A young blue gray Pegasus mare named Derpy was sitting on a park bench, watching the world go by. Actually to be totally honest, she was waiting for a carriage to come take her to a part of town that was in a northernly direction (which she always got confused with south).
She had on a pair of mud covered horseshoes, and her blond mane was tied up in an askew ponytail. There was a small suitcase on the bench next to her, and a box with the Sugar Cube Corner logo on it. She stared out at the sky and ground simultaneously, and marveled at their beauty.
Suddenly, a bird's feather came floating down from the sky, and landed next to Derpy's front hooves. She leaned down and picked it up, gently in her mouth. She tried to focus all her attention on the feather, but she just couldn't.
Oh well.
She opened the small suitcase. Inside was an assortment of things that a young mare might need. There were also a few things that no one wouldn't really need, but they made sense to Derpy. She pulled a yellow book from within one of the inner pockets. The book was Curious George (which Lyra had given her once, when she came back from a vacation to the human world, where she was almost enslaved by a traveling circus for her amazing ability to walk on two legs). She opened the book to the page that showed George walking on a telephone wire, and placed the feather next to him. She regarded her masterpiece for a few seconds, then closed the book and suitcase.
She then went back to watching the world, and waiting for the carriage.
Suddenly a carriage came by, but it wasn't the one Derpy was waiting for. It stopped for a moment, then drove off. Derpy went back to waiting. Then an earth mare with a brown coat and a pink mane came and sat down on the other side of the bench. Derpy regarded the earth mare with interest as she dug through a sack and pulled out a magazine to read to read (Equine to be exact, which was the Equestrian equivalent of People).
Derpy thought it would be only proper to introduce herself.
"Hello. My name's Derpy. Derpy Hooves."
The pink maned mare nodded politely, but didn't say anything. Derpy opened the box from Sugar Cube Corner, and sniffed at it, then turned back to her new bench companion.
"You want a muffin?" asked Derpy, holding the box up.
The earth pony looked at the muffins a second, then politely shook her head no. Derpy smiled to herself, because this meant more for her.
"I could eat about a million and a half of these" chuckled the walled eyed mare. She fished around for a muffin. They were special muffins, which all looked sort of the same on the outside, but were each full of their own little surprise.
"My mama always said, 'Life, was like a box of chocolates.'" Derpy selected her muffin from the group, and bit into it. She smiled to herself. "'You never know what you're gonna get.'"
The earth mare nodded again, although she was starting to feel just a wee bit annoyed with the talkative Pegasus. Derpy finished her muffin in silence. After she was done licking her lips, she noticed that the earth mare had on a pair of lovely horseshoes. Derpy pointed a hoof in their direction.
"Those must be comfortable shoes. I'll bet you could walk all day in shoes like that and not feel a thing." The friendly Pegasus smiled. "I wish I had shoes like that."
The pink maned earth mare finally spoke to Derpy. "My hooves hurt" she said in way of contradicting Derpy's assumption that the shoes must be comfy.
Derpy nodded and thought for a second.
"My mama always said 'There's a lot you can tell about a pony from their shoes... Where they're going. Where they've been.'"
The earth mare finally seemed a bit interested, and turned to Derpy, who seemed to be thinking.
"I've worn lots of shoes." She was silent for a few seconds. "I'll bet if I think real hard I can remember my first pair of shoes." Derpy scrunched her snout and closed her eyes in concentration.
Then she remembered.
"Mama said they would take me anywhere."
Derpy continued with her story.
Our house had been in Mama's family's name ever since her grandpa's grandpa's grandpa had settled here about a thousand years ago or something like that.
"Now remember what I told you Derpy. You're no different than anypony else is."
Derpy's Mama turned and looked her young filly square in the eyes.
"Did you hear what I said Derpy. You're the same as everypony else, you are no different."
But then, a few days later Derpy's Mama was called in to meet with Derpy's school principal.
"Your filly is, different Ms. Hooves" said the stallion as delicately as he could put it. "Her IQ is 75."
"Well we're all different Mr. Hancock" said Derpy's Mama, trying to remain cool and calm.
The Stallion walked around his desk and stood by Derpy's Mama. He beckoned her over to the desk.
"Ms. Hooves I want you to take a look at something. Now these are this is the average IQ for a student in Derpy's grade. But Derpy is just a little below average. The state requires a minimum of 80 to attend public school Ms. Hooves. She's gonna half to go to a special school."
Derpy's Mama frowned at the stallion principal. The principal noticed and attempted to calm her.
"She's gonna be just fine Ms. Hooves."
Derpy's Mama softened a bit, but she still had the same stern tone in her voice.
"What does different mean anyway. She may be, a bit on the slow side, but girl Derpy is getting the same educational opportunities as everyone else. She's not going to no special school. Now we're talking about five little points here. Surely something can be done?"
"Well I'll see what I can do" said the principal.
Derpy thought back to the time she was a filly, and the doctor had fitted her with a special pair of horseshoes.
"She said they was my magic shoes."
"Alright Derpy" said the kindly stallion who was treating her "open your eyes now."
Derpy did as she was told, and was amazed to find a pair of golden horseshoes, which gave off a magical aura.
"Let's take a little flight around."
Derpy took off. Her wings were a bit wobbly, but the magic shoes lessened that wobbliness a great deal.
The doctor and Derpy's Mama, watch as the little filly flies awkwardly around the room.
"How does that feel?" asked the doctor, but Derpy only continued to hover around.
The doctor sighed and addressed Derpy's Mama.
"Her wings are strong Ms. Hooves, as strong as I've ever seen them. Her eyes are as crooked as a politician."
Derpy walked in between them.
"But don't worry, cause we're gonna straighten her right out."
Derpy suddenly lost her concentration, and came crashing to the ground.
"Derpy!" yelped Derpy's Mama in surprise.
After that, they walked out of the doctor's office. Derpy's Mama was hovering close to the ground so that Derpy could fly alongside her.
Suddenly though, Derpy got one of her wings caught on a fence. Derpy's Mama turned around to help her, and after a frustrating few seconds, she managed to pull her loose.
A couple of elderly stallions were standing there staring. Derpy's Mama looked at them disapprovingly.
"What're you staring at? Haven't you ever seen a little filly with medical horseshoes before?"
She and Derpy continued on. She turned to Derpy and said very sternly
"Don't ever let anypony tell you they're better than you Derpy. If Celestia had intended to make us all the same she would have given us all medical horseshoes."
Sitting on the bench, Derpy smiled at this memory.
"Mama always did have a way of explaining things so that I could understand."
