One-Horse Town: A My Little Pony Story

Shining Star awoke one sunny morning to the sound of his mother waking him up for the day.

“Star, honey, it’s time to get ready for school,” she beckoned.

Star hopped out of his bed and stepped carefully around his room, careful to avoid the dolls, puppets, and various musical instruments strewn about. He positioned himself in front of his mirror and practiced smiling big and looking friendly and presentable. He grabbed a comb from a side table and pulled it through his dark red mane, combing it until it was performance ready. He was about to impress his classmates at the school that day by showing off his many talents. He would act, dance, and perform for them, and then finally they would all want to be his friends. He was sure he was a great performer, otherwise his cutie mark wouldn’t have been a bright, shining star.

He had tried to make friends at school before, but it had proven a more difficult task than he thought. All the other ponies had already formed solid friendships by the first day. Shining Star found that talking to other ponies was really hard. He tried to strike up a conversation with another red-furred pony one time, but it didn’t go well.

“Hi!” he greeted. “Uh… red fur, am I right? It’s like… so… red. And we both have it, haha. I’m Shining Star by the way.”

The other pony gave him a weird look. “Okay… Shining Star. Maybe I’ll see you at the Red Fur Convention one day,” he joked.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA,” Star laughed. “THAT’S A GOOD ONE!” Shining Star wanted to make sure the pony knew his joke was very funny to him.

The other pony’s eyes widened, a little frightened by Star’s manic laughter.

“Okay, then… I think I will just be…” his eyes scanned the school’s courtyard for an empty space. “Riiiight over there.” He gave Star a consoling smile and briskly walked away from him, leaving him alone once more.

“O-okay! I’ll be riiiight here!” he laughed. He felt a familiar pain in his chest. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened to him. It seemed like every time he tried to make a friend, all he made was another pony that was freaked out by him. Today would be different, though. He had been preparing a number that was sure to wow all of the ponies at school. He would finally make some friends, or at least one friend, he was sure of it.

He packed up his puppets and a couple of instruments in a saddle bag and headed out of his room, where his mother was patiently waiting for him.

“Hi, mommy! I’m ready for school!” he shouted with a big smile.

“Okay, Star,” she saw the equipment peeking out of Star’s saddle bag. “Are you sure you want to bring all of that to school?”

“Yes mama, I’m going to make so many friends today! Just wait and see,” he remarked as he strutted out the door.

His mother accompanied him on the walk to school, affectionately watching the excitement in her child. She worried for him. She only ever wanted him to be himself, but she was scared of how the other ponies would react to his rather… zany personality. As they arrived at the school, she waved goodbye to her son, who excitedly waved goodbye back. She watched as he proudly stormed into the courtyard.

Shining Star set down his saddle bag into the grass and unpacked everything in front of him. He ran through what he was going to do in his head, going over his dance steps, his rehearsed jokes, and his full one-pony show. He looked out at all of the ponies playing with each other, laughing, and having fun.

“If I could have everypony’s attention,” he called out.

Nopony acknowledged his presence.

“IF I COULD HAVE EVERYPONY’S ATTENTION,” he repeated, this time louder.

Everypony turned to look at him, awaiting whatever strange thing he had planned for them.

“I would like to present to you, Shining Star’s Mega Epic Schoolyard Spectacular!” he held for applause.

There was no applause.

“Haha, all right! Let the show begin! I’m going to start by performing a dramatic monologue that was written by yours truly. It’s really good, I promise,” he assured the crowd.

Shining Star began to enact his entire one-pony performance for his classmates. There were theatrics, choreographed numbers, and an entire stand-up comedy portion. Star put his entire soul into his show, baring his soul to his classmates, aching for appreciation and approval. The other ponies all watched as he passionately danced in front of them. He ended the show with a dance number, sans music. With his final spin, he struck his final pose, completely out of breath. He smiled as he looked into the crowd of his peers.

A small snicker escaped the mouth of a pony near the front. A mumbling laughter followed, which then erupted into a hefty collective guffaw from the entire audience.

“The stand-up section was two acts ago guys, you don’t have to laugh now,” Star clarified with a hint of a small fake laugh.

The crowd continued to laugh and laugh at Star. It became increasingly clear to him that they were not laughing with him. They were laughing at him. Tears began to well in Star’s eyes.

“Did anypony like my show? Does anypony… want to be my friend now?” he desperately asked the crowd. They were too busy laughing to respond to him.

The tears welling in his eyes began to stream down his face. He abandoned his performance supplies in the grass and stormed out of the courtyard, sobbing as he found his way home. He busted the door open to find his mother cleaning inside.

“Star? Why are you home so early?” she noticed the tears. “Why are you crying? Come here, sweetie, it’s okay.”

Shining Star ran into his mother’s arms.

“Nopony likes me, Mommy,” he sobbed. “Nopony.”

“I like you, sweetheart,” his mother consoled him.

“That doesn’t count; you have to like me,” Star protested.

“That may be true, but it doesn’t change that you have me on your side,” she assured him.

“I know, Mama. I just… I wish my side was more than just one pony. I wish the ponies at school liked me. I wish anypony liked me,” he cried.

Star’s mother hugged her son tight. “Well, I was going to save this for after school, but I have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise? What is it?” Star sniffled.

His mom reached into a drawer and pulled out several dolls, all in different assorted colors. Some were beautifully shiny, and some glittered brightly in the sunlight.

“I know how much you like your dolls, and I know you’ve been having a rough time at school, so I stopped in town yesterday and picked these up for you. I thought you would like them,” she explained.

Shining Star’s eyes widened in total amazement. They were the most beautiful and perfect dolls he had ever seen. Each pony was unique and different and amazing. They looked like the kinds of ponies Star would want to be friends with. That sparked an idea in him.

“Thank you so much, mommy. I’m going to take these to my room,” he said.

“Okay, honey. Have fun,” she smiled.

Shining Star wrapped the ponies in his arms and brought them to his room. He grabbed a couple more dolls and set them in front of his homemade dollhouse. He picked up his favorite red pony and had him walk in front of the house, happily minding his business. He picked up one of the sparkling ponies, a blue one, and walked it up to the red pony.

“Hey, you’re Shining Star right? I think you’re really super cool, and I would love it if we could be friends,” he made the sparkly pony speak.

“Oh, you’re too kind,” his mini-me responded. “I would love to be friends with you! You’re so cool too! Do you want to see super cool thing I can do?”

“I’ll watch anything if you’re the pony doing it!” the blue pony encouraged.

Shining Star bobbed the red pony up and down, and side to side, mimicking a dance routine.

“That was so good!” the blue pony responded.

Star grabbed a shiny purple pony and walked it up to his red pony.

“That dance you did just now was so cool! All of my friends said they want to hang out with you sometime. We could learn a dance together, if you want!” the purple pony spoke to him.

“I would love nothing more!” the red pony responded.

Shining Star let a small smile form across his lips. It felt good to have friends for once, even if they were just dolls. He set the dolls down, and grabbed a journal out from his side table. He grabbed a quill and ink and began to scribble notes onto the pages.

In big letters, at the top of the very first page, he wrote: Operation Dollhouse.

He detailed a plan in which he would figure out a way to bring his dolls to life. He would create a population of ponies who had to like him. He was going to make friends, even if he had to make them.

Ginger Blush watched as the curtains closed on the puppet show. A single tear dropped from her eye and rolled down her cheek. She understood everything now. And, more importantly, she understood how to fix it all.