Friendship is Alien

There was a long and intense silence that fell then, the kind where you can practically feel the awkwardness in the air. “Okaaay,” Twilight said in a slow and even tone. “It’s awake. This is potentially bad, very bad.” She said, still staring at Dominic. “Fluttershy, this is probably some kind of monkey, right? What’s the best way to handle those?” She asked, still as rigid and still as she could manage.

“Um, well, I’d make sure you weren't making eye contact. A lot of primates view that as a challenge.” I heard a new voice say. It was soft, and I don’t just mean in terms of volume, her tone, the voice itself sounded soft and fluffy. Dominic turned his head to find it’s source as Twilight let out a squeaking noise and averted her gaze. It was another horse, winged like the blue one, but yellow with a bright pink mane that covered one of her eyes.

By now, Dominic was wondering why he hadn't been able to put things into words, and fought past another burst of pain in his head. “Hmm. Words are hard, I must have hit my head. Brain damage would be bad. Then again, I’m probably hallucinating anyway.”  He began slowly easing himself around, glad that he was managing simple movements. He managed to get himself into a sitting position as he realized the yello- Fluttershy, was talking to him.

“-Mr. Monkey, we really don’t want to hurt you, but you've had a nasty fall, and you should probably take it easy. No one here wants to hurt you, and- Umm, I’m sure I could find a few bananas if you would please behave while you’re here.”

“Bananas, seriously? *Bananas?** They've got to be- No, they’re actually serious. Huh.”* Dominic couldn't help it. He started chuckling at the idea of him being a ‘big dumb monkey’ that they were trying to placate. Of course, laughing really hurt his back, so he stopped quickly at the sharp stinging he got in return for his mirth.

“Wait a minute...” Said the blue one that had been flapping it’s wings. Suddenly there was a blur, and it was suddenly right up on Dominic, huge eyes an interesting shade of red-pink that Dominic couldn't quite place were staring into his, and he felt a hoof tapping at his chest. "It's laughing at us!" That was when he had his second realization about these things.

They were tiny! Standing on all fours the thing would probably be hard-pressed to come up to his chest in height at it’s head. With a glance around the room at the others, he determined that was the average height. There was also an orange one with a golden mane. That one was actually wearing a Stetson, of all things. He knew it wasn't fair to make such an assumption, but made it was. Cowgirl-pony was the one with the country accent.

“Hey!” Came the blue one in front of him, shifting to block his view over some muted protests from Fluttershy. “I’m talking to you, buddy. Just what in Celestia’s name is so funny!” Dominic should have behaved. He should have put his hands up in a surrendering manner, or done something placating to the creature in front of him. Should have, but didn't. He gave a small grin, and suddenly, the blue one seemed distracted, breaking eye contact with him and looking down. As he’d later learn, it was disturbing to see canines (even small ones like his) in a mouth full of otherwise flat teeth.

After a moment of thought, he realized that he had a name for the blue one! It was the first name he heard, actually. He knew it was coming, so he braced himself through the small burst of pain, and pointed a finger, pressing it into the blue one’s torso just like it had done to him with her hoof. “You are, Sugarcube.” Now there were jaws dropping, and he was quite proud he managed to put words together this time. “Now, is this a good thing, or a bad one?”

"What were you thinking, Rainbow?!" Applejack chided the cyan pegasus. The scene had done remarkable little to change. the talking monkey seemed to be unconscious, with his back facing up as Fluttershy was quickly checking all the stitches, and closing a few wounds that had opened back up.

"I- I don't know!" she responded, now back on the ground, her cheeks red with embarrassment. "It just, well, talked to me, and it was touching me, and I guess I overreacted a bit."

"Ah'd say it's a bit more than a bit. The way you shrieked coulda knocked somepony out, let alone when you bucked him like that, did you forget he's injured?"

"I do not shriek." Applejack could have sworn that Rainbow was pouting, if she hadn't known better, that was. Rainbow did not pout.

"Sure ya don't, Sugarcube. But look at where hittin' that thing got ya." Applejack said, gesturing at the unfortunate mare. Applejack was sitting outside the window to keep Rainbow company after she had been forcefully ejected from the cottage by Fluttershy before the cyan mare even knew what was happening, without so much as an 'if you don't mind.'  Applejack didn't know where Fluttershy had been keeping moves like that hidden, but she had half a mind to invite her friend to the next rodeo.

For Dominic, his world had temporarily dissolved into a hissing, burning pain that spread across his back like an actual flame, the pain spreading to his other senses. His eyesight blurred as a dull roar flooded his ears as he let out a choking yell. (It was not a scream. Dominic did not scream.) When his senses began to return, he realized that he was on his stomach now, and the pain was a series of small flares across his back being aggravated by something that kept touching them. He heard Fluttershy's voice behind him, and was able to focus on the words more easily now. the pain in his head actually seemed to be subsiding. "I'm really sorry about that Mr. Monkey, Rainbow dash can be really, um, well, that is... I'm sure she didn't mean to tear some of your stitches." She trailed off, not knowing how to continue her sentence without being rude to somepony.

Dominic was deep in thought despite the needles of fire pricking his back, considering his current position. For the first time, he really thought about what was going on. Colorful, overly cutesy world, strange, but friendly technicolor creatures seeming to care for him, (Despite being kicked in the chest) brought him to one simple conclusion: He was hallucinating. And being that he was hallucinating, and he was aware of it, brought him to two further points.

Firstly: Being that he was aware of the hallucination, and it was not ending, this hallucination was not a figment of the dreaming mind, or any plain subconscious routine, as nothing had turned to chocolate when he focused on the miraculous substance as hard as he could.

Secondly: With the assumption that he wasn't in some sort of dream state, this hallucination had to be brought about by outside forces, such as drugs. Maybe he was in a hospital? In any case, there was no point being rude, if it was actually some poor hospital worker who was actually helping him, not some strange figment. And if it was a figment, then why be rude to his own mind?

"It's fine, really. I shouldn't have been provoking her." He said, with a slight wheeze. He had gotten his breath back for the most part, but getting hit like that hurt. He heard a slight gasp behind them, and assumed that his hallucination hadn't come to term with 'talking monkeys' yet.

"Excuse me, sir, it is sir, right?" Came the bookish voice, Twilight. He thought about turning his head, but decided against it. The less he moved, the better while someone was working on him. Before he could respond, the voice just rolled on. "If you don't mind me asking, you speak rather well for a, well, a primate. Where did you learn to speak?"

Dominic managed a fair reply, despite having to take a moment to steel himself. This figment's needlework could definitely use some work.  "Well, my parents, I suppose. though several years of school didn't hurt."

"School? Where are you from? We haven't exactly seen anythi- anypony like you around here." Twilight asked, again staring at the strange creature. It's size and posture reminded her of spike, or discord, with his long body.

"Okinawa, at least, that's the last place I remember." Dominic said, more than a little confused. "Did she just say any *pony*?" "And no offense, but I've never seen anything, that looks like anything here. I think I may actually be hallucinating, so forgive any strangeness. Everything is so bright and colorful, and there are no talking horses, let alone tiny, colorful ones."

"Ponies." The correction came Automatically from Twilight's lips, drawing a strange sound from the creature. "And, well, now that I think about it, I've never heard of an Oaken Awa." She said, before venturing the question that was really burning at her mind. "What exactly are you? I've never heard of anything like you, and even Fluttershy hasn't seen things like you, and she knows about all kinds of exotic monsters. Not to say you're a monster, or, umm..."

Dominic, however, was losing his patience with his hallucination. Trying to explain everything was a huge pain, but probably a decent exercise in organizing his thoughts, but calling him a monster? He decided that enough was enough, and to hell with the amateur practicing cross-stitching in his back.  He tried to will himself to ignore the pain in his back for a moment, rearranging himself off of the table into an awkward stand with a grunt, ignoring the repeated pleas from Fluttershy as he rose to his full height (A terribly [un]imposing 5'9'') and trying his best to loom above the unicorn.

"Monster? Now, seriously,-" Mr. Monkey? You need to lie back down, you're still bleeding. If, um, you don't mind, that is." "-I've had enough of this. Hallucinating or not, I'm hurt,-" "Mr. Monkey, you really need to lie down, you've lost a lot of blood, I need to stop the bleeding." "-at least, I think I am, and I don't have the patience to try and explain this to others,-" "Mr. Monkey, I need you to lie down." "-let alone some wild figment of my imagination that decided to blind me with all the colors of the rai-"

Then came the softest, most terrifying shout that Dominic had heard to date, the sound sending shivers up his spine. "Mr. Monkey, turn around, and lie down before you hurt yourself!" Dominic turned slowly, coming face to face with the yellow mare. There was something in her eyes that held him captive.

Back home, he had been considered an unfair player in staring contests, something about the contest of wills, locking eyes with another did something strange to him. when it happened, he would feel a tight band of pressure around his forehead, and people almost always blinked or faltered, claiming his eyes had suddenly gone 'wild' or something like that. Now he knew how that must have felt, save that he felt more like a deer, paralyzed in the headlights. He was tired, he was woozy, and for all he knew, he was lost inside his own head. He couldn't muster his own stare to fight back, this creature's stare was affecting him in ways no one had managed to back home.

He needed to look away, he was dizzy, his pulse was rising, and he couldn't break eye contact with those beautiful, yet horrifying green-blue orbs. He heard her voice, but couldn't make out the words past a ringing that was filling his head. Then he found himself slowly moving himself to lie back down, with the mare craning her neck to maintain the stare until he was once more on his stomach.

"There, now stay put until I finish." Fluttershy said, and like that, a sense of immense weight and pressure that he hadn't even felt had rushed away from Dominic, leaving him feeling drained. With a long sigh, and another wince as Fluttershy turned back to her needlework. Dominic wasn't quite sure what to make of this place, these 'people,' his injuries, and that weird mind-trick stare that Fluttershy had put on him. "This really isn't a hallucination, isn't it?" He asked, to no one in particular, but the universe as a whole.

His only response was a quietly muttered "Oh horsefeathers." from Fluttershy and another sharp pain as one of the threads broke in his back.