Special

The soft sound of a piano played through the halls of my house. It was firm yet calming, like a mother’s voice. Coincidentally, it was my mother playing the piano, so it made sense. As her hooves tickled the ivory, I sat comfortably on the couch not too far from her, a pleased grin on my face and half-lidded eyes.

My mother, Sparkling Wine, is a very elegant mare. Her coat is a shimmering snowy white, her eyes the color of lavender. Her purple mane flows down her back like an amethyst river, and her cutie mark is a glistening bottle of wine. She always insists on having her wine “sparkling” and in a champagne glass, a piano at her reach every time we move, and a mirror so she can dress and do her hair each morning.

In short, she’s really persnickety.

But, thankfully, her kindness is more significant than that. She loves everypony, even if they never love her back. She has a heart of gold and tries to keep things peaceful and in balance. It makes sense that she’s a libra. Dad and other ponies tell me that I remind them of her, but my dull coat and boring mane don’t compare to her beauty.

At that moment, the day’s harvest was over, so we had nothing better to do than sit and listen to Mom play piano. It was a great way to spend the evening after a long twenty-four hours of hard work. She was amazing at playing piano.

“Hey, Mom,” I said, feeling a bit guilty afterwards for stopping her music.

Mom paused and turned to smile at me. Her hair was in a bun with two stray bits, and they swayed as she turned. “Yes, dear, what is it?” she asked.

I sat up on the couch, letting out a sigh before saying, “Why do we continue to stay here?”

The smile Mom had put on faltered a little. There was an awkward pause, like she was thinking hard. She shouldn’t have to think hard, though, should she? It was a simple question that required a semi-simple answer.

“We, well...” she began, struggling to find the correct words. I saw her eyes wander around from me to the floor, and I narrowed my brows. “It’s hard to explain. Why don’t you go find your father?” she finally answered, giving me her best that’s-my-story-and-I’m-sticking-to-it smile. I wasn’t about to accept that, though.

I sat up straighter. “There has to be some reason. You know what’s been going on here,” I said, and my voice lowered as I continued, “And you know what happened to Grape Soda when we first got here.”

Hurt flashed over Mom’s eyes, and for a second I thought she would yell at me for saying such a thing. But she sat there with resilience that I hadn’t seen in months.

“We have our reasons, Viney,” she said. “And that’s that.”

She used my nickname/name she used when I got in trouble. Defeated, my ears flattened against my head. “But-”

“No buts! Now go to your room!” Before I could say anything else, Mom whipped back around and her hooves hit the ivory keys hard.

I wasn’t going to argue with her anymore. If we went farther, things would be said that could never be taken back. I slid off the couch and went up the stairs, not looking back again. I could hear a louder crunch of the keys, most likely her head, and soft sobs barely heard from my room above the room.

I sat on the bed feeling guilty as heck for what seemed like hours, until heavy hoofsteps echoed from behind the door. Picking up my head, I turned and saw come through the doorway.

My father, Sour Grapes, is just a little less elegant than Mom is, being raised a grape farmer and all. His coat is a deep gray, almost black color, and his forest green mane is as neat as a farm pony can make it. His hair reveals black hooves. But, besides the dark fur, his eyes are a sapphire blue, gentle like water.

When he entered, my stomach both turned into knots and was relieved. How, though, I’m not sure. I knew he would find some way to even out the folds in my mood. Most likely he already did with Mom, as the sobbing soon stopped after a few minutes.

I silently scooted over to make room for him. Dad sat down and looked at me. I was unable to read his emotions, like always, so I had no idea whether to be afraid or happy that he was there.

“Hi, Dad,” I muttered, unable to look away from his eyes.

“I heard what happened with you and your mother,” he said. “and I wanted you to know that she forgives you.”

My blood started boiling, but only some. “That still doesn’t answer my question!” I retorted, and he slightly jumped. “I don’t want to be forgiven, I want answers!”

“What kind of answers?”

“Answers as to why we’re here!”

He put a hoof to a head. “Well, an Alicorn named Queen Faust created the world from nothingness with her hooves and...”

He paused when he realized I was fuming like a kettle on a burner. “That’s not what I meant. I meant why we’re in this town when we’re being banned from living in this town! I get bullied, you and Mom usually have somepony rant at you every day, and you know what happened to Grape Soda when we first got here! Obviously we don’t belong here and it’s hurting us!”

At the end of my speech, I was quite the sight. My breaths were heavy, my eyes were dilated, and sweat came down in beads from my forehead. My throat ached, just like my heart.

Dad let out a long sigh. “Do you honestly want to know?”

I gulped and nodded.

“I’ve heard you tell other ponies about how strong you are. How you put up with the pain of this town and say that you’re special just the way you are, and that’s why you stay.”

“I do that because I have to!” I objected.

He frowned. “I wasn’t finished.”

“Sorry.”

“But the truth is, we’re here because we have no other choice.”

I looked over at him with wide eyes, my mind blown into smithereens. “W-what?”

Dad nodded somberly. “The law forbids us from ever moving away from this town. If we do, we could be sent to prison or even sentenced to death.”

Death? “But why?”

“I don’t know, Viney,” he said, shaking his head. “Somehow, we had signed something somewhere and, as a result, we can’t leave.”

“We can’t ask Celestia if we can leave?”

“She’s the one who set the law in the first place.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“We knew you’d take it like you are now.”

I ran out of questions and was at a loss of words to the point where my mind searched frantically for a reason. “But...” I finally choked. “...why?”

He sighed again. “My theory is that it’s not us, but the town.”

“The town?”

“This town has done some very interesting... things in the past, and as punishment, nobody can leave once they return.”

“Doesn’t that mean that ponies can’t enter, either? I mean, that would make sense and all,” I asked, tilting my head.

Dad shrugged with no reply.

There was a long pause. Emotions dragged it out for however long it lasted until I shifted in my seat and leaned over onto his lap. He didn’t move, but instead laid a hoof down onto my head and began to stroke my green and dark green braid.

“Dad...” I started in a quiet voice.

He looked down at me. “Yes?”

“Do you think we’ll ever find Grape Soda?”

I could hear him choke up a bit as he said, “Of course we will. I know she’s not too far gone.”

I smiled a little bit wider and nestled deep into his front legs. “Good. I’m lonely here.”

Dad just chuckled and kissed me on the head. Slowly but surely we both slipped into a dark, dreamy land of peace.

It was the next morning. A Sunday. I had free time for the entire day, after both Mom and Dad insisted that they let me have fun alone. Though they still didn’t understand that there weren’t any other ponies that liked me. They knew about Butter Cream, but not what had happened the week before. They just knew I had gotten tipsy.

Instead of staying inside town boundaries, I went out to the entrance. There were no buildings there, and rarely anypony came there. So I was all alone, and I liked it.

As I lay in the thick fields of grass and flowers, I gazed upon the town sign.

Coltington: The Home of the Proud

Somepony had scratched out the “proud” part of it and replaced it in scraggly hoofwriting with “RACIST JERKS” and other words that I will not repeat. I sighed, feeling sorry for the town I lived in, but knowing most of their words were true.

“Don’t worry, Grape Soda,” I whispered to only me. “We’ll leave this town soon with everypony in this family. You’ll see.”