His lamp shone out into the darkness surrounding the inn and the camp that surrounded it in turn, a warren of tents and spent fires where the majority of the Unmarked slept. He smiled gently as he recalled his ignorance earlier, when he'd proposed they push on until they managed to find somewhere with enough rooms for all of them. It was unequal for only some to be allowed to sleep on soft beds, after all. Starlight had quickly shown him the error of his ways, pointing out that viewing soft beds as superior to sleeping bags was the real inequality, and he'd recanted. In a bid at humor, he'd even offered to demonstrate what Starlight had said to the other Unmarked, sleeping out in the camp while she used one of the rooms they'd managed to secure. She'd accepted, and he'd followed through, even though it had been a joke. Humor was serious, after all.
Of course, actually sleeping could wait for a while; it was his turn for watch, something that would doubtlessly confuse the elites they would confront soon. He was Starlight Glimmer's right hand, why should he sleep in a rough sleeping bag and have to take watch? That was a job for the collared, the poor, the commoners. And they were right, it was a job for the commoners, which all people truly were. All divisions of class, whether they be on social, economic, political, or ethnic lines, were simply illusions, attempts by the elite to fence the collared in, to scatter them and pen them so that they could be made useful. All people were commoners because all people shared one class in common, one class without demerit or credit, a class without mark, the class that gave their brave band its name.
Besides, he thought as he nodded to Minty, settling down to sleep, he liked taking watch, working for the others. Whether that meant standing guard through the night, sewing up a torn sleeping bag, or comforting poor Party Favor after his ingrained hierarchicality reared its head, he enjoyed helping others, though he was careful to avoid favoring any one of them too much; to love one too much was to hate the others, as Starlight would say.
Ah, how sad young him had been to realize what that truly meant. The boy from Snowdrift had spent years chasing the candle, dreaming of it, until its flame showed him how disordered his affections had been; hierarchicality had been the drive behind his desire for Starlight, trying to tempt him to take her for his own and deny her to the rest of the world. That realization had almost broken him, but another one repaired him; he realized he hadn't just followed Starlight because of his desire for her, but because of the light she showed, the truth she revealed. Hierarchicality had made a deadly mistake; in driving him to pursue her, it had driven him into the light that allowed him to see its evil, to see that what he truly desired was not her but its destruction.
He'd been brought back to life by equalism, and from that day on had done his best to pay back that debt. He'd given himself entirely to equalism, holding nothing back, and delightfully found himself with more than he'd given away in the first place. He'd emptied himself for equalism, and equalism had filled him back up until he overflowed. He was always at peace, because what was war but peace by other methods? He was always free, because what was slavery but the freedom to choose the choices another did? He was always wise, because what was ignorance but wisdom of what isn't? All opposition is merely superficial; lies are simply truths about things that aren't real, hate is love of what someone or something isn't, and inferiority is superiority when looked at in reverse. In the light of equalism, the truth became clear; all were equal.
He sucked in a breath; thinking about the grandness of equalism sent chills down his spine, chills that were equal to the warmth he felt in his stomach whenever he helped another. What was cold but a low heat, after all, or what was heat but a low cold? Nothing. Fire was ice, ignorance was wisdom, slavery was freedom, war was peace.
He sighed in awe; equalism was wonderful. He couldn't wait to show the elite its light, to destroy the hierarchicality that oppressed so many Homestrians. Some of those with him didn't, he knew, though he didn't hold it against them; it was difficult for a hierarchically-trained brain to think equalistically, and his love for the elite required a firm grasp of equalist thought in order to understand. Some thought they didn't love the elite for economic reasons, or social ones, or for their failure to properly restrain magic, the apex of hierarchicality. Double Diamond knew better, though; he hated the elite, just as the others did. And hate was love, so that meant he loved them, just as he loved the Unmarked. His march on the capitol was a labor of love, not, like the elite tried to make it out to be, of hate.
He thought (not dreamt; dreaming was a hierarchical attempt to impose inequality even on thoughts, a devious plan) of what might happen once the light of equalism was unveiled. He and Starlight had discussed it somewhat, though she was more equal in her judgements of whether or not their mission would resolve equitably (not succeed; success was an attempt to impose inequality on outcomes of events). She said he put too much faith in the elite's ability to see the truth, which was probably true: she had a more equal sense of things like that than he did, refusing to treat the ability of hierarchicality to maintain its grip on people's minds as lightly (and thus unequally) as he did.
But those who managed to shake off the shackles of hierarchicality would be welcomed as equals, and any unequal possessions of their's put to use ensuring equal property for the others. After, of course, being put to use spreading equalism; the revolution was not free, after all, and saying that one would rather enhance the living standards of those already practicing equalism than help others begin to practice it was hierarchicality, an attempt to introduce an inequality between equalists and non-equalists. Starlight had theorized otherwise before, but eventually she declared that expansion was more equalist than stagnation was, and records of those other theories were destroyed to preserve unity. They wouldn't need those possessions, though; Double Diamond could carry all of his possessions on his back, and he was the most content Man in the world, just like all the Unmarked.
Of course, even optimistic him knew that some wouldn't be willing to part with their possessions so easily, or accept freedom after spending so long enslaved. They would need to be reeducated and reconditioned, and if that failed, if they stayed hierarchical and a threat to the people, the Security Council would need to step in.
That was another reason he made his rounds on watch, stayed among the others; if he was their equal, they didn't watch their speech as carefully around him. Party Favor might lock up about his recurring bouts of hierarchicality to Starlight, but he would confess it to Double Diamond in a heartbeat, just as all those he knew would. It was easier for people to communicate without the artificial barriers of hierarchicality, Starlight had taught them that, and by working alongside the rest of the Unmarked Double Diamond made sure that those barriers stayed gone.
If he learned that they were trying to keep those barriers up, though, if they were trying to maintain or institute inequality, he would oblige them, and they would find themselves faced not with Double Diamond the equal but Double Diamond, Director of Security. None of the Unmarked, no matter how deeply hierarchicality might be ingrained in them, wished to face that. Some nights, Party Favor confessed, he had nightmares about what would happen if he faced that. And well he might have; Starlight had given him authority to take whatever measures he thought necessary as security director, authority that he'd used sparingly over the years. He hadn't needed to use it much; after a night without food or water, even the highest of horses felt equal to others.
He'd had to exercise it more thoroughly on their newest guest, though; a magic-user deeply rooted in hierarchicality, she seemed determined to defy the truth no matter what it cost her. He nodded to the Unmarked guarding her, Caramel, then stepped into the tent holding her. The flap was harder to move than the others, and with good reason; sound-absorbing fabric was quite heavy, and expensive: it had taken the proceeds from selling most of their guest's possessions in order to purchase the tent, though it had proven wise. The sounds might disturb the others.
"Hello," he greeted their guest again. "Have you thought about our offer?"
"I," her cracked, almost broken voice replied. "refuse."
His face hardened, though she couldn't see it under her hood. She was still obstinate, then. Hopefully, the gift he was about to give her would help remedy that. Putting his lamp down, he walked back out of the tent before returning, bearing a crude tea kettle, still whistling from the fire. He walked over to the guest, staying stoically still, and lifted up the back of the clothes they'd loaned her. Her breath hitched, and he paused; would this be the night she agreed to help them? Would she finally choose to be equal?
Sadly, no; instead, she snapped, "Get on with it. You're wasting time you could be spending mooning over your cult leader."
A scowl darkened his face. He opened the kettle and poured.
Being the Director of Security means that Double Diamond is privileged to know more of equalism, in order that his knowledge might be equal to his task. And one of the secrets entrusted to him is the Secret of False Opposition, the revelation that all seeming opposites are actually the same, simply reached by a different method.
Thus, war is peace.
Lies are truth.
Slavery is freedom.
Hate is love.
Ignorance is wisdom.
And, crucially for his line of work, wrong is right and injustice is justice.
Thus, when asked what he did inside that soundproof tent, he can truthfully answer that he loved their guest, and inflicted healing on her using right, just methods. She was so happy, he could say, she said she felt like she was in Paradise. And it would be true.
As true as equalism.