Cogs

Wildfire walked as far as the brassworks with Iridescence. This was outside his comfort zone. Everywhere Iridescence looked, industry sapped at the life of the town. The manager caught sight of Iridescence, so called him over.

"You may go home Wildfire. When you are done with your housekeeping, the rest of the day is yours. I do, however, expect to be greeted with a bath drawn, and a meal when I return." Iridescence directed softly.

"Is that everything sir?" Wildfire asked carefully. Iridescence nodded then trotted towards the entrance.

"Good Morning. You are very nearly late." A small unicorn mare was addressing Iridescence. "I'm the manager of this site. I don't really need another foreman, but it was insisted upon. You may call me Kindle, though I am not your friend, nor your colleague." She frowned expectantly.

"Iridescence. Charmed I'm sure."

"Allow me to show you around." Kindle said bored, passing Iridescence a mask.

"What's this for?" Iridescence asked genuinely intrigued.

"How much do you know of brass?"

"It's an alloy of copper and zinc, used as a substitute for gold, due to its appearance and low friction." Iridescence stated.

"Here we are making brass fireboxes for steam driven machinery. The alloy therefore also contains lead and arsenic. Around two percent total is for that reason toxic. Being heated to nine-hundred degrees releases lead and arsenic fumes into the factory floor. Trust me, you want the mask." Kindle spoke quite without emotion.

"I assume a large number of workers die here then." Iridescence stated.

"I have an agreement with Cotton Flower. I can usually replace workers quickly."

"Let's begin the tour then." Iridescence said donning his mask. The two unicorns walked casually through the entrance and into the wall of heat.

"We don't prepare the alloy here; that is transported here monthly. We just perform the necessary casting and machining. Occasionally we do small commission orders for plating, or ornamentation." Iridescence took the details in of the machinery described to him, the processes and the dangers, but for the most part he was bored.

Autumn Lily had not slept well. She had been given a moderate bed along a wall in Spirit Flame's bedroom, despite the luxury presented to her; the situation was far from ideal. Spirit Flame clearly took after his mother, and was anything compassionate. He had been licentious, demanding, and ruthless in his treatment of her, yet remaining so polite and charming. She raised a front hoof and felt around her neck. The collar was a small but powerful symbol; denoting to the world her place and her role. It was such a simple object, a thick strip of leather with a metal ring protruding from it. A maid entered with her breakfast. The food was amazing, but the conditions attached to it just made it sickening.

"Morning miss." The maid said meekly. Autumn Lily looked at her distantly. She could see that her eyes were watering with held back tears. "I'm ever so sorry for you." She added before turning and retreating from the room.

Autumn Lily ate quickly. Spirit Flame was occupied with his own breakfast, downstairs with his family, but it wouldn't be long before he returned to play with his new toy. Sure enough, not long after she finished the door opened and the young stallion entered. He was light grey with a vibrant orange mane. Using his magic he dragged Autumn Lily by her collar to rest before him.

Rouge was sitting in his office, scheduling for a major dinner the family were hosting. A maid knocked politely on the slightly ajar door.

"Begging your pardon sir." She said meekly. "Only it's about Autumn Lily."

"You're supposed to be preparing for her ladyship's morning tea." Rouge said patiently. "But I'm sure you have a few minutes. Do come in."

"I was taking her breakfast, as requested, but, it just isn't right. Nopony should be treated like that." The maid practically wailed with grief. Rouge sighed and looked up from his ledgers.

"I agree, what Autumn Lily does is shameful and degrading. There is nothing I can do about it though. She has been assigned a job. All we can hope is she gets reassigned soon." He returned to the ledgers.

"But sir..."

"You have a job to do, which you are clearly redundant in as you have time to speak to me. I have a job to do which I cannot if you distract me with unsolvable problems. Would you have me jeopardise the thing that keeps me alive for an unwinnable moral crusade? Dismissed." He looked up and saw the shock on the maid's face. He sighed and continued more softly.

"I care a great deal, and when I can help I will. I can't right now though." A bell rang in the office. "If you will excuse me, his lordship requests my presence."

The rest of the tour had been dull, but Iridescence was suddenly very interested. The unicorns had arrived on the roof where a small team of pegasi stood. They watched the sky around the three protruding chimneys vigilantly. As they started spewing their coal based smog the pegasi quickly flew to cloud level, funneling the air above the brassworks.

"Here, we keep the new town from being engulfed in smog. The pegasi in our employ channel the smoke away from the town, towards the mountains, where pegasi, outside of our employ, have a constant downpour. This keeps the air somewhat clean." Kindle looked at Iridescence's piqued interest. "This is the only place where we cannot keep longterm foremen. It is cold, dull, and long. If you want, here is really the only place where you could be useful."

"You mean I could oversee your weather team? That actually sounds quite pleasant." Iridescence said keenly.

"You should find the journals of the previous foremen in the work shed over there. That should explain to you what you need to do. Heavens if I know." Kindle said bluntly. "Now I have a factory to manage. Any problems, please do hesitate to contact me. I want it to be life or death before I am disturbed. Direct any queries you have at some of the other site foremen. Good day."

"Lordship. You called for me." Rouge stated smoothly.

"Ah, Rouge, I fancied a walk about my estate, and wanted some company." Blossomfall said expansively. A hugely different person away from Roselyn.

"Very good sir. Shall I fetch your cloak?"

"In this weather, I think not. Much to warm to be bundled about like a pony at the winter's end festival." Blossomfall however did pass Rouge a jacket to put on. "I thought we might travel down to the orchards, such a beautiful smell at this time of year."

"Thank you, your lordship." Rouge said properly. Blossomfall chuckled to himself.

"Lad, you can call me Blossomfall. I never took to being a lord. I only married into the family after all."

"Would that be seemly sir?" Rouge asked concerned.

"Why wouldn't it be, I'm telling you to. The other staff are allowed the same. Of course Roselyn doesn't approve, but she can go suck lemons for all I care." The pair had made it to the entrance hall. As the doors opened, the smell of the old town warmed Rouge. It was so crisp and clean; the scents of fresh flowers and the market stalls in the distance. Instead of going into the town though, Blossomfall took a left and headed down a track following the river.

"Apparently Roselyn's family have owned Sweet Apple Acres for six generations. But of course you know this don't you?" Blossomfall said cryptically.

Rouge had to agree that Blossomfall was right about the orchard smelling wonderful. The summer breeze carried the scent of the apple blossom gently.

"That is, according to your work history, you served as head butler for her great-great-grandparents." Blossomfall said laying the sentence down sharply. Rouge inhaled deeply, they had reached the real reason for Blossomfall wanting company.

"Is there a problem with my work history, Blossomfall?" Rouge responded carefully.

"Not at all. I was just curious as to how you had been working for the last two-hundred years, yet look younger than me." He finished with a jovial laugh. "That's not the only curious thing in your file either though. The other matter of note is your family tree itself..." Blossomfall left the question unsaid.

"Are you asking me to account for these matters?" Rouge retorted delicately. The orchard was getting thicker and denser as they approached the oldest trees.

"I am curious to know, yes." Blossomfall stated; the warmth in his voice still present but diminishing.

"I was born before the unicorns took charge, to my doting parents. At the time of the takeover I was the product of a mis-performed age spell. This effectively slowed my aging some ten times. The reason I came to serve Roselyn's great-great-grandparents is that it was the only way they could keep me from being assigned to labour somewhere. I am the sad result of recessive genetics, an earth pony with unicorn parents." Rouge finished concisely.

"How did they come to own this fine orchard then?" Blossomfall asked intrigued.

"My grandfather and great uncle won a bet." Rouge said dismissively.

Reading through the journals was proving dry. It seemed that Iridescence's predecessors had codified every possible issue that might arise overseeing a weather team. 'In the event of a spinout', 'in the event of a large cloud coverage', 'in the event of accidental downpour creation', In the event of accidental hurricane creation', 'in the event of accidental tornado creation', 'in the event of the sound barrier being broken', Iridescence's favourite 'in the event of catastrophic failure from an unknown source' and many others. The sad thing was each eventuality had near the same given solution: clear affected pegasi from site and get local weather stewards to help tidy up.

He looked up and saw a black swirling mass being guided north of Ponyville. The downpour being made by pegasi at the base of the mountains would wash the majority of the smog into the ground, making the nearby pastures and fields carbon rich. Though at the immediate site a mire of black swamp was fed constant water. Once a month even more pegasi would arrive to funnel excess water away to Cloudsdale to be purified and used as rainwater again. To Iridescence the system looked like a glorious display of the pegasus form. The first team landed back on the roof as the second team took over. A purple stallion caught Iridescence's attention as he settled himself.

"You know Rouge, I have rather enjoyed this chat. My last butler was nowhere near as keen to engage with me." Blossomfall said warmly. "But I see something troubles you. Would you care to divulge, or should I just go ahead and assume it's Autumn Lily." Rouge's shock must have shown in his face for Blossomfall smiled slyly. "Oh come now. Like I wouldn't have noticed. Spirit Flame is a fine lad, but perhaps too boisterous to be trusted with the care of such a delicate pony, that is what you are thinking am I right?"

"As astute as I would expect your lordship." Rouge said monotonously.

"Yes, well I'm sure we could come to an arrangement there. The maid who is serving tea to my wife. Maybe she could take over that role. Though of course if that happened, it would be your decision, not mine." Blossomfall gave a slight smirk. "How do you want to play this then?" He asked after a slight pause. Rouge looked at him stunned. He swallowed and looked away.

"That is a difficult area for me to make a decision on your lordship," Rouge began, "but I do know what my decision is."

Spirit Flame sat stroking Autumn Lily's mane gently. He held her head up in such a manner that she was forced to look directly into his eyes. He smiled sweetly and looked at her with warmth.

"You know, you are the nicest thing daddy has ever got me. I'm so glad Cotton Flower made sure you were chosen." He shifted his position slightly so that he may lounge more comfortably. "I've never seen anything as amazing as you." He ran his other front hoof across her chest, playing with her soft down. Autumn Lily gave a slight flinch as this contact. His face fell slightly and he sighed.

"I had really hoped you would be warmer towards me by now. Still, no matter." He leaned in and kissed her, holding her head against his until she stopped trying to pull back. Tears streaming, Autumn Lily resigned herself and waited.

* * *

A young Iridescence sat before an elderly grey unicorn. In a finely lit plush drawing room the grey unicorn stallion reclined in a rich armchair. He was scrutinising a sketch Iridescence had drawn. The radio in the background played a slightly eerie note, just on the edge of hearing.

"Do you like it father? It is a sketch of you. " Iridescence said feeling numb.

"It is. However it is too good." The elderly Unicorn said cryptically. Iridescence found it difficult to remember hearing the words he now knew were just said. Father passed the sketch back to Iridescence. The shadows in the room gradually lengthened. Iridescence paused as he looked at the page. It didn't look how he thought he remembered it, but at the same time he couldn't remember what he thought it looked like.

"Why is it too good Father?"

"Ponies don't like being reminded of their mediocrity." The noise from the radio had become more sharp and shrill. It had also gradually increased in volume.

"Here is a picture your elder sister did." Father had held a picture before Iridescence. He looked at it blankly, it was a crude crayon drawing of a stick pony, and Iridescence couldn't recall how the old stallion had come to have it so readily about his person.

"That was what my sister was drawing at my age?" The room felt muggy and slow.

"Actually she drew that yesterday." Father said distantly. Iridescence took the picture and stared at it for an indeterminate period of time. The room felt darker, even though the ambient lighting hadn't changed. He looked back up at his father and tried to scream. Where the unicorn's eyes should have been was two large gaping holes of total darkness. His mouth had been stretched to grotesque proportions, and appeared stuffed with turnips.

Iridescence slowly backed away, the father-thing followed, insects crawling from the eye sockets. Iridescence hit the wall, incapable turning around he stood transfixed as father lunged forward. He managed to scream and found himself staring at his ceiling. Iridescence sighed and checked the clock on the bedside table. It was only three AM.

"Are you OK sir?" Wildfire had entered the room and was out of breath. "Only I heard you screaming." Iridescence stared at Wildfire shocked.

"I... Yes... Just a little shaken is all." Iridescence said blandly. "Some weird horseapples dream." He held his hoof out and pressed it against Wildfire's cheek. "Could you spend tonight in here?" He asked timidly. "I don't want to be alone."

"Of course" Wildfire agreed gently.

"You know, I can't remember the dream anymore, just the fear." Iridescence sighed. "Everything just felt wrong." Wildfire got underneath the bedcovers and held Iridescence tightly. The unicorn was shaking with fear and stress.

"My father was there. He changed into something." Iridescence said quietly.

"It's OK. It's over now, I'm here." Wildfire said softly, his voice leaking compassion.

"This world. It isn't right." Iridescence continued in monotone.

"If you like we can discuss this in the morning. But you need sleep." Wildfire responded gently.

"Thank you." Iridescence buried his head into Wildfire's chest and started crying.

* * *

Iridescence sat nursing his coffee. He felt thoroughly sick. Wildfire sat opposite looking calmly at him.

"What do you know of the uprising?" Iridescence asked after an interval.

"Very little, I know it happened, I know my place, nothing more. Education for non unicorns doesn't contain a heavy history curriculum."

"It takes a lot to take power on such a large scale so quickly. A great deal of atrocities were committed." Iridescence paused and sipped his coffee. "Cloudsdale was the last city to fall. The pegasi were hardest to take."

"Harder than Canterlot? I would have thought with the princesses that a greater resistance would have been met." Wildfire asked confused.

"Age had dulled them. They had become too good at bringing forth day and night, and nothing else." Iridescence looked at Wildfire curiously. "Would you like to hear about the uprising?" Wildfire looked stunned for a moment.

"So few non unicorns would ever learn details of it." Wildfire said in a slight awe. "I'm sure it would be interesting." Iridescence smiled.

"Going back just over two hundred years, there was an Equestria with the three races living in an uneasy balance. Each race had major cities and towns where they had dominance, either through history, or population. This was shortly after Nightmare Moon had been defeated, and princess Luna returned. A powerful unicorn mare had been studying with princess Celestia, and not only was her talent magic, she embodied the element of magic. Back when the elements of harmony had power. She was a great scholar and academic, and passed her knowledge onto the most gifted unicorns of her age. The unicorns that realised the superiority of our race." Iridescence fetched a small tin containing biscuits before continuing.

"It took years of planning, and careful coordination to get the coupe ready to execute. The first step was taking out the alicorn princesses. The exact methods of this are lost to history, but unicorn magical scholars offer many theories. Once no assistance from the alicorns was available, the major cities were targeted simultaneously. Earth pony and unicorn cities were very quickly captured, using a combination of siege and destruction." Iridescence looked pensive for a moment. "Do you know what a parasprite is?" Wildfire shook his head, transfixed.

"It's a small insect capable of devouring entire ecosystems. It's thought to have magical origins, but more importantly the technique of conjuring them was discovered by Twilight Sparkle. Once created, a parasprite will devour all crops surrounding it, while being incredibly fertile and asexual. After a few minutes of life, if it has eaten sufficiently, it can grow and regurgitate another. Being of magical creation they are heavily susceptible to magical influence and can be charmed to devour anything the caster wishes them to. A single unicorn could in theory, conjure a parasprite, hold it in a town with a forcefield, and change its dietary cravings; wiping out the entire town of pony life while still retaining all buildings and food. Once satisfied, the unicorn can then magically remove the subsequent swarm from existence, and repopulate the town as seen fit." Iridescence stopped, noting the shock on Wildfire's face.

"Unicorns can do that? That's horrific." He said aghast.

"Oh darling, that's just the start of what unicorns can do. That method alone quelled the more unruly towns. The small towns and villages, you understand; nowhere of huge significance. Unicorns can transform objects, even living beings. Ever been turned into fruit? Some unicorns could do that to you. Then there is the ability to reverse gravity, or some interesting work with teleportation spells. Then we get to the large cities; important places that cannot just be destroyed. Places like Manehattan, or Canterlot had a large enough unicorn population that they needed little persuasion, but the airborne pegasi had their vast dwellings in the sky. Even with wing spells and cloudwalking, these places were beyond the reach of unicorns. Then the idea occurred, a spell performed by Twilight's brother might yield a solution: A protection spell that stops all ponies and objects decided by the caster from passing. A spell that was large enough to envelope a city yet could be maintained by a few ponies. It only took six unicorns working in two-pony shifts over a two month period to break Cloudsdale. It was the longest part of the entire operation. Everything else had been completed inside the first fortnight." Iridescence looked both proud and sickened.

"How do you know about this?" Wildfire asked in shock.

"My mother was one of the six unicorns who held Cloudsdale under siege. My father on the other hoof wiped out Fillydelphia with a parasprite."

"But that's two hundred years ago." Wildfire stated stunned.

"The three major unicorn family heads are kept alive through age spells, along with some other notables and dignitaries. The empress is a filly from Twilight Sparkle's age. A young mare groomed for the role and kept in check by the major families." Iridescence smiles humourlessly. "Now they each head a different part of government; my family heading policing from their offices in Manehattan. A combination of teleport spells and time spells keeps most of the serious offences in check. The minor ones are handled through subcontracted pegasi."

"Time spells?" Wildfire asked after a slight pause. He looked dazed with the sudden new information he had been given.

"Yes, objects and ponies can travel through and alter time. Basically an intray is kept, and notes from future unicorns on what offences are about to be committed are sent back, the office receives them, waits till the time and date mentioned on the note, then sends the note back in order to avoid a paradox."

"If your parents are so old how are you so young?" Wildfire asked bemused.

"They have a foal every fifty years or so. Few of my past siblings have opted for age spells, those that did, didn't for long. I have a nephew who is ten times my age though."

"Rouge, my lad, it has been a full day, and you still haven't told me your decision." Blossomfall said jovially. Rouge passed a copy of today's newspaper, and smiled.

"I feel my decision will make more sense after the soiree you are hosting tonight." Rouge said politely, turning to face Blossomfall.

"Ah yes, that dinner tonight. I trust the staff are prepared." Despite Blossomfall clearly making a statement, Rouge offered his agreement. "But before that," Blossomfall continued, "Starlight's nanny has managed to displease Roselyn. She is being disposed of at the moment, but somepony needs to fetch Starlight from school. I want you to assess your staff, and give one the new role as part of their existing job."

"After much careful thought," Rouge began, "I have come to the conclusion that I am most fitting for the role. May I enquire as to how the nanny is being disposed of?" Rouge finished, questioning.

"Why, the same way as all staff members when Roselyn dismisses them." Blossomfall gave a slight smile.

"On a lighter note sir, you are invited to attend a dinner hosted by Lord Blossomfall and Lady Roselyn this evening." Wildfire said brightly.

"Oh well, life can't all be fun and games. Roselyn is a shrew, Blossomfall is a pompous arrogant mule and their foals no better than the spawn of Cerberus." Iridescence looked up at the ceiling. "Any indication as to who else will be in attendance?"

"The boy that passed the message on said it would be a family affair." Wildfire said reasonably.

"Well at least it won't all be bad. The local dignitaries will also be invited I'm sure." Iridescence looked brightly at Wildfire. "Though you can't attend with me, I am going to request that we walk to Ponyville Manor together. I have plans for this evening."