Xenotopia

“Jinx, snap out of it!” The thunderous clap of large masculine hands snapped a weary earth mare back into her reality, ears pricked straight up in high alert of her surroundings.

“Mm-hmm?” she hummed in confusion with a long strand of curly pink mane falling in front of her eyes apathetically, violet hues locked upon Mr. Ghetti in a truly serious manner.

He was a mountain of a man if she had to be honest. Standing high near six feet, though he was quite rotund as well. His swollen gut pushed out from under a grease-soaked cotton shirt, pants strained from the pressure of his frame ready to burst the seams at a moment's notice.

His eyes a dull grey with no sense of empathy towards his fellow man or mare. Ghetti brandished a messy goatee on his pudgy double chin, short brunette hair always a mess no matter what day it was. He was the boss at this little slice of nothing Jinx called her job, but if she were to be polite she'd say he was simply the owner of Ghetti’s Cafe.

“Table six needs attention!” His crude voice spat down to Jinx with a sense of hate, traces of his warm saliva splashing against her cheek.

Her eyes darted down to table six in the small claustrophobic confines of this old rundown building, “ I'm on it boss!” she noticed it was a young human woman dressed to the nines in a fancy burgundy sweater.

Walking towards her next customer of this long exhausting night, Jinx could hear her boss scoffing under his breath in an air of condescending mockery.

“Lazy little animal!”

Cream-colored hooves soon came to a soft halt in front of table six, the echo of her heavy steps much like an eerie spectral noise haunting this dump. The young human lost in her own world of social media, typing away on her sleek phone hastily, a coy smile formed over full pouty lips.

“Ma'am?” Jinx scoffed in her sweetest of tones.

She had been working a double shift here since five in the morning, her hooves on the verge of exploding and her lower back on fire from an extra-long day of darting around this hellhole. If that wasn't enough of a kick to the snout, she'd been wearing the same beige waitress uniform for the past three days.

Jinx just knew she smelled to stale burgers and burnt fries.

The first thing on her agenda after work was a long hot bath.

If the mare didn't pass out before then.

“Oh, you're an earth thing?” The young brunette batted long lashes towards her with uncertainty.

“Pony.” Jinx popped her lips loudly.

“No offense ma'am, but is perhaps a unicorn on duty?” She asked in a faux polite tone.

With squinted eyes towards this brat and a scrunched muzzle, Jinx shrugged both shoulders in place as she wasn't even quite sure how to reply at first. “No it's just me tonight, I'm Jinx Hothoof,” she spoke with a forced smile.

“Well, I don't really feel comfortable having an earth pony handle my food.” The customer blurted out her reason without a care in the world.

“Excuse me!?” Both of the mare's ears folded in opposite directions.

“Your kind are the dirtiest of the bunch, no flying or magic.” A slender hand flaunted in front of the mare's muzzle rudely.

Blood boiled in her veins like an eruption from a volcano. Teeth grinded back and forth as she fought back the urge to buck this woman right in her big mouth. “I assure you, I've taken every precaution in keeping my hooves clean at the workplace.” Jinx finally spoke politely after a few seconds of silence.

“Is everything fine?” Ghetti stomped over towards this fiasco of an interaction with a look of bewilderment.

“Honestly? No.” The brazen patron spoke up first, biting her lower lip as if suddenly embarrassed of her rude actions.

“Well at Ghetti's, the customer comes first!” He exploded in a piercing series of loud hearty chortles.

“I just don't feel comfortable having an animal near my food.” Jinx began to tune the human out from that moment, this sadly not a rare occurrence in her life.

This world a constant flow of ignorant humans and sadly ponies as well. Never once had she been ashamed of her heritage, though everybody in the city has this weird stigma about Earth Ponies.

They're hard-working, dependable, and loyal to a fault.

But to the rest of the world, they are seen as filthy dumb animals.

Jinx wasn't of earth, sky, or anything else.

She just wanted to be seen as a pony.

An equal.

“Jinx, I'll handle this!” Ghetti slapped his meaty hands in her face once again.

The pony stumbled back with an exhausted daze, ears ringing loudly from his demeaning gesture. Lifting her head up silently, she nodded and took leave from the table. Heading over to the corner of the cafe, a filthy bucket and green-tinted mop awaited her attention.

“Jinx, just go!” Ghetti yelled out from behind.

“But I always clean up?” she turned towards her boss with a raised brow.

“Not tonight, you've done enough.” He spoke flippantly before turning his attention back to the smiling customer.

“I apologize, these creatures have a listening problem. “ The amorphous man burst into loud chuckles of excitement, the mare's eyes glanced at her dingy yellow coat behind the counter.

She could say something and lose her job. Though it wouldn't change a damned thing, she was a second class citizen in this aspect.

The best thing to do was walk away.

Tonight was bucking cold.

Good thing she brought a coat.