Violet Skies

by Fluttersnake31

Chapter 3 - And So It Begins

And So It Begins

The theater was busier than Violet expected, with at least sixty ponies showing up for the dance, not including about two dozen or so highly known nobles and business ponies that had arrived. As she found a nice spot to sit down, wishing she'd thought to invite one of her friends. Violet was rather terrible at keeping in touch with her friends though, as she had always put school and work first. None of them probably would be free anyways, she'd think to herself.

A couple minutes of pony-watching passed by and she soon started to become bored, standing and stretching her legs a bit. Wandering over to the main drink bar, she sat down and ordered a juice. She wasn't much for any sort of alcoholic beverages, so juice was always her go-to drink. A lone unicorn stallion sat beside her, dressed in an expensive looking suit. He turned to her and smiled, setting down his drink.

"That's quite an eye-catching dress. I'd probably say one of the best ones here."

Violet smiled back, she hadn't expected to get attention so soon. "Oh, thanks. It was sort of a gift, from my boss's co-worker. It really is nice isn't it?"

The dark yellow-coated stallion nodded with a light chuckle, "You must be quite the employee. It does look quite beautiful on you. May I ask where you work? I'm sure you must have a lovely profession."

With a blush at his statement, she then just shrugged upon the question about her employ. "Oh, well, my job isn't that amazing. I just work at the Weather Factory in Cloudsdale. It's actually not as exciting or 'lovely' as one may think. In my opinion, it's rather boring. Things might start to pick up soon though, with the addition of a new assistant manager." Violet smiled softly.

"You work at the Weather Factory? Where the weather team suits are built?" he'd ask, seeming much more interested in the conversation now.

Violet laughed and rolled her eyes, "Well, I just said that, yeah. But those suits aren't actually built at the weather factory, they are imported from a company that builds the base suit. When they're sent to us, they go directly to a specific department where all the cloud clearing tech is installed. I really don't know what else happens after that, I don't work in anything close to those departments. I suppose they just get deployed to individual weather teams across Equestria."

The unicorn nodded and sighed. "I see. So, if not in that department, what exactly do you do?"

"Well, my job really isn't super important, just a... cloud maker. I make simple clouds." she'd lie. Saying that she works in the weapons department could make things a bit awkward, she thought. What if he was some sort of pacifist or something? It could ruin her chance of getting to know him, and she was liking him a bit too. "What do you do? Oh, and my name's Violet. What is yours?"

He smiled, shrugging and brushing back his medium-length golden mane. "Well, cloud-making sounds very important, even if it might be something overlooked by today's technology. My name is Golden Olive. I run a pretty large vineyard near Las Pegasus. We, as in me and my dog, moved to Canterlot a number of months ago. A large portion of my family live here in Canterlot, so I returned after my brother passed away. Recently, I've been thinking about building another vineyard a little closer to home, you know?"

Violet recognized that name. One of her father's favorite wines were made by his vineyard. Wow, he must have a good amount of bits! She smiled excitedly, "My father loves the wines you produce. I didn't think I would meet the owner of that vineyard. Sorry to hear about your brother though. Canterlot has gotten so bad since the big technological boom. It's crazy how much things can change in six years."

Golden sighed again. "Yes, it is much more hectic here since I came back. It's as if the princesses don't care about this city anymore. The only thing they care about is expanding Equestria's borders. Their focus just isn't harmony anymore. For example," he turned towards the center of the theater where ponies danced away, "these rediculous parties are thrown for no real reason. I believe they are distractions so ponies don't have to see what is really happening to this city."

Violet glanced out to the ponies. "Distracting them? From what? What is really happening to this city?"

"I don't really know yet." was all the stallion said, turning back around in his seat and finishing his drink. His horn randomly started to lightly glow, causing him to glance up and touch it with his hoof, fizzing out the magic aura. "I think i'm going to take off. It was really nice to meet you Violet. I hope to see you again some time."

Confused, Violet stood. "You're leaving already? We only just started talking. I was hoping you'd stay for a while, I don't really know anypony else here."

Golden stood as well and only smiled. "I realized I'm late for something, and I really must leave. It really was a pleasure to meet you. Goodbye for now, Violet." he said as he began to wander off.

Violet sat in her seat for several moments. She had wanted at least one dance tonight, and she really didn't feel like finding somepony she didn't know to introduce again. Sighing, she turned back to her drink to finish it off. 'What an odd pony. It'll be an interesting thing to tell my dad though. He'll probably make some joke about me not asking him for a date. It's been so long since I ever went on one...'

Another half an hour or so passed by before she finally decided to just go home. She had tried talking to another stallion, but he was only interested in talking about some weird hat collection of his. Violet had to excuse herself from that nonsense, it was such an uninteresting topic and he talked really fast, something that was a slight pet peeve of hers and reminded her of that pink friend of Rainbow Dash's. It was night when she'd left, but the walk wouldn't be too far. At least the streetlamps lit up the roads. The air was cool and there was a slight breeze, the sky lit with the moon and stars. She could see Canterlot Castle looming over the edge of the city in the distance. With the angle of the moon's light, the castle looked so lonely on the mountain side. From what she's heard, the princesses don't hardly ever stay there anymore, preferring to live in the Crystal Empire. Northern Equestria was not so much of a icy wasteland anymore, and rumors went around on plans of moving the capital high up into the Frozen North once the snowfields are fully melted by what was essentially an army of weather ponies and equipment.

Violet was about halfway home when the street lamps seemed to cut off. Something didn't feel right. The ground started to shake softly, followed by a loud crashing that sounded like a building being crushed or ripped apart. She was in a more industrial part of Canterlot, as she usually would cut through to reach her house quicker. After a few more quakes and what sounded like something large taking steps, she turned to look down a road to her left that led to some sort of storage facilities. One of the buildings had a hole in the side and some sort of large beast or rather, when she got a better look after hiding behind an empty carriage, a large machine that looked quite similar to the mechs used by the Weather Corporation to help clear the northern snowfields. The thought came to her, what if they were made by the same company?

Her thought quickly was replaced by fear, as it turned towards her. Violet wouldn't even see a group of ponies exiting the building and surrounding the machine that stood almost as tall as a small house. Noticing they were also in suits similar to the weather clearing ones, she just hid there unable to move as she saw them start to escort it down the road. It was a good two blocks away, but she knew they would see her when they got closer. She quickly looked around for any sign of another pony to call out to, but the whole area was empty. There was a significant increase in ponies at the party since she got there, but was there really nopony nearby? The machine was half a block closer now, and they were moving quickly. Not knowing what else to do, she crawled underneath the carriage. This wasn't any sort of situation she'd ever imagine herself get into.

When the entourage came to the intersection, they clearly saw the hiding mare, two of the suited ponies quickly ran to the carriage, both of them shoving it to the side, revealing the mare. Violet shook in fear, as she knew that these ponies could be dangerous. Her father wouldn't ever mention anything out right, but he had always implied that there were very bad ponies out there in the streets. Opening her eyes, she lit her horn and fired a flare into the sky with her magic, quickly trying to dash away from the two bulky pegasai in metal suits as fast as she could. She wouldn't get far before they caught up to her and held her in place. Another of the pegasai standing beside the larger mech walked up to her and smiled.

"You picked the worst day to be on the streets. Why is this little unicorn leaving the dance so early? Boyfriend break up with you or somethin'?" the stallion asked, laughing at her and looking over her fancy dress. "I bet you're rich. Maybe we'll take you with us and see if we can't get some money in trade of ya'?"

Violet struggled in the other two ponies' grips. These suits were very different than what the Weather Corporation uses, seeming to be armed with real armor and weaponry. It seemed to enhance their strength too as she realized she could barely move. "In a few moments, the guards will be here to stop whatever you're doing!" she'd say loudly, but with a much more nervous and shaky voice than she'd intended.

The stallion laughed even louder, "The cops can't stop us. We're not just some low time thieves. A new Equestria is coming."

Closing her eyes and focusing, she lit her horn. The stallion stopped laughing, unsure of what she was trying. Suddenly, from her horn she created a cloud around them. The confused pegasai dropped her and stepped out of the cloud, giving her a chance to try and sprint away. Cursing herself for not being very good of a runner, her escape was short-lived as they caught up and pinned her down to the ground.

"Nice little trick, show pony, but we're pegasai. Clouds won't stop us, and now you're gonna' take a little nap." the pegasus would say before Violet saw him raise his hoof in the air. She closed her eyes and winced. There was a loud smack and she was knocked unconscious.