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There Were Six1,336 words
Flying1,339 words
My Teacher2,180 words

Flying

Scars.

At least 80% of the population of Equalestria have scars.

Maybe a scar on their head, covered by hair. Or a scar on either side of their torso. Some ponies have no scars at all.

Rarely do you see a pony with all scars.

Teacher has both scars. On her head, and on her sides.

Me too.

I wonder why we have the scars? I wonder why some are on the body and some on the head, I wonder what they mean. You simply have them when you come from the child's home.

There are whispers about the child's home. You leave at age 6 and begin school. You remember nothing from the child's home. You remember nothing before the moment you step out the door of the child's home.

Where do the children come from? What truly is the child's home? Why do children come from there?

Some say we are built by machines. Some say we are produced by thought from the mind of Mother. That she all makes us equally beautiful.

I ask Teacher again and again, but she says she cannot tell me. She does not know where the children come from either.

I ask about the scars. Surely, Teacher must know of the scars? I point to her sides, I brush away her straight mane and touch the scar on her forehead. She flinches when I touch that one.

She pushes me off, and sighs. "Gray." she speaks, calmingly, "The scars replace what should be there."

"What do you mean?"

"The scars are there to show a part of us was stolen. Our differences."

"'Differences'." I repeat, and point to my scars on either side of my body. "My 'differences' were stolen?"

Teacher smiled, and sat on the floor of her empty classroom, save for us two. "Yes." she looked down. "Your differences were stolen, and so were mine." She looked up, teary eyed. "I miss having my differences, I-" she choked on her words, and clutched on her throat, her eyes widened. She opened her mouth, and the only sound from her throat was croaking and she began to cough.

"Teacher!" I said, grabbing onto her, "Teacher, what is wrong?"

She went to her desk, and began to drink from a bottle of water. She cleared her throat, "I-I'm sorry, Gray. I'm feeling alright now. I just- I guess I can't exactly speak right today." She looked down her eyes darting and her brow furrowing together in thought.

"You are thinking?" I asked. "You have that look when you are thinking of something important."

She grabbed a blank piece of paper and pencil. She began to write something onto the paper, but the pencil in her mouth suddenly stopped moving. She stared at the paper wide eyed.

She put a hoof to her chin, and tapped it, looking up, then at me.

"Gray, tell me." she approached me, and sat down in front of me. "What do you think the stitches mean?"

I thought for a moment. "Well, you said that our 'differences' were stolen. There was something on me, that was taken, why?"

"Do you remember the book, When The Sun Dies, what does it mention that those ponies have that we do not?"

"They had not color names!" I said, smiling. "They had very..."

"Unique." Teacher smiled.

"Unique names..." I said, "I, I understand what unique is now!" I said excitedly. "They- they were-"

"Special."

"Special ponies, and their names were not colors but many other things!"

Teacher nodded, saying I was on the right track.

"Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie..." I stopped, when I saw that Teachers eyes were starting to water.

"C-countinue." Teacher said, barely over a whisper.

"Rarity," I said, slower this time, "Rainbow Dash,"

Teacher shut her eyes.

"-and Twilight Sparkle."

"B-" she began to say, her lips shaking, "-but what else did they have, something they had the ability to do but we can't."

I remembered.

"They had wings, that made them fly! They could fly like birds! Rainbow, was one of the fastest flyers in Equalestria!"

"And where exactly, do birds have-" she choked on her words, "Th-those on their bodies? From the pictures you've seen?"

I tried, I tried hard to remember, and I smiled. "They have their wings! Their wings right-"

I put my hoof to indicate where birds would have their wings, and I shivered, when I felt my hoof touch a scar on my side.

I looked back, and frowned. "They would have their wings right here."

Twilight liked at me and smiled, tears falling down her face.

"You were supposed to fly, Gray."

I sat in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

You were supposed to fly. I want to know what it is like to fly. I want to fly beside the birds, I want to feel the wind in my mane. Was my name even supposed to be Gray? In old Equalestria- no, Equestria, ponies had very 'unique' names. What would my name be? Would it still be Gray?

I went to the bathroom, and stared at myself in the mirror. This is the mare I saw every day, every morning I woke up. Gray, dull, boring, eyes stared forward. A straight, short, gray mane, separated two ways on my forehead, and fell straight down to one side.

The way the book described the six ponies... they sounded so bright, so colorful, not just black and white but the entire rainbow. Not names like Pink, Yellow, and Blue, but Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow.

You were supposed to fly.

My coat, matching everypony else's, white. Nothing but a simple white coat.

"Princess Luna stood at the edge of the balcony, her flowing blue mane full of sparkling stars, and her dark blue coat like the midnight sky."

I wonder how I would look with dark blue fur... I wonder what that even looks like. It's hard to imagine.

I wonder how this happened. That now we are born equal, and much, 'unique' from the original. How could they so easily drain us of our color, in some kind of factory with evil intent?

Evil.

Had I just used the word evil to describe the ponies who made me who I am.

Had I just used the word evil to describe my brother and sisters, the word evil to describe Mother's children. To maybe even describe Mother herself?

No... no Mother would never hurt us, but then why does she justify the mutation of our bodies?

You were supposed to fly.

It would be wonderful to fly. It would be wonderful to be 'unique'.

I teared up a bit... and said no. We do not cry, we do not doubt mother, or her ways. We do not doubt ourselves or each other. We do not have thoughts that do not match hers. We do not cry. We smile.

Smile.

I smiled wide, a large grin spreading across my face. Tears still fell down my cheeks as the familiar expression of every pony in town stared back at me. It pained me to make the same expression I make every day.

To pretend that everything is alright, but, why pretend? Everything is alright. I am the same as you and me, we are all equal, we are all happy, we love what we do, we love everypony, we love the jobs we are assigned, we love school, we love life, and most importantly...

We love Mother.

My grin faded, and I looked at the floor. I could feel tears in my eyes but I wasn't exactly sure why.

Why do cry?

Why do we feel sad even though we are always happy?

Why do we pretend, why do continue to do the same things over and over, which always end in failure. Why does Mother cheer on our pain?

I look at myself in the mirror. I stare. I stare.

Something is wrong.

I look wrong.

From my gray mane, a tiny lock of pink hair fell loose.

I was unique.

Author's Note:

Hmm, who could Gray really be... I wonder?