Rainbow Factory

[BeyondOblivion]

Dusk looked down and slowly walked into the room. The first thing that he got was the sense of abadonment. This room seemed very neglected, and it showed. He looked at the worn couch and blinked, slowly sitting in a nearby chair. The chair itself rocked back for a split second before standing shakily on four legs.


"I-I... I-I'm not sure what to say..." He whimpered, "I-I don't even... do you live here as well?" He said, trembling. No matter how hard he tried, he coudlnt' get the screams of the young fillies out of his head. Maybe he'd never get them out.


"S-so what do I need to do now..?" He whispered, cowering when the noises of the factory increased for a slight second.

 

[Nivrad00]

Ivy reclined on the couch, closing her eyes. She sighed. "Live here? Basically. We... we have rooms, but they hardly get used. The factory is understaffed as hell, so we're constantly on shift." She paused. "As for you? I... I dunno. I'll give you a tour sometime. Not now. Gotta sleep."


She opened one eye, glancing at the red stallion by the coffee maker. "Hey. Ripley."


There was a long pause. The pegasus stood unnaturally still, like a statue.


"RIPLEY!"


"Wuh! No!" The pegasus jolted. His wingtip caught the coffee pot, sending the it crashing to the ground. Hot liquid splashing out onto the tile. He blinked, then looked around the room, breathing hard. "What?"


Ivy put her face in her hooves. "Goddammit, Ripley." Reluctantly, she pulled herself off the couch to pick up a rag from the side table.


The red pony's eyes lit up, catching sight of Dusk Darter. "Oooh! Newbie!" In a flash, the wiry stallion had crossed the room, leaning uncomfortably close to the newcomer's face. "Welcome to the Rainbow Factory, mule! Hahahahahah!"

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Looking down, he yelped and screamed violently when he heard the pony jump at him. He backed up agianst the wall and pushed his back agianst it, stnading on two hooves to emphasize the point. He took several deep breaths before finally bending down and getting back on all fours.


"I-I'm not a mule!" He argued, looking around to check to see if there were any mules in the area, "I am not!" He looked at Ivy and tried to get some sort of idea he could probably take from all this. Yet he saw no answer and instaed focused on Ripley.


"W-what the hell are you doing?!"

 

[Nivrad00]

"Oh, it's tradition!" Ripley's grin was uncomfortably wide. His gaze seemed to fall on some point slightly behind Dusk, not quite meeting his eyes. "Flurry says it! Every time... hehehe, every time she greets the foals -"


"Failures," corrected Ivy sharply from across the room, where she was mopping up the coffee.


The stallion collapsed as a fit of giggles erupted from his muzzle. "HAHAAHA! We're all mules... haha, mules in a mule factory and.... Did you spill your coffee? Poor Ivy, spilled her - spilled her coffee!" Ripley's words gave way to senseless laughter, even as he lay sprawled on the ground. He seemed to have forgotten the newcomer.


"He's normal sometimes," commented Ivy dryly as she clambered back onto the couch.

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Dusk tried to remain calm, yet the insults stung a little bit. It was slightly quelled upon hearing Ripley dissolve into little more than senseless laughter, yet it still was a little upseting an only added to the scare factor that this place held.


"I-I'll help you clean up." He got a rag and started to scrub at the coffee stains, smiling a little bit as he helped. It was quite a mess to say the least.

 

[Nivrad00]

"Thanks," muttered Ivy. She stifled a yawn, her movements slow. As she wrung out a rag, she caught sight of Dusk’s face. A marvel that he could still smile.


"Are you... holding up okay?" Ivy asked, forgetting for a moment that she had resolved to mind her own business.

 

[BeyondOblivion]

"At the moment... I'm doing fine." He was starting to figure out how to tune out some of the major sounds and focus on the lower ones. It helped him think.


"I just am worried about... those foals." He let a tear slide from his eye.

 

[Nivrad00]

Ivy's voice sharpened. "Failures. Not foals." She rose, holding her dirty rag. Her eyes avoided Dusk.

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Dusk looked down and he whimpered a little bit, shaking in fear, "I-I don't think that I can... I don't know if..." He bit his tongue.


"Where do I need to go to get assigned?" He groaned a little bit as he got some coffee on his face, but he then managed to get the coffee pot back uip on the table unharmed.

 

[Nivrad00]

Ivy shuffled towards her resting place. "Dunno, Dusk. Prob'ly Cobalt and Flurry's office. But if you..."


She sighed, lowering herself onto the couch. "If you need anything, I'll be here." Reluctantly, she realized that she felt a little responsible for the young, oddly colored pegasus. So much for staying out of other ponies' lives.


"HahaHA!" burst out Ripley, who twitched slightly on the floor. "See you later, mule!"

 

[BeyondOblivion]

"... I'm going to go now." He was getting more and more bothered by Ripley, who was un-nerving him.


HE stood up and yawned, then he staretd to make his wY to Cobalt's office. Along the way, he started to finally cry, tears he'd been holding back so that he didn't look weak. He sobbed, forcing one hoof in front of the other.

 

[Nivrad00]

An indistinct sound could be heard outside of what had once been Dr. Atmosphere's office. Though the room was soundproofed, Flurry's voice, raised in anger, leaked out. Passing workers spared the door hardly a glance, as if used to the manager's outbursts.

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Shivering, he slowly hid behind the door and waited for the office to open. HE wasn't sure what he could do. He shivered and looked down, sweating now. He wasn't used to the yelling, ever.

 

[Nivrad00]

As if on cue, the door burst open. A sleek white pegasus mare stormed out, expression contorted with fury. One of her front limbs was replaced by a ragged stump. "Flock's sake, Cobalt! I can't trust you to do fucking any -"


She stopped abruptly, catching sight of Dusk. A short moment, then the anger in her expression was replaced by a gleeful grin. "Oh! You must be the new worker."


Cobalt’s voice, as disinterested as ever, floated out from the room. "You shouldn't be outside yet, Flurry. You'll fall off a catwalk. Like the last disabled worker. I swear, that was a logistical nightmare with the Cloudsdale admins."


"Shut your trap, Cobalt," said Flurry with a voice as smooth as silk, stepping gracefully back inside the room despite her missing leg. "Come inside, Dusk! You're just the pony I wanted to see."

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Dusk didn't even register what they were saying. He was staring at the bleeding stump of her front limb. He was still staring at the stained, brushed dislimbered leg and blinked rapidly, "I-I... you fell off a catwalk?!"


That was when he heard the pony inside the office call his name. He jumped inside the office and he looked at the officer, "I-I'm Dusk Darter."

 

[Nivrad00]

"It's not polite to stare, Dusk Darter," commented Flurry lightly as she sat on a rolling chair. "Not that I can blame you. Two blankflanks and a three-legged pony. We're quite a freak act, aren't we?" She burst out into inane laughter.


The room was furnished by two mahogany office desks. Cobalt sat behind one, gazing dolefully at Dusk, while Flurry took the other. The white pegasus was smaller than her counterpart, but no less imposing. The spontaneity of her motions, the half-crazed look in her eyes. It was impossible to tell what she could be capable of.


"Anyways! Take a seat." The had mirth disappeared immediately from Flurry's voice. She regarded the new recruit coolly. "How do you find our factory so far?"

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Dusk averted his gaze instantly and looked down, staring at the desk to try and give the illusion he was staring at the pony. Something about his eyes, his mane, something about him seemed ot scare him. Something that seemed to want to devour his soul.


"I-I... I can't believe that this exists!" He cried, gripping the chair, fluttering his wings furiously, "T-they're foals! Yes, failures, but they're still foals!" He started to sob a little.

 

[Nivrad00]

Flurry gave a short, wild laugh in response. "Foals," she repeated. "You think it's terrible to harm foals, hm? They're just oh-so-cute pockets of prodigious pony potential." She spit out the consonants, glaring. "Tell me, Dusk -- you've taken the flight exam, and recently by the look of it. Is it difficult? Would a pegasus with any degree of proficiency have trouble with it?"

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Dusk looked down and he thought about it. The flight test was incredibley easy. He didn't study or practice at all and yet he still managed to pass. He shook his head, "N-no b-but that doesn't..." He couldn't figure out a refutation.

 

[Nivrad00]

"We call them failures for a reason, Dusk Darter. They're hardly worthy of the name 'pegasus.'" Flurry leaned forward, staring coldly into the new worker's eyes. "Calling them that would imply that they are useful. Significant. Part of the perfect image that Cloudsdale has toiled so hard to manufactured. They're not foals, Dusk -- they're mistakes, blemishes, spots of mud on a pristine diamond."

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Looking down, Dusk couldn't help bit acknowledge his argument. It made total valid sense. He looked down, shivering, "I-I


.." He couldn't think of a rebuttal.

 

[Nivrad00]

Flurry leaned back in her chair, looking satisfied. "Anyway!" The unsettling grin returned to her face. "We're not here to talk about foals! We're here to talk about your employment. I'm sure you have the gist of what goes on here - that's why I'm giving you a choice. The same choice I give to all our new workers...."

 

[BeyondOblivion]

"What's the choice?" He whispered, shivering a little. He shut his eyes tightly and laid down, shivering violently. He whispered, "I-I'm not... not sure..."

 

[Nivrad00]

"Option one: you work here," said Flurry, still grinning at the obviously distressed pegasus. "Option two: you give up your life, and we set one of the failures free."

 

[BeyondOblivion]

Freezing, he whispered, "W-what? I-I can't do that! I-I..." He looked down and he suddenly felt a long pang of selfishness shoot through his body. Was he really worth less than a pony who couldn't even handle a simple flight test? Was he really worth less than a reject?


"I-I... I'll... work here!" He burst into tears.