Requiem Of the Rainbow

Clover, Star Dream, Fluttershy, Jasper, myself and some other pegasi that failed the flight test were sitting in a rugged old carriage, as it rode down a road. The windows were reinforced with bars, so we couldn't see where we were going. Fluttershy was lightly sobbing behind her hooves. Star Dream was comforting her friend. Clover was fidgeting with his fetlocks, mentally cursing his father's genes. And Jasper was complaining and moaning about the decor of the carriage.

"This colour is just awful! Has anypony ever heard of golden tassels? Put some on the corners of the windows. Really give this thing some class!" He complained.

"Jasper... Just shut up already!" Clover told the fashionista pegasus.

But Jasper ignored him and kept talking. I sighed in annoyance and rolled my eyes. Then I noticed the other ponies were avoiding a pegasus in the corner, closest to the door. A young mare.

Her mane was an ebony black with a noticeable silver white streak, in a short pixie style and long bangs over her eyes. Her tail was short, but very scruffy. Her eyes were a light green with dark rings and bags under them. Like she's had no sleep at all. Her fur coat was a charcoal grey, covered in black ink-like stains. Her front hooves are covered in black ink. Like she's been drawing with her hooves and forgot to wash when she was finished. She wore a black and purple scarf around her neck.

Her wings were what surprised me. They were a cross between a Bat Pony and a Pegasus. The top half of her wings were feathered whilst the bottom half had leather membranes, like a bat's.

Her Cutie Mark was similar to Princess Luna's. A patch of night sky, but with a silhouette of a wolf howling to the full moon.

I nudged Clover and asked, "Who's she?"

Clover looked at me, then at the lonely mare. "That's Nightingale. We call her Scatter Brains."

"Why?" I asked.

"She's not right in her head." Star Dream answered, "They say that when she was only a filly, she flew into a terrible storm. She got struck by a powerful bolt of lightning and was never the same again."

"She has a hobby of drawing strange images with her hooves." Clover added, "Always refuses a quill or pencil. But, that's not the scary thing."

Star Dream nodded, "No. The scary thing is that a time after she draws something, it happens."

"And what about her wings?" I asked.

"Her father was a demon." A dark-maned stallion answered in a whisper.

I wanted to punch the stallion for calling Bat Ponies demons. But I decided to hold myself back and kept my cool.

"Stop calling them that!" Star Dream glared.

"Nightingale's mother was a pegasus and her father was a Bat Pony. That's why she looks like that." A lilac-themed mare answered.

"Cracks bones... Nothing but grey.... Nothing but grey..." The mare, Nightingale whispered to herself. Her voice was sweet, but quiet.

I raised a brow at her. 'Nothing but grey'? What does that mean?

"She mutters like that, as well." Clover told me.

"Best to stay away from her. She's a bad omen." A pink-maned stallion added.

"Oh! Red carpet! That would bring some glamour to this carriage. Or maybe blue wallpaper. Ooh! Light cyan. Pastel green!" Jasper rambled with a smile.

"Napoleon Jasper Darkstone. Shut the fuck up!" Star Dream shouted, "You're not helping anypony with your ridiculous fashion sense!"

"Sorry, Starlight. But, I'm stressing! This is how I cope!" Jasper argued.

"Well, could you cope quieter? I'm trying to think!" I shouted.

"Pastel green... Clear... Fly... Fall... Complete..." Nightingale whispered again.

"Come to think of it. Where are we going?" A green-themed mare asked.

"I heard that Pegasi that fail the test go away somewhere far away." The dark-maned stallion spoke up, "Probably banished."

"I heard in Canterlot that parents never see their foals again." Clover spoke up.

Star Dream turned to Fluttershy, "Flutters, did anypony you know fail the test when you were younger?"

Fluttershy stopped sobbing, lowered her hooves and nodded, "My best friend, Rainbow Dash. She spent years being the best and fastest flyer in all of Flight Camp. However, she has terrible stage-fright. I heard she failed the test. But she was able to live her life in Ponyville."

I rubbed my chin in thought. Could there be a connection?

Everything went quiet, as the carrier came to a stop.

The warden opened the door. A sharp gust of icy cold air entered the carriage. The sunlight was gone and nightfall sparkled with stars. How long have we been riding? The warden left the carriage without a word or a look at us. One-by-one, the pegasi left the carriage. Nightingale stayed where she sat.

A masked pegasus looked into the carriage and shouted, "Hey! It's time to leave the carriage. You will come or we'll force you."

I quickly exit the carriage. Nightingale followed close behind me. We were welcomed by the masked pegasus. It was covered in a black suit, a black mask and a black-dyed tail. Somewhat like a shadow. The shadowed pony slammed the door of the carriage and the cart drove back.

Jasper sighed in relief, "Thank Celestia. I thought we'd never get out of that dreary wreck."

A large pair of double doors opened behind us. A group of ponies, in lab-coats and masks, circled around us and lead us into the cloud building. Suited ponies were rushing back and forth to other places. Some holding clipboards and pulling levers. Pipes of all sizes travelled down the walls and meeting vats.

"Isn't this the weather factory?" Clover recognised.

"That can't be right. We were travelling for so long. How?" Star Dream exclaimed.

"Colour drains... Nothing but grey..." Nightingale whispered again.

"Welcome mules." A powerful voice greeted. We turned to see a large, red-coated pegasus stallion in a white lab-coat walking toward us, "You degenerates are probably wondering where you are. Silly fillies. You're in Cloudsdale. The Rainbow Facility to be precise." Then he offered, "Allow me to show you around."

"Why are we here? What do you want from us?!" I asked.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Atmosphere. I'm one of the Forecolts in this facility." The stallion introduced himself, then asked, "I'm sure you've all had the tour of the factory, no?"

Everypony, except me and Nightingale, nodded.

Dr. Atmosphere smiled sadistically, "Excellent." Then asked, "Who can tell me where the tour begins?"

"Where the Spectra comes from the upper levels and mixed." A fire-themed mare answered.

"Very good." He praised, "But, today, we're on the upper floor. Please, follow me, and don't get too far behind, or one of my helpers will be forced to... encourage you." With that, he winked at the suited ponies around us.

With nods, three of them at the rear leaned forwards and jabbed each of us with tasers, shocking us to the ground. I gritted my teeth, trying to endure the pain. Dr. Atmosphere whinnied in laughter as we all yelped and fell, and continued into a soft chuckle as we all stood up again. I stood up, turned and quickly looked at each of the suited ponies, catching each of them in the eye when I could. None of them were the rose-eyed pony from the carriage.

Where did it wonder off too?

"What the fuck?! You think that was funny?!" Clover shouted, still feeling the static of the tasers.

A worker poked a taser into his injured wing. Clover winced to his knees and hissed in pain.

"You simply must be careful in this department," Dr. Atmosphere began in a dark tone, "There's plenty of nooks and crannies and vents and vats one could fall into. One must be careful not hurt themselves. After all, you're all hopeless as it is, any more so and even we couldn't use you." He glanced behind himself maliciously, as I frowned in insult.

The group of pegasi and I followed after the red-coated engineer stallion, as we walked deeper into the room. Deeper inside was more horrific. A series of halls with vibrating machines and assembly lines lining the way, low hanging wires and steaming pipes. The atmosphere grew colder as we walked further down the halls. A foul stench of blood and rotting flesh reached me nose. What the heck happens in this place?

"Now, let me tell you a story." Dr. Atmosphere spoke up, snapping me out of my thoughts, "Cloudsdale is where the weather is made. Without us, the rest of Equestria would starve, freeze, drown, and generally be a not-very-happy place. That gives us a special honour, one that can't be tainted by, er, incompetent foals like you." He looked over to us, "How could the world look up and trust us if pegasi like you are flying around wearing the Cloudsdale name?" He shook his head, "No, no, we needed to do something with all of you. And then we got a delicious idea, one day, over a thousand years ago. Those were some smart ponies back then, I'll say. You don't find too many of them these days. But I digress, ha ha. Here, now, through these doors, quickly now, before more encouragement is supplied." Dr. Atmosphere opened a heavy door in a cramped corridor.

"So what? We're here to work, hidden from the eyes of the Princesses?" I asked.

"Actually..." He started, glancing at the suited ponies around us. They kicked us into the corridor. "You're here to die."

And with that, he slammed the door closed. We turned, and looked at the big room we were forced into. It was fairly open and empty, almost like an theatre room.

At one end of the room, there was six square vats, each one nearly full with individual Spectra: Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue and Violet. Above us was a peculiar looking machine. From a central stack, six hoses broke off and lead above each of the individual vats. At the top of the stack was a single opening, red with rust despite the rest of the machine to be shiny and clean. The smell of blood and flesh was very strong in the opening.

Even further above that was a fairly complex looking object, with chains and gears hanging off of beams and pipes loosely. Running even higher than the whole machine was a length of scaffolding, with doors on either side leading out of the room. Down on the floor, a small collection of defeated, crying ponies sat, chatting quietly.

"Fears and horrors come true... Not a single soul gets through... Failures pay their toll..." Nightingale whispered, her eyes darting around.

The dark-maned stallion punch her in the face, knocking her to her knees. "I knew this was your doing, freak! You're a bad omen! I'll kill you!"

He charged toward Nightingale in a fit of rage, but Star Dream and Clover held him back and I put Nightingale behind me.

"Dryspell, calm down! This isn't Scatter Brains' fault. She's just as innocent as we are." Clover told him, "Now we need to find a way out of here."

Jasper nodded, "I don't want to die here!"

Everypony rambled amongst each other in agreement. Then a voice shouted, "Eyes front and centre, you inept mules!"

After what happened in the previous display, no one challenged that order, and stared at the scaffolding, just as one of the doors opened. A few official looking Pegasi walked in on the scaffolding, and turned to look down on the group with disgust.

One of them stood onto a small podium set up in the centre, and began speaking loudly and clearly, "By now, you've all clearly determined that you are not going into exile. There is no deportation. There never was. You are in The Factory. You will never leave The Factory. And while you may be called useless, that's also not entirely true. You're worthless to the flock as a Pony. But, you still have purpose! Purpose to all the ponies in this land, far and wide. You get to help us make rainbows! Beautiful, magical rainbows, doesn't that excite you?"

The mysterious announcer grinned ecstatically, taking in all the disgusted looks from every foal on the floor below him. "I thought so," he chuckled, "It is just such an honor, you know, it leaves every pony entrusted with the task speechless too! Now, do we have any volunteers?"

Again, everypony below glared with hate. The fire-themed mare shouted, "How could you ever get away with this? How could Celestia, or even Luna know about this and tolerate it? It's slavery! It's torture!"

"I think you'll find it's more than that." The raspy voice of the second official pony walked out the shadows and up to the podium.

The pony was in a suit, and masked. The first pony walked off the podium and allowed the second to talk.

Fluttershy saw the second pony's cerise-rose eyes and gasped, "Rainbow Dash?"