THE SCHOOLHOUSE WAS relatively untouched by the red wave that engulfed the rest of the village. There were no banners or other insignia, guard patrols rarely came by, and the class schedule continued as it would on any other day. Fillies and colts converged unescorted towards the building as they would any other day. Cheerilee stood at the head of the class, watching her young students enter and take their place, as it would be any other day.
But it was not any other day. If not in the sky, the buildings, the citizens, then in their eyes, it was certainly not, any other day. These young ones did not fully understand what had happened or what new world they lived in, and despite her efforts to explain to them what had happened, Cheerilee's students still didn't understand why their world had become regimented and dark. It saddened the teacher to see the looks on their faces. The sad, depressed and forlorn expressions painted on each face. Especially young Applebloom, the poor filly had to endure the setting of industrial construction and robotic guards with each journey to and from home, hers was a look of deep despair.
Reik had no real plan for the youth of Ponyville beyond the repetition of their usual schedule. He refused to put them to work; he made that point especially clear during the commissariat meetings. Although he had spent several long moments of discussion on the importance of education, Cheerilee was familiar with the sound of a report where the speaker had little interest of knowledge of the subject. He was quick to thrust the issue of education into her hooves and she accepted it happily.
Where Applejack held only disgust for their new socialist system, Cheerilee found herself indifferent to the new surroundings. She was a teacher, her job was of no large part in the past and it was no large part in the present. Perhaps it was denial, as Applejack had called it when conversing in whispers, perhaps it was faith, but Cheerilee held firm that this was but a passing storm. Celestia would return and cast out this storm like any other problem that had plagued Equestria. The only duty she felt was truly hers was the education and if it required it, protection of these young ponies.
Because to her this was all but a passing storm, she had continued her lesson plan without falter. She discarded the commissar’s cloak and cap in a corner and began the lesson. Scratching chalk on the board and speaking with the same happy tone she had every other day, the class listened intently and she took small comfort in this small island of calm in the ocean of cold, darkened, madness.
AFTER ABOUT AN hour into the lesson, Cheerilee paused in her speech, stopping mid sentence with her back to the class. The cause of such an interruption sounded again, a gentle knock on the door located on the opposite end of the room. Amid the howling wind and whispering class, the knock rang a total of three times before Cheerilee moved. She called for the newcomer to enter, curious of the pony on the other side of the entrance, ponies where seldom late to her class and if her count was correct, everypony was accounted for in the class. The door creaked as it opened and shut almost instantly, the newcomer sliding into the room quickly. All whispering among the young ponies ended abruptly, as if they had all disappeared in an instant, even the wind seemed to lessen with the entrance of this individual. Cheerilee turned, casting her vision over the young ones; they were gawking at the newcomer, who was just out of her field of vision while turning. Had she been in their position, she would have done the same as her vision fell on a cloaked commissar standing at the opposite end of the class room.
The commissar was fully hidden under the cloak and the peaked cap was pulled over their face and masked their identity. Cheerilee's mind went to work on this individual. The height ruled out Vladimir, Applejack and Iris would not be far from the farm and had no reason to be here. Fluttershy was similarly occupied with her own duties and Derpy was probably asleep as usual. Her conclusion was that only two ponies could be standing before her now, and the low but commanding voice answered the question.
"You are not wearing your commissar's coat and cap, why comrade commissar Cheerilee?" Reik said in a tone that demanded the attention of all the rooms’ occupants. Some young ponies cast their vision down, for many this was the first time any had laid eyes on the orchestrator of the new Ponyville. Lifting his head and exposing his features, more ponies cast their eyes away. His face was gaunt and ghostly, malnourishment clearly evident. He looked tired, exhausted, and close to collapse, all from just the look on his face; yet his eyes where a complete contrast to this. Within those blue orbs was a deep power, a sense of faith and conviction that Cheerilee expected on the face of a warrior. In his eyes she saw the mighty faith of ideology. It was unwavering and unstoppable. This one would never lose faith in this endeavor. Cheerilee felt a tinge of doubt in the pit of her stomach. She knew Celestia would come, she knew the Alicorn would come to their rescue. But if pitted against the one who stood before her, she could only imagine the chaos that would ensue when the two great forces met.
Cheerilee could not blame the ponies in her midst that shied away from the dark figure and after a long pause; he spoke again in the same low tone, this time tinged with annoyance. "You are not wearing your commissar's co-" Cheerilee cut off the stallion with a short forward step. Outside, everything was his; he commanded the routine of every being on Ponyville. Outside, but in this small schoolhouse, in her realm, she was the one and only ruler, no other pony could except the princesses themselves could overrule her in her own classroom and this one was not about to tell her what she could and could not wear.
"I found it distasteful for this setting Reik, is that a problem?" The use of his name instead of title or that peculiar phrase 'comrade' may have pushed the stallion further in his state of annoyance but if it did he did not show any sign of wavering or increase in anger. There was only silence in the room and she could not help but wonder why he had come.
*COME TO CORRUPT the youth you sickly dog?* the stallion silently cursed his thoughts.
**I came to see what is being taught in the schoolhouses of Equestria**
*Had I a body I would strike you, you liar*
Reik rolled his eyes and stumbled towards an empty seat in the far corner of the class, exchanging silent curses the voice in his head. Cheerilee kept her eyes on him as he took his seat and cast his withering gaze back on her. The two shared a moment of mutual distaste before the stallion spoke, meanwhile the students remained silent and frozen in place, the stubbornness of their teacher raising a few heads.
"My apologies for interrupting, please, continue." The sentence came out differently than its predecessors; it was withdrawn and lacked the commanding nature of the past conversation. Cheerilee looked the stallion up and down before nodding and turning back to the chalk board. She continued the lesson as normal; they were on the subject of history, before the reign of the princesses but shortly after the foundation of Equestria. Cheerilee recited the lesson she had drawn up, speaking on the new found unity that came with their new land and the slow expansion of the territory, the dissolution of the three tribes into one union. When she mentioned the unification of the tribes, a hoof rose into the cold and still air. Cheerilee opened her mouth instinctively to ask for the question but paused when she noticed its owner to be the cloaked pony in the corner of the room. His hoof hovered in silence for a few seconds before Cheerilee asked. "You have a question Reik?" The stallion dropped his hoof and spoke, not in a condescending manner she expected, but in an inquisitive one shared by a curious student.
"Would you say these unified tribes still acted as a tribe at this point?" The question was followed by another from Cheerilee. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean?"
"This was before the princesses I assume so the ponies were on their own right?" Cheerilee reluctantly nodded. "So, did they still act as a tribe, no currency, no clearly identified leader, a council perhaps?" The mare could sense where he was going with this inquiry. She held distaste for leading questions and her tone reflected such.
"Yes, I suppose they still acted in that fashion." The cloaked pony nodded and sank deeper into the chair, silent. Having expected him to push on, Cheerilee paused before continuing the lesson. She discussed the hardships the ponies had to go through and be what means they overcame them and remained unified as a great whole. Again, Reik's hoof shot into the air and Cheerilee nodded for him to speak.
"So there was still no form of currency at this point, and ponies where cooperative, yes?" Cheerilee formed the answer in her head, not wanting to blurt out the first thing to come to mind. "Yes, there was no currency and ponies were very cooperative." Reik's hand went into the air again, causing Cheerilee to nod once more for him to speak. "If there was no currency, how where commodities exchanged, err, how where-" Cheerilee cut him off again. "I know what a commodity is, and they were given where needed."
"So, if one needed food, it was given to them and if one needed a home it was built for them, all before the advent of currency?"
"What are you getting at?" Cheerilee retorted, slightly annoyed. Reik continued unimpeded.
"How did things change, why do we hassle over coin unlike our predecessors?" Cheerilee spoke again with little pause.
"With the expansion of Equestria, currency made things easier to manage."
"For who?"
"For everypony." Reik continued and rose in his chair.
"But with currency came the creation of those with much of it and those with little, yes?" Cheerilee did not answer but the stallion continued, his voice growing in volume.
"How can it be easier for those with little when they are at the bottom rung of society and how is it easier for those with much when they must fight and scrape to keep what they have?" Cheerilee now glared at the stallion that quickly rose from his seat and cast his eyes over the fillies and colts before him, picking out one and speaking directly to her. "Sweetie Belle, you are sister of the boutique owner Rarity, how often do you see her slave over her work, constantly worried that she may miss a sale or lose profits, does she look truly eased and happy?" He then shifted his gaze to another. "Applebloom, you are sister of the farmer Applejack, how many cooperative operations has she done with others in her work, how often does she work with others instead of against them?" His now maniacal eyes shifted to Cheerilee, he was now marching through the center row of desks towards her. "If our Equestria was built on, and survived by mutual cooperation, then please, tell me, why is it now that we strive, or claim to strive due to competition over capital in place of cooperation for the sake of survival?"
He ended his words right as his frame stood only a step away from Cheerilee's.