Rocket Ash

Maxy, the little, adorable shit, launched into my stomach and knocked out my breath. It wasn't like I was trying to get some extra sleep or anything! Needless to say, my eyes opened wide and targeted the white bat. He gave an innocent look as if he actually thought I would believe he didn't mean to smash into my stomach. I considered strangling him but decided against it.

"Awwww, Maxy!" I grabbed him and held him tightly to my chest. I gritted my teeth and let him go. I wasn't trying to hurt him, I was trying to show him how hard I can hug. "Fuck off," I muttered.

I was sitting at the kitchen table facing the TV. The way that the front part of the house was, the kitchen was just barely blocked off in a single corner (allowing access to the rest of the front room), and the dining room was just a big table and some chairs in the empty space between the kitchen and the living room couch. Right behind the TV was a huge glass sliding door and window that, when the sun was out, made the glare on the TV bright as all hell.

It was 5:45 in the morning and I was in that kind of fever-dream phase. I was already completely ready for school and it wouldn't even start for another two and a half hours! At my old school, I would wake up at 5, then stay half-asleep-half-awake until 7, and then get ready. I decided to alter my morning routine after I realized I would just fall asleep and be more tired at 7 when I was supposed to get ready. Now I wake up at 5, start getting ready, and then get some extra sleep in the living room.

Today would be the start of my fourth week at the new flight school. I didn't really make any other friends after the first few days. I wondered if maybe I should be happy with my friends or make more. I didn't know how to just be a friend. I just acted like me, which would usually weird-out or scare away any would-be friends. I think that the people in Cloudsdale are just more weird than at my old town.

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I walked into the large, crowded schoolyard and walked straight toward the squAAAd. They almost always hung out by the backstop, in the far right corner. My eyes still shifted from person-to-person and I found myself mentally scanning them. I would recognize things like the way they walked and make "assumptions" about their personality based on it.

For example, someone walked with their arms relaxed and swaying naturally at their sides and they keep their eyes focused on who they are talking to or where they are going. I could identify that they were open to interaction and not worried about everyone around them, making them social and they probably have a high self-esteem... unlike me.

I would've done better in life if I had a better self-image earlier on. I viewed myself as an unlikeable and less-than-beautiful person. Whenever someone tried to compliment me on one of my talents (drawing, writing, joke telling, smarts) or my looks I would say "Thank you" and pretend like it made me feel better. If someone said: "Wow, Rocket! That comic is really well drawn and hilarious!" I would hear it as: "I don't want to make you feel bad, so I'll lie to you and tell you that it's great even though it's dog shit."

The squAAAd were just having a usual talk about funny things that they had experienced or seen online. I set my backpack down up against the chain-link bench before sitting awkwardly by it. I didn't know how to contribute to the discussion (which was about some dick that spilled hot coffee on Em's boobs), so I sat silently and listened.

"So he just fucking takes my coffee over to me, right?!" Em explained with a sassy and frustrated tone to her voice. "And he fucking pours that scalding ass shit on my shirt like a dumbass!" She poured a pretend cup of coffee onto her red sweater.

The squAAAd exploded into incoherent comments about the incompetence of the worker. Ash interrupted and asked, "What did you do?"

"I fucking roasted his ass!" The way Em punctuated this statement sounded like she should've dropped the mic.

The conversation continued into more unfamiliar territory for me, so I just looked away and watched the other kids on the field. This time I wasn't paying attention to the kids, but just got lost in my weird thoughts. I was becoming more and more aware of how little of life I had experienced on the social spectrum. Not only did I even know how to interact with other people, I didn't know how to interact in almost any social circumstances!

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The rest of the day went by like every other day: Go to classes. Participate in stupid activity/Listen to dumbass lecture. Talk to friends if possible.

During lunch, I sat in between Ash and Cam. Apparently, the reason his mane and tail were rainbow-colored is because he dyed them. Ash also dyed her mane, tail, and body! That is some commitment to being edgy! Anyways, Ash was talking to me and we were doing whole hair-sex-joke and Cam was eyeing us like he was any more mature.

"Oooooh!" I moaned erotically. "Your tail is so soffft!"

She was rubbing the light purple tip of her tail against the pink tip of my tail. "Harder, papi!"

Cam crossed his arms and cleared his throat, bringing our attention to him. "You two obviously are having some sexual frustration that you are releasing through these quote-on-quote jokes."

"It's actually pronounced 'quote unquote' and you used the wro-" I corrected in a mock-shy voice.

"JUST FUCK AND GET IT OVER WITH!" He screeched in a pitch almost high enough to be a dog whistle.

I was about to retort when Ash twisted into the air and roundhoused Cam in the face. He was knocked back into Em, who squealed and shoved him off of the seat. First, his upper half fell down in a very uncomfortable looking position, then his bottom half slid off of the bench. I burst into laughter along with Ash as Cam stared up at us like the salty bitch he was.

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I was not pleasantly surprised when I came home. Like always, I attempted to be as silent as possible. After satisfying the demanding bat, I tiptoed through the house. As I neared the door at the end of the hallway, I heard a really loud cracking sound (probably from some alcoholic asshole throwing away his beer bottle) and jumped into the air. I'm a bit of a pussy and I squeaked. Really loudly.

This squeak alerted my dad that I was home and he appeared at the other end of the hallway. He was tan with a red and black mane and tail. Since he was a waiter at many different places for many years, he had a plentiful supply of white dress shirts and black dress pants. The other reason I really didn't want my friends to see my family was... My dad was a unicorn while my mom was a pegasus.

"Hey, little one!" He bear hugged me while I scowled behind his back. "How was your day?"

I took in a deep breath and forced my tone to be enthusiastic. "Really good, thanks!" I squinted and searched for the digital clock. It was 5:00 in the evening! "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Oh! You caught me," he grinned at his own childish joke. "See ya later, little one!" He walked past me and disappeared into the master bedroom.

I was sure mom was going to appear in front of me and order me to do something, but I was met with absolute silence. With a silenced sigh of relief, I crept into my room and threw my backpack in the corner. I launched onto the bed and groaned with the satisfaction of how soft the blanket was.

I was suddenly pulled out of reveling at how great my dryer was at making blankets soft. I felt an urge in my hooves and my brain that was almost painful. It was the urge of creativity that was impossible to ignore. At least, I thought as I stood up, it didn't happen at flight school.

I rummaged through the bucket by my bed. It was made from thick, green plastic and was bulging with my over-abundance of art supplies. Finally, I seized a pencil and my most recent art book. Since my tenth birthday, I had gone through 10 200-page art books and I was only 12 at the time! My art books had hard, black, fabric covers with perfect, blank drawing pages inside. I'd tricked many teachers into believing I was reading when I was really just drawing hentai. Legit. Hentai.

I bounced onto my bed and began drawing a comic. It was me talking with Ash and I was having an existential crisis:

"Do you ever wonder," I began, looking at the sky with wide, sparkling eyes, "how meaningless life is?" Ash stared at me with a look of confusion as a tear slid down my face. "Like nothing will ever matter because of how big the universe is?" I hugged myself as I trembled with the feeling of inferiority flooding my body. I began silently sobbing with kawaii anime eyes and stared up at the wide, open sky.

Ash gave me and apathetic glare before turning away. As she stepped away from me, she muttered, "Whatever, I'm getting Taco Bell." End of the comic.

I tossed the art book back into the bucket and closed my eyes.