Author's Note

I apologize to anyone that wanted to see more. After losing a massive chunk of what a I wrote I kinda got demotivated.

Reactivate

Rainbow Dash had no idea of what happened. One moment she was yelling at somepony for dropping a crate and the next a loud crash of metal and a violent tremor nearly had her falling face first to the floor below, with a strong flap of her wings she righted herself. "What the..."

"Rainbow, help!!" Dash turned at breakneck speeds at Pink Clouds plea, hooves skidding as she lowered herself into a fighting stance. Her ears pinned themselves to her head at the sight that greeted her. She had been briefed about the augmented staff, at least with what little information the C.W.C ( Cloudsdale Weather Corporation) had on them. She never imagined the monster in front of her.

He had managed to pin the now crying mare under his left foreleg just after landing and ether through quick thinking or pure instinct Starburst had managed to take off. However said pegasus was now struggling in his right fore clamp, wings flapping futilely, and with restrained force brought him roughly down beside the pink mare.

He couldn't help the sadistic grin that spit his face. How long had it been since he had the pleasure of a creature struggling in his grip. With a quick inhale he calmed himself and looked up at his rainbow maned target in front of him and waited on her to act. He didn't wait long as Dash shook off the fear, baring her teeth at the perceived threat and taking a step forward.

Perfect.

"Hold." The small limbs on his back moving over the heads of his two captives, the interface blades popping out just inches above them.

Dash visibly cringed at the sound the blades made and took the rather obvious threat for what it was, straitening from a fighting posture into one of authority. Legs strait, chest and wings puffed out, and head high slightly tilted back she faced him down.

He couldn't help but find her posturing slightly adorable.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Dash all but shouted. The situation was bad but refused to be intimidated.

He straitened up from his crouch over his captives "The Rainbow Factory is off limits to unauthorized pegasi. All intruders will be killed and processed" delivering the statement in a business like tone devoid of any emotion.

The flat response made Dash blink in surprise. "We have written permission from the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation to enter the factory, repair any systems, and retrieve any data or hardware that can be salvaged and returned to Cloudsdale" Dash delivered evenly. She fought the urge to bite her lip as his eye squinted in suspicion. She lost.

"Cloudsdale Weather Corporation?" This time he didn't bother keeping the emotion out of his voice. Had he made an error? Most likely it was a simple name change but he had to be sure. Protocol demanded that no one other than weather center pegasi enter the factory.

Several tense moments passed as Dash tried to understand her mistake. Thankfully the ponies working in the area had rushed balcony after hearing the commotion and formed a half circle around the scene with several more hovering just off the rail. It was from this group that a mare spoke up.

"Excuse me, may I...?" Flitter trailed off in uncertainty, her posture low and submissive as she took a step away from the crowd. He looked her over a moment before nodding. " They changed the name from the weather center to the weather corporation about 50 years ago." stepping back after finishing.

Fighting off an urge to sigh in relief he turned his attention back to the rainbow maned pony, there was one last thing needed. " Do you have written permission from the corporation detailing such orders and authorization to enter the facility?"

A curt nod from Dash. "Starburst?"

Said pony sucked in a few breaths to steady himself " Th-they're in the bag under your cot" as he eyed the blade hovering just above his head.

"Flitter can you go grab my bag?" Rainbow said, saying the first name that come to mind. Said mare perked up at her name and after moment nodded taking flight towards the sleeping area the expedition had set up outside the factory.

As they waited the tense atmosphere quickly descended into something more akin to an awkward boredom, both Dash and the cyberpony holding their positions. After minutes of simply staring at each other the creature was the one to finally move, blades snapping back into their compartment as he took a more relaxed position and slightly easing the pressure on this captives. Dash flinched at the sudden metallic sound and let out a heavy breath as she realized her two assistants were still alive and literal death wasn't hovering over their heads. Her muscles slackened a bit but she didn't drop her guard, this thing had taken her by surprise once already and refused to let it do so again.

"So" he began " I take it you lead this little project miss?" motioning with a metallic digit much like a griffon Dash noted as he addressed her.

"Dash. Rainbow Dash, weather team leader, former Wonderbolt, third level manager, and Element of Loyalty." Not bothering to hide her pride as she listed off her titles and achievements though she noted the lack of impact on her current audience.

"Forgive me for my ignorance but what is a 'Wonderbolt' or 'Element of Loyalty'? They sound like titles a foal would come up with while playing." The cyberpony not hiding his condescension for such childish sounding terms as his arms moved to his mane, picking at the knots out of habit.

Dash scowled at both the insult and tone but said nothing. "The Wonderbolts are a group of Equestias best flyers, only the best can join. The Elements are kind of hard to explain. They're like a part of Eqestria and of the magic of friendship." At some point Dash had looked up and started scratching her chin in thought, as her eyes came down they were greeted to the bemused expression of the cyberpony in front of her.

He couldn't believe what this multi-colored mare just spouted. Magic of friendship? What utter nonsense. He chose to ignore it for now and focus on the other topic at hand. "You said the best flyers, not the best pegasi, not the best soldiers?" In his bones he knew the answer. He knew by the lack of security in their ranks, by the passive and submissive countenance of the pegasi around him.

The Flock had become weak.

Rainbow couldn't help but shuffle restlessly at the accusatory tone leveled at her. "Technically anypony can try out" she started "but of course it's currently all pegasi!" Her wings and chest puffing out in pride at the statement. "As for soldiers? They're technically our ace strike force but with no wars in centuries and the Elements taking care of any major baddies they really only do stunt shows and stuff." Dash expected some sort of reaction but he simply stared at the floor in front of him, blank faced, as he processed the information. His unmoving form started to agitate her greatly. "The hay is that pony? Flitter!-she yelled- What the buck is taking so long?!"

As if to answer said pegasus reentered the room just after she shouted, landing just beside Dash and breathing heavily. "Sorry, it took me a while to find your bunk." said Flitter as she handed over a worn Wonderbolt bag and moved back a step.

"No, no, no, why is that in here? No. Ah ha! Here it is." after several moments of digging through the bag she manages to pull out the, slightly crumpled, scroll containing the official orders from the C.W.C. "This should be everything you need." as she canters towards the cyberpony, stopping just in front of him with authority and holding out the scroll towards him.

His attention snaps from his reverie and back to the task at hand as the clank of hooves on metal comes towards him. As Rainbow presents the scroll the arms picking at his mane quickly secure the parchment, he smirks and raises an eyebrow at its condition causing her to give a bad smile and awkward chuckle. After calmly untying and opening the scroll he quickly scans the document to confirm her mission.

As he reads "So, I introduced myself but I don't think I found out who you are." said Rainbow. "We knew there were 'permanent staff'- hoof quoting- here but we didn't really know what to expect, nothing like you for sure." she finished, hoping that everything was fine with the orders. His silence was starting to grate on her nerves fiercely.

While still reading "I am the head manager, technician, repairman, and security chief of this facility. Or -he grinned down at Dash, sharp teeth gleaming- head freak if you prefer." He couldn't help the array of emotions that ran across her face, from fear to surprise to a grimace and finally a hoof across her muzzle. He didn't bother to hide his chuckle at the sight.

"Ugh, so you heard that huh." dropping her hoof to the floor and looking up at the ceiling "Why? Why do I keep shoving my hooves in my mouth?!" finishing in an exasperated cry while throwing said hooves in the air only from them to crash back to the floor with a clang. He found the pouty scowl quite cute.

Smiling he continued on with his inspection of the scroll and when he reached bottom the lens in his right eye switched to a purple light, or at least attempted to. Now wearing a scowl himself he brought up his hand and tapped on the lens, it took several seconds but yellow light flickered to purple and what it saw only made his scowl deepen making the cyan mare next to him cringe. "In order to verify the orders received from the chairman of the Pegasus Weather Center" he recited in monotone "both the signature and seal must be of a exceptionally pure condensed spectra."
The pegasi on the platform became tense as the two clamps holding Pink Cloud and Starburst caused the metal beneath them to groan. He slowly rolled up the scroll, retied it, and held it out to Rainbow Dash who extended a shaking hoof and grabbed hold of it, sucking in a breath as his face was suddenly all to close to hers.

"This passes." causing Dashs face to scrunch in confusion. "Barely." he growled, making her ears wilt and turning her eyes to the now free scroll.

"They spent months processing just one vile for this." The confusion and lament was evident in her voice. Just how much progress had they lost when they closed this place? Dash snapped back to reality as he lurched back causing her to spring back in surprise but quickly calmed as he gently picked up Pink Cloud then Starburst, placing the shaken ponies next the surrounding group.

"Now that everything has been verified and I don't need to feed the lot of you to Unit Two how may I be of assistance Miss Dash?" Any anger or negative emotion was gone, replaced by a sight calm smile as if he were a helpful teller at a bank.

Reeling from the emotional whiplash of the last few minutes Dash shook her self to regain her sense and after a quick stretch made her way back over to him while keeping a safe distance...she hoped. "Cool, but I don't think I ever got your name. I mean can't just go around yelling 'hey freak' whenever I need you." she frowned "And don't call me miss." The twitch of his lips told her she would be saying this again far more than she liked.

He shrugged "I've been called far worse." again causing Dash to give a embarrassed chuckle. He wished he could have a bit more fun with this, introducing himself in such a mundane way was such a bore. He attempted the wireless connection in the room. He had no real hopes of connecting but when the lights blinked so did he and tried again. The lights began to flicker in an ominous manner causing the pegasi in the room to look around in slight panic, most were uncomfortable underground as is.

"Oh this is going to be sooo much fun~" he thought to him self as he crouched and began moving towards a now sitting and tense Rainbow Dash.

"I don't remember my past." A clamp came down with a thud causing Rainbows attention to snap to the cyberpony in front of her. "I don't remember who I used to be." -thud- Rainbows breath quickens as her muscles refuse to move. "I don't remember my friends of old, I don't remember my destiny." -thud- Her eyes are widen as the lights flicker wildly. "What I've become? I've no idea. -thud- I only know one simple thing, the name they gave me." Dash was barely breathing as the red eye and rows of sharp teeth dominated her sight. The lights suddenly went out.

Abesntia