For the most part, ponies are a peaceful race. They aren’t especially known for starting war with other nations if they can help it, and don’t like confrontation. They tend to be in general, a very docile species of creatures. Most of the time, they deal with their foes through the magic of friendship rather than physical violence, and on some occasions actually manage to bring their foes into their way of thinking and befriend even them; the most notable of those cases being the god of chaos Discord and most recently a powerful unicorn named Starlight Glimmer.
Though, not every pony in Equestria is the same in personality in this aspect. To assume every single pony in Equestria is as friendly as say, Pinkie Pie, is laughable. Not all ponies are as happy and chipper as others, and on more rare occasions, do actually have the capacity to be downright hateful. It’s not incredibly common, but to suggest such things have never happened, and will not ever continue to happen in the future, is foolish.
Because ponies can be angry. They can be resentful. They can be bitter. They can feel the same basic things any emotional and sentient creature can feel. But nopony just wakes up one day and decides that they’re going to be that way. It usually takes quite a bit of…outside influence. Not even the happiest of ponies are safe from raw emotion and the lasting effects those outside influences can have.
That being said, what can be done to make things right again, and what lengths will those involved go to fix it?
The sun began to rise up over the horizon and lighting all of Equestria once it was time for the night to make way for it. Many a pony was overjoyed to begin their day and bask in Celestia’s bright, warm sunlight. Though, not all ponies could really be considered the morning type. Some preferred to stay in the comfort of their beds without having to really move a muscle all day long.
Starlight Glimmer was one of those particular ponies. Unfortunately, she did not seem to get the luxury of remaining asleep, as from her perspective, the entire universe was out to make sure she would not be allowed to.
The sunlight of the upcoming day creeped its way through her room’s window, the crystal structure of the castle she was staying in only seeming to make the sunlight even harsher due to the way it reflected. Of course, the sunlight found its way right smack onto her eyes, making her face scrunch up in discomfort. She groaned a little in her sleep and pulled the covers back over her face. “Mmmph. Always at the worst times.” she grumbled under her breath. Starlight made an attempt to get herself back to sleep under these circumstances, but her efforts were hindered yet again. The sound of a bird landing on one of the many crystal branches of the castle outside her room and chirping its song loudly was grating to her eardrums.
She wouldn’t stand for this. She got out of her bed, holding a pillow in her magic as she trotted to the window. Starlight very slowly opened the window and gave the bird a death glare. “You have exactly three seconds to leave before you get smothered.” She growled irritably. The bird held a terrified look on her for a moment before he got the message and flew away as fast as his wings would allow him.
Starlight then shut the window, feeling somewhat proud of herself that she’d eliminated the threat to her slumber. “Now that that’s over with, maybe I can relax now.” She said to herself before shutting the curtains to her window so no more sunlight shone through, and climbed back into bed. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and shut her eyes, beginning to drift off.
Only for Spike to come in.
“Hey, Starlight! Twilight wanted me to come and get you for the council of friendship meeting!” he said with a big smiling face.
“AAAAGH OKAY I’M SORRY I WOKE YOU UP!” Spike screamed as he was now being chased through the halls of the crystal castle by a very irritated purple unicorn. He’d gotten her up like Twilight asked him, but not exactly getting the reception he was hoping for. But maybe he could at least get Starlight to chase him to the map room.
“DO NOT EVER DISTURB MY SLEEP AGAIN, DO YOU HEAR ME?!” Starlight screamed at him.
Provided Starlight didn’t kill him before he made it there at least.
Eventually, after much running and dodging flying pillows being tossed by Starlight, Spike eventually managed to make it into the map room where the rest of his friends awaited for them. He quickly ducked under the map before Starlight made it in. Once she DID though, she was really a sight to behold. Out of breath, even worse bed-head than she had before, and unbridled rage. “WHERE’D HE GO?!?” She yelled.
The other six ponies didn’t say anything for a moment, but instead observed Starlight’s current state of mind. “…Nice of you to join us Starlight.” Twilight said, just barely even blinking while staring.
“Yeah uh…ya sure are lookin’ rested.” Applejack added, though her voice laced with complete uncertainty.
Starlight looked over the group of ponies, only then realizing that she was still holding several pillows in her magic, and in general was probably making a fool of herself right now. Quickly trying to save face, she tossed the pillows out of the door and shut them in her magic, smiling a little sheepishly. “U-Um, good morning girls.” She stuttered nervously.
The mares all looked at each other questioningly before looking at Spike, quivering under the map. “Gracious, you sure did a good job of getting her to the meeting Spike…but maybe next time try a method that won’t get Starlight so angry.” Rarity said gently, taking him out from under the map and giving him a pat on the head.
“N-Noted.” Spike replied with a slight blush.
Starlight gave an annoyed huff. “Mmph. If you don’t want to be met with my wrath, you won’t wake me up. Would you poke a bear with a stick while it’s sleeping? Unless you want to get mauled, then I wouldn’t think so.”
“Hey I hate being woken up from the bliss that is my afternoon nap as much as anypony else, but don’t you think you sorta overreacted? You’re really good at that sometimes.” Rainbow asked. Truthfully, that really got under Starlight’s skin. Everyone keeps telling her she gets too mad over insignificant things and ends up makes mountains out of anthills. On some level, maybe screaming and yelling about Spike waking her up wasn’t the best way to go about things, but then again, THEY were not the ones being kept awake by every little thing like she was.
Starlight groaned a little bit and rubbed her head. “I’m just really frustrated. With the stuff you all have to deal with on a regular basis, how are you so level-headed?”
“…Ah’ll be the first to admit we all got our moments. Fluttershy threw a fit at the Gala, Rarity has an overdramatic breakdown if somethin’ don’t go right, and Twilig-“ Applejack couldn’t finish her sentence due to Twilight’s hoof quickly covering her mouth before she could mention her big breakdown.
“I don’t think she needs to hear about…THAT.” Twilight said with a nervous smile.
“OHOH Yeah she does! Twilight made the whole town riot over a toy because she wasn’t going to meet her quota on friendship reports to Celestia! See, even the princess of Friendship isn’t COMPLETELY all there all the time!~” Pinkie spoke for Applejack, giggling a little. When that incident had first occurred it was pretty scary to the rest of them, but now that it’d had time to settle after a while, the entire scenario now looked pretty ridiculous.
Twilight’s face turned red at the memory of one of her most embarrassing moments since she’d come to Ponyville. “E-Ehehe…I’m not exactly proud of it. But Pinkie does have a good point. Not everypony can always keep themselves together a hundred percent of the time. We all have moments of weakness.”
“Except for me. I never lose my cool!” Rainbow boasted confidently, resting back in her throne that surrounded the map like the rest of them did.
“U-Um, Rainbow, do I need to remind you of last winter with Tank?” Fluttershy asked meekly.
Rainbow’s face fell almost immediately at the mention of her breakdown that happened when she realized Tank had to hibernate for the winter. When she thought back on it, maybe sabotaging Cloudsdale’s weather factory just so her pet didn’t have to sleep was one of her worse ideas. “…Dang it.” Rainbow grumbled to herself.
Starlight rolled her eyes a little at that. “I get it, not everyone’s perfect. It’s just that some handle it better than others that bugs me. Sorry I just can’t understand how you six stay together with how different you are. Just look at this.” Starlight said looking between Rarity and Twilight and pointing her hoof to the former. “Here we have Rarity. Average unicorn with average magical skill.”
This caused Rarity to deadpan. “Well goodness Starlight when you put it like that.” She said with a tone of sarcasm, clearly offended. Starlight didn’t take much notice but instead pointed her other hoof at Twilight.
“And then there’s Twilight who’s a fucking alicorn. I don’t think I need to explain the vast difference here.” Starlight put both of her hooves down and looked at Rarity with a slightly confused frown. “Doesn’t it just burn you up that she’s so much stronger magic-wise than you are?”
Rarity gave Starlight a more concerned frown of her own. She obviously hadn’t expected Starlight to drop her ideology concerning friendship and equality the first day of reformation, but this was just showing how much she truly held onto it. “Well darling. As much as I’d ADORE being a princess myself, I never let my…erm, how do I put it…fantasy, get in the way of my friendship with Twilight. I don’t let any envy I may or may not have fester. If anything, I’m quite happy for her being as skilled in magic as she is. Everyone has their strongest points. Twilight’s just happens to be her magic and look where it got her! Mine just happens to be in my sewing and I’m really going places thanks to it.” Rarity said, trying to put on a little more cheerful smile.
Starlight said nothing for a moment while she tried to take in everything that Rarity was saying to her. Though from her perspective, she wasn’t quite getting the message as was intended. To her this was sounding like they both only had the current advantages and social status’ that they do because of their cutie marks and specialties.
This however, was what society had been like since even before the founding of Equestria. She doubted this aspect was ever going to change. Maybe she would just need to face facts sooner or later and simply embrace it rather than scorn it.
Not yet though. Not by a long shot.
Starlight sighed and simply looked at the floor, wanting to just look anywhere but at the ponies before her. “I just can’t understand...If you’re so sure that this is what’s right for me, then go ahead. Convince me otherwise.” She mumbled quietly.
Twilight stood up from her seat and trotted over to Starlight, patting her on the back. “I wish helping someone change for the better was that simple. But it’s a lot more complicated than just having one conversation Starlight. I couldn’t even begin to tell you the difficulty we’ve had with Discord.”
Starlight flinched a little bit at Twilight’s patting. “I never said you could touch me. I might not be trying to hurt you now, but we’re not on that personal of a basis yet.” She said with the slightest hint of aggression and a little scowl.
Pinkie popped up next to them, having a raised eyebrow. “Waaaaaait, Twilight didn’t you say you two were hugging when you came back to the present?”
Starlight blushed lightly in response. “…I was emotionally weak. But now I’ve had time to brood.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Suuuuure THAT’S it.”
Starlight stayed silent for a moment before crossing her forelegs. “Don’t you patronize me Pie.”
Ponyville was teeming with life in the bright morning light of day. Quite a few of the town’s foals were playing outside with their friends, while a couple of ponies were out working at their respective businesses or meeting up with their own friends wherever. A majority of the ponies were ecstatic about their daily lives and were mostly content with the typical status quo of Ponyville. Though dealing with the occasional monster or doomsday threat was part of the said status quo, it still kept things more exciting in the town.
Though, in sharp contrast to the rest of ponies walking about the town in the morning, there was this one that was making his way through that stuck out like a sore thumb. The reasoning for this was because unlike the other ponies in town that had happy and content smiles and bright colored fur that accommodated their happiness quite well, this one looked nearly the opposite. His fur was a dull and lifeless red, the wings on his back having feathers of the same shade, with a mane of a much darker red and streaks of just as dark grey.
In addition to the near-dead look on his fur, the look on his face only added to it. The stallion had dark bags under his bloodshot and exhausted purple eyes, and had a deep frown that looked like it’d been there for a really long time. The stallion could probably be compared to a walking corpse if his flesh was shown to be decaying.
As expected, some of the local ponies took notice of the stallion’s rough state, but did little about it besides simply staring at him. They didn’t usually get ponies that looked this angry and uninterested in anything else around Ponyville, and it was actually quite jarring. The townsfolk were positive he wasn’t here yesterday, so just who was he and what was he doing here? Though they might’ve had several questions, none were willing enough to get the answers. If the look of this pony was any indication, he might not be very friendly.
The pony didn’t look at anypony the second he’d come into town. Instead, he kept to his own thoughts and not on how everyone else was looking at him. That was the last thing on his mind right now. His eyes ever so slightly looked away from the ground and at the quiet and peaceful town around him, and he quietly mumbled to himself.
“Hm…cute place. Not my first choice for a place to live, but literal beggars can’t be choosers.” He said with a hushed voice. He let out a deep breath of exhaustion and rubbed one of his forelegs with a slight wince of pain coming to his face.
“Rgh. Laughingstock you bonehead, you have wings. You don’t gotta hoof it wherever you go, dummy.” He grumbled bitterly. “...Dear Celestia I’m talking to myself now. Heat’s probably going to my head. If I’d known I’d start losing my mind from thirst this quick, I just woulda drank my own piss hours ago.”
When Laughingstock brought his head back up to hopefully find some kind of body of water in the village, he now started to notice the townsfolk staring at him. Were they doing this the whole time? He was pretty sure they weren’t. But what actually unnerved him about this was the specific portion of his body they were staring at.
His flank.
Not his flank in general, but what was on it. What it was was undoubtedly a cutie mark, but not a cutie mark like any of them had ever seen. It was just so bland and unexciting that one could hardly even think that one such as this exists. For all it was, was a black equal symbol and nothing more.
Laughingstock took attention to what they were staring at an quickly folded his wings in a position where they covered the offending mark. He tried to take attention off of himself by trotting at a faster pace, away from the crowd. To him this was humiliating beyond reasonable measure. He didn’t know if they knew what the symbol actually represented in this context, but he wasn’t sticking around for them to contemplate it. Not a chance.
As he tried to keep up his pace, the reality of the situation he was in was setting in more and more. It made his expression gradually change from nervous to infuriated. His nostrils flared and his teeth clenched in anger as it settled in his mind and his hooves came down onto the ground even harder than they did before.
“I shouldn’t have to deal with this shit. I could be out in Las Pegasus doing standup in a crowd of hundreds…no thousands of ponies right now. Instead I’m in some sub-par looking town where already everyone looks at me like I’m a fucking mutant.” He growled, angrily kicking up dust on the dirt path, now out of earshot of any of the ponies. “I CAN’T FUCKING SHOWER IF I’M HOMELESS, JACKASSES!” he screamed.
A few moments of lashing out at random things such as trees and rocks, Laughingstock, now out of breath, sat under a tree with his anger only slightly dissipated since he started. His breaths were a lot deeper now and he wiped sweat from his forehead. “O-Okay just save your energy. It’s not those ponies’ fault.” He panted in between a few words. This entire situation might’ve pissed him off, but getting at a bunch of random ponies wasn’t going to get him anywhere. It didn’t stop him from thinking about the one that DID put this entire thing on him however. The same pony that branded him with the equal sign cutie mark that he now had to bear on his flank.
If he hadn’t tired himself out, he might’ve gone on another loud and self-destructive tangent. Since he DID tire himself out though, he resorted to simply cursing somepony’s name under his breath. “I tell you what. The day I knock that bitch’s teeth out’ll be a real happy day for me.”