Her Watching Eyeby InkHeartBronyChaptersThere Were SixFlyingMy TeacherThere Were SixKnowledge. The world is full of knowledge. I have knowledge, I know things. I know how to count to 10. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. I can count to 100, I can count to a thousand, I can count forever. I like numbers, numbers are in math. Where a number plus another number... equals a new number. Equals. 2=2 4=4 2+2=4 I like to read. I like to read the books of how we were built from two mind. I like to read big books. Big books, for big mares. I can be a big mare if I want. My favorite book, we read in class, was 'When the Sun dies'. It's sad. But it's very good. It's about how our society was created. How the four Rulers of old Equestria swore to destroy our society, our precious lives. The book follows the story of the youngest of the four, and how she tried to harm Mother. Mother, the individual who brought us love and equality. But She is no individual, She is us, we are Her. We are equal. We are together an individual. Teacher tells me I am 'special'. What does that mean? 'Special'. Teacher knows I am not called 'special'. I am called Gray. I am called by the color of my mane and eyes, the only thing that separates me from another, we all are. We all have white fur, the same, equal symbol on our flank, and different color manes and eyes. Every mane is one color, the same color as their eyes. Why then, does Teacher call me 'special'? That is no color, nor a word of Equish. I do not understand. Teacher is older, older than any of us. She knows many of things. But her tongue speaks strangely. She speaks words in class which none understand. Special, father, five, opinion. What is a 'opinion'? I read many a books but have never heard, read, or seen, 'opinion'. A word from old Equish, erased from our minds? Teacher speaks words of old Equish. She says we should learn it too, but if she says so, why are we not learning it then? If she says so, why does every pony not agree with her? Why does Mother not allow her? Is that, a 'opinion'? Or is a 'opinion' something different? Teacher says a 'opinion' is something very special, she says a 'opinion' is something we all have but may not see. Mother says a 'opinion' is the cause of evil, and the destruction of it as well. That two 'opinions' can destroy each other with the slip of the tongue. I do not understand. I have become close to Teacher. I have become close to her, that it is no longer rude to call her by name. Calling by name causes an imbalance in the world. You call them by title until becoming close with them. Teacher, Sister, Brother, Guard, Friend, Mother. These are the only titles, the most important things we must have memorized, every day of class. There is only one thing more important. Mother loves you. We write it over and over again with our cramped and aching hooves. Mother loves you. Mother loves you. Mother loves you. Mother loves me, an individual. I speak with Teacher outside of class sometimes.. I wonder about the things from old Equish. Teacher tells me of the adventure, the strange words she speaks, the ponies she loves. "There were 'five'." She says, but what is a 'five'. "Five is a number." She says. "'Five' is not a number I know." "That is because five is unequal. I am not required to teach you the unequal numbers, in fact I am forbidden to." "Un... equal?" I do not understand. "Another word from the past, I shall explain it to you later my Friend." "Are we not good friends? I asked you to call me by name, I do not think of it as rude anymore." Teacher smiled. "It must be a secret, Gray. Do not tell Guards or Mother of the way I speak with you. She will be angered, she does not like old Equish." "I am aware. I will keep our secret locked away." I saw her wince at 'locked away.' But thought nothing of it. "Hmm, well, I'll go on. There were five of them, but with me we're six." "You are saying five meaning four. Four adding an individual would be six. You are letting your tongue slip with old Equish Teacher." I laughed. She sighed. "You will learn someday." she mumbled, but I barely heard her, and joked. "You say you are our Teacher, but cannot count properly yourself?" "It was different back then. Numbers were different." "You are speaking with old Equish! Again and Again! This 'different'. What is this 'different'?" "It would be too hard to explain at this point. I think you must go, I would not want to get into trouble with Guards again, Gray." "Trouble? Oh, I apologize Teacher. Am I speaking too loud?" I asked with concern. She leaned forward and whispered, "I don't want you to get into trouble really. It's best to keep your voice down or you will have no voice at all." I nodded in understanding. I did not want to end up like my fellow classmate Blue. She smiled at me once again. "Thank you, Gray. I'm sorry, but I must leave. I have work to attend to at home." She began to walk past me and towards the clean white door, seeing only the black outline on the perfect white walls surrounding. "Are you still rereading 'When the Sun dies'?" She froze, and looked at me. I could see tears in her sparkling purple eyes. "Yes." Teacher continued to read that book. We were required to read it for class. The characters in the book had strange names. Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. Rarity. Pinkie Pie. Applejack. Friends of the youngest Princess. There were 6. Princess Twilight was the first individual who vowed to destroy our society. She told the other princesses of it, and they worked to fight. It was not enough, they could never destroy the love Mother shared with us. The would never destroy our equality. Mother describes the Princesses as foolish and full of hate. When Mother says something, we all must agree. We always agree. Why would an individual, think differently than another? I find it strange. The four princesses were called 'alicorns'. Something we no longer have. The friends of Twilight were different. They had 'wings', and 'horns'. I wonder, I wonder what they can do. It says Rainbow Dash could fly. I have never heard of a pony who could fly, was she something of a bird? Only birds can fly, but then, I have never seen a bird, only read of them. It says Rarity could move things without touching them. Magic. Magic with a 'horn'. How can you do things, move things, with only your mind? It would make things easy, oh so easy. It says the 'alicorns', could do it all. They could do everything, they were powerful and strong, but not strong enough. They were foolish. Teacher will not stop reading the book. I ask her why, she says she is eager to learn more about the full story. Isn't reading it once enough? She weeps when she reads it. She weeps at the writing of Mother. She weeps with every book from Mother, but 'When The Sun Dies'. Must be the most painful to read. It marks the end of Princess Celestia's reign. It marks the 6 ponies separation, giving no clear say as to where they are, but, I quote- "The six mare's were separated and lost within the land of Equalestria. Where they are now is difficult to say, searching for them would be impossible. Their roles unknown. Their minds addled and confused. Their identities not known by even themselves. The six mare's are lost forever. Never to be seen again." FlyingScars. At least 80% of the population of Equalestria have scars. Maybe a scar on their head, covered by hair. Or a scar on either side of their torso. Some ponies have no scars at all. Rarely do you see a pony with all scars. Teacher has both scars. On her head, and on her sides. Me too. I wonder why we have the scars? I wonder why some are on the body and some on the head, I wonder what they mean. You simply have them when you come from the child's home. There are whispers about the child's home. You leave at age 6 and begin school. You remember nothing from the child's home. You remember nothing before the moment you step out the door of the child's home. Where do the children come from? What truly is the child's home? Why do children come from there? Some say we are built by machines. Some say we are produced by thought from the mind of Mother. That she all makes us equally beautiful. I ask Teacher again and again, but she says she cannot tell me. She does not know where the children come from either. I ask about the scars. Surely, Teacher must know of the scars? I point to her sides, I brush away her straight mane and touch the scar on her forehead. She flinches when I touch that one. She pushes me off, and sighs. "Gray." she speaks, calmingly, "The scars replace what should be there." "What do you mean?" "The scars are there to show a part of us was stolen. Our differences." "'Differences'." I repeat, and point to my scars on either side of my body. "My 'differences' were stolen?" Teacher smiled, and sat on the floor of her empty classroom, save for us two. "Yes." she looked down. "Your differences were stolen, and so were mine." She looked up, teary eyed. "I miss having my differences, I-" she choked on her words, and clutched on her throat, her eyes widened. She opened her mouth, and the only sound from her throat was croaking and she began to cough. "Teacher!" I said, grabbing onto her, "Teacher, what is wrong?" She went to her desk, and began to drink from a bottle of water. She cleared her throat, "I-I'm sorry, Gray. I'm feeling alright now. I just- I guess I can't exactly speak right today." She looked down her eyes darting and her brow furrowing together in thought. "You are thinking?" I asked. "You have that look when you are thinking of something important." She grabbed a blank piece of paper and pencil. She began to write something onto the paper, but the pencil in her mouth suddenly stopped moving. She stared at the paper wide eyed. She put a hoof to her chin, and tapped it, looking up, then at me. "Gray, tell me." she approached me, and sat down in front of me. "What do you think the stitches mean?" I thought for a moment. "Well, you said that our 'differences' were stolen. There was something on me, that was taken, why?" "Do you remember the book, When The Sun Dies, what does it mention that those ponies have that we do not?" "They had not color names!" I said, smiling. "They had very..." "Unique." Teacher smiled. "Unique names..." I said, "I, I understand what unique is now!" I said excitedly. "They- they were-" "Special." "Special ponies, and their names were not colors but many other things!" Teacher nodded, saying I was on the right track. "Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie..." I stopped, when I saw that Teachers eyes were starting to water. "C-countinue." Teacher said, barely over a whisper. "Rarity," I said, slower this time, "Rainbow Dash," Teacher shut her eyes. "-and Twilight Sparkle." "B-" she began to say, her lips shaking, "-but what else did they have, something they had the ability to do but we can't." I remembered. "They had wings, that made them fly! They could fly like birds! Rainbow, was one of the fastest flyers in Equalestria!" "And where exactly, do birds have-" she choked on her words, "Th-those on their bodies? From the pictures you've seen?" I tried, I tried hard to remember, and I smiled. "They have their wings! Their wings right-" I put my hoof to indicate where birds would have their wings, and I shivered, when I felt my hoof touch a scar on my side. I looked back, and frowned. "They would have their wings right here." Twilight liked at me and smiled, tears falling down her face. "You were supposed to fly, Gray." I sat in bed, staring up at the ceiling. You were supposed to fly. I want to know what it is like to fly. I want to fly beside the birds, I want to feel the wind in my mane. Was my name even supposed to be Gray? In old Equalestria- no, Equestria, ponies had very 'unique' names. What would my name be? Would it still be Gray? I went to the bathroom, and stared at myself in the mirror. This is the mare I saw every day, every morning I woke up. Gray, dull, boring, eyes stared forward. A straight, short, gray mane, separated two ways on my forehead, and fell straight down to one side. The way the book described the six ponies... they sounded so bright, so colorful, not just black and white but the entire rainbow. Not names like Pink, Yellow, and Blue, but Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow. You were supposed to fly. My coat, matching everypony else's, white. Nothing but a simple white coat. "Princess Luna stood at the edge of the balcony, her flowing blue mane full of sparkling stars, and her dark blue coat like the midnight sky." I wonder how I would look with dark blue fur... I wonder what that even looks like. It's hard to imagine. I wonder how this happened. That now we are born equal, and much, 'unique' from the original. How could they so easily drain us of our color, in some kind of factory with evil intent? Evil. Had I just used the word evil to describe the ponies who made me who I am. Had I just used the word evil to describe my brother and sisters, the word evil to describe Mother's children. To maybe even describe Mother herself? No... no Mother would never hurt us, but then why does she justify the mutation of our bodies? You were supposed to fly. It would be wonderful to fly. It would be wonderful to be 'unique'. I teared up a bit... and said no. We do not cry, we do not doubt mother, or her ways. We do not doubt ourselves or each other. We do not have thoughts that do not match hers. We do not cry. We smile. Smile. I smiled wide, a large grin spreading across my face. Tears still fell down my cheeks as the familiar expression of every pony in town stared back at me. It pained me to make the same expression I make every day. To pretend that everything is alright, but, why pretend? Everything is alright. I am the same as you and me, we are all equal, we are all happy, we love what we do, we love everypony, we love the jobs we are assigned, we love school, we love life, and most importantly... We love Mother. My grin faded, and I looked at the floor. I could feel tears in my eyes but I wasn't exactly sure why. Why do cry? Why do we feel sad even though we are always happy? Why do we pretend, why do continue to do the same things over and over, which always end in failure. Why does Mother cheer on our pain? I look at myself in the mirror. I stare. I stare. Something is wrong. I look wrong. From my gray mane, a tiny lock of pink hair fell loose. I was unique. Author's Note Hmm, who could Gray really be... I wonder? My TeacherI managed to hide the lock of pink hair underneath the gray. Hoping it would stay there. I left for school early after eating a morning muffin, and found my way to the school house. The only things indicating it was the school house, was the sign above the door that had a picture of a pencil. Next door was the library. Above the door, a red book. If I looked past it, I saw what looked to be a never ending line of identical buildings. Behind me, was the same, facing inward. I knocked on the school house door, looking around to see if any pony was out this early. The door creaked opened, and Teacher looked out warily. She sighed upon seeing me, and her slight smile widened into a familiar grin. She gestured for me to come in, and I did. She closed the door, and continued to grin unnaturally. "You don't have to smile like that to me." I said. Teacher smiled slightly, dropping the fake grin. "What did you need to speak with me about?" I tugged at my hair a bit, until the tiny lock of pink came loose. The moment Teacher saw it, she gasped. "No no no!" she said nervously, running to her desk and frantically opening drawers. "Teacher! I am unique!" I said proudly. "That is bad. Very very bad." she stopped at one drawer, pulling out a strange can, dropping it back in, and pulling out a different one. "If the guards see you like that, you could get hurt!" "You are worried for me?" "Of course I am! As much as I wish I just let your hair go back to-" she began to choke on her words again, starting a coughing fit. She grabbed her bottle with her hoof and took a drink. "I wish I could let your hair not be gray, and be the color it should be- I cannot." "A-are you saying my hair isn't gray? I was not born gray!?" She gulped, and took out a bottle in her hoof, one with a strange spout on the top. She shook it, and approached me. "Stay still." she said, as she grabbed onto the pink hair, and sprayed it with something wet from the can. "What is that?" "See?" Teacher said, smiling nervously. "All better!" she showed me the once pink hair. Now gray. "Teacher." I frowned. "I was not supposed to be Gray?" Teacher paled. Her white face, somehow going even lighter. "No." she sighed. "I wish I could tell you." she said quietly. "Is my name Pink?" I asked. "Was I to be Pink instead?" She turned away, her ears flopping down. "Teacher..." I reached out a hoof. "Who am I?" She did not look at me, she turned her back, and said nothing. She knows who I am supposed to be. She knows who I am. Why is it that we had such a connection the day I met her? "Who am I?" I asked again. "I cannot tell you." "You are older than us all, you know so much, but you are unable to speak about what is important." "I am not allowed to speak." she said. "I want to tell you, but they have prevented me from speaking about certain things." her eyes teared up, and she began to sob. "I know your name, but I cannot say it." she choked on every word. "You are not Gray. You were never supposed to be." she sobbed even harder. "If you want to know the truth, not only about yourself, but about Mother, you need to figure it out on your own. I want to tell you. I want to tell you everything." "Teacher... is Mother bad?" She stared at me, her teary purple eyes blinking. She opened her mouth, but all that came out were croaks, she clutched at her throat, but no words came. They have done something to Teacher. They have hurt Teacher. Why would Mother hurt Teacher? Shouldn't Mother love us no matter what, shouldn't she care about her children? She forced Teacher to not say something about her. She forced Teacher into silence, specifically her, because she knows too much. "Teacher, how do you know so much? You know so much about the past, you were there for it. You were a part of that past. You had wings too, but they were taken." She nodded. I reached forward, and pulled her into a hug. We both needed it. "Gray. Since I cannot speak, I need you to know something..." "What?" "Keep asking questions. Do not stop, do research on everything, I may be able to confirm thoughts you have. Read every book Mother has written, look for clues, signs, anything... it's what I do." "You want to stop Mother." I said, staring at her. "I vowed to." We will not be equal. We will not always be happy, but we can freely weep without being arrested. Although I have been told Mother is great, all my life. I have been out of the children's home for four years. I was then introduced to Teacher Purple my first day out. She explained to me our society, how it works, and that I arrived from the children home with my fellow classmates. She told me of Mother. Her great wisdom, her power, the equality, the joy, and the love everyone shared. It was a lie... I should've known, but it sounded like a dream come true. A world without sadness. A world without grief, pain, hatred, war... was impossible. Those feelings of sadness are there. You can do nothing to throw them out completely, but only push them aside. I realize now that that is what Mother is doing. She covers our sadness with bandages, but it does not take away the pain. That only hides it under layers of fake happiness. We are forced to hide our feelings, keep on that stupid grin. Teacher came talking to me on her own, after school almost everyday, she would tell me of things we didn't learn in school. Wonderful things I loved to hear. She told me not to tell the other children, she told me never to speak of this to anyone else. I would learn about the past, more than I could ever know. She told me about herself. She was 'unique'. But I wonder why she came to me. She knows things about me I didn't know. But then, if she truly does, who am I supposed to be? Somehow recently, something changed about her. She could go on and on about the books we read, about anything she wanted to say... but then she stopped, and now her words are limited, just as I was catching on to who I may be, just a hint, a lock of hair, could reveal it all. She could've told me my name. My real name. But no, Mother hid it in silence. There is something going on here. Why does Mother keep us quiet? Why do we worship her so, when all she brings is pain and heartache. Teacher knows something. She wants to put an end to Mother's reign. Of course... I do too. But it's hard to go against something you've been told is good all your life. Teacher wants to tell me things. She wants to tell me who I really am. I can see it in her eyes when she looks at me, now as she's looking through the bookshelf. She glances at me, I can see the worry in her eyes. I can see the feelings, the feeling that she is trapped with no way out. I have never been in Teachers home. It is different from my home. It is messy, there are papers and books strewn about the room. By the window, I see a strange large cone shaped object on a stand with glass on the front, where it seems to point out the window. Beside that, their is a cork board. Covers with pictures, papers, arrows, and question marks. I stand up from the chair, and approach the board. I see multiple pictures of the same 6 ponies. I see what I can assume are the 'mane 6' from the book. Attached to the white mare, Rarity, I think, is a red string, leading over to a picture of a very similar looking mare, with the same color hair, but missing the curl. Her eyes, the same color as her hair. On her head, is stitches. The mare is wearing a brown cloak, and has it pulled over her head, she looks worried in the picture, and her head is turned, looking to the left. Under the picture is an address. E 5268 I look to the left of the board, and see a picture of Mother, holding the Staff of Sameness. A red string connected to it, is directed towards a paper with a picture of a blue mare with big red hair. Above it says, I'm pretty sure Meadow Brook only had 8 magical items, not 9 Then surrounding, are pictures of 8 items. A string connected to Mother, leads to another picture of her of her face grinning, next to another random pony grinning the same way. Their are words surrounding Mother's face. Purple coat. Striped mane, different colors, brighter saturation, eyes don't match mane, can pick up heavier objects, has a unicorn horn. UNEQUAL "Found it!" I heard behind me. I turned around, and approached Teacher curiously. What is it exactly, that she was looking for? Teacher placed carefully, a large brown book on the table. I sat down in the chair, and she sat in the one across from me. She pushed the book towards me, and I read the title. The Fall of Friendship "Similar to 'When The Sun Dies', this focuses on the creation of our society, it focuses more on the defeat of-" She began to cough again. She could not say whatever she was going to say. She was not allowed. "Defeat of what?" I asked. She opened the front of the book, dust flying up into the air, she placed her hoof on the page, and I looked at the words directly under. '-Twilight Sparkle." "The defeat of Twilight Sparkle..." I said. "But, we already learned this in When The Sun Dies!" "No." she said, "This goes more in detail. Written from a first hoof experience, this book was banned because it spoke too much of the truth." Teacher grinned, and looked into my eyes, "It has almost everything I know." "But then..." I looked at it, "how did you obtain it?" She smiled. "I just kept it. I bought it the moment it was published." I gulped, staring at the book, reading the cover again. "Why is it called The Fall of Friendship?" "Because, Gray," she whispered, leaning close, "That's exactly what this society is. That's exactly what happened when Mother- Starlight Glimmer- rose to power. She built this world, because she was afraid of losing ponies. She didn't want their unique personalities and gifts to distract them from her. She doesn't truly care about us... she only desires to be loved- but she does not return the favor." I looked into her bright purple eyes, which sparkled in the light. I looked down at the book, taking in a deep breath, and opening it. Hours passed of me reading, talking, and asking questions. Trying to understand the full picture Teacher was trying to tell me. "-she opened her eyes, only to see they were locked inside. Their cutiemarks gone, replaced by equal signs." "-she couldn't believe what she was seeing, their inevitable doom, and their was nothing she could do about it." "It was hopeless. Just hopeless. Princess Twilight Sparkle would never see her friends again, but she had to try." "-she was reduced now to nothing but Purple. Her wings and horn torn from her body, her fur bleached like every pony else. Her mane and hair dyed the same as her purple eyes. She was cursed, cursed to know the truth-" "-She was cursed to know the truth. But she could not speak it. Her friends minds were broken and lost in the midst of millions, yet Twilight was here all along. Having memory of all events before, but no way to find her friends, no way to tell any pony the truth and make them believe it. That was her punishment for trying to help ponies and save countless lives." I paused, and began to read the lines out loud, slowly, clinging onto every word. "Princess Twilight Sparkle is nothing more now than a teacher. A teacher who speaks lies to children forced out off her tongue. Princess Twilight Sparkle is reduced to nothing more but a pony by the title of-" I stopped. I couldn't read it. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be real. I slowly choked out the words, and looked up at my teacher as I did. "-Teacher Purple."
There Were SixKnowledge. The world is full of knowledge. I have knowledge, I know things. I know how to count to 10. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. I can count to 100, I can count to a thousand, I can count forever. I like numbers, numbers are in math. Where a number plus another number... equals a new number. Equals. 2=2 4=4 2+2=4 I like to read. I like to read the books of how we were built from two mind. I like to read big books. Big books, for big mares. I can be a big mare if I want. My favorite book, we read in class, was 'When the Sun dies'. It's sad. But it's very good. It's about how our society was created. How the four Rulers of old Equestria swore to destroy our society, our precious lives. The book follows the story of the youngest of the four, and how she tried to harm Mother. Mother, the individual who brought us love and equality. But She is no individual, She is us, we are Her. We are equal. We are together an individual. Teacher tells me I am 'special'. What does that mean? 'Special'. Teacher knows I am not called 'special'. I am called Gray. I am called by the color of my mane and eyes, the only thing that separates me from another, we all are. We all have white fur, the same, equal symbol on our flank, and different color manes and eyes. Every mane is one color, the same color as their eyes. Why then, does Teacher call me 'special'? That is no color, nor a word of Equish. I do not understand. Teacher is older, older than any of us. She knows many of things. But her tongue speaks strangely. She speaks words in class which none understand. Special, father, five, opinion. What is a 'opinion'? I read many a books but have never heard, read, or seen, 'opinion'. A word from old Equish, erased from our minds? Teacher speaks words of old Equish. She says we should learn it too, but if she says so, why are we not learning it then? If she says so, why does every pony not agree with her? Why does Mother not allow her? Is that, a 'opinion'? Or is a 'opinion' something different? Teacher says a 'opinion' is something very special, she says a 'opinion' is something we all have but may not see. Mother says a 'opinion' is the cause of evil, and the destruction of it as well. That two 'opinions' can destroy each other with the slip of the tongue. I do not understand. I have become close to Teacher. I have become close to her, that it is no longer rude to call her by name. Calling by name causes an imbalance in the world. You call them by title until becoming close with them. Teacher, Sister, Brother, Guard, Friend, Mother. These are the only titles, the most important things we must have memorized, every day of class. There is only one thing more important. Mother loves you. We write it over and over again with our cramped and aching hooves. Mother loves you. Mother loves you. Mother loves you. Mother loves me, an individual. I speak with Teacher outside of class sometimes.. I wonder about the things from old Equish. Teacher tells me of the adventure, the strange words she speaks, the ponies she loves. "There were 'five'." She says, but what is a 'five'. "Five is a number." She says. "'Five' is not a number I know." "That is because five is unequal. I am not required to teach you the unequal numbers, in fact I am forbidden to." "Un... equal?" I do not understand. "Another word from the past, I shall explain it to you later my Friend." "Are we not good friends? I asked you to call me by name, I do not think of it as rude anymore." Teacher smiled. "It must be a secret, Gray. Do not tell Guards or Mother of the way I speak with you. She will be angered, she does not like old Equish." "I am aware. I will keep our secret locked away." I saw her wince at 'locked away.' But thought nothing of it. "Hmm, well, I'll go on. There were five of them, but with me we're six." "You are saying five meaning four. Four adding an individual would be six. You are letting your tongue slip with old Equish Teacher." I laughed. She sighed. "You will learn someday." she mumbled, but I barely heard her, and joked. "You say you are our Teacher, but cannot count properly yourself?" "It was different back then. Numbers were different." "You are speaking with old Equish! Again and Again! This 'different'. What is this 'different'?" "It would be too hard to explain at this point. I think you must go, I would not want to get into trouble with Guards again, Gray." "Trouble? Oh, I apologize Teacher. Am I speaking too loud?" I asked with concern. She leaned forward and whispered, "I don't want you to get into trouble really. It's best to keep your voice down or you will have no voice at all." I nodded in understanding. I did not want to end up like my fellow classmate Blue. She smiled at me once again. "Thank you, Gray. I'm sorry, but I must leave. I have work to attend to at home." She began to walk past me and towards the clean white door, seeing only the black outline on the perfect white walls surrounding. "Are you still rereading 'When the Sun dies'?" She froze, and looked at me. I could see tears in her sparkling purple eyes. "Yes." Teacher continued to read that book. We were required to read it for class. The characters in the book had strange names. Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. Rarity. Pinkie Pie. Applejack. Friends of the youngest Princess. There were 6. Princess Twilight was the first individual who vowed to destroy our society. She told the other princesses of it, and they worked to fight. It was not enough, they could never destroy the love Mother shared with us. The would never destroy our equality. Mother describes the Princesses as foolish and full of hate. When Mother says something, we all must agree. We always agree. Why would an individual, think differently than another? I find it strange. The four princesses were called 'alicorns'. Something we no longer have. The friends of Twilight were different. They had 'wings', and 'horns'. I wonder, I wonder what they can do. It says Rainbow Dash could fly. I have never heard of a pony who could fly, was she something of a bird? Only birds can fly, but then, I have never seen a bird, only read of them. It says Rarity could move things without touching them. Magic. Magic with a 'horn'. How can you do things, move things, with only your mind? It would make things easy, oh so easy. It says the 'alicorns', could do it all. They could do everything, they were powerful and strong, but not strong enough. They were foolish. Teacher will not stop reading the book. I ask her why, she says she is eager to learn more about the full story. Isn't reading it once enough? She weeps when she reads it. She weeps at the writing of Mother. She weeps with every book from Mother, but 'When The Sun Dies'. Must be the most painful to read. It marks the end of Princess Celestia's reign. It marks the 6 ponies separation, giving no clear say as to where they are, but, I quote- "The six mare's were separated and lost within the land of Equalestria. Where they are now is difficult to say, searching for them would be impossible. Their roles unknown. Their minds addled and confused. Their identities not known by even themselves. The six mare's are lost forever. Never to be seen again."
FlyingScars. At least 80% of the population of Equalestria have scars. Maybe a scar on their head, covered by hair. Or a scar on either side of their torso. Some ponies have no scars at all. Rarely do you see a pony with all scars. Teacher has both scars. On her head, and on her sides. Me too. I wonder why we have the scars? I wonder why some are on the body and some on the head, I wonder what they mean. You simply have them when you come from the child's home. There are whispers about the child's home. You leave at age 6 and begin school. You remember nothing from the child's home. You remember nothing before the moment you step out the door of the child's home. Where do the children come from? What truly is the child's home? Why do children come from there? Some say we are built by machines. Some say we are produced by thought from the mind of Mother. That she all makes us equally beautiful. I ask Teacher again and again, but she says she cannot tell me. She does not know where the children come from either. I ask about the scars. Surely, Teacher must know of the scars? I point to her sides, I brush away her straight mane and touch the scar on her forehead. She flinches when I touch that one. She pushes me off, and sighs. "Gray." she speaks, calmingly, "The scars replace what should be there." "What do you mean?" "The scars are there to show a part of us was stolen. Our differences." "'Differences'." I repeat, and point to my scars on either side of my body. "My 'differences' were stolen?" Teacher smiled, and sat on the floor of her empty classroom, save for us two. "Yes." she looked down. "Your differences were stolen, and so were mine." She looked up, teary eyed. "I miss having my differences, I-" she choked on her words, and clutched on her throat, her eyes widened. She opened her mouth, and the only sound from her throat was croaking and she began to cough. "Teacher!" I said, grabbing onto her, "Teacher, what is wrong?" She went to her desk, and began to drink from a bottle of water. She cleared her throat, "I-I'm sorry, Gray. I'm feeling alright now. I just- I guess I can't exactly speak right today." She looked down her eyes darting and her brow furrowing together in thought. "You are thinking?" I asked. "You have that look when you are thinking of something important." She grabbed a blank piece of paper and pencil. She began to write something onto the paper, but the pencil in her mouth suddenly stopped moving. She stared at the paper wide eyed. She put a hoof to her chin, and tapped it, looking up, then at me. "Gray, tell me." she approached me, and sat down in front of me. "What do you think the stitches mean?" I thought for a moment. "Well, you said that our 'differences' were stolen. There was something on me, that was taken, why?" "Do you remember the book, When The Sun Dies, what does it mention that those ponies have that we do not?" "They had not color names!" I said, smiling. "They had very..." "Unique." Teacher smiled. "Unique names..." I said, "I, I understand what unique is now!" I said excitedly. "They- they were-" "Special." "Special ponies, and their names were not colors but many other things!" Teacher nodded, saying I was on the right track. "Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie..." I stopped, when I saw that Teachers eyes were starting to water. "C-countinue." Teacher said, barely over a whisper. "Rarity," I said, slower this time, "Rainbow Dash," Teacher shut her eyes. "-and Twilight Sparkle." "B-" she began to say, her lips shaking, "-but what else did they have, something they had the ability to do but we can't." I remembered. "They had wings, that made them fly! They could fly like birds! Rainbow, was one of the fastest flyers in Equalestria!" "And where exactly, do birds have-" she choked on her words, "Th-those on their bodies? From the pictures you've seen?" I tried, I tried hard to remember, and I smiled. "They have their wings! Their wings right-" I put my hoof to indicate where birds would have their wings, and I shivered, when I felt my hoof touch a scar on my side. I looked back, and frowned. "They would have their wings right here." Twilight liked at me and smiled, tears falling down her face. "You were supposed to fly, Gray." I sat in bed, staring up at the ceiling. You were supposed to fly. I want to know what it is like to fly. I want to fly beside the birds, I want to feel the wind in my mane. Was my name even supposed to be Gray? In old Equalestria- no, Equestria, ponies had very 'unique' names. What would my name be? Would it still be Gray? I went to the bathroom, and stared at myself in the mirror. This is the mare I saw every day, every morning I woke up. Gray, dull, boring, eyes stared forward. A straight, short, gray mane, separated two ways on my forehead, and fell straight down to one side. The way the book described the six ponies... they sounded so bright, so colorful, not just black and white but the entire rainbow. Not names like Pink, Yellow, and Blue, but Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow. You were supposed to fly. My coat, matching everypony else's, white. Nothing but a simple white coat. "Princess Luna stood at the edge of the balcony, her flowing blue mane full of sparkling stars, and her dark blue coat like the midnight sky." I wonder how I would look with dark blue fur... I wonder what that even looks like. It's hard to imagine. I wonder how this happened. That now we are born equal, and much, 'unique' from the original. How could they so easily drain us of our color, in some kind of factory with evil intent? Evil. Had I just used the word evil to describe the ponies who made me who I am. Had I just used the word evil to describe my brother and sisters, the word evil to describe Mother's children. To maybe even describe Mother herself? No... no Mother would never hurt us, but then why does she justify the mutation of our bodies? You were supposed to fly. It would be wonderful to fly. It would be wonderful to be 'unique'. I teared up a bit... and said no. We do not cry, we do not doubt mother, or her ways. We do not doubt ourselves or each other. We do not have thoughts that do not match hers. We do not cry. We smile. Smile. I smiled wide, a large grin spreading across my face. Tears still fell down my cheeks as the familiar expression of every pony in town stared back at me. It pained me to make the same expression I make every day. To pretend that everything is alright, but, why pretend? Everything is alright. I am the same as you and me, we are all equal, we are all happy, we love what we do, we love everypony, we love the jobs we are assigned, we love school, we love life, and most importantly... We love Mother. My grin faded, and I looked at the floor. I could feel tears in my eyes but I wasn't exactly sure why. Why do cry? Why do we feel sad even though we are always happy? Why do we pretend, why do continue to do the same things over and over, which always end in failure. Why does Mother cheer on our pain? I look at myself in the mirror. I stare. I stare. Something is wrong. I look wrong. From my gray mane, a tiny lock of pink hair fell loose. I was unique. Author's Note Hmm, who could Gray really be... I wonder?
My TeacherI managed to hide the lock of pink hair underneath the gray. Hoping it would stay there. I left for school early after eating a morning muffin, and found my way to the school house. The only things indicating it was the school house, was the sign above the door that had a picture of a pencil. Next door was the library. Above the door, a red book. If I looked past it, I saw what looked to be a never ending line of identical buildings. Behind me, was the same, facing inward. I knocked on the school house door, looking around to see if any pony was out this early. The door creaked opened, and Teacher looked out warily. She sighed upon seeing me, and her slight smile widened into a familiar grin. She gestured for me to come in, and I did. She closed the door, and continued to grin unnaturally. "You don't have to smile like that to me." I said. Teacher smiled slightly, dropping the fake grin. "What did you need to speak with me about?" I tugged at my hair a bit, until the tiny lock of pink came loose. The moment Teacher saw it, she gasped. "No no no!" she said nervously, running to her desk and frantically opening drawers. "Teacher! I am unique!" I said proudly. "That is bad. Very very bad." she stopped at one drawer, pulling out a strange can, dropping it back in, and pulling out a different one. "If the guards see you like that, you could get hurt!" "You are worried for me?" "Of course I am! As much as I wish I just let your hair go back to-" she began to choke on her words again, starting a coughing fit. She grabbed her bottle with her hoof and took a drink. "I wish I could let your hair not be gray, and be the color it should be- I cannot." "A-are you saying my hair isn't gray? I was not born gray!?" She gulped, and took out a bottle in her hoof, one with a strange spout on the top. She shook it, and approached me. "Stay still." she said, as she grabbed onto the pink hair, and sprayed it with something wet from the can. "What is that?" "See?" Teacher said, smiling nervously. "All better!" she showed me the once pink hair. Now gray. "Teacher." I frowned. "I was not supposed to be Gray?" Teacher paled. Her white face, somehow going even lighter. "No." she sighed. "I wish I could tell you." she said quietly. "Is my name Pink?" I asked. "Was I to be Pink instead?" She turned away, her ears flopping down. "Teacher..." I reached out a hoof. "Who am I?" She did not look at me, she turned her back, and said nothing. She knows who I am supposed to be. She knows who I am. Why is it that we had such a connection the day I met her? "Who am I?" I asked again. "I cannot tell you." "You are older than us all, you know so much, but you are unable to speak about what is important." "I am not allowed to speak." she said. "I want to tell you, but they have prevented me from speaking about certain things." her eyes teared up, and she began to sob. "I know your name, but I cannot say it." she choked on every word. "You are not Gray. You were never supposed to be." she sobbed even harder. "If you want to know the truth, not only about yourself, but about Mother, you need to figure it out on your own. I want to tell you. I want to tell you everything." "Teacher... is Mother bad?" She stared at me, her teary purple eyes blinking. She opened her mouth, but all that came out were croaks, she clutched at her throat, but no words came. They have done something to Teacher. They have hurt Teacher. Why would Mother hurt Teacher? Shouldn't Mother love us no matter what, shouldn't she care about her children? She forced Teacher to not say something about her. She forced Teacher into silence, specifically her, because she knows too much. "Teacher, how do you know so much? You know so much about the past, you were there for it. You were a part of that past. You had wings too, but they were taken." She nodded. I reached forward, and pulled her into a hug. We both needed it. "Gray. Since I cannot speak, I need you to know something..." "What?" "Keep asking questions. Do not stop, do research on everything, I may be able to confirm thoughts you have. Read every book Mother has written, look for clues, signs, anything... it's what I do." "You want to stop Mother." I said, staring at her. "I vowed to." We will not be equal. We will not always be happy, but we can freely weep without being arrested. Although I have been told Mother is great, all my life. I have been out of the children's home for four years. I was then introduced to Teacher Purple my first day out. She explained to me our society, how it works, and that I arrived from the children home with my fellow classmates. She told me of Mother. Her great wisdom, her power, the equality, the joy, and the love everyone shared. It was a lie... I should've known, but it sounded like a dream come true. A world without sadness. A world without grief, pain, hatred, war... was impossible. Those feelings of sadness are there. You can do nothing to throw them out completely, but only push them aside. I realize now that that is what Mother is doing. She covers our sadness with bandages, but it does not take away the pain. That only hides it under layers of fake happiness. We are forced to hide our feelings, keep on that stupid grin. Teacher came talking to me on her own, after school almost everyday, she would tell me of things we didn't learn in school. Wonderful things I loved to hear. She told me not to tell the other children, she told me never to speak of this to anyone else. I would learn about the past, more than I could ever know. She told me about herself. She was 'unique'. But I wonder why she came to me. She knows things about me I didn't know. But then, if she truly does, who am I supposed to be? Somehow recently, something changed about her. She could go on and on about the books we read, about anything she wanted to say... but then she stopped, and now her words are limited, just as I was catching on to who I may be, just a hint, a lock of hair, could reveal it all. She could've told me my name. My real name. But no, Mother hid it in silence. There is something going on here. Why does Mother keep us quiet? Why do we worship her so, when all she brings is pain and heartache. Teacher knows something. She wants to put an end to Mother's reign. Of course... I do too. But it's hard to go against something you've been told is good all your life. Teacher wants to tell me things. She wants to tell me who I really am. I can see it in her eyes when she looks at me, now as she's looking through the bookshelf. She glances at me, I can see the worry in her eyes. I can see the feelings, the feeling that she is trapped with no way out. I have never been in Teachers home. It is different from my home. It is messy, there are papers and books strewn about the room. By the window, I see a strange large cone shaped object on a stand with glass on the front, where it seems to point out the window. Beside that, their is a cork board. Covers with pictures, papers, arrows, and question marks. I stand up from the chair, and approach the board. I see multiple pictures of the same 6 ponies. I see what I can assume are the 'mane 6' from the book. Attached to the white mare, Rarity, I think, is a red string, leading over to a picture of a very similar looking mare, with the same color hair, but missing the curl. Her eyes, the same color as her hair. On her head, is stitches. The mare is wearing a brown cloak, and has it pulled over her head, she looks worried in the picture, and her head is turned, looking to the left. Under the picture is an address. E 5268 I look to the left of the board, and see a picture of Mother, holding the Staff of Sameness. A red string connected to it, is directed towards a paper with a picture of a blue mare with big red hair. Above it says, I'm pretty sure Meadow Brook only had 8 magical items, not 9 Then surrounding, are pictures of 8 items. A string connected to Mother, leads to another picture of her of her face grinning, next to another random pony grinning the same way. Their are words surrounding Mother's face. Purple coat. Striped mane, different colors, brighter saturation, eyes don't match mane, can pick up heavier objects, has a unicorn horn. UNEQUAL "Found it!" I heard behind me. I turned around, and approached Teacher curiously. What is it exactly, that she was looking for? Teacher placed carefully, a large brown book on the table. I sat down in the chair, and she sat in the one across from me. She pushed the book towards me, and I read the title. The Fall of Friendship "Similar to 'When The Sun Dies', this focuses on the creation of our society, it focuses more on the defeat of-" She began to cough again. She could not say whatever she was going to say. She was not allowed. "Defeat of what?" I asked. She opened the front of the book, dust flying up into the air, she placed her hoof on the page, and I looked at the words directly under. '-Twilight Sparkle." "The defeat of Twilight Sparkle..." I said. "But, we already learned this in When The Sun Dies!" "No." she said, "This goes more in detail. Written from a first hoof experience, this book was banned because it spoke too much of the truth." Teacher grinned, and looked into my eyes, "It has almost everything I know." "But then..." I looked at it, "how did you obtain it?" She smiled. "I just kept it. I bought it the moment it was published." I gulped, staring at the book, reading the cover again. "Why is it called The Fall of Friendship?" "Because, Gray," she whispered, leaning close, "That's exactly what this society is. That's exactly what happened when Mother- Starlight Glimmer- rose to power. She built this world, because she was afraid of losing ponies. She didn't want their unique personalities and gifts to distract them from her. She doesn't truly care about us... she only desires to be loved- but she does not return the favor." I looked into her bright purple eyes, which sparkled in the light. I looked down at the book, taking in a deep breath, and opening it. Hours passed of me reading, talking, and asking questions. Trying to understand the full picture Teacher was trying to tell me. "-she opened her eyes, only to see they were locked inside. Their cutiemarks gone, replaced by equal signs." "-she couldn't believe what she was seeing, their inevitable doom, and their was nothing she could do about it." "It was hopeless. Just hopeless. Princess Twilight Sparkle would never see her friends again, but she had to try." "-she was reduced now to nothing but Purple. Her wings and horn torn from her body, her fur bleached like every pony else. Her mane and hair dyed the same as her purple eyes. She was cursed, cursed to know the truth-" "-She was cursed to know the truth. But she could not speak it. Her friends minds were broken and lost in the midst of millions, yet Twilight was here all along. Having memory of all events before, but no way to find her friends, no way to tell any pony the truth and make them believe it. That was her punishment for trying to help ponies and save countless lives." I paused, and began to read the lines out loud, slowly, clinging onto every word. "Princess Twilight Sparkle is nothing more now than a teacher. A teacher who speaks lies to children forced out off her tongue. Princess Twilight Sparkle is reduced to nothing more but a pony by the title of-" I stopped. I couldn't read it. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be real. I slowly choked out the words, and looked up at my teacher as I did. "-Teacher Purple."
