Chapter Text
Starlight realized life wasn’t fair from a young age.
Her best friend was Sunburst, a bright young unicorn with deep interests in magic. Starlight was very intelligent as well, maybe even more intelligent than Sunburst. But that didn’t matter, because she was an earth pony.
“What’re you talking about? Of course that matters!” Sunburst grabbed Starlight by the shoulders and shook her. “You built mechanical arms for yourself, so it’d be easier to read and write! Jeez, you could be– be the next Da Vinci or s-something.” Sunburst cleared his throat, his stutter kicking in.
Starlight smiled at him, patting him gently on the shoulders. “Thank you, Sunburst. But that’s not it. I don’t like building things, I like magic. But I don’t have an ounce of it in me. No earth pony does, and they never will.”
Sunburst stepped away from her, beginning to pace around the room. “I don’t think that's true. Ancient books of the p-pony classes state that all ponies have magic, and that an alicorn– like Princess Celestia, wields all th-three.”
Starlight rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know. The real power of earth ponies is their strength and endurance, or whatever. But we all know nopony takes that seriously. I mean, come on, a unicorn or pegasi could easily train hard enough to stand hoof to hoof with an earth pony.”
Sunburst shakes his head. “N-N-Not true. Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns– they’re all built differently. You know that earth ponies are naturally stronger and bigger. Once we’re grown up, you could easily p-pummel me.”
Starlight sighs. “You know I don’t care about that. I want to do what you do. I want to study magic and be able to cast spells, but it’s just… impossible.”
Sunburst rubs his snout. “I don’t believe in the impossible. There could be some ancient relics and a-artifacts that could grant any pony power. One that's cursed or possessed by m-magic– not just from a spell of a u-unicorn.”
“And where would I even find something like that?” Starlight’s mechanical arm picked up a random book beside her, zipping up and adding it to the tall tower of books her and Sunburst had already read a million times, and had now been making a jenga tower out of boredom.
Sunburst’s horn lit up as he picked up a book and added it to the top of the pile. “I’m sort of into antiquing.”
Starlight tilted her head, smirking. “Really? I didn’t know that.”
Sunburst’s face flushed out of embarrassment. “W-Well, not just that. I want to study ancient m-magical artifacts.”
Starlight smiled. “Hmm, mixing both your hobbies.” Her mechanical arm pulled a book from the tower instead of adding to it, indicating that she wanted to play now.
Sunburst’s eyes followed the arm’s movement, a hint of a smile on his face. His horn lit up as he carefully pulled a book from the pile. The tower wobbled a little and he winced, fearing it would fall. The tower swayed slightly before balancing itself out, and Sunburst sighed in relief.
“You’ll be great at whatever you do, Sunburst.” Starlight says before pulling a book from the tower, her eyes never leaving Sunburst’s. He stared back at her, but his gaze returned to the pile as he caught it beginning to move in his peripheral. Starlight’s eyes widened as it started to fall, holding the mechanical arms helplessly over herself in defense. Just as the tower of books almost crushed her, Sunburst held them all up with his magic, straining himself as the load was heavy. Starlight opened her eyes once more when a sudden blinding light filled the room. Sunburst was levitating off the ground, the books all swarming around him as a light was emitting from his body. At first, Starlight panicked, but then she realized that in this exact moment, Sunburst was receiving his very own cutie mark. Her mouth fell open as she watched the symbol form onto his thigh.
Sunburst gradually touched back onto the ground, rubbing his head. “W-What just…” He looked down to see his brand-new cutie mark– a sun with rays of sunlight coming from the side, along with a few sparkles. His mouth immediately stretched into an excited grin. “M-My cutie mark! I got my c-cutie mark!” Starlight could only continue staring in shock, blinking a few times to register what just happened. “You… did.”
Sunburst rushed past her, immediately pushing open the doors to her house and yelling excitedly to his parents nearby outside. Starlight just watched from the open doors as his parents cheered and lifted him up with their unicorn magic.
She didn’t realize that that would be her last full day spent with him.
He was immediately sent by his parents to the School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot. She didn’t even really get a proper goodbye, or a moment to themselves.
She knew this day would eventually happen. His parents were always going on about how he needed to attend that school and even hinting that getting his cutie mark would be the moment he would. And it happened. He got into a good school where he could study magic and do the things he wanted in life, while Starlight was left behind, not even certain what she wanted.
Starlight would spend the rest of her childhood in Sire’s Hollow, trapped in her hometown with only her father and nothing ahead of her. With her dad being the only one to raise her, he was constantly stressed about how to make Starlight’s life perfect and successful. He never realized how overbearing and controlling he was of every action she made. She didn’t have the heart to tell him to give her space, because in his eyes, she was his baby girl. Even if she was getting older.
And as she was getting older, she still failed to receive her cutie mark, no matter how many new hobbies or activities her dad put her through to help. Deep down, she knew that she probably never received one because she truly didn’t want it. She watched other ponies her age obsess over receiving one, and how happy they were when they did. And she just couldn’t bring herself to feel the same.
Every time she thought about how Sunburst got his cutie mark and how that's what drove them away, how he would end up with a more successful life than hers because of it, it made her just resent cutie marks in general. And the fact that she wasn’t even special enough to get her own– it just drove her mad. She truly was just an unspecial earth pony. She was a nobody, through and through.
And so, without her father’s knowledge, she would start working multiple jobs to save up bits. Bits to get her out of this nowhere town, and somewhere she could start anew. She started a plan of where she would go, and what she would do. At first she thought, maybe somewhere she could succeed, like Canterlot. But the thought of being around more successful ponies than her, especially the chance to see Sunburst and how happy he probably was there, it was sickening.
She couldn’t even begin to think of what she would succeed in. Mechanics and engineering? No. She didn’t care for it, in fact she hated it. It was only a reminder of her lack of unicorn magic, and how she had to do things by hoof. She was only good at it because she was smart, and because she had to constantly create ways to do things Sunburst could do with ease. She hated it, hated it with her core– but she wouldn’t stop, because she never, ever wanted to stoop to the level of a stupid earth pony. She knew she was the inferior class, but she could at least be the best one out of all of them.
The thoughts of starting a new identity, of being better, being the best, it made her realize something. Why didn’t she just… change things? If she was inferior because of the system, why didn’t she just change it?
Yeah. Yeah. It would be beautiful, a world without the worry of your class or a meaningless cutie mark. A world where everypony was the same, and nopony was better than the other. And she could be the one to start it all. But she couldn’t achieve this right away, no, it would be impossible. She had to start small. Maybe a small village, one secluded that nopony notices. With a limited population, it would be easier to change their minds. To help them see the truth.
So she looked into it, getting a map of all of equestria, looking around all the small and almost invisible towns, when she spotted it. A small dot on the map, deep in the mountains where very few towns resided. Even the name for the town was hardly thought through: “Our Town”. Very boring, very basic. The perfect start. And considering her funds would naturally be low from moving far away, she assumed it wouldn’t be too much to get a place there.
Once she finally got herself together, she was physically and mentally prepared to start anew, along with a full-fledged plan and backup plans in place. At first, she considered just leaving without telling her dad, but she knew that would break his heart. And despite the multiple long torturous days he unknowingly put her through, he still cared, and he would always love her. So, she had to break it to him.
“Dad, I’m leaving.”
Her dad paused, his mouth around the skillet handle as he was cooking their dinner for the night. He set it down, lowering the temperature of the stovetop flames. “Leaving where? Going out for the night, honey?” He smiled lovingly, a little too sincerely. She knew there was a hint of desperation and a bit of fear in his voice at the thought of her leaving at all, even if it was just to go out at night on her own. She was basically an adult now for Celestia’s sake, and he still couldn’t let her do things on her own.
“No, dad. I’m leaving home. Like Sunburst did.” She thought maybe if she brought up how Sunburst left for a better life and education, he’d be a little more supportive. Even if it hurt her to say his name at all.
“W-What’re you talking about? Where are you going? You’re leaving me?”
Here we go.
He stepped closer to her, his voice breaking. “You can’t leave on your own, honey. W-Why don’t we just move together? Is it the town you're tired of? We can both start new, huh?”
Starlight closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself before continuing this conversation. She exhaled slowly, opening her determined eyes to meet his fearful ones. “I’m going on my own dad. I love you, but I’m not a filly anymore. I want to start my own life.”
His breathing started to come out unevenly, and now she was worried he might stroke out or some shit. “Starlight, please don’t leave me alone. Not like your mother.”
Starlight physically recoiled at the mention of her mother. “Dad, stop. I’m not kicking you out of my life. I planned to write to you, everyday if that’s what you want. I just need to be on my own for once. I understand you’re afraid of being alone, but I will still visit you. You have to understand, I can’t be stuck here anymore. You know I’d never fit in here.”
Her dad stepped closer, “But–”
She raised a hoof, silencing him. “I’m leaving, and you can’t stop me.” She rubs the top of her snout, her eyes closing once more in thought. “You don’t understand how much of my life you tried to control.”
“I was only looking out for you–”
“I know. I know you mean well, but it’s suffocating. I’m leaving because I need to. And not because I’m tired of you or can’t handle you, okay? I’m not mom.”
He hung his head, having nothing else to say to make her reconsider her decision. “...I see.”
She came up to him and hugged him. “I’m leaving tonight to arrive at day. I’m heading to a small village in the mountains called Our Town. I’ll write to you as soon as I arrive.”
His head hung on her shoulder, a single arm lifting to return the hug. He didn’t say anything else. The smell of the food burning on the stove filled the air, causing him to cough. Starlight moved past him and turned off the stove. He watched her in silence.
She leaned in and planted a soft kiss on his cheek before walking out of that house for good.