules,” said Crafty coolly, “The red gems go into the red spectrum extract capsule, the orange in orange, and so on… Once the color is dissected from the gems they are discarded leaving nothing but “raw spectrum”.”
“What is raw spectrum?” questioned Scootaloo.
Crafty sighed and answered, “Raw spectrum in the color extracted from the gemstones. It is highly toxic and dangerous in many ways…”
“Dangerous? How so?”
“Ok, do you know why you’re wearing those safety glasses? Because raw spectrum is an enigma! It is so bright, muddled, jumbled, and disarrayed that seeing it would cause mental disorders almost instantly! Not to mention that touching it is fatal! If there ever was a malfunction in this facility and raw spectrum were to leak out the glasses you are wearing cut your chances of having a mental breakdown to an 18% chance.”
“Oh…”
“Ok, follow me. Once extracted from the gems the raw spectrum travels through this network of pipes.”
Each capsule had a pipe extending out from the bottom of it. All the pipes glowed the color of the raw spectrum that was running through them.
“The pipes lead into the reactor room,” said Crafty stepping into an elevator followed by Scootaloo.
When they arrived at the second floor both pegasi stepped out. They seemed to be in a control room. There were computer monitors and pegasi dressed in white lab coats absorbed in highly sophisticated work everywhere. One of the walls of the room was made of glass and Scootaloo could easily peer down onto the floor below. There was a huge machine unlike anything Scootaloo had ever seen before! It constantly let off steam, and all seven pipes containing the raw spectrum lead into it.
“This…” said Crafty with a grin, “…is the Rainbow Reactor! It processes the raw spectrum into “pure spectrum”. This is the heart of the factory! Without this machine making rainbows would be impossible. The Rainbow Reactor uses extreme heat, up to 9000 degrees, to purify the raw spectrum! Once purified the spectrum is cooled and then transferred to the caldrons where it is stirred. After that it is ready to be painted into the sky.”
“Wow!”
“Yup, it’s pretty amazing. The reactor is awfully stable and only leaks or gives us trouble rarely.”
“So, now that I know how the Rainbows are made, could you please teach me how to do my job?”
“Of course Scootaloo, follow me over here and I’ll show you. You see once the spectrum is cooled it is your job to deliver it to the caldrons…”
--A few days later--
Nimbos took a breath and relaxed as he gazed down at the Rainbow Reactor below. It was another fine day at the Rainbow Factory, no trouble and no worries. The screen before him flashed some code and he quickly responded to it by hitting a few buttons. Then all was well again.
“My shift is almost over,” he thought, “I also heard there is a new factory worker. Maybe I’ll swing by the transfer room and greet her after this.”
Nimbos looked over to his right where his friend Sunburst was sitting.
“Gah!” exclaimed Nimbos.
Sunburst was in control of the heating and cooling of the reactor. And he fallen asleep! This wasn’t the first time he had fallen asleep on the job, but never with something this important!
“Sunburst! Wake up!” yelled Nimbos jumping to his hoofs.
He galloped over to Sunburst who had just awakened groggily. Nimbos stared at him friend’s screen in horror! The reactor was at 9876 degrees and climbing fast! Nimbos tried his best to cool the reactor by typing in paragraphs of code after code, but it was no use. He slammed his hoof down on the emergency alert button and the alarm went off.
“Dam you Sunburst! Look what you’ve done! The reactor's at 10,483 degrees!!! If it reaches 13,000 we’ll have a Rainbow Meltdown on our hoofs!”
Sunburst was too stunned to speak. He just sat there gaping at the screen.
“We’ll have to manually fix it!” exclaimed Nimbos.
Nimbos quickly flew over to the elevator.
“You do as much as you can up here Sunburst, while I try to fix it manually down there!”
Nimbos hopped into the elevator and descended down to the first floor. When the doors opened he made sure his glasses were on right and hurried into the reactor room itself! The heat the Rainbow Reactor was giving off was overwhelming! Nimbos could barely breathe! In the confusion of the noise and heat waves Nimbos saw two other workers rush into the room with him.
“At least I’m not alone,” he thought.
Nimbos and the other two workers galloped over to a water pump inside of the room. The two workers grabbed the hose while Nimbos turned the iron wheel to allow water to rush through and into the pipes. The second he touched the wheel he let go and yelped in pain! The water wheel was so smoldering hot that it burned the skin right off of his hoofs!
“Aaaaahhhhh!” he screamed as he grabbed onto the wheel again.
Nimbos knew that if they didn’t cool down the reactor soon everybody would die! As the metal burned though his flesh the wheel slowly began to turn. The smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils as he gave one final jerk! Water poured through the pipe and filled the hose. It spewed out of the end at 50 gallons of water per second! The minute the water hit the reactor it instantly turned to steam!
“Is is too late?” thought Nimbos, “Are we all going to die?”
Then a voice cried over the loudspeaker, barely audible over the noise, “This is Sunburst! I was able to shut down the reactor! Unfortunately, pressure still seems to be building rapidly!”
At that moment the sound of crunching metal filled the air. Nimbos looked over just in time to see a crack erupt on one side of the reactor!
“Look out!!!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
But it was too late! Raw spectrum discharged from the opening and covered the two workers. Because the spectrum was at about 11,500 degrees it was in a gaseous state. The next few seconds that followed was complete terror! The two workers screamed in horror as the gas covered them! Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. As they screamed their eyes began the melt out of their sockets and drip to the ground. Their manes caught on fire instantly! Then even their very flesh began to melt until nothing was left but a gruesome pile of bones and boiling blood. Their terrified screams rang in Nimbos head. A second blast from the reactor shook him to his senses!
“I must get out of here!”
He flew towards the door with all of his might. But right as he was about to reach it a third blast blew him backwards and smashed him against a wall! His safety glasses cracked and fell off of his face from the force. He lay there on the ground dazed and burnt. He knew he was going to pass out, he could feel it. But just before everything went black he looked up to see the reactor one last time.
“Ah! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” he screamed a bloodcurdling scream.
The raw spectrum! Still hung in the air! Nimbos could feel his brain being ripped apart by the chaos and disarray of the gas! His very soul was being torn apart by an unknown force!
The last straight thought he could think before he blacked out was, “S-So this is what it’s like to s-see raw spectrum!?”
Once the malfunction was stabilized more workers entered the room to inspect the damage. The damage was minor and could be repaired in less than a week. However, two lives were lost that day and everypony grieved. Nimbos miraculously was still alive when the place was being inspected! His charred and unconscious body was rushed to an emergency medical room immediately.
“We lost two lives today,” spoke Rainbow Dash solemnly in front of a factory meeting.
Eveypony that worked in the factory was there.
“And because I am in charge of the management of the rainbow sector I feel that it is my fault…” continued Rainbow Dash, “…we cannot let this happen again! From now on if anypony slacks on the job they will be punished. This is for the good of the facility. Dismissed…
--1 week later--
Rainbow Dash sat in a Weather Factory board meeting. It was the normal boring stuff; planning the weather for next month, keeping track of snowflake production, wages and budget cuts, etcetera.
“So, if we produce 100,000 more snowflakes then…” the president pegasus in charge of the winter area was cut off by a loud speaker.
“This is the chief medical officer speaking,” there was a pause and then he continued, “Nimbos, the pegasi who was taken into medical care about a week ago, has been reported missing.”
“Well that’s just great,” sighed Rainbow Dash sarcastically
The chief continued to say, “If anypony sees or knows where Nimbos might be please inform security as fast as possible. They will then bring him back to the medical center at once. I repeat, do not try to make contact with Nimbos yourself! He is potentially dangerous after being exposed to raw spectrum. He has been muttering disturbing thoughts in the medical center, and is mentally inclined to do violent things. That is all.”
“Well, if he was able to get up and leave the medical center, then Nimbos must not be psychically injured too badly,” thought Rainbow Dash optimistically.
--Area 2 Sector 5-Rainbow Facility--
Rainbowshine was trotting down towards the color extract capsules when she bumped into somepony.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said timidly.
When she looked up to see who it was she was astonished.
“Nimbos!? How did you get all the way over here? The medical center is on the other side of the weather factory.”
Nimbos stood there, stiff and unmoving, unaffected by the sudden bump and starring into space. Then with a sudden jerk of his head he looked straight at Rainbowshine. Rainbowshine jumped back, startled by the abrupt movement.
She was about to go call security, like she was supposed to, when Nimbos smiled and said, “Rainbowshine, fancy meeting you here. In fact you’re just the pony I wanted to talk to.”
“Would somepony mentally disordered be able to stay that composed?” thought Rainbowshine as she starred at Nimbos.
As Rainbowshine examined Nimbos closer she realized that his mane was tangled, and he had burn scars on his two front hooves as well as on the right side of his face. Not to mention that his eyes were blood shot and he constantly kept looking in every which way like something was after him.
“You look terrible!” proclaimed Rainbowshine, “I’ll call security and get you back to the medical center immediately.”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary Rainbowshine,” said Nimbos calmly, “I feel better now.”
“But…”
“No, buts! It’s been awhile since we’ve hung out Rainbowshine. We used to be friends…did the rainbows get to you too?”
“What?”
Nimbos pulled up beside Rainbowshine and began to pet her mane like he used to do.
“Oh, you know what I mean. The rainbows; they get to everyone eventually. But not me! I’ll outsmart them. They tried to get me in the reactor room but, ha, it didn’t work! I know there every move…they could be watching us right now!”
Rainbowshine knew now that Nimbos was bonkers. She slowly started to back away from him as his voice grew more wild and angry.
“They’ll kill Rainbowshine! They’ll kill you! Listen to me! The Rainbows will kill you! Un-unless you…your on their side aren’t you!? You’ve betrayed me! After all these years…”
Nimbos had Rainbowshine backed into a wall now.
“No!” exclaimed Nimbos his eyes widening, “You’re all traitors! Everypony in this facility is evil! You…how could you Rainbowshine!?”
Nimbos head started to twitch uncontrollably and his front hooves began to shake as he reached out for Rainbowshine. Rainbowshine squealed in terror as she tried to get away, but it was no use. Nimbos grabbed her around the neck and slammed her against the wall.
“It’s easy to misjudge this floating city!” roared Nimbos as he applied more pressure, “Everypony seems so nice! Until you realize! They all work for the evil rainbows! The rainbows…kill…death...burning…all…fall…down!”
Rainbowshine’s vision began to blur as she gasped for air.
“I thought you were my friend Rainbowshine! But I guess I was wrong…”
Blackness overcame Rainbowshine as she wheezed her final breath.
--A few hours later--
Green Gem walked down the passage towards the color extraction capsules when something hit him. It was a nasty smell! He continued a little farther and saw something so horrific that he cried out in terror! Soon many ponies stood gathered around a wall starring at what Green Gem had saw in disbelief. There on the ground lay Rainbowshine’s lifeless body covered in blood. On the wall next to it were huge red letters written in her blood. It spelled out, Demise . But the most ghastly thing about it was that her decapitated head was the dot for the i.
“Everypony report to the atrium at once,” announced a pony over the loudspeaker, “There is a mentally insane killer somewhere in this factory, but most likely in the rainbow facility because that is where a murder has taken place. I repeat everypony report to the atrium now!”
Everypony galloped or flew towards the exit door as fast as they could. Green Gem could not get that gruesome image out of his head. And the word demise kept haunting him. Just as the exit of the Rainbow Facility came into view the heavy steel doors began to slide shut.
“No!” Green Gem screamed as he and everypony else darted for the door.
Right when they reached the door it slammed completely shut. An eerie silence followed there afterward. Green Gem didn’t know what was worse, knowing that he was trapped inside the Rainbow Facility with a murderer, or the fact that for some reason the management locked down the factory almost intentionally trapping them inside. Then a thought struck Green Gem, and the thought just made him feel even more sick. It wasn’t the management, it was Nimbos. He had somehow hacked into the system and locked down the factory keeping everypony trapped inside with no way of escape!
“Eveypony stay calm!” yelled a voice over the turmoil.
They all looked up to see Rainbow Dash hovering over them.
“He’s ensnared you in this diabolical trap as well?” somepony called up to her.
“Seems like it,” replied Rainbow Dash, “I was in the reactor room overseeing that there would be no problems when the announcement happened.”
“I’m scared,” stammered Scootaloo.
“Well don’t be,” snapped back Rainbow Dash, “You know why? Because there are hundreds of us, and only one of him!”
Some stallion, which Scootaloo thought was named Green Gem, replied, “I guess your right…”
“Of course I’m right! What could one pony possibly do to a group of hundreds?”
Scootaloo scanned the room. This seemed to have relived many of the ponies’ fears.
“But what if he just leaves us in here to starve to death?” questioned a random worker, “It would take forever to dill through those massive steel doors!”
“That’s a good proposal, but think outside the box!” said Rainbow Dash speaking to all of them, “What if we’re not the ones being hunted? Remember he also trapped himself in here as well by sealing those doors. We can split up into groups and go searching for him!”
Eveypony seemed to murmur in agreement.
Scootaloo thought about this for awhile and then thought, “Dash is right; we outnumber him by the hundreds.”
“Who’s with me!” shouted Rainbow Dash lifting a hoof in the air.
“YEAH!” cried somepony named snowflake at the top of his lungs.
Soon many cries of agreement followed. Scootaloo was still a little creeped out, but she did think the plan was logical.
“Ok! So this is what we’re going to do. We are going to split up into groups of threes and go searching for Nimbos. If you are still scared then just wait here in the main room.” instructed Rainbow Dash.
All the ponies started to separate into groups. Scootaloo got into a group with a stallion named Sunburst and a mare named Peppermint Crunch.
“Now remember, he is out to kill; so don’t go easy on him! I want you to bring him to me dead or alive! I prefer dead… Now let’s go!”
The groups all scattered into different directions in search of the insane pony.
“Watch out Nimbos, here we come…” said Rainbow Dash under her breath.
--Green Gem’s group--
Green Gem’s group, consisting of Starsong, Tornado, and himself, flew into the gem deposit room. The conveyor belts were shut off and the lights were dim. The gem sorting machine sat there in the gloom looking like a monstrous robot from a sifi-movie.
“H-hello?” called out Tornado.
His echo bounced throughout the vast room. The place had an uncanny feeling about it. It didn’t help that they were the only group that decided to check here. Tornado, as fearless as ever, walked farther into the room. Green Gem and Starsong followed vigilantly. They continued on into the emergency gem supply room where there were crates after crates of gems. Each crate was filled with about one ton of jewels and stacked five high.
“Tornado, maybe we should stop,” said Starsong nervously, “I don’t like the fact that we are the only group here.”
“You’re such a wimp Starsong! First of all there are three of us and only one of him, not to mention the fact that Nimbos probably isn't even here…”
Tornado was cut off but a loud banging sound that made them all jump. Green Gem looked up to see the fifth crate on top of a stack that Tornado was standing beside shake and fall.
“Tornado! No!” Green Gem screamed.
With quick reactions Tornado tried to fly out of the way of the falling crate. But he wasn’t quite fast enough. The one ton crate fell on top of his hind legs crushing and pinning him. Green Gem and Starsong swung their heads in every direction trying to locate the unknown assailant.
“Bravo, you were able to dodge the crate,” echoed Nimbos voice throughout the room, “But I just made that idea up off the top of my head. Just to add some sugar and spice to this little hunt.”
His voice seemed to be calm and relaxed, but why? Green Gem had always thought that insane ponies didn’t make any sense, yet it was as if Nimbos had planned all of this. Of course this wasn’t normal insanity; this was raw spectrum insanity.
“However, I bet you wouldn’t even care if your “friend” died anyway!” laughed Nimbos finally appearing by landing next to Tornado, “You all are evil and I know it! You don’t have to try and hide it any longer! You work for the rainbows…the rainbows… The rainbows are out to kill me! They’re always watching…there’s no escape. You are all traitors! You sided with them! Dam you all to hell! Must kill all…all who follow…the evilness…I can feel it…the rainbows…they are here…”
Nimbos fell to his knees and started screaming while covering his ears.
“I can hear them! They are coming to get me! Un-unless…I kill you first! Gaaahhh!!!”
Nimbos lunged at Green Gem and Starsong with lighting speed. The whole time screaming, “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”. They were barely able to sidestep his speedy attack.
“Starsong, go see if you can help Tornado while I hold this crazy bastard off,” cried Green Gem.
As Starsong galloped over to Tornado Nimbos flew up into the air and dived down at Green Gem tackling him. The two stallions brawled on the ground. Nimbos seemed to have demonic strength. Suddenly, Nimbos uppercut Green Gem with a powerful punch. He staggered backwards lights flashing before his eyes and the taste of blood in his mouth. Nimbos then kneed Green Gem in the stomach making him cry out in pain. Meanwhile, Starsong was trying to get Tornado out from under the crate.
“I think my legs are broken,” Tornado said with difficulty.
“Don’t worry I’ll get you out, we’ll get through this,” said Starsong tears forming in her eyes.
Suddenly she felt something grab her from behind and the cool blade of a knife pressed against her throat.
“Don’t make another move you-you evil betraying rainbow scum!” shouted Nimbos at Green Gem while holding Starsong hostage.
Green Gem was sprawling on the ground in pain. He recovered and shakily stood back up.
“Who am I kidding?” said Nimbos with a smirk, “You’re probably already so entranced by the rainbow’s evil power that you don't even care about your “friend” anymore.”
“NO!" howled Green Gem, but it was too late.
Starsong’s head landed onto the floor right next to her lifeless body. Nimbos picked it up and starred into the lifeless eyes.
“I hope you went to hell,” he grinned and then with all of his might he smashed the skull onto the floor cracking it open.
Nimbos then turned around. Before Green Gem could react he stabbed the bloody knife through one of Tornado’s eyes.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!” he screamed in pain.
Nimbos then continued to repeatedly kick Tornado in the head until he fell unconscious. He then tore the knife out of Tornado’s eye and raised it high above his head. He brought it down with extreme force finally killing Tornado. Slowly he turned his blood splattered face towards Green Gem, “You’re next…”
With great terror Green Gem flew off in the opposite direction. Nimbos took off after him. Exiting the emergency supply room and heading back into the gem deposit room Nimbos caught up with Green Gem. He slammed into him in midair and brought him down to the ground. They both landed onto the big conveyor belt for unsorted gems. Nimbos hoof hit a power switch and the belt way started up. The two stallions wrestled on the conveyor belt as they both drew closer to the sorting machine.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!” screamed Nimbos.
He was on top of Green Gem now holding him by the shoulders and continuously slamming him up and down onto the belt. Right before Green Gem blacked out he thought he felt Nimbos throw him into the sorting machine where he would get grinded up by the small sorting instruments…
Once the two friends recovered from the hell they had just escaped from they turned around to face the door. It was glowing red hot because of all the raw spectrum on the other side, but thankfully none of it was leaking through.
“Are we…the only ones?” asked Scootaloo shakily.
“I think so,” answered Rainbow Dash with a sad look in her eyes, “Nobody else made it out…”
The two pegasi walked slowly towards the atrium where they were supposed to report ages ago. When they arrived it was completely barren except for three other pegasi. When the three ponies saw Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo emerge from the hallway they rushed over to them. It was the president of the Weather Factory and the two guards.
“Miss. Dash, what on earth happened? You look terrible,” said the president shocked, “I knew something was wrong when the entire Area 2 Sector 5 did not report here. We tried to go look for you but the entrance doors were sealed shut!”
“Nimbos…Nimbos…” stuttered Rainbow Dash, “He killed them all.”
“Oh my word!” exclaimed the president, “Are you two the only ones who made it out?”
“Yes,” replied Scootaloo.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Rainbow meltdown…” sighed Dash.
“And Nimbos?”
“Dead, along with everypony else I suppose.”
“You two must rest! Please follow me.”
“Where is eveypony?” asked Scootaloo looking around.
“Oh, I sent them all home,” replied the president, “I thought it was too dangerous for them here.”
“Good.” said Rainbow Dash.
They followed the president and the two guards into his office.
“Because I have to be here 24/7 I live here,” he explained.
The President then opened a door in the back of his office. Inside was a bedroom.
“I’ll let you two rest here for the night,” he said kindly, “See you in the morning.”
--The following morning--
Rainbow Dash awoke the next morning with a major headache. The tension in her head felt like it had gotten worse instead of better. She then awoke Scootaloo who jumped and screamed when she shook her.
“No! Get away from me Nimbos!” she yelled.
Once finished screaming she scanned the room and groaned.
“That was the worst nightmare I’ve ever had,” she said tears forming in her eyes, “Rainbow Dash I’m so scared! Please help me, I-I don’t know what to do…”
“shhhhh,” said Rainbow Dash soothingly, “It was only a dream. Nimbos is dead now. He can’t hurt you.”
The two friends washed up and combed their manes. Once they were ready they stepped outside of the bedroom and into the President’s office. He was asleep in his big padded office chair.
“Ahem,” coughed Rainbow Dash loudly.
The President awoke abruptly and straightened up in his chair.
“Ah, I see you two are now awake. Because you slept in my room I decided to sleep here in my office.” he said stating the obvious, “Please, come on in and have a seat.”
Both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo walked over to his desk and sat down.
“Now I bet both of you are anxious to get home and forget about the hell you’ve probably just experienced. But I want you to tell me the truth. I want you two to tell me exactly what happened in the Rainbow Facility,” said the President eyeing them closely.
So for the next few hours Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo told of their gruesome and terrible experience in the Rainbow Facility. Every now and then the President would stop them and ask them to explain something, but mostly he just nodded his head and listened. When they finished he dismissed them and bid them well.
--A few days later--
Once the Rainbow Facility was cleaned of the raw spectrum the entire place was so destroyed that everything would have to be rebuilt.
“Now if we work really hard we can have the facility up and running again in about three months,” approximated a weather scientist.
Rainbow Dash, a few scientists, and some of her top employees sat around a conference table discussing what should be done. Since Rainbow Dash was in charge of the Rainbow sector the President said it was her duty to repair and rebuild it.
“Will we be building another reactor?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Why of course! How else are we supposed to make Rainbows?” replied the scientist.
Rainbow Dash twitched a few times before regaining control over herself.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I just haven’t been feeling myself since the incident.”
Rainbow Dash’s head felt like it was on fire! The tension kept building and she could barely contain it any longer.
“So anyway…” continued the scientist.
“Are you sure there isn’t another way?” interrupted Rainbow Dash twitching constantly now.
The scientists huddled together and whispered about something.
When finished the head scientist replied, “Well there is one other way...”
“What is it!?”
“Recently we’ve found that pegasi contain large amounts of pure spectrum.”
“Really?”
“Yes, why?”
“Well, after what happened just a few days ago I've realized that Rainbow Reactors are way too dangerous.”
“But we’ve been using the Rainbow Reactor to make pure spectrum for as long as anypony can remember.”
“Still, do you really want to risk this disaster happening again?”
“No…but”
“No buts!” said Rainbow Dash sharply, “I want another way, and now!”
The scientists looked nervously at one another and then said, “Like we said, we’ve found that pegasi contain large amounts of pure spectrum inside of them. If we could somehow dissect it from them then we wouldn’t need a reactor because it would already be pure. We’ve never actually tried to extract the spectrum out of a pegasus before though; so you’ll have to give us a few days to find a safe way to do it…”
At that moment the tension inside of Rainbow Dash’s head reached its limit and something inside of her brain snapped.
“Who said I’ll give you a few days to find a safe way!?” she said with a crazed look, “I don’t care about safety, and I don’t give a crap about death! I’m in charge of the Rainbow Facility and we’ll be extracting the spectrum the way I want to…”
The scientists, stunned by her sudden uncharacteristic response, replied that they would find a way to extract the spectrum as quickly as possible. A couple of hours later the meeting resumed and the scientists hesitantly handed Rainbow Dash a crude blue print.
“We like to call it the Pegasus Device ”, said the head engineer, Dr. Atmosphere, while staring at Rainbow Dash intently.
As she studied the blue print her eyes gleamed in a chilling way.
She looked up from the paper and replied with a fiendish grin, “It’s perfect...”
Scootaloo, Sunburst, and Peppermint Crunch were all heading towards the control room when they thought they heard the faint sound of somepony screaming.
“That sounded like Green Gem,” gasped Peppermint.
“Whoever it is I hope nothing too terrible happened to them,” answered Scootaloo uneasily.
“Ok, let’s focus on the task at hand,” said Sunburst, “If we can get to the control room I may be able to re-hack the system and open the doors. The only pony better at hacking than Nimbos was me.”
Scootaloo noticed that Sunburst winced when he said the name.
“Don’t worry it’s not your fault…” she replied.
“But it is. It’s all my fault. If I wouldn’t have fallen asleep then none of this would have happened, and my friend Nimbos wouldn’t be crazy!”
“Well, when you put it that way…”
A silence followed until they reached the elevator to the control room. Scootaloo pushed a button and they all waited.
“So, do you really think you can open up the door?” asked Peppermint excitedly.
“Of course! Computers, codes, it’s my thing...” answered Sunburst.
The elevator arrived and all three pegasi stepped inside of it. Sunburst punched the control room button and they all glided upwards.
“Be ready everypony,” whispered Scootaloo, “If Nimbos were to be anywhere this would be the most logical spot.”
The three pegasi tensed getting ready for combat. A few seconds later the door slide open and they all ran out screaming with hooves flying. After awhile they all stopped, panting for air, and looked around. Nimbos wasn’t here; what a relief.
“Well I guess it’s better to worry about nothing than something,” giggled Scootaloo, “Ok Sunburst, get to work.”
Peppermint Crunch and Scootaloo sat next to Sunburst and watched as his hooves flew across the keyboard. Scootaloo had never seen a pony type so fast in her life.
A few minutes later Sunburst hit one last button and proudly proclaimed, “Done!”
“The doors are open?” asked both Scootaloo and Peppermint excitedly.
“Opening,” corrected Sunburst, “It will take about two minutes before they are fully opened. So might as well head back while we’re waiting."
At that moment the elevator door opened and Nimbos burst through. He was holding a knife dripping with blood that had the remains of an eyeball sticking on the end of it. His breath was heavy and he looked tired. There was blood and gore splattered across his body and face. His bloodshot eyes scanned the room until they finally landed onto the three pegasi.
“Look what we have here,” Nimbos grinned, “Three little traitors trying to let the rest escape! I don’t think so…”
Instead of Nimbos making the first move Sunburst did. He flew up into the air and dived down at Nimbos with all of his force. Nimbos, not expecting this, did not have much time to react. He sidestepped to the left hoping to dodge this unforeseen attack. Barely missing him Sunburst landed where Nimbos used to be standing.
“Oh? So now the rainbows fight back?” snarled Nimbos, “I guess that means I’ll just have to fight harder!”
Sunburst ripped a small pipe out of the wall. It must have been a water pipe because water spewed out from the broken end. Now that Sunburst had a weapon to fight with the fight was a little more even. While the two stallions clashed Scootaloo and Peppermint got onto the intercom to inform everypony that the doors where now fully opened.
“Ahem,” said Peppermint clearing her throat and trying to sound as calm as possible, “The exit doors are now…”
Suddenly she was slammed into by Nimbos.
“Nice try, you little demon!” spat Nimbos, “But I won’t let the rainbows get away with this! The dam evil RAINBOWS!”
Scootaloo glanced behind Nimbos to see Sunburst laying dead on the ground. Nimbos had carved out his heart and for some reason stuffed it into his mouth. Nimbos then punched Peppermint Crunch in the face so hard that she immediately blacked out. Scootaloo, scared out of her wits, made a dash for the elevator. Nimbos, apparently not caring, sat down and started to type on the keyboard. Scootaloo ran into the elevator and pressed the down button.
“You can run but you can’t hide!” shouted Nimbos as the door shut, “I’ll find you! I’ll kill…”
His voice faded as the elevator descended. Once the doors re-opened Scootaloo galloped as fast as she could towards the main room.
Only one thought rang inside of her head, “Must get out of here before Nimbos re-seals the exit!”
As she passed the doors to the reactor room Nimbos came over the intercome.
“The doors are being shut! You stupid rainbow possessed ponies didn’t really think that you could outsmart me did you?” He laughed, a spine chilling laugh, “I’ve put up with you all for far too long! I’ve overridden the reactor; it will overheat in less than thirty seconds! It’s already at 10,794 degrees!”
“Oh no!” thought Scootaloo, “13,000 degrees is when a meltdown happens. And nothing can stop a meltdown! The whole reactor will explode, covering the entire rainbow facility in raw spectrum!”
Scootaloo ran passed the pure spectrum cooling center and continued as fast as she could.
“12,000!” howled Nimbos over the loud speaker.
The door that led into the main room was insight!
“12,500!” screamed Nimbos.
The whole place began to shake. Cracks ripped through the floor and chunks of the ceiling began to break off. An explosion happened behind Scootaloo; she knew it was the reactor. Soon the hallway began the rise in temperature! Scootaloo quickly glanced behind her to see something horrifying. The raw spectrum was pouring down the hallway behind Scootaloo and destroying everything in its path! Thankfully she had her safety glasses on, but it still hurt to look at it. With all of her strength Scootaloo ran as fast as she could! Nimbos voice came over the intercom again; only this time he was singing.
“In the Rainbow Factory, where all your fears and horrors come true! In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through…”
He kept singing it over and over and over again. The chilling tune made Scootaloo scream in terror as she galloped down the hall. When she finally burst through the door into the main room everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The floor was cracking; huge chunks of ceiling were falling onto pegasi and crushing them; Nimbos sang over the intercom; raw spectrum was rushing down the hallway behind her. Suddenly she felt herself being lifted up off of the ground! Scootaloo looked up; it was Rainbow Dash!
“Hold on! This is going to be a wild ride…” shouted Rainbow Dash over the chaos and destruction.
Flying faster than Scootaloo had ever traveled before they shot towards the exit. The door wasn’t completely closed yet, but in only a few seconds it would be! Dodging falling debris Rainbow Dash flew towards the door with all of her might. Suddenly an enormous explosion rocked the facility. The raw spectrum had poured through the door Scootaloo just flew away from and spread all throughout the main room almost instantly! Now Rainbow Dash was dodging debris and raw spectrum clouds! The spectrum that wasn’t in a gaseous state vaporized all of the grounded pegasi as it washed over them. About fifty meters from the exit door a piece of debris fell onto Rainbow Dash’s head and knocked off her safety glasses! Right before they passed through the closing doors Rainbow Dash thought she saw some spectrum out of the corner of her eye. She felt tons of pressure and tension build up inside of her brain, but she fought it as best she could. The two friends crashed onto the hard floor on the other side of the door just as it slammed shut behind them.
“W-we made it…” moaned a shocked and dazed Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash twitched, fighting the tension inside of her.
“I have to keep it under control,” she thought, “I only saw a little bit. Not much at all…”
Soon thereafter the “Pegasus Device” was created. It was kept a big secret from the rest of the Weather Factory. Anypony that worked there had to take an oath and was never allowed to leave the facility. Also, Scootaloo's nightmares continued to worsen. Soon she couldn’t sleep at all and would just stay up all night screaming. She was mentally scarred by what had transpired in the facility. Scootaloo went to the a doctor for help, but the doctor said that there was nothing that could be done. Twilight, who just happened to be in the other room, overheard the conversation and said that she might be able to help. Using a mind wipe spell she was able to make Scootaloo completely forget about the factory and all of its horrors. A few months later Scootaloo took a flight test and the rest is history…
Yet eveypony is probably wondering what happened to Nimbos? After a close examination of the Rainbow Facility they presumed that he had died along with everypony else. But some ponies believe that he isn’t dead. They say that if you go into the reactor room, which is now used for the Pegasus Device, at midnight you can still hear him singing softly over the intercom…
“In the Rainbow Factory, where all your fears and horrors come true. In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through…”
