Beryl's story

>Rarity didn’t go very often to the slave market in Ponyville
>She usually bought her slaves in bulk from the military like many rich ponies. But today she was looking for a different kind of slave, something more personal
>Her oldest Kirin maid had recently passed away and she needed a replacement as soon as possible.
>Applejack had told her great things about the new race Twilight had conquered and enslaved, the humans, and she decided she would at least try one of them. Most markets allowed their customers to return unruly slaves anyway.
>There was one small problem, however. None of the human slaves on display looked very appealing to her. Many of them looked like they were ready to burst into tears while others were just giving her a thousand yard stare.
>That was the problem with undomesticated races, they always resented being enslaved and struggled to accept their place in the universe. There was a reason why her last maid had been a Kirin.
>She had spotted a Kirin among the rows of humans. A female with a big orange mane, green scales and the submissive attitude so typical of her race. She was tempted to buy her instead, but she had promised to herself that she would come back to her house with a human, not another Kirin.
>As she browsed more of the merchandise on display, the docile Kirin kept tempting her until she spotted a human that seemed to be worth a further look
>Clearly a female, her blue hair and eyes reminded her a lot of herself, same thing could be said for her white skin. Unlike the others, she just occasionally passed her hands over the leather collar wrapped around her neck and looked only somewhat scared.
>She caught the attention of the nearest slave trader and asked him “does it have a name?”
“Not really, new races only get three letters and two numbers, this one is RRT-78” he pointed at her neck “it’s written on her collar”

“Of course” she inspected her body a little bit and failed to spot any signs of beatings, this was not a slave that had recently fought back against her betters “tell me, how old is she?”
“Around eighteen years give or a take a few months, if you want to know more, I can tell you she’s somewhat educated, high school level, and she has not been infected with any important disease before or after the army captured her”
>yes, a healthy and educated slave would be a nice addition to her house. Not only she could serve as a maid, she could also help Sweetie Belle with her studies.
“So, how much is she?” she asked him.
“Five hundred bits and she’s all yours”

>Rarity spent some time haggling over the cost of the girl, but she eventually had to pay the full price for her new slave.
“Come with me now” She had told the girl after she gave the greedy slave trader all the bits he wanted.
>The girl hesitated for a second, understanding that she was about to start a new servile chapter of her brief life, but she eventually complied and began walking right behind her owner.
>As she went to her home, she and her slave walked near several homeless ponies arguing with soldiers or begging for money at the side of the road.
>Several of the homeless gave her very angry looks, they knew who or what she was and would have probably killed her if there were no soldiers nearby.
>They thought wealthy ponies like her were the reason why so many of them were unemployed as they only employed slaves in their industries and left free ponies in the streets.
>Now that she thought about it, she should have gone outside with a personal guard or two just to be safe. The streets were no longer safe for ponies like her
>She began trotting a little bit faster, eager to reach the safety of her home. The girl had no problem keeping up with her.
“Bitch!” a homeless pony shouted. Many others quickly joined him in hurling insults at her.
>One of the ponies was bold enough to pick up a rock and throw it at her face. He missed the target by a little, but it was enough to start a fight as the soldiers moved to arrest the offending pony and his friends tried to defend him
“Run!” she ordered, this place was about to become very dangerous for any wealthy pony.
>If the slave had thought about running away, she didn’t show any signs of these thoughts as she stayed as close to her mistress as she could. A clever choice, given even the most rudimentary collars had a tracking spell on them.
>they eventually reached the carousel boutique, safe but a little fatigued. A griffon guard opened the door for her and her new slave.

“Sweetie, I’m back” She announced, knowing that her sister was there and she knew she had been waiting for her ”I have a thing you might like”. She wanted to avoid talking with her sister about what had just almost happened.
>She heard the sound of her sister’s little hooves rushing down the stairs, she was clearly excited to see what her big sister had brought home with her. She looked a little disappointed when she saw that rarity had simply bought just another slave.
“What’s that thing?” her sister asked
“This thing” Rarity explained “Is a human slave, it’s a female by the way”
“Oh, does she have name?”
“I was hoping you could choose her name” Rarity told her.
>Sweetie Belle approached the human and inspected her for a few seconds “she looks like you, but human” she stopped for a moment in order to think “Is Beryl cool? You know, like the gem?”
“Yes, Beryl is cool”



>Beryl thought she had cried all the tears she could cry when she was taken away from Earth and understood she was going to be a slave for these aliens.
>But when she was locked in the slaves’ room for the first night at her owner’s house, she cried loudly for hours and couldn’t sleep, mostly because of the nightmares she had that night. She only toned it down when a young Kirin woke up and told her to be quiet.
>The following day and the week after that were not as dreadful and nightmarish as she had feared they would be, if not for the fact that she spent them as a piece of property with absolutely no rights.
>She remembered a time when her biggest concerns had been fashion trends and, sometimes, having to study a lot for some difficult classes. She had never imagined she would become a slave on an alien planet.
>Slavery was a terrifying experience for her, but not because of the things she had thought about when she was captured and collared. The ponies were not abusing or beating her, instead, they left her alone as long as she kept her hands busy, her head low and did everything they ordered her to do.
>There was safety in her irrelevance, most of the time
>Her fear was of a different kind, it came from knowing that she was always under scrutiny and her owner always had all the power when she talked to her. Unlike a shitty boss on Earth, she could not simply end her shift and feel like she was back in control
>The fear that her owner could do anything to her at any moment for the slightest mistake was never going to disappear. No matter how much Rarity acted like a nice and somewhat caring mistress, she was still a mistress and Beryl was still her property.

>She had to admit, however, that she had finally found some luck in this saga of misfortune and misery for humanity. While many people, including her little sister, had been bought by big mining or farming corporations and were surely being forced to do physically demanding labour, all she had to do for her owner was keeping the place clean and look after her owner’s sister, Sweetie Belle.
>That last thing was the most time consuming part her duties, as the filly really demanded a lot of attention from her whenever she stayed at the Carousel Boutique. Those days, Sweetie distracted her from her main duty of keeping the place clean and in order so that she could have a personal servant
>The filly had become very interested in her after getting over the disappointment she had felt when she had seen her the first time. She didn’t really know the reason for the filly’s interest in her but, If she could hazard a guess, it was probably because she was like a new toy to play with and she looked very similar to her big sister
>Rarity had told her, the morning after she had bought her, the she wanted her to learn to read and write Ponish so that she could try to use her as some sort of private teacher for Sweetie Belle. She owned her mind just as she owned her body, she had added.
>She tried telling Rarity it would be very difficult for her to learn an alien language on her own, but the mare said there was no hurry and the Kirins sharing the slave room with her would help her learn the basics.
>She only wanted her to understand some simple textbooks after all, there was no need for her to become fluent. A little spell the ponies had casted on all of their slaves took care of translating the spoken language anyway.

>Regardless of what Rarity might have wanted from her in the somewhat distant future, she still had to worry about her current duties.
>Rarity had some very important guests coming over for dinner, and she wanted the entire Carousel Boutique to look spotless before said guest arrived. Beryl couldn’t understand why a dinner with friends would require so much work, but she was in no position to ask questions.
>While other slaves were assigned to prepare and decorate the other rooms, especially the big one downstairs, she had spent hours cleaning the dining room until even the floor was like one large mirror reflecting the ceiling above.
>Despite having been forced to do it, Beryl still felt proud about having done a good job. She took a good look around to admire her work and the new dress Rarity had given her. It was very pretty, like something she could have designed when she was free.
>She loved the quality of the white fabric and the intricacy of the patterns on its upper section that brought attention to the right parts of her body.
>She knew she had not been given the pretty dress out of the kindness of her owner’s heart. She just wanted her brand new slave to look good when her mysterious guests arrived, just like the rest of the room she was going to be a part of.
“Enjoying the dress, Beryl?” Rarity’s voice took her away from her thoughts and made her realize she had been wasting way too much time looking at that dress “turn around, don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you”
>She turned around, slowly, and remained silent. While she was being shipped to Equestria, she had quickly learned that staying still and quiet was always the safest option, as the ponies would eventually get bored of you. This choice of not speaking and just waiting for her punishment visibly annoyed Rarity.

“I asked you a question, Beryl, do not keep a lady waiting” Rarity insisted
“Yes, I think it’s very beautiful” was the briefest and safest response she could think of
>She felt the touch of Rarity’s hoof on her leg “Relax, darling, I’m not going to hit you, I just want to know what you like about it, it’s not a difficult question is it? Or are you humans even dumber than I thought?”
>Beryl still felt like this was some sort of trick question to punish her in a creative way, but her instincts now told her that silence was not a good idea “Well, the fabric it’s very nice, I never used this kind of silk before…”
“Used before?” Rarity interrupted her “You mean, you worked with clothes before you were put in your place?”
“Yes, I did, many told me I was good at it” Since there was no way out of this situation, she might as well be honest. She only hoped this conversation could be very brief.
“Well, you just made me lose a bet” Rarity sounded amused instead of angry, something that confused Beryl a lot “Sweetie Belle keeps saying you’re the human version of me, I guess she’s right”
>That was completely wrong. She had nothing in common with this slave owner, she could never own another living being. Just because she looked like her and liked the same things, it didn’t mean she was just like her. She had just enough self-control to maintain a meek expression despite her anger.
“Anyway, I’m not here to have a nice conversation with a slave, I’m here to give you orders, Beryl” Her owner’s voice had become very cold and serious, like all other times she was about tell her what to do. “One of my guests will be a unicorn with quite an ego, I want you to pay attention to everything she says”
>Perhaps this was not a normal dinner with friends after all…


>It had been a while since rarity had felt truly nervous about something, but the amount of political power that was about be gathered in a single room warranted quite a lot of caution. Even if she could call most of those mares her friends, power had a nasty habit of turning friends into enemies
>She had made her slaves work harder than usual for this occasion, but most of them also got to go to sleep earlier as a little reward for their efforts, a generous gift from their owner. Beryl was the one exception, however, she needed one outsider to observe the events and tell her what they thought about it.
>They always provided her with some useful information or insight that was easy to miss in the heat of the moment
>It was unfortunate that she had to use an inferior being for this purpose, but she would not let her pride deprive her of a useful strategy just because it wouldn’t be as effective as it be would if she could rely on a pony.
>The guests didn’t arrive all together, of course, and they had all been told to take their time. The common pony was not supposed to know about this meeting, and if three very powerful mares were to just waltz in the streets of Ponyville they would probably get noticed even in the middle of the night.
>The first one to arrive was Applejack, the one who had the safest power base, as her large farms were not about to go anywhere anytime soon. In addition to owning legions of slaves, Applejack was the one in charge of sending food to Canterlot and could plunge the capital into anarchy if she wanted
“Hi, sugarcube how are you doing?” she asked her as she entered
“A bit nervous, but fine” Rarity replied as she went with her friend to the main hall of the Carousel Boutique
>They spent some time chatting about their respective businesses after. Applejack had benefited a lot from the large amount of cheap slaves Twilight had provided with her conquest of their only planet.

>The second guest to arrive was Starlight Glimmer whose power was less tangible than Applejack’s, but still something no smart pony could ignore. Whenever Glimmer spoke, the masses listened to every word she said. If you wanted to get anything done with the consent of the masses, you couldn’t do it without Glimmer
“Hi Rarity, sorry I’m late” she looked like she had been running for the last few minutes, afraid of being late
“Don’t worry, darling, we still have time” she reassured her as she lead her in the main hall where Applejack was waiting for her with a big smile
>It had been a while since the two had met face to face and they so much small talk to do. Applejack loved to talk about her family. Apparently, Applebloom had insisted she bought her a human just for her personal use. Even when she told her that humans were more useful in mines and farms, the filly had insisted and so Applejack bought her some well-behaved young girl.
>Big Mac, on the other hoof, was still on the human homeworld while the land, air and water was getting cleaned of human influence in order to be gifted to the veterans.
>Most of their cities and monuments had already been wiped away, but the humans had polluted their own planet so much that even with Equestrian magic it would still take a few months before the land was considered usable.
>yet another reason why inferior races couldn’t be trusted with freedom
>Glimmer, instead, had a lot of stuff to complain about a single mare in the assembly that just to get all the attention. She loved to talk for hours and hours and never getting to the point
“A day may come when Trixie just shuts up, but it is not this day” she had told them after long rant about that annoying mare. Apparently, she found that sentence a bit funny, as if she had just made some sort of inside joke
>As Glimmer smirked at her little obscure reference, a knock on the door told Rarity that the last guest had arrived

>Twilight, the very reason why humans had been enslaved, was at her door and she looked even more tired than Glimmer had looked like. She was also understandably very nervous about this meeting, not exactly the look of a victorious commander and an enslaver of inferior beings.
>She was a clever commander that had earned the love of her veterans, and she had a lot of veterans who could swear by her name. There was a lot of power in being beloved by the army
“Hi can I get in? I’m freezing out here” Twilight s asked her
“Of course, Darling, we’ve been waiting for you” after saying that, Rarity led Twilight to the other two mares who looked very happy to see her
>after they all took their time to greet each other, Rarity led the three of them upstairs into the dining room where she wanted them to be and where the important discussions could finally happen
>The room had been decorated as she had ordered, with perfectly clean floors, a large table at the centre with a candle and several plates around said candle. Rarity really hope dher friends would be impressed
>Beryl was also technically part of the decorations, a good-looking slave always improved the room, but she was also supposed to fill their glasses when they told her to do it. That night, she was part decoration and part servant
“You got yourself a human too?” Applejack asked as soon as she saw Beryl standing there, with her arms in front of her, her head slightly bowed and her eyes looking down “very quiet and pretty, she looks like she was born to be a slave”
“All inferior races exist to be slaves, AJ, even the ones we have yet to encounter” Twilight corrected her
“Wow, she looks just like you, Rarity” Glimmer said as soon as she entered the room and saw Beryl
“Yeah, everypony keeps telling me this” Rarity replied, she expected this. She was happy to own such a peculiar human, and she felt happier with her purchase every time their similarity was noticed

“So what’s her name?” Applejack asked as she kept looking at Beryl “The one I got for Applebloom is called Little Apple”
“I was going to call her Tourmaline, but I wanted Sweetie Belle to decide, and she went for Beryl” Rarity explained as she finally sat at the table and the other mares did the same
“Pretty good name for a slave” said Twilight “You could use Tourmaline for the next human you buy”
>the first moments of the dinner were uneventful, even relaxing. The four of them talked about how their day had gone with Glimmer who was the one who felt like she was the one who needed to complain the most about her position in life. Listening to her, getting in the assembly sounded like an absolute torture, even if you got to be so close to Celestia and Luna
>Twilight was the first one to get the conversation to move towards the things they were there to discuss. She asked Glimmer to work with her to make sure that all her veterans got lands on the human homeworld instead of being dispersed around the Equestrian Empire like usual.
>Glimmer had quickly agreed to that, but told her she would need Applejack’s support to give the proposal some credibility since she was one of Equestria’s largest land and slave owner. She accepted after she was promised some tax cuts.
>Rarity knew she would have to make her crazy proposal eventually, but she decided to wait a little bit more for a good occasion
>It was then Glimmer’s turn to make a proposal for her own benefit. She asked for other three’s public support for the next set of laws she was about to propose. Even a pony with her charisma was just one mare and their support would guarantee there would be no opposition to her proposals
>after they had all agreed on that, they all turned to Rarity and waited for her to say something. She was the one who had called this meeting and they were sure that she had something very important to say. Against her better judgement, she told them what was on her mind

“A third? Are you crazy, Rarity?” Applejack exploded when she heard Rarity’s proposal “I’m not saying I’m greedy, but I can’t have a third of my employees be free ponies”
“Look I know you don’t like this, but there are too many unemployed on the streets and the army can’t absorb them all, right Twilight?” she turned to her friend hoping she would understand what she was trying to do
“No it can’t” Twilight admitted with a sigh “But first, were would all those slaves go? You’re not saying they should be free, right? And second, how do you think land owners would react to this proposal getting passed?”
>That second part was something Rarity knew the answer to, landowners would be incredibly angry at her proposal. She couldn’t predict how much of a ruckus they would cause
“I’m not saying they should be free, that’s absurd, inferior races exist for a reason and that reason is being our slaves” Rarity started her defence as fast as she could, hoping she was convincing enough “and we could offer land owners some sort of compensation”
“That could actually work” Starlight interjected “If we propose that the empire buys those extra slaves and put them to work in other fields we could make it look like we are making an investment on public infrastructure instead of just wasting bits”
>hearing Starlight saying her proposal could actually work made Rarity a lot more relaxed, she felt like huge had been taken off her back.
“I have to warn you, it would still be very difficult to get this through the assembly” Glimmer had said, giving her back some of the anxiety that just gone away a moment before
“Yep, I still don’t like it” Applejack had confirmed those fears “I ain’t all about bits, sugracube, but this would make everything a lot more costly”
>She knew she need all four of them to support this, if Applejack spoke against their proposal it would be dead even before it was voted on

“Darling, I don’t want you to like it, but look at the bigger picture” she told her “If we don’t do this how long until the unemployed do something stupid, like going after those like us? It almost happened to me when I bought Beryl”
“Fine, only because we’re friends” Applejack pouted in defeat “But at least extend this to mine owners, it’s unfair that they get to keep all their slaves”
“Yes, of course” rarity conceded that point to Applejack, hoping to get her on her side
>Pinkie Pie and her family would be a tough nut to crack, but she hoped that they could eventually see the light
“Well now that everything is decided, I need just a single favour” Twilight got up from the table and looked at Beryl had been quietly been filling their glasses all that time “can I borrow your human? It’s just for a day”
>That request took Rarity by surprise, why would Twilight need Beryl? Then she remembered what Twilight would have to do in the morning.
“I have my big speech in front of Celestia and Luna tomorrow, I need to show a well behaved human before the assembly and Beryl looks like a perfect example of that”
>In her big speech, she would provide the justifications of human slavery. It was a formality, but an important formality nonetheless. Ponies were not barbarians that just conquered inferior races just because they could, everything they did always had a justification.
>She didn’t know how to counter that request. Twilight was her friend, after all, and there was nothing wrong to lending your property to your friend especially for just one day. Whatever little things Beryl might have noticed, they would still be on her mind when she returned.
>in the end, she felt it was safe to let Beryl go with Twilight for just one day
“Ok, but bring her back in one piece” she said


>So Beryl had spent what was left of the night inside a different and slightly smaller slave room. This one was inside a tree that belonging to Twilight Sparkle, the one mare she hated above everyone else.
>She had thought about doing something crazy that night, but her fantasies of killing the one who caused her to become a slave in her sleep were dashed when she realized the door was safely locked just as well as the others.
>The place, even with its soft beds and purple walls, reminded her of the cell she had been kept in while she was being shipped to Equestria alongside hundreds of people and her little sister. The memory of her sister being taken away had once been enough to make her cry on command, but now even that pain seemed numb and distant for some reason she couldn’t grasp
>The morning had arrived too quickly and Beryl was still tired when she woke up and door to the room was opened. Twilight was right outside, looking as her went about their duties without even needing to be ordered to do anything by their owner
>Before she had time to understand were everyone was going, Twilight called her “Beryl, quick, I can’t be late”
“Please at least let me eat something” she hated that she had to beg her for the most basic of necessities, it was humiliating.
“Not now, Beryl” Twilight refused as she magically yanked her out of the room and used some spell make her look like she had just taken the best shower of her life “If I arrive late because a slave didn’t have breakfast, I would never hear the end of it”
>of course, only her priorities mattered. Why should she slow down for a slave?
“Don’t worry, you’ll get something to eat once I don’t need you anymore, now come with me, that’s an order” Twilight looked very anxious as she gave her that command, Beryl secretly enjoyed the sight.

“As you wish” Beryl said as she followed her temporary owner through the wooden library and out of the door, to find a golden chariot pulled by two white stallions waiting for Twilight outside the library
>She knew that ponies had very impressive technology and magic, why would they need to use a chariot to go anywhere? Was this all part of some elaborate tradition or a joke to humiliate her even further?
>Before she could think some more, Twilight put her on the chariot with her magic and told the stallions to start flying to Canterlot as fast as they could “Hold on, Beryl, I don’t think I could fix you if you fall, not even if used I used all my magic”
>Twilight didn’t bother talking with her after taking off, which allowed Beryl to think about two things once she got accustomed to the idea of flying. The first one was the incredible beauty of the Equestrian lands below, she had never seen a landscape more beautiful than the Equestrian one. These ponies really knew how to take care of their own planet, unlike humans.
>The second thing she thought about was if she should take this chance to kill Twilight Sparkle. If she was fast enough, she could have been able to do something before the two stallions could react. The idea was very appealing to Beryl, but she knew it wouldn’t make her free and it would make her situation even worse. In the end, she decided not to try anything too impulsive.
>She was left with a feeling of anticipation as knew she would soon see the two rulers of Equestria. The ponies talked about the two of them like they were the greatest thing since sliced bread and she was almost sure they would not live up to the hype
“Listen Beryl” Twilight broke the silence just as Canterlot became visible in the distance “once we’re there, you’re supposed to walk behind me and not by my side, it’s important”

>Even if she hated her enslavers, Beryl had to admit that Canterlot was the most beautiful city she had ever seen. Not even Rome, when she had visited it shortly before being enslaved, had been this stunning.
>She had never seen a city so colourful and elegant made out entirely out of marble. Even the streets were filled with all the colours she could ever imagine and they seemed to be constantly moving
>As the chariot got closer and closer to Canterlot, she understood the reason why the streets were so colourful: thousands of ponies had gathered to watch the arrival of the one who brought them a new race of slaves
>They all cheered as the chariot flew over them and landed in the plaza outside a very large palace. A massive sale of human slaves was being prepared and several merchants were patiently waiting for their stands to be built by the slaves they would sell that day
“Remember, behind me” Twilight said as she got off the chariot and gestured for Beryl to follow her
>They walked past several merchants, all preparing to sell their slaves to the many potential buyers around them. Twilight told Beryl that they could only start selling when Twilight had done her speech and gotten the first purchase, it was all part of their tradition
>She also told her that, In older times, Beryl would have been sacrificed to Celestia and Luna once Twilight was done talking, now they just wanted her to look obedient. Beryl was glad her enslavers were not planning to kill her, but also afraid of what these princesses could do if she did one wrong move
>It was best for her to play it safe, it had kept her in one piece since the ponies had showed up on Earth
>When they reached the gates of the palace, two guards stopped them. They then further restrained Beryl by putting a pair of manacles on her and then connected them to her collar with a single short chain.

>It wasn’t long until Beryl got to be the first human to see Celestia and Luna, who were sitting comfortably on their thrones while several Kirin slaves silently attended to them.  Beryl felt like the two princesses were two most beautiful ponies she had ever seen, and something about them radiated pure authority. Obeying them almost felt like the natural thing to do.
>at the sides of the room, several hundred ponies had gathered. They all looked very wealthy and Beryl suspected this was the assembly she had heard about.  She got confirmation when she saw Starlight Glimmer in the crowd.
>After a soldier mad Beryl kneel, something that felt very natural in front of Celestia and Luna, Twilight began to speak, and she had a lot to say.
>First she thanked the princesses for their time, and then she began making a list of humanity’s failings. The first thing she talked about, in excruciating detail, was the abysmal state of Earth’s environment, with its melted ice caps and polluted air and oceans. Beryl wanted to say that it was all president X AE A-12’s fault, but a spell had made her completely mute.
>Twilight then talked in great detail about human physiology and how it not only was inferior to that of ponies because of the lack of magic, but it also made the entire human race perfect for manual labour deep underground or in plantations and farms.
>The last part of her speech was dedicated to how little humans had achieved on their own. Barely making to Mars and being able to build great things only by enslaving their own and putting them to work. Humans were more efficient once enslaved, she argued.
“And it is for this reasons” she said “that I think slavery, subordination to the superior race, is humanity’s natural and normal condition” the entire assembly cheered once Twilight finished her speech with those words
“And we agree” both the princesses said “May they never be free again”

>There had been so much Beryl had wanted to say and do during that speech, about how none of that really justified enslaving an entire race,  but the spell that made her mute was lifted only when she and Twilight walked outside the palace
>Beryl’s wrist felt sore even after the manacles had been removed once she got outside. Twilight didn’t seem to be too concerned about that as she looked at the various slaves on sale, hoping to buy one that would make her look good
>Beryl had to follow Twilight as she inspected several people like the pieces of property the ponies had reduced them to. She had been looking at a shy girl with pink hairs for some time, when she noticed another one that looked a lot more appealing to her.
>She had purple hair and thick glasses, and the letters TWL-61 written on her collar. The merchant near her looked ecstatic when he saw Twilight approaching that girl
“I Think you’re going to like this one” he said “It’s like she was made to be your property, not only is she smart for a human, she’s also very good with books and organizing”
“Really?” Twilight asked him, not sounding very convinced “Can you give me any proof of that?”
“Yes ma’am I do” the merchant presented some documents to Twilight and she spent some time reading
“Well, sorry for thinking you were lying” she apologized as she gave him back the documents “I’ll buy her, how much do you want for her?”
“Since you are, well… you, I’ll give you a discount, how about seven hundred bits? I assure she’s worth all of them”
“Fine by me” Twilight replied


>After Twilight had returned Beryl, Rarity had a good talk with her and then wished she hadn’t done that. Beryl had made her think more about Glimmer’s behaviour during the meeting, and she had to agree with her slave there had been something suspiciously hesitant about how the mare had acted.
>Beryl, of course, knew better than to use that kind of accusatory language against one of her betters. Rarity had reached the conclusion on her own.
>She knew confronting the mare would be both stupid and dangerous. What would she even accuse her of? In addition, what proof did she have of any bad faith? The insight of a human? It didn’t help her that humans were categorized as barely civilized, let alone domesticated. Beryl’s word was worth less than half of that of Kirin and an eighth of that of a pony
>The only thing she could do was keep an eye on Glimmer and hope it was just a moment of paranoia on her behalf, maybe she was just looking for some good old drama. She really hoped she was just overreacting.
>Perhaps she wanted to steal her idea and take all the credit? There was nothing else Rarity could suspect her of planning.
>It was this little bit of paranoia, the idea that Glimmer may not have been completely sincere when she had met, that had made Rarity appear before assembly and the divine sisters to make her proposal just a couple of weeks after Twilight had been there.
>considering that she had gone there with only Twilight to support her, the attempt had gone as well as she could expect it to go. A mare called Trixie had shamelessly interrupted her right as she started to make any sort of grand speech, and she had ended up talking for hours and hours right in front of the divine sisters
>wasting an entire day was never fun, but wasting it because one mare wanted to show off how good she was with words was downright infuriating

>When the session was over, it was late evening and the only thing Rarity could do was take the train to Ponyville in defeat and finally rest for a while.
>As she waited for her train, she found Twilight Sparkle and the human slave she had recently bought. It had only been a couple of weeks since she had purchased that girl, but Twilight had already started to bring her along almost everywhere she went
>She had even brought her with her in the assembly. A common thing to do with a slave you trusted, a mare had the right bring her property wherever she wanted, but she had never seen a mare bring with her a slave she had owned for just two weeks
>Officially, she was using her to take notes and carry important documents, but it was clear to any observer that she was grooming her to be her main personal assistant. Whatever Twilight saw in that girl, it had made her the luckiest human in Canterlot or the whole Equestrian Empire.
>Even now as they waited for the train, Twilight was giving a quick lesson on how the assembly worked and why Trixie had done the annoying thing she did and why she would continue to do it. The human seemed to have an easy time understanding the information as she was taking more notes.
>She eventually approached Twilight, who was still talking, and interrupted her by asking “Hi Twilight, how is your little lesson going?”
“Oh, hi Rarity, sorry I didn’t see you coming” Twilight turned around as her slave gave a slight bow with her head to show proper respect to one of her betters “going pretty well actually, Purple Breeze here is actually pretty smart for a human, I’m so glad I bought her, she learns so fast”
“Everyone knows you’re basically making her your assistant, aren’t you trusting her a little too much, Darling?” rarity asked her “I don’t think a human of her generation will ever be fully domesticated”

“Of course, but there’s no need for that, right Purple Breeze?” she asked the human
“Yes mistress Twilight, your race has won and there’s no point in fighting anymore” the girl replied as fast she could, as if she wanted to show how obedient she was “The only thing I can do now is serving Twilight as best as I can”
>Rarity was surprised to hear such words come out of human’s mouth in such an earnest manner. She felt like a small degree of progress had just been made on the domestication of her race
“See? Smart humans know the fight is lost and that their best bet is to submit to us” Twilight said with a quite a lot pride in her voice
>Not much longer after that, the train to Ponyville arrived. Rarity and Twilight took their seats in first class and Purple Breeze had been allowed to follow her owner instead of going with the other slaves.
>after a few more moments, the train departed and two of them decided to spend their time talking about how their own little projects had been going
>The human homeworld was still not perfect, Twilight had told her, but all human cities and villages had finally been removed forever and some of the land had become good enough to be given some of her veterans. Twilight had also added that giving some of the workload, which she was supposed to handle alone, to Purple Breeze had helped a lot with speeding up the process
“And how did it feel to help eliminate your own culture forever?” Rarity had asked the human, sincerely curious about what the answer would be
“Honestly, humans had already destroy most of it even before your arrival, but I was glad I could help my mistress” The reply of Purple Breeze felt like something from a short handbook for recently enslaved humans
>Rarity still wondered if this human was being completely honest with her or if she was trying to hide something

>On the other hoof, Rarity’s little personal empire had been a massive source of stress for her. She usually enjoyed dealing with fashion, dresses as it calmed her down quite a lot. The recent expansion and increase in production fuelled by the arrival of many cheap human slaves, however, had been an absolute nightmare to organize
>She needed someone who could help her to deal with all of this, someone who could easily understand the world of fashion after only a few quick lessons, someone who was interested in that kind of world and would love being a part of it, she needed…
>Beryl
>The girl wasn’t the perfect choice, of course, but she already had shown many signs of being the human version of her. Perhaps this gamble would be successful.
> She decided she had to at least try to make Beryl into her personal assistant. That human would probably become very loyal to her if she could go back to work with in a field that had once been her passion.
>It’s not like she would risk too much by trying. If she failed and the girl would prove herself not to be what she hoped she was, Rarity could always buy an educated Kirin and Beryl could go back to being a simple maid


>Beryl had been thinking a lot in the last few days. She could finally afford luxury to do it
>These ponies really believed they were doing something good and generous when they enslaved another race, didn’t they? Rarity had started feeding her information that was supposed to feel like obvious propaganda, but Beryl couldn’t easily dismiss
>Were they really wrong when they claimed to be the superior race? It had taken Twilight and her troops less than a year to conquer and enslave all of humanity, saving them from the nuclear war X AE A-12 was about to start, and Equestria was simply a paradise. In all her time there, she had never seen something resembling bad weather or pollution
>The emotional part of her brain wanted to reject that information as it was all so convenient for the ones who had enslaved her, but the rational part of her brain was starting to accept that Rarity might have a point.
>Twilight’s personal slave, the few time her owner had visited the Carousel Boutique, had also repeated the same things to her, but she also added that there was no point in resisting the ponies anymore.
>Beryl had hoped the girl was putting on an act, and had even tried to have a conversation in private with her once. Purple Breeze had simply doubled down on every piece of propaganda she had been given by her owner without showing any sign of doubts
>To hear the propaganda coming from one who benefitted from it was something she had expected, but she was not prepared to see a human accepting it so quickly and repeat it so honestly. Had Purple breeze already given up?
>Beryl felt like a little piece of her soul had been crushed by that conversation, she could already see how humans could become just like the Kirins
“Well, it’s not like we have choice” Purple Breeze had told her “You better start accepting that this is your life now”

>When she had been captured, Beryl had feared she would be put to work inside some factory for the rest of her life. She had imagined exhausting herself working long hours with no pay only to make a profit for the ponies.
>Now she was in a factory, but not for manual labour. Rarity had decided she wanted more from her, she felt like she could a personal assistant and she was currently inspecting one of her many factories where several kind of fabrics were being produced in large quantities thanks to the work of many slaves, a few them humans.
>She had imagined most of them would have been tired and starving, that was how she had always imagined slavery in her head. The scene front of her, with many healthy-looking slaves quietly working without any problem, was not something she had ever expected to see. Even more surprisingly, some of the Kirins where happily humming some song she didn’t know as they worked
>The few humans were instead working quietly, but did not look like they were being abused. In fact the only sign that they were slaves were the collars on their necks
“Your collar doesn’t make you a slave, it only states the obvious“ Rarity had told her in one of her quick lessons “Your race makes you a slave, never forget that”
>When Rarity had told her to ask her a question, she asked her why would they still use slaves in factories when they could probably use robots to the same thing more efficiently
“And rob our slaves of their purpose in life?” Rarity had replied “what would inferior races do if we just used robots for everything?” The way she said it, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, made Beryl feel a bit stupid because she was supposed to already know that
>She had been told that several times, she just felt like she had to resist that information with what was left of her free will. The only reward for accepting that logic would be just more servitude.

>Today Rarity was not wasting time with giving her even more propaganda. She was talking with her about what this kind of factory could produce in a short amount of time, it would be an important piece of information to keep in mind when she would have to give her advice
>The information was actually not that hard to learn and keep in mind thanks to her interest in fashion. Learning about it in a grander scale was actually a bit exciting, she only hoped she could pass this little trial period and keep this new role Rarity had decided for her
>as they passed near an assembly line, a few humans looked up at her with envy in their eyes. A supervisor was quick to notice that and flew over to them to tell them to keep their focus on their work
>She couldn’t really blame them for being envious of her. While they had to toil all day, all she had to do was staying close to her owner and try her best to give some good advice. They were jealous of her luck, and she understood them.
>Even her luck, however, couldn’t erase certain memories. In that moment, seeing all those industrial slaves brought back someone she had been trying to forget.
“Darling, you look sad, is something wrong?” Rarity asked, clearly noticing something was little bit wrong with Beryl
“Oh it’s nothing, mistress Rarity, nothing you would find interesting” Beryl was sure rarity would not care that much about her own problems. Rarity had taught her a slave was supposed to care only about what its owner wanted.
“oh no, I am very interested” Rarity sounded offended that Beryl had made that assumption “ whatever it is, it’s affecting you, and I want you to be able to think clearly, I order you to tell me what it is”
“Looking at this kind of slaves is making me think about my sister, mistress” Beryl confessed “She got sold to some big company shortly before I made it to Equestria”

“Of course, you humans still care about your families” Rarity looked like she had remembered that, other races only existed as individual slaves “ well, if I found a way to get your sister as my personal property, would that put you at ease?”
>Beryl couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she felt like she was dreaming. If there was even a chance to see her sister once more she would have to take it.
“Yes, that would help a lot, I could probably sleep better” Beryl said, hoping she would not wake up right now. There was no chance this was actually happening
“Well I don’t know were all humans went, but I am pretty sure I know someone who does”
>After saying that, Rarity had brought Beryl out of the factory and back to Ponyville. The train they took was fast, faster than anything humans could have hoped to produce, and they had reached the city after only a few minutes
>Once they got off the train, rarity had gone to the one place Beryl had wished she would never have to visit again: Twilight’s library
>Rarity asked the Griffon guarding the entrance if Twilight was inside and he said yes before letting them in.
>inside, a few slaves were working to keep the place perfectly clean while others were just taking care some small task. Most of them were Kirins and Diamond Dogs, but there was one human Beryl recognized almost immediately.
>Purple Breeze was very busy reorganizing the last set of books Twilight had bought, but she immediately stopped when she saw Rarity and Beryl.
“Greetings Mistress Rarity, I assume you’re here for Twilight, I’ll go tell her you’re here” The eager obedience of Purple Breeze never ceased to amaze Beryl.
>Twilight arrived a few moments later to greet Rarity. She looked very nervous at first, but she relaxed when Rarity told her why she was there and told her that Purple Breeze could help beryl look through the database while the two of them went to eat something

>They left the two girls with a computer that could access only one thing: a database containing info about all the humans twilight’s armies had captured and it also told them to whom those humans had been sold.
>It didn’t take that much brainpower to understand that finding beryl’s sister among almost eight billion humans would basically be impossible. The first thing they did was narrow down the research to the city in which Beryl and her sister had been taken: New York
>From what she understood, the city no longer existed in the real world, but it was still there in the database
>Sorting thought millions would probably be too difficult for Purple Breeze and too painful for Beryl, so they restricted the search even more to include only children not a day older than eleven years old
>It still took some time to scroll through all of the results. Beryl could not only see the faces, but also the fates of all those kids. Most of them had been put to work in mines and factories, but a good portion of them had been sold to large food producers around the Equestrian empire
“Stop” Beryl said after a good amount of minutes of looking through the results “go back, it’s her”
“Are sure she’s your sister?” Purple Breeze went back to a little girl with SWB-78 written on her collar and a face she could recognize anywhere
“Yes, I am sure, it’s her“ Beryl had never been so sure in her life, that little girl was her sister. She had seen that face almost every night since she had been sold and taken away.
“Well, it looks like she’s property of Applejack, you’re lucky your owner is her friend”


>Retrieving Beryl’s sister should have been an easy task, the two humans found her in Twilight’s database and Rarity would just have to contact Applejack and arrange a quick sale. There was just one big problem.
>the law
>What Rarity was attempting to do: buying a single labourer, was completely illegal. Labourers had to be sold in groups and not as individuals. The most annoying part of this situation was the fact that Rarity, Glimmer and Applejack had worked together to make that law a reality and now that same law was coming back to bite her
>Applejack, while technically her friend, was not going to let her have even more workers than her. Their little friendship was somewhat fragile and relied on the two of them being on equal levels of influence.
> Asking Applejack to give Rarity a bunch of her own slaves would make her look like she was trying to alter that balance. She hated that politics had turned what was supposed to be a simple friendship into something so complicated.
>The solution to this problem should have been obvious, Rarity could just Applejack a group of slaves just as valuable as the group in which Beryl’s sister was in. Applejack had actually worked with her on that part of the plan
>now it was only a matter of waiting and waiting for some bureaucrat to approve the mutual exchange of slaves after he decided they were of equal value.
>the process would only take a week if they were in normal times, especially since both parties were prominent slave owners, but the times after the enslavement of a new race were anything but normal, especially with Trixie slowing everything down just to show off
>The entire system had to adapt to the new laws being written and approved almost every week, despite the many interruptions. This bureaucracy was the price all ponies had to pay for the great civilization they exported to the savages they enslaved

>The only time when that little girl could have chance of moving around the system was if Rarity managed to get her own reform passed. If all large slave owners were forced to get rid of a third of their labourers, there was a she could direct that girl to a public slave market
>Even that was something easier said than done, however, she had tested the waters in the assembly once and had found a massive conservative opposition before Trixie decided to start talking and talking until
>that mare had been nothing but trouble for anyone she didn’t like. Rarity had wondered why the divine sisters didn’t kick her, but she remembered that two of them
>It was in this time that Glimmer was supposed to swoop in and help her convince the crowd that they would benefit from this, but Glimmer had simply decided not to stay in Canterlot. She had been on a big tour of all Equestrian cities for the last month of pointless debates
>unusual, since the mare seemed to be one of the few who enjoyed politics and those who wanted to play the game of politics knew very well that they had to remain in Canterlot if they wanted to stay relevant
>before going on her tour, Glimmer had tried to avoid talking to her in any way she could think. It was like she no longer wanted to be associated with her at all.
>What was even more unusual was the complete radio silence from Glimmer, she usually maintained contacts with her and Twilight. The only reason why she would keep silent was if she didn’t want to be tracked in any way, not even by those who were supposed to be her friends
>she had never wanted to be suspicious of Glimmer, but this change in behaviour coupled with her attitude in regards to human slavery, was making her look very guilty of something important

>Calling for an open investigation on Glimmer’s behaviour would be political suicide, especially over something so minor as not keeping up with her friends. The assembly could chew even them up and spit them out without leaving them without a shred of dignity or influence.
>The suspicious body language Glimmer had shown when she had last met rarity and then this radio silence told her that Glimmer was planning something, maybe something very big.
>Rarity would have to do something more discreet if she wanted to discover what was going on with Glimmer. Until then, she was stuck with an hostile assembly and a very talkative Trixie that had yet to run out of pointless words to spit out of her mouth
>By Celestia, she hated Trixie… her friends hated her too, and yet she knew she needed her help now. If she could bite her pride once to use a slave to observe a meeting, she could do the same when she needed a new ally.
>She had agreed to meet her in an alley in Canterlot and had brought Beryl with her. Trixie had taken her time to arrive, leaving Rarity to wait awkwardly for at least an hour before she showed up walking as if she owned the entire city.
>she was about to make a very strange bedfellow if everything went smoothly, and she hated it. Rarity hoped she could find a way to throw her under the bus as soon as she could, like she was probably doing with Glimmer right now
>she had to do it, the unemployment crisis was reaching critical mass and something bad could happen If it wasn’t resolved as soon as possible. Avoiding civil unrest was the only way to ensure a smooth domestication of the human race

>Beryl was with her, her role would be to hold some documents Rarity had brought with her.
>Trixie had the smuggest expression possible on her face as he approached and started the formal greetings expected from a wealthy mare and a permanent member of the assembly.
>after the formalities were done, Trixie fired the first shot “so the wealthy Rarity comes to the great and powerful Trixie for help, I never thought I would see the day, I see brought your personal slave with you, how cute”
>Rarity was tempted to just kick her in the face and leave her alone with a black eye, but she had to keep her self-control if she didn’t want all of this to be pointless
“Look, Trixie” She wanted this to be over as soon as possible, so she went straight to the point “You are preventing me and my friends from doing anything we want to do, and”
“I know, I’m great at what I do” Trixie interrupted her without an inkling of shame in her face “but please praise me more”
“What do you want, Trixie?” She knew that corruption was rampant in the assembly nowadays, completely unlike the old times, and maybe Trixie could shut up after receiving a significant amount of bits
“You think you can just buy me?” Trixie tried to look like she was offended by the offer “well, you’re right, I know your reform is absolutely necessary, I would support even support it if it was coming from my side”
>So she was just as shameless in private as she was in public. Not surprising, but disappointing, she had hoped she would show some dignity while not on the stage
“Well, I can work with that, Trixie, just tell me what I need to give you for to work with me what’s your price?” she knew she could pay any price that mare could ask from her
“I don’t want your money” of course Trixie wanted to make things complicated, making things complicated was like her second talent “I want to you dig up some dirt on Glimmer”

>That was actually something that Rarity couldn’t give her, no amount of bits could simply create some juicy secrets out of thin air. Glimmer had never done anything wrong for as long as rarity had known her
>The worst things she could say about her was how uncomfortable she had looked when human slavery was mentioned, and her little tour of Equestria was not a secret to anyone with a pair of functioning eyes and ears.
“I… Don’t think I can give you that”
“I know” Trixie go even smugger after saying that “but I think I know how we can get it” she then looked at Beryl
“What do you want from her?” Rarity asked her
“Well, humans are still uncivilized savages right?” Rarity remained silent, curious to hear what crazy dramatic plan Trixie was thinking about “Glimmer has taken most of her slaves, griffons included, away with her, her mansion is basically unguarded and”
>This Rarity had to Interrupt “You’re saying I should send Beryl to sneak in there? She can barely read our language; she will not know what is important”
>Beryl suddenly looked very nervous; she knew she could face some serious consequences if she was caught doing something like what Trixie was proposing
“Of course I am saying that, if she’s caught, you can accuse her of being a savage who acted of her own will, as for the language, we could use Twilight’s human slave, I heard she’s pretty smart”
>Twilight would never agree to take the risk of having to sell one of her smartest slaves to some mining company just because of some political game. Rarity told Trixie exactly that, but Trixie looked unimpressed by this information
“Well, I guess the assembly will simply remain grid-locked forever then” she stated as matter of fact “In three weeks Glimmer will return to Canterlot, and I don’t know if she’ll still be your friend or if she’ll have some new interesting friends to think about, I expect to have something on her by that point”



>When Rarity had agreed to go along with Trixie’s request, it hadn’t felt like she had given Beryl an order. It felt more as if she had just made a request, one she was free to refuse if she so wished, she had even sweetened the deal by promising her a reward if she succeeded
“And since I’m breaking the law for someone I don’t like” She had added “I might as well break it for someone I like a little bit more than Trixie” Implying that Rarity would do something she was not supposed to do for her.
>it was almost like she felt like she was crossing some moral rubicon she was never supposed to cross and all of this was wrong, even if it was just another political move
>She had left her a free week before the big day, which she spent mostly relaxing and sometimes talking with Purple Breeze, who had also been granted a period of freedom from her usual duties of assisting Twilight
>Unlike Beryl, who was completely terrified of doing what Rarity was asking her to do, Purple Breeze seemed almost eager to begin this mission. She actually didn’t have choice, Twilight was not as generous as Rarity, but she did explain to Beryl the reason of her enthusiasm
“Beryl, we’re slaves and that’s never going to change“ she had pointed to her and Beryl’s collars to emphasize her own point “the only thing that we can change is how valuable we are to our owners, this is the best chance we have to stand out from the crowd of slaves since we were picked to be personal assistants”
>She hated to admit it, but she was right, she had been lucky enough not end up deep underground as a nameless slave in a forgotten mine, but now she had a chance to truly capitalize on that luck. Rarity had already decided she would be her personal assistant, but now she had to find a way to prove herself irreplaceable.

>entering Glimmer’s semi-abandoned mansion at night was probably the easiest part of the ordeal, as the mare had really taken most of her slaves and the only two griffons remaining, both in the main hall, were very busy playing a card game and being angry at each other
>they were discussing if the sum of fifteen and eighteen was thirty-six or not and one of them was shouting very loudly at the other, who looked amused by his own mistake and just took the ire of his partner without reacting too much
>Beryl and Purple Breeze were able to easily sneak past the two distracted griffons and get to the upper floor. That area, according to what Rarity and Twilight had said, was were the important documents and letters were kept, and most of them were in Glimmer’s personal study
>The place didn’t seem abandoned, its marble floor was like a white mirror and there was not a single spot of dust on the windows or on the desk. It was as if it had been cleaned just a few seconds before they approached it.
>She and Purple Breeze went to look in several places and rooms, all of them beautifully decorated with great care. It was the most beautiful abandoned mansion Beryl had ever seen. It was clear Glimmer was almost trying to make a statement with the immaculate state of that place.
>They first tried searching her bedroom, but that had proved itself a waste of their time. The worst thing they found there was an angry piece of paper filled with insults directed at Trixie, hardly the material capable of creating a spectacular scandal
>She was surprised that no guard were patrolling the corridors, even the door leading Glimmer’s personal study was completely unguarded
>Serving Rarity and following her around, Beryl had gotten used to see Griffons guarding important locations, that place was a ghost town

>they opened the door to the study very slowly, expecting some sort of trap or ambush, but they relaxed when they found out that even that place was completely safe for them
>Beryl went after the many drawers and books were she found a lot of letters laying around, but she was told they were just rough drafts for boring laws and regular letters of no significance.
>even that was not something that could really satisfy Trixie. Every politician had its secrets, even these ponies who claimed to so perfect and civilized were not above dirty politics, they just needed to look in the right places
>Purple Breeze had gone straight for the computer, the thing she was most comfortable with.
>She went through many files for several minutes before she finally found something she deemed interesting “And bingo!” Purple Breeze said, looking satisfied “At least I guess it’s important, look”
“What is it, darling?” Beryl went to over to the computer the other had opened up. She had always been good with everything intellectual and knew a few ways to recover items that were supposed to be deleted by the user, but were still somewhere in the memory
>it was probably very simply, as it didn’t take much time, but Beryl had never been knowledgeable of the finer points of modern, let alone alien, technology. She felt old just by thinking that, a computer was not an alien thing and yet she barely knew how to use it.
“the details are not really clear, but these emails look important” she pointed at several parts of the mails she had opened “ten thousand from Manehattan, five thousand from Appleloosa and thousands more from several cities”
“Thousands of what?” Beryl asked, fascinated by the fact that Purple Breeze already had a good knowledge of written Ponish
“I don’t really understand the finer details, but this looks important” Purple Breeze said “and look, there’s something more, a name, Rainbow Dash, have you heard of her?”

>That name did ring a bell, she had heard Rarity mention her from time to time. She was an ex-commander that was more loyal to her troops than to the divine sisters and had been relieved of duty and her name had been dragged through the mud. Beryl repeated what she knew about Rainbow Dash
“Then we might just have what we need, Twilight gave me a key just for this kind of stuff, she expected us to find something on her computer”
>Glimmer being in contact with a disgraced commander that she was supposed to shun was the exact kind of stuff that would more than satisfying enough for Trixie, but whatever she was gathering would be even more interesting
>Beryl picked up some letters she felt looked important and then they both made their way out of that place while one of the two griffons was still shouting and threatening the other of slapping him so hard he would paint the wall with him.
>at that moment, Beryl heard that there were more than two griffons on the property, and there had been at ten. To her relief, she also noticed they had all gathered to watch the entertaining spectacle offered by the two who had been playing cards. It was probably thanks to them that they had been able to avoid being discovered.
>Clearly, her lucky star was still looking after her. No matter how much she disliked her situation, she knew being sent to a mine would make everything even worse
>since all the guards were distracted, sneaking out was just as easy as sneaking in, the breathed a sigh of relief once they were they were sure they were safe. The signal of their safety was the presence of their owners, who were waiting for them in an alley where they told them to go if they made it out without being captured
>for the first time in her life, Beryl was relieved to see Rarity, a feeling she was not completely comfortable with

>they day after was interesting and rewarding for Beryl, rarity had grated her another free week and promised her she would soon see her sister. She was ecstatic to hear that, but she thought that maybe rarity was simply trying to buy her loyalty just to make her more reliable
>She was then informed that the documents she and Purple Breeze had recovered were the basic layout of a grand army Glimmer was preparing to gather and give to Rainbow Dash. It might even be an attempt to start a civil war, Equestria seemed to be ready for it considering how many unemployed there were
“But why would Celestia and Luna allow this to happen?” Beryl asked, sure that the sisters would never something as horrific as a civil war to happen on equestrian soil
“As long as it is not too damaging, the divine sisters love it when we mortals put on a good show” There was a carefully hidden mixture of anger and sadness beneath Rarity’s cold factual statement “that is the way of things here”
>Beryl felt sorry for Rarity for the first time, this mess was the exact kind of thing Rarity had been trying to avoid with her reform and her own goddesses were not helping her in her moment of need. She had to feel just as lost as a child who just understood that the parents she idolized didn’t really care that much about her
>she knew she was supposed to hate her, but it was impossible to deny that she empathized with that pony
“Anyway, If that happens, Twilight will have to deal with it, not us” she said, trying to push that problem away from her mind
>Beryl was surprised by Rarity’s Freudian slip, the one that had led her to say there was now an ‘us’ . She pretended not notice it, just to spare her the embarrassment and just nodded when rarity looked at her


>Trixie, after receiving the information found by Rarity and Twilight’s personal slaves, had been a busy mare. She had secretly shared all of it with the rest of the assembly in preparation for Glimmer’s return to Canterlot
>She had asked the sister to call for a special session that demanded the presence of all the important ponies of Equestria, those who couldn’t make it to Canterlot in time could send another adult pony from their family to represent them
>Rarity was there that day, but she hadn’t brought Beryl with her. She had left her at the Carousel Boutique because Rarity had found a way to reunite her with her sister by quietly agreeing with Applejack to transfer the girl to the Carousel Boutique in secret
>It was illegal, of course, workers were supposed to be put to work and any officer looking at the situation would only see a case of unregulated slave trading, an offense punishable with a heavy fine. She had screwed herself with her own hooves when she had made that law, as she had made sure the fine would be proportional to the income of the accused
>Still, she felt like had she had to do something for that girl. She might have been her property, but she had put her in a privileged position when compared the rest of humanity and she might as well be generous with the slave that would be her personal assistant
>She could not be there to observe their reunion, however, as the dreaded monster of politics had dragged all the way to Canterlot as they all waited for Glimmer to arrive. They had gathered early in the morning to make sure that Glimmer would arrive last
>Trixie really was an even bigger drama queen than Rarity, she had even asked the divine sisters to be present for this occasion. The just sat on their thrones at the opposite side of the room surrounded by several Kirin slaves

>eventually, Glimmer arrived and tried to fit in with the rest of the crowd, but everyone quickly took a step or two away from her. Three times she tried to approach her peers and three times she was rejected
>eventually, Trixie stepped forward and did the one thing she was good for, making a spectacle
“How long will you continue to abuse our patience, Glimmer?” She started her speech, which would not be as long as the ones she used to gridlock the assembly for hours, this time she was trying to say something important
>She told her that they already knew of what she was trying to do, of her intention to gather her merry band of rebels and march on Canterlot. She called her a heartless demagogue willing to exploit the masses and their problems for her own gains
>usually, the accused would be granted some time to defend herself, but that was not a trial or a simple accusation, that was a political execution and Trixie’s personal triumph.
>after dramatically wishing death on Glimmer, she called for a vote to exile her from Canterlot. Glimmer looked at Rarity and her friends, hoping someone would step forward and speak in her defence, but none did. Rarity felt a part of her soul dying in that moment.
>She stayed silent as all the hooves were raised in favour of the vote and she even raised her own. She did not dare to look at Glimmer as she did that. She was supposed to be generous with her friends, it was part of her identity, but she knew she could do nothing to help her not even pouring her hearth out in front of that crowd would help her or her friend, and she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to help her
>The result of the vote was decided before it even started, and the sisters accepted it ‘with no reservations’. Glimmer had been politically defeated without being able to utter a single word, she left the room with a mixture of disgust and anger on her face

>Rarity left the room shortly after, also disgusted with herself and constantly wondering if she should have done something more. Recently, she had shown more kindness to a slave than to what had been her friend
>She knew that Glimmer was planning to do something very wrong, but her feelings were not completely rational beasts, they never were
>The only thing left for her to do now was going back to Ponyville and shelter in place until the storm passed. She quietly prayed that it would all be painless and quick, if the human race saw what ponies were capable of doing to each other it would be a lot harder to civilize and domesticate.
>Twilight had not taken the train with her, the sisters had out her back in command of several troops, they knew what was about to happen. This had left Rarity completely alone as Applejack had decide to stay in Canterlot a little bit more to take care some boring meetings
>The only thing that kept her company were her thoughts about the future, especially if the absolute worst happened and Twilight actually had to clash with Glimmer. For the entire ride to Ponyville, images of battles she actually never been in filled her head
>She only hoped that Glimmer would give up on her plan for the sake of Equestria, she hoped what was now her former friend could live up the Equestrian ideals they taught to the inferior races
>Despite her feelings of not having done the right thing, she also felt she was not completely at fault in this situation
>if there was a true failure here, perhaps it was in the education system. They had focused so much in educating inferior races with proper equestrian values that they had neglect educating their own with those values. Now Glimmer was able to exploit that kind of ignorance, perhaps even the legal reform she had proposed would not have been enough to prevent this.

>She had still felt alone and empty when she reached the Carousel Boutique and a Kirin greeted her, saying he was happy to see her. She was sure he was genuine, but the words of a slave, a subordinate, could not fill the emptiness she was feeling
>Beryl was upstairs with her sister, they had both cried quite a lot of tears but not from the sadness or fear typical of such an undomesticated race. Beryl was clearly finally somewhat happy, even if her sister now suddenly looked afraid of the pony that had barged into what might have been a private moment for them
>She didn’t need to be afraid of her right now, but she understood why she would feel this way. Some overseers in the farms could be a bit too forceful with slaves that were still not used to their new lives, a necessary evil, but she hoped the little girl had not been traumatized
>She did not really know what to do with her, she hadn’t even what name she should give her, perhaps something like Tourmaline could work, but she still wasn’t sure about it. For now she would just stay there and provide some mental comfort for Beryl
“He-hello” she said as Beryl bowed, then she looked like she felt she had made a mistake and bowed too as fast as she could “sorry”
>she approached the girl, who reminded her a bit of her own sister, trying to find a way to comfort her. If Beryl’s sister was afraid to be near Rarity, she would make Beryl even more nervous, which would make keeping her there pointless for both sides
“Don’t worry” she thought for a second, that was the part of the sentence when she would call her by name, but she was still unsure about what to call her so she decided to just skip that part “I’m not here to hurt you, get up”

>It felt weird to give an order to something that looked exactly like an inferior version of her sister, but at least this one also knew it was best for her to just obey, even if it was just out fear instead of love for her betters
>So much progress had been made for the human race after such a little period of slavery and now they risked losing everything because of the few things in their society they hadn’t fixed yet. If only Twilight had enslaved them just a few years later, this would not be happening
>She would probably not have the time educate her, it had been made law those who owned young humans as personal slaves would have to teach them proper Equestrian values. That task would have technically Beryl’s responsibility since she was her personal assistant, but she also was barely civilized.
>Considering that keeping her at the Boutique was already a bit illegal, however, she was not exactly worried about that part. The average client wouldn’t really care about a new slave running around in the Boutique, and she was sure that Applejack could keep this little secret
“You won’t have to do much around here for now, just stay with your sister” She said, trying to calm her down. Her soft voice seemed to work as the little girl at least stopped looking terrified and nodded
>Beryl calmed her down even more putting a hand on her shoulder “mistress Rarity, can we go to the slave room? My sister needs some time adjust to this place” she then asked Rarity
>She knew it would be bad to let a slave associate being away from her owner with comfort, but nothing bad would happen if she allowed it only once, right? She was too mentally exhausted to deal with slaves at that moment
>She told her to go and then just went to bed, she just wanted to be alone that day. Maybe she could start doing something right next morning.



>Beryl was old now, but not too old. Just old enough to have lived most of her life serving Rarity, her days of freedom were a distant memory just like the day when she was enslaved and taken to Equestria
>Now, after so many years, she had some time to look back on her life, mistress Rarity usually granted her some free time when she felt she had done enough for her. Sometimes, she wondered if she could have done something different
>maybe she could have tried to find a way to fight back against rarity or the ponies, but how? It would have been silly to try to rebel alone. Glimmer had tried to win a civil war, and she had really put a good amount of effort
>She remembered those days of civil war, She heard about some of the big battles on the news and Mistress Rarity had talked about it from time to time with her
>She was surprised by how low the casualties had been after every battle. Twilight had been able to win most of them through clever manoeuvers to force the rebels to surrender sever times, and her personal servant had helped a lot with that
>There had been only one serious pitched battle, near Appleloosa. The news didn’t show any images of that, but she had heard Twilight talk about it like it was the best thing of her life, her military ‘Magnum Opus’
>She had heard the names of Glimmer and Rainbow Dash again after Twilight’s victory at Appleloosa, but only because they decided to drink poison to avoid being captured and humiliated in a triumph in Canterlot
>The sad thing was, the triumph never happened. Purple Breeze had suggested that maybe celebrating a triumph over fellow ponies would send a bad message through the whole Equestrian Empire, and Twilight was planning to pardon the two rebels
>The news of Glimmer’s death had broken Rarity’s heart, and it had remained broken for many years

>She had forced herself to go one last time at the assembly to finally pass her reform and the she retreated from public life. Politics had done already enough damage to her, she decided she would just focus on her business
>Beryl had helped a lot with that, as Rarity alone was sometimes too depressed to keep going. It was thanks to her usefulness in the years of rarity’s depression that she once called her most prized possession
>She eventually recovered, or maybe she just stopped showing signs, after many years of Beryl serving as her owner’s private therapist. Maybe she should have used those years to try to get Rarity to kill herself? She should have hated that slave owner with every fibre of her being, but she couldn’t bring herself to hurt something that was already hurting and it felt good to help someone else
>The years after Rarity’s recovery were filled with travels around the Equestrian Empire Following Rarity, she had also been able to see countless worlds in their empire and they had all been beautiful. She had even been told that a particularly stunning one had once been the homeworld of the Kirin, the first race to be enslaved as they were about to go extinct because of how polluted it had become
> It was weird to know that even the Kirin, the almost robotic slaves she had seen everywhere, had once been in control of their own fate. The same thing , she had learned as she became more and more educated, had been true for all the races the ponies had enslaved
>Humanity was nothing new and it would not be the last to be enslaved. She had understood that it was just the way of things, the ponies had a natural drive to conquer and enslave other races.
>Some of those races, like the griffons, existed only because the ponies had enslaved them before they all hunted each other to extinction

>Knowing that so many races had been enslaved made Beryl think about two things:
>the first was the fate of humanity, would humans become just generic slaves like the Kirins, or would the ponies find some more specialized role for her race?
>The second thing was something she hated, she had to accept the superiority of ponies
>She didn’t like it, but it was clear to her now that, despite still being flawed, ponies were superior to humans. After all, they were the ones with the interstellar empire, while humans alone had barely been able to reach the moon and had failed miserably when they tried to reach Mars
>Yes, they had some problems, but unlike humans, they had actually been able to fix them and now they were doing even better than before. Maybe they were not as perfect as they liked to claim in their propaganda, but they were still clearly superior to humanity
>Perhaps slavery was still wrong, but if there one race who could have a valid claim to the title of master race, it was ponykind
>That annoying idea had gotten stronger and stronger over the many years of slavery and had become dominant once when had been able to return to Earth with her sister, who had been named Tourmaline by Rarity
>She still remembered how ugly Earth was when she had been enslaved. The skies were always covered by thick clouds of smog and other kinds pollution, Beryl had barely been able to see the sun when she had been free, many rivers had been filled with so many chemicals that they were basically a toxic version of a rainbow and a lot of forests had become a thing of the past
>The ponies, unsurprisingly, had taken Earth and turned it into a paradise. Actually, Earth had been the most beautiful planet she had seen, second only to Equestria, The ponies had really perfected their terraforming techniques for her planet. She heard that Twilight and Purple Breeze had helped a lot in that regard

>It was there that she had been able to see the new generation of humans working in the farms. Her sister had been surprised to see humans that could be so obedient, when she had been put to work in one Applejack’s farms, she had said, There was always a grumpy human that would try to fight back or to do the least amount of work possible.
>Those young had acted a lot more like the Kirin slaves the ponies were used to deal with. They were quiet, and looked happy to serve those they considered their betters. Even the ones who were almost adults, who maybe had been enslaved when they were children, worked just as hard as those who never known freedom
>Seeing what Earth had become once all traces of human civilization had been erased, and seeing what the ponies were doing with the new humans. Beryl understood that not only she would be free again, and there would never be another free human. The concept of free humans would probably sound silly to future ponies and even future humans, just like even she already could not imagine a free Kirin
>She had been to earth a couple more times after that, as rarity visited some old friends who decided to settle down one of the new colonies founded by Twilight’s many veterans. Seeing a flat plane where New York used to stand felt incredibly weird and somewhat terrifying, it was like that city had never existed, just like human civilization.
>Her sister, now an adult, spent most of her time at the Carousel Boutique since she had replaced Beryl as Rarity’s maid while Beryl only job was to advise Rarity. In all the years of slavery, she had never heard her complain, not even in private
“it’s tiring sometimes” she had once admitted “but it’s still better than being in a farm”

>Beryl still had many years ahead of her now, and she would spend all those years as Rarity’s property.
>At least she wouldn’t have to endure any pregnancies, even if Rarity had gotten a breeding permit for her. She had simply extracted some of her eggs and then shipped them to some distant lab to fertilized and implanted in woman selected for that exact purpose. The same thing had happened to Purple Breeze
>Rarity simply didn’t want to ruin her body with the many pregnancies a breeding would have to endure
>Sometimes, when she slept in the slave room next to her sister, or when she looked outside on of the windows of the Carousel Boutique, Beryl wondered where her children had ended up. Not even Rarity knew that, as all new slaves were state property when they were born and were then sold to private resellers or to various industries who bought the in stock. Rarity had no control over that process, although she had said that Beryl’s kids would probably better suited to be domestic servants.
>She didn’t have to worry about her kids, she didn’t have to worry about changing her own future and she didn’t have to worry about were here sister was. The only thing left for her to do was to live the rest of servile life in peace, she had no other option.