Silence filled the room, as Derpy Hooves sat in her chair. Her forelegs and forearms were restricted by heavy shackles, due to the reason why she was here in the first place. She had been caught at long last, after years of nopony ever knowing the real truth behind Derpy's true nature. Everypony just thought that she was a harmless mare with messed up eyes and a not-so-bright personality, but it was far from that. Many dark secrets had been uncovered by investigators, including the fact that she had tortured and murdered multiple ponies. Her reasons for doing such sinister acts were currently unknown, but the Canterlot police hoped to uncover her motive.
Derpy hung her head, but not in defeat, only to hide her face from the camera within the interrogation room. She hated being watched by other ponies, feeling like she was being judged by them. It angered her, nearly driving her to the peak of insanity. She hid her face from the ponies watching her, not giving them any sort of reason to find interest in her current state of mild anger. She didn't move, speak, or think. Her mind was blank, especially after her last act of pure evil, when she murdered her only daughter. The fact that the police had not reached her in time, caused her to chuckle to low for the camera's to catch her making any noise.
From among the silence, the sound of a door opening erupted, entering Equestria's top detective, Detective Coltstein. He had solved many cases, his most recent one involving actually entering the mind of demon to save a filly's life. A case that some detectives found as an old mare's tale, but Coltstein knew what really happened, along with his wife. Coltstein took a seat in the open chair at the small table where Derpy Hooves sat only a few feet away from him, staring at the mass killer with her head staring at the floor.
Coltstein pulled out some documents in relation to Derpy's case, and stared with much interest at his captured prey, restrained by shackles and hoofcuffs. He smiled in victory, placing both his hoofs upon the table's surface.
"So, Ms. Hooves," he began. "I'm not even going to bother with an introduction, seeing you only see me as an enemy. You just want to break those cuffs and strangle me, until I stop breathing, but that's not going to happen, seeing you are in my court."
Derpy chuckled in a sinister tone, slowly lifting her head.
"Don't tempt me, detective," she threatened. "You have no authority over me in the least. I'm only here as a prize to your record, considering your reputation as Equestria's best detective, yet you couldn't save the ponies I killed. You were too little too late, and trust me, nopony will ever find the bodies of those ponies. Only I know the locations, and only I can access them. If you think your pathetic threats are going to work against me, think again. I'll admit it right here! I killed over twenty mares, including my own daughter, and I loved every second of their screaming and suffering! Book me and send me away to death row!"
Derpy wasn't resilient at all. She was straight to the point, and normally Coltstein would book somepony in this situation, but certain questions needed to be answered first.
"I'm afraid that it's not just going to end that easy, Ms. Hooves," Coltstein clarified. "You may be confessing to murder, but I'm going to break you into answering other questions as well. I've dealt with ungrateful killers like you before, so your confession isn't anything new to me. It's only the same ol' song and dance I've heard in my career."
Derpy wasn't intimidated the least, and just chuckled at Coltstein's failure.
"You make me laugh, detective, but if it's answers you want, I'll give you some, but not all of them. I have nothing to lose in telling you the truth, considering I'll be sentenced to death on the day of my final sentence. Either way, it's a loss for me, and a win for you."
Coltstein was shocked, not expecting a killer of Derpy's magnitude to be so... honest. He just sat back, pulled out a recorder, and proceeded to the first question.
"Alright, Ms. Hooves. Let's start with the first question," he spoke, starting the recorder. "Why did you kill those mares?"
Derpy sighed, and proceeded to answering Coltstein's first question.
"Well, to give a better perspective, I suppose I'll start from the very beginning," Derpy answered.
Coltstein nodded his head in agreement.
"You see, I wasn't always the pony that everypony saw me as. I used to be normal like every other unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony throughout Equestria, until I was changed by the ponies of Cloudsdale. I believe you know what I'm talking about, detective?"
"The Rainbow Factory," Coltstein answered.
"I was forced into the Rainbow Factory when I was 16 years of age, and remained there for three years. For three long years, I worked in the most dangerous part of the factory, which was the chemical department. I didn't know it at that time, but over the years, it became very clear that those chemicals had managed to do serious damage to my mind and vision. The chemicals were composed of many toxic elements, including poisonous fumes that caused damage to the brain. However, it wasn't until my first and only punishment within the walls of the factory that caused me to be permanently changed for the rest of my life."
12 Years Earlier
It had been three long years of death and torture in the Rainbow Factory, and in that time, Derpy Hooves had experienced many horrors that she preferred to forget, but she knew she'd never forget them. She had been fortunate enough to avoid a fate through the Pegasus Device, and had been assigned as a Spectre Organizer. Her task was simple; collect the spectre storage tubes from the bottom of the Pegasus Device and carry them to the chemical department. Once the spectre was taken to the chemical department, she would have to separate each tube, and organize them which required exposure to the chemicals.
Exposure to those kinds of chemicals had caused multiple deaths to many workers in that department. As for the ponies who had not died from the chemicals, they had either lost their mind or their appearance had been altered in a twisted manner. Spectre may seem like a harmless substance, but it was far from harmless. After some research was done on what spectre is composed of, it turned out that multiple poisons existed within the thick liquid. This discovery is what led to a certain punishment within the factory walls, and the cause of death for certain pegasi.
Derpy used to be much different in appearance. Her fur was originally a beautiful charcoal black and her mane and tail were originally a golden-brown color, rather than a grey and yellow appearance. The cause of her changes were the result of a complete accident, but led to much more devastating consequences. The day it happened, Derpy had already carried over twenty other shipments of spectre to the chemical department.
The tubes alone weighed over two-hundred pounds, and carrying something that heavy to a department that was a twenty minute walk itself had already taken its toll on Derpy's muscles. She was exhausted, tired, and aching from the multiple shipments across the factory. At the time of Derpy's days in the Rainbow Factory, it had a different overmare. A ruthless pegasus named Rainbowshine that hated wasting precious spectre, and if any was wasted, resulted in horrid consequences.
Derpy stood at the bottom of the machine, watching as yet another pegasus screamed in their final moments. The screaming quickly was silenced with the sound of flesh and bone grinding against the blades of the heart of the Rainbow Factory, along with laughter from the top rails just above the machine. The laughter echoed throughout the factory floor, causing every worker's spines to quiver, including Derpy's. Once again, one of the tubes filled with victim's spectre, immediately causing Derpy to nearly collapse, but she didn't want to be the next victim.
Once the large tube was filled to the top with a bright red spectre, Derpy proceeded to carrying the spectre to the chemical department, where she would proceed to organizing that day's spectre count. The heavy tube immediately made Derpy's muscles weaken, along with her legs wanting to collapse. Somehow, the young mare managed to toughen through the massive weight of the spectre tube, and carried it across the factory floor, but once she reached the other side of the factory floor, her body gave in. The sound of a bone snapping echoed throughout the factory.
Derpy screamed in pain and agony, as she lost all balance of the tube on her back. The tube smashed to nothing but broken glass at the impact, as Derpy held her front left hoof in pain. She couldn't move it, as she collapsed to the factory floor, now flooded with red spectre, accompanied by some of her factory friends that she had managed to gain in years she had been within the factory walls. Deep down, Derpy knew that she would be dead soon, seeing she had wasted precious spectre; the one thing the Overmare hated most.
It didn't take long for the Overmare to arrive, expressing a serious look on her face. She seemed angry, yet not angry at the same time, as she approached Derpy on the floor.
"What happened here?!" snapped the Overmare.
Derpy was in too much pain to even mutter an answer, but the Overmare quickly spotted the problem, noticing Derpy holding her hoof. In a cruel manner, the Overmare grabbed hold Derpy's hoof, immediately causing Derpy to erupt in a massive scream. The Overmare examined the hoof, noticing the hoof hanging limp.
"Get her to the medical department," commanded the Overmare, as she stood before Derpy and in a flash, knocked her out with a single punch.
Derpy's time in the medical department was nothing but a blur. She could hear the sounds of the doctor and the Overmare stirring among the room. She figured that she must have been on some sort of mild anesthesia, seeing she was still barely conscious and could feel the pain in her hoof as well. From among the stir of voices, she caught only little bits.
"Well...is she even useful anymore...
"She's suffered a severe stress fracture... she is nothing but a nuisance...
"I can't send her through the Pegasus Device... A black rainbow would stir suspicion...
"What do you want me to do...
"Poison her... She'll deteriorate in the chute...
The events that followed the conclusion of Derpy's injury were nothing but a nightmare. Derpy was fed a large amount of spectre, which she could feel in her unrest. The spectre's poison had caused Derpy's fur, mane, and tail to change from their original colors to gray and yellow. The poisonous properties of the spectre had also caused another permanent change to Derpy's appearance; her eyesight. Her once perfect eyes had become completely lopsided. One of her pupils looked up, while another one looked down, changing Derpy's life forever.
As proposed, Derpy was thrown down a chute within the factory, seeing the poison's had caused her entire body to be weakened for a long period of time. The effects of the poison lasted for three days, until Derpy finally regained control of her body within the chute. The poison was still active, slowly eating up every bit of her strength.
Present Day
"I really thought that was it, and I was going to die in that chute," spoke Derpy. "My body felt like it was on fire, and my muscles felt like they were composed of nothing but muck. Not to mention that my eyesight wasn't the best, so I couldn't fly straight. I couldn't do anything in the small time I had left, so I just decided to sit and die among the countless other contents within the chute. That's where I found my solution, and what got me out of the Rainbow Factory."
"Explain, Ms. Hooves," said Coltstein.
Derpy paused before answering.
"I discovered that one eye is better than two," she claimed, continuing her story.
12 Years Earlier
Derpy lied down on the floor of the chute's bottom and closed her lopsided eyes, awaiting for the poison to finally strike with full force. She had already noticed blood in both her urine and feces, so it was clear that the poison was close to finishing off whatever it could devour anymore. As she layed her head to sleep, she spoke one last prayer to Celestia, and even though she knew that Celestia was unable to hear her, she did it as a last request.
Strangely, her request worked, as she overheard commotion from the floor just above her. The factory workers seemed to be more distracted than anything, as the factory alarm begun to erupt from among the floor above the chute. Something critical was happening, and Derpy knew this was Celestia giving her a chance. She stood back up on all four hooves, and attempted to find some sort of solution to getting out of the factory.
When she stood back up, she noticed that her sight was more clear than before. She could see straight, and the reason why, was due to one of her eyes being shut. In that moment, Derpy knew that using one eye was the key to getting out of the factory, so she pushed all of her last bit of efforts into one final push. Derpy used every bit of her wing strength and proceeded to flapping her way up the chute, and onto the factory floor. Every factory worker was in panic, and were completely unaware of her presence, so Derpy wasted no time and flew to the nearest exit that she could find. She surveyed the area from a high vantage point, and from among it, noticed some easily-breakable windows.
Derpy didn't think, hesitate, or pause, and just thrusted as fast her wings could manage toward the window. With a massive gust of speed, Derpy shot through the window like a bullet with only the sound of shattering glass and the outside air of Cloudsdale behind her. She couldn't believe that she had just escaped the Rainbow Factory so easily, but knew she needed to get to a hospital as quickly as possible. She may have escaped the Rainbow Factory, but if she ever wanted to let everypony know of the REAL truth that happened behind the doors of Cloudsdale's weather factory, she would need to be cured of all the poison.
Present Day
Coltstein sat in horror at the story he had just heard from his killer. It made him wonder why this would lead her to a life of murder and torture, and why the Rainbow Factory case had not been solved sooner. He was about to get his answer.
"I escaped from the Rainbow Factory, but I was never able to remember that I did, until I saw the article in the newspaper of it's destruction," started Derpy. "The factory itself was a living being, and even if you managed to escape, it would somehow find a way to prevent somepony like me from revealing the evil that existed in Cloudsdale. After I finally found a hospital, which turned out to be Ponyville's hospital, I was given special medical treatment. The doctor's managed to extract the spectre and treat all the organs that had been damaged, but the poison had done damage beyond repair to my mind."
"Fifty percent of my memory had been lost, due to the poisonous fumes having a nasty ability to cause memory loss. For three years I had to work around those conditions, and only until I saw the article in the newspaper did I remember everything the fumes had taken away. I never returned to Cloudsdale, and remained in Ponyville as the pony obsessed with muffins. Years passed, and nothing happened, until I saw the article. Thus begins what started my peak to insanity. If you are ready detective, I'll continue."
Coltstein nodded, as Derpy continued further into her story. He was already shocked by the truth behind her origin story. Never had he expected the Rainbow Factory to be a factor, but at the same time he was interested one-hundred percent. His thoughts were interrupted, as Derpy began to speak furthermore.
"Time for things to get more "interesting," detective," she spoke.
Coltstein gulped at that statement, but still held his best poker face in the situation.
"I'm listening, Ms. Hooves," he replied.
