This Calls For a Toast

"A toast, to the fall of Borealis!" I said, lifting a glass of champagne in the air. No one around to partake the view. "The once greatest human conglomerate in Equestria."

It crushed me, like a roach.

Now I see why my father's intentions were widely regarded as a stupid move. You can't compete with unicorn magic.

Borealis was a bitch of a company anyway, working for both sides at the summit of its operations. That war, that freaking stupid war.

Ten thousand bullets per hour. Practically an arsenal per day.

I wonder how many ones we took. We preferred not to think about that - actually, my father pretended not to. I was just a kid, my worries were related to videogames, not the war.

What a life I had, In the suburbs of Canterlot, hiding like a nazi in a Jewish neighborhood.

Yeah, I meant that. I was everything but the good guy. What in this world is better than a blood stained fortune?

Caballero's Bar - 2:35 AM
02/10/19

"Say... What do you think of the two of us going to my place?" Fleur suggested with a smile. "It seems more cozy than... Well, than this." She looked around at the decrepit establishment.

"We both know you don't belong to this kind of life..."

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to figure out that comment.

"I mean that a carriage is out there awaiting for me, and if you wish to, you can leave Caballero's with me." Fleur touched my hand, and never in my life a comment made more sense. "Naturally, that's up to you, Graff."

She stroked her pinkish mane, indifferently.

"You know what, I'm going. I'm freaking tired of this crap anyway." I chuckled, probably more than I'd have wanted. Standing up from that
table for the last time.

As we walked outside, Fleur still carrying that empty bottle of Lilac for some reason, I couldn't help but think about how unlikely were those frames of reality.

It felt like the old times when I still had- well, it doesn't matter anymore. I was just marveled by the opportunity to leave Caballero's with something other than a hangover.

"Jesus, it's been a while since I saw one of these!" I stared at the dark pegasus powered carriage, gleaming under the foggy scattered lights of the street. Dense shadows followed our steps towards the carriage, as distant neon lights flickered in the night like radioactive fireflies.

"It was from my father." Fleur said with a hint of pride. "I think It's a little bit outdated, but I like the style."

"Are you kidding? That's a hell of a carriage, my father had a collection of those when-" I stopped.

"Your father had a collection of Trottingham carriages?" She asked as we climbed on the backseat. "Wow, he must have been pretty rich."

I coughed, biting my damned tongue.

"Oh- Ah, I mean, he had some... Miniatures" I smiled awkwardly. "He was an odd old man, living his life between my family on Earth, and his job in Equestria." That wasn't a lie by itself.

One of the pegasus closed the heavy door as we made ourselves comfortable in the wide insides of the cabin.

"Fetch, to the mansion." Fleur said to the chauffeur.

In a matter of seconds, the majestic carriage soared through the streets, its wheels delicately unchained from the grasp of earth. Six stallions flew ahead, pulling our cabin. We hovered over the building blocks, and the smog of lower Canterlot.

Fleur was silent, and for a moment I could swear she was more interested in observing my expressions than the view from the windows. Growing in the mountains above, extending its roots like a forest, was the royal city, glued together with the center of Canterlot.

My eyes shimmered at the sight, it had been a long, long time. Perched up in a distant corner of the cliffs, tall archways mostly covered by vines, a peculiar ruin that still stirred some memories inside of me.

"Tell me Daniel..." Fleur called back my attention. "What in this tricky mind of yours is troubling your soul?" Moving a seat closer to me, Fleur placed her hooves around my shoulders, as I still stared down at the city. I could feel her breath through my collar.

Three Decades Ago

My mother guided me through a large atrium, her hand tightly holding my thin wrist. I was six, maybe seven, and around my neck a thin synthetic necklace carried information I never managed to decode.

I knew it was there for my safety, and I should never, never take it out. It usually didn't bothered me. But it was a cold day, and the metallic
surface against my skin made me shiver.

"Don't touch that Danny." Mom pulled my hand away. "You don't want to be contaminated, do you?" I didn't knew what contaminated meant, but by the tone of her voice I presumed it wasn't a good thing.

"Oh, a pleasure to see you, Mrs. Graff!" A man behind a counter smiled. I wasn't tall enough to reach the counter, but I tried my best. "Hey buddy, are you going to see your father today?" The man asked me, playing with my hair.

"Yes, he's going to." Said my mother, before I could formulate something else to say. In fact, I had no idea what I was doing there, or why my mother brought my baggage. I never slept at daddy's house. He was a very busy man.

As we walked into the elevator, I couldn't help but imagine myself in Manhattan, an actor of one of those old gangster movies.

"Listen Danny." She said as the doors closed, ruining my short lived fantasy. "You are going to stay with your father for a few days, I am going to talk to him now. You can play in the library."

"Why?" I frowned. "I don't like this place, when are we going back to Waterbury?"

The doors went open, and my mother practically dragged me through the corridors of the mansion.

"Why don't you answer me??" I whined.

"We are going back to Waterbury as soon as your father fix the mess he started." She said sternly. "Now pick a book and stay quiet, your father doesn't like to be disturbed in his office."

With that, my mother dropped me in an armchair, and opened a large door at the other side of the room. For a glimpse of a second, I saw my
father sitting behind his desk, a pile of papers scattered over his table.

And the doors were closed, and in silence I remained.

Too much silence.

For a kid, every closed room is a temptation. It wasn't long until my ear was pinned against the massive wooden doors.

"...are you insane Alice?" It was my father's voice. Quite muffled, but it was him.

"I can't live in this hell anymore, I'm tired Richard, tired of this place." Every time the sound of the high heels of my mother approached the door, I dodged to the side like a secret agent.

"...how the hell am I supposed to take care of the kid? This company depends on me, the government depends on Borealis, the fucking army depends on Borealis." He argued, raising his voice for the first time.

"He's your son!" She shouted.

"And this is a war between two worlds dammit! Take care of your child, for God's sake!"

At this time, I sat on the floor, my back curved against my legs. I mix of anger and fear taking hold of me. The last sequence of events happened in a second, but they echoed forever.

A long silence followed by a sound of breaking glass, tables being dragged, words I never figured out.

"Alice- stop. W-what the hell are you doing?" My father muttered. I leaned too much against the door; to my misfortune it was open. My body crashed sideways over the glass shards.

I saw my mother there, in front of a destroyed glass cabinet. She had a gun, a gun pointed to her own head.

She never got a chance to see my pathetic body laying on the floor.

"A toast, to the success of Borealis!" She pushed it.

We never returned to Waterbury.

"Oh, it was nothing Fleur... I just remembered an old place on Earth." I whispered. "It was a nice city."

Author's Note

Short chapter, a lot to put together.