//------------------------------//
// 15 Acres of Broken Glass 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

Things were going well, ever since she'd found the city. Definitely a whole lot better than they had before. Food was always there, and she didn't mind helping search for more when the need for it arose. And she had a real bed to sleep on, which as far as she was concerned was worth all the inconveniences that came with living there. 
Besides, honestly speaking, what was the alternative? Was she really willing to go back to the uncertainty and struggles of the world outside? No. Life in the city had its flaws, its uncertainties too, but it was far, far better than the only alternative they knew. She was safer than anywhere else, she was protected, she wasn't alone. Abandoning it all would have been foolish.
She knew it, just like everyone else in the city knew it. Unrest occasionally stirred the population, but it was always held back by that knowledge. That fact that no matter what, even if things were harsh sometimes, even if the Mirror threatened to give out on occasion, being alone out there would always be worse. 
She was afraid that the whole thing could fall apart, sometimes. That someone could use that fact to impose their own decisions over the city by force, and no one would be able to go against them if the alternative was being kicked out. She'd fight back if that happened, of course she would, but how many other ponies there could manage to do the same? How many of those scarce few wouldn't already have been bribed by those in charge at that point?
That wasn't her only fear about living in the city. And it wasn't the biggest one, either. There was something else, always on everypony's mind, even though they tried not to think about it. What if the Mirror broke? If the cracks got past the wall, they'd all be done for. The city would be no more. Would so many ponies even be able to stick together out there? It would be utter chaos. Again.
The Ziz be damned, she didn't have the faintest idea of how the Mirror even worked. Maybe she should study that. She was never the best at studying, yeah, but that didn't mean she couldn't try. Especially with something so important. As far as she understood it, if the Mirror broke there was no chance they'd be able to make another, but maybe there was something there? Maybe... 
Maybe no. Maybe she was just annoyed, again, by how useless she felt when it came to that. The brightest unicorns available to them worked day and night on running the thing and making it work, did she really think she'd be able to figure out something they'd missed just by picking up a book? No. Of course not. But at least she'd be doing something. Just to make herself feel better.
Could she really be blamed for feeling like that? No. But it didn't mean she could go out and act on it, just because. She had more important things to do there in the city, there was work to do and food to find. But maybe she would pick up a book on the matter, later on. She did have some spare time to fill, after all.