>>148677"Oh" She says
"Yes, it's a bit of a shame Twilight's lessons didn't really take out there."
Mars Loaf moves in
"A shame? It's much more than a shame." She presses a hoof on Lunar Nadir, who pulls her wings out ever so slightly
"Nadi. Why don't you tell her what the countryside was like."
Nadir:
"I don't know that that's necessary."
Mars:
"No. Let her know."
Nadir:
"Okay... My mother is a native Thestral from a community in the upper Tenochtitlan basin. Like many in those times, there were no higher paying factory jobs in the villages, so she left for Baltimare... In Baltimare, she got pregnant. By a zebra. Life wasn't easy for her, by any means. When she lost her job, she went back to a town near the village where she grew up. They had a jute processing plant there. The pay was actually better. But the ponies..."
Nadir looks as if she is about to cry
"I think they found the bats strange to begin with. And a bat pony with stripes... They would look oddly at her, at me on the streets, they would have this look of disgust. I was an oddity to them. They didn't like bats, zebras, or those born out of wedlock, and they didn't like me. They would refuse her service from diners. Not one but two teachers didn't want me in their class. Almost had to kick me out because of how mean the other foals were..." Now she's definitely crying
"And when she would go up to the Thestral villages, it was worse. I was alien to them. She was shunned, actively by the community. Her parents wanted nothing to do with her. It was bad enough that she left the village. Coming back a single mother was worse. And coming back with striped foal.. that was too much for them. The job at the Jute plant was better than work in Baltimare, but she had to leave. We had to leave. And when we got to Baltimare, it was better. But only so much so. Teachers didn't care to kick me out. They also didn't care if I was bullied. Ponies weren't as hostile, especially not the bat ponies, but they weren't friendly... That's why I'm grateful to be around here."
Mars Loaf pats Nadir on the back
"Do you see? That's what it's like out there."
>>148678Hiss!