Estranged Anomalies

Kas slowly enter the boutique, eyes wide with wonder as he examines the luxurious interior. A little bell dings when the door is opened, and he hears approaching hoofsteps, a white unicorn coming into view. Angel, in the meantime, awakens with a yawn from the bell ringing effectively right on his head. Then, he sees it. The little bunny springs off Kas’ head, tackling a plush of a carrot on a nearby desk, wrestling it as if his life depended on it.

“Oh my! Now, I definitely would have remembered seeing you before!” She strides closer, observing him with intrigue. “Tell me, are you also coming in from Canterlot?”

He thinks for a moment, mostly forgetting what the forest he arrived in was called… before shaking his head. “Nah, just a bit of a wanderer. I like to mosey around, see where my feeeooves take me. Yes. The hooves which I have.”

She stares at him.

He stares back.

“Right…” The white unicorn replies slowly, attention taken by his messy appearance once again. “Goodness, you certainly have quite the scrappy look going for you… such a dark mane, though!” She pops up next to him, observing a few locks more closely. “You simply MUST tell me what kind of dye you use!”

It could have had something to do with being a human, which also explained why he was as pale as a corpse. “No dye. It just grew like this.”

“Really, that is quite a marvel. I can only imagine how gorgeous it would look with a proper style on it…” She squeals in excitement, beginning to drag Kas along with her. “I think you have enough to establish a proper braid, and I have a number of clothes that would look quite dashing with your wanderer style! I’ve always wanted to try and go for a more rugged, casual fashion!” And there she goes, barely noticing as Kas starts tumbling behind her, body going entirely limp the second she starts dragging him. “But of course, there is something to be said for ravishing, dapper attire… but what high-class folks truly are never prepared for is a lonesome drifter striding in, clad in cutthroat threads that absolutely show they mean BUSINESS!” She squeals again several sets of clothes floating all around her, surrounded in a blue glow.

Angel stares on in horror as Kas violently ragdolls on the ground behind the unicorn, like a goddamn Garry’s Mod ragdoll, complete with the horrible sound of limbs smacking against the ground. Only after toppling three tables does she take notice.

“Oh my goodness! I got carried away again, didn’t I?!” The blue glow surrounds Kas, setting him upright into a standing position, a light bounce visible as he is righted. She quickly starts to dust him off. “I am so, so, so terribly sorry, dear!”

Kas is just giggling, holding a forehoof up to stifle said giggles. “It’s fine! That was fun though, gives me an idea for later.”

She gives him a weak smile, clearly still unsure before her expression turns sadder. “Oh my Celestia... where are my manners?!” The girl looks like she might just faint from embarrassment “Let’s start over, please. My name is Rarity, I don’t believe we have had the pleasure of meeting!” A forehoof is held out, which he quickly takes with his own and gives a firm shake.

So dramatic, it was like he was watching a soap opera in person! Or ponson… “I’m Kasikov, buuut you can just call me Kas!”

She nods, ending the hoofshake, much to Kas’ relief. The guy had no idea how long that is supposed to go on for. Rarity coughs into another hoof, flushed a bit in embarrassment. “Now I know you are likely… very busy, so I’ll let you on your way.”

He shakes his head. “Not really, I like to make it up as I go to make it feel like I’m contributing!” Kas reaches out, patting her head to try and dull her embarrassment. “Hehe, it was nice to meet you, Rarity! Have a great day!”

The patting does reward him with a small smile, though it is also followed quickly by her hoof fixing the slightly messed up portion of her hair. And so, the grey pony allows Angel to hop aboard his head once again, before he resumes hopping down the road. Now, there was a bit more of a spring in his step.

Then, he freezes. His eyes are wide like saucers.

“Is that a literal treehouse? Hell, we HAVE to go there!” Angel is, admittedly, a bit curious himself. His caretaker likes to keep the socializing to a minimum, so many building interiors are foreign to him… that, and he wasn’t able to sneak into her bag the few times said caretaker went to library in the past.

Kas spots a yellow pegasi, purple unicorn, and a bipedal, purple lizard with green spikes. The bunny on his head began squeaking eagerly, jabbing a paw towards the yellow pegasus, who he now presumed to be Fluttershy.

“You got it, boss!”

The purple unicorn seemed to be coddling the purple salamander, baby talking him. “Aww, wook at dat, he’s so sweepy he can’t even keep his widdle bawance!”

“I’d kill for a nap!”

“SWEET CELESTIA!” The purple unicorn squeals at the sudden intrusion, jumping toward Fluttershy since the voice of Kas came from directly behind her. Fluttershy looked like she was trying to hide behind the equally startled limbed-snake baby.

“No, actually, it’s Kasikov.”

“How did you- WHERE did you-” She looks back at the other two, wide eyed. “Did either of you see him walk over?” They sake their heads simultaneously.

“Shh, don’t think about it too much.” Kas snickers, stepping towards Fluttershy, who shrinks behind the bipedal iguana to try and avoid Kas’ gaze… before taking a deep breath, and stepping forward, now in front said bipedal iguana. She was putting on a brave face, not wanting the youngling to face the brunt of this stressful scenario. If anything, Kas could commend the care she extended to all animal creatures. “You must be Fluttershy! I have a delivery for you.”

He bows his head forward, letting Angel bounce off him and onto the ground in front of Fluttershy, who gasps. “Angel! Did you stow away in my bag again?! Naughty bunny!”

Angel chitters and squeaks defensively, but is already being picked up by the scruff of his neck via the pegasi’s mouth. Kas grins, looking back at the purple unicorn, who is leering at him suspiciously. “You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”

“How can I not?! You- you teleported, or something? And I don’t see a horn on you, or anything…” The lavender unicorn mutters, clearly already very frazzled to begin with.

“What about this one?” Kas asks, producing a French horn seemingly out of nowhere.

“Wha… that’s… where…?” One of her eyes starts to twitch, before she violently shakes her head to snap out of her daze. The purple gecko is surrounded in a pinkish glow, before being yanked through the air towards the slowly breaking unicorn. “OKAY. It has been fun and weird, but I rreeeeally gotta go! Talktoyoulaterbutprobablynot BYE!”

And she zips into the housetree, wyrmling in tow, door slamming firmly behind her.

Kas just smiles, now alone with Fluttershy and Angel. “She seems nice.”

“Ohh, um… yeah.” She mumbles, maybe a bit unsure about that but didn’t want to be rude. He catches her looking off for a moment, noticing Angel shuffling on her back. The little bunny had cozied up with her wings like a nice, puffy blanket. She seemed reassured at the sight of the safe, slumbering bunny, with it mustering a bit of confidence in her next choice. “I’m… sorry, but I don’t think we’ve met…?”

He grins widely, offering up a forehoof. “I’m Kasikov, as you may have heard! But most folk call me Kas, aka like… one, singular folk.” He pauses. “Which has kinda began shifting to Kasi, which also is gnarly, but just Kas is fine.”

She smiles back, gently shaking his forehoof with her own. “Thank you for looking after Angel, Kasik… Kas.” Fluttershy feels her smile waver. “I know he can be a bit of a handful, but he really is just the sweetest little bunny, I swear!”

“Oh, I know!”

Fluttershy pauses. Her smile doesn’t seem to dissipate, or even falter that much, but there is a clear amount of underlying surprise. “You… know?”

“Yup! He was awesome the whole time we hung out together.”

Her smile seems to grow even bigger at that. “Oh, gosh… that’s just… that’s wonderful! He usually can be quite a handful with ponies he doesn’t know… and even other animals he doesn’t know, so…” He can see her wings almost flutter a bit, but Angel tugs on the one he is comfy under, as if someone was trying to pull his blanket away. “I guess I’m just… really pleasantly surprised by this!”

Kas laughs, nodding. “I’d have never known he was that rambunctious! Well, he did try to maim a plush carrot at the carousel that looks like a boutique.” He stops, rubbing his chin with a forehoof. “Or MAYBE it’s a boutique that looks like a carousel… I always forget which one!”

“Oh, you mean Carousel Boutique?” Fluttershy suggests, head tilted curiously.

“Sure, why not?”

Then, there is the sudden pounding of music behind the two of them, within the house tree. Fluttershy yelps, dropping to the ground and covering her hooves. Kas stares plainly. “What’s up with that?”

“So noisy… I can only assume Pinkie is throwing a party for that new pony… Twilight, I think it was? Though I think, uh, Spike deserves a party too…”

“Ooh! THAT was Twilight!” He holds up a forehoof in an ‘aha’ sort of gesture.

“Who did you think she was?”

Kas just shrugs. “I thought she was the dinosaur.”

This statement is only met with a plain stare from Fluttershy. “You mean Spike…? The baby dragon?”

He stares back at her, just as plainly as she stared at him, before realization dawns on him. “OHHH. Yeah, that makes WAY more sense. Hehe, I dunno what I was thinking.” Kas steps towards her, holding out a forehoof. “Anyway, wanna come check out this party?”

She shrinks back a bit even at just the mention of the party. “It’s, um… a bit too noisy, if that’s okay. I’ll just… wait out here.” Fluttershy is a bit relieved to see Kas nod, and stands up straight. “If you’d… if you’d want to, though, you could walk me to where we’re having the Summer Sun Celebration afterward?”

“Ooh, sure thing!” Kas chirps, having no idea what that is or where it is. But it made her happy, so he counts that as a win in his book. He then goes to try the housetree door, only to find Twilight had locked it behind her. Everyone must’ve gotten in before that happened. So, naturally, he springs up, bounding from branch to branch towards a nearby window. Fluttershy stares on with concern, eyes wide.

“What are you doing, Kas?!” She calls out… which to her credit, was louder than Kas expected it to be. Still quiet, but audible.

“Climbing this tree?”

Fluttershy stares on in confusion. “Why…?”

“Door’s locked.”

“Can’t you just knock? This seems… kind of dangerous. It’s a big tree, afterall, and, um…” She looks away, biting her lip nervously. Kas just waves a forehoof dismissively.

“WIth how loud that music is? Unlikely. Besiiiides, I do stuff like this all the time.” He slinks up further, popping a window open. “See? All good! I’ll meet up with you in a bit, Fluttershy!”

She seems to relax a bit, waving him off as he descends into the housetree, ending up in what seems to be a bedroom, of sorts.

“Cozy…” He mumbles, shutting the window behind him and quietly trotting around the interior. Lots of books, too. So, naturally, he could only presume this doubled as the town library. “Man, what kind of nerd would live here?”

Kas, goes to open the door, as it slams open, squishing him against a nearby wall as a frustrated lavender unicorn, whom he now knows as Twilight, stomps in. “Just a minute of peace, is all I ask for! JUST A MINUTE!”

The gray pony floats down toward the ground, cartoonishly flattened like a sheet of paper before he returning to normal. Despite that, he decided to just lay there. She hadn’t noticed him yet, but also said she wanted a minute of peace. So, his internal clock began to tick. Giving the mare about a minute and a half for good measure, he finally tries to break the silence as casually as he can. “Ssso.”

Twilight was nose deep in a book when she hears his voice, causing her to jolt upright and glance around the room, spotting his toppled figure by the door. “AGAIN?! I- wait… are you okay?”

He laughs it off, sitting up and rubbing his head. “Yeeah, you opened that door pretty ferociously, but I’m okay. You wanted a minute, so I didn’t want to spook you… again.” His smile fades, and is returned with a frown. “Sorry about that, force of habit. If it makes you feel better, I didn’t just pop up here, this time. I…”

Kas frowns harder, resting his chin on his forehoof as Twilight got closer, silently observing any inflicted damages while he thinks. “I, uh… climbed through the window, because the door was locked, and I helped Pinkie with this party and didn’t wanna miss it.” He looks away, feeling put on the spot for the first time today. “In hindsight, that all sounds prrett-ee bad.”

Surprisingly, Twilight seems to laugh, it looking like the first positive thing she’s expressed all day. “Sorry, I guess it is just kind of reassuring to see someone feeling as scatterbrained as I’m feeling today.”

Kas pouts, crossing his forehooves. “Hey now, that’s not fair. This is… actually, yeah. It is kind of an off day, I guess.” He shrugs, relaxing a little. “I haven’t been around peeeonies… for a while. Yeah. Ponies”

Twilight nods, turning towards her bed before stopping, still in front of him. “Ugh, I know, right?! I usually like to just keep to my studies, and work on broadening my understanding of the world! And when I FINALLY seem to come upon a shocking breakthrough, of what could result in an absolutely CALAMITY, what does the Princess do?” She throws her hooves up into the air dramatically, turning back to face him. “She basically tells me I’m fretting over nothing! That ‘I simply have to stop reading those dusty old books’, or whatever!” Twilight stomps her hooves, an eye twitching. “What, does she not trust me, or something?! Does she just call me her most ‘faithful student’ because she thinks I have an ego? I just-”

And she stops suddenly, all the anger vanishing from her eyes as she drops to the floor. “I just feel disregarded, I guess. Maybe I am just being paranoid…” The unicorn looks down at the ground, ashamed. “Sorry for just… unloading that all on you.”

Kas raises a hoof, waving it dismissively. “Your concerns are valid.”

She looks up, a bit confused.

“There is no harm in ever being cautious! Even if I don’t know most of the context… if there is a call for caution, then you should heed it! But when it devolves to paranoia, just try not to let that paranoia rule you, my friend!” He stands up, shining her a reassuring smile. “If anything… maybe she was trying to dull your concerns, in a roundabout way. By being dismissive?”

He clicks his tongue, nodding his head to the side. “Not that I personally agree with a method like that… but, yeah!” Kas holds out a forehoof towards her. “Chin up! I’m sure she doesn’t call EVERY… being she meets her most faithful students, right?”

She giggles, nodding as she takes his forehoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, by the way. Sorry about… messing up our first meeting, I was kind of stressed out, as you can imagine.”

“Not a problem! I’m Kasikov, but you can just call me Kas-”

-SLAM-

Kas is now a distant memory, as he is slammed into the wall by the door for the second time tonight.

“C’mon, Twilight! It’s time to watch the sunrise!” Spike calls out, beckoning for her to quickly follow him.

“Oh my gosh, Spike!” She quickly ushers the baby dragon off to the side, moving the door to reveal a crumpled Kas once more.

He is groaning, more annoyed than anything. “This biiiit… is already gettin’ old…” The gray pony sighs, rubbing his head as he bounces back to his hooves, standing upright.

“Are you okay, Kas?!”

“I’m fiiiine, Twilight. Nothin’ like a good concussion to cure interdimensional jetlag.” Kas chuckles, shaking his head softly. Twilight stares at him, still very clearly unconvinced… and also clearly a bit confused by what he said.

He stops to meet her gaze, noticing how hard she is squinting at him. Kas giggles.

He waves her off, still smiling. “Seriously, I'm good. Never better, in fact." He nods towards the door. "Now, c’mon! We got a thing to get to, and I got a pegasi to walk. And I hope we are going to the same place, cuz’ I ain’t got no sense of direction.”

She laughs again, beckoning for him to follow… with the poor dubiously-human turned pony having no idea what he had just gotten himself roped into.