Katie and the rest of the party were standing on a platform leading to a great, big metal door on the...thing. She gingerly opened it and let everyone else inside before going in herself. The whole place was dark and dismal, with a freezing wind throughout the building despite it being the cool of spring outside. Katie refused to light her Holy Fire, reasoning that once mis-spark and the whole thing could go boom--thus depriving them of any hope of getting Loyalty back. So, Natalie had to cast Flare and use it like a flashlight.

"This place is creepy. No wonder we went here last." Anna whispered to Lance, who only nodded in agreement.

"I keep smelling blood...but why?" Fenrir asked, confused. Katie only shrugged, having no viable answer with her limited information.

"This place sure is clean." Matt whispered to Natalie.

"It won't be when we're done with it." Natalie replied, keeping her voice just above a peep.

"Why all this machinery?" Coryza asked, "Why not make it as simple as everything else in this world of ponies?"

"Good call." Twilight sighed, using her illumination spell to guide Natalie better.

"Why would Loyalty be here?" Gilda asked, raising an eyebrow.

Blake kept eying the place. The smell of blood in a clearly sparkling place? The fuck was going on here?

The doors slammed shut behind the party, making everyone wince.

"This isn't good." Lance whispered to Anna, holding her close as he drew his sword.

The lights all switched on, revealing the room to be a long hallway lined erratically with pipes. Some pipes were fully metallic, others crystal clear with a liquid in them. Each liquid was a different color of the rainbow, with no two pipes containing the same color in the same row.

Anna looked at a pipe with green liquid and her gut wrenched itself in unholy disgust. She didn't know why she was angry, but she had the feeling she'd find out by going deeper into the factory.

Matt felt nausea. He was unsure of why as well, but he knew he didn't want to know.

Natalie and Katie exchanged glances, both at a loss for words. Just what was this place, and why was it above the cloud city?

Coryza was shaking. Something told her to run, to get out now. But seeing as the door was closed and locked, that was a no-go.

Twilight looked at a pipe of purple liquid. She was torn: How did this liquid get in the pipe? I don't think it's wise to know.

NoLegs saw a pipe of blue liquid and started hissing at it. Whatever was in the pipe, he hated it.

A bunch of worker ponies showed up. They were Pegasi with lab coats. One eyed the pony and Gryphon while the other eyed the rest of the party.

"Summon the machine! There are intruders!" Shouted one pony from above. The other two turned tail and ran as a black machine with a crimson sword emerged from where the Pegasus ponies stood.

"Shit!" Lance cried as he stepped in front of Anna, sword pointed at the Praetorian.

Instead of attacking the party, it became a summoning stone and threw itself to Lance. He caught it before looking up at the slack-jawed Pegasi.

"Into the factory!" Katie cried as she and the party rushed inside the Valkyrie. Lance typed numbers and letters like no tomorrow as the wheels whirred to life. It detected the Element of Loyalty on the uppermost floor and rather than charging up staircases, it used a teleport command Katie installed into it. Yes, she was an engineer as well.

The tank warped into a room with a desk and two ponies in it, one of which was tied up. The party rushed out and their jaws dropped. There was a light creamy pony with a striped green and yellow mane. She had green eyes and the Element on her neck. In front of her was Rainbow Dash, tied and crying.

"So, you seek to destroy my factory?" Asked the green-and-yellow mare.

"More like have to, but you already know?" Katie asked.

"You're all awful!" Shouted the mare.

"I have stroked the fire and seen more pain than you can know!" Katie retorted, removing her bandages in front of everyone.

"Good god, woman!" Matt cried, covering his eyes.

"The hell!" Lance shrieked, stuffing his face into his hat.

Blake merely turned away. Nope, he did not want anything to do with this.

Fenrir remained unaffected.

NoLegs yowled in shock.

Anna, Natalie, and Coryza screamed in unison. Who'd inflicted those scars on her?!

Gilda proceeded to panic.

Twilight, while Katie was using her scars as a distraction of sorts, untied Rainbow and took the Element clean off the thief's neck. She then teleported herself, the element, and her friend into the Valkyrie.

The mare spread her wings in shock. Katie wasn't lying. She then held a hoof to her neck and gasped. The Element of Loyalty was gone!

Katie smirked, putting her bandages back on. Everyone else climbed into the Valkyrie before the machine teleported out in a flash.

"You...!" The mare started before being picked up by the fox, who had a wicked grin on her face.

"Tell me everything." Katie hissed.

"No!" Cried the mare.

Katie threw her against the wall so hard her wings broke. "Then I'll have to look for myself and destroy your hard work!" She retorted before phasing through the door.

____

The party watched from the cloud they were perched upon. The factory exploded in fire and a mess of color. They saw multiple shadows flying in their direction.

They moved out of the way so Katie could land. She was followed by a small flock of Pegasi, one of which was Rainbow's captor.

"Long story!" Katie cried in exhaustion. "We must get to Celestia now!"

Author's Notes:

Tenko= If you know who Ran Yakumo is, you will understand this gag: a suppatenko is literally a 'divine naked fox.' Katie, being half fallen angel, can be labeled as divine. 'Princess Tenko' also shares a similar meaning.

So yes, Katie is a legitimate tenko.

*shot*