*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
"Open up, Dingy! First of the month! Rent's due, girl!"
I awoke to the earth shattering pounding of the landlord doing his very best to cave in my front door with his hooves. It was barely eight in the morning yet he was insistent that the rent be paid at this very moment. Mr. PJ had always been the 'if it's not early, it's late' kind of buck for the few years I had known him, but this was just ridiculous. You forget to pay rent a few dozen times by the due date and this is what you get. An angry, smelly buck beating your door down before the rooster even crows for the morning!
"Com'on, Dinge, I don't have all day!"
"Alright, I'm coming. Just... stop banging on my door!"
I shuffled my weary hooves to the door and yanked it open and was greeted by the foul odor of rotten eggs that followed PJ wherever he went. I did my best to clear the sleep from my eyes to better plead my case to him that I, once again, was going to be late with rent. I hadn't told him, I didn't have to, but the last year had been rather lack luster in terms of monetary gain in my field. Anypony staying here was already in as bad, if not worse, shape than I was already.
"Hi Mr. PJ... I don't have my rent for the month... YET! I'm sorry! So sorry. Could I have a few days to get it to you? I'll pay the fee, I just don't have it right now. But I will! I promise!" I said, giving my best helpless foal routine.
"Dingy, promises don't keep the lights on in this joint. This is the 8th time this year you have needed an extension on your rent. Now are you ever going to get yourself together, or am I going to have to promote you to homeless?" He said rather flatly considering the connotation. "You are an adult, not some helpless filly anymore. I like you, kid. But I got mouths to feed and books to read and I can't do either without you paying your rent... savvy?"
"Savvy, Sir."
"Now... what featherbrained scheme have you worked out this month to pay me?"
"I have a job! It's temporary, but it's a job! Over at Spark Labs! It doesn't pay much, but it will more than cover my rent for the next three months!"
"Three months eh? And I suppose you plan to pay me for all three months in advance?"
"Yes sir! I promise."
"Promises..."
"I know, I know. But I... assure you I will!"
"Spark Lab's eh? I have heard about that place. They take volunteers for magical research... Doesn't sound like you at all. What happened to all that 'save the trees crap' you were doing? Ya'll run out of world to save?"
"It's not crap, it's conservation! And as it turns out, it's a difficult field to accelerate in... Apparently."
"You have 3 days... After that, your behind will be sleeping in a damn tree. I have been more than fair to you, just one time be fair to me, eh?"
"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" I said as I slowly closed the door.
Whew! Bought myself some time. I was always buying time, when would this end!? First the botanist job fell through, then the arborist position was downsized and even my job at the plan nursery was bought out! Now I am being forced to volunteer as a lab rat at Spark Labs!? Mr. PJ was right, as wrong of a pony as he was. This wasn't like me at all. How could my life go so wrong as to pull me from my field in rare plant conservation to working for a company that was doing everything they could to harvest and destroy any and all rare plants for their magical properties!?
It was like admitting defeat! All I ever wanted to do since I was a filly was to learn about and protect the world around me, now I was becoming part of the very thing that I hated. I worked hard, I studied even harder to become a conversationalist only for the world around me to go in the exact opposite direction from it. Who needs plants when you have magic, who needs trees when you can make oxygen scrubbers, who needs clean water when you can just buy it bottled by the gallon! It was full blown insanity and I am now helping it along.
What choice did I have... I was about to be homeless in the middle of winter. I couldn't go live in a tree, there were no trees left to live in! My best chance would be to find some old garbage and hide under it until spring. I continued hating myself through breakfast and most of the way through getting dressed and cleaned up. As much as I wanted to stay mad, I was beginning to feel stupid for it. Everypony else had already jumped on the screw the environment for the betterment of ponies bandwagon, why not me too? Everyday ponies like me were being made to look more and more ridiculous. It was just a matter of time before there were none of us left.
I closed and locked my door to my little one bedroom apartment. The next time I see this place I will be a full blown sell out to the world I worked so hard to be a part of. It was so cold outside, I don't think I would make it out here for a night, let alone for the rest of my life. The winters felt like they had been dragging on and on the older I got and I wasn't even a particularly old mare. I was barely even an adult by my own standards. Scant traces of snow lined the sidewalks from the last flurry that passed through but it was slowly evaporating away little by little each day. It wasn't melting but just... going away.
Everywhere around me ponies trotted to and from little shops and buildings as they went about their day without a care in the world. None of them seemed to care that we had not seen the sun in months due to the overwhelming cloud cover caused by the factories outside of town. Massive cooling towers poked out of the horizon like stray hairs in an unkempt mane, belching out steam and smolder into the sky above like chainsmokers, filling the air with thick, acrid stenches. We were told they were complex compounding facilities for magical products to help level the differences between us all. But to me it was just another low-hanging reminder of how far we had strayed as a race. From sunny skies to black skylines in a matter of a few years, our world was changing faster than we could adapt to it.
I placed my mask over my face and pushed forward into the day, my every step feeling heavier by the moment. Mass public transit had replaced traveling by wing and hoof due to the ever growing expance of the city around us. In almost any direction I looked I saw grey and black soot stained concrete towers that rose far beyond the looming haze into the sky above. Going outside was depressing for me, it was one of the reasons I spent so much time indoors after I lost my last job. But all these ponies around me paid no mind at all to have to wear a dust mask just to go for a trot.
Pegasi, Earth Ponies and Unicorns alike were all different in their own special ways. But over time we had been taught that different was a bad thing and that differences were what started conflict. There was no place for that in a world founded on friendship, but there was plenty of room for magic. I really did hate ponies for it. In my lifetime I watched a beautiful world be raped and pillaged to save from conflict. Magical advances were at the forefront of everypony's thoughts, not the consequences. It was like a runaway train that even the conductor had no hope of stopping now that it was rolling.
The moment everypony found out that they could no longer purchase elixirs that would make their every whim a reality, there would be riots. You can't give anypony that power and take it away, they will kill themselves to get it back. I stood in a sea of addicts, junkies to the fruits of pillage and plunder, silently despising them all. This world would be so much better off without ponies, without me, without anything at all. We did not deserve this life, this place or this world that we had carved out. This world did not deserve this.
I looked down at the puddle of dirty water... Oh... That was my coat's reflection. Here I thought I was staring at a dingy pool of water at my hooves... but I was just staring at Dingy. I really hate it when this happens... It really bums me out. Would it have been so much to ask for for me to be blue, or even green? Why did I have to be brown? Coat's brown, mane is dirty blond brown and my eyes are brown... just shades of brown... If there is any money left over after this, I'm dying my damn mane and this time I mean it. I don't care if I look like one of those reactionary activists, I just want to just look at something other than brown for once.
I stepped off the curb and... fell on my face. Ok, not a puddle. That was totally ice and I just face planted into a busy street of ponies. Perfect. I looked up expecting that somepony saw my fall in hopes they might lend a hoof to help me up. I was seeing stars but even still I could make out the angry glares I was getting for blocking the crosstrot. I was holding up ponies that were more important than I ever thought about being for an extra second, how dare I. I clambered back to my hooves, only to be nearly knocked down by yet another buck rushing to his day job.
"H-HEY!" I yelped as I stumbled.
"Watch it, dirt pile!" He shouted back at me as he stormed off.
Just another day in the world I called home. As if this day couldn't get any worse, I was quickly reminded once again that ponies don't like me. Was I really mad at the world? Or was I mad at myself for letting myself sink this low? Whatever it was, it hurt. A deep, visceral kind of hurt that felt like I was letting go of something near and dear to myself. All my life I had believed the world could be changed, that life could be beautiful once again. Was that just foalish thinking? All at once it hit me. I was losing my Innocents. I was allowing my life to be taken into the very thing I hated and what was worse, I had no choice.
I had applied for job after job, stayed up all night dropping off resumes and applications for no gain whatsoever. It had finally just come to... this. I felt my heart racing as if I were trying something new and dangerous for the first time. I was having a panic attack, something I was still very new to experiencing. My doctor had told me that they were a symptom of my mental health of near constant rejection, but it felt like I was dying every time they would hit me. It was like the sky was falling on me, about to crush me at any moment and there was nothing to do but wait for it all to hit me.
I felt sweat beading on my coat in the freezing air as it started to set in. I had to pull it together, I had my examination in about an hour! I can't be late or I won't have money to make rent! That's it, Dingy. Just fan the flames of anxiety a little more. My heart was racing, I was breathing heavily and it didn't help that each breath brought in more and more of that foul smelling smog. I was in full panic attack mode when I started running for 53rd Street, crashing into ponies along the way.
I just needed to make it to the communal garden, my mare friend is there, I need her right now! I skittered around the corner and shot across the busy street to the long alleyway that led to the park area. Even though I had been there a thousand times in my life, even though I could close my eyes and find it, I couldn't make sense of the twists and turns in my confused state. I stumbled from dead end to dead end, looking for the familiar chain link gate that opened up to the greenhouse. My vision was growing dark around the edges, narrowing and forcing me to scan signs that were quickly becoming incomprehensible.
Finally, after what felt like ages, I found it. The rusted chainlink fence that would lead to salvation. I rammed into it head first, throwing it open and darting for the door to the East Side Gardens. My hooves were not working properly, I fumbled with the latch for several moments before the door swung open and I was pulled inside by a dark purple pony.
"Dingy! For peaches and cream sake, girl! What's wrong!?" Lilly Peddle screeched.
"I-I-I-I was walking! I-I-I fell! Angry! Angry ponies! Mad at me! Dingy! Panic'd! Ran here! Help!" I knew the words I wanted to say but my brain and mouth were no longer working together in harmony.
"Oh... Honey..." She said as she pulled my filthy mask from my face. "Just breathe deep! Nice and slow now. Close your eyes and just breathe deep."
I did as I was told. I can not describe what it is like to have a panic attack, but I can describe what it is like to come down from one. Heavenly. Like nothing could touch you, nothing could hurt you. Every breath of clean, muggy air was filled with the scents of sage, rosemary and fresh vegetables. Even though it was humid and heavy air, It was bliss to breath in fresh clean air. I felt my heart thump hard as it began to slow down and my muscles unclenched.
"That's a girl. Just take long deep breaths. Feel better?"
"Yes... Thank you." I said as I slumped over into the floor. "Thank goodness you are here... I need to talk to you."
"Oh? So you are not here for your monthly anxiety attack cure? And here I thought I was going to need to get my doctorate so I could start taking care of you."
"I need to talk to you about a moral paradox I am dealing with."
"Oh... So I need a doctorate in psychology. Got it." She smirked.
"Lilly, this is serious! I don't know what to do."
"Sweetie... What in the world has you this worked up?" She asked as she went back to working on the the greenhouse's cobbled together irrigation system.
"I did something... bad. I got hard up for money and my rent came due and I... I just can't believe I'm saying this."
"Dingy Beige! You are not about to sit here and tell me you found a light pole to hang on!"
"What!? No! I would never... Listen... I applied at Spark as a test subject." I shouted. Water sprayed high into the muggy air as Lilly, as best as I could describe, freaked out.
"YOU WHAT!? Dingy! I'd rather you were a prostitute! How could you! Don't you remember our time in PAN? I assure you it was Spark that set fire to our camp! Ponies nearly DIED that night! How could you enroll in that stupid elective program!?"
"That's just it! I didn't, I was randomly chosen! I got a letter in the mail offering compensation and I mailed it back in when I was drunk! I needed money, Lilly. I'm about to be homeless."
"Look, dear. I know times are getting darker, everyday we see less and less of the sun. But you can't just let them cut bits off of you for... bits! What if you come back out of there and you are missing your legs? Or worse, just missing two legs?"
"How the hell is missing two legs worse than missing all of them?"
"Oh please... One stiff breeze and you'll topple right over."
"What am I going to do, it's contractual. I have to go now or I will be sued by them. I was weak, Lilly. I was scared and I didn't know what to do!"
I had thought that Lilly was giving me the silent treatment when she went back to fixing the irrigation system. This was terrible! Now I was turning one of my only friends in this world against me! I had known her since our time in Giraffrica years ago, she mentored me when we stood together in the rain forest to protest logging. Now I was going against everything we had stood for just to stay alive!
"What if... this is an opportunity?"
"How. How can this be an opportunity?"
"Dingy, Spark and our kind don't tend to have fun dinners and sleep overs... ever. What if this is a chance for you to find out more about them, their lies and what they are doing in that lab of theirs? We know very little about them and this is the first time they have ever reached out to any of us for anything. It could be a chance to prove what we already know."
"Or, they are going to start killing us off, one by one." I retorted. I can't believe this! She was the LEADER of our team and she is going along with this!?
"Think about it. With solid proof of them willingly raping the land, maybe we could use it against them. We could take them down from the inside out!" She said, crushing a perfectly good tomato in her hoof. Oh com'on! I was hungry and I would have eaten that!
"Yes... But what if they KILL me?"
"If they wanted you dead, you would probably be dead already. I mean, they have a security team, they are in bed with most of the media outlets and they have the resources. This could be our one chance to find out more about them. I hate to say it, but it might actually be worth the risk."
"I guess we will find out, my appointment is in twenty minutes." I said as I stood up and gathered myself. "If I don't make it out of this... I'm haunting you." I said as my hoof went for the door.
"Well, if you do, be prepared to pay rent. I'm not having some freeloading sellout ghost spooking up the place unless they chip in for utilities!"
"Yeah, yeah. Money this, money that... The whole damn world runs on money." I said as I trotted out of the door and back towards the streets.
It wasn't a long trot to Spark, but I was making it one. Even with the gloomy atmosphere, I would rather it than to even begin to enter their building. Everything about it was imposing and over-built. The term 'No expenses spared' came to mind anytime I saw it. It actually made me physically sick to my stomach from fear. But as I have been told by many ponies in my life, learn about the thing you fear to take the fear away. To understand is not to fear. But even still, with my walk nearly at an end, I was shaking in my hooves.
I stood outside the great doors of the gleaming skyscraper on Trottsworth Avenue and just stared up. What I wouldn't give to just see one bird. Just one. It had been so long now, just give me a sign I'm doing the right thing. But there was nothing, there had never been anything and there would never be anything... Just grey. A sea of endless depths of danger and loathsome hate stretching far beyond anything anypony could fathom into an oblivion that we had created.
No turning back now, I was doing this to stay alive. I trotted through the doors and into the purple marble floors that stretched out like a vast ocean of amethyst, glinting under the magical lighting from far above. Truly this place was a marvel to see, but a monument to false hope is what it stood for. Far beyond the reach of the central lighting lay the admittance counter. Navigating the mass of ponies, I made my way to it with shaky hooves, still trying to rid my trembling hide of my panic attack.
I had heard all manner of things happening to ponies here. For many, this is where they would get their first taste of magical whimsy, a chance to see how the other's lived, if for only a moment. For others it could mean devastating consequences that would follow them for their entire lives. We had all heard the rumor of the buck that came here to get some extra money to pay for his kid's private school, only to leave one less leg than when he came in. There had to be a million stories like this, none of them holding any water as to what actually happened. No doubt from the lengthy documentation you had to fill out just to get the chance for them to poke at you.
"May I help you?"
"Yes. Dingy, here for my ten A.M. appointment for testing."
"U.P.I.D?"
"BM 14718 M14."
"Please, fill out these forums and have a seat in waiting room number fifteen. Somepony will be with you shortly. Next?"
Well, that was about as soulless as you can get. Would it have hurt to ask how I was doing? My mood was not helping my situation as it was, but being that my first interaction with Spark was akin to being told to go pound sand, this was not helping things. Maybe I was just in a bad mood, maybe this wasn't going to be so bad, maybe I had just built this whole thing up inside my head.
I looked up to one of their propaganda-esc posters that were plastered up and down their hallways like wallpaper. The smiling face of an unassuming pony glared down at me as though I was a small foal, eager to learn. 'Everything is possible through Equaal! Safe, low cost and all natural Equaal has changed my life! How could it change your's?'. I nearly threw up in my mouth. All natural? ALL NATURAL!? I guess when your product is made from endangered species of plants and animals, you can say such lies. All natural... because it is nature.
Soon I came to my small room away from the busy grand hall. A small, windowless door painted a sickening shade of violet awaited me with the number fifteen emblazoned on the door at eye level. I'm not a superstitious pony, but this was starting to feel like one of those defining moments in my life where the number 15 would forever be tainted to me. Like years from now I would refuse to buy things that cost 15 bits or not leave the house on the 15th of each month. What was I saying, I can't afford things that are 15 bits now!
Inside the small exam room I was greeted with gray walls, white lights and a green exam table to comfort my already growing anxiety. I found a seat near the corner of the room on a rolly chair... is that what these things are actually called? Rolly chairs? Exam room stool? Wheely-rolly-sitty-squishy... chair? I resigned myself to spinning in circles while I waited for them to come in to examine me. Why was it that these places were all designed to do little more than inspire even more fear with their non-threatening lay-outs? It was like a teddy bear with no facial features, largely benign but still incredibly creepy in its own way.
A knock at the door nearly sent me flying into the cabinets beside me. I had worked so hard to calm myself down only to nearly pee myself at the slightest noise... Graceful, Dingy. Real graceful.
"Ms. Dingy? Hello, I'm doctor Wolfbain. Pleasure to meet you."
I gave a small embarrassed smile and a timid wave. It was as much as I could muster from my place on the floor.
"Right... I see you have enrolled and expressed great interest in our accelerated magical research program. Is this correct?"
"Y-yes." I stammered as I tried to climb atop the bed. "I am interested."
"Mhm. I see. That is very interesting considering your background. Graduate from Canterlot university with a major in endangered species conservation, two years serving for Friends Of Nature and two more with Planet Action Now... Are you still with these organizations?"
"N-no... I am not longer affiliated with them... sir." That was a complete lie. It was worrying that they knew that level of detail about me considering I had marked no prior knowledge in their disclaimer, but even more worrying was that they probably knew that I was lying. "I had a falling out with them some time back."
"Interesting. Please answer the following questions to the best of your knowledge... Number 1. Have you or anypony you know ever worked for Spark in the past?"
"No sir."
"Number 2. What is your opinion of Spark as a public identity? "
"Spooky? Overwhelming? I see ads everywhere for this place."
"Excellent, the marketing team will be thrilled. Number 3... Do you agree with any manner of magical testing, including but not limited to: teleportation, transfiguration or possibly perceived time manipulation? "
"Y-yes." I knew what one of those things was. Lilly could teleport, she teleported me one time and that wasn't so bad.
"Excellent! Number 4... Given the current state of the environment, what would your overall opinion of our company be?"
Oh no... It was hard enough to keep my brain quiet through all of this, but if I were to just blurt out how I feel about this place, how I truly felt, they would boot me out! I need this money, but I can't think of anything to say!
"I think it is horrible what you all are doing to the environment! You rape the land, rivers and seas all for profit!" Good Dingy... super subtle...
"Interesting. Number 5... Given your answer to number 4, how would you improve this?"
I stood shocked. I had just blurted out that I thought this place was trash and I wasn't being kicked out on my flank? They wanted my input on how to make things better? Crap! What should I say? My brain scrambled to figure out a solution, but it was coming up as blank as a foal's butt! I had spent so much time thinking about and seeing how they have ruined the natural world but never once had I thought about how they could change it!
"Uhhh..." Smooth... Real smooth.
"Really... After such passion toward your disdain for our company I find it odd that you could not come up with a solution to these issues you have convinced yourself of."
"Wait! Maybe you could not... do those things? What I mean is... is there not some alternative? Maybe something synthetic?"
"Ms. Dingy... Without risking too much towards fueling your animosity towards us. There is not a synthetic replacement for magical augmentation. There is simply not a means to pull from without further investigation into magical property science. In order for such a thing to exist, we must push forward with current research to find such a scientific practice."
"What was wrong with how things were? When I was a filly, everypony was different! We were all special! What you are doing here is blending everypony into one homogeneous blend of nothing!"
"What we are doing here is saving Equinity. We are furthering our species as a whole. Let me ask you something. Great works of art, great scientific achievements, massive skyscrapers... Where did all of those things come from? The minds of great ponies who were outstanding in their field. They were the percent of the percent of us that checked all of the right boxes to do something great. Now knowing this, what if I were to inspire the thought to you that such great achievements are inside many ponies... But they just need that little something extra. Magic that they do not wield naturally. What great achievements would be lost to this world that could bring such beauty and great things. What could you yourself do with such powers?"
I hated him. I hated everything he said. But more than anything, I hated the idea that he could be right. Maybe things just got out of hoof. Maybe the way the world has turned out was inevitable and they started looking for a solution and are not the cause of the problem. I hated everything he had to say because... what? It contradicted what I already knew? It was the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear? Was I just closed minded, or was I being fed a line of crap? Fed... I have not eaten in days now, it was bad enough to have my morals questioned without the constant pain of hunger and the ever looming fear of being homeless. I was tired, scared and I was starving. I was not in a position to argue my point.
"If this Equaal is so great, then why not use it to make the world better? Why ruin a planet to progress a species only to have no place left to live at all?"
"Precisely why you are here!" He said in excitement. He then placed his clipboard on the table and rolled closer to me. "We are not naive, Ms. Dingy. We can see the damage done, but what makes us different from your opinion of us is that we can see a way out. We see a cure. Surely you know that we are not the only company in town, so many others are out there causing far more damage than we ever could! However, we are the only ones interested in correcting it. Ponies like yourself have no doubt found little profit from your work, not to be insulting of course. But what if we could offer you something... more."
"I guess... What could Spark do for me?" I blurted out in frustration.
"Ah yes... When all the walls have fallen, we resort to our most basic instincts. Self preservation. Ms.Dingy... WE can provide you with more gifts than you could ever imagine. Want the gift of flight? Done. Wish to be able to do magic? We can also make that a reality. Or perhaps you need the power of a gifted mind... Here we can augment reality and give you the ability to accel in all aspects of your life. If conservation is your true passion, as told by your green leaf cutiemark, then we can give you the gifts to pursue that very thing... Who knows, perhaps your motives can align with ours and we each pursue a common goal. All things are possible with Equaal."
"Will any of this... what I have to do that is, hurt?" I asked as I felt my morals begin to slip further and further from my grasp.
"No, Ms. Dingy. Nothing here will hurt you. Now... That concludes the questionnaire and your prequalification. We have reviewed your medical records and I see no reason why we can not enroll you today. In fact, I think you would be a prime candidate for a new experimental spell we are working on. I feel it might be right up your alley." He said as he stood and trotted to the door.
"New spell? What kind of spell?" I asked as I followed him out and into the hallway towards the elevator.
"We have been researching long distance teleportation and we believe we are on the verge of a monumental breakthrough in what we are calling Broken Line of Sight Teleportation or BLST. The interns have taken to calling it BLAST for short. The exact details are classified." He said as he helped me into the elevator.
"Blast... Sounds like a blast! Heh... I'm sorry."
"Sorry indeed. This is very serious research we're doing. If today's test goes as planned, we could unlock knowledge that has been lost to us for centuries! Thousands of years of lost spells and misplaced artifacts could be retrieved!"
"Forgive me for prying... But this is starting to sound more and more like time travel."
"Yes, well... I guess your name sake would have lead me to believe that muddy waters could not be cleared."
"When your name is Dingy, you get used to the muddy water."
"Yes, indeed this is in some ways... time travel. But not the fun exciting kind you will have seen on tv or in books. No, this involves selective teleportation of beings beyond the line of sight from a magical perspective. Teleportation at its root is a very direct act. A skilled unicorn can move from place to place easily through this act. They can even reach out with their magic and retrieve certain items if they know where they are placed, beyond their line of sight and teleport them to their location. The trouble comes when time becomes involved. Two or three days is not an issue, but weeks... months... That magical connection grows weaker and it is eventually lost."
"So... I'm going to be a candidate for a lost and found mission?" I asked as the door opened and we trotted out into a bright white hallway. We had been in the elevator for only moments, but it had felt like we were miles underground.
"Basically? No. The finer details and motives will be given to you later. We believe in transparency with our test subjects, any question you ask will be answered now that you are here. That being said, inside your room you will find your uniform to wear, a notebook to keep your own personal records of your stay and a place to clean up before your appointment with the Doctor. You are encouraged to rest and try to relax as much as possible between now and then. You will also find the paperwork you will need to fill out to proceed. There is in fact a gag order of protection among them. While we are transparent with you, we ask that you are not with the public after you leave. Many of our projects are still in the developmental stages and we do not wish for them to be leaked at this time."
"I understand."
"Excellent. This is your room. We ask that you stay here until the Doctor has visited you, after that you are welcome to all of the free access areas of the compound. Nice meeting you, Dingy." He said as he trotted away from me.
He was very calm in how forthcoming he was with information, but how he operated, just trotting away from me was very off-putting. Considering that many of the procedures they do cause life-long debilitating problems for many ponies, or so I am told, you would think he would have shown me in. Then again... I honestly do not know what to think anymore. My brain was so scattered with everything negative going on in my life, it felt like it was grasping for hope. Manifesting the possibility that they were looking for a solution for the problem they could have caused.
Everything I had learned and found out through my work in conservation was coming into question. There was a sizable gap between what I would hear in the news versus what I would see with my own two eyes. Bias, agenda and motive were all told to me my entire life, I had never actually bothered to dig deeper into the cause or the effect. The true motive a pony has is only known to them, at best we can guess what they mean, but are we ever truly correct? Spin was very much so a factor in driving the public to what they wanted them to believe as well. There was no true way to know if what I believed was right about this company was actually true... Not without testing it out myself.
I let myself into the small hotel like room and felt much better knowing that the sheets I would be sleeping on would actually be clean and my pillow would not smell like mold for the first time in years. If nothing else, I could report back to my friends and colleagues my findings here. Nopony in my field had ever volunteered for testing for obvious reasons, but what is fact without findings and data? The more I thought about it the more my knowledge was becoming speculation at best. Either way, I would have to wait and see what would come next, maybe even something good?
Day one:
Name: Dingy
Sex: Mare
Age: 24
Status: Pending