Midnight Shade had only been in the factory for a year, but it felt like an eternity. Everyday, she forced herself to ignore the helpless screams of the failures that were used to make rainbows. Everyday, she was forced to support this ritual by mixing the Spectra. Everyday, she did nothing as hundreds of lives were being stolen. Even though she had never touched a failure, she felt like she had killed many.
Think of the positive. Midnight said to herself. You get good pay, a permanent place to sleep, and you get to do what you’ve always wanted. You can finally make beautiful images in the sky!
Normally, when Midnight felt down about the factory, she distracted herself with her work. She would put all of her time and effort into making sure that each color of the rainbow was mixed to perfection. She made sure that every hue was the brightest and purest it could be. Sometimes, Midnight would make a little game out of it. She would think of things that corresponded to each color. She would think of the crisp red leaves of autumn and the cool, salty waters of the blue ocean.
Despite all of her efforts, it couldn’t distract her for long. Eventually Midnight was reminded of her reality when another scream echoed through the halls. The cruel, unforgiving reality of Pegasi giving up on their own kind.
What’s the point of rainbows, Midnight thought, if all they do is cause pain?
The question itched at the back of her mind, waiting to be revealed. Midnight pushed the thought away, as she had done for the past year, only to make it bigger. After a year’s worth of pushing it back, it’s pressure became overbearing. If the thought didn’t come out soon, Midnight was sure she would go completely insane.
“I have to ask somepony. I can’t live another second just thinking about it anymore,” Midnight said aloud.
Hesitantly, Midnight abandoned her work to go find somepony to talk to. Worry filled her head, making each hoofstep sound like it was banging against the metal floor.
I can’t just ask my coworkers, Midnight surveyed the area for more approachable ponies. and I definitely can’t ask the drones either. They’re nothing but machines!
Midnight racked her brain for every pony she knew in the factory. She didn’t have any close friends, so she had to take job positions into account. If she looked for someone higher up, perhaps they would be more willing to make changes.
I could ask the Overmare! Midnight exclaimed. Everypony listens to her! If she stops using foals for rainbows, everypony will!
Midnight rushed to the Headquarters: the Overmare’s lair. She galloped towards the main elevator, feeling a sense of exhilaration as her hooves clanged against the floor.
When she arrived, she swiftly typed in the code to the Headquarters: Level 3, Floor 2A, Room 8. Beep. Click! The elevator understood her commands as it carried her to her destination.
Midnight froze as her knees buckled, her throat tightened, and her eyes bulged. What was she thinking? She coudn’t do this! If she rebelled against the Rainbow Factory, she could be killed!
Breathe. Midnight sighed to herself. It’s going to be okay. You’re doing the right thing. Think of how many lives you could save!
Ding! The elevator came to a hault, telling Midnight that she had arrived. The elevator guided Midnight to the entrance as its doors slid open. Midnight trotted out and searched for the Headquarters.
Midnight softly knocked on the metal door, fearing a noise any louder could startle the Overmare. The Overmare looked up, slowly rose out of her chair, flew over, and unlocked the door. When she finished, she beckoned Midnight to sit down.
There was a small sound of shuffling papers, followed by a puff in the Overmare’s attempt to blow her rainbow mane out of her face. The Overmare looked tired and annoyed, but the desire to kill was far from her expression. Midnight’s joints released their tension at this realization. Glancing up, she prepared to address Midnight.
“Make it quick! This isn’t a meeting, and I have a lot of work to do!” the Overmare snapped.
“Ma’am, I have a question regarding my work,” Midnight said tentatively.
“First of all, the name’s Ms.Dash!” the Overmare replied. “Second, are you asking for a promotion? Ms. Shade, you just got here! You’re lucky you even got this job!”
“No no, it’s not that at all...Ms. Dash!” Midnight shook her head. “I’m here to ask...why do we make rainbows?”
The Overmare shot a confused glance at the mare. Of all questions, she thought this one would be the most obvious.
“Why?” Rainbow Dash cried. “Uh, because this is the Rainbow Factory! Look, if you’re just gonna waste my time then-“
“I know that! I meant to ask why, of all things, did this place decide on rainbows? And why do we need the lives of foals to make them?” Midnight explained.
The Overmare’s eyebrows rose, and her hooves clasped together. Never before has anyone just asked about the process. Most Pegasi would try to act out and rebel against it. This mare sounded like she simply wanted to understand the process. Intrigued, the Overmare decided to let Midnight in on the story.
“Let me tell you something, Ms. Shade,” the Overmare said. “As you already know, Princess Celestia gave Pegasi the task to create rainbows along with many other types of weather. Pegasi could easily utilize snow or rain, but rainbows were the only thing we couldn’t make from the elements. Originally, we used unicorn magic to create Spectra. But what good is a rainbow if it’s tainted by unicorns? It’s our job to make rainbows, not those filthy snobs! A rainbow has to be made by Pegasi in order to be pure!
The tradition of using Pegasi began after I made my second Sonic Rainboom. Rainbooms were the first test product after unicorn magic, but it didn’t last. I couldn’t make Rainbooms everyday, and Pegasi were the closest thing we ever got to pure Spectra. Their Spectra could be harvested, unlike unicorn magic or Rainbooms. Not only that, but Pegasi have the ability to make the most colorful rainbows in all of Equestria!
You think it’s a bit extreme to kill Pegasi, but it’s not like we’re killing all of them. Just the failures. Why? Because without flight, a Pegasus has no value. It’s the same as a unicorn without magic or an Earth pony without legs. Without value, there is no reason for them to continue living.
Well, we found a way for the failures to have some value. There is one other thing that makes Pegasi valuable besides flight. Weather! Only Pegasi can control the elements of the sky. Flightless Pegasi can’t control the weather, so they have to be a part of the weather instead.
I know what you’re thinking. Of all things, why turn them into rainbows? Well, think about what type of weather ponies enjoy the most. Most ponies can’t stand the rain, much less the snow! I also know they’re too simple-minded to appreciate a simple gust of wind. Aside from sunny skies, they don’t really care about other types of weather. It’s not fair. We can’t control the sun, only Celestia can! But we can control one thing they all love! We can make rainbows!
Lots of ponies love rainbows! They look up at the sky and think, ‘Wow, it’s so amazing and colorful!’. Not only that, but the more rainbows we make, the more others appreciate Pegasi. Ponies who see rainbows will say, ‘Look, a Pegasus made that! Pegasi are awesome!’.
That’s why we make rainbows. We make sure that every Pegasus has value, one way or the other. Unlike other pony races, we don’t destroy our name with the worthless,”
Midnight was in awe. She had never thought of the factory in such a way before. She never thought what it really meant to other ponies. But still, something was nagging at her.
“It all makes sense, but...it still feels wrong. I hear those foals’ screams. They don’t want to turn into rainbows. They don’t feel valued by it like you say. They feel abandoned by their own kind,” Midnight sadly interjected.
“I...I thought you would understand. I thought I could teach you. I thought you wanted to understand this factory! I thought you were on my side, but you’re just like everypony else! I give you every reason I could think of for this factory’s existence and you just deny it all! Why did you even come up to me if you were just gonna tell me that I’m wrong?” The Overmare yelled.
“I-I don’t know! I just couldn’t take it anymore! I can’t let more foals die in your hooves! It’s over! I’m going to stop you!” Midnight cried.
“No!” the Overmare cried, as she readied for an attack. Instead, Midnight ran away from the Overmare and towards the exit. “You can’t escape!”
Midnight ran as fast as her hooves could carry her to the elevator. Quickly, she punched in her request before the Overmare could see: Level 1, Floor 3B, Room (Main). Beep. Click! The elevator invited her in and lead her to the Spectra facility.
Ding! The elevator stopped, directing Midnight to the main floor. Midnight dashed out and flapped her wings when her hooves had reached their maximum speed.
Her blood rapidly coursed through her, boosting each of her features with speed and adrenaline. Her body was gasping for air, but her mind was focused on a task: rescue the failures and stop the factory.
Midnight dodged the scaffolding, shifting her direction left and right. Dodging the building was easy, being used to it for a year. The hard part was getting past the drones. Drones flying around usually meant that the Overmare was trying to target somepony. Hoping adrenaline would overpower the drones’ speed, Midnight flew blindly as she let the rest of her senses take over.
Closing her eyes and using her ears as her only aid, Midnight listened for clicks of robotic wings through the deafening sound of the wind she created. She managed to outmaneuver many drones, causing them to collide with themselves or their surroundings.
Unexpectedly, a group of drones cornered Midnight in an attempt to surround her. As they slowly corralled her, Midnight began to run out of directions to fly towards. Her sides were completely blocked and going up meant the top drone could push her towards the others. Luckily, there was a bit more space downwards. Midnight folded into herself as she descended closer to the ground. The drones, in an attempt to grab her all at once, collided with one another and tangled themselves into one huge pile of metal. Helplessly, they tried to untangle themselves while also trying to stay in the air to prevent falling and causing a bigger problem.
With the drones out of the way, Midnight used her wings to pick herself up midair before she could slam into the floor. Feeling content with her distance from the floor, Midnight shifted her wings so she could simply glide towards the ground. As she was gliding, one of the workers caught on to what she was trying to do. Without thinking, the worker flew straight up to her hoping he could force Midnight off her trail. Midnight barely had time to react before she felt her left side cave in and her legs tense up. She felt as if a machine had fallen on her and she was stuck underneath. As panic began to corrupt her senses, Midnight began flapping her wings as fast as they could go. After the worker became a bit hesitant with his grip on her, she began shaking violently in all directions. The worker aimed his hooves at her neck in order to put her in an inespacable headlock. As Midnight continued shaking, his hooves began to fumble, causing him to lose his grip enough to where Midnight could free herself entirely. When she was at a safe distance, Midnight delivered a swift kick to the worker’s front as a precaution. Quickly learning from her mistake, Midnight flew in a fast but slightly irregular pattern as opposed to gliding.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop everypony. As she was nearing her destination, she became completely focused on her landing. A drone took advantage of this and crashed into her, causing her right wing to fold into itself. Unable to repel the impact, Midnight began spinning towards the ground like a crashing airplane. The sound of the rushing air became distorted, as did the rest of her hearing as she plummeted towards the ground. In an effort to reduce her inevitable pain, Midnight shifted to the left so she could land on her side instead of her head.
Snap! When Midnight opened her eyes, she realized that landing on her side caused one of her wings to break. The distorted pile of feathers stuck out at odd angles and caused Midnight pain in every movement. Ignoring her pain for the sake of her mission, she rose to her hooves and walked over to a steel cage.
The steel cage contained a variety of pastel-colored Pegasi. Some of them were huddled in a corner while others gnawed at the rusty bars. The Pegasi in there were either traumatized, angry, or terribly depressed. The sight caused a wave of sadness to wash over Midnight. Choking back tears, Midnight calmly approached the foals to gain their attention.
“Hey, listen up. I’m going to get you out of here, okay? If you promise to stay quiet, I’ll open this cage and set you all free. I’ll show you an exit, all you have to do is follow my lead,” Midnight whispered.
The foals didn’t hesitate. They obeyed immediately and waited for Midnight to theorize how to free them. Fortunately, she glanced up and realized the worker she encountered before wasn’t going to give up. He darted towards her with pure determination in his eyes. This is perfect! Midnight thought. If I can just lure him closer, I can snatch his keys from him! I think I saw some in his pocket as he was attacking me! Quickly, Midnight estimated the worker’s landing time and rapidly jumped out of the way as the worker nearly crashed into her. When the worker rammed into the floor, Midnight took advantage of the opportunity and fished for his keys. After successfully finding them in his pocket, Midnight placed one in the keyhole and turned it until she heard a soft click as the handle loosened its grip on the bars.
“Alright, now everyone come out nice and quietl-“ Midnight tried to say.
“Stop!” the Overmare screamed. “Don’t you dare open that door! Don’t be a failure like them!”
Paralyzed with fear, Midnight didn’t dare move. Unfortunately, this gave the Overmare time to notice her mangled wing.
“Hahahahahaha!” the Overmare cackled. “You really are a failure! You can’t fly, just like them! You’re worthless!”
The Overmare grabbed Midnight by the tail and swung her across the floor.
“Let her be an example! Let her remind you of why we make rainbows! Just like you, she no longer has value as a Pegasus!” the Overmare cried to the foals. She then glanced at Midnight. “Well, you wanted to know why we make rainbows! Now you’ll know!”
Midnight shielded her eyes, covering her tears. She recoiled as the Overmare began to lift her up. As a last resort she clung to the floor to delay her fate.
The foals cringed in horror as the Overmare dragged Midnight across the floor. She may have been a factory worker, but she was one of them too. Her broken wing made her a failure. After all she did to save them, the failures weren’t going to let her actions go to waste.
Noticing that the door was slightly unlocked, the foals pushed it open and broke free. Defensively, the foals swarmed around the Overmare like wasps. Overwhelmed, she dropped Midnight and tried to defend herself. She was blinded on all sides, unable to see what she was doing. Seeing this as an opportunity, Midnight crawled to a corner where she knew an emergency button existed.
Once she reached it, she pressed it, sounding an alarm. The blaring noise and the bright red lights aroused panic in the factory. Workers and drones chaotically ran about frantically as they tried to find anything that looked like a problem.
Taking note of the warning, the foals flew past the Overmare and headed for an exit. Unable to fly, Midnight shouted commands that the foals obediently followed.
After many hours of flying and running, the foals and Midnight finally found an exit. Rapidly, the ponies heaved the door open and headed outside. Before it closed, Midnight took one of her new keys and locked it, just in case.
The foals rejoiced, finally feeling the joy of seeing the sunshine and breathing in the fresh air. The taste of freedom finally touched their lips, and it was refreshing.
As the foals were observing their surroundings, one colt noticed that Midnight was still on the edge near the door they exited from. Feeling sorry for her, he flew back to her and said.
“Aren’t you coming? We’ll carry you if you want. We don’t mind, since you saved us and everything,” he said, worriedly.
“It’s okay, go. I haven’t won yet. The factory is still here. I have to shut it down. I don’t want them to continue their cruel practices,” Midnight sighed.
“Okay, thank you. Take care of yourself. Tear that factory down!” He cried, as he leaned in to give Midnight a hug. Midnight embraced him, finally feeling happy for once.
“She’s gonna tear down the factory! Everypony will be free!” the colt shouted.
The foals cheered excitedly. Midnight once again felt a sense of happiness.
“Fly home safe!” Midnight cried, as the foals began their home bound journeys.
Author's Note
This is a submission for NaPoWrMo on Equestria Daily.