A War on Happiness: Chapter 1
The tower was a lot taller than it looked from a distance. But the elaborate, beautiful designs and architecture of the outside did not reflect the interior at all. Floorboards creaked with infuriated squeals of pain with every step, the smell of damp hung thick in the air, the wood stained brown from years old varnish faded and forgotten...and cobwebs clung to the ceilings. Even going up the helix staircase was more bothersome than it should have, with the uneven stairs and haze of musk that irritated the lungs made dragging the equipment to the top an hour long task.
“When are they arriving? The report said they’d be here a quarter hour ago.”
“Shadup, we need the time to set all this…equipment up anyway.” My companion replied with an irritated sigh.
“’Lex, why the fuck do we need a satellite dish when we are just here to-“
“Communications my good man. We need to know when we can take the shot.”
“Then shouldn’t that have been set up first?”
“…Shut up and man the rifle.” I gave a short chuckle of amusement before moving back to the un-mounted sniper rifle, the mount laying discarded among the dust and torn webbings in a corner, a pigeon pecking at it. I never liked using a mount; there was something more…personal by shoulder bracing. Something more satisfying: the shots recoil jars your body and awakens your senses as adrenaline floods the mind - it’s intoxicating.
The crowds swarmed like flies to this small town, all to see their precious co-rulers. They all tried to push their way to the front of the crowd so they could be as close to the podium as possible, where the ‘main six’ was scheduled to appear. It looked like a mosh pit, but less fun.
This was going to be our moment. No sooner than Alex got the radio working, Riko’s voice came through, being strangled by static.
“-ucks sake, are you’s there!?”
“We’re ‘eer Riko, no need for the language.” He never did like swearing…
“No time for a lecture mate, they’re moving out there-“ My attention snapped instantly back to the scope from my sniper. We were quite a way away, nearly six hundred feet on a windy, dull day in a mountain town. One of the worst conditions I ever had to shoot in…
“Yip. I see them. Tell me when to shoot.”
“You can shoot whenever, Riko took care of the guards.” I nodded slightly and focused on my breathing. My targets were there, in front of a crowd worthy of Royalty, were five of the people I hated most in my life.
Then I realised something wasn’t right.
“Yo, mate, bright eyed and smiling man, they’ll see you looking like this.” I jarred my head, suddenly roused from my memory, my head swimming and heart pounding from the sudden change. Riko had pulled me into what I could only assume was a closet by the bucket I had stepped in, and the still wet mop against my back.
“What…happened?”
“I dunno, are you alright? Do you feel happy?”
“No - I’m pure, it’s fine.” He continued to stare into my eyes, examining them for the faintest signs of a lie. “I swear to fuck; if you don’t get out of my face I’ll etch a smiling face onto your forehead with a scalpel.
“Are you sure…?” His soft brown eyes were glinting hard in the pale light given off by the single bulb that illuminated the entire three by four foot closet, tension sweat glistening on his dark chrome dome head.
“Ack - fuck you.” I deadpanned, pushing him away to which he only chuckled and opened the closet, harsh LED light invading the dank room.
“Alright, ‘mon, we’ll miss the flight at this rate.” I nodded sharply and let the elder man lead the way as we wore some of the most convincing smiles we could muster. That was the key to surviving in this world you see; being able to fake a smile and laugh can save your life.
I had never liked Airports – loud, populated, adds everywhere and a system that was overly complicated for something that damn well should have been simple. That was something that only changed slightly after the…change in leadership.
Now it was even more fucking annoying. All of that fucking happy ass propaganda crap that they blared through invisible speakers in every cranny of the place was mind rotting - and the music they played bordered on being Christian Rock levels of bad. It didn’t help that everyone loved it. Everyone: old, young, foreign, short, tall; all 'em grinning like fools. Poor victims of a system they didn’t know to hate…poor bastards…
Riko tapped my knee like a bee sting and I instantly widened my smile, thinking I had let it flatter somehow. Then he waggled a plane ticket and passport under my nose and a cocky grin eating up my irritation. I swiped my papers from him, being sure to subtly pinch the back of his hand, earning a satisfying glare. We turned round the final corner of the journey (another speaker beginning to blare out some cheesy happy rock just as we did) and saw the line of supposedly happy people queuing to have their papers checked and get waved into the plane.
Well, hooved in.
We joined the end of the line, behind a family of three. Mum, Dad and their little boy. The young boy had a big smile on his face, showing a few teeth had still to come in properly and big, rosy cheeks. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. The queue quickly shortened, the young family was sent down the brightly painted connecting tube to the comfortable looking plane.
Which meant it was our turn. We were suddenly face to face with one of the things we loathed the most in the world, only years of practice keeping the smiles on our faces and our fists out of theirs.
Two clean white unicorns (a mare and a stallion) flanked the tunnel to the plane with a cheery look in their eyes, though the golden armour gave no question as to why they were there. They were very fit looking, strong enough to easily over power us despite being only 4’6 and I knew from experience that they were fast, easily able to outrun most humans with ease. They had obscenely large eyes that made the biologist in me want to cry away its sorrows in several shots of buckie, and all of them had these cutie marks on their arses. Basically a picture with personal symbolism - think of what an emo might draw on themselves, now make it cheery and drawn by a five year old. There you go.
I stole a quick glance behind me. More people – more happy people – had joined the queue; but now there were also ponies. A young woman was talking heartily to an auburn colt, short spikey hair (oh, sorry, mane) and a tramp stamp depicting a microphone and a suitcase. A small group of colts was chatting with a group of rowdy teenagers, laughing at slapping each other’s back as they waited patiently in line.
“Sir, are you…feeling alright?” My head snapped right around, my shoulder length hair swooping gracefully into my face. I pulled my hair away and I realised that it was Riko being questioned.
“Of course I am, why I wouldn’t be is a mystery to me! I’m lookin’ forward to seeing my wife and baby boy – joys of my life so they are.”
‘Fucking ouch mate.’ I was a little surprised at his response, considering he was still grieving their loss, but I could not fault his delivery, and neither could the guards it seemed. The mare gave out a little ‘aww’ to which the stallion rolled his eyes, but he was smiling too. Content with his response, they gave him his passport back and waved him through the opening to the tunnel, myself following up quickly.
My world suddenly went red as I felt myself propelled back and land on something (or someone) soft behind me, a high pitched shrieking noise the only companion for a brief moment. I blinked deeply and roused my vision back to life, if somewhat fucked up: colours seemed overly saturated and every light bloomed immensely like a photo taken with a terrible camera. I got back to my feet, my ears still ringing like an explosion had gone off around me and took in the scene in front of me (clocking briefly I had indeed landed on a very attractive woman in what must have been a compromising position). There had been no explosion, that was for sure, but what I saw was even worse to me. Nothing had happened of grandeur, the Hulk nor Coolaid Man had busted down the walls and catapulted me, Aliens had not invaded (again) and zapped me with a death ray (this isn’t that far from the truth - it is almost scary). No, all that had happened was that Riko was encapsulated in a magical field, screaming his lungs out as agony ripped him in half. I had nudged the magical filed.
The two guards – after a stunned delay - shot into action, the stallion turning the magical field off, and the mare retrieving a syringe from an inside compartment of her armour.
A flash flood of realisation coursed through my mind and I tried to step up to the moment, to stop them from turning one of my best friends against me, but I was shell-shocked, I tried to take a step forward and was forced to my knees, nearly falling flat on my face. All I could do was watch as the needle pierced his skin and pumped the toxin into his mind. I couldn’t help a tear escaping my eyes, landing onto the sterile floor of the airport, a glinting intruder in the featureless ground.
****
Riko’s eyes lit up immediately as the clear fluid of the syringe entered his neck, taking almost immediate grasp on his mind. The pain of the magic was gone, replaced with an almost warm feeling, like a bed of nails had turned into a soft blanket of warm velvet. As it descended upon him, all the problems of his life seemed to be flushed out – there was nothing but a euphoric sense of living in bliss, in perfect happiness and content with his life. Everything was suddenly okay.
****
Riko’s dark skin shone - no, almost glowed from the sweat as he lay on the ground breathing heavily. The air was tense, the breathing of all those assembled shallow and slow, and their pulses fast - none more so than mine. My eyes never left his body as he lay there, even as they started to burn from the strain I didn’t dare let them blink.
He rose. Slowly and uncertainly, the guards having to help him to his feet and right him, but he was on his feet. He turned and faced me and, in turn, the crowd that had materialised at some point during the display.
He grinned wide, something that used to be reserved for me alone, and hugged the two guards in a painfully friendly embrace.
“Thank you! Thank you so much, I’ve never known such joy could be so…real! I don’t know why I resisted in the first place – thank you!” The two ponies smiled sheepishly but returned the hug as best they could as the crowd went wild with cheering and whooping and dancing, and even song.
I stood there trembling. Not noticeably, but my limbs felt weak, my knees precariously slack. I could almost feel my eyes glaze over as my mouth went dry and the cheering was lost to my now fully functioning ears.
I had just lost my best friend to the war. A war we had fought together since I was eight. For twelve years. I felt hollow. It didn’t feel like something had been ripped from my core, no, something had been ripped from my core – the one person I had left I could truly fall back upon was gone forever.
“Sir are you…feeling alright?” I lowered my eyes slowly to see the mare guard was looking at me with quizzical concern. I was so temped to rip her throat out right then and there that I might well have done if someone hadn’t jumped into me as they celebrated, disconnecting me ever so slightly from my thoughts. I swallowed my sadness quickly (it does taste quite bitter) and replied, channelling the quiver in my voice to work for me.
“I’m j-just so surprised that my-my best friend was one of the- one of those rebels! I’m just so-so glad that he’s better now…I’d never have forgiven myself if something happened to him in this war…”
‘I’m a failure. I failed both of them. How could I…?’
“I know how you feel. If I lost my brother to a rebel attack…” She gave the stallion, who was still being bear hugged, an affectionate glance before finishing, “I really don’t know what I would do. But don’t worry, he’s cured now.” I damn well nearly snapped at her again. “But are you alright? You were nocked quite badly there…”
‘Shit. They noticed. Wait, she doesn’t seem to have pieced it together yet.’ I played it cool and said that I was fine, just overtaken by the shocking revelation. The young mare smiled (I’m really sick of them doing that) sympathetically, and was about to say something but Riko lumbered over and interjected.
“Alright mate, we’d best get going, don’t want to hold up the flight.” He was still wearing that grin. It made me feel even emptier inside as the heat left my chest.
“Yeah, let’s get going.” I turned back to the young mare and said false thanks to her, before heading to the connecting tunnel to the plane.
“Think happy thoughts. There is some kind of sensor in the door, it caught me thinking about my family. I’m not going to turn you in, but by the time we’ve landed, I’ll be too far gone. Knock me out when you first get the opportunity and move the sanctuary. And good luck.” I was legitimately surprised and saddened to hear him whisper that into my ear, but was very thankful for it. I gave him a weak nod of thanks and one final fist pump before I scampered my mind for a happy thought. A weird, almost treacherous one struck me: I was happy for Riko. On a strange, buried level of my subconscious, I was. He no longer had to deal with the war, he didn’t have to keep hiding anymore, he could be free, aspire to do what he wants. And he would even be eternally happy. Thinking of this, I passed through into the plane unscathed, only for the misery of my earlier thoughts to catch me in my seat. Riko Treks, my best friend since childhood, was now an enemy.
And I may have to kill him one day.
****
The guards gave a thankful sigh as the plane took off, signalling the end of another long, and slightly more eventful shift.
“That was quite something... I’ve seen the serum in effect before, but that was quite the show.” The young mare said as they entered the comfortable rest lounge, jumping onto the cashmere couch as the stallion moved over to a coffee machine and poured two cups of strong black coffee.
“Yeah, that was quite something. But there is something buggin’ me…”
She gave him a curious look as she took the steaming nectar from his magical grasp in her own. “Well, his companion…” He muttered as he sat next to here.
“Yeah he got thrown pretty far back didn’t he? I’m surprised he wasn’t hurt.”
“…I know but, wouldn’t that only happen to someone who hadn't…? It took a moment, but both their eyes widened as they gave each other a worried look.
“We just let a terrorist onto that plane.”
