Boring.
That's the only word that came to mind as Distortion roamed around the small town of Ponyville.
He had been walking in circles, trying in vain to find something to do. Unfortunately, with his
current restrictions, it was hard for him to find something that wouldn't undo the progress
that he was making.
Distortion had come to Ponyville because of rehab. He could almost remember it like it was
yesterday. He had taken one snort of coke too many and before he knew it, he was on the ground
convulsing as if he was having a seizure, before falling limp on the floor. One of his bandmates
called an ambulance shortly afterward.
He also in a band. Mareilyn Manson to be precise. A shock rock group based out of ManeHattan.
Distortion is, or was, the front-man. Because of his overdose, he was fired from the band. Out
of anger, Distortion struck out on his own. As much as he wanted to believe he could make due
on his own, he knew he needed help. So, he went into rehab, and for the sake of being in a more
soothing environment, relocated to Ponyville.
The environment had done wonders to Distortion's addiction to cocaine, but it came at a price
of a near maddening amount of boredom. There were no clubs or anything to see any heavy metal
bands playing. No bars (alcohol isn't off limits for him) that had anything particularly strong.
Not even a place where he could go to gamble away his bits. There. Was. NOTHING.
"Dear Celestia, what do these ponies do for fun around here...?" Distortion muttered to himself
as he finished his 6th lap around town.
He walked into the marketplace once more to receive the same stares that he received the previous
5 times he had ventured through. Distortion's coat was a dark blue, almost black. He had a long
mane that flowed down to his hooves almost, the mane being jet black. But what struck ponies
the most was his eyes. One of his eyes was a natural color brown, but the other had a white iris.
At first a lot of them though that it was just a contact that he enjoyed wearing, but no. Distortion
was born with that eye. Some called it a birth defect and said that, with some surgery, they could
get rid of it. But Distortion decided against it, because he thought it looked cool, plus he
enjoyed differing from the norm.
As bored as he was, he couldn't help but admit that he somewhat enjoyed living in Ponyville.
The town definitely had a homely charm to it, almost everyone he'd met thus-far was friendly
to his coming. (With the exception of some batty old crone from Sweet Apple Acres, who kept
screaming that he was Discord in disguise. Weird considering Discord was reformed long ago.)He had even
made some new friends.
The first being a white unicorn with a blue mane named Vinyl Scratch. Vinyl and Distortion
became friends almost instantly because she shared his pain of boredom. So, when bored, they
walked laps around town together, so at least one had the other to talk to. Vinyl, being a rising
dubstep artist, always talked music with Distortion. Although he was never that big of a fan
of dubstep, or any techno music for that matter, he still enjoyed talking to Vinyl. He had
even helped her mix a few of her tracks, particularly giving them a faster tempo that only
heavy metal music could perfect, but could be applied to almost all forms of music.
The second being Rainbow Dash. Like Vinyl, Rainbow and Distortion clicked instantly. But more
so because he could relate a lot to Rainbow's bull-headedness and brash attitude. It reminded
him a lot of when he was a colt growing up, and even to this day, he could still relate to her.
Rainbow also enjoyed his company because she was always a fan of rock music. Plus, she had
heard of Mareilyn Manson and had listened to some of their music. Needless to say, she loved it.
So when Rainbow had heard that the lead singer of Manson was coming to Ponyville, Rainbow was
starstruck, not nearly to the extent was she would be when meeting Spitfire or Soarin, but she
still sometimes stammered or broke out into a nervous sweat when she was talking to him.
Rainbow's other friends were still somewhat shifty around him, mostly because of the vibe he
put forth of: 'You so much as touch me and I'll rip your spinal chord out of you back and beat
you to death it with' still intimidated them a bit. Distortion never understood this, but Rainbow
always told him that they'd come around eventually.
As Distortion walked, lost in his own thoughts, he couldn't help but hear on odd yelling coming
from the sky. He looked around a bit seeing nothing. But than it snapped into his mind as to
what was about to happen, but there was nothing he could do to avoid it. Distortion braced
himself as Rainbow Dash slammed into his side at near terminal velocity, knocking them both
into a nearby vendor's stand. Thankfully, the vendor wasn't around, nor were his goods.
"Sorry Dis, new trick..." Rainbow Dash said, dizzy from the blow she just took.
Distortion was still disorientated, but managed a small "uh-huh".
Rainbow Dash helped Distortion onto his feet as he regained his bearings.
"With your fancy flying, I'm used to you nearly killing me on a weekly basis." Said Distortion
with an amused smirk.
Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and gave a small pout before walking with him.
"Well, lets see you do better!" Rainbow Dash said, nudging him with her elbow.
"Nah, I never really liked flying." he said as he unfurled his own wings to ensure that no
damage had been done to them.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and continued walking at his side.
"So, how have you been?" asked Rainbow.
"Oh, you know, the same. Bored out of my skull." said Distortion glumly.
"Oh. Well, if you want, me and my friends are having a little get-together later today, I think
it'd be awesome if you could come!" said Rainbow Dash with a bright smile.
"Rainbow, don't you know by now that your friends don't really like me that much...?" muttered
Distortion.
"It's not that they don't like you, it's just that they're, well, very scared of you." said Rainbow
trying to sound encouraging.
"Thank Rain, but I'd rather not get in the way with you guys. I'd hate for them to think that
I'd be alienating you or something." he said.
"Come on, pleeeease..?" pleaded Rainbow Dash, giving him puppy eyes.
As much as Distortion hated to admit it, he wasn't immune to all forms of emotional persuasion.
"Ugh, alright, fine." he muttered.
"Awesome!" yelled Rainbow Dash as she did a little back-flip in the air.
Distortion turned and began following Rainbow to Twilight Sparkle's house/library.
"Damn you and your painfully cute face..." Distortion absentmindedly muttered to himself.
"What was that, Dis?" Rainbow Dash asked, perking up.
"Nothing!" Distortion said quickly.
Rainbow Dash disregarded it. "You know, you really oughta be more social. I mean, you can have
more friends than just me and Vinyl." said Rainbow Dash
"I know that Rainbow, it's just that you two are the only ones in this town that I can really
relate to! Fluttershy's too timid, Pinkie is too hyper, Twilight is too wordy for me, Applejack
just plain doesn't like me, and Rarity, well, she's Rarity." he said.
"I know Dis, but you should give them a chance, you just need to converse with them a little bit."
said Rainbow.
"I guess..." said Distortion.
The duo approached Twilight's home and Rainbow Dash knocked on the door. A few seconds later,
a purple unicorn opened the door with a smile on her face.
"Hi Rainbow!" said Twilight with happiness in her voice. "And, oh, um.. hello to you too Distortion."
said Twilight, her tone taking on more fear.
"Charmed." said Distortion, trying to sound as friendly as he could.
"Mind if Dis hangs out with us?" asked Rainbow Dash with hope in her voice.
"Oh! Yeah, sure! He can." Twilight said with a more jovial tone, but still possessing the
same nervousness.
Dash and Distortion stepped into the room. He immediately felt uncomfortable, he didn't like
feeling as if he wasn't welcome, plus he didn't want to ruin whatever it was that Dash and
her friends were going to be doing.
"What have I gotten myself into?" he said under his breath.
It was loud. It was bright. There was an extremely happy and light feeling in the air. Distortion hated it with every fiber in his being. Now, mind you, Distortion isn't an extremely spiteful pony who hated everyone and everything he saw. He's very antisocial however. As a colt, he never had many friends. As a matter of fact, he had none. Distortion was shunned throughout his childhood by his peers, and by his teachers, sometimes. There's many reasons behind it. Some didn't like the intimidating feel he put forth. Some didn't like they way he looked. Some shunned him simply because other ponies were shunning him. But the fact remains: he was alone.
This only got worse when he got into high school. Distortion's school was low budget, and so the school never had the funds to do much. The only sport that really caught on was competitive flying. Pegasi in the school loved it and it gave them reason to keep their grades up, which made the parents happy. The only problem is: if you weren't on the team, you were a second class citizen, a peon, as it were. The school also rarely did anything about cases of physical conflict in the school, especially if those involved were on the flight team. So now, not only was he ostracized by everyone, but he was also beat up by the bigger and stronger pegasi.
All of this, rolled up, caused Distortion to grow angry, resentful, and even hateful towards his school and his peers. He hated those dumb jocks for their superiority complex, he hated his spineless teachers for not doing anything to step in, he hated the fact that he was ignored, he hated everything. His spite grew and grew until it started getting him into trouble. He started lashing out at teachers and was often reprimanded severely for it. He got into fights with other ponies, and he used his intimidation to scare his younger peers.
But the worst was the fights. He would often come home with bruises and scratches all over his face and fore-legs. Sometimes the gashes were deep, but he just let them scar over. He would bandage himself up, bum around, than go to bed. Usually before his mother got home, but his mother was always gone, either on business trips or other errands. He had the house to himself 95% of the time. So, more often than not, he would come home, bandage up his latest set of wounds, and find a book to read.
Distortion had also grown fond of reading in those last few years. Speaking of reading, he simply couldn't get past a single page with ALL THE CELESTIA FORSAKEN NOISE!!!! Distortion had conversed with Rainbow Dash and a few others once their "get together" had begun. But, after that, he just curled up somewhere and opened a book he had been reading for the last couple weeks. That immediately went south as Distortion found out the hard way that Pinkie had decided to turn their "get-together" into a house party and invite everyone in Ponyville. Within a few minutes, however, Distortion had managed to slip away from the party.
Distortion walked down the dark street, relieved at the severely reduced noise level. But, he soon started feeling bad. He might be anti-social, but he does care for Rainbow Dash and her friends, even if they (with the exception of Dash) might not care about him that much, so he felt sorry for ditching them. Rainbow Dash is probably Distortions first friend that he's had since, well, ever. Second came Vinyl, but they really didn't talk much anymore. Vinyl had recently hit it big and was away at some record company, getting signed to a label.
He had walked until he finally came upon his humble little abode. A small house that lay on the outer part of town. Distortion sighed with content as he stepped through the door and into the living space. The room as decorated with many collectables and memorabilia, almost all of them having to do with heavy metal music. The walls were adorned with many posters of bands everywhere, near and far, local and big time. Vinyl records were lined up on the shelves, the shelves below being filled with CDs under the names of pretty much all of the bands under Celestia's sun.
Distortion trekked through his living room and into his kitchen in search of any sort of head-ache medication. He reached up into his cabinet and rooted around through the various knick-knacks until he found a small pill bottle. He popped the top open and swallowed two pills. Within seconds, his headache had died down to a barely noticeable pulsing.
As he put the pill bottle back into his cabinet, he heard knocking at his door. Distortion grimaced and walked back over to the door and opened it. It was Rainbow Dash with a small smile on her face.
"Hey Dis." she said.
"Oh, heya Dash, what's up." said Distortion, relieved that it was someone that he could talk to.
"Oh, nothing." said Dash as she walked into the house. Distortion never minded this, he felt comfortable enough to allow Rainbow Dash inside of his home whenever she wanted.
"Hey, there's a few things we need to talk about." said Dash as she plopped down on the couch in the center of the room.
"Alright, shoot." said Distortion.
"Listen Dis, we've known each other for a while now, you're a great guy, but my friends are still really shifty around you. No matter how much I try to explain it to them, they just don't want to, well, not be scared of you." explained Dash.
"What can I say? I'm terrifying. Roar." said Distortion with a bitter hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Rainbow Dash sighed and walked over to her raven-haired friend. She put her arm around his shoulder in a friendly manner.
"Listen, I know you think you're being ostracized now, I used to be the same way, back when I was in school. I used to be alone. But you can change that, if you just give others a chance to be around you." said Dash.
"You don't get it Dash, they don't want to be around me, I can see it in all of their eyes and fake smiles, they all think I'm a freak, and that's what I am, and that's what I'll always be. A freak." said Distortion, bitterness rising in his voice as years of torment came back to him.
"Rainbow, did you know that when I was still playing in Mareilyn Manson, a couple of colts walked into their school with swords and killed a bunch of their classmates? Yeah, well, they blamed that on me and my band."
Rainbow Dash was shocked at this, but remained silent and waited for him to continue.
"Do you have ANY idea what that's like?!" Distortion said, raising his voice in an effort to hide the, ever present, quivering.
"Do you know what it's like to be told, day after day, that you're the reason why a bunch of innocent colts and fillies died?! After you hear it so much, you start to believe it! I did, and I still do, to this day! I'm a bucking monster and they have a right to fear me!" he yelled, tears now streaming from his face.
"Damn-it Distortion, why are you crying?!" he thought to himself.
Distortion fell from the couch and onto the floor on his haunches, now he was full-on weeping. Years of torment, physical abuse, and slander came rushing back to him as he tried to block out all the pain and neglect. Distortion swayed from side to side and pounded the floor with his fore-hoof in an attempt to stop his weeping.
Distortion stopped his pounding though as soon as he felt it. A sudden warmth came over him from behind. He looked over his shoulder with a teary eye to find Rainbow Dash, hugging him from behind, as tightly as she could. He looked closer to see that Rainbow Dash was weeping for him. She had buried her face into his upper back with her fore-hooved wrapped around his mid-section in a comforting embrace.
Soon, Distortion's tears stopped coming and he just sat there, eventually he turned around and returned the hug before they separated. Rainbow Dash's tears were still coming, but only a few drops at a time now.
"Dis, you're probably one of the most caring ponies I've ever met in my life. I know you never would have meant to make someone kill those kids, even if you're music could make someone do it, which it can't. I NEVER want to hear you say that you're a freak ever again, or I'll have to pound ya!" said Rainbow Dash, giving him a playful punch to the fore-leg.
Distortion gave a small chuckle. Eventually, he was able to force all of the ugly thoughts into the back of his mind again. They both got up from the floor and walked to the door. Rainbow Dash said goodbye and was about to leave when Distortion put a hoof on her shoulder.
"Hey Dash, um... thanks for everything..." said Distortion with a genuine look of thanks on his face.
"I'm glad I could be there." said Rainbow Dash with a warm smile. 'If anyone else says you're a freak, I'll pound them too!" said Rainbow Dash with a cocky smile. With that, and a wink, she took off for her sky castle.
Distortion closed the door and sat back down on the couch. He thought to himself about all that had transpired over the last couple hours. At last, he came to a conclusion.
"Maybe.... I should give them a chance..."
