"And we're doing it because reasons?" Zipp asked as she watched her mother, Queen Haven, brush her hair.
"You know your sister loves performing. This could be a real career bump for her." Haven dismissively replied.
"Oh yeah, sure, you say that about everything." Zipp rolled her eyes. "And let me guess, I don't have a single spot in the performance?"
"I didn't think you wanted one."
"I don't. I'm not 'performing' fake flying maneuvers in front of a crowd."
"They aren't fake. It takes time and effort to create those movements with the cables."
"No, it doesn't. All you have to do is spend fifteen minutes typing a bit of code. And that's from scratch. They just slightly modify presets." Zipp became a little more aggressive with her tone. "There's no life to it. It's artificial."
"And what makes you so sure?"
Zipp stamped her hoof down. "Because It's a lie!" She suddenly yelled. "WHY do we keep lying to them? We can't fly and you know it! Why do we say we can?!"
"Because we make sure we are giving them hope." Haven was becoming more aggressive herself.
"Oh yeah! Hope! And what happens when they find out we CAN'T fly? Huh?"
"They won't find out."
"Yes, they will! And if they don't, what am I supposed to do in life? Become queen, and teach my foals to lie as well?"
"It. Gives them. Hope."
"All we ever do is lie! All ponies ever do, is lie! On the internet! Ponies are always lying about themselves! They talk about how they did this yesterday, they did that last week, bragging about what they did, forcing ponies that don't do much to lie!"
"Zipp, you can hardly say that the Internet isn't helpful. They have been plenty of ponies who have been driven out of anger and depression because of it."
"No! That is NOT true! They're just living vicariously through others, constantly watching memes or keeping themselves entertained by video games! They never do anything productive! They all snap at some point!"
"As long as they don't kill themselves, they will be fine."
Pain shot through Zipp's heart upon hearing what her mother just said.
Her tone turned cold. "So you want them to live a lie? You want your daughter to live a lie?"
"Zephyrina!" Haven turned to glare at the princess. "Do not say that! What about your life is a lie?"
"You wanna know what part is a lie? Let's see, I'm a PRINCESS. Everything just gets handed over to me! If I ask for a rare item, I get it almost immediately! And guess what? It's always some hastily put-together knockoff of the item! Plus there are the reasons I just listed!"
"Zipp, I hope you understand that you can't get everything that is 'rare'."
"That's not what I meant. I me- you know what? Nevermind! How about my own sister? She's the most disconnected out of all of us! She always slaves over her fans, barely acknowledges the world around her, I can name several things she's broadcasted about ME that I didn't want her to!"
"She's just trying to be a good sister. Zipp, you know we love you."
Zipp felt attacked. Genuinely attacked. Haven had put zero emotion into that sentence, having barely cared at how she tried to comfort her daughter. Just as long as said daughter shut up.
"No... you don't..." She said, coldly. She unfurled her wings and took ok a defensive pose. She didn't know why. It felt like instinct.
"What's going on in here?" A new, younger voice asked. Zipp didn't need to know who the technology-addicted pegasus was.
"Nothing, Pipp. Your sister is having a little blowout is all." Haven reassured.
"Oooooo! Somepony's angry!" Pipp teased, suddenly turning around and taking a selfie with Zipp's angry face just behind her.
Zipp growled as she watched her sister scroll through whatever social media page she was using, probably about to upload the picture.
"Zi-"
No sooner did Haven try to get Zipp's attention, the white pegasus swiped the phone from Pipp, holding it up with a hoof.
"Hey! Zipp-" Pipp tried to say.
"You two DISGUST ME!" Zipp interrupted. "You are ALWAYS on your phones, browsing whatever dumb thing you browse, making other ponies do and buy whatever you say they should, just because YOU LIKE IT! Why can't either of you just turn off the internet for one day? ONE. DAY!"
"Zipp, give me my phone back!" Pipp reached for her phone, but Zipp batted her away.
"No! As long as I am part of this family, you two are THROUGH with this tech! I'm tired of living a lie!" Tears began to well up in her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to fight them.
"Zipp, calm down, now." Haven sternly demanded. "Give your sister her phone back."
Zipp back up and looked between the two. From Pipp, to Haven, back to Pipp, before staring at the phone. Using a wing, she deleted the dumb photo Pipp had taken.
crack SNAP!
With zero warning, Zipp smacked the phone into the ground and stomped her hoof on it so hard it broke in two. The other two pegisides were shocked as the phone crackled a bit before losing power. Zipp just glared before walking out of the room.
"You've never loved me." She said, not looking back at them.
Zipp walked through the halls, refusing to let her tears fall. A few guards took note of her look but paid her no heed.
Until one piped up.
"Princess? Is everything alr-"
"I'm fine." Zipp interrupted.
"You seem put off-"
"I said I'm fine." Zipp glared at the guard, shutting the guard up.
About an hour later, the sun had set. Zipp was nowhere in Zephyr Heights, instead, she was on a small nearby mountain ridge. Not many knew exactly what it was called. Not because it was obscure, just because, who would care about the name of a mountain ridge? It wasn't in Zephyr Heights.
Zipp came over here partly because she was able to practice her athletic moves around the place, but also partly because of the mountain road it housed. The tarmac road was one way, narrow, and believe it or not, used to be one of the highways that allowed the Unicorns and Earth Ponies to come to Zephyr Heights. This road went by one name and one name only.
Iroha Pass
Something about it just sort of... spoke to her. Like she was meant to be here. But all she was really able to do was walk up and down it and examine the fine details of the road.
The road itself wasn't a straight line by any means. It features tight 180 degree turns with hard elevation change, straightaways, and at the end, three bridges went over three rivers. Driving on the road was nice, but there was switchback after switchback after switchback after switchback after switchback- no seriously there were TWELVE consecutive switchbacks or 'hairpins' as Zipp preferred, just in the middle part of the road.
This particular part of the road went one-way downhill. The other part of it went one-way uphill and met up further in the ridge, but it had been put out of commission long ago by a landslide. The uphill itself was probably completely fine. It's just that nopony wanted to clear the dirt.
Zipp looked down at the pass from the top, wishing she could fly just above the course, diving into each hairpin before rocketing out like a slingshot.
Sighing, she turned around and walked away from the pass, away from the fog-obscured Zephyr Heights.
Why am I the only one who thinks sensibly around here? She wondered. Everyone else is just using their phones, listening to whatever social media tells them, living vicariously through others, it's all just a lie. Nopony should be like this, yet they are. Everyone is. As a princess, I should be happy for them, but I know they aren't happy. They just act happy.
She walked through a narrow trail. Well, not narrow, but about seventy inches or so wide. Basically the width of a road lane.
"Why do I even bother..." She quietly said. "Something tells me I wasn't meant to be born in this day and age. Why can't I just travel back in time to when ponies were actually happy? Instead of this stupid life?"
She kicked a small rock into the wall. "It's not like anyone cares about me. The heiress to the throne. All they care about is Pipp because-" She put on a mocking voice. "Oooo she's so down to the ground and quirky and cool! And she sings and writes songs!" She scoffed. "I can sing too. And write songs. But unless I gain the ability to fly, I'm not gonna show anyone..."
Her pace slowed. "Maybe I should just end it all... I doubt anyone would really care after a week. It's not like I do much than to just sit there, stay out of the way, and let the 'adults' talk. I'm more mature than both Haven AND Pipp, yet nopony cares..."
She stopped upon seeing a bit of broken glass on the ground one that was sharp enough to cut through stuff if one tried, not to mention it was sturdy. She sat down and picked the shard of glass up with a wing, examining it further. It really could cut through something.
"Nopony would care." She slowly said, tears beginning to fall down her face. "I could do it, right now... and nobody would care. Everything about my life is a lie. Everything about... my life... is a lie... nobody loves me..."
She put the shard to her neck, lightly pressing it in. It was very sharp, sharp enough to where it hurt to even do this. She pulled it away, looking at it again.
"Nopony..."