Beyond

For as long as I can remember, the ponies of Evermore have always lived underground. Over time, the exact reason for our evacuation into this bunker has become lost. All we know is that the mysterious world above ended over three and a half centuries ago and it's no longer safe to return there- or at least, that's what we believe. We've never had a reason to go above ground, so we never challenged this idea. Evermore is our underground city, a fully functional and very large disaster shelter. She's actually still mostly functional, but, well... Oh, who am I kidding? She's practically falling apart. If it weren't for our chief engineer and repairman, Spare Parts, and his crew, we would've had to leave Evermore years ago. I suppose it's inevitable that someday we'd have to leave the comfort of Evermore, but I'd be lying if all of us hoped it wouldn't be during our time. Stories and rumors about what lies above have become a staple to tell at slumber parties and a favorite of parents to coerce their children into behaving, lest they be swallowed by the monsters that lie above.

Down in Evermore, we have everything that the cities in the above world used to have. Currency, a government (of sorts), law system, shopping areas, education system, etc. You name it, we probably have it. There's a rumor that the above world used to use these golden disk things as currency and called them Bits. Not sure if it's true or not, but down here in Evermore, instead of those things, we use the bottle caps from the sodas we drink. It's based off a soft drink made way back when, but I forget the name of it. Our soda, though, is called Fizzle-Cola (because it's super fizzy). There are four different flavors of Fizzle-Cola: regular, cherry, grape and lemon. Regular Fizzle-Cola (or just Fizzle-Cola) tastes like a delightful mix of carbonated carrots with a hint of sweet red apple. As you can probably guess, the other flavors taste like regular Fizzle-Cola but with cherry, grape and lemon flavors added to their respective drinks. Personally, my favorite is Fizzle-Cola Cherry. I could drink it all day, every day, but too much soda is unhealthy (apparently).

There's never been any serious crime down in Evermore, or at least not since the city officially became a city anyways. Petty theft, harassment, occasionally fighting, loitering, littering and minor graffiti. That's about the only crime we have here. Even so, we have a courtroom, jail cells, police offers... you know, the whole nine yards. Our government consists of the mayor, mayor's assistant, vice mayor and a small cabinet of advisors. Five years ago, our mayor used to be a unicorn stallion named Rapid Spark. However, he sadly died due to complications with an illness he contracted. To keep the masses from panicking or from thinking some sort of plague was spreading, we were never told what he was sick with or what the symptoms were, but the older ponies and parents have their suspicions and theories.

There's never been a law saying that vice mayor or the mayor's assistant couldn't be related to the mayor, so Rapid Spark's wife, Moon Lily, was appointed the role of vice mayor and his assistant was their daughter, Moonlight Rose. When Rapid Spark died, his wife became the mayor. Their daughter maintained her role of assistant while another unicorn mare named Peppermint Breeze filled the role of vice mayor. Moon Lily remained our mayor until a few months ago, when she sadly ended her life. The full reason as to why remained a secret from the public, but most of us are sure it's because of the loss of her husband. Peppermint stepped up to the full mayor position, but was only there for almost two weeks before she decided she'd give the position to Moonlight, believing it to be Moonlight's right to carry on her parents work. So now, Moonlight Rose is our current mayor and the youngest out of all of those who've held the position at the age of nineteen. We used to go to school together, but now that she's the mayor, she's been too busy to attend regular school, but has a tutor that privately teaches her.

As for the rest of us, life is as normal as it can possibly be- with all things considered. If you can picture the typical lives and ongoings of small cities in the above world, it's mostly the same down here, if not exactly. Well, I suppose not exactly. There's probably a lot more differences than anypony realizes. I attend school like any normal teenager, hangout with my friends, do teenager stuff (which sometimes includes things that gets me into trouble with my helicopter of a mother). I crush over colts (and sometimes fillies) and horribly lip sync into a microphone hairbrush while listening to sappy pop songs in my room. All around, my life is pretty normal and typical too. I'm nopony special, just a semi-aspiring artist and the daughter of a strict seamstress who knows a thing or two about stitching like her. My favorite thing about Evermore is my mother (even if she's usually a pain), my marefriend, my friends, and the cute little bakery on the third floor that sells adorable kitty themed pastries. I've been talking to the mayor, to Moonlight, and a big change is coming to Evermore. I don't know when, neither does she, but we both know our days down below are coming to an end.