The Diamond in the Gear

Eliza's lecturing me as we're heading to the educational center.

“It's dangerous, I thought you understood we're here to help you integrating a civilized society. This isn't a prison!”

“I swear I thought that's what you expected from me.”

“Diamond... You're lying to me. Lying is really frowned upon in our society, which is based on trust and cohesion, just like trying to hide anything, you have to be open to me and others! We're building trust between eachother, do you understand? I met stubborn fillies and still am in charge of all kind of cases. After a while they all live an happy life!”

We've been on the road for a while now, and it's like all the buildings looks like the same, they all have a number on it, a bit like the ponies heading to the factory all had a number on their uniform and a barcode.

This is just insanely depressing.

We finally stop by a building with fillies all around standing on a line

The car with two armed stallions parks in front of us, and they're getting out like, securing the perimeter

“Good we're not too late. Follow me. And this time I'm forced to let the police agents securing you”

“Securing me...” their newspeak, their terminology, it's insane. I'm even starting to repeat these.

We're heading inside what we normally call a school.

The weather's cold actually and the ambiance makes it even worse.

She's discussing with what seems to be the principal, renamed here as 'Psychopedagocic Counselor'

She's checking on a computer, these machines are quite abundant here, but so far not designed for anything fun.

“It was reserved, Class B213, west aisle. You're a bit late but I will make a derogation to this, prior to your integration.”

“Are you not excited? This is your first day in a real education center!”

I can't contain a sarcastic word to end her from talking. She's just looking at me, expecting a word of approval or something before we continue, like … like pressing Y repeatedly on a computer terminal to validate messages, but with ponies. I try to be creative every time.

“...Terrific.”

We get in class. Fillies are staring at me, like; they saw an alien while Eliza's chatting with the armed cops patrolling in the corridors. This is a school here.

“I think it would be preferable if you stay outside it might look threatening or unsafe for fillies to see guns, it's inspiring negathink.” the teacher said.

The cop replies “Agreed, we're securing the corridor, and if the subject attempts to substract, we'll stop her with non-lethal measures.”

Eliza nods.

There's a big silence in the class despite there's 30, 40 young ponies in this classroom... holy shit , I'm the only pony with a cutie mark, and with a mane like that.

It's a bit awkward, but I must keep in mind this isn't my place.

“Hi everypony”

Find a free seat to drop my rump onto. Eliza's chatting with the teacher, and then she's moving aside.

The teacher's looking at me, all grumpy, with a face... oh my..

“Mhmmrr... Diämond... Tiära?”

“Yes.. Er, I don't have any accessory or book... My counselor,Eliza here just made me visit the place... “

The Teacher's looking at me like a weirdo. “Diämond, we don't need these, at least not right now, but you might want to stand up and introduce yourself to your classmates. Please proceed.”

I hate this, but okay.

“Hello everypony, I'm Diamond.”

The teacher insists “And where do you come from, Diamond ..Tiara?”

“I'm not sure why, but I've been sent there, against my will but I don't have another choice, so”

Some filly's laughing, interrupting me

“that manecut is just scary... And why does she got a ...gate on her flank?”

The teacher's not even allowing me to answer and explain what is a tiara.

“Diamond Tiara is a special kind of student, she's from ...Equestria, according to her data. She's been brought here to see how life is like in a modern country, and she's very glad to have this opportunity. Giving a chance to everypony is how we, in Industria aim to make the world better!”

Some fillies are laughing, others looks scared as soon the teacher pronounced the word 'Equestria'

“Trust me, I never asked to be here. It's a huge misunderstanding and it's gonna be resolved. But I'm not against teaching you a few things. Heh, learning, I meant. Let's just resume what you were working on, okay.”

Eliza's still observing me, remains silent, taking notes. The teacher whose name is unknown to me's continuing, with a forced smile on her face.

“don't worry, this class is about cultural enrichment. Moussa explained about his country and zebra traditions earlier, because,”

The class is echoing in unison “we all are ponies of the earth and we are all different and equal at once, we need to learn and share from eachother!”

This partially responds to my question wether it was math, science or grammar class.

The mare behind her desk seems to be proud to have her whole classroom entirely under her control. Outside behind the door, Eliza is smiling, like a robot. What am I doing here? Maybe it's not real, maybe it's the drugs. The light and walls are the same as in my cell.

“Now Diamond, we'd like you to tell us how life is like in ... Equestria. The Kingdom of Equestria. If any student has any question please go ahead! Diamond Tiara here have the opposable right to answer your questions.”

Some filly is asking “Is it true you believe in magic?”

Is that even a question?

“Huh, ... yes, some ponies and unicorns especially rely on magic everyday”

Some other colt shouts “it's horseshit, magic isn't real and unicorns are crazy, and maybe you too if you believe ther's a magic.”

Teacher's like, “FREDDY! This is a microaggression. One warning” She notes it on her book.

“a microwhat? well, if I were a unicorn I'd do a demonstration.”

The filly insisted “unicorns are evil! they attack ponies! They're evil!”

“Well, most are friendly, depends which ones. some are assholes I agree.”

The entire classroom is laughing. they might not understand the word "asshole" but threy just learned it.

A colt with a language bug came with an even more original question:

“is it true you ponies don't poop and pee on sanitary but on the grass? We learned there's no toilet in Equestria”

class goes all like, eeeeww

“we have toilets, but well, when they are busy, you just go outside and piss on the grass, it fertilize the flowers. Next question?”

The class seems amused, mixed with mockery and discovering new words or something. One of the ponies asked "What's a... fowler?" while another is repeating some political speech certainly, playing the intellectuals.

“Hm. You know, Diamond, In fact, Uhm, I think, Pardon, That Celestia is a liar you know, she doesn't raises the Sun, gravitation does it with space, like, the world is a round, a sphere, you don't have science, here we built this country on atheism and not on beliefs.”

Oh this idiot... He's got something special. He sounds pretentious and in imminent need to get rectified.

“What's your name? Doesn't matters, but you should know, sir, that we all are aware about the basics of astrophysics. Nopony actually thinks Celestia raises the Sun and Luna the Moon and Cadence raises Prince Shining's cock, but if you want I can challenge you on theoretical definitions of the gravitation itself, see if your point of view remains the same as the old sages like Starswirl the Bearded explained about the nature of the four fundamental forces of the universe, if you know more than you think, go ahead, m'see? Hmm? Another question? Like; you know, wonderings?”

I'm ending up imitating his gestures and behavior, and for once, I think it was worth spending all that time in Twilight's library.

The teacher looks pissed at me. “Please limit to answering the questions, or this will be your first warning, Diamond Tiara!”

They didn't saw that one coming, sadly; the rest of the questions were about the same level. 'Why do you still elect Princess Celestia as your leader' 'why don't you watch TV is it illegal there' and my favorite, asked by another future illiterate horse, and it is important to note that they have a notebook open and actually read the questions.

“Do you food? Er. Do you eat the gas.. gar... grass?”
They can't even speak properly.

“Rarely, I prefer things like carrots and tomatoes but there's nothing like fresh grass with the smell of flowers on a field. Are you even listening?”

Clearly the ponies lost me. The teacher's interrupting me as usual

“You might explain what kind of nutriments these are, and how they are processed.” she insisted.

“ Alright miss. Guess I'm doing your job teaching a sixth grade class the lowest basics and hope I will get paid for today. So let's say, you have a garden, you plant seeds, and take care of them as they grow through the year and in spring, summer, food just grows. strawberries, apples on appletrees, beans, tomatoes, everything depending of the soil.”

The teacher's making a grimace as some filly's wondering not only what's a 'graden' but more like,

“do you mean you eat things that grows in dirt or on the soil?”

they look disgusted. Come on, is this a special needs class?

“no, you add water too. have you ever questioned where your food comes from?”

Teacher's at it again. “Diamond, it is impolite to answer a question with another!”

Some pony's answering though, “Food is good, they're maked in factories, stop eating dirt! And how they... Er.. ”

I'm staring at this pony with an implied facehoof.

“Alright that will be enough. One precision, in Equestria, there is no equal education system, ponies are being educated by... Their parents! ” She's trotting in front of the whiteboard“In Equestria, mares are forced to take care of their children until they get adult and this familial system is built on...”

The classroom echoes “patriarchy and monogamous marriage! And the idea the fillies are the property of a family and not a society, which leads to inequality and social exclusion!”

“Excellent. This is the reason we'll have a lot to explain to our newcomer here about the world most ponies live in now.”

I have never seen such a bunch of robots. This is kind of terrifying, if I wasn't half a zombie I'd get out of here or tell them all to fuck off. But this isn't my style.

“Actually some of us goes in school, but it's also important to learn from your parents and educate by yourself, right now I should be in holidays, like most of the time, reading books, working helping my parents, drawing, playing music... ”

“But Diamond, your parents are not your teachers or really qualified for education of fillies! This is the role of the state to care for you! This is great isn't it?” The teacher smiles at the class while repeating this, then frowns even harder at me like it's gonna do anything.

The whole class is laughing

“May you agree with it or not, it's like that. family has a point, it's in the nature of everything.”

some pony's pointing at me “that's because your government doesn't care about you or ponies there!”

“Being a family or a friend is NOT the role of any government! What is this insanity?”

This time the mare's kind of shocked.

“Diamond Tiara for the last time Please, Calm down and watch your elements of language, also go back to your seat! Alright...we'll continue after the infomercials, we are late on the schedule. Please, pay attention this time, you will be tested and evaluated.”

“The infomerf- what?”

“Hush.”

She's turning on the TV and distribute every pony a sheet we have to fill to make sure we get what happens.

Something tells me this world is insane. And I'm just scratching the surface...

We're in class, watching the same kind of shit I have been watching in my cell for days, like, 'X is good for you, look how special you are... ' the same stuff, with shows about how ponies live, they even dare calling this 'showreal'.

It's taking a while, about 15 minutes watching ads, then filling a form with questions concerning it.

The teacher mare turns off the TV and retrieves our copies. I filled it at random.
She comes to sit on her desk and continues on the previous topic: 'me'

“now back to our lesson and to close this chapter, what else do we know about the Monarchies? Diamond please get up again and come so the class can hear your speech. Apply yourself. Come on! Do you require assistance?”

As I reach the whiteboard, a zebra filly's raising his hoof

“Equestria was at war with zebras, because, they are racist. Celestia is a fascist who murdered millions of zebras, and Diamond Tiara is a pig and they should be like, arrested!”

The class goes all “yeah they're evil like Aryanne! Why do they hate us? Boo!”

Okay I had to eat that obvious bait, bite it and not let it go.

“Hey! Haha. One minute, where do you get that idea? It was centuries ago, and it was to defend Zebrica from Kuvalu, Equestria wasn't even involved, but the kingdom of Prance...”

Teacher pony's interrupting me as usual

“Diamond, you're not even trying to apologize, because you never learned the history of your country, we'll see that later in another course. I'm not going to go in the details but I think you should be ashamed and be sorry. But first you have a lot to learn and be corrected.”

“Okay this is too much, this isn't a classroom, that's a trial.”

I'm moving back to my seat, I know the point of this 'course' is just all about blaming eachother, and trying to prove I'm evil.

She still manage to act like,

“Come on, we are not here to judge you, we are here to understand you better!”

With that grin on her face... Holy shit. I want to punch her.

“No miss, I'm not gonna play your game and will not answer to any other question unless I have my lawyer present.”

some alert noise that sounds more like a trucks' klaxon resonates in the building

teacher:“ Recess time, you have ten minutes! Diamond, you should use these to socialize! This is important!”

I'm getting out of the building on an all-concrete "playground". There's like a hundreds of fillies and young ponies trotting, wandering. No sign of the cops in charge of me. Gues they have more important stuff to do. Good!

Some filly's bouncing me, whispering something like "Tiara cunt"

“Hey! What's wrong with you horse?”

The zebra colt from class is coming in “Hey you! You got a problem? Watcha lookin'at?”

“What?”

Some other filly's like, “don't touch that she's eating mud” “hey what you gonna do when you grow up? Become a princess? Look I'm a MAGIC PONY! I make magic n' shit rainbows!”

“very funny guys, you're a bunch of retards, I have nothing to do with ponies like you.”

There's really not a single unicorn or pegasus... I must focus about finding an exit from this prison.

I'm looking around, behind, and of course, they're stalking me, no more cops, there must be an exit from that place somewhere.

nope, concrete everywhere, and these moronic ponies really are trying to fuck with me

“Hey Princess of Queen! Where you're going? You ignorin' me bitch? Hey!”

“Yeah, because you're nothing, so what? You plan to attack a filly, you gelding?”

One of them bucked me on the floor

“you fucked with the wrong filly, shitface”

I'm buck him back, and that grin on his face finally fades out after a couple of headbutts.

They're all getting over me, and I get knocked on the floor but not a problem. I'm still on top of this damn colt who's now protecting his face. If I had the energy I'd properly demolish it. This isn't Ponyville, it's Tartarus, so no mercy!

“Who are you? Who the fuck are you, you don't know me?”

Some ponies are intervening to calm the situation, and less than two minutes later, we're on the principal's office. Rebranded as General Education Controller. They're interrogating a few of us.

That old mare asked that zebra kid “So, what happened?”

“she insulted me and bucked Stefan, ma'am! I swear”

“You're lying! They were stalking me, organized as a crew. You can do the replay there's cameras everywhere in this box!”

“Miss Tiara, this is your first day here, and you're already causing trouble?”

Eliza's rushing in the office

“Sorry, what happened? I was about to leave and had to come back” she's panting

The old mare's frowning at her “What happened? racist and sociopathic behavior, she's got involved in a fight, and in class has been detected as resistant to most forms of authority. Also stubborn in class, we're really going to have a lot of problems with her.”

“Are you really talking about me here ?”

Eliza nods. “I see. I'm really embarrassed; her psychological profile indicated she could integrate easily, we'll have to review our models.”

The old mare's taking off her glasses, and takes notes on a folder.

“If we cannot make you a better pony, if we can't integrate you, you know this becomes a pathological issue, we'll be obliged to contact the health administration, do you know what this means?”

“No. And if you really want to know, I don't give a fuck. I don't recognize your authority. Y.. You're nothing to me. I'm talking to you, you know.”

The zebra's looking a bit anxious, and often looks at me. He never seen anypony talk like this. Even if I'm not completely here, just a bit more slow.
And that noise.. .Is this even real?

He wanted to say something

“actually, madam, it was Stef who started the figh-”

Teacher's smiling at him

“it's alright, don't worry. If anything else happens with Diamond Tiara, keep us informed and alert a member of our pedagogic personnel. Go back to class”

“Let him finish, no?”

The old mare's starts to act looking pissed

“Why? You come here and think you can attack your classmates? Go back to class and obey the rules! I'm adding this event in your dossier.”

Eliza's looking at me like she's really disappointed. Why am I feeling bad about this? I should be proud to remain myself. What's wrong with my brain, fuck her! smile, me!

“Let's go Diamond, we'll have a long conversation. ”

Back in class, not reading books, but we're watching TV. Once again. a video about the regime of Aryanne in Nazi Germaneigh.

"This is nationalism. A political ideology that aims to restore the old world's concept similar to empires or kingdoms. The ideology of racial and religious superiority towards zebras, and the designated enemy of the state! Aryanne's ideology is responsible of the genocide of maybe dozens of million of mules, zebras, Okapis, and other racial minorities. Germaneigh and their Equestrian alliees planned in 5127 the invasion of Ponyland, slaughtering thousands, even million of ponies in the name of their racial ideology of hatred and pain. On 5129 an international coalition formed with Cobrastan, Muleholland and Industria repelled their forces. Germaneigh is no longer a threat, but for how long.... On her election day in 5130, Preisdent Lorelei Kernav has ratified a protocol with other nationstates to ensure the global order enforcement act, and peace preservation..."

All these videos are just propaganda. Shock images, flashing pictures, sad music.. Yeah I've seen this several times last week in my cell. Oh sure Aryanne's not a kind pony, most find her hateable but we entered in a war against them against a bigger threat. What about Changelings that nearly destroyed Germaneigh and our country?

That's how they become nationalists. It's like they made up facts and deform the reality.

Teacher's all happy, clapping her hooves and smiling.

“Alriiight fillies, what have we learned so far?”

“That history is written by the winners, even if they haven't won they pretend they did.” I answered in honesty.

“Diamond Tiara for fuck's sake you cunt!”

I never thought a qualified teacher in the most civilized country could swear like this, or lose her shit against a filly who provided the right answer.

“Why would I shut up? I'm not a complete ignorant, I do read some actual books when I'm at home. Lots of independent reports and publications on that war that's still ongoing. In fact Industria did not even take part in this conflict at all but only made it worse by providing weapons to fuel the fire in this region. Cobrastan armed the actual frebel extremists in Ponyland, that's this regime that had a lot of actual pony supremacists and started killing zebras and mules. There's a genocide going on...”

The whole class is staring at me.

“Last warning! Shut up! You're here to listen and learn!”

“Learn what? What's the point of a mashup of videos from three different conflicts wiuth dramatic music, that's not factual. Germaneigh became what it is now.”

“Some pony's standing up “SHE'S A RACIST and perhaps a unicorn!”

Her face is turning red.

“you're irredeemable! Get out of here!”

“my pleasure!”

I'm getting up and leaving the classroom. In the corridor, a horde of armed cops with helmet are rushing in the class.

“Where are you going?” one of them is asking.

“I'm just unwanted there. I'm going home.”

The police ponies in charge of controlling the entry of the class are pointing their guns at me, straight on my face, entering in the class with it

“FREEZE FUCKO YOU DON'T MOVE A HOOF OR ILL SHOOT”

And everypony in the class is like, oh shit

“Fucking really? you'd risk discharging your rifles on a FILLY in the middle of a crowded class? The teacher asked me to leave the class! Now let me go okay?”

Speaking of the teacher, she changed her ideas

“Diamond shut up and go back to your seat! You stupid filly! It's the law!”

some ponies are eager, all like. “kill her!”

the teacher goes on the whiteboard. picks a marker, starts writing down on the whiteboard

'2+2=5'

The cops are pointing their rifles at me again

Teacher's shouting “DIAMOND TIARA ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION? EQUAL SANCTION TO EVERY PONY NOT PAYING ATTENTION!”

The whole classroom is laughing, and cops start shooting at everypony who are... not paying attention. At this point, I'm invoking something...

“Saint Larson, Holy Spirit.... Give Me the Force!”

Miraculously, a ray of light comes from the window. I'm levitating, grow a pair of wings, grow a magic horn... I'm … an alicorn?

“I can feel my powers rising!”

everypony screams as I flutter in the middle of the class, and charge a magic attack

Above the clouds, up in the sky, a vision. The glorious Holy Spirit Fausticorn murmurs to me

“Kill them! Kill them all my child!”

They all scream out loud, the cops bullets goes through the teacher and the fillies brain but my energy is deflecting them whenever they try to shoot me, just before I shoot back a beam of magic at them, killing them instantly, splattering their flesh in all direction, then go on a rampage, out of the building, annihilating this city.

As I soar through the window, and zap the whole building with a beam of protons, I'm standing at this desolate world built on nothing but lies and envy for power.

“ I, Princess Diamond...”

I can hear the voice of the teacher again “Diamond?”

“As your brutal savior, This is ... How I liberate your souls, by giving you rest… Ow.”

“What are you talking about? Do you need to check a nurse or something?”

holy shit i was dreaming awake as they're broadcasting a new video about

"Love and Tolerate!"

Look around, observe others. the fillies stare at the screen. Our teacher looks pissed at me; pointing her marker at me: “are you following, Diamond Tiara... or are you asleep?”

“Yes! ”

“Yes what? are you paying attention?” Sweet Celestia, I hate her voice.

“I'm totally appreciating this, this is conspicuous!”

“This is very important. Now listen and watch! And stop dreaming or I'll report this.”

I'm still weakened and stressed by the recent fighting and try to throw all of this on the fact I don't belong in this world. I'm learning how this society is being controlled, brainwashed by this kind of stupid cartoon supposed to be educational... what the fuck is it about? I don't even understand the plot but in a nutshell, equality in skills is mandatory here; if you're smart or know too much, you're dangerous. If you're geeky or read books, you're a sociopath. Now i know why they sent me there.

I'm really a test subject. They want to know at which age maybe a pony could be reprogrammed into integrating their lifestyle.

They're trying to, and they do use that dumbing-down method to tame all fillies as a method of control. And in fact, all the population, by all kind of methods of indoctrination. I agree, our alicorns does have a similar effect, but on another level. But for what purpose

I wonder what they're doing with Nyx. Probably not the same. all that because we decided to go play in the woods me and that filly and got kidnapped. They found out I'm just as magic as a brick and expect to test their method on any pony.

Now, what are they doing with Nyx is a mystery. But in a way I want to know. I want to keep this in mind, and also have no idea if ponies in ponyville have done anything to bring me back.

The last scene of this dumb cartoon is a picture displaying two happy ponies, shouting in unison:

"I won't confront the state! And I won't dissent!" followed by "This informational videogram is the property of the government of Industria and SCGU media corporation"

The teacher's turning off the TV, and a siren's ringing again. I think it means the day's over but could be confused like an alarm of some sorts.

“Alright, see you this afternoon, don't forget to get a balanced diet and cause no trouble”

Ponies are rushing outside the class happily, in a ordered fashion towards the "transport units" something typical here.

“hey where am I supposed to go? Where's that pony in charge of me already? It's not like I have any family here.”

Some colt doesn't seems to understand what I'm looking for, but prefers to make fun of it.

“Haha. I don't have one either. What's your point? You're really strange, you know...”

I was tempted to try making him a friend, and well, I'll just ignore him and let him go. I know there's ponies controlling every move I make, but I plan to escape this prison later. Not yet, give it some time. Observe, analyze what ways out, the flaws in this system, et cetera...

Speaking of the wolf, I found Eliza in the crowd, she's hard to miss, a tall, gray-ish pony with a red mane. Most ponies here have kind of the same haircut, at a few differences. Stallions and mares, almost all look the same, by the style... So why every billboard or ads shouts "be yourself" and "think different" picturing the same pony you see everywhere? I have yet to see any unicorn or pegasus.

She found me too.

“Diamond Tiara? Are you lost? Class is over, why don't you follow the other ponies?”

“Where are they going?”

“Well, you might want to eat some food and get energy for the afternoon, right? But I'd like to talk about the incident of this morning, this is so important!”

Time to go out of character now and play my role of the good sheep to change. I can't obviously escape how I feel like.

“Oh! do tell!”

Eliza's trying to play the pony who's nice with me. I can see straight in her game, but now I want to know what they expect from me here.

“You have to befriend other ponies. not act like they're your rivals. The way you used to be educated has to be fixed and I hope it's not too late for you to change”

I'm looking at the floor, like

“I... I'm sorry..."

“Also, that pseudonym you use makes you sound more pompous, this image you built of yourself isn't you, you can't be a diamond, diamonds are materials, used to cut anything, I know you're soft inside of you, and you can change...”

She's smiling, and plays the caring one for your own good. I was right.

“I know, you might feel like missing your parents, or your town or tribe... According to your personal file, you were retrieved because you were caught in a military operation, transferred in Ponyland and was at risk. I'm glad we managed to rescue you... Are you listening?... Now look at the chance you have and seize it. it's your future! Also I've been making your paperworks and you are now officially a political refugee, a pony with a status! With a future! Look! Diamond was unavailable in the certified name list, since it's a material, heh.. But I found Darlene Tomska would fit you perfectly.”

And I'm thinking, as she's blah-ing and talking to me, Eliza... You dumb fucking horse. What have you done?

“Eliza... er, wait. whew. ...”

I'm looking at the badge she gave to me with an ID and everything with my photo on it.

“Yes Darlene? Do you have another question?”

This is so pathetic I want to cry. If it were a prison, the guards would not be nice at all and not trying to mindfuck us like that. It's worse than a prison.

“Why are you ponies doing this? You know I... I'm not supposed to be here. You stupid horses... caught an alicorn and picked me with her, but... This is just, like, we're enemies Equestria and Industria, what's the point of all this?”

I'm making an effort not to reveal to her my intentions or I'm gonna fuck it up. I can't punch her face either.

I can't cry either. I'm acting. She's acting. What's the point of all this?

“You might not want to feel excluded, there's a lot of fillies here who had to leave countries in war, there's also fillies from Germaneigh in your class! This is your safespace, Darlene...”

“That's not hat I wanted to know. What do you expect from me?”

“Start a better life? I'm sure that's what your parents always wanted. You no longer need them, you have us, you're a big mare now!”

Eliza's stuck for a second. She's a psychologist. Her job is to manipulate brains. I should think about Silverspoon, Scootaloo, Dad, Sweetiebelle, even mom, Applejack... yep I'm crying now, and can't help but fondle on her hooves

“Oh, I know, we really hope to know if we can integrate foreign ponies and educate them to fit in our society, this is ...very experimental, but I really believe in you, Darlene! We care about everypony, also if you want, as your auxiliary my role remains to be on your side and other ponies, if you want, we'll go visiting some places after the clas, Now go follow your classmates to the refectory!”

Later.. well, let's agree, that's food's disgusting but my stomach is aching, I need to eat no matter what it is. It might kill me later but that will do the trick.

“what is it? looks like tofu.. or pasta... I'd like to know the ingredients they use.”

Some pony next to me just responds with “duh. It's food. What are you talking about?”

“mmkay.”

Back in class. Feel better but I had to rinse my mouth to pass the weird taste of this thing. Eliza also decided that the two cops are no longer necessary, they were a legal requirement to ensure newcomers without documentation remains under close control.

Anyways, the amount of CCTV cameras everywhere and ID checks now tells me they don't even need agents.

I'm also starting to understand how things are working in there. Police's patrolling, and The Securitron's more like another police for where police can't intervene. Their motto is "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" just like another saying, "Privacy is your only prison. Be.Open!" on their billboards. and more slogans like this pushing a fake feeling of security, over anything that could go against the politics of "we have enemies, this is why we're watching you for your own good"

I'm learning more about their world than they will even learn about mine in a day. That's good.

Now i get why there's no ingredients list on anything: "trade secrets" Everything is covered by "trade secrets" and that course is here to teach why it's illegal to even cook your own food.

We're in economics class, or some kind of similar definition, and the professor's talking non-stop.

“This is why the legislation of the CEU ensures you to have a certified, sterile and healthy nutrition, same goes for software in your network terminals... if you knew the ingredients, anyone could build the same, and who looses? It's You, the ponies of Industria and the society!”

I'm no longer paying attention to this bullshit. Right now I wish I was in Ponyville, or at least with one friend. just one. just tell her everything is fine and I'll be home soon.

“Darlene? What.. what are you writing? You're not taking notes.. Oh! you draw a pony?”

“No, I'm listening”

he's picking my notebook

“What is.. whew. You just drew this?”

Everytime I try to escape, every fucking time this world brings me back in there.

“Who's this pony?”

He asked. I remain silent, look elsewhere as he's taking it.

After class, I met her again. Eliza... whatever is her name. She wanted to make me visit the rest of the city.

This country as I understand is in fact three things at once. It' a bank, a government and a corporation all operated by the same thing. The illusion of choice or anything in the market.

Eliza stares at some electronic crap, I don't even know the point of such a thing but this seems to make ponies happy all the time.

“Only 900 credits! Don't you need an ePack? Staying up in touch and socialize? Hm.”

According to their economical model, the credits are not a currency, it's a debt. the debt is actually not indexed on anything manufactured or produced. And this is spreading over generations causing this endless cycle, leading to a set of corporations... that later became this government.

“You'll need to get in touch with the local fashion, and be original! I think these would fit you! ”

The stock value of Industria is not based on goods owned by the central bank, they own the territory as a whole, infrastructure, but what makes the value of the credit is ponies itselves, and technically these ponies are all the ownership of the State, the property of Industria. They have no rights at all and this is why this model of politics needs everything under control, hence the necessity for special kind of police to enforce this.

This is now getting really interesting.

I'm really among the rare ponies here who really knows what's going on. Eliza's driving me to the place where colts and fillies go, explaining how it works.

In fact, only a few ponies, in the higher spheres of the society are allowed to have their own children. It's not a right to have fillies and raise them, it's a privilege. Only the higher class and the 'elite' of this country can have their own fillies, and be independent, and also have the right to vote.

No worker actually can take care of their filly, it's the State/Industria who handles everything cause they own them. I get the logic now.

This world managed to completely override natural instincts for the ponies, to trot on grass, or even things like that in the name of one, true religion: social progress and mandatory equality. Not for all ponies...

I'm walking in the streets with Eliza on my side thinking she provided me the best experience to become one of them. There's two more ponies following us, she knows it.

The sky is gray, and rain droplets starts to fall, everypony rushes under the closest building, like scared of being wet. Eliza brings me with her.

“What's going on?”

“It's raining, you know, we'll move using the underground transportation system, whenever you hear the weather anomaly siren, it means you have to stay inside.”

“Are you ...”

Rain's getting heavier, and a siren is ringing.

“You're scared of ...rain?” I asked.

“It will make you sick if you're exposed, Darlene!”

I'm feeling like a rebel and leave that hangar where ponies are hiding. I'm in the middle of the street. There's nothing more refreshing than rain after a day like that. Eliza's screaming my name, I don't care. I'm just trying to find a rainbow.

I'm looking at her, smiling. She looks worried but not that much.

“see? It's just water!”

I could be wrong, with all the factories this rain could be acid, or contains radioactive elements, there might be things I ignore, but I'm not feeling any burn so far.

We're finally heading to the place where ponies usually go to sleep. A huge building, called the “stable”. original.

On that building, all ponies are fed the same shit on TV. I discover my bedroom. in fact, it's a stable, with about a hundred of beds aligned, like, a military base or something. My stomach is now upside down. For how long am I going to stay here?

Everypony else is looking at me like a freak. Judging me maybe for my color or haircut?

Lights turns off in the stable.

I look through the window in front of my bed, and kind of wonder what time it could be in Equestria. 2PM? The moon is full, illuminating a rank of perfectly aligned apartment buildings, no different than the office or administration ones. Apart the smoke of a block of factories from the distance, creating mountains of red-orange smoke in the night, everything or almost in this city looks the same.

I'm falling asleep. Silently. Trying to clear my mind.

I'm back home, finally! I wonder how this happened. Dad's at work, doing his financial management business job, fiddling and evaluating forecast and other analytics on his computer. It's rare when there's somepony at home.

“Come on... Nope, It doesn't works. It still doesn't works! By tarnation this is ridiculous. Who was in charge of the setup?”

He's kind of pissed at some program he's in managing to deal with for his job.

“Dad! what's going on? Worries?”

“Ah, you're back! Nothing big, I'm working on a weekly issue, we have to recalculate a lot of things, I wonder if it's a bug in the program or if ponies omitted to include a month of results. That's nothing, for sure but that's gonna make a lot of ponies left unpaid for one month, so I'm working from home on it. Sorry for the noise, I'll be quieter!”

I look at him manipulating numbers and spreadsheets on a boring manager's database.

“Oh I see. Maybe I should work with computers one day so I could fix these!”

He's looking at me “Oh, you're cute! Sure you can, but you need to study and practice a lot in this business. It's essentially playing with numbers. Lot of arithmetic and logic.”

“Oh I see... Well, see you tomorrow!”

“Okay! Goodnight , Diamond!”

I climb back stairs to my room. But... How did I came back home already? I forgot.

No, this isn't home. Luna's here, standing in the middle. She looks like a ghost.... Wait, am I dreaming? Having a nightmare? She's looking around, but why can't she see me? She's trying to communicate...

“HEY! PRINCESS LUNA! Hey!”

Bummer... I think it's a distance issue and her magic doesn't reach this part of the world. I'm dreaming and she's using my dream to get in.

“Princess Luna! Hey! Over here!”

Her voice and appearance are distorded. “Are you he-e Dia- - - Tiara? Can you hear me?”

“Yes I can hear you! I'm alive! Hey! Can you hear meback? I'm in Industria, it's far, they trapped me and.. Luna?”

I think she heard me. Maybe not. These dreams are weird, elements of my home tends to disappear, or appear glitchy. I should myself eliminate from my mind everything I don't need and just keep myself and Luna.

“You can't hear me right? Luna? ...LUNA!!!”
I'm yelling in my dream. Her ears twitched, and she turns on my direction instantly. This alone makes me feel successful

“Please, just stay here, keep talking to me..”

Her voice's still distorted, I'm dreaming and it's leaving a chance for Luna to send me a message. I can see her. She's on top of a mountain facing the ocean now, but she's on my direction. I can't yell anymore.

“Diamo- -erever you are, I tr- [undecipherable] .-ou never give up, ever. We will find you.”

“ Yes Princess...”

She smiles, and disappears. Everything disappears, that's the first dream I had in months. But I know I'm not with her, I know I'm far away, prisoner for just some kind of social experience.

Then, I wake up, crying silently.

Another day's passing. Same shit in that school. Trying to fit in this society without forgetting who I am. Still trying to find its bugs, its flaws, its exploits. Trying to understand it better. Like being a bully, against a much bigger thug. You gotta understand how he works, there's always a way to turn things in my advantage. Like an anomaly in a program, invisible, but that might make a company collapse.

I still want to believe I can change things, that's the only thing that gives me hope.

During the next night, that dream never happened again. And the next ones too. The next day, another medical visit, somepony asked me if I had headaches, visions, troubles of attention, or any kind of dreams. I replied with a “no”. But the pony insisted and gave me a shot. “This is just vitamins.“ And I kind of forgot again what happened the next days.

Every time I try to move out of the pack, there's adult ponies watching me, bringing me back in the line. They keep me corrected, Eliza is checking after me from times to times.

It's been more than another week now, and I'm now introducing myself as Darlene Tomska. I think I'm making friends now, and changed my manecut for something more 'urban' according to their lingo.

News on TV relating world events, conflicts in Zebridjan, and even join ponies yelling at the portrait of Celestia, accused like the warmonger #1 against the free world, and other countries not helping like Licornia, Germaneigh, Ponyland... They love to hate her, they don't know shit about Equestria or the rest of the world, they don't want to. They just need something to hate to stay motivated.

Everypony seems to be praising Kernav for her decisions and political stance, warning the population about increased risk of terrorism. They keep talking about her, an ugly mare, with big eyes, and a straight haircut. She wears the same black uniform I saw earlier in that base when I got captured.

And also, one more medical checkup, Eliza insisted, I must be up to date with my vaccines this time, and also got a few more 'vitamin' shots to make sure I'm a healthy mare later... Well, if it doesn't kill me with a cancer, or a chemical rection between substances, one more miligram of tritium here, one nanogram of turbinium there, again, chain reaction, and big mushroom cloud!

In addition of that, I still get evaluated and still controlled from times to times by sociologists, psychologists, dentists, gynecologists, pedagogical analysts, all kind of -ists. It's gonna be like that at least once a week for the next months, they told to me.

Now I see the smile on their face is genuine. They look happy of their job. I'm more and more looking like every other pony in the city. Nonthinking. Abiding. Conform-secured and always 'Posi+hink®', a single word, societal slogan slapped everywhere, on every wall, on every TV ad, supposed to tell ponies to think about nice things. That's proper to Industria.

Psychotechnicians keep giving me good reviews, even if I learn nothing in school Some even start to believe or think I'm okay, and they finally reveals their big plan they had for me.

“You know, as a political refugee from a radical dictatorship, you could get invited on a RealiTV show to sensibilize the public about your condition and story. You could come there and explain why you fled Equestria, that would be very touching.”

“er... really?”

They wanted an element for their propaganda, a pony which, after a few weeks became a perfect supporter of this system.

“We have elaborated some elements of language for you. You'll just explain your transition towards democracy! How you see your future and how the world would be a better place. Also president Lorelei Kernav will be invited. Isn't that great?”

I'm looking at him, then try to control myself, a part of me wants to tell them to fuck off but no word comes out anymore. How. Let's try another sentence.

“No i'm not comfortable enough for this kind of show.”

“I agree the society comes first, and you might not enjoy this individualistic self promotion, but ...come on Darlene, that's an opportunity! Think about it! Anyways the media and content management administration has preregistered an event comparable to yours, an interview on the Nelly Serenejd show, where you can talk about your story, and meet other ponies like you, that will be fantastic!”

“perfect!” Not it's not, why am I replying without thinking?

“It's important. It's not about you and you won't be alone! it's about giving hope for millions of ponies across the world, looking to be aspired to embrace new ideals.”

“I don't know, er.... I'm too young for politics.” better.

“Hmm You're apolitical and it's perfect, no pony really want to talk politics here, but feelings are important! And hey, You owe us that, don't you think?”
The mare winked at me, like, “your ass is mine, bitch.” I hate her.

If I get at least one minute on their TV channels what could I yell at these zombies to get em to wake the fuck up?

“is it ...a live show?”

Some other pony responds.

“Yes-no. All of the interviews are recorded in studio, in case there's a goof, but ... it's broadcasted instantly with a few seconds off to rectify a problem. The little filly who grew under Equestrian fanaticism and became a message of hope for all children worldwide! You've got potential, filly!”

I want to kill this fucking gelding. I want to kill these ponies and their logo I keep seeing on every screen.

“s- ...sure!”

“Perfect. A car will pick you up next Monday after the class and you'll be heading up to Urbania! The capital of Industria! Thanks for your cooperation and keep progressing!”

The more things goes. the more I think I'm beyond the point of non-return. I'm less and less thinking about my friends or family; everything around is made to saturate our brain with pointless stuff. and I must not lose my mind, my name's not Darlene Tomska. I'm not supposed to be here today.

Every day, after day my flank mark is losing its saturation and is even fading, but I'm not even caring about that anymore. Next day, I'm trying to imagine plans to escape, but I often give up, too distracted, too many things to care about.

Or maybe I'm wrong...