Sapience, it is defined by, "Awareness of Mind and Magic". It is universally agreed on, that all "truly Sapient" creatures have some kind of magic.
Ponies, Griffins, even Diamond Dogs, they all had magic coursing through them. Unicorns and Pegasi were the most obvious, but the races from all the other kingdoms, had some kind of magical potential as well.
Although, most of them couldn't tap into it, without use of a wand. Basically anything that could use a wand was considered "Sapient"... and there was a wand right there.
It was battered up, with more then a few bite marks on the handle, but there it was... a wand...
There were even a bunch of beginner spell books, for sale on how to use it. One for each of the 7 schools of spell casting, even some on magical crafts.
Rune and Enchantments would be good books to get, with the spell books. Oh! They even had a bunch of different books for potions (Novice level to Mastery). Applebloom would love those! It could be something they could do together, for years to come.
Big Mac grinned eagerly. He always loved it when the Saddle Aarabian merchants came into town. They had parked their small wagon in the middle of the market district and were encouraging ponies to look around inside. The thing had an impressive extension charm on it. Making the inside, the size of a warehouse despite the wagon's limited dimensions.
OOOOOOOO!!!! There was a scroll on how to make things bigger on the inside to!
Big Mac eagerly shoved the books, and a number of scrolls, into his metal shopping cart. Then gingerly put the chewed up wand on the seat.
Since he was a small colt, Big Mac had always wanted to learn magic. He had been saving for this for years. Now, thanks to his cut of this years Cider sales, he finally had enough money to get into the art of spell casting.
Sure it was a second hoof wand, but that just meant he could get more books for it... though the books were kinda beat up themselves... which meant he still had enough left over... for a familiar...
He grinned eagerly, as he pushed his cart towards the "Exotic Pet" aisle. There were all kinds of amazing creatures down this section. He didn't know which to pick!
These were all classified as "Intelligent Creatures". While not as intelligent as ponies, they are capable of basic reasoning skills. However, their Intelligence is actually a detriment.
They are not smart enough to build tools of their own, but their intelligence does cause them to constantly question their base instincts. This results in them not truly being able to fend for themselves. As such, the pony race has taken it on themselves, to care for them.
Most animals in Equestria are listed as "Intelligent Creatures".
"Lower Animals", such as fish and most bugs, are far too stupid to be considered "Intelligent creatures". As such they are often used as food for carnivores.
Even Pegasus are known to enjoy the occasional fish with no moral questioning. The winged ponies do need the extra protein from flying around all the time. It's not like Pegasi have an Earth Pony's magically enhanced endurance.
Big Mac suddenly frowned, as he saw a cow in this section.
Cows are tricky. Well they are capable of speech, they are listed as "Intelligent Creatures" and not actually any smarter then the rest of them. It's more of a "morally grey" area, but cows have proven in the past, that without Pony intervention, they could very well go extinct.
Then... then there were humans... Humans were brilliant. If anything they were actually smarter then ponies. However, as they had no magical abilities, they were listed as "Intelligent Creatures"... ponies tended to round them up, force them to breed, and take their children away to be sold as pets.
The humans that escaped this, lived in independent "tribes". Where they crafted weapons that were a match for pony magic... they were actually the race that invented "Firearms", which were almost immediately banned by Princess Celestia... not that the humans cared, and really who could blame them.
Humans needed their guns, to protect themselves from pony slavers... cause that's what the ponies who traded them were. Humans were too bucking smart for it to be anything other then slavery. The fact human "pets" were often used for sex (and various kinks no mare would agree to) hardly helped that image.
Now there weren't many humans in Equestria, just an occasional pack here or there. They only lived for 150 years at best, and that was only with the aid of pony medicine. Compared to a pony's 500 year lifespan, plus a hoof full of decades, they really were short lived creatures.
Ponies couldn't even bind them as a familiar, which allowed most "Intelligent Creatures" to live in their prime until their owner died (then the critter just dropped dead). The fact ponies couldn't do this with humans was further proof they were more then simple animals.
There were ancient fossils and relics, dating back millions of years, which suggested humans were once the dominant species on the planet (long before the pony tribes evolved). Regardless, because there were so few humans now, nopony thought there was a need to change the definition of "Sapient" just for them. They also wouldn't create a new category to classify them... nor even pass laws to protect them.
Nopony thought of how they were treated... not even Big Mac, truth be told... not until it affected him...
The red Stallion looked in one of the cages, at a barely grown "man". The human had very pale peach skin, a few freckles on his nose and cheeks, jet black hair (an uncommon color in ponies), and small bright blue eyes. He was quite the pretty boy, and "boy" was definitely a better word to describe him.
The sign said he was of a "ripe" age of 18... ponies weren't even considered adults until they were 30... yet this boy was tied up in bondage gear, with a ball gag in his mouth that was dripping with drool (indicating it had been in there for a long time), a chastity device on his small dick (at least compared to ponies. Big Mac wasn't sure if it was average for humans), and a plug up his flank.
The bondage forced the boy into an embarrassing position, which let Big Mac see EVERYTHING.
But even that wasn't the most disturbing thing... the boy had bruises... a lot of bruises and welts all over his body... even on his balls...
Big Mac gulped looking at this poor pitiful creature... he would probably be kept like this for the rest of his life. Used more as a sex toy, that can cry, then an actual pet... Big Mac continued to stare into the cage... and made a decision...