Special

Everypony tells me that I’m just an Earth pony. Everypony tells me that I can’t do anything special. Everypony tells me that, because I have no wings or horns, I’m not able to do much. But that’s not true at all.

See, I live in a town where nearly everypony is either a Pegasus or a Unicorn. There are rare moments that there are Earth ponies as well, but those are rid of just as fast as they come, either by being driven away or moving out of town themselves. So the entire population is “magical”, as they call it. Well, almost the entire population.

My parents and I have a house in Town Square that’s surrounded by other houses. In the middle of it is a huge food market, and that’s where Mother and Father work. They are grape and wine makers, and make money by selling it at town. There’s also a vineyard that we own a little ways away from the town. We don’t make piles of bits, but we have enough.

My job is to harvest all the grapes and take them back to the house to be made into wine. Sure, my special talent isn’t exciting, and having a basket of grapes as your cutie mark isn’t as fun, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Some ponies tell me that my life would be so much easier if I had a horn or wings. Then I could just levitate all the grapes at once, or get the grapes to the house much faster. That’s not what makes me special, though, and that’s exactly what I tell them. They only glare and walk away.

Ponies think I’m hurt by their words. They think that whenever they stare or yell at me, or offend me, that I will break down and cry. The few immature ponies that litter the vineyard or put graffiti all over the barn there think that we will bail out and go away. But we don’t. I’m surprised they don’t try to hurt us very often, but I won’t put it past them anymore.

Mother tells me that they’re jealous of us, and that’s why they hate Earth ponies. Unicorns are much more fragile than we are, and Pegasi can only wish of the power we have with the earth. If a Pegasus or Unicorn tried to do my job, they would surely give up in a matter of hours. And that’s why I don’t want to be like them.

I go to a normal school in the town. It’s small and only has one room in it, but we don’t need that much space. Every Thursday and Friday is when the ponies my age go to class; the ponies not yet ready for adult schooling, but don’t have to sit through elementary, either. It usually means a day off of work for me, which I enjoy.

Including me, there are twelve students. Most are Pegasi, a few are Unicorns, and only one is an Earth pony. Me. But that doesn’t stop me from getting a full education.

The sad thing is that even the teacher doesn’t pay much attention to me. You would expect her to at least stop all the bullying or something, but it’s sometimes her that starts it. So you could imagine the isolation in the nine hours of school I have to take.

I don’t like to complain, though, so I just tolerate it and sit out in the last row, in the left corner, in the cold and the dark, and strain to hear the teacher’s lesson. If I had the courage, I would definitely ask her to speak louder or to let me in the front of the class, but that would just get her angrier. So I just tolerate it.

I make good grades, though. The Equestrian laws from Princess Celestia require that I do not get grades based on how the teachers think of me, but on my performance in the class. I get mostly A’s, with a few B’s, and I’ve never gotten a grade based on what type of pony I am. Yet.

The rest of the week is when I have either work or free time. When I have nothing else to do, I end up going to the sweet shoppe down the road from where I live. That may be the only place without discrimination, because once I step through that door, I feel equal with everypony else.

The cashier there, Buttercream, is why I keep going back. She’s a Unicorn, but she seems to not care that I’m not. Unless her boss comes in to check up on her performance, she doesn’t get hateful or anything. The only reason she ever gets angry around me is when he comes in; whenever she glares at me, it hurts, but deep down inside I know it's an act. I’m kind of amazed at how good she is at it, too.

The place is named Sweet Cakes, and they live up to their name perfectly. They serve anything that’s cake or is related to it. It’s the greatest cake I’ve ever tasted, too! I always end up having to take the leftovers home, and my parents eat that up as well.

Since ponies rarely come by the place, I have a feeling that they may shut down for good soon. If they don’t make enough bits, they can’t afford to stay open. I wish I could help them, but with the few bits we earn from the market, we’d have to go out of business as well if we did. Then we’d have to leave. I don’t want to leave.

Other than the Sweet Cakes place, there’s not much to do here. There’s a roller skating rink, bowling alley, and a park as well, but those strictly prohibit Earth ponies. At least the sweet shoppe lets me in, or else I would be bored to death.

I’ve nearly been arrested for minding my own business before. I was on one pony’s property and had no idea until they came out and started getting angry. He threatened to call the police and left before I could justify myself. It was only a week ago, too.

It was a nice Sunday morning, and I had finished my chores early, so I could go for a walk. There weren’t many other ponies out, but I was glad. There would be a lot of noise and shoving - ”special” or not - and that wouldn’t be a good peaceful walk.

The wind was soft and gentle as it blew through my braid, and I had a feeling it would be a good day. Who knew that I was so wrong? I wish I had known better as to walk through the streets alone.

I was walking along when I decided to sit down on a bench and enjoy the sun’s warmth or something. There was a seat nearby, and I quickly sat down, wrapping my tail around me. It was calm and quiet. It was a good thing I had gotten to town square before the crowds came, or else the seats would have been full and I would have tripped over ponies and things would have started off badly.

“Hey, you!” I turned around at the sound of a stallion’s fuming voice, my heart beating faster. At the house behind the bench was a Pegasus standing outside the door, his eyes shooting daggers at me. When I didn’t say anything, he yelled, “What are you doing?!”

I didn’t know what exactly to say. “I-I’m sitting, sir...!” I stammered. Was there a law that I didn’t know about saying I couldn’t sit on a bench? "Is there s-something wrong?"

He got even angrier. “That’s my bench, you filthy brat! Get off of my property!”

I jumped off the bench and stared at him, not sure of what to do anymore. I was scared. It had been a while since something like this happened. “S-sorry!” I cried.

“‘Sorry’ ain’t gonna cut it!” he said, and for a second I thought he would try to hurt me. I stumbled back away from what was apparently his property until I was in the road. But he didn’t seem to care I was gone now and shouted, “Be glad I’m nice enough not to tell the police on you! Earth ponies aren’t supposed to be here, anyways!”

Then he slammed the door behind him, leaving me shaken and afraid. Was he getting the police? Before anything could happen to me, I turned and ran back to my house, tears loosely falling.

Ever since then, I’ve refrained from sitting on benches, in case it’s somepony else’s. Some aren’t so “nice”, as they call it, and would actually get the police. Then we would all be kicked out of town. We would be broke, homeless, and it would be all of my fault. This means my hooves hurt a lot more, but it’s better off that way.

Have you ever heard the story of the founding of Equestria? I went to the Canterlot pageant two years ago after we saved up enough bits to get there by train. I learned a lot from that experience.

When I entered the theatre, I felt like I was in a whole new world. There were Pegasi and Earth ponies talking nicely to each other, and Unicorns weren’t telling Earth ponies they were useless. Instead, there was harmony. Something I had only heard of in books, but never in real life.

I was in the very first row so I could get a good look. Next to me were three young fillies; an orange Pegasus, a white Unicorn, and a yellow... Earth pony. They were smiling and laughing, talking about their next crusade for their cutie marks. It was a sight for sore, blind eyes.

The beginning of the play reminded me a lot of our town. The Earth ponies were down on the food chain, while the Unicorns and Pegasi demanded everything from them. Typical.

Then it got worse at the meeting, and I almost wanted to leave. I knew it was a play and all, but still. The poor chancellor and her Earth ponies were made fun of by the commander. “What a shocker! An Earth pony with no ideas!” she had said, and I felt a bit offended. Then again, it was Commander Hurricane, not the rainbow-y pony playing him.

I liked Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever, and Private Pansy much better. They were treating one another equally, like nopony was better than the other. I began to wonder why that had changed so much over the years.

My favorite part, though, was the ending. Everypony was happy together, so much unlike our town. I wished it was like that every day.

Then everypony suddenly stood up, and I was confused. Even Mother and Father were up next to me, and they quietly ushered me up as well. The bells rang above the stage, and loud music played. What was going on? Was there something happening that you had to stand up to see? I was lucky to be up front, otherwise I wouldn't have seen a thing in front of me.

Then the ponies around me - even Mother and Father - began to sing.

The fire of friendship lives in our hearts,

As long as it burns we cannot drift apart.

I recognized this song. Mother used to play it on the piano around Hearth's Warming Eve. Finally snapped out of confusion, I was soon singing as well.

Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few.

Laughter and singing will see us through!

We are a circle of pony friends,

A circle of friends we'll be to the very end!

After the play was over, I didn’t want to go back home. I liked it in Canterlot better, and I didn’t want to see those other ponies again. If they had tried to act like the ponies in the play, I would actually enjoy it in the town.

We went back to the town where everything was the same. After seeing that play, I’ve been secretly praying that things would change. I’m not saying that I want to change, that’d just be stupid, but I think there should be equality in my little town.

For now, I’ll have to deal with me being treated like a pile of dirt for Celestia knows how long. Maybe someday they’ll learn that Earth ponies really are useful. Without us, there wouldn’t be any nature or earth-grown food. Grapes are pretty much the only healthy thing in the town, since the other fruits and vegetables are filled with chemicals.

Without us, there wouldn’t be uniqueness. There would just be Unicorns and Pegasi, and that wouldn’t be as fun. Where would the interestingness be? The other ponies may not realize that, but I do. Somepony needs to have an open mind here.

Without us, there wouldn’t be any specialness.

Because I am special.

I’m just the only one who knows it.