Direct Intervention on a Massive Scale

by Ginpie

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 1222

Equestria is thrust into an era of great change and its citizens are not ready for the implications. One pony must rise to the challenge of helping this new world and making sure it does not fall apart at it's seams.

Equestria has entered the Industrial Age, throughout the world new inventions are popping up everywhere and the assembly line is the new standard for the manufacturing of products. The automobile is revolutionizing the way ponies travel and the Bessemer Process has made steel production climb to an all time high. New buildings called skyscrapers are being built in Manehatten and the first transcontinental railroad is being built to unite Equestria from coast to coast. These changes come with many sacrifices though, millions of ponies are working long, underpaid hours to produce products and build railroads. The wealth gap between the rich and the poor is higher than ever and it seems to be getting bigger everyday. Equestria is in peril, will ponies overcome these new problems or fall to ruin with greed and corruption.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-13 00:29:43 UTC

Broke

Lucky Break carefully walked toward the doors to his father office, his mind racing to try and figure out why. His father never called him to his office, hell he never really even talked to him before now. Always too busy with "work" or "meetings or "paperwork" all the while little old lucky was left with barely anything of a father. As if he would consider him to be kind at all to a son he never wanted.

Lucky entered the room slowly. The lights were off and the room was lit only by the daylight coming through the office window behind his desk. Lucky stepped onto the velvet red carpeting that was the floor of this lavish office trying not to rough it up too much. His father's desk was mahogany with opulent carvings of bluebirds lining the edges. It was a quite impressive office.

As the door slammed behind him lucky saw a terrible sight, his father sitting at his desk with his hooves on his head crying softly. His grey fur was ragged and his black mane mangled into a mess, the papers at his desk were scrunched and the room looked half smashed up. Lucky was taken aback, he had never seen his father like this. He was always calm and collected, always knowing what to do in a situation. Seeing him crying and tattered made him worry something was really, truly wrong.

"Father what happened!" Lucky said as he rushed over to see what was wrong. "STAY BACK!" his father shouted as lucky started getting closer " I'm in no mood for sentiment, we need to get to business so stay there and listen". Lucky stood there and wondered what could possibly be so dire that it would drag his father into such a state of disarray.

"Listen to me very carefully Lucky, my whole life i have been and honest businessman and made a fortune doing it" Lucky agreed, he had lived a life of comfort since his birth with all its fancy dinners and warm beds, "but sometimes some men lose everything in a split second because they don't have the guts to give in".

Lucky started to get worried, it seemed that the tone of this lecture got darker with every word. "Some men crush everything in their path to attain greatness, even if it means crushing people beneath their hoof" he sighed, then started again "that damn Steelmight Carnegie is outselling my steel business by nearly 100% and its costing us the fortune I created". His father got up and stared out the office window meaningfully.

"How is that possible, you make the best steel around" Lucky said desperately, getting extremely panicked. "That is correct, but making that steel costs a lot and selling it requires very high prices" his father said. "Yes and you make a profit out of it, that's how it works" lucky said, finishing his sentence.

"NOT ANYMORE" His father yelled "Carnegie has gone and found a way to cheaply produce steel and sell it at cheap prices and now all of my customers are going to him for their steel". "Impossible,the process to make steel has never worked that way and never will" Lucky said. Lucky's father turned around and looked Lucky in the eyes.

"Apparently there is a new process he has that can do the things that we cant and I just cannot figure out where he could possibly have found it" his father said thoughtfully "now all of our money is going down the drain". Lucky's heart dropped as his father said these last few words "Face it Lucky, we're broke"

"What do you mean broke" Lucky yelled, refusing to accept his new reality. Lucky was already envisioning the implications of this, his entire life would change. The more he thought about it the more he got stressed and stress was an emotion he rarely felt, he hated it.

"Exactly what i said it means" his father said "all of our money is gone and we have no way to make it back up in profits". Lucky noticed his father's voice sounding more and more tired and unsettling.

"There must be another way, maybe we could try replicating the process" Lucky said, scraping desperate attempts to resolve this horrible situation. He noticed his legs shaking, he was so scared of losing everything. Out on the streets in the rain begging for money like some poor person, he couldn't imagine himself doing such an act.

His father noticed his thoughts drifting "Snap out of it Lucky, we have to address this like stallions". Lucky got a hold of himself, it was going to be fine since his father probably had a plan anyway. His father always knew what to do, that was the one thing he could always rely on.

Lucky's father squinted his eyes, focusing them on his son. Lucky knew that face, a bombshell was coming. He remembered as a child the time his father told him that his grandmother died, that was the face he had on.

"You are taking control of the company"

Lucky stared at his father, eyes wide and unbelieving. "Your'e just going to dump this on me because you don't have the balls to go down with your own ship!" Lucky yelled, tearing up. He knew his father was cruel but this, this crossed the line.

"You can't even force me to take it over, i'll never sign the documents!" Lucky yelled "Why do you always do this!".Lucky started to cry "I know you don't want me and I know that you hate me but you just don't put a catastrophe like this on your own child!"

"Don't you DARE lecture me on how i parent" his father yelled "i have lived far longer than you and know things you'll never learn with that naive mind of yours!" Lucky's father clenched his teeth in anger.

"You always use that as an excuse you scoundrel" Lucky stomped his hoof on the floor "long life doesn't dictate how much someone knows and i bet i know far more about fathering a child than you do!" Lucky's tears started hitting the carpet. "I'm leaving and not taking control of the company, I wont sign"

Lucky turned around, walked toward the door and started to think about what to do with all this information. He couldn't just up and get a loan from the bank because he would have to pay it off later but he couldn't just go get a job at a factory either, an office job would work well. Lucky touched the door handle and sighed.

"You don't have to sign, your my heir remember" his father said in a strangely grim voice. "What does that have to do with anything!" Lucky yelled as he motioned to open the door." You will find out soon enough" his father whispered as Lucky left the room.

Lucky went down the hall toward the exit of the office building. Tears running down his face, he sucked it up and was saying goodbye to the secretary, Ink Flower, when something happened. That something that he thought even his father would never do. Out of sheer desperation his father did one final act of hatred and betrayal.

BANG

His father committed suicide.