The flight to Cloudesdale had been strikingly easy, and laden with sublime bliss. Apparently, the spell Twilight cast had not only given me wings, but also the knowledge of how to use them effectively.
The city of Cloudesdale itself was quite a sight! It had a very Roman feel to it. In truth, I was rather surprised by that fact… I moved to Equestria, expecting a distinctive lack of influence from other countries, much less one so close to home. I found myself striding slower and slower as I made my way down the narrow thruways. My eye remained fixed upward on the massive pillars and various pegasi that sped about the upper atmosphere… A strange sense of forced happiness hung in there air, however. Looking at the faces of those I passed showed that, although smiles were there, they were empty…

“Hey, you heading to the cloudesium?” I heard a mare ask her friend.

“Yeah, the exams are today. Wouldn’t miss that for the world!” she replied.

Public exams, huh? What for…?
I spun about on my heel and approached the pair. They both looked at me, one setting her mug of coffee down, the other offering a smile.

“Pardon me, ladies, but I couldn’t help but over-hear something about exams. What kind of examinations are they?”
The one with the coffee, a pretty little thing with deep red eyes and long, feathered hair perked up.

“Flight exams, of course! Say, you’re new around here, aren't ya?”
I adjusted my bandage with a smile. Apparently, the mare’s name was Feather Heart. She had lived in Cloudesdale her whole life, and claimed a few months back to the friend that way with her, Anna Rayne, that she’d never leave. She had been single for several months now and was beginning to grow lonely. She majored in Liberal Arts at Cloudesdale University with a decent average… On all counts, a normal mare…
A quick glance off to my right and a tilt of my head, accompanied by the most innocent smile I could manage, I replied with a tone of the new kid back in high school.

“What gave me away?”
Feather laughed.

“Not many rabbits with wings out there, Mister…..?” she prompted.

“Cooper,” I replied. “Sebastian Cornelius Cooper.”
Feather seemed taken aback by something. She drew her head back and placed a hoof over her heart.

“Wow. That’s a long name!” she exclaimed.

“You can call me “Coop” if you’d like.” I retorted, taking note of the set of her hoof over her ample chest… She was calling attention to it…

A flirt, huh…?

“Alright, then, Coop. You wanna come with us?”
I feigned surprise at this, perking the bases of my ears much the same way a Bloodhound would.

“Really? Can I?” I asked in false excitement.
She nodded ecstatically in response.

“Oh! Um, could you give me some directions first?” I asked. I was there to see Dash, after all…

“Oh, sure. Where do you need to go?” asked the mare.

“The Rainbow Factory.” I replied simply.

A quick explanation later, Feather pointed off to a rather tall shape in the distance. From where I stood, it was hard to make out all the exact details of the structure, but what I could tell was that it stuck out a great deal from the rest of the skyline. It looked like a normal factory, from what I knew of them… And given what little I knew on Equestrian architecture, there was something ominous about it… The superstructure itself was made of normal cloud-concrete, while its spires and smoke-stacks were black storm clouds… Probably just warning the personnel themselves…
Twenty minutes later, I found myself between Feather and her friend. Each had a hold on either of my arms, and a deep, commanding voice was shouting instructions into a megaphone. On the way in, something very disturbing had caught my eye… Propaganda posters… The few I saw sported a single silhouette looking out over several hundred identical outlines. Said outlines were that of pegasi…

PRAISE THE FLOCK it read in massive block letters at the bottom.

A communist city-state, maybe? I thought to myself as Feather busied herself with stroking my hand. If I hadn’t been so engrossed in the mystery of that poster, I would have enjoyed the touch immensely, but now it just seemed to annoy me…

“What did that poster mean?” I finally asked aloud.
Feather looked over at me, seemingly perplexed by my pensive tone.

“What poster?”

“The one we saw plastered all over the walls on the way in here. “Praise the flock”? What does that even mean?”

“Oh,” Feather began. “A pegasus that’s raised in Cloudesdale should always look to serve the community. If they can’t, or refuse to, they aren’t fit to stay here. This exam helps us weed the ones that can’t do anything out.”
I looked to her, taken aback.

“What do you mean they can’t stay? What do you do with them?”

“We deport them.”
The tone of voice that Feather used to explain this to me was one of a friend discussing something amusing over coffee… It was so calm… So natural… It made me a bit sick, but I knew I couldn’t show it…

“Hm. That makes sense.” I stated matter-of-factly.
I was completely shocked! Appalled! How could anypony just sit there and smile when the fates of hundreds of lives would be decided just by some stupid test!? This whole town didn’t make any sense! How could they live with themselves!?

“Aurora Dawn!” called the proctor from below, startling me from my stupor.
A meek-looking mare, probably no older than seventeen stepped out onto the field.

“Clear. Fly. Fall. Complete.” the proctor ordered as he had several times before.
The yellow-coated mare took to the air immediately, but something was clearly wrong… Only a few moments passed before it happened… A loud crack sounded. She cried out, screaming endlessly until meeting the cold, unforgiving ground below. Nopony moved… Nopony did anything! They all remained perfectly straight-faced, unaffected by the sight of the poor mare limping her way to the left side of the field… I stood, but Feather grabbed me.

“Don’t.” she said. The look in her eyes was that of one with whom it was useless to argue…
My eye remained fixed on the injured pony for two more runs… Nopony even thought about helping her… They just looked at her in disgust… My blood had begun to boil, just as a brown colt by the name of Orion Solstice had foregone his run to help her, earning him an instant failure… I heard a few calls of descent from the audience. It sent me over the edge. To keep from striking the two mares at my sides, I pounded the arms of my chair as I stood.

“YOU PONIES ARE SICK!” I bellowed, making a mad dash for the nearest exit, but not before the two that had failed caught sight of me.