Chapter 1: Darkblaze
You probably came here thinking you’d find another happy-go-lucky story, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that not all stories have such a happy ending. Sorry, but it’s true. Especially in this day and age, things just seem to go from bad to worse on a daily basis. You think you get far enough ahead to surpass all the bullshit that life throws at you, only to have reality come crashing back down on your shoulders.
I assume you’ve all read the newspaper clippings throughout the years, so I will spare you on all the nitty-gritty details of how Celestia went insane, killed her own sister, and basically destroyed the world as we knew it.
Jump forward about ten years and you come to the beginning of our story. Nothing’s been all sunshine and flowers since the floods, and frankly, I don’t see things getting better anytime soon. Ponies all around me have adapted as best as they could to the ever-changing environment, which is all that anypony can do in today’s day and age. With so many things in the world working against everypony who doesn’t follow in the pale alicorn tyrant’s wake, it remains impossible to thoroughly enjoy life anymore, leaving most to just sit by and wait for their time to come.
Despite all this, there’re always a few moments here and there that prevent life from being completely worthless – even in this hellish version of Equestria. Heck, amidst all this turmoil and chaos, I managed to meet the closest friends I’ve ever known and will never forget. And it all started with just another average day…
* * * *
My eyes shot open with annoyed vigor, an alarm pealing loudly as the clock on my bedside table read 6:00 am. I slammed my fist down on the snooze button, silencing its horrid noise for at least one more morning. Another day, another dollar, I guess, I grumbled sarcastically to myself as I rubbed the grogginess from my eyes. Sitting up in my simple twin bed, I peered around my tiny but adequate bedroom, letting my eyes adjust to the surroundings. Getting out of bed was definitely my least favorite moment of the day because it meant I’d actually have to face the world I’d spent years of my life growing to hate.
Nevertheless, I stood up and prepared for the day ahead of me, quickly locating my uniform in the top drawer of my dresser. Trying to get into my uniform always proved a challenge within my ten-by-twelve-foot bedroom within my simple two-story townhouse just outside Eastern Canterlot. It was bordered on either side by more townhouses with the same look and layout, as if the builders just copy-and-pasted one house throughout the numerous rows of homes within our neighborhood. As such, the only windows within my house were on the façade of the house, meaning only one of the two bedrooms in the house had any view of the outside world at all. Being a stallion who preferred some sort of outdoor view, I immediately called this room when I bought the place.
As I looked at my reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror on my closet door, I cringed yet again at the simplicity and dullness of my work uniform. It consisted of a plain white long-sleeve shirt, a pair of grayish-blue overalls and hat, and a pair of simple work boots. I’d never been much into fashion itself, but coming from somepony who thoroughly appreciated design and the creative arts, I hated how boring and monotonous it looked with every fiber of my being. Every low-waged employee at work was required to wear the same exact uniform, making us seem expendable and easily replaceable at any given moment. (which, as depressing as that seemed, was totally true for where I worked)
Fortunately for me, however, a loud snore from the room across the hallway brought me back out of my dark thoughts and a smirk to my face. Despite all the misfortune surrounding my life in this New Equestria, I was not completely alone; I was sharing my tiny abode with my foalhood friend, Jacob Braveheart. We’d been close friends way before the first floods came, happily enjoying each other’s company in our hometown of Cloudsdale. After the floods, however, Jake lost his mom and his dad went missing, and as an only colt, he had nowhere to go or stay. I couldn’t bear to see my longest friend out on the streets in this day and age, so when he came asking for a place to crash, I didn’t hesitate for a second.
I knocked lightly on his partially-open door, “Hey man, I’m heading out in a few minutes. See you at work,” I said.
“Mrph, mhmm,” Jacob mumbled sleepily, rolling back over in his bed and promptly resuming his snoring. He never was much of an early riser, even as a colt, but ever since he got a job at Skylark Enterprises, he got better at waking up earlier than noon – well, most days, at least.
I grabbed my work cap from my room, quickly relieved myself in the bathroom, and walked downstairs to or main living space. It wasn’t much to write home about, just a small and simple living room and kitchen with our dining space consisting of two folding chairs and tray tables. After a brief search through the fridge and cabinets, I eventually settled on a bowl of cereal and milk for breakfast. We both made enough to get by comfortably, but with inflation on the rise and unrelenting tax rates, even cereal would become too expensive for us to afford on our meager paychecks.
After breakfast, I grabbed my lunch sack and keys to the house before walking out the front door to greet the day. I say this with heavy sarcasm, of course, because the world around me was not something to look forward to anymore. Our house sat in the middle of the Bedrock suburb on the outskirts of the Docks, and although it was somewhat nicer than other suburbs, it was still had its fair share of shady and mysterious figures looking to make a quick buck by any means necessary. During my house-searching ventures after college, I initially held back on any offers from this part of the Docks because of its shadiness, but after seeing how expensive all the other suburbs were at the time, I settled for the much cheaper – if not more dangerous – options within Bedrock.
I walked a short way down the road to the local bus station which would take me through the main gates and into Eastern Canterlot itself. Ever since she went batshit crazy, Celestia was very particular about exactly who was let in and out of her main ruling domain. As such, there were numerous guards posted at all entrances and exits along the border walls, and regular daily patrols were sent throughout all of the Docks. There had been many nights when I’d awaken to the sounds of one of the patrols crossing paths with some junkie and forcibly detaining them with Taser sticks and batons aplenty. Jacob and I thankfully never got into any trouble with the guards or the patrols, and we wished to keep it that way at all costs.
Once the bus arrived, I paid my fare and endured the uneventful ride to the main gates, where I turned in my credentials and carried on with the usual routine. After passing through the gates and into the entrance plaza, I unfurled my wings and prepared for flight, the cool blue metal feathers glistening in the sunlight. Yeah – I’ve got mechanical wings, feathers and all. Long story short, I suffered a severe accident when I was a colt that damaged my wings so badly that they needed to be amputated. As I got older, however, and learned as much as I could about prosthetic limbs and mechanics, I developed my own design for a pair of fully-functional cybernetic wings. Although they require a lot more care and attention than normal wings, I find them very useful and much stronger than my natural wings ever were.
I eventually took to the skies, soaring above the rooves of the rich along my usual route to work. Although I was more than aware of the various forms of public transportation available to us “common folk”, (as the higher-up call the working class these days) I flew as much as possible for two main reasons. Despite the availability of public transportation for the masses, it was ridiculously overpriced and just another source of income for the hoity-toity bastards that lived within these cursed walls. The other reason I flew was because of the freedom I felt when flying. I might’ve lost my real wings, but I still appreciated how liberating it felt to be up in the air, the wind rushing in your ears and through your mane, knowing that once you took off, you were no longer confined to the laws of the ground.
I traversed the roughly two-minute flight with mundane ease as I arrived at my destination: Eastern Castle, originally called the royal Canterlot Palace. I’d say the name change was appropriate enough, considering it now looked like an impending fortress than an elegant place of peace and diplomacy. The castle itself remained the same as before the floods, but numerous levels of protection had been added to allow only the ponies with the highest degree of clearance through to see the princess. Luckily for me, my destination was not through all of that nonsense; instead, I banked an immediate left and landed in front of a less-noticeable yet still highly-guarded checkpoint. Upon request, I handed my worker’s I.D over for scanning, stepped through a simple metal detector and, after collecting my credentials back, walked through a blank metal door that opened into an elevator.
So, a few things I’d like to clarify; yes, I technically worked in the royal Canterlot Palace, as did Jacob, but it wasn’t directly for the princess. (as if either of us wanted to in the first place) No, we got stuck working for a company called Skylark Enterprises; never heard of it? Not surprised in the slightest. Before I began my first day on the job, I was sworn to take an oath of secrecy, in that I was basically forbidden to discuss the nature of my work with anypony in the public realm – not even with fellow coworkers. I, of course, inquired as to their reasoning behind the secrecy, and they explicitly told me, “You don’t need to know. Just do your job and don’t fuck up.” I worked in the mechanical engineering department, working to develop new forms of technology to make sure mechanical systems run more efficiently in the advent of depleting energy resources. At first, I enjoyed the position because it catered to my experience and skillset, but after a few years, it had just become as boring as it sounded.
With this final thought, I entered the elevator – which only went down, by the way – and pressed the button with the company logo on it. As I descended into the depths below Eastern Castle, I thought about the work I’d have ahead of me for the day and how uneventful it would most likely be. Little did I know, however, that this was the day that would change my life forever…
