"Can't you hurry this up?" Rainbow asked, pacing back and forth.

Phillip briefly raised his eyes from the microscope to give the wall of his basement laboratory a look of exasperation. "For the fourth time, Rainbow, these chemical tests take time. Now, hush." He bent back over the scope, reaching for a dropper with hooves covered with plastic gloves.

"Bowden's reagent," he called.

"Bowden's reagent," Ditzy replied, handing him the jar filled with blue liquid. Phillip cut a small section of the hairs he'd taken from the changeling from the sample and dropped it into a dish, adding a few drops of the reagent.

"You're good at this," he remarked to Ditzy as she took the reagent back. "Bunsen burner."

"Time Turner has me help with his experiments," she said, placing the jar among the other equipment on the shelf in the corner of the laboratory and taking the Bunsen burner off the shelf. She brought it over to the table, being particularly careful with her movements. "He was always patient with me. It helped me a lot with my clumsiness."

Very gently, she set the burner down on the table, next to the microscope. One eye was on the burner, the other on Phillip, who was using a pair of tweezers to select a single hair from his sample.

"So...what do you think the changelings want with my husband?" she asked in a quiet voice, as if she were terrified to know the answer. "Do you think they...they...?" Frightened tears glimmered at her eyes. She couldn't bring herself to give voice to her concern.

"No," Phillip replied gently, looking up at her. "This is probably a gang of changelings that was separated from the rest of Chrysalis' hive and are looking for some love to feed on. Whatever they took Turner for, it's most likely that he's still alive. Which means that we can find him."

He turned back to his work. Carefully turning the flame of the burner on, he held the hair over the low, flickering flame. The hair caught aflame and he jerked it away. The hair burned brightly, flashing through every color of the spectrum—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet—before burning out.

"Very telling," Phillip muttered, turning back to the dish. The reagent had mixed with the chemicals on the hairs, transforming it from a pale blue to a milky yellow-white, like an egg yolk.

"Rainbow liquid, gone through manufacture," Phillip muttered, selecting another hair.

"Are they in a weather factory?" Ditzy asked, hope flashing in her misaligned eyes.

"Possibly. But if my hunch is right..." Phillip examined the hair he'd selected, then asked Ditzy for some chloride tablets. which she brought over immediately. Using a knife, he ground the tablets into powder, then tossed them into a test tube of water that he capped and heated over the Bunsen burner. Once the water was brought to a gentle boiling, he dropped the hair into it. Immediately, the water turned pale green and released a cloud of foul-smelling smoke.

"Just as I thought," Phillip nodded, disposing the water into a bucket. "The hairs have a chemical that have not been used in rainbows for almost twenty years. There's only one place in Equestria that the changeling could have been exposed to that."

Rainbow pondered this for a moment, then her eyes widened. "You don't mean..."

"The abandoned rainbow factory in Cloudsdale," Phillip said, moving to a cabinet. "Time Turner mentioned the cloud animal, and that made me think they might be in Cloudsdale." Opening a drawer, he rummaged around in it briefly before retrieving a silver necklace with a silver cloud charm. Rainbow recognized this as a special charm sold to earth ponies and unicorns; the necklace was enchanted with a spell that allowed the wearer to walk on clouds. "I'll need to borrow Twilight's balloon," Phillip said, placing the necklace around his neck.

"No, you don't! I can carry you!" Rainbow offered.

"No. You're not coming." Phillip said sternly.

Rainbow's jaw dropped. "Why not?"

"It's too dangerous," Phillip said, heading for the stairs.

In a blur of color, Rainbow flew in front of him, blocking his path. "I've faced worse than changelings before! Let me help!"

"No. I work alone." Phillip replied.

"Not all of the time!"

"This time, I do," Phillip grunted, stepping around Rainbow.

"What are you trying to prove?"

The question that burst out of Rainbow's mouth and the anger it contained stopped Phillip in his tracks as if he'd hit a wall. He slowly turned to look at Rainbow over his shoulder, his unreadable expression meeting Rainbow's glare. Ditzy glanced uncertainly between the two, her golden eyes simultaneously focusing on them both.

"What?" Phillip said softly.

"That you're smarter than everypony else? Is that what this is about?" Rainbow snapped, glaring at him.

"This is about bringing Time Turner home safely," Phillip answered.

"Then let me help! I've handled worse than changelings before!"

"No."

"Oh, I see how it is!" Rainbow rolled her eyes, floating up above Phillip in an attempt to vent her frustration. "Phillip Finder always has to save the day, all by himself! Phillip Finder, the great detective! He always has to be the hero!"

"I'm not a hero!"

Rainbow was so shocked by his outburst that she fell back down to the ground, her argument derailed. Now she was the one staring in astonishment while Phillip glared at her, drawing in heavy breath through his nostrils. As if realizing his outburst, he lowered his head, but not before Rainbow saw the pain mixed with anger in his eyes. Ditzy raised her hooves to her mouth as if in fear.

"Look, Rainbow," Phillip said softly, either refusing to or unable to look up. "You're the element of loyalty. You want to help your friends. I understand that." He raised his head slowly, as if afraid to meet her gaze, afraid of what she might see in his eyes now that the curtain had been pulled back.

But as if they had a will of their own, his eyes sought out hers anyway. She looked into his gaze, and saw that the anger had gone, replaced by a look of quiet fear.

"But I can't ask you or anypony else to put themselves at risk, for any reason," Phillip continued. "I can't trust myself to have too many more lives put into my hooves. If you come on this, and you get hurt...it'll be my fault." He cast his eyes down and swallowed. "And I'd never be able to forgive myself for that."

The room fell silent. The anger between Phillip and Rainbow had evaporated completely, replaced by the scent of uncertainty. Rainbow slowly reached out and touched Phillip's shoulder, prompting him to look back up at her.

"Hey, look," she said. "I'm really, really touched that you care. But you don't need to worry. If we work together on this, we have a better chance of succeeding.

"I'm not going to stop you from coming, am I?" Phillip said with a tone of resignation.

"No, because that's who I am. Ditzy is my friend, and so is Time Turner, and I don't leave my friends when they need me. And that includes you," Rainbow grinned, patting Phillip's shoulder. "I'm coming to help you."

"Me, too," Ditzy said, stepping forward, both of her eyes misaligned, but equally determined.

The three looked at one another, their eyes dulled in the semi-light, but glowing with the power of the bond that had just been set between them. No words had to be exchanged; they all knew what this meant. Phillip put his hoof out. Rainbow and Ditzy both put their hooves atop his.

"Let's go."

Author's Notes:

Up next: the Rainbow Factory and the things lurking within.