Insanity

Friends.

The word itself was foreign to me and tasted funny in my mouth as I silently repeated it over and over. Its existence in my life became a fantasy that could only be achieved through utter miracles. This idea led me the conclusion that my situation is nothing short of one.

Flutters continued to say something here and there as the town continued to grow in size with each step that I took toward it. Finally we cleared the entrance and I had all of my senses aroused by all the activities in the town.

I marveled over the colors, sights, sounds, and smells, each promising me new wonders. I nearly forgot where I was going and what I was doing. My astonishment was cut short as nearly everything abruptly stopped, the sudden interruption caused me to return my focus to my surroundings. The little town I ended up in had all of its citizens drop their activities and stare. On the streets residents backed up, mothers held back their young, windows opened, their owners peeking out with cautioned curiosity, yet they threatened to shut at any moment. There was an ominous silence; one would imagine a baby's cry being stifled in the farther edges of the town. The main attraction, and cause for their stares seemed to be both hated for its sudden appearance, and feared for its unpredictability and alien presence.

I just stood there, paralyzed, having no social experience and this much uncalled for attention froze me in my tracks; my mind fed me blanks. Was this a nightmare, or a dream come true? "I'm about to find out." I thought as I realized any movement I made sent a wave of fear toward whatever direction I happened to move in. The energy of a mass panic could be felt in the air, all it needed was a reason. One stupid move on my part and it will explode, this entire world of wonder would rapidly change, pulling the ground right under me and letting me drop into chaos.

I gulped loudly, suddenly aware of the sweat that accumulated on my forehead. I became painfully aware of each bead's path as it traveled down my face and came to rest on my chin. I tried to look toward Flutters for support, but the shy character was afraid of the unwanted attention and retreated out of earshot toward a less populated section of the crowd. "Some friend." I thought, but dismissed it for the greater problem at hand. They all waited, they wanted something… they wanted a reason. I felt slightly betrayed by Flutters and a growing need to run away. Gritting my teeth, I pushed my feelings aside and tried to stand tall.

"Uh…hi."  I managed to muster, cursing myself silently as my voice cracked.

The thing spoke and everyone stifled a sharp gasp. I was beginning to get agitated again, I didn’t escape my shithole of a reality only to be seen as an odd attraction. Using my anger for motivation, I pulled myself together and decided that now is as good of a time as any to man up. "I'm not hurting anyone, and if they want a fight then they'll get one." I resolved. I spoke:

"My name is Artyom. I don’t know how I got here, nor where I am. I…am a human. I apologize for my sudden interruption of your tasks. All I ask is that you remain at the very least, neutral toward my presence, and I would like to assure you that I would do my best to fit in."

As I finished I stood there, rigid. I didn’t know how they would react and I was ready for anything. The town's tension seemed to decrease, but shot up immediately as a small, brave grey child with wings ran up to me, his mother gasping and regretting her loose hold.

"You don’t look so mean." he told me. "Want a tour of the town?" he asked, smiling kindly, innocence and lack of understanding reflecting in his large, light purple eyes.

Everyone was tense, all waited to see what this new creature would do. I took a knee to try and reach the child's eye level, but instantly regretted it as the residents in front looked like they were ready to attacked me out of fear, yet it was fear that held them back. Ignoring them, I answered the child:

"Thank you for your acceptance little on-"

"Rumble." he corrected me.

"Rumble." I resumed.

"I wish everyone would be this accepting too. I would love a tour of the town, but some other time would be better. Flutters promised to introduce me to her friends and it seems that people here don’t take too kindly to me."

Although he was slightly disappointed, Rumble seemed eager to have made friends with me and with a quick bump of our arms he ran off to his mother, who now scolded him quietly. The town exploded with relieve. My acceptance was now a negotiable topic, and with a few apologies for the harsh treatment, I began to forgive them. I answered the questions thrown my way, some more bold than others, but I answered them nonetheless; I was the only one of my kind here anyway. I set the standards for humans and had no need for whatever social norms I previously accepted. It took me a few hours to finish, but after I satisfied everyone's questions I realized that I might have been wrong. This town was not as hostile as I first pictured it. It seems that once again my rashness got the better of me and I noted that down for an attempt at self-improvement later on.

Now that I was made an acceptation here, and the news of my presence spreading quickly, I set out to find Flutters. She appeared out of seemingly nowhere wearing an apologetic look on her face. She surprised me with the good news that she managed to gather her friends for a small picnic. It was an apology for her abandonment from earlier. I smiled, taking note that this would be the first time I would take a bad event and forget it for the sake of a friend. I accepted her apology and invitation. I planned to make this introduction right and get a chance to actually make some friends my age.

The park seemed to be ripped straight from the famous painting "A Sunday in the Park". People… I decided I could mentally categorize them as such given their range of emotions and life being no different than mine, were relaxing, taking in the sun, and playing with pets. The younger ones were playing games and others were just enjoying the little pond nearby and all had to offer.

I followed Flutters up a gently ascending hill to meet her friends under a large oak tree. It casted a steady and comforting shade over the majority of the hill.

"Everyone, here is Artyom, the human I was talking about earlier."

Flutters introduced me without any usual shyness in her voice, indicating that these were in fact close friends of hers.

"Pleased to meet you all."  I said, allowing myself to finally gaze at her friends.

They all seemed cautious and shared the same uncomfortable look that I had first met upon my arrival at the town. Neither of them spoke and an awkward silence fell. I cleared my throat, impatient once more, but starting to feel more sad and out of place than angry.

Luckily the Purple colored one, with purple and pink streamed colored hair and a horn like appendage on her head was the first to engage me.

"Wow, you weren't kidding Flutters." she started. She seemed like she was testing her words to see if they were hurtful, or if they would cause an unwanted reaction. Despite her awkward start at a conversation, she seemed far more fascinated by me then the others. “It’s nice to meet you Artyom. My name is Twilight. I’m the town’s librarian, and these are my friends, Rarity, Dash, and Applejack.” She pointed to each of her friends as she said their names.

I gave a nod to each of them and brought my attention back to Twilight who seemed to have regained some nerve. Oddly enough I swore she looked like she wanted to say something, but held it back. I caught it and pressed for her to ask.

“You look like you want to say something, go ahead. I know I’m weird, the rest of the town made that clear enough. Just ask.” My statement caught her off-guard and I swore she sounded a bit flustered, but I dismissed it.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” she began.

“Now I know you have something to ask. Out with it.” My unintentionally harsh answer made her wince, but she continued:

“Well, I wouldn’t use weird to describe you… but you are interesting and an opportunity for research… I want to know if I can study you at some point.” She said the last bit quickly and I saw how uncomfortable she was for asking.

“Not a problem.” I responded, giving a friendly smile in hopes that it reassured my agreement.

“Really? I… didn’t expect that. Thank you.” She said, relieved that I took her question so lightly while still giving her the answer she wanted.

I chuckled a bit at her awkwardness and reassured her that I was not offended. The others seemed to have relaxed as well and gained courage to speak. My attention was now held by a pretty, white individual. She also had the distinct appendage on her forehead.

"Oh poor thing must not have fashion were you are from.” She began, her words unexpectedly harsh. I particularly took offence to being regarded as an “it”. “I mean those threads are simply not your color." She remarked in a pompous accent, as if she took personal offense at my clothing. Rather than mad I became highly conscience of my slightly faded and worn clothing; I didn’t know where I got them from either, but I still felt a burning feeling of shame. Dam she sure has a way of making you feel insignificant. I thought.

I remained silent for a moment, considering my options. Her immediate criticism angered and shamed me, yet I wasn’t in a place where I could object without fear of losing good ground with the others; that and my new awareness at my clothing contributed to my silent embarrassment. I was just about to ignore her and move my attention to someone less criticizing, but she began to introduce herself and her profession, so not wanting to mimic her rudeness, I grudgingly sat though her introduction.

“As Twilight mentioned, I am Rarity, the town’s most prestige fashionista, and I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected.” The way she dramatically prolonged her introduction really tested my control, but I decided to hear her out. “Anyway darling, I simply must take on the challenge of designing human apparel, and you seem like the perfect candidate.”

“Me? Really? Th…thank you.” I replied. I wasn’t expecting to receive anything, especially not from someone that was as highly specialized as Rarity was. Maybe she isn’t as bad as I thought.

“Of course, it would be my pleasure.”

With that she pardoned herself of all the insults she had thrown my way, and I brought my attention to another… stunning… friend. Her appearance seemed tom-boyish, lacking the feminine care that the others had, (Rarity in particular looked like she just finished a long day at the spa, pampering herself with makeup and hair curling.) yet in itself was far more appealing to me than the others. Her hair boldly radiated all the colors of the rainbow, catching me in a speechless awe. My eyes, uncontrollable at this point, in-discretely drifted lower toward her powerful wings and then further down her slender body. I noticed it did an amazing job of covering the muscles underneath.

What the hell am I thinking!? It’s impossible! I can’t, simple can’t really be finding her attractive! I mean common, she isn’t even human! Such thoughts ran across my mind as I quickly noticed how odd I was beginning to look. I redirected my vision to her eyes. Her large, beautiful, magenta colored eyes. Reasoning was futile as her eyes captivated me to a degree I never thought was possible. Luckily her strong voice instantly put me back into my place; it seemed to challenge me, as if to sum up my worth. Whether it was my unexplainable attraction, or some other reason that I failed to make up in time, but I also found her voice soothing and reassuring. Dammit.

I was lucky that she seemed dis-interested in me, cautious and untrusting even. She hadn’t noticed my eye groping and began her introduction. I cursed at myself as I realized that I was too busy treating her as eye candy to pay attention to her introduction. All I managed to catch was her occupation as a lead weather regulator (seems that winged individuals could manipulate clouds and the weather, as if they were tangible), and the fact that she was a top notch flier, apparently the best in all of…what was it again? oh well, her country. She reinforced her statement with a jaw dropping aerial trick that nearly dropped me on my ass. I had to make sure my jaw wasn’t tangling about. (Dash seemed to be a fitting name based on her speed.) Lastly she mentioned something about where she and the other winged individuals came from, a large city in the clouds. Cloudsdale as it was called. (Wow this place really is full of miracles.)

“I… like your moves.” I mustered, still captivated by her talent and looks.

I got off lucky, she liked the acknowledgement of her talent and resumed to eye me cautiously, as if ready to protect her friends from me. I decided that I really needed to set my internal opinions about her in order soon as I get the chance and my attention was now held by an orange individual. She had blonde hair that was neatly tied into a long ponytail, and wore a very distinguishing leather cowboy hat that rested itself on her head.

"Howdy, real nice meeting you. The names Applejack." She introduced herself, and I immediately noticed the southern like accent.

Apparently my expression showed my curiosity at the slightly masculine name and it was soothed when she explained her family's apple farm, and her profession of collecting apples and managing her farm. Her nickname was given to her by the townsfolk and she hasn't corrected anyone since. Oddly enough, even with Dash still stealing most of my attention from Applejack’s short introduction, she seemed to grow on me more than the others. She seemed like a hard worker, someone you could trust. My opinion was backed up by her muscled appearance, one that I assumed was the result of years of farm work. She was finishing her introduction when a high pitched voice interrupted her and stole everyone's attention.

"Oh my gosh! A new person in town! Why did no one tell me!?” she shouted. She leaned in uncomfortably close, breaking any personal boundaries I had. “Hi! My name is Pinkie, and we are going to be the best of friends, and..."

I was taken aback by her energetic introduction and found it hard to concentrate on what she was saying with all the bouncing around. I managed to catch only bits of what the pink (appropriate for her name.) haired, pink individual (God I have to come up with a name but I can’t be rude.) was saying. She was bouncing around with contagious excitement. I nearly forgot all my troubles with her around, but none the less once again tried to focus on what she was saying.

All I could get out her none-stop chatter, (Complimented by her self-interruption and starting of new topics) was that she was well acquainted with basically all of the town's residents. Her profession was at the town’s bakery. Lastly at the end of her hyperactive, and to a certain degree adorable speech I learned that I was now apparently best of friends with her.

The remainder of the day went well as I spent it at the picnic, finally getting a chance to share my story and past along with any knowledge of who I was. As the sun set and this world's first beautiful stars marked their place in the, thanks to Dash, cloudless sky, everyone started to scatter and return home.

Noticing my lack of one, I was given a place to stay by Twilight at her home, the library, which at this point unamusingly was located inside a large, hollowed out, oak tree that was magically preserved. She managed to enlarge a bed for me via magic and I was allowed to take a small portion of the upper levels to myself. Wishing her a good night and thoroughly thanking her for the accommodations, I remained seated on my bed, gazing out of a nearby window. Once I managed to calm down a bit from all the excitement I lay in bed and allowed all of the day's events to sink in. Shortly worded, words could not describe my emotions.

I couldn’t believe that for once I actually have something to wake up to. A new world with many possibilities. I didn’t know if I finally cracked and insanity has gotten the better of me, but whatever it was I was beginning to like it. The most comforting realization however, was my sudden drastic lack of loneliness. There was a whole world out there and loneliness wasn’t an option whether I wanted it or not, and that was a good thing. I finally fell asleep with a content smile on my face. A smile that I could never have anticipated having.

A smile that came from having,

Friends.