Dream Valley

by Eh

In which Dream Valley celebrates Founding Day

I slowly came to in the middle of a still pool of water. From my blurred vision I could make out a paved road of concrete, grass, some trees, but lying on my side made it difficult to tell exactly where I was. Besides my coat being a little soggy, my flanks felt so numb that I couldn't even feel them moving. It's a weird experience when you can't feel something and yet you can still feel it moving around, kind of like phantom limb syndrome except without the missing limb. Of course, I wondered what the point of that darn Sentry Bot poking me in the flanks was. I turned my head to look.

My cutie mark was gone. All that was left was just simply a neat little black dot no bigger than a silver bit.

Great, now people can judge me for being a drunk, gambling, blank flank.

I sighed, and slowly but surely I stood up. Surprisingly, my legs felt perfectly fine considering that they were just impaled with a hot needle, but I chalk that up to time healing most wounds. I had to assume the mark on my other side was gone too, that Sentry Bot was quite thorough. That darn Sentry Bot wouldn't know how to "cleanse" if someone handed it a wet mop and told it to clean.

Then again, it was my darn fault. I really shouldn't have told him to do it.

Strangely enough though, now that my cutie mark was gone, I felt weird. Normally, when you're a foal and you get your cutie mark you feel compelled to do whatever it is that cutie mark tells you to. This dies out a bit when you get older, but not completely. However there's always something at the back of my head telling to build something out of clay instead of join the Royal Guard or take a job that actually makes you money. Now however, that little thing was just simply gone. It was as if it just packed up and left because apparently fiery needle points weren't its thing. I guess that part about burning your cutie marks off is true, it does kind of liberate you. I never had much use of my special talent anyway. I can imagine the reaction of any other pony though, just the loss of something that makes you unique, the talent that you're just born with and which will come to completely define you in later life.

This was making my head hurt, I hate thinking.

Out in the what I assumed to be afternoon sun, I took in my surroundings. This pool of water led back into the building where I got my marks burnt off through a tunnel. Otherwise though, it looked like I was in an enclosed park of some sort. I stepped onto a concrete road, which was surrounded by wildly growing grass and unkempt trees. There were dandelions and crabgrass everywhere. Around me were high walls, adorned with stylized carvings of ponies. Ahead of me was a large wooden gate, trimmed with gold and looked to be built strong. I walked up to it. Even without my cutie marks, I still had a job to do. I pushed the doors open.

For a second I had been blinded by the bright daylight, but as my eyes focused I could see. Down some stairs and ahead was a large plaza, big enough to fit a couple of full grown dragons and have some room to spare. At the center of this plaza was an immense stone statue of a heroically rearing alicorn, an effigy of Sunset Shimmer. Overhead I could see rails curve and zigzag with containers riding below them like a train. Most importantly however, I could see ponies. All kinds of them, pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, and they were all in fine dress and saddle as if I hadn't left Canterlot and descended underground.

I took a deep breath and slowly I went down those stairs into the plaza. As I walked, excited chatter filled the air. I could hear people go on about Founding Day and how they were going to celebrate.

A pegasus mare, beautiful one wearing a frilly saddle walked along with another pegasus mare. "You going to the Founding Day Raffle?"

Her friend chuckled. "Who isn't? I bet I'll win this year!"

"Since when you did suddenly become a prophet?" They laughed as they moseyed along. Mares, never understood them.

You know, I'd be more excited by raffles if I ever won them. First things first though, I had to get my bearings. This plaza was surrounded on all sides by buildings, shops and stores and delicatessens of all kinds with streets going out in every cardinal direction except behind me. I could see however the big statue of the Alicorn out in the distance, penetrating the cloud cover like a mountain. To confirm, I pulled out that little picture of it from my satchel and compared it, and they matched up like identical twins. That was where I needed to head.

Honestly though, something about Dream Valley felt familiar. Maybe it was the architecture of it, all of it felt like I was still in Canterlot. Big white spires, clean paved roads, castle architecture made for looks instead of purpose, all of it felt like the capital city of Equestria. Even the ponies all looked like they stepped out of Canterlot, with their fine dresses and clothing which screamed "rich" and "complete ass" to me. I don't know what the definition of irony is, but if these people really wanted to get away from Equestria they couldn't be any closer to it in looks.

I carried on though, Canterlot was a pipe dream if I didn't get this job finished. Now that I thought about it, I needed a way out of this city and I don't imagine that Sentry Bot is keen on letting people leave the way they came. The occasional airship often floated by, spouting crud about how Princess Sunset Shimmer saved her herd or how this year's celebration of Founding Day was the best yet. It wasn't relevant right now. I personally thought all this talk of self-determination was a load of bull, but then again I was raised in a nice family who taught me having a cutie mark was the best thing ever.

A poster on a wall caught my eye however. It was a cartoonishly devilish portrayal of a griffon holding a lit bomb, probably intending to toss it into that crowd of singing schoofoals. On the bottom of the poster it read:

There was another poster next to that one as well. A very evil looking batpony with a bomb for a cutie mark bearing his teeth at a scared mare and her foal. This poster had this to say at the bottom:

Seems Dream Valley isn't the perfect utopia it makes itself out to be. I continued on. Now that I thought about it though, anarchy wasn't exactly welcome back in Equestria either. Always harmony, harmony, harmony. I probably say this a lot, but I can only imagine the lengths these people go to maintain that order. I remember the days back in the Royal Guard when we had to bust the occasional radical or evict some hobos out of a park who keep protesting that they're the people. The thought that that kind of anarchy not only exists down here but is apparently worse is kind of frightening. If worse comes to worse though, these anarchists might end up my only friends in town. I shuddered at the thought.

A group of foals ran by me, laughing and shouting at each other.

"Come on!" the lead one shouted. "We're gonna be late for the raffle!"

These people really liked that raffle of theirs. I stopped however, for something more important than anarchy or raffles quite literally floated by.

An airship, a large one not unlike the yachts of the Canterlot nobility, was flying low over the buildings. Unlike most airships in Equestria, this one looked a lot more practical. The cabin was attached directly to the balloon instead of by cable, and two wings stuck out with propeller engines providing thrust. On the side of the airship was an image of Sunset Shimmer, looking down proudly at what she was holding: a lavender unicorn foal. A sun glimmered behind this foal as if she were the chosen one of some ancient prophecy. Over a loudspeaker, someone spoke.

"When our Princess Sunset Shimmer founded the glorious city of Dream Valley, even she knew she would pass on. So with magic, love, and peace, she gave birth to her legacy! The Lamb of Dream Valley!"

Lavender unicorn. I started putting the pieces together like a puzzle. The Lamb of Dream Valley, if she is this lavender unicorn, then she'd probably be the same one in that photo. The same unicorn who's being held in that statue. Apparently this Lamb is worshipped as the legacy of Dream Valley, the heir to Princess Sunset Shimmer's rule, and most likely the ultimate hope of Dream Valley.

Okay, my job just got a little more complicated.

Regardless of complications though, the basic wording of the deal didn't change. Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. Nobody ever said anything about this girl apparently being some kind of messiah nor did anybody say this girl would be in some kind of hidden refuge several miles underground. I guess as Daring Do would do, I'll just make things up as I go along. Not like I had a plan going into Dream Valley anyway. I mean really, how hard could this be? My only real concern was getting her, then finding a way out of this giant cave city.

I heard the pops and bursts of fireworks going off. Bottle rockets exploded in the air in bright flashes of color. I was really getting some amount of culture shock here or whatever it's called. That sky up there wasn't a sky at all, it was just some kind of blue... thing that maybe Sunset Shimmer concocted up to make it appear like one. In reality there's probably a bunch of stalactites hanging from that ceiling ready to crush the ever loving daylights out of this city. Even that sun looked real, and it definitely wasn't. I bet Sunset Shimmer raises that and lowers it day by day and then repeats the process with an artificial moon. It's like you haven't even left the surface.

I pondered briefly on it, maybe I should live here after I get that girl. Seemed like a nice enough place, minus the so-called "anarchists" but I'm a tough guy. Never take on a tough guy, especially if they're former Royal Guard, and especially if they're plastered like a statue. I definitely wouldn't fit in on the surface now that I don't have a cutie mark. I'd have to figure all this out later though, job comes first. I got enough to worry about without trailing off like an earth pony in cider season. I kept my ear out for anything important though.

A mare, nobility from the sounds of it, asked someone, "So, who are you voting for the city council?"

Another mare, who spoke maturely and thus was probably an intellectual, responded, "I think I'll put my vote in for Sparkler."

"Sparkler? That Vox Dei radical?"

"Well, that radical seems to be the only one willing to stamp out the anarchists."

"Oh, I wish you'd have more faith in our Princess."

Votes. Now that I thought about it, democracy was actually a pretty foreign concept to me. I don't really remember ever voting anybody. Then again, I lived in the capital city that happened to serve as the throne for the all powerful Princess whose rule is never questioned by anybody. I'm sure democracy existed in those hick towns like Ponyville. I was just a Royal Guard back then, I didn't care, I just followed orders.

And speaking of following orders, I was getting a little closer to the Alicorn. Ahead of me stood a huge arch, sort of like the big one in the city of Cheval. It had fine flowery carvings along the top, and from the top hung banners with images of Sunset Shimmer the alicorn. You know, I was kind of getting sick of seeing her everywhere. Even Princess Celestia wasn't this in love with herself.

When I stepped under the arch, I could see the Alicorn in all its glory. It was still a good way off, but I could see the pentagonal base at the bottom. I could also see the rest of the city for myself. Apparently this part of the city was a lot more elevated than the rest. I could see curving streets, buildings mashed together, and all of it glowing beautifully under that artificial sun. Some really good real estate they had here. I headed right past the arch.

Now, I'm not much of a thinker, but as I was walking along the street I did have to wonder: where the heck did this city come from? I could see lots of ponies playing around, going about their days, all of them were missing cutie marks like I did. Where did those ponies come from? I can't believe a city like this even exists.

I continued on until I came to what seemed like a fairground. A lot of brightly colored yellow and red tents were set up. Barkers in boater hats were shouting and advertising like no one's business. People were competing in shooting contests, horseshoe tossing tournaments, and all kinds of ponies were simply enjoying themselves. It felt like a regular Summer Sun Celebration back in Canterlot. Actually takes me back to when I was a kid and I got to fish for goldfish. My parents never let me keep them though, they always said I wasn't responsible enough to take care of them.

In more ways than one, they were completely right.

But I digress. I'd imagine any national holiday has a fair and I don't believe Dream Valley is any different. I was still a little full from that apple I had back down aways, but that didn't mean I couldn't do a little exploring.

"Come one! Come all! Come see the future of magic, courtesy of our fair Princess and of Dream Valley's finest griffon, Pinkerton!" a barker shouted. That caught my attention, and I walked over to the source of his shouts. He stood atop a tall stage, complete with red curtains behind him and with large horns to project his voice out into the growing audience. I, being a relatively big stallion, could see over the heads of the curious mares, stallions, and foals quite easily. Then, two earth ponies dressed mockingly as Princess Celestia and Luna jumped out from nowhere and in front of the barker.

The barker continued on, pointing to the pony dressed as Celestia. "If I told you that an earth pony could hoist a full grown pony with naught but his mind, would you believe me?" The Celestia actor then pointed his hoof at the Luna actor. By magic, a yellow burst of magic shot from the pavement below and shot Luna up several feet into the air. Luna, after doing a tuck and roll, then came back to terra firma when this magic dissipated. The crowd gave excited murmurs and gasps at the sight, some applauding, a little too soon if I might add.

"If I told you an earth pony could conjure lightning from his hooves, would you believe me?" Luna, as if on command, then reared up and rubbed her forehooves together. Then, as she brought them apart, electricity shot in between them with crackles and fizzling noises. The crowd screamed in excitement and wonder and I had to admit, even I was becoming a little excited.

"Well, I tell you what, thanks to Dream Valley's own Pinkerton Industries, we can turn these tall tales and stories of flying pigs into reality! With just a swig, you can have the magic ability of a powerful unicorn, be ye pegasus, earth pony, mule, zebra, or even a tortoise for all I care! You know our Princess is wise and just, and she has asked Mister Pinkerton, in person, to bring you these divine feats of magic! Need a solution? Drink a Potion!"

Potions. Very interesting. I'd like to test some of those out when I get the time. I certainly find the idea of shooting lightning from my hooves very useful, would definitely help out in games of Liar's Dice.

I continued on, and I actually found myself feeling somewhat like a colt again. I know I already said stuff like this earlier, but there's just this weird feeling of nostalgia when you visit a fair. The smell of popcorn, the excited cheers when you win a game, the taste of cotton candy, the advertising of products, all of it just takes me back. I could even hear the live folk songs being played, violins and banjos and guitars being wonderfully handled by the most humblest of ponies.

Another booth, a little more modest than the Potions one, had his own barker. "Voxocrystals! Voxocrystals! See the wonder of the Crystal Empire, hear your voice from the past in the present!" That seemed interesting enough. I stepped up to the booth, and found on the counter a blue crystal crystal encased in a metal ring, a large claw jutting out from the ring and poking into the crystal. Hooked up to the ring was a microphone stand, and curiously I stood next to it, as if I was going to know more about it by just looking at it.

"Say something, sonny!" the Barker said to me. He nearly caught me by surprise. What to say though?

"What's a voxocrystal?" I said very imaginatively. The crystal then began glowing as the claw tapped the crystal.

Clayton: What's a voxocrystal?

The voxocrystal pulsated with every inflection in my voice. I really hated hearing my own voice, was just very strange to me.

"Exactly that!" the Barker explained, "A personal record of voice! If you need to look back on something, just record it and it's there whenever you need it!"

I looked over to him and said, "Just so we're clear, I'm not paying for this."

"Merely a demonstration, Sir," he said back with an unfailing smile. Hey, just because I'm having a nostalgia trip doesn't mean anypony can just trick me out of my bits. All five of those bits. In fact, I really needed to continue on. I can't get caught up in this darn festival stuff.

"Score one for Dream Valley! The anarchists defeated! Dream Valley is in safe hooves! You earned this!"

I took my prize of thirty bits from the Barker. Turns out, firing an airgun at cardboard cutouts of stereotypical images of griffons, batponies, and zebras is incredibly easy.

Okay, I lied. I let myself get caught up in this festival stuff. Thankfully, all those shooting gallery games earned me quite the generous sum of sixty bits total. I knew learning how to shoot guns would be important. But, two hours had passed, and while time wasn't imperative I knew that I needed to get this girl out quickly and stealthily. So enough eating cotton candy and blasting cardboard anarchists, it was time to go to work.

I continued on through the festival, occasionally bumping past a pony or losing my focus on something interesting. I actually lost focus entirely when I spotted it.

According to the Barker advertising it, it was called a Draft Pony. From one side of the stage, you had a picture of a bedridden mare, looking incredibly sick and forlorn and below it the word BEFORE. On the other side, you had a mare in a crisp clean dress, with some wires poking out the back of her head and into her back, who was smiling as she sang to a hummingbird with the word AFTER under it.

The actual Draft Pony looked nothing like the picture.

What I saw on the strange was a gargantuan metal beast rather than pony. It was three times bigger than the Barker shouting out the immortal miracle of the Pinkerton MFG Autobody Mark One. The bronze colored metal body looked terrifically skeletal. In the chest was a heart in a jar connected to a bunch of wires, visible from the sides. The Draft Pony's head was concealed behind a metal helmet, with only the bloodshot fear-filled eyes visible behind green lenses. On its back was a boiler, which occasionally let out a jet of steam, and it had tubes which fed directly into the helmet. The Draft Pony sat, covering itself with the metal claws attached to its front hooves from the flash photography. With every flash, it gave off a pained mechanical yelp.

"My word," a mare looked at the Draft Pony with a frown. She said, "He looks so sad."

A stallion scoffed at that. "How can you be sad when you have strength and immortality?"

I don't know about that. I decided the best course of action was to continue on. Better it than me really.

"Samples! Free samples!" Oooh. Free stuff. Who doesn't love free stuff? I looked over to the source. At a blue booth was a lovely looking mare, with baskets of potions in hoof, advertising her product. "Has a vender ever stolen a bit, has a pay telephone refused to connect you with a beloved spouse, or perhaps a gun misfires on you in the heat of the moment? Well, it's time to take control back from the machine spirits!"

In this basket were Potions labelled "Mesmerize". They were strange little bottles of green liquid, corked by a red heart shaped top. I walked to them, the mare seductively smiled at me. Whoever opened this booth knew how to draw the crowd. Anyway, free stuff, I took a bottle and uncorked it.

"With just a whisper..." she whispered quietly to me, "they're all ears."

I took a helping swig of it. Tasted strangely like oranges.

But then, I felt my vision becoming blurry, the edges becoming black. I could hear whispers from nowhere, indecipherable yet completely understandable. The mare giggled as she drew out a heart, a magic green smoke that I was sure wasn't actually there tracing it out. Then, she blew me a kiss, and her form took a sultry green smokey color.

My vision immediately recovered, everything returned to normal, and I suddenly felt less tired than I did when I drank it.

"What was that?" I asked to no one in particular. The mare giggled at me, she must have thought this was some kind of joke.

"That was Mesmerize. Just cast it, and the machines are all yours, hon." I stepped past her, with the wise decision that this darn Potion business would probably end up burning my hooves off or something. She shouted to me as I left her, "And remember to keep topped off Sugars, or else you won't be able to use it!"

Potions and Sugars. Mental note, both are important.

As I continued on, I found that my forehooves occasionally glowed green. That must be how pegasi and earth ponies cast it I guess. I don't know anything about this Potion business, but I sure know that magic is difficult to control without experience. Being a unicorn and all, I have lots of experience. Pegasi and earth ponies don't. I can only imagine the chaos of the testing phase of these darn things.

I walked past some open gates underneath a big sign that read:

Interesting, except...

I was stopped by two unicorn mares. They were both smiling rather warmly at me, but I couldn't help myself to smile back at them. Why?

Because these were the two mares back on the boat.

You know, back on the surface.

Rosetta, whom held a fine dinner plate in her magic grip, spoke first. "Heads or tails, Mister Clayton?"

"What..." I was trying to process the situation in my head here. "I don't-"

Iris flipped a coin to me, which I deftly caught with a magic grip. She said in a more forceful manner, "Heads or tails, Mister Clayton?"

Uh.

I looked at the coin, and found that it was just a regular gold bit. Though instead of Celestia on one side, it was Sunset Shimmer. I kind of expected that though. Unlike these two. Should I really indulge them in their game? Will they tell me how they got down here if I did?

Probably not.

I sighed, then flipped the coin to them. "Tails," I called.

The coin clattered as it landed on the plate. Both Rosetta and Iris looked at it expectantly. It landed on tails.

Rosetta looked to Iris with a smug expression. "Told you," she said. Iris simply rolled her eyes as she lifted up a piece of chalk. Rosetta turned left, and revealed to me that she was wearing a sandwich board. On this side was heads, which was completely empty, and tails which had now twenty three marks. As Iris scratched the twenty third mark one, Rosetta seemed to not able to resist commenting. "The victories that just keep coming are the best ones, don't you think so, Miss Iris?"

"Well, I suppose I should have seen this coming."

"Oh, chin up. There's always next time."

"That's what you said last time."

"Fair point."

And with that, they walked past and faded into a crowd of ponies. I swear I could spot the other side of the board, and there were another hundred marks for tails. I sighed, I didn't have time for this kind of weirdo stuff.

I pressed onwards, and in keeping my ears alert, I heard a far off voice. He was probably amplified by a microphone, but what was more is that he sounded very jolly.

"Hahah! My oh my! Is it really dat time o' year agin? Founding Day jus' seems tae come fae no'er I tell you what! Why, I recall when I was jus' a wee lad..."

A mare, also having her voice amped by a microphone interrupted. "Oh, go on, Mister Pinkerton! Start the raffle!"

"Ahahah! I will me lass, ye aw here oot an' aboot for this here raffle and I will nae deny that! Ye know, it seemed like only yesterday that I meself was holding my own stone and I thought tae meself, 'Pinky, this year! It oughta be me!' Real funny story that I tell you what!'"

The same mare groaned playfully, "Come on, Mister Pinkerton! Let's go!" There were shouts of agreement, all playfully begging Pinkerton to start.

"Aye, aye? Dae me ears work today? Ye aw want me to 'start the raffle?' Well, g'night Irene! Settle, settle doon. I guess I will, but 'fore that!"

And with that, the guitars began strumming and the violins began playing. They were breaking out into song.

Hm. I've never heard that song before. Then again, if Dream Valley did exist for twenty years, there's no reason they shouldn't have their own songs too. I continued on, through the fair and past gathering ponies to the source of this music. As much as I really shouldn't, I had to note there really wasn't any other way through. Besides, I felt like testing my luck at a raffle, as much I didn't like them.

I saw two pegasi mares in grey police uniforms. One of them had on her left forehoof a strange device. It was like a gauntlet, but instead of a glove on the end, it was more of a spinning gear which whirred like a saw. On the leg part was forged metal, with a glowing green crystal embedded into it. She was showing it off to the other officer.

"Is that one of the new Rail Tracers?" the mare without the Rail Tracer asked.

"Sure is," and with that the gear stopped spinning. It then separated into four distinct pieces and compacted around the gauntlet. The mare continued. "Whole division got them. We need everything we can get if we want to flush the anarchists out of the rail system."

"Got an opening? I'd love to bust a couple of skulls together."

"I swear, Lightning Dust, you can't seem to stray from a fight."

The two mares chuckled to themselves as I walked by. I wouldn't want to be on the business end of that thing.

Then, I came up to a sign in the path. It was a simple image of a foreleg, glowing red in the dark. That foreleg bore a metal band around it, permanently affixed to the leg through an incredibly painful process.

Why did I know this? Because that was my metal band around my right foreleg. I read the words accompanying the image.

I looked over the band on my right foreleg. Matched the one on the picture too. A simple metal band, riveted onto my leg to boot. No pun intended. Did someone plan this? I decided to continue on, because so far no one recognized me as a so-called "agent of chaos" yet and I was sure if I was careful I'd be fine.

Then I came up to the gates, the music was becoming louder as I came closer. I could hear Pinkerton encourage everyone to join in the chorus.

I walked past, and soon I found myself in a crowd of singing and cheerful ponies. There was a big stage. On that stage, gesturing like a conductor at an orchestra was a griffon. He was immaculately dressed in a fine suit and top hat, and on his beak rested a pair of glasses for his grey eyes. He cheered and sang along with the ponies as well. That must have been Pinkerton.

And with the finish of the chorus, the crowd broke out into loud cheers and applause. Pinkerton himself clapped too. I noticed that on his right arm, a talon was missing. He seemed to pay it no mind though.

"The Twentieth Founding Day Raffle has official begun!" he yelled. The crowd again whistled and clapped.

"Hey, mister!" I looked around, was it Rosetta and Iris again? No, it was just some random mare. She had snuck up on me while I was distracted by Pinkerton. She held up a basket of stones, all of them with numbers painted on them. "Go on," she said, "grab one! Maybe you'll win!"

I took a stone, with my left foreleg, and looked at the number on it. "Number twenty-three..." I said to myself.

"That's a lucky number," she said to me. She then walked away and in a sultry tone she said, "I'll be rooting for you."

"Bring me the bowl!" Pinkerton called. A different mare trotted up to him on stage, carrying with her a bowl labelled Pinkerton MFG Industries. "Drum roll please!" A snare drum somewhere out of my vision began buzzing. "The winner of this year's raffle is..." He reached into the bowl with his right arm, and with his remaining talons pulled out a card. The crowd murmured and whispered in anticipation. Even I was getting a little excited.

Wait a second. I'm forgetting something here.

"Number twenty three!"

A small chuckle escaped me. "Well, what do you know," I said. The crowd quickly realized who had won and applauded me. That was good old pony modesty for you.

Pinkerton looked down at me, giving a genuine grin at me. "Number twenty three, come an claim yer prize!" With that, the curtains behind me began rising. What was my prize I wondered? I needed to claim it quickly otherwise these people might recognize me as that agent of chaos person. Then I saw my prize. "First throw!"

The two batponies stepped forward in chains, with cue cards taped to them reading "Anarchist!" and "Parasite!". Their mouths were taped over so that I wouldn't hear their muffled protests. They looked positively fear filled as they struggled against their bindings. They stood on the stage, they couldn't run because of the police security and the sheer amount of ponies with stones to throw at them. They looked at me, and I could see in their eyes dread and a little bit of hope that I wouldn't toss this stone at them.

Pinkerton looked down at me and said, "Well, whaddya waiting for? Ye gonna toss it? Or are ye gonna 'peacefully demonstrate' like these suckers did?" Pinkerton gave a hearty laugh at this little statement of his. The other ponies laughed alongside him as well. I could hear encouragement from other ponies beside me.

"Throw it! Give those anarchists what for!"

"Yeah! Give that stone a toss!"

I looked down at the stone in my hoof. This was a lot to comprehend in such little time. I'd gone from losing my cutie mark to stoning peaceful protesters.

Boy, this escalated quickly.