The ringing in my ears and pain in my shoulder informed me I had survived the fall. Upon reclaiming my awareness, the whirring of industrial cloud machines was all I could hear. A faint red glow from a few maintenance lights illuminated my way. I took the opportunity to survey myself. All limbs were accounted for, and a splotch of dark liquid slathered on my palm when I pulled it back from my face. Great… I was bleeding already… Somewhere amid the twists and turns of this oddly shaped tunnel, I heard hoof-fall. For some reason, I froze, a sudden anxiety gripping my chest. I held my breath and looked about me, noting that the ceiling above me was a grate. Through it, I saw a tall, slender pony around six feet tall, about a hundred-thirty pounds in a business suit. This struck me as a bit odd.

This is a work floor… What’s an executive-looking pony doing up here…?
He stopped suddenly and put two fingers to his ear, then cursed and spun on his heel, taking off in the opposite direction toward a set of stairs. Stairs! Perfect! That meant I was still in the factory itself. Without too much thought, I began pushing on the rusted metal above me. It gave without much of a fight and slid upward. As I climbed out into the hall, I took note of the fact that the grate wasn’t secured… Another oddity…

This place is full of issues, isn’t it…?
The stairs the businesspony had gone to only went up… Cautiously, I advanced every step, keeping my wings tucked tight against my back. The sound of my own foot-fall became unsettling… The way it echoed off the concrete walls… As I ascended, I began to realize how long this flight was, but wouldn’t allow myself to take to the air. I got the sudden feeling that if I got caught, something bad would happen. Something about this place… The Rainbow Factory… Something was wrong. I couldn’t place my finger on what it was, though… The lights began to dim as I neared the exit… It wasn’t long before pitch black enveloped me. Groping about blindly yielded a doorknob. Upon twisting it, I pushed the door open a crack and peered into the next room. From what I could tell, it was some kind of theatre room. Hushed whispers and confused banter filled my sharp ears. With a few glances to the sides, I deduced that what I was walking out onto a catwalk of some kind. The businesspony had disappeared… Hm… I crept as quietly as I could out from the threshold only to reel at what I saw.
Pegasi. Dozens of them… Most of them appeared young… One in particular caught my attention. The lithe yellow one with the green mane… The one from the flight exams… God, what was her name?

“Aurora…” I breathed after a moment.

But how? She failed her exam… She was deported, wasn’t she!?
A few of the young ponies took note of my presence and beckoned me to get down, saying something about suits but I couldn’t make it all out. For some reason, I obliged their requests and hopped over the rail, and shimmying my way down the pillar supporting the walk. Upon reaching the floor, the small, quiet throng consumed me, allowing me to meld into the group seamlessly. A few colts offered me nods, some a pat on the shoulder and others just threw me looks. Others still seemed a bit off… Their eyes were hollow, staring off beyond the walls that confined them to this theatre room… I stopped for a moment and knelt down beside one filly in such a state.

“Are you alright?” I asked the forlorn young lady.
She didn’t respond with words, but instead simply pointed to the front of the room. I followed her gestured with my eye and found an enormous… Thing… A machine of some kind. It looked relatively clean compared to the rest of the room… Stainless steel with clear acrylic pipes running from its base down into the floor. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the top of the strange machine was almost crimson from rust.

“What is that?”
The girl didn’t speak, but simply burst into tears, burying her face in her hooves. This was unexpected, but it told me that she wasn’t the one to talk to. I stood up for a moment, then knelt back down and wrapped my arms about poor filly’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered into her ear as apologetically as I could manage.
My words brought an end to her shudders, but her tears kept flowing. Through puffy, streaming eyes, she looked at me as though she was peering straight into my soul and spoke a single name.

“Lulu Luck…”
At this, several pegasi in the immediate area looked to her with surprised expressions on their faces.

“Did she just…?” A colt prompted.

“She did!” Another exclaimed.
A small group began to form around her. They all began stroking and petting her, mumbling assurances beneath their breath. I took this opportunity and slipped away from them, taking in the appearances of each before turning away. They all wore uniforms… The same uniform… No doubt they were all from the same flight school… Those were her friends…

“Hey.” A small voice beckoned from behind me.
With a crane of my head, I came face-to-face with Aurora. Her voice was thick and her eyes puffy. She’d been crying… A lot…

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Trying to figure out what’s going on… Can you tell me anything?”
Just as the wounded filly was about to speak, a loud, metallic thud sounded somewhere on the walk. Aurora grabbed hold of my collar and quickly dragged me to the center of the crowd, then dead-legged me without warning, forcing me to my knees.

“Hey, what the Hell-”
Aurora slapped a hoof over my mouth and hunkered down next to me, whispering almost inaudibly.

“Just stay quiet… And you won’t get picked…”
Several ponies dressed in the same style as the businesspony I encountered in the hallway below filed in behind a few wearing dark masks that concealed their faces and manes. The one at the very front wore a cape of a strange style. The lining on the collar was a brilliant gold, the bulk of was a dangerous crimson.