Welcome back.
We had sooo much fun last time.
We though you would never return. But...
Here you are. hehe...
--
Cloudsdale Weather Laboratories
By AceZora
-Prima-
--
March 12th, 5014.
1:32 pm.
Cloudsdale Judicial Hall.
“Has the jury reached a verdict?”
“We have, your honor.”
The judge paused a moment to look over the courtroom. "Proceed." She instructed, looking back again to the jury.
“We the jury, find the defendants Rainbow Dash and Hide Atmosphere, guilty of crimes against Equestria.” The juror spoke with clarity and precision, allowing each word to resonate through the courtroom before moving on to the next.
A cyan mare and dark red stallion could be seen standing silently at the defendant's desk. Wings tied and front hooves cuffed, they no longer wore white lab coats, instead, they were dressed in dull orange jumpsuits. Royal guards surrounded them, not letting a single movement go unchecked.
The two pegasi remained focused straightforward, painfully deep in thought, they made no eye contact of any type, unblinking, unmoving, both certain of their fate.
Hatred and anger scarred their aged faces, engraving the stress of the factory into every wrinkle and pore, making them as much a part of the factory as the very machinery inside of it. They epitomized evil geniuses, Dr. Atmosphere even had the hair to match. It is true that no pony could deny their vast intellect, however Ph.Ds do not excuse genocide.
The courtroom was motionless and nearly silent, save the occasional shuffle of papers or muffled cough. The judge stood behind her podium at the front of the room, her watchful eyes judging every movement, every facial expression, every twitch of a tail, and every nuance of an eyebrow.
Her coat was an off white, with a short, grey colored mane and tail. An experienced judge, she was one of Equestria's most valued. Seen every kind of trial one could imagine, from candy theft to brutal murders, that wise mare knew everything there was to know about Equestrian law.
The Judge spoke “Rainbow Dash and Hide Atmosphere.” She accused sternly.
The two defendants reluctantly lifted their heads to look upon the judge before them.
“For the brutal murders of 6 million filly pegasi, you two are hereby sentenced to death by hanging at 12:00 pm tomorrow night.” With that said, she quickly lifted her gavel and slammed it down onto the podium, creating that iconic SLAM! of justice.
--
3:15 pm.
Town Hall
The Cloudsdale Weather Factory loomed over the abandoned weather district, its dark walls cold and unforgiving. The building was now surrounded by multiple layers of barbed-wire fences littered with signs reading: CONDEMNED, DO NOT ENTER, DANGER, and other various warnings.
The fate of the vacant facility now lay in the hooves of the Royal Cloudsdale Congress. They must decide quickly on how to heal this deep and bloody wound left by those maniacs, for they and the rest of Equestria knew very well that chaos would ensue if weather production were to be neglected.
“It must be destroyed!” Shouted Gust Venture, a highly respected congresspony.
“Are you suggesting we simply block it out of our memory, Gust?! That we all forget and carry on like nothing happened?! No! Further investigations must be facilitated in order to understand exactly what happened in that factory! Only then can we prevent something of this horror from happening again!”
“Are you mad, Veil?!”
“Perhaps.”
“That facility is a death trap, anything within a 10 kilometer radius is in danger! What makes you think our detectives can simply waltz right into that hell and decipher anything without being burned, melted, electrified, or dying in some other horrible way! Not even a bomb squad could manage such a feat!”
“We will find a way!”
“The pipes are leaking liquid thunder for Celestia’s sake! That facility is a dangerous tumor, and it must be demolished at once!”
“A tumor it may be, but the technology inside is too valuable to neglect researching.”
Another congresspony spoke up ”Technology!? Do you mean the technology they used to massacre millions of innocent foals!?”
Veil turned to the third congresspony “Despite their purposes, the entire facility is filled with machines far beyond our current level of weather production.”
“We civilized pegasi do not want their horrid technology!” Gust injected.
“Do you realize we currently have no other methods of weather production now that C.W.C is decommissioned!? They were some of the best minds in Equestria! How will Cloudsdale survive?!”
“We have scientists, they can find new ways!”
“By then the Griffins will have stolen the show and Cloudsdale will be little more than a dot on the map!”
The courtroom was surprisingly silent for a moment as they all recoiled from the shouting match. Gust suddenly realized how important the CWC was to Cloudsdale. Not only was the risk of chaos erupting certain, but they may also lose their biggest income to another, far more equipped race. They must stay ahead! They must find ways of creating weather! And soon.
--
March 13th, 5014
2:45 pm.
Manehattan Residential District.
A lime green mare with a darker green mane named Ward Dreaming paced back and forth in her apartment, uncertain of how to feel about her new assignment.
The Royal Congress of Cloudsdale had sent her a letter, requesting her to locate and retrieve three convicts needed for interrogation by the 15th, which was in two days. All three of the prisoners were being held at the Maximum Security Prison of Canterlot. However she lived in Manehattan and therefore would need to travel by train in order to get there within a reasonable time. The letter informed her that tomorrow morning at 6:00 am, a chariot would arrive at her door and take her to an all expenses payed, first class train ride to downtown Canterlot, which was a plus. Attached to the letter was a list of the ponies she must find and where she could find them.
The list read:
Gauge Canter [Race: Pegasus]; (Prison Quarters: Cell 735) Threat: Moderate.
Gentle Butterwing [Race: Pegasus]; (Asylum Quarters: Cell 412) Threat: High.
Contrail [LAST NAME MISSING]; Race: Pegasus Threat: High.
The paper stated that some of the convicts may have deteriorated mental statuses of varying degrees, so she was to maintain extreme caution when confronting them. This last note left a bitter taste in Ward's mouth, she had dealt with ponies like this in the past but this one was different. A guard would be present in case an interview got violent but the whole arrangement made her feel uneasy.
It didn't matter if she liked it or not, if she refused they would find somepony else who would, And that meant no mortgage payment this month. Ward decided to take her mind off the matter with some relaxing television. She levitated the remote over to herself and pressed the power button.
The screen lit up the room as Ward levitated the remote back to it's original location, the floor.
The television displayed a neatly groomed stallion sitting at a desk, behind him was a map of Equestria illuminated by blue glowing lines. A stream of text scrolled on the bottom of the screen flowing into an Equestria News logo. The text was moving too fast to catch Ward’s attention, she was interested on what the anchor had to say. Ward turned the volume up.
“More protests today outside the Cloudsdale Judicial hall.” A graphic of protesting ponies slid into view. Below the picture were the words UNREST IN CLOUDSDALE. “For more we go to our live correspondent Cheryl Breeze, Cheryl.” The screen changed to a double headshot view. The one on the left was the original anchor, but the one on the right was a turquoise mare standing in front of a crowd who were chanting “Make them pay! Make them pay!” In unison. Some had signs around their necks while others were holding, or at least trying to hold, signs with their wings.
A few were flying above the crowd holding posters with their hooves instead, some flew closer to the camera for the audience to read. GIVE THEM A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE was poorly marked on one with red spray-paint. Another’s had: Let's see how they like it scribbled, slightly neater this time.
The reporter took a short breath before speaking, she seemed nervous. “Thanks Ron-Rob! I mean.” She looked down to briefly reset herself. “As you can see, quite a lot of ponies have conjugated here on Feather Avenue right outside the Judicial Hall.” She glanced behind herself, motioning a hoof to the agitated crowd. “As we speak more are arriving to support the cause.”
“That’s quite a spectacle Cheryl, can you tell us what their cause is?” He was trying to give the new reporter some on-the-spot hints.
“Right! Yeah, the protesters are enraged that the Rainbow Factory masterminds received such a humane sentence. They are demanding that they be mutilated in the machines they built.” She paused for a moment. The crowd was chanting even louder now. “However, officials have informed us that any punishment of the sorts would be considered un-ethical and thus could not be given in a court of law. But the protesters are having none of it.” Cheryl explained.
The television powered off. "I can't watch this." Ward said to herself. She got up and walked over to the largest window in her apartment. The lime green unicorn gazed out the window down onto the busy streets below. Ponies of all types passed by each other at a constant and never ending rate. She dreaded tomorrow.
--
11:55 pm.
The night air was cool with a slight breeze. High up on Cloudsdale, Ponyville was easily seen through the darkness, its lights stood out from the immensely vast forest surrounding it. So peaceful, so innocent, all the lovely ponies living together in harmony, throwing parties, bucking apples, designing dresses, caring for animals, learning magic, soaring though the clou-no.. not anymore...
A tear ran down her cyan cheeks. "I'm sorry." Rainbow Dash said, her lips beginning to quiver.
The floor was then swiftly removed from beneath her hooves. Rainbow Dash, surprised by the suddenness, began to fall. The cool air once again flowing over her cyan coat and rainbow colored mane. It was like flying, she loved flying, flying cheered her up when she was feeling down, she flew when she was bored, she flew when she was excited.
But ever since she joined the CWC full time, flying became a seldom enjoyed activity. Yet as the cool night air was fluttering her mane and tail, she remembered how much she had missed it. After all, falling was basically the same as flying right? One last jolt of pain surged through her aged body when the noose pulled tightly around her neck as she came to an abrupt stop in the air.
The question would not be answered.
--
1:00 am.
As Luna's graceful moon slowly swept over the night sky, all the ponies of Equestria were fast asleep.
All except the Factory, the beast was restless, it's walls creaked and it's pipes hissed though the night. Hungry again.
-Secundo-
--
March 14th 5014
8:30 am.
Grand Pony Station, Manehattan.
Ward exited the chariot, stepping down onto the cracked and littered pavement. The streets were a chaotic mash-up of every sense imaginable. Having lived so long in the city though, made the unicorn deaf to the noises and blind to the flashing lights, instead focusing on only what she needed. Ward took a few steps, went to pay the stallions pulling the chariot, then remembered it was free and simply thanked them.
She walked a few meters until she reached the entrance for Grand Pony Station, the largest and busiest train station in all of Equestria. Yet this was normal procedure to Ward as she stepped though into the air conditioned atrium. Without a thought she scanned for the Canterlot terminal, located it, and then did not wast any time getting there.
The mare passed countless other ponies on her route, but per usual, noticed none of them. Upon reaching the desired room, Ward was tempted to get in line for her ticket but once again remembered the premium pass she had received in the letter from The Royal Cloudsdale Congress.
Ward Dreaming walked passed the ticked lines to the terminal entry checkpoint. Before the guard could ask for her ticked, ward showed him the pass and was allowed to enter. This is nice. Ward thought to herself. The big wigs sure do treat their allies kindly. I should work for them more often.
Ponies of all shapes and sizes filled the terminal. Ward glanced over the room and could easily see that the Canterlot Train had not arrived yet, no need checking the Arrivals and Departures screen. Hopefully they didn't take too long.
A television on the wall next to the Arrivals and Departures screen was playing the very same news station Ward was watching yesterday. They were covering some guard scandal over in the Crystal Empire, nothing out of the ordinary there. But right as ward looked down to check the time.
"Breaking news!" Said the anchor pony.
Ward turned back to the screen along with several others in the general vicinity.
"We are getting confirmed reports that an explosion has erupted in or around the now decommissioned Cloudsdale Weather Factory moments ago."
The train for Canterlot arrived.
"The cause of this combustion remains unclear as of now, however reports are coming in that smoke is billowing out the north face of the facility."
Ward had to peel her focus off the screen to notice the recently arrived train. She wanted to stay and watch but she had to get going, surely a television could be easily found in the Canterlot train station. She boarded.
--
8:50 am.
Cloudsdale Town Hall.
"No! No! No! This is ridiculous! You sent a unicorn!?"
"Y...yes, Sir." Trembling. "I'm sorry."
"You should know better than to trust a snobby unicorn, especially one from Manehattan."
"My sincerest apologies Mr. Venture. I didn't..."
"Yeah yeah, you didn't know... That's alright, It's too late anyway if shes already on here way there."
The conversation was interrupted by a tall and skinny orange pony running upstairs. When he arrived he was panting, trying to say everything at once. "Mr.... Mr.. Venture..." He tried to speak.
"Spit it out already!" Scorned Gust Venture.
"The... the factory... it exploded."
"What!"
"Yeah, smoke is coming out and everything."
"Goddammit!" Said Gust. "I knew that factory was dangerous!" As he ran out the door.
He ran down the stairs to the front door of the Town Hall where he met others standing outside. They were looking in the distance at the smoking facility.
"What's happened!" A terrorized mare yelled out.
"Something exploded inside the factory." A stallion informed her.
Smoke was billowing out of the facility, Gust didn't know what to do about it, no one was inside to facility, but some pony flying by could have been hurt just like he tried to explain to Veil. That damned pegasus! He screamed in his mind.
"What do we do?" asked a mare behind him.
"I don't know" Gust replied.
--
9:26 am.
Ward sat in the very comfortable first class car jamming out to her new Beats by Vinyl. She made decent money and liked to treat herself to nice thing every now and then, without going crazy. She was listening to classical music though, so there were no 'beats' to speak of. But Ward loved it.
She began to get bored with her music and packed the headphones back into her bag. Without the music drowning out everything Ward could hear the sounds of the train speeding along the rails and small talk between ponies. The clearest was a conversation between a stallion and mare taking place in front of her.
"So yeah people seem to like it, i'm really excited." He said.
"And.... It's about a cartoon show?" Asked the mare.
"Yeah, My Little Human."
"Isn't that for young fillies?"
"It is.. But we find it really great."
"We?"
Ward put her headphones back on.
Now that the sounds were gone, she was free to think clearly. An advertisement for those new self-propelled chariots was posted above the ponies across from her. They were the latest breakthrough in an unprecedented technological boom in Equestria, mostly in Manehattan though, business and industry were quickly becoming the new culture of the city. Unlike Ponyville and Cloudsdale which were still stuck in there old ways, money was the driving force in Manehattan.
Ward was tired from traveling, and she still had a couple of hours to go until Canterlot. She needed to kill some time, so she leaned back, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
Author's Note
It's been some time...
I feel like Gaben.
-Episode 3-
~~-Tertio-~~
-Episode 3-
"Stephen! ... Stephen! .. Stephen! Stephen!" Chanted the crowd of ponies. The pause between each chant gradually became shorter and shorter until it seemed as if they were shouting one long word. Upon reaching this threshold, the chant dissolved into applause. In The center of the room was a dark blue stallion with red, white, and blue mane. H was sitting behind a large circular desk. A well deserved arrogant smirk filled his cleanly shaven face.
The mixture of chant and applause subsided, finally allowing the stallion to speak. "Nation." He said with the confident voice of a leader. "Nation, today something extraordinary happened." He continued with a sarcastic but still powerful voice. "Today the flying cloud ponies, or whatever you call them, have discovered something about their infamous weather factory..." The stallion paused as a graphic of the old facility slid into view. "Its dangerous." He finished. "So dangerous in fact, that they get scared by it doing their work for them."
Ward would have continued watching had she not been bumped into by another pony. He seemed to be in quite a hurry and didn't even take a moment to apologize or even glance at her. The pony just speed-trotted onward. He was wearing a black suit, black hat, sunglasses, and carried a briefcase in his mouth. It wasn't long till he vanished into the crowd. It was then that Ward realize how long she had been standing in the middle of the atrium watching the television. She quickly levitated her things and hurried along.
--
X:XX
[Unknown Location]
//765994//
transmission_Incoming(src:[ERR077])<<;
cmd{_x.open();}
//==//
{
M- [err] ga- na- [err] My name- my-my- [err] m- ga- name- My name, is Gatspy. I am nobody. One may call me a "spy" or a "secret agent", or even an "anarchist." However, none of these are my real title. The truth is, I have no title. My purpose is to be nobody, to be everywhere and everypony yet nowhere and nopony. Recently, I ran across an enemy agent in a doze at Canterlot Station. It is truly depressing how little the pegasi administration understands espionage. They thought sending a unicorn would throw us off. Ha! The congress could not have been more wrong. We know more about them, then they of themselves. For instance, that agent I ran into was on her way to recruit one of our best scientists. The comical part of it all is they don't even know he is one of us. While it is true Contrail has been temporarily apprehended, he is by no means defeated. Do not underestimate us. But most importantly, do not underestimate Him. Viva la EPO!
[////^\\]
I am currently on route to Cloudsdale where I shall rendezvous with Syphax and Vex. There, we will finalize the stages of overthrowing the Cloudsdale government. Neptus will be pleased to hear this. We are pegasi, this much is true. However the EPO refuses to identify with the current pegasi administration under the rule of Veil [null_err] He is a weak and dishonest leader, who has no right to hold that chair. Our beloved leader, Neptus, is the only rightful emperor of Cloudsdale. With him as our guiding light, the Enlightened Pegasi Order will continue the long awaited conquest of all Equestria. This includes the continuation of The Rainbow Factory program. Only this time, with more than just the failures to feed it. We will harness spectra from all undesirable races. The filthy earth ponies and snobby unicorns will tremble at our hooves when the Pegasus Device roars back to life. life- li- roa- [err] lif- [err]
}
//==//
transmission_end(return:null);<<
cmd{
_x.close();
}
//765994//
--
[Time and shit]
The moment had finally arrived, Ward was now face to face with the most notorious prison in Equestria. Inside, was a pony whom she had lost sleep over days prior while running the scenario in her head. She was more nervous than ever. Against her better judgement, she trotted fourth and opened the door.
Inside was a strikingly frigid atmosphere, as if the inmates might rot if not kept chilled. When the mare eventually found a guard, she informed him of the situation, partially, and he proceeded to lead her to the destination. Down the corridors they both trotted, each trot seeming longer than the previous. This state of suspense, anticipation, and anxiety seemed to last for hours. Ward cringed at the numbers over each cell as they steadily grew nearer to 1453. At one point, they entered though a door which read:
ASYLUM CHAMBERS
Ward began to panic but attempted to relax herself with deep breaths and clear focus, even doing the little hoof trick which Princess Twilight Sparkle was known to do. Luckily, the guard in front of hear had noticed none of this.
"Here it is." Said the guard. He unlocked the view panel and peered inside. He then motioned Ward over to look through it. She hesitated but mustered enough courage to step forward and look though. Initially all she saw were the dirty gray walls of the cell. She blinked. Almost instantaneously, an iris stared back at hers. Ward screeched a leaped backwards, falling over. Moments later, the pony inside spoke three words which she will never forget.
"I sEEe you..."
