A Better Equestria

Prologue

Ponyville was a peaceful sight.

The sun was shining brightly above the western horizon; Soft colors of orange were starting to paint the sky where the sun would eventually sink. The outline of Canterlot Castle could be seen in the distance, attached onto the mountain. The citizens in the large village of Ponyville were rushing to finish up whatever business they had for the day. The stands in the main plaza were being taken down and packed up, and tomorrow, routine would kick in and the salesponies would yet again attempt to sell their wares to the townsfolk. All ponies were content, it seemed.

All, except for one brown earth pony filly trotting on the path away from town.

Stupid trail.

The blank-flanked child stared hard at the ground, daring it to fight back when she stomped and kicked at the dirt. That’ll show it.

Stupid Ponyville.

She looked back at the town with wet, pink eyes. She hoped that would be the last time she would have to see it again. Her saddlebags were stuffed full to the point that they seemed they would burst.

Stupid Olivine.

Olivine was probably fuming back at the house right now. How dare she run off without her knowing. Oh, Olivine would regret ever being so mean and unfair to her.

Stupid ponies...

So what if she hadn’t made any friends in this town? She had a bunch of friends back in Manehatten she could talk to. Yeah, who cares about the ponies here? She didn’t need them anymore where she was goi—

“Hi!”

Huh?

“I like your mane. It’s a cool shade of green!”

After halting her trot for a brief search of her surroundings, she found the owner of the voice hovering a few feet above the ground in front of her. A young pegasus colt, with a light tan coat was floating down from the air to greet her. His long, shaggy crimson mane came down to the top of his cheerful golden eyes. His bushy tail was a ragged mess, as though he crashed into a bush. This little colt didn’t seem to have a cutie mark either.

She could have sworn she was alone out here.

“Y’know, with your coat and mane, you look like you’d make a great tree!”

Did he just compare her to a tree?

“What do you want?” she asked almost impatiently.

“Uh, nothing, I guess. I was just out here practicing my flight ‘cause my dad says I gotta ‘train my wings’ or something. It was getting pretty boring, but then you showed up! So, hi!” This little pegasus seemed a bit too excited for almost nothing.

“Hi. Nice to meet you and all, but I have to go.”

The brown earth pony shoved past the floating colt and continued on. The young pegasus fumbled a bit in the air, but gave chase shortly after he regained his balance.

“Woah, wait up! Where are you going?” he asked.

“None of your business.”

“Where do you live? You new around here?”

“I came into town a little while ago.”

“I haven’t seen you before. Did you move here with your family?”

The filly balked for half a second, but ignored his question. That didn’t stop him from asking again.

“Didjya hear me? I said—”

“I know what you said!”

The sudden outburst took the little colt by surprise, as he lost his balance in the air and flopped onto the ground.

“Just..." she faltered. "Just drop it, alright? Go back to practicing your flying, or whatever.”

“Heh, ‘drop’ it.” The young pegasus chuckled to himself at the terrible pun, and followed behind the earth pony who started walking away yet again.

“But what are you doing?” Crashing to the ground didn’t seem to discourage the inquisitive little colt.

“I’m getting away from this place.”

“What? Why would you want to do that?”

“Don’t you have flying to do? Why are you even talking to me?”

“Well, you seemed like you were kind of upset. I figured you could use a bit of cheering up!”

Okay, now he was just getting annoying.

“I don’t need cheering up. I’m just fine.”

“Well, you looked pretty sad before I came to talk to you. Now that I think about it, you kinda looked like you were crying.”

“I told you, I’m fine.” Her voice steadily increased in hostility. Couldn’t this pegasus take a hint?

“Oh come on, what’s wrong?”

Guess not.

“Nothing.” She grit her teeth.

“I’m just trying to help you out.”

“Well, I don’t need your help!” she whipped around to face the young colt, who was wide-eyed at her sudden anger.

“I don’t need you, or Olivine, or anypony in this dumb town!” the steaming filly advanced on the colt, who slowly backed away in return.

“Ever since my parents disappeared, my life has been terrible! I’m going back to Manehatten so everything can go back to the w-way it was! W-where I can stay with my fuh... friends!”

Her furious glare was getting more glassy by the moment.

“I... I j-just want everything to be nuh.. normal again!" she sniffed before finishing her spontaneous rant "You happy now!?”

The frantic little filly sat down on the path hard, and hung her head as her pink eyes streamed with tears.

“Juh.. just g-go away.”

The beige colt simply gazed at the filly as she had her breakdown in front of him. Call him crazy, but going away wasn’t going to help this pony any. He slowly sat down next to her and addressed her in a softer voice.

“Hey, come on now. It’s gonna be alright.”

“N-no it’s not. H-how would you know?” Her voice was strained and shaky.

“Well, how do you know it won’t be?” Even he knew that was a weak rebuttal.

“I j-just do.” She sniveled. “You w-wouldn’t be saying that if you were m-me.”

The young pegasus wasn’t too sure if he could reassure her, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him.

“I... once had a problem that was kinda like yours.” He was just talking on the spot, but hopefully this story would do something to help.

“Oh sure you d-did.”

“Not exactly like yours. It was a couple months back actually. I once lied to get out of taking a really big test at school because I was afraid of failing, but since this was, like, the biggest test of the school year, I eventually had to do it no matter what.”

“And you did great. Your story is predictable.” The troubled filly sniveled lighter. She finally seemed to be calming down.

“Well, no. I totally bombed it. I had to beg my teacher to let me retake the test, and then I aced it.”

For the first time since they met, the little filly showed a ghost of a smile, but it was short lived. “Well that’s a neat story and all, but this is a bit of a different situation.” She went back to her staring contest with the ground.

“Well yeah, but that day, I learned that running away from my problems didn’t solve anything. If anything, it only made things worse. The teacher almost didn’t let me retake the stupid test because he thought I was some sort of slacker, and he hated slackers. I mean, this one time, he got so mad at another student for—”

As the red-maned pony told some story about his teacher, the troubled filly got lost in her thoughts. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I should just go home and accept my fate. Sitting next to the rambling colt, she gazed at Ponyville. She could just barely make out some of the ponies heading home for the day.

“—couldn’t believe that hawk was so huge!”

Woah, what was he talking about?

“So if you think about it, your problem isn’t all too different.”

Well, at least he was finished.

The filly was at last done with her waterworks, only now she was just silently staring back at the town she had previously never wanted to see again.

With a resigned sigh, she broke the silence.

“I just want everything to go back to the way it was.”

With a bit more sympathy in his voice, the colt responded.

“Hey, it can’t be all that bad.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have Olivine for a ‘guardian.’ She gets mad at me for the stupidest reasons. She’s probably absolutely furious that I went out alone without telling her first.”

“My dad says he only makes rules for my safety." He paused for a brief moment. "But on the other hoof, I don’t see why I’m not allowed to have too many sweets.”

“Well, that can actually be bad for your health.”

“Ugh, not you too. You sound just like him! Next you’ll be telling me to brush my teeth, or go to bed on time.”

The distraught filly finally let out a giggle, and the colt joined her. Things finally seemed a lot calmer.

“Olivine is going to be so mad at me.” The poor filly dreaded going back home, as it would only lead to another lecture. She could still go to Manehatten, but she just started that fiasco out of pure impulse. The likelihood of getting there with only the things in her saddlebags was pretty slim. Get punished by her legal guardian, or risk a pointless journey?

It was a pretty close decision.

“If you’re really so worried, I could help you out. Maybe if I say I was with you the whole time, she won’t be so mad at you!”

“You’d do that for me?” the filly was baffled. This colt was willing to lie for a stranger?

“Sure! What are friends for?”

No, he was willing to lie for a friend, apparently.

“Oh! And I can introduce you to my other friend—”

Rather than listen to his rambling, she zoned out again. This little pegasus had just said they were friends? That had to be the fastest friend she’d ever made. Really, though, she couldn’t complain. She hadn’t made any friends since she moved to this town, so why not? And what was he talking about, introducing her to another friend of his?

“—known him since I started school here. He doesn’t talk a whole lot, but he is WAY strong! Me and him are gonna grow up to be heroes when we're older! Oh, this one time, he—”

Wow, can he rattle on.

For the first time since she moved here, the little filly was genuinely happy. This tan colt may be a bit irritating, but maybe he wasn’t so bad at all. At least he means well.

“—ellooo! Are you even listening to me?” The colt was now staring at the filly who seemed to be gazing into space.

“Huh, what? Oh, sorry. I guess I blanked for a second.” Felt more like a week.

“We should go. It’s almost sundown and I need to be at home before dark.”

“Well, alright then. Lets go.”

The little pegasus flapped his wings and floated in the air next to her as the two made their way back home.

There was just one more thing the little beige pegasus needed to ask of the brown earth pony.

“So what’s your name?”