//------------------------------//
// 15 - A Civil Service (ode in terza rima) 
// Story: Ponyville & Other Poems 
// by AugieDog 
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                      1.

Their whispers follow ev'rywhere I go
In awed procession, wondering, amazed
As if I have some magic to bestow.

Forgetful's what I think them when I'm praised:
Too vivid still the former years of want
When these same sycophants would call me crazed,

A rudderless, buffoonish dilettante
Unfit to bear the mantle I possessed,
Their scorn like water flooding from a font.

But now?  Conventions ask me as a guest
To share my secrets.  Now they're pleased to call
My town the best example of the best.

Appearances deceive, I learned when small,
And Ponyville's not my town.  Not at all.


                      2.

I took my early gambols through those streets 
With friends and classmates laughing at my side,
The shining children, foals of the elites—

Except a few who'd quietly confide
When I'd invite them out to shop and play
That while they'd match me dancing stride for stride,

The bits they had were meant to purchase hay,
Not custom shoes or chocolate-covered cheese.
It filled my shallow heart with such dismay!

That ponies worked instead of lived at ease
Upset my world and made more questions fall.
How could my town possess what didn't please?

Appearances deceive, I learned when small,
And Ponyville's not my town.  Not at all.


                      3.

The social whirl that spun my life around
Allowed no room for thoughts too large or thick,
And those I somehow formed were quickly drowned.

"Nopony's ever really poor or sick,"
The common wisdom always reassured.
"Besides, it's having friends that does the trick!"

Unsatisfied by this as I matured,
I turned from those for whom it still held true
And sought the few no others helped or cured.

Their situation called for something new:
Official, licensed friends who could install
The hope that my town needed through and through.

Appearances deceive, I learned when small,
And Ponyville's not my town.  Not at all.


                      4.

The mayor at the time just shook her head:
Too drastic, too expensive, too untried.
So I declared I'd seek her job instead.

I dyed my mane to seem more dignified,
Announced my future civil service corps
Would work for all with friendship as our guide—

And got elected.  Then began the chore:
Frustration, failure, snide remarks from those
Who said to try was foolishness and more.

Incompetent they called me; how my foes
Delighted, pointing out each springtime's stall
To name my town a home for windigoes.

Appearances deceive, I learned when small,
And Ponyville's not my town.  Not at all.


                      5.

It seemed a slight majority believed
The program worth the cost because I won
My re-election twice.  I then received

Endorsement from the princess of the sun
Whose student came and learned from us so well,
Our Princess Twilight's reign has just begun.

But understand: it's not some magic spell,
No special food or drink that's brought our town
Success where others stumble.  Truth to tell,

It's ponies, simply ponies, up and down—
Confounding, wondrous ponies wall to wall—
And serving them will never make me frown.

Appearances deceive, I learned when small,
And Ponyville's not my town.  Not at all.