The first part of Soul's travel vacation plan was a quick trip to Canterlot. For the first time in her life, Soul didn't need to worry about running short on money or never having enough of it; dumping another group of diamonds into Royal Canterlot Gem Exchange turned out to be a great way to obtain some quick funds, even if the diamonds were received through ill-gotten means. It wasn’t her fault that ponies harvested their gems through mines or rock farms, but it gave her an excuse to do two last pieces of business before heading off.
The first and easiest way to travel was the purchasing of a luxury carriage. It was a two bedroom, one unicorn enchanted bathroom with the necessities, which in this case was a sink, shower, and a toilet. It was less a mode of transport and more of a recreational vehicle for the wealthy and very bored. Since this was now hers, Soul had a method of transport that not only would add to her stage presence when she visited Las Pegasus, but she also had what could easily be added as a deductible for company transportation.
The next thing was going to be the hardest on her, but was the most important. Asset, the unicorn Soul had added as a retainer and was now paying handsomely for his help, had spent the last five months getting in touch with his contacts to help Soul get her business off the ground. Through these added connections, Soul added a few calls to contacts list, and the business that she brought them in the guise of Aurora Shard springboarded her wealth, and soon her business was not only off the ground, but well underway. She had already started the construction of a power plant with a series of MBs large enough to power all of Canterlot and Ponyville located just out side of Canterlot. There was also another one being built near Fillydelphia to power up Manehattan and Baltimare, and others were being scheduled near heavy technology hubs and major cities.
This, along with the attachments to make sure everything worked at a cheap price, ensured that she’d get massive amounts of bits in the long term, especially with her PR advisor Doctor Spin helping her make everything as psychologically priming as possible for the masses. On top of her other ventures, she was glad that she was able to get technicians, contractors, and a strong work force as quickly as she was. And, best of all, in one week everything would be finished. All the newspapers were spreading stories about the benefits of her company, magazines were lading her companies creations and charitable nature, and most of all her funding of various movers and shakers had done miracles to spread the word of her company and stirred anticipation amongst ponies who followed the various multimedia outlets.
It was this series of events that led her to meet all of her top tier management ponies, as well as her lawyer and PR advisor in a private conference room in a Canterlot hotel. Making sure that all her employees were comfortable and had drinks to last the length of this conversation, "Aurora Shard" began her speech.
“Hello, my esteemed colleagues. I have brought you here for a very important meeting. We have spread knowledge of our creations throughout Equestria, and are on the cusp of being in every household in Equestria. If our financial advances continue as they have, we will be as successful if not more so than Rich Enterprises before very long.” This was met with a round of applause.
“Now, how many of you have wondered how a Pegasus like myself can create such marvelous pieces of MagiTech?”
Everypony lifted their hooves up to this, and an atmosphere of anticipation arose at the connotation of her question. “I’m going to let you in on a little trade secret.”
With that, she performed a simple levitation spell onto her colleagues before her, lifting them with her right forehoof. “You Unicorns can sense that the magic gripping you all is the coming from myself. Before you say that it’s impossible, know that it is very much a scientific possibility, and I couldn’t have made as much as I have if I wasn’t able to think outside the box.”
She placed them back down, and patiently waited for the confusion in the air to subside. It was Doctor Spin who spoke first. He was a Light blue earth pony, with a grey mane, tail, and eyes, who was well known for turning a profit and manipulating public image for whomever he was hired to help, “Do you know how famous you could be if you were to come out in the open, Aurora? The world’s first magic using Pegasus! You’d be instantly famous.”
“No! Not yet. I want my company to spread throughout all of Equestria before I go to the Princess herself and show her. I think it would be more perfect that way.”
“But why wait?”
“Simple. I was laughed out of her school by her examiners, and I’ve known Unicorns who get hostile over the mere thought of a magic wielding Pegasus. So if I wait until Equestria becomes dependent on my technology, the impact when I come out will be more impacting.”
Spin was stumped. “... I guess you are technically correct. That also gives me time to shape and model your image and the image of your daughter to ensure that you have the best public image possible. This is a PR advisor’s dream.”
It was a short talk later that two of her unicorn business managers left her company with a legal gag order still in effect on them. It wasn't too much of a loss, though; she easily sent out feelers to replace them, gathering some coupons as well as business cards.
It wasn't too long before Soul had grown bored of the gathering, and after bidding her colleagues a respectful farewell, she left for Canterlot. It was time for her vacation.
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It was a long ride to Las Pegasus. Originally it was a Pegasi city like Cloudsdale, but it had grown into a ground-based casino town over the last few decades. It was given the nickname “The city that ever sleeps”, and it was well deserving of the title; its clubs, street performers, restaurants, and numerous casinos made sure that the name was accurate. It was a city where fortunes were gained and lost.
Hours later, Soul was finally was set up. She had met some management that would allow "Aurora Shard’s daughter" to do a short show infront of their business, in a way that wouldn’t fleece her from what profits she would make. All it would cost Soul is some investment in company advertising and a promise that her next business venture would be with them. All in all, it was an extremely easy business transaction on her end. Especially since she’d be using them for advertising and a small show of ‘magic’.
Although calling it "magic" was stretching it slightly. She had a number of enchanted items that would mimic spells, as well a few slight of hoof and wing tricks. It was essentially only to cause a good show and to get a crowd going before the big finale. It was with this that she found herself in front of a large crowd of ponies of all the races, getting ready to preform as “The Amazing Soul, The world’s first magical pegasus!” It was a good way to showcase her magic, while at the same time playing to the prejudice that pegasi can’t do magic. She used magic in a way that made it appear that she wasn't, and was simply doing fun, flashy parlor tricks.
It was a tactic of money making Soul considered when she first started training and was worrying about how she would earn the money to get her business of the ground. Now she would have the funding to do whatever she needed to get done.
And all she’d need to do is oversee research and development, ensure a stable work environment, and look over reports from time to time. The show was no longer a necessity; it was a fun way to bring attention to her company, an attention getter that Soul decided to perform at nightfall.
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Lightning Flicker was a Pegasus colt with a tan coat, a dark brown mane, and the most piercing, ultramarine eyes you have ever seen. He was a blank flank, a fact that had been a cause of strife for him as he matured. Pegasi were naturally more militaristic than the other races, and they had a nasty habit of attacking anything they saw as weak to cull the flock. This meant that he was constantly harassed and assaulted by his peers.
His home life was even worse. While his mother was a kind and gentle soul, his father was a drunk who was prone to go into a violent, drunken rage, after which he would always apologize and promise that it wouldn’t happen again. His mother, ever trusting and in love, would forgive him... even when he got drunk the very next day. His father's drinking even continued well into his mother's sickness, which came out of seemingly nowhere, and ate away at her health at an alarming rate
As the weeks passed and medical bills skyrocketed, Lightning spiraled even further downward. It was a year after his first suicide attempt that he decided to try to get help... from the only person who truly cared.
“Mommy, I have something I need to tell you.” He asked hesitantly.
“What is it, Flicky?” She asked, her eyes drooping from the medications they had her on. Her browning wings weakly tryed to hug her son, but only managed to feebly drape across his back.
“The kids at flight school have been bullying me, Mom. I'm the smallest one in the class, and I'm a blank flank. I don’t know what to do anymore. The instructors ignore my attempts at getting them to help, and I just want it to stop!”
She managed to get the words "I'm sorry, baby" out before her body was wracked by a coughing fit. “Don’t let their words get to you. And I’m sure if you try harder, the instructors would be able to help. As for your Cutie Mark, it’ll come in time. When it does, I’m sure it will be wonderful.”
“But I have tried, I have tried hard but nothing I do seems to work.” he cried into his mother's chest.
“I’m sorry, son, but there’s nothing I can do. Just... I’m sure everything will work out sooner or later.” The medication was taking over, and she fell asleep, her wing still draped over her son.
After a while, Lightning heard his father stumble into the house, his drunken, incomprehensible muttering being more than audible, albeit muffled. Eventually he heard him more clearly. although he'd rather have stayed blissfully unaware of his father's words.
“Where are you!? You piece of trash? You know everything that’s happening is your fault! If you weren’t so useless, your mother and I wouldn’t be in this mess! Come out here, you rotting cart of horse apples! I want to talk to you!” The yelling was steadily growing more and more louder as his father’s ranting grew louder. In his drunken state, Lightning Flicker knew his father was unreasonable and illogical, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was when his father got this way, Lightning Flicker was going to end up hurt for any reason his fault or not.
He wiggled out from under his mother’s wings and tried hiding under the bed. He heard his father slam open all the doors in the house and the crashing sounds of objects being thrown around as his father searched for him. Eventually the drunken stumbling came to their room.
He watched as his father open their closet and threw everything out yelling for Lightning Flicker to come out or he’d be sorry. But he knew that it was pointless; he’d be hurt either way. And from the sound his father was making, the shit had hit the fan, and for whatever reason he was the target of his father’s wrath.
He let loose a scream as his father looked under the bed and spotted him. Flipping the bed and causing his mother to slam into the night table. The pegasus felt the grip around his neck as his father began berating him with his alcohol-scented words.
“I TOLD YOU TO COME TO ME! IT’S YOUR FAULT I LOST MY JOB, AND YOUR MOTHER’S MEDICAL BILLS ARE SO HIGH!"
Lightning had no choice but to accept the verbal abuse, and thank Celestia that verbal abuse was all he was recieving.
"You know you were a mistake, right? That the only reason you're here is because of a faulty condom? You've been taking away my dreams and future since you came into this world, and I've had to carry that weight around wherever I go! I'm stuck here with a sick wife and a wuss of a son that can't even stand up for himself and can't even find the meaning to his existence."
Fire was building up in Lightning's very being. No logical, innocent being in all of Equestria should have to deal with the asinine things I've had to. The only person in this world that loves me is close to death, and the only other person that even acknowledges my existence is about to beat me within an inch of my life.
"You think you're so powerful, don't you?" Lightning said before he could stop himself.
His dad dropped him and recoiled from sheer shock. "You mind running that by me again, son?"
Lightning tried to deny he ever said anything, but when he opened his mouth to speak, the words that came from him were not the ones of his choosing. They were fueled by the rage he'd experienced since the world tipped on its side and he was crushed by everything and everyone around him.
"Sure. You think you're so powerful, don't you Dad? You think that just because I'm the product of a mistake, that gives you the excuse to treat me like one? You are the mistake, Dad; everything you've ever done, everything you've ever decided to be is a mistake. It's your fault you're jobless, it's your fault you have no money, and it's definitely not my fault your life amounts to nothing. You are to be held accountable for everything you've done, said, and become. You make an ass of yourself, you are an ass, simple as that. I have made more of myself in my eight years of existence than you have in your entire life.
In as simple an explanation as you will understand, Dad: I will not be a stain on Equestria's existence like you have."
Lightning didn't act surprised by the beating he received for his smarting off, nor was he surprised by its intensity. He expected everything his dad said, everything his dad did, and every scrape and bruise he received.
He didn't let his smile down, though, because it was the last remnant of the one time he stood up to his father, and the last artifact of satisfaction he received from it.
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The medicals bills piled on top of Lightning Flicker's family were less than manageable, and the lack of funds in Lightning Flicker's family had led his father to Las Pegasus. As with many ponies, desperation and the promise of quick wealth, from which the city had gained its notoriety, had attracted Lightning's father like a moth to a lightbulb. And, as with all others driven by despiration, his dreams were crushed by lack of planning and foresight.
So it was on the night of his father’s decadent, greed-fueled escapades that Lightning Flicker found himself laying alone in his room, staring at the ceiling listening to the only music he felt truly at home with: Avenged Ponyfold. His day had progressed slowly, himself doing nothing but listening to music and playing guitar as he waited to see if his father won enough bits to cover the hospital costs.
Even through the music assaulting his eardrums, Lightning Flicker heard the door slam. He could hear the drunken mumbling through the thin walls of the hotel room.
“Damn it! I lost everything! EVERYTHING! And it’s all that damn kids’ fault! If it wasn’t for that waste of space I would have had more money to gamble, but NO! I had to use the deed to our house, our savings, EVERYTHING!
"Now Lightning Ficker, I'm giving you to the count of ten to get the hell out of this place. IF YOU DON’T, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA I’LL KILL YOUR SORRY HIDE!
He had heard his father drunk and angry before, but this was a new level of rage. They had lost everything they owned, and his father had never threatened to kill him before. Usually he was beaten to the point of hospitalization, but to know that his life was going to end at his father’s hooves was something he had never considered. Hanging, even a drug over dose. That was one thing, but he knew how painful his father’s beatings when he wasn’t trying to kill him were, and he had no intention to stick around and find out what they felt like with the proper motivation. Although he loved his mother, and was sad to leave her, she couldn’t protect him. She never did.
One of the things about being in a ground based city built with Pegasi in mind was that windows and balconies were not only easily accessible, but hassle free as well. This meant that Lightning Flicker was able to blast out of the hotel room like a bat out of Tartarus. Even though he was constantly bullied in school, one of the things he prided himself on was his strong wings and natural flying ability. As he zipped through the air, fueled by adrenalin and unadulterated fear, his sense of time deteriorated into nothing. Whether minutes or hours passed, everything blurred as he worked on getting away as fast as possible.
Eventually he found sanctuary. Some Pegasus filly doing magic tricks in front of a large crowd had left a door wide open for her carriage. He stumbled into carriage, trying desperately to catch his breathe as the recent events took their toll on him. He laid down on the carriage's bed, trying to find peace in the situation, the dull roar of crowd shouting ringing in his head as darkness quickly engulfed him.
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Soul Shard wrapped up the show by handing out coupons for Shard Industries; the best way to get business was to stir interest and play to the populace's innate desire to spend as little as possible. As for the money she made, it was good thing that this was a vacation and not an actual money making venture.
The only measurable boost to her company's name came near the end of her performance. Just as she was doing her last “trick," sending sounds throughout the crowd, she made the franchise easy to "discover." It was interesting to show them her WSS, acronymous for wireless sound system. By having a series of synchronized transmitters and receivers, she could send specialized data over distances depending on the transmitter. In this case it was sound from a microphone, poorly hidden in her cloak. It was a big enough novelty compared to wire stereos that it brought her some decent revenue.
But the real big thing that night happened just as she was finishing up. A drunken Pegasus crashed her audience, and was yelling things to the crowd so vulgar, even a Las Pegasus showmare would blush upon hearing them.
“Where are you, You piece of trash?!" He hollered through the oohs and ahs of the crowd. "Anyone here seen my son? He needs to act like a stallion and take what’s coming for him! You HEAR ME, FLICKY?! I WILL END YOUR MISERABLE LIFE!"
Soul tried to maintain a calm, collected demeanor, but that was easier said than done when dealing with a shitfaced dirt-mouth. “HEY! Sir! There is no reason to threaten a young colt, especially when you're blood-related to him! If you stay still I promise to not force you down.”
“Listen, you two-bit rotten whorse!" He yelled up to the stage. "I brought him into this world and I'll be damned if I let you keep me from taking him out. IF SOME LITTLE HUSSY IS GOING TO SHOVE HER MUZZLE IN MY BUSINESS, I CAN END YOU TOO!” He shouted, the crowd becoming increasingly angry at the notion of him killing his own kid.
Soul was impressed the drunken mess could even locate the source of her voice from how "out of it" he appeared. The crowd stood half circle around the belligerent pegasus as he decided that, like the genius he was, he’d drunkenly rush the stage.
Needless to say, it was the second-stupidest decision he'd made that day, second only to threatening his son with death. Sending a blast of Lighting from her forehooves, she blasted him off the stage. He landed with a loud thud on the grass before him before slumping over, rendered unconscious from the force of the spell. The crowd cheered loudly, more from their innate love of justice than their love for violence. Some of the crowd managed to descend on the alcoholic, landing quite a few heavy blows before the security broke the fight up.
By the time they got to him, he was badly bruised. Regardless, though, his threats against a street performer and an unknown child were enough to get Soul off scot-free under self-defense. When asked about her parents' whereabouts, She told them that she was sent by her mother to stir up business in Las Pegasus and was deemed old enough by her family to live on her own. Other than the mother part, this was truth enough to pull off. Several hours and a few interrogations later, she had her drivers take her out of Las Pegasus. Having been escorted to the station and back, she hadn’t the time to do anything other than place her various tech in the side compartment and close the door.
Now that she was actually inside she found a curious sight before her. She saw a brown Pegasus colt wrapped up in Friend snoring softly. Soul thought about waking him up and asking about who he was, and what he was doing in her carriage. But she didn't need to; she could put two and two together and answer both of those questions.
She had a lightbulb-worthy idea, though, before she settled down completely in her seat. "When this new pony wakes up, we’ll see what he’s about. Then I’ll either send him to where he needs to go, or he can work for me."
She could always use new assistants, after all.
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The pegasus in her bed finally awoke the next morning.
"Now listen," Soul said, once they were on good terms with each other. "I don't know who you are, and I'm not going to just kick you to the curb. But I want to know who you are and why you're in my wagon. If it's too painful to explain fully, I’ll understand, just tell me what you can."
"I could ask the same to you." The colt before her said, as nicely as he could while battling the morning's fatigue. "Who are you, exactly?"
"I'm Soul Shard. You are in my wagon. I found you in my bed snoring, and you looked too tired and peaceful to wake up. I'm going to ask once more: who are you, and why are you in my wagon?"
Lightning wasn't an idiot; he could put two and two together, and he figured out exactly who "Soul" was pretty quickly. He had many questions about how she did her magic, but he held his tongue about it until the formalities were out of the way. "Well, my name is Lightning Flicker, and I'm in your wagon because I had nowhere else to go... my dad was about to kick my ass, Soul, if not worse."
Heaving a sigh, Soul Shard gave the pegasus a compassionate look that she hoped would put him at ease, "You don't have anything to fear here, Lightning; I won't kick you to the curb, and I know what it's like to have nowhere to go. I'll strike a deal with you, if you're interested in it."
Lightning Flicker looked at her suspiciously; years of torment from his father as well as his peers at school taught him not to trust ponies on a whim. "What deal?"
She gave a light smile. "Easy. Help me around my place. Nothing to hard, simply help me keep the place looking nice. I only have three rules to it, and none of them are hard to abide by: no touching my inventions or equipment without asking first. Second, If you want any money you have to work for it. I won't make you do anything you aren't comfortable doing, but nothing in life is free. And last of all, and perhaps the most important: be honest with me. If you are honest with me I can help, if you aren't, I simply won't be able to. That doesn't mean tell me everything, but don't lie outright. If you can follow those rules, and that deal sounds good to you, then you have a place with me. So what do you say?"
It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that Lightning Flicker was ecstatic about the deal. Soul couldn't exactly blame him for it, either; if that melting pot of alcohol she had to deal with was her father, she'd take the first chance to leave him too.
"So, Soul... why are you here, exactly?" Lightning Flicker asked, before quickly retracting his words. "I mean, how can you do... the stuff you did out there? You're the magical pegasus, if my memories serves me right."
Soul sighed. "It's quite a long story, Lightning. It'd take a while to explain, and I'd get into some things that would baffle the everypony. Don't be offended, it just takes a while to learn what is necessary to understand."
Lightning simply laughed to show that he wasn't hurt. "Nah, I get it, Soul. Besides, I'm probably not smart enough to learn half of the stuff you have."
"Oh horse apples, Lightning." Soul said reassuringly. "You're probably plenty smart. After all, the only reason I'm as smart as I am is because the only company I had, with the exception of my blanket and the Mare in the Moon, were my books. That and I've spent my entire life doing nothing but training, inventing, and trying to become better than I am."
Soul leaned back, surprisingly comfortable with the company of the pegasus adjacent to her. "What do you like doing anyway, Lightning?"
"It'd take a while to explain everything, Soul. You get into a lot of hobbies when you have a family as... well, batshit crazy as mine. I have a certain affinity for the guitar, if that's the type of answer you're looking for."
It didn't take long for Soul's guitar to be introduced to Lightning Flicker. Lightning held the guitar in his hooves and got a feel for it, but surprised Soul by just handing it right back to Soul after acknowledging how cool it was and how good it felt.
"Don't you want to play it? I gave it to you so you could show me how good you were."
Lightning just sighed, and he appeared a bit hurt. "It's just... I don't think I'm really good enough for that."
"What would make you think that, Lightning Flicker? You said you had an affinity for it, and you're surely better than I ever will be! I used booksmarts to make the guitar, now use your emotions and skills to put it to good use!"
It seemed to take forever for Lightning to build up the willpower to show Soul his skills, but what Soul heard and witnessed that day was worth all the time in the world.
Soul Shard would watch him entranced. Memories of what Vinyl told her flooded through her. And she knew that it was true. The sounds coming from the guitar seemed skillful yet emotional, they seemed deep, and obviously came from somewhere deep inside. The notes evoked emotion from a place Soul didn't even know she had.
The climax of the piece finally came and went, and the guitar was silent once more. Soul felt speechless, as if every emotion portrayed in the guitar's beautiful rhythms and melodies had been sucked right out of her by the beauty of the guitar and the virtuoso playing it.
"If you'd like it's yours."
"R...really? Mine? Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" Lightning Flicker said, marvelling at the natural beauty of the guitar that was now in his possession.
"No, thank you! Your guitar skills are phenomenal, you must have been playing since you could physically hold it! How old are you?”
"I'm eight. What about you, Soul?"
"Same, actually!" she said with a grin on her face.
There was an aura of awkwardness in the carriage as both pegasi found themselves rendered speechless by the other.
"So... are we friends now?" Soul finally said, having finally found something to say.
"I... guess so? I've never had many friends other than my mother and my guitar, so this is an entirely new concept to me."
Neither of the two knew it, but both of them found the concept of a friendship entirely awkward.
But it was a warm, fuzzy feeling that neither of them wanted to deny.