Prologue
They had been riding in the plane for God knows how long? Hours? A day? More? She couldn't tell. She slowly turned her head and looked at the three men dressed in black, the Enforcers, talking quietly. Her eyes focusing on the tranq guns they had in the holsters on their waists. The Enforcers looked over at her and she turned to the man in front of her, dressed in rags a little dirtier than her own.
"When do you think we'll get there," she whispered quietly, as much to herself as to her one and only friend, Gorge, “do you think the rumors are true?"
The man huffed, “What rumors? The ones about the gold paved streets or the ones about the diamond studded houses? No, I don't believe in stupid rumors, I believe in a place where we can finally have a home, a place where we can live without fearing some crazy freak with a knife will slit our throats when we sleep, a place where you will be safe," he leaned forward, "that's what I believe in."
That shut her up. She turned around and peered out the closest window, one of the few on the old cargo plane. This time she looked out and saw that the ocean was gone, and was replaced with a white wasteland dotted with rocks.
She jumped when one of the Enforcers laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Get ready, we're going to land soon," he said with a kind look in his eyes, "it might be a little bumpy." She nodded, stole one last glance out the window, and buckled the straps like they showed her when they first got on the plane.
The Enforcer nodded and turned to Gorge, but he was already buckled in.
The plane lurched as it began to descend.
The girl felt her stomach churn with excitement.
Soon she would be safe.
Soon she would be in her new home.
Soon she would be in Utopia.
She looked up as the Enforcer handed her and Gorge a set of snow gear. “Put these on,” the Enforcer ordered. They complied and quickly put on the snow pants, boots and jackets. Once they were outfitted, the rear door opened, revealing the bright snow, and the cold, blistering wind. The Enforcers lead the passengers into the nearby building, which at a distance, looked like just a small administrative office. The girl looked confused. She thought to herself, this can’t be it, there has to be more. Her anxiety increased slightly, worried if it really was too good to be true.
They reached the door to the building when an Enforcer opened the door for them. They walked inside shaking off the cold. They stood quietly, patiently waiting in the room. Suddenly, a man wearing a black suit came out, and politely waved to them.
“Hello. I’m Greg Anderson; I’ll be your Sorter for this evening, if you would follow me please”. They followed the man towards a set of elevator doors. He pushed a button on the side, and the doors slowly slid open. They all stepped inside. There were three windows in the walls but their view was blocked by the cement on the other side of the panes. The doors closed behind them and they began their descent. Slowly they descended down into the city, within a few seconds, the cement walls disappeared, and a grand sight appeared before them.
They looked out at the lit city, rows upon rows of buildings. Weaving through the city were monorail tracks, with trains riding all over the city. She looked down as she saw bustling streets, with people moving from one place to the other. The girl smiled, there were no fights, no fires, and not a single building was broken or run down. Her smile grew, her eyes getting watery at the glorious sight. She knew this was the safe home she always wanted. She looked over at Gorge, noticing his eyes were getting watery as well.
“We did it Catherine,” Gorge murmured. “We’re here.”
Mr. Anderson put comforting hands on the shoulders of the new arrivals. With that he said three words.
“Welcome to Utopia.”
Chapter 1: Connor
The deep pulse of the bass resonated in Connor's chest. The crowd leapt up and down to the electric rhythm. The entertainment dome was packed; every available space was crammed with people. The high curve of the ceiling seemed to move as a kaleidoscope of colors zigzagged across the screens that made it up, colliding and mixing to the song perfectly.
Onstage the faintly flickering hologram of Vinyl Scratch bobbed her head to the beat, hooves moving over the soundboard. Everything moved as one, the light show on the ceiling, the surge of the crowd, the pulse of the music as it slowed down, readying the crowd for the end.
The concert was nothing like the ones Connor had seen on his datapad. Every hour spent researching and readying himself for this did almost nothing when it came to actually being here.
It's the atmosphere, Connor concluded, the way everything is presented stimulates the brain in wonderful ways.
Connor shifted his weight and continued to type his observations on his datapad, all the while watching everything he could.
This is for science, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time when he noticed his foot tapping to the beat, for science, not fun.
The song ended and the hologram flickered off, the puppeteer bowed and shouted something that was lost in the cheering.
Soon the cheering quieted into a monotone drone as hundreds of conversations started up at once.
"That was great! You think the song is out on the Infi-Net yet?"
"I don't think so, but you know it will be after tonight!"
"Forget the song, did you see the hologram? It was synchronized perfectly!"
"Please, it was too...jerky, not natural at all. You want to see a good hologram sync? Go to an Electric Poni concert."
Connor sighed and started to move his way through the crowd, trying to find a good vantage point to watch the next act. He folded his datapad and slipped it into his pocket, more to keep it safe from the Caff-Drunks that made up most of the crowd than anything else. No need to risk having something spill on it. He passed through a group of Holo-Dancers, low-grade holograms flickering from the holo-lights attached to their arms and chests.
The natural residents of the District of Laughter.
"Hey cutie!"
Connor looked over to see two girls break off from the Holo-Dancers and worm their way over to him.
Oh no, Connor thought. Fonies
The two girls belonged to another clique of the District of Laughter. They dye their hair and skin, get color implants for their eyes, and often get cutie mark tattoos. All that, along with the Pony-esque names they give themselves and the almost constant caffeine buzz made them the most famous and extreme of the many cliques of this District.
These two particular Fonies obviously tried to coordinate their looks; they had the same styles of hair, and the same brand of holo-suites. They had to be twin sisters, they had the same body-type and facial features. Only one was blue with pink hair and the other pink with blue hair.
When they got to Connor, they looked him up and down, twin smiles on their faces.
"Can I help you," Connor asked, feeling awkward under the gaze of two girls.
Their smiles grew bigger.
"I'm Morning Dew," the blue skinned one said. "This is my sister, Evening Breeze."
"Oh," Connor stared at them in confusion. "I'm Connor."
"You're kinda cute," Evening Breeze gushed.
Connor's eyes widened. "I-I'm what?"
The Fonies giggled.
"We've never seen you before," Morning Dew said, "and you don't look like one of them Norms or anything, so what brings you to the district?"
Connor raised an eyebrow, "Why would you want to know?"
The Fonies looked at each other, confused.
"Uh...," Morning Dew started.
Time to make my escape. "Well, I need to go, nice talking to you and all!" Connor turned and dodged through the crowd.
"Hey," the Fonies shouted, "wait!"
Just then the lights dimmed.
The response was instantaneous; the entire dome went silent, anticipation filling the spaces where conversations just were.
Then, a single spotlight flashed on, illuminating a figure.
"Alpha Beat," Morning Dew whispered next to Connor, making him jump.
"What the-," he started.
The twins quickly shushed him.
Alpha Beat stood on stage, staring out at the crowd, face in shadow, the light from the spotlight glinting off of his hologram projecting glasses and shaved head. Then, slowly, he raised his arms over the soundboards, a pianist ready to play a beautiful piece.
What happened next was one of the greatest combinations of light and sound Connor had ever experienced.
As soon as Alpha Beat's arms were flung down, the music exploded at full volume into the dome, red and orange lights erupted from his head, and the crowd let out a single, simultaneous scream of joy. The red lights flew slowly across the dome, bouncing off the hands that rose up to catch the globs of light. One arched over Connor, and the twins on either side of him leapt up in an attempt to touch it, missed and let out sounds of complaint.
The song suddenly picked up speed and the lights started to change colors in time to the pulse of the bass. Soon the holograms were flashing like strobe lights.
By this time the crowd was surging like a storm tossed sea. Connor pulled out his datapad and unfolded it, excited by the events that were taking place. The twins on either side of him pressed closer, watching him as he typed.
"Hey," Morning Dew shouted, "what are you doing?"
"Making observations, documenting, typing notes," Connor answered automatically.
"Why?"
"Because it is what I'm interested in right now," Connor replied. "I want to know how music affects people."
"Really," Evening Breeze piped up. “You document this yet?"
Connor looked up, "Document what?"
Evening Breeze smiled and slid in closer to Connor, “Oh, you know...this!" The Fony leaned forward and planted a kiss on Connors lips.
Connor jumped back and sputtered, a blush creeping up his neck, "What the-I don't-What?"
Evening Breeze giggled and grabbed her sister and turned, disappearing into the crowd.
Connor looked around, a few people smiled at him, having seen the whole thing; one guy even gave him a thumbs-up. Connor's blush turned deeper and he ducked town and put a lot of effort into focusing on his datapad, only to see that two datapad ID numbers had been typed under where is last observations where.
Sweet Celestia, Connor seethed. What in the actual buck?
He refocused on the concert, trying to listen to the lyrics Alpha Beat was belting out.
The holographic lights that were just bounding across the crowd had returned to Alpha Beats head, swirling around it like a flashing halo. Then, on the final note, they faded away, leaving a faint afterglow.
Alpha Beat looked up from his soundboard and smiled, dazzling the crowd with perfect teeth and charisma.
"How's it going in Utopia tonight?" He shouted, to which the crowd screamed out dozens of replies.
"That's what I thought," Alpha Beat laughed. "So I got you guys a little bit-of-a-something!"
The crowd cheered wildly, but then Alpha Beat frowned, and looked sullen. "Or, well I did," he said. "But there was an...accident. You see, I made you guys a bass."
The crowd through themselves into a frenzy.
Alpha Beat flashed another perfect smile, “But I dropped it!" Suddenly a deep pulse shook the entertainment dome, making Connor wince, but smile at the same time.
What a performer, Connor thought. He sure knows how to entertain.
Once again holographic lights projected from the stage, slowly forming the outline of the notorious pink pony. The Pinkie hologram danced a jig on Alpha Beat's head before leaping into the crowd, riding the waves they made from the jumping of bodies.
"Let's do this," her voice boomed over the speakers, slightly distorted. "Let's par-TAY!”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
As the performance went on Connor found that he was taking fewer and fewer notes, and soon he was jumping up and down with the crowd and learning the lyrics to the song from other people. He realized that he was no longer an observer, but a participant. Connor moved where the crowd took him, one minute he was in front of the stage with a particularly hyped-up group of Caff-Drunks, the next learning how to dance with a Puppeteer. Time seemed to have no more meaning, and as the songs began to run together Connor realized what he was doing.
This is fun, I'm having fun. He laughed. Having fun is fun!
Soon Connor was jumping up and down with a group of Fonies, laughing with them when one crashed from forgetting to drink some more caffeine. He helped them carry their friend through the crowd before he got himself caught up in a group of Holo-Dancers, two of which looked familiar.
"Hey," Connor shouted. "Hey it's me!"
He pushed through the few dancers who were in his way, waving his arms to get the twins’ attention. Morning Dew spotted him first, red exclamation marks orbited around her, indicating her surprise. She shook her sister, who stopped gyrating, yellow question marks floating around her. Soon Connor and the twin Fonies were standing close to each other, having the strangest conversation of Connor's life.
Connor tried to speak to them, but the twins shook their heads and an ear with a red slash over it flickered in front of them. Connor understood, they couldn't hear. Words scrolled in front of Morning Dew.
Connor nodded, he brought out his pad and unfolded it and configured it to show what he was typing on the back of the smartglass.
-Okie dokie lokie, how is this?
The twins smiled and nodded, a smilie face hovered in front of Evening Breeze.
-Oh I stopped.
The Fonies laughed,
-I guess.
-I guess haha!
Just then the song ended, and Alpha Beat cleared his throat. "Well boys and girls, it's been fun, but I'm getting bored. So get outta here!"
The crowd roared and cheered, and Connor joined in, shouting absolute nonsense. Alpha Beat smiled and took a bow, a holographic "applause" cue card floating above his head. Connor laughed along with a large majority of the crowd.
After the applause Connor found himself following the flow of people moving out of the dome, Evening Breeze and Morning Dew on either side of him.
That was fun, Connor thought. But now what?
And that was when Connor saw his dad.
“Oh buck,” Connor swore.
“What’s wrong cutie?” asked the twins simultaneously.
Connor panicked, looking for any and all possible escape routes. “It’s my dad. I snuck out of the house because I was supposed to be working on an important project for school, but instead I came here.”
“Ooo, naughty naughty,” the twins giggled. Connor ignored them, turning against the flow of the crowd, trying to find a rear exit out of the dome. “Hey, where are you going?” shouted Morning Dew. He couldn’t hear them. Connor fought against the crowd spotting a nearby door. He ran through it, seeing it as his nearest escape route. He was in such a hurry; he failed to notice the “Authorized Personnel Only” sign, mounted on the door.
