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‘Crystal’ is a funny name.
It’s funny in the way that you might go ‘heh’ for about half of a second, and then forget about it completely. Except I can’t forget about it, because Crystal just so happens to be my name.
But before that, let me explain why it’s such a frustration.
Most of the ponies in Canterlot possess some kind of Cutie Mark. That’s a given; ponies have had Cutie Marks since the first recorded instances of intelligent equine life. Some ponies have ordinary Cutie Marks, whether they’re Crystalline or not – usually something mundane like plants or objects, but some of them are cooler looking and more abstract.
My Cutie Mark happens to be a bundle of crystals.
Let me explain to you just how unbearably stupid that is, because it sounds stupid enough as it is now. I’m a Crystal pony named Crystal (after my grandmother) with a crystal Cutie Mark.
That’s like getting a Cutie Mark of a big ‘Eff You’.
The others always made fun of me for it; heck, sometimes, even my big sister Amber would poke fun at me about it. She has the same really thick mane that my whole family on my mom’s side shares, me included. It actually makes me look a little bit older than I really am, even though from my age I’m technically still just a filly. I managed to get my Cutie Mark pretty early on, meaning that it obliterated pretty much any sense of suspense.
My mom and sister both got their Cutie Marks much later in their lives. They said I was probably an early bloomer.
See? Now, why couldn’t I have been named something more poetic like ‘Bloom’? No, it had to be ‘Crystal’. And it just matches my Cutie Mark so well tee-hee-hee-har-hee. Hilarious.
Then again, I guess that I am pretty lucky in some aspects. I mean, I could have gotten a Cutie Mark for painting, or something.
Now, those are a group of ponies that have nothing but my pity.
Because King Sombra is ‘loved by all, but by none more so than himself’ (which is basically just a sneaky way of calling him a conceited narcissist) if anypony in Equestria is found with even a slightly artistic Cutie Mark, they’re shipped off to Canterlot to create works of art for him. There’s a whole museum dedicated to his majesty, detailing all the things that make him ‘great and magnificent’.
Did I mention that attendance to these museums of natural Sombra is mandatory?
It’s only once a week, thankfully.
But if you miss it, there is literally nothing in Equestria that can save you. Sombra has his own personal guillotine set up in the middle of Canterlot for just such an occasion. Ponies learned really quickly that punctuality was something to be valued, I’ll tell you that.
In addition to the stupid museums (I heard that it’s so full that Sombra has insisted on another one being built for him on the east side of the city) everypony is also required to have multiple statuettes of King Sombra in all his ‘glory’ throughout their homes. Again, on penalty of death.
And in addition to that, all ponies must have at least one portrait of King Sombra on each wall. One of the mantras on the plaques scattered throughout town beside every home is labeled ‘Thou shalt never turn thy back on thy glorious ruler’. Apparently, any kind of disobedience for that is also worthy of the death sentence.
I never really understood it.
One of my friends told me that her dad had gotten so angry that one time, he tore down a portrait of Sombra from his bedroom.
Nopony ever saw him again.
I usually consider myself pretty close to my family, but a lot of colts and fillies are actually encouraged to rat out anypony that disobeys the ‘Golden Commandments’. And if you think that there’s no way that somepony would do that, let alone to their family members, think again. Informants are richly rewarded, and held in high esteem. Some of them that gain a reputation are allowed into the upper caste of Canterlot, where life is a lot better than it is here in the lower quarters. Or at least, that’s what I hear.
I’ve never actually left the lower quarters for my whole life. Usually, it’s just me out here with my mom and sister, peddling cabbages and trying to make a living while paying off the enormous taxes Sombra puts on everypony unfortunate enough to not be born a unicorn.
Yeah, unicorns get automatic entry to upper Canterlot.
Screw Sombra.
Some ponies might consider it favoritism toward magic users, but that’s really not the case. It’s mostly because unicorns are a little more adept at dealing with issues that require a finer touch, and Sombra completely abuses that. I don’t know how, but I hear that it’s pretty bad for them.
Still, just about anything has to be better than living in the lower caste. For one, it’s dirty. Mom always tried to ensure that Amber and I always stayed as clean as possible, but it’s like a layer of filth covers everything at all times.
That could be because this is where all of the garbage from Canterlot Palace is thrown.
Screw Sombra.
Aside from being King Sombra’s garbage chute, he also tends to send out ‘happy boxes’ from time to time.
As if just being alive here wasn’t a living Tartarus enough.
They call them ‘happy boxes’ because of the insane, cheerful looking smiles painted on the sides of the black chariots. I don’t know for sure, but I’m pretty certain that it’s some kind of sick joke on us. It’s a one-stallion drawn carriage with a big holding pen on the back end, and Sombra sends them out at seemingly random intervals to pick up poor, unfortunate souls unlucky enough to be caught after dark.
Recently, though, the happy boxes haven’t just been out at night anymore – there have been whispers of them riding around in broad daylight, taking ponies to be dragged off to who knows where.
Well, I say ‘ponies’. As of late, it’s only been fillies.
Just little fillies.
Weird.
I’m positive that by this point, you already know where I’m going with this. It’s not hard to figure out. I gave you the setup, you know about the happy boxes by now. We all know that this isn’t going to be a happy story – even more so since I’m alive to tell it.
You’ll understand later.
But for now?
For now, just know that I was taken rather rudely and abruptly from between my mom and sister, kicking and screaming the entire way.
I might not be big, but I was going to be damned if I’d go without a fight.
I went largely without a fight, coincidentally. Turns out, I'm not quite so brave on the business end of a spear.
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Fhunk tunk.
Chunk tunk.
Fhunk tunk.
Chunk tunk.
The sound of the iron carriage wheels colliding with rough cobblestone made the whole holding pen jitter and wobble, making us even more miserable. At least we had some protection from the cold, light drizzle outside.
We were all silent inside the happy box, all huddled to ourselves. There were a bunch of other miserable looking fillies around my age, none of which I recognized. A couple of them didn’t even have their Cutie Marks yet, and only one other pony was Crystalline. She had a sloped face with blotchy red eyes, and she looked like she had been crying for a while.
We had been in the cell for so long that the youngest ones even stopped crying after a while, and we all just sat in miserable, bitter silence. I wanted to say something to make the younger ones feel better – I mean, they were practically foals, for crying out loud.
I wound up saying nothing, though.
We all knew that anypony taken by the happy boxes never came back, even the foals. One of them was a little lime colored pegasus, and she kept hanging onto the bars that were the only source of light that we had. She had to stand on her hind legs to stare out, watching the rest of the world slowly drift away as we were pulled closer and closer to our destination.
And then she started crying again.
As if the sight alone weren’t depressing enough. Yeesh.
“Hey.”
The filly jolted at the sound of my voice, and I patted her on the shoulder in what I hoped was a reassuring manner. Then again, from some dirty filly with a big ol’ smile when everypony else was completely miserable, I guess I looked more creepy than anything else. I could tell, because she shied away from my touch almost immediately.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” I held up my hooves innocently, her wide eyes watching me closely. “You don’t have to cry. My-my name is Crystal,” I held out a hoof, trying to get her to stop crying. “Crystal. What’s your name?”
She sniffed bitterly, wiping her eyes and nose with the crook of her elbow before turning to what I guessed was her sister for support. The other filly, a little blue pegasus with a worried look and bright yellow eyes, only shook her head.
After a few seconds though, the lime colored filly managed to choke out a name.
“My n-name is Em-Emerald,” she sniveled.
“Emerald!” I said with false enthusiasm, sitting back down and putting on what I hoped was a friendly grin. “Oh, my. What a pretty name. And what’s your sister’s name?” I asked friendlily, turning my head toward the other filly.
“I’m not her sister,” the pegasus ruffled her tiny wings viciously.
Yikes. Angry little foal.
“Sapphire got taken with me,” Emerald curled up in one of the corners, tugging fretfully at her wings as the rain came down a little harder. “It’s ‘cause she didn’t want to be left behind –”
“Shut up, Emmy!” the blue pegasus belted bitterly, and pulled at her own mane. “Shut up, just-just shut up!”
“Whoa,” I held up my hooves before she could say any more, because Emerald looked like she was on the verge of tears again. “Easy, easy. There’s-there’s no need for that,” I said weakly. “Everything is going to be fine…”
“Liar!” Sapphire growled at me, and one of the other fillies next to her just dropped her head and covered her ears. I felt a lot like imitating her. “Everything isn’t going to be fine! Nopony is ever going home – I’m never going to see my family again!”
And that just made Emerald and a couple of the younger ones start crying all over again.
To be honest, even I felt like crying. A lot.
But if I did, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to pick myself up, and I couldn’t let that happen.
“Don’t say things like that,” I tried not to stutter, and started to pat the crying Emerald soothingly on the head like my mom did. She only lurched away from me though, back to the angry blue pegasus. That hurt a little.
“It’s true,” Sapphire spat, obviously trying not to cry herself. “We’re all going to die –”
Everypony shrieked when we hit an especially large bump, and it fell completely silent after that. We all just sat around with wide eyes, hardly daring to breath.
“Okay,” I tried taking control eventually, since it looked like nopony else was going to. “Okay. Everypony is really, really upset right now,” I started slowly. “And I know things might seem pretty bad… but that’s no reason to go being so mean. We’re-we’re all going to be okay. I’m sure of it.”
I hadn’t really noticed by then that the heavy clunking of the carriage had stopped, that we were no longer moving. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the door to the carriage was jerked open, and several armored pegasi glared angrily in at us.
From the look of their armor and spears, I would have guessed that they might have been royal guards.
My heart jumped straight into my throat, because that also meant that I now knew where the happy boxes went.
We were all going to be taken directly to King Sombra.
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