Equestria Dark: Tales of a New Appleloosan Stallion Water Salespony

Written by VelvetHeart

Among the breaching waves, perched upon a cliffside high and nestled against the rubble of an ancient lighthouse lay the town of True Way. Smaller than Ponyville by far, it was a place of strange rules, where colts married but one mare, chosen before the age of eight, or chosen for them not long after. It was the home of our tale - and our protagonists.

The story begins in the room of a unicorn filly, where she lay weeping on the bedspread. Her hopes were high but hours before, where on the playground she had begged a colt for his love.

Alas, she was scorned, her hopes smashed as she had feared. Few colts her age lived in True Way’s streets, and fewer still unwed...

So she wept upon her bedspread, and in her mom’s embrace

When she’d asked a colt’s heart change, it led but to disgrace

But her wait would not be long, nor her old hopes cast

Her eighth year would soon come, the wait - it would not last

For on her birthday, a mother’s gift for her did shine

A tiny cage of silver, made with spells spun so fine

And within this work arcane, this glitt’ring piece of art

Lay a tiny colt’s beating heart

                              But you cannot bind a colt’s heart

                                 and expect for love to bloom

                                   For within a magic prison

                                For true love, there’s no room

The colt announced to all his love, and soon the two were wed

And though they both were young, they met ‘pon the wedding bed

With every night of passion spent, and every morn in his embrace

She found joy in her husband’s love, in the smile upon his face

But with the waking of the dawn, some doubts did linger yet

‘Cause every single morning, she found her husband’s pillow wet

So one night she slept none, and horrified at what she found

She saw her colt weeping in his dreams, not a moment sleeping sound

So she looked into her cage, and confirmed all her fears

The heart she had held no love, it was only filled with tears

                              For you cannot bind a colt’s heart

                                 and expect for love to bloom

                                   For within a magic prison

                                For true love, there’s no room

So she met him by the cliffside, with the sea’s breeze in her eyes

And with a voice broken by pain, she spoke of her goodbyes

With all the force she could muster, she cast the cage below

Even though in her heart she knew - her husband would now go

One last time he kissed her, and swept away her tears

With his lips thus tainted, stained, he confirmed all her fears

For though the spell made him smile, his face was hiding screams

The only freedom was in sleep, so he wept his tears in dreams

Soon he stepped upon the path away, this town he would now leave

He could not feel his heart no more, and no apology recieve

                              For you cannot bind a colt’s heart

                                 and expect for love to bloom

                                   For within a magic prison

                                For true love, there’s no room

So he met her by the cliffside, his hooves resting in the surf

And with a voice broken by pain, he spoke to her goodbyes

For she cast herself before him, to the wave-kissed rocks below

And in his broken heart he knew - he was now truly free to go

One last time he kissed her, and swept away the blood

With his lips thus tainted, stained, his tears became a flood

His mem’ry set upon him, the words he spoke with so much scorn:

“You cannot rightly earn my heart, for ‘pon your crown there rests a horn.”

“That was a s-stupid thing she did. She didn’t have to do that, she didn’t. Not for a stupid little colt, listening to stupid things his stupid parents told him about unicorns. It’s a stupid song about stupid ponies following stupid rules and doing stupid things. She was a nice filly, you know, the filly in the song. She had a red coat, and a really scruffy green mane and tail, s-so everypony just called her Strawberry instead of ‘lady Scarlet’. That annoyed her so much. No matter how much she brushed and brushed, her mane never settled down for long. Like, this one time, she put tree-sap in her mane to get it to behave, but all it did was make it all spikey so she ended up looking like this really angry wild strawberry.

A little wild strawberry.

T-that was s-such a stupid thing of her to do.

I don’t wanna talk about this song no more.”

"Well, that was a very... nice poem, young stallion." Cheerilee gently coaxed the teary-eyed little colt back to his seat, and turned to find herself gazing upon a sea of sad little faces.

The teacher herself had to blink a few times, scraping her throat. "How about we all have recess a little early while I-" -go cry in a corner for a bit.

-go talk to a foal therapist.

"- go do some paperwork. You know how us adults like our paperwork!"