It never was, and it will never be
She ran.
"Predators are evil! We all know that! This city was founded under the dream of reaching harmony between predator and prey! But Time and time again they've shown us that harmony is a foolish dream! Their savagery, their thirst for blood, it hadn't faded away! Their oppression over us grows with each generation! Zootopia can't live up to its name with them in control! NO PREY CAN LIVE IN SAFETY WITH PREDATORS FREE TO DO AS THEY WISH! Will we be meek and submissive?! Will we let them take and take and take until we have no security, no homes, no family, not even our very lives?! OR WILL WE RISE AGAINST THEIR OPPRESSION AND SHOW THEM OUR STRENGTH?!" Clamors and roars answered, the masses rallied by the young, vengeful deer.
This wasn't what she wanted!
The predators that ruled both the city and its underworld were tyrants in all but name, and not a single day passed where blood wasn't spilled on the streets. She wanted revenge for them...
But not this!
When she finally found him, an angry growl escaped her mouth; the deer turned to face her with a savagery in his face that terrified her to the core. They both heard the desperation that she'd tried to hid behind her anger.
She'd started something... that she couldn't stop.
He snarled, disgusted at the betrayal.
"In the last three decades, Zootopia has reached a greatness that it had never known before. Ever since the Revolution, prey animals managed to build a better and more harmonious place than the predators that ruled before. But now, times change, and we need to change with them. Trust on me, citizens, and I will continue that glorious trend. Predators, follow me; though I possess hooves instead of claws, I only wish to reach that ideal of harmony that our beautiful city was founded over."They trusted on him, and now they had lost everything. Allowing that horse to become a mayor had been a mistake, and every predator was paying for it.
Lost homes, lost jobs, lost dignity. And most prey didn't care; they gladly took form the 'savages', all in the name of 'harmony'.
As he watched yet another family being forcefully relocated to a thing that couldn't be called a house, he felt the pain of the betrayal. Over and over and over.
She felt it like they'd hit her face.
"It's a well-known fact that we prey evolved to this civilized stage of intelligence and sapience first; it took predators centuries, if not millennia to catch up. Is it any surprise then that they are more savage than us? That killer instinct, that need to prove their superiority, it's still there! We need to tame them, to curb that savagery! If not, they will destroy us."
Oppression was something she'd never liked. In their need to assure their safety, the prey that composed most of Zootopia had began to take rights from the predator citizens... and that was only in the legal plane.
Day after day, bullying and violence grew, fomented by those ignorant ideas and concepts. Dreams were broken as their dreamers were denied the opportunities to reach them... or were beaten for just daring to dream.
And every hit, whether metaphorical or literal, left a wound on her. Soon, she was broken.
He stumbled, his strength failing.
"We've all heard about the cases of maiming, of all the murders; a clear signal of those savages striking against us! But we must not fear them! Predators simply refuse to accept the laws meant to safeguard the citizens of Zootopia. It clearly shows their true nature. So let's show them ours!"Her attempts to fix things were backfiring, and he could feel it. The fear inside prey grew, feeding their hatred. And predators suffered more and more in consequence, until the few that fought back, either peacefully or through violent ways, lost all courage to try.
His heart weakened as fear gripped everyone else's.
They wilted.
"The collar is the greatest invention our scientists could have come up with. By making every predator wear it, whenever their inner savage manifests it will be cut off by a mild electrical shock that will make them regain their senses, and eventually teach them to live in harmony. It that way, all prey will be secure."
Pain, death and suffering clouded the city as the lights of the collars filled the streets. The torture those devices caused killed the flames of hope that burned dimly in the hearts of predators.
And they were dying with it.
More than a century ago, the prey rose against the cruel predators that oppressed them; but that hadn't called it here. No, it was the hatred that grew in the hearts of those in this city.
"The collars may have only lasted a few years before their death tool shook this city, but the cause on their creation isn't gone. The bloody protests that followed their removal more than proved. So ever since them, we've been enforcing our control over the predator population to achieve the harmony we so greatly desire. And I truly believe we are achieving a beautiful city of tolerance and acceptance, were we can be anything."
New oppressors rose, ignoring the fact they were more vile than those they had taking the reins from.
The most recent proof was the group of sheep and equines that was beating a predator for playing his guitar in a public park, trying to gather money to buy his food.
He smiled at the spilt blood; cruelty festered in this mockery of a utopia. And it was delicious.
The world was a big place, and he'd been too busy to help Zootopia before. But now, he was finally able to.
Faster than the wind he flew, following the cries of broken spirits. He'd heard millions of them, hundreds of times ever since sapience emerged in the living being of this world; but the sorrow that filled his heart was always the same.
With a final beat of his wings, he was over the city, the 'utopia'. He would never understand how the mammals down there could be so blind as to not see how they'd created the opposit-
Chains formed around him, ensnaring his form in an instant. His breath was cut as they constricted, and he fell.
He valiantly fought against the chains, but to no avail. This wasn't the first time it happened, but they've never been so strong before.
As he hit the ground, pain as he hadn't know in a thousand years shot through his body, and the chains pressed even more. His spirit cried in defiance, but so little voices responded.
...
Were they really that resigned to a life of suffering?
With another defiant cry, he shakily rose from the ground; the God of Freedom would not surrender!
Zootopia needed him, more than most of its citizens realized.