'Perfect' World

Destiny is something you are told you can't control. Something dangerous, something that isn't a toy. You can't play with destiny, guessing your every move, choosing whatever you want. Elder Ponies must do that for you. When you turn 16, you get to discover your destiny. Something everybody wants to know. Sometimes, you hear what you want. But sometimes you don't. An Elder Pony could tell you you're meant to be a fighter. Then, you might start fighting crime around Equestria. But some could go the wrong way with it. They could start fighting other innocent ponies, and then you would be sent to jail by a guard. But Elder Ponies go better with the destiny you have. They don't just say,

"Oh, you'll be a dancer." or "Oh you'll be a ballet dancer who wears pink dresses all the time."

They are very specific. They could tell you that you'll be a famous hairstylist, but that you'll have flaws and end up going broke. You can't try to change the destiny they give you either. You can't just say that you won't have any flaws, or that you will save up money to not go broke. That's because the Elder Ponies have it set up perfectly. They know you'll want to save up an extra jar of money, so they'll assign someone sneaky the destiny of stealing from ponies who save up jars of money in safes. And if you don't want to embrace that, they'll assign someone to be somepony who takes others to the dark side. See what I mean? It's a perfect society designed by the Elder Ponies. Sometimes, I feel like they can see the future.

That's why I was so afraid of today. Today was my Pretest. This meant that they would make me go through a series of tests until they got to know me. I had to act as normal as possible, and not differently so they would mess up. But they knew if you were lying to them anyways. At the end of the Pretest, you had to write on a piece of paper some goal you would like to achieve in the future. Sometimes, the Elder Ponies listened to that goal, and put you on the path to complete it. But sometimes they used what you wrote to bother you and make you go in the opposite path of the goal. I zipped up my white jacket as I got on the public bus and rode to Princess Twilight's Castle, the tallest building in Ponyville. Twilight, now being long dead, had opened her castle to the public, and was now used for Life Ceremonies. Just as I got on the bus, it started to snow lightly. I looked out the window, nervous to see the Shiny, Crystal Castle.

****
"Aliza Shirtlive."

Called the speaker, looking for Aliza. I saw a yellow pony with big, dark eyes and a huge grin walk through the door under the speaker.

"Good luck Aliza!" I heard her friends say.
"Hope we get something similar!"
"Don't let us down."

And hundreds of other calls. It went like this for the next twenty ponies whose names started with A and half of B. Then, the speaker said,

"Bronwyn Hale."

And I got up from the chair I had been sitting at. I was pretty much the only pony who didn't get any comments. I didn't exactly have any friends, except Tomas Shanglow, but he was in another room for stallions. I started trotting towards the door, when I heard Lexis Verry, a pegasus crystal pony whose parents had been living in Ponyville, say,

"I hope she gets something that has to do with dumpster management."

I held my head up high, and thought to myself, "Lexis Verry, I hope you get the dumpster management, since you already look like one."
I had a determined look on my face, and I walked into the room, ready to face my destiny.