Arklight

An inkling of light makes its way through the shredded curtains that hang in front of the curtains separating your bedroom from the rest of your families small home. The lights have sparked on, representing the end of 'Night', which of course is required because no sunlight reaches through the thick silvery veil of the nebulae you call home. You slowly role out of bed, not eager for the stiffness that comes from sleeping in room with poor duct work, making it extremely cold during the night cycle. You blink as you stand, and see your reflection in the sheet metal hanging from your wall that has been re purposed as a mirror. You yawn, and your light blue bangs fall over your face, you are Tesla, daughter of Arcnic, civilian of the ever endangered gale Nebulae.

You press your hoof against a small metallic pad on the wall, which slides inwards and activated a panel that slides open to reveal several different outfits. Today was patrol, so you have to wear a damn uncomfortable and poorly fitted space suit to survive the harsh conditions outside of the tubes that connect the buildings making up your platform in the nebulae. "Greetings Tesla, how may I be of service to you?", echos Tillium, the AI installed by your father into your house. It is true that you are the only house in the nebulae to have fully serviced robotics in place, let alone having the AI of a Bounty class ship to run it. "Give me my Patrol uniform, Tillium, please and thank you." you respond to the voices. A half second passes and in the blink of an eye the closet has rearranged itself to show the items you will need for the day. "Did I ever tell you I used to run an entire cargo bay instead of running a teenagers closet?" remarked the AI, something it regularly reminds you of. "Yes, you have." you reply, tired from just awakening and not prepared for a bored AI's complaining. You step your hooves into four circles on the ground, and a plastic like film expands up your legs and torso, coating them in a tight silver surface. You grab your helmet from a stand where a similar material is broken only by shining golden visor. The AI may be annoying, but she knows how to keep your equipment in tip top shape.

After getting completely suited up in uniform and helmet, you depart yourself into the grav tubes which connect the houses. Your suit connects with the platform wide AI and a gravitational pull soon begins tugging you towards your destination, the airlock. You whisk past a few other ponies on their way about, but most people are still home, enjoying breakfast or time with family. None for you though, you get fed at work and your father was sucked into space when a Jackworm latched onto the grav tube and sucked him out into space. Your mother died in birth, so you are an orphan, fun. You WOULD have friends, as you are a vary sociable and optimistic person, but also being stuck with a detrimental condition which makes your cutie mark the exact same color as your fur, a minty blue, you are often perceived as a blank flank. You eventual arrive at the airlock, where your suit opens the lock and you step into the vacuum.

Being in space is often compared by the oldest ponies as jumping into cold water in scuba gear. The air is sucked from your longs and you are momentarily in shock, but you can still breath and move freely. The void dragged her out onto a platform in the zero gravity, your suit engages a magnetic lock. You are planted firmly on the steel platform, where you begin walking around the outside of the platform.

Hours pass, and nothing. It has been days of nothing, weeks of nothing, YEARS of nothing. You often take time like this to think about how your life would be different if you where part of a family, if you had been the type with plenty of friends, or even just born somewhere else. You heard there are other species living among space, and the benevolent force known as Denztaat have retreated to the far reaches of space. Too bad that everyone is to fearful to leave the safety of this little bubble. Then again, the rolling mass of the Nebula is both intimidating and calming. You still would dread trying to pilot the sluggish crew ship that the platform has scrounged together. You begin thinking of what the world outside of the nebula would be like, but you are stopped when you realize that there is something in the nebula, light.

A orange glow is moving through the fog, and it eventually breaches the rolling particles, moving towards the platform, where it stops. You begin jogging back towards the airlock when you are caught off guard by a humming sound, coming from the light. You turn to see the light expanding, which makes you break into an awkward run towards the airlock, worried that the light might be dangerous. You make it through the airlock, and are about to open your communication channel when you are knocked unconscious by a wave of rolling energy.

To b continued in Chapter 1-2