One by One

by DreamWings

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Everypony seems so strange today. They all smile at me like they know I can’t see the true sadness in their eyes. They all feel miserable, I can tell. But they won’t admit it to my face; I’m not good enough to share feelings with. I’m just there in the background with all of the other little cast with no lines in their great production. I am nothing. I’m worse than nothing- I’m myself.

Anypony who’s themselves when in the presence of normal, well-bred ponies are always bound to be strange. You have to be able to fit in with their rules for them to care about you at all. I don’t fit in with them, and I never shall try. Why would I want to be like them? They’re mind-controlled into believing what they think of as the true figure of perfection, but it’s not perfect, nothing’s perfect. Only sane ponies can see that it’s all a big rouse.

They’re whistling happy tunes now, like they were in some kind of joyous musical with a happily ever after. They want that to be true, but it never shall be. I only speak from experience, I speak the truth, so listen you little brats skipping in your dinky little corner as if you were the only miracle in this world. If you don’t listen you will never escape this horrible future that you will find coming around the bend.

They’ll leave you, you know. At the first sign of anything better they will leave, and they will never speak to you again. You’ll just be that little thing in the darkness that will never be shined upon; a blank slate with an even darker image. Trust me, won’t you just trust me for once. Am I even there in your view? You seem to look at me, you look in my direction, and yet you show no signs of knowing that the large ghost is there. I’m nothing to you. I’m nothing to your prance-about friends with their goody-goody four shoes ways.

You never break the rules; they’ve been forced upon you from birth. I know, I too suffered through this as a foal. You have to fight back against these thoughts little filly, ignore the other ponies, come with me. Come with me and I’ll take you to a better life far away from here. You can be a crusader, a rebel against these horrible forces who think that they have the power over life and death. Join me and we can save the ponies suffering through this tyranny, Come with me.

Don’t look at me like that. Don’t ask me if I’m feeling okay. Of course I’m feeling okay, I’m feeling better than I’ve ever felt before. I am not staring at you you stupid little colt, that filly can feel what I feel. I beseech to you with my eyes small one, see the truth, understand the nightmare we live in. All of this. All of this place. All of these ponies, are not real. They’re all just servants to the wickedness of this society, I tell you they’ll leave you at the first sign of trouble. They will leave. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you that did to me. I don’t want you alone and scared with nowhere to go but to the side of hatred and despair.

You may smile. All of you, you may grin. But I can see your true feelings, I see the tears welling up in your eyes. You want to leave, you know you want to leave. Your friends tell you no, but your heart tells you otherwise. Friends. These friends aren’t real, your heart is your friend, listen to it. Your duty isn’t to them, it isn’t to the prissy Princesses, it’s to yourself. You know what you have to do tiny dancer. You hop around in foalish abundance but you know it will not last. They’ll break you and tear you in two just as they did to me.

What are you doing? Don’t leave. Don’t walk off with them, they aren’t worth it. Come back, please come back. Where are you going? I need you.

She left. They always leave. A large gathering’s appeared on the grass now. There’s nopony there that I can change for the better, they’re all far too lost to be saved now. What’s going on? I don’t get it. The false smiles they’d all been brandishing seem to have disappeared, thank goodness. They’re crying. They’re upset. Something’s happened, I can feel something’s happened.

If I edge forward slightly I might make it through the crowd, but that would mean I would’ve joined their pack. I can’t give in to my cause now. I stand still, not even moving slightly to satisfy my interest in the situation. They probably think I’m in shock or something, that I’m too scared, but I’m not and I never shall be. Why should I be scared when my mind lays untarnished by the outside world? I’m fine. I’m always fine. So many tears, so much sadness from these ponies. What’s wrong with them?

I can just make out Applejack in the crowd. Her stupid hat hiding her face. Applejack doesn’t cry normally, but her tears seem to outweigh the others. Something’s definitely wrong here. Everypony seems so distraught. Cheerilee, my old teacher, can barely seem to hold back her emotions. I’ve never seen her so upset. It’s disgusting.

Oh great, here comes Twist just to annoy me further. Her stupid smug face under her obnoxious glass lenses simply infuriate me. She pretends to be so kind and caring but still did not object to my friends instant dismissal of me. She thinks she’s some kind of saviour, that she’s meant to be the next hero of Ponyville, but she won’t be. Nopony ever will be as long as they stick to the rules we’ve been given. Twist fits in well with the fake cheery atmosphere that Equestria’s aesthetics would have you believe to be true, a ‘perfect’ choice for this ‘perfect’ world.

Her simpering voice wavers as she tells me the news. ‘Bi--Big Ma--Mac, he’s dead.’ I couldn’t say that I wasn’t surprised, the healthy stallion had many years left to live and it would seem unusual that he had died so early. I want to be alone now, I want to be alone with my own thoughts with no input from others; Twist has different ideas however. She won’t leave, we want somepony to give her sympathy; the same sympathy I’d not been given when I was left alone. Why should I help her? She had never done anything for me. ‘Oh Scootaloo’ she whimpered. Oh, so she actually remembered my name did she, well congratulations four eyes you’ve done better than most. ‘They’re all saying he’s not just dead. Somepony’s murdered him. But what heartless creature would do such a thing?’

I couldn’t stand and listen to more of her prattle, by tomorrow the whole thing would be yesterdays news and she will have forgotten me again. Right now she was all friendly and looking for friendship from me, but she would have no such expectations once all of this had blown over. And she was never going to get it from me either.
Applebloom had lost her brother, yet still she didn’t arrive. It appeared she was truly never coming back no matter what happened, but there must be something that could be done to bring her home. I needed her home, she and little Belle and me: we would make a great resistance against the leaders of Equestria. We could be great together, they and I.

Mac’s dead, ponies are crying, and I stand alone in the backdrop. That won’t be true for long, I promise, my dear ex-friends.