A unicorn gets an absurd amount of utility especially if they go Manipulation. Most of the spells they get remain relevent even if they never invest more perks or anything into their magic. A unicorn with 6int (far lower then any character I'd usually play) Coud easily know how to teleport, phase, and their choice of any of the other cool stuff..and I dunno about you but Teleporting along is worth more then a perk. Phase is also pretty valuable.
Oh, man. Don't even get me started on how broken the Manipulation school is. Manipulation and Enchantment are essentially the reasons why unicorns get an OP reputation, if not for them being able to do a little of everything with no real cost. Basically, as far as I know, Manipulation and Enchantment have every base covered in terms of how traditional roles work. Tanking, Utility, Damage-Dealing, at least. Not so much healing, although an argument can be made how useful mobility is in terms of fulfilling that healing role. There's a reason that I play a pegasus medic.
Honestly, if it were my decision, I'd at least break the Manipulation school up a little bit into Transmutation and Arcana (or Metamagic + Teleport) so that school doesn't have that ungodly amount of utility and because that makes it easier to come up with new spells, but that's just me, and I guess that'd qualify as pissing up a rope in a thread where we're talking about how we can make EP's cooler.
An argument can be made that complaining about those schools is hypocritical since I'm talking about how to make people feel like they're cool while they're roleplaying, but I'd throw in their face that they already get a degree of immense cool power because, frankly, Littlepip and Blackjack.
do earth ponies need something cool? if they get something cool on top of the perks will it be fair to the other races?
Yes, yes they do, and yes, it would be if we stopped kidding ourselves with the "special" perks they have. Frankly, Earth Pony perks are /really/ boring and they lack a certain degree of iconography. I mean, for shit's sake, they get a perk for additional carry weight. Carry weight's a friggin' joke and that's the way everyone likes it.
To be fair, they also get a couple that are really useful, like one that gives potion-packing ponies more healing to pass out, and one that reduces their chance to jam a weapon to almost nothing, but you don't think of those perks and say "Yup! Those crazy Earth Ponies are the only folks that can do that!", because when you really think about it, everypony can if they ever decided to put forth the effort. It's almost as if the utilitarian EP perks exist to pity them, and that's a horrible way to think about it. It doesn't make them more iconic at all, and the only ones that do make them feel "cooler" are the cyberpony series of perks, and they're unlikely to happen without some GM finagling because nopony sane ever looks at their leg and thinks, "You know? This thing needs a built-in grappling hook."
now i don't look at stats to make a character i look at what the character does and think about what will be fun to play with. lets make a scientist, oh i know what would be fun a Griffin, Griffin Scientist! and my Griffin Scientist would be better as a Unicorn because of the spells or Better as an Alicorn because of everything but i play as the Griffin anyway because she is fun to play as. now i know this wont work for some people for lots of reasons. but i don't think that you need give Earth ponies some magic ability that will make them 20% cooler or shuffle some stats around to make then "equal" to the other races, if you want your Earth pony to be more awesome then the ruleset allows ask your GM. one last thing is that i like earth ponies to be the race that stands out because they can do great things without the gifts of the other races.
You're missing my point. It's not about thinking that EP's need boosts to be cool, it's about thinking that they have something iconic to fall behind in order for breaking any schema to work. Orcs are big, green, and angry. Elves are thin, woodsy, and mystical. Unicorns are nerdy, magical, and can throw lightning out of their faces.
Even in the series, it's kind of a measure of how ponies live up to their racial stereotype and how another breaks them. Twilight's a huge nerd and is essentially your wizard that spends days locked up in a musty library like how you expect a unicorn to act. Rarity's a socialite dressmaker who doesn't really care about her magic as much as she cares about her social status like you wouldn't. Rainbow Dash is a hot-headed speedster that enjoys flying and flying really fast like how you would expect a pegasus to be. Fluttershy is a loving, gentle, meek creature who's kind to all the critters of the woods like how you wouldn't expect her to be. And EP's stereotype is attributed to Applejack, who's a down-to-earth, strong individual who's proud of who she is and what she does, even in the face of adversity. And opposing her is Pinkie Pie, who's as far from down-to-earth as you can get.
It isn't that I wouldn't have fun as a paranoid doctor griffon that's afraid of heights and the sight of blood too close to them, because that's really right upside my alley. It's just that EP's don't really have any iconic behavior outside of "boring normal", and I think that's a shame. And I qualify your last statement that one shouldn't be playing a race because "fuck those other guys, I'm gonna be badass without their cool stuff!", rather, the race should just have cool stuff and the badassness should come from their refusal to use it like Fluttershy refuses to take perks in flight speed, and Rarity refuses to take perk ranks in "Additional Vocation".
Sadly, nothing in Fo:E or MLP really gives them a cool feature (outside of Cyberpony, which given the breadth of cool stuff Unicorns can take, is just a start.), so there's really no real way to have a cool feature yet outside of what we can extrapolate.
By default, they don't even get better numbers. The extra perk they get becomes negligible as time goes on, yet, if you built an unicorn or a pegasus, the most basic extra capabilities they have could take them a long way. If three ponies were built differing only in the extra perk, unicorn initial spells and pegasi's basic flight and cloud manipulation, the other two races would have a broader array of options at their disposition and the earth pony is not actually guaranteed to be able to match their effectiveness.
And that is kind of a shame, and I agree with your assessment that they kind of get shafted at the very beginning. However, again, let's face it, playing from level one really sucks and should be avoided anyway because it's not very conducive for fun to fail 50% of the time at things you were trained to do. You're right in that they get a bit more variety in their starting kit (at least for unicorns, Pegusi are just kind of screwed to have flying which may or may not directly help what role they're trying to do), but unless you're a unicorn (maybe), you're going up the generic path for most of your time anyway to perform your role, and how you pick your perks for that really defines how good a character you're making.
EP's are relevant right now only because they can focus more on their role from the get-go. If they're built to tank, they can take Tough Hide. If they're built to heal, they can take Healing of Mother Earth. If they're built to deal damage, they can get Lethal Swordspony (and nothing else :/). If they're built around utility, they can take Egghead (which everypony eligible should take anyway). It's the reason that Alicorns can be argued to be balanced (even though I personally disagree), they just have a direct route into what they're trying to do, even if it isn't as flashy.
because it's not supported by the show or the story, and it's booooring 
but I'm still feeling like I'm missing pieces of what makes Earth Ponies special. Call it a whiny plea for attention if you will, but it isn't too much to ask to want to feel unique or at least as special as everyone else is, is it? 
