Chapter 4: Friendship is Magic

It wasn't long before Shadow Storm and I had become "thick as thieves"; a phrase here meaning that we enjoyed hanging out more than just keeping to ourselves in a dark corner. We had grown to trust each other completely, and unquestionably. Life was going pretty good, and the best part is that I hadn't had a single magical outburst since the fight with Shadow Bolt. To make things even better, I had made some new friends. They all had their cutie marks, but I guess they didn't mind hanging out with a blank flank regardless. Incredibly enough, I met them at lunch, seemingly the most social time of the day, who would have guessed. Anyway, things didn't start as roughly as with Shadow Storm, but they still started with a disagreement.

It all started one rainy day when I had noticed that there was a pony sitting on the other end of the same empty table as me, and she seemed just as lonely. For you see, on this particular rainy day, Shadow wasn't here; he had to help his parents and all the other pegasi arrange the storm, so I was all alone, just like all those times before. Now, what was really out of place here is that this particular pony was usually accompanied by at least one friend, but usually about 3 on an average day. Fortunately though, today was not average, I didn't know it then, but this was the day that marked the beginning of the greatest years of my life.

Now, before I met Shadow, I would be perfectly content to spend time alone, but now I felt an emptiness inside. I could only imagine how this pony was feeling. So I decided to act on the situation at hand. I walked over and sat next to her.

She didn't notice me at first, and when she did, she seemed kind of shy about it. She was a pink earth pony with a slightly curly, golden brown mane and tail, as well as chocolate brown eyes. I couldn't quite tell what her cutie mark was; it was some sort of animal. It looked a bit like a timber wolf, except not made out of wood. It was also rainbow colored.

In order to break the increasingly thickening awkward tension, I decided to ask the first question that came to mind. "Hey so, what's your cutie mark supposed to be?" I asked her.

She seemed to perk up a little bit.

"Oh, uh, well, um, it represents my love of animals, as well as my talent in art." She replied in a soft voice. Then she went right back to shying away.

I wasn't about to lose this momentum. "What exactly is it?" I asked. "I mean, it looks like a timber wolf without the timber."

"Well, that's because it's a regular wolf." She said a little bit less shy. "They're like Diamond Dogs, except they can't talk, they have a lot more fur, and they are actually friendly." She said with a small smile working its way onto her face. She seemed to be about to go on a tangent. "They are my FAVORITE animal! In fact, I have a pet wolf named Moon. She is so cute! She's a snowy wolf, which is my favorite breed of wolves." She said as if she were a little filly explaining how delicious candy is if you combined it with soda. "I also have a pet fox, she is also very adorable!" She said with gusto. "She's unusually small with a giant fluffy tail four times her size." She paused at this and looked around and motioned me to come closer and she whispered in my ear. "Her name is Tai-Tai and-"

Just then, a fox of her recent description jumped onto her head from her saddle bags.
"Ugh... and that is why I was whispering. Even at the very mention of her name Tai-Tai seems to come out of nowhere and jump on my head." She said with anger slowly subsiding in her voice. "Fortunately for her, I can't stay mad at something so cute." She said cooing at the fox before removing it from her head and squeezing it in a bear hug. "Unfortunately for her, I can't resist hugging the feathers out of something so adorable." The fox struggled, but she finally got free of her master's grip in order to launch herself back into the saddle bag from wince she came. "Oh hey, I almost forgot to tell you my name, how forgetful of me!" She said as she face-hoofed. "I'm Wolf Light, but my friends call me Blondie, that's with an 'ie' at the end, not a 'y'." She said defensively. "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Oh, me? Uh, my name is uh, Mad Bolt... I'm not crazy by the way." I said awkwardly. I couldn't help but notice that a few sparks were flying off my horn and flying off in random directions. (That was strange, I wasn't angry, or sad. What could have caused that?) I wondered.

"I didn't think you were crazy." Said Wolf light. "In fact, I think Mad Bolt is an awesome name, it suites you." She said happily.

It was at this time that my horn started to faintly glow a light blue as tiny sparks flew out and hit Wolf Light.

"Oh my Celestia! I'm so sorry!" I blurted out quickly. "I probably should have told you, but I sometimes have random fits of magic, and I can't always control them." I said sadly. "Please don't hate me!"

"What? Why would I blame you for something you can't control?" Wolf Light asked. "Plus, what's the big deal anyway? It's just a bit of magical electromagnetic shock." She said plainly.

"Wait, so you don't think I'm weird?" I asked, almost in shock.

"Well of course you're weird, but that's what's awesome about you. I'm a bit strange myself with my love of my two abnormal pets. Plus, I'm also a bit cray, but in a good way. So I like weird, I think more ponies should be weird, that way, nopony would feel bad about it, and the world would be a lot more fun." She said with a smile.

"Huh, I never thought of it that way before... thanks."

"What for?"

"For accepting me for who I am, instead of shunning me, or expecting I follow some stupid set of behaviors." I said giving off a bit of a smile myself.

"Well why would anypony do that?"

"Well because apparently, if a pony doesn't fit into certain social norms, they are to be shunned and labeled as a bad pony." I said with anger bubbling up in my voice. I would have started ranting if Wolf Light hadn't kept talking.

"Well that just doesn't make sense. Just because somepony doesn't act like you, doesn't mean they're bad, it just means they're different. It's fun to be different, if everypony acted exactly the same, the world would be too boring to live in." She said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I just wish the rest of the world thought that way. Maybe then I could be accepted by more than one pony."

"Wait, are you telling me you only have one friend?" She asked surprised.

"Well, ya." I said a little depressed at what I had just confirmed.

"Well, we're friends, aren't we?"

I was a little shocked... No, not quite shocked, but more than surprised. It just occurred to me that I had held a meaningful conversation with another pony for a substantial amount of time, and I was enjoying their company. This pony also seemed to enjoy my company as well. Could it really be that easy to make a friend? No, there HAD to be a catch! Or did there? Is it really possible? I had to be sure.

"You really want to be my friend?" I asked cautiously. "Well, ya. That is if you want to be my friend. I hope you do, you seem like a really nice pony, and I can also introduce you to all my other friends. Then you can be friends with them, and that means my group of friends will be even bigger, and everypony likes more friends!" She might have kept going if the bell hadn't rung; signaling the end of lunch. "Well, I guess I'll see you later Mad Bolt. I hope my other friends come tomorrow, you are gonna love them, I promise." She said as we stood up to leave.

"Well I guess we'll see, but if they're anything like you, I'm sure you're right." I said optimistically. Things were starting to look up for me.