'It has been but a fortnight since my initial incursion into the vast realm of electrical technology, and yet I already posses a grand feeling of mastery, the sort one might experience when he tames a wild beast or discovers a new planet; to suddenly have such control over a powerful force the very existence of which is widely unknown, even my expansive vocabulary lacks the proper words to express the sensation.

It is a bizarre field to say the least, and the sane few to whom I have expounded its intricacies have assured me that I am quite mad; but who can blame them?  It is always the mind's instinctual reaction to immediately reject any concept of such great magnitude that it warps the viewer's perspective of reality.

Looking past the shock of its existence, imagine my astonishment upon realizing the applications of the technology: self-propelled carriages, near-instantaneous long-distance communication, and even arithmetical engines capable of calculating larger, more complex functions than today's prototypical models at speeds that would put them to shame; all without magic!  And then looking farther, past all forms of science and intruding upon the realm of philosophy: if this, widely accepted as myth, was indeed true, then how many other facts and historical truths have been allowed to drift in uncertainty long enough to become the stuff of legend?

This brings an end to today's entry, as my mental faculties are thoroughly exhausted and my stamina is completely drained.

So, to the poor soul bored enough to resort to reading this, good night.

Sincerely,

-Helios Cogs'

Having signed off in his usual pessimistic manner, Cogs stowed his journal in the nearest jacket pocket and retired to his makeshift bed; a ratty thing, composed of castoff blankets and crumpled notepaper, but it was the softest spot in the basement-turned-laboratory.  And so, trying his best to get comfortable, he drifted off to sleep.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

A little over two weeks previously

The morning came as an awkward relief, staving off the nightmare that had been pursuing Cogs, while bringing upon him once again the desperate desire to enter a dormant state.  Caught between the two urges, he decided to compromise and wallow in self-pity.  He continued in this for a few minutes before leaping to his feet in reaction to the loud buzzer going off inches away from his ear.  His eyes lit up as he realized what day it was: the day he would finally start to fend for himself; the day he would set off into the wide, wonderful world; the day he would finally escape the pain and suffering of the orphanage.

His troubles had started the moment his name was decided upon, for while he had always been told that his name represented sunlight and hope, to a young one, a name is only worth as much or little attention it gets you.  Helios had had more than his fair share of beatings from the stronger residents of the orphanage, who in their boredom had found the oppression of the weak to be an enjoyable pastime, and had decided with their simple minds to pick on the one already hated by the rest due to his name.

Growing up, Cogs never had the opportunity nor need for socialization; and so, when the time came, he set out into the world alone.  He straggled the streets of the slums and soon found himself on the open road, a lonely place, devoid of life save for the occasional traveling magician.  Those so-called magicians were usually individuals who had learned some basic magic and a few parlor tricks before flunking out, and yet, despite all reason, Cogs admired them; they had no useful skills, no talents, and no work ethic, and yet they soldiered on in the face of their own worthlessness.

Cogs' fledgling train of thought derailed when he realized that it was beginning to pour.  Having led an uneducated life in an orphanage on the ground, he had rarely flown and didn't even know about Pegasi's ability to control weather, so he followed instinct and sought cover beneath a nearby tree.  Cogs noticed that the tree was alone on the road, just like him, and began to ponder the life cycle of an average tree.  Helios' thinking was once again disrupted, however, as a bolt of lightning descended and, with one quick flash, struck clean through the tree and connected with his skull.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

Helios bolted upright, the jolt of the lightning still fresh in his mind.  His attentions soon shifted, however, when he noticed an intense pain along his spine.  Being careful not to exacerbate any injuries, he looked back slowly, only to be met with a thick layer of blood-drenched bandages over what now barely resembled wings.  The sight that had greeted him was less informative than he'd hoped, but still uplifting, since he now knew that his wings had taken the brunt of the damage, leaving his spine unharmed.  He smiled in relief, only to have a dull pain from a large burn on his forehead force his expression back to neutrality.

Having ascertained the extent of his injuries, Cogs glanced around at the room he was being kept in.  It didn't look a thing like the hospital ward he had once visited, but neither did it resemble the cramped bedrooms of the orphanage.  Try as he might, he couldn't think of anything else to compare it to, save for the library he had visited a few times, but he couldn't remember what the place looked like on the inside.

Just as he was about to call out, he heard a sound from the next room, a sound so wondrous that he was sure it could rival the angelic choirs of heaven itself.

There had never been enough money for instruments at the orphanage, but that hadn't stopped Cogs from studying them whenever the orphans had trips to the library, or thinking about what they might sound like, and now it was as if all his fantasies were suddenly coming true.  The gentle strum of the lyre, the fierce vivacity of the cello, the smooth sound of the saxophone, and even the awkward stuttering of the turntable, they were all so much greater than he had imagined.

Suddenly, the music was gone, replaced by a faint chattering and the noise of approaching steps.  The two who entered the room next could only be described, in Cogs' eyes, as dazzling, though to a normal member of society they might have looked perfectly normal.  The reason for this odd discrepancy was quite simple: the two newcomers were both female.

Helios had only talked to three members of the fairer sex throughout his life: the wife of the old tyrant who ran the orphanage (practically a mother to Cogs,) a kind soul who had been merciful enough to help him walk home after he had gashed his leg one time, and finally, the egotistical traveling magician he had met on the road, the annoying sort who always speaks in the third person and prefixes their name with a title, (in this case,  'The Great and Powerful.')

Due to his social awkwardness and reclusive nature, trying to feign normal conversation with the newcomers seemed a fruitless purpose, and as the tension in his mind increased, his subconscious provided him with the simplest means of escape: fainting.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

Upon regaining consciousness, Cogs could have sworn that he had died and gone to hell, for the horned visage with blood-red eyes that seemed to stare into his very soul could hardly have belonged to any but a demon.

"He's awake!"

The voice was hardly that of a demon, but neither was it angelic, an observation by which Cogs concluded that he was still quite alive.  Though his thoughts were muddled (probably the fault of the lightning, he deduced) he still had the presence of mind to ask for the most basic information, though perhaps not enough to properly restrain his panic.

"WHO ARE YOU?  WHERE AM I?  WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?"

"Now calm it and we'll explai-"

"WHY AM I ALIVE? I TOOK A BOLT OF LIGHTNING TO THE FA-"

The yelling ceased when a hoof descended upon his burned forehead.

"Chill dude, sheesh."

Those fearsome red eyes once again stared him down as he looked to the irate albino speaking.  After the eyes, her hair was the first thing Cogs noticed, as it was dyed in duotone electric blue and gelled into a high arc over her forehead, which enthroned a pair of brilliant purple shades.

"Yeah, your head took a lightning bolt, but that doesn't give you the right to lose it."

"Excellent wordplay, Scratch"

The first words from the more somber of the two came with a great air of refinement, a stark contrast to the rather aloof attitude of the pale ruffian

"Huh?  Watcha on about, Octy?"

She sighed at her friend's cluelessness.

"Never mind.  Anyway," she turned to Cogs, "as you appear to already be aware, you have indeed been struck with a bolt of lightning, but furthermore you have also been crushed by a tree; an incident that has left your wings badly damaged.  As for your other queries, you are in the entertainers' lounge of an establishment called Spectrum, where Scratch and myself work; I'm Octavia Philharmonica by the way."

Cogs examined Octavia, noting her dark-grey mane and pink bow tie, good complements to her coat and eyes.  After he had finished staring, he let his gaze wander down to his back hooves where it stayed for a few moments, during which the gap in conversation morphed into an awkward silence.

"In polite society, one telling you their name is generally understood as a prompt for you telling them yours."

His face reddened when he realized that he had just been impolite.

"Oh, sorry about that; I'm Cogs."

"Hey Coggles, I'm Scratch!"

Octavia shot her a look.

"I mean, um, hello Mister Cogs!  I'm Vinyl Scratch, but you can just call me Scratch."

Octavia nodded in approval before continuing the conversation:

"So, Cogs, what's your last name?  Or if that is your last name, what is your first?"

"Yeah, it's my last name, my first is Helios."

The sentence escaped his lips just as a third entertainer entered the room, who immediately winked to the space in front him.

"Did you say your name is Helios?  That's such an awesome name!  Did you know that Helios is the name of the ancient Greek god who raised the sun and guided it across the sky every day?  He's a character from human mythology so it's really weird to see a pony with his name.  You know, I think that-"

Her rambling was brought to a halt when Scratch clamped her jaw shut.

"Yeah, Lyra, it's a really cool name, and it's the name that belongs to the dude lying on our couch, injured."

She stressed the last word, with enough emphasis to clearly communicate her intentions even to the one-track-minded Lyra.

Cogs hadn't been paying much attention to the speech of those around him, and had instead been examining the newcomer.  She was probably the oddest of the group, with jagged mint green hair striped with white, and amber eyes.  As soon as she realized he was staring at her, rather than feel uncomfortable, she returned the gaze with a the kind of stare one sees in nightmares.

Cogs' discomfort was once again heightening, but he was spared when the final member of the entertainers' quartet entered the room.  Cogs once again shifted his focus, practically dissecting the fourth stranger with his eyes.  In addition to his noticeably thick indigo hair, he possessed a rather depressed look, much like the one Cogs wore from time to time, except in the former's case it appeared to have been indelibly etched into his face.

"C'mon all, he needs his rest so leave him alone already."

Octavia spoke up in response:

"Just because your first instinct is to shun all interaction with anything animate does not mean that the same goes for all members of your sex, Noteworthy."

"Actually, I think we should leave him alone, Octy.  He does look pretty beat."

She looked back to Cogs, who was practically cowering at the end of the couch.

"Upon closer examination of the issue, I do believe you're right, Scratch; and once again brilliant wordplay with the double meaning there."

Scratch rolled her eyes.

"Still got no idea what you're talkin' about, Octy."

With that, the entertainers left the room, leaving Cogs to ponder the events of the day, the most fascinating of which, in his opinion, had been the sensation of the lightning coursing through his body and diffusing into the ground.  He made a mental note that as soon as he got better, he should try to demystify exactly what lightning was.