Electric Sky

CHAPTER ONE
Somebody Didn't Get The Message

The Golden Equine, Down-town Canterlot

A subtle, yet calming note of jazz music hung in the air long after it had ended, and drowned out the background noise of chatter; the pattering rain as it washed against the windows, and the clinking of glasses not so far away. Ponies bustled about the room, talking, and idling as players changed places at the stage, at the far end of the room.

Up above, below the glittering chandeliers of silver-tinted light that shone down on the room, hung a banner of red silk, announcing: 'Happy New Year's Eve!' In golden text that shone brightly as the banner itself swung back and forth, in a calming breeze. The guests, were all decked out in their finest, as a mare at the stage tapped her microphone with a hoof. “E-excuse me?” she stammered forth, as the room quiet down, and she got the attention of most of them.

“T-thank you,” the band-mare said and shot a nervous smile towards the guests. “I hope you've all had a pleasant evening so far, and that you will continue to have one.” The crowd of Canterlot elites smiled briskly, stomping into the ground softly, and even a few loud cheers echoed in the room. “Th-thank you,” the mare continued as the crowd quieted down again. “Tonight, we'll play a personal favourite of mine, and one I hope that you'll enjoy,” the mare finished off, as the room echoed with soft stomping again, and the mare turned to take her seat, grasping her mahogany cello.

The band-mare seemed to almost wrap her pale-grey legs around the wooden cello, as she smiled, closed her eyes, and tapped the string, causing a soft, rumbling note to reverberate in the room. She let the note hang in the air, until it vanished, and only then did she play. Along with the other band-comrades, the mare played another jazz-song as the crowd began falling back to their idle conversations, but the mare didn't even notice, as her hooves plunked artificially away at the instrument, she had her eyes closed, only twitching her ears at the soft music; she was in pure bliss.

In the corner of the restaurant, sitting alone at a table, sipping a Martini, sat a stallion and watched the mare. He watched how she played the cello, always keeping her eyes closed, always keeping her hooves at the correct notes – never straying, and never failing to impress. He smiled softly and took another swig of his bitter drink, casting his eyes about the room.

Everything was perfect. Calm, and relaxing – too relaxing, the stallion thought and felt an all too familiar feeling of deja vu as he sat at his table, scoping out the guests. All too often had he been in this very situation, and he wanted to dash into the air immediately, shouting for every-pony to leave at once, but all it took, was a look at her to keep him in his seat. The stallion shook his head and relaxed into his seat, as he glued his eyes back to the stage and the band playing.

His eyes washed over her entire frame – as he drank in every part of her, every texture, every piece of fur on that body of hers; every strand of hair in her honey-coloured mane, but it wasn't a look of lust that sparkled in the stallion's eyes, instead it was a look of compassion. Always, she led him, and he followed. Always had he been the second player, and he didn't mind, so it was as it should have been.

Feeling a nagging sensation roll in the back of his head, the stallion tossed his badge to the table, giving it a glare as the bronze glinted in the light, before turning back to the mare, remembering why he had come.

This wasn't the first time he had come to a show, but it was different this time. She was his world – perfection on four hooves, coated in grey and honey, being a light in an otherwise dark world. He chuckled and leaned back, smiling as he watched the mare's mane bounce in the spotlight. It never changes, the stallion thought, and washed away all the bad thoughts and memories with the rest of his Appletini.

Light crackled outside, as a few mares shrieked suddenly, and the stallion felt that itch again, as his heart leapt into the air, but hearing the loud, yet distant rumble, he sat back into his seat, and closed his eyes, only focusing on the music that plunked forth. At least one of us has a real talent, huh? thought the stallion as the soft jazz tones washed over him, with the cello being loudest out of all the instruments, though that could have been his own imagination speaking.

No longer did the idling conversations or bad weather bother the stallion, since he only had ears for the music, and her. As the music softly died down, the stallion opened his eyes as the crowd cheered, but he only looked at her in quiet, and he smiled, as her face flushed carmine, almost making her curl into a ball on the stage.

Taking the microphone again, the band-mare smiled, and swallowed. “T-thank you so much. I can't tell you how happy me and the band was, when we got the news to play here.” A few more roaring cheers erupted before quietly washing away again. “The rest of the band will take it from here, but I wish you a wonderful evening. Thank you all again!” the mare finished, and leapt off the stage, into the crowd, brushing past a few fans as quickly as she could muster.

“No, no... no autographs,” the mare said, as she shot a couple of mares brandishing notepads and quills, a smile.

Amidst the crowd, the mare looked nervously around, perking her ears, whilst the stallion ordered another Appletini from a passing waiter, and waved a hoof into the air. Seeing a familiar charcoal hoof, the mare almost galloped through the crowd, to make her way to the stallion's table as short as possible. With a smile on her face, the mare emerged from the crowd. “So?” said the mare with a grin, and sat down, facing the stallion.

“Great as always,” the stallion said, smiling as he looked at the mare. “A bit heavy on the low notes, but you still got the upper-hoof on your old' man.” The stallion chuckled and winked at the mare, causing her to flush red again. “But you're still the best cello player this side of Canterlot,” the stallion almost shouted and gestured with a hoof outwards towards the rest of the restaurant.

“Gee, dad!” the mare moaned in mock-agony and shook her hoof. “I'm way too 'low-class' for this,” she continued, rolling her eyes and grinning as her dad squirmed in his seat. “I'm glad that you could make it, though. I... I... got worried for a minute earlier,” the mare said, nervously wiping a strand of honey-mane away from her eyes.

The stallion shook his head. “I know it's been a rough few years, but I'll never abandon my daughter. Never think that.” He smiled and nodded to her, as the waiter arrived with his Martini, causing the mare to frown when he took a sip. As he lowered it back down onto the table, his daughter glared at him, a frown on her face. “What?” he asked.

“What?” The mare reiterated, her voice dangerously low as she pulled the half-empty glass towards herself and away from the stallion. “You said you were going to give this crap up, and I really thought you had.” The mare frowned, as her lip quivered and she wiped her eyes, keeping away the approaching water.

“I... did keep my promise, for a few years at least,” the stallion said, easing back into the shadows of the booth again as he contemplated his next words carefully. It meant too much to him, too much was at stake for him to risk it now. “But....” the stallion cut off into a sigh, as he leaned forward again, looking into the brown eyes of his gorgeous daughter. “I screwed up.... I can admit that, at least.”

Tapping her hoof at the table, the mare frowned. “You said that.... last time too....” she choked on her own words, and swallowed hard, hiding most of it. “How can I trust you this time, dad? How? Do you really expect me to?” the mare said, as she edged the glass onto a waiter's silver-tray, as he passed by.

Sighing, the stallion eased back into his own seat as that feeling crept up on him again, but he washed it away as simply being anger or something of that nature. “No... I suppose I don't expect you to, but in time you can come to forgive me.” The stallion said, and caressed one of his daughter hooves with his own. “Every damaged relationship needs work,” he finished with a weak smile.

The band mare groaned and sat back, wrenching her hoof away. “You always say that... every time...” her voice broke off into a whimper as she turned away from her dad, and watched the other party guests, as they moved about, having fun. “And we always argue,” the mare said with a light chuckle, and gave a hoof-wave to one of her friends, a fellow band-member as she left the party.

“But....” The mare turned back to face her father, not touching his barren hoof, but she still faced him. “But you did come here, and I guess that counts for something.” They shared a strained laugh, as her father nodded and sat back, secretly gazing towards the waiters. “I won't make you a song, so you can begin by getting me a drink.”

Her father said nothing, and just smiled as he arose and headed towards the bar-counter, but stopped halfway and turned his head. “What do you want?” he asked, forcing the words out, painfully aware that he didn't really know his own daughter, despite watching her every time she performed.

“Something sweet and future-looking,” the mare said, stifling a giggle as her father nodded and proceeded on his way towards the bar. He almost had to shove his way passed the ponies there, as most had crowded the bar by this point; a few who had drunk too much, and a few who just enjoyed the night at the bar too often.

Finally getting there, the stallion pushed past another stallion, getting a frown in return, but he didn't care as he stepped in front of the immaculate mahogany bar-counter lined with brass-tubes that glistened in the light; as confetti flitted about in the air above, showering the wood in multi-coloured pieces of paper. The stallion frowned and looked for the bartender, trying to shut out the annoying voices all around him.

At the end of the bar, a stallion was busy serving a pair of other stallions that chatted aloud, not caring that every-pony there could hear them. “-So she actually wanted to do that?” one of the stallions asked; a pegasus to be specific, with a white captain's hat on his head that was lined with mauve ribbon. “Whoa! Guess, this celebration turned out great!” he said and took a swig of his drink, nudging his buddy that by now, had his head on the counter, partially passed out.

“Make the most of the night, brother. I wouldn't put it past the Commander, that by tomorrow, we're out again – stragglers in the North he said! Shitty rebels and betrayers I say! Yeah, enjoy the night, brother!” he said as a final remark, and nudged his buddy again.

The stallion knocked his hoof into the counter, getting a half-wave from the young unicorn bartender stallion, as he finished pouring a drink into another soldier's glass. With that out of the way, he slid over to the stallion and greeted him with a smile. “So sorry, sir. We're packed full with the celebration and it's New Year's Eve, you know how it is.” The stallion glared at the bartender. “So, what will it be?

“Give me a Red Headed Bombshell, for my daughter,” the stallion said flatly, glancing towards the drunk soldiers, seemingly crowding the place up; the bartender nodded and his horn glowed as he lifted over a glass, and a shaker – pouring ice and sweet liquid into it, before lidding it, and shaking it rhythmically in the air.

The stallion in the meanwhile, looked around the room; from the golden chandeliers hanging in the air, to the party guests, and to the soldiers, as that feeling crept into his gut again, just as the bartender poured the drink into a glass, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Oh! How much?”

“Free of charge,” the bartender said, “we're all friends tonight.” With that, the bartender shot him a playful wink and vanished over to more guests surrounding the counter. Smiling, the stallion lifted the wooden plate with the drink, and nudges his way through the crowd, as a mare took the stage.

“Is this on?” she said, tapping the microphone with her hoof, and at the high-pitched whine of feedback, several ponies shouted: 'yes' into the air. “Oh, good!” she said with a smile. “It's been a wonderful evening so far, and I hope it carries on into the night, but the time is almost there, and....” The mare gave a wink to the drummer still on stage, and a drum-roll played as she turned back to the crowd. “Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four...”

The stallion groaned as the crowd got thick around him, and he could barely see his daughter through the thick wave of coloured hooves as the countdown continued with loud cheering. “... three.... two....” Just then, the two large windows that looked onto the street, blasted inwards, showering the room in glass as wails of agony rippled through the air – a second explosion of wood followed as the door shattered into razor-sharp wood that cut clean through several guests, and they dropped to the floor with a meaty thump as the static poured out of the microphone; in a corner, clutching her wounded hoof, a mare screamed in agony.

A cacophony of fireworks lit up the night sky outside, and alongside the lightning strikes happening in the horizon, it coloured the insides of the restaurant a ghastly green. Shimmers of white explosions, accentuated every hurt pony in the room, as they groaned, stumbled, and screamed in horrific pain.

Coughing and sputtering blood, the stallion looked up from the floor into a dangling chandelier, as a headache pounded in the back of his head. “Ow...” he moaned as pain coursed through his body. “Sweetnote? W-where are you?” he said, casting his head about as he rolled to the side, pressing a hoof against his temples. “Dear almighty....” he groaned as wind howled in the air, rising in pitch, getting closer.

From somewhere outside, an arrow came flying through one of the destroyed windows, hitting a stallion as he had just gotten to his hooves – he clutched his chest, as the arrow stuck through and dripped of crimson. He stumbled backwards, and dropped to the ground again, laying in a rising pool of his own blood.

“W-what was that?” another stallion said, the one with the captain's hat on his head, now slightly askew. Coughing violently, he looked towards his friend, nudging him, before he simply leaned against the nearby wall instead.

“An attack....” the stallion grumbled, and groaned in agony as he looked at his limp hoof. “Aw, crap!” Gritting his teeth, the stallion backed against an overturned table, and braced one of his fore-hooves between the table and a hind-leg, as he tugged at it, until he heard a loud pop, and pain flooded his mind. He let out a low growl, filled with agony as he turned back to an almost panicking stallion. “Those rebels... I think they just moved up your schedule.”

“Schedule?” the stallion said, looking at the other one with slowly widening eyes. “No.... I mean, that's not possible. The war's over. They.... they signed a peace-treaty....” Slowly, the stallion inched away from a window as wind rushed inwards, making the chandeliers still hanging up above shake, while the crystals inside clinked against each-other. “I'm... I'm just a recruit. I wouldn't even have joined if the war was still on! Oh... Platinum...” The stallion slumped up against a wall, clutching his head.

Releasing another guttural groan, the stallion looked around the room, at the carnage. “Well... some-pony didn't get the message.” A mare screamed as an arrow came flying through the window, bouncing against an table, darting into an adjacent wall, barely missing her. “Detective Alabaster at your service.” He turned to face the stallion again, ignoring the scene for now. “Have you seen a grey mare with a honey-coloured short mane around here?” the stallion looked at Alabaster, and swallowed hard as he shook his head. “Crap...” groaned Alabaster back, shifting painfully.

Wind rushed again, as something small, metallic came flying in through a window, and it rolled to a stop near the stage, clinking against the microphone-stand. Casting one look at the foreign object, Alabaster yelled, “Cover!” As he shifted as much as possible, using the table behind him as a makeshift cover.

The mare didn't even have enough time to move and widened her eyes in surprise, as the metal-ball exploded in acrid flame, colouring the nearby wall with black smoke and remains of the mare; even Alabaster could feel the radiating heat of the explosives. “Well... equipped they are,” he said in-between groans, as a chandelier fell and shattered against the floor.

A moment later, the room was showered with arrows, not just one or two at a time any-more, now there were dozens of them, and none was aimed expertly. Most of the arrows missed their targets and just ended up stuck into tables and the walls, but even then, some managed to hit flesh and Alabaster could hear bodies drop to the floor as he sat against his overturned table. Damn...

Strained shouts rippled through the air, as the barrage of steel ended. Closer and closer they came, the hooting and yelling nearly drowned out by the sound of hooves splashing the wet ground. Alabaster cursed under his breath as he painfully dropped to the ground, still feeling the effects of the initial blast. He cast one last furtive look towards the booth where his daughter had been, but now it was merely a blown out wreck of wood and plastic.

Meanwhile, the sound of galloping hooves reached its crescendo. Brandishing blades and wearing red bands around their right hooves, both mares and stallions alike came through the open windows and doors; all pegasi, but their wings had been tied down, and poorly hidden. At once, they charged the ponies still standing, and the ones laying on the floor, got dragged outside.

Alabaster panted, and groaned, just as one of the pegasi mare’s charged a Canterlot elitist mare, still wearing her pearl necklace, despite the carnage. In fear, the mare shivered, and held her hooves out in front of herself as she had backed up against a wall. With a grim smile on her face, the pegasi completely ignored her, and drove her spear deep inside the mare’s gut, and caused her to cough up blood as the spear went right through her. Alabaster turned away, thumping his head against the table behind him.

The pegasus chuckled, and leaned in close, whispering something to the dying unicorn, before she plunged the spear right through the cowering mare. “I... I...” The Canterlot mare never finished her sentence, as the pegasus violently tore the spear out again, and the unicorn slumped together.

A low chuckle came, as one final pony strode forth in the doorway. All eyes fell upon him, and using the distraction, Alabaster slid from the overturned table, over closer to the stage, keeping his eyes on the changing room door at the end of the room, hidden away by silk tapestries, now shredded into thin strips.

Most of the restaurant and bar was now in disarray at the sudden, and violent assault, except for a certain bartender. Alabaster blinked, and shook his head in disbelief as he stared across the room, at the unicorn stallion waving a cracked wine-bottle in the air, still dripping with rouge-coloured liquid. “Stay out of my bar!” shouted the bartender, anger flaring in his orange eyes as he thrusted the bottle magically towards a stallion in red who backed away sharply.

“Get him!” a mare snarled as two stallions lunged at the bartender, one attacking him from the side, and one in front. A terrible howl erupted into the air as the bartender hit the one charging him up front with the bottle, but he was too slow for the other. Slamming hard into the wall, the bartender stallion slid down, blood dripping from his forehead; Alabaster cursed under his breath as he tore his eyes away from the scene, focusing on one thing.

Another I couldn't save... Alabaster thought, bringing himself to eye-level with the yawning remains of the door. Many of the attackers clad in red had vanished for now, and left the gory scene of violence behind them as the water washed through the openings, wetting the room.

A second later, the door beside Alabaster flew open and he dodged the wood as it broke off its hinges and a mare came skidding into the room, panting wildly. Every-pony froze, as she did the same, jumping her brown eyes from stallion to mare. Without another word, she backed up and leapt back through the open door into the changing room.

For a minute, Alabaster couldn't believe his eyes. The pale mare that had just charged through the door, was his daughter; she was alive; his heart leapt into the air.

Growling menacingly, a stallion followed her with haste as Alabaster tried composing his thoughts. What the....? This had to be the strangest night he had experienced in a few years. Quickly deciding his next move, Alabaster got to his hooves and rushed through the narrow corridor as well, his eyes fixed on the magenta coat of a stallion and his yellow tail; wings curled back behind ropes, though it wouldn't have mattered, due to how narrow the walkway was.

Doors whisked past, as Alabaster cast a few panicked glances through, but he couldn't see her, which both tore his heart into ecstatic glee and twisted him in harrowing pain. Soon, as the doors stopped appearing, the hallway narrowed out again, and Alabaster heard that the exterior door was thrown open – horrible screeching of metal filled the room, as a loud shriek and a hollow thump followed, only making Alabaster's eyes harden.

Alabaster dashed out through the open metal door, and stood in the rain, glaring as the dirty water washed over him. Halfway to the other side, stood the magenta pegasus, panting over his daughter that laid on the muddy ground. “Get away from her!” shouted Alabaster, using about all of his strength to keep himself from bluntly charging the stallion.

The pegasus chuckled and stepped back as he coldly looked at Alabaster. “Or what?” He smirked at that, clearly enjoying the moment. “Don't worry, she's in no harm...” The pegasus paused for an indescribable amount of time, until finally he continued, “Yet, that is.”

Again, Alabaster twisted, but this time charged for the pegasus, just as his vision blurred and whitened, and he came crashing into the muddy ground below him. A bottle, now empty landed next to him, as another stallion walked past. “Good show in there,” the voice of the magenta pegasus said as Alabaster passed into unconsciousness.

*

Blue Mercy Hospital, Canterlot

“.... Despite the brutal attack in down-town Canterlot late last night, the pegasus ambassador has yet to make any statements. Some wonder, if this was a sanctioned attack, and others simply think it's disgruntled rebels. We'll know for sure, once the Princess returns from her trip to the Griffon homeland....” the voice of the news-mare rang in Alabaster's still pounding head, as he slowly opened his eyes, knowing for sure that the attack had not simply been a lost memory.

For a few moments, Alabaster just stared at the white ceiling speckled with brown – years of decay, or a bad paint-job in the first place – Alabaster didn't know which, and really didn't care either. He just focused on the pattern, the voice of the news-mare drowned out in the screams of last night. Turning, Alabaster almost flew off the bed as an all too familiar face greeted him. “I'm so sorry...” was the only words he managed to say.

“Sorry?” the mare frowned and glared at Alabaster, her cheeks stained with tears as she brushed her frazzled ash-blond mane out of her ageing face. “You lost her!” – The mare jabbed Alabaster in his side, making him groan with pain – “My only daughter, and you go around getting her in danger like this?”

Alabaster got off the bed with a heavy sigh, as he turned away from the mare, looking out a window, to the street below. “Wasn't my fault...” Everything seemed to move in slow-motion as he gazed from the street to the horizon; he clenched his eyes shut. “I... I... It wasn’t my... fault...”

“Not your fault?” the mare said in disbelief, before angrily stomping on the floor. After her short outburst, the mare walked over to Alabaster and shoved a picture into his face. “This is only your fault!” she growled and turned around, walking towards the exit. Alabaster took the picture, and looked at it, seeing the sentence scrawled in crimson paint on the brown walls of the restaurant.

'REMEMBER ELECTRIC SKY!' Was painted crudely on the wall, with blood smearing the wall, and overturn tables just visible in the frame. “Get her back.” Alabaster's ears twitched and he turned his head sharply, but he was too late – she was gone, only leaving behind a brown, carefully crafted wooden case with gold-filled edges, on the bed; his daughter's name as well, in gold on the top.

Standing for a moment, Alabaster turned his head, gazing outside the window again, and he looked towards the distant, snow-capped mountains. “Stragglers in the North....” Alabaster muttered, and looked as a familiar light-blue shape walked out onto the street below, and he nodded to himself, looking at his own reflection in the pane-window. “It's just me, now, huh?”

“No...” Alabaster turned, to see who the voice belonged to, since his mind couldn't quite believe it, but as he turned, he stumbled backwards, dropping the picture onto the ground. “Missed me?” the yellow mare said, and stifled a giggle with a hoof as she strolled into the room, and poked the box on the bed. “Got another mission, huh? You're not leaving me behind this time.”

“None of your business, and it was you that left me,” Alabaster answered back, as he walked over to the bed, and tore the box away from the mare's exploratory hooves, frowning at her, as he stroked a hoof across his daughter's embossed name in gold. “Not a mission; an investigation,” Alabaster said flatly, finding a pair of saddlebags, that he laid the box into, before putting them on, tightening the strap with his teeth.

“Got a lead?” the mare asked, excitement sparkling in her blue eyes, as Alabaster simply walked past her. “Hey!” she shouted after him, but he didn't stop and just walked into the corridor. The mare frowned and dashed after him, standing in the open doorway, as she gazed down the corridor, at the back of Alabaster. “You can't do this alone! I can help!”

“Don't need your help,” Alabaster answered coldly, as the mare galloped up to him. “You're never helpful, and weren't you kicked out of the academy last time I saw you?” He raised an eyebrow, and looked sideways at her, as the mare grinned sheepishly back. “Thought so.”

A pause lingered in the air, until the mare nudged Alabaster, so he grunted in disapproval. “Last time was different, and yes, I did, but so what? We're talking about Sweetnote, and she's just as much a friend to me as she is to you!” With that said, the mare poked Alabaster, so he stopped and glared daggers at her.

“... Fine, Straight Course, but this is an investigation, and we're doing it without permission. If anything goes wrong, we're on our-”

“-Our own, I got it,” Straight Course rudely interrupted, as Alabaster frowned, and they resumed their walk out of the hospital, as a stallion in a white lab-coat frowned and shook his hoof in the air at Alabaster. “So, back to my first question: Got any leads?” Straight Course asked with a smile, as her and Alabaster turned onto a dirt-road.

“Stragglers in the North, that's our lead – we go North, to the village of Barley, and we'll see what turns up there.” Alabaster paused a brief moment. “Here,” he said and gave Straight Course the picture from before. “Remember that, just in case you hear something you don't believe about me.”

Straight Course blinked in surprise at the picture, stopping a bit to look at it. Then, she craned her head back up, walked a bit behind Alabaster, until they arrived at the ticket-booth at the airship dock. “What happened in Electric Sky?” Straight Course finally asked, biting her own tongue as Alabaster didn't answer and just paid for two tickets to Barley.

TO BE CONTINUED...