It’s simply nature to think oneself unique.
We want to believe that we’re one of a kind, that we’re something that is truly unique; either for personality, or for looks, or for talent. But those are mere unique traits; to be truly unique, oneself must be so different from the others, so completely unalike another, that there is simply no way for them to be like you.
The only way to be truly unique, is to be born truly unique.
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Bountiful Harvest was a walking, talking stereotype. An earth pony with a mud colored coat and a mane that had turned grey long before he’d even finished growing. Sporting a Cutie Mark of a hoe to denote his skill in farming. Actually looking like a farmer with his straw hat and having an accent was just the final stroke in the picture his name painted.
Still, he tried not to think about it too hard; a feat that wasn’t all that difficult thanks to farming being far more complex and thought requiring than a lot of ponies gave it credit for. Knowing what grew best in what soil and what weather, knowing how best to plant things to maximize the space you saved while not depleting the soil of all its nutrients before they could naturally replenish, knowing how to maintain multiple types of produce instead of just one type like some of the other family run farms, not to mention how to deal with the countless infections or pests that could plague any crop at almost any time, or the trick to picking crops when they were right at their best tasting. And that still wasn’t the half of it!
It was a surprisingly in depth list of things to know and keep in mind for months at a time; and to not forget over the winter season. Anypony who called ‘Bount’ (as some of his friends called him) stupid just because he was a farmer and not an academic was sorely mistaken; and likely would be sore from the earth pony’s hoof striking their jaw for saying it. He had common sense, and even a bit of the book sense that ponies usually thought of when using the word ‘intelligent’. That was more than enough for him; and all he needed to care for his farm.
As it was, Bountiful Harvest was currently living up to his name; his crops had flourished this year, to the point that he started to consider splurging a little to get something for his wife.
A lot of ponies were outright shocked to learn that, for all the earth pony cliches that Bount followed, he didn’t hate magic or have a disdain for unicorns. His family could scream their heads off all they wanted about ‘tradition’, but he couldn’t just ignore the amount of help magic was for his work. He even had taken one as his wife: A rather gifted mare named ‘Square Root’.
Though not stupid, Bount still struggled with mathematics and the technical part of running a business. That was where Root came in; her special talent was with numbers and mathematics, and she had turned that into making herself into an accountant, making her the perfect pony to help Bount out with his finances and profit management. The fact that Square Root wasn’t stuck up about her skill with numbers, or her magic, and was actually a fairly cute pony when she managed to pull her nose out of a notebook had caused Bount to become rather attracted to the mare. And, since they two of them spent so much time together as business partners (Root insisted on it, in agreement to stay on long term), it was inevitable that the two of them would grow close to each other. They both agreed that their wedding, shortly after the harvest, was the best day of their lives.
Bount was actually shocked to find that, though he appeared to be old, Root was actually older than he was by several years. Not that it changed his opinion of her, but it did make things quite a shock for them once they realized that she was expecting; leading to this moment in time.
It was late in the night of August, almost to the point of it being the morning of the next day, and Square Root was in the middle of her labor.
Bount paced around the room as the doctors attended to his wife and her needs as the labor lengthened into its second hour. She had already screamed death threats at him, and left a few marks on him thanks to half-cast spells hitting him in her pain induced rage, but nothing that he was going to hold against her when all was said and done. He was an earth pony, he was tougher than most and would heal without a mark by the next morning. He was just worried about his wife and- as yet- unborn child. He had lost potential siblings to births gone wrong, and wasn’t entirely sure that he could handle losing his foal to one as well.
Suddenly, Square root started screaming and Doctor Helping Hoof rushed over to her. “Looks like this foal’s coming out.” The pegasus smiled at the father-to-be. “Get ready to meet your foal, Bount.”
Bount rushed over, heart racing as he watched his wife. “YOU BUCKING MUD PONY! I’M GOING TO TURN YOU INSIDE OUT WHEN I GET OUT HERE!” He was pretty sure that she had used that one already. Plus, his own father had told him rather interesting and colorful tales of things his mother had said during his birth, and she seemed entirely embarrassed by what she had screamed at him while mad from pain. He highly doubted Root meant any of what she was saying right now.
“Yes... yes, I can see a horn.” Silently, Bountiful Harvest cheered. Though he would have been happy with any kind of pony, so long as the baby was healthy, he had been hoping to have another unicorn around the house to help with the harvest like his mother. “Okay, just keep pushing; we’re almost through with the head.” Square Root swore so badly a sailor would have have blushed in shame, while Bount simply tried to get a look at his foal through the nurses surrounding his wife as she continued to push.
“Okay; it’s a... it’s a....” Doctor Helping Hoof’s eyes went wide at something he was seeing. “What in Celestia’s name?”
“What!? What is it!?” Square Root tried to shift for a better look, only for one of the nurses to push her back down as the doctor picked the foal up and flew out of the room before Bountiful Harvest could see anything more than a blob of white. “WHAT IS IT?!” His wife continued to shriek from the table as some of the unicorn nurses had to use spells to restrain her. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY BABY?!?!”
Bountiful tried to follow the doctor out, but the pegasus was simply too fast for him to catch more than a glimpse of in the hallway, and once he’s managed to get to the corner, he was gone entirely.
Time seemed to pass at a crawl; minutes felt like hours as the couple tried their best to distract their thoughts from the sheer number of things that could be wrong with their baby. Square Root had fixed her white mane and smoothed her black coat (sporting her namesake symbol) and was now busying herself with some math problems. Well, one math problem; her mind was such a mess right now that even her special talent wasn’t working right. And Bountiful Harvest, he had reread the same line in a book from the waiting room more times than he was able to remember and not taken in a single word of it.
Suddenly, the door of the room they had been led to opened; letting in Doctor Helping Hoof.
“Where is my baby!” Square Root dropped her paper and pencil as she rushed over to the pegasus; only prevented from pinning him to the wall by her husband’s intervention.
To his credit, Helping Hoof just stood there and waited for the mare to calm down some before he started to speak. “Bount, Root; I just want you two to answer me ‘yes’ or ‘no’, no matter what I ask, just those two answers. Do you understand?”
The earth pony and unicorn just looked at each other for a moment, sharing all they needed to with that one moment of eye contact. “Yes.”
“Okay; were there any unusual moments while you were pregnant that you didn’t tell me about? Anything, even if it’s just minor.”
Square Root pursed her lips and racked her brain, thinking back through all that she’s been through with the pregnancy. While it hadn’t been easy, there was nothing that really stood out to her as abnormal. “No.”
The pegasus turned to Bountiful now. “Was there anything, anything at all, that happened around the farm, or nearby; something that ponies talked about that wasn’t supposed to happen?”
“Nope, just business as usual.” Bount was well aware that his life wasn’t the most exciting; nopony’s in Hoofington’s was, that was just a fact of living there. He was, however, wondering where the doctor was going with this.
“Root, did you cast any spells on yourself; even minor-”
“I was with child!” She finally screamed, telekinetically pushing the doctor against the wall before her husband could stop her. “I know the risks, I didn’t even use basic magic on myself! Now, tell me what is wrong with my baby!”
Helping Hoof gulped, struggling even though he knew it was pointless. Though Square Root wasn’t exactly known for her magic prowess, rage like she was feeling at the moment could work wonders on ponies. “Well... nothing is technically wrong with him...”
The unicorn didn’t let up, hearing the unsaid word. “But?”
The doctor sighed in defeat. “Just put me down, I’ll show you the ‘but’.”
It took some more convincing from her husband before Root finally released her hold on him, but her glare made it perfectly clear that, should he try to weasel out of it, she was ready to snatch him up again.
Thankfully, for him, Helping Hoof was a pony of his word. He led the couple through the corridors of the hospital, passed many staff who stopped what they were doing to point at them and whisper amongst themselves. When Bountiful questioned the doctor, he merely waved them off with a simple ‘you’ll see’ and continued on, as was the case when Square Root realized they were passing the maternity ward. Finally, they were led to a less inhabited part of the hospital; for long term patients near the end of their life, and with a fair number of empty rooms at the moment.
“Here we are.” Helping Hoof pushed open the door to a room at the end of a hall, revealing a nurse pony watching over a blanket wrapped bundle in a cradle. She nodded at the three of them when they entered, then whispered. “Careful, he’s asleep.” She waved them over, gingerly pulling back the blanket covering the foal.
Bountiful Harvest watched as Square Root all but galloped up to the cradle, actually sweating as she looked him over; he joined her a moment later, wanting his own look at his son.
The colt had most certainly gotten his mane, grey as it was already, but he was slightly surprised to notice that his coat was as white as Root’s was black, creating an interesting contrast as she gently touched him with her hoof. The horn was there as well, little more than a large nub at this early stage of development, but- and Bountiful actually had to double check that he wasn’t seeing things, the newborn’s sides sported a pair of equally white wings.
“They’re real.” Both parents turned to Helping Hoof, still standing at the doorway. “I didn’t believe it myself; I still don’t believe it really. I saw him come out of you, Square Root, so I can tell you this isn’t a mistake; and you’re probably aware this isn’t a dream, given how much pain were in not too long ago. So, there really is no other explanation. Your baby is an alicorn; that’s the Celestia’s honest truth.” The pegasus sighed. “Well, I guess this is where I ask you if you’ve thought of a name for him.”
Bountiful Harvest and Square Root looked at eachother, then at their child, then back again.
Bount was the first to find his voice. “Well; we agreed that the name was up to you.”
The unicorn took one last look at her son, then closed her eyes and nodded.
“Harmony; his name is ‘Harmony’.”