From the notes of a historian:
Starting towards the end of The Great War food shortages began to become common place in all countries. Even those who had emerged from the war victorious, like the Scarlet Empire, felt the effects of the food shortage. The Scarlet Empire sealed its own fate, however, by using the tactic of burning croplands and rendering them unusable for years to come.
Not all nations caused their food shortages, however. The Mystical Symposium had lost much of its croplands to the Scarlet Empire’s attacks, but managed to get by with what was left. They had managed to halt the Scarlet Empire’s advance with the defeat of General Blood Hoof at their last remaining fortress. By this time, however, they could not recapture their lost land and successfully defended what they had left until the end of the war.
The Moon Kingdom, while avoiding war with the Scarlet Empire, lost some of their land to other forces who did not accept the treaty Queen Waning had offered. The queen did not lose hope however, and managed to rally her forces and defend the majority of her supply lines thanks to the work of her generals. The Moon Kingdom was one of the few nations to not suffer heavy losses due to this world-wide food shortage, and the queen, being more open-minded than her predecessor, sought to aid the rest of the world as best she could.
The most heavily hit by the food shortages was the Sky Flotilla. The pegasi had lost all of their land against the Scarlet Empire and others and could no longer grow crops in mass. The only food they had was the food produced in small gardens up in the clouds, primarily by the rich citizens. As the pegasi who had once lived on the ground farming returned to the clouds as refugees of war, the cloud cities grew overpopulated and the poor and hungry lined the streets. In many cities the rich sold excess food to the city, who then sold it to the poor.
However, the food was so scarce in the clouds that it was rationed to one food item per pony, and was rationed out in a first come first served basis. Many times the food rations ran out before all ponies in the line had received food, and more often than not many ponies would receive no food for days. It wasn’t long before the cities grew dark, haphazard, and dangerous. Many ponies turned to crime, stealing money to buy the food or just stealing food. It was a dark time and many pegasi lost their lives to starvation.
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Two years after War…
I crouch upon a roof-top overlooking the Ration Station and look down at the ponies below. As always, there are numerous guards standing around the Ration Station, protecting the food from thieves such as myself whom would try to steal it, the guards were always well-fed though. Here in the cloud-city of Cirro, you can get food three ways. You can be born into a rich family who has their own garden, work and earn enough money to hopefully buy food from the Ration Station, or join the town guard. Of course, those are just the legal ways of obtaining food, you can also steal it. However, stealing food is punishable by death, so only the most courageous fools do.
I am one of those brave and foolish enough to steal food. Of course, I don’t go about it sloppily. I pick my marks and where I rob them very carefully. First, they have to be in a dark, unguarded street. Next I make sure they won’t starve. If I have not stolen from them for a while, or they look on the plump side, they are eligible marks. I also make sure my mark is slow and either weaker than me or dim-witted. I watch them as they collect their food and follow them along until they seclude themselves from others. My rule of hoof is that if I feel I am being too cautious, I’m not.
My mother and father both work hard, and stand in line for the Ration Station themselves. However, I also have a younger brother and a younger sister. Needless to say, two items of food barely sustain us, let alone give my parents enough energy to work. So why don’t I work? All the jobs are taken. Cirro is overpopulated as it is, and anyone who can work has a job. Many are jobless, homeless, and starving.
I often ask myself, ‘How things could have been allowed to get so bad?’ Having watched the quick fall of our city, I can only blame our leaders. They stood idly by as waves of refugees flooded the city and our food stores ran low. Our so-called leaders now rarely leave their homes. But they don’t have to worry about the food situation like us. They have their gardens. They always have more than enough food. Sure, they sell some food to the city so we can eat, but it isn’t enough. I have peaked through windows, seen how they eat. Compared to us, they have feasts. Daily.
If our leaders really cared, they would share the food equally, not horde it or sell it for profit. If I thought I could, I would steal food from them, but they have personal guards who patrol their homes and guard their food. It is way too risky to attempt to steal from them. I have only been stealing food for two months and am not confident in my skills yet. I fear that I would almost certainly get caught.
And sure, I feel bad about stealing from those who are starving themselves, but I feel that as long as my family and I have food, everything will be fine. I suppose that makes me like our horrible leaders, but what makes us different is that if I had extra, I would share it, not squander it. I do not know what I can do yet, but I will someday, somehow, find a way for everyone to eat and no one will go hungry.
But that day is not today. I return to looking out over the Ration Station and soon spot one of my usual marks, a buck on the plump side who is always near the front of the line. I watch as he gets his food, a loaf of bread, and begins to make his way home as I tail him from the rooftops. He goes down alley after alley with me scoping out the area all the while; until he turns down an alley with no other traffic and hidden to prying eyes. I wait till he is half-way through it and then rapidly dive towards him.
He hears the sound of me jumping from the roof and turns around quickly, but before he can make a sound I am upon him and quickly slam his head against the wall, knocking him out. I make sure he isn’t injured too badly and prop him up against one of the alley’s walls before picking up the loaf of bread and withdrawing to the rooftops. I hastily flee the area and return home.
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Upon my arrival home, I discover that mother and father are back as well, and have returned from the Ration Station with an apple and a carrot. They quickly notice the loaf of bread. “Welcome home, Flora, where did you get that bread?” father asks. “You didn’t steal it, did you, Hun?” mother asks with a sad expression on her face. I look at both of them and shake my head, “Of course not! Somepony told me I looked like I could use it more than them and gave it to me.” They exchange speculative glances before nodding and deciding to believe me. I am sure they know where the food is really coming from. I think they are either trying to lie to themselves or just accept the fact that I am stealing and choose to eat it because of necessity. That being said, I don’t steal daily, just every few days. Not only would this make my parents worry about me even more, but the town guard would grow ever suspicious of me.
“Give me the bread, I’ll get it ready for dinner, dear.” Mother holds out her hoof expectantly and I give her the bread. Moments later I am tackled to the ground and instantly fear shoots through my body. Could it be the town guard? Was I followed or did mother and father sell me out? But my fear quickly subsides as I hear, “Big sis! Big sis!” Two voices call out in unison. My little sister, Dawn, and little brother, Dusk, the rambunctious twins. “Now, now you two, get off of me, I can’t breathe,” I said laughing, relieved that it was just them. “Aww, but sis…your wings are so soft and warm!” Dawn complained as she and Dusk, who was nodding in agreement, got up. Dusk rarely talked to anyone besides Dawn, so she would talk for the both of them.
As they helped me off the floor, mother came back out from the kitchen to tell us that dinner was ready and we all went and sat at the dining table. Five plates were placed around the table, with father sitting in front of one. Each plate had a slice of bread, a few slices of carrot, and a slice of apple on it. As we all sat down, I noticed that mother and father had the end pieces of the bread, the smallest part of it. The five of us ate our meager meal and talked about our day. After we had finished, mother and father went to bed and I cleaned up the dishes.
They were both really hard working, I rarely saw them in the morning and only talked with them at dinner before they immediately went to bed afterwards. They worked almost twelve hour days. Because of this, I would wake up and get Dusk and Dawn ready for school and walk them to it. Then I would wander the city in search of work or free food. I wasn’t alone either, beggars, refugees, thieves, and others looking for work lined the streets, all starving.
I am used to it now, but I wasn’t always. I am lucky enough to remember before the war, when we had crops on the ground and abundant food for everyone. Then the war came and our farms on the world below were destroyed and captured. It used to be painful, the hunger pain. My stomach used to throb and call out to me, begging for food. It was used to more. But over the years it slowly adjusted and the pain subsided. Now I only feel the pain if I go without food for two days straight.
That is just how things are now. Dusk and Dawn are unlucky to have been born without knowledge of what they are missing. They are too young to remember the abundance of food and the gloom of depression that hangs over this city isn’t so tightly wrapped around them. The younger ones always seem so happy, but they are few in number. Ever since the famine started, ponies have stopped having foals to prevent even shorter food supplies.
The mistakes of the past have hurt the present and may even scar the future. I cannot help but feel that greed and other such ulterior motives have caused the world to turn into a place of despair. If our leaders continue to turn a blind eye to their populous, nothing will improve and the world will continually fall into an even deeper sense of despair. What I do, stealing, isn’t right and certainly isn’t helping, but I need to survive. I have to.
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A week later I was once again looking for a mark at the Ration Station. I soon notice my old mark, the plump buck and begin to tail him like usual. However, he might be suspicious of me, as he is taking a different route, one with more ponies and less blind spots. I follow him until he enters a house, presumably his. My mark got away, but having come this far, I am curious to see how he lives. I fly to the ground and peek in through the window.
The plump buck is gathered around a table with his wife and two foals. He cuts the apple he has into four pieces and gives three of them to his family, keeping the smallest for himself. I noticed that was the only food they had, his wife must not be working. Then it dawned on me. He was the only one who provided for his family, a family similar to mine.
I looked away and flew up to a rooftop, sitting down and hanging my head. I thought I had only been stealing from him, but in reality I had been stealing from his entire family, preventing any of them from eating. How many times had I stolen from him? I couldn’t remember. How many nights did I cause his foals to go hungry? I didn’t know I was doing this, I thought that because he was plump surely he must be doing just fine, but…I was wrong. What have I done? If I had done this without knowing, could any of my other marks have similar circumstances?
I kept thinking and thinking, who else did I hurt? Then a thought struck me. Everypony. I am hurting everypony I steal from. I shouldn’t be stealing from those who can’t go without, those who barely have anything, no. I should be stealing from those who have an abundance, those with gardens who squander their goods and care not for the starving masses outside the walls of their home. I decided then and there that if I ever had to steal again for food, it wouldn’t be from the starving, those who barely live, but instead those who hold feasts daily and turn a blind eye to the slow death of the ponies around them.
The more I thought, the more determined I became. I would need to become better, stronger, and stealthier. I couldn’t do anything the way I am now. I need to know the layout of the city like the back of my hoof, know how to evade capture, and more importantly how to enter and exit a place without being noticed. I was a small time thief who just stole because she had to, but no more. Once I am confident in my abilities, I shall steal from those who do not know what it is like to go without, I will steal more than I need and give it to those who truly need and deserve it.
This is it, no more waiting for things to change. I shall stop waiting and begin making things change myself. I will do all I can to see that the citizens of Cirro get the food that they need and that no one goes hungry ever again.