It was the age of industrialisation. New resources were found and with that, new materials and methods of production were also discovered. Coal was favoured for its efficiency as fuel and the production of iron becoming more prevalent. Machines too were increasingly taken up as tools, especially for the factory line; several Ponies now worked away with the aid of the mechanical hands of the factories. Together, in the great brick-stone buildings, they became the churning organs of mass labour.
Metals weren’t the only things to have made it to mass production either. Woven fabrics could now be brought out – literally – by the truckload as mills grew in their numbers alongside the factories. This was certainly helped by the increased gathering of materials like cotton, thanks to the development of new machines, built from the very metal parts that had been smelted in the newly increasing factories. In the mills, other mechanical devices spun and wove were able to carry out greater workloads in a single day than several Ponies ever could by slaving away for a whole week, or perhaps even a month.
There was one major development from this golden age of machinery that spanned to even some of the smallest settlements across the nation; the steam engine and the railway. This revolutionised travel for just about all of Equestria; Ponies could go on journeys from small town to big cities, and vice versa, miles apart, in a much shorter amount of time than they would have ever previously dreamed! The railroads also allowed a means to transport resources, materials and machines, becoming the heart and lifeblood of this industrial revolution.
The growing abundance in such machinery, however, still mainly took place within parts of Equestria. Industrialisation especially grew in major cities closer to the north and northeastern parts of the nation from Manehatten to Neighcastle. These cities stood like dull iron colossi, surrounded by the country green. Birminghoof was one such giant.
Though part of the city where most of the factories and mills had been built, a wide river flowed though Birminghoof. In addition to the railways, this river allowed Birminghoof to thrive in its industrialisation. This river, lined with the city docks, had helped the city with its exports in the past. With the railway however, the factory and mill owners of Birminghoof could sell their merchandise to towns and cities beyond the river’s course, with a good deal of speed and efficiency.
Due to the notable number of factory buildings around the city docks, most of the clouds in the skies around the area made way for the dense, grey billowing trails of smoke that emerged from the chimneys. The dreary change in tone and colour of the sky around this part of Birminghoof, as well as the increased number of Ponies prone to coughing fits, had earned the region the rather bleak title, “Blight Streets”.
The name of the Blight Streets were often brought up by small, though rarely ignored, groups of anti-industrialist Ponies. These groups may have consisted of Ponies who were country-folk, farmers insecure about their own place in an industry that making more and more space for self-acting machinery. Some members were small business craftsponies who had been, one way or another, made redundant by the mechanisation of their trade. Other Ponies of the movement simply felt that such machines put integrity at risk, not necessarily opposing the introduction of new machinery altogether. Rather, they dreaded the possibility that these machines encouraged the employment of lesser-skilled workers and the production of inferior stock for the sake of reduced labour costs. Their position against the mechanised industry was often expressed through organising public protests. Some Ponies, however, carried out their protests in the form of sabotage. With the aid of disenfranchised workers, the more aggressive activists would break into the mills and damage the machines – the looms, the stocking frames and spinning frames – to make them inoperable, or even outright destroy them. Although relatively rare, the machine breaking gained enough attention to raise concern for public unrest among the city populations, especially in Birminghoof where it occurred most frequently.
Equestria’s ruler, Princess Celestia herself, eventually passed a law that determined such sabotage to be acts of criminal damage, punishable by banishment – any Pony found guilty of machine breaking was to never be allowed to enter the city in which they committed their crime ever again. This proved effective in virtually bringing down the number of machine breaking entirely; the members of the anti-industrialists who engaged in and encouraged such acts mostly ended up choosing to move out of the cities, settling far into the countryside. They all left with the bitter taste of resentment in their mouths.
Despite the stigma that was sometimes brought on by the title of the Blight Streets, some of the Ponies who owned the mills and factories of Birminghoof actually grew comfortable with it. It left an impression that the billowing smoke of their establishments helped them claim ownership over an area that was, fundamentally, a crucial investment of theirs.
One such Pony so boldly took to this to the extent of naming his own mill Blight Mill. His name was named Carbon Skies.
He was a Pegasus with a dark, navy-blue fur coat. His physique gave him a strong appearance, but one that was more lean than muscular. He also possessed a stature matching the boldness of his ambitions. In his youth, Carbon Skies’ mane was a pristine white that shimmered in the sunlight to reveal, again, a shade of blue, one that seemed to match the brightness of the clear morning sky. By the time Carbon Skies claimed ownership to one of the most prolific mills of the entire city, his mane had developed multiple shades of grey. His ambitions never declined with age. Rather, they became refined as he grew more and more from his experiences in the business to the point that he could be confident that Blight Mill exceeded the quota of every other mill in all of Birminghoof. Carbon Skies’ confidence in his abilities in the trade may have been founded on the mark on his flank, a gold coin with wings enveloped around it, which he proudly displayed as an insignia to his business.
Carbon Skies not only made it well in the production of fabrics but also in the sales of the various products that can be made from such materials. Aside from exporting his fabrics to other towns and cities of Equestria, in Birminghoof, he owned a good number of stores that specialised in the assorted clothing – like shirts, suits and dresses – as made by highly skilled tailors, who worked with the very materials produced in Blight Mill.
‘Miss Cheerilee!’ One of the foals called out. It was Applebloom. ‘I thought you were going to talk to us about Rosy Bliss. Who is Carbon Skies?’
Cheerilee smiled at the foal and answered, ‘Well Applebloom, Carbon Skies was Rosy Bliss’ father.’
‘Did he make the Storyloom?’ another foal asked.
‘No, he didn’t. Even so, one could argue that he played an important part in the Storyloom’s existence. Before we talk more about that however, it’s important to understand the family that Rosy Bliss came from.’
‘So what about Rosy Bliss’ mother?’ Applebloom spoke up again, ‘Who was she?’