A Better Place

I was dreaming, dreaming of the terrible life I had left behind. I honestly don't know whether to call it a dream or a nightmare, but there it was the horrible twisted recreation my subconscious brain conjured up of that argument with my father. Every second was relived as I slept, every word was crystal clear except for one major difference, it was not I going off on my father but him cursing at me. It was torture, trapped in an evil recreation of a memory, unable to wake up. He would go on and on about how he will never have a gay son and how if I ever talked to any other of "my kind" again he would punish me. I felt so small, crunched up in the corner in the fetal position. My brains cruel joke of putting me in my pony form, and then as if I had said some horribly disrespectful thing his rage exploded and he stepped towards me, and just as he raised his hand to strike there was a blinding flash and all went still. Standing before me was Princess Luna with a warm smile on her face

"It is okay Peppermint everything is okay, as long as I am around you will have no fear of your dreams" she lowered her head and nuzzled my cheek "but I'm afraid it's time to wake up, it's time for you to get ready for your first day of Equestrian school" she smiled and lit her horn. In another, yet dull, flash she was gone and I found myself on my ridiculously comfortable cloud bed. I just rolled around for a few minutes, enjoying the soft plushy bliss. After I was finally done enjoying the bed a new sensation hit me, the smell of what could only be blueberry muffins. I licked my lips in anticipation, I knew being a pony comes with new taste buds and I was eager to see how they changed. I stood up and walked off of my bed and made my way to the door, rather awkwardly might I add. Between just waking up and the new body I wasn't quite used to walking yet. When I reached the door and grabbed the handle, which confused my brain all in itself, I knew it was possible to grab things with hooves but it was still a confusing concept. I grabbed the door handle and tugged expecting it to be heavy, but it slid open easily enough as to not be connected to anything. The smell of muffins instantly got stronger. Eager to taste the baked treats I quickly stepped into the hall and instantly made facial contact with a metal cart. Found the muffins, and the floor.... unfortunately. I stood back up and rubbed my horn duly noting just how sensitive the thing was. I looked around the cart to see who I bumped into. Standing with a hoof to her mouth was a grass green Pegasus with a raindrop and sunflower cutie mark and a yellow mane and tail. It was clear by her expression that she was either shocked, apologetic or worried that i was hurt. Either way it didn't appear like she was going to say anything anytime soon so I decided to speak first.

"Um hi, I'm Peppermint Snowy and uh..... what might your name be?" at the mentioning of my name it was like a little light bulb went off in her head, and her pupils instantly shrank.

"Oh my goodness I'm so very very sorry your highness, I-I didn't see you there and I hit you with the cart, and almost spilled your muffins and I'm pretty sure I hurt yo-" I stepped up to her and stopped her by gently placing my hoof on her lips.

"Okay first of all it's perfectly fine, second of all I....am perfectly fine in fact I think it's my fault because I wasn't watching where I was going, third of all please just call me Peppermint, and lastly you still haven't answered my question, what is your name?" She seemed to calm down at the realization that I was okay, and probably that she wasn't going to be thrown in the dungeon. She smiled and answered

"My name is Summer Breeze, and I will be your personal servant, I'm here to help in any way I can." she still had that sweet smile on her face, I smiled back and waved her into my room.

"We'll miss Breeze you can start by hoofing me a few of those delicious looking muffins, I am definitely a breakfast person" She reached over, grabbed a muffin and handed me one, all the while smiling. "Thank you, so just what does your job entail?" I asked. I took a bite of the muffin and I must say I didn't know whether it was the palace chef or the new tongue but it was definitely the best muffin I'd ever eaten. "Wow, my compliments to the chef, these are amazing" I took another eager bite.

"I'm glad you like them, and to answer your question, my job is basically whatever you need me to do. If I have the capability to do it then I am obligated to." she said with a smile. My rediscovered childish side wanted to exploit this in some way but then I stopped myself, that's not very prince like behavior after all, is it? I thought to myself well breakfast is eaten so all I have left to do is fix my hair and get dressed. Well I don't wear clothes anymore so I guess that just leaves my mane, if it needs fixed that is. I looked around my room in search of the mirror but could not find it

"Um you don't happen to know where a mirror is do you?" She put a hoof up to her chin clearly in thought then a quiet aha she said "As a matter of fact I do, if you will excuse me for a moment" she turned around and left the room. I walked over to my bed, sat down and waited. After a couple of minutes she came back with small hoof mirror about as big around as a pie. "Here we are, one mirror, what do you need it for anyways, if you don't mind me asking" I smiled and warmly said

"Well I can't go to my first day of magic kindergarten with a messed up mane can I?"

She chuckled "I suppose not."

I raised the mirror and saw what I had normally seen on a daily basis on earth, seemed like every hair on my head chose its own personal path, most of which were straight up. "We'll Summer" I said and lowered the mirror "what do you know about styling manes?" Her face instantly lit up like a candle.

"Oh I'm excellent at styling manes, so good in fact that I'm surprised its not my cutie mark, come on I'll have that mane looking fabulous in no time" she kept smiling and rubbed my head with her hoof messing up my mane even further, if that was possible. She stepped out my room and slowly made her way down the hall, i shrugged and fell in step behind her. Hoping her skills were as astute as she claimed.

"Speaking of which, what does your cutie mark represent?"

She smiled and said "We'll I'm actually a botanist in my free time, I run a flower shop a few blocks from here" upon hearing this my devious side once again showed itself.

"Hmm you wouldn't by chance have any poison joke would you?" I asked with a giggle.

She raised an eyebrow "Whatever would you want that nasty plant for? And to answer your question no, I do not have any poison joke." She said flatly.

"Hmm well in that case maybe you could do me a favor, I do love flowers but I'm not sure what kind. If we are going to see each other every day perhaps you could bring me a new type of flower each day, who knows maybe you'll be able to help me find my favorite"

"Sounds good to me, I'll be sure to bring my best flowers. Ah here we are," we walked up to a rather plain red wooden door with a golden doorknob "this is where I live" I stepped inside the relatively small room, relative to mine that is, and immediately noticed the excessive amount of flowers adorning almost every inch of the room. There were roses and lilies, vines of several unidentifiable varieties and there was even a poison joke bud on a shelf, sealed safely inside a glass case.

"Wow Summer I would have never guessed you were such a skilled interior designer" I said with a smile.

"What? This shabby place, oh, well I try." She laughed modestly.

***

After she spent a pretty long time fixing my mane, which she did quite well to be honest, we made our way into the hallway intending to head  back to my room but just as we were about to leave Celestia appeared at a juncture a little ways down the hall.

"Ah Peppermint there you are, and Miss Breeze good morning, I hope you and Peppermint are getting along."

Summer chuckled "Oh don't worry about that your majesty he's quite nice"

Celestia smiled warmly. "Good, I'm glad to hear it. But I'm afraid i need to speak to Peppermint for a few minutes, in private."

I raised an eyebrow, curious as to what the princess could possibly need to tell me " Um alright, Summer do you mind if we borrow your room for a little while?" she frowned but agreed and promptly stepped out. After she left I took it upon myself to start the conversation "So what's the problem?"

She sighed quietly and cleared her throat "As much as it pains me I do have to keep secrets from my subjects. I have many secrets Bryan, but one secret that must never reach the public's' ears is the true nature of magic. The ponies are taught in school that all things done with magic require knowledge and skill. The truth is that the only things required are imagination and strength. If you can imagine what you wish to occur and if you have the magical strength to do it then it is possible"

I stared at her for a few moments thinking about what she had said. I already understood why keeping this bit of information secret was important, I did not however understand why it was so important she needed to tell me.

   "If you are unsure of my motives all you need do is take Sombre as an example. He, through his own methods, discovered this secret and he used it to his advantage." She frowned slightly and looked at me. And I'm sure she was surprised to find a smile on my face.

"Princess I'm sure you have good reason, but why tell me. I haven't even been here for 24 hours and you entrust me with magics biggest secret. I'm just a little confused that's all, but I won't pester you, I'm  sure you have your reasons. However I do have one question......is it true gems are condensed magic?"

She chuckled  "Ah another secret revealed, but you still need to know why I told you. Obviously you know you're not from Equestria in almost every possible scenario that's not a problem. However because you are not from here and because you are a unicorn your imagination may get the best of you. Should you not be paying attention you may do something you never intended to actually happen." She rubbed my head with a hoof "As long as you keep that in mind and as long as you are careful I'm sure you will do well here Bryan" she softly rubbed my head, messing up my mane.....again.

I smiled and sarcastically said "Hey Summer worked hard on this mane of mine" She giggled and with a wave of her horn set my mane back.

"There all better"

I smiled "Wow magic really does make everything better doesn't it" her smile faded. "Yes it does, which is another reason why you're here. Unrest is growing between the races. The earth ponies and the pegasi are uneasy with the power unicorns hold. And unicorns with skills like Twilight Sparkle's only enrage them further."

I thought for a moment before responding, trying to think of how I'm going to help with that. "I'll tell you what, let me go to school for awhile, learn your culture and your history and then I'll try to come up with some solutions. Who knows maybe I'll get my cutie mark and that will help the situation. But as of right now only time will tell. Besides I'm only a kid right now, who would listen to me anyways" I said with a smile. she looked away, obviously thinking about something that was troubling her. I'm sure it involved me but I decided to pay it no mind.

"Well even so, the first day of magic kindergarten won't wait for you no matter how important you may end up being. I would take you myself but you can imagine how big of scene that would cause so Summer will be accompanying you. I'll see you this evening, I have things to attend to." She smiled and opened the door. She glanced at Summer before walking off, her mane and tail waving as they usually do but slower, it seemed. I had no idea what the day ,or even the rest of my life, had in store for me but one thing was certain, it was definitely going to be interesting.