We, Who Are Different.

by Diabeto131

Talk Softly

The first thing that Violet noticed as they were sat down at their table, was the emptiness of the tables around them. The waiter was polite, but you didn't need a psychology degree to know why he sat them in a far away corner. Far from the other diners. The waiter gave them their menus and walked away. Andrew looked around the room with a raised brow. To Violet, this was the first time he actually acknowledged the stares.

"You'd think they'd be used to me by now." He spoke under his breath before picking up is menu. Violet mimicked his action and explored the menu. After a moment, Andrew spoke. "So?" She looked up at the human, who was peaking at her from over the menu. "Got an idea of what you want?"

"Well, I think I'll try the fruit salad." She placed the menu down onto the table. Andrew waved down the waiter and they gave their orders.

"So you grew up in the mountains?"

"Actually, I grew up in the valley. The Crescent Mountains is a series of mountains surrounding a valley. Though the capital sits at the peak of one the mountains, Most towns and villages are in the valley."

"What's it like there?"

Violet winced. "Right now, it's nice."

Andrew blinked in confusion. "Right now? So not so nice before?"

"It was only recently united when Princess Luna returned. Before that, it was pretty rough." The waiter returned with their food, Violet receiving a fruit salad, and Andrew getting pasta.

"How rough?" He asked taking a forkful of food.

"Right now, the official name of the nation is 'The Thestral Republic'. Before, it was half it's current size. The rest of the towns were independent."

Andrew leaned back. "So, how was it growing up there?"

"It wasn't bad, but because banditry was a big problem, everypony had to enlist in the town guard when they were old enough."

The human went wide eyed and smirked. "Oh, so you know how to kick my ass?"

Violet released what could only be described as a 'giggle-snort', and fought to avoid breaking out in laughter. "That depends on how well you behave Mr.Sullivan."

"Please, Mr.Sullivan is my father. So, how long were you an ass kicker?" Andrew asked as he lifted another forkful.

"Only a year, and I spent all of it inside of the town, so I didn't actually kick anypony's ass." Violet took a bite from her fruit salad before continuing. "Mom and Dad, though. They were good enough to be selected to train the Lunar Guard after Princess Luna's return."

"So both of your parents not only kicked ass, they kick ass so good that moon butt recruited them to train her guards," Andrew took a sip of his water before placing the glass back on the table and staring into Violet's eyes, "to kick ass?" Violet nodded and the human began to laugh. "I feel for the guy you take home to meet them."

"I honestly don't know how they would react."

Andrew looked up from his plate. "Never met one good enough to take home?"

Violet blushed as she shrunk into her seat. "N-No. Have you?"

Andrew eyed Violet incredulously. One of the first things he learned here was that ponies wore their emotions and feelings like he wore clothes. In a few words, they're easy to read. He breathed out slowly has he thought back on his life.

"There was one girl on Earth, but she found someone better, or at least that's what she told me."

Violet winced. "Sorry. What about here, in Equestria?"

Andrew shifted his gaze to his pasta before speaking. "No. I mean I tried, but it didn't end well." In an attempt to change the topic, the human asked Violet another question. "So how did you get into gardening?"

Violet smiled widely. "There are these flowers that only grow in the valleys of The Crescent Mountains. Some ponies call them Crescent Beauties. They only bloom once, and they can take a decade to grow. When I was a foal, I found one underneath an old wagon. It wasn't getting any sunlight or water. I was too small to move the wagon, so I got a trowel from my Grandmother's shed, crawled under the wagon, and dug it up. I brought it to my Grandmother and she helped me take care of it. When it finally bloomed, I got my cutie mark." She stated proudly. "What got you into tinkering?" Violet threw his own question back at him.

Andrew leaned back into his chair as he reminisced. "I've always had a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together. In high school I started taking things apart to make something new. I learned how a lot of things worked. It helped out a lot in law school."

"What convinced you to fix things for other ponies?"

"Nobody was willing to repair the apeman's shit. AJ's toaster stopped toasting, and because I was staying with her, no.. repairpony? would take the job, so I fixed it. It just sorta snowballed from there." Andrew took the last bite of his pasta before leaning forward. "Speaking of work. What do you think of the job? You in?"

"Sure, I'll do it." They shook on it.

They stood up to leave, with Andrew paying for the meal. When they got to the wagon, Andrew opened a small box. He pulled out bag of bits and counted out forty five before handing them to Violet.

"Meet me at Sugarcube Corner tomorrow morning, same time. Today was relatively short day, so expect tomorrow to last past lunch. I'll see you later Vi, I got to go make that table for the cakes."

"Bye Andy." Violet began to walk away, wondering where she will go now. After a moment of thought, she decided to go see if the flower sisters were free to hang out. Even then, she couldn't wait for tomorrow.

She has a job, and a friend now.

---

Andrew pulled the wagon towards the edge of town. Whereas Fluttershy lived on the outskirts of the Everfree side of town, Andrew lived on the side closer to the valley. He recalled when Rarity got kidnapped by diamond dogs there, and how she escaped by 'whining' them into submission.

He approached his home. It was a decent size house, with a large building next to it that wasn't too different from a two car garage from his world. It even had garage doors, though they only open manually. The human pulled the wagon up to the building. He often referred to it as his office. He froze when he spotted the garage door, or what was written on it.

"Damnit." He whispered under his breath as he pulled the wagon around the side and placed a tarp over it. He returned to the vandalized door and stood in front of it. The look on his face twisted into a sneer as he reared his arm back, "DAMNIT!" He punched it as hard as he could.

He lifted the door and walked in, not bothering to close it back. He lived far enough away from Ponyville that nobody could complain about the loudness of his tools. looking around, he took in the sights of the workbenches and tools. The unfinished projects and the sketched blueprints for even more lined one wall. The other side had materials and scraps. He found a decent sized piece of wood. A perfect candidate for a table. He walked over to a table where one of the few things that followed him here resided. Picking up his IPod, he hit shuffle.

Time to work.

---

Twilight and her friends approached Andrew's house. It was almost dusk, the sunset hadn't happened yet, but it was getting close. They didn't usually meet their human friend all at once like this, but they were worried. They heard the telltale sound of Andrew's tools, indicating that he was still working.

When they reached the open door to the garage they saw the human hard at work on the new table top. A song began to play. Andrew began singing along, completely unaware of his audience. It wasn't the first time they had heard him sing, but he only ever sung when he was sure that he was alone. He started sanding the table to the beat of the song.

As the song ended, Pinkie shouted. "Hiya Andy, how's the table coming!?"

Andrew, to his credit, only jumped a little. "Good, just gotta slap some paint on it and it'll be done." He then noticed the others. Reaching to his IPod, he paused it before looking back at the girls. "Hey girls, what's the occasion?"

Rainbow Dash floated over to the human and nudged his side. "We heard you met a mare Sully."

Andrew furrowed his brow at Rainbow before pointing accusingly at her. "Hey Skittles. No fly zone." Rainbow pouted before landing and muttering something about a certain someone being 'no fun'. Smiling, the human continued. "Violet? what about her?"

Rarity stepped forward. "Well, it's not everyday you make a new friend, or hire somebody to work with you. While the first isn't odd, the second most definitely is."

"What's so odd about it? I've got a good bit of work piled up, and I needed some help."

This time Applejack walked up to the human with a raised brow. "This comin' from the human who once said, 'Ah don't need any help, you could break every appliance in Ponyville, it'll still be too easy.'"

Andrew crossed his arms and leaned against his workbench. "Do you guys have a problem with Violet?"

Rarity smiled and shook her head. "Why no darling, she is absolutely lovely."

"It's more about where you two met." Twilight spoke. "Sitting on that bench by the path."

Andrew frowned and straightened his back. "So what? I sat on a bench." This caused the others to frown, including Pinkie.

Twilight continued. "We're just worried about you, Andy."

He furrowed his brow. "For sitting on a bench? Don't you worry about it, It's just a bench."

Applejack began to glare at him. "You know darn well what we're talking about, sugarcube."

Twilight looked of to the side. "We know what today is."

Andrew sighed as he turned his gaze to the calendar, and the date that was circled, today. "The third year anniversary of my waking up here. I told you girls, I came to peace with it a while ago."

Applejack took a step towards the human. "Then why were ya sittin' on that bench?"

Andrew scoffed before returning Applejack's glare. "Because. It. Was. A. Bench. I was walking in the park and my legs were tired, so I sat on that bench." He spoke through his teeth, each word growing in volume and intensity. "Excuse me, for wanting to rest on a bench. It was a welcoming bench. There was nothing there to tell me to not sit on that bench!" The girls, save for Applejack and Rainbow, shrunk at the increasing anger coming from the human. "That bench did nothing to say that I couldn't sit there! That bench hasn't done anything to make me feel unwelcome! That bench doesn't call me 'monkey'! It doesn't throw garbage at me! AND SURE AS HELL HASN'T TOLD ME TO WALK INTO THE EVERFREE AND DIE!" That particular part caused Applejack to wince as if she were punched in the gut. Andrew was breathing hard. "But fuck me, right?! Fuck me for wanting to sit on a goddamn bench!"

Applejack opened her mouth to speak before the human held up a hand and stopped her. He took a deep breath and sat down on the one metal chair he had in the garage. He placed his head in his hands and spoke quietly. "Just go." He leaned back and waved a hand toward the unfinished table. "I got to finish this table." He stood up and followed as the girls walked out without sound. They all turned around once outside, but before they could say anything, Andrew closed the garage door. And they all gasped at the image of a poorly drawn monkey, and the words that accompanied it.

Go home, freak.

Comments

[Dustchu]

Damn... poor Andy...

Nicely done, can't wait for more.

[Die Pie WiM]

7779336 took the word right out of my mouth!

Well.. man I can honestly say while I read this chapter I didn't expect it to end like that. I could really feel the confrontation there at the end.

I would never have guess Andy had been in equestria for three years or that the pony would still treat him so harshly.

Last chapter had me curious but this one really takes the cake, what's up with the bench? Lol

Also nice music choice!

[pahnazd]

For priding themselves on being so accepting, they can shun anyone who's not "normal" really fast. Not everyone, but a good enough number to dent one's psyche.

The girls meant well, but they could have gone about it a different way. Poor Andy. Still a long road ahead.

At least he, in a way, found a kindred spirit in Violet.

Lovely read so far, can't wait for more

[Tide Hunter]

"That bench did nothing to say that I couldn't sit there! That bench hasn't done anything to make me feel unwelcome! That bench doesn't call me 'monkey'! It doesn't through garbage at me! AND SURE AS HELL HASN'T TOLD ME TO WALK INTO THE EVERFREE AND DIE!" That particular part caused Applejack to wince as if she were punched in the gut. Andrew was breathing hard. "But fuck me, right?! Fuck me for wanting to sit on a goddamn bench!"

It's throw, not through.

[Eyes of Avo]

Nice chapter the flow of conversations was much easier to read.

[Diabeto131]

7780095 Thanks

[Zyrian]

The escalation of anger as he was ranting at the end read really naturally. Good job!

[Born-From-Black-Lightnin]

Wow you have really got my attention now.

[Gmasters132]

Wow that make the picture of the fic more powerfull now, and we didnt even know why? really nice writing in this one

[killergoonie]

This is a really great read and I love the way the conversations seem real and not fake. Really draws me into the story. Keep up the great work, can't wait for the next chapter.

[Omnicron25]

Excellent work! I have to say I haven't read writing quite this believable (with a regular guy anyway) for some time.

[DrakeRenar1]

Ponies really are racist gits when you look at it then again since they've been raised around just ponies they're not used to those from different races and cultures so you really can't blame them for not like someone who's different.

[Lancerlot]

Okay, this is where the story takes a hard turn away from Equestria, past reality, and into the hate filled fantasy world of Jeremiah Wright.

Toodles.

[The oracle]

please do't let this go down the path i think it is... really don't want another Wright incident on our hands.

[Fireeaters]

How r0od. Andy needs a magic paintball defence turret.

[AvexedAuthor]

7843771
Who's Jeremiah Wright?

[DJ_Arashi_Rora]

7828969
Yes you can, being a racist asshole should not be excusable.

[RazorWing_GB]

Andrew scoffed before returning Applejack's glare. "Because. It. Was. A. Bench. I was walking in the park and my legs were tired, so I sat on that bench." He spoke through his teeth, each word growing in volume and intensity. "Excuse me, for wanting to rest on a bench. It was a welcoming bench. There was nothing there to tell me to not sit on that bench!" The girls, save for Applejack and Rainbow, shrunk at the increasing anger coming from the human. "That bench did nothing to say that I couldn't sit there! That bench hasn't done anything to make me feel unwelcome! That bench doesn't call me 'monkey'! It doesn't throw garbage at me! AND SURE AS HELL HASN'T TOLD ME TO WALK INTO THE EVERFREE AND DIE!" That particular part caused Applejack to wince as if she were punched in the gut. Andrew was breathing hard. "But fuck me, right?! Fuck me for wanting to sit on a goddamn bench!"

God~Damn... Nothing builds backstory quicker than a general time frame and a list of sins.

[hmaf43]

lol