//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Recollection 
// Story: The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee 
// by FlanChan 
//------------------------------//


The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee

Prologue: Recollection


Dear Diary,
My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am a purple unicorn that has an abnormally strong connection with magic. I vaguely remember the steps I took to get so powerful, but it’s been so long that I can’t remember them fully. I probably used to know so many useful spells, something that could stop all of this, but they’ve been lost to time.

I used to write the date in my entries, but I can’t seem to keep track anymore. All I can say is that it’s Spring, and I’m not even positive about that. Not that it matters, since weather doesn’t affect this place.

I’ve been starting to forget why I bother to keep writing, considering that nothing ever changes here. I guess I just want to keep everything in my mind straight, but every day each memory gets a bit foggier. I think I used to have a pet, something reptilian, but it was taken away the moment the New Era began. They thought it was ‘too dangerous’. I remember being furious, but now I can’t recall why.

I’ve been going on this whole entry so far talking about things I don’t remember. Now I’ll relay the facts I do know. I have six friends: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Aquamarine. They’re the only ones left who I can trust.

Applejack is an orange earth pony with a Southern accent. I don’t know why it’s called a Southern accent, but that little tidbit is trivial. Back before this whole mess, she was the Element of Honesty. Some members of her large family haven’t been converted, but they’re too scared to go against the system. I can’t blame them.

Rainbow Dash is a blue pegasus pony, and she’s one of the fastest fliers I’ve ever seen. That doesn’t matter now, though; all of the pegasi are banned from flying. She used to be the Element of Loyalty, even though out of all of my friends she’d be the last you would think to represent that. She’s tied with Applejack for being the strongest mare, but she still thinks she’s the best. She can also have a bit of a thick head. No offense to her.

Rarity is a white unicorn, and she used to represent the Element of Generosity. Luckily for her, she’s the only one of us that kept their original jobs from before the New Era. Unfortunately, she works for the system. Mind you, she doesn’t do any of the politics business. She just designs dresses for all of the important ponies, but there’s only one of those. But I’ll get to that later.

Fluttershy is a yellow pegasus, but she never really engaged in flying during her lifetime. Honestly, I’m not sure how she managed to handle the stress of going against the system, but she acts like it doesn’t bother her. She would care for many animals, but now all life besides ponies has been removed. She used to represent the Element of Kindness, and I think that she holds up to her element very well considering what we’ve been put through.

Pinkie Pie is a pink earth pony who used to love throwing parties. Her hair is straight, but I vaguely remember it being poofy back when she was always happy. As the Element of Laughter, she went through a bout of depression when she realized that she could no longer entertain any ponies but us seven. It just had to be that way.

Aquamarine is a yellow unicorn, and we only became friends after the New Era began. She managed to fight back like the rest of us, but she did it alone. We decided that it would be best for us to stick together, and that’s how it’s been. Her real name is Ondine, but she doesn’t like to be called that because she thinks it sounds too formal and intimidating.

Now that I’ve written about all of my friends, it’s now time to talk about the main problem: The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee. For sake of space, I will just refer to them as The Committee.

It all started many, many years ago, when we were still ruled by two alicorns—Celestia and Luna, I think their names were—and our government was collapsing. Ponies were rioting on the streets for reasons that fail to resurface in my memory, and the princesses said that they would give anything for all of the ponies to be happy just one more day. A certain pony took them up on the offer.

Emerald Joy, a young unicorn and aspiring politician, suggested that they let her try her new happiness technique out on the ponies. She was very vague about it, but she smooth talked the princesses into agreeing. After a few months, she had carried out her experiment with hundreds of thousands of ponies, and marched them into Canterlot Castle to overthrow the princesses under the motivation that she would make a much better ruler for them. Nobody thought that defeating alicorns was possible, but I suppose all power has its limits.

When nothing else stood in her way, Emerald Joy rounded up the rest of the ponies in Equestria and put them all under her spell. Only a few of us were brave enough to slip away after seeing what the spell did to our loved ones.

When she was done, she shunned all of the natural things in Equestria and chose instead to remake the world into a technologically advanced empire. Machinery now helps with the most mundane tasks, and has rendered schools obsolete. She thinks it for the best, because nopony is happy at school.

I suppose that so far I haven’t been very clear on what her ‘happiness technique’ is. I’m sure that before I would be able to scientifically identify all of the components in the spell, but now I can only say that it makes a pony happy. Not just ‘brighter mood’ happy, though. She literally brainwashes ponies into being happy all of the time. This means that they have absolutely no personalities, because when personalities clash, there are arguments, and at least one pony walks away from an argument upset.

Emerald took into account all facets of pony life and pinpointed all scenarios that could make a pony unhappy. For example, when she realized that some ponies might be jealous that some ponies can fly and some can do magic, she officially banned all pegasi from flying and limited the amount of magic a unicorn can use. She doesn’t allow competition for fear of disappointment, no friendships for fear of loneliness, no love for fear of heartbreak.

But I should be saying more about The Committee itself. Emerald decided that she needed a Committee to converse with and decide on the laws. Previously there were many ponies on The Committee, but after a few years the numbers dwindled down until she was again the only pony governing the empire. The reason why she’s alone so quickly is simple: she executed all of the other ponies on The Committee.

Did I forget to add that part? Whenever the system (that’s a word that my friends use to describe anypony that works for The Committee) finds that a pony isn’t happy, she executes them in front of a raging crowd of brainwashed ponies. She can be a bit... creative with her methods, but no matter how grotesque, all ponies are called to watch the large monitors that are showing the action live. Even the fillies. Even the pony’s family.

Luckily for us, the main reason why we get summoned to the capital of the empire is for Emerald Joy’s daily speech. It’s always the same talk, every day, about why we have to have all of these laws and how it’s the best for us all, but I still don’t feel like all of my questions are answered.

You may be wondering why we haven’t already revolted. The answer is, well, we can’t exactly figure out how to. Emerald Joy embedded the Elements of Harmony into the walls of her palace, and she has taken many security precautions to make sure nopony gets inside. There’s also an extremely slim chance that we can actually get out to seek help from other civilizations like the griffons or dragons, but they would probably be reluctant to help anyway. I suppose we’ll just have to wait for a glimmer of opportunity, but seven ponies overthrowing an empire composed of thousands is unlikely.

I’m sorry if I’ve left you unsatisfied, and there is a very large chance that I forgot something, but hopefully you understand by now what I’ve been going through.

Nonetheless, I live to see another day.

Fondly,
Twilight Sparkle