• Published 21st Dec 2019
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Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This - MagicS



Sick and tired of being overshadowed by all of the amazing ponies that live in Ponyville, Amethyst Star goes on an adventure into the unknown to show she can be just as special as anybody.

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The Wrong Way II

“Do you wish you could get back at them?”

Amethyst Star thought about the question while the words from the mysterious pony hung in the air. She was angry and upset at the village, that was certain. She definitely thought those colts at least should be punished. The mom and the others… if she thought about it more clearly she knew it was only reasonable for them to believe the kid rather than her. Although it was still unfair that they didn’t even give her a chance to defend herself. She knew the nice thing, the right thing to do, would be to live and let live. Forget about it. Or even if the opportunity presented itself to forgive the ones who had wronged her.

But it wasn’t fair. She had done nothing to deserve that. And it wasn’t just this town and those colts but all the other injustices that had been heaped on her, all the other failures and misfortune and ponies telling her she “couldn’t do this” or that she should “just go home”. All that pain and those emotions she was bottling up and trying to ignore on this adventure were threatening to explode. So maybe it wasn’t right, but neither was anything else that happened to her.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do wish I could get back at them!” Amethyst Star told him with a frown, her eyes angrily narrowing at the thought. “They think they can treat me like that? Well then maybe those jerks deserve to be knocked down a peg!”

“I see. Come along then,” Harlequin Grey turned and slowly started walking in the direction to the village.

Amethyst Star tilted her head and quickly trotted up next to him. “Uh, what are we doing? Are you from that village? Will you explain to them that I didn’t do anything? I’d really like to see the look on that mom’s face when she realizes how awful her son is.”

“Nothing so simple,” the blue stallion kept his eyes straight ahead, his face a mask. “I’m going to help you get the revenge you desire though.”

“Er, revenge is putting it a little strongly...” Amethyst Star grimaced.

His eyes flickered to her. “Is it? I think you deserve revenge, Miss Amethyst Star. You’re such an amazing pony who’s doing incredible things. And yet these townspeople have treated you so terribly.”

“A-Amazing pony?” Amethyst Star repeated, an embarrassed blush spreading across her face. “Well I know I’m pretty special, but amazing? Ehehe...”

“You’re very special. It’s something you’ve always known isn’t it? But no one else believed it. They all took you for granted. That’s why you came out here,” Harlequin Grey said.

Amethyst Star paused in her steps, the words were warm and they were just what she always wanted to hear. But she was confused. “Do I know you? Have we met before or something?”

“No, but I’ve been paying attention to you for a while. It’s no concern,” he brushed her off.

And for some reason she just didn’t feel like arguing the point.

“Okay,” Amethyst Star shrugged.

“Yes, you’ve been sorely mistreated, even injured by these vile ponies out here. You need not be concerned or hold back in regards to them,” he stopped walking and turned back to her, looking at the bruise on her forehead. “In fact, allow me to help you with that.” Harlequin Grey walked forward and gently rubbed his hoof over the bruise.

And the pain was gone.

Amethyst Star’s eyes widened in surprise and she lifted her hoof up to where the bruise was, feeling nothing out of the ordinary. “What did you just do?”

“There was never a bruise there to begin with.”

“But-”

There was never a bruise there to begin with. As long as you believe that then it is so.”

Amethyst Star stood there confused for a second. What had just happened? What was going on? There was something just so weird about all of this but it was like everything kept slipping out of her mind if she tried focusing on it too hard. “There… was never a bruise there to begin with.” She repeated.

“Now you can get some payback on those who were rude to you. They deserve it after all. I’ll even show you how you were right to think of them as an entire village of awful ponies,” Harlequin Grey said and started walking again, Amethyst Star following close at his side. “They attacked a hero such as yourself. And a hero gets to decide how she punishes wrongdoing.”

“A hero?” Amethyst Star looked up at his face with a raised eyebrow.

“But of course. You’ve been thinking of yourself as such haven’t you? Is it that strange for someone else to acknowledge you as one?”

“N-No, totally not at all!” Amethyst Star shook her head, trying to hide the surprise.

“Yes, you’re just as special and amazing and capable as any pony you know. Twilight Sparkle, Daring Do, Applejack, any of them. Right?”

The words filled her up with pride and Amethyst Star happily puffed out her chest. “That’s right!”

“Insecurity and failure are a thing of the past for a hero such as you, right? Those little mishaps that happened on your adventure so far were clearly not your fault. Everyone else is to blame, aren’t they? Well you can get back at everyone who doubted and wronged you in time,” he said to her. “After we deal with this despicable village here.”

Amethyst Star smiled. “Yeah, it’ll be good to prove everyone wrong about me. I already know on the inside that I’m amazing but no one’s given me a chance, or something stupid has happened that makes me look bad!”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll show you how to succeed. I’ll show you the way to be special so no one will ever doubt or make fun of you again. And those who do will come to regret it.”

His ominous words did not worry her, nor the monotone way he spoke them. Amethyst Star was enthralled by the promises and the new horizons waiting for her. She glanced up at him with a wide grin to see him still looking ahead with his lips set in a thin line and his pink eyes unblinking. “I don’t know why you’re helping me out but thanks. I was close to crying my eyes out back there and now I can’t stop smiling.” His expression didn’t change. “Er, do you ever smile?”

“I don’t care for smiling,” he didn’t speak further on that as the two of them made it to right outside the town.

“Wait, hold on! We can’t just walk in, they’ll recognize me!” Amethyst Star interjected.

“They won’t notice us,” he responded.

“What do you mean they won’t notice us?” She looked at him like he was crazy.

Harlequin Grey lifted his hoof and pointed at his head. “The mind and all the errant thoughts within it hold much more power than you know. If I say and believe that they aren’t going to notice us then they won’t notice us so long as you say nothing to the contrary. All you need to do is think about how they aren’t noticing you. Pretend we’re invisible, or disguised. It all works.”

“Kind of weird but alright...” Amethyst Star figured she should just go along with it. He had a way of sounding very certain.

When they reached the town and started walking down the main street Amethyst Star had just earlier been walking on she realized he was correct. Nobody turned to look at the two of them or came to confront Amethyst Star. It was strange to see after they had just recently ran her out of town while pelting her with fruit. In the short time that she had been gone it looked like things had turned completely back to normal, even the street had been cleaned of the mess the fruit had made. There were still a lot of ponies at the marketplace when Harlequin Grey and Amethyst Star arrived, the unicorn looking around to see if that colt and his mother were still here.

She didn’t see them though so she turned to Harlequin. “So what are we doing now? I want to find that colt to make sure he learns his lesson about stealing and lying and, well, just generally not being awful.”

“Oh that’s hardly enough to make you feel better. And hardly too little punishment for this town,” Harlequin Grey said. “All of these ponies here are complicit in what you went through. The vendors, the shoppers, all of them.”

Amethyst Star frowned but she had to admit he had a point. They all attacked her without knowing the truth. “Okay, let’s get back at them first then?”

“Yes,” he nodded and walked towards one of the stalls, Amethyst Star following on his heels.

She recognized the pony working this stand, he was the one who threw that first pear at her. He stood behind a table stacked with boxes of pears under a large green tent, smiling as if the whole affair with Amethyst Star never happened. It made her angry to see that smile. What was he smiling about? How was that fair? The goofy dope was obliviously helping out his customers, a long line of mares with bags and baskets all waiting to get their hooves on some pears. What did Harlequin Grey have planned for him?

When the last mare reached the table to get some pears and pay, Harlequin Grey made his move.

He was like a phantom and even the things he touched or manipulated went strangely unnoticed by the ponies around him. The mare put her money on the table and was given three pears in return. When the salespony looked down to put that money away it was gone, unknowingly swiped by Harlequin Grey right from under his nose while Amethyst Star watched it all.

The pear seller’s eyebrows shot up to his forehead and he looked back up at the mare who was already waking away elsewhere into the market. “Miss! You forgot to pay!”

She stopped and turned back to look at him with a befuddled expression. “Excuse me?”

“You forgot to pay,” he repeated, an awkward smile on his face. He didn’t think she did it intentionally but it was still a little embarrassing to call her out on something like this.

“No I didn't,” the mare frowned. “I put my money right on the table.”

Now she on the other hoof was already thinking a bit more cynically.

Her words caused his smile to drop, replaced with an upset look of his own. “Miss, I would certainly remember if you did. It’s only three pears, they don’t cost much. Can you please just pay me.”

“Well I never!” She gawked at him. “Are you calling me a liar? No—you’re calling me a thief!”

As Amethyst Star watched the confrontation unfold she saw others in the marketplace were starting to take notice of it too. Including a colt she recognized as one of the others that had attacked her in the forest, shopping with his mother just like the other had been.

“I am not calling you a thief! I’m sure you just forgot to pay,” the pear seller was getting more agitated.

“I did not forget to pay, do I look like some old lady who forgets to pay for her groceries? I think you’re the one lying here. Are you trying to swindle me out of some extra money?” The mare accused of him, glaring at the pear seller.

“Oh that is outrageous! But fine, you know what? Fine! If you want the pears so badly then just take them,” he finally got fed up with it, not wanting the conflict to continue.

“I will. I paid for them after all,” she snidely said as she turned around and started walking away again.

At which point Harlequin Grey threw a pear at the back of her head.

“Ow!” The mare yelped as the pear hit her, her jaw dropping in sheer disbelief that that just happened. She spun around and ran right up to the pear seller’s table, her eyes full of fury. “How dare you!”

“W-Wait, I didn’t-” he tried to defend himself but as he looked around he saw all the eyes of the other shoppers and vendors on him, the ponies whispering back and forth, some of them angrily glaring at him too. “Look everyone, I don’t know who threw that but it wasn’t me okay! I would never do something like that!”

He didn’t get to say anything else as a tomato hit him in the eye.

“Augh! My eye!” He clenched his eyes shut and reached for a rag to clean his face off but ended up tripping over a crate of pears on the ground, falling over and hitting his head on one of the legs of the table. “Ughh...”

The mare he had been arguing with just harumphed and left, satisfied that justice was served.

Some ponies went to check and see if the pear seller was okay while at the same time all the other ponies looked to the direction that the tomato had been thrown from to see the mother and colt Amethyst Star recognized standing there alone.

“Hey, did you throw that tomato at Bittersweet? That wasn’t right,” a pony selling an assortment of celery, carrots, and turnips said to the mother.

“Huh? No, I didn’t do that! I was just watching!” She denied.

Harlequin Grey then popped his head in-between a number of other ponies shopping. “I saw the whole thing. It wasn’t her that threw the tomato, it was her son. He’s the one that hit Bittersweet right in the eye and he did it on purpose.” His emotionless voice apparently still carried the weight it needed, for the ponies around the mother and son turned their angry eyes onto the young colt.

“Hickory, why would you do that!” His mother berated him, shaking him by the shoulder.

“I didn’t mom, I didn’t!” He tried denying it just like Bittersweet but it was clear the crowd didn’t believe him.

Amethyst Star could already hear the angry voices and accusations grow even as Harlequin Grey came back to gather her up and lead her away from the marketplace. So little had been done but it looked like it was about to erupt into so much more. As they passed the last cart in the marketplace before walking back out onto the street, Harlequin Grey kicked it with his hindleg, knocking it over and dumping all the bread on it onto the ground.

“Hey!” The cart owner angrily shouted and punched the nearest pony, thinking he was responsible.

The shouting and chaos grew from there even as Amethyst and Harlequin Grey put the marketplace behind them. The unicorn looked over her shoulder with a grimace to see a number of fights breaking out, fights that didn’t look like they were ending anytime soon.

“See how quickly they turn on each other? How easy it is to make friendly faces despise one another? You were exactly right when you said this whole village is awful, this is proof enough of that. I hardly even had to do anything,” Harlequin Grey told her.

“Y-Yeah...” Amethyst Star bit her lip. This whole thing made her more uncomfortable than she figured it would. Was that really what she wanted to do? Did she want that to happen?

“I normally don’t like causing such chaos but I’m doing this as a gift to you,” he said. “Now there is a house for us to visit.”

“A house?” Amethyst Star looked up at him.

His yellow eyes looked back at her. “Our last stop in this town before justice is truly served, you wouldn’t be satisfied if that colt who lied about you attacking him wasn’t taught a lesson, would you? Of all the ponies here you have to get back at him and his mother or you might as well not have done anything. For doing such a thing to a special pony like yourself they can’t just get away scot-free. Afterwards you can continue on your adventure as a new mare, one who no one will ever doubt or insult again because you’ll have proved to the world that you can’t be crossed without consequences.”

“Right,” Amethyst Star nodded and steeled her face into a scowl as the two walked further into town.

But there was something nagging at her, a pit in her stomach making her uncomfortable. Was he saying ponies were going to fear her? What did he mean by a new mare? She wasn’t quite sure if what he had in mind for the awful colt and his mother is what she wanted, but he was right about getting back at them and she didn’t want to seem hesitant.


A burning house in the center of town brought a large crowd to watch the raging inferno. The entire home was being consumed, its once pretty yellow paint melted, the flowery curtains burnt away, the roof already collapsing onto the second story with the rest of the frame ready to crumble beneath the weight. Smoke went up in a column to cast a ghastly pall over the rest of the town but at least the flames were contained (strangely so) to this one house.

Four specific ponies stood on the street in front of it, hugging each other in despair as their house turned to ash right in front of them.

“We’ve lost everything!” The beehive hairdo mare screamed through tears as she held her son and daughter close while her husband patted her on the back.

The colt and filly cried into their mother’s arms too, all their belongings up in smoke. The rooms they grew up in. The toys they had.

Amethyst Star stood next to Harlequin Grey and watched it as well. The unicorn’s eyes were wide and her head and heart a muddled mess. Her companion on the other hoof seemed as stoic and unmoved as ever. Amethyst Star didn’t know what to think. They were awful. They deserved this… right? This is what they got for treating her so unfairly. It was retribution. The world had spit in her face one too many times and now she was proving that it just couldn’t do that anymore. It was only fair. She was Amethyst Star. She was special. She was strong. She was a pony on an adventure who… who what?

She didn’t do anything wrong did she? They had been the ones who were wrong. So why did she just feel so awful inside?

“Does it feel good to have power over another? To be able to do as you please? It’s not something you’re used to, is it?” Harlequin Grey asked her.

Amethyst Star didn’t answer him. She just watched the fire.

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