Try To Be Better

by NotSure

Rating: everyone
Tags: Random, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character
Length: 1021

Even the worst can be great.

Even when a pony is viewed as the lowest they could be, they can still climb to greatness.

So Try To Be Better

This is a story inspired by something Vylet Pony said a while ago, and since I’m not good at animating ponies or just drawing them at all, I did the next best thing. The idea for this story was when Vylet said that someone should make an animation about Aryanne getting her cutie mark covered up while saying something to the lines of “Try to be better.”
So, being the fiction fiend I am, I looked out for Aryanne fics for a while, and was surprised to see just about nothing. I then got bored and posted this 1k word one-shot about it.
My story is Aryanne talking about her path to redemption, along with some of the more notable bumps that came with it. Then saying something that could be considered inspirational.

Edit: I’d like to inform anyone who reads this that this was written at three in the morning in the middle of a caffeine crash, ideas and thoughts presented in this story are to be taken with a grain of salt. I would like to thank you all for actually taking the time to read my fic though, even if you don’t like it. Have a good day!

Published 2020-07-09 16:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2020-07-09 16:10:00 UTC

Greatness Is In Everyone

Hello, you may or may not know me, but my name is Aryanne. If you have heard of me, that name may remind you of some horrible things I supported. I used to be a horrible pony, and I regret what I have said.

This is a small paper that I am writing. I cannot guarantee any kind of quality. I just felt the need to write about my experiences and my past. I feel that, in order to move on from my past, I must write about it, and let everyone know that I’ve have moved on from who I used to be.

Now, let me give you the backstory on how I learned what I thought was wrong; I, Aryanne, was browsing a local market, one of the only ones that would still sell to me, knowing who I was. A stallion, who shall remain unnamed, said something interesting, a statement that, for once, didn’t go through one ear and out the other. He said, “Why do you support the destruction of those zebras? What if they were trying to destroy ponies? Do you see the hypocrisy in your statements?”

I’m sure I had been told this before, several times, but this time was different. The question the stallion asked me didn’t exit my head, for once, it actually got through my thick head. I pondered this question until I came home late that evening, and I even had a lucid dream about it, one of the first I’d had in years.

It was around three days of thinking about what he had said, after having an epiphany, I decided I wanted to settle it with an answer. I went to look for proof that this was different, anything and everything I found either was unproven or greatly based. Needless to say, It was a shock... no, shock isn’t the correct word, I think earthquake fits better.

This discovery shook my entire world view, crumbled it and threw it in the trash. I started seeing things from a new perspective, requiring more proof, and generally being less of a plothole. It was three months before I started opening up about these feelings. I was immediately shot down by everypony I know, everypony I idolized, and even my family. This is when I realized the error of my ways.

Around four months after my realization, I had finally saved up enough money to move out. This wasn’t enough however, as when my cutie mark became visible in public, there was audible gasps and hatred from everypony in the area. I moved on to the next place, and made sure to always wear some kind of clothing. “Where was this?” You may ask. This was in The Crystal Empire, having been released from Sombra’s rule around 15 years before I moved there. I was known here for who I was, not who I used to be, and that anonymity made it easy to speak out against those akin to who I used to be, and to help ponies in the way I best knew how to.

That decision to leave was one of the greatest ones I had ever made, but not the best. The best decision came later, after a talk with a friend. Three years later, after pursuing a job as a reporter, I was talking to a friend. My friend, Crystal Cherry, mentioned, “that crazy blond mare in Fillydelphia,” she noted that I looked similar to her. I never had a good poker face. She questioned why I always had a cloak on, after she mentioned the cutie mark the mare had, I ran. She eventually, about a week later, cornered me in my house.

I was scared of what she would think of me, and I told her I didn’t want to talk about it. She insisted I show her what I was hiding. I persisted saying I didn’t desire to speak of it, and she persisted saying that transparency is important, and that she needed to know, because she was my greatest friend and confidant. I eventually gave in and told her of my past, leaving out my cutie mark. She insisted on seeing it however, saying that she wanted to know what kind of cutie mark a pony who so thoroughly turned her life around could have.

When I showed her my cutie mark, she flipped, and refused to talk to me. I deserved it, but that isn’t the important part, what’s important is what happened a month later.
I met CC in the market, and she demanded to come to my house. I complied, and took her with me to my home. When we got there, she said, “It’s time to change who you are on the outside.” I asked what she meant, as I had though I had done enough to move on from my past. She proceeded to tell me that I should seek further changes than just a change in opinion. She recommended I get cutie mark removal surgery. I sat on that idea for a few hours, having a back and forth about the pros and cons. Eventually, I agreed, and we made plans.

A couple of weeks later, I was under the table, getting my cutie mark replaced with a black silhouette of a pony sized alicorn, with the text, “Be Great.” This, by far, was the greatest decision I ever made. I gained much more respect without my cloak, and when I met somepony who asked, they actually believed that I had moved on. I even earned a position as the manager of the news station I had reported for, due to an issue with management. Most importantly however, I regained a friend.

I tell you this to give a message.

Never follow someone or something blindly,
Always look at every side of the argument,
No one deserves the worst,
And, most importantly,
To those who are akin to who I used to be,

Try To Be Better

Author's Note

I saw someone think of this, and wrote my first one-shot.