Shades of Grayby lrft4_sanChaptersJokesIntrudersSecretsJokesPart I Jokes The school trip to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory; it was a trip that every class of new fliers took their second year of flight school. Each of the young pegasi was excited to finally get a chance to see how the weather was made. Most of their parents were employees of the Weather Factory so they knew a thing or two about what went on there, but none of them had actually been inside until today. Yes, everypony was excited. Everypony that is, except for Hikari. Hikari was one of these a young pegasi walking down the street on her way to visit the Weather Factory. Although she was only nine-years-old, Hikari was in her second year of flight school, having been admitted into the school the year before at the tender age of eight (instead of ten like most pegasi). Her teacher's considered her a prodigy, but Hikari felt that there was a price to be paid for her advanced learning; in order to maintain the special scholarship that allowed her to stay in class, Hikari was required to dedicate a lot of her time to studying so she could get good grades on her tests. For her meteorology class, she had read up on the formation of clouds and how to properly fill and empty them of water, practiced mixing the spectrums that made up rainbows, and she even tried her hoof at the delicate art of creating the intricate patterns for snowflakes. There was just nothing of interest for Hikari at the Weather Factory. All she wanted to do right now was to free-fall from the cloud that they were on, only to unfurl her wings at the last second, feeling the rush of flying at high speeds like her idol Rainbow Dash. She loved the feeling of the cold wind whipping through her light yellow mane and teal feathers. Hikari looked lazily over to the colt walking beside her. His name was Valiant and he had been Hikari's next-door neighbor and her best friend since they were tiny foals. "Hey Val," Hikari said with a smile. "I have a hypothetical question for you." "What is it," Valiant had said with a slight scowl. He hated it when she called him by that nickname. It was fine when they were foals, but they were older now, and he didn't like the name anymore. But no matter how many times he asked her to stop, she insisted on calling him Val. "What would you do if I just stepped off the edge of this cloud and didn't open my wings? Would you chase after me Val?" She put a hoof around his shoulder and gave him an affectionate squeeze. "Not if you keep calling me by that nickname." He removed Hikari's hoof from his back "Go ahead, jump, I don't care." Valiant turned his head away from the filly next to him and started up a conversation with the colt in front of him. "Fine Val." Came Hikari's sad reply. Oh great, thought Valiant, I hurt her feelings. "Look Hikar…Oh Sweet Celestia!" Valiant stared, horror struck, at the empty space next to him. He hadn't even heard her take off. He moved over to the edge of the cloud and searched the sky bellow. It took a while, but eventually he saw her limp form plummeting towards the Everfree Forest bellow. Valiant didn't have to think twice; his cutie mark (a shield adorned with two crossing swords) represented his courage, his wanting to protect all ponies. It was not in his nature to let harm come to someone he cared about, especially his best friend. Stepping back, he dropped his saddlebag, then turned, and ran towards the edge of the cloud entering into a dive. The last thing Valiant heard was the sound of a few fillies screaming as they watched the pony dive off the edge; then it was nothing but the sound of wind whipping past his ears. Even though he was still just a colt, Valiant was an expert at skydiving. He weaved his way through the lower hanging clouds, making sure not to hit any; at this speed, he would most likely be knocked unconscious if he was reckless and accidentally crashed into something, no matter how soft it was. Tears started to fill the young colt's eyes; he had left his goggles back on the cloud in his saddlebag. There was no to think about grabbing them before he jumped. But it wasn't just the wind that was causing Valiant to tear up, he was afraid of losing Hikari. He had just meant it as a joke; he didn't think she would actually jump off the edge. Hikari was prone to do dumb things every now and again, but this was by far the stupidest thing she had ever done. Yes she was a prodigy, but she was still a young filly, too young to try something as dangerous as this. The wind was too unbearable; it became harder for Valiant to see each cloud as he passed by. He lifted a hoof to his eyes and wiped away the tears, careful to not throw off his trajectory. In that single moment he lost track of Hikari's descent. Valiant quickly opened his wings and pulled himself to a stop, frantically scanning the world bellow for any trace of the filly. Then, fear struck him like a knife. There, less than two hundred yards bellow where Valiant was flying, was Hikari, lying sprawled out on a large cloud. He dove, driven by adrenalin, until he crash-landed onto the cloud about twenty feet away from Hikari. "Hikari!" Valiant shouted. He got back on his feet and galloped towards the fallen pegasus. He stood over her limp form, his heart racing. Her chest was faintly moving up and down; she was still breathing. Valiant didn't know what to do; he put a hoof on one of Hikari's shoulders and desperately gave her a few gentle shakes. "Hikari!? Kari! Come on answer me." Tears returned to Valiant's eyes as the thought of his best friend being in a coma invaded his mind. He put a hoof under her head and drew her closer to his body, embracing her tightly as he cried. Suddenly, Hikari stirred in his Valiant's arms and he could hear her breathing grow heavier, nearing a normal rate. Her eyes slowly opened, but fell closed again, as if she were too weak to keep them open. Valiant saw Hikari's lips start to move; it looked like she was trying to say something. "What is it, Kari?" Valiant asked, calming down a bit because Hikari was still with him. "Do you need anything?" Hikari gestured with her hoof for Valiant to bring his head closer to hers. "G-got…y-y-you…" She stammered. "What?" Valiant looked alarmed. Hikari's eyes shot open, and before Valiant knew it, he was on his back, pinned down by the weight of a laughing, and perfectly healthy filly sitting on his chest. "Hah!" she laughed, pointing a hoof in Valiant's face. "I totally got you." In his shocked state, Valiant could do nothing but lie on his back, staring blankly up at Hikari as the filly enjoyed her little joke. "You should have seen the look on your face. You were all like 'oh no, Kari's dead.' Honestly Val your so gullible." Valiant could feel anger replacing the shock. With all his strength returning, he shoved Hikari off, got up on his feet and stomped over to her. "What the hell were you thinking?" He shouted at her. "You could have been killed!" "Oh come on it was just a joke. Look, see, I'm totally fine." She spun around to show Valiant that she didn't have a single scratch or bruise. "I just went into a free fall and when I saw you clear your eyes, I took the chance to open my wings, allowing me to land safe and sound on this cloud. Neat trick, huh?" "Do you have any idea how worried I was? When I saw you down here I-I really thought you were dead." Tears continued to streak down the colts face. "I thought I had lost my best friend." Hikari stopped laughing. She knew she had taken the joke too far. She just wanted to have a little fun; she didn't think how much this would have hurt the Colt. He had always been the brave one, not scared of anything "Valiant." She said softly, looking down with remorse. "I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't know. I knew you would chase after me, but I never thought you would take it so seriously. Honestly, I didn't mean to make you worry." Valiant walked over to the regretful filly whose soft teal coat and light yellow mane shimmered in the sunlight. He reached up and wrapped his hooves around Hikari, pulling her into a hug. "It's ok." Said Valiant, looking the filly in the eyes. "I'm just glad you're not hurt." "Me too." She returned the embrace, her face buried in Valiant's golden mane. The two ponies slowly pulled away, just enough so that they could look each other in the eye. "Kari, I…" he started, but Hikari gently placed a hoof over his lips. "Shhh." She hushed, returning her hoof to a spot on the colt's back somewhere between his wings. Slowly, Hikari drew her face closer to Valiant's, closing her eyes as their lips nearly touched. "Hey, what's going on down there." Came an angry voice from far above. The two ponies shot away from each other, startled by the mysterious voice. In the distance, Valiant and Hikari saw the form of a full-grown pegasus pony flying towards them. A moment later, a large blue male pegasus landed in front of them; it was their teacher, Windjammer, who stood over them, looking furious. "Never in all my years of teaching have I seen ponies who acted as reckless as you two did just now. What do you have to say for yourselves?" "I'm very sorry sir; it was just a joke." Replied Hikari, turning red. "I was in control of my fall the entire time." "That's no excuse for what you did. A controlled fall or not, you could have been seriously injured. You are far too young to be trying stunts like that." Windjammer turned his attention to Valiant. "And what about you?" "I thought she was in trouble so I jumped into action. Honestly, it's no big deal, we're both fine. Can we please just go back up and return to the field trip and forget this whole thing happened?" "Not the whole thing." Whispered Hikari under her breath so that only Valiant could hear. She giggled a little as Valiant's pure white coat turned a deep shade of red. Of course he didn't want to forget the kiss that they almost shared, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. "I'm afraid not." Windjammer said, bringing the young pegasi back to reality. "First, while it was a courageous thing for you to do, trying to save your classmate, it was just as stupid as the stunt that she pulled. You should have told one of the teachers, someone who is far more experienced with flying to help her." "But there wasn't time." Valiant pleaded. "She could have…" "Second," Windjammer continued, ignoring his student's excuses. "You will not be joining the rest of the class on the trip. You both have behaved very irresponsibly today and have broken school rules. Therefore, when we get back up to Cloudsdale, you will both be returning home and you will write a five-page research paper about how the weather is made. And you can tell your parents to expect a letter in the mail tomorrow." Windjammer shook his head. "I am very disappointed in you two." He turned away and opened his wings. "You two go on first so I know you won't be running off." Hikari and Valiant trudged over to the edge of the cloud, their heads hung in sadness. They slowly opened their wings and took off. They flew in complete silence for what felt like hours. When they got back to Cloudsdale, Windjammer turned to the two ponies. "I want your papers on my desk first thing in the morning before class." He turned back to the cluster of ponies who could only stare and whisper about the two ponies who were being sent home. "Ok class, line back up. We still have a bit of a walk before we reach the Weather Factory." The rest of the young pegasi quickly lined up out of fear that they might also be sent home for disobeying orders. Within a few minutes, Hikari and Valiant were alone. The colt turned to his friend. "Well," Valiant said, stretching his legs. "No use just sitting here all day sulking. Might as well head home and start on those papers." Valiant sighed. "Geeze, I'm gonna be up all night working on this paper." "Not me," said Hikari a bit proudly. "I know a lot about the cloud factory and everything they do there. I'll probably be done in a couple hours." "Lucky." Hikari rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault. I had to learn all that stuff to earn my scholarship. If I didn't they'd have kicked me out of school." "Yeah yeah I remember, miss know it all." Hikari gave him a dirty look. "Humph. Well Maybe if you opened your school books every once in a while instead of practicing your dives, you'd do better in school." "Alright. Geeze, sorry I'm so stupid." Valiant gave Hikari a playful shove. He looked off in the direction of the Weather Factory. "I wish I could get in there though. I bet it would really help with this paper." "Is that so?" Hikari gave Valiant a sly grin. "What if I told you that one of the resources I used for my school entrance paper were blueprints to the Weather Factory and that I might know a way we can sneak in and explore." "I would probably kiss you." Valiant laughed at his friend's cleverness. Hikari, however, inched closer to the colt who stopped laughing and turned a bright shade of red. "Wait. Here? Now?" "Sure," she moved closer, their faces inches apart. "Nopony's around." She moved her head the remaining distance and their lips met. It was pure bliss. It wasn't quite the same feeling Hikari got from free falling, but it was as close as two young ponies could get with their hooves still on the cloud. Valiant reached a hoof up and placed it softly on the filly's back, just between her wings. The more they kissed, the more excited Valiant became. His hoof started to explore Hikari's back until it found one of her beautiful teal wings. Valiant began to gently stroke her feathers, sending shivers throughout Hikari's body. "Whoa whoa whoa!" she exclaimed, breaking the kiss. She was trying to calm herself and catch her breath. Valiant could see that Hikari was blushing profusely. "I'm sorry," Valiant said, feeling very embarrassed. "That wasn't ok, was it?" "No…and yes," Hikari was so embarrassed, she was finding it hard to look the colt in the eye. "I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't feel good. Trust me, it felt really good. It's just that, well," she took a deep breath and looked deep into Valiant's eyes. "You're my best friend Val, and I don't want that to change because we did something stupid." "So what do you want?" "We're still kids, practically foals; we have plenty of time in the future to do…that. So, for now, I think we should take it slow." Valiant put a hoof around Hikari and kissed her on the forehead. "That's fine with me." he said with a smile. The two pegasi sat on the edge of the cloud, just enjoying the time together. Valiant looked affectionately at Hikari. "So, does this make me your special somepony?" "Only if I'm your special somepony." They leaned in and gave each other a quick kiss. "Come one." Hikari said, standing back up. "We're not gonna have enough time to write our papers if we spend all of our time here." "Ok," said Valiant following suit. "But lets make it a quick trip. I don't want to get caught sneaking around the Weather Factory. Celestia knows what they'll do if they catch us in there" "Sure." The two ponies took off in the direction of the Weather factory, not knowing what they were getting into. IntrudersPart II Intruders It was fifteen minutes before Hikari and Valiant came upon a large building with its dark shadow looming ominously over the surrounding shops, just on the edge of Cloudsdale. They had reached the Weather Factory. The structure held no trace of the beautiful and intricate designs of the shops and homes that Cloudsdale was famous for. Instead, the main Factory building resembled a large, flat box, with high walls made of gray, nimbostratus cloud. From each of the four corners, smoke stacks towered high above the city, releasing not smoke but small, fluffy white clouds into the sky, which were quickly gathered up by groups of waiting pegasi who transported them to different parts of Equestria. The two young pegasi stopped by a shop, just across the street from the Factory’s main entrance to rest for a moment. As they waited, Hikari sat down and closed her eyes, trying to remember something important. " Ok, let me see." She said, gently tapping a hoof to her temple. "If we fly around to the side of the factory, we should find a door there that we can sneak in through. It’s a service entrance used by the rainbow team when they leave to make their deliveries." "But won't it be, you know, occupied?" "Don’t be dumb, Val. Didn’t you check the weather schedule this morning? There isn’t supposed be rain in any of the near by towns today, so I can’t imagine it would be too busy right now. I figure if we're quick, we can sneak through the door, walk through the lower level until we find some stairs, then up the stairs to the main production floor of the Weather Factory. That’s where we start our tour." "Sounds easy enough. What are we waiting for? Let's go." Said Valiant eagerly. Hikari shook her head. "Not yet. We need to wait for the right moment. Look at the clock?” She pointed a hoof towards a clock tower the stood to the right of the entrance to the Factory. “It's almost eleven; the lower level factory workers should be going on break soon.” She turned back towards the Factory. “Over there; you see that platform coming out of the side of the building?" "Yeah." "That's where they'll be coming out. This is the perfect spot for us to watch it from. We’ll make our move as soon as we see them leave." Sure enough, a few minutes later, a loud whistle could be heard coming from somewhere within the Factory. It wasn't long before a small group of pegasi came flying out of the now open door. "Ok, lets move." Whispered Hikari. "Right." Valiant nodded and followed behind her. The two pegasi galloped over to the edge of the city. "Looks like our best hope will be to dive off here and approach it from underneath.” Said Hikari, as adrenaline began rushing through her. “On the count of three, we jump." "On three. Got it." "One." "Two." "Three." The two pegasi dove off the side of Cloudsdale towards the ground bellow. Then, in almost perfect unison, their wings snapped open lifting them so that they were just bellow the level of the city, out of sight from any watchful eyes. The sudden sensation of the wind pressing against her feathers sent a shiver through Hikari’s body; this was what she lived for. Valiant looked over at Hikari, her wings beating in time with his; he couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she looked with the wind rushing through her mane and feathers. In a burst of excitement, Valiant felt the sudden urge to show off for the filly. Beating his wings faster, he picked up speed and pulled ahead of Hikari. Then he closed his wings and went into a sharp dive. After dropping a hundred feet, Valiant snapped his wings open, and went into five loop de loops before pulling up and leveling out again with Hikari who giggled at his antics. "Not bad," she said flying close to give Valiant a friendly swipe of her tail. "But try this." She took off, flying up about thirty feet before she pulled her wings closed and dove, spiraling like a drill towards a cluster of clouds below them. Valiant winced as Hikari came into contact with the first cloud below her. The only thing that Valiant could think in that moment was that Hikari was really going injure herself this time. But the impact never came; instead of smacking into the surface of the cloud, Hikari drilled right through it, making hole clear through the cloud, continuing through the next three clouds under that one. Hikari opened her wings, pulling out of her dive, and flew clumsily back up and joined Valiant back at the level they had been flying at. "Well," She said looking tired and obviously dizzy from having done so many rotations. "What do you think of that?" "Ok, I'll admit it; you definitely know what you're doing." The two couldn't help laughing. When they finally calmed themselves, they turned back to the Weather Factory and continued flying. It wasn't too long before they reached the platform where they saw the Factory workers exit. "This is it," said Hikari as they landed. "There should be a door somewhere." She looked around, inspecting the area. "Oh, here it is." The two walked over and inspected the door. "What if it's locked?" Asked Valiant. He was starting to feel a bit anxious. "Only one way to find out." Hikari put a hoof on the door and gave it a push. To her surprise, the door opened easily. "Val, Make a mental note: if we run into an employee, tell them that their security is very lacking." "Noted, though I bet it's probably never been a problem. I mean, whose gonna steal clouds and rainbows? They're practically free anyway, right?" They both laughed at the thought of somepony sneaking in and taking off with their hooves full of clouds. "Shall we," said Hikari, motioning to Valiant to go in. "Fillies first." Valiant bowed his head, letting a small chuckle escape as he did so. "My, such a gentlecolt." Hikari returned the bow and walked in to the large building. The first thing they noticed as they entered the building was how vast the lower level of the Factory was. Within the large room were a few rows of carts and hundreds of large containers (most of which were empty, while some were filled with beautifully swirling multicolors). Other than that, the room looked pretty much empty. Hikari looked up and saw many different pipes and tubes that snaked along the ceiling, stretching all the way from one end of the room to the other. "This is the rainbow packaging plant." Said Hikari, admiring one of the rainbow filled canisters. "Hey," said Valiant in a low whisper, "did you ever hear the story about how rainbows are made of naughty young pegasi who don't pass their flight school exams?" "Oh shut up,” Hikari scoffed, “that's just a myth used to scare foals into doing well in school, or eat their vegetables or something. You can't honestly think that that's true." Valiant shrugged. "It could be true. Just think, one little mistake and then, GOTCHA!" he shouted as he lunged forward and landed on top of Hikari. "Aagh!" Hikari exclaimed as she collapsed under the weight of the colt. The sound of her scream reverberated throughout the hall. "We should go," she said, feeling a bit worried. "Somepony might have heard that." They started to make their way down the hall through the many rows of canisters. Hikari suddenly stopped, feeling very confused. She had studied those blue prints a hundred times to make sure that her information was correct. Yet something was very wrong. “I don’t understand,” said Hikari, as she looked around. Her face wrinkled in a frown. "What's the matter?" Valiant asked. "We're lost." "What do you mean 'lost?' I thought you knew where you were going." "I thought I did too. Every one of the blue prints that I looked at showed a staircase right here that is supposed to lead to the upper levels of the Factory, but as you can clearly see, there isn't one." Hikari closed her eyes, retracing their steps, hoping that she had miscalculated somewhere, but no, she had made no mistakes, she couldn’t have. Then, without warning, a whistle blew marking the end of the lower level workers lunch break. When the ringing echo of the whistle faded away, it was so silent in the room that you could hear the hearts of the two pegasi racing as the ponies stood frozen, too scared to move. "Come on Kari," said Valiant, reclaiming his courage. "They'll be here any minute. We've gotta go." "Where?" Asked Hikari, feeling defeated. "Look," Valient pointed a hoof to the wall on the other side of the room. "There's a door over there, just a little ways further up. If we can get to it you might get your bearings back." Hikari nodded. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was certainly better than sitting around, waiting to be caught. As soon as they heard the main entrance open, they bolted across the room. The door wasn't as far as it looked, but every time they came out from behind a canister, they expected to run into a Factory employee. They didn't, though they heard plenty of voices starting to fill the room. Finally, Hikari had a hoof on the doorknob. Up close they could see that the door had a sign hung on it near the top that said 'Do not enter, authorized personnel only'. This worried Hikari; breaking into the Weather Factory was one thing (they were supposed to be there on their class trip after all), but sneaking into someplace where they were clearly not welcome was something that caused her to hesitate. "Now or never." Said Valiant. He gave the filly an assuring smile. "Don't worry Kari, I'll be with you the whole time." Hikari nodded, turned the knob, and pushed. For the second time that day, the ponies were surprised at how lucky they were to see yet another door open so easily. "See what did I tell you? I mean seriously guys, if you don't want somepony sneaking in, put locks on your doors." They both laughed quietly, but the sound of a voice a few feet away caused the two to jump, and flee into the next room, closing the door behind them. SecretsEntering the room turned out to be a huge mistake; instead of an exit (or clever hiding space), Hikari and Valiant found themselves completely enveloped in darkness. Valiant, the bravest colt in their class, shuddered a little, for as brave as he was, he still felt uncomfortable in dark spaces. The only thing gave him comfort was knowing that his favorite filly was beside him, and it was too dark for her to see him shaking in his horseshoes. "I ch-changed my m-m-mind." Said Valiant, failing to hide the quiver in his voice. "I think I’ll just read my books, or copy off of you." "Oh no you won't." Said Hikrai. Unlike the quivering colt next to her, Hikari had no problem with the dark. But, she couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy; she couldn’t put her hoof on it, but there was something eerie about the room they were in. "Whatever, can we just get out of here now? Please?" "Yeah. That might be a good idea.” Hikari turned back to the wall. “Hey, Val, help me find the door knob." The two ponies felt their way along the wall, but they couldn't find the door. Hikari suddenly stopped; she could have sworn she heard a rustling sound coming from somewhere close behind her. “Stop, did you hear that?” The two ponies stopped searching for the door and listened closely. Sure enough, Hikari and Valiant heard the sound of something moving slowly and clumsily just a few feet from where they were standing; it became clear that they were not alone in the room. Hikari was scared now. "Oh Celestia, where's the door." She reached a hoof up and was relieved when it landed on something other than wall. Without hesitating, she gave the object a twist with her hoof. But it wasn't a doorknob; it was a light switch. From the other end of the room they could see lights slowly coming to life with a faint, warm, humming noise. Within seconds the room was full of a dim, yellow, light, just strong enough to illuminate their surroundings. What lay before them was the most horrific sight the young ponies had ever seen; instead of a room, the two had wandered into another hall, much larger than the rainbow packaging plant. Valiant looked down the hall; it seemed to stretch out from under the main factory building to beneath the streets of Cloudsdale, and lining the entire length of the hall were hundreds of metal cages, each one containing a pegasus. "Celestia, no." Said Hikari, as all four of her legs buckled. As she fell to the floor, Hikari felt herself overcome by a wave of nausea; she thought she was going to be sick. "What is this?" Valiant choked out. "Why are all these pegasi being kept here?" Valiant stepped towards one of the cages, his legs moved slowly, weighed down by fear. Inside the cage was a young filly, crumpled in a heap and whimpering in a corner of the cage. Her wings hung lifelessly off her back and down the side of her torso, and there were large patches on her wings that were missing feathers. Whatever feathers remained were ruffled and bent in such a way that they would never heal; there was no chance that she would never fly again. Valiant continued examining the filly’s body and saw that it wasn't in any better shape. It looked as if somepony had beaten her repeatedly without mercy; one of her eyes was swollen shut, and there were several hoof sized bruises that left dark black splotches all along the length of her light green body. Further down her body, just around the cutie mark, there were three fresh, deep wounds made from some sort of blade. Valiant could just make out several small trails of blood that had left red streaks down her flank. "What happened to you?" Valiant whispered to the filly. As soon as she heard the voice, she started quivering. "It's alright," Said Valiant reassuringly. "We haven't come to harm you, we had no idea you were even down here." The filly struggled to stand, but her legs were shaking so violently that she fell and crashed against the front of the cage. "Are you ok?" she shook her head. "Can you speak?" She shook her head again. "Why not?" The filly took Valiant’s hoof in her’s and weakly lifted it to her face. A small whimper escaped her as she pressed Valiant’s hoof to her cheek; that’s when the colt understood. "Has somepony been hurting you?” The filly nodded, then, her hoof dropped from Valiant’s; she had passed out. Valint could do nothing more then stare sadly at the pathetic form “Oh Celestia." "What is it?" Asked Hikari, returning to her senses. Valiant turned to her, his eyes filled with sorrow. "She can't talk…her jaw’s been broken." Hikari couldn't hold back anymore; without warning she threw up all over the floor of the large hall. "Kari," Valiant rushed over to his friend, concern flooding his face. "Come on let's get out of here. We need to report thi…" Valiant didn't get a chance to finish. Just on the other side of the door came the sound of hooves approaching the hall they were in. Valiant turned the filly. There was no hiding it now; he was terrified. "Run." He shouted. Hikari, her stomach still aching, staggered forward, struggling to regain her balance. The two pegasi took off running between the two rows of cages; they didn't dare look in to see if any of the pegasi were ok. At the other end of the hall, they found themselves in front of yet another door. “Get in.” said Valiant hurriedly. Hikari shook her head. "I don't want to go in there." She said through her muffled sobs. "This is too horrible. I just want to go home." "If we just wait here, we'll get caught." Valiant snapped. "You saw those ponies out there; somepony is torturing them. Just imagine what they’ll do if they catch us out here. Do you want to be locked in a cage?" Hikari shook her head. Valiant put a hoof on her shoulder, “Don't worry, I'm here, and I promise you I will not let them touch a single hair in you mane." Hikari hesitated, but, after weighing her options, she slowly pushed the door open and walked into the room. Valiant follow behind her, closing the door slowly, just as they heard the faint echo of hooves as somepony entered the hall. The two ponies held their breath as they pressed their ears to the door, listening for the hoof beats whose owner they were sure was going to be making some sort of rounds through the hall. But there were none. The only sound they could hear was the rapid beatings of their own hearts. But there was something else; a faint beeping sound was coming from somewhere behind them. Hikari slowly turned her head and had to stick a sweat and vomit-soaked hoof in her mouth to muffle the scream that tried to escape. Lying on a bed, just on the other side of the room was the greatest flier to come out of Cloudsdale, and Hikari's idol, the one and only Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was spread out on the bed, each one of her hooves chained to the bed as if to restrain her and her torso was bound tightly, preventing her from opening her wings. The bed was surrounded by several machines that neither Hikari nor Valiant had ever seen before, but they could guess what they were doing; they were keeping her alive. "Rainbow Dash." Hikari whispered as she ran over to her idol's side. "What happened to you?" Rainbow Dash did not respond, instead, she just stared blankly at the little filly. "She looks…dead." Said Valiant joining Hikari at the bedside. He waved a hoof in front of Rainbow's face. Though there wasn’t any sign of life in them, Rainbow Dash’s eyes followed the motions of the colt's hoof. "I don't understand. I just saw her yesterday. She gave me some pointers on flying and she even showed me her Sonic Rain…Oh sweet Celestia, look at her mane." She pointed to Rainbow's head. The usually vibrant, multicolored locks where a solid shade of gray, as if somepony had sucked the color right out of it. "Val, I'm scared. What if they're hurting her? What if they're keeping her here against her will like the rest of those pegasi? We need to get her out of here.” "Right," Valiant nodded in agreement. "Here, help me with these chains." "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Came a calm voice from behind them. Valiant and Hikari froze; they hadn't even heard the door open, but when they spun around, there stood before them a light brown pegasus wearing a lab coat. "Yes, she does look quite sedate, but let me tell you, she can be quite the handful. Especially just before her infusion." The pegasus laughed as he walked over and started checking one of the monitors that was hooked up to Rainbow Dash. "It's almost as if she doesn't want to continue living." "What are you doing to her?" Hikari shouted, a fiery rage replacing the fear she had been feeling. "More importantly; what are two little ponies such as yourselves doing in a place like this?" Before Hikari could continue shouting, Valiant stood in front of her and placed a hoof over her mouth. "We're sorry," he said, trying to look deeply apologetic. "We were on a field trip through the Weather Factory with our class, you see, and, well, I'm afraid that we got lost." "Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that." "Yeah, silly feather brain here," Valiant pointed at Hikari, "she wandered off looking for the bathroom and I had to come looking for her, that's when we ended up down here." "Well, it sounds like you two have had quite the adventure. I bet you must be quite scared and confused by everything that you've seen." The stallion stepped towards Valiant and lowered his head so it was just inches away from the colts face. "I'm sure there must be a g-g-good r-r-reason for this all." Stammered Valiant as his courage once again failing him. "Oh there is. And it's quite the thrilling story really. Would you like to hear it?" Valiant looked at Hikari who gulped and nodded her head slowly. She was determined to get to the bottom of this. "Very well." The stallion walked over to the door, opened it and started talking to somepony on the other side. "Nurse Candy Striper would come in here and assist me with our visitors." The mysterious stallion walked back into the room followed by a cream colored mare wearing a nurse’s uniform. The first thing the little ponies noticed when Candy Striper walked in was her vacant expression; she had cold, lifeless eyes similar to Rainbow Dash's, and her face showed no trace of emotion. Her mane was white with a single red stripe running through it, and it was pulled back and tied in a tight bun to keep it from falling in her face. She walked over to the stallion and stood next to him, staring down at the two frightened pegasi, causing a cold sweat to start trickling down the backs of their necks. "Yes, doctor," Said Candy Striper, in a dry, melancholy voice. "How may I be of assistance?" "Would you be so kind as to help these foals into a couple of wheelchairs?” "Wait," said Hikari, feeling concerned. "We can walk on our own, we don't need wheelchairs." "Oh, I'm afraid you do. See it will be faster for us to finish your tour if you two are on wheels. I mean, it would be so inefficient to have to drag you around.” "What?" Hikari's eyes grew wide with fear. "Ouch." She felt a sharp pinch in her flank. She turned to see Candy Striper removing an empty syringe from her backside. A wave of wooziness swept over Hikari. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out; she didn't seem to have control over her body anymore. As she started to fall forward, she felt somepony wrap their hooves around her limp form and lift her off of the floor and into a wheelchair. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY GIRLFRIEND!!!" shouted a furious Valiant." "It's nothing, just a mild sedative to keep her from behaving…irrationally. And I'm afraid we'll have to do the same for you." The doctor reached out to restrain the colt. "Like hell you are!" Valiant opened his wings and flew out of the doctor's reach. He dove towards Hikari. "Don't worry Kari, I'll get you out of here." "Val," Hikari muttered, trying her hardest to focus on the colt in front of her. "Go, get out of here." "No Kari. You're my special somepony remember? There's no way I'm leaving witho..." Valiant felt the needle as it broke the skin just above his cutie mark. "My, aren't you the chivalrous young colt." Said the doctor, removing the syringe. "Don't worry I'll try to make this as painless as possible." The doctor smiled at Valiant. “Emphasis on the try.” Candy Striper picked up the limp colt and set him in the other wheelchair. Valiant's eyes shifted lazily to one of his forelegs as he felt pressure being applied; he was being strapped in. "Alright," said the doctor positioning himself behind Valiant's chair. "It's time you two finished your tour."
JokesPart I Jokes The school trip to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory; it was a trip that every class of new fliers took their second year of flight school. Each of the young pegasi was excited to finally get a chance to see how the weather was made. Most of their parents were employees of the Weather Factory so they knew a thing or two about what went on there, but none of them had actually been inside until today. Yes, everypony was excited. Everypony that is, except for Hikari. Hikari was one of these a young pegasi walking down the street on her way to visit the Weather Factory. Although she was only nine-years-old, Hikari was in her second year of flight school, having been admitted into the school the year before at the tender age of eight (instead of ten like most pegasi). Her teacher's considered her a prodigy, but Hikari felt that there was a price to be paid for her advanced learning; in order to maintain the special scholarship that allowed her to stay in class, Hikari was required to dedicate a lot of her time to studying so she could get good grades on her tests. For her meteorology class, she had read up on the formation of clouds and how to properly fill and empty them of water, practiced mixing the spectrums that made up rainbows, and she even tried her hoof at the delicate art of creating the intricate patterns for snowflakes. There was just nothing of interest for Hikari at the Weather Factory. All she wanted to do right now was to free-fall from the cloud that they were on, only to unfurl her wings at the last second, feeling the rush of flying at high speeds like her idol Rainbow Dash. She loved the feeling of the cold wind whipping through her light yellow mane and teal feathers. Hikari looked lazily over to the colt walking beside her. His name was Valiant and he had been Hikari's next-door neighbor and her best friend since they were tiny foals. "Hey Val," Hikari said with a smile. "I have a hypothetical question for you." "What is it," Valiant had said with a slight scowl. He hated it when she called him by that nickname. It was fine when they were foals, but they were older now, and he didn't like the name anymore. But no matter how many times he asked her to stop, she insisted on calling him Val. "What would you do if I just stepped off the edge of this cloud and didn't open my wings? Would you chase after me Val?" She put a hoof around his shoulder and gave him an affectionate squeeze. "Not if you keep calling me by that nickname." He removed Hikari's hoof from his back "Go ahead, jump, I don't care." Valiant turned his head away from the filly next to him and started up a conversation with the colt in front of him. "Fine Val." Came Hikari's sad reply. Oh great, thought Valiant, I hurt her feelings. "Look Hikar…Oh Sweet Celestia!" Valiant stared, horror struck, at the empty space next to him. He hadn't even heard her take off. He moved over to the edge of the cloud and searched the sky bellow. It took a while, but eventually he saw her limp form plummeting towards the Everfree Forest bellow. Valiant didn't have to think twice; his cutie mark (a shield adorned with two crossing swords) represented his courage, his wanting to protect all ponies. It was not in his nature to let harm come to someone he cared about, especially his best friend. Stepping back, he dropped his saddlebag, then turned, and ran towards the edge of the cloud entering into a dive. The last thing Valiant heard was the sound of a few fillies screaming as they watched the pony dive off the edge; then it was nothing but the sound of wind whipping past his ears. Even though he was still just a colt, Valiant was an expert at skydiving. He weaved his way through the lower hanging clouds, making sure not to hit any; at this speed, he would most likely be knocked unconscious if he was reckless and accidentally crashed into something, no matter how soft it was. Tears started to fill the young colt's eyes; he had left his goggles back on the cloud in his saddlebag. There was no to think about grabbing them before he jumped. But it wasn't just the wind that was causing Valiant to tear up, he was afraid of losing Hikari. He had just meant it as a joke; he didn't think she would actually jump off the edge. Hikari was prone to do dumb things every now and again, but this was by far the stupidest thing she had ever done. Yes she was a prodigy, but she was still a young filly, too young to try something as dangerous as this. The wind was too unbearable; it became harder for Valiant to see each cloud as he passed by. He lifted a hoof to his eyes and wiped away the tears, careful to not throw off his trajectory. In that single moment he lost track of Hikari's descent. Valiant quickly opened his wings and pulled himself to a stop, frantically scanning the world bellow for any trace of the filly. Then, fear struck him like a knife. There, less than two hundred yards bellow where Valiant was flying, was Hikari, lying sprawled out on a large cloud. He dove, driven by adrenalin, until he crash-landed onto the cloud about twenty feet away from Hikari. "Hikari!" Valiant shouted. He got back on his feet and galloped towards the fallen pegasus. He stood over her limp form, his heart racing. Her chest was faintly moving up and down; she was still breathing. Valiant didn't know what to do; he put a hoof on one of Hikari's shoulders and desperately gave her a few gentle shakes. "Hikari!? Kari! Come on answer me." Tears returned to Valiant's eyes as the thought of his best friend being in a coma invaded his mind. He put a hoof under her head and drew her closer to his body, embracing her tightly as he cried. Suddenly, Hikari stirred in his Valiant's arms and he could hear her breathing grow heavier, nearing a normal rate. Her eyes slowly opened, but fell closed again, as if she were too weak to keep them open. Valiant saw Hikari's lips start to move; it looked like she was trying to say something. "What is it, Kari?" Valiant asked, calming down a bit because Hikari was still with him. "Do you need anything?" Hikari gestured with her hoof for Valiant to bring his head closer to hers. "G-got…y-y-you…" She stammered. "What?" Valiant looked alarmed. Hikari's eyes shot open, and before Valiant knew it, he was on his back, pinned down by the weight of a laughing, and perfectly healthy filly sitting on his chest. "Hah!" she laughed, pointing a hoof in Valiant's face. "I totally got you." In his shocked state, Valiant could do nothing but lie on his back, staring blankly up at Hikari as the filly enjoyed her little joke. "You should have seen the look on your face. You were all like 'oh no, Kari's dead.' Honestly Val your so gullible." Valiant could feel anger replacing the shock. With all his strength returning, he shoved Hikari off, got up on his feet and stomped over to her. "What the hell were you thinking?" He shouted at her. "You could have been killed!" "Oh come on it was just a joke. Look, see, I'm totally fine." She spun around to show Valiant that she didn't have a single scratch or bruise. "I just went into a free fall and when I saw you clear your eyes, I took the chance to open my wings, allowing me to land safe and sound on this cloud. Neat trick, huh?" "Do you have any idea how worried I was? When I saw you down here I-I really thought you were dead." Tears continued to streak down the colts face. "I thought I had lost my best friend." Hikari stopped laughing. She knew she had taken the joke too far. She just wanted to have a little fun; she didn't think how much this would have hurt the Colt. He had always been the brave one, not scared of anything "Valiant." She said softly, looking down with remorse. "I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't know. I knew you would chase after me, but I never thought you would take it so seriously. Honestly, I didn't mean to make you worry." Valiant walked over to the regretful filly whose soft teal coat and light yellow mane shimmered in the sunlight. He reached up and wrapped his hooves around Hikari, pulling her into a hug. "It's ok." Said Valiant, looking the filly in the eyes. "I'm just glad you're not hurt." "Me too." She returned the embrace, her face buried in Valiant's golden mane. The two ponies slowly pulled away, just enough so that they could look each other in the eye. "Kari, I…" he started, but Hikari gently placed a hoof over his lips. "Shhh." She hushed, returning her hoof to a spot on the colt's back somewhere between his wings. Slowly, Hikari drew her face closer to Valiant's, closing her eyes as their lips nearly touched. "Hey, what's going on down there." Came an angry voice from far above. The two ponies shot away from each other, startled by the mysterious voice. In the distance, Valiant and Hikari saw the form of a full-grown pegasus pony flying towards them. A moment later, a large blue male pegasus landed in front of them; it was their teacher, Windjammer, who stood over them, looking furious. "Never in all my years of teaching have I seen ponies who acted as reckless as you two did just now. What do you have to say for yourselves?" "I'm very sorry sir; it was just a joke." Replied Hikari, turning red. "I was in control of my fall the entire time." "That's no excuse for what you did. A controlled fall or not, you could have been seriously injured. You are far too young to be trying stunts like that." Windjammer turned his attention to Valiant. "And what about you?" "I thought she was in trouble so I jumped into action. Honestly, it's no big deal, we're both fine. Can we please just go back up and return to the field trip and forget this whole thing happened?" "Not the whole thing." Whispered Hikari under her breath so that only Valiant could hear. She giggled a little as Valiant's pure white coat turned a deep shade of red. Of course he didn't want to forget the kiss that they almost shared, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. "I'm afraid not." Windjammer said, bringing the young pegasi back to reality. "First, while it was a courageous thing for you to do, trying to save your classmate, it was just as stupid as the stunt that she pulled. You should have told one of the teachers, someone who is far more experienced with flying to help her." "But there wasn't time." Valiant pleaded. "She could have…" "Second," Windjammer continued, ignoring his student's excuses. "You will not be joining the rest of the class on the trip. You both have behaved very irresponsibly today and have broken school rules. Therefore, when we get back up to Cloudsdale, you will both be returning home and you will write a five-page research paper about how the weather is made. And you can tell your parents to expect a letter in the mail tomorrow." Windjammer shook his head. "I am very disappointed in you two." He turned away and opened his wings. "You two go on first so I know you won't be running off." Hikari and Valiant trudged over to the edge of the cloud, their heads hung in sadness. They slowly opened their wings and took off. They flew in complete silence for what felt like hours. When they got back to Cloudsdale, Windjammer turned to the two ponies. "I want your papers on my desk first thing in the morning before class." He turned back to the cluster of ponies who could only stare and whisper about the two ponies who were being sent home. "Ok class, line back up. We still have a bit of a walk before we reach the Weather Factory." The rest of the young pegasi quickly lined up out of fear that they might also be sent home for disobeying orders. Within a few minutes, Hikari and Valiant were alone. The colt turned to his friend. "Well," Valiant said, stretching his legs. "No use just sitting here all day sulking. Might as well head home and start on those papers." Valiant sighed. "Geeze, I'm gonna be up all night working on this paper." "Not me," said Hikari a bit proudly. "I know a lot about the cloud factory and everything they do there. I'll probably be done in a couple hours." "Lucky." Hikari rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault. I had to learn all that stuff to earn my scholarship. If I didn't they'd have kicked me out of school." "Yeah yeah I remember, miss know it all." Hikari gave him a dirty look. "Humph. Well Maybe if you opened your school books every once in a while instead of practicing your dives, you'd do better in school." "Alright. Geeze, sorry I'm so stupid." Valiant gave Hikari a playful shove. He looked off in the direction of the Weather Factory. "I wish I could get in there though. I bet it would really help with this paper." "Is that so?" Hikari gave Valiant a sly grin. "What if I told you that one of the resources I used for my school entrance paper were blueprints to the Weather Factory and that I might know a way we can sneak in and explore." "I would probably kiss you." Valiant laughed at his friend's cleverness. Hikari, however, inched closer to the colt who stopped laughing and turned a bright shade of red. "Wait. Here? Now?" "Sure," she moved closer, their faces inches apart. "Nopony's around." She moved her head the remaining distance and their lips met. It was pure bliss. It wasn't quite the same feeling Hikari got from free falling, but it was as close as two young ponies could get with their hooves still on the cloud. Valiant reached a hoof up and placed it softly on the filly's back, just between her wings. The more they kissed, the more excited Valiant became. His hoof started to explore Hikari's back until it found one of her beautiful teal wings. Valiant began to gently stroke her feathers, sending shivers throughout Hikari's body. "Whoa whoa whoa!" she exclaimed, breaking the kiss. She was trying to calm herself and catch her breath. Valiant could see that Hikari was blushing profusely. "I'm sorry," Valiant said, feeling very embarrassed. "That wasn't ok, was it?" "No…and yes," Hikari was so embarrassed, she was finding it hard to look the colt in the eye. "I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't feel good. Trust me, it felt really good. It's just that, well," she took a deep breath and looked deep into Valiant's eyes. "You're my best friend Val, and I don't want that to change because we did something stupid." "So what do you want?" "We're still kids, practically foals; we have plenty of time in the future to do…that. So, for now, I think we should take it slow." Valiant put a hoof around Hikari and kissed her on the forehead. "That's fine with me." he said with a smile. The two pegasi sat on the edge of the cloud, just enjoying the time together. Valiant looked affectionately at Hikari. "So, does this make me your special somepony?" "Only if I'm your special somepony." They leaned in and gave each other a quick kiss. "Come one." Hikari said, standing back up. "We're not gonna have enough time to write our papers if we spend all of our time here." "Ok," said Valiant following suit. "But lets make it a quick trip. I don't want to get caught sneaking around the Weather Factory. Celestia knows what they'll do if they catch us in there" "Sure." The two ponies took off in the direction of the Weather factory, not knowing what they were getting into.
IntrudersPart II Intruders It was fifteen minutes before Hikari and Valiant came upon a large building with its dark shadow looming ominously over the surrounding shops, just on the edge of Cloudsdale. They had reached the Weather Factory. The structure held no trace of the beautiful and intricate designs of the shops and homes that Cloudsdale was famous for. Instead, the main Factory building resembled a large, flat box, with high walls made of gray, nimbostratus cloud. From each of the four corners, smoke stacks towered high above the city, releasing not smoke but small, fluffy white clouds into the sky, which were quickly gathered up by groups of waiting pegasi who transported them to different parts of Equestria. The two young pegasi stopped by a shop, just across the street from the Factory’s main entrance to rest for a moment. As they waited, Hikari sat down and closed her eyes, trying to remember something important. " Ok, let me see." She said, gently tapping a hoof to her temple. "If we fly around to the side of the factory, we should find a door there that we can sneak in through. It’s a service entrance used by the rainbow team when they leave to make their deliveries." "But won't it be, you know, occupied?" "Don’t be dumb, Val. Didn’t you check the weather schedule this morning? There isn’t supposed be rain in any of the near by towns today, so I can’t imagine it would be too busy right now. I figure if we're quick, we can sneak through the door, walk through the lower level until we find some stairs, then up the stairs to the main production floor of the Weather Factory. That’s where we start our tour." "Sounds easy enough. What are we waiting for? Let's go." Said Valiant eagerly. Hikari shook her head. "Not yet. We need to wait for the right moment. Look at the clock?” She pointed a hoof towards a clock tower the stood to the right of the entrance to the Factory. “It's almost eleven; the lower level factory workers should be going on break soon.” She turned back towards the Factory. “Over there; you see that platform coming out of the side of the building?" "Yeah." "That's where they'll be coming out. This is the perfect spot for us to watch it from. We’ll make our move as soon as we see them leave." Sure enough, a few minutes later, a loud whistle could be heard coming from somewhere within the Factory. It wasn't long before a small group of pegasi came flying out of the now open door. "Ok, lets move." Whispered Hikari. "Right." Valiant nodded and followed behind her. The two pegasi galloped over to the edge of the city. "Looks like our best hope will be to dive off here and approach it from underneath.” Said Hikari, as adrenaline began rushing through her. “On the count of three, we jump." "On three. Got it." "One." "Two." "Three." The two pegasi dove off the side of Cloudsdale towards the ground bellow. Then, in almost perfect unison, their wings snapped open lifting them so that they were just bellow the level of the city, out of sight from any watchful eyes. The sudden sensation of the wind pressing against her feathers sent a shiver through Hikari’s body; this was what she lived for. Valiant looked over at Hikari, her wings beating in time with his; he couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she looked with the wind rushing through her mane and feathers. In a burst of excitement, Valiant felt the sudden urge to show off for the filly. Beating his wings faster, he picked up speed and pulled ahead of Hikari. Then he closed his wings and went into a sharp dive. After dropping a hundred feet, Valiant snapped his wings open, and went into five loop de loops before pulling up and leveling out again with Hikari who giggled at his antics. "Not bad," she said flying close to give Valiant a friendly swipe of her tail. "But try this." She took off, flying up about thirty feet before she pulled her wings closed and dove, spiraling like a drill towards a cluster of clouds below them. Valiant winced as Hikari came into contact with the first cloud below her. The only thing that Valiant could think in that moment was that Hikari was really going injure herself this time. But the impact never came; instead of smacking into the surface of the cloud, Hikari drilled right through it, making hole clear through the cloud, continuing through the next three clouds under that one. Hikari opened her wings, pulling out of her dive, and flew clumsily back up and joined Valiant back at the level they had been flying at. "Well," She said looking tired and obviously dizzy from having done so many rotations. "What do you think of that?" "Ok, I'll admit it; you definitely know what you're doing." The two couldn't help laughing. When they finally calmed themselves, they turned back to the Weather Factory and continued flying. It wasn't too long before they reached the platform where they saw the Factory workers exit. "This is it," said Hikari as they landed. "There should be a door somewhere." She looked around, inspecting the area. "Oh, here it is." The two walked over and inspected the door. "What if it's locked?" Asked Valiant. He was starting to feel a bit anxious. "Only one way to find out." Hikari put a hoof on the door and gave it a push. To her surprise, the door opened easily. "Val, Make a mental note: if we run into an employee, tell them that their security is very lacking." "Noted, though I bet it's probably never been a problem. I mean, whose gonna steal clouds and rainbows? They're practically free anyway, right?" They both laughed at the thought of somepony sneaking in and taking off with their hooves full of clouds. "Shall we," said Hikari, motioning to Valiant to go in. "Fillies first." Valiant bowed his head, letting a small chuckle escape as he did so. "My, such a gentlecolt." Hikari returned the bow and walked in to the large building. The first thing they noticed as they entered the building was how vast the lower level of the Factory was. Within the large room were a few rows of carts and hundreds of large containers (most of which were empty, while some were filled with beautifully swirling multicolors). Other than that, the room looked pretty much empty. Hikari looked up and saw many different pipes and tubes that snaked along the ceiling, stretching all the way from one end of the room to the other. "This is the rainbow packaging plant." Said Hikari, admiring one of the rainbow filled canisters. "Hey," said Valiant in a low whisper, "did you ever hear the story about how rainbows are made of naughty young pegasi who don't pass their flight school exams?" "Oh shut up,” Hikari scoffed, “that's just a myth used to scare foals into doing well in school, or eat their vegetables or something. You can't honestly think that that's true." Valiant shrugged. "It could be true. Just think, one little mistake and then, GOTCHA!" he shouted as he lunged forward and landed on top of Hikari. "Aagh!" Hikari exclaimed as she collapsed under the weight of the colt. The sound of her scream reverberated throughout the hall. "We should go," she said, feeling a bit worried. "Somepony might have heard that." They started to make their way down the hall through the many rows of canisters. Hikari suddenly stopped, feeling very confused. She had studied those blue prints a hundred times to make sure that her information was correct. Yet something was very wrong. “I don’t understand,” said Hikari, as she looked around. Her face wrinkled in a frown. "What's the matter?" Valiant asked. "We're lost." "What do you mean 'lost?' I thought you knew where you were going." "I thought I did too. Every one of the blue prints that I looked at showed a staircase right here that is supposed to lead to the upper levels of the Factory, but as you can clearly see, there isn't one." Hikari closed her eyes, retracing their steps, hoping that she had miscalculated somewhere, but no, she had made no mistakes, she couldn’t have. Then, without warning, a whistle blew marking the end of the lower level workers lunch break. When the ringing echo of the whistle faded away, it was so silent in the room that you could hear the hearts of the two pegasi racing as the ponies stood frozen, too scared to move. "Come on Kari," said Valiant, reclaiming his courage. "They'll be here any minute. We've gotta go." "Where?" Asked Hikari, feeling defeated. "Look," Valient pointed a hoof to the wall on the other side of the room. "There's a door over there, just a little ways further up. If we can get to it you might get your bearings back." Hikari nodded. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was certainly better than sitting around, waiting to be caught. As soon as they heard the main entrance open, they bolted across the room. The door wasn't as far as it looked, but every time they came out from behind a canister, they expected to run into a Factory employee. They didn't, though they heard plenty of voices starting to fill the room. Finally, Hikari had a hoof on the doorknob. Up close they could see that the door had a sign hung on it near the top that said 'Do not enter, authorized personnel only'. This worried Hikari; breaking into the Weather Factory was one thing (they were supposed to be there on their class trip after all), but sneaking into someplace where they were clearly not welcome was something that caused her to hesitate. "Now or never." Said Valiant. He gave the filly an assuring smile. "Don't worry Kari, I'll be with you the whole time." Hikari nodded, turned the knob, and pushed. For the second time that day, the ponies were surprised at how lucky they were to see yet another door open so easily. "See what did I tell you? I mean seriously guys, if you don't want somepony sneaking in, put locks on your doors." They both laughed quietly, but the sound of a voice a few feet away caused the two to jump, and flee into the next room, closing the door behind them.
SecretsEntering the room turned out to be a huge mistake; instead of an exit (or clever hiding space), Hikari and Valiant found themselves completely enveloped in darkness. Valiant, the bravest colt in their class, shuddered a little, for as brave as he was, he still felt uncomfortable in dark spaces. The only thing gave him comfort was knowing that his favorite filly was beside him, and it was too dark for her to see him shaking in his horseshoes. "I ch-changed my m-m-mind." Said Valiant, failing to hide the quiver in his voice. "I think I’ll just read my books, or copy off of you." "Oh no you won't." Said Hikrai. Unlike the quivering colt next to her, Hikari had no problem with the dark. But, she couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy; she couldn’t put her hoof on it, but there was something eerie about the room they were in. "Whatever, can we just get out of here now? Please?" "Yeah. That might be a good idea.” Hikari turned back to the wall. “Hey, Val, help me find the door knob." The two ponies felt their way along the wall, but they couldn't find the door. Hikari suddenly stopped; she could have sworn she heard a rustling sound coming from somewhere close behind her. “Stop, did you hear that?” The two ponies stopped searching for the door and listened closely. Sure enough, Hikari and Valiant heard the sound of something moving slowly and clumsily just a few feet from where they were standing; it became clear that they were not alone in the room. Hikari was scared now. "Oh Celestia, where's the door." She reached a hoof up and was relieved when it landed on something other than wall. Without hesitating, she gave the object a twist with her hoof. But it wasn't a doorknob; it was a light switch. From the other end of the room they could see lights slowly coming to life with a faint, warm, humming noise. Within seconds the room was full of a dim, yellow, light, just strong enough to illuminate their surroundings. What lay before them was the most horrific sight the young ponies had ever seen; instead of a room, the two had wandered into another hall, much larger than the rainbow packaging plant. Valiant looked down the hall; it seemed to stretch out from under the main factory building to beneath the streets of Cloudsdale, and lining the entire length of the hall were hundreds of metal cages, each one containing a pegasus. "Celestia, no." Said Hikari, as all four of her legs buckled. As she fell to the floor, Hikari felt herself overcome by a wave of nausea; she thought she was going to be sick. "What is this?" Valiant choked out. "Why are all these pegasi being kept here?" Valiant stepped towards one of the cages, his legs moved slowly, weighed down by fear. Inside the cage was a young filly, crumpled in a heap and whimpering in a corner of the cage. Her wings hung lifelessly off her back and down the side of her torso, and there were large patches on her wings that were missing feathers. Whatever feathers remained were ruffled and bent in such a way that they would never heal; there was no chance that she would never fly again. Valiant continued examining the filly’s body and saw that it wasn't in any better shape. It looked as if somepony had beaten her repeatedly without mercy; one of her eyes was swollen shut, and there were several hoof sized bruises that left dark black splotches all along the length of her light green body. Further down her body, just around the cutie mark, there were three fresh, deep wounds made from some sort of blade. Valiant could just make out several small trails of blood that had left red streaks down her flank. "What happened to you?" Valiant whispered to the filly. As soon as she heard the voice, she started quivering. "It's alright," Said Valiant reassuringly. "We haven't come to harm you, we had no idea you were even down here." The filly struggled to stand, but her legs were shaking so violently that she fell and crashed against the front of the cage. "Are you ok?" she shook her head. "Can you speak?" She shook her head again. "Why not?" The filly took Valiant’s hoof in her’s and weakly lifted it to her face. A small whimper escaped her as she pressed Valiant’s hoof to her cheek; that’s when the colt understood. "Has somepony been hurting you?” The filly nodded, then, her hoof dropped from Valiant’s; she had passed out. Valint could do nothing more then stare sadly at the pathetic form “Oh Celestia." "What is it?" Asked Hikari, returning to her senses. Valiant turned to her, his eyes filled with sorrow. "She can't talk…her jaw’s been broken." Hikari couldn't hold back anymore; without warning she threw up all over the floor of the large hall. "Kari," Valiant rushed over to his friend, concern flooding his face. "Come on let's get out of here. We need to report thi…" Valiant didn't get a chance to finish. Just on the other side of the door came the sound of hooves approaching the hall they were in. Valiant turned the filly. There was no hiding it now; he was terrified. "Run." He shouted. Hikari, her stomach still aching, staggered forward, struggling to regain her balance. The two pegasi took off running between the two rows of cages; they didn't dare look in to see if any of the pegasi were ok. At the other end of the hall, they found themselves in front of yet another door. “Get in.” said Valiant hurriedly. Hikari shook her head. "I don't want to go in there." She said through her muffled sobs. "This is too horrible. I just want to go home." "If we just wait here, we'll get caught." Valiant snapped. "You saw those ponies out there; somepony is torturing them. Just imagine what they’ll do if they catch us out here. Do you want to be locked in a cage?" Hikari shook her head. Valiant put a hoof on her shoulder, “Don't worry, I'm here, and I promise you I will not let them touch a single hair in you mane." Hikari hesitated, but, after weighing her options, she slowly pushed the door open and walked into the room. Valiant follow behind her, closing the door slowly, just as they heard the faint echo of hooves as somepony entered the hall. The two ponies held their breath as they pressed their ears to the door, listening for the hoof beats whose owner they were sure was going to be making some sort of rounds through the hall. But there were none. The only sound they could hear was the rapid beatings of their own hearts. But there was something else; a faint beeping sound was coming from somewhere behind them. Hikari slowly turned her head and had to stick a sweat and vomit-soaked hoof in her mouth to muffle the scream that tried to escape. Lying on a bed, just on the other side of the room was the greatest flier to come out of Cloudsdale, and Hikari's idol, the one and only Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was spread out on the bed, each one of her hooves chained to the bed as if to restrain her and her torso was bound tightly, preventing her from opening her wings. The bed was surrounded by several machines that neither Hikari nor Valiant had ever seen before, but they could guess what they were doing; they were keeping her alive. "Rainbow Dash." Hikari whispered as she ran over to her idol's side. "What happened to you?" Rainbow Dash did not respond, instead, she just stared blankly at the little filly. "She looks…dead." Said Valiant joining Hikari at the bedside. He waved a hoof in front of Rainbow's face. Though there wasn’t any sign of life in them, Rainbow Dash’s eyes followed the motions of the colt's hoof. "I don't understand. I just saw her yesterday. She gave me some pointers on flying and she even showed me her Sonic Rain…Oh sweet Celestia, look at her mane." She pointed to Rainbow's head. The usually vibrant, multicolored locks where a solid shade of gray, as if somepony had sucked the color right out of it. "Val, I'm scared. What if they're hurting her? What if they're keeping her here against her will like the rest of those pegasi? We need to get her out of here.” "Right," Valiant nodded in agreement. "Here, help me with these chains." "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Came a calm voice from behind them. Valiant and Hikari froze; they hadn't even heard the door open, but when they spun around, there stood before them a light brown pegasus wearing a lab coat. "Yes, she does look quite sedate, but let me tell you, she can be quite the handful. Especially just before her infusion." The pegasus laughed as he walked over and started checking one of the monitors that was hooked up to Rainbow Dash. "It's almost as if she doesn't want to continue living." "What are you doing to her?" Hikari shouted, a fiery rage replacing the fear she had been feeling. "More importantly; what are two little ponies such as yourselves doing in a place like this?" Before Hikari could continue shouting, Valiant stood in front of her and placed a hoof over her mouth. "We're sorry," he said, trying to look deeply apologetic. "We were on a field trip through the Weather Factory with our class, you see, and, well, I'm afraid that we got lost." "Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that." "Yeah, silly feather brain here," Valiant pointed at Hikari, "she wandered off looking for the bathroom and I had to come looking for her, that's when we ended up down here." "Well, it sounds like you two have had quite the adventure. I bet you must be quite scared and confused by everything that you've seen." The stallion stepped towards Valiant and lowered his head so it was just inches away from the colts face. "I'm sure there must be a g-g-good r-r-reason for this all." Stammered Valiant as his courage once again failing him. "Oh there is. And it's quite the thrilling story really. Would you like to hear it?" Valiant looked at Hikari who gulped and nodded her head slowly. She was determined to get to the bottom of this. "Very well." The stallion walked over to the door, opened it and started talking to somepony on the other side. "Nurse Candy Striper would come in here and assist me with our visitors." The mysterious stallion walked back into the room followed by a cream colored mare wearing a nurse’s uniform. The first thing the little ponies noticed when Candy Striper walked in was her vacant expression; she had cold, lifeless eyes similar to Rainbow Dash's, and her face showed no trace of emotion. Her mane was white with a single red stripe running through it, and it was pulled back and tied in a tight bun to keep it from falling in her face. She walked over to the stallion and stood next to him, staring down at the two frightened pegasi, causing a cold sweat to start trickling down the backs of their necks. "Yes, doctor," Said Candy Striper, in a dry, melancholy voice. "How may I be of assistance?" "Would you be so kind as to help these foals into a couple of wheelchairs?” "Wait," said Hikari, feeling concerned. "We can walk on our own, we don't need wheelchairs." "Oh, I'm afraid you do. See it will be faster for us to finish your tour if you two are on wheels. I mean, it would be so inefficient to have to drag you around.” "What?" Hikari's eyes grew wide with fear. "Ouch." She felt a sharp pinch in her flank. She turned to see Candy Striper removing an empty syringe from her backside. A wave of wooziness swept over Hikari. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out; she didn't seem to have control over her body anymore. As she started to fall forward, she felt somepony wrap their hooves around her limp form and lift her off of the floor and into a wheelchair. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY GIRLFRIEND!!!" shouted a furious Valiant." "It's nothing, just a mild sedative to keep her from behaving…irrationally. And I'm afraid we'll have to do the same for you." The doctor reached out to restrain the colt. "Like hell you are!" Valiant opened his wings and flew out of the doctor's reach. He dove towards Hikari. "Don't worry Kari, I'll get you out of here." "Val," Hikari muttered, trying her hardest to focus on the colt in front of her. "Go, get out of here." "No Kari. You're my special somepony remember? There's no way I'm leaving witho..." Valiant felt the needle as it broke the skin just above his cutie mark. "My, aren't you the chivalrous young colt." Said the doctor, removing the syringe. "Don't worry I'll try to make this as painless as possible." The doctor smiled at Valiant. “Emphasis on the try.” Candy Striper picked up the limp colt and set him in the other wheelchair. Valiant's eyes shifted lazily to one of his forelegs as he felt pressure being applied; he was being strapped in. "Alright," said the doctor positioning himself behind Valiant's chair. "It's time you two finished your tour."
