At long last, the door to the outside world was open, and the eager citizens of Equestria finally got to see the brave new world for themselves.

Mesmerized by all the sights and sounds, the girls spent their first half minute outdoors just looking around themselves. Each of them seemed to be more interested in certain aspects of the world. To one it was the people, to another - the structures or the cars.

"We should get going, before we draw too much attention," Inhio told them and tried to mobilize them behind himself.

Like a pack of hens behind a rooster, they didn't hesitate to follow him. However, that didn't stop them from constantly looking around. They kept on walking for a good five minutes before the questions started flowing in, one after another.

"What's with all the people? I can't take a single step without nearly bumping into someone." Rainbow Dash jumped aside to avoid contact with a random stranger.

"This is a big world, Miss Dash. The amount of people living here is just barely enough to keep it running," Inhio explained.

"Ugh..." Rainbow Dash barely managed to avoid another impact. "Is this like the capital of planet Earth or something? How many people even are there in this place? A thousand? Ten thousand?" She paused for a moment. "A million?" she asked, as if expecting a negative answer.

"Over seven billion."

Rainbow Dash froze in place. Her left eye also twitched a couple times. "You're kidding...right?"

"In the world, I mean. Not this city," Inhio corrected himself. "This city probably only has a few million or so."

"H-h-how..." Rainbow Dash was completely stupefied. "I don't even know where to begin...How can you make this all work?"

"We can't, as you'll soon find out," Inhio quickly replied. "Sadly, this world has built more than it can handle...Humans are both its most valuable asset and its greatest curse."

"You're not making any sense." Rainbow Dash was still as confused as ever.

"You'll soon see what I mean," Inhio calmly replied and kept moving.

"Whatever..."

"Umm...why are they all talking to themselves?" Pinkie Pie asked after spending a good while spectating everyone around her.

"They're not," Inhio gave a swift reply. "Have you noticed some of them holding small, rectangle-shaped objects near their heads?"

"Hmm...now that you mention it-"

"To make things simple, those little devices are basically the same thing as the crystal balls you use to communicate with each other back in Equestria, only more compact and easier to use."

"Ooh! Can we take one of those back with us? To be honest, I don't even like these spheres."

"I'm afraid they wouldn't function in your world," Inhio sadly admitted.

"Why not?" Pinkie raised an eyebrow.

"It's rather hard to explain..." Inhio stumbled on his words. "These devices can only work when they're in range of a certain signal, a signal that only exists on planet Earth."

"Kaaaaay?..." Pinkie didn't seem pleased with that answer. "Next question!" she suddenly shouted, startling her friends in the process.

"What in the world are those strange-looking, horseless carriages constantly running through the streets? There's no one pulling them, and yet they move five times as fast as any carriage I've ever seen!"

"Those carriages are called cars," Inhio explained. "Thanks to the creation of a few genius minds, those devices are able to pull themselves."

"Amazing!" Applejack exclaimed.

"You're world is so full of inventions so ingenious that it's even difficult to simply explain how they work!" Twilight added after a good while of observing and listening. "How is it that you still try to claim that your world is a horrible place?" she asked in bemused voice.

"Keep walking," Inhio somewhat rudely replied without even turning back.

At this point, Twilight was almost convinced that Inhio knew he was wrong all along and simply doesn't want to admit it. She even began to suspect him of lying to them...

What if it was greed that made him try and prevent us from coming here? What if he was simply trying to keep the secrets of this amazing place to himself? If so, then I shouldn't let him out of my sights...He might just- Twilight's inner monologue was suddenly interrupted.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash turned around and yelled at a man who just bumped into her and kept walking as if nothing had happened. The man ignored her shout completely.

"Ach!" Rarity found herself in a similar situation. "How rude!" she shouted at the man walking away from her.

"F*** off, princess!" the man turned around and shouted back at her before continuing his journey.

Apart from Fluttershy, who had just covered her mouth with both her palms, all the girls had stopped and stared at the man with their mouths agape and their eyes wide open...Such profanity was simply unheard of in their world.

As they stopped and listened in on the conversations going on around them, they heard more and more swear words coming up from just about every direction.

Before they could finish being shocked by their sudden realization of just how rude the humans of Earth were, another unpleasantry found its way to their group.

"Hey, get a load of this freak show out!" A young man nudged his friend and pointed at the six girls still standing in shock.

"Aha ha ha ha ha!" his friend laughed. "What's this? I didn't hear anything about the travelling circus coming to town today.

"Good one!" His friend laughed and gave him a high-five.

"f***ing weirdos," the young man dropped one final remark before heading on.

Despite having open mouths, the girls could neither move nor speak after being exposed to this barbaric encounter. Who knows how long they would have kept on standing there if Inhio hadn't said a thing.

"Lets keep going...Trust me, you don't want to draw even more attention," Inhio warmly whispered to them.

With their voices still silent and their eyes still wide open from shock, the girls soon started slowly taking one step after another. Even after they had fallen back in line behind Inhio, they still found it hard to shake away their recent emotions. Just like that, this world suddenly just started seeming a lot less amazing to them, and noticing the bad things in it became a whole lot easier.

"Inhio?" Twilight asked after a good moment of silence.

"Hmm?" Inhio responded to let her know he's listening.

"The people just sitting there on the edge of the sidewalk..." Twilight directed Inhio's attention at the homeless people begging for money. "...What's wrong with them?"

"Those, Miss Twilight, are what we call beggars," Inhio quickly replied, almost as if already expecting that question.

"Why?...What are they begging for?"

"For money, of course," Inhio gave an obvious answer. "Having neither a job nor a home to return to, they've resorted to living solely of the mercy of other people," he explained and awaited their reaction.

"That's horrible!" Twilight exclaimed. "How could something like this happen to them? And why are there so many?"

"For some it was simply a streak of bad luck. To others it was their own fault for not being able to make do with the money they earned." After answering the first question and remaining uninterrupted, Inhio immediately proceeded to answer the second one.

"For you see, Miss Sparkle, even though this world is vast in size, it still has more people on it that it can sustain. Thus, it can no longer afford to take care of everyone in it...In other words - everyone is on their own in this world, and people have simply stopped caring about others over time," Inhio revealed a sad truth about his world without even stuttering.

"That's..." Twilight was at a loss of words. "I...I don't even know what to say...It's just so sad." She took a moment to inspect the poor people for another time, this time paying more attention to just how much less healthy and wealthy they seemed compared to the common folk. "What happens to them if no one shows them mercy over time?" despite being afraid to hear the answer, Twilight asked a scary question.

"The same thing that happens to anyone that goes on for too long without food and water."

"But...isn't there someone...some kind of organization or something that could take care of them?"

"There are those who have tried...but over time, even they have stopped caring. Not to mention, the beggars themselves."

"What!?"

"Yes," Inhio confirmed his previous answer. "A lot of the poor people you see don't care as much about surviving as they do about just continuing to feed their addiction, which is mainly what got them in the state they are in now."

"What?...What kind of addiction could do this to someone?"

"There are a lot of things that people can get so used to using that they simply can no longer live without them at some point. They try them at first, and soon they find themselves short of willpower to rid themselves of it..." Inhio paused for a moment to give his words a more dramatic sound. "And that's not even the worst part."

"I'm almost afraid to ask..."

Inhio decided to explain anyways. "Wouldn't you think that if people spotted other people getting addicted to various things, they would act and do something to make it all stop?"

"Umm...yes?" Twilight gave an unsure reply, as if expecting Inhio to tell her she's wrong.

"Well, then you're thinking wrong...People are not ignorant to the addictions that their creations create, but instead of doing something to prevent it, they exploit the system and keep on feeding their addictions and making sure that the money they spend on them doesn't go to waste."

"What are you saying, Inhio?" Twilight could barely believe her ears. "That people deliberately drive other people to this," she said as she held her arm aimed at the beggars they just passed by. "Simply so that they could have more money for themselves?"

"You'd be amazed by how selfish humans can be, Twilight," Inhio gave an alternate answer and kept on moving.

Neither Inhio nor the girls following him felt like saying anything for some time. Frowns formed on the faces of Inhio's companions as they pressed on. They would all look at each other as if feeling like something should be said, and yet, not a single word was heard up until the moment Inhio stopped and directed their attention towards something.

"We're here."