Chapter Text
“Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria, earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi all lived together in peaceful harmony.
They were united by their wise and beautiful princess. She was no earth pony, not a pegasus, or even a unicorn. She was all three together in one pony, the mystical alicorn. Not only did she unite the pony tribes but kept peace with strange creatures from far off lands, dragons and changelings and hippogriffs.
The Princess’ name has been long lost to history, but we know her by the eight-pointed star she wore upon her flank. Everypony loved her and she ruled kindly and generously, honest and loyal, bring joy and laughter to everyone she met. And magic flowed throughout the land like rain.
And then—”
“And then she did something bad and stupid, ‘cause the pegasus and unicorn bit made her brain all full of clouds and sparkles! And all the earth ponies realized she was just as bad as the rest of them, letting pegasi steal their stuff and unicorns zap them with their lasers whenever they felt like it. And the earth ponies were too smart to let them do that, so they all teamed up and kicked out the horrible unicorns and pegasi and replaced their spooky evil magic with awesome inventions!” interrupted Seedy.
“That’s not what happened at all,” Sunny Daybreak objected loudly. “This is MY storytime, and I know the Princess was good and smart!”
Seedy scoffed. “No, if the Princess was two of them and one bit us, then she must’ve been mostly dumb and only a little smart! That’s how math works. And-and that’s if she was ever a real pony, which she probably definitely wasn’t.”
Sunny jumped to her hooves. “No no no, that’s not right! She was real and she was the best ever. Dad told me so and he’s the smartest pony alive. Hitchhhh,” the filly turned to her best friend, “tell him I’m right!”
“Umm…” Hitch anxiously knocked a hoof against the floor. “I-I mean, that is the story Uncle Aggy always tells. And he does have a million books and papers and old things…”
“See?” bragged Sunny.
“Nuh-uh!” Seedy argued.
The teacher finally interceded. “Alright, you two, settle down. Seedy, this is Sunny’s time to talk right now, it’s very rude to interrupt. Sunny, that’s…a very nice story. But its just a story, no need to fight about who’s ‘right.’”
“But it’s not just a story, it-it’s real, its history!” Sunny insisted. “It’s real, and he’s telling it WRONGGGG!”
“Hi Dad.”
“Hello Sunny. What happened?”
“Seedy was saying bad stuff about your story and the ancient princess and Mr. Ruler just let him. He said it wasn’t real and didn’t matter,” Sunny muttered.
“Ah,” Argyle sighed. “And so you…?” He let the question hang as he nudged his daughter into walking along the dirt corridor next to him.
“Yelled at them,” she admitted.
“And you got in trouble because…?”
“Yelling at other ponies is bad. ‘specially teacher.”
“That’s right.” He sighed again. “It’s not easy seeing things differently, my little sunshine. You’ve got a good strong heart and you’re not afraid to fight for what’s right. That’s good. But you have to learn to pick your battles, darling. Otherwise, you’ll wear yourself all out before your time to do some real good arrives.
“And it will arrive. You’re going to change the world, little sunshine, I promise.”
Sunny looked up at him hopefully. “Hoof to heart?” she asked.
Argyle chuckled. He tapped his chest and then hers. “Hoof to heart,” he promised.